bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Computer-Aided Diagnosis in Multiparametric MRI of the Prostate: An Open-Access Online Tool for Lesion Classification with High Accuracy
Authors: Ellmann Stephan , Schlicht Michael , Dietzel Matthias , Janka Rolf , Hammon Matthias , Saake Marc , Ganslandt Thomas , Hartmann Arndt , Kunath Frank , Wullich Bernd , Uder Michael , Bäuerle Tobias
Published: August 2020

Computer-aided diagnosis (CADx) approaches could help to objectify reporting on prostate mpMRI, but their use in many cases is hampered due to common-built algorithms that are not publicly available. The aim of this study was to develop an open-access CADx algorithm with high accuracy for classification of suspicious lesions in mpMRI of the prostate. This retrospective study was approved by the local ethics commission, with waiver of informed consent. A total of 124 patients with 195 reported lesions were included. All patients received mpMRI of the prostate between 2014 and 2017, and transrectal ultrasound (TRUS)-guided and targeted biopsy within a time period of 30 days. Histopathology of the biopsy cores served as a standard of reference. Acquired imaging parameters included the size of the lesion, signal intensity (T2w images), diffusion restriction, prostate volume, and several dynamic parameters along with the clinical parameters patient age and serum PSA level. Inter-reader agreement of the imaging parameters was assessed by calculating intraclass correlation coefficients. The dataset was stratified into a train set and test set (156 and 39 lesions in 100 and 24 patients, respectively). Using the above parameters, a CADx based on an Extreme Gradient Boosting algorithm was developed on the train set, and tested on the test set. Performance optimization was focused on maximizing the area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic curve (ROCAUC). The algorithm was made publicly available on the internet. The CADx reached an ROCAUC of 0.908 during training, and 0.913 during testing (p = 0.93). Additionally, established rule-in and rule-out criteria allowed classifying 35.8% of the malignant and 49.4% of the benign lesions with error rates of <2%. All imaging parameters featured excellent inter-reader agreement. This study presents an open-access CADx for classification of suspicious lesions in mpMRI of the prostate with high accuracy. Applying the provided rule-in and rule-out criteria might facilitate to further stratify the management of patients at risk.
Breast-Specific Epigenetic Regulation of DeltaNp73 and Its Role in DNA-Damage-Response of BRCA1-Mutated Human Mammary Epithelial Cells
Authors: Avraham Ayelet , Feldman Susanna , Cho Sean Soonweng , Kol Ayala , Heler Lior , Riklin-Nahmias Emmanuela , Sella Avishay , Karni Tamar , Allweis Tanir M. , Sukumar Saraswati , Evron Ella
Published: August 2020

The function of BRCA1/2 proteins is essential for maintaining genomic integrity in all cell types. However, why women who carry deleterious germline mutations in BRCA face an extremely high risk of developing breast and ovarian cancers specifically has remained an enigma. We propose that breast-specific epigenetic modifications, which regulate tissue differentiation, could team up with BRCA deficiency and affect tissue susceptibility to cancer. In earlier work, we compared genome-wide methylation profiles of various normal epithelial tissues and identified breast-specific methylated gene promoter regions. Here, we focused on deltaNp73, the truncated isoform of p73, which possesses antiapoptotic and pro-oncogenic functions. We showed that the promoter of deltaNp73 is unmethylated in normal human breast epithelium and methylated in various other normal epithelial tissues and cell types. Accordingly, deltaNp73 was markedly induced by DNA damage in human mammary epithelial cells (HMECs) but not in other epithelial cell types. Moreover, the induction of deltaNp73 protected HMECs from DNA damage-induced cell death, and this effect was more substantial in HMECs from BRCA1 mutation carriers. Notably, when BRCA1 was knocked down in MCF10A, a non-malignant breast epithelial cell line, both deltaNp73 induction and its protective effect from cell death were augmented upon DNA damage. Interestingly, deltaNp73 induction also resulted in inhibition of BRCA1 and BRCA2 expression following DNA damage. In conclusion, breast-specific induction of deltaNp73 promotes survival of BRCA1-deficient mammary epithelial cells upon DNA damage. This might result in the accumulation of genomic alterations and allow the outgrowth of breast cancers. These findings indicate deltaNp73 as a potential modifier of breast cancer susceptibility in BRCA1 mutation carriers and may stimulate novel strategies of prevention and treatment for these high-risk women.
Novel Caffeic Acid Phenethyl Ester-Mortalin Antibody Nanoparticles Offer Enhanced Selective Cytotoxicity to Cancer Cells
Authors: Wang Jia , Bhargava Priyanshu , Yu Yue , Sari Anissa Nofita , Zhang Huayue , Ishii Noriyuki , Yan Kangmin , Zhang Zhenya , Ishida Yoshiyuki , Terao Keiji , Kaul Sunil C. , Miyako Eijiro , Wadhwa Renu
Published: August 2020

Caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) is a key bioactive ingredient of honeybee propolis and is claimed to have anticancer activity. Since mortalin, a hsp70 chaperone, is enriched in a cancerous cell surface, we recruited a unique cell internalizing anti-mortalin antibody (MotAb) to generate mortalin-targeting CAPE nanoparticles (CAPE-MotAb). Biophysical and biomolecular analyses revealed enhanced anticancer activity of CAPE-MotAb both in in vitro and in vivo assays. We demonstrate that CAPE-MotAb cause a stronger dose-dependent growth arrest/apoptosis of cancer cells through the downregulation of Cyclin D1-CDK4, phospho-Rb, PARP-1, and anti-apoptotic protein Bcl2. Concomitantly, a significant increase in the expression of p53, p21WAF1, and caspase cleavage was obtained only in CAPE-MotAb treated cells. We also demonstrate that CAPE-MotAb caused a remarkably enhanced downregulation of proteins critically involved in cell migration. In vivo tumor growth assays for subcutaneous xenografts in nude mice also revealed a significantly enhanced suppression of tumor growth in the treated group suggesting that these novel CAPE-MotAb nanoparticles may serve as a potent anticancer nanomedicine.
Comprehensive Serum Glycopeptide Spectra Analysis Combined with Artificial Intelligence (CSGSA-AI) to Diagnose Early-Stage Ovarian Cancer
Authors: Tanabe Kazuhiro , Ikeda Masae , Hayashi Masaru , Matsuo Koji , Yasaka Miwa , Machida Hiroko , Shida Masako , Katahira Tomoko , Imanishi Tadashi , Hirasawa Takeshi , Sato Kenji , Yoshida Hiroshi , Mikami Mikio
Published: August 2020

Ovarian cancer is a leading cause of deaths among gynecological cancers, and a method to detect early-stage epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is urgently needed. We aimed to develop an artificial intelligence (AI)-based comprehensive serum glycopeptide spectra analysis (CSGSA-AI) method in combination with convolutional neural network (CNN) to detect aberrant glycans in serum samples of patients with EOC. We converted serum glycopeptide expression patterns into two-dimensional (2D) barcodes to let CNN learn and distinguish between EOC and non-EOC. CNN was trained using 60% samples and validated using 40% samples. We observed that principal component analysis-based alignment of glycopeptides to generate 2D barcodes significantly increased the diagnostic accuracy (88%) of the method. When CNN was trained with 2D barcodes colored on the basis of serum levels of CA125 and HE4, a diagnostic accuracy of 95% was achieved. We believe that this simple and low-cost method will increase the detection of EOC.
Guidelines for Management of Urgent Symptoms in Patients with Cholangiocarcinoma and Biliary Stents or Catheters Using the Modified RAND/UCLA Delphi Process
Authors: Iyer Renuka V. , Acquisto Susan G. , Bridgewater John A. , Choti Michael A. , Hong Theodore S. , Kis Bela , Mead Peter A. , Parikh Neehar D. , Roberts Lewis R. , Roberts Rebecca , Salem Riad , Sicklick Jason K. , Siegel Richard S. , Whisenant Jonathan R. , Cherepanov Dasha , Broder Michael S. , Valle Juan W.
Published: August 2020

Background: Patients with cholangiocarcinoma often have indwelling biliary stents or catheters which are prone to obstructions and/or infections; studies show that 20–40% present with fever and/or jaundice requiring urgent treatment in the outpatient setting for which there are no uniform guidelines. The goal was to develop an expert panel consensus on this topic using the modified RAND/UCLA Delphi process to rate treatment appropriateness. Methods: Thirteen expert physicians from relevant specialties, geography, and practice settings were recruited for the panel. Patient scenarios were developed and panelists rated the therapies before and after a face-to-face discussion. The appropriateness of various therapies was rated on a scale from 1–9 and classified as appropriate, inappropriate, or uncertain. Scenarios with greater than 2 (>2) ratings of 1–3 (inappropriate) and greater than 2 (>2) ratings of 7–9 (appropriate) were considered to have disagreement and were not assigned an appropriateness rating. Results: Panelists were from all US regions and the UK (8%) and had practiced for a mean 16.5 years (4–33 years). Panelists rated 480 scenarios before the meeting and re-rated 288 of the clinical scenarios after the meeting. The panelists agreed that ongoing treatment with chemotherapy did not influence decision-making and, therefore, 192 scenarios were excluded from the final list. Disagreement decreased from 37.5% before to 10.4% after the meeting. Consensus on stent/tube manipulation and inpatient antibiotic therapy was obtained and summarized in patients as “appropriate” or “maybe appropriate” based on a patient’s bilirubin level at presentation. Conclusions: The Delphi process produced consensus guidelines to fill an unmet need in the urgent management of ascending cholangitis in patients with cholangiocarcinoma.
Paracetamol Degradation by Catalyst Enhanced Non-Thermal Plasma Process for a Drastic Increase in the Mineralization Rate
Authors: Korichi Noussaiba , Aubry Olivier , Rabat Hervé , Cagnon Benoît , Hong Dunpin
Published: August 2020

