bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Behavior of silver tellurite glasses against gamma rays, neutrons, and ions using theoretical and the PHITS Monte Carlo method
Authors: Dulal Apsara , Upadhyay Devendra Raj , Mohamad Tajudin Sufffian , Khanal Raju
Published: July 2024

Present work analyze the ionizing radiations attenuation behaviour, photon trajectories and dose rate reduction properties of silver tellurite glasses to investigate their potential application in radiation shielding. The shielding capability of five glass systems with different elemental compositions have been calculated with the help of theoretical software: Phy-X/PSD and NIST XCOM. For the photon energy range of 1.00 keV to 100.00 GeV, various shielding parameters are calculated, including attenuation coefficients (MAC, LAC), mean free path, half value layer, tenth value layer, effective atomic number, effective electron density, energy build up factors, energy absorption buildup factors, and fast neutron removal cross section. While the energy stopping potentials, projected range of ions (H+, He+, and C+) has been presented with the help of SRIM software. Additionally photon trajectories and dose rate attenuating behavior of 105 photons generated from 137Cs and 60Co sources with activity 200.00 GBq has been studied with the help of particle and heavy ion transport (PHITS) code. It is observed that at both low and high energy levels, the glass composition, labelled S4, (70TeO2-25Ag2O-2Nb2O5-2BaO-1PbO), exhibits comparable attenuation coefficients to previously recommended glass samples for radiation shielding applications. In addition to S4, nine different types of glass samples and polymers with comparable densities to our glass sample, along with water, were included for comparison. The findings indicate that among all the samples tested, S4 demonstrates the highest and comparable radiation-protective performance, positioning it favourably for such applications.
Reciprocating wear behavior of multi-directionally forged and aged Al-Cu-Li alloy
Authors: Jagadeesh C , H Shivananda Nayaka , S Ramesh , Anne Gajanan
Published: July 2024

Al-Cu-Li alloys have drawn attention because of their decreased density, which is a result of the growing need for lightweight material systems in aerospace and aircraft applications. The alloy was subjected to multi-directional forging (MDF) and post-MDF artificial aging. Reciprocating sliding wear tests were conducted to investigate the effects of these processes on wear properties under different load conditions. After MDF, a decrease in wear resistance was noticed, on the other hand, 12 pass MDF treated samples showed improved wear resistance upon aging treatment. Wear scars and counter ball surfaces were examined using scanning electron microscope (SEM) to understand the wear mechanism and wear mode. The findings demonstrated that, at lower loads, adhesion and abrasion were the main wear processes; at greater loads, delamination, adhesion, and abrasion were clearly visible. The study revealed that the MDF and subsequent aging have a substantial effect on the wear behavior of Al-Cu-Li alloy and is an effective thermomechanical processing route to enhance wear resistance.
Eco-friendly fabrication of novel hydrophobic CMC–C18@MWCNTs nano-sorbent for fat content removal in the analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in fatty-food samples
Authors: Thabet Omar A , Al-Sodies Salsabeel , Al Zahrani Ahmed , Alqahtani Atheer A , Alamry Khalid A , A Hussein Mahmoud , Hoogenboom Richard
Published: July 2024

In this study, carbon nanohybrids was developed by hybridizing carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) biopolymer with various amounts of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs: 0.2, 0.5, 1, 3, and 5%) in eco-friendly process to produce hydrophobic CMC–C18@MWCNTs, which was then used as a sorbent material for fat content in fatty food samples analysis. The hydrophobic biopolymers were synthesized using an ultrasound-assisted esterification process, and the physicochemical properties were analyzed using FT-IR, XRD, TGA, FE-SEM, and TEM. The performance of the hydrophobic nanocomposites was evaluated by assessing their ability to remove fat content during polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) analysis in tuna samples. The results showed that CMC–C18–CNT0.2% provided the best peak shapes and highest recoveries for PAHs compounds, ranging between 74.3 and 89.7%, while CMC–C18–CNT5% had the lowest recoveries, ranging between 0 and 35%. Therefore, the lowest amount of MWCNTs was found to be the most efficient for removing fat content with providing high PAHs recovery, while increasing the MWCNTs percentage increased the hydrophobicity and removed PAHs analytes along with fat content. After the investigation, the method was validated using CMC–C18–CNT0.2% in three various levels: 2, 5 and 10 μg kg−1. The obtained results were satisfactory; the average recoveries for all PAHs compounds ranged between 74.3 to 89.7%, and the intra-day precision were estimated by coefficient of variation (%CV), where were less than 10% for all PAHs. The LOD and LOQ were lies between 0.33 to 0.89 μg kg−1 and 1.12 to 1.92 μg kg−1 respectively. For the calibration curve linearity, the correlation coefficient (r2) were higher than 0.999 for all PAHs. Overall, the hydrophobic CMC–C18@MWCNTs are a promising, modifiable, and useful material for fatty food analysis.
Optimization of process parameters in micro electrochemical machining using TOPSIS technique with Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP)
Authors: M Siva , ArunKumar N , Ganesh M , Sathishkumar N
Published: July 2024

