bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Research on Distance Teaching System of English Course Based on Wireless Network Technology
Authors: Zheng Shuai
Published: October 2021

The development in technology is taking place with an accelerating pace across the globe. The increasing expansion and advancement in the field of information technology and the modern teaching system provide a technical support for the development of a distance teaching system to learn English courses. Multimedia teaching system of English course based on B/S framework (system 1) and English teaching system based on MVC architecture (system 2) were the two most prominent and widely used approaches for the distance teaching system of English learning courses. These systems comprehensively consider the current English teaching needs, develop the existing architectures, discuss the system architecture and functions, and establish the corresponding development environment. However, the mentioned systems have the problem of high proportion of memory resource consumption and high failure rate of the communicating nodes. In order to reduce the proportion of memory resource consumption and node failure rate of distance teaching system and effectively improve the teaching effect, this study designed a distance teaching system of English course based on wireless network technology. In order to analyze the functionality and stability of the wireless network technology in distance teaching of English course, the server-side and client-side modules of the system are designed. The server side is mainly used to maintain and control the overall functions of the system, while the client side is used to access/request the contents from the server. On this basis, the system software module is designed. The memory consumption results are accounted for under 30%, which is significantly lower than the earlier-mentioned systems, and the node failure rate of the system proposed in this paper does not increase significantly and remains below 4% all the time which indeed is a very low amount of failure rate. The experimental results show that the memory resource consumption ratio and node failure rate of the proposed system are very low, and the application feedback effect is significantly better than the other systems.
Formulation, Optimization, In Vitro and In Vivo Evaluation of Saxagliptin‐Loaded Lipospheres for an Improved Pharmacokinetic Behavior
Authors: Rasul Akhtar , Maheen Safirah , Khan Hafeez Ullah , Rasool Maria , Shah Shahid , Abbas Ghulam , Afzal Khurram , Tariq Fatima , Shahzadi Irum , Asad Muhammad Hassham Hassan Bin
Published: October 2021

The development and optimization of controlled release lipospheres (LS) from safe biocompatible behenic acid (BA) was performed for not only enhancing patient’s compliance against highly prevailed chronic diabetes but also to vanquish the insufficiencies of traditional methods of drug delivery. The Box‐Bhenken design (BBD) was utilized to statistically investigate the impact of formulation variables on percentage yield (Y1), entrapment efficiency (Y2), and SG‐release (Y3) from saxagliptin‐ (SG‐) loaded LS, and the chosen optimized LS were subjected to a comparative in vivo pharmacokinetic analysis against commercially available SG brand. The compatibility analysis performed by DSC and FTIR established a complete lack of interaction of formulation components with SG, while p‐XRD suggested a mild transformation of crystalline drug to its amorphous form during encapsulation process. The spherical, free flowing smooth surface LS having zeta potential of ‐32 mV and size range of 11‐20 μm were conveniently formulated. The obtained data for Y1 (30‐80%), Y2 (30‐70%), and Y3 (40‐90%) showed a best fit with quadratic model. The pharmacokinetics analysis of LS showed a significantly decreased Cmax of SG (75.63 ± 3.85) with a sufficiently elevated Tmax (10.53 h) as compared to commercial brand of SG (99.66 ± 2.97 ng/mL and 3.55 ± 2.18 h). The achievement of greater bioavailability of SG was most probably attributed to higher level of half‐life, mean residence time (MRT), and AUC0-24 for SG released from LS. Conclusively, the novel approach of SG‐loaded LS had successfully sustained the plasma SG level for a prolonged time without increasing Cmax which would ultimately bring an effective management of chronic diabetes.
A Novel Approach to Classifying Breast Cancer Histopathology Biopsy Images Using Bilateral Knowledge Distillation and Label Smoothing Regularization
Authors: Chaudhury Sushovan , Shelke Nilesh , Sau Kartik , Prasanalakshmi B. , Shabaz Mohammad
Published: October 2021

Breast cancer is the most common invasive cancer in women and the second main cause of cancer death in females, which can be classified benign or malignant. Research and prevention on breast cancer have attracted more concern of researchers in recent years. On the other hand, the development of data mining methods provides an effective way to extract more useful information from complex databases, and some prediction, classification, and clustering can be made according to the extracted information. The generic notion of knowledge distillation is that a network of higher capacity acts as a teacher and a network of lower capacity acts as a student. There are different pipelines of knowledge distillation known. However, previous work on knowledge distillation using label smoothing regularization produces experiments and results that break this general notion and prove that knowledge distillation also works when a student model distils a teacher model, i.e., reverse knowledge distillation. Not only this, but it is also proved that a poorly trained teacher model trains a student model to reach equivalent results. Building on the ideas from those works, we propose a novel bilateral knowledge distillation regime that enables multiple interactions between teacher and student models, i.e., teaching and distilling each other, eventually improving each other’s performance and evaluating our results on BACH histopathology image dataset on breast cancer. The pretrained ResNeXt29 and MobileNetV2 models which are already tested on ImageNet dataset are used for “transfer learning” in our dataset, and we obtain a final accuracy of more than 96% using this novel approach of bilateral KD.
Nanoparticle-Based Drug Delivery System—A Target Strategy for Osteoarthritis Treatment
Authors: Liu Keda , Zhang Dianjian , Wang Wei
Published: October 2021

