bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A review on the effects of heavy metals on the development of blow flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae)
Authors: Raise Gloria , Gemmellaro M. Denise
Published: October 2023

Heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, zinc, copper, mercury, and others, are naturally occurring non degradable elements which can accumulate in the environment and in living organisms and can have a significant impact on their physiological functions. Studies have shown that heavy metals can also influence the development and morphology of insects. Insects are the most abundant organisms on earth and play a major role in different ecosystems. They help in the dispersion of organic matter and are an important part of different ecological processes. Forensic entomology focuses on the use of arthropods in legal investigations. Shortly after death, a corpse is quickly colonized by several insect families; blow flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) are among the first colonizers and are therefore often used for the estimation of the time of colonization (TOC) or minimum post‐mortem interval (mPMI). Since larvae feed on the corpse, any xenobiotic present in the remains, including heavy metals, can be ingested, and accumulated by them; these substances can influence their development and, in turn, can alter the estimation of the mPMI. We analyzed the literature on studies pertaining to the detection of heavy metals in blow flies and on their variations in developmental rate, mass, length, fecundity, morphology, immune system, and mortality rate.

This article is categorized under:

Forensic Biology > Forensic Entomology

Forensic Anthropology > Time Since Death Estimation

Forensic Biology > Interpretation of Biological Evidence
Cancer‐derived non‐coding RNAs endow tumor microenvironment with immunosuppressive properties
Authors: Hu Tong , Shi Run , Gu Yunru , Zhou Hanyu , Fang Yuan , Xu Tingting , Xu Yangyue , Wu Xi , Ma Ling , Shu Yongqian
Published: October 2023

Non‐coding RNAs (ncRNAs) have attracted extensive attention due to their vital roles in tumorigenesis and progression, especially in the immunotherapy resistance. Tumor immunotherapy resistance is a crucial factor hindering the efficacy of tumor treatments, which can be largely attributed to the immunosuppressive properties of tumor microenvironment. Current studies have revealed that cancer‐derived ncRNAs are involved in the formation of tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment (TIME) through multiple ways. They not only promote the expression of immune checkpoint ligands (e.g., PD‐L1, CD47, Gal‐9, and CD276) on cancer cell surfaces, but also enhance the secretion of immunosuppressive cytokines (e.g., TGF‐β, IL‐6, IL‐10, VEGF, and chemokines). Cancer‐derived ncRNAs could also be transferred into surrounding immune‐related cells through extracellular vesicles, thereby inhibiting the cytotoxicity of CD8+T cells and NK cells, restraining the DC‐mediated antigen presentation, inducing the immunosuppressive phenotype transformation of TAMs and CAFs, and enhancing the immunosuppressive functions of Tregs and MDSCs. Herein, we summarize the roles of cancer‐derived ncRNAs in regulating TIME formation and further explore their potential applications as prognostic biomarkers and immunotherapeutic targets, which will help us to address the TIME‐mediated immunotherapy resistance in the future.

This article is categorized under:

RNA in Disease and Development > RNA in Disease

Regulatory RNAs/RNAi/Riboswitches > Regulatory RNAs
Assessing efficacy of cellular transmission technology in camera trapping for wildlife research
Authors: Laughlin Lydia A. , Freeman Hailey M. , Blevins Carson A. , Depuy Victoria E. , Gatewood Alex , MacKenzie Blaine , Ranallo Nathan , McQuaig John , Davis Craig A. , Goodman Laura E. , Fuhlendorf Samuel D. , Andersson Kent , Duchardt Courtney J. , Chitwood M. Colter
Published: October 2023

Camera traps are an important noninvasive tool used by scientists to monitor wildlife efficiently and at reduced costs. New camera trap features improve performance and encourage increased use by researchers and the public. Cellular transmission of image data, which provides users the ability to digitally receive images instead of retrieving or downloading images in the field is a useful new feature. Cellular data transmission has 2 key benefits for wildlife research in that it reduces travel time required for downloading image data and the uncertainty involving storage capacity of SD cards and battery life, and cellular transmission allows for near real‐time analysis of images, which could redistribute the time usually devoted to processing a large data set when the memory card is retrieved. Despite potential benefits, cellular transmission technology in camera traps is still new and questions remain about its reliability. Our objective was to determine the efficacy of cellular transmission technology in wildlife research by designing a camera trap study as part of a senior‐level class (Wildlife Management Applications and Planning; NREM 4522) project at Oklahoma State University. We used ArcGIS to generate a stratified random sample of trap locations, deploying five cellular transmission camera traps in open grassland and five in closed canopy forest areas from 5 September to 5 October 2021. We monitored the number of transmitted images each day online, and after camera trap retrieval, we compared the number of transmitted images to those stored on the memory card to determine transmission efficiency. Our data indicated the majority of the images taken each day were transmitted successfully; however, transmission efficiency (i.e., number transmitted divided by total number taken by the camera trap) tended to be lower in forested areas (47%) compared to open grassland (86%). Though cellular transmission technology shows promise, the combination of cellular signal, landscape features, and transmitted data quality may limit the effectiveness of cellular transmission technology for near real‐time data analysis. Based on our results, we recommend that researchers consider advantages and disadvantages of cellular transmission when designing studies and note that researchers may need to adopt an adaptive approach or conduct pilot testing that includes quantifying the transmission functionality.
Assessment of lesser prairie‐chicken translocation through survival and lek surveys
Authors: Teige Elisabeth C. , Berigan Liam A. , Aulicky Carly S. H. , Reitz Jonathan H. , Haukos David A. , Sullins Daniel S. , Fricke Kent A. , Schultz Kraig A. , Rossi Liza G.
Published: October 2023

