bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Long Non-coding RNA HOTAIR in Central Nervous System Disorders: New Insights in Pathogenesis, Diagnosis, and Therapeutic Potential
Authors: Wang Jialu , Zhao Jiuhan , Hu Pan , Gao Lianbo , Tian Shen , He Zhenwei
Published: June 2022

Central nervous system (CNS) disorders, such as ischemic stroke, neurodegenerative diseases, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury, and corresponding neuropathological changes, often lead to death or long-term disability. Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) is a class of non-coding RNA with a transcription length over 200 nt and transcriptional regulation. lncRNA is extensively involved in physiological and pathological processes through epigenetic, transcription, and post-transcriptional regulation. Further, dysregulated lncRNA is closely related to the occurrence and development of human diseases, including CNS disorders. HOX Transcript antisense RNA (HOTAIR) is the first discovered lncRNA with trans-transcriptional regulation. Recent studies have shown that HOTAIR may participate in the regulation of the occurrence and development of CNS disorders. In addition, HOTAIR has the potential to become a new biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis assessment of CNS disorders and even provide a new therapeutic target for CNS disorders. Here, we reviewed the research results of HOTAIR in CNS disorders to provide new insights into the pathogenesis, diagnostic value, and therapeutic target potential of HOTAIR in human CNS disorders.
Astrocyte: A Foe or a Friend in Intellectual Disability-Related Diseases
Authors: Wang Busong , Zou Lu , Li Min , Zhou Liang
Published: June 2022

Intellectual disabilities are a type of neurodevelopmental disease caused by neurological dysfunction. Their incidence is largely associated with neural development. Astrocytes are the most widely distributed cells in the mammalian brain. Previous studies have reported that astrocytes only supported and separated the neurons in the brain. However, recent studies have found that they also play an important role in neural development. Understanding the astrocyte mechanism in intellectual development disorder-related diseases will help provide new therapeutic targets for the treatment of intellectual disability-related diseases. This mini-review introduced the association between astrocyte and intellectual disabilities. Furthermore, recent advances in genetic and environmental factors causing intellectual disability and different pharmaceutical effects of intellectual disability-related drugs on astrocytes have been summarised. Finally, we discussed future perspectives of astrocyte-based therapy for intellectual disability.
Association of Dietary Vitamin K Intake With Cognition in the Elderly
Authors: Wang Anni , Zhao Meng , Luo Jia , Zhang Tianhao , Zhang Dongfeng
Published: June 2022

Several previous studies discussed the association between vitamin K (VK) status and cognition. But the association between dietary VK consumption and cognitive performance in the elderly was not well understood. Therefore, we investigated the correlation between dietary VK intake and the cognition of the elderly. Our research used the data of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2011 to 2014. The dietary intake of VK was assessed by two 24-h dietary recalls. The cognitive function was measured in the survey of NHANES, including the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer’s disease Word Learning subtest (CERAD W-L), Animal Fluency Test (AFT), and Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST). Logistic regression and restricted cubic spline models were applied to assess the relationship between dietary VK intake and cognition. Compared with the lowest dietary VK intake group, the multivariate-adjusted odds ratio (OR) [95% confidence interval (95% CI)] of low CERAD W-L score for the highest intake group was 0.39 (0.26–0.60), the multivariate-adjusted OR (95% CI) of low AFT score was 0.59 (0.38–0.92), and the multivariate-adjusted OR (95% CI) of low DSST score was 0.44 (0.29–0.65), respectively. There was an L-shaped dose–response relationship between dietary VK intake and low CERAD W-L score. There was a linear dose–response relationship between dietary VK intake and low AFT score, and there was also a linear dose–response relationship for the low DSST score. In addition, we also found a negative association between VK from vegetables and the risk of low CERAD W-L scores. Dietary VK intake and VK intake from vegetables were inversely related to the risk of low cognitive performance of the elderly.
Potential Use of Emerging Technologies for Preservation of Rice Wine and Their Effects on Quality: Updated Review
Authors: Pei Jinjin , Liu Zhe , Huang Yigang , Geng Jingzhang , Li Xinsheng , Ramachandra Sisitha , Udeshika Amali Alahakoon , Brennan Charles , Tao Yanduo
Published: June 2022

Rice wine, a critical fermented alcoholic beverage, has a considerable role in different cultures. It contains compounds that may have functional and nutritional health benefits. Bacteria, yeasts, and fungi commonly found in rice wines during fermentation can induce microbial spoilage and deterioration of the quality during its distribution and aging processes. It is possible to control the microbial population of rice wines using different preservation techniques that can ultimately improve their commercial shelf life. This paper reviews the potential techniques that can be used to preserve the microbial safety of rice wines while maintaining their quality attributes and further highlights the advantages and disadvantages of each technique.
Effect of Traditional Stir-Frying on the Characteristics and Quality of Mutton Sao Zi
Authors: Bai Shuang , You Liqin , Wang Yongrui , Luo Ruiming
Published: June 2022

