bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The 2021 John Gaus Award Lecture: Public Administration and the War Against COVID
Authors: Hood Christopher
Published: March 2022

I am not sure if surprise, delight, or gratitude best describes my feelings about receiving this great honor. I experienced all of those emotions in full measure. I must begin by sincerely thanking the American Political Science Association (APSA) Public Administration Section for conferring the 2021 John Gaus Award on me and by saying how much it means to me. Looking at the list of previous John Gaus Award winners, I am indeed awed to be included in their number. There are so many names whose work I have deeply admired and others whom I have known quite well. Just three examples are George Frederickson, Vincent Ostrom, and Aaron Wildavsky, all of whom were extraordinarily kind and generous to me and greatly influenced my work. I only wish they were still here so I could thank them for all they did for me. The same is true for other now-departed mentors, including Mary Douglas, Andrew Dunsire, and Bill Mackenzie, to mention only a few.
A Note on nonconvex adjustment costs in lumpy investment models: Mean versus variance
Authors: Fang Min
Published: March 2022

This paper revisits the canonical assumption of nonconvex capital adjustment costs in lumpy investment models as in Khan and Thomas [(2008) Econometrica 76(2), 395–436], which are assumed to follow a uniform distribution from zero to an upper bound, without distinguishing between the mean and the variance of the distribution. Unlike the usual claim that the upper bound stands for the size (represented by the mean) of a nonconvex cost, I show that in order to generate an empirically consistent interest elasticity of aggregate investment, both a sizable mean and a sizable variance are necessary. The mean governs the importance of the extensive margin in aggregate investment dynamics, while the variance governs how sensitive the extensive margin is to changes in the real interest rate. As a result, both the mean and the variance are quantitatively important for aggregate investment dynamics.
Agricultural Adaptation to Reconcile Food Security and Water Sustainability Under Climate Change: The Case of Cereals in Iran
Authors: Karandish Fatemeh , Nouri Hamideh , Schyns Joep F.
Published: March 2022

In this study, we simulate the crop yield and water footprint (WF) of major food crops of Iran on irrigated and rainfed croplands for the historical and the future climate. We assess the effects of three agricultural adaptation strategies to climate change in terms of potential blue water savings. We then evaluate to what extent these savings can reduce unsustainable blue WF. We find that cereal production increases under climate change in both irrigated and rainfed croplands (by 2.6–3.1 and 1.4–2.3 million t yr−1, respectively) due to increased yields (6.6%–78.7%). Simultaneously, the unit WF (m3 t−1) tends to decrease in most scenarios. However, the annual consumptive water use increases in both irrigated and rainfed croplands (by 0.3–1.8 and 0.5–1.7 billion m3 yr−1, respectively). This is most noticeable in the arid regions, where consumptive water use increases by roughly 70% under climate change. Off‐season cultivation is the most effective adaptation strategy to alleviate additional pressure on blue water resources with blue water savings of 14–15 billion m3 yr−1. The second most effective is WF benchmarking, which results in blue water savings of 1.1–3.5 billion m3 yr−1. The early planting strategy is less effective but still leads to blue water savings of 1.7–1.9 billion m3 yr−1. In the same order of effectiveness, these three strategies can reduce blue water scarcity and unsustainable blue water use in Iran under current conditions. However, we find that these strategies do not mitigate water scarcity in all provinces per se, nor all months of the year.
Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances Observed Over South America After Lithospheric Events: 2010–2020
Authors: Bravo M. , Benavente R. , Foppiano A. , Urra B. , Ovalle E.
Published: March 2022

Here, the ionospheric response to earthquakes, earthquakes inducing tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions are presented as a contribution to the so‐called ionospheric seismology with the eventual development of real‐time warning systems in mind. A thorough analysis of Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances (TIDs) observed after these lithospheric events in South America is presented. It is based on a decade of total electron content (TEC) anomaly maps constructed explicitly for this purpose, likely the most extensive survey ever for South America. Three disturbance types are identified: TIDs generated by shock‐acoustic waves, by gravity waves, possibly induced by tsunami waves, and by Rayleigh surface waves. TIDs are observed after earthquakes with epicenters on the Pacific Ocean east coast, except one in the middle of the ocean. TIDs‐generating earthquake thresholds are found to be Mw ≥ 7.0 and depth ≤40, and TID amplitudes and ranges are proportional to earthquake magnitude. Fault mechanism and satellite‐receiver pair geometry are also considered. TIDs after volcanic eruptions confirm that atmospheric resonances are already reported. TIDs propagation direction depends strongly on the geomagnetic field direction, propagation toward the geomagnetic equator being more efficient. It was only possible to add some kind of vertical disturbance‐propagation evidence to TEC TIDs identification in some cases using ionograms from nearby ionosondes. A denser ionosonde network with greater sounding frequency would be necessary for further study.
Impact of busulfan pharmacokinetics on outcome in adult patients receiving an allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation
Authors: Seydoux Claire , Battegay Raphael , Halter Joerg , Heim Dominik , Rentsch Katharina M. , Passweg Jakob R. , Medinger Michael
Published: March 2022

