bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
DH-GAN: A Physics-driven Untrained Generative Adversarial Network for Holographic Imaging
Authors: Razi Abolfazl , Chen Xiwen , Wang Hao , Kozicki Michael , Mann Christopher
Published: February 2023

Digital holography is a 3D imaging technique by emitting a laser beam with a plane wavefront to an object and measuring the intensity of the diffracted waveform, called holograms. The object’s 3D shape can be obtained by numerical analysis of the captured holograms and recovering the incurred phase. Recently, deep learning (DL) methods have been used for more accurate holographic processing. However, most supervised methods require large datasets to train the model, which is rarely available in most DH applications due to the scarcity of samples or privacy concerns. A few one-shot DL-based recovery methods exist with no reliance on large datasets of paired images. Still, most of these methods often neglect the underlying physics law that governs wave propagation. These methods offer a black-box operation, which is not explainable, generalizable, and transferrable to other samples and applications.

In this work, we propose a new DL architecture based on generative adversarial networks that uses a discriminative network for realizing a semantic measure for reconstruction quality while using a generative network as a function approximator to model the inverse of hologram formation. We impose smoothness on the background part of the recovered image using a progressive masking module powered by simulated annealing to enhance the reconstruction quality. The proposed method is one of its kind that exhibits high transferability to similar samples, which facilitates its fast deployment in time-sensitive applications without the need for retraining the network. The results show a considerable improvement to competitor methods in reconstruction quality (about 5 dB PSNR gain) and robustness to noise (about 50% reduction in PSNR vs noise increase rate).
Robust bound states in the continuum in a dual waveguide system
Authors: Gu Zhiyuan , Jiang Sen , Liu Chang , Zhang Nan
Published: February 2023

Bound states in the continuum (BICs) provide a fascinating platform to route/manipulate waves with ultralow loss by patterning low-refractive-index materials on a high-refractive-index substrate. Principally, the phase of leaking channels can be manipulated via tuning the structural parameters to achieve destructive interference (i.e., the BIC condition), surprisingly leading to the total elimination of dissipation to the continuum of the substrate. Despite recent developments in BIC photonics, the BIC conditions can only be satisfied at specified geometric sizes for waveguides that dim their application prospects. Here, we propose a dual waveguide system that support BICs under arbitrary waveguide sizes by solely changing the intervals between the two waveguides. Our calculation results show that robust BICs in such architectures stem from the interaction (destructive interference) between leaking waves from the two waveguides. Furthermore, a cladding layer is introduced to improve the fabrication tolerance and reduce the sensitivity of the low-loss condition on the waveguide intervals of the presented dual waveguide system. The proposed approach offers an intriguing solution to establish a BIC concept and may be helpful to improve the potential of BIC photonic devices and circuits.
Day-night and seasonal variation of human gene expression across tissues
Authors: Wucher Valentin , Sodaei Reza , Amador Raziel , Irimia Manuel , Guigó Roderic
Published: February 2023

Circadian and circannual cycles trigger physiological changes whose reflection on human transcriptomes remains largely uncharted. We used the time and season of death of 932 individuals from GTEx to jointly investigate transcriptomic changes associated with those cycles across multiple tissues. Overall, most variation across tissues during day-night and among seasons was unique to each cycle. Although all tissues remodeled their transcriptomes, brain and gonadal tissues exhibited the highest seasonality, whereas those in the thoracic cavity showed stronger day-night regulation. Core clock genes displayed marked day-night differences across multiple tissues, which were largely conserved in baboon and mouse, but adapted to their nocturnal or diurnal habits. Seasonal variation of expression affected multiple pathways, and it was enriched among genes associated with the immune response, consistent with the seasonality of viral infections. Furthermore, they unveiled cytoarchitectural changes in brain regions. Altogether, our results provide the first combined atlas of how transcriptomes from human tissues adapt to major cycling environmental conditions. This atlas may have multiple applications; for example, drug targets with day-night or seasonal variation in gene expression may benefit from temporally adjusted doses.
Differential modularity of the mammalian Engrailed 1 enhancer network directs sweat gland development
Authors: Aldea Daniel , Kokalari Blerina , Atsuta Yuji , Dingwall Heather L. , Zheng Ying , Nace Arben , Cotsarelis George , Kamberov Yana G.
Published: February 2023

