bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Frequency of sarcopenia in Turkish women with systemic lupus erythematosus
Authors: Bilici Reyhan , Candemir Burcu , Satış Hasan , Alp Gizem Tuğçe , Borazan Funda Yıldırım , Deniz Olgun , Guler Aslihan Avanoglu , Karadeniz Hazan , Varan Hacer Doğan , Tufan Abdurrahman , Öztürk Mehmet Akif , Goker Berna
Published: May 2024

Objective

This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of sarcopenia and its clinical significance in Turkish women with SLE, exploring the association between muscle mass, muscle strength and SLE disease activity.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted at Gazi University Hospital’s Department of Rheumatology from January to December 2020. It involved 82 patients with SLE, diagnosed according to the 2019 American College of Rheumatology/European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology criteria, and 69 healthy controls. Sarcopenia was assessed using hand grip dynamometry (hand grip strength (HGS)) and bioelectrical impedance analysis for muscle mass, with sarcopenia defined according to the 2018 European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People criteria and specific cut-offs for the Turkish population. The main outcomes measured were the presence of sarcopenia and probable sarcopenia, HGS values, skeletal muscle mass index and SLE Disease Activity Index 2000 (SLEDAI-2K).

Results

Among the patients with SLE, 51.2% met the criteria for probable sarcopenia and 12.9% were diagnosed with sarcopenia. The mean HGS was significantly lower in the SLE group (21.7±4.9 kg) compared with controls, indicating reduced muscle strength. The prevalence of anti-double-stranded DNA (anti-dsDNA) antibodies was 82.9%. Multivariate regression analysis identified height and levels of anti-dsDNA antibodies as independent predictors for developing probable sarcopenia. No significant association was found between clinical parameters, including SLEDAI-2K scores, and sarcopenia status.

Conclusions

Sarcopenia is prevalent among Turkish women with SLE, with a significant proportion showing reduced muscle strength. The study found no direct association between sarcopenia and SLE disease activity or clinical parameters. These findings underscore the importance of including muscle strength assessments in the routine clinical evaluation of patients with SLE to potentially improve management and quality of life.
Comparison between propofol and total inhalational anaesthesia on cardiovascular outcomes following on-pump cardiac surgery in higher-risk patients: a randomised controlled pilot and feasibility study
Authors: Milne Benjamin , John Martin , Evans Richard , Robertson Steven , Ó Scanaill Pádraig , Murphy Gavin J , Landoni Giovanni , Marber Michael , Clayton Tim , Kunst Gudrun
Published: May 2024

Objectives

Myocardial revascularisation and cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) can cause ischaemia-reperfusion injury, leading to myocardial and other end-organ damage. Volatile anaesthetics protect the myocardium in experimental studies. However, there is uncertainty about whether this translates into clinical benefits because of the coadministration of propofol and its detrimental effects, restricting myocardial protective processes.

Methods

In this single-blinded, parallel-group randomised controlled feasibility trial, higher-risk patients undergoing elective coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery with an additive European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation ≥5 were randomised to receive either propofol or total inhalational anaesthesia as single agents for maintenance of anaesthesia. The primary outcome was the feasibility of recruiting and randomising 50 patients across two cardiac surgical centres, and secondary outcomes included the feasibility of collecting the planned perioperative data, clinically relevant outcomes and assessments of effective patient identification, screening and recruitment.

Results

All 50 patients were recruited within 11 months in two centres, allowing for a 13-month hiatus in recruitment due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, 50/108 (46%) of eligible patients were recruited. One patient withdrew before surgery and one patient did not undergo surgery. All but one completed in-hospital and 30-day follow-up.

Conclusions

It is feasible to recruit and randomise higher-risk patients undergoing CABG surgery to a study comparing total inhalational and propofol anaesthesia in a timely manner and with high acceptance and completion rates.

Trial registration number

NCT04039854.
Analysis of the $${\psi (3770)}$$ resonance in line with unitarity and analyticity constraints
Authors: Hanhart Christoph , Kürten Stephan , Reboud Méril , van Dyk Danny
Published: May 2024

We study the inclusive and exclusive cross sections of $$e^+e^-\rightarrow \text {hadrons}$$

e
+

e
-

→
hadrons

for center-of-mass energies between 3.70 and $$3.83\,\,\textrm{GeV} $$

3.83

GeV

to infer the mass, width, and couplings of the $$\psi (3770)$$

ψ
(
3770
)

resonance. By using a coupled-channel K-matrix approach, we setup our analysis to respect unitarity and the analyticity properties of the underlying scattering amplitudes. We fit several models to the full dataset and identify our nominal results through a statistical model comparison. We find that, accounting for the interplay between the $$\psi (2S)$$

ψ
(
2
S
)

and the $$\psi (3770)$$

ψ
(
3770
)

, no further pole is required to describe the $$\psi (3770)$$

ψ
(
3770
)

line shape. In particular we derive from the pole location $$M_{\psi (3770)}~=~3778.8~\pm ~0.3~\,\textrm{MeV} $$

M

ψ
(
3770
)

=

3778.8

±

0.3

MeV

and $$\varGamma _{\psi (3770)}~=~25.0~\pm ~0.5~\,\textrm{MeV} $$

Γ

ψ
(
3770
)