Busulfan (Bu) is widely used in conditioning regimens before allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation, with variable metabolism due to interindividual differences of pharmacokinetics (PK). The purpose of this study was to correlate pharmacokinetics and clinical outcomes. Lower-AUC, in range-AUC and higher-AUC were defined as ±25% of the targeted Bu-AUC. In 2019, we changed Bu dosing from 4×/day (Bu-4) to 1×/day (Bu-1) for ease of application. AUC-target range was reached in 46% of patients; 40% were in low-AUC and 14% in high-AUC. Among all toxicities, viral and fungal infections were significantly more frequent in high-AUC compared with low-AUC (20% vs. 8%; p = 0.01 and 37% vs. 17%; p = 0.03). Bu-1 showed lower PK values (66% vs. 36% of Bu-4 in low-AUC; p < 0.01) and higher incidence of mucositis (p = 0.02). Long-term outcomes at 2 years showed a higher non-relapse mortality (NRM) (p < 0.01) and higher relative risk of death in the high-AUC group compared to the other groups. Cumulative incidence of relapse and acute/chronic GvHD were not significantly different. The optimal cut-off in Bu-AUC associated with low NRM was 969 µmol/l*min (ROC AUC 0.67, sensitivity 0.86 and specificity 0.47) for Bu-4. In conclusion, low-AUC BU-PK seems of benefit regarding NRM and survival.
RETRACTED ARTICLE: Circular RNA circStag1 promotes bone regeneration by interacting with HuR
Authors: Chen Gaoyang , Long Canling , Wang Shang , Wang Zhenmin , Chen Xin , Tang Wanze , He Xiaoqin , Bao Zhiteng , Tan Baoyu , Zhao Jin , Xie Yongheng , Li Zhizhong , Yang Dazhi , Xiao Guozhi , Peng Songlin
Published: March 2022

Postmenopausal osteoporosis is a common bone metabolic disorder characterized by deterioration of the bone microarchitecture, leading to an increased risk of fractures. Recently, circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been demonstrated to play pivotal roles in regulating bone metabolism. However, the underlying functions of circRNAs in bone metabolism in postmenopausal osteoporosis remain obscure. Here, we report that circStag1 is a critical osteoporosis-related circRNA that shows significantly downregulated expression in osteoporotic bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and clinical bone tissue samples from patients with osteoporosis. Overexpression of circStag1 significantly promoted the osteogenic capability of BMSCs. Mechanistically, we found that circStag1 interacts with human antigen R (HuR), an RNA-binding protein, and promotes the translocation of HuR into the cytoplasm. A high cytoplasmic level of HuR led to the activation of the Wnt signaling pathway by stabilizing and enhancing low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 5/6 (Lrp5/6) and β-catenin expression, thereby stimulating the osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs. Furthermore, overexpression of circStag1 in vivo by circStag1-loaded adeno-associated virus (circStag1-AAV) promoted new bone formation, thereby preventing bone loss in ovariectomized rats. Collectively, we show that circStag1 plays a pivotal role in promoting the regeneration of bone tissue via HuR/Wnt signaling, which may provide new strategies to prevent bone metabolic disorders such as postmenopausal osteoporosis.
AMTB, a TRPM8 antagonist, suppresses growth and metastasis of osteosarcoma through repressing the TGFβ signaling pathway
Authors: Liu Yujie , Leng Ao , Li Lin , Yang Bo , Shen Shihui , Chen Hui , Zhu Enhao , Xu Qiyue , Ma Xiaoyu , Shi Peilin , Liu Yun , Liu Tielong , Li Lei , Li Kun , Zhang Dan , Xiao Jianru
Published: March 2022

Since its first identification in prostate cancers and prostate tissues, transient receptor potential melastatin-subfamily member 8 (TRPM8) is subsequently found to be overexpressed in a wide range of cancers and is shown to be implicated in tumorigenesis and tumor progression. Here, we used N-(3-aminopropyl)-2-[(3-methylphenyl) methoxy] -N-(2-thienylmethyl) benzamide hydrochloride (AMTB), a specific TRPM8 antagonist, to explore its antitumoral effect on osteosarcoma. We find that AMTB suppresses osteosarcoma cell proliferation, metastasis and induces cellular apoptosis. Xenograft model in nude mice experiments also define that AMTB can increase the sensitivity of tumor cells to cisplatin, the cytotoxic chemotherapeutic regimens in treating osteosarcoma. Molecularly, AMTB specifically antagonizes TRPM8 which is upregulated in osteosarcoma and its expression level in osteosarcoma tissues is negatively related to patients’ prognosis. Finally, RNA sequencing analysis was performed to explore the mechanism underlying the antitumoral effect of AMTB on osteosarcoma cells and the results prove that AMTB suppresses the Transforming Growth Factor β (TGFβ) signaling pathway. Our study provides evidence that TRPM8 could be a potential therapeutic target and AMTB can suppress growth and metastasis of osteosarcoma cells through repressing the TGFβ signaling pathway and increase the sensitivity of tumor cells to cisplatin.
Usp8 promotes tumor cell migration through activating the JNK pathway
Authors: Zhao Yunhe , Peng Dezhen , Liu Yanyun , Zhang Qian , Liu Bin , Deng Yanran , Ding Wenhao , Zhou Zizhang , Liu Qingxin
Published: March 2022

