bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Just Breathe
Authors: Paredes Pablo E. , Zhou Yijun , Hamdan Nur Al-Huda , Balters Stephanie , Murnane Elizabeth , Ju Wendy , Landay James A.
Published: March 2018

Motivated by the idea that slow breathing practices could transform the automobile commute from a depleting, mindless activity into a calming, mindful experience, we introduce the first guided slow breathing intervention for drivers. We describe a controlled in-lab experiment (N=24) that contrasts the effectiveness and impact of haptic and voice guidance modalities at slowing drivers' breathing pace, which is a known modulator of stress. The experiment was conducted in two simulated driving environments (city, highway) while driving in one of two driving modes (autonomous, manual). Results show that both haptic and voice guidance systems can reduce drivers' breathing rate and provide a sustained post-intervention effect without affecting driving safety. Subjectively, most participants (19/24) preferred the haptic stimuli as they found it more natural to follow, less distracting, and easier to engage and disengage from, compared to the voice stimuli. Finally, while most participants found guided breathing to be a positive experience, a few participants in the autonomous driving condition found slow breathing to be an unusual activity inside the car. In this paper, we discuss such considerations, offer guidelines for designing in-car breathing interventions, and propose future research that extends our work to on-road studies. Altogether, this paper serves as foundational work on guided breathing interventions for automobile drivers.
SilentKey
Authors: Tan Jiayao , Wang Xiaoliang , Nguyen Cam-Tu , Shi Yu
Published: March 2018

This paper presents SilentKey, a new authentication framework to identify mobile device users through ultrasonic-based lip reading. The main idea is to generate ultrasonic signals from a mobile phone and analyze the fine-grained impact of mouth motions on the reflected signal. The new framework is effective since people have unique characteristics when performing mouth motions, which represent not only what people input, but also how they input. SilentKey is robust against attacks since the input cannot be recorded or imitated. We implement a prototype and demonstrate the effectiveness of the system by fifty volunteers. Such a non-intrusive identification mechanism provides a natural user interface which can also be applied by people with speaking or viewing difficulties.
Defining Adherence
Authors: Tang Lie Ming , Meyer Jochen , Epstein Daniel A. , Bragg Kevin , Engelen Lina , Bauman Adrian , Kay Judy
Published: March 2018

Increasingly, people are collecting detailed personal activity data from commercial trackers. Such data should be able to give important insights about their activity levels. However, people do not wear or carry tracking devices all day, every day and this means that tracker data is typically incomplete. This paper aims to provide a systematic way to take account of this incompleteness, by defining adherence, a measure of data completeness, based on how much people wore their tracker. We show the impact of different adherence definitions on 12 diverse datasets, for 753 users, with over 77,000 days with data, interspersed with over 73,000 days without data. For example, in one data set, one adherence measure gives an average step count of 6,952 where another gives 9,423. Our results show the importance of adherence when analysing and reporting activity tracker data. We provide guidelines for defining adherence, analysing its impact and reporting it along with the results of the tracker data analysis. Our key contribution is the foundation for analysis of physical activity data, to take account of data incompleteness.
Tracking Depression Dynamics in College Students Using Mobile Phone and Wearable Sensing
Authors: Wang Rui , Wang Weichen , daSilva Alex , Huckins Jeremy F. , Kelley William M. , Heatherton Todd F. , Campbell Andrew T.
Published: March 2018

There are rising rates of depression on college campuses. Mental health services on our campuses are working at full stretch. In response researchers have proposed using mobile sensing for continuous mental health assessment. Existing work on understanding the relationship between mobile sensing and depression, however, focuses on generic behavioral features that do not map to major depressive disorder symptoms defined in the standard mental disorders diagnostic manual (DSM-5). We propose a new approach to predicting depression using passive sensing data from students' smartphones and wearables. We propose a set of symptom features that proxy the DSM-5 defined depression symptoms specifically designed for college students. We present results from a study of 83 undergraduate students at Dartmouth College across two 9-week terms during the winter and spring terms in 2016. We identify a number of important new associations between symptom features and student self reported PHQ-8 and PHQ-4 depression scores. The study captures depression dynamics of the students at the beginning and end of term using a pre-post PHQ-8 and week by week changes using a weekly administered PHQ-4. Importantly, we show that symptom features derived from phone and wearable sensors can predict whether or not a student is depressed on a week by week basis with 81.5% recall and 69.1% precision.
Capturing the Shifting Shapes
Authors: Zhan Tong , Li Wenzhong , Chen Xu , Lu Sanglu
Published: March 2018

With the increasing availability of LCD displays and phone cameras in today's environment, screen-camera communication using dynamic barcode has emerged as a convenient infrastructure-free form to establish impromptu communication channel among mobile devices. Due to the short wavelengths and narrow beams of visible light, screen-camera communication is highly directional, low-interference and secure, which envisions a wide range of application scenarios. Conventional screen-camera communication systems encode data bits with color in dynamic barcodes, which suffers from the frame mixture problem caused by the rolling shutter effect of CMOS camera in high capturing rate. In this paper, we propose a novel design of dynamic barcode called ShiftCode that encodes data bits with shifting shape patterns, which provide a new way to expand the barcode capacity for screen-camera communications. ShiftCode adopts a pattern-based layout design to embed multiple data bits in a symbol representation. With such layout, it exploits a decoding mechanism to solve the frame mixture problem and achieves high frame capturing rate. It further intruduces a two-level reliability technique for intra-frame error correction and inter-frame redundancy, which reduces the overhead and delay of retransmission. The proposed ShiftCode is implemented on the Android platform, and extensive experiments show that it achieves at least two-fold improvement on goodput compared with the conventional screen-camera communication systems.
Natural Diversity in Heat Resistance of Bacteria and Bacterial Spores: Impact on Food Safety and Quality
Authors: den Besten Heidy M.W. , Wells-Bennik Marjon H.J. , Zwietering Marcel H.
Published: March 2018

