bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
ACD‐YOLO: Improved YOLOv5‐based method for steel surface defects detection
Authors: Fan Jiacheng , Wang Min , Li Baolei , Liu Mingxue , shen Dingcai
Published: November 2023

Since the quality of steel is of paramount importance in modern production, the defects detection of steel surface is significantly crucial. In this field, two‐stage detection algorithms have encountered issues about low detection speed, while one‐stage detection algorithms have room for improvement in detection accuracy. How to trade‐off between accuracy and speed of detection to better meet the demands of industrial production remains a challenge. To address this problem, this paper proposes a You Only Look Once version 5 (YOLOv5)‐based improved method ACD‐YOLO. ACD‐YOLO model incorporates anchors optimization, context augmentation module, and efficient convolution operators. In anchor optimization, the boundaries of anchors are optimized using an improved genetic algorithm. Moreover, to improve detection accuracy, a context augmentation module is incorporated into both the head and the backbone end of the network. Additionally, efficient convolution operators are adopted to address the increase of computation complexity caused by the context augmentation module. Experimental results show that ACD‐YOLO achieves mean average precision of 79.3%, with frames per second of 72. Compared to reference methods, ACD‐YOLO achieves the best balance between accuracy and speed of detection, and is more suitable for practice industrial production.
The spatial and temporal variability and influence factor analysis of soil erosion in a grass farming area: a case study in central China
Authors: Xue Zijing , Liu Xiaohuang , Sawut Mamat , Liu Jiufen , Zhao Xiaofeng , Xing Liyuan , Wang Ran , Luo Xinping , Wang Chao , Zhao Honghui , Wang Ying
Published: November 2023

Context Analysing soil erosion has important research significance for the protection of the ecological environment and the prevention and control measures of soil erosion. Methods This paper aims to discuss the soil erosion degree in the warm temperate grass farming subregion of the southern Shanxi and Guanzhong Basin, China, based on Universal Soil Loss Model, RUSLE. Aims The soil erosion modulus from 1998 to 2020 of the study area was calculated and divided into five periods: 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020. Key results We highlight two key findings: (1) the average soil erosion modulus changed from 498.86 t km−2 a−1 in 2000 to 316.94 t km−2 a−1 in 2020, and the proportion of soil area with an unchanged erosion degree is above 85%; (2) the average annual erosion area is the largest when rainfall is greater than 550 mm and less than 620 mm. From 2000 to 2020, the area of cultivated land decreased by 3497.47 km2, and the area of grassland increased by 1364.96 km2. The degree of erosion of grassland is the most severe, with soil erosion is most intense when the Normalised Vegetation Index (NDVI) is greater than 0.55 and less than 0.75. Conclusions The results show that the soil erosion in this area is slight on the whole and its degree has been decreasing. Implications The analysis in this paper can elucidate the seriousness of the soil erosion problem so that the government can strengthen the key management of soil and water conservation and achieve the purpose of reducing soil erosion.
Herbgenomics meets Papaveraceae: a promising -omics perspective on medicinal plant research
Authors: Kielich Natalia , Mazur Oliwia , Musidlak Oskar , Gracz-Bernaciak Joanna , Nawrot Robert
Published: November 2023

Herbal medicines were widely used in ancient and modern societies as remedies for human ailments. Notably, the Papaveraceae family includes well-known species, such as Papaver somniferum and Chelidonium majus, which possess medicinal properties due to their latex content. Latex-bearing plants are a rich source of diverse bioactive compounds, with applications ranging from narcotics to analgesics and relaxants. With the advent of high-throughput technologies and advancements in sequencing tools, an opportunity exists to bridge the knowledge gap between the genetic information of herbs and the regulatory networks underlying their medicinal activities. This emerging discipline, known as herbgenomics, combines genomic information with other -omics studies to unravel the genetic foundations, including essential gene functions and secondary metabolite biosynthesis pathways. Furthermore, exploring the genomes of various medicinal plants enables the utilization of modern genetic manipulation techniques, such as Clustered Regularly-Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR/Cas9) or RNA interference. This technological revolution has facilitated systematic studies of model herbs, targeted breeding of medicinal plants, the establishment of gene banks and the adoption of synthetic biology approaches. In this article, we provide a comprehensive overview of the recent advances in genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic research on species within the Papaveraceae family. Additionally, it briefly explores the potential applications and key opportunities offered by the -omics perspective in the pharmaceutical industry and the agrobiotechnology field.
SynAI: an AI-driven cancer drugs synergism prediction platform
Authors: Yan Kuan , Jia Runjun , Guo Sheng
Published: November 2023

The SynAI solution is a flexible AI-driven drug synergism prediction solution aiming to discover potential therapeutic value of compounds in early stage. Rather than providing a finite choice of drug combination or cell lines, SynAI is capable of predicting potential drug synergism/antagonism using in silico compound SMILE (Simplified Molecular Input Line Entry System) sequences. The AI core of SynAI platform has been trained against cell lines and compound pairs listed by NCI (National Cancer Institute)-Almanac and DurgCombDB datasets. In total, the training data consists of over 1 200 000 in vitro synergism tests on 150 cancer cell lines of different organ origins. Each cell line is tested against over 6000 pairs of FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approved compound combinations. Given one or both candidate compound in SMILE sequence, SynAI is able to predict the potential Bliss score of the combined compound test with the designated cell line without the needs of compound synthetization or structural analysis; thus can significantly reduce the candidate screening costs during the compound development. SynAI platform demonstrates a comparable performance to existing methods but offers more flexibilities for data input.

