bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
On the Consistency of the CAP: Will European Agriculture Meet the Challenges It Faces?
Authors: Popp Jozsef , Jambor Attila 
Published: October 2015

SummaryThe latest reform of the Common Agricultural Policy has just been accepted, identifying important challenges for EU agriculture but proposing only limited changes to existing policy. Now it is time for the implementation of new measures. However, from a theoretical point of view, it seems that the CAP can hardly meet the challenges it faces due to the inconsistencies between the predefined challenges and the measures proposed to meet them. Economic, environmental and social challenges, identified by the Commission, do not seem to align with the measures proposed to meet them. Direct payments along with the EU's agricultural competitiveness and food quality policies do not help in reaching the food security goal, while greening measures can hardly contribute to the environmental challenges European agriculture is faced with. Moreover, current measures under the EU's rural development policy are ineffective in meeting the well‐known European social challenges. In addition, the CAP does not fully fit the needs of New Member States with different endowments and traditions. A new three pillar CAP, with phased‐out direct payments, focusing on climate smart agriculture and genuine rural development policy, along the lines we suggest, is key for the future.
Impact of pH and Total Soluble Solids on Enzyme Inactivation Kinetics during High Pressure Processing of Mango (Mangifera indica) Pulp
Authors: Kaushik Neelima , Nadella Tejaswi , Rao P. Srinivasa 
Published: October 2015

AbstractThis study was undertaken with an aim to enhance the enzyme inactivation during high pressure processing (HPP) with pH and total soluble solids (TSS) as additional hurdles. Impact of mango pulp pH (3.5, 4.0, 4.5) and TSS (15, 20, 25 °Brix) variations on the inactivation of pectin methylesterase (PME), polyphenol oxidase (PPO), and peroxidase (POD) enzymes were studied during HPP at 400 to 600 MPa pressure (P), 40 to 70 °C temperature (T), and 6‐ to 20‐min pressure‐hold time (t). The enzyme inactivation (%) was modeled using second order polynomial equations with a good fit that revealed that all the enzymes were significantly affected by HPP. Response surface and contour models predicted the kinetic behavior of mango pulp enzymes adequately as indicated by the small error between predicted and experimental data. The predicted kinetics indicated that for a fixed P and T, higher pulse pressure effect and increased isobaric inactivation rates were possible at lower levels of pH and TSS. In contrast, at a fixed pH or TSS level, an increase in P or T led to enhanced inactivation rates, irrespective of the type of enzyme. PPO and POD were found to have similar barosensitivity, whereas PME was found to be most resistant to HPP. Furthermore, simultaneous variation in pH and TSS levels of mango pulp resulted in higher enzyme inactivation at lower pH and TSS during HPP, where the effect of pH was found to be predominant than TSS within the experimental domain.
Changes in Volatile Compounds of Chinese Luzhou‐Flavor Liquor during the Fermentation and Distillation Process
Authors: Ding Xiaofei , Wu Chongde , Huang Jun , Zhou Rongqing 
Published: October 2015

AbstractThe aim of this study was to investigate the dynamic of volatile compounds in the Zaopei during the fermentation and distillation process by headspace solid‐phase microextraction‐gas chromatography mass spectrometry (HS‐SPME‐GCMS). Physicochemical properties analysis of Zaopei (fermented grains [FG], fermented grains mixed with sorghum [FGS], streamed grains [SG], and streamed grains mixed with Daqu [SGD]) showed distinct changes. A total number of 66 volatile compounds in the Zaopei were identified, in which butanoic acid, hexanoic acid, ethyl hexanoate, ethyl lactate, ethyl octanoate, hexyl hexanoate, ethyl hydrocinnamate, ethyl oleate, ethyl hexadecanoate, and ethyl linoleate were considered to be the dominant compounds due to their high concentrations. FG had the highest volatile compounds (112.43 mg/kg), which significantly decreased by 17.05% in the FGS, 67.12% in the SG, and 73.75% in the SGD. Furthermore, about 61.49% of volatile compounds of FGS were evaporated into raw liquor, whereas head, heart, and tail liquor accounted for 29.84%, 39.49%, and 30.67%, respectively. Each volatile class generally presented a decreasing trend, except for furans. Especially, the percentage of esters was 55.51% to 67.41% in the Zaopei, and reached 92.60% to 97.67% in the raw liquor. Principal component analysis based ordination of volatile compounds data segregated FGS and SGD samples. In addition, radar diagrams of the odor activity values suggested that intense flavor of fruit was weakened most from FG to SGD.
Impact of Precursors Creatine, Creatinine, and Glucose on the Formation of Heterocyclic Aromatic Amines in Grilled Patties of Various Animal Species
Authors: Gibis Monika , Weiss Jochen 
Published: October 2015

