bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Comparison of treatment duration for drug resistant pulmonary tuberculosis with vs. without type 2 diabetes mellitus
Authors: Fachri Muhammad , Hatta Mochammad , Ubaidah Firda Muthi , Akaputra Risky , Dwiyanti Ressy , Syukri Ahmad , Junita Ade Rifka , Febrianti Andini , Primaguna Muhammad Reza , Azhar Azhar
Published: March 2023

Background:Pulmonary TB and DM are a combination of high medical-epidemiological conflict and high global impact because they are interdependent. Pulmonary TB cannot improve in the presence of unmanaged diabetes. Pulmonary TB in people with DM has particular characteristics, so if it is not diagnosed and treated, it is difficult to understand the effects of TB drugs and oral antidiabetic drugs. The purpose of this study was to compare the length of treatment for drug-resistant pulmonary TB in the presence vs. the absence of type 2 DMMethods:This study used a cross-sectional with a single population proportion method. The research subjects were enrolled using the consecutive sampling technique. The comparison was between drug-resistant TB patients with and without type 2 DM. The total sample was initially recruited was 80 patients, and after applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 22 study subjects remained.Results:The 80 samples studied were 44 drug-resistant pulmonary TB patients with type 2 DM and 36 patients without type 2 DM. The male:female ratio was 53 (66.3%) to 27 (33.8%). GeneXpert results in both groups indicated rifampicin resistance. In the comparison of length of treatment, drug-resistant pulmonary TB patients with type 2 DM who stayed on their treatment until recovery most often recovered in the 18th to 24th months, totalling 13 people, whereas the drug-resistant pulmonary TB patients without type 2 DM who stayed on their treatment until recovery recovered in the 6th to 24th months, totalling 9 people (Mann‒Whitney test P = 0.000).Conclusions:The treatment period for drug-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis patients with type 2 DM is much longer than that for drug-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis patients without type 2 DM.
Mapping of yield contributing drought tolerance QTLs in maize and its utilization in marker-assisted breeding
Authors: Kaur Ramandeep , Brar Kiran , Sharma Priti , Singh Ashanpreet , Kaur Dasmeet , Kaur Gurjit , vikal Yogesh , Kumar Ramesh
Published: March 2023

Drought is considered as one of the major limiting factors in sustainable maize production all over the world as it causes yield reduction by an average of 60% (FAOSTAT 2022). Maize is generally grown in Kharif season but spring maize is now coming up in India. A total of 135 F8 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) along with parental lines were evaluated under control and drought stress conditions for two consecutive seasons. About 12 QTLs on chromosome 1, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 9 were found to be associated with drought tolerance. The QTL for number of kernel per ear (qKPE) present on chromosome 9 (bnlg1401-umc1634) was fine mapped by designing 50 new SSR markers between the bracketed QTL (qKPE). The QTL analysis narrowed down the genetic distance to 3.8 cM from 11.5 cM and physical distance to 691 Kb from earlier distance of 15 Mb flanked by two new SSR markers viz. PAU_1137 and PAU_1143. The qKPE is also introgressed through marker assisted backcross breeding (MABB) into two spring maize inbreds LM23 and LM24 of hybrid PMH10 for water use efficiency. The foreground selection has been carried out in three generations i.e., BC1F1, BC2F1. and BC3F1. The BC3F1 plants have been raised during Kharif 2019 and screened with new flanking markers. The selected plants were selfed to raise BC3F2 population. The development of drought tolerant PMH10 hybrid will lead to overcome frequent irrigations during spring season and will help to conserve ground water depletion.
Sex differences in the association of treatment-resistant schizophrenia and serum interleukin-6 levels
Authors: He Jingqi , Wei Yisen , Li Jinguang , Tang Ying , Liu Junyu , He Zhangyin , Zhou Risheng , He Xingtao , Ren Honghong , Liao Yanhui , Gu Lin , Yuan Ning , Chen Xiaogang , Tang Jinsong
Published: March 2023

Background
Low-grade inflammation and altered inflammatory markers have been observed in treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS). Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is one of the proinflammatory cytokines linked with TRS and receives increasing attention. Previous studies showed that patients with TRS might have higher IL-6 levels compared with healthy individuals and treatment-responsive patients. Besides, emerging evidence has suggested that there are sex differences in the associations between IL-6 levels and various illnesses, including chronic hepatitis C, metabolic syndrome, etc.; however, there is limited study on TRS. In this present study, we aimed to compare the serum IL6 levels of TRS and partially responsive schizophrenia (PRS) and explore potential sex differences in the association of TRS and IL-6 levels.
Methods
The study population consisted of a total of 90 patients with schizophrenia: 64 TRS patients (45.3% males and 54.7% females) and 26 PRS patients (46.2% males and 53.8% females). We measured serum IL-6 levels using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and analyzed them separately by sex, controlling for confounders (age, education, medication, body mass index, and PANSS scores) rigorously.
Result
The results showed that IL-6 levels increased significantly in the TRS group compared with the PRS group (p = 0.005), and a positive correlation tendency was observed between IL-6 levels and PANSS total scores (r = 0.27, p = 0.070) in all the females. In males, there were no differences in IL-6 levels between the TRS and PRS (p = 0.124).
Conclusion
Our findings provided evidence supporting the hypothesis that the inflammatory response system (IRS) may play a role in the pathogenesis of TRS in a sex-dependent manner. In addition, sex differences in the immune dysfunction of individuals with schizophrenia cannot be neglected, and inflammation in male and female TRS should be discussed separately.
Abnormal Noise Identification of Engines Based on Wavelet Transform and Bispectrum Analysis
Authors: Yang Xingguo , Zhang YA , Li Xujun
Published: March 2023

