bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Common genetic variant association with altered HLA expression, synergy with pyrethroid exposure, and risk for Parkinson’s disease: an observational and case–control study
Authors: Kannarkat G T , Cook D A , Lee J-K , Chang J , Chung J , Sandy E , Paul K C , Ritz B , Bronstein J , Factor S A , Boss J M , Tansey M G 
Published: April 2015

Abstract
Background:
The common noncoding single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs3129882 in HLA-DRA is associated with risk for idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (PD). The location of the SNP in the major histocompatibility complex class II (MHC-II) locus implicates regulation of antigen presentation as a potential mechanism by which immune responses link genetic susceptibility to environmental factors in conferring lifetime risk for PD.

Aims:
The aim of this study was to determine the effect of this SNP on the MHC-II locus and its synergy with pesticide exposure.

Methods:
For immunophenotyping, blood cells from 81 subjects were analyzed by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR and flow cytometry. A case–control study was performed on a separate cohort of 962 subjects to determine association of pesticide exposure and the SNP with risk of PD.

Results:
Homozygosity for G at this SNP was associated with heightened baseline expression and inducibility of MHC class II molecules in B cells and monocytes from peripheral blood of healthy controls and PD patients. In addition, exposure to a commonly used class of insecticide, pyrethroids, synergized with the risk conferred by this SNP (odds ratio=2.48, P=0.007), thereby identifying a novel gene–environment interaction that promotes risk for PD via alterations in immune responses.

Conclusions:
In sum, these novel findings suggest that the MHC-II locus may increase susceptibility to PD through presentation of pathogenic, immunodominant antigens and/or a shift toward a more pro-inflammatory CD4+ T-cell response in response to specific environmental exposures, such as pyrethroid exposure through genetic or epigenetic mechanisms that modulate MHC-II gene expression.
Ultrafast optical excitation of magnetic skyrmions
Authors: Ogawa N. , Seki S. , Tokura Y. 
Published: April 2015

AbstractMagnetic skyrmions in an insulating chiral magnet Cu2OSeO3 were studied by all-optical spin wave spectroscopy. The spins in the conical and skyrmion phases were excited by the impulsive magnetic field from the inverse-Faraday effect and resultant spin dynamics were detected by using time-resolved magneto-optics. Clear dispersions of the helimagnon were observed, which is accompanied by a distinct transition into the skyrmion phase, by sweeping temperature and magnetic field. In addition to the collective excitations of skyrmions, i.e., rotation and breathing modes, several spin precession modes were identified, which would be specific to optical excitation. The ultrafast, nonthermal and local excitation of the spin systems by photons would lead to the efficient manipulation of nano-magnetic structures.
Yeast nitrogen utilization in the phyllosphere during plant lifespan under regulation of autophagy
Authors: Shiraishi Kosuke , Oku Masahide , Kawaguchi Kosuke , Uchida Daichi , Yurimoto Hiroya , Sakai Yasuyoshi 
Published: April 2015

AbstractRecently, microbe-plant interactions at the above-ground parts have attracted great attention. Here we describe nitrogen metabolism and regulation of autophagy in the methylotrophic yeast Candida boidinii, proliferating and surviving on the leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana. After quantitative analyses of yeast growth on the leaves of A. thaliana with the wild-type and several mutant yeast strains, we showed that on young leaves, nitrate reductase (Ynr1) was necessary for yeast proliferation and the yeast utilized nitrate as nitrogen source. On the other hand, a newly developed methylamine sensor revealed appearance of methylamine on older leaves and methylamine metabolism was induced in C. boidinii and Ynr1 was subjected to degradation. Biochemical and microscopic analysis of Ynr1 in vitro during a shift of nitrogen source from nitrate to methylamine revealed that Ynr1 was transported to the vacuole being the cargo for biosynthetic cytoplasm-to-vacuole targeting (Cvt) pathway and degraded. Our results reveal changes in the nitrogen source composition for phyllospheric yeasts during plant aging and subsequent adaptation of the yeasts to this environmental change mediated by regulation of autophagy.
Segregation of information about emotional arousal and valence in horse whinnies
Authors: Briefer Elodie F. , Maigrot Anne-Laure , Mandel Roi , Freymond Sabrina Briefer , Bachmann Iris , Hillmann Edna 
Published: April 2015

