bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Ambidextrous leadership and innovative work behaviors: Workplace thriving as a mediator
Authors: Usman Muhammad , Ghani Usman , Islam Zia Ul , Gul Habib , Mahmood Khalid
Published: January 2022

Adopting the conservation of resource theory (COR) and socially embedded model of thriving, this study examined the relationships among ambidextrous leadership, workplace thriving, and innovative work behaviors. Specifically, we investigated both the direct role of ambidextrous leadership in predicting innovative work behaviors as well as the indirect role of ambidextrous leadership through the mediating process of workplace thriving. Our results revealed that ambidextrous leadership sparks innovative work behaviors among employees. Moreover, the relationship between ambidextrous leadership and innovative work behaviors was mediated by employee's workplace thriving. Based on these findings, theoretical and practical implications were discussed.
Characterization of RNF43 frameshift mutations that drive Wnt ligand‐ and R‐spondin‐dependent colon cancer
Authors: Yamamoto Daisuke , Oshima Hiroko , Wang Dong , Takeda Haruna , Kita Kenji , Lei Xuelian , Nakayama Mizuho , Murakami Kazuhiro , Ohama Takashi , Takemura Hirofumi , Toyota Mutsumi , Suzuki Hiromu , Inaki Noriyuki , Oshima Masanobu
Published: January 2022

Loss‐of‐function mutations in RNF43 induce activation of Wnt ligand‐dependent Wnt/β‐catenin signaling through stabilization of the Frizzled receptor, which is often found in microsatellite instability (MSI)‐type colorectal cancer (CRC) that develops from sessile serrated adenomas. However, the mechanism underlying how RNF43 mutations promote tumorigenesis remains poorly understood. In this study, we established nine human CRC‐derived organoids and found that three organoid lines carried RNF43 frameshift mutations associated with MSI‐high and BRAFV600E mutations, suggesting that these CRCs developed through the serrated pathway. RNF43 frameshift mutant organoids required both Wnt ligands and R‐spondin for proliferation, indicating that suppression of ZNRF3 and retained RNF43 function by R‐spondin are required to achieve an indispensable level of Wnt activation for tumorigenesis. However, active β‐catenin levels in RNF43‐mutant organoids were lower than those in APC two‐hit mutant CRC, suggesting a lower threshold for Wnt activation in CRC that developed through the serrated pathway. Interestingly, transplantation of RNF43‐mutant organoids with intestinal myofibroblasts accelerated the β‐catenin nuclear accumulation and proliferation of xenograft tumors, indicating a key role of stromal cells in the promotion of the malignant phenotype of RNF43‐mutant CRC cells. Sequencing of subcloned organoid cell‐expressed transcripts revealed that two organoid lines carried monoallelic RNF43 cis‐mutations, with two RNF43 frameshift mutations introduced in the same allele and the wild‐type RNF43 allele remaining, while the other organoid line carried two‐hit biallelic RNF43 trans‐mutations. These results suggest that heterozygous RNF43 frameshift mutations contribute to CRC development via the serrated pathway; however, a second‐hit RNF43 mutation may be advantageous in tumorigenesis compared with a single‐hit mutation through further activation of Wnt signaling. Finally, treatment with the PORCN inhibitor significantly suppressed RNF43‐mutant cell‐derived PDX tumor development. These results suggest a novel mechanism underlying RNF43 mutation‐associated CRC development and the therapeutic potential of Wnt ligand inhibition against RNF43‐mutant CRC. © 2022 The Authors. The Journal of Pathology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland.
Assessment of chitosan:gum tragacanth cryogels for tissue engineering applications
Authors: Demir Didem , Aşık Uğurlu Müge , Ceylan Seda , Sakım Burcu , Genç Rükan , Bölgen Nimet
Published: January 2022

Gum tragacanth is one of the most widely used natural gums in food, medicine, cosmetics and personal care products, and its use as polysaccharide‐based scaffolds in tissue engineering applications has attracted great attention in recent years. The fabrication of pure gum tragacanth as a scaffold poses many challenges because of the high viscosity, poor mechanical properties and repulsive interaction between the polyanions. To overcome these, facilitate the formation of scaffolds and improve their final properties, chitosan and gum tragacanth were used together as natural, biocompatible and biodegradable polysaccharides. The scaffolds based on chitosan and gum tragacanth were successfully fabricated through cryotropic gelation and were characterized using different chemical, morphological, mechanical and biocompatibility analyses. All cryogel scaffolds exhibited a porous structure with an average diameter of 96.56–30.21 μm, exhibiting high liquid absorption capacity, appropriate mechanical stability and controlled degradation behavior. According to the biocompatibility results, mouse embryonic fibroblast cells adhered well to the scaffolds and achieved high viability. The results are also discussed in the light of their potential usefulness as a scaffold for tissue engineering applications. © 2022 Society of Industrial Chemistry.
A novel deep learning‐based method for detection of weeds in vegetables
Authors: Jin Xiaojun , Sun Yanxia , Che Jun , Bagavathiannan Muthukumar , Yu Jialin , Chen Yong
Published: January 2022

BACKGROUND

Precision weed control in vegetable fields can substantially reduce the required weed control inputs. Rapid and accurate weed detection in vegetable fields is a challenging task due to the presence of a wide variety of weed species at various growth stages and densities. This paper presents a novel deep‐learning‐based method for weed detection that recognizes vegetable crops and classifies all other green objects as weeds.

