bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
LA FLORA HISPANA EN ESTRABÓN, PLINIO EL VIEJO Y OTROS AUTORES CLÁSICOS: RECURSOS VEGETALES SILVESTRES
Authors: Serrano Luque Alejandro
Published: October 2023

Se ofrece un estudio sobre la flora silvestre hispana a través de varios autores clásicos como Estrabón, Plinio el Viejo, Apicio, Columela, Dioscórides, Hipócrates y Teofrasto. Con la visión particular de cada autor se podrían conocer las propiedades especiales, características, utilidades, etc., de esos recursos vegetales silvestres. Por lo tanto, obtendremos alusiones e información importante de dicha flora hispana, nunca considerada por la bibliografía, así como los productos y oficios que pudieron derivar de ella.
MILITARES Y VIDA MUNICIPAL EN HISPANIA: LA OTRA CONQUISTA
Authors: López López José María
Published: October 2023

El presente trabajo pretende reconstruir un aspecto muy concreto de la vida cívica en la Hispania romana. La inclusión de antiguos militares en el ordo decurionum y el ejercicio de cargos políticos o religiosos. Basándonos principalmente en las fuentes epigráficas, trataremos de conocer cómo los veteranos del ejército influyeron en colonias y municipios tras su retiro y a qué razones obedece dicha integración. Sobre la base de los resultados obtenidos, seguiremos investigando para conocer la integración de los veteranos en otros aspectos de la vida civil.
Three-Phase Simulation of Hydrotreating of Vacuum Gas Oil
Authors: Vorobev Anatoliy , Ivashkina Elena N. , Arkenova Saniya B. , Kaliyev Toleubek A.
Published: October 2023

We develop a numerical model for practical simulation of hydrotreatment of vacuum gas oil in a trickle-bed reactor. The model is based on the mass balance of species; it incorporates a seven-lump chemical scheme that describes the reactions of hydrodesulphurisation and hydrodearomatisation. The novelty of the model is splitting of sulphur-containing compounds into different lumps by their reactive abilities. The splitting is supported by the chromatographic analysis of hydrocarbon mixtures that are sampled from the inlet and outlet ends of an industrial hydrotreatment unit. The analysis reveals different susceptibilities of sulphides, benzothiophene, and dibenzothiophenes to hydrotreatment. The new model is applied for simulation of the hydrotreatment at a refinery, adjusting kinetic parameters, and demonstrating that the model provides an adequate (and, at the same time, simple) description of the process, giving guidance for optimisation that is needed after each variation of the feedstock.
Anoikis-related gene signature associates with the immune infiltration and predicts the prognosis of glioma patients
Authors: Lin Jianghua , Zhao Junmiao , Wu Xinyi , Hao Leiyu , Tan Xiao , Yang Lixue , Wu Lei-lei , Zhang Xiaoling , Zhao Kaijun , Liu Yu’e
Published: October 2023

Glioma is the most aggressive and incurable brain tumor. Anoikis is programed apoptosis in which cells are detached from the cellular matrix and suspended to death. It plays a critical role in cancer progression. Cancer cells overcome anoikis via various methods to continue their progression and metastasis. But the role of anoikis in gliomas remains elusive. By comprehensively studying the glioma patient’s data in TCGA and other public databases, we built an anoikis-related genes risk nomogram for glioma with the combination of both LGG and GBM based on TCGA data and validate independently in CGGA data. The detailed methods and accurate R package information are listed in the “Methods” part in the text. We found the high-risk groups were enriched in the anoikis and immune-related pathways. Further analysis of high-risk score groups revealed that they had higher immune infiltration, lower IDH-mutations, higher tumor mutation burdens and higher tumor immune dysfunction and exclusion scores, indicating that there might not be successful for the high-risk score glioma patients in immunotherapy. In conclusion, we built a risk modal by applying the analysis of anoikis-related genes and immune signature genes, and this risk modal can predict glioma patients’ clinical outcomes successfully and accurately.
An Emergency Escape Strategy based on Reasonable Dynamic Constraints for Autonomous Vehicles
Authors: gao Lingfei , Yang Shichun , Sun Bin , Xu Jingyun , Lu Jiayi , Cao Yaoguang
Published: October 2023

Safety represents the fundamental bottleneck in the development of autonomous driving.The majority of current research focuses on driving safety in regular scenarios. However, certain actions by other vehicles may pose significant risks to the ego vehicle, rustling in emergency scenarios. In this paper, we propose an emergency escape strategy for autonomous vehicles, encompassing risk assessment, escape trajectory generation, and Model Predictive Control (MPC) based control schemes. In risk assessment module, we introduce the Fusion Time-toCollision (FTTC) concept for risk quantification. The proposed approach not only considers the maximum escape potential under extreme circumstances but also incorporates vehicle dynamics constraints during the escape process to ensure that risks such as rollover are avoided due to excessively aggressive escape trajectories.The performance of our proposed algorithm is measured in two simulation scenarios.
Identification and validation of amino acid metabolism-related genes and immunological characteristics in osteoarthritis by bioinformatics analysis
Authors: Wang Yuyan , Liu Yang , Yu Changhe , Liu Zhifeng , Wang Xiyou
Published: October 2023

