bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Maize ZmbZIP33 Is Involved in Drought Resistance and Recovery Ability Through an Abscisic Acid-Dependent Signaling Pathway
Authors: Cao Liru , Lu Xiaomin , Wang Guorui , Zhang Qianjin , Zhang Xin , Fan Zaifeng , Cao Yanyong , Wei Li , Wang Tongchao , Wang Zhenhua
Published: April 2021

Analyzing the transcriptome of maize leaves under drought stress and rewatering conditions revealed that transcription factors were involved in this process, among which ZmbZIP33 of the ABSCISIC ACID-INSENSITIVE 5-like protein 5 family was induced to significantly up-regulated. The functional mechanism of ZmbZIP33 in Abscisic acd (ABA) signaling pathway and its response to drought stress and rewatering has not been studied yet. The present study found that ZmbZIP33 contains a DNA-binding and dimerization domain, has transcriptional activation activity, and is highly homologous to SbABI1,SitbZIP68 and OsABA1. The expression of ZmbZIP33 is strongly up-regulated by drought, high salt, high temperature, and ABA treatments. Overexpression of ZmbZIP33 remarkably increased chlorophyll content and root length after drought stress and rewatering, and, moreover, cause an accumulation of ABA content, thereby improving drought resistance and recovery ability in Arabidopsis. However, silencing the expression of ZmbZIP33 (BMV-ZmbZIP33) remarkably decreased chlorophyll content, ABA content, superoxide dismutase and peroxidase activities, and increased stomatal opening and water loss rate compared with BMV (control). It showed that silencing ZmbZIP33 lead to reduced drought resistance and recovery ability of maize. ABA sensitivity analysis found that 0.5 and 1 μmol/L treatments severely inhibited the root development of overexpression ZmbZIP33 transgenic Arabidopsis. However, the root growth of BMV was greatly inhibited for 1 and 5μmol/L ABA treatments, but not for BMV-ZmbZIP33. Subcellular localization, yeast two-hybrid and BIFC further confirmed that the core components of ABA signaling pathways ZmPYL10 and ZmPP2C7 interacted in nucleus, ZmPP2C7 and ZmSRK2E as well as ZmSRK2E and ZmbZIP33 interacted in the plasma membrane. We also found that expression levels of ZmPYL10 and ZmSRK2E in the BMV-ZmbZIP33 mutant were lower than those of BMV, while ZmPP2C7 was the opposite under drought stress and rewatering. However, expression of ZmPYL10 and ZmSRK2E in normal maize leaves were significantly up-regulated by 3–4 folds after drought and ABA treatments for 24 h, while ZmPP2C7 was down-regulated. The NCED and ZEP encoding key enzymes in ABA biosynthesis are up-regulated in overexpression ZmbZIP33 transgenic line under drought stress and rewatering conditions, but down-regulated in BMV-ZmbZIP33 mutants. Together, these findings demonstrate that ZmbZIP33 played roles in ABA biosynthesis and regulation of drought response and rewatering in Arabidopsis and maize thought an ABA-dependent signaling pathway.
Shifting the Paradigm: A Constructivist Analysis of Agency and Structure in Sustained Youth Sport Participation
Authors: Flaherty Meredith , Sagas Michael
Published: April 2021

To examine the impact of the relationship between agency and structure on sustained participation in youth sport, semi-structured interviews were conducted with male college soccer players. The participants' accounts (N = 20) of their youth careers were analyzed through the lens of Structuration Theory (ST) framed in a constructivist paradigm. ST supports the significance of the recursive relationship between agent and structure in-context in the co-construction of experiences, and provides a framework for analyzing effects of compounding experiences gained across time and space as they influence sport continuation. Clarity of expectations imposed in-context and the athlete's perceived impact on the structure evidenced, through deductive thematic analysis, as the most salient determinants of the perceived valence of the youth sport environment. The agent's perceived holding of authoritative resources across time and contexts was a critical dimension of the participants' continuation in youth sport, substantiating ST as a theoretical lens, situated in a constructivist paradigm, that might add depth to understanding patterns in participation and attrition.
High Levels of Antibiotic Resistance in Isolates From Diseased Livestock
Authors: Haulisah Nurul Asyiqin , Hassan Latiffah , Bejo Siti Khairani , Jajere Saleh Mohammed , Ahmad Nur Indah
Published: April 2021