Availability and implementation

The evaluation version of SynAI is freely accessible online at https://synai.crownbio.com.
Getting it right: Teaching undergraduate biology to undermine racial essentialism
Authors: Guevara Elaine , Gopalan Shyamalika , Massey Dashiell J , Adegboyega Mayowa , Zhou Wen , Solis Alma , Anaya Alisha D , Churchill Steven E , Feldblum Joseph , Lawler Richard R
Published: November 2023

How we teach human genetics matters for social equity. The biology curriculum appears to be a crucial locus of intervention for either reinforcing or undermining students’ racial essentialist views. The Mendelian genetic models dominating textbooks, particularly in combination with racially inflected language sometimes used when teaching about monogenic disorders, can increase middle and high school students’ racial essentialism and opposition to policies to increase equity. These findings are of particular concern given the increasing spread of racist misinformation online and the misappropriation of human genomics research by white supremacists, who take advantage of low levels of genetics literacy in the general public. Encouragingly, however, teaching updated information about the geographical distribution of human genetic variation and the complex, multifactorial basis of most human traits, reduces students’ endorsement of racial essentialism. The genetics curriculum is therefore a key tool in combating misinformation and scientific racism. Here, we describe a framework and example teaching materials for teaching students key concepts in genetics, human evolutionary history, and human phenotypic variation at the undergraduate level. This framework can be flexibly applied in biology and anthropology classes and adjusted based on time availability. Our goal is to provide undergraduate-level instructors with varying levels of expertise with a set of evidence-informed tools for teaching human genetics to combat scientific racism, including an evolving set of instructional resources, as well as learning goals and pedagogical approaches. Resources can be found at https://noto.li/YIlhZ5. Additionally, we hope to generate conversation about integrating modern genetics into the undergraduate curriculum, in light of recent findings about the risks and opportunities associated with teaching genetics.
Evaluating dynamic and predictive discrimination for recurrent event models: use of a time-dependent C-index
Authors: Wang Jian , Jiang Xinyang , Ning Jing
Published: November 2023

Interest in analyzing recurrent event data has increased over the past few decades. One essential aspect of a risk prediction model for recurrent event data is to accurately distinguish individuals with different risks of developing a recurrent event. Although the concordance index (C-index) effectively evaluates the overall discriminative ability of a regression model for recurrent event data, a local measure is also desirable to capture dynamic performance of the regression model over time. Therefore, in this study, we propose a time-dependent C-index measure for inferring the model’s discriminative ability locally. We formulated the C-index as a function of time using a flexible parametric model and constructed a concordance-based likelihood for estimation and inference. We adapted a perturbation-resampling procedure for variance estimation. Extensive simulations were conducted to investigate the proposed time-dependent C-index’s finite-sample performance and estimation procedure. We applied the time-dependent C-index to three regression models of a study of re-hospitalization in patients with colorectal cancer to evaluate the models’ discriminative capability.
Dorsal subthalamic nucleus targeting in deep brain stimulation: microelectrode recording versus 7-Tesla connectivity
Authors: Kremer Naomi I , Roberts Mark J , Potters Wouter V , Dilai José , Mathiopoulou Varvara , Rijks Niels , Drost Gea , van Laar Teus , van Dijk J Marc C , Beudel Martijn , de Bie Rob M A , van den Munckhof Pepijn , Janssen Marcus L F , Schuurman P Richard , Bot Maarten
Published: November 2023

Connectivity-derived 7-Tesla MRI segmentation and intraoperative microelectrode recording can both assist subthalamic nucleus targeting for deep brain stimulation in Parkinson’s disease. It remains unclear whether deep brain stimulation electrodes placed in the 7-Tesla MRI segmented subdivision with predominant projections to cortical motor areas (hyperdirect pathway) achieve superior motor improvement and whether microelectrode recording can accurately distinguish the motor subdivision. In 25 patients with Parkinson’s disease, deep brain stimulation electrodes were evaluated for being inside or outside the predominantly motor-connected subthalamic nucleus (motor-connected subthalamic nucleus or non-motor-connected subthalamic nucleus, respectively) based on 7-Tesla MRI connectivity segmentation. Hemi-body motor improvement (Movement Disorder Society Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale, Part III) and microelectrode recording characteristics of multi- and single-unit activities were compared between groups. Deep brain stimulation electrodes placed in the motor-connected subthalamic nucleus resulted in higher hemi-body motor improvement, compared with electrodes placed in the non-motor-connected subthalamic nucleus (80% versus 52%, P < 0.0001). Multi-unit activity was found slightly higher in the motor-connected subthalamic nucleus versus the non-motor-connected subthalamic nucleus (P < 0.001, receiver operating characteristic 0.63); single-unit activity did not differ between groups. Deep brain stimulation in the connectivity-derived 7-Tesla MRI subthalamic nucleus motor segment produced a superior clinical outcome; however, microelectrode recording did not accurately distinguish this subdivision within the subthalamic nucleus.
Combination therapy with moderate-intensity atorvastatin and ezetimibe vs. high-intensity atorvastatin monotherapy in patients treated with percutaneous coronary intervention in practice: assessing RACING generalizability
Authors: Lee Seung-Jun , Joo Jae Hong , Park Sohee , Kim Choongki , Choi Dong-Woo , Lee Yong-Joon , Hong Sung-Jin , Ahn Chul-Min , Kim Jung-Sun , Kim Byeong-Keuk , Ko Young-Guk , Choi Donghoon , Jang Yangsoo , Nam Chung-Mo , Hong Myeong-Ki
Published: November 2023

