bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Intervensi Pemerintah Desa dalam Program Pembangunan Pertanian: Suatu Pendekatan Ekonomi Politik di Konteks UU Desa 2014
Authors: Komang Ariyanto Komang Ariyanto
Published: December 2022

In the context of the 2014 Village Law, village government intervention in agricultural development is very important in improving the welfare of village communities. This study aims to determine the intervention of the village government on agricultural development programs and to find out the opportunities and limitations of the village government in agricultural development in the village. This research uses a qualitative method with a literature study approach. This study uses Henry Bernstein's theory of agrarian political economy. Data collection was carried out through secondary data sourced from books, journals, the internet, official documents related to village government and agricultural development. Data analysis used the interactive model Miles, Huberman and Saldana. The scope of this research is limited to village government intervention in the planning and implementation of agricultural development. The findings in this study are that the change in the system from centralization to decentralization has also changed the planning of agricultural development programs in villages that are more decentralized, participatory between the community and the village government. The recommendations/implications of these findings are expected to be able to contribute findings/ideas to studies of rural development in Indonesia, particularly the role of village governments in agricultural development and a political economy perspective in agricultural development to alleviate poverty, food security, and increase the income of people in rural areas. In addition, recommendations for village government intervention in development that are more pro-poor in rural areas.
Local Economic Institutional Capacity Development (Comparative Study in Value Perspective)
Authors: Akadun Akadun
Published: December 2022

The performance of local economic institutions in a country is very strategic to improve the welfare of citizens. Therefore, research on strategies for developing local economic institutions to improve their performance is very significant. This study aims to compare several strategies for developing economic institutions in several countries. More specifically, this study compares the value systems that support local economic institutional performance.  The effectiveness of local economic institutional capacity development is not only determined by the professionalism of managers, determination of the type of business, community involvement, and innovative management systems but is also influenced by the integration of the local economic institutional development program with development planning, visionary local leadership, and a supportive value system. Therefore, the makers and implementers of the local economic institutional capacity development program not only pay attention to the professionalism of managers, determining the type of business, community involvement, and innovative management systems but are also required to integrate the local economic institutional capacity development program with development planning, requiring visionary local leadership, adequate management default,  and have a value system that supports performance.
Budaya Organisasi dalam Mendukung Merdeka Belajar-Kampus Merdeka
Authors: Istianda Meita , Anthony Steven
Published: December 2022

Merdeka Belajar-Kampus Merdeka, including political policies, which are relevant to the development of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 era. This political policy can also answer the problem of the impact of the Covid 19 pandemic on the teaching and learning process in higher education. The political policy of Merdeka belajar-Kampus Merdeka will determine the direction of the future development of Indonesian education. For this political policy to be accepted, it must be supported by an adaptive organizational culture. This research discusses the political policy of Merdeka belajarKampuss Merdeka, and the organizational culture that universities must prepare to support these political policies. This research is qualitative research. Retrieval of data, through literature study. The results of the research show that the political policy of Merdeka Belajar-Kampuss Merdeka is predicted not to be followed by an adaptive organizational culture in support of Merdeka belajaKampusus Merdeka.
Correlation of Communication Competence With The Performance of State Civil Apparatus
Authors: Ummi Kalsum
Published: December 2022

This study aims to describe the relationship between communication competencies in aspects of communication knowledge, communication skills, and attitudes toward communicating with employee performance. The research uses a quantitative approach to collect data from the entire population consisting of all employees of the state civil apparatus at the University of West Sulawesi. The sampling was conducted proportionally stratified sampling using Slovin formula, the number of samples is 64 respondents. Research data is obtained through questionnaires, interviews, field observations, and document analysis. Data analysis is conducted through two stages, namely descriptive analysis and inferential statistical analysis using the Pearson correlation test. The results of the research obtained showed the communication competence of employees in principle has been carried out well in aspects of communication knowledge, communication skills, and communication attitudes. Correlation test results showed a positive relationship between communication competence and employee performance as evidenced by the r-count value of 0.381 > r-table 0.244. The value of coefficient determination of 0.381 means that the variance of employee performance can be explained by a competency variance of 38.1% while the rest correlates with other variables. The low significance of this variable relationship provides information that to improve employee performance it is necessary to strengthen other variables.
Divergent taxonomic responses of below-ground microbial communities to silicate fertilizer and biofertilizer amendments in two rice ecotypes
Authors: Mallano Ali Inayat , Zhao Xianlin , Wang Haifeng , Jiang Guangpin , Sun Botong , Huang Chao
Published: December 2022