Overuse of antimicrobials in livestock health and production beyond therapeutic needs has been highlighted in recent years as one of the major risk factors for the acceleration of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) of bacteria in both humans and animals. While there is an abundance of reports on AMR in clinical isolates from humans, information regarding the patterns of resistance in clinical isolates from animals is scarce. Hence, a situational analysis of AMR based on clinical isolates from a veterinary diagnostic laboratory was performed to examine the extent and patterns of resistance demonstrated by isolates from diseased food animals. Between 2015 and 2017, 241 cases of diseased livestock were received. Clinical specimens from ruminants (cattle, goats and sheep), and non-ruminants (pigs and chicken) were received for culture and sensitivity testing. A total of 701 isolates were recovered from these specimens. From ruminants, Escherichia coli (n = 77, 19.3%) predominated, followed by Staphylococcus aureus (n = 73, 18.3%). Antibiotic sensitivity testing (AST) revealed that E. coli resistance was highest for penicillin, streptomycin, and neomycin (77–93%). In addition, S. aureus was highly resistant to neomycin, followed by streptomycin and ampicillin (68–82%). More than 67% of E. coli isolates were multi-drug resistant (MDR) and only 2.6% were susceptible to all the tested antibiotics. Similarly, 65.6% of S. aureus isolates were MDR and only 5.5% were susceptible to all tested antibiotics. From non-ruminants, a total of 301 isolates were recovered. Escherichia coli (n = 108, 35.9%) and Staphylococcus spp. (n = 27, 9%) were the most frequent isolates obtained. For E. coli, the highest resistance was against amoxicillin, erythromycin, tetracycline, and neomycin (95–100%). Staphylococcus spp. had a high level of resistance to streptomycin, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, tetracycline and gentamicin (80–100%). The MDR levels of E. coli and Staphylococcus spp. isolates from non-ruminants were 72.2 and 74.1%, respectively. Significantly higher resistance level were observed among isolates from non-ruminants compared to ruminants for tetracycline, amoxicillin, enrofloxacin, and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole.
Identification of Prognostic Related Genes of Tumor Microenvironment Derived From Esophageal Cancer Patients
Authors: Yuan Wei , Yan Jiaqin , Liu Hongtao , Li Ling , Wu BoWen , Guo Can , Zhang Mingzhi
Published: April 2021

Background and Objective: Esophageal cancer (ESCA) is a commonly occurring cancer worldwide with poor survival and limited therapeutic options. Due to the lack of biomarkers that facilitate early detection, its treatment remains a great challenge. This study aims at identifying the tumor microenvironment (TME)-related genes, which might affect prognosis and accelerate clinical treatment for ESCA patients.

Methods: We integrated the expression profiles from ESCA patients in The Cancer Genome Atlas. Then, we determined the stromal and immune scores of each sample using the R package. The Gene Expression Omnibus database was used to validate the expression profile of the key genes.

Results: Tumor mutational burden showed a significant difference between the groups of ESCA patients with high and low ESTIMATE scores. We identified 859 intersection genes among patients with different immune and stromal scores. Moreover, gene ontology analysis demonstrated that these 859 intersection genes were closely related to adaptive immune response and regulation of lymphocyte activation. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes showed the enrichment of cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction and chemokine signaling pathway in the TME. Furthermore, the protein–protein interaction network consisted of 175 nodes. We selected 35 hub genes, including ITGAM, CXCL10, CCR2, CCR5, and CCR1. Of these, 23 intersection genes predicted the overall survival rate. C1QA and FCER1G correlated with overall survival of the ESCA patients in the two databases.

Conclusion: We identified a set of stromal and immune score-related prognostic differentially expressed genes that could influence the complexity of the TME. C1QA and FCER1G were identified and validated with respect to their role in the progression of ESCA.
Frequencies of Porphyromonas gingivalis Detection in Oral-Digestive Tract Tumors
Authors: Kong Jinyu , Yuan Xiang , Wang Jian , Liu Yiwen , Sun Wei , Gu Bianli , Lan Zijun , Gao Shegan
Published: April 2021

Mounting evidence suggests a causal relationship between specific bacterial infections and the development of certain malignancies. In this study, we examined the presence of Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis) in oral-digestive tract tumors by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and PCR and analyzed the correlation between P. gingivalis detection and clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of oral and esophageal carcinoma. The IHC results showed that the positive rates of P. gingivalis were 60.00, 46.00, 20.00, 6.67, and 2.86% in oral, esophagus, cardiac, stomach, and colorectal cancer tissues, respectively. Likewise, PCR results showed rates of 56.00, 42.00, 16.67, 3.33, and 2.86%, respectively. The two methods were consistent, and the kappa value was 0.806, P < 0.001. In addition, P. gingivalis expression was significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis and the clinical stages of oral and esophageal cancer (P < 0.05). The overall survival rate of the P. gingivalis undetected group (86, 50%) was significantly higher than that of the P. gingivalis detected group (57, 14%) for oral and esophageal cancer, respectively. In conclusion, the detection rate of P. gingivalis showed a decreasing trend in oral-digestive tract tumors. Detection with P. gingivalis was associated with poor prognosis for oral and esophageal cancer.
Role of Living Conditions and Socioenvironmental Factors on Chronotype in Adolescents
Authors: Haldar Prasun , Debnath Smriti , Adan Ana , Jankowski Konrad S. , Chattopadhyay Dwiptirtha , Maity Santi Gopal , Moitra Saibal , Lacy Paige , Moitra Subhabrata
Published: April 2021

An individual’s chronotype, defined as the preference for rest and activity at different times of the day, is linked to several physiological and psychological outcomes. Research on environmental determinants of chronotype has focussed mostly on geographic location, whereas other socioenvironmental determinants have been neglected. We aimed to investigate the association between other previously unrecognized socioenvironmental factors and chronotypes in adolescents. We analysed data of 1916 Bengali adolescents (aged between 13–14 years, 47% girls). Chronotype was determined by the reduced morningness–eveningness questionnaire (rMEQ), and socioenvironmental factors were identified through a structured questionnaire. Associations were analysed using multinomial logistic regression models. Our findings demonstrated that living in urban areas, the presence of a smoker at home, and higher parental education were associated with a higher evening activity (eveningness), while the use of biomass cooking media (compared to liquefied petroleum gas) and assisting parents in farming were associated with higher morningness in adolescents. This is the first study to identify the association between previously unrecognized socioenvironmental factors and chronotypes delineating the interaction between environment and sleep in adolescents and might help the parents to understand the importance of a proper sleep-activity rhythm of their kids through a comprehensive understanding of their surrounding environment and other factors.
Picturing the River’s Racial Ecologies in Colonial Panamá
Authors: Pushaw Bart
Published: April 2021

