bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
AN ALTERNATIVE TO PERIODIC HOMOGENIZATION FOR DENTIN ELASTIC STIFFNESS
Authors: ARSON CHLOE , YASOTHAN YANNICK , JEANNERET ROMAIN , BENOIT AURELIE , ROUBIER NICOLAS , VENNAT ELSA
Published: March 2020

Dentin, the main tissue of the tooth, is made of tubules surrounded by peri-tubular dentin (PTD), embedded in a matrix of inter-tubular dentin (ITD). The PTD and the ITD have different relative fractions of collagen and hydroxyapatite crystals. The ITD is typically less rigid than the PTD, which can be seen as a set of parallel hollow cylindrical reinforcements in the ITD matrix. In this paper, we extend Hashin and Rozen’s homogenization scheme to a nonuniform distribution of hollow PTD cylinders, determined from image analysis. We relate the transverse isotropic elastic coefficients of a Representative Elementary Volume (REV) of dentin to the elastic and topological properties of PTD and ITD. The model is calibrated against experimental data. Each sample tested is consistently characterized by Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy (ESEM), nanoindentation and Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy (RUS), which ensures that macroscopic mechanical properties measured are correlated with microstructure observations. Despite the high variability of microstructure descriptors and mechanical properties, statistical analyses show that Hashin’s bounds converge and that the proposed model can be used for back-calculating the microscopic Poisson’s ratios of dentin constituents. Three-point bending tests conducted in the laboratory were simulated with the Finite Element Method (FEM). Elements were assigned transverse isotropic elastic parameters calculated by homogenization. The tubule orientation and the pdf of the ratio inner/outer tubule radius were determined in several zones of the beams before testing. The remainder of the micro-mechanical parameters were taken equal to those calibrated by RUS. The horizontal strains found experimentally by Digital Image Correlation (DIC) were compared to those found by FEM. The DIC and FEM horizontal strain fields showed a very good agreement in trend and order of magnitude, which verifies the calibration of the homogenization model. By contrast with previous studies of dentin, we fully calibrated a closed form mechanical model against experimental data and we explained the testing procedures. In elastic conditions, the proposed homogenization scheme gives a better account of microstructure variability than micro–macro dentin models with periodic microstructure.
STUDY OF GAIT PATTERN RECOGNITION BASED ON FUSION OF MECHANOMYOGRAPHY AND ATTITUDE ANGLE SIGNAL
Authors: YU JING , ZHANG YUE , XIA CHUNMING
Published: March 2020

The study of lower limb movements plays an important role in many fields, such as rehabilitation and treatment of disabled patients, detection, and monitoring of daily life, as well as the interaction between people and machine, like the application of intelligent prosthetics. In this paper, the wireless device was used to collect the mechanomyography (MMG) signals of four thigh muscles (rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, vastus medialis, and semitendinosus) and the attitude angle of rectus femoris. High precision was achieved in 11 gait movements, including 3 static activities, 4 dynamic transition activities, and 4 dynamic activities. It has been verified that the hidden Markov model (HMM) could not only be applied to the MMG-based gait recognition with high veracity but also support comparative analysis between support vector machine (SVM) and quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA). In addition, the experiment was conducted from the perspectives of feature selections, channel combinations, and muscle contribution rates. The results show that the average classification accuracy of dynamic motions based on MMG is 98.27%, while based on attitude angle, the average recognition rate of static motions and dynamic transition motions could achieve 98.33% and 100%, respectively. Generally, the average recognition rate of 11 gait motions is 98.91%.
Anthropogenic Activities and its Impact along the Coastal Region of Mangaluru, India
Authors: Ramaraju H. K. , Kiran D. A.
Published: March 2020

Mangaluru coast belt spreads about 22 Kms with Arabian Sea in the West and the Western Ghats in the East. Coastal anthropogenic activities such as disposal of untreated or partially treated sewage and industrial effluents and their possible impacts hinder the coastal environment. Huge amount of pollution load from the major industries located nearby are discharged into the sea directly or through the west flowing rivers of the area i.e. Gurupura and Nethravathi. Due to this, the soil properties also get affected. The preliminary study was carried out at the study area by considering surface water samples, i.e. stream water, river water, sea water and also soil samples to study the physicochemical characteristics. The study reveals that most of the surface water samples have low dissolved oxygen concentration and are high in BOD, COD, TDS, Electrical Conductivity (EC) and Chlorides Concentration. Very low dissolved oxygen concentration was observed in the Gurupura–Nethravathi Estuary point. With respect to fertility of the soil, most of the soil samples were below the normal range for the various parameters.
QCOR
Authors: Mintz Tiffany M. , McCaskey Alexander J. , Dumitrescu Eugene F. , Moore Shirley V. , Powers Sarah , Lougovski Pavel
Published: March 2020

