bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Short- and Long-Term Effects of Drought on Selected Causes of Mortality in Northern Bangladesh
Authors: Alam Intekhab , Otani Shinji , Nagata Abir , Khan Mohammad Shahriar , Masumoto Toshio , Amano Hiroki , Kurozawa Youichi
Published: March 2022

Drought has exacerbated morbidity and mortality worldwide. Here, a time series study was conducted in northern Bangladesh to evaluate the impact of drought on selected causes of mortality during 2007–2017. Rainfall and temperature data from six meteorological stations were used to analyze drought and non-drought periods and to categorize mild, moderate, severe, and extreme drought based on the 3-month and 12-month Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and Standardized Precipitation Evaporation Index (SPEI). A generalized linear model with Poisson regression with log link, a negative binomial with log link, and a zero-inflated Poisson model were used to determine associations between drought severity and mortality. The SPI and SPEI produced slightly different analysis results. Compared with the SPEI, the SPI showed a stronger and more sensitive correlation with mortality. The relative risk for respiratory disease mortality was high, and Saidpur was the most vulnerable area. Health care expenditure was negatively associated with mortality. High temperatures during the drought period were associated with suicide-related mortality in Rajshahi. The impact of drought on mortality differed with small changes in climate. The findings of this study improve our understanding of the differences between the two most used drought indicators and the impact of drought on mortality.
How Disability Income Benefits Affect Employment for Persons with Disabilities in China: An Impairment-Based Work Disability Assessment Perspective
Authors: Hao Yuling , Xiao Rikui
Published: March 2022

Reconciling the potentially conflicting goals between income benefits and employment has become one of the key issues in international disability policy for working-age persons with disabilities. Inspired by the often-criticized experience of disability income benefits having an exclusory effect on employment of persons with disabilities in welfare states by two mechanisms—the disincentive effect of the generous benefits based on the work incapacity of persons with disabilities and the impairment-based work disability assessment for attaining these benefits—this paper aims to examine how disability income benefits affect employment for persons with disabilities in China. Using the life-story interviews method, this paper found that the disability income benefits for persons with disabilities based on their work incapability create “quasi-employment” perceptions among recipients with disabilities. The impairment-based work disability assessment for attaining these benefits excludes persons with disabilities from formal employment but does open them to more informal employment. Implications for policy are discussed.
A Psychological Profile of Elite Polish Short Track Athletes: An Analysis of Temperamental Traits and Impulsiveness
Authors: Gabrys Katarzyna , Wontorczyk Antoni
Published: March 2022

The aim of this study was to determine the temperament and impulsiveness profile of short track athletes. Professional athletes (juniors and seniors), under training in the Polish National Team (Nfemale = 21, Nmale = 19, Mage = 20), completed The Temperament and Character Inventory- Revised (TCI-R (56)) and a shortened version of the Urgency, Premeditation, Perseverance, Sensation-Seeking, Positive Urgency, Impulsive Behavior Scale (S-UPPS-P). The results proved that skaters obtain higher scores than the general population on the temperamental scales i.e., persistence, harm avoidance and novelty seeking and impulsivity scales i.e., sensation seeking and positive urgency. After the cluster analysis, two homogeneous profiles of short track athletes were determined. The first profile includes athletes with high scores on the reward dependence, persistence, self-directedness, cooperativeness, temperamental and sensation-seeking impulsiveness scales coupled with low scores on the temperamental scale, harm avoidance and impulsiveness scales: positive urgency, negative urgency and the lack of perseverance. The second profile is the reverse of the first profile for the short track athletes.
Periodic Exposure of Plasma-Activated Medium Alters Fibroblast Cellular Homoeostasis
Authors: Bhartiya Pradeep , Kaushik Neha , Nguyen Linh N. , Bekeschus Sander , Masur Kai , Weltmann Klaus-Dieter , Kaushik Nagendra Kumar , Choi Eun Ha
Published: March 2022

Excess amounts of redox stress and failure to regulate homeostatic levels of reactive species are associated with several skin pathophysiologic conditions. Nonmalignant cells are assumed to cope better with higher reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) levels. However, the effect of periodic stress on this balance has not been investigated in fibroblasts in the field of plasma medicine. In this study, we aimed to investigate intrinsic changes with respect to cellular proliferation, cell cycle, and ability to neutralize the redox stress inside fibroblast cells following periodic redox stress in vitro. Soft jet plasma with air as feeding gas was used to generate plasma-activated medium (PAM) for inducing redox stress conditions. We assessed cellular viability, energetics, and cell cycle machinery under oxidative stress conditions at weeks 3, 6, 9, and 12. Fibroblasts retained their usual physiological properties until 6 weeks. Fibroblasts failed to overcome the redox stress induced by periodic PAM exposure after 6 weeks, indicating its threshold potential. Periodic stress above the threshold level led to alterations in fibroblast cellular processes. These include consistent increases in apoptosis, while RONS accumulation and cell cycle arrest were observed at the final stages. Currently, the use of NTP in clinical settings is limited due to a lack of knowledge about fibroblasts’ behavior in wound healing, scar formation, and other fibrotic disorders. Understanding fibroblasts’ physiology could help to utilize nonthermal plasma in redox-related skin diseases. Furthermore, these results provide new information about the threshold capacity of fibroblasts and an insight into the adaptation mechanism against periodic oxidative stress conditions in fibroblasts.
Structural Modifications on Chalcone Framework for Developing New Class of Cholinesterase Inhibitors
Authors: George Ginson , Koyiparambath Vishal Payyalot , Sukumaran Sunitha , Nair Aathira Sujathan , Pappachan Leena K. , Al-Sehemi Abdullah G. , Kim Hoon , Mathew Bijo
Published: March 2022

