bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Pachychoroid neovasculopathy has clinical properties that differ from conventional neovascular age-related macular degeneration
Authors: Kuranami Ai , Maruko Ruka , Maruko Ichiro , Hasegawa Taiji , Iida Tomohiro
Published: May 2023

To determine the clinical properties of pachychoroid neovasculopathy (PNV) that differ from conventional neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) and suggest that they are different clinical entities. To accomplish this, we reviewed the medical records of 100 consecutive patients diagnosed with nAMD. All of the patients were Japanese, and their mean age was 75.5 years. There were 72 men and 28 women. For the bilateral cases, only the right eye was analyzed. An eye was diagnosed with PNV when a macular neovascularization (MNV) was detected just above the dilated choroidal vessels. The Indocyanine green angiographic (ICGA) and en face optical coherence tomographic (OCT) images were used to assess the vertical symmetry of the medium and large choroidal vessels. The subfoveal choroidal thickness (SCT) was also measured manually in the OCT images. After reclassification, there were 29 (29%) patients with typical nAMD (25 with type 1 MNV, 4 with type 2 MNV), 43 (43%) with PNV, 21 (21%) with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy, and 7 (7%) with retinal angiomatous proliferation. Of the 43 PNV, 17 (39.5%) had polypoidal lesions and 26 (60.5%) had no polypoidal lesions. The percentage of eyes with vertical asymmetry of the medium and large choroidal vessels was significantly greater in the 35 PNV (81.4%) than in the 16 non-PNV (28.1%; P < 0.01) cases. The mean SCT was significantly thicker in the PNV eyes than in the non-PNV eyes (298 ± 96 μm vs. 228 ± 82 μm; P < 0.01). The response of PNV to anti-vascular endothelial growth factor treatments was better than that of non-PNV eyes [higher dry macula rate after the loading period (90.9% vs. 59.1%), fewer total number of injections (11.0 ± 2.9 vs. 13.4 ± 3.2), and longer treatment intervals for the anti-VEGF therapy (8.4 ± 3.1 vs. 13.4 ± 3.2 weeks) at 2 years (all P < 0.01)]. These differences in the morphology and response to anti-VEGF treatments suggest that PNV is a separate clinical entity to conventional nAMD.
Deep learning-based inverse design of microstructured materials for optical optimization and thermal radiation control
Authors: Sullivan Jonathan , Mirhashemi Arman , Lee Jaeho
Published: May 2023

Microstructures with engineered properties are critical to thermal management in aerospace and space applications. Due to the overwhelming number of microstructure design variables, traditional approaches to material optimization can have time-consuming processes and limited use cases. Here, we combine a surrogate optical neural network with an inverse neural network and dynamic post-processing to form an aggregated neural network inverse design process. Our surrogate network emulates finite-difference time-domain simulations (FDTD) by developing a relationship between the microstructure’s geometry, wavelength, discrete material properties, and the output optical properties. The surrogate optical solver works in tandem with an inverse neural network to predict a microstructure’s design properties that will match an input optical spectrum. As opposed to conventional approaches that are constrained by material selection, our network can identify new material properties that best optimize the input spectrum and match the output to an existing material. The output is evaluated using critical design constraints, simulated in FDTD, and used to retrain the surrogate—forming a self-learning loop. The presented framework is applicable to the inverse design of various optical microstructures, and the deep learning-derived approach will allow complex and user-constrained optimization for thermal radiation control in future aerospace and space systems.
A novel microbe-drug association prediction model based on stacked autoencoder with multi-head attention mechanism
Authors: Fan Liu , Wang Lei , Zhu Xianyou
Published: May 2023

Microbes are intimately tied to the occurrence of various diseases that cause serious hazards to human health, and play an essential role in drug discovery, clinical application, and drug quality control. In this manuscript, we put forward a novel prediction model named MDASAE based on a stacked autoencoder (SAE) with multi-head attention mechanism to infer potential microbe-drug associations. In MDASAE, we first constructed three kinds of microbe-related and drug-related similarity matrices based on known microbe-disease-drug associations respectively. And then, we fed two kinds of microbe-related and drug-related similarity matrices respectively into the SAE to learn node attribute features, and introduced a multi-head attention mechanism into the output layer of the SAE to enhance feature extraction. Thereafter, we further adopted the remaining microbe and drug similarity matrices to derive inter-node features by using the Restart Random Walk algorithm. After that, the node attribute features and inter-node features of microbes and drugs would be fused together to predict scores of possible associations between microbes and drugs. Finally, intensive comparison experiments and case studies based on different well-known public databases under 5-fold cross-validation and 10-fold cross-validation respectively, proved that MDASAE can effectively predict the potential microbe-drug associations.
Silane modification of TiO2 nanoparticles and usage in acrylic film for effective photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue under visible light
Authors: Ataabadi Maryam Rostami , Jamshidi Masoud
Published: May 2023

