bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The meaning of life and its relationship to existential anxiety among middle school teachers
Authors: Aziz Muhammad Majeed
Published: November 2024

The current research aims to identify the meaning of life and its relationship to existential anxiety among middle school teachers. To achieve the research objectives, the researcher adopted the Wong scale to measure the meaning of life, and to build the existential anxiety scale. The researcher applied the two scales to a sample of 308 male and female teachers. The data were then analyzed using the computer program for the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The results were: high level of meaning of life among the research sample, moderate level of existential anxiety among the research sample, no statistically significant differences according to the gender variable (males, females) in each of: meaning of life, existential anxiety, no statistically significant differences according to the variable of academic specialization (scientific specializations and humanities specializations) in each of: meaning of life, existential anxiety, there is a statistically significant inverse relationship between the meaning of life and existential anxiety among middle school teachers. The research concluded by discussing the results and presenting some recommendations and suggestions.
Motor balance and its relationship to the performance of the round kick skill (Hajo-Jki) among junior Taekwondo players
Authors: Kazem Watheq Ayed
Published: November 2024

The element of balance is a very important element in the work of a Taekwondo player, as he must maintain his balance to a great extent in performance because any imbalance results in the player falling and losing attack points. In particular, motor balance, in addition to its close connection to the motor performance of the Taekwondo player, Research problem: The researcher wanted to explain the relationship between the performance of the round kick (hajo-jiki) and motor balance because this skill requires great motor balance, and for this reason he chose this kick, to gain points and thus end the competition in his favor. The study aimed to identify the relationship between the performance of the round kick skill (Hajo-Jki) among junior Taekwondo players. The researcher used the descriptive method using the survey method, and determined the research sample using the intentional method, which included Baghdad clubs, as their number reached (50(Players support tools, devices, when testing the content, preparing the results, when testing or processing the results. The researcher concluded that the results of the research demonstrated the existence of a correlation and direct relationship between motor balance and the performance of the round kick (Hago-Jki) among members of the research sample. The researcher recommended that it is necessary to conduct a survey of all the unresearched skills and apply them to other motor abilities.
The impact of utilizing the flipped classroom technique to teach students football skills including stopping and rolling the ball
Authors: Ibrahim Taher Yahya
Published: November 2024

The best types of learning are those that generate interaction in the educational environment and stimulate interest in knowledge. This makes the educational process more enjoyable and dynamic, filled with projects and readings in a learner-centred approach rather than a teacher-centred one. One of the most prominent indicators of this in educational systems is the emergence of the term e-learning, which relies on providing educational materials to students via mobile phones, computers, or social media. There are many e-learning methods that depend on the use of modern technologies, such as the flipped classroom approach. This approach aims to use e-learning effectively in learning, applying it with a new vision at home and in school lessons. Particularly when it is well designed by engaging the learner in the learning process and involving them in a positive, productive manner, encouraging them to understand the content and providing them with practical experience in self-learning outside the lesson's scope. From this, the researcher observed a lack of utilisation of educational curricula among students, in addition to the need to introduce curricula and strategies to achieve better results. He must see the researcher go through this experience by introducing the inverted class strategy in learning the extinguishing and rolling skills of football on a sample of students (the first stage) at the Faculty of Physical Education at the University of Babylon and using the process of the trial with the unintentional and the experimental with the two tribal and post.
The Effect of TGT (Teams Games Tournament) Learning Model on Statistics Material of Grade VII on Mathematical Problem Solving Ability
Authors: Viska Nur Indah Lestari  , Rayinda Aseti Prafianti  , Elly Anjarsari
Published: November 2024

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of the TGT (Teams Games Tournament) learning model on statistics material for class VII junior high school on mathematical problem solving abilities. This research was a quantitative research using Quasi Experimental Design. The sampling technique in this study used purposive sampling. Class VII D, consisted of 24 students as the experimental class and class VII C consisted 24 students as the control class. The instruments used in this research were Pretest-Posttest with 3 questions. The data analysis techniques used in processing the data were analysis prerequisite tests (normality test and homogeneity test), hypothesis testing, and the N-Gain test. Based on the results of calculations that have been carried out, the posttest average value for the experimental class was 92, while the posttest average value for the control class was 85. In addition, based on the data obtained from the results of the hypothesis testing, it results that the  value is 0.000 then Ho  is rejected and Ha is accepted. This is in line with the average N-Gain value in the experimental class resulting in 0.82 high criteria, while the average N-Gain value in the control class produces 0.66 medium criteria. So it can be concluded that there is an influence of the TGT (Teams Games Tournament) learning model on students' mathematical problem solving abilities.
A Solution to the Seat-Product Problem
Authors: Bailey Jack
Published: November 2024

