bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Targeted and untargeted metabolomic approach for GDM diagnosis
Authors: Burzynska-Pedziwiatr Izabela , Dudzik Danuta , Sansone Anna , Malachowska Beata , Zieleniak Andrzej , Zurawska-Klis Monika , Ferreri Carla , Chatgilialoglu Chryssostomos , Cypryk Katarzyna , Wozniak Lucyna A. , Markuszewski Michal J. , Bukowiecka-Matusiak Malgorzata
Published: January 2023

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a disorder which manifests itself for the first time during pregnancy and is mainly connected with glucose metabolism. It is also known that fatty acid profile changes in erythrocyte membranes and plasma could be associated with obesity and insulin resistance. These factors can lead to the development of diabetes. In the reported study, we applied the untargeted analysis of plasma in GDM against standard glucose-tolerant (NGT) women to identify the differences in metabolomic profiles between those groups. We found higher levels of 2-hydroxybutyric and 3-hydroxybutyric acids. Both secondary metabolites are associated with impaired glucose metabolism. However, they are products of different metabolic pathways. Additionally, we applied lipidomic profiling using gas chromatography to examine the fatty acid composition of cholesteryl esters in the plasma of GDM patients. Among the 14 measured fatty acids characterizing the representative plasma lipidomic cluster, myristic, oleic, arachidonic, and α-linoleic acids revealed statistically significant changes. Concentrations of both myristic acid, one of the saturated fatty acids (SFAs), and oleic acid, which belong to monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs), tend to decrease in GDM patients. In the case of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), some of them tend to increase (e.g., arachidonic), and some of them tend to decrease (e.g., α-linolenic). Based on our results, we postulate the importance of hydroxybutyric acid derivatives, cholesteryl ester composition, and the oleic acid diminution in the pathophysiology of GDM. There are some evidence suggests that the oleic acid can have the protective role in diabetes onset. However, metabolic alterations that lead to the onset of GDM are complex; therefore, further studies are needed to confirm our observations.
Therapeutic effect of combination vitamin D3 and siponimod on remyelination and modulate microglia activation in cuprizone mouse model of multiple sclerosis
Authors: Al-Otaibi Kholoud M. , Alghamdi Badrah S. , Al-Ghamdi Maryam A. , Mansouri Rasha A. , Ashraf Ghulam Md , Omar Ulfat M.
Published: January 2023

Stimulation of remyelination is critical for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) to alleviate symptoms and protect the myelin sheath from further damage. The current study aimed to investigate the possible therapeutic effects of combining vitamin D3 (Vit D3) and siponimod (Sipo) on enhancing remyelination and modulating microglia phenotypes in the cuprizone (CPZ) demyelination mouse model. The study was divided into two stages; demyelination (first 5 weeks) and remyelination (last 4 weeks). In the first 5 weeks, 85 mice were randomly divided into two groups, control (n = 20, standard rodent chow) and CPZ (n = 65, 0.3% CPZ mixed with chow for 6 weeks, followed by 3 weeks of standard rodent chow). At week 5, the CPZ group was re-divided into four groups (n = 14) for remyelination stages; untreated CPZ (0.2 ml of CMC orally), CPZ+Vit D3 (800 IU/kg Vit D3 orally), CPZ+Sipo (1.5 mg/kg Sipo orally), and CPZ+Vit D3 (800 IU/kg Vit D3) + Sipo (1.5 mg/kg Sipo orally). Various behavioral tasks were performed to evaluate motor performance. Luxol Fast Blue (LFB) staining, the expression level of myelin basic protein (MBP), and M1/M2 microglia phenotype genes were assessed in the corpus callosum (CC). The results showed that the combination of Vit D3 and Sipo improved behavioral deficits, significantly promoted remyelination, and modulated expression levels of microglia phenotype genes in the CC at early and late remyelination stages. These results demonstrate for the first time that a combination of Vit D3 and Sipo can improve the remyelination process in the cuprizone (CPZ) mouse model by attenuating the M1 microglia phenotype. This may help to improve the treatment of MS patients.
A gait phase prediction model trained on benchmark datasets for evaluating a controller for prosthetic legs
Authors: Kim Minjae , Hargrove Levi J.
Published: January 2023

Powered lower-limb assistive devices, such as prostheses and exoskeletons, are a promising option for helping mobility-impaired individuals regain functional gait. Gait phase prediction plays an important role in controlling these devices and evaluating whether the device generates a gait similar to that of individuals with intact limbs. This study proposes a gait phase prediction method based on a deep neural network (DNN). The long short-term memory (LSTM)-based model predicts a continuous gait phase from the 250 ms history of the vertical load, thigh angle, knee angle, and ankle angle, commonly available on powered lower-limb assistive devices. One unified model was trained using publicly available benchmark datasets containing intact limb gaits for level-ground walking (LGW) and ascending stairs (SA). A phase prediction error of 1.28% for all benchmark datasets was obtained. The model was subsequently applied to a state machine-controlled powered prosthetic leg dataset collected from four individuals with unilateral transfemoral amputation. The gait phase prediction results (a phase prediction error of 5.70%) indicate that the model trained on benchmark data can be used for a system not included in the training dataset with no post-processing, such as model adaptation. Furthermore, it provided information regarding evaluation of the controller: whether the prosthetic leg generated normal gait. In conclusion, the proposed gait phase prediction model will facilitate efficient gait prediction and evaluation of controllers for powered lower-limb assistive devices.
Red Blood Cell Distribution Width to Platelet Count Ratio Facilitates Preoperative Prediction of Recurrence in Surgically Treated Chronic Subdural Hematoma
Authors: Güresir Ági , Coch Christoph , Heine Annkristin , Mass Elvira , Lampmann Tim , Vatter Hartmut , Velten Markus , Schmitz Marie-Therese , Güresir Erdem , Wach Johannes
Published: January 2023

