bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Enhanced kinship verification analysis based on color and texture handcrafted techniques
Authors: Nader Nermeen , EL-Gamal Fatma EL-Zahraa A. , Elmogy Mohammed
Published: June 2023

Nowadays, kinship verification is an attractive research area within computer vision. It significantly affects applications in the real world, such as finding missing individuals and forensics. Despite the importance of this research topic, it still faces many challenges, such as low accuracy and illumination variations. Due to the existence of different classes of feature extraction techniques, different types of information can be extracted from the input data. Moreover, the fusion power produces complementary information that can address kinship verification problems. Therefore, this paper proposes a new approach for verifying kinship by fusing features from different perspectives, including color-texture and color features in different color spaces. Besides using promising methods in the field, such as local binary pattern (LBP) and scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT), the paper utilizes other feature extraction methods, which are heterogeneous auto-similarities of characteristics (HASC), color correlogram (CC), and dense color histogram (DCH). As far as we know, these features haven’t been employed before in this research area. Accordingly, the proposed approach goes into six stages: preprocessing, feature extraction, feature normalization, feature fusion, feature representation, and kinship verification. The proposed approach was evaluated on the KinFaceW-I and KinFaceW-II field standard datasets, achieving maximum accuracy of 79.54% and 90.65%, respectively. Compared with many state-of-the-art approaches, the results of the proposed approach reflect the promising achievements and encourage the authors to plan for future enhancement.
Enclosing Depth and Other Depth Measures
Authors: Schnider Patrick
Published: June 2023

We study families of depth measures defined by natural sets of axioms. We show that any such depth measure is a constant factor approximation of Tukey depth. We further investigate the dimensions of depth regions, showing that the Cascade conjecture, introduced by Kalai for Tverberg depth, holds for all depth measures which satisfy our most restrictive set of axioms, which includes Tukey depth. Along the way, we introduce and study a new depth measure called enclosing depth, which we believe to be of independent interest, and show its relation to a constant-fraction Radon theorem on certain two-colored point sets.
Cost-utility analysis of a supervised exercise intervention for women with early-stage endometrial cancer
Authors: Wang Yufan , McCarthy Alexandra L , Tuffaha Haitham
Published: June 2023

Purpose

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death after treatment for endometrial cancer (EC). There is clinical evidence that exercise significantly reduces the risks of CVD and cancer recurrence in this population; however, it is unclear whether there is value for money in integrating exercise into cancer recovery care for women treated for EC. This paper assesses the long-term cost-effectiveness of a 12-week supervised exercise intervention, as compared with standard care, for women diagnosed with early-stage EC.

Method

A cost-utility analysis was conducted from the Australian health system perspective for a time horizon of 5 years. A Markov cohort model was designed with six mutually exclusive health states: (i) no CVD, (ii) post-stroke, (iii) post-coronary heart disease (CHD), (iv) post-heart failure, (v) post-cancer recurrence, and (vi) death. The model was populated using the best available evidence. Costs and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) were discounted at 5% annual rate. Uncertainty in the results was explored using one-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses (PSA).

Result

The incremental cost of supervised exercise versus standard care was AUD $358, and the incremental QALY was 0.0789, resulting in an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of AUD $5184 per QALY gained. The likelihood that the supervised exercise intervention was cost-effective at a willingness-to-pay threshold of AUD $50,000 per QALY was 99.5%.

Conclusion

This is the first economic evaluation of exercise after treatment for EC. The results suggest that exercise is cost-effective for Australian EC survivors. Given the compelling evidence, efforts could now focus on the implementation of exercise as part of cancer recovery care in Australia.
Anti-integrin αvβ6 autoantibodies in patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis
Authors: Yoshida Hiroyuki , Shiokawa Masahiro , Kuwada Takeshi , Muramoto Yuya , Ota Sakiko , Nishikawa Yoshihiro , Maeda Hirona , Kakiuchi Nobuyuki , Okamoto Kanako , Yamazaki Hajime , Yokode Masataka , Nakamura Takeharu , Matsumoto Shimpei , Hirano Tomonori , Okada Hirokazu , Marui Saiko , Sogabe Yuko , Matsumori Tomoaki , Mima Atsushi , Uza Norimitsu , Eso Yuji , Takai Atsushi , Takahashi Ken , Ueda Yoshihide , Kodama Yuzo , Chiba Tsutomu , Seno Hiroshi
Published: June 2023

Background

Patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) possess autoantibodies against biliary epithelial cells. However, the target molecules remain unknown.

Methods

The sera of patients with PSC and controls were subjected to enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays to detect autoantibodies using recombinant integrin proteins. Integrin αvβ6 expression in the bile duct tissues was examined using immunofluorescence. The blocking activity of the autoantibodies was examined using solid-phase binding assays.

