bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Memória de Margot
Authors: Akira Goto Roberto
Published: March 2021

Como os assentamentos burocrático-administrativos permitem presumir, é provável que tenha começado a lecionar no colégio no segundo semestre de 1963. No Livro de Registro de Contratos de Professores, o seu é o de número 39, assim redigido: “Nos termos do artigo 14, n° II, da lei n° 3.345, de 17-1-56, combinado com o artigo 1° da lei 7.817, de 5-2-1963, e após cumpridas as formalidades dos artigos 6° (n. XIV) e 11 (n. V), da referida primeira lei acima, fica contratada a professora d. Margot Proença, para ministrar aulas de Filosofia, durante o período de 1° de agosto de 1963 a 28 de fevereiro de 1964, condicionada a permanência nesse período à aprovação da Comissão de Acumulação de Cargos, obrigando-se ao cumprimento, inclusive, de todas as obrigações atinentes à função, determinadas pelas leis, regulamentos e regimentos vigentes. / Campinas, 1° de agosto de 1963.”
Secular Trends in Sex Ratio at Birth by Birth Order in South Korea, 1981–2017
Authors: Lim Daroh , Park Sang Hwa , Song Inmyung
Published: March 2021

Objectives: This study analyzed secular trends in sex ratio at birth in Korea by birth order using birth records from Statistics Korea between 1981 and 2017. Methods: A total of 21,685,402 birth records were used and the sex ratio was measured as the number of males per 100 females. Sex order was categorized into the first, second, and third and higher. Births of unclassified sex order (n=47,445) were excluded from the analysis. We conducted logistic regression analyses to test if there are significant changes in sex ratio at birth for all other periods, using the period 1981-1984 as the reference group, and to test if there are significant changes for the higher order births, using the first order births as the reference group. Odds ratio and 95% confidence interval were calculated for each period. Results: Since having peaked at 116.5 in 1990, the ratio for total births gradually declined to reach the lowest point of 105.0 in 2016. The sex ratio increased with rising birth order. A baby born for the second and the third and higher birth order was 1.07 (95% confidence interval, 95% CI: 1.06-1.08) and 1.86 (95% CI: 1.85-1.88), respectively, times more likely to be male than a first-born baby for period 1990-1994. Conclusions: Having peaked at 209.7 in 1993, the sex ratio for the third and higher order births reverted to the naturally occurring level of 105.5 in 2015. Despite the return, the abnormally high sex ratio for the third and higher order births persisted until the early 2010s.
A Study on Women with Mental Illness Admitted to Halfway House and Recovery to Community (2016-2018)
Authors: Choi Yoo Jin , Kim Gyung Hee , Kim Yunsoo , Park Minseok
Published: March 2021

Objectives: This study aims to understand the characteristics and actual conditions of female mentally ill patients using the halfway house and provide them with primary data to utilize the halfway house as an integrated approach within the mental health delivery system. Methods: This study’s subject is the case management record of 434 female mentally ill patients admitted to halfway house in Seoul from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2018. Collected data were analyzed using SPSS Win 22.0 program. Results: The average age of subjects using halfway house was 44.2 years old, and 67.3% of the admission period was less than one month. 44.7% of the residential situation was in-home residence, and 41.0% of pre-admission job was the unemployed. and the most common type of social security was the medical benefit (65.7%). The most common onset of mental illness was in their twenties (44.5%), and the most common in diagnosing mental illness was schizophrenia spectrum disorder (89.4%). Those who did not receive the grade was 56.5% and grade of mental disorder was 43.5%. The most common reason for dismissal when improved symptoms (91.2%). Conclusions: This study reviews halfway houses’ role and function and proposes a follow-up study on applying programs operating within the community transformation facilities.
Factors Related to Influenza Vaccination Intention in University Students Based on Theory of Planned Behavior
Authors: Chae Yeojoo , Kim Sunjoo , Yang Seungkyoung
Published: March 2021

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify the factors that affect the influenza vaccination intention in university students based on theory of planned behavior. Methods: The data were collected total 149 university students in the G region who agreed to participate in the study from September 21 to September 29, 2020 by using self reported questionnaires. Date were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson’s correlation coefficients and multiple regression with the SPSS 23.0 program. Results: The mean score of attitude toward influenza vaccine was 6.06±1.03, subjective norm was 5.90±1.19, perceived behavioral control was 5.85±0.96, intention was 5.71±1.35. Intention to influenza vaccine showed a significantly positive correlation with attitude (r=0.62, p<0.001), subjective norms (r=0.50, p<0.001), perceived behavioral control (r=0.48, p<0.001). The influence the intent to influenza vaccination in university students were attitude (β=0.47, p<0.001), subjective norm (β=0.18, p=0.032). The explanatory power of these variables was 43.0%. Conclusions: In order to improve the influenza vaccination rate of university students, positive attitude toward influenza vaccination should be made first, and efforts should be made to improve the purpose of vaccination by meaningful people around them through interest in vaccination and positive awareness.
Steep Creek Risk Assessment for Pipeline Design : A Case Study From British Columbia, Canada
Authors: Gartner Joseph E. , Jakob Matthias
Published: March 2021

