bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A Network Flow-based Analysis of Cognitive Reserve in Normal Ageing and Alzheimer’s Disease
Authors: Wook Yoo Sang , Han Cheol E. , Shin Joseph S. , Won Seo Sang , Na Duk L. , Kaiser Marcus , Jeong Yong , Seong Joon-Kyung 
Published: May 2015

AbstractCognitive reserve is the ability to sustain cognitive function even with a certain amount of brain damages. Here we investigate the neural compensation mechanism of cognitive reserve from the perspective of structural brain connectivity. Our goal was to show that normal people with high education levels (i.e., cognitive reserve) maintain abundant pathways connecting any two brain regions, providing better compensation or resilience after brain damage. Accordingly, patients with high education levels show more deterioration in structural brain connectivity than those with low education levels before symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) become apparent. To test this hypothesis, we use network flow measuring the number of alternative paths between two brain regions in the brain network. The experimental results show that for normal aging, education strengthens network reliability, as measured through flow values, in a subnetwork centered at the supramarginal gyrus. For AD, a subnetwork centered at the left middle frontal gyrus shows a negative correlation between flow and education, which implies more collapse in structural brain connectivity for highly educated patients. We conclude that cognitive reserve may come from the ability of network reorganization to secure the information flow within the brain network, therefore making it more resistant to disease progress.
Influence of sociodemographic characteristics on human mobility
Authors: Lenormand Maxime , Louail Thomas , Cantú-Ros Oliva G. , Picornell Miguel , Herranz Ricardo , Arias Juan Murillo , Barthelemy Marc , Miguel Maxi San , Ramasco José J. 
Published: May 2015

AbstractHuman mobility has been traditionally studied using surveys that deliver snapshots of population displacement patterns. The growing accessibility to ICT information from portable digital media has recently opened the possibility of exploring human behavior at high spatio-temporal resolutions. Mobile phone records, geolocated tweets, check-ins from Foursquare or geotagged photos, have contributed to this purpose at different scales, from cities to countries, in different world areas. Many previous works lacked, however, details on the individuals’ attributes such as age or gender. In this work, we analyze credit-card records from Barcelona and Madrid and by examining the geolocated credit-card transactions of individuals living in the two provinces, we find that the mobility patterns vary according to gender, age and occupation. Differences in distance traveled and travel purpose are observed between younger and older people, but, curiously, either between males and females of similar age. While mobility displays some generic features, here we show that sociodemographic characteristics play a relevant role and must be taken into account for mobility and epidemiological modelization.
SnO2 Nanosheet/Nanoparticle Detector for the Sensing of 1-Nonanal Gas Produced by Lung Cancer
Authors: Masuda Yoshitake , Itoh Toshio , Shin Woosuck , Kato Kazumi 
Published: May 2015

AbstractA sensor has been developed for detecting 1-nonanal gas present in the breath of lung cancer patients by combining SnO2 nanosheets with SnO2 nanoparticles and noble metal catalysts. A significant change in the electrical resistance of this sensor was observed with increasing 1-nonanal gas concentration; the resistance decreased by a factor of 1.12 within the range of 1 to 10 ppm at 300 °C. The recovery of the sensor’s resistance after detecting 1-nonanal gas concentrations of 0.055, 0.18, 1 and 9.5 ppm was determined to be 86.1, 84.2, 80.4 and 69.2%, respectively. This high sensitivity is attributed to the accelerated oxidation of 1-nonanal molecules caused by the (101) crystal faces of the SnO2 nanosheets and should provide a simple and effective approach to the early detection of lung cancer.
Transient Blockade of ERK Phosphorylation in the Critical Period Causes Autistic Phenotypes as an Adult in Mice
Authors: Yufune Shinya , Satoh Yasushi , Takamatsu Isao , Ohta Hiroyuki , Kobayashi Yasushi , Takaenoki Yumiko , Pagès Gilles , Pouysségur Jacques , Endo Shogo , Kazama Tomiei 
Published: May 2015