Tumor metastasis is the most cause of high mortality for cancer patients. Identification of novel factors that modulate tumor cell migration is of great significance for therapeutic strategies. Here, we find that the ubiquitin-specific protease 8 (Usp8) promotes tumor cell migration through activating the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) pathway. Genetic epistasis analyses uncover Usp8 acts upstream of Tak1 to control the JNK pathway. Consistently, biochemical results reveal that Usp8 binds Tak1 to remove ubiquitin modification from Tak1, leading to its stabilization. In addition, human USP8 also triggers tumor cell migration and activates the JNK pathway. Finally, we show that knockdown of USP8 in human breast cancer cells suppresses cell migration. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that a conserved Usp8-Tak1-JNK axis promotes tumor cell migration, and providing USP8 as a potential therapeutic target for cancer treatment.
Fixational drift is driven by diffusive dynamics in central neural circuitry
Authors: Ben-Shushan Nadav , Shaham Nimrod , Joshua Mati , Burak Yoram
Published: March 2022

During fixation and between saccades, our eyes undergo diffusive random motion called fixational drift. The role of fixational drift in visual coding and inference has been debated in the past few decades, but the mechanisms that underlie this motion remained unknown. In particular, it has been unclear whether fixational drift arises from peripheral sources, or from central sources within the brain. Here we show that fixational drift is correlated with neural activity, and identify its origin in central neural circuitry within the oculomotor system, upstream to the ocular motoneurons (OMNs). We analyzed a large data set of OMN recordings in the rhesus monkey, alongside precise measurements of eye position, and found that most of the variance of fixational eye drifts must arise upstream of the OMNs. The diffusive statistics of the motion points to the oculomotor integrator, a memory circuit responsible for holding the eyes still between saccades, as a likely source of the motion. Theoretical modeling, constrained by the parameters of the primate oculomotor system, supports this hypothesis by accounting for the amplitude as well as the statistics of the motion. Thus, we propose that fixational ocular drift provides a direct observation of diffusive dynamics in a neural circuit responsible for storage of continuous parameter memory in persistent neural activity. The identification of a mechanistic origin for fixational drift is likely to advance the understanding of its role in visual processing and inference.
Protein-based SARS-CoV-2 spike vaccine booster increases cross-neutralization against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern in non-human primates
Authors: Pavot Vincent , Berry Catherine , Kishko Michael , Anosova Natalie G. , Huang Dean , Tibbitts Tim , Raillard Alice , Gautheron Sylviane , Gutzeit Cindy , Koutsoukos Marguerite , Chicz Roman M. , Lecouturier Valerie
Published: March 2022

The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants that partly evade neutralizing antibodies raises concerns of reduced vaccine effectiveness and increased infection. We previously demonstrated that the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein vaccine adjuvanted with AS03 (CoV2 preS dTM-AS03) elicits robust neutralizing antibody responses in naïve subjects. Here we show that, in macaques primed with mRNA or protein-based subunit vaccine candidates, one booster dose of CoV2 preS dTM-AS03 (monovalent D614 or B.1.351, or bivalent D614 + B.1.351 formulations), significantly boosts the pre-existing neutralizing antibodies against the parental strain from 177- to 370-fold. Importantly, the booster dose elicits high and persistent cross-neutralizing antibodies covering five former or current SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Omicron) and, unexpectedly, SARS-CoV-1. Interestingly, we show that the booster specifically increases the functional antibody responses as compared to the receptor binding domain (RBD)-specific responses. Our findings show that these vaccine candidates, when used as a booster, have the potential to offer cross-protection against a broad spectrum of variants. This has important implications for vaccine control of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern and informs on the benefit of a booster with the vaccine candidates currently under evaluation in clinical trials.
A natural timeless polymorphism allowing circadian clock synchronization in “white nights”
Authors: Lamaze Angelique , Chen Chenghao , Leleux Solene , Xu Min , George Rebekah , Stanewsky Ralf
Published: March 2022

Daily temporal organisation offers a fitness advantage and is determined by an interplay between environmental rhythms and circadian clocks. While light:dark cycles robustly synchronise circadian clocks, it is not clear how animals experiencing only weak environmental cues deal with this problem. Like humans, Drosophila originate in sub-Saharan Africa and spread North up to the polar circle, experiencing long summer days or even constant light (LL). LL disrupts clock function, due to constant activation of CRYPTOCHROME, which induces degradation of the clock protein TIMELESS (TIM), but temperature cycles are able to overcome these deleterious effects of LL. We show here that for this to occur a recently evolved natural timeless allele (ls-tim) is required, encoding the less light-sensitive L-TIM in addition to S-TIM, the only form encoded by the ancient s-tim allele. We show that only ls-tim flies can synchronise their behaviour to semi-natural conditions typical for Northern European summers, suggesting that this functional gain is driving the Northward ls-tim spread.
Ferroelectric photosensor network: an advanced hardware solution to real-time machine vision
Authors: Cui Boyuan , Fan Zhen , Li Wenjie , Chen Yihong , Dong Shuai , Tan Zhengwei , Cheng Shengliang , Tian Bobo , Tao Ruiqiang , Tian Guo , Chen Deyang , Hou Zhipeng , Qin Minghui , Zeng Min , Lu Xubing , Zhou Guofu , Gao Xingsen , Liu Jun-Ming
Published: March 2022

