bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Quantitative Analysis of the Synergy of Doping and Nanostructuring of Oxide Photocatalysts
Authors: Seriani Nicola , Delcompare-Rodriguez Paola , Pandey Dhanshree , Adak Abhishek Kumar , Mahamiya Vikram , Pinilla Carlos , El-Khozondar Hala J.
Published: July 2024

In this paper, the effect of doping and nanostructuring on the electrostatic potential across the electrochemical interface between a transition metal oxide and a water electrolyte is investigated by means of the Poisson–Boltzmann model. For spherical nanoparticles and nanorods, compact expressions for the limiting potentials at which the space charge layer includes the whole semiconductor are reported. We provide a quantitative analysis of the distribution of the potential drop between the solid and the liquid and show that the relative importance changes with doping. It is usually assumed that high doping improves charge dynamics in the semiconductor but reduces the width of the space charge layer. However, nanostructuring counterbalances the latter negative effect; we show quantitatively that in highly doped nanoparticles the space charge layer can occupy a similar volume fraction as in low-doped microparticles. Moreover, as shown by some recent experiments, under conditions of high doping the electric fields in the Helmholtz layer can be as high as 100 mV/Å, comparable to electric fields inducing freezing in water. This work provides a systematic quantitative framework for understanding the effects of doping and nanostructuring on electrochemical interfaces, and suggests that it is necessary to better characterize the interface at the atomistic level.
Material Extrusion 3D Printing of Micro-Porous Copper-Based Structure for Water Filters
Authors: Kotorčević Nikola , Milenković Strahinja , Živić Fatima , Jordović Branka , Adamović Dragan , Todorović Petar , Grujović Nenad
Published: July 2024

This paper presents 3D-printed micro-porous structures made of a Cu/PLA composite by using material extrusion 3D printing technology. A metallic filament made of 80% copper and 20% polylactic acid (PLA) was used for the 3D printing of the porous samples. We varied printing parameters, aiming to obtain a micro-range porosity that can serve as a water-filtering structure. The produced samples were analyzed from the aspects of dimensional accuracy, level of porosity, and capacity for water flow. Several samples were fabricated, and the water flow was exhibited for the samples with an approximate 100 µm size of the interconnected open porosity. The application of material extrusion 3D printing, as a cost-effective, widely available technology for producing micro-range porous structures, is still challenging, especially for interconnected predefined porosity with metal-based filaments. Our research showed that the optimization of 3D printing parameters can enable the fabrication of copper-based micro-porous structures, but further research is still needed.
Reinforcement Learning-Based Auto-Optimized Parallel Prediction for Air Conditioning Energy Consumption
Authors: Gu Chao , Yao Shentao , Miao Yifan , Tian Ye , Liu Yuru , Bao Zhicheng , Wang Tao , Zhang Baoyu , Chen Tao , Zhang Weishan
Published: July 2024

Air conditioning contributes a high percentage of energy consumption over the world. The efficient prediction of energy consumption can help to reduce energy consumption. Traditionally, multidimensional air conditioning energy consumption data could only be processed sequentially for each dimension, thus resulting in inefficient feature extraction. Furthermore, due to reasons such as implicit correlations between hyperparameters, automatic hyperparameter optimization (HPO) approaches can not be easily achieved. In this paper, we propose an auto-optimization parallel energy consumption prediction approach based on reinforcement learning. It can parallel process multidimensional time series data and achieve the automatic optimization of model hyperparameters, thus yielding an accurate prediction of air conditioning energy consumption. Extensive experiments on real air conditioning datasets from five factories have demonstrated that the proposed approach outperforms existing prediction solutions, with an increase in average accuracy by 11.48% and an average performance improvement of 32.48%.
Synergistic Effect of Magnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles with Medicinal Plant Extracts against Resistant Bacterial Strains
Authors: Bataineh Sereen M.B. , Arafa Isam M. , Abu-Zreg Samya M. , Al-Gharaibeh Mohammad M. , Hammouri Hanan M. , Tarazi Yaser H. , Darmani Homa
Published: July 2024

Nanoparticles are emerging as a fascinating alternative to antibiotics. When stabilized by chemical compounds, magnetite nanoparticles (MagNPs) consistently exhibit bactericidal effects across different types of bacteria. This study describes the synthesis, characterization, and antibacterial properties of magnetite MagNPs prepared by the coprecipitation method under continuous sonication. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), and Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) techniques revealed Fe3O4-NPs as spherical, uniform particles with an average size of approximately 16 nm. The antibacterial efficacy of MagNPs was investigated by combining them with methanolic extracts of three medicinal plants known for their antibacterial properties: Aloysia triphylla, Sarcopoterium spinosum, and Urtica pilulifera. The combined effect was assessed against both wild type and resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. The antibacterial synergistic effect of MagNPs and plant extracts was evaluated by the MIC test, which showed significant inhibitory properties against the growth of the four bacterial strains as compared to control samples of plant extracts alone. Furthermore, the synergistic effect of MagNPs combined with extracts from Rosmarinus officinalis, Anchusa azurea, Quercus infectoria, and Urtica pilulifera significantly prevented biofilm development in both sensitive and resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus.
Parallel Implicit Solvers for 2D Numerical Models on Structured Meshes
Authors: Zhang Yaoxin , Al-Hamdan Mohammad Z. , Chao Xiaobo
Published: July 2024

