bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Understanding home modifications impact on clients and their family's experience of home: A qualitative study
Authors: Aplin Tammy , de Jonge Desleigh , Gustafsson Louise 
Published: October 2014

Background/aimHome modifications aim to enhance safety and occupational performance in the home. However, given the complexity and unique meaning of the home, they can impact aspects other than function. This qualitative descriptive study aimed to explore the impact of home modifications on clients and their family's experience of home.MethodsHome modification clients and their family and carers participated in 42 in‐depth interviews which were analysed using a template analysis.FindingsHome modifications impacted positively and negatively on five dimensions of the home environment, the personal, occupational, physical, temporal and social dimension. The outcomes of the modifications and the home modification process were influenced by three themes, workmanship, consultation or involvement in decision‐making, and the societal dimension of the home environment.ConclusionsThe negative outcomes and poor consultation experiences suggest the need for occupational therapists to understand their client's personal experience of home and to comprehensively follow‐up and evaluate these following home modifications.
Duration of freezing necessary to damage the leaves of Fallopia japonica (Houtt.) Ronse Decraene
Authors: Baxendale Victoria J. , Tessier Jack T. 
Published: October 2014

AbstractFallopia japonica (Houtt.) Ronse Decraene is an invasive plant species that introduces economic, social, and environmental stresses. After observing frost damage to F. japonica plants in the field, we exposed leaves of F. japonica and a native species (Acer saccharum Marshall) to freezing temperatures in the laboratory and compared their net photosynthetic rate to that of fresh leaves. In both species, the net photosynthetic rate of leaves frozen for 0.5 h or for 1 h were not significantly different from each other but were both significantly less than that of fresh leaves. Fresh leaves of F. japonica had a higher net photosynthetic rate than those of A. saccharum, but the relationship was reversed in all freezing treatments. Frozen leaves of F. japonica contained microscopically visible frost lenses, which revealed the mechanism of the damage. These results quantify how quickly F. japonica is damaged by freezing conditions and suggest that minimum vernal temperatures may limit its range expansion.
Measuring the Volatility of Wheat Futures Prices on the LIFFE
Authors: Dawson P. J. 
Published: October 2014

AbstractAgricultural prices rose dramatically in 2007 and have subsequently fluctuated at high levels. This paper estimates the volatility of daily wheat futures prices on the Euronext/London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange for 1996–2012 using an exponential generalised autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity model with a constant (price) elasticity of variance (CEV) and a broken trend. Results show that volatility is highly persistent; there is a structural break in volatility in June 2007 when volatility rose by 10%; subsequently, the wheat futures price has become more volatile; and the CEV is 0.04.
Acute-phase protein α1-anti-trypsin: diverting injurious innate and adaptive immune responses from non-authentic threats
Authors: Guttman O , Baranovski B M , Schuster R , Kaner Z , Freixo-Lima G S , Bahar N , Kalay N , Mizrahi M I , Brami I , Ochayon D E , Lewis E C 
Published: October 2014

SummaryOne would assume that the anti-inflammatory activity of α1-anti-trypsin (AAT) is the result of inhibiting neutrophil enzymes. However, AAT exhibits tolerogenic activities that are difficult to explain by serine-protease inhibition or by reduced inflammatory parameters. Targets outside the serine-protease family have been identified, supporting the notion that elastase inhibition, the only functional factory release criteria for clinical-grade AAT, is over-emphasized. Non-obvious developments in the understanding of AAT biology disqualify it from being a straightforward anti-inflammatory agent: AAT does not block dendritic cell activities, nor does it promote viral and tumour susceptibilities, stunt B lymphocyte responses or render treated patients susceptible to infections; accordingly, outcomes of elevated AAT do not overlap those attained by immunosuppression. Aside from the acute-phase response, AAT rises during the third trimester of pregnancy and also in advanced age. At the molecular level, AAT docks onto cholesterol-rich lipid-rafts and circulating lipid particles, directly binds interleukin (IL)-8, ADAM metallopeptidase domain 17 (ADAM17) and danger-associated molecular pattern (DAMP) molecules, and its activity is lost to smoke, high glucose levels and bacterial proteases, introducing a novel entity – ‘relative AAT deficiency’. Unlike immunosuppression, AAT appears to help the immune system to distinguish between desired responses against authentic threats, and unwanted responses fuelled by a positive feedback loop perpetuated by, and at the expense of, inflamed injured innocent bystander cells. With a remarkable clinical safety record, AAT treatment is currently tested in clinical trials for its potential benefit in a variety of categorically distinct pathologies that share at least one common driving force: cell injury.
Role Asymmetry and Code Transmission in Signaling Games: An Experimental and Computational Investigation
Authors: Moreno Maggie , Baggio Giosuè 
Published: October 2014