Nowadays the development of machine vision is oriented toward real-time applications such as autonomous driving. This demands a hardware solution with low latency, high energy efficiency, and good reliability. Here, we demonstrate a robust and self-powered in-sensor computing paradigm with a ferroelectric photosensor network (FE-PS-NET). The FE-PS-NET, constituted by ferroelectric photosensors (FE-PSs) with tunable photoresponsivities, is capable of simultaneously capturing and processing images. In each FE-PS, self-powered photovoltaic responses, modulated by remanent polarization of an epitaxial ferroelectric Pb(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3 layer, show not only multiple nonvolatile levels but also sign reversibility, enabling the representation of a signed weight in a single device and hence reducing the hardware overhead for network construction. With multiple FE-PSs wired together, the FE-PS-NET acts on its own as an artificial neural network. In situ multiply-accumulate operation between an input image and a stored photoresponsivity matrix is demonstrated in the FE-PS-NET. Moreover, the FE-PS-NET is faultlessly competent for real-time image processing functionalities, including binary classification between ‘X’ and ‘T’ patterns with 100% accuracy and edge detection for an arrow sign with an F-Measure of 1 (under 365 nm ultraviolet light). This study highlights the great potential of ferroelectric photovoltaics as the hardware basis of real-time machine vision.
Large interannual variability in supraglacial lakes around East Antarctica
Authors: Arthur Jennifer F. , Stokes Chris R. , Jamieson Stewart S. R. , Rachel Carr J. , Leeson Amber A. , Verjans Vincent
Published: March 2022

Antarctic supraglacial lakes (SGLs) have been linked to ice shelf collapse and the subsequent acceleration of inland ice flow, but observations of SGLs remain relatively scarce and their interannual variability is largely unknown. This makes it difficult to assess whether some ice shelves are close to thresholds of stability under climate warming. Here, we present the first observations of SGLs across the entire East Antarctic Ice Sheet over multiple melt seasons (2014–2020). Interannual variability in SGL volume is >200% on some ice shelves, but patterns are highly asynchronous. More extensive, deeper SGLs correlate with higher summer (December-January-February) air temperatures, but comparisons with modelled melt and runoff are complex. However, we find that modelled January melt and the ratio of November firn air content to summer melt are important predictors of SGL volume on some potentially vulnerable ice shelves, suggesting large increases in SGLs should be expected under future atmospheric warming.
Deep learning corrosion detection with confidence
Authors: Nash Will , Zheng Liang , Birbilis Nick
Published: March 2022

Corrosion costs an estimated 3–4% of GDP for most nations each year, leading to significant loss of assets. Research regarding automatic corrosion detection is ongoing, with recent progress leveraging advances in deep learning. Studies are hindered however, by the lack of a publicly available dataset. Thus, corrosion detection models use locally produced datasets suitable for the immediate conditions, but are unable to produce generalized models for corrosion detection. The corrosion detection model algorithms will output a considerable number of false positives and false negatives when challenged in the field. In this paper, we present a deep learning corrosion detector that performs pixel-level segmentation of corrosion. Moreover, three Bayesian variants are presented that provide uncertainty estimates depicting the confidence levels at each pixel, to better inform decision makers. Experiments were performed on a freshly collected dataset consisting of 225 images, discussed and validated herein.
Caltech Conte Center, a multimodal data resource for exploring social cognition and decision-making
Authors: Kliemann Dorit , Adolphs Ralph , Armstrong Tim , Galdi Paola , Kahn David A. , Rusch Tessa , Enkavi A. Zeynep , Liang Deuhua , Lograsso Steven , Zhu Wenying , Yu Rona , Nair Remya , Paul Lynn K. , Tyszka J. Michael
Published: March 2022

This data release of 117 healthy community-dwelling adults provides multimodal high-quality neuroimaging and behavioral data for the investigation of brain-behavior relationships. We provide structural MRI, resting-state functional MRI, movie functional MRI, together with questionnaire-based and task-based psychological variables; many of the participants have multiple datasets from retesting over the course of several years. Our dataset is distinguished by utilizing open-source data formats and processing tools (BIDS, FreeSurfer, fMRIPrep, MRIQC), providing data that is thoroughly quality checked, preprocessed to various extents and available in multiple anatomical spaces. A customizable denoising pipeline is provided as open-source code that includes tools for the generation of functional connectivity matrices and initialization of individual difference analyses. Behavioral data include a comprehensive set of psychological assessments on gold-standard instruments encompassing cognitive function, mood and personality, together with exploratory factor analyses. The dataset provides an in-depth, multimodal resource for investigating associations between individual differences, brain structure and function, with a focus on the domains of social cognition and decision-making.
The Mexican magnetic resonance imaging dataset of patients with cocaine use disorder: SUDMEX CONN
Authors: Angeles-Valdez Diego , Rasgado-Toledo Jalil , Issa-Garcia Victor , Balducci Thania , Villicaña Viviana , Valencia Alely , Gonzalez-Olvera Jorge Julio , Reyes-Zamorano Ernesto , Garza-Villarreal Eduardo A.
Published: March 2022

