bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Antifungal activity of copper oxide nanoparticles derived from Zizyphus spina leaf extract against Fusarium root rot disease in tomato plants
Authors: El-Abeid Sozan , Mosa Mohamed A. , El-Tabakh Mohamed A. M. , Saleh Ahmed M. , El-Khateeb Mohamed A. , Haridy Maha S. A.
Published: August 2023

Incorporating green chemistry concepts into nanotechnology is an important focus area in nanoscience. The demand for green metal oxide nanoparticle production has grown in recent years. The beneficial effects of using nanoparticles in agriculture have already been established. Here, we highlight some potential antifungal properties of Zizyphus spina leaf extract-derived copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO-Zs-NPs), produced with a spherical shape and defined 13–30 nm particle size. Three different dosages of CuO-Zs-NPs were utilized and showed promising antifungal efficacy in vitro and in vivo against the selected strain of F. solani causes tomato root rot disease and is molecularly identified with accession number (OP824846). In vivo, results indicated that, for all CuO-Zs-NPs concentrations, a significant reduction in Fusarium root rot disease occurred between 72.0 to 88.6% compared to 80.5% disease severity in infected control. Although treatments with either the chemical fungicide (Kocide 2000) showed a better disease reduction and incidence with (18.33% and 6.67%) values, respectively, than CuO-Zs-NPs at conc. 50 mg/l, however CuO-Zs- NP at 250 mg/l conc. showed the highest disease reduction (9.17 ± 2.89%) and lowest disease incidence (4.17 ± 3.80%). On the other hand, CuO-Zs-NPs at varied values elevated the beneficial effects of tomato seedlings' vigor at the initial stages and plant growth development compared to either treatment with the commercial fungicide or Trichoderma Biocide. Additionally, CuO-Zs-NPs treatments introduced beneficial results for tomato seedlings' development, with a significant increase in chlorophyll pigments and enzymatic activity for CuO-Zs-NPs treatments. Also, it was indicated that treatment with CuO-Zs-NPs led to a rise in the number of mature pollen grains compared to the immature ones. Even though the data showed that CuO-Zs-NPs have a unique anti-fungal mechanism against F. solani, they nevertheless imply that CuO-Zs-NPs might be a useful environmentally friendly controlling agent for the Fusarium root rot disease that affects tomato plants.
Siam-Swin-Unet：A Siamese Swin-Unet for remote sensing image change detection
Authors: Tang Yizhuo , Cao Zhengtao , Guo Ningbo , Jiang Mingyong
Published: August 2023

The problem of change detection in remote sensing image processing is both difficult and important. It is extensively used in a variety of sectors, including land resource planning, monitoring and forecasting of agricultural plant health, and monitoring and assessment of natural disasters. Remote sensing images provide a large amount of long-term and fully covered data for earth environmental monitoring. A lot of progress has been made thanks to deep learning's quick development. But the majority of deep learning-based change detection techniques currently in use rely on the well-known Convolutional neural network (CNN). However, Considering the locality of convolutional operation, convolutional neural network unable to master the interplay between global and distant semantic information.Some researches has employ ViT as a backbone in remote sensing field. Inspired by these researches, in this paper, we propose a network named Siam-Swin-Unet, which is a Siamesed pure Transformer with U-shape construction for remote sensing image change detection.Swin Transformer is a hierarchical vision transformer with shifted windows that can extract global feature. To learn local and global semantic feature information, the dual-time image are fed into Siam-Swin-Unet which is composed of Swin Transformer,Unet Siamesenet and two feature fusion module.Considered the Unet and Siamesenet are effective for change detection, We applied it to the model.The feature fusion module is design for fusion of dual-time image features,and is efficient and low-compute confirmed by our experiments.Our network achieved 94.67 F1 on the CDD dataset (season varying).
Corneal Asymmetry and Ocular Higher-Order Aberrations after Small Incision Lenticule Extraction for Moderate-to-High Myopia in One Year
Authors: Deng Manli , Liu Lin , Li Min , Shi Yuehui , Sun Lina , Zou Jun
Published: August 2023

Background
To evaluate the relationships between the magnitudes of corneal asymmetry and induced ocular higher-order aberrations (HOAs) after small-incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) for moderate-to-high myopia.
Methods
Sixty-six eyes of 66 patients who underwent SMILE were divided into two groups: the high (SE ≥ -6.0 D, n = 27, Group H) and moderate (-3.0 D ≤ SE < -6.0 D, n = 39, Group M) myopia groups. Using Fourier harmonic analysis, the spherical component (SC), regular astigmatism (RA), asymmetry, and higher-order irregularity (HOI) were obtained from videokeratography data. Visual acuity, manifest refraction, and ocular HOAs were assessed at baseline and 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively. The relationships between Fourier components and ocular HOAs were assessed.
Results
In both groups, vertical coma, horizontal coma, spherical aberration, total higher-order aberrations (tHOAs), and asymmetry of the anterior corneal surface increased postoperatively (from 3 to 12 months), while SC and RA of the anterior corneal surface decreased (all P < 0.05). More vertical coma and asymmetry of the anterior corneal surface were induced in Group H than in Group M at 3 and 6 months postoperatively (all P < 0.05). The association between preoperative asymmetry of the anterior corneal surface and preoperative spherical aberration was significant in both groups (R2 = 0.138, P = 0.02; R2 = 0.172, P = 0.032, respectively). The asymmetry of the anterior corneal surface was correlated with vertical coma, spherical aberration, and tHOAs at 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively in both groups (all R2 > 0.2, all P < 0.05).
Conclusions
The visual quality after SMILE was associated with the asymmetry of the anterior corneal surface for moderate-to-high myopia in one year.
Scientific mobility, prestige and skill alignment in academic institutions
Authors: Ferreira Marcia , Costas Rodrigo , Servedio Vito , Thurner Stefan
Published: August 2023