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a bone and joint disease with pathological characteristics such as articular cartilage degeneration injury and synovial and subchondral bone reactive hyperplasia. Once cartilage is damaged, it is difficult to repair it by itself. Current clinical practice is mainly limited to symptomatic treatment, not changing the degenerative process of osteoarthritis. The important goal of nanomedicine is targeted delivery. Nanoparticles (NPs) can provide many unique potential functions for the targeted treatment of arthritis. This review summarizes the research progress of nanomaterials as a drug delivery system in the treatment of osteoarthritis from three aspects: (1) the etiology of OA and the current research status of applying nanoparticles to treat OA, (2) the construction of osteoarthritis models, and (3) the classification of nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems.
Detection of BRCA1/2 Mutation and Analysis of Clinicopathological Characteristics in 141 Cases of Ovarian Cancer
Authors: Li Ling , Chen Fangfang , Lin An , Wang Di , Shi Yi , Chen Gang
Published: October 2021

Breast cancer susceptibility genes 1 and 2 (BRCA1 and BRCA2) are known biomarkers for hereditary ovarian cancer (OC). However, a comprehensive association study between BRCA1/2 mutation spectrum and clinicopathological characteristics in Chinese ovarian cancer patients has not been performed yet to our best knowledge. To fill in this gap, we collected BRCA1/2 sequencing data and clinical information of 141 OC patients from Fujian Cancer Hospital between April 2018 and March 2020. The clinical information includes the age of onset, FIGO staging, pathological types, serum 125 detection level, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, the expression of Ki67, and disease history of the patient and his/her family. We then studied their associations by software SciPy 1.0. As a result, we detected pathogenic and potentially pathogenic BRCA1/2 mutations in 27 out of 141 patients (19.15%). Among the 27 patients with mutations, the major type of mutation was frameshift, which was observed in 12 patients (44.4%). Most of the mutation sites were distributed on exons 10 and 11, accounting for 48.1% (13/27) and 22.2% (6/27), respectively. In terms of histological classification, high-grade serous adenocarcinoma accounted for 79.43% of the 141 samples. The BRCA1/2 mutation group was all high-grade serous adenocarcinoma, accounting for 24.1% (27/112) of this group. The incidence of pathogenic mutation in BRCA1 and BRCA2 was 15.7% (19/112) and 7.27% (8/112), respectively. Univariate analysis showed that there was no significant difference between patients with BRCA1/2 mutation and others in age-of-onset, FIGO stage, pathological types, serum CA125 level, lymph node metastasis, the expression of Ki67, and personal and family disease history. However, there are significant differences between patients with BRCA1/2 mutation and others in distant metastasis rate (

P
<
0.002

). In addition, the BRCA1/2 mutation rate in 141 ovarian cancer patients was similar to those reported in other studies in China. Nearly one-quarter of high-grade serous carcinomas had BRCA1/2 mutations. In conclusion, our study indicated that patients with BRCA1/2 mutations were more likely to undergo distant metastasis, and BRCA1/2 mutation detection should be performed for patients with high-grade serous adenocarcinoma to guide the selection of clinical treatment options.
Antibacterial, Antibiofilm, and Efflux Pump Inhibitory Properties of the Crude Extract and Fractions from Acacia macrostachya Stem Bark
Authors: Barfour Akua Frema , Mensah Abraham Yeboah , Asante-Kwatia Evelyn , Danquah Cynthia Amaning , Anokwah Daniel , Adjei Silas , Baah Michael Kwesi , Mensah Merlin L. K.
Published: October 2021

Microbial infections remain a public health problem due to the upsurge of bacterial resistance. In this study, the antibacterial, antibiofilm, and efflux pump inhibitory activities of the stem bark of Acacia macrostachya, an indigenous African medicinal plant, were investigated. In traditional medicine, the plant is used in the treatment of microbial infections and inflammatory conditions. A crude methanol extract obtained by Soxhlet extraction was partitioned by column chromatography to obtain the petroleum ether, ethyl acetate, and methanol fractions. Antibacterial, efflux pump inhibition and antibiofilm formation activities were assessed by the high-throughput spot culture growth inhibition (HT-SPOTi), ethidium bromide accumulation, and the crystal violet retention assay, respectively. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of the crude extract and major fractions ranged from 250 to ≥500 μg/mL. At a concentration of 3.9–250 μg/mL, all extracts demonstrated >80% inhibition of biofilm formation in S. aureus. In P. aeruginosa, the EtOAc fraction showed the highest antibiofilm activity (59–69%) while the pet-ether fraction was most active against E. coli biofilms (45–67%). Among the test samples, the crude extract, methanol, and ethyl acetate fractions showed remarkable efflux pump inhibition in S. aureus, E. coli, and P. aeruginosa. At ½ MIC, the methanol fraction demonstrated significant accumulation of EtBr in E. coli having superior efflux inhibition over the standard EPIs: chlorpromazine and verapamil. Tannins, flavonoids, triterpenoids, phytosterols, coumarins, and saponins were identified in preliminary phytochemical studies. Stigmasterol was identified in the EtOAc fraction. This study justifies the use of A. macrostachya in the treatment of infections in traditional medicine and highlights its potential as a source of bioactive compounds that could possibly interact with some resistance mechanisms in bacteria to combat antimicrobial resistance.
Wind Power Prediction considering Ramping Events Based on Generative Adversarial Network
Authors: Huang Qiyue
Published: October 2021