Seat-product models of the effective number of parties offer our best explanation for why party-systems fragment. Yet they rely on a simplification. Rather than model the effective number of parties writ large, they models this index using the largest party alone. This induces a positive bias, since small parties have a suppressive effect. I show that we can derive new seat-product models without need for this simplification. The key is to recognise that the effective number of parties is information theoretic in nature. This lets us use well-known information theoretic identities to avoid party shares altogether. Further, this process produces an interesting by-product: a new “root law” of elections. Just like the cube root of a nation’s population approximates the number of seats in its assembly, I show that the square root of the actual number of parties approximates the effective number of parties as well.
Assessment of wetland loss through industrialization and community expansion: a case study of the greater amanzule wetland in the Ellembelle district of Ghana
Authors: Dawuda Usman Kaku , Yonghong Cao , Al-Masnay Yousef Ahmed , Al-Aizari Ali Rajeh , Alzahrani Hassan , Nizeyimana Jean Claude , Zhang Yue , Tong Haoyu
Published: November 2024

Wetland ecosystems provide numerous services to humanity and the biosphere at large. However, these services are constantly dwindling due to the massive wetland loss caused by urbanization. Urbanization-induced wetland loss is a global problem, with most developing countries experiencing it currently. Several studies on wetland loss have been conducted. However, there is a dearth of studies integrating GIS and other ecological models to estimate the periodic deterioration of wetlands in rural settings in underdeveloped nations. As a result, this study aims to determine wetland loss in a developing country’s countryside, using the Greater Amanzule Wetland in the Ellembelle District of Ghana as a case study. The study used the GIS and Remote Sensing dataset, the Normalization Difference Vegetation Index, and the InVEST-Habitat Quality model to analyze the spatial pattern of wetland loss and habitat quality variations caused by industrialization and community expansions between 2000 and 2020. Our results indicate that, from 2000 to 2015, community built-up and industrial land areas grew from 25.19 ha to 84.21 ha and 0–4.71 ha respectively, causing a wetland loss of −39.64 ha (−31.10%). Between 2015 and 2020, community built-up land grew to 78.65 ha while industrial land slightly reduced to 2.54 ha, leading to the wetland degradation of approximately −69.06 ha (−42.53%). Wetland habitat quality steadily declined, from 0.97 in 2000 to 0.93 in 2015 and 0.93 in 2020. The study findings led to policy recommendations to reduce wetland encroachment and enhance sustainability. These recommendations included conducting effective land-use plan inspections before issuing permits, coordinating effective management, and promoting the recovery of natural and artificial vegetation to sustain the wetland.
Genome-wide comparative analysis of photosynthetic enzymatic genes provides novel insights into foxtail millet and other cereals
Authors: Raturi Arpit , Shekhar Shivam , Jha Ratnesh Kumar , Chauhan Divya , Pandey Saurabh , Kumari Sarita , Singh Ashutosh
Published: November 2024

C4 crops have more efficient photosynthetic pathways that enable their higher photosynthetic capacities as well as nitrogen and water use efficiencies than C3 crops. Previous research has demonstrated that the genomes of C3 species include and express every gene needed for the C4 photosynthesis pathway. However, very little is known about the dynamics and evolutionary history of such genetic evolution in C4 plants. In this study, the genes encoding five key photosynthetic pathway enzymes in the genomes of C3 (rice), C4 (maize, sorghum, and foxtail millet), and CAM (pineapple) crops were identified and compared systematically. The numbers of genes in these photosynthetic enzymes were highest in the C4 crops like sorghum and foxtail millet, while only eight genes were identified in the CAM plant. However, 16 genes were identified in the C3 crop rice. Furthermore, we performed physical, chemical, gene structure and, cis-element analyses to obtain complete insights into these key genes. Tissue-specific expressions showed that most of the photosynthetic genes are expressed in the leaf tissues. Comparisons of the expression characteristics confirmed that the expression patterns of non-photosynthetic gene copies were relatively conserved among the species, while the C4 gene copies in the C4 species acquired new tissue expression patterns during evolution. Additionally, multiple sequence features that could affect C4 gene expressions and subcellular localization were found in the coding and promoter regions. Our research also highlights the variations in how different genes have evolved within the C4 photosynthetic pathway, and we confirmed that specific high expressions in the leaves and right distribution within the cells were crucial for the development of the C4 photosynthetic abilities. The findings of this study are expected to aid in understanding the evolutionary process of the C4 photosynthetic pathway in grasses as well as offer insights for modifying the C4 photosynthetic pathways in wheat, rice, and other significant C3 cereal crops.
Diversity of biological activities of crude venom extracted from five species of South China Sea anemones
Authors: He Panmin , Li Ming , Fu Jinxing , Liao Yanling , Yi Bo , Gao Bingmiao
Published: November 2024

