bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Assessing sequence plasticity of a virus-like nanoparticle by evolution toward a versatile scaffold for vaccines and drug delivery
Authors: Lu Yuan , Chan Wei , Ko Benjamin Y. , VanLang Christopher C. , Swartz James R. 
Published: September 2015

Significance
Particle instability, antigen fusion limitations, and intrinsic immunogenicity greatly limit the development of virus-like particles (VLPs). To address these problems, the Hepatitis B core protein (HBc) VLP was extensively modified to improve its functional properties by introducing an artificial disulfide network, removing the surface charge, and transplanting a new surface spike region. This study systematically explores the plasticity of viral capsids and, thereby, expands our knowledge regarding the relevant structure function relationships. Notably, we uncovered the influence of the HBc spike and its negative charges on capsid assembly and immunogenicity. Our observations on the unexpected importance of the HBc spike tip charged state suggest unexplored mechanisms for antiviral therapeutics that block capsid assembly.
Comprehensive assessment of cancer missense mutation clustering in protein structures
Authors: Kamburov Atanas , Lawrence Michael S. , Polak Paz , Leshchiner Ignaty , Lage Kasper , Golub Todd R. , Lander Eric S. , Getz Gad 
Published: September 2015

SignificanceTumor sequencing efforts have enabled the identification of cancer genes based on an excess of mutations in the gene or clustering of mutations along the (one-dimensional) DNA sequence of the gene. Here, we show that this approach can be extended to identify cancer genes based on clustering of mutations relative to the 3D structure of the protein product. By analyzing the PanCancer compendium of somatic mutations in nearly 5,000 tumors, we identified known cancer genes and previously unidentified candidates based on clustering of missense mutations in protein structures or at interfaces with binding partners. In addition, we found that 3D clustering is present in both oncoproteins and tumor suppressors—contrary to the view that such clustering is a hallmark of oncoproteins.
Increased brain uptake of targeted nanoparticles by adding an acid-cleavable linkage between transferrin and the nanoparticle core
Authors: Clark Andrew J. , Davis Mark E. 
Published: September 2015

Significance
Treatment for many neurological diseases is hindered by the inability of therapeutic agents to cross the blood–brain barrier (BBB). Here, we show a method for increasing the ability of high-avidity, transferrin (Tf)-containing nanoparticles to enter the brain through transcytosis. Tf was attached to nanoparticles through an acid-cleavable linkage that facilities release of nanoparticles from Tf that are bound to Tf receptors (TfR) during transcytosis, promoting entry of the nanoparticles into the brain. This method is an improvement over previous high-affinity, TfR-targeted therapeutics that were restricted by BBB endothelium and mostly excluded from entering the brain. Increased brain accumulation of nanoparticles via this methodology should allow for greater delivery of encapsulated therapeutic agents at lower systemic doses.
Assessing the Magnitude of Effect of Hydroelectric Production on Lake Sturgeon Abundance in Ontario
Authors: Haxton Tim , Friday Mike , Cano Tim , Hendry Charles 
Published: September 2015

Abstract
The presence of hydroelectric power generating facilities has been identified as the primary factor affecting the variation in relative abundance of Lake Sturgeon Acipenser fulvescens in rivers across Ontario. Qualitatively, these facilities are known to have impacts on the aquatic environment, and they can be inferred to have effects on Lake Sturgeon; however, few studies quantifying these effects are available. Our objectives were to (1) determine and compare the magnitude of effect (d) of hydroelectric facility operating regimes on Lake Sturgeon abundance; (2) compare Lake Sturgeon biological responses among river systems with different operating regimes in order to understand the potential limiting factors within these systems; and (3) assess the effectiveness of mitigation efforts where they have been employed. A standardized index netting program targeting juveniles and adults was conducted over two field seasons at 23 river sites across Ontario. The magnitude of effect on abundance (as indicated by d) was lowest in run-of-the-river systems and was considered large in peaking systems and winter reservoir systems. Relative abundance was significantly greater in unregulated rivers than in regulated rivers. Juvenile abundance was significantly greater in run-of-the-river systems than in peaking systems and winter reservoirs and was significantly greater in peaking systems than in winter reservoirs. Adult abundance did not significantly differ among operating regimes. Growth was faster and condition was significantly greater in unregulated systems than in regulated systems. Recruitment of Lake Sturgeon was highly variable in both regulated and unregulated systems, whereas recruitment failure was more evident in regulated systems, particularly in peaking systems.
Received April 5, 2015; accepted July 2, 2015
Characterization of a novel thiosulfate dehydrogenase from a marine acidophilic sulfur-oxidizing bacterium, Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans strain SH
Authors: Sharmin Sultana , Yoshino Eriko , Kanao Tadayoshi , Kamimura Kazuo 
Published: September 2015

