bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion measured with cardiac MRI in children with tetralogy of Fallot
Authors: Soslow Jonathan H. , Usoro Emem , Wang Li , Parra David A. 
Published: August 2015

AbstractBackgroundAneurysmal dilation of the right ventricular outflow tract complicates assessment of right ventricular function in patients with repaired tetralogy of Fallot. Tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion is commonly used to estimate ejection fraction. We hypothesised that tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion measured by cardiac MRI approximates global and segmental right ventricular function, specifically right ventricular sinus ejection fraction, in children with repaired tetralogy of Fallot.MethodsTricuspid annular plane systolic excursion was measured retrospectively on cardiac MRIs in 54 patients with repaired tetralogy of Fallot. Values were compared with right ventricular global, sinus, and infundibular ejection fractions. Tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion was indexed to body surface area, converted into a fractional value, and converted into published paediatric Z-scores.ResultsTricuspid annular plane systolic excursion measurements had good agreement between observers. Right ventricular ejection fraction did not correlate with the absolute or indexed tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion and correlated weakly with fractional tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (r=0.41 and p=0.002). Segmental right ventricular function did not appreciably improve correlation with any of the tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion measures. Paediatric Z-scores were unable to differentiate patients with normal and abnormal right ventricular function.ConclusionsTricuspid annular plane systolic excursion measured by cardiac MRI correlates poorly with global and segmental right ventricular ejection fraction in children with repaired tetralogy of Fallot. Tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion is an unreliable approximation of right ventricular function in this patient population.
Health-related quality of life in children with heart failure as perceived by children and parents
Authors: Wilmot Ivan , Cephus Constance E. , Cassedy Amy , Kudel Ian , Marino Bradley S. , Jefferies John L. 
Published: August 2015

Advancements in paediatric heart failure management have resulted in improved survival and a focus on long-term outcomes including health-related quality of life. We compared health-related quality of life in children with heart failure with healthy patients, children with chronic conditions, and children with cardiovascular disease.Families (n=63) and children (n=73) aged 2–20 years with heart failure were enrolled and compared with data previously published for healthy patients (n=5480), those with chronic conditions (n=247), and those with cardiovascular disease (n=347). Patients and parents completed the PedsQL 4.0 and the Cardiac 3.0 Module health-related quality-of-life questionnaires. PedsQL scores including Total, Psychosocial Health Summary, and Physical were compared between groups. In general, patients with heart failure had lower scores than the healthy population (p=0.001), and comparable scores with those with chronic conditions. Parents perceived no difference in physical scores for children with heart failure when compared with healthy children, and perceived higher scores for children with heart failure when compared with those with chronic conditions (p⩽0.003). Furthermore, children with heart failure had decremental health-related quality-of-life scores as the American Heart Association stage of heart failure increased, such that patients with stage C heart failure had scores similar to children with severe cardiovascular disease.Children with heart failure reported significantly impaired health-related quality of life compared with healthy children and similar scores compared with children with chronic conditions. Parental perceptions appear to underestimate these impairments. Children with heart failure appear to have progressive impairment of health-related quality of life with advancing stage of heart failure.
Data-driven deep-syntactic dependency parsing
Authors: BALLESTEROS MIGUEL , BOHNET BERND , MILLE SIMON , WANNER LEO 
Published: August 2015

Abstract‘Deep-syntactic’ dependency structures that capture the argumentative, attributive and coordinative relations between full words of a sentence have a great potential for a number of NLP-applications. The abstraction degree of these structures is in between the output of a syntactic dependency parser (connected trees defined over all words of a sentence and language-specific grammatical functions) and the output of a semantic parser (forests of trees defined over individual lexemes or phrasal chunks and abstract semantic role labels which capture the frame structures of predicative elements and drop all attributive and coordinative dependencies). We propose a parser that provides deep-syntactic structures. The parser has been tested on Spanish, English and Chinese.
OCCUPATION COURTS,JUS AD BELLUMCONSIDERATIONS, AND NON-STATE ACTORS: REVISITING THE ETHICS OF MILITARY OCCUPATION
Authors: Chehtman Alejandro 
Published: August 2015