Electro-chemical machining (ECM) is one of the extensively used unconventional machining processes employed in industries to machine difficult-to-machine materials such as super alloys, titanium alloys, stainless steel, etc It does not impart any mechanical stresses on the workpiece. The primary requirement of the work material used in this process should be electrically conductive materials. In favour of these characteristics, Hastelloy C276 is used as a work material because it exhibits excellent physical properties over cast iron. Generally, the quality of machining mostly relies on the electrolyte (mmol L−1), feed rate (mm/rev), and duty ratio. These credential parameters are considered in this present work to enhance the machining quality, such as circularity, taper angle, and metal removal rate (MRR). The Taguchi L9 orthogonal array is used to learn machining behaviour under various circumstances. And this time, an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used to allocate the weight for each response in the TOPSIS multi-criteria decision-making method. According to the findings, sodium nitrate (NaNo3) has a higher metal removal rate than sodium chloride (NaCl) and sodium bromide (NaBr). It will, however, result in a low-quality hole. The taper angle is inversely proportional to the feed rate.
Uncertainty estimation of machine learning spatial precipitation predictions from satellite data
Authors: Papacharalampous Georgia , Tyralis Hristos , Doulamis Nikolaos , Doulamis Anastasios
Published: July 2024

Merging satellite and gauge data with machine learning produces high-resolution precipitation datasets, but uncertainty estimates are often missing. We addressed the gap of how to optimally provide such estimates by benchmarking six algorithms, mostly novel even for the more general task of quantifying predictive uncertainty in spatial prediction settings. On 15 years of monthly data from over the contiguous United States, we compared quantile regression (QR), quantile regression forests (QRF), generalized random forests (GRF), gradient boosting machines (GBM), light gradient boosting machine (LightGBM), and quantile regression neural networks (QRNN). Their ability to issue predictive precipitation quantiles at nine quantile levels (0.025, 0.050, 0.100, 0.250, 0.500, 0.750, 0.900, 0.950, 0.975), approximating the full probability distribution, was evaluated using quantile scoring functions and the quantile scoring rule. Predictors at a site were nearby values from two satellite precipitation retrievals, namely Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks (PERSIANN) and Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals (IMERG), and the site’s elevation. The dependent variable was the monthly mean gauge precipitation. With respect to QR, LightGBM showed improved performance in terms of the quantile scoring rule by 11.10%, also surpassing QRF (7.96%), GRF (7.44%), GBM (4.64%) and QRNN (1.73%). Notably, LightGBM outperformed all random forest variants, the current standard in spatial prediction with machine learning. To conclude, we propose a suite of machine learning algorithms for estimating uncertainty in spatial data prediction, supported with a formal evaluation framework based on scoring functions and scoring rules.
Physics-informed neural network for turbulent flow reconstruction in composite porous-fluid systems
Authors: Jang Seohee , Jadidi Mohammad , Rezaeiravesh Saleh , Revell Alistair , Mahmoudi Yasser
Published: July 2024

This study explores the implementation of physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) to analyze turbulent flow in composite porous-fluid systems. These systems are composed of a fluid-saturated porous medium and an adjacent fluid, where the flow properties are exchanged across the porous-fluid interface. The segregated PINN model employs a novel approach combining supervised learning and enforces fidelity to flow physics through penalization by the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations. Two cases were simulated for this purpose: solid block, i.e. porous media with zero porosity, and porous block with a defined porosity. The effect of providing internal training data on the accuracy of the PINN predictions for prominent flow features, including flow leakage, channeling effect and wake recirculation was investigated. Additionally, L2 norm error, which evaluates the prediction accuracy for flow variables was studied. Furthermore, PINN training time in both cases with internal training data was considered in this study. Results showed that the PINN model predictions with second-order internal training data achieved high accuracy for the prominent flow features compared to the RANS data, within a 20% L2 norm error of second-order statistics in the solid block case. In addition, for the porous block case, providing training data at the porous-fluid interface showed errors of 18.04% and 19.94% for second-order statistics, representing an increase in prediction accuracy by 7% compared to without interface training data. The study elucidates the impact of the internal training data distribution on the PINN training in complex turbulent flow dynamics, underscoring the necessity of turbulent second-order statistics variables in PINN training and an additional velocity gradient treatment to enhance PINN prediction.
Towards an open pipeline for the detection of critical infrastructure from satellite imagery—a case study on electrical substations in The Netherlands
Authors: De Plaen Joël J-F G , Koks Elco E , Ward Philip J
Published: July 2024

