bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Highly responsive core-shell microactuator arrays for use in viscous and viscoelastic fluids
Authors: Fiser Briana L , Shields Adam R , Falvo M R , Superfine R 
Published: January 2015

Abstract
We present a new fabrication method to produce arrays of highly responsive polymer-metal core-shell magnetic microactuators. The core-shell fabrication method decouples the elastic and magnetic structural components such that the actuator response can be optimized by adjusting the core-shell geometry. Our microstructures are 10 µm long, 550 nm in diameter, and electrochemically fabricated in particle track-etched membranes, comprising a poly(dimethylsiloxane) core with a 100 nm Ni shell surrounding the upper 3–8 µm. The structures can achieve deflections of nearly 90° with moderate magnetic fields and are capable of driving fluid flow in a fluid 550 times more viscous than water.
Concentration Indices of Income‐Related Self‐Reported Health: A Meta‐Regression Analysis
Authors: Costa‐Font Joan , Hernández‐Quevedo Cristina 
Published: January 2015

AbstractProliferating evidence reporting on standardized cross‐country concentration indexes of income‐related self‐reported health is increasingly being used for policy evaluation. Nonetheless, limited efforts have been put forward to examine the extent to which such evidence is subject to any specific methodological and publication biases, given that studies rely upon survey data from different samples, heterogeneous health system institutions and empirical strategies. We conduct the first study drawing upon appropriate statistical methods to examine the presence of publication bias in the health economics literature measuring health inequalities of self‐reported health. We test for other biases including the effect of precision estimates based on meta‐regression analysis (MRA). We account for a set of biases in estimates of income‐related health inequalities that rely on concentration index‐related methods and self‐reported health measures. Our findings suggest evidence of publication bias that primarily depends on the cardinalization of self‐reported health and some evidence of study‐specific precision.
Strategic Interactions Among Private and Public Efforts When Preventing and Stamping Out a Highly Infectious Animal Disease
Authors: Wang Tong , Hennessy David A. 
Published: January 2015

AbstractUpon the outbreak of a contagious animal disease, a primary motive for restoring disease‐free status is often to regain access to international product markets. Efforts applied toward continuing or regaining such access generate a public good—all growers benefit regardless of the extent of private effort taken, while exclusion is impractical. Private incentives to take preventive measures and stamp‐out effort interact in complex ways. There are intra‐farm temporal interactions and also inter‐farm contemporaneous interactions. Public effort also takes place and interacts with private effort. This paper provides a succinct multi‐agent model to explore these interactions in social optimum and in Nash equilibrium, and also to explore how socially optimal and Nash behavior differ. Comparative statics under social optimality are more straightforward than under Nash equilibrium. Whether it is in social optimum or Nash equilibrium, public prevention effort complements both private prevention and private stamp‐out efforts. However, public stamp‐out effort substitutes for both private stamp‐out and private prevention efforts. Reasonable conditions are identified under which Nash levels of private prevention and stamp‐out efforts are both below socially optimal levels. Concerning policy prescriptions, secure property rights and low property transfer costs should promote prevention and eradication efforts. Other things being equal, public prevention effort should be more effective at improving welfare than comparable public stamp‐out effort. Subsidies on private effort should favor prevention because subsidies on eradication effort may discourage prevention effort. Even if products from diseased animals are safe to consume and acceptable to consumers, it may be optimal to destroy them.
Is Pulse Pressure an Independent Risk Factor for Incident Stroke, REasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke
Authors: Glasser Stephen P. , Halberg Daniel L. , Sands Charles D. , Mosher Aleena , Muntner Paul M. , Howard George 
Published: January 2015

BACKGROUND
Pulse pressure (PP) is a potential risk factor of stroke. The relationship of incident stroke with systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), and PP was examined.

METHODS
Data were from the REasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke national cohort study of 30,239 black and white participants aged ≥45 years, enrolled between 2003 and 2007. PP (SBP−DBP) and MAP (MAP = DBP + 1/3*PP) were calculated. Telephone follow-up occurred every six months for self or proxy-reported suspected stroke events, confirmed using expert adjudication. Cox-proportional hazards models examined the association of incident stroke for the different BP measurements with multivariable adjustment for sociodemographic and clinical risk factors including gender and race.