ABSTRACTThis article provides a normative appraisal of the law of military occupation by looking into occupation courts and their legitimacy. It focuses on two cornerstones of the current regulation of war: the principle of equality of belligerents, that is, the potential relevance ofjus ad bellumconsiderations on thein bellorights of occupants, and the normative force of the traditional distinction between states and non-state armed groups, specially in conflicts not of an international character. Against the currently predominant neoclassical position in just war theory, it argues in favor of the moral equality of just and unjust occupants. Against the orthodox position in international law, it advocates the symmetrical treatment of states and non-state actors fighting internal armed conflicts, at least in terms of the rights they may claim on the territories under their control. It concludes by appraising the way in which this moral landscape should be translated into legal norms.
First record of the sandbar shark, Carcharhinus plumbeus, (Chondrichthyes: Carcharhiniformes: Carcharhinidae) from Indian waters
Authors: Sutaria Dipani , Parikh Aashi , Barnes Alissa , Jabado Rima W. 
Published: August 2015

The sandbar shark,Carcharhinus plumbeus,is a common coastal shark in the regions of the world where it occurs. Here, the first documented record of the sandbar shark is reported from north-western Indian waters, off the coast of Gujarat. Two specimens, one male and one female, were recorded and landed by a trawl vessel in Porbandar on 23 October 2014, measuring 610 and 760 mm in total length, respectively. This occurrence represents the first confirmed record ofC. plumbeusin both western and eastern Indian waters.
Rapid and efficient one-step generation of paired gRNA CRISPR-Cas9 libraries
Authors: Vidigal Joana A. , Ventura Andrea 
Published: August 2015

AbstractThe CRISPR-Cas9 system is a powerful tool to edit eukaryotic genomes that has recently been adapted for functional screens. Several of its applications—including the disruption of genes using Cas9-nickase and the generation of large deletions—require co-expression of two distinct guide RNAs (gRNAs). However, the lack of experimental approaches to generate pools of paired gRNA vectors prevents these applications from being scalable. Here we report a simple, inexpensive, one-step method that allows for the rapid and efficient cloning of gRNA pairs into expression vectors. We show that this method can be used to generate pooled libraries and is therefore suitable for in vivo and in vitro functional screens.
Significant association between functional microRNA polymorphisms and head and neck cancer susceptibility: a comprehensive meta-analysis
Authors: Niu Yu-Ming , Du Xin-Ya , Lu Ming-Yi , Xu Qiong-Li , Luo Jie , Shen Ming 
Published: August 2015

AbstractMolecular epidemiological studies have showed a closer association between microRNA polymorphisms with and head and neck cancer (HNC) risk. But the results of these studies were inconsistent. We performed this meta-analysis to clarify the associations between microRNA polymorphisms and HNC risk. Four electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, CNKI and Wanfang) were searched. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence interval (CIs) were calculated to assess the association between microRNA-146a rs2910164 G > C, microRNA-196a2 rs11614913 C > T, microRNA-149 rs2292832 C > T, microRNA-499 rs3746444 A > G polymorphisms and HNC risk. Heterogeneity, publication bias and sensitivity analysis were conducted to guarantee the statistical power. Overall, 11 selected articles involving 16100 subjects were included in this meta-analysis. Significantly increased risk between microRNA-146a rs2910164 G > C polymorphism and HNC risk were observed in Caucasian population (GC vs. GG: OR = 1.31, 95%CI = 1.01–1.68; GC + CC vs. GG: OR = 1.26, 95%CI = 1.02–1.57). For microRNA-196a2 rs11614913 C > T, similarly increased risk were also found in Asian population (T vs. C, OR = 1.14, 95%CI = 1.04–1.25; TT vs. CC, OR = 1.33, 95%CI = 1.09–1.61; CT + TT vs. CC OR = 1.32, 95%CI = 0.99–1.76; TT vs. CC + CT, OR = 1.14, 95%CI = 0.99–1.33). In addition, no significant association was detected between microRNA-149 rs2292832 C > T and microRNA-499 rs3746444 A > G polymorphism and HNC risk. This meta-analysis demonstrates that microRNA polymorphisms are associated with HNC development based on ethnicity diversity.
Quantitative analysis of magnetic spin and orbital moments from an oxidized iron (1 1 0) surface using electron magnetic circular dichroism
Authors: Thersleff Thomas , Rusz Jan , Rubino Stefano , Hjörvarsson Björgvin , Ito Yasuo , J. Zaluzec Nestor , Leifer Klaus 
Published: August 2015