Critical infrastructure (CI) are at risk of failure due to the increased frequency and magnitude of climate extremes related to climate change. It is thus essential to include them in a risk management framework to identify risk hotspots, develop risk management policies and support adaptation strategies to enhance their resilience. However, the lack of information on the exposure of CI to natural hazards prevents their incorporation in large-scale risk assessments. This study sets out to improve the representation of CI for risk assessment studies by building a neural network model to detect CI assets from optical remote sensing imagery. We present a pipeline that extracts CI from OpenStreetMap, processes the imagery and assets’ masks, and trains a Mask R-CNN model that allows for instance segmentation of CI at the asset level. This study provides an overview of the pipeline and tests it with the detection of electrical substations assets in the Netherlands. Several experiments are presented for different under-sampling percentages of the majority class (25%, 50% and 100%) and hyperparameters settings (batch size and learning rate). The highest scoring experiment achieved an Average Precision at an Intersection over Union of 50% of 30.93 and a tile F-score of 89.88%. This allows us to confirm the feasibility of the method and invite disaster risk researchers to use this pipeline for other infrastructure types. We conclude by exploring the different avenues to improve the pipeline by addressing the class imbalance, Transfer Learning and Explainable Artificial Intelligence.
Autumn phenology consistently delays in subtropical forests in China based on a new process-based model integrating temperature, photoperiod and precipitation
Authors: Xu Yue , Li Mingwei , Wu Zhaofei , Li Xiran , Liu Zunchi , Nie Xingyu , Zhang Xuan , Chen Jiahao , Hao Fanghua , Fu Yongshuo H
Published: July 2024

Climate warming has delayed vegetation autumn phenology, which in turn influences terrestrial carbon and water cycles and their feedback to the climate. However, the performance of autumn phenology models, especially for subtropical forests, remains poor. In this study, we extracted the end-of-photosynthetic-growing-season (EOPS) dates in subtropical China over the period 2001–2018 based on high-resolution solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) dataset using three fitting methods. We developed a new autumn phenology model (DMP model) that integrates precipitation and photoperiod into the classic cold-degree days model, and the new model outperformed the classic model reducing the RMSE by approximately 2 d. We found that the EOPS date was delayed by an average of 4.1 d per decade in the subtropical forests of China from 2001 to 2018, and the precipitation (partial correlation coefficient, r = 0.45), rather temperature (r = 0.29) determined the EOPS processes. We further studied future EOPS using the DMP model and found that the EOPS will delay by 1.0 d per decade under the shared socioeconomic pathway (SSP2-4.5) scenario and 2.7 d per decade under the SSP5-8.5 scenario from 2030 to 2100. Our study highlighted the role of precipitation in regulating EOPS in the subtropical forests of China and provided valuable insight for integrating multiple climatic determinants into autumn phenology models.
Impacts of sand and dust storms on food production
Authors: Middleton Nick
Published: July 2024

Sand and dust storms (SDS) are common in the world’s drylands, regions that are also critically important for global food production. Agriculture is the most prevalent land use resulting in anthropogenic SDS sources, resulting in impacts on cropland and rangeland, but food production is also affected by impacts from natural SDS sources. This review assesses our knowledge of SDS impacts on all the major types of food production in terrestrial and oceanic environments, impacts that occur in all three phases of the wind erosion system: during particle entrainment, during transport, and on deposition. These effects are short term and long term, direct and indirect. Wind erosion is a major cause of land degradation and there is good evidence to indicate that the deleterious effects of SDS can reduce food production via substantially diminished yields of crops, pastures and livestock. However, it is also clear that soil dust plays an important role in major biogeochemical cycles—especially phosphorus, nitrogen and iron—with implications for the valuable environmental services provided by numerous ecosystems, both terrestrial and marine. Ultimately, these nutrients have particular significance for soil formation, ecosystem productivity and food webs on land and at sea, and hence the provision of food for human societies. Efforts to mitigate the negative impacts of SDS on the sustainability of agriculture should be balanced with an appreciation of the significance of soil dust to the Earth system.
The Zimbabwean Economic Crisis
Authors: Bushu Nyasha Blessed , Kufakurinani Ushehwedu
Published: July 2024

Since attaining independence in 1980, the Zimbabwean economy has witnessed turbulent growth and development. The roots of the country’s economic challenges are arguably deeply embedded in the country’s rugged political terrain and misgovernance. Having inherited a relatively stable economy, the Zimbabwe African National Union–Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), led by Robert Gabriel Mugabe, exerted much of its energies toward consolidating political power through repression and violence during the first ten years of independence. At the beginning of the second decade of independence, visible signs of economic decline led the government to adopt neoliberal economic Structural Adjustment Programs, which did not yield economic recovery but hurled the country into further economic challenges, which manifested in deindustrialization and unemployment, among other negative economic indicators. After nearly two decades of independent rule, the country’s economic woes crystalized in 1997 with the crush of the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange. Dubbed the lost decade by some scholars, Zimbabwe faced acute economic challenges going up to 2008 and even beyond. During this period, the challenges facing the country became multidimensional and more protracted. At its peak, the country reached world record inflation rates owing in part, to reduced productivity in the manufacturing and agricultural sectors. This reduced productivity in these sectors is argued to have been prompted by the controversial Fast Track Land Reform Program (FTLRP). It is generally agreed that in the aftermath of the FTLRP, the country exuded signs of unprecedented economic decline. Government intervention in the economy, dubbed command economics by its critics, manifested in price controls and currency reforms that only spurred scarcity of basic commodities and inflation. Brief respite was brought to the economy in 2008 after protracted political negotiations between the country’s major belligerent parties, ZANU-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change, which led to the creation of a Government of National Unity (GNU). Relative political stability led to a brief period of recovery between 2009 and 2013. After a contested presidential election in 2013, the economy again began to show signs of decline and reversal of many of the gains enjoyed during the GNU. Since then, the economy has not recovered, experiencing protracted liquidity challenges, inflationary pressures, and low productive capacity in agriculture and manufacturing.
Taxation in the Open Economy
Authors: Clausing Kimberly A.
Published: July 2024