=

25.0

±

0.5

MeV

. Moreover, we find the decay to $$D^+D^-$$

D
+

D
-

and $$D^0\bar{D}^0$$

D
0

D

¯

0

to be consistent with isospin symmetry and derive an upper bound on the branching ratio $${\mathcal {B}}(\psi (3770) \rightarrow \text {non-}D\bar{D}) < 6\%$$

B
(
ψ
(
3770
)
→
non-
D

D

¯

)
<
6
%

at $$90\%$$

90
%

probability.
Observational signatures of charged rotating traversable wormhole: shadows and light rings with different accretions
Authors: Saleem Rabia , Aslam M. Israr , Shahid Shokaib
Published: May 2024

In this work, we investigate the optical appearance of qualitatively new observational features of accretion disk images around the charged rotating traversable wormhole (TWH) space-time for different spin, throat, and charge values. To accomplish this, we first consider the Hamilton–Jacobi method to derive the geodesic equations for the motion of photons and study the effects of parameters on the photon orbit in the observer’s sky. We found that each parameter affects the size and shape of the wormhole (WH) shadow and flatness is observed in the shadow because of spin and other parameters. To produce shadow images of sufficient visual quality but within manageable computational times, we adopt the ray-trace procedure and characterize the significant features of light trajectories on the observer’s screen, depending on the interaction between the space-time structure and the accretion disk. In addition, we consider the static spherically symmetric accretion flow model to observe the specific intensity around the traversable WH space-time geometry. It is found that the intensity and positions of the photon ring vary with respect to the involved parameters. In future observation, this type of study may provide a fertile playground to test the nature of compact objects, specifically the WH in the strong-field regime.
Photoionization treatment of encompassed plasma-implanted exotic atoms
Authors: Bahar Mustafa Kemal
Published: May 2024

This work chews over exotic systems embedded in a non-ideal classical plasma (NICP) under impenetrable spherical confinement, including $$\mu \hbox {H}$$

μ
H

, $$(\mu \hbox {He})^{+}$$

(
μ
He
)

+

, and $$(\mu \hbox {Li})^{++}$$

(
μ
Li
)

+
+

systems within a nonrelativistic formalism. The photoionization processes of exotic atomic systems are thoroughly analyzed for different values of the NICP’s plasma screening parameter, hence plasma temperature and density, and the radius of spherical confinement. In each case, the energy levels of exotic systems are shown and interpreted in terms of their characteristics. The heavy nature of the muon significantly influences the entire process. Additionally, observable outcomes of different attraction effects originating from the nucleus in muonic systems on both the spectrum and photoionization are identified. The short lifetimes of relevant exotic systems due to the muon and the high bound state energies resulting from the strong attraction energy of the muon significantly inconvenience the photoionization process. However, these disadvantages can be overcome thanks to NICP and spherical confinement, thereby facilitating experimental applications. Important findings regarding these facilitation processes are presented in the present work.

Graphical abstract
Spin interaction of nonrelativistic neutrons with an ultrashort laser pulse
Authors: Aichelburg Peter Christian , Spreitzer Christian
Published: May 2024

The nonrelativistic Pauli equation is used to study the interaction of slow neutrons with an ultrashort laser pulse. In the extreme limit, the pulse is acting on the magnetic moment of the neutron only at one instant of time. We obtain the scattering amplitude by deriving the junction conditions for the Pauli wave function across the pulse. Explicit expressions are given for a beam of polarized plane wave neutrons subjected to a pulse of spatially constant magnetic field strength. Finally we provide crude numerical estimates for pulses with the highest intensity available today.
Joint Optimization Algorithm for Latency-Energy and Privacy Combining Discrete Differential Evolution and Convex Optimization
Authors: Deng Yun , Li Jinyong , Chen Shouxue
Published: May 2024

A privacy protection task offloading algorithm combining discrete differential evolution and convex optimization is proposed to resolve the new position privacy leakage problem for mobile terminal due to transferring tasks to multiple edge servers for computation via wireless networks. First, the privacy cost of offloading decision is defined for the characteristics of the position privacy problem combined with the standard deviation theory. Second, the objective problem is modeled as a joint optimization of position privacy protection, offloading decision and transmission power, and the total cost of task offloading is an optimization objective. Finally, to handle the objective problem efficiently, offloading decision variable is decoupled from the transmission power variable to decrease the computational complexity of the problem; the discrete differential evolution algorithm is designed to accumulate the approximate optimal offloading decision, and the optimal transmission power is efficiently solved by variable substitution method and subgradient method. Simulations reveal that the algorithm has excellent convergence; it improves the position privacy protection level of mobile terminal and reduces the total cost of task offloading while maintaining lower energy consumption and latency.
Irradiation Effect in Thermoelectric Polymer Polyaniline Induced by High-Energy Electron Beam
Authors: Xu Ziheng , Cao Yunpeng , Cao Hongwen , Zhu Qi , Chen Sheng , Zhang Songlan , Wang Yueping , Wang Zhijun , Wang Yihan , Yin Qinjian , Zhang Kun
Published: May 2024