In view of the growing depletion of traditional fossil fuels and their adverse impact on natural environment, wind energy has gained increasing popularity across the globe. Characterized by wide distribution, low cost, and well-rounded technology, it has achieved fast-growing installed capacity in recent years. However, wind power is volatile and random in nature and the power ramping events caused by extreme weather always threaten the safe, stable, and economic operation of the power grid. To address the problems of insufficient sample data and low prediction accuracy in existing ramping prediction methods, a new way of wind power prediction considering ramping events based on Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) is proposed. First of all, the ramping events get identified and separated from the database of historical wind power, and the feature set of historical ramping events is then extracted according to the waveform and meteorological factors. Taking the feature set which integrates similar feature with historical one as the input of GAN, the simulated ramping data are continuously produced through the adversarial training of the generator and discriminator, thus enriching the ramping database. After that, the expanded ramping database can be applied to predict the ramping power through the LSTM model. An experiment based on the wind power dataset in a certain area of northwest China further verifies the effectiveness and superiority of this method compared with traditional ones.
Identification of Civil Infrastructure Damage Using Ensemble Transfer Learning Model
Authors: Shamila Ebenezer A. , Deepa Kanmani S. , Sheela V. , Ramalakshmi K. , Chandran V. , Sumithra M. G. , Elakkiya B. , Murugesan Bharani
Published: October 2021

This article uses cutting‐edge deep learning technology to identify structural damage from images for a civil engineering application. The public infrastructures of the country are generally inspected physically by a visual evaluation by qualified inspectors. However, manual inspections are pretty time‐consuming and often require too much labor. The number of experts capable of evaluating such structural damage is inadequate. As a result, computer vision‐based techniques for automatic damage detection have been developed. This paper’s civil infrastructure damages are classified into four damages of roads common in Indian highways and the concrete deterioration in the bridges. The convolutional neural network has become a standard tool for organizing and recognizing images. In this paper, an ensemble of three CNN models is proposed, and two are transfer learning‐based models. The proposed ensemble transfer learning model provided a validation accuracy of 87.1%.
Fast-Food Dietary Pattern Is Linked to Higher Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome in Older Canadian Adults
Authors: Hosseini Zeinab , Rostami Mehdi , Whiting Susan J. , Vatanparast Hassan
Published: October 2021

Background. Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is known to increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. Diet is a key factor in prevention and development of MetS. This study aimed to determine the association between dietary patterns and MetS among Canadians 12–79 years old using the Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS) combined Cycles 1 and 2 data from 2007–11. We hypothesized that MetS varies among different sociodemographic and lifestyle factors and that Canadians who have less healthy dietary patterns are more likely to have MetS. Methods. In the CHMS, MetS was determined using objective health measures. The principal component analysis method was used to determine the dietary patterns. Using logistic regression, the association between MetS and dietary patterns, controlling for potential covariates, was investigated for age groups of 12–19, 20–49, and 50–79 years. Survey data were weighted and bootstrapped to be representative at the national level. Results. The prevalence of MetS was 16.9% for ages 12–79 y (n = 4,272, males = 49.6%), representing 26,038,108 Canadians aged 12–79 years. MetS was significantly different across sociodemographic variables; Canadians with less education, income, and activity had higher MetS prevalence than their counterparts. In older adults (50–79 years of age), the “fast-food” dietary pattern was associated with 26% (odds ratio = 1.26; 95% CI: 1.04 to 1.54;

p
=
0.0195

) higher likelihood of having MetS. Conclusions. Among older Canadians, MetS is associated with a “fast-food” dietary pattern after adjustment for socioeconomic/lifestyle factors. Findings suggest the importance of diet quality/composition in the development of MetS among older Canadians and the need for further longitudinal studies on MetS and diet across the lifespan.
Relationship between Hypercoagulable State and Circulating Tumor Cells in Peripheral Blood, Pathological Characteristics, and Prognosis of Lung Cancer Patients
Authors: Jiao Yanhua , Guo Liling , Wu Linqian , Hu Tongshan
Published: October 2021