Heat treatments are widely used in food processing often with the aim of reducing or eliminating spoilage microorganisms and pathogens in food products. The efficacy of applying heat to control microorganisms is challenged by the natural diversity of microorganisms with respect to their heat robustness. This review gives an overview of the variations in heat resistances of various species and strains, describes modeling approaches to quantify heat robustness, and addresses the relevance and impact of the natural diversity of microorganisms when assessing heat inactivation. This comparison of heat resistances of microorganisms facilitates the evaluation of which (groups of) organisms might be troublesome in a production process in which heat treatment is critical to reducing the microbial contaminants, and also allows fine-tuning of the process parameters. Various sources of microbiological variability are discussed and compared for a range of species, including spore-forming and non-spore-forming pathogens and spoilage organisms. This benchmarking of variability factors gives crucial information about the most important factors that should be included in risk assessments to realistically predict heat inactivation of bacteria and spores as part of the measures for controlling shelf life and safety of food products.
Identification of Phosphohistone H3 Cutoff Values Corresponding to Original WHO Grades but Distinguishable in Well-Differentiated Gastrointestinal Neuroendocrine Tumors
Authors: Kim Min Jeong , Kwon Mi Jung , Kang Ho Suk , Choi Kyung Chan , Nam Eun Sook , Cho Seong Jin , Park Hye-Rim , Min Soo Kee , Seo Jinwon , Choe Ji-Young , Park Hyoung-Chul
Published: March 2018

Mitotic counts in the World Health Organization (WHO) grading system have narrow cutoff values. True mitotic figures, however, are not always distinguishable from apoptotic bodies and darkly stained nuclei, complicating the ability of the WHO grading system to diagnose well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumors (NETs). The mitosis-specific marker phosphohistone H3 (PHH3) can identify true mitoses and grade tumors reliably. The aim of this study was to investigate the correspondence of tumor grades, as determined by PHH3 mitotic index (MI) and mitotic counts according to WHO criteria, and to determine the clinically relevant cutoffs of PHH3 MI in rectal and nonrectal gastrointestinal NETs. Mitotic counts correlated with both the Ki-67 labeling index and PHH3 MI, but the correlation with PHH3 MI was slightly higher. The PHH3 MI cutoff ≥4 correlated most closely with original WHO grades for both rectal NETs. A PHH3 MI cutoff ≥4, which could distinguish between G1 and G2 tumors, was associated with disease-free survival in patients with rectal NETs, whereas that cutoff value showed marginal significance for overall survival in patient with rectal NETs. In conclusion, the use of PHH3 ≥4 correlated most closely with original WHO grades.
Deep Learning Methods for Underwater Target Feature Extraction and Recognition
Authors: Hu Gang , Wang Kejun , Peng Yuan , Qiu Mengran , Shi Jianfei , Liu Liangliang
Published: March 2018

The classification and recognition technology of underwater acoustic signal were always an important research content in the field of underwater acoustic signal processing. Currently, wavelet transform, Hilbert-Huang transform, and Mel frequency cepstral coefficients are used as a method of underwater acoustic signal feature extraction. In this paper, a method for feature extraction and identification of underwater noise data based on CNN and ELM is proposed. An automatic feature extraction method of underwater acoustic signals is proposed using depth convolution network. An underwater target recognition classifier is based on extreme learning machine. Although convolution neural networks can execute both feature extraction and classification, their function mainly relies on a full connection layer, which is trained by gradient descent-based; the generalization ability is limited and suboptimal, so an extreme learning machine (ELM) was used in classification stage. Firstly, CNN learns deep and robust features, followed by the removing of the fully connected layers. Then ELM fed with the CNN features is used as the classifier to conduct an excellent classification. Experiments on the actual data set of civil ships obtained 93.04% recognition rate; compared to the traditional Mel frequency cepstral coefficients and Hilbert-Huang feature, recognition rate greatly improved.
Clinical Profile and Outcome of Patients with Acute Kidney Injury Requiring Hemodialysis: Two Years’ Experience at a Tertiary Hospital in Rwanda
Authors: Igiraneza Grace , Ndayishimiye Benedicte , Nkeshimana Menelas , Dusabejambo Vincent , Ogbuagu Onyema
Published: March 2018