A comprehensive investigation was conducted on the relationships between molecular structure, morphology and thermoelectric properties of HCl-doped polyaniline (PANi) nanorods subjected to 10[Formula: see text]MeV electron beam irradiation. Morphological and structural characterization revealed that the crystallinity of irradiated PANi nanorods remained almost unchanged, and minimal oxygen content was detected. This resulted in minimal alterations to the thermo-stability. In addition, the thermoelectric properties of PANi were enhanced. A maximum conductivity of 22.85[Formula: see text]S/cm was obtained at 50[Formula: see text]kGy, which was 1.46 times that of pristine PANi. Interestingly, the Seebeck coefficient reached a maximum of −3.56[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]V/K at 100[Formula: see text]kGy, indicating [Formula: see text]-type organic semiconductor properties. However, a peak power factor of 0.024[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]W[Formula: see text]m[Formula: see text] K[Formula: see text] was achieved with 60[Formula: see text]kGy irradiation, which was slightly enhanced compared to 0.018[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]W[Formula: see text]m[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]K[Formula: see text] for pristine PANi. These results demonstrate that PANi exhibits good irradiation resistance after irradiated with a dose of 100[Formula: see text]kGy. Thus, PANi could be used in high-[Formula: see text] ray (electron) environments, such as radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs).
Are You Watching or Warning? The Role of Comprehension, Warning Lead Time and Prior Experience On Individual Preparation of Tornadic Events
Authors: Armstrong Cory
Published: May 2024

This study examines how prior experience with tornados and predicted warning lead times of severe weather may influence one’s willingness to take protective action when a potential tornadic event is imminent. Using theoretical constructs from the Protective Action Decision Model and Risk Information Seeking and Processing model, the project examines how individuals make decisions about taking protective action and what factors motivate them during severe weather. The overall focus of the study is the impact of prior experience with tornados, geographic location and amount of warning lead time on an individual’s likelihood to prepare for potential severe weather. A survey of 679 mid-south residents provided insight into their perceptions of warning language and events. Results indicated that individuals who live in rural areas and those who have more prior experience with tornadic events are more likely to engage in protective behavior. Further, an interaction was noted, indicating those with more prior experience with tornados reporting that they needed less warning lead time to prepare when compared to those with less prior experience, who reported they wished for more lead warning time. Finally, definitions of “tornado warning” noted that more than half of participants did correctly identify its meaning.
Tectonic processes and the evolution of the continental crust
Authors: Hawkesworth Chris , Cawood Peter A. , Dhuime Bruno , Kemp Tony
Published: May 2024

The Earth is the only known planet where plate tectonics operates. We review the features of Archean and early Proterozoic geology that constrain tectonic environments and inform discussions of the onset of plate tectonics. There is the question of scale and how the results of individual case studies are put into a wider global context. Global models may be difficult to test and we seek to integrate evidence for plate tectonics being active with ancient records of subduction. We explore evidence for when the continental crust became rigid enough to facilitate plate tectonics based on the occurrence of widespread dyke swarms and large sedimentary basins, relatively widespread granulite facies metamorphism and evidence for crustal thickening. We argue that it remains difficult to constrain tectonic settings from contemporaneous metamorphic events without spatial controls. Archean cratons stabilized at different times in different areas from 3.1 to 2.5 Ga, juvenile continental crust changed from mafic to more intermediate compositions, there was a reduction in crustal growth at
c.
3 Ga and increasing evidence for the lateral movement of crustal fragments. These, together with the other changes at the end of the Archean, are taken to reflect the onset of plate tectonics as the dominant global regime.
FastHGNN: A New Sampling Technique for Learning with Hypergraph Neural Networks
Authors: Lu Fengcheng , Ng Michael Kwok-Po
Published: May 2024

Hypergraphs can represent higher-order relations among objects. Traditional hypergraph neural networks involve node-edge-node transform, leading to high computational cost and timing. The main aim of this article is to propose a new sampling technique for learning with hypergraph neural networks. The core idea is to design a layer-wise sampling scheme for nodes and hyperedges to approximate the original hypergraph convolution. We rewrite hypergraph convolution in the form of double integral and leverage Monte Carlo to achieve a discrete and consistent estimator. In addition, we use importance sampling and finally derive feasible probability mass functions for both nodes and hyperedges in consideration of variance reduction, based on some assumptions. Notably, the proposed sampling technique allows us to handle large-scale hypergraph learning, which is not feasible with traditional hypergraph neural networks. Experiment results demonstrate that our proposed model keeps a good balance between running time and prediction accuracy.
Adaptation in Edge Computing: A Review on Design Principles and Research Challenges
Authors: Golpayegani Fateneh , Chen Nanxi , Afraz Nima , Gyamfi Eric , Malekjafarian Abdollah , Schäfer Dominik , Krupitzer Christian
Published: May 2024

Edge computing places the computational services and resources closer to the user proximity, to reduce latency, and ensure the quality of service and experience. Low latency, context awareness and mobility support are the major contributors to edge-enabled smart systems. Such systems require handling new situations and change on the fly and ensuring the quality of service while only having access to constrained computation and communication resources and operating in mobile, dynamic and ever-changing environments. Hence, adaptation and self-organisation are crucial for such systems to maintain their performance, and operability while accommodating new changes in their environment.

This article reviews the current literature in the field of adaptive edge computing systems. We use a widely accepted taxonomy, which describes the important aspects of adaptive behaviour implementation in computing systems. This taxonomy discusses aspects such as adaptation reasons, the various levels an adaptation strategy can be implemented, the time of reaction to a change, categories of adaptation technique and control of the adaptive behaviour. In this article, we discuss how these aspects are addressed in the literature and identify the open research challenges and future direction in adaptive edge computing systems.

