bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Updates in Prostate Cancer Research and Screening in Men at Genetically Higher Risk
Authors: Bancroft Elizabeth K. , Raghallaigh Holly Ni , Page Elizabeth C. , Eeles Rosalind A.
Published: October 2021

Purpose of Review

Prostate cancer (PrCa) is the most common cancer in men in the western world and is a major source of morbidity and mortality. Currently, general population PrCa screening is not recommended due to the limitations of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test. As such, there is increasing interest in identifying and screening higher-risk groups. The only established risk factors for PrCa are age, ethnicity, and having a family history of PrCa. A significant proportion of PrCa cases are caused by genetic factors.

Recent Findings

Several rare germline variants have been identified that moderately increase risk of PrCa, and targeting screening to these men is proving useful at detecting clinically significant disease. The use of a “polygenic risk score” (PRS) that can calculate a man’s personalized risk based on a number of lower-risk, but common genetic variants is the subject of ongoing research. Research efforts are currently focusing on the utility of screening in specific at-risk populations based on ethnicity, such as men of Black Afro-Caribbean descent. Whilst most screening studies have focused on use of PSA testing, the incorporation of additional molecular and genomic biomarkers alongside increasingly sophisticated imaging modalities is being designed to further refine and individualise both the screening and diagnostic pathway. Approximately 10% of men with advanced PrCa have a germline genetic predisposition leading to the opportunity for novel, targeted precision treatments.

The mainstreaming of genomics into the PrCa screening, diagnostic and treatment pathway will soon become standard practice and this review summarises current knowledge on genetic predisposition to PrCa and screening studies that are using genomics within their algorithms to target screening to higher-risk groups of men. Finally, we evaluate the importance of germline genetics beyond screening and diagnostics, and its role in the identification of lethal PrCa and in the selection of targeted treatments for advanced disease.
Development of a new joining technology for hybrid joints of sheet metal and continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastics
Authors: Krassmann Dimitri , Moritzer Elmar
Published: October 2021

Punctiform mechanical joining technologies, such as riveting, clinching, or screwing, which are widely used in sheet metal processing, are frequently applied because they have been established for many years. Depending on the process, they offer a variety of advantages such as one-sided accessibility, re-detachability, and no need for pre-punching operations or auxiliary joining elements. In addition, the processes often guarantee a high process reliability and extensive process monitoring. However, with thermoplastic composites, they lead to considerable stress concentrations at the joint due to the fibers. Undesirable fiber and inter-fiber breaks then result. With the development of the novel joining technology of joint stamp riveting, an improvement is achieved in this situation that has been described for hybrid joints on components made of thermoplastic composites and metal sheets. The joining principle is based on the formation of a form lock between the joining partners. The thermoplastic composite is thermomechanically formed by means of a joint stamp without using an auxiliary joining element. Within the scope of a research project, the joining process was characterized with regard to the structure of the joining spot, the geometry of the forming tools, and also the mechanical properties for purposes of analyzing and designing the joining process.
Microstructure investigation on the fusion zone of steel/nickel-alloy dissimilar weld joint for nozzle buttering in nuclear power industry
Authors: Guo X. , He P. , Xu K. , Lv X. Ch. , Zhang J. B. , Gu Y.
Published: October 2021

Microstructure of the fusion zone of steel/nickel-alloy dissimilar metal welds (DMWs) for nozzle buttering was investigated by optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and electron back-scattered microscopy (EBSD). The results showed that the dissimilar joint was complete, without welding defects. The structures of the fusion zone included the beach structure along the fusion boundary, the peninsula structures connected with the fusion boundary, and the island structures in the weld. The distribution of these three types of structures near the fusion boundary was uneven. The beach structure was formed because of the insufficient mixing and solidification of the molten liquid base material and the filler metal, with the width ranging between 0 and 150 μm. The peninsula and island structures were formed by the undercooling of the insufficiently mixed liquid base material and filler metal that entered the weld because of the convection and scouring of the weld pool. The composition of the three structures depended on the degree of mixing of the liquid base material and the filler metal, with a dilution ratio between 40 and 60%. The degree of dilution for the beach, peninsula, and island structures decreased in turn. With an increase in the dilution ratio, the initial solidification temperature of the corresponding composition increased significantly. When the dilution ratio exceeded 94.5%, the initial solidification phase transformed from the face-centered cubic γ-austenite into a body-centered cubic ferrite, with island structures solidified in the form of ferrites in the weld near the fusion boundary. The austenite grain orientations at weld side are dispersed with 75% large (> 15°) misorientation in frequency and the overall texture orientation distributes dispersedly with deviating from the < 100 > direction.
Equality of Learning Opportunity via Individual Fairness in Personalized Recommendations
Authors: Marras Mirko , Boratto Ludovico , Ramos Guilherme , Fenu Gianni
Published: October 2021

