bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Adult degenerative scoliosis associated with increased aortic diameter and plaque burden and composition
Authors: Ayça Burak , Rakıcı Taşkın , Atıcı Yunus , Avsar Murat , Yuksel Yasin , Akın Fatih , Okuyan Ertugrul , Hakan Dinckal M 
Published: July 2015

Objective In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between adult degenerative scoliosis (ADS) and the aortic plaques and diameters. Method We included 219 patients with ADS and 100 control patients without ADS. Diameters of ascending, arch, descending and abdominal aorta and number, localization and types of the aortic plaques, and the Cobb angles of all patients were measured from computed tomography (CT) images. We divided the patients with ADS into three groups according to the Cobb angle, and divided them into four groups according to level of spine deformity. Results The patients with ADS had a larger aorta and more aortic plaques (both, p < 0.001). The patients with ADS had more fibro-fatty and mix plaques (both, p < 0.001). The patients with severe ADS had larger diameters of the ascending and arch of the aorta ( p = 0.026 and p = 0.027, respectively). The patients with the main thoracic curve had a larger ascending aorta and the patients with a thoracolumbar curve had more aortic plaques ( p = 0.035 and p = 0.029, respectively). In multivariate regression analysis, the ADS was an independent risk factor for both aortic dilatation (>3.6 cm) and aortic plaque build-up (both, p < 0.001). Conclusion The ADS may be a risk factor for aortic dilatation and aortic atherosclerosis.
Nasofacial infection in a cat due to a novel bacterium in Neisseriaceae
Authors: Carr Susan V , Martin Patricia A , Keyes Samantha L , Tong Lydia J , Talbot Jessica J , Muscatello Gary , Barrs Vanessa R 
Published: July 2015

Case summary A 2-year-old female spayed domestic shorthair cat was presented for a progressive subcutaneous nasofacial swelling. Histology of biopsy tissue revealed pyogranulomatous inflammation and large numbers of gram-negative capsulated bacterial coccobacilli within macrophages. The isolate was fastidious and grew after 6 days under microaerophilic conditions in a candle jar. The molecular identity of the isolate, from comparative sequence analysis of the 16s rRNA gene, is an as yet to be classified bacterial species within a novel genus of Neisseria. Infection resolved after 7 months of antimicrobial therapy with doxycycline and trimethoprim sulfamethoxazole. There has been no further recurrence of clinical signs in a 3 year follow-up period. Relevance and novel information Cats are susceptible to nasofacial infections as a result of traumatic inoculation of environmental bacteria, fungi and protozoa. We report a novel pathogen in the Neisseriaceae family, identified by 16 sRNA comparative sequence analysis, as a cause of nasofacial infection in a cat, and its subsequent successful treatment with combination antimicrobial therapy.
An incarcerated appendix and the ileocecum within a left inguinal hernia in an infant
Authors: Yoneyama Fumiya , Tanaka Hideaki , Ono Kentaro , Sasaki Takato , Jimbo Takahiro , Gotoh Chikashi , Uesugi Toru , Urita Yasuhisa , Shinkai Toko , Takayasu Hajime , Imoto Natsuki , Masumoto Kouji 
Published: July 2015

AbstractAn 8-month-old boy with a left-sided incarcerated inguinal hernia involving the appendix, cecum, and terminal ileum was successfully managed via an inguinal approach during an emergency operation. A mobile cecum seemed to have contributed to the left-sided incarceration. Only 13 similar cases with the left-sided Amyand’s hernia have been reported in the literature.
On the predicament of Africanist knowledge: Mudimbe, gnosis and the challenge of the colonial library
Authors: Wai Zubairu 
Published: July 2015

