bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Entre rêverie et authenticité – une immersion dans l’Égypte Ancienne avec le peintre Stefan Bakałowicz
Authors: Boyer Valentin
Published: March 2021

Entre rêverie et authenticité – une immersion dans l’Égypte Ancienne avec le peintre Stefan Bakałowicz This article consists of a study of two Egyptian paintings of the Russian-Polish painter Stefan Bakalowicz (1857-1947). The study seeks to establish the degree of authenticity and credibility of the represented patterns by finding the sources of archaeological inspiration — both in European Egyptian collections and in the Egyptological works used by artists in the 19th century — which inspired (or could potentially inspire) Bakalowicz to carry out the staging and reconstruction of ancient Egypt. Furthermore, the study focuses on Bakalowicz’s artistic approach and bias as a representative of the late Academicism at the turn of the 20th century. This research is based on the study of the arrangement, choice, and evocative scope of particular patterns as well as the role of fantasy in the service of a theatrical staging of the past Egypt. It also aims to discern elements relating to Egyptomania, Orientalism or even pure academism.
Producción científica de investigadores de psicología del sistema científico colombiano según su clasificación y sexo
Authors: Avila-Toscano Jose Hernando , Rambal-Rivaldo Laura Isabel
Published: March 2021

La productividad de los investigadores influye en su estatus profesional, acceso a financiamiento y difusión científica. La producción de los investigadores en psicología ha aumentado, razón por la que este estudio se enfocó en analizar la productividad de psicólogos y psicólogas según su sexo y su clasificación (Sénior, Asociado, Junior) en el sistema científico colombiano. Se analizó la producción de 292 investigadores (periodo 2009-2018) por medio del análisis discriminante descriptivo, con el que se obtuvo el índice de artículos en Q3 WoS/ Scopus, que destaca como la variable que discrimina la clasificación de los investigadores. Se generaron dos conglomerados según la actividad productiva (1 = Alta, 2 = Baja), que mostraron asociación con la categoría del investigador. No obstante, tales conglomerados fueron independientes del sexo. Se discuten las implicaciones de la clasificación de los científicos en Colombia y el papel de la productividad en este proceso. En el caso de la psicología, la producción de investigadores de la muestra no parece tener brecha de sexo.
Socio-Technical Affordances for Large-Scale Collaborations: Introduction to a Virtual Special Issue
Authors: Malhotra Arvind , Majchrzak Ann , Lyytinen Kalle
Published: March 2021

In this special issue, we review 14 articles published in Organization Science over the past 25 years examining large-scale collaborations (LSCs) tasked with knowledge dissemination and innovation. LSCs involve sizeable pools of participants carrying out a common mission such as developing open-source software, detector technologies, complex architecture, encyclopedias, medical cures, or responses to climate change. LSCs depend on technologies because they are often geographically distributed, incorporate multiple and diverse epistemic perspectives. How such technologies need to be structured and appropriated for effective LSC collaborations has been researched in piecemeal fashion by examining a single technology used in a single collaboration context with little opportunity for generalization. Studies have tended to black box technology use even though they acknowledge such uses to be critical to the LSC operation. We unveil the black box surrounding LSC collaboration technologies by identifying three challenges that LSCs face when they pursue an LSC effort: (1) knowledge exchange challenges, (2) knowledge deliberation challenges, and (3) knowledge combination challenges. We examine how technology was used in responding to these challenges, synthesizing their use into three socio-technical affordances to improve knowledge dissemination efficiency and innovation effectiveness: knowledge collaging, purposeful deliberating, and knowledge interlacing. We demonstrate the intellectual benefit of incorporating socio-technical affordances in studies of LSCs including what small group collaboration research can learn from LSCs.
Airplane Seating Assignment Problem
Authors: Pavlik John A. , Ludden Ian G. , Jacobson Sheldon H. , Sewell Edward C.
Published: March 2021

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, began infecting humans in late 2019 and has since spread to over 57 million people and caused over 1.75 million deaths, as of December 27, 2020. In response to reduced demand and travel restrictions as a result of COVID-19, airlines experienced a 94% reduction in passenger capacity worldwide in April and an estimated 60% reduction in passengers transported for all of 2020. SARS-CoV-2 has been shown to spread on airplanes by infected passengers, so minimizing the risk of secondary infections aboard aircraft may save lives. We present the airplane seating assignment problem (ASAP) to minimize transmission risks on airplanes, and we provide two models to solve ASAP. We show that both models can be effectively solved using a standard commercial solver and that seating assignments provided by these models have lower aggregate risk than the strategy of blocking the middle seats, given the same number of passengers. The available risk models for aircraft are based on influenza data, and hence risk models based on SARS-CoV-2 should be developed to maximize the benefits of our research.
Facial pressure injuries and the COVID-19 pandemic: skin protection care to enhance staff safety in an acute hospital setting
Authors: Moore Zena , McEvoy Natalie L , Avsar Pinar , McEvoy Linda , Curley Gerard , O'Connor Tom , Budri Aglecia , Nugent Linda , Walsh Simone , Bourke Frank , Patton Declan
Published: March 2021

Objectives:

The aim of this study was to determine the impact of a specially designed care bundle on the development of facial pressure injuries (PI) among frontline healthcare workers wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The primary outcome of interest was the incidence of facial PIs. The secondary outcomes of interest were facial pain while wearing PPE and ease of use of the care bundle.

