bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effect of Lifestyle Factors on Outcomes in Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Diseases
Authors: Rozich Jacob J. , Holmer Ariela , Singh Siddharth
Published: March 2020

Various lifestyle factors including physical activity and obesity, stress, sleep, and smoking may modify the risk of developing inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs). In patients with established IBD, these lifestyle factors may significantly impact the natural history and clinical outcomes. Recreational exercise decreases the risk of flare and fatigue in patients with IBD. In contrast, obesity increases the risk of relapse and is associated with higher anxiety, depression, fatigue, and pain and higher health care utilization. Obesity also modifies pharmacokinetics of biologic agents unfavorably and is associated with a higher risk of treatment failure. Sleep disturbance is highly prevalent in patients with IBD, independent of disease activity, and increases the risk of relapse and chronic fatigue. Similarly, stress, particularly perceived stress rather than major life events, may trigger symptomatic flare in patients with IBD, although its impact on inflammation is unclear. Cigarette smoking is associated with unfavorable outcomes including the risk of corticosteroid dependence, surgery, and disease progression in patients with Crohn's disease; in contrast, smoking does not significantly impact outcomes in patients with ulcerative colitis, although some studies suggest that it may be associated with a lower risk of flare. The effect of alcohol and cannabis use in patients with IBD is inconsistent, with some studies suggesting that cannabis may decrease chronic pain in patients with IBD, without a significant effect of biological remission. Although these lifestyle factors are potentially modifiable, only a few interventional studies have been conducted. Trials of structured exercise and psychological therapy including mindfulness-based therapies such as meditation and yoga and gut-directed hypnotherapy have not consistently demonstrated benefit in clinical and/or endoscopic disease activity in IBD, although may improve overall quality of life.
Distinctive Features and Outcomes of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Patients With Alcohol-Related Liver Disease: A US Multicenter Study
Authors: deLemos Andrew , Patel Milin , Gawrieh Samer , Burney Heather , Dakhoul Lara , Miller Ethan , Scanga Andrew , Kettler Carla , Liu Hao , Roche Patrick , Wattacheril Julia , Chalasani Naga
Published: March 2020

Introduction:

The burden of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) occurring in patients with alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is increasing at an alarming rate. The aims of this study were to compare the patient and tumor characteristics of HCC occurring in ALD-alone relative to and in addition to other chronic liver diseases.

Methods:

Patients diagnosed with HCC between 2000 and 2014 were identified at 5 US clinical centers. The patients were categorized as ALD-alone, ALD plus viral hepatitis, or a non-ALD etiology. Clinical and tumor characteristics among the 3 groups were compared, and survival probability was estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method. The frequency of noncirrhotic HCC was compared across the 3 groups.

Results:

A total of 5,327 patients with HCC were analyzed. Six hundred seventy (12.6%) developed HCC due to underlying ALD. Ninety-one percent of ALD-related HCC arose in men, in contrast to non-ALD etiologies where men accounted for 70% of HCCs cases (P < 0.001). Patients with ALD-alone-related HCC were older at diagnosis and had tumors less likely to be detected as part of routine surveillance. The ALD-alone cohort was least likely to be within the Milan criteria and to undergo liver transplantation. Overall survival in the ALD-alone HCC cohort was lower than the other 2 groups (1.07 vs 1.31 vs 1.41 years, P < 0.001). HCC in the noncirrhotic ALD cohorts occurred in only 3.5% of the patients compared with 15.7% in patients with non-ALD etiologies (P < 0.001).

DISCUSSION:

HCC occurring in patients with ALD occurred mostly in older men and almost exclusively in a cirrhotic background. They present with advanced tumors, and their survival is lower than HCCs occurring in non-ALD.
The State of Integrated Computer-Aided Manufacturing/Computer Numerical Control: Prior Development and the Path Toward a Smarter Computer Numerical Controller
Authors: Lynn Roby , Helu Moneer , Sati Mukul , Tucker Tommy , Kurfess Thomas
Published: March 2020

Current industrial practice in automated manufacturing operations relies on low fidelity data transmission methods between computer numerical control (CNC) machine tools and the computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) systems used to program them. The typical language used to program CNC machines, known as G-Code, has been in existence for nearly sixty years and offers limited resolution for command data. In addition, the proprietary nature of industrial CNC systems hampers the ability of manufacturers to expand and improve upon the capability of existing machine tools. G-Code was not designed to support transmission of feedback data, and thus both the CAM system and higher level organizational control systems are frequently blind to the state of the production process. In response, separate standards that enable data exchange with machine tools have been used by industry, such as MTConnect and Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture. However, these standards enable data pathways that are independent of the G-Code command data pathway, and thus they provide practically no means to affect the state of a process on receipt of feedback data. As a result, control and data acquisition exist in separate realms, which makes the implementation of self-optimizing smart CNC systems challenging. This state-of-the-art review surveys existing methods for data transmission to and from machine tools and explores the current state of so-called integrated CAM/CNC systems that enable more thorough control of the machining process using intelligence built into the CAM system. The literature survey reveals that integrated CAM/CNC systems are impeded both by the data exchange methods used to interface with CNC systems in addition to the proprietary and closed architecture of the CNC systems themselves. Future directions in integrated CAM/CNC research are identified based on the requirements identified for such systems.
YENİLEBİLİR KAPLAMALARIN TAZE KESİLMİŞ MEYVE VE SEBZELERDE KULLANIMI
Authors: YÜKSEL Çiğdem , ATALAY Derya , ERGE Hande Selen
Published: March 2020

