bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Parsing brain-behavior heterogeneity in very preterm born children using integrated similarity networks
Authors: Hadaya Laila , Dimitrakopoulou Konstantina , Vanes Lucy D. , Kanel Dana , Fenn-Moltu Sunniva , Gale-Grant Oliver , Counsell Serena J. , Edwards A. David , Saqi Mansoor , Batalle Dafnis , Nosarti Chiara
Published: April 2023

Very preterm birth (VPT; ≤32 weeks’ gestation) is associated with altered brain development and cognitive and behavioral difficulties across the lifespan. However, heterogeneity in outcomes among individuals born VPT makes it challenging to identify those most vulnerable to neurodevelopmental sequelae. Here, we aimed to stratify VPT children into distinct behavioral subgroups and explore between-subgroup differences in neonatal brain structure and function. 198 VPT children (98 females) previously enrolled in the Evaluation of Preterm Imaging Study (EudraCT 2009-011602-42) underwent Magnetic Resonance Imaging at term-equivalent age and neuropsychological assessments at 4–7 years. Using an integrative clustering approach, we combined neonatal socio-demographic, clinical factors and childhood socio-emotional and executive function outcomes, to identify distinct subgroups of children based on their similarity profiles in a multidimensional space. We characterized resultant subgroups using domain-specific outcomes (temperament, psychopathology, IQ and cognitively stimulating home environment) and explored between-subgroup differences in neonatal brain volumes (voxel-wise Tensor-Based-Morphometry), functional connectivity (voxel-wise degree centrality) and structural connectivity (Tract-Based-Spatial-Statistics). Results showed two- and three-cluster data-driven solutions. The two-cluster solution comprised a ‘resilient’ subgroup (lower psychopathology and higher IQ, executive function and socio-emotional scores) and an ‘at-risk’ subgroup (poorer behavioral and cognitive outcomes). No neuroimaging differences between the resilient and at-risk subgroups were found. The three-cluster solution showed an additional third ‘intermediate’ subgroup, displaying behavioral and cognitive outcomes intermediate between the resilient and at-risk subgroups. The resilient subgroup had the most cognitively stimulating home environment and the at-risk subgroup showed the highest neonatal clinical risk, while the intermediate subgroup showed the lowest clinical, but the highest socio-demographic risk. Compared to the intermediate subgroup, the resilient subgroup displayed larger neonatal insular and orbitofrontal volumes and stronger orbitofrontal functional connectivity, while the at-risk group showed widespread white matter microstructural alterations. These findings suggest that risk stratification following VPT birth is feasible and could be used translationally to guide personalized interventions aimed at promoting children’s resilience.
Origami-based integration of robots that sense, decide, and respond
Authors: Yan Wenzhong , Li Shuguang , Deguchi Mauricio , Zheng Zhaoliang , Rus Daniela , Mehta Ankur
Published: April 2023

Origami-inspired engineering has enabled intelligent materials and structures to process and react to environmental stimuli. However, it is challenging to achieve complete sense-decide-act loops in origami materials for autonomous interaction with environments, mainly due to the lack of information processing units that can interface with sensing and actuation. Here, we introduce an integrated origami-based process to create autonomous robots by embedding sensing, computing, and actuating in compliant, conductive materials. By combining flexible bistable mechanisms and conductive thermal artificial muscles, we realize origami multiplexed switches and configure them to generate digital logic gates, memory bits, and thus integrated autonomous origami robots. We demonstrate with a flytrap-inspired robot that captures ‘living prey’, an untethered crawler that avoids obstacles, and a wheeled vehicle that locomotes with reprogrammable trajectories. Our method provides routes to achieve autonomy for origami robots through tight functional integration in compliant, conductive materials.
Monocyte depletion enhances neutrophil influx and proneural to mesenchymal transition in glioblastoma
Authors: Chen Zhihong , Soni Nishant , Pinero Gonzalo , Giotti Bruno , Eddins Devon J. , Lindblad Katherine E. , Ross James L. , Puigdelloses Vallcorba Montserrat , Joshi Tanvi , Angione Angelo , Thomason Wes , Keane Aislinn , Tsankova Nadejda M. , Gutmann David H. , Lira Sergio A. , Lujambio Amaia , Ghosn Eliver E. B. , Tsankov Alexander M. , Hambardzumyan Dolores
Published: April 2023

Myeloid cells comprise the majority of immune cells in tumors, contributing to tumor growth and therapeutic resistance. Incomplete understanding of myeloid cells response to tumor driver mutation and therapeutic intervention impedes effective therapeutic design. Here, by leveraging CRISPR/Cas9-based genome editing, we generate a mouse model that is deficient of all monocyte chemoattractant proteins. Using this strain, we effectively abolish monocyte infiltration in genetically engineered murine models of de novo glioblastoma (GBM) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which show differential enrichment patterns for monocytes and neutrophils. Eliminating monocyte chemoattraction in monocyte enriched PDGFB-driven GBM invokes a compensatory neutrophil influx, while having no effect on Nf1-silenced GBM model. Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals that intratumoral neutrophils promote proneural-to-mesenchymal transition and increase hypoxia in PDGFB-driven GBM. We further demonstrate neutrophil-derived TNF-a directly drives mesenchymal transition in PDGFB-driven primary GBM cells. Genetic or pharmacological inhibiting neutrophils in HCC or monocyte-deficient PDGFB-driven and Nf1-silenced GBM models extend the survival of tumor-bearing mice. Our findings demonstrate tumor-type and genotype dependent infiltration and function of monocytes and neutrophils and highlight the importance of targeting them simultaneously for cancer treatments.
The CellPhe toolkit for cell phenotyping using time-lapse imaging and pattern recognition
Authors: Wiggins Laura , Lord Alice , Murphy Killian L. , Lacy Stuart E. , O’Toole Peter J. , Brackenbury William J. , Wilson Julie
Published: April 2023

