bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Correction of eIF2-dependent defects in brain protein synthesis, synaptic plasticity, and memory in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease
Authors: Oliveira Mauricio M. , Lourenco Mychael V. , Longo Francesco , Kasica Nicole P. , Yang Wenzhong , Ureta Gonzalo , Ferreira Danielle D. P. , Mendonça Paulo H. J. , Bernales Sebastian , Ma Tao , De Felice Fernanda G. , Klann Eric , Ferreira Sergio T.
Published: February 2021

Treatments that promote protein synthesis in the brain may preserve cognition in Alzheimer’s disease.
Location, location, location: A compartmentalized view of TNF-induced necroptotic signaling
Authors: Samson André L. , Garnish Sarah E. , Hildebrand Joanne M. , Murphy James M.
Published: February 2021

Signaling events in distinct subcellular locations determine whether MLKL mediates necroptosis.
Activating T cells with asparagine
Authors: Wong Wei
Published: February 2021

Extracellular asparagine stimulates Lck to promote T cell responses to cancer cells and infection.
In Vitro
Activity and
In Vivo
Efficacy of Cefiderocol against Stenotrophomonas maltophilia
Authors: Nakamura Rio , Oota Merime , Matsumoto Shuhei , Sato Takafumi , Yamano Yoshinori
Published: February 2021

Cefiderocol is a novel siderophore cephalosporin antibiotic with broad coverage against difficult-to-treat Gram-negative bacteria, including those resistant to carbapenems. Its activity against
Stenotrophomonas maltophilia
was investigated
in vitro
against clinical isolates and in lung infection models using strains either resistant (SR202006) or susceptible (SR201934, SR200614) to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole.
Alteration in Acute Kidney Injury Potential with the Combination of Vancomycin and Imipenem-Cilastatin/Relebactam or Piperacillin/Tazobactam in a Preclinical Model
Authors: He Miao , Souza Ernane , Matvekas Aleksas , Crass Ryan L. , Pai Manjunath P.
Published: February 2021

The risk of vancomycin (VAN)-associated acute kidney injury (AKI) may be altered with combination regimens. The specific AKI risk when VAN is combined with imipenem-cilastatin/relebactam (IMP-C/REL) or piperacillin/tazobactam (TZP) has not been clearly defined.
Understanding the Impact of Resistance to Influenza Antivirals
Authors: Holmes Edward C. , Hurt Aeron C. , Dobbie Zuzana , Clinch Barry , Oxford John S. , Piedra Pedro A.
Published: February 2021

Influenza poses a significant burden on society and health care systems. Although antivirals are an integral tool in effective influenza management, the potential for the emergence of antiviral-resistant viruses can lead to uncertainty and hesitation among front-line prescribers and policy makers.
Holin-Dependent Secretion of the Large Clostridial Toxin TpeL by Clostridium perfringens
Authors: Saadat Angela , Melville Stephen B.
Published: February 2021

Large clostridial toxins (LCTs) are secreted virulence factors found in several species, including Clostridioides difficile, Clostridium perfringens, Paeniclostridium sordellii, and Clostridium novyi. LCTs are large toxins that lack a secretion signal sequence, and studies by others have shown that the LCTs of C. difficile, TcdA and TcdB, require a holin-like protein, TcdE, for secretion. The TcdE gene is located on the pathogenicity locus (PaLoc) of C. difficile, and holin-encoding genes are also present in the LCT-encoded PaLocs from P. sordellii and C. perfringens. However, the holin (TpeE) associated with the C. perfringens LCT TpeL has no homology and a different membrane topology than TcdE. In addition, TpeE has a membrane topology identical to that of the TatA protein, which is the core of the twin-arginine translocation (Tat) secretion system. To determine if TpeE was necessary and sufficient to secrete TpeL, the genes from a type C strain of C. perfringens were expressed in a type A strain of C. perfringens, HN13, and secretion was measured using Western blot methods. We found that TpeE was required for TpeL secretion and that secretion was not due to cell lysis. Mutant forms of TpeE lacking an amphipathic helix and a charged C-terminal domain failed to secrete TpeL, and mutations that deleted conserved LCT domains in TpeL indicated that only the full-length protein could be secreted. In summary, we have identified a novel family of holin-like proteins that can function, in some cases, as a system of protein secretion for proteins that need to fold in the cytoplasm.

IMPORTANCE Little is known about the mechanism by which LCTs are secreted. Since LCTs are major virulence factors in clostridial pathogens, we wanted to define the mechanism by which an LCT in C. perfringens, TpeL, is secreted by a protein (TpeE) lacking homology to previously described secretion-associated holins. We discovered that TpeE is a member of a widely dispersed class of holin proteins, and TpeE is necessary for the secretion of TpeL. TpeE bears a high degree of similarity in membrane topology to TatA proteins, which form the pore through which Tat secretion substrates pass through the cytoplasmic membrane. Thus, the TpeE-TpeL secretion system may be a model for understanding not only holin-dependent secretion but also how TatA proteins function in the secretion process.
The Role of the Histone Methyltransferase PfSET10 in Antigenic Variation by Malaria Parasites: a Cautionary Tale
Authors: Ngwa Che J. , Gross Mackensie R. , Musabyimana Jean-Pierre , Pradel Gabriele , Deitsch Kirk W.
Published: February 2021