Aims

Using rosuvastatin, the RACING (randomized comparison of efficacy and safety of lipid-lowering with statin monotherapy versus statin/ezetimibe combination for high-risk cardiovascular diseases) trial showed the beneficial effects of combining moderate-intensity statin with ezetimibe compared with high-intensity statin monotherapy in patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. This study investigated whether the beneficial effects of combination lipid-lowering therapy extend to patients treated with atorvastatin, not rosuvastatin, in daily clinical practice.

Methods and results

Using stabilized inverse probability of treatment weighting, a total of 31 993 patients who were prescribed atorvastatin after drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation were identified from a nationwide cohort database: 6215 patients with atorvastatin 20 mg plus ezetimibe 10 mg (combination lipid-lowering therapy) and 25 778 patients with atorvastatin 40–80 mg monotherapy. The primary endpoint was the 3-year composite of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, coronary artery revascularization, hospitalization for heart failure treatment, or non-fatal stroke in accordance with the RACING trial design. Combination lipid-lowering therapy was associated with a lower incidence of the primary endpoint (12.9% vs. 15.1% in high-intensity atorvastatin monotherapy; hazard ratio [HR] 0.81, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.74–0.88, P < 0.001). Compared with high-intensity atorvastatin monotherapy, combination lipid-lowering therapy was also significantly associated with lower rates of statin discontinuation (10.0% vs. 8.4%, HR 0.81, 95% CI 0.73–0.90, P < 0.001) and new-onset diabetes requiring medication (8.8% vs. 7.0%, HR 0.80, 95% CI 0.70–0.92, P = 0.002).

Conclusion

In clinical practice, a combined lipid-lowering approach utilizing ezetimibe and moderate-intensity atorvastatin was correlated with favourable clinical outcomes, drug compliance, and a reduced incidence of new-onset diabetes requiring medications in patients treated with DES implantation.

Trial registration:  ClinicalTrial.gov (NCT04715594).
Octreotide improves human lymphatic fluid transport a translational trial
Authors: Holm-Weber Thomas , Skov Frederik , Mohanakumar Sheyanth , Thorup Lene , Riis Troels , Christensen Mikkel Bring , Sonne David Peick , Jensen Per Bo , Bødtkjer Donna Briggs , Hjortdal Vibeke Elisabeth
Published: November 2023

OBJECTIVES

Chylothorax is a complex condition and many different pharmacological agents have been tried as treatment. Octreotide is used off-label to treat chylothorax, but the efficacy of octreotide remains unclear. A decrease in lymph production is suggested as the mechanism. In this cross-over study, we explore the direct effect of octreotide on human lymphatic drainage.

METHODS

Pre-clinical: the effect of octreotide on force generation was assessed during acute and prolonged drug incubation on human lymphatic vessels mounted in a myograph. Clinical: in a double-blinded, randomized, cross-over trial including 16 healthy adults, we administered either octreotide or saline as an intravenous infusion for 2.5 h. Near-infrared fluorescence imaging was used to examine spontaneous lymphatic contractions and lymph pressure in peripheral lymphatic vessels and plethysmography was performed to assess the capillary filtration rate, capillary filtration coefficient and isovolumetric pressures of the lower leg.

RESULTS

Pre-clinical: human thoracic duct (n = 12) contraction rate was concentration-dependently stimulated by octreotide with a maximum effect at 10 and 100 nmol/l in the myograph chamber. Clinical: spontaneous lymphatic contractions and lymph pressure evaluated by near-infrared fluorescence did not differ between octreotide or placebo (P = 0.36). Plethysmography revealed similar capillary filtration coefficients (P = 0.057), but almost a doubling of the isovolumetric pressures (P = 0.005) during octreotide infusion.