Graphical Abstract
Expanding the phenotypic spectrum of KCNK4: From syndromic neurodevelopmental disorder to rolandic epilepsy
Authors: Yan Hong-Jun , He Yun-yan , Jin Liang , Guo Qiang , Zhou Jing-Hua , Luo Sheng
Published: January 2023

The KCNK4 gene, predominantly distributed in neurons, plays an essential role in controlling the resting membrane potential and regulating cellular excitability. Previously, only two variants were identified to be associated with human disease, facial dysmorphism, hypertrichosis, epilepsy, intellectual/developmental delay, and gingival overgrowth (FHEIG) syndrome. In this study, we performed trio-based whole exon sequencing (WES) in a cohort of patients with epilepsy. Two de novo likely pathogenic variants were identified in two unrelated cases with heterogeneous phenotypes, including one with Rolandic epilepsy and one with the FHEIG syndrome. The two variants were predicted to be damaged by the majority of in silico algorithms. These variants showed no allele frequencies in controls and presented statistically higher frequencies in the case cohort than that in controls. The FHEIG syndrome-related variants were all located in the region with vital functions in stabilizing the conductive conformation, while the Rolandic epilepsy-related variant was distributed in the area with less impact on the conductive conformation. This study expanded the genetic and phenotypic spectrum of KCNK4. Phenotypic variations of KCNK4 are potentially associated with the molecular sub-regional effects. Carbamazepine/oxcarbazepine and valproate may be effective antiepileptic drugs for patients with KCNK4 variants.
The nutritional composition of the vegetable soybean (maodou) and its potential in combatting malnutrition
Authors: Agyenim-Boateng Kwadwo Gyapong , Zhang Shengrui , Zhang Shibi , Khattak Aimal Nawaz , Shaibu Abdulwahab , Abdelghany Ahmed M. , Qi Jie , Azam Muhammad , Ma Caiyou , Feng Yue , Feng Huoyi , Liu Yitian , Li Jing , Li Bin , Sun Junming
Published: January 2023

Introduction

Global malnutrition continues to be a canker owing to poor eating habits and over-reliance on the major staple crops. Vegetable soybean (maodou) is gaining popularity globally as an affordable snack and vegetable.

Methods

In this study, we profiled the nutritional composition of 12 soybean cultivars at the vegetable (R6-R7) and mature (R8) stages. We also conducted an RNA-seq analysis during seed development, focusing on key biosynthesis enzymes for quality traits.

Results

The results showed that 100 g of maodou contained 66.54% moisture, 13.49% protein, 7.81% fatty acids, 2.47% soluble sugar, abundant content of minerals, and micronutrients, including folate (462.27 μg FW) and carotenoids (3,935.41 μg FW). Also, the isoflavone content of maodou ranged between 129.26 and 2,359.35 μg/g FW. With regard to the recommended daily allowance, 100 g fresh weight of maodou can contribute 26.98, 115.57, and 11.60% of protein, folate, and zinc, respectively, and significant proportions of other nutrients including linoleic acid (21.16%), linolenic acid (42.96%), zinc (11.60%), and iron (18.01%). On a dry weight basis, maodou has two to six folds higher contents of folate, tocopherol, and carotenoid than the mature soybean. Furthermore, RNA-seq analysis revealed that key biosynthesis enzymes of quality traits are differentially expressed during seed development and may contribute to variations in the content of quality traits at the vegetable and mature stages. Correlation analysis of quality traits at both stages revealed that protein only correlated positively with zinc at the vegetable stage but negatively correlated with total tocopherol and total fatty acid at the mature stage. Complex associations among folates, soluble sugar, and isoflavones were also identified.

Discussion

This study provides insight into the nutritional contents of vegetable soybean and demonstrates that maodou is essential for meeting the nutritional requirements of most countries.
Association between dietary inflammatory index and atherosclerosis cardiovascular disease in U.S. adults
Authors: Zhang Jie , Jia Jundi , Lai Runmin , Wang Xinyi , Chen Xuanye , Tian Wende , Liu Qiyu , Li Jingen , Ju Jianqing , Xu Hao
Published: January 2023

Objective

To evaluate the association between dietary inflammatory index (DII) and Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) among U.S. adults.

