bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
CRISPRi-mediated down-regulation of the cinnamate-4-hydroxylase (C4H) gene enhances the flavonoid biosynthesis in Nicotiana tabacum
Authors: Karlson Chou Khai Soong , Mohd Noor Siti Nurfadhlina , Khalid Norzulaani , Tan Boon Chin 
Published: July 2022

AbstractFlavonoids are an important class of natural compounds present in plants. However, despite various known biological activities and therapeutic potential, the low abundance of flavonoids in nature limits their development for industrial applications. In this study, we aimed to enhance flavonoid production by silencing cinnamate-4-hydroxylase (C4H), an enzyme involved in the branch point of the flavonoid biosynthetic pathway, using the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats interference (CRISPRi) approach. We designed three sgRNAs targeting the promoter region of NtC4H and cloned them into a CRISPRi construct. After introducing into Nicotiana tabacum cell suspension culture, the transformed cells were sampled for qPCR and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analyses. Sixteen of 21 cell lines showed PCR-positive, confirming the presence of CRISPRi transgene. The NtC4H transcript in the transgenic cells was 0.44-fold lower than in the wild-type. In contrast, the flavonoid-related genes at the other branching pathway, such as Nt4CL and NtCHS, in the C4H-silenced cells showed a higher expression than wild-type. The upregulation of these genes increased their respective products, including pinostrobin, naringenin, and chlorogenic acid. This study provides valuable insight into the future development of CRISPRi-based metabolic engineering to suppress target genes in plants.
Biochemical characterization of a Mycobacterium tuberculosis prolyl dipeptidyl peptidase that displays a remarkable thermostability
Authors: Lioe Trillion Surya , Xie Ziwen , Wu Jianfang , Li Wenlong , Sun Li , Feng Qiaoli , Sekar Raju , Tefsen Boris , Ruiz-Carrillo David 
Published: July 2022

AbstractDipeptidyl peptidases constitute a class of non-classical serine proteases that regulate an array of biological functions, making them pharmacologically attractive enzymes. With this work, we identified and characterized a dipeptidyl peptidase from Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MtDPP) displaying a strong preference for proline residues at the P1 substrate position and an unexpectedly high thermal stability. MtDPP was also characterized with alanine replacements of residues of its active site that yielded, for the most part, loss of catalysis. We show that MtDPP catalytic activity is inhibited by well-known human DPP4 inhibitors. Using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry we also describe that in vitro, MtDPP mediates the truncation of the C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 10, indicating a plausible role in immune modulation for this mycobacterial enzyme.
Plasmid Permissiveness of Wastewater Microbiomes can be Predicted from 16S rDNA sequences by Machine Learning
Authors: Moradigaravand Danesh , Li Liguan , Dechesne Arnaud , Nesme Joseph , Ahmad Huda , Banzhaf Manuel , Sørensen Søren J , Smets Barth F , Kreft Jan-Ulrich 
Published: July 2022

AbstractWastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) contain a diverse microbial community with high cell density. They constantly receive antimicrobial residues and resistant strains and, therefore, may offer conditions for the Horizontal Gene Transfer (HGT) of antimicrobial resistance determinants, transmitting clinically important genes between, e.g., enteric and environmental bacteria and vice versa. Despite the clinical importance, tools for predicting HGT are still under-developed. In this study, we examined to which extent microbial community composition, as inferred by partial 16S rRNA gene sequences, can predict plasmid permissiveness, i.e., the ability of cells to receive a plasmid through conjugation, for microbial communities in the water cycle, using data from standardized filter mating assays using fluorescent bio-reporter plasmids. We leveraged a range of machine learning models for predicting the permissiveness for each taxon in the community, translating to the range of hosts a plasmid is able to transfer to, for three broad host-range resistance plasmids (pKJK5, pB10, and RP4). Our results indicate that the predicted permissiveness from the best performing model (random forest) showed a moderate-to-strong average correlation of 0.45 for pB10 (95% CI: 0.42-0.52), 0.42 for pKJK5 (0.95% CI: 0.38-0.45) and 0.52 for RP4 (0.95% CI:0.45-0.55) with the experimental permissiveness in the unseen test dataset. Predictive phylogenetic signals occurred despite these being broad host-range plasmids. Our results provide a framework that contributes to assessing the risk of AMR pollution in wastewater systems. The predictive tool is available as a an application under https://github.com/DaneshMoradigaravand/PlasmidPerm.
Parallel planning through an optimal neural subspace in motor cortex
Authors: Meirhaeghe Nicolas , Riehle Alexa , Brochier Thomas 
Published: July 2022

