bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Prevalence and risk factors of deep vein thrombosis in patients after spine surgery: a retrospective case-cohort study
Authors: Yang Si-Dong , Liu Huan , Sun Ya-Peng , Yang Da-Long , Shen Yong , Feng Shi-Qing , Zhao Feng-Dong , Ding Wen-Yuan 
Published: July 2015

AbstractDeep vein thrombosis (DVT) is common seen in patients undergoing spine surgery. However, its prevalence and associated risk factors have not been well understood yet. This retrospective case-cohort study was designed to investigate risk factors for postoperative DVT using retrospectively collected data from department of spine surgery between 07/2013 and 07/2014. Univariate analysis and binary logistic regression analysis were used to determine risk factors for DVT. A total of 861 patients were admitted into DVT-associated analyses, including 410 males and 451 females, aged from 15 to 87 years old (median 54, IQR 18). Of them, 147 cases (17%) sustained postoperative DVT. DVT incidence was 15.9% in patients undergoing lumbar interbody fusion, 13.5% in patients treated by low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH), while only 8.1% in patients without LMWH. However, it revealed no significant difference between LMWH group and non-LMWH group (χ2 = 1.933, p = 0.164). Logistic regression equation was logit P = −4.09 + 0.05*X1 − 0.55*X2 + 0.41*X3 + 1.41*X7, (X1 = age; X2 = regions; X3 = hypertension; X7 = D-dimer). In this study, LMWH prophylaxis after spine surgery proved ineffective. Advanced age, D-dimer and hypertension have proved to be the risk factors for postoperative DVT in patients undergoing spine surgery.
External control of reactions in microdroplets
Authors: Mashaghi Samaneh , van Oijen Antoine M. 
Published: July 2015

AbstractScale reduction of chemical reactions enables novel screening and synthesis approaches that facilitate a highly parallelized and combinatorial exploration of chemical space. Droplet-based microfluidics have evolved as a powerful platform to allow many chemical reactions within small volumes that each can be controlled and manipulated. A significant technical challenge is the ability to change the concentration of reactants inside a droplet. Here we describe a strategy that relies on the use of reactants that are soluble in both oil and water and allow a passive, diffusive exchange of reactants between the oil and aqueous phases to externally control composition of the droplets. We demonstrate the applicability of our approach by externally changing the pH inside microdroplets without the need for physical manipulation or droplet merging.
Recent Reversal of the Upper-Tropospheric Temperature Trend and its Role in Intensifying the East Asian Summer Monsoon
Authors: Zhao Siyao , Li Jian , Yu Rucong , Chen Haoming 
Published: July 2015

AbstractAt the beginning of the 21st century, the July and August (JA) mean upper-tropospheric temperature over East Asia shows a significant increasing trend, contrary to the decreasing trend in the late 1970 s. The largest warming center is over northern China (between 30°N–45°N and 85°E–120°E) around 300 hPa. Together with the temperature rising, the geo-potential height rises above the warming center and drops below, which connects closely to a correspondingly significant decadal shift of the general circulation over East Asia. In the upper-level of the troposphere, an anomalous anti-cyclone dominates and the 200–hPa westerly jet strengthens due to the increasing pole-ward geo-potential height gradient. In the lower-troposphere, the anomalous southerly wind increases around Yangtze River Valley and the East Asian summer monsoon intensifies. The integrated circulation changes seriously impact summer precipitation over East Asia. The so-called “southern flood and northern drought” (SFND) pattern since the 1970 s over eastern China has changed. As the cooling center in the 1970 s moves southward, the dry belt moves southward as well. A wet belt dominates the Huaihe River Valley after the temperature trend reversal at 2005 while southern China experiences a dry condition.
Re-visiting the nature and relationships between neurological signs and neurocognitive functions in first-episode schizophrenia: An invariance model across time
Authors: Chan Raymond C. K. , Dai Shan , Lui Simon S. Y. , Ho Karen K. Y. , Hung Karen S. Y. , Wang Ya , Geng Fu-lei , Li Zhi , Cheung Eric F. C. 
Published: July 2015