To fabricate a photocatalytic acrylic paint, TiO2 nanoparticles were surface modified by a bi-functional amino silane (i.e. bis-3-(aminopropyltriethoxysilane)) at different concentrations and applied at 1, 3 and 5 wt% to an acrylic latex. It was found that the surface modification of nano TiO2 enhanced its specific surface area about 42%. The tensile properties of the pristine and nanocomposite acrylic films were assessed. The photocatalytic degradation of aqueous solution and stain of methylene blue (MB) were evaluated (under solar, visible, and UV illuminations) by nanoparticles and nanocomposites, respectively. Results showed that incorporating 3 wt% of the pure and modified nano TiO2 to arylic film caused 62 and 144% increment in the tensile strength. The modified nanoparticles showed higher MB degradation contents under UV, visible and solar irradiation (82, 70, 48%, respectively). The addition of pure and modified nanoparticles to the acrylic film caused decrement in the water contact angle from 84 to 70 and 46°, respectively. It also caused considerable enhancement in the glass transition temperature (Tg) of acrylic film compared to the pristine and pure nanocomposite films (i.e. about 17 and 9 °C, respectively). Furthermore, it was found that the modified nanocomposite caused more color change of MB stain (65%).
Hemodynamic changes in the portal vein with age: evaluation using four-dimensional flow MRI
Authors: Moon Chung-Man , Kim Seul-Kee , Heo Suk‑Hee , Shin Sang-Soo
Published: May 2023

Aging process is associated with gradual change of liver function and structure. The goal of this study was to evaluate age-related hemodynamic changes in the portal vein (PV) using four-dimensional (4D) flow MRI in healthy adults. A total of 120 healthy subjects were enrolled and categorized into groups A (n = 25, 30–39 years), B (n = 31, 40–49 years), C (n = 34, 50–59 years), and D (n = 30, 60–69 years). All subjects underwent 4D flow data acquisition using a 3-T MRI system to measure the hemodynamic parameters in the main PV. The clinical characteristics and 4D flow parameters were compared among the groups using analysis of variance and analysis of covariance after controlling for significant covariates, accordingly. The outcome metric applying the age-related quadratic model to estimate the age at which 4D flow parameters are the highest (the peak age) as well as the rates of age-related 4D flow changes was estimated. The average area, average through-plane velocity, peak velocity magnitude, average net flow, peak flow, and net forward volume in group D were significantly lower than those in groups A, B and C (P < 0.05). Group C showed significantly lower values of the average through-plane velocity and peak velocity magnitude than those of group B (P < 0.05). The peak age computed was approximately 43–44 years of age for all 4D flow parameters. The rates of age-related 4D flow changes for all 4D flow parameters were negatively correlated with age (P < 0.05). The volume and velocity of the blood flow through the PV peaked at approximately 43–44 years of age and decreased significantly after 60 years of age.
Experimental investigation on a solar parabolic collector using water-based multi-walled carbon-nanotube with low volume concentrations
Authors: Talugeri Vinayak , Pattana Nagaraj Basavaraj , Nasi Veeranna Basawannappa , Shahapurkar Kiran , Soudagar Manzoore Elahi Mohammad , Ahamad Tansir , Kalam Md. Abul , Chidanandamurthy Kiran Madrahalli , Mubarak Nabisab Mujawar , Karri Rama Rao
Published: May 2023

A limited experimental work was on multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)—water nanofluid with surfactant in the solar parabolic collector at low volume concentrations. At high-volume concentrated nanofluid, the pressure drop was more due to an increase in the viscosity of the working fluid and an increase in the nanoparticle cost; hence it is not economical. This report attempted to use Sodium Dodecyl Benzene Sulfonate (SDBS) surfactant in the low-volume concentrated MWCNT-water nanofluid to establish effective heat transfer in solar parabolic collector applications. The stable MWCNT-water nanofluid was prepared at 0.0158, 0.0238, and 0.0317 volume concentrations. The experiments were conducted from 10:00 to 16:00 at 6, 6.5 and 7 L/min flow rates concerning ASHRAE Standards. At the 7 L/min flow rate of the working fluid, having a minimum temperature difference between the working fluid and absorber tube leads to better heat transfer. The increased volume concentration of MWCNT in the water enhances the surface area interaction between water and MWCNT nanoparticles. This results in maximum solar parabolic collector efficiency at 0.0317 vol% with a 7 L/min flow rate and 10–11% higher than the distilled water.
Plasma chemokines CXCL10 and CXCL9 as potential diagnostic markers of drug-sensitive and drug-resistant tuberculosis
Authors: Sampath Pavithra , Rajamanickam Anuradha , Thiruvengadam Kannan , Natarajan Alangudi Palaniappan , Hissar Syed , Dhanapal Madhavan , Thangavelu Bharathiraja , Jayabal Lavanya , Ramesh Paranchi Murugesan , Ranganathan Uma Devi , Babu Subash , Bethunaickan Ramalingam
Published: May 2023

Tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis still remains to be a challenge with the currently used immune based diagnostic methods particularly Interferon Gamma Release Assay due to the sensitivity issues and their inability in differentiating stages of TB infection. Immune markers are valuable sources for understanding disease biology and are easily accessible. Chemokines, the stimulant, and the shaper of host immune responses are the vital hub for disease mediated dysregulation and their varied levels in TB disease are considered as an important marker to define the disease status. Hence, we wanted to examine the levels of chemokines among the individuals with drug-resistant, drug-sensitive, and latent TB compared to healthy individuals. Our results demonstrated that the differential levels of chemokines between the study groups and revealed that CXCL10 and CXCL9 as potential markers of drug-resistant and drug-sensitive TB with better stage discriminating abilities.
Possible origins and implications of atypical morphologies and domestication-like traits in wild golden jackals (Canis aureus)
Authors: Barash Ayelet , Preiss-Bloom Shlomo , Machluf Yossy , Fabbri Elena , Malkinson Dan , Velli Edoardo , Mucci Nadia , Barash Alon , Caniglia Romolo , Dayan Tamar , Dekel Yaron
Published: May 2023

Deciphering the origins of phenotypic variations in natural animal populations is a challenging topic for evolutionary and conservation biologists. Atypical morphologies in mammals are usually attributed to interspecific hybridisation or de-novo mutations. Here we report the case of four golden jackals (Canis aureus), that were observed during a camera-trapping wildlife survey in Northern Israel, displaying anomalous morphological traits, such as white patches, an upturned tail, and long thick fur which resemble features of domesticated mammals. Another individual was culled under permit and was genetically and morphologically examined. Paternal and nuclear genetic profiles, as well as geometric morphometric data, identified this individual as a golden jackal rather than a recent dog/wolf-jackal hybrid. Its maternal haplotype suggested past introgression of African wolf (Canis lupaster) mitochondrial DNA, as previously documented in other jackals from Israel. When viewed in the context of the jackal as an overabundant species in Israel, the rural nature of the surveyed area, the abundance of anthropogenic waste, and molecular and morphological findings, the possibility of an individual presenting incipient stages of domestication should also be considered.
Observation of non-reciprocal harmonic conversion in real sounds
Authors: Guo Xinxin , Lissek Hervé , Fleury Romain
Published: May 2023

Reciprocity guarantees that in most media, sound transmission is symmetric between two points of space when the location of the source and receiver are interchanged. This fundamental law can be broken in non-linear media, often at the cost of detrimental input power levels, large insertion losses, and ideally prepared single-frequency input signals. Thus, previous observations of non-reciprocal sound transmission have focused on pure tones, and cannot handle real sounds composed of various harmonics of a low-frequency fundamental note, as generated for example by musical instruments. Here, we extend the reach of non-reciprocal acoustics by achieving large, tunable, and timbre-preserved non-reciprocal transmission of sound notes composed of several harmonics, originating from musical instruments. This is achieved in a non-linear, actively reconfigurable, and non-Hermitian isolator that can handle arbitrarily low input power at any audible frequency, while providing isolation levels up to 30dB and a tunable level of non-reciprocal gain. Our findings may find applications in sound isolation, noise control, non-reciprocal and non-Hermitian metamaterials, and analog audio processing.
Agricultural development has not necessarily caused forest cover decline in semi-arid northern China over the past 12,000 years
Authors: Hao Qian , Han Yue , Liu Hongyan , Cheng Ying
Published: May 2023

Forest cover significantly affects the global carbon cycle, biodiversity, and human welfare, but is seriously threatened by human activities. Here we found that anthropogenic forces did not necessarily lead to forest cover decline in the marginal agricultural region of northern China based on a quantitative reconstruction of 12,000-years forest cover changes using modern analog technique and random forest. The forest cover was strongly affected by human activities in the core agricultural region, as indicated by the high independent effects of archeological sites (38.3%) and burning area (42.3%). In contrast, climate impacted the forest cover in the marginal agricultural region, where the annual precipitation and summer mean temperature contributed 52.4% and 27.4%, respectively. Agricultural development in the marginal agricultural region likely occurred in the river valley or sunny slopes, not overlapping with zonal forests growing on shady slopes. This study implies much less afforestation potential than previously expected in the marginal agricultural region.
A digital microfluidic platform coupled with colorimetric loop-mediated isothermal amplification for on-site visual diagnosis of multiple diseases
Authors: Xie Mei , Chen Tianlan , Cai Zongwei , Lei Bo , Dong Cheng
Published: May 2023

This study proposed a digital microfluidic system for the on-site diagnosis of multiple diseases. The result is visually detectable, and the RGB-based image analysis method was established under different lighting conditions.
Direct synthesis of alkylated 4-hydroxycoumarin derivatives via a cascade Cu-catalyzed dehydrogenation/conjugate addition sequence
Authors: Chen Zhiliang , Li Hongyi , Liao Yanjing , Wang Mengqi , Su Weiping
Published: May 2023

An efficient approach for the direct synthesis of alkylated 4-hydroxycoumarin derivatives via a Cu-catalyzed cascade dehydrogenation/conjugate addition sequence starting from simple saturated ketones and 4-hydroxycoumarins has been developed.
Reconfigurable band alignment of SWSe/h-BP heterostructures for photoelectric applications
Authors: Wei Dong , Li Yi , Guo Gaofu , Yu Heng , Ma Yaqiang , Tang Yanan , Dai Xianqi
Published: May 2023

