bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
CRID3 , a blocker of apoptosis associated speck like protein containing a card, ameliorates murine spinal cord injury by improving local immune microenvironment
Authors: Chen Yu-Qing , Wang Sai-Nan , Shi Yu-Jiao , Chen Jing , Ding Shu-Qin , Tang Jie , Shen Lin , Wang Rui , Ding Hai , Hu Jian-Guo , Lü He-zuo
Published: April 2020

Background: After spinal cord injury (SCI), destructive immune cell subsets are dominant in the local microenvironment, which are the important mechanism of injury. Studies have shown that inflammasomes play an important role in the inflammation following SCI, and apoptosis associated speck like protein containing a card (ASC) is the adaptor protein shared by inflammasomes. Therefore, we speculated that inhibiting ASC may improve the local microenvironment of injured spinal cord. In this study, CRID3, a blocker of ASC oligomerization, was used to study its effect on the local microenvironment and the possible role in neuroprotection following SCI.Methods: Murine SCI model was created using an Infinite Horizon impactor at T9 vertebral level with a force of 50 Kdynes and CRID3 (50 mg/kg) was intraperitoneally injected following injury. ASC and its downstream molecules in inflammasome signaling pathway were measured by western blot. The immune cell subsets were detected by immunohistofluorescence (IHF) and flow cytometry (FCM). The spinal cord fibrosis area, neuron survival, myelin preservation and functional recovery were assessed.Results: Following SCI, CRID3 administration inhibited inflammasome-related ASC and caspase-1, IL-1β and IL-18 activation, which consequently suppressed M1 microglia, Th1 and Th1Th17 differentiation, and increased M2 microglia and Th2 differentiation. Accordingly, the improved histology and behavior also been found.Conclusions: CRID3 may ameliorates murine SCI by inhibiting inflammasome activation, reducing proinflammatory factor production, restoring immune cell subset balance and improving local immune microenvironment, and early administration may be a promising therapeutic strategy for SCI.
Trends in breast cancer incidence in Ho Chi Minh City 1996 - 2015: a registry-based study
Authors: Pham Dung X. , Ho Thao-Quyen H. , Bui Tung D. , Ho-Pham Lan T. , Nguyen Tuan V.
Published: April 2020

Background and Aims: The burden of breast cancer in Vietnam has not been documented. This study sought to estimate the incidence of breast cancer in Ho Chi Minh City, the largest economic center of Vietnam, from 1996 to 2015.Methods: This was a population-based study using the Ho Chi Minh City Cancer Registry as a source of data (coverage period: 1996 - 2015). The Registry adopted the International Classification of Diseases for Oncology, 3rd Edition for the classification of primary sites and morphology, and guidelines from the International Agency for Research on Cancer and the International Association of Cancer Registries. Using the population statistics from census data of Ho Chi Minh City, the point incidence of breast cancer for each 5-year period was estimated. Based on the national population, we calculated the age-standardized rate (ASR) of breast cancer between 1996 and 2015.Results: Overall 14,222 new cases of breast cancer (13,498 women, or 95%) had been registered during the 1996-2015 period; among whom, just over half (52%) were in the 2nd stage, and 26% in the 3rd and and 4th stages. In women, the median age at diagnosis was 50 years and there was a slight increase over time. The age-standardized incidence rate of breast cancer during 2011-2015 period was 21.5 cases per 100,000 women, representing an increase of 70% compared to the rate in 1996-2000 period. In men, there was also a significant increase in the age-standardized incidence rate: from 0.22 during the 1996-2001 period to 0.46 per 100,000 men during the 2011-2015 period.Conclusions: These very first data from Vietnam suggest that although the incidence of breast cancer in Vietnam remains relatively low, it has increased over time, and that the increase was mainly attributable to those age groups of 50 and 70.
Whole-genome sequencing of a Brazilian naturalized horse breed resistant to arid climate for identifying single nucleotide variants and insertions/deletions
Authors: Cardoso Danielle Cunha , Coelho Eduardo Geraldo Alves , Porto Brenda Neves , silva glacy , Pires Denea de Araújo Fernandes , Oliveira Denise Aparecida Andrade de
Published: April 2020

Background: In this study, we perform a search for variants (SNVs and InDels) in the genome of a Brazilian Naturalized horse breed, using FreeBayes and GATK variant calling tools. This breed presents exclusive adaptive traits of extreme importance to semi-arid conditions, such as those that allow survival under excessive sunlight, rainfall, low forage availability and stony ground. Moreover, these traits are expressed without any detriment to the performance and perpetuation of the breed. Results: A total of 305,588,364 reads were mapped in the horse reference genome, 1,598,210 single nucleotide variations and 138,139 insertions/deletions were detected by FreeBayes, 88,838 (SNVs) and 25,232 (InDels) by GATK. Both have been used in order to increase the safety of variant calls, identify in which regions of the genome they are present and check for variants in genes possibly associated with the peculiar traits exhibited by the breed. Conclusions: The variants annotation identified numerous non-synonymous SNVs and frameshift InDels, which could affect phenotypic variation. We found 28 and 392 Emsembl gene IDs containing high and moderate impact SNVs, including GTPase family members, olfactory receptors, mitochondrial complex and defense genes. Functional enrichment analysis was performed and revealed that variants in the olfactory transduction pathway were overrepresented.
Grey matter abnormalities in Tourette syndrome: an activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis
Authors: Wen Fang , Yan Junjuan , Yu Liping , Wang Fang , Liu Jingran , Li Ying , Cui Yonghua
Published: April 2020