Taze kesilmiş ürünler, hücrelerin ve dokuların zarar görmesinden dolayı hasat ve tüketim süreci arasında birçok faktöre karşı duyarlıdır. Bu ürünlerde renk değişimi, tekstür bozulması, vitamin kaybı ve mikrobiyal gelişim gibi sorunlar ortaya çıkabilir. Bu problemler nedeniyle, son yıllarda yenilebilir kaplamalar taze kesilmiş ürünlerin raf ömrünün artırılmasında potansiyel yöntemlerden biri olarak kabul edilmiştir. Yenilebilir kaplamalar; nem ve çözünmüş maddelerin geçişini, gaz alış-verişini, solunum ve oksidatif reaksiyon hızını azaltarak taze kesilmiş meyve ve sebzelerin raf ömrünün ve kalitesinin iyileştirilmesine katkıda bulunabilir. Bu makalenin amacı, taze kesilmiş ürünlerde yenilebilir kaplamaların kullanımını araştırmak ve derlemektir. Bu kapsamda; taze kesilmiş meyve ve sebzelerin önemi, üretimi, yenilebilir kaplamaların bileşimleri, uygulama yöntemleri ve avantaj/dezavantajları değerlendirilmiştir.
CHANGES IN PHYSICOCHEMICAL, MICROBIOLOGICAL AND SENSORY CHARACTERISTICS OF TRADITIONALLY PRODUCED TURKISH SUCUK DURING RIPENING AND STORAGE: NATURAL OR SYNTHETIC ADDITIVES?
Authors: OZDAL Tugba
Published: March 2020

The effects of addition of nitrite, lactic acid bacteria and propolis on the physicochemical, microbiological and sensory characteristics of traditional Turkish sucuk were studied during the sun-drying and storage stages. Microbiological and physicochemical analysis were performed at the beginning of sun drying period (3rd day), at the end of the sun-drying period (14th day) and in the storage period (28th day). According to the microbiological evaluation of the samples, analyses show that total bacteria, total yeast and mould and lactic acid bacteria counts varied significantly (P <0.05) with nitrite, lactic acid bacteria and propolis addition and time. Propolis decreased the total bacteria, mould and yeast counts compared to the control sample at the end of the 28th day with acceptable sensory properties. Therefore, it can be concluded that as a natural strong antimicrobial, propolis can be added to traditional sucuk formulations to substitute nitrite to avoid negative health effects.
Whole Genome Sequences of 23 Species from the Drosophila montium Species Group (Diptera: Drosophilidae): A Resource for Testing Evolutionary Hypotheses
Authors: Bronski Michael J , Martinez Ciera C , Weld Holli A , Eisen Michael B
Published: March 2020

Large groups of species with well-defined phylogenies are excellent systems for testing evolutionary hypotheses. In this paper, we describe the creation of a comparative genomic resource consisting of 23 genomes from the species-rich Drosophila montium species group, 22 of which are presented here for the first time. The montium group is well-positioned for clade genomics. Within the montium clade, evolutionary distances are such that large numbers of sequences can be accurately aligned while also recovering strong signals of divergence; and the distance between the montium group and D. melanogaster is short enough so that orthologous sequence can be readily identified. All genomes were assembled from a single, small-insert library using MaSuRCA, before going through an extensive post-assembly pipeline. Estimated genome sizes within the montium group range from 155 Mb to 223 Mb (mean = 196 Mb). The absence of long-distance information during the assembly process resulted in fragmented assemblies, with the scaffold NG50s varying widely based on repeat content and sample heterozygosity (min = 18 kb, max = 390 kb, mean = 74 kb). The total scaffold length for most assemblies is also shorter than the estimated genome size, typically by 5–15%. However, subsequent analysis showed that our assemblies are highly complete. Despite large differences in contiguity, all assemblies contain at least 96% of known single-copy Dipteran genes (BUSCOs, n = 2,799). Similarly, by aligning our assemblies to the D. melanogaster genome and remapping coordinates for a large set of transcriptional enhancers (n = 3,457), we showed that each montium assembly contains orthologs for at least 91% of D. melanogaster enhancers. Importantly, the genic and enhancer contents of our assemblies are comparable to that of far more contiguous Drosophila assemblies. The alignment of our own D. serrata assembly to a previously published PacBio D. serrata assembly also showed that our longest scaffolds (up to 1 Mb) are free of large-scale misassemblies. Our genome assemblies are a valuable resource that can be used to further resolve the montium group phylogeny; study the evolution of protein-coding genes and cis-regulatory sequences; and determine the genetic basis of ecological and behavioral adaptations.
Identifying Small Molecules That Promote Quasipalindrome-Associated Template-Switch Mutations inEscherichia coli
Authors: Klaric Julie A , Perr Eli L , Lovett Susan T
Published: March 2020