AbstractThe present study examined different types of neurological signs in patients with first-episode schizophrenia and their relationships with neurocognitive functions. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal designs were adopted with the use of the abridged Cambridge Neurological Inventory which comprises items capturing motor coordination, sensory integration and disinhibition. A total of 157 patients with first-episode schizophrenia were assessed at baseline and 101 of them were re-assessed at six-month interval. A structural equation model (SEM) with invariance model across time was used for data analysis. The model fitted well with the data at baseline assessment, X^2(21) = 21.78, p = 0.413, NFI = 0.95, NNFI = 1.00, CFI = 1.00, IFI = 1.00, RMSEA = 0.015. Subsequent SEM analysis with invariance model at six-month interval also demonstrated the same stable pattern across time and showed strong measurement invariance and structure invariance across time. Our findings suggest that neurological signs capture more or less the same construct captured by conventional neurocognitive tests in patients with schizophrenia. The measurement and structure of these relationships appear to be stable over time.
Deciphering the evolution of birdwing butterflies 150 years after Alfred Russel Wallace
Authors: Condamine Fabien L. , Toussaint Emmanuel F. A. , Clamens Anne-Laure , Genson Gwenaelle , Sperling Felix A. H. , Kergoat Gael J. 
Published: July 2015

AbstractOne hundred and fifty years after Alfred Wallace studied the geographical variation and species diversity of butterflies in the Indomalayan-Australasian Archipelago, the processes responsible for their biogeographical pattern remain equivocal. We analysed the macroevolutionary mechanisms accounting for the temporal and geographical diversification of the charismatic birdwing butterflies (Papilionidae), a major focus of Wallace’s pioneering work. Bayesian phylogenetics and dating analyses of the birdwings were conducted using mitochondrial and nuclear genes. The combination of maximum likelihood analyses to estimate biogeographical history and diversification rates reveals that diversity-dependence processes drove the radiation of birdwings and that speciation was often associated with founder-events colonizing new islands, especially in Wallacea. Palaeo-environment diversification models also suggest that high extinction rates occurred during periods of elevated sea level and global warming. We demonstrated a pattern of spatio-temporal habitat dynamics that continuously created or erased habitats suitable for birdwing biodiversity. Since birdwings were extinction-prone during the Miocene (warmer temperatures and elevated sea levels), the cooling period after the mid-Miocene climatic optimum fostered birdwing diversification due to the release of extinction. This also suggests that current global changes may represent a serious conservation threat to this flagship group.
Negative Word Production in Adults With Right Hemisphere Brain Damage: Effects of Implicit Assessment and Contextual Bias
Authors: Zezinka Alexandra , Tompkins Connie A. 
Published: July 2015

Purpose
Both theory and evidence suggest that unilateral right hemisphere brain damage (RHD) should impair the processing of negative emotions. Typical metalinguistic assessments, however, may obscure processing strengths. This study investigated whether adults with RHD would produce proportionately fewer negative emotion words than control participants in an implicit assessment task and whether a negatively toned contextual bias would enhance performance.

Methods
Eleven participants with RHD and 10 control participants without brain damage watched a video in 2 parts and described each segment. Between segments, participants evaluated the emotion conveyed by sentences designed to induce the negative bias.

Results
The primary outcome measure, percentage of negative emotion words in video descriptions, did not differ between groups. After the contextual bias, this measure significantly increased for both groups, whereas production of motion words, a control variable, remained constant.

Conclusions
Findings are consistent with a view that attributes some deficient RHD performances to the nature and/or demands of explicit metalinguistic assessment tasks. These results call for modulation of prevailing hypotheses that attribute negative emotion processing as an undifferentiated whole solely to the right cerebral hemisphere. The results also further substantiate the rationale of an experimental treatment that exploits contextual bias and priming for individuals with RHD.
Voice Relative Fundamental Frequency Via Neck-Skin Acceleration in Individuals With Voice Disorders
Authors: Lien Yu-An S. , Calabrese Carolyn R. , Michener Carolyn M. , Heller Murray Elizabeth , Van Stan Jarrad H. , Mehta Daryush D. , Hillman Robert E. , Noordzij J. Pieter , Stepp Cara E. 
Published: July 2015

Purpose
This study investigated the use of neck-skin acceleration for relative fundamental frequency (RFF) analysis.