Objective. To analyze the relationship between hypercoagulable state and circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in peripheral blood, pathological characteristics, and prognosis of lung cancer patients. Method. A total of 148 patients with primary lung cancer diagnosed and treated in our hospital from January 2017 to January 2019 were selected as the research objects. According to the CTC test results, the patients were divided into CTC-positive group and CTC-negative group. Also, the coagulation index of patients was tested. According to the blood coagulation index test results, patients were divided into hypercoagulable group and non-hypercoagulable group. The relationship between hypercoagulable state and pathological characteristics of lung cancer patients was analyzed by single factor analysis and multiple logistic regression model. Kaplan–Meier survival curve was applied to analyze the relationship between hypercoagulable state and the prognosis of lung cancer patients. Results. The platelets (PLTs), fibrinogen (FIB), D-dimer (D-D), and prothrombin time (PT) in CTC-positive group were significantly higher than those in CTC-negative group. There was no significant relationship between the patient’s gender, smoking history, pathological type, and the hypercoagulable state of the patients. The proportion of patients aged 60 years or older, with TMN stage III or IV and lymph node metastasis, in the hypercoagulable group was significantly higher than that in the non-hypercoagulable group. Logistic regression analysis showed that there was an independent relationship between the patient’s age, lymph node metastasis, and hypercoagulable state. As of January 2020, among the 148 patients with lung cancer follow-up, 5 patients were lost and 52 died. The median survival time of patients in the hypercoagulable group was 82 weeks, which was significantly lower than the 104 weeks in the nonhypercoagulable group. Conclusion. There is a certain relationship between hypercoagulable state and CTC positive in lung cancer patients. There is an independent relationship between the patient’s age, lymph node metastasis, and the hypercoagulable state. The median survival time of patients in the hypercoagulable group was significantly lower than that in the non-hypercoagulable group.
Modified Incisional Negative Pressure Wound Therapy Increases Seroma Evacuation: An Ex Vivo Model
Authors: Mehdorn Matthias , Jansen-Winkeln Boris
Published: October 2021

Background. Incisional negative wound pressure therapy (iNPWT) is a relatively novel dressing technique with the aim of reducing postoperative wound infections and dehiscence in high‐risk wounds after all kinds of surgical procedures. There is a lack of theoretical knowledge about the way those dressing would ameliorate wound healing. One aspect is the reduction of superficial tension, but significant remaining seroma might still cause deep wound infections. The aim of this study was the evaluation of technical modifications of the standard iNPWT dressing to increase seroma evacuation. Methods. iNPWT dressings were applied on the porcine abdominal wall, and an incremental pressure ramp from 50 to 200 mmHg was performed. The resulting wound pressures were measured using (i) balloon manometry and (ii) esophageal manometry catheter. Seroma evacuation was analyzed with a seroma model. All measurements were performed with (i) standard iNPWT dressing, (ii) wound gauze diverted through the incision, and (iii) placement of suction drain tube into iNPWT. Results. Due to the modifications of the iNPWT dressing, the vacuum applied by the iNPWT dressing could be transferred into the wound and was not only restricted to superficial layers. More importantly, placement of wound gauzes or suction drain tubes led to complete extraction of wound seroma. The placement of the suction drain tube showed the best combination of increased intrawound pressure as well as seroma evacuation. Conclusion. Addition of a suction drain tube to the iNPWT dressing leads to an improved function of the iNPWT dressing in our ex vivo model.
Topological Descriptors on Some Families of Graphs
Authors: Ahmad Iftikhar , Ahmad Chaudhry Maqbool , Hussain Muhammad , Mahmood Tariq
Published: October 2021

In view of the successful applications of graph theory, relationships between the biological activity and chemical structure have been developed. One of the popular topics in graph theory is problems relating to topological indices. Degree-based topological indices, distance-based topological indices, and counting-related topological indices are various types of topological indices. Physiochemical properties such as boiling point and stability of chemical compounds are correlated by these topological indices. A topological index of a graph is a numerical quantity obtained from the graph mathematically. A cactus graph is a connected graph in which no edge lies in more than one cycle. In this study, we have derived certain degree-based topological indices for some families of graphs consisting of graph obtained by the rooted product of paths and cycles and two types of cactus graph (paracactus and orthocactus) with the help of the generalized Zagreb index.
Study on the Influence of PDCA Cycle Nursing Based on Network Service on the Quality of Life and Nutritional Status of Hypertension Patients in Home Care
Authors: Yi Chun , Feng Xiqiang , Yuan Yueshuang
Published: October 2021

Objective. To explore the influence of PDCA cycle nursing based on network service on the quality of life and nutritional status of hypertension patients in home care. Methods. From January 2019 to December 2020, 116 hypertension patients in home care were selected as research objects. According to the random number method, the patients were divided into two groups: the control group (n = 58) and the observation group (n = 58). The control group was given routine home care service, while the observation group was given PDCA cycle nursing based on the network service. The effects of blood pressure control, quality of life, nutritional status, and emotional state of the two groups were analyzed. Results. The effective rate of blood pressure control in the observation group (93.10%) was higher than that in the control group (79.31%) (

P
<
0.05

). After intervention, the Generic Quality of Life Inventory-74 scores of the observation group were higher than those of the control group (

P
<
0.05

). After intervention, the malnutrition-inflammation score of the observation group was lower than that of the control group (

P
<
0.05

). After the intervention, the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale score and Self-Rating Depression Scale score of the observation group were lower than those of the control group (

