pinecone/core-2020-05-10-deduplication huggingface dataset:
Prenatal exposure to DDT in malaria endemic region following indoor residual spraying and in non-malaria coastal regions of South Africa

Exemption was granted by the Stockholm Convention in 2004 for use of DDT by indoor residual spraying (IRS) as a malaria vector control. South Africa endorsed the use of DDT in its Malaria Control Programmes in malaria endemic regions and IRS remains a primary method of controlling malaria transmitting mosquitoes in this country. This study examines the impact of IRS on the levels of DDT and its metabolites in maternal blood of delivering women as a measure of prenatal exposure.

We report on the concentrations of DDT and its metabolites (p,p′- DDE, p,p′-DDT, o,p′-DDE, o,p′-DDD, p,p′-DDD, and o,p′-DDT) in maternal plasma of 255 delivering women residing in three sites along Indian Ocean, namely in malaria endemic where IRS takes place, low risk and non-malaria sites.

Concentrations of measured compounds were found to be significantly higher in the malaria endemic site (p = 0.0001): the geometric mean concentration (95% confidence intervals; n = 91) for o,p′-DDE was 9 ng/g lipids (7–10); for p,p′-DDE, 3840 ng/g lipids (3008–4902); for o,p′-DDD, 8 ng/g lipids (6–9); for p,p′-DDD, 26 ng/g lipids (20–32); for o,p′-DDT, 168 ng/g lipids (127–221) and for p,p′-DDT, 2194 ng/g lipids (1706–2823). These compounds were also detected in women residing in other sites but in lower concentrations.

The maternal characteristics, age, IRS, number of children and breastfeeding were significantly associated for both p,p′-DDE and p,p′-DDT levels in the malaria area where exposure through IRS is predominant. There was no association between maternal characteristics and DDT levels in the low risk and non-malaria area.

Results presented are of particular value to the policy decision makers and regulatory toxicology organizations as they characterise the extent of controlled exposure to DDT used exclusively for IRS purposes.

Furthermore, findings of this study will form a base for further investigation of foetal exposure to pollutants.Research Council of Norway and National Research Foundation,
South Africa (Grant 64528), the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), the Royal Norwegian Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the SA Medical Research Council.http://www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenvhb2013ay201
HER2 induced EMT and tumorigenicity in breast epithelial progenitor cells is inhibited by coexpression of EGFR.

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This article is open access.The members of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) kinase family are important players in breast morphogenesis and cancer. EGFR2/HER2 and EGFR expression have a prognostic value in certain subtypes of breast cancer such as HER2-amplified, basal-like and luminal type B. Many clinically approved small molecular inhibitors and monoclonal antibodies have been designed to target HER2, EGFR or both. There is, however, still limited knowledge on how the two receptors are expressed in normal breast epithelium, what effects they have on cellular differentiation and how they participate in neoplastic transformation. D492 is a breast epithelial cell line with stem cell properties that can undergo epithelial to mesenchyme transition (EMT), generate luminal- and myoepithelial cells and form complex branching structures in three-dimensional (3D) culture. Here, we show that overexpression of HER2 in D492 (D492(HER2)) resulted in EMT, loss of contact growth inhibition and increased oncogenic potential in vivo. HER2 overexpression, furthermore, inhibited endogenous EGFR expression. Re-introducing EGFR in D492(HER2) (D492(HER2/EGFR)) partially reversed the mesenchymal state of the cells, as an epithelial phenotype reappeared both in 3D cultures and in vivo. The D492(HER2/EGFR) xenografts grow slower than the D492(HER2) tumors, while overexpression of EGFR alone (D492(EGFR)) was not oncogenic in vivo. Consistent with the EGFR-mediated epithelial phenotype, overexpression of EGFR drove the cells toward a myoepithelial phenotype in 3D culture. The effect of two clinically approved anti-HER2 and EGFR therapies, trastuzumab and cetuximab, was tested alone and in combination on D492(HER2) xenografts. While trastuzumab had a growth inhibitory effect compared with untreated control, the effect of cetuximab was limited. When administered in combination, the growth inhibitory effect of trastuzumab was less pronounced. Collectively, our data indicate that in HER2-overexpressing D492 cells, EGFR can behave as a tumor suppressor, by pushing the cells towards epithelial differentiation
Elastin aging and lipid oxidation products in human aorta