Pipelines in mountainous terrain often cross alluvial fans formed by steep creek processes of debris flows and debris floods and are thus exposed to their associated hazards. The design of new pipeline infrastructure and maintenance of existing pipelines necessitates steep creek risk assessments and appropriate mitigation design. We present methodology for assessing steep creek risk along pipeline routes that evaluates the probability of such processes causing a pipeline loss of containment or disruption in service. The methodology consists of estimating event frequency, scour potential, and the vulnerability of the pipeline to break if impacted by boulders. The approach can be adapted to other landslide geohazards so that different geohazard locations can be evaluated with a common metric. Steep creek process frequency is estimated based on field observations and review of documented events, historical air photo records, and terrain mapping based on LiDAR-generated topography. Scour potential is estimated based on channel morphology, presence of bedrock, and grain size distribution of channel bed material. Vulnerability is estimated based on flow width and velocity and can be modified for different pipe diameters and wall thicknesses. Mitigation options for buried pipelines include those intended to decrease the likelihood of the pipeline being exposed and to increase the resiliency of the pipeline to boulder or organic debris impacts, if exposed. The methodology presented is embedded in risk-informed decision making where pipeline owners and regulators can define probability thresholds to pipeline exposure or rupture, and pipeline designers can demonstrate that proposed mitigation measures achieve these threshold criteria.
Virulence factors and molecular characteristics of Shigella flexneri isolated from calves with diarrhea
Authors: Zhu Zhen , Wang Weiwei , Cao Mingze , Zhu Qiqi , Ma Tenghe , Zhang Yongying , Liu Guanhui , Zhou Xuzheng , Li Bing , Shi Yuxiang , Zhang Jiyu
Published: March 2021

Background
The natural hosts of Shigella are conventionally humans and other primates; however, the host range of Shigella has been shown to expand to many animals. Although Shigella is becoming a huge threat to animals, there is limited information on the genetic background of local strains. The purpose of this study was to assess the presence of virulence factors and the molecular characteristics of S. flexneri isolated from calves with diarrhea.
Results
Fifty-four S. flexneri isolates possessed four typical biochemical characteristics of Shigella. The prevalences of ipaH, virA, ipaBCD, ial, sen, set1A, set1B and stx were 100%, 100%, 77.78%, 79.63%, 48.15%, 48.15% and 0, respectively. MLVA based on 8 VNTR loci discriminated the isolates into 39 different MTs, PFGE based on NotI digestion divided the 54 isolates into 31 PTs, and MLST based on 15 housekeeping genes differentiated the isolates into 7 STs.
Conclusion
Our findings of this study have enriched our knowledge of the molecular characteristics of S. flexneri collected from diarrheal calves, which will be important for addressing clinical and epidemiological issues regarding Shigellosis.
Random forest classification for predicting lifespan-extending chemical compounds
Authors: Kapsiani Sofia , Howlin Brendan J.
Published: March 2021

Ageing is a major risk factor for many conditions including cancer, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. Pharmaceutical interventions that slow down ageing and delay the onset of age-related diseases are a growing research area. The aim of this study was to build a machine learning model based on the data of the DrugAge database to predict whether a chemical compound will extend the lifespan of Caenorhabditis elegans. Five predictive models were built using the random forest algorithm with molecular fingerprints and/or molecular descriptors as features. The best performing classifier, built using molecular descriptors, achieved an area under the curve (AUC) score of 0.815 for classifying the compounds in the test set. The features of the model were ranked using the Gini importance measure of the random forest algorithm. The top 30 features included descriptors related to atom and bond counts, topological and partial charge properties. The model was applied to predict the class of compounds in an external database, consisting of 1,738 small-molecules. The chemical compounds of the screening database with a predictive probability of ≥ 0.80 for increasing the lifespan of Caenorhabditis elegans were broadly separated into (i) flavonoids, (ii) fatty acids and conjugates, and (iii) organooxygen compounds.
The simple maneuver to safely extend the anhepatic time to 30 minutes for rat liver transplantation
Authors: Tang Gaofeng , zhang jiabin , Zhao Huibo , Wei Sidong , Zhou Shaotang , Chen Guoyong
Published: March 2021

Background

Orthotopic rat liver transplantation (OLT) is widely used; it remains to be challenging although many renovations have been made.
Methods

For tolerance induction, we performed OLT including whole graft OLT from close Sprague Dawley (SD) rat to SD (whole graft group, control group, n = 21) and 30 minute anhepatic time (AHT) group (AHT group, n = 11). For good outcomes of AHT group and generalization of this maneuver, partial OLT was performed from 50% Lewis allograft to Brown Norway (BN) rats to induce tolerance (half graft group, n = 28), Cyclosporine A was injected once daily for 14 days.
Results

For whole graft group, 30-day survival rate was 85.5% (18/21), the reasons of death were gas embolism due to the missed suturing in 2 cases, blood loss in 1 case. For AHT group and tolerance group, 30-day survival rate was 72.7% (8/11), 64.3% (18/28), the causes of death were diverse. There were no differences in survival in 3 groups (p = 0.289).
Conclusion

The anhepatic time can be extended simply through the change of clamping the diaphragm, which facilitates its application in the research.
Evaluation and optimization of a circular economy model integrating planting and breeding based on coupling of emergy analysis and life cycle assessment
Authors: Wang Qingsong , Zhang Yujie , Tian Shu , Yuan Xueliang , Ma Qiao , Liu Mengyue , Li Yue , Liu Jixiang
Published: March 2021