Results

Anti-integrin αvβ6 antibodies were detected in 49/55 (89.1%) patients with PSC and 5/150 (3.3%) controls (P < 0.001), with a sensitivity and specificity of 89.1% and 96.7%, respectively, for PSC diagnosis. When focusing on the presence or absence of IBD, the proportion of the positive antibodies in PSC with IBD was 97.2% (35/36) and that in PSC alone was 73.7% (14/19) (P = 0.008). Integrin αvβ6 was expressed in bile duct epithelial cells. Immunoglobulin (Ig)G from 15/33 patients with PSC blocked integrin αvβ6-fibronectin binding through an RGD (Arg–Gly–Asp) tripeptide motif.

Conclusions

Autoantibodies against integrin αvβ6 were detected in most patients with PSC; anti-integrin αvβ6 antibody may serve as a potential diagnostic biomarker for PSC.
Chimaeric plant-produced bluetongue virus particles as potential vaccine candidates
Authors: Gwynn A. , Mbewana S. , Lubisi B. A. , Tshabalala H. M. , Rybicki E. P. , Meyers A. E.
Published: June 2023

Bluetongue virus (BTV) causes bluetongue disease in ruminants and sheep. The current live attenuated and inactivated vaccines available for prevention pose several risks, and there is thus a need for vaccines that are safer, economically viable, and effective against multiple circulating serotypes. This work describes the development of recombinant virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine candidates in plants, which are assembled by co-expression of the four BTV serotype 8 major structural proteins. We show that substitution of a neutralising tip domain of BTV8 VP2 with that of BTV1 VP2 resulted in the assembly of VLPs that stimulated serotype-specific antibodies as well as virus-specific neutralising antibodies.
Age-associated polyamines in peripheral blood cells and plasma in 20 to 70 years of age subjects
Authors: Sánchez Manuel , Suárez Lorena , Banda Gabriela , Barreiro-Alonso Eva , Rodríguez-Uña Ignacio , Rubín José Manuel , Cantabrana Begoña
Published: June 2023

Dietary polyamines have been associated with slowing ageing processes and various pathologies, raising the importance of establishing reference values at different ages throughout life. This study aimed to analyse age-dependent variations in polyamine content using peripheral blood cells and plasma in a healthy and homogeneous population. Peripheral blood of 193 volunteers of both sexes (20–70 years), selected by convenience, was processed to separate cells and plasma. A pre-column derivatization method was used to determine the amines by HPLC (nmol or pmol/mg protein or nmol/ml) to analyse their association with the age (continuous or ordinal in decades) of the subjects. Putrescine and spermine weakly declined significantly in mononuclear cells with age. In erythrocytes and plasma, putrescine showed an evident decrease in the 60–70-year-old group compared to the rest. The ratios between polyamines, mainly in erythrocytes, decreased in the 60–70 years age group and increased the ratio of putrescine in mononuclear cells/erythrocytes. The ratio of putrescine in mononuclear cells/erythrocytes was higher in the 60–70-year-old age group than in the rest. In a sample of subjects (20–29 vs. 60–70 years), whole blood polyamines were not significantly different when differences existed in erythrocytes. Polyamine homeostasis in blood cells and plasma changed with age. Putrescine declined in mononuclear cells and decreased in erythrocytes and plasma in the decade of the 60 s. Further studies should establish an age-dependent phenotype and whether polyamines’ supplementation could restore the decreased values and be associated with long-term overall biological benefits.
On the Existence of a Preserved Ontology Posited by a High-Dimensional Bohmian Interpretation
Authors: Manero Jorge
Published: June 2023

It has been argued that in the context of Bohm’s approach to quantum mechanics, the postulation of a three-dimensional ontology (as opposed to a high-dimensional one) is presumed to be the only interpretation that may reliably support object-oriented realism by virtue of the fact that this ontology is approximately preserved through scientific change, at least in the classical–quantum transition. Based on an interpretative analysis of the Bohmian formulation, I shall critically evaluate the tenability of this argument. In so doing, I shall argue that this formulation admits the postulation of an alternative ontology that is properly defined in a high-dimensional space, and is approximately preserved among this transition. As a result, both the three-dimensional and the high-dimensional worldviews shall form the basis of an equally reliable endorsement of object-oriented realism in the context of the Bohmian framework. I shall conclude that this argument becomes a problem of metaphysical underdetermination between a three and a high-dimensional Bohmian interpretation.
Social identity threat is related to ethnic minority adolescents’ social approach motivation towards classmates via reduced sense of belonging
Authors: Froehlich Laura , Bick Nathalie , Nikitin Jana , Martiny Sarah E.
Published: June 2023

The integration of ethnic minority youth can only be successful if they are motivated to establish and maintain social relationships in important institutions such as school. At the same time, worries about negative stereotypes about one’s ethnic group can undermine ethnic minority students’ motivation to approach others. In the present study, we tested whether social identity threat predicts ethnic minority adolescents’ social approach motivation via reduced sense of belonging. We also examined whether multiple social identities (i.e., high endorsement of ethnic and national idenitiy) buffer against the negative effects of social identity threat. In a sample of 426 ethnic minority students from 36 9th -grade classes in Germany, social identity threat was indirectly related to social approach motivation via reduced sense of belonging to the school and class. The interplay of students’ ethnic and national identity moderated the relationship of social identity threat and sense of belonging. The relationship was particularly negative for students who endorsed either ethnic or national identity. However, it was less negative for students with integrated multiple social identities and non-significant for students who identified neither with the ethnic nor the national group. Results generalized for social approach motivation towards ethnic majority and minority classmates. These patterns were only found for social approach motivation in face-to-face contact situations, but not in online situations. We discuss these findings in light of the literature on social identity threat and multiple social identities. Practical implications include measures to foster students’ sense of belonging and to reduce social identity threat.
Interactive agential dynamics
Authors: Brancazio Nick
Published: June 2023

