bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Melanoma‐derived extracellular vesicles mediate lymphatic remodelling and impair tumour immunity in draining lymph nodes
Authors: Leary Noelle , Walser Sarina , He Yuliang , Cousin Nikola , Pereira Paulo , Gallo Alessandro , Collado‐Diaz Victor , Halin Cornelia , Garcia‐Silva Susana , Peinado Hector , Dieterich Lothar C.
Published: February 2022

Tumour‐draining lymph nodes (LNs) undergo massive remodelling including expansion of the lymphatic sinuses, a process that has been linked to lymphatic metastasis by creation of a pre‐metastatic niche. However, the signals leading to these changes have not been completely understood. Here, we found that extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from melanoma cells are rapidly transported by lymphatic vessels to draining LNs, where they selectively interact with lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs) as well as medullary sinus macrophages. Interestingly, uptake of melanoma EVs by LN‐resident LECs was partly dependent on lymphatic VCAM‐1 expression, and induced transcriptional changes as well as proliferation of those cells. Furthermore, melanoma EVs shuttled tumour antigens to LN LECs for cross‐presentation on MHC‐I, resulting in apoptosis induction in antigen‐specific CD8+ T cells. In conclusion, our data identify EV‐mediated melanoma—LN LEC communication as a new pathway involved in tumour progression and tumour immune inhibition, suggesting that EV uptake or effector mechanisms in LECs might represent a new target for melanoma therapy.
Knockdowns of red Malphigian tubules reveal pigmentation roles in the milkweed bug
Authors: Francescutti Caroline M. , Martin Arnaud , Hanly Joseph J.
Published: February 2022

Classical Drosophila eye color mutations have unearthed a toolkit of genes that have permitted candidate gene studies of the outstanding diversity of coloration patterns in other insects. The gene underlying the eye color phenotypes of the red Malphigian tubules (red) fly mutant was mapped to a LysM domain gene of unknown molecular function. Here, we used RNAi to test the role of a red ortholog in the pigmentation of the milkweed bug Oncopeltus fasciatus, and contrast its effect with the ommochrome biosynthetic pathway gene vermilion (ver). Pigmentation was reduced in the cuticle of embryonic legs and first instar abdomens following parental RNAi against red, but not against ver, likely reflecting an effect on pterin biogenesis. Nymphal RNAi of red and ver both resulted in adult eye depigmentation, consistent with an effect on ommochrome content. These results suggest red loss‐of‐function impacts biochemically distinct types of pigments, and we discuss its putative role in the biogenesis of lysosome‐related organelles such as ommochromasomes and pterinosomes.
Ramsey numbers of large books
Authors: Chen Xun , Lin Qizhong , You Chunlin
Published: February 2022

A book is a graph which consists of triangles sharing a common edge. In 1978, Rousseau and Sheehan conjectured that the Ramsey number satisfies for some constant . In this article, we obtain that for all and large, which confirms the conjecture of Rousseau and Sheehan asymptotically. As a corollary, our result implies that a related conjecture of Faudree, Rousseau and Sheehan on strongly regular graph holds asymptotically.
Enhancing the Erdős‐Lovász Tihany Conjecture for line graphs of multigraphs
Authors: Wang Yue , Yu Gexin
Published: February 2022

In this paper, we prove an enhanced version of the Erdős‐Lovász Tihany Conjecture for line graphs of multigraphs. That is, for every line graph whose chromatic number is more than its clique number and for any nonnegative integer , any two integers with , there is a partition of the vertex set such that and . In particular, when , we can obtain the same result just for any . The Erdős‐Lovász Tihany conjecture for line graphs is a special case when .
The potential for scaling up container‐based sanitation in informal settlements in Kenya
Authors: Mallory Adrian , Mdee Anna , Agol Dorice , Hyde‐Smith Leonie , Kiogora Domenic , Riungu Joy , Parker Alison
Published: February 2022

Kenya has enshrined the right to sanitation in the 2010 constitution. Achieving this requires scaling up infrastructure and models of delivery beyond sewer networks that have previously been the focus. In Kenya, two enterprises, Sanergy and Sanivation, have been providing new forms of off‐grid services with container‐based sanitation (CBS). This paper uses a political economy analysis to understand the incentives, institutions and power dynamics that are enabling or constraining the potential for such off‐grid sanitation models. The paper outlines six core problems to be addressed in the pursuit of scaling up: fragmented governance; sustainability of CBS enterprise models; service delivery planning in informal settlements; personal power rather than institutions in decision‐making; vested local interests; and land tenure and political connection. It discusses how stakeholders might work collaboratively to progressively address or recognise these issues.
Lateral entorhinal cortex lesions impair odor‐context associative memory in male rats
Authors: Persson Bjorn M. , Ambrozova Veronika , Duncan Stephen , Wood Emma R. , O’Connor Akira R. , Ainge James A.
Published: February 2022

Lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC) has been hypothesized to process nonspatial, item information that is combined with spatial information from medial entorhinal cortex to form episodic memories within the hippocampus. Recent studies, however, have demonstrated that LEC has a role in integrating features of episodic memory prior to the hippocampus. While the precise role of LEC is still unclear, anatomical studies show that LEC is ideally placed to be a hub integrating multisensory information. The current study tests whether the role of LEC in integrating information extends to long‐term multimodal item‐context associations. In Experiment 1, male rats were trained on a context‐dependent odor discrimination task, where two different contexts served as the cue to the correct odor. Rats were pretrained on the task and then received either bilateral excitotoxic LEC or sham lesions. Following surgery, rats were tested on the previously learned odor‐context associations. Control rats showed good memory for the previously learned association but rats with LEC lesions showed significantly impaired performance relative to both their own presurgery performance and to control rats. Experiment 2 went on to test whether impairments in Experiment 1 were the result of LEC lesions impairing either odor or context memory retention alone. Male rats were trained on simple odor and context discrimination tasks that did not require integration of features to solve. Following surgery, both LEC and control rats showed good memory for previously learned odors and contexts. These data show that LEC is critical for long‐term odor‐context associative memory.
Sex‐specific contribution of glucocorticoid receptor alpha isoforms to anxiety and depressive‐like behavior in mice
Authors: Aleksic Minja , Brkic Zeljka , Petrovic Zorica , Francija Ester , Lukic Iva , Adzic Miroslav
Published: February 2022

Adolescent stress predisposes individuals to increased risk for anxiety and depression in adulthood. The stress response is mediated by the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) via regulation of GR‐responsive genes involved in brain reaction to stress. Although dysregulation of GR in depression is well documented, this is the first study investigating the role of GRα isoforms in pathogenesis of depression. We exposed adolescent male and female C57BL/6J mice to chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) for 12 days starting at postnatal day 28 (PND28). Tests evaluating anxiety and depressive‐like behaviors were performed at PND70. We analyzed corticosterone concentrations in serum, levels of GRα isoforms (95, 67, 50, 40, and 25 kDa), and mRNA levels of GR‐responsive genes (GR, FKBP5, BDNF, and IL‐1β) in the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex (PFC). CUS increased anxiety and depressive‐like behavior in adult animals of both sexes, but did not affect corticosterone serum levels, 95 and 67 kDa GR isoforms. However, the levels of shorter GRα isoforms (50, 40, and 25 kDa) were altered in adult mice underwent CUS, in sex‐ and brain structure–specific way. Changes in gene expression revealed that female depressive‐like behavior could be related to increased levels of IL‐1β in hippocampus and reduced BDNF levels in both hippocampus and PFC. However, in males, adolescent CUS increased expression of GR in adult hippocampus and BDNF in PFC. These findings suggest that adolescent stress altered levels of GRα isoforms, especially those with lower molecular weight, in sex‐ and tissue‐specific ways, contributing to anxiety and depression in adult mice.
Improved spring temperature reconstruction using earlywood blue intensity in southeastern China
Authors: Cao Xinguang , Hu Hongbing , Kao Pei‐ken , Buckley Brendan M. , Dong Zhipeng , Chen Xiuling , Zhou Feifei , Fang Keyan
Published: February 2022

Because instrumental observations are too short to fully represent long‐term natural variability, high‐resolution temperature proxy records are essential to understanding past climate and assessing current climate variability in the context of long‐term patterns. In the subtropics, progress in this field has been hampered by a relative lack of long and truly temperature‐sensitive proxy records. In this study, we provide an assessment of the dendroclimatic potential of blue intensity (BI) and ring‐width (RW) measurements from two hot/humid Pinus massoniana sites in China. Our results show that RW exhibits a significant (p < .05) response to precipitation over a hydrological year (previous November to October) and to temperature over the winter–spring season (January to March). We find the earlywood blue intensity parameter to be the most robust parameter for reconstruction purposes; over the 1916–2015 period, it explains 36% of regional‐scale spring season (March–May) temperature variance. Strong agreements between the current reconstruction and observed temperature over a large area of southeastern China implied that our reconstruction exhibited high reliability and large spatial representation. As expected, our reconstructed temperature data are directly correlated with El Niño–Southern Oscillation. These results suggest that there is great potential to use BI to advance our understanding of temperature variability in regions hot and humid climate regimes. However, more studies are needed to understand (1) which subtropical tree species will be appropriate for use and (2) how to overcome biases from differential staining between sapwood and heartwood.
Is the use of ranitidine required as a pre‐medication to prevent hypersensitivity reactions to paclitaxel?
Authors: Ryan Marissa , Snoswell Centaine , Carrington Christine
Published: February 2022

The aim of this brief report was to retrospectively compare the severity and incidence of hypersensitivity reactions (HSRs) in patients who received ranitidine and patients who did not receive ranitidine, as part of their pre‐medication prior to paclitaxel. Data was collected for patients receiving paclitaxel‐containing protocols for breast, head and neck, or lung cancers in 2019 and 2020. The data included the pre‐medications administered prior to each paclitaxel dose, the total doses received and whether a HSR event occurred along with its severity. Eighty patients were reviewed receiving a total of 512 paclitaxel doses with 17 HSRs identified in 15 patients. Of the 241 doses in the ranitidine group, 11 HSRs were recorded for nine patients, compared to the 271 doses in the non‐ranitidine group where six HSRs were recorded for six patients. Most of the 512 chemotherapy doses were preceded by dexamethasone (100%) and loratadine (99.6%). Our results show that the incidence of paclitaxel‐related HSRs was not lowered with the addition of ranitidine to dexamethasone and loratadine. Future studies are warranted exploring the use of any H2‐antagonist as part of the pre‐medication regimen with paclitaxel‐containing protocols and their clinical relevance in preventing or minimising HSR incidence and severity.
Evidence of defect‐annealing effect in swift heavy‐ion‐irradiated indium phosphide
Authors: Hu Peipei , Xu Lijun , Zhai Pengfei , Zeng Jian , Zhang Shengxia , Maaz Khan , Ai Wensi , Li Zongzhen , Sun Youmei , He Yuan , Liu Jie
Published: February 2022