Abstract
A marine acidophilic sulfur-oxidizing bacterium, Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans strain SH, was isolated to develop a bioleaching process for NaCl-containing sulfide minerals. Because the sulfur moiety of sulfide minerals is metabolized to sulfate via thiosulfate as an intermediate, we purified and characterized the thiosulfate dehydrogenase (TSD) from strain SH. The enzyme had an apparent molecular mass of 44 kDa and was purified 71-fold from the solubilized membrane fraction. Tetrathionate was the product of the TSD-oxidized thiosulfate and ferricyanide or ubiquinone was the electron acceptor. Maximum enzyme activity was observed at pH 4.0, 40 °C, and 200 mM NaCl. To our knowledge, this is the first report of NaCl-stimulated TSD activity. TSD was structurally different from the previously reported thiosulfate-oxidizing enzymes. In addition, TSD activity was strongly inhibited by 2-heptyl-4-hydroxy-quinoline N-oxide, suggesting that the TSD is a novel thiosulfate:quinone reductase.
Vertical Distribution of Age-0 Walleye Pollock during Late Summer: Environment or Ontogeny?
Authors: Parker-Stetter Sandra L. , Horne John K. , Urmy Samuel S. , Heintz Ron A. , Eisner Lisa B. , Farley Edward V. 
Published: September 2015

Abstract
Variability in the late-summer vertical distribution of age-0 Walleye Pollock Gadus chalcogrammus in the southeastern Bering Sea has been attributed to a range of physical and biological factors. Using acoustic data (38 and 120 kHz) collected during the 2010 Bering Aleutian Salmon International Survey (BASIS) and dedicated high-resolution surveys (HR1 and HR2), we evaluated whether late-summer distributions could be explained by water column properties (environment) or whether sampling was likely occurring during the ontogenetic shift of age-0 Walleye Pollock from near-surface habitat to demersal habitat (ontogeny). Neither water column attributes (temperature, relative temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and density gradient) nor the acoustic density of zooplankton prey strongly predicted the acoustic estimates of age-0 Walleye Pollock vertical presence or density. At 6 of 10 paired BASIS–HR1 stations, age-0 Walleye Pollock shifted deeper in the water column between BASIS sampling and the HR1 sampling conducted 8–34 d later. There were no consistent differences in FL (P &gt; 0.05 for 2 of 4 station pairs) or energy density (P &gt; 0.05 for 3 station pairs) between age-0 Walleye Pollock caught in near-surface trawls and those caught in midwater trawls. Our data suggest that the observation of both near-surface and midwater age-0 Walleye Pollock during late summer is likely due to an ontogenetic habitat shift; however, the causative factor was not clear given the limited sample sizes and explanatory variables. The timing of the ontogenetic shift, which appears to have begun before August 18, 2010, can ultimately affect survey strategies, and knowledge of this timing can provide additional insight into factors affecting the overwinter survival of age-0 Walleye Pollock.
Received December 5, 2014; accepted May 10, 2015
Spectral Theory for Noncommuting Operators
Authors: Johnson Gerald W. , Lapidus Michel L. , Nielsen Lance 
Published: September 2015