Abnormal noise is the most prominent problem for motorcycle, which affect consumers' purchasing desire and driving experience. The abnormal noise engines are always detected by manual auscultation(MA) after assembly. While MA is also affected by subjective and objective factors, its accuracy fluctuates greatly and has a large labor intensity. The most important is that it can not be applied in a corporation with mass production and high quality. To overcome those problems, this paper proposed an online engine abnormal noise detection method based on wavelet transform(WT) and bispectrum analysis(BA), which improves the accuracy and stability of engine abnormal noise identification and reduces the cost of the check. Firstly, the engine's acoustic signal is acquired by using a free-field microphone. Secondly, eliminated the background noise of signals by using the wavelet correlation coefficient(WCC) theory and extracted the signal features by applying power spectrum estimation and bispectrum analysis respectively. Thirdly, feature vectors are normalized before being used as support vector machine(SVM) samples. Fourthly, the appropriate kernel function and parameters are selected to train the vector machine using the training sample. Finally, testing samples are used to inspect the accuracy of vector machines. The result shows that the training accuracy and testing accuracy of the samples is high by using the method of WT-BA-SVM (wavelet transform - bispectrum analysis - support vector machines). WT-BA-SVM identified engine fault types effectively and provided the theoretical foundation for the establishment of an engine abnormal noise online detection system.
Evolutionary Comparison of Genes Involved in Brain Development: Insights into the Innovation of the Mammalian Neocortex
Authors: Zhang Jiangyan , Zhao Rui , Lin Shiying , Yang Dong , Lu Shan , Liu Zenan , Gao Yuanyuan , Zhang Yiyun , Hou Bing , Xi Chao , Liu Jin , Bing Jie , Pang Erli , Lin Kui , Zeng Shaoju
Published: March 2023

Little is known about the mechanism underlying the innovation of the mammalian neocortex. To address this issue, we first performed comparative analysis of genes vital for the development of the pallium (Emx1/2 and Pax6) and subpallium (Dlx2 and Nkx1/2) among 500 vertebrate species. We found that these genes have no clear variations in chromosomal duplication/loss, gene locus synteny or Darwinian selection. However, there is an additional fragment of approximately 20 amino acids in mammalian Emx1 and a poly-(Ala)6–7 in Emx2. An innovated method was first employed for gene transfer into the avian brain: Lentiviruses expressing mouse or chick Emx2 (m-Emx2 or c-Emx2 Lv) were injected into the ventricle of the chick telencephalon at embryonic Day 3 (E3), and the embryos were allowed to develop to E12-14 or to posthatchling. After transfection with m-Emx2 Lv, the cells expressing Reelin, Vimentin or GABA increased, and neurogenesis of calbindin cells changed to the mammalian inside-out pattern in the mesopallium (M). In addition, a behavior test for posthatched chicks indicated that the passive avoidance ratio increased significantly. The study suggests that the acquisition of an additional fragment in mammalian Emx2 is associated with the innovation of the mammalian neocortex.
FAP, CD10, GPR77-labeled CAFs cause neoadjuvant chemotherapy resistance by inducing EMT and CSC in gastric cancer
Authors: Zhao Zehua , Zhu Yanmei
Published: March 2023

Objective: A significant proportion of patients can not benefit from neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NCT) due to drug resistance. Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) influence many biological behaviours of tumours, including chemo-resistance. The aim of this study is to explore whether CAFs expressing FAP, CD10 and GPR77 affect the efficacy of NCT and the prognosis of patients with gastric cancer, and its mechanism.
Methods: 171 patients with locally progressive gastric adenocarcinoma who had undergone NCT and radical surgery were collected. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of FAP, CD10 and GPR77 in CAFs; the EMT markers (N-cadherin, Snail1 and Twist1) and the CSC markers (ALDH1, CD44 and LGR5) in gastric cancer cells. The χ2 test was used to analyse the relationship between the expression of CAF, EMT, and CSC markers and the clinicopathological factors, as well as the relationship between CAF markers and EMT, CSC markers. Logist regression and Cox risk regression were used to analyse the relationship between the expression of CAF, EMT, and CSC markers and TRG grading and OS; Kaplan-Meier analysis was used for survival analysis and plotting the curves.
Results: The expression of CAF markers FAP, CD10, and GPR77 were closely associated with that of EMT markers; FAP and CD10 were closely related to CSC markers. In the univariate analysis of pathological response, CAF markers (FAP, CD10, GPR77), EMT markers (N-cadherin, Snail1, Twist1), and CSC markers (ALDH1, LGR5, CD44), were all closely associated with pathological response (all p < 0.05). Only Twist1 was an independent factor affecting pathological response in multifactorial analysis (p=0.001). In a univariate analysis of OS, expression of FAP and CD10 in CAF, as well as expression of EMT biomarkers (N-cadherin, Snail1), were significant factors influencing patient prognosis (all p<0.05). Multifactorial analysis revealed N-cadherin (p=0.032) and Snail1 (p=0.028), as independent prognostic factors affecting OS.
Conclusion: FAP, CD10, and GPR77 labled CAF subgroup can lead to NCT resistance and poor prognosis by inducing EMT and CSC of gastric cancer cells in locally advanced gastric cancer patients.
Multi-objective Optimization of Conformal Cooling Channel Design in Injection Molds Using Taguchi Grey Relational analysis
Authors: Simiyu Laura Wambani , Mutua James M. , Muiruri Patrick I. , Ikua Bernard W. , Gacharu Simon N.
Published: March 2023