Background:
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common joint disorder characterized by progressive destruction of articular cartilage and chronic inflammation. Growing evidence has implicated the roles of amino acid metabolism (AAM) and immunological factors in OA occurrence and development. However, the detailed mechanisms remain largely unknown. Therefore, identifying crucial genes and pathways related to AAM and immunology in OA using bioinformatics approaches is an important aspect to elucidate the pathogenesis of OA.
Methods:
Publicly available gene expression profiling datasets of OA were obtained from the gene expression omnibus (GEO) database. Differential expression analysis was performed to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between OA and normal control samples. DEGs were intersected with amino acid metabolism related genes (AAMRGs) to obtain OA associated DEGs. Enrichment analysis including gene ontology (GO) and kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) pathways were performed on these DEGs. protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed and key genes were identified by topology analysis. Immune cell infiltration was estimated by gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) algorithm and CIBERSORT tool. receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) curve analysis was applied to assess diagnostic performance of hub genes.
Results:
A total of 64 DEGs related to AAM were identified in OA. Enrichment analysis indicated these DEGs were mainly involved in glycine, serine and threonine metabolism. There were 8 hub genes identified from the PPI network. Immune cells analysis revealed increased infiltration of macrophages and neutrophils in OA compared to normal controls. Several hub genes such as SLC2A1 and VEGFA demonstrated high diagnostic accuracy for OA. Significant correlations were observed between AAM genes and multiple immune cells.
Conclusion
Through multi-omics analysis of osteoarthritis data, we identified AAM-related hub genes PPARG and VEGFA. Their expression associated with OA pathogenesis and immune infiltration, providing evidence for AAM involvement in the pathogenesis of OA. Further validation may facilitate their utility as OA biomarkers and therapeutic targets.
Precision determination of dipole transition matrix elements with a single trapped ion
Authors: Guan Hua
Published: October 2023

In the field of quantum metrology, transition matrix elements are crucial for accurately evaluating the black-body radiation shift and the parity-violating amplitude of the clock transition, and can be used as probes to test quantum electrodynamic effects, especially at the $10^{-3}$-$10^{-4}$ level. We developed a universal experimental approach to precise determination of the dipole transition matrix element with a energy level of two transition channels at various atomic species by using the quantum shelving technique. In which, the time-increased pulses were utilized to induce quantum shelving, and the resulting shelving probabilities were determined by counting the scattered photons from the excited $^{2}\!P_{1/2}$ state to the $^{2}\!S_{1/2}$ ground state. Using the scattered photons offers several advantages, including insensitivity to fluctuations in magnetic field, laser intensity, and frequency detuning. An intensity-alternating sequence to minimize detection noise and a real-time approach for background photon correction were implemented in parallel. We applied this method to single Yb$^+$ ion, and determined the $6p~^{2}\!P_{1/2}$ - $5d~^{2}\!D_{3/2}$ transition matrix element of 2.9395(21)~$ea_{0}$, which represents an order of magnitude improvement over previous determination. By combining our result with the $6p~^{2}\!P_{1/2}$ lifetime of 8.12(2)~ns, we extracted the $6s~^{2}\!S_{1/2}$ - $6p~^{2}\!P_{1/2}$ transition matrix element to be 2.4695(31)~$ea_{0}$.
Effect of acupuncture on tear proteomics in patients with VDT-related dry eye
Authors: tang na , Tang Lewei , Jiang Xiaohan , Li Yan , Xiang Shengjin , Chen Ding , Lyu Jiacheng
Published: October 2023

Background Acupuncture is widely used to treat dry eye disease (DED) and improved dry eye signs, but the effect has not been reported treating video display terminal (VDT)-related dry eye. Meanwhile, the mechanism of acupuncture on VDT-related dry eye remains unknown, and the treatments of DED are often associated with an altered tear protein composition.
Methods Sixty patients with VDT-related dry eye were randomly and equally allocated to the acupuncture (AC group) or the artificial tear groups (AT group). Treatment involved acupuncture or artificial tear for 4 weeks. Tear samples were collected after baseline examination of clinical parameters, including Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) scores, tear film break-up time (TFBUT), and Schirmer I test (SIT) before and after treatment. Tear samples were subjected to proteomic identification and analysis by independent acquisition.
Results The OSDI scores were significantly different between the AC and AT groups at the end of the study period when performing repeated measurement analysis of before, after, and 4 weeks after treatment by repeated measurement analysis (p = 0.017), whereas the TFBUT and SIT were not significantly different between the groups. In the AC group, the OSDI scores, TFBUT, and SIT were significantly improved at 4 weeks after treatment by one-way analysis (p = 0.001, p = 0.033, p = 0.033, respectively); whereas, there was no significant improvement in the AT group at that time. A total of 7502 proteins were identified by data-independent acquisition. Proteome changes pre- and post-treatment in the AC group were associated with B cell-related immune processes, inflammation, glycolysis, and actin cytoskeleton, and, accordingly, the protein expression levels of actin-related protein 2/3 complex, subunit 3, pyruvate kinase M, gelsolin, and lactate dehydrogenase A, among others, differed significantly between the effective and ineffective patients based on the OSDI scores within the AC group. Furthermore, the proteins hexosaminidase A and mannose-binding lectin 1 could prospectively predict whether acupuncture treatment was effective, based on an inverse convolution analysis and machine learning algorithms.
Conclusions Acupuncture, relative to artificial tear, can provide greater improvement in the clinical symptoms of VDT-related dry eye. The mechanism of acupuncture in VDT-related dry eye treatment may be associated with glycolysis- and actin cytoskeleton remodeling-mediated inflammatory and immune processes. Additionally, hexosaminidase A and mannose-binding lectin 1 are biomarkers for predicting the efficacy of acupuncture for VDT-related dry eye. Key words: Acupuncture; VDT-related dry eye; Tear proteomics; Glycolysis; Actin cytoskeleton; Biomarkers.
Analysis of Agro-morphological Characters and Genetic Diversity in Some Selected Landraces of Rice During Early Drought Stress
Authors: DE ANIRNEETA , DEY AVISHEK , RAY UDAY SANKAR , RAHA SUBRATA , KAR DIPAK KUMAR
Published: October 2023

