bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Dynamic population mapping with AutoGluon
Authors: Song Yimeng , Xu Yong , Chen Bin , He Qingqing , Tu Ying , Wang Fei , Cai Jixuan
Published: November 2022

Timely and accurate population mapping plays an essential role in a wide range of critical applications. Benefiting from the emergence of multi-source geospatial datasets and the development of spatial statistics and machine learning, multi-scale population mapping with high temporal resolutions has been made possible. However, the over-complex models and the strict data requirement resulting from the constant quest for increased accuracy pose challenges to the repeatability of many population spatialization frameworks. Therefore, in this study, using limited publicly available datasets and an automatic ensemble learning model (AutoGluon), we presented an efficient framework to simplify the model training and prediction process. The proposed framework was applied to estimate county-level population density in China and received a good result with an r2 of 0.974 and an RMSD of 427.61, which is better than the performances of current mainstream population mapping frameworks in terms of estimation accuracy. Furthermore, the derived monthly population maps and the revealed spatial pattern of population dynamics in China are consistent with earlier studies, suggesting the robustness of the proposed framework in cross-time mapping. To our best knowledge, this study is the first work to apply AutoGluon in population mapping, and the framework’s efficient and automated modeling capabilities will contribute to larger-scale and finer spatial-temporal population spatialization studies.
Cricket, Public Culture and the Making of Postcolonial Calcutta
Authors: Naha Souvik
Published: November 2022

What prompts common people to kill a guard and rob an office they thought had some tickets for a Test match? Why does a scholar of medieval Bengali literature remark, 'Had life been a sport, it would be cricket'? Who do journalists vindicate by promoting cricket, the imperial game par excellence, as the lifeforce of the ordinary Indian? This book pursues these threads of the people's uncanny attachment to cricket, seeking to understand the sport's role in the making of a postcolonial society. With a focus on Calcutta, it unpacks the various connotations of international cricket that have produced a postcolonial community and public culture. Cricket, it shows, gave the people a tool to understand and form themselves as a cultural community. More than the outcomes of matches, the beliefs, attitudes and actions the sport generated had an immense bearing on emerging social relationships.
ResDeepD: A residual super-resolution network for deep downscaling of daily precipitation over India
Authors: Mishra Sharma Sumanta Chandra , Mitra Adway
Published: November 2022

In the twenty-first century, machine learning and deep learning have been successfully used to find hidden information from coarse-grained data in various domains. In Computer Vision, scientists have used neural networks to identify hidden pixel-level information from low-resolution (LR) image data. This approach of estimating high-resolution (HR) information from LR data is called the super-resolution (SR) approach. This approach has been borrowed by climate scientists to downscale coarse-level measurements of climate variables to obtain their local-scale projections. Climate variables are spatial in nature and can be represented as images where each pixel denotes a grid point where the variables can be measured. We can apply the deep learning-based SR techniques on such “images” for statistical downscaling of such variables. This approach of downscaling can be termed as deep downscaling. In this work, we have tried to make HR projection of the Indian summer monsoon rainfall by using a novel deep residual network called ResDeepD. The aim is to downscale the 10 × 10 low LR precipitation data to get the values at 0.250 × 0.250 resolution. The proposed model uses a series of skip connections across residual blocks to give better results as compared to the existing models like super-resolution convolutional neural network, DeepSD, and Nest-UNet that have been used previously for this task. We have also examined the model’s performance for downscaling rainfall during some extreme climatic events like cyclonic storms and deep depression and found that the model performs better than the existing models.
ON THE PRIMES IN FLOOR FUNCTION SETS
Authors: MA RONG , WU JIE
Published: November 2022

Let
$[t]$
be the integral part of the real number t and let
$\mathbb {1}_{{\mathbb P}}$
be the characteristic function of the primes. Denote by
$\pi _{\mathcal {S}}(x)$
the number of primes in the floor function set
$\mathcal {S}(x) := \{[{x}/{n}] : 1\leqslant n\leqslant x\}$
and by
$S_{\mathbb {1}_{{\mathbb P}}}(x)$
the number of primes in the sequence
$\{[{x}/{n}]\}_{n\geqslant 1}$
. Improving a result of Heyman [‘Primes in floor function sets’, Integers22 (2022), Article no. A59], we show
$$ \begin{align*} \pi_{\mathcal{S}}(x) = \int_2^{\sqrt{x}} \frac{d t}{\log t} + \int_2^{\sqrt{x}} \frac{d t}{\log(x/t)} + O(\sqrt{x}\,\mathrm{e}^{-c(\log x)^{3/5}(\log\log x)^{-1/5}}) \quad\mbox{and}\quad S_{\mathbb{1}_{{\mathbb P}}}(x) = C_{\mathbb{1}_{{\mathbb P}}} x + O_{\varepsilon}(x^{9/19+\varepsilon}) \end{align*} $$

for
$x\to \infty $
, where
$C_{\mathbb {1}_{{\mathbb P}}} := \sum _{p} {1}/{p(p+1)}$
,
$c>0$
is a positive constant and
$\varepsilon $
is an arbitrarily small positive number.
The Religions of Human Rights
Authors: Loeffler James
Published: November 2022

