bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Photobioelectrocatalysis of Intact Photosynthetic Bacteria Exposed to Dinitrophenol
Authors: de Moura Torquato Lilian Danielle , Matteucci Rosa Maria , Stufano Paolo , Vona Danilo , Farinola Gianluca M. , Trotta Massimo , Boldrin Zanoni Maria Valnice , Grattieri Matteo
Published: April 2023

The outstanding metabolic versatility of purple non‐sulphur bacteria makes these organisms an ideal candidate for developing photobioelectrochemical systems applicable in contaminated environments. Here, the effects of 2,4 dinitrophenol, a common contaminant, on purple bacteria photobioelectrocatalysis were investigated. The aromatic contaminant clearly affects current generation, with an enhanced photocurrent obtained at low dinitrophenol concentrations (0.5–1 μM), while higher values (up to 100 μM) resulted in a gradual decrease of photocurrent. The obtained electrochemical evidence, coupled to spectroscopic studies, allowed verifying the viability of the bacteria cells after exposure to dinitrophenol, and that no alteration of the photosynthetic apparatus was obtained. The results indicate that high dinitrophenol concentrations divert electrons from the extracellular electron pathway to an alternative electron sink. The present results open the door to the possible use of intact bacteria‐based photoelectrodes to develop technologies for sustainable biosensors with simultaneous environmental remediation.
EUROPEAN CODE DEVELOPMENTS
Authors: Hicks Stephen J. , Schäfer Markus , Couchman Graham
Published: April 2023

The second generation of Eurocode 4 has been developed through several project teams that report to CEN TC250 Subcommittee 4 (CEN/TC250/SC4) ‘Design of composite steel and concrete structures’, which is chaired by Dr Graham Couchman. Given that work on the revised version of Eurocode 4 is nearing completion, this paper presents a selection of the changes that will be included, together with some of the technical challenges that needed to be overcome. Finally, further enhancements that might be considered worthy for inclusion within future editions of this standard are presented.
POTENTIALLY UNSAFE STRUCTURAL CONSEQUENCES IN THE DESIGN OF COMPOSITE BEAMS SHEAR CONNECTORS (A look at some of the Eurocode 4‐1‐1 design backgrounds)
Authors: Diacu Ioan
Published: April 2023

The paper investigates the design of composite ‐ steel‐concrete ‐ beams, with emphasis on the shear connectors, as specified in the Eurocode 4‐1. A structural security inaccuracy is identified and analyzed. Improvements for the future design code are proposed.
NON‐LINEAR ANALYSIS OF COMPOSITE BEAMS WITH MINIMAL MODELLING AND CALCULATION EFFORT FOR STRAIN‐LIMITED DESIGN
Authors: Hauser Philipp , Kurz Wolfgang
Published: April 2023

In the following, an analysis method is presented that enables the modelling of composite beams in commercial programs with minimum effort, considering non‐linear material behaviour and nonlinear flexibility of the composite joint. A particular focus is placed on the deformations, especially those of the composite joint in horizontal and vertical directions. A detailed insight into the necessary accuracy of the material modelling is presented. The model is subsequently verified by means of comparative analyses of real beam tests.
PROBABILISTIC DESIGN OF COMPOSITE GIRDERS CONSIDERING THE DEGRADATION OF THE SHEAR CONNECTION AND THE REDISTRIBUTION OF FORCES
Authors: Wolters Kevin , Christou Georgios , Feldmann Markus
Published: April 2023

Fatigue design of composite girders and in particular shear connectors according to Eurocode 4 is based on fatigue strength curves. Therefore, the lifetime of a girder can be limited by failure of a critical shear connector. The failure probability of a component is thus determined by the failure probability of one shear stud or composite dowel, although a composite girder is an internally highly statically indeterminate system with the possibility of redistributing forces in the shear connection. This paper outlines the positive effects on the lifetime of a girder by considering crack propagation and residual capacity of shear connectors with cracks as well as redistributing forces towards less stressed and damaged connectors. The failure probability of a girder is determined by a Monte Carlo simulation using a lamella model with incremental calculation of the degradation of the shear connection. The results show the economic potential of a future global safety concept for composite girders especially with composite dowels.
COMPOSITE DOWELS FOR BRIDGES: TRENDS AND CHALLENGES FOR NEW EUROPEAN DESIGN RULES
Authors: Lorenc W. , Seidl G.
Published: April 2023

The introduction of composite dowels (CDs) in Europe at the beginning of the last decade led to the creation of new forms of composite bridges in which a T‐profile is used instead of an I‐beam. Both the construction and design methods are new [4]. Experiences from the construction of new bridges and discussion between the authors lead to new significant conclusions, which should be included in the new European approval (CEN‐TS). The problem of design formulas for concrete dowels is presented.
EFFECT OF CROSS‐SECTION BRACING IN STEEL‐CONCRETE COMPOSITE BRIDGE DECKS USING THE GENERALIZED BEAM THEORY
Authors: Vieira Luís , Pedro José Oliveira , Gonçalves Rodrigo , Camotim Dinar
Published: April 2023