Single‐crystal indium phosphide (InP) was irradiated by swift heavy ions (40Ar, 56Fe, 86Kr, 181Ta, and 209Bi) with different energies. The damage evolutions have been investigated by means of Raman spectroscopy and electron microscopy. Analysis of Raman intensity ratio (LO′ peak to LO peak [ILO′/ILO]) provides a new insight into the lattice quality of the irradiated samples. The defect‐activated longitudinal optical mode (LO′) appeared and then disappeared with increasing ion fluences, and it seems that the peak point of ILO′/ILO is electronic energy loss dependent. The phenomenological model suggests that the LO′ peak intensity is positively correlated with the proportion of the activated regions, where the crystals were not completely disordered, but still many defects were created. Furthermore, the TEM images showed that the tracks closely overlapped, resulting in the decrease of activated regions, which implies that there is a competitive mechanism between the generation and annealing of the defects. It also provides direct evidence that the annealing effect of the defects has occurred during the swift heavy‐ion irradiation.
Mitochondrial Disease and Hearing Loss in Children: A Systematic Review
Authors: Roesch Sebastian , O'Sullivan Anna , Zimmermann Georg , Mair Alois , Lipuš Cvetka , Mayr Johannes A. , Wortmann Saskia B. , Rasp Gerd
Published: February 2022

Objectives

Hearing loss is a clinical symptom, frequently mentioned in the context of mitochondrial disease. With no cure available for mitochondrial disease, supportive treatment of clinical symptoms like hearing loss is of the utmost importance. The aim of this study was to summarize current knowledge on hearing loss in genetically proven mitochondrial disease in children and deduce possible and necessary consequences in patient care.

Methods

Systematic literature review, including Medline, Embase, and Cochrane library. Review protocol was established and registered prior to conduction (International prospective register of systematic reviews—PROSPERO: CRD42020165356). Conduction of this review was done in accordance with MOOSE criteria.

Results

A total of 23 articles, meeting predefined criteria and providing sufficient information on 75 individuals with childhood onset hearing loss was included for analysis. Both cochlear and retro‐cochlear origin of hearing loss can be identified among different types of mitochondrial disease. Analysis was hindered by inhomogeneous reporting and methodical limitations.

Conclusion

Overall, the findings do not allow for a general statement on hearing loss in children with mitochondrial disease. Retro‐cochlear hearing loss seems to be found more often than expected. A common feature appears to be progression of hearing loss over time. However, hearing loss in these patients shows manifold characteristics. Therefore, awareness of mitochondrial disease as a possible causative background is important for otolaryngologists. Future attempts rely on standardized reporting and long‐term follow‐up.

Level of Evidence

NALaryngoscope, 132:2459–2472, 2022
Spatiotemporal Variations in Trace Element Compositions in Pollock Populations under the Influence of Coastal Norwegian Salmon Farms
Authors: Fourdain Linda , Arechavala-Lopez Pablo , Uglem Ingebrigt , Sæther Bjørn-Steinar , Sanchez-Jerez Pablo
Published: February 2022

Pollock Pollachius virens (also known as Saithe) modify their feeding habits when including in their diet uneaten feed pellets from salmon aquaculture sea cages. To determine the influence of salmon farms on Pollock, multivariate and univariate analyses were conducted on the trace element signatures from muscle and liver tissues. Sample fish were caught in the vicinity of salmon farms and in control areas (>3-km distance from the farms) on the coast of Hitra Island (western Norway) over two consecutive years (2012 and 2013). The hepatosomatic index was calculated as a proxy of fish body condition and was higher in Pollock captured near the salmon farms in both years. Variations in specific trace element profiles revealed the influence of farming on the Pollock assemblages (i.e., arsenic, manganese, and copper in muscle; vanadium and manganese in liver). Differences in element composition between sampling years were notable and may, in addition to influence from salmon feed, reflect temporal variation in Pollock migrations or natural food availability. Multivariate analyses of each sampling year showed significant differences in trace element composition of both tissue types among the Pollock groups. Therefore, trace element assessment is a potential tool for determining the influence of aquaculture on Pollock populations, although other natural sources of variation must be taken into account when considering future aquaculture and fishery management strategies.
Ductile response of piles to stabilise landslide
Authors: Guo Wei Dong
Published: February 2022