With phenotypic heterogeneity in whole cell populations widely recognised, the demand for quantitative and temporal analysis approaches to characterise single cell morphology and dynamics has increased. We present CellPhe, a pattern recognition toolkit for the unbiased characterisation of cellular phenotypes within time-lapse videos. CellPhe imports tracking information from multiple segmentation and tracking algorithms to provide automated cell phenotyping from different imaging modalities, including fluorescence. To maximise data quality for downstream analysis, our toolkit includes automated recognition and removal of erroneous cell boundaries induced by inaccurate tracking and segmentation. We provide an extensive list of features extracted from individual cell time series, with custom feature selection to identify variables that provide greatest discrimination for the analysis in question. Using ensemble classification for accurate prediction of cellular phenotype and clustering algorithms for the characterisation of heterogeneous subsets, we validate and prove adaptability using different cell types and experimental conditions.
Sulfolane-containing aqueous electrolyte solutions for producing efficient ampere-hour-level zinc metal battery pouch cells
Authors: Wang Yu , Wang Tairan , Bu Shuyu , Zhu Jiaxiong , Wang Yanbo , Zhang Rong , Hong Hu , Zhang Wenjun , Fan Jun , Zhi Chunyi
Published: April 2023

Aqueous zinc metal batteries are appealing candidates for grid energy storage. However, the inadequate electrochemical reversibility of the zinc metal negative electrode inhibits the battery performance at the large-scale cell level. Here, we develop practical ampere-hour-scale aqueous Zn metal battery pouch cells by engineering the electrolyte solution. After identifying the proton reduction as the primary source of H2 evolution during Zn metal electrodeposition, we design an electrolyte solution containing reverse micelle structures where sulfolane molecules constrain water in nanodomains to hinder proton reduction. Furthermore, we develop and validate an electrochemical testing protocol to comprehensively evaluate the cell’s coulombic efficiency and zinc metal electrode cycle life. Finally, using the reverse micelle electrolyte, we assemble and test a practical ampere-hour Zn||Zn0.25V2O5•nH2O multi-layer pouch cell capable of delivering an initial energy density of 70 Wh L−1 (based on the volume of the cell components), capacity retention of about 80% after 390 cycles at 56 mA g−1cathode and ~25 °C and prolonged cycling for 5 months at 56 mA g−1cathode and ~25 °C.
Workflow enabling deepscale immunopeptidome, proteome, ubiquitylome, phosphoproteome, and acetylome analyses of sample-limited tissues
Authors: Abelin Jennifer G. , Bergstrom Erik J. , Rivera Keith D. , Taylor Hannah B. , Klaeger Susan , Xu Charles , Verzani Eva K. , Jackson White C. , Woldemichael Hilina B. , Virshup Maya , Olive Meagan E. , Maynard Myranda , Vartany Stephanie A. , Allen Joseph D. , Phulphagar Kshiti , Harry Kane M. , Rachimi Suzanna , Mani D. R. , Gillette Michael A. , Satpathy Shankha , Clauser Karl R. , Udeshi Namrata D. , Carr Steven A.
Published: April 2023

Serial multi-omic analysis of proteome, phosphoproteome, and acetylome provides insights into changes in protein expression, cell signaling, cross-talk and epigenetic pathways involved in disease pathology and treatment. However, ubiquitylome and HLA peptidome data collection used to understand protein degradation and antigen presentation have not together been serialized, and instead require separate samples for parallel processing using distinct protocols. Here we present MONTE, a highly sensitive multi-omic native tissue enrichment workflow, that enables serial, deep-scale analysis of HLA-I and HLA-II immunopeptidome, ubiquitylome, proteome, phosphoproteome, and acetylome from the same tissue sample. We demonstrate that the depth of coverage and quantitative precision of each ‘ome is not compromised by serialization, and the addition of HLA immunopeptidomics enables the identification of peptides derived from cancer/testis antigens and patient specific neoantigens. We evaluate the technical feasibility of the MONTE workflow using a small cohort of patient lung adenocarcinoma tumors.
Effectiveness of BNT162b2 after extending the primary series dosing interval in children and adolescents aged 5–17
Authors: Lai Francisco Tsz Tsun , Fan Min , Huang Caige , Chui Celine Sze Ling , Wan Eric Yuk Fai , Li Xue , Wong Carlos King Ho , Cheung Ching-Lung , Wong Ian Chi Kei , Chan Esther Wai Yin
Published: April 2023