Methods

We collected data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 1999 and 2018. Adults who reported complete information to diagnose ASCVD and calculate DII were included. We used three models to differentially adjust the covariates, including age, sex, race or ethnicity, education level, smoking status, poverty, insurance, body mass index, hyperlipemia, hypertension, and diabetes. Logistic regression was used to estimate the Odds Ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) for ASCVD grouped by DII deciles. We additionally conducted spline smoothing with the generalized additive model (GAM) and the log-likelihood ratio to examine the non-linear relationship between DII and ASCVD. If exists, the segmented linear regression will be used to detect the cutoff point. The subgroup analyses were stratified by various atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases (i.e., CHD, angina, heart attack, and stroke) and sex.

Results

A total of 48,733 participants (mean age, 47.13 ± 0.19 years) with 51.91% women were enrolled, of which 5,011 were diagnosed with ASCVD. In the crude model, participants in the five highest deciles (D6, 7, 8, 9, and 10) of DII score had a significantly higher risk of having ASCVD compared to those in the first decile. In the fully adjusted model, those in the tenth decile [OR = 1.47, 95% CI = (1.18,1.84)] of DII had a significantly increased risk of ASCVD compared to the first decile. Notably, when DII is above 3, the ASCVD risk increased by 41% for each one increase in DII [OR = 1.41, 95% CI = (1.15,1.73)]. This relationship was more pronounced in females.

Conclusion

Our study revealed a positive and non-linearly association between DII and ASCVD in U.S. adults. This relationship was more pronounced in females. The findings provide a reference for future research and diet recommendations.
Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus Hao9 exerts antidiabetic effects by regulating gut microbiome, glucagon metabolism, and insulin levels in type 2 diabetic mice
Authors: Han Mei , Liao Wenyan , Dong Yao , Bai Chen , Gai Zhonghui
Published: January 2023

Introduction

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a metabolic disease that has led to a significant global public health burden.

Methods

In this work, we investigated the effects of Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus Hao9 on T2DM in mice with high-fat diet- and streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes (diabetic mice) and explored the underlying mechanisms.

Results

We found that 109 colony forming units (CFUs) of Hao9 per day significantly reduced fasting blood glucose and insulin levels (p < 0.001) in diabetic mice. Moreover, Hao9 enhanced liver antioxidant capacity and significantly decreased glucose-6-phosphatase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase expression in the livers of diabetic mice (p < 0.001). Hao9 also reduced the serum concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα), interleukin-1β (IL1β), and IL6 (p < 0.05) and improved intestinal barrier function in diabetic mice. The composition of the gut microbiome was modulated by Hao9, with an increased abundance of Roseburia, Eubacterium, and Lacticaseibacillus, and decreased abundance of Escherichia/Shigella. Notably, Lacticaseibacillus was detected at both weeks 5 and 12 post-treatment, suggesting sustained colonization of the gut by Hao9.

Discussion

The supplementation of Hao9 improved gut microbiota, glucose metabolism, and insulin levels significantly in T2DM mice. That means Hao9 contributes to improving T2DM symptoms with its potential beneficial effects. Therefore, Hao9 is a promising dietary supplement for the treatment of T2DM.
Evaluate how steaming and sulfur fumigation change the microstructure, physicochemical properties and in vitro digestibility of Gastrodia elata Bl. starch
Authors: Guan Jinjie , Chen Zhuowen , Guo Lanping , Cui Xiuming , Xu Tingting , Wan Fen , Zhou Tao , Wang Chengxiao , Yang Ye
Published: January 2023

The sulfur dioxide gas (SO2) generated by sulfur burning can improve the appearance quality of food and enhance the storage time. However, excessive sulfur dioxide will pollute the environment and cause deterioration of food quality, and even the high residual levels can increase the risk of cancer. As Gastrodia elata Blume is prone to corruption during processing, sulfur fumigation is often used for preservation. In this study, spectral analysis and Texture Profile Analysis (TPA) were used to investigate the effects of traditional sulfur fumigation processing on the morphology quality, edible quality and structural characteristics of G. elata. The results showed that compared with direct drying, the pH decreased by 0.399 of the sulfur fumigated after steamed treatment G. elata, and the morphology quality, pasting ability and gel edible quality of the starch were significantly improved. In addition, it was suggested that sulfur fumigation after steaming could promote the release of molecular chains from starch granules and thus enhance the cross-linking between molecules, which explained the reason for the improve of starch edible quality. This study can provide technical and theoretical support for improving the quality of starch rich foods, replacing sulfur fumigation and reducing potential environmental hazards.
Soybean Whey Bio-Processed Using Weissella hellenica D1501 Protects Neuronal PC12 Cells Against Oxidative Damage
Authors: Yin Liqing , Zhang Yongzhu , Azi Fidelis , Tekliye Mekonen , Zhou Jianzhong , Li Xiaonan , Xu Zhuang , Dong Mingsheng , Xia Xiudong
Published: January 2023

Graphical Abstract

Schematic diagram of the potential mechanisms of the neuroprotective effects of FSBW in vitro.
A clinical prognostic model for patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma based on circulating tumor DNA mutation features
Authors: Liu Tao , Li Mengxing , Cheng Wen , Yao Qianqian , Xue Yibo , Wang Xiaowei , Jin Hai
Published: January 2023

Background

Few predictive models have included circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) indicators to predict prognosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) patients. Here, we aimed to explore whether ctDNA can be used as a predictive biomarker in nomogram models to predict the prognosis of patients with ESCC.