AbstractIn signaling games, a sender has private access to a state of affairs and uses a signal to inform a receiver about that state. If no common association of signals and states is initially available, sender and receiver must coordinate to develop one. How do players divide coordination labor? We show experimentally that, if players switch roles at each communication round, coordination labor is shared. However, in games with fixed roles, coordination labor is divided: Receivers adjust their mappings more frequently, whereas senders maintain the initial code, which is transmitted to receivers and becomes the common code. In a series of computer simulations, player and role asymmetry as observed experimentally were accounted for by a model in which the receiver in the first signaling round has a higher chance of adjusting its code than its partner. From this basic division of labor among players, certain properties of role asymmetry, in particular correlations with game complexity, are seen to follow.
Influence of cyclic torsional preloading on cyclic fatigue resistance of nickel – titanium instruments
Authors: Pedullà E. , Lo Savio F. , Boninelli S. , Plotino G. , Grande N. M. , Rapisarda E. , La Rosa G. 
Published: October 2014

AbstractAimTo evaluate the effect of different torsional preloads on cyclic fatigue resistance of endodontic rotary instruments constructed from conventional nickel‐titanium (NiTi), M‐Wire or CM‐Wire.MethodologyEighty new size 25, 0.06 taper Mtwo instruments (Sweden & Martina), size 25, 0.06 taper HyFlex CM (Coltene/Whaledent, Inc) and X2 ProTaper Next (Dentsply Maillefer) were used. The Torque and distortion angles at failure of new instruments (n = 10) were measured, and 0% (n = 10), 25%, 50% and 75% (n = 20) of the mean ultimate torsional strength as preloading condition were applied according to ISO 3630‐1 for each brand. The twenty files tested for every extent of preload were subjected to 20 or 40 torsional cycles (n = 10). After torsional preloading, the number of cycles to failure was evaluated in a simulated canal with 60° angle of curvature and 5 mm of radius of curvature. Data were analysed using two‐way analysis of variance. The fracture surface of each fragment was examined with a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Data were analysed by two‐way analyses of variance.ResultsPreload repetitions did not influence the cyclic fatigue of the three brands; however, the 25%, 50% and 75% torsional preloading significantly reduced the fatigue resistance of all instruments tested (P < 0.01, P < 0.001 and P < 0.0001, respectively) except for the HyFlex CM preloaded with 25% of the maximum torsional strength (P > 0.05).ConclusionsTorsional preloads reduced the cyclic fatigue resistance of conventional and treated (M‐wire and CM‐wire) NiTi rotary instruments except for size 25, 0.06 taper HyFlex CM instruments with a 25% of torsional preloading.
The influence of interleukin‐7 receptor α‐chain haplotypes on outcome after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation
Authors: Broux B. , Shamim Z. , Wang T. , Spellman S. , Haagenson M. , Stinissen P. , Ryder L. P. , Müller K. , Hellings N. 
Published: October 2014