The sustainable development of agriculture is facing problems such as high resource consumption and serious environmental pollution. The development of circular economy model integrating planting and breeding (CEMIPB) has become an effective way to realize the sustainable development of agriculture. However, due to the large regional differences of circular models, references and comparability are generally lacking. Therefore, exploring economic benefit level and sustainability of CEMIPB through an effective evaluation model is necessary. Accordingly, this paper builds a methodological system for model evaluation and optimization based on the EM-LCA model and validates it with a typical CEMIPB in Fujian Province, China. By comparing the results of the EM-LCA and EMA models, the former effectively compensates for the deficiencies of the latter in terms of economic and environmental impact assessment, and the evaluation results can better reflect the actual situation of the system. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis is introduced to identify key processes and substances. Based on the reduce–reuse–recycle principle, several optimization suggestions, such as the corn and veterinary drugs, input reduction are put forward. The construction of the above methodology system can provide a new perspective for research in similar fields and provide a scientific basis for local government decision-making.
Factors and Strategies for Post-Vertebroplasty Residual Pain from Thoracolumbar Osteoporotic Vertebral Compression Fractures (OVCF): a systematic review.
Authors: Tang Binbin , Liu Kang , Wu Lianguo , Shi Xiaolin
Published: March 2021

Purpose Insignificant pain relief (IPR) in short period after vertebroplasty is common, which often disturb doctors and affect patients Therefore, we reviewed systematically relative articles and attempted to get meaningful evidence on factors and strategies for IPR.Methods PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, CNKI, WanFang, and VIP were searched for literatures treating the osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCFs) with vertebroplasty and assessing the clinical efficacy.Results 817 references were electronically retrieved, 81 full-text papers were screened and 41 studies were included. Twenty-two trials presented factors on IPR, mainly including bone cement related, operation related and patient-related factors. Nineteen studies showed strategies on residual pain, including improving osteoporosis, reforming surgical operation and add other therapies. 16 prospective, 20 retrospective and 5 meta-analyses consisted the systematic review. The date from included studies point to different results, with less risk of bias, were needed to clarify the factors and strategies for residual pain.Conclusions Bone cement distribution and operation error are highly related to the post-vertebroplasty residual pain. Many therapeutic methods could improve pain and rehabilitate function but lacking more high-level evidence due to the insufficient trails.
Response of Convective Systems to the Orbital Forcing of the Last Interglacial in a Global Nonhydrostatic Atmospheric Model With and Without a Convective Parameterization
Authors: Chikira Minoru , Yamada Yohei , Abe-Ouchi Ayako , Satoh Masaki
Published: March 2021

Nonhydrostatic Icosahedral Atmospheric Model (NICAM) coupled with a slab ocean model was applied to a paleoclimate research for the first time. The model was run at a horizontal resolution of 56km with and without a convective parameterization, given the orbital parameters of the last interglacial (127,000 years before present). The simulated climatological mean-states are qualitatively similar to those in previous studies reinforcing their robustness, however, the resolution of this model enables to represent the narrow precipitation band along the southern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. A particular focus was given to convectively coupled disturbances in our analysis. The simulated results show a greater signal of the Madden-Julian Oscillation and weakening of the moist Kelvin waves. Although the model's representation of the boreal summer intraseasonal oscillation in the present-day simulations is not satisfactory, a significant enhancement of its signal is found in the counterpart of the last interglacial. The density of the tropical cyclones decreases over the western north Pacific, north Atlantic and increases over the south Indian ocean and south Atlantic. The model's performance is generally better when the convective parameterization is used, but the tropical cyclones are better represented without the convective parameterization. Additional simulations using the low-resolution topography reveals that the better representation of the Tibetan Plateau enhances the boreal summer Asian monsoon and its impact is similar and comparable to that of the orbital parameters over the south Asia and the Indian ocean.
Thymoquinone dose-dependently attenuates myocardial injury induced by isoproterenol in rats via integrated modulation of oxidative stress, inflammation, apoptosis, autophagy and fibrosis
Authors: Farag Mahmoud Mohamed , Khalifa Asmaa Ahmed , El-Hadidy Wessam Fahmy , Rashad Radwa Mohamed
Published: March 2021

As rats develop myocardial infarction (MI) like lesions when injected with large doses of isoproterenol (ISO), this investigation was designed to evaluate the effects of low and high doses of thymoquinone (TQ) on ISO-induced myocardial injury in rats. Adult male rats were divided into control, TQ20 (20 mg/kg/day), TQ50 (50 mg/kg/day), and ISO, TQ20 + ISO and TQ50 + ISO groups. In these rats, biochemical, immunobiochemical and histopathological studies were carried out to evaluate myocardial oxidative stress, inflammation, apoptosis, fibrosis and autophagy and serum cardiac biomarkers. The results showed that TQ pretreatment in ISO-administered rats produced a dose-dependent significant reduction of the myocardial infarct size, markedly reduced the ISO-induced elevation in serum cardiac markers and demonstrated several other important findings related to the cardioprotective efficacy of TQ. First, this study is the first reported research work showing that TQ treatment could increase the myocardial reduced glutathione baseline level, adding an indirect antioxidant effect to its known direct free radical scavenging effect. Second, pretreatment with TQ significantly reduced the markers of myocardial oxidative stress, inflammation, fibrosis and apoptosis. Third, TQ acted as an autophagy enhancer ameliorating myocardial cell damage and dysfunction. Thus, the changes associated with ISO-induced myocardial injury were ameliorated with TQ pretreatment. Additionally, the extent of observed improvement was significantly greater with the high TQ dose than with the low dose use. These findings raise the possibility that TQ may serve as a promising prophylactic cardioprotective therapy for patients who are at risk of developing myocardial injury as in cases of MI.
Intelligent Route Discovery Towards Rushing Attacks in Ad Hoc Wireless Networks
Authors: Allimuthu Udayakumar , Mahalakshmi K
Published: March 2021