The widespread use and demand for plastic products worldwide have caused manufacturers to covet high productivity and product quality. Most plastic products are produced using the injection molding technique. This technique is characterized by long cooling times, which affect the production cycle and product quality. Literature reveals that cooling in injection molding can be significantly affected by the design of the cooling channels. This study is, therefore focused on design optimization of circular cross-section conformal cooling channels. The Taguchi design of experiments approach was adopted in this study. The key variables of conformal cooling channels that were studied involved diameters, depths, and pitches. Solidworks® was used for 3D design, and for numerical simulation to determine the cooling time, volumetric shrinkage, warpage, and sink marks. Multi-response optimization was then conducted using the Taguchi-Grey Relational Analysis technique. Results show that the optimal cooling channel design has a minimum; diameter of 8 mm, depth of 12 mm and pitch of 16 mm. Additionally, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) revealed that the diameter is the significant cooling channel design parameter that contributes to all the responses concurrently with the largest percentage of 80.26%. Comparing the conformal with straight cooling channel designs, superior performance was noted for the former against the later with optimal design recording an improvement of 29.35%, 5.99%, 19.77%, and 38.85% in the cooling time, volumetric shrinkage, warpage, and depth of sink marks respectively.
ANyEye: A nystagmus extraction system optimized in video-nystagmography using artificial intelligence for diagnostic assistance of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo
Authors: Lee Yerin , Lee Sena , Han Junghun , Seo Young Joon , Yang Sejung
Published: March 2023

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), the most common vestibular disorder, is diagnosed by an examiner changing the posture of the examinee and inducing nystagmus. Among the diagnostic methods used to observe nystagmus, video-nystagmography has been widely used recently because it is non-invasive. A specialist with professional knowledge and training in vertigo diagnosis is needed to diagnose BPPV accurately, but the ratio of vertigo patients to specialists is too high, thus necessitating the need for automated diagnosis of BPPV. In this paper, a convolutional neural network-based nystagmus extraction system, ANyEye, optimized for video-nystagmography data is proposed in the first study on automating BPPV diagnosis. A pupil was segmented to track the exact pupil trajectory from real-world data obtained during field inspection. A deep convolutional neural network model was trained with the new video-nystagmography dataset for the pupil segmentation task, and a compensation algorithm was designed to correct pupil position. In addition, a slippage detection algorithm based on moving averages was designed to eliminate the motion artifacts induced by goggle slippage. ANyEye outperformed other eye-tracking methods including learning and non-learning based algorithms with five-pixel error detection rate of 91.26%.
FGSI: Distant Supervision for Relation Extraction method based on Fine-Grained Semantic Information
Authors: Sun Chenghong , Ji Weidong , Zhou Guohui , Guo Hui , Yin Zengxiang , Yue Yuqi
Published: March 2023

Relation extraction is an important part of constructing a knowledge graph, whose main purpose is to extract the semantic relationships between marked entity pairs in a sentence. It plays a crucial role in understanding the semantics of a sentence and constructing a knowledge graph. Remote supervision relation extraction methods alleviate the pressure of manually constructing datasets by automatically aligning knowledge bases with natural language texts to generate labeled data. However, the labeled data obtained by remote supervision often contains a large amount of noisy data, which can significantly affect the training of relation extraction models. This paper proposes the hypothesis that key semantic information within a sentence plays a critical role in entity relation extraction tasks and addresses the issue of noise in remote supervision relation extraction tasks. Based on this hypothesis, the paper splits a sentence into three segments according to the position of entities and uses intra-sentence attention mechanism to identify fine-grained semantic features within the sentence and reduce the interference of irrelevant noise information. The paper then uses inter-package attention mechanism to increase the weight of correctly labeled sentences and discard noisy sentences, thereby minimizing the impact of noise on the relation extraction model and fully utilizing existing positive semantic information. Experimental results show that the proposed relation extraction model improves precision-recall curve and P@N values compared to existing methods, demonstrating the effectiveness of the model.
Co-encapsulation of paprika and cinnamon oleoresins by spray drying in a mayonnaise model: bioaccessibility of carotenoids using in vitro digestion
Authors: Ferraz Mariana Costa , Júnior Fernando Divino Oliveira , Barroso Lívia Alves , Furtado Guilherme de Figueiredo , Cunha Rosiane Lopes , Hubinger Miriam Dupas
Published: March 2023

