bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Spatial and spectral filtering strategies for surface phosphor thermometry measurements
Authors: Petit Sylvain , Xavier Pradip , Grisch Frédéric
Published: August 2022

Intensity-ratio based phosphor thermometry is a well-established technique to obtain surface temperature measurements, which however suffers from important pixel-to-pixel noise, mainly due to the signal-dependent photon shot noise. In order to enhance signal-to-noise ratio levels, spatial filtering is recognized as a common post-processing routine, with the implication of strongly alleviating the spatial resolution (SR) of measurements. In this study, a dataset of phosphorescence images using Mg4FGeO6:Mn4+ thermographic particles and an ICCD camera is constituted. Various spatial filtering strategies are applied to these images, such as software pixel binning, moving average and Gaussian filters, in order to estimate their relative performances in terms of SR and temperature uncertainty. In addition, a Fourier space low-pass Butterworth filter is benchmarked against these common filters. Results show that the pixel binning strategy provides a limited improvement in the temperature uncertainty when compared to the loss in SR. Conversely, the Gaussian and moving average filters are found to effectively enhance the temperature uncertainty, though the 5th-order Butterworth filter is more selective, by providing an excellent mitigation of high-frequency noise with a minor attenuation of low-frequency information. Eventually, a joint spatial-spectral filtering strategy is investigated, which however does not present significant advantages compared to a sole filtering strategy.
Magnetic field computer interface based on Cartesian robot for practical demonstration of Ampere’s law in precollege courses
Authors: Calles-Arriaga Carlos A , López-Hernández Juan , Hernández-Ordoñez Martín , Nuño-Maganda Marco A , Ortiz-Moctezuma Manuel B , Rocha-Rangel Enrique
Published: August 2022

Basic science courses, such as physics, are fundamental to precollege studies. For instance, in different engineering applications, electricity and magnetism require comprehending subjects such as electrical circuits and power electronics. However, abstract concepts such as electric or magnetic fields are often difficult to explain without visual tools. Computer programs designed for learning physics fundamentals are useful in this area because they allow the visualization, interaction and reinforcement of main concepts in a better way than using only blackboard. In this work, an interactive MATLAB based program to visualize a magnetic field in 3D was presented. The measurements were sampled by a computer-controlled Cartesian robot with a Hall effect sensor. The magnetic field was generated by an energized electromagnet to show the relationship between electricity and magnetism. The designed graphical user interface aims to stimulate interest in electromagnetism in precollege students.
Toward semi-automatic biologically effective dose treatment plan optimisation for Gamma Knife radiosurgery
Authors: Klinge Thomas , Talbot Hugues , Paddick Ian , Ourselin Sébastien , McClelland Jamie R , Modat Marc
Published: August 2022

Objective. Dose-rate effects in Gamma Knife radiosurgery treatments can lead to varying biologically effective dose (BED) levels for the same physical dose. The non-convex BED model depends on the delivery sequence and creates a non-trivial treatment planning problem. We investigate the feasibility of employing inverse planning methods to generate treatment plans exhibiting desirable BED characteristics using the per iso-centre beam-on times and delivery sequence. Approach. We implement two dedicated optimisation algorithms. One approach relies on mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) using a purposely developed convex underestimator for the BED to mitigate local minima issues at the cost of computational complexity. The second approach (local optimisation) is faster and potentially usable in a clinical setting but more prone to local minima issues. It sequentially executes the beam-on time (quasi-Newton method) and sequence optimisation (local search algorithm). We investigate the trade-off between time to convergence and solution quality by evaluating the resulting treatment plans’ objective function values and clinical parameters. We also study the treatment time dependence of the initial and optimised plans using BED95 (BED delivered to 95% of the target volume) values. Main results. When optimising the beam-on times and delivery sequence, the local optimisation approach converges several orders of magnitude faster than the MILP approach (minutes versus hours–days) while typically reaching within 1.2% (0.02–2.08%) of the final objective function value. The quality parameters of the resulting treatment plans show no meaningful difference between the local and MILP optimisation approaches. The presented optimisation approaches remove the treatment time dependence observed in the original treatment plans, and the chosen objectives successfully promote more conformal treatments. Significance. We demonstrate the feasibility of using an inverse planning approach within a reasonable time frame to ensure BED-based objectives are achieved across varying treatment times and highlight the prospect of further improvements in treatment plan quality.
A joint image compression and encryption algorithm based on compression sensing and bit-plane embedding
Authors: Pan Tao , Tong Xiaojun , Zhang Miao , Wang Zhu
Published: August 2022

