bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Laparoscopic Anterior Versus Posterior Fundoplication for Gastro‐esophageal Reflux Disease: A Meta‐analysis and Systematic Review
Authors: Memon Muhammed Ashraf , Subramanya Manjunath S. , Hossain Md Belal , Yunus Rossita Mohamad , Khan Shahjahan , Memon Breda 
Published: December 2014

AbstractObjectivesAlthough laparoscopic posterior fundoplication (LPF) i.e., Nissen or Toupet have the proven efficacy for controlling gastro‐esophageal reflux surgically, there remain problems with postoperative dysphagia and gas bloat syndrome. To decrease some of these postoperative complications, laparoscopic anterior fundoplication (LAF) was introduced. The aim of this study was to conduct a meta‐analysis and systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to investigate the merits and drawbacks of LPF versus LAF for the treatment of gastro‐esophageal reflux disease (GERD).Data Sources, Study Selection, and Review MethodsA search of Medline, Embase, Science Citation Index, Current Contents, PubMed, ISI Web of Science, and the Cochrane Database identified all RCTs comparing different types of LPF and LAF published in the English Language between 1990 and 2013. The meta‐analysis was prepared in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta‐analyses (PRISMA) statement. Data was extracted and analyzed on ten variables which include dysphagia score, heartburn rate, redo operative rate, operative time, overall complications, rate of conversion to open, Visick grading of satisfaction, overall satisfaction, length of hospital stay, and postoperative 24‐h pH scores.Data SynthesisNine trials totaling 840 patients (anterior = 425, posterior = 415) were analyzed. There was a significant reduction in the odds ratio for dysphagia in the LAF group compared to the LPF group. Conversely, significant reduction in the odds ratio for heartburn was observed for LPF compared to LAF. Comparable effects were noted for both groups for other variables which include redo surgery, operating time, overall complications, conversion rate, Visick’s grading, patients’ satisfaction, length of hospital stay, and postoperative 24‐h pH scores.ConclusionsBased on this meta‐analysis, LPF compared to LAF is associated with significant reduction in heartburn at the expense of higher dysphagia rate on a short‐ and medium‐term basis. We therefore conclude that LPF is a better alternative to LAF for controlling GERD symptoms.
Recent advances in the metabolic engineering of Corynebacterium glutamicum for the production of lactate and succinate from renewable resources
Authors: Tsuge Yota , Hasunuma Tomohisa , Kondo Akihiko 
Published: December 2014

Abstract
Recent increasing attention to environmental issues and the shortage of oil resources have spurred political and industrial interest in the development of environmental friendly and cost-effective processes for the production of bio-based chemicals from renewable resources. Thus, microbial production of commercially important chemicals is viewed as a desirable way to replace current petrochemical production. Corynebacterium glutamicum, a Gram-positive soil bacterium, is one of the most important industrial microorganisms as a platform for the production of various amino acids. Recent research has explored the use of C. glutamicum as a potential cell factory for producing organic acids such as lactate and succinate, both of which are commercially important bulk chemicals. Here, we summarize current understanding in this field and recent metabolic engineering efforts to develop C. glutamicum strains that efficiently produce l- and d-lactate, and succinate from renewable resources.
Complex lipid trafficking in Niemann‐Pick disease type C
Authors: Vanier Marie T. 
Published: December 2014

AbstractNiemann‐Pick disease type C (NPC) is an atypical lysosomal storage disease resulting from mutations in one of two genes, either NPC1 or NPC2. Although a neurovisceral disorder, it is above all a neurodegenerative disease in the vast majority of patients. Not an enzyme deficiency, it is currently conceived as a lipid trafficking disorder. Impaired egress of cholesterol from the late endosomal/lysosomal (LE/L) compartment is a specific and key element of the pathogenesis, but other lipids, more specially sphingolipids, are also involved, and there are indications for further abnormalities. The full function of the NPC1 and NPC2 proteins is still unclear. This review provides a reappraisal of lipid storage and lysosomal enzymes activities in tissues/cells from NPC patients and animal models. It summarizes the current knowledge on the NPC1 and NPC2 proteins and their function in transport of cholesterol within the late endosomal‐lysosomal compartment, with emphasis on differences between systemic organs and the brain; it also discusses regulation by membrane lipids of the NPC2‐mediated cholesterol trafficking, interplay between cholesterol and sphingomyelin, the metabolic origin of glycosphingolipids stored in brain, and the putative role of free sphingoid bases in pathogenesis. Brief mention is finally made of diseases affecting other genes that were very recently shown to impact the “NPC pathway”.
Climate uncertainty and economic development: evaluating the case of Mozambique to 2050
Authors: Arndt Channing , Thurlow James 
Published: December 2014