This article explores the local histories and ecological knowledge embedded within a Spanish print of enslaved, Afro-descendant boatmen charting a wooden vessel up the Chagres River across the Isthmus of Panamá. Produced for a 1748 travelogue by the Spanish scientists Antonio de Ulloa and Jorge Juan, the image reflects a preoccupation with tropical ecologies, where enslaved persons are incidental. Drawing from recent scholarship by Marixa Lasso, Tiffany Lethabo King, Katherine McKittrick, and Kevin Dawson, I argue that the image makes visible how enslaved and free Afro-descendants developed a distinct cosmopolitan culture connected to intimate ecological knowledge of the river. By focusing critical attention away from the print’s Spanish manufacture to the racial ecologies of the Chagres, I aim to restore art historical visibility to eighteenth-century Panamá and Central America, a region routinely excised from studies of colonial Latin American art.
The Virtual Challenge: Virtual Reality Tools for Intervention in Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder
Authors: Lino Federica , Arcangeli Valentina , Chieffo Daniela Pia Rosaria
Published: April 2021

This narrative review highlights the latest achievements in the field of tele-rehabilitation: Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) serious games aimed at restoring and improving cognitive functions could be effectively used in Developmental Coordination Disorder Training. Studies investigating the effects of the abovementioned tech applications on cognitive improvement have been considered, following a comprehensive literature search in the scientific electronic databases: Pubmed, Scopus, Plos One, ScienceDirect. This review investigates the effects of VR and AR in improving space/motor skills through mental images manipulation training in children with developmental coordination disorders. The results revealed that in spite of the spreading of technology, actually only four studies investigated the effects of VR/AR tools on mental images manipulation. This study highlights new, promising VR and AR based therapeutic opportunities for digital natives now available, emphasizing the advantages of using motivational reward-oriented tools, in a playful therapeutic environment. However, more research in this filed is needed to identify the most effective virtual tool set for clinical use.
Green Sound-Absorbing Composite Materials of Various Structure and Profiling
Authors: Gliscinska Eulalia , Perez de Amezaga Javier , Michalak Marina , Krucinska Izabella
Published: April 2021

This article presents thermoplastic sound-absorbing composites manufactured on the basis of renewable raw materials. Both the reinforcing material and the matrix material were biodegradable and used in the form of fibers. In order to mix flax fibers with polylactide fibers, the fleece was fabricated with a mechanical system and then needle-punched. The sound absorption of composites obtained from a multilayer structure of nonwovens pressed at different conditions was investigated. The sound absorption coefficient in the frequency ranging from 500 Hz to 6400 Hz was determined using a Kundt tube. The tests were performed for flat composites with various structures, profiled composites, and composite/pre-pressed nonwoven systems. Profiling the composite plate by convexity/concavity has a positive effect on its sound absorption. It is also important to arrange the plate with the appropriate structure for the incident sound wave. For the composite layer with an added pre-pressed nonwoven layer, a greater increase in sound absorption occurs for the system when a rigid composite layer is located on the side of the incident sound wave. The addition of successive nonwoven layers not only increases the absorption but also extends the maximum absorption range from the highest frequencies towards the lower frequencies.
Characterization of Chemical and Bacterial Compositions of Dairy Wastewaters
Authors: Alalam Sabine , Ben-Souilah Farah , Lessard Marie-Hélène , Chamberland Julien , Perreault Véronique , Pouliot Yves , Labrie Steve , Doyen Alain
Published: April 2021

The dairy industry produces large amounts of wastewater, including white and cleaning wastewater originating principally from rinsing and cleaning-in-place procedures. Their valorization into process water and non-fat milk solids, in the case of white wastewater, or the renewal of cleaning solutions could be achieved using pressure-driven membrane processes. However, it is crucial to determine the intrinsic characteristics of wastewaters, such as proximate composition and bacterial composition, to optimize their potential for valorization. Consequently, white and cleaning wastewaters were sampled from industrial-scale pasteurizers located in two different Canadian dairy processing plants. Bacterial profiles of dairy wastewaters were compared to those of tap waters, pasteurized skim milk and unused cleaning solutions. The results showed that the physicochemical characteristics as well as non-fat milk solids contents differed drastically between the two dairy plants due to different processing conditions. A molecular approach combining quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and metabarcoding was used to characterize the bacteria present in these solutions. The cleaning solutions did not contain sufficient genomic DNA for sequencing. In white wastewater, the bacterial contamination differed depending on the dairy plant (6.91 and 7.21 log10 16S gene copies/mL). Psychrotrophic Psychrobacter genus (50%) dominated white wastewater from plant A, whereas thermophilic Anoxybacillus genus (56%) was predominant in plant B wastewater. The use of cold or warm temperatures during the pasteurizer rinsing step in each dairy plant might explain this difference. The detailed characterization of dairy wastewaters described in this study is important for the dairy sector to clearly identify the challenges in implementing strategies for wastewater valorization.
Co-Training for Visual Object Recognition Based on Self-Supervised Models Using a Cross-Entropy Regularization
Authors: Díaz Gabriel , Peralta Billy , Caro Luis , Nicolis Orietta
Published: April 2021