Online education platforms play an increasingly important role in mediating the success of individuals’ careers. Therefore, while building overlying content recommendation services, it becomes essential to guarantee that learners are provided with equal recommended learning opportunities, according to the platform principles, context, and pedagogy. Though the importance of ensuring equality of learning opportunities has been well investigated in traditional institutions, how this equality can be operationalized in online learning ecosystems through recommender systems is still under-explored. In this paper, we shape a blueprint of the decisions and processes to be considered in the context of equality of recommended learning opportunities, based on principles that need to be empirically-validated (no evaluation with live learners has been performed). To this end, we first provide a formalization of educational principles that model recommendations’ learning properties, and a novel fairness metric that combines them to monitor the equality of recommended learning opportunities among learners. Then, we envision a scenario wherein an educational platform should be arranged in such a way that the generated recommendations meet each principle to a certain degree for all learners, constrained to their individual preferences. Under this view, we explore the learning opportunities provided by recommender systems in a course platform, uncovering systematic inequalities. To reduce this effect, we propose a novel post-processing approach that balances personalization and equality of recommended opportunities. Experiments show that our approach leads to higher equality, with a negligible loss in personalization. This paper provides a theoretical foundation for future studies of learners’ preferences and limits concerning the equality of recommended learning opportunities.
DR-Net: dual-rotation network with feature map enhancement for medical image segmentation
Authors: You Hongfeng , Yu Long , Tian Shengwei , Cai Weiwei
Published: October 2021

To obtain more semantic information with small samples for medical image segmentation, this paper proposes a simple and efficient dual-rotation network (DR-Net) that strengthens the quality of both local and global feature maps. The key steps of the DR-Net algorithm are as follows (as shown in Fig. 1). First, the number of channels in each layer is divided into four equal portions. Then, different rotation strategies are used to obtain a rotation feature map in multiple directions for each subimage. Then, the multiscale volume product and dilated convolution are used to learn the local and global features of feature maps. Finally, the residual strategy and integration strategy are used to fuse the generated feature maps. Experimental results demonstrate that the DR-Net method can obtain higher segmentation accuracy on both the CHAOS and BraTS data sets compared to the state-of-the-art methods.
Differentially private data aggregating with relative error constraint
Authors: Wang Hao , Peng Xiao , Xiao Yihang , Xu Zhengquan , Chen Xian
Published: October 2021

Privacy preserving methods supporting for data aggregating have attracted the attention of researchers in multidisciplinary fields. Among the advanced methods, differential privacy (DP) has become an influential privacy mechanism owing to its rigorous privacy guarantee and high data utility. But DP has no limitation on the bound of noise, leading to a low-level utility. Recently, researchers investigate how to preserving rigorous privacy guarantee while limiting the relative error to a fixed bound. However, these schemes destroy the statistical properties, including the mean, variance and MSE, which are the foundational elements for data aggregating and analyzing. In this paper, we explore the optimal privacy preserving solution, including novel definitions and implementing mechanisms, to maintain the statistical properties while satisfying DP with a fixed relative error bound. Experimental evaluation demonstrates that our mechanism outperforms current schemes in terms of security and utility for large quantities of queries.
Improved SparseEA for sparse large-scale multi-objective optimization problems
Authors: Zhang Yajie , Tian Ye , Zhang Xingyi
Published: October 2021

Sparse large-scale multi-objective optimization problems (LSMOPs) widely exist in real-world applications, which have the properties of involving a large number of decision variables and sparse Pareto optimal solutions, i.e., most decision variables of these solutions are zero. In recent years, sparse LSMOPs have attracted increasing attentions in the evolutionary computation community. However, all the recently tailored algorithms for sparse LSMOPs put the sparsity detection and maintenance in the first place, where the nonzero variables can hardly be optimized sufficiently within a limited budget of function evaluations. To address this issue, this paper proposes to enhance the connection between real variables and binary variables within the two-layer encoding scheme with the assistance of variable grouping techniques. In this way, more efforts can be devoted to the real part of nonzero variables, achieving the balance between sparsity maintenance and variable optimization. According to the experimental results on eight benchmark problems and three real-world applications, the proposed algorithm is superior over existing state-of-the-art evolutionary algorithms for sparse LSMOPs.
Synergistic Effect of Cation and Anion for Low-Temperature Aqueous Zinc-Ion Battery
Authors: Sun Tianjiang , Zheng Shibing , Du Haihui , Tao Zhanliang
Published: October 2021

Although aqueous zinc-ion batteries have gained great development due to their many merits, the frozen aqueous electrolyte hinders their practical application at low temperature conditions. Here, the synergistic effect of cation and anion to break the hydrogen-bonds network of original water molecules is demonstrated by multi-perspective characterization. Then, an aqueous-salt hydrates deep eutectic solvent of 3.5 M Mg(ClO4)2 + 1 M Zn(ClO4)2 is proposed and displays an ultralow freezing point of − 121 °C. A high ionic conductivity of 1.41 mS cm−1 and low viscosity of 22.9 mPa s at − 70 °C imply a fast ions transport behavior of this electrolyte. With the benefits of the low-temperature electrolyte, the fabricated Zn||Pyrene-4,5,9,10-tetraone (PTO) and Zn||Phenazine (PNZ) batteries exhibit satisfactory low-temperature performance. For example, Zn||PTO battery shows a high discharge capacity of 101.5 mAh g−1 at 0.5 C (200 mA g−1) and 71 mAh g−1 at 3 C (1.2 A g−1) when the temperature drops to − 70 °C. This work provides an unique view to design anti-freezing aqueous electrolyte."Image missing"
Automatic generation of cross sections from computed tomography data of mechanical joining elements for quality analysis
Authors: Schromm T. M. , Grosse C. U.
Published: October 2021