Due to the multifaceted pharmacological activities of chalcones, these scaffolds have been considered one of the most privileged frameworks in the drug discovery process. Structurally, chalcones are α, β-unsaturated carbonyl functionalities with two aryl or heteroaryl units. Amongst the numerous pharmacological activities explored for chalcone derivatives, the development of novel chalcone analogs for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is among the research topics of most interest. Chalcones possess numerous advantages, such as smaller molecular size, opportunities for further structural modification thereby altering the physicochemical properties, cost-effectiveness, and convenient synthetic methodology. The present review highlights the recent evidence of chalcones as a privileged structure in AD drug development processes. Different classes of chalcone-derived analogs are summarized for the easy understanding of the previously reported analogs as well as the importance of certain functionalities in exhibiting cholinesterase inhibition. In this way, this review will shed light on the medicinal chemistry fraternity for the design and development of novel promising chalcone candidates for the treatment of AD.
A Novel Mechanism of Macrophage Activation by the Natural Yolkin Polypeptide Complex from Egg Yolk
Authors: Kazana Wioletta , Jakubczyk Dominika , Pacyga-Prus Katarzyna , Leszczyńska Katarzyna , Górska Sabina , Siednienko Jakub , Macała Józefa , Piechowiak Grażyna , Zabłocka Agnieszka
Published: March 2022

Ageing is accompanied by the inevitable changes in the function of the immune system. It provides increased susceptibility to chronic infections that have a negative impact on the quality of life of older people. Therefore, rejuvenating the aged immunity has become an important research and therapeutic goal. Yolkin, a polypeptide complex isolated from hen egg yolks, possesses immunoregulatory and neuroprotective activity. Considering that macrophages play a key role in pathogen recognition and antigen presentation, we evaluated the impact of yolkin on the phenotype and function of mouse bone marrow-derived macrophages of the BMDM cell line. We determined yolkin bioavailability and the surface co-expression of CD80/CD86 using flow cytometry and IL-6, IL-10, TGF-β and iNOS mRNA expression via real-time PCR. Additionally, the impact of yolkin on the regulation of cytokine expression by MAPK and PI3K/Akt kinases was determined. The stimulation of cells with yolkin induced significant changes in cell morphology and an increase in CD80/CD86 expression. Using pharmaceutical inhibitors of ERK, JNK and PI3K/Akt, we have shown that yolkin is able to activate these kinases to control cytokine mRNA expression. Our results suggest that yolkin is a good regulator of macrophage activity, priming mainly the M1 phenotype. Therefore, it is believed that yolkin possesses significant therapeutic potential and represents a promising possibility for the development of novel immunomodulatory medicine.
Genome-Wide Survey and Development of the First Microsatellite Markers Database (AnCorDB) in Anemone coronaria L.
Authors: Martina Matteo , Acquadro Alberto , Barchi Lorenzo , Gulino Davide , Brusco Fabio , Rabaglio Mario , Portis Flavio , Portis Ezio , Lanteri Sergio
Published: March 2022

Anemone coronaria L. (2n = 2x = 16) is a perennial, allogamous, highly heterozygous plant marketed as a cut flower or in gardens. Due to its large genome size, limited efforts have been made in order to develop species-specific molecular markers. We obtained the first draft genome of the species by Illumina sequencing an androgenetic haploid plant of the commercial line “MISTRAL® Magenta”. The genome assembly was obtained by applying the MEGAHIT pipeline and consisted of 2 × 106 scaffolds. The SciRoKo SSR (Simple Sequence Repeats)-search module identified 401.822 perfect and 188.987 imperfect microsatellites motifs. Following, we developed a user-friendly “Anemone coronaria Microsatellite DataBase” (AnCorDB), which incorporates the Primer3 script, making it possible to design couples of primers for downstream application of the identified SSR markers. Eight genotypes belonging to eight cultivars were used to validate 62 SSRs and a subset of markers was applied for fingerprinting each cultivar, as well as to assess their intra-cultivar variability. The newly developed microsatellite markers will find application in Breeding Rights disputes, developing genetic maps, marker assisted breeding (MAS) strategies, as well as phylogenetic studies.
Analytical Modeling of Crack Widths and Cracking Loads in Structural RC Members
Authors: Yankelevsky David Z. , Karinski Yuri S. , Feldgun Vladimir R.
Published: March 2022

