bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Oral Cancer in HSCT Pediatric Patients Arising on GVHD: A Comprehensive Review
Authors: Cantile Tiziana , Coppola Noemi , Canfora Federica , Adamo Daniela , Ruoppo Elvira , Mignogna Michele Davide , Leuci Stefania
Published: November 2022

After haematopoietic stem cell transplantation and a history of GVHD, the risk of developing secondary malignancies, including oral cancer, is higher. This risk increases with time post-transplantation; therefore, pediatric patients undergoing HSCT, who have long-term survival chances, are in a high-risk category. The aim of this review is to provide data on HSCT, GVHD, clinical manifestations, histological features and treatment of oral cancer, and outcomes in HSCT pediatric patients, affected by oral GVHD, who have been developed OSCC. Descriptive statistics were used to validate data. Fifteen studies on a total of 33 patients were selected. Data on oral cancer showed that the tongue was the most frequently involved site (13 pts; 39.39%), followed by the floor of the mouth (4 pts; 12.12%), and buccal mucosa (4 pts; 12.12%). Oral squamous cell carcinoma was the histological feature reported. There were 19 (57.58%) deaths occurring between 2 and 46.5 months after OC diagnosis. Eleven patients survived with a median follow-up of 34 months. Considering the high risk of developing oral cancer, a conventional oral examination every 6 months is recommended for HSCT pediatric patients who have developed GVHD.
STIL Promotes Tumorigenesis of Bladder Cancer by Activating PI3K/AKT/mTOR Signaling Pathway and Targeting C-Myc
Authors: Yu Hua , Chen Liang , Wang Xia , Tang Feng , Wan Ziyu , Wang Hao , Fu Qiqi , Chen Zhizhuang , Shi Jiageng , Hu Xuan , Zuhaer Yisha , Aersi Madanyeti , Liu Tao , Tao Huangheng , Peng Jianping
Published: November 2022

SCL/TAL1 interrupting locus (STIL) regulates centriole replication and causes chromosome instability, which is closely related to malignant tumors. The purpose of our study was to investigate the role of STIL in bladder cancer (BC) tumorigenesis for the first time. The public database indicated that STIL is highly expressed and correlated with the cell cycle in BC. Immunohistochemistry staining showed that STIL expression is significantly elevated in BC tissues compared with paracancer tissues. CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology was used to induce BC cells to express STIL-specific sgRNA, revealing a significantly delayed growth rate in STIL knockout BC cells. Moreover, cell cycle arrest in the G0/G1 phase was triggered by decreasing STIL, which led to delayed BC cell growth in vitro and in vivo. Mechanically, STIL knockout inhibited the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway and down-regulated the expression of c-myc. Furthermore, SC79 (AKT activating agent) partially reversed the inhibitory effects of STIL knockout on the proliferation and migration of BC cells. In conclusion, STIL enhanced the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway, resulting in increased expression of c-myc, ultimately promoting BC occurrence and progression. These results indicate that STIL might be a potential target for BC patients.
Contrastive Multiple Instance Learning: An Unsupervised Framework for Learning Slide-Level Representations of Whole Slide Histopathology Images without Labels
Authors: Tavolara Thomas E. , Gurcan Metin N. , Niazi M. Khalid Khan
Published: November 2022

Recent methods in computational pathology have trended towards semi- and weakly-supervised methods requiring only slide-level labels. Yet, even slide-level labels may be absent or irrelevant to the application of interest, such as in clinical trials. Hence, we present a fully unsupervised method to learn meaningful, compact representations of WSIs. Our method initially trains a tile-wise encoder using SimCLR, from which subsets of tile-wise embeddings are extracted and fused via an attention-based multiple-instance learning framework to yield slide-level representations. The resulting set of intra-slide-level and inter-slide-level embeddings are attracted and repelled via contrastive loss, respectively. This resulted in slide-level representations with self-supervision. We applied our method to two tasks— (1) non-small cell lung cancer subtyping (NSCLC) as a classification prototype and (2) breast cancer proliferation scoring (TUPAC16) as a regression prototype—and achieved an AUC of 0.8641 ± 0.0115 and correlation (R2) of 0.5740 ± 0.0970, respectively. Ablation experiments demonstrate that the resulting unsupervised slide-level feature space can be fine-tuned with small datasets for both tasks. Overall, our method approaches computational pathology in a novel manner, where meaningful features can be learned from whole-slide images without the need for annotations of slide-level labels. The proposed method stands to benefit computational pathology, as it theoretically enables researchers to benefit from completely unlabeled whole-slide images.
Characterization and Syngas Production at Low Temperature via Dry Reforming of Methane over Ni-M (M = Fe, Cr) Catalysts Tailored from LDH Structure
Authors: Hallassi Manel , Benrabaa Rafik , Cherif Nawal Fodil , Lerari Djahida , Chebout Redouane , Bachari Khaldoun , Rubbens Annick , Roussel Pascal , Vannier Rose-Noëlle , Trentesaux Martine , Löfberg Axel
Published: November 2022

