bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Associated With Carbon Conversion Rate and Source–Sink Enzyme Activity in Tomato Fruit Subjected to Water Stress and Potassium Application
Authors: Luo Anrong , Zhou Chenni , Chen Jinliang
Published: June 2021

Carbon metabolism in higher plants is a basic physiological metabolism, and carbon allocation and conversion require the activity of various enzymes in metabolic processes that alter the content and overall composition of sugars in the sink organ. However, it is not known how various enzymes affect carbon metabolism when tomato plants are subjected to water stress or treated with potassium. Although the process of carbon metabolism is very complex, we used the carbon conversion rate to compare and analyze the enzyme activities related to sugar metabolism and find out which carbon conversion rate are the most important. Results showed that water stress and potassium increased carbon import flux in the fruit, which was beneficial to carbon accumulation. Water deficit increased the activity of sucrose synthase (SuSy) and starch phosphorylase (SP) and decreased the activity of sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS) and adenosine diphosphate glucose pyrophosphorylase (AGPase) in the source. Water stress increased the activity of acid invertase (AI), SuSy and SP but decreased the activity of AGPase in the sink. Potassium modified the balance of enzymes active in sugar and starch metabolism by increasing the activity of AI, SuSy, SPS and SP and significantly decreasing the activity of AGPase, resulting in increase of hexose. Canonical correlational analysis revealed that the carbon conversion rate was mainly affected by the relative rate of conversion of sucrose to fructose and glucose [p1(t)] and glucose to starch [p5m(t)]. SuSy and AGPase had the greatest effect on enzyme activity in the fruit; respectively regulated p1(t) and p5m(t).
Transforming Shame in the Pandemic: An International Study
Authors: Mayer Claude-Hélène , Vanderheiden Elisabeth
Published: June 2021

Shame is an unconscious, somehow unattended and neglected emotion and occurs when individual and socio-cultural norms are violated. It often impacts negatively on the self and others across cultures. During the Covid-19 crises, shame has become an important emotion with a powerful effect, depending on how it is experienced within the socio-cultural context. This article explores shame in international perspectives in the context of Covid-19 and addresses the question how shame is transformed from an existential positive psychology (PP2.0) perspective. The study uses a qualitative research paradigm and explores shame and its transformation during Covid-19. Purposeful and snowball sampling was used. The sample consisted of 24 individuals (16 female, 8 male), of 13 different nationalities. Data were collected from written interviews and analyzed through thematic analysis. Ethical considerations were followed; ethical approval was given by a university. Findings show that participants become very worried, anxious, scared, sad, and shocked when they or individuals in their close relationships contracted Covid-19. Shame plays an important role during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the meaning and experience of shame during Covid-19 is strongly dependent on the socio-cultural background of the individual who is experiencing the disease. Individuals use different strategies and mechanisms to deal with and transform shame in the context of Covid-19.
Brief Interventions Influence the Quantity and Quality of Caregiver-Child Conversations in an Everyday Context
Authors: Shivaram Apoorva , Chavez Yaritza , Anderson Erin , Fritz Autumn , Jackson Ryleigh , Edwards Louisa , Powers Shelley , Libertus Melissa , Hespos Susan
Published: June 2021

Reading and arithmetic are difficult cognitive feats for children to master and youth from low-income communities are often less “school ready” in terms of letter and number recognition skills (Lee and Burkam, 2002). One way to prepare children for school is by encouraging caregivers to engage children in conversations about academically-relevant concepts by using numbers, recognizing shapes, and naming colors (Levine et al., 2010; Fisher et al., 2013). Previous research shows that caregiver-child conversations about these topics rarely take place in everyday contexts (Hassinger-Das et al., 2018), but interventions designed to encourage such conversations, like displaying signs in a grocery store, have resulted in significant increases in caregiver-child conversations (Ridge et al., 2015; Hanner et al., 2019). We investigated whether a similar brief intervention could change caregiver-child conversations in an everyday context. We observed 212 families in a volunteer-run facility where people who are food-insecure can select food from available donations. Volunteers greet all the clients as they pass through the aisles, offer food, and restock the shelves as needed. About 25% of the clients have children with them and our data consist of observations of the caregiver-child conversations with 2- to 10-year-old children. Half of the observation days consisted of a baseline condition in which the quantity and quality of caregiver-child conversation was observed as the client went through aisles where no signs were displayed, and volunteers merely greeted the clients. The other half of the observation days consisted of a brief intervention where signs were displayed (signs-up condition), where, volunteers greeted the clients and pointed out that there were signs displayed to entertain the children if they were interested. In addition, there was a within-subject manipulation for the intervention condition where each family interacted with two different categories of signs. Half of the signs had academically-relevant content and the other half had non-academically-relevant content. The results demonstrate that the brief intervention used in the signs-up condition increases the quantity of conversation between a caregiver and child. In addition, signs with academically-relevant content increases the quality of the conversation. These findings provide further evidence that brief interventions in an everyday context can change the caregiver-child conversation. Specifically, signs with academically-relevant content may promote school readiness.
The Change of Public Individual Prevention Practice and Psychological Effect From the Early Outbreak Stage to the Controlled Stage of COVID-19 in China in 2020: Two Cross-Sectional Studies
Authors: Han Bingfeng , Liu Hanyu , Zhao Tianshuo , Liu Bei , Zheng Hui , Wan Yongmei , Cui Fuqiang
Published: June 2021

Background

COVID-19 broke out in China and spread rapidly in January and February 2020. Following the prevention and control measures of the Chinese government, the outbreak was gradually brought under control after March. The changes in people’s attention to the epidemic, individual prevention practice and psychological effect from the early outbreak stage to the under controlled stage need to be evaluated.