In medical, financial and other fields, the direct transmission of digital images in public channels is vulnerable to attacks and information leakage. In order to solve such problems, this paper proposes a new one-dimensional chaotic map. The information hiding visual security algorithm is based on the chaotic sequence diffusion image and bit plane decomposition technology, which greatly improves the visual security of the embedded image, and its structure and vision maintain a high degree of similarity with the carrier image. Firstly, a new one-dimensional chaotic map is proposed. The generated key stream can improve the randomness of the algorithm. Secondly, we optimize the measurement matrix to reduce the minimum coherence between the matrices and improve the reconstruction performance. Then we obtain the intermediate state cipher image through compression and encryption, and then embed the intermediate state cipher image by decomposing the carrier image bit plane, and finally obtain a visual security image. The experimental results show that, compared with the existing related literature, the algorithm has better reconstruction performance, security performance and operational efficiency.
Chaotic convection in a magnetic fluid in rotation subjected to a pseudo-vector type force
Authors: Hounvènou M L , Monwanou Vincent
Published: August 2022

This paper reports the chaos control on the convection in a magnetic fluid in rotation subjected to a pseudo-vector type force. We performed a truncated Galerkin expansion which allowed to describe the system by a Lorenz-type model. We characterized the dynamical system by plotting bifurcation diagrams, Lyapunov exponents and phase spaces. It is found that the system exhibits rich behaviors depending on the variation of the system parameters. Finally, we noticed that the chaotic domain is considerably reduced with the increase of the helical force whereas the Taylor number enlarges it.
Singularities and accumulation of singularities of πN scattering amplitudes
Authors: Li Qu-Zhi , Zheng Han-Qing
Published: August 2022

It is demonstrated that for the isospin I = 1/2 πN scattering amplitude, T

I=1/2(s, t),

s
=

m

N

2

−

m

π

2

2

/

m

N

2

and

s
=

m

N

2

+
2

m

π

2

are two accumulation points of poles on the second sheet of complex s plane, and are hence accumulation of singularities of T

I=1/2(s, t). For T

I=3/2(s, t),

s
=

m

N

2

−

m

π

2

2

/

m

N

2

is the accumulation point of poles on the second sheet of the complex s plane. The proof is valid up to all orders of chiral expansions.
Collapsing scenario for the k-essence emergent generalized Vaidya spacetime in the context of massive gravity's rainbow
Authors: Ray Saibal , Panda Arijit , Majumder Bivash , Islam Md. Rabiul , Manna Goutam
Published: August 2022

In this study, we investigate the collapsing scenario for the k-essence emergent Vaidya spacetime in the context of massive gravity's rainbow. For this study, we consider that the background metric is Vaidya spacetime in massive gravity's rainbow. We show that the k-essence emergent gravity metric closely resembles the new type of generalized Vaidya massive gravity metric with the rainbow deformations for null fluid collapse, where we consider the k-essence scalar field as a function solely of the advanced or the retarded time. The k-essence emergent Vaidya massive gravity rainbow mass function is also different. This new type k-essence emergent Vaidya massive gravity rainbow metric satisfies the required energy conditions. The existence of a locally naked central singularity and the strength and strongness of the singularities for the rainbow deformations of the k-essence emergent Vaidya massive gravity metric are the interesting outcomes of the present work.
Attributing observed increase in extreme precipitation in China to human influence
Authors: Dong Siyan , Sun Ying , Zhang Xuebin
Published: August 2022

This paper examines new evidence from observational and detection and attribution studies of changes in extreme precipitation in China since the early 1960s. We have also designed a series of sensitivity tests to explore the robustness of detection and attribution results to the differences in sample size, in extreme precipitation index, and in data processing procedure. Our analyses used the most recent update of observational records as well as simulations conducted with the climate models participated in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6. Based on the existing studies and our additional analyses, we found that human influence is detectable in extreme precipitation in China regardless of the period, extreme precipitation index, or data treatment considered, in both China as a whole and in northern and southern China separately. We also found, as is often encountered in detection and attribution studies, it is difficult to separate the contribution from anthropogenic forcing from that of natural external forcing, and it is also challenging to decompose the anthropogenic component into a greenhouse gas forcing component and a component that reflects other anthropogenic forcing agents (dominantly, aerosols).
Complex hypergeometric functions and integrable many-body problems
Authors: Sarkissian G A , Spiridonov V P
Published: August 2022

General reduction of the elliptic hypergeometric equation to the level of complex hypergeometric functions is described. The derived equation is generalized to the Hamiltonian eigenvalue problem for new rational integrable N-body systems emerging from particular degenerations of the elliptic Ruijsenaars and van Diejen models.
Incompatibility of observables, channels and instruments in information theories
Authors: D’Ariano Giacomo Mauro , Perinotti Paolo , Tosini Alessandro
Published: August 2022

Every theory of information, including classical and quantum, can be studied in the framework of operational probabilistic theories—where the notion of test generalizes that of quantum instrument, namely a collection of quantum operations summing to a channel, and simple rules are given for the composition of tests in parallel and in sequence. Here we study the notion of compatibility for tests of a causal operational probabilistic theory. Following the quantum literature, we first introduce the notion of strong compatibility, and then we illustrate its ultimate relaxation, that we deem weak compatibility. It is shown that the two notions coincide in the case of observation tests—which are the counterpart of quantum POVMs—while there exist weakly compatible channels that are not strongly compatible. We prove necessary and sufficient conditions for a theory to exhibit incompatible tests. We show that a theory admits of incompatible tests if and only if some information cannot be extracted without disturbance.
Modeling the dynamic of ecosystem service supply and demand in Chengdu-Chongqing twin-city economic circle, China
Authors: Tang Zhonglin , Wang Yuting , Fu Min
Published: August 2022