SWSe/h-BP vdWHs can be used as highly efficient 2D excitonic solar cells and the negative differential resistance effect has important applications in high frequency oscillators and modulo-digital converters.
Shale gas fracturing flowback water deep treatment engineering – a case study
Authors: Yang Hongmei , Huang Wenfeng , Yang Ping
Published: May 2023

The exploitation of shale gas produces fracturing flowback fluid (SG-FFF) containing salt, organic matter, ammoniacal nitrogen (NH3-N) and heavy metals which can be harmful to the environment.
Self-healing liquid metal hydrogel for human–computer interaction and infrared camouflage
Authors: Li Xiaofei , Jiang Miao , Du Yiming , Ding Xin , Xiao Chao , Wang Yanyan , Yang Yanyu , Zhuo Yizhi , Zheng Kang , Liu Xianglan , Chen Lin , Gong Yi , Tian Xingyou , Zhang Xian
Published: May 2023

The liquid metal hydrogel with multiple physical cross-links possesses super-stretchability, notch resistance, self-healing properties, and photothermal properties, which give it the potential for human–computer interaction and infrared camouflage.
Efficient reducibility of layered polysilane (SiH)n for selective recovery of platinum ions from aqueous media
Authors: Ohashi Masataka , Goto Yasutomo , Nakano Hideyuki
Published: May 2023

Pt ions dissolved in artificial seawater were recovered using layered polysilane (LpSi). Hydrosilyl groups (Si–H) in LpSi selectively reduced Pt ions, and the resulting Pt0 loaded LpSi catalysed the hydrogen evolution reaction as an electrocatalyst.
Experimental characterization of scattering from the trihedral corner reflector in the E‐band
Authors: Mbugua Allan Wainaina , Chen Yun , Alfageme Simon Tejero , Biarge Sergio Duque , Fan Wei
Published: May 2023

Canonical objects with known radar cross section (RCS), for example, the trihedral corner reflector (TCR), play a crucial role in the calibration of automotive radar sensors. Moreover, these canonical objects are also used in the validation of simulated RCS obtained using asymptotic methods, such as hybrid geometric optics (GO) and the physical optics (PO) based methods. However, accurate RCS prediction with asymptotic methods is highly dependent on the individual scattering mechanisms considered in a simulation, for example reflection and diffraction from the TCR surfaces and edges, respectively. Reliable measurements are therefore required to evaluate if a particular interaction mechanism can be neglected to reduce computation complexity without adversely affecting the accuracy of the predicted RCS. In this letter, the monostatic scattering characteristics of three metallic TCRs are investigated with varying geometrical sizes in the E‐band, that is, from 60 GHz to 90 GHz. The ultra‐wideband (UWB) measurements, which offer a high delay resolution, can enable the identification of the individual scattering mechanisms. Diffraction from the TCR edges is experimentally demonstrated to contribute to a non‐negligible scattered power in this frequency band.
Realisation of the reconfigurable pulsed high magnetic field facility and its scientific application at Wuhan National Pulsed High Magnetic Field Centre
Authors: Xie Jianfeng , Zhang Shaozhe , Shi Jiangtao , Wang Junfeng , Li Liang , Han Xiaotao
Published: May 2023

To generate arbitrary shape magnetic field waveforms for advanced scientific research, a reconfigurable pulsed high magnetic field facility (PHMFF) was developed at Wuhan National Pulsed High Magnetic Field Centre (WHMFC). First, the basic elements of PHMFF are introduced, and a ternary physical model composed of energy storage unit, magnet, transmission circuits and other auxiliary units is summarised to describe various magnetic field systems. Second, in order to realise the reconfiguration of magnetic field systems based on detailed elements, the control system with the ability of dynamic construction and control sequence reconfiguration is designed. On this basis, the PHMFF has been realised and various magnetic field systems are constructed to produce arbitrary shape magnetic field waveforms, such as half‐sine, ultra‐high, flat‐top and repetitive field pulses, which not only enhances the capability and efficiency of PHMFF, but also makes more scientific research possible in pulsed magnetic fields. So far, a peak magnetic field of 94.8 T, a flat‐top magnetic field of 64 T/10 ms and a repetitive magnetic field waveform of 20 T/60 Hz have been achieved, and some experiments and studies on the physical properties of materials have been carried out at WHMFC.
Load-Bearing Shifts in Laminar and Ligament Morphology: Comparing Spinal Canal Dimensions Using Supine versus Upright Lumbar MRI in Adults without Back Pain
Authors: Mahato Niladri Kumar
Published: May 2023

Purpose The effects of weight bearing on lumbar spinal canal dimensions are not well reported the low back pain (LBP) literature. Since axial loading induces changes in anatomical configuration of the lumbar spine, supine spine imaging may not uncover dimensional changes associated with physiological weight bearing that could be demonstrated in imaging in the upright position.

Methods This study compared anteroposterior spinal canal dimensions measured at the level of the intervertebral discs in the supine and upright lumbar spine magnetic resonance images in adults without a history or current back pain. Additionally, interlaminar distances were measured between the centers of adjacent laminae involving a spinal segment. These parameters were utilized to ascertain the deformation incurred at the ligamentum flavum due to load bearing.