Translocation is a management tool used to restore or augment wildlife populations, but outcomes of translocations are often poorly documented and can have varying levels of success for improving wildlife population declines. The lesser prairie‐chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) is a prairie grouse endemic to the southern Great Plains. In response to declining abundance and distribution, in 2023 lesser prairie‐chickens were listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act in different states. Translocation is a potential management response to population declines when there is an availability of unoccupied habitats, but translocation efficacy has not been evaluated for lesser prairie‐chickens. We translocated 411 lesser prairie‐chickens seasonally from 2016‐2019 and monitored the translocated lesser prairie‐chicken population from 2017–2022. To assess translocation as a management tool for lesser prairie‐chickens, we estimated survival for 2017–2020 and conducted lek surveys during 2017–2022. Over a fifth (22.8%, n = 94) of translocated birds either died or went missing within the first 2 weeks following release. Survival rates of translocated birds during the breeding (0.44 ± 0.02 [SE]) and nonbreeding (0.55 ± 0.03 [SE]) seasons were relatively low compared to nontranslocated lesser prairie‐chickens in other studies (0.63–0.93 for breeding season; 0.43–0.87 for non‐breeding season). Twenty‐seven percent of translocated birds survived to the breeding season after release (i.e., >1 year). Translocated lesser prairie‐chickens initiated 28 lekking sites over the study period. We estimated 77% of males available >2 weeks post release participated in lekking activity. The number of leks and male high counts on leks in the study area increased after translocation, peaking one year post‐translocation (an overall increase of 250% and 340%, respectively). However, both the number of leks and male high counts decreased (48% and 39%, respectively) within 3 years after translocation cessation. Establishment of leks and increasing lek attendance directly following translocation initially suggested that translocation could be a viable management tool. However, survival rates after translocation and declining lek counts following translocation indicates that the increased population abundance and occupied range from this translocation effort may be unsustainable. Our results highlight the necessity of monitoring to determine outcomes of a large lesser prairie‐chicken translocation. Other management strategies, such as targeted grassland restoration and management in areas of greatest lesser prairie‐chicken density, could be more beneficial for conservation of lesser prairie‐chicken populations.
Surface Functionalization, Nucleic Acid Tether Characterization, and Force Calibration for a Magnetic Tweezers Assay
Authors: Quack Salina , Dulin David
Published: October 2023

Magnetic tweezers are a force spectroscopy single-molecule technique. They enable the mechanical manipulation of biomolecules via the means of a magnetic particle under an attractive force applied by a magnetic field source. The magnetic particle is tethered to the glass surface of a flow chamber by the biomolecule, and functionalization strategies have been developed to reduce the nonspecific interactions of either the magnetic particles or biomolecules with the surface. Here, we describe two complementary strategies to achieve a high tether density while reducing the interactions of both the magnetic particle and the biomolecule of interest with the glass surface. Using a large detector CMOS camera, the simultaneous observation of several hundreds of tethered magnetic beads is achievable, allowing high-throughput single-molecule measurements. We further describe here a simple procedure to perform the calibration in force of a magnetic tweezers assay.
Lattice Light-Sheet Motor-PAINT: A Method to Map the Orientations of Microtubules in Complex Three-Dimensional Arrays
Authors: Iwanski Malina K. , Katrukha Eugene A. , Kapitein Lukas C.
Published: October 2023

Microtubules play an essential role in many cellular functions, in part by serving as tracks for intracellular transport by kinesin and dynein. The ability of microtubules to fulfill this role fundamentally depends on the fact that they are polar, with motors moving along them toward either their plus or minus end. Given that the microtubule cytoskeleton adopts a variety of specialized architectures in different cell types, it is important to map precisely how microtubules are oriented and organized in these cells. To this end, motor-PAINT has been developed, but in its current implementation, it relies on total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy and is thus restricted to imaging microtubules in a thin section of the cell immediately adjacent to the coverslip. Here, we report a variant of motor-PAINT that uses lattice light-sheet microscopy to overcome this, allowing for the mapping of microtubule organization and orientation in three-dimensional samples. We describe the necessary steps to purify, label, use, and image kinesin motors for motor-PAINT and outline the analysis pipeline used to visualize the resulting data. The method described here can be used in the future to study the microtubule cytoskeleton in (thick) polarized cells such as intestinal epithelial cells.
Editors Introduction
Authors: Myra Siv Merete , Grøver Tone , Axberg Ulf
Published: October 2023