Using silicate fertilizer and bacterial inoculum as biofertilizer is significant for increasing soil silicon (Si) availability and rice agronomic performance. To use microbial technology for sustainable agriculture, it is crucial to have a deeper knowledge of how microbial populations shift among the plant hosts and related compartments, as well as how they respond to various fertilization models. In this study, the effects of silicate fertilizer, a single bacterial strain Bacillus mucilagniosis as biofertilizer, and their integrated application on soil physiochemical properties and soil microbiota structure, composition, and diversity in two eco-geographically diverse races (Indica and Japonica rice) were evaluated. Plant compartment, cultivar type, and fertilizer treatments contributed to microbiome variation. Indica and Japonica harbor different root microbiota; notably, taxa enriched in the rhizosphere soil were more diverse than in the root. Bacterial genera Leptonema, Azospira, Aquabacterium, Fluviicola, Aquabacterium, Leptonema, and fungal genera Metarhizium, Malassezia, and Cladosporium all were found in the rice core microbiome. Both silicate and biofertilizer applications increase the relative abundance of Betaproteobacteria, Deltaproteobacteria, and Actinobacteria, while suppressing fungal pathogens Alternaria and Fusarium. Silicate and bacterial inoculum applications increased the soil pH, available silicon content (ASi), available phosphorous (AP), available potassium (AK), and organic carbon (OC), while reduced the total nitrogen (N). These changes were also associated with major bacterial phyla Spirochaetes, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, and Proteobacteria, except for Acidobacteria, and fungal phyla Ascomycota, Mortierellomycota and unassigned fungi. Several treatment-specific biomarkers were revealed through Linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) analysis. In conclusion, the change in the structure of root-associated communities driven by plant compartment and genetics suggests dynamic interactions in the host plant microbiome. Short-term silicate and biofertilizer amendments improved soil physiochemical status and altered bacterial and saprotrophic fungal communities, which have important implications for sustainable rice production.
Comparative analysis of plant transient expression vectors for targeted N-glycosylation
Authors: Eidenberger Lukas , Eminger Florian , Castilho Alexandra , Steinkellner Herta
Published: December 2022

While plant-based transient expression systems have demonstrated their potency to rapidly express economically feasible quantities of complex human proteins, less is known about their compatibility with posttranslational modification control. Here we investigated three commonly used transient expression vectors, pEAQ, magnICON and pTra for their capability to express a multi-component protein with controlled and modified N-glycosylation. Cetuximab (Cx), a therapeutic IgG1 monoclonal antibody, which carries next to the conserved Fc an additional N-glycosylation site (GS) in the Fab-domain, was used as model. While pEAQ and pTra produce fully assembled Cx at similar levels in N. benthamiana, the yield of magnICON-Cx was twice as high. When expressed in wild type plants, both Cx-GSs exhibited typical plant N-glycans decorated with plant-specific xylose and fucose. Likewise, Cx generated in the glycoengineered ΔXTFT line carried mainly complex N-glycans lacking plant specific residues. Exposure to different engineering settings (encompassing stable lines and transient approaches) towards human galactosylation and sialylation resulted in Cx carrying targeted N-glycans at similar quantities using all three expression vectors. Collectively, our results exhibit the universal application of plant-based glycoengineering, thereby increasing the attractivity of the ambitious expression platform.
Wilson’s disease: Food therapy out of trace elements
Authors: Li Wen-Jie , Chen Huan-Ling , Wang Bin , Yao Lei , Wang Xiao-Ping
Published: December 2022

Hepatolenticular degeneration, also known as Wilson’s disease (WD), is an autosomal recessive inheritance nervous disorder of copper metabolism. The treatment of hepatolenticular degeneration emphasizes the combination of medical therapy and dietary therapy, such as a high zinc, low copper and sulfhydryl rich diet. Food therapy of WD based on trace elements is presented in this paper.
Vascular dysfunction in HFpEF: Potential role in the development, maintenance, and progression of the disease
Authors: Saavedra-Alvarez Andrea , Pereyra Katherine V. , Toledo Camilo , Iturriaga Rodrigo , Del Rio Rodrigo
Published: December 2022

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is a complex, heterogeneous disease characterized by autonomic imbalance, cardiac remodeling, and diastolic dysfunction. One feature that has recently been linked to the pathology is the presence of macrovascular and microvascular dysfunction. Indeed, vascular dysfunction directly affects the functionality of cardiomyocytes, leading to decreased dilatation capacity and increased cell rigidity, which are the outcomes of the progressive decline in myocardial function. The presence of an inflammatory condition in HFpEF produced by an increase in proinflammatory molecules and activation of immune cells (i.e., chronic low-grade inflammation) has been proposed to play a pivotal role in vascular remodeling and endothelial cell death, which may ultimately lead to increased arterial elastance, decreased myocardium perfusion, and decreased oxygen supply to the tissue. Despite this, the precise mechanism linking low-grade inflammation to vascular alterations in the setting of HFpEF is not completely known. However, the enhanced sympathetic vasomotor tone in HFpEF, which may result from inflammatory activation of the sympathetic nervous system, could contribute to orchestrate vascular dysfunction in the setting of HFpEF due to the exquisite sympathetic innervation of both the macro and microvasculature. Accordingly, the present brief review aims to discuss the main mechanisms that may be involved in the macro- and microvascular function impairment in HFpEF and the potential role of the sympathetic nervous system in vascular dysfunction.
The Semiotic Bundle as a reflective tool in pre-service mathematics teachers’ education
Authors: Faggiano Eleonora
Published: December 2022