This paper explores the structural analysis of steel‐concrete bridge decks with explicit consideration of flexible cross‐section bracing, using a novel procedure based on the Generalized Beam Theory (GBT). The effect of the bracing is included in a GBT‐based bar finite element, which is used to analyze two numerical examples involving standard deck cross‐sections and bracing systems. It is shown that the proposed finite element leads to extremely accurate solutions when compared with those obtained with full shell finite element models, with a huge economy in terms of DOFs. Moreover, it is shown that the modal features of GBT provide a very valuable tool for the structural interpretation of the results.
CHARACTERIZATION OF THE LOAD‐SLIP BEHAVIOUR OF HEADED STUD SHEAR CONNECTIONS IN NARROW PROFILED SHEETING
Authors: Vigneri V. , Odenbreit C. , Schäfer M. , Hicks S. , Lam D. , Hanus F.
Published: April 2023

Although headed stud shear connections in profiled sheeting represent an efficient solution to transfer the longitudinal shear along composite beams, current EN 1994‐1‐1 may overestimate their design resistance in case of open trough profile steel sheeting with narrow ribs. Project team CEN/TC250/SC4.T3 proposed new equations based on a “cantilever” model which depends on the concrete tensile strength and the bending resistance of the connector. However, by increasing the slips, the internal forces redistribute, and the system can be represented by a “modified strut and tie” model. At large displacements, a “strut and tie” model was also developed accounting for the influence of the tensile forces in the connector. The respective analytical equations for predicting the load per stud were finally derived and compared with experimental load‐slip curves. It was found that the analytical models proposed lead to satisfactory predictions of the load‐slip behaviour of the shear connection.
PERFORMANCE AND DESIGN OF STAINLESS‐STEEL COMPOSITE STRUCTURES – BEAMS, COLUMNS AND JOINTS
Authors: Azad Sina Kazemzadeh , Uy Brian , Zhou Yifan , Song Yuchen , Wang Jia
Published: April 2023

The paper summarises a series of investigations conducted in recent years at the University of Sydney on the behaviour and design of stainless steel‐concrete composite structures, with a focus on the mechanical performance of composite beams, columns, and joints. Three stainless steel grades were considered in the experiments, namely austenitic, duplex, and lean duplex. Details of the experiments as well as some of the experimental observations are presented herein, along with the comparison of the test results with the results of simulations. The test results are also compared with the requirements and predictions of international design codes, which are generally developed for carbon steel composite members, in order to investigate their applicability for stainless steel composite members. A number of design recommendations are also developed and presented. The studies are expected to help engineers achieve a deeper understanding of the behaviour and design of stainless steel‐concrete composite members.
COMPOSITE BRIDGES WITH CRACKED CONCRETE DECK SPANNING BETWEEN TRANSVERSE BEAMS UNDER FATIGUE SHEAR LOADING
Authors: Stempniewski Lena , Kuhlmann Ulrike
Published: April 2023

For concrete deck of large steel‐concrete composite road bridges cracking occurs due to tension because of negative bending moments at the support area, at the same time traffic load with high wheel loads passes the deck spanning between transverse beams. They induce cyclic shear loading in the cracked concrete deck. In composite bridges the application of prefabricated concrete elements has led to economical designs with a benefit in construction time. In this case, the prefabricated concrete elements are supported by the transverse beams when the on‐site concrete is poured. For this construction, the concrete is subjected to tension forces resulting from the global load‐carrying effect, which needs to be superimposed with local effects as wheel loads acting as shear fatigue loading. In this paper, the fatigue strength of cracked concrete deck under tension and shear fatigue loading is discussed.
FATIGUE ANALYSIS OF COMPOSITE BEAM WITH BOLTED SHEAR CONNECTORS
Authors: Hosseini S.M. , Mirza O. , Mashiri F.
Published: April 2023

This paper describes the simulation technique developed to predict the fatigue life of bolted shear connector. As existing composite structures experience complex loading conditions over the entire life of the structure, therefore, the fatigue behaviour of the shear connectors is always critical. Among different types of bolted shear connectors, the installation procedure of the blind bolts is less complex and more rapid than that of conventional systems. Therefore, the concept of fatigue analysis of the blind bolt shear connector has been presented, in this paper here in, under constant amplitudes cyclic loading, using ABAQUS/explicit and FE‐SAFE programs. All fatigue simulations were conducted under load‐control mode based on constant amplitude conditions and a constant mean force. The results showed that the number of cycles to failure decreases with the increasing stress level while every stress amplitude has a certain number of cycles until failure.
CONCRETE CONE FAILURE OF POST INSTALLED FASTENERS DURING FIRE
Authors: Lakhani Hitesh , Hofmann Jan
Published: April 2023

The fire resistance of fasteners needs to be verified for all failure modes applicable at ambient conditions. Generally, in most cases, for unprotected fasteners loaded in tension, steel failure mode is decisive. But for fasteners made of stainless steel and/or larger (bolt) sizes, concrete cone failure may be the decisive failure mode for small anchorage depths. Due to practical difficulties associated with loading an anchor during a fire test, very limited experimental data is available in literature and that to for relatively small embedment depths. The paper presents the results (6 nos) of the fire tests conducted on expansion anchors (made of stainless steel) with sizes M12 (hef = 70 mm) and M20 (hef = 100 mm). Moreover, the paper also compares the reduction in the concrete cone capacity with exposure duration, predicted as per the current design guidelines and the new set of experimental data obtained in this study.
SFRC SLAB IN COMPRESSION IN STEEL‐CONCRETE COMPOSITE FRAME JOINTS
Authors: Cervenka Petr , Dolejs Jakub
Published: April 2023