Piles in stabilising landslides are subjected to response amplification and brittle failure. To induce ductile response, new rigid (sliding layer)–elastic‐plastic (stable layer) (R‐EP) solutions for rotational piles are established. New expressions are derived to obtain rotational stiffness and rotational depth with and without plasticity. The solutions and the expressions are underpinned by limiting force per unit length, subgrade modulus and rotational stiffness. Non‐dimensional charts are provided concerning the depth, the stiffness and the stiffness singularity on typical pile response. Five instrumented piles are studied, and a typical example is elaborated. The R‐EP model and expressions promote ductile response of slope stabilising piles.
A snapshot of the vast array of diamagnetic CEST MRI contrast agents
Authors: Longo Dario Livio , Carella Antonella , Corrado Alessia , Pirotta Elisa , Mohanta Zinia , Singh Aruna , Stabinska Julia , Liu Guanshu , McMahon Michael T.
Published: February 2022

Since the inception of CEST MRI in the 1990s, a number of compounds have been identified as suitable for generating contrast, including paramagnetic lanthanide complexes, hyperpolarized atom cages and, most interesting, diamagnetic compounds. In the past two decades, there has been a major emphasis in this field on the identification and application of diamagnetic compounds that have suitable biosafety profiles for usage in medical applications. Even in the past five years there has been a tremendous growth in their numbers, with more and more emphasis being placed on finding those that can be ultimately used for patient studies on clinical 3 T scanners. At this point, a number of endogenous compounds present in tissue have been identified, and also natural and synthetic organic compounds that can be administered to highlight pathology via CEST imaging. Here we will provide a very extensive snapshot of the types of diamagnetic compound that can generate CEST MRI contrast, together with guidance on their utility on typical preclinical and clinical scanners and a review of the applications that might benefit the most from this new technology.
Topology optimization of bi‐material curved shell structures for minimizing time‐domain sound radiation
Authors: Zheng Hao , Zhao Guozhong , Shang Linyuan , Yu Yang
Published: February 2022

So far, the research on topology optimization against noise has mainly addressed frequency‐domain problems, while time‐domain analysis is also widely used in practical engineering. Nonetheless, the topology optimization work on the latter was rarely reported due to its complexity. This article presents a new topology optimization scheme of bi‐material curved shell structure to reduce the time‐domain noise generated by transient vibration. A finite element formulation for an eight‐node curved shell element is presented. The Newmark integral method is employed to calculate transient responses, and the obtained results are input into the time‐domain boundary element method to predict transient sound pressure. In the optimization model, the volumetric densities of material in a bi‐material interpolation model constructed by the solid isotropic material with penalization model are chosen as the design variables; the time integral of the squared sound pressure on structural surfaces or prescribed reference points in acoustic medium over a specified time interval of interest is taken as the objective function; and the constraint on material volume is considered. A volume‐preserving Heaviside penalization is introduced to suppress gray elements. Furthermore, the calculation of time‐domain sound radiation sensitivity is transformed into the following two processes: (a) the derivation of transient response based on the Newmark integral method; (b) the derivation of transient sound pressure based on the discrete time‐domain boundary integral equation. Numerical examples demonstrate the validity of the approach proposed in this article. The influences of volume‐preserving Heaviside penalization, volume constraint, loading position and form, and selection of objective function on the optimal design are discussed.
Insight into the complex coupling agents on thermal, mechanical, and barrier properties of lignin‐poly(3‐hydroxybutyrate‐co‐3‐hydroxyhexanoate) biocomposites
Authors: Dong Jiaqi , Su Yuhang , Jiang Tianyu , Li Dongna , Ma Xiaojun
Published: February 2022

Biodegradable polymers, including poly(3‐hydroxybutyrate‐co‐3‐hydroxyhexanoate) (PHBH), can replace traditional plastics to effectively target microplastic pollution; however, their high cost limits their application. In this study, lignin modified with the complex coupling agents was prepared and incorporated into PHBH to reduce its cost and improve the compatibility of composites. The results showed lignin modified with the complex coupling agents was dispersed well in the PHBH matrix. Compared to other composites, lignin‐PHBH biocomposites modified with maleic anhydride and KH550 had better thermal stability, mechanical and barrier properties due to collaborative modification. Moreover, lignin‐PHBH biocomposites showed the excellent UV resistance and antioxidant activity. The obtained results revealed that using the complex coupling agent was a feasible method to improve the properties of biocomposites.
Population‐based prevalence of polypharmacy and patterns of medication use in southwestern Iran: A cross‐sectional study
Authors: Taherifard Erfan , Mohammadi Zahra , Molavi Vardanjani Hossein , Pakroo Mahsa , Emaminia Maryam , Rahimi Zahra , Danehchin Leila , Abolnezhadian Farhad , Malihi Reza , Paridar Yousef , Hariri Sanam , Hashemi Farnaz , Cheraghian Bahman , Mard Ali , Shayesteh Ali Akbar , Poustchi Hossein
Published: February 2022

Background

Pharmaceutical medications are considered an important component of healthcare delivery and there is a need for its rational use; although there have been major improvements in the pharmaceutical sector in the recent past, inappropriate medication use is considered a major threat to patients' health. Therefore, the pattern of medication use should be monitored routinely. The aim of this study was to investigate the population‐based prevalence of polypharmacy and the patterns of medication use in southwestern Iran. We also investigated correlates between polypharmacy and patterns of medication use.