The identification of specific epigenetic regulatory proteins in infectious organisms has become a high-profile research topic and a focus for several drug development initiatives. However, studies that define specific roles for different epigenetic modifiers occasionally report differing results, and we similarly provide evidence regarding the histone methyltransferase PfSET10 that is in stark contrast with previously published results.
Shielding Effect of Escherichia coli O-Antigen Polysaccharide on J5-Induced Cross-Reactive Antibodies
Authors: Rainard Pascal , Repérant-Ferter Maryline , Gitton Christophe , Germon Pierre
Published: February 2021

Despite intensive research, mastitis remains an important disease in dairy cattle with a significant impact on animal welfare, use of antibiotics, and, in the end, the economy of dairy farms. Although vaccines available so far have shown limited efficacy against coliform mastitis, vaccination is considered one of the measures that could limit the consequences of mastitis.
Supplemental Material: Geomorphic expression and slip rate of the Fairweather fault, southeast Alaska, and evidence for predecessors of the 1958 rupture
Authors: Witter R.C. , al. et
Published: February 2021

Ten figures and five tables that support the analyses and discussion presented in the paper.
Bentonite swelling characteristics with a hypersaline multi-component pore fluid
Authors: Brachman R.W.I. , Rowe R.K. , Baral A. , Hosney M.S. , Su G. , Nguyen T.S. , Brown J. , Lange K.
Published: February 2021

Swelling characteristics of compacted bentonite when hydrated with a hypersaline pore fluid (332 g/L total dissolved solids; 6.6 mol/L ionic strength) are reported. The pore fluid mimics the multiple constituents and their concentrations found for the Cobourg limestone of the Michigan Basin and is dominated by sodium (25% mole fraction) with some potassium, calcium, and magnesium (10%, 5%, and 4% mole fractions). Measurements of swell pressure for two sodium bentonites when hydrated under conditions of zero volume increase are reported. Swell pressure reached a peak within 10–30 h from the onset of hydration, followed by a continual decrease over 1 year of testing from chemical interaction between the bentonite and pore fluid. After 1 year, the swell pressure of the MX-80 bentonite tested decreased by a factor of nine relative to the peak swell pressure with deionized water when the dry density was 1.6 Mg/m3. Swell pressures increased as dry density increased. However, chemical interactions appear to have more influence on swell pressure than density for the pore fluid examined as a swell pressure of just under 1200 kPa was measured for MX-80 after 1.8 years of hydration when compacted to the highest dry density of 1.8 Mg/m3 examined.
Microbial sensing in the neonatal pig gut: effect of diet-independent and diet-dependent factors1
Authors: Wellington Michael O. , Agyekum Atta K. , Van Kessel Andrew G.
Published: February 2021

There is considerable agreement that the gastrointestinal microbiota contributes to the performance and health of the neonate, and this relationship includes an ability of the host animal to “sense” changes in the microbial community. Identifying the mechanisms used by the host to sense microbiota is one approach to developing methods to manipulate the microbiota to improve pig health and performance. Diet-independent microbial products are molecules unique to the microbial community and sensed by host pattern recognition receptors stimulating inflammation. Common among all members of the microbial community, their presence is unaffected by diet, but the nature of the response does depends on factors affecting the microenvironment in which the molecule is detected. Diet-dependent microbial products arise as products of fermentation of dietary components and include short-chain fatty acids, ammonia, phenols, hydrogen sulfide, amines, and many other compounds. A plethora of sensing mechanisms exists that include enzymatic metabolism as well as membrane receptors that have evolved to respond to microbial products (e.g., short-chain fatty acid receptors), or simply cross-react with microbial products. This review focuses on host mechanisms used to sense the intestinal microbiota and attempts to establish practical considerations for neonatal gut health based on current understanding.
The effect of epidermal growth factor on performance and oxidative stress in piglets challenged with enterotoxigenicEscherichia coliK88
Authors: Hossain M.M. , Regassa A. , Amarakoon S. , Jayaraman B. , Akhtar N. , Li J. , Karmin O. , Nyachoti C.M.
Published: February 2021

This study evaluated the efficacy of epidermal growth factor (EGF) in piglets challenged with enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli K88 (ETEC). A total of 28 piglets were assigned to the following dietary treatments for 14 d: negative control (NC) (basal diet containing supernatant without EGF), PC (NC + 2.5 g antibiotic·kg−1feed), EGF120 [basal diet + supernatant with 120 μg EGF·kg−1body weight (BW)·d−1], and EGF180 (basal diet + supernatant with 180 μg EGF·kg−1BW·d−1). After a 6 d acclimation period, each pig was gavaged with 6 mL (2.4 × 1013cfu·mL−1) of ETEC on the morning of day 7. Overall, piglets fed the EGF and PC diets tended to have higher gain to feed ratio than those fed the NC diet (P = 0.063). Pigs fed EGF diets had lower rectal temperature than those fed the NC diet at 6 h after challenge (P < 0.05). Serum and ileal malondialdehyde concentrations were higher in piglets fed the NC diet compared with those fed EGF and PC diets on days 6 and 7 after challenge, respectively (P < 0.05). In conclusion, EGF has the potential to reduce oxidative stress and body temperature elevation in piglets exposed to ETEC while supporting better feed efficiency.
Towards a computer vision particle flow
Authors: Di Bello Francesco Armando , Ganguly Sanmay , Gross Eilam , Kado Marumi , Pitt Michael , Santi Lorenzo , Shlomi Jonathan
Published: February 2021