Research on ecosystem service supply and demand relations is necessary for effective ecosystem management and rational allocation of resources. Based on the Ecosystem Services Value Evaluation, calculation of Land Use Development Index(LDI) and Ecosystem Services Supply-Demand Ratio(ESSDR), the coupling pattern of ecosystem services supply and demand in the Chengdu-Chongqing Twin-city Economic Circle were described. The results showed that the ESSDR in the researched area basically maintained a pattern of gradual improvement from the dual core to the peripheral circle in terms of spatial structure. An obvious inter-annual difference in the supply and demand patterns was also observed, which showed that the change trend of ESSDR before and after 2000 was opposite. The accelerated urbanization and population migration brought about by the Western Development Strategy exacerbated the imbalance between supply and demand of ecosystem services, the relationship between supply and demand of ecosystem services show an overall negative correlation, but there were obvious regional difference. The coupling status was significantly greater in the southern Sichuan urban agglomeration than others in terms of the quantitative characteristics.
Evaluation of machine learning algorithms for grade estimation using GRNN & SVR
Authors: Goswami Agam Das , Mishra M K , Patra Dipti
Published: August 2022

Estimates of the ore grade need precise location prediction using the limited drill data available. It is a significant and important phase in the process of deciding how to invest in and develop various mining operations. This study analyses the effectiveness of using General Regression Neural Networks (GRNN) and Support Vector Regression (SVR) to improve grade estimate prediction in western India. The algorithm used to estimate grade took into account supplemental lithological information that differed throughout the study area. In this particular investigation, the factors considered as input variables were three-dimensional geographical coordinates and four underlying lithological units. On the other hand, the factors considered as output variables were CaO, Al2O3, Fe2O3, and SiO2. Ordinary kriging (OK), a geo-statistical technique, was utilized in order to verify the results of the comparative analysis performed on these models (OK). The GRNN model performed significantly better than the SVR model and the OK model when it came to generalization and the ability to predict grades.
Sources: Genesis's Use of Homer's Odyssey
Authors: Brodie Thomas L.
Published: August 2022

Genesis used epics not only from Mesopotamia, as is generally accepted, but also from the Greeks. The criteria of literary dependence indicate that Genesis 11–50 used Homer's Odyssey. Generally, the dependence is systematic.
Basic Principles for the Allocation of Competence in the United States and the European
Authors: Bermann George A. , Nicolaidis Kalypso
Published: August 2022

While the chapters in this book inevitably draw attention to broader issues of legitimacy and levels of governance, this appendix is meant to provide a rough overview of the legal basis for allocating competences between the States and the Union in the two systems. This exercise should better enable appreciation of the nature of the choices that have been made, and are being made, in Europe and the USA. The discussion adopts two assumptions: first, that to qualify as legal principles, the lines of federalism should be drawn in some more or less regular fashion rather than haphazardly or through the sheer exercise of power; second, that whatever the lines of federalism may be, certain legal mechanisms will in fact be put into place in order to ensure that these lines are respected. In reality, there is a much broader range of legal instruments and controls available for these purposes than is commonly supposed, and both the EU and the USA have made, and are still in the process of making, their selections. In a nutshell, federalism principles can be organized around three broad sets of legal criteria, namely, allocative, structural, and procedural: first, the substantive allocation of subject matters or functions to different levels of government would seem to be the most basic approach to the relationship and balance of power between the States and the Union—at least for the general public: second, the structures or institutions at the federal level may be designed to promote indirectly the interests of the constituent States and their separate populations: third, those institutions can be required to employ certain decision‐making procedures or decisional processes aimed at promoting the values of federalism and the respective interests of the various levels of government. The first section of the appendix focuses mainly on the allocative principles of federalism, and the second section signals other considerations that may be relevant to the distribution of competences: supplementary mechanisms to safeguard the basic allocations.
Adverbs of Action
Authors: Davidson Donald
Published: August 2022

Davidson defends the analysis of adverbial modification he gave in Essay 6, according to which adverbial clauses are correctly analysed as predicates of events. Working through a number of examples, Davidson re‐examines (i) his views on the individuation of actions and events with respect to their places and times, (ii) their description‐relativity when it comes to characterizing them as intentional, and (iii) the validity of entailments licensed on his formalization of action sentences. Conceding various difficulties faced by his theory, he optimistically concludes that events ‘once more seem on a par, ontologically, with familiar objects’ because they share some of those problems with them (see Appendix B).
A GPU-accelerated compute framework for pathogen genomic variant identification to aid genomic epidemiology of infectious disease: a malaria case study
Authors: Carpi Giovanna , Gorenstein Lev , Harkins Timothy T , Samadi Mehrzad , Vats Pankaj
Published: August 2022