The modern human rights movement arose during a moment of unprecedented encounter between global religions in the mid-twentieth century. Yet attempts to parse the historical relationship between human rights and religious thought have almost exclusively taken the form of case studies of individual religious traditions. This focus on intellectual genealogies obscures the fact that much of human rights doctrine emerged from interreligious contacts and conflicts between Judaism and Christianity, particularly in the context of the decolonizing Middle East. This article retraces this interreligious encounter through the writings of Amnesty International founder Peter Benenson, diplomat and theologian Charles Malik, and rabbi and activist Maurice Perlzweig. Together they represent three different theopolitical responses to the problem of religious pluralism after global empire: minoritarian human rights, majoritarian human rights, and cosmopolitan human rights. Recovering these interrelated human rights conceptions exposes the frames of religious difference embedded in the modern Western human rights imagination.
Low-carbon Frontier: Renewable Energy and the New Resource Boom in Western China
Authors: Harlan Tyler
Published: November 2022

China's west has long been framed as an undeveloped frontier, set apart by poverty and a resource-based economy. Since the 2000s, however, utility-scale renewable energy infrastructure has expanded rapidly in western China, promising local economic benefits tied to national low-carbon transition. This paper contends that these benefits have been precarious and unevenly distributed. I argue that utility-scale renewable energy has remade western China as a “low-carbon frontier,” a resource-rich region that generates low-carbon value for the national green economy. I highlight three features of low-carbon frontiers: they are constructed as spaces of exploitable low-carbon resources, creating an investment boom; they are enclosed through new land arrangements and infrastructure construction, rapidly and with little coordination; and they are reliant on external markets and policy decisions, entrenching dependency. These conditions make it difficult for frontier regions to capture sustained economic development benefits from the boom in the absence of persistent central state supports. I analyse these features by comparing two sets of technologies with similar, but ultimately diverging, trajectories: small and large hydropower in China's south-west, and solar and wind in the north-west.
Cultural influence on clock drawing test: A systematic review
Authors: Maestri Giorgia , Nicotra Alessia , Pomati Simone , Canevelli Marco , Pantoni Leonardo , Cova Ilaria
Published: November 2022

Objective:

Dementia among migrants is an emerging phenomenon worldwide and the development of neuropsychological tests sensitive to cultural differences is increasingly regarded as a priority. The Clock Drawing Test (CDT) is one of the most used screening tools for the detection of cognitive decline. Nevertheless, there is still a debate about its adoption as a cross-cultural assessment.

Methods:

To identify cultural variables influencing performance at CDT, we performed a systematic review of literature on three databases of all studies considering the role of at least one of the following: (1) language; (2) education; (3) literacy; (4) acculturation; and (5) ethnicity.

Results:

We extrapolated 160 analyses from 105 studies. Overall, an influence of cultural determinants on performance at CDT was found in 127 analyses (79.4%). Regarding specific cultural factors, 22 analyses investigated the effect of ethnicity on CDT scores, reporting conflicting results. Only two scoring systems turned out to be sufficiently accurate in a multicultural population. Language influenced performance in only 1 out of 8 analyses. A higher level of education positively influenced test performance in 118 out of 154 analyses (76.6%), and a better quality of education in 1 analysis out of 2. A negative influence of illiteracy on CDT performance emerged in 9 out of 10 analyses. Acculturation affected performances at CDT in 1 out of 2 studies.

Conclusions:

Based on the present findings, caution is needed when using CDT in a multicultural context, even if it requires limited linguistic competence.
Kontrazeption bei Risikopatientinnen
Authors: Birkhäuser Martin
Published: November 2022

Zusammenfassung. Sofern bei gesunden normalgewichtigen Nichtraucherinnen mit Wunsch nach einer sicheren Kontrazeption keine Kontraindikationen vorliegen, können bis zum natürlichen Menopausenalter alle hormonalen und nichthormonalen Methoden angewendet werden. Vorhandene Grundkrankheiten oder ungünstige Lebensgewohnheiten können dies ändern. Das vaskuläre Risiko wird durch Alter, Übergewicht, Adipositas, Rauchen, Diabetes mellitus, oder eine arterielle Hypertonie potenziert. Das Vorliegen vaskulärer Erkrankungen jeder Ursache ist eine absolute Kontraindikation für kombinierte hormonale Kontrazeptiva (CHC). Der Vergleich der verschiedenen sicheren kontrazeptiven Methoden zeigt, dass im Hinblick auf internistische Krankheiten in der Regel das höchste Risiko für Komplikationen bei der Anwendung von CHC besteht, das niedrigste bei der Einlage einer Kupferspirale. Als hormonale Alternative zu CHC stehen Gestagen-Monopräparate und Gestagen-haltige Intrauterinsysteme (IUS) zur Verfügung, bei abgeschossener Familienplanung auch die Sterilisation einer der Partner. Von Barrieremethoden und natürlicher Familienplanung muss bei Frauen mit internistischen Krankheiten abgeraten werden, da die fehlende Zuverlässigkeit dieser Methoden zu ungeplanten Schwangerschaften mit meist hohem Risiko für Mutter und Kind führen können. Bei den meisten zugrundeliegenden internistischen Krankheiten wird dringend empfohlen, den Entscheid für eine hormonelle Methode mit dem behandelnden Spezialisten abzusprechen. Unabhängig von der gewählten Kontrazeptionsmethode sollten alle Frauen, die einem Risiko für sexuell übertragbare Erkrankungen ausgesetzt sind, zusätzlich Kondome verwenden.
Kontrazeption bei Frauen mit sexuell übertragbaren Infektionen
Authors: Tirri Brigitte Frey
Published: November 2022

