bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Forecasting a Stock Trend Using Genetic Algorithm and Random Forest
Authors: Abraham Rebecca , Samad Mahmoud , Bakhach Amer , El-Chaarani Hani , Sardouk Ahmad , Nemar Sam , Jaber Dalia
Published: April 2022

This paper addresses the problem of forecasting daily stock trends. The key consideration is to predict whether a given stock will close on uptrend tomorrow with reference to today’s closing price. We propose a forecasting model that comprises a features selection model, based on the Genetic Algorithm (GA), and Random Forest (RF) classifier. In our study, we consider four international stock indices that follow the concept of distributed lag analysis. We adopted a genetic algorithm approach to select a set of helpful features among these lags’ indices. Subsequently, we employed the Random Forest classifier, to unveil hidden relationships between stock indices and a particular stock’s trend. We tested our model by using it to predict the trends of 15 stocks. Experiments showed that our forecasting model had 80% accuracy, significantly outperforming the dummy forecast. The S&P 500 was the most useful stock index, whereas the CAC40 was the least useful in the prediction of daily stock trends. This study provides evidence of the usefulness of employing international stock indices to predict stock trends.
The Rise of Platinum Open Access Journals with Both Impact Factors and Zero Article Processing Charges
Authors: Pearce Joshua M.
Published: April 2022

It appears that open access (OA) academic publishing is better for science because it provides frictionless access to make significant advancements in knowledge. OA also benefits individual researchers by providing the widest possible audience and concomitant increased citation rates. OA publishing rates are growing fast as increasing numbers of funders demand it and is currently dominated by gold OA (authors pay article processing charges (APCs)). Academics with limited financial resources perceive they must choose between publishing behind pay walls or using research funds for OA publishing. Worse, many new OA journals with low APCs did not have impact factors, which reduces OA selection for tenure track professors. Such unpleasant choices may be dissolving. This article provides analysis with a free and open source python script to collate all journals with impact factors with the now more than 12,000 OA journals that are truly platinum OA (neither the author nor the readers pay for the peer-reviewed work). The results found platinum OA is growing faster than both academic publishing and OA publishing. There are now over 350 platinum OA journals with impact factors over a wide variety of academic disciplines, giving most academics options for OA with no APCs.
Fluorine-Terminated Polycrystalline Diamond Solution-Gate Field-Effect Transistor Sensor with Smaller Amount of Unexpectedly Generated Fluorocarbon Film Fabricated by Fluorine Gas Treatment
Authors: Shintani Yukihiro , Kawarada Hiroshi
Published: April 2022

In this study, a partially fluorine-terminated solution-gate field-effect transistor sensor with a smaller amount of unexpectedly generated fluorohydrocarbon film on a polycrystalline diamond channel is described. A conventional method utilizing inductively coupled plasma with fluorocarbon gas leads the hydrogen-terminated diamond to transfer to a partially fluorine-terminated diamond (C–F diamond); an unexpected fluorohydrocarbon film is formed on the surface of the diamond. To overcome this issue, we newly applied fluorine gas for the fluoridation of the diamond. Analytical results of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry suggest that the fluorocarbon film does not exist or only a smaller amount of fluorocarbon film exists on the diamond surface. Conversely, the C–F diamond fabricated by the conventional method of inductively coupled plasma with a perfluoropropane gas (C3F8 gas) source possesses a certain amount of fluorocarbon film on its surface. The C–F diamond with a smaller amount of unexpectedly generated fluorohydrocarbon film possesses nearly ideal drain–source–voltage vs. gate–source–current characteristics, corresponding to metal–oxide–silicon semiconductor field-effect transistor theory. The results indicate that the fluorine gas (F2 gas) treatment proposed in this study effectively fabricates a C–F diamond sensor without unexpected semiconductor damage.
Bone Cements Used for Hip Prosthesis Fixation: The Influence of the Handling Procedures on Functional Properties Observed during In Vitro Study
Authors: Robu Alina , Ciocoiu Robert , Antoniac Aurora , Antoniac Iulian , Raiciu Anca Daniela , Dura Horatiu , Forna Norin , Cristea Mihai Bogdan , Carstoc Ioana Dana
Published: April 2022

The failure of hip prostheses is a problem that requires further investigation and analysis. Although total hip replacement is an extremely successful operation, the number of revision surgeries needed after this procedure is expected to continue to increase due to issues with both bone cement types and cementation techniques (depending on the producer). To conduct a comparative analysis, as a surgeon prepared the bone cement and introduced it in the body, this study’s team of researchers prepared three types of commercial bone cements with the samples mixed and placed them in specimens, following the timeline of the surgery. In order to evaluate the factors that influenced the chemical composition and structure of each bone cement sample under specific intraoperative conditions, analyses of the handling properties, mechanical properties, structure, and composition were carried out. The results show that poor handling can impede prosthesis–cement interface efficacy over time. Therefore, it is recommended that manual mixing be avoided as much as possible, as the manual preparation of the cement can sometimes lead to structural unevenness.
Friction Stir Spot Welding of Different Thickness Sheets of Aluminum Alloy AA6082-T6
Authors: Ahmed Mohamed M. Z. , El-Sayed Seleman Mohamed M. , Ahmed Essam , Reyad Hagar A. , Touileb Kamel , Albaijan Ibrahim
Published: April 2022