AbstractVascular aging is associated with structural and functional modifications of the arteries, and by an increase in arterial wall thickening in the intima and the media, mainly resulting from structural modifications of the extracellular matrix (ECM) components. Among the factors known to accumulate with aging, advanced lipid peroxidation end products (ALEs) are a hallmark of oxidative stress-associated diseases such as atherosclerosis. Aldehydes generated from the peroxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), (4-hydroxynonenal, malondialdehyde, acrolein), form adducts on cellular proteins, leading to a progressive protein dysfunction with consequences in the pathophysiology of vascular aging. The contribution of these aldehydes to ECM modification is not known. This study was carried out to investigate whether aldehyde-adducts are detected in the intima and media in human aorta, whether their level is increased in vascular aging, and whether elastin fibers are a target of aldehyde-adduct formation. Immunohistological and confocal immunofluorescence studies indicate that 4-HNE-histidine-adducts accumulate in an age-related manner in the intima, media and adventitia layers of human aortas, and are mainly expressed in smooth muscle cells. In contrast, even if the structure of elastin fiber is strongly altered in the aged vessels, our results show that elastin is not or very poorly modified by 4-HNE. These data indicate a complex role for lipid peroxidation and in particular for 4-HNE in elastin homeostasis, in the vascular wall remodeling during aging and atherosclerosis development
Cell autonomy of the mouse claw paw mutation

AbstractMice homozygous for the autosomal recessive mutation claw paw (clp) are characterized by limb posture abnormalities and congenital hypomyelination, with delayed onset of myelination of the peripheral nervous system but not the central nervous system. Although this combination of limb and peripheral nerve abnormalities in clp/clp mice might suggest a common neurogenic origin of the syndrome, it is not clear whether the clp gene acts primarily in the neurone, the Schwann cell or both. In the work described here, we address this question of cell autonomy of the clp mutation through reciprocal nerve grafting experiments between wild-type and clp/clp animals. Our results demonstrate that the clp mutation affects the Schwann cell compartment and possibly also the neuronal compartment. These data suggest that the clp gene product is expressed in Schwann cells as well as neurones and is likely to be involved in direct axon–Schwann cell interactions. Within the Schwann cell, clp affects a myelin-related signaling pathway that regulates periaxin and Krox-20 expression, but not Oct-6
Genome-wide Association for Major Depression Through Age at Onset Stratification: Major Depressive Disorder Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium

AbstractBackgroundMajor depressive disorder (MDD) is a disabling mood disorder, and despite a known heritable component, a large meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies revealed no replicable genetic risk variants. Given prior evidence of heterogeneity by age at onset in MDD, we tested whether genome-wide significant risk variants for MDD could be identified in cases subdivided by age at onset.MethodsDiscovery case-control genome-wide association studies were performed where cases were stratified using increasing/decreasing age-at-onset cutoffs; significant single nucleotide polymorphisms were tested in nine independent replication samples, giving a total sample of 22,158 cases and 133,749 control subjects for subsetting. Polygenic score analysis was used to examine whether differences in shared genetic risk exists between earlier and adult-onset MDD with commonly comorbid disorders of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, Alzheimer’s disease, and coronary artery disease.ResultsWe identified one replicated genome-wide significant locus associated with adult-onset (>27 years) MDD (rs7647854, odds ratio: 1.16, 95% confidence interval: 1.11–1.21, p = 5.2 × 10-11). Using polygenic score analyses, we show that earlier-onset MDD is genetically more similar to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder than adult-onset MDD.ConclusionsWe demonstrate that using additional phenotype data previously collected by genetic studies to tackle phenotypic heterogeneity in MDD can successfully lead to the discovery of genetic risk factor despite reduced sample size. Furthermore, our results suggest that the genetic susceptibility to MDD differs between adult- and earlier-onset MDD, with earlier-onset cases having a greater genetic overlap with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder
The relationship between cerebrospinal fluid tau markers, hippocampal volume, and delayed primacy performance in cognitively intact elderly individuals

