bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Fragment expansion with NUDELs - poised DNA-encoded libraries
Authors: Salvini Catherine , Darlot Benoit , Davison Jack , Martin Mathew , Tudhope Susan , Turberville Shannon , Kawamura Akane , Noble Martin , Wedge Steve , Crawford James , Waring Michael
Published: January 2023

Optimisation of the affinity of lead compounds is a critical challenge in the identification of drug candidates and chemical probes. Fragment-based drug discovery has become established as one of the methods of choice for drug discovery starting with small, low affinity compounds. Due to their low affinity, evolution of fragments to desirable levels of affinity is often a key challenge. The accepted best method for increasing the potency of fragments is by iterative fragment growing, which can be very time consuming. Here, we introduce a paradigm for fragment optimisation using poised DNA-encoded chemical libraries (DELs). The synthesis of a poised DEL allows the coupling of any active fragment for a target protein, allowing rapid discovery of potent ligands. This is illustrated for bromodomain-containing protein 4 (BRD4), in which a weakly binding fragment was coupled to a 42-member poised DEL via Suzuki-Miyaura cross coupling resulting in the identification of an inhibitor with nanomolar affinity in a single step. The potency of the compound was shown to arise from the synergistic combination of substructures, which would have been very difficult to discover by any other method and was rationalised by X-ray crystallography. The compound showed attractive lead-like properties suitable for further optimisation and demonstrated BRD4-dependent cellular pharmacology. This work demonstrates the power of poised DELs to rapidly optimise fragments, representing an attractive generic approach to drug discovery.
Association of SARS-CoV-2 status and antimicrobial-resistant bacteria with inadequate empiric therapy in hospitalized patients: a US multicenter cohort evaluation (July 2019 - October 2021)
Authors: Bauer Karri A. , Puzniak Laura A. , Yu Kalvin C. , Klinker Kenneth P. , Watts Janet A. , Moise Pamela A. , Finelli Lyn , Gupta Vikas
Published: January 2023

Background: Antibiotic usage and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) patterns changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Inadequate empiric antibiotic therapy (IET) is a significant public health problem and contributes to AMR. We evaluated factors associated with IET before and during the COVID-19 pandemic to determine the impact of the pandemic on antibiotic management.
Methods: This multicenter, retrospective cohort analysis included hospitalized US adults who had a positive bacterial culture (specified gram-positive or gram-negative bacteria) from July 2019 to October 2021 in the BD Insights Research Database. IET was defined as antibacterial therapy within 48 hours that was not active against the pathogen. AMR results were based on facility reports. Multivariate analysis was used to identify risk factors associated with IET in patients with any positive bacterial culture and AMR-positive cultures, including multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens.
Results:Of 278,344 eligible patients in 269 hospitals, 56,733 (20.4%) received IET; rates were higher in patients with AMR-positive (n=93,252) or MDR-positive (n=39,000) cultures (34.9% and 45.0%, respectively). Severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2)-positive patients had significantly higher rates of IET (25.9%) compared with SARS-CoV-2-negative (20.3%) or not tested (19.7%) patients overall and in the AMR and MDR subgroups. Patients with AMR- or MDR-positive cultures had more days of therapy and longer lengths of stay. In multivariate analyses, AMR, MDR, SARS-CoV-2-positive status, respiratory source, and prior admissions were identified as key IET risk factors.
Conclusions: IET remained a persistent problem during the COVID-19 pandemic and occurred at higher rates in patients with AMR/MDR bacteria or a co-SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Selection history affects very early expression of wood properties in Pinus radiata
Authors: Apiolaza Luis Alejandro , Sharma Monika
Published: January 2023

Trees in breeding programmes are often selected at 1/4-1/3 of rotation, called "early selection", which is typically between 8 and 10 years in radiata pine. However, differences between populations and genotypes selected for either basic density or wood stiffness are already apparent at age 2.
We report the application of very early screening techniques for wood properties in the New Zealand Radiata Pine Breeding Programme deployment populations. Approximately 3,000 trees representing three populations with 92 families and 10 clones were grown in a common garden trial, leaning for 21 months to separate compression and opposite wood. The trees were harvested and analysis carried outseparately by wood type.
The trial showed the existence of large variability in wood properties at early age, in some cases similar to variability near rotation age, and moderate to high degree of genetic control (0.35 <= h2 <= 0.71). The genetic association between traits was strong, particularly between wood stiffness and longitudinal shrinkage (-0.69) and between longitudinal and volumetric shrinkage (0.83), suggesting that improving stiffness would also have a strong effect on improving dimensional stability. Basic density was also associated to stiffness and shrinkage, but with lower predictive capacity.
These results can be used for roguing deployment populations—which already contain superior growing trees—and quickly upgrade the wood quality of seeds and clones currently available to New Zealand forest growers. We discuss necessary modifications to turn this research work into operations to screen any new material before commercial release.
Machine Learning-based Analytics of the Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Alcohol Consumption Habit Changes Among United States Healthcare Workers
Authors: Rezapour Mostafa , Niazi Muhammad Khalid Khan , Gurcan Metin Nafi
Published: January 2023