The objective of the research is a steel fiber‐reinforced concrete slab in compression in a composite frame joint. EN 1998‐1 relates only to composite joints with common concrete slab and it prescribes two mechanisms. By these mechanisms, it is prescribed inaccurate formula for the effective width calculation of a common concrete slab in compression in the nodal zone, as the standard procedure does not consider the contribution of the confinement effect to the resistance of mechanism 1. Moreover, some publications describe different inclination of the concrete struts of mechanism 2. The aim of this work is to derive a more accurate formula for calculation the effective width of the steel fiber‐reinforced concrete slab in compression in the nodal zone. Experiment with real‐sized isolated composite joint, validation of numerical models and parametric study of composite joints with fiber‐reinforced concrete slab are the main steps of this research.
DEVELOPMENT OF A CONSISTENT DESIGN CONCEPT FOR COMPOSITE DOWELS
Authors: Broschart Yannick , Kurz Wolfgang , Wolters Kevin , Christou Georgios , Feldmann Markus , Hegger Josef , Claßen Martin
Published: April 2023

Composite dowels are an economically and technically reasonable alternative to the conventional shear connectors, the headed studs. However, their competitiveness is limited by the fact that they are only approved nationally and for a limited period of time, whereas headed studs are firmly anchored in European regulations. Numerous investigations, performed on a national and international level for decades, were necessary in order to enable an integration of composite dowels into the European standards. This paper summarizes the extensive investigations on the influence of cracked concrete, of tensile and combined shear‐tensile loads as well as of composite dowel positions close to the surface on the load‐bearing behaviour of composite dowels. Based on these and former investigations, a consistent design concept for composite dowels was developed, which will also be presented within this paper and shall form the basis for the introduction into European standardization.
MECHANICAL PERFORMANCE OF INJECTED STEEL‐REINFORCED RESIN CONNECTORS UNDER DIFFERENT CONFINED CONDITIONS FOR REUSABLE COMPOSITE STRUCTURES
Authors: Christoforidou A. , Kavoura F. , Pavlovic M. , Veljkovic M.
Published: April 2023

A novel injection material for the development of demountable injected bolted connections in oversized holes has been recently developed by the Steel and Composite Structure research group at Delft University of Technology [1]. This injection material is a steel‐reinforced resin (SRR) which consists of spherical steel particles embedded in a resin. The SRR proved to have several benefits such as the increase of the stiffness and strength of the connection and the decrease of its creep deformation when compared to injected connections with conventional epoxy resin. Research on the performance of the injected steel‐reinforced resin (iSRR) has been focused on steel‐to‐steel, steel‐to‐concrete, and steel‐to‐FRP connections. This paper presents an overview of the recent experimental and numerical research on the mechanical properties of demountable iSRR connections and provides a comparison between different confined conditions of the injected volume.
A silver‐based coordination polymer with phenylacetylene ligands for efficient visible light photocatalysis
Authors: Zhu Pan , Ma Yujing , Li Jun , Jin Yang , Cai Haitao , Xu Chun , Huang Minggang , Chen Ming
Published: April 2023

A type of organic coordination polymer photocatalyst (PhC2Ag) that can respond to visible light was synthesized. The PhC2Ag with nanorods structure has good hydrophobicity and was reported in eliminating organic pollutants for the first time. The characterization results indicate that PhC2Ag has photoexcited carrier separation ability with the band gap of 2.63 eV. Experimental results indicate that the dominant active species in the PhC2Ag photocatalytic system are the superoxide radical and hydroxyl radical. First‐principles theoretical calculations revealed that effective mass of photogenerated electrons is smaller and has better migration ability. This work provides support for the application of PhC2Ag and its subsequent modified materials in energy and environmental fields such as photocatalytic degradation, hydrogen evolution, and hydrogen peroxide production.
Expression of tau and phosphorylated tau in the brain of normal and hemiparkinsonian rhesus macaques
Authors: Gambardella Julia C. , Schoephoerster Wyatt , Bondarenko Viktoriya , Yandell Brian S. , Emborg Marina E.
Published: April 2023

Tau is a neuronal protein involved in microtubule stabilization and intracellular vesicle transport in axons. In neurodegenerative disorders termed “tauopathies,” like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, tau becomes hyperphosphorylated and forms intracellular inclusions. Rhesus macaques are widely used for studying ageing processes and modeling neurodegenerative disorders, yet little is known about endogenous tau expression in their brains. In this study, immunohistochemical methods were used to map and characterize total tau, 3R‐ and 4R‐tau isoforms, and phosphorylated tau (pThr231‐tau and pSer202/Thr205‐tau/AT8) expression bilaterally in 16 brain regions of normal and 1‐methyl‐4‐phenyl‐1,2,3,6‐tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)‐induced hemiparkinsonian adult rhesus macaques. Tau‐immunoreactivity (‐ir), including both 3R and 4R isoforms, was observed throughout the brain, with varying regional intensities. The anterior cingulate cortex, entorhinal cortex, and hippocampus displayed the most robust tau‐ir, while the subthalamic nucleus and white matter regions had minimal expression. Tau was present in neurons of gray matter regions; it was preferentially observed in fibers of the globus pallidus and substantia nigra and in cell bodies of the thalamus and subthalamic nucleus. In white matter regions, tau was abundantly present in oligodendrocytes. Additionally, neuronal pThr231‐tau‐ir was abundant in all brain regions, but not AT8‐ir. Differences in regional and intracellular protein expression were not detected between control subjects and both brain hemispheres of MPTP‐treated animals. Specifically, tau‐ir in the substantia nigra of all subjects colocalized with GABAergic neurons. Overall, this report provides an in‐depth characterization of tau expression in the rhesus macaque brain to facilitate future investigations for understanding and modeling tau pathology in this species.
Retinoic acid promotes differentiation of WiT49‐ but not of CCG99‐11 Wilms tumour cells
Authors: Jansson Caroline , Mengelbier Linda Holmquist
Published: April 2023

