bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Finding maximal transcriptome differences between reprotoxic and non‐reprotoxic phthalate responses in rat testis
Authors: Yuan Xiaolian , Jonker Martijs J. , de Wilde Jillian , Verhoef Aart , Wittink Floyd R.A. , van Benthem Jan , Bessems Jos G. , Hakkert Betty C. , Kuiper Raoul V. , van Steeg Harry , Breit Timo M. , Luijten Mirjam 
Published: November 2010

ABSTRACTThe chemical legislation of the EU, Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH), stipulates that about 30 000 chemical substances are to be assessed on their possible risks. Toxicological evaluation of these compounds will at least partly be based on animal testing. In particular, the assessment of reproductive toxicity is a very complicated, time‐consuming and animal‐demanding process. Introducing microarray‐based technologies can potentially refine in vivo toxicity testing. If compounds of a distinct chemical class induce reproducible gene‐expression responses with a recognizable overlap, these gene‐expression signatures may indicate intrinsic features of certain compounds, including specific toxicity. In the present study, we have set out the first steps towards this approach for the reproductive toxicity of phthalates. Male rats were treated with a single dose of either reprotoxic or non‐reprotoxic phthalates, and were analyzed 24 h afterwards. Subsequently, histopathological and gene‐expression profiling analyses were performed. Despite ambiguous histopathological observations, we were able to identify genes with differential expression profiles between the reprotoxic phthalates and the non‐reprotoxic counterparts. This shows that differences in gene‐expression profiles, indicative of the type of exposure, may be detected earlier, or at lower doses, than classical pathological endpoints. These findings are promising for ‘early warning’ biomarker analyses and for using toxicogenomics in a category approach. Ultimately, this could lead to a more cost‐effective approach for prioritizing the toxicity testing of large numbers of chemicals in a short period of time in hazard assessment of chemicals, which is one of the objectives of the REACH chemical legislation. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Sciatic nerve repair by reinforced nerve conduits made of gelatin–tricalcium phosphate composites
Authors: Yang Yi‐Chin , Shen Chiung‐Chyi , Cheng Hsu‐Chen , Liu Bai‐Shuan 
Published: November 2010

AbstractThis study proposes a biodegradable GGT composite nerve guide conduit containing genipin–cross‐linked gelatin and tricalcium phosphate (TCP) ceramic particles in peripheral nerve regeneration. The proposed genipin–cross‐linked gelatin annexed with TCP ceramic particles (GGT) conduit was dark bluish and round with a rough and compact surface. Water uptake and swelling tests indicated that the hydrated GGT conduit exhibited increased stability with not collapsing or stenosis. The GGT conduit had higher mechanical properties than the genipin–cross‐linked gelatin without TCP ceramic particles (GG) conduit and served as a better nerve guide conduit. Cytotoxicity tests revealed that the GGT conduit was not toxic and that it promoted the viability and growth of neural stem cells. The experiments in this study confirmed the effectiveness of the GGT conduit as a guidance channel for repairing a 10‐mm gap in rat sciatic nerve. Walking track analysis showed a significantly higher sciatic function index score and better toe spreading development in the GGT group than in the silicone group 8 weeks after implantation. Gross examination revealed that the diameter of the intratubular newly formed nerve fibers in GGT conduits exceeded those in silicone tubes after the implantation period. Histological observations revealed that the morphology and distribution patterns of nerve fibers in the GGT conduits at 8 weeks after implantation were similar to those of normal nerves. The quantitative results indicated the superiority of the conduits over the silicone tubes. Motor functional and histomorphometric assessments demonstrate that the proposed GGT conduit is a suitable candidate for peripheral nerve repair. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A, 2011.
Genipin‐crosslinked microcarriers mediating hepatocellular aggregates formation and functionalities
Authors: Lau Ting Ting , Wang Chunming , Png Sze Wei , Su Kai , Wang Dong‐An 
Published: November 2010