Quantum computing (QC) is an emerging computational paradigm that leverages the laws of quantum mechanics to perform elementary logic operations. Existing programming models for QC were designed with fault-tolerant hardware in mind, envisioning stand-alone applications. However, the susceptibility of near-term quantum computers to noise limits their stand-alone utility. To better leverage limited computational strengths of noisy quantum devices, hybrid algorithms have been suggested whereby quantum computers are used in tandem with their classical counterparts in a heterogeneous fashion. This
modus operandi
calls out for a programming model and a high-level programming language that natively and seamlessly supports heterogeneous quantum-classical hardware architectures in a single-source-code paradigm. Motivated by the lack of such a model, we introduce a language extension specification, called
QCOR
, which enables single-source quantum-classical programming. Programs written using the QCOR library–based language extensions can be compiled to produce functional hybrid binary executables. After defining QCOR’s programming model, memory model, and execution model, we discuss how QCOR enables variational, iterative, and feed-forward QC. QCOR approaches quantum-classical computation in a hardware-agnostic heterogeneous fashion and strives to build on best practices of high-performance computing. The high level of abstraction in the language extension is intended to accelerate the adoption of QC by researchers familiar with classical high-performance computing.
The StoryTeller
Authors: Elbakly Rizanne , Youssef Moustafa
Published: March 2020

Due to the recent proliferation of location-based services indoors, the need for an accurate floor estimation technique that is easy to deploy in any typical multi-story building is higher than ever. Current approaches that attempt to solve the floor localization problem include sensor-based systems and 3D fingerprinting. Nevertheless, these systems incur high deployment and maintenance overhead, suffer from sensor drift and calibration issues, and/or are not available to all users.

In this paper, we propose StoryTeller, a deep learning-based technique for floor prediction in multi-story buildings. StoryTeller leverages the ubiquitous WiFi signals to generate images that are input to a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) which is trained to predict loors based on detected patterns in visible WiFi scans. Input images are created such that they capture the current WiFi-scan in an AP-independent manner. In addition, a novel virtual building concept is used to normalize the information in order to make them building-independent. This allows StoryTeller to reuse a trained network for a completely new building, significantly reducing the deployment overhead.

We have implemented and evaluated StoryTeller using three different buildings with a side-by-side comparison with the state-of-the-art floor estimation techniques. The results show that StoryTeller can estimate the user's floor at least 98.3% within one floor of the actual ground truth floor. This accuracy is consistent across the different testbeds and for scenarios where the models used were trained in a completely different building than the tested building. This highlights StoryTeller's ability to generalize to new buildings and its promise as a scalable, low-overhead, high-accuracy floor localization system.
PrivateBus
Authors: Fang Zhihan , Fu Boyang , Qin Zhou , Zhang Fan , Zhang Desheng
Published: March 2020

Recently, the ubiquity of mobile devices leads to an increasing demand of public network services, e.g., WiFi hot spots. As a part of this trend, modern transportation systems are equipped with public WiFi devices to provide Internet access for passengers as people spend a large amount of time on public transportation in their daily life. However, one of the key issues in public WiFi spots is the privacy concern due to its open access nature. Existing works either studied location privacy risk in human traces or privacy leakage in private networks such as cellular networks based on the data from cellular carriers. To the best of our knowledge, none of these work has been focused on bus WiFi privacy based on large-scale real-world data. In this paper, to explore the privacy risk in bus WiFi systems, we focus on two key questions how likely bus WiFi users can be uniquely re-identified if partial usage information is leaked and how we can protect users from the leaked information. To understand the above questions, we conduct a case study in a large-scale bus WiFi system, which contains 20 million connection records and 78 million location records from 770 thousand bus WiFi users during a two-month period. Technically, we design two models for our uniqueness analyses and protection, i.e., a PB-FIND model to identify the probability a user can be uniquely re-identified from leaked information; a PB-HIDE model to protect users from potentially leaked information. Specifically, we systematically measure the user uniqueness on users' finger traces (i.e., connection URL and domain), foot traces (i.e., locations), and hybrid traces (i.e., both finger and foot traces). Our measurement results reveal (i) 97.8% users can be uniquely re-identified by 4 random domain records of their finger traces and 96.2% users can be uniquely re-identified by 5 random locations on buses; (ii) 98.1% users can be uniquely re-identified by only 2 random records if both their connection records and locations are leaked to attackers. Moreover, the evaluation results show our PB-HIDE algorithm protects more than 95% users from the potentially leaked information by inserting only 1.5% synthetic records in the original dataset to preserve their data utility.
CARIN
Authors: Bai Yunhao , Wang Xiaorui
Published: March 2020

Recent studies have proposed to use the Channel State Information (CSI) of WiFi wireless channel for human gesture recognition. As an important application, CSI-based driver activity recognition in passenger vehicles has received increasing research attention. However, a serious limitation of almost all the existing WiFi-based recognition solutions is that they can only recognize the activity of a single person at a time, because the activities of other people (if performed at the same time) can interfere with the WiFi signals. In a sharp contrast, there can often be one or more passengers in any vehicles.

In this paper, we propose CARIN, CSI-based driver Activity Recognition under the INterference of passengers. CARIN features a combination-based solution that profiles all the possible activity combinations of driver and (one or more) passengers in offline training and then performs recognition online. To attack possible combination explosion, we first leverage in-car pressure sensors to significantly reduce combinations, because there are only limited seating options in a passenger vehicle. We then formulate a distance minimization problem for fast runtime recognition. In addition, a period analysis methodology is designed based on the kNN classifier to recognize activities that have a sequence of body movements, like continuous head nodding due to driver fatigue. Our results in a real car with 3,000 real-world traces show that CARIN can achieve an overall F1 score of 90.9%, and outperforms the three state-of-the-art solutions by 32.2%.
Predicting Brain Functional Connectivity Using Mobile Sensing
Authors: Obuchi Mikio , Huckins Jeremy F. , Wang Weichen , daSilva Alex , Rogers Courtney , Murphy Eilis , Hedlund Elin , Holtzheimer Paul , Mirjafari Shayan , Campbell Andrew
Published: March 2020