The results of our analysis show that most of the identified approaches target adaptation at the application level, and only a few focus on middleware, communication infrastructure and context. Adaptations that are required to address the changes in the context, changes caused by users or in the system itself are also less explored. Furthermore, most of the literature has opted for reactive adaptation, although proactive adaptation is essential to maintain the edge computing systems’ performance and interoperability by anticipating the required adaptations on the fly. Additionally, most approaches apply a centralised adaptation control, which does not perfectly fit the mostly decentralised/distributed edge computing settings.
Automated Category Tree Construction: Hardness Bounds and Algorithms
Authors: Gershtein Shay , Avron Uri , Guy Ido , Milo Tova , Novgorodov Slava
Published: May 2024

Category trees, or taxonomies, are rooted trees where each node, called a category, corresponds to a set of related items. The construction of taxonomies has been studied in various domains, including e-commerce, document management, and question answering. Multiple algorithms for automating construction have been proposed, employing a variety of clustering approaches and crowdsourcing. However, no formal model to capture such categorization problems has been devised, and their complexity has not been studied. To address this, we propose in this work a combinatorial model that captures many practical settings and show that the aforementioned empirical approach has been warranted, as we prove strong inapproximability bounds for various problem variants and special cases when the goal is to produce a categorization of the maximum utility.

In our model, the input is a set of
n
weighted item sets that the tree would ideally contain as categories. Each category, rather than perfectly match the corresponding input set, is allowed to exceed a given threshold for a given similarity function. The goal is to produce a tree that maximizes the total weight of the sets for which it contains a matching category. A key parameter is an upper bound on the number of categories an item may belong to, which produces the hardness of the problem, as initially each item may be contained in an arbitrary number of input sets.

For this model, we prove inapproximability bounds, of order

\(\tilde{\Theta }(\sqrt {n})\)

or

\(\tilde{\Theta }(n)\)

, for various problem variants and special cases, loosely justifying the aforementioned heuristic approach. Our work includes reductions based on parameterized randomized constructions that highlight how various problem parameters and properties of the input may affect the hardness. Moreover, for the special case where the category must be identical to the corresponding input set, we devise an algorithm whose approximation guarantee depends solely on a more granular parameter, allowing improved worst-case guarantees, as well as the application of practical exact solvers. We further provide efficient algorithms with much improved approximation guarantees for practical special cases where the cardinalities of the input sets or the number of input sets each items belongs to are not too large. Finally, we also generalize our results to DAG-based and non-hierarchical categorization.
Unveiling Code Pre-Trained Models: Investigating Syntax and Semantics Capacities
Authors: Ma Wei , Liu Shangqing , Zhao Mengjie , Xie Xiaofei , Wang Wenhang , Hu Qiang , Zhang Jie , Liu Yang
Published: May 2024

Code models have made significant advancements in code intelligence by encoding knowledge about programming languages. While previous studies have explored the capabilities of these models in learning code syntax, there has been limited investigation on their ability to understand code semantics. Additionally, existing analyses assume that the number of edges between nodes at the abstract syntax tree (AST) is related to syntax distance, and also often require transforming the high-dimensional space of deep learning models to a low-dimensional one, which may introduce inaccuracies. To study how code models represent code syntax and semantics, we conduct a comprehensive analysis of seven code models, including four representative code pre-trained models (CodeBERT, GraphCodeBERT, CodeT5, and UnixCoder) and three large language models (LLMs) (StarCoder, CodeLlama and CodeT5+). We design four probing tasks to assess the models’ capacities in learning both code syntax and semantics. These probing tasks reconstruct code syntax and semantics structures (AST, control dependence graph (CDG), data dependence graph (DDG), and control flow graph (CFG)) in the representation space. These structures are core concepts for code understanding. We also investigate the syntax token role in each token representation and the long dependency between the code tokens. Additionally, we analyze the distribution of attention weights related to code semantic structures. Through extensive analysis, our findings highlight the strengths and limitations of different code models in learning code syntax and semantics. The results demonstrate that these models excel in learning code syntax, successfully capturing the syntax relationships between tokens and the syntax roles of individual tokens. However, their performance in encoding code semantics varies. CodeT5 and CodeBERT demonstrate proficiency in capturing control and data dependencies, whereas UnixCoder shows weaker performance in this aspect. We do not observe LLMs generally performing much better than pre-trained models. The shallow layers of LLMs perform better than their deep layers. The investigation of attention weights reveals that different attention heads play distinct roles in encoding code semantics. Our research findings emphasize the need for further enhancements in code models to better learn code semantics. This study contributes to the understanding of code models’ abilities in syntax and semantics analysis. Our findings provide guidance for future improvements in code models, facilitating their effective application in various code-related tasks.
Toward Realizing the Promise of AI in Precision Health Across the Spectrum of Care
Authors: Wiens Jenna , Spector-Bagdady Kayte , Mukherjee Bhramar
Published: May 2024

Significant progress has been made in augmenting clinical decision-making using artificial intelligence (AI) in the context of secondary and tertiary care at large academic medical centers. For such innovations to have an impact across the spectrum of care, additional challenges must be addressed, including inconsistent use of preventative care and gaps in chronic care management. The integration of additional data, including genomics and data from wearables, could prove critical in addressing these gaps, but technical, legal, and ethical challenges arise. On the technical side, approaches for integrating complex and messy data are needed. Data and design imperfections like selection bias, missing data, and confounding must be addressed. In terms of legal and ethical challenges, while AI has the potential to aid in leveraging patient data to make clinical care decisions, we also risk exacerbating existing disparities. Organizations implementing AI solutions must carefully consider how they can improve care for all and reduce inequities.
The Role of Cilia and the Complex Genetics of Congenital Heart Disease
Authors: Gabriel George C. , Ganapathiraju Madhavi , Lo Cecilia W.
Published: May 2024