In view of all the technological and functional properties that paprika and cinnamon oleoresins possess, the digestibility of spray-dried microparticles co-encapsulating these materials was investigated using simulated gastrointestinal conditions. Most active compounds are hydrophobic and well absorbed in the intestine in the presence of digestible lipids. For this reason, using mayonnaise as a food matrix can promote the protection and diffusion of carotenoids. Model spice mayonnaise with 0.5 wt. % paprika content and cinnamon microparticles was produced from a commercial mayonnaise (used as a standard in this study). Droplet size distribution, optical and fluorescence microscopy of the microparticles, model spice mayonnaise, and standard mayonnaise are determined before and after gastric and intestinal digestion under in vitro conditions. After digestion, all samples presented an extensive aggregation and coalescence of droplets. Highest release rate of free fatty acids (FFAs) was observed for dispersed particles (37.40 ± 2.58%) and for model spice mayonnaise (17.76 ± 0.07%), respectively. Digesta containing carotenoids from paprika and cinnamon oleoresin in the form of mixed micelles were filtered to simulate bioavailability for passage through the pores in the mucus layer of the intestine. Bioaccessibility and simulated bioavailability were higher when using mayonnaise as a delivery system (22.7% and 15.4%, respectively), proving particles in an aqueous medium possess low solubility and suggesting that the high lipid composition of mayonnaise facilitates delivery of active compounds from carotenoids present in paprika and cinnamon oleoresin after digestion.
Cylindroma of the breast with CYLD gene mutation: a case report and review of the literature
Authors: Escher-Michlig Vanessa , Vlajnic Tatjana , Roma Luca , Marinucci Mattia , Piscuoglio Salvatore , Matter Matthias , Haug Martin , Weber Walter P. , Muenst Simone
Published: March 2023

Background
Cylindroma of the breast is a rare benign neoplasm. Since its first description in 2001, 18 cases have been reported in the literature.
Methods and Results
We report another case of this rare tumor in a 60-year-old woman with demonstration of the underlying molecular alteration. Histologically, the tumor showed the typical “jigsaw” pattern of a dual population of cells with a triple-negative phenotype. The pathognomonic mutation of the CYLD gene mutation was detected by whole exome sequencing. Cylindromas show morphological overlap with the solid-basaloid variant of adenoid cystic carcinoma, which renders this differential diagnosis difficult. However, distinction of these two lesions is of outmost importance, since cylindromas, in contrast to solid-basaloid variant of adenoid cystic carcinoma, behave in an entirely benign fashion.
Conclusions
Careful evaluation of morphological features such as mitotic figures and cellular atypia is crucial in the diagnostic work-up of triple-negative breast lesions. It is important to keep cylindroma in mind as a pitfall and possible differential diagnosis for the solid-basaloid variant of adenoid cystic carcinoma. Molecular detection of CYLD gene mutation is helpful in cases with ambiguous histology. With this case report, we aim to contribute to a better understanding of mammary cylindroma and facilitate the diagnosis of this rare entity.
Colorectal Cancer Health and Care Quality Indicators in a Federated Setting using the Personal Health Train
Authors: Choudhury Ananya , Janssen Esther , Bongers Bart C. , Meeteren Nico L.U. van , Dekker Andre , Soest Johan van
Published: March 2023

Objective
Hospitals and healthcare providers should assess and compare their quality of care given to patients and based on this improve the care. In the Netherlands, hospitals provide data to national quality registries, which in return provide annual quality indicators. However, this process is time-consuming, resource intensive and risks patient privacy and confidentiality. In this paper, we presented a multicentric ‘Proof of Principle’ study for federated calculation of quality indicators in patients with colorectal cancer.
Materials and Methods
Two quality indicators are calculated in an efficient and privacy persevering federated manner, by i) applying the Findable Accessible Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) data principles and ii) using the Personal Health Train (PHT) infrastructure. Instead of sharing data to a centralized registry, PHT enables analysis by sending algorithms and sharing only insights from the data.
Results
ETL process extracted data from the Electronic Health Record systems of the hospitals, converted them to FAIR data and hosted in RDF endpoints within each hospital. Finally, quality indicators from each center are calculated using PHT and the mean result along with the individual results plotted.
Discussion and Conclusion
PHT and FAIR data principles can efficiently calculate quality indicators in a privacy-preserving federated approach and the work can be scaled up both nationally and internationally. Despite this, application of the methodology was largely hampered by ELSI issues. However, the lessons learned from this study can provide other hospitals and researchers to adapt to the process easily and take effective measures in building quality of care infrastructures.
Venomous gland transcriptome and venom proteomic analysis of the scorpion Androctonus amoreuxi reveal new peptides with anti-SARS- CoV-2 activity
Authors: Ghazal Ahmad , Clarke David , Abdel-Rahman Mohamed A. , Ribeiro Antonio , Hijazi Karolin , Collie-Duguid Elaina , Pattinson Craig , Burgoyne Kate , Muhammad Taj , Alfadhel Sanad , Heidari Zeynab , Samir Reham , Gerges Mariam M. , Colamarino Rosa A. , Sim Kyle S. , Houssen Wael E.
Published: March 2023

