bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Physical Custody Arrangements, Children’s Age, and Children’s Mental Health: A Comparison of Germany and Norway
Authors: Augustijn Lara , Steinbach Anja , Holt Tonje , Helland Maren Sand , Larsen Linda
Published: September 2023

This study investigated potential differences in mental health among children living in sole physical custody (SPC), asymmetric joint physical custody (JPC), and symmetric JPC; and it tested whether children’s age moderated the association between physical custody arrangements and children’s mental health. Using data from the Family Models in Germany (FAMOD) and Norwegian Dynamics of Family Conflict (FAMC) studies, we estimated OLS regression models for children aged 2 to 14. In the German sample, children in asymmetric JPC had fewer mental health problems than children in SPC. However, this difference disappeared when controlling for various background variables, including the quality of parent-child relationships. Additionally, children’s age moderated the association between physical custody arrangements and children’s mental health problems, with increasing age being related to fewer mental health problems in asymmetric JPC. This association remained even after controlling for the background variables. In the Norwegian sample, no differences were found in children’s mental health across physical custody arrangements; nor did children’s age moderate the association. The results of this study emphasize that there may be cultural differences in how children’s mental health is related to their physical custody arrangements. Furthermore, there are modest indications that asymmetric JPC may be related to better mental health among older children in Germany.
South Korea’s Fertility Puzzle: A Mismatch Between Sustained Childbearing Desires and Declining Fertility
Authors: Tan Jolene
Published: September 2023

Although marriage and fertility rates in South Korea have been declining for decades, many perceive having two or more children as the ideal. To understand the mismatch between childbearing desires and realities, this study describes the interrelatedness and incongruity of Korean women’s attitudes toward marriage, childbearing and gender roles by viewing attitudes as a multidimensional construct. Using data from the Korean Longitudinal Survey of Women and Families, latent transition analysis was conducted to identify classes of women with similar attitudinal response patterns and develop a typology of their personal dispositions toward family life. Three attitudinal classes emerged from the analysis: Traditional Familism, Transitional Ambivalence and Contemporary Individualism. The first class includes those with traditional attitudes to family formation and gender roles, while the latter two classes indicate a more positive orientation toward parenthood than marriage. This finding is particularly important in a context where having a child outside of marriage is rare and stigmatized, and suggests that low fertility may be potentially related to divergences in marriage and childbearing attitudes. Overall, these findings emphasize the importance of jointly considering attitudes across various family-related domains to better capture the complex attitudinal dynamics associated with women’s perceptions of family life.
Elli Tompuri's Female Hamlet, 1913
Authors: Keinänen Nely
Published: September 2023

This article analyses the first female Hamlet in the Nordic countries, Elli Tompuri (1880–1962). Early in her career Tompuri made a name for herself at the Finnish National Theatre, but later, in part due to her radical politics, was unable to find permanent employment at any established theatre so she began touring with her own company, putting on Hamlet in 1913. The article traces Tompuri's inspirations and thoughts about the play, before analysing the major themes raised in the reviews. On one hand, reviewers noted with some pride the national significance of the first female Hamlet. On the other hand, Tompuri's status as a New Woman, an actor-director-manager making her own way, generated a wide range of opinions, from outrage that a woman would attempt the part to admiration of Tompuri's genius and intelligence, often within a single review.
CUDA-BASED PARALLELIZATION OF GRADIENT BOOSTING AND BAGGING ALGORITHM FOR DIAGNOSING DIABETES
Authors: Mochurad Lesia
Published: September 2023

Data, its volume, structure, and form of presentation are among the most significant problems in working in the medical field. The probability of error is very high without innovative high-tech data analysis tools. It is easy to miss an important factor that is critical but lost among other, less important information. This work aims to study the proposed parallel gradient boosting algorithm in combination with the Bagging algorithm in the classification of diabetes to achieve greater stability and higher accuracy, reduce computational complexity and improve performance in medicine. The methods of parallelization of the Gradient Boosting algorithm in combination with the Bagging algorithm are investigated in the paper. Performance scores were obtained: approximately 7 using ThreadPoolExecutor and an eight-core computer system and 9.5 based on CUDA technology. Performance indicators that go to the unit are calculated. This, in turn, confirms the effectiveness of the proposed parallel algorithm. Another significant result of the study is improving algorithm accuracy by increasing the number of algorithms in the composition. The problem of diagnosing a patient's diabetes based on specific measurements included in the data set is considered. Detailed analysis and pre-processing of the selected dataset were performed. The parallelization of the proposed algorithm is implemented using the multi-core architecture of modern computers and CUDA technology. The process of learning models and training samples was parallelized. The theoretical estimation of the computational complexity of the offered parallel algorithm is given. A comparison of serial and parallel algorithm execution time using ThreadPoolExecutor when varying the number of threads and algorithms in the composition is presented. And also, the comparative analysis of time expenses at consecutive and parallel execution based on CPU and GPU is carried out.
CONCEPT OF INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR CULTURAL HERITAGE SITES RENOVATION USING AUGMENTED REALITY
Authors: Lipianina-Honcharenko Khrystyna , Schauer Sophie , Sieck Juergen , Sachenko Anatoliy , Kit Ivan
Published: September 2023