Abstract
We apply a probabilistic approach to the evaluation of climate change impacts in Mozambique. We pass a distribution of climate shocks through a series of structural biophysical models. The resulting joint distributions of biophysical outcomes are then imposed on a dynamic economywide model. This framework produces distributions of economic impacts of climate change thus identifying an explicit range of potential economic outcomes and associating probability levels with given sets of outcomes. For example, we find that the economy of Mozambique may be up to 13 % smaller in 2050 compared with a fictional no climate change scenario (and assuming global policy fails to constrain emissions growth). The probability of gross domestic product (GDP) declines of greater than 10 % is relatively small at 2.5 %. These large declines are principally the result of dramatic reductions in flood return periods. To 2050, about 70 % of future climates result in GDP losses of between zero and five percent. In about 9 % of cases, climate change shocks result in higher GDP outcomes. We conclude that, relative to current practice, this structural probabilistic approach provides (i) significantly more information to decision-makers, (ii) more detailed insight into the importance of various impact channels, and (iii) a more holistic and comprehensive approach for evaluating adaptation options.
Rising air and stream-water temperatures in Chesapeake Bay region, USA
Authors: Rice Karen C. , Jastram John D. 
Published: December 2014

AbstractMonthly mean air temperature (AT) at 85 sites and instantaneous stream-water temperature (WT) at 129 sites for 1960–2010 are examined for the mid-Atlantic region, USA. Temperature anomalies for two periods, 1961–1985 and 1985–2010, relative to the climate normal period of 1971–2000, indicate that the latter period was statistically significantly warmer than the former for both mean AT and WT. Statistically significant temporal trends across the region of 0.023 °C per year for AT and 0.028 °C per year for WT are detected using simple linear regression. Sensitivity analyses show that the irregularly sampled WT data are appropriate for trend analyses, resulting in conservative estimates of trend magnitude. Relations between 190 landscape factors and significant trends in AT-WT relations are examined using principal components analysis. Measures of major dams and deciduous forest are correlated with WT increasing slower than AT, whereas agriculture in the absence of major dams is correlated with WT increasing faster than AT. Increasing WT trends are detected despite increasing trends in streamflow in the northern part of the study area. Continued warming of contributing streams to Chesapeake Bay likely will result in shifts in distributions of aquatic biota and contribute to worsened eutrophic conditions in the bay and its estuaries.
Extraction of natural radionuclides from aqueous solutions by novel maltolate-based task-specific ionic liquids
Authors: Platzer Sonja , Sap Orhan , Leyma Raphlin , Wallner Gabriele , Jirsa Franz , Kandioller Wolfgang , Krachler Regina , Keppler Bernhard K. 
Published: December 2014

Abstract
Two novel maltol-based ionic liquids, namely [A336][Mal] and [C101][Mal], were synthesized as potential extracting agents for radionuclides from water. These two room temperature task-specific ionic liquids could be easily prepared by anion metathesis starting from commercially available materials. The isolated compounds were characterized by standard analytical methods. Their application as extraction agent for Unat., 234Th, 210Pb, 210Bi, 210Po and 226Ra was elucidated by liquid–liquid extraction and scintillation counting. Uranium was totally extracted by both ionic liquids over a broad pH range (2–8), while the other radionuclides were removed with differing efficacies depending on the respective pH value.
Phenology of leaf morphological, photosynthetic, and nitrogen use characteristics of canopy trees in a cool‐temperate deciduous broadleaf forest at Takayama, central Japan
Authors: Noda Hibiki M. , Muraoka Hiroyuki , Nasahara Kenlo Nishida , Saigusa Nobuko , Murayama Shohei , Koizumi Hiroshi 
Published: December 2014