The COVID-19 pandemic is a global health concern that has spread around the globe. Machine Learning (ML) is promising in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Machine learning and artificial intelligence have been employed by various healthcare providers, scientists, and clinicians in medical industries in the fight against COVID-19 disease. In this paper, we discuss the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on alcohol consumption habit changes among healthcare workers in the United States during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. We utilize multiple supervised and unsupervised machine learning methods and models such as decision trees, logistic regression, support vector machines, multilayer perceptron, XGBoost, CatBoost, LightGBM, AdaBoost, Chi-Squared Test, mutual information, KModes clustering and the synthetic minority oversampling technique (SMOTE) on a mental health survey data obtained from the University of Michigan Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research to investigate the links between COVID-19-related deleterious effects and changes in alcohol consumption habits among healthcare workers. Through the interpretation of the supervised and unsupervised methods, we have concluded that healthcare workers whose children stayed home during the first wave in the US consumed more alcohol. We also found that the work schedule changes due to the Covid-19 pandemic led to a change in alcohol use habits. Changes in food consumption, age, gender, geographical characteristics, changes in sleep habits, the amount of news consumption, and screen time are also important predictors of an increase in alcohol use among healthcare workers in the United States.
Seismic velocity structure of the crust and the upper mantle beneath the island of Crete, Greece
Authors: Karakonstantis Andreas , Vallianatos Filippos
Published: January 2023

Crete is located in the Southern Aegean, in the southernmost part of the Hellenic Trench. Given the elevated numbers of seismicity in the region generated by the convergence of the Eurasian and African tectonic plates, the research area is critical. More than 1400 manually revised events from 2018 to 2022 have been used in this work to construct both local and regional 1-D velocity models. These data were entered into Passive Seismic Tomography, which is using body-wave (P and S) travel-time data to analyze medium to large-scale (in km) anomalies linked to local neotectonic and regional tectonic processes. A complex shallow structure was revealed in Crete's central region, in contrast to a smoother and more continuous image at deeper slices (> 40km). This result was likely due to result of the subducted lithosphere triggering an upward migration of fluids. The final dataset analysis contributed to a better understanding of the research area's prevailing seismotectonic processes and the relationship between shallow and intermediate-depth earthquake activity.
NXP032 ameliorates cognitive impairment by alleviating of neurovascular aging process in aged mice brain
Authors: Lee Jae-Min , Kim So Hee , Sim Tae Hyeok , Lee Joo Hee , Kim Youn-Jung
Published: January 2023

Vascular aging is well known to be associated with breakdown of the neurovascular unit (NVU) that is essential for maintaining brain homeostasis and has been linked to higher cognitive dysfunction. Oxidative stress is believed to be a major cause of the vascular aging process, and damages cerebral parenchymal cells in aged brain. Vitamin C is easily oxidized under human physiologic conditions and loses its potent antioxidant activity. To overcome this limitation, we have developed a DNA aptamer that enhances function of vitamin C; NXP032 is binding form of Aptamer and vitamin C. We investigated microvascular damage, blood-brain barrier (BBB) disruption, glial activation, and cognitive function in 20-month-old mice to confirm the protective effect of NXP032 on vascular aging. NXP032 was treated orally for 8 weeks every day. In this study, we found that aged mice showed obvious cognitive impairment through Y-maze and passive avoidance tests. The microvascular damage was manifested through the decreased length of PECAM-1, lectin. BBB disruption was confirmed through the expression of PDGFR-β, ZO-1 and laminin. Aged mice also showed activation of microglia and astrocytes in the motor cortex and hippocampal CA1 region. These changes were significantly alleviated after the NXP032 treatment in aged mice. Based on the results, we suggest that the NXP032 reduces vascular aging which may be a novel intervention for aging-induced cognitive impairment.
Development and validation of a nomogram to predict refractory Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia
Authors: Shen WenNa , Sun XinRong
Published: January 2023

Background: This study aims to construct a risk prediction model based on clinical manifestations, laboratory blood indicators and radiological fndings to help clinicians identify patients who are at high risk of refractory mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia.
Materials and methods: We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of 369 children with MPP.The data collected included demographics, clinical data ,laboratory findings and imaging data. Descriptive statistical analysis, involving numerous variables, was followed by univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis.Subsequently,the clinical prediction model was constructed and underwent internal validation.
Results: The clinical prediction model was constructed from these eight variables included fever duration,Pleural effussion,WBC,NEP,CRP, LDH,NLR and SUA.The developed nomogram, which has a satisfactory level of accuracy and good calibration, can be utilized to predict RMPP patients.
Conclusion: Fever duration more than 10.5 days,Pleural effussion,WBC＞10.13×109/L,NEP＞6.43×109/L,CRP＞29.45mg/L,LDH＞370.50U/L,NLR＞3.47 and SUA＜170.5 umol/ml was early predictive model of RMPP.The developed nomogram, which has a satisfactory level of accuracy and good calibration, can be utilized to predict RMPP patients.
Research progress on mechanisms and predictive biomarkers for immune-related adverse events
Authors: Zhang Yan , Qu Ziting , Zhang Tengteng , Zhao Zhiyan , Zhang Yiyin , Gu Kangsheng
Published: January 2023