In order to remediate the very poor mineralization of paracetamol in water, even when well degraded by using a Non-Thermal Plasma (NTP) process at a very low dissipated power, a plasma-catalyst coupling process was tested and investigated. A homemade glass fiber supported Fe3+ catalyst was immersed in the liquid to be treated in a Dielectric Barrier Discharge plasma reactor. The plasma-catalysis process, at the same low dissipated power, achieved a mineralization rate of 54% with a full conversion rate of paracetamol at 25 mg L−1 in initial concentration after 60 min treatment, thanks to Fenton-like effects. The synergetic effects of the plasma-catalysis coupling process also improved the Energy Yield by a factor of two. The catalyst before and after use for treatment was characterized by Brunauer-Emmett-Teller and Thermogravimetric analysis. High-Performance Liquid Chromatography was used to measure the concentration of treated solution and to investigate the intermediates. Two of them, namely 1,4-hydroquinone and 1,4-benzoquinone, were formally identified. Some intermediates are presented in this paper as a function of treatment time and their UV absorbance spectra. NTP processes with and without catalyst coupling were compared in terms of acidity, conductivity, and nitrate concentrations in the treated solution.
Accelerated Redox Cycles of Fe(III)/Fe(II) and Cu(III)/Cu(II) by Photo-Induced Electron from N-CQDs for Enhanced Photo-Fenton Capability of CuFe-LDH
Authors: Du Xingyuan , Liu Lu , Dong Zhe , Cui Zheng , Sun Xiaochen , Wu Di , Ma Zhe , Fang Zhang , Liu Yang , An Yonglei
Published: August 2020

Layered double hydroxide (LDH) materials have shown charming photo-Fenton capability for the treatment of refractory organic wastewater. In this study, CuFe-LDH hybridized with N-doped carbon quantum dots (N-CQDs) was investigated to further enhance the photo-Fenton capability. The results showed that the assembly techniques of coprecipitation and the hydrothermal method could synthesize the target material, CuFe-LDH/N-CQDs, successfully. CuFe-LDH/N-CQDs could possess a 13.5% higher methylene blue (MB) removal rate than CuFe-LDH in 30 min due to the accelerated redox cycles of Fe(III)/Fe(II) and Cu(III)/Cu(II), resulting from the photo-induced electron transfer from N-CQDs to CuFe-LDH via a d–π conjugation electronic bridge. Moreover, CuFe-LDH/N-CQDs has excellent photo-Fenton capability in the pH range of 2–11, even after being reused five times. This study would provide an efficient and stable photo-Fenton catalyst for the treatment of refractory organic wastewater.
Estradiol Induces Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition of Human Glioblastoma Cells
Authors: Hernández-Vega Ana M. , Del Moral-Morales Aylin , Zamora-Sánchez Carmen J. , Piña-Medina Ana G. , González-Arenas Aliesha , Camacho-Arroyo Ignacio
Published: August 2020

The mesenchymal phenotype of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most frequent and malignant brain tumor, is associated with the worst prognosis. The epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a cell plasticity mechanism involved in GBM malignancy. In this study, we determined 17β-estradiol (E2)-induced EMT by changes in cell morphology, expression of EMT markers, and cell migration and invasion assays in human GBM-derived cell lines. E2 (10 nM) modified the shape and size of GBM cells due to a reorganization of actin filaments. We evaluated EMT markers expression by RT-qPCR, Western blot, and immunofluorescence.We found that E2 upregulated the expression of the mesenchymal markers, vimentin, and N-cadherin. Scratch and transwell assays showed that E2 increased migration and invasion of GBM cells. The estrogen receptor-α (ER-α)-selective agonist 4,4’,4’’-(4-propyl-[1H]-pyrazole-1,3,5-triyl)trisphenol (PPT, 10 nM) affected similarly to E2 in terms of the expression of EMT markers and cell migration, and the treatment with the ER-α antagonist methyl-piperidino-pyrazole (MPP, 1 μM) blocked E2 and PPT effects. ER-β-selective agonist diarylpropionitrile (DNP, 10 nM) and antagonist 4-[2-phenyl-5,7-bis(trifluoromethyl)pyrazole[1,5-a]pyrimidin-3-yl]phenol (PHTPP, 1 μM) showed no effects on EMT marker expression. These data suggest that E2 induces EMT activation through ER-α in human GBM-derived cells.
Uptake and Fate of Extracellular Membrane Vesicles: Nucleoplasmic Reticulum-Associated Late Endosomes as a New Gate to Intercellular Communication
Authors: Corbeil Denis , Santos Mark F. , Karbanová Jana , Kurth Thomas , Rappa Germana , Lorico Aurelio
Published: August 2020

Extracellular membrane vesicles (EVs) are emerging as new vehicles in intercellular communication, but how the biological information contained in EVs is shared between cells remains elusive. Several mechanisms have been described to explain their release from donor cells and the initial step of their uptake by recipient cells, which triggers a cellular response. Yet, the intracellular routes and subcellular fate of EV content upon internalization remain poorly characterized. This is particularly true for EV-associated proteins and nucleic acids that shuttle to the nucleus of host cells. In this review, we will describe and discuss the release of EVs from donor cells, their uptake by recipient cells, and the fate of their cargoes, focusing on a novel intracellular route wherein small GTPase Rab7+ late endosomes containing endocytosed EVs enter into nuclear envelope invaginations and deliver their cargo components to the nucleoplasm of recipient cells. A tripartite protein complex composed of (VAMP)-associated protein A (VAP-A), oxysterol-binding protein (OSBP)-related protein-3 (ORP3), and Rab7 is essential for the transfer of EV-derived components to the nuclear compartment by orchestrating the particular localization of late endosomes in the nucleoplasmic reticulum.
Wide Biological Role of Hydroxytyrosol: Possible Therapeutic and Preventive Properties in Cardiovascular Diseases
Authors: D’Angelo Chiara , Franceschelli Sara , Quiles José Luis , Speranza Lorenza
Published: August 2020