In this work, we present a methodology for shifting from a conventionally destructive, manual quality analysis for repetitive processes towards a non-destructive and largely automated process. The objects subjected to the quality analysis are mechanical joining elements like rivets or flow-drilling screws. We propose an algorithm that can automatically find and extract such joining elements from a computed tomography (CT) scan, rotate these elements to an upright orientation and eventually generate radial cross sections parallel to the elements’ longitudinal axis. The proposed algorithm was tested on five grayscale-based computed tomography volumes, with one synthetically generated volume. We will discuss both, cases in which the duo of CT and our proposed algorithm produces satisfying results, as well as cases in which it fails. Limitations of both the scan acquisition process and the proposed algorithm will be elaborated on and potential improvements will be mentioned.
Impact of drought stress on biochemical responses, energy, and water productivity on maize forage (Zea mays L.)
Authors: Rad Rouhollah Daneshvar , Sharifabad Hosein Heidari , Torabi Masoud , Azizinejad Reza , Salemi Hamidreza , Heidari Soltanabadi Mohsen
Published: October 2021

Drought stress is the most important limiting factor in crop plants including maize (Zea mays L.), which is the third important world crop after wheat and rice. To examine the quantity and quality of forage as well as energy and water productivity of two maize varieties to drought stress, a field experiment was carried out as a split plot based on a completely randomized block design with three replications in Isfahan, Iran, during 2017 and 2018 growing seasons. The main and sub-plots were three irrigation regimes (100%, 80, and 60% full irrigation) and two maize varieties (704 and Maxima), respectively. Data analysis showed that drought stress harmed wet and dry forage yield and energy productivity, while its effect was positive on some forage quality such as ash, neutral detergent fiber (NDF), hemicellulose free cell wall (ADF), and lignin (ADL). Based on results, drought stress of 60% full irrigation resulted in reduced wet and dry forage maize yields. In addition, drought stress affected relationships among measured traits. According to increasing dried fodder and decreasing output energy under stress conditions, early mature variety Maxima is more proper to be used under drought stress. Besides, the Maxima variety was shown to be a suitable variety due to increasing dry matter and crude protein as well as decrease ADF and ADL than the 704 variety.

Article Highlights

We submit an original research article entitled Effect of water stress on forage yield and quality and water and energy productivity in Maize (Zea mays L.). In this paper, we indicated regarding to impacts of climate change phenomenon throughout the world on crop production, especially in arid regions such as Iran, choosing proper variety can be one of the best candidates to provide for forage. The results of present paper have shown that the drought stress had no effect on water productivity of two maize varieties. The superiority of some forage quality traits in drought stress compared to the control in maize means that in drought conditions, maize forage can be used and increase the profitability of livestock products.
Design of voltage and current controller parameters using small signal model-based pole-zero cancellation method for improved transient response in microgrids
Authors: Pavan Kumar Y. V. , Bhimasingu Ravikumar
Published: October 2021

Microgrids are supposed to provide stable power for seamless utility-grid interaction under all conditions as stated by IEEE-1547 standard. But, the use of power electronic inverter makes the microgrid sensitive to transients than synchronous generator-based plants. This degrades the voltage/frequency responses during transients, which can lead to transient stability problem if not controlled properly. Hence, the design of effective closed-loop voltage and current (V/I) controllers is highly desired to control the inverter output against the disturbances. The V/I controllers are based on PI (proportional-cum-integral) formulas. Thus, the effectiveness of V/I controllers relies on how accurate that their gain parameters are tuned. Many PI-tuning methods have been developed in the literature, but, it is yet difficult to identify a suitable method for an application. Also, only a few researchers have focused on the microgrids due to the complexity involved in its controller design by the presence of V/I cascaded dual-loop. Hence, to address this problem, this paper proposes a novel way of designing V/I controller parameters by using pole-zero cancellation method. This method is implemented by deriving the microgrid’s small-signal model. This improves the transient response through reduced system order and/or alleviated sluggish/marginal-stable/unstable poles by adding zeros at same places where those poles are laid, to in effect cancel them. The efficacy of the proposed method over existing methods is assessed by plotting frequency and voltage responses under different test conditions. From the simulation results, it is witnessed that the proposed method relatively improved the transient characteristics of microgrids.

Article Highlights

Analyzes the applicability of conventional PI tuning methods for microgrid controllers’ design.

Proposes a novel small signal model based pole-zero cancellation method for the design of microgrid controllers.

Enhances the gain margin, which improves the stabilization capacity of the system when subjected to disturbances.