RESULTS

The optimal confidence threshold values for YOLO‐v3, CenterNet, and Faster R‐CNN were 0.4, 0.6, and 0.4/0.5, respectively. These deep‐learning models had average precision (AP) above 97% in the testing dataset. YOLO‐v3 was the most accurate model for detection of vegetables and yielded the highest score of 0.971, along with high precision and recall values of 0.971 and 0.970, respectively. The inference time of YOLO‐v3 was similar to CenterNet, but significantly shorter than that of Faster R‐CNN. Overall, YOLO‐v3 showed the highest accuracy and computational efficiency among the deep‐learning architectures evaluated in this study.

CONCLUSION

These results demonstrate that deep‐learning‐based methods can reliably detect weeds in vegetable crops. The proposed method avoids dealing with various weed species, and thus greatly reduces the overall complexity of weed detection in vegetable fields. Findings have implications for advancing site‐specific robotic weed control in vegetable crops.
Belief reliability evaluation with uncertain right censored time‐to‐failure data under small sample situation
Authors: Chen Wen‐Bin , Li Xiao‐Yang , Li Fang‐Rong , Kang Rui
Published: January 2022

Uncertain right censoring (URC) which describes the situation that the censoring settings of test units are unrelated to their failure time often occurs in practical life testing. Besides, in practical life testing, the small sample situation is also common since the test resources are usually limited, which brings epistemic uncertainties to reliability evaluations due to the lack of information. Under such situation, the large sample‐based probability theory is not appropriate anymore to conduct reliability evaluations. In this paper, the belief reliability evaluation is conducted with uncertain right censored time‐to‐failure (TTF) data under the small sample situation based on the belief reliability theory. Firstly, to deal with epistemic uncertainties, a truncated normal uncertainty distribution of lifetime is given, and the belief reliability evaluation is presented using the uncertain measure. Then, the corresponding uncertain statistics method for unknown parameter estimation is provided with objective measures. Finally, a simulation study and a practical case are used to illustrate the proposed method. The results show that the proposed method is suitable to deal with epistemic uncertainties and can achieve more accurate and stable mean time‐to‐failure (MTTF) results with uncertain right censoredTTFdata under the small sample situation compared to classical probability and Bayesian reliability methods.
Turning Away from Anti‐Blackness: A Critical Review of Adolescent Reading Motivation Research
Authors: Jones Sara
Published: January 2022

Responding to calls for centering Black lives in our collective consciousness, this review uses Critical Race Theory to analyze researchers’ inclusion of race in conceptualizing and operationalizing adolescent reading motivation. Two questions guide this review: (1) How do researchers include race in theories of adolescent reading motivation? and (2) What assumptions do researchers make about race in studying adolescent reading motivation? What conclusions do they draw based on these assumptions? Through a systematic search, articles addressing adolescent reading motivation’s conceptual/theoretical foundations, measurement, and study as it relates to reading behaviors and outcomes were identified and analyzed using deductive thematic analysis. Findings emerged across three categories: (1) color‐evasiveness, demonstrating reading motivation was not conceptualized with Black readers in mind, (2) modus operandi, showing business‐as‐usual approaches to studying reading motivation, and (3) difference and deficit, illustrating how researchers have positioned Black readers in comparison to their white counterparts. Recommendations are made for how adolescent reading motivation can be reimagined to center Black readers’ histories, experiences, and brilliance.
Mechanistic Study on the Impact of the Occurrence of Various Basic Mineral Species on Spontaneous Combustion Propensity of Alkali‐Rich Low‐Rank Coal
Authors: Lu Beibei , Li Shouyi , Zhao Di , Lin Xiongchao , Wang Yonggang
Published: January 2022

Spontaneous combustion of low‐rank coal, especially alkali‐rich coal, is a key issue that determines the safety of storage and transportation. To understand the role of different forms of Alkali and alkaline earth metals (AAEMs) on coal spontaneous combustion, AAEMs in raw coal were sequentially eluted by water, ammonium acetate (NH4OAc) and hydrochloric acid (HCl) solution. The occurrence forms and mineralogical characteristics of AAEMs in raw coal and its derived coal samples were investigated. Further, the spontaneous combustion tendency of raw coal and derived coal samples was measured by programmed heating process and the chemical structure parameters were characterized by thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry (TGA‐DSC) and in situ infrared spectroscopy. The results show that demineralization mitigates the spontaneous combustion tendency by the increasing the ignition temperature, confirming the enhancement of inherent mineral on low‐temperature oxidation. In situ infrared spectroscopy results suggest that acid‐soluble and ion‐exchangeable AAEMs have greater catalytic impact on the oxidation reaction of coal than water‐soluble AAEMs. Specifically, the complete removal of AAEMs by acid‐washing treatment has the most obvious effect on the change of oxygen‐containing functional groups, which greatly reduces the generation rate of carboxylic acid, ester and anhydride groups during the low temperature oxidation. Moreover, calcium elements including ion‐exchangeable calcium and HCl‐soluble calcium can promote the oxidation capacity of coal at low‐temperature, which were verified by loaded coal samples.
Synthetic Mechanism of UiO‐66‐NH2/BiVO4/BiOBr Spherical and Lamellar Dual Z‐scheme Heterojunction and Efficient Photocatalytic Degradation of Tetracycline Under Visible Light
Authors: Wei Lihong , Shi Dongni , Qi Yuwen , Zhang Yao
Published: January 2022