Friction stir spot welding (FSSW) is one of the important variants of the friction stir welding (FSW) process. FSSW has been developed mainly for automotive applications where the different thickness sheets spot welding is essential. In the present work, different thin thickness sheets (1 mm and 2 mm) of AA6082-T6 were welded using FSSW at a constant dwell time of 3 s and different rotation speeds of 400, 600, 800, and 1000 rpm. The FSSW heat input was calculated, and the temperature cycle experience during the FSSW process was recorded. Both starting materials and produced FSSW joints were investigated by macro- and microstructural investigation, a hardness test, and a tensile shear test, and the fractured surfaces were examined using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The macro examination showed that defect-free spot joints were produced at a wide range of rotation speeds (400–1000 rpm). The microstructural results in terms of grain refining of the stir zone (SZ) of the joints show good support for the mechanical properties of FSSW joints. It was found that the best welding condition was 600 rpm for achieving different thin sheet thicknesses spot joints with the SZ hardness of 95 ± 2 HV0.5 and a tensile shear load of 4300 ± 30 N.
Laser-Induced Erasable and Re-Writable Waveguides within Silver Phosphate Glasses
Authors: Tsimvrakidis Konstantinos , Konidakis Ioannis , Stratakis Emmanuel
Published: April 2022

Femtosecond direct laser writing is a well-established and robust technique for the fabrication of photonic structures. Herein, we report on the fabrication of buried waveguides in AgPO3 silver metaphosphate glasses, as well as, on the erase and re-writing of those structures, by means of a single femtosecond laser source. Based on the fabrication procedure, the developed waveguides can be erased and readily re-inscribed upon further femtosecond irradiation under controlled conditions. Namely, for the initial waveguide writing the employed laser irradiation power was 2 J/cm2 with a scanning speed of 5 mm/s and a repetition rate of 200 kHz. Upon enhancing the power to 16 J/cm2 while keeping constant the scanning speed and reducing the repetition rate to 25 kHz, the so formed patterns were readily erased. Then, upon using a laser power of 2 J/cm2 with a scanning speed of 1 mm/s and a repetition rate of 200 kHz the waveguide patterns were re-written inside the glass. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images at the cross-section of the processed glasses, combined with spatial Raman analysis revealed that the developed write/erase/re-write cycle, does not cause any structural modification to the phosphate network, rendering the fabrication process feasible for reversible optoelectronic applications. Namely, it is proposed that this non-ablative phenomenon lies on the local relaxation of the glass network caused by the heat deposited upon pulsed laser irradiation. The resulted waveguide patterns Our findings pave the way towards new photonic applications involving infinite cycles of write/erase/re-write processes without the need of intermediate steps of typical thermal annealing treatments.
On the De Blasi Measure of Noncompactness and Solvability of a Delay Quadratic Functional Integro-Differential Equation
Authors: El-Sayed Ahmed M. A. , Hamdallah Eman M. A. , Ba-Ali Malak M. S.
Published: April 2022

Quadratic integro-differential equations have been discussed in many works, for instance. Some analytic results on the existence and the uniqueness of problem solutions to quadratic integro-differential equations have been investigated in different classes. Various techniques have been applied such as measure of noncompactness, Schauder’s fixed point theorem and Banach contraction mapping. Here, we shall investigate quadratic functional integro-differential equations with delay. To prove the existence of solutions of the quadratic integro-differential equations, we use the technique of De Blasi measure of noncompactness. Moreover, we study some uniqueness results and continuous dependence of the solution on the initial condition and on the delay function. Some examples are presented to verify our results.
Metabolomics of Arterial Stiffness
Authors: Paapstel Kaido , Kals Jaak
Published: April 2022

Arterial stiffness (AS) is one of the earliest detectable signs of structural and functional alterations of the vessel wall and an independent predictor of cardiovascular events and death. The emerging field of metabolomics can be utilized to detect a wide spectrum of intermediates and products of metabolism in body fluids that can be involved in the pathogenesis of AS. Research over the past decade has reinforced this idea by linking AS to circulating acylcarnitines, glycerophospholipids, sphingolipids, and amino acids, among other metabolite species. Some of these metabolites influence AS through traditional cardiovascular risk factors (e.g., high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, diabetes, smoking), while others seem to act independently through both known and unknown pathophysiological mechanisms. We propose the term ‘arteriometabolomics’ to indicate the research that applies metabolomics methods to study AS. The ‘arteriometabolomics’ approach has the potential to allow more personalized cardiovascular risk stratification, disease monitoring, and treatment selection. One of its major goals is to uncover the causal metabolic pathways of AS. Such pathways could represent valuable treatment targets in vascular ageing.
Schistoscope: An Automated Microscope with Artificial Intelligence for Detection of Schistosoma haematobium Eggs in Resource-Limited Settings
Authors: Oyibo Prosper , Jujjavarapu Satyajith , Meulah Brice , Agbana Tope , Braakman Ingeborg , van Diepen Angela , Bengtson Michel , van Lieshout Lisette , Oyibo Wellington , Vdovine Gleb , Diehl Jan-Carel
Published: April 2022