Enhancers are context-specific regulators of expression that drive biological complexity and variation through the redeployment of conserved genes. An example of this is the enhancer-mediated control of Engrailed 1 (EN1), a pleiotropic gene whose expression is required for the formation of mammalian eccrine sweat glands. We previously identified the En1 candidate enhancer (ECE) 18 cis-regulatory element that has been highly and repeatedly derived on the human lineage to potentiate ectodermal EN1 and induce our species’ uniquely high eccrine gland density. Intriguingly, ECE18 quantitative activity is negligible outside of primates and ECE18 is not required for En1 regulation and eccrine gland formation in mice, raising the possibility that distinct enhancers have evolved to modulate the same trait. Here we report the identification of the ECE20 enhancer and show it has conserved functionality in mouse and human developing skin ectoderm. Unlike ECE18, knock-out of ECE20 in mice reduces ectodermal En1 and eccrine gland number. Notably, we find ECE20, but not ECE18, is also required for En1 expression in the embryonic mouse brain, demonstrating that ECE20 is a pleiotropic En1 enhancer. Finally, that ECE18 deletion does not potentiate the eccrine phenotype of ECE20 knock-out mice supports the secondary incorporation of ECE18 into the regulation of this trait in primates. Our findings reveal that the mammalian En1 regulatory machinery diversified to incorporate both shared and lineage-restricted enhancers to regulate the same phenotype, and also have implications for understanding the forces that shape the robustness and evolvability of developmental traits.
Cognitive impairment following traumatic brain injury in Uganda: Prevalence and associated factors
Authors: Kintu Timothy Mwanje , Katengeke Vanessa , Kamoga Ronald , Nguyen Tricia , Najjuma Josephine Nambi , Kitya David , Wakida Edith K. , Obua Celestino , Rukundo Godfrey Zari
Published: February 2023

Background

As the burden of dementia continues to rise in sub-Saharan Africa, it is crucial to develop an evidence base for potentially modifiable risk factors such as Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Cognitive impairment may result from TBI and since it is an established prodromal form of dementia, we investigated the burden of cognitive impairment and associated factors in persons with a history of TBI in southwestern Uganda.

Methods

This was a community-based quantitative study with a cross-sectional design among 189 persons with a history of TBI in southwestern Uganda. Data were collected by the research team in March and June 2022 and entered into Kobo Toolbox before being transferred to RStudio version 4.1.0 for cleaning and analysis. Data were analyzed at a 5% level of significance.

Results

Most study participants had some form of cognitive impairment (56.1%), with 43.1% of the participants having mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Cognitive impairment was associated with older age (p-value<0.001); loss of consciousness following the TBI (p-value = 0.019) and a history of tobacco use (p-value = 0.003). As a measure of severity of the TBI, loss of consciousness (aOR = 4.09; CI = 1.57–11.76;p<0.01) and older age (aOR = 1.04; CI = 1.01–1.07;p<0.01) were identified as risk factors for cognitive impairment.

Conclusion

There is a high burden of cognitive impairment among individuals with a history of TBI in southwestern Uganda, and most associated risk factors are potentially modifiable. Long-term follow-up of TBI patients would enable early identification of some risks. Patients with TBI could benefit from behavioural modifications such as restriction of alcohol intake and tobacco use to slow down the progression into dementia.
Dengue amid COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Tangsathapornpong Auchara , Thisyakorn Usa
Published: February 2023

The increasing in dengue cases nowadays is a global threat concern. Fifty per cent of the world’s population is vulnerable to dengue infection with Asia contributing over two-thirds of the global burden. The double trouble of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) arising from novel severe respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and dengue virus is a major challenge, particularly in developing countries due to overburdened public health systems and economic constraints including the ability to diagnose. The objective of this study was to analyze the prevalence of dengue in Thailand during the outbreak of COVID-19. We studied data on dengue cases reported at epidemiological information centers, the Bureau of Epidemiology, and the Ministry of Public Health, Thailand during 2019 to 2021. Patients can be observed across all age groups, particularly adolescents and adults. Dengue was seen year-round, with highest incidence in the rainy seasons between June and September. Total number of cases was markedly declined by nearly 93 percentage from 2019 to 2011. Taken together, Thailand is still at risk of spreading of dengue in the midst of COVID-19 pandemic. Continuous status updates on dengue patients in Thailand should be incorporated into global health advisory on preventive measures before travelling.
Multi-party co-signature scheme based on SM2
Authors: Tan Liang , Shang Xinglin , Zou Liping , Yang Hekun , Wen Yi , Liu Zhongzhu
Published: February 2023

Two-party collaborative signature scheme is an important cryptographic technology for user authentication and data integrity protection when using mobile devices for financial and securities transactions. However, the two-party collaboration scheme has the following shortcomings: firstly, it is not flexible enough, and it requires the collaborating parties to be secure and trusted; secondly, the two-party collaboration security still needs to be improved. Once a hacker obtains the signature private key and collaborative identity of a mobile device, it can construct a legitimate two-party collaborative signature. Third, the application scenario of two-party co-signature is limited and cannot meet the application scenario of multi-device co-signature. For this reason, this paper designs a multi-party collaborative signature scheme based on SM2 digital signature algorithm in the standard “SM2 Elliptic Curve Public Key Cryptography” of GM/T003-2012. This scheme consists of multiple (more than 2) participants to jointly generate the signature group public key and valid signature in an interactive manner, while ensuring that each user cannot know the signature key other than their own during the signing process. We implement this scheme based on the GMP library. The experimental results show that this scheme is not only flexible but also more secure and trustworthy to meet the application scenario of multi-device collaborative signing. In addition, the time for multiple participants to construct signatures in this scheme is similar, and the time for signature verification is less different from that of the original SM2 signature.
Nitrogen palaeo-isoscapes: Changing spatial gradients of faunal δ15N in late Pleistocene and early Holocene Europe
Authors: Reade Hazel , Tripp Jennifer A. , Frémondeau Delphine , Sayle Kerry L. , Higham Thomas F. G. , Street Martin , Stevens Rhiannon E.
Published: February 2023