Methods

Data from the Khuzestan Comprehensive Health Study (KCHS) which consists information of 30 506 with age range to 20 to 65 years were used. Crude and age‐standardized prevalence of polypharmacy and their 95% confidence intervals were estimated for different subpopulations. Multivariable Poisson regression modeling was applied, and adjusted prevalence ratios and their 95% confidence intervals were estimated. The Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical classification system (first and second levels) was used for drug classification in different groups based on age, gender, and socioeconomic status.

Results

Out of 30 506 adults, 93.3% were not on any medications, and age‐ and gender‐standardized prevalence of polypharmacy was 0.24%. The lowest estimated prevalence was among Arab participants (0.13%). The prevalence of polypharmacy was 1.57% among elderly people, and 4.78% among patients with heart diseases. Socioeconomic status was not associated with polypharmacy (prevalence ratio: 0.95; p = 0.573) but was significantly associated with patterns of medications use for alimentary tract and metabolism and nervous system diseases. The most common drug classes were cardiovascular system (3.93%), alimentary tract and metabolism (2.79%), nervous system (1.01%), systemic hormonal preparations (0.69%), and blood and blood‐forming organs (0.38%).

Conclusions

The prevalence of polypharmacy is very low in Khuzestan province, especially in the Arab population. Future research is needed to investigate the causes of medication underuse in this population.
Current role of surgery for tuberous sclerosis complex‐associated epilepsy
Authors: Specchio Nicola , Pavia Giusy Carfi , de Palma Luca , De Benedictis Alessandro , Pepi Chiara , Conti Marta , Marras Carlo Efisio , Vigevano Federico , Curatolo Paolo
Published: February 2022

Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a rare multisystem, autosomal dominant neurocutaneous syndrome in which epilepsy is the most common of several neurological and psychiatric manifestations. Around two thirds of patients develop drug‐resistant epilepsy for whom surgical resection of epileptogenic foci is indicated when seizures remain inadequately controlled following trial of two antiseizure medications. The challenge with presurgical and surgical approaches with patients with TSC is overcoming the complexity from the number of tubers and the multiplex epileptogenic network forming the epileptogenic zone. Data suggest that seizure freedom is achieved by 55%–60% of patients, but predictive factors for success have remained elusive, which makes for unconfident selection of surgical candidates. This article presents three different cases as illustrations of the potential challenges faced when assessing the suitability of TSC patients for epilepsy surgery.
Consumer IoT and its under‐regulation: Findings from an Australian study
Authors: Harkin Diarmaid , Mann Monique , Warren Ian
Published: February 2022

The expansive growth of consumer internet of things (IoT) has created a range of concerns around privacy, security, and their broader societal impacts. This article reports on findings from interviews with 32 key stakeholders from the fields of information security, policy and regulation, the IoT industry, consumer and privacy law, and academia in Australia. It details a broad variety of issues and concerns that go beyond the well‐recognised issue of privacy or the technical standards of information security, to encompass a wider set of issues regarding the implications for vulnerable communities, the environment and industrial standards of IoT production. Most key stakeholders expressed the view that more robust regulation is required in Australia, but no clear regulatory priority or strategy was identified by our sample. The implications of these findings for further regulation of consumer IoT and future regulatory strategies are considered.
Comparison of two image analysis software for root trait analysis of single and mixed species grasslands
Authors: Martin Katie A. , Brennan Fiona P. , Schmidt Olaf , Tracy Saoirse
Published: February 2022

Diverse root architectures can allow more efficient resource acquisition in multispecies plant communities. These beneficial root architectures and traits can be measured through imaging and automatic root analysis. However, the commonly used root trait analysis software WinRHIZO inaccurately estimates root volume where there are heterogeneous root diameters. The recently released software RhizoVision Explorer uses a different root volume calculation method, suited to samples with variation in diameter. In this study, an image set of roots from monocultures and mixtures of six grassland species was analyzed by WinRHIZO and RhizoVision Explorer. For roots from the top 10 cm of the soil profile, WinRHIZO root length and volume estimates were lower than RhizoVision Explorer. RhizoVision Explorer overestimated the length of simulated fine roots, while the opposite was true for WinRHIZO. This resulted in lower average diameter estimates by RhizoVision Explorer. Further validation of the effect of factors such as image quality and root staining on the accuracy of RhizoVision Explorer's root measurements could inform a standard protocol for root trait analysis.
Energetic Polymers: A Chance for Lightweight Reactive Structure Materials?
Authors: Born Max , Plank Jakob , Klapötke Thomas M.
Published: February 2022