The study of active matter systems demonstrates how interactions might co-constitute agential dynamics. Active matter systems are comprised of self-propelled independent entities which, en masse, take part in complex and interesting collective group behaviors at a far-from-equilibrium state (Menon, 2010; Takatori & Brady, 2015). These systems are modelled using very simple rules (Vicsek at al. 1995), which reveal the interactive nature of the collective behaviors seen from humble to highly complex entities. Here I show how the study of active matter systems supports two related proposals regarding interaction and agency. First, I argue that the study of interactive dynamics in these systems evidences the utility of treating interaction as an ontological category (Longino, 2021) and challenges methodological individualism as the received explanatory primitive in the study of agency. Second, the methods used to research active matter systems demonstrate how a minimal approach to agency can scale up in studying interactive agential dynamics in more complex systems. The examples of coordination dynamics (Kelso, 2001) and participatory sense-making (De Jaegher & Di Paolo, 2007) are provided to show how understanding agency requires us to look beyond the individuals to the interactive agential dynamics that can guide, scaffold, or constrain their activity.
SSDLog: a semi-supervised dual branch model for log anomaly detection
Authors: Lu Siyang , Han Ningning , Wang Mingquan , Wei Xiang , Lin Zaichao , Wang Dongdong
Published: June 2023

With versatility and complexity of computer systems, warning and errors are inevitable. To effectively monitor system’s status, system logs are critical. To detect anomalies in system logs, deep learning is a promising way to go. However, abnormal system logs in the real world are often difficult to collect, and effectively and accurately categorize the logs is an even time-consuming project. Thus, the data incompleteness is not conducive to the deep learning for this practical application. In this paper, we put forward a novel semi-supervised dual branch model that alleviate the need for large scale labeled logs for training a deep system log anomaly detector. Specifically, our model consists of two homogeneous networks that share the same parameters, one is called weak augmented teacher model and the other is termed as strong augmented student model. In the teacher model, the log features are augmented with small Gaussian noise, while in the student model, the strong augmentation is injected to force the model to learn a more robust feature representation with the guidance of teacher model provided soft labels. Furthermore, to further utilize unlabeled samples effectively, we propose a flexible label screening strategy that takes into account the confidence and stability of pseudo-labels. Experimental results show favorable effect of our model on prevalent HDFS and Hadoop Application datasets. Precisely, with only 30% training data labeled, our model can achieve the comparable results as the fully supervised version.
Bibliometrically mapping the research field of entrepreneurial communication: where we stand and where we need to go
Authors: Kaiser Manuel , Kuckertz Andreas
Published: June 2023

Entrepreneurial communication is vital for acquiring resources and building stakeholder relations in startups. This research stream has grown rapidly in recent years and has developed as a multidisciplinary field at the interface of communication and entrepreneurship. However, this rapid development and the plethora of associated perspectives have led to a diverse and fragmented research field with different foci and concepts, making structural overviews difficult. Against this background, we conducted a bibliometric analysis to uncover the hidden structure of previous entrepreneurial communication research and to guide scholars toward a future research agenda. First, we identified 383 articles via the Scopus database, published in 245 academic sources, that covered nearly 50 years of research. We then connected the results of previous research using co-occurrence analysis and a thematic map to highlight the intellectual structure of the field and offer insights into its research clusters. Our algorithmic historiographic analysis illustrates the development of the field over time and highlights upcoming topics. Overall, entrepreneurial communication is crucial, particularly for startups engaging in resource acquisition for employee and investor relations with venture capitalists and business angels.
Designing Weights for Quartet-Based Methods When Data are Heterogeneous Across Lineages
Authors: Casanellas Marta , Fernández-Sánchez Jesús , Garrote-López Marina , Sabaté-Vidales Marc
Published: June 2023

Homogeneity across lineages is a general assumption in phylogenetics according to which nucleotide substitution rates are common to all lineages. Many phylogenetic methods relax this hypothesis but keep a simple enough model to make the process of sequence evolution more tractable. On the other hand, dealing successfully with the general case (heterogeneity of rates across lineages) is one of the key features of phylogenetic reconstruction methods based on algebraic tools. The goal of this paper is twofold. First, we present a new weighting system for quartets () based on algebraic and semi-algebraic tools, thus especially indicated to deal with data evolving under heterogeneous rates. This method combines the weights of two previous methods by means of a test based on the positivity of the branch lengths estimated with the paralinear distance. is statistically consistent when applied to data generated under the general Markov model, considers rate and base composition heterogeneity among lineages and does not assume stationarity nor time-reversibility. Second, we test and compare the performance of several quartet-based methods for phylogenetic tree reconstruction (namely QFM, wQFM, quartet puzzling, weight optimization and Willson’s method) in combination with several systems of weights, including weights and other weights based on algebraic and semi-algebraic methods or on the paralinear distance. These tests are applied to both simulated and real data and support weight optimization with weights as a reliable and successful reconstruction method that improves upon the accuracy of global methods (such as neighbor-joining or maximum likelihood) in the presence of long branches or on mixtures of distributions on trees.
Prevalence and factors associated with cancer-related fatigue in Swiss adult survivors of childhood cancer
Authors: Sláma Tomáš , Belle Fabiën N. , Strebel Sven , Christen Salome , Hägler-Laube Eva , Rössler Jochen , Kuehni Claudia E. , von der Weid Nicolas X. , Schindera Christina
Published: June 2023