Scientific institutions play a crucial role in driving intellectual, social, and technological progress. Their capacity to innovate depends mainly on their ability to attract, retain, and nurture scientific talent and ultimately make it available to other organizations, industries, or the economy. As researchers change institutions during their careers, their skills are also transferred. The extent and mechanisms by which academic institutions manage their internal portfolio of scientific skills by attracting and sending researchers are far from being understood. We examine 25 million publication histories of 9.2 million scientists extracted from a large-scale bibliographic database covering thousands of research institutions worldwide to understand how the skills of mobile scientists align with those present in-house. We find a clear association between top-ranked institutions and greater skill alignment, i.e., the degree to which skills of incoming academics match those of their colleagues at the institution. We uncover similar high-alignment for scientists leaving top-ranked institutions. This type of academic alignment is more pronounced in engineering and life, health, earth, and physical sciences than in mathematics, computer science, social sciences, and the humanities. We show that over the past two decades, institutions generally have become more closely aligned in their overall skill profiles. We interpret these results in terms of levels of proactive management of the composition of the scientific workforce, diversity, and internal collaboration strategies at the institutional level.
Leveraging Homologous Hypotheses for Increased Efficiency in Tumor Growth Curve Testing
Authors: Hutson Alan , Yu Han , Attwood Kristopher
Published: August 2023

In this note, we present an innovative approach called "homologous hypothesis tests" that focuses on cross-sectional comparisons of average tumor volumes at different time-points. By leveraging the correlation structure between time-points, our method enables highly efficient per time-point comparisons, providing inferences that are highly efficient as compared to those obtained from a standard two-sample $t$-test. The key advantage of this approach lies in its user-friendliness and accessibility, as it can be easily employed by the broader scientific community through standard statistical software packages.
24-h Energy Expenditure in People with Type 1 Diabetes: Impact on Equations for Clinical Estimation of Energy Expenditure
Authors: Carnero Elvis , Corbin Karen , Casu Anna , Igudesman Daria , Bilal Anika , Smith Steven , Kosorok Michael , Maahs David , Mayer-Davis Elizabeth , Pratley Richard
Published: August 2023

Background/Objectives: Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is associated with an increase in resting metabolic rate (RMR), but the impact of T1D on other components of 24-hour energy expenditure (24-h EE) is not known. Also, there is a lack of equations to estimate 24-h EE in patients with T1D. The aims of this analysis were to compare 24-h EE and its components in young adults with T1D and healthy controls across the spectrum of body mass index (BMI) and derive T1D-specific equations from clinical variables.
Subjects/Methods: Thirty-three young adults with T1D diagnosed ≥ 1 year prior and 33 healthy controls matched for sex, age and BMI were included in this analysis. We measured 24-h EE inside a whole room indirect calorimeter (WRIC) and body composition with dual x-ray absorptiometry.
Results: Participants with T1D had significantly higher 24-h EE than healthy controls (T1D = 2047 ± 23 kcal/day vs control = 1908 ± 23 kcal/day; P < 0.01). We derived equations to estimate 24-h EE with both body composition (fat free mass + fat mass) and anthropometric (weight + height) models, which provided high coefficients of determination (R2 = 0.912 for both). A clinical model that did not incorporate spontaneous physical activity yielded high coefficients of determination as well (R2 = 0.897 and R2 = 0.880 for body composition and anthropometric models, respectively).
Conclusion: These results confirm that young adults with established T1D have increased 24-h EE relative to controls without T1D. The derived equations from clinically available variables can assist clinicians with energy prescriptions for weight management in patients with T1D.
Alternative polyadenylation profiles of susceptible and resistant rice (Oryza sativa L.) in response to bacterial leaf blight using RNA-seq
Authors: Liu Shaochun , Luo Shuqi , Yang Dewei , Huang Junying , Jiang Xinlei , Yu Shangwei , Fu Junru , Zhou Dahu , Chen Xiaorong , He Haohua , Fu Haihui
Published: August 2023