Developing novel, efficient, and safe peptide drugs from sea anemones has aroused great interest in countries around the world today. Sea anemones contain complex protein and peptide toxins, which determine the diversity of their biological activities. In this study, a variety of activities were assessed for crude venom extracted from five species of South China Sea anemones, including hemolytic, enzyme inhibition, anticancer, insecticidal, analgesic and lethal activities. The most toxic sea anemone was found to beHeteractis magnifica, which has high lethal activity in mice with an LD50of 11.0 mg/kg. The crude venom ofH. magnificaalso exhibited a range of the most potent activities, including hemolytic, trypsin inhibitory, cytotoxic activity against U251 and A549 cells, insecticidal and analgesic activities. In addition, the crude venom ofStichodactyla haddoniwas the most effective inhibitor of pepsin, and the crude venom ofHeteractis crispawas extremely strong toxicity to HepG2 cells. These findings are of great significance for exploring the potential and application of South China Sea anemone resources, and are expected to provide new directions and possibilities for the development of novel anticancer drugs, analgesics and biopesticides.
Registration and characteristics of clinical trials on traditional Chinese medicine and natural medicines for endometriosis: a comprehensive analysis
Authors: Zhao Yi , Wang Yike , Xue Zhu , Weng Yuanyuan , Xia Cencan , Lou Jingyang , Jiang Minmin
Published: November 2024

Objective

To investigate the characteristics of clinical trials on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) or natural medicines for treating endometriosis, aiming to inform future clinical practice and the development of new effective drugs.

Method

The global clinical trial registration platform was searched to identify clinical trials investigating the efficacy of TCM/natural medicine in treating endometriosis. Relevant trials were selected based on stringent inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data entry was performed using Microsoft Excel, while data analysis was conducted using SPSS version 23.

Results

The study encompassed 57 trials, of which ClinicalTrials.gov accounted for 18, ChiCTR for 3, ICRP for 15, and ChiDTR for 21 trials. The number of registrations showed a significant positive correlation with the years. Of the 57 clinical trials, 87.7% were randomized, 63.2% were blinded, 78.9% followed a parallel intervention model, and 56.1% had a sample size below 100. Regarding trial phases, 45.6% of clinical trials did not specify a phase, while Phase 3 and Phase 4 clinical trials accounted for 17.5%. Nine clinical trials involved drugs that are already on the market, including six Chinese patent medicines: Sanjie Zhentong Capsules, Honghua Ruyi Pills, Huayu Sanjie Enema Liquid, Kuntai Capsules, Wenjing Tang, and Xuefu Zhuyu Capsules. Outside China, Iran has the highest number of registrations for natural medicine treatments for endometriosis, with curcumin being the most registered natural medicine.

Conclusion

The analysis reveals that clinical trials on TCM and natural remedies for endometriosis often utilize randomization; however, substantial deficiencies remain in blinding and sample size adequacy. These findings suggest that, despite growing interest in TCM and natural remedies, further methodological improvements are necessary to enhance the credibility of future studies. This research highlights the importance of rigorously designed clinical trials in verifying the safety and efficacy of these alternative therapies, which may influence future therapeutic approaches for managing endometriosis.
The functions and factors governing fungal communities and diversity in agricultural waters: insights into the ecosystem services aquatic mycobiota provide
Authors: Pham Phillip , Shi Yichao , Khan Izhar , Sumarah Mark , Renaud Justin , Sunohara Mark , Craiovan Emilia , Lapen David , Aris-Brosou Stéphane , Chen Wen
Published: November 2024

Introduction

Fungi are essential to the aquatic food web, nutrient cycling, energy flow, and ecosystem regulation. Fungal community structures in water can be influenced by adjacent terrestrial environments, which drive and control some ecosystem services they provide. However, the roles of freshwater fungal communities remain underexplored compared to bacterial communities in this context.

Methods

We assessed the impact of anthropological and environmental factors on freshwater mycobiota in an agriculturally dominated water basin in eastern Ontario, Canada. We undertook bi-weekly surface water sampling from 2016 to 2021 and conducted fungal internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) metabarcoding on the samples, complemented by ancillary data, including water physicochemical properties, upstream land use, hydrology, and weather conditions.

Results

Our study yielded 6,571 OTUs from 503 water samples, spanning 15 fungal phyla, dominated by Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, and Chytridiomycota. Agricultural land use was associated with decreased mycobiota alpha diversity and distinct fungal communities were observed at agricultural drainage ditch and mixed-land use sites compared to a forested site that had minimal anthropogenic activities in catchment. Notably, river discharge emerged as a predominant influencer of both community diversity and composition, likely amplified by precipitation-induced erosion and drainage from adjacent terrestrial environments.