Drought is a major threat to rice production in many parts of the world. The red-lateritic zone of West Bengal, India, faces physiological drought each season, specifically in early growth stage due to erratic rainfall. No true-drought-tolerant variety has been developed till date due to lack of proper screening methods and undetected major Quantitative-Trait-Loci linked to drought tolerance. In this study, twenty-two landraces and check varieties were subjected to water stress at seedling stage. Root and shoot length (RL, SL), seedling-vigour-index (SVI), root fresh and dry weight (RFW, RDW), leaf rolling (LR), leaf drying (LD) were recorded. After rewatering, survivability percentage (SP), days to 50% flowering (DF), days to maturity (DM), 100 seed weight (SW), seed yield/plant (SY/P) were observed. Significant variations between the germplasms were noted. Significant positive correlation was found between SP, SW, DM, DF, RFW, SL, and SY/P whereas LD, LR were negatively correlated with SY/P. T-test between the yield of stressed and controlled conditions revealed that twelve landraces along with the positive checks did not vary significantly in SY/P. One landrace, Morogjhota outperformed the check varieties in yield. Genetic diversity analysis with 20 SSR markers divided the germplasms into two main clusters with a PIC value ranging between 0.544 – 0.907. From this study, seventeen lines were identified among which five landraces showed high Drought Resistance Index which can be used as parent material in developing climate-resilient varieties and can also be used to detect major QTLs associated with drought tolerance.
Keywords: Agro-morphological characters, Drought resistance, Landrace, Rice, SSR markers
The Anchors of Home: Understanding How Place Attachment strengthen Well-being of Sri Lanka's Migratory Fisher Communities
Authors: Koralagama D N , PVS Harshana
Published: October 2023

During the off-season, small-scale fishers migrate to more favourable locations to sustain their fishing activities and livelihoods. This study focuses on Sri Lanka's west coast to investigate the psychological, social, and economic motives that influence the decision making on the seasonal migration destination of these fishers. Using qualitative methods including sixty in-depth interviews and five key informant discussions, the research focuses on the overlooked aspects of well-being in fisheries literature. It introduces a holistic view of "well-being" that encompasses material gains, social motives, and functional factors, all of which are tied to the concept of place attachment. Economic drivers, such as stable income, resource access, and market opportunities, contribute to material well-being. Social factors like community ties and networking encourage migration for social benefits. Functional aspects, including emotional and cognitive factors, also play a role in migration decisions. The study concludes that the choice of migration sites is a complex blend of these economic, social, and functional motives, each linked to different facets of human well-being. The insights are extendable to other resource-dependent communities that engage in seasonal migration for livelihood and well-being, such as farmers and miners.
Cephalic Arch Stenosis : An Analysis of Outcome by Type of First Intervention
Authors: Pisano Umberto , Stevenson Karen , Kasthuri Ram , Kingsmore David
Published: October 2023

Background
Cephalic arch stenoses (CAS) occur in near 70% of elbow arteriovenous fistulas. Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) remains first-line treatment despite documented stent-grafts (SG) efficacy. The study aim is to report outcomes based on CAS initial treatment on long-term follow-up.
Methods
Retrospective review of 12-year data in single tertiary centre. Outcomes included technical success, rupture rate, primary patency (PP), dialysis performance; categorical variables assessed via c2 or Fisher’s; nonparametric tests used for skewed data. Kaplan-Meier analysis used for PP and cumulative patency. Cox proportional hazard regression model to assess explanatory variables in PP.
Results
101 brachio- and radiocephalic fistulas with CAS were included. SG as first intervention had higher success than PTA (85% vs 61%, p = 0.003). Rupture occurred in 9/85 (10.6%) PTA vs 0% in SG (p = 0.046). In a subgroup with poor urea reduction rate (URR), both PTA and SG improved dialysis performance post-intervention (p = 0.002). SG demonstrated better PP than PTA (79,73,60% patency at 3, 6, 9 months; versus 71,51,47%; p = 0.195) and cumulative patency (73,61,61% at 1, 2, 3 years; versus 60,34,26%; p < 0.001). Of the variables analyzed, technical success of PTA was the only discriminating factor (coeff.-1.01; RR 35%,p = 0.035). Accesses that underwent secondary stenting performed better than primarily stented CAS (p = 0.01).
Conclusions:
SG superiority is confirmed in CAS, particularly when angioplasty is unsuccessful. While PTA has short-lived benefits, it can improve dialysis performance. Other than higher success rate, primary CAS stenting did not have advantages compared to post-PTA stenting in our study. Other factors related to inflow, outflow, conduit characteristics are presumed to be involved in access longevity.
PANI/rGO−PAM/PVA Hydrogels with Applications in Supercapacitive, Photoelectric and Strain Sensing
Authors: Li Shuo , Tao Yulun , Wu Yuannan , Zhu Shanshan , Khademi Sara , Lv Yinru , Tai Yanlong , Wang Chaoran
Published: October 2023

