bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Nurses’ perceptions of reasons for missed nursing care in hospitals: a qualitative systematic review protocol
Authors: Ellehave Sara Mandahl , Voldbjerg Siri Lygum , Rasmussen Philippa , Laugesen Britt
Published: March 2024

Objective:

The objective of this review is to identify and synthesize the best available evidence on nurses’ perceptions of the reasons for missed nursing care in hospitals.

Introduction:

Missed nursing care in hospitals is a complex and global problem affecting patients, nurses, and the health care system. An in-depth understanding of reasons for missed nursing care is essential to prevent it from happening in hospitals. Nurses’ perceptions of reasons for missed nursing care in hospitals are related to the care environment, such as staff levels, nurses’ workload, levels of experience and competencies, incomplete communication, and poor teamwork. The reasons are multifaceted, and there is a need to synthesize qualitative evidence on nurses’ perceptions of the reasons for missed nursing care in hospitals.

Inclusion criteria:

The phenomenon of interest is nurses’ perceptions of reasons for missed nursing care, which is defined as care that is either delayed or partially or entirely missed. Studies of nurses with any level of experience, training, or education will be eligible for inclusion. This systematic review will consider qualitative studies that include the perceptions of nurses working in hospital settings, either inpatient or outpatient settings.

Methods:

Following an initial search in PubMed, a full search strategy will be conducted in CINAHL (EBSCOhost), PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Google Scholar, and GreyNet International. The JBI approach will inform study selection, critical appraisal, data extraction, and meta-aggregation. Confidence in the findings will be assessed in accordance with the ConQual approach.

Review registration:

PROSPERO CRD42023438198
A machine‐learning tool to identify bistable states from calcium imaging data
Authors: Varma Aalok , Udupa Sathvik , Sengupta Mohini , Ghosh Prasanta Kumar , Thirumalai Vatsala
Published: March 2024

Mapping neuronal activation using calcium imaging in vivo during behavioural tasks has advanced our understanding of nervous system function. In almost all of these studies, calcium imaging is used to infer spike probabilities because action potentials activate voltage‐gated calcium channels and increase intracellular calcium levels. However, neurons not only fire action potentials, but also convey information via intrinsic dynamics such as by generating bistable membrane potential states. Although a number of tools for spike inference have been developed and are currently being used, no tool exists for converting calcium imaging signals to maps of cellular state in bistable neurons. Purkinje neurons in the larval zebrafish cerebellum exhibit membrane potential bistability, firing either tonically or in bursts. Several studies have implicated the role of a population code in cerebellar function, with bistability adding an extra layer of complexity to this code. In the present study, we develop a tool, CaMLSort, which uses convolutional recurrent neural networks to classify calcium imaging traces as arising from either tonic or bursting cells. We validate this classifier using a number of different methods and find that it performs well on simulated event rasters as well as real biological data that it had not previously seen. Moreover, we find that CaMLsort generalizes to other bistable neurons, such as dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area of mice. Thus, this tool offers a new way of analysing calcium imaging data from bistable neurons to understand how they participate in network computation and natural behaviours.

image

Key points

Calcium imaging, compriising the gold standard of inferring neuronal activity, does not report cellular state in neurons that are bistable, such as Purkinje neurons in the cerebellum of larval zebrafish. We model the relationship between Purkinje neuron electrical activity and its corresponding calcium signal to compile a dataset of state‐labelled simulated calcium signals.

We apply machine‐learning methods to this dataset to develop a tool that can classify the state of a Purkinje neuron using only its calcium signal, which works well on real data even though it was trained only on simulated data.

CaMLsort (Calcium imaging and Machine Learning based tool to sort intracellular state) also generalizes well to bistable neurons in a different brain region (ventral tegmental area) in a different model organism (mouse).

This tool can facilitate our understanding of how these neurons carry out their functions in a circuit.
Interactive 3D Product Information Design in Virtual Reality Shopping Application
Authors: Chen Liuqing , Qin Kaitong , You Jiaxiang , Zhang Ting , Zhang Yumou , Zhou Tingting , Zhen Yankun
Published: March 2024

Current e-commerce companies are trying to create shopping applications in virtual reality (VR), because interactive 3D product information designs are believed to enrich the online shopping experience. However, existing designs of 3D product information have some shortcomings and lack of systematic guidance. Therefore, how to redesign the 3D product information in VR application is an essential challenge. In this work, we review and analyze previous design cases of 3D product information design and construct a design space, which contains three dimensions: visual presentation, user interaction, and spatial relation. Then nine new 3D information designs are produced by combining elements in the design space. After that, we investigate the users’ shopping experience and task efficiency based on the user evaluation results. The results indicate that, when adopting a specific spatial relation, both spatial memory and task efficiency are influenced by differences in the information formats of visual presentation dimension, while user experience is affected by differences in information presentation mode of visual presentation dimension. Finally, we provide suggestions and guidelines for future 3D information design.
A Physics-Based Model-Data-Driven Method for Spindle Health Diagnosis, Part I: Modeling of Geometric Faults
Authors: Tai Chung-Yu , Altintas Yusuf
Published: March 2024