Zusammenfassung. Der Gebrauch der Kontrazeption hat bei sexuell aktiven Frauen hauptsächlich zwei Aufgaben, die Vermeidung einer unerwünschten Schwangerschaft und den Schutz vor sexuell übertragbaren Infektionen (STI). Für beide Aufgaben zeigen die Kontrazeptiva keinen absoluten Schutz. Unglücklicherweise bieten die wirksamsten Kontrazeptiva in Bezug auf das Verhindern einer Schwangerschaft wenig Schutz vor einer Übertragung einer STI und das beste Mittel zur Verhinderung einer STI – das Kondom – ist bei vielen Menschen wenig beliebt und gibt bei typischem Gebrauch keinen sehr wirksamen Schutz vor einer Schwangerschaft. Zusätzlich stellt sich die Frage, wie Frauen verhüten sollen, die bereits an einer sexuell übertragbaren Erkrankung leiden – welche Verhütungsmittel sind möglich, welche Interaktionen sind zu bedenken? Somit braucht die Entscheidung für das individuell passendste Kontrazeptivum ein sorgfältiges Abwägen zwischen Verhinderung einer Schwangerschaft, dem Schutz vor einer STI und der Verhinderung einer Übertragung einer STI auf den nicht infizierten Partner. Dies sollte unbedingt gemeinsam mit der Frau und eventuell dem Partner oder der Partnerin in einem Gespräch besprochen werden.
Kontrazeption und Sexualität
Authors: Sartorius Gideon , Ahler Astrid , Moffat Rebecca
Published: November 2022

Zusammenfassung. Zuverlässige Verhütungsmethoden erlauben eine freie Entfaltung von Sexualität ohne Angst vor ungewollten Schwangerschaften. Sie haben wesentlich zu einer selbstbestimmteren Sexualität von Frauen und Männern mit weniger negativen Konsequenzen auf individueller, partnerschaftlicher und sozialer Ebene beigetragen. Hormonelle Kontrazeptiva, die in unterschiedlichen Zusammensetzungen und Applikationsformen verfügbar sind, sind zwar hocheffektiv, werden jedoch aus Furcht vor körperlichen und psychologischen Nebenwirkungen immer weniger verwendet. Die aktuelle, heterogene Studienlage spiegelt die klinische Erfahrung wider, dass hormonelle Kontrazeptiva meist keinen wesentlichen Effekt auf die Sexualität haben, aber gewisse Frauen über verbesserte sexuelle Erlebnisfähigkeit berichten, während andere dadurch unter Sexualfunktionsstörungen leiden. Deswegen ist eine individualisierte Kontrazeptionsberatung unter Berücksichtigung von somatischen und emotionalen Aspekten essenziell und kann zur Förderung von sexueller Gesundheit und Wohlergehen beitragen. Der vorliegende Übersichtsartikel fasst den Einfluss hormoneller Verhütungsmethoden auf sexuelle Gesundheit und Wohlergehen zusammen und gibt Empfehlungen für den Umgang mit kontrazeptionsbedingten sexuellen Funktionsstörungen.
Natürliche Familienplanung
Authors: Bitzer Johannes
Published: November 2022

Zusammenfassung. Die Methoden der sogenannten natürlichen Familienplanung basieren auf der prospektiven Erkennung der wenige Tage dauernden fertilen Phase im Menstruationszyklus. Diese Erkennung basierte zunächst auf der empirischen Beobachtung, dass die Fruchtbarkeit einer Frau in der Mitte des Zyklus am höchsten ist und Frauen am Anfang und in der zweiten Hälfte des Zyklus am wenigsten beziehungsweise unfruchtbar sind. Daraus resultierte die sogenannte Kalendermethode. Später wurden andere biologische Zeichen wie Temperaturanstieg und Cervixschleimbeobachtung auf der einen Seite und der LH-Anstieg auf der anderen Seite hinzugefügt. Dabei zeigte sich, dass je mehr Daten in die Berechnung des fertilen Fensters eingehen, umso präziser ist die Vorhersage für die betreffende Frau. Die neuen Technologien zur computerbasierten Datensammlung bieten hier neue Möglichkeiten in der Form der sogenannten Fertility tracker.
Energy Consumption of IoT Devices: An Accurate Evaluation to Better Predict Battery Lifetime
Authors: Faye Ibrahima , Fam Pape Abdoulaye , Ndiaye Mamadou Lamine
Published: November 2022

LoRa to say Long Range is one of the Low Power Wide Area Network technologies suitable for Internet of Things due to its low power consumption. In this paper we evaluate the energy consumption of a LoRa network using the LoRaWAN protocol which is based on the pure Aloha access method. We define a reference scenario (scenario 0), which consists in neglecting the energy consumption related to the different states of the end‐devices after transmission of a packet that does not require downlink acknowledgment and then we compare this scenario 0 to scenario 1, scenario 2 and scenario 3. Indeed the scenario 1 consists in considering the states of the end‐devices after transmission in uplink of a packet without acknowledgment, in the evaluation of the energy consumption. However, scenario 2 takes into account the different states of the end‐devices in scenario 1 with an acknowledgment on the first reception window. While in scenario 3 the acknowledgment is done on the second reception window always taking into account the end‐devices states. The simulation results with the LoRaSim tool have shown that the network energy consumption (NEC) increases significantly when considering the different states of the end‐device after uplink transmission of a packet without acknowledgment, but also that the increase of the NEC related to end‐device states is even more important if packets are acknowledged. Thus for a rigorous evaluation of the NEC, it is important to take into account the states of the end‐device after transmission of a packet but also the eventual acknowledgments in order to better predict the battery lifetime.
Snow Level From Post‐Processing of Atmospheric Model Improves Snowfall Estimate and Snowpack Prediction in Mountains
Authors: Vionnet V. , Verville M. , Fortin V. , Brugman M. , Abrahamowicz M. , Lemay F. , Thériault J. M. , Lafaysse M. , Milbrandt J. A.
Published: November 2022

