bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Autofluorescence-decrease phenomenon of woody cell in Lophira alata
Authors: Yu Zhaoyang , Xu Dongnian , Hu Jinbo , Chang Shanshan , Liu Gonggang , Huang Qiongtao , Han Jin , Li Ting , Liu Yuan , Wang Xiaodong(Alice)
Published: September 2022

Background: Fluorescence is an intrinsic property of lignin. However, the autofluorescence of Lophira alata (L. alata) was found to be almost invisible during an occasional fluorescence observation experiment. The purpose of this study was to investigate the reason why lignin autofluorescence is invisible in L. alata.
Results: Herein, the autofluorescence microscopy, diffuse reflection spectra and UV-Vis absorption spectra of L. alata have been performed. In order to recognize the relationship between autofluorescence phenomenon and anatomical structure, themacroscopic, microscopic and ultramicroscopic characteristics of L. alata are also examined. Results show that both the longitudinal parenchyma and the rays are rich in extractives. Moreover, these extractives have infiltrated into the vessels and fibers. The autofluorescence of the wood becomes increasingly clear after the benzene–alcohol extraction treatment. Meanwhile, UV-Vis absorption spectrashow that the extractives from L. alata have a strong absorption to light at a wavelength range of 200-500 nm.
Conclusions: The complex compounds like polyphenols or terpenoids contained in the rich extractives of L. alata are likely to affect the autofluorescence of lignin.
COVID-19 Severity Prediction from Chest X-ray Images using an Anatomy-Aware Deep Learning Model
Authors: Siddiquee Sadi Mohammad , Nizam Nusrat Binta , Shirin Mahbuba , Bhuiyan Mohammed Imamul Hassan , Hasan Taufiq
Published: September 2022

Introduction: The Covid-19 pandemic has been adversely affecting the patient management systems in hospitals around the world. Radiological imaging, especially the chest x-ray and lung Computed Tomography (CT)-scans, play a vital role in the severity analysis of hospitalized Covid-19 patients. However, with an increasing number of patients and a lack of skilled radiologists, automated assessment of Covid-19 severity using medical image analysis has become increasingly important. Chest x-ray (CXR) imaging plays a significant role in assessing the severity of pneumonia, especially in low-resource hospitals, and is the most frequently used diagnostic imaging in the world. Previous methods that automatically predict the severity of Covid-19 pneumonia mainly focus on feature pooling from pre-trained CXR models without explicitly considering the underlying human anatomical attributes. Methods: This paper proposes an anatomy aware (AA) deep learning model that learns the generic features from x-ray images considering the underlying anatomical information. Utilizing a pre-trained model and lung segmentation masks, the model generates a feature vector including disease level features and lung involvement scores. Results: We have used four different open-source datasets, along with an in-house annotated test set for training and evaluation of the proposed method. The proposed method improves the geographical extent score by 11% in terms of mean squared error (MSE) while preserving the benchmark result in lung opacity score. Conclusions: The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed AA model in Covid-19 severity prediction from chest X-ray images. Implications for practice: The algorithm can be used in low-resource setting hospitals for Covid-19 severity prediction, especially where there is a lack of skilled radiologists.
The shift in key functional traits caused by precipitation under nitrogen and phosphorus deposition drives biomass change in Leymus chinensis
Authors: Tong Ruqiang , Yang Xinran , Li Yanan , Shi Yujie , Mu Chunsheng , Wang Junfeng
Published: September 2022

Background
Under changes in biological and abiotic factors, the trade-offs between key functional traits in plants have a decisive impact on biomass production. However, how precipitation and nutrient deposition affects the trade-offs in traits and ultimately productivity is still unclear. Here a mesocosm experiment was conducted to explore the relationships between biomass production and aboveground and belowground key functional traits and their trade-offs under changes in precipitation (average precipitation, increased precipitation) and nutrient depositions (nitrogen: 0, 10 g N m-2; phosphorus: 0, 10 g P m-2) in Leymus chinensis, a monodominant perennial rhizome grass that is widespread in the eastern Eurasian steppe.
Results
1) Aboveground biomass, plant height, and carbon assimilation rate were all significantly increased with the increase in precipitation, whereas the water use efficiency was decreased with precipitation changes; 2) Simulated nitrogen (N) deposition and simultaneous N and phosphorus (P) deposition significantly increased aboveground biomass, plant height, specific leaf area and water use efficiency under both average and increased precipitation conditions. However, P deposition alone had no significant effect on the aboveground biomass under average rainfall conditions; 3) Moisture is the key factor regulating the effect of N and P deposition on the increased biomass production. Under conditions of average precipitation, water use efficiency was the key trait determining the biomass of L. chinensis, however, under increasing precipitation, plant height determined L. chinensis biomass. The reason for this result is that under average precipitation conditions, there were obvious trade-offs between water use efficiency and leaf area, specific leaf area, leaf thickness and leaf dry matter. Conversely, under increasing precipitation, the effect of restricted soil water on leaf traits was relieved, and the key limiting trait changed from water use efficiency to plant height.
Conclusions
The shift of fundamental traits of photosynthetic carbon gain induced by precipitation under N and P deposition is the key ecological driving mechanism for biomass production of typical dominant species in semi-arid grassland.
Zinc Levels Assay in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder by Quantum Magnetic Resonance Analyzer and Direct Colorimetry
Authors: Ibrahim Mostafa Azzaz , Farid Maisa Nasr , Shourbagy Omar El- Sayed Omar El- , Tarkan Reham Sabrey
Published: September 2022