The spindle determines the performance of machine tools; hence, monitoring its health is essential to maintain machining productivity and avoid costly downtimes. The magnitudes and locations of wear and cracks in the bearing balls and races gradually develop which are difficult to detect. This article presents a physics-based digital model of the spindle with bearing faults, worn contact interface between the shaft and tool holder, and spindle imbalance. The wear of races and balls is considered in the bearing model. The worn taper contact interface and the spindle imbalance are included in the digital model. The spindle's dynamic model is used to simulate the vibrations at any location in the spindle assembly where sensors can be mounted for online monitoring. The wear type and bearing location are correlated with the frequency spectrum of vibrations at operating speeds. The proposed fault models are used to analyze the critical signal features and experimentally validated by the frequency extracted from a damaged spindle in Part II. The physics-based digital model is used to train data analytic models to detect spindle faults in Part III.
Data-Driven Car Drag Prediction With Depth and Normal Renderings
Authors: Song Binyang , Yuan Chenyang , Permenter Frank , Arechiga Nikos , Ahmed Faez
Published: March 2024

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) models have made significant progress in automating the creation of 3D shapes, which has the potential to transform car design. In engineering design and optimization, evaluating engineering metrics is crucial. To make generative models performance-aware and enable them to create high-performing designs, surrogate modeling of these metrics is necessary. However, the currently used representations of 3D shapes either require extensive computational resources to learn or suffer from significant information loss, which impairs their effectiveness in surrogate modeling. To address this issue, we propose a new 2D representation of 3D shapes. We develop a surrogate drag model based on this representation to verify its effectiveness in predicting 3D car drag. We construct a diverse dataset of 4535 high-quality 3D car meshes labeled by drag coefficients computed from computational fluid dynamics simulations to train our model. Our experiments demonstrate that our model can accurately and efficiently evaluate drag coefficients with an R2 value above 0.84 for various car categories. Our model is implemented using deep neural networks, making it compatible with recent AI image generation tools (such as stable diffusion) and a significant step toward the automatic generation of drag-optimized car designs. Moreover, we demonstrate a case study using the proposed surrogate model to guide a diffusion-based deep generative model for drag-optimized car body synthesis.
Calculation of Equivalent Thermal Conductivity of Motor Winding Based on Conductor Distribution
Authors: Yuan Ye , Li Bin , Zhang Zhongyi , Gao Peng , Li Guidan
Published: March 2024

To improve the calculation accuracy of motor thermal field, this paper proposes a method for calculating the equivalent thermal conductivity of winding based on conductor distribution, and a 24-slot 26-pole outer-rotor permanent magnet synchronous motor is taken as an example to verify the method. First, the equivalent thermal conductivity of winding is calculated by traditional equivalent methods, namely the equivalent insulation layer method and the area weighting method. Second, the equivalent thermal conductivity of the slot winding and end winding in the three-dimensional (3D) direction is derived using the conductor distribution method. Third, the 3D finite element models corresponding to three equivalent methods are established, and the temperature of the motor under different operating conditions is simulated and compared. Finally, an experimental platform is built to verify the accuracy of the proposed conductor distribution method.
Targeted Sampling Dynamic Window Approach: A Path-Aware Dynamic Window Approach Sampling Strategy for Omni-Directional Robots
Authors: Shen Chen , Song Soh Gim
Published: March 2024

This paper describes a sampling strategy for the dynamic window approach (DWA), a local path planner, for omni-directional robot motion planning. An efficient local planner allows the robot to quickly respond to dynamic obstacles and ensures that commanded velocities meet the dynamic constraints of the robot. While typical DWA implementations sample the velocity space evenly, we propose that targeted sampling (TS) will result in a more fine-grained search of the relevant velocity space, leading to better control and performance in space-constrained environments. Our TS-DWA strategy is informed by the global planned path, allowing us to sample more velocities in the general path direction. We employ a polar velocity generator to selectively sample velocities and couple angular velocity samples to the path curvature. A bias for angular velocity is added for robots with a preferred heading, such as robots with forward-mounted sensors, to quickly turn toward the desired direction for better sensing. The strategy is implemented as a robot operating system (ROS) navigation stack local_planner plugin and tested in simulation with Gazebo using an omni-directional robot platform. Experiments show that as the space around the simulated robot gets smaller, our proposed sampling strategy results in more successful navigation trials to the goal in space-constrained environments compared to other commonly used methods like DWA and timed-elastic-band, where planning fails or oscillates. TS-DWA was also deployed on the Vision60 quadrupedal robot to demonstrate navigation through narrow corridors in the real world.
Combined Supercritical CO2 Brayton Cycle and Organic Rankine Cycle for Exhaust Heat Recovery
Authors: Carapellucci Roberto , Di Battista Davide
Published: March 2024