Purpose

Reported prevalence of cancer-related fatigue (CRF) among childhood cancer survivors (CCS) varies widely, and evidence on factors associated with CRF among CCS is limited. We aimed to investigate the prevalence of CRF and its associated factors among adult CCS in Switzerland.

Methods

In a prospective cohort study, we invited adult CCS who survived at least 5 years since last cancer diagnosis, and were diagnosed when age 0–20 years and treated at Inselspital Bern between 1976 and 2015 to complete two fatigue-measuring instruments: the Checklist Individual Strength subjective fatigue subscale (CIS8R; increased fatigue 27–34, severe fatigue ≥ 35) and the numerical rating scale (NRS; moderate fatigue 4–6, severe fatigue 7–10). We collected information about previous cancer treatment and medical history, and calculated β coefficients for the association between CIS8R/NRS fatigue scores and potential determinants using multivariable linear regression.

Results

We included 158 CCS (participation rate: 30%) with a median age at study of 33 years (interquartile range 26–38). Based on CIS8R, 19% (N = 30) of CCS reported increased fatigue, yet none reported severe fatigue. CRF was associated with female sex, central nervous system (CNS) tumors, sleep disturbance, and endocrine disorders. Lower CRF levels were observed among CCS age 30–39 years compared to those younger.

Conclusions

A considerable proportion of adult CCS reported increased levels of CRF.

Implications for Cancer Survivors

CCS who are female and < 30 years old, have a history of CNS tumor, report sleep disturbance, or have an endocrine disorder should be screened for CRF.
Persistence of Matrilocal Postmarital Residence Across Multiple Generations in Southern Africa
Authors: Reynolds Austin W. , Grote Mark N. , Myrick Justin W. , Al-Hindi Dana R. , Siford Rebecca L. , Mastoras Mira , Möller Marlo , Henn Brenna M.
Published: June 2023

Factors such as subsistence turnover, warfare, or interaction between different groups can be major sources of cultural change in human populations. Global demographic shifts such as the transition to agriculture during the Neolithic and more recently the urbanization and globalization of the twentieth century have been major catalysts for cultural change. Here, we test whether cultural traits such as patri/matrilocality and postmarital migration persist in the face of social upheaval and gene flow during the past 150 years in postcolonial South Africa. The recent history of South Africa has seen major demographic shifts that resulted in the displacement and forced sedentism of indigenous Khoekhoe and San populations. During the expansion of the colonial frontier, the Khoe-San admixed with European colonists and enslaved individuals from West/Central Africa, Indonesia, and South Asia, introducing novel cultural norms. We conducted demographic interviews among Nama and Cederberg communities representing nearly 3,000 individuals across three generations. Despite the history of colonial expansion, and the subsequent incorporation of Khoe-San and Khoe-San-descendant communities into a colonial society with strong patrilocal norms, patrilocality is the least common postmarital residence pattern in our study populations today. Our results suggest that more recent forces of integration into the market economy are likely the primary drivers of change in the cultural traits examined in our study. Birthplace had a strong effect on an individual’s odds of migration, distance moved, and postmarital residence form. These effects are at least partially explained by the population size of the birthplace. Our results suggest that market factors local to birthplaces are important drivers of residence decisions, although the frequency of matrilocal residence and a geographic and temporal cline in migration and residence patterns also indicate the persistence of some historic Khoe-San cultural traits in contemporary groups.
Temporal and Spatial Trends in Benthic Infauna and Potential Drivers, in a Highly Tidal Estuary in Atlantic Canada
Authors: Guerin Andrew J. , Kidd Karen A. , Maltais Marie-Josée , Mercer Angella , Hunt Heather L.
Published: June 2023