In order to solve antibiotic pollution, it is necessary to design photocatalysts with high specific surface area and efficient electron transfer performance. In this study, we report that two‐dimensional (2D) BiVO4/BiOBr flakes were anchored on the smooth surface of UIO‐66‐NH2 using a two‐step solvothermal‐hydrothermal approach, which forms the dual Z‐scheme mechanism and has rich specific surface area (306.5 m2/g), uniform particle size (2.05 nm) and wide absorption spectrum (2.76 eV). It shows 89.56 % tetracycline (TC) degradation efficiency within 180 min under visible light illumination due to the excellent adsorption properties and ample active sites. This work provides an effective strategy for designing a novel ternary photocatalyst to the degradation of refractory organic pollutants.
Recent Advances in the Synthesis of Imidazo[1,2‐a]pyridines: A Brief Review
Authors: Panda Jasmine , Raiguru Bishnu P. , Mishra Mitali , Mohapatra Seetaram , Nayak Sabita
Published: January 2022

This review focuses on providing comprehensive highlights of the recent synthetic pathways of imidazo[1,2‐a]pyridines, assisted through transition metal‐catalyzed reactions, multi‐component reactions, cyclization, condensation, microwave‐assisted reactions, heteroannular and photocatalytic reactions. Among the heterocyclic groups, imidazo[1,2‐a]pyridines are considered as privileged structures because of their occurrence in many natural products. In this review, we have summarized the recent advances in the synthesis of imidazo[1,2‐a]pyridines from 2016 to 2021 from various substrates. This review will provide new initiatives to the chemists towards the synthesis of imidazo[1,2‐a]pyridines and all frequent challenges associated with the reported methods.
Integration of Highly Luminescent Lead Halide Perovskite Nanocrystals on Transparent Lead Halide Nanowire Waveguides through Morphological Transformation and Spontaneous Growth in Water
Authors: Chen Tao , Wang Chong , Xing Xinxin , Qin Zhaojun , Qin Fan , Wang Yanan , Alam Md Kamrul , Hadjiev Viktor G. , Yang Guang , Ye Shuming , Yang Jie , Wang Rongfei , Yue Shuai , Zhang Di , Shang Zhongxia , Robles‐Hernandez Francisco C. , Calderon Hector A. , Wang Haiyan , Wang Zhiming , Bao Jiming
Published: January 2022

The integration of highly luminescent CsPbBr3 quantum dots on nanowire waveguides has enormous potential applications in nanophotonics, optical sensing, and quantum communications. On the other hand, CsPb2Br5 nanowires have also attracted a lot of attention due to their unique water stability and controversial luminescent property. Here, the growth of CsPbBr3 nanocrystals on CsPb2Br5 nanowires is reported first by simply immersing CsPbBr3 powder into pure water, CsPbBr3−γ Xγ (X = Cl, I) nanocrystals on CsPb2Br5−γ Xγ nanowires are then synthesized for tunable light sources. Systematic structure and morphology studies, including in situ monitoring, reveal that CsPbBr3 powder is first converted to CsPb2Br5 microplatelets in water, followed by morphological transformation from CsPb2Br5 microplatelets to nanowires, which is a kinetic dissolution–recrystallization process controlled by electrolytic dissociation and supersaturation of CsPb2Br5. CsPbBr3 nanocrystals are spontaneously formed on CsPb2Br5 nanowires when nanowires are collected from the aqueous solution. Raman spectroscopy, combined photoluminescence, and SEM imaging confirm that the bright emission originates from CsPbBr3−γ Xγ nanocrystals while CsPb2Br5−γ Xγ nanowires are transparent waveguides. The intimate integration of nanoscale light sources with a nanowire waveguide is demonstrated through the observation of the wave guiding of light from nanocrystals and Fabry–Perot interference modes of the nanowire cavity.
A Genetically Engineered, Chain Mail‐Like Nanostructured Protein Material with Increased Fatigue Resistance and Enhanced Self‐Healing
Authors: Domínguez‐Zotes Santos , Fuertes Miguel Angel , Rodríguez‐Huete Alicia , Valbuena Alejandro , Mateu Mauricio G
Published: January 2022

Protein‐based nanostructured materials are being developed for many biomedical and nanotechnological applications. Despite their many desirable features, protein materials are highly susceptible to disruption by mechanical stress and fatigue. This study is aimed to increase fatigue resistance and enhance self‐healing of a natural protein‐based supramolecular nanomaterial through permanent genetic modification. The authors envisage the conversion of a model nanosheet, formed by a regular array of noncovalently bound human immunodeficiency virus capsid protein molecules, into a supramolecular “chain mail.” Rationally engineered mutations allow the formation of a regular network of disulfide bridges in the protein lattice. This network links each molecule in the lattice to each adjacent molecule through one covalent bond, analogous to the rivetting of interlinked iron rings in the chain mail of a medieval knight. The engineered protein nanosheet shows greatly increased thermostability and resistance to mechanical stress and fatigue in particular, as well as enhanced self‐healing, without undesirable stiffening compared to the original material. The results provide proof of concept for a genetic design to permanently increase fatigue resistance and enhance self‐healing of protein‐based nanostructured materials. They also provide insights into the molecular basis for fatigue of protein materials.
Model‐based clustering of semiparametric temporal exponential‐family random graph models
Authors: Lee Kevin H. , Agarwal Amal , Zhang Anna Y. , Xue Lingzhou
Published: January 2022