Bimetallic layered double oxide (LDO) NiM (M = Cr, Fe) catalysts with nominal compositions of Ni/M = 2 or 3 were tailored from layered double hydroxides (LDH) using a coprecipitation method to investigate the effects of the trivalent metal (Cr or Fe) and the amount of Ni species on the structural, textural, reducibility, and catalytic properties for CH4/CO2 reforming. The solids before (LDH) and after (LDO) thermal treatment at 500 °C were characterized using TGA-TD-SM, HT-XRD, XRD, Raman, and IR-ATR spectroscopies; N2 physical adsorption; XPS; and H2-TPR. According to the XRD and Raman analysis, a hydrotalcite structure was present at room temperature and stable up to 250 °C. The interlayer space decreased when the temperature increased, with a lattice parameter and interlayer space of 3.018 Å and 7.017 Å, respectively. The solids fully decomposed into oxide after calcination at 500 °C. NiO and spinel phases (NiM2O4, M = Cr or Fe) were observed in the NiM (M = Cr, Fe) catalysts, and Cr2O3 was detected in the case of NiCr. The NiFe catalysts show low activity and selectivity for DRM in the temperature range explored. In contrast, the chromium compound demonstrated interesting CH4 and CO2 conversions and generally excellent H2 selectivity at low reaction temperatures. CH4 and CO2 conversions of 18–20% with H2/CO of approx. 0.7 could be reached at temperatures as low as 500 °C, but transient behavior and deactivation were observed at higher temperatures or long reaction times. The excellent activity observed during this transient sequence was attributed to the stabilization of the metallic Ni particles formed during the reduction of the NiO phase due to the presence of NiCr2O4, opening the path for the use of these materials in periodic or looping processes for methane reforming at low temperature.
ECM Substrates Impact RNAi Localization at Adherens Junctions of Colon Epithelial Cells
Authors: Daulagala Amanda C. , Kourtidis Antonis
Published: November 2022

The extracellular matrix (ECM) plays crucial roles in tissue homeostasis. Abnormalities in ECM composition are associated with pathological conditions, such as fibrosis and cancer. These ECM alterations are sensed by the epithelium and can influence its behavior through crosstalk with other mechanosensitive complexes, including the adherens junctions (AJs). We have previously shown that the AJs, through their component PLEKHA7, recruit the RNAi machinery to regulate miRNA levels and function. We have particularly shown that the junctional localization of RNAi components is critical for their function. Here, we investigated whether different ECM substrates can influence the junctional localization of RNAi complexes. To do this, we plated colon epithelial Caco2 cells on four key ECM substrates found in the colon under normal or pathogenic conditions, namely laminin, fibronectin, collagen I, and collagen IV, and we examined the subcellular distribution of PLEKHA7, and of the key RNAi components AGO2 and DROSHA. Fibronectin and collagen I negatively impacted the junctional localization of PLEKHA7, AGO2, and DROSHA when compared to laminin. Furthermore, fibronectin, collagen I, and collagen IV disrupted interactions of AGO2 and DROSHA with their essential partners GW182 and DGCR8, respectively, both at AJs and throughout the cell. Combinations of all substrates with fibronectin also negatively impacted junctional localization of PLEKHA7 and AGO2. Additionally, collagen I triggered accumulation of DROSHA at tri-cellular junctions, while both collagen I and collagen IV resulted in DROSHA accumulation at basal areas of cell–cell contact. Altogether, fibronectin and collagens I and IV, which are elevated in the stroma of fibrotic and cancerous tissues, altered localization patterns and disrupted complex formation of PLEKHA7 and RNAi components. Combined with our prior studies showing that apical junctional localization of the PLEKHA7-RNAi complex is critical for regulating tumor-suppressing miRNAs, this work points to a yet unstudied mechanism that could contribute to epithelial cell transformation.
An Intracellular Metabolic Signature as a Potential Donor-Independent Marker of the Osteogenic Differentiation of Adipose Tissue Mesenchymal Stem Cells
Authors: Bispo Daniela S. C. , Jesus Catarina S. H. , Romek Katarzyna , Marques Inês M. C. , Oliveira Mariana B. , Mano João F. , Gil Ana M.
Published: November 2022

This paper describes an untargeted NMR metabolomics study to identify potential intracellular donor-dependent and donor-independent metabolic markers of proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of human adipose mesenchymal stem cells (hAMSCs). The hAMSCs of two donors with distinct proliferating/osteogenic characteristics were fully characterized regarding their polar endometabolome during proliferation and osteogenesis. An 18-metabolites signature (including changes in alanine, aspartate, proline, tyrosine, ATP, and ADP, among others) was suggested to be potentially descriptive of cell proliferation, independently of the donor. In addition, a set of 11 metabolites was proposed to compose a possible donor-independent signature of osteogenesis, mostly involving changes in taurine, glutathione, methylguanidine, adenosine, inosine, uridine, and creatine/phosphocreatine, choline/phosphocholine and ethanolamine/phosphocholine ratios. The proposed signatures were validated for a third donor, although they require further validation in a larger donor cohort. We believe that this proof of concept paves the way to exploit metabolic markers to monitor (and potentially predict) cell proliferation and the osteogenic ability of different donors.
Purinergic Signalling and Inflammation-Related Diseases
Authors: Engel Tobias , Jiménez-Mateos Eva María , Diaz-Hernandez Miguel
Published: November 2022