Abstract
One of the major conceptual apparatuses in Mudimbe’s critical repertoire is the concept of the ‘colonial library’, an abstraction that denotes the immense body of texts and systems of representation that for centuries has functioned to produce Africa as a paradigm of difference and alterity. A transdisciplinary space the huge knowledge capital of which constitutes and is constitutive of the epistemological locus of Africa’s invention, the colonial library, Mudimbe tells us, also incarnates a paradox: while its knowledge capital serves to justify monstrosities such as Atlantic slavery and colonialism, it has also been from within the foundations of its power knowledge regimes that Africans themselves have sought to interrogate western discourses on Africa, as well as produce their own notions of self-identity, discourses of Otherness and ideologies of alterity. What exactly is this library, and how does it structure knowledge on and about Africa? This article examines the colonial library and the problem it poses for Africanist knowledge. It asks whether discourse on and about Africa outside of the power-knowledge regimes of the library is possible, or, whether Africanist knowledge is always already doomed at its very moment of enunciation since it is always contaminated by the violence of its epistemological region of emergence. The article concludes by engaging with Achille Mbembe in order to illustrate the difficulty of escaping the vicious circle generated by the colonial library.
La ‘bibliothèque coloniale’ est un des principaux appareils conceptuels du répertoire critique mudimbéen. Ce concept est une abstraction censée représenter un immense corpus de textes et d’images qui, pendant des siècles, a alimenté l’idée selon laquelle l’Afrique serait le continent de la différence et de l’altérité. Espace transdisciplinaire dont l’énorme capital intellectuel constitue le locus épistémologique de l’invention de l’Afrique, la bibliothèque coloniale, ainsi que Mudimbe le remarque, incarne aussi un paradoxe. D’un côté, elle fut mobilisée pour justifier des monstruosités telles que la traite négrière atlantique et le colonialisme; d’un autre côté, c’est à partir du pouvoir-savoir qui la constituait que les Africains se sont employés à interroger les discours occidentaux sur l’Afrique ainsi qu’à produire leurs propres notions identitaires et, finalement, à élaborer leur singularité discursive et idéologique. En quoi consiste exactement cette bibliothèque et de quelles ressources tire-t-elle profit pour structurer le savoir africain? Cet article se penche en outre sur les défis que la bibliothèque coloniale pose à l’émergence d’un savoir africaniste. D’autres questions connexes seront abordées: peut-on concevoir une réflexion sur l’Afrique en dehors de la dualité pouvoir-savoir qui régit la bibliothèque? Doit-on plutôt se résigner à accepter que tout discours africaniste se trouve, dès le moment de son énonciation, irrémédiablement contaminé par son contexte épistémologique d’origine?
Ethiopia in Black Studies from W. E. B. Du Bois to Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Authors: Gebrekidan Fikru Negash 
Published: July 2015

Abstract
In his integration of the Ethiopian past into Nile-valley history, W. E. B. Du Bois popularized a perspective that ran contrary to conventional wisdom. Du Bois’s Afrocentric interpretation, briefly postulated in his 1915 publication, The Negro, was to shape the scholarship of a generation. Even among mainstream Ethiopianists, to whom Du Bois had long remained anathema, his insight has finally gained a foothold. This essay demonstrates how the Du Boisian thesis has persisted on the fringes of Ethiopian studies, at times ignored and neglected, but always serving as a foil to Semitic Orientalism.
Leveraging history for faster sampling of online social networks
Authors: Zhou Zhuojie , Zhang Nan , Das Gautam 
Published: July 2015

With a vast amount of data available on online social networks, how to enable efficient analytics over such data has been an increasingly important research problem. Given the sheer size of such social networks, many existing studies resort to sampling techniques that draw random nodes from an online social network through its restrictive web/API interface. While these studies differ widely in analytics tasks supported and algorithmic design, almost all of them use the exact same underlying technique ofrandom walk- a Markov Chain Monte Carlo based method which iteratively transits from one node to its random neighbor.Random walk fits naturally with this problem because, for most online social networks, the only query we can issue through the interface is to retrieve the neighbors of a given node (i.e., no access to the full graph topology). A problem with random walks, however, is the "burn-in" period which requires a large number of transitions/queries before the sampling distribution converges to a stationary value that enables the drawing of samples in a statistically valid manner.In this paper, we consider a novel problem of speeding up the fundamental design of random walks (i.e., reducing the number of queries it requires)withoutchanging the stationary distribution it achieves - thereby enabling a more efficient "drop-in" replacement for existing sampling-based analytics techniques over online social networks. Technically, our main idea is to leverage the history of random walks to construct a higher-ordered Markov chain. We develop two algorithms,Circulated NeighborsandGroupby NeighborsRandom Walk (CNRW and GNRW) and rigidly prove that, no matter what the social network topology is, CNRW and GNRW offer better efficiency than baseline random walks while achieving the same stationary distribution. We demonstrate through extensive experiments on real-world social networks and synthetic graphs the superiority of our techniques over the existing ones.
Functional dependency discovery
Authors: Papenbrock Thorsten , Ehrlich Jens , Marten Jannik , Neubert Tommy , Rudolph Jan-Peer , Schönberg Martin , Zwiener Jakob , Naumann Felix 
Published: July 2015