Cultural heritage is key to identity and development. Many valuable objects are affected by time, natural elements and financial lack. Innovative technologies are crucial for their preservation. The paper develops an information system based on augmented reality (AR) for the restoration of cultural heritage. This extends AURA's approach to preserving musical spaces by applying AR to cultural objects. New techniques improve AURA, allowing accurate restoration of objects affected by time. 3D modeling and machine learning allow to create virtual replicas with precision down to the smallest detail. Augmented reality and machine learning open new perspectives for the preservation of cultural values. The paper proposes an innovative approach of using AR for cultural heritage restoration. The authors offer unique solutions for accurate modeling of 3D models of objects. The purpose of the paper is to develop an information system for the restoration of cultural heritage through AR. This will increase the possibilities of preservation and research of values. Using AR and 3D modeling can improve the restoration of objects and provide access for researchers and the public. In future research, the proposed approaches and methods will be implemented to expand the functionality of the information system. This will include developing interactive interfaces for interacting with virtual models of cultural heritage, analyzing data for a deeper understanding of restoration processes and trend detection, as well as integrating cutting-edge information technologies, such as virtual reality and natural language recognition systems, using artificial intelligence. The primary goal is to improve the processes of preserving and studying cultural heritage through the use of modern information technologies.
ТЕОРЕТИЧНА ОСНОВА ДЛЯ СТВОРЕННЯ АРХІТЕКТУРИ REAL WORLD DATA LAKE
Authors: Pyts Markiyan , Dronyuk Ivanna
Published: September 2023

Data Lakes are the methods for storing and managing large quantities of unstructured data. Modern enterprises and small businesses, regardless of their size, can use this data to derive valuable insights about their business, such as process improvements or product usage. Although this approach to extracting insights is powerful, only some studies describe the actual implementation architectures of data lakes and warehouses.

The article provides a broad overview of setting up a data lake on AWS (Amazon Web Services). It covers setting up an Application Programming Interface (API) to consume data, store data, visualize data, and the ability to create data lakes across multiple AWS accounts quickly with a single Command-line Interface (CLI) command.

This is useful for creating a scalable data lake or data warehouse setup that doesn’t require much manual work. We describe how such design can be done using infrastructure as a code approach to achieve this and propose AWS architecture for solving the task of compelling data storage. The article provides a diagram of the proposed architecture accompanied by a high-level description and theoretical background.
INTEGRASI BUDAYA DAN AGAMA: KETERLIBATAN ANAK DALAM TRADISI BABALIAN SEBELUM WALIMATUL ‘URSY DALAM PERNIKAHAN DI NAGARI PARIANGAN PERSPEKTIF HUKUM
Authors: Marlina Zulfa , Nofialdi Nofialdi , Alfiander Dodon , Putri Siska Elasta
Published: September 2023

This study examines the background of children's involvement in the implementation of the babalian tradition before walimatul 'ursy in marriage from the perspective of Islamic law. From these problems, the question arises what is the background to the involvement of children in the babalian tradition before walimatul 'ursy in marriage. This study is based on field research. The data were obtained through interviews and then the data were narrated descriptively. The results achieved are to find out the background of the child's involvement in the babalian tradition, namely 1) the child is a symbol of descent and is also a basarayo tampek (person who will be ordered around), because ideally, the person who will be ordered is smaller than the person who ordered. 2) In addition, this tradition does not violate the Shari'a, because even though it is carried out at night, children are free to follow this series of traditions or choose to rest. This child also gets supervision from parents and adults. So it can be said that this tradition is 'urf authentic because it does not conflict with Islamic law and there is no harm to the child
KEPEMILIKAN TANAMAN PADA TANAH PINJAMAN MENURUT FIQH MUAMALAH (Studi kasus di Jorong Guguak Baruah, Padang Magek)
Authors: Wendy Asep , Raus Afrian
Published: September 2023

This study examines the ownership status of plants and land in the loan agreement ('ariyah) in Jorong Guguak Baruah Nagari Padang Magek according to Fiqh Muamalah. The problem is that the implementation of borrowing loans ('ariyah) is not in accordance with the initial agreement, namely to plant chilies, but in practice the borrower plants papaya and banana trees, at the initial agreement the loan limit is until the land is needed back by the lender, but in practice the borrower Instead, they asked for compensation and continued to use the land until the time limit specified in the initial agreement of the two parties. From this problem arose the question of how the status of land ownership in the loan agreement ('ariyah) was located in Jorong Guguak Baruah Nagari Padang Magek and how the legal consequences of the plants in the loan agreement ('ariyah) in Jorong Guguak Baruah Nagari Padang Magek according to Fiqh Muamalah. This research is a field research (field research). The data were obtained through interviews and observations. This study found that the status of land ownership in the loan agreement ('ariyah) in Jorong Guguak Baruah Nagari Padang Magek is fully owned by the lender with proof of land certificate in the name of the lender and a letter of sale and purchase of land. The status of the ownership of the plant is owned by the borrower until the agreed time limit.. The legal consequences of the plant in the loan agreement ('ariyah) in Jorong Guguak Baruah.
KEDUDUKAN KESEPAKATAN DAMAI SETELAH PUTUSAN VERSTEK DALAM PERKARA CERAI GUGAT MENURUT HUKUM ACARA PERDATA (STUDI ANALISIS PERKARA NOMOR 213/Pdt.G/2018/PA.Slk)
Authors: Yahya M Nursalim , Khairina Khairina
Published: September 2023