Background: Alternative polyadenylation (APA) is an important pattern of post-transcriptional regulation of genes widely existing in eukaryotes, involving plant physiological and pathological processes. However, there is a dearth of studies investigating the role of APA profile in rice leaf blight.
Results: In this study, we compared the APA profile of leaf blight-susceptible varieties (CT 9737-613P-M) and resistant varieties (NSIC RC154) following bacterial blight infection. Through gene enrichment analysis, we found that the genes of two varieties typically exhibited distal poly(A) (PA) sites that play different roles in two kinds of rice, indicating differential APA regulatory mechanisms. In this process, many disease-resistance genes displayed multiple transcripts via APA. Moreover, we also found five polyadenylation factors of similar expression patterns of rice, highlighting the critical roles of these five factors in rice response to leaf blight about PA locus diversity.
Conclusion: Notably, the present study provides the first dynamic changes of APA in rice in early response to biotic stresses and proposes a possible functional conjecture of APA in plant immune response, which lays the theoretical foundation for in-depth determination of the role of APA events in plant stress response and other life processes.
Associations between Macro- and Microscale Functional dynamics in Focal and Generalized Epilepsies
Authors: Zhang Zhiqiang , Yang Siqi , Zhou Yimin , Peng Chengzong , Meng Yao , Chen Huafu , Zhang Shaoshi , Kong Xiaolu , Kong Ru , Yeo Thomas , Liao Wei
Published: August 2023

Epilepsies are a group of neurological disorders characterized by abnormal spontaneous brain activity, involving multiscale changes in brain functional organizations. However, it is not clear to what extent the epilepsy-related perturbations of spontaneous brain activity affect multi-scale functional dynamics, that provides support for their pathological relevance. We collected an epilepsy sample including patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), and genetic generalized epilepsy with tonic-clonic seizure (GTCS), as well as healthy controls. We extracted massive temporal features of fMRI BOLD time series to characterize macroscale functional dynamics, and used a large-scale biological model to simulate microscale neuronal dynamics. We investigate whether macro- and microscale functional dynamics were diverged from epilepsies, and how these changes are linked. We observed differences in macroscale gradient of time series features were prominent in the primary network and default mode network in TLE and GTCS. Microscale neuronal dynamics was reduced in the somatomotor cortices in two subtypes, and more widely reduced in GTCS. We further demonstrated strong spatial correlations between the differences in macroscale functional dynamics gradient and microscale neuronal dynamics in epilepsies. These results emphasized the impact of microscale abnormal neuronal activity on primary network and high-order networks, suggesting a systematic abnormality of brain hierarchical organization.
Systematic evaluation of cellulose nanowhiskers effect on the Pb(II) adsorption by superabsorbent hydrogels nanocomposites: An experimental and theoretical study
Authors: Fajardo André R. , Oliboni Robson S. , Magalhães Carlos E. C. , Chaves Maria G.M. , Rodrigues Francisco H.A.
Published: August 2023

The incorporation of cellulose nanowhiskers (CNWs) in superabsorbent hydrogels of starch grafted with poly(acrylic acid) (ST-g-PAAc) is proposed as a strategy to obtain adsorbent materials with superior performance for Pb(II) removal. The functionalized surface of CNWs provides additional interaction sites, contributing to the high adsorption capacity (935.8 mg/g) of the composite hydrogel. The presence of CNWs also minimizes the effects of temperature and competition with other ions, making the adsorption process more stable and efficient. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed that the hydroxyl groups of CNWs play a crucial role in providing additional binding energies (approximately 30 kcal/mol) for the Pb(II) ions, favoring the spontaneity and kinetics of the adsorption process. The adsorption process on the CNWs-containing hydrogel involves chemisorption and intra-particle diffusion, indicating multiple steps occurring during the adsorption of Pb(II) ions. Also, the CNWs-containing hydrogel demonstrates excellent reusability, showing minimal loss of adsorption capacity after consecutive reuses. This characteristic makes the composite highly attractive for practical applications in real-world scenarios. In short, the systematic evaluation of different experimental conditions has confirmed the superior adsorption performance of the composite hydrogel and gives light on the role of CNWs as a valuable nanofiller to enhance the adsorption properties of these materials.
TM4SF1 is essential for embryonic blood vessel development
Authors: Lin Chi-Iou , Merley Anne , Wada Hiromi , Zheng Jianwei , Jaminet Shou-Ching S.
Published: August 2023

Transmembrane-4 L-six family member-1 (TM4SF1) is a small cell surface glycoprotein that is highly and selectively expressed on endothelial cells and mesenchymal stem cells. TM4SF1 regulates cellular functions by forming protein complexes called TMED (TM4SF1-enriched microdomains) that internalize via microtubules from the cell surface and transport recruited proteins to intracellular locations including the nucleus. Through a genetically manipulated mouse model, we demonstrate here that Tm4sf1 is essential for blood vessel development. Tm4sf1 null embryos fail to develop blood vessels and experience lethality at E9.5. Tm4SF1 heterozygous embryos are smaller in body size during early embryonic development, and almost half die in utero due to intracranial hemorrhage in the intraventricular and subarachnoid space which becomes apparent by E17.5. Surviving Tm4SF1 heterozygotes do not display overt phenotypic differences relative to wild type littermates postnatally. These findings confirm that Tm4sf1 is essential for embryonic blood vessel development.
Effects of biomaterial on thermal-mechanical properties of waterborne fireproof coatings for steel structure
Authors: Zhan Wang , Mo Jinhong , Li Lixia , Chen Le , Kong Qinghong , Zhang Qingwu , Shi Fan , Chen Mingyi , Jiang Juncheng , Gu Zhaozhan
Published: August 2023