Discussion

Water physicochemical properties, including stream fungicide levels, explained a small proportion of the variation in mycobiota communities, underscoring the significance of unmeasured factors, alongside stochastic community assembly processes. Nevertheless, stream mycobiota demonstrated functional resilience for critical ecological processes under different environmental conditions. Altogether, these results highlight the complex interplay of factors influencing the freshwater mycobiota, which is essential for elevated understanding of the ecosystem services these fungi provide.
Specialized Bacteroidetes dominate the Arctic Ocean during marine spring blooms
Authors: Redondo-Río Álvaro , Mundy Christopher J. , Tamames Javier , Pedrós-Alió Carlos
Published: November 2024

A metagenomic time series from Arctic seawater was obtained from Dease Strait, to analyse the changes in bacterioplankton caused by the summer phytoplankton bloom. Bacterial clades specialized in the metabolism of polysaccharides, such as Bacteroidetes, became dominant along the bloom. These specialized taxa quickly displaced the microbial clades that dominate nutrient-poor waters during early spring, such as Archaea, Alpha-and Gammaproteobacteria. At the functional level, phyla Bacteroidetes, Planctomycetes, and Verrucomicrobia showed higher contents of polysaccharide-degradation functions. The Bacteroidetes community shifted toward species with higher polysaccharide-degrading capabilities, targeting algal polysaccharides in summer. Regarding transporters, Bacteroidetes dominated SusC-TonB transporters and had an exclusive family of glycoside-binding proteins (SusD). These proteins were used to identify polysaccharide-utilization loci that clustered transporters and polysaccharide-active enzymes, showing a higher level of specialization toward polysaccharide use. Altogether, these genomic features point to the genetic adaptations that promote the dominance of Bacteroidetes during phytoplankton blooms.
The 100 most-cited articles in hypothermic brain protection journals: a bibliometric and visualized analysis
Authors: Hu Liren , Geli Sirui , Long Feiyu , Nie Liang , Wu Jiali , Zhou Jun , Wang Maohua , Chen Yingxu
Published: November 2024

Introduction

A bibliometric analysis is used to assess the impact of research in a particular field. However, a specialized bibliometric analysis focused on hypothermic brain protection has not yet been conducted. This study aimed to identify the 100 most-cited articles published in the field of hypothermic brain protection and analyze their bibliometric characteristics.

Methods

After screening articles from the Web of Science citation database, complete bibliographic records were imported into Python for data extraction. The following parameters were analyzed: title, author’s name and affiliation, country, publication year, publication date, first author, corresponding author, study design, language, number of citations, journal impact factors, keywords, Keywords Plus®, and research topic.

Results

The 100 articles were published between 1990 and 2016. The citation frequency for each publication ranged from 86 to 470. Among the 100 articles, 73 were original articles, 18 were review articles, 8 were clinical articles, and 1 was editorial material. These papers were published in 37 journals, with the Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism being the most prolific with 15 papers. Eighteen countries contributed to the 100 publications, 51 of which were from United States institutions. In addition, the keywords in the Sankey plot indicated that research in the field of hypothermic brain protection is growing deeper and overlapping with other disciplines.

Discussion

The results provide an overview of research on hypothermic brain protection, which may help researchers better understand classical research, historical developments, and new discoveries, as well as providing ideas for future research.
Perfluorohexyloctane ophthalmic solution for dry eye disease: pooled analysis of two phase 3 clinical trials
Authors: Fahmy Ahmad M. , Harthan Jennifer S. , Evans David G. , Greiner Jack V. , Tauber Joseph , Sheppard John D. , Krösser Sonja , Vittitow Jason L.
Published: November 2024

Background

Dry eye disease (DED) is commonly caused by excessive tear film evaporation due to Meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD). There is a need for DED treatment options that address tear evaporation and benefit patients across a broad range of demographic and disease characteristics. This study evaluated treatment effects of perfluorohexyloctane ophthalmic drop (formerly NOV03) in the pooled dataset from 2 pivotal clinical trials in patients with DED associated with MGD, both in the overall population and in patient subgroups based on sex, age, and baseline severity of eye dryness.

Methods

Pooled data from 2 similarly designed, phase 3, randomized controlled trials (GOBI, MOJAVE) were analyzed. Patients aged ≥18 years with DED administered perfluorohexyloctane (n=614) or hypotonic (0.6% solution) saline control (n=603) four times daily for 8 weeks. Primary endpoints were total corneal fluorescein staining (tCFS) score (National Eye Institute scale, 0-15) and eye dryness visual analog scale (VAS) score (0-100). Efficacy was evaluated using analysis of covariance among patient subgroups (male and female, older [≥65 years] and younger [18 to <65 years], tCFS score <7 and ≥7, VAS eye dryness score <70 and ≥70, MGD score <7 and ≥7, Schirmer I test <10 mm and ≥10 mm).

Results

Reductions in tCFS and VAS eye dryness scores were greater for perfluorohexyloctane versus control. In the overall patient population, least-squares mean treatment difference was −1.1 (95% CI: −1.41 to −0.79; p<0.0001) for tCFS and −9.0 (95% CI: −11.90 to −6.00; p<0.0001) for VAS eye dryness. Treatment favored perfluorohexyloctane over control in all patient subgroup analyses of tCFS and VAS eye dryness. Overall, the most common adverse event with perfluorohexyloctane was blurred vision (2.1% of patients), which was mild and transient.

Conclusions

Compared with a hypotonic saline control, perfluorohexyloctane improved both the signs and symptoms of DED, including in patients with greater self-reported severity of eye dryness.