Crack width is a major performance criterion in reinforced-concrete structures, in general, and is of utmost importance in ensuring bridge performance, in particular. A reliable theory-based method is required to assess crack widths and gain insight into their dependence on material, geometry, and loading parameters. A new, exact analytical method is proposed for a one-dimensional reinforced concrete element based on equilibrium, constitutive, and kinematic relationships, accounting for the geometrical and material behavior of the concrete and reinforcement. A linear interfacial bond stress slip is assumed to represents the small slips associated with the limited allowed crack width. Closed-form expressions have been developed and a wealth of information can be calculated immediately, such as the cracking load levels, the crack width dependence on the load level, the expected number of cracks, and the cracks spacing. The entire nonlinear force-displacement relationship of a cracked reinforced-concrete element may be depicted, demonstrating the tension-stiffening behavior that depends on the variations in the crack width throughout the loading history. Comparisons of the model with experimental data demonstrate very good agreement.
Industry 4.0 and Digitalisation in Healthcare
Authors: Popov Vladimir V. , Kudryavtseva Elena V. , Kumar Katiyar Nirmal , Shishkin Andrei , Stepanov Stepan I. , Goel Saurav
Published: March 2022

Industry 4.0 in healthcare involves use of a wide range of modern technologies including digitisation, artificial intelligence, user response data (ergonomics), human psychology, the Internet of Things, machine learning, big data mining, and augmented reality to name a few. The healthcare industry is undergoing a paradigm shift thanks to Industry 4.0, which provides better user comfort through proactive intervention in early detection and treatment of various diseases. The sector is now ready to make its next move towards Industry 5.0, but certain aspects that motivated this review paper need further consideration. As a fruitful outcome of this review, we surveyed modern trends in this arena of research and summarised the intricacies of new features to guide and prepare the sector for an Industry 5.0-ready healthcare system.
Development of Composite, Reinforced, Highly Drug-Loaded Pharmaceutical Printlets Manufactured by Selective Laser Sintering—In Search of Relevant Excipients for Pharmaceutical 3D Printing
Authors: Kulinowski Piotr , Malczewski Piotr , Łaszcz Marta , Baran Ewelina , Milanowski Bartłomiej , Kuprianowicz Mateusz , Dorożyński Przemysław
Published: March 2022

3D printing by selective laser sintering (SLS) of high-dose drug delivery systems using pure brittle crystalline active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) is possible but impractical. Currently used pharmaceutical grade excipients, including polymers, are primarily designed for powder compression, ensuring good mechanical properties. Using these excipients for SLS usually leads to poor mechanical properties of printed tablets (printlets). Composite printlets consisting of sintered carbon-stained polyamide (PA12) and metronidazole (Met) were manufactured by SLS to overcome the issue. The printlets were characterized using DSC and IR spectroscopy together with an assessment of mechanical properties. Functional properties of the printlets, i.e., drug release in USP3 and USP4 apparatus together with flotation assessment, were evaluated. The printlets contained 80 to 90% of Met (therapeutic dose ca. 600 mg), had hardness above 40 N (comparable with compressed tablets) and were of good quality with internal porous structure, which assured flotation. The thermal stability of the composite material and the identity of its constituents were confirmed. Elastic PA12 mesh maintained the shape and structure of the printlets during drug dissolution and flotation. Laser speed and the addition of an osmotic agent in low content influenced drug release virtually not changing composition of the printlet; time to release 80% of Met varied from 0.5 to 5 h. Composite printlets consisting of elastic insoluble PA12 mesh filled with high content of crystalline Met were manufactured by 3D SLS printing. Dissolution modification by the addition of an osmotic agent was demonstrated. The study shows the need to define the requirements for excipients dedicated to 3D printing and to search for appropriate materials for this purpose.
Reduction of Capacity Fading in High-Voltage NMC Batteries with the Addition of Reduced Graphene Oxide
Authors: Alqahtani Yahya M. , Williams Quinton L.
Published: March 2022

Lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles (EV) require high energy capacity, reduced weight, extended lifetime and low cost. EV manufacturers are focused on Ni-rich layered oxides because of their promising attributes, which include the ability to operate at a relatively high voltage. However, these cathodes, usually made with nickel–manganese–cobalt (NMC811), typically experience accelerated capacity fading when operating at a high voltage. In this research, reduced graphene oxide (rGO) is added to a NMC811 cathode material to improve the performance in cyclability studies. Batteries made with rGO/NMC811 cathodes showed a 17% improvement in capacity retention after 100 cycles of testing over a high-voltage operating window of 2.5–4.5 V.
A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Growth and Profit Rate Distribution: The Spanish Case
Authors: Vidal-Tomás David , Ruiz-Buforn Alba , Blanco-Arroyo Omar , Alfarano Simone
Published: March 2022

We analyse the time evolution of the empirical cross-sectional distribution of firms’ profit and growth rates. In particular, we analyse the conditional properties of the empirical distributions depending on the size of the firms and the business cycle phase. In order to do so, we employ the Laplace distribution as a benchmark, further considering the Subbotin and Asymmetric Exponential Power (AEP hereafter) distributions, to capture the potential asymmetry and leptokurtosis of the empirical distribution. Our results show that the profit rates of large firms are characterised by an asymmetric Laplace distribution with parameters largely independent of the business cycle phase. Small firms, instead, are characterised by the AEP distribution, which accounts for the conditional dependence of distribution on the phase of the business cycle. We observe that the largest firms are more robust to downturns compared to the small firms, given their invariant distributional characteristics during crisis periods.
Assessment of Machine Learning Methods for State-to-State Approach in Nonequilibrium Flow Simulations
Authors: Campoli Lorenzo , Kustova Elena , Maltseva Polina
Published: March 2022