The recent COVID-19 pandemic shows the critical need for novel broad spectrum antiviral agents. Scorpion venoms are known to contain highly constrained peptides, several of which have demonstrated strong antiviral activity against a range of viruses. We have generated the first annotated reference transcriptome for the Androctonus amoreuxi venom gland and used transcriptome mining, circular dichroism and mass spectrometric analysis to characterize fifteen new venom peptides. Some of these peptides were tested for their ability to bind to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and to inhibit the spike RBD - hACE2 interaction that precedes virus entry into the cell using a surface plasmon resonance-based assay. Seven peptides showed dose-dependent inhibitory effects. The most active peptide was synthesized using solid phase peptide synthesis and tested for its antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 (Lineage B.1.1.7). On exposure of replication-competent SARS-CoV-2 to the synthetic peptide, we observed a two log10 PFU/mL reduction at sub-micromolar concentrations of the peptide compared to virus exposed to medium alone. Our results show that scorpion venom peptides could inhibit the SARS-CoV-2 spike RBD - hACE2 interaction, exhibit anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity through other unexplored modes of actions and represent excellent scaffolds for design of novel anti-SARS-CoV-2 constrained peptides.
Value of dual-energy spectral computed tomography for multiparametric quantitative assessment of pancreatic fat content
Authors: Cao Wei , Wei Wei , Li Meng-ru , Cheng Peng , Hu Guo-qing
Published: March 2023

Background
Dual Energy spectral computed tomography (DECT) provides a variety of image data sets that can be used to improve the assessment of fat content.
Purpose
To investigate the clinical value of DECT in the quantitative assessment of pancreatic fat content in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).
Material and Methods
The DECT data of 123 patients were retrospectively analyzed, including a case group of 82 patients with T2DM and a control group of 41 patients with normal physical examination findings. The CT value, fat (water) concentration and slope of the spectral curve were measured in both groups. The T2DM group was divided into the T2DM obese subgroup (body mass index [BMI] of ≥ 25 kg/m2) and T2DM non-obese subgroup (BMI of < 25 kg/m2) according to the Asia-Pacific classification criteria for BMI. The differences between the T2DM non-obese subgroup and the control group and between the T2DM obese subgroup and the T2DM non-obese subgroup were compared, and the correlation of the BMI with the fat (water) concentration, CT value, and slope was analyzed in all patients with T2DM.
Results
The CT value was significantly lower and the fat (water) concentration and slope were significantly higher in the T2DM obese subgroup than in the control group (P < 0.05 for all). The BMI was positively correlated with the fat (water) concentration and slope (r = 0.350 and 0.372, respectively; P < 0.01) and negatively correlated with the CT value (r = − 0.508, P < 0.01).
Conclusion
DECT is noninvasive and effective for quantitative assessment of the pancreatic fat content.
Optopharmacological tools for precise spatiotemporal control of oxytocin signaling in the central nervous system and periphery
Authors: Froemke Robert , Ahmed Ismail , Liu Jingjing , Gieniec Krystyna , Bair-Marshall Chloe , Adewakun Ayomiposi , Hetzler Belinda , Arp Christopher , Khatri Latika , Vanwalleghem Gilles , Seidenberg Alec , Cowin Pamela , Trauner Dirk , Chao Moses , Davis Felicity , Tsien Richard
Published: March 2023

Oxytocin is a neuropeptide critical for maternal physiology and social behavior, and is thought to be dysregulated in several neuropsychiatric disorders. Despite the biological and neurocognitive importance of oxytocin signaling, methods are lacking to activate oxytocin receptors with high spatiotemporal precision in the brain and peripheral mammalian tissues. Here we developed and validated caged analogs of oxytocin which are functionally inert until cage release is triggered by ultraviolet light. We examined how focal versus global oxytocin application affected oxytocin-driven Ca2+ wave propagation in mouse mammary tissue. We also validated the application of caged oxytocin in the hippocampus and auditory cortex with electrophysiological recordings in vitro, and demonstrated that oxytocin uncaging can accelerate the onset of mouse maternal behavior in vivo. Together, these results demonstrate that optopharmacological control of caged peptides is a robust tool with spatiotemporal precision for modulating neuropeptide signaling throughout the brain and body.
Lithology identification based on interpretability integration learning
Authors: Lin Xiaochun , Yin Shitao
Published: March 2023

A lithology intelligent identification interpretability model is proposed based on Ensemble Learning Stacking, Permutation Importance (PI) and Local Interpretable Model-agnostic Explanations (LIME). The method aiming to provide more accurate geological information and more scientific theoretical support for oil and gas resource exploration. Two logging datasets from the public domain were used as experiments, and support vector machine (SVM), random forest (RF) and naive bayes (NB) were used as primary learners, and SVM as secondary learners, to classify lithology through stacking algorithm. Then, the evaluation indexes such as Area Under Curve (AUC), precision, recall and F1-score were used to verify its accuracy, and PI and LIME were used to explain the lithology identification model. The study shows that the results of the stacking algorithm have the best indexes and the highest prediction accuracy. In terms of overall interpretation, PHIND, GR and RT have the most influence on lithology identification of a natural gas protection area in the United States; DEN, CAL and PEF have the most influence on lithology identification in Daqing Oilfield in China. Interpreted from the perspective of a single sample, the LIME algorithm is able to give a quantitative prediction probability and the degree of influence of the characteristic variables.
Comprehensive analysis of the miRNA-mRNA pathological regulatory network of intestinal CD4+ T cells in Parkinson's disease
Authors: Shao Kaiquan , Wang Zipeng , Fan Xinyu , Sun Ruiao , Tang Chuanxi
Published: March 2023