Nitrogen isotope ratio analysis (δ15N) of animal tissue is widely used in archaeology and palaeoecology to investigate diet and ecological niche. Data interpretations require an understanding of nitrogen isotope compositions at the base of the food web (baseline δ15N). Significant variation in animal δ15N has been recognised at various spatiotemporal scales and related to changes both in baseline δ15N, linked to environmental and climatic influence on the terrestrial nitrogen cycle, and animal ecology. Isoscapes (models of isotope spatial variation) have proved a useful tool for investigating spatial variability in biogeochemical cycles in present-day marine and terrestrial ecosystems, but so far, their application to palaeo-data has been more limited. Here, we present time-sliced nitrogen isoscapes for late Pleistocene and early Holocene Europe (c. 50,000 to 10,000 years BP) using herbivore collagen δ15N data. This period covers the Last Glacial-Interglacial Transition, during which significant variation in the terrestrial nitrogen cycle occurred. We use generalized linear mixed modelling approaches for interpolation and test models which both include and exclude climate covariate data. Our results show clear changes in spatial gradients of δ15N through time. Prediction of the lowest faunal δ15N values in northern latitudes after, rather than during, the Last Glacial Maximum is consistent with the Late Glacial Nitrogen Excursion (LGNE). We find that including climatic covariate data does not significantly improve model performance. These findings have implications for investigating the drivers of the LGNE, which has been linked to increased landscape moisture and permafrost thaw, and for understanding changing isotopic baselines, which are fundamental for studies investigating diets, niche partitioning, and migration of higher trophic level animals.
Modelling vegetation land fragmentation in urban areas of Western Province, Sri Lanka using an Artificial Intelligence-based simulation technique
Authors: Jayasinghe Amila , Ranaweera Nesha , Abenayake Chethika , Bandara Niroshan , De Silva Chathura
Published: February 2023

Vegetation land fragmentation has had numerous negative repercussions on sustainable development around the world. Urban planners are currently avidly investigating vegetation land fragmentation due to its effects on sustainable development. The literature has identified a research gap in the development of Artificial Intelligence [AI]-based models to simulate vegetation land fragmentation in urban contexts with multiple affecting elements. As a result, the primary aim of this research is to create an AI-based simulation framework to simulate vegetation land fragmentation in metropolitan settings. The main objective is to use non-linear analysis to identify the factors that contribute to vegetation land fragmentation. The proposed methodology is applied for Western Province, Sri Lanka. Accessibility growth, initial vegetation large patch size, initial vegetation land fragmentation, initial built-up land fragmentation, initial vegetation shape irregularity, initial vegetation circularity, initial building density, and initial vegetation patch association are the main variables used to frame the model among the 20 variables related to patches, corridors, matrix and other. This study created a feed-forward Artificial Neural Network [ANN] using R statistical software to analyze non-linear interactions and their magnitudes. The study likewise utilized WEKA software to create a Decision Tree [DT] modeling framework to explain the effect of variables. According to the ANN olden algorithm, accessibility growth has the maximum importance level [44] between -50 and 50, while DT reveals accessibility growth as the root of the Level of Vegetation Land Fragmentation [LVLF]. Small, irregular, and dispersed vegetation patches are especially vulnerable to fragmentation. As a result, study contributes detech and managing vegetation land fragmentation patterns in urban environments, while opening up vegetation land fragmentation research topics to AI applications.
Remote assessment of quality, processing and economic criteria in qualification of suppliers to the meat packaging foil producer—A Greek case study
Authors: Jakubowska-Gawlik Katarzyna , Kolanowski Wojciech , Mantzoros Dimitris , Czarniecka-Skubina Ewa , Trafialek Joanna
Published: February 2023