The effects of stir-frying stage and time on the formation of Maillard reaction products (MRP) and potentially hazardous substances with time in stir-fried mutton sao zi were investigated. Furosine, fluorescence intensity, Nε-(1-carboxymethyl)-L-lysine (CML), Nε-(1-carboxyethyl)-L-lysine (CEL), polyaromatic hydrocarbons PAHs), heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAAs), and acrylamides (AA) mainly presented were of stir-fried mutton sao zi. The furosine decreased after mixed stir-frying (MSF) 160 s due to its degradation as the Maillard reaction (MR) progressed. The fluorescent compound gradually increased with time during the stir-frying process. The CML and CEL peaked in MSF at 200 s. AA reached its maximum at MSF 120 s and then decreased. All the 5 HAAs were detected after MSF 200 s, suggesting that stir-frying mutton sao zi was at its best before MSF for 200 s. When stir-frying exceeded the optimal processing time of (MSF 160 s) 200 s, the benzo[a]pyrene peaked at 0.82 μg/kg, far lower than the maximum permissible value specified by the Commission of the European Communities. Extended stir-frying promoted MRP and some hazardous substances, but the content of potentially hazardous substances was still within the safety range for food.
Exploring Acrylamide and 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural Formation in Glucose-Asparagine-Linoleic Acid System With a Kinetic Model Approach
Authors: Ma Yingjie , Long You , Li Feng , Zhang Yan , Gan Bei , Yu Qiang , Xie Jianhua , Chen Yi
Published: June 2022

In the “glucose-asparagine-linoleic acid” ternary system, a kinetic model approach was used to explore formation and elimination law of target hazards, including acrylamide (AA) and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF), and their related precursors and intermediate products. The results showed that the elimination of glucose and asparagine and the formation of fructose (generated from glucose isomerization), 3-deoxyglucosone (3-DG), methylglyoxal (MGO), and glyoxal (GO), AA and 5-HMF followed first-order reaction kinetics with high fit coefficients (R2 > 0.9). In addition, the kinetic reaction rate constants increased as the increasing temperature, and all models followed the Arrhenius law. Results of statistical correlations analysis suggested that at lower temperature, the generic amino acid route and the specific amino acid route may paly crucial roles for the formation of AA and 5-HMF, while at high temperature a linoleic acid pathway may be predominantly involved.
Knockdown of hnRNPA1 Promotes NSCLC Metastasis and EMT by Regulating Alternative Splicing of LAS1L exon 9
Authors: Han Peng , Cao Peng , Yue Jiaqi , Kong Kangle , Hu Shan , Deng Yu , Li Lequn , Li Fan , Zhao Bo
Published: June 2022

Tumor metastasis is still an insurmountable obstacle in tumor treatment. Lung cancer represents one of the most common malignancies with high morbidity worldwide. hnRNPA1 has been reported to be involved in the regulation of tumor metastasis, while its specific role in tumor metastasis seems to be controversial and its molecular mechanism in lung cancer metastasis remains to be further elucidated. In this study, we confirmed that knockdown of the hnRNPA1 led to enhanced migration, invasion and EMT transition in lung cancer cells. Bioinformatics analysis of the GSE34992 dataset revealed that hnRNPA1 may regulate the alternative splicing (AS) of LAS1L exon 9. Further AGE assays and RIP assays revealed that hnRNPA1 can directly bind to the LAS1L pre-mRNA to inhibit the splicing of LAS1L exon 9. The RNA pull-down assays showed that hnRNPA1 can specifically bind to the two sites (UAGGGU(WT1) and UGGGGU(WT3)) of LAS1L Intron 9. Further Transwell assays indicated that the expression ratio of LAS1L-L/LAS1L-S regulated by hnRNPA1 can further promote the migration, invasion and EMT transition in lung cancer cells. Moreover, hnRNPA1 expression showed significant heterogeneity in lung cancer tissues, which may contain new research directions and potential therapeutic targets. Our results indicate that hnRNPA1 can affect the metastasis of lung cancer cells by modulating the AS of LAS1L exon 9, highlighting the potential significance of hnRNPA1 in lung cancer metastasis.
Multidrug Resistance in Cancer: Understanding Molecular Mechanisms, Immunoprevention and Therapeutic Approaches
Authors: Emran Talha Bin , Shahriar Asif , Mahmud Aar Rafi , Rahman Tanjilur , Abir Mehedy Hasan , Siddiquee Mohd. Faijanur - Rob , Ahmed Hossain , Rahman Nova , Nainu Firzan , Wahyudin Elly , Mitra Saikat , Dhama Kuldeep , Habiballah Mahmoud M. , Haque Shafiul , Islam Ariful , Hassan Mohammad Mahmudul
Published: June 2022