Background: Tourette syndrome (TS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder defined by the continual presence of primary motor and vocal tics. Grey matter abnormalities have been identified in numerous studies of TS, but conflicting results have been reported. This study was an unbiased statistical meta-analysis of published neuroimaging studies of TS structures. Methods: A voxel quantitative meta-analysis technique called activation likelihood estimation (ALE) was used.The meta-analysis included six neuroimaging studies involving 247 TS patients and 236 healthy controls. A statistical threshold of p < 0.05 was established based on the false discovery rate and a cluster extent threshold of 50 voxels.Results: We found that grey matter volumes were significantly increased in the bilateral thalamus, right hypothalamus, right precentral gyrus, left postcentral gyrus, left inferior parietal lobule, right lentiform nucleus, and left insula of TS patients compared to those of healthy controls. In contrast, grey matter volumes were significantly decreased in the bilateral postcentral gyrus, bilateral anterior cingulate, bilateral insula, left posterior cingulate, and left postcentral gyrus of TS patients compared to those of healthy controls.Conclusions: Our present meta-analysis primarily revealed significant increases in grey matter volumes in the thalamus and lentiform nucleus, and decreased grey matter volumes in the anterior cingulate gyrus, of TS patients compared to those in healthy controls. Most of these identified regions are associated with cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical circuits. Further studies with larger sample sizes are needed to confirm these changes in grey matter volumes in TS patients.
Sleep and Its Importance for Health-Related Quality of Life in 3–10-year-old Children
Authors: Angelhoff Charlotte , Sundell Anna Lena
Published: April 2020

Purpose Considering the reports of increasing sleep problems in children, affecting health and well-being in young children and their families, we found it important to gain more knowledge about sleep and its correlation to health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in young, healthy children. The aim with this study was to describe sleep quality, sleep duration, and HRQoL in healthy 3–10-year-old children and to test associations between children’s sleep and HRQoL. Methods Parents of 160 children (average age: 6.9 years, SD ±2.2) participated in the study. Sleep onset problems (SOP), sleep maintenance problems (SMP), and sleep duration were measured by the Pediatric Insomnia Severity Index (PISI). KIDSCREEN-27 was used to measure HRQoL in five dimensions: physical well-being, psychological well-being, autonomy and parent relation, social support and peers, and school environment. Results The average score was 2.2 for SOP (SD +/-2.2) and 1.3 for SMP (SD +/-1.6). Almost all children (98%) slept between 8 and 13 hours per night. Younger children had statistically significantly more sleep problems than older children. Correlations were found between SOP and poor psychological well-being ( p < 0.05, ρ = - 0.16), and between SMP and poor psychological well-being ( p < 0.05, ρ = - 0.21), poor school environment ( p < 0.01, ρ = - 0.29), and poor social support and peers ( p < 0.05, ρ = - 0.19). Conclusion Children’s sleep associates with psychosocial well-being, school functioning and relations to peers, and need to be acknowledged in child health care settings and schools.
Prevalence and Socioeconomic inequalities trends in child health comparing within and between group inequalities: Food insecurity and malnutrition in Zimbabwe
Authors: Lukwa Akim Tafadzwa , Siya Aggrey , Zablon Karen Nelwin , Azam James , Alaba Olufunke A.
Published: April 2020

BackgroundInequalities in child health remain a threat to this global efforts to achieve universal health coverage. We assessed socioeconomic inequalities in child health focusing on malnutrition and food insecurity in Zimbabwe.MethodsWe used Demographic Health Survey (DHS) data sets of 2010\11 and 2015. Food insecurity in children was determined based on the WHO dietary diversity score. Minimum dietary diversity was defined by a cut- off point of >4 therefore, in this study children with less than 3 of the 13 food groups were defined as food insecure. Malnutrition was assessed using weight for age Z-score, with children whose weight-for-age Z-score below minus two standard deviations (-2 SD) from the median considered malnourished. Concentration indices were computed to understand if malnutrition was dominant among the poor or rich. The study used the Theil index and decomposed the index by population subgroups (geographical clusters and socioeconomic status).ResultsOver the study period, malnutrition prevalence increased by 1.03 percentage points (p.p) [2010/11(3.73%); 2015(4.76%)], while food insecurity prevalence decreased by 4.35p.p [2010/11(78.29%);2015(73.94)]. Prevalence of malnutrition and food insecurity increased by; 9.6p.p and 2p.p among poor children & 10.23p.p and 0.5p.p among rural children. Children from wealthy households were more likely to be food secure and children from poor households were more likely to be nutritious. For nutrition status, socioeconomic inequality gaps appeared to be widening as the concentration indices between the two time periods increased, while for food security status socioeconomic inequality gaps appeared to be contracting as the concentration indices between the two time periods reduced. Food security status showed contracting socioeconomic inequality gaps in both geographical clusters (urban & rural), while for nutrition status there were widening socioeconomic inequality gaps among urban children and contracting socioeconomic inequality gaps among rural children.ConclusionWithin-group inequalities are driving most of the socioeconomic inequalities in nutritional status and food security status among children in Zimbabwe. There is need for policies that focus on addressing within-group inequalities and direct food security interventions for food insecure children through availing food aid parcels especially for children from poor households irrespective of where they reside.
Recurrence of Positive SARS-CoV-2 Viral RNA in Recovered COVID-19 Patients During Medical Isolation Observation
Authors: Yuan Bo , Liu Han-Qing , Yang Zheng-Rong , Chen Yong-Xin , Liu Zhi-Yong , Zhang Kai , Wang Cheng , Li Wei-Xin , An Ya-Wen , Wang Jian-Chun , Song Shuo
Published: April 2020

