bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Computer‐aided design of a catalyst for Edman degradation utilizing substrate‐assisted catalysis
Authors: Borgo Benjamin , Havranek James J. 
Published: December 2014

AbstractMolecular biology has been revolutionized by the miniaturization and parallelization of DNA sequencing assays previously performed on bulk samples. Many of these technologies rely on biomolecular reagents to facilitate detection, synthesis, or labeling of samples. To aid in the construction of analogous experimental approaches for proteins and peptides, we have used computer‐aided design to engineer an enzyme capable of catalyzing the cleavage step of the Edman degradation. We exploit the similarity between the sulfur nucleophile on the Edman reagent and the catalytic cysteine in a naturally occurring protease to adopt a substrate‐assisted mechanism for achieving controlled, step‐wise removal of N‐terminal amino acids. The ability to expose amino acids iteratively at the N‐terminus of peptides is a central requirement for protein sequencing techniques that utilize processive degradation of the peptide chain. While this can be easily accomplished using the chemical Edman degradation, achieving this activity enzymatically in aqueous solution removes the requirement for harsh acid catalysis, improving compatibility with low adsorption detection surfaces, such as those used in single molecule assays.
Retracted: Synthesis, Characterization and Surface Activities of Cationic Polysaccharide (Aloe) Schiff Base Surfactants
Authors: Zaky Mohamad F. , Badawi Abelfattah M. , Sabbah Ibrahim El , Abdel Ghani Reda A. , Hendawy Mostafa E. 
Published: December 2014

AbstractSynthesis of cationic polysaccharide (Aloe) Schiff base surfactants was described and their chemical structures were confirmed by using FTIR spectroscopic, H‐NMR and UV analysis. The surface activities of these surfactants were measured, including surface tension, critical micelle concentration, effectiveness, efficiency, maximum surface excess and minimum surface area at 25 °C, interfacial tension and emulsification power at 25 °C. Adsorption and micellization free energies of these amphiphiles in their solutions showed a good tendency towards adsorption at the interfaces.
Synthesis and Interfacial Activity of Novel Heterogemini Sulfobetaines in Aqueous Solution
Authors: Kwaśniewska Dobrawa , Staszak Katarzyna , Wieczorek Daria , Zieliński Ryszard 
Published: December 2014

AbstractThree new heterogemini sulfobetaines and their chloride salts were synthesised. The interfacial activities of the obtained chlorides in aqueous solution were studied by equilibrium and dynamic surface tension measurements. The critical micelle concentration, surface excess concentration, minimum area per surfactant molecule and standard Gibbs energy of adsorption as well as micelle lifetime and diffusion coefficient were determined. The adsorption properties and micelle lifetime of these compounds significantly depend on the length of alkyl chain. The critical micelle concentration decreases with increasing chain length of the compounds considered. The values of the diffusion coefficient of N‐alkyl‐N‐methyl‐N‐(3‐sulfopropyl)‐6‐(N‐alkyl‐N‐methylamino)hexylammonium chloride tend to decrease as the concentration is increased.
Hispanic Older Adult Mortality in the United States: New Estimates and an Assessment of Factors Shaping the Hispanic Paradox
Authors: Lariscy Joseph T. , Hummer Robert A. , Hayward Mark D. 
Published: December 2014

Abstract
Hispanics make up a rapidly growing proportion of the U.S. older adult population, so a firm grasp of their mortality patterns is paramount for identifying racial/ethnic differences in life chances in the population as a whole. Documentation of Hispanic mortality is also essential for assessing whether the Hispanic paradox—the similarity in death rates between Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites despite Hispanics’ socioeconomic disadvantage—characterizes all adult Hispanics or just some age, gender, nativity, or national-origin subgroups. We estimate age-/sex- and cause-specific mortality rate ratios and life expectancy for foreign-born and U.S.-born Hispanics, foreign-born and U.S.-born Mexican Americans, non-Hispanic blacks, and non-Hispanic whites ages 65 and older using the 1989–2006 National Health Interview Survey Linked Mortality Files. Results affirm that Hispanic mortality estimates are favorable relative to those of blacks and whites, but particularly so for foreign-born Hispanics and smoking-related causes. However, if not for Hispanics’ socioeconomic disadvantage, their mortality levels would be even more favorable.
On the Beginning of Mortality Acceleration
Authors: Salinari Giambattista , De Santis Gustavo 
Published: December 2014

