julilili42/papers huggingface dataset:
First‐trimester screening for trisomies 18 and 13, triploidy and Turner syndrome by detailed early anomaly scan
2015-11-27

ABSTRACT Objective To examine the performance of first‐trimester ultrasound screening for trisomies 18 and 13, triploidy and Turner syndrome based on fetal nuchal translucency thickness ( NT ), additional fetal ultrasound markers including anatomy of the nasal bone ( NB ), blood flow across the tricuspid valve ( TV ) and through the ductus venosus ( DV ) and a detailed fetal anomaly scan at 11–13 weeks' gestation. Methods This was a retrospective case‐matched study involving pregnant women at 11–13 weeks' gestation. The study population consisted of fetuses with trisomy 18, trisomy 13, triploidy or Turner syndrome. For each fetus with an abnormal karyotype, 50 randomly selected euploid fetuses were added to the study population. In all cases, the crown–rump length and NT were measured. In addition NB , TV flow and DV flow were examined. The summed risk for trisomies 21, 18 and 13 was computed based on: first, maternal age ( MA ); second, MA and fetal NT ; third, MA , NT and one of the markers NB , TV flow or DV flow; fourth, MA , NT and all these markers combined; fifth, MA , NT and fetal anomalies; and, finally, MA , NT , all markers and fetal anomalies. Results The study population consisted of 4550 euploid and 91 aneuploid fetuses. Median NT was 1.8 mm in euploid fetuses and 4.8, 6.8, 1.8 and 10.0 mm in fetuses with trisomy 18, trisomy 13, triploidy and Turner syndrome, respectively. The NB , TV flow and DV flow were abnormal in 48 (1.1%), 34 (0.7%) and 99 (2.2%) euploid fetuses, respectively, and in 42 (46.2%), 31 (34.1%) and 62 (68.1%) aneuploid fetuses, respectively. At least one defect was found in 60 (1.3%) euploid and in 76 (83.5%) aneuploid fetuses. For a false‐positive rate of 3%, the detection rate for screening based on MA and fetal NT was 75.8%. It increased to 84.6–86.8% when including one of the additional ultrasound markers and it was 90.1% when all three markers were included. When screening was based on MA , fetal NT and a detailed anomaly scan, the detection rate was 94.5% and increased to 95.6% with the addition of NB , TV flow and DV flow. Conclusion A detailed anomaly scan at 11–13 weeks' gestation can identify about 95% of fetuses with trisomy 18, trisomy 13, triploidy and Turner syndrome. Copyright © 2015 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley &amp; Sons Ltd.
Music in Research and Rehabilitation of Disorders of Consciousness: Psychological and Neurophysiological Foundations
2015-11-27

According to a prevailing view, the visual system works by dissecting stimuli into primitives, whereas the auditory system processes simple and complex stimuli with their corresponding features in parallel. This makes musical stimulation particularly suitable for patients with disorders of consciousness (DoC), because the processing pathways related to complex stimulus features can be preserved even when those related to simple features are no longer available. An additional factor speaking in favor of musical stimulation in DoC is the low efficiency of visual stimulation due to prevalent maladies of vision or gaze fixation in DoC patients. Hearing disorders, in contrast, are much less frequent in DoC, which allows us to use auditory stimulation at various levels of complexity. The current paper overviews empirical data concerning the four main domains of brain functioning in DoC patients that musical stimulation can address: perception (e.g., pitch, timbre, and harmony), cognition (e.g., musical syntax and meaning), emotions, and motor functions. Music can approach basic levels of patients' self-consciousness, which may even exist when all higher-level cognitions are lost, whereas music induced emotions and rhythmic stimulation can affect the dopaminergic reward-system and activity in the motor system respectively, thus serving as a starting point for rehabilitation.
Responses of Dendritic Cells to TLR-4 Stimulation Are Maintained in the Elderly and Resist the Effects of CMV Infection Seen in the Young
2015-11-27

Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4) plays a crucial role in the pathophysiology of several age-related diseases. Although poorer function of circulating myeloid dendritic cells (mDCs) has been reported in the elderly, data on TLR-4 function in these cells in older people are lacking. Here, we investigated TLR-4 functionality in the elderly by ex vivo analysis of cytokine production of mDCs in response to LPS in 39 younger (23-34 years) and 61 older (62-77 years) healthy people using flow cytometry. We matched these subjects for Cytomegalovirus (CMV)-serostatus because a latent infection with this ubiquitous herpesvirus is known to affect numerous immune parameters. We found that TLR-4-dependent production of IL-6 and TNF was strongly stimulated in circulating mDCs from the elderly. However, mDCs of more than half of the young donors failed to respond in the same way. This was related to their already highly activated ex vivo state, predominantly observed in CMV-seropositive young donors and associated with lower CMV-specific IgG titres. This may reflect an increasingly important requirement for control of CMV infection throughout life. These data suggest that TLR-4 agonists may be the adjuvants of choice for elderly people, most of whom are CMV-positive, and whose responses to immunization are frequently impaired.
Diagnostic relevance of direct immunofluorescence in ocular mucous membrane pemphigoid
2015-11-27

Summary Background and objectives The objective was to determine the diagnostic value of direct immunofluorescence (DIF) in ocular mucous membrane pemphigoid (ocular MMP), taking into account immunofluorescence patterns and biopsy sites. Patients and methods DIF results and medical records of 54 patients with a suspected diagnosis of ocular MMP were reviewed. Results There was an overall prevalence of ocular MMP in 70.4 % of cases. Linear deposition of IgA, IgG, or C3 showed a high positive predictive value (84–100 %). Sensitivity and negative predictive value of IgG, IgM, IgG, and C3 in DIF were higher in cutaneous samples than in conjunctival biopsies, thus yielding a higher diagnostic accuracy. The sensitivity of DIF in ocular MMP seems to be lower than in bullous pemphigoid. Conclusions The diagnostic value of DIF in the workup of ocular MMP was confirmed. However, biopsies taken from non‐conjunctival, cutaneous tissue appear to yield more accurate results.
Shakespeare Among the Nyoongar: Post-Colonial Texts, Colonial Intertexts and their Imbrications – Macbeth in Gail Jones’s Sorry
2015-11-27

Abstract This article reads Gail Jones’s 2007 novel Sorry as a novel of White usurpation of Indigenous country and culture. Sorry mobilizes a number of intertexts, primary among them Shakespeare. In particular Macbeth features prominently as a template for Sorry ’s drama of usurpation. My analysis focuses on two extensive quotations from Macbeth , recited by one of the novel’s White protagonists as she surveys the scene of her husband’s murder, ostensibly at the hands of an Indigenous servant, one of the ‘Stolen Generations.’ This recitation, however, proves itself to be an act of usurpation, as it is Perdita, the White child protagonist of the novel, who has stabbed her father during one of his repeated rapes of the Indigenous girl. Perdita, in turn, recovers her memory of the act via the recitation of the same passages from Macbeth , thus allowing Shakespeare to emerge in the White post-colonial text as a self-critical element of White usurping culture but also, possibly, as a collaborator in a coalition against the ongoing oppression of the Indigenous population which characterizes contemporary Australia.
Phylogeny and morphology of Anthracoidea pamiroalaica sp. nov. infecting the endemic sedge Carex koshewnikowii in the Pamir Alai Mts (Tajikistan)
2015-11-28

A novel Anthracoidea species, A. pamiroalaica on the endemic sedge Carex koshewnikowii, is described and illustrated from the Pamir Alai Mts in Tajikistan (Central Asia). The new species is phenotypically nearly identical with Anthracoidea sempervirentis, but clearly divergent genetically. Phylogenetic analyses based on LSU sequences showed affinity of Anthracoidea pamiroalaica to A. baldensis, A. rupestris, A. capillaris, and A. vankyi infecting host sedges in different Carex sections (Baldenses, Rupestres, Chlorostachyae, and Phaestoglochin, respectively), but not to A. misandrae, and A. sempervirentis, two sequenced species parasitic on host species from the section Aulocystis. This phylogenetic placement is briefly discussed in the context of Anthracoidea evolution.
Type IIFNs induce anti‐tumor polarization of tumor associated neutrophils in mice and human
2015-11-30