This paper presents the parallelization of two widely used implicit numerical solvers for the solution of partial differential equations on structured meshes, namely, the ADI (Alternating-Direction Implicit) solver for tridiagonal linear systems and the SIP (Strongly Implicit Procedure) solver for the penta-diagonal systems. Both solvers were parallelized using CUDA (Computer Unified Device Architecture) Fortran on GPGPUs (General-Purpose Graphics Processing Units). The parallel ADI solver (P-ADI) is based on the Parallel Cyclic Reduction (PCR) algorithm, while the parallel SIP solver (P-SIP) uses the wave front method (WF) following a diagonal line calculation strategy. To map the solution schemes onto the hierarchical block-threads framework of the CUDA on the GPU, the P-ADI solver adopted two mapping methods, one block thread with iterations (OBM-it) and multi-block threads (MBMs), while the P-SIP solver also used two mappings, one conventional mapping using effective WF lines (WF-e) with matrix coefficients and solution variables defined on original computational mesh, and a newly proposed mapping using all WF mesh (WF-all), on which matrix coefficients and solution variables are defined. Both the P-ADI and the P-SIP have been integrated into a two-dimensional (2D) hydrodynamic model, the CCHE2D (Center of Computational Hydroscience and Engineering) model, developed by the National Center for Computational Hydroscience and Engineering at the University of Mississippi. This study for the first time compared these two parallel solvers and their efficiency using examples and applications in complex geometries, which can provide valuable guidance for future uses of these two parallel implicit solvers in computational fluids dynamics (CFD). Both parallel solvers demonstrated higher efficiency than their serial counterparts on the CPU (Central Processing Unit): 3.73~4.98 speedup ratio for flow simulations, and 2.166~3.648 speedup ratio for sediment transport simulations. In general, the P-ADI solver is faster than but not as stable as the P-SIP solver; and for the P-SIP solver, the newly developed mapping method WF-all significantly improved the conventional mapping method WF-e.
Solid Waste Detection Using Enhanced YOLOv8 Lightweight Convolutional Neural Networks
Authors: Li Pan , Xu Jiayin , Liu Shenbo
Published: July 2024

As urbanization accelerates, solid waste management has become one of the key issues in urban governance. Accurate and efficient waste sorting is a crucial step in enhancing waste processing efficiency, promoting resource recycling, and achieving sustainable development. However, there are still many challenges inherent in today’s garbage detection methods. These challenges include the high computational cost of detection, the complexity of the detection background, and the difficulty in accurately evaluating the spatial relationship between rectangular detection frames during the inspection process. Therefore, this study improves the latest YOLOv8s object detection model, introducing a garbage detection model that balances light weight and detection performance. Firstly, this study introduces a newly designed structure, the CG-HGNetV2 network, to optimize the backbone network of YOLOv8s. This novel framework leverages local features, surrounding context, and global context to enhance the accuracy of semantic segmentation. It efficiently extracts features through a hierarchical approach, significantly reducing the computational cost of the model. Additionally, this study introduces an innovative network called MSE-AKConv, which integrates an attention module into the network architecture. The irregular convolution operations facilitate efficient feature extraction, enhancing the ability to extract valid information from complex backgrounds. In addition, this study introduces a new method to replace CIoU (complete intersection over union). On the basis of calculating IoU (intersection over union), it also considers the outer boundary of the two rectangles. By calculating the minimum distance between the boundaries, this method handles cases where boundaries are close but not overlapping, offering a more detailed similarity assessment than that provided by traditional IoU. In this study, the model was trained and evaluated using a publicly available dataset. Specifically, the model has improved the precision (P), recall rate (R), and mAP@50 (mean average precision at 50) by 4.80%, 0.10%, and 1.30%, while reducing model parameters by 6.55% and computational demand by 0.03%. This study not only provides an efficient automated solution for waste detection, but also opens up new avenues for ecological environmental protection.
GAT4Rec: Sequential Recommendation with a Gated Recurrent Unit and Transformers
Authors: He Huaiwen , Yang Xiangdong , Huang Feng , Yi Feng , Liang Shangsong
Published: July 2024

Capturing long-term dependency from historical behaviors is the key to the success of sequential recommendation; however, existing methods focus on extracting global sequential information while neglecting to obtain deep representations from subsequences. Previous research has revealed that the restricted inter-item transfer is fundamental to sequential modeling, and some potential substructures of sequences can help models learn more effective long-term dependency compared to the whole sequence. To automatically find better subsequences and perform efficient learning, we propose a sequential recommendation model with a gated recurrent unit and Transformers, abbreviated as GAT4Rec, which employs Transformers with shared parameters across layers to model users’ historical interaction sequences. The representation learned by the gated recurrent unit is used as the gating signal to identify the optimal substructure in user sequences. The fused representation of the subsequence and edge information is extracted by the encoding layer to make the corresponding recommendations. Experimental results on four well-known publicly available datasets demonstrate that our GAT4Rec model outperforms other recommendation models, achieving performance improvements of 5.77%, 1.35%, 11.58%, and 1.79% in the normalized discounted cumulative gain metric (NDCG@10), respectively.
The Wave Equation for a Moving Source and a Moving Receiver
Authors: Dodig Hrvoje
Published: July 2024