Methods:

This study used a voluntary survey by questionnaire, supplemented by a qualitative analysis of interviews from a small purposive sample that took place in one large Irish hospital over a two-month period in 2020. The hospital was a city-based public university teaching hospital with 800 inpatient beds. The intervention was a care bundle consisting of skin protection, face mask selection, material use, skin inspection, cleansing and hydration developed in line with international best practice guidelines. All staff working in COVID-19 wards, intensive care units and the emergency department in the hospital were given a kitbag containing the elements of the care bundle plus an information pamphlet. Data were collected via a survey and interviews.

Results:

A total of 114 staff provided feedback on the use of the care bundle. Before using the care bundle 29% (n=33) of the respondents reported developing a facial PI, whereas after using the care bundle only 8% (n=9) of the respondents reported developing a facial PI. The odds ratio (OR) of skin injury development was 4.75 (95% confidence interval (CI): 2.15–10.49; p=0.0001), suggesting that after the care bundle was issued, those who responded to the survey were almost five times less likely to develop a skin injury. Interviews with 14 staff determined that the bundle was easy to use and safe.

Conclusion:

Among those who responded to the survey, the use of the bundle was associated with a reduction in the incidence of skin injury from 29% to 8%, and respondents found the bundle easy to use, safe and effective. As with evidence from the international literature, this study has identified that when skincare is prioritised, and a systematic preventative care bundle approach is adopted, there are clear benefits for the individuals involved.
Wound healing: what is the NICE guidance from the UK?
Authors: Powell Katharine , Pujji Ojas Jyoti Singh , Jeffery Steven
Published: March 2021

Alteration of wound healing increases the risk of a patient's morbidity and mortality. This can lead to scarring, infection, malignant transformation and a reduction in quality of life. Management of wounds costs the UK an estimated £5.3 billion annually which is paid for by the state, with further financial burden due to health related productivity loss. Wound care is managed by a broad spectrum of different health professionals leading to different standards of care. For example, only 16% of lower leg wounds have either an ankle-brachial pressure index measurement or Doppler scan. Due to this variation in wound care, we have summarised all available NICE guidelines and guidance up to February 2021 on the topic of wound healing listed in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) archives. The goal is to provide an easy to access summary of wound care interventions. Our search provided us with 18 technology appraisals related to wound healing which have been summarised.
Immature stages and natural history of the butterfly Actinote brylla Oberthür (Heliconiinae: Acraeini)

Authors: FRANCINI RONALDO BASTOS , SILVA-FILHO EDNALDO FERREIRA
Published: March 2021

The butterfly Actinote brylla was described by Oberthür in 1917; since then, no work describing the life cycle of the species has been officially published. This paper aimed to describe the life cycle of A. brylla. The early stages, larval host plant and oviposition behavior were described after the creation of individuals collected in the region of “Baixada Santista”, the coast of the State of São Paulo, Brazil. Actinote brylla uses Mikania lundiana as a host plant, with eggs being placed on the abaxial face of the leaf and ranging from 12 to 836 eggs in a cluster. Egg is barrel shaped with 18 to 22 longitudinal grooves and weakly marked horizontal ridges. Soon after laying, eggs are light white-yellowish gradually changing to red during the first 72 hours, ovules non-fecundated remains yellow. The caterpillars go through seven instars until pupation, the larvae are gregarious until the penultimate instar. The pupa is yellowish green in the early hours, after hardening, the coloring is cream with dark brown markings on wing cases and abdomen. The duration of all life cycle (egg to adult) ranged from 93 to 123 days. Key words: Mikania lundiana, superoviposition, egg cluster, Chaetotaxy
Claiming our Space: Muslim Women, Activism, and Social Media
Authors: Hirji Faiza
Published: March 2021

This paper addresses the ways in which Muslim women seek to employ online media, particularly social media, to reclaim narratives around space, embodiment, and power. I argue that digital space is, like any other form of media, structured essentially by racism and patriarchy, but I also note the crucial potential for resistance exhibited by Muslim activists such as political leaders Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, Instagram influencer Ayesha Malik, and the largely anonymous women who participated in #MosqueMeToo, encouraged by the journalist and activist Mona Eltahawy. I draw upon a post/anti-colonial feminist framework and the tools of critical discourse analysis in examining specific instances where such women perform acts of resistance that, in turn, trigger a gendered and raced reaction. I note the ways in which some Muslim women, such as Saudi teenager Rahaf Mohammed, are constructed as media heroes, given that their stories can be co-opted to validate notions of the white colonial savior, while others directly challenge narratives of colonialism and oppression and are thus subjected to backlash. I point to the ways in which some of this vitriol continues to refer back to the notion that Muslim women should be silent, and to the fetishized Muslim woman's body: how it should look, where it can/should go, and what can be done to it.
The Poetry of Suheir Hammad: Transnational Interventions in the Age of Islamophobia and Digital Media
Authors: Oumlil Kenza
Published: March 2021