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Several treatments are available for cancer treatment, but many treatment methods are ineffective against multidrug-resistant cancer. Multidrug resistance (MDR) represents a major obstacle to effective therapeutic interventions against cancer. This review describes the known MDR mechanisms in cancer cells and discusses ongoing laboratory approaches and novel therapeutic strategies that aim to inhibit, circumvent, or reverse MDR development in various cancer types. In this review, we discuss both intrinsic and acquired drug resistance, in addition to highlighting hypoxia- and autophagy-mediated drug resistance mechanisms. Several factors, including individual genetic differences, such as mutations, altered epigenetics, enhanced drug efflux, cell death inhibition, and various other molecular and cellular mechanisms, are responsible for the development of resistance against anticancer agents. Drug resistance can also depend on cellular autophagic and hypoxic status. The expression of drug-resistant genes and the regulatory mechanisms that determine drug resistance are also discussed. Methods to circumvent MDR, including immunoprevention, the use of microparticles and nanomedicine might result in better strategies for fighting cancer.
Case Report: Anti-TNF Treatment Failure in a Patient With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor-Induced Severe Colitis
Authors: Fang Leilei , Liu Changqin , Sun Xiaomin , Liu Zhanju
Published: June 2022

Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI)-induced colitis is one of the known complications of therapies targeting cytotoxic programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1), cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (CTLA-4), and programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1). ICI-associated colitis is routinely treated with immunosuppressive therapy, including corticosteroids and/or agents targeting tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). In this report, a 69-year-old male patient developed severe ICI-induced colitis 2 weeks after anti-PD-L1 mAb (i.e., durvalumab) treatment; unexpectedly failed to respond to systemic corticosteroid, anti-TNF, and anti-integrin agents; and unfortunately died in 1 month. This case reminds clinical physicians to be on the alert for early-onset acute ICI-induced colitis and emphasizes that urgent optimized rescue measures are required for patients with severe ICI-induced colitis.
Extracellular Vesicles and Resistance to Anticancer Drugs: A Tumor Skeleton Key for Unhinging Chemotherapies
Authors: Pompili Simona , Vetuschi Antonella , Sferra Roberta , Cappariello Alfredo
Published: June 2022

Although surgical procedures and clinical care allow reaching high success in fighting most tumors, cancer is still a formidable foe. Recurrence and metastatization dampen the patients’ overall survival after the first diagnosis; nevertheless, the large knowledge of the molecular bases drives these aspects. Chemoresistance is tightly linked to these features and is mainly responsible for the failure of cancer eradication, leaving patients without a crucial medical strategy. Many pathways have been elucidated to trigger insensitiveness to drugs, generally associated with the promotion of tumor growth, aggressiveness, and metastatisation. The main mechanisms reported are the expression of transporter proteins, the induction or mutations of oncogenes and transcription factors, the alteration in genomic or mitochondrial DNA, the triggering of autophagy or epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, the acquisition of a stem phenotype, and the activation of tumor microenvironment cells. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) can directly transfer or epigenetically induce to a target cell the molecular machinery responsible for the acquisition of resistance to drugs. In this review, we resume the main body of knowledge supporting the crucial role of EVs in the context of chemoresistance, with a particular emphasis on the mechanisms related to some of the main drugs used to fight cancer.
Gentiopicroside Ameliorates Diabetic Renal Tubulointerstitial Fibrosis via Inhibiting the AT1R/CK2/NF-κB Pathway
Authors: Xu Zhanchi , Zhang Meng , Wang Yu , Chen Rui , Xu Shiyue , Sun Xiaohong , Yang Yan , Lin Zeyuan , Wang Shaogui , Huang Heqing
Published: June 2022

Renal tubulointerstitial fibrosis (TIF), characterized by epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of renal tubular epithelial cells, is the typical pathological alteration in diabetic nephropathy. Gentiopicroside (GPS), a natural compound with anti-inflammatory activity, has been demonstrated to alleviate glomerulosclerosis, whereas whether GPS inhibits TIF via regulating inflammation remains unclear. In this study, diabetic db/db mice and high glucose (HG)-stimulated renal tubular epithelial cells (NRK-52E) were applied to explore the effects and mechanisms of GPS on TIF. The results in vivo showed that GPS effectively improves glycolipid metabolism disorder, renal dysfunction, and TIF. In particular, GPS treatment reversed the abnormal expressions of EMT marker proteins including elevated α-smooth muscle actin and vimentin and decreased E-cadherin in the kidney of db/db mice. Moreover, GPS treatment also inhibited protein expressions of angiotensinⅡ type 1 receptor (AT1R) and CK2α and the activation of the NF-κB pathway. Importantly, the aforementioned effects of GPS acted in vivo were further observed in vitro in HG-stimulated NRK-52E cells, which were independent of its effects on glucose and lipid-lowering activity but were reversed by AT1R over-expression. Together, our results indicate that GPS that directly inhibits the CK2/NF-κB inflammatory signaling pathway via AT1R may also contribute to the amelioration of TIF in diabetes.
An In Vitro Platform to Study Reversible Endothelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition
Authors: Krishnamoorthi Muthu Kumar , Thandavarayan Rajarajan A. , Youker Keith A. , Bhimaraj Arvind
Published: June 2022