Functional dependencies are important metadata used for schema normalization, data cleansing and many other tasks. The efficient discovery of functional dependencies in tables is a well-known challenge in database research and has seen several approaches. Because no comprehensive comparison between these algorithms exist at the time, it is hard to choose the best algorithm for a given dataset. In this experimental paper, we describe, evaluate, and compare the seven most cited and most important algorithms, all solving this same problem.
First, we classify the algorithms into three different categories, explaining their commonalities. We then describe all algorithms with their main ideas. The descriptions provide additional details where the original papers were ambiguous or incomplete. Our evaluation of careful re-implementations of all algorithms spans a broad test space including synthetic and real-world data. We show that all functional dependency algorithms optimize for certain data characteristics and provide hints on when to choose which algorithm. In summary, however, all current approaches scale surprisingly poorly, showing potential for future research.
DPT
Authors: He Xi , Cormode Graham , Machanavajjhala Ashwin , Procopiuc Cecilia M. , Srivastava Divesh 
Published: July 2015

GPS-enabled devices are now ubiquitous, from airplanes and cars to smartphones and wearable technology. This has resulted in a wealth of data about the movements of individuals and populations, which can be analyzed for useful information to aid in city and traffic planning, disaster preparedness and so on. However, the places that people go can disclose extremely sensitive information about them, and thus their use needs to be filtered through privacy preserving mechanisms. This turns out to be a highly challenging task: raw trajectories are highly detailed, and typically no pair is alike. Previous attempts fail either to provide adequate privacy protection, or to remain sufficiently faithful to the original behavior.
This paper presents DPT, a system to synthesize mobility data based on raw GPS trajectories of individuals while ensuring strong privacy protection in the form of ε-differential privacy. DPT makes a number of novel modeling and algorithmic contributions including (i) discretization of raw trajectories using hierarchical reference systems (at multiple resolutions) to capture individual movements at differing speeds, (ii) adaptive mechanisms to select a small set of reference systems and construct prefix tree counts privately, and (iii) use of direction-weighted sampling for improved utility. While there have been prior attempts to solve the subproblems required to generate synthetic trajectories, to the best of our knowledge, ours is the first system that provides an end-to-end solution. We show the efficacy of our synthetic trajectory generation system using an extensive empirical evaluation.
Design of Compact Tri-Band Filter Based on Sir-Loaded Resonator with 0°Tapped-Feed Structure
Authors: Chen Jian-zhong , Shen Jie , Gao Ni , Zhang An-xue 
Published: July 2015

AbstractIn this paper, a novel compact tri-band filter based on SIR-loaded resonator is presented. By adding λ/4 resonators inside the SIR-loaded resonators, a compact tri-band filter is obtained. Three passbands are designed to operate at 1.85 GHz, 2.575 GHz and 3.05 GHz, respectively. The first and second passbands are established by utilizing resonator loaded with SIR, whose circuit size is much smaller than the legacy uniform impedance resonator (UIR). Then the λ/4 resonators are applied to generate the third passband. The three passbands can be adjusted to meet the requirements. The skew-symmetric (0-degree) tapped-feed structure is used to introduce a pair of transmission zeros, so the frequency selectivity is greatly improved. Due to the λ/4 resonators are embedded in the SIR-load resonators, the minimization of the tri-band filter is realized. A practical tri-band filter is fabricated and measured. The measured results show good agreement with the simulated ones.
The double mutation L109M and R448M of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase decreases fidelity of DNA synthesis by promoting mismatch elongation
Authors: Heyn Bianca , Pogodalla Nicole , Brakmann Susanne 
Published: July 2015