MANET (Mobile Ad-hoc Networks) are distributed or delegated away from a central server, authoritative location of wireless networks that communicate without pre-existing structure. Ad-hoc networks are compromising the many types of attacks and routing. In MANET, the routing plays a vital role in terms of packets interaction and data transmission. Due to decentralized control, the MANET data transmission becomes insecure because of dispersed routing on the mobile ad-hoc nodes. Since the efficient route on MANET only controls the packets and does not simplify the route between the source to the destination, the maintenance of route interaction becomes a crucial process. Maintain effective data transactions over the MANET network, and it is essential to improve the route and locate the attacker. Nevertheless, MANET allows for route interaction against security threads. In this research article, four processing schemes are suggested to preserve the security measures against routing protocols. Especially in node communication, the rushing attacker has a significant impact on packet-based data transmission in MANET. Also, for this research, an Attacker detection automation of the Bees Colony Optimization (ADABCP) method is used, as a result of which the desired result is brought about in the effective attacker detection on the routing process. Moreover, the proposed Hybrid Random Late Detection (HRLD) routing protocol manages the MANET routing and overcomes the MANET congestion communication. The Swift Implicit Response Round Trip Time (SIRT) mechanism is generated by the Route Finding Manipulation (RFM) to enhance the performance. This RFM scheme helps to find the optimal routing in a secured manner. The proposed (SIRT-ADABCP-HRLD) approach was compared to the existing ESCT, ZRDM-LFPM, and ENM-LAC approaches, found to have improved by routing and data transmission. Compared to the conventional method, the method mentioned above achieves a better ratio for the end-to-end delay, communication overhead, packet delivery ratio, network lifetime, and energy consumption.
Highly sensitive refractive index sensor based on SPR with silver and titanium dioxide coating
Authors: yang haiming , Wang Guangyao , Lu Ying , Yao Jianquan
Published: March 2021

A surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor based on dual-layered air hole shaped photonic crystal fiber (PCF) is proposed to realize the simultaneous measurement of refractive index (RI). The plasma materials silver (Ag) and titanium dioxide (TiO2) were sequentially coated on the outer surface of PCF to obtain enhanced sensing properties. By carefully adjusting the geometrical parameters, the simulation results show a maximum wavelength sensitivity of 72000 nm/RIU for analyte refractive indices ranging from 1.26 to 1.365, which realizes the high-sensitivity sensing in the visible to near-infrared optical band. Moreover, the sensor attains a maximum figure of merit (FOM) of 229 and RI resolution of 1.29 × 10− 6. This work shows great potential for real-time, affordable, and accurate measurement in biomedical, biological and organic chemical domains.
The location of the radial nerve in the humeral shaft between the prone and lateral decubitus positions with different elbow positions and its implications: A cadaveric study
Authors: SUWANNAPHISIT SITTHIPHONG , AONSONG WACHIRAKORN , SUWANNO PORAMES , CHUAYCHOOSAKOON CHAIWAT
Published: March 2021

Identification of the radial nerve is important during the posterior approach to a humerus fracture. During this procedure, the patient can be placed in the prone or lateral decubitus position depending on the surgeon’s preference. The distance from the radial nerve to the osseous structures will be different in each position. The purpose of this study was to identify the safety zones of the various patient and elbow flexion positions. The distances from the olecranon to the center of the radial groove and intermuscular septum and lateral epicondyle to the lateral intermuscular septum were measured using a digital Vernier caliper. The measurements were performed with the cadavers in the lateral decubitus and prone positions with different elbow flexions. The distance from where the radial nerve crossed the posterior aspect of the humerus measured from the upper part of the olecranon to the center of the radial nerve in both positions with different elbow flexion angles varied from a mean maximum distance of 130.00 mm with the elbow in full extension in the prone position to the shortest distance of 121.01 mm with elbow flexion of 120 degree in the lateral decubitus position. The mean distance of the radial nerve from the upper olecranon to the lateral intermuscular septum varied from 107.13 mm to 102.22 mm. The distance from the lateral epicondyle to the lateral edge of the radial nerve varied from 119.92 mm to 125.38 mm. There was very little change in the measurements and no important different distances of radial nerve location until the elbow was flexed to 120 degrees, which was not significant as this flexion is rarely used.
Locoregional Recurrence via Mucus-Mediated Extension Following Lung Resection for Mucinous Tumors
Authors: Kawaguchi Yo , Hanaoka Jun , Ohshio Yasuhiko , Okamoto Keigo , Kaku Ryosuke , Hayashi Kazuki , Shiratori Takuya , Akazawa Akira , Ishida Mitsuaki
Published: March 2021