Endothelial cells can acquire a mesenchymal phenotype in response to external stimuli through both mechanical and biological factors, using a process known as endothelial-to-mesenchymal (EndoMT) transition. EndoMT is characterized by the decrease in endothelial characteristics, increase in mesenchymal markers, and morphological changes. It has been recognized not only during development but also in different pathological conditions including organ/tissue fibrosis in adults. The ability to modulate the EndoMT process could have a therapeutic potential in many fibrotic diseases. An in vitro method is presented here to induce EndoMT with Nω-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester hydrochloride (L-NAME) and angiotensin II (Ang II) followed by a protocol to study the reversibility of EndoMT. Using this method, we furnish evidence that the combination of L-NAME and Ang II can stimulate EndoMT in Human umbilical vascular endothelial cells (HUVECs) and this process can be reversed as observed using endothelial functionality assays. This method may serve as a model to screen and identify potential pharmacological molecules to target and regulate the EndoMT process, with applications in drug discovery for human diseases.
Optimizing Antimicrobial Therapy by Integrating Multi-Omics With Pharmacokinetic/Pharmacodynamic Models and Precision Dosing
Authors: Yow Hui-Yin , Govindaraju Kayatri , Lim Audrey Huili , Abdul Rahim Nusaibah
Published: June 2022

In the era of “Bad Bugs, No Drugs,” optimizing antibiotic therapy against multi-drug resistant (MDR) pathogens is crucial. Mathematical modelling has been employed to further optimize dosing regimens. These models include mechanism-based PK/PD models, systems-based models, quantitative systems pharmacology (QSP) and population PK models. Quantitative systems pharmacology has significant potential in precision antimicrobial chemotherapy in the clinic. Population PK models have been employed in model-informed precision dosing (MIPD). Several antibiotics require close monitoring and dose adjustments in order to ensure optimal outcomes in patients with infectious diseases. Success or failure of antibiotic therapy is dependent on the patient, antibiotic and bacterium. For some drugs, treatment responses vary greatly between individuals due to genotype and disease characteristics. Thus, for these drugs, tailored dosing is required for successful therapy. With antibiotics, inappropriate dosing such as insufficient dosing may put patients at risk of therapeutic failure which could lead to mortality. Conversely, doses that are too high could lead to toxicities. Hence, precision dosing which customizes doses to individual patients is crucial for antibiotics especially those with a narrow therapeutic index. In this review, we discuss the various strategies in optimizing antimicrobial therapy to address the challenges in the management of infectious diseases and delivering personalized therapy.
Interaction Between Macroscopic Quantum Systems and Gravity
Authors: Gallerati A. , Modanese G. , Ummarino G.A.
Published: June 2022

We review experiments and theoretical models about the possible mutual interplay between the gravitational field and materials in the superconducting state or other macroscopic quantum states. More generally, we focus on the possibility for quantum macrosystems in a coherent state to produce local alterations of the gravitational field in which they are immersed. This fully interdisciplinary research field has witnessed a conspicuous progress in the last decades, with hundreds of published papers, and yet several questions are still completely open.
Proposal of a Wearable Multimodal Sensing-Based Serious Games Approach for Hand Movement Training After Stroke
Authors: Song Xinyu , van de Ven Shirdi Shankara , Chen Shugeng , Kang Peiqi , Gao Qinghua , Jia Jie , Shull Peter B.
Published: June 2022

Stroke often leads to hand motor dysfunction, and effective rehabilitation requires keeping patients engaged and motivated. Among the existing automated rehabilitation approaches, data glove-based systems are not easy to wear for patients due to spasticity, and single sensor-based approaches generally provided prohibitively limited information. We thus propose a wearable multimodal serious games approach for hand movement training after stroke. A force myography (FMG), electromyography (EMG), and inertial measurement unit (IMU)-based multi-sensor fusion model was proposed for hand movement classification, which was worn on the user’s affected arm. Two movement recognition-based serious games were developed for hand movement and cognition training. Ten stroke patients with mild to moderate motor impairments (Brunnstrom Stage for Hand II-VI) performed experiments while playing interactive serious games requiring 12 activities-of-daily-living (ADLs) hand movements taken from the Fugl Meyer Assessment. Feasibility was evaluated by movement classification accuracy and qualitative patient questionnaires. The offline classification accuracy using combined FMG-EMG-IMU was 81.0% for the 12 movements, which was significantly higher than any single sensing modality; only EMG, only FMG, and only IMU were 69.6, 63.2, and 47.8%, respectively. Patients reported that they were more enthusiastic about hand movement training while playing the serious games as compared to conventional methods and strongly agreed that they subjectively felt that the proposed training could be beneficial for improving upper limb motor function. These results showed that multimodal-sensor fusion improved hand gesture classification accuracy for stroke patients and demonstrated the potential of this proposed approach to be used as upper limb movement training after stroke.
Characteristics of Soil Fungal Communities in Soybean Rotations
Authors: Song Xiuli , Huang Lei , Li Yanqing , Zhao Chongzhao , Tao Bo , Zhang Wu
Published: June 2022