Given the negative and limited representations of Muslims and Palestinians, and the central role that women play in this spectrum of dominant representations, this article takes interest in the possibilities of circulating dissent and alternative portrayals through digital media. Taking interest in the poetry of Palestinian-American poet Suheir Hammad, which vibrantly emerged in the digital public sphere in the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, this analysis focuses on Hammad's digital interventions to challenge Islamophobia and other forms of discursive and material domination. Based on a textual analysis of Hammad's poetry, this article is also informed by a semi-structured interview conducted with the artist, as well as other information available in the public domain. This analysis reveals that digital media play an important role in increasing Hammad's ability to circulate her art to a wider audience. Building bridges across multiple communities and positions of marginality transnationally, Hammad's work attempts to challenge dominant Islamophobic and gendered discourses about identity. However, similarly to other “minority” artists, “talking back” (hooks 1989) to dominant discourses requires a performativity of identity, and is at the same time anchored to the motivation to unsettle essentialist understandings of identity. Through her writings and poetry performances archived online, Hammad highlights the complexity of identity and reveals both how racialization is socially constructed and the racial ambiguity of Islamophobia. While acknowledging the discursive formation of identity, Hammad's work also underscores the real, material consequences of discourses of fear and hate in order to regain some agency and symbolic power.
Faith Conversions in Pakistan: Projections and Interpretations
Authors: Hussain Ghulam
Published: March 2021

This paper evaluates the definition of ‘forced conversion’ as presented in various reports—mostly published by different non-governmental organizations (NGOs)—about Pakistan and its projection through social as well as print media outlets. Taking insights from the writings of Lewis R. Rambo, Nathaniel Roberts and Katy Sian, the paper compares the narrative in Pakistan with the studies undertaken in the West on conversion and its politics. It analyzes the political perspectives and their sources used to conceive the meaning of proclaimed forced conversion based on the age and maturity of alleged victims and perceived vulnerability. By presenting social media activism as the case study, this paper interrogates the narrative that relies on ambiguous definitions explicated in legislative bills on ‘forced conversion’ and the NGO reports. It argues that the narrative reflected in proposed bills, reports, and social media reinforces the role of patriarchy and caste as the social forces. The paper concludes that this narrative is politically motivated and does not take into account multiple push and pull factors that lead to religious conversion while defining the term.
Net Metering and Solar PV Prosumage in Pakistan: Growth and
Challenges
Authors: Saleh Naila
Published: March 2021

In the wake of an on-going energy crisis in Pakistan, National Electric Power
Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) issued net metering regulations in 2015 in order to
encourage consumers to contribute in power generation. Contrary to the
anticipation of attracting large-scale prosumers after the launch of these
regulations, the overall capacity installed so far remains insignificant.
Moreover, an uneven distribution in terms of issued licenses as well as
installed capacity across the power distribution companies (DISCOs), wherein the
growth is concentrated in three major cities of Pakistan—Islamabad, Lahore and
Karachi—is another challenge. Based on this insight, the study aims to probe the
challenges to distributed generation (DG) in Pakistan. Primary data for this
paper was collected from three primary stakeholders: the prosumers; the
non-prosumers; and the DISCOs or the primary intermediaries. The findings
indicate a number of challenges hindering DG growth in Pakistan including
cumbersome application process; serious financial barriers; inaction of DISCOs;
low trust in technology; absence of awareness programs and absence of
fee-for-service (FFS) models. Finally, the paper gives a roadmap to overcome the
aforementioned challenges, and catalyzing the prosumage drive.
Decentralization of Environment in Pakistan: Issues in Governance
Authors: Khayam Maryam Umer , Ahmad Iftikhar
Published: March 2021

Environmental governance in Pakistan, which although had never been strong in the past, has further debilitated post 18th amendment. This paper focuses on environmental governance post devolution. It analyzes who can effectively protect environment—the center or the provinces—and so shall be responsible for efficient environmental management in a federal state. Further, it highlights post-devolution challenges particularly the weak fiscal decentralization and lack of coordination in the area. Being a developing country facing fiscal constraints, it is very unlikely for environment to become a central subject, hence, the paper underlines possibilities on increasing inter-governmental, intra-provincial partnership especially focusing on participation by the local governments for optimal environment protection.
Weakly supervised serous retinal detachment segmentation in SD-OCT images by two-stage learning
Authors: Xing Ruiwen , Niu Sijie , Gao Xizhan , Liu Tingting , Fan Wen , Chen Yuehui
Published: March 2021