Improves the transient behavior of frequency and voltage responses, which ensure the safety of sensitive loads.
A deep action-oriented video image classification system for text detection and recognition
Authors: Chaudhuri Abhra , Shivakumara Palaiahnakote , Chowdhury Pinaki Nath , Pal Umapada , Lu Tong , Lopresti Daniel , Hemantha Kumar G.
Published: October 2021

For the video images with complex actions, achieving accurate text detection and recognition results is very challenging. This paper presents a hybrid model for classification of action-oriented video images which reduces the complexity of the problem to improve text detection and recognition performance. Here, we consider the following five categories of genres, namely concert, cooking, craft, teleshopping and yoga. For classifying action-oriented video images, we explore ResNet50 for learning the general pixel-distribution level information and the VGG16 network is implemented for learning the features of Maximally Stable Extremal Regions and again another VGG16 is used for learning facial components obtained by a multitask cascaded convolutional network. The approach integrates the outputs of the three above-mentioned models using a fully connected neural network for classification of five action-oriented image classes. We demonstrated the efficacy of the proposed method by testing on our dataset and two other standard datasets, namely, Scene Text Dataset dataset which contains 10 classes of scene images with text information, and the Stanford 40 Actions dataset which contains 40 action classes without text information. Our method outperforms the related existing work and enhances the class-specific performance of text detection and recognition, significantly.

Article highlights

The method uses pixel, stable-region and face-component information in a noble way for solving complex classification problems.

The proposed work fuses different deep learning models for successful classification of action-oriented images.

Experiments on our own dataset as well as standard datasets show that the proposed model outperforms related state-of-the-art (SOTA) methods.
Effects of the selective orexin-2 receptor antagonist JNJ-48816274 on sleep initiated in the circadian wake maintenance zone: a randomised trial
Authors: Revell Victoria L. , della Monica Ciro , Mendis Jeewaka , Hassanin Hana , Halter Robin J. , Chaplan Sandra R. , Dijk Derk-Jan
Published: October 2021

The effects of orexinergic peptides are diverse and are mediated by orexin-1 and orexin-2 receptors. Antagonists that target both receptors have been shown to promote sleep initiation and maintenance. Here, we investigated the role of the orexin-2 receptor in sleep regulation in a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, three-period crossover clinical trial using two doses (20 and 50 mg) of a highly selective orexin-2 receptor antagonist (2-SORA) (JNJ-48816274). We used a phase advance model of sleep disruption where sleep initiation is scheduled in the circadian wake maintenance zone. We assessed objective and subjective sleep parameters, pharmacokinetic profiles and residual effects on cognitive performance in 18 healthy male participants without sleep disorders. The phase advance model alone (placebo condition) resulted in disruption of sleep at the beginning of the sleep period compared to baseline sleep (scheduled at habitual time). Compared to placebo, both doses of JNJ-48816274 significantly increased total sleep time, REM sleep duration and sleep efficiency, and reduced latency to persistent sleep, sleep onset latency, and REM latency. All night EEG spectral power density for both NREM and REM sleep were unaffected by either dose. Participants reported significantly better quality of sleep and feeling more refreshed upon awakening following JNJ-48816274 compared to placebo. No significant residual effects on objective performance measures were observed and the compound was well tolerated. In conclusion, the selective orexin-2 receptor antagonist JNJ-48816274 rapidly induced sleep when sleep was scheduled earlier in the circadian cycle and improved self-reported sleep quality without impact on waking performance.
Shortened leukocyte telomere length in young adults who use methamphetamine
Authors: Lin Yen-Feng , Chen Po-Yu , Liu Hsing-Cheng , Chen Yi-Lung , Chou Wei-Hern , Huang Ming-Chyi
Published: October 2021

Methamphetamine (METH) use, most prevalent in young adults, has been associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality. The relationship between METH use and accelerated biological aging, which can be measured using leukocyte telomere length (LTL), remains unclear. We examined whether young adult METH users have shorter LTL and explored the relationship between characteristics of METH use and LTL by using Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. We compared the LTL for 187 METH users and 159 healthy individuals aged between 25 and 34 years and examined the relationship of LTL with METH use variables (onset age, duration, and maximum frequency of METH use) by using regression analyses. In addition, 2-stage-least-squares (2SLS) MR was also performed to possibly avoid uncontrolled confounding between characteristics of METH use and LTL. We found METH users had significantly shorter LTL compared to controls. Multivariate regression analysis showed METH use was negatively associated with LTL (β = −0.36, P < .001). Among METH users, duration of METH use was negatively associated with LTL after adjustment (β = −0.002, P = .01). We identified a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs6585206 genome-wide associated with duration of METH use. This SNP was used as an instrumental variable to avoid uncontrolled confounding for the relationship between the use duration and LTL shortening. In conclusion, we show that young adult METH users may have shorter LTL compared with controls and longer duration of METH use was significantly associated with telomere shortening. These observations suggest that METH use may accelerate biological senescence.
Antitumor effect of 4MU on glioblastoma cells is mediated by senescence induction and CD44, RHAMM and p-ERK modulation
Authors: Pibuel Matías Arturo , Poodts Daniela , Díaz Mariángeles , Molinari Yamila Azul , Franco Paula Gabriela , Hajos Silvia Elvira , Lompardía Silvina Laura
Published: October 2021