AbstractStudying vocal correlates of emotions is important to provide a better understanding of the evolution of emotion expression through cross-species comparisons. Emotions are composed of two main dimensions: emotional arousal (calm versus excited) and valence (negative versus positive). These two dimensions could be encoded in different vocal parameters (segregation of information) or in the same parameters, inducing a trade-off between cues indicating emotional arousal and valence. We investigated these two hypotheses in horses. We placed horses in five situations eliciting several arousal levels and positive as well as negative valence. Physiological and behavioral measures collected during the tests suggested the presence of different underlying emotions. First, using detailed vocal analyses, we discovered that all whinnies contained two fundamental frequencies (“F0” and “G0”), which were not harmonically related, suggesting biphonation. Second, we found that F0 and the energy spectrum encoded arousal, while G0 and whinny duration encoded valence. Our results show that cues to emotional arousal and valence are segregated in different, relatively independent parameters of horse whinnies. Most of the emotion-related changes to vocalizations that we observed are similar to those observed in humans and other species, suggesting that vocal expression of emotions has been conserved throughout evolution.
Genome-wide association study of behavioural and psychiatric features in human prion disease
Authors: Thompson A G B , Uphill J , Lowe J , Porter M-C , Lukic A , Carswell C , Rudge P , MacKay A , Collinge J , Mead S 
Published: April 2015

AbstractPrion diseases are rare neurodegenerative conditions causing highly variable clinical syndromes, which often include prominent neuropsychiatric symptoms. We have recently carried out a clinical study of behavioural and psychiatric symptoms in a large prospective cohort of patients with prion disease in the United Kingdom, allowing us to operationalise specific behavioural/psychiatric phenotypes as traits in human prion disease. Here, we report exploratory genome-wide association analysis on 170 of these patients and 5200 UK controls, looking for single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with three behavioural/psychiatric phenotypes in the context of prion disease. We also specifically examined a selection of candidate SNPs that have shown genome-wide association with psychiatric conditions in previously published studies, and the codon 129 polymorphism of the prion protein gene, which is known to modify various aspects of the phenotype of prion disease. No SNPs reached genome-wide significance, and there was no evidence of altered burden of known psychiatric risk alleles in relevant prion cases. SNPs showing suggestive evidence of association (P<10−5) included several lying near genes previously implicated in association studies of other psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases. These includeANK3,SORL1and a region of chromosome 6p containing several genes implicated in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. We would encourage others to acquire phenotype data in independent cohorts of patients with prion disease as well as other neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric conditions, to allow meta-analysis that may shed clearer light on the biological basis of these complex disease manifestations, and the diseases themselves.
The International SSRI Pharmacogenomics Consortium (ISPC): a genome-wide association study of antidepressant treatment response
Authors: Biernacka J M , Sangkuhl K , Jenkins G , Whaley R M , Barman P , Batzler A , Altman R B , Arolt V , Brockmöller J , Chen C H , Domschke K , Hall-Flavin D K , Hong C J , Illi A , Ji Y , Kampman O , Kinoshita T , Leinonen E , Liou Y J , Mushiroda T , Nonen S , Skime M K , Wang L , Baune B T , Kato M , Liu Y L , Praphanphoj V , Stingl J C , Tsai S J , Kubo M , Klein T E , Weinshilboum R 
Published: April 2015

