bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Immunogenicity and safety of quadrivalent influenza vaccine among adults in Tianjin, China, with a focus on age as a risk factor
Authors: Xiao Tongling , Wei Miaomiao , Guo Xiaokun , Zhang Yu , Wang Zhongyan , Xia Xiaoshuang , Wang Lin , Li Xin , Leng Sean X.
Published: February 2023

Background
Older adults are more vulnerable to seasonal influenza than younger adults. The immune responses of elderly people to the influenza vaccine are usually poorer than those of young people. We conducted a study to evaluate the immunogenicity and safety of a quadrivalent inactivated influenza vaccine (IIV4) and the influence of age among adults in Tianjin. A total of 167 healthy adults in Tianjin were recruited and administered a single dose of IIV4 from October 2021 to March 2022. Blood samples were collected to assay hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) antibody titers before and 21 to 28 days after vaccination. Safety information was collected for 28 days and 6 months after vaccination. Differences in immunogenicity and safety were compared among different age cohorts, and multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate the effect of age and other factors on seroconversion and seroprotection.
Results
Overall, the geometric mean titers (GMTs) for all strains in the ≥ 65 age group were lower than those in the < 65 age group, whereas the seroconversion rates (SCRs) were similar. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that age, influenza vaccination history, and baseline HAI antibody titer were the main independent factors affecting seroconversion and seroprotection. Higher age was an unfavorable factor for seroconversion for H1N1 (OR, 0.971; 95% CI: 0.944–0.999; P = 0.042) and B/Victoria (OR, 0.964; 95% CI: 0.937–0.992; P = 0.011). All adverse events (AEs) were grade 1 or grade 2, occurred within 28 days after vaccination, and no serious adverse events occurred.
Conclusions
IIV4 was well-tolerated and immunogenic in healthy adults in Tianjin. Our findings also confirmed that age is an independent factor associated with a lower immune response to IIV4.
Recombinant FOXN1 fusion protein increases T cell generation in aged mice
Authors: Zhao Jin , Zhang Zhenzhen , Lai Kuan Chen , Lai Laijun
Published: February 2023

Background: Although the thymus continues to export T cells throughout life, it undergoes a profound involution/atrophy with age, resulting in decreased numbers of T cells in the older adult, which has direct etiological linkages with many diseases. T cell development in the thymus is dependent on the thymic microenvironment, in which thymic epithelial cells (TECs) are the major component. However, TECs undergo both a qualitative and quantitative loss during aging, which is believed to be the major factor responsible for age-dependent thymic atrophy. FOXN1 plays a critical role in TEC development and adult TECs maintenance. We have previously reported that intrathymic injection of a recombinant (r) protein containing FOXN1 and a protein transduction domain increases the number of TECs in mice, leading to enhanced thymopoiesis. However, intrathymic injection may not be an ideal choice for clinical applications. In this study, we produce a rFOXN1 fusion protein containing the N-terminal of CCR9, FOXN1 and a protein transduction domain.
Results: We show here that, when injected intravenously into aged mice, the rFOXN1 fusion protein migrates into the thymus and enhances thymopoiesis, resulting in increased T cell generation in the thymus and increased number of T cells in peripheral lymphoid organ.
Conclusions: Our results suggest that the rFOXN1 fusion protein has the potential to be used in preventing and treating T cell immunodeficiency in the older adult.
Challenges in small cetacean telemetry: an attempt at developing a remotely deployed attachment device for single-pin dorsal fin satellite transmitters
Authors: Balmer Brian C. , Westgate Andrew J. , McFee Wayne E.
Published: February 2023

Movement pattern and habitat use data are essential parameters for developing effective management strategies and successful conservation efforts for marine mammals across the world. Satellite telemetry is critical for collecting fine-scale, temporal and spatial data on individual animals that has broad-scale applicability at population and species levels. There have been significant advances in the remote deployment of satellite telemetry devices on large cetacean species. However, the development of comparable remote attachment methodologies for small cetaceans is still limited. Currently, satellite tag attachment for small cetaceans requires manual capture that increases the risk to the target animal, can be logistically challenging, and cost prohibitive. The goal of this project was to develop a novel tool to remotely attach single-pin satellite telemetry devices to the dorsal fin of individual small cetaceans. Three different spring-loaded designs and one pneumatic version of the remote attachment device were built in an iterative process to identify a successful deployment methodology. Ultimately, as a result of logistical challenges associated with a Category 5 hurricane, the COVID-19 pandemic, and engineering complexities related to dorsal fin morphology and small cetacean behavior, the objective of this project was not met. However, lessons learned from these attempts to develop this new sampling tool have applicability for future researchers in the successful completion of a safe and effective methodology for remote attachment of satellite tags to small cetacean dorsal fins.
Comparison of markerless and marker-based motion capture of gait kinematics in individuals with cerebral palsy and chronic stroke: A case study series
Authors: Steffensen Emily A. , Magalhães Fabrício , Knarr Brian A. , Kingston David C.
Published: February 2023