DNA can assemble into non-B form structures that stall replication and cause genomic instability. One such secondary structure results from an inverted DNA repeat that can assemble into hairpin and cruciform structures during DNA replication. Quasipalindromes (QP), imperfect inverted repeats, are sites of mutational hotspots. Quasipalindrome-associated mutations (QPMs) occur through a template-switch mechanism in which the replicative polymerase stalls at a QP site and uses the nascent strand as a template instead of the correct template strand. This mutational event causes the QP to become a perfect or more perfect inverted repeat. Since it is not fully understood how template-switch events are stimulated or repressed, we designed a high-throughput screen to discover drugs that affect these events. QP reporters were engineered in the Escherichia coli lacZ gene to allow us to study template-switch events specifically. We tested 700 compounds from the NIH Clinical Collection through a disk diffusion assay and identified 11 positive hits. One of the hits was azidothymidine (zidovudine, AZT), a thymidine analog and DNA chain terminator. The other ten were found to be fluoroquinolone antibiotics, which induce DNA-protein crosslinks. This work shows that our screen is useful in identifying small molecules that affect quasipalindrome-associated template-switch mutations. We are currently assessing more small molecule libraries and applying this method to study other types of mutations.
Evaluation of STAR and Kallisto on Single Cell RNA-Seq Data Alignment
Authors: Du Yuheng , Huang Qianhui , Arisdakessian Cedric , Garmire Lana X
Published: March 2020

Alignment of scRNA-Seq data are the first and one of the most critical steps of the scRNA-Seq analysis workflow, and thus the choice of proper aligners is of paramount importance. Recently, STAR an alignment method and Kallisto a pseudoalignment method have both gained a vast amount of popularity in the single cell sequencing field. However, an unbiased third-party comparison of these two methods in scRNA-Seq is lacking. Here we conduct a systematic comparison of them on a variety of Drop-seq, Fluidigm and 10x genomics data, from the aspects of gene abundance, alignment accuracy, as well as computational speed and memory use. We observe that STAR globally produces more genes and higher gene-expression values, compared to Kallisto, as well as Bowtie2, another popular alignment method for bulk RNA-Seq. STAR also yields higher correlations of the Gini index for the genes with RNA-FISH validation results. Using 10x genomics PBMC 3K scRNA-Seq and mouse cortex single nuclei RNA-Seq data, STAR shows similar or better cell-type annotation results, by detecting a larger subset of known gene markers. However, the gain of accuracy and gene abundance of STAR alignment comes with the price of significantly slower computation time (4 folds) and more memory (7.7 folds), compared to Kallisto.
MYCs and PIFs Act Independently in Arabidopsis Growth Regulation
Authors: Li Chunmei , Nozue Kazunari , Maloof Julin N
Published: March 2020

Plants have a variety of strategies to avoid canopy shade and compete with their neighbors for light, collectively called the shade avoidance syndrome (SAS). Plants also have extensive systems to defend themselves against pathogens and herbivores. Defense and shade avoidance are two fundamental components of plant survival and productivity, and there are often tradeoffs between growth and defense. Recently, MYC2, a major positive regulator of defense, was reported to inhibit elongation during shade avoidance. Here, we further investigate the role of MYC2 and the related MYC3 and MYC4 in shade avoidance, and we examine the relationship between MYC2/3/4 and the PIF family of light-regulated transcription factors. We demonstrate that MYC2/3/4 inhibit both elongation and flowering. Furthermore, using both genetic and transcriptomic analysis we find that MYCs and PIFs generally function independently in growth regulation. However, surprisingly, the pif4/5/7 triple mutant restored the petiole shade avoidance response of myc2 (jin1-2) and myc2/3/4. We theorize that increased petiole elongation in myc2/3/4 could be more due to resource tradeoffs or post-translational modifications rather than interactions with PIF4/5/7 affecting gene regulation.
Sensor Coverage Strategy in Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Yao Lu , Du Xiujuan
Published: March 2020

This paper mainly describes studies hydrophone placement strategy in a complex underwater environment model to compute a set of "good" locations where data sampling will be most effective. Throughout this paper it is assumed that a 3-D underwater topographic map of a workspace is given as input.Since the negative gradient direction is the fastest descent direction, we fit a complex underwater terrain to a differentiable function and find the minimum value of the function to determine the low-lying area of the underwater terrain.The hydrophone placement strategy relies on gradient direction algorithm that solves a problem of maximize underwater coverage: Find the maximize coverage set of hydrophone inside a 3-D workspace. After finding the maximize underwater coverage set, to better take into account the optimal solution to the problem of data sampling, the finite VC-dimension algorithm computes a set of hydrophone that satisfies hydroacoustic signal energy loss constraints. We use the principle of the maximize splitting subset of the coverage set and the ”dual” set of the coverage covering set, so as to find the hitting set, and finally find the suboptimal set (i.e., the sensor suboptimal coverage set).Compared with the random deployment algorithm, although the computed set of hydrophone is not guaranteed to have minimum size, the algorithm does compute with high network coverage quality.
Prediction of Pending Data Using Interpolation and Extrapolation Techniques for Virtual Rowing
Authors: Canbulut Cenker , Paulauskas Andrius , Blažauskas Tomas
Published: March 2020