Automatic recognition of visual objects using a deep learning approach has been successfully applied to multiple areas. However, deep learning techniques require a large amount of labeled data, which is usually expensive to obtain. An alternative is to use semi-supervised models, such as co-training, where multiple complementary views are combined using a small amount of labeled data. A simple way to associate views to visual objects is through the application of a degree of rotation or a type of filter. In this work, we propose a co-training model for visual object recognition using deep neural networks by adding layers of self-supervised neural networks as intermediate inputs to the views, where the views are diversified through the cross-entropy regularization of their outputs. Since the model merges the concepts of co-training and self-supervised learning by considering the differentiation of outputs, we called it Differential Self-Supervised Co-Training (DSSCo-Training). This paper presents some experiments using the DSSCo-Training model to well-known image datasets such as MNIST, CIFAR-100, and SVHN. The results indicate that the proposed model is competitive with the state-of-art models and shows an average relative improvement of 5% in accuracy for several datasets, despite its greater simplicity with respect to more recent approaches.
A Weighted Subdomain Adaptation Network for Partial Transfer Fault Diagnosis of Rotating Machinery
Authors: Jia Sixiang , Wang Jinrui , Zhang Xiao , Han Baokun
Published: April 2021

Domain adaptation-based models for fault classification under variable working conditions have become a research focus in recent years. Previous domain adaptation approaches generally assume identical label spaces in the source and target domains, however, such an assumption may be no longer legitimate in a more realistic situation that requires adaptation from a larger and more diverse source domain to a smaller target domain with less number of fault classes. To address the above deficiencies, we propose a partial transfer fault diagnosis model based on a weighted subdomain adaptation network (WSAN) in this paper. Our method pays more attention to the local data distribution while aligning the global distribution. An auxiliary classifier is introduced to obtain the class-level weights of the source samples, so the network can avoid negative transfer caused by unique fault classes in the source domain. Furthermore, a weighted local maximum mean discrepancy (WLMMD) is proposed to capture the fine-grained transferable information and obtain sample-level weights. Finally, relevant distributions of domain-specific layer activations across different domains are aligned. Experimental results show that our method could assign appropriate weights to each source sample and realize efficient partial transfer fault diagnosis.
Optimization of Silver Nanoparticle Separation Method from Drilling Waste Matrices
Authors: Gajec Monika , Kukulska-Zając Ewa , Król Anna
Published: April 2021

Significant amounts of produced water, spent drilling fluid, and drill cuttings, which differ in composition and characteristics in each drilling operation, are generated in the oil and gas industry. Moreover, the oil and gas industry faces many technological development challenges to guarantee a safe and clean environment and to meet strict environmental standards in the field of processing and disposal of drilling waste. Due to increasing application of nanomaterials in the oil and gas industry, drilling wastes may also contain nanometer-scale materials. It is therefore necessary to characterize drilling waste in terms of nanomaterial content and to optimize effective methods for their determination, including a key separation step. The purpose of this study is to select the appropriate method of separation and pre-concentration of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) from drilling wastewater samples and to determine their size distribution along with the state of aggregation using single-particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (spICP-MS). Two AgNP separation methods were compared: centrifugation and cloud point extraction. The first known use of spICP-MS for drilling waste matrices following mentioned separation methods is presented.
Laboratory Evaluation of a Phasor-Based Islanding Detection Method
Authors: Barczentewicz Szymon , Lerch Tomasz , Bień Andrzej , Duda Krzysztof
Published: April 2021

Constantly growing distributed energy generation based on renewable sources creates a number of new challenges for electrical power system operation. One of the challenges is islanding detection. Unintentional islanding, which can cause health and safety hazards for the personnel, is currently being experienced by a growing number of consumers/prosumers especially in the case of photovoltaic inverters. This work presents a new islanding detection method based on synchrophasor measurements. The proposed method works in either a passive or hybrid mode. In a passive mode, a single phasor measurement unit (PMU) in the island region is used. In a hybrid mode, one PMU in the island and another one outside the island are exploited. The proposed method was verified in conducted laboratory tests that confirmed the applicability of PMUs data for effective detection and monitoring of unintentional islanding.
Energy and GHG Emissions Aspects of the COVID Impact in Greece
Authors: Lalas Dimitri , Gakis Nikolaos , Mirasgedis Sebastian , Georgopoulou Elena , Sarafidis Yannis , Doukas Haris
Published: April 2021