Recently, the recurrence of positive SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA in recovered COVID-19 patients get more attention. Here we report a cohort study on the follow up of 182 recovered patients under medical isolation observation. There are 20 (10.99 %) patients out of the 182 were detected SARS-CoV-2 RNA turned positive, but none of them shows any clinical symptomatic recurrence indicating that COVID-19 has a good prognosis. Females and young patients aged under 15 have higher re-positive rate than the average, and none of the severe patients turned re-positive. Notably, most of the re-positive cases turn negative in the followed tests, suggesting that the importance of dynamic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 RNA for infectivity assessment.
Contractility and electroexcitability of isolated myocardium of right ventricular of rat heart depending on estrous cycle and pregnancy
Authors: Korotaeva Yuliya , Nozdrachev Alexander , Tsyrkin Viktor
Published: April 2020

It is known that women and rats have increased minute volume of blood flow (MV) during pregnancy. It is believed that this is due to an increase in heart rate. This remains unclear — whether pregnancy increases myocardial contractility (and consequently increases the stroke volume). There are no data on changes of myocardium electroexcitability during pregnancy. To clarify these issues, experiments were conducted on strips of right ventricular of 94 nonpregnant and 45 pregnant rats. The strips were perfused with Krebs solution at 37 °C, which is preenriched by pure oxygen, and after 30 minutes of adaptation evaluated force of contractions. They are caused by electrostimulation (5 ms, 1 Hz, 20 V) applied transmural. Then determined the excitation threshold, i.e, minimum voltage (V), wherein a single stimul (5 ms) induced contraction. It was found that the force of contraction (mN, mN/mg wet weight or mN/mg dry weight of strips ) and the excitation threshold do not depend on the phase of the estrous cycle, pregnancy, and the availability of its terms. This means that during pregnancy contractility of right ventricle of rats myocardial does not change, and even tends to decrease. Therefore, increasing of MV during pregnancy, most likely due to an increase in heart rate. It was also established that at the end of pregnancy water content increases (on 12 %) in the myocardium (perhaps by increasing the expression of aquaporins in cardiomyocytes) which is regarded as a reflection of adaptation. Refs 41. Figs 4.
Herbarium collections and publications as a basis for analysis of red-listed vascular plant records in the Leningrad region for the whole period of botanical observations
Authors: Sukristik Victor , Sumina Olga , Sorokina Irina
Published: April 2020

Herbarium collections are a valuable information source for a comprehensive analysis of regional plant biodiversity including dynamics of red-listed species. With the use of records in the Leningrad region (herbarium collections since the 18th century and scientific publications over the period from 2000 to 2014) a database of red-listed vascular plants was created. The database consists of 6745 unique records dating from 1779 to 2014. The changes in collection effort and distribution of floristic observations of the Leningrad region which have occurred over the last 200 years are demonstrated. The South-West districts of the region remain the most observed, and Eastern areas are still less studied during the whole period. The other biases caused by and limitations in using the records are discussed. Refs 27. Figs 3.
Decentralized ellipsoidal state estimation for linear model predictive control of an irrigation canal
Authors: Rodriguez L. P. , Maestre J. M. , Camacho E. F. , Sánchez M. C.
Published: April 2020

A centralized linear MPC is used to stabilize an irrigation system whose operation is represented by an integrator-delay model. Since not all the state variables can be measured, a decentralized ellipsoidal estimation strategy is proposed. This approach keeps the quality of a centralized estimation and reduces significantly the computation time for the systems considered. An adaptation of Test Canal 1, developed by the ASCE Task Committee on Canal Automation Algorithms, is used as a case study to show the performance of the proposed methodology.
Prediction and analysis of non-stationary runoff extreme sequence based on ESMD combination prediction model
Authors: Li Yi-zhen , Yue Chun-fang
Published: April 2020

With increasingly severe climate changes and intensified human activities, it is more and more difficult to predict the non-stationary extreme runoff series accurately. In this research, based on the ‘decomposition-prediction-reconstruction’ model, an instantaneous frequency distribution map was used to measure the effect of empirical mode decomposition (EMD), ensemble empirical mode decomposition, complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition and extreme-point symmetric mode decomposition (ESMD) in dealing with mode mixing; appropriate prediction methods for each component were selected to form a combined prediction model; and the advantages of a combined prediction model based on ESMD were compared and analyzed with the following results acquired: (1) ESMD can address the mode mixing problem with EMD; (2) particle swarm optimization-least squares support vector machine, autoregressive model (1) and random forest are suitable for high-/medium-/low-frequency components and the residual components R; (3) the results of the combined prediction model are better than those of the single ones; and (4) the prediction effect of the combined prediction model is the best under ESMD decomposition, and the prediction errors of the runoff extreme value sequence can be reduced by about 58–80% compared with the three other decomposition methods. Moreover, as demonstrated in this study, the combined prediction model based on ESMD can effectively predict the non-stationary extreme runoff series, while providing reference for forecasting other non-stationary time series.
Study on the Mechanism of Selective Interaction of BR3 and BCMA with BAFF and APRIL
Authors: Li Luoman , Jiang Yaxin , Su LiLi , Feng Deming , Wei Jing , Sun Jian
Published: April 2020