Soybean continuous cropping (SC) leads to continuous cropping obstacles, and soil-borne fungal diseases occur frequently. Rotation can alleviate continuous cropping obstacles. However, the long-term effects of continuous cropping and rotation on the structure and function of the fungal community in soil are not clear. In this study, five cropping systems, SC, fallow (CK), fallow-soybean (FS), corn–soybean (CS), and wheat–soybean (WS), were implemented in the long-term continuous cropping area of soybean. After 13 years of planting, high-throughput sequencing was used to evaluate the structure and diversity of soil fungal communities and to study the relationship between fungal communities and soil environmental factors. The results showed that the abundance and diversity of fungal flora in SC soil were the highest. There were significant differences in the formation of soil fungal communities between soybean continuous cropping and the other treatments. There were 355 species of endemic fungi in SC soil. There were 231 and 120 endemic species in WS and CS, respectively. The relative abundance of the potential pathogens Lectera, Gibberella, and Fusarium in the SC treatment soil was significantly high, and the abundance of all potential pathogens in CK was significantly the lowest. The abundance of Lectera and Fusarium in CS was significantly the lowest. There was a positive correlation between potential pathogens in the soil. The relative abundance of potential pathogens in the soil was significantly positively correlated with the relative abundance of Ascomycetes and negatively correlated with the relative abundance of Basidiomycetes. Potential pathogenic genera had a significant negative correlation with soil OM, available Mn, K and soil pH and a significant positive correlation with the contents of soil available Cu, Fe, and Zn. In general, the fungal communities of SC, FS, WS, and CS were divided into one group, which was significantly different from CK. WS and CS were more similar in fungal community structure. The CK and CS treatments reduced the relative abundance of soil fungi and potential pathogens. Our study shows that SC and FS lead to selective stress on fungi and pathogenic fungi and lead to the development of fungal community abundance and diversity, while CK and CS can reduce this development, which is conducive to plant health.
Atypical Climacteric and Functional Ethylene Metabolism and Signaling During Fruit Ripening in Blueberry (Vaccinium sp.)
Authors: Wang Yi-Wen , Acharya Tej P. , Malladi Anish , Tsai Hsuan-Ju , NeSmith D. Scott , Doyle John W. , Nambeesan Savithri U.
Published: June 2022

Climacteric fruits display an increase in respiration and ethylene production during the onset of ripening, while such changes are minimal in non-climacteric fruits. Ethylene is a primary regulator of ripening in climacteric fruits. The ripening behavior and role of ethylene in blueberry (Vacciniumsp.) ripening is controversial. This work aimed to clarify the fruit ripening behavior and the associated role of ethylene in blueberry. Southern highbush (Vaccinium corymbosumhybrids) and rabbiteye (Vaccinium ashei) blueberry displayed an increase in the rate of respiration and ethylene evolution, both reaching a maxima around the Pink and Ripe stages of fruit development, consistent with climacteric fruit ripening behavior. Increase in ethylene evolution was associated with increases in transcript abundance of its biosynthesis genes,AMINOCYCLOPROPANE CARBOXYLATE(ACC)SYNTHASE1(ACS1) andACC OXIDASE2(ACO2), implicating them in developmental ethylene production during ripening. Blueberry fruit did not display autocatalytic system 2 ethylene during ripening asACStranscript abundance and ACC concentration were not enhanced upon treatment with an ethylene-releasing compound (ethephon). However,ACOtranscript abundance was enhanced in response to ethephon, suggesting thatACOwas not rate-limiting. Transcript abundance of multiple genes associated with ethylene signal transduction was upregulated concomitant with developmental increase in ethylene evolution, and in response to exogenous ethylene. As these changes require ethylene signal transduction, fruit ripening in blueberry appears to involve functional ethylene signaling. Together, these data indicate that blueberry fruit display atypical climacteric ripening, characterized by a respiratory climacteric, developmentally regulated but non-autocatalytic increase in ethylene evolution, and functional ethylene signaling.
The Impact of Adolescent Resilience on Mobile Phone Addiction During COVID-19 Normalization and Flooding in China: A Chain Mediating
Authors: Ma Anna , Yang Yan , Guo Shuangxi , Li Xue , Zhang Shenhua , Chang Hongjuan
Published: June 2022

Natural disasters cause long-term psychological problems and increase substance use in some adults. However, it is unclear whether disasters also lead to these problems in adolescents. We hypothesized the influence of adolescent resilience on mobile phone addiction during the normalization of COVID-19 and flooding. We tested the mediating role of coping style and depression, anxiety, and stress (DASS) on phone addiction among 1,751 adolescents in the Henan Province in China. The adolescents were surveyedviaan online questionnaire, and we used structural equation modeling to examine the correlations and moderation effects. The results show that coping style and DASS could mediate the relationship between adolescent resilience and mobile phone addiction among Chinese adolescents. A chain of coping styles and DASS mediated the relationship between adolescent resilience and mobile phone addiction in Chinese adolescents.
Minority Influence: An Agenda for Study of Social Change
Authors: Prislin Radmila
Published: June 2022