As recently demonstrated by the COVID-19 pandemic, large-scale pathogen genomic data are crucial to characterize transmission patterns of human infectious diseases. Yet, current methods to process raw sequence data into analysis-ready variants remain slow to scale, hampering rapid surveillance efforts and epidemiological investigations for disease control. Here, we introduce an accelerated, scalable, reproducible, and cost-effective framework for pathogen genomic variant identification and present an evaluation of its performance and accuracy across benchmark datasets of Plasmodium falciparum malaria genomes. We demonstrate superior performance of the GPU framework relative to standard pipelines with mean execution time and computational costs reduced by 27× and 4.6×, respectively, while delivering 99.9% accuracy at enhanced reproducibility.
DLF-Sul: a multi-module deep learning framework for prediction of S-sulfinylation sites in proteins
Authors: Ning Qiao , Li Jinmou
Published: August 2022

Protein S-sulfinylation is an important posttranslational modification that regulates a variety of cell and protein functions. This modification has been linked to signal transduction, redox homeostasis and neuronal transmission in studies. Therefore, identification of S-sulfinylation sites is crucial to understanding its structure and function, which is critical in cell biology and human diseases. In this study, we propose a multi-module deep learning framework named DLF-Sul for identification of S-sulfinylation sites in proteins. First, three types of features are extracted including binary encoding, BLOSUM62 and amino acid index. Then, sequential features are further extracted based on these three types of features using bidirectional long short-term memory network. Next, multi-head self-attention mechanism is utilized to filter the effective attribute information, and residual connection helps to reduce information loss. Furthermore, convolutional neural network is employed to extract local deep features information. Finally, fully connected layers acts as classifier that map samples to corresponding label. Performance metrics on independent test set, including sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, Matthews correlation coefficient and area under curve, reach 91.80%, 92.36%, 92.08%, 0.8416 and 96.40%, respectively. The results show that DLF-Sul is an effective tool for predicting S-sulfinylation sites. The source code is available on the website https://github.com/ningq669/DLF-Sul.
Viral informatics: bioinformatics-based solution for managing viral infections
Authors: Kumar Sanjay , Kumar Geethu S , Maitra Subhrangsu Sundar , Malý Petr , Bharadwaj Shiv , Sharma Pradeep , Dwivedi Vivek Dhar
Published: August 2022

Several new viral infections have emerged in the human population and establishing as global pandemics. With advancements in translation research, the scientific community has developed potential therapeutics to eradicate or control certain viral infections, such as smallpox and polio, responsible for billions of disabilities and deaths in the past. Unfortunately, some viral infections, such as dengue virus (DENV) and human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1), are still prevailing due to a lack of specific therapeutics, while new pathogenic viral strains or variants are emerging because of high genetic recombination or cross-species transmission. Consequently, to combat the emerging viral infections, bioinformatics-based potential strategies have been developed for viral characterization and developing new effective therapeutics for their eradication or management. This review attempts to provide a single platform for the available wide range of bioinformatics-based approaches, including bioinformatics methods for the identification and management of emerging or evolved viral strains, genome analysis concerning the pathogenicity and epidemiological analysis, computational methods for designing the viral therapeutics, and consolidated information in the form of databases against the known pathogenic viruses. This enriched review of the generally applicable viral informatics approaches aims to provide an overview of available resources capable of carrying out the desired task and may be utilized to expand additional strategies to improve the quality of translation viral informatics research.
Deep learning-based pseudo-mass spectrometry imaging analysis for precision medicine
Authors: Shen Xiaotao , Shao Wei , Wang Chuchu , Liang Liang , Chen Songjie , Zhang Sai , Rusu Mirabela , Snyder Michael P
Published: August 2022

Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS)-based untargeted metabolomics provides systematic profiling of metabolic. Yet, its applications in precision medicine (disease diagnosis) have been limited by several challenges, including metabolite identification, information loss and low reproducibility. Here, we present the deep-learning-based Pseudo-Mass Spectrometry Imaging (deepPseudoMSI) project (https://www.deeppseudomsi.org/), which converts LC–MS raw data to pseudo-MS images and then processes them by deep learning for precision medicine, such as disease diagnosis. Extensive tests based on real data demonstrated the superiority of deepPseudoMSI over traditional approaches and the capacity of our method to achieve an accurate individualized diagnosis. Our framework lays the foundation for future metabolic-based precision medicine.
Effects of controlled ovarian stimulation on thyroid function during pregnancy
Authors: Li Lingfei , Li Ling , Li Ping
Published: August 2022

Controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) is a major component of assisted reproductive technologies. Clinically, it has been observed that some women experience changes in thyrotropin levels following COS, which then bring about subclinical hypothyroidism and may adversely affect conception. Studies have also shown that the specific degree as well as the tendency of changes in thyroid function vary with differences in thyroid function before pregnancy, thyroid autoimmunity, the COS regimen, and the observation time point. However, the associated pathophysiological mechanism of the effects of COS on pregnancy has not yet been fully elucidated. This may be because increased estradiol levels, caused by COS, induce increased levels of thyroxine-binding globulin, resulting in a decrease in free thyroxine (FT4) level and an increase in TSH level. Conversely, it has also been observed that human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) can act directly on thyroid cells, exerting opposite effects on FT4 and TSH levels. Additionally, the effects of COS on thyroid function may be more pronounced, especially in women with autoimmune thyroid disease or thyroid dysfunction before pregnancy, ultimately leading to subclinical hypothyroidism. Here, we review recent research progress regarding the effects of COS on thyroid function during pregnancy.
Radiopaque tissue transfer and X-ray system versus standard specimen radiography for intraoperative margin assessment in breast-conserving surgery: randomized clinical trial
Authors: Stachs Angrit , Bollmann Julia , Martin Annett , Stubert Johannes , Reimer Toralf , Gerber Bernd , Hartmann Steffi
Published: August 2022