In order to reduce energy consumption and related CO2 emissions, waste heat recovery is considered a viable opportunity in several economic sectors, with a focus on industry and transportation. Among different proposed technologies, thermodynamic cycles using suitable organic working fluids seem to be promising options, and the possibility of combining two different cycles improves the final recovered energy. In this paper, a combination of Brayton and Rankine cycles is proposed: the upper cycle has supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) as its working fluid, while the bottomed Rankine section is realized by an organic fluid (organic Rankine cycle (ORC)). This combined unit is applied to recover the exhaust energy from the flue gases of an internal combustion engine (ICE) for the transportation sector. The sCO2 Brayton cycle is directly facing the exhaust gases, and it should dispose of a certain amount of energy at lower pressure, which can be further recovered by the ORC unit. A specific mathematical model has been developed, which uses experimental engine data to estimate a realistic final recoverable energy. The model is able to evaluate the performance of each recovery subsection, highlighting interactions and possible trade-offs between them. Hence, the combined system can be optimized from a global point of view, identifying the most influential operating parameters and also considering a regeneration stage in the ORC unit.
New Design and Prototype of Two Degrees-of-Freedom Planar Parallel Manipulator for Use in Creating an Infinite 3D Printer
Authors: De La Melena Miguel , Duan Shawn
Published: March 2024

This paper presents a novel two degrees-of-freedom planar parallel manipulator (PPM) designed for infinite-axis 3D printing, alongside tools for facilitating future design iterations. Unlike traditional gantry-supported designs used in infinite-axis 3D printing, which impose significant mass movement requirements, the examined new design prioritizes reducing overall weight to enhance speed potential at the cost of a reduced work area. In this innovative approach, the PPM effectively reduces weight by decoupling the motion of the hot end from that of the motor. Motors are attached to the frame, controlling a system of pulleys, and connecting arms to drive the hot-end's motion. Due to the length of the arms, the hot end will be unable to fully explore the entire printing plane. Verification of the angled PPM for 3D printing involved developing kinematic and dynamic equations, conducting finite element analysis on critical components, and testing a completed prototype. A metaheuristic optimization method was employed to derive optimal design parameters, focusing on optimizing the arm length of the connectors while maximizing dynamic performance. Considerations included the usable workspace and the angle between the connecting arm and end-effector. The final prototype validated the stability and rigidity of the PPM during movement, indicating its viability for 3D printing. The results presented in this paper demonstrate the capabilities of using an angled PPM in infinite 3D printing, providing fundamental knowledge crucial for future designs involving this innovative mechanism.
Centralized design and production of the ultra-high vacuum and laser-stabilization systems for the AION ultra-cold strontium laboratories
Authors: Stray B. , Ennis O. , Hedges S. , Dey S. , Langlois M. , Bongs K. , Lellouch S. , Holynski M. , Bostwick B. , Chen J. , Eyler Z. , Gibson V. , Harte T. L. , Hsu C. C. , Karzazi M. , Mitchell J. , Mouelle N. , Schneider U. , Tang Y. , Tkalcec K. , Zhi Y. , Clarke K. , Vick A. , Bridges K. , Coleman J. , Elertas G. , Hawkins L. , Hindley S. , Hussain K. , Metelko C. , Throssell H. , Baynham C. F. A. , Buchmüller O. , Evans D. , Hobson R. , Iannizzotto-Venezze L. , Josset A. , Pasatembou E. , Sauer B. E. , Tarbutt M. R. , Badurina L. , Beniwal A. , Blas D. , Carlton J. , Ellis J. , McCabe C. , Bentine E. , Booth M. , Bortoletto D. , Foot C. , Gómez-Monedero Castellanos C. M. , Hird T. , Hughes K. , James A. , Lowe A. , March-Russell J. , Schelfhout J. , Shipsey I. , Weatherill D. , Wood D. , Balashov S. , Bason M. G. , Boehm J. , Courthold M. , van der Grinten M. , Majewski P. , Marchant A. L. , Newbold D. , Pan Z. , Tam Z. , Valenzuela T. , Wilmut I.
Published: March 2024

This paper outlines the centralized design and production of the ultra-high-vacuum sidearm and laser-stabilization systems for the AION Ultra-Cold Strontium Laboratories. Commissioning data on the residual gas and steady-state pressures in the sidearm chambers, on magnetic field quality, on laser stabilization, and on the loading rate for the 3D magneto-optical trap are presented. Streamlining the design and production of the sidearm and laser stabilization systems enabled the AION Collaboration to build and equip in parallel five state-of-the-art Ultra-Cold Strontium Laboratories within 24 months by leveraging key expertise in the collaboration. This approach could serve as a model for the development and construction of other cold atom experiments, such as atomic clock experiments and neutral atom quantum computing systems, by establishing dedicated design and production units at national laboratories.
High-performance a-Ga2O3 solar-blind photodetectors by pulsed magnetron sputtering deposition
Authors: Xue Difei , Lv Peiwen , Peng Kai , Hu Qiang , Chen Chenlong
Published: March 2024

Solar-blind photodetectors (SBPDs) based on the ultrawide-bandgap semiconductor Ga2O3 have gained attention due to their potential applications in both military and civilian domains. As technology advances, photodetectors are being improved to achieve better energy efficiency, smaller size, and better performance. Solar-blind photodetectors based on a metal-semiconductor-metal structure of amorphous gallium oxide (a-Ga2O3) films were fabricated by pulsed magnetron sputtering deposition (PSD). The photodetector based on amorphous gallium oxide has a responsivity of 71.52 A/W, a fast rising and falling response time of less than 200 ms, a photo-to-dark current ratio (PDCR) of 6.52 × 104, and an external quantum efficiency of 34 526.62%. PSD-prepared gallium oxide SBPDs demonstrate a cost-effective room temperature method for growing gallium oxide and show the advantages of growing gallium oxide.
In Science Journals
Authors: Matsiko Amos , Szuromi Phil , Lopez Bianca , Jiang Di , Grocholski Brent , Yeston Jake S. , Malo Courtney , Ash Caroline , Smith H. Jesse , Lavine Marc S. , Maroso Mattia , Fogg Christiana N. , Wong Wei
Published: March 2024