The growing incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) has promoted investigations of natural molecules that could prevent and treat CVD. Among these, hydroxytyrosol, a polyphenolic compound of olive oil, is well known for its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-atherogenic effects. Its strong antioxidant properties are due to the scavenging of radicals and the stimulation of synthesis and activity of antioxidant enzymes (SOD, CAT, HO-1, NOS, COX-2, GSH), which also limit the lipid peroxidation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, a hallmark of atherosclerosis. Lowered inflammation and oxidative stress and an improved lipid profile were also demonstrated in healthy subjects as well as in metabolic syndrome patients after hydroxytyrosol (HT) supplementation. These results might open a new therapeutic scenario through personalized supplementation of HT in CVDs. This review is the first attempt to collect together scientific literature on HT in both in vitro and in vivo models, as well as in human clinical studies, describing its potential biological effects for cardiovascular health.
Molecular Genetics and Functional Analysis Implicate CDKN2BAS1-CDKN2B Involvement in POAG Pathogenesis
Authors: Rathi Sonika , Danford Ian , Gudiseva Harini V. , Verkuil Lana , Pistilli Maxwell , Vishwakarma Sushma , Kaur Inderjeet , Dave Tarjani Vivek , O’Brien Joan M. , Chavali Venkata R. M.
Published: August 2020

The genes in the 9p21 locus (CDKN2B-AS1 & CDKN2B) are widely associated with Primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG). However, the functional importance of this locus in POAG pathogenesis is still unexplored. This study investigated the role of CDKN2BAS1-CDKN2B axis in POAG. We observed significant association of CDKN2B-AS1 SNP rs4977756 with POAG and its endophenotypic traits (vertical cup-disc ratio (p = 0.033) and central corneal thickness (p = 0.008)) by screening African American POAG cases (n = 1567) and controls (n = 1600). A luciferase reporter assay in Human embryonic kidney 293T (HEK293T) cells revealed that the region surrounding rs4977756 likely serves as a transcriptional repressor. siRNA-mediated knockdown of CDKN2B-AS1 in HEK293T cells and trabecular meshwork (TM) cells resulted in significantly increased expression of CDKN2B, which was also observed in human POAG ocular tissues. Pathway focused qRT-PCR gene expression analysis showed increased cellular senescence, TGFβ signaling and ECM deposition in TM cells after CDKN2B-AS1 suppression. In conclusion, we report that CDKN2B-AS1 may act as a regulator, and it could function by modulating the expression of CDKN2B. In addition, increase in CDKN2B levels due to CDKN2B-AS1 suppression may result in the senescence of trabecular meshwork cells leading to POAG pathogenesis.
Robust and Rapid Detection of Mixed Volatile Organic Compounds in Flow Through Air by a Low Cost Electronic Nose
Authors: Huang Jiamei , Wu Jayne
Published: August 2020

This work aims to detect volatile organic compounds (VOC), i.e., acetone, ethanol and isopropyl alcohol (IPA) and their binary and ternary mixtures in a simulated indoor ventilation system. Four metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) gas sensors were chosen to form an electronic nose and it was used in a flow-through system. To speed up the detection process, transient signals were used to extracted features, as opposed to commonly used steady-state signals, which would require long time stabilization of testing parameters. Five parameters were extracted including three in phase space and two in time space. Classifier and regression models based on backpropagation neural network (BPNN) were used for the qualitative and quantitative detection of VOC mixtures. The VOCs were mixed at different ratios; ethanol and isopropyl alcohol had similar physical and chemical properties, both being challenging in terms of obtaining quantitative results. To estimate the amounts of VOC in the mixtures, the Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm was chosen in network training. When compared with the multivariate linear regression method, the BPNN-based model offered better performance on differentiating ethanol and IPA. The test accuracy of the classification was 82.6%. The concept used in this work could be readily translated for detecting closely related chemicals.
The Analysis of Resistance to Brittle Cracking of Tungsten Doped TiB2 Coatings Obtained by Magnetron Sputtering
Authors: Smolik Jerzy , Kacprzyńska-Gołacka Joanna , Sowa Sylwia , Piasek Artur
Published: August 2020

In this work, the authors present the possibility of characterization of the fracture toughness in mode I (KIC) for TiB2 and TiB2 coatings doped with different concentration of W (3%, 6% and 10%). The Young’s modulus, hardness and fracture toughness of this coatings are extracted from nanoindentation experiments. The fracture toughness was evaluated using calculation of crack length measurement. An important observation is that increasing tungsten concentration in the range 0–10% changes the microstructure of the investigated coatings: from columnar structure for TiB2 coating to nano-composite structure for Ti-B-W (10%) coating. It can be concluded that doping with concentration 10 at.% W causes an increase of the fracture toughness for the tested coatings.
Application and Development Progress of Cr-Based Surface Coatings in Nuclear Fuel Element: I. Selection, Preparation, and Characteristics of Coating Materials
Authors: Chen Huan , Wang Xiaoming , Zhang Ruiqian
Published: August 2020