Background

Reduction of positive margin rate (PMR) in breast-conserving surgery (BCS) of non-palpable breast cancer remains a challenge. The efficacy of intraoperative specimen radiography (SR) is unclear. This randomized trial evaluated whether the PMR was reduced by the use of devices that allow precise localization of the affected margins.

Methods

Patients with microcalcification-associated breast cancer undergoing planned BCS were enrolled. Study participants were randomized to receive either SR with radiopaque tissue transfer and X-ray system (KliniTrayTM) or the institutional standard procedure (ISO). In all patients with a radiological margin less than 5 mm, an immediate re-excision was conducted. The primary outcome was the PMR. Risk factors for positive margins and the effect of immediate re-excision on final surgery were secondary analyses.

Results

Among 122 randomized patients, 5 patients were excluded due to the extent of primary surgery and 117 were available for analysis. Final histopathology revealed a PMR of 31.7 per cent for the KliniTrayTM group and 26.3 per cent for the ISO group (P = 0.127). Independent factors for positive margins were histological tumour size more than 30 mm (adjusted OR (aOR) 10.73; 95 per cent c.i. 3.14 to 36.75; P < 0.001) and specimen size more than 50 mm (aOR 6.65; 95 per cent c.i. 2.00 to 22.08; P = 0.002). Immediate re-excision due to positive SR led to an absolute risk reduction in positive margins of 13.6 per cent (from 42.7 to 29.1 per cent).

Conclusion

Specimen orientation with a radiopaque tissue transfer and X-ray system did not decrease the PMR in patients with microcalcification-associated breast cancer; however, SR and immediate re-excision proved to be helpful in the reduction of PMR.

Registration number

DRKS00011527 (https://www.drks.de).
Variants in the zinc transporterTMEM163cause a hypomyelinating leukodystrophy
Authors: do Rosario Michelle C , Bey Guillermo Rodriguez , Nmezi Bruce , Liu Fang , Oranburg Talia , Cohen Ana S A , Coffman Keith A , Brown Maya R , Kiselyov Kirill , Waisfisz Quinten , Flohil Myrthe T , Siddiqui Shahyan , Rosenfeld Jill A , Iglesias Alejandro , Girisha Katta Mohan , Wolf Nicole I , Padiath Quasar Saleem , Shukla Anju
Published: August 2022

Hypomyelinating leukodystrophies comprise a subclass of genetic disorders with deficient myelination of the CNS white matter. Here we report four unrelated families with a hypomyelinating leukodystrophy phenotype harbouring variants in TMEM163 (NM_030923.5). The initial clinical presentation resembled Pelizaeus–Merzbacher disease with congenital nystagmus, hypotonia, delayed global development and neuroimaging findings suggestive of significant and diffuse hypomyelination. Genomic testing identified three distinct heterozygous missense variants in TMEM163 with two unrelated individuals sharing the same de novo variant. TMEM163 is highly expressed in the CNS particularly in newly myelinating oligodendrocytes and was recently revealed to function as a zinc efflux transporter. All the variants identified lie in highly conserved residues in the cytoplasmic domain of the protein, and functional in vitro analysis of the mutant protein demonstrated significant impairment in the ability to efflux zinc out of the cell. Expression of the mutant proteins in an oligodendroglial cell line resulted in substantially reduced mRNA expression of key myelin genes, reduced branching and increased cell death. Our findings indicate that variants in TMEM163 cause a hypomyelinating leukodystrophy and uncover a novel role for zinc homeostasis in oligodendrocyte development and myelin formation.
Mapping astrogliosis in the individual human brain using multidimensional MRI
Authors: Benjamini Dan , Priemer David S , Perl Daniel P , Brody David L , Basser Peter J
Published: August 2022