Highlights from the
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In Other Journals
Authors: Jiang Di , Smith Keith T. , Lavine Marc S. , Uzogara Ekeoma , Maroso Mattia , Nusinovich Yevgeniya , Yeston Jake S.
Published: March 2024

Editors’ selections from the current scientific literature
Biden’s lean science budget doesn’t fund all his priorities
Authors: Mervis Jeffrey
Published: March 2024

White House faces tight spending cap in 2025 request
Supplemental Material: Contrasting constraints on the temporal and spatial extents of normal faults from the Hilltop and Lewis mining districts, northern Shoshone Range, Nevada, USA
Authors: Richardson Carson A. , Seedorff E.
Published: March 2024

Analytical methods, data, and figures, U-Pb zircon data table.
African polyvalent antivenom can maintain pharmacological stability and ability to neutralise murine venom lethality for decades post-expiry: evidence for increasing antivenom shelf life to aid in alleviating chronic shortages
Authors: Solano Gabriela , Cunningham Sinead , Edge Rebecca J , Duran Gina , Sanchez Adriana , Villalta Mauren , Clare Rachel H , Wilkinson Mark C , Marriott Amy E , Abada Camille , Menzies Stefanie K , Keen Molly , Lalloo David G , Stienstra Ymkje , Abouyannis Michael , Casewell Nicholas R , León Guillermo , Ainsworth Stuart
Published: March 2024

Introduction

Antivenom is a lifesaving medicine for treating snakebite envenoming, yet there has been a crisis in antivenom supply for many decades. Despite this, substantial quantities of antivenom stocks expire before use. This study has investigated whether expired antivenoms retain preclinical quality and efficacy, with the rationale that they could be used in emergency situations when in-date antivenom is unavailable.

Methods

Using WHO guidelines and industry test requirements, we examined the in vitro stability and murine in vivo efficacy of eight batches of the sub-Saharan African antivenom, South African Institute for Medical Research polyvalent, that had expired at various times over a period of 30 years.

Results

We demonstrate modest declines in immunochemical stability, with antivenoms older than 25 years having high levels of turbidity. In vitro preclinical analysis demonstrated all expired antivenoms retained immunological recognition of venom antigens and the ability to inhibit key toxin families. All expired antivenoms retained comparable in vivo preclinical efficacy in preventing the lethal effects of envenoming in mice versus three regionally and medically important venoms.

Conclusions

This study provides strong rationale for stakeholders, including manufacturers, regulators and health authorities, to explore the use of expired antivenom more broadly, to aid in alleviating critical shortages in antivenom supply in the short term and the extension of antivenom shelf life in the longer term.
Saffron therapy for the ongoing treatment of age-related macular degeneration
Authors: Broadhead Geoffrey K , Grigg John , McCluskey Peter J , Hong Thomas , Schlub Timothy E , Chu Eugenia , Chang Andrew A
Published: March 2024

Objective

To assess the long-term efficacy and safety of oral saffron, a natural antioxidant, in treating mild/moderate age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Methods and analysis

Open-label, extension trial of 93 adults (>50 years) with mild/moderate AMD and vision >20/70 Snellen equivalent in at least 1 eye. Exclusion criteria included confounding visual lesions or significant gastrointestinal disease impairing absorption.

Participants were given oral saffron supplementation (20 mg/day) for 12 months. Those already consuming Age-Related Eye Diseases Study (AREDS) supplements or equivalent maintained these.

Primary outcomes included changes in multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG) response density and latency, and changes in best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA). Secondary outcomes included safety outcomes, changes in mfERG and BCVA among participants on AREDS supplements and changes in microperimetry.

Results

At 12 months, mean mfERG response density was significantly higher in rings 1, 2 and overall (p<0.001 for all) but not in rings 3–6, and there was no difference in response between those taking AREDS supplements and those not (p>0.05). Mean mfERG latency was not significantly different in any of rings 1–6 or overall (p>0.05 for all), again with no difference between those taking AREDS supplements or not (p>0.05). Mean BCVA was 1.6 letters worse (p<0.05) with no difference between those on AREDS supplements or not, and this may have been related to cataract progression. No saffron-related serious adverse events were detected.

Conclusion

Saffron supplementation modestly improved mfERG responses in participants with AMD, including those using AREDS supplements. Given the chronic nature of AMD, longer-term supplementation may produce greater benefits.
Comorbidities associated with adult asthma: a population-based matched cohort study in Finland
Authors: Lemmetyinen Riikka Emilia , Toppila-Salmi Sanna Katriina , But Anna , Renkonen Risto , Pekkanen Juha , Haukka Jari , Karjalainen Jussi
Published: March 2024

Background

Asthma is a common chronic disease characterised by variable respiratory symptoms and airflow limitation, affecting roughly 4%–10% of the adult population. Adult asthma is associated with higher all-cause mortality compared to individuals without asthma. In this study, we investigate the comorbidities that may affect the management of asthma.