Introduction. Acute kidney injury (AKI) requiring renal replacement therapy is associated with high mortality. The study assessed the impact of the introduction of hemodialysis (HD) on outcomes of patients with AKI in Rwanda. Methods. A single center retrospective study that evaluated the clinical profile and survival outcomes of patients with AKI requiring HD [AKI-D] at a tertiary hospital in Rwanda. Data was collected on patients who received HD for AKI from September 2014 to December 2016. Patient demographics, comorbidities, clinical presentation, laboratory tests, and mortality were reviewed and analyzed. Predictors of mortality were assessed using age and gender adjusted multivariate analyses. Results. Of the 82 eligible patients, median age was 38 years (IQR 28–57 years). Males comprised 51% of the cohort. Infectious diseases including malaria, pneumonia, and sepsis (35.1%) and pregnancy-related conditions (26.9%) were the most frequent comorbidities. Pulmonary oedema (54.9%) and uremic encephalopathy (50%) were top indications for HD. Mortality was 34.1%. On multivariate analysis, receipt of <5 sessions of HD (OR = 4.01, 95% CI 1.185–13.61, P=0.026) and hyperkalemia (OR = 3.23, 95% CI 1.040–10.065, P=0.043) were associated with mortality. Conclusion. The availability of acute hemodialysis in Rwanda has resulted in improved patient survival and persistent hyperkalemia predicted higher mortality.
Response Analysis of the Free Field under Fault Movements
Authors: Qu H. L. , Wu Y. , Zhang B. K. , Hu Q. D. , Xiao Z. L.
Published: March 2018

A quasistatic simulation of highly nonlinear problems under fault movements was carried out using the EXPLICIT module of ABAQUS. Combined with the secondary development program of the software, the application of the strain softening Mohr–Coulomb model in the simulation was realized. Free field‐fault systems were simulated with two types of fault types (normal and reverse faults), four fault dip angles (45°, 60°, 75°, and 90°), and two kinds of soil (sand and clay). Moreover, the rupture laws and sensitivities of the sand and clay were studied with different soil thicknesses and different fault dip angles in the free field. The results show that the width of the ground zone with obvious deformation, which represents the point of the fault outcrop, the critical displacement of the fault, and the rupture characteristics of the overlying soil are closely related to the fault type and soil parameters. The critical displacement of the reverse fault is larger than that of the normal fault. The width of the ground zone with obvious deformation varies from 0.65 to 1.3 and does not exhibit a regular relationship with the type of soil. Compared with a normal fault, the rupture of a reverse fault is not prone to exposure at the surface.
Targeting Oxidatively Induced DNA Damage Response in Cancer: Opportunities for Novel Cancer Therapies
Authors: Davalli Pierpaola , Marverti Gaetano , Lauriola Angela , D’Arca Domenico
Published: March 2018

Cancer is a death cause in economically developed countries that results growing also in developing countries. Improved outcome through targeted interventions faces the scarce selectivity of the therapies and the development of resistance to them that compromise the therapeutic effects. Genomic instability is a typical cancer hallmark due to DNA damage by genetic mutations, reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, ionizing radiation, and chemotherapeutic agents. DNA lesions can induce and/or support various diseases, including cancer. The DNA damage response (DDR) is a crucial signaling‐transduction network that promotes cell cycle arrest or cell death to repair DNA lesions. DDR dysregulation favors tumor growth as downregulated or defective DDR generates genomic instability, while upregulated DDR may confer treatment resistance. Redox homeostasis deeply and capillary affects DDR as ROS activate/inhibit proteins and enzymes integral to DDR both in healthy and cancer cells, although by different routes. DDR regulation through modulating ROS homeostasis is under investigation as anticancer opportunity, also in combination with other treatments since ROS affect DDR differently in the patients during cancer development and treatment. Here, we highlight ROS‐sensitive proteins whose regulation in oxidatively induced DDR might allow for selective strategies against cancer that are better tailored to the patients.
Mathematical Modelling of Bacterial Meningitis Transmission Dynamics with Control Measures
Authors: Asamoah Joshua Kiddy K. , Nyabadza Farai , Seidu Baba , Chand Mehar , Dutta Hemen
Published: March 2018

Vaccination and treatment are the most effective ways of controlling the transmission of most infectious diseases. While vaccination helps susceptible individuals to build either a long-term immunity or short-term immunity, treatment reduces the number of disease-induced deaths and the number of infectious individuals in a community/nation. In this paper, a nonlinear deterministic model with time-dependent controls has been proposed to describe the dynamics of bacterial meningitis in a population. The model is shown to exhibit a unique globally asymptotically stable disease-free equilibriumE0, when the effective reproduction numberRVT≤1, and a globally asymptotically stable endemic equilibriumE1, whenRVT>1; and it exhibits a transcritical bifurcation atRVT=1. Carriers have been shown (by Tornado plot) to have a higher chance of spreading the infection than those with clinical symptoms who will sometimes be bound to bed during the acute phase of the infection. In order to find the best strategy for minimizing the number of carriers and ill individuals and the cost of control implementation, an optimal control problem is set up by defining a Lagrangian functionLto be minimized subject to the proposed model. Numerical simulation of the optimal problem demonstrates that the best strategy to control bacterial meningitis is to combine vaccination with other interventions (such as treatment and public health education). Additionally, this research suggests that stakeholders should press hard for the production of existing/new vaccines and antibiotics and their disbursement to areas that are most affected by bacterial meningitis, especially Sub-Saharan Africa; furthermore, individuals who live in communities where the environment is relatively warm (hot/moisture) are advised to go for vaccination against bacterial meningitis.
First‐Principles Calculations of the Structure Stability and Mechanical Properties of LiFeAs and NaFeAs under Pressure
Authors: Hu Zhengquan , Xu Weiwei , Chen Cai , Wen Yufeng , Liu Lili
Published: March 2018