Abstract
Physiological senescence is characterized by the increasing limitation of capabilities of an organism resulting from the progressive accumulation of molecular damage, which at group (cohort) level translates into, among other things, an increase in mortality risks with age. Physiological senescence is generally thought to begin at birth, if not earlier, but models of demographic aging (i.e., an increase in mortality risks) normally start at considerably later ages. This apparent inconsistency can be solved by assuming the existence of two mortality regimes: “latent” and “manifest” aging. Up to a certain age, there is only latent aging: physiological senescence occurs, but its low level does not trigger any measurable increase in mortality. Past a certain level (and age), molecular damage is such that mortality risks start to increase. We first discuss why this transition from latent to manifest aging should exist at all, and then we turn to the empirical estimation of the corresponding threshold age by applying Bai’s approach to the estimation of breakpoints in time series. Our analysis, which covers several cohorts born between 1850 and 1938 in 14 of the countries included in the Human Mortality Database, indicates that an age at the onset of manifest aging can be identified. However, it has not remained constant: it has declined from about 43 and 47 years, respectively, for males and females at the beginning of the period (cohorts born in 1850–1869) to about 31 for both males and females toward its end (cohorts born in 1920–1938). A discussion of why this may have happened ensues.
Malignant conversion of benign right ventricular outflow track ventricular tachycardia 18 years post‐ablation
Authors: Gerstein Wendy H. , Gerstein Neal S. , Sandoval Andrea , West Michael B. 
Published: December 2014

AbstractThis case report describes the rare phenomenon of malignant conversion of benign right ventricular outflow tract ventricular tachycardia into idiopathic ventricular fibrillation 18 years after successful ablation, in the absence of any type of heart disease. We review the current literature looking at predictors for this event, with the conclusion that there are no reliable risk predictors available. Until clear guidelines exist, we suggest patients be informed and monitored for the possibility of “malignant conversion” following ablation for benign idiopathic outflow tract ventricular tachycardia.
Understanding Resistance to Content Literacy by Pre-Service Social Studies Teachers
Authors: Alexander-Shea Aimee 
Published: December 2014

Over the past decade, heightened attention has been placed on integrating literacy strategies into the social studies. The content literacy movement, as it has become known, began with the passing of No Child Left Behind and has continued with the newly implemented Common Core State Standards. In light of this movement, many states required the pre-service social studies teachers to take courses to teach them how to integrate content literacy into their field in spite of the fact that research has shown that these types of courses can lead to heightened opposition. This study examines the process of change that pre-service social studies teachers experienced as they completed a content literacy course designed to model the principles of content literacy, provide opportunities to struggle with the application of content literacy, and support attempts at implementation.
Salvage supracricoid laryngectomy after failed radiotherapy and partial laryngectomy
Authors: Nakayama M , Miyamoto S , Okabe S , Okamoto M 
Published: December 2014