Biomaterial was used to improve the properties of the fireproof coating to ensure the safe evacuation of occupants once the fire accident occurred. The effects of biomaterial on the properties of the coatings were investigated by fire protection test, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), limited oxygen index (LOI), UL-94 vertical test, water resistance test, mechanical properties test. The carbon layers after the fire protection test were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to discuss the microstructure and chemical composition. The result showed the coating with 6% silk fibroin demonstrate best fire protection, thermal stability, fire retardant, water resistance. The backside temperature is only 255.9oC and the residual weight is 37.52%. However, the coating with 4% silk fibroin exhibits good mechanical properties.
A groundwater investigation method based on entropy weight of improved AHP
Authors: 唐 玉兰 , Zhang Xiaohan , WANG Hongda , Li Wenlong , Huang Diannan , LI Ting
Published: August 2023

Currently, no methods are available to optimise the allocation of sampling points for groundwater contamination surveys at industrial plants without data for modelling analysis, which undoubtedly leads to increased sampling costs. Based on this lack of sampling data, the AHP-entropy weight method is improved and applied to construct a distribution model of groundwater pollution sampling points in a plant area, reduce the sampling scale and establish a new and optimised samplimg scheme. A chemical plant in Shenyang is selected for method validation and spatial interpolation analysis, and the following conclusions are drawn. (1) The new scheme can identify areas of contaminants and reduce sampling costs. (2) After reducing the sample size, the spatial distribution characteristics of each pollutant can still be clearly distinguished. (3) The interpolation-based predictions of some pollutants were improved, and the accuracy of the predictions of other pollutants was reduced within the permissible range. (4) The new sampling scheme is reasonable and feasible. The method provides a new approach for the investigation of underground pollution at industrial plants in small areas and can reduce costs while ensuring the representativeness of sampling points.
Effect of C deuteration in forming isotopic polymorph of glycine silver nitrate
Authors: Chitra R. , Choudhury R. R. , Capet Frederic , Roussel Pascal
Published: August 2023

Glycine silver nitrate (GSN) and fully deuterated GSN (FDGSN) form two isotopic polymorphs. The effect of full deuteration brought about the isotopic polymorph of GSN. In order to study the effect of partial deuteration on isotopic polymorphs, crystals of C Deuterated GSN (CDGSN) and N deuterated GSN (NDGSN) were grown. The crystal structure of C-deuterated was similar to FDGSN forming 2 dimensional polymeric structures extended along the c-axis, In CDGSN, the silver ion is mononuclear similar to that in FDGSN with no Ag-Ag coordination. N deuterated had similar crystal structure to that of GSN. The nitrate ion, the silver ion and zwitterionic glycine form a three-dimensional network unlike the case in CDGSN. The silver ion is binuclear with Ag-Ag coordination similar to that in GSN. In both crystal structures the silver ion has an oxidation state of + 1. Hirshfeld surface analysis of all the above structures were carried out using the x-ray data. The globularity parameter is similar in all the strutures. For the entire complex it is observed that FDGSN and CDGSN has similar values, which is lower than that of GSN and NDSN. The asphericity for the entire complex in the case of NDGSN and GSN are close to 0 indicating the isotropic nature where as for FDGSN and CDGSN it is near 0.36 indicating oblate nature. NDGSN and GSN have higher Ag…O interactions compared to that of CDGSN and FDGSN. NDGSN and GSN have Ag…Ag interaction, which is totally absent in CDGSN and FDGSN. Raman measurements showed the partial deuteration of the compounds. The lattice modes of GSN and NDGSN are similar, and FDGSN and CDGSN are similar, further confirming the importance the C deuteration in forming the isotopic polymorph.
Functional Structure of Intertidal Ciliate Assemblages Along Salinity Gradient in Two Contrasting Estuaries Testing Paradigms in Estuarine Ecology
Authors: Azovsky Andrey , SARAVANAKUMAR Ayyappan , GARLITSKA Lesya , MAZEI Yuri A.
Published: August 2023

The abundance, diversity, taxonomic composition and functional structure of benthic ciliate assemblages were studied in the intertidal zone of two estuaries with contrasting conditions. The Chernaya (CH) is a small (2-km long) sub-Arctic estuary in the White Sea; the Vellar (VE) is a large (20-km long) tropical estuary in the Bay of Bengal. At both sites, the average abundance and biomass of ciliates were similar and quite typical of other marine interstitial habitats. The diversity was high (114 species in CH; 39 taxa, mainly identified to the genus or putative species level, in VE). Spatial distribution patterns in abundance, biomass and taxonomy-based diversity indices differed between the estuaries. In contrast, most functional traits followed similar trends in both estuaries. In particular, from the riverine part seaward, the ratio of raptorial algivorous ciliates to bacterio- and detritovore fine filter feeders increased, as well as the ratio of crawling or gliding ciliates to free-swimmers. Mean body size and oblongness also increased seaward. No clearly defined diversity minima were found in the mid-estuary oligohaline zones. The results are discussed in the context of some general concepts in estuarine ecology.
Differences in antibody responses of intradermal and intramuscular injections of botulinum toxin type A
Authors: Srinoulpras Yuttana , Sirisuthivoranunt Surachet , Sripatumt Chattip , Tansit Tunsuda , Yan Chadakan , Apinuntham Chalermkwan , Techapichetvanich Thanya , Eimpunth Sasima , Manuskiatti Woraphong , Wanitphakdeedecha Rungsima
Published: August 2023