State-to-state numerical simulations of high-speed reacting flows are the most detailed but also often prohibitively computationally expensive. In this work, we explore the usage of machine learning algorithms to alleviate such a burden. Several tasks have been identified. Firstly, data-driven machine learning regression models were compared for the prediction of the relaxation source terms appearing in the right-hand side of the state-to-state Euler system of equations for a one-dimensional reacting flow of a N2/N binary mixture behind a plane shock wave. Results show that, by appropriately choosing the regressor and opportunely tuning its hyperparameters, it is possible to achieve accurate predictions compared to the full-scale state-to-state simulation in significantly shorter times. Secondly, several strategies to speed-up our in-house state-to-state solver were investigated by coupling it with the best-performing pre-trained machine learning algorithm. The embedding of machine learning algorithms into ordinary differential equations solvers may offer a speed-up of several orders of magnitude. Nevertheless, performances are found to be strongly dependent on the interfaced codes and the set of variables onto which the coupling is realized. Finally, the solution of the state-to-state Euler system of equations was inferred by means of a deep neural network by-passing the use of the solver while relying only on data. Promising results suggest that deep neural networks appear to be a viable technology also for this task.
Increasing Trends of Association of 16S rRNA Methylases and Carbapenemases in Enterobacterales Clinical Isolates from Switzerland, 2017–2020
Authors: Fournier Claudine , Poirel Laurent , Despont Sarah , Kessler Julie , Nordmann Patrice
Published: March 2022

Aminoglycosides (AGs) in combination with β-lactams play an important role in antimicrobial therapy in severe infections. Pan-resistance to clinically relevant AGs increasingly arises from the production of 16S rRNA methylases (RMTases) that are mostly encoded by plasmids in Gram-negative bacteria. The recent emergence and spread of isolates encoding RMTases is worrisome, considering that they often co-produce extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) or carbapenemases. Our study aimed to retrospectively analyze and characterize the association of carbapenem- and aminoglycoside-resistant clinical isolates in Switzerland during a 3.5-year period between January 2017 and June 2020. A total of 103 pan-aminoglycoside- and carbapenem-resistant clinical isolates were recovered at the NARA (Swiss National Reference Center for Emerging Antibiotic Resistance) during the 2017–2020 period. Carbapenemase and RMTase determinants were identified by PCR and sequencing. The characterization of plasmids bearing resistance determinants was performed by a mating-out assay followed by PCR-based replicon typing (PBRT). Clonality of the isolates was investigated by multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Over the 991 Enterobacterales collected at the NARA during this period, 103 (10.4%) of them were resistant to both carbapenems and all aminoglycosides. Among these 103 isolates, 35 isolates produced NDM-like carbapenemases, followed by OXA-48-like (n = 23), KPC-like (n = 21), or no carbapenemase (n = 13), OXA-48-like and NDM-like co-production (n = 7), and VIM-like enzymes (n = 4). The RMTases ArmA, RmtB, RmtC, RmtF, RmtG, and RmtB + RmtF were identified among 51.4%, 13.6%, 4.9%, 24.3%, 1%, and 1%, respectively. Plasmid co-localization of the carbapenemase and the RMTase encoding genes was found among ca. 20% of the isolates. A high diversity was identified in terms of the nature of associations between RMTase and carbapenemase-encoding genes, of incompatibility groups of the corresponding plasmids, and of strain genetic backgrounds, highlighting heterogeneous importations rather than clonal dissemination.
Biomimetic Superhydrophobic Films with an Extremely Low Roll-Off Angle Modified by F16CuPc via Two-Step Fabrication
Authors: Zhou Pengchao , Hu Tengda , Xu Yachen , Li Xiang , Shi Wei , Lin Yang , Xu Tao , Wei Bin
Published: March 2022

Superhydrophobicity is the phenomenon of which the water contact angle (WCA) of droplets on a solid surface is greater than 150°. In the present paper, we prepare a superhydrophobic film with a structure similar to the surface of a lotus leaf, which is composed of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), zinc oxide (ZnO), a molecular sieve (MS) and 1,2,3,4,8,9,10,11,15,16,17,18,22,23,24,25-hexadecafluorophthalocyanine copper(II) (F16CuPc). The F16CuPc was used as the modifier to reduce the surface energy of the biomimetic micro-nanostructure. With the introduction of F16CuPc, the superhydrophobic properties of the surface were enhanced so that the WCA and water roll-off angle could reach 167.1° and 0.5°, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray energy spectrometry, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses verified that the enhanced superhydrophobic properties of the film were mainly attributed to the modification of F16CuPc. Finally, thermal, mechanical, and chemical stability studies, as well as the influences of UV and underwater immersion on the superhydrophobic film were investigated. This developed two-step fabrication method may be a potential direction for superhydrophobic surface fabrication due to its simple process, excellent superhydrophobic property, and favorable stability.
Essential Elements and Isoflavonoids in the Prevention of Prostate Cancer
Authors: Stanisławska Iwona J. , Figat Ramona , Kiss Anna K. , Bobrowska-Korczak Barbara
Published: March 2022