Background: Autism is a long-term disability and a developmental disorder in which many studies suggested an association with serum low levels of zinc. In addition, the zinc to copper (Zn/Cu) ratio can be a biomarker of ASD as it is abnormally low in individuals with autism.Aim: The present study aimed to determine the levels of Zn in the bodies of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The assay is done using new technology, the quantum magnetic resonance analysis (QMRA) method, and comparing its results with a reference testing laboratory method to determine the validity, sensitivity, and specificity of the new measurement method.Method: The study was performed in a group of children (M=19; F=11; age range=3-15 years) with ASD (n=30) and a control group of typically developing children (n=30) matched in terms of sex and age. The main variables in this study were the body values of Zn measured with a QMRA-998 8th Generation device and in patients’ sera by the reference direct colorimetric method.Statistical Analysis: Results were compared across groups using descriptive statistics, Pearson and Spearman’s correlation coefficients, Chi-Square significance, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and linear regression. In addition, a sensitivity and specificity cross-tabulation test was performed to evaluate the QMRA method in measuring Zn levels.Results: Both methods showed lower means for Zn levels in the ASD group than in the control group with a significant correlation between the two methods when measuring Zn levels. With the QMRA method, the sensitivity was 84% and specificity was 87%.Conclusion: It is suggested to test blood levels of Zn in all autistic children and give them a Zn supplement if needed. Non-invasive health measurement devices such as QMRA can be used as a screening or adjunct tool for the measurement of Zn levels in humans.
The Value of 3D arterial spin labeling in early diagnosis and prognostic grouping of Full-Term neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy
Authors: Liu Chang , Ji Hai-Xia , Tian Yang-Hua , Hou Wei-Shu , Ying Da-Wei , Deng Ke-Xue
Published: September 2022

Backgroud: To investigate the value of 3D arterial spin labeling(ASL) perfusion imaging and DWI for the early diagnosis of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy(HIE) in term neonates and the predictive value of 3D ASL for patient prognosis.
Methods: A total of 60 full-term neonates clinically diagnosed with HIE in our hospital from January 2018 to October 2021 and 60 control group was selected. All HIE neonates were divided into favourable outcome and adverse outcome groups according to their prognosis,and all subjects underwent 3D ASL and DWI simultaneously to compare cerebral blood flow (CBF) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) in each region of interest and analyze the agreement.The areas of interest included bilateral basal ganglia, thalamus, and frontal white matter, and the final average was bilaterally taken.To investigate the correlation between CBF value of HIE in neonates and neonatal behavioral neurological assessment (NBNA), the relationship between early changes of CBF value and prognosis of neonates with HIE。
Results: The CBF values of basal ganglia and thalamus in the adverse outcome group were higher than those in the favourable outcome group, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.01); the CBF value of frontal white matter in the adverse outcome group and the favourable outcome group were statistically significant (P<0.01); the CBF values in the basal ganglia and thalamus of neonates in the HIE group were greater than those of normal controls, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.01); the CBF values in the frontal white matter area of neonates in the HIE group were smaller than those in the normal control group, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.01). The area under the ROC curve for CBF value was 0.973, the specificity and sensitivity of CBF values were 97.5% and 90.2%;the ADC values of area under the ROC curve was 0.881, and the sensitivity and specificity were 82.5% and 92.7%.respectively CBF values in the basal ganglia region were highly correlated with NBNA scores (r=-0.8196,p<0.01) and negatively correlated; thalamic CBF values were highly correlated with NBNA scores (r=-0.8504,p<0.01) and negatively correlated; frontal CBF values were not correlated with NBNA scores (r=-0.0802,p=0.62).
Conclusion: ASL findings within 3 days after birth in full-term neonates were highly correlated with NBNA scores. It can diagnose HIE early and predict the outcome of functional brain damage with better diagnostic efficacy than DWI.
Covid-19 Impacts on Household Solid Waste Generation in Latin America - a Participatory Approach
Authors: Requena-Sanchez Norvin , Carbonel Dalia , Moonsammy Stephan , Demel Larissa , Vallester Erick , Velásquez Diana , Cervantes Jessica Alejandra Toledo , Núñez Verónica Livier Díaz , García Rosario Vásquez , Cruz Melissa Santa , Visbal Elsy , Ng Kelvin Tsun Wai
Published: September 2022