In recent years, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have been widely used in patients with malignant tumors. While ICIs significantly improve the prognosis of cancer patients, immune-related adverse events (irAEs) also occur. It is currently believed that the occurrence of irAEs correlates with alterations in the body's autoimmune system function, including over-activation of the immune system and breakdown of autoimmune tolerance. The mechanisms involve direct activation of T cells, secondary B-cell defects or autoantibodies production, ectopic antigen or antigenic epitope spread, and genetic susceptibility. Understanding the mechanisms of these toxic reactions and clearing predictive biomarkers will limit their occurrence, improving the prognosis of cancer patients treated with ICIs and giving early intervention to reduce the risk and damage associated with their occurrence. This review will systematically list possible mechanisms for the occurrence of irAEs and promising predictive biomarkers, and summarize approaches for early intervention and treatment, suggesting possible future directions for follow-up research and clinical applications of irAEs.
Association of Inflammatory Cells to High-density Lipoprotein Cholesterol ratio with Acute Pulmonary Embolism
Authors: Li zhaoji , Zhang Ruifeng
Published: January 2023

Purpose Aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of neutrophil, monocyte and lymphocyte to HDL- cholesterol ratio in people diagnosed with acute pulmonary embolism for predict pulmonary embolism related adverse clinical events (PEACE). Methods Retrospective collected the date of total 215 patients diagnosed with pulmonary embolism. Laboratory results of leukocyte, biochemical and cardiac markers were collected. Pulmonary Embolism Severity Index (PESI), ratio of neutrophil, monocyte and lymphocyte count to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) were calculated. SPSS 25 was used for evaluating the effectiveness of NHR MHR and LHR in predicting PEACE. Results Patients who suffered clinical adverse events had higher MHR and NHR value and lower LHR value. In multivariate regression analysis, PESI scores (OR: 1.041 95% CI: 1.024 ~ 1.059, p < 0.01), MHR value (OR: 1.053 95% CI: 3.25–52.64, p < 0.01), NHR value (OR: 1.332 95% CI: 1.020 ~ 1.740, P = 0.035), and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (OR: 1.203 95% CI: 1.036 ~ 1.397, P = 0.015) were independent predictors of PEACE. Conclusion We think that MHR and NHR value can be used as useful indicators to identify early clinical adverse events in patients with acute pulmonary embolism
Relationship between Lipoprotein(a) and Lung Function assessed in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: Longitudinal and Cross-Sectional Analyses
Authors: Song Chae Kyung , Keller Theresa , Regitz-Zagrosek Vera , Steinhagen-Thiessen Elisabeth , Buchmann Nikolaus , Demuth Ilja
Published: January 2023

Background: Lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] has recently been gaining increasing interest, with numerous studies pointing to a causal relationship with cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, as well as aortic valve stenosis. However, so far only a few studies have assessed the association between Lp(a) and pulmonary health and there have been some inconsistent findings regarding this topic. This study’s aim is to examine whether high level of serum Lp(a) is associated with better lung function in a dataset of relatively healthy older women and men in a sex-specific manner.
Methods: We used the longitudinal data collected at two time points 7.4 ±1.5 years apart from 679 participants (52% females, 68 [65-71] years old) in the Berlin Aging Study II (BASE-II). Several lipid parameters, including Lp(a), and lung function were measured in these subjects as part of a comprehensive medical assessment. The baseline dataset was collected between 2009 to 2014, and the follow-up data were collected between 2018 and 2020. Multiple linear regression models adjusting for covariates (BMI, physical inactivity, smoking status, alcohol intake, and a morbidity index) were applied to strengthen evidence for the relationship observed between Lp(a) and lung function in a sex-specific manner.
Results: Forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC) were higher in men and declined with age in both sexes. Men had lower Lp(a) levels than women. Average lung function measurements were higher in both men and women with higher Lp(a) levels. However, this association was statistically apparent in men only.
Conclusions: The data suggest that Lp(a) might act as a protective and possibly sex specific factor in pulmonary health, a putative role which has not been anticipated so far. Future studies will be required to further establish the relationship between Lp(a) and lung function also with regard to possible causality and sex differences, as well as to further investigate the exact function Lp(a) plays in lung physiology.
Overshooting the critical threshold for the Greenland ice sheet
Authors: Bochow Nils , Poltronieri Anna , Robinson Alexander , Rypdal Martin , Boers Niklas
Published: January 2023