Method
Forty individuals with voice disorders associated with vocal hyperfunction and 20 age- and sex-matched control participants were recorded with a subglottal neck-surface accelerometer and a microphone while producing speech stimuli appropriate for RFF. Rater reliabilities, RFF means, and RFF standard deviations derived from the accelerometer were compared with those derived from the microphone.

Results
RFF estimated from the accelerometer had slightly higher intrarater reliability and identical interrater reliability compared with values estimated with the microphone. Although sensor type and the Vocal Cycle × Sensor and Vocal Cycle × Sensor × Group interactions showed significant effects on RFF means, the typical RFF pattern could be derived from either sensor. For both sensors, the RFF of individuals with vocal hyperfunction was lower than that of the controls. Sensor type and its interactions did not have significant effects on RFF standard deviations.

Conclusions
RFF can be reliably estimated using an accelerometer, but these values cannot be compared with those collected via microphone. Future studies are needed to determine the physiological basis of RFF and examine the effect of sensors on RFF in practical voice assessment and monitoring settings.
Use of models and observations in event attribution
Authors: Hegerl Gabriele C 
Published: July 2015

Abstract
Research is pursued worldwide that aims to determine if a particular observed extreme event has become more or less likely due to climate change. A recent paper (King et al 2015 Environ. Res. Lett.

10 054002) uses two methods to quantify how much more likely a record hot year in Central England has become. One of the methods is based largely on climate modeling, the other on interpreting the observed record. This is an important step towards improving the reliability of event attribution results. Improved understanding and prediction of changes in extreme events is recognized as one of the ‘grand challenges’ in climate research.
Mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 5 (MKK5)-mediated signalling cascade regulates expression of iron superoxide dismutase gene in Arabidopsis under salinity stress
Authors: Xing Yu , Chen Wei-hua , Jia Wensuo , Zhang Jianhua 
Published: July 2015

Abstract
Superoxide dismutases (SODs) are involved in plant adaptive responses to biotic and abiotic stresses but the upstream signalling process that modulates their expression is not clear. Expression of two iron SODs, FSD2 and FSD3, was significantly increased in Arabidopsis in response to NaCl treatment but blocked in transgenic MKK5-RNAi plant, mkk5. Using an assay system for transient expression in protoplasts, it was found that mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 5 (MKK5) was also activated in response to salt stress. Overexpression of MKK5 in wild-type plants enhanced their tolerance to salt treatments, while mkk5 mutant exhibited hypersensitivity to salt stress in germination on salt-containing media. Moreover, another kinase, MPK6, was also involved in the MKK5-mediated iron superoxide dismutase (FSD) signalling pathway in salt stress. The kinase activity of MPK6 was totally turned off in mkk5, whereas the activity of MPK3 was only partially blocked. MKK5 interacted with the MEKK1 protein that was also involved in the salt-induced FSD signalling pathway. These data suggest that salt-induced FSD2 and FSD3 expressions are influenced by MEKK1 via MKK5–MPK6-coupled signalling. This MAP kinase cascade (MEKK1, MKK5, and MPK6) mediates the salt-induced expression of iron superoxide dismutases.
Species-level resolution of 16S rRNA gene amplicons sequenced through the MinIONTMportable nanopore sequencer
Authors: Benítez-Páez Alfonso , Portune Kevin J. , Sanz Yolanda 
Published: July 2015