P
<
0.05

). Conclusion. PDCA cycle nursing based on network service has a good blood pressure control effect on hypertension patients in home care, which can improve their quality of life and nutritional status and also relieve their bad emotions.
Magnitude of Aflatoxigenic Aspergillus Species, Level of Aflatoxin B1, and Associated Factors in Stored Feed at Poultry Farms in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia
Authors: Motbaynor Ambachew , Kassaye Dawit , Keffale Migbaru , Wasihun Pawlos
Published: October 2021

Aflatoxin, the secondary toxic metabolite of Aspergillus species, particularly aflatoxigenic Aspergillus flavus and parasiticus, has a detrimental effect on poultry health and production. There exists some information gap about the magnitudes of aflatoxigenic Aspergillus species and aflatoxin in poultry feeds in the study area. Thus, the study was conducted to estimate the magnitude and assess the related potential factors of aflatoxigenic Aspergillus species with evaluations of the level of aflatoxin B1 in stored poultry feed at selected farms in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study design was carried out on 374 poultry feed samples recruited by using a stratified simple random sampling technique. A pretested structured questionnaire was used to assess the level of knowledge and prevention practices associated with aflatoxin in poultry feed. The isolation of aflatoxigenic Aspergillus species was made by Aspergillus flavus parasiticus media, and aflatoxin B1 was estimated by aflatoxin B1 enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay. Results showed that the magnitude of aflatoxigenic Aspergillus species was 72.5% (95% CI: 67.6–76.9). The odds at which the species isolated were higher (

p
<
0.05

) in feeds stored more than two months (AOR = 2.69), the presence of rodents in the storing room (AOR = 2.67), feeds having high moisture content (AOR = 1.5), and feed ingredient types (AOR = 4.3) compared to their counter parts. Only 34.4 and 32.8 percent of the respondents have better knowledge and apply prevention practice about fungal contamination and aflatoxin production in poultry feed, respectively. The occurrence of aflatoxigenic Aspergillus species in poultry feed was associated with the presence of rodents in the feed storing room with long storing period and high moisture contents of the feed. The knowledge and prevention practices employed by farm managers and workers about fungal contamination and aflatoxin in poultry feed are found low.
Integrated Multiscale Appearance Features and Motion Information Prediction Network for Anomaly Detection
Authors: Liu Ting , Zhang Chengqing , Wang Liming
Published: October 2021

The rise of video‐prediction algorithms has largely promoted the development of anomaly detection in video surveillance for smart cities and public security. However, most current methods relied on single‐scale information to extract appearance (spatial) features and lacked motion (temporal) continuity between video frames. This can cause a loss of partial spatiotemporal information that has great potential to predict future frames, affecting the accuracy of abnormality detection. Thus, we propose a novel prediction network to improve the performance of anomaly detection. Due to the objects of various scales in each video, we use different receptive fields to extract detailed appearance features by the hybrid dilated convolution (HDC) module. Meanwhile, the deeper bidirectional convolutional long short‐term memory (DB‐ConvLSTM) module can remember the motion information between consecutive frames. Furthermore, we use RGB difference loss to replace optical flow loss as temporal constraint, which greatly reduces the time for optical flow extraction. Compared with the state‐of‐the‐art methods in the anomaly‐detection task, experiments prove that our method can more accurately detect abnormalities in various video surveillance scenes.
Automated Diagnosis of Chest X-Ray for Early Detection of COVID-19 Disease
Authors: Senan Ebrahim Mohammed , Alzahrani Ali , Alzahrani Mohammed Y. , Alsharif Nizar , Aldhyani Theyazn H. H.
Published: October 2021

In March 2020, the World Health Organization announced the COVID-19 pandemic, its dangers, and its rapid spread throughout the world. In March 2021, the second wave of the pandemic began with a new strain of COVID-19, which was more dangerous for some countries, including India, recording 400,000 new cases daily and more than 4,000 deaths per day. This pandemic has overloaded the medical sector, especially radiology. Deep-learning techniques have been used to reduce the burden on hospitals and assist physicians for accurate diagnoses. In our study, two models of deep learning, ResNet-50 and AlexNet, were introduced to diagnose X-ray datasets collected from many sources. Each network diagnosed a multiclass (four classes) and a two-class dataset. The images were processed to remove noise, and a data augmentation technique was applied to the minority classes to create a balance between the classes. The features extracted by convolutional neural network (CNN) models were combined with traditional Gray-level Cooccurrence Matrix (GLCM) and Local Binary Pattern (LBP) algorithms in a 1-D vector of each image, which produced more representative features for each disease. Network parameters were tuned for optimum performance. The ResNet-50 network reached accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and Area Under the Curve (AUC) of 95%, 94.5%, 98%, and 97.10%, respectively, with the multiclasses (COVID-19, viral pneumonia, lung opacity, and normal), while it reached accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and AUC of 99%, 98%, 98%, and 97.51%, respectively, with the binary classes (COVID-19 and normal).
An Apple Detection Method Based on Des-YOLO v4 Algorithm for Harvesting Robots in Complex Environment
Authors: Chen Wei , Zhang Jingfeng , Guo Biyu , Wei Qingyu , Zhu Zhiyu
Published: October 2021