Melting of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) in response to anthropogenic global warming poses a severe threat in terms of global sea level rise of more than 7~m for its complete loss (Allan et al., 2021), but also in terms of North Atlantic freshening that in turn destabilises the Atlantic Overturning Circulation (Boers, 2021). Modelling and paleoclimate evidence suggest that rapidly increasing temperatures in the Arctic can trigger positive feedback mechanisms, and the GrIS is hypothesised to exhibit multiple stable states (Gregory et al., 2020). Consequently, critical transitions are expected when the global mean surface temperature crosses specific thresholds, and there is substantial hysteresis between the alternative stable states (Robinson et al., 2012).
Here, we investigate the impact of different overshoot scenarios with varying peak and convergence temperatures for a broad range of warming and subsequent cooling rates. Our results show that both the maximum GMT and the time span of overshooting given global mean temperature (GMT) targets are critical in determining GrIS stability. We find a threshold GMT around 4.5°C above pre-industrial levels for an abrupt loss of the ice sheet, preceded by several intermediate stable states. We show that overshoots of up to 7.5°C GMT above pre-industrial levels might be tolerable if GMTs are subsequently reduced below 1.5°C GMT above pre-industrial levels within a few centuries. However, our results also show that even temporarily overshooting the temperature threshold, without a transition to a new ice sheet state, still leads to dramatic sea-level rise up to several metres during the time span before returning to moderate GMTs.
An ultra-high-throughput screen for the evaluation of peptide HLA-Binder interactions
Authors: Krämer Stefan , Moritz Andreas , Stehl Luca , Hutt Meike , Hofmann Martin , Wagner Claudia , Bunk Sebastian , Maurer Dominik , Roth Günter , Wöhrle Johannes
Published: January 2023

Peptide-HLA (pHLA) targeting therapeutics like TCR-based adoptive cell therapy or bispecific T cell engaging receptor molecules hold great promise for the treatment of cancer. Comprehensive pre-clinical screening of therapeutic candidates is important to ensure patient safety but is challenging because of the size of the potential off-target space. By combining stabilized peptide-receptive HLA molecules with microarray printing and screening, we have developed an ultra-high-throughput screening platform named ValidaTe that enables large scale evaluation of pHLA-binder interactions. We demonstrate its potential by measuring and analyzing over 30.000 binding curves for a high-affinity T cell Engaging Receptor (TCER) towards a large pHLA library. Compared to a dataset obtained by conventional bio-layer interferometry (BLI) measurements, we illustrate that a massively increased throughput is obtained by our microarray screening without compromises in data quality, paving the way for use in pre-clinical safety screening of pHLA-targeting drugs.
Serum levels of galactose-deficient IgA are elevated in patients with IgA nephropathy but do not correlate to disease activity or progression
Authors: Eliasdottir Sigridur , Khramova Alina , Saeed Aso , Guron Gregor , Boi Roberto , Mölne Johan , Ebefors Kerstin , Nyström Jenny
Published: January 2023

Introduction:
IgA nephropathy (IgAN) is the most common glomerulonephritis globally. Because of the heterogeneity of the disease prognostic biomarkers are highly needed.
Aim
To investigate associations between galactose-deficient IgA1 (Gd-IgA1) concentrations in plasma and urine and disease activity and progression in patients with IgAN.
Methods
Serum and urine samples were collected at the time of kidney biopsy (baseline) in patients with IgAN (n = 40) and analysed for Gd-IgA1. Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) without IgAN (n = 21) and healthy controls (n = 19) were examined as controls. In 19 patients with IgAN, analyses of Gd-IgA1 were repeated after a median follow up time of approximately 10 years.
Results
Serum Gd-IgA1 and Gd-IgA1:IgA were significantly elevated at the time of kidney biopsy in patients with IgAN compared to patients with non-IgAN CKD and healthy controls (p < 0.001). Urinary Gd-IgA1:creatinine was significantly elevated in patients with IgAN compared to patients with non-IgAN CKD. Neither serum Gd-IgA1, nor serum Gd-IgA1:IgA, correlated significantly to estimated GFR, urine albumin:creatinine (UACR), or blood pressure, at baseline. Serum Gd-IgA1 and Gd-IgA1:IgA at time of biopsy did not correlate significantly to annual changes in eGFR or UACR during follow up. In patients with IgAN, serum Gd-IgA1 decreased significantly over time during approximately 10 years of follow up (Δ-20 ± 85%, p = 0.027). Urinary Gd-IgA1:creatinine showed a strong positive correlation to UACR in patients with IgAN and likely reflected unspecific glomerular barrier injury.
Conclusion
Although serum Gd-IgA1 and the Gd-IgA1:IgA ratio were significantly elevated in patients with IgAN at the time of kidney biopsy they were not related to disease activity or progression in this patient cohort.
How is India's End-of-Life Vehicle Recycling System Responding to the Sustainability Paradigm? An Explorative Study
Authors: Molla Altaf Hossain , Shams Hilal , Harun Zambri , Kasim Ahmad Nizam Che , Nallapaneni Manoj Kumar , Mohd Nizam Ab Rahman
Published: January 2023