In High Energy Physics experiments Particle Flow (PFlow) algorithms are designed to provide an optimal reconstruction of the nature and kinematic properties of the particles produced within the detector acceptance during collisions. At the heart of PFlow algorithms is the ability to distinguish the calorimeter energy deposits of neutral particles from those of charged particles, using the complementary measurements of charged particle tracking devices, to provide a superior measurement of the particle content and kinematics. In this paper, a computer vision approach to this fundamental aspect of PFlow algorithms, based on calorimeter images, is proposed. A comparative study of the state of the art deep learning techniques is performed. A significantly improved reconstruction of the neutral particle calorimeter energy deposits is obtained in a context of large overlaps with the deposits from charged particles. Calorimeter images with augmented finer granularity are also obtained using super-resolution techniques.
Cosmology of cubic galileon in modified teleparallel gravity
Authors: Boumaza Hamza
Published: February 2021

In this present paper, we study the cosmological evolution of the cubic galileon along with modified teleparallel gravity at perturbed and non-perturbed levels. We show the dynamical equations of motion and investigate the evolution of different cosmological parameters by using the dynamical variables analysis. In addition, a detailed analysis of different cosmological evolution in the matter, radiation and de Sitter eras is presented by solving the dynamical equations numerically. In our analysis, we find that the equations of motion in the Friedmann–Robertson–Walker (FRW) background metric is characterized by a stable de Sitter era and a tracker solution in which $$H{\dot{\varphi }}$$

H

φ
˙

is always constant. We find also that the equation of state of dark energy associated to the proposed model in this work can deviate from − 2 at the matter era. Moreover, the conditions of avoiding ghost and Laplacian instabilities in our model are derived; then we show that the model is free of these instabilities. Furthermore we place an observational constraint on the parameters of the model through Monte Carlo numerical method using growth rate and observational Hubble data. Finally, using the best-fit values of parameters in the model we compare our growth rate of matter perturbation with the prediction of $$\varLambda $$
Λ
CDM model and the latest measurement.
Hilbert–Schmidt frames and their duals
Authors: Li Ya-Nan , Li Yun-Zhang
Published: February 2021

The concept of Hilbert–Schmidt frame (HS-frame) was first introduced by Sadeghi and Arefijamaal in 2012. It is more general than [Formula: see text]-frames, and thus, covers many generalizations of frames. This paper addresses the theory of HS-frames. We present a parametric and algebraic formula for all duals of an arbitrarily given HS-frame; prove that the canonical HS-dual induces a minimal-norm expression of the elements in Hilbert spaces; characterize when an HS-frame is an HS-Riesz basis, and when an HS-Bessel sequence is an HS-Riesz sequence (HS-Riesz basis) in terms of Gram matrices.
Recent progress of ceramic electrolytes for post Li and Na batteries
Authors: Kotobuki Masashi
Published: February 2021

Recently, post Li batteries have been intensively researched due to high cost and localization of Li sources, especially for large-scale applications. Concurrently, ceramic electrolytes for post Li batteries also gain much attention to develop all-solid-state post Li batteries. The most intensively researched post Li battery is Na battery because of chemical and electrochemical similarities between Li and Na elements. Many good review papers about Na battery have been published including Na-ion conductive ceramic electrolytes. Contrary, ceramic electrolytes for other post Li batteries like K, Mg, Ca, Zn and Al batteries are hardly summarized. In this review, research on ceramic electrolytes for K, Mg, Ca, Zn and Al batteries is analyzed based on latest papers published since 2019 and suggested future research direction of ceramic electrolytes for post-Li batteries.
The Ins and Outs of Central Nervous System Inflammation—Lessons Learned from Multiple Sclerosis
Authors: Ramaglia Valeria , Rojas Olga , Naouar Ikbel , Gommerman Jennifer L.
Published: February 2021

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease that is characterized by the inappropriate invasion of lymphocytes and monocytes into the central nervous system (CNS), where they orchestrate the demyelination of axons, leading to physical and cognitive disability. There are many reasons immunologists should be interested in MS. Aside from the fact that there is still significant unmet need for patients living with the progressive form of the disease, MS is a case study for how immune cells cross CNS barriers and subsequently interact with specialized tissue parenchymal cells. In this review, we describe the types of immune cells that infiltrate the CNS and then describe interactions between immune cells and glial cells in different types of lesions. Lastly, we provide evidence for CNS-compartmentalized immune cells and speculate on how this impacts disease progression for MS patients.
Housemates analogy for membrane potential
Authors: Davidyan Arik
Published: February 2021