For many parasitic diseases, the microscopic examination of clinical samples such as urine and stool still serves as the diagnostic reference standard, primarily because microscopes are accessible and cost-effective. However, conventional microscopy is laborious, requires highly skilled personnel, and is highly subjective. Requirements for skilled operators, coupled with the cost and maintenance needs of the microscopes, which is hardly done in endemic countries, presents grossly limited access to the diagnosis of parasitic diseases in resource-limited settings. The urgent requirement for the management of tropical diseases such as schistosomiasis, which is now focused on elimination, has underscored the critical need for the creation of access to easy-to-use diagnosis for case detection, community mapping, and surveillance. In this paper, we present a low-cost automated digital microscope—the Schistoscope—which is capable of automatic focusing and scanning regions of interest in prepared microscope slides, and automatic detection of Schistosoma haematobium eggs in captured images. The device was developed using widely accessible distributed manufacturing methods and off-the-shelf components to enable local manufacturability and ease of maintenance. For proof of principle, we created a Schistosoma haematobium egg dataset of over 5000 images captured from spiked and clinical urine samples from field settings and demonstrated the automatic detection of Schistosoma haematobium eggs using a trained deep neural network model. The experiments and results presented in this paper collectively illustrate the robustness, stability, and optical performance of the device, making it suitable for use in the monitoring and evaluation of schistosomiasis control programs in endemic settings.
A Thermodynamic and Experimental Assessment of the Recovery of Copper, Iron, Zinc, and Lead from Copper Slag
Authors: Zhang Baojing , Zhang Tingan , Dou Zhihe
Published: April 2022

With the increases in the costs of iron and copper ores, the incongruity between the significant imports of these ores into China and the ongoing accumulation of unused copper slag has greatly increased. Even so, there are few low-value methods for the utilization of copper slag. The present work demonstrates the processing of this material via reduction whilst smelting wear-resistant cast iron. This system is able to recover copper, iron, zinc, and lead. The FactSage software package was used to calculate the reduction thermodynamics of the copper slag, and suitable conditions for the processing of this slag were experimentally investigated. The thermodynamic calculations indicated that copper, zinc, and lead oxides could all be readily reduced whereas the reduction of sulfides was more difficult than that of oxides. The most suitable conditions for the reduction of copper slag comprised a temperature of 1450 °C, an alkalinity of 1.2, and a reducing agent ratio of 0.225. This newly developed process was found to recover 95.49% of copper and iron from the slag along with 83.54% of lead and 98.30% of zinc. The copper-containing molten iron obtained could be used to create wear-resistant cast iron.
Study on the Stress Variation Law of Inclined Surrounding Rock Roadway under the Influence of Mining
Authors: Jia Qian , Wu Hai , Ling Tao , Liu Kai , Peng Weiwei , Gao Xu , Zhao Yanlin
Published: April 2022

This study takes three roadways with similar burial depths in different strata in Xieqiao Mine of Huainan as its research object. This study involves the observation and analysis of borehole stress gauge data under the influence of mining pressure. The observation data show that: (1) under the influence of mining, the high-wall vertical stress increases as the distance from the roadway surface increases, and the peak point is at 6 m. The increment value of vertical stress at the low side has a maximum value at 8 m and a peak value at 14 m. The increase value of horizontal stress of the high side has two peaks, which are 4 m and 6 m, respectively. The increment of horizontal stress in low walls is also about 8 m. (2) The mining influence range of working face mining is about 150 m. Mining influence distance can be divided into three stages: 0–25 m, 25–60 m, and beyond 60 m. The increase of vertical and horizontal stress caused by mining increases sharply within 25 m from the working face. (3) The buried depth of the roadway has an influence on the range of mining influence and the increase of mining stress caused by working face mining. The more the buried depth of the roadway increases, the greater the range of mining influence and the increased value of mining stress. (4) After roadway excavation, the surface deformation of roadway surrounding rock reduces the increase of mining stress near the roadway surface. The mutual verification between the analysis results and theoretical calculation results is helpful to roadway support design and advanced support design of the working face.
Improved Integral Equation Method for Rapid 3-D Forward Modeling of Magnetotelluric
Authors: Luo Tianya , Chen Longwei , Hu Xiangyun
Published: April 2022

Computational cost tremendously restricts the wide application of conventional integral equation (IE) method in large-scale magnetotelluric (MT) modeling. A couple of obstacles limit the developments of traditional MT modeling based on the IE method. They are: O (N2) space complexity of memory requirements for storing coefficients of dense matrix; singularity of Dyadic Green’s function; low efficiency of using digital filtering, such as Hankel transform, to calculate the Bessel function integral within the dyadic Green’s function, as well as inefficiency of accumulative calculation of 3-D discrete convolution. To solve these problems, we use an analytical formula instead of the Hankel transform to compute the integral of the Bessel function and replace a block cell by a spherical cell with the same volume to integrate through the singularity. Because the coefficient matrices are symmetric and antisymmetric three-level block-Toeplitz (BT) and Toeplitz + Hankel matrices, only non-redundant entities of the matrix are computed and stored. Afterwards, 3-D fast Fourier transform (FFT) is used to expedite matrix–vector multiplication at each successive iteration when using the contraction iterative method to solve the system of equations, which decreases memory and time consumption sharply compared with the traditional IE method.
Accessing Metals from Low-Grade Ores and the Environmental Impact Considerations: A Review of the Perspectives of Conventional versus Bioleaching Strategies
Authors: Nkuna Rosina , Ijoma Grace N. , Matambo Tonderayi S. , Chimwani Ngonidzashe
Published: April 2022