The growing number of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) engenders a genuine concern for achieving sustainable development. Properly recycling ELV is paramount to checking pollution, reducing landfills, and conserving natural resources. The present study evaluates the sustainability of India's ELV recycling system from techno-socio-economic and environmental aspects as an instrumental step for assessing performance and progress. This investigation has performed the Strength-Weakness-Opportunity-Threat (SWOT) analysis to evaluate ELV recycling in the long-term viability and examine the critical factors and potential. This research makes practical recommendations for effectively encountering persistent challenges in the ELV recycling system based on Indian values. This research adopts an explorative and Integrated bottom-up mixed approach; it interfaces qualitative and quantitative data and secondary research. This study reveals that the social, economic, technological, and environmental aspects of the sustainability of India's ELV recycling system are comparatively limited. The SWOT analysis demonstrates that potential market size and resource recovery are more significant strengths, whereas lack of an appropriate framework and limited technology are major challenges in the recycling of ELVs in India. Sustainable development and economic viability have emerged as great opportunities, while informality and environmental impact have surfaced as primary potential threats to ELV recycling in India. This paper offers insights and yields critical real-world data that may assist in rational decision-making and developing and implementing any subsequent framework.
The Development of a Labelled te reo Māori-English Bilingual Database for Language Technology
Authors: James Jesin , Shields Isabella , Yogarajan Vithya , Keegan Peter , Watson Catherine , Jones Peter-Lucas , Mahelona Keoni
Published: January 2023

Te reo Māori (referred to as Māori), New Zealand's indigenous language, is under-resourced in language technology. Māori speakers are bilingual, where Māori is code-switched with English. Unfortunately, there are minimal resources available for Māori language technology, language detection and code-switch detection between Māori-English pair. Both English and Māori use Roman-derived orthography making rule-based systems for detecting language and code-switching restrictive. Most Māori language detection is done manually by language experts. This research builds a Māori-English bilingual database of 66,016,807 words with word-level language annotation. The New Zealand Parliament Hansard debates reports were used to build the database. The language labels are assigned using language-specific rules and expert manual annotations. Words with the same spelling, but different meanings, exist for Māori and English. These words could not be categorised as Māori or English based on word-level language rules. Hence, manual annotations were necessary. An analysis reporting the various aspects of the database such as metadata, year-wise analysis, frequently occurring words, sentence length and N-grams is also reported. The database developed here is a valuable tool for future language and speech technology development for Aotearoa New Zealand. The methodology followed to label the database can also be followed by other low-resourced language pairs.
Lyophilized Equine Platelet-Rich Plasma (L-GF equina ) Antagonize the Reproductive Toxicity and Oxidative Stress Induced by Cyclophosphamide in Female Rats
Authors: Abdoon Ahmed Sabry , Al-Atrash Ahmed M.E , Soliman Seham S. , El-Sanea Amro M. , Din Amina A. Gamal el , Fahmy Hossam M.
Published: January 2023

Background: The antineoplastic agent Cyclophosphamide (CP) induces reproductive toxicity. New strategies for protecting ovarian tissue damage in women with chemotherapy-induced reproductive toxicity are essential. This study was designed to evaluate the possible protective effect of combined treatment with L-GFequina on CP-induced reproductive toxicity in the mature female rat.
Methodology: Forty mature female rats were assigned into four groups: First group, control: rats were intraperitoneally injected (IP) with 200 μl sterile saline solution on days 1 and 10; Group 2 (CP): were IP injected with 75 mg/kg on days 1 and 10 to induce POI); Group 3 (CP + L-GFequina): as in group 2 + IP injected with 200 μl rehydrated L-GFequina half-hour after CP injection on day 1 and 10); Group 4 (L-GFequina): rats were IP injected with 200 μl L-GFequina on day 1 and 10). Blood samples were collected for complete blood picture and determinations of nitric oxide and malondialdehyde. Animals were sacrificed on Day-21, genitalis was dissected, weighted and fixed in 10% formalin for histopathological and morphometric evaluation.
Results: On day 21 of the experiment, body weight, ovarian parameters (Ovarian weight, uterine weight, the number of ovarian follicles, and corpora lutea (CL) were determined, and histopathological changes, blood profile, as well as antioxidant activity assessment, were performed. CP significantly suppresses ovarian and uterine functions and increased MAD, NO levels, RBCs, hemoglobin, WBCs and platelet count compared to the control group ( P < 0.05). While, in CP + L-GFequina group, gross, histomorphometric parameters, blood, and biochemical markers were similar to that in the control. IP injection of L-GFequina alone significantly (P<0.05) increased body weight, and ovarian and uterine morphometry compared with the control.
Conclusion: co-administration of L-GFequina with CP might protect the reproductive organs in rats through its high antioxidant capacity.
AHCS-DC: an Assignment-based Hierarchical Container Scheduling Algorithm for Distributed Cloud Environments
Authors: Izadpanah Shakila , Abrishami Saeid
Published: January 2023