The intake of selected minerals, especially zinc, calcium and selenium, and high consumption of dietary isoflavones are recognised as factors influencing prostate cancer risk. Moreover, changes in levels of some essential elements are characteristic of the disease. Here, we examined the combined effects of main dietary isoflavonoids (genistein, daidzein and its metabolite, equol) and minerals implicated in prostate cancer, namely zinc, selenium, copper, iron and calcium, on LNCaP prostate cancer cells proliferation. Secondly, we evaluated the influence of the combinations on genotoxicity of model mutagens, 4-nitroquinoline oxide (4NQO) and 2-aminoanthracene (2AA), in the umu test. All combinations of isoflavonoids and minerals inhibited prostate cancer cells growth. However, only mixtures with iron ions had significantly stronger effect than the phytochemicals. Interestingly, we observed that only genistein attenuated genotoxicity of 4NQO. The addition of any tested mineral abolished this effect. All tested isoflavonoids had anti-genotoxic activity against 2AA, which was significantly enhanced in the presence of copper sulphate. Our results indicate that the tested minerals in physiological concentrations had minimal influence on the anti-proliferative activity of isoflavonoids. However, they significantly modulated the anti-genotoxic effects of isoflavonoids against both metabolically activated and direct mutagens. Thus, the minerals intake and nutritional status may modulate protective action of isoflavonoids.
The Inverse Correlation of Isoflavone Dietary Intake and Headache in Peri- and Post-Menopausal Women
Authors: Kazama Mayuko , Terauchi Masakazu , Odai Tamami , Kato Kiyoko , Miyasaka Naoyuki
Published: March 2022

This study investigated the relationship between headache and dietary consumption of a variety of nutrients in middle-aged women. This cross-sectional analysis used first-visit records of 405 women aged 40–59 years. The frequency of headaches was assessed using the Menopausal Health-Related Quality of Life Questionnaire. Of the 43 major nutrient intakes surveyed using the brief-type self-administered diet history questionnaire, those that were not shared between women with and without frequent headaches were selected. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to identify nutrients independently associated with frequent headaches. After adjusting for background factors related to frequent headache (vasomotor, insomnia, anxiety, and depression symptoms), the estimated dietary intake of isoflavones (daidzein + genistein) (mg/1000 kcal/day) was negatively associated with frequent headaches (adjusted odds, 0.974; 95% confidence interval, 0.950–0.999). Moreover, the estimated isoflavone intake was not significantly associated with headache frequency in the premenopausal group, whereas it significantly correlated with that in the peri- and post-menopausal groups. Headache in peri- and post-menopausal women was inversely correlated with the dietary intake of isoflavones. Diets rich in isoflavones may improve headaches in middle-aged women.
Correction: Sato-Akushichi et al. Choroidal Volume Evaluation after Photodynamic Therapy Using New Optical Coherence Tomography Imaging Algorithm. Pharmaceuticals 2021, 14, 1140
Authors: Sato-Akushichi Miki , Ono Shinji , Klose Gerd , Song Youngseok
Published: March 2022

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The Anti-Inflammatory Effect of Humulus lupulus Extract In Vivo Depends on the Galenic System of the Topical Formulation
Authors: Hurth Zita , Faber Marie-Luise , Gendrisch Fabian , Holzer Martin , Haarhaus Birgit , Cawelius Anja , Schwabe Kay , Schempp Christoph Mathis , Wölfle Ute
Published: March 2022

We demonstrated the anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects of Humulus lupulus (HL) extract on solar simulator-irradiated primary human keratinocytes (PHKs) by analyzing ERK and p38 MAPK phosphorylation and production of IL-6 and IL-8. The anti-inflammatory effect of topically applied HL was further tested in vivo on human skin. To this end, we developed an oil-in-water (O/W) and a water-in-oil (W/O) cream with a lipid content of 40%. The anti-inflammatory effect of 1% HL extract incorporated in these two vehicles was assessed in a randomized, prospective, placebo controlled, double-blind UVB erythema study with 40 healthy volunteers. Hydrocortisone acetate (HCA) in the corresponding vehicle served as positive control. Surprisingly, both HL and HCA were only effective in the O/W system but not in the W/O formulation. Release studies using vertical diffusion cells (Franz cells) revealed that HCA was released in much higher amounts from the O/W cream compared to the W/O formulation. In summary, we have shown that 1% HL extract exerts anti-inflammatory effects comparable to 1% HCA, but only when incorporated in our O/W cream. Our findings confirm the critical role of the vehicle in topical anti-inflammatory systems.
One-Step Synthesis of Nanoliposomal Copper Diethyldithiocarbamate and Its Assessment for Cancer Therapy
Authors: Paun Radu A. , Dumut Daciana C. , Centorame Amanda , Thuraisingam Thusanth , Hajduch Marian , Mistrik Martin , Dzubak Petr , De Sanctis Juan B. , Radzioch Danuta , Tabrizian Maryam
Published: March 2022