The purpose of this study was to analyze the considerations of the Solok Religious Court for ratifying the peace agreement letter from the plaintiffs and defendants in order to end the process against case number 213/Pdt.G/2018/PA.Slk which was decided verstek even though the decision was not yet legally binding and Verzet legal action should be taken by the Religious Court. The type of research in this writing is field research and analyzed descriptively qualitatively. The results in the study are first, the process of making a peace agreement between the parties in case number 213/Pdt.G/2018/PA.Slk is that the parties came to the Solok Religious Court by stating their desire to make things better and not wanting to divorce. Second, the consideration of the Solok Religious Court to accept the peace agreement letter is that the amicable certificates of the plaintiffs and defendants can be accepted on the grounds that the case has not yet been legally binding (BHT so that the defendant does not need to take legal action against verzet by keeping in mind the principles of simple, fast and low cost). Third, the review of the civil procedural law on the peace statement made by the parties is that the peace that occurs outside the trial is binding on the two parties who make peace.
EFEKTIVITAS PELAKSANAAN UNDANG-UNDANG NOMOR 16 TAHUN 2019 TENTANG PERUBAHAN ATAS UNDANG-UNDANG NOMOR 1 TAHUN 1974 TENTANG PERKAWINAN DI NAGARI SIBARAMBANG
Authors: Agusman Agusman , Elimartati Elimartati
Published: September 2023

Marriage after the marriage contract hopes to get peace, happiness. Underage marriages are marriages carried out under the age of 19. Law No. 16 of 2019 article 7 paragraph (1) "Marriage is only permitted if the man and woman have reached the age of 19 years.". then the author also found that there were many divorced couples in Nagari Sibarambang after law number 16 of 2019 was passed. The purpose of changing the law is to suppress divorce. Based on this phenomenon, the author is interested in researching this problem in the form of a thesis entitled "The effectiveness of the implementation of Law Number 16 of 2019 amendments to Law Number 1 of 1974 concerning Marriage in Nagari Sibarambang, District X Koto Above, Solok Regency)". The type of research in this research is field research using a qualitative descriptive approach. The results of this study show that the implementation of law number 16 of 2019 concerning marriage have not been effective even though socialization has been carried out, this is not all people know about changes to the law, the nagari guardian is only as capable as possible in providing information. It can be seen that there are still many people who carry out underage marriages, they think they are still using the old law, namely Law No. 1 of 1974.
TRADISI PERKAWINAN ALEK JAMU DI LINGKUNGAN ADAT NAGARI LUBUAK BATINGKOK DALAM PERSPEKTIF HUKUM ISLAM
Authors: Fadhli M Al , Eficandra Eficandra
Published: September 2023

In Islam, the validity of a marriage occurs when the marriage contract has fulfilled the pillars and conditions. If the pillars and conditions are fulfilled, then the marriage can be done this because there is no longer a barrier to realizing a marriage. However, in Nagari Lubuak Batingkok, Lima Puluh Kota Regency, there is a tradition before holding a marriage called the alek herbal tradition where this tradition is a series that must be taken before carrying out a marriage and carrying out walimahtul ursy activities. If the traditional procession is not carried out, the marriage cannot be carried out because it will cause someone to be prevented from getting married. If the marriage continues, the bride's family will be subject to customary sanctions in the form of not being brought again in traditional activities in the village. This research focuses on the implementation of the alek jamu marriage tradition, the impact and consequences of the alek jamu marriage tradition and how the alek jamu marriage tradition in the traditional environment of Nagari Lubuak Batingkok, Harau District, 50 City Regency according to the Islamic Law Perspective. The type of research carried out is field research which is processed descriptively. The results of this study indicate that in the implementation of this traditional herbal medicine, the traditional processions carried out are Manalisiak, manyuduik and ayam putiah tabang Siang. The impact of not carrying out this traditional herbal medicine is the obstruction of marriage, banishment as long as it is customary, paying fines, being ostracized in the community and becoming a disgrace and mental pressure for the family in the community. The traditional tradition of alek jamu marriage in Nagari Lubuak Batingkok according to the perspective of Islamic law is allowed because it is categorized as Urf sahih due to the element of benefit in its implementation, namely to get a good partner and establish closeness with niniak mamak. However, if the alek jamu tradition contains harm in the form of preventing marriage and causing elopement, then this tradition is not allowed because it is categorized as urf fasid.
Dietary Diversity and Mild Cognitive Impairment in Middle-Aged and Older Chinese People: A Cross-Sectional Study
Authors: Xiao Qing , Li Yonggang , Li Benchao , Li Tingting , Li Fengping , Li Yuanyuan , Chen Liangkai , Zhao Zhuangju , Wang Qing , Rong Shuang
Published: September 2023

Background:

The evidence concerning dietary diversity and cognitive function remains insufficient.

