bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Specific binding of Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin fragment to Claudin‐b and modulation of zebrafish epidermal barrier
Authors: Zhang Jingjing , Ni Chen , Yang Zhenguo , Piontek Anna , Chen Huapu , Wang Sijie , Fan Yiming , Qin Zhihai , Piontek Joerg 
Published: April 2015

AbstractClaudins (Cldn) are the major components of tight junctions (TJs) sealing the paracellular cleft in tissue barriers of various organs. Zebrafish Cldnb, the homolog of mammalian Cldn4, is expressed at epithelial cell–cell contacts and is important for regulating epidermal permeability. The bacterial toxin Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin (CPE) has been shown to bind to a subset of mammalian Cldns. In this study, we used the Cldn‐binding C‐terminal domain of CPE (194–319 amino acids, cCPE194–319) to investigate its functional role in modulating zebrafish larval epidermal barriers. In vitro analyses show that cCPE194–319 removed Cldn4 from epithelial cells and disrupted the monolayer tightness, which could be rescued by the removal of cCPE194–319. Incubation of zebrafish larvae with cCPE194–319 removed Cldnb specifically from the epidermal cell membrane. Dye diffusion analysis with 4‐kDa fluorescent dextran indicated that the permeability of the epidermal barrier increased due to cCPE194–319 incubation. Electron microscopic investigation revealed reversible loss of TJ integrity by Cldnb removal. Collectively, these results suggest that cCPE194–319 could be used as a Cldnb modulator to transiently open the epidermal barrier in zebrafish. In addition, zebrafish might be used as an in vivo system to investigate the capability of cCPE to enhance drug delivery across tissue barriers.
An acyltransferase domain of FK506 polyketide synthase recognizing both an acyl carrier protein and coenzyme A as acyl donors to transfer allylmalonyl and ethylmalonyl units
Authors: Jiang Hui , Wang Yue‐Yue , Guo Yuan‐Yang , Shen Jie‐Jie , Zhang Xiao‐Sheng , Luo Hong‐Dou , Ren Ni‐Ni , Jiang Xin‐Hang , Li Yong‐Quan 
Published: April 2015

Acyltransferase (AT) domains of polyketide synthases (PKSs) usually use coenzyme A (CoA) as an acyl donor to transfer common acyl units to acyl carrier protein (ACP) domains, initiating incorporation of acyl units into polyketides. Two clinical immunosuppressive agents, FK506 and FK520, are biosynthesized by the same PKSs in several Streptomyces strains. In this study, characterization of AT4FkbB (the AT domain of the fourth module of FK506 PKS) in transacylation reactions showed that AT4FkbB recognizes both an ACP domain (ACPTcsA) and CoA as acyl donors for transfer of a unique allylmalonyl (AM) unit to an acyl acceptor ACP domain (ACP4FkbB), resulting in FK506 production. In addition, AT4FkbB uses CoA as an acyl donor to transfer an unusual ethylmalonyl (EM) unit to ACP4FkbB, resulting in FK520 production, and transfers AM units to non‐native ACP acceptors. Characterization of AT4FkbB in self‐acylation reactions suggests that AT4FkbB controls acyl unit specificity in transacylation reactions but not in self‐acylation reactions. Generally, AT domains of PKSs only recognize one acyl donor; however, we report here that AT4FkbB recognizes two acyl donors for the transfer of different acyl units.DatabaseNucleotide sequence data have been submitted to the GenBank database under accession numbers KJ000382 and KJ000383.
Remote nondestructive evaluation technique using infrared thermography for fatigue cracks in steel bridges
Authors: Sakagami T. 
Published: April 2015