There are currently no non-invasive imaging methods available for astrogliosis assessment or mapping in the central nervous system despite its essential role in the response to many disease states, such as infarcts, neurodegenerative conditions, traumatic brain injury and infection. Multidimensional MRI is an increasingly employed imaging modality that maximizes the amount of encoded chemical and microstructural information by probing relaxation (T1 and T2) and diffusion mechanisms simultaneously. Here, we harness the exquisite sensitivity of this imagining modality to derive a signature of astrogliosis and disentangle it from normative brain at the individual level using machine learning. We investigated ex vivo cerebral cortical tissue specimens derived from seven subjects who sustained blast-induced injuries, which resulted in scar-border forming astrogliosis without being accompanied by other types of neuropathological abnormality, and from seven control brain donors. By performing a combined post-mortem radiology and histopathology correlation study we found that astrogliosis induces microstructural and chemical changes that are robustly detected with multidimensional MRI, and which can be attributed to astrogliosis because no axonal damage, demyelination or tauopathy were histologically observed in any of the cases in the study. Importantly, we showed that no one-dimensional T1, T2 or diffusion MRI measurement can disentangle the microscopic alterations caused by this neuropathology. Based on these findings, we developed a within-subject anomaly detection procedure that generates MRI-based astrogliosis biomarker maps ex vivo, which were significantly and strongly correlated with co-registered histological images of increased glial fibrillary acidic protein deposition (r = 0.856, P < 0.0001; r = 0.789, P < 0.0001; r = 0.793, P < 0.0001, for diffusion-T2, diffusion-T1 and T1–T2 multidimensional data sets, respectively). Our findings elucidate the underpinning of MRI signal response from astrogliosis, and the demonstrated high spatial sensitivity and specificity in detecting reactive astrocytes at the individual level, and if reproduced in vivo, will significantly impact neuroimaging studies of injury, disease, repair and aging, in which astrogliosis has so far been an invisible process radiologically.
Impact of Seasonal Coronavirus Antibodies on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Vaccine Responses in Solid Organ Transplant Recipients
Authors: Karaba Andrew H , Zhou Weiqiang , Li Shuai , Aytenfisu Tihitina Y , Johnston Trevor S , Akinde Olivia , Eby Yolanda , Abedon Aura T , Alejo Jennifer L , Qin Caroline X , Thompson Elizabeth A , Garonzik-Wang Jacqueline M , Blankson Joel N , Cox Andrea L , Bailey Justin R , Klein Sabra L , Pekosz Andrew , Segev Dorry L , Tobian Aaron A R , Werbel William A
Published: August 2022

Antibody responses to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccination are reduced in solid organ transplant recipients (SOTRs). We report that increased levels of preexisting antibodies to seasonal coronaviruses are associated with decreased antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in SOTRs, supporting that antigenic imprinting modulates vaccine responses in SOTRs.
Symptom Burden and Immune Dynamics 6 to 18 Months Following Mild Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Infection (SARS-CoV-2): A Case-control Study
Authors: Fjelltveit Elisabeth B , Blomberg Bjørn , Kuwelker Kanika , Zhou Fan , Onyango Therese B , Brokstad Karl A , Elyanow Rebecca , Kaplan Ian M , Tøndel Camilla , Mohn Kristin G I , Özgümüş Türküler , Cox Rebecca J , Langeland Nina ,   Bergen COVID-19 Research Group, Bredholt Geir , Hansen Lena , Lartey Sarah Larteley , Madsen Anders , Olofsson Jan Stefan , Ljostveit Sonja , Sævik Marianne , Søyland Hanne , Sandnes Helene Heitmann , Ertesvåg Nina Urke , Vahokoski Juha , Bansal Amit , Amdam Håkon , Fomina Tatiana , Linchausen Dagrun Waag , Hauge Synnøve , Corydon Annette , Sundøy Silje
Published: August 2022

Background

The burden and duration of persistent symptoms after nonsevere coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remains uncertain. This study aimed to assess postinfection symptom trajectories in home-isolated COVID-19 cases compared with age- and time- matched seronegative controls, and investigate immunological correlates of long COVID.

Methods

A prospective case-control study included home-isolated COVID-19 cases between February 28 and April 4, 2020, and followed for 12 (n = 233) to 18 (n = 149) months, and 189 age-matched severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-naive controls. We collected clinical data at baseline, 6, 12, and 18 months postinfection, and blood samples at 2, 4, 6, and 12 months for analysis of SARS-CoV-2-specific humoral and cellular responses.

Results

Overall, 46% (108/233) had persisting symptoms 12 months after COVID-19. Compared with controls, adult cases had a high risk of fatigue (27% excess risk, sex, and comorbidity adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 5.86; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.27–10.5), memory problems (21% excess risk; aOR 7.42; CI, 3.51–15.67), concentration problems (20% excess risk; aOR 8.88; 95% CI, 3.88–20.35), and dyspnea (10% excess risk; aOR 2.66; 95% CI, 1.22–5.79). The prevalence of memory problems increased overall from 6 to 18 months (excess risk 11.5%; 95% CI, 1.5–21.5; P = .024) and among women (excess risk 18.7%; 95% CI, 4.4–32.9; P = .010). Longitudinal spike immunoglobulin G was significantly associated with dyspnea at 12 months. The spike-specific clonal CD4+ T-cell receptor β depth was significantly associated with both dyspnea and number of symptoms at 12 months.