Objective:

To investigate the association of dietary diversity score (DDS) with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and cognitive performance in different domains.

Methods:

Data from The Lifestyle and Healthy Aging of Chinese Square Dancer Study was used in this study. DDS was constructed based on the intake frequencies of 9 food groups assessed by a validated food frequency questionnaire. MCI was diagnosed by Petersen’s criteria. A neuropsychological test battery was used to assess the performance on cognitive domains, and test scores were standardized to Z scores. Multiple linear regression models and logistic regression models were used to estimate the β and odds ratios and their 95% CIs, respectively.

Results:

Among 1,982 participants, the mean (SD) age was 63.37 (5.00) years, 1,778 (89.71%) were women, and 279 (14.08%) had MCI. Compared to the DDS quartile (0, 6], the multivariable-adjusted odds ratios (95% CI) were 0.74 (0.48, 1.15) for DDS quartile (6, 7], 0.65 (0.43, 0.97) for DDS quartile (7, 8], and 0.55 (0.37, 0.84) for DDS quartile (8, 9]. Furthermore, higher DDS was positively associated with better performance of cognitive domains, including global cognitive function (β= 0.20, 95% CI: 0.12, 0.30), episodic memory (β= 0.21, 95% CI: 0.07, 0.35), attention (β= 0.15, 95% CI: 0.03, 0.26), language fluency (β= 0.24, 95% CI: 0.10, 0.38), and executive function (β= – 0.24, 95% CI: – 0.38, – 0.10).

Conclusions:

This study indicated that higher DDS was associated with better cognitive function among middle-aged and older Chinese people.
A nomogram based on the risk factors of cervical lymph node metastasis in papillary thyroid carcinoma coexistent with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis
Authors: Miao Huanhuan , Zhong Jingwen , Xing Xuesha , Sun Jiawei , Wu Jiaqi , Wu Chengwei , Yuan Yan , Zhou Xianli , Wang Hongbo
Published: September 2023

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to explore the risk factors of cervical lymph node metastasis(LNM) in papillary thyroid carcinoma(PTC) coexistent with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis(HT). METHODS: The clinical data of patients who underwent thyroid operation between November 2016 and January 2020 in our hospital were analyzed retrospectively. The association between sonographic features and the risk factors of cervical LNM in PTC coexistent with HT was analyzed and a nomogram based on the risk factors was built. RESULTS: Age, US features as calcification, blood flow type, distance between thyroid nodule and fibrous capsule were risk factors of cervical LNM(P < 0.05).Size, SWVmax and SWVmean of thyroid nodule, SWVratio between thyroid nodule and thyroid gland were higher in PTCs with LNM than those without LNM(P < 0.05). The ROC curve showed that the cutoff value of SWVratio for predicting LNM was 1.29 (Sensitivity = 0.806, Specificity = 0.775, AUC = 0.823, P < 0.001). Based on the risk factors above, a relevant nomogram prediction model was established. The model verification showed that the C-index of the modeling set was 0.814, indicating that the nomogram model had good predicted accuracy. CONCLUSION: Based on the risk factors above, a relevant nomogram prediction model was established. The model verification showed that the C-index of the modeling set was 0.814, indicating that the nomogram model had good predicted accuracy. The nomogram based on the risk factors above had good prediction ability, which could optimize thyroidectomy and cervical lymph node dissection and improving prognosis.
Contrast-enhanced ultrasound in evaluating the severity of acute kidney injury: An animal experimental study
Authors: Ren Ling , Zhao Yuzhuo , Xiao Jing , Li Miao , Zhang Ying , Zhu Lianhua , Luo Yukun
Published: September 2023

PURPOSE: Early assessment of the severity of acute kidney injury (AKI) is critical to the prognosis of patients. Renal microcirculation hemodynamic changes and inflammatory response are the essential links of AKI induced by ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI). This study aims to explore the value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) based on vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) targeted microbubbles (TM) in evaluating the renal microcirculation hemodynamics and inflammatory response of different severity of AKI. METHODS: Eighteen male C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into three groups (n = 6): sham operation (sham) group, mild IRI-AKI (m-AKI) group, and severe IRI-AKI (s-AKI) group. CEUS based on VCAM-1 TM was used to evaluate renal microcirculation perfusion and inflammatory response. Pearson’s correlation was used to analyze the correlation between ultrasonic variables and pro-inflammatory factors. RESULTS: Compared with the sham group, AUC in m-AKI and s-AKI groups was significantly decreased, and s-AKI group was lower than m-AKI group (P < 0.05). NID of m-AKI and s-AKI groups was significantly higher than that of the sham group, and s-AKI group was higher than that of m-AKI group (P < 0.05). There was a linear positive correlation between NID and VCAM-1 protein expression (r = 0.7384, P < 0.05). NID and AUC were correlated with TNF-α and IL-6 levels (P < 0.05). Compared with early AKI biomarkers, CEUS based on VCAM-1 TM has higher sensitivity in evaluating the severity of AKI. CONCLUSIONS: CEUS based on VCAM-1 TM can evaluate renal microcirculation perfusion and inflammatory response in mild and severe AKI, which may provide helpful information for assessing the severity of AKI.
APOE ɛ4 Status and Plasma p-tau181 Levels May Influence Memory and Executive Function Decline in Older Adults Without Dementia
Authors: Wang Shanshan ,   for the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, Liu Suzhi , Ke Shaofa , Zhou Wenjun , Pan Tengwei
Published: September 2023