AbstractLong‐standing infrastructure is subject to structural deterioration. In this respect, steel bridges suffer fatigue cracks, which necessitate immediate inspection, structural integrity evaluation or repair. However, the inaccessibility of such structures makes inspection time consuming and labour intensive. Therefore, there is an urgent need for developing high‐performance nondestructive evaluation (NDE) methods to assist in effective maintenance of such structures. Recently, use of infrared cameras in nondestructive testing has been attracting increasing interest, as they provide highly efficient remote and wide area measurements. This paper first reviews the current situation of nondestructive inspection techniques used for fatigue crack detection in steel bridges, and then presents remote NDE techniques using infrared thermography developed by the author for fatigue crack detection and structural integrity assessments. Furthermore, results of applying fatigue crack evaluation to a steel bridge using the newly developed NDE techniques are presented.
Nutrients override atrazine effects on riparian and aquatic plant community structure in a North American agricultural catchment
Authors: Dalton Rebecca L. , Boutin Céline , Pick Frances R. 
Published: April 2015

Summary

In agricultural catchments, streams are intimately connected with croplands and are exposed to agrochemicals such as fertilisers and herbicides. In North American streams, the effects of nutrient enrichment on riparian and aquatic plant community structure are not well established and the effects of herbicides are largely unknown.

We identified the riparian and aquatic plant community at 12 paired stream/river sites (24 in total, Strahler stream order 3–6) located across a large North American agricultural catchment. Field sites ranged in surrounding agricultural land use (2.7–100% annual crops) and in‐stream June concentrations of reactive phosphate (6–65 μg L−1 as phosphorus) and nitrate (3–3981 μg L−1 as nitrogen). Atrazine, a herbicide commonly used on corn crops in North America, was widespread throughout the catchment with time‐weighted‐average concentrations ranging from 4 to 412 ng L−1 over a 56‐day period. Atrazine concentrations were >100 ng L−1 at over half the field sites.

In total, 285 riparian and aquatic plant taxa were identified. Effects of agrochemicals on descriptors of plant communities were assessed by comparing paired sites surrounded by low or high levels of agriculture and examining changes across the catchment. Agrochemicals had no effect on overall species richness. However, the percentage of non‐native species increased across the catchment along a gradient of increasing nitrate. A decline in submerged macrophytes was associated with enrichment of both nitrate and reactive phosphate, whereas no direct effects of atrazine were observed.

A floristic quality assessment was used to determine further effects of agrochemicals on riparian and aquatic plant communities. A ranking system, based on native status and tolerance to disturbance, was used to assign coefficient of conservation values to each species. Floristic quality was subsequently calculated as a function of species richness and the average coefficient of conservation value at each site. Overall floristic quality decreased as nitrate increased. Species positively associated with nitrate were typically fast‐growing, weedy, riparian species, whereas species negatively associated with nitrate were characteristic of less disturbed areas and represented a range of growth forms.

We conclude that nutrient enrichment, especially of nitrate, has multiple negative effects on riparian and aquatic plant communities that override effects of the herbicide atrazine. Our results highlight the need to reduce inputs of agrochemicals to streams and to regulate nitrogen in addition to phosphorus.
Does richness of emergent plants affect CO2 and CH4 emissions in experimental wetlands?
Authors: Mo Yi , Deng Zhao‐Heng , Gao Jun‐Qin , Guo Yu‐Xi , Yu Fei‐Hai 
Published: April 2015

Summary

Plant species richness may affect greenhouse gas emissions because it may change ecosystem productivity. Emergent plants are an important component of wetland ecosystems, but little is known about how emergent plant richness affects greenhouse gas emissions.

We assembled experimental communities consisting of 1, 2, 4 or 8 emergent plant species in aquatic microcosms and measured community biomass and emissions of CO2 and CH4.

Emergent plant richness had little effect on cumulative emissions of CO2 or CH4, most likely because it did not affect community biomass. This conclusion is supported by the fact that CO2 emission was significantly positively related to community biomass. The reason for the unresponsiveness of community biomass to species richness of emergent plants may be that all the plants are in the same functional group so that complementarity among species is weak. CH4 emissions from monocultures of different species differed greatly.