Results Within and between-sessions t-tests, factorial and repeated-measures analysis of variance showed significant alterations in canal dimensions at certain levels, secondary to the upright positioning of the spine. Measurement reliability assessed between sessions and scanning positions using intraclass correlation coefficients demonstrated strong agreement.

Conclusion Imaging studies involving physiological weight bearing may be useful to understand the potential etiological effects of such changes in mechanical LBP.
Bright Is Not Always Better: A Pictorial Review of Hyperechoic Malignant Breast Masses
Authors: Parashar Shivya , Arora Jyoti , Mittal Ayushi
Published: May 2023

Hyperechogenic breast lesions are a relatively rare finding at breast ultrasonography and are traditionally thought to be benign. However, hyperechogenicity on the ultrasound alone does not provide enough evidence to rule out malignancy completely. We herein reported a short series of nine cases of echogenic malignant breast lesions, which include invasive ductal carcinoma, ductal carcinoma in situ, invasive lobular carcinoma, angiosarcoma, lymphoma, and metastasis to the breast. Echogenic breast lesions should be carefully evaluated and properly categorized based on any other suspicious sonographic characteristics and must be correlated with mammographic findings and clinical history to lower the threshold for biopsy and avoid delay in diagnosis.

Hyperechogenicity should not be considered as a characteristically benign feature and should not supersede the less specifically benign features of the same lesion on the other examination.
Learning, reflexivity, decision-making, and behavioral change for sustainable viticulture associated with participatory action research
Authors: Madouas Maxime , Henaux Mélanie , Delrieu Valentine , Jaugey Caroline , Teillet Emma , Perrin Mireille , Schmitt Carine , Oberheiden Marc , Schermesser Frédéric , Soustre-Gacougnolle Isabelle , Masson Jean Eugène
Published: May 2023

Despite the abundance of compelling scientific knowledge about dramatic changes in climate, biodiversity and the environment, there is little change in human behavior. Do humans perceive and understand the gravity of the challenges at stake, or are they overwhelmed by adversity? The challenge may be in finding appropriate levers to involve stakeholders in a broader process of shared learning, while producing scientific knowledge, to overcome uncertainty, and achieving the expected collective action? In the field of viticulture, researchers, winegrowers, citizens and environmental associations have been involved in participatory action research projects, one located in Switzerland, one in Germany and two in France. All actors were involved, from the formulation of questions up to the production of knowledge, to address the issue of the negative impacts of viticulture on the environment and human health. Group workshops and individual interviews were conducted on each of the four sites, for a nine-year period. A collective workshop involving also actors outside the project was conducted, and followed by a trinational workshop bringing together actors from Swiss, German and French projects. The audio recordings and writings produced were transcribed. All texts were analyzed on the linguistic level, with textometric tools, while going back to the actors’ initial quotes. Our results suggest that during the course of projects, more sustainable viticultural practices were designed, and implemented in the vineyard, on a large scale. Also, our analysis suggests that, in parallel to changes in viticulture practices, a new vocabulary, associated with different individual and collective reasoning, emerged in the discourse of the actors involved in projects. These major changes were associated with an inventiveness that developed within and beyond the groups. Because human reasoning changed in the context of participatory action research, we suggest that such a research format could address global issues, finally reaching awaited changes.
What can mathematical modelling contribute to a sociology of quantification?
Authors: Saltelli Andrea , Puy Arnald
Published: May 2023

Sociology of quantification has spent relatively less energies investigating mathematical modelling than it has on other forms of quantification such as statistics, metrics, or algorithms based on artificial intelligence. Here we investigate whether concepts and approaches from mathematical modelling can provide sociology of quantification with nuanced tools to ensure the methodological soundness, normative adequacy and fairness of numbers. We suggest that methodological adequacy can be upheld by techniques in the field of sensitivity analysis, while normative adequacy and fairness are targeted by the different dimensions of sensitivity auditing. We also investigate in which ways modelling can inform other instances of quantification as to promote political agency.
Local government response capacity to natural disasters in the Central Highlands Provinces, Vietnam
Authors: Van Quang Nguyen , Thanh Nguyen Hai
Published: May 2023

Natural disasters in the Central Highlands of Vietnam are increasing and therefore becoming a concern for the provincial governments. The local authorities’ recent ability to respond to natural disasters in the region is considered ineffective, as evidenced by the increasing number of deaths and economic losses. Here, we focus on presenting and analyzing the current capacity of local authorities in the Central Highlands of Vietnam to respond to natural disasters in a normal state and in transitioning to an emergency state. We also provide evidence of natural disasters that have occurred and the actions undertaken by the Central Highlands provinces over the period 2015–2021. Our analysis shows that the capacity of local authorities to respond to natural disasters in the region is not commensurate with the actual requirements, in the dry season, the drought area increases, in the rainy season floods occur more, and human losses and economic losses have not been controlled. We propose that first of all, the government needs to have a system of timely guidance documents, the coordination between relevant agencies, secondly, that civil servants working in disaster response work must be capable, thirdly, the government must there should be publicity on how to respond, four is to limit the hot growth of projects such as hydroelectric projects, five is that the government must have a long-term master plan and sixth is to pay attention to livelihoods, education level of local ethnic people. These proposals can gradually control and limit the damage caused by increasingly severe natural disasters in the Central Highlands.
Corrigendum to “Peptide backbone-copper ring structure: A molecular insight into copper-induced amyloid toxicity”
Authors: Wang 王 Jing 静 , Jiang 姜 Xiankai 先凯 , Su 苏 Xiurong 秀榕 , Zhou 周 Xingfei 星飞 , Wang 王 Yu 宇 , Wang 王 Geng 耿 , Geng 耿 Heping 和平 , Jiang 姜 Zheng 政 , Huang 黄 Fang 方 , Chen 陈 Gang 刚 , Wang 王 Chunlei 春雷 , Fang 方 Haiping 海平
Published: May 2023