In mountains, the precipitation phase greatly varies in space and time and affects the evolution of the snow cover. Snowpack models usually rely on precipitation‐phase partitioning methods (PPMs) that use near‐surface variables. These PPMs ignore conditions above the surface thus limiting their ability to predict the precipitation phase at the surface. In this study, the impact on snowpack simulations of atmospheric‐based PPMs, incorporating upper atmospheric information, is tested using the snowpack scheme Crocus. Crocus is run at 2.5‐km grid spacing over the mountains of southwestern Canada and northwestern United States and is driven by meteorological fields from an atmospheric model at the same resolution. Two atmospheric‐based PPMs were considered from the atmospheric model: the output from a detailed microphysics scheme and a post‐processing algorithm determining the snow level and the associated precipitation phase. Two ground‐based PPMs were also included as lower and upper benchmarks: a single air temperature threshold at 0°C and a PPM using wet‐bulb temperature. Compared to the upper benchmark, the snow‐level based PPM improved the estimation of snowfall occurrence by 5% and the simulation of snow water equivalent (SWE) by 9% during the snow melting season. In contrast, due to missing processes, the microphysics scheme decreased performances in phase estimate and SWE simulations compared to the upper benchmark. These results highlight the need for detailed evaluation of the precipitation phase from atmospheric models and the benefit for mountain snow hydrology of the post‐processed snow level. The limitations to drive snowpack models at slope scale are also discussed.
How Mesoscale Eddies Masquerade as Rossby Waves in Merged Altimetric Products
Authors: Cao Chuanchuan , Chen Ge , Wang Xuan
Published: November 2022

Wave‐like signals formed by mesoscale‐eddy propagation, in particular, overlap with actual waves, resulting in Rossby waves being misidentified or overestimated. This study revisited the puzzle of wave‐eddy aliasing in state‐of‐the‐art altimetric products, with up to six altimetry satellites operating simultaneously after 2016. Spatiotemporal scales and westward‐propagating speeds are the primary factors in diagnosing a low‐latitude Rossby wave regime from a high‐latitude geostrophic turbulence regime, confirming the coexistence of Rossby waves and eddies in wave‐like components. Long‐lived westward‐propagating eddies (prevailing in oceans at latitudes 10°–40°) with weaker meridional deflection are good candidates for masquerading as Rossby waves. The focus here is therefore on the long, first baroclinic mode Rossby waves, which are quantified in several periodic bands by removing eddy signals. From 2016 to 2020, energetic biannual Rossby waves can explain more than 10% of observed sea level anomalies at latitudes equatorward of ±25°, ±20°, and ±15° in the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans, respectively. Numerical modeling results support similar assessments, indicating an intrinsic property of eddies masquerading as Rossby waves. This study provides a more accurate assessment of oceanic Rossby waves, which can deepen insight into the energy cascade of the geostrophic features and their dynamic effects on biogeochemical cycles.
Solar X-ray and EUV imager on board the FY-3E satellite
Authors: Chen Bo , Zhang Xiao-Xin , He Ling-Ping , Song Ke-Fei , Liu Shi-Jie , Ding Guang-Xing , Dun Jin-Ping , Li Jia-Wei , Li Zhao-Hui , Guo Quan-Feng , Wang Hai-Feng , Wang Xiao-Dong , Wang Yun-Qi , Zhang Hong-Ji , Zhang Guang , Han Zhen-Wei , Dai Shuang , Zhang Pei-Jie , Sun Liang , Liu Yang , Wang Peng , Wu Kun , Tao Chen , Mao Shi-Lei , Mei Gui , Yang Liang , Chen Li-Heng , Han Chun-Yang , Huang Bin , Liu Yang , Ren Shuai , Zhou Peng , Wei Ze-Xi , Zhang Xiao-Xue , Zhang Yue , Zheng Xin , Wang Yang , Chen Ya , Xie Jing-Jiang , He Fei , Song Qiao , Zong Wei-Guo , Hu Xiu-Qing , Zhang Peng , Wang Jing-Song , Yang Zhong-Dong
Published: November 2022

The solar X-ray and Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (X-EUVI), developed by the Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CIOMP), is the first space-based solar X-ray and Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) imager of China loaded on the Fengyun-3E (FY-3E) satellite supported by the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) for solar observation. Since started work on July 11, 2021, X-EUVI has obtained many solar images. The instrument employs an innovative dual-band design to monitor a much larger temperature range on the Sun, which covers 0.6–8.0 nm in the X-ray region with six channels and 19.5 nm in the EUV region. X-EUVI has a field of view of 42′, an angular resolution of 2.5″ per pixel in the EUV band and an angular resolution of 4.1″ per pixel in the X-ray band. The instrument also includes an X-ray and EUV irradiance sensor (X-EUVS) with the same bands as its imaging optics, which measures the solar irradiance and regularly calibrates the solar images. The radiometric calibration of X-EUVS on the ground has been completed, with a calibration accuracy of 12%. X-EUVI is loaded on the FY-3E satellite and rotates relative to the Sun at a uniform rate. Flat-field calibration is conducted by utilizing successive rotation solar images. The agreement between preliminarily processed X-EUVI images and SDO/AIA and Hinode/XRT images indicates that X-EUVI and the data processing algorithm operate properly and that the data from X-EUVI can be applied to the space weather forecast system of CMA and scientific investigations on solar activity.
Neurodevelopmental disorders—high-resolution rethinking of disease modeling
Authors: Khodosevich Konstantin , Sellgren Carl M.
Published: November 2022