Supervision over the suppliers of packaging as well as suppliers of raw materials for packaging production is important to ensure the quality and safety of meat products. The aim of this study was to verify the remote evaluation procedure of quality, processing and economic criteria in qualification of raw materials suppliers to the meat packaging foil producer during the Covid-19 pandemic. The evaluation was done remotely in terms of meeting some of the requirements of the quality management system (QMS) in conditions where regular audit could not be carried out. The survey was conducted in one of the biggest packaging foil producers in Greece via its supplier evaluation. The evaluation consisted of: 1/ economic criteria and 2/ quality and processing criteria. The highest and the lowest rated economic criteria were procedural compliance and price of raw materials. Among the quality and processing criteria, the highest score was given to warranties and claims policies and material quality, and the lowest one to lead time. The highest ratings obtained suppliers of raw materials directly involved in production, suppliers from Greece, the USA and Denmark, as well as suppliers to the R&D department. The results of the study showed that the quality of the raw materials directly used in the production of packaging foil was adequate. Therefore, their use ensure production of packaging foil and finally packaged meat products of adequate quality and safety. The presented procedure occurred to be useful for remote evaluation of quality, processing and economic criteria in qualification of suppliers during the Covid-19 pandemic. It may inspire other producers of food packaging materials to continuing supervision over their suppliers while regular methods of control are limited.
Safety and clinical efficacy of endoscopic procedures for the treatment of adjacent segmental disease after lumbar fusion: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Wang Nan , Xie Yimin , Liu Xiyu , Zheng Yawei , Xi Zhipeng , Xu Wenqiang , Deng Rongrong , Tang Tian , Liu Xin
Published: February 2023

Background

Adjacent segment disease (ASD) is a common complication after lumbar fusion and is still traditionally treated by open surgery. In recent years, with the development of minimally invasive techniques, percutaneous endoscopic surgery(PES) has been used for the treatment of ASD after lumbar fusion due to its unique benefits. Nevertheless, it remains unclear about its significant clinical efficacy and advantages over conventional open surgery.

Objectives

To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of PES in the treatment of ASD after lumbar fusion.

Study design

A systematic review and meta-analysis studies about the role of PES in managing ASD after lumbar fusion.

Methods

A systematic search review was conducted in PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CNKI, VIP, WanFang, and SinoMed databases from the start of their construction to 15 November 2021. Eligible studies included references to clinical trials of PES for ASD after open lumbar fusion. Observations included pain relief, recovery of postoperative function, overall excellent rates, and indicators of the advantages of minimally invasive surgery compared to conventional surgery. Postoperative complications and recurrence rates were also recorded.

Results

A total of 24 studies, including 20 single-arm studies and 4 clinical control studies, all involving 928 patients were included. A total of 694 patients were included in the single-arm analysis. The results of the single-arm meta-analysis showed that PES could significantly reduce low back and leg pain and improve the functional status of the lumbar spine in patients with ASD after open lumbar fusion compared to preoperatively, and had good clinical efficacy after surgery. A total of 234 patients were included in the four clinically controlled studies, and the results of the meta-analysis showed that PES could clearly reduce pain and improve lumbar function, with no significant difference in efficacy between PES and open surgery. However, PES has a lower surgical incision, less intraoperative bleeding, and shorter operative time and length of hospital stay compared to open surgery. Moreover, it has a lower rate of postoperative recurrence as well as complications and a longer duration of efficacy.

Conclusions

On the basis of the available clinical literature and the results of this study, PES could achieve satisfactory clinical effects in ASD treatment after lumbar fusion. Compared with conventional open surgery, PES can not only obtain similar clinical results, but also had the advantages of less trauma and faster recovery. Nevertheless, a randomized controlled study is still needed to validate the findings of this study.

Trial registration

Systematic review registration:https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/, identifierCRD42022298387.
Accuracy of dietary intake assessments using food records based on photographic images captured by visually impaired people
Authors: Borges Thaís Lima Dias , de Lima Marcos Felipe Silva , Lima Severina Carla Vieira Cunha , Bagni Ursula Viana
Published: February 2023

Traditional methods to assess dietary intake have limited and questionable application in visually impaired people since the lack of vision and low leading role in their diet make it difficult to quantify and detail the food consumed throughout the day. Thus, this study investigated whether it is possible to accurately identify foods and estimate their quantities using food records based on photographic images captured by visually impaired people. A panel of experts composed of nutritionists (n = 20) assessed these records comprising three standardized meals (breakfast; lunch/dinner; snack) from visually impaired people (n = 40) using two different protocols (frontal photo; aerial photo). Each nutritionist reported an estimated food record for each photographic image, which was compared to its respective weighed food record. For both frontal and aerial photos, experts were frequently correct for the number of food items in the meal (95.0% or over for breakfast, 100% for lunch/dinner, and 100% for snacks). All experts identified at least 11 of the 13 food items, but the majority correctly estimated the food amount only for 23% of the items. Compared to the weighed food record, the photographic records underestimated the amount of 61.5% of food items based on frontal photos, and of 76.9% of food items based on aerial photos. While most foods could be identified by photographic images captured by visually impaired people enabling a qualitative assessment of the diet, they could not be quantified accurately by nutritionists.
Toxicity of tributyltin to the European flat oyster Ostrea edulis: Metabolomic responses indicate impacts to energy metabolism, biochemical composition and reproductive maturation
Authors: Zapata-Restrepio Lina M. , Hauton Chris , Hudson Malcolm D. , Williams Ian D. , Hauton David
Published: February 2023