The use of peripheral devices could be a good alternative to interact with Virtual Environment in addition to native controllers. Using combination of Concept-II peripheral device with VR mobile will cause latency issues due to different data transmission rates between those components. This latency issue leads to two major problems, such as micro-stutter in Virtual Environment (VE) and distance inaccuracy in time between the Concept-II peripheral device and VR mobile. In this paper, the authors present three algorithms based on interpolation and extrapolation methods, which aim to provide immersive VR experience by ensuring stutter-free and accurate rowing sessions for the user. This is relevance when considering the adoption of peripheral devices (i.e. the Concept-II peripheral device) as an alternative to interact with Virtual Environment in addition to native controllers. Predicting virtual rowing shell’s position using interpolation by position method gives accurate time results but introduces high amount of micro-stutter. Using extrapolation method by taking speed parameter to predict rowing shell’s position has very high time error but gives pleasant, stutter-free virtual rowing experience. Finally, adding this speed parameter a correction constant value for predicting virtual rowing shell’s position provides stutter-free and very accurate in time rowing session for the user.
A Latent Dirichlet Allocation and Fuzzy Clustering Based Machine Learning Model for Text Thesaurus
Authors: Luo Jia , Yu Dongwen , Dai Zong
Published: March 2020

It is not quite possible to use manual methods to process the huge amount of structured and semi-structured data. This study aims to solve the problem of processing huge data through machine learning algorithms. We collected the text data of the company’s public opinion through crawlers, and use Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) algorithm to extract the keywords of the text, and uses fuzzy clustering to cluster the keywords to form different topics. The topic keywords will be used as a seed dictionary for new word discovery. In order to verify the efficiency of machine learning in new word discovery, algorithms based on association rules, N-Gram, PMI, andWord2vec were used for comparative testing of new word discovery. The experimental results show that the Word2vec algorithm based on machine learning model has the highest accuracy, recall and F-value indicators.
A Long-range Context-aware Platform Design For Rural Monitoring With IoT In Precision Agriculture
Authors: TAŞKIN Deniz , YAZAR Selçuk
Published: March 2020

The Internet of Things (IoT) applications has been developing greatly in recent years to solve communication problems, especially in rural areas. Within the IoT, the context-awareness paradigm, especially in precision agricultural practices, has come to a state of the planning of production time. As smart cities approach, the smart environment approach also increases its place in IoT applications and has dominated research in recent years in literature. In this study, soil and environmental information were collected in 17 km diameter in rural area with developed Long Range (LoRa) based context-aware platform. With the developed sensor and actuator control unit, soil moisture at 5 cm and 30 cm depth and soil surface temperature information were collected and the communication performance was investigated. During the study, the performance measurements of the developed Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) enabled Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) gateway were also performed.
Using Multi-granular Fuzzy Linguistic Modelling Methods to Represent Social Networks Related Information in an Organized Way
Authors: Morente-Molinera Juan Antonio , Cabrerizo Francisco Javier , Alonso Sergio , Martínez María Ángeles , Herrera-Viedma Enrique
Published: March 2020

Social networks are the preferred mean for experts to share their knowledge and provide information. Therefore, it is one of the best sources that can be used for obtaining data that can be used for a high amount of purposes. For instance, determining social needs, identifying problems, getting opinions about certain topics, ... Nevertheless, this kind of information is difficult for a computational system to interpret due to the fact that the text is presented in free form and that the information that represents is imprecise. In this paper, a novel method for extracting information from social networks and represent it in a fuzzy ontology is presented. Sentiment analysis procedures are used in order to extract information from free text. Moreover, multi-granular fuzzy linguistic modelling methods are used for converting the information into the most suitable representation mean.
Optimal Control Applications in the Study of Production Management
Authors: Popescu Liviu , Militaru Nicolae Daniel , Mituca Ovidiu Mircea
Published: March 2020

A mathematical model for an economic problem of production management is proposed. The continuous optimal control problem is solved, by using the Pontryagin Maximum Principle at the level of a new space, called Lie algebroid. The controllability of the economic system is studied by using Lie geometric methods and involves restrictions on the final stock quantities. Finally, a numerical application is given.
Pose Manipulation with Identity Preservation
Authors: Ardelean Andrei-Timotei , Sasu Lucian Mircea
Published: March 2020