Real-time detection of apples in natural environment is a necessary condition for robots to pick apples automatically, and it is also a key technique for orchard yield prediction and fine management. To make the harvesting robots detect apples quickly and accurately in complex environment, a Des-YOLO v4 algorithm and a detection method of apples are proposed. Compared with the current mainstream detection algorithms, YOLO v4 has better detection performance. However, the complex network structure of YOLO v4 will reduce the picking efficiency of the robot. Therefore, a Des-YOLO structure is proposed, which reduces network parameters and improves the detection speed of the algorithm. In the training phase, the imbalance of positive and negative samples will cause false detection of apples. To solve the above problem, a class loss function based on AP-Loss (Average Precision Loss) is proposed to improve the accuracy of apple recognition. Traditional YOLO algorithm uses NMS (Nonmaximum Suppression) method to filter the prediction boxes, but NMS cannot detect the adjacent apples when they overlap each other. Therefore, Soft-NMS is used instead of NMS to solve the problem of missing detection, so as to improve the generalization of the algorithm. The proposed algorithm is tested on the self-made apple image data set. The results show that Des-YOLO v4 network has ideal features with a mAP (mean Average Precision) of apple detection of 97.13%, a recall rate of 90%, and a detection speed of 51 f/s. Compared with traditional network models such as YOLO v4 and Faster R-CNN, the Des-YOLO v4 can meet the accuracy and speed requirements of apple detection at the same time. Finally, the self-designed apple-harvesting robot is used to carry out the harvesting experiment. The experiment shows that the harvesting time is 8.7 seconds and the successful harvesting rate of the robot is 92.9%. Therefore, the proposed apple detection method has the advantages of higher recognition accuracy and faster recognition speed. It can provide new solutions for apple-harvesting robots and new ideas for smart agriculture.
Classification of Nilpotent Lie Superalgebras of Multiplier-Rank Less than or Equal to 6
Authors: Lang Shuang , Nan Jizhu , Liu Wende
Published: October 2021

In this paper, we classify all the finite-dimensional nilpotent Lie superalgebras of multiplier-rank less than or equal to 6 over an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero. We also determine the covers of all the nilpotent Lie superalgebras mentioned above.
Evaluation of Improvement of Information Teaching Ability Based on Complex Online Network
Authors: Feng Li
Published: October 2021

The evaluation of the improvement of information teaching ability (ITA) helps teachers to proactively learn advanced information teaching techniques and to realize innovative information teaching. The relevant studies mainly focus on the theoretical level and rarely deal with the growth of teachers through learning. Therefore, this paper presents an evaluation method for ITA improvement based on complex online network. Firstly, an analysis framework was established for the activity of the ITA improvement network (ITAIN) and used to measure the ITAIN activity under the learning condition of complex online network. Following the evaluation strategy of preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluation (PROMETHEE), the author constructed an evaluation model for the improvement of ITA and an evaluation index system (EIS) of five primary indices. The proposed model was proved effective through experiments.
Effect of Foot Reflexology on Sexual Function of Patients under Hemodialysis: A Randomized Parallel Controlled Clinical Trial
Authors: Zeidabadinejad Somayeh , Mangolian Shahrbabaki Parvin , Dehghan Mahlagha
Published: October 2021

Introduction. Hemodialysis patients experience sexual dysfunction due to the nature of their disease and its complications. Dialysis patients have reported sexual dysfunction as one of the most important stressors, which leads to many psychological and physiological problems. Sexual function in hemodialysis patients has been improved with pharmaceutical and nonpharmacological therapies. Foot reflexology is a complementary and alternative treatment that can be used in conjunction with contemporary care. By activating the chemical nerve system, reflexology may balance enzymes and regulate endocrine function. Objectives. To determine the effect of foot reflexology on the sexual function of hemodialysis patients. Methods. This randomized controlled trial was conducted on 47 patients on chronic hemodialysis referred to Imam Reza Hospital in Sirjan, Iran, who were divided into two groups of reflexology (n = 24; male = 19 and female = 5) and sham (n = 23; male = 18, and female = 5). The intervention group received foot reflexology during dialysis for four weeks, three times a week, 30 minutes each time (15 minutes per foot). The sham group received nonspecific foot massage without applying pressure on standard reflex points with the same condition and duration as the intervention group. The international index of erectile function and female sexual function index was assessed before, immediately, and one month after the intervention. Results. The results showed that immediately after the intervention, male orgasm function, sexual desire, and intercourse satisfaction in the reflexology group was significantly higher than those of the sham group. There was no significant difference between the two groups regarding erectile function and overall satisfaction. Furthermore, there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of different aspects of female sexual function. Conclusions. Foot reflexology, as an effective intervention treatment, can reduce some aspects of sexual dysfunction of male patients under hemodialysis.
Comparative Analysis of Drilling Behaviour of Synthetic and Natural Fiber‐Based Composites
Authors: Mohan Kumar A. , Rajasekar R. , Manoj Kumar P. , Parameshwaran R. , Karthick Alagar , Muhibbullah M.
Published: October 2021