Infaunal invertebrate communities of coastal marine sediments are often impacted by human activities, particularly in harbours and estuaries. However, while many studies have attempted to identify the key factors affecting benthic infauna, few have done so for highly energetic tidal estuaries. Samples were collected over a decade (2011–2020) from a series of reference sites in Saint John Harbour (45.25° N, 66.05° W), a highly tidal estuary in the Bay of Fundy, Canada. These data were used to examine spatial and temporal trends in infaunal invertebrate communities and sediment properties and to determine the extent to which the biological patterns were driven by measured physical and chemical variables. There were substantial differences among sites in infaunal invertebrate abundance (median ranging from 688 to 13,700 individuals per square meter), infaunal species richness (median ranging from 8 to 22), and Shannon diversity (median ranging from 1.26 to 2.34); multivariate analysis also revealed variation in species composition among sites. Sediment contaminant concentrations also varied among sites, but differences tended to be smaller (e.g. median chromium concentrations ranging from 21.6 to 27.6 mg/kg). Sample contaminant concentrations were all below probable effect levels, and almost all below threshold effect levels (Canadian interim sediment quality guidelines), but relationships with biological data were still detectable. However, physical variables (depth, sediment characteristics) were better predictors of biological variables and community composition. These results confirm the importance of physical factors in shaping infaunal communities in soft-sediment habitats in tidally influenced coastal waters.
FIBP is a prognostic biomarker and correlated with clinicalpathological characteristics and immune infiltrates in acute myeloid leukemia
Authors: Ma Muya , Xu Lingling , Cui Wenhua , Huang Yan , Chi Gang
Published: June 2023

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is one of the most common hematological malignancy that has a high recurrence rate. FIBP was reported to be highly expressed in multiple tumor types. However, its expression and role in acute myeloid leukemia remains largely unknown. The aim of this study was to clarify the role and value of FIBP in the diagnosis and prognosis, and to analyze its correlation with immune infiltration in acute myeloid leukemia by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset. FIBP was highly expressed in AML samples compared to normal samples. The differentially expressed genes were identified between high and low expression of FIBP. The high FIBP expression group had poorer overall survival. FIBP was closely correlated with CD4, IL-10 and IL-2. The enrichment analysis indicated DEGs were mainly related to leukocyte migration, leukocyte cell–cell adhesion, myeloid leukocyte differentiation, endothelial cell proliferation and T cell tolerance induction. FIBP expression has significant correlation with infiltrating levels of various immune cells. FIBP could be a potential targeted therapy and prognostic biomarker associated with immune infiltrates for AML.
Assessing the relevance of allergenic pollen in indoor environments—current knowledge base and research needs
Authors: Nehr Sascha , Duarte Regina M. B. O. , Almeida Antoine S. , Baus Lukas , Bergmann Karl-Christian
Published: June 2023

Airborne pollen allergens—a relevant component of bioaerosols and, therefore, of airborne particulate matter—are considered an important metric in air quality assessments. Although the measurement of airborne pollen allergen concentrations in outdoor environments (namely, in urban areas) has been recognized as a key environmental health indicator, no such obligation exists for indoor environments (dwellings or occupational settings). However, people spend most of their daily time (80–90%) indoors, where the majority of their exposure to air pollution, including pollen allergens, occurs. Nonetheless, the relative importance of airborne pollen allergen exposure indoors differs from outdoors because of differences in pollen loads, sources, dispersion, and degree of penetration from the outdoor surroundings, as well as the differences in the allergenic pollen profiles. In this brief review, we mined the literature over the last 10 years to summarize what existing measurements reveal about the relevance of airborne allergenic pollen in indoor environments. The research priorities on this topic are presented, highlighting the challenges and the motivations for obtaining pollen data in built environments which are key to understand the extent and mechanisms of human exposure to airborne pollen allergens. Thus, we provide a comprehensive assessment of the relevance of airborne allergenic pollen in indoor environments, highlighting knowledge gaps and research needs related to their health effects.
50th anniversary review of the Mediterranean desiccation hypothesis
Authors: Ryan William B. F.
Published: June 2023

The first deep-sea drilling expedition in the Mediterranean chanced upon unanticipated discoveries when recovering deeply buried sediments of Late Miocene age that had once accumulated in ultra-shallow water and had later experienced subaerial exposure. Among these deposits were potassium and magnesium chlorides, desiccation cracks, fluvial gravels and shale bearing bottom-dwelling diatoms requiring sunlight, all indicative that the Mediterranean had evaporated one or more times to near dryness during what became called the Messinian Salinity Crisis. The initial presentation of these findings in 1973 was met with hesitancy. Had the present 2 to 4 km deep Mediterranean Basins been much shallower? How does one explain sediment sandwiched between beds of anhydrite and gypsum that hosted microfossils belonging to both ocean seawater and species that lived in fresh-to-brackish water lagoons? Did all of the evaporites originate on salt pans rimmed by alluvial aprons, or was there a deep-water period during which most of the 1 to 2 km thick layer of salt layer had arrived? How do the Late Miocene evaporites and mudstones outcropping in mobile belts along numerous Mediterranean margins fit with the scenario of a near empty Mediterranean? These inquiries are addressed in the style of a historical narrative reviewing 50 years of investigations by researchers turning their attention to the peripheral deposits, including those from the Paratethys. The stable isotopes of oxygen, carbon, sulfur, deuterium and strontium become crucial evidence in support of a substantial Mediterranean desiccation that harmonizes what appears to be unresolved conflicts among prior and even contemporary interpretations.
An Efficient Multilevel Threshold Segmentation Method for Breast Cancer Imaging Based on Metaheuristics Algorithms: Analysis and Validations
Authors: Abdel-Basset Mohamed , Mohamed Reda , Abouhawwash Mohamed , Askar S. S. , Tantawy Alshaimaa A.
Published: June 2023