University-level physiology courses are considered challenging. Postsecondary instructors indicate the top three reasons that make physiology courses difficult for student are 1) the need for the learner to reason mechanistically, 2) the belief among students that memorization is equal to learning, and 3) the need to think about the physiological systems as dynamic systems. One topic that encompasses all three aforementioned challenges is membrane potential and its determinants in living organisms. Membrane potential is the mechanism that underlies numerous physiological processes; memorization of these processes does not equate to understanding, and its very nature is highly dynamic. Unfortunately, students find the topic challenging, and even students who have learned and practiced the topic in previous terms, fail to retain the conceptual understanding of the underlying mechanisms. Importantly, understanding many systemic physiological processes relies on students’ mastery of concepts related to membrane potential. Stephan H. Wright rightfully wrote that “It would be difficult to exaggerate the physiological significance of [membrane potential]”. Therefore, to more effectively facilitate students’ learning of additional topics, educators must ensure that students can build on, understand, and appreciate the complexities of membrane potential determination. This article presents a tool to aid instructors of all level in teaching the topic of membrane potential.
Do-it-yourself physiology labs: Can hands-on laboratory classes be effectively replicated online?
Authors: Colthorpe Kay , Ainscough Louise
Published: February 2021

Laboratory classes are a cornerstone of physiology education, enabling students to develop essential knowledge and skills. Recent moves toward utilizing blended options to support face-to-face classes with online materials are beneficial, but using solely online classes may not produce similar learning gains. During 2020, the global pandemic meant a loss of face-to-face teaching, such that laboratory classes were rapidly transitioned to online delivery. This study explores the impact of this shift on undergraduate students, evaluating their use of the online laboratory classes and the impact this had on their examination performance and their perceptions of learning. Student use of the online laboratory classes varied, with those spending more time performing better on examinations. Students valued the online classes, finding them helpful for their learning, but also felt that the lack of face-to-face laboratory classes and interactions with peers and teaching staff was detrimental to their learning experience. Overall, academic performance of online learners was comparable to previous years but may indicate some underlying deficits.
A Two-Step Compressed Sensing Approach for Single-Snapshot DOA Estimation of Closely Spaced Signals
Authors: Wei Shuang , Long Yanhua , Liu Rui , Su Ying
Published: February 2021

Single-snapshot direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation plays an important role in dynamic target detection and tracking applications. Because a single-snapshot signal provides few information for statistics calculation, recently compressed sensing (CS) theory is applied to solve single-snapshot DOA estimation, instead of the traditional DOA methods based on statistics. However, when the unknown sources are closely located, the spatial signals are highly correlated, and its overcomplete dictionary is made up of dense grids, which leads to a serious decrease in the estimation accuracy of the CS-based algorithm. In order to solve this problem, this paper proposed a two-step compressed sensing-based algorithm for the single-snapshot DOA estimation of closely spaced signals. The overcomplete dictionaries with coarse and refined grids are used in the two steps, respectively. The measurement matrix is constructed by using a very sparse projection scheme based on chaotic sequences because chaotic sequences have determinism and pseudo-randomness property. Such measurement matrix is mainly proposed for compressing the overcomplete dictionary in preestimation step, while it is well designed by choosing the steering vectors of true DOA in the accurate estimation step, in which the neighborhood information around the true DOAs partly solved in the previous step will be used. Monte Carlo simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can perform better than other existing single-snapshot DOA estimation methods. Especially, it can work well to solve the issues caused by closely spaced signals and single snapshot.
Blood Urea Nitrogen and In‐Hospital Mortality in Critically Ill Patients with Cardiogenic Shock: Analysis of the MIMIC‐III Database
Authors: Liu En-qian , Zeng Chun-lai
Published: February 2021

The association between blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and prognosis has been the focus of recent research. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the association between BUN and hospital mortality in critically ill patients with cardiogenic shock (CS). This was a retrospective cohort study, in which data were obtained from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care III V1.4 database. Data from 697 patients with CS were analyzed. Logistic regression and subgroup analyses were used to assess the association between BUN and hospital mortality in patients with CS. The average age of the 697 participants was 71.14 years, and approximately 42.18% were men. In the multivariate logistic regression model, after adjusting for age, sex, diabetes, cardiac arrhythmias, urine output, simplified acute physiology score II, sequential organ failure assessment, creatinine, anion gap, and heart rate, high BUN demonstrated strong associations with increased in‐hospital mortality (per standard deviation increase: odds ratio [OR] 1.47, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.13–1.92). A similar result was observed in BUN tertile groups (BUN 23–37 mg/dL versus 6–22 mg/dL: OR [95% CI], 1.42 [0.86–2.34]; BUN 38–165 mg/dL versus 6–22 mg/dL: OR [95% CI], 1.99 [1.10–3.62]; P trend 0.0272). Subgroup analysis did not reveal any significant interactions among various subgroups, and higher BUN was associated with adverse clinical outcomes in patients with CS.
Evolving Nature of Human Contact Networks with Its Impact on Epidemic Processes
Authors: Li Cong , Li Jing , Li Xiang
Published: February 2021

Human contact networks constitute a multitude of individuals and pairwise contacts among them. However, the dynamic nature, which generates the evolution of human contact networks, of contact patterns is unknown yet. Here, we analyse three empirical datasets and identify two crucial mechanisms of the evolution of temporal human contact networks, i.e., the activity state transition laws for an individual to be socially active and the contact establishment mechanism that active individuals adopt. We consider both of the two mechanisms to propose a temporal network model, the so‐called memory‐driven (MD) model, of human contact networks. Then, we study the susceptible‐infected (SI) spreading processes on empirical human contact networks as well as four corresponding temporal network models and compare the full prevalence time of SI processes with various infection rates on the networks. The full prevalence time of SI processes in the MD model is the same as that in real‐world human contact networks. Moreover, we find that the individual activity state transition promotes the spreading process, while the contact establishment of active individuals suppresses the prevalence. Besides, we observe that individuals who establish social ties with a small exploring rate are still able to induce an endemic which prevails in the networks. The study offers new insights to predict and control the diffusion processes on networks.
Analysis of the Effect of Health Management of Chronic Diseases and Metabolic Disorders under the Guidance of B-Ultrasound
Authors: Luo Xiu , Wang Yi
Published: February 2021