The metal complex copper diethyldithiocarbamate (CuET) induces cancer cell death by inhibiting protein degradation and induces proteotoxic stress, making CuET a promising cancer therapeutic. However, no clinical formulation of CuET exists to date as the drug is insoluble in water and exhibits poor bioavailability. To develop a scalable formulation, nanoliposomal (LP) CuET was synthesized using ethanol injection as a facile one-step method that is suitable for large-scale manufacturing. The nanoparticles are monodispersed, colloidally stable, and approximately 100 nm in diameter with an encapsulation efficiency of over 80%. LP-CuET demonstrates excellent stability in plasma, minimal size change, and little drug release after six-month storage at various temperatures. Additionally, melanoma cell lines exhibit significant sensitivity to LP-CuET and cellular uptake occurs predominantly through endocytosis in YUMM 1.7 cancer cells. Intracellular drug delivery is mediated by vesicle acidification with more nanoparticles being internalized by melanoma cells compared with RAW 264.7 macrophages. Additionally, the nanoparticles preferentially accumulate in YUMM 1.7 tumors where they induce cancer cell death in vivo. The development and characterization of a stable and scalable CuET formulation illustrated in this study fulfils the requirements needed for a potent clinical grade formulation.
The Performance Improvement of VLC-OFDM System Based on Reservoir Computing
Authors: Cao Bingyao , Yuan Kechen , Li Hu , Duan Shuaihang , Li Yuwen , Ouyang Yuanjiang
Published: March 2022

Nonlinear effects have been restricting the development of high-speed visible light communication (VLC) systems. Neural network (NN) has become an effective means to alleviate the nonlinearity of a VLC system due to its powerful ability to fit complicated functions. However, the complex training process of traditional NN limits its application in high-speed VLC. Without performance penalty, reservoir computing (RC) simplifies the training process of NN by training only part of the network connection weights, and has become an alternative scheme to NN. For the indoor visible light orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (VLC-OFDM) system, this paper studies the signal recovery effect of the pilot-assisted reservoir computing (PA-RC) frequency domain equalization algorithm. The pilot information is added to the feature engineering of RC to improve the accuracy of channel estimation by traditional least squares (LS) algorithm. The performance of 64 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) signal under different transmission rates and peak to peak voltage (Vpp) conditions is demonstrated in the experiments. Compared with the traditional frequency domain equalization algorithms, PA-RC can further expand the Vpp range that meets the 7% hard-decision forward error correction (FEC) limit of 3.8 × 10−3. At the rate of 240 Mbps, the BER of the system is reduced by about 90%, and the utilization rate of the available frequency band of the system reaches 100%. The results show that PA-RC can effectively improve the transmission performance of VLC system well, and has strong generalization ability.
On-Line Optical Monitoring of the Mixing Performance in Co-Rotating Twin-Screw Extruders
Authors: Bernardo Felipe , Covas José A. , Canevarolo Sebastião V.
Published: March 2022

The use of real-time techniques to evaluate the global mixing performance of co-rotating twin-screw extruders is well consolidated, but much less is reported on the specific contribution of individual screw zones. This work uses on-line flow turbidity and birefringence to ascertain the mixing performance of kneading blocks with different geometries. For this purpose, one of the barrel segments of the extruder was modified in order to incorporate four sampling devices and slit dies containing optical windows were attached to them. The experiments consisted in reaching steady extrusion and then adding a small amount of tracer. Upon opening each sampling device, material was laterally detoured from the local screw channel, and its turbidity and birefringence were measured by the optical detector. Residence time distribution curves (RTD) were obtained at various axial positions along three different kneading blocks and under a range of screw speeds. It is hypothesized that K, a parameter related to the area under each RTD curve, is a good indicator of dispersive mixing, whereas variance can be used to assess distributive mixing. The experimental data confirmed that these mixing indices are sensitive to changes in processing conditions, and that they translate the expected behavior of each kneading block geometry.
Energy Storage Application of All-Organic Polymer Dielectrics: A Review
Authors: Yang Zhijie , Yue Dong , Yao Yuanhang , Li Jialong , Chi Qingguo , Chen Qingguo , Min Daomin , Feng Yu
Published: March 2022

With the wide application of energy storage equipment in modern electronic and electrical systems, developing polymer-based dielectric capacitors with high-power density and rapid charge and discharge capabilities has become important. However, there are significant challenges in synergistic optimization of conventional polymer-based composites, specifically in terms of their breakdown and dielectric properties. As the basis of dielectrics, all-organic polymers have become a research hotspot in recent years, showing broad development prospects in the fields of dielectric and energy storage. This paper reviews the research progress of all-organic polymer dielectrics from the perspective of material preparation methods, with emphasis on strategies that enhance both dielectric and energy storage performance. By dividing all-organic polymer dielectrics into linear polymer dielectrics and nonlinear polymer dielectrics, the paper describes the effects of three structures (blending, filling, and multilayer) on the dielectric and energy storage properties of all-organic polymer dielectrics. Based on the above research progress, the energy storage applications of all-organic dielectrics are summarized and their prospects discussed.
A Concise Review on Taro Mucilage: Extraction Techniques, Chemical Composition, Characterization, Applications, and Health Attributes
Authors: Tosif Mansuri M. , Najda Agnieszka , Klepacka Joanna , Bains Aarti , Chawla Prince , Kumar Ankur , Sharma Minaxi , Sridhar Kandi , Gautam Surya Prakash , Kaushik Ravinder
Published: March 2022