Methods

Two cross-sectional, population-based online surveys were conducted from January 28 to February 1, 2020 and from February1 to March 18, 2020. Socio-demographic information and individual protective practice were collected and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) was used for measuring anxiety. The range of STAI score was 5–25, and the higher the score, the more anxious it was. The respondents of the two surveys were matched on a one-to-one basis according to their province, gender, age, education, and marriage. Wilcoxon signed ranks test and Mann-Whitney U test were used to compare STAI score changes in two stages and in different demographic characteristics.

Results

We included 9,764 individuals in the first survey and 1,669 in the second survey, covering 30 provincial administrative regions in Mainland China. COVID-19 has affected almost every aspect of people’s normal life, especially lifestyle. The proportion of people who paid attention to it every day had dropped from 97.6 to 88.9%. We identified that vast majority people wore masks when they went out. The proportion has declined from 96.5 to 92.4% for hand hygiene and from 98.4 to 95.3% for not attending parties. People’s anxiety (STAI score) across the country has decreased from a median of 19 in the early outbreak stage to a median of 12, including people with all demographic characteristics, but some have increased in 16 provinces.

Conclusion

People’s attention to information about the epidemic has declined slightly, but a high proportion of people maintained good practices such as wearing masks, hand hygiene, and not attending parties. People’s anxiety had generally declined from the early outbreak stage to the under controlled stage, but it was still at a high level.
Cross-Sectional Associations Between Lifetime Use of Psychedelic Drugs and Psychometric Measures During the COVID-19 Confinement: A Transcultural Study
Authors: Révész Dóra , Ona Genís , Rossi Giordano N. , Rocha Juliana M. , dos Santos Rafael G. , Hallak Jaime E. C. , Alcázar-Córcoles Miguel Á. , Bouso José C.
Published: June 2021

Background: One of the main public health strategies adopted at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic consisted of implementing strict lockdowns to stop the transmission of the virus. Despite being an effective measure, the confinement and the associated social isolation create a stressful, potentially lengthy situations that has been proven to have several psychological consequences. Given the potential benefits that certain psychedelic drugs have shown for the treatment of psychological disorders, this study aimed to assess the impact of lifetime psychedelic drug use on mental health in relation to the first strict lockdown adopted by various countries (April-July 2020).

Methods: Subjects completed an online survey that inquired about sociodemographic factors, activities, and lifestyle factors during confinement, as well as health and mental health related factors. Subjects were asked about their lifetime use of psychedelic drugs (MDMA, ayahuasca, psilocybin-containing mushrooms, LSD, peyote, San Pedro, Bufo alvarius or 5-MeO-DMT, and others), being classified as regular users (more than once per 6 months), occasional users, or non-users. The survey included psychometric tests used to assess psychological distress, peritraumatic stress, social support, psychopathological symptoms, and personality. Linear regressions were performed with psychedelic drug users as the independent variable and psychometric factors as the outcomes, while correcting for age, gender, language, religion, spirituality, and use of non-psychedelic drugs.

Results: The study included 2,974 English, Portuguese, and Spanish speakers (497 regular users of psychedelic drugs, 606 occasional users, and 1,968 non-users). On average, respondents were 36 years old and 70% were female. Psychedelic drug users, especially regular ones, reported less psychological distress, less peritraumatic stress, and more social support. Regarding personality measures, psychedelic drug users scored higher on the novelty-seeking and self-transcendence scales, and lower on cooperativeness.

Conclusion: Our findings showed that regular users of psychedelic drugs had less psychological stress and some personality differences when compared to occasional users and non-users. This suggests that either the use of psychedelics might be a protective factor itself or people with certain previous traits are more prone to frequently using psychedelic drugs. Future prospective longitudinal research should investigate the underlying processes observed in this study to develop consistent hypotheses.
The Impact of COVID-19 on Informal Caregiving and Care Receiving Across Europe During the First Phase of the Pandemic
Authors: Bergmann Michael , Wagner Melanie
Published: June 2021

Purpose: We analyzed the effects of COVID-19 as well as its accompanying epidemiological control measures on health-related outcomes (physical and mental health) and unmet care needs of both caregivers and care recipients across Europe and Israel by taking into account country differences.