The ordinary 3D wave equation for nondissipative, homogeneous, isotropic media admits solutions where the point sources are permitted to move, but as shown in this paper, it does not admit solutions where the receiver is allowed to move. To overcome this limitation, a new wave equation that permits both the receiver and the source to move is derived in this paper. This new wave equation is a generalization of the standard wave equation, and it reduces to the standard wave equation when the receiver is at rest. To derive this new wave equation, we first mathematically define a diverging spherical wave caused by a stationary point source. From this purely mathematical definition, the wave equation for a stationary source and a moving receiver is derived, together with a corresponding free-space Green function. Utilizing the derived Green function, it is shown that unlike the standard wave equation this new wave equation also permits solutions where both the receiver and the source are permitted to move. In conclusion, this paper demonstrates that, instead of an ordinary wave equation, the wave equation for a moving source and a moving receiver governs the waves emitted by moving point sources and received by moving receivers. This new wave equation has possible applications in acoustics, electrodynamics, and other physical sciences.
Resilience Measurement of Bus–Subway Network Based on Generalized Cost
Authors: Pei Yulong , Xie Fei , Wang Ziqi , Dong Chuntong
Published: July 2024

Buses and subways are crucial modes of transportation for residents, yet frequent disturbances pose serious challenges to their daily commutes. To tackle these disruptions and boost the stability of the transportation network, it is vital to accurately measure the resilience of a bus–subway composite network under such events. Therefore, this study utilizes the generalized cost between stations as weights with which to construct a bus–subway weighted composite network. Subsequently, three indicators, namely reachability, path importance, and weighted coreness, are proposed to evaluate the significance of the nodes, thereby combining the improved CRITIC-TOPSIS method to identify the critical nodes. Then, deliberate attacks and preferential restorations are conducted on the nodes, considering their importance and the critical nodes sequences, respectively. Finally, network resilience changes are characterized by the network connectivity coefficient and global accessibility, and the network resilience is compared under different attack and recovery strategies. The research results indicate that resilience is lowest when using reachability sequences to attack and recover the network. The network’s recovery is most significant when using the critical nodes sequences. When 70% of the nodes are restored, the network’s performance is essentially fully recovered. Additionally, the resilience of a bus–subway network is higher than that of a single bus network. This study applies the generalized cost to weight the transportation network, and considers the impact of multiple factors on the ease of connectivity between the nodes, which facilitates the accurate measurement of the resilience of a bus–subway network and enhances the ability to cope with disruptions.
A New Algorithm for Variational Inequality Problems in CAT(0) Spaces
Authors: Kalsoom Amna , Rashid Maliha , Bagdasar Ovidiu , Nisa Zaib Un
Published: July 2024

Numerous strong and weak convergence results on variational inequality problems are known in the literature. We here study a variational inequality problem by using the viscosity approximation method in the nonlinear CAT(0) space, where some novel theorems are established for strong and Δ-convergent sequences.
An Intelligent Financial Fraud Detection Support System Based on Three-Level Relationship Penetration
Authors: Li Xiang , Chu Lei , Li Yujun , Xing Zhanjun , Ding Fengqian , Li Jintao , Ma Ben
Published: July 2024

Financial fraud is a serious challenge in a rapidly evolving digital economy that places increasing demands on detection systems. However, traditional methods are often limited by the dimensional information of the corporations themselves and are insufficient to deal with the complexity and dynamics of modern financial fraud. This study introduces a novel intelligent financial fraud detection support system, leveraging a three-level relationship penetration (3-LRP) method to decode complex fraudulent networks and enhance prediction accuracy, by integrating the fuzzy rough density-based feature selection (FRDFS) methodology, which optimizes feature screening in noisy financial environments, together with the fuzzy deterministic soft voting (FDSV) method that combines transformer-based deep tabular networks with conventional machine learning classifiers. The integration of FRDFS optimizes feature selection, significantly improving the system’s reliability and performance. An empirical analysis, using a real financial dataset from Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), demonstrates the effectiveness of our proposed method. This research enriches the financial fraud detection literature and provides practical insights for risk management professionals, introducing a comprehensive framework for early warning and proactive risk management in digital finance.
Study of Two Sedative Protocols for Drug-Induced Sleep Endoscopy: Propofol versus Propofol-Remifentanil Combination, Delivered in Target-Controlled Infusion Mode
Authors: Tănase Narcis-Valentin , Hainăroșie Răzvan , Brîndușe Lăcrămioara-Aurelia , Cobilinschi Cristian , Dutu Madalina , Corneci Dan , Zainea Viorel
Published: July 2024