Cocaine use disorder (CUD) is a substance use disorder (SUD) characterized by compulsion to seek, use and abuse of cocaine, with severe health and economic consequences for the patients, their families and society. Due to the lack of successful treatments and high relapse rate, more research is needed to understand this and other SUD. Here, we present the SUDMEX CONN dataset, a Mexican open dataset of 74 CUD patients (9 female) and matched 64 healthy controls (6 female) that includes demographic, cognitive, clinical, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data. MRI data includes: 1) structural (T1-weighted), 2) multishell high-angular resolution diffusion-weighted (DWI-HARDI) and 3) functional (resting state fMRI) sequences. The repository contains unprocessed MRI data available in brain imaging data structure (BIDS) format with corresponding metadata available at the OpenNeuro data sharing platform. Researchers can pursue brain variability between these groups or use a single group for a larger population sample.
Emergence and structure of decentralised trade networks around dark web marketplaces
Authors: Nadini Matthieu , Bracci Alberto , ElBahrawy Abeer , Gradwell Philip , Teytelboym Alexander , Baronchelli Andrea
Published: March 2022

Dark web marketplaces (DWMs) are online platforms that facilitate illicit trade among millions of users generating billions of dollars in annual revenue. Recently, two interview-based studies have suggested that DWMs may also promote the emergence of direct user-to-user (U2U) trading relationships. Here, we carefully investigate and quantify the scale of U2U trading around DWMs by analysing 31 million Bitcoin transactions among users of 40 DWMs between June 2011 and Jan 2021. We find that half of the DWM users trade through U2U pairs generating a total trading volume greater than DWMs themselves. We then show that hundreds of thousands of DWM users form stable trading pairs that are persistent over time. Users in such stable pairs turn out to be the ones with the largest trading volume on DWMs. Then, we show that new U2U pairs often form while both users are active on the same DWM, suggesting the marketplace may serve as a catalyst for new direct trading relationships. Finally, we reveal that stable U2U pairs tend to survive DWM closures and that they were not affected by COVID-19, indicating that their trading activity is resilient to external shocks. Our work unveils sophisticated patterns of trade emerging in the dark web and highlights the importance of investigating user behaviour beyond the immediate buyer-seller network on a single marketplace.
A framework for rigorous evaluation of human performance in human and machine learning comparison studies
Authors: Cowley Hannah P. , Natter Mandy , Gray-Roncal Karla , Rhodes Rebecca E. , Johnson Erik C. , Drenkow Nathan , Shead Timothy M. , Chance Frances S. , Wester Brock , Gray-Roncal William
Published: March 2022

Rigorous comparisons of human and machine learning algorithm performance on the same task help to support accurate claims about algorithm success rates and advances understanding of their performance relative to that of human performers. In turn, these comparisons are critical for supporting advances in artificial intelligence. However, the machine learning community has lacked a standardized, consensus framework for performing the evaluations of human performance necessary for comparison. We demonstrate common pitfalls in a designing the human performance evaluation and propose a framework for the evaluation of human performance, illustrating guiding principles for a successful comparison. These principles are first, to design the human evaluation with an understanding of the differences between human and algorithm cognition; second, to match trials between human participants and the algorithm evaluation, and third, to employ best practices for psychology research studies, such as the collection and analysis of supplementary and subjective data and adhering to ethical review protocols. We demonstrate our framework’s utility for designing a study to evaluate human performance on a one-shot learning task. Adoption of this common framework may provide a standard approach to evaluate algorithm performance and aid in the reproducibility of comparisons between human and machine learning algorithm performance.
The coherence time of sunlight in the context of natural and artificial light-harvesting
Authors: Ricketti Berke Vow , Gauger Erik M. , Fedrizzi Alessandro
Published: March 2022

The suggestion that quantum coherence might enhance biological processes such as photosynthesis is not only of fundamental importance but also leads to hopes of developing bio-inspired ‘green’ quantum technologies that mimic nature. A key question is how the timescale of coherent processes in molecular systems compare to that of the driving light source—the Sun. Across the quantum biology literature on light-harvesting, the coherence time quoted for sunlight spans about two orders of magnitude, ranging from 0.6 to ‘10s’ of femtoseconds. This difference can potentially be significant in deciding whether the induced light-matter coherence is long enough to affect dynamical processes following photoexcitation. Here we revisit the historic calculations of sunlight coherence starting with the black-body spectrum and then proceed to provide values for the more realistic case of atmospherically filtered light. We corroborate these values with interferometric measurements of the complex degree of temporal coherence from which we calculate the coherence time of atmospherically filtered sunlight as $$1.12\pm {0.04}\,{\hbox { fs}}$$

1.12
±

0.04

fs

, as well as the coherence time in a chlorophyll analogous filtered case as $$4.87\pm {0.21}\,{\hbox { fs}}$$