Model‐based clustering of time‐evolving networks has emerged as one of the important research topics in statistical network analysis. It is a fundamental research question to model time‐varying network parameters. However, due to difficulties in modelling functional network parameters, there is little progress in the current literature to model time‐varying network parameters effectively. In this work, we model network parameters as univariate nonparametric functions instead of constants. We effectively estimate those functional network parameters in temporal exponential‐family random graph models using a kernel regression technique and a local likelihood approach. Furthermore, we propose a semiparametric finite mixture of temporal exponential‐family random graph models by adopting finite mixture models, which simultaneously allows both modelling and detecting groups in time‐evolving networks. Also, we use a conditional likelihood to construct an effective model selection criterion and network cross‐validation to choose an optimal bandwidth. The power of our method is demonstrated in simulation studies and real‐world applications to dynamic international trade networks and dynamic arm trade networks.
EFL Learners' Receptive Knowledge of Derived Words: The Case of Swedish Adolescents
Authors: Snoder Per , Laufer Batia
Published: January 2022

The study investigated how well Swedish adolescents recognize the meaning of derived words in English and whether this knowledge is determined by learner proficiency, word frequency, or affix type. Participants were 88 school students in two proficiency groups: 39 advanced 12th graders and 49 intermediate 9th graders. Two tests of receptive vocabulary knowledge were administered. The first test had 80 basewords (e.g., maintain) representing the 8,000 most frequent words. The second test had 60 words that were derived from the first test (e.g., maintainable). Results showed that participants’ knowledge of basewords extended to knowledge of derived words quite well: for example, when the advanced learners knew a baseword, they knew its derived form in 91% of the cases. Other results were that word family frequency but not derived word frequency determined knowledge of derived words, and that little support was found for Bauer and Nation’s (1993) hierarchy of affix difficulty. The main implication of the results is that the word family, which subsumes basewords and their related forms under word knowledge, is an appropriate unit of counting in L2 pedagogy and research for learners with extensive exposure to English and a Germanic first language.
Nickel oxide nanoparticles induce apoptosis and ferroptosis in airway epithelial cells via ATF3
Authors: Liu Fengfan , Cheng Xiang , Wu Shuang , Hu Bei , Yang Chen , Deng Shufen , Shi Qiwen
Published: January 2022

Exposure to nickel oxide nanoparticles (NiONPs), which have been widely produced and applied in industry, leads to adverse pulmonary and systemic effects. The aim of this study is to investigate the involvement of apoptosis and ferroptosis in NiONPs‐induced acute lung injury (ALI). Intratracheal instillation of NiONPs into mice elevated the levels of pro‐inflammatory cytokines, neutrophils, and proteins in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, and triggered apoptosis and ferroptosis in the lung tissues. Consistently, NiONPs‐induced apoptosis and ferroptosis were observed in in vitro experiments using human lung epithelial cells. Activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3), a stress‐inducible transcription factor, was upregulated by NiONPs exposure in both murine lung tissues and human lung epithelial cells. Moreover, human lung epithelial cells with ATF3 deficiency exhibited a lower level of apoptosis and ferroptosis when exposed to NiONPs. Collectively, our findings demonstrated that ATF3 was responsive to NiONPs exposure, and promoted NiONPs‐induced apoptosis and ferroptosis in lung epithelial cells, indicating that ATF3 is a potential biomarker and therapeutic target for NiONPs‐associated ALI.
Review of energy‐dispersive X‐ray fluorescence on food elements detection
Authors: Li Fei , Meng Lu , Ding Wenwan , Wang Jiamei , Ge Liangquan
Published: January 2022

Energy‐dispersive X‐ray fluorescence (EDXRF) is a physical rapid detection method to analyze the types of elements through the energy characteristics of fluorescent X‐ray particles. When applied to the detection of food element content, it not only needs simple sample pretreatment but also the element measurement time generally does not exceed 10 min to have the accuracy of μg/g, which can greatly reduce the time and cost of detection. Due to the limitations of the EDXRF instrument and measurement mechanism, it has low sensitivity to light elements in food, and the detection sensitivity varies with elements in food element analysis. For example, the detection sensitivity of Ca, Mg, Fe, Zn, Cu and other elements concerned by people is not high when the content is low, and the measurement accuracy is extremely dependent on the detector resolution. However, with the improvement of detector performance and algorithm optimization of EDXRF, the detection limit of this technology can reach 0.1 μg/g, the detection of trace elements has also been improved, which has made a new breakthrough in the field of food element detection. Therefore, this paper reviews that in recent 20 years, in order to overcome the various difficulties of EDXRF in food detection, the hardware optimization of EDXRF (For example, the development of an analyzer without sample preparation can greatly reduce the time required for the detection of food elements, and a series of instruments combined with EDXRF and cluster capillary technology can greatly improve the excitation efficiency of lighter elements in food. The spectrometer with a high‐resolution detector can improve the detection accuracy of target elements with low content in food) and in order to solve the problem of spectrum resolution in food detection, (For example, the wavelet transform method which has good performance in spectrum smoothing, identifying weak peaks and maintaining peak shape is applied to EDXRF spectrum resolution, which can better solve the problem that the X‐ray characteristic peaks of elements with a low atomic number in food are submerged) the reform and innovation of spectrum resolution methods are introduced. This paper summarizes and analyzes the representative application examples of EDXRF in food safety detection, discusses the advantages and disadvantages of EDXRF compared with other rapid detection or food detection methods in different situations, concludes its application conditions, and discusses the application prospect of EDXRF technology in the field of food detection.
Two-loop rational terms for spontaneously broken theories
Authors: Lang Jean-Nicolas , Pozzorini Stefano , Zhang Hantian , Zoller Max F.
Published: January 2022

