bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Hepatic oxidative stress, DNA damage and apoptosis in adult zebrafish following sub‐chronic exposure to BDE‐47 and BDE‐153
Authors: Meng Shunlong , Chen Xi , Gyimah Eric , Xu Hai , Chen Jiazhang
Published: July 2020

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are ubiquitous and prolific contaminant in both the abiotic and biotic environment because of the wide industrial applications of these chemicals. In the present study, the effects of 2,2′,4,4′‐tetrabrominateddiphenyl ether (BDE‐47) and 2,2′,4,4′,5,5′‐hexabromodiphenyl ether (BDE‐153) exposure on the induction of hepatic oxidative stress, DNA damage, and the expression of apoptosis‐related genes in adult zebrafish were investigated. The activities of antioxidant enzymes, such as catalase and superoxide dimutase, significantly increased when adult zebrafish was exposed to various concentrations of BDE‐47 and BDE‐153 for 7 and 15 days. BDE‐47 and BDE‐153 elicited significant alterations in zebrafish 7‐Ethoxyresorufin‐O‐deethylase activity at 3, 7, or 15 days of exposure. In addition, the significant increase in comet assay parameters of zebrafish hepatocytes in a concentration‐dependent manner indicated BDE‐47 and BDE‐153 induced DNA damage, probably due to observed oxidative stress. Furthermore, a monotonically upregulation of p53 and Caspase3, which are apoptotic‐regulated genes, and decreased expression ratio of the anti‐apoptotic B‐cell lymphoma/leukaemia‐2 and Bcl2‐associated X protein genes for all BDE‐47 and BDE‐153 treatments at 7 and 15 days indicated apoptosis induction in zebrafish liver. Our findings help elucidate the mechanisms of BDE‐47‐ and BDE‐153‐induced toxicity in zebrafish hepatocytes.
Resveratrol inhibits oral squamous cell carcinoma cells proliferation while promoting apoptosis through inhibition of CBX7 protein
Authors: Chen Ling , Xia Jing‐Sheng , Wu Jin‐Hu , Chen Yong‐Gang , Qiu Chao‐Jun
Published: July 2020

As a natural compound, resveratrol (Res) is confirmed to be promising drug for the treatment of malignant tumors. Therefore, our study aimed to observe the impacts of Res on the proliferation and apoptosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma cells (HSC‐3 cells) as well as the mechanism involving chromobox protein homolog 7 (CBX7) signal transduction. HSC‐3 cells were treated with Res, Akt agonist (AL3818) and p16 inhibitor (SC79), and transfected with CBX7 mimics and inhibitor plasmids. The CCK‐8 assay was used to detect cell proliferation, flow cytometry was performed to assess cell cycle and apoptosis, and cell colonies and histone DNA level were also measured. Western blot analysis was used to determine the expression levels of related proteins. HSC‐3 cells showed decreased cell proliferation, colonies, BrdU‐counled cells and increased apoptosis, histone DNA level, the activities of caspase‐3 and caspase‐9 when treated with Res. Western blot analysis revealed elevated Cle‐PARP and Cle‐caspase 3 expression and reduced t‐PARP expression in HSC‐3 cells treated with Res compared with control. AL3818 and SC79 could decrease the inhibitory effects of Res on the growth of HSC‐3 cells. Furthermore, CBX7 overexpression could also partly reverse the roles of Res in the growth of HSC‐3 cells, and Akt and p16 signal transduction. Our results demonstrate that Res suppresses the proliferation, and induces the apoptosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma cells through the inhibition of CBX7/Akt and the activation of p16 cascades.
Fetal aortic valvuloplasty may rescue fetuses with critical aortic stenosis and hydrops
Authors: Tulzer A. , Arzt W. , Tulzer G.
Published: July 2020

Objective

Critical aortic stenosis (CAS) with a restrictive interatrial septum may lead to fetal congestive heart failure and hydrops, usually culminating in fetal demise if left untreated. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of fetal aortic valvuloplasty (FAV) on hemodynamics and outcome in these patients.

Methods

This was a retrospective review of fetuses with CAS and signs of hydrops that underwent FAV in our center between 2000 and 2020. Echocardiograms and patients' charts were analyzed for ventricular and valvular dimensions and for outcome.

Results

Hydrops was present at the time of intervention in 15 fetuses with CAS that underwent FAV at our center during the study period. All but one patient had at least one technically successful procedure. There were no procedure‐related deaths, but three intrauterine deaths occurred. Twelve subjects were liveborn, of whom two died within 24 h after birth owing to persistent hydrops. Ventricular function improved and hydrops resolved within 3–4 weeks after FAV in 71.4% (10/14) of fetuses with a technically successful intervention. A biventricular outcome was achieved in 50% of the successfully treated patients.