AbstractIn engineered regenerative medicine, various types of scaffolds have been customized to pursue the optimal environment for different types of therapeutic cells. In liver therapeutic research, hepatocytes require attachment to solid anchors for survival and proliferation before they could grow into cellular aggregates with enhanced functionalities. Among the various biomaterials scaffolds and vehicles, microspherical cell carriers are suited to these requirements. Individual spheres may provide two‐dimensional (2D) cell‐affinitive surfaces for cell adhesion and spreading; whereas multiple microcarriers may form three‐dimensional (3D) matrices with inter‐spherical space for cell expansion and multicellular aggregation. In this study, we culture human liver carcinoma cell line (HepG2) cells on genipin‐crosslinked gelatin microspheres of two different sizes. Results suggest that both microcarriers support cell adhesion, proliferation, and spontaneous formation of hepatocellular aggregates, among which the spheres with bigger size (200–300 μm) seem more favorable than the smaller ones in terms of aggregate formation and liver specific functionalities. These findings suggest that the genipin‐crosslinked microcarrier is a competent vehicle for liver cell delivery. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A, 2010.
Hamel‐isomorphic images of the unit ball
Authors: Cichoń Jacek , Szczepaniak Przemysław 
Published: November 2010

AbstractIn this article we consider linear isomorphisms over the field of rational numbers between the linear spaces ℝ2 and ℝ. We prove that if f is such an isomorphism, then the image by f of the unit disk is a strictly nonmeasurable subset of the real line, which has different properties than classical non‐measurable subsets of reals. We shall also consider the question whether all images of bounded measurable subsets of the plane via a such mapping are non‐measurable (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Pulse radiolysis studies of 2‐ and 3‐hydroxybenzyl alcohols: inhibition of dehydration of ·OH‐(hydroxybenzyl alcohols) adducts by H2PO4− ions
Authors: Dhiman Surajdevprakash B. , Naik Devidas B. 
Published: November 2010

AbstractReactions of ·OH/O.− radicals and H‐atoms as well as specific oxidants such as Cl2.− and N3· radicals have been studied with 2‐ and 3‐hydroxybenzyl alcohols (2‐ and 3‐HBA) at various pH using pulse radiolysis technique. At pH 6.8, ·OH radicals were found to react quite fast with both the HBAs (k = 7.8 × 109 dm3 mol−1 s−1 with 2‐HBA and 2 × 109 dm3 mol−1 s−1 with 3‐HBA) mainly by adduct formation and to a minor extent by H‐abstraction from CH2OH groups. ·OH‐(HBA) adduct were found to undergo decay to give phenoxyl type radicals in a pH dependent way and it was also very much dependent on buffer‐ion concentrations. It was seen that ·OH‐(2‐HBA) and ·OH‐(3‐HBA) adducts react with HPO42− ions (k = 2.1 × 107 and 2.8 × 107 dm3 mol−1 s−1 at pH 6.8, respectively) giving the phenoxyl type radicals of HBAs. At the same time, this reaction is very much hindered in the presence of H2PO ions indicating the role of phosphate ion concentration in determining the reaction pathway of ·OH adduct decay to final stable product. In the acidic region adducts were found to react with H+ ions. At pH 1, reaction of ·OH radicals with HBAs gave exclusively phenoxyl type radicals. Proportion of the reducing radicals formed by H‐abstraction pathway in ·OH/O
.− reactions with HBAs was determined following electron transfer to methyl viologen. H‐atom abstraction is the major pathway in O
.− reaction with HBAs compared to ·OH radical reaction. H‐atom reaction with 2‐ and 3‐HBA gave transient species which were found to transfer electron to methyl viologen quantitatively. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Structural, electronic, and optical properties of doubly ortho‐linked quinoxaline/diphenylfluorene hybrids
Authors: Ran Xue‐Qin , Feng Ji‐Kang , Zou Lu‐Yi , Ren Ai‐Min , Sun Chia‐Chung 
Published: November 2010