Clinical trial registration

This study represents an integrated analysis of 2 previous clinical trials: GOBI (ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04139798) and MOJAVE (ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04567329).
The impact of diabetes mellitus on tendon pathology: a review
Authors: Xu Jian , Wang Jinbo , Ji Yuncong , Liu Yanlong , Jiang Jishi , Wang Yanbo , Cui Xilong , Wan Yunpeng , Guo Biao , Yu Haiyang
Published: November 2024

Diabetes is one of the most common metabolic diseases worldwide, leading to complications, mortality, and significant healthcare expenditures, which impose a substantial social and financial burden globally. A diabetic environment can induce metabolic changes, negatively affecting tendon homeostasis, leading to alterations in biomechanical properties and histopathology. Numerous studies have investigated the mechanisms through which diabetes exerts pathological effects on tendons, including increased free radical production, oxidative stress, inflammatory responses, deposition of advanced glycation end products (AGEs), and microvascular changes. These metabolic changes damages tendon structure, biomechanics, and tendon repair processes. The proliferation of tendon stem cells decreases, apoptosis increases, and abnormal differentiation, along with abnormal expression of myofibroblasts, ultimately lead to insufficient tendon repair, fibrosis, and remodeling. Although researches unveiling the effects of diabetes on tendinopathy, fibrosis or contracture, and tendon injury healing are growing, systematic understanding is still lacking. Therefore, this review summarizes the current research status and provides a comprehensive overview, offering theoretical guidance for future in-depth exploration of the impact of diabetes on tendons and the development of treatments for diabetes-related tendon diseases.
Barriers to accessing health care of older Chinese immigrants in Canada: a scoping review
Authors: Zhu Change , Song Baoxiang , Walsh Christine A. , Ekoh Prince Chiagozie , Qiao Xuebin , Xu Aijun
Published: November 2024

Background

This scoping review aims to examine the extant literature and summarize findings related to barriers to accessing health care faced by older Chinese immigrants in Canada.

Methods

We conducted a search of electronic databases for peer-reviewed articles using a comprehensive set of keywords without limiting the search to a specific time period. To be included in our review, articles had to meet the following criteria: (a) published in a peer-reviewed journal, (b) written in English, (c) provide a clear description of the methods used, and (d) respond to our research question, which focuses on identifying barriers to accessing healthcare for older Chinese immigrants living in Canada.

Results

Fifteen papers were selected based on the criteria, and five main barriers were identified, which are ranked in descending order according to the number of times they were mentioned: culture and health beliefs (N = 13), language and communication (N = 7), structural and circumstances (N = 2), health literacy and information (N = 2), and demographic, social, and economic factors (N = 2).

Conclusions

The issue of accessing healthcare for older Chinese immigrants in Canada is complex, as it involves multiple aspects that are relevant to both patients and healthcare providers. Our research findings suggest that the culturally and linguistically sensitive education programs, inter-sectoral coordination, and social support should be improved for older Chinese immigrants and those of other ethnic backgrounds.
Culturally responsive strategies and practical considerations for live tissue studies in Māori participant cohorts
Authors: Abolins-Thompson Helena , Henare Kimiora L. , Simonson Bridget , Chaffin Mark , Ellinor Patrick T. , Henry Claire , Haimona Mairarangi , Aitken Jake , Parai Taku , Elkington Bianca , Rongo Michael , Danielson Kirsty M. , Leask Megan P.
Published: November 2024

Introduction

Indigenous communities globally are inequitably affected by non-communicable diseases such as cancer and coronary artery disease. Increased focus on personalized medicine approaches for the treatment of these diseases offers opportunities to improve the health of Indigenous people. Conversely, poorly implemented approaches pose increased risk of further exacerbating current inequities in health outcomes for Indigenous peoples. The advancement of modern biology techniques, such as three-dimensional (3D) in vitro models and next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies, have enhanced our understanding of disease mechanisms and individualized treatment responses. However, current representation of Indigenous peoples in these datasets is lacking. It is crucial that there is appropriate and ethical representation of Indigenous peoples in generated datasets to ensure these technologies can be used to maximize the benefit of personalized medicine for Indigenous peoples.

Methods

This project discusses the use of 3D tumor organoids and single cell/nucleus RNA sequencing to study cancer treatment responses and explore immune cell roles in coronary artery disease. Using key pillars from currently available Indigenous bioethics frameworks, strategies were developed for the use of Māori participant samples for live tissue and sequencing studies. These were based on extensive collaborations with local Māori community, scientific leaders, clinical experts, and international collaborators from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Issues surrounding the use of live tissue, genomic data, sending samples overseas and Indigenous data sovereignty were discussed.