Background: Elevated tau phosphorylation has been linked to the Apolipoprotein E (APOE) ɛ4 allele, which is considered one of the most significant genes related to Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, it is uncertain whether the impact of increased plasma tau phosphorylated at threonine 181 (p-tau181) on memory and executive function decline would be greater among APOE ɛ4 carriers. Objective: To investigate the effects of plasma p-tau181 and APOE ɛ4 on memory and executive function. Methods: The longitudinal analysis included 608 older adults without dementia (aged 72±7 years; 47% female; follow-up period of 1.59±1.47 years) from the ADNI dataset, including 180 individuals with normal cognition and 429 individuals with mild cognitive impairment. Linear mixed-effects models were utilized to assess the contributions of APOE ɛ4 status and plasma p-tau181 to longitudinal changes in memory composite score and executive function composite score. Results: At baseline, the APOE ɛ4+/Tau+ group exhibited poorer performance in memory composite score and executive function composite score, and an elevated load of cerebrospinal fluid Aβ and tau pathologies. To further understand longitudinal changes, we compared groups directly based on plasma p-tau181 and APOE ɛ4 status (four groups: APOE ɛ4–/Tau–, APOE ɛ4–/Tau+, APOE ɛ4+/Tau–, APOE ɛ4+/Tau+). Both the memory composite score and executive function composite score showed a significantly greater decline in the APOE ɛ4+/Tau+ group than in all other groups. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that there is an interaction between plasma p-tau181 levels and APOE ɛ4 status, which contributes to the longitudinal changes of memory and executive function in older adults without dementia.
Using Cognitive-Motor Dual-Tasks and Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy to Characterize Older Adults with and without Subjective Cognitive Decline
Authors: Salzman Talia , Tobón Diana P. , Perreault Hannah , Farhat Farah , Fraser Sarah
Published: September 2023

Background: Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) refers to individuals who report persistent cognitive deficits but perform normally on neuropsychological tests. Performance may be facilitated by increased prefrontal cortex activation, known as neural compensation, and could be used to differentiate between older adults with and without SCD. Objective: This cross-sectional pilot study measured changes in the hemodynamic response (ΔHbO2) using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) as well as cognitive and motor performance during fine and gross motor dual-tasks in older adults with and without SCD. Methods: Twenty older adults over 60 years old with (n = 10) and without (n = 10) SCD were recruited. Two experiments were conducted using 1) gross motor walking and 2) fine motor finger tapping tasks that were paired with an n-back working memory task. Participants also completed neuropsychological assessments and questionnaires on everyday functioning. Results: Repeated measures ANOVAs demonstrated slower response times during dual-task gait compared to the single task (p = 0.032) and in the non-SCD group, slower gait speed was also observed in the dual compared to single task (p = 0.044). Response times during dual-task finger tapping were slower than the single task (p = 0.049) and greater ΔHbO2 was observed overall in the SCD compared to non-SCD group (p = 0.002). Conclusions: Examining neural and performance outcomes revealed differences between SCD and non-SCD groups and single and dual-tasks. Greater brain activation during dual-task finger tapping may reflect neural compensation, which should be examined in a larger sample and longitudinally to better characterize SCD.
Disease Burden and Progression in Patients with New-Onset Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease Identified from Japanese Claims Data: Evidence from the LIFE Study
Authors: Fukuda Haruhisa , Kanzaki Hiroshi , Murata Fumiko , Maeda Megumi , Ikeda Manabu
Published: September 2023

Background: Accurate epidemiological data on mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) can inform the development of prevention and control measures, but there is a lack of such data in Japan. Objective: To investigate the disease burden and progression in patients with new-onset MCI or AD in Japan. Methods: Using claims data, this multi-region cohort study was conducted on new-onset MCI and AD patients in 17 municipalities from 2014 to 2021. To characterize the patients, we investigated their age, comorbidities, and long-term care (LTC) needs levels at disease onset according to region type (urban, suburban, or rural). Disease burden was examined using health care expenditures and LTC expenditures, which were estimated for 1, 2, and 3 years after disease onset. Kaplan-Meier curves were plotted for AD progression in new-onset MCI patients and death in new-onset AD patients. Results: We analyzed 3,391 MCI patients and 58,922 AD patients. In MCI and AD patients, health care expenditures were high in the first year ($13,035 and $15,858, respectively), but had declined by the third year ($8,278 and $10,414, respectively). In contrast, LTC expenditures (daily living support) steadily increased over the 3-year period (MCI patients: $1,767 to $3,712, AD patients: $6,932 to $9,484). In the third year after disease onset, 30.9% of MCI patients developed AD and 23.3% of AD patients had died. Conclusions: This provides an important first look at the disease burden and progression of MCI and AD in Japan, which are high-priority diseases for a rapidly aging population.
Type 2 Diabetes Comorbidity and Cognitive Decline in Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease
Authors: Davidson Skylar , Allenback Gayle , Decourt Boris , Sabbagh Marwan N.
Published: September 2023