Methods

We included 57 patients who underwent surgery and completed a 5-year follow-up. With next-generation sequencing, a 61-gene panel was used to evaluate plasma cell-free DNA and white blood cell genomic DNA from patients with ESCC. We analyzed the relationship between the mutation features of ctDNA and the prognosis of patients with ESCC, identified candidate risk predictors by Cox analysis, and developed nomogram models to predict the 2- and 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). The area under the curve of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, concordance index (C-index), calibration plot, and integrated discrimination improvement (IDI) were used to evaluate the performance of the nomogram model. The model was compared with the traditional tumor-nodes-metastasis (TNM) staging system.

Results

The ROC curve showed that the average mutant allele frequency (MAF) of ctDNA variants and the number of ctDNA variants were potential biomarkers for predicting the prognosis of patients with ESCC. The predictors included in the models were common candidate predictors of ESCC, such as lymph node stage, angiolymphatic invasion, drinking history, and ctDNA characteristics. The calibration curve demonstrated consistency between the observed and predicted results. Moreover, our nomogram models showed clear prognostic superiority over the traditional TNM staging system (based on C-index, 2-year DFS: 0.82 vs. 0.64; 5-year DFS: 0.78 vs. 0.65; 2-year OS: 0.80 vs. 0.66; 5-year OS: 0.77 vs. 0.66; based on IDI, 2-year DFS: 0.33, p <0.001; 5-year DFS: 0.18, p = 0.04; 2-year OS: 0.28, p <0.001; 5-year OS: 0.15, p = 0.04). The comprehensive scores of the nomogram models could be used to stratify patients with ESCC.

Conclusions

The novel nomogram incorporating ctDNA features may help predict the prognosis of patients with resectable ESCC. This model can potentially be used to guide the postoperative management of ESCC patients in the future, such as adjuvant therapy and follow-up.
The promise of targeting heme and mitochondrial respiration in normalizing tumor microenvironment and potentiating immunotherapy
Authors: Akter Zakia , Salamat Narges , Ali Md. Yousuf , Zhang Li
Published: January 2023

Cancer immunotherapy shows durable treatment responses and therapeutic benefits compared to other cancer treatment modalities, but many cancer patients display primary and acquired resistance to immunotherapeutics. Immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) is a major barrier to cancer immunotherapy. Notably, cancer cells depend on high mitochondrial bioenergetics accompanied with the supply of heme for their growth, proliferation, progression, and metastasis. This excessive mitochondrial respiration increases tumor cells oxygen consumption, which triggers hypoxia and irregular blood vessels formation in various regions of TME, resulting in an immunosuppressive TME, evasion of anti-tumor immunity, and resistance to immunotherapeutic agents. In this review, we discuss the role of heme, heme catabolism, and mitochondrial respiration on mediating immunosuppressive TME by promoting hypoxia, angiogenesis, and leaky tumor vasculature. Moreover, we discuss the therapeutic prospects of targeting heme and mitochondrial respiration in alleviating tumor hypoxia, normalizing tumor vasculature, and TME to restore anti-tumor immunity and resensitize cancer cells to immunotherapy.
A bibliometric analysis of preoperative anxiety research (2001–2021)
Authors: Sun Siyuan , Feng Jingjing , Fu Zhiwei , Lu Zhengyi , Chen Jiafeng , Hua Mingyan , Su Diansan , Gu Juan
Published: January 2023

Recently, mental health has received increasing attention, particularly preoperative anxiety, which constitutes a bad emotional experience for surgical patients. Many experts have studied preoperative anxiety in terms of its related risk factors, interventions, and postoperative effects; however, there has been no systematic analysis of published articles. This paper presents a bibliometric review of documents related to preoperative anxiety published between 2001 and 2021. A detailed data analysis of 1,596 publications was conducted using CiteSpace and VOSviewer. Since the 20th century, the field of preoperative anxiety has gradually developed; research began around 2000 and has made a huge leap forward since 2016. Developed countries, led by the United States, were the first to conduct research, but preoperative anxiety research in developing countries like Turkey and China has gradually increased and led to an irreplaceable contribution. Intervention has remained the main topic of preoperative anxiety research, and measures have developed from premedication to the provision of education and information. Moreover, the use of advanced equipment such as virtual reality has emerged with great popularity. Based on previous research, the application of virtual reality combined with pediatric patients will become a new research direction.
Polypodium leucotomos targets multiple aspects of oral carcinogenesis and it is a potential antitumor phytotherapy against tongue cancer growth
Authors: Lacerda Pammela A. , Oenning Luan C. , Bellato Guilherme Cuoghi , Lopes-Santos Lucilene , Antunes Natalícia de Jesus , Mariz Bruno Augusto Linhares Almeida , Teixeira Gabriela , Vasconcelos Rafael , Simões Gustavo Ferreira , de Souza Ivani Aparecida , Pinto Clóvis Antônio Lopes , Salo Tuula , Coletta Ricardo D. , Augusto Taize M. , de Oliveira Carine Ervolino , Cervigne Nilva K.
Published: January 2023

Introduction: Oral cancer refers to malignant tumors, of which 90% are squamous cell carcinomas (OSCCs). These malignancies exhibit rapid progression, poor prognosis, and often mutilating therapeutical approaches. The determination of a prophylactic and/or therapeutic antitumor role of the polyphenolic extract Polypodium leucotomos(PL) would be relevant in developing new tools for prevention and treatment.