Botulinum toxin type A (BoNT/A) has been used for medical purposes for decades. Approximately 3% of long-term patients do not respond to treatment, which might result from antibody formation. This study aimed to compare the antibody levels in patients receiving intradermal and intramuscular toxin injections of several types of BoNT/A. One hundred twenty subjects were divided into groups receiving either intradermal or intramuscular injections. Each group was equally divided into 6 subgroups receiving one of the 6 types of BoNT/A (incobotulinumtoxinA, onabotulinumtoxinA, abobotulinumtoxinA, letibotulinumtoxinA1, letibotulinumtoxinA2, and prabotulinumtoxinA). Blood was drawn from each subject, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) were used to detect total human immunoglobulin G (hIgG) specific to the whole molecule of BoNT/A, hIgG against active sites and complexing proteins of BoNT/A. Intradermal injection induced higher levels of BoNT/A specific hIgG than the intramuscular injection did for every type of BoNT/A except for letibotulinumtoxinA. The level of hIgG against active sites of BoNT/A increased after the injections and peaked at day 30 before gradually decreasing. The levels of hIgG specific to complexing proteins did not change significantly over the course of the study. However, the levels of hIgG specific to either active sites or complexing proteins were lower than cut-off points in BoNT/A treatment responders. In summary, our finding suggested that intramuscular BoNT/A injections could be preferable for facial treatment, with retreatment after 90 days of treatment to minimize antibody production.
Multi-omics and Multi-VOIs to Predict Esophageal Fistula in Esophageal Cancer Patients Treated with Radiotherapy
Authors: Guo Wei , Li Bing , Xu Wencai , Cheng Chen , Qiu Chengyu , Sam Sai-kit , Zhang Jiang , Teng Xinzhi , Meng Lingguang , Zheng Xiaoli , Wang Yuan , Lou Zhaoyang , Mao Ronghu , Lei Hongchang , Zhang Yuanpeng , Zhou Ta , Cai Jing , Ge Hong
Published: August 2023

Objective: This study aimed to develop a prediction model for esophageal fistula (EF) in esophageal cancer (EC) patients treated with intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), by integrating multi-omics features from multiple volumes-of-interest (VOIs).
Methods: We retrospectively analyzed pretreatment planning computed tomographic (CT) images, three-dimensional dose distributions, and clinical factors of 287 EC patients. Nine groups of features from different combination of omics [Radiomics (R), Dosiomics (D), and RD (the combination of R and D)], and VOIs [esophagus (ESO), gross tumor volume (GTV), and EG (the combination of ESO and GTV)] were extracted and separately selected by unsupervised and supervised approaches. The final model performance was evaluated using five metrics: average area under the receiver-operator-characteristics curve (AUC), accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score.
Results: For multi-omics using RD features, the model performance in EG model shows：AUC, 0.817±0.031; 95% CI: 0.805, 0.825; p＜0.001, which is better than single VOI (ESO or GTV).
Conclusion: Integrating multi-omics features from multi-VOIs enables better prediction of EF in EC patients treated with IMRT. The incorporation of dosiomics features can enhance the model performance of the prediction.
Wireless Capsule Endoscopy Multiclass Classification Using 3D Deep CNN Model
Authors: Bordbar Mehrdokht , Helfroush Mohammad Sadegh , Danyali Habibollah , Ejtehadi Fardad
Published: August 2023

Wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE) is a patient-friendly and non-invasive technology that scans the whole of the gastrointestinal tract, including difficult-to-access regions like the small bowel. The major drawback of this technology is that the visual inspection of a large number of video frames produced during each examination makes the physician diagnosis process tedious and prone to error. Several computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) systems, such as deep network models, have been developed for the automatic recognition of abnormalities in WCE frames. Nevertheless, most of these studies have only focused on spatial information within individual WCE frames, missing the crucial temporal data within consecutive frames. In this article an automatic multiclass classification system based on a 3D deep convolutional neural network (3D-CNN) is proposed, which utilizes the spatiotemporal information to facilitate the WCE diagnosis process. 3D-CNN model is fed with a series of sequential WCE frames in contrast to the 2D model, which exploits frames as independent ones. Moreover, the proposed 3D deep model is compared with some pre-trained networks. The proposed models are trained and evaluated with 29 subject WCE videos (14691 frames before augmentation). The performance advantages of 3D-CNN over 2D-CNN and pre-trained networks are verified in terms of sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy. 3D-CNN outperforms the 2D technique in all evaluation metrics (Sensitivity: 98.92 vs. 98.05, Specificity: 99.50 vs. 86.94, Accuracy: 99.20 vs. 92.60). In conclusion, a novel 3D-CNN model for lesion detection in WCE frames is proposed in this study. The results indicate the performance of 3D-CNN over 2D-CNN and some well-known pre-trained classifier networks. The proposed 3D-CNN model uses the rich temporal information in adjacent frames as well as spatial data to develop an accurate and efficient model.
Comparison of thin-walled introducer needle and catheter-over-needle technique in ultrasound-guided venous access port implantation for pediatric patients
Authors: Yu Ping , Yang Xiaosong , Xie Xing , Leng Fengmei , Wang Jian , Guo Jin
Published: August 2023