To cope with the shortcomings of nuclear fuel design exposed during the Fukushima Nuclear Accident, researchers around the world have been directing their studies towards accident-tolerant fuel (ATF), which can improve the safety of fuel elements. Among the several ATF cladding concepts, surface coatings comprise the most promising strategy to be specifically applied in engineering applications in a short period. This review presents a comprehensive introduction to the latest progress in the development of Cr-based surface coatings based on zirconium alloys. Part I of the review is a retrospective look at the application status of zirconium alloy cladding, as well as the development of ATF cladding. Following this, the review focuses on the selection process of ATF coating materials, along with the advantages and disadvantages of the current mainstream preparation methods of Cr-based coatings worldwide. Finally, the characteristics of the coatings obtained through each method are summarized according to some conventional performance evaluations or investigations of the claddings. Overall, this review can help assist readers in getting a thorough understanding of the selection principle of ATF coating materials and their preparation processes.
Influence of Laser Cladding Parameters on Microstructure, Microhardness, Chemical Composition, Wear and Corrosion Resistance of Fe–B Composite Coatings Reinforced with B4C and Si Particles
Authors: Bartkowski Dariusz , Bartkowska Aneta , Piasecki Adam , Jurči Peter
Published: August 2020

The paper presents the study results of a laser cladding process of C45 steel using powder mixtures. The aim of this study was to investigate the microstructure, X-ray diffraction (XRD), chemical composition (EDS), microhardness, corrosion resistance and wear resistance of the newly obtained coatings. Modified coatings were prepared using laser cladding technology. A 1 kW continuous wave Yb:YAG disk laser with a powder feeding system was applied. Two different powder mixtures as well as various laser beam parameters were used. The first powder mixture contained Fe–B, and the second mixture was Fe–B–B4C–Si. Two values of laser beam power (600 and 800 W) and three values of scanning speed (600, 800, and 1000 mm/min) were applied during the studies. As a result of the influence of the laser beam, the zones enriched with modifying elements were obtained. Based on the results of XRD, the presence of phases derived from borides and carbides was found. In all cases analyzed, EDS studies showed that there is an increased content of boron in the dendritic areas, while there is an increased silicon content in interdendritic spaces. The addition of B4C and Si improved properties such as microhardness as well as wear and corrosion resistance. The microhardness of the coating increased from approx. 400 HV to approx. 1100 HV depending on the laser parameters used. The best corrosion resistance was obtained for the Fe–B–B4C–Si coating produced using the highest laser beam scanning speed. An improvement in wear resistance can be seen after wear tests, where the weight loss decreased from about 0.08 g to about 0.05 g.
New 8-Hydroxyquinoline-Bearing Quinoxaline Derivatives as Effective Corrosion Inhibitors for Mild Steel in HCl: Electrochemical and Computational Investigations
Authors: Chaouiki Abdelkarim , Chafiq Maryam , Rbaa Mohamed , Lgaz Hassane , Salghi Rachid , Lakhrissi Brahim , Ali Ismat H. , Masroor Sheerin , Cho Youngjae
Published: August 2020

There has been substantial research undertaken on the role of green synthesized corrosion inhibitors as a substantial approach to inhibit the corrosion of metals and their alloys in acidic environments. Herein, electrochemical studies, surface characterization, and theoretical modeling were adopted to investigate the corrosion inhibition proprieties of novel synthesized quinoxaline derivatives bearing 8-Hydroxyquinoline, namely 1-((8-hydroxyquinolin-5-yl) methyl)-3,6-dimethylquinoxalin-2(1H)-one (Q1) and 1-((8-hydroxyquinolin-5-yl)methyl) quinoxalin-2(1H)-one (Q2) on mild steel corrosion in 1 mol/L HCl solution. The principal finding of this research was that both inhibitors acted as good corrosion inhibitors with Q1 having the highest performance (96% at 5 × 10−3 mol/L). Electrochemical results obtained via potentiodynamic polarization (PDP) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) techniques demonstrated that quinoxaline compounds belonged to mixed-type inhibitors; their presence significantly increased the polarization resistance, preventing simultaneously anodic and cathodic reactions. Further, experimental results provided preliminary insights about the interactions mode between studied molecules and the mild steel surface, which followed the Langmuir adsorption model, and physical and chemical interactions assisted their inhibition mechanism. Besides, SEM analyses confirmed the existence of protective film on the metal surface after the addition of 5 × 10−3 mol/L of quinoxalines. In addition, the temperature and immersion time effects on inhibition performances of quinoxalines were investigated to evaluate their performances in different operating conditions. Besides, Density Functional Theory (DFT) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were carried out to explore the most reactive sites of quinoxaline inhibitors and their interaction mechanism. Theoretical results revealed that the inhibitor molecule with additional electron-donating functional group strongly interacted with the steel surface.
An Analytical Two-Dimensional Linearized Droplet Shape Model for Combined Tangential and Normal Body Forces
Authors: Kostoglou Margaritis , Karapantsios Thodoris D.
Published: August 2020

In view of emerging research on forced wetting under complex applied forces, a simple model for a droplet shape evolution is developed here. In particular, the model refers to droplet spreading under quasisteady conditions. The corresponding linearized two-dimensional Young–Laplace equation is solved analytically resulting in a system of two equations that relates the droplet shape features to each other. Despite its simplicity, the final model produces a wealth of droplet behaviors when combined with the physical requirement that the contact angle should be within a particular range of values. Indicative results of the droplet behavior under several forces scenarios are examined here exhibiting why the present model is useful for designing experimental campaigns on forced spreading.
Polyethylenimine-Ethoxylated Interfacial Layer for Efficient Electron Collection in SnO2-Based Inverted Organic Solar Cells
Authors: Anefnaf Ikram , Aazou Safae , Schmerber Guy , Refki Siham , Zimmermann Nicolas , Heiser Thomas , Ferblantier Gérald , Slaoui Abdelilah , Dinia Aziz , Abd-Lefdil Mohammed , Sekkat Zouheir
Published: August 2020