Extended intervals between the first and second doses of mRNA Covid-19 vaccines may reduce the risk of myocarditis in children and adolescents. However, vaccine effectiveness after this extension remains unclear. To examine this potential variable effectiveness, we conducted a population-based nested case-control study of children and adolescents aged 5–17 years who had received two doses of BNT162b2 in Hong Kong. From January 1 to August 15, 2022, 5396 Covid-19 cases and 202 Covid-19 related hospitalizations were identified and matched with 21,577 and 808 controls, respectively. For vaccine recipients with extended intervals [≥28 days, adjusted odds ratio 0.718, 95% Confidence Interval: 0.619, 0.833] there was a 29.2%-reduced risk of Covid-19 infection compared to those with regular intervals (21–27 days). If the threshold was set at eight weeks, the risk reduction was estimated at 43.5% (aOR 0.565, 95% CI: 0.456, 0.700). In conclusion, longer dosing intervals for children and adolescents should be considered.
Heavy tails and pruning in programmable photonic circuits for universal unitaries
Authors: Yu Sunkyu , Park Namkyoo
Published: April 2023

Developing hardware for high-dimensional unitary operators plays a vital role in implementing quantum computations and deep learning accelerations. Programmable photonic circuits are singularly promising candidates for universal unitaries owing to intrinsic unitarity, ultrafast tunability and energy efficiency of photonic platforms. Nonetheless, when the scale of a photonic circuit increases, the effects of noise on the fidelity of quantum operators and deep learning weight matrices become more severe. Here we demonstrate a nontrivial stochastic nature of large-scale programmable photonic circuits—heavy-tailed distributions of rotation operators—that enables the development of high-fidelity universal unitaries through designed pruning of superfluous rotations. The power law and the Pareto principle for the conventional architecture of programmable photonic circuits are revealed with the presence of hub phase shifters, allowing for the application of network pruning to the design of photonic hardware. For the Clements design of programmable photonic circuits, we extract a universal architecture for pruning random unitary matrices and prove that “the bad is sometimes better to be removed” to achieve high fidelity and energy efficiency. This result lowers the hurdle for high fidelity in large-scale quantum computing and photonic deep learning accelerators.
Intrinsic timescales in the visual cortex change with selective attention and reflect spatial connectivity
Authors: Zeraati Roxana , Shi Yan-Liang , Steinmetz Nicholas A. , Gieselmann Marc A. , Thiele Alexander , Moore Tirin , Levina Anna , Engel Tatiana A.
Published: April 2023

Intrinsic timescales characterize dynamics of endogenous fluctuations in neural activity. Variation of intrinsic timescales across the neocortex reflects functional specialization of cortical areas, but less is known about how intrinsic timescales change during cognitive tasks. We measured intrinsic timescales of local spiking activity within columns of area V4 in male monkeys performing spatial attention tasks. The ongoing spiking activity unfolded across at least two distinct timescales, fast and slow. The slow timescale increased when monkeys attended to the receptive fields location and correlated with reaction times. By evaluating predictions of several network models, we found that spatiotemporal correlations in V4 activity were best explained by the model in which multiple timescales arise from recurrent interactions shaped by spatially arranged connectivity, and attentional modulation of timescales results from an increase in the efficacy of recurrent interactions. Our results suggest that multiple timescales may arise from the spatial connectivity in the visual cortex and flexibly change with the cognitive state due to dynamic effective interactions between neurons.
The kidney, volume homeostasis and osmoregulation in space: current perspective and knowledge gaps
Authors: Olde Engberink Rik H. G. , van Oosten Paula J. , Weber Tobias , Tabury Kevin , Baatout Sarah , Siew Keith , Walsh Stephen B. , Valenti Giovanna , Chouker Alexander , Boutouyrie Pierre , Heer Martina , Jordan Jens , Goswami Nandu
Published: April 2023

Although we have sent humans into space for more than 50 years crucial questions regarding kidney physiology, volume regulation and osmoregulation remain unanswered. The complex interactions between the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, the sympathetic nervous system, osmoregulatory responses, glomerular function, tubular function, and environmental factors such as sodium and water intake, motion sickness and ambient temperature make it difficult to establish the exact effect of microgravity and the subsequent fluid shifts and muscle mass loss on these parameters. Unfortunately, not all responses to actual microgravity can be reproduced with head-down tilt bed rest studies, which complicates research on Earth. Better understanding of the effects of microgravity on kidney function, volume regulation and osmoregulation are needed with the advent of long-term deep space missions and planetary surface explorations during which orthostatic intolerance complaints or kidney stone formation can be life-threatening for astronauts. Galactic cosmic radiation may be a new threat to kidney function. In this review, we summarise and highlight the current understandings of the effects of microgravity on kidney function, volume regulation and osmoregulation and discuss knowledge gaps that future studies should address.
PEACOCK: a machine learning approach to assess the validity of cell type-specific enhancer-gene regulatory relationships
Authors: Mills Caitlin , Marconett Crystal N. , Lewinger Juan Pablo , Mi Huaiyu
Published: April 2023