Neurodevelopmental disorders arise due to various risk factors that can perturb different stages of brain development, and a combinatorial impact of these risk factors programs the phenotype in adulthood. While modeling the complete phenotype of a neurodevelopmental disorder is challenging, individual developmental perturbations can be successfully modeled in vivo in animals and in vitro in human cellular models. Nevertheless, our limited knowledge of human brain development restricts modeling strategies and has raised questions of how well a model corresponds to human in vivo brain development. Recent progress in high-resolution analysis of human tissue with single-cell and spatial omics techniques has enhanced our understanding of the complex events that govern the development of the human brain in health and disease. This new knowledge can be utilized to improve modeling of neurodevelopmental disorders and pave the way to more accurately portraying the relevant developmental perturbations in disease models.
Trends in psychiatric diagnoses by COVID-19 infection and hospitalization among patients with and without recent clinical psychiatric diagnoses in New York city from March 2020 to August 2021
Authors: Xiao Yunyu , Sharma Mohit M. , Thiruvalluru Rohith K. , Gimbrone Catherine , Weissman Myrna M. , Olfson Mark , Keyes Katherine M. , Pathak Jyotishman
Published: November 2022

Determining emerging trends of clinical psychiatric diagnoses among patients infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus is important to understand post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection or long COVID. However, published reports accounting for pre-COVID psychiatric diagnoses have usually relied on self-report rather than clinical diagnoses. Using electronic health records (EHRs) among 2,358,318 patients from the New York City (NYC) metropolitan region, this time series study examined changes in clinical psychiatric diagnoses between March 2020 and August 2021 with month as the unit of analysis. We compared trends in patients with and without recent pre-COVID clinical psychiatric diagnoses noted in the EHRs up to 3 years before the first COVID-19 test. Patients with recent clinical psychiatric diagnoses, as compared to those without, had more subsequent anxiety disorders, mood disorders, and psychosis throughout the study period. Substance use disorders were greater between March and August 2020 among patients without any recent clinical psychiatric diagnoses than those with. COVID-19 positive patients (both hospitalized and non-hospitalized) had greater post-COVID psychiatric diagnoses than COVID-19 negative patients. Among patients with recent clinical psychiatric diagnoses, psychiatric diagnoses have decreased since January 2021, regardless of COVID-19 infection/hospitalization. However, among patients without recent clinical psychiatric diagnoses, new anxiety disorders, mood disorders, and psychosis diagnoses increased between February and August 2021 among all patients (COVID-19 positive and negative). The greatest increases were anxiety disorders (378.7%) and mood disorders (269.0%) among COVID-19 positive non-hospitalized patients. New clinical psychosis diagnoses increased by 242.5% among COVID-19 negative patients. This study is the first to delineate the impact of COVID-19 on different clinical psychiatric diagnoses by pre-COVID psychiatric diagnoses and COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations across NYC, one of the hardest-hit US cities in the early pandemic. Our findings suggest the need for tailoring treatment and policies to meet the needs of individuals with pre-COVID psychiatric diagnoses.
Construction of a synthetic methodology-based library and its application in identifying a GIT/PIX protein–protein interaction inhibitor
Authors: Gu Jing , Peng Rui-Kun , Guo Chun-Ling , Zhang Meng , Yang Jie , Yan Xiao , Zhou Qian , Li Hongwei , Wang Na , Zhu Jinwei , Ouyang Qin
Published: November 2022

In recent years, the flourishing of synthetic methodology studies has provided concise access to numerous molecules with new chemical space. These compounds form a large library with unique scaffolds, but their application in hit discovery is not systematically evaluated. In this work, we establish a synthetic methodology-based compound library (SMBL), integrated with compounds obtained from our synthetic researches, as well as their virtual derivatives in significantly larger scale. We screen the library and identify small-molecule inhibitors to interrupt the protein–protein interaction (PPI) of GIT1/β-Pix complex, an unrevealed target involved in gastric cancer metastasis. The inhibitor 14-5-18 with a spiro[bicyclo[2.2.1]heptane-2,3’-indolin]−2’-one scaffold, considerably retards gastric cancer metastasis in vitro and in vivo. Since the PPI targets are considered undruggable as they are hard to target, the successful application illustrates the structural specificity of SMBL, demonstrating its potential to be utilized as compound source for more challenging targets.
Observation of site-selective chemical bond changes via ultrafast chemical shifts
Authors: Al-Haddad Andre , Oberli Solène , González-Vázquez Jesús , Bucher Maximilian , Doumy Gilles , Ho Phay , Krzywinski Jacek , Lane Thomas J. , Lutman Alberto , Marinelli Agostino , Maxwell Timothy J. , Moeller Stefan , Pratt Stephen T. , Ray Dipanwita , Shepard Ron , Southworth Stephen H. , Vázquez-Mayagoitia Álvaro , Walter Peter , Young Linda , Picón Antonio , Bostedt Christoph
Published: November 2022

The concomitant motion of electrons and nuclei on the femtosecond time scale marks the fate of chemical and biological processes. Here we demonstrate the ability to initiate and track the ultrafast electron rearrangement and chemical bond breaking site-specifically in real time for the carbon monoxide diatomic molecule. We employ a local resonant x-ray pump at the oxygen atom and probe the chemical shifts of the carbon core-electron binding energy. We observe charge redistribution accompanying core-excitation followed by Auger decay, eventually leading to dissociation and hole trapping at one site of the molecule. The presented technique is general in nature with sensitivity to chemical environment changes including transient electronic excited state dynamics. This work provides a route to investigate energy and charge transport processes in more complex systems by tracking selective chemical bond changes on their natural timescale.
Microscopy-based phenotypic profiling of infection by Staphylococcus aureus clinical isolates reveals intracellular lifestyle as a prevalent feature
Authors: Rodrigues Lopes Ines , Alcantara Laura Maria , Silva Ricardo Jorge , Josse Jerome , Vega Elena Pedrero , Cabrerizo Ana Marina , Bonhomme Melanie , Lopez Daniel , Laurent Frederic , Vandenesch Francois , Mano Miguel , Eulalio Ana
Published: November 2022