This paper describes a new model which generates images in novel poses e.g. by altering face expression and orientation, from just a few instances of a human subject. Unlike previous approaches which require large datasets of a specific person for training, our approach may start from a scarce set of images, even from a single image. To this end, we introduce Character Adaptive Identity Normalization GAN (CainGAN) which uses spatial characteristic features extracted by an embedder and combined across source images. The identity information is propagated throughout the network by applying conditional normalization. After extensive adversarial training, CainGAN receives figures of faces from a certain individual and produces new ones while preserving the person’s identity. Experimental results show that the quality of generated images scales with the size of the input set used during inference. Furthermore, quantitative measurements indicate that CainGAN performs better compared to other methods when training data is limited.
Weighted Random Search for CNN Hyperparameter Optimization
Authors: Andonie Razvan , Florea Adrian-Catalin
Published: March 2020

Nearly all model algorithms used in machine learning use two different sets of parameters: the training parameters and the meta-parameters (hyperparameters). While the training parameters are learned during the training phase, the values of the hyperparameters have to be specified before learning starts. For a given dataset, we would like to find the optimal combination of hyperparameter values, in a reasonable amount of time. This is a challenging task because of its computational complexity. In previous work [11], we introduced the Weighted Random Search (WRS) method, a combination of Random Search (RS) and probabilistic greedy heuristic. In the current paper, we compare the WRS method with several state-of-the art hyperparameter optimization methods with respect to Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) hyperparameter optimization. The criterion is the classification accuracy achieved within the same number of tested combinations of hyperparameter values. According to our experiments, the WRS algorithm outperforms the other methods.
Violencia de pareja contra el hombre en Cali, Colombia
Authors: Floyd-Aristizábal Danielle , Loaiza Osorio Sara Del Pilar , Sierra Ruiz Melibea , López López Juan David , Ricaurte Villota Ana Ínés
Published: March 2020

Propósito: en Colombia la violencia de pareja es un problema de salud pública que afecta notablemente a la sociedad. Por esto, el propósito de este artículo es caracterizar la violencia intrafamiliar de pareja contra del hombre los casos que se presentaron en Cali, en el año 2014, y que fueron evaluados en la regional suroccidente del Instituto de Medicina Legal. Descripción: se realiza un estudio descriptivo, encontrando 78 casos, los cuales fueron revisados uno a uno; hallando en la muestra una media de edad de 33 años, siendo el grupo más afectado el de adulos jóvenes (88%), con unión libre como estado civil más frecuente (58%). Los meses con más casos fueron diciembre, octubre y febrero (39%), sin una relación clara con las festividades nacionales; y los días predominantes fueron los correspondientes al fin de semana (49% de los eventos). Enfoque: fue llamativo que el  45% de los eventos se desarrollaron en horas no laborales. La principal causa desencadenante fue la intolerancia (63%), y se reportó maltrato previo en 74% de las valoraciones. Conclusiones: este estudio nos permite caracterizar un fenómeno poco descrito que requiere estudios adicionales en la materia, que permitan evaluar patrones de violencia, factores desencadenantes o de riesgo, entre otros. Todo esto sin dejar de lado el verdadero enfoque y atención que se le debe de dar a todas las víctimas de violencia, sin importar su sexo, se debe garantizar el cumplimiento de sus derechos y el lanzamiento de nuevos programas de prevención primaria.
Plagiarism Defined?
Authors: Ronai Kara
Published: March 2020

This multiple case study examines seven institutional documents from universities in four countries (Australia, China, Finland and Germany) with the aim of determining how plagiarism is defined in these institutional contexts. This research expands on previous analyses of university plagiarism policies in the Anglosphere (e.g., Kaktiņš, 2014; Sutherland-Smith, 2011), and particularly the notion that institutional definitions of plagiarism contain “six elements” (Pecorari, 2002). Using the six elements model of plagiarism as a theoretical basis, the documents in this study were analysed using deductive content analysis. The findings of this analysis revealed that the definitions of plagiarism were consistent across the contexts, with all policies containing five of the six elements in their definitions. At two institutions, however, the element of intentionality was not addressed in the definition of plagiarism. Furthermore, the extent of discussion of certain elements of plagiarism (e.g., the need for source acknowledgement), and an emphasis on “good academic practice” across the documents revealed the need for ongoing research that considers how institutions construct official definitions of plagiarism.
A Modern Writing Instrument Used as a Weapon for Committing Bank Cheque Fraud
Authors: Vivekkumar Mangilal Chayal  , Rakesh Rawal  , Deepak R. Handa  , Vijay Verma  , Narendrakumar Mangilal Chayal  , Himanshu A. Pandya
Published: March 2020