Tri-Butyl Tin (TBT) remains as a legacy pollutant in the benthic environments. Although the toxic impacts and endocrine disruption caused by TBT to gastropod molluscs have been established, the changes in energy reserves allocated to maintenance, growth, reproduction and survival of European oysters Ostrea edulis, a target species of concerted benthic habitat restoration projects, have not been explored. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of TBT chloride (TBTCl) on potential ions and relevant metabolomic pathways and its association with changes in physiological, biochemical and reproductive parameters in O. edulis exposed to environmental relevant concentrations of TBTCl. Oysters were exposed to TBTCl 20 ng/L (n = 30), 200 ng/L (n = 30) and 2000 ng/L (n = 30) for nine weeks. At the end of the exposure, gametogenic stage, sex, energy reserve content and metabolomic profiling analysis were conducted to elucidate the metabolic alterations that occur in individuals exposed to those compounds. Metabolite analysis showed significant changes in the digestive gland biochemistry in oysters exposed to TBTCl, decreasing tissue ATP concentrations through a combination of the disruption of the TCA cycle and other important molecular pathways involved in homeostasis, mitochondrial metabolism and antioxidant response. TBTCl exposure increased mortality and caused changes in the gametogenesis with cycle arrest in stages G0 and G1. Sex determination was affected by TBTCl exposure, increasing the proportion of oysters identified as males in O. edulis treated at 20ng/l TBTCl, and with an increased proportion of inactive stages in oysters treated with 2000 ng/l TBTCl. The presence and persistence of environmental pollutants, such as TBT, could represent an additional threat to the declining O. edulis populations and related taxa around the world, by increasing mortality, changing reproductive maturation, and disrupting metabolism. Our findings identify the need to consider additional factors (e.g. legacy pollution) when identifying coastal locations for shellfish restoration.
Diallel analysis of soybean (Glycine max L.) for biomass yield and root characteristics under low phosphorus soil conditions in Western Ethiopia
Authors: Abebe Abush Tesfaye , Adewale Samuel , Chigeza Godfree , Derera John
Published: February 2023

Combining ability studies under low soil P conditions provides useful information on the inheritance of important traits to improve soybean for low P tolerance. The study aimed at determining the combining ability and gene actions of biomass yield and root traits in soybean under low phosphorus conditions. Nine parental genotypes and their 36 half diallel F2/F3 progenies were evaluated at two locations in Ethiopia on soils of low P availability. Highly significant (P<0.01) general combining ability (GCA) were found for all the traits and specific combining ability (SCA) for root dry weight and root fresh weight; while the SCA effects of all the rest of the traits were significant (P<0.05). The higher relative contributions of GCA over SCA revealed the preponderance of additive gene action in the inheritance of biomass yield, root dry weight, biomass dry weight, root volume, and root fresh weight with respective relative GCA:SCA contributions of (60.6, 39.4), (50.4, 49.6), (54.9, 45.1), (51.1, 48.9), and (52.1, 47.9); while the narrow-sense heritability was high (34.3%) only for biomass yield. Hardee-1 displayed significant (P<0.05) and positive GCA effects for most of the studied traits, and several crosses involving this parent showed superior performances. The traits i.e., biomass yield, biomass dry weight, root volume and root fresh weight showed highly (P<0.001) correlation with grain yield. Thus, breeding programs aiming to improve soybean for biomass yield and root traits under low-P condition can use Hardee-1 as a parent.
The impact of COVID-19 on firm risk and performance in MENA countries: Does national governance quality matter?
Authors: Almustafa Hamza , Nguyen Quang Khai , Liu Jia , Dang Van Cuong
Published: February 2023

This study investigated the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on firm risk and performance in different country-level governance qualities in the MENA region. Analyzing a sample of 739 non-financial listed firms in 12 MENA countries for the period 2011–2020, we found that the COVID-19 crisis negatively impacted the performance of firms, especially low-performance firms, in most industries, and increased firm risk in general. Moreover, we found that national governance quality plays an important role in mitigating the negative impact of the COVID-19 crisis on firm operations. Specifically, national governance quality reduces the negative impact of the COVID-19 crisis on firm performance and the positive impact of the crisis on firm risk. The results are consistent with our contention that national governance quality contributes to creating a positive environment for businesses activities and reducing economic shocks.
Combined segmentation and classification-based approach to automated analysis of biomedical signals obtained from calcium imaging
Authors: Dursun Gizem , Bijelić Dunja , Ayşit Neşe , Kurt Vatandaşlar Burcu , Radenović Lidija , Çapar Abdulkerim , Kerman Bilal Ersen , Andjus Pavle R. , Korenić Andrej , Özkaya Ufuk
Published: February 2023