AbstractResponse to treatment with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) varies considerably between patients. The International SSRI Pharmacogenomics Consortium (ISPC) was formed with the primary goal of identifying genetic variation that may contribute to response to SSRI treatment of major depressive disorder. A genome-wide association study of 4-week treatment outcomes, measured using the 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD-17), was performed using data from 865 subjects from seven sites. The primary outcomes were percent change in HRSD-17 score and response, defined as at least 50% reduction in HRSD-17. Data from two prior studies, the Pharmacogenomics Research Network Antidepressant Medication Pharmacogenomics Study (PGRN-AMPS) and the Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression (STAR*D) study, were used for replication, and a meta-analysis of the three studies was performed (N=2394). Although many top association signals in the ISPC analysis map to interesting candidate genes, none were significant at the genome-wide level and the associations were not replicated using PGRN-AMPS and STAR*D data. Top association results in the meta-analysis of response included single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the HPRTP4 (hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase pseudogene 4)/VSTM5 (V-set and transmembrane domain containing 5) region, which approached genome-wide significance (P=5.03E−08) and SNPs 5’ upstream of the neuregulin-1 gene, NRG1 (P=1.20E−06). NRG1 is involved in many aspects of brain development, including neuronal maturation and variations in this gene have been shown to be associated with increased risk for mental disorders, particularly schizophrenia. Replication and functional studies of these findings are warranted.
Positive switching impulse discharge performance of rod‐plane short air gap under rain conditions
Authors: Xingliang Jiang , Yanbin Xie , Yao Yuan , Lichun Shu , Zhijin Zhang 
Published: April 2015

In China external discharge accidents caused by heavy rain is growing. However, the rain effect is not considered in atmospheric correction for external insulation design in IEC 60071‐1(Edition 8.1, 2011) or domestic standard. Hence, a series of experiments are implemented with positive switching impulse, a typical kind of overvoltage of power grid, to analyse the discharge performance of rod‐plane short air gap under rain conditions. The effects of rain and its intensity, rain conductivity and ambient temperature on the discharge voltage are explored, and the theory behind them, which can help in the development of discharge mechanism of air gap under rain condition, are respectively given. The results show that under the experimental rain condition, the discharge voltage can be up to −10.9, −9, −8.5, −3.2 and −2.3% lower than under dry condition for clearance distance of 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5 m, respectively. Besides, it decreases with increase in rain intensity, rain conductivity and ambient temperature, respectively. Among them, the rain intensity is the most significant one, next is temperature, whereas rain conductivity is the minimum and trifling. Finally, a correction formula for breakdown voltage (positive switching impulse) of rod‐plane air gap under rain condition is proposed for reference.
Mobilizing Māori identity: cultural capital and expatriate “portable personhood”
Authors: Thornley Davinia 
Published: April 2015

AbstractElliott and Urry suggest that the paradigm of mobilities is “becoming increasingly central to contemporary identity formation and re-formation” (7). I match this claim against a focus group study I undertook with expatriate New Zealanders in London. The participants were questioned about their experiences of watching Aotearoa New Zealand films while living overseas to understand their perspectives regarding “mobilized” national identity. While my findings regarding the responses of the majority of the participants have been published, I remained convinced additional work was needed to adequately represent the unique perspectives of the final group: four women who self-identified as being involved with Ngāti Rānana (a London-based Māori culture club). Utilizing Elliott and Urry’s term, “portable personhood”, these four women mobilized specific aspects of Māori affiliation through Ngāti Rānana and joint film viewings (3). The concept of portable personhood, as developed and employed by these women, both recognizes and expands their traditional indigenous relationships and responsibilities. These changes include, but are not limited to: (i) how the act of relocation allows for portable personhood (specifically, in this case study, mobile indigenous-orientated identities), not only physically but also culturally, “racially” and even in terms of kaitiakitanga (guardianship); and (ii) what it means—on the ground—to build a cultural network around an identity dislocated from the land that makes it.
Joint neutron crystallographic and NMR solution studies of Tyr residue ionization and hydrogen bonding: Implications for enzyme-mediated proton transfer
Authors: Michalczyk Ryszard , Unkefer Clifford J. , Bacik John-Paul , Schrader Tobias E. , Ostermann Andreas , Kovalevsky Andrey Y. , McKenna Robert , Fisher Suzanne Zoë 
Published: April 2015