The high integration and multifunctionality in flexible electronic device play an important role in its development. In this study, we developed multifunctional hydrogels integrated with supercapacitive, photoelectric, and strain-sensing capabilities. The hydrogel composite consists of PAM/PVA matrix with polyaniline (PANI) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) as conductive components. Two different acid dopants, citric acid (CA) and hydrochloric acid (HCl), were employed to investigate their impact on photoelectrochemical capabilities of hydrogels. Both CA-doped and HCl-doped hydrogels exhibited remarkable supercapacitive performance, achieving areal capacitances of 492 mF/cm2 and 538 mF/cm2, respectively. Furthermore, both hydrogels demonstrated photosensitivity towards shorter wavelengths such as ultraviolet (380 nm) and blue (475 nm) light. Lastly, the proposed hydrogels serving as highly sensitive strain sensors was verified through effectively sensing arm bending movements.
SparrKULee: A Speech-evoked Auditory Response Repository of the KU Leuven, containing EEG of 85 participants
Authors: Bollens Lies , Accou Bernd , Gillis Marlies , Verheijen Wendy , hamme Hugo Van , Francart Tom
Published: October 2023

Researchers investigating the neural mechanisms underlying speech perception often employ electroencephalography (EEG) to record brain activity while participants listen to spoken language.The high temporal resolution of EEG enables the study of neural responses to fast and dynamic speech signals.Previous studies have successfully extracted speech characteristics from EEG data and, conversely, predicted EEG activity from speech features.
Machine learning techniques are generally employed to construct encoding and decoding models, which necessitate a substantial amount of data. We present SparrKULee: A Speech-evoked Auditory Repository of EEG, measured at KU Leuven, comprising 64-channel EEG recordings from 85 young individuals with normal hearing, each of whom listened to 90-150 minutes of natural speech. This dataset is more extensive than any currently available dataset in terms of both the number of participants and the amount of data per participant. It is suitable for training larger machine learning models. We evaluate the dataset using linear and state-of-the-art non-linear models in a speech encoding/decoding and match/mismatch paradigm, providing benchmark scores for future research.
Injectable Hydrogel-Based Combination Therapy for Myocardial Infarction: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Preclinical Trials
Authors: Gao Han , Liu Song , Qin Shanshan , Yang Jiali , Yue Tian , Ye Bengui , Tang Yue , Feng Jie , Hou Jun , Danzeng dunzhu
Published: October 2023

Introduction:
This study evaluates the efficacy of a combined regimen based on injectable hydrogels for the treatment of experimental myocardial infarction.
Patient concerns:
Myocardial infarction is an acute illness associated with a decline in quality of life and increased mortality. Experimental myocardial infarction models can facilitate disease research for developing therapies that effectively manage disease progression and promote tissue repair.
Diagnosis:
An experimental myocardial infarction animal model was established using the ligation method of the anterior descending branch of the left coronary artery (LAD).
Interventions:
The efficacy of combining hydrogels with various therapies for intramyocardial injection was assessed to evaluate the functional and morphological improvements in the post-infarction heart achieved through the combined hydrogel regimen.
Outcomes:
The literature review spanned PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Cochrane databases. A total of 83 papers were included in the meta-analysis according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. When analyzing a murine small animal model, the combination therapy group using hydrogel showed a significant improvement in the primary outcome of left ventricular ejection fraction, with an overall effect size of 11.68 (95% confidence interval (CI): 10.24,13.12) compared to the group receiving hydrogel injection alone. The overall effect size for short-axis shortening was 6.25 (95% CI: 5.98,6.52). Subgroup analysis suggested that the source of hydrogel had a minor impact on the treatment outcome.
Conclusion
The present study demonstrated that combining hydrogel with other therapies effectively treated myocardial infarction, improving heart function and morphology. More research and clinical trials should be conducted using large animal models for further study and validation.
Discovering New Color Developers for Thermochromic Microcapsules Using a Variational Autoencoder
Authors: Kim Taehoon , Guk Hyein , Yun Jae Hoon , Kim Daejin , Kim Jonghwa , Choi Seung-Hoon , Chung Dong Hyen
Published: October 2023

In our pursuit of safer alternatives to Bisphenol A (BPA) for use as color developers in thermochromic microcapsules, our goal was to mitigate endocrine disruption without compromising the properties of BPA-based microcapsules. We began by scrutinizing the effect of 11 BPA derivatives on temperatures at which microcapsules change color (color-changing temperatures). The color-changing temperatures were determined using sigmoid fitting of the color density versus temperature plot, leading to four regression models connecting these temperatures to the color developer structures. To assess endocrine-disrupting potential and toxicity, we adopted machine learning models from the Open QSAR Application (OPERA). Concurrently, using atom-wise tokenization, we trained a variational autoencoder on SMILES data of drug-like molecules. With this approach, we have achieved a six-fold speed increase in training with 20% fewer parameters than conventional character-wise tokenization. After transfer learning with potential color developer data, this model generated new SMILES data, which were subsequently evaluated for their properties. In the end, we have obtained a compilation of SMILES predicted to be effective and safer replacements for BPA.
The Dissolution of Waste Zinc Filter Cake by Taguchi Method and Sulfide Precipitation of Cadmium and Nickel
Authors: Kafash Yasaman , Raygan shahram , Pourabdoli Mehdi , Lashgari Vahid A.
Published: October 2023