Our results do not support the hypothesis that richness of emergent plants plays an important role in regulating greenhouse gas emissions from wetlands. A significant richness effect on greenhouse gas emissions might be detected in wetlands consisting of different plant functional groups such as emergent, floating and submerged plants.
A public goods approach to major evolutionary innovations
Authors: Erwin D. H. 
Published: April 2015

AbstractThe history of life is marked by a small number of major transitions, whether viewed from a genetic, ecological, or geological perspective. Specialists from various disciplines have focused on the packaging of information to generate new evolutionary individuals, on the expansion of ecological opportunity, or the abiotic drivers of environmental change to which organisms respond as the major drivers of these episodes. But the critical issue for understanding these major evolutionary transitions (METs) lies in the interactions between environmental, ecologic, and genetic change. Here, I propose that public goods may serve as one currency of such interactions: biological products that are non‐excludable and non‐rivalrous. Such biological public goods may be involved in either the generation of new evolutionary variation, as with genetic sequences that are easily transferred between different microbial lineages, or in the construction of new ecological niches, as with the progressive oxygenation of the oceans and atmosphere. Attention to public goods emphasizes the processes by which organisms actively construct their own evolutionary opportunities. Such public goods may have facilitated someMETs.
Successional and seasonal variations in soil and litter microbial community structure and function during tropical postagricultural forest regeneration: a multiyear study
Authors: Smith A. Peyton , Marín‐Spiotta Erika , Balser Teri 
Published: April 2015

AbstractSoil microorganisms regulate fundamental biochemical processes in plant litter decomposition and soil organic matter (SOM) transformations. Understanding how microbial communities respond to changes in vegetation is critical for improving predictions of how land‐cover change affects belowground carbon storage and nutrient availability. We measured intra‐ and interannual variability in soil and forest litter microbial community composition and activity via phospholipid fatty acid analysis (PLFA) and extracellular enzyme activity across a well‐replicated, long‐term chronosequence of secondary forests growing on abandoned pastures in the wet subtropical forest life zone of Puerto Rico. Microbial communityPLFAstructure differed between young secondary forests and older secondary and primary forests, following successional shifts in tree species composition. These successional patterns held across seasons, but the microbial groups driving these patterns differed over time. Microbial community composition from the forest litter differed greatly from those in the soil, but did not show the same successional trends. Extracellular enzyme activity did not differ with forest succession, but varied by season with greater rates of potential activity in the dry seasons. We found few robust significant relationships among microbial community parameters and soilpH, moisture, carbon, and nitrogen concentrations. Observed inter‐ and intrannual variability in microbial community structure and activity reveal the importance of a multiple, temporal sampling strategy when investigating microbial community dynamics with land‐use change. Successional control over microbial composition with forest recovery suggests strong links between above and belowground communities.
Targeting Aspirin in Acute Disabling Ischemic Stroke: An Individual Patient Data Meta-Analysis of Three Large Randomized Trials
Authors: Thompson Douglas D. , Murray Gordon D. , Candelise Livia , Chen Zhengming , Sandercock Peter A. G. , Whiteley William N. 
Published: April 2015