Congenital heart disease (CHD) can affect up to 1% of live births, and despite abundant evidence of a genetic etiology, the genetic landscape of CHD is still not well understood. A large-scale mouse chemical mutagenesis screen for mutations causing CHD yielded a preponderance of cilia-related genes, pointing to a central role for cilia in CHD pathogenesis. The genes uncovered by the screen included genes that regulate ciliogenesis and cilia-transduced cell signaling as well as many that mediate endocytic trafficking, a cell process critical for both ciliogenesis and cell signaling. The clinical relevance of these findings is supported by whole-exome sequencing analysis of CHD patients that showed enrichment for pathogenic variants in ciliome genes. Surprisingly, among the ciliome CHD genes recovered were many that encoded direct protein–protein interactors. Assembly of the CHD genes into a protein–protein interaction network yielded a tight interactome that suggested this protein–protein interaction may have functional importance and that its disruption could contribute to the pathogenesis of CHD. In light of these and other findings, we propose that an interactome enriched for ciliome genes may provide the genomic context for the complex genetics of CHD and its often-observed incomplete penetrance and variable expressivity.
A Standardised Potentiometric Method for the Effective Parameterisation of Reversible Heating in a Lithium-Ion Cell
Authors: Hales Alastair , Bulman James
Published: May 2024

Lithium-ion batteries generate heat, degrading faster and becoming unsafe at high temperature. Yet many battery models do not consider the contribution of reversible, entropic heating when evaluating the rate of heat generation from a cell or battery pack. This leads to temperature prediction errors in battery management systems, increased safety risk, and reduced lifetime of the battery pack. Here, a standardised potentiometric method is proposed, allowing anyone with access to a typical battery lab to reliably and accurately extract the entropy coefficient for any electrochemical cell, the key parameter for the inclusion of reversible heating in a battery model. The proposed method takes 7.4 days to complete, representing a reduction of 90% compared to some methods proposed in the literature. Results highlight the importance of moving away from the multiple temperature steps, and the temperature step increases that dominate the existing literature. These arguments are justified through the observation and introduction of voltage relaxation following both kinetic and thermal excitation. These phenomena are termed post-kinetic-potentialisation and post-thermalisation-potentialisation. Post-thermalisation-potentialisation is not discussed in any published literature yet represents an important behavioural trait for any lithium-ion cell with a non-negligible length scale and thermal diffusivity.
Red Photoluminescence from Fe-Doped MgAl2O4 Crystals
Authors: Hitomi Ami , Mori Arisa , Watanabe Ririka , Katsumata Toru , Aizawa Hiroaki
Published: May 2024

The influence of variations in composition (x = MgO/Al2O3 = 0.3–1.0), Fe2O3 concentrations (0.05 mol%–2.0 mol%), and O2 concentrations (100 vol% and 0 vol%) in the atmosphere on the PL characteristics of Fe-doped MgAl2O4 crystals were investigated using single phase spinel crystals grown by FZ technique. The peak wavelength shift of photoluminescence at around 730 nm are observed depending on the Fe2O3 concentration and composition. Concentration quenching of red PL occurred at Fe2O3 concentration above 0.1 mol%. PL intensity was higher in samples grown in 100 vol% O2 compared to those grown in 100 vol% Ar. PL intensity from Fe-doped MgAl2O4 increased with increasing compositions x from 0.3 to 1.0. MgAl2O4 doped with 0.1 mol% Fe2O3, and a stoichiometric composition (x = 1.0) grown in 100 vol% O2, demonstrated strong red PL with ultraviolet-C (UVC) lights excitation.
Molecular Detection and Phylogenetic Analysis of the alkB Gene in Klebsiella oxytoca Strains Isolated from the Gut of Tenebrio molitor
Authors: Mupamhadzi Tsitsi Lynn , Machona Oleen , Chidzwondo Farisai , Mangoyi Rumbidzai
Published: May 2024