AbstractWe studied interannual variations in single‐leaf phenology, i.e., temporal changes in leaf ecophysiological parameters that are responsible for forest canopy function, in a cool‐temperate deciduous broadleaf forest at Takayama, central Japan. We conducted long‐term in situ research from 2003 to 2010 (excluding 2008). We measured leaf mass per unit area (LMA), leaf chlorophyll and nitrogen contents, and leaf photosynthetic and respiratory characteristics [dark respiration, light‐saturated photosynthetic rate (Amax), maximum carboxylation rate (Vcmax), and electron transport rate (Jmax)] of leaves of mature canopy trees of Betula ermanii Cham. and Quercus crispula Blume, from leaf expansion to senescence. All leaf characteristics changed markedly from leaf expansion (late May) through senescence (mid–late October). The photosynthetic capacity of B. ermanii leaves rapidly increased during leaf expansion and decreased during senescence, while that of Q. crispula leaves changed gradually. The relationships among LMA, photosynthetic capacity, and nitrogen content changed throughout the season. The timings (calendar dates) of leaf expansion, maturity, and senescence differed among the 7 years, indicating that interannual variations in micrometeorological conditions strongly affected leaf phenological events. We examined the seasonal changes as a function of the date or cumulative air temperatures. From leaf expansion to maturity, the increases in chlorophyll content, Amax, Vcmax, Jmax, and LMA were explained well by the growing‐degree days, and their decreases in autumn were explained well by chilling‐degree days. Our findings will be useful for predicting the effects of current variations in climatic conditions and future climate change on forest canopy structure and function.
Programmed electrical stimulation for risk stratification of patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy
Authors: Danon Asaf , Schliamser Jorge E. , Lavi Idit , Militianu Arie 
Published: December 2014

AbstractBackgroundPatients with ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM) are at an increased risk for sudden death. Although earlier trials used programmed electrical stimulation (PES) for risk stratification, more recent data demonstrate the benefit of implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs) in selected patients with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) without performing PES. However, little is known about the outcome of non‐inducible patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of PES for mortality risk stratification in patients with ICM.MethodsAll consecutive patients who met the inclusion criteria (history of coronary artery disease, LVEF≤35%, and absence of documented spontaneous sustained ventricular tachycardia or aborted sudden cardiac death) were included in the study. The stimulation protocol involved up to three extrastimuli from two different sites in the right ventricle, with 180 ms as the shortest coupling interval. The primary endpoint was overall survival.ResultsA total of 198 patients were included in the study; of these, 60 exhibited negative (−)PES, and 138 had positive (+)PES and also underwent ICD implantation. The mean follow‐up duration was 4.5 years. There was no difference in age or LVEF between the patient groups. We found a trend towards an increased 5‐year survival rate in the (+)PES group in whom ICD implantation had been performed (p=0.058). Survival was significantly better in patients under 68 year olds in the (+)PES group in whom ICD implantation was performed (hazard ratio=0.3, p=0.01). The survival rate of patients ≥68 years old was similar in both groups (p=0.95).ConclusionsNon‐inducibility during PES does not predict the prognosis of patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy.
Key considerations for facilitating employment of female Sudanese refugees in Australia
Authors: Gaillard Desireé , Hughes Kate 
Published: December 2014

AbstractThis research is a pilot study on identifying the social initiatives that could potentially provide employment opportunities for female Sudanese refugees settled in western Sydney, Australia. An interpretative ethnographic approach was employed to analyse academic literature, government information and data gathered through in-depth interviews with a not-for-profit organisation working with this community. The outcome of this research emphasises three fundamental questions that relate to community value, customer need and opportunity risk that need to be considered with respect to the limitations that are framed by the social initiatives identified in relation to reducing unemployment for these women. This study revealed an interesting observation: programs that make use of existing skills create new opportunities in the employment market, whereas programmes that provide new skills or a combination of new and existing skills, were more inclined to link to existing opportunities in the employment market.
Modulation of the faecal microbiome of healthy adult dogs by inclusion of potato fibre in the diet
Authors: Panasevich Matthew R. , Kerr Katherine R. , Dilger Ryan N. , Fahey George C. , Guérin-Deremaux Laetitia , Lynch Gary L. , Wils Daniel , Suchodolski Jan S. , Steer Jörg M , Dowd Scot E. , Swanson Kelly S. 
Published: November 2014