SummaryHow do patterns of neural activity in motor cortex contribute to the planning of a movement? A recent theory developed for single movements proposes that motor cortex acts as a dynamical system whose initial state is optimized during the preparatory phase of the movement. This theory makes important yet untested predictions about preparatory dynamics in more complex behavioral settings. Here, we analyzed preparatory activity in non-human primates planning not one, but two movements simultaneously. As predicted by the theory, we found that parallel planning was achieved by adjusting preparatory activity within an optimal subspace to an intermediate state reflecting a tradeoff between the two movements. The theory quantitatively accounted for the relationship between this intermediate state and fluctuations in the animals’ behavior down at the trial level. These results uncover a simple mechanism for planning multiple movements in parallel, and further point to motor planning as a controlled dynamical process.
Does vendor breeding colony influence sign- and goal-tracking in Pavlovian conditioned approach? A preregistered empirical replication
Authors: Khoo Shaun Yon-Seng , Uhrig Alexandra , Samaha Anne-Noël , Chaudhri Nadia 
Published: July 2022

AbstractVendor differences are thought to affect Pavlovian conditioning in rats. After observing possible differences in sign-tracking and goal-tracking behaviour with rats from different breeding colonies, we performed an empirical replication of the effect. 40 male Long-Evans rats from Charles River colonies ‘K72’ and ‘R06’ received 11 Pavlovian conditioned approach training sessions (or “autoshaping”), with a lever as the conditioned stimulus (CS) and 10% sucrose as the unconditioned stimulus (US). Each 58-min session consisted of 12 CS-US trials. Paired rats (n = 15/colony) received the US following lever retraction. Unpaired control rats (n = 5/colony) received sucrose during the inter-trial interval. Next, we evaluated the conditioned reinforcing properties of the CS, by determining whether rats would learn to nose-poke into a new, active (vs. inactive) port to receive CS presentations alone (no sucrose). Preregistered confirmatory analyses showed that during autoshaping sessions, Paired rats made significantly more CS-triggered entries into the sucrose port (i.e., goal-tracking) and lever activations (sign-tracking) than Unpaired rats did, demonstrating acquisition of the CS-US association. Confirmatory analyses showed no effects of breeding colony on autoshaping. During conditioned reinforcement testing, analysis of data from Paired rats alone showed significantly more active vs. inactive nosepokes, suggesting that in these rats, the lever CS acquired incentive motivational properties. Analysing Paired rats alone also showed that K72 rats had higher Pavlovian Conditioned Approach scores than R06 rats did. Thus, breeding colony can affect outcome in Pavlovian conditioned approach studies, and animal breeding source should be considered as a covariate in such work.
Establishing a lesson study collaboration matrix
Authors: Mynott John Paul , O'Reilly Stephanie Elizabeth Margaret 
Published: July 2022