The effects of COVID-19 have had devasting effects on both health and economies in 2020. At the same time, the lockdown and the downturn of economic activity resulted in a decrease in energy consumption and an accompanying reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. In this article, a comparison with the temperature adjustment of energy use is presented for the main carriers of electricity, natural gas, and oil products in the residential, tertiary, industry, and transport (road transport, domestic aviation, and navigation) sectors in 2020 against the previous two years in Greece, along with the corresponding emissions. As the comparison covers the entire year, both COVID peaks in the March–April and November–December periods and the corresponding lockdown effects as well as seasonal variations are included. The analysis shows a reduction, adjusted for temperature, of 3528 GWh in electricity and 10,286 GWh in transport, and an increase of 1916 GWh in heating and other final uses for a net 11,898 GWh decrease and a resulting emissions reduction of 3.48 MtCO2eq (1.29 MtCO2eq in electricity, 2.69 MtCO2eq in transport, and an increase of 0.54 MtCO2eq in heating), or 4.1%, from total national emissions in 2019. The effect is, to a considerable extent, the result of drastic tourist activity contraction, which is starkly evident in the electricity consumption in the Aegean islands. The comparison between the two lockdown periods brings out clear differences, with the reduction in the second one being considerably smaller as the population reverted, to a large extent, to pre-COVID behavior, which implies that no permanent gains from the COVID long-term impact toward decarbonization should be expected.
Ionic Liquids in Drug Delivery
Authors: Pedro Sónia N. , Freire Carmen S. R. , Silvestre Armando J. D. , Freire Mara G.
Published: April 2021

Ionic liquids (ILs) are molten salts composed of a large organic cation and an organic/inorganic anion. Due to their ionic character, most ILs present advantageous properties over conventional solvents, such as negligible volatility at atmospheric conditions and high thermal and chemical stabilities. The wide variety of IL anion–cation combinations allows these solvents to be designed to display a strong solvation ability for a myriad of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and (bio)polymers. Given these properties, ILs have been used as solvents and as formulation components in different areas of drug delivery, as well as novel liquid forms of APIs (API-ILs) applied in different stages of development of novel drug delivery systems. Furthermore, their combination with polymers and biopolymers has enabled the design of drug delivery systems for new therapeutic routes of administration.
COVID-19 Disparities in Nursing Homes
Authors: Loubert Linda
Published: April 2021

Cases of COVID-19, the coronavirus that has spread throughout the world, affect and kill the poor, racial minorities, and the elderly disproportionately. The toll to the elders of our society is extreme and does not seem to relent over time. This work examines the statistics of the cases and deaths at the early onset of the disease in nursing homes. It reveals the age disparities seen in the COVID-19 pandemic by using data from nursing homes across the states, and particularly in Maryland, as a source to illustrate the effect on the elderly living in group-like settings. It presents an overview of the disease in the early months as it ravaged across the states, indicating that the older generation was a lot more at risk than the general population. It is necessary to illustrate these disparities even as the numbers of infections and deaths are not static.
Modeling Past, Present, and Future Urban Growth Impacts on Primary Agricultural Land in Greater Irbid Municipality, Jordan Using SLEUTH (1972–2050)
Authors: Jawarneh Rana N.
Published: April 2021

Urban expansion and loss of primarily agricultural land are two of the challenges facing Jordan. Located in the most productive agricultural area of Jordan, Greater Irbid Municipality (GIM) uncontrolled urban growth has posed a grand challenge in both sustaining its prime croplands and developing comprehensive planning strategies. This study investigated the loss of agricultural land for urban growth in GIM from 1972–2050 and denoted the negative consequences of the amalgamation process of 2001 on farmland loss. The aim is to unfold and track historical land use/cover changes and forecast these changes to the future using a modified SLEUTH-3r urban growth model. The accuracy of prediction results was assessed in three different sites between 2015 and 2020. In 43 years the built-up area increased from 29.2 km2 in 1972 to 71 km2 in 2015. By 2050, the built-up urban area would increase to 107 km2. The overall rate of increase, however, showed a decline across the study period, with the periods of 1990–2000 and 2000–2015 having the highest rate of built-up areas expansion at 68.6 and 41.4%, respectively. While the agricultural area increased from 178 km2 in 1972 to 207 km2 in 2000, it decreased to 195 km2 in 2015 and would continue to decrease to 188 km2 by 2050. The district-level analysis shows that from 2000–2015, the majority of districts exhibited an urban increase at twice the rate of 1990–2000. The results of the net change analysis of agriculture show that between 1990 and 2000, 9 districts exhibited a positive gain in agricultural land while the rest of the districts showed a negative loss of agricultural land. From 2000 to 2015, the four districts of Naser, Nozha, Rawdah, and Hashmyah completely lost their agricultural areas for urbanization. By 2050, Idoon and Boshra districts will likely lose more than half of their high-quality agricultural land. This study seeks to utilize a spatially explicit urban growth model to support sustainable planning policies for urban land use through forecasting. The implications from this study confirm the worldwide urbanization impacts on losing the most productive agricultural land in the outskirts and consequences on food production and food security. The study calls for urgent actions to adopt a compact growth policy with no new land added for development as what is available now exceeds what is needed by 2050 to accommodate urban growth in GIM.
A Research on Susceptibility Mapping of Multiple Geological Hazards in Yanzi River Basin, China
Authors: Gao Ruiyuan , Wang Changming , Liang Zhu , Han Songling , Li Bailong
Published: April 2021

