bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Chronic inflammatory lumbosacral polyradiculopathy: A regional variant of CIDP
Authors: Caporale Christina M. , Staedler Claudio , Gobbi Claudio , Bassetti Claudio L. , Uncini Antonino 
Published: May 2011

AbstractChronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP) affects various components and segments of the peripheral nervous system differently, and thus there can be phenotypic heterogeneity. We report a 47‐year‐old woman with chronic sensory disturbances and proximal weakness limited to the legs. Motor and sensory nerve conduction studies were normal. Somatosensory evoked potentials and imaging indicated a demyelinating process involving the lumbosacral roots. The patient responded favorably to IVIg. Although she did not fulfill the diagnostic criteria for CIDP we believe this patient represents a restricted regional CIDP variant. Muscle Nerve, 2011
Sural‐to‐radial amplitude ratio in the diagnosis of diabetic sensorimotor polyneuropathy
Authors: Barnett Carolina , Perkins Bruce A. , Ngo Mylan , Todorov Slavko , Leung Rita , Bril Vera 
Published: May 2011

AbstractIn this investigation we measured sural and radial sensory potentials and the sural/radial amplitude ratio (SRAR) in 49 patients with diabetes and diabetic sensorimotor polyneuropathy (DSP) according to consensus criteria. Forty‐five (92%) of the patients had a Toronto Clinical Neuropathy Score (TCNS) ≤5, which is consistent with a diagnosis of DSP. Using a threshold for SRAR of <0.21, we found no advantage of using the SRAR over the sural nerve potential amplitude alone in sensitivity for identification of DSP. Muscle Nerve 45: 126–, 2012
Stochastic analysis of unsaturated seepage through randomly heterogeneous earth embankments
Authors: Le Thi Minh Hue , Gallipoli Domenico , Sanchez Marcelo , Wheeler Simon J. 
Published: May 2011

SUMMARYSpatial variability of material properties is inherent in both natural soil deposits and earth structures, yet it is often ignored during geotechnical design. With the objective of developing novel methods for assessing the effects of soil variability on groundwater flow, this study presents a stochastic finite element model of seepage through a flood defense embankment with randomly heterogeneous material properties. Stochastic modeling is undertaken by means of a Monte Carlo simulation which involves a large number of finite element analyses, each with randomly varied porosity at element level, which leads to a corresponding random variation of both permeability and water retention properties across the embankment domain. This provides a statistical distribution of responses, such as total flow rate and time to reach steady state, instead of a single deterministic result as in conventional studies of seepage through unsaturated heterogeneous soils. As the degree of heterogeneity increases, water tends to flow along the most permeable paths inside the soil mass, resulting in an irregular shape of the predicted wetting fronts and pore pressure contours. The mean and standard deviation of the computed quantities strongly depend on the statistics of the input porosity field. Simulations are also conducted to compare the statistical variation of flow rate with and without dependency of the water retention curve on porosity. With recent growth in computer speed, stochastic finite element models based on the Monte Carlo approach can become a powerful design tool, especially if a quantitative assessment of geotechnical risks is required. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A mixed and discontinuous Galerkin finite volume element method for incompressible miscible displacement problems in porous media
Authors: Kumar Sarvesh 
Published: May 2011

AbstractThe incompressible miscible displacement problem in porous media is modeled by a coupled system of two nonlinear partial differential equations, the pressure‐velocity equation and the concentration equation. In this article, we present a mixed finite volume element method for the approximation of pressure‐velocity equation and a discontinuous Galerkin finite volume element method for the concentration equation. A priori error estimates in L∞(L2) are derived for velocity, pressure, and concentration. Numerical results are presented to substantiate the validity of the theoretical results. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2012
50th anniversary of the word “allosteric”
Authors: Changeux Jean‐Pierre 
Published: May 2011