PurposeLesson study (LS) is a collaborative form of action research. Collaboration is central to LS methodology, therefore exploring and expanding the understanding of the collaborative features that occur in LS is a priority. This paper explores the features of collaboration in existing publications on LS to consider if, as Quaresma (2020) notes, collaboration is simplistically referred to within LS research.Design/methodology/approachUtilising a qualitative review of LS literature to explore LS collaboration through Mynott's (2019) outcome model and Huxham and Vangen's (2005) theory of collaborative advantage and inertia. 396 publications using “lesson study” and “collaboration” as key words were considered and reviewed, with 26 articles further analysed and coded, generating a collaborative feature matrix.FindingsWhile collaboration in LS is referred to generically in the articles analysed, the authors found examples where collaboration is considered at a meta, meso and micro level (Lemon and Salmons, 2021), and a balance between collaborative advantage and inertia. However, only a small proportion of LS publications discuss collaboration in depth and, while the matrix will support future research, more focus needs to be given to how collaboration functions within LS.Originality/valueThrough answering Robutti et al.'s (2016) question about what can be learnt from the existing LS research studies on collaboration, this paper builds on Mynott's (2019) outcome model by providing a detailed matrix of collaborative features that can be found in LS work. This matrix has applications beyond the paper for use by facilitators, leaders of LS, and researchers to explore their LS collaborations through improved understanding of collaboration.
Neomercantilist War: the US military and Middle East oil (1980–2003)
Authors: Mahdi Ahmed Samir 
Published: July 2022

PurposeThis paper aims to argue that the Global Political Economy (GPE) theory of neomercantilism provides a sound explanation to the American military involvement in the Persian Gulf. Accordingly, this paper also proposes the concept of “Neomercantilist War” which analyses the use of military force to protect a strategically vital economic resource (such as Gulf oil). Neomercantilist War is a point of similarity between the GPE school of neomercantilism and the International Relations (IR) school of realism.Design/methodology/approachThe 1991 Gulf War and the American invasion of Iraq in 2003 are two major events of American military involvement to protect and/or seize Gulf oil. These two events will be tested for neomercantilism, in addition to the concept of “Neomercantilist War” as presented in the paper. The first feature, or definitional component, of neomercantilism is the major role of the state, the second is the preponderance of security/geopolitical goals over economic goals and the third is the zero-sum, relative gains mentality to dealing between states IR.FindingsThe GPE school of neomercantilism and the concept of Neomercantilist War do offer a sound explanation of American military involvement in the Gulf.Originality/valueThe American military involvement in the Gulf region has been analysed using the IR schools of realism and liberalism, but never using GPE theory. Even though GPE is mostly concerned with economic activity, the scope of GPE should be expanded to include military policies if they affect economic resources and activity.
Flavor of tea (Camellia sinensis): A review on odorants and analytical techniques
Authors: Zhai Xiaoting , Zhang Liang , Granvogl Michael , Ho Chi‐Tang , Wan Xiaochun 
Published: July 2022

AbstractTea is among the most consumed nonalcoholic beverages worldwide. Understanding tea flavor, in terms of both sensory aspects and chemical properties, is essential for manufacturers and consumers to maintain high quality of tea products and to correctly distinguish acceptable or unacceptable products. This article gives a comprehensive review on the aroma and off‐flavor characteristics associated with 184 odorants. Although many efforts have been made toward the characterization of flavor compounds in different types of tea, modern flavor analytical techniques that affect the results of flavor analysis have not been compared and summarized systematically up to now. Thus, the overview mainly provides the instrumental flavor analytical techniques for both aroma and taste of tea (i.e., extraction and enrichment, qualitative, quantitative, and chemometric approaches) as well as descriptive sensory analytical methodologies for tea, which is helpful for tea flavor researchers. Flavor developments of tea evolved toward time‐saving, portability, real‐time monitoring, and visualization are also prospected to get a deeper insight into the influences of different processing techniques on the formation and changes of flavor compounds, especially desired flavor compounds and off‐flavor substances present at (ultra)trace amounts in tea and tea products.
Effect and mechanism of glycerol monostearate dimer (GMS‐D) and baking‐treatment on the structure, in vitro digestion of gelatinized potato starch‐GMS‐D
Authors: Lu Yuanchao , Li Jialing , Ji Jian , Nie Xiaohua , Yu Ningxiang , Meng Xianghe 
Published: July 2022