Results

This paper illustrates a real-world example of how collaboration with community and the incorporation of Indigenous worldviews can be applied to molecular biology studies in a practical and culturally responsive manner, ensuring fair and equitable representation of Indigenous peoples in modern scientific data.
Evolutionary robotics as a modelling tool in evolutionary biology
Authors: Winfield Alan F. T.
Published: November 2024

The use of evolutionary robotic systems to model aspects of evolutionary biology is well-established. Yet, few studies have asked the question, “What kind of model is an evolutionary robotic system?” This paper seeks to address that question in several ways. First, it is addressed by applying a structured model description developed for physical robot models of animal sensorimotor systems, then by outlining the strengths and limitations of evolutionary robotics for modelling evolutionary biology, and, finally, by considering the deepest questions in evolution and which of them might feasibly be modelled by evolutionary robotics. The paper concludes that although evolutionary robotics faces serious limitations in exploring deeper questions in evolutionary biology, its bottom-up approach to modelling populations of evolving phenotypes and their embodied interactions holds significant value for both testing and generating hypotheses.
Leveraging Mixture of Experts and Deep Learning-Based Data Rebalancing to Improve Credit Fraud Detection
Authors: Yang Zeyuan , Wang Yixuan , Shi Haokun , Qiu Qiang
Published: November 2024

Credit card fraud detection is a critical challenge in the financial sector due to the rapidly evolving tactics of fraudsters and the significant class imbalance betweenegitimate and fraudulent transactions. Traditional models, while effective to some extent, often suffer from high false positive rates and fail to generalize well to emerging fraud patterns. In this paper, we propose a novel approach that integrates a Mixture of Experts (MoE) model with a Deep Neural Network-based Synthetic Minority Over-sampling Technique (DNN-SMOTE) to enhance fraud detection performance. The MoE modeleverages multiple specialized expert networks, each trained to detect specific types of fraud, while the DNN-SMOTE generates high-quality synthetic samples to address the class imbalance. Our experimental results on a publicly available dataset demonstrate that the proposed method achieves a classification accuracy of 99.93%, a true positive rate of 84.69%, and a true negative rate of 99.95%. The Matthews Correlation Coefficient (MCC) of 0.7883 further highlights the model’s balanced performance in detecting fraudulent transactions. These results underscore the effectiveness of combining MoE with DNN-SMOTE, offering a robust solution for real-world credit card fraud detection scenarios.
Addressing Underscreening for Cervical Cancer among South Asian Women: Using Concept Mapping to Compare Service Provider and Service User Perspectives of Cervical Screening in Ontario, Canada
Authors: Devotta Kimberly A. , O’Campo Patricia , Bender Jacqueline L. , Lofters Aisha K.
Published: November 2024

Cervical cancer is largely preventable through screening and treatment of cervical lesions. In the province of Ontario, South Asian women have some of the lowest rates of screening. The roles of service providers—those in healthcare and community services—and their interactions with screen-eligible people can greatly impact the uptake of screening. In our study, we used concept mapping (CM) to engage over 70 South Asian service users (i.e., those eligible for cervical screening) and service providers to identify a range of ideas and experiences that impact uptake of cervical screening for South Asian women, which were then rated by 45 participants in terms of ‘importance’ and ‘ease to address’ to encourage participation in cervical screening. Overall, ideas related to knowledge and education were rated as most important and easiest to address by both groups. Some differences were seen with South Asian service users valuing the importance of addressing ‘cultural beliefs and influences specific to sexual health’ more than service providers, while service providers valued the importance of addressing ‘lack of comfort and supportive relationships’ more than South Asian service users. Future interventions should target the knowledge and education needs of service users and increase service providers’ awareness of cultural beliefs and influences specific to sexual health.
Real-World, Observational, Retrospective Study to Evaluate the Effectiveness and Safety of Treatment with Sorafenib in Patients with Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Authors: Csipak Angélica Richart , da Fonseca Leonardo G. , López Rossana Verónica Mendoza , Estevez-Diz Maria Del Pilar
Published: November 2024

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) accounts for approximately 90% of liver cancer cases. Sorafenib, the first drug to demonstrate survival benefits for advanced HCC, was validated through the SHARP randomized clinical trial (RCT). While RCTs are essential for assessing new therapies, real-world studies provide additional insights into their effectiveness in routine clinical practice. This study aimed to evaluate sorafenib’s real-world effectiveness by analyzing overall survival (OS) and the time to radiological and symptomatic progression. Methods: Data from 368 patients treated with sorafenib at a Brazilian Cancer Center between 2009 and 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. Results: The median OS was 9.6 months, and the time to radiological progression was 5.3 months, similar to the SHARP trial. However, the time to symptomatic progression was shorter (2.3 months) than the SHARP study (4.1 months). In terms of safety, 27.4% of patients presented clinically relevant toxicities, and 24.5% needed to discontinue treatment due to toxicity. Conclusions: Overall, sorafenib demonstrated effectiveness in the studied population, with OS and radiological progression times comparable to SHARP study results. The difference in symptomatic progression may be due to the study’s retrospective nature and limitations.
Anti-Cancer Drug-Induced Lyell’s Syndrome: A Series of Two Patients
Authors: Coussirou Julie , Ravoire Magali , Stancu Alma , Vazquez Léa
Published: November 2024