Methods

Total of 1648 adults with asthma and 3310 individuals without asthma aged 30–93 were matched with age, gender and area of residency, and followed from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2013. Baseline information was collected with questionnaires 1997 and follow-up register data from the national discharge registry Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare. Data included diagnoses from outpatient care and day surgery of specialised health care, and data from inpatient care of specialised and primary health care. We included all main diagnoses that had at minimum 200 events and number of diagnoses based on their common appearance with adult asthma.

Results

The mean follow-up time varied between 14.2 and 15.1 years, and age at the time of enrolment was 53.9 years for subjects without asthma and 54.4 years for patients with asthma. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was 10 times more common among asthmatics. Risk of acute rhinosinusitis, chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps, atopic dermatitis and vocal cord dysfunction was fourfold and risk of pneumonia was 2.5 times and chronic rhinosinusitis was 1.8 times more common among asthmatics. Sleep apnoea, gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, diabetes, allergic rhinitis and dysfunctional breathing were twofold and cataract nearly twofold higher in the asthmatic group. Adult asthma was also significantly associated with musculoskeletal diseases, incontinence and bronchiectasis.

Conclusions

The most common and most severe comorbidity of adult asthma in this study was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Other common comorbidities of adult asthma include acute rhinosinusitis, chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps, atopic dermatitis, allergic rhinitis, dysfunctional breathing, diabetes, pneumonia, sleep apnoea and gastro-oesophageal reflux disease.
Utility of peripheral protein biomarkers for the prediction of incident interstitial features: a multicentre retrospective cohort study
Authors: Ash Samuel , Doyle Tracy J , Choi Bina , San Jose Estepar Ruben , Castro Victor , Enzer Nicholas , Kalhan Ravi , Liu Gabrielle , Bowler Russell , Wilson David O , San Jose Estepar Raul , Rosas Ivan O , Washko George R
Published: March 2024

Introduction/rationale

Protein biomarkers may help enable the prediction of incident interstitial features on chest CT.

Methods

We identified which protein biomarkers in a cohort of smokers (COPDGene) differed between those with and without objectively measured interstitial features at baseline using a univariate screen (t-test false discovery rate, FDR p<0.001), and which of those were associated with interstitial features longitudinally (multivariable mixed effects model FDR p<0.05). To predict incident interstitial features, we trained four random forest classifiers in a two-thirds random subset of COPDGene: (1) imaging and demographic information, (2) univariate screen biomarkers, (3) multivariable confirmation biomarkers and (4) multivariable confirmation biomarkers available in a separate testing cohort (Pittsburgh Lung Screening Study (PLuSS)). We evaluated classifier performance in the remaining one-third of COPDGene, and, for the final model, also in PLuSS.

Results

In COPDGene, 1305 biomarkers were available and 20 differed between those with and without interstitial features at baseline. Of these, 11 were associated with feature progression over a mean of 5.5 years of follow-up, and of these 4 were available in PLuSS, (angiopoietin-2, matrix metalloproteinase 7, macrophage inflammatory protein 1 alpha) over a mean of 8.8 years of follow-up. The area under the curve (AUC) of classifiers using demographics and imaging features in COPDGene and PLuSS were 0.69 and 0.59, respectively. In COPDGene, the AUC of the univariate screen classifier was 0.78 and of the multivariable confirmation classifier was 0.76. The AUC of the final classifier in COPDGene was 0.75 and in PLuSS was 0.76. The outcome for all of the models was the development of incident interstitial features.

Conclusions

Multiple novel and previously identified proteomic biomarkers are associated with interstitial features on chest CT and may enable the prediction of incident interstitial diseases such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
Cancer-oocyte SAS1B protein is expressed at the cell surface of multiple solid tumors and targeted with antibody-drug conjugates
Authors: Mandal Arabinda , Shetty Jagathpala , Tran Christine A , Olson Walter C , Mandal Mriganka , Ban Bhupal , Pires Eusebio S , Adair Sara J , Bauer Todd W , Slingluff Craig L , Herr John C
Published: March 2024

Background

SpermacrosomalSLLP1 binding (SAS1B) protein is found in oocytes, which is necessary for sperm-oocyte interaction, and also in uterine and pancreatic cancers. Anti-SAS1B antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) arrested growth in these cancers. However, SAS1B expression in cancers and normal tissues has not been characterized. We hypothesized that SAS1B is expressed on the surface of other common solid cancer cells, but not on normal tissue cells, and might be selectively targeted therapeutically.

Methods

SAS1B expression in human normal and cancer tissues was determined by immunohistochemistry, and complementary DNA (cDNA) libraries were employed to PCR amplify human SAS1B and its transcripts. Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to human SAS1B were generated using mouse hybridomas. SAS1B deletion constructs were developed to map SAS1B’s epitope, enabling the creation of a blocking peptide. Indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) of human transfected normal and cancer cells was performed to assess SAS1B expression. SAS1B intracellular versus surface expression in normal and tumor tissues was evaluated by flow cytometry after staining with anti-SAS1B mAb, with specificity confirmed with the blocking peptide. Human cancer lines were treated with increasing mAb and ADC concentrations. ATP was quantitated as a measure of cell viability.