Chronic diseases are diseases with insidious onset, prolonged duration, and intractability and are associated with complex etiology and multiple morbidities, including hypertension, obesity, liver disease, kidney disease, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and chronic lung disease. For patients with chronic diseases, although the cause of the disease is not in the spleen and stomach, medication or further development of the disease will affect the function of the spleen and stomach disorders, leading to worsening of the disease. In this article, ultrasound is used to detect health disorders of the spleen and stomach. Patients should eat a light diet and exercise more. Elderly patients can increase abdominal massage and other health care. It should be emphasized that the prevalence of chronic diseases is not lower in people with high education or high economic income but is closely related to people’s daily living habits; secondly, we should enhance physical exercise and advocate annual physical examination. Finally, we need to develop different measures according to different regions to prevent and treat chronic diseases and give timely feedback to the interventions. New preventive and curative measures are given in time to improve public health.
NN‐QuPiD Attack: Neural Network‐Based Privacy Quantification Model for Private Information Retrieval Protocols
Authors: Khan Rafiullah , Ullah Mohib , Khan Atif , Uddin Muhammad Irfan , Al-Yahya Maha
Published: February 2021

Web search engines usually keep users’ profiles for multiple purposes, such as result ranking and relevancy, market research, and targeted advertisements. However, user web search history may contain sensitive and private information about the user, such as health condition, personal interests, and affiliations that may infringe users’ privacy since a user’s identity may be exposed and misused by third parties. Numerous techniques are available to address privacy infringement, including Private Information Retrieval (PIR) protocols that use peer nodes to preserve privacy. Previously, we have proved that PIR protocols are vulnerable to the QuPiD Attack. In this research, we proposed NN‐QuPiD Attack, an improved version of QuPiD Attack that uses an Artificial Neural Network (RNN) based model to associate queries with their original users. The results show that the NN‐QuPiD Attack gave 0.512 Recall with the Precision of 0.923, whereas simple QuPiD Attack gave 0.49 Recall with the Precision of 0.934 with the same data.
Attribute-Based Fully Homomorphic Encryption Scheme from Lattices with Short Ciphertext
Authors: Liu Yuan , Pan Yun , Gu Lize , Zhang Yuan , An Dezhi
Published: February 2021

Attribute-based encryption (ABE) is a good choice for one-to-many communication and fine-grained access control of the encryption data in a cloud environment. Fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) allows cloud servers to make valid operations on encrypted data without decrypting. Attribute-based fully homomorphic encryption (ABFHE) from lattices not only combines the bilateral advantages/facilities of ABE and FHE but also can resist quantum attacks. However, in the most previous ABFHE schemes, the growth of ciphertext size usually depends on the total number of system’s attributes which leads to high communication overhead and long running time of encryption and decryption. In this paper, based on the LWE problem on lattices, we propose an attribute-based fully homomorphic scheme with short ciphertext. More specifically, by classifying the system’s attributes and using the special structure matrix in MP12, we remove the dependency of ciphertext size on system’s attributes

ℓ

and the ciphertext size is no longer increased with the total number of system’s attributes. In addition, by introducing the function

G

−
1

in the homomorphic operations, we completely rerandomize the error term in the new ciphertext and have a very tight and simple error analysis using sub-Gaussianity. Besides, performance analysis shows that when

ℓ
=
2

and

n
=
284

according to the parameter suggestion given by Micciancio and Dai et al., the size of ciphertext in our scheme is reduced by at least 73.3%, not to mention

ℓ
>
2

. The larger the

ℓ

, the more observable of our scheme. The short ciphertext in our construction can not only reduce the communication overhead but also reduce the running time of encryption and decryption. Finally, our scheme is proved to be secure in the standard model.
Experimental Study on the Effect of Long-Term Water Injection on Micropore Structure of Ultralow Permeability Sandstone Reservoir
Authors: Qu Shiyuan , Jiang Hanqiao , Li Junjian , Zhao Lin , Wu Changhui
Published: February 2021