AbstractBackgroundPrimacy performance in recall has been shown to predict cognitive decline in cognitively intact elderly and conversion from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer's disease (AD). Delayed primacy performance, but not delayed nonprimacy performance, has been shown to be associated with hippocampal volume in cognitively intact older individuals. Because presence of neurofibrillary tangles is an early sign of AD-related pathology, we set out to test whether cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of tau had an effect on delayed primacy performance, while controlling for hippocampal volume and CSF amyloid-β 1-42 levels.MethodsForty-seven individuals, aged 60 years or older and cognitively intact, underwent a multisession study including lumbar puncture, a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of the head, and memory testing.ResultsOur regression analyses show that CSF levels of hyperphosphorylated (P) tau are only associated with reduced delayed primacy performance when hippocampal volumes are smaller.ConclusionOur findings suggest that hippocampal size may play a protective role against the negative effects of P tau on memory
Are sanitation interventions a threat to drinking water supplies in rural India? An application of tryptophan-like fluorescence

AbstractOpen defecation is practised by over 600 million people in India and there is a strong political drive to eliminate this through the provision of on-site sanitation in rural areas. However, there are concerns that the subsequent leaching of excreta from subsurface storage could be adversely impacting underlying groundwater resources upon which rural populations are almost completely dependent for domestic water supply. We investigated this link in four villages undergoing sanitary interventions in Bihar State, India. A total of 150 supplies were sampled for thermotolerant (faecal) coliforms (TTC) and tryptophan-like fluorescence (TLF): an emerging real-time indicator of faecal contamination. Sanitary risk inspections were also performed at all sites, including whether a supply was located within 10 m of a toilet, the recommended minimum separation. Overall, 18% of water supplies contained TTCs, 91% of which were located within 10 m of a toilet, 58% had TLF above detection limit, and sanitary risk scores were high. Statistical analysis demonstrated TLF was an effective indicator of TTC presence-absence, with a possibility of TTCs only where TLF exceeded 0.4 μg/L dissolved tryptophan. Analysis also indicated proximity to a toilet was the only significant sanitary risk factor predicting TTC presence-absence and the most significant predictor of TLF. Faecal contamination was considered a result of individual water supply vulnerability rather than indicative of widespread leaching into the aquifer. Therefore, increasing faecal contamination of groundwater-derived potable supplies is inevitable across the country as uptake of on-site sanitation intensifies. Communities need to be aware of this link and implement suitable decentralised low-cost treatment of water prior to consumption and improve the construction and protection of new supplies
Two nucleon (B − L)-conserving reactions involving tau leptons

AbstractTau lepton emission in two-nucleon disappearance reactions from within nuclei which conserve baryon number minus lepton number (B − L) is considered. It is shown that some existing limits on proton decay channels and two-nucleon disappearance reactions resulting in electrons and muons can be applied to ΔB=ΔL=2 decays involving τ leptons. For the two-nucleon disappearance channel np→τ+ν‾τ the estimated limit for the partial mean life is τBr>1×1030 yrs based on results from the IMB3 experiment. Re-analysis of existing data and future experiments could result in higher sensitivity for two-nucleon disappearance modes involving τ lepton final states
The dynamical behavior of f(T) theory

AbstractRecently, a new model obtained from generalizing teleparallel gravity, named f(T) theory, is proposed to explain the present cosmic accelerating expansion with no need of dark energy. In this Letter, we analyze the dynamical property of this theory. For a concrete power law model, we obtain that the dynamical system has a stable de Sitter phase along with an unstable radiation dominated phase and an unstable matter dominated one. We show that the Universe can evolve from a radiation dominated era to a matter dominated one, and finally enter an exponential expansion phase
Beyond metrics? Utilizing ‘soft intelligence’ for healthcare quality and safety