AbstractA brief historical account on the origin and meaning of the word “allosteric” is presented. The word was coined in an attempt to qualify the chemical mechanism of the feedback inhibition of bacterial enzymes by regulatory ligands. The data lead to the proposal that, at variance with the classical mechanism of mutual exclusion by steric hindrance, the inhibition takes place through an “allosteric” interaction between “no overlapping”, stereospecifically distinct, sites for substrate and feedback inhibitor, mediated by a discrete reversible alteration of the molecular structure of the protein.
Development of [Ile40]HTLV‐I protease inhibition assay using novel fluorogenic and chromogenic substrate
Authors: Kumada Henri‐Obadja , Nguyen Jeffrey‐Tri , Kakizawa Taeko , Hidaka Koushi , Kimura Tooru , Hayashi Yoshio , Kiso Yoshiaki 
Published: May 2011

AbstractHTLV‐I is a debilitating and/or lethal retrovirus that causes HTLV‐I‐associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis, adult T‐cell leukemia and several inflammatory diseases. HTLV‐I protease is an aspartic retropepsin involved in HTLV‐I replication and its inhibition could treatHTLV‐I infection. A recombinant L40I mutant HTLV‐I protease was designed and obtained from Escherichia coli, self‐processingand purification by ion‐exchange chromatography. The protease was refolded by a one‐step dialysis and recovered activity. The cleavage efficiency of the [Ile40]HTLV‐I protease was at least 300 times higher for a fluorescent substratethan that of our previously reported recombinant His‐tagged non‐mutated HTLV‐I protease. In addition, we designed and synthesized a substrate containing a highly fluorescent Mca moiety in the fragment before the scissile bond, and a chromogenic p‐nitrophenylalanine moiety after the scissile bond that greatly amplified spectrometry detection and improved the HTLV‐I protease inhibition potency assay. The HTLV‐I protease inhibition assay with the [Ile40]HTLV‐I protease and fluorogenic substrate requires distinctively less protease, substrate, inhibitor and assay time than our previous methods. This means our new assay is more cost‐effective and more time‐efficient while being reproducible and less labor‐intensive. Copyright © 2011 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Chemical functional polymers for direct UV assisted nanoimprinting of polymeric photonic microring resonators
Authors: Kirchner Robert , Kaiser Marie‐Kathrin , Adolphi Barbara , Landgraf Rene , Fischer Wolf‐Joachim 
Published: May 2011

AbstractWe report the nanoimprinting of a microring resonator (MRR) and the development of a functional nanoimprint polymer as route toward selective MRR biosensors. A hybrid, residual layer‐free, UV assisted nanoimprint technique was used to pattern freestanding polymer waveguides with a resolution of 300 nm and an aspect ratio of 4:1. A low viscous, functional UV nanoimprint polymer was formulated with a hydroxyl functional acrylate monomer (4‐hydroxyl butyl acrylate, HBA). The functional polymer was characterized by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The added hydroxyl groups were found on the polymer surface and were accessible for selective binding of a fluorine tag (trifluoroacetic anhydride, TFAA). The density of the hydroxyl groups was tuned by the HBA concentration. A maximum hydroxyl group density of 8.4% was reached for 33.75 wt% HBA. The RMS surface roughness was 1.2–2.2 nm. magnified image
Polymeric photonic MRR with superficial chemical functionalities for a subsequent biomolecule binding and application as a biosensor.
Comparison of internal friction and torsion strain spectra for the cubic–tetragonal transformation of PMN‐32PT crystal
Authors: Wu XiaoYi , Xiong XiaoMin , Tang XinGui , Zhao XiangYong , Luo HaoSu , Zhang JinXiu 
Published: May 2011

AbstractInternal friction and torsion strain spectra are compared for PMN‐32PT crystal and it is found that the abrupt changes and random bouncing of the torsion strain are ascribed to a cubic–tetragonal transformation, which is accompanied by a large internal friction peak. This observation confirms that the cubic–tetragonal transformation of PMN‐32PT crystal is a burst‐type martensite transformation. We propose that it is caused by a parallel order–disorder transformation taken by the polar nanoregions (PNRs) inside PMN‐32PT, during which 90°‐domain twins inside the PNRs perform reorientations to satisfy the constraint of macroferroelectric domains.
55 nm gate ion‐implanted GaN‐HEMTs on sapphire and Si substrates
Authors: Katayose Hideo , Ohta Masanao , Nomoto Kazuki , Onojima Norio , Nakamura Tohru 
Published: May 2011