Infiltration of CD4+ T cells was found in brain tissue samples from PD patients, suggesting their involvement in developing central nervous system (CNS) disease. The idea of the gut-brain axis further corroborates intestinal T cells' activation as the central immune response initiation. However, the specific factors and molecular pathways regulating intestinal T-cell activation are unclear. We used the GSE156287 and GSE145814 datasets from the GEO database to analyze and obtain the miRNAs, which are aberrantly expressed in intestinal CD4+ T cells in PD patients and predict their regulatory target mRNAs. Further, combined with the GSE174473 dataset of CD4+ T cells sequencing in PD patients, we finally clarified the aberrant genes expressed in CD4+ T cells from the intestine of PD patients and constructed a miRNA-mRNA regulatory network.
The highlight of our findings showed pathways, networks, biological functions and key molecules potentially involved in the miRNA-mediated functional effects in CD4+ T cell from intestin of PD patients. The hsa-miR-3180-3p mediated CBX8, etc were determined as most effective in enhancing T cell survial. PEG10 and, etc regulated by hsa-miR-20a-3p targets were possibly involved in T cell differentiation.The JPT2 regulated by hsa-miR-1281 were involved in influencing T cell infiltration;
The discovery of this interaction between miRNA and mRNA in CD4+ T cell has important implications for understanding the intestinal initial of PD pathological molecular and anti-inflammation of T cell activation.
Trends in mortality after a sepsis hospitalization: A nationwide prospective registry study from 2008-2021
Authors: Skei Nina Vibeche , Nilsen Tom Ivar , Mohus Randi , Prescott Hallie , Lydersen Stian , Solligård Erik , Damås Jan , Gustad Lise
Published: March 2023

Background
Few studies have reported on mortality beyond one year after sepsis. We aim to describe trends in short- and long-term mortality among patients admitted with sepsis, and to identify clinical characteristics associated with mortality for improved monitoring, treatment and prognosis.
Methods
Patients ≥ 18 years admitted to all Norwegian hospitals (2008–2021) with a first sepsis episode were identified using Norwegian Patient Registry and International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision codes. Sepsis was classified as implicit (known infection site plus organ dysfunction), explicit (unknown infection site), or COVID-19 related sepsis. The outcome was all-cause mortality. We calculated age-standardized 30-day, 90-day, 1-, 5- and 10-year mortality for each admission year and estimated the annual percentage change with 95% confidence interval (CI). The association between clinical characteristics and all-cause mortality is reported as hazard ratios (HRs) from Cox regression.
Results
The study included 222,832 patients, of whom 127,059 (57.1%) had implicit, 92,928 (41.7%) had explicit, and 2,845 (1.3%) had COVID-19-related sepsis. Trends in overall age-standardized 30-day, 90-day, 1- and 5-year mortality decreased by 0.29 (95% CI -0.39 to -0.19), 0.43 (95% CI -0.56 to -0.29), 0.61 (95% CI -0.73 to -0.49) and 0.66 (95% CI -0.84 to -0.48) percent per year, respectively. The decrease was observed for all infections sites but was largest among patients with respiratory tract infections. Implicit, explicit and COVID-19-related sepsis had largely similar overall mortality, with explicit sepsis having a HR of 0.980 (95% CI 0.969 to 0.991) and COVID-19-related sepsis a HR of 0.916 (95% CI 0.836 to 1.003) compared to implicit sepsis. Patients with respiratory tract infections have somewhat higher mortality than those with other infection sites. Number of comorbidities was positively associated with mortality, but mortality varied considerably between different comorbidities. Similarly, number of acute organ dysfunctions was strongly associated with mortality, whereas the risk varied for each type of organ dysfunction.
Conclusion
Overall mortality has declined over the past 14 years among patients with a first sepsis admission. Existing comorbidity, site of infection, and acute organ dysfunction are characteristics associated with mortality and needs further attention to reduce the excess risk of long-term mortality.
Can Public Blockchains Mitigate Semiconductors Supply Chain Disruption?
Authors: Grida Mohamed , Magdy Mirna , Hussein Gawaher
Published: March 2023

Today's supply chain is more complex in composition and structure. Information loss and late transmission aggravated the bullwhip effect. Lack of reliable information storage, traceability, and accountability have also slowed supply chain management. Blockchain supports distributed networking, information synchronization among nodes, digital encryption, traceable information, and unchangeable block content, making it suitable for the supply chain. This paper presents the public blockchain as a solution to the "bullwhip effect problem in supply chain (SC). The framework is implemented to address the disruption of semiconductors' SC. The framework consists of a checklist to determine the SC's readiness for blockchain adoption. The checklist determines the motivation, timing, and the appropriate platform for adopting blockchain. The framework was validated in the Semiconductors SC by polling four executives: each represents a large company that has many branches in Egypt and the Middle East; each represents a different stage, and they are retail, distribution, manufacturing, and supply. The results showed that the executives agreed that there are perceived benefits to adopting blockchain. At the same time, they are neutral about whether it is the right time for blockchain adoption and disagree that the BC technology is ready for their SC. Finally, some of the public blockchain platforms that can be used and implemented in supply chains were introduced to help enterprises choose the most suitable platform to adopt.
Whole-volume apparent diffusion coefficient histogram analysis for prediction of regional lymph node metastasis in periampullary carcinomas
Authors: Bi Lei , Chen Wei , Zhou Shijuan , Xu Hongzhi , Lin Yushuai , Zhang Juntao , Duan Shaofeng , Dai Shouping , Li Xiaodong , Wang Ximing
Published: March 2023