AbstractThe critical period is a distinct time-window during the neonatal stage when animals display elevated sensitivity to certain environmental stimuli and particular experiences can have profound and long-lasting effects on behaviors. Increasing evidence suggests that disruption of neuronal activity during the critical period contributes to autistic phenotype, although the pathogenic mechanism is largely unknown. Herein we show that extracellular signal-regulated protein kinases (ERKs) play important roles in proper formation of neural circuits during the critical period. Transient blockade of ERKs phosphorylation at postnatal day 6 (P6) by intraperitoneal injection of blood-brain barrier-penetrating MEK inhibitor, α-[amino[(4-aminophenyl)thio]methylene]-2-(trifluoromethyl)benzeneacetonitrile (SL327) caused significant increase of apoptosis in the forebrain. Furthermore, this induced long-term deleterious effects on brain functioning later in adulthood, resulting in social deficits, impaired memory and reduced long-term potentiation (LTP). Conversely, blockade of ERK phosphorylation at P14 no longer induced apoptosis, nor behavioral deficits, nor the reduced LTP. Thus, surprisingly, these effects of ERKs are strongly age-dependent, indicating that phosphorylation of ERKs during the critical period is absolutely required for proper development of brain functioning. This study provides novel insight into the mechanistic basis for neurodevelopment disorders: various neurodevelopment disorders might be generally linked to defects in ERKs signaling during the critical period.
SIRT1 protects rat lung tissue against severe burn-induced remote ALI by attenuating the apoptosis of PMVECs via p38 MAPK signaling
Authors: Bai Xiaozhi , Fan Lei , He Ting , Jia Wenbin , Yang Longlong , Zhang Jun , Liu Yang , Shi Jihong , Su Linlin , Hu Dahai 
Published: May 2015

AbstractSilent information regulator type-1 (SIRT1) has been reported to be involved in the cardiopulmonary protection. However, its role in the pathogenesis of burn-induced remote acute lung injury (ALI) is currently unknown. The present study aims to investigate the role of SIRT1 in burn-induced remote ALI and the involved signaling pathway. We observed that SIRT1 expression in rat lung tissue after burn injury appeared an increasing trend after a short period of suppression. The upregulation of SIRT1 stimulated by resveratrol exhibited remission of histopathologic changes, reduction of cell apoptosis and downregulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines in rat pulmonary tissues suffering from severe burn. We next used primary pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (PMVECs) challenged by burn serum (BS) to simulate in vivo rat lung tissue after burn injury and found that BS significantly suppressed SIRT1 expression, increased cell apoptosis and activated p38 MAPK signaling. The use of resveratrol reversed these effects, while knockdown of SIRT1 by shRNA further augmented BS-induced increase of cell apoptosis and activation of p38 MAPK. Taken together, these results indicate that SIRT1 might protect lung tissue against burn-induced remote ALI by attenuating PMVEC apoptosis via p38 MAPK signaling, suggesting its potential therapeutic effects on the treatment of ALI.
Short-Range Mobility and the Evolution of Cooperation: An Experimental Study
Authors: Antonioni Alberto , Tomassini Marco , Sánchez Angel 
Published: May 2015

AbstractA pressing issue in biology and social sciences is to explain how cooperation emerges in a population of self-interested individuals. Theoretical models suggest that one such explanation may involve the possibility of changing one’s neighborhood by removing and creating connections to others, but this hypothesis has problems when random motion is considered and lacks experimental support. To address this, we have carried out experiments on diluted grids with human subjects playing a Prisoner’s Dilemma. In contrast to previous results on purposeful rewiring in relational networks, we have found no noticeable effect of mobility in space on the level of cooperation. Clusters of cooperators form momentarily but in a few rounds they dissolve as cooperators at the boundaries stop tolerating being cheated upon. Our results highlight the difficulties that mobile agents have to establish a cooperative environment in a spatial setting.
Shallow methylmercury production in the marginal sea ice zone of the central Arctic Ocean
Authors: Heimbürger Lars-Eric , Sonke Jeroen E. , Cossa Daniel , Point David , Lagane Christelle , Laffont Laure , Galfond Benjamin T. , Nicolaus Marcel , Rabe Benjamin , van der Loeff Michiel Rutgers 
Published: May 2015