Mining has advanced primarily through the use of two strategies: pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy. Both have been used successfully to extract valuable metals from ore deposits. These strategies, without a doubt, harm the environment. Furthermore, due to decades of excessive mining, there has been a global decline in high-grade ores. This has resulted in a decrease in valuable metal supply, which has prompted a reconsideration of these traditional strategies, as the industry faces the current challenge of accessing the highly sought-after valuable metals from low-grade ores. This review outlines these challenges in detail, provides insights into metal recovery issues, and describes technological advances being made to address the issues associated with dealing with low-grade metals. It also discusses the pragmatic paradigm shift that necessitates the use of biotechnological solutions provided by bioleaching, particularly its environmental friendliness. However, it goes on to criticize the shortcomings of bioleaching while highlighting the potential solutions provided by a bespoke approach that integrates research applications from omics technologies and their applications in the adaptation of bioleaching microorganisms and their interaction with the harsh environments associated with metal ore degradation.
A New Xanthone Glycoside from Mangifera indica L.: Physicochemical Properties and In Vitro Anti-Skin Aging Activities
Authors: El-Nashar Heba A. S. , El-labbad Eman M. , Al-Azzawi Mahmood A. , Ashmawy Naglaa S.
Published: April 2022

A new xanthone glycoside, 1,3,5,6-tetrahydroxyxanthone-C-4-β-d-glucopyranoside was isolated from the methanol extract of Mangifera indica leaves (Anacardiaceae) growing in Egypt. The structure was clarified by 1D and 2D-NMR spectroscopic data. The physicochemical properties of the compound such as lipophilicity, solubility, and formulation considerations were predicted via in silico ADMET technique using the SwissADME server. This technique provided Lipinski’s rule of five, such as GIT absorption, distribution, metabolism, and skin permeation. The in vitro inhibitory activities against aging-mediated enzymes such as collagenase, elastase, hyaluronidase, and tyrosinase were assessed. The compound exhibited remarkable anti-collagenase, anti-elastase, anti-hyaluronidase, and anti-tyrosinase effects with IC50 values of 1.06, 419.10, 1.65, and 0.48 µg/mL, respectively, compared to the positive control. The compound showed promising predicted aqueous solubility and reasonable skin penetration suggesting the suitability of the compound for topical formulation as an anti-aging agent for cosmetic preparations.
Effects of Compound Elicitors on the Biosynthesis of Triterpenoids and Activity of Defense Enzymes from Inonotus hispidus (Basidiomycetes)
Authors: Zhou Jiao , Lin Xinyue , Liu Shuangshuang , Wang Zhanbin , Liu Dongchao , Huo Yonghong , Li Dehai
Published: April 2022

Inonotus hispidus has various health-promoting activities, such as anticancer effects and immune-stimulating activity. The commercialization of valuable plant triterpenoids faces major challenges, including low abundance in natural hosts and costly downstream purification procedures. In this work, orthogonal design was used to compound methyl jasmonate (MeJA), salicylic acid (SA), oleic acid, and Cu2+, and the effects of combinations on the total triterpenes biosynthesized were studied. The optimal combination was screened out and its effect on the activity of PAL, CAT, and SOD was studied. The optimal concentration of oleic acid was 2% when MeJA was 100 mol/L, and the total triterpenoid content and mycelia production were 3.918 g and 85.17 mg/g, respectively. MeJA treatment induced oxidative stress, and at the same time increased the activity of related defense enzymes. Oleic acid is thought to regulate cell permeability by recombining cell membranes. It promotes the material exchange process between cells and the environment without affecting cell growth. When oleic acid was used in combination with MeJA, a synergistic effect on triterpene production was observed. In conclusion, our findings provide a strategy for triterpenoid enrichment of I. hispidus.
Newly Synthesized Thymol Derivative and Its Effect on Colorectal Cancer Cells
Authors: Blažíčková Michaela , Blaško Jaroslav , Kubinec Róbert , Kozics Katarína
Published: April 2022

Thymol affects various types of tumor cell lines, including colorectal cancer cells. However, the hydrophobic properties of thymol prevent its wider use. Therefore, new derivatives (acetic acid thymol ester, thymol β-D-glucoside) have been synthesized with respect to hydrophilic properties. The cytotoxic effect of the new derivatives on the colorectal cancer cell lines HT-29 and HCT-116 was assessed via MTT assay. The genotoxic effect was determined by comet assay and micronucleus analysis. ROS production was evaluated using ROS-Glo™ H2O2 Assay. We confirmed that one of the thymol derivatives (acetic acid thymol ester) has the potential to have a cyto/genotoxic effect on colorectal cancer cells, even at much lower (IC50~0.08 μg/mL) concentrations than standard thymol (IC50~60 μg/mL) after 24 h of treatment. On the other side, the genotoxic effect of the second studied derivative—thymol β-D-glucoside was observed at a concentration of about 1000 μg/mL. The antiproliferative effect of studied derivatives of thymol on the colorectal cancer cell lines was found to be both dose- and time-dependent at 100 h. Moreover, thymol derivative-treated cells did not show any significantly increased rate of micronuclei formation. New derivatives of thymol significantly increased ROS production too. The results confirmed that the effect of the derivative on tumor cells depends on its chemical structure, but further detailed research is needed. However, thymol and its derivatives have great potential in the prevention and treatment of colorectal cancer, which remains one of the most common cancers in the world.
Theoretical Approach for the Luminescent Properties of Ir(III) Complexes to Produce Red–Green–Blue LEC Devices
Authors: Santander-Nelli Mireya , Boza Bastián , Salas Felipe , Zambrano David , Rosales Luis , Dreyse Paulina
Published: April 2022