Methods: We aimed to determine the antitumor effect of PL by treating OSCC cell lines with PL metabolites and evaluating its action during OSCC progression in vivo.

Results: PL treatment successfully impaired cell cycling and proliferation, migration, and invasion, enhanced apoptosis, and modulated macrophage polarization associated with the tumoral immune-inflammatory response of tongue cancer cell lines (TSCC). PL treatment significantly decreased the expression of MMP1 (p < 0.01) and MMP2 (p < 0.001), and increased the expression of TIMP1 (p < 0.001) and TIMP2 (p < 0.0001) in these cells. The mesenchymal-epithelial transition phenotype was promoted in cells treated with PL, through upregulation of E-CAD (p < 0.001) and reduction of N-CAD (p < 0.05). PL restrained OSCC progression in vivo by inhibiting tumor volume growth and decreasing the number of severe dysplasia lesions and squamous cell carcinomas. Ki-67 was significantly higher expressed in tongue tissues of animals not treated with PL(p < 0.05), and a notable reduction in Bcl2 (p < 0.05) and Pcna (p < 0.05) cell proliferation-associated genes was found in dysplastic lesions and TSCCs of PL-treated mice. Finally, N-cad(Cdh2), Vim, and Twist were significantly reduced in tongue tissues treated with PL.

Conclusion: PL significantly decreased OSCC carcinogenic processes in vitro and inhibited tumor progression in vivo. PL also appears to contribute to the modulation of immune-inflammatory oral tumor-associated responses. Taken together, these results suggest that PL plays an important antitumor role in processes associated with oral carcinogenesis and may be a potential phytotherapeutic target for the prevention and/or adjuvant treatment of TSCCs
Wine-processed radix scutellariae alleviates ARDS by regulating tryptophan metabolism through gut microbiota
Authors: Hu Tingting , Zhu Ying , Zhu Jing , Yang Ming , Wang Yaqi , Zheng Qin
Published: January 2023

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is an acute and diffuse pulmonary inflammation, characterized by severe hypoxic respiratory failure caused by inflammatory tissue damage, which is a common cause of respiratory failure. Currently, there is no treatment available that can prevent or reverse the devastating effects caused by these conditions. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of WRS on gut microbiota and the potential effect of gut microbiota on the treatment of lung disease by using a staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB)-induced ARDS model. The results showed that WRS could significantly reduce the pathological damage to lung and colon tissues and improve the lung and intestinal functions of ARDS mice. WRS was able to improve the level of cytokines in serum and lung tissue. Additionally, WRS could reverse the gut microbiota dysbiosis caused by SEB in ARDS mice. WRS increases the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in the gut. This increase in SCFAs may lead to increased migration of SCFAs to the lungs and activation of free fatty acid receptors (FFAR) three and FFAR2 in lung epithelial cells, alleviating the symptoms of ARDS. Interestingly, WRS improves the faecal metabolite profiles in SEB-induced ARDS mice via tryptophan metabolism. On the basis of the component-target-metabolism strategy, baicalin, oroxylin A-7-O-glucuronide and skullcapflavon II were identified as the potential bioactive markers in WRS for the treatment of ARDS. Our study showed that WRS could ameliorate SEB-induced ARDS by regulating the structure of gut microbiota, increasing the production of SCFAs and modifying the faecal metabolite profiles through the lung-gut axis, and providing alternative treatment strategies for lung disease.
Defect identification in adhesive structures using multi-Feature fusion convolutional neural network
Authors: Xiong Weihua , Ren Jiaojiao , Zhang Jiyang , Zhang Dandan , Gu Jian , Xue Junwen , Chen Qi , Li Lijuan
Published: January 2023

The interface-debonding defects of adhesive bonding structures may cause a reduction in bonding strength, which in turn affects the bonding quality of adhesive bonding samples. Hence, defect recognition in adhesive bonding structures is particularly important. In this study, a terahertz (THz) wave was used to analyze bonded structure samples, and a multi-feature fusion convolutional neural network (CNN) was used to identify the defect waveforms. The pooling method of the squeeze-and-excitation (SE) attention mechanism was optimized, defect feature weights were adaptively assigned, and feature fusion was conducted using automatic label net-works to segment the THz waveforms in the adhesive bonding area with fine granularity waveforms as an input to the multi-channel CNN. The results revealed that the speed of the THz waveform labeling with the automatic labeling network was 10 times higher than that with traditional methods, and the defect-recognition accuracy of the defect-recognition network constructed in this study was up to 99.28%. The F1-score was 99.73%, and the lowest pre-embedded defect recognition error rate of the generalization experiment samples was 0.27%.
An improved method MSS-YOLOv5 for object detection with balancing speed-accuracy
Authors: He Yaping , Su Yingying , Wang Xiaofeng , Yu Jun , Luo Yu
Published: January 2023