Results

SAS1B expression was identified in a subset of human cancers and the cytoplasm of pancreatic islet cells. Two new SAS1B splice variants were deduced. Monoclonal antibodies were generated to SAS1B splice variant A. The epitope for mAbs SB2 and SB5 is between SAS1B amino acids 32–39. IIF demonstrated intracellular SAS1B expression in transfected kidney cells and on the cell surface of squamous cell lung carcinoma. Flow cytometry demonstrated intracellular SAS1B expression in all tumors and some normal cells. However, surface expression of SAS1B was identified only on cancer cells. SB2 ADC mediated dose-dependent cytotoxic killing of multiple human cancer lines.

Conclusion

SAS1B is a novel cancer-oocyte antigen with cell surface expression restricted to cancer cells. In vitro, it is an effective target for antibody-mediated cancer cell lysis. These findings support further exploration of SAS1B as a potential therapeutic cancer target in multiple human cancers, either with ADC or as a chimeric antigen receptor-T (CAR-T) cell target.
Granulocyte pro-myeloperoxidase is redundantly processed by proprotein convertase furin and PC7 in HL-60 cells
Authors: Lapointe Vanessa , Couture Frédéric
Published: March 2024

Neutrophil myeloperoxidase/H2O2/chloride system is a key mechanism to control pathogen infection. This enzyme, myeloperoxidase, plays a pivotal role in the arsenal of azurophilic granules that are released through degranulation upon neutrophil activation, which trigger local hypochlorous acid production. Myeloperoxidase gene encodes a protein precursor named promyeloperoxidase that arbors a propeptide that gets cleaved later during secretory routing in post-endoplasmic reticulum compartments. Although evidence suggested that this processing event was performed by one or different enzymes from the proprotein convertases family, the identity of this enzyme was never investigated. In this work, the naturally producing myeloperoxidase promyelocytic cell line HL-60 was used to investigate promyeloperoxidase cleavage during granulocytic differentiation in response to proprotein convertase inhibitors decanoyl-RVKR-chloromethylketone and hexa-d-arginine. Stable PC knockdown of endogenously expressed proprotein convertases, furin and PC7, was achieved using lentiviral delivery of shRNAs. None of the knockdown cell line could reproduce the effect of the pan-proprotein convertases inhibitor decanoyl-RVKR-chloromethylketone that accumulated intracellular promyeloperoxidase stores in HL-60 cells, therefore illustrating that both furin and PC7 redundantly process this proprotein.
DYNAMICS OF DELAYED AUTONOMOUS MODEL WITH CARRY-OVER EFFECTS, INCLUDING PREY HARVESTING
Authors: MAHENDRA  , PANDEY DWIJENDRA N.
Published: March 2024

This paper proposes a two-dimensional modified Leslie–Gower predator–prey model with carry-over effects, fear, prey protection and additional food, including prey harvesting. For this, it assumes the carry-over effect with delay incorporated in the birth rate of the prey population and gestation delay in Leslie–Gower term of a predator, and supposes that the predator consumes the prey according to Holling type II functional response. This dynamical system is split into two groups, namely non-delayed and delayed systems, respectively. In the non-delayed system, first, we discuss positivity, boundedness solutions, and the existence of equilibria, especially finding the coexistence of interior equilibrium points under certain conditions. After that, local and global stabilities are systematically analyzed. In addition, we obtain the conditions of Hopf-bifurcation in terms of the growth rate of prey species, prey protection and preference rate of predator for the non-delayed system. Whereas in the delayed system, both the delays have an essential role in governing the dynamical system discussed in three cases, and each case found the Hopf-bifurcation parameters for which the system changes stability behavior into instability. At last, the numerical simulations have been carried out to verify the theoretical findings.
EXPLORING THE IMPACT OF PTH THERAPY ON BONE REMODELING: A MATHEMATICAL INVESTIGATION
Authors: SREEKUMAR AMRUTHA , CHAKRAVARTY KOYEL
Published: March 2024

The regulatory influence of the parathyroid hormone (PTH) is exerted on bone, which serves as a vital reservoir of calcium within the body. While various aspects of bone growth, turnover, and mechanisms operate independently of gonadal hormones, a crucial role is assumed by sex steroids, particularly estrogen, in maintaining bone equilibrium in adults. In order to unravel the underlying mechanisms of bone remodeling mediated by PTH, a distinguished mathematical model of this intricate process is presented. Subsequently, the temporal effects of Plasma PTH and PTH external dosages are investigated using the proposed mathematical model. Among the limited repertoire of approved and accessible anabolic treatments for severe osteoporosis, daily injections of PTH stand out. This pharmaceutical marvel possesses a unique dual action, capable of acting either anabolically or catabolically, contingent upon the mode of administration. The study aims to accurately predict osteogenic responses to introduced and endogenous PTH, incorporating factors such as [Formula: see text]-[Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], and bisphosphonates in osteoblast–osteoclast signaling, as well as considering PTH’s influence on the gland and the regulatory roles of [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], and [Formula: see text] in osteoblast apoptosis and bone volume effects. Through diverse methods including illustrative depictions, numerical simulations, sensitivity analysis, and stability analysis, this work seeks to comprehend how PTH therapy impacts bone volume, enhancing its therapeutic relevance.
Sandstones and red beds in the Lower Cretaceous Sidi Aich Formation, Chotts Basin (Southern Tunisia): facies, architecture and depositional environments
Authors: Boukhalfa Kamel , Soussi Mohamed , Reynaud Jean-Yves , Banerjee Santanu
Published: March 2024