Breast cancer is a hazardous disease that should be seriously tackled to reduce its danger in all aspects of the world. Therefore, several imaging ways to detect this disease were considered, but the produced images need to be accurately processed to effectively detect it. Image segmentation is an indispensable step in image processing to segment the homogenous regions that have similar features such as brightness, color, texture, contrast, form, and size. Several techniques like region-based, threshold-based, edge-based, and feature-based clustering have been developed for image segmentation; however, thresholding, which is divided into two classes: bilevel and multilevel, won the highest attention by the researchers due to its simplicity, ease of use and accuracy. The multilevel thresholding-based image segmentation is difficult to be tackled using traditional techniques, especially with increasing the threshold level; therefore, the researchers pay attention to the metaheuristic algorithms which could overcome several hard problems in a reasonable time. In this paper, a new hybrid metaheuristic algorithm based on integrating the jellyfish search algorithm with an effective improvement method is proposed for segmenting the color images of breast cancer, namely the hybrid jellyfish search algorithm HJSO. Experiments are extensively performed to appear the superiority of the proposed algorithm, including validating its performance using various breast cancer images and conducting an extensive comparison with several rival algorithms to explore its effectiveness. The experimental findings, including various performance metrics like fitness values, CPU time, Peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), standard deviation, Features similarity index (FSIM), and Structural similarity index (SSIM), totally show the efficiency of HJSO.
Living with Schizophrenia: the role of interpersonal relationships
Authors: Commey Isaac Tetteh , Ninnoni Jerry Paul K. , Asamoah Ampofo Evelyn , Miezah Daniel
Published: June 2023

People with a chronic condition such as schizophrenia encounter significant challenges interacting with their immediate environment. However, there is little data exploring interpersonal relationships between people living with schizophrenia and their families and healthcare providers, particularly in developing countries. This study investigated the interpersonal relationship experiences of persons with schizophrenia in Southern Ghana. The study adopted a descriptive phenomenological approach using the purposive sampling technique to recruit nine (9) persons living with schizophrenia. Data were collected using semi-structured in-depth, face-to-face interviews and analysed using a descriptive phenomenological data analysis framework. Five themes emerged; three described positive interpersonal relationships, and two negative interpersonal relationships existed in participants with schizophrenia. The study revealed a poor interpersonal relationship between study participants and the public. Stigma was implicated as a factor responsible for the negative interpersonal relationships between study participants and people outside their immediate families.
Dysregulated phosphate metabolism in autism spectrum disorder: associations and insights for future research
Authors: Brown Ronald B.
Published: June 2023

Studies of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) related to exposure to toxic levels of dietary phosphate are lacking. Phosphate toxicity from dysregulated phosphate metabolism can negatively impact almost every major organ system of the body, including the central nervous system. The present paper used a grounded theory-literature review method to synthesise associations of dysregulated phosphate metabolism with the aetiology of ASD. Cell signalling in autism has been linked to an altered balance between phosphoinositide kinases, which phosphorylate proteins, and the counteracting effect of phosphatases in neuronal membranes. Glial cell overgrowth in the developing ASD brain can lead to disturbances in neuro-circuitry, neuroinflammation and immune responses which are potentially related to excessive inorganic phosphate. The rise in ASD prevalence has been suggested to originate in changes to the gut microbiome from increasing consumption of additives in processed food, including phosphate additives. Ketogenic diets and dietary patterns that eliminate casein also reduce phosphate intake, which may account for many of the suggested benefits of these diets in children with ASD. Dysregulated phosphate metabolism is causatively linked to comorbid conditions associated with ASD such as cancer, tuberous sclerosis, mitochondrial dysfunction, diabetes, epilepsy, obesity, chronic kidney disease, tauopathy, cardiovascular disease and bone mineral disorders. Associations and proposals presented in this paper offer novel insights and directions for future research linking the aetiology of ASD with dysregulated phosphate metabolism and phosphate toxicity from excessive dietary phosphorus intake.
Mental health literacy: Perspectives from Northern Kenya Turkana adolescents
Authors: Wadende Pamela , Sodi Tholene
Published: June 2023

Mental illness accounts for high levels of morbidity, mortality and poor quality of life among young people. Depression, anxiety, conduct issues and hyperactive disorder account for 13% of the global burden of disease that affects one in seven adolescents. In Kenya, not much is documented about the mental health of non-school-going adolescents, and yet they make up about 1.8 million of the country’s population.

An ethnographic study by Focus Group Discussions with 32 rural northern Kenya Turkana-based adolescents divided into school and nonschool groups was conducted. We read out vignettes in which the main character exhibited symptoms of depression, schizophrenia or anxiety and explored their knowledge of causes and management options for the same, and then analyzed the data thematically.