For deep learning-based object detection, we present a superior network named MSS-YOLOv5, which not only considers the reliability in complex scenes but also promotes its timeliness to better adapt to practical scenarios. First of all, multi-scale information is integrated into different feature dimensions to improve the distinction and robustness of features. The design of the detectors increases the variety of detection boxes to accommodate a wider range of detected objects. Secondly, the pooling method is upgraded to obtain more detailed information. At last, we add the Angle cost and assign new weights to different loss functions to accelerate the convergence and improve the accuracy of network detection. In our network, we explore four variants MSS-YOLOv5s, MSS-YOLOv5m, MSS-YOLOv5x, and MSS-YOLOv5l. Experimental results of MSS-Yolov5s show that our technique improves mAP on the PASCAL VOC2007 and PASCAL 2012 datasets by 2.4% and 2.9%, respectively. Meanwhile, it maintains a fast inference speed. At the same time, the other three models have different degrees of performance improvement in terms of balancing speed and precision in challenging detection regions.
Potential estimation model in French alpine skiing - Individual evolution curve and progression typology
Authors: De Larochelambert Quentin , Barlier Kilian , Hamri Imad , Difernand Audrey , Sedeaud Adrien , Toussaint Jean François , Antero Juliana , Louis Pierre-Yves , Coulmy Nicolas
Published: January 2023

Estimating the potential of alpine skiers is an unresolved question, especially because of the complexity of sports performance. We developed a potential estimation model based solely on the evolution of performance as a function of age. A bayesian mixed model allowed to estimate the potential curve and the age at peak performance for the population (24.81 ± 0.2) and for each individual as the uncertainty around this curve. With Gaussian mixtures, we identified among all the estimates four types of curves, clustered according to the performance level and the progression per age. Relying on the uncertainty calculated on the progression curve the model created also allow to estimate a score and an uncertainty associated with each cluster for all individuals. The results allows to: i) describe and explain the relationship between age and performance in alpine skiing from a species point of view (at 0.87%) and ii) to provide to sport staffs the estimation of the potential of each individual and her/his typology of progression to better detect sports potential. The entire methodology is based on age and performance data, but the progression identified may depend on parameters specific to alpine skiing.
Metabolic Diffusion in Neuropathologies: The Relevance of Brain-Liver Axis
Authors: Vegas-Suárez Sergio , Simón Jorge , Martínez-Chantar María Luz , Moratalla Rosario
Published: January 2023

Graphical Abstract

The role of the liver in the metabolism of toxic compounds and in Aβ and α-synuclein clearance is related to neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s Ddisease (AD) and Parkinson’s Disease (PD) development, although the supplementation with certain compounds may exert a protective effect. The current Western diet and alterations in the BA profile, whose homeostasis is controlled by the liver, have been also related to both AD and PD.
Visual question answering model for fruit tree disease decision-making based on multimodal deep learning
Authors: Lan Yubin , Guo Yaqi , Chen Qizhen , Lin Shaoming , Chen Yuntong , Deng Xiaoling
Published: January 2023

Visual Question Answering (VQA) about diseases is an essential feature of intelligent management in smart agriculture. Currently, research on fruit tree diseases using deep learning mainly uses single-source data information, such as visible images or spectral data, yielding classification and identification results that cannot be directly used in practical agricultural decision-making. In this study, a VQA model for fruit tree diseases based on multimodal feature fusion was designed. Fusing images and Q&A knowledge of disease management, the model obtains the decision-making answer by querying questions about fruit tree disease images to find relevant disease image regions. The main contributions of this study were as follows: (1) a multimodal bilinear factorized pooling model using Tucker decomposition was proposed to fuse the image features with question features: (2) a deep modular co-attention architecture was explored to simultaneously learn the image and question attention to obtain richer graphical features and interactivity. The experiments showed that the proposed unified model combining the bilinear model and co-attentive learning in a new network architecture obtained 86.36% accuracy in decision-making under the condition of limited data (8,450 images and 4,560k Q&A pairs of data), outperforming existing multimodal methods. The data augmentation is adopted on the training set to avoid overfitting. Ten runs of 10-fold cross-validation are used to report the unbiased performance. The proposed multimodal fusion model achieved friendly interaction and fine-grained identification and decision-making performance. Thus, the model can be widely deployed in intelligent agriculture.
Implementation of a routine outcome monitoring and feedback system for psychotherapy in Argentina: A pilot study
Authors: Gómez-Penedo Juan Martín , Manubens Rocio , Areas Malenka , Fernández-Álvarez Javier , Meglio Manuel , Babl Anna , Juan Santiago , Ronchi Agnese , Muiños Roberto , Roussos Andrés , Lutz Wolfgang , grosse Holtforth Martin
Published: January 2023

Introduction

Routine Outcome Monitoring (ROM) has emerged as a strong candidate to improve psychotherapy processes and outcome. However, its use and implementation are greatly understudied in Latin-America. Therefore, the aim of the present pilot study conducted in Argentina was to implement a ROM and feedback system grounded on a psychometrically sound instrument to measure session by session outcome in psychotherapy.