Collapses, landslides, and debris flows are the main geological hazards faced by mankind, which bring heavy losses of life and property to people every year. The purpose of this paper is to establish a method for determining the optimal weighting scheme for multiple geological hazard susceptibility mapping. The information gain ratio (IGR) method was used to analyze the predictive ability of the conditioning factors. The support vector machine (SVM) algorithm was used to evaluate the susceptibility to collapse, landslide, and debris flow of the study area. The receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC) and classification statistics of geological hazard samples were applied to evaluate the performance of the models. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and frequency ratio (FR) method were combined to determine the optimal weighting scheme for collapse, landslide, and debris flow. All the conditioning factors have shown a certain predictive ability, making the models of collapse, landslide, and debris flow achieve very good performance. The multiple geological hazard susceptibility maps with the weights of 0.297, 0.539, and 0.164 for collapse, landslide, and debris flow was optimal for this study area with high-precision classification of all the geological hazard samples. The conclusions of this paper could provide meaningful references for risk migration and land use in the study area.
Reconstitution of Cytokinin Signaling in Rice Protoplasts
Authors: Ga Eunji , Song Jaeeun , Min Myung Ki , Ha Jihee , Park Sangkyu , Lee Saet Buyl , Lee Jong-Yeol , Kim Beom-Gi
Published: April 2021

The major components of the cytokinin (CK) signaling pathway have been identified from the receptors to their downstream transcription factors. However, since signaling proteins are encoded by multigene families, characterizing and quantifying the contribution of each component or their combinations to the signaling cascade have been challenging. Here, we describe a transient gene expression system in rice (Oryza sativa) protoplasts suitable to reconstitute CK signaling branches using the CK reporter construct TCSn:fLUC, consisting of a synthetic CK-responsive promoter and the firefly luciferase gene, as a sensitive readout of signaling output. We used this system to systematically test the contributions of CK signaling components, either alone or in various combinations, with or without CK treatment. The type-B response regulators (RRs) OsRR16, OsRR17, OsRR18, and OsRR19 all activated TCSn:fLUC strongly, with OsRR18 and OsRR19 showing the strongest induction by CK. Cotransfecting the reporter with OsHP01, OsHP02, OsHP05, or OsHK03 alone resulted in much weaker effects relative to those of the type-B OsRRs. When we tested combinations of OsHK03, OsHPs, and OsRRs, each combination exhibited distinct CK signaling activities. This system thus allows the rapid and high-throughput exploration of CK signaling in rice.
Candidate Alzheimer’s Disease Biomarker miR-483-5p Lowers TAU Phosphorylation by Direct ERK1/2 Repression
Authors: Nagaraj Siranjeevi , Want Andrew , Laskowska-Kaszub Katarzyna , Fesiuk Aleksandra , Vaz Sara , Logarinho Elsa , Wojda Urszula
Published: April 2021

MicroRNAs have been demonstrated as key regulators of gene expression in the etiology of a range of diseases including Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Recently, we identified miR-483-5p as the most upregulated miRNA amongst a panel of miRNAs in blood plasma specific to prodromal, early-stage Alzheimer’s disease patients. Here, we investigated the functional role of miR-483-5p in AD pathology. Using TargetScan and miRTarBase, we identified the microtubule-associated protein MAPT, often referred to as TAU, and the extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1 and ERK2), known to phosphorylate TAU, as predicted direct targets of miR-483-5p. Employing several functional assays, we found that miR-483-5p regulates ERK1 and ERK2 at both mRNA and protein levels, resulting in lower levels of phosphorylated forms of both kinases. Moreover, miR-483-5p-mediated repression of ERK1/2 resulted in reduced phosphorylation of TAU protein at epitopes associated with TAU neurofibrillary pathology in AD. These results indicate that upregulation of miR-483-5p can decrease phosphorylation of TAU via ERK pathway, representing a compensatory neuroprotective mechanism in AD pathology. This miR-483-5p/ERK1/TAU axis thus represents a novel target for intervention in AD.
Postnatal Catch-Up Growth Programs Telomere Dynamics and Glucose Intolerance in Low Birth Weight Mice
Authors: Pericuesta Eva , Gutiérrez-Arroyo Julia L. , Sánchez-Calabuig Maria J. , Gutiérrez-Adán Alfonso
Published: April 2021

Low birth weight and rapid postnatal weight gain are independent predictors of obesity and diabetes in adult life, yet the molecular events involved in this process remain unknown. In inbred and outbred mice, this study examines natural intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) in relation to body weight, telomere length (TL), glucose tolerance, and growth factor gene (Igf1, Igf2, Insr, Igf1r, and Igf2r) mRNA expression levels in the brain, liver, and muscle at 2- and 10 days of age and then at 3- and 9 months of age. At birth, ~15% of the animals showed IUGR, but by 3 and 9 months, half of these animals had regained the same weight as controls without IUGR (recuperated group). At 10 days, there was no difference in TL between animals undergoing IUGR and controls. However, by 3 and 9 months of age, the recuperated animals had shorter TL than the control and IUGR-non recuperated animals and also showed glucose intolerance. Further, compared to controls, Igf1 and Igf2 growth factor mRNA expression was lower in Day 2-IUGR mice, while Igf2r and Insr mRNA expression was higher in D10-IUGR animals. Moreover, at 3 months of age, only in the recuperated group were brain and liver Igf1, Igf2, Insr, and Igf2r expression levels higher than in the control and IUGR-non-recuperated groups. These data indicate that catch-up growth but not IUGR per se affects TL and glucose tolerance, and suggest a role in this latter process of insulin/insulin-like growth signaling pathway gene expression during early development.
Mammalian Neuropeptides as Modulators of Microbial Infections: Their Dual Role in Defense versus Virulence and Pathogenesis
Authors: Augustyniak Daria , Kramarska Eliza , Mackiewicz Paweł , Orczyk-Pawiłowicz Magdalena , Lundy Fionnuala T.
Published: April 2021