While acute inflammation is widely accepted as an important response mechanism of cells against tissue injury, sustained inflammatory processes are increasingly recognized as one of the main contributors to numerous diseases, including central-nervous system (CNS)-related and non-CNS-related diseases such as depression, neurodegenerative diseases, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, chronic kidney disease, osteoporosis, and cancer [...]
Cell Sources for Retinal Regeneration: Implication for Data Translation in Biomedicine of the Eye
Authors: Grigoryan Eleonora N.
Published: November 2022

The main degenerative diseases of the retina include macular degeneration, proliferative vitreoretinopathy, retinitis pigmentosa, and glaucoma. Novel approaches for treating retinal diseases are based on cell replacement therapy using a variety of exogenous stem cells. An alternative and complementary approach is the potential use of retinal regeneration cell sources (RRCSs) containing retinal pigment epithelium, ciliary body, Müller glia, and retinal ciliary region. RRCSs in lower vertebrates in vivo and in mammals mostly in vitro are able to proliferate and exhibit gene expression and epigenetic characteristics typical for neural/retinal cell progenitors. Here, we review research on the factors controlling the RRCSs’ properties, such as the cell microenvironment, growth factors, cytokines, hormones, etc., that determine the regenerative responses and alterations underlying the RRCS-associated pathologies. We also discuss how the current data on molecular features and regulatory mechanisms of RRCSs could be translated in retinal biomedicine with a special focus on (1) attempts to obtain retinal neurons de novo both in vivo and in vitro to replace damaged retinal cells; and (2) investigations of the key molecular networks stimulating regenerative responses and preventing RRCS-related pathologies.
Development of an Environmentally Friendly Technology for the Treatment of Aqueous Solutions with High-Purity Plasma for the Cultivation of Cotton, Wheat and Strawberries
Authors: Ashurov Mukhsindjan Kh. , Ashurov Erkindjan M. , Astashev Maxim E. , Baimler Ilya V. , Gudkov Sergey V. , Konchekov Evgeny M. , Lednev Vasily N. , Lukina Natalya A. , Matveeva Tatyana A. , Markendudis Anatoly G. , Onegov Andrey V. , Rashidova Dilbar K. , Sarimov Ruslan M. , Sergeichev Konstantin F. , Sharipov Shukhrat T. , Simakin Alexander V. , Smirnov Igor G. , Smolentsev Sergey Y. , Yakubov Muzzafar M. , Yanykin Denis V. , Shcherbakov Ivan A.
Published: November 2022

The microwave setup for obtaining plasma-activated water (PAW) has been created. PAW contains significant concentrations of H2O2 and NO3−, has a reduced content of O2, high conductivity, a high redox potential and low pH. Likewise, the specific electrical conductivity and concentration of H2O2 and NO3− linearly depend on the treatment time. These parameters are simple and convenient markers for controlling the preparation of PAW. It has been established that PAW solutions with a concentration of 0.5–1.0% increase the germination energy, protect against fusarium and hyperthermia in cotton, wheat and strawberry seeds. In addition, PAWs have a positive effect on the growth rate of plants in the early stages of development. The use of PAW provides significant benefits over the chemical preparations Dalbron and Bakhor, so-called seed germination stimulators (SDS).
Knowledge and Perceptions of Greek Students about Human Papilloma Virus, Vaccination and Cervical Cancer Screening
Authors: Koutrakou Panagiota , Trigoni Maria , Sarafis Pavlos , Tzavara Chara , Nikolentzos Athanasios , Vassilakou Tonia , Sergentanis Theodoros N.
Published: November 2022

INTRODUCTION: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the main cause of cervical cancer; the level of HPV-related knowledge among young students remains however questionable. The purpose of the present study was to investigate knowledge pertaining to HPV, cervical cancer screening, and vaccination among students in the Nursing Department and Department of Social Work of the Hellenic Mediterranean University of Crete, Greece. METHODS: This was a questionnaire-based, cross-sectional study involving 371 first-year and third-year students of the two Departments. Multivariate linear and logistic regression analysis was performed to examine factors associated with knowledge related to HPV, cervical cancer screening, and HPV vaccination. RESULTS: Only 22.1% of students knew all the ways of HPV transmission and only 5.9% knew the whole spectrum of cancers that HPV could cause. The vaccination rate for HPV was 33.7%. The majority of students used the Internet as the main source of information (62.3%). Students’ sociodemographic characteristics, including age, marital status, and Department of studies were associated with knowledge about HPV. CONCLUSIONS: The present study highlights knowledge gaps and indicates the need for thorough health education strategies on HPV, targeting families and young people.
How School Climate Affects the Development of the Social and Emotional Skills of Underprivileged-Background Students—An Empirical Study Based on the SSES2019 Data
Authors: Wang Weihao , Xiao Jian , Li Wenye , Yao Jijun
Published: November 2022