4.87
±

0.21

fs

.
Methane emissions and rumen metabolite concentrations in cattle fed two different silages
Authors: Bica R. , Palarea-Albaladejo J. , Lima J. , Uhrin D. , Miller G. A. , Bowen J. M. , Pacheco D. , Macrae A. , Dewhurst R. J.
Published: March 2022

In this study, 18 animals were fed two forage-based diets: red clover (RC) and grass silage (GS), in a crossover-design experiment in which methane (CH4) emissions were recorded in respiration chambers. Rumen samples obtained through naso-gastric sampling tubes were analysed by NMR. Methane yield (g/kg DM) was significantly lower from animals fed RC (17.8 ± 3.17) compared to GS (21.2 ± 4.61) p = 0.008. In total 42 metabolites were identified, 6 showing significant differences between diets (acetate, propionate, butyrate, valerate, 3-phenylopropionate, and 2-hydroxyvalerate). Partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) was used to assess which metabolites were more important to distinguish between diets and partial least squares (PLS) regressions were used to assess which metabolites were more strongly associated with the variation in CH4 emissions. Acetate, butyrate and propionate along with dimethylamine were important for the distinction between diets according to the PLS-DA results. PLS regression revealed that diet and dry matter intake are key factors to explain CH4 variation when included in the model. Additionally, PLS was conducted within diet, revealing that the association between metabolites and CH4 emissions can be conditioned by diet. These results provide new insights into the methylotrophic methanogenic pathway, confirming that metabolite profiles change according to diet composition, with consequences for CH4 emissions.
Investigation of Toxoplasma gondii in wastewater and surface water in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China using real-time PCR and multilocus genotyping
Authors: Lass Anna , Kontogeorgos Ioannis , Ma Liqing , Zhang Xueyong , Li Xiuping , Karanis Panagiotis
Published: March 2022

Toxoplasma gondii is a protozoan parasite, causing one of the most prevalent parasitic infections in the world. In the present study water sources of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP), China, where the hygienic infrastructure is still developing, were investigated. A total of 214 water samples of 10 L volume, were collected from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), a slaughterhouse and rivers. The samples were filtered and then analysed using real-time PCR and multilocus genotyping. T. gondii DNA was found in four (1.9%) samples representing T. gondii type I; in one of them T. gondii-like oocysts were also confirmed microscopically. The approximate level of contamination of positive samples ranged between 30 and 2300 T. gondii sporozoites. The results of this study confirmed that T. gondii is present in wastewater in the greater metropolitan area of Xining and a neighbouring county. Contamination of wastewater at this level constitutes rather a moderate source of Toxoplasma infections in humans and animals. It suggests, however, a link between environmental exposure of animals, meat processing facilities and WWTPs. To our knowledge, this is the first investigation describing T. gondii detection in wastewater and environmental water samples collected from the territory of P.R. China using sensitive molecular tools.
Tuning of composition and morphology of LiFePO4 cathode for applications in all solid-state lithium metal batteries
Authors: Erabhoina Harimohan , Thelakkat Mukundan
Published: March 2022

All solid-state rechargeable lithium metal batteries (SS-LMBs) are gaining more and more importance because of their higher safety and higher energy densities in comparison to their liquid-based counterparts. In spite of this potential, their low discharge capacities and poor rate performances limit them to be used as state-of-the-art SS-LMBs. This arise due to the low intrinsic ionic and electronic transport pathways within the solid components in the cathode during the fast charge/discharge processes. Therefore, it is necessary to have a cathode with good electron conducting channels to increase the active material utilization without blocking the movement of lithium ions. Since SS-LMBs require a different morphology and composition of the cathode, we selected LiFePO4 (LFP) as a prototype and, we have systematically studied the influence of the cathode composition by varying the contents of active material LFP, conductive additives (super C65 conductive carbon black and conductive graphite), ion conducting components (PEO and LiTFSI) in order to elucidate the best ion as well as electron conduction morphology in the cathode. In addition, a comparative study on different cathode slurry preparation methods was made, wherein ball milling was found to reduce the particle size and increase the homogeneity of LFP which further aids fast Li ion transport throughout the electrode. The SEM analysis of the resulting calendered electrode shows the formation of non-porous and crack-free structures with the presence of conductive graphite throughout the electrode. As a result, the optimum LFP cathode composition with solid polymer nanocomposite electrolyte (SPNE) delivered higher initial discharge capacities of 114 mAh g-1 at 0.2C rate at 30 °C and 141 mAh g-1 at 1C rate at 70 °C. When the current rate was increased to 2C, the electrode still delivered high discharge capacity of 82 mAh g-1 even after 500 cycle, which indicates that the optimum cathode formulation is one of the important parameters in building high rate and long cycle performing SS-LMBs.
A union of deep learning and swarm-based optimization for 3D human action recognition
Authors: Basak Hritam , Kundu Rohit , Singh Pawan Kumar , Ijaz Muhammad Fazal , Woźniak Marcin , Sarkar Ram
Published: March 2022