Conclusions

This study documents a high burden of persisting symptoms after mild COVID-19 and suggests that infection induced SARS-CoV-2-specific immune responses may influence long-term symptoms.
Interspecific differences and ecological correlations between scale number and skin structure in freshwater fishes
Authors: Gu Haoran , Wang Haoyu , Zhu Shudang , Yuan Dengyue , Dai Xiangyan , Wang Zhijian
Published: August 2022

Fish skin is mainly composed of the epidermis, dermis, and its derivative scales. There is a wide diversity in scale number in fishes, but the diversity of skin structure lacks systematic histological comparison. This research aimed to improve our understanding of the functional relationship between the scale number and the skin structure in freshwater fishes and to determine which ecological factors affect the scale number and skin structure. First, we presented a method to quantify skin structure in fish and histologically quantified the skin structure of 54 freshwater fishes. Second, we collected the scale number and habitat information of 509 Cyprinidae fishes in China and explored which ecological factors were related to their scale number. Third, common carp and scaleless carp were used as models to study the effects of scale loss on swimming. We found a strong negative correlation between scale thickness and scale number. The main factor affecting the skin structure of fishes was the species’ water column position, and the skin of benthic fishes was the most well-developed (thicker skin layers (dermis, epidermis) or more/larger goblet cells and club cells). The scale number was related to two factors, namely, temperature and water column position, and cold, benthic and pelagic adaptation may have contributed to increased scale numbers. Only in benthic fishes, the more well-developed their skin, the more scales. In common carp, scale loss did not affect its swimming performance. In summary, we suggest that there is a rich diversity of skin structure in freshwater fishes, and the scales of fish with well-developed skin tend to degenerate (greater number/smaller size/thinner, or even disappear), but the skin of fish with degenerated scales is not necessarily well developed.
Differential transport of a guild of mutualistic root aphids by the antLasius flavus
Authors: Parmentier Thomas
Published: August 2022

Mutually beneficial associations are widespread in ecological networks. They are typically assembled as multispecies guilds of symbionts that compete for one or more host species. The ant Lasius flavus engages in an intriguing and obligate mutualistic association with a community of aphids that are cultivated on plant roots in its nests. The ant displays a repertoire of amicable behaviors toward the aphids, including their transport. I examined whether L. flavus preferentially carried some of the root aphids. Using a no-choice and a choice experiment, I comparatively analyzed the transport rate of 5 obligate and one loosely associated species back to the ant nest and used the transport rate of the ant larvae as a reference. All associated root aphids were carried back to the nest, but in a clear preferential hierarchy. Geoica utricularia, Forda Formicaria, and Trama rara were rapidly transported, but slower than the own larvae. Tetraneura ulmi and Geoica setulosa were collected at a moderate rate and the loosely associated Aploneura lentisci was slowly retrieved. In contrast, different species of unassociated aphids were not transported and even provoked aggressive behavior in L. flavus. This study revealed that co-occurring symbionts may induce different degrees of host attraction, which ultimately may affect the coexistence and assembly of ant-symbiont communities.
Acute-phase administration of ivabradine supported by intra-aortic balloon pump induces myocardial recovery without significant haemodynamic worsening in a patient with acute fulminant myocarditis: a case report
Authors: Ando Moriyasu , Watanabe Naoki , Saku Keita , Morishima Itsuro
Published: August 2022

Background

Ivabradine can reduce the heart rate without affecting myocardial contractility or vascular tone. Current guidelines recommend its use for treating patients with chronic heart failure who have a high heart rate (≥75 b.p.m.) and persistent symptoms despite guideline-directed therapy. Nonetheless, little is known about its efficacy in patients with acute cardiogenic shock. We report a case of successful treatment of cardiogenic shock

Case summary

A 53-year-old previously healthy man was admitted due to cardiogenic shock with acute fulminant myocarditis. The patient was placed on intra-aortic balloon pump support and was given guideline-directed therapy including inotropic agents and furosemide. However, no improvement was seen in haemodynamics and the patient was in sinus tachycardia (116 b.p.m.). On Day 2, ivabradine therapy was initiated to reduce the myocardial workload and stabilize the haemodynamic parameters. As heart rate decreased, his symptoms improved and urine output increased without affecting the blood pressure. Subsequently, the patient recovered from cardiogenic shock. The intra-aortic balloon pumping was discontinued on Day 7, and the patient was discharged on Day 22.

Discussion

Ivabradine has the potential to induce rapid cardiac recovery and haemodynamic improvement in the acute phase of heart failure if supported by intra-aortic balloon pump.
Acute heart failure due to a giant left atrial myxoma: a case report
Authors: Alan Fuentes-Mendoza Juan , Andres Pimentel-Esparza Juan , Antonio Cervantes-Nieto Jorge
Published: August 2022

Background

Cardiac myxomas are the most common primary benign tumour of the heart. Most of them occur between the 4th and 6th decade of life, are most frequent in the woman, and most frequently localized in the left atrium.

Case summary

We present a case of a 41-year-old female who presented with a history of left-sided heart failure. A left atrial mass of 87 × 88 × 65 mm was documented by cardiac magnetic resonance. She was taken to surgical resection of the mass. Histopathologic findings were diagnostic of cardiac myxoma. Generally, myxomas that are bigger than 6 cm are associated with the worst prognosis.