AbstractUnderstanding the ramifications of reduced crystalline symmetry on magnetic behavior is a critical step in improving our understanding of nanoscale and interfacial magnetism. However, investigations of such effects are often controversial largely due to the challenges inherent in directly correlating nanoscale stoichiometry and structure to magnetic behavior. Here, we describe how to use Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) to obtain Electron Magnetic Circular Dichroism (EMCD) signals as a function of scattering angle to locally probe the magnetic behavior of thin oxide layers grown on an Fe (1 1 0) surface. Experiments and simulations both reveal a strong dependence of the magnetic orbital to spin ratio on its scattering vector in reciprocal space. We exploit this variation to extract the magnetic properties of the oxide cladding layer, showing that it locally may exhibit an enhanced orbital to spin moment ratio. This finding is supported here by both spatially and angularly resolved EMCD measurements, opening up the way for compelling investigations into how magnetic properties are affected by nanoscale features.
Reward feedback stimuli elicit high-beta EEG oscillations in human dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
Authors: HajiHosseini Azadeh , Holroyd Clay B. 
Published: August 2015

AbstractReward-related feedback stimuli have been observed to elicit a burst of power in the beta frequency range over frontal areas of the human scalp. Recent discussions have suggested possible neural sources for this activity but there is a paucity of empirical evidence on the question. Here we recorded EEG from participants while they navigated a virtual T-maze to find monetary rewards. Consistent with previous studies, we found that the reward feedback stimuli elicited an increase in beta power (20–30 Hz) over a right-frontal area of the scalp. Source analysis indicated that this signal was produced in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). These findings align with previous observations of reward-related beta oscillations in the DLPFC in non-human primates. We speculate that increased power in the beta frequency range following reward receipt reflects the activation of task-related neural assemblies that encode the stimulus-response mapping in working memory.
Discovery of a drug targeting microenvironmental support for lymphoma cells by screening using patient-derived xenograft cells
Authors: Sugimoto Keiki , Hayakawa Fumihiko , Shimada Satoko , Morishita Takanobu , Shimada Kazuyuki , Katakai Tomoya , Tomita Akihiro , Kiyoi Hitoshi , Naoe Tomoki 
Published: August 2015

AbstractCell lines have been used for drug discovery as useful models of cancers; however, they do not recapitulate cancers faithfully, especially in the points of rapid growth rate and microenvironment independency. Consequently, the majority of conventional anti-cancer drugs are less sensitive to slow growing cells and do not target microenvironmental support, although most primary cancer cells grow slower than cell lines and depend on microenvironmental support. Here, we developed a novel high throughput drug screening system using patient-derived xenograft (PDX) cells of lymphoma that maintained primary cancer cell phenotype more than cell lines. The library containing 2613 known pharmacologically active substance and off-patent drugs were screened by this system. We could find many compounds showing higher cytotoxicity than conventional anti-tumor drugs. Especially, pyruvinium pamoate showed the highest activity and its strong anti-tumor effect was confirmed also in vivo. We extensively investigated its mechanism of action and found that it inhibited glutathione supply from stromal cells to lymphoma cells, implying the importance of the stromal protection from oxidative stress for lymphoma cell survival and a new therapeutic strategy for lymphoma. Our system introduces a primary cancer cell phenotype into cell-based phenotype screening and sheds new light on anti-cancer drug development.
Herd-level bovine tuberculosis risk factors: assessing the role of low-level badger population disturbance
Authors: Wright David M. , Reid Neil , Ian Montgomery W. , Allen Adrian R. , Skuce Robin A. , Kao Rowland R. 
Published: August 2015