The vast majority of disease-associated variants identified in genome-wide association studies map to enhancers, powerful regulatory elements which orchestrate the recruitment of transcriptional complexes to their target genes’ promoters to upregulate transcription in a cell type- and timing-dependent manner. These variants have implicated thousands of enhancers in many common genetic diseases, including nearly all cancers. However, the etiology of most of these diseases remains unknown because the regulatory target genes of the vast majority of enhancers are unknown. Thus, identifying the target genes of as many enhancers as possible is crucial for learning how enhancer regulatory activities function and contribute to disease. Based on experimental results curated from scientific publications coupled with machine learning methods, we developed a cell type-specific score predictive of an enhancer targeting a gene. We computed the score genome-wide for every possible cis enhancer-gene pair and validated its predictive ability in four widely used cell lines. Using a pooled final model trained across multiple cell types, all possible gene-enhancer regulatory links in cis (~17 M) were scored and added to the publicly available PEREGRINE database (www.peregrineproj.org). These scores provide a quantitative framework for the enhancer-gene regulatory prediction that can be incorporated into downstream statistical analyses.
An effective live-attenuated Zika vaccine candidate with a modified 5′ untranslated region
Authors: Nazneen Farzana , Thompson E. Ashley , Blackwell Claire , Bai Jonathan S. , Huang Faqing , Bai Fengwei
Published: April 2023

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-transmitted flavivirus that has caused devastating congenital Zika syndrome (CZS), including microcephaly, congenital malformation, and fetal demise in human newborns in recent epidemics. ZIKV infection can also cause Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and meningoencephalitis in adults. Despite intensive research in recent years, there are no approved vaccines or antiviral therapeutics against CZS and adult Zika diseases. In this report, we developed a novel live-attenuated ZIKV strain (named Z7) by inserting 50 RNA nucleotides (nt) into the 5′ untranslated region (UTR) of a pre-epidemic ZIKV Cambodian strain, FSS13025. We used this particular ZIKV strain as it is attenuated in neurovirulence, immune antagonism, and mosquito infectivity compared with the American epidemic isolates. Our data demonstrate that Z7 replicates efficiently and produces high titers without causing apparent cytopathic effects (CPE) in Vero cells or losing the insert sequence, even after ten passages. Significantly, Z7 induces robust humoral and cellular immune responses that completely prevent viremia after a challenge with a high dose of an American epidemic ZIKV strain PRVABC59 infection in type I interferon (IFN) receptor A deficient (Ifnar1−/−) mice. Moreover, adoptive transfer of plasma collected from Z7 immunized mice protects Ifnar1−/− mice from ZIKV (strain PRVABC59) infection. These results suggest that modifying the ZIKV 5′ UTR is a novel strategy to develop live-attenuated vaccine candidates for ZIKV and potentially for other flaviviruses.
Surgical polarimetric endoscopy for the detection of laryngeal cancer
Authors: Qi Ji , Tatla Taranjit , Nissanka-Jayasuriya Eranga , Yuan Alan Yilun , Stoyanov Danail , Elson Daniel S.
Published: April 2023

The standard-of-care for the detection of laryngeal pathologies involves distinguishing suspicious lesions from surrounding healthy tissue via contrasts in colour and texture captured by white-light endoscopy. However, the technique is insufficiently sensitive and thus leads to unsatisfactory rates of false negatives. Here we show that laryngeal lesions can be better detected in real time by taking advantage of differences in the light-polarization properties of cancer and healthy tissues. By measuring differences in polarized-light retardance and depolarization, the technique, which we named ‘surgical polarimetric endoscopy’ (SPE), generates about one-order-of-magnitude greater contrast than white-light endoscopy, and hence allows for the better discrimination of cancerous lesions, as we show with patients diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma. Polarimetric imaging of excised and stained slices of laryngeal tissue indicated that changes in the retardance of polarized light can be largely attributed to architectural features of the tissue. We also assessed SPE to aid routine transoral laser surgery for the removal of a cancerous lesion, indicating that SPE can complement white-light endoscopy for the detection of laryngeal cancer.
First Peoples’ knowledge leads scientists to reveal ‘fairy circles’ and termite linyji are linked in Australia
Authors: Walsh Fiona , Bidu Gladys Karimarra , Bidu Ngamaru Karimarra , Evans Theodore A. , Judson Thelma Milangka , Kendrick Peter , Michaels Alice Nampijinpa , Moore Danae , Nelson Matilda , Oldham Carolyn , Schofield Josef , Sparrow Ashley , Taylor Muuki Karimarra , Taylor Desmond Purungu , Wayne Lee Nangala , Williams Carol Milangka ,   Martu elders and experts, Taylor Wokka , Taylor Karnu , Taylor Nola , Williams Wirnta , Simpson Muni Rita , Robinson Mayapi , Judson Junju , Oates Dawn , Biljabu Jakayu , Biljabu Daphne , Peterson Patricia , Robinson Nayapi , Mac Gardener Kirriwirri , Edwards Titikiya , Williams Rosie , Rogers Rena , Gibbs Dulcie , Chapman Nancy , Nyaju Rosie , James Jeffery Jangala
Published: April 2023