Systemic thinking is a way of understanding our being in the world, from the big questions to the small choices we make together. Therapy and therapeutic processes are also part of our being in the world together. The different chapters will explore how systemic perspectives, as they are presented in the various practice contexts of the authors, can promote hope by giving room for reflections on uncertainty, change, opportunities, interconnections and differences. Furthermore, the chapters will illuminate the ways that systemic theory makes space for a multiplicity of varying approaches that address the needs of all of us in the different settings where we live our lives and maybe seek therapy.
Systemic Approaches to Safeguarding Children’s Rights Through Parental Separation and Divorce: Opening Spaces for Childhood to Continue
Authors: Sheehan Jim
Published: October 2023

This chapter is about some of the different ways that systemic practitioners can and should play a part in the promotion and protection of children’s wellbeing as they go through one of the most challenging transitions in family life, namely the separation and divorce of their parents. An explicit assumption of the chapter is that the work of systemic practitioners in this arena of family transition must be oriented not only towards the amelioration of children’s psychological and relational suffering but, more importantly, towards the protection and promotion of the human rights that are theirs by virtue of belonging to the category of child.
Gender Incongruence: Youth with a Special Talent for Gender; Supporting Youth and Families
Authors: Grasaasen Anne , Benestad Esben Esther Pirelli
Published: October 2023

Understandings of gender are undergoing great change. In caring for children and youth experiencing gender incongruence, we reflect over how to create a systemic conversational space in which they, along with their families, can explore feelings and experiences of gender identity. The family as a phenomenon is a strong discourse, and parents’ voices are important in how this process is experienced. Their active participation in therapy can contribute to children and youth becoming secure in owning their gender identities. We describe using a gender map as an aid to talk about feelings, experiences and desires in conversations with older children, youth, parents and their networks.
Systemic Perspectives and Psychiatric Diagnosis: Mutually Exclusive or Mutually Inclusive?
Authors: Axberg Ulf , Petitt Bill
Published: October 2023

In common with most others who work in the field of mental health, the authors have been obliged to develop a professional relationship with the two dominant diagnostic guides, The International Classification of Disease 10 (ICD-10) and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5 (DSM-5). While they concur with the widely held view that there are many problematic issues connected to both diagnostic systems, many of the conflicts generated within the mental health field that we are aware of seem to emerge from the different meanings that are attributed to them and/or the ways in which they are applied. We argue for the position that a system of diagnostic categories is necessary for all psychotherapists, in a parallel but different manner to the way in which it is important for medical practitioners. We systemic therapists also have a fundamental need of organizing the domain of human suffering so that we can bring order to our clinical practice, our research and our professional communication. The most important question is “how?”.
The Cham Civilization and Its People—An Overview of Bhum Cham
Authors: Tuyen Quang Dai
Published: October 2023

Bhum Cham is a fascinating and enduring residential unit of the Cham community, steeped in rich cultural significance that goes beyond mere physical structures. It embodies the very essence of the Cham people’s way of life, spirituality, and deep-rooted connection to their cultural heritage. Even today, the Cham people continue to call bhum palei their home. To truly understand and appreciate the Cham people, one must immerse themselves in their vibrant living culture, meet the friendly locals, and explore the wealth of heritage preserved within the bhum palei, including their captivating system of folk memories.
Cham Culture and Traditions: Understanding Their Worldview Through Custodianship and Philosophy
Authors: Tuyen Quang Dai
Published: October 2023

Understanding the level of support or opposition within a community towards a development issue requires a comprehensive understanding of the community’s cultural area. By immersing oneself in the community’s stories, beliefs, and cultural identity, it is possible to gain valuable insights into their perspective on the issue. In this chapter, I aim to provide a tantalizing glimpse into the fascinating world of Cham culture, with all its rich philosophies, beliefs, and practices. By exploring the traditional connections of the Cham people through their religious and spiritual leaders, belief systems, and human philosophies, we can gain a deeper understanding of the Cham community’s unified identity. Through this exploration, we can begin to appreciate the unique cultural fabric that binds the Cham community together and shapes their views on development issues. My goal is to provide readers with a new perspective on the Cham culture and its significance, highlighting the importance of cultural awareness in understanding the complexities of development issues.
Examining Overlooked Living Traditions: An Analysis of the Conservation of Sacred Places in the Cham Culture of Vietnam
Authors: Tuyen Quang Dai
Published: October 2023

This chapter constitutes a profound examination of the conservation of Cham living heritage sites and the Cham community’s perceptions in Vietnam. It lays bare an unfortunate reality that heritage preservation in Vietnam has predominantly centred on tangible forms of heritage, while the local cultural significance of tangible aspects of Cham temples has been woefully neglected.