Background: Accurate preoperative evaluation of lymph node (LN) status is crucial for selecting optimal individualized treatment strategy and predicting patients’ prognosis. This study aimed to evaluate whether whole-volume apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) histogram parameters of the primary tumor were useful to predict regional lymph node metastasis (LNM) in periampullary carcinomas.
Methods: Thirty-eight patients with periampullary carcinoma who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy between January 2016 to April 2019 were retrospectively enrolled. Whole-volume ADC histogram analysis of the primary tumor was performed by two radiologists independently. Clinical factors, pathological results and histogram parameters were evaluated. Interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to assess agreement between observers. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed to evaluate the performance of parameters in differentiating LNM-positive group and LNM-negative group.
Results: Interobserver agreements were good to excellent for histogram analysis between two radiologists, with ICCs ranging from 0.766 to 0.967. Tumor size, MR-reported LN status and most ADC histogram parameters (including mean, minimum ADC value, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentile, and kurtosis) were significantly different between LNM-positive group and LNM-negative group (p < 0.050), and revealed significant correlations with LNM (p < 0.050). At ROC analysis, tumor size and minimum ADC value generated highest area under the curve (AUC) (AUC = 0.764, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.599, 0.886). When diagnostic predictive values were calculated with the combined model incorporating tumor size, MR-reported LN status and 75th percentile, the best diagnosis performance was obtained, with AUC of 0.879 (95% CI: 0.771, 0.986), sensitivity of 100.0%, and specificity of 75.0%.
Conclusions: Whole-volume ADC histogram parameters of the primary tumor held great potential in differentiating regional LNM in periampullary carcinomas.
Ethnic disparity in chemotherapy–induced febrile neutropenia incidence in Asian breast cancer patients: A retrospective cohort study
Authors: Lim Zi Lin , Ho Peh Joo , Hartman Mikael , Tan Ern Yu , Riza Nur Khaliesah Binte Mohamed , Lim Elaine Hsuen , Nitar Phyu , Wong Fuh Yong , Li Jingmei
Published: March 2023

Background
Majority of published findings on chemotherapy–induced febrile neutropenia (FN) are restricted to three ethnic groups: Asians, Caucasians, and African Americans. In this two–part study, we examined FN incidence and risk factors in Chinese, Malay and Indian chemotherapy–treated breast cancer (BC) patients in Southeast Asia.
Methods
Hospital records or ICD codes (fever:ICD9/10:2880/D70 and neutropenia:ICD9/10:7806/R509) were used to identify patients with FN, during or within 30 days from the last chemotherapy session. In both Singapore Breast Cancer Cohort (SGBCC) and Joint Breast Cancer Registry (JBCR), time to first FN from start of chemotherapy was estimated using Cox regression. Multinomial regression was used to evaluate differences in patient, tumour, and treatment characteristics across ethnicities.
Results
FN was observed in 170 of 1,014 patients (16.7%) in SGBCC. Cox model showed that non–Chinese were at higher risk of developing FN (HRMalay[95% CI]:2.04[1.44–2.88], p < 0.001; HRIndian:1.88[1.11–3.18], p = 0.018). In JBCR, FN was observed in 965 of 7449 patients (13.0%). Indian patients, lower baseline absolute neutrophil count, non– luminal A proxy subtypes, and anthracycline–containing regimens were identified as risk factors for FN in the univariable Cox models. Disparities across ethnicities risk (HRMalay: 1.29 [1.07–1.54], p = 0.006; HRIndian: 1.50 [1.19–1.88], p < 0.001) remained significant even after further adjustments. Finally, age–adjusted multinomial model showed that as compared to Chinese patients, non–Chinese (ORMalay vs Chinese(ref):3.65[1.45–9.16],p = 0.006;ORIndian vs Chinese(ref):4.43[1.45–13.60],p = 0.009) were significantly more likely to develop multiple episodes of FN during treatment.
Conclusion
Ethnic differences in chemotherapy–induced FN among BC patients exist. Further studies can focus on investigating pharmacogenetic differences across ethnicities.
First Report of Anthracnose-twister disease of Welsh onion caused by Colletotrichum siamense in Taiwan
Authors: Yuan Chin-Ya , Huang Chiao-Wen , Lin Chu-Ping , Huang Jin-Hsing
Published: March 2023

A new disease of Welsh onion (Allium fistulosum L.) occurred seriously in Taiwan. The symptoms included brown necrotic spots of leaves, yellowing and blight of outer leaves, twisting and curling of new leaf, stem rot, and plant death. Three isolates (col-377, col-387 and col-413) were collected and identified as Colletotrichium siamense based on the morphology and molecular characteristics. The fungus caused the same leaf spot and twisting of Welsh onion after inoculation and was re-isolated from the diseased tissue. This is the first report of C. siamense causing anthracnose-twister disease on Welsh onion in Taiwan.
Exosome-derived circ_0001785 delays atherogenesis through the ceRNA network mechanism of miR-513a- 5p/TGFBR3
Authors: Tong Xiao , Dang Xuan , Liu Dongmei , Wang Ning , Li Miao , Han Jianbin , Zhao Jinjin , Wang Yueqing , Huang Meijiao , Yang Yanliang , Yang Yuhang , Wang Weili , Kou Yan , Kou Junjie
Published: March 2023