The importance of tumor associated neutrophils (TANs) in cancer development is in the meantime well established. Numerous of clinical data document the adverse prognostic effects of neutrophil infiltration in solid tumors. However, certain tumor therapies need functional neutrophils to be effective, suggesting altered neutrophil polarization associated with different outcomes for cancer patients. Therefore, modulation of neutrophilic phenotypes represents a potent therapeutic option, but factors mediating neutrophil polarization are still poorly defined. In this manuscript we provide evidence that type I IFNs alter neutrophilic phenotype into anti‐tumor, both in mice and human. In the absence of IFN‐β, pro‐tumor properties, such as reduced tumor cytotoxicity with low neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) expression, low ICAM1 and TNF‐α expression, dominated neutrophil phenotypes in primary lesion and premetastatic lung. Interestingly, such neutrophils have significantly prolonged life‐span. Notably, interferon therapy in mice altered TAN polarization towards anti‐tumor N1. Similar changes in neutrophil activation could be observed in melanoma patients undergoing type I IFN therapy. Altogether, these data highlight the therapeutic potential of interferons, suggesting optimization of its clinical use as potent anti‐tumor agent.
How do soil properties affect alpine treelines? General principles in a global perspective and novel findings from Rolwaling Himal, Nepal
2015-11-30

Little is known about how soil properties control tree growth at its upper limit. This paper reviews the state of knowledge and discusses the results specifically related to ecozones, to the scale-dependent importance of single factors, and to new findings from a near-natural treeline ecotone in Rolwaling Himal, Nepal. This paper identifies gaps in literature and shows where new research is needed, both conceptual and geographical. The review shows that at a global scale and throughout diverse ecozones, growing season soil temperature is considered a key factor for tree growth. Soil temperatures differ greatly at a local scale, and are mainly determined by local climatic, edaphic, and topographic conditions. Our result of 7.6 ± 0.6°C for growing season mean soil temperature at treeline in Rolwaling is 1.2 K higher compared to the postulated 6.4 ± 0.7°C for alpine treelines. We suggest a broadening of the ±0.7°C error term to cover the wide range at a local scale. The role of major soil nutrients and soil moisture for treeline shift has been underestimated by far. In Rolwaling, significantly decreasing nutrient availability (N, K, Mg) in soils and foliage with elevation might explain why treeline shift and global warming are decoupled. Further, soil moisture deficits early in the year impede seedling and sapling establishment, which could be an important mechanism that controls treeline position. These findings question previous results which argue that alpine treelines are unaffected by soil nutrient availability and soil moisture. We assume that specific combinations of soil properties as well as single soil properties limit tree growth even below climatic treelines.
Math Anxiety Assessment with the Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale: Applicability and Usefulness: Insights from the Polish Adaptation
2015-11-30

Math anxiety has an important impact on mathematical development and performance. However, although math anxiety is supposed to be a transcultural trait, assessment instruments are scarce and are validated mainly for Western cultures so far. Therefore, we aimed at examining the transcultural generality of math anxiety by a thorough investigation of the validity of math anxiety assessment in Eastern Europe. We investigated the validity and reliability of a Polish adaptation of the Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale (AMAS), known to have very good psychometric characteristics in its original, American-English version as well as in its Italian and Iranian adaptations. We also observed high reliability, both for internal consistency and test-retest stability of the AMAS in the Polish sample. The results also show very good construct, convergent and discriminant validity: The factorial structure in Polish adult participants (n = 857) was very similar to the one previously found in other samples; AMAS scores correlated moderately in expected directions with state and trait anxiety, self-assessed math achievement and skill as well temperamental traits of emotional reactivity, briskness, endurance, and perseverance. Average scores obtained by participants as well as gender differences and correlations with external measures were also similar across cultures. Beyond the cultural comparison, we used path model analyses to show that math anxiety relates to math grades and self-competence when controlling for trait anxiety. The current study shows transcultural validity of math anxiety assessment with the AMAS.
Regulation Theory and the Political Economy of the European Union
2015-11-30