AbstractThe impact of precursors such as creatine, creatinine, and glucose on the formation of mutagenic/carcinogenic heterocyclic amines (HAs) were studied in patties of 9 different animal species equally heat treated with a double‐plate contact grill. All grilled patties of the various species (veal, beef, pork, lamb, horse, venison, turkey, chicken, ostrich) contained several HAs such as MeIQx (2‐amino‐3,8‐dimethylimidazo[4,5‐f] quinoxaline; 0.5‐1.4 ng/g), 4,8‐DiMeIQx (2‐amino‐3,4,8‐trimethylimidazo[4,5‐f] quinoxaline, 0 to 1.3 ng/g), PhIP (2‐amino‐1‐methyl‐6‐phenylimidazo[4,5‐b] pyridine, 1.2 to 10.5 ng/g), harman (1‐methyl‐9H‐pyrido[3,4‐b] indole; 0.5 to 3.2 ng/g), and/or norharman (9H‐pyrido[3,4‐b]indole 0.5 to 1.9 ng/g). Residual glycogen (glucose) content varied greatly from 0.07 to 1.46 wt% on a dry matter (DM) basis. Total creatin(in)e content in raw meat (1.36 to 2.0 wt% DM) hardly differed between species, except in turkey and ostrich (1.1 wt% DM). Chicken contained, compared to all other species, very low concentrations of glucose (0.07 wt% DM) and the highest levels of nonprotein nitrogen compounds. The free amino acids lysine (r = 0.77, P < 0.001), tyrosine, phenylalanine, proline, isoleucine, and aspartic acid (r = 0.47–0.56, P < 0.05) showed significant correlation to PhIP in chicken. Also a linear correlation was found to exist between PhIP (r = 0.87, P < 0.001) and MeIQx (r = 0.35, P < 0.01), and the molar ratio of creatin(in)e to glucose, respectively. Harman as co‐mutagens was linearly correlated to the concentration of glucose (r = 0.65, P < 0.001). By contrast, norharman was not significant correlated to glucose levels.
Clinical analysis of sixty‐four patients with T1aN2M0 stage non‐small cell lung cancer who had undergone resection
Authors: Xiong Jian , Wang Rui , Sun Yihua , Chen Haiquan 
Published: October 2015

AbstractBackgroundThe aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical features of T1aN2M0 stage non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).MethodFrom November 2008 to May 2013, 498 patients with T1a‐stage NSCLC who visited the Shanghai Cancer Center were included in the study. All patients underwent a lobectomy or segmentectomy with systematic nodal resection for primary lung cancer. Analyses of gender, smoking history, primary tumor site, tumor location, tumor size, pathological classification, cancer gene, pleural invasion, number of positive lymph nodes, skip N2, single or multiple station N2, progression‐free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) were performed.ResultThere were significant differences in tumor size, tumor size distribution, adenocarcinoma subgroup, and number of positive lymph nodes between patients at T1aN2M0 and T1aN0M0 stages. The most common histology of the T1aN2M0 subgroup was adenocarcinoma. Epidermal growth factor receptor mutations were the most common gene mutation in T1aN2M0 stage NSCLC. There were significant differences in five‐year OS and PFS rates between patients with T1aN2M0, T1aN0M0, and T1aN1M0 stages. Multivariate analyses of mediastinal lymph node metastasis showed that gender, tumor size distribution, and histology type were significant predictive factors. Multivariate analyses of OS and PFS rates in the T1aN2M0 subgroup showed that the number of positive lymph nodes was a significant predictive factor.ConclusionGender, tumor size distribution, and histology type were independent predictors of mediastinal lymph node metastasis in patients with T1a stage. The number of positive lymph nodes was significantly associated with OS and PFS rates in patients with T1aN2M0 stage NSCLC.
Quantifying variable importance in a multimodel inference framework
Authors: Giam Xingli , Olden Julian D. 
Published: October 2015