Background
Three-dimensional (3D) motion analysis is an advanced tool used to quantify movement patterns in adults with chronic stroke and children with cerebral palsy. However, gold-standard marker-based systems have limitations for implementation in clinical settings. Markerless motion capture using Theia3D may provide a more accessible and clinically feasible alternative, but its accuracy is unknown in clinical populations. The purpose of this study was to quantify kinematic differences between marker-based and markerless motion capture systems in individuals with gait impairments.
Methods
Three adults with chronic stroke and three children with cerebral palsy completed overground walking trials while marker-based and markerless motion capture data were synchronously recorded. Time-series waveforms of 3D ankle, knee, hip, and trunk angles were stride normalized and compared. Root mean squared error, maximum peak, minimum peak, and range of motion were used to assess discrete point differences. Pearson's correlation and coefficient of multiple correlation were computed to assess similarity between the time series joint angle waveforms from both systems.
Results
This study demonstrates that markerless motion capture using Theia3D produces good agreement with marker-based in the measurement of gait kinematics at most joints and anatomical planes in individuals with chronic stroke and cerebral palsy.
Conclusions
This is the first investigation to study the feasibility of Theia3D markerless motion capture for use in chronic stroke and cerebral palsy gait analysis. Our results indicate that markerless motion capture may be an acceptable tool to measure gait kinematics in clinical populations to provide clinicians with objective movement assessment data.
Optical observations of an ultrabright constellation satellite
Authors: Nandakumar Sangeetha , Eggl Siegfried , Tregloan-Reed Jeremy , Adam Christian , Anderson-Baldwin Jasmine , Bannister Michele , Battle Adam , Benkhaldoun Zouhair , Reddy Vishnu , Colque Juanpablo , Damke Guillermo , Frayn Ilse Plauchu , Ghachoui Mourad , Guillen Francisco , Kaeouach Aziz , Krantz Harrison , Langbroek Marco , Rattenbury Nicholas , Ridden-Harper Ryan , Young Brad , Unda-Sanzana Eduardo , Watson Alan , Barentine John , Benvenuti Piero , Vruno Federico Di , Peel Mike , Rawls Meredith , Walker Connie , Bassa Cees , Flores-Quintana Catalina , Garcia Pablo , Kim Sam , Longa-Perna Penelope , Ortiz Edgar , Otarola Angel , Romero María , Sanhueza Pedro , Siringo Giorgio , Soto Mario
Published: February 2023

Large constellations of bright artificial satellites in low Earth orbit pose significant challenges to ground-based astronomy [1]. Currently orbiting constellation satellites have visual brightnesses between apparent magnitudes 4 and 6, satellite operators, astronomers, and other users of the night sky are working on brightness mitigation strategies [2,3]. Here we report the outcome of an international optical observation campaign of a prototype constellation satellite, AST Space Mobile’s “BlueWalker 3”. BlueWalker 3 features a 64.3 m2 phased-array antenna, as well as a 10.0 m2 Launch Vehicle Adapter (LVA)1. The peak brightness of the satellite reached an apparent visual magnitude of 0.4. This made the new satellite one of the brightest objects in the night sky. With an apparent visual magnitude of 5.5, the LVA which jettisoned on 2022-11-10 (UT), for which an orbital ephemeris was not publicly released until four days later, was four times brighter than the current International Astronomical Union recommendation of magnitude 7 [2,5]. The expected build-out of constellations with tens of thousands of new, brighter objects will make active satellite tracking and avoidance strategies a necessity for ground-based telescopes. However, this requires a complete and highly accurate set of satellite orbits. For BlueWalker 3, we determine that at present these location predictions are only accurate to within 7.2 ± 3.1 arcmin.
[1] See https://apps.fcc.gov/els/GetAtt.html?id=265584&x=
Postoperative prolonged mechanical ventilation in patients with surgically treated pyogenic spondylodiscitis: a surrogate endpoint for early postoperative mortality
Authors: Scorzin Jasmin E. , Potthoff Anna-Laura , Lehmann Felix , Banat Mohamed , Borger Valeri , Schuss Patrick , Bode Christian , Vatter Hartmut , Schneider Matthias
Published: February 2023

Purpose
Surgical procedures with spinal instrumentation constitute a prevalent and occasionally highly indicated treatment modality in patients with pyogenic spondylodiscitis (PSD). However, surgical therapy might be associated with the need of prolonged postoperative intensive care medicine which in turn might impair intended operative benefit. We therefore analyzed prolonged mechanical ventilation (PMV) as an indicator variable for such intensive care treatment with regard to potential correlations with mortality in this vulnerable patient cohort.
Methods
Between 2012 and 2018, 177 consecutive patients received stabilization surgery for PSD at the authors’ neurosurgical department. PMV was defined as postoperative mechanical ventilation of more than 24 hours. A multivariable analysis was performed to identify independent predictors for 30-day mortality.
Results
23 out of 177 patients (13%) with PSD suffered from postoperative PMV. 30-day mortality rate was 5%. Multivariable analysis identified “spinal empyema” (p=0.02, Odds ratio (OR) 6.2, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.3-30.2), “Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) > 2” (p=0.04, OR 4.0, 95% CI 1.0-15.5), “early postoperative complications (PSIs)” (p=0.001, OR 17.1, 95% CI 3.1-96.0) and “PMV > 24 hrs” (p=0.002, OR 13.0, 95% CI 2.7-63.8) as significant and independent predictors for early postoperative mortality.
Conclusions
The present study indicates PMV to significantly correlate to elevated early postoperative mortality rates following stabilization surgery for PSD. These results might entail further scientific efforts to investigate PMV as a so far underestimated negative prognostic factor in the surgical treatment of PSD.
Voice Spoofing Attacks and Countermeasures: A Systematic Review, Analysis, and Experimental Evaluation
Authors: Khan Awais , Malik Khalid Mahmood , Ryan James , Saravanan Mikul
Published: February 2023