SummaryWe investigated the influence of IL‐7 receptor α‐chain (IL‐7Rα) gene haplotypes in donors on the outcome of haematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). Unlike the association between single donor SNPs and HCT outcome found previously, only trends towards association were found here, due to ‘dilution’ of SNPs into haplotypes.
Effects of abstract and concrete simulation elements on science learning
Authors: Jaakkola T. , Veermans K. 
Published: October 2014

AbstractContemporary evidence on the effectiveness of concrete and abstract representations in science education is based solely on studies conducted in college context. There it has been found that learning with abstract representations produces predominantly better outcomes than learning with concrete representations and combining the representations can be even more productive. In the present study, 52 elementary school students used a computer simulation to discover the basic principles of electric circuits. The perceptual concreteness of simulation elements either remained concrete or switched from concrete to abstract during the learning. In order to compare the relative effectiveness of the learning conditions and assess the changes in students' conceptual understanding, the students completed a subject knowledge assessment questionnaire before and after learning with the simulation. According to the results, the students gained a better understanding of the circuits by learning with constantly concrete simulation elements than switching from concrete to abstract elements during the learning. Constantly concrete elements also enhanced the learning process by reducing the learning times. The outcomes of the study suggest that the effects of concrete and abstract representations in science education are notably different in elementary school context as compared with college contexts.
Turnover in the Council of the European Union: What It is and Why It Matters
Authors: Scherpereel John A. , Perez Lauren K. 
Published: October 2014

AbstractThis article analyzes personnel turnover in the Council of the European Union. It draws upon analysis of an original monthly database of ministers in EU Member States from 2004 to 2012. After surveying the literature on the negative effects of high legislative turnover, descriptive statistics are presented that demonstrate high levels of turnover in the Council as a whole and high levels of turnover across all nine sectoral Council configurations. A statistical model is then proposed that tests whether variations in levels of Council turnover affect the institution's bargaining success vis‐à‐vis other EU institutions. The finding, consistent with the broader literature's predictions, is that high levels of turnover hurt the Council vis‐à‐vis the European Parliament and the European Commission. The article concludes with general remarks about the implications of turnover for the Council system and for the EU more broadly.
Maternal protein restriction induces early‐onset glucose intolerance and alters hepatic genes expression in the peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor pathway in offspring
Authors: Zheng Jia , Xiao Xinhua , Zhang Qian , Yu Miao , Xu Jianping , Wang Zhixin 
Published: October 2014

AbstractAims/IntroductionMaternal undernutrition during pregnancy and/or lactation can alter the offspring's response to environmental challenges, and thus increases the risk of the development of metabolic diseases at a later age. However, whether maternal protein restriction can modulate glucose metabolism in the early life of offspring is less understood. Furthermore, we explored the potential underlying mechanisms that illustrate this phenotype.Materials and MethodsTo test this hypothesis, we examined the offspring of C57BL/6J mice at weaning to determine the effects of feeding their mothers a low‐protein diet or normal chow diet throughout pregnancy and lactation. Gene array experiments and quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction were utilized to explore the altered hepatic genes expression.ResultsThe offspring of dams fed a low‐protein diet had a lower birthweight and bodyweight, impaired glucose tolerance, decreased insulin sensitivity, and decreased serum cholesterol at weaning. Using gene array experiments, 253 differentially expressed genes were identified in the liver tissues of the offspring between the two groups. Bioinformatic analyses showed that all differentially expressed genes were mapped to 11 pathways. We focused on the ‘peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor signaling pathway,’ because peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptors have emerged as central regulators of glucose and lipid homeostasis. Quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction was utilized for the validation of genes in the pathway.ConclusionsA maternal low‐protein diet during pregnancy and lactation promotes early‐onset glucose intolerance in the offspring mice, and the altered hepatic genes expression in peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor signaling pathway could play role in regulating this phenomenon.
Transient elastography compared to serum markers to predict liver fibrosis in a cohort of Chinese patients with chronic hepatitis B
Authors: Jia Jidong , Hou Jinlin , Ding Huiguo , Chen Guofeng , Xie Qing , Wang Yuming , Zeng Minde , Zhao Jingmin , Wang Tailing , Hu Xiqi , Schuppan D. 
Published: October 2014