Staphylococcus aureus is increasingly recognized as a facultative intracellular pathogen, although the significance and pervasiveness of its intracellular lifestyle remain controversial. Here, we applied fluorescence microscopy-based infection assays and automated image analysis to profile the interaction of 191 S. aureus isolates from patients with bone/joint infections, bacteremia, and infective endocarditis, with four host cell types, at five times post-infection. This multiparametric analysis revealed that almost all isolates are internalized and that a large fraction replicate and persist within host cells, presenting distinct infection profiles in non-professional vs. professional phagocytes. Phenotypic clustering highlighted interesting sub-groups, including one comprising isolates exhibiting high intracellular replication and inducing delayed host death in vitro and in vivo. These isolates are deficient for the cysteine protease staphopain A. This study establishes S. aureus intracellular lifestyle as a prevalent feature of infection, with potential implications for the effective treatment of staphylococcal infections.
DeepPROTACs is a deep learning-based targeted degradation predictor for PROTACs
Authors: Li Fenglei , Hu Qiaoyu , Zhang Xianglei , Sun Renhong , Liu Zhuanghua , Wu Sanan , Tian Siyuan , Ma Xinyue , Dai Zhizhuo , Yang Xiaobao , Gao Shenghua , Bai Fang
Published: November 2022

The rational design of PROTACs is difficult due to their obscure structure-activity relationship. This study introduces a deep neural network model - DeepPROTACs to help design potent PROTACs molecules. It can predict the degradation capacity of a proposed PROTAC molecule based on structures of given target protein and E3 ligase. The experimental dataset is mainly collected from PROTAC-DB and appropriately labeled according to the DC50 and Dmax values. In the model of DeepPROTACs, the ligands as well as the ligand binding pockets are generated and represented with graphs and fed into Graph Convolutional Networks for feature extraction. While SMILES representations of linkers are fed into a Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory layer to generate the features. Experiments show that DeepPROTACs model achieves 77.95% average prediction accuracy and 0.8470 area under receiver operating characteristic curve on the test set. DeepPROTACs is available online at a web server (https://bailab.siais.shanghaitech.edu.cn/services/deepprotacs/) and at github (https://github.com/fenglei104/DeepPROTACs).
Interplay between oceanic subduction and continental collision in building continental crust
Authors: Zhu Di-Cheng , Wang Qing , Weinberg Roberto F. , Cawood Peter A. , Chung Sun-Lin , Zheng Yong-Fei , Zhao Zhidan , Hou Zeng-Qian , Mo Xuan-Xue
Published: November 2022

Generation of continental crust in collision zones reflect the interplay between oceanic subduction and continental collision. The Gangdese continental crust in southern Tibet developed during subduction of the Neo-Tethyan oceanic slab in the Mesozoic prior to reworking during the India-Asia collision in the Cenozoic. Here we show that continental arc magmatism started with fractional crystallization to form cumulates and associated medium-K calc-alkaline suites. This was followed by a period commencing at ~70 Ma dominated by remelting of pre-existing lower crust, producing more potassic compositions. The increased importance of remelting coincides with an acceleration in the convergence rate between India and Asia leading to higher basaltic flow into the Asian lithosphere, followed by convergence deceleration due to slab breakoff, enabling high heat flow and melting of the base of the arc. This two-stage process of accumulation and remelting leads to the chemical maturation of juvenile continental crust in collision zones, strengthening crustal stratification.
Functionally integrating nanoparticles alleviate deep vein thrombosis in pregnancy and rescue intrauterine growth restriction
Authors: Cheng Juan , Zhang Siqi , Li Chenwen , Li Ke , Jia Xiaoyan , Wei Quanfang , Qi Hongbo , Zhang Jianxiang
Published: November 2022

There is still unmet demand for effective, safe, and patient-friendly anti-thrombotics to treat deep vein thrombosis (DVT) during pregnancy. Here we first engineer a bioactive amphiphile (TLH) by simultaneously conjugating Tempol and linoleic acid onto low molecular weight heparin (LMWH), which can assemble into multifunctional nanoparticles (TLH NP). In pregnant rats with DVT, TLH NP can target and dissolve thrombi, recanalize vessel occlusion, and eradicate the recurrence of thromboembolism, thereby reversing DVT-mediated intrauterine growth restriction and delayed development of fetuses. Mechanistically, therapeutic effects of TLH NP are realized by inhibiting platelet aggregation, facilitating thrombolysis, reducing local inflammation, attenuating oxidative stress, promoting endothelial repair, and increasing bioavailability. By decorating with a fibrin-binding peptide, targeting efficiency and therapeutic benefits of TLH NP are considerably improved. Importantly, LMWH nanotherapies show no toxicities to the mother and fetus at the dose 10-time higher than the examined therapeutic dosage.
Linked fire activity and climate whiplash in California during the early Holocene
Authors: Homann Julia , Oster Jessica L. , de Wet Cameron B. , Breitenbach Sebastian F. M. , Hoffmann Thorsten
Published: November 2022