Brain circuit functioning and connectivity between specific regions allow us to learn, remember, recognize and think as humans. In this paper, we ask the question if mobile sensing from phones can predict brain functional connectivity. We study the brain resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) between the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and the amygdala, which has been shown by neuroscientists to be associated with mental illness such as anxiety and depression. We discuss initial results and insights from the NeuroSence study, an exploratory study of 105 first year college students using neuroimaging and mobile sensing across one semester. We observe correlations between several behavioral features from students' mobile phones and connectivity between vmPFC and amygdala, including conversation duration (r=0.365, p<0.001), sleep onset time (r=0.299, p<0.001) and the number of phone unlocks (r=0.253, p=0.029). We use a support vector classifier and 10-fold cross validation and show that we can classify whether students have higher (i.e., stronger) or lower (i.e., weaker) vmPFC-amygdala RSFC purely based on mobile sensing data with an F1 score of 0.793. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper to report that resting-state brain functional connectivity can be predicted using passive sensing data from mobile phones.
Personalized HeartSteps
Authors: Liao Peng , Greenewald Kristjan , Klasnja Predrag , Murphy Susan
Published: March 2020

With the recent proliferation of mobile health technologies, health scientists are increasingly interested in developing just-in-time adaptive interventions (JITAIs), typically delivered via notifications on mobile devices and designed to help users prevent negative health outcomes and to promote the adoption and maintenance of healthy behaviors. A JITAI involves a sequence of decision rules (i.e., treatment policies) that take the user's current context as input and specify whether and what type of intervention should be provided at the moment. In this work, we describe a reinforcement learning (RL) algorithm that continuously learns and improves the treatment policy embedded in the JITAI as data is being collected from the user. This work is motivated by our collaboration on designing an RL algorithm for HeartSteps V2 based on data collected HeartSteps V1. HeartSteps is a physical activity mobile health application. The RL algorithm developed in this work is being used in HeartSteps V2 to decide, five times per day, whether to deliver a context-tailored activity suggestion.
Maple Conference 2019
Authors: Gerhard Jürgen , Kotsireas Ilias S.
Published: March 2020

The Maple Conference 2019 was held at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, on October 15 -- October 17, 2019.
Origin and Diversity of Plant Receptor-Like Kinases
Authors: Dievart Anne , Gottin Céline , Périn Christophe , Ranwez Vincent , Chantret Nathalie
Published: March 2020

Because of their high level of diversity and complex evolutionary histories, most studies on plant receptor-like kinase subfamilies have focused on their kinase domains. With the large amount of genome sequence data available today, particularly on basal land plants and Charophyta, more attention should be paid to primary events that shaped the diversity of the RLK gene family. We thus focus on the motifs and domains found in association with kinase domains to illustrate their origin, organization, and evolutionary dynamics. We discuss when these different domain associations first occurred and how they evolved, based on a literature review complemented by some of our unpublished results.
Notch enhances Ca2+ entry by activating calcium-sensing receptors and inhibiting voltage-gated K+ channels
Authors: Song Shanshan , Babicheva Aleksandra , Zhao Tengteng , Ayon Ramon J. , Rodriguez Marisela , Rahimi Shamin , Balistrieri Francesca , Harrington Angela , Shyy John Y.-J. , Thistlethwaite Patricia A. , Makino Ayako , Yuan Jason X.-J.
Published: March 2020

The increase in cytosolic Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]cyt) and upregulation of calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) and stromal interaction molecule 2 (STIM2) along with inhibition of voltage-gated K+ (KV) channels in pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells (PASMC) have been implicated in the development of pulmonary arterial hypertension; however, the precise upstream mechanisms remain elusive. Activation of CaSR, a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR), results in Ca2+ release from the endoplasmic/sarcoplasmic reticulum (ER/SR) and Ca2+ influx through receptor-operated and store-operated Ca2+ channels (SOC). Upon Ca2+ depletion from the SR, STIM forms clusters to mediate store-operated Ca2+ entry. Activity of KV channels, like KCNA5/KV1.5 and KCNA2/KV1.2, contributes to regulating membrane potential, and inhibition of KV channels results in membrane depolarization that increases [Ca2+]cyt by opening voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels. In this study, we show that activation of Notch by its ligand Jag-1 promotes the clustering of STIM2, and clustered STIM2 subsequently enhances the CaSR-induced Ca2+ influx through SOC channels. Extracellular Ca2+-mediated activation of CaSR increases [Ca2+]cyt in CASR-transfected HEK293 cells. Treatment of CASR-transfected cells with Jag-1 further enhances CaSR-mediated increase in [Ca2+]cyt. Moreover, CaSR-mediated increase in [Ca2+]cyt was significantly augmented in cells co-transfected with CASR and STIM2. CaSR activation results in STIM2 clustering in CASR/STIM2-cotransfected cells. Notch activation also induces significant clustering of STIM2. Furthermore, activation of Notch attenuates whole cell K+ currents in KCNA5- and KCNA2-transfected cells. Together, these results suggest that Notch activation enhances CaSR-mediated increases in [Ca2+]cyt by enhancing store-operated Ca2+ entry and inhibits KCNA5/KV1.5 and KCNA2/KV1.2, ultimately leading to voltage-activated Ca2+ entry.
Gamma coherence mediates interhemispheric integration during multiple object tracking
Authors: Bland Nicholas S. , Mattingley Jason B. , Sale Martin V.
Published: March 2020