The international mobility of capital presents important tax policy challenges, as the scope of economic activity exceeds the reach of national governance. Consequently, countries’ tax policy choices have important spillover effects outside of their own borders. For example, in the context of mobile multinational companies, countries that charge high tax rates may benefit their trading partners by increasing the competitiveness of their companies, while countries lowering tax rates have negative consequences for the competitiveness of trading partners’ firms. Further, countries’ noncooperative tax policy choices may entail too low tax rates (and too lax tax regimes), since they do not fully internalize the negative consequences of their choices on their partners, nor do they account for the dynamic effects of their choices on policy evolution abroad.

Climate policy also generates important spillovers. Since greenhouse gas emissions are a truly global externality and the benefits of any mitigation policy action are only partially captured by the government undertaking the effort, countries will have an incentive to free ride on the efforts of others. Beyond this free-riding problem, there are also competitiveness spillovers. For example, governments imposing costs on their emissions-intensive firms put them at a disadvantage relative to firms abroad, whereas governments subsidizing clean energy advantage their energy-intensive firms in the competitive marketplace. This dynamic makes it more difficult for countries to adopt cost-imposing policies.

Both of these policy spheres demonstrate the value of international tax policy coordination. The international tax agreement of 2021, in the process—as of 2023—of being implemented across the world, provides one possible model for enhanced coordination. So far, international climate policy lacks a similarly strong coordinated policy effort, but possible models include building from the European Union’s proposed carbon border adjustment and considering adoption of a climate club.
Holocaust Art
Authors: Julius Chloë
Published: July 2024

The category of Holocaust art has been established by asking questions, the most vital of which is whether it should be a category of art at all. This question pursued Holocaust art long before it was categorized as such. Indeed, as a means of describing the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of European Jews by Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945, the word Holocaust itself only came into use belatedly in the 1960s. The category Holocaust art followed at an even further delay. The first major survey was published in 1993 by American art historian Ziva Amishai-Maisels. Her book opened by asking whether an artwork that took the Holocaust as its starting point could obtain any purchase as a form of aesthetic expression.

Although Amishai-Maisels did not provide an answer, her book attests to the manifold attempts by artists since the 1930s to grapple with this most fundamental question of Holocaust art. Other, related questions about the form, style, and temporality of Holocaust art have swirled around the category since its inception. In this new survey, those questions will provide the organizing framework. After the primary question of the viability of Holocaust art as a category is addressed, the subsequent five sections will move through a series of questions framed as either-or propositions: Life or theatre? Sacred or banal? Then or now? Figuration or abstraction? Painting or photography? Each section will pivot around a single instance of Holocaust art, chosen for the artwork’s ability to illuminate the problematics of the given proposition. While these propositions will not be resolved, as a set of questions they will offer a far more coherent narrative for the development of Holocaust art than one provided by chronology or region. But this is only fitting for a category that is as much involved with the art it has named as the questions it has provoked.
News Coverage of Islam and Muslims in North America
Authors: Al-Rawi Ahmed
Published: July 2024

Many scholars cite Edward Said’s concepts of Orientalism and Othering that drew on West-East binaries that position the West as civilized and the East as barbaric. Such Othering is represented in various Western media through the association of Muslims and Islam with violence, fundamentalism, and terrorism. While such representations were being developed within public discourse through early mass media during the post–World War II period, such discriminatory and reductionist representations of Muslims were more clearly seen within the US media during the Iranian Hostage Crisis and Gulf War periods. Said effectively outlines the various ways in which news coverage presented Arabs and Muslims as an imagined Other, reduced to specters of “Islam”—a constructed idea of the religion as violently opposed to American rights, values, and democracy. There is no doubt that the largest shift in nuance in the public discourse and media representation of Muslims occurred after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, with hate speech, violence, racism, and fear toward Muslim communities increasing across North America. The main discourses on the Muslim communities in North America continued to be Orientalist in nature but more obviously racialized regardless of the varied geographical regions and ethnic heterogeneity of the peoples that make up these various Muslim groups. As a result, Islam itself was racialized and generally used as a pretext to oppress Muslims. Other major themes that emerge from the news coverage of Islam in North America include Islam as being oppressive, and the gendered representations of Muslims, especially veiled women as needing to be rescued.
Beyond the Earthquake: Disaster and Improvisation in Haiti
Authors: de Figueiredo Bersani Ana Elisa
Published: July 2024

The ethnographic examination of community response to disasters helps to understand what disasters and long-term vulnerability are and how they are experienced by individuals and communities. More than that, it offers a unique insight into how the problems and challenges posed by critical events might be addressed more effectively, despite the lack of resources and despair caused by destruction. Through a processual approach and drawing on catastrophes and humanitarian aid literature, the anthropological perspective situates both themes of disaster and aid in a broader dimension. The response of communities in the province of Grand’Anse to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti is an exemplary case that highlights the crucial role of familial and community mechanisms that goes beyond the reach of state and international institutions in ensuring the survival of those affected. These often overlooked mechanisms constituted an effective emergency response not to be underestimated.