Conclusions

Fetuses with CAS and hydrops can be successfully treated with FAV. The procedure has the potential to restore sufficient fetal cardiac output, which may lead to resolution of hydrops. Surviving patients seem to be good candidates for a biventricular outcome. © 2020 International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology
Techno‐economical optimization using Box–Behnken (BB) design for chemical oxygen demand and chloride reduction from hospital wastewater by electro‐coagulation
Authors: Bajpai Mukul , Katoch Surjit Singh
Published: July 2020

The study examines the optimum condition of an electro‐coagulation (EC) unit for treatment of hospital wastewater (HWW) using iron (Fe) electrodes. The impact of factors such as pH, current, and electrolysis time on COD, chloride, and anode dissolution was investigated. For this purpose, Box–Behnken (BB) design based on the response surface methodology (RSM) was used to design and analyze the results. The predicted value of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and chloride removal at optimum conditions (pH: 7.41, current: 2.64 A and electrolysis time: 41.31 min) were 92.81% and 71.23%, respectively. At same optimum conditions, the value of energy and electrode consumption per kg of COD was 0.06376 kWh/kg COD and 1.362 kg/kg COD, respectively. High value of R2 (i.e., R2 > 99%) for all three responses (Y1, Y2, and Y3) obtained from ANOVA confirms that the proposed model is valid, accurate, and acceptable. The kinetic study shows linear relationship and follows pseudo‐first‐order kinetics. Pareto graph shows that the percentage impact of current factor on COD and chloride removal was maximum, that is, 54.984% and 66.79%, respectively. Lastly, the total cost of EC treatment was calculated in terms of COD removal and was found to be 55.47 ₹/kg COD.

Practitioner points

Using Fe electrode results in 92.81% COD and 71.23% Chloride removal, respectively.

High value of R2 > 99% for all three responses from ANOVA confirms the proposed model is valid.

Pareto analysis shows current factor has maximum percentage impact on pollutant removal.

Kinetic study shows linear relationship and follows pseudo‐first‐order kinetics.
Numerical and experimental analyses of the use of double vertical barrier walls for groundwater protection
Authors: Mostafa Ahmed , Gado Tamer A. , Masoud Alaa A. , Rashwan Ibrahim M. H.
Published: July 2020

The groundwater contamination and its impacts on the hydrologic systems and society are critical environmental concerns in the world. This research presents insights from the numerical (SEEP/W and CTRAN/W) and the experimental (sandbox model) analyses of the use of double vertical barrier walls for groundwater protection. The main objective was to evaluate contaminant transport under the effect of several variables. The arrival time increases with increasing the distance between the pollutant source and the first wall, first wall depth of penetration, the distance between the two walls and also increases at smaller hydraulic head differences, and lower conductivities. Furthermore, using double barrier walls would significantly reduce contaminant concentration at the downstream area. This control is most significant when the depth of first wall penetration is larger than that of the second wall. Results proved consistent with several similar studies and advantageous over many of them by the integrated use of both techniques with more variable parameters evaluated.

Practitioner points

The research will introduce insights from the effect of using double barrier walls on the hydraulic control of contaminant transport.

The effect of several variables on the contaminant arrival time and concentration is investigated.

Using double barrier walls has a significant impact on contamination transport through the soil.

This control is most significant when the penetration depth of the first wall is larger than that of the second.
A nonlinear discretization theory for meshfree collocation methods applied to quasilinear elliptic equations
Authors: Böhmer Klaus , Schaback Robert
Published: July 2020

This paper generalizes earlier results concerning meshfree collocation methods for semilinear elliptic second order problems to the quasilinear case. These results require a strong form of well‐posedness and a stability analysis in the norm for the meshfree discretization. Since quasilinear problems are usually treated in Hölder norms, both aspects have to be transformed to the Hölder situation. This finally leads to error bounds and convergence rates, the latter being dependent on the smoothness of the true solution. The paper focuses on Dirichlet conditions and postpones other boundary conditions to a forthcoming paper. A numerical example is provided.
Complete spherical convex bodies
Authors: Lassak Marek
Published: July 2020

Similarly to the classic notion in Euclidean space, we call a set on the sphere $$S^d$$

S
d

complete, provided adding any extra point increases its diameter. Complete sets are convex bodies on $$S^d$$

S
d

. Our main theorem says that on $$S^d$$

S
d

complete bodies of diameter $$\delta $$
δ
coincide with bodies of constant width $$\delta $$
δ
.
Valproic acid promotes mitochondrial dysfunction in primary human hepatocytes in vitro; impact of C/EBPα-controlled gene expression
Authors: Caiment F. , Wolters J. , Smit E. , Schrooders Y. , Kleinjans J. , van den Beucken T.
Published: July 2020