Automated lesion segmentation is one of the important tasks for the quantitative assessment of retinal diseases in SD-OCT images. Recently, deep convolutional neural networks (CNN) have shown promising advancements in the field of automated image segmentation, whereas they always benefit from large-scale datasets with high-quality pixel-wise annotations. Unfortunately, obtaining accurate annotations is expensive in both human effort and finance. In this paper, we propose a weakly supervised two-stage learning architecture to detect and further segment central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) retinal detachment with only image-level annotations. Specifically, in the first stage, a Located-CNN is designed to detect the location of lesion regions in the whole SD-OCT retinal images, and highlight the distinguishing regions. To generate available a pseudo pixel-level label, the conventional level set method is employed to refine the distinguishing regions. In the second stage, we customize the active-contour loss function in deep networks to achieve the effective segmentation of the lesion area. A challenging dataset is used to evaluate our proposed method, and the results demonstrate that the proposed method consistently outperforms some current models trained with a different level of supervision, and is even as competitive as those relying on stronger supervision. To our best knowledge, we are the first to achieve CSC segmentation in SD-OCT images using weakly supervised learning, which can greatly reduce the labeling efforts.
Strip-based digital image registration for distortion minimization and robust eye motion measurement from scanned ophthalmic imaging systems
Authors: Zhang Min , Gofas-Salas Elena , Leonard Bianca T. , Rui Yuhua , Snyder Valerie C. , Reecher Hope M. , Mecê Pedro , Rossi Ethan A.
Published: March 2021

Retinal image-based eye motion measurement from scanned ophthalmic imaging systems, such as scanning laser ophthalmoscopy, has allowed for precise real-time eye tracking at sub-micron resolution. However, the constraints of real-time tracking result in a high error tolerance that is detrimental for some eye motion measurement and imaging applications. We show here that eye motion can be extracted from image sequences when these constraints are lifted, and all data is available at the time of registration. Our approach identifies and discards distorted frames, detects coarse motion to generate a synthetic reference frame and then uses it for fine scale motion tracking with improved sensitivity over a larger area. We demonstrate its application here to tracking scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (TSLO) and adaptive optics scanning light ophthalmoscopy (AOSLO), and show that it can successfully capture most of the eye motion across each image sequence, leaving only between 0.1-3.4% of non-blink frames untracked, while simultaneously minimizing image distortions induced from eye motion. These improvements will facilitate precise measurement of fixational eye movements (FEMs) in TSLO and longitudinal tracking of individual cells in AOSLO.
Efficient scattering model of multilayer systems with anisotropic films
Authors: Gill Jordan R. , Perivolari Eleni , Kaczmarek Malgosia , D’Alessandro Giampaolo
Published: March 2021

We present an intuitive and efficient method for modeling light
propagation in layered isotropic and anisotropic media, which we call
the Iterated Ray Method. Considering a single layer sandwiched between
semi-infinite layers, the infinite reflected and transmitted rays are
summed to obtain effective Fresnel coefficients for the center layer.
Thus, the system can be represented as two semi-infinite layers with
an effective boundary. The model is coupled to a recursive algorithm
to describe an arbitrarily large layered system in the same way. It is
numerically stable in the presence of evanescent waves and
computationally efficient, both in terms of operation counts and
vectorization. We demonstrate its importance for the optical analysis
and optimization of layered media, such as those used in
photo-addressable liquid crystal cells, thin-film coatings, and Bragg
gratings, by measuring the refractive index and thickness of a thin
azobenzene dye photo-alignment layer, PAAD-22E, on an indium tin oxide
coated glass slide.
Optical topological transition and refraction control in crystal quartz by tilting the optical axis
Authors: Wu Feng , Wu Xiaohu
Published: March 2021

Optical topological transition of iso-frequency surfaces strongly
modifies the propagation behavior within media. However, in most
previous studies, optical topological transition was achieved by
tuning the frequency. In this paper, we achieve optical topological
transition at fixed frequencies by tuning the direction of the optical
axis in crystal quartz. Also, according to the energy flow method, we
calculate the refractive angle within the crystal quartz. The
calculated results show that both positive and negative refraction can
be realized by tuning the direction of the optical axis in the crystal
quartz. This optical topological transition in crystal quartz by
tilting the optical axis might have potential applications in
refraction controlling, spontaneous emission engineering, thermal
emission engineering, and phonon polariton engineering.
Demonstration of optical gain at 1550 nm in an Er3+-Yb3+ co-doped phosphate planar waveguide under commercial and convenient LED pumping
Authors: Fan Wang , Zhang Baoping , Wang Ce , Ying Leiying , Yang Xingchen , Zhou Zhaoqin , Zhang Dan
Published: March 2021

A 980 nm semiconductor laser is always selected as the pump source for
erbium-ytterbium co-doped optical waveguide amplifiers. In this work,
two low-cost blue-violet LEDs, rather than an expensive 980 nm laser,
were used to pump an Er3+-Yb3+
co-doped phosphate planar waveguide. When the signal power was 0.4 mW
at a 1550 nm wavelength, internal optical gains of about 4.1 and 4.5
dB/cm were respectively obtained under the excitations of a 32
mW/cm2, 275 nm LED and a 914 mW/cm2, 405 nm LED.
It was found that 51.17% of the total Er3+
ions in the 2H9/2 state contributed to the
luminescence at 1550 nm, and a theoretical model of gain simulation
was established under the excitation of a 405 nm LED. The calculated
gain of about 4.1 dB/cm was found to be in accordance with the
experimental optical gain results.
Revolution of a trapped particle in counter-propagating dual-beam optical tweezers under low pressure
Authors: Zhu Xunmin , Li Nan , Yang Jianyu , Chen Xingfan , Hu Huizhu
Published: March 2021