In this work, we studied inverted organic solar cells based on bulk heterojunction using poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl):[6,6]-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT:PCBM) as an active layer and a novel cathode buffer bilayer consisting of tin dioxide (SnO2) combined with polyethylenimine-ethoxylated (PEIE) to overcome the limitations of the single cathode buffer layer. The combination of SnO2 with PEIE is a promising approach that improves the charge carrier collection and reduces the recombination. The efficient device, which is prepared with a cathode buffer bilayer of 20 nm SnO2 combined with 10 nm PEIE, achieved Jsc = 7.86 mA/cm2, Voc = 574 mV and PCE = 2.84%. The obtained results exceed the performances of reference solar cell using only a single cathode layer of either SnO2 or PEIE.
Injection-Seeded Terahertz Parametric Oscillator with a Ring-Cavity Configuration
Authors: Gao Feilong , Li Yuan , Cong Zhenhua , Zhang Xingyu , Liu Zhaojun , Chen Xiaohan , Qin Zengguang , Wang Zecheng , Ming Na
Published: August 2020

This paper reports the characteristics of an injection-seeded terahertz parametric oscillator (TPO) with a ring-cavity configuration based on the MgO:LiNbO3 crystal. The ring cavity is constituted of three mirrors and the THz wave output surface where the pump and Stokes beams are totally reflected. The THz pulse energies and the Stokes pulse energies as functions of the pump pulse energy for different seed powers of 47.5 mW, 150.7 mW, and 312.8 mW were investigated. The experimental results showed that the injection-seeded ring cavity TPO exhibited the benefits of lower pump thresholds and higher output energies for the Stokes and THz waves. The smaller the pump pulse energy, the more obvious the effect of the seed injection. The reasons for the laser performance improvement were analyzed.
Synthesis of an Aluminum Oxide-Based Functional Device Engineered by Corrosion/Oxidation Process
Authors: Baca-Arroyo Roberto
Published: August 2020

A disordered aluminum oxide grown on recycled aluminum sheets was synthesized by a corrosion/oxidation process. First, aluminum sheets recovered from unusable beverage cans were mechanically polished and dried in air atmosphere. Second, corrosion and oxidation into the aqueous solutions were the synthesis stages to produce aluminum oxide. Phase formation and electrical conduction of aluminum-oxide layers were validated by X-ray diffraction analysis and current–voltage plots at room temperature. An aluminum oxide-based structure operating under unusual principles at an extended lifetime resulted when an aluminum-oxide layer was inserted between two aluminum electrodes. This was attributed to an unusual electrical conduction. Some suggested models from the circuit theoretic properties are discussed here for potential usefulness for the aluminum oxide synthesized, as an environmental-friendly material that can be further useful into a sustainable scenario.
The Role of EEG in the Diagnosis, Prognosis and Clinical Correlations of Dementia with Lewy Bodies—A Systematic Review
Authors: Law Zhe Kang , Todd Carein , Mehraram Ramtin , Schumacher Julia , Baker Mark R. , LeBeau Fiona E. N. , Yarnall Alison , Onofrj Marco , Bonanni Laura , Thomas Alan , Taylor John-Paul
Published: August 2020

Despite improvements in diagnostic criteria for dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), the ability to discriminate DLB from Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other dementias remains suboptimal. Electroencephalography (EEG) is currently a supportive biomarker in the diagnosis of DLB. We performed a systematic review to better clarify the diagnostic and prognostic role of EEG in DLB and define the clinical correlates of various EEG features described in DLB. MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PsycINFO were searched using search strategies for relevant articles up to 6 August 2020. We included 43 studies comparing EEG in DLB with other diagnoses, 42 of them included a comparison of DLB with AD, 10 studies compared DLB with Parkinson’s disease dementia, and 6 studies compared DLB with other dementias. The studies were visual EEG assessment (6), quantitative EEG (35) and event-related potential studies (2). The most consistent observation was the slowing of the dominant EEG rhythm (<8 Hz) assessed visually or through quantitative EEG, which was observed in ~90% of patients with DLB and only ~10% of patients with AD. Other findings based on qualitative rating, spectral power analyses, connectivity, microstate and machine learning algorithms were largely heterogenous due to differences in study design, EEG acquisition, preprocessing and analysis. EEG protocols should be standardized to allow replication and validation of promising EEG features as potential biomarkers in DLB.
Red Blood Cell Distribution Width (RDW) Predicts COVID-19 Severity: A Prospective, Observational Study from the Cincinnati SARS-CoV-2 Emergency Department Cohort
Authors: Henry Brandon Michael , Benoit Justin Lee , Benoit Stefanie , Pulvino Christina , Berger Brandon A. , Olivera Maria Helena Santos de , Crutchfield Christopher A. , Lippi Giuseppe
Published: August 2020