RESULTS
Men and women without prevalent stroke at baseline were analyzed (n = 25,462). During follow-up (mean 6.3±2.3 years, maximum 10 years), 916 strokes occurred. Unadjusted PP (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.30; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.24–1.35), SBP (HR = 1.22; 95% CI 1.18–1.32), MAP (HR = 1.24; 95% CI 1.16–1.32), and DBP (HR = 1.09; 95% CI 1.01–1.17) were associated with stroke risk; however, after adjustment for SBP and other risk factors, the association with PP was attenuated (HR = 0.98; 95% CI 0.90–1.07), whereas SBP persisted as a predictor (HR = 1.14; 95% CI 1.06–1.23). These associations were consistent across age (younger vs. older &gt;70 years) and race (black vs. white).

CONCLUSIONS
PP is positively associated with incident stroke, but not independently from SBP; and, there were no significant gender, racial, or regional differences in that association.
Geostatistical delta-generalized linear mixed models improve precision for estimated abundance indices for West Coast groundfishes
Authors: Thorson James T. , Shelton Andrew O. , Ward Eric J. , Skaug Hans J. 
Published: January 2015

AbstractIndices of abundance are the bedrock for stock assessments or empirical management procedures used to manage fishery catches for fish populations worldwide, and are generally obtained by processing catch-rate data. Recent research suggests that geostatistical models can explain a substantial portion of variability in catch rates via the location of samples (i.e. whether located in high- or low-density habitats), and thus use available catch-rate data more efficiently than conventional “design-based” or stratified estimators. However, the generality of this conclusion is currently unknown because geostatistical models are computationally challenging to simulation-test and have not previously been evaluated using multiple species. We develop a new maximum likelihood estimator for geostatistical index standardization, which uses recent improvements in estimation for Gaussian random fields. We apply the model to data for 28 groundfish species off the U.S. West Coast and compare results to a previous “stratified” index standardization model, which accounts for spatial variation using post-stratification of available data. This demonstrates that the stratified model generates a relative index with 60% larger estimation intervals than the geostatistical model. We also apply both models to simulated data and demonstrate (i) that the geostatistical model has well-calibrated confidence intervals (they include the true value at approximately the nominal rate), (ii) that neither model on average under- or overestimates changes in abundance, and (iii) that the geostatistical model has on average 20% lower estimation errors than a stratified model. We therefore conclude that the geostatistical model uses survey data more efficiently than the stratified model, and therefore provides a more cost-efficient treatment for historical and ongoing fish sampling data.
Amplification of small molecule-inducible gene expression via tuning of intracellular receptor densities
Authors: Wang Baojun , Barahona Mauricio , Buck Martin 
Published: January 2015

Abstract
Ligand-responsive transcription factors in prokaryotes found simple small molecule-inducible gene expression systems. These have been extensively used for regulated protein production and associated biosynthesis of fine chemicals. However, the promoter and protein engineering approaches traditionally used often pose significant restrictions to predictably and rapidly tune the expression profiles of inducible expression systems. Here, we present a new unified and rational tuning method to amplify the sensitivity and dynamic ranges of versatile small molecule-inducible expression systems. We employ a systematic variation of the concentration of intracellular receptors for transcriptional control. We show that a low density of the repressor receptor (e.g. TetR and ArsR) in the cell can significantly increase the sensitivity and dynamic range, whereas a high activator receptor (e.g. LuxR) density achieves the same outcome. The intracellular concentration of receptors can be tuned in both discrete and continuous modes by adjusting the strength of their cognate driving promoters. We exemplified this approach in several synthetic receptor-mediated sensing circuits, including a tunable cell-based arsenic sensor. The approach offers a new paradigm to predictably tune and amplify ligand-responsive gene expression with potential applications in synthetic biology and industrial biotechnology.
Interaction between the RNA-dependent ATPase and poly(A) polymerase subunits of the TRAMP complex is mediated by short peptides and important for snoRNA processing
Authors: Losh Jillian S. , King Alejandra Klauer , Bakelar Jeremy , Taylor Lacy , Loomis John , Rosenzweig Jason A. , Johnson Sean J. , van Hoof Ambro 
Published: January 2015