Background:

B-cell activating factor (BAFF) and a proliferation-inducing ligand
(APRIL) can activate signaling pathways by binding to specific receptors. BR3 (BAFF receptor)
shows a unique selectivity for BAFF ligand, while B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) exhibits a
stronger interaction between APRIL-BCMA rather than BAFF-BCMA interaction.

Objective:

The combined domains were fused with IgG1 Fc to better understand which domain
affects the selective interaction of the receptor with BAFF and APRIL.

Methods:

Since BR3 and BCMA both contain cysteine-rich repeat domains (CRD) with DxL
motif, the binding domains of BR3 and BCMA were segmented into two parts in this study. BR3-1
(CFDLLVRHGVAC) and BCMA-1 (YFDSLLHACIPC) contained the conservative DxL motif,
while BR3-2 (GLLRTPRPKPA) and BCMA-2 (QLRCSSNTPPLT) were adjacent to the CRDs yet
still joined with BR3-1 and BCMA-1. Affinity between all possible combinations was then tested.

Results:

The affinity of BR3-1-BCMA-2-Fc and BR3-1-BR3-2-Fc for BAFF was higher than
BCMA-1-BR3-2-Fc and BCMA-1-BCMA-2-Fc. Moreover, BR3-1-BCMA-2-Fc and BCMA-1-BCMA-
2-Fc had affinity for APRIL, while BR3-1-BR3-2-Fc and BCMA-1-BR3-2-Fc hardly interacted
with APRIL.

Conclusion:

BR3-1 region played a key role for interaction with BAFF, while BCMA-1 region
exhibited weaker binding with BAFF. BCMA-2 region having an α-helix might contribute towards
selectivity of APRIL-BCMA binding and BR3-2 rigid region had deleterious effects on the
APRIL-BR3 interaction. These results provide comprehensive insights of the mechanism of selective
interactions, and may promote specific antagonist design in the future.
Pro-inflammatory Cytokines in Acute Coronary Syndromes
Authors: Mourouzis Konstantinos , Oikonomou Evangelos , Siasos Gerasimos , Tsalamadris Sotiris , Vogiatzi Georgia , Antonopoulos Alexios , Fountoulakis Petros , Goliopoulou Athina , Papaioannou Spyridon , Tousoulis Dimitris
Published: April 2020

Background:

Over the last decades, the role of inflammation and immune system activation in the initiation and progression of coronary artery disease (CAD) has been established.

Objectives:

The study aimed to present the interplay between cytokines and their actions preceding and shortly after ACS.

Methods:

We searched in a systemic manner the most relevant articles to the topic of inflammation, cytokines, vulnerable plaque and myocardial infarction in MEDLINE, COCHRANE and EMBASE databases.

Results:

Different classes of cytokines (intereleukin [IL]-1 family, Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) family, chemokines, adipokines, interferons) are implicated in the entire process leading to destabilization of the atherosclerotic plaque, and consequently, to the incidence of myocardial infarction. Especially IL-1 and TNF-α family are involved in inflammatory cell accumulation, vulnerable plaque formation, platelet aggregation, cardiomyocyte apoptosis and adverse remodeling following the myocardial infarction. Several cytokines such as IL-6, adiponectin, interferon-γ, appear with significant prognostic value in ACS patients. Thus, research interest focuses on the modulation of inflammation in ACS to improve clinical outcomes.

Conclusion:

Understanding the unique characteristics that accompany each cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction could illuminate the signaling pathways involved in plaque destabilization and indicate future treatment strategies to improve cardiovascular prognosis in ACS patients.
Association of High-Mobility Group Box-1 with Inflammationrelated Cytokines in the Aqueous Humor with Acute Primary Angle-Closure Eyes
Authors: He Wenjing , Xu Fan , Chen Lifei , Huang Wei , Jiang Li , Tang Fen , Yan Wenya , Zhong Shan , Shen Chaolan , Huang Hui , Lv Jian , Wu Xiaonian , Zeng Siming , Li Min , Zhang Mingyuan
Published: April 2020

Aim:

The aim of this study was to measure the levels of High-mobility group
box-1 (HMGB1) and inflammation-related cytokines in the aqueous humor of patients
with acute primary angle-closure glaucoma (APAG) and age-related cataract eyes
(ARC).

Methods:

Aqueous humor samples were obtained from 59 eyes of 59 Chinese subjects
(APAG, 32 eyes; and ARC, 27eyes). The multiplex bead immunoassay technique was
used to measure the levels of HMGB1 and IL-8, IL-6, G-CSF, MCP-3, VEGF, sVEGFR-
1, sVEFGR-2, TNF-α, PDGF, and IL-10 in aqueous. The data of Patients’ demographics
and preoperative intraocular pressure (IOP) were also collected for detailed analysis.