The author list originally given in Wang et al.
Chin. Phys. B 31 108702 (2022) has been amended to remove four authors, Hua Li, Bin Wu, Jun Guo and Chenqi Xu, who believe their contributions are more suitable to be credited in the acknowledgments.
Preparation of highly efficient antibacterial non-woven by facile plasma-induced graft polymerizing of DADMAC
Authors: SONG Yujie , YANG Jing , CUI Jiangzhou , ZHAO Benhua , YANG Weimin , LI Haoyi , WANG Ruixue
Published: May 2023

The development of surface modification technology for temperature sensitive fibers has been a huge challenge. In this work, a novel technique based on cold plasma treatment was developed for the preparation of anti-bacterial polypropylene (PP) fibers. The results showed that plasma treatment introduced a rough surface and polar groups, which acted as the anchor point and initiators for diallyldimethyl ammonium chloride (DADMAC) graft-polymerization. The fabricated PP membranes presented a high bacterial sterilization rate, as well as excellent adhesion force and washing durability. After ultrasonic treatment for 30 min, the physical coating sample had lost anti-bacterial effect, while the plasma grafted sample still showed a sterilization rate of 91.67%. This work provided a clean and novel DADMAC grafting method and it is also applicable for anti-bacterial material fabrication.
Multiple chemical warfare agent simulant decontamination by self-driven microplasma
Authors: CHEN Shubin , WANG Shiyu , ZHU Anna , WANG Ruixue
Published: May 2023

Low-temperature plasma is a green and high-efficiency technology for chemical warfare agent (CWA) decontamination. However, traditional plasma devices suffer from the problems of high-power composition and large power-supply size, which limit their practical applications. In this paper, a self-driven microplasma decontamination system, induced by a dielectric-dielectric rotary triboelectric nanogenerator (dd-rTENG), was innovatively proposed for the decontamination of CWA simulants. The microplasma was characterized via electrical measurements, optical emission spectra and ozone concentration detection. With an output voltage of −3460 V, the dd-rTENG can successfully excite microplasma in air. Reactive species, such as OH, O(1D), H
α
and O3 were detected. With input average power of 0.116 W, the decontamination rate of 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide reached 100% within 3 min of plasma treatment, while the decontamination rates of malathion and dimethyl methylphosphonate reached (65.92 ± 1.65)% and (60.88 ± 1.92)% after 7 min of plasma treatment, respectively. In addition, the decontamination rates gradually decreased with the increase in the simulant concentrations. Typical products were identified and analyzed. This study demonstrates the broad spectrum and feasibility of the dd-rTENG-microplasma for CWA elimination, which provides significant guidance for their practical applications in the future.
Predicting Seasonal Influenza Hospitalizations Using an Ensemble Super Learner: A Simulation Study
Authors: Gantenberg Jason R , McConeghy Kevin W , Howe Chanelle J , Steingrimsson Jon , van Aalst Robertus , Chit Ayman , Zullo Andrew R
Published: May 2023

Accurate forecasts can inform response to outbreaks. Most efforts in influenza forecasting have focused on predicting influenza-like activity, with fewer on influenza-related hospitalizations. We conducted a simulation study to evaluate a super learner’s predictions of 3 seasonal measures of influenza hospitalizations in the United States: peak hospitalization rate, peak hospitalization week, and cumulative hospitalization rate. We trained an ensemble machine learning algorithm on 15,000 simulated hospitalization curves and generated weekly predictions. We compared the performance of the ensemble (weighted combination of predictions from multiple prediction algorithms), the best-performing individual prediction algorithm, and a naive prediction (median of a simulated outcome distribution). Ensemble predictions performed similarly to the naive predictions early in the season but consistently improved as the season progressed for all prediction targets. The best-performing prediction algorithm in each week typically had similar predictive accuracy compared with the ensemble, but the specific prediction algorithm selected varied by week. An ensemble super learner improved predictions of influenza-related hospitalizations, relative to a naive prediction. Future work should examine the super learner’s performance using additional empirical data on influenza-related predictors (e.g., influenza-like illness). The algorithm should also be tailored to produce prospective probabilistic forecasts of selected prediction targets.
Activation of the TLR4-JNK but not the TLR4-ERK pathway induced by indole-3-acetic acid exerts anti-proliferative effects on Caco-2 cells
Authors: Tomii Ayame , Higa Manami , Naito Kazuma , Kurata Koichi , Kobayashi Jun , Takei Chihiro , Yuasa Kana , Koto Yoshihito , Shimizu Hidehisa
Published: May 2023