Participants described the conditions without referring to the local names we had collected earlier: depression (Akiyalolong), schizophrenia (waarit/Ngikerep) and anxiety (Ngatameta naaronok). They assigned curses, guilt, hunger pangs, and evil spells as causes, and believed friends and age-mates, parents, teachers, and the local chief, among others, could help, but rarely medical intervention. Interventions to improve the adolescent’s knowledge of mental illness are a much-needed support for the health of young people.
Morphology, variation, and systematics of the late Cambrian Laurentian dikelocephalid trilobite Walcottaspis vanhornei (Walcott, 1914)
Authors: Srivastava Shravya , Hughes Nigel C.
Published: June 2023

Walcottaspis vanhornei (Walcott, 1914) is a large, late Cambrian trilobite with a unique pygidial morphology known only from a narrow outcrop belt of the St. Lawrence Formation in the Upper Mississippi Valley. Found in carbonate-rich layers within heterolithic facies that represent the toesets of a prograding shoreface, it is restricted to a single or small number of parasequences. Only four specimens of any of its sclerites have been illustrated previously. Here holaspid examples of all its biomineralized sclerites are described and illustrated, along with a morphometric analysis of cranidial landmarks and landmarks plus semilandmarks for the pygidium. Ontogenetic allometry accounts for 29% of the variance among holaspid cranidia and includes a relative shortening and narrowing of the palpebral lobe and a reduction in the relative length and width of the frontal area. Notable pygidial phenotypic variation occurs in the extent of the postaxial region and in the proportion of the structure occupied by the axis. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that W. vanhornei is sister taxon to Dikelocephalus minnesotensis Owen, 1852, which also occurs in the St. Lawrence Formation and has a broadly similar cephalon but distinctive trunk. The holaspid pygidium of W. vanhornei is uniquely characterized by the interpleural furrows of the first two segments becoming abruptly obsolete on approaching the axial furrow. Some pygidia show narrow, shallow, flat-bottomed grooves etched into the internal sides of the dorsal surface or doublure that apparently represent infestation of the live trilobite.
Hydra II: Characterisation of Aegean, Caesar, ProFound, PyBDSF, and Selavy source finders
Authors: Boyce M. M. , Hopkins A. M. , Riggi S. , Rudnick L. , Ramsay M. , Hale C. L. , Marvil J. , Whiting M. T. , Venkataraman P. , O’Dea C. P. , Baum S. A. , Gordon Y. A. , Vantyghem A. N. , Dionyssiou M. , Andernach H. , Collier J. D. , English J. , Koribalski B. S. , Leahy D. , Michałowski M. J. , Safi-Harb S. , Vaccari M. , Alexander E. L. , Cowley M. , Kapinska A. D. , Robotham A. S. G. , Tang H.
Published: June 2023

We present a comparison between the performance of a selection of source finders (SFs) using a new software tool called Hydra. The companion paper, Paper I, introduced the Hydra tool and demonstrated its performance using simulated data. Here we apply Hydra to assess the performance of different source finders by analysing real observational data taken from the Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) Pilot Survey. EMU is a wide-field radio continuum survey whose primary goal is to make a deep ($20\mu$Jy/beam RMS noise), intermediate angular resolution ($15^{\prime\prime}$), 1 GHz survey of the entire sky south of$+30^{\circ}$declination, and expecting to detect and catalogue up to 40 million sources. With the main EMU survey it is highly desirable to understand the performance of radio image SF software and to identify an approach that optimises source detection capabilities. Hydra has been developed to refine this process, as well as to deliver a range of metrics and source finding data products from multiple SFs. We present the performance of the five SFs tested here in terms of their completeness and reliability statistics, their flux density and source size measurements, and an exploration of case studies to highlight finder-specific limitations.
A new species and new combination of Lecanora s. str. (Lecanoraceae) from China
Authors: Li Lijuan , Wang Lisong , Printzen Christian
Published: June 2023

A new lichen species, Lecanora zeorina Li J. Li & Printzen is described here from the south-west of China. Lecanora zeorina is characterized by its somewhat areolate-squamulose thallus, zeorine to lecanorine apothecia, an epihymenium without crystals around expanded paraphyses tips, an amphithecium with large calcium oxalate crystals and the production of atranorin. A new combination, Lecanora crystalliniformis (B.G. Lee & Hur) Li J. Li & Printzen, is based on Protoparmeliopsis crystalliniformis B.G. Lee & Hur, which was described as a new species from South Korea. Collections from China are almost identical in morphology and chemistry, and are phylogenetically closely related. Phylogenetic reconstructions based on ITS and mtSSU suggest that these two lecanoroid species belong in Lecanora s. str. where they form a sister group to sorediate species such as L. barkmaniana Aptroot & Herk and L. variolascens Nyl. Detailed descriptions, discussions, distributions and phylogenetic trees, based on multiple collections, are presented.
The decline of multilingualism in a divided public sphere: The Indian Press and cultural politics in colonial Allahabad (1890–1920)
Authors: Poddar Sanjukta
Published: June 2023