CONCLUSIONS

Octreotide stimulated lymphatic contractility in the pre-clinical setup but did not affect the spontaneous lymphatic contractions or lymph pressure in healthy individuals. Plethysmography revealed a doubling in the isovolumetric pressure. These results suggest that octreotide increases lymphatic drainage capacity in situations with high lymphatic afterload.
Nec doctum satis: humanist translation and English recreational song
Authors: Ortiz Joseph M
Published: November 2023

Studies of the literary dimensions of English Renaissance madrigals frequently cordon off these works from non-musical forms, such as the prosodic experiments being carried out by humanist poets or the humanist practices of literary translation and imitation. Conversely, studies of humanist translation in England almost never consider recreational song, instead focusing exclusively on more ‘serious’ genres. However, several collections of recreational song published in the period present these songs as legitimate humanist works. In some cases, these collections offer the first English translations of classical and Renaissance poems. Nicholas Yonge’s Musica transalpina (1588) and Thomas Watson’s Italian madrigalls Englished (1590), for example, call attention to their translations of eminent Italian poets (Petrarch, Ariosto, Tasso) and address themselves to classically learned readers. The humanist character of such anthologies was well enough known to be satirized by Thomas Weelkes in his Ayeres and phantasticke spirites (1608), whose classical references have seldom been seriously considered. At the heart of these exchanges is an implicit debate over whether recreational song texts are an appropriate vehicle for humanist learning.
Clonal haematopoiesis of indeterminate potential predicts incident cardiac arrhythmias
Authors: Schuermans Art , Vlasschaert Caitlyn , Nauffal Victor , Cho So Mi Jemma , Uddin Md Mesbah , Nakao Tetsushi , Niroula Abhishek , Klarqvist Marcus D R , Weeks Lachelle D , Lin Amy E , Saadatagah Seyedmohammad , Lannery Kim , Wong Megan , Hornsby Whitney , Lubitz Steven A , Ballantyne Christie , Jaiswal Siddhartha , Libby Peter , Ebert Benjamin L , Bick Alexander G , Ellinor Patrick T , Natarajan Pradeep , Honigberg Michael C
Published: November 2023

Background and Aims

Clonal haematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP), the age-related expansion of blood cells with preleukemic mutations, is associated with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and heart failure. This study aimed to test the association of CHIP with new-onset arrhythmias.

Methods

UK Biobank participants without prevalent arrhythmias were included. Co-primary study outcomes were supraventricular arrhythmias, bradyarrhythmias, and ventricular arrhythmias. Secondary outcomes were cardiac arrest, atrial fibrillation, and any arrhythmia. Associations of any CHIP [variant allele fraction (VAF) ≥ 2%], large CHIP (VAF ≥10%), and gene-specific CHIP subtypes with incident arrhythmias were evaluated using multivariable-adjusted Cox regression. Associations of CHIP with myocardial interstitial fibrosis [T1 measured using cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR)] were also tested.

Results

This study included 410 702 participants [CHIP: n = 13 892 (3.4%); large CHIP: n = 9191 (2.2%)]. Any and large CHIP were associated with multi-variable-adjusted hazard ratios of 1.11 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.04–1.18; P = .001] and 1.13 (95% CI 1.05–1.22; P = .001) for supraventricular arrhythmias, 1.09 (95% CI 1.01–1.19; P = .031) and 1.13 (95% CI 1.03–1.25; P = .011) for bradyarrhythmias, and 1.16 (95% CI, 1.00–1.34; P = .049) and 1.22 (95% CI 1.03–1.45; P = .021) for ventricular arrhythmias, respectively. Associations were independent of coronary artery disease and heart failure. Associations were also heterogeneous across arrhythmia subtypes and strongest for cardiac arrest. Gene-specific analyses revealed an increased risk of arrhythmias across driver genes other than DNMT3A. Large CHIP was associated with 1.31-fold odds (95% CI 1.07–1.59; P = .009) of being in the top quintile of myocardial fibrosis by CMR.

Conclusions

CHIP may represent a novel risk factor for incident arrhythmias, indicating a potential target for modulation towards arrhythmia prevention and treatment.
It’s a trap?! Escape from an ancient, ancestral sex chromosome system and implication of Foxl2 as the putative primary sex-determining gene in a lizard (Anguimorpha; Shinisauridae)
Authors: Pinto Brendan J , Nielsen Stuart V , Sullivan Kathryn A , Behere Ashmika , Keating Shannon E , van Schingen-Khan Mona , Nguyen Truong Q , Ziegler Thomas , Pramuk Jennifer , Wilson Melissa A , Gamble Tony
Published: November 2023

Although sex determination is ubiquitous in vertebrates, mechanisms of sex determination vary from environmentally to genetically influenced. In vertebrates, genetic sex determination is typically accomplished with sex chromosomes. Groups like mammals maintain conserved sex chromosome systems, while sex chromosomes in most vertebrate clades are not conserved across similar evolutionary timescales. One group inferred to have an evolutionarily stable mode of sex determination is Anguimorpha, a clade of charismatic taxa including monitor lizards, Gila monsters, and crocodile lizards. The common ancestor of extant anguimorphs possessed a ZW system that has been retained across the clade. However, the sex chromosome system in the endangered, monotypic family of crocodile lizards (Shinisauridae) has remained elusive. Here, we analyze genomic data to demonstrate that Shinisaurus has replaced the ancestral anguimorph ZW system on LG7 with a novel ZW system on LG3. The linkage group, LG3, corresponds to chromosome 9 in chicken, and this is the first documented use of this syntenic block as a sex chromosome in amniotes. Additionally, this ~1 Mb region harbors approximately 10 genes, including a duplication of the sex-determining transcription factor, Foxl2, critical for the determination and maintenance of sexual differentiation in vertebrates, and thus a putative primary sex-determining gene for Shinisaurus.
High-sensitivity intelligent packaging films harnessing rose anthocyanins and hydrophilic silica aerogel for visual food freshness monitoring
Authors: Wu Wenjun , Zheng Luman , Yu Jiahao , Liu Liming , Goksen Gulden , Shao Ping
Published: November 2023