Background: Although insulin dysregulation and resistance likely participate in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) etiologies, little is known about the correlation between type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and the progression of cognitive decline in patients with AD. Objective: To determine whether AD patients with T2DM experience more rapid cognitive decline than those without T2DM. Methods: All cognitive performance data and the presence or absence of T2DM comorbidity in patients with AD were derived from the US National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center’s (NACC) Uniform Data Set (UDS). A search of the UDS identified 3,055 participants with AD who had more than one epoch completed. The data set culled clinically diagnosed AD dementia patients who were assessed for diabetes type identified during at least 1 visit. These patients were divided into 2 groups based on whether they had a diagnosis of T2DM. The data from these groups were then analyzed for differences in cognitive decline based on neuropsychological test battery scores and a Clinician Dementia Rating using a general linear model. Results: Comparisons of the mean scores for 16 selected tests from the neuropsychological test battery showed no significant differences in baseline scores and scores at subsequent visits between the T2DM and nondiabetic groups. Conclusions: The results revealed no differences in cognitive decline metrics over the course of 5 visits in either study group. These data indicate that the presence of T2DM does not increase the rate of cognitive decline in AD. This finding contradicts expected disease burden and will need to be explored further.
Elevated Expression of Two Pore Potassium Channel THIK-1 in Alzheimer’s Disease: An Inflammatory Mechanism
Authors: Tang Hao , Sun Yuhong , Fachim Helene A. , Cheung To Ka Dorcas , Reynolds Gavin P. , Harte Michael K.
Published: September 2023

Introduction: Tandem pore domain halothane-inhibited K+ channel 1 (THIK-1, coded by KCNK13) provides an upstream regulation of the activation of the NOD-like receptor pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome, which has been suggested as one of the key mechanisms of the pathological process in neurodegeneration mainly from in vitro and in vivo model systems studies. However, unequivocal evidence from neurodegenerative disorders has been lacking. Objective: To investigate the involvement of the THIK-1/NLRP3 pathway in the pathological process of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD). Methods: This study investigated gene expression of markers in the THIK-1/NLRP3 pathway in an animal model representing AD as well as in human postmortem brains of AD and PD by quantitative real-time PCR. THIK-1 protein expression was determined using automated capillary electrophoresis immunoblotting. Furthermore, DNA methylation of KCNK13 was analysed in AD cohort by pyrosequencing. Results: A substantial upregulation of KCNK13, glial activation markers, NLRP3 inflammasome components, and IL1B was observed in the animal study. Increased expression of KCNK13 support an inflammatory glial cell activation in both advanced AD and PD. The increase in KCNK13 expression was also supported by downregulation in DNA methylation of KCNK13 in AD. Conclusions: The association between THIK-1 K+ channels expression and pathology changes indicates a THIK-1-induced activation of this glial subtype in AD and PD. Therefore, specific blocks of the microglial THIK-1 K+ channels at the early stage of AD and PD may be beneficial for the patients.
Structure-Based Identification of Natural Compounds as Potential RET-Kinase Inhibitors for Therapeutic Targeting of Neurodegenerative Diseases
Authors: Hasan Gulam Mustafa , Shamsi Anas , Sohal Sukhwinder Singh , Alam Manzar , Hassan Md. Imtaiyaz
Published: September 2023

Background: Tyrosine-protein kinase receptor Ret (RET), a proto-oncogene, is considered as an attractive drug target for cancer and neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Objective: We aimed to identify potential inhibitors of RET kinase among natural compounds present in the ZINC database. Methods: A multistep structure-based virtual screening approach was used to identify potential RET kinase inhibitors based on their binding affinities, docking scores, and interactions with the biologically important residues of RET kinase. To further validate the potential of these compounds as therapeutic leads, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations for 100 ns were carried out and subsequently evaluated the stability, conformational changes, and interaction mechanism of RET in-complex with the elucidated compounds. Results: Two natural compounds, ZINC02092851 and ZINC02726682, demonstrated high affinity, specificity for the ATP-binding pocket of RET and drug-likeness properties. The MD simulation outputs indicated that the binding of both compounds stabilizes the RET structure and leads to fewer conformational changes. Conclusions: The findings suggest that ZINC02092851 and ZINC02726682 may be potential inhibitors for RET, offering valuable leads for drug development against RET-associated diseases. Our study provides a promising avenue for developing new therapeutic strategies against complex diseases, including AD. Identifying natural compounds with high affinity and specificity for RET provides a valuable starting point for developing novel drugs that could help combat these debilitating diseases.
An extended ITARA-TOPSIS method for multi-criteria group decision-making problems based on R-number
Authors: Wu Meiqin , Yang Jindou , Fan Jianping
Published: September 2023