Valproic acid (VPA) is a frequently prescribed anti-epileptic drug which is known to cause liver toxicity and steatosis through mitochondrial dysfunction. Nevertheless the mechanisms underlying these adverse effects are incompletely understood. In this study, we determined the effect of relatively short (3 h) or prolonged (72 h) exposure to VPA on mitochondrial function in primary human hepatocytes (PHHs). While 3 h VPA exposure did not affect oxygen consumption rates (OCRs) in PHHs, prolonged exposure (24–72 h) significantly reduced basal and maximal OCRs. Given that in particular prolonged VPA exposure is required to cause mitochondrial dysfunction, we investigated gene expression data after VPA exposure for 24, 48, 72 h and 72 h VPA followed by a 72 h washout period. We were able to reduce the comprehensive gene expression changes into a more comprehensible set of 18 TFs that were predicted to be persistently activated after 72 h of VPA exposure. Lentiviral knock-down of one of the candidate TFs, C/EBPα, partly rescued VPA-induced mitochondrial dysfunction. Furthermore, RNA-Seq analysis of shC/EBPα and shGFP control PHHs identified 24 genuine C/EBPα target genes that are regulated in response to prolonged VPA exposure in PHHs. Altogether this provides new insights on the involvement of C/EBPα in driving VPA-induced mitochondrial dysfunction in human liver cells. This hub gene, with its downstream regulators involved in this deregulation, thus represent potential new biomarkers for VPA-induced mitochondrial dysfunction.
Population pharmacokinetics–pharmacodynamics of sunitinib in pediatric patients with solid tumors
Authors: Wang Erjian , DuBois Steven G. , Wetmore Cynthia , Khosravan Reza
Published: July 2020

Purpose

The safety profile of sunitinib in children, including the impact of sunitinib exposure on safety endpoints, was assessed using population pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacokinetic–pharmacodynamic (PK–PD) models.

Methods

Data were from two clinical studies in 59 children with solid tumors (age range 2–21 years, 28 male/31 female, body weight range 16.2–100 kg, body surface are [BSA] range 0.7–2.1 m2). Analysis of covariates that affected PK and PD parameters was conducted using a nonlinear mixed-effects model. Safety and tolerability endpoints were absolute neutrophil count, hepatic transaminases, diastolic blood pressure, hemoglobin, lymphocyte count, platelet count, white blood cell count, hand-foot syndrome, fatigue, nausea, intracranial hemorrhage, and vomiting.

Results

The models well described the time courses of concentrations of sunitinib and its primary active metabolite SU012662, as well as safety and tolerability endpoints. In PK models for sunitinib and SU012662, BSA was the only covariate that statistically significantly affected apparent clearance (CL/F) and apparent central volume of distribution (Vc/F). Higher BSA was associated with greater CL/F and Vc/F. No statistically significant covariates were identified in the PK–PD models. For safety endpoints that had a sufficient number of adverse events, a higher probability of adverse events was associated with higher average plasma sunitinib concentrations.

Conclusion

In PK models, BSA was the only covariate that affected major PK parameters of sunitinib and SU012662. Based on analysis of safety and tolerability endpoints, the PK–PD relationships were mainly driven by sunitinib plasma exposures and were not affected by age, sex, respective baseline safety endpoint values, baseline Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status, or body size.

Trial registration

ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00387920 (registered October 13, 2006), NCT01462695 (registered October 31, 2011).
Long-term athletic training does not alter age-associated reductions of left-ventricular mid-diastolic lengthening or expansion at rest
Authors: Beaumont Alexander , Campbell Amy , Unnithan Viswanath , Grace Fergal , Knox Allan , Sculthorpe Nicholas
Published: July 2020

Purpose

The interaction of ageing and exercise training status on left-ventricular (LV) peak strain is unclear. Additionally, strain analysis across the entire cardiac cycle facilitates a more detailed assessment of deformation, yet this has not been implemented to characterize the ageing LV and in association with training status. This study investigated healthy ageing and training status on LV systolic and diastolic strain utilizing novel echocardiographic applications.

Methods

Forty healthy males were included and allocated into four groups; young recreationally active (YRA,n = 9; 28 ± 5 years), old recreationally active (ORA, n = 10; 68 ± 6), young trained (YT,n = 10; 27 ± 6 years), and old trained (OT, n = 11, 64 ± 4 years) groups. Two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography was performed to ascertain peak LV longitudinal and circumferential strain (base and apex) strain within each myocardial layer and at 5% increments across the cardiac cycle.

Results

Older groups had lower diastolic longitudinal lengthening and circumferential expansion between 40–85% mid-diastole, regardless of training status (P < 0.05). Whereas, strain throughout systole was similar between groups (P > 0.05). Longitudinal and circumferential (base and apex) peak and layer-specific strain did not differ between groups (P > 0.05).

Conclusion

Novel applications of diastolic strain revealed lower age-associated LV longitudinal lengthening and circumferential expansion in older age. Yet, diastolic strain profiles did not differ based on chronic habits of exercise training and, thus, older trained men did not demonstrate an attenuation of age-associated differences in mid-diastolic LV strain.
Modelling Drosophila motion vision pathways for decoding the direction of translating objects against cluttered moving backgrounds
Authors: Fu Qinbing , Yue Shigang
Published: July 2020