Results:

The APAG group showed significantly elevated concentrations of HMGB1, IL-
8, IL-6, G-CSF, VEGF, sVEGFR-1, and TNF-α than those in the ARC group. Aqueous
HMGB1 level correlated significantly with IOP, IL-8, IL-6, G-CSF and sVEGFR-1 levels
but not with age, TNF-α, or VEGF levels.

Conclusions:

The aqueous level of HMGB1 is elevated in APAG and associated with
aqueous level of inflammation-related cytokines, suggesting an association between
elevated levels of HMGB1, APAC and certain inflammatory modulators which, of course,
should lead to further investigations in order to demonstrate the cause and effect.
What About Drug Checking? Systematic Review and Netnographic Analysis of Social Media
Authors: Guirguis Amira , Moosa Isma , Gittins Rosalind , Schifano Fabrizio
Published: April 2020

Drug checking services have been operating worldwide as a harm reduction tool in
places like festivals and night clubs. A systematic review and netnographic analysis were conducted
to explore the public’s perception of drug checking. Although public perceptions of drug checking
had not previously been evaluated in the literature, some positive and negative perceptions were
captured. From twitter, a total of 1316 tweets were initially identified. Following the removal of
irrelevant tweets, 235 relevant tweets were identified, of which about 95% (n = 223) tweets were in
favour, and about 5% (n = 12) were not in favour of drug checking as a harm reduction intervention.
Tweets perceived the service as part of effective law reform, public health intervention that
serves in raising awareness and countering the role of the internet, initiative to reduce drug related
harms and/ or potentially deaths, help in identifying Novel drug trends related to drugs, enabling a
scientific basis to capture data, reducing harm from risky drugs or risky consumption, reducing the
economic and social burden on society and preventing young people from having criminal records
and punitive fines. Drug checking was perceived to support engagement with treatment services and
support individuals in making more informed decisions. Tweets against drug checking focussed on
the concerns over the quality of drug checking, particularly with false-positive results, which may
lead to punitive outcomes, discrimination, and prejudice. The present study showed that twitter can
be a useful platform to capture people’s perceptions of drug checking.
Depression as an Immunometabolic Disorder: Exploring Shared Pharmacotherapeutics with Cardiovascular Disease
Authors: Chávez-Castillo Mervin , Nava Manuel , Ortega Ángel , Rojas Milagros , Núñez Victoria , Salazar Juan , Bermúdez Valmore , Rojas-Quintero Joselyn
Published: April 2020

Modern times have seen depression and cardiovascular disease (CVD) become notorious
public health concerns, corresponding to alarming proportions of morbidity, mortality, decreased
quality of life, and economic costs. Expanding comprehension of the pathogenesis of depression as
an immunometabolic disorder has identified numerous pathophysiologic phenomena in common
with CVD, including chronic inflammation, insulin resistance, and oxidative stress. These shared
components could be exploited to offer improved alternatives in the joint management of these
conditions. Abundant preclinical and clinical data on the impact of established treatments for CVD
in the management of depression have allowed for potential candidates to be proposed for the joint
management of depression and CVD as immunometabolic disorders. However, a large proportion
of the clinical investigation currently available exhibits marked methodological flaws which preclude
the formulation of concrete recommendations in many cases. This situation may be a reflection
of pervasive problems present in clinical research in psychiatry, especially pertaining to study
homogeneity. Therefore, further high-quality research is essential in the future in this regard.
The Warburg Effect on Cancer Cells Survival: The Role of Sugar Starvation in Cancer Therapy
Authors: Zam Wissam , Ahmed Imtissal , Yousef Haneen
Published: April 2020

Background::

Cancer is not just one disease; it is a group of diseases either genetic or
metabolic due to the malfunction of mitochondria. Thus, metabolic pathways are reprogrammed to
satisfy tumor cell proliferation and survival requirements.

Methods:

We undertook a structured search of bibliographic databases for peer-reviewed research
literature dealing with these metabolic pathways.

Results:

It was found that cancer cells prefer fermentation as a source of energy even in the presence
of oxygen, this altered metabolism of cancer cells may confer a selective advantage for survival
and proliferation according to the Warburg effect. Furthermore, some molecules like HIF, PKM2,
NADPH and others are essential to the survival of cancer cells in the hypoxic abnormal environment
which has limited glucose sources.

Conclusion:

As cancer cells use glucose for aerobic glycolysis as a preferred substrate for energyyielding
metabolism, we discuss in this review the Warburg effect and a strategy of starving cancer
cells from glucose to prevent cancer cell survival and induce apoptosis in various types of cancer
which could be the key to future treatment.
Big Data Sentimental Analysis Using Document to Vector and Optimized Support Vector Machine
Authors: Mahmood Sozan Abdulla , Qasim Qani Qabil
Published: April 2020