Methods

The sample consisted of 40 patients and 13 therapists. At baseline, the patients completed the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, and they also completed the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-11 before each of the first five sessions. To estimate patient change during the first sessions, we conducted a quantitative analysis using Hierarchical Linear Models. Furthermore, we conducted a qualitative analysis using Consensual Qualitative Research to analyze therapist perception regarding the ROM and feedback system.

Results

Results showed a significant reduction in patients’ symptomatic severity during the first five sessions. Additionally, baseline depression significantly predicted the estimated severity at the end of the fifth session. Feedback was given to the therapists after the first four sessions based on these analyses. With regard to the perception of the feedback system, clinicians underlined its usefulness and user-friendly nature. They also mentioned that there was a match between the information provided and their clinical judgment. Furthermore, they provided suggestions to enhance the system that was incorporated in a new and improved version.

Discussion

Limitations and clinical implications are discussed.
Gamification in EFL/ESL instruction: A systematic review of empirical research
Authors: Zhang Songcun , Hasim Zuwati
Published: January 2023

Introduction

This systematic review aims to present the characteristics of the recent research in gamified EFL/ESL instruction, benefits and drawbacks of using gamification in EFL/ESL instruction, and gamification elements.

Methods

The researchers carried out database search in both Web of Science and the Scopus for relevant articles using 15 related key terms. Finally, forty journal articles aligned with the inclusion criteria.

Results

The results found that gamification has been widely utilized in more than ten non-English-speaking countries and various English language skills, which indicated that gamification has gained popularity in facilitating EFL/ESL learning. The benefits of using gamification included improving students’ English language skills and abilities, positively affecting students’ attitudes and emotional responses, providing an authentic language learning environment and cultivating students’ comprehensive competence. The drawbacks of using gamification mainly included the technical problems, short-lived positive effect, and the negative influence caused by the gamified competition, and so forth. The most frequently used gamification elements were feedback, points, quiz, digital badges, leaderboard, and reward, followed by progress bar, story-telling, challenge, videos, time limit, and competition.

Discussion

The results provide a better understanding of the state of using gamification in EFL/ESL instruction in recent years. It will be useful for researchers seeking to understand and evaluate gamification as well as to practitioners interested in using gamification.
Experiential purchases and feeling autonomous: Their implications for gratitude and ease of justification
Authors: Puente-Diaz Rogelio , Cavazos-Arroyo Judith
Published: January 2023

In four studies, we tested the influence of type of purchase on autonomy support and the relationships between autonomy support, gratitude, and ease of justification. In each of the three studies, participants were randomly assigned to either the experiential purchase condition or the material purchase condition. In our fourth and last study, participants were assigned to an either autonomy supportive purchase condition or ordinary purchase condition. Results from study 1 showed a positive direct influence of experiential purchases on autonomy support and a direct and indirect significant relationship with gratitude. Results from study 2 with a sample of older consumers showed a positive influence of experiential purchases on autonomy support and a direct and indirect positive relationship with gratitude. In study 3, consumers who brought to mind an expensive experiential purchase reported higher autonomy support than participants who brought to mind an expensive material purchase and this experimental effect had an indirect positive relationship with gratitude and ease of justification. Last, consumers who brought to mind a purchase that truly reflected who they were reported higher levels of autonomy support than consumers who reported an ordinary purchase and this elicited autonomy had a positive relationship with gratitude. The implications of the results were discussed.
Impact of social media-supported flipped classroom on English as a foreign language learners’ writing performance and anxiety
Authors: Zhao Xiangfeng , Yang Yanping
Published: January 2023

As flipped classroom has received much attention from researchers and educators, some scholars have investigated the effectiveness of this teaching mode in various English as a foreign language (EFL) settings; however, such an instruction mode has been under-investigated in the Chinese EFL context. Therefore, the current study examined a flipped course’s impact on Chinese EFL learners’ writing performance and anxiety utilizing a pretest-posttest non-equivalent group quasi-experimental design. First, it selected a sample of 50 Chinese EFL learners from two intact language school classes as the participants via the convenience sampling method. Then, it randomly assigned participants of these two intact classes to a control group (n = 24), taught based on the traditional method of writing instruction, and an experimental group (n = 26), instructed based on social media-supported flipped instruction. The study used two writing tasks and a writing anxiety inventory to gather the data from the participants. The descriptive and inferential statistics results showed that the experimental group—taught based on flipped writing instruction—significantly enhanced their writing performance. Moreover, they revealed that the flipped course substantially reduced participants’ writing anxiety. Implications of such findings have been elaborated for EFL research and practice.
Job-demand and family business resources in pandemic context: How they influence burnout and job satisfaction
Authors: Llanos-Contreras Orlando , Ibáñez María José , Prado-Gascó Vicente Javier
Published: January 2023