AbstractMethylmercury (MeHg) is a neurotoxic compound that threatens wildlife and human health across the Arctic region. Though much is known about the source and dynamics of its inorganic mercury (Hg) precursor, the exact origin of the high MeHg concentrations in Arctic biota remains uncertain. Arctic coastal sediments, coastal marine waters and surface snow are known sites for MeHg production. Observations on marine Hg dynamics, however, have been restricted to the Canadian Archipelago and the Beaufort Sea (<79°N). Here we present the first central Arctic Ocean (79–90°N) profiles for total mercury (tHg) and MeHg. We find elevated tHg and MeHg concentrations in the marginal sea ice zone (81–85°N). Similar to other open ocean basins, Arctic MeHg concentration maxima also occur in the pycnocline waters, but at much shallower depths (150–200 m). The shallow MeHg maxima just below the productive surface layer possibly result in enhanced biological uptake at the base of the Arctic marine food web and may explain the elevated MeHg concentrations in Arctic biota. We suggest that Arctic warming, through thinning sea ice, extension of the seasonal sea ice zone, intensified surface ocean stratification and shifts in plankton ecodynamics, will likely lead to higher marine MeHg production.
Structural Insights into Substrate Specificity of Feruloyl-CoA 6’-Hydroxylase from Arabidopsis thaliana
Authors: Sun Xinxiao , Zhou Dayong , Kandavelu Palani , Zhang Hua , Yuan Qipeng , Wang Bi-Cheng , Rose John , Yan Yajun 
Published: May 2015

AbstractCoumarins belong to an important class of plant secondary metabolites. Feruloyl-CoA 6’-hydroxylase (F6’H), a 2-oxoglutarate dependent dioxygenase (2OGD), catalyzes a pivotal step in the biosynthesis of a simple coumarin scopoletin. In this study, we determined the 3-dimensional structure of the F6’H1 apo enzyme by X-ray crystallography. It is the first reported structure of a 2OGD enzyme involved in coumarin biosynthesis and closely resembles the structure of Arabidopsis thaliana anthocyanidin synthase. To better understand the mechanism of enzyme catalysis and substrate specificity, we also generated a homology model of a related ortho-hydroxylase (C2’H) from sweet potato. By comparing these two structures, we targeted two amino acid residues and verified their roles in substrate binding and specificity by site-directed mutagenesis.
The alternate role of direct and environmental transmission in fungal infectious disease in wildlife: threats for biodiversity conservation
Authors: Al-Shorbaji Farah N. , Gozlan Rodolphe E. , Roche Benjamin , Robert Britton J. , Andreou Demetra 
Published: May 2015

AbstractEmerging fungal pathogens have substantial consequences for infected hosts, as revealed by the global decline of amphibian species from the chytrid fungus. According to the “curse of the Pharaoh” hypothesis, free-living infectious stages typical of fungal pathogens lengthen the timespan of transmission. Free-living infectious stages whose lifespan exceeds the infection time of their hosts are not constrained by virulence, enabling them to persist at high levels and continue transmitting to further sensitive hosts. Using the only Mesomycetozoea fungal species that can be cultured, Sphaerothecum destruens, we obtained tractable data on infectivity and pathogen life cycle for the first time. Here, based on the outcomes of a set of infectious trials and combined with an epidemiological model, we show a high level of dependence on direct transmission in crowded, confined environments and establish that incubation rate and length of infection dictate the epidemic dynamics of fungal disease. The spread of Mesomycetozoea in the wild raise ecological concerns for a range of susceptible species including birds, amphibians and mammals. Our results shed light on the risks associated with farming conditions and highlight the additional risk posed by invasive species that are highly abundant and can act as infectious reservoir hosts.
Compressive Optical Image Encryption
Authors: Li Jun , Sheng Li Jiao , Yang Pan Yang , Li Rong 
Published: May 2015

AbstractAn optical image encryption technique based on compressive sensing using fully optical means has been proposed. An object image is first encrypted to a white-sense stationary noise pattern using a double random phase encoding (DRPE) method in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. Then, the encrypted image is highly compressed to a signal using single-pixel compressive holographic imaging in the optical domain. At the receiving terminal, the encrypted image is reconstructed well via compressive sensing theory and the original image can be decrypted with three reconstructed holograms and the correct keys. The numerical simulations show that the method is effective and suitable for optical image security transmission in future all-optical networks because of the ability of completely optical implementation and substantially smaller hologram data volume.
Emergent rogue wave structures and statistics in spontaneous modulation instability
Authors: Toenger Shanti , Godin Thomas , Billet Cyril , Dias Frédéric , Erkintalo Miro , Genty Goëry , Dudley John M. 
Published: May 2015