With an appropriate mixture of cyclometalating and ancillary ligands, based on simple structures (commercial or easily synthesized), it has been possible to design a family of eight new Ir(III) complexes (1A, 1B, 2B, 2C, 3B, 3C, 3D and 3E) useful as luminescent materials in LEC devices. These complexes involved the use of phenylpyridines or fluorophenylpyridines as cyclometalating ligands and bipyridine or phenanthroline-type structures as ancillary ligands. The emitting properties have been evaluated from a theoretical approach through Density Functional Theory and Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory calculations, determining geometric parameters, frontier orbital energies, absorption and emission energies, injection and transport parameters of holes and electrons, and parameters associated with the radiative and non-radiative decays. With these complexes it was possible to obtain a wide range of emission colours, from deep red to blue (701–440 nm). Considering all the calculated parameters between all the complexes, it was identified that 1B was the best red, 2B was the best green, and 3D was the best blue emitter. Thus, with the mixture of these complexes, a dual host–guest system with 3D-1B and an RGB (red–green–blue) system with 3D-2B-1B are proposed, to produce white LECs.
Structure-Based Virtual Screening towards the Discovery of Novel ULK1 Inhibitors with Anti-HCC Activities
Authors: Gao Yang , Zhou Ziying , Zhang Tingting , Xue Situ , Li Ke , Jiang Jiandong
Published: April 2022

There is an urgent need to develop new effective therapies for HCC. Our previous study identified ULK1 as the potential target for HCC therapy and screened the compound XST-14 as a specific inhibitor of ULK1 to suppress HCC progression. However, the poor manufacturability of XST-14 impeded the process of its clinical translation. In this study, we first generated pharmacophore models of ULK1 based on the X-ray structure of UKL1 in complex with ligands. We then screened the Specs chemical library for potential UKL1 inhibitors. By molecular docking, we screened out the 19 compounds through structure-based virtual screening. Through CCK8 activity screening on HCC cells, we found that ZZY-19 displayed obvious cell killing effects on HCC cells. SPR assay indicated that ZZY-19 had a higher binding affinity for ULK1 than XST-14. Moreover, ZZY-19 induced the effects of anti-proliferation, anti-invasion and anti-migration in HCC cells. Mechanistically, ZZY-19 induces autophagy inhibition by reducing the expression of ULK1 on HCC cells. Especially, the combination of ZZY-19 with sorafenib synergistically suppresses the progression of HCC in vivo. Taken together, ZZY-19 was a potential candidate compound that targeted ULK1 and possessed promising anti-HCC activities by inhibiting autophagy.
The Nanostructure of Polymer-Active Principle Microparticles Produced by Supercritical CO2 Assisted Processing
Authors: Reverchon Ernesto , Scognamiglio Mariarosa , Baldino Lucia
Published: April 2022

Traditional and supercritical CO2 assisted processes are frequently used to produce microparticles formed by a biopolymer containing an active principle to improve the bioavailability of the active principle. However, information about the internal organization of these microparticles is still scarce. In this work, a suspension of dextran + Fe3O4 nanoparticles (model system) and a solution of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) + curcumin were used to produce spherical microparticles by supercritical CO2 processing. Periodic dynamic light scattering measurements were used to analyze the evolution of the microparticles dissolution, size, and size distribution of the guest active principle in the polymeric matrix. It was found that curcumin was dispersed in the form of nanoparticles in the PVP microparticles, whose size largely depended on its relative concentration. These results were validated by transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy of the PVP microparticles and curcumin nanoparticles, before and after the dissolution tests.
A Starch- and Sucrose-Reduced Diet in Irritable Bowel Syndrome Leads to Lower Circulating Levels of PAI-1 and Visfatin: A Randomized Controlled Study
Authors: Roth Bodil , Myllyvainio Julia , D’Amato Mauro , Larsson Ewa , Ohlsson Bodil
Published: April 2022