The ways in which Haitian society dealt with the aftermath question existing commonsense notions of both disaster and aid, making use of an available repertoire and articulating creative devices that, however, do not operate in a vacuum. Faced with a context of insecurity, marked by structural uncertainties, precariousness, and major transformations, Haitians have long had to look for shortcuts and improvise to get rid of countless difficulties and obstacles. The expression degaje in Haitian Creole reveals an important relationship between crisis and improvisation in which change, conflict, and instability are always mixed with permanence, integration, and balance. It can also be understood as a value and an important analytical category to explain the unpredictability of social life and the mechanisms used to cope with challenges posed by it.
HyperGen: compact and efficient genome sketching using hyperdimensional vectors
Authors: Xu Weihong , Hsu Po-Kai , Moshiri Niema , Yu Shimeng , Rosing Tajana
Published: July 2024

Motivation

Genomic distance estimation is a critical workload since exact computation for whole-genome similarity metrics such as Average Nucleotide Identity (ANI) incurs prohibitive runtime overhead. Genome sketching is a fast and memory-efficient solution to estimate ANI similarity by distilling representative k-mers from the original sequences. In this work, we present HyperGen that improves accuracy, runtime performance, and memory efficiency for large-scale ANI estimation. Unlike existing genome sketching algorithms that convert large genome files into discrete k-mer hashes, HyperGen leverages the emerging hyperdimensional computing (HDC) to encode genomes into quasi-orthogonal vectors (Hypervector, HV) in high-dimensional space. HV is compact and can preserve more information, allowing for accurate ANI estimation while reducing required sketch sizes. In particular, the HV sketch representation in HyperGen allows efficient ANI estimation using vector multiplication, which naturally benefits from highly optimized general matrix multiply (GEMM) routines. As a result, HyperGen enables the efficient sketching and ANI estimation for massive genome collections.

Results

We evaluate HyperGen’s sketching and database search performance using several genome datasets at various scales. HyperGen is able to achieve comparable or superior ANI estimation error and linearity compared to other sketch-based counterparts. The measurement results show that HyperGen is one of the fastest tools for both genome sketching and database search. Meanwhile, HyperGen produces memory-efficient sketch files while ensuring high ANI estimation accuracy.

Availability and implementation

A Rust implementation of HyperGen is freely available under the MIT license as an open-source software project at https://github.com/wh-xu/Hyper-Gen. The scripts to reproduce the experimental results can be accessed at https://github.com/wh-xu/experiment-hyper-gen.
Controlled noise: evidence of epigenetic regulation of single-cell expression variability
Authors: Zhong Yan , Cui Siwei , Yang Yongjian , Cai James J
Published: July 2024

Motivation

Understanding single-cell expression variability (scEV) or gene expression noise among cells of the same type and state is crucial for delineating population-level cellular function. While epigenetic mechanisms are widely implicated in gene expression regulation, a definitive link between chromatin accessibility and scEV remains elusive. Recent advances in single-cell techniques enable the study of single-cell multiomics data that include the simultaneous measurement of scATAC-seq and scRNA-seq within individual cells, presenting an unprecedented opportunity to address this gap.

Results

This article introduces an innovative testing pipeline to investigate the association between chromatin accessibility and scEV. With single-cell multiomics data of scATAC-seq and scRNA-seq, the pipeline hinges on comparing the prediction performance of scATAC-seq data on gene expression levels between highly variable genes (HVGs) and non-highly variable genes (non-HVGs). Applying this pipeline to paired scATAC-seq and scRNA-seq data from human hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells, we observed a significantly superior prediction performance of scATAC-seq data for HVGs compared to non-HVGs. Notably, there was a substantial overlap between well-predicted genes and HVGs. The gene pathways enriched from well-predicted genes are highly pertinent to cell type-specific functions. Our findings support the notion that scEV largely stems from cell-to-cell variability in chromatin accessibility, providing compelling evidence for the epigenetic regulation of scEV and offering promising avenues for investigating gene regulation mechanisms at the single-cell level.