With the advent of automated speaker verification (ASV) systems comes an equal and opposite development: malicious actors may seek to use voice spoofing attacks to fool those same systems. Various countermeasures have been proposed to detect these spoofing attacks, but current offerings in this arena fall short of a unified solution. For this reason, defensive measures for ASV systems produced in the last 6-7 years need to be classified, and qualitative and quantitative comparisons of state-of-the-art (SOTA) countermeasures should be performed to assess the effectiveness of these systems against real-world attacks. Hence, in this work, we conduct a review of the literature on spoof-ing detection using hand-crafted features, deep learning, and end-to-end spoofing countermeasure solutions to detect logical access (LA) attacks, such as speech synthesis (SS) and voice conversion (VC), and physical access (PA) attacks, i.e., replay attacks. Additionally, we review integrated and unified solutions to voice spoofing evaluation and speaker verification, and adversarial and anti-forensic attacks on both voice countermeasures and ASV systems. In an extensive experimental analysis, the limitations and challenges of existing spoofing countermeasures are presented, the performance of these countermeasures on several datasets is reported, and cross-corpus evaluations are performed, something that is nearly absent in the existing literature, in order to assess the gen-eralizability of existing solutions. For the experiments, we employ the 1 Springer Nature 2021 L A T E X template Voice Spoofing Attacks and Countermeasures ASVspoof2019, ASVspoof2021, and VSDC datasets along with GMM, SVM, CNN, and CNN-GRU classifiers. (For reproducibility of the results, the code of the testbed can be found at our GitHub Repository *).
The intersection of biological sex and gender in adverse events following seasonal influenza vaccination in older adults
Authors: Shapiro Janna R. , Seddu Kumba , Park Han-Sol , Lee John S. , Creisher Patrick S. , Yin Anna , Shea Patrick , Kuo Helen , Li Huifen , Abrams Engle , Leng Sean X. , Morgan Rosemary , Klein Sabra L.
Published: February 2023

Background
Women/females report more adverse events (AE) following immunization than men/males for many vaccines, including the influenza and COVID-19 vaccines. This discrepancy is often dismissed as a reporting bias, yet the relative contributions of biological sex and gender are poorly understood. We investigated the roles of sex and gender in the rate of AE following administration of the high-dose seasonal influenza vaccine to older adults (≥ 75 years) using an AE questionnaire administered 5–8 days post-vaccination. Participant sex (male or female) was determined by self-report and a gender score questionnaire was used to assign participants to one of four gender categories (feminine, masculine, androgynous, or undifferentiated). Sex steroid hormones and inflammatory cytokines were measured in plasma samples collected prior to vaccination to elucidate a possible biological mechanism for the AE reported.
Results
A total of 423 vaccines were administered to 173 participants over four influenza seasons (2019-22) and gender data were available for 339 of these vaccinations (2020-22). At least one AE was reported following 105 vaccinations (25%), by 23 males and 82 females. The majority of AE occurred at the site of injection, were mild, and transient. The odds of experiencing an AE were 3-fold greater in females than males and decreased with age to a greater extent in females than males. The effects of gender, however, were not statistically significant, supporting a central role of biological sex in the occurrence of AE. In males, estradiol was significantly associated with IL-6 and with the probability of experiencing an AE. Both associations were absent in females, suggesting a sex-specific effect of estradiol on the occurrence of AE that supports the finding of a biological sex difference.
Conclusions
These data support a larger role for biological sex than for gender in the occurrence of AE following influenza vaccination in older adults and provide an initial investigation of hormonal mechanisms that may mediate this sex difference. This study highlights the complexities of measuring gender and the importance of assessing AE separately for males and females to better understand how vaccination strategies can be tailored to different subsets of the population.
A Methodology for Analyzing Metro Team Cooperation Errors Based on Complex Network Theory
Authors: Guo Jun , Wang Jie
Published: February 2023

For complex metro systems to operate efficiently, effective cooperation among teams is needed. Many accidents happen due to control failure caused by team errors during cooperation. Improving the efficiency of teamwork not only focuses on the team’s organizational structure and teamwork procedure, but also stresses each workers’ state during cooperation, because personal errors or interactions errors may lead to the collaboration failure. Combining the theory of human error and the complex network theory, this paper proposes a method to identify team errors and explore the mechanisms of team error during teamwork in the metro systems. Team cooperation is decomposed into each team member’s information process and interactions among human, machines and the environment, which are connected by a collection of information flows in the task. The TICN (Teamwork Information Complex Network) is established, in which information state of individual and interactions within agents are represented by nodes, and information flows are represented by directed edges. Then, vulnerable information states causing teamwork failure are identified by analyzing the degree centrality and betweenness centrality of the complex network. In the end, the model is applied to a specific emergency. The result shows that team members need enhanced skill-based level cognitive ability, the station supervisor needs a thorough understanding of the management system and rules, the decision-maker has to make and communicate decisions concisely, and the communication equipment should be adjusted and designed according to ergonomic requirements. Based on the results, some suggestions were put forward to improve the team performance in the metro system.
Optimizing the expression and characterization of a thermostable ssDNA ligase from a Thermus scotoductus bacteriophage TS2126
Authors: Ma Zhenxia , Chen Han , Yang Yao , Gao Siyi , Yang Jiaping , Deng Bowen , Cui Shihai , Zhou Shiyuan , Jiang Boyang , Yang Chenfang , Zou Bin , Sun Mingjuan , Wang Lianghua
Published: February 2023