We presented faster and more accurate simulations and experiments describing the revolution of a suspended particle in optical tweezers under a low pressure. Instead of the state-of-the-art offline method of pinhole alignment, we proposed an in situ method of revolution suppression by adjusting the laser beam while observing the power spectral density and time-domain plot of the particle centroid displacement. The experimental results under different air pressures show that our method is more effective at low pressures. We observed that “revolution occurs when radial alignment error is below the threshold” and uncovered the mechanism behind this phenomenon. The rapidly growing Q value of the revolution indicates a high-precision resonance measurement method under lower air pressure compared with random translation measurements.
BPM-Matlab: an open-source optical propagation simulation tool in MATLAB
Authors: Veettikazhy Madhu , Kragh Hansen Anders , Marti Dominik , Mark Jensen Stefan , Lykke Borre Anja , Ravn Andresen Esben , Dholakia Kishan , Eskil Andersen Peter
Published: March 2021

We present the use of the Douglas-Gunn Alternating Direction Implicit finite difference method for computationally efficient simulation of the electric field propagation through a wide variety of optical fiber geometries. The method can accommodate refractive index profiles of arbitrary shape and is implemented in a tool called BPM-Matlab. We validate BPM-Matlab by comparing it to published experimental, numerical, and theoretical data and to commercially available state-of-the-art software. It is user-friendly, fast, and is available open-source. BPM-Matlab has a broad scope of applications in modeling a variety of optical fibers for diverse fields such as imaging, communication, material processing, and remote sensing.
Anisotropic Raman scattering and intense broadband second-harmonic generation in tellurium nanosheets
Authors: Wang Hongqiang , Mao Yu , Kislyakov Ivan M. , Dong Ningning , Chen Chenduan , Wang Jun
Published: March 2021

Tellurium (Te) is a novel elementary material, which has recently attracted extensive attention due to its intriguing physical properties, such as topological, thermoelectric, and photoelectric properties. Further study on Te crystal structures will help to understand its properties and facilitate its application. Here, the angle-resolved polarized Raman spectroscopy has been employed to study Te crystal symmetry. Three different Raman vibration modes were obtained, each of which possess a different polarization dependence. Furthermore, it is revealed that Te nanosheets show a second-order harmonic response over a wide spectrum and have the greatest conversion efficiency at an excitation wavelength of 880 nm. Its second-order nonlinear susceptibility is estimated to be

2049

p
m

V

−
1

. This substantial nonlinear optical response endows Te nanosheets with the potential for developing nonlinear photonic and optoelectronic nanodevices with high efficiency.
Integrated lithium niobate electro-optic modulators: when performance meets scalability
Authors: Zhang Mian , Wang Cheng , Kharel Prashanta , Zhu Di , Lončar Marko
Published: March 2021

Electro-optic modulators (EOMs) convert signals from the electrical to the optical domain. They are at the heart of optical communication, microwave signal processing, sensing, and quantum technologies. Next-generation EOMs require high-density integration, low cost, and high performance simultaneously, which are difficult to achieve with established integrated photonics platforms. Thin-film lithium niobate (LN) has recently emerged as a strong contender owing to its high intrinsic electro-optic (EO) efficiency, industry-proven performance, robustness, and, importantly, the rapid development of scalable fabrication techniques. The thin-film LN platform inherits nearly all the material advantages from the legacy bulk LN devices and amplifies them with a smaller footprint, wider bandwidths, and lower power consumption. Since the first adoption of commercial thin-film LN wafers only a few years ago, the overall performance of thin-film LN modulators is already comparable with, if not exceeding, the performance of the best alternatives based on mature platforms such as silicon and indium phosphide, which have benefited from many decades of research and development. In this mini-review, we explain the principles and technical advances that have enabled state-of-the-art LN modulator demonstrations. We discuss several approaches, their advantages and challenges. We also outline the paths to follow if LN modulators are to improve further, and we provide a perspective on what we believe their performance could become in the future. Finally, as the integrated LN modulator is a key subcomponent of more complex photonic functionalities, we look forward to exciting opportunities for larger-scale LN EO circuits beyond single components.
Gene variants of coagulation related proteins that interact with SARS-CoV-2
Authors: Holcomb David , Alexaki Aikaterini , Hernandez Nancy , Hunt Ryan , Laurie Kyle , Kames Jacob , Hamasaki-Katagiri Nobuko , Komar Anton A. , DiCuccio Michael , Kimchi-Sarfaty Chava
Published: March 2021