Lyell’s syndrome or Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (TEN) is a rare and life-threatening dermatological disease. Most commonly, this syndrome is drug-induced, and is a result of an immune-allergic reaction to medications. Anti-cancer drugs were not the most frequent groups of therapeutic agents related to Lyell’s syndrome, but the emergence of new therapeutic classes, particularly targeted therapy and immunotherapy, is changing current data. We present two cases of Lyell’s syndrome induced by anticancer drugs. (1) TEN in a man treated for metastatic urothelial carcinoma with Enfortumab Vedotin. (2) TEN in a man with metastatic melanoma treated with Nivolumab and Ipilimumab. Despite quick medical treatment and transfer to a severe burn unit, both patients died of TEN.
CURATE: Scaling-Up Differentially Private Causal Graph Discovery
Authors: Bhattacharjee Payel , Tandon Ravi
Published: November 2024

Causal graph discovery (CGD) is the process of estimating the underlying probabilistic graphical model that represents the joint distribution of features of a dataset. CGD algorithms are broadly classified into two categories: (i) constraint-based algorithms, where the outcome depends on conditional independence (CI) tests, and (ii) score-based algorithms, where the outcome depends on optimized score function. Because sensitive features of observational data are prone to privacy leakage, differential privacy (DP) has been adopted to ensure user privacy in CGD. Adding the same amount of noise in this sequential-type estimation process affects the predictive performance of algorithms. Initial CI tests in constraint-based algorithms and later iterations of the optimization process of score-based algorithms are crucial; thus, they need to be more accurate and less noisy. Based on this key observation, we present CURATE (CaUsal gRaph AdapTivE privacy), a DP-CGD framework with adaptive privacy budgeting. In contrast to existing DP-CGD algorithms with uniform privacy budgeting across all iterations, CURATE allows for adaptive privacy budgeting by minimizing error probability (constraint-based), maximizing iterations of the optimization problem (score-based) while keeping the cumulative leakage bounded. To validate our framework, we present a comprehensive set of experiments on several datasets and show that CURATE achieves higher utility compared to existing DP-CGD algorithms with less privacy leakage.
Patient Centricity—An Empirical Research on Titanium Dental Implants and Their Adverse Effects on Health Condition
Authors: Țap Mădălin Dorel , Bîcleşanu Florentina Cornelia , Honțaru Octavia-Sorina , Radu Anamaria-Cătălina
Published: November 2024

Background/Objectives: Titanium dental implants are considered to be the most modern and effective solution for replacing lost teeth. These medical devices not only restore the chewing and aesthetic functionality of the smile but also provide a stable support for crowns, bridges or dentures. The aim of this study was to identify the perceptions of patients about titanium dental implants and their effects on the human body. Methods: A structural equation model (SEM) was conducted to study how a series of independent variables have the ability to influence the perception and intention of the patients regarding these medical devices. A data analysis was performed using WarpPLS 8.0 software. This research was conducted on a sample of 162 respondents. Results: The results illustrated that patients’ perception of titanium dental implants is explained by 71% of the independent variables analysed, and their intention to have a new implant in the next period is explained by 61%. The proposed econometric model was validated, with seven hypotheses accepted out of nine. Conclusions: Although titanium has long been used in implant dentistry, in recent years, experts have identified a number of adverse effects that can arise from its use. This study has added value both at the practical and theoretical level. Perception is influenced by respondents’ perceived advantages, by the problems perceived by the respondents regarding titanium dental implants, by the degree of awareness of the risks of titanium dental implants, and by the adverse effects experienced by respondents regarding titanium dental implants.
Effects of Modified Oil Palm Kernel Expeller Fiber Enhanced via Enzymolysis Combined with Hydroxypropylation or Crosslinking on the Properties of Heat-Induced Egg White Protein Gel
Authors: Jin Zhiqiang , Gu Yaoguang , Zhang Wen
Published: November 2024

Due to its poor hydration properties, oil palm kernel expeller dietary fiber (OPKEDF) is rarely used in the food industry, especially in hydrogels, despite its advantages of high availability and low cost. To address this situation, the effects of enzymolysis combined with hydroxypropylation or crosslinking on the structure and hydration properties of OPKEDF were investigated, and the impact of these modified OPKEDFs on the properties of egg white protein gel (EWPG) was studied. Enzymolysis combined with hydroxypropylation or phosphate crosslinking improved the soluble fiber content (5.25–7.79 g/100 g), water-retention and expansion abilities of OPKEDF (p < 0.05). The addition of unmodified OPKEDF or modified OPKEDF increased the random coil content of EWPG and increased the density of its microstructure. Moreover, enzymolysis combined with hydroxypropylation or crosslinking enhanced the effect of OPKEDF on the properties of EWPG, including improvements in its water-retention ability, pH, hardness (from 97.96 to 195.00 g), chewiness (from 78.65 to 147.39 g), and gumminess (from 84.63 to 152.27) and a reduction in its transparency (p < 0.05). Additionally, OPKEDF and enzymolysis and hydroxypropylated OPKEDF increased the resilience (0.297 to 0.359), but OPKEDF treated via enzymolysis and crosslinking reduced it. Therefore, OPKEDF modified by means of enzymolysis in combination with hydroxypropylation or crosslinking improved the gel properties of EWPG. However, further work is required to determine the effects of these modifications on the nutritional profile, scalability, and economic feasibility of OPKEDF and egg white gel.
Enhanced Antibacterial, Anti-Inflammatory, and Antibiofilm Activities of Tryptophan-Substituted Peptides Derived from Cecropin A-Melittin Hybrid Peptide BP100
Authors: Kumar Sukumar Dinesh , Kim Eun Young , Radhakrishnan Naveen Kumar , Bang Jeong Kyu , Yang Sungtae , Shin Song Yub
Published: November 2024