The challenge in polystyrene disposal has caused researchers to look for urgent innovative and ecofriendly solutions for plastic degradation. Some insects have been reported to use polystyrene as their sole carbon source, and this has been linked to the presence of microbes in their guts that aid in plastic digestion. Thus, this study focuses on the molecular detection and phylogenetic analysis of the alkane-1-monooxygenase (alkB) gene in Klebsiella oxytoca strains isolated from the gut of Tenebrio molitor. The alkB gene encodes for alkane-1-monooxygenase, an enzyme involved in the oxidation of inactivated alkanes. This gene can be used as a marker to assess bacteria’s ability to biodegrade polystyrene. Three bacterial strains were isolated from the guts of T. molitor mealworms and were confirmed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene. The primers used in the amplification of the 16S ribosomal RNA region were designed using NCBI, a bioinformatics tool. To detect the presence of the alkB gene in the isolated bacterial strains, a set of primers used in the amplification of this gene was manually designed from the conserved regions of the alkB nucleotide sequences of eleven bacterial species from GenBank. TCOFFE online tool was used to align the alkB sequences of the bacteria, while Jalview and ConSurf were used to view the alignment. The amplified alkB gene was then sequenced using the Sanger sequencing technique, blasted on NCBI to look for similar sequences, and a phylogenetic tree was constructed. Based on the 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequences, the isolated bacterial strains were confirmed to be Klebsiella oxytoca NBRC 102593, Klebsiella oxytoca JCM 1665, and Klebsiella oxytoca ATCC 13182. The alkB gene sequence identical to fourteen alkB gene sequences derived from Actinobacteria whole genome was detected in Klebsiella oxytoca for the first time to the best of our knowledge. The novel nucleotide sequence was published in the NCBI database under accession number OP959069. This gene sequence was found to be for the enzyme alkane-1-monooxygenase and may be one of the enzymes responsible for polystyrene degradation by the putative Klebsiella oxytoca ATCC 13182 in T. molitor.
Molecular Detection of Anaplasma phagocytophilum in Small Mammals and Infesting Ticks in Laikipia County, Kenya
Authors: Mosha Erick Titus , Kuria Joseph K. N. , Otiende Moses , Lekolool Isaac
Published: May 2024

Anaplasmosis is a set of disease conditions of various mammals caused by bacteria species of the genus Anaplasma. These are sub‐microscopic, Gram‐negative, obligate intracellular pathogens that infect both vertebrate and invertebrate hosts. Significant species that infect domestic and wildlife animals include Anaplasma marginale, Anaplasma ovis, Anaplasma mesaeterum, Anaplasma platys, and Anaplasma phagocytophilum. Although A. phagocytophilum has a widespread distribution, there are only a few epidemiological reports from sub‐Saharan Africa. This study focused on molecular detection and characterization of A. phagocytophilum in small mammals and their infesting ticks in Laikipia County, Kenya. A total of 385 blood and 84 tick archival samples from small mammals (155 females and 230 males) were analyzed. The blood samples were subjected to a nested PCR‐HRM melt analysis using species‐specific primers to amplify the 16S ribosomal RNA genes. The ticks were also subjected to nested PCR‐HRM involving 16S rRNA gene primers. Anaplasma phagocytophilum DNA was detected in 19 out of 385 samples using species‐specific 16S rRNA gene primers giving a prevalence of 4.9% for A. phagocytophilum. Analysis of the tick’s samples using 16S rRNA gene species‐specific primers also detected A. phagocytophilum in 3 samples from Haemaphysalis leachi ticks (3/84) equivalent to prevalence of 3.6%. Sequencing of 16S rRNA PCR products confirmed A. phagocytophilum in small mammals and ticks’ samples. Phylogenetic analysis of the haplotype from this study demonstrated a close ancestral link with strains from Canis lupus familiaris, Alces alces, Apodemus agrarius, and ticks (Haemaphysalis longicornis) reported in Europe, China, and Africa. Comparison was also made with a known pathogenic A. phagocytophilum variant HA and a nonpathogenic variant 1 that were clustered into a distinctive clade different form haplotypes detected in this study. All the haplotype sequences for A. phagocytophilum from this study were submitted and registered in GenBank under the accession numbers OQ308965–OQ308976. Our study shows that small mammals and their associated ticks harbor A. phagocytophilum. The vector competence for H. leachi in A. phagocytophilum transmission should further be investigated.
Figure S6 from ASCL1 Drives Tolerance to Osimertinib in EGFR Mutant Lung Cancer in Permissive Cellular Contexts
Authors: Hu Bomiao , Wiesehöfer Marc , de Miguel Fernando J. , Liu Zongzhi , Chan Lok-Hei , Choi Jungmin , Melnick Mary Ann , Arnal Estape Anna , Walther Zenta , Zhao Dejian , Lopez-Giraldez Francesc , Wurtz Anna , Cai Guoping , Fan Rong , Gettinger Scott , Xiao Andrew , Yan Qin , Homer Robert , Nguyen Don X. , Politi Katerina
Published: May 2024

ASCL1 overexpression does not affect PC9 or H1975 cells. Drug response data in two additional lung cancer cell lines overexpressing ASCL1.
Figure S4 from ASCL1 Drives Tolerance to Osimertinib in EGFR Mutant Lung Cancer in Permissive Cellular Contexts
Authors: Hu Bomiao , Wiesehöfer Marc , de Miguel Fernando J. , Liu Zongzhi , Chan Lok-Hei , Choi Jungmin , Melnick Mary Ann , Arnal Estape Anna , Walther Zenta , Zhao Dejian , Lopez-Giraldez Francesc , Wurtz Anna , Cai Guoping , Fan Rong , Gettinger Scott , Xiao Andrew , Yan Qin , Homer Robert , Nguyen Don X. , Politi Katerina
Published: May 2024

Expression of signature genes in residual disease in PDXs.
Abstract PO1-06-01: Clinical Efficacy of Tumor Organoid-Guided Cancer Therapy for Locally Advanced Unresectable or Metastatic Breast Cancer
Authors: Lin Ying-Yi , Gao Hong-Fei , Li Hong , Du Bo-Lei , Cheng Min-Yi , Zou Jia-Chen , Zheng Xing-xing , Zhu Teng , Li Ting-Ting , Li Sheng , Wang Kun
Published: May 2024