Background and Objectives: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a prevalent sleep-disordered breathing pathology with significant clinical consequences, including increased cardiovascular risk and cognitive decline. Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is the gold-standard treatment, but alternative strategies are sometimes needed for patients intolerant to CPAP. Drug-induced sleep endoscopy (DISE) is a key diagnostic tool for assessing upper airway obstruction in OSA patients and subsequently tailoring a surgical approach, with sedation protocols playing a crucial role in its efficacy and results accuracy. This study aimed to investigate the effect of adding remifentanil to a propofol target-controlled infusion (TCI) regimen on the sedation parameters and procedural outcomes of DISE. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted at the Central University and Emergency Military Hospital “Dr. Carol Davila” and Ria Clinic in Bucharest between July 2021 and October 2023. Thirty-one patients were enrolled and randomised into two groups: a propofol group (P group, n= 11) and a remifentanil-propofol group (R-P group, n = 20). DISE was performed using standardised protocols, sedative drugs were administered in TCI mode, and data on sedation levels, respiratory and cardiovascular parameters, and procedural incidents were collected. Results: The addition of remifentanil at 1 ng/mL effect-site concentration significantly reduced the effect-site concentration of propofol required for adequate sedation (3.4 ± 0.7 µg/mL in the P group vs. 2.8 ± 0.6 µg/mL in the R-P group, p = 0.035). The time to achieve adequate sedation was also shorter in the R-P group (7.1 ± 2.5 min vs. 9.5 ± 2.7 min, p = 0.017). The incidence of cough, hypoxemia, and cardiovascular events did not significantly differ between the two groups. Conclusions: Adding remifentanil to a propofol TCI regimen for DISE effectively reduces the required propofol effect-site concentration and shortens sedation time without increasing the risk of adverse events. This combination may enhance the safety and efficiency of DISE, offering a promising alternative for patients undergoing this procedure.
High-Performance Flexible Hybrid Silica Membranes with an Ultrasonic Atomization-Assisted Spray-Coated Active Layer on Polymer for Isopropanol Dehydration
Authors: Liao Mingjia , Guan He , Zuo Hongfen , Ren Guannan , Gong Genghao
Published: July 2024

Organic–inorganic hybrid silica materials, incorporating an organic group bridging two silicon atoms, have demonstrated great potential in creating membranes with excellent permselectivity. Yet, the large-scale production of polymer-supported flexible hybrid silica membranes has remained a significant challenge. In this study, we present an easy and scalable approach for fabricating these membranes. By employing a sol–gel ultrasonic spray process with a single-pass method, we deposited a thin and uniform hybrid active layer onto a porous polymer substrate. We first optimized the deposition conditions, including substrate temperature, the binary solvent ratio of the silica sol, and various ultrasonic spray parameters. The resulting flexible hybrid silica membranes exhibited exceptional dehydration performance for isopropanol (IPA)/water solutions (IPA: 90 wt%) in the pervaporation process, achieving a water flux of 0.6 kg/(m2 h) and a separation factor of around 1300. This work demonstrates that the single-pass ultrasonic spray method is an effective strategy for the large-scale production of polymer-supported flexible hybrid silica membranes.
Multi-Omics Analysis Reveals the Regulatory Mechanism of Different Probiotics on Growth Performance and Intestinal Health of Salmo trutta (S. trutta)
Authors: Chen Mengjuan , Wang Zhitong , He Hui , He Wenjia , Zhang Zihao , Sun Shuaijie , Wang Wanliang
Published: July 2024

Probiotics play an important role in animal production, providing health benefits to the host by improving intestinal microbial balance. In this study, we added three different probiotics, Saccharomyces cerevisiae (SC), Bacillus licheniformis (BL), and lactic acid bacteria (LAB), and compared them with the control group (CON), to investigate the effects of probiotic supplementation on growth performance, gut microbiology, and gut flora of S. trutta. Our results showed that feeding probiotics improved the survival, growth, development, and fattening of S. trutta. Additionally, probiotic treatment causes changes in the gut probiotic community, and the gut flora microorganisms that cause significant changes vary among the probiotic treatments. However, in all three groups, the abundance of Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, and Rhizophagus bacterial genera was similar to that in the top three comparative controls. Furthermore, differences in the composition of intestinal microbiota among feed types were directly associated with significant changes in the metabolomic landscape, including lipids and lipid-like molecules, organic acids and derivatives, and organoheterocyclic compounds. The probiotic treatment altered the gut microbiome, gut metabolome, and growth performance of S. trutta. Using a multi-omics approach, we discovered that the addition of probiotics altered the composition of gut microbiota, potentially leading to modifications in gut function and host phenotype. Overall, our results highlight the importance of probiotics as a key factor in animal health and productivity, enabling us to better evaluate the functional potential of probiotics.
A Scoring System to Predict Severe Acute Lower Respiratory Infection in Children Caused by Respiratory Syncytial Virus
Authors: De Ri , Jiang Mingli , Sun Yu , Huang Siyuan , Zhu Runan , Guo Qi , Zhou Yutong , Qu Dong , Cao Ling , Lu Fengmin , Zhao Linqing
Published: July 2024