SummaryThe sum of Akaike weights (SW) is often used to quantify relative variable importance (RVI) within the information‐theoretic (IT) multimodel inference framework. A recent study (Galipaudet al. 2014,Methods in Ecology and Evolution5: 983) questioned the validity of the SW approach. Regrettably, this study is flawed because SW was evaluated with an inappropriate benchmark. Irrespective of this study's methodological issues, RVI metrics based on the relative contribution of explanatory variables in explaining the variance in the response variable (partitionedR2‐based) are lacking in multimodel inference.We re‐evaluated the validity of SW by repeating Galipaudet al.'s experiment but with an appropriate benchmark. When explanatory variables are uncorrelated, the quantity that SW estimates (i.e. the probability that a variable is included in the actual best IT model) is monotonically related to squared zero‐order correlation coefficients (r2) between explanatory variables and the response variable. The degree of correspondence between SW andr2rankings(notvalues) of variables in data sets with uncorrelated explanatory variables was therefore used as a benchmark to evaluate the validity of SW as a RVI metric. To address the lack of partitionedR2‐based RVI metrics in multimodel inference, we proposed 2 metrics: (a)Iweighted, the average model probability‐weighted partitionedR2; and (b)Ibest, the partitionedR2derived from the best IT model. We performed Monte Carlo simulations to evaluate the utility ofIweightedandIbestversus partitionedR2derived from the global model (Iglobal).SW rankings matchedr2rankings of variables; therefore, SW is a valid measure of RVI. Among partitionedR2‐based metrics,IweightedandIglobalwere generally more accurate in estimating the population partitionedR2.Iweightedperformed better when explanatory variables were uncorrelated, whereasIglobalwas better in smaller data sets with correlated explanatory variables. To improve the utility ofIweightedin such data sets, we proposed approaches to eliminate or reduce the influence of correlated variables.Despite recent criticisms, our results show that SW is a valid RVI metric. To quantify RVI in terms of theR2explained by each variable,IweightedandIglobalare the preferred RVI metrics.
Ethanol Inhibits γ‐Secretase Proteolytic Activity in Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells
Authors: Hatch Ekaterina , Morrow David , Liu Weimin , Cahill Paul A. , Redmond Eileen M. 
Published: October 2015

BackgroundEthanol (EtOH) inhibits Notch‐mediated vascular smooth muscle cell (SMC) proliferation, an event that is key in vessel remodeling and atherogenesis. The object of this study was to determine whether EtOH inhibits Notch signaling in SMC at the level of γ‐secretase, a protease that in concert with α‐secretase catalyzes the release of the intracellular domain of the Notch receptor necessary for signaling.MethodsHuman coronary artery SMCs (HCASMCs) were treated with a recombinant soluble Notch ligand, Delta‐like ligand 4 (DLL4) (2 μg/ml), or transfected with a constitutively active Notch 1 intracellular domain (N1ICD), in the absence or presence of EtOH. EtOH (25 mM) treatment inhibited DLL4‐stimulated CBF‐1/RBP‐Jk‐dependent promoter activity (determined by luciferase assay) and downstream target gene HRT‐3 mRNA levels. In contrast, EtOH had no effect on N1ICD‐driven CBF‐1/RBP‐Jk‐dependent promoter activity or HRT‐3 expression.ResultsThese data suggest that EtOH inhibits Notch signaling at, or prior to, Notch intracellular domain (NICD) generation. γ‐Secretase activity was determined in solubilized membrane preparations from HCASMC treated with/without EtOH (25 mM) or the γ‐secretase inhibitor DAPT (20 μM) using (i) a fluorometric assay and (ii) Western blot detection of cleavage products using a Flag‐tagged Notch‐based substrate, N100Flag. EtOH inhibited basal and DLL4‐stimulated γ‐secretase activity, and SMC growth to a similar extent as DAPT, whereas it had no effect on α‐secretase (TACE/ADAM17) activity also determined by fluorometric assay. Moreover, EtOH treatment inhibited the expression of caveolin‐1, a lipid raft protein implicated in regulating γ‐secretase activity, and altered its cellular distribution in HCASMC.ConclusionsEtOH inhibits Notch signaling in vascular SMCs at the level of γ‐secretase activity, possibly by affecting lipid raft function. Such a response might be expected to result in attenuation of pathologic vessel remodeling and thus may contribute to moderate alcohols' cardioprotective effects.
Heritability and confirmation of genetic association studies for childhood asthma in twins
Authors: Ullemar V. , Magnusson P. K. E. , Lundholm C. , Zettergren A. , Melén E. , Lichtenstein P. , Almqvist C. 
Published: October 2015