Discussion

Primary cardiac tumours are mostly benign, being in 50% of the cases a cardiac myxoma. The rest of them correspond to papillary fibroelastoma (26%), fibromas (6%), lipomas (4%), and others including calcified tumours, haemangiomas, teratomas, cysts, and rhabdomyomas. Our clinical case illustrates an unusual and rare presentation of cardiac myxoma with a double mitral lesion.
Potential effects of icosapent ethyl on cardiovascular outcomes in cigarette smokers: REDUCE-IT smoking
Authors: Miller Michael , Bhatt Deepak L , Steg Ph Gabriel , Brinton Eliot A , Jacobson Terry A , Jiao Lixia , Tardif Jean-Claude , Ballantyne Christie M , Budoff Matthew , Mason R Preston
Published: August 2022

Aims

Cigarette smoking is among the most well-established risk factors for adverse cardiovascular outcomes. We sought to determine whether icosapent ethyl (IPE), a highly purified form of eicosapentaenoic acid with antiatherothrombotic properties, may reduce the excessive risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) attributable to smoking.

Methods and results

Reduction of Cardiovascular Events with Icosapent Ethyl Trial (REDUCE-IT) was a multinational, double-blind trial that randomized 8179 statin-treated patients with elevated triglycerides and CV risk to IPE or placebo, with a median follow-up period of 4.9 years. Icosapent ethyl reduced the primary composite endpoint [CV death, non-fatal myocardial infarction (MI), non-fatal stroke, coronary revascularization, or hospitalization for unstable angina] by 25% (P < 0.0001). In the current analyses, the effect of IPE was evaluated in REDUCE-IT using post hoc analyses based on smoking history. Groups were classified as current smokers (n = 1241), former smokers (n = 3672), and never smokers (n = 3264). Compared with placebo, IPE use in combined current and former smokers (n = 4913) was associated with significant reductions in time to the primary composite endpoint {hazard ratio: 0.77 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.68–0.87]; P < 0.0001} and in total events [rate ratio: 0.71 (95% CI: 0.61–0.82); P < 0.0001]. These benefits remained significant when subdivided into current and former smokers (P = 0.04, P = 0.005), with reductions in the key secondary composite endpoint (P < 0.0001) and in the individual components of CV death or non-fatal MI (P = 0.04, P = 0.01) and fatal or non-fatal MI (P = 0.009, P = 0.01), respectively. Benefits were consistent and significant in non-smokers as well. Overall, there were similar estimated rates of first occurrences of primary CVD endpoints in current smokers (23.8%) and former smokers (23.0%) assigned to IPE compared with never smokers on placebo (25.7%).

Conclusion

In REDUCE-IT, IPE treatment was associated with a reduced risk of CV events in current and former smokers to levels observed in never smokers. While smoking cessation should always be recommended, these data raise the possibility that IPE treatment may attenuate CV hazards attributable to smoking.
Genetic and epigenetic dependencies in colorectal cancer development
Authors: Parmar Sehej , Easwaran Hariharan
Published: August 2022

Recent studies have mapped key genetic changes in colorectal cancer (CRC) that impact important pathways contributing to the multistep models for CRC initiation and development. In parallel with genetic changes, normal and cancer tissues harbor epigenetic alterations impacting regulation of critical genes that have been shown to play profound roles in the tumor initiation. Cumulatively, these molecular changes are only loosely associated with heterogenous transcriptional programs, reflecting the heterogeneity in the various CRC molecular subtypes and the paths to CRC development. Studies from mapping molecular alterations in early CRC lesions and use of experimental models suggest that the intricate dependencies of various genetic and epigenetic hits shape the early development of CRC via different pathways and its manifestation into various CRC subtypes. We highlight the dependency of epigenetic and genetic changes in driving CRC development and discuss factors affecting epigenetic alterations over time and, by extension, risk for cancer.
Bridging the splicing gap in human genetics with long-read RNA sequencing: finding the protein isoform drivers of disease
Authors: Castaldi Peter J , Abood Abdullah , Farber Charles R , Sheynkman Gloria M
Published: August 2022

Aberrant splicing underlies many human diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular diseases and neurological disorders. Genome-wide mapping of splicing quantitative trait loci (sQTLs) has shown that genetic regulation of alternative splicing is widespread. However, identification of the corresponding isoform or protein products associated with disease-associated sQTLs is challenging with short-read RNA-seq, which cannot precisely characterize full-length transcript isoforms. Furthermore, contemporary sQTL interpretation often relies on reference transcript annotations, which are incomplete. Solutions to these issues may be found through integration of newly emerging long-read sequencing technologies. Long-read sequencing offers the capability to sequence full-length mRNA transcripts and, in some cases, to link sQTLs to transcript isoforms containing disease-relevant protein alterations. Here, we provide an overview of sQTL mapping approaches, the use of long-read sequencing to characterize sQTL effects on isoforms, the linkage of RNA isoforms to protein-level functions and comment on future directions in the field. Based on recent progress, long-read RNA sequencing promises to be part of the human disease genetics toolkit to discover and treat protein isoforms causing rare and complex diseases.