Abstract

Rational counterterms are a key ingredient for the automation of loop calculations through numerical methods. Building on the recently established properties of rational terms of UV origin at two loops, in this paper we present a systematic method for the determination of rational counterterms within spontaneously broken theories. In particular we introduce a generalised vev-expansion approach that makes it possible to obtain the rational counterterms of UV origin for a spontaneously broken theory by means of calculations in the unbroken phase. The drastic simplifications that result from the underlying symmetry open the door to the efficient determination of rational counterterms for the full Standard Model at two loops. The renormalisation-scheme dependence is analysed in detail, and we show that rational counterterms need to be determined only once and for all in a generic renormalisation scheme for the symmetric phase and, a posteriori, they can be easily adapted to a wide range of physical renormalisation schemes for the spontaneously broken phase. As a first application we determine the full set of $$ \mathcal{O}\left({\alpha}_{\mathrm{S}}^2\right) $$
O

α
S
2

rational counterterms of UV origin for the full Standard Model, i.e. for all superficially UV-divergent two-loop vertex functions involving combinations of gluons, quarks, electroweak vector bosons and scalar bosons.
Deubiquitinating enzymes USP4 and USP17 finetune the trafficking of PDGFRβ and affect PDGF-BB-induced STAT3 signalling
Authors: Sarri Niki , Wang Kehuan , Tsioumpekou Maria , Castillejo-López Casimiro , Lennartsson Johan , Heldin Carl-Henrik , Papadopoulos Natalia
Published: January 2022

Interaction of platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) isoforms with their receptors results in activation and internalization of receptors, with a concomitant activation of downstream signalling pathways. Ubiquitination of PDGFRs serves as a mark to direct the internalization and sorting of the receptors. By overexpressing a panel of deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs), we found that USP17 and USP4 efficiently deubiquitinate PDGF receptor β (PDGFRβ) and are able to remove both Lys63 and Lys48-linked polyubiquitin chains from the receptor. Deubiquitination of PDGFRβ did not affect its stability, but regulated the timing of its trafficking, whereby USP17 prolonged the presence of the receptor at the cell surface, while USP4 affected the speed of trafficking towards early endosomes. Induction of each of the DUBs in BJhTERT fibroblasts and U2OS osteosarcoma cells led to prolonged and/or shifted activation of STAT3 in response to PDGF-BB stimulation, which in turn led to increased transcriptional activity of STAT3. Induction of USP17 promoted acute upregulation of the mRNA expression of STAT3-inducible genes STAT3, CSF1, junB and c-myc, while causing long-term changes in the expression of myc and CDKN1A. Deletion of USP17 was lethal to fibroblasts, while deletion of USP4 led to a decreased proliferative response to stimulation by PDGF-BB. Thus, USP17- and USP4-mediated changes in ubiquitination of PDFGRβ lead to dysregulated signalling and transcription downstream of STAT3, resulting in defects in the control of cell proliferation.
Hindman’s theorem for sums along the full binary tree, $$\Sigma ^0_2$$-induction and the Pigeonhole principle for trees
Authors: Carlucci Lorenzo , Tavernelli Daniele
Published: January 2022

We formulate a restriction of Hindman’s Finite Sums Theorem in which monochromaticity is required only for sums corresponding to rooted finite paths in the full binary tree. We show that the resulting principle is equivalent to$$\Sigma ^0_2$$Σ20-induction over$$\mathsf {RCA}_0$$RCA0. The proof uses the equivalence of this Hindman-type theorem with the Pigeonhole Principle for trees$${\mathsf {T}\,}{\mathsf {T}}^1$$TT1with an extra condition on the solution tree.
Gold nanoparticle formation as an indicator of enzymatic methods: colorimetric l-phenylalanine determination
Authors: Martín-Barreiro Alba , de Marcos Susana , Galbán Javier
Published: January 2022

An enzymatic-colorimetric method has been developed based on the reaction between l-phenylalanine (l-Phe) and the l-amino acid oxidase (LAAO) in the presence of Au(III), which has led to the formation of gold nanoparticles. The intensity of the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) band of the generated nanoparticles (550 nm) can be related to the concentration of l-Phe in the sample. The mechanism of the LAAO-l-Phe enzyme reaction in the presence of Au(III) has been studied through the evaluation and optimization of experimental conditions. These studies have reinforced the hypothesis that the catalytic center of the enzyme helps the Au(III) reduction and, thanks to the protein, the Au0 form is stabilized as gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). In the calibration study, a sigmoidal relationship between the concentration of the substrate and the LSPR of the nanoparticles was observed. The linearization of the signal has allowed the determination of l-Phe in the range from 17 to 500 µM with an RSD% (150 μM) of 4.8% (n = 3). The method is free of other amino acid interference normally found in blood plasma. These highly competitive results open the possibility of further development of a rapid method for l-Phe determination based on colorimetry.