The Cham community’s conviction that the construction of a new pathway at their sacred site constitutes a grave offense to their worldview regarding cardinality and spiritual practice exemplifies this issue. Notwithstanding the addition’s intended purpose of facilitating visitor access to the temple, the Cham people construe it as a menace to their temple’s sacred character and a hindrance to their religious views and beliefs.

The study’s findings underscore the pressing need to recognize Indigenous living heritage and its pivotal role in local communities in safeguarding heritage. In this regard, heritage conservation practices must heed the Cham community’s perceptions and beliefs, and accord equal weight to tangible and intangible cultural heritage. The chapter serves as a poignant reminder of the consequences of neglecting cultural meaning in heritage conservation efforts and highlights the criticality of preserving cultural identity and heritage for posterity.
On the resilience of the gravitational variational principle under renormalization
Authors: Neri Giulio , Liberati Stefano
Published: October 2023

Abstract

A well-defined variational principle for gravitational actions typically requires to cancel boundary terms produced by the variation of the bulk action with a suitable set of boundary counterterms. This can be achieved by carefully balancing the coefficients multiplying the bulk operators with those multiplying the boundary ones. A typical example of this construction is the Gibbons-Hawking-York boundary action that needs to be added to the Einstein-Hilbert one in order to have a well-defined metric variation for General Relativity with Dirichlet boundary conditions. Quantum fluctuations of matter fields lead to a renormalization of these coefficients which may or may not preserve this balance. Indeed, already at the level of General Relativity, the resilience of the matching between bulk and boundary constants is far from obvious and it is anyway incomplete given that matter generically induces quadratic curvature operators. We investigate here the resilience of the matching of higher-order couplings upon renormalization by a non-minimally coupled scalar field and show that a problem is present. Even though we do not completely solve the latter, we show that it can be greatly ameliorated by a wise splitting between dynamical and topological contributions. Doing so, we find that the bulk-boundary matching is preserved up to a universal term (present for any Weyl invariant matter field content), whose nature and possible cancellation we shall discuss in the end.
Brane nucleation in supersymmetric models
Authors: Bandos Igor , Blanco-Pillado Jose J. , Sousa Kepa , Urkiola Mikel A.
Published: October 2023

Abstract

This paper explores the process of vacuum decay in supersymmetric models related to flux compactifications. In particular, we describe these instabilities within supersymmetric Lagrangians for a single three-form multiplet. This multiplet combines scalar fields, representing the moduli fields in four dimensions, with 3-form fields that influence the potential for these moduli via the integer flux of their associated 4-form field strength. Furthermore, using supersymmetry as a guide we obtain the form of the couplings of these fields to the membranes that act as sources to the 3-form potentials. Adding small supersymmetry breaking terms to these Lagrangians one can obtain instanton solutions describing the decay of the vacua in these models by the formation of a membrane bubble. These instantons combine the usual Coleman-de Luccia and the Brown-Teitelboim formalisms in a single unified model. We study simple numerical examples of theories with and without gravity in this new framework and generalize known Euclidean methods to accomodate the simulataneous inclusion of scalar fields and charged membranes to these instanton solutions. Moreover, we show explicitly in these examples how one recovers the static supersymmetric solutions in the limiting case where the supersymmetry breaking terms vanish. In this limit, the bubble becomes infinite and flat and represents a hybrid between the usual supersymmetric domain walls of field theory models and the brane solutions interpolating between the supersymmetric vacua; a sort of dressed supermembrane BPS solution. Finally, we briefly comment on the implications of these solutions in cosmological models based on the String Theory Landscape where these type of 4d effective theories could be relevant in inflationary scenarios.
A novel probe of supersymmetry in light of nanohertz gravitational waves
Authors: Murai Kai , Yin Wen
Published: October 2023

Abstract

A new era of exploring the early Universe may have begun with the recent strong evidence for the stochastic gravitational wave (GW) background from the data reported by NANOGrav, EPTA (including InPTA data), PPTA, and CPTA. Inspired by this, we propose a new potential source of stochastic GWs in the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM), which could be the theory at a very high energy scale. This source is the “axion” field in the Higgs multiplets when the Higgs field takes a large value along the D-flat direction in the early Universe, for example, during inflation. The axion motion triggers the instability of the standard model U(1) and/or SU(3) gauge fields, producing stochastic GWs during the inflation. This scenario can be seen as a simple UV completion of the commonly studied models where an axion spectator/inflaton is coupled to a hidden U(1) or SU(N) gauge field without matter fields. Thus the nanohertz GWs may be a sign of supersymmetry. Primordial magnetic field production is also argued. In addition, we point out the simple possibility that this axion within the MSSM drives inflation.
Exploring SMEFT operators in the tHq production at the LHC
Authors: Guchait Monoranjan , Roy Arnab
Published: October 2023