Today's ammunition still consists of about 70 wt% structure‐providing materials such as metals providing no energetic contribution. Therefore, reactive structure materials (RSMs) offer tremendous room for improvement. While current research focuses on rather heavy, metal‐based materials (e. g., alloys, thermites), energetic polymers appear as an under‐recognized opportunity for very lightweight RSMs. Unfortunately, suitable polymers are unavailable as energetic polymer research has almost exclusively focused on elastic binders with the least possible glass transition temperature. An application as RSM, however, requires rigid polymers with a glass transition above operational temperatures. Accordingly, monomers with fundamentally different structures are required. The first step in this particular direction is 3‐(2,4,6‐trinitrophenoxy)oxetane (TNPO). Herein, we report the synthesis of its homopolymer and investigate its polymerization behavior by copolymerization with prior art energetic oxetanes. All polymers were intensively studied by vibrational and multinuclear (1H, 13C, 14N) NMR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, gel permeation chromatography, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Hereby, DSC revealed the high effect of the TNPO repeating unit on the glass transition temperature. The performance of all polymers was calculated using the EXPLO5 code to evaluate the potential performance range of polymeric RSMs. Further, their shock and friction sensitivity was determined by BAM standard procedures.
Effect of chemotherapy in metastatic prostate cancer according to race/ethnicity groups
Authors: Hoeh Benedikt , Würnschimmel Christoph , Flammia Rocco Simone , Horlemann Benedikt , Sorce Gabriele , Chierigo Francesco , Tian Zhe , Saad Fred , Graefen Markus , Gallucci Michele , Briganti Alberto , Terrone Carlo , Shariat Shahrokh F. , Tilki Derya , Kluth Luis A. , Mandel Philipp , Chun Felix K. H. , Karakiewicz Pierre I.
Published: February 2022

Background

No North‐American study tested the survival benefit of chemotherapy in de novo metastatic prostate cancer according to race/ethnicity. We addressed this void.

Methods

We identified de novo metastatic prostate cancer patients within the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database (2014–2015). Separate and specific Kaplan–Meier plots and Cox regression models tested for overall survival differences between chemotherapy‐exposed versus chemotherapy‐naïve patients in four race/ethnicity groups: Caucasian versus African‐American versus Hispanic/Latino vs Asian. Race/ethnicity specific propensity score matching was applied. Here, additional landmark analysis was performed.

Results

Of 4232 de novo metastatic prostate cancer patients, 2690 (63.3%) were Caucasian versus 783 (18.5%) African‐American versus 504 (11.8%) Hispanic/Latino versus 257 (6.1%) Asian. Chemotherapy rates were: 21.3% versus 20.8% versus 21.0% versus 20.2% for Caucasians versus African‐Americans versus Hispanic/Latinos versus Asians, respectively. At 30 months of follow‐up, overall survival rates between chemotherapy‐exposed versus chemotherapy‐naïve patients were 61.5 versus 53.2% (multivariable hazard ratio [mHR]: 0.76, 95 confidence interval [CI]: 0.63–0.92, p = 0.004) in Caucasians, 55.2 versus 51.6% (mHR: 0.76, 95 CI: 0.54–1.07, p = 0.11) in African‐Americans, 62.8 versus 57.0% (mHR: 1.11, 95 CI: 0.73–1.71, p = 0.61) in Hispanic/Latinos and 77.7 versus 65.0% (mHR: 0.31, 95 CI: 0.11–0.89, p = 0.03) in Asians. Virtually the same findings were recorded after propensity score matching within each race/ethnicity group.

Conclusions

Caucasian and Asian de novo metastatic prostate cancer patients exhibit the greatest overall survival benefit from chemotherapy exposure. Conversely, no overall survival benefit from chemotherapy exposure could be identified in either African‐Americans or Hispanic/Latinos. Further studies are clearly needed to address these race/ethnicity specific disparities.
Multiplex immunohistochemical phenotyping of T cells in primary prostate cancer
Authors: Ozbek Busra , Ertunc Onur , Erickson Andrew , Vidal Igor D. , Gomes‐Alexandre Carolina , Guner Gunes , Hicks Jessica L. , Jones Tracy , Taube Janis M. , Sfanos Karen S. , Yegnasubramanian Srinivasan , De Marzo Angelo M.
Published: February 2022

Background

Most prostate cancers are “immune cold” and poorly responsive to immune checkpoint inhibitors. However, the mechanisms responsible for the lack of a robust antitumor adaptive immune response in the prostate are poorly understood, which hinders the development of novel immunotherapeutic approaches.

Aims

Most inflammatory infiltrates in the prostate are centered around benign glands and stroma, which can confound the molecular characterization of the antitumor immune response. We sought to analytically validate a chromogenic‐based multiplex immunohistochemistry (IHC) approach applicable to whole slide digital image analysis to quantify T cell subsets from the tumor microenvironment of primary prostatic adenocarcinomas. As an initial application, we tested the hypothesis that PTEN loss leads to an altered antitumor immune response by comparing matched regions of tumors within the same individual with and without PTEN loss.

Materials & Methods

Using the HALO Image Analysis Platform (Indica Labs), we trained a classifier to quantify the densities of eight T cell phenotypes separately in the tumor epithelial and stromal subcompartments.

Results

The iterative chromogenic approach using 7 different antibodies on the same slide provides highly similar findings to results using individually stained slides with single antibodies. Our main findings in carcinomas (benign removed) include the following: i) CD4+ T cells are present at higher density than CD8+ T cells; ii) all T cell subsets are present at higher densities in the stromal compartment compared to the epithelial tumor compartment; iii) most CD4+ and CD8+ T cells are PD1+; iv) cancer foci with PTEN loss harbored increased numbers of T cells compared to regions without PTEN loss, in both stromal and epithelial compartments; and v) the increases in T cells in PTEN loss regions were associated with ERG gene fusion status.