Using a multiple object tracking paradigm, we were able to manipulate the need for interhemispheric integration on a per-trial basis, while also having an objective measure of integration efficacy (i.e., tracking performance). We show that tracking performance reflects a cost of integration, which correlates with individual differences in interhemispheric EEG coherence. Gamma coherence appears to uniquely benefit between-hemifield tracking, predicting performance both across participants and across trials.
Metformin’s Effects on Apoptosis of Esophageal Carcinoma Cells and Normal Esophageal Epithelial Cells: An In Vitro Comparative Study
Authors: Peng Jianwei , Jing Xubin , Wu Jialing , Hong Danmian , Hu Xi , Wang Qinjia , Hu Hui , Cai Xianbin
Published: March 2020

The effect of metformin on human esophageal normal and carcinoma cells remains poorly understood. We aim to investigate the different antiproliferation effects and underlying distinct molecular mechanisms between these two types of cells. Human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cell line, EC109, and normal esophageal epithelial cell line, HEEC, were used in the experiment. The cell survival rate was determined by cell counting kit‐8 (CCK‐8). Cell apoptosis was analyzed by flow cytometry. The mRNA and protein levels of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (Stat3) were detected by real‐time quantitative PCR and western blot. Interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) was added to activate Stat3. The level of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) was assessed by a DCFH‐DA fluorescent probe. Metformin had more significant inhibitory effects on cell proliferation in EC109 cells than HEECs. Metformin induced apoptosis of EC109 cells in a dose‐dependent manner instead of HEECs. The expression of Stat3 in both mRNA and protein levels was higher in EC109 cells than HEECs. Further study revealed that metformin may attenuate the phosphorylation of the Stat3 and the Bcl‐2 expression, which was restored by IL‐6 partly in EC109 cells but not HEECs. On the contrary, metformin increased the level of ROS in both the cell lines, but this intracellular ROS variation had no effect on apoptosis. Metformin has different functional roles on the apoptosis in esophageal carcinoma cells and normal esophageal cells. Therefore, the Stat3/Bcl‐2 pathway‐mediated apoptosis underlies the cell‐type‐specific drug sensitivity, suggesting metformin possesses a therapeutic activity and selectivity on esophageal cancer.
Torsional Strengthening of RC Beams with Near‐Surface Mounted Steel Bars
Authors: Habeeb Askandar Nasih , Darweesh Mahmood Abdulkareem
Published: March 2020

The strength of reinforced concrete members can be enhanced by using the externally bonded reinforcement (EBR) and near‐surface mounted (NSM) methods. However, very few studies have adopted the NSM method for torsional strengthening. Although previous studies have reported the efficacy of using epoxy‐resin‐bonded NSM steel bars in increasing the flexural and shear strength of RC beams, no study has examined the use of steel bars and epoxy adhesives for torsional strengthening. Therefore, this study investigates the behaviour of RC beams subjected to the combined actions of torsion and bending moment when they are strengthened with NSM steel bars (Ø10 mm) in different configurations. The practical part of this investigation consisted of seven cast and tested beams of 150 × 250 × 2000 mm dimensions. One beam was reference, which is not strengthened; meanwhile, all the other beams were strengthened with two U‐shape‐welded NSM steel bars. During the testing process, the twist angle at the torque intervals, first cracking torque, ultimate torque, and ultimate twist angle of the conventional beam were compared with those of the strengthened beams. The torsional performance of the RC beams was significantly improved by using NSM steel bars, whereas in various NSM configurations, the 90° NSM beams outperformed the 45° NSM beams.
Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy for the Treatment of Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis
Authors: Chen Lu , Ye Ling , Liu Hui , Yang Pingliang , Yang Bangxiang
Published: March 2020

Background. Osteoarthritis is the most common musculoskeletal disease. Extracorporeal shockwave therapy had shown an effect on osteoarthritis in both some animal experiments and clinical studies, but there was no systematic review to confirm the value of shockwave therapy in the treatment of all types of osteoarthritis and compare it with other traditional therapies (especially traditional Chinese medicine). Method. PubMed, Medline, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Web of Science, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, WANFANG database, and VIP database were searched up to December 10, 2019, to identify randomized controlled trials comparing shockwave therapy and other treatments for osteoarthritis. Visual analogue scale and the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index were extracted and analyzed by RevMan and STATA software as outcomes of pain reduction and functional improvement. Adverse reactions were recorded to evaluate the safety of shockwave therapy. Results. Shockwave therapy had significant improvement in both pain reduction and functional improvement compared with placebo, corticosteroid, hyaluronic acid, medication, and ultrasound (P < 0.05). In functional improvement, shockwave therapy showed statistical improvement compared with kinesiotherapy and moxibustion (P < 0.05) but not with acupotomy surgery (P = 0.24). A significant difference between shockwave therapy and platelet‐rich plasma was observed in pain reduction (P < 0.05) but not in functional improvement (P = 0.89). Meanwhile, a statistical difference was found between shockwave therapy and fumigation in functional improvement (P < 0.05) but not in pain reduction (P = 0.26). Additionally, there was no statistically significant difference between shockwave therapy and manipulation in both pain reduction (P = 0.21) and functional improvement (P = 0.45). No serious adverse reaction occurred in all of studies. Conclusions. Extracorporeal shockwave therapy could be recommended in the treatment of osteoarthritis as a noninvasive therapy with safety and effectiveness, but the grade of recommendations needs to be discussed in a further study.
Seroprevalence of Foot and Mouth Disease Virus Infection in Some Wildlife and Cattle in Bauchi State, Nigeria
Authors: Atuman Y. J. , Kudi C. A. , Abdu P. A. , Okubanjo O. O. , Abubakar A. , Wungak Y. , Ularamu H. G.
Published: March 2020