Background Aspirin is of moderate overall benefit for patients with acute disabling ischemic stroke. It is unclear whether functional outcome could be improved after stroke by targeting aspirin to patients with a high risk of recurrent thrombosis or a low risk of haemorrhage. Aims We aimed to determine whether patients at higher risk of thrombotic events or poor functional outcome, or lower risk of major haemorrhage had a greater absolute risk reduction of poor functional outcome with aspirin than the average patient. Methods We used data on individual ischemic stroke patients from three large trials of aspirin vs. placebo in acute ischemic stroke: the first International Stroke Trial ( n = 18 372), the Chinese Acute Stroke Trial ( n = 20 172) and the Multicentre Acute Stroke Trial ( n = 622). We developed and evaluated clinical prediction models for the following: early thrombotic events (myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism); early haemorrhagic events (significant intracranial haemorrhage, major extracranial haemorrhage, or haemorrhagic transformation of an infarct); and late poor functional outcome. We calculated the absolute risk reduction of poor functional outcome (death or dependence) at final follow-up in: quartiles of early thrombotic risk; quartiles of early haemorrhagic risk; and deciles of poor functional outcome risk. Results Ischemic stroke patients who were older, had lower blood pressure, computerized tomography evidence of infarct or more severe deficits due to stroke had increased risk of thrombotic and haemorrhagic events and poor functional outcome. Prediction models built with all baseline variables (including onset to treatment time) discriminated weakly between patients with and without recurrent thrombotic events (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve 0·56, 95% CI:0·53–0·59) and haemorrhagic events (0·57, 0·52–0·64), though well between patients with and without poor functional outcome (0·77, 0·76–0·78) in the International Stroke Trial. We found no evidence that the net benefit of aspirin increased with increasing risk of thrombosis, haemorrhage or poor functional outcome in all three trials. Conclusions Using simple clinical variables to target aspirin to patients after acute disabling stroke by risk of thrombosis, haemorrhage or poor functional outcome does not lead to greater net clinical benefit. We suggest future risk stratification schemes include new risk factors for thrombosis and intracranial haemorrhage.
Sedation vs. Intubation for Endovascular Stroke TreAtment (SIESTA) – A Randomized Monocentric Trial
Authors: Schönenberger Silvia , Möhlenbruch Markus , Pfaff Johannes , Mundiyanapurath Sibu , Kieser Meinhard , Bendszus Martin , Hacke Werner , Bösel Julian 
Published: April 2015

Background The optimal peri-interventional management of sedation and airway for endovascular stroke treatment (EST) appears to be a crucial factor for treatment success. According to retrospective studies, the widely favored general anesthesia with intubation seems to be associated with poor functional outcome compared to a slightly sedated non-intubated condition (conscious sedation). Method SIESTA is a monocentric, prospective, randomized parallel-group, open-label treatment trial with blinded endpoint evaluation (PROBE design). The study compares the non-intubated with the intubated state in patients receiving endovascular treatment of acute ischemic anterior circulation stroke. The primary endpoint is early neurological improvement as by National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) after 24 h (difference between NIHSS on admission and NIHSS after 24 h). Secondary endpoints include: functional outcome after three-months as by modified Rankin Scale (mRS), mortality, parameters of ventilation and critical care, feasibility, and safety, i.e. complications related to endovascular stroke treatment. Conclusion The aims of this study are to prospectively clarify whether the non-intubated state of conscious sedation is feasible, safe, and superior with regard to early neurological improvement compared to the intubated state of general anesthesia in patients receiving acute endovascular stroke treatment.
Comparative analysis of nursing and midwifery regulatory and professional bodies' scope of practice and associated decision‐making frameworks: a discussion paper
Authors: Kennedy Catriona , O'Reilly Pauline , Fealy Gerard , Casey Mary , Brady Anne‐Marie , McNamara Martin , Prizeman Geraldine , Rohde Daniela , Hegarty Josephine 
Published: April 2015

AbstractAimsTo review, discuss and compare nursing and midwifery regulatory and professional bodies' scope of practice and associated decision‐making frameworks.BackgroundScope of practice in professional nursing and midwifery is an evolving process which needs to be responsive to clinical, service, societal, demographic and fiscal changes. Codes and frameworks offer a system of rules and principles by which the nursing and midwifery professions are expected to regulate members and demonstrate responsibility to society.DesignDiscussion paper.Data sourcesTwelve scope of practice and associated decision‐making frameworks (January 2000–March 2014).Implications for nursingTwo main approaches to the regulation of the scope of practice and associated decision‐making frameworks exist internationally. The first approach is policy and regulation driven and behaviour oriented. The second approach is based on notions of autonomous decision‐making, professionalism and accountability. The two approaches are not mutually exclusive, but have similar elements with a different emphasis. Both approaches lack explicit recognition of the aesthetic aspects of care and patient choice, which is a fundamental principle of evidence‐based practice.ConclusionNursing organizations, regulatory authorities and nurses should recognize that scope of practice and the associated responsibility for decision‐making provides a very public statement about the status of nursing in a given jurisdiction.
Patients' experiences of technology and care in adult intensive care
Authors: Stayt Louise Caroline , Seers Kate , Tutton Elizabeth 
Published: April 2015