Taro (Colocasia esculenta) is an important source of carbohydrates as an energy source and is used as a staple food throughout the world. It is rich in mucilage and starch granules, making it a highly digestible ingredient. Mucilage can act as a matrix and a thickening, binding, emulsifying, or foaming agent in food, pharmaceutical, and several other fields of research. Moreover, mucilage can be extracted from several living organisms and has excellent functional properties, such as water-holding, oil-holding, and swelling capacities. Therefore, these remarkable functional properties make mucilage a promising ingredient with possible industrial applications. Furthermore, several extraction techniques, including enzyme-assisted, ultrasonication, microwave-assisted, aquatic, and solvent extraction methods, are used to obtain quantitative amounts of taro mucilage. Coldwater extraction with ethanol precipitation can be considered an effective and cost-effective technique to obtain high-quality mucilage with suitable industrial applications, whereas the ultrasonication method is more expensive but results in a higher amount of mucilage than other emerging techniques. Mucilage can also be used as a fat replacer or reducer, dye remover, coating agent, and antioxidating agent. Therefore, in this review, we detail the key properties related to the extraction techniques, chemical composition, and characterization of taro mucilage, along with its suitable applications and health benefits.
Research on Mechanical–Structural and Oil Yield Properties during Xanthoceras sorbifolium Seed Oil Extraction
Authors: Liu Xiaopeng , Chen Huan , Yang Liu , Zhang Yonglin
Published: March 2022

Products from Xanthoceras sorbifolium Bunge seed have gained extensive attention for various applications, especially in the fields of edible oils and industrial applications. In order to study seed kernel mechanical–structural behavior and oil yield mechanisms during extrusion, we set up a self-developed texture analyzer with in situ microscope observation. Test results indicated that seed kernel oil yield and pressing energy showed an approximately parabolic shape under pressing strain, and maximum oil yield reached 25.7%. Only local tissue damage occurred on seed kernels at strain 45–85%, cracks formed from the kernel edge to the inside zone and small cracks obviously increased in number, corresponding with the oil yield and energy–strain curve. The effect of speed on oil yield showed an opposite trend to strain effect; high pressing speed led to lower oil yield due to the short time for oil precipitation and lower pressing energy. Dwell time obviously promoted oil output within 600 s. Drying temperature had a negative effect due to structural change. Oil yield was almost zero at temperatures below 120 °C. The oil yield and pressing energy relation curve was obtained by polynomial fitting; optimal seed kernel oil pressing conditions were strain 95%, 0.1 mm/s, 20 °C, dwell time 600 s. The research provides in-depth theoretical guidance for Xanthoceras sorbifolium Bunge oil production.
Revealing the Morphological Evolution of Krakatau Volcano by Integrating SAR and Optical Remote Sensing Images
Authors: Xiang Jianming , Guo Shaohua , Shi Xianlin , Yu Daijun , Wei Guan , Wen Ningling , Chen Chen , Dai Keren
Published: March 2022

On 22 December 2018, volcano Anak Krakatau, located in Indonesia, erupted and experienced a major lateral collapse. The triggered tsunami killed at least 437 people by the 13-m-high tide. Traditional optical imagery plays a great role in monitoring volcanic activities, but it is susceptible to cloud and fog interference and has low temporal resolution. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery can monitor volcanic activities at a high temporal resolution, and it is immune to the influence of clouds. In this paper, we propose an automatic method to accurately extract the volcano boundary from SAR images by combining multi-polarized water enhancement and the Nobuyuki Otsu (OTSU) method. We extract the area change of the volcano in 2018–2019 from Sentinel-1 images and ALOS-2 imagesThe area change and evolution are verified and analyzed by combing the results from SAR and optical data. The results show that the southeastern part of the volcano expanded significantly after the eruption, and the western part experienced collapse and recovery. The volcano morphology change experienced a slow-fast-slow process in the two years.
Multi-GNSS Precise Point Positioning with UWB Tightly Coupled Integration
Authors: Huang Zhenchuan , Jin Shuanggen , Su Ke , Tang Xu
Published: March 2022

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSSs) can provide high-precision positioning services, which can be applied to fields including navigation and positioning, autonomous driving, unmanned aerial vehicles and so on. However, GNSS signals are easily disrupted in complex environments, which results in a positioning performance with a significantly inferior accuracy and lengthier convergence time, particularly for the single GNSS system. In this paper, multi-GNSS precise point positioning (PPP) with tightly integrating ultra-wide band (UWB) technology is presented to implement fast and precise navigation and positioning. The validity of the algorithm is evaluated by a set of GNSS and UWB data. The statistics indicate that multi-GNSS/UWB integration can significantly improve positioning performance in terms of the positioning accuracy and convergence time. The improvement of the positioning performance for the GNSS/UWB tightly coupled integration mainly concerns the north and east directions, and to a lesser extent, the vertical direction. Furthermore, the convergence performance of GNSS/UWB solution is analyzed by simulating GNSS signal interruption. The reliability and robustness of GNSS/UWB solution during GNSS signal interruption is verified. The results show that multi-GNSS/UWB solution can significantly improve the accuracy and convergence speed of PPP.
An Electromechanical Model for Clamped-Edge Bimorph Disk Type Piezoelectric Transformer Utilizing Kirchhoff Thin Plate Theory
Authors: Chen Shao-En , Gunawan Hadi , Wu Chia-Che
Published: March 2022