AbstractThis paper describes DC and RF characteristics of 55nm gate ion implanted GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) on sapphire and Si substrates. For DC characteristics, there is no difference in the ion implanted GaN HEMTs on a sapphire and a Si substrate, while RF characteristics are greatly influenced to substrates, especially the HEMTs on a Si substrate are influenced easily, because those have large parasitic capacitance between a substrate and a device compared with a sapphire substrate. The cut off frequency (fT) and the maximum oscillation frequency (fmax) of the HEMT on a sapphire substrate with the gate length (LG) of 55 nm were 108 and 146 GHz, respectively, which were higher than those of a Si substrate. By reducing the source‐drain distance (LSD) to 2 µm from 5 µm, the fT was increased up to 108 GHz from 88 GHz for the ion implanted GaN HEMTs on a sapphire substrate with the LG of 55 nm, whereas for a Si substrate, the fT was increased only 8 GHz. (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Self‐aligned silicide gate GaN MISFETs with normally‐off operation
Authors: Taguchi Shinya , Hasegawa Kazuya , Nomoto Kazuki , Nakamura Tohru 
Published: May 2011

AbstractWe demonstrate normally‐off GaN MISFETs made by utilizing self‐alignment process using ion implantation and precisely controlled silicidation gate technologies. The fabrication technology is based on the silicon MOSFET process, but specific refined GaN device fabrication technology has been developed. The self‐aligned structures enable us to reduce source and drain parasitic resistance, which expect to improve in device characteristics.To form shallow source and drain junctions which suppress the short channel effects, we selected the very low implantation energy of 30keV. The GaN MISFETs obtained Idss of 150 mA/mm, gmmax of 14 mS/mm and threshold voltage of +0.92 V. The Idss and gmmax are the highest value for the conventional GaN MISFETs ever reported. (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Growth of Gd‐doped InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells and their characterization
Authors: Hasegawa Shigehiko , Kakimi Rina , Tawil Siti Nooraya Mohd , Krishnamurthy Daivasigamani , Zhou Yi‐Kai , Asahi Hajime 
Published: May 2011

AbstractGd‐doped InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) have been grown by ECR plasma‐assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The growth conditions of Gd‐doped InGaN were optimized by investigating the effects of the growth parameters (growth temperature, Ga and In fluxes). Based on the optimized growth condition, we have succeeded in growing both InGaGdN/GaN and InGaN/GaGdN MQWs. HR‐XRD and RSM measurements show that thin layers are preferred for MQWs with good crystalline quality, and that Gd‐doping into InGaN well regions prevents In atoms from incorporating into InGaN. Both InGaGdN/GaN and InGaN/GaGdN MQWs exhibit hysteresis in the magnetization curves at room temperature despite the very low concentrations of Gd. (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Free‐standing GaN substrates fabricated by a combination of substrate fracturing and chemical lift‐off
Authors: Goto Hiroki , Lee Hyun‐Jae , Lee Seogwoo , Cho Meoung‐Whan , Yao Takafumi 
Published: May 2011

AbstractFree‐standing GaN thick films are successfully fabricated by employing intentional mechanical fracturing of Al2O3 substrates during HVPE growth followed by chemical lift‐off of Al2O3 substrates after growth. To do so, thermal stress induced in the Al2O3 substrates and overgrown GaN layers are controlled by adjusting the thickness of the Al2O3 substrates. The grown layers however consist of multi domains, which deteriorate crystal quality. Domains coalesce to form larger domains as the growth proceed, which results in an improvement in crystal quality. Bending of free‐standing GaN thick layers is of concave shape and its typical bending radius is 2.5 m (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Pressure effect on crystal structure and superconductivity of La0.8Th0.2FeAsO
Authors: Kumar Ravhi S. , Antonio Daniel , Kanagaraj M. , Arumugam S. , Cornelius Andrew L. , Sinogeikin Stanislav , Prakash J. , Thakur Gohil S. , Ganguli A. K. , Hartmann Thomas , Zhao Yusheng 
Published: May 2011