The lattice parameters and elastic constants of the tetragonal LiFeAs and NaFeAs under different pressures have been investigated by using the first‐principles calculations. It is found that their lattice parameters at 0 GPa are in agreement with the available experimental data. By the elastic stability criteria under isotropic pressure, it is found that LiFeAs and NaFeAs with the tetragonal structure are not mechanically stable above 16 GPa and 18 GPa, respectively. Besides, Pugh’s modulus ratio, Poisson’s ratio, Vickers hardness, and elastic anisotropy factors of LiFeAs in the pressure range of 0–16 GPa and NaFeAs in the pressure range of 0–18 GPa are systematically investigated. It is shown that their ductilities increase with increasing pressure, and the ductility of NaFeAs is superior to that of LiFeAs under different pressures.
The Analysis of Secondary Motion and Lubrication Performance of Piston considering the Piston Skirt Profile
Authors: Lu Yanjun , Li Sha , Wang Peng , Liu Cheng , Zhang Yongfang , Müller Norbert
Published: March 2018

The work performance of piston‐cylinder liner system is affected by the lubrication condition and the secondary motion of the piston. Therefore, more and more attention has been paid to the secondary motion and lubrication of the piston. In this paper, the Jakobson‐Floberg‐Olsson (JFO) boundary condition is employed to describe the rupture and reformation of oil film. The average Reynolds equation of skirt lubrication is solved by the finite difference method (FDM). The secondary motion of piston‐connecting rod system is modeled; the trajectory of the piston is calculated by the Runge‐Kutta method. By considering the inertia of the connecting rod, the influence of the longitudinal and horizontal profiles of piston skirt, the offset of the piston pin, and the thermal deformation on the secondary motion and lubrication performance is investigated. The parabolic longitudinal profile, the smaller top radial reduction and ellipticities of the middle‐convex piston, and the bigger bottom radial reduction and ellipticities can effectively reduce the secondary displacement and velocity, the skirt thrust, friction, and the friction power loss. The results show that the connecting rod inertia, piston skirt profile, and thermal deformation have important influence on secondary motion and lubrication performance of the piston.
Performance of Retrofitted Self‐Compacting Concrete‐Filled Steel Tube Beams Using External Steel Plates
Authors: AL-Shaar Ahmed A. M. , Göğüş Mehmet Tolga
Published: March 2018

Self‐compacting concrete‐filled steel tube (SCCFST) beams, similar to other structural members, necessitate retrofitting for many causes. However, research on SCCFST beams externally retrofitted by bolted steel plates has seldom been explored in the literature. This paper aims at experimentally investigating the retrofitting performance of square self‐compacting concrete‐filled steel tube (SCCFST) beams using bolted steel plates with three different retrofitting schemes including varied configurations and two different steel plate lengths under flexure. A total of 18 specimens which consist of 12 retrofitted SCCFST beams, three unretrofitted (control) SCCFST beams, and three hollow steel tubes were used. The flexural behaviour of the retrofitted SCCFST beams was examined regarding flexural strength, failure modes, and moment versus deflection curves, energy absorption, and ductility. Experimental results revealed that the implemented retrofitting schemes efficiently improve the moment carrying capacity and stiffness of the retrofitted SCCFST beams compared to the control beams. The increment in flexural strength ranged from 1% to 46%. Furthermore, the adopted retrofitting schemes were able to restore the energy absorption and ductility of the damaged beams in the range of 35% to 75% of the original beam ductility. Furthermore, a theoretical model was suggested to predict the moment capacity of the retrofitted SCCFST beams. The theoretical model results were in good agreement with the test results.
Mechanical Vibration Signal Denoising Using Quantum‐Inspired Standard Deviation Based on Subband Based Gaussian Mixture Model
Authors: Xu Aidong , Huang Wenqi , Li Peng , Chen Huajun , Meng Jiaxiao , Guo Xiaobin
Published: March 2018

Aiming at improving noise reduction effect for mechanical vibration signal, a Gaussian mixture model (SGMM) and a quantum‐inspired standard deviation (QSD) are proposed and applied to the denoising method using the thresholding function in wavelet domain. Firstly, the SGMM is presented and utilized as a local distribution to approximate the wavelet coefficients distribution in each subband. Then, within Bayesian framework, the maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimator is employed to derive a thresholding function with conventional standard deviation (CSD) which is calculated by the expectation‐maximization (EM) algorithm. However, the CSD has a disadvantage of ignoring the interscale dependency between wavelet coefficients. Considering this limit for the CSD, the quantum theory is adopted to analyze the interscale dependency between coefficients in adjacent subbands, and the QSD for noise‐free wavelet coefficients is presented based on quantum mechanics. Next, the QSD is constituted for the CSD in the thresholding function to shrink noisy coefficients. Finally, an application in the mechanical vibration signal processing is used to illustrate the denoising technique. The experimental study shows the SGMM can model the distribution of wavelet coefficients accurately and QSD can depict interscale dependency of wavelet coefficients of true signal quite successfully. Therefore, the denoising method utilizing the SGMM and QSD performs better than others.
Penile and Scrotal Strangulation due to Metal Rings: Case Reports and a Review of the Literature
Authors: Patel Neel H. , Schulman Ariel , Bloom Jonathan , Uppaluri Nikil , Iorga Michael , Parikh Suraj , Phillips John , Choudhury Muhammad
Published: March 2018