Cloud computing has transformed computer science and attracted academics, businesses, and state organs. Today, distributed cloud has received more attention than centralized cloud model due to emerging new computational requirements and the geographical dispersion of cloud users. Efficient and optimal management of cloud resources has become one of the main challenges in the field of cloud computing because of the increasing demand for various cloud resources. This challenge becomes more complex in distributed cloud environments due to the smaller size, larger quantity, and higher distribution of datacenters. In this article, an approach for scheduling user-requested containers on a ready-to-serve platform of Virtual Machines (VMs) in distributed cloud environments is presented with the aim of decreasing response time and the number of Service Level Agreement (SLA) violations. In the proposed approach, a hierarchical structure of managers is responsible for managing the allocation of available resources in datacenters and distribution of user requests among these datacenters, making the proposed method preserve its performance given any number and extent of datacenter distribution as well as any extent of the user distribution. Moreover, the problem of mapping the requested containers to VMs is modeled and solved using an assignment mechanism called school choice in the proposed approach. Considering different users’ heterogeneous preferences over existing resources and priorities in resource allocation policies, a mapping of the users’ requested containers is created over VMs using this mechanism. Simulation results indicate a significant reduction in response time and SLA violations in terms of response time.
Anxiety, depression, stress and fear of COVID-19 in non-syndromic oral cleft children' parents and caregivers
Authors: Trezena Samuel , de Oliveira Fabrício Emanuel S. , Marques Cíntia Eliza , Marques Nadia Carolina T. , Martelli Daniella Reis B. , Júnior Hercílio Martelli
Published: January 2023

Objectives
to assess the levels of anxiety, depression, stress and fear of COVID-19 in non-syndromic cleft lip and/or palate (NSCL/P) children parents and caregivers.
Materials and Methods
Cross-sectional case-control study conducted at a Craniofacial Anomalies Rehabilitation Center, Brazil. Non-probabilistic convenience sampling was used and data were collected between October 2021 and November 2022. Variables were assessed by Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) and Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FC-19S). Pearson's chi-square test and multivariate binary logistic regression model have been performed.
Results
Data were obtained of 80 NSCL/P parents group and 130 by control group. Severe symptoms were higher in NSCL/P parents indicated by rates (8.8% vs 69% to anxiety; 12.5% vs 8.5% to depression and 17.5% vs 10.0% to stress). As for the predilection in case group there was an association (p < 0.05) for manifestation of mild stress (OR: 4.09; 95%CI 1.28–13.06). Control group caregivers were more fear of COVID-19 (43.8% vs 28.7% p < 0.05).
Conclusion
There were no significant differences in anxiety, depression, and stress levels between groups. NSCL/P children parents and caregivers were less fear of COVID-19. There is a predilection for severe symptoms in the case group.
Clinical Relevance:
This is the first cross-sectional study analyzing fear of COVID-19 in NSCL/P children parents and caregivers. These people should receive greater attention by multiprofessional team due to the predisposition of illness in mental health.
Reduced graphene oxide / strontium titanate – investigation of improved photoactivity
Authors: Baran Tomasz , Wojtyła Szymon
Published: January 2023

Strontium titanate is a ternary n-type semiconductor that has recently been identified as a promising material for many photocatalytic applications such as degradation of organic pollutants or oxygen evolution reaction, especially because of high durability. However, SrTiO3 has not demonstrated high photoactivity and therefore many approaches have been studied towards improving its photo-efficiency. One of them is combining it with graphene oxide, which demonstrated huge improvement in overall photocatalytic activity, and the reasons of this effect have not yet been fully identified. In this work, we characterize SrTiO3/ graphene oxide photomaterials synthesized by a straightforward hydrothermal procedure and for the first time report many of the quintessential material features that are relevant to improved photocatalytic activity towards photocatalytic degradation of toluene. Our results provide important insights into the efficiency of charge separation, carrier transport, and photostability.
Seismic risk assessment of transportation utilities in Jammu and Kashmir
Authors: Ansari Abdullah , Rao KS , Jain AK
Published: January 2023

Regarding passenger safety and road serviceability, the effects of earthquakes on underground transportation systems situated in seismically active regions yield a great challenge. The 345 km long Udhampur Srinagar Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project in Jammu and Kashmir is a railway track with underground tunnels that traverses the tectonically active area of the northwestern part of the Himalayas under difficult geological conditions. In this study, the Semi-Quantitative Seismic Risk Assessment (SQ-SRA) approach has been used to evaluate the seismic risk and post-seismic serviceability of this project. Out of the three alignment phases, the first one is accessible, the center one is accessible but requires repair, and the last one is inaccessible, according to the risk matrices. The majority of the tunnel sections in the last phase are situated near zones prone to landslides and large tectonic sources, and they also include extensively weathered rock mass, resulting in deformation, squeezing and cavity formation during the excavation process. The progressive effect of these issues increases the probability that these tunnels may get extensive damage, which would render the track segment inoperable under post-seismic conditions. The risk matrices and maps provided will serve as a valuable tool for directing track operations.
The effect of lifestyle on the mortality associated with respiratory diseases in the general population
Authors: Murano Hiroaki , Inoue Sumito , Sato Kento , Sato Masamichi , Igarashi Akira , Fujimoto Shouichi , Iseki Kunitoshi , Moriyama Toshiki , Shibagaki Yugo , Kasahara Masato , Narita Ichiei , Yamagata Kunihiro , Tsuruya Kazuhiko , Kondo Masahide , Asahi Koichi , Watanabe Tsuyoshi , Konta Tsuneo , Watanabe Masafumi
Published: January 2023