With the rapid evolution of the internet, using social media networks such as Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr, is becoming so common that they have made a great impact on every aspect of human life. Twitter is one of the most popular micro-blogging social media that allow people to share their emotions in short text about variety of topics such as company’s products, people, politics, and services. Analyzing sentiment could be possible as emotions and reviews on different topics are shared every second, which makes social media to become a useful source of information in different fields such as business, politics, applications, and services. Twitter Application Programming Interface (Twitter-API), which is an interface between developers and Twitter, allows them to search for tweets based on the desired keyword using some secret keys and tokens. In this work, Twitter-API used to download the most recent tweets about four keywords, namely, (Trump, Bitcoin, IoT, and Toyota) with a different number of tweets. “Vader” that is a lexicon rule-based method used to categorize downloaded tweets into “Positive” and “Negative” based on their polarity, then the tweets were protected in Mongo database for the next processes. After pre-processing, the hold-out technique was used to split each dataset to 80% as “training-set” and rest 20% “testing-set.” After that, a deep learning-based Document to Vector model was used for feature extraction. To perform the classification task, Radial Bias Function kernel-based support vector machine (SVM) has been used. The accuracy of (RBF-SVM) mainly depends on the value of hyperplane “Soft Margin” penalty “C” and γ “gamma” parameters. The main goal of this work is to select best values for those parameters in order to improve the accuracy of RBF-SVM classifier. The objective of this study is to show the impacts of using four meta-heuristic optimizer algorithms, namely, particle swarm optimizer (PSO), modified PSO (MPSO), grey wolf optimizer (GWO), and hybrid of PSO-GWO in improving SVM classification accuracy by selecting the best values for those parameters. To the best of our knowledge, hybrid PSO-GWO has never been used in SVM optimization. The results show that these optimizers have a significant impact on increasing SVM accuracy. The best accuracy of the model with traditional SVM was 87.885%. After optimization, the highest accuracy obtained with GWO is 91.053% while PSO, hybrid PSO-GWO, and MPSO best accuracies are 90.736%, 90.657%, and 90.557%, respectively.
Effects of a Combination of Three-Dimensional Virtual Reality and Hands-on Horticultural Therapy on Institutionalized Older Adults’ Physical and Mental Health: Quasi-Experimental Design (Preprint)
Authors: Lin Tsung-Yi , Huang Chiu-Mieh , Hsu Hsiao-Pei , Liao Jung-Yu , Cheng Vivian Ya-Wen , Wang Shih-Wen , Guo Jong-Long
Published: April 2020

BACKGROUND

Institutionalized older adults have limited ability to engage in horticultural activities that can improve their physical and mental health.

OBJECTIVE

This study explored the effects of a combination of 3D virtual reality and horticultural therapy on institutionalized older adults’ physical and mental health.

METHODS

The study used a quasi-experimental design. A total of 106 older adults from 2 long-term care facilities were recruited and assigned to the experimental (n=59) or control (n=47) group. The experimental participants received a 9-week intervention. Both groups completed 3 assessments: at baseline, after the intervention, and 2 months later. The outcome variables included health status, meaning in life, perceived mattering, loneliness, and depression.

RESULTS

The experimental group demonstrated significantly improved health status (P<.001), meaning in life (P<.001), and perceived mattering (P<.001) as well as significantly reduced depression (P<.001) and loneliness (P<.001) compared to the control group immediately after the intervention; these effects persisted for up to 2 months.

CONCLUSIONS

This study verified the beneficial effects of a combination of 3D virtual reality and hands-on horticultural therapy on older adults’ health. These results could support the future successful implementation of similar programs for institutionalized older adults on a larger scale.
Internet Use and Psychosomatic Symptoms Among University Students: Cross-Sectional Study (Preprint)
Authors: Stiglic Gregor , Masterson Creber Ruth , Cilar Leona
Published: April 2020

BACKGROUND

Today, more than a billion people have access to the internet. Although the internet facilitates access to a wide range of knowledge and evidence, overuse among young people is associated with poor mental health outcomes and psychosomatic symptoms.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this cross-sectional study is to explore the relationship between internet use and psychosomatic symptoms among university students in Slovenia.

METHODS

We used correlation matrix plots to identify correlated symptoms, and multivariate logistic regression to analyze the relationship between the time spent on the internet or computer and psychosomatic symptoms controlling for gender. Symptoms were measured by the Health Behavior of School Children scale and classified as either somatic (headache, stomachache, back ache, feeling dizzy) or psychological (feeling low, irritability, bad tempered and feeling nervous). The difference in psychological and somatic symptoms was also observed between computer science and healthcare students.

RESULTS

Out of 464 students, the majority (64.7%, n = 300) were healthcare students and 35.3% (n = 164) were computer science students. Among somatic symptoms, headaches were associated with more time spent on the computer (r = -.17, P < .001), and were significantly more prevalent in computer science students compared to health science students (χ2(1) = 8.52, P = .004). Time spent using the internet for spare time activities was associated with lower nervousness (r = .15, P = .005). Computer science students reported more frequent psychological symptoms compared to health science students and less somatic symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

Extended use of the internet among students is associated with a higher frequency of headaches but is not associated with a high burden of either somatic or psychological symptoms. Among students who spend time on the internet in their spare time, they also reported lower levels of nervousness.

CLINICALTRIAL

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Implementing Psychological Interventions Through Nonspecialist Providers and Telemedicine in High-Income Countries: Qualitative Study from a Multistakeholder Perspective (Preprint)
Authors: Singla Daisy Radha , Lemberg-Pelly Sasha , Lawson Andrea , Zahedi Nika , Thomas-Jacques Tyla , Dennis Cindy-Lee
Published: April 2020

BACKGROUND

Task sharing has been used worldwide to improve access to mental health care, where nonspecialist providers—individuals with no formal training in mental health—have been trained to effectively treat perinatal depressive and anxiety symptoms. Little formative research has been conducted to examine relevant barriers and facilitators of nonspecialist providers and the use of telemedicine in treatment service delivery.