Graphical abstract
Medication adherence among persons with coronary heart disease and associations with blood pressure and low-density-lipoprotein-cholesterol
Authors: Pedersen Elisabeth , Primicerio Raul , Halvorsen Kjell H. , Eggen Anne Elise , Garcia Beate Hennie , Schirmer Henrik , Waaseth Marit
Published: January 2022

Purpose

To describe medication adherence to lipid-lowering drugs (LLDs), antihypertensive drugs, and acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) among persons with coronary heart disease (CHD) and explore its association with low-density-lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

Methods

Based on record linkage between the seventh wave of the Tromsø Study and the Norwegian Prescription Database, medication adherence was calculated as the proportion of days covered (PDC) for persistent prevalent users in the period of 365 days before the attendance date. Multivariable linear regression models were used to assess the association between systolic and diastolic blood pressure and medication nonadherence to antihypertensive drugs, age, sex, lifestyle, body mass index (BMI), current and previous diabetes, and between LDL-cholesterol and medication nonadherence to LLDs, age, sex, lifestyle, BMI, and current and previous diabetes.

Results

Mean PDC was 0.94 for LLDs and antihypertensive drugs and 0.97 for ASA. Among persons with PDC ≥ 0.80 for LLDs, 12.0% had an LDL-cholesterol < 1.8 mmol/L. Blood pressure < 140/90 mmHg (< 140/80 mmHg if diabetes patient) was reached by 55.1% of those with a PDC ≥ 0.80 for antihypertensive drugs. Adherence to LLDs was associated with lower LDL-cholesterol, while neither systolic nor diastolic blood pressure was associated with adherence to antihypertensive drugs.

Conclusion

Adherence to antihypertensive drugs, LLDs, and ASA among persons with CHD were high despite low achievement of treatment goals for blood pressure and LDL-cholesterol. There was a statistically significant association between adherence to LLDs and LDL-cholesterol, but not between adherence to antihypertensive drugs and blood pressure.
Feasibility of contrast-enhanced ultrasound and flank position during percutaneous nephrolithotomy in patients with no apparent hydronephrosis: a randomized controlled trial
Authors: Liu Zeng-Qin , Xie Jing , Zhao Chu-Biao , Liu Yan-Feng , Li Zai-Shang , Guo Ji-Nan , Jiang Hong-Tao , Xiao Ke-Feng
Published: January 2022

Purpose

To investigate the puncture accuracy and feasibility of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) guided percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) in flank position for patients with no apparent hydronephrosis.

Methods

Between May 2018 and June 2020, 72 kidney stone patients with no or mild hydronephrosis were randomized into two groups: a CEUS-guided PCNL group and a conventional ultrasound (US)-guided group. Patients’ demographics and perioperative outcomes were compared, including the success rate of puncture via calyceal fornix, the success rate of a single-needle puncture, puncture time, operative time, postoperative hemoglobin loss, stone-free rate, incidence of complications and postoperative stay.

Results

The success rate of puncture via calyceal fornix for CEUS-guided group was significantly higher than that for conventional US-guided group (86.1 vs. 47.2%,p = 0.002). Patients performed with CEUS-guided PCNL required shorter renal puncture time than those guided with conventional US (36.5 s vs. 61.0 s,p < 0.001). The median postoperative hemoglobin loss in the CEUS-guided group was significantly lower than that in conventional US-guided group (2.5 vs. 14.5 g/L,p < 0.01). There was no statistically significant difference in the success rate of a single-needle puncture, operative time, stone-free rate, incidence of complications and postoperative stay between the two groups.

Conclusion

CEUS guidance facilitates identification of the renal calyx fornix, and benefits more precise renal puncture and less hemoglobin loss in PCNL. CEUS-guided PCNL in flank position is a feasible approach to the treatment of kidney stone patients with no apparent hydronephrosis.

Trial registration number: ChiCTR1800015417.
A meta-analysis of survival after minimally invasive radical hysterectomy versus abdominal radical hysterectomy in cervical cancer: center-associated factors matter
Authors: Sun Si , Cai Jing , Li Ruixie , Wang Yujia , Zhao Jing , Huang Yuhui , Xu Linjuan , Yang Qiang , Wang Zehua
Published: January 2022

Purpose

To explore the possible factors that contributed to the poor performance of minimally invasive surgery (MIS) versus abdominal surgery regarding progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in cervical cancer.

Methods

MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library and Web of Science were searched (January 2000 to April 2021). Study selection was performed by two researchers to include studies reported oncological safety. Summary hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were combined using random-effect model. Subgroup analyses were stratified by characteristics of disease, publication, study design and treatment center.

Results

Sixty-one studies with 63,369 patients (MIS 26956 and ARH 36,049) were included. The overall-analysis revealed a higher risk of recurrence (HR 1.209; 95% CI 1.102–1.327) and death (HR 1.124; 95% CI 1.013–1.248) after MIS versus ARH expect in FIGO IB1 (FIGO 2009 staging) patients with tumor size less than 2 cm. However, subgroup analyses showed comparable PFS/DFS and OS in studies published before the Laparoscopic Approach to Cervical Cancer (LACC) trial, published in European journals, conducted in a single center, performed in centers in Europe and in centers with high sample volume or high MIS sample volume.