Abstract
Changes of Leu109 and Arg448 of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) reverse transcriptase (RT) have as yet not been associated with altered fitness. However, in a recent study, we described that the simultaneous substitution of L109 and R448 by methionine leads to an error-producing polymerase phenotype that is not observed for the isolated substitutions. The double mutant increased the error rate of DNA-dependent DNA synthesis 3.1-fold as compared to the wildtype enzyme and showed a mutational spectrum with a fraction of 28% frameshift mutations and 48% transitions. We show here that weaker binding of DNA:DNA primer-templates as indicated by an increased dissociation rate constant (koff) could account for the higher frameshift error rate. Furthermore, we were able to explain the prevalence of transition mutations with the finding that HIV-1 RT variant L109M/R448M preferred misincorporation of C opposite A and elongation of C:A mismatches.
Molecular diagnosis of maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY) in Turkish children by using targeted next-generation sequencing
Authors: Anık Ahmet , Çatlı Gönül , Abacı Ayhan , Sarı Erkan , Yeşilkaya Ediz , Korkmaz Hüseyin Anıl , Demir Korcan , Altıncık Ayça , Tuhan Hale Ünver , Kızıldağ Sefa , Özkan Behzat , Ceylaner Serdar , Böber Ece 
Published: July 2015

AbstractTo perform molecular analysis of pediatric maturity onset diabetes of the young (MODY) patients by next-generation sequencing, which enables simultaneous analysis of multiple genes in a single test, to determine the genetic etiology of a group of Turkish children clinically diagnosed as MODY, and to assess genotype-phenotype relationship.Forty-two children diagnosed with MODY and their parents were enrolled in the study. Clinical and laboratory characteristics of the patients at the time of diagnosis were obtained from hospital records. Molecular analyses ofA mutation in MODY genes was identified in 12 (29%) of the cases.The results of this study showed that mutations in the
Efficacy and safety of sirolimus in a neonate with persistent hypoglycaemia following near-total pancreatectomy for hyperinsulinaemic hypoglycaemia
Authors: Abraham Mary B. , Shetty Vinutha B. , Price Glynis , Smith Nicholas , Bock Martin de , Siafarikas Aris , Resnick Steven , Whan Elizabeth , Ellard Sian , Flanagan Sarah E. , Davis Elizabeth A. , Jones Timothy W. , Hussain Khalid , Choong Catherine S. 
Published: July 2015

AbstractHyperinsulinaemic hypoglycaemia (HH) is characterised by inappropriate insulin secretion and is the most common cause for persistent neonatal hypoglycaemia. The only treatment available for medically unresponsive hypoglycaemia is a near-total pancreatectomy. A neonate with severe HH, due to a homozygous
The impact of uterine curettage postpartum on maternal sFlt-1 concentration
Authors: Ossada Victoria , Jank Alexander , Stepan Holger 
Published: July 2015

AbstractOur purpose was to investigate the influence of a uterine curettage on the immediate maternal sFlt-1 concentration post partum. Forty-six patients booked for delivery via primary caesarean section were included in a prospective open, case control study. Eighteen of them achieved an intraoperative curettage and formed the treatment group, 28 patients without curettage were enrolled in the control group. Maternal sFlt-1 serum values were measured immediately before and 24 h after delivery. Patients who underwent a uterine curettage showed a relative decrease of 70% (median 3670±1110 pg/mL–1143±270 pg/mL) in comparison to the control group with 65% (median 3132±636 pg/mL–1098±611 pg/mL; P=0.558). Additionally, three patients with preeclampsia and curettage were included, who showed a relative decrease of 76%. A uterine curettage may slightly accelerate the fall of the postpartal sFlt-1 concentration. The previously described benefit of curettage in patients with preeclampsia regarding faster recovery or treatment of postpartum seizures may be partly explained as mediated by anti-angiogenic factors.
Node sampling for protein complex estimation in bait-prey graphs
Authors: Scholtens Denise M. , Spencer Bruce D. 
Published: July 2015