Penile and scrotal entrapment from a metal ring placed at the base of the penis is a rare, but important clinical dilemma encountered in urology. Emergent presentation to the urologist, after ring placement far longer than safely practiced, risks ischemic and permanent injury to penile, scrotal, and intrascrotal structures. Treating urologists should be aware of the prevalence of metal ring use, their potential complications, and the surgical approach to their safe removal. We present two patients who were identified at our institution with strangulating injuries of retained penile rings. The first patient was a healthy, 43-year-old male with a metal ring retained for 24 hours that was safely removed with industrial bolt cutters. The second patient, a 74-year-old male, died as a result of sepsis from injuries secondary to penoscrotal ischemia after >48 hour ring retention despite prompt removal at emergent presentation. Although rare, sexual practices may include the use of penoscrotal rings. When retained, ischemic injury and edema may lead to strangulation. Emergent removal may require industrial equipment that is not within the confines of normal operating room tools. Tissue injury may be severe and sepsis life-threatening, even after ring removal.
Biological and Clinical Effects of Calciprotein Particles on Chronic Kidney Disease-Mineral and Bone Disorder
Authors: Akiyama Kenichi , Kimura Takaaki , Shiizaki Kazuhiro
Published: March 2018

Calciprotein particles (CPPs) are a new biological marker of chronic kidney disease-mineral and bone disorder (CKD-MBD). CPPs consist of phosphate, calcium, and some proteins, with phosphate being the major contributor to the level and biological activity of CPPs. Recent studies have shown the physiological and pathological significance of CPPs, including contributions to bone and mineral metabolism, and to tissue and organ impairments such as cardiovascular damage and inflammatory responses. These actions are well known as important aspects of CKD-MBD. Fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23), which is secreted from the bone as the phosphaturic hormone, is markedly elevated in CKD-MBD. Many clinical studies have shown significant relationships between the level of FGF23 and outcomes such as mortality, prevalence of cardiovascular disease, bone fracture, and levels of inflammatory markers. Basic and clinical studies have suggested that CPPs contribute to synthesis and secretion of FGF23. Surgical treatments such as renal transplantation and parathyroidectomy for patients with CKD-MBD suppress excess levels of phosphate, calcium, parathyroid hormone (PTH), and FGF23, which are related to the CPP level. Therefore, suppression of CPPs might also contribute to improved clinical outcomes after these treatments.
Elevated Serum Total Bilirubin Concentrations Are Negatively Associated with Diabetic Retinopathy among the Chinese Northeastern Population
Authors: Zhang Dan , Zhang Wei , Jin Shi , Wang Wei , Guo Dan , Wang Lu
Published: March 2018

Objective. To evaluate the association between serum total bilirubin concentration (STBC) and diabetic retinopathy (DR) among the Chinese northeastern population. Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Liaoning between January 2015 and May 2017. Results. A total of 742 subjects (419 men and 323 women) with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) who visited an ophthalmic clinic were included in this study. The mean age of the subjects was 59.55 ± 10.63 years, and 43.5% of the subjects were women. The mean of DM duration was 11.01 ± 7.35 years. STBC were negatively correlated with DM duration, urea nitrogen, serum creatinine, uric acid, and urine microalbumin. After adjusting for confounding factors, as a continuous variable, STBC was inversely associated with the risk of DR in total subjects (OR: 0.95, 95% CI: 0.93–0.99). When STBC was used as a tertiary variable, compared with the first tertile, the OR in the third tertile was 0.37 (95% CI: 0.22–0.64) in total subjects. Conclusion. Our results demonstrate that a significant negative association was found between STBC and DR. STBC might be an early clinical marker for predicting the occurrence of DR.
The Influence of Thermomechanical Processing Conditions on the Evolution of Microstructure and Crystallographic Textures and the Mechanical Properties of Deformed Mild Steels in the Intercritical Region
Authors: Zebarjadi Sar Mandana , Barella Silvia , Gruttadauria Andrea , Mombelli Davide , Mapelli Carlo
Published: March 2018

Rolling temperature and rolling reduction intensively influence the formation of Luder lines and fluting marks in mild steels. They govern these effects through control of strain aging. In order to enhance the strain aging resistance and the consequent reduction of yield point elongation and fluting intensity, warm rolling without using the skin pass process is applied. The development of microstructure and crystallographic textures during deformation process and the determination of fluting intensity and mechanical properties consisting of tensile and formability properties in terms of different thermomechanical conditions (RT and RR%) were investigated in this study. These properties are determined through the use of bending, tensile tests, optical microscope, and EBSD analysis.
Repairing 2024 Aluminum Alloy via Electrospark Deposition Process: A Feasibility Study
Authors: Renna G. , Leo P. , Casalino G. , Cerri E.
Published: March 2018

The electrospark deposition (ESD) technique has been studied as a potential method to repair locally damaged 2024 rolled sheets supplied in natural‐aged (T4) and artificial‐aged (T6) conditions. The 2024‐T4 and 2024‐T6 tensile samples were first notched, and then the notches were filled (repaired) by ESD with the same aluminum alloy. The effect of process parameters on the microstructure of the filling material and the substrate properties was studied by optical and scanning electron microscopy. Tensile and hardness tests were performed. The tensile test showed that T4 and T6 as‐repaired specimens had low tensile properties, which was due to defectiveness and residual stress caused by high cooling rate during reparation. However, the as‐repaired specimens were heat‐treated at either 135°C or 190°C to improve the mechanical properties. A better yield strength was observed for the T4 heat‐treated alloy. The ductility and ultimate tensile strength did not change, being mainly affected by voids and microcracks.
Overweight and Undernutrition in the Cases of School-Going Adolescents in Wolaita Sodo Town, Southern Ethiopia: Cross-Sectional Study
Authors: Teferi Dereje Yohannes , Atomssa Gudina Egata , Mekonnen Tefera Chane
Published: March 2018