Background

Most children with Wilms tumour are successfully treated with multidrug chemotherapy and surgery. These treatments cause severe side effects for the patients, an issue that needs to be addressed by exploring other treatment options with less or no side effects. One option is to complement current therapies with agents that could potentially induce tumour cell differentiation, for example retinoic acid (RA).

Aims

To facilitate quick assessment of an agent's effect on Wilms tumour differentiation by a rapid in vitro model system.

Methods and Results

Here WiT49 and CCG99‐11 Wilms tumour cells were treated with 10 μM RA for 72 h or 9 days. Cultured cells were scraped off from Petri dishes, pelleted and embedded in paraffin in the same way as clinical tumour specimens are preserved. Cell morphology and differentiation were evaluated by analyses of haematoxylin eosin (H&E) and immunohistochemical stainings. Based on H&E, WT1 and CKAE1/3 stainings, RA treatment induced further epithelial differentiation of WiT49 cells, whereas there was no sign of induced maturation in CCG99‐11 cells. Ki67 staining showed that RA inhibited cell proliferation in both cell lines.

Conclusions

Our study shows that in vitro culturing of WiT49 and CCG99‐11 cells, followed by pelleting and paraffin embedding of cell pellets, could aid in a quick evaluation of potential differentiating agents against Wilms tumour. In addition, our results strengthen previous results that retinoic acid could be a potential complement to regular Wilms tumour treatment.
Malicious code detection based on many‐objective transfer model
Authors: Zhang Binquan , Wu Di , Lan Zhuoxuan , Cui Zhihua , Xie Liping
Published: April 2023

With the rapid growth of malicious codes, personal privacy, and Internet security are seriously threatened. Existing transfer learning‐based malicious code detection improves detection accuracy by transferring pre‐trained neural networks. However, it cannot efficiently tune the structure and parameters of the neural networks. Here, we first propose a novel many‐objective transfer model. It mainly focuses on the detection accuracy and the total number of parameters of the neural network model. The optimal structure and parameters are captured from the pre‐trained neural network by many‐objective optimization algorithm. Second, the partitioned crossover‐mutation vector angle‐based evolutionary algorithm for unconstrained many‐objective optimization is proposed to solve the model. The algorithm performs crossover mutation operations in different ways on different regions of the candidate solution to improve population diversity. The simulation results show that the model can reduce the pre‐trained neural network structure by 49% while maintaining the accuracy in malicious code detection.
Cyber threat intelligence for critical infrastructure security
Authors: Osliak Oleksii , Saracino Andrea , Martinelli Fabio , Mori Paolo
Published: April 2023

Cyber‐attacks are considered the most significant threat to organizations from different sectors, including critical infrastructure. Access to critical assets, including industrial control systems, and control over their usage is one of the security approaches implemented to protect those systems from unauthorized access. However, existing implementations do not support the enforcement of fine‐grained authorization policies and do not provide continuous control over data access. Furthermore, existing implementations of the access control paradigm require policy‐makers to perform a manual update of policies that do not consider information about potential or ongoing cyber attacks. In this work, we propose a framework that enables continuous control on the execution of access rights in the industrial domain. Furthermore, the framework relies on cyber incident information shared by trusted entities. This information is used for updating security policies in order to prevent possible incidents within the smart factory infrastructure. We also provide experimental results that show the operability and the efficiency of the proposed framework.
Establishing a Disease‐in‐a‐Dish Model to Study SARS‐CoV‐2 Infection During Prenatal Development
Authors: Song Ann , Ona Jack , Osuna Claudia , Phandthong Rattapol , Talbot Prue
Published: April 2023

Mother‐to‐fetus transmission of the SARS‐CoV‐2 virus via the placenta has been reported but cannot readily be studied in pregnant women. This protocol describes an in vitro method to investigate SARS‐CoV‐2 infection of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), which are similar to epiblast cells in young postimplantation embryos. First, SARS‐CoV‐2 viral pseudoparticles, which contain the spike protein and a fluorescent reporter, are incorporated into a lentivirus backbone that is expanded in HEK 293T cells. Then, an infection assay based on hESCs is used with the viral pseudoparticles. An application of the infection assay in therapeutic drug screening is provided. This protocol allows infection of hESCs by SARS‐CoV‐2 pseudoparticles to be studied in vitro and can be used in conjunction with other assays to understand and potentially prevent infection. hESCs could also be differentiated to study infection in the three germ layers and their fetal cell derivatives. This disease‐in‐a‐dish model could be readily applied to other hESC lines, and to other viral infections, that affect human prenatal development. © 2023 The Authors. Current Protocols published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.