In the past, when scientists encountered and studied ‘new’ environmental phenomena, they rarely considered the existing knowledge of First Peoples (also known as Indigenous or Aboriginal people). The scientific debate over the regularly spaced bare patches (so-called fairy circles) in arid grasslands of Australian deserts is a case in point. Previous researchers used remote sensing, numerical modelling, aerial images and field observations to propose that fairy circles arise from plant self-organization. Here we present Australian Aboriginal art and narratives, and soil excavation data, that suggest these regularly spaced, bare and hard circles in grasslands are pavement nests occupied by Drepanotermes harvester termites. These circles, called linyji (Manyjilyjarra language) or mingkirri (Warlpiri language), have been used by Aboriginal people in their food economies and for other domestic and sacred purposes across generations. Knowledge of the linyji has been encoded in demonstration and oral transmission, ritual art and ceremony and other media. While the exact origins of the bare circles are unclear, being buried in deep time and Jukurrpa, termites need to be incorporated as key players in a larger system of interactions between soil, water and grass. Ecologically transformative feedbacks across millennia of land use and manipulation by Aboriginal people must be accounted for. We argue that the co-production of knowledge can both improve the care and management of those systems and support intergenerational learning within and across diverse cultures.
Live-attenuated vaccine sCPD9 elicits superior mucosal and systemic immunity to SARS-CoV-2 variants in hamsters
Authors: Nouailles Geraldine , Adler Julia M. , Pennitz Peter , Peidli Stefan , Teixeira Alves Luiz Gustavo , Baumgardt Morris , Bushe Judith , Voss Anne , Langenhagen Alina , Langner Christine , Martin Vidal Ricardo , Pott Fabian , Kazmierski Julia , Ebenig Aileen , Lange Mona V. , Mühlebach Michael D. , Goekeri Cengiz , Simmons Szandor , Xing Na , Abdelgawad Azza , Herwig Susanne , Cichon Günter , Niemeyer Daniela , Drosten Christian , Goffinet Christine , Landthaler Markus , Blüthgen Nils , Wu Haibo , Witzenrath Martin , Gruber Achim D. , Praktiknjo Samantha D. , Osterrieder Nikolaus , Wyler Emanuel , Kunec Dusan , Trimpert Jakob
Published: April 2023

Vaccines play a critical role in combating the COVID-19 pandemic. Future control of the pandemic requires improved vaccines with high efficacy against newly emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants and the ability to reduce virus transmission. Here we compare immune responses and preclinical efficacy of the mRNA vaccine BNT162b2, the adenovirus-vectored spike vaccine Ad2-spike and the live-attenuated virus vaccine candidate sCPD9 in Syrian hamsters, using both homogeneous and heterologous vaccination regimens. Comparative vaccine efficacy was assessed by employing readouts from virus titrations to single-cell RNA sequencing. Our results show that sCPD9 vaccination elicited the most robust immunity, including rapid viral clearance, reduced tissue damage, fast differentiation of pre-plasmablasts, strong systemic and mucosal humoral responses, and rapid recall of memory T cells from lung tissue after challenge with heterologous SARS-CoV-2. Overall, our results demonstrate that live-attenuated vaccines offer advantages over currently available COVID-19 vaccines.
A relay velocity model infers cell-dependent RNA velocity
Authors: Li Shengyu , Zhang Pengzhi , Chen Weiqing , Ye Lingqun , Brannan Kristopher W. , Le Nhat-Tu , Abe Jun-ichi , Cooke John P. , Wang Guangyu
Published: April 2023

RNA velocity provides an approach for inferring cellular state transitions from single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data. Conventional RNA velocity models infer universal kinetics from all cells in an scRNA-seq experiment, resulting in unpredictable performance in experiments with multi-stage and/or multi-lineage transition of cell states where the assumption of the same kinetic rates for all cells no longer holds. Here we present cellDancer, a scalable deep neural network that locally infers velocity for each cell from its neighbors and then relays a series of local velocities to provide single-cell resolution inference of velocity kinetics. In the simulation benchmark, cellDancer shows robust performance in multiple kinetic regimes, high dropout ratio datasets and sparse datasets. We show that cellDancer overcomes the limitations of existing RNA velocity models in modeling erythroid maturation and hippocampus development. Moreover, cellDancer provides cell-specific predictions of transcription, splicing and degradation rates, which we identify as potential indicators of cell fate in the mouse pancreas.
Phase engineering of layered anode materials during ion-intercalation in Van der Waal heterostructures
Authors: Parida Shayani , Dobley Arthur , Carter C. Barry , Dongare Avinash M.
Published: April 2023

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are a class of 2D materials demonstrating promising properties, such as high capacities and cycling stabilities, making them strong candidates to replace graphitic anodes in lithium-ion batteries. However, certain TMDs, for instance, MoS2, undergo a phase transformation from 2H to 1T during intercalation that can affect the mobility of the intercalating ions, the anode voltage, and the reversible capacity. In contrast, select TMDs, for instance, NbS2 and VS2, resist this type of phase transformation during Li-ion intercalation. This manuscript uses density functional theory simulations to investigate the phase transformation of TMD heterostructures during Li-, Na-, and K-ion intercalation. The simulations suggest that while stacking MoS2 layers with NbS2 layers is unable to limit this 2H → 1T transformation in MoS2 during Li-ion intercalation, the interfaces effectively stabilize the 2H phase of MoS2 during Na- and K-ion intercalation. However, stacking MoS2 layers with VS2 is able to suppress the 2H → 1T transformation of MoS2 during the intercalation of Li, Na, and K-ions. The creation of TMD heterostructures by stacking MoS2 with layers of non-transforming TMDs also renders theoretical capacities and electrical conductivities that are higher than that of bulk MoS2.
Onchocerciasis transmission status in some endemic communities of Cross River State, Nigeria after two decades of mass drug administration with ivermectin
Authors: Chikezie Friday Maduka , Opara Kenneth Nnamdi , Ubulom Peace Mayen Edwin , Yaro Clement Ameh , Al-Akeel Rasha Khalifah , Osei-Atweneboana Mike Yaw , Alexiou Athanasios , Papadakis Marios , Batiha Gaber El-Saber
Published: April 2023