AbstractBackground:A case of salvage supracricoid laryngectomy with cricohyoidoepiglottopexy after failed radiation therapy and vertical partial laryngectomy had successful oncological and functional outcomes. This is the first reported application of salvage supracricoid laryngectomy with cricohyoidoepiglottopexy after the failure of two major treatments.Case report:A 65-year-old man was referred for salvage supracricoid laryngectomy with cricohyoidoepiglottopexy. The right recurrent hemilarynx was successfully resected. After pexis, the right lobe of the thyroid gland was repositioned to overlap and reinforce the pexis gap and fill the devoid portion of the strap muscular closure. Multiple scattered foci (recurrent tumour–node–metastasis stage T2) were identified around the arytenoid cartilage and beneath the musculocutaneous flap. Four years after supracricoid laryngectomy with cricohyoidoepiglottopexy, the patient's recovery was following a favourable course and he had satisfactory laryngeal function.Conclusion:Appropriate case selection and proficient surgical skills were essential for a successful outcome. Head and neck surgeons should not be afraid to adopt functional preservation open surgical procedures in well-selected and well-motivated patients. A requirement for more challenging surgical procedures and meticulous rehabilitation processes should not exclude appropriate treatments from a surgeon's repertoire.
Reversible diaphragmatic paralysis caused by a malpositioned chest tube
Authors: Nakagama Yu , Kaneko Yukihiro , Ono Hiroshi 
Published: December 2014

AbstractWe report a case of reversible diaphragmatic paralysis caused by a malpositioned chest tube, a diagnosis to consider when unexplained respiratory failure occurs following drainage of pleural effusion. Prompt recognition and removal of the tube led to full recovery of diaphragm function.
Directional selection can drive the evolution of modularity in complex traits
Authors: Melo Diogo , Marroig Gabriel 
Published: December 2014

Significance
Modularity, the tendency for the parts of many biological systems to be organized into semiindependent groups, is crucial to the understanding of diversification and the interaction between a population and its environment. In particular, a population’s response to selection is dependent on its modularity pattern, which, in turn, is molded by selection. How these modular patterns evolve is therefore a central question in biology. We show, using novel individual-level simulations, that directional selection is very efficient at restructuring variation and creating modular patterns in continuous traits and that stabilizing selection can maintain established patterns.
Arrival of the Fukushima radioactivity plume in North American continental waters
Authors: Smith John N. , Brown Robin M. , Williams William J. , Robert Marie , Nelson Richard , Moran S. Bradley 
Published: December 2014

Significance
The radionuclide results in this report represent the first systematic study, to our knowledge, of the arrival of the Fukushima radioactivity signal in continental waters off North America. The present time series results are critical to an understanding of the circulation of Fukushima tracers in the eastern North Pacific and to the tuning and validation of ocean circulation models that are being used to predict the future evolution of this signal. They are also important for informing the public of the magnitude of the Fukushima radioactivity signal in North American continental waters and enabling a science-based assessment of the significance of its potential effects on human health and the environment.
Fnip1 regulates skeletal muscle fiber type specification, fatigue resistance, and susceptibility to muscular dystrophy
Authors: Reyes Nicholas L. , Banks Glen B. , Tsang Mark , Margineantu Daciana , Gu Haiwei , Djukovic Danijel , Chan Jacky , Torres Michelle , Liggitt H. Denny , Hirenallur-S Dinesh K. , Hockenbery David M. , Raftery Daniel , Iritani Brian M. 
Published: December 2014

Significance
Folliculin interacting protein-1 (Fnip1) is an intracellular protein known to interact with folliculin (a protein mutated in Birt Hogg Dube’ Syndrome) and the master metabolic sensor AMP kinase. However, the roles of Fnip1 in mammalian development and function are unclear. In this study, we used mice deficient in Fnip1 to show that Fnip1 regulates skeletal muscle fiber type specification. Mice deficient in Fnip1 were significantly enriched for highly oxidative skeletal muscle that is more resistant to fatigue than wild-type muscle. Loss of Fnip1 also decreased muscle damage in a mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. These results reveal a previously unidentified function for Fnip1 and suggest that pharmacological inhibition of Fnip1 may reduce muscle damage in patients with muscular dystrophy.
Enhancing long-term memory with stimulation tunes visual attention in one trial
Authors: Reinhart Robert M. G. , Woodman Geoffrey F. 
Published: December 2014