Basic Protocol 1: Preparing HEK 293T cells for lentiviral vector transfection

Support Protocol 1: Visual inspection of transfected HEK 293T cells

Basic Protocol 2: Generating viral pseudoparticles

Support Protocol 2: Determining viral titer with HEK 293T‐ACE2 cells

Basic Protocol 3: Plating hESCs for the infection assay

Support Protocol 3: Evaluating transduction efficiency
A novel design of basic module‐based multilevel inverter for symmetrical/asymmetrical sources
Authors: Gawhade Pragya , Ojha Amit
Published: April 2023

Multilevel inverter is a practical power electronic design that has motivated a great deal of ever‐increasing interest. In this article, a new design of basic module‐based multilevel is proposed. The article conceptualized minimizing the number of power semiconductor devices, losses, and total blocking voltage and hence the cost. The proposed inverter structure consists of both a polarity generator and a level generator unit. To investigate the eminence of the proposed topology, an exhaustive comparative study with other existing topologies is presented. The proposed inverter can be utilized for both symmetrical and asymmetrical configurations. The extended cascaded structure of the proposed topology is discussed for generating a higher level of voltages and five algorithms for asymmetrical configuration are introduced to select input dc voltages. This article presents the operating principle, modulation strategy, total standing voltage calculation, cost function, and losses calculation. The efficacy of the proposed cascaded multilevel inverter has been substantiated experimentally. The proposed structure can be efficiently used in medium‐/high‐voltage applications like electrical drives as well as renewable energy resource‐based grid‐connected systems.
Therapeutic targeting of CNBP phase separation inhibits ribosome biogenesis and neuroblastoma progression via modulating SWI/SNF complex activity
Authors: Hu Anpei , Chen Guo , Bao Banghe , Guo Yanhua , Li Dan , Wang Xiaojing , Wang Jianqun , Li Qilan , Zhou Yi , Gao Haiyang , Song Jiyu , Du Xinyi , Zheng Liduan , Tong Qiangsong
Published: April 2023

Background

Neuroblastoma (NB) is the most common extracranial malignancy in childhood; however, the mechanisms underlying its aggressive characteristics still remain elusive.

Methods

Integrative data analysis was performed to reveal tumour‐driving transcriptional regulators. Co‐immunoprecipitation and mass spectrometry assays were applied for protein interaction studies. Real‐time reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction, western blotting, sequential chromatin immunoprecipitation and dual‐luciferase reporter assays were carried out to explore gene expression regulation. The biological characteristics of NB cell lines were examined via gain‐ and loss‐of‐function assays. For survival analysis, the Cox regression model and log‐rank tests were used.

Results

Cellular nucleic acid‐binding protein (CNBP) was found to be an independent factor affecting NB outcome, which exerted oncogenic roles in ribosome biogenesis, tumourigenesis and aggressiveness. Mechanistically, karyopherin subunit beta 1 (KPNB1) was responsible for nuclear transport of CNBP, whereas liquid condensates of CNBP repressed the activity of switch/sucrose‐nonfermentable (SWI/SNF) core subunits (SMARCC2/SMARCC1/SMARCA4) via interaction with SMARCC2, leading to alternatively increased activity of SMARCC1/SMARCA4 binary complex in facilitating gene expression essential for 18S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) processing in tumour cells, extracellular vesicle‐mediated delivery of 18S rRNA and subsequent M2 macrophage polarisation. A cell‐penetrating peptide blocking phase separation and interaction of CNBP with SMARCC2 inhibited ribosome biogenesis and NB progression. High KPNB1, CNBP, SMARCC1 or SMARCA4 expression or low SMARCC2 levels were associated with poor survival of NB patients.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that CNBP phase separation is a target for inhibiting ribosome biogenesis and tumour progression in NB via modulating SWI/SNF complex activity.
Tree community composition stabilizes ecosystem functions in response to drought
Authors: Gottschall Felix , Cesarz Simone , Auge Harald , Kovach Kyle R. , Nock Charles A. , Eisenhauer Nico
Published: April 2023

In summer 2018, Central Europe was hit by an extreme drought event that widely impacted ecosystems and markedly increased tree mortality in forest ecosystems across the continent. As climate models predict an increase in frequency and severity of such events, there is an urgent need to adapt forests in order to maintain the diverse benefits they provide. Soil processes play an essential role in this context and are key for a plethora of terrestrial ecosystem functions, but they are strongly dependent on water availability. Here, we investigated how tree species richness (TSR), composition, and identity in a 13‐year‐old temperate tree diversity experiment influenced selected ecosystem functions (as important representatives of different ecosystem processes) during the 2018 summer drought. We focused on the stability of soil microbial biomass and standard litter decomposition, as well as tree species‐specific mortality rates. Contrary to our expectations, TSR did not generally increase the resistance of soil functions or decrease tree mortality rates. However, the resistance of these functions was determined by tree species identity and community composition. For the resistance of both soil functions (microbial biomass and litter decomposition), we found that TSR effects depended on the presence of certain tree species. Moreover, we found that the performance of a specific tree species in monoculture, Norway spruce, was a poor predictor of its response to drought in tree species mixtures. Taken together, the results of our study demonstrate that the species composition of tree stands determines tree mortality and the resistance of soil functions under drought. This indicates that enhancing multiple ecosystem functions under environmental disturbance requires maintaining diverse forests.
Host insect specificity and interspecific competition drive parasitoid diversification in a plant–insect community
Authors: Wang Ai‐Ying , Peng Yan‐Qiong , Cook James M. , Yang Da‐Rong , Zhang Da‐Yong , Liao Wan‐Jin
Published: April 2023