The enhancement of the sensitivity for anthocyanin-based indicator films in food freshness monitoring in real time is important for application. In this study, hydrophilic silica aerogel (SiO2NA) was incorporated into corn starch (CS)/chitosan (CH)/rose anthocyanins (RACNs)-encapsulated potato amylopectin nanoparticles (APNPs) composite film to increase the sensitivity for shrimp freshness detection. The microstructure of films revealed that the gas absorption capacity was improved by amorphous SiO2NA via hydrogen interactions. The pore size (1.74–5.60 times), pore volume (3.92–5.60 times), and specific surface area (2.21–2.34 times) of films increased with the addition of SiO2NA. The sensing of NH3 and pH and the reversibility of films were also reinforced. Meanwhile, the pH-responsive films containing SiO2NA changed visibly in color from purple–red to orange–gray and finally to gray, enabling effective monitoring of shrimp freshness during storage at 4 °C. Thus, anthocyanin-based indicator films with improved sensitivity by adding SiO2NA were successfully designed for monitoring shrimp freshness.
Anthocyanin treatment delays the senescence of blueberry fruit by regulating abscisic acid and anthocyanin synthesis processes
Authors: Dai Hongyu , Li Bin , Song Zichong , Tian Jinlong , Wei Baodong , Lang Xushu , Zhou Qian
Published: November 2023

Objectives

The purpose of this work was to examine the general effects of exogenous anthocyanins treatment on the synthesis of abscisic acid (ABA) and anthocyanin in blueberry fruit during postharvest storage under room temperature conditions.

Materials and Methods

Fresh blueberry fruit were treated with 3.0 g/L anthocyanins and stored at room temperature to investigate the effects of the treatment on fruit firmness and nutritional quality. The fruit firmness, ABA content, anthocyanin content and the relative expression levels of key genes were evaluated.

Results

The results demonstrated that anthocyanins treatment decreased the ABA level by inhibiting the expression of the VcNCED1 gene implicated in ABA synthesis. At the same time, the treatment increased the content of endogenous anthocyanin by promoting the expression of anthocyanin biosynthesis genes such as VcC4H, VcF3H, VcF3’5’H, VcANS, and VcAT.

Conclusions

Postharvest anthocyanins treatment promoted the synthesis of endogenous anthocyanin, inhibited the accumulation of endogenous ABA, and delayed the senescence of blueberries by inhibiting fruit softening and the accumulation of active oxygen.
Apolipoprotein E and Its Association With Cognitive Change and Modification of Treatment Effects of Vitamin D3 and Omega-3s on Cognitive Change: Results From the In-Clinic Subset of a Randomized Clinical Trial
Authors: Vyas Chirag M , Kang Jae H , Mischoulon David , Cook Nancy R , Reynolds III Charles F , Chang Grace , Mora Samia , De Vivo Immaculata , Manson JoAnn E , Okereke Olivia I
Published: November 2023

Background

Apolipoprotein E (APOE)-ε4 allele is associated with cognitive decline; however, its potential to modify effects of vitamin D3 and omega-3s supplementation on later-life cognition is unclear. Our objectives were to estimate among the in-clinic subset of a randomized trial: (1) associations between APOE-ε4 and global and domain-specific cognitive change, with exploration of potential sex and race differences; and (2) modification by APOE-ε4 of effects of vitamin D3 and omega-3s supplementation on cognitive change.

Methods

From an ancillary study of depression prevention within a completed 2 × 2 factorial trial testing vitamin D3 (2 000 IU per day), omega-3s (1 g per day), and/or placebos, we included 743 older adults with baseline in-person neuropsychiatric assessments and APOE genotyping data. The primary outcome was change in global cognition (averaging z-scores of 9 tests) over 2 years. Secondarily, episodic memory and executive function/attention z-scores were examined. General linear models of response profiles with multiplicative interaction terms were constructed; stratified results were reported.

Results

Mean age (standard deviation) was 67.1 (5.3) years; 50.6% were females; 24.9% were APOE-ε4 carriers. Compared to noncarriers, APOE-ε4 carriers had worse 2-year change in global cognition and episodic memory; differences were more apparent among females than males. There was no variation by race in APOE-ε4 associations with cognition. APOE-ε4 did not significantly modify effects of vitamin D3 or omega-3s, compared to placebo, on change in global cognition, episodic memory, or executive function/attention.