Thrombosis is a recognized complication of Coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) and is often associated with poor prognosis. There is a well-recognized link between coagulation and inflammation, however, the extent of thrombotic events associated with COVID-19 warrants further investigation. Poly(A) Binding Protein Cytoplasmic 4 (PABPC4), Serine/Cysteine Proteinase Inhibitor Clade G Member 1 (SERPING1) and Vitamin K epOxide Reductase Complex subunit 1 (VKORC1), which are all proteins linked to coagulation, have been shown to interact with SARS proteins. We computationally examined the interaction of these with SARS-CoV-2 proteins and, in the case of VKORC1, we describe its binding to ORF7a in detail. We examined the occurrence of variants of each of these proteins across populations and interrogated their potential contribution to COVID-19 severity. Potential mechanisms, by which some of these variants may contribute to disease, are proposed. Some of these variants are prevalent in minority groups that are disproportionally affected by severe COVID-19. Therefore, we are proposing that further investigation around these variants may lead to better understanding of disease pathogenesis in minority groups and more informed therapeutic approaches.
Addition of new neurons and the emergence of a local neural circuit for precise timing
Authors: Tupikov Yevhen , Jin Dezhe Z.
Published: March 2021

During development, neurons arrive at local brain areas in an extended period of time, but how they form local neural circuits is unknown. Here we computationally model the emergence of a network for precise timing in the premotor nucleus HVC in songbird. We show that new projection neurons, added to HVC post hatch at early stages of song development, are recruited to the end of a growing feedforward network. High spontaneous activity of the new neurons makes them the prime targets for recruitment in a self-organized process via synaptic plasticity. Once recruited, the new neurons fire readily at precise times, and they become mature. Neurons that are not recruited become silent and replaced by new immature neurons. Our model incorporates realistic HVC features such as interneurons, spatial distributions of neurons, and distributed axonal delays. The model predicts that the birth order of the projection neurons correlates with their burst timing during the song.
Elements and evolutionary determinants of genomic divergence between paired primary and metastatic tumors
Authors: Sun Ruping , Nikolakopoulos Athanasios N.
Published: March 2021

Can metastatic-primary (M-P) genomic divergence measured from next generation sequencing reveal the natural history of metastatic dissemination? This remains an open question of utmost importance in facilitating a deeper understanding of metastatic progression, and thereby, improving its prevention. Here, we utilize mathematical and computational modeling to tackle this question as well as to provide a framework that illuminates the fundamental elements and evolutionary determinants of M-P divergence. Our framework facilitates the integration of sequencing detectability of somatic variants, and hence, paves the way towards bridging the measurable between-tumor heterogeneity with analytical modeling and interpretability. We show that the number of somatic variants of the metastatic seeding cell that are experimentally undetectable in the primary tumor, can be characterized as the path of the phylogenetic tree from the last appearing variant of the seeding cell back to the most recent detectable variant. We find that the expected length of this path is principally determined by the decay in detectability of the variants along the seeding cell’s lineage; and thus, exhibits a significant dependence on the underlying tumor growth dynamics. A striking implication of this fact, is that dissemination from an advanced detectable subclone of the primary tumor can lead to an abrupt drop in the expected measurable M-P divergence, thereby breaking the previously assumed monotonic relation between seeding time and M-P divergence. This is emphatically verified by our single cell-based spatial tumor growth simulation, where we find that M-P divergence exhibits a non-monotonic relationship with seeding time when the primary tumor grows under branched and linear evolution. On the other hand, a monotonic relationship holds when we condition on the dynamics of progressive diversification, or by restricting the seeding cells to always originate from undetectable subclones. Our results highlight the fact that a precise understanding of tumor growth dynamics is thesine qua nonfor exploiting M-P divergence to reconstruct the chronology of metastatic dissemination. The quantitative models presented here enable further careful evaluation of M-P divergence in association with crucial evolutionary and sequencing parameters.
Bone sporotrichosis: 41 cases from a reference hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Authors: Ramos Vanessa , Astacio Guis S-M. , do Valle Antonio C. F. , de Macedo Priscila M. , Lyra Marcelo R. , Almeida-Paes Rodrigo , Oliveira Manoel M. E. , Zancopé-Oliveira Rosely M. , Brandão Luciana G. P. , Quintana Marcel S. B. , Gutierrez-Galhardo Maria Clara , Freitas Dayvison F. S.
Published: March 2021

Background

Bone sporotrichosis is rare. The metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro is hyperendemic for zoonotic sporotrichosis and the bone presentations are increasing.

Methods

We studied a retrospective cohort of 41 cases of bone sporotrichosis, diagnosed from 1999–2016. The inclusion criteria was fungal culture isolation from any clinical specimen associated to bone involvement (radiography and/or computed tomography) compatible with fungal osteomyelitis or histopathological findings of bone material compatible with sporotrichosis. Molecular identification was performed when possible.

Results

Male patients represented 58.5% of the cases, with a cohort median age of 43 years. Immunosuppressive conditions were present in 68.3% of the patients, mostly HIV coinfection (51.2%). Multifocal bone involvement (more than one anatomical segment) was diagnosed in 61% of the patients, while 39% presented unifocal involvement. The bones of the hands were the most affected (58.5%), followed by the feet (41.5%) and tibia (26.8%). Multifocal group was characterized by a higher proportion of males (p = 0.0045) with immunosuppressive conditions (p = 0.0014). Amphotericin B followed by oral itraconazole was the main treatment, with a median time of 16.7 months (1.5 to 99.2 months), and cure of 53.7% of the patients (84.6% of immunocompetent and 39.3% of immunocompromised patients). Sequelae occurred in 12.2% of the patients—amputations (7.3%) and ankylosis (4.9%), while 22% died in the course of the disease. Sporothrix brasiliensis was the causative agent in all the 9 (22%) performed cases.