Availability and implementation

The source code and data used in this article can be found at https://github.com/SiweiCui/EpigeneticControlOfSingle-CellExpressionVariability.
Brain inflammation co-localizes highly with tau in mild cognitive impairment due to early-onset Alzheimer’s disease
Authors: Appleton Johanna , Finn Quentin , Zanotti-Fregonara Paolo , Yu Meixiang , Faridar Alireza , Nakawah Mohammad O , Zarate Carlos , Carrillo Maria C , Dickerson Bradford C , Rabinovici Gil D , Apostolova Liana G , Masdeu Joseph C , Pascual Belen
Published: July 2024

Brain inflammation, with an increased density of microglia and macrophages, is an important component of Alzheimer’s disease and a potential therapeutic target. However, it is incompletely characterized, particularly in patients whose disease begins before the age of 65 years and, thus, have few co-pathologies. Inflammation has been usefully imaged with translocator protein (TSPO) PET, but most inflammation PET tracers cannot image subjects with a low-binder TSPO rs6971 genotype. In an important development, participants with any TSPO genotype can be imaged with a novel tracer, 11C-ER176, that has a high binding potential and a more favourable metabolite profile than other TSPO tracers currently available. We applied 11C-ER176 to detect brain inflammation in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) caused by early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Furthermore, we sought to correlate the brain localization of inflammation, volume loss, elevated amyloid-β (Aβ)and tau.

We studied brain inflammation in 25 patients with early-onset amnestic MCI (average age 59 ± 4.5 years, 10 female) and 23 healthy controls (average age 65 ± 6.0 years, 12 female), both groups with a similar proportion of all three TSPO-binding affinities. 11C-ER176 total distribution volume (VT), obtained with an arterial input function, was compared across patients and controls using voxel-wise and region-wise analyses. In addition to inflammation PET, most MCI patients had Aβ (n = 23) and tau PET (n = 21). For Aβ and tau tracers, standard uptake value ratios were calculated using cerebellar grey matter as region of reference. Regional correlations among the three tracers were determined. Data were corrected for partial volume effect. Cognitive performance was studied with standard neuropsychological tools.

In MCI caused by early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, there was inflammation in the default network, reaching statistical significance in precuneus and lateral temporal and parietal association cortex bilaterally, and in the right amygdala. Topographically, inflammation co-localized most strongly with tau (r = 0.63 ± 0.24). This correlation was higher than the co-localization of Aβ with tau (r = 0.55 ± 0.25) and of inflammation with Aβ (0.43 ± 0.22). Inflammation co-localized least with atrophy (−0.29 ± 0.26). These regional correlations could be detected in participants with any of the three rs6971 TSPO polymorphisms. Inflammation in Alzheimer’s disease-related regions correlated with impaired cognitive scores.

Our data highlight the importance of inflammation, a potential therapeutic target, in the Alzheimer’s disease process. Furthermore, they support the notion that, as shown in experimental tissue and animal models, the propagation of tau in humans is associated with brain inflammation.
Get out of my head: social evaluative brain states carry over into post-feedback rest and influence remembering how others view us
Authors: Brietzke Sasha C , Barbarossa Klara , Meyer Meghan L
Published: July 2024

Learning how others perceive us helps us tune our behavior to form adaptive relationships. But which perceptions stick with us? And when in the learning process are they codified in memory? We leveraged a popular television series—The Office—to answer these questions. Prior to their functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) session, viewers of The Office reported which characters they identified with, as well as which characters they perceived another person (i.e. counterpart) was similar to. During their fMRI scan, participants found out which characters other people thought they and the counterpart were like, and also completed rest scans. Participants remembered more feedback inconsistent with their self-views (vs. views of the counterpart). Although neural activity while encoding self-inconsistent feedback did not meaningfully predict memory, returning to the inconsistent self feedback during subsequent rest did. During rest, participants reinstated neural patterns engaged while receiving self-inconsistent feedback in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC). DMPFC reinstatement also quadratically predicted self-inconsistent memory, with too few or too many reinstatements compromising memory performance. Processing social feedback during rest may impact how we remember and integrate the feedback, especially when it contradicts our self-views.
Carbon dots as reductants to fabricate three-dimensional Au mesoflowers as SERS substrates
Authors: Wang Chenxu , Lin Zhilong , Wang Wenqin
Published: July 2024

Reductive carbon dots (CDs) were obtained by a hydrothermal method using citric acid and diethylenetriamine as carbon sources. Three-dimensional Au mesoflowers (3D Au MFs) could be fabricated by directly mixing HAuCl4 and CD solution without using any extra reductant and morphology-directing reagent. The as-obtained 3D Au MFs exhibited high surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) activity in detection of methylene blue.
Exploring the Resurgence of a Neglected Disease: Lessons From the 2023–2024 Mpox Outbreak in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Authors: Silva Mayara Secco Torres , Coutinho Carolina , Torres Thiago Silva , Magalhães Monica Avelar , Yanavich Carolyn , Echeverría-Guevara Amanda , Bastos Matheus Oliveira , Martins Pedro Silva , Mesquita Maira Braga , Reges Paula Pereira de Souza , Meneguetti Maria Roberta , Santana Ana Paula Lovetro , Terra Marcela , Nunes Estevão Portela , Lessa Flavia Cristina Serrão , Moreira Ronaldo Ismério , Peixoto Eduardo Mesquita , Paulo Karolyne Wolch de Almeida , Sant’Ana Andryelle Cristina , Elias da Silva Edson , Cardoso Sandra Wagner , Veloso Valdilea Gonçalves , Grinsztejn Beatriz ,   for the Instituto Nacional de Infectologia Evandro Chagas (INI)–Fiocruz Mpox Study Group, Soares João Paulo Bortot , Hottz Giselle , Santos Cicero , Rendelli Bruna Fabris , Tuccori Luciana Patricia , Neto Jadir Rodrigues Fagundes , Freitas Lucilene , Wakimoto Mayumi , Azevedo Katia , Escada Rodrigo Otavio da Silva , Ribeiro Maria Pia Diniz , Tavares Isabel Cristina Ferreira , Santos Desirée Vieira , Camacho Luiz Ricardo Siqueira , Rosadas Leonardo , Fares Luisa , Amparo Pedro , Andrade Hugo Boechat , Coutinho José Ricardo Hildebrant , Barbosa Hugo Perazzo Pedroso , Nazer Sandro , Calvet Guilherme Amaral , Menezes Rodrigo Caldas , Pereira Sandro Antônio
Published: July 2024