Ecological interactions among plants, insect herbivores, and parasitoids are pervasive in nature and play important roles in community assembling, but the codiversification of tri‐trophic interactions has received less attention. Here we compare pairwise codiversification patterns between a set of 22 fig species, their herbivorous pollinating and galling wasps, and their parasitoids. The parasitoid phylogeny showed significant congruence and more cospeciation events with host insects phylogeny than with host plants. These results suggest that parasitoid phylogeny and speciation is more closely related to their host insects than to their host plants. The pollinating wasps hosted more parasitoid species than gallers and indicated a more intense interspecific competition among parasitoids associated with pollinators. Closer matching and fewer evolutionary host shifts were found between parasitoids and galler hosts than between parasitoids and pollinator hosts. These results suggest that interspecific competition among parasitoids, rather than resource availability of host wasps, is the main driver of the codiversification pattern in this community. Therefore, our study highlights the important role of interspecific competition among high trophic level insects in plant–insect tri‐trophic community assembling.
Single‐atom surface anchoring strategy via atomic layer deposition to achieve dual catalysts with remarkable electrochemical performance
Authors: Song Zhongxin , Wang Qi , Li Junjie , Adair Keegan , Li Ruying , Zhang Lei , Gu Meng , Sun Xueliang
Published: April 2023

Pt‐Ir catalysts have been widely applied in unitized regenerative fuel cells due to their great activity for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). However, the application of noble metals is seriously hindered by their high cost and low abundance. To reduce the noble metals loading and catalyst cost, the atomic layer deposition is applied to selectively surface anchoring of Ir single atoms (SA) on Pt nanoparticles (NP). With the formation of SA‐NP composite structure, the IrSA‐PtNP catalyst exhibits significantly improved performance, achieving 2.0‐ and 90‐times mass activity by comparison with the benchmark Pt/C catalyst for the ORR and OER, respectively. Density functional theory calculations indicate that the SA‐NP cooperation synergy endows the IrSA‐PtNP catalyst to surpass the bifunctional catalytic activity limit of Pt‐Ir NPs. This work provides a novel strategy for the construction of high‐performing dual catalyst through designing the single atom anchoring on NPs.

image
Assessment of a revised dust prediction model for Mildura, Australia
Authors: Che Yahui , Parsons Katherine , Yu Bofu
Published: April 2023

Dust storms are regarded as global natural hazards, adversely impacting the climate, economy, and human health. As a dry continent, Australia is extensively impacted by dust storm activity, particularly in dry seasons. Located in the Mallee region and 600 km downwind of the Lake Eyre Basin, Mildura is one of the most vulnerable regional cities to dust storms. Rapid development of agriculture in the Mildura region removed natural vegetation and increased the frequency of dust storms in the 20th century. To better understand the factors and processes that affect dust storm activity in Mildura, a seasonal predictive model for dust event days was developed in the early 1990s. This was based on an empirical relationship between seasonal rainfall in preceding autumn and summer dust event days (the most active dust season in Mildura). In this study, this model was applied for a further 24‐year period (from 1990 to 2013) to test model validity for forecasting dust activity. Results show that the r2 was 0.13 and the root mean square error was 5.33 days in the ‘forecast’ mode, which indicates poorer model performance than that for the original calibration period (1960–1989). All large ‘forecast’ errors occurred in the 1990s. Winter rainfall was identified as the main climate factor for overprediction. The effect of the preceding winter rainfall on summer dust event occurrence was found to increase with the ratio of winter rainfall over autumn rainfall for the whole period of 1960–2013. An updated dust prediction model for 1960–2013 was constructed based on preceding autumn and winter rainfall. Autumn rainfall was used as the predictor when the ratio of winter and autumn rainfall was no more than 3.1; otherwise, winter rainfall was used. This was a marked improvement in model performance with an r2 value of 0.37 to that of 0.26 for the original model performance for the period as a whole (1960–2013).
Quantum Crystallography and Complementary Bonding Analysis of Agostic Interactions in Titanium Amides
Authors: Malaspina Lorraine A. , Frerichs Nils , Adler Christian , Schmidtmann Marc , Beckhaus Rüdiger , Grabowsky Simon
Published: April 2023

Agostic interactions involving titanium are textbook examples for C−H bond activation. Therefore, it is surprising that there is no study in the literature in which the hydrogen atom in the C−H⋅⋅⋅Ti interaction has been determined reliably, although nearly all the criteria for assessing the strength and character of the agostic interaction depend on the hydrogen atom and its position. Here, we demonstrate with quantum crystallographic techniques how hydrogen atoms in a series of three titanium amides can indeed be localized accurately and precisely based on routine single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction data. Once the hydrogen positions have been established, theoretical and experimentally fitted bonding analyses reveal that the C−H⋅⋅⋅Ti interaction becomes stronger with increasing inter‐ligand London dispersion stabilization of bulky alkyl groups.
A comprehensive analysis of coagulopathy during anti‐B cell maturation antigen chimeric antigen receptor‐T therapy in multiple myeloma, a retrospective study based on LEGEND‐2
Authors: Liu Rui , Lv Yang , Hong Fei , Zhao Wanhong , Lei Bo , Liu Jie , Zhang Wanggang , He Aili , Wang Fangxia
Published: April 2023