Lifestyle factors, including smoking habit, diet, and physical activity, affect the prognosis of various diseases. We elucidated the effect of lifestyle factors and health status on deaths from respiratory diseases in the general Japanese population using data from a community health examination database. Data of the nationwide screening program of the Specific Health Check-up and Guidance System (Tokutei-Kenshin), targeting the general population in Japan, from 2008 to 2010 were analyzed. The underlying causes of death were coded according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10. The hazard ratios of the incidence of mortality associated with respiratory disease were estimated using the Cox regression model. This study included 664,926 participants aged 40–74 years, who were followed up for 7 years. There were 8,051 deaths, including 1,263 (15.69%) deaths from respiratory diseases. The independent risk factors of mortality associated with respiratory diseases were male sex, older age, low body mass index, no exercise habit, slow walking speed, no drinking habit, smoking history, history of cerebrovascular diseases, high hemoglobin A1c and uric acid levels, low low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level, and proteinuria. Aging and decline of physical activity are significant risk factors for mortality associated with respiratory diseases, regardless of the smoking status.
A Prognostic Nomogram of postoperative colon mucinous adenocarcinoma: A Study of the US SEER Database and a Chinese Cohort
Authors: Liu Rui , Zhang Yinjie , Zhang Jiahui , Yan Jin
Published: January 2023

Background: Colon mucinous adenocarcinoma (MAC) is a special pathological type of colon cancer, but the prognosis model of overall survival (OS) of MAC is lacking. The purpose of this study is to construct a prediction model to predict the 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year OS of patients with MAC.
Methods: Patients with MAC from 2010 to 2019 were extracted from Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database in US. Patients with MAC from 2016 to 2021 were extracted from Sichuan Cancer Hospital in China and which worked as the external validation cohort. All patients from SEER database were randomly divided into a training cohort and an internal validation cohort at a ratio of 7:3. A prognostic model was established with Cox regression analysis in the training cohort, which was validated by validation cohorts. The predictive abilities of the constructed models were evaluated by the concordance indexes (C-indexes), calibration curves, and decision curve analysis (DCA).
Results: A total of 1539 patients from the SEER database and 116 patients from Sichuan Cancer Hospital in China were included in the study. Age, AJCC T status, lymph node ratio (LNR), AJCC M status, and grade were independently associated with the OS of MAC in the training set, which were used to establish a model. The C-indexes of 1-, 3- and 5-year were higher than 0.70 in the training cohort, internal validation cohort, and external validation cohort, indicating the powerful performance of the present model.
Conclusions: The prediction model constructed in present study could accurately predict the 1-, 3-, and 5-year OS prognosis of MAC. External and internal validation cohortsboth show that the model has excellent performance. The model can help clinicians make rational clinical decisions.
Inter VM communication aware virtual machine placement in IaaS cloud using modified Firefly Algorithm
Authors: Nuthakki Praveena , T Pavan Kumar
Published: January 2023

Cloud computing is a well-adapted model to deploy organizational computing workload to a remote datacentre infrastructure. The organizational workloads are processed in virtual servers. Virtual machines are hosted in physical servers using virtualization technology favors dynamic allocation resources and migration. In certain business use cases, a set of virtual servers are deployed to handle high-performance data-intensive computing workloads. These sets of virtual machines frequently need to communicate with one another to process the workload assigned called Inter VM communication. From the cloud provider's perspective, when the clusters are VMs are placed apart in different server racks, the inter VM communication has a negative impact on bandwidth usage and networking device utilization. At the same time, the performance of the application hosted in the VMs is degraded. Therefore, placing virtual machines close to each other, reducing impacts on networking devices is desired. In this research article, we propose a modified Firefly algorithm to place the virtual machine considering the flat tree network topology. The proposed algorithm is tested with different workloads represented in correlation coefficient and compared with Invasive Weed Optimization Algorithm IWO and Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm shows better performance in terms of a number of servers used and the data transfer rate.
New Polyconvolution Product for Fourier-cosine and Laplace Integral Operators and Their Applications
Authors: TUAN TRINH
Published: January 2023

The goal of this paper is to introduce a new polyconvolution for Fourier-cosine, Laplace integral operators, and its applications. The structure of polyconvolution operator and associated integral transforms is investigated in detail. The Watson-type theorem is given, to establish necessary and sufficient conditions for this operator to be unitary on L2(R), and to get its inverse represented in the conjugate symmetric form. The correlation between the existence of polyconvolution with some weighted spaces is shown, and Young’s type theorem, as well as the norm-inequalities in weighted space, are also obtained. As applications of the Fourier cosine–Laplace polyconvolution, the solvability in closed-form of some classes for integral equations of Toeplitz plus Hankel type and integro-differential equations of Barbashin type is also considered. Several examples are provided for illustrating the obtained results to ensure their validity and applicability.
Determination of thermally deteriorated oil re-used as adulterants in sunflower oil using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy
Authors: Bunaciu Andrei A. , Hoang Vu Dang , ABOUL-ENEIN Hassan
Published: January 2023