Significance
Theories of attention propose that we rely on working memory to control attention by maintaining target presentations in this active store as our visual systems are used to search for certain objects. Here, we show that the tuning of perceptual attention can be sharply accelerated by noninvasive brain stimulation. Our electrophysiological measurements showed that these improvements in attentional tuning were preceded by changes in event-related potentials thought to index long-term memory, but not those potentials that index working memory. Our findings support the hypothesis that changes in the storage of target representations in long-term memory may underlie rapid changes in how target objects are selected by visual attention.
Granular impact cratering by liquid drops: Understanding raindrop imprints through an analogy to asteroid strikes
Authors: Zhao Runchen , Zhang Qianyun , Tjugito Hendro , Cheng Xiang 
Published: December 2014

Significance
We provide a quantitative understanding of raindrop impacts on sandy surfaces—a ubiquitous phenomenon relevant to many important natural, agricultural, and industrial processes. Combining high-speed photography with high-precision laser profilometry, we investigate the dynamics of liquid-drop impacts on granular surfaces and monitor the morphology of resulting impact craters. Remarkably, we discover a quantitative similarity between liquid-drop impacts and asteroid strikes in terms of both the energy scaling and the aspect ratio of their impact craters. Such a similarity inspires us to apply the idea developed in planetary sciences to liquid-drop impact cratering, which leads to a model that quantitatively describes various features of liquid-drop imprints.
Natural diversity in daily rhythms of gene expression contributes to phenotypic variation
Authors: de Montaigu Amaury , Giakountis Antonis , Rubin Matthew , Tóth Réka , Cremer Frédéric , Sokolova Vladislava , Porri Aimone , Reymond Matthieu , Weinig Cynthia , Coupland George 
Published: December 2014

Significance
Daily rhythms of gene expression ensure that biological processes occur at the optimal time of day. In plants, temporally regulated processes include traits of ecological and agricultural importance, and understanding how changes in daily rhythms of expression modify such traits has broad implications. We find that natural genetic variation can accurately modify temporal gene expression waveforms during the day by influencing light signaling pathways, rather than circadian rhythms. We further show that changes in transcriptional patterns induced by natural alleles are sufficient to affect downstream molecular outputs and cause phenotypic diversity. Such natural alleles could provide an advantage by adjusting the activity of temporally regulated processes while avoiding the pleiotropic effects associated with severe disruptions of the circadian system.
Personality, plasticity and predation: linking endocrine and behavioural reaction norms in stickleback fish
Authors: Fürtbauer Ines , Pond Alice , Heistermann Michael , King Andrew J. 
Published: December 2014

SummaryPredation plays a fundamental role in evolutionary processes, driving changes in prey morphology, physiology and behaviour. With organisms being increasingly exposed to rapid environmental changes, there is growing interest in understanding individual phenotypic plasticity in response to changes in predation pressure.Behavioural and physiological responses to predator exposure are of particular interest as differences in predation pressure are often reflected in correlated suites of behavioural and hormonal profiles across populations. Within populations, the association between endocrine profiles and behaviour is less understood and often lacking.Adopting a reaction norm approach and a repeated measures design, we assessed within‐population effects of changes in perceived predation risk on endocrinology and behaviour in three‐spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus). We repeatedly exposed subjects to a robotic model predator and assessed their behavioural response. The fish showed consistent behavioural profiles and were less active and shyer when predation risk was higher.Using non‐invasive waterborne hormone analysis, we assessed basal cortisol as well as the cortisol response to changes in predation risk. Individuals showed significantly higher cortisol levels following exposure to the model predator. Individual post‐predator exposure cortisol was repeatable but unrelated to behavioural responses. Accounting for between versus within‐subject effects, we found that basal cortisol and shyness were positively related within individuals, that is individuals overall were shyer on days they had higher cortisol levels. We also tested if basal testosterone predicted risky behaviour and found no evidence for this hypothesis.No individual differences in hormonal or behavioural responses to changes in predation risk were found, suggesting that individuals are not constrained by their personalities in their ability to cope with a potentially harmful threat.Overall, we show that individuals of different personalities are equally ‘flexible’ in their response to changes in predation pressure. Our study offers novel insight into consistent individual differences and plasticity in hormones and behaviour as well as their interplay within populations. Future studies should assess the applicability of these findings to other changes in the environment, as well as the effects of social context on endocrine and behavioural reaction norms.
Temperature‐induced recruitment pulses of Arctic dwarf shrub communities
Authors: Büntgen Ulf , Hellmann Lena , Tegel Willy , Normand Signe , Myers‐Smith Isla , Kirdyanov Alexander V. , Nievergelt Daniel , Schweingruber Fritz H. 
Published: December 2014