AbstractThis chapter, on spectral theory for noncommuting operators, seeks to extend the operational calculus beyond the setting of the analytic functions in the disentangling algebra. When the Banach space is replaced with a Hilbert space, and the operators under consideration are bounded and self-adjoint, it is shown that the domain of the operational calculus (i.e. the domain of the disentangling map) is much richer than the disentangling algebra. The approach taken in this chapter relies in part on a stability result from Chapter 7, as well as on techniques from probability theory and the theory of distributions (in particular, the Paley–Wiener–Schwartz theorem). Also considered in this chapter is a simple class of “Trotter product formulas” that are suitable for Feynman’s operational calculus in the general Banach space setting.
Microbiology of nests and eggs
Authors: West A. , Cassey P. , Thomas C. M. 
Published: September 2015

AbstractMicrobes on the surface of the eggshell are associated with increased infection rates of the inner egg and reduced hatchability. The species of microbes and their relative abundance are highly variable between the nests and eggs of different birds. Various strategies are employed by the incubating bird and the egg itself, to reduce the chances of microbial infection, including using nest materials with particular anti-microbial properties. The avian egg is largely an inhospitable environment for microbial growth, incorporating a variety of anti-microbial chemicals with a broad range of targets and modes of activity, from direct lysis of bacterial cells to sequestration of molecules essential for their metabolism. This chapter discusses these strategies and the influence of other factors on infection rates such as nest humidity, uropygial secretions, male quality, egg laying sequence and incubation delay, and how these affect microbes in the nest, on the shell, and inside the egg.
Influence of incubation temperature on offspring phenotype and fitness in birds
Authors: Hepp G.R. , DuRant S.E. , Hopkins W.A. 
Published: September 2015

AbstractIncubation is an important reproductive cost in birds. Because optimal development of avian embryos occurs within a narrow range of incubation temperatures, incubating birds are challenged to balance the demands of self-maintenance with the thermal requirements of developing embryos. the chapter's review shows that low incubation temperatures slow the development of avian embryos leading to longer incubation periods and reduced neonate quality. Embryos incubated at low temperatures generally use more energy which reduces the body mass and nutrient reserves of newly hatched chicks. Furthermore, this carries over to later life stages of young birds and negatively affects their subsequent growth, immunocompetence, metabolic rate, thermoregulatory ability, and locomotor performance. Evidence suggests that changes to the phenotypic quality of birds induced by low incubation temperatures reduce their survival, recruitment to the breeding population, and subsequent reproductive success. The chapter proposes additional research to test the strength, generality, and consequences of temperature-induced phenotypes in birds.
Convolution Semigroups; The Poisson and Heat Kernels on Rn
Authors: Taheri Ali 
Published: September 2015

AbstractThis chapter discusses convolutions on ℝn in detail. The Banach algebra L1 and approximations to identity are introduced and studied. Various applications including Young’s convolution inequality, boundedness of Riesz potentials and Loomis-Whitney inequality are discussed. A detailed discussion of the Cauchy initial value problem for the wave equation on ℝn is also covered at the end.
Second Order Equations in Divergence Form: Measurable Coefficients
Authors: Taheri Ali 
Published: September 2015

AbstractOptimal Holder regularity results on solutions to second order equations in divergence form with measurable coefficients are presented. Caccioppolli inequality on level sets and De Girogis method along with Moser iteration are discussed. Harnack inequality and local boundedness of solutions are also studied at the end.
The Unwaved Flag
Authors: Lee Lois 
Published: September 2015

Abstract
This chapter focuses on material and symbolic non-religious representations, calling particular attention to the banal forms that surround people in contemporary England, as, perhaps, elsewhere. These incarnations of the non-religious often seem unremarkable and yet they establish and reproduce non-religious norms as well as secularist ones. This taken-for-grantedness is perhaps especially powerful when it comes to material non-religion, not only because people in Western cultural contexts are more attuned to intellectual aspects of non-religion over other dimensions, but also because people often take the material world for granted in general. Recognizing the diversity of material forms of non-religion therefore opens up new ways of understanding these cultures beyond the intellectual and, in considering the mundaneness of these forms, shows how what is ostensibly secular may have non-religious currents running beneath.
Disaffiliation and Misaffiliation
Authors: Lee Lois 
Published: September 2015