Abstract

We study the top-quark production along with a Higgs boson and a jet (tHq) at the LHC experiment within the framework of the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT). A strategy is developed to constrain the Wilson Coefficients (WC) corresponding to the associated SMEFT operators using the latest LHC measurements. The best-fit values of these WCs are presented. Finally, we demonstrate the feasibility of finding the effects of these operators on various kinematical observables of the tHq process at the LHC. We find that for a set of best-fitted values of the considered WCs, the excess of signal over the backgrounds can be achieved with a reasonable significance at the center of mass energy $$ \sqrt{s} $$

s

= 13 TeV and for integrated luminosity options $$ \mathcal{L} $$
L
=300 fb−1 and 3000 fb−1.
Critical dynamics in a real-time formulation of the functional renormalization group
Authors: Roth Johannes V. , von Smekal Lorenz
Published: October 2023

Abstract

We present first calculations of critical spectral functions of the relaxational Models A, B, and C in the Halperin-Hohenberg classification using a real-time formulation of the functional renormalization group (FRG). We revisit the prediction by Son and Stephanov that the linear coupling of a conserved density to the non-conserved order parameter of Model A gives rise to critical Model-B dynamics. We formulate both 1-loop and 2-loop self-consistent expansion schemes in the 1PI vertex functions as truncations of the effective average action suitable for real-time applications, and analyze in detail how the different critical dynamics are properly incorporated in the framework of the FRG on the closed-time path. We present results for the corresponding critical spectral functions, extract the dynamic critical exponents for Models A, B, and C, in two and three spatial dimensions, respectively, and compare the resulting values with recent results from the literature.
The ABJM Hagedorn Temperature from Integrability
Authors: Ekhammar Simon , Minahan Joseph A. , Thull Charles
Published: October 2023

Abstract

We use the quantum spectral curve to compute the Hagedorn temperature for ABJM theory in terms of the interpolating function h(λ). At weak coupling we compute this temperature up to eight-loop order, showing that it matches the known tree-level and two-loop results. At strong coupling we compute the dependence numerically, showing that it is consistent with expectations from supergravity and the plane-wave limit for the four leading terms in the strong coupling expansion, up to an overall shift of the zero-point energy for type IIA string theory on AdS4 × ℂP3. We conjecture an analytic form for this shift to leading order that is consistent with our numerical results.
On/off scale separation
Authors: Farakos Fotis , Morittu Matteo , Tringas George
Published: October 2023

Abstract

We discuss minimally supersymmetric AdS3 flux vacua of massive type IIA supergravity on G2-orientifolds. We find that configurations with broken scale-separation can be within finite distance from scale-separated ones, while both remain at large volume, weak coupling and have moduli stabilization. The transition is achieved with the use of a D4-brane modulus, which allows the F4 flux to jump, and has an effective potential always accessible to the three-dimensional low-energy theory. Our analysis further allows us to check the distance conjecture quantitatively, as we can track explicitly the masses of the KK modes.
Addressing six standard model problems with Technically Natural Higgs models
Authors: Rosenlyst Martin
Published: October 2023

Abstract

We aim to study the potential of the recently proposed model framework, called Technically Natural Higgs (TNH), in addressing six fundamental problems in particle physics and cosmology. These questions encompass the electroweak (EW) naturalness problem, neutrino mass generation, nature of the inflaton, the matter-antimatter asymmetry problem, origin of dark matter (DM) and the strong CP problem. We investigate various solutions within the TNH framework for three inflation scenarios — Higgs, Starobinsky and scale-independent inflation. In the minimal TNH model, the Higgs is a mixture of an elementary and a composite state, with a compositeness scale far exceeding the EW scale. Traditionally, this has required an unnatural small vacuum misalignment, but in the TNH framework a novel mechanism enables a technically natural large compositeness scale, even up to the Planck scale. In this model framework, we demonstrate that a scale-invariant version of the minimal TNH model, featuring a special energy scale of around $$ \mathcal{O} $$
O
(1012) GeV, loop-induced by the inflaton, simultaneously yields a technically natural 125-GeV Higgs boson, scotogenic neutrinos, a scale-invariant inflaton and a QCD axion DM candidate. These components dynamically generate the Planck scale and collectively have the potential to address all six open questions.
Wrinkles in the Froggatt-Nielsen mechanism and flavorful new physics
Authors: Asadi Pouya , Bhattacharya Arindam , Fraser Katherine , Homiller Samuel , Parikh Aditya
Published: October 2023

Abstract

When the Froggatt-Nielsen mechanism is used to explain the Standard Model flavor hierarchy, new physics couplings are also determined by the horizontal symmetry. However, additional symmetries or dynamics in the UV can sometimes lead to a departure from this naïve scaling for the new physics couplings. We show that an effective way to keep track of these changes is by using the new spurions of the U(3)5 global flavor symmetry, where we parameterize extra suppression or enhancement factors, referred to as wrinkles, using the same power counting parameter as in the original Froggatt-Nielsen model. As a concrete realization, we consider two flavor spurions of the S1 leptoquark, and demonstrate that wrinkles can be used to make an enhanced value of $$ \textrm{BR}\left({B}^{+}\to {K}^{+}\nu \overline{\nu}\right) $$
BR