The Lower Cretaceous deposits of North Africa represent a terrestrial to shallow-marine sandstone-dominated succession often referred to as the ‘Continental Intercalaire’ and Nubian Sandstone informal groups. The upper Barremian Sidi Aich Formation of the Continental Intercalaire is distinguished throughout the Chotts basin of southern Tunisia by sandstone-dominated sequences within conglomerate, calcareous siltstone and palaeosol red bed occurrences. This paper aims to highlight: (1) the facies distribution, internal architecture and depositional environment of the sandbodies; and (2) the origin, spatial distribution and architecture of the red beds that underlined and topped sandbodies. Strata in the Zimlet El Beida anticlinal structure, Chotts basin, offer a good opportunity for detailed field observations and bed-by-bed logging of three representative lithostratigraphic sections. Detailed sedimentological investigation allows the recognition of several lithofacies grouped into three facies associations indicating tidal flat, tidal channel and tidal bar depositional settings characterizing a transgressive tide-dominated estuarine system that developed during an episode of relative sea-level fluctuations in the Early Cretaceous. The high-resolution petrographic, mineralogical and geochemical analyses of the red beds allow the differentiation of three distinct lithofacies sets including: (1) intraformational conglomerates; (2) calcareous siltstones; and (3) palaeosol. Major red beds comprise detrital grains inherited from the host or parent sediment and authigenic minerals (dolomite, calcite and hematite) precipitated during the diagenetic processes. Grain components have been partially or completely cemented and/or replaced by terrestrial phreatic dolomite. The negative δ
13
C and δ
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O signatures of the dolomite analyses indicate that the dolomitization processes have been influenced by fluctuations of the groundwater table or climate change from semi-arid to semi-humid conditions. This study, therefore, may provide useful data for the better understanding of the internal architecture of the red beds associated with sandbodies that represent the main and significant potential reservoir within the Lower Cretaceous Continental Intercalaire sandstone-dominated groundwater aquifers of the Chotts basin.
DinoDroid: Testing Android Apps Using Deep Q-Networks
Authors: Zhao Yu , Harrison Brent , Yu Tingting
Published: March 2024

The large demand of mobile devices creates significant concerns about the quality of mobile applications (apps). Developers need to guarantee the quality of mobile apps before it is released to the market. There have been many approaches using different strategies to test the GUI of mobile apps. However, they still need improvement due to their limited effectiveness. In this article, we propose DinoDroid, an approach based on deep Q-networks to automate testing of Android apps. DinoDroid learns a behavior model from a set of existing apps and the learned model can be used to explore and generate tests for new apps. DinoDroid is able to capture the fine-grained details of GUI events (e.g., the content of GUI widgets) and use them as features that are fed into deep neural network, which acts as the agent to guide app exploration. DinoDroid automatically adapts the learned model during the exploration without the need of any modeling strategies or pre-defined rules. We conduct experiments on 64 open-source Android apps. The results showed that DinoDroid outperforms existing Android testing tools in terms of code coverage and bug detection.
Do Code Summarization Models Process Too Much Information? Function Signature May Be All That Is Needed
Authors: Ding Xi , Peng Rui , Chen Xiangping , Huang Yuan , Bian Jing , Zheng Zibin
Published: March 2024

With the fast development of large software projects, automatic code summarization techniques, which summarize the main functionalities of a piece of code using natural languages as comments, play essential roles in helping developers understand and maintain large software projects. Many research efforts have been devoted to building automatic code summarization approaches. Typical code summarization approaches are based on deep learning models. They transform the task into a sequence-to-sequence task, which inputs source code and outputs summarizations in natural languages. All code summarization models impose different input size limits, such as 50 to 10,000, for the input source code. However, how the input size limit affects the performance of code summarization models still remains under-explored. In this article, we first conduct an empirical study to investigate the impacts of different input size limits on the quality of generated code comments. To our surprise, experiments on multiple models and datasets reveal that setting a low input size limit, such as 20, does not necessarily reduce the quality of generated comments.