AbstractBackgroundAlthough the genetics of asthma has been extensively studied using both quantitative and molecular genetic analysis methods, both approaches lack studies specific to the childhood phenotype and including other allergic diseases. This study aimed to give specific estimates for the heritability of childhood asthma and other allergic diseases, to attempt to replicate findings from genomewide association studies (GWAS) for childhood asthma and to test the same variants against other allergic diseases.MethodsIn a cohort of 25 306 Swedish twins aged 9 or 12 years, data on asthma were available from parental interviews and population‐based registers. The interviews also inquired about wheeze, hay fever, eczema, and food allergy. Through structural equation modeling, the heritability of all phenotypes was calculated. A subset of 10 075 twins was genotyped for 16 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) selected from previous GWAS; these were first tested for association with asthma and significant findings also against the other allergic diseases.ResultsThe heritability of any childhood asthma was 0.82 (95% CI 0.79–0.85). For the other allergic diseases, the range was approximately 0.60–0.80. Associations for six SNPs with asthma were replicated, including rs2305480 in the GSDMB gene (OR 0.80, 95% CI 0.74–0.86, P = 1.5*10−8; other significant associations all below P = 3.5*10−4). Of these, only rs3771180 in IL1RL1 was associated with any other allergic disease (for hay fever, OR 0.64, 95% CI 0.53–0.77, P = 2.5*10−6).ConclusionAsthma and allergic diseases of childhood are highly heritable, and these high‐risk genetic variants associated specifically with childhood asthma, except for one SNP shared with hay fever.
A Flexible AFT Model for Misclassified Clustered Interval-Censored Data
Authors: García-Zattera María José , Jara Alejandro , Komárek Arnošt 
Published: October 2015

SummaryMotivated by a longitudinal oral health study, we propose a flexible modeling approach for clustered time-to-event data, when the response of interest can only be determined to lie in an interval obtained from a sequence of examination times (interval-censored data) and on top of that, the determination of the occurrence of the event is subject to misclassification. The clustered time-to-event data are modeled using an accelerated failure time model with random effects and by assuming a penalized Gaussian mixture model for the random effects terms to avoid restrictive distributional assumptions concerning the event times. A general misclassification model is discussed in detail, considering the possibility that different examiners were involved in the assessment of the occurrence of the events for a given subject across time. A Bayesian implementation of the proposed model is described in a detailed manner. We additionally provide empirical evidence showing that the model can be used to estimate the underlying time-to-event distribution and the misclassification parameters without any external information about the latter parameters. We also provide results of a simulation study to evaluate the effect of neglecting the presence of misclassification in the analysis of clustered time-to-event data.
Changes in Habitat Use at Rain Forest Edges Through Succession: a Case Study of Understory Birds in the Brazilian Amazon
Authors: Powell Luke L. , Zurita Gustavo , Wolfe Jared D. , Johnson Erik I. , Stouffer Philip C 
Published: October 2015

AbstractPrimary tropical rain forests are being rapidly perforated with new edges via roads, logging, and pastures, and vast areas of secondary forest accumulate following abandonment of agricultural lands. To determine how insectivorous Amazonian understory birds respond to edges between primary rain forest and three age classes of secondary forest, we radio‐tracked two woodcreepers (Glyphorynchus spirurus, N = 17; Xiphorhynchus pardalotus, N = 18) and a terrestrial antthrush (Formicarius colma, N = 19). We modeled species‐specific response to distance to forest edge (a continuous variable) based on observations at varying distances from the primary‐secondary forest interface. All species avoided 8–14‐yr‐old secondary forest. Glyphorynchus spirurus and F. colma mostly remained within primary forest <100 m from the young edge. Young F. colma rarely penetrated >100 m into secondary forest 27–31 yr old. Young Formicarius colma and most G. spirurus showed a unimodal response to 8–14‐yr‐old secondary forest, with relative activity concentrated just inside primary forest. After land abandonment, G. spirurus was the first to recover to the point where there was no detectable edge response (after 11–14 yr), whereas X. pardalotus was intermediate (15–20 yr), and F. colma last (28–30 yr +). Given the relatively quick recovery by our woodcreeper species, new legislation on protection of secondary forests > 20‐yr old in Brazil's Pará state may represent a new opportunity for conservation and management; however, secondary forest must mature to at least 30 yr before the full compliment of rain forest‐dependent species can use secondary forest without adverse edge effects.
Plant Ontogeny as a Conditionality Factor in the Protective Effect of Ants on a Neotropical Tree
Authors: Koch Elmo B. A. , Camarota Flávio , Vasconcelos Heraldo L. 
Published: October 2015