Contemporary discussions in mathematics education have underlined the role of embodied cognition in mathematics thinking and in conceiving teaching-learning processes as multimodal. In this work, we refer to the Semiotic Bundle approach, according to which teaching-learning processes can be described through the production and evolution of different signs. In this perspective, teacher education should help teachers learn how to pay attention to the multimodality of teaching-learning processes. In this paper, we discuss findings from a pre-service teachers’ professional development experience to show how the Semiotic Bundle can be used as a tool for teachers’ reflection on the teaching-learning processes. The results show that, when pre-service teachers analyzed teaching-learning episodes using the Semiotic Bundle tool, they experienced a reflective activity, through which they became aware of the relationship between the produced signs and the construction of mathematical meanings. The study concludes that the Semiotic Bundle may serve as a reflective tool to be used in pre-service teachers’ education.
Preoperative circulating peroxiredoxin 1 levels as a predictor of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease remission after laparoscopic bariatric surgery
Authors: Cheng Xiaoyun , Fu Zhibing , Xie Wei , Zhu Liyong , Meng Jie
Published: December 2022

Background

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is associated with obesity and insulin resistance and can be improved after bariatric surgery. Circulating Peroxiredoxin 1 (Prdx1) protein was reported to regulate energy metabolism and inflammation. This study aimed to investigate the roles of serum prdx1 in NAFLD patients with obesity undergoing LSG and to develop a prognostic model to predict the remission of severe NAFLD.

Methods

The data of 93 participants from a tertiary hospital were assessed. Before laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) and three months after LSG, anthropometric parameters, laboratory biochemical data, and abdominal B-ultrasound results were collected, and their hepatic steatosis index (HSI) and triglyceride-glucose index (TyG) were calculated. A NAFLD improvement (NAFLD-I) nomogram prediction model was constructed using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression and multiple regression, and its predictive ability was verified in a validation cohort.

Results

The baseline Prdx1 (OR: 0.887, 95% CI: 0.816-0.963, p=0.004), preoperative TyG (OR: 8.207, 95% CI: 1.903-35.394, p=0.005) and HSI (OR: 0.861, 95% CI: 0.765-0.969, p=0.013) levels were independently associated with NAFLD-I at three months after LSG in NAFLD patients with obesity. In the primary and validation cohorts, the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUC) of the developed nomogram model was 0.891 and 0.878, respectively. The preoperative circulating Prdx1 levels of NAFLD patients with obesity were significantly reduced after LSG (25.32 [18.99-30.88] vs. 23.34 [15.86-26.42], p=0.001). Prdx1 was related to obesity and hepatic steatosis based on correlation analysis.

Conclusion

The nomogram based on preoperative serum prdx1, HSI and TyG could be an effective tool for predicting remission of severe NAFLD after LSG.
Agreement between self-report and administrative health data on occurrence of non-cancer chronic disease among participants of the BC generations project
Authors: Darvishian Maryam , Chu Jessica , Simkin Jonathan , Woods Ryan , Bhatti Parveen
Published: December 2022

Population-based studies of non-cancer chronic disease often rely on self-reported data for disease diagnosis, which may be incomplete, unreliable and suffer from bias. Recently, the British Columbia Generations Project (BCGP; n = 29,736) linked self-reported chronic disease history data to a Chronic Disease Registry (CDR) that applied algorithms to administrative health data to ascertain diagnoses of multiple chronic diseases in the Province of British Columbia. For the 10 diseases captured by both self-report and the CDR, including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes, hypertension, multiple sclerosis, myocardial infarction, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and stroke, we calculated Cohen's kappa coefficient to examine concordance of chronic disease status (i.e., ever/never diagnosed) between the data sources. Using CDR data as the gold standard, we also calculated sensitivity, specificity, and positive-predictive value (PPV) for self-reported chronic disease occurrence. The prevalence of each chronic disease was similar across both data sources. Substantial levels of concordance (0.66–0.73) and moderate to high sensitivities (0.64–0.92), specificities (0.98–0.99) and PPVs (0.55–0.84) were observed for diabetes, hypertension, multiple sclerosis, and myocardial infarction. We did observe degree of concordance to vary by age, sex, body mass index (BMI), health perception, and ethnicity across most of the chronic diseases that were evaluated. While administrative health data are imperfect, they are less likely to suffer from bias, making them a reasonable gold standard. Our results demonstrate that for at least some chronic diseases, self-report may be a reasonable method for case ascertainment. However, characteristics of the study population will likely have impacts on the quality of the data.
Increased expression of the ectoenzyme CD38 in peripheral blood plasmablasts and plasma cells of patients with systemic sclerosis
Authors: Agarbati S. , Benfaremo D. , Viola N. , Paolini C. , Svegliati Baroni S. , Funaro A. , Moroncini G. , Malavasi F. , Gabrielli A.
Published: December 2022

Objective

CD38 is a type II glycoprotein highly expressed on plasmablasts and on short- and long-lived plasma cells, but weakly expressed by lymphoid, myeloid, and non-hematopoietic cells. CD38 is a target for therapies aimed at depleting antibody-producing plasma cells. Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an immune-mediated disease with a well-documented pathogenic role of B cells. We therefore analyzed CD38 expression in different subsets of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from a cohort of SSc patients.