Purpose
We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of thin-walled introducer needle and catheter-over-needle techniques for ultrasound (US)-guided venous access port implantation for pediatric patients.
Methods
Retrospectively, a cohort of 185 pediatric individuals who underwent venous access port implantation at our institution between January 2021 and August 2022 were included. All patients received the same standardized anesthesia scheme. During the implantation of venous access ports guided by US, the needle group (n = 92) utilized the technique of thin-walled introducer needles, whereas the catheter group (n = 93) used the technique of catheter-over-needle. Recorded were the rates of successful venous puncture and insertion of the guide wire, along with the occurrence of early complications.
Results
The catheter group had a significantly higher success rate of guide wire insertion on the first attempt compared to the needle group (92.5% vs. 81.5%, P = 0.027).There were 9 patients developed venous thrombosis in the catheter group far less than those (20 patients) in the needle group significantly (9.7% vs. 21.7%; P = 0.024). One patient in the needle group was found to have a venous hematoma.
Conclusion
Compared with the thin-walled introducer needle technique, the catheter-over-needle technique showed advantages.
Risk Factors for Antibiotic Resistance and Survival Analysis of Severe Pneumonia Patients Infected with MDR and XDR Pathogens: A Retrospective Cohort Study
Authors: Singh Gurmeet , Loho Tonny , Yulianti Mira , Aditianingsih Dita , Zakiyah Laila Fakhriyatuz , Masse Sudirman Fakhruddin
Published: August 2023

Background: One of the most important challenges to global public health is antimicrobial resistance. Prominent forms of antimicrobial-resistant infections include multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) pathogens. This study aimed to identify risk factors forantimicrobial resistance and conduct a survival analysis of patients with MDR and XDR pathogens among severe pneumonia patients.
Methods: This retrospective study collected data from severe pneumonia patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) from January 2016 to December 2022. Four hundred fifteen severe pneumonia patients were enrolled in our study. Respiratory specimens were collected via bronchial washing. Risk factors for antimicrobial resistance and 30-day mortality were analyzed. Bivariate analysis was performed to analyze the association of subject characteristics with antibiotic susceptibility using 2x2 table in chi-square or Fisher’s exact tests. Variables with p values<.25 were further analyzed with multivariate logistic regression. All p values <.05 were considered statistically significant. Kaplan‒Meier survival curves were generated with the log-rank test.
Results: Three hundred thirty-three subjects with multidrug-resistant pathogens were analyzed. Klebsiella pneumoniae (29%), Acinetobacter baumannii (24%) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (12%) were the most frequently isolated pathogens. The majority of patients with underlying cerebrovascular disease, sepsis and ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) had aminoglycoside, carbapenem and quinolone resistance (p <.05). There was no significant difference in survival between the MDR and XDR groups (p = 0,634).
Conclusions : Our study showed a high incidence rate of gram-negative pathogens isolated from severe pneumonia patients in the ICU setting. Awareness of risk factors for antimicrobial resistance may contribute to the management of severe pneumonia patients and antibiotic stewardship. Further prospective studies are needed to establish a causal relationship of antimicrobial resistance with carbapenems, quinolones and aminoglycosides. Additionally, analyzing drug resistance genes is essential to improve the identification of MDR and XDR pathogens.
Analysis of the clinical effect of intertrochanteric fracture in the treatment of patients with minor trochanteric fracture
Authors: Wang Jian-guang , Wu Jun-xian , Xu You-yin , Han Xiao-bin , Li Yu-min
Published: August 2023

Objective To investigate the clinical efficacy in the treatment of intertrochanteric fracture in conjunction with trochanter minor fracture through intramedullary nail fixation.
Methods A retrospective study was conducted in the Civil Aviation General Hospital from the records of 94 patients with intertrochanteric femur fracture from February 2017 to September 2020.According to different treatment plans, patients were divided into a study group, control group, and observation group.The 14 patients in the study group displayed intertrochanteric femur fracture with displaced fracture of the lesser trochanter that underwent intramedullary nail fixation, and fixation and reduction of the lesser trochanter. The 40 patients in the control group displayed intertrochanteric femur fracture with displaced fracture of the lesser trochanter that only underwent intramedullary nail fixation. The 40 patients in the observation group displayed intertrochanteric femur fracture without displaced fracture of the lesser trochanter that underwent intramedullary nail fixation. The operative time, intraoperative blood loss, fracture healing time, and postoperative hip joint function (Harris Hip Score, HHS) were compared in each group.
Results The operative time of the study group was longer than the control group; the amount of intraoperative blood loss in the study group was more than the control group; the fracture healing time in the study group was shorter than the control group; the HHS of postoperative hip joint function in the study group was better than the control group; the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). The operative time of the study group was longer than the observation group; the amount of intraoperative blood loss in the study group was more than the observation group; the fracture healing time in the study group was shorter than the observation group; the HHS of postoperative hip joint function in the study group was better than the observation group; the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05).
Conclusion In the treatment of intertrochanteric fracture in combination with trochanter minor fractures, with or without displacement of the lesser trochanter, reduction and fixation of the lesser trochanter are recommended to promote fracture healing and functional recovery and should be applied and promoted in clinical practices.
Evaluating the performance of doubled haploid derived from synthetic hexaploid wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) under juvenile heat stress condition
Authors: Singh Tavisha , Bedi Seema , Sharma Achla , Kaur Satinder
Published: August 2023