AbstractFormal metrics for monitoring the quality and safety of healthcare have a valuable role, but may not, by themselves, yield full insight into the range of fallibilities in organizations. ‘Soft intelligence’ is usefully understood as the processes and behaviours associated with seeking and interpreting soft data—of the kind that evade easy capture, straightforward classification and simple quantification—to produce forms of knowledge that can provide the basis for intervention. With the aim of examining current and potential practice in relation to soft intelligence, we conducted and analysed 107 in-depth qualitative interviews with senior leaders, including managers and clinicians, involved in healthcare quality and safety in the English National Health Service. We found that participants were in little doubt about the value of softer forms of data, especially for their role in revealing troubling issues that might be obscured by conventional metrics. Their struggles lay in how to access softer data and turn them into a useful form of knowing. Some of the dominant approaches they used risked replicating the limitations of hard, quantitative data. They relied on processes of aggregation and triangulation that prioritised reliability, or on instrumental use of soft data to animate the metrics. The unpredictable, untameable, spontaneous quality of soft data could be lost in efforts to systematize their collection and interpretation to render them more tractable. A more challenging but potentially rewarding approach involved processes and behaviours aimed at disrupting taken-for-granted assumptions about quality, safety, and organizational performance. This approach, which explicitly values the seeking out and the hearing of multiple voices, is consistent with conceptual frameworks of organizational sensemaking and dialogical understandings of knowledge. Using soft intelligence this way can be challenging and discomfiting, but may offer a critical defence against the complacency that can precede crisis
Continuous integral kernels for unbounded Schrödinger semigroups and their spectral projections

AbstractBy suitably extending a Feynman–Kac formula of Simon (Canad. Math. Soc. Conf. Proc. 28 (2000) 317), we study one-parameter semigroups generated by (the negative of) rather general Schrödinger operators, which may be unbounded from below and include a magnetic vector potential. In particular, a common domain of essential self-adjointness for such a semigroup is specified. Moreover, each member of the semigroup is proven to be a maximal Carleman operator with a continuous integral kernel given by a Brownian-bridge expectation. The results are used to show that the spectral projections of the generating Schrödinger operator also act as Carleman operators with continuous integral kernels. Applications to Schrödinger operators with rather general random scalar potentials include a rigorous justification of an integral-kernel representation of their integrated density of states—a relation frequently used in the physics literature on disordered solids
Fractal curvature measures and Minkowski content for self-conformal subsets of the real line

AbstractWe show that the fractal curvature measures of invariant sets of one-dimensional conformal iterated function systems satisfying the open set condition exist if the associated geometric potential function is nonlattice. Moreover, we prove that if the maps of the conformal iterated function system are all analytic, then the fractal curvature measures do not exist in the lattice case. Further, in the nonlattice situation we obtain that the Minkowski content exists and prove that the fractal curvature measures are constant multiples of the δ-conformal measure, where δ denotes the Minkowski dimension of the invariant set. For the first fractal curvature measure, this constant factor coincides with the Minkowski content of the invariant set. In the lattice situation we give sufficient conditions for the Minkowski content of the invariant set to exist, disproving a conjecture of Lapidus and standing in contrast with the fact that the Minkowski content of a self-similar lattice fractal never exists. However, every self-similar set satisfying the open set condition exhibits a Minkowski measurable C1+α diffeomorphic image. Both in the lattice and in the nonlattice situation, average versions of the fractal curvature measures are shown to always exist
Higher spin super-Cotton tensors and generalisations of the linear–chiral duality in three dimensions

AbstractIn three spacetime dimensions, (super)conformal geometry is controlled by the (super-)Cotton tensor. We present a new duality transformation for N-extended supersymmetric theories formulated in terms of the linearised super-Cotton tensor or its higher spin extensions for the cases N=2,1,0. In the N=2 case, this transformation is a generalisation of the linear–chiral duality, which provides a dual description in terms of chiral superfields for general models of self-interacting N=2 vector multiplets in three dimensions and N=1 tensor multiplets in four dimensions. For superspin-1 (gravitino multiplet), superspin-3/2 (supergravity multiplet) and any higher superspin s≥2, the duality transformation relates a higher-derivative theory to one containing at most two derivatives at the component level. In the N=1 case, we introduce gauge prepotentials for higher spin superconformal gravity and construct the corresponding super-Cotton tensors, as well as the higher spin extensions of the linearised N=1 conformal supergravity action. Our N=1 duality transformation is a higher spin extension of the known superfield duality relating the massless N=1 vector and scalar multiplets. Our N=0 duality transformation is a higher spin extension of the vector-scalar duality
Revising the Schizoparmaceae: Coniella and its synonyms Pilidiella and Schizoparme