Minority influence research was sparked by Moscovici’s observation about the power of active minorities to instigate social change. This idea invigorated research on social influence, which is evident in a subsequent outburst of studies on minority influence up to the 1990s, followed by a decrease and stabilization in the 2000s and 2010s. In spite of a remarkable scientific output, research on minority influence has not addressed its original question about social change. Rather, it has focused dominantly on the cognitive processes and attitudinal change in response to a minority advocacy or minority mere presence, and, to a lesser degree, to the role of minority influence in decision-making and task groups. To orient research toward social change, a research agenda is presented, along with a few illustrative studies. The proposed agenda focuses on time, interactive (minority ↔ majority), and motivated influence as critical explanatory variables to address in the next phase of research on minority influence in the pursuit of social change.
The Mediating Role of Coping Style in the Relationship Between Sleep Quality and Burnout: A Cross-Sectional Study Among Psychiatric Nurses
Authors: Yin Ming , Li Weiqin , Yang Qun , Yue Yan , Fang Xiaojia , Yang Zhong , Wang Xinda , Liu Qin , Kong Fanzhen , Ji Caifang , Lv Xiaoli , Wang Hao , Yuan Nian , Li Zhe , Zhang Caiyi , Li Kan , Yang Yang , Du Xiangdong
Published: June 2022

Background

Although sleep quality is clearly associated with job burnout as shown in the existing research, the mechanism underpinning such relationship remains undefined. This work, thus, aimed to assess the current situation of sleep quality and burnout in Chinese psychiatric nurses, and to analyze the relationships between sleep quality, burnout and coping style, in order to provide possible targets to enhance mental health and wellbeing among psychiatric nurses.

Method

This cross-sectional study was carried out in seven rehabilitation centers located in four different regions of China. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Epworth Sleeping Scale, the Maslach Burnout Inventory General Survey, and the Coping Style Questionnaire were distributed to 853 nurses in various mental hospitals, with a total of 664 participants being recruited in the final research.

Results

The results of this current study showed a high prevalence of sleep disorders and burnout in Chinese psychiatric nurses. Moreover, emotional exhaustion (r = 0.456), cynicism (r = 0.323) and negative coping style (r = 0.191) in nurses were all positively correlated with total Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) score, while professional efficacy (r = −0.079) and positive coping style (r = −0.140) were negatively correlated with total PSQI score. More interestingly, of all negative coping strategies, we found that self-blame had the most significant effect (β = 0.156).

Conclusions

The above results showed that coping style mediates the association of poor sleep quality with job burnout in Chinese psychiatric nurses. This study claimed that there is an urgent need to development the coping skills to sustain a healthy work life for nurses.
A Straightforward HPV16 Lineage Classification Based on Machine Learning
Authors: Asensio-Puig Laura , Alemany Laia , Pavón Miquel Angel
Published: June 2022

Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is the causal agent of 5% of cancers worldwide and the main cause of cervical cancer and it is also associated with a significant percentage of oropharyngeal and anogenital cancers. More than 60% of cervical cancers are caused by HPV16 genotype, which has been classified into lineages (A, B, C, and D). Lineages are related to the progression of cervical cancer and the current method to assess lineages is by building a Maximum Likelihood Tree (MLT); which is slow, it cannot assess poor sequenced samples, and annotation is done manually. In this study, we have developed a new model to assess HPV16 lineage using machine learning tools. A total of 645 HPV16 genomes were analyzed using Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS), which identified 56 lineage-specific Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs). From the SNPs found, training-test models were constructed using different algorithms such as Random Forest (RF), Support Vector Machine (SVM), and K-nearest neighbor (KNN). A distinct set of HPV16 sequences (n = 1,028), whose lineage was previously determined by MLT, was used for validation. The RF-based model allowed a precise assignment of HPV16 lineage, showing an accuracy of 99.5% in the known lineage samples. Moreover, the RF model could assess lineage to 273 samples that MLT could not determine. In terms of computer consuming time, the RF-based model was almost 40 times faster than MLT. Having a fast and efficient method for assigning HPV16 lineages, could facilitate the implementation of lineage classification as a triage or prognostic marker in the clinical setting.
The Trajectory of the Landscape and Functionality of Urban Watercourses: A Study of Lavras City, Brazil
Authors: Sousa Rafael de Brito , Paiva Patrícia Duarte de Oliveira , Reis Michele Valquíra dos , Carcaud Nathalie
Published: June 2022

The growth of the urban population promotes a strong pressure to occupy open spaces in urban center, including around watercourses. Canalization and drainage techniques favored urban expansion and occupation of these spaces. In long term, this has not been efficient, since it is not a sustainable decision, mainly in view of the challenges provided by climate change. The purpose of this work was to analyze the modification of the landscape and multifunctionality of the urban watercourses in relation to socioeconomic and environmental scope of the evolution of an urban area using Lavras city, Brazil, as model. For that, city's hydrographic grid was drawn from the digital elevation model (DEM) corrected by manual vectorization after field visits and analysis of high-resolution images. To understand natural and sociocultural evolution processes, a compilation of geo-historical information about the origin and formation of the city was made using Patchwork Quilt methodology. To understand the actions and perceptions of different actors from urban watercourses in Lavras, questionnaires were applied to the population, and interviews were directed to the public and private managers. It was observed that the watercourses and their surroundings lost a large part of their natural, social, and economic functions, after the 1980s, only having a drainage function. The areas in expansion prioritize the natural function preservation but lack the incentive to implement the other functions such as social and economic. With the economic valuation of land, the implementation of green and blue infrastructure has not yet been prioritized. Even with the legislation that provides multifunctional uses for rivers and their banks, the urban watercourses from Lavras remained largely monofunctional. This did not contribute to increasing the city's green areas and the reintegration of watercourses into the urban landscape. The population values the water present in the urban landscape and yearns for multifunctional solutions such as green areas and urban gardens. Public and private actors recognize the lack of clarity in the legislation, and in the definition of concepts and techniques to be adopted. Multifunctional solutions can be in favor of reconciling different interests, promoting the reintegration of rivers into the urban landscape.
Test Results From the Prelaunch Characterization Campaign of the Engineering Test Unit of the Ocean Color Instrument of NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud and Ocean Ecosystem (PACE) Mission
Authors: Meister Gerhard , Knuble Joseph J. , Chemerys Leland H. , Choi Hyeungu , Collins Nicholas R. , Eplee Robert E. , Gliese Ulrik , Gorman Eric T. , Jepsen Kim , Kitchen-McKinley Samuel , Lee Shihyan , Mcintire Jeffrey W. , Patt Frederick S. , Tse Bradley C. , Waluschka Eugene , Werdell P. Jeremy
Published: June 2022