Methods

Cell surface expression of CD38 was evaluated on PBMCs from SSc patients using eight-color flow cytometry analysis performed with a FacsCanto II (BD). Healthy individuals were used as controls (HC).

Results

Forty-six SSc patients (mean age 56, range 23-79 years; 38 females and 8 males), and thirty-two age- and sex-matched HC were studied. Twenty-eight patients had the limited cutaneous form and eighteen the diffuse cutaneous form of SSc. The mean disease duration was 7 years. Fourteen patients were on immunosuppressive therapy (14 MMF, 5 RTX). The total percentages of T, B and NK cells were not different between SSc and HC. Compared to HC, SSc patients had higher levels of CD3+CD38+ T cells (p<0.05), higher percentage (p<0.001) of CD3+CD4+CD25+FOXP3+ regulatory T cells, lower percentage (p<0.05) of CD3+CD56+ NK T cells. Moreover, SSc patients had higher levels of CD24highCD19+CD38high regulatory B cells than HC (p<0.01), while the amount of CD24+CD19+CD38+CD27+ memory B cells was lower (p<0.001). Finally, the percentages of circulating CD38highCD27+ plasmablasts and CD138+CD38high plasma cells were both higher in the SSc group than in HC (p<0.001). We did not observe any correlations between these immunophenotypes and disease subsets or duration, and ongoing immunosuppressive treatment.

Conclusions

The increased expression of CD38 in peripheral blood plasmablasts and plasma cells of SSc patients may suggest this ectoenzyme as a candidate therapeutic target, under the hypothesis that depletion of these cells may beneficially downregulate the chronic immune response in SSc patients. Validation of this data in multicenter cohorts shall be obtained prior to clinical trials with existing anti-CD38 drugs.
HLA-G 3’UTR polymorphism diplotypes and soluble HLA-G plasma levels impact cervical cancer susceptibility and prognosis
Authors: Gan Jun , Di Xing-Hong , Yan Zi-Yi , Gao Yang-Fan , Xu Hui-Hui
Published: December 2022

Background

Human leukocyte antigen G (HLA-G) is an immune checkpoint molecule with relevance in several cancers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential role of soluble HLA-G (sHLA-G), its genetic polymorphisms and its haplotype structure in the susceptibility and prognosis of primary cervical cancer in a Chinese Han population.

Methods

We investigated sHLA-G plasma levels and 3’ untranslated region (3’UTR) polymorphisms through ELISA and direct DNA sequencing, respectively, in cervical cancer patients (120 cases) and healthy control women (96 cases). The data were analyzed for associations using PowerMarker, Haploview, and GraphPad Prism.

Results

In this study, 8 polymorphic sites, 16 haplotypes and 23 diplotypes in the HLA-G 3’UTR were identified in our study population. We observed that each pair of 8 polymorphic sites exhibited linkage disequilibrium. The heterozygote CT genotype at position +3422 (rs17875408) was more common in cervical cancer patients than in healthy women (OR=5.285, P<0.05). Haplotypes UTR-1, UTR-3, and UTR-7 accounted for more than 85% of both groups, but no significant difference was found. The frequency of the UTR-1/UTR-3 diplotype in patients was significantly higher than that in controls (P<0.05). In addition, we further observed that HLA-G 3’UTR polymorphisms may influence the sHLA-G plasma level in patients’ peripheral blood, especially 14 bp Ins/Del (rs371194629) and +3142 C/G (rs1063320). A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that the sHLA-G level had good diagnostic performance in differentiating patients with cervical cancer from healthy women (AUC>0.7). Among patients, mean sHLA-G levels increased with increasing FIGO stages but were not related to the overall survival time.

Conclusions

The results of the present study enhance our understanding of how HLA-G 3’UTR polymorphisms can influence the peripheral sHLA-G plasma level and play a key role in cervical carcinogenesis. This study further confirmed that sHLA-G may represent a novel plasma biomarker for the prognosis and potential therapeutic target of cervical cancer.
Neutralizing antibody titers to Omicron six months after vaccination with BNT162b2 in Colombia
Authors: Zapata-Cardona María I. , Flórez-Álvarez Lizdany , Lopera Tulio J. , Chvatal-Medina Mateo , Zapata-Builes Wildeman , Diaz Francisco J. , Aguilar-Jimenez Wbeimar , Taborda Natalia , Hernandez Juan C. , Rugeles Maria T.
Published: December 2022