Decoding the direction of translating objects in front of cluttered moving backgrounds, accurately and efficiently, is still a challenging problem. In nature, lightweight and low-powered flying insects apply motion vision to detect a moving target in highly variable environments during flight, which are excellent paradigms to learn motion perception strategies. This paper investigates the fruit fly Drosophila motion vision pathways and presents computational modelling based on cutting-edge physiological researches. The proposed visual system model features bio-plausible ON and OFF pathways, wide-field horizontal-sensitive (HS) and vertical-sensitive (VS) systems. The main contributions of this research are on two aspects: (1) the proposed model articulates the forming of both direction-selective and direction-opponent responses, revealed as principal features of motion perception neural circuits, in a feed-forward manner; (2) it also shows robust direction selectivity to translating objects in front of cluttered moving backgrounds, via the modelling of spatiotemporal dynamics including combination of motion pre-filtering mechanisms and ensembles of local correlators inside both the ON and OFF pathways, which works effectively to suppress irrelevant background motion or distractors, and to improve the dynamic response. Accordingly, the direction of translating objects is decoded as global responses of both the HS and VS systems with positive or negative output indicating preferred-direction or null-direction translation. The experiments have verified the effectiveness of the proposed neural system model, and demonstrated its responsive preference to faster-moving, higher-contrast and larger-size targets embedded in cluttered moving backgrounds.
Infinite-dimensional stochastic differential equations and tail $$\sigma $$-fields
Authors: Osada Hirofumi , Tanemura Hideki
Published: July 2020

We present general theorems solving the long-standing problem of the existence and pathwise uniqueness of strong solutions of infinite-dimensional stochastic differential equations (ISDEs) called interacting Brownian motions. These ISDEs describe the dynamics of infinitely-many Brownian particles moving in $$ {\mathbb {R}}^d $$

R

d

with free potential $$ \varPhi $$
Φ
and mutual interaction potential $$ \varPsi $$
Ψ
. We apply the theorems to essentially all interaction potentials of Ruelle’s class such as the Lennard-Jones 6-12 potential and Riesz potentials, and to logarithmic potentials appearing in random matrix theory. We solve ISDEs of the Ginibre interacting Brownian motion and the sine$$_{\beta }$$

β

interacting Brownian motion with $$ \beta = 1,2,4$$

β
=
1
,
2
,
4

. We also use the theorems in separate papers for the Airy and Bessel interacting Brownian motions. One of the critical points for proving the general theorems is to establish a new formulation of solutions of ISDEs in terms of tail $$ \sigma $$
σ
-fields of labeled path spaces consisting of trajectories of infinitely-many particles. These formulations are equivalent to the original notions of solutions of ISDEs, and more feasible to treat in infinite dimensions.
Coupling XFEM and Peridynamics for brittle fracture simulation: part II—adaptive relocation strategy
Authors: Giannakeas Ilias N. , Papathanasiou Theodosios K. , Fallah Arash S. , Bahai Hamid
Published: July 2020

An adaptive relocation strategy for a coupled XFEM–Peridynamic (PD) model is introduced. The motivation is to enhance the efficiency of the coupled model and demonstrate its applicability to complex brittle fracture problems. The XFEM and PD approximation domains can be redefined during the simulation, to ensure that the computationally expensive PD model is applied only where needed. To this end a two-step expansion/contraction process, allowing the PD patch to adaptively change its shape, size and location, following the propagation of the crack, is employed. No a priori knowledge of the crack path or re-meshing is required, and the methodology can automatically switch between PD and XFEM. Three 2D fracture examples are presented to highlight the performance of the methodology and the ability to follow multiple crack tips. Results indicate significant computational savings. Furthermore, the characteristic length scale of PD theory bestows a nonlocal and multiscale component to the methodology.
Demand for weekend outpatient chemotherapy among patients with cancer in Japan
Authors: Katayama Hideki , Tabata Masahiro , Kubo Toshio , Kiura Katsuyuki , Matsuoka Junji , Maeda Yoshinobu
Published: July 2020

Background

Advanced cancer therapeutics have improved patient survival, leading to an increase in the number of patients who require long-term outpatient chemotherapy. However, the available schedule options for chemotherapy are generally limited to traditional business hours.

Method

In 2017, we surveyed 721 patients with cancer in Okayama, Japan, regarding their preferences for evening and weekend (Friday evening, Saturday, and Sunday) chemotherapy appointments.

Results

A preference for evening and weekend appointment options was indicated by 37% of the respondents. Patients who requested weekend chemotherapy were younger, female, with no spouse or partner, living alone, employed, and currently receiving treatment. Among these factors, age and employment status were significantly associated with a preference for weekend chemotherapy, according to multivariate analysis.

Conclusion

Our findings reveal a demand for evening and weekend outpatient chemotherapy, especially among young, employed patients.
Incidental pulmonary embolism in oncologic patients—a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Meyer Hans-Jonas , Wienke Andreas , Surov Alexey
Published: July 2020

Purpose

Incidental pulmonary embolism (IPE) is a common finding on computed tomography (CT). IPE is frequent in oncologic patients undergoing staging CT. The aim of this analysis was to provide the pooled frequency of IPE and frequencies of IPE in different primary tumors.

Methods

MEDLINE, SCOPUS, and EMBASE databases were screened for studies investigating frequency of IPE in oncologic staging CT up to February 2020. Overall, 12 studies met the inclusion criteria and were included into the present study.