This paper summarizes the results from the system level test campaign of the Engineering Test Unit (ETU) of the ‘Ocean Color Instrument’ (OCI), the primary payload of NASA’s ‘Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud and ocean Ecosystem’ (PACE) mission. The main goals of the test campaign were to optimize characterization procedures and evaluate system level performance relative to model predictions. Critical performance parameters such as radiometric gain, signal-to-noise ratio, polarization, instantaneous field-of-view, temperature sensitivity, relative spectral response and stability were evaluated for wavelengths from 600 to 2,260 nm and are in line with expectations. We expect the OCI flight unit to meet the PACE mission performance requirements. Building and testing the ETU has been extremely important for the development of the OCI flight unit (e.g. improved SNR by increasing the aperture, optimized thermal design), and we strongly recommend the inclusion of an ETU in the development of future spaceborne sensors that rely on novel technological designs. ETU testing led to the discovery of a hysteresis issue with the SWIR bands, and a correction algorithm was developed. Also, the coregistration of the SWIR bands relative to each other is worse than expected, but this was discovered too late in the schedule to remediate.
The Multiple Influences on the Future of Work in Agriculture: Global Perspectives
Authors: Dedieu Benoit , Contzen Sandra , Nettle Ruth , Schiavi Sandra Mara de Alencar , Sraïri Mohamed Taher
Published: June 2022

In this introductory paper, we discuss changes in work in agriculture arising from the influence of a wide variety of factors: global food chains and societal controversies about farming models, the status of agricultural work as a profession alongside others; the progress of rural development; issues of precariousness in work and in health. We summarize these influences and their implications to introduce the Special Issue “Work in agriculture: which perspectives?”, and outline the seven papers that contribute to understanding of the future trajectories for work in agriculture.
Field Application of Wuyiencin Against Sclerotinia Stem Rot in Soybean
Authors: Yang Miaoling , Han Xiaoqing , Xie Jiabei , Zhang Shangqing , Lv Zhaoyang , Li Boya , Shi Liming , Zhang Kecheng , Ge Beibei
Published: June 2022

Sclerotinia stem rot, caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, is a devastating disease of soybean. Biological control is a potential alternative to chemical fungicides for disease management, and provides broad benefits to the environment, farmers and consumers. Herein, we established a field application technique for biocontrol of Sclerotinia stem rot in soybean using wuyiencin, expanding on a previous study showing biocontrol potential. We used wuyiencin to reduce sclerotia in soybean seed, and disease incidence analysis by seed bioassay revealed an optimal wuyiencin seed soaking concentration of 12.5 μg/mL. We found that different application methods had different effects on soybean plant growth. Soybean pot experiments showed that 100 μg/mL wuyiencin was obtained a significant disease protection effect and promote soybean growth through root irrigation, and the optimal concentration for wuyiencin spraying was 100–200 μg/mL. We tested the efficacy of applying wuyiencin under field conditions, and the protection effect of 200 μg/mL wuyiencin sprayed three times was the best (64.0%), but this was slightly inferior to the protection effect of 200 μg/mL dimethachlon (77.6%).
Arginine Regulates Zygotic Genome Activation in Porcine Embryos Under Nutrition Restriction
Authors: Zhang Tianrui , Zheng Yingying , Kuang Tianya , Yang Lianyu , Jiang Hailong , Wang Heming , Zhao Yicheng , Han Rui , Che Dongsheng
Published: June 2022