With the continuous improvement and development of various decision-making methods, it has led to the widespread use of fuzzy sets and fuzzy numbers. At the same time, the application of decision-making methods in different fuzzy environments has been very effective in addressing the deficiencies in existing research. At present, triangular fuzzy numbers have been widely used in the evaluation aspects of various decision making methods, and the proposed R-number effectively solve the uncertainty involving problems related to future events, but the existing research based on the TOPSIS method in the R-number environment has not yet been clearly applied to the triangular fuzzy number environment, and the indifference threshold-based attribute ratio analysis (ITARA) method in the fuzzy environment has yet to be extended. Therefore, this paper proposes a fuzzy indifference threshold-based attribute ratio analysis (FITARA) method based on triangular fuzzy numbers for solving the problem of determining attribute weights in the multi-attribute decision-making process. Secondly, the various risks of the decision environment and the impact on future events are considered and R-number are used to solve this puzzle. In addition, the incorporation of risk perception factors in the context of the existing RTOPSIS method considering multiple risk factors and the use of Manhattan distances to optimize the large number of operations in the process of the method resulted in the development of the FITARA-RTOPSIS model. Finally, the proposed FITARA-RTOPSIS method is applied to the problem of siting emergency supplies storage depots, and the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified through comparative analysis.
A credit scoring ensemble model incorporating fuzzy clustering particle swarm optimization algorithm
Authors: Qin Xiwen , Ji Xing , Zhang Siqi , Xu Dingxin
Published: September 2023

The emergence of credit has generated a wealth of data on consumer lending behavior. In recent years, financial institutions have also started to use such data to make informed lending decisions based on fine-grained customer data, but conventional risk assessment models are inadequate in meeting the risk control requirements of the financial industry. Therefore, this paper proposes a credit scoring ensemble model incorporating fuzzy clustering particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm to obtain better credit risk prediction capability. First, a weighted outlier detection method based on the Induced Ordered Weighted Average Operator is proposed to preprocess the data to reduce noisy data’s misleading effect on model training. Then, an undersampling method combined with fuzzy clustering PSO is proposed to overcome the negative effect of category imbalance on model training by resampling the data. In addition, a hyperparameter optimization framework is introduced to adaptively adjust important parameters in the ensemble model considering the impact of parameter settings on the training performance of the model. Based on the evaluation metrics of F-score, AUC, and Kappa coefficient, an empirical analysis was conducted on five credit risk datasets. The results show that the proposed method outperforms the comparative model with an improvement of 10% to 50% in terms of F-score and AUC. The highest achieved F-score is 0.9488, and the maximum AUC is 0.9807, demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed method. The kappa coefficient results indicate a high level of consistency in the predicted classification results of the model.
A survey of topic models: From a whole-cycle perspective
Authors: Cheng Gang , You Qinliang , Shi Lei , Wang Zhenxue , Luo Jia , Li Tianbin
Published: September 2023

With the rapid development of information science and social networks, the Internet has accumulated various data containing valuable information and topics. The topic model has become one of the primary semantic modeling and classification methods. It has been widely studied in academia and industry. However, most topic models only focus on long texts and often suffer from semantic sparsity problems. The sparse, short text content and irregular data have brought major challenges to the application of topic models in semantic modeling and topic discovery. To overcome these challenges, researchers have explored topic models and achieved excellent results. However, most of the current topic models are applicable to a specific model task. The majority of current reviews ignore the whole-cycle perspective and framework. It brings great challenges for novices to learn topic models. To deal with the above challenges, we investigate more than a hundred papers on topic models and summarize the research progress on the entire topic model process, including theory, method, datasets, and evaluation indicator. In addition, we also analyzed the statistical data results of the topic model through experiments and introduced its applications in different fields. The paper provides a whole-cycle learning path for novices. It encourages researchers to give more attention to the topic model algorithm and the theory itself without paying extra attention to understanding the relevant datasets, evaluation methods and latest progress.
Inter span learning for document-level relation extraction
Authors: Liao Tao , Sun Haojie , Zhang Shunxiang
Published: September 2023