Although aptamers are widely used in various biomedical areas as novel molecular recognition elements, they are degraded by nucleases in biological fluids due to short single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) or RNA oligonucleotides. Research shows that this problem can be solved by circularizing aptamers with circular ligases, which can catalyze the intramolecular ligation of ssDNA templates with 5'-phosphate and 3'-hydroxyl groups. Herein, a thermostable ssDNA ligase was successfully expressed and purified for subsequent aptamer cyclization. The purified ligase showed good circularization activity for substrates with different lengths and had much higher circularization efficiency than T4 RNA ligase 1. Moreover, circularization reaction conditions, such as the concentration of MnCl2, enzyme and betaine, were studied to ascertain the optimal conditions for the catalytic reaction. The results indicated that the highest ligating activity occurred at MnCl2, enzyme and betaine concentrations of 1.25–2.5 mM, 0.02 mM and 1 М, respectively. Based on these, templates with different terminal nucleotides were tested to assess the sequence dependence of ligase. The results show that the efficiency of circularization is sequence dependent, in which 5'-G and 3'-T are the terminal nucleotides most favored by ligase. Finally, the stability asssy further confirmed that the circular aptamer was more stable than its linear form in biological fluids.
Continuous-Time System H ∞ Control Based on Dynamic Quantization and Event-triggered Mechanism
Authors: Wang Xiao-Yan , xiaoheng chang
Published: February 2023

The H∞ state feedback control problem of Takagi-Sugneo (T-S) fuzzy system with dynamic quantization and event-triggered mechanism is studied in this paper. Based on T-S fuzzy model, a new quantization scheme is proposed to solve the problem of synchronous quantiza-tion and event-triggered mechanism in continuous-time system. A new event-triggered communication scheme is proposed to improve the utilization rate of network resources. The sufficient conditions for the stability of H∞ state feedback control are given by means of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by a simulation of the spring-mass-damping system.
RCTrep: An R Package for the Validation of Estimates of Average Treatment Effects
Authors: Shen Lingjie , Geleijnse Gijs , Kaptein Maurits
Published: February 2023

Despite the recent development of numerous methods aiming to estimate individual-level treatment effects based on observational data, understanding the validity of these estimates remains challenging. Often it is unclear whether the observational data meet the assumptions imposed by the method. Additionally, there is often large flexibility in model choice when implementing a given method. We present the R package RCTrep designed to make it easy to compare and validate estimates of (conditional) average treatment effects obtained using observational data by a) making it easy to obtain and visualize estimates derived using a large variety of methods, and b) ensuring that estimates are easily compared to a gold standard (i.e., estimates derived from randomized controlled trials). RCTrep offers a generic protocol for treatment effect validation based on four simple steps, namely, set-selection, estimation, diagnosis, and validation. The package provides a simple dashboard to review the obtained results. This article presents design of RCTrep and serves as a user guide for researchers aiming to leverage the potential of observational data.
Brightness perception under photopic conditions - experiments and modeling with contributions of S-cone and ipRGC
Authors: Khanh Tran Quoc , Bodrogi Peter , Zandi Babak , Trinh Vinh Quang
Published: February 2023

In 1931, the CIE published and standardised the photopic luminous efficiency function. Based on these standardized curves,luminous flux in lumens, luminance in cd/m2, and illuminance in lux are determined by an integral of these curves and theincident light spectra in photometers and are considered as a physical brightness. However, human brightness perception isnot only weighted by this simple determination, but is a more complicated combination of all L-cones, M-cones, S-cones, rods,and later ipRGCs, which was partly illustrated by the equivalent brightness of Fotios et al. with the correction factor (S/V)0.24.Recently, new researches have mentioned the role of ipRGCs in the human brightness perception. However, it is still unclearhow these signal components of the human visual system are involved in overall human brightness perception. In this work, thehuman brightness perception under photopic conditions was studied by experimenting with 28 subjects under 25 different lightspectra. These spectra were varied not only in brightness but also in spectral geometry. In this way, the contributions of thesignal components can be investigated. Subsequently, an optimization process was performed with the obtained database. Theresults show that not only the photopic component, but also the S-cones and ipRGC play their role, although it is smaller. Thus,the visually scaled brightness model based on the database optimization was constructed with not only illuminance but alsoS-cones and ipRGC with R2 of 0.9554 and RMSE of 4.7802. These results are much better than the Fotios-based brightnessmodel with only S-cones (R2 = 0.8161, RMSE = 9.7123) and the traditional model without S-cones and ipRGC (R2 = 0.8121,RMSE = 9.8171). It also suggests that a "blue-sensitive" signal (S or G=ipRGC or their combination) should be given seriousenough attention in the human brightness perception, and a more comprehensive study is needed to investigate it more deeply.
Measuring nitrate concentration in surface waters with a microfluidic device facilitated by a miniaturized capacitive deionization cell
Authors: Zhang Hang , Zhao Ran , Yang Ying , Liu Yingwei , Han Linchen
Published: February 2023