Following the 2022 global mpox outbreak, diagnoses decreased worldwide, even in settings with limited vaccine access. In 2023–2024, a new outbreak emerged in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, highlighting the importance of continuous surveillance, preventive measures such as vaccination in vulnerable populations, and treatment options, emphasizing equitable global health technology distribution.
ChatGPT vs Medical Professional: Analyzing Responses to Laboratory Medicine Questions on Social Media
Authors: Girton Mark R , Greene Dina N , Messerlian Geralyn , Keren David F , Yu Min
Published: July 2024

Background

The integration of ChatGPT, a large language model (LLM) developed by OpenAI, into healthcare has sparked significant interest due to its potential to enhance patient care and medical education. With the increasing trend of patients accessing laboratory results online, there is a pressing need to evaluate the effectiveness of ChatGPT in providing accurate laboratory medicine information. Our study evaluates ChatGPT's effectiveness in addressing patient questions in this area, comparing its performance with that of medical professionals on social media.

Methods

This study sourced patient questions and medical professional responses from Reddit and Quora, comparing them with responses generated by ChatGPT versions 3.5 and 4.0. Experienced laboratory medicine professionals evaluated the responses for quality and preference. Evaluation results were further analyzed using R software.

Results

The study analyzed 49 questions, with evaluators reviewing responses from both medical professionals and ChatGPT. ChatGPT's responses were preferred by 75.9% of evaluators and generally received higher ratings for quality. They were noted for their comprehensive and accurate information, whereas responses from medical professionals were valued for their conciseness. The interrater agreement was fair, indicating some subjectivity but a consistent preference for ChatGPT's detailed responses.

Conclusions

ChatGPT demonstrates potential as an effective tool for addressing queries in laboratory medicine, often surpassing medical professionals in response quality. These results support the need for further research to confirm ChatGPT's utility and explore its integration into healthcare settings.
Emerging opportunities to target inflammation: myocardial infarction and type 2 diabetes
Authors: Kufazvinei Tafadzwa T J , Chai Jason , Boden Katherine A , Channon Keith M , Choudhury Robin P
Published: July 2024

After myocardial infarction (MI), patients with type 2 diabetes have an increased rate of adverse outcomes, compared to patients without. Diabetes confers a 1.5–2-fold increase in early mortality and, importantly, this discrepancy has been consistent over recent decades, despite advances in treatment and overall survival. Certain assumptions have emerged to explain this increased risk, such as differences in infarct size or coronary artery disease severity. Here, we re-evaluate that evidence and show how contemporary analyses using state-of-the-art characterization tools suggest that the received wisdom tells an incomplete story. Simultaneously, epidemiological and mechanistic biological data suggest additional factors relating to processes of diabetes-related inflammation might play a prominent role. Inflammatory processes after MI mediate injury and repair and are thus a potential therapeutic target. Recent studies have shown how diabetes affects immune cell numbers and drives changes in the bone marrow, leading to pro-inflammatory gene expression and functional suppression of healing and repair. Here, we review and re-evaluate the evidence around adverse prognosis in patients with diabetes after MI, with emphasis on how targeting processes of inflammation presents unexplored, yet valuable opportunities to improve cardiovascular outcomes in this vulnerable patient group.
Friction versus frictionless mechanics during maxillary en-masse retraction in adult patients with Class I bimaxillary dentoalveolar protrusion: a randomized clinical trial
Authors: Magdi Sally , Abdelsayed Fatma A , Aboulfotouh Mai H , Fahim Fady H
Published: July 2024

Background

Extraction space closure is a challenging phase during orthodontic treatment that affects not only the total treatment duration but also the whole treatment outcome.

Objective

To compare the efficiency of friction and frictionless mechanics during en-masse retraction of maxillary anterior teeth in adult patients with bimaxillary dentoalveolar protrusion.

Trial design

Two-arm parallel group, single-center randomized clinical trial.