Results

The pooled analysis yielded a total of 28,626 patients. IPE was identified in 963 patients (3.36%, 95% CI = 3.15; 3.57). The highest frequency was found in prostate cancer (8.59%, 95%CI = 3.74; 13.44), followed by hepatobiliary carcinoma (6.07%, 95%CI = 3.09; 9.05) and pancreatic cancer (5.65%, 95%CI = 3.54; 7.76). The lowest frequencies were identified in tumors of male reproductive organs (0.79%, 95%CI = 0.21; 1.37) and hematological diseases (1.11% 95%CI = 0.74; 1.48).

Conclusion

The overall frequency of IPE in oncologic patients was 3.36%. There are considerable differences in regard to primary tumors with the highest frequency in prostate cancer and pancreatic and hepatobiliary carcinomas.
Food-derived coagulase-negative Staphylococcus as starter cultures for fermented foods
Authors: Heo Sojeong , Lee Jong-Hoon , Jeong Do-Won
Published: July 2020

Food safety is of significant concern to consumers and is a major issue for the food industry. As such, the industry is aware of the importance of safety assessments of starters used in the production of fermented foods. Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) are the predominant bacteria found in fermented foods worldwide. Because of this, food-derived CNS are used as starters for cheese and meat fermentation, and have been investigated for use as starters in soybean fermentation. Although food-derived CNS are generally considered non-pathogenic, their safety remains uncertain following the isolation of CNS from skin infections in humans and animals, and because they belong to the same genus as the highly pathogenic species Staphylococcus aureus. This review explores what is known about the safety of food-derived CNS, focusing on antibiotic resistance, enterotoxin genes, and biogenic amine production, to aid in the selection of starter candidates.
QML estimation with non-summable weight matrices
Authors: Olejnik Jakub , Olejnik Alicja
Published: July 2020

This paper revisits the theory of asymptotic behaviour of the well-known Gaussian Quasi-Maximum Likelihood estimator of parameters in mixed regressive, high-order autoregressive spatial models. We generalise the approach previously published in the econometric literature by weakening the assumptions imposed on the spatial weight matrix. This allows consideration of interaction patterns with a potentially larger degree of spatial dependence. Moreover, we broaden the class of admissible distributions of model residuals. As an example application of our new asymptotic analysis we also consider the large sample behaviour of a general group effects design.
Atlanto-axial rotary instability (Fielding type 1): characteristic clinical and radiological findings, and treatment outcomes following alignment, fusion, and stabilization
Authors: Henderson Fraser C. , Rosenbaum Robert , Narayanan Malini , Koby Myles , Tuchman Kelly , Rowe Peter C. , Francomano Clair
Published: July 2020

Atlanto-axial instability (AAI) is common in the connective tissue disorders, such as rheumatoid arthritis, and increasingly recognized in the heritable disorders of Stickler, Loeys-Dietz, Marfan, Morquio, and Ehlers-Danlos (EDS) syndromes, where it typically presents as a rotary subluxation due to incompetence of the alar ligament. This retrospective, IRB-approved study examines 20 subjects with Fielding type 1 rotary subluxation, characterized by anterior subluxation of the facet on one side, with anormal atlanto-dental interval. Subjects diagnosed with a heritable connective tissue disorder, and AAI had failed non-operative treatment and presented with severe headache, neck pain, and characteristic neurological findings. Subjects underwent a modified Goel-Harms posterior C1-C2 screw fixation and fusion without complication. At 15 months, two subjects underwent reoperation following a fall (one) and occipito-atlantal instability (one). Patients reported improvement in the frequency or severity of neck pain (P < 0.001), numbness in the hands and lower extremities (P = 0.001), headaches, pre-syncope, and lightheadedness (allP < 0.01), vertigo and arm weakness (bothP = 0.01), and syncope, nausea, joint pain, and exercise tolerance (allP < 0.05). The diagnosis of Fielding type 1 AAI requires directed investigation with dynamic imaging. Alignment and stabilization is associated with improvement of pain, syncopal and near-syncopal episodes, sensorimotor function, and exercise tolerance.
Agent-based modelling and parameter sensitivity analysis with a finite-element method for skin contraction
Authors: Peng Qiyao , Vermolen Fred
Published: July 2020

In this paper, we extend the model of wound healing by Boon et al. (J Biomech 49(8):1388–1401, 2016). In addition to explaining the model explicitly regarding every component, namely cells, signalling molecules and tissue bundles, we categorized fibroblasts as regular fibroblasts and myofibroblasts. We do so since it is widely documented that myofibroblasts play a significant role during wound healing and skin contraction and that they are the main phenotype of cells that is responsible for the permanent deformations. Furthermore, we carried out some sensitivity tests of the model by modifying certain parameter values, and we observe that the model shows some consistency with several biological phenomena. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we found that there is a significant strong positive correlation between the final wound area and the minimal wound area. The high correlation between the wound area after 4 days and the final/minimal wound area makes it possible for physicians to predict the most probable time evolution of the wound of the patient. However, the collagen density ratio at the time when the wound area reaches its equilibrium and minimum, cannot indicate the degree of wound contractions, whereas at the 4th day post-wounding, when the collagen is accumulating from null, there is a strong negative correlation between the area and the collagen density ratio. Further, under the circumstances that we modelled, the probability that patients will end up with 5% contraction is about 0.627.
Separating the impact of work environment and machine operation on harvester performance
Authors: Melander Lari , Ritala Risto
Published: July 2020