Onchocerciasis is a parasitic disease transmitted by black flies. Human onchocerciasis is a public health and socioeconomic problem in Nigeria. Its prevalence and morbidity have reduced over the years because of control efforts especially, Mass Drug Administration with ivermectin. The current goal is to eliminate the disease transmission by 2030. Understanding the changes in transmission patterns in Cross River State is critical to elimination of onchocerciasis in Nigeria. This study was designed to determine the transmission dynamics of onchocerciasis in Cross River State after over two decades of mass ivermectin distribution in endemic communities. Agbokim, Aningeje, Ekong Anaku and Orimekpang are four endemic communities from three Local Government Areas of the State selected for this study. Transmission indices such as infectivity rates, biting rates and transmission potentials, parity rates and diurnal biting activities were determined. A total of 15,520 adult female flies were caught on human baits, Agbokim (2831), Aningeje (6209), Ekong Anaku (4364) and Orimekpang (2116). A total of 9488 and 5695 flies were collected during the rainy and dry seasons respectively in the four communities studied. The differences in relative abundance among the communities were statistically significant (P < 0.001). Monthly and seasonal fly numbers varied significantly (P < 0.008). There were differences in diurnal biting activities of flies in this study at different hours of the day and different months. The peak monthly biting rates were 5993 (Agbokim, October), 13,134 (Aningeje, October), 8680 (Ekong Anaku, October) and 6120 (Orimekpang, September) bites/person/month while the lowest monthly biting rates were 400 (Agbokim, November), 2862 (Aningeje, August), 1405 (Ekong Anaku, January) and 0.0 (Orimekpang, November and December) bites/person/month. Differences in biting rates among the study communities were significant (P < 0.001). The peak monthly transmission potential in Aningeje was 160 infective bites/person/month in the month of February while the lowest (except for months with no transmission) was 42 infective bites/person/month in the month of April. All other study sites had no ongoing transmission in this study. Transmission studies showed that there is progress toward transmission interruption especially in 3 out of the four studied areas. Molecular O-150 poolscreen studies is required to confirm the true transmission situation in the areas.
M﻿ultimodal intrinsic speckle-tracking (MIST) to extract images of rapidly-varying diffuse X-ray dark-field
Authors: Alloo Samantha J. , Morgan Kaye S. , Paganin David M. , Pavlov Konstantin M.
Published: April 2023

Speckle-based phase-contrast X-ray imaging (SB-PCXI) can reconstruct high-resolution images of weakly-attenuating materials that would otherwise be indistinguishable in conventional attenuation-based X-ray imaging. The experimental setup of SB-PCXI requires only a sufficiently coherent X-ray source and spatially random mask, positioned between the source and detector. The technique can extract sample information at length scales smaller than the imaging system’s spatial resolution; this enables multimodal signal reconstruction. “Multimodal Intrinsic Speckle-Tracking” (MIST) is a rapid and deterministic formalism derived from the paraxial-optics form of the Fokker–Planck equation. MIST simultaneously extracts attenuation, refraction, and small-angle scattering (diffusive dark-field) signals from a sample and is more computationally efficient compared to alternative speckle-tracking approaches. Hitherto, variants of MIST have assumed the diffusive dark-field signal to be spatially slowly varying. Although successful, these approaches have been unable to well-describe unresolved sample microstructure whose statistical form is not spatially slowly varying. Here, we extend the MIST formalism such that this restriction is removed, in terms of a sample’s rotationally-isotropic diffusive dark-field signal. We reconstruct multimodal signals of two samples, each with distinct X-ray attenuation and scattering properties. The reconstructed diffusive dark-field signals have superior image quality—as measured by the naturalness image quality evaluator, signal-to-noise ratio, and azimuthally averaged power-spectrum—compared to our previous approaches which assume the diffusive dark-field to be a slowly varying function of transverse position. Our generalisation may assist increased adoption of SB-PCXI in applications such as engineering and biomedical disciplines, forestry, and palaeontology, and is anticipated to aid the development of speckle-based diffusive dark-field tensor tomography.
Quantifying the complexity and similarity of chess openings using online chess community data
Authors: De Marzo Giordano , Servedio Vito D. P.
Published: April 2023

Chess is a centuries-old game that continues to be widely played worldwide. Opening Theory is one of the pillars of chess and requires years of study to be mastered. In this paper, we use the games played in an online chess platform to exploit the “wisdom of the crowd” and answer questions traditionally tackled only by chess experts. We first define a relatedness network of chess openings that quantifies how similar two openings are to play. Using this network, we identify communities of nodes corresponding to the most common opening choices and their mutual relationships. Furthermore, we demonstrate how the relatedness network can be used to forecast future openings players will start to play, with back-tested predictions outperforming a random predictor. We then apply the Economic Fitness and Complexity algorithm to measure the difficulty of openings and players’ skill levels. Our study not only provides a new perspective on chess analysis but also opens the possibility of suggesting personalized opening recommendations using complex network theory.
Hydrodynamics of the fast-start caridoid escape response in Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba
Authors: Connor A. A. , Webster D. R.
Published: April 2023