SignificanceProton transfer is a fundamental mechanism at the core of many enzyme-catalyzed reactions. It is also exquisitely sensitive to a number of factors, including pH, electrostatics, proper active-site geometry, and chemistry. Carbonic anhydrase has evolved a fast and efficient way to conduct protons through a combination of hydrophilic amino acid side chains that coordinate a highly ordered H-bonded water network. This study uses a powerful approach, combining NMR solution studies with neutron protein crystallography, to determine the effect of pH and divalent cations on key residues involved in proton transfer in human carbonic anhydrase. The results have broad implications for our understanding of proton transfer and how subtle changes in ionization and H-bonding interactions can modulate enzyme catalysis.
Risk prediction for chronic kidney disease progression using heterogeneous electronic health record data and time series analysis
Authors: Perotte Adler , Ranganath Rajesh , Hirsch Jamie S , Blei David , Elhadad Noémie 
Published: April 2015

AbstractBackground As adoption of electronic health records continues to increase, there is an opportunity to incorporate clinical documentation as well as laboratory values and demographics into risk prediction modeling.Objective The authors develop a risk prediction model for chronic kidney disease (CKD) progression from stage III to stage IV that includes longitudinal data and features drawn from clinical documentation.Methods The study cohort consisted of 2908 primary-care clinic patients who had at least three visits prior to January 1, 2013 and developed CKD stage III during their documented history. Development and validation cohorts were randomly selected from this cohort and the study datasets included longitudinal inpatient and outpatient data from these populations. Time series analysis (Kalman filter) and survival analysis (Cox proportional hazards) were combined to produce a range of risk models. These models were evaluated using concordance, a discriminatory statistic.Results A risk model incorporating longitudinal data on clinical documentation and laboratory test results (concordance 0.849) predicts progression from state III CKD to stage IV CKD more accurately when compared to a similar model without laboratory test results (concordance 0.733, P&lt;.001), a model that only considers the most recent laboratory test results (concordance 0.819, P &lt; .031) and a model based on estimated glomerular filtration rate (concordance 0.779, P &lt; .001).Conclusions A risk prediction model that takes longitudinal laboratory test results and clinical documentation into consideration can predict CKD progression from stage III to stage IV more accurately than three models that do not take all of these variables into consideration.
polychord: nested sampling for cosmology
Authors: Handley W. J. , Hobson M. P. , Lasenby A. N. 
Published: April 2015

Abstract
polychord is a novel nested sampling algorithm tailored for high-dimensional parameter spaces. In addition, it can fully exploit a hierarchy of parameter speeds such as is found in cosmomc and camb. It utilizes slice sampling at each iteration to sample within the hard likelihood constraint of nested sampling. It can identify and evolve separate modes of a posterior semi-independently and is parallelized using openmpi. polychord is available for download at http://ccpforge.cse.rl.ac.uk/gf/project/polychord/.
Bacterial Modulation of Plant Ethylene Levels
Authors: Gamalero Elisa , Glick Bernard R. 
Published: April 2015

Abstract
A focus on the mechanisms by which ACC deaminase-containing bacteria facilitate plant growth.Bacteria that produce the enzyme 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase, when present either on the surface of plant roots (rhizospheric) or within plant tissues (endophytic), play an active role in modulating ethylene levels in plants. This enzyme activity facilitates plant growth especially in the presence of various environmental stresses. Thus, plant growth-promoting bacteria that express ACC deaminase activity protect plants from growth inhibition by flooding and anoxia, drought, high salt, the presence of fungal and bacterial pathogens, nematodes, and the presence of metals and organic contaminants. Bacteria that express ACC deaminase activity also decrease the rate of flower wilting, promote the rooting of cuttings, and facilitate the nodulation of legumes. Here, the mechanisms behind bacterial ACC deaminase facilitation of plant growth and development are discussed, and numerous examples of the use of bacteria with this activity are summarized.
Socio-economic justice and poverty in Nahj Al-Balagha
Authors: Mohseni-Cheraghlou Amin 
Published: April 2015

Purpose
– This paper aims to present an account and discussion of Imam Ali’s view on poverty and socio-economic justice. The concept of socio-economic justice is of utmost importance in Islamic teachings.