The extracellular matrix plays a key role in cancer progression. Hyaluronan, the main glycosaminoglycan of the extracellular matrix, has been related to several tumor processes. Hyaluronan acts through the interaction with cell membrane receptors as CD44 and RHAMM and triggers signaling pathways as MEK/ERK. 4-methylumbelliferone (4MU), a well-known hyaluronan synthesis inhibitor, is a promising alternative for cancer therapy. 4MU is a coumarin derivative without adverse effects that has been studied in several tumors. However, little is known about its use in glioblastoma (GBM), the most malignant primary brain tumor in adults. Glioblastoma is characterized by fast growth, migration and tissue invasiveness, and a poor median survival of the patients after treatment. Several reports linked glioblastoma progression with HA levels and even with CD44 and RHAMM expression, as well as MEK/ERK activation. Previously, we showed on a murine GBM cell line that HA enhances GBM migration, while 4MU markedly inhibits it. In this work we showed for the first time, that 4MU decreases cell migration and induces senescence in U251 and LN229 human GBM cell lines. Furthermore, we observed that HA promotes GBM cell migration on both cell lines and that such effects depend on CD44 and RHAMM, as well as MEK/ERK signaling pathway. Interestingly, we observed that the exogenous HA failed to counteract the effects of 4MU, indicating that 4MU effects are independent of HA synthesis inhibition. We found that 4MU decreases total CD44 and RHAMM membrane expression, which could explain the effect of 4MU on cell migration. Furthermore, we observed that 4MU increases the levels of RHAMM inside the cell while decreases the nucleus/cytoplasm relation of p-ERK, associated with 4MU effects on cell proliferation and senescence induction. Overall, 4MU should be considered as a promising therapeutic alternative to improve the outcome of patients with GBM.
Spatiotemporal evaporating droplet dynamics on fomites enhances long term bacterial pathogenesis
Authors: Majee Sreeparna , Chowdhury Atish Roy , Pinto Roven , Chattopadhyay Ankur , Agharkar Amey Nitin , Chakravortty Dipshikha , Basu Saptarshi
Published: October 2021

Naturally drying bacterial droplets on inanimate surfaces representing fomites are the most consequential mode for transmitting infection through oro-fecal route. We provide a multiscale holistic approach to understand flow dynamics induced bacterial pattern formation on fomites leading to pathogenesis. The most virulent gut pathogen, Salmonella Typhimurium (STM), typically found in contaminated food and water, is used as model system in the current study. Evaporation-induced flow in sessile droplets facilitates the transport of STM, forming spatio-temporally varying bacterial deposition patterns based on droplet medium’s nutrient scale. Mechanical and low moisture stress in the drying process reduced bacterial viability but interestingly induced hyper-proliferation of STM in macrophages, thereby augmenting virulence in fomites. In vivo studies of fomites in mice confirm that STM maintains enhanced virulence. This work demonstrates that stressed bacterial deposit morphologies formed over small timescale (minutes) on organic and inorganic surfaces, plays a significant role in enhancing fomite’s pathogenesis over hours and days.
Size-tunable synthesis of iron oxide nanocrystals by continuous seed-mediated growth: role of alkylamine species in the stepwise thermal decomposition of iron(ii) oxalate
Authors: Nozawa Ryosuke , Naka Takashi , Kurihara Masato , Togashi Takanari
Published: October 2021

Size of monodisperse iron oxide nanoparticles are turned via continuous seed mediated growth via stepwise thermal decomposition of iron(ii) oxalate in small volume alkylamine mixture.
Copper-catalyzed synthesis of 1-(2-benzofuryl)-N-heteroarenes from o-hydroxy-gem-(dibromovinyl)benzenes and N-heteroarenes
Authors: Rao Maddali L. N. , Islam Sk Shamim
Published: October 2021

A copper-catalyzed tandem protocol using o-hydroxy-gem-(dibromovinyl)benzenes and N-heteroarenes is developed to synthesize a variety of 1-(2-benzofuryl)-N-heteroarenes with a broad substrate scope and high yields.
Improving photosynthesis through the enhancement of Rubisco carboxylation capacity
Authors: Iñiguez Concepción , Aguiló-Nicolau Pere , Galmés Jeroni
Published: October 2021

Rising human population, along with the reduction in arable land and the impacts of global change, sets out the need for continuously improving agricultural resource use efficiency and crop yield (CY). Bioengineering approaches for photosynthesis optimization have largely demonstrated the potential for enhancing CY. This review is focused on the improvement of Rubisco functioning, which catalyzes the rate-limiting step of CO2 fixation required for plant growth, but also catalyzes the ribulose-bisphosphate oxygenation initiating the carbon and energy wasteful photorespiration pathway. Rubisco carboxylation capacity can be enhanced by engineering the Rubisco large and/or small subunit genes to improve its catalytic traits, or by engineering the mechanisms that provide enhanced Rubisco expression, activation and/or elevated [CO2] around the active sites to favor carboxylation over oxygenation. Recent advances have been made in the expression, assembly and activation of foreign (either natural or mutant) faster and/or more CO2-specific Rubisco versions. Some components of CO2 concentrating mechanisms (CCMs) from bacteria, algae and C4 plants has been successfully expressed in tobacco and rice. Still, none of the transformed plant lines expressing foreign Rubisco versions and/or simplified CCM components were able to grow faster than wild type plants under present atmospheric [CO2] and optimum conditions. However, the results obtained up to date suggest that it might be achievable in the near future. In addition, photosynthetic and yield improvements have already been observed when manipulating Rubisco quantity and activation degree in crops. Therefore, engineering Rubisco carboxylation capacity continues being a promising target for the improvement in photosynthesis and yield.
SINEUPs: a novel toolbox for RNA therapeutics
Authors: Espinoza Stefano , Bon Carlotta , Valentini Paola , Pierattini Bianca , Matey Abraham Tettey , Damiani Devid , Pulcrano Salvatore , Sanges Remo , Persichetti Francesca , Takahashi Hazuki , Carninci Piero , Santoro Claudio , Cotella Diego , Gustincich Stefano
Published: October 2021