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is characterized by gastrointestinal symptoms. Overweight and increased risk of metabolic syndromes/diabetes are observed in IBS, conditions associated with plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) and visfatin. The aim of this study was to measure blood levels of AXIN1, cholecystokinin (CCK), enkephalin, ghrelin, neuropeptide Y (NPY), PAI-1, and visfatin before and after a 4-week intervention with a starch- and sucrose-reduced diet (SSRD). A total of 105 IBS patients were randomized to either SSRD (n = 80) or ordinary diet (n = 25). Questionnaires were completed, and blood was analyzed for AXIN1 and hormones. AXIN1 (p = 0.001) and active ghrelin levels (p = 0.025) were lower in IBS than in healthy volunteers at baseline, whereas CCK and enkephalin levels were higher (p < 0.001). In the intervention group, total IBS-symptom severity score (IBS-SSS), specific gastrointestinal symptoms, psychological well-being, and the influence of intestinal symptoms on daily life were improved during the study, and weight decreased (p < 0.001 for all), whereas only constipation (p = 0.045) and bloating (p = 0.001) were improved in the control group. PAI-1 levels tended to be decreased in the intervention group (p = 0.066), with a difference in the decrease between groups (p = 0.022). Visfatin levels were decreased in the intervention group (p = 0.007). There were few correlations between hormonal levels and symptoms. Thus, this diet not only improves IBS symptoms but also seems to have a general health-promoting effect.
DHA-Enriched Fish Oil Ameliorates Deficits in Cognition Associated with Menopause and the APOE4 Genotype in Rodents
Authors: Pontifex Matthew G. , Martinsen Anneloes , Saleh Rasha N. M. , Harden Glenn , Fox Chris , Muller Michael , Vauzour David , Minihane Anne-Marie
Published: April 2022

Female APOE4 carriers have a greater predisposition to developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD) compared to their male counterparts, which may partly be attributed to menopause. We previously reported that a combination of menopause and APOE4 led to an exacerbation of cognitive and neurological deficits, which were associated with reduced brain DHA and DHA:AA ratio. Here, we explored whether DHA-enriched fish oil (FO) supplementation mitigated the detrimental impact of these risk factors. Whilst DHA-enriched fish oil improved recognition memory (NOR) in APOE4 VCD (4-vinylcyclohexene diepoxide)-treated mice (p < 0.05), no change in spatial working memory (Y-maze) was observed. FO supplementation increased brain DHA and nervonic acid and the DHA:AA ratio. The response of key bioenergetic and blood–brain barrier related genes and proteins provided mechanistic insights into these behavioural findings, with increased BDNF protein concentration as well as mitigation of aberrant Erβ, Cldn1 and Glut-5 expression in APOE4 mice receiving fish oil supplementation (p < 0.05). In conclusion, supplementation with a physiologically relevant dose of DHA-enriched fish oil appears to offer protection against the detrimental effects of menopause, particularly in “at-risk” APOE4 female carriers.
Antiseizure Effects of Cannabidiol Leading to Increased Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Gamma Levels in the Hippocampal CA3 Subfield of Epileptic Rats
Authors: Costa Anna-Maria , Russo Fabiana , Senn Lara , Ibatici Davide , Cannazza Giuseppe , Biagini Giuseppe
Published: April 2022

We evaluated the effects of cannabidiol (CBD) on seizures and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) levels in an animal model of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were continuously monitored by video-electrocorticography up to 10 weeks after an intraperitoneal kainic acid (15 mg/kg) injection. Sixty-seven days after the induction of status epilepticus and the appearance of spontaneous recurrent seizures in all rats, CBD was dissolved in medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oil and administered subcutaneously at 120 mg/kg (n = 10) or 12 mg/kg (n = 10), twice a day for three days. Similarly, the vehicle was administered to ten epileptic rats. Brain levels of PPARγ immunoreactivity were compared to those of six healthy controls. CBD at 120 mg/kg abolished the seizures in 50% of rats (p = 0.033 vs. pre-treatment, Fisher’s exact test) and reduced total seizure duration (p < 0.05, Tukey Test) and occurrence (p < 0.05). PPARγ levels increased with CBD in the hippocampal CA1 subfield and subiculum (p < 0.05 vs. controls, Holm–Šidák test), but only the highest dose increased the immunoreactivity in the hippocampal CA3 subfield (p < 0.001), perirhinal cortex, and amygdala (p < 0.05). Overall, these results suggest that the antiseizure effects of CBD are associated with upregulation of PPARγ in the hippocampal CA3 region.
Fast In Vitro Release and In Vivo Absorption of an Anti-Schizophrenic Drug Paliperidone from Its Soluplus®/TPGS Mixed Micelles
Authors: Zhou Ye , Wang Chenhui , Liu Wenqian , Yang Meiqing , Xu Bohui , Chen Yong
Published: April 2022