There were several factors associated with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) severe acute lower respiratory infection (RSV-sALRI) in infants and young children. It is vital to develop a convenient scoring system to predict RSV-sALRI in children. Pediatric patients with RSV-ALRI from January 2009 to December 2021 were recruited retrospectively. Two-third of them were randomly grouped into the development set and one-third to the validation set. In the development set, risk factors for RSV-sALRI were transferred into the logistic regression analysis, then their receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were built to obtain the area under the ROC curve (AUC), and regression coefficients for each predictor were converted to points. Finally, the value of the scoring system was evaluated in the validation set. A total of 1 066 children with RSV-ALRI were recruited, including 710 in the development set and 356 in the validation set. By logistic regression analysis, six factors (younger than 2 years, gestational age <37 weeks, have siblings, birth weight ≤2500 g, artificial/mix feeding, CHD) showed statistical difference and then were scored with points according to the coefficient value (OR) in the development set. In the validation set, the sensitivity of the scoring system was 70.25%, the specificity 85.53%, the positive predictive value 71.43%, the negative predictive value 84.81%, and coincidence rate 0.80. The Kolmogorov–Smirnov test showed the distribution of AUC 0.765 (SE = 0.027; 95% CI = 0.713–0.818; p < 0.001). A simplified scoring system was developed in the study with high prediction value for RSV-sALRI in children.
Analysis of the Fungal Community Composition in Endemic Orchids with Terrestrial Habitat in Subtropical Regions
Authors: Hu Xinyue , Qi Xiujin , Artigas Ramírez María Daniela , Wu Qi , Liu Shiyong , Deng Zhenhai , Li Xiuzhong , Zhang Nan , Zhang Hongfeng , Dai Heran , Xin Rongshi , Wu Xiaofeng , Cheng Jin
Published: July 2024

Habenaria and Liparis are well-known orchid genera that grow in terrestrial habitats in the tropics, subtropics or temperate zones. Three species have been found in subtropical regions of China, inhabiting terrestrial to epiphytic habitats. This study focuses on three species, H. dentata (distributed in Asia), H. yachangensis, and L. gigantea. For H. yachangensis and L. gigantea, there is no information about the mycorrhizal community in these species. This study aims to conduct the fungal community screening of Chinese ground orchids from subtropical regions. We performed a comparative analysis of the fungal community among H. dentata, H. yachangensis, and L. gigantea, determining their ITS regions using NGS paired-end sequences. The results clarified the diversity and the predominance of fungal genera. Ascomycota was abundant compared to Basidiomycota or other fungi groups in all communities, with a high dominance in all populations, especially for L. gigantea. At different root spatial locations, the fungal community diversity and richness were higher in the soil than in the rhizosphere or inner root. However, the results suggest that L. gigantea has a different fungal community compared to Habenaria species. In this order, the subtropical terrestrial orchids have a different fungal network compared to the northern terrestrial orchids. Also, there is a high probability of co-existence and co-evolution of endophytic fungi in these terrestrial orchids, indicating the potential role of host plants in selecting an endophytic fungal community. Furthermore, our results highlight the need to elucidate the microbe interactions of these unique orchids for long-term purposes, such as isolating indigenous fungi for suitable inoculants for further orchid propagation, restoration, and conservation.
Fecal Microbiota Characteristics in Constipation-Predominant and Mixed-Type Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Authors: Gryaznova Mariya , Smirnova Yuliya , Burakova Inna , Morozova Polina , Lagutina Svetlana , Chizhkov Pavel , Korneeva Olga , Syromyatnikov Mikhail
Published: July 2024

Background: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common condition that affects the lifestyle of patients. It is associated with significant changes in the composition of the gut microbiome, but the underlying microbial mechanisms remain to be fully understood. We study the fecal microbiome of patients with constipation-predominant IBS (IBS-C) and mixed-type IBS (IBS-M). Methods: We sequenced the V3 region of the 16S rRNA on the Ion Torrent PGM sequencing platform to study the microbiome. Results: In the patients with IBS-C and IBS-M, an increase in alpha diversity was found, compared to the healthy group, and differences in beta diversity were also noted. At the phylum level, both IBS subtypes showed an increase in the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio, as well as an increase in the abundance of Actinobacteria and Verrucomicrobiota. Changes in some types of bacteria were characteristic of only one of the IBS subtypes, while no statistically significant differences in the composition of the microbiome were detected between IBS-C and IBS-M. Conclusions: This study was the first to demonstrate the association of Turicibacter sanguinis, Mitsuokella jalaludinii, Erysipelotrichaceae UCG-003, Senegalimassilia anaerobia, Corynebacterium jeikeium, Bacteroides faecichinchillae, Leuconostoc carnosum, and Parabacteroides merdae with IBS subtypes.
Cryptosporidium Infections in Neonatal Calves on a Dairy Farm
Authors: Kaduková Michaela , Schreiberová Andrea , Mudroň Pavol , Tóthová Csilla , Gomulec Pavel , Štrkolcová Gabriela
Published: July 2024