In mechanized logging operations, interactions between the forest machines and their operators, forest resources and environmental conditions are multifold and not easily detected. However, increased computational resources and sensing capabilities of the forest machines together with extensive forest inventory data enable modeling of such relationships, leading eventually to better planning of the operations, better assistance for the forest machine operators, and increased efficiency of timber harvesting. In this study, both forest machine fieldbus data and forest inventory data were acquired extensively. The forest inventory data, acquired nationwide, was clustered to categorize general tree and soil types in Finland. The found forest categories were applied when the harvester fieldbus data, collected from the forest operations in the North Karelia region with two similar harvesters, was analyzed. When the performance of the machine and the operator, namely the fuel consumption and log production, is studied individually for each forest cluster, the impact of working environment no longer masks the causes based on the machine or the operator, thus making the observations from separate forest locations comparable. The study observed statistically significant differences in fuel consumption between the most general tree and soil clusters as well as between the harvester-operator units. The modeling approach applied, based on multivariate linear regression, finds such reasons for the differences that have clear interpretation from machine setup or operator working style perspective, and thus offers a feasible method for assisting the operators in improving their working practices and thus the overall performance specifically at forest of given type.
Explicit stabilised gradient descent for faster strongly convex optimisation
Authors: Eftekhari Armin , Vandereycken Bart , Vilmart Gilles , Zygalakis Konstantinos C.
Published: July 2020

This paper introduces the Runge–Kutta Chebyshev descent method (RKCD) for strongly convex optimisation problems. This new algorithm is based on explicit stabilised integrators for stiff differential equations, a powerful class of numerical schemes that avoid the severe step size restriction faced by standard explicit integrators. For optimising quadratic and strongly convex functions, this paper proves that RKCD nearly achieves the optimal convergence rate of the conjugate gradient algorithm, and the suboptimality of RKCD diminishes as the condition number of the quadratic function worsens. It is established that this optimal rate is obtained also for a partitioned variant of RKCD applied to perturbations of quadratic functions. In addition, numerical experiments on general strongly convex problems show that RKCD outperforms Nesterov’s accelerated gradient descent.
Extrahepatic metabolism of ibrutinib
Authors: Rood Johannes J. M. , Jamalpoor Amer , van Hoppe Stephanie , van Haren Matthijs J. , Wasmann Roeland E. , Janssen Manoe J. , Schinkel Alfred H. , Masereeuw Rosalinde , Beijnen Jos H. , Sparidans Rolf W.
Published: July 2020

Ibrutinib is a first-in-class Bruton’s kinase inhibitor used in the treatment of multiple lymphomas. In addition to CYP3A4-mediated metabolism, glutathione conjugation can be observed. Subsequently, metabolism of the conjugates and finally their excretion in feces and urine occurs. These metabolites, however, can reach substantial concentrations in human subjects, especially when CYP3A4 is inhibited. Ibrutinib has unexplained nephrotoxicity and high metabolite concentrations are also found in kidneys of Cyp3a knockout mice. Here, a mechanism is proposed where the intermediate cysteine metabolite is bioactivated. The metabolism of ibrutinib through this glutathione cycle was confirmed in cultured human renal proximal tubule cells. Ibrutinib-mediated toxicity was enhanced in-vitro by inhibitors of breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP), P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and multidrug resistance protein (MRP). This was a result of accumulating cysteine metabolite levels due to efflux inhibition. Finally, through inhibition of downstream metabolism, it was shown now that direct conjugation was responsible for cysteine metabolite toxicity.
A Point Process Characterisation of Extreme Temperatures: an Application to South African Data
Authors: Nemukula Murendeni Maurel , Sigauke Caston
Published: July 2020

The point process (PP) modelling approach is considered a more elegant alternative of extreme value analysis. This is because of its capability in modelling both the frequency and intensity rates of the occurrence of extremes. In this paper, we demonstrate the use of the PP modelling approach in which stationary and non-stationary models are used in modelling average maximum daily temperature (AMDT) in South Africa. The data constitutes average daily temperature observations that are collected by the South African Weather Services over the period 1 January 2000 to 30 August 2010. This study is interested on the occurrence of extreme high temperature and because of that the data for non-winter season (1 September to 30 April) of each year is used. A penalised regression cubic smoothing spline function is used for non-linear detrending of the data and determining a fixed threshold above which excesses are extracted and used. An extremal mixture model is then fitted to determine a threshold in which a boundary corrected kernel density is fitted to the bulk model and a generalised Pareto distribution (GPD) fitted to the tail of the distribution. The data exhibits properties of short-range dependence and strong seasonality, leading to declustering. An interval estimator method is used to decluster data for the purpose of fitting PP models to cluster maxima. The models that are used in this paper are nested and, as a result, likelihood ratio tests are conducted using the deviance statistic. The tests support the fit of the stationary PP model. We further fitted the stationary GPD and used the formal tests which are the Cramér-von Mises test and the Anderson-Darling test to diagnose fit. These tests and the diagnostic plots support fit of the stationary GPD to cluster maxima. Uncertainty of the estimates of GPD parameters is assessed in this paper using bootstrap re-sampling approach. The stationary PP model was used with the reparameterisation approach to determine frequency of the occurrence of extremely hot days, which are found to be 15 times per year. The modelling framework and results of this study are important to power utility companies in scheduling and dispatching electricity to customers during a hot spell.
University students’ epistemic profiles, conceptions of learning, and academic performance
Authors: Lonka Kirsti , Ketonen Elina , Vermunt Jan D.
Published: July 2020