We previously found that indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) produced from tryptophan by gut microbiota decreases the expression of tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα), which is implicated in the pathogenesis of colorectal cancer (CRC). The present study aimed to determine IAA involvement in the proliferation of CRC-derived Caco-2 cells. Cell proliferation was suppressed by IAA, whereas IAA-induced aryl hydrocarbon receptor activation had no impact. IAA activated extracellular signal-related (ERK) and c-Jun N-terminal (JNK) kinases, but not p38. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) may be required to activate ERK and JNK, but only the TLR4-JNK pathway might elicit the anti-proliferative effects of IAA. Thus, IAA may be a ligand for TLR4 that contributes to inhibiting CRC cell proliferation by activating TLR4-mediated JNK. Because IAA did not induce cytotoxicity, inhibiting cell cycle progression might affect the anti-proliferative capacity of IAA. Therefore, colonic IAA accumulation might help to prevent CRC development and progression.
Wealth taxation in the Austrian Press from 2005 to 2020: a critical political economy analysis
Authors: Dammerer Quirin , Hubmann Georg , Theine Hendrik
Published: May 2023

This study focuses on the Austrian media coverage of wealth taxes by conducting a content analysis of all commentary pieces published in 2005–2020 by five Austrian daily newspapers. We find (i) that the majority of commentaries take a negative position towards wealth taxation, (ii) that journalists write more negative comments than guest authors do and (iii) 50 argumentative patterns in five main categories. In light of these findings, we discuss several potential drivers of the predominantly negative wealth taxation coverage: the high degree of ownership concentration by wealthy families and institutions in the Austrian newspaper market, the importance of advertising to fund newspapers and the influence of elite institutions as providers of information. Finally, we embed our findings in recent literature and illustrate similarities and differences of the German and Austrian media coverage of wealth taxation.
SnorkelPlus: A Novel Approach for Identifying Relationships Among Biomedical Entities Within Abstracts
Authors: Kumar Ashutosh , Sharaff Aakanksha
Published: May 2023

Identifying relationships between biomedical entities from unstructured biomedical text is a challenging task. SnorkelPlus has been proposed to provide the flexibility to extract these biomedical relations without any human effort. Our proposed model, SnorkelPlus, is aimed at finding connections between gene and disease entities. We achieved three objectives: (i) extract only gene and disease articles from NCBI’s, PubMed or PubMed central database, (ii) define reusable label functions and (iii) ensure label function accuracy using generative and discriminative models. We utilized deep learning methods to achieve label training data and achieved an AUROC of 85.60% for the generated gene and disease corpus from PubMed articles. Snorkel achieved an AUPR of 45.73%, which is +2.3% higher than the baseline model. We created a gene–disease relation database using SnorkelPlus from approximately 29 million scientific abstracts without involving annotated training datasets. Furthermore, we demonstrated the generalizability of our proposed application on abstracts of PubMed articles enriched with different gene and disease relations. In the future, we plan to design a graphical database using Neo4j.
Father absence and pubertal timing in Korean boys and girls
Authors: Susie Lee D , Semenchenko Hanna
Published: May 2023

Background and objectives

Pubertal timing is a key life history trait with long-term health consequences in both sexes. Evolutionary theory has guided extensive research on developmental influences, in particular growing up without a father, on earlier menarche. Far less is known whether a similar relationship exists for boys, especially beyond western contexts. We used longitudinal data from the nationally representative sample of Korean adolescents, which provided us with a unique opportunity for studying male puberty using a hitherto underutilized biomarker: age at first nocturnal ejaculation.

Methodology

We pre-registered and tested a prediction that growing up in father-absent households is associated with earlier puberty in both sexes. Large sample size (>6000) allowed testing the effect of father absence, which remains relatively uncommon in Korea, while adjusting for potential confounders using Cox proportional-hazard models.

Results

Self-reported age at first nocturnal ejaculation was on average 13.8 years, falling within the range known from other societies. Unlike previous findings mostly for white girls, we did not find evidence that Korean girls in father-absent households had a younger age at menarche. Boys in father-absent households reported having their first nocturnal ejaculation 3 months earlier on average, and the difference was evident before age 14.

Conclusion and implications

The association between father absence and pubertal timing appears sex- and age-dependent, and these differences may further interact with cultural norms regarding gender roles. Our study also highlights the utility of the recalled age of first ejaculation for male puberty research, which has lagged in both evolutionary biology and medicine.
Mental health burdens among North American Asian adults living with chronic conditions: a systematic review
Authors: Islam Jessica Y , Parikh Nina S , Lappen Hope , Venkat Vandana , Nalkar Priyanka , Kapadia Farzana
Published: May 2023