The Covid-19 pandemic has greatly impacted Latin America, the continent with the highest number of cases and Covid-related deaths. Strict confinement conditions at the beginning of the pandemic put to a halt recycling activities and augmented the consumption of plastic as a barrier to stop the spread of the virus. In Latin America the lack of data to understand the waste management dynamics difficult the adjustment of waste management strategies to cope with the Covid-19. As a novel contribution to the waste management data gap for Latin America, this study uses a virtual and participatory methodology that collects and generates information on household solid waste generation and composition. Data was collected between June and November 2021 in six countries in the Latin America region, with a total of 503 participants. Participants indicated that the pandemic motivated them to initiate or increase waste reduction (41%), waste separation (40%) and waste recovery (33%) activities. 43% of participants perceived and increase on their total volume of waste; however, the quantitative data showed a decrease on household waste generation in Peru (-31%), Honduras (-25%) and Venezuela (-82%). No changes in waste composition were observed. Despite the limited sample size, this data provides a much-needed approximation of household waste generation and composition in a pandemic situation during 2021.
Analgesic effect of epidural anesthesia via the intervertebral foramen approach in percutaneous transforaminal endoscopic discectomy: a retrospective study
Authors: Zhang Jingyue , Wang Xueyao , Cai Zhenhua , Kang Jiyu , Liu Yongliang , Nie Chunyan , Zhou Huacheng
Published: September 2022

Background: Satisfactory intraoperative analgesia is critical for percutaneous transforaminal endoscopic discectomy (PTED). Local anesthesia (LA) and epidural anesthesia (EA) are recommended for PTED. However, LA cannot achieve satisfactory pain management during PTED, and traditional EA, which involves implanting an epidural catheter through the midline or paramedian, has disadvantages such as difficulty in catheterization and increased preoperative preparation time. Rather than performing conventional EA, we injected local anesthetics through the intervertebral foramen during the puncture process, which we termed lumbar transforaminal EA (LTEA), and observed its feasibility and safety. This study aimed to conduct a comprehensive comparison of differences in analgesia between LA and LTEA in patients with PTED.
Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of patients who underwent PTED between January 2018 and January 2021. Patients were divided into LA and LTEA groups. Data obtained from the electronic medical records included primary outcomes (visual analog scale [VAS] scores and anesthesia satisfaction rate) and secondary outcomes, including vital signs such as heart rate (HR), mean arterial pressure (MAP), total dosage of fentanyl, operation time, X-ray exposure time, Oswestry Disability Index (ODI)scores, and complications.
Results: In total, 160 patients (80 in each group) were analyzed in this study. The VAS scores for lumbar and leg pain were significantly lower in the LTEA group than in the LA group (P < 0.0001). The anesthesia satisfaction rate was 90.0% in the LTEA group and 72.5% in the LA group (P < 0.005). MAP and HR values in the LTEA group were significantly lower than those in the LA group (P < 0.05). The total dose of fentanyl in the LTEA group was significantly lower than that in the LA group (P < 0.05). As for ODI values, the average operation time, X-ray exposure time, and incidence of complications were not significantly different between the two groups (P > 0.05).
Conclusions: LTEA simplifies the process of EA and can achieve a good analgesic effect intraoperatively without increasing the preoperative preparation time; thus, it may be adopted as an alternative mode of anesthesia during PTED surgery.
Identification of Heat shock protein family A member 5 (HSPA5) targets involved in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease
Authors: Fangping He , Reheti Aliya , Buzukela Abuduaini , Liang Zhao , Chen Dong
Published: September 2022

Background
HSPA5 is an endoplasmic reticulum chaperone which regulates cell metabolism, especially lipid metabolism. There are many reports about the role of HSPA5 in regulating cell function but the role on HSPA5 binding to RNA and its biological function in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is still lacking.
Method
In the present study, the ability of HSPA5 to modulate the alternative splicing ( AS ) of cellular genes was assessed using RT-PCR on 89 nonalcoholic fatty liver disease-associated genes. RNA immunoprecipitation coupled to RNA sequencing (RIP-Seq) assays were also performed to identify cellular mRNAs bound by HSPA5.
Results
Upon HSPA5 expression, we detected modifications to the AS profiles of 89 genes involved in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Moreover, we show that HSPA5 modulates the expression levels of various splicing factors such as EGFR, NEAT1, LRP1 and TGFß1 which are important for the pathology of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Finally, RNA immunoprecipitation coupled to RIP-Seq assays demonstrated that HSPA5 immuno-precipitates specific cellular mRNAs.
Conclusion
This is the first report demonstrating that HSPA5 protein modulates the AS profiles of genes important in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and binds lncRNA and mRNA linked to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.
Influence of non-uniform heat source sink and inclined magnetic field on double-diffusive stagnation point flow of Eyring – Powell nanofluid on a slender stretching sheet
Authors: kotnurkar asha Shivappa , Mali Gayitri
Published: September 2022

In this study, the effect of an inclined magnetic field and a non-uniform heat source sink on a double diffusive convective stagnation point flow in a slender stretching sheet is studied. The suitable similarity transformations are utilized for the conversion of nonlinear differential equations. These converted equations are solved by means of Differential Transformation method (DTM) with the support of symbolic software Mathematica. Further, the effects of appropriate parameter on velocity profile, solute, nanoparticle concentration and temperature profiles are shown graphically with some suitable discussion. It is found that velocity decreases with a rise of magnetic parameter and also non-uniform heat source sink enhances the thermal profile of the system. But, opposite behaviour can be seen in solute concentration and nanoparticle concentration profiles.Such results can be useful in design and structure of materials,where implementation of variable thickness decreases the weight of stretched element and boosts the usage of materials.
Increased aerosol scattering drives recent monsoon rainfall decrease over northern India
Authors: Ying Tong , Li Jing , Jiang Zhongjing , Liu Guanyu , Zhang Zhenyu , Zhang Lu , Dong Yueming
Published: September 2022