Since previous evidence has demonstrated that red blood cell distribution width (RDW) may be a useful prognostic parameter in many critical illnesses and infectious diseases, we investigated the utility of RDW for monitoring patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The study population consisted of 49 COVID-19 patients, including 16 (32.6%) with severe illness, 12 (24.5%) with severe acute kidney injury (AKI), and 8 (16.3%) requiring renal replacement therapy (RRT). The predictive value of blood tests, performed during emergency department evaluation, was then addressed. A progressive increase of RDW was observed with advancing COVID-19 severity. The area under the curve (AUC) of RDW was 0.73 for predicting severe illness, 0.80 for severe AKI, and 0.83 for RRT, respectively. In multivariate analysis, elevated RDW was associated with 9-fold and 16-fold increased odds of severe COVID-19 and AKI, respectively. The results of this study suggest that RDW should be part of routine laboratory assessment and monitoring of COVID-19.
Somatostatinoma and Neurofibromatosis Type 1-A Case Report and Review of the Literature
Authors: Martin Sorina , Fica Simona , Parfeni Ovidiu , Popa Liliana , Manuc Teodora , Rizea Oana , Lupescu Ioana , Gherghe Mirela , Becheanu Gabriel , Croitoru Adina
Published: August 2020

Somatostatinomas are rare neuroendocrine tumors (NET) that arise in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Because of their insidious growth, they are usually asymptomatic until late stages, presenting as malignant disease. We report the case of a 50-year-old woman who presented with epigastric abdominal pain, diarrhea and significant weight loss in the last two years. On clinical examination the patient met the criteria for neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). Abdominal CT and MRI revealed an infiltrative duodenal mass, with pancreatic invasion, locoregional enlarged lymph nodes and disseminated hepatic nodules. Microscopy and immunohistochemistry uncovered a neuroendocrine tumor, staining positive for chromogranin A (CgA), synaptophysin and somatostatin, with a Ki67 = 1%. Somatostatin receptors (SSTRs) type 2 were negative and SSTRs type 5 were positive in less than 50% of tumoral cells. Our patient was classified as a T3N1M1 stage IV metastatic duodenal grade 1 somatostatinoma and treatment with somatostatin analogues and chemotherapy with capecitabine and temozolomide was started, with so far abdominal imaging follow-up showing stable disease. When a patient is diagnosed with a rare NET, such as a somatostatinoma, it is of utmost importance to determine if it is a sporadic tumor or just a feature of a genetic disorder.
Effect of Machine Entropy Production on the Optimal Performance of a Refrigerator
Authors: Feidt Michel , Costea Monica
Published: August 2020

The need for cooling is more and more important in current applications, as environmental constraints become more and more restrictive. Therefore, the optimization of reverse cycle machines is currently required. This optimization could be split in two parts, namely, (1) the design optimization, leading to an optimal dimensioning to fulfill the specific demand (static or nominal steady state optimization); and (2) the dynamic optimization, where the demand fluctuates, and the system must be continuously adapted. Thus, the variability of the system load (with or without storage) implies its careful control-command. The topic of this paper is concerned with part (1) and proposes a novel and more complete modeling of an irreversible Carnot refrigerator that involves the coupling between sink (source) and machine through a heat transfer constraint. Moreover, it induces the choice of a reference heat transfer entropy, which is the heat transfer entropy at the source of a Carnot irreversible refrigerator. The thermodynamic optimization of the refrigerator provides new results regarding the optimal allocation of heat transfer conductances and minimum energy consumption with associated coefficient of performance (COP) when various forms of entropy production owing to internal irreversibility are considered. The reported results and their consequences represent a new fundamental step forward regarding the performance upper bound of Carnot irreversible refrigerator.
Entropy and the Brain: An Overview
Authors: Keshmiri Soheil
Published: August 2020

Entropy is a powerful tool for quantification of the brain function and its information processing capacity. This is evident in its broad domain of applications that range from functional interactivity between the brain regions to quantification of the state of consciousness. A number of previous reviews summarized the use of entropic measures in neuroscience. However, these studies either focused on the overall use of nonlinear analytical methodologies for quantification of the brain activity or their contents pertained to a particular area of neuroscientific research. The present study aims at complementing these previous reviews in two ways. First, by covering the literature that specifically makes use of entropy for studying the brain function. Second, by highlighting the three fields of research in which the use of entropy has yielded highly promising results: the (altered) state of consciousness, the ageing brain, and the quantification of the brain networks’ information processing. In so doing, the present overview identifies that the use of entropic measures for the study of consciousness and its (altered) states led the field to substantially advance the previous findings. Moreover, it realizes that the use of these measures for the study of the ageing brain resulted in significant insights on various ways that the process of ageing may affect the dynamics and information processing capacity of the brain. It further reveals that their utilization for analysis of the brain regional interactivity formed a bridge between the previous two research areas, thereby providing further evidence in support of their results. It concludes by highlighting some potential considerations that may help future research to refine the use of entropic measures for the study of brain complexity and its function. The present study helps realize that (despite their seemingly differing lines of inquiry) the study of consciousness, the ageing brain, and the brain networks’ information processing are highly interrelated. Specifically, it identifies that the complexity, as quantified by entropy, is a fundamental property of conscious experience, which also plays a vital role in the brain’s capacity for adaptation and therefore whose loss by ageing constitutes a basis for diseases and disorders. Interestingly, these two perspectives neatly come together through the association of entropy and the brain capacity for information processing.
Multiband Dual-Meander Line Antenna for Body-Centric Networks’ Biomedical Applications by Using UMC 180 nm
Authors: Shawkey Heba , Elsheakh Dalia
Published: August 2020