In this paper, an analytical solution for a clamped-edge bimorph disk-type piezoelectric transformer with Kirchhoff thin plate theory is proposed. The electromechanical equations for transient motions are first derived, and coupled expressions for mechanical response and voltage output are obtained. For the case of excitation around the first resonant frequency, the resulting equations are further simplified. There are analytical solutions for a mechanical response, voltage, current, and power outputs. According to the analytical model, the output voltage is affected by the inner radius of the input and output electrodes, the radius of the piezoelectric transformer (PT), and the thickness ratio between the lead zirconate titanate (PZT) layer and the substrate. When the inner radius of the input electrode approaches zero (electrode becomes circular shape), it achieves maximum output voltage at the first resonance frequency excitation. On the contrary, when the inner radius of the output electrode approaches zero, the output voltage reaches its minimum value. Voltage ratios remain constant as the disk radius changes, and the first resonance frequency is inversely proportional to the square of the disk radius. The voltage ratio is fixed even with the miniaturization of the PT.
An Unsupervised Deep-Transfer-Learning-Based Motor Imagery EEG Classification Scheme for Brain–Computer Interface
Authors: Wang Xuying , Yang Rui , Huang Mengjie
Published: March 2022

Brain–computer interface (BCI) research has attracted worldwide attention and has been rapidly developed. As one well-known non-invasive BCI technique, electroencephalography (EEG) records the brain’s electrical signals from the scalp surface area. However, due to the non-stationary nature of the EEG signal, the distribution of the data collected at different times or from different subjects may be different. These problems affect the performance of the BCI system and limit the scope of its practical application. In this study, an unsupervised deep-transfer-learning-based method was proposed to deal with the current limitations of BCI systems by applying the idea of transfer learning to the classification of motor imagery EEG signals. The Euclidean space data alignment (EA) approach was adopted to align the covariance matrix of source and target domain EEG data in Euclidean space. Then, the common spatial pattern (CSP) was used to extract features from the aligned data matrix, and the deep convolutional neural network (CNN) was applied for EEG classification. The effectiveness of the proposed method has been verified through the experiment results based on public EEG datasets by comparing with the other four methods.
Application of Wearable Sensors in Actuation and Control of Powered Ankle Exoskeletons: A Comprehensive Review
Authors: Kian Azadeh , Widanapathirana Giwantha , Joseph Anna M. , Lai Daniel T. H. , Begg Rezaul
Published: March 2022

Powered ankle exoskeletons (PAEs) are robotic devices developed for gait assistance, rehabilitation, and augmentation. To fulfil their purposes, PAEs vastly rely heavily on their sensor systems. Human–machine interface sensors collect the biomechanical signals from the human user to inform the higher level of the control hierarchy about the user’s locomotion intention and requirement, whereas machine–machine interface sensors monitor the output of the actuation unit to ensure precise tracking of the high-level control commands via the low-level control scheme. The current article aims to provide a comprehensive review of how wearable sensor technology has contributed to the actuation and control of the PAEs developed over the past two decades. The control schemes and actuation principles employed in the reviewed PAEs, as well as their interaction with the integrated sensor systems, are investigated in this review. Further, the role of wearable sensors in overcoming the main challenges in developing fully autonomous portable PAEs is discussed. Finally, a brief discussion on how the recent technology advancements in wearable sensors, including environment—machine interface sensors, could promote the future generation of fully autonomous portable PAEs is provided.
LiDAR-Stabilised GNSS-IMU Platform Pose Tracking
Authors: D’Adamo Timothy , Phillips Tyson , McAree Peter
Published: March 2022

The requirement to estimate the six degree-of-freedom pose of a moving platform frequently arises in automation applications. It is common to estimate platform pose by the fusion of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) measurements and translational acceleration and rotational rate measurements from an inertial measurement unit (IMU). This paper considers a specific situation where two GNSS receivers and one IMU are used and gives the full formulation of a Kalman filter-based estimator to do this. A limitation in using this sensor set is the difficulty of obtaining accurate estimates of the degree of freedom corresponding to rotation about the line passing through the two GNSS receiver antenna centres. The GNSS-aided IMU formulation is extended to incorporate LiDAR measurements in both known and unknown environments to stabilise this degree of freedom. The performance of the pose estimator is established by comparing expected LiDAR range measurements with actual range measurements. Distributions of the terrain point-to-model error are shown to improve from 0.27m mean error to 0.06m when the GNSS-aided IMU estimator is augmented with LiDAR measurements. This precision is marginally degraded to 0.14m when the pose estimator is operated in an a prior unknown environment.