Global food security faces two major challenges, the exponentially increasing population and the constantly shifting environmental conditions which necessitate the development of way outs to improve crop productivity. One of the approaches involve the exploration and evaluation of genetic resources, especially wild relatives of crop, to enhance their ability to tolerate environment stress. Thus, an experiment was conducted to screen the doubled haploid derived from two synthetic wheats and two hexaploid wheats i.e., SHW14102 x BWL4444, SHW14102 x BWL3531 and SHW3761 x BWL4444 along with five check cultivars sown for two distinct sowing dates for the years 2020–21 and 2021–2022. In this study, augmented design was employed. The doubled haploids were assessed for phenological, physiological and yield traits. Genetic variability analysis, principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical clustering were shown to be valuable methods in determining the best lines for juvenile heat stress. Based on the results of genetic variability analysis, 100 double haploids (DH) out of 390 population were selected for further multivariate analysis. According to the, PCA and cluster analysis the (100) were screened for yield traits and differentiated into three clusters. Cluster 1 had maximum value for grain yield, biomass and thousand grain weight thus, suggesting those as a potential germplasm.
Anopheles arabiensis continues to be the primary vector of Plasmodium falciparum after decades of malaria control in southwestern Ethiopia
Authors: Eligo Nigatu , Wegayehu Teklu , Pareyn Myrthe , Tamiru Girum , Lindtjørn Bernt , Massebo Fekadu
Published: August 2023

Background: Investigating the species distribution and their role in malaria transmission is important as it varies from place to place and is highly needed to design interventions appropriate to the site. The current study aimed to investigate the Anopheles mosquito species distribution and their infection rate in southwestern Ethiopia.
Methods: This study was conducted in 14 malaria-endemic villages, which were situated in eight different malaria-endemic districts and four zones in southwestern Ethiopia. Ten per cent of households in each village were visited to collect adult mosquitoes using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) light traps. The larval and pupal collection was done from breeding sites within the villages, and collected specimens were reared to adults. Female mosquitoes were morphologically identified. The head and thorax of adult Anopheles mosquitoes were tested for circum-sporozoite proteins (CSPs) using ELISA. At the same time, legs, wings, and abdomen were used to identify sibling species using PCR targeting the rDNA intergenic spacers region and the internal transcribed spacer 2 region genes for species typing of the An. funestus and An. gambiae complex, respectively.
Results: A total of 1445 Anopheles mosquitoes comprising eight species were collected. Of 813 An. gambiae complex tested by PCR, 785 (97%) were An. arabiensis, and the remaining 28 (3%) were not amplified. There were 133 An. funestus complex captured and tested for speciation, of which 117 (88%) were positive for An. parensis, and 15 (11%) were not amplified. A single specimen (1%) showed a band with a different base pair length from the known An. funestuscomplex species. Sequencing revealed this was An. sergentii. Among 1399 Anopheles tested for CSPs by ELISA, 5 (0.4%) An. arabiensis were positive for Plasmodium falciparum and a single (0.07%) was positive for P. vivax.
Conclusions: Anopheles arabiensis continues to play the principal role in malaria transmission despite implementing indoor-based interventions for decades. Sequencing results suggest that An. sergentiibelongs to the An. funestus complex.
ScaffoldGVAE: Scaffold Generation and Hopping of Drug Molecules via a Variational Autoencoder Based on Multi-View Graph Neural Networks
Authors: Hu Chao , Li Song , Yang Chenxing , Chen Jun , Xiong Yi , Fan Guisheng , Liu Hao , Hong Liang
Published: August 2023

In recent years, drug design has been revolutionized by the application of deep learning techniques, and molecule generation is a crucial aspect of this transformation. However, most of the current deep learning approaches do not explicitly consider and apply scaffold hopping strategy when performing molecular generation. In this work, we propose ScaffoldGVAE, a variational autoencoder based on multi-view graph neural networks, for scaffold generation and scaffold hopping of drug molecules. The model integrates several important components, such as node-central and edge-central message passing, side-chain embedding, and Gaussian mixture distribution of scaffolds. To assess the efficacy of our model, we conduct a comprehensive evaluation and comparison with baseline models based on seven general generative model evaluation metrics and four scaffold hopping generative model evaluation metrics. The results demonstrate that ScaffoldGVAE can explore the unseen chemical space and generate novel molecules distinct from known compounds. Especially, the scaffold hopped molecules generated by our model are validated by the evaluation of GraphDTA, LeDock, and MM/GBSA. The case study of generating inhibitors of LRRK2 for the treatment of PD further demonstrates the effectiveness of ScaffoldGVAE in generating novel compounds through scaffold hopping. This novel approach we developed can also be applied to other protein targets of various diseases, thereby contributing to the future development of new drugs. Source codes and data are available at https://github.com/ecust-hc/ScaffoldGVAE.
Impact of rs1805127 and rs55742440 Variants on Atrial Remodeling in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Patients with Atrial Fibrillation: A Romanian Cohort Study
Authors: Popa-Fotea Nicoleta-Monica , Oprescu Nicoleta , Scafa-Udriste Alexandru , Micheu Miruna-Mihaela
Published: August 2023