Background

Clinically, locoregional recurrences following mucinous tumor resection are often experienced. However, it is unclear whether mucinous tumors directly affect local recurrence or not, and if so, what the mechanism is. Therefore, we investigated whether mucinous tumors are associated with locoregional recurrence after pulmonary resection and whether mucus extension is a risk factor for locoregional recurrence.
Methods

The data of 90 patients who underwent pulmonary resection for metastases were reviewed. If mucus was partially or wholly present in the tumor based on macro- or microscopic identification, we assigned the tumor as mucinous. In mucinous tumors, if mucus was identified within the air spaces in the normal lung parenchyma, beyond the edge of the tumor, we assigned the tumor as positive for “mucus extension.”
Results

The 5-year cumulative incidence of locoregional recurrence in patients with mucinous tumors was 80.3%, which was significantly higher than the 15.5% observed in patients with non-mucinous tumors. Within the mucinous tumor, presence of mucus extension beyond the tumor edge was an independent risk factor for locoregional recurrence after pulmonary resection (hazard ratio, 8.08; P = 0.049).
Conclusion

During the resection of mucinous cancer, surgeons should maintain sufficient distance from the tumor edge to prevent locoregional recurrences.
Decreased Expression of Brg1 and β-Catenin in Nasal Epithelial Cells in CRSwNPs
Authors: Tao Yanli , Zhu Huitao , Liu Chengcheng , Sun Xiaoyan , Yuan Tiejun , Zhang Hongping , Zhang Hailing , Zhao Li , Jin Peng , Yu Kena , Shi Li , Xia Ming
Published: March 2021

Background: Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) is a pathophysiologically complex disease process characterized by chronic inflammation of the nose and epithelial cell structure remodeling. Objectives: Studies have shown that the chromatin remodeling complex subunit Brg1 can interact with β-catenin, which plays an important role in cell proliferation and differentiation. However, the role of Brg1 and β-catenin in epithelial cells of chronic rhinitis and sinusitis remains unclear. Material and Methods: We detected the expression level of Brg1 in CRSwNP by qPCR, and observed the expression pattern of Brg1 in CRSwNP by immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence. HNEpC cells were used to detect the expression changes of the two proteins after TNF-α stimulation. Results: In our study, the expression levels of Brg1 and β-catenin are significantly decreased in nasal mucosa of CRSwNP patients. To our interest, we also observed expression decrease and expression pattern changes of Brg1 and β-catenin by stimulating HNEpCs cells with TNF-α. Conclusions: This study shows that the expression of Brg1 and β-catenin may be related to the development of CRSwNPs.Subject classification codes: include these here if the journal requires them
Silica-Coated Magnetic Nanoparticles Activate Microglia and Induce Neurotoxic D-Serine Secretion
Authors: Shin Tae Hwan , Lee Da Yeon , Manavalan Balachandran , Basith Shaherin , Na Yun-Cheol , Yoon Cheolho , Lee Hyeon-Seong , Paik Man Jeong , Lee Gwang
Published: March 2021

Background
Nanoparticles have been studied for brain imaging, diagnosis, and drug delivery owing to their versatile properties due to their small sizes. However, there are growing concerns that nanoparticles may exert toxic effects in the brain. In this study, we assessed direct nanotoxicity on microglia, the resident macrophages of the central nervous system, and indirect toxicity on neuronal cells exerted by silica-coated magnetic nanoparticles containing rhodamine B isothiocyanate dye [MNPs@SiO2(RITC)].
Methods
We investigated MNPs@SiO2(RITC)-induced biological changes in BV2 murine microglial cells via RNA-sequencing-based transcriptome analysis and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-based intracellular and extracellular amino acid profiling. Morphological changes were analyzed by transmission electron microscopy. Indirect effects of MNPs@SiO2(RITC) on neuronal cells were assessed by Transwell-based coculture with MNPs@SiO2(RITC)-treated microglia. MNPs@SiO2(RITC)-induced biological changes in the mouse brain in vivo were examined by immunohistochemical analysis.
Results
BV2 murine microglial cells were morphologically activated and the expression of Iba1, an activation marker protein, was increased after MNPs@SiO2(RITC) treatment. transmission electron microscopy analysis revealed lysosomal accumulation of MNPs@SiO2(RITC) and the formation of vesicle-like structures in MNPs@SiO2(RITC)-treated BV2 cells. The expression of several genes related to metabolism and inflammation were altered in 0.1 µg/µl MNPs@SiO2(RITC)-treated microglia when compared with that in non-treated (control) and 0.01 µg/µl MNPs@SiO2(RITC)-treated microglia. Combined transcriptome and amino acid profiling analyses revealed that the transport of serine family amino acids, including glycine, cysteine, and serine, was enhanced. However, only serine was increased in the growth medium of activated microglia; especially, excitotoxic d-serine secretion from primary rat microglia was the most strongly enhanced. Activated primary microglia reduced intracellular ATP levels and proteasome activity in cocultured neuronal cells, especially in primary cortical neurons, via d-serine secretion. Moreover, ubiquitinated proteins accumulated and inclusion bodies were increased in primary dopaminergic and cortical neurons cocultured with activated primary microglia. In vivo, MNPs@SiO2(RITC), d-serine, and ubiquitin aggresomes were distributed in the MNPs@SiO2(RITC)-treated mouse brain.
Conclusions
MNPs@SiO2(RITC)-induced activation of microglia triggers excitotoxicity in neurons via d-serine secretion, highlighting the importance of neurotoxicity mechanisms incurred by nanoparticle-induced microglial activation.
Does Green Credit Affect the Green Innovation Performance of High-Polluting and Energy-Intensive Enterprises? Evidence from A Quasi-Natural Experiment
Authors: Liu Sheng , XU RONGXIN , Chen Xiuying
Published: March 2021