Methods: We applied comparisons of adjusted predictions, controlling for a large set of relevant respondent characteristics, to investigate changes in the physical and mental health of caregivers and care recipients due to COVID-19. Furthermore, multilevel regression models were used to analyze the effect of individual and contextual indicators on the probability of reporting difficulties in receiving care. For the analyses, we used data from 26 countries with 51,983 respondents over 50 years based on the eighth wave of the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), which had to be suspended in March 2020, and the SHARE Corona Survey fielded from June to August 2020.

Results: During the first phase of the pandemic in spring/summer 2020, the frequency of providing personal care to parents increased in almost all European countries, while care to children, in turn, decreased. Parental caregivers who increased the frequency of providing personal care reported significantly more mental health strains, that is, feeling sad/depressed and anxious/nervous more often since the outbreak of the pandemic. With respect to receiving care, about one out of five care recipients had difficulty in obtaining adequate care from outside the household during the pandemic. The perception of unmet care needs was significantly associated with country differences regarding the duration of the stay-at-home orders. In contrast, the number of confirmed deaths did not have a significant effect on perceiving difficulties related to receiving care.

Conclusions: Our findings show the extent of the burden to which caregivers and care recipients were exposed with respect to the unintended consequences of COVID-19-related epidemiological control measures. There is a great need within this population for interventions, which effectively reduce the burden as well as the symptoms of anxiety or depression for caregivers as well as care recipients. This should be recognized by (health) policymakers and social organizations.
Genetic Analysis of Major Carcass Traits of Korean Hanwoo Males Raised for Thirty Months
Authors: Alam Mahboob , Lee Soo Hyun , Lee Do Hyun , Cho Chungil , Park Mi Na
Published: June 2021

Understanding animals’ genetic potential for carcass traits is the key to genetic improvements in any beef cattle. In this study, we investigated the genetic merits of carcass traits using Hanwoo males raised in a 30-month production system (PROD30). We achieved this using a dataset comprising 6092 Hanwoo males born between 2005 and 2017 and measures of four carcass traits (carcass weight, CWT; eye muscle area, EMA; backfat thickness, BFT; and marbling score, MS). Genetic parameters were estimated using a multiple-trait animal model through the AIREMLF90 program. According to the multiple-trait model, the h2 of CWT, EMA, BFT, and MS were 0.35 ± 0.04, 0.43 ± 0.05, 0.48 ± 0.05, and 0.56 ± 0.05, respectively. The strongest genetic correlation (rg) was obtained between CWT and EMA (0.49 ± 0.07), whereas it was negligible between CWT and BFT. EMA and MS were also moderately correlated, whereas there was a relatively low negative correlation between EMA and BFT (−0.26 ± 0.08). Our study revealed a consistent indirect genetic improvement in animals from 2005 onwards. Although Hanwoo improvement has mainly focused on males under a 24-month production cycle, we observed PROD30 males to have somewhat similar genetic potential. Our results provide useful insights into the genetic merits of PROD30 males for the first time, which may facilitate future studies on them and their integration into the Hanwoo National Evaluation for genomic selection.
Estrus Detection Using Background Image Subtraction Technique in Tie-Stalled Cows
Authors: Higaki Shogo , Horihata Kei , Suzuki Chie , Sakurai Reina , Suda Tomoko , Yoshioka Koji
Published: June 2021

In this study, we determined the applicability of the background image subtraction technique to detect estrus in tie-stalled cows. To investigate the impact of the camera shooting direction, webcams were set up to capture the front, top, and rear views of a cow simultaneously. Video recording was performed for a total of ten estrous cycles in six cows. Standing estrus was confirmed by testing at 6 h intervals. From the end of estrus, transrectal ultrasonography was performed every 2 h to confirm ovulation time. Foreground objects (moving objects) were extracted in the videos using the background subtraction technique, and the pixels were counted at each frame of five frames-per-second sequences. After calculating the hourly averaged pixel counts, the change in values was expressed as the pixel ratio (total value during the last 24 h/total value during the last 24 to 48 h). The mean pixel ratio gradually increased at approximately 48 h before ovulation, and the highest value was observed at estrus, regardless of the camera shooting direction. When using front-view videos with an appropriate threshold, estrus was detected with 90% sensitivity and 50% precision. The present method in particular has the potential to be a non-contact estrus detection method for tie-stalled cows.
A Candidate Gene Association Study for Economically Important Traits in Czech Dairy Goat Breeds
Authors: Brzáková Michaela , Rychtářová Jana , Čítek Jindřich , Sztankóová Zuzana
Published: June 2021