Abstract European integration theory considers to what extent the EU can realize a telos where American pluralism is the template. Not without merits, but considering the financial and eurozone crises fatally, such perspectives elide power relations and attendant contradictions and irrationalities that are constitutive of transatlantic integration itself. Regulation theory, which synthesizes the reformist ethos of Europe's postwar statist tradition and Marxism, and which has produced a considerable body of analysis of the EU published at the margins of EU scholarship, offers a compelling alternative that potentially overcomes these shortcomings. This article critically assesses how regulation theory has interpreted the single market, financial liberalization and EMU as a suppression of alternatives to neoliberal post‐Fordism, or finance‐led accumulation, in Europe. It argues that understanding the EU's current conjuncture of eurozone crisis management requires a neo‐Gramscian extension of regulation theory, stressing transnational patterns of capitalist accumulation and power relations.
TBX3 Knockdown Decreases Reprogramming Efficiency of Human Cells
2015-11-30

TBX3 is a member of the T‐box transcription factor family and is involved in the core pluripotency network. Despite this role in the pluripotency network, its contribution to the reprogramming process during the generation of human induced pluripotent stem cells remains elusive. In this respect, we performed reprogramming experiments applying TBX3 knockdown in human fibroblasts and keratinocytes. Knockdown of TBX3 in both somatic cell types decreased the reprogramming efficiencies in comparison to control cells but with unchanged reprogramming kinetics. The resulting iPSCs were indistinguishable from control cells and displayed a normal in vitro differentiation capacity by generating cells of all three germ layers comparable to the controls.
Comparative Microarray Analysis of Proliferating and Differentiating Murine ENS Progenitor Cells
2015-11-30

Postnatal neural progenitor cells of the enteric nervous system are a potential source for future cell replacement therapies of developmental dysplasia like Hirschsprung’s disease. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms driving the homeostasis and differentiation of this cell pool. In this work, we conducted Affymetrix GeneChip experiments to identify differences in gene regulation between proliferation and early differentiation of enteric neural progenitors from neonatal mice. We detected a total of 1333 regulated genes that were linked to different groups of cellular mechanisms involved in cell cycle, apoptosis, neural proliferation, and differentiation. As expected, we found an augmented inhibition in the gene expression of cell cycle progression as well as an enhanced mRNA expression of neuronal and glial differentiation markers. We further found a marked inactivation of the canonical Wnt pathway after the induction of cellular differentiation. Taken together, these data demonstrate the various molecular mechanisms taking place during the proliferation and early differentiation of enteric neural progenitor cells.
The Standardization of Linear and Nonlinear Effects in Direct and Indirect Applications of Structural Equation Mixture Models for Normal and Nonnormal Data
2015-11-30

The application of mixture models to flexibly estimate linear and nonlinear effects in the SEM framework has received increasing attention (e.g., Jedidi et al., 1997b; Bauer, 2005; Muthén and Asparouhov, 2009; Wall et al., 2012; Kelava and Brandt, 2014; Muthén and Asparouhov, 2014). The advantage of mixture models is that unobserved subgroups with class-specific relationships can be extracted (direct application), or that the mixtures can be used as a statistical tool to approximate nonnormal (latent) distributions (indirect application). Here, we provide a general standardization procedure for linear and nonlinear interaction and quadratic effects in mixture models. The procedure can also be applied to multiple group models or to single class models with nonlinear effects like LMS (Klein and Moosbrugger, 2000). We show that it is necessary to take nonnormality of the data into account for a correct standardization. We present an empirical example from education science applying the proposed procedure.
Expression of the Wnt Receptor Frizzled‐4 in the Human Enteric Nervous System of Infants
2015-11-30