Purpose: Patient-derived organoids (PDOs) may facilitate treatment selection, but the feasibility of using breast cancer PDOs to guide personalized treatment in clinical practice has not been fully investigated. This study aimed to assess the clinical efficacy of treatment guided by PDO drug sensitivity tests (OGT) versus treatment of physician’s choice (TPC) in patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic breast cancer (MBC) and to explore the potential of PDOs to reveal mechanisms underlying treatment resistance. Methods: Patients diagnosed with MBC were recruited between January 2020 and August 2022. PDOs were established from biopsies specimens or malignant effusion samples. The efficacy of customized drug panels was determined by measuring cell mortality after drug exposure. Patients receiving OGT were matched 1:2 by nearest neighbor propensity scores with patients receiving TPC. The primary clinical outcome was progression-free survival. Secondary outcomes included objective response rate and disease control rate. Targeted gene sequencing and pathway enrichment analysis were performed. Results: 46 PDOs (46 of 51, 90.2%) were generated from 45 MBC patients. PDO drug screening showed an accuracy of 81.1% (95% CI 67.6%-91.9%) in predicting patients' clinical responses. 36 OGT patients were matched to 69 TPC patients. OGT was associated with prolonged median progression-free survival (11.0 months vs 5.0 months; unadjusted hazard ratio 0.53 [95% CI 0.33-0.85]; P=0.01) and improved disease control (88.9% vs 63.8%; unadjusted odd ratio 4.26 [1.44-18.62]) compared with TPC. The objective response rate of both groups was similar. Pathway enrichment analysis uncovered differentially modulated pathways implicated in DNA repair and transcriptional regulation in patients less sensitive to capecitabine/gemcitabine, and pathways associated with cell cycle regulation in patients less sensitive to palbociclib. Conclusions: MBC patients treated with OGT were associated with superior progression-free survival and disease control compared with TPC. PDO-based functional precision medicine is a feasible strategy for treatment optimization and customization in MBC and may enhance our understanding of therapeutic resistance.

Citation Format: Ying-Yi Lin, Hong-Fei Gao, Hong Li, Bo-Lei Du, Min-Yi Cheng, Jia-Chen Zou, Xing-xing Zheng, Teng Zhu, Ting-Ting Li, Sheng Li, Kun Wang. Clinical Efficacy of Tumor Organoid-Guided Cancer Therapy for Locally Advanced Unresectable or Metastatic Breast Cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2023 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(9 Suppl):Abstract nr PO1-06-01.
Supplementary Figures from Clec4A4 Acts as a Negative Immune Checkpoint Regulator to Suppress Antitumor Immunity
Authors: Uto Tomofumi , Fukaya Tomohiro , Mitoma Shuya , Nishikawa Yotaro , Tominaga Moe , Choijookhuu Narantsog , Hishikawa Yoshitaka , Sato Katsuaki
Published: May 2024

Supplementary Figures
Transcriptome Deconvolution Reveals Absence of Cancer Cell Expression Signature in Immune Checkpoint Blockade Response
Authors: Guo Yu Amanda , Kulshrestha Tanmay , Chang Mei Mei , Kassam Irfahan , Revkov Egor , Rizzetto Simone , Tan Aaron C. , Tan Daniel S.W. , Tan Iain Beehuat , Skanderup Anders J.
Published: May 2024

Immune checkpoint therapy (ICB) has conferred significant and durable clinical benefit to some patients with cancer. However, most patients do not respond to ICB, and reliable biomarkers of ICB response are needed to improve patient stratification. Here, we performed a transcriptome-wide meta-analysis across 1,486 tumors from ICB-treated patients and tumors with expected ICB outcomes based on microsatellite status. Using a robust transcriptome deconvolution approach, we inferred cancer- and stroma-specific gene expression differences and identified cell-type specific features of ICB response across cancer types. Consistent with current knowledge, stromal expression of CXCL9, CXCL13, and IFNG were the top determinants of favorable ICB response. In addition, we identified a group of potential immune-suppressive genes, including FCER1A, associated with poor response to ICB. Strikingly, PD-L1 expression in stromal cells, but not cancer cells, is correlated with ICB response across cancer types. Furthermore, the unbiased transcriptome-wide analysis failed to identify cancer-cell intrinsic expression signatures of ICB response conserved across tumor types, suggesting that cancer cells lack tissue-agnostic transcriptomic features of ICB response.

Significance:

Our results challenge the prevailing dogma that cancer cells present tissue-agnostic molecular markers that modulate immune activity and ICB response, which has implications on the development of improved ICB diagnostics and treatments.
Call It Translation: Henry Roth in Spain, or Translating the Multilingual Novel
Authors: Lonsdale Laura
Published: May 2024

This article analyses Henry Roth’s Jewish-American novel and modernist masterpiece Call It Sleep (1934) and its long-forgotten translation into Spanish during the Francoist dictatorship. Through a combination of detective work and critical analysis, including comparisons with a later and more creative translation, the article shows how the bowdlerising of Roth’s text reveals, by contrast or inversion, the complexity of the text’s multilingual operations. Developing both the theoretical and practical implications of this analysis, the article draws out the thematic underpinnings of the novel’s style, examining the forms of difference that turn the encounter between languages into a unique mode of expression.
A new species of Pseudostilobezzia Wirth & Ratanaworabhan (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) from Vietnam
Authors: BORKENT ART , GROGAN WILLIAM L.
Published: May 2024