AbstractThe asexual genera Coniella (1918) and Pilidiella (1927), including their sexual morphs in Schizoparme (1923), have a cosmopolitan distribution and are associated with foliar, fruit, leaf, stem and root diseases on a wide variety of hosts. Species of these genera sometimes occur as secondary invaders of plant tissues infected by other organisms or that are injured by other causes. Several studies published over the last few decades had conflicting ideas as to whether Coniella, Pilidiella and Schizoparme should be regarded as synonymous or as separate genera. The present study aims to resolve the generic classification of these genera through phylogenetic analyses of the concatenated alignment of partial LSU nrDNA, rpb2, ITS nrDNA and tef1 sequence data of 117 isolates, combined with their morphology. Results revealed that all strains cluster in a single well-supported clade. Conidial colour, traditionally the distinguishing character between Coniella and Pilidiella, evolved multiple times throughout the clade, and is not a good character at generic level in Schizoparmaceae. The three genera should therefore be regarded as synonymous, with the older name Coniella having priority. Furthermore, this study delineated 13 new species, and new combinations were proposed for a further 15 species
Contraction Pattern of the Systemic Right Ventricle Shift From Longitudinal to Circumferential Shortening and Absent Global Ventricular Torsion

ObjectivesThe aim of the present study was to characterize the contraction pattern of the systemic right ventricle (RV).BackgroundReduced longitudinal function of the systemic RV compared with the normal RV has been interpreted as ventricular dysfunction. However, longitudinal shortening represents only one aspect of myocardial deformation, and changes in contraction in other dimensions have not previously been described.MethodsFourteen Senning-operated patients age 18.4 ± 0.9 years (mean ± SD) with transposition of the great arteries were studied. We compared the contraction pattern of the systemic RV with findings in the RV and left ventricle (LV) of normal subjects (n = 14) using tissue Doppler imaging and magnetic resonance imaging.ResultsIn the systemic RV free wall, circumferential strain exceeded longitudinal strain (−23.3 ± 3.4% vs. −15.0 ± 3.0%, p < 0.001) as was also the case in the normal LV (−25.7 ± 3.1% vs. −16.5 ± 1.7%, p < 0.001), opposite from the findings in the normal RV (−15.8 ± 1.3% vs. −30.7 ± 3.3%, p < 0.001). Strain in the interventricular septum did not differ from normal. Ventricular torsion was essentially absent in the systemic RV (0.3 ± 1.8°), in contrast to a torsion of 16.7 ± 4.8° in the normal LV (p < 0.001).ConclusionsIn the systemic RV as in the normal LV, there was predominant circumferential over longitudinal free wall shortening, opposite from findings in the normal RV. This may represent an adaptive response to the systemic load. Noticeably, however, the systemic RV did not display torsion as found in the normal LV
Wess–Zumino actions and Dirichlet boundary conditions for super p-branes with exotic fractions of supersymmetry

AbstractThe general solutions in the models of closed and open superstring and super p-branes with exotic fractions of the N=1 supersymmetry are considered and the spontaneously broken character of the OSp(1,2M) symmetry of the models is established. It is shown that extending these models by Wess–Zumino terms generates the Dirichlet boundary conditions for superstring and super p-branes. Using the generalized Wess–Zumino terms new OSp(1,2M)-invariant super p-brane and Dp-brane-like actions preserving (M−1)/M fraction of supersymmetry are proposed. For M=32 these models suggest new superbrane vacua of M-theory preserving 31 from 32 global supersymmetries