OBJECTIVE

The primary objective of this study was to examine the main barriers and facilitators of nonspecialist provider–delivered psychological treatments for perinatal populations with common mental health disorders, such as depression and anxiety, from a multistakeholder perspective.

METHODS

This study took place in Toronto, Canada. In total, 33 in-depth interviews were conducted with multiple stakeholder groups (women with lived experience and their significant others, as well as health and mental health professionals). Qualitative data were quantified to estimate commonly endorsed themes within and across stakeholder groups.

RESULTS

Psychological treatments delivered by nonspecialist providers were considered acceptable by the vast majority of participants (30/33, 90%). Across all stakeholder groups, nurses (20/33, 61%) and midwives (14/33, 42%) were the most commonly endorsed cadre of nonspecialist providers. The majority of stakeholders (32/33, 97%) were amenable to nonspecialist providers delivering psychological treatment via telemedicine (27/33, 82%), although concerns were raised about the ability to establish a therapeutic alliance via telemedicine (16/33, 48%). Empathy was the most desired characteristic of a nonspecialist provider (61%). Patient and patient advocate stakeholders were more likely to emphasize stigma as an important barrier to accessing psychological treatments (7/12, 58%), compared to clinicians (2/9, 22%) and spouses (1/5, 20%). Clinician stakeholders were more likely to emphasize the importance of ensuring nonspecialist providers were trained to deliver psychological treatments (3/9, 33%), compared to other stakeholder groups.

CONCLUSIONS

These results can inform the design, implementation, and integration of nonspecialist-delivered interventions via telemedicine for women with perinatal depressive and anxiety symptoms in high-income country contexts.
Mining Physicians’ Opinions on Social Media to Obtain Insights Into COVID-19: Mixed Methods Analysis (Preprint)
Authors: Wahbeh Abdullah , Nasralah Tareq , Al-Ramahi Mohammad , El-Gayar Omar
Published: April 2020

BACKGROUND

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is considered to be the most daunting public health challenge in decades. With no effective treatments and with time needed to develop a vaccine, alternative approaches are being used to control this pandemic.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this paper was to identify topics, opinions, and recommendations about the COVID-19 pandemic discussed by medical professionals on the Twitter social medial platform.

METHODS

Using a mixed methods approach blending the capabilities of social media analytics and qualitative analysis, we analyzed COVID-19–related tweets posted by medical professionals and examined their content. We used qualitative analysis to explore the collected data to identify relevant tweets and uncover important concepts about the pandemic using qualitative coding. Unsupervised and supervised machine learning techniques and text analysis were used to identify topics and opinions.

RESULTS

Data were collected from 119 medical professionals on Twitter about the coronavirus pandemic. A total of 10,096 English tweets were collected from the identified medical professionals between December 1, 2019 and April 1, 2020. We identified eight topics, namely actions and recommendations, fighting misinformation, information and knowledge, the health care system, symptoms and illness, immunity, testing, and infection and transmission. The tweets mainly focused on needed actions and recommendations (2827/10,096, 28%) to control the pandemic. Many tweets warned about misleading information (2019/10,096, 20%) that could lead to infection of more people with the virus. Other tweets discussed general knowledge and information (911/10,096, 9%) about the virus as well as concerns about the health care systems and workers (909/10,096, 9%). The remaining tweets discussed information about symptoms associated with COVID-19 (810/10,096, 8%), immunity (707/10,096, 7%), testing (605/10,096, 6%), and virus infection and transmission (503/10,096, 5%).

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings indicate that Twitter and social media platforms can help identify important and useful knowledge shared by medical professionals during a pandemic.
COVID-19: Putting the General Data Protection Regulation to the Test (Preprint)
Authors: McLennan Stuart , Celi Leo Anthony , Buyx Alena
Published: April 2020

UNSTRUCTURED

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is very much a global health issue and requires collaborative, international health research efforts to address it. A valuable source of information for researchers is the large amount of digital health data that are continuously collected by electronic health record systems at health care organizations. The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will be the key legal framework with regard to using and sharing European digital health data for research purposes. However, concerns persist that the GDPR has made many organizations very risk-averse in terms of data sharing, even if the regulation permits such sharing. Health care organizations focusing on individual risk minimization threaten to undermine COVID-19 research efforts. In our opinion, there is an ethical obligation to use the research exemption clause of the GDPR during the COVID-19 pandemic to support global collaborative health research efforts. Solidarity is a European value, and here is a chance to exemplify it by using the GDPR regulatory framework in a way that does not hinder but actually fosters solidarity during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Discovery of Potential Inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Main Protease (Mpro) from Nigella Sativa (Black Seed) by Molecular Docking Study (Preprint)
Authors: Khan Sharuk , Siddiqui Falak , Jain Shirish , Sonwane Gajanan , Borkar Vijay
Published: April 2020

BACKGROUND

Coronavirus disease is an infectious disease caused by a coronavirus. A new human coronavirus (HCoV), which has been labeled SARS-CoV-2, began spreading in December 2019 in Wuhan City, China triggering pneumonia termed as COVID-19. As of now till 3 April 2020; there were 972,640 confirmed cases, 50,325 confirmed deaths and 207 countries, areas or territories with cases around the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared this disease a pandemic. At present, there are no specific vaccines or treatments for COVID-19. However, there are many ongoing clinical trials evaluating potential treatments. From the literature of N. sativa, we came to know about its diverse biological activities. It has been observed that it contains a variety of chemical compounds that enables us to perform virtual screening against COVID-19 Mpro with the aid of molecular docking. So here in this present work, we have made an attempt to identify natural potential inhibitors of SARS-COVID-19 Mpro.