Automated screening systems in conjunction with machine learning-based methods are becoming an essential part of the healthcare systems for assisting in disease diagnosis. Moreover, manually annotating data and hand-crafting features for training purposes are impractical and time-consuming. We propose a segmentation and classification-based approach for assembling an automated screening system for the analysis of calcium imaging. The method was developed and verified using the effects of disease IgGs (from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis patients) on calcium (Ca2+) homeostasis. From 33 imaging videos we analyzed, 21 belonged to the disease and 12 to the control experimental groups. The method consists of three main steps: projection, segmentation, and classification. The entire Ca2+ time-lapse image recordings (videos) were projected into a single image using different projection methods. Segmentation was performed by using a multi-level thresholding (MLT) step and the Regions of Interest (ROIs) that encompassed cell somas were detected. A mean value of the pixels within these boundaries was collected at each time point to obtain the Ca2+ traces (time-series). Finally, a new matrix called feature image was generated from those traces and used for assessing the classification accuracy of various classifiers (control vs. disease). The mean value of the segmentation F-score for all the data was above 0.80 throughout the tested threshold levels for all projection methods, namely maximum intensity, standard deviation, and standard deviation with linear scaling projection. Although the classification accuracy reached up to 90.14%, interestingly, we observed that achieving better scores in segmentation results did not necessarily correspond to an increase in classification performance. Our method takes the advantage of the multi-level thresholding and of a classification procedure based on the feature images, thus it does not have to rely on hand-crafted training parameters of each event. It thus provides a semi-autonomous tool for assessing segmentation parameters which allows for the best classification accuracy.
Knowledge of postpartum complications and associated factors among women who gave birth in the last 12 months in Arba Minch Town, Southern Ethiopia, 2019: A community-based cross-sectional study
Authors: Yaya Tessema Godana , Ayele Gistane , Fikadu Tessema Kassahun , Gendisha Ukke Gebresilasea , Godana Boynito Wanzahun
Published: February 2023

Introduction

The knowledge of women about obstetric complications can helps them to seek health care earlier before obstetric complications arise. Most maternal deaths occur due to the poor health care seeking behavior after childbirth, but little is done on maternal knowledge of postpartum complications. Therefore this study aimed to assess knowledge of postpartum complications and associated factors among women who gave birth in the last 12 months in Arba Minch Town, Sothern Ethiopia.

Methods

A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 418 women from December 01 to 15, 2019. A multi-stage sampling method was applied to reach study units. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect the data using face-to-face interviews. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression was applied to examine the relationship between dependent and independent variables. Statistical significance was declared at a P-value ≤ 0.05 with the corresponding 95% confidence level.

Results

Knowledge of women on postpartum complications was 23.9%. Secondary and above educational level (AOR = 3.82, 95% CI: [1.70, 8.65]), Grand multiparity (AOR = 2.31, 95% CI: [1.13, 4.71]), having four and above ANC visit (AOR = 2.04, 95% CI: [1.10, 3.81]) and self-decision making power to seek care (AOR = 3.68, 95% CI: [2.21, 6.11]) were statistically significant factors.

Conclusion and recommendation

Mothers’ knowledge of postpartum complications was low in this study area. Improving women’s educational level, decision-making power to seek health care, and counseling during ANC follow-up may be useful approaches to increase their knowledge of postpartum complications.
Equity incentive contract characteristics and company operational performance—An empirical study of Chinese listed companies
Authors: Qiao Mingzhe , Chen Saihong , Xu Shiwei
Published: February 2023

Equity incentive, as an institutional arrangement for the coordination of the interests of shareholders and managers, has been widely implemented by public companies in developed capital markets throughout Europe and America. However, does it work and/or when might it be more effective in emerging market economies such as China? We aimed to understand the effects of equity incentive plans implemented by listed companies in China and the potential influence of the general characteristics of contracts on the effectiveness of equity incentive plans. Based on behavioral decision theory, this paper adopts a multivariate linear regression model to analyze the 1695 equity incentive plans implemented in Chinese listed companies between 2010 and 2018 with their two-year lagged performance data. The empirical results show that the operational performance of companies after implementing equity incentive plans shows a trend of polarization. In the 95% confidence interval, the effect of restrictive stock incentive and exercise-constrained variables is not significant, while the validity period has a significant positive correlation and incentive intensity has a significantly negative correlation with the company’s operational performance. Furthermore, the negative effects mentioned above become more obvious with a longer plan implementation period. Based on these conclusions, we suggest that companies could adopt equity incentive plans with a relatively longer validity period and more reasonable incentive intensity. Additionally, it would be better for companies to select non-restricted stocks as incentive tools if there is no obvious preference.
Gene expression prediction based on neighbour connection neural network utilizing gene interaction graphs
Authors: Li Xuanyu , Zhang Xuan , He Wenduo , Bu Deliang , Zhang Sanguo
Published: February 2023

Having observed that gene expressions have a correlation, the Library of Integrated Network-based Cell-Signature program selects 1000 landmark genes to predict the remaining gene expression value. Further works have improved the prediction result by using deep learning models. However, these models ignore the latent structure of genes, limiting the accuracy of the experimental results. We therefore propose a novel neural network named Neighbour Connection Neural Network(NCNN) to utilize the gene interaction graph information. Comparing to the popular GCN model, our model incorperates the graph information in a better manner. We validate our model under two different settings and show that our model promotes prediction accuracy comparing to the other models.
Imputation of missing values for cochlear implant candidate audiometric data and potential applications
Authors: Pavelchek Cole , Michelson Andrew P. , Walia Amit , Ortmann Amanda , Herzog Jacques , Buchman Craig A. , Shew Matthew A.
Published: February 2023

Objective

Assess the real-world performance of popular imputation algorithms on cochlear implant (CI) candidate audiometric data.