Based on this finding, we further propose to use function signatures instead of full source code to summarize the main functionalities first and then input the function signatures into code summarization models. Experiments and statistical results show that inputs with signatures are, on average, more than 2 percentage points better than inputs without signatures and thus demonstrate the effectiveness of involving function signatures in code summarization. We also invite programmers to do a questionnaire to evaluate the quality of code summaries generated by two inputs with different truncation levels. The results show that function signatures generate, on average, 9.2% more high-quality comments than full code.
Mice with a Pax2 missense variant display impaired glomerular repair
Authors: Cunanan Joanna , Rajyam Sarada Sriya , Sharif Bedra , Udwan Khalil , Rana Akanchaya , De Gregorio Vanessa , Ricardo Samantha , Elia Andrew , Brooks Brian , Weins Astrid , Pollak Martin , John Rohan , Barua Moumita
Published: March 2024

Congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract comprise some of the leading causes of kidney failure in children, but our previous study showed that one of its genetic causes, PAX2, is also associated with adult-onset focal segmental glomerular sclerosis. Using a clinically relevant model, our present study demonstrated that after podocyte injury, parietal epithelial cells expressing PAX2 are deployed into the glomerular tuft to assist in repair in wild-type mice, but this mechanism is impaired in Pax2A220G/+ mice.
Evaluation of Changes in Sensory Quality and Bacterial Community Composition of Cold-Eating Rabbit Meat Stored under Different Temperatures
Authors: Yuan Xianling , Zheng Yidan , Zou Chenghua , Luo Yi , Peng Xianjie , Lin Hongbin
Published: March 2024

In Sichuan cuisine, cold-eating rabbit meat is highly regarded for its very strong taste and historical legacy. This study is aimed at evaluating the quality and bacterial diversity of cold-eating rabbit meat during storage. Under different storage time and temperatures, cold-eating rabbit meat underwent a decrease in pH, whereas the contents of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, total volatile basic nitrogen, and total viable count increased. Moreover, the loads of lactic acid bacteria and Staphylococcus aureus increased. Furthermore, 20 different bacterial genera were identified throughout the stages of raw meat processing and storage. Among these, Tardiphaga was the most abundant species during processing and storage. Lactobacillus was found to dominate the bacterial community associated with spoilage alterations in cold-eating rabbit meat. Thus, cold-eating rabbit meat can be safely stored at 4°C for up to 42 days. These findings offer valuable insights into the microbial processes underlying spoilage of cold-eating rabbit meat and serve as a guide for the development of strategies to prevent spoilage during processing and storage of cold-eating rabbit meat.
Telehealth and Technology for Diabetes in Pregnancy Clinics: Staff Perspectives from South Auckland, New Zealand
Authors: Singhal Megan , Oyston Charlotte
Published: March 2024

Providing care for patients with diabetes in pregnancy (DiP) provides unique challenges beyond those faced in standard antenatal care or diabetes outside of pregnancy. Teleclinics (use of telephone, email, or other technologies) as an alternative to in-person clinic appointments have become more widely used for care since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. To understand how teleclinics might be improved for ongoing use, it is important to understand the experiences and perceptions of the clinicians involved in DiP care. Aim. To understand staff experiences of DiP teleclinics and gain their perspectives on if and how teleclinics and other technologies might be best used in the future. Methods. A qualitative study using semistructured interviews of healthcare providers in a large DiP service. Twenty staff members (midwifery, obstetrics, physician, dietician, and administration) were approached to participate. Fifteen staff across 5 specialties consented to be interviewed. Template analysis of interview transcripts was performed, with a focus on 3 themes: collaboration and working together are important for providing care for DiP, a need for flexibility in scheduling and the ability to individualise the way care is provided, and challenges to adapting to new technology. Results. Potential benefits of teleclinics were acknowledged, but respondents also viewed teleclinics as not suitable for all DiP patients due to different needs and risks. Challenges to using teleclinics include establishing good rapport and the current limited infrastructure and patient resources. Conclusion. Healthcare providers viewed teleclinics as a way of supporting rather than replacing current care. Maintaining flexibility in clinic scheduling to allow incorporation of teleclinics into patient’s current schedule of visits ad hoc and providing extra technical and administrative support are important considerations for developing a teleclinic service.
Towards a Conceptual Model of Users’ Expectations of an Autonomous In-Vehicle Multimodal Experience
Authors: Ince Ecem Berfin , Cha Kyungjoo , Cho Junghyun
Published: March 2024

People are expected to have more opportunities to spend their free time inside the vehicle with advanced vehicle automation in the near future. This will enable people to turn their attention to desirable activities other than driving and to have varied in-vehicle interactions through multimodal ways of conveying and receiving information. Previous studies on in-vehicle multimodal interactions primarily have focused on making users evaluate the impacts of particular multimodal integrations on them, which do not fully provide an overall understanding of user expectations of the multimodal experience in autonomous vehicles. The research was thus designed to fill the research gap by posing the key question “What are the critical aspects that differentiate and characterise in-vehicle multimodal experiences?” To answer this question, five sessions of design fiction workshops were separately conducted with 17 people to understand the users’ expectations of the multimodal experience in autonomous vehicles. Twenty-two subthemes of users’ expected tasks of multimodal experience were extracted through thematic analysis. The research found that two dimensions, attention and duration, are critical aspects that impact in-vehicle multimodal interactions. With this knowledge, a conceptual model of the users’ in-vehicle multimodal experience was proposed with a two-dimensional spectrum, which populates four different layers: sustained, distinct, concurrent, and coherent. The proposed conceptual model could help designers understand and approach users’ expectations more clearly, allowing them to make more informed decisions from the initial stages of the design process.