Background. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of malnutrition and associated factors among school adolescents in Wolaita Sodo town, Southern Ethiopia.Methods. A school-based cross-sectional study was conducted from May 18–June 10, 2015. A multistage sampling was used to select a random sample of 690 adolescents from selected schools. Data on sociodemographic information were collected by using an interviewer-administered questionnaire, and anthropometric measurements were made by using a digital Seca scale and height measuring board by trained data collectors. Data were entered into Epi-Data version 3.1 software and exported to SPSS version 20. World Health Organization (WHO) Anthro-plus software was used to analyze anthropometric data. Both binary and multinomial logistic regression analyses were done to identify factors associated with the malnutrition of adolescents.Result. The overall prevalence of thinness, stunting, and overweight/obesity among school adolescents was 4.7% (95% CI: 3%–6.4%); 5.2% (95% CI: 3.4%–7%); and 5.0% (95% CI: 3.4%–6.7%), respectively. Being male (AOR = 4.07; 95% CI: 2.35–7.02), learning at a government school (AOR = 0.37; 95% CI: 0.20–0.65), mothers with no formal education (AOR = 4.03; 95% CI: 1.82–8.92), owning no cattle (AOR = 4.92; 95% CI: 2.08–11.64), skipping meals (AOR = 1.70; 95% CI: 1.05–2.74), and illness in 2 weeks prior to survey (AOR = 2.67; 95% CI: 1.49–4.78) were significantly associated with thinness. However, males, students who had their house, and no cattle were more likely to develop overweight/obesity. Maternal education of secondary school (AOR = 0.214; 95% CI: 0.054–0.846) was significantly associated with the stunting.Conclusion. The study showed the coexistence of undernutrition and overnutrition among school adolescents in the study area. There needs to implement evidence-based school nutrition education and health policies and programs to improve nutritional status of adolescents and timely taking action to limit obesity-related health problems.
Exome Sequencing of Plasma DNA Portrays the Mutation Landscape of Colorectal Cancer and Discovers Mutated VEGFR2 Receptors as Modulators of Antiangiogenic Therapies
Authors: Toledo Rodrigo A. , Garralda Elena , Mitsi Maria , Pons Tirso , Monsech Jorge , Vega Estela , Otero Álvaro , Albarran Maria I. , Baños Natalia , Durán Yolanda , Bonilla Victoria , Sarno Francesca , Camacho-Artacho Marta , Sanchez-Perez Tania , Perea Sofia , Álvarez Rafael , De Martino Alba , Lietha Daniel , Blanco-Aparicio Carmen , Cubillo Antonio , Domínguez Orlando , Martínez-Torrecuadrada Jorge L. , Hidalgo Manuel
Published: March 2018

Purpose: Despite the wide use of antiangiogenic drugs in the clinical setting, predictive biomarkers of response to these drugs are still unknown.

Experimental Design: We applied whole-exome sequencing of matched germline and basal plasma cell-free DNA samples (WES-cfDNA) on a RAS/BRAF/PIK3CA wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer patient with primary resistance to standard treatment regimens, including inhibitors to the VEGF:VEGFR2 pathway. We performed extensive functional experiments, including ectopic expression of VEGFR2 mutants in different cell lines, kinase and drug sensitivity assays, and cell- and patient-derived xenografts.

Results: WES-cfDNA yielded a 77% concordance rate with tumor exome sequencing and enabled the identification of the KDR/VEGFR2 L840F clonal, somatic mutation as the cause of therapy refractoriness in our patient. In addition, we found that 1% to 3% of samples from cancer sequencing projects harbor KDR somatic mutations located in protein residues frequently mutated in other cancer-relevant kinases, such as EGFR, ABL1, and ALK. Our in vitro and in vivo functional assays confirmed that L840F causes strong resistance to antiangiogenic drugs, whereas the KDR hot-spot mutant R1032Q confers sensitivity to strong VEGFR2 inhibitors. Moreover, we showed that the D717V, G800D, G800R, L840F, G843D, S925F, R1022Q, R1032Q, and S1100F VEGFR2 mutants promote tumor growth in mice.

Conclusions: Our study supports WES-cfDNA as a powerful platform for portraying the somatic mutation landscape of cancer and discovery of new resistance mechanisms to cancer therapies. Importantly, we discovered that VEGFR2 is somatically mutated across tumor types and that VEGFR2 mutants can be oncogenic and control sensitivity/resistance to antiangiogenic drugs. Clin Cancer Res; 24(15); 3550–9. ©2018 AACR.
Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes and PD-L1 Expression in Pre- and Posttreatment Breast Cancers in the SWOG S0800 Phase II Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Trial
Authors: Pelekanou Vasiliki , Barlow William E. , Nahleh Zeina A. , Wasserman Brad , Lo Ying-Chun , von Wahlde Marie-Kristin , Hayes Daniel , Hortobagyi Gabriel N. , Gralow Julie , Tripathy Debu , Porter Peggy , Szekely Borbala , Hatzis Christos , Rimm David L. , Pusztai Lajos
Published: March 2018