Background: Promoting the development of the social and emotional skills of underprivileged-background students is an integral part of educational and social equity. To date, there has been a lack of relevant research in this field. Aims: This study investigated the impacts of cooperative school climate and competitive school climate on the development of the social and emotional skills of underprivileged-background students. Sample: This study used the data of Chinese underprivileged-background students (N = 1739) from the Study on Social and Emotional Skills conducted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD-SSES2019). Methods: This study selected the ordinary least squares (OLS) analysis method and the quantile regression (QR) analysis method. Results: The ordinary least squares (OLS) analysis results showed that cooperative school climates promoted the development of various dimensions of the social and emotional skills of underprivileged-background students, while competitive school climates had significant negative impacts on the collaboration and emotional regulation of underprivileged-background students and had no significant impact on the other three major domains, namely engagement with others, open-mindedness, and task performance. A quantile regression analysis further explored the heterogeneity in the impacts of cooperative school climate and competitive school climate on the development of the social and emotional skills of underprivileged-background students through quantile regression and found that the impacts of a competitive school climate on underprivileged-background students with different levels of social and emotional skills were homogeneous, while the impacts of a competitive school climate on underprivileged-background students with different levels of social and emotional skills were heterogeneous. Conclusions: These findings provide a greater insight into the roles of school cooperative climate and school competitive climate in the development process of the social and emotional skills of underprivileged-background students.
Chrysanthemum coronarium L. Protects against Premature Senescence in Human Endothelial Cells
Authors: Sung Mi Jeong , Lee Ae Sin
Published: November 2022

The senescence of vascular endothelial cells (EC) leads to vascular dysfunction. However, the molecular mechanisms of EC senescence and its associated pathophysiological changes have not yet been clearly studied. This study sought to inspect the Chrysanthemum coronarium L. (CC) extract’s mechanism in preventing premature senescence of EC. A senescent endothelial cell model was created in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) with 100 µmol/L H2O2 treatment for 24 h. The effect of CC on senescent HUVECs was elucidated by measuring the activity of β-galactosidase (SA-β-gal), which exhibits an aging-related phenotype. SA-β-gal activity increased to 13.2 ± 2.85% in H2O2-treated HUVECs, whereas this activity was attenuated in the CC group. Immunoblot analyses revealed that p21, p53, and PAI-1 levels increased in the senescent HUVECs; however, the levels decreased in the HUVECs treated with various concentrations of CC (10, 20, and 50 μg/mL). The CC extract reduced the production of reactive oxygen species and reversed the decrease in NO production. Additionally, pretreatment with an Nω-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (eNOS inhibitor) and nicotinamide (sirtuin 1 inhibitor) inhibited the anti-senescent effect of CC extract in HUVECs. Taken together, this study validated the novel endothelial protective effect of CC extract and its prevention of senescence in HUVECs through the mechanism regulated by eNOS and SIRT1 expression.
Load Transfer Mechanism and Bond–Slip Behavior of Recycled Concrete-Encased Steel (RCES) Subjected to Cyclic Loading
Authors: Gao Jun , Zhao Guoliang , Zhang Xin
Published: November 2022

RCES composite structures, which combine the advantages of high bearing- and good anti-seismic capacity of ordinary steel reinforced concrete (SRC) with the characteristics of energy-saving and environmental protection of recycled concrete, are beneficial to promote the use of recycled concrete. However, the bond–slip behavior and load transfer mechanism are essential issues of RCES composite structures. This paper primarily focused on the load transfer mechanism and bond–slip behavior of RCES composite structures subjected to cyclic loading. A total of 14 specimens, which were designed with different replacement ratios of recycled concrete, cover thicknesses of H-shaped steel, transverse reinforcement ratios, and recycled concrete strengths, were tested to investigate the load transfer mechanism and interface damage. The results indicate that the whole loading procedure can be divided into four phases and four limit points. The bonding shear damage of a specimen develops rapidly, and most damage happened during 0~0.2 mm slip. The bonding stress values of chemical bonding stress τca, friction resistance stress τf, and mechanical biting stress τm were calculated. Moreover, in order to reflect the influence of cyclic loading, a degradation factor ξ was proposed. The mean values of chemical bonding stress τca: friction resistance stress τf: mechanical biting stress τm are 1:0.187:0.696, in which the chemical bonding stress is the largest, friction resistance stress is the second, and the mechanical biting stress is the least.
GSTARI-X-ARCH Model with Data Mining Approach for Forecasting Climate in West Java
Authors: Monika Putri , Ruchjana Budi Nurani , Abdullah Atje Setiawan
Published: November 2022

The spatiotemporal model consists of stationary and non-stationary data, respectively known as the Generalized Space–Time Autoregressive (GSTAR) model and the Generalized Space–Time Autoregressive Integrated (GSTARI) model. The application of this model in forecasting climate with rainfall variables is also influenced by exogenous variables such as humidity, and often the assumption of error is not constant. Therefore, this study aims to design a spatiotemporal model with the addition of exogenous variables and to overcome the non-constant error variance. The proposed model is named GSTARI-X-ARCH. The model is used to predict climate phenomena in West Java, obtained from National Aeronautics and Space Administration Prediction of Worldwide Energy Resources (NASA POWER) data. Climate data are big data, so we used knowledge discovery in databases (KDD) in this study. The pre-processing step is collecting and cleaning data. Then, the data mining process with the GSTARI-X-ARCH model follows the Box–Jenkins procedure: model identification, parameter estimation, and diagnostic checking. Finally, the post-processing step for visualization and interpretation of forecast results was conducted. This research is expected to contribute to developing the spatiotemporal model and forecast results as recommendations to the relevant agencies.
Multiscale Simulations for Defect-Controlled Processing of Group IV Materials
Authors: Calogero Gaetano , Deretzis Ioannis , Fisicaro Giuseppe , Kollmuß Manuel , La Via Francesco , Lombardo Salvatore F. , Schöler Michael , Wellmann Peter J. , La Magna Antonino
Published: November 2022