AbstractWith the increasing progress of society and in‐depth scientific research, dietary regulations, especially sustained glucose releases, are regarded as an effective and significant way to lighten or even cut the emergence of diabetes. In this research, the starch–lipid complex gelatinized potato starch‐glycerol monostearate dimer (GPS‐GMS‐D) was developed to provide a low‐glycemic index functional food component for type 2 diabetes. Briefly, the higher complexation index (CI, 71.02%), lower rapidly digestible starch (RDS, 35.57%), and lower estimated glycemic index (eGI, 52.34%) were referred to as GPS‐GMS‐D. It was assumed that the solid V‐type crystal structure, induced with the helix between GMS‐D and GPS due to high amylose, high saturation, and low steric hindrance, contributed to the lower digestibility. In addition, baking treatment for 5 min was systematically exerted to improve the flavor of GPS‐GMS‐D with a relatively high CI (59.98%) and low eGI (54.15%). It was believed that rapid dehydration and close interaction during baking treatment could slow down the decomposition of GPS‐GMS‐D and conversions of starch fractions. Therefore, these results suggested that the as‐developed GPS‐GMS‐D was a promising low GI functional dietary food component for diabetes mellitus, and a suitable baking post‐thermal treatment was successfully proposed to enhance the flavor of GPS‐GMS‐D.Practical ApplicationThe higher amylose and solid V‐type crystal structure in gelatinized potato starch‐glycerol monostearate dimer (GPS‐GMS‐D) would induce the formation of slowly digestive starch (SDS) and resistant starch (RS) to suppress enzymatic hydrolysis. Moreover, the flavor of GPS‐GMS‐D was enhanced with appropriate and moderate thermal processing (baking), which was likely to improve the quality of life of a person with diabetes. Thus, we believe that GPS‐GMS‐D is a promising functional food component for diabetes mellitus.
Does common auditor have an impact on corporate tax avoidance? An investigation from the supply chain perspective
Authors: Hu Zhiying , Yang Haiyan , Zhang Yuyu , Wang Jenny Jing 
Published: July 2022

AbstractWe find that, at both the audit firm and partner level, having a common auditor in the supply chain has a significant positive association with the supplier company's degree of tax avoidance. Companies report a higher level of tax avoidance when they are audited by an industry‐expert or a tax expert common auditor, when the common audit partner is economically dependent on the supplier company, when the audit client is in a highly competitive industry, and when the company is subject to a high level of information asymmetry. Moreover, we find potential audit quality issues embedded in common audits in the supply chain.
Clinical application of keystone design perforator Island flap (KDPIF) in trunk defects: a retrospective study
Authors: Yushan Maimaiaili , Hamiti Yimurang , Yalikun Ainizier , Lu Cheng , Yusufu Aihemaitijiang 
Published: July 2022

AbstractBackgroundThe aim of this study was to evaluate the treatment outcomes of patients with trunk defects reconstructed by Keystone Design Perforator Island Flap (KDPIF).MethodA total of 37 eligible cases with trunk defects were reconstructed by KDPIF from January 2017 to June 2020. Data were collected from electronic medical records, including aetiology, defect size and location, and type of KDPIF applied. Postoperative complications were recorded, and patient satisfaction was evaluated at the last clinical visit.ResultThere were 23 males and 14 females, and the average defect was 8.16 × 4.94 cm. Etiologies included decubitus ulcer (n = 12), oncologic resection (n = 11), infection (n = 9) and others (n = 5). Type III was applied in 19 cases, Type IIa in 13 cases, type IV in two cases and modified KDPIF in three cases. There were no major complications except delayed healing or wound dehiscence in three cases, which were managed by regular dressing or secondary surgical intervention. The average postoperative satisfaction score was 8.68 ± 1.13 points and all patients were satisfied with their cosmetic appearance and function at the last follow‐up.ConclusionTrunk defects can be successfully reconstructed by KDPIF, which results in satisfactory cosmetic and functional outcomes without major complications.
A novel framework to unearth corporate hypocrisy: Connotation, formation mechanism, manifestation, and contagion effect
Authors: Lu Jintao , Wang Chunyan , Jamali Dima , Gao Yangyang , Zhang Chong , Liang Mengshang 
Published: July 2022