Inclusion of fermentable fibres in the diet can have an impact on the hindgut microbiome and provide numerous health benefits to the host. Potato fibre (PF), a co-product of potato starch isolation, has a favourable chemical composition of pectins, resistant and digestible starch, cellulose, and hemicelluloses. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect of increasing dietary PF concentrations on the faecal microbiome of healthy adult dogs. Fresh faecal samples were collected from ten female dogs with hound bloodlines (6·13 (sem 0·17) years; 22·0 (sem 2·1) kg) fed five test diets containing graded concentrations of PF (0, 1·5, 3, 4·5 or 6 % as-fed; Roquette Frères) in a replicated 5 × 5 Latin square design. Extraction of DNA was followed by amplification of the V4–V6 variable region of the 16S rRNA gene using barcoded primers. Sequences were classified into taxonomic levels using Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLASTn) against a curated GreenGenes database. Inclusion of PF increased (P< 0·05) the faecal proportions of Firmicutes, while those of Fusobacteria decreased (P< 0·05). Similar shifts were observed at the genus level and were confirmed by quantitative PCR (qPCR) analysis. With increasing concentrations of PF, faecal proportions of Faecalibacterium increased (P< 0·05). Post hoc Pearson's correlation analysis showed positive (P< 0·05) correlations with Bifidobacterium spp. and butyrate production and Lactobacillus spp. concentrations. Overall, increases in the proportion of Faecalibacterium (not Lactobacillus/Bifidobacterium, as confirmed by qPCR analysis) and faecal SCFA concentrations with increasing dietary PF concentrations suggest that PF is a possible prebiotic fibre.
Impact of harmful algal blooms (Dinophysis acuminata) on the immune system of oysters and mussels from Santa Catarina, Brazil
Authors: Simões Erik , Vieira Renato Campos , Schramm Mathias Alberto , Mello Danielle Ferraz , De Almeida Pontinha Vitor , da Silva Patrícia Mirella , Barracco Margherita Anna 
Published: December 2014

Blooms of the harmful alga Dinophysis acuminata, which produces okadaic acid (OA), are becoming recurrent in Santa Catarina coast, where most of the shellfish marine farms in Brazil are located. We evaluated the impact of D. acuminata blooms on various haemato-immunological parameters and on tissue integrity of cultivated oysters (Crassostrea gigas) and mussels (Perna perna). Animals were sampled during two natural algal blooms, one at Praia Alegre (PA: 2950 cells l−1) and the other at Praia de Zimbros (PZ: 4150 cells l−1). Control animals were sampled at the same sites, 30 days after the end of the bloom. The assayed parameters were: total (THC) and differential (DHC) haemocyte counts, percentage of apoptotic haemocytes (AH), phenoloxidase activity (PO), agglutinating titre (AT) and total protein concentration in haemolymph (PC). Histological analyses were carried out in oysters from PZ. The results showed that some immune parameters were modulated during the toxic blooms, but not in a consistent manner, especially in mussels that accumulated more OA (10×) than oysters. For example, mussel THC decreased significantly (54%) during the bloom at PA, whereas it augmented markedly (64%) at PZ. PO activity was significantly altered by the algal blooms in both bivalve species, while PC increased significantly (66%) only in mussels from PZ bloom. The other parameters (DHC, AH and AT) did not vary in both bivalve species. Histological analyses showed an intense haemocytic infiltration throughout the oyster digestive epithelium, particularly into the stomach lumen during the algal bloom.
Peasant women and inheritance of land in fourteenth-century England
Authors: BARDSLEY SANDY 
Published: December 2014