This study was conducted with the aim of the molecular identification of the protozoan parasite Cryptosporidium spp. in calves in the early stage of their development on a dairy farm in Eastern Slovakia. Twenty-five Holstein and Holstein cross calves were included in the study and monitored from their birth to the fifth week of life (1–5 weeks). Fresh fecal samples were collected from the same group of calves each week, except during the fourth week, and with the exception of Sample 8. All samples were analyzed using the Ziehl–Neelsen staining method and coproantigen was tested using the ELISA test as the screening method. Using the ELISA method, the highest incidence of cryptosporidiosis was observed in the second week of life of the calves, while the antigen was detected in 21 (91.6%) calves. Using the Ziehl–Neelsen staining method, the highest incidence was also observed in the second week, with an incidence rate of 62.5%. Positive isolates confirmed by the ELISA test were molecularly characterized. The species and subtypes of Cryptosporidium in the positive isolates were identified using PCR and the sequence analysis of the small subunit of the ribosomal 18S RNA (ssu rRNA) and the 60 kDa glycoprotein (gp60) genes of the parasite. The sequence analysis of 29 isolates at the 18S rRNA loci confirmed the presence of two species—Cryptosporidium parvum and Cryptosporidium ryanae. Out of 29 isolates, 25 were assigned to the species C. parvum, with the gp60 locus identified as genotype IIaA17G1R1. Among the individual animal groups, calves are the most common reservoirs of the C. parvum zoonotic species. This disease has significant public health implications as contact with livestock and their feces and working with barn manure are major sources of infection, not only for other animals but also for humans.
Exosomal Small RNA Sequencing Profiles in Plasma from Subjects with Latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection
Authors: Cui Xiaogang , Meng Hangting , Li Miao , Chen Xia , Yuan Dan , Wu Changxin
Published: July 2024

Despite huge efforts, tuberculosis (TB) is still a major public health threat worldwide, with approximately 23% of the human population harboring a latent TB infection (LTBI). LTBI can reactivate and progress to active and transmissible TB disease, contributing to its spread within the population. The challenges in diagnosing and treating LTBI patients have been major factors contributing to this phenomenon. Exosomes offer a novel avenue for investigating the process of TB infection. In this study, we conducted small RNA sequencing to investigate the small RNA profiles of plasma exosomes derived from individuals with LTBI and healthy controls. Our findings revealed distinct miRNA profiles in the exosomes between the two groups. We identified 12 differentially expressed miRNAs through this analysis, which were further validated via qRT-PCR using the same exosomes. Notably, six miRNAs (hsa-miR-7850-5p, hsa-miR-1306-5p, hsa-miR-363-5p, hsa-miR-374a-5p, hsa-miR-4654, has-miR-6529-5p, and hsa-miR-140-5p) exhibited specifically elevated expression in individuals with LTBI. Gene ontology and KEGG pathway analyses revealed that the targets of these miRNAs were enriched in functions associated with ferroptosis and fatty acid metabolism, underscoring the critical role of these miRNAs in regulating the intracellular survival of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Furthermore, our results indicated that the overexpression of miR-7850-5p downregulated the expression of the SLC11A1 protein in both Mtb-infected and Mtb-uninfected THP1 cells. Additionally, we observed that miR-7850-5p promoted the intracellular survival of Mtb by suppressing the expression of the SLC11A1 protein. Overall, our findings provide valuable insights into the role of miRNAs and repetitive region-derived small RNAs in exosomes during the infectious process of Mtb and contribute to the identification of potential molecular targets for the detection and diagnosis of latent tuberculosis.
Interleukins IL33/ST2 and IL1-β in Intrauterine Growth Restriction and Seropositivity of Anti-Toxoplasma gondii Antibodies
Authors: Franco-De León Karen , Camarena Eva Elizabeth , Pereira-Suárez Ana Laura , Barrios-Prieto Ernesto , Soto-Venegas Andrea , Hernández-Nazara Zamira Helena , Luna Rojas Yithzel Guadalupe , Galván-Ramírez María de la Luz
Published: July 2024

Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is the causal agent of toxoplasmosis. It may produce severe damage in immunocompromised individuals, as well as congenital infection and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). Previous reports have associated interleukin IL-33 with miscarriage, fetal damage, and premature delivery due to infections with various microorganisms. However, IL-33 has not been associated with congenital toxoplasmosis. The sST2 receptor has been reported in patients who have had recurrent miscarriages. On the other hand, IL-1β was not found in acute Toxoplasma infection. Our aim was to analyze the associations between the serum levels of IL-33 and IL-1β in IUGR and toxoplasmosis during pregnancy. Eighty-four serum samples from pregnant women who had undergone 26 weeks of gestation were grouped as follows: with anti-Toxoplasma antibodies, without anti-Toxoplasma antibodies, IUGR, and the control group. IgG and IgM anti-T. gondii antibodies, as well as IL-33, ST2, and IL-1β, were determined using an ELISA assay. Statistical analyses were performed using the Pearson and Chi-square correlation coefficients, as well as the risk factors and Odds Ratios (ORs), with a confidence interval of 95% (CI 95). The results showed that 15/84 (17.8%) of cases were positive for IgG anti-Toxoplasma antibodies and 2/84 (2.38%) of cases were positive for IgM. A statistically significant difference was found between IUGR and IL-33 (p < 0.001), as well as between ST2 and IUGR (p < 0.001). In conclusion, IUGR was significantly associated with IL-33 and ST2 positivity based on the overall IUGR grade. No significant association was found between IUGR and the presence of anti-Toxoplasma antibodies. There was no association between IL-1β and IUGR. More research is needed to strengthen the utility of IL-33 and ST2 as biomarkers of IUGR.
Native Microalgae-Bacteria Consortia: A Sustainable Approach for Effective Urban Wastewater Bioremediation and Disinfection
Authors: Sousa Joana F. , Amaro Helena M. , Ribeirinho-Soares Sara , Esteves Ana F. , Salgado Eva M. , Nunes Olga C. , Pires José C. M.
Published: July 2024