Sunflower oil (SFO) is preferably chosen for frying because it gets soaked less and is very light. Nevertheless, there is a possibility that SFO is adulterated with thermally deteriorated oil re-used such as the leftover oil after the frying process of meat with breadcrumbs (TDO A) and potatoes (TDO B). It may be very harmful to our health and the environment, requiring a fast and reliable screening test for such adulterants. In this study, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy based on the attenuated total reflectance (ATR-FITR) sampling technique was studied for the direct determination of TDOA and TDO B as adulterants in SFO-TDO binary mixtures. Our proposed quantification methods were based on the simple linear regression analysis of IR spectral intensity (peak height or peak area) at the wavenumber 1746 cm − 1 on adulterant concentration 0 ÷ 10% (v/v) (R2 > 0.990). They proved to be accurate (% recovery in the range of 98.0 ÷ 101.1%), precise (RSD < 2.7%) and technically simple (total analysis time of 5–10 min).
Adaptive Force of hamstring muscles is reduced in patients with knee osteoarthritis compared to asymptomatic controls
Authors: Schaefer Laura V , Dech Silas , Carnarius Friederike , Rönnert Florian , Bittmann Frank N , Becker Roland
Published: January 2023

Quadriceps strength deficits are known for patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA). Hamstring muscles has been less often investigated and findings are not as clear as for knee extensors. In regard of OA, the neuromuscular function in the sense of Adaptive Force (AF) has never been examined before. The maximal isometric AF (AFisomax) was previously considered to be especially vulnerable to disruptive stimuli. The present study investigated AF parameters and the maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) of hamstring muscles bilaterally of 20 knee OA patients (ART) compared to 19 asymptomatic controls (CON). For each side, MVIC was captured before and after AF measurements. Five AF trials were performed using a pneumatically driven device. Participants should maintain an isometric position despite an increasing load of the device. After reaching AFisomax, the muscle merged into eccentric muscle action whereby the force increased further to the maximal AF (AFmax). All torque parameters (normalized to body mass) were significantly lower in ART vs. CON for both sides with mostly very large effect sizes. MVIC deficits amounted 28% for the more and 30% for the less affected/asymptomatic side. AFmax showed deficits of 36% and 32% and AFisomax of 37% and 24%, respectively. The reduction of AFisomax was not as high as expected, especially compared to MVIC or AFmax. The ratio AFmax to MVIC was significantly lower for the more affected side of ART (84 ± 17%) vs. CON (95 ± 7%). This indicates that OA patients could fetch less of their maximal strength during eccentric action compared to controls. The not confirmed hypothesized stronger deficits in maximal holding capacity (AFisomax) could result from the seating measurement position, in which a knee strain relief was present. This might have reduced inhibitory nociceptive effects which were expected to lead to even higher deficits for the holding capacity. The results suggest that general hamstrings strength deficits are present in ART vs. CON, which might be due to nociceptive inhibitory effects or to a generally lower load of lower extremity due to higher inactivity of OA patients.
De novo transcriptome analysis and identification of defensive genes in garlic (Allium sativum L.) using high-throughput sequencing
Authors: Prajapati Malyaj R , Singh Jitender , Kumar Pankaj , Dixit Rekha
Published: January 2023

Background: Garlic (Allium sativum L.) is the second most widely cultivated Allium which is mainly grown in temperate regions and used as a flavouring agent in wide variety of foods. Garlic contains various bioactive compounds whose metabolic pathways, plant pathogen interactions, defensive genes, identify interaction networks and functional genomics was not previously predicted in the garlic at genomic level. To address this issue, we constructed two garlic Illumina 2000 libraries from tissues of garlic clove and leaf.
Results: Approximately 43 million 125 bp paired-end reads were obtained in the two libraries. A total of 239,973 contigs were generated by de novo assembly of both samples and were compared with the sequences in NCBI non-redundant protein database. In total, 42% of contigs were matched to known proteins in public databases including Nr, GO and COG and then contigs were mapped to 138 via functional annotation against the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway database (KEGG). In addition, a number of regulatory genes including CCHC(Zn) family, followed by WD40, bromodomain, bZIP, AP2-EREBP, BED-type (Zn) proteins and defense response proteins related different conserved domains, such as RGA3, NBS-LRR, TIR-NBS-LRR, LRR, NBS-ARC, and CC-NBS-LRR. were discovered based on transcriptome dataset. We compared the ortholog gene family of the A. sativum transcriptome to A. thaliana, O. sativa and Z. mays and found that 12,077 orthologous gene families are specific to A. sativum L. Furthermore, we identified genes involved in plant defense mechanism, their protein-protein interaction network and plant pathogen interaction pathways.
Conclusions: Our study contains an extensive sequencing and functional gene-annotation analysis of A. sativum L. The findings provide insights into molecular basis of TFs, defensive gene and a reference for future studies on the genetics and breeding of A. sativum L.