Multiscale approaches for the simulation of materials processing are becoming essential to the industrialization of future nanotechnologies, as they allow for a reduction in production costs and an enhancement of devices and applications. Their integration as modules of “digital twins”, i.e., a combined sequence of predictive chemical–physical simulations and trained black-box techniques, should ideally complement the real sequence of processes throughout all development and production stages, starting from the growth of materials, their functional manipulation and finally their integration in nano-devices. To achieve this framework, computational implementations at different space and time scales are necessary, ranging from the atomistic to the macro-scale. In this paper, we propose a general paradigm for the industrially driven computational modeling of materials by deploying a multiscale methodology based on physical–chemical simulations bridging macro, meso and atomic scale. We demonstrate its general applicability by studying two completely different processing examples, i.e., the growth of group IV crystals through physical vapor deposition and their thermal treatment through pulsed laser annealing. We indicate the suitable formalisms, as well as the advantages and critical issues associated with each scale, and show how numerical methods for the solution of the models could be coupled to achieve a complete and effective virtualization of the process. By connecting the process parameters to atomic scale modifications such as lattice defects or faceting, we highlight how a digital twin module can gain intrinsic predictivity far from the pre-assessed training conditions of black-box “Virtual Metrology” techniques.
Investigation of Energy Levels of Small Vacancy Clusters in Proton Irradiated Silicon by Laplace Photoinduced Transient Spectroscopy
Authors: Kamiński Paweł , Żelazko Jarosław , Kozłowski Roman , Hindrichsen Christian , Jensen Leif
Published: November 2022

Laplace photoinduced transient spectroscopy has been applied to determine the electronic properties and concentrations of deep traps in high purity n-type silicon irradiated with high fluences of 23-MeV protons. From the temperature dependence of thermal emission rates of excess charge carriers obtained by the analysis of the photocurrent relaxation waveforms measured at temperatures of 30–320 K, eight deep traps with activation energies ranging from 255 to 559 meV have been resolved. The dependence of these trap’s concentrations on the proton fluence are demonstrated for the fluence values ranging from 1 × 1014 to 5 × 1015 neq/cm2. In comparison to the previously reported results of theoretical and experimental studies on the electronic properties of small vacancy clusters in irradiated silicon, we tentatively attribute four detected traps with activation energies of 255, 367, 405, and 512 meV to the energy levels related to the 2−/− charge state changes of divacancy (V2), trivacancy (V3), tetravacancy (V4), and pentavacancy (V5), respectively. Simultaneously, we propose the attribution of four deep traps with higher activation energies of 415, 456, 526, and 559 meV to the energy levels related to the −/0 charge state changes of these small vacancy clusters, respectively.
Disentangling the Diversity of the Labeobarbus Taxa (Cypriniformes: Cyprinidae) from the Epulu Basin (DR Congo, Africa)
Authors: Decru Eva , Snoeks Jos , Walanga Albert , Vreven Emmanuel J. W. M. N.
Published: November 2022

In an attempt to disentangle the complex taxonomy of the Labeobarbus species of the Epulu River, a right bank headwater affluent of the Aruwimi, Central Congo basin, a morphological study was undertaken on 221 specimens from the Epulu and 32 type specimens. As a result, five different species have been distinguished, including four so-called rubberlips, L. caudovittatus, L. macroceps, L. mawambiensis, and L. sp. ‘thick lip’, and one chiselmouth, L. longidorsalis. While rubberlips have a curved mouth with well-developed lips and often a mental lobe, chiselmouths have a straight mouth with a keratinised cutting edge on the lower jaw. Among the specimens examined, several presented an intermediate mouth morphology between L. mawambiensis and L. longidorsalis, either with one or two pairs of barbels. One specimen exhibited an intermediate morphology between L. mawambiensis and L. macroceps. This morphological study, complemented with a molecular study of the mitochondrial gene cytochrome b (cyt b), suggests that these intermediates are probably hybrid specimens. The Epulu case is reminiscent to a case of possible hybridisation recently discovered in the Inkisi River (Lower Congo basin), but differs in having a lower relative abundance of hybrid specimens in the population, and in phylogenetic patterns.
Numb Chin Syndrome in Sickle Cell Disease: A Systematic Review and Recommendations for Investigation and Management
Authors: Bedrouni Mahdi , Touma Lahoud , Sauvé Caroline , Botez Stephan , Soulières Denis , Forté Stéphanie
Published: November 2022