Abstract
The RNA exosome is one of the main 3′ to 5′ exoribonucleases in eukaryotic cells. Although it is responsible for degradation or processing of a wide variety of substrate RNAs, it is very specific and distinguishes between substrate and non-substrate RNAs as well as between substrates that need to be 3′ processed and those that need to be completely degraded. This specificity does not appear to be determined by the exosome itself but rather by about a dozen other proteins. Four of these exosome cofactors have enzymatic activity, namely, the nuclear RNA-dependent ATPase Mtr4, its cytoplasmic paralog Ski2 and the nuclear non-canonical poly(A) polymerases, Trf4 and Trf5. Mtr4 and either Trf4 or Trf5 assemble into a TRAMP complex. However, how these enzymes assemble into a TRAMP complex and the functional consequences of TRAMP complex assembly remain unknown. Here, we identify an important interaction site between Mtr4 and Trf5, and show that disrupting the Mtr4/Trf interaction disrupts specific TRAMP and exosome functions, including snoRNA processing.
Synergistic Inhibition of β2-adrenergic Receptor–mediated Alveolar Epithelial Fluid Transport by Interleukin-8 and Transforming Growth Factor-β
Authors: Wagener Brant M. , Roux Jérémie , Carles Michel , Pittet Jean-Francois 
Published: January 2015

AbstractAbstract
In human and rat alveolar epithelial cells, combined exposure to interleukin-8 and transforming growth factor-β1 synergistically inhibited β2-adrenergic agonist–mediated Cl− transport, important to fluid removal.
Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text.

Background:
Patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome who retain maximal alveolar fluid clearance (AFC) have better clinical outcomes. The release of endogenous catecholamines associated with shock or the administration of β2-adrenergic receptor (β2AR) agonists enhances AFC via a 3′-5′-cyclic adenosine monophosphate–dependent mechanism. The authors have previously reported that transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) and interleukin-8 (IL-8), two major mediators of alveolar inflammation associated with the early phase of acute respiratory distress syndrome, inhibit AFC upregulation by β2AR agonists via a phosphoinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)–dependent mechanism. However, whether TGF-β1 and IL-8 cause an additive or synergistic inhibition of AFC is unclear. Thus, the central hypothesis of the study was to determine whether they synergistically inhibit the β2AR-stimulated AFC by activating two different isoforms of PI3K.

Methods:
The effects of TGF-β1 or IL-8 on β2AR agonist–stimulated net alveolar fluid transport were studied using short-circuit current studies. Molecular pathways of inhibition were confirmed by pharmacologic inhibitors and Western blotting of p-Akt, G-protein–coupled receptor kinase 2, protein kinase C-ζ, and phospho-β2AR. Finally, our observations were confirmed by an in vivo model of AFC.

Results:
Combined exposure to TGF-β1 and IL-8/cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant-1 caused synergistic inhibition of β2AR agonist–stimulated vectorial Cl− across alveolar epithelial type II cells (n = 12 in each group). This effect was explained by activation of different isoforms of PI3K by TGF-β1 and IL-8/cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant-1 (n = 12 in each group). Furthermore, the inhibitory effect of TGF-β1 on 3′-5′-cyclic adenosine monophosphate–stimulated alveolar epithelial fluid transport required the presence of IL-8/cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant-1 (n = 12 in each group). Inhibition of cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant-1 prevented TGF-β1–mediated heterologous β2AR downregulation and restored physiologic β2AR agonist–stimulated AFC in rats (n = 6 in each group).