AbstractThe optical and electronic properties of spiro‐fluorene‐dibenzosuberene[d](1,4‐bis(4‐t‐butylphenyl)quinoxaline) 1a, spiro‐fluorene‐dibenzosuberene[d](1,4‐bis(4‐methoxyphenyl)quinoxaline) 1b, spiro‐fluorene‐dibenzosuberene[d](1‐(4‐(N,N‐diphenylamino)‐phenyl)‐quinoxaline) 1c, spiro‐fluorene‐dibenzosuberene[d](1,4‐bis(methylphenylamino)quinoxaline) 1d, spiro‐fluorene‐dibenzosuberene[d](1,4‐bis(methyl‐(4‐methylphenyl)amino)quinoxaline) 1e, spiro‐fluorene‐dibenzosuberene[d](1,4‐bis(methyl‐(4‐methoxyphenyl)amino)quinoxaline) 1f, 5,8‐bis‐(4‐methoxy‐phenyl)‐2,3‐diphenyl‐quinoxaline 1, and N,N,N',N'‐tetraphenyl‐ 5h‐dibenzo[a,d]cycloheptene‐3,7‐diamine 2 were investigated theoretically in this paper. The doubly ortho‐linked quinoxaline/diphenylfluorene hybrids 1a–1f show great potential as bipolar materials for the design of optimized organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs). Density functional theory (DFT) and ab initio HF were employed to study the geometric and electronic structures of these molecules in the ground state, and ab initio CIS were used to investigate the lowest singlet excited states. The radiative lifetime (τ) and the maximal absorption/emission wavelength of these molecules were calculated within time‐dependent DFT (TDDFT). The results show that the LUMO energies of the bipolar molecules 1a–1d are all lower than those of 1 and 2, consequently, the electron‐accepting abilities of 1a–1d are greatly improved. The HOMO energies of 1c–1f are all higher than those of 1 and 2, suggesting that the hole‐creating abilities of 1c–1f become better. Also, the results reveal that the HOMO and LUMO energies, energy gaps, IP, EA, as well as the maximal absorption/emission spectra can be tuned feasibly by changing the C5‐ and C8‐substituents in the quinoxaline backbone of these molecules. As expected, these materials show different emission spectra varying from 436.11 to 715.47 nm. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A study of the surface characteristics of homemade ultrasound phantoms
Authors: Althoff Seth , Sudhir Amita , Woods William A. 
Published: November 2010

Abstract

Objectives
Expertise in the utilization of procedure-guided ultrasonography has become increasingly important within the field of Emergency Medicine. Consequently, ultrasound phantoms have been implemented as simulation tools in introductory courses. This study of the surface behavior of gelatin blocks was performed to describe the behaviors of phantoms for ultrasound training.

Methods
Gelatin blocks of varying preparation techniques and component concentrations were tested on exposed and latex-coated surfaces to determine the variation in surface disruption and force–displacement characteristics of each of the surfaces tested.

Results
Gelatin blocks made at a cooler temperature than current recommendations have a more durable surface. Latex-coated blocks have the most durable surface.

Conclusions
Gelatin blocks made at a lower temperature than current recommendations result in a more desirable phantom. A re-usable latex coating can add to the durability of the phantom.
Honors
Authors: Anonymous  
Published: November 2010

During the height of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster, I joined a group of engineers and other scientists to discuss the evidence for an oil plume, at least 22 miles long and about a mile wide, floating 3000 feet beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico.As the chemist in the group, I wondered aloud about how we could exploit the aqueous solubilities of the petroleum hydrocarbons, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and total xylenes to understand plume formation. I suspected the key to knowledge lay in the plume's chemical properties.
Discussing Progress in Understanding Ice Sheet—Ocean Interactions: Advanced Climate Dynamics Course 2010: Ice Sheet—Ocean Interactions; Lyngen, Norway, 8–19 June 2010
Authors: Borreguero Laura Herraiz , Mottram Ruth , Cvijanovic Ivana 
Published: November 2010