Conclusions

APOE-ε4 was associated with worse cognition but did not modify overall effects of vitamin D3 or omega-3 supplementation on cognition over 2 years.
Technological externalities and wages: new evidence from Italian NUTS 3 regions
Authors: Dughera Stefano , Quatraro Francesco , Ricci Andrea , Vittori Claudia
Published: November 2023

In this paper, we investigate the relationship between local wages and the internal structure of the regional knowledge base. The purpose is to assess if the workers’ compensations are related to the peculiarities of the knowledge base of the regions in which they supply their labor services. The test of this hypothesis is based on the assessment of the impact of related vis-à-vis unrelated knowledge variety on cross-regional wage differentials. The empirical analysis is carried out by exploiting patent data and a unique employer–employee administrative dataset. First, using OECD-PATREG data on patent filing, we build information entropy indexes proxying the variety of NUTS 3 regions’ knowledge bases, and the decomposition in the related and unrelated component. Second, we assess the impact of these indexes on wages based on administrative data from the Italian National Institute of Social Security. Our results suggest that workers employed in regions with a heterogenous knowledge structure earn positive wage premia, while related variety has a negative effect on compensation levels.
Re-Politicizing the Traumatic Body through Art: Guillermo Núñez, Ariel Dorfman and the Political Transition in Chile
Authors: Çolak Erdem
Published: November 2023

This article aims to explore the potential of art to create alternatives to hegemonic narratives in post-traumatic societies and the role of art in the re-politicization of both the artist and the audience. It discusses the role of art in constructing the ethics and memory of Never Again through the visual artworks of Guillermo Núñez (1930) and Ariel Dorfman’s (1942) play Death and the Maiden (1990). Such artistic productions enable the re-participation of the traumatized body in political life not only through the represented story but also through the active reflection and agency of the art producer and the viewer. In this way, they contribute to making visible the passive remembering that is often underestimated in the battle of memories, and to transforming abstract and generalizing facing practices in transitional periods into individual and specific ‘face-ings.’
A unified and constructive framework for the universality of neural networks
Authors: Bui-Thanh Tan
Published: November 2023

One of the reasons why many neural networks are capable of replicating complicated tasks or functions is their universal approximation property. Though the past few decades have seen tremendous advances in theories of neural networks, a single constructive and elementary framework for neural network universality remains unavailable. This paper is an effort to provide a unified and constructive framework for the universality of a large class of activation functions including most of the existing ones. At the heart of the framework is the concept of neural network approximate identity (nAI). The main result is as follows: any nAI activation function is universal in the space of continuous functions on compacta. It turns out that most of the existing activation functions are nAI, and thus universal. The framework induces several advantages over the contemporary counterparts. First, it is constructive with elementary means from functional analysis, probability theory, and numerical analysis. Second, it is one of the first unified and constructive attempts that is valid for most of the existing activation functions. Third, it provides new proofs for most activation functions. Fourth, for a given activation and error tolerance, the framework provides precisely the architecture of the corresponding one-hidden neural network with a predetermined number of neurons and the values of weights/biases. Fifth, the framework allows us to abstractly present the first universal approximation with a favorable non-asymptotic rate. Sixth, our framework also provides insights into the developments, and hence providing constructive derivations, of some of the existing approaches.
Plant Science Knowledge Graph Corpus: a gold standard entity and relation corpus for the molecular plant sciences
Authors: Lotreck Serena , Segura Abá Kenia , Lehti-Shiu Melissa D , Seeger Abigail , Brown Brianna N I , Ranaweera Thilanka , Schumacher Ally , Ghassemi Mohammad , Shiu Shin-Han
Published: November 2023

Natural language processing (NLP) techniques can enhance our ability to interpret plant science literature. Many state-of-the-art algorithms for NLP tasks require high-quality labelled data in the target domain, in which entities like genes and proteins, as well as the relationships between entities, are labelled according to a set of annotation guidelines. While there exist such datasets for other domains, these resources need development in the plant sciences. Here, we present the Plant ScIenCe KnowLedgE Graph (PICKLE) corpus, a collection of 250 plant science abstracts annotated with entities and relations, along with its annotation guidelines. The annotation guidelines were refined by iterative rounds of overlapping annotations, in which inter-annotator agreement was leveraged to improve the guidelines. To demonstrate PICKLE’s utility, we evaluated the performance of pretrained models from other domains and trained a new, PICKLE-based model for entity and relation extraction (RE). The PICKLE-trained models exhibit the second-highest in-domain entity performance of all models evaluated, as well as a RE performance that is on par with other models. Additionally, we found that computer science-domain models outperformed models trained on a biomedical corpus (GENIA) in entity extraction, which was unexpected given the intuition that biomedical literature is more similar to PICKLE than computer science. Upon further exploration, we established that the inclusion of new types on which the models were not trained substantially impacts performance. The PICKLE corpus is, therefore, an important contribution to training resources for entity and RE in the plant sciences.
Association between patient choice of provider and patient-reported experience
Authors: Kim Do Hee , Kim Bomgyeol , Jang Suk-Yong , Lee Sang Gyu , Kim Tae Hyun
Published: November 2023