The Wnt signalling pathway plays a crucial role in the development of the nervous system. This signalling cascade is initiated upon binding of the secreted Wnt ligand to a member of the family of frizzled receptors. In the present study, we analysed the presence of frizzled‐4 in the enteric nervous system of human infants. Frizzled‐4 could be identified by immunohistochemistry in a subpopulation of enteric neuronal and glial cells in the small and large intestine. Detection of frizzled‐4 in the tunica muscularis by RT‐PCR confirmed this receptor’s expression on the mRNA level. Interestingly, we observed distinct cell populations that co‐expressed frizzled‐4 with the intermediate filament protein nestin and the neurotrophin receptor p75 NTR , which have been reported to be expressed in neural progenitor cells. Flow cytometry analysis revealed that 60% of p75 NTR positive cells of the tunica muscularis were positive for frizzled‐4. Additionally, in pathological samples of Hirschsprung’s disease, the expression of this Wnt receptor correlated with the number of myenteric ganglion cells and decreased from normoganglionic to aganglionic areas of large intestine. The expression pattern of frizzled‐4 indicates that this Wnt receptor could be involved in postnatal development and/or function of the enteric nervous system.
Differentiated muscles are mandatory for gas-filling of theDrosophilaairway system
2015-11-30

ABSTRACT At the end of development, organs acquire functionality, thereby ensuring autonomy of an organism when it separates from its mother or a protective egg. In insects, respiratory competence starts when the tracheal system fills with gas just before hatching of the juvenile animal. Cellular and molecular mechanisms of this process are not fully understood. Analyses of the phenotype of Drosophila embryos with malformed muscles revealed that they fail to gas-fill their tracheal system. Indeed, we show that major regulators of muscle formation like Lame duck and Blown fuse are important, while factors involved in the development of subsets of muscles including cardiac and visceral muscles are dispensable for this process, suggesting that somatic muscles (or parts of them) are essential to enable tracheal terminal differentiation. Based on our phenotypic data, we assume that somatic muscle defect severity correlates with the penetrance of the gas-filling phenotype. This argues that a limiting molecular or mechanical muscle-borne signal tunes tracheal differentiation. We think that in analogy to the function of smooth muscles in vertebrate lungs, a balance of physical forces between muscles and the elasticity of tracheal walls may be decisive for tracheal terminal differentiation in Drosophila.
Testing general relativity with present and future astrophysical observations
2015-12-01

One century after its formulation, Einstein's general relativity has made remarkable predictions and turned out to be compatible with all experimental tests. Most of these tests probe the theory in the weak-field regime, and there are theoretical and experimental reasons to believe that general relativity should be modified when gravitational fields are strong and spacetime curvature is large. The best astrophysical laboratories to probe strong-field gravity are black holes and neutron stars, whether isolated or in binary systems. We review the motivations to consider extensions of general relativity. We present a (necessarily incomplete) catalog of modified theories of gravity for which strong-field predictions have been computed and contrasted to Einstein's theory, and we summarize our current understanding of the structure and dynamics of compact objects in these theories. We discuss current bounds on modified gravity from binary pulsar and cosmological observations, and we highlight the potential of future gravitational wave measurements to inform us on the behavior of gravity in the strong-field regime.
Opposing effects of nitrogen versus phosphorus additions on mycorrhizal fungal abundance along an elevational gradient in tropical montane forests
2015-12-01

Studies in temperate systems provide evidence that the abundance of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) depends on soil nutrient availability, which is mainly explained in the context of resource stoichiometry and differential plant biomass allocation. We applied this concept to an understudied ecosystem - tropical montane forest - analyzing root and AMF abundance along an elevational gradient with decreasing nutrient availability, combined with responses to nitrogen (N) versus phosphorus (P) additions. At three sites from 1000 to 3000 m above sea-level we analyzed fine root length, AMF root colonization as well as extraradical AMF biomass (neutral lipid fatty acid 16:1?5, hyphal length and spore counts) in a nutrient manipulation experiment. We found a significant increase in root length as well as intra- and extraradical AMF abundance with elevation. Overall, P additions significantly increased, whereas N additions decreased AMF abundance, with differential though nonsystematic changes along the elevational gradient. Strongest effects were clearly observed at the intermediate site. These findings suggest a general dependency of roots and AMF on nutrient availability, though responses to N and P additions differed from previous studies in temperate systems. In the context of future nutrient depositions, results suggest diverging responses of AMF abundance depending on site characteristics.
Copper oxide nanoparticle toxicity profiling using untargeted metabolomics
2015-12-01

Our findings are well aligned with the current literature on CuO NP toxicity. We thus believe that untargeted metabolomics profiling is a suitable tool for NP toxicity screening and hypothesis generation.