ABSTRACTThis study argues that women's ownership of land – an important component of their status – changed little, if at all, after the Black Death of the mid-fourteenth century. Using rentals and obit data from court rolls, a new formula for measuring female inheritance is devised which shows that daughters received even less of their expected due during the plague years. While high death rates might predict that brotherless daughters would be more likely to inherit land, inheritance practices shifted so that women continued to hold much the same total area as before. The article considers several reasons for this continuity, concluding that women found it especially hard to compete in an era of acute labour shortage.
BRD control: tying it all together to deliver value to the industry
Authors: Miles Delbert G. , Rogers Karen C. 
Published: November 2014

AbstractPasteur described an organism causing fowl cholera in 1880. In 134 years we have progressed from crude vaccines for Pasteurella, to some refined vaccines, to a name change (Mannheimia), to autogenous vaccines (back to crude). In the last 25–30 years, we have attempted to mitigate the problem of bovine respiratory disease with antimicrobials and subsequently have a high incidence of multi-drug resistance. All of these attempts have resulted in little if any improvement in morbidity/mortality. Is it time to focus on the animal's response or lack of response to infectious pressure? Instead of focusing on the 10–50% morbid cattle should we focus on the 50–90% that are not compromised and determine why they stay healthy under the same environmental conditions?
On the chemical diversity of the prebiotic ocean of early Earth
Authors: Canepa Carlo 
Published: December 2014

AbstractThis work investigates the consequences on the diverse number of chemical species in a pre-biotic terrestrial aqueous environment endowed with an amino acid source induced by the spontaneous build-up of catalytically active polypeptides from amino acid monomers. The assumed probability that a randomly formed polypeptide exhibits catalytic properties is dependent on constraining both the chemical identity and the position of a fraction of the amino acid residues. Within this hypothesis, and using values of the average length n of the catalytic polypeptides about one half of the present-day enzymes, the stationary-state concentration of the catalytically active polypeptides is ≈10−30 −10−19 M, and the ratio of the concentration of a product of a catalytic process to the initial concentration of the corresponding substrate is predicted to be ≈10−6−105. Matching the mean life of each catalytic polypeptide to the mean life of its substrate (λ ≈ ω) is only possible by significantly raising the intensity of the source of the amino acid monomers. Under these hypothetical optimal conditions, the mean lives of the catalytic polypeptides and their substrates have values ω−1 ≈ λ−1 ≈10 yr and the asymptotic concentration of each product is of the same order of magnitude as the concentration of the substrate. In all cases the catalytic efficiency necessary to form the active peptides takes the typical values of present-day enzymes.
Andrographolide activates the canonical Wnt signalling pathway by a mechanism that implicates the non-ATP competitive inhibition of GSK-3β: autoregulation of GSK-3βin vivo
Authors: Tapia-Rojas Cheril , Schüller Andreas , Lindsay Carolina B. , Ureta Roxana C. , Mejías-Reyes Cristóbal , Hancke Juan , Melo Francisco , Inestrosa Nibaldo C. 
Published: December 2014

Wnt/β-catenin signalling is an important pathway that regulates multiple biological processes, including cell adhesion and determination of cell fate during animal development; in the adult nervous system it regulates the structure and function of synapses. Wnt-signalling dysfunction is associated with several neurodegenerative diseases such as schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease. The use of natural compounds is an interesting strategy in the search for drugs with the therapeutic potential to activate this signalling pathway. In the present study, we report that andrographolide (ANDRO), a component of Andrographis paniculata, is a potent activator of Wnt signalling. Our results indicate that ANDRO activates this pathway, inducing the transcription of Wnt target genes by a mechanism that bypasses Wnt ligand binding to its receptor. In vitro kinase assays demonstrate that ANDRO inhibits glycogen synthase kinase (GSK)-3β by a non-ATP-competitive, substrate-competitive mode of action. In silico analyses suggest that ANDRO interacts with the substrate-binding site of GSK-3β. Finally, we demonstrated that the increase seen in the levels of GSK-3β phosphorylated at Ser9 is the result of an autoregulatory mechanism of the kinase in vivo, although not through activation of protein phosphatase type 1. Our results suggest that ANDRO could be used as a potential therapeutic drug for disorders caused by Wnt-signalling dysfunction such as neurodegenerative diseases.