Methods

7,451 audiograms from patients undergoing CI candidacy evaluation were pooled from 32 institutions with complete case analysis yielding 1,304 audiograms. Imputation model performance was assessed with nested cross-validation on randomly generated sparse datasets with various amounts of missing data, distributions of sparsity, and dataset sizes. A threshold for safe imputation was defined as root mean square error (RMSE) <10dB. Models included univariate imputation, interpolation, multiple imputation by chained equations (MICE), k-nearest neighbors, gradient boosted trees, and neural networks.

Results

Greater quantities of missing data were associated with worse performance. Sparsity in audiometric data is not uniformly distributed, as inter-octave frequencies are less commonly tested. With 3–8 missing features per instance, a real-world sparsity distribution was associated with significantly better performance compared to other sparsity distributions (Δ RMSE 0.3 dB– 5.8 dB, non-overlapping 99% confidence intervals). With a real-world sparsity distribution, models were able to safely impute up to 6 missing datapoints in an 11-frequency audiogram. MICE consistently outperformed other models across all metrics and sparsity distributions (p < 0.01, Wilcoxon rank sum test). With sparsity capped at 6 missing features per audiogram but otherwise equivalent to the raw dataset, MICE imputed with RMSE of 7.83 dB [95% CI 7.81–7.86]. Imputing up to 6 missing features captures 99.3% of the audiograms in our dataset, allowing for a 5.7-fold increase in dataset size (1,304 to 7,399 audiograms) as compared with complete case analysis.

Conclusion

Precision medicine will inevitably play an integral role in the future of hearing healthcare. These methods are data dependent, and rigorously validated imputation models are a key tool for maximizing datasets. Using the largest CI audiogram dataset to-date, we demonstrate that in a real-world scenario MICE can safely impute missing data for the vast majority (>99%) of audiograms with RMSE well below a clinically significant threshold of 10dB. Evaluation across a range of dataset sizes and sparsity distributions suggests a high degree of generalizability to future applications.
Analysis of LruC lipoprotein and identification of peptides candidates for vaccine development and diagnosis of leptospirosis
Authors: Mariano Iago H. de Miranda , Silva Bruna Ferreira , Machado Mayriele da S. , Blanco Roberta M. , Romero Eliete C. , Andrade Sonia A. , Ho Paulo Lee , Martins Elizabeth A. L. , da Silva Josefa Bezerra
Published: February 2023

Leptospirosis is a public health concern with lethality around 15% of the total cases. The current vaccines against Leptospira infection based on bacterins have several limitations, which require urgent development of new ones. In this context, groundbreaking approaches such as peptide-vaccines could be used to come around with promising results. Our goal was to identify conserved and immunogenic epitopes from the lipoprotein LruC that could interact with Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) I and II. LruC is a conserved lipoprotein expressed during leptospirosis that is considered among vaccine candidates and can be used as source for development of peptide-based vaccines. We searched for peptides that would be recognized by antibodies from either serum of hamsters previously immunized with low-LPS bacterin vaccines or from serum of patients diagnosed with leptospirosis. Immuno properties of seven peptides from LruC protein were evaluated in silico and by Dot Blot assay, and validate by ELISA. Preliminary results pointed one promising peptide that was recognized by the sera. In conclusion, the immunoinformatic approach helps the search and screening of peptides, while the Dot Blot assay, a simple and effective tool, helps to test and validate them. Thus, these prospective techniques together were validated to identify and validate potential peptides for further investigation as peptide-based vaccines or diagnostic methods.
Fermented dairy foods consumption and depressive symptoms: A meta-analysis of cohort studies
Authors: Luo Yupeng , Li Zhuo , Gu Liya , Zhang Kui
Published: February 2023

Background

The gut-brain axis has been potentially proposed as a link between the intake of fermented dairy foods and depression. We carried out this meta-analysis on published cohort studies to estimate the overall depression risk of fermented dairy foods intake.

Methods

We searched the CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure) and PubMed databases for all articles within a range of published years from 2010 to 2022 on the association between fermented dairy foods intake and depression.

Results

Finally, 8 studies met the inclusion criteria for this study, with 83,533 participants. Overall, there was statistical evidence of significantly decreased depression risk was found to be associated with fermented dairy foods intake (OR = 0.89, 95% CI = 0.81–0.98). In subgroup analysis, cheese and yogurt consumptions were significantly associated with decreased depression risk (OR = 0.91, 95% CI = 0.84–0.98 for cheese and OR = 0. 84, 95% CI = 0.72–0.99 for yogurt). However, we failed to find superabundant intake of fermented dairy foods intake decreased the risk of depression.