University students’ epistemic beliefs may have practical consequences for studying and success in higher education. Such beliefs constitute epistemic theories that may empirically manifest themselves as epistemic profiles. This study examined university students’ epistemic profiles and their relations to conceptions of learning, age, gender, discipline, and academic achievement. The participants were 1515 students from five faculties who completed questionnaires about epistemic beliefs, including a subsample who also completed a questionnaire that included conceptions of learning. We measured epistemic beliefs: reflective learning, collaborative knowledge-building, valuing metacognition, certain knowledge, and practical value. First, we analyzed structural validity by using confirmatory factor analysis. Second, we conducted latent profile analysis that revealed three epistemic profiles: Pragmatic (49%), reflective-collaborative (26%) and fact-oriented (25%). Then, we compared the conceptions of learning across the profiles as well as demographic information, credits, and grades. The profiles’ conceptions of learning varied: The reflective-collaborative group scored high on conception of learning named “construction of knowledge.” Its members were more likely to be females, teachers, and mature students, and they had the highest academic achievement. The fact-oriented group (mostly engineering/science students) scored highest on “intake of knowledge.” The pragmatic group scored highest on “use of knowledge:” During the second year, their academic achievement improved. In sum, the epistemic profiles were closely related to conceptions of learning and also associated with academic achievement.
The conductive properties of ink coating based on Ni–Ag core–shell nanoparticles with the bimodal size distribution
Authors: Pajor-Świerzy Anna , Pawłowski Radosław , Warszyński Piotr , Szczepanowicz Krzysztof
Published: July 2020

We studied the conductive properties of ink coatings composed of a mixture of Ni–Ag core–shell nanoparticles (NPs) at the size 70 nm and 250 nm. The metallic ink films were deposited on glass substrates by using bar coating and screen printing methods. The effect of the type of deposition method of ink coatings, as well as the temperature and time of the sintering process on their conductivity, was investigated. The most conductive films were obtained after thermal sintering at 300 °C. The obtained conductivity was about 20% of that for a bulk nickel, more than 80% higher than for films formed with any single type of particles.
Social Capital and Mental Health Among Black and Minority Ethnic Groups in the UK
Authors: Bamford Jordan , Klabbers Gonnie , Curran Emma , Rosato Michael , Leavey Gerard
Published: July 2020

Black and minority ethnic communities are at higher risk of mental health problems. We explore differences in mental health and the influence of social capital among ethnic minority groups in Great Britain. Cross-sectional linear and logistic regression analysis of data from Wave 6 (2014–2016) of the Understanding Society databases. In unadjusted models testing the likelihood of reporting psychological distress (i) comparing against a white (British) reference population Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and mixed ethnic minority groups recorded excess levels of distress; and (ii) increasing levels of social capital recorded a strong protective effect (OR = 0.94: 95% CI 0.935, 0.946). In a subsequent series of gender-specific incremental logistic models-after adjustment for sociodemographic and socioeconomic factors Pakistani (males and females) and Indian females recorded higher likelihoods of psychological distress, and the further inclusion of social capital in these models did not materially alter these results. More research on the definition, measurement and distribution of social capital as applies to ethnic minority groups in Great Britain, and how it influences mental wellbeing is needed.
Predicting technical debt from commit contents: reproduction and extension with automated feature selection
Authors: Rantala Leevi , Mäntylä Mika
Published: July 2020

Self-admitted technical debt refers to sub-optimal development solutions that are expressed in written code comments or commits. We reproduce and improve on a prior work by Yan et al. (2018) on detecting commits that introduce self-admitted technical debt. We use multiple natural language processing methods: Bag-of-Words, topic modeling, and word embedding vectors. We study 5 open-source projects. Our NLP approach uses logistic Lasso regression from Glmnet to automatically select best predictor words. A manually labeled dataset from prior work that identified self-admitted technical debt from code level commits serves as ground truth. Our approach achieves + 0.15 better area under the ROC curve performance than a prior work, when comparing only commit message features, and + 0.03 better result overall when replacing manually selected features with automatically selected words. In both cases, the improvement was statistically significant (p< 0.0001). Our work has four main contributions, which are comparing different NLP techniques for SATD detection, improved results over previous work, showing how to generate generalizable predictor words when using multiple repositories, and producing a list of words correlating with SATD. As a concrete result, we release a list of the predictor words that correlate positively with SATD, as well as our used datasets and scripts to enable replication studies and to aid in the creation of future classifiers.
Trivariate Theory of Mind Data Analysis with a Conditional Joint Modeling Approach
Authors: Jeon Minjeong , De Boeck Paul , Li Xiangrui , Lu Zhong-Lin
Published: July 2020