AbstractBackground and AimLiver stiffness measurement (LSM) using transient elastography (FibroScan) is a useful tool to assess fibrosis in various chronic liver diseases. However, studies were mainly performed in Western countries and largely focused on chronic hepatitis C (CHC). We therefore carried out a multicenter study to validate the accuracy of LSM in the assessment of liver fibrosis in a large cohort of Chinese patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB).MethodsWe compared LSM results to histological staging and serum fibrosis markers (five direct markers, APRI and FIB‐4) using Spearman correlation analysis and area under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves (AUROCs).ResultsFour hundred sixty‐nine patients were enrolled and eligible for statistical analysis. LSM in F0 to F4 was 5.5 ± 1.7, 5.8 ± 2.2, 7.6 ± 3.4, 14.5 ± 10.8, and 22.3 ± 13.6 kPa, respectively (correlation with fibrosis stage r = 0.522, P < 0.001). AUROC for LSM to correctly allocate patients to histological fibrosis stage ≥ F2, ≥ F3, and F4 was 0.82, 0.88, and 0.90, respectively. LSM outperformed serum fibrosis markers for detection of fibrosis F ≥ 2 and F4. Patients with ALT levels 1–5x and > 5x the upper limit of normal values had significantly higher stiffness values than stage‐matched patients with normal alanine aminotransferase.ConclusionTransient elastography is a reliable noninvasive technique to predict significant liver fibrosis in Chinese patients with CHB, being superior to current biomarker panels. However, enhanced inflammatory activity can lead to elevated stiffness values unrelated to histological fibrosis stage.
Temporal Sweetness Profile of MNEI and Comparison with Commercial Sweeteners
Authors: Di Monaco R. , Miele N.A. , Volpe S. , Picone D. , Cavella S. 
Published: October 2014

AbstractNone of the current sweeteners match sucrose in terms of sweet taste quality or temporal characteristics. In fact, the sensory performance of a sweetener changes over time and it could interact with other stimuli. Time–intensity (t‐I) and temporal of dominance sensation (TDS) are both dynamic sensory methods, but they give different and complementary information: t‐I focuses on the evolution of the intensity of one attribute, whereas TDS is a descriptive multi‐attribute methodology that deals with the interactions among attributes.The objectives of this study were to describe the sweetness temporal profile of a new protein‐based sweetener, MNEI, and to compare it with that of aspartame, saccharin and sucrose. First, equi‐sweetness values of MNEI and of three sweeteners were determined. Then, those concentrations were investigated: the intensity of sweetness over time was evaluated in aqueous solutions by the t‐I method; the interaction between sweetness and other sensory stimuli was evaluated in more complex solutions, containing flavoring and acidifying agents, by means of the TDS method. t‐I results showed that the sweetness provided by MNEI decreased later than the others, in different times, and it was not extinguished completely, whereas TDS results showed that the dominant attributes of model beverages were almost the same for all sweeteners.Practical ApplicationsThe structure of MNEI is completely compatible with that of natural proteins. This protein determines a sensory performance similar to that of other studied sweeteners, especially aspartame, but has been proven to be stable in heat treatment and pH changes. No off‐flavor that generally characterizes many high‐intensity sweeteners (HIS) was detected when tested by the assessors. Indeed, even if the sweetness imparted by MNEI was perceived later than the sweetness provided by sucrose, in the presence of other stimuli, no significant differences were detected. These properties could make MNEI a good choice as HIS for low‐calorie beverages and dairy products.
Can green iguanas compensate for vanishing seed dispersers in the Atlantic forest fragments of north‐east Brazil?
Authors: de A. Moura A. C. , Cavalcanti L. , Leite‐Filho E. , Mesquita D. O. , McConkey K. R. 
Published: October 2014