Excessive nitrate in surface waters poses a great threat to the health of human beings. Traditional measuring tools require either hazardous chemicals or organic matter compensation. In this work, we proposed an online microfluidic device incorporated with a miniaturized capacitive deionization cell that separates organic matter and nitrate ions before the measurement and afterwards determines the nitrate concentration with a 235-nm LED. The optimal operational parameter setting, which is a combination of 600-s charging duration and 0.5-V cell potential, was also obtained in order to achieve the maximum fractionation of nitrate ions. Promising results were obtained by our new approach, revealing that this device could serve as a functional and effective tool for the determination of nitrate concentration in surface water.
Shikimate Kinase Inhibitors: An Update on Promising Strategy against Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Authors: Rajput Vikrant Singh , Khan Inshad Ali , Runthala Ashish
Published: February 2023

Humanity has been battling with tuberculosis (TB) for a long period, and despite the availability of drugs well-known to act against the deadly microbe, the menace is still very far from reaching its end. Moreover, problems related to TB chemotherapy, such as lengthy treatment peri-ods leading to poor patient compliance, increasing drug resistance, and association with another deadlier disease HIV-AIDS, make the situation alarming, thereby pressing the need for the discov-ery of new potent drugs urgently. Therefore, a drug target that is essential for survival and exclusive to M. tuberculosis presents a promising platform to explore novel molecules against the microor-ganism for better pathogen clearance with minimal toxicity. The shikimate pathway that leads to the synthesis of essential aromatic amino acids is one such attractive target. Shikimate kinase, the fifth enzyme of this pathway, converts shikimate to shikimate-3-phosphate by using ATP as a co-substrate. Targeting shikimate kinase could be an effective strategy in light of its essentiality and absence of any homologue in mammals. This review discusses different strategies adopted for dis-covering novel compounds or scaffolds targeting M. tuberculosis shikimate kinase (MtSK) in vitro. The application of substrate analogues, their structure, and ligand-based approach for screening a library of anti-mycobacterial compounds, marine-derived molecules, and commercially available libraries have yielded promising MtSK inhibitors exhibiting micro-molar activities. To develop these leads into future drugs with minimum off-target effects on the host microenvironment, the molecules need to be structurally optimized for improved activities against enzymes and whole-cell organisms.
The Biological Characteristics of Eutopic and Ectopic Endometrial
Progenitor Cells in Endometriosis
Authors: Zhang Qingxia , Liang Jing , Xu Dongkui , Gao Ting , Zhang Jinku , Liang Haiyan , Wang Wenhui , Ling Bin , Feng Dingqing
Published: February 2023

Aim:

The aim of this study was to identify the biological characteristics and potential roles of
endometrial progenitor cells in the pathogenesis of endometriosis.

Background:

It is generally believed that progenitor cells in human endometrium are responsible for
rapid endometrial regeneration. However, the biological characteristics and potential roles of the paired
eutopic and ectopic endometrial progenitor cells in endometriosis remain unclear.

Objective:

This study intends to isolate the epithelial progenitor (EP) cells and endometrial mesenchymal
stem cells (eMSCs) from the eutopic and ectopic endometria from endometriosis patients, further to
reveal their features and functions respectively.

Methods:

The distributions of EP cells and eMSCs and the expression of steroid hormone receptors in the
endometrium and endometriotic tissues were assessed by immunohistochemistry. EP cells and eMSCs were
sorted from paired eutopic and ectopic endometria with epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) magnetic
beads. The clonogenicity, cell viability after being treated with estradiol and progesterone, and cell markers
expression were evaluated with colony forming on Matrigel, CCK-8 and immunofluorescence staining,
respectively. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were further identified with RNA sequencing.

Results:

SSEA-1- and PDGFRβ-positive cells were distributed in the epithelial and stromal layers. The
ERβ staining was much more intense in endometriotic tissues, but PR expression was almost absent. The
ectopic EP cells exhibit strong clonogenicity and ERβ expression but weak PR expression, leading to
progesterone resistance. There are 12604 and 13242 DEGs revealed by RNA sequencing between eutopic
and ectopic EP cells or eMSCs. GO and KEGG analyses revealed that the functions and pathways of
DEGs enriched in cellular energy metabolism and regulation of the immune response, respectively. Additionally,
ERβ targets were mainly enriched in ectopic EP cells.