AbstractBackgroundThe miniaturised and portable DNA sequencer MinIONTMhas been released to the scientific community within the framework of an early access programme to evaluate its application for a wide variety of genetic approaches. This technology has demonstrated great potential, especially in genome-wide analyses. In this study, we tested the ability of the MinIONTMsystem to perform amplicon sequencing in order to design new approaches to study microbial diversity using nearly full-length 16S rDNA sequences.ResultsUsing R7.3 chemistry, we generated more than 3.8 million events (nt) during a single sequencing run. These data were sufficient to reconstruct more than 90% of the 16S rRNA gene sequences for 20 different species present in a mock reference community. After read mapping and 16S rRNA gene assembly, consensus sequences and 2d reads were recovered to assign taxonomic classification down to the species level. Additionally, we were able to measure the relative abundance of all the species present in a mock community and detected a biased species distribution originating from the PCR reaction using ‘universal’ primers.ConclusionsAlthough nanopore-based sequencing produces reads with lower per-base accuracy compared with other platforms, the MinIONTMDNA sequencer is valuable for both high taxonomic resolution and microbial diversity analysis. Improvements in nanopore chemistry, such as minimising base-calling errors and the nucleotide bias reported here for 16S amplicon sequencing, will further deliver more reliable information that is useful for the specific detection of microbial species and strains in complex ecosystems.
Quantitative Relations in Protein and RNA Folding Deduced from Quantum Theory
Authors: Luo Liaofu , Lv Jun 
Published: July 2015

ABSTRACTQuantitative relations in protein and RNA folding are deduced from the quantum folding theory of macromolecules. It includes: deduction of the law on the temperature-dependence of folding rate and its tests on protein dataset; study on the chain-length dependence of the folding rate for a large class of biomolecules; deduction of the statistical relation of folding free energy versus chain-length; and deduction of the statistical relation between folding rate and chain length and its test on protein and RNA dataset. In the above quantum approach the influence of the solvent environment factor on folding rate has been taken into account automatically. The successes of the deduction of these new relations from the first principle and their successful comparison with experimental data afford strong evidence on the possible existence of a common quantum mechanism in the conformational change of biomolecules.
Document-based approach to improve the accuracy of pairwise comparison in evaluating information retrieval systems
Authors: Ravana Sri Devi , TAHERI MASUMEH SADAT , Rajagopal Prabha 
Published: July 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to propose a method to have more accurate results in comparing performance of the paired information retrieval (IR) systems with reference to the current method, which is based on the mean effectiveness scores of the systems across a set of identified topics/queries.

Design/methodology/approach
– Based on the proposed approach, instead of the classic method of using a set of topic scores, the documents level scores are considered as the evaluation unit. These document scores are the defined document’s weight, which play the role of the mean average precision (MAP) score of the systems as a significance test’s statics. The experiments were conducted using the TREC 9 Web track collection.

Findings
– The p-values generated through the two types of significance tests, namely the Student’s t-test and Mann-Whitney show that by using the document level scores as an evaluation unit, the difference between IR systems is more significant compared with utilizing topic scores.

Originality/value
– Utilizing a suitable test collection is a primary prerequisite for IR systems comparative evaluation. However, in addition to reusable test collections, having an accurate statistical testing is a necessity for these evaluations. The findings of this study will assist IR researchers to evaluate their retrieval systems and algorithms more accurately.
Determination of the convective heat transfer coefficient in large electrical machines by a new simulation strategy
Authors: Klomberg Stephan , Farnleitner Ernst , Kastner Gebhard , Bíró Oszkár 
Published: July 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to present a new computational fluid dynamics model for large electrical machines to simulate the heat transfer at specific components to the appropriate ventilation method. The most damageable parts for overheating in generators are the end winding bars, pole windings and stator ducts.

Design/methodology/approach
– The reduced model introduced is basically derived from the state-of-the-art pole section model (PSM) and enables faster computations for heat transfer and cooling simulations of electrical machines. The fundamentals of the two methods and the grid generation are described. Two PSMs and four different reduced models are presented and compared among each other to tune the reduced model.

Findings
– As a topic of outstanding interest in large hydro generators, the heat transfer at the end winding bars is solved with the aid of the reduced model. This slot sector model (SSM) has been validated and the computation time has been reduced enormously in comparison to the state-of-the-art PSM.