A new, compact, on-chip antenna architecture for 5G body-centric networks’ (BCNs) applications is presented in this paper. The integrated antenna combines two turns of dual-meander lines (DML) on two stacked layers and a metal ground layer. The proposed DML antenna structure operated at resonant bands 22 GHz, 34 GHz, 44 GHz, and 58 GHz with an operating bandwidth up to 2 GHz at impedance bandwidth ≤−7.5 dB (VSWR—Voltage Standing Wave Ratio ≤ 2.5) and antenna gain about −20 dBi, −15 dBi, −10 dBi, and −1 dBi, respectively. Then it was compared with conventional single-meander line antenna. The proposed structure decreased the resonant frequency by 22%, increased number of tuning bands, and broadened the operating bandwidth by 25%, 15%, 10%, and 20% for the tuning bands to be a suitable choice for high-data -ate biomedical applications. Furthermore, the proposed antenna was simulated and studied for its performance on and inside the human body to test the integration effect in wearable equipment. The results showed that the antenna had acceptable performance in both locations. All simulations of the proposed antenna were done were done by using Ansys HFSS (high-frequency structure simulator) v.15 (Ansys, Canonsburg, PA, USA). The DML (Digital Microwave Links) antenna was fabricated by using UMC (United Microelectronics Corporation) 180 nm CMOS (Complementary Metal–Oxidesemi–Conductor) technology with a total area of 1150 µm × 200 µm and the results showed a good agreement between measured and simulated results.
Reply Using Past Replies—A Deep Learning-Based E-Mail Client
Authors: Feng Yiwei , Naeem M. Asif , Mirza Farhaan , Tahir Ali
Published: August 2020

Email is the most common and effective source of communication for most enterprises and individuals. In the corporate sector the volume of email received daily is significant while timely reply of each email is important. This generates a huge amount of work for the organisation, in particular for the staff located in the help-desk role. In this paper we present a novel Smart E-mail Management System (SEMS) for handling the issue of E-mail overload. The Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF) model was used for designing a Smart Email Client in previous research. Since TF-IDF does not consider semantics between words, the replies suggested by the model are not very accurate. In this paper we apply Document to Vector (Doc2Vec) and introduce a novel Gated Recurrent Unit Sentence to Vector (GRU-Sent2Vec), which is a hybrid model by combining GRU and Sent2Vec. Both models are more intelligent as compared to TF-IDF. We compare our results from both models with TF-IDF. The Doc2Vec model performs the best on predicting a response for a similar new incoming Email. In our case, since the dataset is too small to require a deep learning algorithm model, the GRU-Sent2Vec hybrid model cannot produce ideal results, whereas in our understanding it is a robust method for long-text prediction.
FCC-Net: A Full-Coverage Collaborative Network for Weakly Supervised Remote Sensing Object Detection
Authors: Chen Suting , Shao Dongwei , Shu Xiao , Zhang Chuang , Wang Jun
Published: August 2020

With an ever-increasing resolution of optical remote-sensing images, how to extract information from these images efficiently and effectively has gradually become a challenging problem. As it is prohibitively expensive to label every object in these high-resolution images manually, there is only a small number of high-resolution images with detailed object labels available, highly insufficient for common machine learning-based object detection algorithms. Another challenge is the huge range of object sizes: it is difficult to locate large objects, such as buildings and small objects, such as vehicles, simultaneously. To tackle these problems, we propose a novel neural network based remote sensing object detector called full-coverage collaborative network (FCC-Net). The detector employs various tailored designs, such as hybrid dilated convolutions and multi-level pooling, to enhance multiscale feature extraction and improve its robustness in dealing with objects of different sizes. Moreover, by utilizing asynchronous iterative training alternating between strongly supervised and weakly supervised detectors, the proposed method only requires image-level ground truth labels for training. To evaluate the approach, we compare it against a few state-of-the-art techniques on two large-scale remote-sensing image benchmark sets. The experimental results show that FCC-Net significantly outperforms other weakly supervised methods in detection accuracy. Through a comprehensive ablation study, we also demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed dilated convolutions and multi-level pooling in increasing the scale invariance of an object detector.
The Estimation of the Influence of Household Appliances on the Power Quality in a Microgrid System
Authors: Blazek Vojtech , Petruzela Michal , Vantuch Tomas , Slanina Zdenek , Mišák Stanislav , Walendziuk Wojciech
Published: August 2020

This article presents the analysis of the influence of household appliances on the quality of the energy consumed by the end-user. The results of the research, then, concern the final consumer (the lowest level of the power grid). The research was conducted on 120 combinations of electrical appliances connected into a grid. Each combination consisted of three devices working simultaneously in a micro-grid. The obtained and statistically analyzed data proved that there are several types of appliances that have a great influence on the power quality (PQ) parameters changes. The results of the conducted experiments indicate the devices which influenced significantly the total harmonic distortion of voltage (THDV), the voltage frequency (FREQ) and the voltage fluctuation (V). Specific features of particular devices were examined in terms of their significance for the power quality deviation. This showed the most important features which should be considered while working out the prediction model. The future of smart grids resides in data analysis, predictive models and real-time optimization. One of the key characteristics is the reducing energy consumption generated by renewable energy sources. This phenomenon, namely looking for problems connected with sustainable power quality and their appropriate solution, is described in this article. We performed an extended analysis of the smart home appliances influence of individual quantities on a real model. Furthermore, we explored devices with a high impact on chosen power quality indicators. In the end, we discuss their specific behavior and relevance to the above-described phenomenon to improve the predictive model utility.