Conclusion:

Both EP cells and eMSCs may engage in ectopic lesion formation in endometriosis by modifying
the metabolic mode and immune tolerance. These data not only help to understand the molecular
mechanism of endometriosis but also could potentially contribute to the discovery of therapeutic targets
for endometriosis.
Efektifitas Penggunaan Ekstrak Daun Ketapang Kering Sebagai Additive dalam Air Minum Terhadap Produksi Karkas Ayam Broiler
Authors: Suprijatna Edjeng , Maâ€™rifah Binti , Rahmadhani Dian Ninda
Published: February 2023

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui untuk mengevaluasi pemanfaatan ekstrak daun ketapang kering (Terminalia cattapa L.) sebagai additive dalam air minum terhadap bobot hidup, bobot dan presentase karkas, non karkas dan lemak abdominal. Penelitian ini menggunakan ayam broiler unsex strain Ross sebanyak 200 berumur 14 hari dengan bobot badan awal rata â€“ rata 546,85Â±20,28 g. Pakan yang digunakan yaitu pakan ayam broiler komersil fase starter CP 511. Metode yang digunakan adalah Rancangan Acak Lengkap (RAL), dengan 5 perlakuan dan 5 kali ulangan yaitu : T0 (tanpa ekstrak cair daun ketapang kering), T1 (1% ekstrak cair daun ketapang kering dalam air minum), T2 (1,5% ekstrak cair daun ketapang kering dalam air minum), T3 (2% ekstrak cair daun ketapang kering dalam air minum) dan T4 (2,5% ekstrak cair daun ketapang kering dalam air minum). Data yang diperoleh dianalisis menggunakan prosedur analisis ragam dengan uji F pada taraf 5% dilanjutkan dengan uji jarak berganda Duncan (p<0,05). Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa perlakuan tidak berpengaruh nyata (p>0,05) terhadap peningkatan bobot hidup, bobot dan persentase bobot karkas, non karkas dan penurunan lemak abdominal. Kesimpulan yaitu pemberian pemberian ekstrak cair daun ketapang kering sebagai additive dalam air minum dengan dosis 1% â€“ 2,5% dinilai tidak efektif terhadap peningkatan produksi karkas ayam broiler.
Trazabilidad de los bultos de cacao mediante el sistema RFID, soportado en el uso de series de tiempo bajo la arquitectura del IoT
Authors: Vesga Ferreira Juan Carlos , Contreras Higuera Martha Fabiola , Vesga Barrera José Antonio
Published: February 2023

Diversas organizaciones han expresado la necesidad de contar con un sistema de base tecnológica para monitorear y gestionar la trazabilidad del cacao durante el proceso de fabricación del chocolate. Por lo anterior, el objetivo del presente estudio fue desarrollar un sistema rfid (Radio Frequency IDentification) bajo la arquitectura del IoT, que realiza la trazabilidad de los bultos de cacao dentro del proceso de producción de chocolate mediante el uso de series de tiempo. Para ello, se diseñó un dispositivo capaz de realizar registros y consultas en un servidor donde se puede verificar la información de cada bulto de cacao, al momento de ser recibido y almacenado en el centro de acopio, mediante una arquitectura cliente/servidor y una tecnología rfid. Adicionalmente, se incorpora un desarrollo web con capacidad de realizar el proceso de análisis y modelamiento de las condiciones ambientales durante el almacenamiento del cacao, soportado en el uso del modelo de Holt-Winters. El sistema desarrollado de bajo costo realiza el registro, el control y el monitoreo de los procesos relacionados con la trazabilidad del cacao en la gestión del almacenamiento de manera eficiente, en términos de: contenido de humedad, peso, impurezas, granos defectuosos, granos bien fermentados, entre otros. Este modelo de Holt-Winters propuesto puede ser considerado como una herramienta de predicción para la temperatura y la humedad relativa, para mejorar la trazabilidad del cacao a un nivel de ajuste superior a 0,9; bajo error estándar de estimación y un nivel de confianza del 95 %.
How Does ChatGPT Perform on the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE)? The Implications of Large Language Models for Medical Education and Knowledge Assessment
Authors: Gilson Aidan , Safranek Conrad W , Huang Thomas , Socrates Vimig , Chi Ling , Taylor Richard Andrew , Chartash David
Published: February 2023

Background

Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT) is a 175-billion-parameter natural language processing model that can generate conversation-style responses to user input.

Objective

This study aimed to evaluate the performance of ChatGPT on questions within the scope of the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1 and Step 2 exams, as well as to analyze responses for user interpretability.

Methods

We used 2 sets of multiple-choice questions to evaluate ChatGPT’s performance, each with questions pertaining to Step 1 and Step 2. The first set was derived from AMBOSS, a commonly used question bank for medical students, which also provides statistics on question difficulty and the performance on an exam relative to the user base. The second set was the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) free 120 questions. ChatGPT’s performance was compared to 2 other large language models, GPT-3 and InstructGPT. The text output of each ChatGPT response was evaluated across 3 qualitative metrics: logical justification of the answer selected, presence of information internal to the question, and presence of information external to the question.

Results

Of the 4 data sets, AMBOSS-Step1, AMBOSS-Step2, NBME-Free-Step1, and NBME-Free-Step2, ChatGPT achieved accuracies of 44% (44/100), 42% (42/100), 64.4% (56/87), and 57.8% (59/102), respectively. ChatGPT outperformed InstructGPT by 8.15% on average across all data sets, and GPT-3 performed similarly to random chance. The model demonstrated a significant decrease in performance as question difficulty increased (P=.01) within the AMBOSS-Step1 data set. We found that logical justification for ChatGPT’s answer selection was present in 100% of outputs of the NBME data sets. Internal information to the question was present in 96.8% (183/189) of all questions. The presence of information external to the question was 44.5% and 27% lower for incorrect answers relative to correct answers on the NBME-Free-Step1 (P<.001) and NBME-Free-Step2 (P=.001) data sets, respectively.