Arginine has a positive effect on pre-implantation development in pigs. However, the exact mechanism by which arginine promotes embryonic development is undefined. Here, single-cell RNA sequencing technology was applied to porcine in vivo pre-implantation embryos from the zygote to morula stage, it was found that that the expression of arginine metabolism-related genes clearly changed from the 2-cell stage to the 4-cell stage, when zygotic genome activation (ZGA) occurs in porcine embryos. Further analysis showed that arginine metabolism-related genes are significantly correlated with key ZGA genes. To determine the function of arginine in porcine embryos during ZGA, the in vitro fertilization embryos were cultured in PZM-3 medium (0.12 mM arginine, Control group), a modified PZM-3 medium (0 mM arginine, Block group) and a modified PZM-3 medium supplemented with arginine (0.12 mM arginine, Block + Arg group). The results showed that the 4-cell arrest rate was significantly increased in the Block group compared to the Control group (P < 0.05). The 4-cell arrest rate in the Block + Arg group was significantly decreased than that in the Block group (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, the expression of ZGA marker genes and SIRT1 protein in 4-cell embryos was significantly decreased in the Block group compared to the Control group, and their expression was significantly increased in the Block + Arg group. In addition, we observed that the glutathione (GSH), ATP levels, and lipid droplet contents were significantly increased, and the reactive oxygen species (ROS) level was decreased in the Block + Arg group compared to the Block group. Compared with Control group, spermine content in culture medium and the mRNA expression of ornithine decarboxylase1 (ODC1) of embryos in the Block group were significantly decreased (P < 0.05), and those in the Block + Arg group were significantly increased compared with the Block group (P < 0.05). Moreover, when difluoromethylornithine (an inhibitor of ODC1) was added to the modified PZM-3 medium supplemented with arginine, the effect of arginine on ZGA was inhibited. In summary, our findings demonstrated that arginine may regulate ZGA under nutrition restriction in porcine embryos by promoting polyamine synthesis.
Optical Medieval Music Recognition Using Background Knowledge
Authors: Hartelt Alexander , Puppe Frank
Published: June 2022

This paper deals with the effect of exploiting background knowledge for improving an OMR (Optical Music Recognition) deep learning pipeline for transcribing medieval, monophonic, handwritten music from the 12th–14th century, whose usage has been neglected in the literature. Various types of background knowledge about overlapping notes and text, clefs, graphical connections (neumes) and their implications on the position in staff of the notes were used and evaluated. Moreover, the effect of different encoder/decoder architectures and of different datasets for training a mixed model and for document-specific fine-tuning based on an extended OMR pipeline with an additional post-processing step were evaluated. The use of background models improves all metrics and in particular the melody accuracy rate (mAR), which is based on the insert, delete and replace operations necessary to convert the generated melody into the correct melody. When using a mixed model and evaluating on a different dataset, our best model achieves without fine-tuning and without post-processing a mAR of 90.4%, which is raised by nearly 30% to 93.2% mAR using background knowledge. With additional fine-tuning, the contribution of post-processing is even greater: the basic mAR of 90.5% is raised by more than 50% to 95.8% mAR.
Improving Traffic Load Distribution Fairness in Mobile Social Networks
Authors: Soelistijanto Bambang , Ayu Vittalis
Published: June 2022

Mobile social networks suffer from an unbalanced traffic load distribution due to the heterogeneity in mobility of nodes (humans) in the network. A few nodes in these networks are highly mobile, and the proposed social-based routing algorithms are likely to choose these most “social” nodes as the best message relays. Finally, this could lead to inequitable traffic load distribution and resource utilisation, such as faster battery drain and/or storage consumption of the most (socially) popular nodes. We propose a framework called Traffic Load Distribution Aware (TraLDA) to improve traffic load balancing across network nodes. We present a novel method for calculating node popularity which takes into account both node inherent and social-relations popularity. The former is purely determined by the node’s sociability level in the network, and in TraLDA is computed using the Kalman prediction which considers the node’s periodicity behaviour. However, the latter takes the benefit of interactions with more popular neighbours (acquaintances) to boost the popularity of lower (social) level nodes. Using extensive simulations in the Opportunistic Network Environment (ONE) driven by real human mobility scenarios, we show that our proposed strategy enhances the traffic load distribution fairness of the classical, yet popular social-aware routing algorithms BubbleRap and SimBet without negatively impacting the overall delivery performance.
How Childhood Socioeconomic Status Impacts Adult Food Preference: The Mediating Role of Stress and Trait Appetite
Authors: Swaffield Jim B. , Guo Qi
Published: June 2022

Prior research has shown that adults who were raised in a low socioeconomic status (SES) environment are more likely to desire energy-dense foods. Research has also shown a positive correlation between current stress levels and the desire for energy-dense foods. We hypothesized that stress and trait appetite mediate the relationship between childhood SES and the desire for low and high-energy-dense foods. In this study, 311 adults participated in an online experiment in which they were shown images of five food items from each of the six major food categories (vegetables, fruits, grains, dairy, meat/poultry, and sweets) and rated how desirable each food item is. Next, we asked a series of questions that identified the participant’s sex, early childhood socioeconomic conditions, and current stress level. We also identified whether the participants had a trait or state eating personality. A path analysis was used to confirm the hypothesis that stress plays a mediating role between SES and food preference, and that an orderly relationship exists between these variables. The results show the hypothesis was supported and that the results were statistically significant. Specifically, the results show that the desire for low and high-energy-dense foods is indirectly influenced by one’s early childhood environment, and that food desirability is mediated by both stress and trait appetite. In addition, this analysis showed that in some situations, stress can both increase and decrease the desire for high-energy-dense foods. These findings also contribute to our understanding of how environmental conditions (safe and harsh environments) affect appetite and the desire for low and high-energy-dense foods. It also provided a deeper understanding of how these food choices can be adaptive under different ecological conditions.