Conclusions

Bone sporotrichosis is a chronic, challenging condition with prolonged treatment, often with poor results and sequelae.
Yeast grown in continuous culture systems can detect mutagens with improved sensitivity relative to the Ames test
Authors: Ong Joseph Y. , Pence Julia T. , Molik David C. , Shepherd Heather A. M. , Goodson Holly V.
Published: March 2021

Continuous culture systems allow for the controlled growth of microorganisms over a long period of time. Here, we develop a novel test for mutagenicity that involves growing yeast in continuous culture systems exposed to low levels of mutagen for a period of approximately 20 days. In contrast, most microorganism-based tests for mutagenicity expose the potential mutagen to the biological reporter at a high concentration of mutagen for a short period of time. Our test improves upon the sensitivity of the well-established Ames test by at least 20-fold for each of two mutagens that act by different mechanisms (the intercalator ethidium bromide and alkylating agent methyl methanesulfonate). To conduct the tests, cultures were grown in small, inexpensive continuous culture systems in media containing (potential) mutagen, and the resulting mutagenicity of the added compound was assessed via two methods: a canavanine-based plate assay and whole genome sequencing. In the canavanine-based plate assay, we were able to detect a clear relationship between the amount of mutagen and the number of canavanine-resistant mutant colonies over a period of one to three weeks of exposure. Whole genome sequencing of yeast grown in continuous culture systems exposed to methyl methanesulfonate demonstrated that quantification of mutations is possible by identifying the number of unique variants across each strain. However, this method had lower sensitivity than the plate-based assay and failed to distinguish the different concentrations of mutagen. In conclusion, we propose that yeast grown in continuous culture systems can provide an improved and more sensitive test for mutagenicity.
Space-time covid-19 Bayesian SIR modeling in South Carolina
Authors: Lawson Andrew B. , Kim Joanne
Published: March 2021

The Covid-19 pandemic has spread across the world since the beginning of 2020. Many regions have experienced its effects. The state of South Carolina in the USA has seen cases since early March 2020 and a primary peak in early April 2020. A lockdown was imposed on April 6th but lifting of restrictions started on April 24th. The daily case and death data as reported by NCHS (deaths) via the New York Times GitHUB repository have been analyzed and approaches to modeling of the data are presented. Prediction is also considered and the role of asymptomatic transmission is assessed as a latent unobserved effect. Two different time periods are examined and one step prediction is provided. The results suggest that both socio-economic disadvantage, asymptomatic transmission and spatial confounding are important ingredients in any model pertaining to county level case dynamics.
Gibberellin induced transcription factor bZIP53 regulates CesA1 expression in maize kernels
Authors: Lv Huayang , Li Xiao , Li Hui , Hu Yufeng , Liu Hanmei , Wen Shengjuan , Li Yangping , Liu Yinghong , Huang Huanhuan , Yu Guowu , Huang Yubi , Zhang Junjie
Published: March 2021

Proper development of the maize kernel is of great significance for high and stable maize yield to ensure national food security. Gibberellin (GA), one of the hormones regulating plant growth, is involved in modulating the development of maize kernels. Cellulose, one of the main components of plant cells, is also regulated by gibberellin. The mechanism of hormone regulation during maize grain development is highly complicated, and reports on GA-mediated modulation of cellulose synthesis during maize grain development are rare. Our study revealed that during grain growth and development, the grain length and bulk density of GA-treated corn kernels improved significantly, and the cellulose content of grains increased, while seed coat thickness decreased. The transcription factor basic region/leucine zipper motif 53 (bZIP53), which is strongly correlated with cellulose synthase gene 1 (CesA1) expression, was screened by transcriptome sequencing and the expression of the cellulose synthase gene in maize grain development after GA treatment was determined. It was found that bZIP53 expression significantly promoted the expression of CesA1. Further, analysis of the transcription factor bZIP53 determined that the gene-encoded protein was localized in the cell and nuclear membranes, but the transcription factor bZIP53 itself showed no transcriptional activation. Further studies are required to explore the interaction of bZIP53 with CesA1.
A novel quantitative analysis method for idiopathic epiretinal membrane
Authors: Allegrini Davide , Montesano Giovanni , Marconi Stefania , Rosso Nicoletta , Ometto Giovanni , Raimondi Raffaele , Auricchio Ferdinando , Tsoutsanis Panagiotis , Semeraro Francesco , Cacciatori Matteo , Crabb David P. , Romano Mario R.
Published: March 2021

Purpose

To introduce a novel method to quantitively analyse in three dimensions traction forces in a vast area of the ocular posterior pole.

Methods

Retrospective analysis of 14 eyes who underwent peeling surgery for idiopathic, symptomatic and progressive epiretinal membrane. The technique measures the shift in position of vascular crossings after surgery from a fixed point, which is the retinal pigmented epithelium. This shift is defined as the relaxation index (RI) and represents a measure of the postoperative movement of the retina due to released traction after surgery.