Our aim was to examine the association of pretreatment tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) count and PD-L1 levels with pathologic complete response (pCR) and assess immune marker changes following treatment in tumor specimens from the S0800 clinical trial, which randomized patients to bevacizumab + nab-paclitaxel, followed by doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide (AC) versus two control arms without bevacizumab (varying sequence of AC and nab-paclitaxel). TILs were assessed in 124 pre- and 62 posttreatment tissues (including 59 pairs). PD-L1 was assessed in 120 pre- and 43 posttreatment tissues (including 39 pairs) using the 22C3 antibody. Baseline and treatment-induced immune changes were correlated with pCR and survival using estrogen receptor (ER) and treatment-adjusted logistic and Cox regressions, respectively. At baseline, the mean TIL count was 17.4% (17% had zero TILs, 9% had ≥50% TILs). Posttreatment, mean TIL count decreased to 11% (5% had no TILs, 2% had >50% TILs). In paired samples, the mean TIL change was 15% decrease. Baseline PD-L1 was detected in 43% of cases (n = 5 in tumor cells, n = 29 stroma, n = 18 tumor + stroma). Posttreatment, PD-L1 expression was not significantly lower (33%). Higher baseline TIL count and PD-L1 positivity rate were associated with higher pCR rate even after adjustment for treatment and ER status (P = 0.018). There was no association between TIL counts, PD-L1 expression, and survival due to few events. In conclusion, TIL counts, but not PD-L1 expression, decreased significantly after treatment. Continued PD-L1 expression in some residual cancers raises the possibility that adjuvant immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy could improve survival in this patient population. Mol Cancer Ther; 17(6); 1324–31. ©2018 AACR.
Iterative Variance Stabilizing Transformation Denoising of Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography Images Applied to Retinoblastoma
Authors: Sid Ahmed Soumia , Messali Zoubeida , Poyer Florent , Lumbroso-Le Rouic Livia , Desjardins Laurence , Cassoux Nathalie , Thomas Carole D. , Marco Sergio , Lemaitre Stéphanie
Published: March 2018

Background: Due to the presence of speckle Poisson noise, the interpretation of spectral domain-optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) images frequently requires the use of data averaging to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. This implies long acquisition times and requires patient sedation in some cases. Iterative variance stabilizing transformation (VST) is a possible approach by which to remove speckle Poisson noise on single images. Methods: We used SD-OCT images of human and murine (LH Beta-Tag mouse model) retinas with and without retinoblastoma acquired with 2 different imaging devices (Bioptigen and Micron IV). These images were processed using a denoising workflow implemented in Matlab. Results: We demonstrated the presence of speckle Poisson noise, which can be removed by a VST-based approach. This approach is robust as it works in all used imaging devices and in both human and mouse retinas, independently of the tumor status. The implemented algorithm is freely available from the authors on demand. Conclusions: On a single denoised image, the proposed method provides results similar to those expected from the SD-OCT averaging. Because of the friendly user interface, it can be easily used by clinicians and researchers in ophthalmology.
Use of Eltrombopag in Improving Poor Graft Function after Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
Authors: Master Samip , Dwary Ashish , Mansour Richard , Mills Glenn M. , Koshy Nebu
Published: March 2018

Eltrombopag is a thrombopoietin agonist and has been used in aplastic anemia and post-transplantation thrombocytopenia. The c-MPL receptor is present on hematopoietic stem cells. There are no reports of eltrombopag utilization for improving poor graft function in the post-transplant setting. Here were report a case of a young female with post-transplant poor graft function as evident from the low absolute neutrophil count, anemia, and thrombocytopenia on day 60. Eltrombopag was started on day 72 and resulted in improvement in all 3 cell lines. The counts continued to be stable even after eltrombopag was discontinued. The patient tolerated the drug without significant side effects for 1 year.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Lung Cancer Patients: Prevalence, Underdiagnosis, and Clinical Characterization
Authors: Mouronte-Roibás Cecilia , Leiro-Fernández Virginia , Ruano-Raviña Alberto , Ramos-Hernández Cristina , Abal-Arca José , Parente-Lamelas Isaura , Botana-Rial Maribel , Priegue-Carrera Ana , Fernández-Villar Alberto
Published: March 2018

Background: Lung cancer (LC) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The differential clinical and functional features among LC patients with or without COPD have not been defined. Objectives: The aims of this study were to examine the prevalence and underdiagnosis rate of COPD in LC patients and to compare the clinical and functional features of LC patients with and without COPD. Methods: We designed a multicenter hospital-based study including all LC cases diagnosed from January 2014 to August 2016. We assessed epidemiological, clinical, radiological, functional, and histological variables in all cases. Results: We recruited 602 patients with LC, most of them men (77.9%), with a median age of 67 ± 15 years. The COPD prevalence among LC patients was 51.5%, with a underdiagnosis rate of 71.6%. The LC+COPD patients were older and the proportion of men was higher compared with the LC-only patients. The LC+COPD patients had more pack-years, more squamous LC, a lower monoxide transfer coefficient (KCO), and higher Charlson index scores than patients with LC only. The median survival of LC-only patients was 37% longer than that of LC+COPD patients (22 vs. 16 months), but this difference was not statistically significant. Conclusions: Among LC patients, COPD is prevalent and underdiagnosed. Patients with LC+COPD more often have squamous LC, have greater comorbidities, and have a lower KCO. More effort should be made for an early diagnosis of COPD to select patients at higher risk of developing LC.
Evaluation of the FreeStyle® Libre Flash Glucose Monitoring System in Children and Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes
Authors: Massa Guy G. , Gys Inge , Op ‘t Eyndt Anniek , Bevilacqua Esmiralda , Wijnands Anne , Declercq Peter , Zeevaert Renate
Published: March 2018