AbstractThe Atlantic forest of Brazil is a biodiversity hot spot, but is extremely fragmented. Local extinction of important seed dispersers, such as primates, threatens the maintenance of these fragments. It is important to evaluate the capacity of fragment‐tolerant species to disperse seeds and help maintain plant communities within fragments. Green iguanas Iguana iguana are large, fragment‐tolerant, canopy‐dwelling lizards and have been noted to disperse seeds. We described the seed dispersal patterns produced by green iguanas in six urban forest fragments (1.2–8 ha in size) in the Atlantic forest of north‐east Brazil, over 20 months. A total of 294 seeds were counted in 321 scats, and 12 plant species were dispersed. The largest seeds dispersed were 14.9 mm long and up to 9.2 mm wide. Iguanas deposited 86.9% of scats within latrines, which were used over a mean of at least 9 months. We show that iguanas can be effective seed dispersers and might partially replicate deposition patterns produced by howler monkeys in other studies. It is critical that we improve our understanding on the functional roles played by these cryptic, yet common, iguanas in order to determine whether they could buffer the negative effects caused by the local extinction of primates from forest fragments.
The structural basis for enhancer‐dependent assembly and activation of the AAA transcriptional activator NorR
Authors: Bush Matt , Ghosh Tamaswati , Sawicka Marta , Moal Iain H. , Bates Paul A. , Dixon Ray , Zhang Xiaodong 
Published: October 2014

Summaryσ54‐dependent transcription controls a wide range of stress‐related genes in bacteria and is tightly regulated. In contrast to σ70, the σ54‐RNA polymerase holoenzyme forms a stable closed complex at the promoter site that rarely isomerises into transcriptionally competent open complexes. The conversion into open complexes requires the ATPase activity of activator proteins that bind remotely upstream of the transcriptional start site. These activators belong to the large AAA protein family and the majority of them consist of an N‐terminal regulatory domain, a central AAA domain and a C‐terminal DNA binding domain. Here we use a functional variant of the NorR activator, a dedicated NO sensor, to provide the first structural and functional characterisation of a full length AAA activator in complex with its enhancer DNA. Our data suggest an inter‐dependent and synergistic relationship of all three functional domains and provide an explanation for the dependence of NorR on enhancer DNA. Our results show that NorR readily assembles into higher order oligomers upon enhancer binding, independent of activating signals. Upon inducing signals, the N‐terminal regulatory domain relocates to the periphery of the AAA ring. Together our data provide an assembly and activation mechanism for NorR.
The diphthamide modification pathway from Saccharomyces cerevisiae – revisited
Authors: Schaffrath Raffael , Abdel‐Fattah Wael , Klassen Roland , Stark Michael J. R. 
Published: October 2014

SummaryDiphthamide is a conserved modification in archaeal and eukaryal translation elongation factor 2 (EF2). Its name refers to the target function for diphtheria toxin, the disease‐causing agent that, through ADP ribosylation of diphthamide, causes irreversible inactivation of EF2 and cell death. Although this clearly emphasizes a pathobiological role for diphthamide, its physiological function is unclear, and precisely why cells need EF2 to contain diphthamide is hardly understood. Nonetheless, the conservation of diphthamide biosynthesis together with syndromes (i.e. ribosomal frame‐shifting, embryonic lethality, neurodegeneration and cancer) typical of mutant cells that cannot make it strongly suggests that diphthamide‐modified EF2 occupies an important and translation‐related role in cell proliferation and development. Whether this is structural and/or regulatory remains to be seen. However, recent progress in dissecting the diphthamide gene network (DPH1–DPH7) from the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has significantly advanced our understanding of the mechanisms required to initiate and complete diphthamide synthesis on EF2. Here, we review recent developments in the field that not only have provided novel, previously overlooked and unexpected insights into the pathway and the biochemical players required for diphthamide synthesis but also are likely to foster innovative studies into the potential regulation of diphthamide, and importantly, its ill‐defined biological role.