Conclusions

ChatGPT marks a significant improvement in natural language processing models on the tasks of medical question answering. By performing at a greater than 60% threshold on the NBME-Free-Step-1 data set, we show that the model achieves the equivalent of a passing score for a third-year medical student. Additionally, we highlight ChatGPT’s capacity to provide logic and informational context across the majority of answers. These facts taken together make a compelling case for the potential applications of ChatGPT as an interactive medical education tool to support learning.
Game Elements in the Design of Simulations in Military Trauma Management Training: Protocol for a Systematic Review
Authors: Stathakarou Natalia , Kononowicz Andrzej A , Swain Cara , Karlgren Klas
Published: February 2023

Background

Military trauma teams are commonly operating in civilian hospitals during peacetime; in a war situation they must adjust their practices to the austere conditions. Simulations can replicate austere conditions to allow training in a safe environment that tolerates errors. Gamification, understood as the use of game elements to motivate and engage learners in nongame contexts, is gaining interest in medical education and military training. Applying game elements in the design of military trauma management simulations has the potential to provide learners with active learning opportunities and prepare them for providing medical services under austere conditions. Although gamification is known for its engaging and motivational benefits, there are controversies about its pedagogical value. The controversies can be attributed to the fact that various gamification strategies may consist of a different combination of game elements, leading to different outcomes.

Objective

This systematic review aims to understand how game elements are used in the design of simulations in military trauma management training and their reported outcomes.

Methods

We have designed a search strategy for the purpose of the review. Two researchers will independently assess the identified studies based on the defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The selection process will be represented using a PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) flow diagram. The search will be repeated and updated as necessary prior to publication of the review. Two reviewers will independently extract and manage the data for each of the articles using a structured data extraction form. Any disagreement that arises between reviewers will be resolved through discussion, and a third review author will be consulted when needed. We are going to conduct a thematic synthesis of the extracted game element descriptions. The results are going to be presented in a diagrammatic or tabular form, alongside a narrative summary. The quality of the studies will be assessed.

Results

We implemented and tested the developed search strategy in May 2023. We retrieved 1168 study abstracts, which were reduced to 630 abstracts after deduplication. We have piloted the screening on 20% (126/630) of the identified abstracts in groups of 2 reviewers.

Conclusions

Although gamification has the potential to motivate learners in various ways, there is a lack of understanding about specific game elements and how they can inform instructional design in different contexts. Our findings will increase the understanding of how game elements are used in the design of simulations in military trauma management training and, thus, contribute to more effective development of future simulations.

International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)

DERR1-10.2196/45969
Teaching in the New Normal through the Lenses of English Teachers
Authors: B. Nedamo Natashia-Ann , Pineda Jesusa E.
Published: February 2023

This study looked into the challenges that two Senior High School teachers of English and four Junior High School teachers who taught in a Schools Division in one of the cities in the Philippines encountered in teaching English to high school students, into their coping strategies, and into the insights they gained into such experiences vis-à-vis lesson preparation, lesson delivery, modular teaching modality, and assessment of students’ outputs in the New Normal during the School Year 2020-2021. Narrative research design was employed, and thematic analysis was used to identify, analyze, and interpret patterns of meaning within the data provided by the participants who composed the entire population. The findings reveal the following themes that were gleaned from the participants’ responses. As for the challenges the participants encountered, the following themes were obtained: (1) Preparing Learning Activities that Best Suit Students’ Needs; (2) Finding Ways and Means to Reach Out to Students; (3) Lack of Supervision Engenders Unanswered Retrieved Modules or Unreturned Modules; and (4) Ensuring the Authenticity of Students’ Answers. As regards the coping strategies the participants employed in dealing with the challenges they encountered, the following themes were derived: 1) Functioning at an Optimal Level by Engaging in Favorable Plans of Action; (2) Strategizing Ways to Promote Transfer of Learning; (3) Exuding Optimism and Providing Avenues to Facilitate Distance Learning; and (4) Making Room for Students to Submit Well-thought-out Outputs. With respect to the insight gained by the participants into the challenges they came up against and into the coping strategies they utilized to face up to those challenges, the following themes were attained: (1) Flexible and Enthusiastic Teaching Lead to Successful Lesson Planning; (2); Communication, Creativity, and Corroboration Foster Comprehension Amongst Students (3) Communication and Patience Cultivate an Environment Conducive to Modular Distance Learning; and (4) Devising a Course of Action for Evaluating Students’ Work is Propitious. Indeed, the teachers had the fortitude to face the difficulties that the New Normal brought and discovered that communication, creativity, corroboration, patience, and a plan for evaluating students' outputs could all contribute to effective teaching and learning.
Hacia un derecho electoral sindical
Authors: Reynoso Castillo Carlos
Published: February 2023

Uno de los temas centrales en la reciente reforma laboral en México fue el marco jurídico de los sindicatos, en donde el respeto a la opinión de los trabajadores ocupa un lugar importante. En este trabajo se explican los diferentes mecanismos de participación democrática con los que ahora contarán los trabajadores para que su punto de vista sea tomado en cuenta en temas trascendentes, como la elección de las directivas sindicales, la contratación colectiva y la huelga.
Sistema de salud: garantía institucional del derecho a la protección de la salud en México
Authors: Vargas Ruiz María Magaly
Published: February 2023

En México, el derecho a la salud está protegido constitucionalmente; impone al Estado una obligación progresiva, sujeta a la capacidad financiera. El sistema de salud es la garantía institucional para su instrumentación; este sistema fue reformado recientemente, el 29 de noviembre de 2019, con objeto de otorgar gratuitamente servicios de salud, medicamentos y demás insumos a la población sin seguridad social, así como para lograr la adecuada integración y articulación de sus instituciones.