RNA molecules have emerged as a new class of promising therapeutics to expand the range of druggable targets in the genome. In addition to ‘canonical’ protein-coding mRNAs, the emerging richness of sense and antisense long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) provides a new reservoir of molecular tools for RNA-based drugs. LncRNAs are composed of modular structural domains with specific activities involving the recruitment of protein cofactors or directly interacting with nucleic acids. A single therapeutic RNA transcript can then be assembled combining domains with defined secondary structures and functions, and antisense sequences specific for the RNA/DNA target of interest.

As the first representative molecules of this new pharmacology, we have identified SINEUPs, a new functional class of natural antisense lncRNAs that increase the translation of partially overlapping mRNAs. Their activity is based on the combination of two domains: an embedded mouse inverted SINEB2 element that enhances mRNA translation (effector domain) and an overlapping antisense region that provides specificity for the target sense transcript (binding domain). By genetic engineering, synthetic SINEUPs can potentially target any mRNA of interest increasing translation and therefore the endogenous level of the encoded protein.

In this review, we describe the state-of-the-art knowledge of SINEUPs and discuss recent publications showing their potential application in diseases where a physiological increase of endogenous protein expression can be therapeutic.
Enhancing semantics with multi‐objective reinforcement learning for video description
Authors: Li Qinyu , Yang Longyu , Tang Pengjie , Wang Hanli
Published: October 2021

Video description is challenging due to the high complexity of translating visual content into language. In most popular attention‐based pipelines for this task, visual features and previously generated words are usually concatenated as a vector to predict the current word. However, the errors caused by the inaccuracy of the predicted words may be accumulated, and the gap between visual features and language features may bring noises into the description model. Facing these problems, a variant of recurrent neural network is designed in this work, and a novel framework is developed to enhance the visual clues for video description. Moreover, a multi‐objective reinforcement learning strategy is implemented to build a more comprehensive reward with multiple metrics to improve the consistency and semantics of the generated description sentence. The experiments on the benchmark MSR‐VTT2016 and MSVD datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Global positioning system spoofing detection based on Support Vector Machines
Authors: Zhu Xuefen , Hua Teng , Yang Fan , Tu Gangyi , Chen Xiyuan
Published: October 2021

The civil Global Positioning System (GPS) is vulnerable to spoofing because of its open signal structure. The performance of previous spoofing detection methods is often limited due to spoofing's strong concealment. In this study, a method is proposed to detect spoofing by analysing the features of improved signal quality monitoring (SQM) moving variance (MV), improved SQM moving average (MA), early‐late phase, carrier‐to‐noise ratio–MV and clock offset rate of receiver using Support Vector Machines. Then, the effectiveness of different kernel functions is compared along with other previous methods, revealing that our method outperforms previous methods when coarse Gaussian is used as kernel function. Specifically, the f1 score of the proposed method is improved by 3.22%, 12.85% and 35.72% in comparison with Back Propagation network, Ratio and Delta. The authors hope this work is beneficial for future research and for the implementation of GPS spoofing detection technology and high‐performance receiver, which is of great significance to maintain the normal operation of GPS.
Kälte in der Traditionellen Chinesischen Medizin
Authors: Chiu Celine
Published: October 2021

In der Traditionellen Chinesischen Medizin gibt es unterschiedliche Arten von Kälte-Krankheiten. Sie entstehen entweder durch äußere Einflüsse oder durch das Fehlen innerer Wärme. Behandelt werden Kältekrankheiten mit Akupunktur, Moxibustion und Diätetik.
Mice Lacking PECAM-1 and Ceacam1 Have Enhanced Platelet Secretion and Thrombus Growth: Novel Link with PAR4
Authors: Kuriri Fahd A. , Burchall Genia , Alanazi Fehaid , Antonipillai Juliana , Dobie Gasim , Beachemin Nicole , Jackson Denise E.
Published: October 2021