AbstractBovine TB (bTB) is endemic in Irish cattle and has eluded eradication despite considerable expenditure, amid debate over the relative roles of badgers and cattle in disease transmission. Using a comprehensive dataset from Northern Ireland (>10,000 km2; 29,513 cattle herds), we investigated interactions between host populations in one of the first large-scale risk factor analyses for new herd breakdowns to combine data on both species. Cattle risk factors (movements, international imports, bTB history, neighbours with bTB) were more strongly associated with herd risk than area-level measures of badger social group density, habitat suitability or persecution (sett disturbance). Highest risks were in areas of high badger social group density and high rates of persecution, potentially representing both responsive persecution of badgers in high cattle risk areas and effects of persecution on cattle bTB risk through badger social group disruption. Average badger persecution was associated with reduced cattle bTB risk (compared with high persecution areas), so persecution may contribute towards sustaining bTB hotspots; findings with important implications for existing and planned disease control programmes.
Theoretical Study of Large-Angle Bending Transport of Microparticles by 2D Acoustic Half-Bessel Beams
Authors: Li Yixiang , Qiu Chunyin , Xu Shengjun , Ke Manzhu , Liu Zhengyou 
Published: August 2015

AbstractConventional microparticle transports by light or sound are realized along a straight line. Recently, this limit has been overcome in optics as the growing up of the self-accelerating Airy beams, which are featured by many peculiar properties, e.g., bending propagation, diffraction-free and self-healing. However, the bending angles of Airy beams are rather small since they are only paraxial solutions of the two-dimensional (2D) Helmholtz equation. Here we propose a novel micromanipulation by using acoustic Half-Bessel beams, which are strict solutions of the 2D Helmholtz equation. Compared with that achieved by Airy beams, the bending angle of the particle trajectory attained here is much steeper (exceeding 90o). The large-angle bending transport of microparticles, which is robust to complex scattering environment, enables a wide range of applications from the colloidal to biological sciences.
Hierarchical Co-based Porous Layered Double Hydroxide Arrays Derived via Alkali Etching for High-performance Supercapacitors
Authors: Abushrenta Nasser , Wu Xiaochao , Wang Junnan , Liu Junfeng , Sun Xiaoming 
Published: August 2015

AbstractHierarchical nanoarchitecture and porous structure can both provide advantages for improving the electrochemical performance in energy storage electrodes. Here we report a novel strategy to synthesize new electrode materials, hierarchical Co-based porous layered double hydroxide (PLDH) arrays derived via alkali etching from Co(OH)2@CoAl LDH nanoarrays. This structure not only has the benefits of hierarchical nanoarrays including short ion diffusion path and good charge transport, but also possesses a large contact surface area owing to its porous structure which lead to a high specific capacitance (23.75 F cm−2 or 1734 F g−1 at 5 mA cm−2) and excellent cycling performance (over 85% after 5000 cycles). The enhanced electrode material is a promising candidate for supercapacitors in future application.
Application of Hybrid Fillers for Improving the Through-Plane Heat Transport in Graphite Nanoplatelet-Based Thermal Interface Layers
Authors: Tian Xiaojuan , Itkis Mikhail E. , Haddon Robert C. 
Published: August 2015

AbstractThe in-plane alignment of graphite nanoplatelets (GNPs) in thin thermal interface material (TIM) layers suppresses the though-plane heat transport thus limiting the performance of GNPs in the geometry normally required for thermal management applications. Here we report a disruption of the GNP in-plane alignment by addition of spherical microparticles. The degree of GNP alignment was monitored by measurement of the anisotropy of electrical conductivity which is extremely sensitive to the orientation of high aspect ratio filler particles. Scanning Electron Microscopy images of TIM layer cross-sections confirmed the suppression of the in-plane alignment. The hybrid filler formulations reported herein resulted in a synergistic enhancement of the through-plane thermal conductivity of GNP/Al2O3 and GNP/Al filled TIM layers confirming that the control of GNP alignment is an important parameter in the development of highly efficient GNP and graphene-based TIMs.
Variants in the Regulatory Region of WNT5A Reduced Risk of Cardiac Conotruncal Malformations in the Chinese Population
Authors: Li Peiqiang , Li Haijie , Zheng Yufang , Qiao Bin , Duan Wenyuan , Huang Lijuan , Liu Weiqi , Wang Hongyan 
Published: August 2015