This research aims to explore how work demands and resource variables affect the burnout and satisfaction of employees of family businesses in the context of the pandemic (COVID-19) and the moderation effect of fear of COVID-19 on this relationship. A sample of 214 Chilean family business employees is used for hypotheses testing. Results indicate that the demands and resources partially explain the burnout and satisfaction of employees of family firms during the pandemic. Employees’ fear of COVID-19 moderates the relationship between resources-demands and burnout-job satisfaction in family firms. This work contributes to understanding how these organizations can manage adverse scenarios to survive and continue operations.
Exploring the generic skills required for the employability and professional wellbeing of Pakistani Millennials: The employers' perspective
Authors: Iqbal Jawad , Shaikh Aliya Ahmad , Jamal Warda Najeeb , Akhtar Kalsoom , Rahim Rabia , Kousar Shazia
Published: January 2023

Introduction

This study aims to elucidate the employers' perspectives on the key generic employability skills which would enable them to seek graduate jobs and will ensure their professional wellbeing once they enter the job market after acquiring a University degree.

Methods

In order to pursue this objective, an exploratory qualitative inquiry was deployed which involved two panel-based discussions. The respondents of each panel discussion were invited through the platforms of the Bahawalpur Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), and the Chamber of Commerce Rahim Yar Khan. These respondents represented Pharmaceuticals, Agrichemical manufacturers (fertilizers, pesticides), Livestock, Cotton, textiles, and apparel industry which are the main industries in Southern Punjab, Pakistan.

Results and discussion

For the purpose of analysis, a thematic analysis was done in the context of grounded theory. Resultantly, the findings of the study reveal an employers' perspective on 10 key generic employability skills as must-have for a Pakistani Millennial graduate including various soft and hard skills, such as-Emotional Intelligence, Flexibility and Adaptability, Multitasking, Computer Literacy and Digital Skills, Information Literacy and Data Analytics, Oral and Written Communication in English and Urdu, Critical Thinking, Positive Politics, Work Ethics and Professionalism, and Commercial awareness. Hence, the study produces implications for the employability stakeholders, including government and academia for a much needed shift from a mere subject-based curriculum to a skill-oriented curriculum and training in the Universities, particularly in the region of Southern Punjab, and all across Pakistan as well.
How to promote the hierarchical diagnosis and treatment system: A tripartite evolutionary game theory perspective
Authors: Tao Chunhai , Chen Xi , Zheng Wenji , Zhang Zehao , Tao Ruoyan , Deng Rui , Xiong Qizhe
Published: January 2023

Due to the disorderly access to medical care and inefficient use of health resources, the advancement of the hierarchical diagnosis and treatment is more valued in promoting health system reform. Hence, this article integrates prospect theory into an evolutionary game model of the local government health departments, the medical institutions, and the patients in the system promotion of the hierarchical diagnosis and treatment. The simulation shows the specific influencing mechanism of the psychological perceived value of game subjects. Then by introducing the stochastic evolutionary game model, the system promotion under different medical cultures is also discussed in detail. The results indicate that for local government health departments, the amount and duration of financial subsidies are the key factors influencing the game system’s evolution. For medical institutions, participating in the hierarchical diagnosis and treatment system is relatively beneficial. For patients, the recovery rate in primary hospitals matters more than the cost of treatment. Changes in the risk sensitivity coefficient will cause the equilibrium of the game system to change. However, changes in the loss avoidance factor do not change the equilibrium and only have an impact on the speed of convergence. With the health departments’ intervention, patients in rural medical culture are more inclined to support the hierarchical diagnosis and treatment system than those in urban or town medical culture. Therefore, in order to promote the hierarchical diagnosis and treatment system, this article recommends that more attention should be paid to the regulatory role of health departments and the participation improvement of medical institutions and patients.
Predictive model of the dropout intention of Chilean university students
Authors: López-Angulo Yaranay , Sáez-Delgado Fabiola , Mella-Norambuena Javier , Bernardo Ana B. , Díaz-Mujica Alejandro
Published: January 2023

Dropping out of university studies is one of the current problems of Higher Education; the increased rates during the first year of the study programme is considerable around the world. Dropping out has negative social implications that are reflected at the personal, family, institutional, and educational levels. The aim of this study was to evaluate a predictive model considering the mediation of university social satisfaction and perceived academic performance within the relations between perceived social support, social self-efficacy and academic purposes with career satisfaction and dropout intention in Chilean university students. A non-experimental explanatory design of latent and observed variables was used. Structural equation analyses with Mplus software were performed. The sample consisted of 956 first year university students. The study complied with the ethical requirements for research with human subjects. As a result, a predictive model with adequate adjustment indexes was obtained. When evaluating the explanatory capacity through the coefficient of determination (R2), it was observed that it explains 38.9 and 27.4% of the variance of the dropout intention and career satisfaction, respectively. This percentage of explanation indicates a large effect size in Social Sciences; therefore, they are considered adequate predictive models. The mediation of university social satisfaction on the relationships between social support, social self-efficacy, and academic purposes with academic adjustment and dropout intention was, respectively, confirmed. The perception of academic performance has less influence on dropout intention and on career satisfaction among first-year students. The model obtained allows explaining the dropout intention and career satisfaction in first year students. In addition, it is composed of variables that can potentially be modified in the interaction of students and professors.