Abstract
This chapter is a case study of self-classification, looking at representations of the self as ‘atheist’, ‘non-religious’, and ‘secular’, and the work that these representations do. It points to ways in which people in so-called secular societies are required to conceive of themselves in non-religious terms, that is, in relation to the religious people and cultures also present in these societies. It problematizes the idea of ‘secularity’ as a way to capture these empirical realities, demonstrating how the idea of the insubstantial secular is instead inscribed in self-understandings and social relations through the use of negative or inverted identities—‘atheist’, ‘not religious’, and ‘indifferent to religion’. Despite taking these forms, though, apparently negative identities express much richer and discrete commitments and therefore compete with more explicitly positive identities such as ‘humanism’.
A subpopulation that may correspond to granulocytic myeloid-derived suppressor cells reflects the clinical stage and progression of cutaneous melanoma
Authors: Stanojevic Ivan , Miller Karolina , Kandolf-Sekulovic Lidija , Mijuskovic Zeljko , Zolotarevski Lidija , Jovic Milena , Gacevic Milomir , Djukic Mirjana , Arsenijevic Nebojsa , Vojvodic Danilo 
Published: September 2015

AbstractSeventy-eight melanoma patients and 10 healthy individuals were examined. Follow-up examinations of all melanoma patients were performed regularly every three months. Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) were defined as lineage negative (CD3 − , CD19 − , CD56 − ), HLA-DR −/low , CD11b + and CD33 + . Classification of granulocytic (GrMDSC) and monocytic (MoMDSC) subsets was based on the CD15 and CD14 expression, respectively. Unlike the MoMDSC, that were present in 60% of healthy controls and 15% of melanoma patients, the GrMDSC were present in all examined participants, and the melanoma patients were found to have statistically higher frequencies compared with healthy controls. Accordingly, we kept focused on GrMDSC frequencies in relation to the melanoma stages and course of the disease. The GrMDSC values are highest in stage IV melanoma patients, with statistical significance compared with stages IA, IB, IIA and IIB. Patients with progression had statistically higher GrMDSC counts comparing with those with stable disease ( P = 0.0079). Patients who had progression-free interval (PFI) &lt; 12 months showed significantly higher GrMDSC values compared with those with PFI &gt; 12 months ( P = 0.0333). GrMDSC showed significant negative correlation with PFI intervals ( P = 0.0095). The GrMDSC subset was predominant in all our patients. We confirmed that GrMDSC do accumulate early in the peripheral blood of melanoma patients and their frequencies correlate narrowly with the clinical stage and the spread of the disease. The increase in GrMDSC frequencies correlates well with a progressive disease and could be considered a potential predictive biomarker of high-risk melanoma cases that are more likely to have a shorter PFI.
Incidence of Carpal Coalition in the Pediatric Population
Authors: Pruszczynski Blazej , Saller Jeremy , Rogers Kenneth J. , Holmes Laurens , Ty Jennifer M. 
Published: September 2015

Background:
Carpal coalitions (CCs) result from the failure of segmentation of the carpal anlage in early development. In the adult population, CC is usually described as an asymptomatic radiographic finding. Data on CC in the pediatric population are limited. This study examines the prevalence of CC in the pediatric population and characterizes the presentation and associated musculoskeletal conditions.

Methods:
We used a cross-sectional design to assess data collected from all patients seen in our institution and associated facilities from August 2004 through February 2013. In total, 20,929 patients had an upper extremity x-ray taken that included the wrist. A natural language software recognition program for key words identified 104 patients with CC. Period prevalence and demographic and radiographic data were estimated using frequency and percentages.

Results:
The period prevalence of CC in this population was 5:1000. The initial age at the radiologic CC presentation varies between types. The most common CC (luno-triquetral, 69.2%) had a mean age at presentation of 12 y 11 mo. The second most frequent CC (capito-hamate, 17.2%) had a mean age at presentation of 8 y 2 mo. CCs were more prevalent among African American children; however, capito-hamate coalitions (the second most common coalition) were more often observed in whites. CC was symptomatic in 2 patients. Thirty-nine patients had associated conditions such as skeletal dysplasia and limb deformity, and most of these patients were diagnosed with capito-hamate coalitions.