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)‐reprogrammed T cell therapy is a novel and powerful treatment against hematological malignancies. Cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and other potentially life‐threatening toxicities are known side effects which need appropriate management and supportive care. Coagulopathy is a common and severe CAR‐T‐related adverse event, while a comprehensive profile of coagulopathy in patients with multiple myeloma (MM) undergoing CAR‐T cell therapy has not been reported. Therefore, we performed a comprehensive analysis of coagulopathy in 51 patients with r/r MM given anti‐B cell maturation antigen CAR‐T cell therapy. We found that 49% of patients had coagulation disorders, and 29% of patients experienced disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). Severe CRS, abnormal liver function and higher tumor burden were risk factors for the CAR‐T‐related coagulopathy. We found that the serum IL‐6 level and alanine aminotransferase level were potential indicators for CAR‐T‐related DIC. Furthermore, we found that coagulation disorders occurred within 1 month after CAR‐T cell infusion, mainly between days 10 and 13, which was 2−5 days later than the beginning of CRS and simultaneous with the beginning of abnormal liver function and the peak of CRS. In addition, although patients with coagulation dysfunction had a trend for better outcomes and prognosis, no statistical significance was found. In conclusion, our research provided a comprehensive understanding of CAR‐T‐related coagulopathy in MM. Upon timely and standardized treatment, coagulopathy was manageable in most cases.
Viral etiology of lower respiratory tract infections in adults in the pre‐COVID‐19 pandemic era: A cross‐sectional study in a single center experience from Cameroon
Authors: Tchatchouang Serges , Kenmoe Sebastien , Nzouankeu Ariane , Njankouo‐Ripa Mohamadou , Penlap Veronique , Donkeng Valerie , Pefura‐Yone Eric‐Walter , Fonkoua Marie‐Christine , Eyangoh Sara , Njouom Richard
Published: April 2023

Background and Aims

Respiratory viruses are responsible for the majority of lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) worldwide. However, there is a gap on the epidemiology of viral LRTIs in adults in sub‐Saharan African countries. In Cameroon, like in other countries, the role of viral respiratory pathogens in the etiology of LRTIs in adults is helpful for clinical management. This study aimed to determine the viral aetiologies of LRTIs among hospitalized adults in a reference center for respiratory diseases in the town of Yaounde in Cameroon and its surroundings.

Methods

A cross‐sectional study was conducted from January 2017 to January 2018 at Jamot Hospital in Yaounde (Cameroon). Clinical and demographic information; BAL and sputa were collected from hospitalized patients meeting LRTI case definitions. The clinical samples were investigated for respiratory pathogens with a commercial Reverse Transcriptase Real‐Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT‐PCR) targeting 21 viruses, cultures for bacterial and fungal infections.

Results

The 77 included adult patients with LRTIs had an appropriate clinical sample for microbial investigations. A viral agent was detected in 22.1% (17/77) samples. The main viruses detected included rhinovirus (10/77), coronavirus (hCoV‐OC43 and hCoV‐229E), and influenza A virus (3/77 each). A concomitant viral and bacterial co‐infection occurred in 7.8% of patients (6/77) while viral co‐infection occurred in one patient (1.3%). No Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) was detected in clinical samples. Most patients were under antimicrobials before getting diagnosed.

Conclusions

Respiratory viruses account for 22.1% of LRTIs in hospitalized patients in this study. Despite prior antimicrobial therapy and delay, rhinovirus, coronavirus and influenza A virus were the most detected in patients in the pre‐COVID‐19 pandemic era in a single center experience from Cameroon.
Downregulation of ROR2 attenuates LPS‐induced A549 cell injury through JNK and ERK signaling pathways
Authors: Wang Zhonglin , Yang Liu
Published: April 2023

Background

We aimed to determine whether receptor tyrosine kinase‐like orphan receptor 2 (ROR2) is involved in the occurrence of acute lung injury (ALI) by an animal study and explore the effect of ROR2 downregulation on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)‐treated human lung carcinoma A549 cells by a cytological study.

Methods

Murine models of ALI were successfully constructed by intratracheal instillation of LPS. Meanwhile, A549 cell line stimulated with LPS was used for a cytological study. The expression of ROR2 and its effect on proliferation, cell cycle, apoptosis, and inflammation were detected.

Results

It was found that LPS administration markedly inhibited the cell proliferation, resulted in cell cycle arrest at G1 phage, elevated levels of pro‐inflammatory cytokines and apoptosis rate of A549 cells. However, LPS‐mediated adverse effects mentioned above were significantly ameliorated by downregulation of ROR2 in comparison with LPS treatment. In addition, administration of ROR2 siRNA notably decreased the phosphorylation level of c‐Jun N‐terminal kinase (JNK) and extracellular signal‐regulated kinase (ERK) in LPS‐challenged A549 cells.

