bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Investigation of miR-133a, miR-637 and miR-944 genes expression and their relationship with PI3K/AKT signaling in women with breast cancer
Authors: Barartabar Zeinab , Moini Nazi , Abbasalipourkabir Roghayeh , Mesbah-Namin Seyed Alireza , Ziamajidi Nasrin
Published: October 2022

Background: MicroRNA (miRNA) is a regulatory molecule capable of positively or negatively regulating signaling pathways and furthermore assumes a part tumorigenesis and various aspects of cancer. The purpose of this study is to investigate the expression level of miR-133a, miR-637 and miR-944 genes in serum and tumor tissue and their relationship with the expression level of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K (and protein kinase-B (AKT) genes and proteins and its clinical significance in breast cancer.
Methods: The expression of miR-133a, miR-637, miR-944, PI3K and AKT genes in tumor tissues and tumor margins tissues of 40 patients with breast cancer, as well as the serum levels of miR-133a, miR-637 and miR-944 in these patients and 40 healthy groups were examined by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). PI3K and AKT proteins expression in tumor tissue and tumor margins tissues were detected by immunohistochemistry (IHC).
Results: The expression levels of miR-133a and miR-637 in the tumor tissue and serum of patients were lower than the tumor margin tissue and serum of the healthy group, respectively. Also, the expression level of miR-944 in the tumor tissue was lower than in the tumor margin tissue, but its expression increased in the serum of cancer patients compared to the healthy group. The expression of miR-637 was correlated with tumor location, tumor size, and Her2 receptors, as well as the expression of miR-944 with tumor location and family history. PI3K and AKT mRNA and protein levels were higher in tumor tissues compared to tumor margin tissue (p<0.05).
Conclusion: The results of our study show that miR-637 has a better diagnostic value in breast cancer than miR-133a and miR-944.
A novel MTP and MCMR approach for predicting early lung cancer using Longitudinal CT imaging
Authors: Xiao Ning , Han Jiahao , Qiang Yan , Lian Jianhong
Published: October 2022

The prediction of pulmonary nodules being canceration is of vital importance to the diagnosis and treatment of early lung adenocar-cinoma. However, most traditional research paradigms only focus on image data at a single point in time, which makes it easy to ignore the correlation of lung computer tomography (CT) images at multiple points in time. Based on the the correlation between longitudinal images and medical characteristics of patients with pulmonary nodules, a novel multimodal feature analysis framework is proposed in this paper. Firstly, we collect 925 patients with pulmonary nodules from cooperative hospitals, utilize a Convolutional Long Short Term Memory (ConvLSTM) to extract the deep features of pulmonary nod-ules at dierent time points, and radiomics tool kits to extract their radiomics features. After that, the deep features, radiomics features, and risk factor are fused by Multimodal Trilinear Pooling (MTP), and the optimal feature is obtained using the Maximum Correlation and Minimum Redundancy (MCMR) selection. In the end, a total of 260-dimensional features were selected. The validity of the extracted features was veried by the leave-one-out cross-validation method on the data set. The experiment shows that the accuracy of nodule cancera-tion prediction reached 89.15%, which proved the eectiveness of the method proposed in this study. The multimodal nodule feature analysis framework can provide reference values for nodule canceration prediction.
Gestational diabetes mellitus changes the DNA methylation profile in cord blood and leads to neonatal immune dysregulation
Authors: Wang Jiawei , Chen Qiuling , Zhang Yunfan , Yan Feng , Wu Le , Huang Shulan , Hu Xiang , You Changqiao , He Jun
Published: October 2022