Conclusion

Our findings highlight possible factors that associated with inferior survival after MIS in cervical cancer including publication characteristics, center-geography and sample volume. Center associated factors were needed to be taken into consideration when evaluating complex surgical procedures like radical hysterectomy.
NucPosDB: a database of nucleosome positioning in vivo and nucleosomics of cell-free DNA
Authors: Shtumpf Mariya , Piroeva Kristan V. , Agrawal Shivam P. , Jacob Divya R. , Teif Vladimir B.
Published: January 2022

Nucleosome positioning is involved in many gene regulatory processes happening in the cell, and it may change as cells differentiate or respond to the changing microenvironment in a healthy or diseased organism. One important implication of nucleosome positioning in clinical epigenetics is its use in the “nucleosomics” analysis of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) for the purpose of patient diagnostics in liquid biopsies. The rationale for this is that the apoptotic nucleases that digest chromatin of the dying cells mostly cut DNA between nucleosomes. Thus, the short pieces of DNA in body fluids reflect the positions of nucleosomes in the cells of origin. Here, we report a systematic nucleosomics database — NucPosDB — curating published nucleosome positioning datasets in vivo as well as datasets of sequenced cell-free DNA (cfDNA) that reflect nucleosome positioning in situ in the cells of origin. Users can select subsets of the database by a number of criteria and then obtain raw or processed data. NucPosDB also reports the originally determined regions with stable nucleosome occupancy across several individuals with a given condition. An additional section provides a catalogue of computational tools for the analysis of nucleosome positioning or cfDNA experiments and theoretical algorithms for the prediction of nucleosome positioning preferences from DNA sequence. We provide an overview of the field, describe the structure of the database in this context, and demonstrate data variability using examples of different medical conditions. NucPosDB is useful both for the analysis of fundamental gene regulation processes and the training of computational models for patient diagnostics based on cfDNA. The database currently curates ~ 400 publications on nucleosome positioning in cell lines and in situ as well as cfDNA from > 10,000 patients and healthy volunteers. For open-access cfDNA datasets as well as key MNase-seq datasets in human cells, NucPosDB allows downloading processed mapped data in addition to the regions with stable nucleosome occupancy. NucPosDB is available at https://generegulation.org/nucposdb/.
Rapid and sensitive identification of omicron by variant-specific PCR and nanopore sequencing: paradigm for diagnostics of emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants
Authors: Dächert Christopher , Muenchhoff Maximilian , Graf Alexander , Autenrieth Hanna , Bender Sabine , Mairhofer Helga , Wratil Paul R. , Thieme Susanne , Krebs Stefan , Grzimek-Koschewa Natascha , Blum Helmut , Keppler Oliver T.
Published: January 2022

On November 26, 2021, the World Health Organization classified B.1.1.529 as a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variant of concern (VoC), named omicron.Spike-gene dropouts in conventional SARS-CoV-2 PCR systems have been reported over the last weeks as indirect diagnostic evidence for the identification of omicron. Here, we report the combination of PCRs specific for heavily mutated sites in thespikegene and nanopore-based full-length genome sequencing for the rapid and sensitive identification of the first four COVID-19 patients diagnosed in Germany to be infected with omicron on November 28, 2021. This study will assist the unambiguous laboratory-based diagnosis and global surveillance for this highly contagious VoC with an unprecedented degree of humoral immune escape. Moreover, we propose that specialized diagnostic laboratories should continuously update their assays for variant-specific PCRs in thespikegene of SARS-CoV-2 to readily detect and diagnose emerging variants of interest and VoCs. The combination with established nanopore sequencing procedures allows both the rapid confirmation by whole genome sequencing as well as the sensitive identification of newly emerging variants of this pandemic β-coronavirus in years to come.
Feasibility and acceptability of virtual reality for cancer pain in people receiving palliative care: a randomised cross-over study
Authors: Austin Philip D. , Siddall Philip J. , Lovell Melanie R.
Published: January 2022

Context

Pain management in palliative care remains inadequate; the development of innovative therapeutic options is needed.

Objectives

To determine the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness for larger randomised controlled trials of 3D head-mounted (HMD) virtual reality (VR) for managing cancer pain (CP) in adults.

Methods

Thirteen people receiving palliative care participated in a single-session randomised cross-over trial, after which they completed a qualitative semi-structured interview. We also compared the effects of 3D HMD VR and 2D screen applications on CP intensity and levels of perceived presence. Feasibility was assessed with recruitment, completion rates and time required to recruit target sample.

Results

Although recruitment was slow, completion rate was high (93%). Participants reported that the intervention was acceptable and caused few side effects. Although participants reported significantly reduced CP intensity after 3D HMD VR (1.9 ± 1.8, P = .003) and 2D screen applications (1.5 ± 1.6, P = .007), no significant differences were found between interventions (−.38 ± 1.2, 95% CI: −1.1–.29, P = .23). Participants reported significantly higher levels of presence with the 3D HMD VR compared to 2D screen (60.7 ± SD 12.4 versus 34.3 ± SD 17.1, mean 95% CI: 16.4–40.7, P = .001). Increased presence was associated with significantly lower pain intensity (mean 95% CI: −.04–−0.01, P = 0.02).