B
+

→

K
+

ν

ν
¯

consistent with other flavor observables. We also present example UV models that realize wrinkles, and comment on choosing consistent charges in ordinary Froggatt-Nielsen models without the typical monotonicity condition.
A Universal Space for the Bourbaki-Complete Spaces and Further Examples
Authors: Meroño Ana S.
Published: October 2023

In this paper it is provided an explicit embedding for complete metric spaces having a star-finite base of its uniformity into the universal space $$\kappa ^{\omega _0} \times \mathbb {R}^{\omega _0}$$

κ

ω
0

×

R

ω
0

, where $$\kappa \ge \omega _0$$

κ
≥

ω
0

is the cellularity of the space and $$\kappa ^{\omega _0}$$

κ

ω
0

is the Baire space of weight $$\kappa $$
κ
. From this result, similar embeddings for general Bourbaki-complete uniform spaces as well as for metric spaces are derived. In particular, these embeddings partially preserve the uniform structure of the original space. Several examples of Bourbaki-complete metric spaces having no star-finite base for its metric uniformity are constructed.
Well ordering principles for iterated $$\Pi ^1_1$$-comprehension
Authors: Freund Anton , Rathjen Michael
Published: October 2023

We introduce ordinal collapsing principles that are inspired by proof theory but have a set theoretic flavor. These principles are shown to be equivalent to iterated $$\Pi ^1_1$$

Π
1
1

-comprehension and the existence of admissible sets, over weak base theories. Our work extends a previous result on the non-iterated case, which had been conjectured in Montalbán’s “Open questions in reverse mathematics" (Bull Symb Log 17(3):431–454, 2011). This previous result has already been applied to the reverse mathematics of combinatorial and set theoretic principles. The present paper is a significant contribution to a general approach that connects these fields.
Comparative analysis of diagnostic ultrasound and histopathology for detecting cervical lymph node metastases in head and neck cancer
Authors: Sproll Karl Christoph , Hermes Iryna , Felder Gerd , Stoecklein Nikolas H. , Seidl Maximilian , Kaiser Peter , Kaisers Wolfgang
Published: October 2023

Purpose

We evaluated the current performance of diagnostic ultrasound (US) for detecting cervical lymph node (LN) metastases based on objective measures and subjective findings in comparison to the gold standard, histopathological evaluation.

Patients and methods

From 2007 to 2016, we prospectively included patients with head and neck cancer who were scheduled for surgical therapy including neck dissection. LNs were examined by multimodal US by a level III head and neck sonologist and individually assigned to a map containing six AAO-HNS neck LN levels preoperatively. During the operation, LNs were dissected and then assessed by routine histopathology, with 86% of them examined individually and the remaining LNs (14%) per AAO-HNS neck LN level. The optimal cutoff points (OCPs) of four defined LN diameters and 2D and 3D roundness indices per AAO-HNS neck LN level were determined.

Results

In total, 235 patients were included, and 4539 LNs were analyzed by US, 7237 by histopathology and 2684 by both methods. Of these, 259 (9.65%) were classified as suspicious for metastasis by US, whereas 299 (11.14%) were found to be positive by histopathology. Subjective US sensitivity and specificity were 0.79 and 0.99, respectively. The OCPs of the individual LN diameters and the 2D and 3D roundness index were determined individually for all AAO-HNS neck LN levels. Across all levels, the OCP for the 2D index was 1.79 and the 3D index was 14.97. The predictive performance of all distances, indices, and subjective findings improved with increasing metastasis size. Anticipation of pN stage was best achieved with subjective US findings and the smallest diameter (Cohen’s κ = 0.713 and 0.438, respectively).

Conclusion

Our LN mapping and meticulous 1:1 node-by-node comparison reveals the usefulness of US for detecting metastatic involvement of neck LNs in head and neck carcinomas as compared to histopathology. The predictive ability for small tumor deposits less than 8 mm in size remains weak and urgently needs improvement.
Evolution of major flowering pathway integrators in Orchidaceae
Authors: Madrigal Yesenia , Alzate Juan F. , Pabón-Mora Natalia
Published: October 2023