AbstractWe have studied the effect of pressure on the superconducting transition temperature (Tc) of thorium doped La1–xThx FeAsO (x = 0.2) superconductor under hydrostatic pressures up to 1.6 GPa by resistivity and magnetization experiments. Application of pressure increases the Tc to 31 K with a positive pressure coefficient of ∼1 K/GPa. Low temperature X‐ray diffraction studies performed at 7.8 K at high pressures show no pressure induced structural changes and the tetragonal P4/nmm structure is found to persist up to 31 GPa. (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
SPATIAL RELATIONS OF TOPOGRAPHY, LITHOLOGY AND WATER QUALITY IN A LARGE RIVER FLOODPLAIN
Authors: Schilling K. E. , Jacobson P. 
Published: May 2011

ABSTRACTFloodplains exert important controls on water and nutrient processing, yet spatial heterogeneities in floodplain characteristics result in variable effectiveness. In this study, we evaluated the spatial relations among topographic, lithologic and water quality features within the Cedar River floodplain located in southeastern Iowa. Floodplain topography and lithology were dominated by a series of sandy ridges and fine‐textured swales typical of a natural meandering river floodplain complex. Groundwater sampling results from 10 monitoring wells placed in representative ridge and swale environments indicated that water quality varied systematically. Beneath sand‐dominated ridges, water was aerobic and had low specific conductance, and higher concentration of NO3–N and lower concentrations of PO4–P and dissolved organic carbon (DOC). Groundwater beneath swales was anaerobic and typified by high specific conductance, and higher concentrations of NH4–N, PO4–P and DOC. We extrapolated the results from point measurements to the entire floodplain area using surface geophysics and light detection and ranging using co‐kriging to map the distribution of groundwater geochemical environments at the study site. Results are seen to provide an approach to better predict shallow groundwater quality in large river floodplains and improve our ability to manage ecosystem services in these strategic locations. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Towards a goal‐driven approach to action selection in self‐adaptive software
Authors: Salehie Mazeiar , Tahvildari Ladan 
Published: May 2011

SUMMARYSelf‐adaptive software is a closed‐loop system, since it continuously monitors its context (i.e. environment) and/or self (i.e. software entities) in order to adapt itself properly to changes. We believe that representing adaptation goals explicitly and tracing them at run‐time are helpful in decision making for adaptation. While goal‐driven models are used in requirements engineering, they have not been utilized systematically yet for run‐time adaptation. To address this research gap, this article focuses on the deciding process in self‐adaptive software, and proposes the Goal‐Action‐Attribute Model (GAAM). An action selection mechanism, based on cooperative decision making, is also proposed that uses GAAM to select the appropriate adaptation action(s). The emphasis is on building a light‐weight and scalable run‐time model which needs less design and tuning effort comparing with a typical rule‐based approach. The GAAM and action selection mechanism are evaluated using a set of experiments on a simulated multi‐tier enterprise application, and two sample ordinal and cardinal action preference lists. The evaluation is accomplished based on a systematic design of experiment and a detailed statistical analysis in order to investigate several research questions. The findings are promising, considering the obtained results, and other impacts of the approach on engineering self‐adaptive software. Although, one case study is not enough to generalize the findings, and the proposed mechanism does not always outperform a typical rule‐based approach, less effort, scalability, and flexibility of GAAM are remarkable. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Survival Function and Protein Malnutrition in Burns Patients at a Rural Hospital in Africa
Authors: Kingu H. J. , Longo‐Mbenza Benjamin , Dhaffala A. , Mazwai E. L. 
Published: May 2011