The entity-relationship extraction model has a significant influence in relation extraction. The existing model cannot effectively identify the entity-relationship triples in overlapping relationships. It also has the problem of long-distance dependencies between entities. In this paper, an inter span learning for document-level relation extraction model is proposed. Firstly, the model converts input of the BERT pre-training model into word vectors. Secondly, it divides the word vectors to form span sequences by random initial span and uses convolutional neural networks to extract entity information in the span sequences. Dividing the word vector into span sequences can divide the entity pairs that may have overlapping relationships into the same span sequence, partially solving the overlapping relationship problem. Thirdly, the model uses inter span learning to obtain entity information in different span sequences. It fuses entity type features and uses Softmax regression to achieve entity recognition. Aiming at solving the problem of long-distance dependence between entities, inter span learning can fuse the information in different span sequences. Finally, it fuses text information and relationship type features, and uses Linear Layer to classify relationships. Experiments demonstrate that the model improves the F1-score of the DocRED dataset by 2.74% when compared to the baseline model.
Comparison and Incorporation of Reasoning and Learning Approaches for Cancer Therapy Research
Authors: Thevapalan Andre , Apeldoorn Daan , Kern-Isberner Gabriele , Meyer Ralf G. , Nietzke Mathias , Panholzer Torsten
Published: September 2023

Representing knowledge in a comprehensible and maintainable way and transparently providing inferences thereof are important issues, especially in the context of applications related to artificial intelligence in medicine. This becomes even more obvious if the knowledge is dynamically growing and changing and when machine learning techniques are being involved. In this paper, we present an approach for representing knowledge about cancer therapies collected over two decades at St.-Johannes-Hospital in Dortmund, Germany. The presented approach makes use of InteKRator, a toolbox that combines knowledge representation and machine learning techniques, including the possibility of explaining inferences. An extended use of InteKRator’s reasoning system will be introduced for being able to provide the required inferences. The presented approach is general enough to be transferred to other data, as well as to other domains. The approach will be evaluated, e. g., regarding comprehensibility, accuracy and reasoning efficiency.
DE-Lemma: A Maximum-Entropy Based Lemmatizer for German Medical Text
Authors: Wiesner Martin
Published: September 2023

When processing written German language, it is helpful, to use the base form (or: lemma) of possibly inflected words, such as verbs, nouns or named entities. However, for German text from the (bio)medical domain, e.g., discharge letters, or entries stored in electronic medical or health records (EMR, EHR), difficulties exist in finding the correct lemma, as, for instance, the medical language has roots in Latin or Greek. In such cases, stemming techniques might provide inaccurate results for text written in German. This study demonstrates a Machine Learning approach for training Apache OpenNLP-based lemmatizer models from publicly available German treebanks. The resulting four “DE-Lemma” models were evaluated against a sample of (bio)medical nouns, randomly selected from real-world discharge letters. The most promising DE-Lemma model achieved an accuracy of 88.0% (F1 = .936).
Analytical reconstructions of full-scan multiple source-translation computed tomography under large field of views
Authors: Wang Zhisheng , Liu Yue , Wang Shunli , Bian Xingyuan , Li Zongfeng , Cui Junning
Published: September 2023

This paper is to investigate the high-quality analytical reconstructions of multiple source-translation computed tomography (mSTCT) under an extended field of view (FOV). Under the larger FOVs, the previously proposed backprojection filtration (BPF) algorithms for mSTCT, including D-BPF and S-BPF (their differences are different derivate directions along the detector and source, respectively), make some errors and artifacts in the reconstructed images due to a backprojection weighting factor and the half-scan mode, which deviates from the intention of mSTCT imaging. In this paper, to achieve reconstruction with as little error as possible under the extremely extended FOV, we combine the full-scan mSTCT (F-mSTCT) geometry with the previous BPF algorithms to study the performance and derive a suitable redundancy-weighted function for F-mSTCT. The experimental results indicate FS-BPF can get high-quality, stable images under the extremely extended FOV of imaging a large object, though it requires more projections than FD-BPF. Finally, for different practical requirements in extending FOV imaging, we give suggestions on algorithm selection.
CGP-Uformer: A low-dose CT image denoising Uformer based on channel graph perception
Authors: Yan Huimin , Fang Chenyun , Liu Peng , Qiao Zhiwei
Published: September 2023

BACKGROUND:

An effective method for achieving low-dose CT is to keep the number of projection angles constant while reducing radiation dose at each angle. However, this leads to high-intensity noise in the reconstructed image, adversely affecting subsequent image processing, analysis, and diagnosis.

OBJECTIVE:

This paper proposes a novel Channel Graph Perception based U-shaped Transformer (CGP-Uformer) network, aiming to achieve high-performance denoising of low-dose CT images.

METHODS:

The network consists of convolutional feed-forward Transformer (ConvF-Transformer) blocks, a channel graph perception block (CGPB), and spatial cross-attention (SC-Attention) blocks. The ConvF-Transformer blocks enhance the ability of feature representation and information transmission through the CNN-based feed-forward network. The CGPB introduces Graph Convolutional Network (GCN) for Channel-to-Channel feature extraction, promoting the propagation of information across distinct channels and enabling inter-channel information interchange. The SC-Attention blocks reduce the semantic difference in feature fusion between the encoder and decoder by computing spatial cross-attention.

RESULTS:

By applying CGP-Uformer to process the 2016 NIH AAPM-Mayo LDCT challenge dataset, experiments show that the peak signal-to-noise ratio value is 35.56 and the structural similarity value is 0.9221.

CONCLUSIONS:

Compared to the other four representative denoising networks currently, this new network demonstrates superior denoising performance and better preservation of image details.