Numb chin syndrome (NCS) is a rare sensory neuropathy resulting from inferior alveolar or mental nerve injury. It manifests as hypoesthesia, paraesthesia, or, rarely, as pain in the chin and lower lip. Several case reports suggest that sickle cell disease (SCD) could be a cause of NCS. However, information about NCS is scarce in this population. Our objectives were to synthesize all the available literature relevant to NCS in SCD and to propose recommendations for diagnosis and management based on the best available evidence. A systematic review was performed on several databases to identify all relevant publications on NCS in adults and children with SCD. We identified 73 publications; fourteen reports met the inclusion/exclusion criteria. These described 33 unique patients. Most episodes of NCS occurred in the context of typical veno-occlusive crises that involved the mandibular area. Radiological signs of bone infarction were found on some imaging, but not all. Neuropathy management was mostly directed toward the underlying cause. Overall, these observations suggest that vaso-occlusion and bone infarction could be important pathophysiological mechanisms of NCS. However, depending on the individual context, we recommend a careful evaluation to rule out differential causes, including infections, local tumors, metastatic disease, and stroke.
A Novel CDH1 Variant Identified in a Chinese Family with Blepharocheilodontic Syndrome
Authors: Lin Bichen , Liu Yang , Su Lanxin , Liu Hangbo , Feng Hailan , Yu Miao , Liu Haochen
Published: November 2022

The goal of the current study was to identify the pathogenic gene variant in a Chinese family with Blepharocheilodontic (BCD) syndrome. Whole-exome sequencing (WES) and Sanger sequencing were used to identify the pathogenic gene variant. The harmfulness of the variant was predicted by bioinformatics. We identified a novel heterozygous missense variant c.1198G>A (p.Asp400Asn) in the CDH1 gene in the proband and his mother with BCD syndrome. The sequencing results of three healthy individuals in this family are wild type. This result is consistent with familial co-segregation. According to ReVe, REVEL, CADD, gnomAD, dbSNP, and the classification of pathogenic variants with the standards of the 2015 American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics and the Association for Molecular Pathology (ACMG), c.1198G>A (p.Asp400Asn) is predicted to be a likely pathogenic. We observed that variant c.1198G>A (p.Asp400Asn) was located in the extracellular cadherin-type repeats in CDH1. Amino acid sequence alignment of the CDH1 protein among multiple species showed that Asp400 was highly evolutionarily conserved. The conformational analysis showed that this variant might cause structural damage to the CDH1 protein. Phenotypic analysis revealed unique dental phenotypes in patients with BCD syndrome, such as oligodontia, conical-shaped teeth, and notching of the incisal edges. Our results broaden the variation spectrum of BCD syndrome and phenotype spectrum of CDH1, which can help with the clinical diagnosis, treatment, and genetic counseling in relation to BCD syndrome.
Aging Characteristics and State-of-Health Estimation of Retired Batteries: An Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy Perspective
Authors: Xu Ziyong , Li He , Yazdi Mohammad , Ouyang Konglei , Peng Weiwen
Published: November 2022

In this paper, the aging characteristics and state-of-health (SOH) estimation of retired batteries were studied by leveraging the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) technique. A battery aging experiment was designed and implemented to monitor the aging process of batteries, after which a comprehensive analysis of the collected EIS data was conducted to characterize the corresponding aging properties of retired batteries. Based on the aging data analysis results, an equivalent circuit model (ECM) was constructed, and the correlation between ECM parameters and the battery age was identified. An EIS-based and ECM-based SOH estimation method for retired batteries was developed and demonstrated. Furthermore, to further leveraging the EIS data from battery aging tests, a Bayesian neural network-based SOH estimation method with automatic feature extraction was developed. Comparisons among the proposed model-based method, data-driven method, and state-of-the-art SOH estimation method for retired batteries were implemented. Overall, insights into the aging characteristics and SOH estimation of retired batteries were achieved by leveraging the EIS technique.
Comprehensive Analysis of Knowledge Graph Embedding Techniques Benchmarked on Link Prediction
Authors: Ferrari Ilaria , Frisoni Giacomo , Italiani Paolo , Moro Gianluca , Sartori Claudio
Published: November 2022

In knowledge graph representation learning, link prediction is among the most popular and influential tasks. Its surge in popularity has resulted in a panoply of orthogonal embedding-based methods projecting entities and relations into low-dimensional continuous vectors. To further enrich the research space, the community witnessed a prolific development of evaluation benchmarks with a variety of structures and domains. Therefore, researchers and practitioners face an unprecedented challenge in effectively identifying the best solution to their needs. To this end, we propose the most comprehensive and up-to-date study to systematically assess the effectiveness and efficiency of embedding models for knowledge graph completion. We compare 13 models on six datasets with different sizes, domains, and relational properties, covering translational, semantic matching, and neural network-based encoders. A fine-grained evaluation is conducted to compare each technique head-to-head in terms of standard metrics, training and evaluation times, memory consumption, carbon footprint, and space geometry. Our results demonstrate the high dependence between performance and graph types, identifying the best options for each scenario. Among all the encoding strategies, the new generation of translational models emerges as the most promising, bringing out the best and most consistent results across all the datasets and evaluation criteria.
Provably Secure PUF-Based Lightweight Mutual Authentication Scheme for Wireless Body Area Networks
Authors: Lee SangCheol , Kim SuHwan , Yu SungJin , Jho NamSu , Park YoHan
Published: November 2022