El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar el sistema de salud mexicano como responsable de la garantía institucional del derecho a la salud. Para ello, se realizó un análisis legislativo de la reforma a la legislación relacionada con la protección del derecho a la salud, comparado con la inmediata anterior. Resultados. Se encontró que la última reforma del sistema de salud implicaría una importante modificación estructural, así como de sus fuentes de financiamiento; sin embargo, al no modificarse de forma sustancial la organización del sistema de salud, se limita a un cambio normativo influenciado por el contexto político y sus principales actores, más que por la necesidad de garantizar institucionalmente el derecho a la salud hacia la cobertura universal independientemente del estatus laboral o del tipo de ciudadanía. La inclusión de los derechos fundamentales en el ámbito de la salud implica la implementación de políticas públicas dirigidas al acceso universal y equitativo a la salud; sin embargo, la fragmentación del sistema de salud es todavía el principal reto.
In vitro antifungal evaluation of L-ascorbic acid (vitamin C) towards Monilia frucigena, Alternaria solani and Venturia inaequalis
Authors:   Agricultural University-Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Ganchev Donyo
Published: February 2023

In vitro antifungal tests with one of the most popular medical substance in the world – L – ascorbic acid, widely known as vitamin C, were conducted with three of the most spread plant pathogens in Bulgaria: Monilia frucigena, Alternaria solani and Venturia inaequalis in order to evaluate the direct antifungal action of the acid used in agriculture as ISR promoter (phytovaccine). The expression of pesticide action of ISR promoters is not unusual unlike the vaccines for the animals and humans. Conducted tests shows the strong antifungal activity of L – ascorbic acid towards mycelium and conidiospores of Alternaria solani and Venturia inaequalis and a very weak antifungal action towards Monilia frucigena which means that vitamin C can be used as a direct fungicide agent and phytovaccine in the pest management simultaneously. The substance has excellent water solubility which make is very appropriate for formulation as a plant protection product.
Stability evaluation of biodiesel supplemented with synthetic and bio-based antioxidants by a pressurized accelerated oxidation method
Authors: Djurisic-Mladenovic Natasa , Tomic Milan , Pajin Biljana , Buljovcic Maja , Loncarevic Ivana , Rankov-Sicar Milica
Published: February 2023

This work examines pressurized accelerated oxidation by a RapidOxy tester as an alternative method for determination of biodiesel oxidation stability. Sunflower oil-based biodiesel was synthesized and treated with antioxidants: tert-butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) - a synthetic antioxidant known for its powerful protective effect, and a mixture of bio-based antioxidant compounds extracted from vinery waste, VWEeth. The antioxidant potency of TBHQ was evaluated at varying temperatures (110 - 140 ?C) and concentrations (250 - 2,000 mg dm-3) by the RapidOxy method; assessment of selected results was performed by comparison with relevant data obtained by the standard Rancimat method. VWEeth was added in two high dosages to biodiesel (87,500 and 150,000 mg dm-3) and analyzed at 140?C by the RapidOxy method. Both antioxidants at all applied dosages showed beneficial effects on improving the oxidative stability of biodiesel, but not all of the achieved improvements reached the stability minimum identified by the EN14214 standard. The lowest addition of TBHQ seemed to have a similar effect as the tested dosages of VWEeth but these additions did not increase the induction period above the limit of 8 h; two-fold higher quantity of TBHQ was successful in this respect, increasing the initial oxidation stability by a factor of about 2, which was determined by both methods. The RapidOxy method proved to be a very fast method suitable for testing a large number of samples, which is particularly important for efficient testing of different types and doses of antioxidants.
Zeus and Hera Souideptēnoi: The sanctuary at Belava mountain near Turres/Pirot
Authors: Gavrilovic-Vitas Nadezda , Dana Dan
Published: February 2023

In the border zone between the Roman provinces of Upper Moesia and Thrace a sanctuary dedicated to Zeus and Hera, defined by the toponymic epithet Souidept?noi, was discovered on the Belava mountain, near Turres (today?s Pirot). The sanctuary presumably encompassed a temenos, an altar and two smaller temples, oriented east-west, with the entrance on the eastern side. Unfortunately, illegal excavations were conducted on the area of the sanctuary by thieves, who stole the small reliefs offered to the deities venerated in the sanctuary, of which the authors of this paper could obtain the data of 31 fragmented votive plates, most of them inscribed. A variety of iconographic schemas, especially the standing divine couple or Zeus and Hera in quadriga, as well as the combination of three onomastics stocks (Thracian, Greek and Latin) illustrate the diversity of traditions and the cultural interferences at work during imperial times. It can be presumed that the sanctuary dedicated to Zeus and Hera Souidept?noi existed from the 2nd to the end of the 3rd or the beginning of the 4th century.