For comparison, the drilling behaviour of abaca fiber‐reinforced polymer (AFRP) composites and Kevlar‐reinforced epoxy polymer (KFRP) composites has been studied in the specified experimental condition. The different geometrical drilling tools have been used for the investigation, namely, candlestick (T1), core (T2), standard twist drill (T3), and step cone (T4). The tool feed of 30, 45, and 60 m/min and rotational speed of 1000, 1500, and 2000 rpm have been used for the investigation. The thrust force is chosen as a response parameter for this study. The results revealed that, at lesser rotational speed and tool feed, the thrust force has declined. The result obtained correlates with the abaca fiber‐based systems. However, the thrust force of KFRP is higher compared to AFRP composite systems. The axial force generated by candlestick drill is minimal compared to the other drill bits. The following may be responsible for lower thrust force: (1) the axial force distributes circumferential of the cutting tool instead of focusing at the center and (2) the interfacial adhesiveness between the matrix and the fiber is higher. The optimization of drilling process parameters, namely, tool feed and rotational speed on thrust force, has been studied. The results reveal that the tool feed contributed more to axial force compared to rotational speed.
On Man-in-the-Middle Attack Risks of the VPN Gate Relay System
Authors: Sun Yunxiao , Wang Bailing , Wang Chao , Wei Yuliang
Published: October 2021

With the development of the Internet, more and more people use virtual private network (VPN) to circumvent censorship or hide themselves for privacy purposes. However, VPN itself faces some security and privacy risks. Widely used all over the world, the VPN Gate is a volunteer-organized public VPN relay system launched in 2013. By analyzing the security of the system, we have found that there is a man-in-the-middle attack risk because an attacker may hijack a VPN session and decrypt the traffic. According to our study, the reason of the security issues is the misuse of the SSL certificate. To mitigate the security risks, we offered a series of recommendations.
Classical Dichotomy of Macrophages and Alternative Activation Models Proposed with Technological Progress
Authors: Wei Yali , Wang Mengxi , Ma Yuwen , Que Zhenni , Yao Dengbo
Published: October 2021

Macrophages are important immune cells that participate in the regulation of inflammation in implant dentistry, and their activation/polarization state is considered to be the basis for their functions. The classic dichotomy activation model is commonly accepted, however, due to the discovery of macrophage heterogeneity and more functional and iconic exploration at different technologies; some studies have discovered the shortcomings of the dichotomy model and have put forward the concept of alternative activation models through the application of advanced technologies such as cytometry by time‐of‐flight (CyTOF), single‐cell RNA‐seq (scRNA‐seq), and hyperspectral image (HSI). These alternative models have great potential to help macrophages divide phenotypes and functional genes.
Novel Redirected T–Cell Immunotherapies for Advanced Prostate Cancer
Authors: Dorff Tanya B. , Narayan Vivek , Forman Stephen J. , Zang Peter D. , Fraietta Joseph A. , June Carl H. , Haas Naomi B. , Priceman Saul J.
Published: October 2021

Immunotherapy has failed to achieve durable remissions in advanced prostate cancer patients. More potent T-cell–redirecting strategies may be needed to overcome the immunologically exclusive and suppressive tumor microenvironment. Clinical trials are underway, seeking to define the optimal target for T-cell redirection, such as PSMA, PSCA, or STEAP-1, as well as the optimal strategy, with CAR or bispecific antibodies. As results continue to emerge from these trials, understanding differential toxicity and efficacy of these therapies based on their targets and functional modifications will be key to advancing these promising therapies toward clinical practice. This review provides a unique depth and breadth of perspective regarding the diverse immunotherapy strategies currently under clinical investigation for men with advanced prostate cancer.
AXL Inhibitor TP-0903 Reduces Metastasis and Therapy Resistance in Pancreatic Cancer
Authors: Zhang Yuqing , Arner Emily N. , Rizvi Ali , Toombs Jason E. , Huang Huocong , Warner Steven L. , Foulks Jason M. , Brekken Rolf A.
Published: October 2021

Pancreatic cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States with a 5-year survival less than 5%. Resistance to standard therapy and limited response to immune checkpoint blockade due to the immunosuppressive and stroma-rich microenvironment remain major challenges in the treatment of pancreatic cancer. A key cellular program involved in therapy resistance is epithelial plasticity, which is also associated with invasion, metastasis, and evasion of immune surveillance. The receptor tyrosine kinase AXL is a key driver of tumor cell epithelial plasticity. High expression and activity of AXL is associated with poor prognosis, metastasis, and therapy resistance in multiple types of cancer including pancreatic. Here, we show that an AXL inhibitor (TP-0903), has antitumor and therapy sensitizing effects in preclinical models of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA). We demonstrate that TP-0903 as a single agent or in combination with gemcitabine and/or anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (PD1) antibody has anti-metastatic and anti-tumor effects in PDA tumor bearing mice, leading to increased survival. In addition, gene expression analysis of tumors demonstrated upregulation of pro-inflammatory and immune activation genes in tumors from TP-0903-treated animals compared with the vehicle, indicating pharmacologic inhibition of AXL activation leads to an immunostimulatory microenvironment. This effect was augmented when TP-0903 was combined with gemcitabine and anti-PD1 antibody. These results provide clear rationale for evaluating TP-0903 in the treatment of pancreatic cancer.
Clinical and Functional Significance of TP53 Exon 4–Intron 4 Splice Junction Variants
Authors: Pinto Emilia M. , Maxwell Kara N. , Halalsheh Hadeel , Phillips Aaron , Powers Jacquelyn , MacFarland Suzanne , Walsh Michael F. , Breen Kelsey , Formiga Maria N. , Kriwacki Richard , Nichols Kim E. , Mostafavi Roya , Wang Jinling , Clay Michael R. , Rodriguez-Galindo Carlos , Ribeiro Raul C. , Zambetti Gerard P.
Published: October 2021