Background
Atrial fibrillation (AFib), the most prevalent cardiac arrhythmia globally, is characterized by a complex genetic component. In hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the most commonly encountered genetic cardiac disease, atrial fibrillation is frequently reported in about 20 to 25%, its appearance being associated with poor long-term prognosis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between variation in genes related to cardiac ion handling and AFib in a cohort of Romanian patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).
Methods
Forty-five unrelated probands with HCM were genotyped by targeted next generation sequencing (NGS) for 24 genes associated with cardiac ion channels and ion homeostasis. Subsequently, the study cohort was divided into two groups based on the presence or absence of AFib detected during ECG monitoring.
Results
We identified two polymorphisms (rs1805127, c.112A > G located in KCNE1 and rs55742440, c.629T > C located in SCN1B) linked to AFib susceptibility. In AFib group, rs1805127 was associated with increased indexed left atrial (LA) maximal volume (LAVmax = 58.42 ± 21 ml/m2 vs LAVmax = 32.54 ± 6.47 ml/m2, p < 0.001) and impaired LA strain reservoir (LASr = 13.3 ± 7.5% vs LASr = 24.4 ± 6.8%, p < 0.05) compared to those without respective variant. The rs55742440 allele was less frequent in patients with AFib (12 out of 25, 48%) compared to those without arrhythmia (15 out of 20, 75%, p = 0.05). Also, AFib + c.629T > C carriers had significantly lower LAVmax compared to those genotype-negative.
Conclusion
Among patients with HCM and AFib, rs1805127 variant was accompanied by pronounced LA remodeling, whereas rs55742440’s presence was related to a milder LA enlargement.
A Collaborative Ledger Storing Model for Lightweight Blockchains based on Chord Ring
Authors: Nie ZiXiang , Li Jin , Duan FengHui , Lu Yueming
Published: August 2023

A Blockchain is one distributed ledger system, and keeps the high redundancy of ledger copies to make the assurance of network security. However, the continuously duplicated full copies also impose a tremendous amount of demand on some nodes for data storage. The development of blockchain technologies in the IoT(Internet of Things) application scenario is hampered by the restricted storage capacities of terminal devices used in the IoT edge computing scenario, which makes it difficult to load the full copy with infinite growth. Our paper suggests a collaborative ledger storing model based on Chord Ring to address the issues with lightweight blockchains in data storage. On-chain blocks are split by Chord Ring structure and stored in various node clusters in a decentralized manner, and off-chain blocks at various levels are provided with PoW(Proof of Work) consensus asynchronously and archived centrally to the cloud storage on a regular basis. The theoretical and experimental analysis indicates that this model can reduce the data storage redundancy of blockchains while ensuring the high availability of data and the high decentralization of the network.
Differentiation of α2,3- and α2,6-Linked Sialylated N/O-Glycan Isomers in Human Seminal Plasma by an Improved Glycoqueuing Strategy
Authors: Jin Wanjun , Li Cheng , Wang Chengjian , Wei Ming , Sun Yuanlin , Yang Qingzhen , Wang Zhongfu , Huang Linjuan
Published: August 2023

N/O-glycans in human seminal plasma (hSP) proteins regulate semen adhesion and liquefaction, sperm capacitation, acrosome reaction, and sperm-egg fusion. Given that different glycan isomers in hSP, such as α2,3- or α2,6-sialylated N/O-glycans, determine different activities, yet their differentiation have not been realized so far. We employed our previously improved glycoqueuing strategy for isomer-specific quantitative analysis of sialylated N/O-glycans released from hSP. A total of 23 α2,6- and 12 α2,3-sialylated N-glycan isomers were detected, and the relative abundance of α2,6-sialylation was 61.40%. Seven monosialic and five disialylated O-glycans were observed, and all of them were α2,3-linked. Nonsialylated N/O-glycan isomers were also quantified by hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Twenty-one nonsialylated N-glycan isomers were detected, of which half were of the oligomannose or complex type, with only trace amounts of hybrid glycans. All 26 nonsialylated O-glycans were core I or II structures, and the four isomers of H2N1F1 and H2N1F2, composed of hexose (H), N-acetylgalactosamine (N), and fucose (F), were found for the first time. Sialylated and nonsialylated N/O-glycans were highly fucosylated (16.98–67.92%). These detailed structure and distribution information will contribute to further research on the molecular mechanism of hSP glycan components regulating reproductive processes.
Nature of species diversity in stochastic ecological systems
Authors: Singh R.K. Brojen
Published: August 2023

Coexistence of species in multi-species competition is a complex dynamics in ecosystem driven by various internal and external mechanisms to maintain species diversity and enriched species society. Demographic stochasticity, arising from intrinsic random individual birth and death, intra-species and inter-species interaction, and species resource interaction, is one important parameter which can drive competing multi-species for a single resource to coexist in the regime where species coexistence in its deterministic counterpart is not possible. The distribution of mean abundances of single or competing species in various parameter spaces of the ecosystem exhibit patterns of species group formation with varied sizes and distributions. The species correlation with resources forecasts the prediction of endangered, strongly competing and comparatively stable species depending on its values. The emergence of number of positively correlated species with resource or a reference species indicates the possibility of inter-species group formation in the ecosystem. However, the distributions of these numbers of positively correlated species follow negatively skewed Poisson distributions indicating the patterns of inter-species group formation breaks down at long run.