During the long-term waterflooding (LTWF) in oil reservoirs, the formation is subject to permeability reduction as clay release and fine migration. At present, the mechanisms of permeability impairment in both macroscopic and microscopic pore structures in ultralow permeability reservoirs under LTWF are unclear. This statement epitomizes the main objective of this work: to understand how long-term waterflood changes porous structures and thus compromises permeability. The standard core flow experiments in conjunction with a couple of tests consisting of online nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), high-pressure mercury intrusive penetration (HPMIP), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were performed to determine the mineral compositions, macrophysical properties, and micropore structures of two kinds of cores with different natures of pore distribution (i.e., unimodal and bimodal) before and after LTWF in Yan Chang field China. Results showed that the permeability decreased while the porosity increased after the LTWF. With respect to the pore size distribution, the small pores (SPs) decreased and the large pores (LPs) increased for both cores. For the unimodal core, the distribution curve shifted upwards with little change in the radius of the connected pores. For the bimodal core, the curve shifted to the right with an increasing radius of connected pores. With respect to the characteristic parameters, the average pore radius, median pore radius, structural coefficient, and tortuosity increased, while the relative sorting coefficient decreased. The relative changes of the parameters for the unimodal core were much smaller than those for the bimodal core. With respect to the clays, chlorite accounted for a majority proportion of the clays, and its content increased after LTWF. According to these changes, the mechanism of LTWF at different stages was interpreted. At the early stages, the blockage of the released clays occurred in SPs. Some of the middle pores (MPs) and LPs became larger due to the release and some of them became smaller due to the accumulation. At the middle stage, the blockage of SPs weakened. Some flow channels formed by MPs and LPs became dominant flow channels gradually. The effluxes of particles occurred, resulting in a significant increase in porosity. At the late stage, the stable flow channels have formed. The higher response of the bimodal core to LTWF could be attributed to its higher content of chlorite, which was more likely to accumulate. This study clarifies the mechanism of fine-migration-induced formation damage in microscopic pore structures and the migration pattern of clay minerals in ultralow permeability reservoirs. The work provides potential guidance for optimizing waterflood strategies in ultralow permeability reservoirs.
Image‐Based Iron Slag Segmentation via Graph Convolutional Networks
Authors: Long Wang , Junfeng Zheng , Hong Yu , Meng Ding , Jiangyun Li
Published: February 2021

Slagging‐off (i.e., slag removal) is an important preprocessing operation of steel‐making to improve the purity of iron. Current manual‐operated slag removal schemes are inefficient and labor‐intensive. Automatic slagging‐off is desirable but challenging as the reliable recognition of iron and slag is difficult. This work focuses on realizing an efficient and accurate recognition algorithm of iron and slag, which is conducive to realize automatic slagging‐off operation. Motivated by the recent success of deep learning techniques in smart manufacturing, we introduce deep learning methods to this field for the first time. The monotonous gray value of industry images, poor image quality, and nonrigid feature of iron and slag challenge the existing fully convolutional networks (FCNs). To this end, we propose a novel spatial and feature graph convolutional network (SFGCN) module. SFGCN module can be easily inserted in FCNs to improve the reasoning ability of global contextual information, which is helpful to enhance the segmentation accuracy of small objects and isolated areas. To verify the validity of the SFGCN module, we create an industrial dataset and conduct extensive experiments. Finally, the results show that our SFGCN module brings a consistent performance boost for a wide range of FCNs. Moreover, by adopting a lightweight network as backbone, our method achieves real‐time iron and slag segmentation. In the future work, we will dedicate our efforts to the weakly supervised learning for quick annotation of big data stream to improve the generalization ability of current models.
Overlooking the Obvious during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Dyspnoea with Asymmetric Breath Sounds in a Toddler
Authors: Salmi Heli , Harve-Rytsälä Heini , Rautiainen Paula , Pyörälä Sari , Hästbacka Johanna
Published: February 2021

Background. Paediatric healthcare specialists are concerned about the secondary effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on children. We report a case of acute respiratory distress in a healthy toddler whose healthcare providers were sidetracked from the correct diagnosis by suspicion of COVID-19. Case Presentation. The patient was a 20-month-old healthy boy. In the morning, he had coughed while drinking milk. He was asymptomatic for the day but presented with acute respiratory distress when lying down in the evening. An ambulance was called, and he was taken to a tertiary hospital’s paediatric emergency department, where his condition and oxygen saturation fluctuated. He had mildly elevated temperature and petechiae on his trunk, showed asymmetrical radiographic and auscultatory pulmonary findings, and did not tolerate any exertion. Pneumonia was suspected, SARS-CoV-2 was considered as potential causative agent, and the child was admitted to a Paediatric Intensive Care Unit. As the patient did not show clear signs of infection or bronchial obstruction, the events were thoroughly rediscussed with the caregiver next morning. It was then found out that the child had also been eating cashew nuts. Multiple pieces of cashew nuts were removed from the left bronchial tree in a bronchoscopy. After the procedure, all symptoms promptly resolved. Foreign body aspiration—an obvious cause of acute respiratory distress in our patient’s age group—was overlooked by experienced emergency medical care providers and paediatric critical care physicians due to the slightly unusual presentation, incomplete anamnestic information, and a bias to consider COVID-19 in the current exceptional circumstances. Conclusions. Emergency care providers are instructed to consider all patients with respiratory distress as potential COVID-19 patients. However, the clinical course of COVID-19 infection is usually mild in children. Therefore, alternative causes for serious breathing difficulty are more likely, and all differential diagnoses should be considered in the usual unbiased manner.
Establishment and Verification of Multiaxis Fatigue Life Prediction Model
Authors: Fu Zhuo , Li Xiang , Zhang Sha , Xiong Hanqing , Liu Chi , Li Kun
Published: February 2021