Milk production is influenced by many factors, including genetic and environmental factors and their interactions. Animal health, especially udder health, is usually evaluated by the number of somatic cells. The present study described the effect of polymorphisms in the ACACA, BTN1A1, LPL, and SCD genes on the daily milk yield, fat, and protein percentages and somatic cell count. In this study, 590 White Shorthaired (WSH) and Brown Shorthaired (BSH) goats were included. SNP genotyping was performed by PCR-RFLP and multiplex PCR followed by SNaPshot minisequencing analysis. The linear mixed model with repeated measurement was used to identify the genetic associations between the studied genes/SNPs and chosen traits. All selected genes were polymorphic in the tested goat populations and showed significant associations with milk traits. Only BTN1A1 (SNP g.599 A > G) showed a significant association with the somatic cell score. After Bonferroni correction, a significant effect of LPL g.300G > A on daily milk yield and fat percentage, LPL g.185G > T on protein percentage, and LPL G50C, SCD EX3_15G > A, and SCD EX3_68A > G on fat percentage was found. The importance of environmental factors, such as the herd-year effect, month of milking, and lactation order on all milk performance indicators was confirmed.
Oxytetracycline and Florfenicol Concentrations in Food-Additive Premixes Authorised for Broiler Chickens: Assessing Degree of Agreement with Manufacturers Labelling
Authors: Maddaleno Aldo , Maturana Matías , Pokrant Ekaterina , Martín Betty San , Cornejo Javiera
Published: June 2021

Antimicrobials premixes are the presentation of choice to administer drugs simultaneously to groups of animals in intensive husbandry systems that require treatment for pathologies of bacterial origin. Among the premixes available for use in poultry, florfenicol and oxytetracycline are commonly administered via food or water. However, their actual concentration in premixes must meet on-label statements to ensure plasma concentrations reach effective therapeutic levels. Hence, this work was designed for the purpose of verifying whether the concentration of antimicrobial present in five premixes matched their on-label statement. Three oxytetracycline premixes, and two of florfenicol, were analysed using a Xevo TQ-S micro UPLC-MS/MS, and an ABSciex API4000 HPLC-MS/MS, respectively. Analytical methodologies were implemented and validated, showing an R2 ≥ 0.99 for the calibration curves. Oxytetracycline was detected in these premixes at concentrations exceeding on-label statements by 13.28%, 21.54%, and 29.68%, whereas florfenicol concentrations detected in premixes were 13.06% and 14.75% lower than expected. Consequently, this work shows that the concentration of active ingredients that are present in commercial formulations effectively differ from those stated on premix labels, and it also highlights how unpredictable their range of variability might be. This must be addressed through solid and updated laws that guarantee an effective pharmaceutical product.
Basic Needs in Horses?—A Literature Review
Authors: Krueger Konstanze , Esch Laureen , Farmer Kate , Marr Isabell
Published: June 2021

Every animal species has particular environmental requirements that are essential for its welfare, and when these so-called “basic needs” are not fulfilled, the animals suffer. The basic needs of horses have been claimed to be social contact, social companionship, free movement and access to roughage. To assess whether horses suffer when one or more of the four proposed basic needs are restricted, we examined several studies (n = 38) that reported behavioural and physiological reactions to these restrictions. We assigned the studies according to the four types of responses investigated: (a) Stress, (b) Active, (c) Passive, and (d) Abnormal Behaviour. Furthermore, the number of studies indicating that horses reacted to the restrictions were compared with the number of studies reporting no reaction. The limited number of studies available on single management restrictions did not allow conclusions to be drawn on the effect of each restriction separately, especially in the case of social companionship. However, when combinations of social contact, free movement and access to roughage were restricted, many of the horses had developed responses consistent with suffering. Passive Responses, indicating acute suffering, and Abnormal Behaviour, indicating suffering currently or at some time in the past, were especially clearly demonstrated. This provides further evidence of the usefulness of assessing behavioural parameters in combination with physiological measurements when evaluating horse welfare. This meta-analysis of the literature confirms that it is justified to claim that social contact, free movement and access to roughage are basic needs in horses.
The Influence of Soldering Profile on the Thermal Parameters of Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBTs)
Authors: Pietruszka Adrian , Górecki Paweł , Wroński Sebastian , Illés Balázs , Skwarek Agata
Published: June 2021

The effect of solder joint fabrication on the thermal properties of IGBTs soldered onto glass-epoxy substrate (FR4) was investigated. Glass-epoxy substrates with a thickness of 1.50 mm, covered with a 35 μm thick Cu layer, were used. A surface finish was prepared from a hot air leveling (HAL) Sn99Cu0.7Ag0.3 layer with a thickness of 1 ÷ 40 μm. IGBT transistors NGB8207BN were soldered with SACX0307 (Sn99Ag0.3Cu0.7) paste. The samples were soldered in different soldering ovens and at different temperature profiles. The thermal impedance Zth(t) and thermal resistance Rth of the samples were measured. Microstructural and voids analyses were performed. It was found that the differences for different samples reached 15% and 20% for Zth(t) and Rth, respectively. Although the ratio of the gas voids in the solder joints varied between 3% and 30%, no correlation between the void ratios and Rth increase was found. In the case of the different soldering technologies, the microstructure of the solder joint showed significant differences in the thickness of the intermetallic compounds (IMC) layer; these differences correlated well with the time above liquidus during the soldering process. The thermal parameters of IGBTs could be changed due to the increased thermal conductivity of the IMC layer as compared to the thermal conductivity of the solder bulk. Our research highlighted the importance of the soldering technology used and the thermal profile in the case of the assembly of IGBT components.
Single Image Atmospheric Veil Removal Using New Priors for Better Genericity
Authors: Duminil Alexandra , Tarel Jean-Philippe , Brémond Roland
Published: June 2021