Recent wildfire activity in semi-arid regions like western North America exceeds the range of historical records. High-resolution paleoclimate archives such as stalagmites could illuminate the link between hydroclimate, vegetation change, and fire activity in pre-anthropogenic climate states beyond the timescale of existing tree-ring records. Here we present an analysis of levoglucosan, a combustion-sensitive anhydrosugar, and lignin oxidation products (LOPs) in a stalagmite, reconstructing fire activity and vegetation composition in the California Coast Range across the 8.2 kyr event. Elevated levoglucosan concentrations suggest increased fire activity while altered LOP compositions indicate a shift toward more woody vegetation during the event. These changes are concurrent with increased hydroclimate volatility as shown by carbon and calcium isotope proxies. Together, these records suggest that climate whiplash (oscillations between extreme wetness and aridity) and fire activity in California, both projected to increase with anthropogenic climate change, were tightly coupled during the early Holocene.
Bi-potential hPSC-derived Müllerian duct-like cells for full-thickness and functional endometrium regeneration
Authors: Gong Lin , Nie Nanfang , Shen Xilin , Zhang Jingwei , Li Yu , Liu Yixiao , Xu Jiaqi , Jiang Wei , Liu Yanshan , Liu Hua , Wu Bingbing , Zou XiaoHui
Published: November 2022

Stem cell-based tissue regeneration strategies are promising treatments for severe endometrial injuries. However, there are few appropriate seed cells for regenerating a full-thickness endometrium, which mainly consists of epithelia and stroma. Müllerian ducts in female embryonic development develop into endometrial epithelia and stroma. Hence, we first generated human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC)-derived Müllerian duct-like cells (MDLCs) using a defined and effective protocol. The MDLCs are bi-potent, can gradually differentiate into endometrial epithelial and stromal cells, and reconstitute full-thickness endometrium in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, MDLCs showed the in situ repair capabilities of reconstructing endometrial structure and recovering pregnancy function in full-thickness endometrial injury rats, and their differentiation fate was revealed by single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq). Our study provides a strategy for hPSC differentiation into endometrial lineages and an alternative seed cell for injured endometrial regeneration.
Effects of Toxoplasma gondii infection on cognition, symptoms, and response to digital cognitive training in schizophrenia
Authors: Guimarães Anna Luiza , Richer Araujo Coelho David , Scoriels Linda , Mambrini Juliana , Ribeiro do Valle Antonelli Lis , Henriques Priscilla , Teixeira-Carvalho Andréa , Assis Martins Filho Olindo , Mineo José , Bahia-Oliveira Lilian , Panizzutti Rogério
Published: November 2022

Studies indicate that neuroscience-informed digital cognitive training can remediate cognitive impairments in schizophrenia, but the factors contributing to these deficits and response to treatment remain unclear. Toxoplasma gondii is a neuroinvasive parasite linked to cognitive decline that also presents a higher prevalence in schizophrenia. Here, we compared the cognition and symptom severity of IgG seropositive (TOXO+; n = 25) and seronegative (TOXO−; n = 35) patients who participated in a randomized controlled trial of digital cognitive training. At baseline, TOXO+ subjects presented lower global cognition than TOXO− (F = 3.78, p = 0.05). Specifically, TOXO+ subjects showed worse verbal memory and learning (F = 4.48, p = 0.03), social cognition (F = 5.71, p = 0.02), and higher antibody concentrations were associated with increased negative (r = 0.42, p = 0.04) and total (r = 0.40, p = 0.04) schizophrenia symptoms. After training, the TOXO+ group showed higher adherence to the intervention (X2 = 9.31, p = 0.03), but there were no differences in changes in cognition and symptoms between groups. These findings highlight the association between seropositivity to T. gondii and deteriorated cognition and symptoms in schizophrenia. Further research is needed to assess the specific efficacy of digital cognitive training on this population.
Hair zinc levels and psychosis risk among adolescents
Authors: Tabata Koichi , Miyashita Mitsuhiro , Yamasaki Syudo , Toriumi Kazuya , Ando Shuntaro , Suzuki Kazuhiro , Endo Kaori , Morimoto Yuko , Tomita Yasufumi , Yamaguchi Satoshi , Usami Satoshi , Itokawa Masanari , Hiraiwa-Hasegawa Mariko , Takahashi Hidehiko , Kasai Kiyoto , Nishida Atsushi , Arai Makoto
Published: November 2022

Recent meta-analyses have shown lower zinc and higher copper levels in the serum of people with schizophrenia than in healthy controls. However, the relationship between trace elements (TEs) and the pathophysiology of psychosis, including schizophrenia, remains unclear due to the antipsychotic effects on mineral levels. In this study, we aimed to determine the relationship between zinc and copper levels in hair and psychosis risk among drug-naïve adolescents. This study was conducted as a part of a population-based biomarker subsample study of the Tokyo Teen Cohort Study, including 252 community-dwelling 14-year-old drug-naïve adolescents. Zinc and copper levels in hair were measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The thought problems (TP) scale from the Child Behavior Checklist was used to evaluate psychosis risk. Regression analysis showed that hair zinc levels were negatively correlated with the TP scale (T-score) (β = −0.176, P = 0.005). This result remained significant after adjusting for age and sex (β = −0.175, P = 0.005). In contrast, hair copper levels were not associated with the TP scale (T-score) (β = 0.026, P = 0.687). These findings suggest that lower zinc levels could be involved in the pathophysiology of psychosis, independent of antipsychotics. Further longitudinal studies are required to investigate whether hair zinc level is a useful new biomarker for assessing psychosis risk.
LivWell: a sub-national Dataset on the Living Conditions of Women and their Well-being for 52 Countries
Authors: Belmin Camille , Hoffmann Roman , Elkasabi Mahmoud , Pichler Peter-Paul
Published: November 2022