AbstractThe nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE) is a seminal equation of nonlinear physics describing wave packet evolution in weakly-nonlinear dispersive media. The NLSE is especially important in understanding how high amplitude “rogue waves” emerge from noise through the process of modulation instability (MI) whereby a perturbation on an initial plane wave can evolve into strongly-localised “breather” or “soliton on finite background (SFB)” structures. Although there has been much study of such structures excited under controlled conditions, there remains the open question of how closely the analytic solutions of the NLSE actually model localised structures emerging in noise-seeded MI. We address this question here using numerical simulations to compare the properties of a large ensemble of emergent peaks in noise-seeded MI with the known analytic solutions of the NLSE. Our results show that both elementary breather and higher-order SFB structures are observed in chaotic MI, with the characteristics of the noise-induced peaks clustering closely around analytic NLSE predictions. A significant conclusion of our work is to suggest that the widely-held view that the Peregrine soliton forms a rogue wave prototype must be revisited. Rather, we confirm earlier suggestions that NLSE rogue waves are most appropriately identified as collisions between elementary SFB solutions.
Differences in the strength of cortical and brainstem inputs to SSA and non-SSA neurons in the inferior colliculus
Authors: Ayala Yaneri A. , Udeh Adanna , Dutta Kelsey , Bishop Deborah , Malmierca Manuel S. , Oliver Douglas L. 
Published: May 2015

AbstractIn an ever changing auditory scene, change detection is an ongoing task performed by the auditory brain. Neurons in the midbrain and auditory cortex that exhibit stimulus-specific adaptation (SSA) may contribute to this process. Those neurons adapt to frequent sounds while retaining their excitability to rare sounds. Here, we test whether neurons exhibiting SSA and those without are part of the same networks in the inferior colliculus (IC). We recorded the responses to frequent and rare sounds and then marked the sites of these neurons with a retrograde tracer to correlate the source of projections with the physiological response. SSA neurons were confined to the non-lemniscal subdivisions and exhibited broad receptive fields, while the non-SSA were confined to the central nucleus and displayed narrow receptive fields. SSA neurons receive strong inputs from auditory cortical areas and very poor or even absent projections from the brainstem nuclei. On the contrary, the major sources of inputs to the neurons that lacked SSA were from the brainstem nuclei. These findings demonstrate that auditory cortical inputs are biased in favor of IC synaptic domains that are populated by SSA neurons enabling them to compare top-down signals with incoming sensory information from lower areas.
Innate lymphotoxin receptor mediated signaling promotes HSV-1 associated neuroinflammation and viral replication
Authors: Liang Yong , Yang Kaiting , Guo Jingya , Wroblewska Joanna , Fu Yang-Xin , Peng Hua 
Published: May 2015

AbstractHost anti-viral innate immunity plays important roles in the defense against HSV-1 infection. In this study, we find an unexpected role for innate LT/LIGHT signaling in promoting HSV-1 replication and virus induced inflammation in immunocompromised mice. Using a model of footpad HSV-1 infection in Rag1–/– mice, we observed that blocking LT/LIGHT signaling with LTβR-Ig could significantly delay disease progression and extend the survival of infected mice. LTβR-Ig treatment reduced late proinflammatory cytokine release in the serum and nervous tissue and inhibited chemokine expression and inflammatory cells infiltration in the dorsal root ganglia (DRG). Intriguingly, LTβR-Ig treatment restricted HSV-1 replication in the DRG but not the footpad. These findings demonstrate a critical role for LT/LIGHT signaling in modulating innate inflammation and promoting HSV-1 replication in the nervous system and suggest a new target for treatment of virus-induced adverse immune response and control of severe HSV-1 infection.
Endovascular versus Non-Interventional Therapy for Cervicocranial Artery Dissection in East Asian and Non-East Asian Patients: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
Authors: Huang Rongzhong , Niu Lingchuan , Wang Ying , Jia Gongwei , Jia Lang , Wang Yule , Jiang Wei , Sun Yang , Yu Lehua 
Published: May 2015