This article draws attention to the provincial city of Allahabad at the turn of the century as the site of a prolific and multilingual print culture. While publishing trends in this city were shaped by the intertwined histories of political culture and cultural politics, specific journals responded to these forces in ways that remain unexamined. Taking the Indian Press—established in 1884 and arguably the city’s most important multilingual publishing house—and four prominent journals that it produced (Saraswatī, Prabāsī, The Modern Review, and Adīb) as case study, I analyse the entanglements between print culture and debates on the contentious issues of languages and identities in a divided public sphere. Based on an extensive analysis of several decades of publishing trends for Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, and English, I argue that the continued thriving of many languages, or multilingualism, cannot be read simply as evidence for the proliferation of syncretism in the early decades of the twentieth century. Through a detailed reading of this complex field of cultural production, I show that while multilingual publishing thrived, cultural discourse led by middle-class and elite intellectuals was increasingly becoming homogeneous and insular, pushing a milieu of multilingual readers and publishers towards a narrow nationalist and majoritarian ideal. Thus, upon close analysis, multilingualism as a cultural value in the era of colonial modernity mirrored the fractures within the public sphere.
Same same, but different: effects of likelihood framing on concerns about a medical disease in patients with somatoform disorders, major depression, and healthy people
Authors: Kube Tobias , Riecke Jenny , Heider Jens , Glombiewski Julia A. , Rief Winfried , Barsky Arthur J.
Published: June 2023

Background

Research has shown that patients with somatoform disorders (SFD) have difficulty using medical reassurance (i.e. normal results from diagnostic testing) to revise concerns about being seriously ill. In this brief report, we investigated whether deficits in adequately interpreting the likelihood of a medical disease may contribute to this difficulty, and whether patients’ concerns are altered by different likelihood framings.

Methods

Patients with SFD (N = 60), patients with major depression (N = 32), and healthy volunteers (N = 37) were presented with varying likelihoods for the presence of a serious medical disease and were asked how concerned they are about it. The likelihood itself was varied, as was the format in which it was presented (i.e. negative framing focusing on the presence of a disease v. positive framing emphasizing its absence; use of natural frequencies v. percentages).

Results

Patients with SFD reported significantly more concern than depressed patients and healthy people in response to low likelihoods (i.e. 1: 100 000 to 1:10), while the groups were similarly concerned for likelihoods ⩾1:5. Across samples, the same mathematical likelihood caused significantly different levels of concern depending on how it was framed, with the lowest degree of concern for a positive framing approach and higher concern for natural frequencies (e.g. 1:100) than for percentages (e.g. 1%).

Conclusions

The results suggest a specific deficit of patients with SFD in interpreting low likelihoods for the presence of a medical disease. Positive framing approaches and the use of percentages rather than natural frequencies can lower the degree of concern.
Neural habituation during acute stress signals a blunted endocrine response and poor resilience
Authors: Liu Yadong , Zhao Xiaolin , Hu Weiyu , Ren Yipeng , Wei Zhenni , Ren Xi , Tang Zihan , Wang Nan , Chen Haopeng , Li Yizhuo , Shi Zhenhao , Qin Shaozheng , Yang Juan
Published: June 2023

Background

A blunted hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis response to acute stress is associated with psychiatric symptoms. Although the prefrontal cortex and limbic areas are important regulators of the HPA axis, whether the neural habituation of these regions during stress signals both blunted HPA axis responses and psychiatric symptoms remains unclear. In this study, neural habituation during acute stress and its associations with the stress cortisol response, resilience, and depression were evaluated.

Methods

Seventy-seven participants (17–22 years old, 37 women) were recruited for a ScanSTRESS brain imaging study, and the activation changes between the first and last stress blocks were used as the neural habituation index. Meanwhile, participants' salivary cortisol during test was collected. Individual-level resilience and depression were measured using questionnaires. Correlation and moderation analyses were conducted to investigate the association between neural habituation and endocrine data and mental symptoms. Validated analyses were conducted using a Montreal Image Stress Test dataset in another independent sample (48 participants; 17–22 years old, 24 women).

Results

Neural habituation of the prefrontal cortex and limbic area was negatively correlated with cortisol responses in both datasets. In the ScanSTRESS paradigm, neural habituation was both positively correlated with depression and negatively correlated with resilience. Moreover, resilience moderated the relationship between neural habituation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and cortisol response.

Conclusions

This study suggested that neural habituation of the prefrontal cortex and limbic area could reflect motivation dysregulation during repeated failures and negative feedback, which might further lead to maladaptive mental states.
Bare Life, Facticity, and Biopolitics in Agamben and the Early Heidegger
Authors: Cimino Antonio
Published: June 2023

The first book of Agamben'sHomo Sacerseries contains very few references to Heidegger. Even so, the pages that Agamben devotes to Heidegger in the third part of the book are far from a digression. They touch on a number of crucial topics that are vital to both Heidegger and Agamben, such as the relationship between philosophy and politics, the specific philosophical motivations behind Heidegger's political commitment, and life as a central philosophical theme. This article evaluates Agamben's interpretation of Heidegger in those pages by concentrating on two interrelated questions: (1) whether and to what extent Agamben's biopolitical reading of Heidegger is plausible and persuasive, and (2) how to judge the relationship between their respective accounts of life, which center around the two seminal concepts of “bare life” and “facticity.”