The climate effects of atmospheric aerosols remain uncertain. Part of the uncertainty arises from the fact that scattering and absorbing aerosols have distinct or even opposite effects, and thus their relative fraction is critical in determining the overall aerosol climate effect. Here, combining observations and global model simulations, we demonstrate that changes in the fraction of scattering and absorbing aerosols play the major role in driving the monsoon precipitation decrease over northern India, especially the Gangetic Basin, since the 1980s. Increased aerosol scattering, or decreased aerosol absorption, manifested as a significant increase of aerosol single scattering albedo (SSA), causes strong cooling in the lower atmosphere, suppressing vertical convection and thus reducing precipitation. Further analysis of the Couple Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 multi-model-mean historical simulation shows that failing to capture the SSA increase over northern India is likely an important source of the simulated precipitation trend bias in this area.
Frailty Index and its association with the onset of postoperative delirium in older adults undergoing elective surgery
Authors: Steenblock Janina , Braisch Ulrike , Brefka Simone , Thomas Christine , Eschweiler Gerhard W. , Rapp Michael , Metz Brigitte , Maurer Christoph , Arnim Christine A. F. , Herrmann Matthias. L. , Wagner Sören , Denkinger Michael , Dallmeier Dhayana
Published: September 2022

Background
The association of frailty with postoperative delilrium (POD) is not well known. We therefore analysed this association in older patients undergoing elective surgery.
Methods
Preoperative data was used to build a 30-item frailty index (FI) for participants of the PAWEL-study. Delirium was defined by a combination of I-CAM and chart review. Using logistic regressions models we analysed the association between frailty and POD adjusting for age, sex, smoking, alcohol consumption, education and type of surgery.
Results
Among 701 participants (mean age 77.1, 52.4% male) median FI was 0.27 (Q1 0.20| Q3 0.34), with 528 (75.3%) frail participants (FI ≥ 0.2). Higher median FI were seen in orthopedic than cardiac surgery patients (0.28 versus 0.23), and in women (0.28 versus 0.25 in men). Frail participants showed a higher POD incidence proportion (25.4% versus 17.9% in non-frail). An increased odds for POD was observed in frail versus non-frail participants (OR 2.14 [95% CI 1.33, 3.44], c-statistic 0.71). A 0.1 increment of FI was associated with OR 1.57 [95% CI 1.30, 1.90] (c-statistic 0.72) for POD. No interaction with sex or type of surgery was detected. Adding timed-up-and-go-test and handgrip strength to the FI did not improve discrimination.
Conclusion
Our data showed a significant association between frailty defined through a 30-item FI and POD among older adults undergoing elective surgery. Adding functional measures to the FI did not improve discrimination. Hence, our preoperative 30-item FI can help to identify patients with increased odds for POD.
Trial registration:
PAWEL and PAWEL-R (sub-) study were registered on the German Clinical Trials Register (number DRKS00013311 and DRKS00012797).
A proposed grading scheme for predicting recurrence in medullary thyroid cancer based on the Ki67 index and metastatic lymph node ratio
Authors: Xu Pengfei , Wu Di , Liu Xuekui
Published: September 2022

Purpose: The Ki67 index and lymph node ratio (LNR) have been proposed as components of alternative pathological classification schemes, but the most appropriate classification for patients with medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) remains unknown. The aim of the present study was to examine the usefulness of a new grading system combining the Ki67 index and LNR as a predictor of prognostic and disease-free survival (DFS) in MTC.
Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of patients with MTC who were registered at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, P. R. China from June 2003 to December 2021. The DFS rates were assessed using risk-adjusted Cox proportional hazard regression modeling to explore the relationship among pathological features, nutritional status and DFS. The Ki67 index (cutoff value: 5% and 10%) and LNR (cutoff value: 0.2 and 0.3) were combined to create a new grading system. The relationships between the grading system and clinical features of MTC were analyzed by chi-square test.
Results: In total, 107 matched patients were assessed. The integrated grading system showed better separation of Kaplan Meier (KM) curves for DFS. As the grading stage progressed, there was a significant stepwise decrease in DFS, which was better than Ki67, LNR and N staging alone. According to the grading system, the high-risk group had a worse prognosis.
Conclusion: The proposed grading scheme demonstrated a better prognostic performance in MTC patients than the Ki67, LNR and N staging alone. However, larger scale studies are needed to further verify our findings.
Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Parents towards Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse in Khartoum Sudan 2021
Authors: Elsiddig Shiraz , Sabir Mustafa
Published: September 2022