The emergence of the Omicron variant has generated concerns about the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines. We evaluated the serum neutralizing activity of antibodies against the Omicron (lineage BA.1.1) by plaque reduction neutralizing test, as well as its correlation with age and gender, in a Colombian cohort six months after being vaccinated with BNT162b2 (Pfizer/BioNTech). Compared to all other variants analyzed, a significantly lower neutralizing activity (p<0.001) was observed against Omicron. Interestingly, older individuals exhibited lower titers against Omicron than those younger than 40. No statistical differences in neutralizing activity were observed according to gender. Our results showed that two doses of BNT162b2 might not provide robust protection against the Omicron variant over time. It is necessary to consider including changes in the composition of the vaccines to protect against new emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2 and campaigns to implement additional booster vaccinations.
The Xbp1-regulated transcription factor Mist1 restricts antibody secretion by restraining Blimp1 expression in plasma cells
Authors: Wöhner Miriam , Pinter Theresa , Bönelt Peter , Hagelkruys Astrid , Kostanova-Poliakova Daniela , Stadlmann Johannes , Konieczny Stephen F. , Fischer Maria , Jaritz Markus , Busslinger Meinrad
Published: December 2022

Antibody secretion by plasma cells provides acute and long-term protection against pathogens. The high secretion potential of plasma cells depends on the unfolded protein response, which is controlled by the transcription factor Xbp1. Here, we analyzed the Xbp1-dependent gene expression program of plasma cells and identified Bhlha15 (Mist1) as the most strongly activated Xbp1 target gene. As Mist1 plays an important role in other secretory cell types, we analyzed in detail the phenotype of Mist1-deficient plasma cells in Cd23-Cre Bhlha15fl/fl mice under steady-state condition or upon NP-KLH immunization. Under both conditions, Mist1-deficient plasma cells were 1.4-fold reduced in number and exhibited increased IgM production and antibody secretion compared to control plasma cells. At the molecular level, Mist1 regulated a largely different set of target genes compared with Xbp1. Notably, expression of the Blimp1 protein, which is known to activate immunoglobulin gene expression and to contribute to antibody secretion, was 1.3-fold upregulated in Mist1-deficient plasma cells, which led to a moderate downregulation of most Blimp1-repressed target genes in the absence of Mist1. Importantly, a 2-fold reduction of Blimp1 (Prdm1) expression was sufficient to restore the cell number and antibody expression of plasma cells in Prdm1Gfp/+Cd23-Cre Bhlha15fl/fl mice to the same level seen in control mice. Together, these data indicate that Mist1 restricts antibody secretion by restraining Blimp1 expression, which likely contributes to the viability of plasma cells.
The development of an artificial intelligence-based digital pathology for neglected tropical diseases: A platform specific analysis of the World Health Organization diagnostic target product profile for soil-transmitted helminthiasis
Authors: Ward Peter , Broadfield Lindsay A. , Dahlberg Peter , Leta Gemechu , Mekonnen Zeleke , Nabatte Betty , Kabatereine Narcis , Brooks Alan , Orrling Kristina M. , Gomes Mireille , Van Hoecke Sofie , Levecke Bruno , Stuyver Lieven J.
Published: December 2022

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently published target product profiles (TPPs) for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) to inform and accelerate the development of diagnostics tools necessary to achieve targets in the decade ahead. These TPPs describe the minimal and ideal requirements for various diagnostic needs related to NTD specific use-cases. An early step towards the manufacture and implementation of new diagnostics is to critically review the TPPs and translate these into an initial design and ultimately into user requirement specifications (URS). Artificial intelligence-based digital pathology (AI-DP) may overcome critical shortcomings of current standards for most NTDs reliant on microscopy, such as poor reproducibility and error-prone manual read-out. Furthermore, a digitalised workflow can create opportunities to reduce operational costs via increased throughput and automated data capture, analysis, and reporting. Despite these promising benefits, a critical review of the NTD TPPs with consideration to an AI-DP diagnostic solution is lacking. We present a systematic analysis of one of the WHO TPPs with the aim to inform the development of a URS for an AI-DP solution for NTDs. As a case study we focused on monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of programs designed to control soil-transmitted helminths (STHs). To this end, we start by outlining a brief overview of diagnostic needs for STHs, after which we systematically analyse the recently published WHO TPPs, highlighting the technical considerations for an AI-DP diagnostic solution to meet the minimal requirements for this TPP. Finally, we further reflect on the feasibility of an AI-DP informing STH programs towards the WHO 2030 targets in due time.
Age and sex differences in in-air vocalization characteristics of spotted seal pups from newborn to 1 year old in captivity
Authors: Zhang Peijun , Yang Liangliang , Han Jiabo , Yang Yong , Lu Zhichuang , Li Songhai
Published: December 2022