From an analysis of the priors used in state-of-the-art algorithms for single image defogging, a new prior is proposed to obtain a better atmospheric veil removal. Our hypothesis is based on a physical model, considering that the fog appears denser near the horizon rather than close to the camera. It leads to more restoration when the fog depth is more important, for a more natural rendering. For this purpose, the Naka–Rushton function is used to modulate the atmospheric veil according to empirical observations on synthetic foggy images. The parameters of this function are set from features of the input image. This method also prevents over-restoration and thus preserves the sky from artifacts and noises. The algorithm generalizes to different kinds of fog, airborne particles, and illumination conditions. The proposed method is extended to the nighttime and underwater images by computing the atmospheric veil on each color channel. Qualitative and quantitative evaluations show the benefit of the proposed algorithm. The quantitative evaluation shows the efficiency of the algorithm on four databases with different types of fog, which demonstrates the broad generalization allowed by the proposed algorithm, in contrast with most of the currently available deep learning techniques.
Improved Measurement Performance for the Sharp GP2Y1010 Dust Sensor: Reduction of Noise
Authors: Thompson Jonathan E.
Published: June 2021

Sharp GP2Y1010 dust sensors are increasingly being used within distributed sensing networks and for personal monitoring of exposure to particulate matter (PM) pollution. These dust sensors offer an easy-to-use solution at an excellent price point; however, the sensors are known to offer limited dynamic range and poor limits of detection (L.O.D.), often >15 μg m−3. The latter figure of merit precludes the use of this inexpensive line of dust sensors for monitoring PM2.5 levels in environments within which particulate pollution levels are low. This manuscript presents a description of the fabrication and circuit used in the Sharp GP2Y1010 dust sensor and reports several effective strategies to minimize noise and maximize limits of detection for PM. It was found that measurement noise is primarily introduced within the photodiode detection circuitry, and that electromagnetic interference can influence dust sensor signals dramatically. Through optimization of the external capacitor and resistor used in the LED drive circuit—and the inter-pulse delay, electromagnetic shielding, and data acquisition strategy—noise was reduced approximately tenfold, leading to a projected noise equivalent limit of detection of 3.1 μg m−3. Strategies developed within this manuscript will allow improved limits of detection for these inexpensive sensors, and further enable research toward unraveling the spatial and temporal distribution of PM within buildings and urban centers—as well as an improved understanding of effect of PM on human health.
Neuronal Growth and Formation of Neuron Networks on Directional Surfaces
Authors: Yurchenko Ilya , Farwell Matthew , Brady Donovan D. , Staii Cristian
Published: June 2021

The formation of neuron networks is a process of fundamental importance for understanding the development of the nervous system and for creating biomimetic devices for tissue engineering and neural repair. The basic process that controls the network formation is the growth of an axon from the cell body and its extension towards target neurons. Axonal growth is directed by environmental stimuli that include intercellular interactions, biochemical cues, and the mechanical and geometrical properties of the growth substrate. Despite significant recent progress, the steering of the growing axon remains poorly understood. In this paper, we develop a model of axonal motility, which incorporates substrate-geometry sensing. We combine experimental data with theoretical analysis to measure the parameters that describe axonal growth on micropatterned surfaces: diffusion (cell motility) coefficients, speed and angular distributions, and cell-substrate interactions. Experiments performed on neurons treated with inhibitors for microtubules (Taxol) and actin filaments (Y-27632) indicate that cytoskeletal dynamics play a critical role in the steering mechanism. Our results demonstrate that axons follow geometrical patterns through a contact-guidance mechanism, in which geometrical patterns impart high traction forces to the growth cone. These results have important implications for bioengineering novel substrates to guide neuronal growth and promote nerve repair.
Serum Exosomal microRNA-21, 222 and 124-3p as Noninvasive Predictive Biomarkers in Newly Diagnosed High-Grade Gliomas: A Prospective Study
Authors: Olioso Debora , Caccese Mario , Santangelo Alessandra , Lippi Giuseppe , Zagonel Vittorina , Cabrini Giulio , Lombardi Giuseppe , Dechecchi Maria Cristina
Published: June 2021