AbstractWNT5A is one of the most highly investigated non-canonical Wnt ligands and is involved in the embryonic heart development, especially in formation of the cardiac conotruncal region by regulating the migration and differentiation of cardiac neural crest (CNC) and second heart field (SHF) cells. No study to date has comprehensively characterized theWNT5Aregulatory variants in patients with congenital heart malformations (CHMs). The association between regulatory variants of theWNT5Agene and CHMs was examined in case-control association study in 1,210 CHMs and 798 controls. Individuals carrying a homozygous genotype CC (rs524153) or GG (rs504849) had a similarly reduced risk of conotruncal malformations. The homozygous genotypes (CC for rs524153 and GG for rs504849) were associated with a lowerWNT5Atranscriptional level compared with the transcriptional level of those with wild-type genotypes. Further functional analysis revealed that an additional upstream single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) rs371954924 (–5244GCCA > CC) in a linkage disequilibrium (LD) block with the above genotyped SNPs decreasedWNT5Aexpression through the attenuated binding affinity with the transcription factor SOX9. This is the first demonstration that genetic variants in the regulatory regions ofWNT5Aplay a vital role in sporadic conotruncal malformations susceptibility through the changeable expression of theWNT5Agene.
A combination hydrogel microparticle-based vaccine prevents type 1 diabetes in non-obese diabetic mice
Authors: Yoon Young Mee , Lewis Jamal S. , Carstens Matthew R. , Campbell-Thompson Martha , Wasserfall Clive H. , Atkinson Mark A. , Keselowsky Benjamin G. 
Published: August 2015

AbstractTargeted delivery of self-antigens to the immune system in a mode that stimulates a tolerance-inducing pathway has proven difficult. To address this hurdle, we developed a vaccine based-approach comprised of two synthetic controlled-release biomaterials, poly(lactide-co-glycolide; PLGA) microparticles (MPs) encapsulating denatured insulin (key self-antigen in type 1 diabetes; T1D) and PuraMatrixTM peptide hydrogel containing granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and CpG ODN1826 (CpG), which were included as vaccine adjuvants to recruit and activate immune cells. Although CpG is normally considered pro-inflammatory, it also has anti-inflammatory effects, including enhancing IL-10 production. Three subcutaneous administrations of this hydrogel (GM-CSF/CpG)/insulin-MP vaccine protected 40% of NOD mice from T1D. In contrast, all control mice became diabetic. In vitro studies indicate CpG stimulation increased IL-10 production, as a potential mechanism. Multiple subcutaneous injections of the insulin containing formulation resulted in formation of granulomas, which resolved by 28 weeks. Histological analysis of these granulomas indicated infiltration of a diverse cadre of immune cells, with characteristics reminiscent of a tertiary lymphoid organ, suggesting the creation of a microenvironment to recruit and educate immune cells. These results demonstrate the feasibility of this injectable hydrogel/MP based vaccine system to prevent T1D.
Co-extinction in a host-parasite network: identifying key hosts for network stability
Authors: Dallas Tad , Cornelius Emily 
Published: August 2015

AbstractParasites comprise a substantial portion of total biodiversity. Ultimately, this means that host extinction could result in many secondary extinctions of obligate parasites and potentially alter host-parasite network structure. Here, we examined a highly resolved fish-parasite network to determine key hosts responsible for maintaining parasite diversity and network structure (quantified here as nestedness and modularity). We evaluated four possible host extinction orders and compared the resulting co-extinction dynamics to random extinction simulations; including host removal based on estimated extinction risk, parasite species richness and host level contributions to nestedness and modularity. We found that all extinction orders, except the one based on realistic extinction risk, resulted in faster declines in parasite diversity and network structure relative to random biodiversity loss. Further, we determined species-level contributions to network structure were best predicted by parasite species richness and host family. Taken together, we demonstrate that a small proportion of hosts contribute substantially to network structure and that removal of these hosts results in rapid declines in parasite diversity and network structure. As network stability can potentially be inferred through measures of network structure, our findings may provide insight into species traits that confer stability.