The Ig-ITIM bearing receptors, PECAM-1 and CEACAM1, have been shown net negative regulators of platelet–collagen interactions and hemiITAM signaling pathways. In this study, a double knockout (DKO) mouse was developed with deleted PECAM-1 and CEACAM1 to study their combined contribution in platelet activation by glycoprotein VI, C-type lectin-like receptor 2, protease activated receptor (PAR4), ADP purinergic receptors, and thromboxane receptor (TP) A2 pathways. In addition, their collective contribution was examined in thrombus formation under high shear and microvascular thrombosis using in vivo models. DKO platelets responded normally to ADP purinergic receptors and the TP A2 pathway. However, DKO platelets released significantly higher amounts of P-selectin compared with hyper-responsive Pecam-1−/− or Ceacam1−/− versus wild-type (WT) upon stimulation with collagen-related peptide or rhodocytin. In contrast, DKO platelets showed increased amounts of P-selectin exposure upon stimulation with PAR4 agonist peptide or thrombin but not Pecam-1−/− , Ceacam1−/− , or WT platelets. Blockade of phospholipase C (PLC) or Rho A kinase revealed that DKO platelets enhanced α-granule release via PAR4/Gαq/PLC signaling without crosstalk with Src/Syk or G12/13 signaling pathways. Severely delayed clot retraction in vitro was observed in DKO phenotype. The DKO model revealed a significant increase in thrombus formation compared with the hyper-responsive Ceacam1−/− or Pecam-1−/− versus WT phenotype. DKO platelets have similar glycoprotein surface expression compared with Pecam-1−/− , Ceacam1−/− , and WT platelets. This study demonstrates that PECAM-1 and CEACAM1 work in concert to negatively regulate hemiITAM signaling, platelet–collagen interactions, and PAR4 Gαq protein- coupled signaling pathways. Both PECAM-1 and CEACAM1 are required for negative regulation of platelet activation and microvascular thrombosis in vivo.
A Snapshot of Chronic Critical Illness in Pediatric Intensive Care Units
Authors: Shapiro Miriam C. , Boss Renee D. , Donohue Pamela K. , Weiss Elliott M. , Madrigal Vanessa , Henderson Carrie M. ,   on behalf of the Pediatric Chronic Critical Illness Collaborative*
Published: October 2021

Children with chronic critical illness (CCI) represent the sickest subgroup of children with medical complexity. In this article, we applied a proposed definition of pediatric CCI to assess point prevalence in medical, cardiovascular, and combined pediatric intensive care units (PICUs), screening all patients admitted to six academic medical centers in the United States on May 17, 2017, for pediatric CCI (PCCI) eligibility. We gathered descriptive data to understand medical complexity and resource needs of children with PCCI in PICUs including data regarding hospitalization characteristics, previous admissions, medical technology, and chronic multiorgan dysfunction. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize the study population and hospital data. The study cohort was divided between PICU-prolonged (stay > 14 days) and PICU-exposed (any time in PICU); comparative analyses were conducted. On the study day, 185 children met inclusion criteria, 66 (36%) PICU-prolonged and 119 (64%) PICU-exposed. Nearly all had home medical technology and most (n = 152; 82%) required mechanical ventilation in the PICU. The PICU-exposed cohort mirrored the PICU-prolonged with a few exceptions as follows: they were older, had fewer procedures and surgeries, and had more recurrent hospitalizations. Most (n = 44; 66%) of the PICU-prolonged cohort had never been discharged home. Children with PCCI were a sizable proportion of the unit census on the study day. We found that children with PCCI are a prevalent population in PICUs. Dividing the cohorts between PICU-prolonged and PICU-exposed helps to better understand the care needs of the PCCI population. Identifying and studying PCCI, including variables relevant to PICU-prolonged and PICU-exposed, could inform changes to PICU care models and training programs to better enable PICUs to meet their unique needs.
Bauaktivitäten deutscher Kliniken: Stagnation auf hohem Niveau
Authors: Kucera Martin
Published: October 2021

Die Freihaltepauschalen konnten die Folgen der Pandemie in großen Kliniken größtenteils abfedern. Kleine Krankenhäuser bangen dagegen zunehmend um ihre Existenz. Wie steht es mit den Bauaktivitäten im Gesundheitswesen? Der Münchner Informationsdienstleister Schwab Marketing registriert – nach einem leichten Anstieg vor einem Jahr – in seiner aktuellen Marktstudie für 2021 eine nahezu unveränderte Situation.
Analysis method of a spin-torque oscillator using dc resistance change during injection locking to an external microwave magnetic field
Authors: Asam Nagarjuna , Suto Hirofumi , Tamaru Shingo , Sepehri-Amin Hossein , Bolyachkin Anton , Nakatani Tomoya , Zhou Weinan , Kubota Hitoshi , Sakuraba Yuya
Published: October 2021

Spin torque oscillators (STOs) that generate a persistent magnetization oscillation by spin-transfer torque are promising spintronic devices for various applications. In this study, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a method to characterize the magnetization dynamics of STOs using injection locking. By placing the STO near an antenna that generates a microwave magnetic field of a variable frequency (fMW), injection locking of the STO to the microwave field occurs when fMW is in the locking range around the intrinsic oscillation frequency. During injection locking, the dc resistance of the STO exhibits a peak-and-valley dependence on fMW, which originates from the modification of the magnetization trajectory induced by injection locking. Based on this principle, the oscillation frequency can be estimated by measuring the dc resistance change. Because this method does not require measuring the high-frequency magnetoresistance signal from the STO, which is used in the conventional method, it is advantageous in cases where the high-frequency magnetoresistance signal is undetectable or exhibits additional frequency components different from the oscillation frequency.
Perspective on room-temperature solid-state masers
Authors: Arroo Daan M. , Alford Neil McN. , Breeze Jonathan D.
Published: October 2021