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is an important transboundary viral disease of both domestic and wild cloven-hoofed animals characterized by high morbidity with devastating consequence on the livestock worldwide. Despite the endemic nature of FMD in Nigeria, little is known about the epidemiology of the disease at the wildlife-livestock interface level. To address this gap, blood samples were collected between 2013 and 2015 from some wildlife and cattle, respectively, within and around the Yankari Game Reserve and Sumu Wildlife Park in Bauchi State, Nigeria. Wild animals were immobilized using a combination of etorphine hydrochloride (M99® Krüger-Med South Africa) at 0.5–2 mg/kg and azaperone (Stresnil®, Janssen Pharmaceuticals (Pty.) Ltd., South Africa) at 0.1 mg/kg using a Dan-Inject® rifle (Dan-Inject APS, Sellerup Skovvej, Denmark) fitted with a 3 ml dart syringe and for reversal, naltrexone (Trexonil® Kruger-Med South Africa) at 1.5 mg IM was used, and cattle were restrained by the owners for blood collection. Harvested sera from blood were screened for presence of antibodies against the foot and mouth disease virus (FMDV) using the PrioCHECK® 3ABC NSP ELISA kit, and positive samples were serotyped using solid-phase competitive ELISA, (IZSLER Brescia, Italy). Out of the 353 sera collected from cattle and wildlife 197 (65.7%) and 13 (24.5%) (P<0.05), respectively, tested positive for antibodies to the highly conserved nonstructural 3ABC protein of FMDV by the FMDV-NS blocking ELISA. Classification of cattle into breed and sex showed that detectable antibodies to FMDV were higher (P<0.05) in White Fulani 157 (72.8%) than in Red Bororo 23 (39.7%) and Sokoto Gudali 17 (33.3%) breeds of cattle, whereas in females, detectable FMDV antibodies were higher (P<0.05) 150 (72.8%) than in males 47 (50.0%). In the wildlife species, antibodies to FMDV were detected in the waterbucks 2 (28.6%), elephant 1 (25.0%), wildebeests 4 (33.3%), and elands 6 (25.0%). Four serotypes of FMDV: O, A, SAT 1, and SAT 2 were detected from the 3ABC positive reactors in waterbucks, elephants, wildebeests, and elands. The results showed presence of antibodies to FMDV in some wildlife and cattle and suggested that wildlife could equally play an important role in the overall epidemiology of FMD in Nigeria. FMD surveillance system, control, and prevention program should be intensified in the study area.
A Task Scheduling Strategy in Edge-Cloud Collaborative Scenario Based on Deadline
Authors: Wang Shudong , Li Yanqing , Pang Shanchen , Lu Qinghua , Wang Shuyu , Zhao Jianli
Published: March 2020

Task scheduling plays a critical role in the performance of the edge-cloud collaborative. Whether the task is executed in the cloud and how it is scheduled in the cloud is an important issue. On the basis of satisfying the delay, this paper will schedule tasks on edge devices or cloud and present a task scheduling algorithm for tasks that need to be transferred to the cloud based on the catastrophic genetic algorithm (CGA) to achieve global optimum. The algorithm quantifies the total task completion time and the penalty factor as a fitness function. By improving the roulette selection strategy, optimizing mutation and crossover operator, and introducing cataclysm strategy, the search scope is expanded. Furthermore, the premature problem of the evolutionary algorithm is effectively alleviated. The experimental results show that the algorithm can address the optimal local issue while significantly shortening the task completion time on the basis of satisfying tasks delays.
Citral Induced Apoptosis through Modulation of Key Genes Involved in Fatty Acid Biosynthesis in Human Prostate Cancer Cells: In Silico and In Vitro Study
Authors: Balusamy Sri Renukadevi , Perumalsamy Haribalan , Veerappan Karpagam , Huq Md. Amdadul , Rajeshkumar S. , Lakshmi T. , Kim Yeon Ju
Published: March 2020

The isomers of citral (cis‐citral and trans‐citral) were isolated from the Cymbopogon citratus (DC.) Stapf oil demonstrates many therapeutic properties including anticancer properties. However, the effects of citral on suppressing human prostate cancer and its underlying molecular mechanism have yet to be elucidated. The citral was isolated from lemongrass oil using various spectroscopic analyses, such as electron ionized mass spectrometry (EI‐MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy respectively. We carried out 3‐(4,5‐dimethylthiazol‐2‐yl)‐2,5‐diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay to evaluate the cell viability of citral in prostate cancer cells (PC‐3 and PC3M). Furthermore, to confirm that PC3 undergoes apoptosis by inhibiting lipogenesis, we used several detection methods including flow cytometry, DNA fragmentation, Hoechst staining, PI staining, oil staining, qPCR, and Western blotting. Citral impaired the clonogenic property of the cancer cells and altered the morphology of cancer cells. Molecular interaction studies and the PASS biological program predicted that citral isomers tend to interact with proteins involved in lipogenesis and the apoptosis pathway. Furthermore, citral suppressed lipogenesis of prostate cancer cells through the activation of AMPK phosphorylation and downregulation of fatty acid synthase (FASN), acetyl coA carboxylase (ACC), 3‐hydroxy‐3‐methylglutaryl‐coenzyme A reductase (HMGR), and sterol regulatory element‐binding protein (SREBP1) and apoptosis of PC3 cells by upregulating BAX and downregulating Bcl-2 expression. In addition, in silico studies such as ADMET predicted that citral can be used as a safe potent drug for the treatment of prostate cancer. Our results indicate that citral may serve as a potential candidate against human prostate cancer and warrants in vivo studies.
Detecting Abnormal Brain Regions in Schizophrenia Using Structural MRI via Machine Learning
Authors: Chen ZhiHong , Yan Tao , Wang ErLei , Jiang Hong , Tang YiQian , Yu Xi , Zhang Jian , Liu Chang
Published: March 2020