Design/methodology/approach
– This exercise is based on examining Nahj al-Balagha, a tenth century collection of sermons and letters of Imam Ali Ibn Abutalib.

Findings
– First, in Imam Ali’s view, socially just outcomes can only be achieved through just means and procedures. Second, acute and visible inequalities and side-by-side co-existence of extreme wealth and poverty in a society point to the existence of socio-economic injustices. Third, a society that is suffering from severe and continuous socio-economic injustices or, in other words, acute poverty and inequality will cease to prosper and develop. Fourth, the main objective of an Islamic governance system is to adopt policies, institutions and procedures that would reduce or eliminate socio-economic injustices. A government that fails to reduce socio-economic injustices, in Imam Ali’s view, has failed in its main mission of protecting the rights of the public and ensuring their prosperity. Finally, regardless of government action or inaction, each individual in a society is also responsible to reduce socio-economic injustices to the best of his/her knowledge and ability.

Originality/value
– This paper aims to present the first comprehensive account of Imam Ali’s view on poverty and socio-economic justice and it could prove to be practically useful to modern Muslims and non-Muslims alike, whatever their position in society.
Foreign or domestic: who provides better customer service?
Authors: Poddar Amit , Ozcan Timucin , Madupalli Ramana Kumar 
Published: April 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of customer service employees’ (CSEs) competence and service recovery outcomes on service evaluations of foreign and domestic CSEs.

Design/methodology/approach
– Three experiments were conducted to test and validate the proposed hypotheses. The participants were told a cover story that they were either listening to (Study 2) or reading (Studies 1 and 3) a real conversation between a customer service representative of a bank and a customer and the authors wanted their views about the service encounter. While country of origin (COO) and competency were common independent variables across three studies, Study 2 included service recovery with a full refund and Study 3 had both full and partial refund and apology offered or not.

Findings
– Results from three experiments show that while competent CSEs are evaluated the same, regardless of their COO, the domestic CSE is evaluated more negatively than the foreign CSE when both are incompetent. The authors also find that when competent CSEs deliver no service recovery, the foreign CSE evaluations are significantly lower than the domestic one. Study 3 results show that this effect is mediated by participants’ ethnocentric beliefs.

Research limitations/implications
– For implications, this study provides a deeper understanding of the role of COO in services contexts. Future researchers can utilize the findings to investigate the important role that expectations play in determining service excellence and how it affects the COO effect.

Practical implications
– The paper provides managers in both offshoring client and provider firms with an understanding of the effects of offshoring on employee evaluations. It discusses the relevance/irrelevance of COO on the customer evaluations of service employees.

Originality/value
– The study investigates an under researched phenomenon – offshoring of services. This paper is one of the few looking at the role of different interaction factors, such as competence, recovery on service evaluations.
An examination of corporate social responsibility and processing fluency in a service context
Authors: Zhang Lu , Mattila Anna S. 
Published: April 2015

Purpose– This study aims to examine the joint effect of processing fluency and service quality in a service context. In recent years, companies have become increasingly interested in supporting corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. While most prior research focus on the positive effect of CSR initiatives on consumer behavior, the current study identifies a new boundary condition – processing fluency – for the positive impact of CSR messaging. In addition, this examines its impact across two situations – a successful service delivery and a failure.Design/methodology/approach– This study used a 2 (processing fluency: high vs low) × 2 (service delivery: failure vs success) scenario-based experimental design. A total of 152 adult consumers participated in this study.Findings– The results show that in the service failure condition, participants exposed to a CSR message with high processing fluency exhibited more positive attitudes and higher repurchase intentions, as compared to their counterparts in the low processing fluency condition. However, in a successful service delivery condition, participants showed similar level of attitudes and behavioral intentions across the two fluency conditions.Originality/value– No previous research examined the interplay of processing fluency and CSR. This paper fills this gap in the service literature.