AbstractIn cellular biology, node-and-edge graph or “network” data collection often uses bait-prey technologies such as co-immunoprecipitation (CoIP). Bait-prey technologies assay relationships or “interactions” between protein pairs, with CoIP specifically measuring protein complex co-membership. Analyses of CoIP data frequently focus on estimating protein complex membership. Due to budgetary and other constraints, exhaustive assay of the entire network using CoIP is not always possible. We describe a stratified sampling scheme to select baits for CoIP experiments when protein complex estimation is the main goal. Expanding upon the classic framework in which nodes represent proteins and edges represent pairwise interactions, we define generalized nodes as sets of adjacent nodes with identical adjacency outside the set and use these as strata from which to select the next set of baits. Strata are redefined at each round of sampling to incorporate accumulating data. This scheme maintains user-specified quality thresholds for protein complex estimates and, relative to simple random sampling, leads to a marked increase in the number of correctly estimated complexes at each round of sampling. The R package seqSample contains all source code and is available at
Two new secondary metabolites from the fruits of mangrove Avicennia marina
Authors: Yan Dong-Mei , Gao Cheng-Hai , Yi Xiang-Xi , Xie Wen-Pei , Xu Ming-Ben , Huang Ri-Ming 
Published: July 2015

Abstract
Further chemical investigation of the fruit of the mangrove Avicennia marina led to the isolation of a new caffeic acid derivative, maricaffeolylide A (1), and a new megastigmane derivative, maricyclohexene A (2). The structures of the isolates were elucidated on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analysis. The antioxidant activity of 1 and 2 was also evaluated using a cellular antioxidant activity assay, and catechol 1 showed antioxidant activity with an EC50 value of 24 ± 0.3 μm.
Bayesian Nonparametric Inference of Population Size Changes from Sequential Genealogies
Authors: Palacios Julia A , Wakeley John , Ramachandran Sohini 
Published: July 2015

AbstractSophisticated inferential tools coupled with the coalescent model have recently emerged for estimating past population sizes from genomic data. Recent methods that model recombination require small sample sizes, make constraining assumptions about population size changes, and do not report measures of uncertainty for estimates. Here, we develop a Gaussian process-based Bayesian nonparametric method coupled with a sequentially Markov coalescent model that allows accurate inference of population sizes over time from a set of genealogies. In contrast to current methods, our approach considers a broad class of recombination events, including those that do not change local genealogies. We show that our method outperforms recent likelihood-based methods that rely on discretization of the parameter space. We illustrate the application of our method to multiple demographic histories, including population bottlenecks and exponential growth. In simulation, our Bayesian approach produces point estimates four times more accurate than maximum-likelihood estimation (based on the sum of absolute differences between the truth and the estimated values). Further, our method’s credible intervals for population size as a function of time cover 90% of true values across multiple demographic scenarios, enabling formal hypothesis testing about population size differences over time. Using genealogies estimated with ARGweaver, we apply our method to European and Yoruban samples from the 1000 Genomes Project and confirm key known aspects of population size history over the past 150,000 years.
Oxygen Demand of Fresh and Stored Sulfide Solutions and Sulfide‐Rich Constructed Wetland Effluent
Authors: Chan Carolyn , Farahbakhsh Khosrow 
Published: July 2015

ABSTRACT: This study investigated the contribution of hydrogen sulfide to biological oxygen demand (BOD5) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) in wastewater effluents, and documented the effect of storage times and conditions on the BOD5 and COD of pH‐adjusted sodium sulfide solutions as well as graywater wetland effluent. Initial COD measurements of sulfide solutions were 84‐89% of the theoretical oxygen demand (ThOD), 1.996 mg O2/mg S, whereas unseeded BOD5 measurements were 55‐77%. For sulfide solutions, all storage conditions led to declines of >15% (COD, BOD5), and >31% (sulfide). For wetland effluent, storage without headspace was effective in reducing COD losses (3.7%), compared to storage with headspace (17%), and affected changes in turbidity, UVA‐254 and pH. The results suggest that storage times and conditions should be controlled and reported when reporting BOD5 and COD of sulfide‐rich samples. Wetland models representing sulfate reduction as a method of COD removal may need to be reconsidered.