A fatigue life prediction model with multiaxis load is proposed. The model introduces a new effective cyclic parameter, equivalent stress on the critical surface, to modify the Suntech model. The new damage parameters are not related to empirical constants, hence more applicable for practical application in engineering. The multiaxis fatigue test was carried out with high-strength aluminum alloy 7075-T651, and the multiaxis fatigue life prediction of the test piece was conducted with the finite element software. The experiment result shows that the model proposed is effective for predicting the fatigue life under multiaxis load.
A Prospective Randomized Comparison of Postoperative Pain and Complications after Thyroidectomy under Different Anesthetic Techniques: Volatile Anesthesia versus Total Intravenous Anesthesia
Authors: Jo Jun-Young , Kim Yeon Ju , Choi Seong-Soo , Park Jihoon , Park Han , Hahm Kyung-Don
Published: February 2021

While the postoperative outcome is favorable, post-thyroidectomy pain is considerable. Reducing the postoperative acute pain, therefore, is considered important. This study investigated whether the pain intensity and need for rescue analgesics during the immediate postoperative period after thyroidectomy differ according to the methods of anesthesia. Seventy-two patients undergoing total thyroidectomy under general anesthesia were examined. Patients were randomly assigned to undergo either total intravenous anesthesia with remifentanil and propofol (TIVA, n = 35) or propofol induction and maintenance with desflurane and nitrous oxide (volatile anesthesia [VA], n = 37). The mean administered dose of remifentanil was 1977.7 ± 722.5 μg in the TIVA group, which was approximately 0.268 ± 0.118 μg/min/kg during surgery. Pain scores based on a numeric rating scale (NRS) and the need for rescue analgesics were compared between groups at the postoperative anesthetic care unit (PACU). The immediate postoperative NRS values of the TIVA and VA groups were 5.7 ± 1.7 and 4.7 ± 2.3, respectively (P = 0.034). Postoperative morphine equianalgesic doses in the PACU were higher in the TIVA group than in the VA group (16.7 ± 3.8 mg vs. 14.1 ± 5.9 mg,P = 0.027). The incidence of immediate postanesthetic complications did not differ significantly between groups. In conclusion, more rescue analgesics were required in the TIVA group than in the VA group to adequately manage postoperative pain while staying in the PACU after thyroidectomy.
Fragmentation of Small-Cell Lung Cancer Regulatory States in Heterotypic Microenvironments
Authors: Schaff Dylan L. , Singh Shambhavi , Kim Kee-Beom , Sutcliffe Matthew D. , Park Kwon-Sik , Janes Kevin A.
Published: February 2021

Small-cell lung cancers derive from pulmonary neuroendocrine cells, which have stem-like properties to reprogram into other cell types upon lung injury. It is difficult to uncouple transcriptional plasticity of these transformed cells from genetic changes that evolve in primary tumors or secondary metastases. Profiling of single cells is also problematic if the required sample dissociation activates injury-like signaling and reprogramming. Here we defined cell-state heterogeneities in situ through laser capture microdissection–based 10-cell transcriptomics coupled with stochastic-profiling fluctuation analysis. In labeled cells from a small-cell lung cancer mouse model initiated by neuroendocrine deletion of Rb1-Trp53, variations in transcript abundance revealed cell-to-cell differences in regulatory state in vitro and in vivo. Fluctuating transcripts in spheroid culture were partly shared among Rb1-Trp53–null models, and heterogeneities increased considerably when cells were delivered intravenously to colonize the liver. Colonization of immunocompromised animals drove a fractional appearance of alveolar type II–like markers and poised cells for paracrine stimulation from immune cells and hepatocytes. Immunocompetency further exaggerated the fragmentation of tumor states in the liver, yielding mixed stromal signatures evident in bulk sequencing from autochthonous tumors and metastases. Dozens of transcript heterogeneities recurred irrespective of biological context; their mapped orthologs brought together observations of murine and human small-cell lung cancer. Candidate heterogeneities recurrent in the liver also stratified primary human tumors into discrete groups not readily explained by molecular subtype but with prognostic relevance. These data suggest that heterotypic interactions in the liver and lung are an accelerant for intratumor heterogeneity in small-cell lung cancer.

Significance:

These findings demonstrate that the single-cell regulatory heterogeneity of small-cell lung cancer becomes increasingly elaborate in the liver, a common metastatic site for the disease.

See related articles by Singh and colleagues, p. 1840 and Sutcliffe and colleagues, p. 1868
Premalignant Oligodendrocyte Precursor Cells Stall in a Heterogeneous State of Replication Stress Prior to Gliomagenesis
Authors: Sutcliffe Matthew D. , Galvao Rui P. , Wang Lixin , Kim Jungeun , Rosenfeld Lauren K. , Singh Shambhavi , Zong Hui , Janes Kevin A.
Published: February 2021