Background/Aims: The FreeStyle® Libre Flash Glucose Monitoring System (FGM, Abbott) measures glucose concentrations in the interstitial fluid for up to 14 days. It has been approved for use in children aged > 4 years in January 2016. Experience in children is still limited. We evaluated the accuracy and usability of the FGM in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM). Methods: 67 children with type 1 DM (35 girls), aged 4–18 years, were included. Subjects wore a sensor on the back of their upper arm. For the first 14 days, they regularly measured capillary blood glucose (BG) with their usual BG meter (Accu-Chek® Mobile [ACM], Roche [n = 24]; Contour® Next Link [CNL], Bayer [n = 26]; OneTouch® Verio® IQ [OTV], LifeScan [n = 17]) followed by a sensor glucose (SG) scanning. SG readings were compared to BG measurements by consensus error grid (CEG) analysis; the mean difference (MD), the mean relative difference (MRD), the mean absolute difference (MAD), and the mean absolute relative difference (MARD) were calculated. After 14 days, subjects were asked to fill in a questionnaire on the usability of the FGM. Results: 2,626 SG readings were paired with BG results. FGM readings were highly correlated with BG (r = 0.926, p < 0.001). 80.3% of the data pairs were in zone A (= no effect on clinical action) and 18.4% were in zone B (= altered clinical action with little or no effect on the clinical outcome) of the CEG. Overall MD was +7.5 mg/dL; MD varied with the BG meter: ACM +10.4 mg/dL, CNL +14.2 mg/dL, OTV –3.6 mg/dL (p < 0.001). Overall, MARD was 16.7%. We observed a large interindividual variability in the accuracy parameters. MD and MRD were inversely related to BMI (r = –0.261 [p < 0.05]; r = –0.266 [p < 0.05], respectively). MARD was inversely related to age (r = –0.266 [p < 0.05]). Twenty-nine patients (43.3%) reported sensor problems, mainly early detachment of the sensor. Nonetheless, the usability questionnaire indicated high levels of satisfaction. Conclusions: Our results showed a reasonable agreement between the FGM SG readings and capillary BG measurements in children. There was, however, a large interindividual variability. The wearing of the sensor requires special attention. Further studies in children are imperative in order to document the accuracy and safety of the FGM in the paediatric population.
Mullerianosis of the Urinary Bladder: A Case Report
Authors: Amir Rawan Abdul Razack , Taheini Khalid M. , Sheikh Salwa S.
Published: March 2018

Mullerianosis is a rare entity consisting of an admixture of 2 or more of the following tissues: endometriosis, endocervicosis, and endosalpingiosis. It most commonly affects the urinary bladder and affects females of fertile age. It presents clinically as hematuria, dysuria, and pelvic pain which may be associated with menstruation. Radiologically and macroscopically, it typically presents as a polypoid mass in the dome or posterior wall of the bladder. Histologically, it consists of glands of varying size lined by endometrial, endocervical, or tubal epithelium. Mullerianosis clinically and histologically mimics other benign and malignant lesions. Herein we report a case of mullerianosis of the urinary bladder. This is a rare lesion with less than 20 cases reported in the literature thus far. We believe raising awareness of this poorly recognized entity is of utmost significance in order to avoid misdiagnosis and the following unnecessary radical procedures.
A Real-Life Multicenter National Study on Nintedanib in Severe Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis
Authors: Harari Sergio , Caminati Antonella , Poletti Venerino , Confalonieri Marco , Gasparini Stefano , Lacedonia Donato , Luppi Fabrizio , Pesci Alberto , Sebastiani Alfredo , Spagnolo Paolo , Vancheri Carlo , Balestro Elisabetta , Bonifazi Martina , Cerri Stefania , De Giacomi Federica , Della Porta Rossana , Foschino Barbaro Maria Pia , Fui Annalisa , Pasquinelli Patrizio , Rosso Roberta , Tomassetti Sara , Specchia Claudia , Rottoli Paola ,   for the ILDINET (Interstitial Lung Diseases Italian Network)
Published: March 2018

Background: Two therapeutic options are currently available for patients with mild-to-moderate idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF): pirfenidone and nintedanib. To date, there is still insufficient data on the efficacy of these 2 agents in patients with more severe disease. Objectives: This national, multicenter, retrospective real-life study was intended to determine the impact of nintedanib on the treatment of patients with severe IPF. Methods: All patients included had severe IPF and had to have at least 6 months of follow-up before and at least 6 months of follow-up after starting nintedanib. The aim of the study was to compare the decline in lung function before and after treatment. Patient survival after 6 months of therapy with nintedanib was assessed. Results: Forty-one patients with a forced vital capacity (FVC) ≤50% and/or a diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (DLCO) ≤35% predicted at the start of nintedanib treatment were enrolled. At the 6-month follow-up, the decline of DLCO (both absolute and % predicted) was significantly reduced compared to the pretreatment period (absolute DLCO at the –6-month, T0, and +6-month time points (5.48, 4.50, and 5.03 mmol/min/kPa, respectively, p = 0.03; DLCO% predicted was 32.73, 26.54, and 29.23%, respectively, p = 0.04). No significant beneficial effect was observed in the other functional parameters analyzed. The 1-year survival in this population was 79%, calculated from month 6 of therapy with nintedanib. Conclusions: This nationwide multicenter experience in patients with severe IPF shows that nintedanib slows down the rate of decline of absolute and % predicted DLCO but does not have significant impact on FVC or other lung parameters.