AbstractThe outcome of any interspecific interaction is often determined by the ecological context in which the interacting species are embedded. Plant ontogeny may represent an important source of variation in the outcome of ant–plant mutualisms, as the level of investment in ant rewards, in alternative (non‐biotic) defenses, or both, may be modulated by the plant's developmental stage. In addition, the abundance and identities of the ants involved in the interaction may change during ontogeny of the host‐plant. Here, we evaluated if plant ontogeny affects the interaction between ants and a savanna tree species (Caryocar brasiliense) that produces extrafloral nectar. We found fewer ants per branch and fewer species of ants per tree in juvenile than in reproductive trees of medium and large size. In addition, large‐sized reproductive trees were more likely to host more aggressive ants than were medium‐sized reproductive or juvenile trees. Such differences strongly affected the outcome of the interaction between ants and their host‐plants, as the magnitude of the effect of ants on herbivory was much stronger for large trees than for juvenile ones. The fact that we did not find significant ontogenetic variation in the concentration of leaf tannins suggests that the observed differences in herbivory did not result from a differential investment in chemical defenses among different‐sized plants. Overall, the results of our study indicate that the developmental stage of the host plant is an important factor of conditionality in the interaction betweenC. brasilienseand arboreal foraging ants.
Neural Correlates of Self and Its Interaction With Memory in Healthy Adolescents
Authors: Dégeilh Fanny , Guillery‐Girard Bérengère , Dayan Jacques , Gaubert Malo , Chételat Gaël , Egler Pierre‐Jean , Baleyte Jean‐Marc , Eustache Francis , Viard Armelle 
Published: October 2015

Adolescence is marked by the development of personal identity and is associated with structural and functional changes in brain regions associated with Self processing. Yet, little is known about the neural correlates of self‐reference processing and self‐reference effect in adolescents. This functional magnetic resonance imaging study consists of a self‐reference paradigm followed by a recognition test proposed to 30 healthy adolescents aged 13–18 years old. Results showed that the rostral anterior cingulate cortex is specifically involved in self‐reference processing and that this specialization develops gradually from 13 to 18 years old. The self‐reference effect is associated with increased brain activation changes during encoding, suggesting that the beneficial effect of Self on memory may occur at encoding of self‐referential information, rather than at retrieval.
A robust nonparametric method for quantifying undetected extinctions
Authors: Chisholm Ryan A. , Giam Xingli , Sadanandan Keren R. , Fung Tak , Rheindt Frank E. 
Published: October 2015

AbstractHow many species have gone extinct in modern times before being described by science? To answer this question, and thereby get a full assessment of humanity's impact on biodiversity, statistical methods that quantify undetected extinctions are required. Such methods have been developed recently, but they are limited by their reliance on parametric assumptions; specifically, they assume the pools of extant and undetected species decay exponentially, whereas real detection rates vary temporally with survey effort and real extinction rates vary with the waxing and waning of threatening processes. We devised a new, nonparametric method for estimating undetected extinctions. As inputs, the method requires only the first and last date at which each species in an ensemble was recorded. As outputs, the method provides estimates of the proportion of species that have gone extinct, detected, or undetected and, in the special case where the number of undetected extant species in the present day is assumed close to zero, of the absolute number of undetected extinct species. The main assumption of the method is that the per‐species extinction rate is independent of whether a species has been detected or not. We applied the method to the resident native bird fauna of Singapore. Of 195 recorded species, 58 (29.7%) have gone extinct in the last 200 years. Our method projected that an additional 9.6 species (95% CI 3.4, 19.8) have gone extinct without first being recorded, implying a true extinction rate of 33.0% (95% CI 31.0%, 36.2%). We provide R code for implementing our method. Because our method does not depend on strong assumptions, we expect it to be broadly useful for quantifying undetected extinctions.