Conclusions

Thus, the present data indicate that downregulation of ROR2 may decrease LPS‐induced inflammatory responses and cell apoptosis through inhibiting JNK and ERK signaling pathway, which attenuates ALI.
Mixed storm in SARS‐CoV‐2 infection: A narrative review and new term in the Covid‐19 era
Authors: Alomair Basil Mohammed , Al‐Kuraishy Hayder M. , Al‐Gareeb Ali I. , Al‐Buhadily Ali K. , Alexiou Athanasios , Papadakis Marios , Alshammari Majed Ayed , Saad Hebatallah M. , Batiha Gaber El‐Saber
Published: April 2023

Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid‐19) is caused by a novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus virus type 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) leading to the global pandemic worldwide. Systemic complications in Covid‐19 are mainly related to the direct SARS‐CoV‐2 cytopathic effects, associated hyperinflammation, hypercytokinemia, and the development of cytokine storm (CS). As well, Covid‐19 complications are developed due to the propagation of oxidative and thrombotic events which may progress to a severe state called oxidative storm and thrombotic storm (TS), respectively. In addition, inflammatory and lipid storms are also developed in Covid‐19 due to the activation of inflammatory cells and the release of bioactive lipids correspondingly. Therefore, the present narrative review aimed to elucidate the interrelated relationship between different storm types in Covid‐19 and the development of the mixed storm (MS). In conclusion, SARS‐CoV‐2 infection induces various storm types including CS, inflammatory storm, lipid storm, TS and oxidative storm. These storms are not developing alone since there is a close relationship between them. Therefore, the MS seems to be more appropriate to be related to severe Covid‐19 than CS, since it develops in Covid‐19 due to the intricate interface between reactive oxygen species, proinflammatory cytokines, complement activation, coagulation disorders, and activated inflammatory signaling pathway.
Value of diffusion‐weighted imaging in diagnosis and therapy response assessment of hepatic fungal infection in patients with acute leukemia
Authors: Wang Haoyu , Yu Haitao , Bai Dong , Yao Dan , Han Yongjun , Shi Yichao , Wang Zhiqun
Published: April 2023

Objective

To investigate the role of diffusion‐weighted imaging (DWI) for diagnosis and posttreatment assessment of hepatic fungal infection in patients with acute leukemia.

Methods

Patients with acute leukemia and highly suspected hepatic fungal infection were collected in the study. All the patients underwent MRI examination, including initial and follow‐up DWI. The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values of the lesions and the normal liver parenchyma were compared using Student's t‐test. The ADC values of the hepatic fungal lesions of pretreatment and posttreatment were compared using paired t‐test.

Results

A total of 13 patients with hepatic fungal infections have enrolled this study. Hepatic lesions were rounded or oval shaped, measured from 0.3 to 3 cm in diameter. The lesions showed significantly hyperintense signal on DWI and markedly hypointense signal on the ADC map, reflecting a marked restricted diffusion. The mean ADC values of the lesions were significantly lower than those of normal liver parenchyma (1.08 ± 0.34 × 10−3 vs. 1.98 ± 0.12 × 10−3 mm2/s, p < 0.001). After treatment, the mean ADC values of the lesions were significantly increased when comparing with those of pretreatment (1.39 ± 0.29 × 10−3 vs. 1.06 ± 0.10 × 10−3 mm2/s, p = .016).

Conclusion

DWI can provide diffusion information of hepatic fungal infection in patients with acute leukemia, which could be taken as a valuable tool for diagnosis and therapy response assessment of these patients.
A generalizable approach based on the U‐Net model for automatic intraretinal cyst segmentation in SD‐OCT images
Authors: Ganjee Razieh , Ebrahimi Moghaddam Mohsen , Nourinia Ramin
Published: April 2023

In this article, we propose a new U‐Net‐based approach for intraretinal cyst segmentation across different vendors that improve some of the challenges faced by previous deep‐based techniques. The proposed method has two main steps: (1) prior information embedding and input data adjustment, (2) the segmentation model. In the first step, we inject the information into the network in a way that overcomes some of the network limitations in receiving data and learning important contextual knowledge. And in the next step, we introduce a connection module between the encoder and decoder parts that transfers information more effectively from the encoder to the decoder. Two public datasets, namely, OPTIMA and KERMANY, are employed to evaluate the proposed method. The results show that the proposed method is an efficient vendor‐independent approach for the segmentation of intraretinal cystoid fluid with mean Dice values of 0.78 and 0.81 on the OPTIMA and KERMANY datasets, respectively.
Dative quadruple bonds between d10 transition metals and beryllium in BeM(PMe3)2 and BeM(CO)2 (M = Ni, Pd, and Pt) complexes: Transition metal fragments as six‐electron donor and two‐electron acceptor
Authors: Parambath Sneha , Thannimangalath Vishnu , Parameswaran Pattiyil
Published: April 2023

The structure, chemical bonding, and reactivity of neutral 16 valence electrons (VE) transition metal complexes of beryllium, BeM(PMe3)2 (1M‐Be) and BeM(CO)2 (2M‐Be, M = Ni, Pd, and Pt) were studied. The molecular orbital and EDA‐NOCV analysis suggest dative quadruple bonds between the transition metal and beryllium, viz., one Be→M σ bond, one Be←M σ bond, and two Be←M π bonds. The strength of these bonding interactions varies based on the ligands coordinated to the transition metal. The Be←M σ bond is stronger than the Be→M σ bond when the ligand is PMe3, whereas the reverse order is observed when the ligand is CO. This is attributed to the higher π acceptor strength of CO as compared to PMe3. Since these complexes have M–Be dative quadruple bonds, the beryllium center is susceptible to ambiphilic reactivity, as indicated by high proton and hydride affinity values.