Utilizing neuroimaging and machine learning (ML) to differentiate schizophrenia (SZ) patients from normal controls (NCs) and for detecting abnormal brain regions in schizophrenia has several benefits and can provide a reference for the clinical diagnosis of schizophrenia. In this study, structural magnetic resonance images (sMRIs) from SZ patients and NCs were used for discriminative analysis. This study proposed an ML framework based on coarse-to-fine feature selection. The proposed framework used two-sample t-tests to extract the differences between groups first, then further eliminated the nonrelevant and redundant features with recursive feature elimination (RFE), and finally utilized the support vector machine (SVM) to learn the decision models with selected gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) features. Previous studies have tended to report differences at the group level instead of at the individual level and cannot be widely applied. The method proposed in this study extends the diagnosis to the individual level and has a higher recognition rate than previous methods. The experimental results of this study demonstrate that the proposed framework distinguishes SZ patients from NCs, with the highest classification accuracy reaching over 85%. The identified biomarkers are also consistent with previous literature findings. As a universal method, the proposed framework can be extended to diagnose other diseases.
Reduced Cortical Complexity in Cirrhotic Patients with Minimal Hepatic Encephalopathy
Authors: Chen Qiu-Feng , Zhang Xiao-Hong , Zou Tian-Xiu , Huang Nao-Xin , Chen Hua-Jun
Published: March 2020

Purpose. Gray matter volume loss, regional cortical thinning, and local gyrification index alteration have been documented in minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE). Fractal dimension (FD), another morphological parameter, has been widely used to describe structural complexity alterations in neurological or psychiatric disease. Here, we conducted the first study to investigate FD alterations in MHE. Methods and Materials. We performed high-resolution structural magnetic resonance imaging on cirrhotic patients with MHE (n=20) and healthy controls (n=21). We evaluated their cognitive performance using the psychometric hepatic encephalopathy score (PHES). The regional FD value was calculated by Computational Anatomy Toolbox (CAT12) and compared between groups. We further estimated the association between patients’ cognitive performance and FD values. Results. MHE patients presented significantly decreased FD values in the left precuneus, left supramarginal gyrus, right caudal anterior cingulate cortex, right isthmus cingulate cortex, right insula, bilateral pericalcarine cortex, and bilateral paracentral cortex compared to normal controls. In addition, the FD values in the right isthmus cingulate cortex and right insula were shown to be positively correlated with patients’ cognitive performance. Conclusion. Aberrant cortical complexity is an additional characteristic of MHE, and FD analysis may provide novel insight into the neurobiological basis of cognitive dysfunction in MHE.
The Lightweight RFID Grouping-Proof Protocols with Identity Authentication and Forward Security
Authors: Shi Zhicai , Zhang Xiaomei , Liu Jin
Published: March 2020

In many fields, multiple RFID tags are often combined into a group to identify an object. An RFID grouping-proof protocol is utilized to prove the simultaneous existence of a group of tags. However, many current grouping-proof protocols cannot simultaneously provide privacy preserving, forward security, and the authentication between reader/verifier and tags, which are vulnerable to trace attack, privacy leakage, and desynchronization attack. To improve the secure performance of the current grouping-proof protocols, we propose two provable lightweight grouping-proof protocols that provide forward security, identity authentication, and privacy preserving. Our protocols involve a trusted reader and an untrusted reader, respectively. In order to avoid verifying some invalid evidences, our protocols complete the authentication of the verifier to the trusted reader and the verified tags before the verifier verifies the grouping-proof evidence. Each tag uses parallel mode to complete its signature to improve the efficiency of the protocols. Moreover, the activate-sleep mechanism and the filtering operation are proposed to effectively reduce the collision probability and computing load of tags. Our protocols complete the authentication to tags twice by a verifier and a trusted reader, respectively. They can resist various attacks such as eavesdropping, replay, trace, and desynchronization. The protocols are proven to be secure, flexible, and efficient. They only utilize some lightweight operations. Therefore, they are very suitable to the low-cost RFID systems.
Noncoding Variants Connect Enhancer Dysregulation with Nuclear Receptor Signaling in Hematopoietic Malignancies
Authors: Li Kailong , Zhang Yuannyu , Liu Xin , Liu Yuxuan , Gu Zhimin , Cao Hui , Dickerson Kathryn E. , Chen Mingyi , Chen Weina , Shao Zhen , Ni Min , Xu Jian
Published: March 2020