Background: High-grade gliomas (HGG) are malignant brain tumors associated with frequent recurrent disease. Clinical management of HGG patients is currently devoid of blood biomarkers for early diagnosis, monitoring therapeutic effects and predicting recurrence. Different circulating miRNAs, both free and associated with exosomes, are described in patients with HGG. We previously identified miR-21, miR-222 and miR-124-3p purified from serum exosomes as molecular signature to help pre-operative clinical diagnosis and grading of gliomas. The aim of the present study was to verify this signature as a tool to assess the effect of treatment and for the early identification of progression in newly diagnosed HGG patients. Material and Methods: Major inclusion criteria were newly diagnosed, histologically confirmed HGG patients, no prior chemotherapy, ECOG PS 0-2 and patients scheduled for radiochemotherapy with temozolomide as first-line treatment after surgery. RANO criteria were used for response assessment. Serum was collected at baseline and subsequently at each neuroradiological assessment. mir-21, -222 and -124-3p expression in serum exosomes was measured in all samples. Results: A total number of 57 patients were enrolled; 41 were male, 52 with glioblastoma and 5 with anaplastic astrocytoma; 18 received radical surgery. HGG patients with higher exosomal miRNA expression displayed a statistically significant lower progression-free survival and overall survival. Increased expression of miR-21, -222 and -124-3p during post-operative follow-up was associated with HGG progression. Conclusions: These data indicate that miR-21, -222 and -124-3p in serum exosomes may be useful molecular biomarkers for complementing clinical evaluation of early tumor progression during post-surgical therapy in patients with HGG.
A Flavor of the Future of GI Endoscopy—New Solutions Shape the Field of Modern Gastrointestinal Care
Authors: Koulaouzidis Anastasios , Marlicz Wojciech , Koulaouzidis George
Published: June 2021

Gastrointestinal (GI) cancers remain high on the list of the leading causes of death worldwide; however, the recent emergence of new and ongoing global healthcare threats, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, has led to a temporary reduction in elective endoscopic procedures [...]
Systematic Review on the Association of Radiomics with Tumor Biological Endpoints
Authors: La Greca Saint-Esteven Agustina , Vuong Diem , Tschanz Fabienne , van Timmeren Janita E. , Dal Bello Riccardo , Waller Verena , Pruschy Martin , Guckenberger Matthias , Tanadini-Lang Stephanie
Published: June 2021

Radiomics supposes an alternative non-invasive tumor characterization tool, which has experienced increased interest with the advent of more powerful computers and more sophisticated machine learning algorithms. Nonetheless, the incorporation of radiomics in cancer clinical-decision support systems still necessitates a thorough analysis of its relationship with tumor biology. Herein, we present a systematic review focusing on the clinical evidence of radiomics as a surrogate method for tumor molecular profile characterization. An extensive literature review was conducted in PubMed, including papers on radiomics and a selected set of clinically relevant and commonly used tumor molecular markers. We summarized our findings based on different cancer entities, additionally evaluating the effect of different modalities for the prediction of biomarkers at each tumor site. Results suggest the existence of an association between the studied biomarkers and radiomics from different modalities and different tumor sites, even though a larger number of multi-center studies are required to further validate the reported outcomes.
ABHD4-Regulating RNA Panel: Novel Biomarkers in Acute Coronary Syndrome Diagnosis
Authors: Agwa Sara H. A. , Elzahwy Sherif Samir , El Meteini Mahmoud Shawky , Elghazaly Hesham , Saad Maha , Abd Elsamee Aya M. , Shamekh Rania , Matboli Marwa
Published: June 2021

Background: Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is a major cause of death all over the world. STEMI represents a type of myocardial infarction with acute ST elevation. We aimed to assess the predictive power of potential RNA panel expression in acute coronary syndrome. Method: We used in silico data analysis to retrieve RNAs related to glycerophospholipid metabolism dysregulation and specific to ACS that results in the selection of Alpha/Beta hydrolase fold domain4 (ABHD4) mRNA and its epigenetic regulators (Foxf1 adjacent noncoding developmental regulatory RNA (FENDRR) lncRNA, miRNA-221, and miRNA-197). We assessed the expression of the serum RNA panel in 68 patients with ACS, 21 patients with chest pain due to non-cardiac causes, and 21 healthy volunteers by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results: The study data showed significant down regulation in the expression of the serum levels of FENDRR lncRNA and miRNA-221-3p by 120-fold and 22-fold in Unstable angina (UA) in comparison with healthy volunteers, and by 8.6-fold and 2-fold in ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients versus UA; concomitant upregulation in the expression of ABHD4 mRNA and miRNA-197-5p by 444-fold and 10-fold in UA compared with healthy volunteers, and by 1.54-fold and 4.5-fold in STEMI versus unstable angina. Performance characteristics analysis showed that the ABHD4-regulating RNA panel were potential biomarkers for prediction of ACS. Moreover, there was a significant association between the 2 miRNAs and ABHD4 mRNA and the regulating FENDRR lncRNA. Conclusion: Collectively, ABHD4 mRNA regulating RNA panel based on putative interactions seems to be novel non-invasive biomarkers that could detect ACS early and stratify severity of the condition that could improve health outcome.
Chamber-Specific Protein Expression during Direct Cardiac Reprogramming
Authors: Zhang Zhentao , Villalpando Jesse , Zhang Wenhui , Nam Young-Jae
Published: June 2021