Discussion

This modular approach can apply to any IHC‐validated antibody combination and sets the groundwork for more detailed spatial analyses.

Conclusion

Iterative chromogenic IHC can be used for whole slide analysis of prostate tissue samples and can complement transcriptomic results including those using single cell and spatial genomic approaches.
Assessing treatment benefit in the presence of placebo response using the sequential parallel comparison design
Authors: Liu Xiaoyan , Kim Chanmin , Han Zifei , Lim Pilar , Roychoudhury Satrajit , Fava Maurizio , Doros Gheorghe
Published: February 2022

In clinical trials, placebo response is considered a beneficial effect arising from multiple factors, including the patient's expectations for the treatment. Its presence makes the classical parallel study design suboptimal and can bias the inference. The sequential parallel comparison design (SPCD), a two‐stage design where the first stage is a classical parallel study design, followed by another parallel design among placebo subjects from the first stage, was proposed to address the shortcomings of the classical design. In SPCD, in lieu of treatment effect, a weighted average of the mean treatment difference in Stage I among all randomized subjects and the mean treatment difference in Stage II among placebo non‐responders was proposed as the efficacy measure. However, by linking two possibly different populations, this weighted average lacks interpretability, and the choice of weight remains controversial. In this work, under the principal stratification framework, we propose a causal estimand for the treatment effect under each of three clinically important principal strata: Always Responders, Never Responders, and Drug‐only Responders. To make the stratum treatment effect identifiable, we introduce a set of assumptions and two sensitivity parameters. By further considering the strata as latent characteristics, the sensitivity parameters can be estimated. An extensive simulation study is conducted to evaluate the operating characteristics of the proposed method. Finally, we apply our method on the ADAPT‐A study data to assess the benefit of low‐dose aripiprazole adjunctive to antidepressant therapy treatment.
Pooling random forest and functional data analysis for biomedical signals supervised classification: Theory and application to electrocardiogram data
Authors: Maturo Fabrizio , Verde Rosanna
Published: February 2022

Scientific progress has contributed to creating many devices to gather vast amounts of biomedical data over time. The goal of these devices is generally to monitor people's health conditions, diagnose, and prevent patients' diseases, for example, to discover cardiovascular disorders or predict epileptic seizures. A common way of investigating these data is classification, but these instruments generate signals often characterized by high dimensionality. Learning from these data is definitely a challenging task due to many issues, for example, the trade‐off between complexity and accuracy and the course of dimensionality. This study proposes a supervised classification method based on the joint use of functional data analysis, classification trees, and random forest to deal with massive biomedical data recorded over time. For this purpose, this research suggests different original tools to extract features and train functional classifiers, interpret the classification rules, assess leaves' quality and composition, avoid the classical drawbacks due to the COD, and improve the accuracy of the functional classifiers. Focusing on ECG data as a possible example, the final purpose of this study is to offer an original approach to identify and classify patients at risk using different types of biomedical signals. The results confirm that this line of research is exciting; indeed, the interpretative tools show evidence to be very useful for understanding classification rules. Furthermore, the performance of the proposed functional classifier, in terms of accuracy, is excellent because the latter breaks the previous classification record regarding a well‐known ECG dataset.
Boosting Electrochemical Activity of Porous Transparent Conductive Oxides Electrodes Prepared by Sequential Infiltration Synthesis
Authors: Ko Minkyung , Kim Hyeong‐U , Jeon Nari
Published: February 2022

Sequential infiltration synthesis (SIS) is an emerging technique for producing inorganic–organic hybrid materials and templated inorganic nanomaterials. The application space for SIS is expanding rapidly in areas such as lithography, filtration, photovoltaics, antireflection, and triboelectricity, but not in the field of electrochemistry. This study performs SIS for the fabrication of porous, transparent, and electrically conductive films of indium zinc oxide (IZO) to evaluate their potential as an electrode for electrochemistry. The electrochemical activity of IZO‐coated electrodes is evaluated when their surfaces are modified with ferrocenecarboxylic acid (FcCOOH), a model redox molecule. Results show a 25‐fold enhancement in peak current densities mediated by an Fc/Fc+ redox couple for an IZO‐coated electrode in comparison with bare electrodes; this is afforded by the porous morphology of the IZO film and the enhanced binding efficiency of FcCOOH on the IZO film. The results confirm the potential of SIS for the preparation of porous transparent conducting oxide electrodes, which will enable the application of SIS‐derived materials in various electrochemical fields.
Robust Room‐Temperature Sodium‐Sulfur Batteries Enabled by a Sandwich‐Structured MXene@C/Polyolefin/MXene@C Dual‐functional Separator
Authors: Wang Chaozhi , Wu Kaihang , Cui Jingqin , Fang Xiaoliang , Li Jing , Zheng Nanfeng
Published: February 2022