In the recent era, investigation of dye, pigments and powder-based ink examination are big challenges. Literature and survey reveal that, some erasable ink pens were consistently used to commit economic frauds in bank instruments like cheques, withdrawal slips, demand drafts, fix deposit receipts, counterfeit currency, and other essential documents. Some manufacturers provide magic erasable writing instruments. Here, we deciphered this type of ink on different documents with the help of VSC-6000/HS. The main aim of this research work is to develop simple, rapid, sensitive, eco-friendly to retrieve original writings of erasable ink. Total of 640 test samples were prepared under the same conditions with different ink pens on different papers/cheques, where each sample was written with the ReWrite-erasable ink pen, thermal ink pen, roller ball high tech ink pen, normal ballpoint pen and gel pens for the comparison purpose. The test samples were examined under different types of scientific instruments, physical examination before and after exposing to different environmental conditions, sunlight and at room temperature (25o C) for the period of one hundred and eighty-one (181) days. This technique to retrieve the original disappeared writings done with a ReWrite-erasable ink pen is very easy, simple, rapid, non-destructive, eco-friendly, convenient and sensitive to detect manipulations done in forgery and in suspect documents. Detection of ghost strokes under VSC-6000/HS with different functions, like fluorescence spotlight and specific (300 to 365 nm) UV range will provide a new avenue by, which the forensic document scientist can identify the erased writing that might otherwise go undetected with other more frequently used methods.
Immunohistochemical study of dental pulp cells with 3D collagen type I gel in demineralized dentin tubules in vivo
Authors: Zeb Khan Sultan , Mirza Sana , Karim Samina , Inoue Takashi , Bin-Shuwaish Mohammed S. , Al Deeb Laila , Al Ahdal Khold , Al-Hamdan Rana S. , Maawadh Ahmed M. , Vohra Fahim , Abduljabbar Tariq
Published: March 2020

Dental pulp cells (DPCs) represent good candidates for the regeneration of dental tissue. This study aimed to evaluate the growth and differentiation potential of DPCs cultured inside demineralized dentin tubules in vivo. Six green fluorescent protein (GFP)-transgenic rats (body weight 100 g each) and thirty-two Sprague-Dawley (SD) male rats (body weight 250 g each) were used for DPC collection and dentin tubules preparation and transplantation, respectively. Third-passage DPCs with or without collagen gels were loaded into demineralized dentin tubules. Both types of grafts were transplanted into the rectus abdominis muscles of SD rats and were harvested after 21 days. The expression of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), bone sialoprotein (BSP), osteopontin (OPN), nestin, and dentin sialoprotein (DSP) were analyzed by immunohistochemistry. Histological analysis showed that DPCs in the collagen gel formed an osteodentin-like hard tissue matrix after 21 days. Increased positive immunoreactivity for ALP, BSP, OPN, nestin, and DSP was observed in experimental groups compared with control. Our results demonstrate that DPCs in collagen gel inside demineralized dentin tubules show increased growth and differentiation.
Viral Sequencing, from Gunk to Graph (Two-step, strand-switching) v3
Authors: A Eccles David
Published: March 2020

This is a fast "gunk to graph" protocol for analysing viral RNA from nasopharyngeal swabs. The approach involves swab lysis and inactivation at the point of sampling, uses a cellulose binding / wash protocol to reduce extraction cost, incorporates sample-specific barcodes during first-strand synthesis, nanopore rapid-attachment primers during PCR amplification, and nanopore sequencing with parallel RAMPART analysis for fast assembly and phylogenetics. An alternative protocol using both forward and reverse primers can be found here.
Neuropsychological and psychological testing protocol v1
Authors: Krieger Virginia , Antonio Amador-Campos Juan , Guàrdia Olmos Joan
Published: March 2020

For several years, research has suggested that executive functions (EF), as well as some temperament dimensions and personality traits involved in the regulation of both emotion and behaviors are differentially linked to symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The main aim of this study is to examine the relationships between EF, temperament dimensions, personality traits, and ADHD symptoms in a clinical and a nonclinical sample of adolescents.
Legal Awareness in a Digital Society
Authors: Laptev Vasiliy , Fedin Vladimir
Published: March 2020

Our perception of reality depends on multiple factors, including the language of communication and the culture adopted by civil society. With the development of digital technologies, the methods for transferring information, traditions and cultural code between participants in public relations have undergone drastic changes. The emergence of the “digital layer” between the human consciousness and the outside world has resulted in a shift in our perception of the world since we now view it through the prism of the digital space. The use of artificial intelligence and global cloud data in the daily life of society requires special consideration. Our interaction with cyberphysical systems has dramatically affected our perception of immediate reality. The synthesis of human cognition and artificial intelligence is leading to an amalgamation of material and cyberphysical spaces, as a result of which objects of the digital world acquire material value, whereas material objects (works of art, music, books, etc.) get transformed into a digital code. This article examines societal trends in the development of digital technologies at the fourth stage of the industrial revolution (Industry 4.0). Here, we review the possible interpretations of the concept of “digital relations” and characterize the participants in such relations. Furthermore, we analyze the factors affecting the legal awareness of an individual and identify the essential characteristics of cognition in a digital society. We also consider the challenges currently facing the State and evaluate the prospects for the development and regulation of digital relations.
Taking Human Reproductive Rights Seriously: The Russian Perspective
Authors: Maleshina Anastasia
Published: March 2020