Conclusions:
TGF-β1 and IL-8 have a synergistic inhibitory effect on β2AR-mediated stimulation of pulmonary edema removal by the alveolar epithelium. This result may, in part, explain why a large proportion of the patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome have impaired AFC.
Valuation and Modeling of EQ-5D-5L Health States Using a Hybrid Approach
Authors: Ramos-Goñi Juan M. , Pinto-Prades Jose L. , Oppe Mark , Cabasés Juan M. , Serrano-Aguilar Pedro , Rivero-Arias Oliver 
Published: January 2015

Background:
The EQ-5D instrument is the most widely used preference-based health-related quality of life questionnaire in cost-effectiveness analysis of health care technologies. Recently, a version called EQ-5D-5L with 5 levels on each dimension was developed. This manuscript explores the performance of a hybrid approach for the modeling of EQ-5D-5L valuation data.

Methods:
Two elicitation techniques, the composite time trade-off, and discrete choice experiments, were applied to a sample of the Spanish population (n=1000) using a computer-based questionnaire. The sampling process consisted of 2 stages: stratified sampling of geographic area, followed by systematic sampling in each area. A hybrid regression model combining composite time trade-off and discrete choice data was used to estimate the potential value sets using main effects as starting point. The comparison between the models was performed using the criteria of logical consistency, goodness of fit, and parsimony.

Results:
Twenty-seven participants from the 1000 were removed following the exclusion criteria. The best-fitted model included 2 significant interaction terms but resulted in marginal improvements in model fit compared to the main effects model. We therefore selected the model results with main effects as a potential value set for this methodological study, based on the parsimony criteria. The results showed that the main effects hybrid model was consistent, with a range of utility values between 1 and −0.224.

Conclusion:
This paper shows the feasibility of using a hybrid approach to estimate a value set for EQ-5D-5L valuation data.
Progression to High‐Risk Gastroesophageal Varices in Children With Biliary Atresia With Low‐Risk Signs at First Endoscopy
Authors: Duché Mathieu , Ducot Béatrice , Ackermann Oanez , Jacquemin Emmanuel , Bernard Olivier 
Published: January 2015

ABSTRACTObjectives:Biliary atresia carries a risk of bleeding because of portal hypertension. Our goal was to define the factors associated with the emergence of endoscopic signs carrying a high risk of bleeding in children who did not display these signs at the first upper gastrointestinal endoscopy.Methods:From 1989 to 2013, a total of 225 children with low‐risk signs at the first endoscopic examination underwent ≥2 upper gastrointestinal endoscopic examinations. The emergence of high‐risk gastroesophageal varices was observed in 76 children in the 10 years following the first endoscopic examination. A survival study using the occurrence of high‐risk varices as an event was performed to identify factors related to the emergence of these varices and to describe the probability of their emergence in 2 groups of children ages older than 18 months and 18 months or younger at the time of the first endoscopy.Results:High total serum bilirubin concentration, young age, and high number/grade of esophageal varices at the first endoscopy were significantly related to the emergence of high‐risk varices. The probability of the emergence of high‐risk signs was higher and these signs appeared faster in infants 12 months of age or younger and/or when the first endoscopic examination displayed >1 grade 1 or grade 2 varices. Progression to high‐risk varices was also related to bilirubinemia in children older than 18 months at the first endoscopy.Conclusions:The results allow defining a program of repeat endoscopies to detect high‐risk varices and to discuss endoscopic primary prophylaxis of bleeding or hasten liver transplantation when these signs are found.
Indications and Limitations of Bariatric Intervention in Severely Obese Children and Adolescents With and Without Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis
Authors: Nobili Valerio , Vajro Pietro , Dezsofi Antal , Fischler Bjorn , Hadzic Nedim , Jahnel Joerg , Lamireau Thierry , McKiernan Patrick , McLin Valerie , Socha Piotr , Tizzard Sarah , Baumann Ulrich 
Published: January 2015