Acoustic parameters of spotted seals (Phoca largha), including the duration, peak frequency, and peak-to-peak source level, are reported to vary between different ages and sexes; however, to our knowledge, the vocal ontogeny of the spotted seal from newborn to 1 year old is yet to be studied. In the present study, we recorded and analyzed vocalizations of human-cared spotted seals from the Liaodong Bay colony from newborn to 1 year old, aiming to document the first-year development of seal vocalizations. We divided the spotted seal pups into four age groups (i.e., 1–3-month, 4–6-month, 7–9-month, and 10–12-month groups) for both sexes. The results show significant differences in sex patterns in sound parameters in terms of duration, peak frequency, and peak-to-peak source level. The vocalizations of female seal pups were longer in duration but lower in peak frequency and peak-to-peak source level than those of male pups. All three sound parameters were significantly different across different age groups. Specifically, the 1–3-month group had significantly lower values in duration, peak frequency, and peak-to-peak source level than the three other age groups. The 10–12-month group had significantly higher values in duration and peak-to-peak source level than the three other age groups. Our results also indicate a sex-specific development pattern of seal vocalizations from 1 year old until sexual maturity. Our findings will benefit the evaluation of anthropogenic noise impacts on spotted seal pups and further conservation of the seal population.
Audiograms and click spectra of seven novel and seldom-tested odontocetes
Authors: Houser Dorian S. , Noble Lauren , Fougeres Erin , Mulsow Jason , Finneran James J.
Published: December 2022

The use of auditory evoked potentials has been promoted as a means by which to collect audiometric information from odontocete cetaceans that are rarely encountered in stranding situations. This article presents the results of auditory evoked potential hearing tests collected from stranded odontocetes over nearly a decade. For six species, no audiograms previously existed – the dwarf sperm whale (Kogia sima), pygmy sperm whale (Kogia breviceps), northern right whale dolphin (Lissodelphis borealis), melon-headed whale (Peponocephala electra), long-beaked common dolphin (Delphinus capensis), and Atlantic spotted dolphin (Stenella frontalis). Additional hearing information was gathered for the pygmy killer whale (Feresa attenuata), a species for which only two prior audiograms had been collected. Audiograms for the delphinids demonstrated a typical dolphin-like form with upper-frequency limits of hearing > 149 kHz, except for the pygmy killer whales whose upper-frequency limit was between 103-107 kHz. The kogiid audiograms had a narrower region of increased sensitivity (80-128 kHz) closely aligned with their narrowband, high-frequency echolocation signals. Distinctions between kogiids and delphinids existed in the latencies of peaks of click-evoked auditory brainstem responses, with longer interwave intervals between P4 and N5 in the kogiids (mean of 0.60 ms vs. a mean of 0.37 ms in the delphinids). Modulation rate transfer functions collected in three of the species, suggested group-wide similarities in temporal processing capabilities.
End-to-end semi-supervised deep learning model for surface crack detection of infrastructures
Authors: Mohammed Mohammed Ameen , Han Zheng , Li Yange , Al-Huda Zaid , Li Changli , Wang Weidong
Published: December 2022

Surface crack detection is essential for evaluating the safety and performance of civil infrastructures, and automated inspections are beneficial in providing objective results. Deep neural network-based segmentation methods have demonstrated promising potential in this purpose. However, the majority of these methods are fully supervised, requiring extensive manual labeling at pixel level, which is a vital but time-consuming and expensive task. In this paper, we propose a novel semi-supervised learning model for crack detection. The proposed model employs a modified U-Net, which has half the parameters of the original U-Net network to detect surface cracks. Comparison using 20 epochs shows that the modified U-Net network requires only 15% training time of the traditional U-net, but improves the accuracy by 20% upwards. On this basis, the proposed model (modified U-Net) is trained based on an updated strategy. At each stage, the trained model predicts and segments the unlabeled data images. The new strategy for updating the training datasets allows the model to be trained with limited labeled image data. To evaluate the performance of the proposed method, comprehensive image datasets consisting of the DeepCrack, Crack500 datasets those open to public, and an expanded dataset containing 2068 images of concrete bridge surface crack with our independent manual labels, are used to train and test the proposed method. Results show that the proposed semi-supervised learning method achieved quite approaching accuracies to the established fully supervised models using multiple accuracy indexes, however, the requirement for the labeled data reduces to 40%.
A brief online writing intervention improves positive body image in adults living with dermatological conditions
Authors: Adkins Kate V. , Overton Paul G. , Thompson Andrew R.
Published: December 2022

Introduction

Dermatological conditions can affect how individuals feel about their bodies. This research therefore seeks to evaluate the potential for a brief writing intervention, focused on body functionality, to improve body image in adults living with a range of dermatological conditions.

Methods

As part of a parallel Randomised Controlled Trial, 451 adults living with a dermatological condition were randomized to either three functionality-based writing tasks or three creative writing tasks (control). Of these, 155 participants completed pre- and post-intervention measures of body appreciation, functionality appreciation, appearance anxiety, skin-related shame, and skin-related quality-of-life.

Results

For participants with relatively low or mid-range scores on baseline body appreciation and functionality appreciation, there were medium-to-large positive effects of the intervention. Effects were smaller, with all but-one remaining significant, at 1-month follow up and in intention-to-treat analyses. No between-group effects of the intervention were found for measures of appearance anxiety, skin-related shame, and skin-related quality-of-life.

Discussion

These findings suggest that a 1-week writing intervention has the potential to improve positive aspects of body image, but not appearance- and skin-related distress in adults living with a dermatological condition.