Green credit policy is a
practical exploration to guide green development through the
allocation of financial resources, but there is a gap in the
theoretical research on how green financial policy affects
enterprise green technology innovation. Taking the green credit
policy in 2012 as a quasi-natural experiment, this paper applies
the methods of Propensity Score Matching and Difference in
Difference (PSM-DID) to investigate the relationship between green
credit policy and enterprises' green technology innovation behavior
based on Chinese industrial enterprises database and green patent
database. The results show that the implementation of "green credit
guidelines" policy has significantly improved the green innovation
output of high-polluting and high-energy consuming enterprises,
which indicates that the incentive effect of green credit policy on
enterprises exceeds the inhibition effect and leads to Porter
effect. Moreover, the green credit policy has significantly
increased the number of non-invention patents rather than invention
patents. In addition, the green credit policy has a more
significant effect on the innovation output of heavily polluting
enterprises in state-owned and weak market power enterprises.
Mechanism test shows that green credit policy mainly affects the
green innovation output of heavy polluting enterprises by guiding
the loan financing cost and R&D investment allocation.
Gonadal Antioxidant Responses to Seawater Acidification and Hypoxia in the Marine Mussel Mytilus Coruscus
Authors: Xu Guangen , Kong Hui , Chang Xueqing , Chen Hui , Deng Yuewen , Hu Menghong , Wang Youji
Published: March 2021

This study investigated the combined effects of seawater acidification and hypoxia on the gonadal antioxidant response of the thick shell mussel Mytilus coruscus mainly distributed along the Shengsi Island, East China Sea, where hypoxia and pH fluctuations frequently occur in summer. Mussels were exposed to three pH levels (8.1, 7.7 and 7.3) and two dissolved oxygen (DO) levels (6 and 2 mg L− 1) for 21 days following a 10-day recovery. Activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPX), glutathione (GSH), glutathione S-transferase (GST) and malondialdehyde (MDA) in gonad and gonad surface area (GSA) were measured at day 21 and 31. Among all the parameters, there was no significant change in SOD activity. GSA and the activity of CAT and GST were decreased under acidification and hypoxia, but GPX, GSH and MDA were increased. PCA showed that the changes were influenced by pH more than DO. Interaction between acidification and hypoxia was found significant on GPX activity and GSA. Integrated biomarker response (IBR) analysis demonstrated that acidification and hypoxia impaired mussel’s antioxidant system and increased oxidative damage. Our results clearly showed that acidification and hypoxia synergistically exert negative impact on the antioxidant system and gonad development of mussels, and the effect of acidification was more significant.
Efficient and Accurate Electronic Structure Simulation Demonstrated on a Trapped-Ion Quantum Computer
Authors: Kawashima Yukio , Coons Marc , Nam Yunseong , Lloyd Erika , Matsuura Shunji , Garza Alejandro , Johri Sonika , Huntington Lee , Senicourt Valentin , Maksymov Andrii , Nguyen Jason , Kim Jungsang , Alidoust Nima , Zaribafiyan Arman , Yamazaki Takeshi
Published: March 2021

Quantum computers have the potential to perform accurate and efficient electronic structure calculations, enabling the simulation of properties of materials. However, today’s noisy, intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices have a limited number of qubits and gate operations due to the presence of errors. Here, we propose a systematically improvable end-to-end pipeline to alleviate these limitations. Our proposed resource-efficient pipeline combines problem decomposition techniques for compact molecular representations, circuit optimization methods for compilation, solving the eigenvalue problem on advanced quantum hardware, and error-mitigation techniques in post-processing the results. Using the density matrix embedding theory for compact representation, and an ion-trap quantum computer, we simulate a ring of 10 hydrogen atoms taking into account all electrons equally and explicitly in the electronic structure calculation. In our experiment, we simulated the largest molecular system on a quantum computer within chemical accuracy with respect to total molecular energy calculated by the full CI method. Our methods reduce the number of qubits required for high-accuracy quantum simulations by an order of magnitude in the present work, enabling the simulation of larger, more industrially relevant molecules using NISQ devices. They are further systematically improvable as devices’ computational capacity continues to grow.
DDX3X Loss is Associated with Aggressive Phenotypes in Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphomas
Authors: Kizhakeyil Atish , Zaini Nurmahirah binte Mohammed , Poh Zhi Sheng , Wong Brandon Han Siang , Loh Xinpeng , Ng Aik Seng , Low Zun Siong , Prasannan Praseetha , Gong Jade , Tan Michelle Guet Khim , Nagarajan Chandramouli , DaChuan Huang , Lu Pang Wang , Lim Jing Quan , Barrans Sharon , Ong Choon Kiat , LIM Soon Thye , Chng Wee Joo , Follows George , Hodson Daniel , Du Ming-Qing , Goh Yeow Tee , Tan Suat Hoon , Grigoropoulos Nicholas , Verma Navin Kumar
Published: March 2021

Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) is a diverse group of malignancies, encompassing the most common diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) to the rarer T-cell lymphomas. DDX3X is an RNA helicase and, depending on tumour type, plays tumour suppressive or oncogenic roles in cancer. However, its role in NHL is not clear. Targeted sequencing of DDX3X hotspots on exons 8-15 in a cohort of 158 unselected DLBCL subjects showed DDX3X mutations in 5 cases; whereas whole exome sequencing in a cohort of 9 relapsed/refractory DLBCL patients treated with R-CHOP identified DDX3X mutations in 4 cases. DLBCL patients (n=223) with DDX3X mutations had worse 5-year overall survival (22%) compared to patients with wild-type DDX3X (72%, p=0.021). Using DLBCL and cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) cell lines, we showed that the expression of mutant DDX3X-R475C or DDX3X knockdown significantly enhanced cell migratory/invasive potential and elevated the phosphorylation of STAT3, Akt and p42/44. DDX3X loss increased resistance to doxorubicin and histone deacetylase targeting drugs in DLBCL and CTCL cells, respectively. Importantly, B- and T-cell lineage DDX3X-depleted cells remained sensitive to STAT3 inhibition. We conclude that DDX3X mutations are important driver lesions in NHL subtypes and are associated with chemoresistance but may be countered with a STAT3 inhibitor.
Effects of Herbaspirillum Sp. P5–19 Assisted With Alien Soil Improvement on the Phytoremediation of Copper Tailings by Vetiveria Zizanioides
Authors: Fang Qing , Huang Tao , Wang Ning , Ding Ziwei , Sun Qingye
Published: March 2021

This study investigated examined the potential of Herbaspirillum sp. p5-19 (p5-19) assisted with alien soil improvement on improving stress tolerance and enhancing the accumulation of Mn, Cu, Zn and Cd by vetiver grass (Vetiveria zizanioides). Phytoremediation potential was evaluated by plant biomass and the ability of plant to absorb and transfer heavy metals. Results showed that the biomass was increased by 19.64%–173.81% in p5-19 inoculation treatments with and without alien soil improvement compared with control. Meanwhile, photosynthetic pigment contents were enhanced in co-inoculation treatment (p5-19 with alien soil improvement). In addition, the malondialdehyde (MDA) content was decreased, and the activities of antioxidant enzymes such as ascorbate peroxidase (APX), superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD) and catalase (CAT) were increased in p5-19 treatment, thereby alleviating the oxidative stress. Moreover, co-inoculation significantly (p<0.05) increased the concentrations of Mn, Cu, Zn and Cd in the roots and shoots of vetiver grass. In particular, the highest concentration of Mn, Zn and Cd in the shoots (roots) were obtained in C10 under p5-19 inoculation (C10B), which were 4.44– (2.71–), 4.73– (3.87–) and 5.93– (4.35–) fold as that of the controls, respectively. These results provided basis for the change of phytoremediation ability of vetiver grass after inoculation. We concluded that p5-19 assisted with alien soil improvement was a potential strategy for enhancing phytoremediation ability in tailings.
Secrecy Performance Analysis of Half/Full Duplex AF/DF Relaying in NOMA Systems Over κ - μ Fading Channels
Authors: Zaghdoud Nesrine , Mnaouer Adel Ben , Boujemaa Hatem , Touati Farid
Published: March 2021

Although the progress in understanding 5G and beyond techniques such as Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) and full-duplex techniques has been overwhelming, still analyzing the security aspects of such systems under different scenarios and settings is an important concern that needs further exploration. In particular, when considering fading in wiretap channels and scenarios, achieving secrecy has posed many challenges. In this context, we propose to study the physical layer security (PLS) of cooperative NOMA (C-NOMA) system using the general fading distribution κ - μ. This distribution facilitates mainly the effect of light-of-sight as well as multipath fading. It also includes multiple distributions as special cases like: Rayleigh, Rice, Nakagami-m which help to understand the comportment of C-NOMA systems under different fading parameters. The use of Half-Duplex and Full-Duplex communication is also investigated for both Amplify-and-forward (AF) and Decode-and-Forward (DF) relaying protocols. To characterize the secrecy performance of the proposed C-NOMA systems, closed form expressions of the Secrecy Outage Probability (SOP) and the Strictly Positive Secrcey Capacity (SPSC) metrics for the strong and weak users are given for high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) due to the intractable nature of the exact expressions. Based on the analytical analysis, numerical and simulation results are given under different network parameters.
Long-Term Sevoflurane Exposure Inhibits The Proliferation, Differentiation, and Homing Potential of Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells
Authors: Bai Yunxiao , Wang Peng , Ma Xiaofang , Li Lili , Zhang Chunyan , Shi Wanchao , Liu Xiaozhi , Bai Yaowu , Zhang Dianying
Published: March 2021