Human Action Recognition (HAR) is a popular area of research in computer vision due to its wide range of applications such as surveillance, health care, and gaming, etc. Action recognition based on 3D skeleton data allows simplistic, cost-efficient models to be formed making it a widely used method. In this work, we proposeDSwarm-Net, a framework that employs deep learning and swarm intelligence-based metaheuristic for HAR that uses 3D skeleton data for action classification. We extract four different types of features from the skeletal data namely: Distance, Distance Velocity, Angle, and Angle Velocity, which capture complementary information from the skeleton joints for encoding them into images. Encoding the skeleton data features into images is an alternative to the traditional video-processing approach and it helps in making the classification task less complex. The Distance and Distance Velocity encoded images have been stacked depth-wise and fed into a Convolutional Neural Network model which is a modified version of Inception-ResNet. Similarly, the Angle and Angle Velocity encoded images have been stacked depth-wise and fed into the same network. After training these models, deep features have been extracted from the pre-final layer of the networks, and the obtained feature representation is optimized by a nature-inspired metaheuristic, called Ant Lion Optimizer, to eliminate the non-informative or misleading features and to reduce the dimensionality of the feature set. DSwarm-Net has been evaluated on three publicly available HAR datasets, namely UTD-MHAD, HDM05, and NTU RGB+D 60 achieving competitive results, thus confirming the superiority of the proposed model compared to state-of-the-art models.
Association of the new zero-tolerance drinking and driving law with hospitalization rate due to road traffic injuries in Brazil
Authors: Souza Cássia Rebeca de Lima , Russo Letícia Xander , da Silva Everton Nunes
Published: March 2022

We investigated the association of the new zero-tolerance drinking and driving law (Law 12,760, Dec. 2012) with hospital admissions due to road traffic injuries in Brazil by using interrupted time series from 2008 to 2019. We used linear regression designed to adjust for autocorrelation and Cumby–Huizinga test for residual autocorrelation. Newey–West standard errors was used to handle heteroscedasticity. We used ICD-10 codes for land transport accidents (V01–V89). The hospitalization rate was calculated per 100,000 inhabitants. The sources were the Hospital Information System and the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics. Pre- and postintervention consist of 59 and 85 months, respectively. For Brazil, the hospitalization rate was associated with a reduction of 0.34 (p = 0.097; 95% CI − 0.74 to 0.06) in the first month of the intervention (Dec. 2012), followed by a significant change in the hospitalization trend. Compared to the period prior to the intervention, the monthly trend was associated with a reduction of 0.05 (p < 0.01; 95% CI − 0.06 to − 0.04) in the post period. These results stand in agreement with subgroup analyses for the Brazilian regions, although North and Northeast regions did not immediately reduce hospitalization rates (level change). Our results suggested that 440,599 hospitalizations for land transport accidents would be averted by the new zero-tolerance drinking and driving law from Dec. 2012 to Dec. 2019 in Brazil. Even using a quasi-experimental approach, our findings must be interpreted with caution due to observational design and registration flaws surrounding our data.
Analytic simulation of thermophoretic second grade fluid flow past a vertical surface with variable fluid characteristics and convective heating
Authors: Shah Nehad Ali , Yook Se-Jin , Tosin Oreyeni
Published: March 2022

The study considers the effect of thermophoresis particle deposition on the flow properties of second grade fluid with variable viscosity, variable thermal conductivity and variable concentration diffusivity subjected to a convective boundary condition. To further describe the transport phenomenon, the special case of assisting and opposing flows is explored. Using similarity transformations, the governing equations of the fluid model are transformed and parameterized into a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations. The approximate analytic solution of a dimensionless system is obtained through the Optimal Homotopy Analysis Method (OHAM). It is observed that velocity and temperature distributions are decreasing functions of the second grade parameter for both assisting and opposing flows. When the thermophoretic parameter is increased, the concentration distributions at the first and fourth orders of chemical reaction decrease. For both opposing and assisting flows, velocity distributions are enhanced due to larger temperature-dependent viscous parameters.
A clinically relevant heterozygous ATR mutation sensitizes colorectal cancer cells to replication stress
Authors: Egger Tom , Bordignon Benoît , Coquelle Arnaud
Published: March 2022

Colorectal cancer (CRC) ranks third among the most frequent malignancies and represents the second most common cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. By interfering with the DNA replication process of cancer cells, several chemotherapeutic molecules used in CRC therapy induce replication stress (RS). At the cellular level, this stress is managed by the ATR-CHK1 pathway, which activates the replication checkpoint. In recent years, the therapeutic value of targeting this pathway has been demonstrated. Moreover, MSI + (microsatellite instability) tumors frequently harbor a nonsense, heterozygous mutation in the ATR gene. Using isogenic HCT116 clones, we showed that this mutation of ATR sensitizes the cells to several drugs, including SN-38 (topoisomerase I inhibitor) and VE-822 (ATR inhibitor) and exacerbates their synergistic effects. We showed that this mutation bottlenecks the replication checkpoint leading to extensive DNA damage. The combination of VE-822 and SN-38 induces an exhaustion of RPA and a subsequent replication catastrophe. Surviving cells complete replication and accumulate in G2 in a DNA-PK-dependent manner, protecting them from cell death. Together, our results suggest that RPA and DNA-PK represent promising therapeutic targets to optimize the inhibition of the ATR-CHK1 pathway in oncology. Ultimately, ATR frameshift mutations found in patients may also represent important prognostic factors.
Excess mortality in Belarus during the COVID-19 pandemic as the case study of a country with limited non-pharmaceutical interventions and limited reporting
Authors: Kirpich Alexander , Shishkin Aleksandr , Weppelmann Thomas A. , Tchernov Alexander Perez , Skums Pavel , Gankin Yuriy
Published: March 2022