Clinical trial registration

[https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/history/NCT044459 74?V_3=View], identifier [NCT04445974].
Multi-modal data combination strategy based on chest HRCT images and PFT parameters for intelligent dyspnea identification in COPD
Authors: Yang Yingjian , Chen Ziran , Li Wei , Zeng Nanrong , Guo Yingwei , Wang Shicong , Duan Wenxin , Liu Yang , Chen Huai , Li Xian , Chen Rongchang , Kang Yan
Published: December 2022

Introduction

Because of persistent airflow limitation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), patients with COPD often have complications of dyspnea. However, as a leading symptom of COPD, dyspnea in COPD deserves special consideration regarding treatment in this fragile population for pre-clinical health management in COPD. Methods: Based on the above, this paper proposes a multi-modal data combination strategy by combining the local and global features for dyspnea identification in COPD based on the multi-layer perceptron (MLP) classifier.

Methods

First, lung region images are automatically segmented from chest HRCT images for extracting the original 1,316 lung radiomics (OLR, 1,316) and 13,824 3D CNN features (O3C, 13,824). Second, the local features, including five selected pulmonary function test (PFT) parameters (SLF, 5), 28 selected lung radiomics (SLR, 28), and 22 selected 3D CNN features (S3C, 22), are respectively selected from the original 11 PFT parameters (OLF, 11), 1,316 OLR, and 13,824 O3C by the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (Lasso) algorithm. Meantime, the global features, including two fused PFT parameters (FLF, 2), six fused lung radiomics (FLR, 6), and 34 fused 3D CNN features (F3C, 34), are respectively fused by 11 OLF, 1,316 OLR, and 13,824 O3C using the principal component analysis (PCA) algorithm. Finally, we combine all the local and global features (SLF + FLF + SLR + FLR + S3C + F3C, 5+ 2 + 28 + 6 + 22 + 34) for dyspnea identification in COPD based on the MLP classifier.

Results

Our proposed method comprehensively improves classification performance. The MLP classifier with all the local and global features achieves the best classification performance at 87.7% of accuracy, 87.7% of precision, 87.7% of recall, 87.7% of F1-scorel, and 89.3% of AUC, respectively.

Discussion

Compared with single-modal data, the proposed strategy effectively improves the classification performance for dyspnea identification in COPD, providing an objective and effective tool for COPD management.
New perspectives on an old grouping: The genomic and phenotypic variability of Oxalobacter formigenes and the implications for calcium oxalate stone prevention
Authors: Chmiel John A. , Carr Charles , Stuivenberg Gerrit A. , Venema Robertson , Chanyi Ryan M. , Al Kait F. , Giguere Daniel , Say Henry , Akouris Polycronis P. , Domínguez Romero Sergio Ari , Kwong Aaron , Tai Vera , Koval Susan F. , Razvi Hassan , Bjazevic Jennifer , Burton Jeremy P.
Published: December 2022

Oxalobacter formigenes is a unique bacterium with the ability to metabolize oxalate as a primary carbon source. Most kidney stones in humans are composed of calcium and oxalate. Therefore, supplementation with an oxalate-degrading bacterium may reduce stone burden in patients suffering from recurrent calcium oxalate-based urolithiasis. Strains of O. formigenes are divided into two groups: group I and group II. However, the differences between strains from each group remain unclear and elucidating these distinctions will provide a better understanding of their physiology and potential clinical applications. Here, genomes from multiple O. formigenes strains underwent whole genome sequencing followed by phylogenetic and functional analyses. Genetic differences suggest that the O. formigenes taxon should be divided into an additional three species: Oxalobacter aliiformigenes sp. nov, Oxalobacter paeniformigenes sp. nov, and Oxalobacter paraformigenes sp. nov. Despite the similarities in the oxalyl-CoA gene (oxc), which is essential for oxalate degradation, these strains have multiple unique genetic features that may be potential exploited for clinical use. Further investigation into the growth of these strains in a simulated fecal environment revealed that O. aliiformigenes strains are capable of thriving within the human gut microbiota. O. aliiformigenes may be a better therapeutic candidate than current group I strains (retaining the name O. formigenes), which have been previously tested and shown to be ineffective as an oral supplement to mitigate stone disease. By performing genomic analyses and identifying these novel characteristics, Oxalobacter strains better suited to mitigation of calcium oxalate-based urolithiasis may be identified in the future.
Fiber-1 of serotype 4 fowl adenovirus mediates superinfection resistance against serotype 8b fowl adenovirus
Authors: Lu Hao , Guo Yiwen , Xu Zhenqi , Wang Weikang , Lian Mingjun , Li Tuofan , Wan Zhimin , Shao Hongxia , Qin Aijian , Xie Quan , Ye Jianqiang
Published: December 2022