Urban wastewater is a significant by-product of human activities. Conventional urban wastewater treatment plants have limitations in their treatment, mainly concerning the low removal efficiency of conventional and emerging contaminants. Discharged wastewater also contains harmful microorganisms, posing risks to public health, especially by spreading antibiotic-resistant bacteria and genes. Therefore, this study assesses the potential of a native microalgae-bacteria system (MBS) for urban wastewater bioremediation and disinfection, targeting NH4+-N and PO43−-P removal, coliform reduction, and antibiotic resistance gene mitigation. The MBS showed promising results, including a high specific growth rate (0.651 ± 0.155 d−1) and a significant average removal rate of NH4+-N and PO43−-P (9.05 ± 1.24 mg L−1 d−1 and 0.79 ± 0.06 mg L−1 d−1, respectively). Microalgae-induced pH increase rapidly reduces coliforms (r > 0.9), including Escherichia coli, within 3 to 6 days. Notably, the prevalence of intI1 and the antibiotic resistance genes sul1 and blaTEM are significantly diminished, presenting the MBS as a sustainable approach for tertiary wastewater treatment to combat eutrophication and reduce waterborne disease risks and antibiotic resistance spread.
Tracking Interoperability and Data Quality: A Methodology with BPMN 2.0 Extensions and Performance Evaluation
Authors: Heguy Xabier , Tazi Said , Zacharewicz Gregory , Ducq Yves
Published: July 2024

Enterprises today face an increasing need for seamless data exchange across various information systems, both internally and with their partners. Addressing challenges in information system and data interoperability is essential. Unfortunately, this issue is often underrecognized by many stakeholders, leading to time wasted on non-value-added tasks and a significant decline in data quality. Our contribution comprises two essential components. Firstly, we introduce and implement extensions to BPMN 2.0 to visually represent data exchanges that encounter interoperability issues as well as those successfully resolved. These extensions also provide performance metrics such as cost, duration, quality, and data availability for tasks affected by these exchanges. By doing so, they gauge the extent of the interoperability challenge and underscore the need to address it for all stakeholders within the enterprise. Secondly, we propose a method derived from FMECA, enabling users to meticulously examine each exchanged piece of data and compute its criticality. This approach empowers the prioritization of corrective actions to enhance data quality, establishing a continuous improvement process that ensures optimal data quality over time.
Principal Bioactive Properties of Oleanolic Acid, Its Derivatives, and Analogues
Authors: Jannus Fatin , Sainz Juan , Reyes-Zurita Fernando J.
Published: July 2024

Natural products have always played an important role in pharmacotherapy, helping to control pathophysiological processes associated with human disease. Thus, natural products such as oleanolic acid (OA), a pentacyclic triterpene that has demonstrated important activities in several disease models, are in high demand. The relevant properties of this compound have motivated re-searchers to search for new analogues and derivatives using the OA as a scaffold to which new functional groups have been added or modifications have been realized. OA and its derivatives have been shown to be effective in the treatment of inflammatory processes, triggered by chronic diseases or bacterial and viral infections. OA and its derivatives have also been found to be effective in diabetic disorders, a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by hyperglycemia that can affect several organs, including the liver and brain. This group of compounds has been reported to exhibit significant bioactivity against cancer processes in vitro and in vivo. In this review, we summarize the bioactive properties of OA and its derivatives as anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, antiviral, anti-diabetic, hepatoprotective, neuroprotective, and anticancer agents.
A Fluorescent Conjugated Polar Polymer for Probing Charge Injection in Multilayer Organic Light-Emitting Transistors
Authors: Moschetto Salvatore , Squeo Benedetta Maria , Reginato Francesco , Prosa Mario , Pasini Mariacecilia , Toffanin Stefano
Published: July 2024

Ambipolar organic light-emitting transistors (OLETs) are extremely appealing devices for applications from sensing to communication and display realization due to their inherent capability of coupling switching and light-emitting features. However, their limited external quantum efficiency (EQE) and brightness under ambipolar bias conditions hamper the progress of OLET technology. In this context, it was recently demonstrated in multi-stacked devices that the engineering of the interface between the topmost electron-transporting organic semiconductor (e-OS) and the emission layer (EML) is crucial in optimizing the recombination of the minority charges (i.e., electrons) and to enhance EQE and brightness. Here, we introduce a new light-emitting conjugated polar polymer (CPP) in a multi-stacked OLET to improve the electron injection from e-OS to EML and to study, simultaneously, electroluminescence-related processes such as exciton formation and quenching processes. Interestingly, we observed that the highly polar groups present in the conjugate polymer induced polarization-related relevant charge-trapping phenomena with consequent modulation of the entire electrostatic field distribution and unexpected optoelectronic features. In view of the extensive use of CPPs in OLETs, the use of multifunctional CPPs for probing photophysical processes at the functional interfaces in stacked devices may speed up the improvement of the light-emission properties in OLETs.
LVI and DI-SPME Combined with GC/MS and GC/MS for Volatile Chemical Profile Investigation and Cytotoxic Power Evaluation of Essential Oil and Hydrolate from Cannabis sativa L. cv. Carmagnola
Authors: Vinciguerra Vittorio , Di Martile Marta , Mollica Graziano Monica , Del Bufalo Donatella , Garzoli Stefania
Published: July 2024