Materials and methods

Thirty-two adult patients with bimaxillary protrusion were recruited and randomly allocated to two different retraction mechanics. A friction group, using NiTi coil springs and a frictionless group using closing T-loops for en-masse retraction. Randomization in a 1:1 ratio was generated by Microsoft Excel. The randomization numbers were secured in opaque sealed envelopes for allocation concealment. Retraction started in all patients following first premolars extraction using miniscrews as a source of indirect anchorage. Activation was done on a monthly basis until complete retraction of anterior segment. The rate of retraction, amount of anchorage loss, the dental, and soft tissue changes were analyzed on digital models and lateral cephalograms taken before retraction and after space closure.

Blinding

The outcome assessor was blinded through data concealment during assessment.

Results

Two patients were lost to follow up, so 30 patients completed the trial. The rate of anterior segment retraction was 0.88 ± 0.66 mm/month in the frictionless group compared to 0.72 ± 0.36 mm/month in the friction group which was statistically significant. Anchorage loss of 1.18 ± 0.72 mm in the friction group compared to 1.29 ± 0.55 mm in the frictionless group with no significant difference. Comparable dental and soft tissue changes following en-masse retraction were reported in both groups, with no statistically significant difference.

Harm

one patient complained of soft tissue swelling following miniscrew insertion, but the swelling disappeared after one week of using mouth wash.

Limitation

The study focused only on the maxillary arch.

Conclusion

Both mechanics have successfully achieved the required treatment objectives in patients with bimaxillary dentoalveolar protrusion. Frictionless group showed a faster rate of retraction than the friction group, which was statistically but not clinically significant.

Trial registration

Clinicaltrials.gov with the identifier NCT03261024.
Substrate complexity buffers negative interactions in a synthetic community of leaf litter degraders
Authors: Abdoli Parmis , Vulin Clément , Lepiz Miriam , Chase Alexander B , Weihe Claudia , Rodríguez-Verdugo Alejandra
Published: July 2024

Leaf litter microbes collectively degrade plant polysaccharides, influencing land–atmosphere carbon exchange. An open question is how substrate complexity—defined as the structure of the saccharide and the amount of external processing by extracellular enzymes—influences species interactions. We tested the hypothesis that monosaccharides (i.e. xylose) promote negative interactions through resource competition, and polysaccharides (i.e. xylan) promote neutral or positive interactions through resource partitioning or synergism among extracellular enzymes. We assembled a three-species community of leaf litter-degrading bacteria isolated from a grassland site in Southern California. In the polysaccharide xylan, pairs of species stably coexisted and grew equally in coculture and in monoculture. Conversely, in the monosaccharide xylose, competitive exclusion and negative interactions prevailed. These pairwise dynamics remained consistent in a three-species community: all three species coexisted in xylan, while only two species coexisted in xylose, with one species capable of using peptone. A mathematical model showed that in xylose these dynamics could be explained by resource competition. Instead, the model could not predict the coexistence patterns in xylan, suggesting other interactions exist during biopolymer degradation. Overall, our study shows that substrate complexity influences species interactions and patterns of coexistence in a synthetic microbial community of leaf litter degraders.
Who participates in value-based care models? Physician characteristics and implications for value-based care
Authors: Winberg Debra R , Baker Matthew C , Hu Xiaochu , Horvath Keith A
Published: July 2024

Value-based care (VBC) payment models are becoming increasingly prevalent as alternatives to the traditional fee-for-service paradigm. This research quantifies the relationship between physician characteristics and participation in VBC payment models using the Association of American Medical Colleges’ 2022 National Sample Survey of Physicians. We specified logistic regressions using physician-level variables to assess associations with current and new participation in Accountable Care Organizations, Primary Care First model, capitation, and bundled payments. Our results indicate that most respondents engaged in at least 1 VBC. Participation varied based on several characteristics, and physician specialty was highly predictive of overall participation. Compared with primary care physicians (PCPs), hospital-based physicians (odds ratio [OR] = 0.6, P < .001), medical specialists (OR = 0.5, P < .001), psychiatrists (OR = 0.4, P < .001), and surgeons (OR = 0.5, P < .001) were less likely to participate in VBC models. Medical specialists and surgeons were less likely to participate in commercial capitation than PCPs, while medical specialists and obstetricians/gynecologists were more likely to participate in certain bundles than PCPs. We suggest several policies to close the cross-specialty participation gap by including specialists and appealing to providers and patients.
The role of news and rumour during the Peasants’ Revolt, 1381
Authors: Schoon Paul
Published: July 2024

This article uses an interdisciplinary approach to examine the role of news and rumour during the Peasants’ Revolt, an aspect of the rising that has not been the subject of a detailed study. It considers the circulation of news in written and oral form and its importance in driving the rebellion. Sources suggest that the news of the revolt traversed the country quickly, moving at up to sixty-five miles a day, and its transmission is shown through an isopleth map to radiate outwards across the country from its point of origin in south-east England. Rumour is considered by means of a thought experiment using three examples drawn from rebel activities in London in June 1381. It thrived in the absence of news, particularly in a highly stressed environment. It is possible that rumour was used as a tactic by rebel commanders, who were able to generate and manipulate rumours to their own advantage.