Data on women’s living conditions and socio-economic development are important for understanding and addressing the pronounced challenges and inequalities faced by women worldwide. While such information is increasingly available at the national level, comparable data at the sub-national level are missing. We here present the LivWell global longitudinal dataset, which includes a set of key indicators on women’s socio-economic status, health and well-being, access to basic services and demographic outcomes. It covers 447 regions in 52 countries and includes a total of 265 different indicators. The majority of these are based on 199 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) for the period 1990–2019 and are complemented by extensive information on socio-economic and climatic conditions in the respective regions. The resulting dataset offers various opportunities for policy-relevant research on gender inequality, inclusive development and demographic trends at the sub-national level.
Assessment of the molecular epidemiology and genetic multiplicity of Listeria monocytogenes recovered from ready-to-eat foods following the South African listeriosis outbreak
Authors: Kayode Adeoye John , Okoh Anthony Ifeanyi
Published: November 2022

Following the recent listeriosis outbreak in South Africa, this study was carried out to assess the safety level of various common ready-to-eat foods (RTE) obtained from supermarkets and grocery stores in major towns and cities within the Amathole, Chris Hani and Sarah Baartman Districts Municipalities, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. A sum of 239 food samples was collected from these locations, and Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) was isolated in line with the recommended techniques by the International Organization for Standardization EN ISO 11290:2017 parts 1 and 2. Identification of the pathogen and detection of various associated virulence genes was done using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) techniques. From the RTE food samples processed, Lm was detected in 107 (44.77%) of the samples. Russian sausage was the most contaminated (78.57%), followed by sliced polony (61.90%), muffins (58.33%), polony (52.63%), and pies (52.38%), while all vetkoek samples examined were negative for Lm. Although the prevalence of Lm in the food samples was very high, concentrations were generally < 100 CFU/g. Strains of Lm recovered from the RTE foods were predominantly epidemiological strains belonging to serotypes 1/2a, 1/2b and 4b. The prevalence of 10 virulence genes including the inlA, InlC, inlJ, plcA, hlyA, plcB, prfA, mpl, inlB, and actA were detected among Lm isolates. Most of the isolates (69.07%) demonstrated the potential for biofilm formation and were categorized as weak (14.95%), moderate (13.40%) and strong (40.72) biofilm formers. Furthermore, molecular typing revealed high levels of genetic diversity among Lm isolates. The findings of this investigation suggested that the presence of Lm in the RTE foods may constitute potential threats to the food sector and could pose public health hazards to consumers, particularly the high-risk group of the population. We, therefore, recommend that adequate food monitoring for safety and proper regulation enforcement in the food sector must be ensured to avoid any future listeriosis outbreak that could be linked to RTE foods in South Africa.
Auditory brainstem response deficits in learning disorders and developmental language disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Chinn Lisa K. , Zhukova Marina A. , Kroeger Ryan J. , Ledesma Leandro M. , Cavitt Joslyn E. , Grigorenko Elena L.
Published: November 2022

Although learning disorders (LD) and developmental language disorder (DLD) can be linked to overlapping psychological and behavioral deficits, such as phonological, morphological, orthographic, semantic, and syntactic deficits, as well as academic (e.g., reading) difficulties, they are currently separate diagnoses in the DSM-5 with explicit phenotypic differences. At a neural level, it is yet to be determined to what extent they have overlapping or distinct signatures. The identification of such neural markers/endophenotypes could be important for the development of physiological diagnostic tools, as well as an understanding of disorders across different dimensions, as recommended by the Research Domain Criteria Initiative (RDoC). The current systematic review and meta-analysis examined whether the two disorders can be differentiated based on the auditory brainstem response (ABR). Even though both diagnoses require hearing problems to be ruled out, a number of articles have demonstrated associations of these disorders with the auditory brainstem response. We demonstrated that both LD and DLD are associated with longer latencies in ABR Waves III, V, and A, as well as reduced amplitude in Waves V and A. However, multilevel subgroup analyses revealed that LD and DLD do not significantly differ for any of these ABR waves. Results suggest that less efficient early auditory processing is a shared mechanism underlying both LD and DLD.
In vitro biochemical assessment of mixture effects of two endocrine disruptors on INS-1 cells
Authors: Olaniyan Lamidi W. B. , Okoh Anthony I.
Published: November 2022

4-tert-Octylphenol (4-tOP) is a component of non-ionic surfactants alkylphenol polyethoxylates while triclosan (TCS) is an antibacterial present in personal care products. Both compounds can co-exist in environmental matrices such as soil and water. The mixture effects of these micropollutants in vitro remains unknown. INS-1 cells were exposed to 20 µM or 30 µM 4-tOP and 8 µM or 12.5 µM TCS as well as equimolar mixture of the chemicals (Mix) in total concentration of 12.5 µM or 25 µM for 48 h. Mitochondrial related parameters were investigated using high content analytical techniques. The cytotoxicity of the chemicals (IC50) varied according to TCS > Mix > 4-tOP. Increased glucose uptake and loss of mitochondrial membrane potential were recorded in TCS and Mix treated cells. Fold values of glucose-galactose assay varied according to dinitrophenol > TCS > 4-tOP > Mix in decreasing order of mitochondrial toxicity. The loss of the intracellular Ca2+ influx by all the test substances and Mix was not substantial whereas glibenclamide and diazoxide increased the intracellular Ca2+ influx when compared with the Blank. The recorded increase in Ca2+ influx by diazoxide which contrasted with its primary role of inhibiting insulin secretion need be re-investigated. It is concluded that the toxic effects of TCS and Mix but not 4-tOP on INS-1 cells was mitochondria-mediated.