Mutations in protein-coding genes are well established as the basis for human cancer, yet how alterations within noncoding genome, a substantial fraction of which contain cis-regulatory elements (CRE), contribute to cancer pathophysiology remains elusive. Here, we developed an integrative approach to systematically identify and characterize noncoding regulatory variants with functional consequences in human hematopoietic malignancies. Combining targeted resequencing of hematopoietic lineage–associated CREs and mutation discovery, we uncovered 1,836 recurrently mutated CREs containing leukemia-associated noncoding variants. By enhanced CRISPR/dCas9–based CRE perturbation screening and functional analyses, we identified 218 variant-associated oncogenic or tumor-suppressive CREs in human leukemia. Noncoding variants at KRAS and PER2 enhancers reside in proximity to nuclear receptor (NR) binding regions and modulate transcriptional activities in response to NR signaling in leukemia cells. NR binding sites frequently colocalize with noncoding variants across cancer types. Hence, recurrent noncoding variants connect enhancer dysregulation with nuclear receptor signaling in hematopoietic malignancies.

Significance:

We describe an integrative approach to identify noncoding variants in human leukemia, and reveal cohorts of variant-associated oncogenic and tumor-suppressive cis-regulatory elements including KRAS and PER2 enhancers. Our findings support a model in which noncoding regulatory variants connect enhancer dysregulation with nuclear receptor signaling to modulate gene programs in hematopoietic malignancies.

See related commentary by van Galen, p. 646.

This article is highlighted in the In This Issue feature, p. 627
Effectiveness of Fingolimod versus Natalizumab as Second-Line Therapy for Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis in Spain: Second-Line GATE Study
Authors: Meca-Lallana José , Ayuso Teresa , Martínez-Yelamos Sergio , Durán Carmen , Contreras Martín Yessica , Herrera Navarro Nicolás , Pérez Sempere Angel , Álvarez-Cermeño Jose C. , Millán Pascual Jorge , Meca-Lallana Virginia , Romero Sevilla Raúl , Ricart Javier
Published: March 2020

Background: There is a lack of head-to-head studies comparing the efficacy of fingolimod (FIN) and natalizumab (NTZ) as second-line therapy for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). Methods: Multicenter, observational study, in which, information of 388 patients randomly selected and treated with FIN or NTZ in routine clinical practice was retrospectively collected with the main objective of comparing the annualized relapse rate (ARR) over the first year, after FIN or NTZ treatment initiation. Results: Mean ARR during the first year of treatment was 0.28 in FIN group and 0.12 in NTZ group (p = 0.0064); nevertheless, the difference between groups lost statistical significance when the propensity score analysis was performed. Time to disability ­progression was similar in both treatment groups (12.3 ± 6.7 months in FIN, and 12.8 ± 0.1 months in NTZ; p = 0.4654). Treatment persistence after the first year of treatment was higher in patients treated with FIN (95%) than in those treated with NTZ (84%; p = 0.0014). Conclusions: After 12 months of treatment, both FIN and NTZ reduced the ARR, but ARR percent reduction was significantly higher with NTZ. Treatment persistence was higher in patients receiving FIN.
Poststroke Cognitive Impairment in Model-Based Economic Evaluation: A Systematic Review
Authors: Sexton Eithne , Merriman Niamh A. , Donnelly Nora-Ann , Wren Maev-Ann , Hickey Anne , Bennett Kathleen E.
Published: March 2020

Introduction: Cognitive impairment (CI) is a frequent consequence of stroke and is associated with increased costs and reduced quality of life. However, its inclusion in model-based economic evaluation for stroke is limited. Objective: To identify, review, and critically appraise current models of stroke for use in economic evaluation, and to identify applicability to modeling poststroke CI. Methods: PubMed, EMBASE, and the NHS Economic Evaluations Database (NHS EED) were systematically searched for papers published from January 2008 to August 2018. Studies that described the development or design of a model of stroke progression intended for use in economic evaluation were included. Abstracts were screened, followed by full text review of potentially relevant articles. Models that included CI were retained for data extraction, and among the remainder, models that included both stroke recurrence and disability were also retained. Relevance and potential for adaptation for modeling CI were assessed using a standard questionnaire. Results: Forty modeling studies were identified and categorized into 4 groups: Markov disability/recurrence (k = 29); CI (k = 2); discrete event simulation (k = 4), and other (k = 5). Only 2 modeling studies included CI as an outcome, and both focused on narrow populations at risk of intracranial aneurysm. None of the models allowed for disease progression in the absence of a stroke recurrence. None of the included studies carried out any sensitivity analysis in relation to model design or structure. Conclusions: Current stroke models used in economic evaluation are not adequate to model poststroke CI or dementia, and will require adaptation to be used for this purpose.
Effectiveness of the Air Purification Strategies for the Treatment of Allergic Asthma: A Meta-Analysis
Authors: van Boven Frank E. , de Jong Nicolette W. , Braunstahl Gert Jan , Arends Lidia R. , Gerth van Wijk Roy
Published: March 2020