In recent years, hepatitis-hydropericardium syndrome (HHS) and inclusion body hepatitis (IBH) caused by serotype 4 fowl adenovirus (FAdV-4) and serotype 8b fowl adenovirus (FAdV-8b), respectively, are widely prevalent in China, causing huge economic losses to the poultry industry. Numerous studies have revealed the mechanism of the infection and pathogenesis of FAdV-4. However, little is known about the mechanism of infection with FAdV-8b. Among the major structural proteins of fowl adenoviruses, fiber is characterized by the ability to recognize and bind to cellular receptors to mediate the infection of host cells. In this study, through superinfection resistance analysis and an interfering assay, we found that Fiber-1 of FAdV-4, rather than hexon, penton, and fiber of FAdV-8b, conferred efficient superinfection resistance against the infection FAdV-8b in LMH cells. Moreover, truncation analysis depicted that the shaft and knob domains of FAdV-4 Fiber-1 were responsible for the inhibition. However, knockout of the coxsackie and adenovirus receptor (CAR) in LMH cells inhibited the replication of FAdV-8b only at early time points, indicating that CAR might not be the key cell receptor for FAdV-8b. Overall, our findings give novel insights into the infection mechanism of FAdV-8b and provide a new target for the prevention and control of both FAdV-4 and FAdV-8b.
The SFT2D2 gene is associated with the autoimmune pathology of schizophrenia in a Chinese population
Authors: Liu Duilin , Wu Lin , Wei Hui , Zhu Caiyun , Tian Runhui , Zhu Wanwan , Xu Qi
Published: December 2022

Background

The relative risk of GWAS-confirmed loci strongly associated with schizophrenia may be underestimated due to the decay of linkage disequilibrium between index SNPs and causal variants. This study is aimed to investigate schizophrenia-associated signals detected in the 1q24-25 region in order to identify a causal variant in LD with GWAS index SNPs, and the potential biological functions of the risk gene.

Methods

Re-genotyping analysis was performed in the 1q24-25 region that harbors three GWAS index SNPs associated with schizophrenia (rs10489202, rs11586522, and rs6670165) in total of 9801 case-control subjects of Chinese Han origin. Circulating autoantibody levels were assessed using an in-house ELISA against a protein derived fragment encoded by SFT2D2 in total of 682 plasma samples.

Results

A rare variant (rs532193193) in the SFT2D2 locus was identified to be strongly associated with schizophrenia. Compared with control subjects, patients with schizophrenia showed increased anti-SFT2D2 IgG levels. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis revealed an area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.803 with sensitivity of 28.57% against specificity of 95% for the anti-SFT2D2 IgG assay.

Discussion

Our findings indicate that SFT2D2 is a novel gene for risk of schizophrenia, while endogenous anti-SFT2D2 IgG may underlie the pathophysiology of the immunological aspects of schizophrenia.
Merging Brain-Computer Interface P300 speller datasets: Perspectives and pitfalls
Authors: Bianchi Luigi , Ferrante Raffaele , Hu Yaoping , Sahonero-Alvarez Guillermo , Zenia Nusrat Z.
Published: December 2022

Background

In the last decades, the P300 Speller paradigm was replicated in many experiments, and collected data were released to the public domain to allow research groups, particularly those in the field of machine learning, to test and improve their algorithms for higher performances of brain-computer interface (BCI) systems. Training data is needed to learn the identification of brain activity. The more training data are available, the better the algorithms will perform. The availability of larger datasets is highly desirable, eventually obtained by merging datasets from different repositories. The main obstacle to such merging is that all public datasets are released in various file formats because no standard way is established to share these data. Additionally, all datasets necessitate reading documents or scientific papers to retrieve relevant information, which prevents automating the processing. In this study, we thus adopted a unique file format to demonstrate the importance of having a standard and to propose which information should be stored and why.

Methods

We described our process to convert a dozen of P300 Speller datasets and reported the main encountered problems while converting them into the same file format. All the datasets are characterized by the same 6 × 6 matrix of alphanumeric symbols (characters and numbers or symbols) and by the same subset of acquired signals (8 EEG sensors at the same recording sites).

Results and discussion

Nearly a million stimuli were converted, relative to about 7000 spelled characters and belonging to 127 subjects. The converted stimuli represent the most extensively available platform for training and testing new algorithms on the specific paradigm – the P300 Speller. The platform could potentially allow exploring transfer learning procedures to reduce or eliminate the time needed for training a classifier to improve the performance and accuracy of such BCI systems.
Neurexins and their ligands at inhibitory synapses
Authors: Boxer Emma E. , Aoto Jason
Published: December 2022

Since the discovery of neurexins (Nrxns) as essential and evolutionarily conserved synaptic adhesion molecules, focus has largely centered on their functional contributions to glutamatergic synapses. Recently, significant advances to our understanding of neurexin function at GABAergic synapses have revealed that neurexins can play pleiotropic roles in regulating inhibitory synapse maintenance and function in a brain-region and synapse-specific manner. GABAergic neurons are incredibly diverse, exhibiting distinct synaptic properties, sites of innervation, neuromodulation, and plasticity. Different classes of GABAergic neurons often express distinct repertoires of Nrxn isoforms that exhibit differential alternative exon usage. Further, Nrxn ligands can be differentially expressed and can display synapse-specific localization patterns, which may contribute to the formation of a complex trans-synaptic molecular code that establishes the properties of inhibitory synapse function and properties of local circuitry. In this review, we will discuss how Nrxns and their ligands sculpt synaptic inhibition in a brain-region, cell-type and synapse-specific manner.