Krill are shrimp-like crustaceans with a high degree of mobility and variety of documented swimming behaviors. The caridoid escape response, a fast-start mechanism unique to crustaceans, occurs when the animal performs a series of rapid abdominal flexions and tail flipping that results in powerful backward strokes. The current results quantify the animal kinematics and three-dimensional flow field around a free-swimming Euphausia superba as it performs the caridoid escape maneuver. The specimen performs a single abdominal flexion-tail flip combination that leads to an acceleration over a 42 ms interval allowing it to reach a maximum speed of 57.0 cm/s (17.3 body lengths/s). The krill’s tail flipping during the abdominal closure is a significant contributor to the thrust generation during the maneuver. The krill sheds a complex chain of vortex rings in its wake due to the viscous flow effects while the organism accelerates. The vortex ring structure reveals a strong suction flow in the wake, which suggests that the pressure distribution and form drag play a role in the force balance for this maneuver. Antarctic krill typically swim in a low to intermediate Reynolds number (Re) regime where viscous forces are significant, but as shown by this analysis, its high maneuverability allows it to quickly change its body angle and swimming speed.
Pharmacological management of acute spinal cord injury: a longitudinal multi-cohort observational study
Authors: Jutzeler Catherine R. , Bourguignon Lucie , Tong Bobo , Ronca Elias , Bailey Eric , Harel Noam Y. , Geisler Fred , Ferguson Adam R. , Kwon Brian K. , Cragg Jacquelyn J. , Grassner Lukas , Kramer John L. K.
Published: April 2023

Multiple types and classes of medications are administered in the acute management of traumatic spinal cord injury. Prior clinical studies and evidence from animal models suggest that several of these medications could modify (i.e., enhance or impede) neurological recovery. We aimed to systematically determine the types of medications commonly administered, alone or in combination, in the transition from acute to subacute spinal cord injury. For that purpose, type, class, dosage, timing, and reason for administration were extracted from two large spinal cord injury datasets. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the medications administered within the first 60 days after spinal cord injury. Across 2040 individuals with spinal cord injury, 775 unique medications were administered within the two months after injury. On average, patients enrolled in a clinical trial were administered 9.9 ± 4.9 (range 0–34), 14.3 ± 6.3 (range 1–40), 18.6 ± 8.2 (range 0–58), and 21.5 ± 9.7 (range 0–59) medications within the first 7, 14, 30, and 60 days post-injury, respectively. Those enrolled in an observational study were administered on average 1.7 ± 1.7 (range 0–11), 3.7 ± 3.7 (range 0–24), 8.5 ± 6.3 (range 0–42), and 13.5 ± 8.3 (range 0–52) medications within the first 7, 14, 30, and 60 days post-injury, respectively. Polypharmacy was commonplace (up to 43 medications per day per patient). Approximately 10% of medications were administered acutely as prophylaxis (e.g., against the development of pain or infections). To our knowledge, this was the first time acute pharmacological practices have been comprehensively examined after spinal cord injury. Our study revealed a high degree of polypharmacy in the acute stages of spinal cord injury, raising the potential to impact neurological recovery. All results can be interactively explored on theRXSCIweb site (https://jutzelec.shinyapps.io/RxSCI/) and GitHub repository (https://github.com/jutzca/Acute-Pharmacological-Treatment-in-SCI/).
Longitudinal hierarchical Bayesian models of covariate effects on airway and alveolar nitric oxide
Authors: Weng Jingying , Molshatzki Noa , Marjoram Paul , Gauderman W. James , Gilliland Frank D. , Eckel Sandrah P.
Published: April 2023

Biomarkers such as exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO), a marker of airway inflammation, have applications in the study of chronic respiratory disease where longitudinal studies of within-participant changes in the biomarker are particularly relevant. A cutting-edge approach to assessing FeNO, called multiple flow FeNO, repeatedly assesses FeNO across a range of expiratory flow rates at a single visit and combines these data with a deterministic model of lower respiratory tract NO to estimate parameters quantifying airway wall and alveolar NO sources. Previous methodological work for multiple flow FeNO has focused on methods for data from a single participant or from cross-sectional studies. Performance of existing ad hoc two-stage methods for longitudinal multiple flow FeNO in cohort or panel studies has not been evaluated. In this paper, we present a novel longitudinal extension to a unified hierarchical Bayesian (L_U_HB) model relating longitudinally assessed multiple flow FeNO to covariates. In several simulation study scenarios, we compare the L_U_HB method to other unified and two-stage frequentist methods. In general, L_U_HB produced unbiased estimates, had good power, and its performance was not sensitive to the magnitude of the association with a covariate and correlations between NO parameters. In an application relating height to longitudinal multiple flow FeNO in schoolchildren without asthma, unified analysis methods estimated positive, statistically significant associations of height with airway and alveolar NO concentrations and negative associations with airway wall diffusivity while estimates from two-stage methods were smaller in magnitude and sometimes non-significant.
Evaluating the generalizability of deep learning image classification algorithms to detect middle ear disease using otoscopy
Authors: Habib Al-Rahim , Xu Yixi , Bock Kris , Mohanty Shrestha , Sederholm Tina , Weeks William B. , Dodhia Rahul , Ferres Juan Lavista , Perry Chris , Sacks Raymond , Singh Narinder
Published: April 2023