During the hydrometallurgical production of Zinc, filter cake obtained from the purification process of Zinc sulfate solution can be considered one of the essential secondary resources of Cadmium. In the current research, using the Taguchi method, the effects of various parameters such as dissolution reaction time (10–40 min), temperature (25–80°C), sulfuric acid concentration (2–11 vol.%) and particle size distribution (four size fractions) under liquid/solid ratio of 10 and stirring speed of 600 rpm on leaching of Cd dissolution from Cd-Ni filter cake were evaluated and optimized. The experimental plan was designed using an orthogonal array, L16 (44), which denotes four parameters with four levels. The optimum dissolution conditions proposed by the Design Expert software were a reaction time of 40 min, temperature of 80°C, sulfuric acid concentration of 8 vol. %, and particle size distribution of -75 + 53 µm with predicted dissolution content of Cd equals to 93.15% by the software. In the optimum condition, 95.2% of the Cd content was leached during the verifying test. According to the results, reaction time, particle size distribution, acid concentration, and temperature are the most affecting parameters on Cd dissolution, respectively. Separation of Ni and Cd present in the solution after dissolution using sodium sulfate precipitation in the pH range of 1 to 5 was studied, and the results show that at pH = 3, maximum separation of Ni and Cd (with weight ratio of Cd to Ni in the precipitates equals to 46.2) was achieved.
Mandibular response after rapid maxillary expansion in mixed dentition children with different vertical growing patterns: A retrospective study
Authors: YANG GANG , Xiang Xianhua , Tong Xianqin , Li Yuanyuan , Liu Yuehua
Published: October 2023

Introduction:
This study aimed to evaluate the mandibular development induced by rapid maxillary expansion (RME) therapy in mixed dentition patients with different vertical growth patterns.
Methods
This retrospective design incorporated two cohorts: a control group consisting of pediatric subjects presenting individualized malocclusion, and an experimental group subjected to RME therapy. A total of 60 subjects were included in this retrospective study, 37 in the RME group (17 males and 20 females) and 23 in the control group (13 males and 10 females). Subsequent to quantifying 22 pertinent morphometric parameters via Dolphin Imaging software, the participants were classified into either high-angle or even-angle subgroups based on MP-FH value. Changes in the groups during the observation period were calculated, compared, and statistically analyzed with a t-test.
Results
Compared to the control group, both ANB angle and overjet tended to decrease after treatment in the RME group (P < 0.05), and none of the vertical correlations (MP-SN, FH-MP, N-me, S-Go, S-Go/N-Me and Overbite) were statistically different (P > 0.05). Within the even-angle experimental subgroup, the ANB angle, Wits appraisal, and overjet markedly decreased when contrasted with their even-angle control counterparts (P < 0.05). Notably, a substantive decrease in overjet was solely observable in the sagittal dimension among the high-angle expansion subgroup when compared to the high-angle control subgroup (P < 0.05). In the vertical dimension, neither the even-angle nor high-angle subgroups exhibited any statistically significant disparity relative to their respective control cohorts (P > 0.05).
Conclusions
The results of current investigation substantiate that RME therapy promoted sagittal growth of the mandible in subjects with even-angle vertical growth patterns through long-term observation. Whereas no analogous tendency was discerned in subjects manifesting high-angle vertical growth patterns. In addition, the mandibular plane angle did not increase after RME in children with high angles, thereby negating the hypothesis that high angles serve as a contraindication for RME.
Swin-EchoNet: Deep Learning-based Two-Chamber Segmentation of 2D Echocardiography using Swin Transformer
Authors: A Shamla Beevi , Nagarkoti Amit , Kalady Saidalavi , Chackola Jenu James Chackola
Published: October 2023

The initial crucial stage in recognizing heart-related problems involves making a precise diagnosis. Live heart images can be obtained through techniques such as MRI, CT scan, and Echocardiography. Determining significant cardiac parameters for disease diagnosis, such as systolic and diastolic volumes, ejection fraction, and left atrium (LA), requires accurate segmentation of the left ventricle in echocardiography images. However, automated segmentation of these images is a complex and challenging task. Therefore, there is a requirement for a fully automatic method that can accurately segment cardiac images and save time. We utilized our proposed model Swin-echonet architecture for accurate left ventricle segmentation in echocardio-graphy images. Our method has been successfully tested on two separate datasets, namely the CAMUS dataset with 1800 echocardiographic images and data from a hospital with 1550 echo images. On the CAMUS dataset, we achieved a mean dice coefficient of 0.951±0.2271. Additionally, our method produced a mean IoU of 0.7263 and a mean Dice coefficient of 0.9738 on the second dataset. The obtained results demonstrate the efficiency of our method across diverse datasets, indicating its potential to assist medical professionals in the detection and treatment of cardiac problems.
Precise planning based on 3D-printed dry-laboratory models can reduce perioperative complications of laparoscopic surgery for complex hepatobiliary diseases: A preoperative cohort study
Authors: Yao Wei-Feng , Huang Xiao-Kun , Fu Tian-Wei , Jin Lei , Du Cheng-Fei , Gao Zhen-Yu , Wang Kai-Di , Dai Mu-Gen , Liu Si-Yu , Liu Jun-Wei , Zhang Cheng-Wu , Liang Lei , Huang Dong-Sheng
Published: October 2023