ABSTRACTMorbid obesity is strongly associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which is one of the most common causes of chronic liver disease worldwide. The present best treatment for NAFLD and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is weight reduction through lifestyle modification. Because of frustrating inefficiency of such a therapeutic approach, bariatric surgery is increasingly performed in adolescents as an alternative option for weight reduction. Standards of care and consensus for indications are, however, scarce. We explore the indications and limitations of bariatric surgery in children with severe obesity with and without NASH and aim to provide guidance for the exceptional indications for adolescents with extreme obesity with major comorbidity that may benefit from these controversial interventions. Present evidence suggests that bariatric surgery can decrease the grade of steatosis, hepatic inflammation, and fibrosis in NASH. Uncomplicated NAFLD is not an indication for bariatric surgery. Roux‐en‐Y gastric bypass is considered a safe and effective option for adolescents with extreme obesity, as long as an appropriate long‐term follow‐up is provided. Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in adolescents and therefore should be considered investigational. Finally, sleeve gastrectomy and other types of weight loss surgery that have grown increasingly common in adults, still need to be considered investigational. Temporary devices may be increasingly being used in pediatrics; however, future studies, including a long‐term risk analysis of patients who undergo surgery, are much needed to clarify the exact indications for bariatric surgery in adolescents.
SCIE: Information Extraction for Spinal Cord Injury Preclinical Experiments – A Webservice and Open Source Toolkit
Authors: Stöckel Andreas , Paassen Benjamin , Dickfelder Raphael , Göpfert Jan Philip , Brazda Nicole , Müller Hans Werner , Cimiano Philipp , Hartung Matthias , Klinger Roman 
Published: January 2015

AbstractTranslational neuroscience in the field of spinal cord injuries (SCI) faces a strong disproportion between immense preclinical research efforts and a lack of therapeutic approaches successful in human patients: Currently, preclinical research on SCI yields more than 3,000 new publications per year (8,000 when including the whole central nervous system, growing at an exponential rate), whereas none of the resulting therapeutic concepts has led to functional recovery of neural tissue in humans. Improving clinical researchers’ information access therefore carries the potential to support more effective selection of promising therapy candidates from preclinical studies. Thus, automated information extraction from scientific publications contributes to enabling meta studies and therapy grading by aggregating relevant information from the entire body of previous work on SCI.We present SCIE, an automated information extraction pipeline capable of detecting relevant information in SCI publications based on ontological entity and probabilistic relation detection. The input are plain text or PDF documents. As output, the user choses between an online visualization or a machine-readable format. Compared to human gold standard annotations, our system achieves an average extraction performance of 76 % precision and 52 % recall (F1-measure 0.59).An instance of the webservice is available athttp://scie.sc.cit-ec.uni-bielefeld.de/. SCIE is free software licensed under the AGPL and can be downloaded for local installation athttp://opensource.cit-ec.de/projects/scie/.
Neurospora heterokaryons with complementary duplications and deficiencies in their constituent nuclei provide an approach to identify nucleus-limited genes
Authors: Giri Dev Ashish , Rekha S. , Kasbekar Durgadas P. 
Published: January 2015

AbstractIntrogression is the transfer of genes or genomic regions from one species into another via hybridization and back-crosses. We have introgressed four translocations (EB4,IBj5,UK14-1, andB362i) fromNeurospora crassaintoN. tetrasperma. This enabled us to construct heterokaryotic [T+N] and [Dp+Df] strains in which themat-Aandmat-anuclei have different genotypes. Self-crosses of the heterokaryons again produced [T+N] and [Dp+Df] progeny. From conidia (vegetative spores) produced by the heterokaryotic mycelia we obtained self-fertile (heterokaryotic) and self-sterile (homokaryotic) derivative strains. [T+N] heterokaryons produced homokaryotic derivatives of both mating types, but [Dp+Df] heterokaryons produced viable homokaryons of only the mating type of theDpnucleus. All the four [T+N] heterokaryons, and three [Dp+Df] heterokaryons, produced both self-sterile and self-fertile conidial derivatives, but the [Dp(B362i)+Df(B362i)] heterokaryons produced only self-sterile ones. Conceivably, theDf(B362i)nuclei may be deleted for a nucleus-limited gene required for efficient mitosis or nuclear division, and whose deficit is not complemented by the neighboringDp(B362i)nuclei. Repeat-induced point mutation (RIP) was shown to occur in aDp-heterozygous cross, therefore RIP-alteration of a translocated segment would depend on relative numbers of self-crosses undergone in [Dp+Df] versus [T+N] ancestors.