Wireless body area networks (WBANs) are used in modern medical service environments for the convenience of patients and medical professionals. Owing to the recent COVID-19 pandemic and an aging society, WBANs are attracting attention. In a WBAN environment, the patient has a sensor node attached to him/her that collects patient status information, such as blood pressure, blood glucose, and pulse; this information is simultaneously transmitted to his/her respective medical professional through a gateway. The medical professional receives and checks the patient’s status information and provides a diagnosis. However, sensitive information, including the patient’s personal and status data, are transmitted via a public channel, causing security concerns. If an adversary intercepts this information, it could threaten the patient’s well-being. Therefore, a secure authentication scheme is essential for WBAN environments. Recently, Chen et al. proposed a two-factor authentication scheme for WBANs. However, we found out Chen et al.’s scheme is vulnerable to a privileged insider, physical cloning, verification leakage, impersonation, and session key disclosure attacks. We also propose a secure physical-unclonable-function (PUF)-based lightweight mutual authentication scheme for WBANs. Through informal security analysis, we demonstrate that the proposed scheme using biometrics and the PUF is safe against various security attacks. In addition, we verify the security features of our scheme through formal security analyses using Burrows–Abadi–Needham (BAN) logic, the real-or-random (RoR) model, and the Automated Validation of Internet Security Protocols and Applications (AVISPA). Furthermore, we evaluate the security features, communication costs, and computational costs of our proposed scheme and compare them with those of other related schemes. Consequently, our scheme is more suitable for WBAN environments than the other related schemes.
An Improved 3D Ultra-Wideband High-Efficiency Substrate Integrated Coaxial Meander Delay Line
Authors: Zhang Hongxi , Wang Pei
Published: November 2022

This paper proposes an improved substrate integrated coaxial meander delay line to overcome the beam dispersion problem in a spaceborne synthetic aperture radar phased array antenna system with large bandwidth. The delay line operates in the range of 4 GHz–10 GHz with a relative bandwidth of 85.7%. In the proposed structure, the delay effect is generated by the combination of a meander delay line and a substrate integrated coaxial line, which results in a significant improvement in the delay efficiency. Furthermore, a planar turn structure, a vertical transition structure, and a microstrip transition structure are designed to realize three-dimensional tight wiring. The proposed delay lines are fabricated on three and five layered Rogers RO3006 PCB substrate. The experimental tests are conducted on the 3.1 ns and 6.4 ns delay lines with the dimensions of 38 mm × 7 mm × 0.5 mm and 37 mm × 9.2 mm × 1 mm, respectively. The experimental results indicate that the insertion and return losses of the two lines are within the reasonable range. Compared with the related research, the proposed delay lines’ delay time, delay multiplier, and relative bandwidth are improved by 2.13–160 times, 1.025–6.8 times, and 2.14–3.86 times, respectively, which shows their good practical value and application prospect.
An Empirical Framework for Assessing the Digital Technologies Users’ Acceptance in Project Management
Authors: Vărzaru Anca Antoaneta
Published: November 2022

The technological advances and trends that have manifested in the direction of globalization have determined unprecedented economic expansion and exponential social development. Organizations have increasingly implemented digital technologies to face new challenges in all activities. Project management has more intensively implemented digitized technologies, such as big data, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing, taking into account the complexity of projects. This study aims to evaluate employees’ perceptions of the organizations involved in implementing the projects adopting digital technologies within the accounting and organizational information systems to digitize the project management process. The empirical study consists of a survey of 486 respondents from among project management specialists in Romania. The research uses the technology acceptance model (TAM) and structural equation modeling to assess user perceptions of digital technologies. The research results show that implementing digital technologies improves all activities in the project management process. Among the characteristics of digital technologies, customization is the most important characteristic that leads to increased efficiency and effectiveness of project management, followed by innovation. Furthermore, the perception of increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of project management exerts a significant and positive influence on the behavioral intention to use digital technologies and their actual use, leading to their easier acceptance.
Machine Learning-Driven Approach for a COVID-19 Warning System
Authors: Hussain Mushtaq , Islam Akhtarul , Turi Jamshid Ali , Nabi Said , Hamdi Monia , Hamam Habib , Ibrahim Muhammad , Cifci Mehmet Akif , Sehar Tayyaba
Published: November 2022