Sea level rise is one of many expected consequences of climate change, with accompanying complex social and economic challenges. Major uncertainties in sea level rise projections relate to the response of ice sheets to sea level rise and the key role that interactions with the ocean may play. Recognizing that probably no comprehensive curriculum currently exists at any single university that covers this novel and interdisciplinary subject, the Advanced Climate Dynamics Courses (ACDC) team brought together a group of 40 international students, postdocs, and lecturers from diverse backgrounds to provide an overview and discussion of state‐of‐the‐art research into ocean—ice sheet interactions and to propose research priorities for the next decade.Among the key issues addressed were small‐scale processes near the Antarctic ice shelves and Greenland outlet glaciers. These are fast changing components in the climate system, often related to large‐scale forcings (atmospheric teleconnections and oceanic circulation). Progress in understanding and modeling is hampered by the range of scales involved, the lack of observations, and the difficulties in constraining, initializing, and providing adequate boundary conditions for ice sheet and ocean models.
AGU Blogosphere: A New Community of Earth and Space Science Blogs
Authors: Viñas Maria‐José 
Published: November 2010

Less than a year ago, AGU had yet to explore the world of science blogging. Now AGU not only has three blogs of its own but also has launched the AGU Blogosphere, a network of independent Earth and space science blogs hosted under the Union's umbrella. The new network of blogs, composed of seven external blogs written by scientists and covering topics including planetary exploration, landslides, Washington, D.C.—area geology, volcanoes, climate change, and more, can now be found together with the in‐house blogs at http://blogs.agu.org.It's been a fast, exciting immersion into the blogosphere for AGU. Efforts began with the 2009 Fall Meeting blog, run by AGU staff with the invaluable help of science writing students at University of California, Santa Cruz and New York's Columbia University. This successful experience inspired AGU outreach staff to make a permanent meetings blog, which regularly covers the science presented at AGU meetings.
New AGU Journal Editors Appointed
Authors: Major Barbara 
Published: November 2010

New editors have been appointed for Geophysical Research Letters, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, JGR‐Oceans, JGR‐Planets, and JGR‐Earth Surface.Geophysical Research Letters welcomes Benoît Lavraud (Centre d'Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements, Toulouse, France) and Peter Strutton (University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia). Lavraud's area of expertise is space sciences, and Strutton's is ocean sciences.
The dynamic consequences of invasion: negative plant-soil feedbacks on natives increase ver the time course of invasion
Authors: Schultheis Elizabeth , Lau Jennifer 
Published: November 2010

Abstract
Background/Questions/Methods
*Exotic species can negatively impact native community members, directly through interference competition, or indirectly by altering interactions between native species and other species such as pathogens and mutualists. Soil microbial communities have been shown to respond to invasive species, yet are relatively stable and may take time to respond to perturbations. For this reason, microbe-mediated effects of invasives on natives may take time to develop and may change throughout the invasion process. Few studies have investigated how species interactions between natives and exotics change during invasions.Acer platanoides was introduced into the US from Europe in 1756 and has since invaded intact forests, lowering understory diversity and inhibiting native tree species regeneration. We hypothesize that A. platanoides invasion will decrease seedling survival in the native A. saccharum by changing the soil microbial community through plant-soil feedbacks (PSF), and this relationship will intensify over the course of an invasion. We collected soil samples from beneath the canopies of both species co-occurring in Michigan forests that had been invaded by A. platanoides for varying time periods. In the greenhouse, we inoculated seedlings of both species with the microbial communities to determine how the soil community affects seedling survival and growth.*b)

Results/Conclusion
*The microbe-mediated negative effects of A. platanoides on survival of the native congener A. saccharum increased with increasing invasion age (negative correlation between invasion age and A. saccharum survival; r = -0.806, R^2^ = 0.65, p = 0.032). This result was not related to A. platanoides density, suggesting that age of invasion drives this pattern. Contrastingly, invasion age did not significantly influence survival of A. platanoides seedlings, indicating that A. platanoides’ PSF impacts native species but not on conspecific regeneration. Overall, A. platanoides seedlings had increased growth (more and larger leaves) when grown in soil communities collected from the native A. saccharum, but A. saccharum seedlings had reduced growth when grown in conspecific soil (p = 0.044). These results suggest that invasive species may have increased performance in exotic ranges by their ability to modify the soil microbial community in a manner that suppresses the growth of native species.We show the microbial community cultivated by an invader alters the performance of a native plant species, and this effect increases over the course of an invasion. In future work, we plan to identify changes in microbial community composition and the relative abundances of mutualists versus antagonists in response to invasion to identify potential mechanisms.
Coexistence of grazed and grazing excluded patches increases plant and invertebrate diversity in a Mediterranean oak woodland
Authors: Bugalho Miguel , Xavier Lecomte , Caldeira Maria , Gonçalves Merícia , Branco Manuela 
Published: November 2010