Cannabis sativa L. is a plant that has been cultivated since ancient times thanks to its various uses. Even its extraction products, such as essential oil and hydrolate, having a varied chemical composition and rich in bioactive components, find wide use in different sectors, gathering ever-increasing interest over time. In this work, the essential oil of Cannabis sativa L. cv. Carmagnola was characterized by using Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) and, for the first time, the chemical profile of the hydrolate was also described through different analytical techniques such as Large-Volume Injection Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (LVI-GC/MS) and Direct Immersion-Solid Phase Microextraction-Gas Chromatography/Mass spectrometry (DI-SPME-GC/MS), in order to provide a more complete compositional profile. The results of the analyses conducted on the hydrolate highlighted a high content of α-terpineol; on the other side, in the essential oil, a prevalence of monoterpenes, with α-pinene and limonene as the characterizing components, was detected. Both matrices were also investigated to evaluate their cytotoxic activity by using a panel of cancer cell lines derived from different histotypes such as melanoma (A375, LOX IMVI), non-small cell lung cancer (H1299, A549), colon (HT29) and pancreatic (L3.6) cancer cell lines. The obtained data demonstrated that essential oil was more effective than hydrolate in terms of reduction in cell viability.
The Difference between Plasmon Excitations in Chemically Heterogeneous Gold and Silver Atomic Clusters
Authors: Zeng Fanjin , Long Lin , Wang Shuyi , Li Xiong , Cai Shaohong , Li Dongxiang
Published: July 2024

Weak doping can broaden, shift, and quench plasmon peaks in nanoparticles, but the mechanistic intricacies of the diverse responses to doping remain unclear. In this study, we used the time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) to compute the excitation properties of transition-metal Pd- or Pt-doped gold and silver atomic arrays and investigate the evolution characteristics and response mechanisms of their plasmon peaks. The results demonstrated that the Pd or Pt doping of the off-centered 10 × 2 atomic arrays broadened or shifted the plasmon peaks to varying degrees. In particular, for Pd-doped 10 × 2 Au atomic arrays, the broadened plasmon peak significantly blueshifted, whereas a slight red shift was observed for Pt-doped arrays. For the 10 × 2 Ag atomic arrays, Pd doping caused almost no shift in the plasmon peak, whereas Pt doping caused a substantial red shift in the broadened plasmon peak. The analysis revealed that the diversity in these doping responses was related to the energy positions of the d electrons in the gold and silver atomic clusters and the positions of the doping atomic orbitals in the energy bands. The introduction of doping atoms altered the symmetry and gap size of the occupied and unoccupied orbitals, so multiple modes of single-particle transitions were involved in the excitation. An electron transfer analysis indicated a close correlation between excitation energy and the electron transfer of doping atoms. Finally, the differences in the symmetrically centered 11 × 2 doped atomic array were discussed using electron transfer analysis to validate the reliability of this analytical method. These findings elucidate the microscopic mechanisms of the evolution of plasmon peaks in doped atomic clusters and provide new insights into the rational control and application of plasmons in low-dimensional nanostructures.
First-Principles Investigation on the Tunable Electronic Structures and Photocatalytic Properties of AlN/Sc2CF2 and GaN/Sc2CF2 Heterostructures
Authors: Liu Meiping , Lu Yidan , Song Jun , Ma Benyuan , Qiu Kangwen , Bai Liuyang , Wang Yinling , Chen Yuanyuan , Tang Yong
Published: July 2024

Heterostructure catalysts are highly anticipated in the field of photocatalytic water splitting. AlN/Sc2CF2 and GaN/Sc2CF2 heterostructures are proposed in this work, and the electronic structures were revealed with the first-principles method to explore their photocatalytic properties for water splitting. The results found that the thermodynamically stable AlN/Sc2CF2 and GaN/Sc2CF2 heterostructures are indirect semiconductors with reduced band gaps of 1.75 eV and 1.84 eV, respectively. These two heterostructures have been confirmed to have type-Ⅰ band alignments, with both VBM and CBM contributed to by the Sc2CF2 layer. AlN/Sc2CF2 and GaN/Sc2CF2 heterostructures exhibit the potential for photocatalytic water splitting as their VBM and CBM stride over the redox potential of water. Gibbs free energy changes in HER occurring on AlN/Sc2CF2 and GaN/Sc2CF2 heterostructures are as low as −0.31 eV and −0.59 eV, respectively. The Gibbs free energy change in HER on the AlN (GaN) layer is much lower than that on the Sc2CF2 surface, owing to the stronger adsorption of H on AlN (GaN). The AlN/Sc2CF2 and GaN/Sc2CF2 heterostructures possess significant improvements in absorption range and intensity compared to monolayered AlN, GaN, and Sc2CF2. In addition, the band gaps, edge positions, and absorption properties of AlN/Sc2CF2 and GaN/Sc2CF2 heterostructures can be effectively tuned with strains. All the results indicate that AlN/Sc2CF2 and GaN/Sc2CF2 heterostructures are suitable catalysts for photocatalytic water splitting.