OBJECTIVE

A new human coronavirus (HCoV), triggering pneumonia termed as COVID-19. There is an alarming situation now as this new virus is spreading around the world. At present, there are no specific treatments for COVID-19. Nigella sativa is known as Prophetic Medicine as its use has been mentioned in Prophetic Hadit, as a natural remedy for all the diseases except death. The aim of this research is to provide a potential inhibitor of COVID-19 Mpro.

METHODS

The molecular docking tool was used to optimize the binding affinities of chemical constituents of N. sativa with SARS-COVID-19 Mpro.

RESULTS

Many constituents from N. Sativa have shown better binding affinity than reported drugs with SARS-COVID-19 Mpro i.e. alpha-hederin, Stigmasterol glucoside, Nigellidine-4-O-sulfite, Nigellidine, Sterol-3-β-D-glucoside, Dithymoquinone, beta-sitosterol have binding affinities (kcal/mol) -9, -8.1, -8, -7.7, -7.7, -7.4, -7.4, -6.9 and no. of hydrogen bonds formed are 06, 04, 03, 03, 03, 00 and 01 respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

There is rationale and pre-clinical evidence of effectiveness of N. Sativa that it may be helpful for the treatment of SARS-COVID-19 and can serve as potential natural candidate. However, more studies should be conducted to collect high quality data and scientific evidences of N. Sativa to use it against COVID-19 clinically.
Agile Requirements Engineering and Software Planning for a Digital Health Platform to Engage the Effects of Isolation Caused by Social Distancing: Case Study (Preprint)
Authors: Meinert Edward , Milne-Ives Madison , Surodina Svitlana , Lam Ching
Published: April 2020

BACKGROUND

Social distancing and shielding measures have been put in place to reduce social interaction and slow the transmission of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). For older people, self-isolation presents particular challenges for mental health and social relationships. As time progresses, continued social distancing could have a compounding impact on these concerns.

OBJECTIVE

This project aims to provide a tool for older people and their families and peers to improve their well-being and health during and after regulated social distancing. First, we will evaluate the tool’s feasibility, acceptability, and usability to encourage positive nutrition, enhance physical activity, and enable virtual interaction while social distancing. Second, we will be implementing the app to provide an online community to assist families and peer groups in maintaining contact with older people using goal setting. Anonymized data from the app will be aggregated with other real-world data sources to develop a machine learning algorithm to improve the identification of patients with COVID-19 and track for real time use by health systems.

METHODS

Development of this project is occurring at the time of publication, and therefore, a case study design was selected to provide a systematic means of capturing software engineering in progress. The app development framework for software design was based on agile methods. The evaluation of the app’s feasibility, acceptability and usability shall be conducted using Public Health England's guidance on evaluating digital health products, Bandura’s model of health promotion, the Reach Effectiveness Adoption Implementation Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework and the Nonadoption, Abandonment and Challenges to the Scale-up, Spread and Suitability (NASSS) framework.

RESULTS

Making use of a pre-existing software framework for health behavior change, a proof of concept was developed, and a multistage app development and deployment for the solution was created. Grant submissions to fund the project and study execution have been sought at the time of publication, and prediscovery iteration of the solution has begun. Ethical approval for a feasibility study design is being sought.

CONCLUSIONS

This case study lays the foundations for future app development to combat mental and societal issues arising from social distancing measures. The app will be tested and evaluated in future studies to allow continuous improvement of the app. This novel contribution will provide an evidence-based exemplar for future app development in the space of social isolation and loneliness.
E-Goverment Based Education Policy Innovation Through E-Panrita Applications (online Attendance Study For Teacher at SMAN 3 Luwu)
Authors: Rahman Miftahul , Mustari Nuryanti , Novitasari Novitasari , Atirah Sitti
Published: April 2020

Innovation and policy in the public sector are two terms that complement each other. Every policy, in principle, must in principle contain new innovations. This study aims to determine the innovation of E-Governmment-based educational policies through the application of E-Panrita on online attendance for teachers at SMAN 3 Luwu. This type of research is a qualitative research with descriptive research type with data collection techniques direct observation to the study site, in-depth interviews and documentation. The results showed that the innovation of the E-Panrita application is seen in the product, where in the E-Panrita application product there is a change in teacher absenteeism which previously teachers absent with a manual system is now now with an online system to facilitate the Disdik in monitoring teachers every day and the pre-existing facilities have met but still need improvement. Now the teachers can do the absence simply by using their mobile phones or gadgets. Furthermore, the method, in the form of a strategy in the innovation of E-Panrita policies such as socialization in each region. The supporting and inhibiting factors of E-Panrita application education policy innovation in online absenteeism for teachers at SMAN 3 Luwu are supporting factors including resources, regulations, teacher commitment and technology. Inhibiting factors include the network and individual understanding of the teacher.Keywords: Educational Policy, E-Government, E-Panrita