The Orchidaceae is a mega-diverse plant family with ca. 29,000 species with a large variety of life forms that can colonize transitory habitats. Despite this diversity, little is known about their flowering integrators in response to specific environmental factors. During the reproductive transition in flowering plants a vegetative apical meristem (SAM) transforms into an inflorescence meristem (IM) that forms bracts and flowers. In model grasses, like rice, a flowering genetic regulatory network (FGRN) controlling reproductive transitions has been identified, but little is known in the Orchidaceae. In order to analyze the players of the FRGN in orchids, we performed comprehensive phylogenetic analyses of CONSTANS-like/CONSTANS-like 4 (COL/COL4), FLOWERING LOCUS D (FD), FLOWERING LOCUS C/FRUITFULL (FLC/FUL) and SUPRESSOR OF OVEREXPRESSION OF CONSTANS 1 (SOC1) gene lineages. In addition to PEBP and AGL24/SVP genes previously analyzed, here we identify an increase of orchid homologs belonging to COL4, and FUL gene lineages in comparison with other monocots, including grasses, due to orchid-specific gene lineage duplications. Contrariwise, local duplications in Orchidaceae are less frequent in the COL, FD and SOC1 gene lineages, which points to a retention of key functions under strong purifying selection in essential signaling factors. We also identified changes in the protein sequences after such duplications, variation in the evolutionary rates of resulting paralogous clades and targeted expression of isolated homologs in different orchids. Interestingly, vernalization-response genes like VERNALIZATION1 (VRN1) and FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) are completely lacking in orchids, or alternatively are reduced in number, as is the case of VERNALIZATION2/GHD7 (VRN2). Our findings point to non-canonical factors sensing temperature changes in orchids during reproductive transition. Expression data of key factors gathered from Elleanthus auratiacus, a terrestrial orchid in high Andean mountains allow us to characterize which copies are actually active during flowering. Altogether, our data lays down a comprehensive framework to assess gene function of a restricted number of homologs identified more likely playing key roles during the flowering transition, and the changes of the FGRN in neotropical orchids in comparison with temperate grasses.
DeepSIM: a novel deep learning method for graph similarity computation
Authors: Liu Bo , Wang Zhihan , Zhang Jidong , Wu Jiahui , Qu Guangzhi
Published: October 2023

Graphs are widely used to model real-life information, where graph similarity computation is one of the most significant applications, such as inferring the properties of a compound based on similarity to a known group. Definition methods (e.g., graph edit distance and maximum common subgraph) have extremely high computational cost, and the existing efficient deep learning methods suffer from the problem of inadequate feature extraction which would have a bad effect on similarity computation. In this paper, a double-branch model called DeepSIM was raised to deeply mine graph-level and node-level features to address the above problems. On the graph-level branch, a novel embedding relational reasoning network was presented to obtain interaction between pairwise inputs. Meanwhile, a new local-to-global attention mechanism is designed to improve the capability of CNN-based node-level feature extraction module on another path. In DeepSIM, double-branch outputs will be concatenated as the final feature. The experimental results demonstrate that our methods perform well on several datasets compared to the state-of-the-art deep learning models in related fields.

Graphical abstract
Microstate Analysis Reflects Maturation of the Preterm Brain
Authors: Hermans Tim , Khazaei Mohammad , Raeisi Khadijeh , Croce Pierpaolo , Tamburro Gabriella , Dereymaeker Anneleen , De Vos Maarten , Zappasodi Filippo , Comani Silvia
Published: October 2023

Preterm neonates are at risk of long-term neurodevelopmental impairments due to disruption of natural brain development. Electroencephalography (EEG) analysis can provide insights into brain development of preterm neonates. This study aims to explore the use of microstate (MS) analysis to evaluate global brain dynamics changes during maturation in preterm neonates with normal neurodevelopmental outcome.

The dataset included 135 EEGs obtained from 48 neonates at varying postmenstrual ages (26.4 to 47.7 weeks), divided into four age groups. For each recording we extracted a 5-minute epoch during quiet sleep (QS) and during non-quiet sleep (NQS), resulting in eight groups (4 age group x 2 sleep states). We compared MS maps and corresponding (map-specific) MS metrics across groups using group-level maps. Additionally, we investigated individual map metrics.

Four group-level MS maps accounted for approximately 70% of the global variance and showed non-random syntax. MS topographies and transitions changed significantly when neonates reached 37 weeks. For both sleep states and all MS maps, MS duration decreased and occurrence increased with age. The same relationships were found using individual maps, showing strong correlations (Pearson coefficients up to 0.74) between individual map metrics and post-menstrual age. Moreover, the Hurst exponent of the individual MS sequence decreased with age.

The observed changes in MS metrics with age might reflect the development of the preterm brain, which is characterized by formation of neural networks. Therefore, MS analysis is a promising tool for monitoring preterm neonatal brain maturation, while our study can serve as a valuable reference for investigating EEGs of neonates with abnormal neurodevelopmental outcomes.
Trustworthy and intelligent fault diagnosis with effective denoising and evidential stacked GRU neural network
Authors: Zhou Hanting , Chen Wenhe , Liu Jing , Cheng Longsheng , Xia Min
Published: October 2023