AbstractCorporate hypocrisy refers to the phenomenon of inconsistency between words and deeds of a firm in the process of fulfilling its social responsibility. Despite the fact that the literature related to corporate hypocrisy has made some progress, there have been very few attempts to scrutinize the topic systematically. In the light of egoistic and altruistic motivations, and capitalizing on social network theory, this study classifies corporate hypocrisy into three types: direct corporate hypocrisy, indirect corporate hypocrisy, and interactive corporate hypocrisy. Considering the differences in the identification of pro‐social motivation attributes between companies and the public in releasing/analyzing hypocritical information, a 2 (companies vs. the public) × 2 (egoism vs. altruism) framework of the formation mechanism of corporate hypocrisy was constructed. Nine differentiated manifestations were defined from the perspective of preevent, during the event, and postevent time dimensions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) behaviors and the type of corporate hypocritical behavior. Based on stakeholder theory, the contagion effect of corporate hypocrisy was also analyzed from the perspective of primary and secondary stakeholders, the “immunity‐infection” dual‐pathway analysis model of the contagion effect of corporate hypocrisy was constructed, and the intervention measures were proposed. A novel framework to understand corporate hypocrisy in the mode of “sending–receiving” was proposed, which can enrich and deepen our understanding of corporate hypocrisy and possible causes and mitigation measures. Conclusions obtained through our study can help the public, governments, and firms to better understand, track, and oversee the phenomenon of corporate hypocrisy and evolve proper guidelines to minimize hypocritical behavior.
The information won't just sink in: Helping teachers provide technology‐assisted data literacy instruction in social studies
Authors: Shreiner Tamara L. , Guzdial Mark 
Published: July 2022

AbstractIn this study, support for teaching data literacy in social studies is provided through the design of a pedagogical support system informed by participatory design sessions with both pre‐service and in‐service social studies teachers. It provides instruction on teaching and learning data literacy in social studies, examples of standards‐based lesson plans, made‐to‐purpose data visualization tools and minimal manuals that put existing online tools in a social studies context. Based on case studies of eleven practicing teachers, this study provides insight into features of technology resources that social studies teachers find usable and useful for using data visualizations as part of standards‐ and inquiry‐based social studies instruction, teaching critical analysis of data visualizations and helping students create data visualizations with online computing tools. The final result, though, is that few of our participating teachers have yet adopted the provided resources into their own classrooms, which highlights weaknesses of the technology acceptance model for describing teacher adoption.Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topicData literacy is an important part of social studies education in the United States.Most teachers do not teach data literacy as a part of social studies.Teachers may adopt technology to help them teach data literacy if they think it is useful and usable.What this paper addsEducational technology can help teachers learn about data literacy in social studies.Social studies teachers want simple tools that fit with their existing curricula, give them new project ideas and help students learn difficult concepts.Making tools useful and usable does not predict adoption; context plays a large role in a social studies teachers' adoption.Implications for practice and/or policyDesigning purpose‐built tools for social studies teachers will encourage them to teach data literacy in their classes.Professional learning opportunities for teachers around data literacy should include opportunities for experimentation with tools.Teachers are not likely to use tools if they are not accompanied by lesson and project ideas.
Modelling multiple problem‐solving strategies and strategy shift in cognitive diagnosis for growth
Authors: Liao Manqian , Jiao Hong 
Published: July 2022

AbstractProblem‐solving strategies, defined as actions people select intentionally to achieve desired objectives, are distinguished from skills that are implemented unintentionally. In education, strategy‐oriented instructions that guide students to form problem‐solving strategies are found to be more effective for low‐achieving students than the skill‐oriented instructions designed for enhancing their skill implementation ability. Although the existing longitudinal cognitive diagnosis models (CDMs) can model the change in students' dynamic skill mastery status over time, they are not designed to model the shift in students' problem‐solving strategies. This study proposes a longitudinal CDM that considers both between‐person multiple strategies and within‐person strategy shift. The model, separating the strategy choice process from the skill implementation process, is intended to provide diagnostic information on strategy choice as well as skill mastery status. A simulation study is conducted to evaluate the parameter recovery of the proposed model and investigate the consequences of ignoring the presence of multiple strategies or strategy shift. Further, an empirical data analysis is conducted to illustrate the use of the proposed model to measure strategy shift, growth in skill implementation ability and skill mastery status.