Background & Aims:
Complications after laparoscopic liver resection (LLR) are important factors affecting the prognosis of patients, especially for complex hepatobiliary diseases. The present study aimed to evaluate the value of a three-dimensional (3D) printed dry-laboratory model in the precise planning of LLR for complex hepatobiliary diseases.
Methods
Patients with complex hepatobiliary diseases who underwent LLR were preoperatively enrolled, and divided into two groups according to whether using a 3D-printed dry-laboratory model (3D group vs. control group). The two groups were compared regarding the operative time, intraoperative bleeding volume, and postoperative complications. Multivariable logistic analysis was performed to determine the risk factors of postoperative complications.
Results
Sixty-two patients with complex hepatobiliary diseases underwent the precise planning of LLR. Among them, thirty-one patients acquired the guidance of a 3D-printed dry-laboratory model, and others were only guided by traditional enhanced CT or MRI. The results showed no significant differences between the two groups in baseline characters. However, compared to the control group, the 3D group had a lower incidence of intraoperative blood loss, as well as postoperative 30-day and major complications, especially bile leakage (all P < 0.05). Multivariable analysis showed the 3D model was an independent protective factor in decreasing postoperative complications. Subgroup analysis also showed that a 3D model could decrease postoperative complications, especially for bile leakage in patients with intrahepatic cholelithiasis.
Conclusion
The 3D-printed models can help reduce postoperative complications. The 3D-printed models should be recommended for patients with complex hepatobiliary diseases undergoing precise planning LLR.
Effects of parenting styles on social functioning impairments in Chinese children and adolescents with ADHD mediated by stressful life events
Authors: wu yuanzhen , luo jie , Zheng Qingyi , Huang Huanhuan , Zhang Zhixia , zheng Yi , He Fan , Qi Yanjie
Published: October 2023

Background: To explore the direct effect of parenting styles on social functioning impairmentin Chinese children and adolescents with ADHD, and the indirect effect through stressful life events.
Methods: This study included 1,870 participants (aged 6-16 years) enrolled from April to July 2014 as part of the Epidemiological Study of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Disorders. Egna Minnen av Betraffande Uppfostran (EMBU), Social Function Rating Scale (SFRS) and Adolescent Life Events Scale (ASLEC) were used to assess parenting styles, social function impairment and stressful life events respectively.
Results: Parental emotional warmth reduces the occurrence of stressful life events and impairment of social functioning (p<0.01). Linear regression model indicated that father emotional warmth, severe punishment, mother severe punishment and stressful life events significantly predict social function impairment (p<0.05). Mediation analysis indicated that stressful life events mediate the relationship between parenting styles and social function impairment.
Conclusions: Different parental rearing styles and life events were found to impact social function impairment among child with ADHD. The way to improve the prognosis of children with ADHD should be to enhance parenting education, as supportive parenting styles predict fewer perceived experience of stressful life events and reduced impairment of social functioning in children with ADHD.
Comparison of efficacy and safety between da Vinci robot-assisted surgery and thoracoscopic surgery in the treatment of mediastinal tumors: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Dang Jiying , Wu Zhengqi , Sun Shize , Shan Yidong , Zhang Huiling
Published: October 2023

Objective
Systematic evaluation of the efficacy and safety of da Vinci robot-assisted thoracic surgery (RATS) and video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) in the treatment of mediastinal tumors.
Methods
Computer retrieval of PubMed, Embase, The Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases for literature comparing the clinical effects of RATS and VATS in treating mediastinal tumors, with the retrieval time limit from the establishment of the database to September 2023. Two researchers independently screened the literature and extracted data. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was used to assess the quality of the literature, and RevMan 5.4 was used for Meta-analysis.
Results
A total of 19 articles were included, with a total of 3517 patients. The results of the Meta-analysis showed that the RATS group had less intraoperative bleeding [MD=-5.20, 95%CI (-9.28, -1.12), P = 0.01], lower rate of conversion to thoracotomy [OR = 0.41, 95%CI (0.23, 0.72), P = 0.002], lower rate of total postoperative complications [OR = 0.57, 95%CI (0.34, 0.95), P = 0.03], shorter postoperative drainage time [MD=-0.72, 95%CI (-1.13, -0.32), P = 0.0004], and shorter postoperative hospital stay [MD=-0.90, 95%CI (-1.16, -0.65), P < 0.001], in comparison with the VATS group. There was insignificant difference between the two groups in terms of tumor size [MD=-0.02, 95%CI (-0.33, 0.30), P = 0.91] and operation time [MD = 0.17, 95%CI (-7.61, 7.94), P = 0.97]. However, in regards of hospitalization costs [MD = 2634.75, 95%CI (991.62, 4277.88), P = 0.002], the RATS group was more expensive than the VATS group.
Conclusion
Robot-assisted mediastinal tumor resection surgery has more advantages in terms of intraoperative bleeding, conversion to thoracotomy rate, total postoperative complication rate, postoperative drainage time, and postoperative hospital stay, in comparison with thoracoscopic-assisted mediastinal tumor resection surgery. There is insignificant difference in tumor size and operation time between the two surgeries. However, robot-assisted mediastinal tumor resection surgery increases hospitalization costs.
Recurrent models of orientation selectivity enable robust early-vision processing in mixed-signal neuromorphic hardware
Authors: Sabatini Silvio P. , Baruzzi Valentina , Indiveri Giacomo
Published: October 2023