To evaluate the generalizability of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms that use deep learning methods to identify middle ear disease from otoscopic images, between internal to external performance. 1842 otoscopic images were collected from three independent sources: (a) Van, Turkey, (b) Santiago, Chile, and (c) Ohio, USA. Diagnostic categories consisted of (i) normal or (ii) abnormal. Deep learning methods were used to develop models to evaluate internal and external performance, using area under the curve (AUC) estimates. A pooled assessment was performed by combining all cohorts together with fivefold cross validation. AI-otoscopy algorithms achieved high internal performance (mean AUC: 0.95, 95%CI: 0.80–1.00). However, performance was reduced when tested on external otoscopic images not used for training (mean AUC: 0.76, 95%CI: 0.61–0.91). Overall, external performance was significantly lower than internal performance (mean difference in AUC: −0.19, p ≤ 0.04). Combining cohorts achieved a substantial pooled performance (AUC: 0.96, standard error: 0.01). Internally applied algorithms for otoscopy performed well to identify middle ear disease from otoscopy images. However, external performance was reduced when applied to new test cohorts. Further efforts are required to explore data augmentation and pre-processing techniques that might improve external performance and develop a robust, generalizable algorithm for real-world clinical applications.
Braille recognition by E-skin system based on binary memristive neural network
Authors: Liu Y. H. , Wang J. J. , Wang H. Z. , Liu S. , Wu Y. C. , Hu S. G. , Yu Q. , Liu Z. , Chen T. P. , Yin Y. , Liu Y.
Published: April 2023

Braille system is widely used worldwide for communication by visually impaired people. However, there are still some visually impaired people who are unable to learn Braille system due to various factors, such as the age (too young or too old), brain damage, etc. A wearable and low-cost Braille recognition system may substantially help these people recognize Braille or assist them in Braille learning. In this work, we fabricated polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based flexible pressure sensors to construct an electronic skin (E-skin) for the application of Braille recognition. The E-skin mimics human touch sensing function for collecting Braille information. Braille recognition is realized with a neural network based on memristors. We utilize a binary neural network algorithm with only two bias layers and three fully connected layers. Such neural network design remarkably reduces the calculation burden and, thus, the system cost. Experiments show that the system can achieve a recognition accuracy of up to 91.25%. This work demonstrates the possibility of realizing a wearable and low-cost Braille recognition system and a Braille learning-assistance system.
Application of symmetry evaluation to deep learning algorithm in detection of mastoiditis on mastoid radiographs
Authors: Choi Dongjun , Sunwoo Leonard , You Sung-Hye , Lee Kyong Joon , Ryoo Inseon
Published: April 2023

As many human organs exist in pairs or have symmetric appearance and loss of symmetry may indicate pathology, symmetry evaluation on medical images is very important and has been routinely performed in diagnosis of diseases and pretreatment evaluation. Therefore, applying symmetry evaluation function to deep learning algorithms in interpreting medical images is essential, especially for the organs that have significant inter-individual variation but bilateral symmetry in a person, such as mastoid air cells. In this study, we developed a deep learning algorithm to detect bilateral mastoid abnormalities simultaneously on mastoid anterior–posterior (AP) views with symmetry evaluation. The developed algorithm showed better diagnostic performance in diagnosing mastoiditis on mastoid AP views than the algorithm trained by single-side mastoid radiographs without symmetry evaluation and similar to superior diagnostic performance to head and neck radiologists. The results of this study show the possibility of evaluating symmetry in medical images with deep learning algorithms.
The feces of sea urchins as food improves survival, growth, and resistance of small sea cucumbers Apostichopus japonicus in summer
Authors: Yu Yushi , Ding Peng , Qiao Yihai , Liu Yansong , Wang Xiajing , Zhang Tongdan , Ding Jun , Chang Yaqing , Zhao Chong
Published: April 2023

Mass mortality and low growth highly decrease the production efficiency and sustainable aquaculture development of the sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus in summer. Sea urchin feces was proposed to address the summer problems. A laboratory study was conducted for ~ 5 weeks to investigate survival, food consumption, growth and resistance ability of A. japonicus cultured with the feces of sea urchins fed kelp (KF feces, group KF), the feces of sea urchins fed prepared feed (FF feces, group FF), and the prepared sea cucumber feed (group S) at high temperature (25 °C). The sea cucumbers of group KF had better survival (100%) than those of the group FF (~ 84%), higher CTmax (35.9 °C) than those of the group S (34.5 °C), and the lowest skin ulceration proportion (0%) when  they were exposed to an infectious solution among the three groups. These results suggest that the feces of sea urchins fed kelp is a promising diet for improving the survival and enhancing the resistance in A. japonicus aquaculture in summer. Sea cucumbers fed significantly less FF feces after 24 h of ageing than the fresh FF feces, suggesting this kind of feces became unsuitable for A. japonicus in a short time (within 48 h). However, the 24 h of ageing at 25 °C for the high fiber feces of sea urchins fed kelp had no significant effects on the fecal consumption of sea cucumbers. In the present study, both fecal diets provide better individual growth to sea cucumbers than the prepared feed. Yet, the feces of sea urchins fed kelp provided the highest weight gain rate (WGR) to sea cucumbers. Therefore, the feces of sea urchins fed kelp is a promising food to reduce the mortality, to address the problems of summer, and to achieve higher efficiency in A. japonicus aquaculture in summer.