Results

Best-corrected visual acuity was significantly better than baseline at all follow ups while the RI had its maximum value at baseline. Moreover, we found a significant correlation between best-corrected visual acuity at 6 months and RI at baseline.

Conclusion

While all previous published methods focused on bi-dimensional changes observed in a small region, this study introduces a three-dimensional assessment of tractional forces. Future integration of RI into built-in processing software will allow systematic three-dimensional measurement of intraretinal traction.
Increased visual and cognitive demands emphasize the importance of meeting visual needs at all distances while driving
Authors: Patoine Amigale , Mikula Laura , Mejía-Romero Sergio , Michaels Jesse , Keruzoré Océane , Chaumillon Romain , Bernardin Delphine , Faubert Jocelyn
Published: March 2021

Having an optimal quality of vision as well as adequate cognitive capacities is known to be essential for driving safety. However, the interaction between vision and cognitive mechanisms while driving remains unclear. We hypothesized that, in a context of high cognitive load, reduced visual acuity would have a negative impact on driving behavior, even when the acuity corresponds to the legal threshold for obtaining a driving license in Canada, and that the impact observed on driving performance would be greater with the increase in the threshold of degradation of visual acuity. In order to investigate this relationship, we examined driving behavior in a driving simulator under optimal and reduced vision conditions through two scenarios involving different levels of cognitive demand. These were: 1. a simple rural driving scenario with some pre-programmed events and 2. a highway driving scenario accompanied by a concurrent task involving the use of a navigation device. Two groups of visual quality degradation (lower/ higher) were evaluated according to their driving behavior. The results support the hypothesis: A dual task effect was indeed observed provoking less stable driving behavior, but in addition to this, by statistically controlling the impact of cognitive load, the effect of visual load emerged in this dual task context. These results support the idea that visual quality degradation impacts driving behavior when combined with a high mental workload driving environment while specifying that this impact is not present in the context of low cognitive load driving condition.
Surface barrier discharges for Escherichia coli biofilm inactivation: Modes of action and the importance of UV radiation
Authors: Salgado Breno A. B. , Fabbri Stefania , Dickenson Aaron , Hasan Mohammad I. , Walsh James L.
Published: March 2021

Cold plasma generated in air at atmospheric pressure is an extremely effective antimicrobial agent, with proven efficacy against clinically relevant bacterial biofilms. The specific mode of bacterial inactivation is highly dependent upon the configuration of the plasma source used. In this study, the mode of microbial inactivation of a surface barrier discharge was investigated againstEscherichia colibiofilms grown on polypropylene coupons. Different modes of exposure were considered and it was demonstrated that the long-lived reactive species created by the plasma are not solely responsible for the observed microbial inactivation. It was observed that a synergistic interaction occurs between the plasma generated long-lived reactive species and ultraviolet (UV) photons, acting to increase the antimicrobial efficacy of the approach by an order of magnitude. It is suggested that plasma generated UV is an important component for microbial inactivation when using a surface barrier discharge; however, it is not through the conventional pathway of direct DNA damage, rather through the synergistic interaction between liquid in the biofilm matrix and long-lived chemical species created by the discharge.
Bagasse minority pathway expression: Real time study of GH2 β-mannosidases from bacteroidetes
Authors: Leonel Tatiane Fernanda , Pepe Elisângela Soares Gomes , Castellane Tereza Cristina Luque , Vantini Juliana da Silva , Funnicelli Michelli Inácio Gonçalves , Lemos Eliana Gertrudes de Macedo
Published: March 2021

After being isolated from a sugarcane pile, the bacteriumChitinophagasp. CB10 demonstrated to be a rich source of carbohydrases, with 350 predicted CAZyme domains. CB10 was able to grow on carbohydrates of different structural complexities: glucose, carboxymethylcellulose, corn starch, galactomannan,Aloe veragum and sugarcane bagasse. The sugarcane bagasse is a rich source of complex polymers, and the diversity of metabolites released by its enzymatic hydrolysis has an important role for green chemistry, including minority pathways such as the degradation of mannan conjugates. In this sense, CB10 demonstrated considerable levels of gene expression for mannanases, and was stable for a period of 96–144 hours in the presence of sugarcane bagasse as sole carbon source. The bacterium showed respectively 4.8x and 5.6x expression levels for two genes predicted for GH2 β-mannosidase: one located within a gene cluster identified as “polysaccharide utilization loci” (PUL), and another a classic β-mannosidase. These enzymes shared less than 45% of identity with enzymes characterized from the genusChitinophagabelonging to the phylum Bacteroidetes. The degree of novelty—as demonstrated by the low identity with previously characterized enzymes; the remarkable capability to grow in different substrates; mannanase activity, evidenced by the release of residual oligosaccharides in the cultivation with galactomannan (HPLC-RID, 12.3 mMol); associated to the ability of mannanases expression in a low concentration of inductor conditions (sugarcane bagasse, 0.2%) indicate the high potential for the application of CB10 as a source of enzymes in the production of oligosaccharides from biomass. This capacity might prove to be very valuable for the biorefinery process of pre-biotic precursors and other functional oligosaccharides focused on the food and pharmaceutical industries.