Background: Numerous studies have shown that child sexual abuse is a severe issue all over the world. The issue is spreading and poses a risk of negative outcomes. Most parents are not aware of the growing severity and pervasiveness of child sexual abuse
Objectives:The objectives of this study was to assess Parents knowledge, attitudes and practices on child sexual abuse and its prevention in Khartoum Sudan in order to strengthen child protection.
Methodology:This community-based cross-sectional survey was carried out in 2021. Parents with kids were chosen at random to make up the study's population. To evaluate parents' knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding preventing child sexual abuse, a quantitative approach utilizing structured questions was used.
Results: Total of 137 parents were interviewed the majority of the parent’s respondents 126 (92%) had high knowledge on child sexual abuse, while 10 (7.3%) were ranked as having poor level of Knowledge. Majority 120 (87.6%) of the respondents had positive attitude towards child sexual abuse.
Conclusions and recommendations:In the research area, parents had a high level of knowledge and attitudes regarding preventing child sexual abuse. However, parents' approaches to preventing child sexual abuse were inadequate. Therefore, a public education campaign is required for parents, with the ultimate goal of preventing children in Khartoum, Sudan, from suffering the harm and anguish of sexual abuse.
It is recommended to emphasis on practices towards prevention of child sexual abuse more, more scientific research on the issue of sexual harassment, enforcement of the laws that protect children against sexual abuse
Epigenetic dysregulation of ASPP2 accelerates trophoblasts autophagy of placentas in preeclampsia through Beclin-1
Authors: Jiang Nan , Zhang Hui , Liu Qiujun , Ma Shengchao , Quan Shangkun , Wu Kai , Yang Anning , Jiao Yun , Xiong Jiantuan , Jiang Yideng , Zhang Huiping
Published: September 2022

Background: Preeclampsia is an idiopathic disease that occurs during pregnancy. Recent studies have considered abnormal autophagy as a new pathogenesis for this disorder, while little is known about its underlying molecular mechanisms. Apoptosis-stimulating protein of p53-2 (ASPP2) is one of the apoptosis-stimulating of p53 protein family members which can regulate cellular autophagy.
Results: In this study, we found ASPP2 expression was remarkably increased in trophoblasts of placentas from preeclamptic pregnancies and the hypoxia-induced trophoblast cell lines HTR8/SVneo and JEG-3 cells; and expression of ASSP2 in placentas was positively correlated with systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and BMI of pregnancies. Functionally, ASPP2 promotes preeclampsia through enhancement of trophoblast autophagy via accelerating release of Beclin-1 from Bcl-2-Beclin-1 complexes. More importantly, we found that decrease of DNMT1 and G9a cooperatively reduced DNA methylation and H3K9me2 at ASPP2 promoter, while increased binding of E2F1 at ASPP2 promoter, leading to transcription activation of ASPP2 in preeclamptic trophoblasts.
Conclusions: Our study suggests ASPP2 might be a novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for preeclampsia.
Lateral septum adenosine A2A receptors control stress-induced depressive-like behaviors via signaling to the hypothalamus and habenula
Authors: Wang Muran , Li Peijun , Silva Beatriz S. da , Li Zewen , Zheng Wu , Xiang Zhenghua , He Yan , Xu Tao , Cordeiro Cristina , Deng Lu , Dai Yuwei , Ye Mengqian , Zhou Jianhong , Ye Fenfen , Lin Zhiqing , Zhou Xuzhao , Cunha Rodrigo , Chen Jiang-Fan , Guo Wei
Published: September 2022

Depression is the single largest contributor to the burden of disease, yet the current antidepressant medications are limited by high non-responsiveness and significant side effects. The lateral septum (LS) is thought to control of depression, however, the cellular and circuit substrates are largely unknown. Here, we identified a subpopulation of LS GABAergic adenosine A2A receptors (A2AR)-positive neurons mediating depression via direct projects to the lateral habenula (LHb) and the hypothalamus. Activation of A2AR in the LS augmented the spiking frequency of A2AR-positive neurons leading to a decreased activation of surrounding neurons. Accordingly, modulation of LS-A2AR-positive neurons activity via optogenetic stimulation formatted depressive-like phenotype and the optogenetic activation of LS-A2AR-positive neurons projection terminals to the LHb or the hypothalamus, phenocopied depressive behaviors. Moreover, we shown a selective upregulation of A2AR in the LS in two mouse models of repeated stress-induced depression and in postmortem brains of suicide completers suffered from depression disorder, and the bi-directional manipulation of LS-A2AR activity demonstrated that LS-A2ARs are necessary and sufficient to trigger depressive phenotypes. This identification that aberrantly increased A2AR signaling in the LS is a critical upstream regulator of repeated stress-induced depressive-like behaviors provides a neurophysiological and circuit-based justification of the antidepressant potential of A2AR antagonists, prompting their clinical translation.
Enhanced hydrolysis of aluminium nitride from secondary aluminum dross through combination of wet-stirred milling and alkaline leaching
Authors: GUO Qiang , Li Huilin , Fu Mingbo , Li Yongli , Tian Dengchao , Zhang Ling
Published: September 2022