A new species of Pseudostilobezzia Wirth & Ratanaworabhan is described, the third in this small genus, from Vietnam and based on two females. A key is provided to distinguish the three species, all restricted to the Oriental Region, in Vietnam or the nearby Hainan province, China. The phylogenetic relationship between this genus and other Ceratopogonidae suggests that it may be a somewhat distinctive lineage within Stilobezzia Kieffer. The presently unknown male of this genus will likely provide pertinent information in this regard.
A Catalogue of Indian Euteliidae (Lepidoptera, Noctuoidea)
Authors: JOSHI RAHUL , SINGH NAVNEET , AHMAD JALIL , FAROOQUI SHAHABAB A.
Published: May 2024

We present a catalogue of 104 valid species in 20 genera and two subfamilies i.e., Euteliinae and Stictopterinae of Indian Euteliidae, which represent 19.25% of the global Euteliidae (540 species). Out of 104 Indian species, Euteliinae are represented by 52 species in 14 genera and Stictopterinae by 52 species in six genera. Six new combinations are proposed and one old combination is revived. Taxonomic position of Mimanuga Warren, 1913 is discussed. For the included genera, type species and synonyms, if any, are given whereas for the catalogued species, type localities, synonyms, if any, distribution including Indian as well as global records are provided.
A new species of the genus Ovalona Van Damme & Dumont, 2008 (Cladocera: Anomopoda: Chydoridae) from South-East Asia, related to Australian Ovalona archeri (Sars, 1888)
Authors: SINEV ARTEM Y. , DADYKIN IVAN A. , ĐỊNH СÙ NGUYÊN
Published: May 2024

A new species of Ovalona Van Damme & Dumont, 2008 (Cladocera: Anomopoda) related to the rare Australian species Ovalona archeri (Sars, 1888), is described from the Mekong Delta, South Vietnam. Ovalona garibiani sp. nov. differs from O. archeri in morphology of antenna, postabdomen, and proportions of setae on thoracic limbs II–III. Both species differ from other species of the genus Ovalona in the postabdomen with a narrow and sparsely spaced group of lateral setulae, the distance between the postanal groups being slightly greater than the width of the group. O. garibiani sp. nov. is a rare phytophilous species, known from a few localities in continental Malaysia, Southern Thailand and Vietnam.
Nexus Between Energy Intensity and Economic Globalization in a Landlocked Country Nepal
Authors: Panthee Keshav Raj , Noppradit Prakrit
Published: May 2024

Energy intensity, a major indicator used worldwide to measure energy efficiency, is of paramount importance to Nepal in the context of energy dependency with India in both the major energy sources: fossil fuels and electricity. In this context, this study has attempted to analyze the impact of economic globalization on the energy intensity of Nepal over the period 1990 to 2019 using dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS), fully modified ordinary least squares, and canonical cointegrating regression (CCR) method. The results show highly significant and negative impact of economic globalization on energy intensity in Nepal.
The Socio-Economic Impact of an Abrupt Loss of Oil: A Synthetic Control Approach in the Case of Sudan
Authors: Ali Sabna , Murshed Syed Mansoob , Papyrakis Elissaios
Published: May 2024

With the secession of South Sudan in 2011, the Republic of Sudan experienced a sudden loss of more than 70% of its oil reserves. Few countries have experienced such a dramatic macroeconomic adjustment within a short period of time. While earlier studies have explored the socio-economic impacts of oil discoveries, little is known about what happens in the case of an abrupt reversal of an oil windfall. We make use of the synthetic control method to isolate the effects of such an abrupt oil loss. We find little evidence of oil-induced socio-economic effects with the exception of higher unemployment.
Mouse Models for Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Authors: Zhou J. , Liu C. , Amornphimoltham P. , Cheong S.C. , Gutkind J.S. , Chen Q. , Wang Z.
Published: May 2024

The prognosis and survival rate of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) have remained unchanged for years, and the pathogenesis of HNSCC is still not fully understood, necessitating further research. An ideal animal model that accurately replicates the complex microenvironment of HNSCC is urgently needed. Among all the animal models for preclinical cancer research, tumor-bearing mouse models are the best known and widely used due to their high similarity to humans. Currently, mouse models for HNSCC can be broadly categorized into chemical-induced models, genetically engineered mouse models (GEMMs), and transplanted mouse models, each with its distinct advantages and limitations. In chemical-induced models, the carcinogen spontaneously initiates tumor formation through a multistep process. The resemblance of this model to human carcinogenesis renders it an ideal preclinical platform for studying HNSCC initiation and progression from precancerous lesions. The major drawback is that these models are time-consuming and, like human cancer, unpredictable in terms of timing, location, and number of lesions. GEMMs involve transgenic and knockout mice with gene modifications, leading to malignant transformation within a tumor microenvironment that recapitulates tumorigenesis in vivo, including their interaction with the immune system. However, most HNSCC GEMMs exhibit low tumor incidence and limited prognostic significance when translated to clinical studies. Transplanted mouse models are the most widely used in cancer research due to their consistency, availability, and efficiency. Based on the donor and recipient species matching, transplanted mouse models can be divided into xenografts and syngeneic models. In the latter, transplanted cells and host are from the same strain, making syngeneic models relevant to study functional immune system. In this review, we provide a comprehensive summary of the characteristics, establishment methods, and potential applications of these different HNSCC mouse models, aiming to assist researchers in choosing suitable animal models for their research.