Mixed signal analog/digital neuromorphic circuits represent an ideal medium for reproducing the dynamics of biological neural systems in real-time with bio-physically realistic dynamics.
However, similar to their biological counterparts, these circuits have limited resolution and are affected by a high degree of variability.
Considering this, we developed a recurrent spiking neural network that implements a faithful model of the retinocortical visual pathway to reliably produce Gabor-like receptive fields tuned to visual stimuli with specific orientation and spatial frequency properties.
Specifically, we developed a neuromorphic visual system comprising a Dynamic Vision Sensor that emulates the transient pathway of real retinas and a mixed-signal Dynamic Neuromorphic Asynchronous Processor with adaptive exponential integrate-and-fire neurons and dynamic synapses and mapped the recurrent network model on it to produces the desired orientation and spatial frequency tuning responses.
Compared to alternative feed-forward schemes, the model developed gives rise to robust highly structured Gabor-like receptive fields of any phase symmetry, optimizing the hardware resources available in terms of synaptic connections.
We present experimental results using both synthetic and natural images validating the model with its hardware implementations.
Unraveling the Friction and Wear Characteristics of the High Hardness, Low Young's Modulus 60NiTi Alloy: A Synergistic FEM Simulation and Experimental Study
Authors: Yin Ziming , Zheng Lijing , Li Jing , Li Bo , Zhang Hu
Published: October 2023

A finite element model of 60NiTi plate and Si3N4 ball (wear system) was established based on the discrete modified Archard model. The CSS-42L bearing steel with high Young's modulus was chosen as contrast material. The stress distribution, depth of wear marks, and wear rate were quantitatively analyzed to evaluate the feasibility of low Young's modulus of 60NiTi as bearing material. The FEM results revealed that the subsurface stress distribution exhibited a trend of first rising and then falling along the depth direction, and the peak stress position of 60NiTi alloy was found at about 100µm from the surface under a 30N load. The peak stress was reduced by 22.7% compared with the CSS-42L bearing steel at a 30N load, which demonstrating the superior load resistance of 60NiTi alloy. After undergoing friction and wear, the surface hardness of 60NiTi alloy was higher than the original hardness. Additionally, a significant increase in subsurface hardness was also observed due to same processes. Furthermore, the distribution and peak position of hardness along the depth direction was similar to the stress obtained from FEM, which indirectly confirmed the reliability of FEM simulation.
Characterization of Salmonella spp. in a tertiary hospital in 2019-2021 in Nanjing, China: Focusing on the clonal dissemination of Salmonella Enteritidis ST11
Authors: Hua Miao-Miao , Li Jia , Zheng Jie , Wang Jing-Jing , Zhang Yan , Zhang Zhi-Feng , Cao Xiao-Li , Shen Han
Published: October 2023

Background To characterize clinical Salmonella spp. by whole genome sequencing (WGS)
Methods Totally, 38 clinical Salmonella enterica isolates were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST), slide agglutination tests, and multi-locus sequence typing (MLST). Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) was performed to analyze the serovars, antibiotic-resistance genes (ARGs), virulence factors (VFs), sequence types (STs), and plasmid replicons. A phylogenetic tree was constructed to investigate the underlying genetic relationships.
Results Thirteen serovars were identified, with Enteritidis (n = 19, 50.0%) being the most common, followed by Typhimurium (n = 4, 10.5%). High resistance against ampicillin (n = 27, 71.1%) and ampicillin/sulbactam (n = 24, 63.2%) was observed, and seven (18.4%) isolates were multidrug resistant (MDR). In total, 36 types of ARGs were detected, among which blaTEM-1B (n = 25, 65.8%) was the most frequent, and mutations in gyrA and/or parC were identified in 34 (89.5%) strains. Notably, 333 different VFs were detected, of which 177 were shared by all the strains. Fifteen distinct STs were identified, with ST11 being the most predominant, and a close genetic relationship between them can be observed in the phylogenetic tree. Ten different plasmid replicons were found, with the dominant ones being IncFIB(S), IncFII(S), and IncX1 in S. Enteritidis (94.7%).
Conclusions More Salmonella serovars have been identified with the development of new molecular detection techniques. In addition to the high resistance and potential pathogenicity displayed by Salmonella spp., the clonal dissemination of S. Enteritidis ST11 highlights the urgent need to implement infection and control measures.
The Effect of Immunonutrition and Chemotherapy-Induced Neutropenia in Advanced Gastrointestinal Cancer Receiving Palliative Chemotherapy, A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial
Authors: Injong Rungprakai , Somlaw Nicha , Rattananupong Thanapoom , Teeyapun Nattaya , Sriuranp Virote , Tanasanvimol Suebpong , Parinyanitikul Napa
Published: October 2023