The very idea of human reproductive rights seems challenging. For much of human history, they were not discussed seriously as being a part of the right to privacy, liberty, security, equality, health, and non-discrimination. The situation changed drastically in the 1990s with the development of reproductive technologies. These technologies do not only help infertile couples to conceive, they allow single men and women, no matter their status and sexual preferences, to have offspring of the same genetic origin. We can affirm that in the 21st century assisted reproductive technology (ART) has completely changed what it means to have a baby and to be a parent. Despite their benefits, reproductive technologies leave space for ethical and medical concerns. A few of the many issues raised by reproductive technologies include: the reproductive right to abortion, legal status of the human fetus, ethical aspects regarding the use and storage of embryos, sex selection, surrogacy and gamete donation, and the right and accessibility to medical sterilization. This article sets forth the existing ethical and human rights standards on these issues and illustrates the need for further development and clarity on balancing these rights and interests in the Russian Federation.
The Concept of Commorientes in French and Russian Inheritance Law
Authors: Créteau Élodie , Rostovtseva Natalia
Published: March 2020

The article is devoted to the consideration of the concept of commorientes in French and Russian inheritance law. The commorientes are individuals, entitled to inherit, reciprocally, to each other and considered to have died at the same moment, from the inheritance’s point of view. The commorientes do not inherit reciprocally. The work focuses on how French and Russian law determine the notion of commorientes. Inheritance rules, regarding the commorientes in France and Russian Federation from the beginning of the 19th century are analysed; subsequently, their current versions in force in the French Civil Code and the Russian Federation Civil Code are compared. Particular attention is paid to the issue of the time of the inheritance opening. In the Russian legislation this issue has not been unambiguously resolved for a long time. The article presents the evolution of the Russian and French rules on inheritance after the commorientes. In French law, presumptions of survival have been in effect for many years, allowing to determine the sequence of deaths of people who died as a result of the same event. The article contains the rules of the current legislation in France and in the Russian Federation, as well as suggestions for their improvement.
On Modifications to the Constitution of the Russian Federation in 2020
Authors: Shashkova Anna , Verlaine Michel , Kudryashova Ekaterina
Published: March 2020

The present study investigates the amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation announced by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin during his annual speech addressed to the Federal Assembly on 15 January 2020. The research examines how the amendments may affect the social guarantees of the people of the Russian Federation, what role is dedicated to the bodies in the separation of powers, and why it is important to change the conditions for electing a candidate for Presidency. The approach is interdisciplinary and links Russian legal norms, applicable rules and human behavior. The main methods used in the research are analysis, comparative-legal, historical-legal and formal-legal methods. The study provides a legal and political picture of the context of modifications to the Constitution of the Russian Federation in 2020.
The Institute of Deposition of Testimonies: Criminal Procedure Codes of Post-Soviet States
Authors: Ghambaryan Artur , Ghazaryan Liana
Published: March 2020

This article argues about the importance of gathering written evidence (testimony) which, as a prototype of judicial deposition, may be regarded as an effective instrument for criminal procedure. The article incorporates the works of the British, German, and Russian theorists of the 19th century, and the legislative regulations of this period. Despite the fact that the concept of “judicial deposition” has only recently entered into practice in the new criminal procedure codes of post-Soviet states, its roots can be traced back to the 19th century English law. This paper focuses on the legislative regulations of the post-Soviet countries, in particular, the procedures set out in the new criminal procedure codes, including the novelties and peculiarities of the Draft Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Armenia. The authors have referred, in more detail, to the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Armenia, which has substantial peculiarities. In this respect, the article presents the opinions of the experts on judicial deposition testimonies. Discussing the differences in the legislative regulations of several countries, this article, through a comparative analysis, points how different countries approach deposition of testimonies. Additionally, the article examines the fundamental differences between deposition testimonies and hearsay evidence.
Circulating tumor DNA as specific biomarkers for early diagnosis and prognosis of pancreatic cancer
Authors: Tarmaev A. A. , Beylerli Ozal A.
Published: March 2020

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is considered one of the most aggressive cancers with high mortality and low 5-year survival rate. This is mainly due to its late detection. Complex anatomical location creates certain difficulties for imaging and puncture biopsy methods, while standard tumor markers do not have high sensitivity and specificity. Thus, the search for specific biomarkers for early diagnosis and prognosis of the disease, as well as monitoring patients with pancreatic cancer during treatment, is a priority to improve patient survival in this terminal disease. Liquid biopsy, which has recently gained a lot of attention including the study of free-circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in plasma or serum, is a promising additional method of research. In this review, we will consider the latest findings from the ctDNA study as early and prognostic biomarkers for pancreatic cancer and monitoring the disease during treatment.
The attitude of doctors of various specialties to the problem of flatfoot
Authors: Kenis Vladimir M. , Dimitrieva Alyona Ju. , Sapogovskiy Andrei V.
Published: March 2020