Deep hydrolysis for removing hazardous aluminium nitride (AlN) from secondary aluminum dross (SAD) remains a challenge nowadays. Enhanced hydrolysis of AlN from SAD through a combination of wet-stirred milling and alkaline leaching is investigated in the present study, which has not been reported before. SAD is activated during wet-stirred milling just with water by reducing the grain size and increasing the active surface area. Leaching with NaOH dissolves the hydrolysis products (AlOOH, Al(OH)3) to expose reactive sites of unhydrolyzed AlN, contributing to the enhanced hydrolysis process. Results indicate that by utilizing optimized conditions (10 min wet milling, 5 wt.% NaOH solution, L/S ratio of 2, 75 ℃ temperature, and 120 min duration), 98.3% of AlN is removed from SAD. The kinetic analysis indicates that the hydrolysis process is controlled by both diffusion and chemical reactions, with the activation energy calculated to be 31.0 kJ/mol. After undergoing this enhanced hydrolysis process, the residue, which consisted primarily of Al2O3 and Al(OH)3,can be recycled as Al concentrate. The technology has been already applied in a pilot plant and achieved a favorable effect in practical applications.
Statement of Novelty
Efficient hydrolysis for removing hazardous aluminium nitride (AlN) from secondary aluminum dross (SAD) remains a challenge nowadays. An enhanced hydrolysis process for removing AlN from SAD has been developed and reported in this study. The results demonstrate that the progress is highly efficient and can be performed using a combination of wet-stirred milling and alkaline leaching. This solution has not been reported before, and relevant patent authorization has been obtained by our research group.
The technology has been already applied in a pilot plant that processes 20000 tons of SAD per year, achieving a favorable effect in practical applications, facilitating the disposal of waste and the protection of environment.
Insilico Validation of Selected Natural Products as Multi-regulator of EZH2-PPAR Therapeutic Targets; A Hallmark for Prospective Restoration of Pancreatic Insulin Production and Cancer dysregulation
Authors: Olowosoke Christopher Busayo , Gbemisola Otitoola Shobi , Alaba Adebola Abosede , Adepoju Oluwadamilola Hope , Okorie Benson , Odjegba Peace Ifeoma , Ogunsanmi Ayomide Oluwaseyi , Oke Grace Ayomide , Akinlolu Oluwatoyin , Olubena Tomiwa Lois , Bello Ridwan Opeyemi , Adegboyega Benjamin Babatunde
Published: September 2022

The prevalence of cancer and diabetes has been a major global threat that has led to the continuous investigation of numerous biomarker that can serve in novel therapeutic targets for their treatment. Recently, epigenetic regulatory function of EZH2-PPAR was discovered to influence the metabolic and signaling pathway causing this disease. Hence, the synergistic combination of inhibitors like GSK126 and Bezafibrate was reported have promising outcome for these disease treatment, but without clear understanding of other biomarker association and side effect detriment. The disease association and protein interaction networks between EZH2-PPARs and other biomarkers regulating pancreatic cancer and diabetes pathology were identified, with obesity, and hypertensive disease being the closest vast connection. Natural compounds employed in the molecular docking, adme/toxicity and reactivity screening for candidate inhibitor of versatile capacity against the target identify nine compounds as lead hits. Overall, Phytocassane A exhibit the most recognizable insilico validation for drug likeness profiles better than the standards, and all nine compounds were conclusively proposed for further experimental screening to compliment this finding on their benefit in drug development for diabetes and cancer therapy.
Chlorophyllin attenuates the effects of benzo[a]pyrene in human hepatoma HepG2/C3A cells
Authors: D'Epiro Gláucia Fernanda Rocha , Semprebon Simone Cristine , Niwa Andressa Megumi , Marques Lilian Areal , Biazi Bruna Isabela , Zanetti Thalita Alves , Felicidade Ingrid , Baranoski Adrivanio , Mantovani Mário Sérgio
Published: September 2022

Chlorophyllin (Chl), a semisynthetic compound derived from chlorophyll, has been a focus in cancer prevention because it exerts important biological activities, such as antigenotoxic, antioxidative and anticarcinogenic activities. Given that most sporadic cancers are related to environmental chemicals exposure and based on evidence that Chl has the ability to protect cells against carcinogenic effects of these compounds, the aim of this study was to evaluate the protective effect of Chl against benzo[a]pyrene toxicity in HepG2/C3A cells. To investigate the ability of Chl to mitigate the cytotoxic effects of B[a]P, the cells were co-treated and the cell viability, cell growth kinetics, cell cycle, and apoptosis induction were evaluated. Besides, the mRNA levels of cell cycle components (cyclins and cyclin-dependent kinases - CDKs) and apoptotic genes were analyzed. Our results showed that Chl was able to reduce the cytotoxic and antiproliferative effects of B[a]P in a multi-specific manner, restoring the normal distribution of the cell cycle and inhibiting the cell death induced by the xenobiotic. The RT-qPCR analysis showed that Chl caused a downregulation in cyclin CCNA2 and cyclin-dependent kinases CDK1 and CDK2 mRNA level. B[a]P decreased the mRNA levels of genes involved in cell cycle control (CCNA2, CCNB1, CCND1 and CCNE1 cyclins; and CDK1 and CDK2 cyclin-dependent kinases) and apoptosis (BAX, CASP7, and TP53). Cells co-treated with 200 µM Chl and B[a]P also showed a downregulation of mRNA levels of the genes. Chl maintained the TP53 gene expression in B[a]P-treated cells near control levels. Thus, Chl is a good candidate as a chemoprotective agent that mitigates the cytotoxic effects B[a]P and, thus, might be a promising tool to prevent liver cancer.
Pulcherrimin: a bacterial swiss army knife in the iron war
Authors: Charron-Lamoureux Vincent , Haroune Lounès , Pomerleau Maude , Hall Léo , Orban Frédéric , Leroux Julie , Rizzi Adrien , Bourassa Jean-Sébastien , Fontaine Nicolas , d'Astous Élodie V. , Dauphin-Ducharme Philippe , Legault Claude Y. , Bellenger Jean-Philippe , Beauregard Pascale
Published: September 2022