Background: Malnutrition affects individual health status and impacts the response to chemotherapy in cancer patients. Furthermore, chemotherapy may worsen the nutritional status in these patients and vice versa. Therefore, oral nutrition supplements (ONS), either standard or special formula, have been recommended by several guidelines in these settings. Immunonutrition formulas theoretically provide a better anticachectic, anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor effect to a regular diet or standard formula.
Objective: To compare the effect of ONS with immunonutrients and standard ONS on grade II-IV neutropenia in gastrointestinal (GI) cancer that has received palliative chemotherapy.
Methods: We conducted a single-center, double-blind, prospective controlled trial in patients with advanced GI cancer who received palliative chemotherapy. Patients were randomized into two groups, ONS with immunonutrients (ONS-IM) and standard ONS formula (ONS-SF) with 500 kcal/day. The primary endpoint was the incidence of neutropenia grade II-IV. Furthermore, body weight, body composition, PG-SGA (Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment) scores, dietary intake, inflammatory parameters, and treatment toxicities were evaluated at baseline and 12 weeks after chemotherapy between two groups.
Results: A total of 50 patients were included (24 vs 26 in the ONS-IM vs. the ONS-SF, respectively). All patients were diagnosed with colorectal cancer, 24(48%) were men, with a mean age of 65.8 years (IQR 34-84). PG-SGA ≥9 was 60%, 46% had ≥ 2 organ metastases and 54% received first-line chemotherapy. There were no statistical differences in the baseline characteristics between the two groups. Neutropenia grade II-IV occurred less frequently in the ONS-IM group compared to the ONS-SF group (16.7% vs 42.3%, P =0.067), especially in subgroup of patients who received either ONS-IM or ONS-SF more than 70% (14.3% vs 45.8%, P=0.028). The mean differences in the PG-SGA score were significantly better in the ONS-IM compared to ONS-SF group (6.7; 95%CI:5.35,8.14 vs 4.72; 95%CI:3.09,6.35, P=0.05). Body fat mass and the percentage of CD3 count were improved significantly in the ONS-IM group compared to the ONS-SF group. There was no difference in other inflammatory markers between the two groups.
Conclusions: Patients who were supplemented with immunonutrition demonstrated a decrease in grade II-IV neutropenia, improved PG-SGA scores, body fat mass and the percentage of CD3 counts.
A Microscopic Insight into Effect of Particle Gradation on Dynamic Compaction of Dry Sand
Authors: Li Yuqi , Xu Liangchen , Yang Fu’an
Published: October 2023

Particle gradation is an important feature of granular materials, which has a significant influence on the mechanical properties of soil. Several dynamic compaction (DC) tests for mono-sized dry sand samples and a well-graded dry sand sample were modeled using discrete element method. The effect of particle gradation on crater depth was analyzed as well as coordination number, porosity and contact stress from a microscopic view. It is indicated that the change rates of dynamic stress, coordination number and porosity of the well-graded sample were greater than the results from the mono-size samples. For the mono-sized samples and the well-graded sample, the differences of dynamic contact stress, coordination number and porosity became larger as the distance of measurement point from ground surface increased. The results also demonstrate from a microscopic view that the well-graded soil and the soil sample with small particle size were more prone to become dense under DC. This study at a grain level is helpful to understand the microscopic mechanism of DC and has certain guiding significance to the construction of DC.
Tunable circular polarization in reconfigurable graphene- based antenna decorated with gold motifs
Authors: Kiani Narges , Hamedani Farzad Tavakkol , Rezaei Pejman
Published: October 2023

The main goal of the designed research is to find a powerful tool for adjusting and tuning polarization in microstrip patch antennas. That surely this practical platform, it is the same as graphene. In fact, the right- and left-hand circular polarization and linear polarization can be achieved by turning on and off the chemical potential in the cuts created on the diagonal edges of the antenna. In the structure of the antenna, a triangular and square scheme of gold has been worked. One of the important features of the presented structure is frequency reconfigurable. According to the requirements of the design, the central frequency of the antenna is set at 0.67 THz. Silicon-Dioxide is considered as the substrate of the design. In the range of 0.65 THz through 0.7 THz, the matching and polarization are suitable. S11 is less than -14 dB for all types of polarization. Radiation efficiency is estimated about 50%. Eventually, the outputs of return loss, S11 sweep, axial ratio, radiation efficiency, 2D and 3D far-field radiation patterns, E-field distribution, and current density distribution have been reported.
ECG-based Machine-to-Machine Authentication for 6LoWPAN-based IoT
Authors: Thungon Leki Chom , Medhi Kishore , Hussain Md. Iftekhar
Published: October 2023

In Internet of Things (IoT), millions of devices communicate sensitive information with each other. Ensuring secure data generation and communication between the devices is critical and challenging. Automatic and secure authentication of users to access such critical services is a challenge. In this paper, we propose an ECG-based lightweight biometric-based authentication scheme based on Bio-CNN. The proposed scheme uses CNN architecture with suitable convolutional filters to properly analyze an ECG signal. We implement a hashing concept with the CNN features to make our system more secure. To examine the suitability of the proposed Bio-CNN-based scheme in an IoT device, we have tested all our experiments on a Raspberry Pi. Finally, the experiment results prove that the proposed method outperforms different CNN architectures and various state-of-the-art authentication techniques in terms of accuracy, precision, recall, etc., enhancing the overall performance.