Purpose: to assess the subjective perception of flatfoots prevalence in children, its age dynamics and the main approaches to the diagnosis and treatment by doctors of various pediatric specialties with different medical experience and working in medical facilities at various levels by anonymous questionnaire.
Materials and methods. Questionnaire data from 80 orthopedists (50 outpatient doctors, 30 doctors from a specialized scientific research institute and orthopedic departments of city hospitals (research institutes / hospitals) and 30 neurologists (polyclinic).
Results: our study demonstrated that outpatient orthopedists diagnose the flatfoot on average in half of the cases. The orthopedists diagnose flatfoot only by means of visual examination in 46.1% of cases (neurologists in 85.7% of cases). According to our data, 58.9 % of outpatient doctors recommend wearing special orthopedic shoes (46.1 % only if the foot alone is affected) and 95.1 % of specialists recommend wearing individual orthopedic insoles (53.6 % if there are complaints). While 88.2 % of the orthopedic surgeons from specialized research institutes and hospitals do not recommend wearing orthopedic shoes; 26.7 % of experts recommend wearing individual orthopedic insoles only in the presence of complaints. On the other hand, the neurologists recommend wearing orthopedic shoes 5.3 times more often than the orthopedists do.
Conclusion: our study demonstrates that the specialty of the doctor (orthopedist, neurologist) and the type of health care facilities in which the specialist works have the greatest impact on his subjective perception of the prevalence and age dynamics of flatfoot in children, tactics of diagnostics and treatment. The outpatient orthopedists diagnose flatfoot 4.2 times more often than the orthopedic surgeons from the specialized research institute and hospitals. Also, the outpatient orthopedists prescribe wearing orthopedic shoes 4.9 times more often (insoles 3.6 times more often) in comparison with the orthopedic surgeons of the specialized research institute and orthopedic hospitals. Summarizing the above mentioned, we would like to note that due to the fact that the current assessment of the age limits of the arch height feet is ambiguous, there is a need to introduce a unified system for assessing the foots shape and posture with defining the concepts of average height and typically developing foot.
Peculiarities of percutaneous stenting interventions on the bile ducts
Authors: Yakovleva Diana M.
Published: March 2020

Bile duct stenting is not a common intervention in most multidisciplinary hospitals in our city. The article presents our 5-year experience with 84 antegrade prosthetic interventions using self-expanding nitinol stents and endoprostheses. The interventions were carried out in 2 stages: percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography drainage followed by biliary stenting or endoprosthetics. All patients were operated on for obstructive jaundice: 10 benign genesis, 74 malignant. The analysis of postoperative pancreatitis with primary drainage intervention development allowed us to find the algorithm for its prediction, early detection and treatment. The possibilities of using partially-coated nitinol stents in different variants of the biliary tree anatomy were considered. The article also provides evidence for advisability of endoprosthesses in benign strictures of the bile ducts.
Chronic fatigue syndrome in the routine hematology practice
Authors: V.G.Potapenko Vsevolod G. , Ballyuzek Marina F.
Published: March 2020

Purpose. Presentation of clinical signs and laboratory profiles of the patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, and comparison of their symptoms with those of the patients with iron deficiency anemia.
Materials and methods. Retrospective analysis of the patients symptoms referred to the hematologist outpatient clinic during the period between January 2016 and December 2018.
Results. There were 560 patients(162 males and 398 females) referred for a primary consultation by a hematologist. Median age was 52.5 (1894) years. The unexplained fatigue was reported by 27 (4.8%) patients (1 male and 26 females), median age 41 (2466) years. Diagnosis chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) was confirmed based on the criteria in 17 (63%) patients. 10 patients (47%) with symptoms partially meeting the criteria were diagnosed idiopathic fatigue syndrome (SIF). Half of the patients connected the onset of the diseases with emotional trauma (family issues etc.). The prevailing complaints (30%) were represented by: prolonged fatigue, mild memory impairment and distraction, arthralgia and insomnia. The most frequent reason to see a hematologist was fatigue and borderline changes in the blood tests. Five patients with CFS and 2 patients with SIF were known to have previously diagnosed iron deficient anemia (IDA). Median level of hemoglobin in the patients with severe fatigue and IDA was 10.7 (8.411.7) g/dl. Median follow up duration was 28 (640) months. In the observed group (n = 23) 17% of the patients (n = 4) showed spontaneous improvement. The rest of the patients had reported no changes. The comparison group (n = 64) included the patients with IDA. Most of them (n = 38) did not report fatigue as their initial symptoms (median level of hemoglobin was 9.35 (5.511.9) g/dl). Twenty six patients reported fatigue; median level of hemoglobin was 8.15 (5.911.7) g/dl. The difference between the hemoglobin levels in two groups was significant (р 0.05). However, there was no correlation between the level of hemoglobin and fatigue in the patients with CFS and SIF. The correlation was found in the patients with CFS and SIF between fatigue and patients perception.
Conclusion. The main symptoms accompanying CFS are fatigue and other non-specific symptoms which are often related to patients emotional status. Considering CFS as a differential diagnosis when dealing with fatigue is essential.