Cancer evolves from premalignant clones that adopt unusual cell states to achieve transformation. We previously pinpointed the oligodendrocyte precursor cell (OPC) as a cell of origin for glioma, but the early changes of mutant OPCs during premalignancy remained unknown. Using mice engineered for inducible Nf1-Trp53 loss in OPCs, we acutely isolated labeled mutant OPCs by laser-capture microdissection, determined global gene-expression changes by bulk RNA sequencing, and compared with cell-state fluctuations at the single-cell level by stochastic profiling, which uses RNA-sequencing measurements from random pools of 10 mutant cells. At 12 days after Nf1-Trp53 deletion, bulk differences were mostly limited to mitotic hallmarks and genes for ribosome biosynthesis, and stochastic profiling revealed a spectrum of stem-progenitor (Axl, Aldh1a1), proneural, and mesenchymal states as potential starting points for gliomagenesis. At 90 days, bulk sequencing detected few differentially expressed transcripts, whereas stochastic profiling revealed cell states for neurons and mural cells that do not give rise to glial tumors, suggesting cellular dead-ends for gliomagenesis. Importantly, mutant OPCs that strongly expressed key effectors of nonsense-mediated decay (Upf3b) and homology-dependent DNA repair (Rad51c, Slx1b, Ercc4) were identified along with DNA-damage markers, suggesting transcription-associated replication stress. Analysis of 10-cell transcriptomes at 90 days identified a locus of elevated gene expression containing an additional repair endonuclease (Mus81) and Rin1, a Ras-Raf antagonist and possible counterbalance to Nf1 loss, which was microdeleted or downregulated in gliomas at 150 days. These hidden cell-state variations uncover replication stress as a potential bottleneck that must be resolved for glioma initiation.

Significance:

Profiling premalignant cell states in a mouse model of glioma uncovers regulatory heterogeneity in glioma cells-of-origin and defines a state of replication stress that precedes tumor initiation.

See related articles by Singh and colleagues, p. 1840 and Schaff and colleagues, p. 1853
Cost-effectiveness Analysis of Breast Cancer Screening Using Mammography in Singapore: A Modeling Study
Authors: Chootipongchaivat Sarocha , Wong Xin Yi , ten Haaf Kevin , Hartman Mikael , Tan Kelvin B. , van Ravesteyn Nicolien T. , Wee Hwee-Lin
Published: February 2021

Background:

Limited research is available on the cost-effectiveness of breast cancer screening programs in Asian countries. We evaluated the cost-effectiveness of Singapore's national mammography screening program, implemented in 2002, recommending annual screening between ages 40 and 49 and biennial screening between ages 50 and 69, and alternative screening scenarios taking into account important country-specific factors.

Methods:

We used national data from Singapore in the MIcrosimulation SCreening ANalysis-Fatal diameter (MISCAN-Fadia) model to simulate 302 screening scenarios for 10 million women born between 1910 and 1969. Screening scenarios varied by starting and ending age, screening interval, and attendance. Outcome measures included life-years gained (LYG), breast cancer deaths averted, false positives, overdiagnosis, quality-adjusted life years (QALY), costs (in 2002 Singapore dollars; S$), and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICER). Costs and effects were calculated and discounted with 3% using a health care provider's perspective.

Results:

Singapore's current screening program at observed attendance levels required 54,158 mammograms per 100,000 women, yielded 1,054 LYG, and averted 57 breast cancer deaths. At attendance rates ≥50%, the current program was near the efficiency frontier. Most scenarios on the efficiency frontier started screening at age 40. The ICERs of the scenarios on the efficiency frontiers ranged between S$10,186 and S$56,306/QALY, which is considered cost-effective at a willingness-to-pay threshold of S$70,000/QALY gained.

Conclusions:

Singapore's current screening program lies near the efficiency frontier, and starting screening at age 40 or 45 is cost-effective. Furthermore, enhancing screening attendance rates would increase benefits while maintaining cost-effectiveness.

Impact:

Screening all women at age 40 or 45 is cost-efficient in Singapore, and a policy change may be considered.
Antiplatelet Drug Use and Breast Cancer Risk in a Prospective Cohort of Postmenopausal Women
Authors: Cairat Manon , Al Rahmoun Marie , Gunter Marc J. , Severi Gianluca , Dossus Laure , Fournier Agnès
Published: February 2021

Background:

Epidemiologic evidence is insufficient to draw conclusions on the impact of low-dose aspirin use on breast cancer risk, and the potential impact of other antiplatelet drugs such as clopidogrel needs to be explored.

Methods:

We investigated the association between breast cancer risk and low-dose aspirin or clopidogrel use in the E3N cohort, which includes 98,995 women, with information on breast cancer risk factors collected from biennial questionnaires matched with drug reimbursement data available from 2004. Women with at least two reimbursements of the drug of interest in any previous 3-month period were considered “ever” exposed. Exposure was considered as time-varying and multivariable Cox regression models were used to estimate HRs of breast cancer.

Results:

Among 62,512 postmenopausal women followed during 9 years on average, 2,864 breast cancer cases were identified. Compared with never use, a transient higher breast cancer risk was observed during the third year of low-dose aspirin use [HR2–≤3 years of use = 1.49 (1.08–2.07)], followed by a lower risk [HR4+ years of use = 0.72 (0.52–0.99)]. Clopidogrel ever use was associated with a higher breast cancer risk [HR, 1.30 (1.02–1.68)], restricted to estrogen receptor negative (ER−) tumors [HRER+ = 1.14 (0.83–1.57), HRER− = 3.07 (1.64–5.76), Phomogeneity = 0.01].

Conclusions:

Low-dose aspirin was associated with a lower breast cancer risk only after several years of use, while ever use of clopidogrel was associated with a higher ER− breast cancer risk.

Impact:

Antiplatelet drugs are not good pharmacologic candidates for breast cancer prevention.