Background: Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) are widely used in many fields such as wound repair, gene delivery, and microenvironment improvement. In some cases, BMSC transplantation requires long-term anesthesia. However, the effects of anesthetics on the characteristics of BMSCs are poorly understood.Methods: In this study, we examined the effect of sevoflurane, a gas anesthetic drug most commonly used in children, on the proliferation, differentiation, and homing potential of BMSCs.Results: Short-term (6 h) sevoflurane exposure had almost no effect on the proliferation, differentiation, and homing of BMSCs. However, long-term (24 h) sevoflurane exposure inhibited the proliferation of BMSCs, accelerated their differentiation into nerve cells, and inhibited their homing potential to damaged vascular endothelial cells and intact glioma cells.Conclusion: Short-term anesthesia with sevoflurane as the main inducer is safe and harmless to BMSCs, but long-term sevoflurane exposure may reduce their repair potential. Therefore, because of the high proportion of BMSCs in children, the application of long-term anesthesia with sevoflurane should be cautious, or more suitable anesthetic drugs are needed.
Effect of COVID-19 lockdown on noise pollution levels in an Indian city-A case study of Kanpur
Authors: Mishra Anirudh , Das Sanhita , Singh Deepesh , Maurya Akhilesh Kumar
Published: March 2021

Noise pollution is an emerging environmental threat, prolonged exposure of which can cause annoyance, sleep disturbance, hypertension, psychiatric disorders and also hormonal dysfunction. Among all the sources of noise pollution, the noise generated by road vehicle traffic significantly affects the quality of urban environments. Concerning the recent imposition of COVID-19 societal lockdown, this study attempts to investigate the impacts of COVID-19 lockdown on the changes in noise pollution levels before, during and after lockdown phase in different residential, commercial, industrial and silence zones of the city of Kanpur, India. Although a significant reduction in the noise levels was observed during lockdown, except for commercial zone all other monitoring stations had reported sound levels quite higher than the recommended noise limits set by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) of India. Results further indicated that prominent improvements in health benefits could be observed in the lockdown period, much better than the pre-lockdown and unlock phase. Several noise mitigation strategies are also proposed, which may indeed pave the way for devising noise control measures in the local and regional level.
Conserved structures of neural activity in sensorimotor cortex of freely moving rats allow cross-subject decoding
Authors: Melbaum Svenja , Eriksson David , Brox Thomas , Diester Ilka
Published: March 2021

Our knowledge about neuronal activity in the sensorimotor cortex relies primarily on stereotyped movements which are strictly controlled via the experimental settings. It remains unclear how results can be carried over to less constrained behavior, i.e. freely moving subjects. Towards this goal, we developed a self-paced behavioral paradigm which encouraged rats to conduct different types of movements. Via bilateral electrophysiological recordings across the entire sensorimotor cortex and simultaneous paw tracking, we identified behavioral coupling of neurons with lateralization and an anterior-posterior gradient from premotor to primary sensory cortex. The structure of population activity patterns was conserved across animals, in spite of severe undersampling of the total number of neurons and variations of electrode positions across individuals. Via alignments of low-dimensional neural manifolds, we demonstrate cross-subject and cross-session generalization in a decoding task arguing for a conserved neuronal code.
Research on Dem Construction Methods With Effective Integration of Topographic Feature Lines
Authors: Wang Jing , Zhao Mingwei
Published: March 2021

In cities and other human activity areas, the implementation of various ground projects has resulted in significant changes in natural surface morphology, a prominent feature of which is the formation of a variety of discontinuous terrains, such as roads and building basements. In the process of DEM modeling of these landforms, traditional modeling methods produce obvious topographic distortions at topographic prominences, which limits the application depth of DEMs in these areas. To solve these problems, this paper proposes a DEM modeling method to enhance the expression of discontinuous terrain from the perspective of simplicity and convenience for application. The method is based on terrain data such as topographic feature lines, altimetric points, and contour lines. First, parallel feature lines are generated according to a certain distance. Then, vertices are inserted into the topographic feature line and the parallel feature line according to the specified step length, and the known altimetric points are selected from both sides of the original topographic feature line to estimate the height value of the vertices. Finally, by combining the topographic feature line, parallel feature line and other available topographic data for TIN construction, the result can effectively express the special topography of discontinuous terrain. In this study, a region in Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, China, was selected as the study area to conduct a DEM construction experiment. The experimental results showed that the DEM constructed by this method could well express the morphological characteristics of discontinuous terrain, and the height accuracy of the construction results was also significantly improved compared with that of the conventional method.
Spin-1/2 one- and two- particle systems in physical space without eigen-algebra or tensor product
Authors: Andoni Sokol
Published: March 2021

A new representation for spin 1/2 in the even 3D subalgebra of the spacetime algebra (STA) combines in a single geometric object the roles of the standard Pauli spin vector and spin state. It is a vector quantity comprising a gauge phase. In the one-particle case the representation (1) is Hermitian; (2) chiral; (3) reproduces all standard expectation values, including the total one-particle spin modulus ; (4) constrains a spinor basis representing opposite spins to preserve handiness (chirality); (5) the gauge phase allows to explicitly formalize irreversibility in spin measurement. In the two-particle case it (1) identifies entangled spin pairs as having opposite handiness and precise gauge phase relations; (2) doubles the dimensionality of the spin space due to variation of handiness; (3) the four maximally entangled states are naturally derived by pairing spins that are reflections (triplets) and inversions (singlet) of each-other. The cross-product terms in the expression for the squared total spin of two particles can be affected by experiment and they yield the standard expectation values after measurement. Here I directly define and transform spin in 3D orientation space, without invoking concepts like abstract Hilbert space and tensor product as in the standard formulation. The STA formalism allows working with whole geometric objects instead of only components, thereby helping keep a clear geometric picture of ‘on paper’ (controlled gauge phase) and ‘on lab’ (uncontrolled gauge phase) spin transformations.