AbstractEndovascular methods have been increasingly applied in treating cervicocranial artery dissection (CCAD). Anti-thrombotic therapy, which is used in non-interventional care of CCAD patients, has differential effects in East Asian patients. Therefore, we aimed to compare the clinical outcomes of endovascular versus non-interventional therapy for CCAD in East Asians and non-East Asians. A search was performed for studies comparing endovascular and non-interventional approaches to CCAD patients. Rates of recovery, disability and mortality were used to assess these approaches in East Asian and non-East Asian patients. Subgroup analyses were conducted for CCAD patients with ruptured dissections. Eleven East Asian studies and five non-East Asian studies were included. The subgroup analyses for CCAD patients with ruptured dissections on mortality (East Asian odds ratio [OR] [95% confidence interval [CI]]: 0.24 [0.08-0.71], P = 0.01; I2 = 34%) and good recovery (East Asian OR [95% CI]: 3.79 [1.14-12.60], P = 0.03; I2 = 54%) revealed that endovascular therapy is significantly superior to non-interventional therapy for East Asians. No differences in treatment effect upon mortality, disability, or good recovery outcomes were found for the CCAD populations-at-large nor for non-East Asian CCAD patients with ruptured dissections. Endovascular therapy appears to be superior to non-interventional therapy for East Asian CCAD patients with ruptured dissections.
G-quadruplex induced chirality of methylazacalix[6]pyridine via unprecedented binding stoichiometry: en route to multiplex controlled molecular switch
Authors: Guan Ai-Jiao , Shen Meng-Jie , Xiang Jun-Feng , Zhang En-Xuan , Li Qian , Sun Hong-Xia , Wang Li-Xia , Xu Guang-Zhi , Tang Ya-Lin , Xu Li-Jin , Gong Han-Yuan 
Published: May 2015

AbstractNucleic acid based molecular device is a developing research field which attracts great interests in material for building machinelike nanodevices. G-quadruplex, as a new type of DNA secondary structures, can be harnessed to construct molecular device owing to its rich structural polymorphism. Herein, we developed a switching system based on G-quadruplexes and methylazacalix[6]pyridine (MACP6). The induced circular dichroism (CD) signal of MACP6 was used to monitor the switch controlled by temperature or pH value. Furthermore, the CD titration, Job-plot, variable temperature CD and 1H-NMR experiments not only confirmed the binding mode between MACP6 and G-quadruplex, but also explained the difference switching effect of MACP6 and various G-quadruplexes. The established strategy has the potential to be used as the chiral probe for specific G-quadruplex recognition.
Negative Differential Resistance in Boron Nitride Graphene Heterostructures: Physical Mechanisms and Size Scaling Analysis
Authors: Zhao Y. , Wan Z. , Xu X. , Patil S. R. , Hetmaniuk U. , Anantram M. P. 
Published: May 2015

AbstractHexagonal boron nitride (hBN) is drawing increasing attention as an insulator and substrate material to develop next generation graphene-based electronic devices. In this paper, we investigate the quantum transport in heterostructures consisting of a few atomic layers thick hBN film sandwiched between graphene nanoribbon electrodes. We show a gate-controllable vertical transistor exhibiting strong negative differential resistance (NDR) effect with multiple resonant peaks, which stay pronounced for various device dimensions. We find two distinct mechanisms that are responsible for NDR, depending on the gate and applied biases, in the same device. The origin of first mechanism is a Fabry-Pérot like interference and that of the second mechanism is an in-plane wave vector matching when the Dirac points of the electrodes align. The hBN layers can induce an asymmetry in the current-voltage characteristics which can be further modulated by an applied bias. We find that the electron-phonon scattering suppresses the first mechanism whereas the second mechanism remains relatively unaffected. We also show that the NDR features are tunable by varying device dimensions. The NDR feature with multiple resonant peaks, combined with ultrafast tunneling speed provides prospect for the graphene-hBN-graphene heterostructure in the high-performance electronics.
Influence of hybridisation on eco‐driving habits using realistic driving cycles
Authors: Chrenko Daniela 
Published: May 2015

This study covers three main aspects. First, it presents a way to create driving cycles using only driver behaviour (acceleration, deceleration and maximum speed) and route data as input parameters. Second, a power‐based approach to describe different vehicle architectures from internal combustion engine vehicle, over stop and start to series and parallel hybrid solutions is presented and respective component modelling approaches are introduced. Finally, the fuel consumption on a given cycle in function of eco‐driving parameters is evaluated. It can be seen that hybrid solutions show minimum fuel consumption of about 3 L/100 km, whereas eco‐driving habits do change slightly when applied to hybrid architectures because of new technologies such as braking energy recovery.