Health providers are striving to create a more positive, patient-centred experience. However, existing scholarly research about the association between determinants of patient choice of provider and patient-reported experience remains insufficient to effectively promote patient-centredness in healthcare systems. This study used a sample from the nationally representative 2020 Healthcare Experience Survey. Among the respondents (n = 12 133), 6809 who used outpatient services were selected for analysis. The variable of interest was the determinant of the patient choice of provider, and the dependent variables were patient-reported experiences (e.g. general satisfaction, experience with doctors, and experience with health providers and nurses). Data were analyzed using a multivariable logistic regression model by correcting for covariates. General satisfaction was positively associated with providers’ expertise factors and public image factors [providers’ expertise factors: odds ratio (OR), 2.96; 95% confidence interval (CI), 2.44–3.59; public image factors: OR, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.02–1.55] satisfied more general satisfaction. Similar results were found for experience with doctors (providers’ expertise factors: OR, 4.50; 95% CI, 2.77–7.32; other factors: OR, 0.37; 95% CI, 0.16–0.81) and experience with health providers and nurses (providers’ expertise factors: OR, 2.66; 95% CI, 1.99–3.57; image factors: OR, 1.53; 95% CI, 1.09–2.14). Our study’s findings suggest that to improve patient-reported experience, health providers must better manage providers’ expertise factors and public image factors. Health providers can improve patient-reported experience by increasing communication skills and proper information about the nature is important. Moreover, health providers must manage public image factors comprehensively and continuously by maintaining good quality of care and to brand patients.
Are adverse events related to the completeness of clinical records? Results from a retrospective records review using the Global Trigger Tool
Authors: Scarpis Enrico , Cautero Peter , Tullio Annarita , Mellace Flavio , Farneti Federico , Londero Carla , Cocconi Roberto , Brunelli Laura
Published: November 2023

Clinical record (CR) is a tool for recording details about the patient and the most commonly used source of information for detecting adverse events (AEs). Its completeness is an indicator of the quality of care provided and may provide clues for improving professional practice. The primary aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of AEs. The secondary aims were to determine the completeness of CRs and to examine the relationship between the two variables. We retrospectively reviewed randomly selected CRs of patients discharged from the Academic Hospital of Udine (Italy) in the departments of general surgery, internal medicine, and obstetrics between July and September 2020. Evaluation was performed using the Global Trigger Tool and a checklist to evaluate the completeness of CRs. The relationship between the occurrence of AEs and the completeness of CRs was analyzed using nonparametric tests. A binomial logistic regression analysis was also performed. We reviewed 291 CRs and identified 368 triggers and 56 AEs. Among them, 16.2% of hospitalizations were affected by at least one AE, with a higher percentage in general surgery. The most common AEs were surgical injuries (42.6%; 24) and care related (26.8%; 15). A significant positive correlation was found between the length of hospital stay and the number of AEs. The average completeness of CRs was 72.9% and was lower in general surgery. The decrease in CR completeness correlated with the increase in the total number of AEs (R = −0.14; P = .017), although this was not confirmed by regression analysis by individual departments. Our results seem to suggest that completeness of CRs may benefit patient safety, so ongoing education and involvement of health professionals are needed to maintain professional adherence to CRs.
“To Seek a Nobler Inheritance”: The Namasudra-Baptist Exchange of Early Twentieth-Century Bengal
Authors: Sen Dwaipayan
Published: November 2023

This article presents a study of the dynamics that evolved between Dalits and Baptist missionaries in eastern India during the early years of the twentieth century. Drawing on hitherto unexamined Baptist publications, it attempts to discern what was at stake in their engagements through a close analysis of the exchanges that ensued between the two parties that, despite their extended unfolding, nonetheless resulted in few conversions. Proceeding from a consideration of nineteenth-century precedents, the article focuses on the period of their interactions that coincided with the Swadeshi movement in Bengal. It seeks to illustrate not only the considerable density of the collaborations they pursued but also to argue that their relationships contributed to the formation of a distinctive strand of liberalism. In so doing, the article invites reconsideration of the idea that subaltern consciousness was resistant to Western, and specifically missionary, influence.
Labour Mobility and Innovation in Africa
Authors: Mbaye Linguère Mously , Okara Assi , Tani Massimiliano
Published: November 2023

We investigate whether short-term mobility differentially affects innovation in product or process through the help of a theoretical model, and carry out an empirical analysis with a focus on African countries using firm-level data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey. We find that labour mobility positively affects innovation, especially for products and services, supporting its use as an effective mechanism to diffuse productive knowledge and foster innovation. We also find that short-term mobility benefits low-technology sectors the most, and that mobility from high-income countries may be an effective way of leveraging innovation in high-technology sectors in Africa. The results are robust to a variety of approaches controlling for endogeneity, and support the adoption of labour mobility nationally and across Africa to encourage labour mobility to promote domestic innovation and productivity.
European Health Data & Evidence Network—learnings from building out a standardized international health data network
Authors: Voss Erica A , Blacketer Clair , van Sandijk Sebastiaan , Moinat Maxim , Kallfelz Michael , van Speybroeck Michel , Prieto-Alhambra Daniel , Schuemie Martijn J , Rijnbeek Peter R
Published: November 2023

Objective

Health data standardized to a common data model (CDM) simplifies and facilitates research. This study examines the factors that make standardizing observational health data to the Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership (OMOP) CDM successful.