The emergence of multidrug-resistant pathogens necessitates the development of novel antimicrobial agents. BP100, a short α-helical antimicrobial peptide (AMP) derived from cecropin A and melittin, has shown promise as a potential therapeutic. To enhance its efficacy, we designed and synthesized 16 tryptophan-substituted BP100 analogs based on helical wheel projections. Among these, BP5, BP6, BP8, BP11, and BP13 exhibited 1.5- to 5.5-fold higher antibacterial activity and improved cell selectivity compared to BP100. These analogs demonstrated superior efficacy in suppressing pro-inflammatory cytokine release in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells and eradicating preformed biofilms of multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MDRPA). Additionally, these analogs showed greater resistance to physiological salts and serum compared to BP100. Mechanistic studies revealed that BP100 and its analogs exert their antibacterial effects through membrane disruption, depolarization, and permeabilization. Notably, these analogs showed synergistic antimicrobial activity with ciprofloxacin against MDRPA. Our findings suggest that these tryptophan-substituted BP100 analogs represent promising candidates for combating multidrug-resistant bacterial infections, offering a multifaceted approach through their antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antibiofilm activities.
Impact of Condensed Tannin and Sulfur Dioxide Addition on Acetaldehyde Accumulation and Anthocyanin Profile of Vitis vinifera L. Cv. Cabernet Sauvignon Wines During Alcoholic Fermentation
Authors: Wang Qinglong , Cui Xiaoqian , Wang Jiaqi , Chang Heqiang , Wang Junzhe , Zhang Ang , Zhou Yang , Xu Zhiyong , Dai Lingmin , Han Guomin
Published: November 2024

Acetaldehyde is a key carbonyl by-product during red wine alcoholic fermentation; it is reactive and takes part in certain reactions involving anthocyanin. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of SO2 and condensed tannin on the acetaldehyde accumulation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae) during alcoholic fermentation and the ripple effect on wine anthocyanin. In this study, six sets of Cabernet Sauvignon alcoholic fermentation with two different sulfur levels (HS and LS) were carried out by adding exogenous condensed tannins before fermentation (T0) in the acetaldehyde rise period (TA) of S. cerevisiae and at the end of fermentation (TE), separately. The acetaldehyde evolution was identified during fermentation and anthocyanin was analyzed comparatively. The results showed that HS treatment slowed down the degradation of acetaldehyde, while tannins accelerated the degradation of acetaldehyde during alcoholic fermentation, especially TA wines. Furthermore, TA wines possessed a unique anthocyanin profile after fermentation regardless of SO2 level compared with other wines. These results suggest that acetaldehyde-mediated anthocyanin polymerization most likely occurs timely at the acetaldehyde production phase of S. cerevisiae during alcoholic fermentation, and managing tannin addition time during production could be used to regulate the anthocyanin profile.
Rapid Classification of Sugarcane Nodes and Internodes Using Near-Infrared Spectroscopy and Machine Learning Techniques
Authors: Veerasakulwat Siramet , Sitorus Agustami , Udompetaikul Vasu
Published: November 2024

Accurate and rapid discrimination between nodes and internodes in sugarcane is vital for automating planting processes, particularly for minimizing bud damage and optimizing planting material quality. This study investigates the potential of visible-shortwave near-infrared (Vis–SWNIR) spectroscopy (400–1000 nm) combined with machine learning for this classification task. Spectral data were acquired from the sugarcane cultivar Khon Kaen 3 at multiple orientations, and various preprocessing techniques were employed to enhance spectral features. Three machine learning algorithms, linear discriminant analysis (LDA), K-Nearest Neighbors (KNNs), and artificial neural networks (ANNs), were evaluated for their classification performance. The results demonstrated high accuracy across all models, with ANN coupled with derivative preprocessing achieving an F1-score of 0.93 on both calibration and validation datasets, and 0.92 on an independent test set. This study underscores the feasibility of Vis–SWNIR spectroscopy and machine learning for rapid and precise node/internode classification, paving the way for automation in sugarcane billet preparation and other precision agriculture applications.