Purpose
Endothelial cell dysfunction is a major cause of early atherosclerosis. Although the role of extracellular vesicles in stabilizing atherosclerotic plaques is well established, the effect of circulating exosomes on plaque formation is still unknown. Here, we explored the effect of exosomes on atherosclerosis based on the function that exosomes can act on intercellular communication.
Patients and methods:
We extracted serum exosomes from the blood of CHD patients (CHD-Exo) and healthy individuals (Con-Exo). The obtained exosomes were co-cultured with human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) in vitro. In addition, we determined that circ_0001785 functions as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNAs) in coronary artery disease by dual luciferase reporter gene analysis. The protective effect of circ_0001785 against endothelial cell injury was also verified using over-expression lentiviral transfection functional assays. In vivo experiments, we injected over-expressed circ_0001785 lentivirus into the tail vein of mice to observe its therapeutic effect on a mouse model of atherosclerosis.
Results
The vitro co-cultured results showed that the amount of plasma-derived exosomes have an increase in patients with coronary artery disease, and the inflammation and apoptosis of endothelial cells were exacerbated. Over-expression of circ_0001785 reduced endothelial cell injury through the ceRNA network pathway of miR-513a-5p/TGFBR3. Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction identified that the expressed amount of circ_0001785 was reduced in the circulating peripheral blood of CHD patients and increased within human and mouse atherosclerotic plaque tissue. The results of in vivo experiments showed that circ_0001785 reduced aortic endothelial cell injury and the formation of intraplaque neo-vascularization, and enhanced left ventricular diastolic function, thereby delaying the development of atherosclerosis in mice.
Conclusion
Our results demonstrated a new biomarker, exosome-derived circ_0001785, for atherogenesis, which can reduce endothelial cell injury and thus delay atherogenesis through the miR-513a-5p/TGFBR3 ceRNA network mechanism, providing an exosome-based intervention strategy for atherosclerosis.
Optimized Unilateral Magnetic Resonance Sensor with Constant Gradient and Its Applications on Composite Insulators
Authors: Guo Pan , Yang Chenjie , Wu Jiamin , Xu Zheng
Published: March 2023

In this study, an optimized unilateral magnetic resonance sensor with a three-magnet array is presented for assessing the aging of composite insulators in power grids. The sensor's optimization involved enhancing the static magnetic field strength and the homogeneity of the RF field while maintaining a constant gradient in the direction of the vertical sensor surface and maximizing homogeneity in the horizontal direction. The center layer of the target area is positioned 4 mm from the coil's upper surface, resulting in a magnetic field strength of 139.74 mT at the center point of the area, with a gradient of 2.318 T/m and a corresponding hydrogen atomic nuclear magnetic resonance frequency of 5.95 MHz. The magnetic field uniformity over a 10 mm × 10 mm range on the plane is 0.75%. The sensor measures 120 mm × 130.5 mm × 76 mm and weighs 7.5 kg. Employing the optimized sensor, magnetic resonance assessment experiments were conducted on composite insulator samples utilizing the CPMG (Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill) pulse sequence. The T2 distribution provides visualizations of the T2 decay in insulator samples with different degrees of aging.
Elucidating the Characteristics and Functional Significance of Disulfidptosis-related Genes in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Authors: Zhang Zhenxing , Zhao Chifeng , Zhu Haoran , Zhang Wei , Xu Xuhui , Ying Yukang , Luo Jun , Yang Suqing
Published: March 2023

Disulfidptosis is a newfound programmed cell death (PCD) mode characterized by disulfide stress. Several computer-aided bioinformatic analyses were performed to elucidate the characteristics and functional significance of disulfidptosis-related genes in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). The relative compositions of cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME), mutant landscape, lasso regression analysis, and predicted clinical outcome were performed by analyzing bulk RNA-sequence data. The prognostic model was verified by qRT-PCR. Besides, single-cell sequence data (scRNA) was analyzed by Seurat, CopyKAT, and monocle2 to reveal the expression characteristics of disulfidptosis-related genes. Moreover, the spatial distribution characteristics of each cell subgroup in the section and the functional significance of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) were clarified by STUtility, SpaCET, and SPATA2. Here, two clusters with different expression characteristics of disulfidptosis-related genes were identified. Cluster 1 (C1) patients had a worse prognosis and a higher proportion of stromal cells but lower effector T cell infiltration than cluster 2 (C2). A novel prognostic model was established and verified in our patient cohort. Additionally, diploid and inflammatory CAFs showed higher disulfidptosis-related gene expression levels. Furthermore, disulfidptosis-related genes exhibited extensive and differential spatial expression on tissue sections. Collectively, our study may contribute to revealing the function of disulfidptosis, and improve the expansion of knowledge of crosstalk between cancer cells and CAFs.