Forced expression of core cardiogenic transcription factors can directly reprogram fibroblasts to induced cardiomyocyte-like cells (iCMs) in vitro and in vivo. This cardiac reprogramming approach provides a proof of concept for induced heart regeneration by converting a fibroblast fate to a cardiomyocyte fate. However, it remains elusive whether chamber-specific cardiomyocytes can be generated by cardiac reprogramming. Therefore, we assessed the ability of the cardiac reprogramming approach for chamber specification in vitro and in vivo. We found that in vivo cardiac reprogramming post-myocardial infarction exclusively induces a ventricular-like phenotype, while a major fraction of iCMs generated in vitro failed to determine their chamber identities. Our results suggest that in vivo cardiac reprogramming may have an inherent advantage of generating chamber-matched new cardiomyocytes as a potential heart regenerative approach.
Colorectal Cancer Surgery Quality in Manitoba: A Population-Based Descriptive Analysis
Authors: Ratnayake Iresha , Park Jason , Biswanger Natalie , Feely Allison , Musto Grace , Decker Kathleen
Published: June 2021

Unwarranted clinical variation in healthcare impacts access, productivity, performance, and outcomes. A strategy proposed for reducing unwarranted clinical variation is to ensure that population-based data describing the current state of health care services are available to clinicians and healthcare decision-makers. The objective of this study was to measure variation in colorectal cancer surgical treatment patterns and surgical quality in Manitoba and identify areas for improvement. This descriptive study included individuals aged 20 years or older who were diagnosed with invasive cancer (adenocarcinoma) of the colon or rectum between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2014. Laparoscopic surgery was higher in colon cancer (24.1%) compared to rectal cancer (13.6%). For colon cancer, the percentage of laparoscopic surgery ranged from 12.9% to 29.2%, with significant differences by regional health authority (RHA) of surgery. In 86.1% of colon cancers, ≥12 lymph nodes were removed. In Manitoba, the negative circumferential resection margin for rectal cancers was 96.9%, and ranged from 96.0% to 100.0% between RHAs. The median time between first colonoscopy and resection was 40 days for individuals with colon cancer. This study showed that high-quality colorectal cancer surgery is being conducted in Manitoba along with some variation and gaps in quality. As a result of this work, a formal structure for ongoing measuring and reporting surgical quality has been established in Manitoba. Quality improvement initiatives have been implemented based on these findings and periodic assessments of colorectal cancer surgery quality will continue.
Currencies in Resource Theories
Authors: Kraemer Lea , del Rio Lídia
Published: June 2021

How may we quantify the value of physical resources, such as entangled quantum states, heat baths or lasers? Existing resource theories give us partial answers; however, these rely on idealizations, like perfectly independent copies of states or exact knowledge of a quantum state. Here we introduce the general tool of “currencies” to quantify realistic descriptions of resources, applicable in experimental settings when we do not have perfect control over a physical system, when only the neighbourhood of a state or some of its properties are known, or when slight correlations cannot be ruled out. Currencies are a subset of resources chosen to quantify all the other resources—like Bell pairs in LOCC or a lifted weight in thermodynamics. We show that from very weak assumptions in the theory we can already find useful currencies that give us necessary and sufficient conditions for resource conversion, and we build up more results as we impose further structure. This work generalizes axiomatic approaches to thermodynamic entropy, work and currencies made of local copies. In particular, by applying our approach to the resource theory of unital maps, we derive operational single-shot entropies for arbitrary, non-probabilistic descriptions of resources.
Silhouette Analysis for Performance Evaluation in Machine Learning with Applications to Clustering
Authors: Shutaywi Meshal , Kachouie Nezamoddin N.
Published: June 2021

Grouping the objects based on their similarities is an important common task in machine learning applications. Many clustering methods have been developed, among them k-means based clustering methods have been broadly used and several extensions have been developed to improve the original k-means clustering method such as k-means ++ and kernel k-means. K-means is a linear clustering method; that is, it divides the objects into linearly separable groups, while kernel k-means is a non-linear technique. Kernel k-means projects the elements to a higher dimensional feature space using a kernel function, and then groups them. Different kernel functions may not perform similarly in clustering of a data set and, in turn, choosing the right kernel for an application could be challenging. In our previous work, we introduced a weighted majority voting method for clustering based on normalized mutual information (NMI). NMI is a supervised method where the true labels for a training set are required to calculate NMI. In this study, we extend our previous work of aggregating the clustering results to develop an unsupervised weighting function where a training set is not available. The proposed weighting function here is based on Silhouette index, as an unsupervised criterion. As a result, a training set is not required to calculate Silhouette index. This makes our new method more sensible in terms of clustering concept.
Performance Improvement of Atmospheric Continuous-Variable Quantum Key Distribution with Untrusted Source
Authors: Liao Qin , Xiao Gang , Peng Shaoliang
Published: June 2021

Atmospheric continuous-variable quantum key distribution (ACVQKD) has been proven to be secure theoretically with the assumption that the signal source is well protected by the sender so that it cannot be compromised. However, this assumption is quite unpractical in realistic quantum communication system. In this work, we investigate a practical situation in which the signal source is no longer protected by the legitimate parts, but is exposed to the untrusted atmospheric channel. We show that the performance of ACVQKD is reduced by removing the assumption, especially when putting the untrusted source at the middle of the channel. To improve the performance of the ACVQKD with the untrusted source, a non-Gaussian operation, called photon subtraction, is subsequently introduced. Numerical analysis shows that the performance of ACVQKD with an untrusted source can be improved by properly adopting the photon subtraction operation. Moreover, a special situation where the untrusted source is located in the middle of the atmospheric channel is also considered. Under direct reconciliation, we find that its performance can be significantly improved when the photon subtraction operation is manipulated by the sender.
HadithTrust: Trust Management Approach Inspired by Hadith Science for Peer-to-Peer Platforms
Authors: Alqahtani Amal , Kurdi Heba , Abdulghani Majed
Published: June 2021

Peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms are gaining increasing popularity due to their scalability, robustness and self-organization. In P2P systems, peers interact directly with each other to share resources or exchange services without a central authority to manage the interaction. However, these features expose P2P platforms to malicious attacks that reduce the level of trust between peers and in extreme situations, may cause the entire system to shut down. Therefore, it is essential to employ a trust management system that establishes trust relationships among peers. Current P2P trust management systems use binary categorization to classify peers as trustworthy or not trustworthy. However, in the real world, trustworthiness is a vague concept; peers have different levels of trustworthiness that affect their overall trust value. Therefore, in this paper, we developed a novel trust management algorithm for P2P platforms based on Hadith science where Hadiths are systematically classified into multiple levels of trustworthiness, based on the quality of narrator and content. To benchmark our proposed system, HadithTrust, we used two state-of-art trust management systems, EigenTrust and InterTrust, with no-trust algorithm as a baseline scenario. Various experimental results demonstrated the superiority of HadithTrust considering eight performance measures.
A Methodology for Evaluating Driving Styles in Various Road Conditions
Authors: Jurecki Rafał S. , Stańczyk Tomasz L.
Published: June 2021

For many institutions, it is important to evaluate a given driving technique as safe or unsafe based on measurable vehicle movement parameters. The paper constitutes a part of studies aimed at establishing a method of parameter-based evaluation of drivers in various road conditions, in other words, to create a so-called ‘driver profile’. The tests were carried out on a 650 km route, on four varying road types. Longitudinal and lateral acceleration values are used to evaluate the driving style. An analysis is presented of the impact of the type and shape of road on acceleration values. The results demonstrate that the same driver, when driving the same vehicle on an expressway, an inter-urban road or in urban traffic, will move with various acceleration values. A detailed analysis of acceleration values and distributions was conducted. Interesting conclusions were drawn after excluding the so-called ‘smooth driving’ sections, by acceleration ranges of −0.5 to 0.5 m/s2 from the analysis. This allowed for the evaluation of the structure of other longitudinal and lateral acceleration values. After this modification, the distributions showed specificity for the given road type, thereby allowing the road type used by the vehicle’s driver to be recognized based solely on the distribution.
Analysis of the Gearbox Oil Maintenance Procedures in Wind Energy II
Authors: Salgado José Ramón del Álamo , Martínez Mario J. Durán , Gutiérrez Francisco J. Muñoz , Alarcon Jorge
Published: June 2021

Recent works have addressed the analysis of some situations that alter the gearbox oil results in wind energy conversion systems (WECS). This work contributes by completing the analysis of additional situations, based on key operational data collected from 10 different multi-megawatt wind turbines at two different locations with two top-tier technologies, and has demonstrated that the oil analysis results can be altered in practice. As important as detecting these situations is to verify how the data collected by the different operators and transferred to the laboratories, this relevant information is not included in most cases. The issues that can stem from this lack of valuable data can be mitigated with a new and more complete template. This paper proposes a detailed template that is ready for an industrial use and contributes to standardizing the information handled by all actors. The suggested template, which is designed based on extensive experimental results and an in-depth analysis, provides detailed information for laboratories to improve conclusions, recommendations and action plans. The investigation provides a high archival value for researchers whose investigation deals with gearbox oil maintenance. Furthermore, the global impact of the proposal on the wind industry can be very relevant in terms of benefits and it will ultimately be an advance in the evolution of the operation and maintenance of wind farms.
Aerodynamic Characterization of Hypersonic Transportation Systems and Its Impact on Mission Analysis
Authors: Viola Nicole , Roncioni Pietro , Gori Oscar , Fusaro Roberta
Published: June 2021

This paper aims to provide technical insights on the aerodynamic characterization activities performed in the field of the H2020 STRATOFLY project, for the Mach 8 waverider reference configuration. Considering the complexity of the configuration to be analyzed at conceptual/preliminary design stage, a build-up approach has been adopted. The complexity of the aerodynamic model increases incrementally, from the clean external configuration up to the complete configuration, including propulsion systems elements and flight control surfaces. At each step, the aerodynamic analysis is complemented with detailed mission analysis, in which the different versions of the aerodynamic databases are used as input for the trajectory simulation. eventually, once the contribution to the aerodynamic characterization of flight control surfaces is evaluated, stability and trim analysis is carried out. The comparison of the results obtained through the different mission analysis campaigns clearly shows that the accuracy of aerodynamic characterization may determine the feasibility or unfeasibility of a mission concept.