AbstractGrazing is a global, dominant land use affecting biodiversity and ecosystem processes. In Mediterranean ecosystems grazing is a major ecological and evolutionary driver but, surprisingly, there is little information on the use of grazing as a tool to manage biodiversity in these ecosystems. We conducted an experiment to assess if the coexistence of grazing and grazing-excluded patches would increase plant and invertebrate diversity in a Mediterranean evergreen oak woodland. Plant community traits were different between treatments. Plant and litter biomass was higher, and the proportion of bare ground was lower, in grazing-excluded plots. Grazing affected functional diversity with legumes, invertebrate detritivores and sup sucking insects being more abundant in ungrazed plots. There were no differences between treatments in the number of species but there were plant species and invertebrate taxa recorded in grazed or grazing excluded plots, only. Ant communities were functionally different between treatments. Honeydew ant eaters were associated with ungrazed and higher plant biomass plots, and seed-eater as well as aggressive predator ant species were associated with grazed, more open habitat, plots. Management practices aiming to maintain grazing and grazing-excluded patches can increase habitat heterogeneity and promote diversity at the estate level.
Living dangerously: an orb-weaving spider potentially exploits an ant-acacia mutualism for enemy-free space
Authors: Styrsky John 
Published: November 2010

AbstractExploitation of commodities exchanged in mutualistic interactions has been broadly documented, but typically involve the exploitation of a reward rather than a service. Further, examples of exploiter species are extremely rare in certain groups of animals, such as spiders. In 2008 and 2009, we investigated the potential exploitation by an orb-weaving spider (Eustala oblonga) of the plant protection services of ants on an ant-defended acacia (Acacia melanocerus) in lowland rainforest in central Panama. Despite vigorous patrolling of the acacias by the very pugnacious ants (Pseudomyrmex satanicus), we observed the spiders constructing orb webs among the branches at night and resting quietly during the day on the leaves or at the bases of the thorns in which the ants live and raise their brood. E. oblonga spiders occurred in fairly high densities on A. melanocerus, but were very rarely observed on A. melanocerus plants that were no longer occupied by P. satanicus or on other species of plants in the forest understory. Further, the spiders were never observed attacking the ants. To test the hypothesis that E. oblonga inhabits the ant-defended acacias for protection against would-be spider predators, we removed entire ant colonies from acacias by injecting tiny amounts of a dilute insecticide into all hollow thorns serving as domatia for the ants, killing the ants within 30 minutes. We then compared spider abundance for six weeks on the acacias without ant colonies to spider abundance on acacias with intact colonies of defending ants. During the weekly ant censuses, we also recorded the presence and abundance of any other invertebrate or vertebrate species on the experimental and control acacias, particularly noting any potential predators of the spiders. Spider abundance did not vary between the experimental and control plants during the first two weeks after the initiation of the experiment, but then decreased significantly on the acacias without ant colonies over the remaining four weeks of sampling. This decrease in spider abundance is not likely to be attributed to application of the dilute insecticide because spiders were not immediately affected and the insecticide degrades within 24 hours of application. Other organisms increased in abundance over time on the experimental acacias relative to the control acacias, including predatory insects and other potential spider predators. These results suggest that ant protection of A. melanocerus also protects the spiders, thus, supporting the hypothesis that E. oblonga exploits the ant-acacia mutualism for enemy-free space.
Evolution is Viral: The Theory of Collective Discontinuous Evolution
Authors: Gershteyn Mikhail L. , Gershteyn Iosif 
Published: November 2010

AbstractHerein will be discussed the problems associated with the origin of species according to Darwinist processes of individual mutations. We will argue that individual mutations cannot be the driving force of species origination. A far more probable explanation is a process of collective mutation that affects numerous individuals near simultaneously akin to an infectious disease. These types of mutations might be precipitated by viruses which would create a discontinuous leap into another species. Such a mechanism also sheds light on the increased rate of evolution observed currently.