Public health intervention to contain the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic significantly differed by country since the SARS-CoV-2 spread varied regionally in time and in scale. Since vaccinations were not available until the end of 2020 non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) remained the only strategies to mitigate the pandemic spread at that time. Belarus in Europe is one of a few countries with a high Human Development Index where no lockdowns have ever been implemented and only limited NPIs have taken place for a period of time. Therefore, the Belarusian case was evaluated and compared in terms of the mortality burden. Since the COVID-19 mortality was low, the excess overall mortality was studied for Belarus. Since no overall mortality data have been reported past June 2020 the analysis was complemented by the study of Google Trends funeral-related search queries up until August 2021. Depending on the model, the Belarusian mortality for June of 2020 was 29 to 39% higher than otherwise expected with the corresponding estimated excess death was from 2953 to 3690 while the reported COVID-19 mortality for June 2020 was only 157 cases. The Belarusian excess mortality for June 2020 was higher than for all neighboring countries with an excess of 5% for Poland, 5% for Ukraine, 8% for Russia, 11% for Lithuania and 11% for Latvia. The relationship between Google Trends and mortality time series was studied using Granger’s test and the results were statistically significant. The results for Google Trends searches did vary by key phrase with the largest excess of 138% for April 2020 and 148% for September 2020 was observed for a key phrase “coffin”, while the largest excess of 218% for January 2021 was observed for “funeral services”. In summary, there are indications of the excess overall mortality in Belarus, which is larger than the reported COVID-19-related mortality.
Four novel candidate causal variants for deficient homozygous haplotypes in Holstein cattle
Authors: Häfliger Irene M. , Spengeler Mirjam , Seefried Franz R. , Drögemüller Cord
Published: March 2022

Mendelian variants can determine both insemination success and neonatal survival and thus influence fertility and rearing success of cattle. We present 24 deficient homozygous haplotype regions in the Holstein population of Switzerland and provide an overview of the previously identified haplotypes in the global Holstein breed. This study encompasses massive genotyping, whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and phenotype association analyses. We performed haplotype screenings on almost 53 thousand genotyped animals including 114 k SNP data with two different approaches. We revealed significant haplotype associations to several survival, birth and fertility traits. Within haplotype regions, we mined WGS data of hundreds of bovine genomes for candidate causal variants, which were subsequently evaluated by using a custom genotyping array in several thousand breeding animals. With this approach, we confirmed the known deleterious SMC2:p.Phe1135Ser missense variant associated with Holstein haplotype (HH) 3. For two previously reported deficient homozygous haplotypes that show negative associations to female fertility traits, we propose candidate causative loss-of-function variants: the HH13-related KIR2DS1:p.Gln159* nonsense variant and the HH21-related NOTCH3:p.Cys44del deletion. In addition, we propose the RIOX1:p.Ala133_Glu142del deletion as well as the PCDH15:p.Leu867Val missense variant to explain the unexpected low number of homozygous haplotype carriers for HH25 and HH35, respectively. In conclusion, we demonstrate that with mining massive SNP data in combination with WGS data, we can map several haplotype regions and unravel novel recessive protein-changing variants segregating at frequencies of 1 to 5%. Our findings both confirm previously identified loci and expand the spectrum of undesired alleles impairing reproduction success in Holstein cattle, the world's most important dairy breed.
Ammonium removal by erythrocyte-bioreactors based on glutamate dehydrogenase from Proteus sp. jointly with porcine heart alanine aminotransferase
Authors: Borsakova Daria V. , Koleva Larisa D. , Protasov Evgeniy S. , Ataullakhanov Fazoil I. , Sinauridze Elena I.
Published: March 2022

Excessive ammonium blood concentration causes many serious neurological complications. The medications currently used are not very effective. To remove ammonium from the blood, erythrocyte-bioreactors containing enzymes that processing ammonium have been proposed. The most promising bioreactor contained co-encapsulated glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT). However, a low encapsulation of a commonly used bovine liver GDH (due to high aggregation), makes clinical use of such bioreactors impossible. In this study, new bioreactors containing ALT and non-aggregating GDH at higher loading were first produced using the flow dialysis method and the new bacterial GDH enzyme fromProteussp. The efficacy of these erythrocyte-bioreactors and their properties (hemolysis, osmotic fragility, intracellular and extracellular activity of included enzymes, erythrocyte indices, and filterability) were studied and compared with native cells during 1-week storage. The ammonium removal rate in vitro by such erythrocyte-bioreactors increased linearly with an increase in encapsulated GDH activity. Alanine in vitro increased in accordance with ammonium consumption, which indicated the joint functioning of both included enzymes. Thus, novel bioreactors for ammonium removal containing GDH fromProteussp. are promising for clinical use, since they have a more efficient GDH encapsulation and their properties are not inferior to previously obtained erythrocyte-bioreactors.