With the advances in Internet-of-Things and data mining technologies, deep learning-based approaches have been widely used for intelligent fault diagnosis of manufacturing assets. However, uncertainty caused by the non-stationary process data such as vibration signal and noise interference in practical working environments will greatly affect the performance and reliability of predictions. The present paper develops a trustworthy and intelligent fault diagnosis framework based on a two-stage joint denoising method and evidential neural networks. The proposed denoising method integrating the improved complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition with adaptive noise (ICEEMDAN) and the independent component analysis (ICA) method can effectively reduce data uncertainty caused by noise interference. The stacked gated recurrent unit (SGRU) model has been incorporated into the evidential neural networks as a deep classifier. The proposed evidential SGRU (ESGRU) method can quantify the prediction uncertainty, which estimates the prediction trustworthiness. Predictive entropy and reliability diagrams are used as calibration methods to validate the effectiveness of uncertainty estimation. The proposed framework is validated by two case studies of rolling bearing fault diagnosis in variable noise conditions. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can achieve a high denoising effect and provide reliable uncertainty prediction results which are significant for practical applications.
Anxiety and Depression in Early Gestation and the Association with Subsequent Gestational Diabetes Mellitus in a Disadvantaged Population
Authors: Pathirana Maleesa M. , Andraweera Prabha H. , Leemaqz Shalem , Aldridge Emily , Arstall Margaret A. , Dekker Gustaaf A. , Roberts Claire T.
Published: October 2023

Objectives

Evaluate the association between poor mental health and risk of developing gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in a cohort of women from a socioeconomically disadvantaged community.

Methods

A total of 1363 nulliparous women with singleton pregnancies recruited to the Screening Tests to Predict Poor Outcomes of Pregnancy study in Adelaide, Australia. Women were assessed for mental health in the first trimester, including likelihood of depression, high functioning anxiety, perceived stress and risk of developing a mental health disorder. GDM was diagnosed based on the International Association of Diabetes in Pregnancy Study Group (IADPSG) criteria. Socioeconomic status was measured using the New Zealand Socioeconomic Index (NZSEI).

Results

Complete mental health data was available for 1281 participants. There was no statistically significant difference in SEI, depression, risk of mental health issues, high functioning anxiety and perceived stress between women who developed GDM and those who did not. There was no difference in history of depression nor risk of developing a high mental health disorder in first trimester after adjusting for SEI, BMI in first trimester, smoking status in first trimester and maternal age between women with a GDM pregnancy and those who did not.

Conclusions for Practice

There was no difference in markers of poor mental health in early pregnancy between women who subsequently did or did not develop GDM. Cohort participants were socioeconomically disadvantaged, potentially contributing to the lack of apparent differences in depression observed between groups. Socioeconomically disadvantaged women should be targeted in pre-conception planning to reduce risk of GDM.
Proanthocyanidin biosynthesis and postharvest seed coat darkening in pinto bean
Authors: Islam Nishat S. , Dhaubhadel Sangeeta
Published: October 2023

Proanthocyanidins (PAs) are polyphenolic compounds present widely in the plant kingdom. These specialized metabolites are derived from the phenylpropanoid pathway and are known for producing brown pigments in different plant organs. PAs accumulate in the seed coat tissues of flowering plants and play a determinant role in seed germination and viability, protect seeds from biotic and abiotic stresses, and thus ensure the long-term storage potential of seeds. In addition, PAs are a rich source of antioxidants for the health of both human and livestock. Many of the commercially relevant dry beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) contain high levels of PAs, which when oxidized cause the beans to overdarken, a phenomenon known as postharvest darkening. These darker beans give the impression of oldness, and consumers tend to avoid buying them which, in turn, affects their market value. Pinto beans, one of the leading market classes of dry beans, are affected the most by the postharvest darkening. Therefore, exploring the regulation of PA biosynthesis and accumulation in bean seed coat tissues will help to develop strategy to manage the postharvest darkening effect in pintos. In this review, we discuss the PA biosynthesis and its regulation, connecting it to seed coat color genetics for a better understanding of the mechanism of seed coat darkening.
Consistency factor for the MCD estimator at the Student-t distribution
Authors: Barabesi Lucio , Cerioli Andrea , García-Escudero Luis Angel , Mayo-Iscar Agustín
Published: October 2023

It is well known that trimmed estimators of multivariate scatter, such as the Minimum Covariance Determinant (MCD) estimator, are inconsistent unless an appropriate factor is applied to them in order to take the effect of trimming into account. This factor is widely recommended and applied when uncontaminated data are assumed to come from a multivariate normal model. We address the problem of computing a consistency factor for the MCD estimator in a heavy-tail scenario, when uncontaminated data come from a multivariate Student-tdistribution. We derive a remarkably simple computational formula for the appropriate factor and show that it reduces to an even simpler analytic expression in the bivariate case. Exploiting our formula, we then develop a robust Monte Carlo procedure for estimating the usually unknown number of degrees of freedom of the assumed and possibly contaminated multivariate Student-tmodel, which is a necessary ingredient for obtaining the required consistency factor. Finally, we provide substantial simulation evidence about the proposed procedure and apply it to data from image processing and financial markets.