We updated the meta-analysis published by McDonald et al. [Chest 2002;122;1535–1542] by reviewing the effectiveness of air purification for the treatment of home-related allergic asthma (dust mite, dog, cat, and cockroach). We analysed the trials included by McDonald et al. as well as studies published since 2000. Data on asthma symptoms scores (ASS), medication use, forced expiratory volume in 1 s as a percentage of the predicted value (FEV1 %pred), histamine provocative concentration causing a 20% reduction in FEV1 (PC20), Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ) scores, and fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) levels were extracted. The effectiveness was examined using metafor (registered in Prospero CRD42019127227). Ten trials including a total of 482 patients (baseline characteristics: mean FEV1 %pred 83.2%, I2 = 96.7%; mean PC20 4.93 mg/mL, I2 = 44.0%; mean AQLQ 4.67 [max. 7], I2 = 93.7%; mean FeNO 36.5 ppb, I2 = 0%) were included. We assessed the mean differences in the AQLQ scores as +0.36 (95% CI 0.10 to 0.62, p = 0.01, n = 302, I2 = 0%) and the FeNO levels as –6.67 ppb (95% CI –10.56 to –2.77, p = 0.0008, n = 304, I2 = 0%). The standardised mean differences in all other health outcomes were not significant (ASS –0.68, p = 0.20; medication use: –0.01, p = 0.94; FEV1 %pred –0.11, p = 0.34; PC20 +0.24, p = 0.53). We found statistically significant mean differences in the AQLQ scores and FeNO levels in patients with predominantly mild to moderate asthma at baseline. A large trial reported great improvement in the subgroup of patients receiving Global Initiative for Asthma step 4 therapy. We recommend that future studies on air purification focus on patients with severe and poorly controlled allergic asthma.
Fibroblast Growth Factor-23 and Matrix Extracellular Phosphoglycoprotein Levels in Healthy Children and, Pregnant and Puerperal Women
Authors: Ozsen Ahu , Furman Andrzej , Guran Tulay , Bereket Abdullah , Turan Serap
Published: March 2020

Introduction and Objective: Fibroblast growth factor (FGF-23) and matrix extracellular phosphoglycoprotein (MEPE) are bone-related factors and their role in physiologic conditions and in different life stages are unknown. We aimed to evaluate age- and pregnancy-related changes in MEPE and FGF-23 levels and their correlations with calcium (Ca)-phosphate (PO4) metabolism. Methods: The study population included 96 healthy children (50 females) and 31 women (11 healthy, 10 pregnant, and 10 lactating). Intact FGF-23 (iFGF-23), MEPE, ferritin, parathyroid hormone (PTH), 25-OH vitamin D, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), IGF-I, IGFBP-3 and, Ca, PO4 and creatine (Cre) in serum (S) and urine (U) samples were determined. The renal phosphate threshold (TmPO4/GFR) and z-scores for the parameters that show age-related changes were calculated. Results: Serum iFGF-23 concentrations showed nonsignificant changes with age; however, MEPE decreased with age, reaching the lowest levels after 7 years. Additionally, higher serum MEPE concentrations were observed during pregnancy. Other than ALP, all other examined parameters demonstrated age-related changes. ALP, BUN, S-Cre, and U-Ca/Cre showed puerperal and pregnancy related changes together with MEPE. iFGF-23 was positively correlated with S-PO4 and TmPO4/GFR. MEPE was positively correlated with S-Ca, S-PO4 and TmPO4/GFR and negatively correlated with PTH, IGF-1, and IGFBP-3. Conclusion: Not iFGF-23 but MEPE showed age-dependent changes and was affected by pregnancy. Although, MEPE and iFGF-23 did not correlate with each other, they seem to affect serum and urinary phosphate in the same direction. Additionally, we found evidence that ferritin and growth factors might have a role in serum calcium and phosphate regulation.
Relapse of Nephrotic Syndrome after Adrenocorticotropic Hormone-Induced Remission: Implications of Adrenocorticotropic Hormone Antibodies
Authors: Shrivastava Snehal , Chen Bohan , Dworkin Lance D. , Malhotra Deepak K. , Gong Rujun
Published: March 2020

Background: Prolonged use of corticosteroids continues to be the mainstay in the management of most proteinuric glomerulopathies, but is limited by extensive side effects. Alternative medications such as adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) have been recently used to treat refractory glomerulopathies and have shown superior outcomes when compared with steroids. However, the clinical responsiveness to ACTH therapy varies considerably with a number of patients exhibiting de novo or acquired resistance. The underlying mechanism remains unknown. Methods: A patient with steroid-dependent focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) developed severe steroid side effects impacting quality of life and was converted to repository porcine ACTH therapy. Immediate response in the form of remission of nephrotic syndrome was noted followed by relapse in 10 weeks. Suspecting the role of some ACTH-antagonizing factors, the patient’s serum was examined. Results: Immunoblot-based antibody assay revealed high titers of de novo IgG antibodies in the patient’s serum that were reactive to the porcine corticotropin with negligible cross-reactivity to human corticotropin. In vitro, in cultured B16 melanoma cells that express abundant melanocortin receptors, addition of the patient’s serum substantially abrogated the porcine corticotropin triggered signaling activity of the melanocortinergic pathway, marked by phosphorylation of glycogen synthase kinase 3β, thus suggesting a mitigating effect on the biological functionality of porcine corticotropin. Conclusion: ACTH is a useful alternative therapeutic modality for refractory proteinuric glomerulopathies like FSGS. However, as quintessential therapeutic biologics, natural ACTH, regardless of purity and origin, is inevitably antigenic and may cause the formation of neutralizing antibodies in some sensitive patients, followed by resistance to ACTH therapy. It is imperative to develop ACTH analogues with less immunogenicity for improving its responsiveness in patients with glomerular diseases.