Asians are likely to experience a high burden of chronic conditions, including, but not limited to, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer, due to differences in biologic, genetic, and environmental factors across Asian ethnic groups. A diagnosis of any chronic condition can contribute to increased mental health burdens, including depression, psychological distress, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, few studies have examined these comorbid conditions across distinct Asian ethnic groups—an important limitation given the differences in social, cultural, and behavioral drivers of mental health burdens within and across Asian ethnicities. To understand the disparities in mental health burdens among Asians living with a chronic health condition, we conducted a systematic literature review of relevant, peer-reviewed publication databases to identify studies reporting on mental health burdens (e.g., depression, anxiety, distress, PTSD) in distinct Asian ethnic groups in North America. Thirteen studies met the inclusion criteria for this review and collectively demonstrated a high burden of depression, psychological distress, and PTSD among Asians living with chronic conditions. Moreover, there were distinct disparities in mental health burdens across chronic conditions and across Asian ethnic groups. Despite the detrimental impact of poor mental health on chronic disease–specific outcomes, such as death and poor quality of life, few data exist that characterize mental health outcomes among Asian ethnicities living in North America with chronic conditions. Future work should prioritize estimating the national prevalence of mental health outcomes among adults with chronic conditions, by Asian ethnicities, to inform culturally tailored interventions to address this public health burden.
Bacillus subtilis small replicative plasmid collection incorporating five distinct origins of replication and compatible with Golden Gate DNA assembly
Authors: Rodd Andrew M , Jawad Abrar , Nano Francis E
Published: May 2023

In order to facilitate Golden Gate DNA assembly, we have constructed a collection of Bacillus subtilis replicative plasmids representing five origins of replication derived from plasmids pUB110, pE194, pWV01, pBS72, and pTH1030. The first three of these plasmids use rolling circle replication and the latter two use theta replication. All of the plasmids carry the same multiple cloning site surrounded by transcriptional terminators. The plasmids are about three kilobases in size, allowing them to be easily amplified by inverse PCR using a common set of primers to generate cloning-ready amplicons. This plasmid PCR amplification approach also facilitates a workflow that eliminates Escherichia coli as a shuttle intermediate. All of the plasmids lack a site for at least three of the type IIS restriction enzymes BbsI, BsaI, Esp3I, PaqCI, or SapI, making them compatible with Golden Gate DNA assembly. We have demonstrated the utility of the plasmids by performing Golden Gate assembly of gusA and bgaB-reporter gene fragments and in expressing plasmid-borne red fluorescent protein under the control of RNA polymerase from bacteriophage K1E.
Sebacic Acid as a Potential Age-Related Biomarker of Liver Aging: Evidence Linking Mice and Human
Authors: Huang Chen-Hua , Lee Wei-Ju , Huang Yi-Long , Tsai Ting-Fen , Chen Liang-Kung , Lin Chao-Hsiung
Published: May 2023

The aging process is complicated and involves diverse organ dysfunction; furthermore, the biomarkers that are able to reflect biological aging are eagerly sought after to monitor the system-wide decline associated with the aging process. To address this, we performed a metabolomics analysis using a longitudinal cohort study from Taiwan (N = 710) and established plasma metabolomic age using a machine learning algorithm. The resulting estimation of age acceleration among the older adults was found to be correlated with HOMA-insulin resistance. In addition, a sliding window analysis was used to investigate the undulating decrease in hexanoic and heptanoic acids that occurs among the older adults at different ages. A comparison of the metabolomic alterations associated with aging between humans and mice implied that ω-oxidation of medium-chain fatty acids was commonly dysregulated in older subjects. Among these fatty acids, sebacic acid, an ω-oxidation product produced by the liver, was significantly decreased in the plasma of both older humans and aged mice. Notably, an increase in the production and consumption of sebacic acid within the liver tissue of aged mice was observed, along with an elevation of pyruvate-to-lactate conversion. Taken together, our study reveals that sebacic acid and metabolites of ω-oxidation are the common aging biomarkers in both humans and mice. The further analysis suggests that sebacic acid may play an energetic role in supporting the production of acetyl-CoA during liver aging, and thus its alteration in plasma concentration potentially reflects the aging process.
Acoustic signature of impermeable barriers in porous media
Authors: González J G , Sahay P N , Müller T M
Published: May 2023

Impermeable barriers are abundant in rock formations and their delineation via seismic reflections are of prime importance. However, such barriers have received little attention in the poroelasticity literature. For this reason, we revisit the reflection–transmission problem for two porous half-spaces which are in welded contact and across which no fluid exchange is possible. We carry out this analysis in the poroelastic theory initiated by de la Cruz and Spanos (1985), which describes four waves: the fast P, fast S-, slow P and slow S waves. The fast P and S waves account for the in-phase motion in compression and shear nature, whereas the slow P and S waves are the out-of-phase motion. We find that the often times suggested notion of effective elastic scattering is not quite correct because of the generation of slow waves at the impermeable contact. The energy flux the slow waves carry is negligibly small at low frequencies when the fluid is viscously coupled to the solid frame. In contrast, slow waves carry substantial energy flux at high frequencies when the fluid is viscously decoupled. Moreover, the reflection–transmission behaviour at an impermeable contact is distinctively different when compared to that of a permeable contact, which means that, in principle, amplitudes of scattered waves can be used to identify the kind of contact. A seemingly unnoted but important result is the strong conversion scattering from a fast S wave into the slow P wave at high frequencies, which may be an alternative way to observe slow P waves in the laboratory as well as a means to characterize impermeable contacts.