The emergency of the pandemic and the absence of treatment have motivated researchers in all the fields to deal with the pandemic situation. In the field of computer science, major contributions include the development of methods for the diagnosis, detection, and prediction of COVID-19 cases. Since the emergence of information technology, data science and machine learning have become the most widely used techniques to detect, diagnose, and predict the positive cases of COVID-19. This paper presents the prediction of confirmed cases of COVID-19 and its mortality rate and then a COVID-19 warning system is proposed based on the machine learning time series model. We have used the date and country-wise confirmed, detected, recovered, and death cases features for training of the model based on the COVID-19 dataset. Finally, we compared the performance of time series models on the current study dataset, and we observed that PROPHET and Auto-Regressive (AR) models predicted the COVID-19 positive cases with a low error rate. Moreover, death cases are positively correlated with the confirmed detected cases, mainly based on different regions’ populations. The proposed forecasting system, driven by machine learning approaches, will help the health departments of underdeveloped countries to monitor the deaths and confirm detected cases of COVID-19. It will also help make futuristic decisions on testing and developing more health facilities, mostly to avoid spreading diseases.
Application-Aware Flow Forwarding Service for SDN-Based Data Centers
Authors: Lozano-Rizk Jose E. , Gonzalez-Trejo Jose E. , Rivera-Rodriguez Raul , Tchernykh Andrei , Villarreal-Reyes Salvador , Galaviz-Mosqueda Alejandro
Published: November 2022

Security and Quality of Service (QoS) in communication networks are critical factors supporting end-to-end dataflows in data centers. On the other hand, it is essential to provide mechanisms that enable different treatments for applications requiring sensitive data transfer. Both applications’ requirements can vary according to their particular needs. To achieve their goals, it is necessary to provide services so that each application can request both the quality of service and security services dynamically and on demand. This article presents QoSS, an API web service to provide both Quality of Service and Security for applications through software-defined networks. We developed a prototype to conduct a case study to provide QoS and security. QoSS finds the optimal end-to-end path according to four optimization rules: bandwidth-aware, delay-aware, security-aware, and application requirements (considering the bandwidth, delay, packet loss, jitter, and security level of network nodes). Simulation results showed that our proposal improved end-to-end application data transfer by an average of 45%. Besides, it supports the dynamic end-to-end path configuration according to the application requirements. QoSS also logs each application’s data transfer events to enable further analysis.
Early Field Performance and Genetic Variation of Dalbergia tonkinensis, a Valuable Rosewood in Vietnam
Authors: Dell Bernard , Thu Pham Quang , Nghia Nguyen Hoang , Hai Phi Hong , Nhung Nong Phuong , Chi Nguyen Minh
Published: November 2022

Dalbergia tonkinensis is being promoted in Vietnam for the future supply of prized wood for furniture and chemical extraction. Expansion of the plantation area requires a reliable source of quality seed. This study evaluates the field performance of progeny from mature mother trees in natural forests and urban environments. Trials were established in Tan Son and Doan Hung districts of Phu Tho province and assessed 3 years later. There were significant differences in growth and survival between provenances. The best families reached heights of >3.5 m and came from mother trees in a natural forest. The number of leaflets per leaf on mother trees was positively correlated with height (Ht) and diameter at breast height (Dbh) of the trial trees. The individual heritabilities (ĥ2) for Ht and Dbh were 0.39 and 0.49 for Tan Son, and 0.33 and 0.48 for Doan Hung, respectively. The coefficient of additive variation (CVA) of Ht and Dbh were 36% and 58% for Tan Son, and 23% and 30% for Doan Hung, respectively. Interactions between the growth traits in the two trials were strongly correlated (R2 = 0.88 for Ht, 0.90 for Dbh). These results identify D. tonkinensis gene sources with advantages for early growth performance in plantations. These superior genetics can be used for seed orchards, clonal propagation and for implementing a breeding program.
Reduced Scale Experiments on Fire Spread Involving Multiple Informal Settlement Dwellings
Authors: Narayanan Vigneshwaran , Oguaka Anene , Walls Richard Shaun
Published: November 2022

Fire disasters in informal settlements (also referred to as slums, shantytowns, favelas, etc.) are a major challenge worldwide, with a single incident being able to displace thousands of people. Numerous factors including dwelling spacing, material type, topography, weather, fuel loads, roads, and more influence fire spread. Conducting large-scale experiments to quantify and understand these phenomena is difficult and costly. Hence, it would be beneficial if Reduced Scale Experiments (RSE) could be developed to study the influence of these phenomena. Previous research has demonstrated that a 1/4th scale informal settlement dwelling (ISD) RSE can sufficiently capture the fire behaviour and fire dynamics within dwellings. The objective of this work is to develop a methodology for multi-dwelling ISD scaling such that large-scale spread phenomena can be captured. This paper carries out a series of RSEs to study the influence of (a) the number of dwellings, (b) orientation of dwellings, windows, and door openings, (c) cladding material, (d) wind effects, (e) the distance between dwellings and (f) fuel load on spread. Results are compared to previous large-scale experiments. It is shown that the geometric scaling of distance between dwellings is suitable for capturing spread. It was found that wind and the fuel load contribute significantly to the fire spread, but the type of cladding, distance between dwellings, dwelling orientation, and type of structural members used also affects fire spread rates. The comparative results with full-scale experiments (FSEs) shows that the peak temperatures were comparable and had similar profiles. A good correlation exists between FSEs and RSEs in terms of fire dynamics and spread characteristics, but the spread time (scaled or unscaled) does not correlate well with FSEs. Further work is needed before the work can be reliably used for predicting multi-dwelling spread, especially when wind is involved, due to the complex interaction of parameters and difficulty in scaling flame impingement.