Siderophores are soluble or membrane-embedded molecules that play a major role in Fe acquisition by microorganisms. Pulcherriminic acid (PA) is a compound produced by different microbes that sequesters Fe in the precipitated pulcherrimin, but which role in Fe homeostasis remains elusive. Using Bacillus subtilis (PA producer) and Pseudomonas protegens as a competition model, we demonstrated that PA is involved in a yet undescribed Fe-managing system. When challenged by a competitor, PA production creates a local Fe(III) source, which can be retrieved via the bacillibactin siderophore produced by B. subtilis. Furthermore, precipitation of Fe(III) as pulcherrimin prevents oxidative stress in bacterial competition by restricting the Fenton reaction and deleterious ROS formation. Together, our findings uncover that PA is at the core of a counterintuitive Fe management strategy that capitalizes on controlled Fe precipitation when challenged by a competitor. This makes PA a unique and multifunction tool in the iron war.
A Comparison of Python Based Copula Parameters Estimation for Archimedean-based Asymmetric Copulas
Authors: Pranowo Waskito , R. Adhitya Ryan
Published: September 2022

Estimating copula parameters remains a challenge when dealing with multiple correlated variables. Focused studies on the application of uncommon copula functions are also still scarce. Asymmetric dependence is necessary to be taken into account as symmetric dependence may not always be sufficient to model real data dependence. Asymmetric copulas were constructed using the Archimedean family as the basis copula. Linear inversion, random search, and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) were used to compare the estimations of copula parameters. Python was used as the main programming software to apply the proposed methods in this paper. From the comparison, linear inversion resulted in 1% of average absolute relative error while PSO and random search resulted in 4% and 19%, respectively. A different result was shown using a real data set. Real data often deal with local extreme values while performing the simulation. PSO was more stable than others when real data were used. It was concluded that PSO is the wisest method for real data cases and asymmetric copula parameter estimation.
Evaluation and assessment of nutritional composition for quality profiling of Phoenix dactylifera cultivars using multivariate analytical tools
Authors: Rani Vasthi Gnana , Thangamathi Perumal , Harihar Balasubramanian , Ananth Sivapunniyam , Suvaithenamudhan Suvaiyarasan
Published: September 2022

Eleven date palm fruits (DPF) of commercial importance were purchased from the local market and evaluated for their proximate and mineral composition and assessed by using multivariate analysis techniques. Carbohydrates are a major source of nutrients. Calcium, magnesium, potassium, and phosphorus are the major elements present. Principal component analysis (PCA) and analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to identify the relationship between different cultivars of DPF. PCA and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) revealed a consistent grouping of date palm cultivars with similar characteristics. Dissimilarity levels ranged from 0.90 to 43.5. The similarity between PCA and HCA analysis was evident in the study. Clusters obtained from the factor scores showed two main clusters. Though Shebeby and Lulu cultivars differ from each other, they were placed in the second main cluster due to their high dissimilarity from other cultivars. The results of the present investigation would help in grading the date palm cultivars based on nutritional composition.
Selected hallmarks of hallux valgus in older women with symptomatic hallux valgus compared to middle-aged women with and without deformation of the forefoot
Authors: Jankowicz-Szymańska Agnieszka , Wódka Katarzyna , Bibro Marta A. , Smoła Eliza , Bac Aneta
Published: September 2022

The aim of the study was to compare the shape of the feet, the mobility of the metatarsophalangeal and interphalangeal joints and the flexibility of the calf muscles in older women with hallux valgus versus middle-aged women with and without this deformation to identify the presence of features which correlate particularly strongly with hallux valgus, and on which prophylaxis and conservative treatment should focus. The study involved 201 women: 92 aged 60–84 years with hallux valgus of both toes, 78 aged 38–59 with hallux valgus of both toes, and 31 aged 38–57 years with correctly shaped feet. The intensity of pain in the foot, the valgus angle of the big toe and fifth toe, the longitudinal and transverse arches of the foot, the symmetry of foot load with body weight, toe joint mobility and muscle flexibility were analysed. Both groups of women with hallux valgus differed from women with normal feet in the height of the transverse arch, the extent of dorsal extension in the first metatarsophalangeal joint and plantar flexion in the first interphalangeal joint. Older women were additionally characterised by reduced plantar flexion in the metatarsophalangeal joint of the big toe, limited flexibility of the soleus and gastrocnemius muscles as well as less pain in the toe area than in the foot itself. The most characteristic changes which were observed in older women with hallux valgus are a limited range of motion in the MTP and IP joints of the big toe, a reduced transverse arch and increased restriction of calf muscle flexibility.
Prediction of Plant Ubiquitylation Proteins and Sites by Fusing Multiple Features
Authors: Guan Meng-Yue , Wang Qian-Kun , Wu Peng , Qiu Wang-Ren , Yu Wang-Ke , Xiao Xuan
Published: September 2022