The first solid-state masers to operate at room-temperature and ambient air-pressure were recently demonstrated using optically pumped spin-triplet states as the gain medium. In this Perspective, we briefly review the previous state-of-the-art in cryogenic solid-state masers and then discuss the development of the room-temperature solid-state maser: from the organic pentacene pulsed maser to the diamond nitrogen-vacancy continuous-wave maser. We characterize the operation of these masers as coherent microwave sources and ultra-low noise amplifiers before outlining how they can be adapted to act as model systems in which to explore room-temperature cavity quantum electrodynamics. After discussing challenges facing current embodiments of the room-temperature solid-state maser, we explore how they might be addressed or by-passed altogether through the development of alternative materials and masing mechanisms. Finally, we speculate on how the advent of masers that can operate in ambient conditions might lead to novel applications in metrology and quantum technologies.
A mathematical framework for ejecta cloud dynamics with application to source models and piezoelectric mass measurements
Authors: Tregillis I. L. , Koskelo Aaron
Published: October 2021

We present a mathematical framework for describing the dynamical evolution of an ejecta cloud generated by a generic ejecta source model. We consider a piezoelectric sensor fielded in the path of an ejecta cloud, for experimental configurations in which the ejecta are created at a singly shocked planar surface and fly ballistically through vacuum to the stationary sensor. To do so, we introduce the concept of a time- and velocity-dependent ejecta “areal mass function.” We derive expressions for the analytic (“true”) accumulated ejecta areal mass at the sensor and the measured (“inferred”) value obtained via the standard method for analyzing piezoelectric voltages. In this way, we derive an exact expression and upper bound for the error imposed upon a piezoelectric ejecta mass measurement (in a perfect system) by the assumption of instantaneous creation, which is commonly required for momentum diagnostic analyses. This error term is zero for truly instantaneous source models; otherwise, the standard piezoelectric analysis is guaranteed to overestimate the true mass. When combined with a piezoelectric dataset, this framework provides a unique solution for the ejecta particle velocity distribution, subject to the assumptions inherent in the data analysis. The framework also leads to strong boundary conditions that any ejecta source model must satisfy in order to be consistent with apparently global properties of piezoelectric measurements from a wide range of experiments. We demonstrate this methodology by applying it to the Richtmyer–Meshkov instability+self-similar velocity distribution ejecta source model currently under development at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Determination of NADH by Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering Using Au@MB@Ag NPs
Authors: Liao Yuqin , You Ruiyun , Fan Min , Feng Shangyuan , Lu Dechan , Lu Yudong
Published: October 2021

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) is an important coenzyme involved in various metabolic processes of living cells. As an important biomarker, NADH is associated with breast cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. In this paper, silver plated gold core–shell nanoparticles containing Raman signal molecules were synthesised on the basis of bare gold. Using the Raman peak corresponding to the 4-mercaptobenzonitrile (MB) silent region C≡N vibration for quantification, while avoiding competition with the precious metal surface binding site to be measured, it can also be free from the interference of endogenous biomolecules. On the one hand, it can correct the working curve, on the other hand, it can avoid competing with the binding site. Compared with the core–shell structure prepared here, the limit of detection (LOD) for NADH was only 10−5 M for bare gold and the LOD for the core–shell structure prepared on the basis of bare gold was 3.3 × 10−7 M. In terms of correction, with Rhodamine 6G (R6G) as a Raman signalling molecule, the R2 value before SERS detection and correction is only 0.9405, and the R2 value after correction increases to 0.9853. The unique fingerprint peak of SERS was used to realise the quantitative detection of NADH, which realizes the detection of NADH in complex biological samples of serum and provides the possibility for expanding the early diagnosis of breast cancer.
Dietary supplements for consideration in elite female footballers
Authors: Sheridan Hannah C. , Parker Lloyd J. F. , Hammond Kelly M.
Published: October 2021

The physical demands of professional female football have intensified in recent years. Supplements are only advised in addition to a healthy, balanced diet, but may warrant a greater prevalence in the professional game to support well‐being, recovery and performance. Supplements used by players should be safe, legal and scientifically proven to be effective. An individual approach should be taken to using supplements dependant on the needs and goals of the player. Female players should aim to improve the frequency of protein intake throughout the day, whilst tailoring doses to individual body mass. Vitamin D supplementation is vital throughout the winter months in countries with limited sun exposure, however doses should be administered based on individual blood test results. Iron is likely to be important to the well‐being of female athletes throughout the season, in particular during the menses. Omega‐3 and collagen may be of greater benefit to female than male athletes during recovery from soft tissue injury, whilst probiotics and creatine are beneficial throughout the season for reducing risk of illness and optimising recovery, respectively. Ergogenic supplements for football include beta‐alanine, nitrate and caffeine. Caution should be taken with caffeine use due to the varying tolerance of difference athletes and sleep impairments that can follow.