Room‐temperature sodium‐sulfur (RT‐Na‐S) batteries are attracting increased attention due to their high theoretical energy density and low‐cost. However, the traditional RT‐Na‐S batteries assembled with glass fiber (GF) separators are still hindered by the polysulfide shuttle effect and sodium dendrite growth, limiting the battery's capacity and cycling stability. Here, a facile and effective method toward commercial polyolefin separators for constructing stable RT‐Na‐S batteries is presented. By coating commercial polypropylene membrane with core‐shell structured MXene@C nanosheets, a powerful dual‐functional separator with improved electrolyte wettability that can inhibit polysulfide migration and induce uniform sodium disposition is developed. More importantly, the modified separator can also accelerate the conversion kinetics of sodium polysulfides. Benefiting from these characteristics, the as‐prepared RT‐Na‐S battery exhibits a remarkably enhanced capacity (1159 mAh g‐1 at 0.2 C) and excellent cycling performance (95.8% of capacity retention after 650 cycles at 0.5 C). This study opens a promising avenue for the development of high‐performance Na‐S batteries.
Chiroptical Transitions of Enantiomeric Ligand‐Activated Nickel Oxides
Authors: Lin Jiaying , Liu Rulin , Zhu Xi , Wei Alexander , Xu Xiaoqian , He Tingchao , Cheng Jiaji , Li Yiwen
Published: February 2022

Ligand‐induced chirality in transition‐metal oxide (TMO) nanostructures have great potential for designing materials with tunable chiroptical effects. Herein, a facile strategy is reported to prepare chiroptical active nickel‐oxide hybrids combined with pH adjustment, and the redox treatment results in ligand transformation, which is attributable to multiple optical transitions in the TMO nanostructures. The theoretical calculation also explains the chiral origins based on their complex models based on empirical analysis. It is also shown that enantiomeric TMO nanoparticles can be used as chiral inducers for chiroptical sensitive polymerization. These results demonstrate that TMO nanostructures can provide rational control over photochemical synthesis and chiral transfer of inorganics nanoarchitecture chirality.
A novel strategy for producing high‐performance continuous regenerated fibers with wool‐like structure
Authors: Cao Guang Sheng , Zhang Ze Ping , Rong Min Zhi , Zhang Ming Qiu
Published: February 2022

We proposed a novel approach to prepare high‐performance continuous regenerated keratin fibers with wool‐like structure by using the cortical cells and linear keratin from wool waste as reinforcement and adhesive, respectively. The spindle‐shaped cortical cells were taken from wool waste based on the different responses of cortical cells and mesenchyme in wool to the treatments of H2O2 oxidation and ultrasonication. The linear keratin was yielded through dissolving wool waste in the green solution consisting of starch derived dithiothreitol and protein denaturant sodium dodecyl sulfate. The recycled keratin fibers were produced by wet‐spinning of the mixture solution comprising of cortical cells, linear keratin and toughener poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate, and crosslinked by glutaraldehyde and 4,4′‐methylenebis‐(phenyl isocyanate). The cortical cells were aligned along the regenerated fibers axis and retained quite a few α‐helical crystals of the intermediate filaments, benefitting improvement of mechanical properties. Consequently, the valuable chemical compositions and hierarchical microstructures of wool were largely inherited. Their mechanical properties, thermal stability, dyeing property, moisture absorption capability, and antistatic resistance resembled those of wool. The regenerated fibers contained 93.3 wt.% components of wool, and the amount of synthetic chemicals in the regenerated fibers was controlled to as low as 6.7 wt.%.
Recent Progress in Microfiltration/Ultrafiltration Membranes for Separation of Oil and Water Emulsions
Authors: Baig Nadeem , Salhi Billel , Sajid Muhammad , Aljundi Isam H.
Published: February 2022

Oily wastewater has become one of the leading causes of environmental pollution. A massive quantity of oily wastewater is released from industries, oil spills, and routine activities, endangering the ecosystem's sustainability. Due to the enormous negative impact, researchers put strenuous efforts into developing a sustainable solution to treat oily wastewater. Microfiltration/ultrafiltration membranes are considered an efficient solution to treat oily wastewater due to their low cost, small footprint, facile operation, and high separation efficiencies. However, membranes severely fouled during the separation process due to oil's adsorption and cake layer formation, which shortens the membranes’ life. This review has critically discussed the microfiltration/ultrafiltration membrane synthesizing methods and their emulsion's separation performance. In the end, key challenges and their possible solutions are highlighted to provide future direction to synthesize next‐generation membranes.
Maneuvering Target Tracking with Multi‐Model Based on the Adaptive Structure
Authors: Guo Qiang , Teng Long
Published: February 2022

In the “snake” maneuver tracking of anti‐ship missiles, the traditional interactive multi‐model algorithm has poor tracking accuracy and the computational complexity of the improved algorithm is large. An adaptive structure multi‐model (ASMM) algorithm is proposed to solve this problem. The multi‐model tracking algorithm is improved from two aspects: tracking accuracy and computational complexity. First, the fuzzy control idea is introduced to speed up the update of the model probability, which improves the convergence speed and tracking accuracy of the interacting multiple model (IMM) algorithm. Next, a tracking model with an adaptive structure is proposed, which can adjust the tracking model adaptively according to the motion form of the target, thereby reducing the calculation redundancy. The simulation experiment shows that the proposed algorithm has better tracking accuracy than the traditional multi‐model algorithm while maintaining the approximate computational complexity, and has smaller computational complexity than the traditional improved algorithm while maintaining the approximate tracking accuracy. © 2022 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.