Protein ubiquitylation is an important post-translational modification (PTM), which is considered to be one of the most important processes regulating cell function and various diseases. Therefore, accurate prediction of ubiquitylation proteins and their PTM sites is of great significance for the study of basic biological processes and the development of related drugs. Researchers have developed some large-scale computational methods to predict ubiquitylation sites, but there is still much room for improvement. Much of the research related to ubiquitylation is cross-species while the life pattern is diversified, and the prediction method always shows its specificity in practical application. This study just aims to the issue of plants, and has constructed computational methods for identifying ubiquitylation protein and ubiquitylation sites. To better reflect the protein sequence information and obtain better prediction, the KNN scoring matrix model based on functional domain GO annotation and word embedding model (CBOW and Skip-Gram) are used to extract the features, and the light gradient boosting machine (LGBM) is selected as the ubiquitylation proteins prediction engine. As results, accuracy (ACC), precision (precision), recall (recall), F1_score and AUC are respectively 85.12%, 80.96%, 72.80%, 0.7637 and 0.9193 in the 10-fold cross-validations on independent data set. In the ubiquitylation sites prediction model, Skip-Gram, CBOW and EAAC feature extraction codes were used to extract protein sequence fragment features, and the predicted results on training and independent test data have also achieved good performance. In a word, the comparison results demonstrate that our models have a decided advantage in predicting ubiquitylation proteins and sites, and it may provide useful insights for studying the mechanisms and modulation of ubiquitination pathways. The datasets and source codes used in this study are available at: https://github.com/gmywqk/Ub-PS-Fuse.
Bones of contention: a double blind study of experts’ ability to classify sheep and goat astragali from images
Authors: Sipilä Ilkka M. V. , Steele James , Dickens Luke , Martin Louise
Published: September 2022

In zooarchaeology, animal bones are normally identified using comparative macro-morphological methods, which involve visual comparison of the bone with reference materials. However, recent work has oppugned the reliability of these methods. Although previous studies applying macro-morphological methods to identify sheep and goat bones have found low error rates, these results are based on small numbers of analysts, large numbers of different bone types and do not properly account for ambiguous "sheep/goat" classifications.
We present an extensive blind study of performance and reliability for binary macro-morphological species identification using just the astragalus. Each participant made independent comparative identifications on a random subset, including repeat presentations for consistency analysis. No sheep/goat category was offered. Instead, participants reported confidence scores on each sample. The participants also reported the reference materials used and indicated their regions of attention in each image.
Findings indicate that neither the use of reference materials nor experience are good predictors of accuracy, although more experienced analysts are found to be more consistent. Forcing binary classifications leads to a more transparent analysis but indicates lower performance scores than reported elsewhere, while corresponding confidence scores positively correlate with accuracy. Qualitative analysis of reported attention regions indicate that mistakes can occur when there is an overlap in the morphologies of the two species. We conclude that overreliance on reference materials impacts performance when the morphology of reference materials is not representative of the population variance, which is especially evident when the wider bone morphology is not adequately integrated into the classification decision.
Virtual Machine Instance’s Price Prediction using Machinelearning Techniques at the Cloud Data Center
Authors: Sharma Neeraj , Koduru Tejodbhav , Kandimalla Sai Yasheswini , Bojjagani Sriramulu
Published: September 2022

Virtual Machine (VM) instance price prediction in cloud computing is an emerging and important research area. VM instance’s price prediction is used for different purposes such as reducing energy consumption, maintaining Service Level Agreement (SLA), and balancing workload at cloud data centers. In this paper, we propose a Seasonal Auto-Regressive Moving Average (SARIMA) based VM instance price prediction. We also investigate two VM instance price prediction models known as Auto Regressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA), and Long ShortTerm Memory (LSTM). The experimental results show that the proposed SARIMA (0,1,0) (1,1,0) instance’s price prediction model outperforms the ARIMA and LSTM models with a MAPE percentage of 1.147.
Research on the Model of UBI Freight Vehicle Car Insurance Rate Level Judgment Based on MSNSSA Algorithm Optimized FCM Clustering Algorithm
Authors: Wang Xindong , Yan Chun , Liu Wei , Liu Xinhong
Published: September 2022

With the support of the Internet of Vehicles technology, UBI car insurance premium rate determination has certain guiding significance for realizing accurate pricing of freight vehicle car insurance rates and meeting the individual needs of users. The SSA algorithm is optimized, and the MSNSSA algorithm is proposed, which is used to build a model for determining the UBI rate of freight vehicles. The model first divides the original population into three sub-groups of leader, followers and salp chain evenly according to the fitness value from small to large, and perform different search tasks respectively. By adding a symbiosis strategy to the follower location update process, the development capability of the SSA algorithm can be effectively enhanced. It is proposed to add a non-uniform Gaussian mutation strategy to the chain with poor fitness value to enhance the diversity of the population. By establishing the MSNSSA-FCM algorithm, using the global optimization advantage of the MANSSA algorithm, the clustering center of the FCM algorithm is optimized, and then the sample weight and attribute weight are introduced to design the objective function of the FCM clustering algorithm to improve the clustering of the FCM algorithm performance. The empirical evidence shows that the UBI Freight Vehicle Car insurance rate rating model established based on the MSNSSA-FCM algorithm has reduced visual noise and reduced intra-cluster error variance. In the process of processing UBI Freight Vehicle Car insurance data, compared with FCM algorithm and SSA-FCM algorithm and SAGA-FCM algorithm have higher clustering accuracy, and provide decision-making basis for insurance companies to mine more accurate customer classification information, customer driving risk assessment and customer car insurance rate rating.