Conclusions

Our preliminary findings support growing evidence that both 3D and 2D virtual applications provide pain relief for people receiving palliative care. Given the relative lack of cybersickness and increasing access to portable VR, we suggest that larger clinical studies are warranted.
SaBRe: load-time selective binary rewriting
Authors: Arras Paul-Antoine , Andronidis Anastasios , Pina Luís , Mituzas Karolis , Shu Qianyi , Grumberg Daniel , Cadar Cristian
Published: January 2022

Binary rewriting consists in disassembling a program to modify its instructions. However, existing solutions suffer from shortcomings in terms of soundness and performance. We present SaBRe, a load-time system for selective binary rewriting. SaBRe rewrites specific constructs—particularly system calls and functions—when the program is loaded into memory, and intercepts them using plugins through a simple API. We also discuss the theoretical underpinnings of disassembling and rewriting. We developed two backends—for and —which were used to implement three plugins: a fast system call tracer, a multi-version executor, and a fault injector. Our evaluation shows that SaBRe imposes little overhead, typically below 3%.
Modulating Expression of Endogenous Interleukin 1 Beta in the Acute Phase of the Pilocarpine Model of Epilepsy May Change Animal Survival
Authors: Pascoal V. D. B. , Marchesini R. B. , Athié M. C. P. , Matos A. H. B. , Conte F. F. , Pereira T. C. , Secolin R. , Gilioli R. , Malheiros J. M. , Polli R. S. , Tannús A. , Covolan L. , Pascoal L. B. , Vieira A. S. , Cavalheiro E. A. , Cendes F. , Lopes-Cendes I.
Published: January 2022

The pilocarpine-induced (PILO) model has helped elucidate the electrophysiological and molecular aspects related to mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. It has been suggested that the extensive cell death and edema observed in the brains of these animals could be induced by increased inflammatory responses, such as the rapid release of the inflammatory cytokine interleukin 1 beta (Il1b). In this study, we investigate the role of endogenous Il1b in the acute phase of the PILO model. Our aim is twofold. First, we want to determine whether it is feasible to silence Il1b in the central nervous system using a non-invasive procedure. Second, we aim to investigate the effect of silencing endogenous Il1b and its antagonist, Il1rn.We used RNA interference applied non-invasively to knockdownIl1band its endogenous antagonistIl1rn.We found that knocking downIl1bprior to pilocarpine injection increased the mortality rate of treated animals. Furthermore, we observed that, when exposing the animals to more Il1b by silencing its endogenous antagonistIl1rn, there was a better response tostatus epilepticuswith decreased animal mortality in the acute phase of the PILO model. Thus, we show the feasibility of using a novel, less invasive approach to study genes involved in the inflammatory response in the central nervous system. Furthermore, our results provide suggestive evidence that modulating endogenous Il1b improves animal survival in the acute phase of the PILO model and may have effects that extend into the chronic phase.
Multi-dimensional Classification via Selective Feature Augmentation
Authors: Jia Bin-Bin , Zhang Min-Ling
Published: January 2022

In multi-dimensional classification (MDC), the semantics of objects are characterized by multiple class spaces from different dimensions. Most MDC approaches try to explicitly model the dependencies among class spaces in output space. In contrast, the recently proposed feature augmentation strategy, which aims at manipulating feature space, has also been shown to be an effective solution for MDC. However, existing feature augmentation approaches only focus on designing holistic augmented features to be appended with the original features, while better generalization performance could be achieved by exploiting multiple kinds of augmented features. In this paper, we propose the selective feature augmentation strategy that focuses on synergizing multiple kinds of augmented features. Specifically, by assuming that only part of the augmented features is pertinent and useful for each dimension’s model induction, we derive a classification model which can fully utilize the original features while conduct feature selection for the augmented features. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy, we generate three kinds of simple augmented features based on standard kNN, weighted kNN, and maximum margin techniques, respectively. Comparative studies show that the proposed strategy achieves superior performance against both state-of-the-art MDC approaches and its degenerated versions with either kind of augmented features.
Evolutionary Computation for Expensive Optimization: A Survey
Authors: Li Jian-Yu , Zhan Zhi-Hui , Zhang Jun
Published: January 2022

Expensive optimization problem (EOP) widely exists in various significant real-world applications. However, EOP requires expensive or even unaffordable costs for evaluating candidate solutions, which is expensive for the algorithm to find a satisfactory solution. Moreover, due to the fast-growing application demands in the economy and society, such as the emergence of the smart cities, the internet of things, and the big data era, solving EOP more efficiently has become increasingly essential in various fields, which poses great challenges on the problem-solving ability of optimization approach for EOP. Among various optimization approaches, evolutionary computation (EC) is a promising global optimization tool widely used for solving EOP efficiently in the past decades. Given the fruitful advancements of EC for EOP, it is essential to review these advancements in order to synthesize and give previous research experiences and references to aid the development of relevant research fields and real-world applications. Motivated by this, this paper aims to provide a comprehensive survey to show why and how EC can solve EOP efficiently. For this aim, this paper firstly analyzes the total optimization cost of EC in solving EOP. Then, based on the analysis, three promising research directions are pointed out for solving EOP, which are problem approximation and substitution, algorithm design and enhancement, and parallel and distributed computation. Note that, to the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first that outlines the possible directions for efficiently solving EOP by analyzing the total expensive cost. Based on this, existing works are reviewed comprehensively via a taxonomy with four parts, including the above three research directions and the real-world application part. Moreover, some future research directions are also discussed in this paper. It is believed that such a survey can attract attention, encourage discussions, and stimulate new EC research ideas for solving EOP and related real-world applications more efficiently.