Research limitations/implications
– The heat transfer has been carried out only for the end winding region of large hydro generators. The effect of the reduced model on the pole sections and stator ducts has not been investigated. Nevertheless, the reduced model is also valid for large motors.

Practical implications
– This reduced model can finally be used for parametric studies with different cooling schemes and boundary conditions in the design process.

Originality/value
– The comparison of various SSMs to PSMs shows an acceptable accuracy of the reduced model in combination with a rather low computation time. Due to modeling one slot only, the MFR-MP approach is an adequate and fast analyzing method for this kind of model structure.
External electrostatic field induced changes of rat erythrocyte membranes
Authors: Sahakyan G.V. , Artsruni G.G. , Poghosyan G.A. 
Published: July 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper was to reveal the possible changes in membrane physical parameters, such as surface charge, ξ-potential and molecular interactions of membrane components due to the in vitro and in vivo influences of ESF.

Design/methodology/approach
– The in vitro and in vivo (one hour) influences of 200 kV/m external electrostatic field (ESF) on the erythrocyte membranes of white outbred rats were investigated by spectrofluorometric, spectral and electrophoretic methods.

Findings
– It was shown that the in vivo influence of ESF leads to the intermolecular reconstructions and decrease of the positive charged groups in membrane surface layer. At the same time, the increases of the negative charged groups of membrane proteins after the field influence, is revealed. The charge redistribution in membranes due to the in vitro influence of ESF is observed.

Originality/value
– The analysis of literature data and generalization of data obtained allow us concluding that in parallel with the polarization of lipid component of bilayer the changes in the structural state of membrane proteins take place due to the ESF influence on the erythrocyte membranes. These changes can be the reason and/or the result of the ESF induced redistribution of membrane charge.
A mathematical framework for predicting thermal damage during bone electrostimulation
Authors: Vanegas-Acosta Juan C. , Lancellotti V. , Zwamborn A.P.M. 
Published: July 2015

Purpose
– Electric fields (EFs) are known to influence cell and tissue activity. This influence can be due to thermal or non-thermal effects. While the non-thermal effects are still matter of discussion, thermal effects might be detrimental for cell and tissue viability due to thermal damage, this fact being exploited by applications like hyperthermia and tissue ablation. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach
– In this work the authors investigate the influence of thermal damage in the consolidation of bone formation during electrostimulation (ES). The authors introduce a mathematical model describing the migration of osteoprogenitor cells, the thermal variation, the thermal damage accumulation and the formation of new bone matrix in an injury (fracture) site.

Findings
– Numerical results are in agreement with experimental data and show that EFs more intense than 7.5 V/cm are detrimental for the viability of osteoprogenitor cells and the formation of new bone.

Originality/value
– The model is suitable to conduct dosimetry studies in support of other different ES techniques aimed at improving bone and soft tissues repair.
The in vitro influence of external electrostatic field on the lipid-protein interactions in membranes of rat erythrocytes
Authors: Sahakyan G.V. , Artsruni G.G. , Poghosyan G.A. 
Published: July 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the in vitro influence of 200 kV/m electrostatic fields (ESF) on the microviscosity, viscosity and polarity of rat erythrocyte membranes for revealing the possible changes in lipid-protein interactions due to the field influence.

Design/methodology/approach
– The investigation of the parameters of erythrocyte membranes and their ghosts, particularly, their microviscosity, the amount and immersion degree of membrane proteins in lipid bilayer, polarity in depth of membrane and its viscosity carried out by the spectrofluorimetric method using the hydrophobic fluorescent probe pyrene.

Findings
– The carried out investigations shown that the in vitro influence of ESF changes membrane microviscosity, the quantity of membrane peripheral proteins and their immersion degree in the lipid bilayer, if the ghosts have prepared from erythrocytes previously exposed in the field. The analysis of the same parameters for previously prepared erythrocyte ghosts exposed to the 200 kV/m ESF during an hour did not reveal any changes.

Originality/value
– Data obtained and their comparison with the results of the previous works allow authors to conclude that the in vitro influence of ESF leads to the changes in the lipid-protein interactions in erythrocyte membranes.