Theory of mind (ToM) is an essential social-cognitive ability to understand one’s own and other people’s mental states. Neural data as well as behavior data have been utilized in ToM research, but the two types of data have rarely been analyzed together, creating a large gap in the literature. In this paper, we propose and apply a novel joint modeling approach to analyze brain activations with two types of behavioral data, response times and response accuracy, obtained from a multi-item ToM assessment, with the intention to shed new light on the nature of the underlying process of ToM reasoning. Our trivariate data analysis suggested that different levels or kinds of processes might be involved during the ToM assessment, which seem to differ in terms of cognitive efficiency and sensitivity to ToM items and the correctness of item responses. Additional details on the trivariate data analysis results are provided with discussions on their implications for ToM research.
Greenhouse gas emissions convergence in Spain: evidence from the club clustering approach
Authors: Apergis Nicholas , Garzón Antonio J.
Published: July 2020

This study examines the convergence of greenhouse gas emissions per capita across the 19 Spanish regions using the Phillips-Sul club convergence approach over the period spanning from 1990 to 2017. The results indicate the presence of four clubs which converge to different equilibria in emissions per capita and three clubs in terms of income per capita, which involves different regions. These findings suggest that mitigation policies should explicitly consider the presence of different clubs of regions with different convergence paths in terms of emissions and income per capita and address the distributional effect of transfers across regions.
Effects of Ferrous Iron and Hydrogen Sulfide on Nitrate Reduction in the Sediments of an Estuary Experiencing Hypoxia
Authors: Jäntti Helena , Aalto Sanni L. , Paerl Hans W.
Published: July 2020

Hypoxia is common feature of eutrophic estuaries and semi-enclosed seas globally. One of the key factors driving hypoxia is nitrogen pollution. To gain more insight into the effects of hypoxia on estuarine nitrogen cycling, we measured potential nitrate reduction rates at different salinities and levels of hypoxia in a eutrophic temperate microtidal estuary, the Neuse River Estuary, North Carolina, USA. We also tested the effect of hydrogen sulfide and ferrous iron additions on the nitrate reduction pathways. Overall, DNRA dominated over denitrification in this periodically hypoxic estuary and there was no correlation between the potential nitrate reduction rates, salinity, or dissolved oxygen. However, when hypoxia lasted several months, denitrification capacity was almost completely lost, and nearly all nitrate added to the sediment was reduced via DNRA. Additions of hydrogen sulfide stimulated DNRA over denitrification. Additions of ferrous iron stimulated nitrate consumption; however, the end product of nitrate consumption was not clear. Interestingly, substantial nitrous oxide formation occurred in sediments that had experienced prolonged hypoxia and were amended with nitrate. Given expanding hypoxia predicted with climate change scenarios and the increasing nitrate loads to coastal systems, coastal sediments may lose their capability to mitigate nitrogen pollution due to DNRA dominating over denitrification during extended hypoxic periods.
Effect of small-scale heterogeneity on biopolymer performance in carbonates
Authors: Al-Shalabi Emad W.
Published: July 2020

Polymer flooding is a well-established chemical method for enhancing oil recovery in sandstones; however, it has a limited application in carbonates. This is due to the harsh reservoir conditions in carbonates including high temperature, high salinity, and high heterogeneity with low permeability. This paper numerically investigates the effect of Schizophyllan biopolymer on oil recovery from carbonates. The effect of biopolymer on oil recovery was predicted by running several 1D simulations. Biopolymer flow behavior was modeled based on experimental data. The results showed that the effect of the investigated biopolymer on oil recovery was not much pronounced compared to conventional waterflooding. This is due to small-scale heterogeneity, which increased effective shear rate and hence, decreased in-situ polymer viscosity. Formation permeability, polymer viscosity, and oil saturation maps were consistent in justifying this observation. The findings of this study were supported by fractional flow and mobility ratio analyses. This work highlights the importance of small-scale heterogeneity of the core in modeling polymer flooding, particularly the shear effect on polymer viscosity.
Reasoning in Description Logic Ontologies for Privacy Management
Authors: Nuradiansyah Adrian
Published: July 2020

This work is initially motivated by a privacy scenario in which the confidential information about persons or its properties formulated in description logic (DL) ontologies should be kept hidden. We investigate procedures to detect whether this confidential information can be disclosed in a certain situation by using DL formalisms. If it is the case that this information can be deduced from the ontologies, which implies certain privacy policies are not fulfilled, then one needs to consider methods to repair these ontologies in a minimal way such that the modified ontologies complies with the policies. However, privacy compliance itself is not enough if a possible attacker can also obtain relevant information from other sources, which together with the modified ontologies might violate the privacy policy. This article provides a summary of studies and results from Adrian Nuradiansyah’s Ph.D. dissertation that are corresponding to the addressed problem above with a special emphasis on the investigations on the worst-case complexities of those problems as well as the complexity of the procedures and algorithms solving the problems.