Materials and methods

Twenty-five data partners (DPs) from 11 countries received funding from the European Health Data Evidence Network (EHDEN) to standardize their data. Three surveys, DataQualityDashboard results, and statistics from the conversion process were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. Our measures of success were the total number of days to transform source data into the OMOP CDM and participation in network research.

Results

The health data converted to CDM represented more than 133 million patients. 100%, 88%, and 84% of DPs took Surveys 1, 2, and 3. The median duration of the 6 key extract, transform, and load (ETL) processes ranged from 4 to 115 days. Of the 25 DPs, 21 DPs were considered applicable for analysis of which 52% standardized their data on time, and 48% participated in an international collaborative study.

Discussion

This study shows that the consistent workflow used by EHDEN proves appropriate to support the successful standardization of observational data across Europe. Over the 25 successful transformations, we confirmed that getting the right people for the ETL is critical and vocabulary mapping requires specific expertise and support of tools. Additionally, we learned that teams that proactively prepared for data governance issues were able to avoid considerable delays improving their ability to finish on time.

Conclusion

This study provides guidance for future DPs to standardize to the OMOP CDM and participate in distributed networks. We demonstrate that the Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics community must continue to evaluate and provide guidance and support for what ultimately develops the backbone of how community members generate evidence.
Bitter–Pungent Flavor Identification Based on Ingredient Information Similarity of Chinese Herbal Medicines
Authors: Wei Guohui , Qiu Min , Li Chune , Wang Xiaoyan , Fu Xianjun
Published: November 2023

Background

The flavor theory of Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) is one of the core theories of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Accurate flavor identification of CHMs is essential to guide the clinical application of CHMs.

Objective

To develop a new method for flavor identification of CHMs according to the ingredient information for CHMs.

Methods

It was found that the chemical basis of medicinal flavors was CHM ingredients. We developed a bitter–pungent flavor identification scheme to build a relationship between medicinal flavors and CHM ingredients. We firstly proposed a scientific hypothesis that “CHMs with similar flavors should have a similar chemical basis”. To test this scientific hypothesis, we then explored an intelligent algorithm for bitter-pungent flavor identification of CHMs based on the information similarity of CHM ingredients. GC was used to separate the chemical ingredients of CHMs and analyze the ingredient information of CHMs. A distance metric learning algorithm was built to measure the similarity of GC chemical fingerprints. A bitter-pungent flavor identification scheme (BPFI) was proposed to predict the bitter–pungent flavor of CHMs. Finally, a number of experiments were performed to evaluate the identification performance of our scheme.

Results

Compared to classical algorithms, our proposed BPFI scheme has better flavor prediction performance. The total identification accuracy of our BPFI scheme reached 0.843. The area under ROC (receiver operating characteristic curve) curve (AUC) was 0.899.

Conclusion

The experimental results confirmed our inference that the chemical basis of CHM flavors was CHM ingredients, and implied that CHMs with similar flavors had similar composition. The BPFI model proved to be effective and feasible.

Highlights

Verification hypothesis: CHMs with similar flavors should have similar chemical basis.
Analysis of survivorship following periacetabular osteotomy for hip dysplasia based on three-dimensional acetabular coverage
Authors: Tachibana Tetsuya , Koga Hideyuki , Katagiri Hiroki , Ogawa Takahisa , Takada Ryohei , Miyatake Kazumasa , Jinno Tetsuya
Published: November 2023

Periacetabular osteotomy (PAO) is an established procedure for correcting acetabular coverage and preventing osteoarthritis progression in hip dysplasia. However, it is unclear how acetabular coverage changes three-dimensionally after PAO and how it affects survival. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the change in three-dimensional acetabular coverage preoperatively and postoperatively and identify demographic, clinical and radiographic factors associated with conversion to total hip arthroplasty (THA) and radiographic osteoarthritis progression after PAO. We retrospectively reviewed 46 consecutive patients (66 hips) who underwent PAO, using preoperative and postoperative radiographs and pelvic computed tomography (CT). Three-dimensional acetabular coverage based on CT data was investigated. Kaplan–Meier survival analysis was performed, and hazard ratios were calculated using univariate Cox regression models to identify the risk factors associated with conversion to THA and radiographic osteoarthritis progression after PAO as the endpoints. Radiographic osteoarthritis progression was defined as a minimum joint space of <2.0 mm. The mean follow-up was 10.7 years. Post-PAO, acetabular coverage gradually increased from the anterosuperior to the superior to the posterosuperior direction. The survival rate after PAO was 98.0% at 10 years. Less postoperative superior acetabular coverage, with a hazard ratio of 0.93, was significantly associated with conversion to THA and radiographic osteoarthritis progression after PAO (P = 0.03). In this study, poor superior acetabular coverage after PAO was a significant risk factor for conversion to THA and radiographic progression of osteoarthritis. Therefore, surgeons should attempt to prioritize the correction of the superior acetabular coverage when performing PAO.