AbstractBackgroundThe aim of this study was to estimate the incidence of acute malnutrition and to identify predictors of case fatality among burn patients in the poorest South African province, Eastern Cape.MethodsThis longitudinal follow‐up study was conducted among consecutive burn patients admitted to Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital, Mthatha, South Africa, between 2006 and 2008. Patients were monitored and treated daily from admission to discharge. Outcomes were acute protein malnutrition and mortality. Patients’ demography, total body surface area (TBSA) of the burn, cause of the burn, weight, height, location of the burn, hemoglobin, serum albumin, wound infection, and antibiotics after culture and sensitivity results were the potential predictors of in‐hospital mortality. A Cox’s proportional hazards model for the time to death was then used to identify independent predictors of mortality after adjusting for confounding factors. Kaplan–Meier survival curves were generated for each arm of exposure status.ResultsIn all, 67 patients (35 males, 59 children) were studied. The mean (range) age was 8 ± 12 years (1 month to 59 years). The cumulative incidence of acute malnutrition was 62.0% (n = 42): 46.3% (n = 31) at admission and 15.7% (n = 11) after 7 days of hospitalization. Incidence of mortality was 16.4% (n = 11 with in‐hospital acute malnutrition). The only significant and independent predictors of mortality were total body surface area (TBSA) burn >40% [hazard ratio (HR) 10.5, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.7–63; P < 0.01] and affected anterior trunk (HR 4.4, 95% CI 1.3–14.7; P = 0.018).ConclusionsUrgent prevention strategies of burns and evidence‐based practice with early nutritional supplementation are needed to reduce high rates of malnutrition and mortality.
Reversal of inflammatory pain by HSV‐1‐mediated overexpression of enkephalin in the caudal ventrolateral medulla
Authors: Martins I. , Cabral L. , Pinto A. , Wilson S.P. , Lima D. , Tavares I. 
Published: May 2011

AbstractTargeting supraspinal pain control centers by gene transfer is known to induce sustained analgesia. In this study, we evaluated the effects of injecting a Herpes Simplex Virus type 1 vector which expresses enkephalin (HSV‐ENK vector) in the lateralmost part of the caudal ventrolateral medulla (VLMlat), a pain control center that exerts mainly descending inhibitory effects on pain modulation. Overexpression of enkephalin at the VLMlat reduced the number of flinches during the early and delayed phases of the formalin test and decreased c‐fos expression in the spinal cord. These antinociceptive effects were detected at 2 and 10 days after injection of HSV‐ENK in the VLMlat and were completely reversed by local administration of naloxone. Virally driven‐enkephalin was expressed from transduced neurons located in the VLMlat and, at lower extent, in the rostral ventromedial medulla. Our results show that HSV‐mediated expression of enkephalin in the VLMlat induced antinociceptive effects, likely due to an enhancement of the opioidergic input to the VLMlat which accounted for descending inhibition of the nociceptive transmission at the spinal cord. This study also demonstrates the value of HSV‐1 derived vectors to manipulate, in a sustained and directed manner, pain modulatory pathways in the brain, which is important in the study of supraspinal pain control circuits.
Comparison of insight among schizophrenia and bipolar disorder patients in remission of affective and positive symptoms: Analysis and critique
Authors: Braw Y. , Sitman R. , Sela T. , Erez G. , Bloch Y. , Levkovitz Y. 
Published: May 2011

AbstractBackgroundSchizophrenia and bipolar disorder are associated with impairments in insight, leading to a poorer clinical outcome and functioning. Earlier studies comparing the two disorders on the basis of insight included inpatients or patients who were clinically symptomatic. The current study therefore assessed patients in remission of affective symptoms and positive symptoms of schizophrenia.MethodsSchizophrenia and bipolar disorder patients (n= 32,n= 34; respectively) underwent clinical and functional evaluations. Insight was assessed using the Scale to assess Unawareness of Mental Disorder (SUMD) and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Attention was assessed using a continuous performance task (CANTAB's Rapid Visual Information Processing).ResultsSchizophrenia patients displayed poorer insight into having a mental disorder and into the social consequences thereof compared to the bipolar disorder patients. They were also less aware of their anhedonia-asociality. Age, however, was significantly correlated with insight and differences in insight between the patient groups became nonsignificant when age was used as a covariate in the statistical analyses. Age was not a moderating variable of the relationship between diagnosis and insight.ConclusionsSignificant differences in insight held by the two patient groups might be related to age disparities between patient groups. Earlier studies did not adequately address these age differences, their cause and their potential effects on findings. These issues are explored with regard to the findings of the current study, as well as earlier studies, emphasizing the need for further research of the relationship between age and insight.