Germline TP53 splicing variants are uncommon, and their clinical relevance is unknown. However, splice-altering variants at exon 4–intron 4 junctions are relatively enriched in pediatric adrenocortical tumors (ACT). Nevertheless, family histories of cancer compatible with classic Li-Fraumeni syndrome are rarely seen in these patients. We used conventional and in silico assays to determine protein stability, splicing, and transcriptional activity of 10 TP53 variants at exon 4–intron 4 junctions and analyzed their clinical correlates. We reviewed public databases that report the impact of TP53 variants in human cancer and examined individual reports, focusing on family history of cancer. TP53 exon 4–intron 4 junction germline variants were identified in 9 of 75 pediatric ACTs enrolled in the International Pediatric Adrenocortical Tumor Registry and Children's Oncology Group ARAR0332 study. An additional eight independent TP53 variants involving exon 4 splicing were identified in the Pediatric Cancer Genome Project (n = 5,213). These variants resulted in improper expression due to ineffective splicing, protein instability, altered subcellular localization, and loss of function. Clinical case review of carriers of TP53 exon 4–intron 4 junction variants revealed a high incidence of pediatric ACTs and atypical tumor types not consistent with classic Li-Fraumeni syndrome. Germline variants involving TP53 exon 4–intron 4 junctions are frequent in ACT and rare in other pediatric tumors. The collective impact of these germline TP53 variants on the fidelity of splicing, protein structure, and function must be considered in evaluating cancer susceptibility.

Implications:

Taken together, the data indicate that splice variants at TP53 codon 125 and surrounding bases differentially impacted p53 gene expression and function.
Evaluation of Cardiac Adverse Events Associated with Carfilzomib Using a Japanese Real-World Database
Authors: Nakao Shuhei , Uchida Mayako , Satoki Aya , Okamoto Kenya , Uesawa Yoshihiro , Shimizu Tadashi
Published: October 2021

Background: Carfilzomib is a proteasome inhibitor widely used for the treatment of multiple myeloma. However, cardiac adverse events (CAEs) are a serious side effect of carfilzomib administration. Observational studies based on systematic reviews and real-world data have revealed that the risk of CAEs tends to be high. However, there have been no reports on the incidence of CAEs associated with carfilzomib in Japanese patients. Furthermore, there have been no reports on the timing and post-event outcomes of CAEs. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify the trends in carfilzomib-associated adverse events, the time to onset of CAEs, and the clinical outcomes after the occurrence of CAEs using the Japanese Adverse Drug Event Report (JADER) database. Method: We analyzed data from the JADER database, which contains reports of spontaneous adverse events submitted to the Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Agency, between April 2004 and December 2020. The relative risk of adverse events was estimated using the reporting odds ratio. The time to onset and post-event outcomes were evaluated for adverse cardiotoxic events with >10 reports. Results: The reporting rate was significantly higher for all 6 detected CAEs. A time-to-onset histogram of the 6 CAEs showed that they all occurred early after carfilzomib administration. The median time of onset of heart failure, congestive heart failure, and acute heart failure was approximately 2 weeks after treatment. The adverse events with the largest proportion of fatal clinical outcomes were acute heart failure (26%) and heart failure (9.5%). Conclusions: This study suggests that the early signs and symptoms of potential fatal heart failure should be monitored during carfilzomib treatment.
Kinase Inhibitors and Interferons as Other Myeloid Differentiation Inducers in Leukemia Therapy
Authors: Takahashi Shinichiro
Published: October 2021

Differentiation therapy using all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) is well established for the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). Several attempts have been made to treat non-APL acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients by employing differentiation inducers, such as hypomethylating agents and low-dose cytarabine, with encouraging results. In the present review, I focus on other possible differentiation inducers: kinase inhibitors and interferons (IFNs). A number of kinase inhibitors have been reported to induce differentiation, including CDK inhibitors, GSK3 inhibitors, Akt inhibitors, p38 MAPK inhibitors, Src family kinase inhibitors, Syk inhibitors, mTOR inhibitors, and HSP90 inhibitors. Other powerful inducers are IFNs, which were reported to enhance differentiation with ATRA. Although clinical trials for these kinase modulators remain scarce, their mechanisms of action have been, at least partly, clarified. The Raf/MEK/ERK MAPK pathway and the RARα downstream are affected by many of the kinase inhibitors and IFNs and seem to play a pivotal role for the induction of myeloid differentiation. Further clarification of the mechanisms, as well as the establishment of efficient combination therapies with the kinase inhibitors or IFNs, may lead to the development of effective therapeutic strategies for AML.