The regulation of infection and inflammation by a variety of host peptides may represent an evolutionary failsafe in terms of functional degeneracy and it emphasizes the significance of host defense in survival. Neuropeptides have been demonstrated to have similar antimicrobial activities to conventional antimicrobial peptides with broad-spectrum action against a variety of microorganisms. Neuropeptides display indirect anti-infective capacity via enhancement of the host’s innate and adaptive immune defense mechanisms. However, more recently concerns have been raised that some neuropeptides may have the potential to augment microbial virulence. In this review we discuss the dual role of neuropeptides, perceived as a double-edged sword, with antimicrobial activity against bacteria, fungi, and protozoa but also capable of enhancing virulence and pathogenicity. We review the different ways by which neuropeptides modulate crucial stages of microbial pathogenesis such as adhesion, biofilm formation, invasion, intracellular lifestyle, dissemination, etc., including their anti-infective properties but also detrimental effects. Finally, we provide an overview of the efficacy and therapeutic potential of neuropeptides in murine models of infectious diseases and outline the intrinsic host factors as well as factors related to pathogen adaptation that may influence efficacy.
Heterogeneities in Cell Cycle Checkpoint Activation Following Doxorubicin Treatment Reveal Targetable Vulnerabilities in TP53 Mutated Ultra High-Risk Neuroblastoma Cell Lines
Authors: Ödborn Jönsson Linnéa , Sahi Maryam , Lopez-Lorenzo Ximena , Keller Faye Leilah , Kostopoulou Ourania N. , Herold Nikolas , Ährlund-Richter Lars , Shirazi Fard Shahrzad
Published: April 2021

Most chemotherapeutics target DNA integrity and thereby trigger tumour cell death through activation of DNA damage responses that are tightly coupled to the cell cycle. Disturbances in cell cycle regulation can therefore lead to treatment resistance. Here, a comprehensive analysis of cell cycle checkpoint activation following doxorubicin (doxo) treatment was performed using flow cytometry, immunofluorescence and live-cell imaging in a panel of TP53 mutated ultra high-risk neuroblastoma (NB) cell lines, SK-N-DZ, Kelly, SK-N-AS, SK-N-FI, and BE(2)-C. Following treatment, a dose-dependent accumulation in either S- and/or G2/M-phase was observed. This coincided with a heterogeneous increase of cell cycle checkpoint proteins, i.e., phos-ATM, phos-CHK1, phos-CHK2, Wee1, p21Cip1/Waf1, and p27Kip among the cell lines. Combination treatment with doxo and a small-molecule inhibitor of ATM showed a delay in regrowth in SK-N-DZ, of CHK1 in BE(2)-C, of Wee1 in SK-N-FI and BE(2)-C, and of p21 in Kelly and BE(2)-C. Further investigation revealed, in all tested cell lines, a subset of cells arrested in mitosis, indicating independence on the intra-S- and/or G2/M-checkpoints. Taken together, we mapped distinct cell cycle checkpoints in ultra high-risk NB cell lines and identified checkpoint dependent and independent druggable targets.
Chronic Low Dose Neutron Exposure Results in Altered Neurotransmission Properties of the Hippocampus-Prefrontal Cortex Axis in Both Mice and Rats
Authors: Krishnan Balaji , Natarajan Chandramouli , Bourne Krystyn Z. , Alikhani Leila , Wang Juan , Sowa Allison , Groen Katherine , Perry Bayley , Dickstein Dara L. , Baulch Janet E. , Limoli Charles L. , Britten Richard A.
Published: April 2021

The proposed deep space exploration to the moon and later to Mars will result in astronauts receiving significant chronic exposures to space radiation (SR). SR exposure results in multiple neurocognitive impairments. Recently, our cross-species (mouse/rat) studies reported impaired associative memory formation in both species following a chronic 6-month low dose exposure to a mixed field of neutrons (1 mGy/day for a total dose pf 18 cGy). In the present study, we report neutron exposure induced synaptic plasticity in the medial prefrontal cortex, accompanied by microglial activation and significant synaptic loss in the hippocampus. In a parallel study, neutron exposure was also found to alter fluorescence assisted single synaptosome LTP (FASS-LTP) in the hippocampus of rats, that may be related to a reduced ability to insert AMPAR into the post-synaptic membrane, which may arise from increased phosphorylation of the serine 845 residue of the GluA1 subunit. Thus, we demonstrate for the first time, that low dose chronic neutron irradiation impacts homeostatic synaptic plasticity in the hippocampal-cortical circuit in two rodent species, and that the ability to successfully encode associative recognition memory is a dynamic, multicircuit process, possibly involving compensatory changes in AMPAR density on the synaptic surface.
Synthesis, Biological Activity, and Molecular Dynamics Study of Novel Series of a Trimethoprim Analogs as Multi-Targeted Compounds: Dihydrofolate Reductase (DHFR) Inhibitors and DNA-Binding Agents
Authors: Wróbel Agnieszka , Baradyn Maciej , Ratkiewicz Artur , Drozdowska Danuta
Published: April 2021