The purpose of this study was to develop a drug delivery system for paliperidone (PPD) in order to provide a more effective therapeutic strategy for patients with acute schizophrenia. PPD-loaded Soluplus®/TPGS mixed micelles (PPD-S/T-MM) were prepared using the thin-film hydration method. The critical micelle concentration (CMC) of blank S/T-MM was 4.77 × 10−2 mg/mL. PPD presented much higher solubility in PPD-S/T-MM formulation than that in pure water. The particle size of blank or drug loaded S/T-MM was around 60 nm. The polydispersity index (PDI) was less than 0.1. PPD-S/T-MM presented a nearly spherical shape under transmission electron microscopy. The encapsulation efficiency (EE%) of PPD-S/T-MM was higher than 94%. Based on the analysis of XRD and DSC, it was proved that PPD was incorporated in the core of the mixed micelles as amorphous dispersion or solid solution. PPD-S/T-MM were stable when they were undergoing dilution with water and the change of environmental pH. Although PPD-S/T-MM showed lower rates to release PPD than those from PPD raw material in acidic solution, they provided faster release rates in neutral conditions than those from PPD raw material who only showed modest dissolution in the same neutral condition. This proves that PPD-S/T-MM can release PPD in a more controlled manner. After oral administration of PPD-S/T-MM (dose of PPD, 6 mg/kg) in rats, the plasma concentration of PPD increased rapidly: Tmax was 0.83 ± 0.29 h, and Cmax was 844.33 ± 93.73 ng/mL. Oral administration of PPD suspension resulted in longer Tmax and lower Cmax. The relative oral bioavailability was about 158% for PPD-S/T-MM over PPD suspension. These findings confirm that PPD-S/T-MM can provide faster release in neutral conditions and better oral absorption in rats than those from PPD raw material, which should potentially benefit patients with acute schizophrenia.
Electrospun Medical Sutures for Wound Healing: A Review
Authors: Xu Lin , Liu Yanan , Zhou Wenhui , Yu Dengguang
Published: April 2022

With the increasing demand for wound healing around the world, the level of medical equipment is also increasing, but sutures are still the preferred medical equipment for medical personnel to solve wound closures. Compared with the traditional sutures, the nanofiber sutures produced by combining the preparation technology of drug-eluting sutures have greatly improved both mechanical properties and biological properties. Electrospinning technology has attracted more attention as one of the most convenient and simple methods for preparing functional nanofibers and the related sutures. This review firstly discusses the structural classification of sutures and the performance analysis affecting the manufacture and use of sutures, followed by the discussion and classification of electrospinning technology, and then summarizes the relevant research on absorbable and non-absorbable sutures. Finally, several common polymers and biologically active substances used in creating sutures are concluded, the related applications of sutures are discussed, and the future prospects of electrospinning sutures are suggested.
Changing the Paradigm-Controlling Polymer Morphology during 3D Printing Defines Properties
Authors: da Silva Daniel P. , Pinheiro João , Abdulghani Saba , Kamma Lorger Christina , Martinez Juan Carlos , Solano Eduardo , Mateus Artur , Pascoal-Faria Paula , Mitchell Geoffrey R.
Published: April 2022

Direct digital manufacturing consists of a set of techniques that enable products to be fabricated directly from their digital definition, without the use of complex tooling or moulds. This manufacturing approach streamlines prototyping and small-scale production, as well as the mass customization of parts with complex designs immediately fixed before fabrication. With broad applicability, there are clearly opportunities in the field of medical devices for its use. However, many of the developments of direct digital manufacturing focus on simply specifying the shape or the form of the product, and this limited scope throws away many of the particular advantages of direct digital manufacturing. This work is focused on remedying this situation so that the digital specification of the fabricated product includes the properties as well as the form of the product. We use in situ time-resolving small-angle X-ray scattering measurements performed at the ALBA Synchrotron Light Source in Barcelona to evaluate the control that can be exerted on the morphology of a semi-crystalline polymer during extruder-based 3D printing. We use this as a methodology for printing the patterns of the morphology of the polymer to realise the patterns of properties of the polymeric material, specifically the modulus of the polymer. We give an example of products produced in this manner that contain spatial variation in their properties.
The Influence of Thermal Treatments on Anchor Effect in NMT Products
Authors: Li Huazheng , Li Linling , Sha Ye , Lu Yuyuan , Teng Chao , Zhou Dongshan , Chen Wei , Xue Gi
Published: April 2022

The anchor effect in nanomolding technology (NMT) refers to the effect that polymer nanorods in nanopores on metal surfaces act as anchors to firmly bond the outside polymer components onto the metal surface. In this work, the influences of thermal treatments on the anchor effect are studied at microscopic level from the perspective of interfacial interaction by a model system (poly(n-butyl methacrylate) (PBMA) and alumina nanopore composite). The differential scanning calorimeter and fluorescence results indicate that the formation of a dense polymer layer in close contact with the pore walls after proper thermal treatments is the key for a strong interfacial interaction. Such polymer layers were formed in NMT products composed of PBMA and aluminum after slow cooling or annealing, with an up to eighteen-fold improvement of the interfacial bonding strength. The polymer chains near the nanopore walls eliminate the thermal stress induced by the mismatch of thermal expansion coefficients through relaxation over time and remain in close proximity with the pore walls during the cooling process of nanomolding. The above dynamic behaviors of the polymer chains ensure the formation of stable interfacial interaction, and then lead to the formation of the anchor effect.
Hydrodynamics of an Elliptical Squirmer
Authors: Liu Chen , Zhang Peijie , Lin Jianzhong , Ouyang Zhenyu
Published: April 2022