Conclusion

Our meta-analysis indicated that fermented dairy foods intake may have potential beneficial effect on depression via the gut-brain axis.
The ratio of adaptive to innate immune cells differs between genders and associates with improved prognosis and response to immunotherapy
Authors: Ahrenfeldt Johanne , Christensen Ditte S. , Østergaard Andreas B. , Kisistók Judit , Sokač Mateo , Birkbak Nicolai J.
Published: February 2023

Immunotherapy has revolutionised cancer treatment. However, not all cancer patients benefit, and current stratification strategies based primarily on PD1 status and mutation burden are far from perfect. We hypothesised that high activation of an innate response relative to the adaptive response may prevent proper tumour neoantigen identification and decrease the specific anticancer response, both in the presence and absence of immunotherapy. To investigate this, we obtained transcriptomic data from three large publicly available cancer datasets, the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), the Hartwig Medical Foundation (HMF), and a recently published cohort of metastatic bladder cancer patients treated with immunotherapy. To analyse immune infiltration into bulk tumours, we developed an RNAseq-based model based on previously published definitions to estimate the overall level of infiltrating innate and adaptive immune cells from bulk tumour RNAseq data. From these, the adaptive-to-innate immune ratio (A/I ratio) was defined. A meta-analysis of 32 cancer types from TCGA overall showed improved overall survival in patients with an A/I ratio above median (Hazard ratio (HR) females 0.73, HR males 0.86, P < 0.05). Of particular interest, we found that the association was different for males and females for eight cancer types, demonstrating a gender bias in the relative balance of the infiltration of innate and adaptive immune cells. For patients with metastatic disease, we found that responders to immunotherapy had a significantly higher A/I ratio than non-responders in HMF (P = 0.036) and a significantly higher ratio in complete responders in a separate metastatic bladder cancer dataset (P = 0.022). Overall, the adaptive-to-innate immune ratio seems to define separate states of immune activation, likely linked to fundamental immunological reactions to cancer. This ratio was associated with improved prognosis and improved response to immunotherapy, demonstrating potential relevance to patient stratification. Furthermore, by demonstrating a significant difference between males and females that associates with response, we highlight an important gender bias which likely has direct clinical relevance.
A new cubic transmuted power-function distribution: Properties, inference, and applications
Authors: Ahsan-ul-Haq Muhammad , Aldahlan Maha A. , Zafar Javeria , Gómez Héctor W. , Afify Ahmed Z. , Mahran Hisham A.
Published: February 2023

A new three-parameter cubic transmuted power distribution is proposed using the cubic rank transformation. The density and hazard functions of the new distribution provide great flexibility. Some mathematical properties of the new model such as quantile function, moments, dispersion index, mean residual life, and order statistics are derived. The model parameters are estimated using five different estimation methods. A comprehensive simulation study is carried out to understand the behavior of derived estimators and choose the best estimation method. The usefulness of the proposed distribution is illustrated using a real dataset. It is concluded that the proposed distribution is better than some well-known existing distributions.
Transmission, localization, and infectivity of seedborne maize chlorotic mottle virus
Authors: Bernardo Pauline , Barriball Kelly , Frey Timothy S. , Meulia Tea , Wangai Anne , Suresh L. M. , Heuchelin Scott , Paul Pierce A. , Redinbaugh Margaret G. , Ohlson Erik W.
Published: February 2023

Maize lethal necrosis is a destructive virus disease of maize caused by maize chlorotic mottle virus (MCMV) in combination with a virus in the family Potyviridae. Emergence of MLN is typically associated with the introduction of MCMV or its vectors and understanding its spread through seed is critical for disease management. Previous studies suggest that although MCMV is detected on seed, the seed transmission rate of this virus is low. However, mechanisms influencing its transmission are poorly understood. Elucidating these mechanisms is crucial for informing strategies to prevent spread on contaminated seed. In this study, we evaluated the rate of MCMV seed transmission using seed collected from plants that were artificially inoculated with MCMV isolates from Hawaii and Kenya. Grow-out tests indicated that MCMV transmission through seed was rare, with a rate of 0.004% among the more than 85,000 seed evaluated, despite detection of MCMV at high levels in the seed lots. To understand factors that limit transmission from seed, MCMV distribution in seed tissues was examined using serology and immunolocalization. The virus was present at high levels in maternal tissues, the pericarp and pedicel, but absent from filial endosperm and embryo seed tissues. The ability to transmit MCMV from seed to uninfected plants was tested to evaluate virus viability. Transmission was negatively associated with both seed maturity and moisture content. Transmission of MCMV from infested seed dried to less than 15% moisture was not detected, suggesting proper handling could be important for minimizing spread of MCMV through seed.