Conclusions:
The period prevalence of CC in this pediatric population is 5:1000. Similar prevalence has been reported in other studies. Although the prevalence of CC is comparable by sex, it is most common among African American children. The most common CC is luno-triquetral followed by capito-hamate. Capito-hamate coalitions were more common among patients with associated conditions and were diagnosed at a younger age relative to other subtypes in our group.

Level of Evidence:
Level IV—prognostic case series.
Childhood Obesity Increases the Risk of Failure in the Treatment of Distal Forearm Fractures
Authors: Auer Ronald T. , Mazzone Paul , Robinson Luke , Nyland John , Chan Gilbert 
Published: September 2015

Background:
Childhood obesity is a national problem that has gained significant attention in both the medical literature and the national media. Obesity in the adult population has been associated with increased failure of conservative treatments. Our hypothesis is that childhood obesity is associated with a loss of reduction after closed treatment of distal radius fractures.

Methods:
A total of 157 patients with consecutive distal radius fractures who underwent closed reduction in the emergency department or the operating room were included from the office records of the sole pediatric orthopaedic subspecialist group in a metropolitan area from January 2011 to June 2012. All cases were initially treated with fiberglass casting with or without closed reduction. All patients completed the casting treatment and demonstrated radiographic union. Patients’ age, weight, height, number of office visits, subsequent surgeries, and fracture angulation were recorded and analyzed.

Results:
Sixty-six (42%) children were overweight (BMI>85th percentile) and 46 (29%) children met the criteria for obesity (BMI>95th percentile). Fourteen normal-sized children (12%) and 13 obese children (28%) required a reduction in the operating room after initial treatment, which was significant (P=0.02). Obese children needed significantly more visits requiring radiographs (P=0.004). Obese children were significantly less likely to have an initial perfect reduction in the emergency room (P=0.005).

Conclusions:
The results of closed reduction and casting for displaced distal radius fractures are typically excellent with few complications or risks. The present study supports the hypothesis that obesity results in a higher rate of malreduction and subsequent manipulations with closed reduction and casting. Close follow-up and early consideration for additional treatment in this patient population may help reduce the need for further manipulations.

Level of Evidence:
Level III.
Landscape structure and management alter the outcome of a pesticide ERA: evaluating impacts of endocrine disruption using the ALMaSS European Brown Hare model
Authors: Topping Chris J. , Dalby Lars , Skov Flemming 
Published: September 2015

ABSTRACTThere is a gradual change towards explicitly considering landscapes in regulatory risk assessment. To realise the objective of developing representative scenarios for risk assessment it is necessary to know how detailed a landscape representation is needed to generate a realistic risk assessment, and indeed how to generate such landscapes. This paper evaluates the contribution of landscape and farming components to a model based risk assessment of a fictitious endocrine disruptor on hares. In addition, we present methods and code examples for generation of landscape structures and farming simulation from data collected primarily for EU agricultural subsidy support and GIS map data.Ten different Danish landscapes were generated and the ERA carried out for each landscape using two different assumed toxicities. The results showed negative impacts in all cases, but the extent and form in terms of impacts on abundance or occupancy differed greatly between landscapes. A meta-model was created, predicting impact from landscape and farming characteristics. Scenarios based on all combinations of farming and landscape for five landscapes representing extreme and middle impacts were created. The meta-models developed from the 10 real landscapes failed to predict impacts for these 25 scenarios. Landscape, farming, and the emergent density of hares all influenced the results of the risk assessment considerably.The study indicates that prediction of a reasonable worst case scenario is difficult from structural, farming or population metrics; rather the emergent properties generated from interactions between landscape, management and ecology are needed. Meta-modelling may also fail to predict impacts, even when restricting inputs to combinations of those used to create the model. Future ERA may therefore need to make use of multiple scenarios representing a wide range of conditions to avoid locally unacceptable risks. This approach could now be feasible Europe wide given the landscape generation methods presented.