SummaryThe effects of climate change on Arctic ecosystems can range between various spatiotemporal scales and may include shifts in population distribution, community composition, plant phenology, primary productivity and species biodiversity. The growth rates and age structure of tundra vegetation as well as its response to temperature variation, however, remain poorly understood because high‐resolution data are limited in space and time.Anatomical and morphological stem characteristics were recorded to assess the growth behaviour and age structure of 871 dwarf shrubs from 10 species at 30 sites in coastal East Greenland at ˜70°N. Recruitment pulses were linked with changes in mean annual and summer temperature back to the 19th century, and a literature review was conducted to place our findings in a pan‐Arctic context.Low cambial activity translates into estimated average/maximum plant ages of 59/204 years, suggesting relatively small turnover rates and stable community composition. Decade‐long changes in the recruitment intensity were found to lag temperature variability by 2 and 6 years during warmer and colder periods, respectively (r = 0.851961–2000 and 1881–1920).Synthesis. Our results reveal a strong temperature dependency of Arctic dwarf shrub reproduction, a high vulnerability of circumpolar tundra ecosystems to climatic changes, and the ability of evaluating historical vegetation dynamics well beyond the northern treeline. The combined wood anatomical and plant ecological approach, considering insights from micro‐sections to community assemblages, indicates that model predictions of rapid tundra expansion (i.e. shrub growth) following intense warming might underestimate plant longevity and persistence but overestimate the sensitivity and reaction time of Arctic vegetation.
Club drug use and associated high‐risk sexual behaviour in six provinces in China
Authors: Bao Yan‐Ping , Liu Zhi‐Min , Li Jian‐Hua , Zhang Rui‐Min , Hao Wei , Zhao Min , Shi Jie , McGoogan Jennifer M. , Lu Lin 
Published: December 2014

AbstractAimTo investigate the characteristics of the different club drugs and associated high‐risk sexual behaviours in China.DesignMulticentre cross‐sectional study.SettingDrug Detoxification and Rehabilitation Centres in six provinces, China.ParticipantsA total of 1434 eligible club drug users were included.MeasurementsParticipants were investigated by trained interviewers using a self‐designed structured questionnaire to collect information on club drug use and associated behaviours.FindingsMethamphetamine was the most commonly abused drug in participants (73.92%), who used it in their or their friends' homes by non‐injection for the purpose of feeling euphoria. Among participants with sexual behaviours after club drug use, 75.21% reported having engaged in sex with multiple partners after club drug use during the past year and 79.84% had unprotected sex after using club drug during the past year. A two‐level logistic model showed that male gender [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 7.14; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 4.17–12.5], unmarried (AOR = 1.71, 95% CI = 1.04–2.79), long duration of club drug use during their life‐time (AOR = 1.76, 95% CI = 1.28–2.42) and severe acute intoxication after using club drugs during the past year (AOR = 2.11, 95% CI = 1.07–4.15) were independent risk factors of multiple sex partners during the past year. Another two‐level model showed that the club drug users who were female (AOR = 1.79, 95% CI = 1.03–3.11) and had polydrug use during their lifetime (AOR = 1.55, 95% CI = 1.01–2.34) had more risk for unprotected sex during the past year than without these characteristics.ConclusionHigh‐risk sexual behaviours are common among club drug users in China. The prevention and intervention of club drug use could decrease the risk of sexual behaviours which further prevent HIV transmission and other sexually transmitted infections in China.