AbstractAimsTo investigate patients' experiences of technology in an adult intensive care unit.BackgroundTechnology is fundamental to support physical recovery from critical illness in Intensive Care Units. As well as physical corollaries, psychological disturbances are reported in critically ill patients at all stages of their illness and recovery. Nurses play a key role in the physical and psychological care of patients;, however, there is a suggestion in the literature that the presence of technology may dehumanise patient care and distract the nurse from attending to patients psychosocial needs. Little attention has been paid to patients' perceptions of receiving care in a technological environment.DesignThis study was informed by Heideggerian phenomenology.MethodsThe research took place in 2009–2011 in a university hospital in England. Nineteen participants who had been patients inICUwere interviewed guided by an interview topic prompt list. Interviews were transcribedverbatimand analysed using Van Manen's framework.FindingsParticipants described technology and care as inseparable and presented their experiences as a unified encounter. The theme ‘Getting on with it’ described how participants endured technology by ‘Being Good’ and ‘Being Invisible’. ‘Getting over it’ described why participants endured technology by ‘Bowing to Authority’ and viewing invasive technologies as a ‘Necessary Evil’.ConclusionPatients experienced technology and care as a series of paradoxical relationships: alienating yet reassuring, uncomfortable yet comforting, impersonal yet personal. By maintaining a close and supportive presence and providing personal comfort and care nurses may minimize the invasive and isolating potential of technology.
Cybervictimization of Young People With an Intellectual or Developmental Disability: Risks Specific to Sexual Solicitation
Authors: Normand Claude L. , Sallafranque‐St‐Louis François 
Published: April 2015

BackgroundStudies demonstrate that youth are vulnerable to online sexual solicitation. However, no study has estimated this risk for youth diagnosed with an intellectual or developmental disability (IDD).MethodsA literature review of the risk factors associated with online sexual solicitation in youths was done using electronic databases, such as PsychInFO, ERIC, MEDLINE and Scopus.ResultsFifty‐seven published papers were found relevant. However, only two pertained to the population with IDD. Sexual and physical abuse, social isolation, loneliness, depression, and chatting were found to increase the risk of being prey to sexual solicitation on the Internet. Many of these risk factors are even more prevalent in youth with IDD than in the general population.ConclusionRecommendations are made for future research to help understand and prevent sexual cybersolicitation.
Mitogenome revealed multiple postdomestication genetic mixtures of West African sheep
Authors: Brahi O.H.D. , Xiang H. , Chen X. , Farougou S. , Zhao X. 
Published: April 2015

SummaryNotable diversity observed within African ovine breeds makes them of great interests, but limited studies on genetic origins and domestications remain poorly understood. Here, we investigate the evolutionary status of West African native breeds, Djallonke and Sahelian sheep using mitogenome sequencing. Compared with other ovine mitogenome sequences, West African sheep were revealed a Eurasian origin, and the initially tamed sheep breeds in West Africa have been genetically mixed with each other and mixed with European breeds. Worldwide domestic sheep is deemed the Eurasian origin and migrated west to Europe and Africa and east to the Far East, in which dispersed and received selection for acclimation to autochthonic environment independently and ultimately evolved into different native breeds, respectively. Our results contribute to the comprehensive understanding of the domestic sheep origin and reveal multiple postdomestication genetic amelioration processes.