In this paper the propulsion of elliptical objects (called squirmers) by imposed tangential velocity along the surface is studied. For a symmetric velocity distribution (a neutral squirmer), pushers (increased tangential velocity on the downstream side of the ellipse) and pullers (increased tangential velocity on the upstream side of the ellipse), the hydrodynamic characteristics, are simulated numerically using the immersed boundary-lattice Boltzmann method. The accuracy of the numerical scheme and code are validated. The effects of Reynolds number (Re) and squirmer aspect ratio (AR) on the velocity u*, power expenditure P* and hydrodynamic efficiency η of the squirmer are explored. The results show that the change of u* along radial direction r* shows the relation of u*~r*−2 for the neutral squirmer, and u*~r*−1 for the pusher and puller. With the increase of Re, u* of the pusher increases monotonically, but u* of the puller decreases from Re = 0.01 to 0.3, and then increases from Re = 0.3 to 3. The values of P* of the pusher and puller are the same for 0.01 ≤ Re ≤ 0.3; P* of the pusher is larger than that of the puller when Re > 0.3. η of the pusher and puller increases with increasing Re, but the pusher has a larger η than the puller at the same Re. u* and P* decrease with increasing AR, and the pusher and puller have the largest and least u*, respectively. The values of P* of the pusher and puller are almost the same and are much larger than those of the neutral squirmer. With the increase of AR, η increases for the neutral squirmer, but changes non-monotonically for the pusher and puller.
Shear Strength of Adhesive Bonding of Plastics Intended for High Temperature Plastic Radiators
Authors: Astrouski Ilya , Kudelova Tereza , Kalivoda Josef , Raudensky Miroslav
Published: April 2022

The use of adhesive joints has increased in recent decades due to their competitive features in comparison with other joining methods. They can be used in specific applications where there is no possibility to use alternative connection techniques. Adhesive bonding was used to assemble the prototype of a high-temperature car radiator (operated up to 125 °C) with a total of 12,240 plastic tubes. This work aims to estimate the shear strength of different adhesives intended for bonding the plastics used to assemble the above-mentioned high-temperature radiator. Fourteen commercial adhesives were tested with one thermoset plastic (G11 glass fabric epoxy sheets) and two glass-reinforced thermoplastics (polyamide PA66-GF30 and polyphenylene sulfide PPS-GF40). Tests were conducted according EN 1465 to determine tensile lap-shear strength of bonding. Testing showed that only 4 of the 14 adhesives tested exhibit substantial bonding strength at temperatures above 120 °C and only one is resistant at 180 °C. The AS60/AW60 adhesive showed the best results for all three substrates: 1.6 MPa for epoxy sheets and PA66-GF, and 1.4 MPa for PPS-GF40. Additionally, the influence of the surface treatment with cold plasma was evaluated on a clean and activated bonding surface, causing a 30% increase in the shear strength.
CCTNet: Coupled CNN and Transformer Network for Crop Segmentation of Remote Sensing Images
Authors: Wang Hong , Chen Xianzhong , Zhang Tianxiang , Xu Zhiyong , Li Jiangyun
Published: April 2022

Semantic segmentation by using remote sensing images is an efficient method for agricultural crop classification. Recent solutions in crop segmentation are mainly deep-learning-based methods, including two mainstream architectures: Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) and Transformer. However, these two architectures are not sufficiently good for the crop segmentation task due to the following three reasons. First, the ultra-high-resolution images need to be cut into small patches before processing, which leads to the incomplete structure of different categories’ edges. Second, because of the deficiency of global information, categories inside the crop field may be wrongly classified. Third, to restore complete images, the patches need to be spliced together, causing the edge artifacts and small misclassified objects and holes. Therefore, we proposed a novel architecture named the Coupled CNN and Transformer Network (CCTNet), which combines the local details (e.g., edge and texture) by the CNN and global context by Transformer to cope with the aforementioned problems. In particular, two modules, namely the Light Adaptive Fusion Module (LAFM) and the Coupled Attention Fusion Module (CAFM), are also designed to efficiently fuse these advantages. Meanwhile, three effective methods named Overlapping Sliding Window (OSW), Testing Time Augmentation (TTA), and Post-Processing (PP) are proposed to remove small objects and holes embedded in the inference stage and restore complete images. The experimental results evaluated on the Barley Remote Sensing Dataset present that the CCTNet outperformed the single CNN or Transformer methods, achieving 72.97% mean Intersection over Union (mIoU) scores. As a consequence, it is believed that the proposed CCTNet can be a competitive method for crop segmentation by remote sensing images.
Antarctic-Scale Ice Flow Lines Map Generation and Basin Delineation
Authors: Yang Ze , Kang Zhizhong
Published: April 2022

Ice flow lines are the most dominant feature of ice sheet surfaces. Accurate delineation of basins is a prerequisite for mass balance. We therefore propose a new weight balance-based approach to extract the present most comprehensive ice flow lines and then re-delineate the Antarctic basin on this basis. In our approach, we define three impact factors to represent directional accuracy, smoothness, and physical character. Following this, a weight balance-based method is proposed, in which those factors are integrated via weights, to determine the pointing pixels (points or subpixels of the ice flow line). After that, the ice flow lines are continuously tracked. Finally, Antarctic basins were re-delineated based on it. The results indicate that the derived ice flow lines exhibit a rational ice flow pattern against the DEM and the proposed method remarkably improves the performance of results. Furthermore, compared with the Antarctic IMBIE (Ice sheet Mass Balance Inter-Comparison Exercise) basins, the redivided basins exhibit slight diversity, with differences in area and length of less than 11% and a directional accuracy of less than 1° (covering more than 90% of area). As a result, the redivided basins are beneficial to the investigation of the in-depth mechanism of ice shelf calving and mass balance in the Antarctic.