Eighteen previously undescribed trimethoprim (TMP) analogs containing amide bonds (1–18) were synthesized and compared with TMP, methotrexate (MTX), and netropsin (NT). These compounds were designed as potential minor groove binding agents (MGBAs) and inhibitors of human dihydrofolate reductase (hDHFR). The all-new derivatives were obtained via solid phase synthesis using 4-nitrophenyl Wang resin. Data from the ethidium displacement test confirmed their DNA-binding capacity. Compounds 13–14 (49.89% and 43.85%) and 17–18 (41.68% and 42.99%) showed a higher binding affinity to pBR322 plasmid than NT. The possibility of binding in a minor groove as well as determination of association constants were performed using calf thymus DNA, T4 coliphage DNA, poly (dA-dT)2, and poly (dG-dC)2. With the exception of compounds 9 (IC50 = 56.05 µM) and 11 (IC50 = 55.32 µM), all of the compounds showed better inhibitory properties against hDHFR than standard, which confirms that the addition of the amide bond into the TMP structures increases affinity towards hDHFR. Derivatives 2, 6, 13, 14, and 16 were found to be the most potent hDHFR inhibitors. This molecular modelling study shows that they interact strongly with a catalytically important residue Glu-30.
Assessment of Replacement of Metal Parts by BFRP Composites into a Highly Efficient Electrical Prototype
Authors: Marat-Mendes Rosa , Ribeira Diogo , Reis Luís
Published: April 2021

This work intends to evaluate the use of epoxy composite materials reinforced with basalt fibers as replacement to metallic mechanical parts of a highly efficient electrical prototype. The analysis of the behavior of the original metallic bracket was made and an optimization process was carried out in order to achieve the most suitable geometry and stacking sequence if produced in composite material. Finite element analysis using Siemens NX12 and experimental tests to the produced composite part were performed in order to access it. It was verified that the total weight of the composite part shows a 45% reduction. The composite part shows a higher deformation than the metallic one due to basalt fiber’s higher flexibility. However, the advantages added by the new component largely compensate for the disadvantages that may have been added without compromising its performance. Obtained results show that the use of basalt fiber reinforced composites as the material of mechanical parts of a highly efficient electrical prototype that is a good alternative.
Sustainable Development of the Slope Lands of the Russian Arctic: Investigation of the Relationship between Slope Aspects, Wind Regime and Residential Wind Comfort
Authors: Korobeynikova Anna , Danilina Nina , Makisha Nikolay
Published: April 2021

The land-use of slope terrain in the Arctic region is important and relevant, as vast territories that are reserved for proposed cities’ development have disturbed land relief. The relevance of the study is also associated with an increased interest in the development of settlements in the Arctic region, which has great territorial and resource potential. In addition to the complexity of the engineering support of such terrains, there are difficulties in organizing comfortable indoor wind comfort in the residential areas required for population well-being. The study focuses on specific conditions for residential areas design resilient to the harsh climatic conditions on difficult slope terrain to ensure the quality of life of the population in the Arctic region of Russia. The article focuses on the study of wind-chill parameters such as wind velocity and temperature for different slopes. The subject of this research is slope terrain aeration conditions of the Arctic zone in Russia. The research aim expresses the relationship between specific aeration of the slope area conditions and the layout design of residential areas to ensure comfortable living conditions for the population. The study was carried out using mathematical computational fluid dynamic (CFD) modeling of wind flows in the ANSYS Fluent program. The results of the study are graphs showing the distribution of comfort and discomfort zones in a residential area for different aeration conditions at different slope terrains. Implementation of the methodology for assessing aeration conditions for residential areas on slope terrains was carried out in the city of Murmansk. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that there are no similar studies for the Arctic region in Russia. Research results can be used as a practical tool for justification of residential areas through a sample plan addressing their wind comfortability.
The Impact of Farmland Transfer on Rural Households’ Income Structure in the Context of Household Differentiation: A Case Study of Heilongjiang Province, China
Authors: Chen Lili , Chen Hongsheng , Zou Chaohui , Liu Ye
Published: April 2021

Farmland transfer is an important factor affecting rural households’ income and sustainable development of rural areas in developing countries. However, recent studies have reached controversial conclusions on how farmland transfer affects rural households’ income because of ignoring the household differentiation and the difference in the impacts of farmland transfer-in and transfer-out on the income structure. Taking the Heilongjiang province, the major cereal production area in China, as the study area, the paper aims to estimate the impacts of farmland transfer-in or transfer-out of different rural households on income structure based on the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) model. Results showed that the total income of all rural households transferring-in farmland increased significantly while the income decreased after transferring-out farmland, and I part-time households have the largest increase, followed by pure-agricultural households and II part-time households, whereas I part-time households has the smallest reduction, followed by pure-agricultural households and II part-time households. Because the increase in the agricultural income and subsidies was greater than the decrease in the outworking income for I part-time households transferring-in farmland, while the outworking income not increasing but decreasing when II part-time households transferring-out farmland. We can conclude that (1) encouraging pure-agricultural and I part-time households to transfer farmland in and II part-time households to transfer out of farmland, and develop mutual assistance for the aged in rural areas should be strengthened. (2) Improving the farmland transfer market and promoting non-agricultural employment of surplus-labor need to be synchronized. (3) Agricultural subsidies should be provided to cultivators.