Background
Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) affects the immune balance of pregnant women and their offspring. However, most studies on cord blood have not yielded satisfactory results. Most studies in the field of epigenetics have problems such as small data size, unqualified sampling, cannot be repeated verification, the results are not significant, and usually, there is no multi-omics analysis. Therefore, it is difficult to systematically reveal the critical factors of epigenetic changes in GDM on the immune function of the offspring of GDM pregnant women.
Results
We randomly recruited 30 pregnant women, including 20 pregnant women with GDM (experimental group) and 10 pregnant women without GDM (control group). 9327 genes in hyper-methylated DMPs, 10908 genes in hypo-methylated DMPs, 42 genes in hyper-methylated DMRs, and 209 genes in hypo-methylated DMRs were identified. Through integration analysis with multiple datasets in the GEO public database, it was found that the genes obtained by DMPs were more accurate than those obtained by DMRs. Through data analysis, we got two groups of gene sets, and functional analysis found that they were related to human immune function. After immune infiltration analysis, it was found that CD4T cells were significantly reduced in the cord blood of pregnant GDM women. To further verify the effect of GDM on cord blood immune function, the integration analysis of the two gene sets identified HIST1H1B and PRTN3 genes. Among them, the cg24587427 and cg00700007 sites of the HIST1H1B gene were significantly correlated with the amount of CD4T cells in the cord blood.
Conclusions
In this study, we broke the previous lack of practical results from cord blood in terms of epigenetics and confirmed that the changes in the intrauterine environment of pregnant women with GDM affect the immune function of newborns.
Toward Fact-aware Abstractive Summarization Method Using Joint Learning
Authors: Mao Xingjing , Chen Li , Ju Shenggen , Wan Xia , Liu Yuezhong
Published: October 2022

Abstractive summarization obtains text semantic embedding based on the content of the source corpus to generate summaries, helping users quickly extract valid information from massive amounts of text data. The existing model suffers from poor ability to perceive the correctness of sentence formulation, resulting in the generation of summaries with distorted factual content and representations that do not match the information in the original text, i.e. factual inconsistencies. To address this issue, in this paper, the textual implication task is learned jointly with the summary task, starting from the original text and guided by template sentences. The knowledge of implicit reasoning is incorporated into the encoder model of the summary through parameter sharing to improve the model's ability to perceive facts. First, to enhance the factual consistency of the generated content, this paper uses the extractive summary algorithm Lead-3 to extract partial sentences from the original text as template sentences. Second, we construct a weakly supervised textual implication discriminator dataset on the CNN/Daily Mail. By sharing the same BERT-based text encoder, the text-implication task is jointly trained with the text-summarization task to make the encoder text-implication aware. Finally, experiments were conducted on CNN/Daily Mail to verify the accuracy and factual consistency of the generated summaries by using ROUGE metrics and BERTScore metrics. The results demonstrate that the fact-aware abstractive summarization model proposed in this paper can generate high-quality and factually consistent summaries.
WITHDRAWN: Learning and Semi-automatic Intention Labeling for Classification Models: ACOVID-19 Study for Chatbots
Authors: Júnior Valmir Oliveira dos Santos , de Oliveira Marcos Antonio , Cruz Lívia Almada , Silva Ticiana L. Coelho da
Published: October 2022

It is increasingly common to use chatbots as an interface to services. Making this experience more humanized requires the chatbot to understand natural language and express itself using it. One of the main components of a chatbot is Natural Language Understanding (NLU) model, which is responsible for interpreting the text and extracting the intent and entities present in that text. It's possible to focus only on one of these tasks of NLU, such as Intent classification. To train an NLU intent classification model, it's generally necessary to use a considerable amount of annotated data, where each sentence of the dataset receives a label indicating an intent.Performing manually labeling data is an arduous and impracticable process depending on the data volume. Thus, an unsupervised machine learning technique, such as data clustering, could be applied to find patterns in the data and label them. For this task, it is essential to have an effective vector embedding representation of texts that depicts the semantic information and helps the machine understand the context, intent, and other nuances of the entire text. In this paper, we perform an extensive evaluation of different text embedding models for clustering and labeling, we also apply some operations to improve the quality of the dataset, such as removing sentences establishing different strategies for distance thresholds in terms of (cosine similarity) for the clusters' centroids. Then we trained some Intent Classification Models with two different architectures, one built with the Rasa framework and the other with a Neural Network (NN) using the text of attendance from the Coronavirus Platform Service of Ceará, Brazil. We also manually annotated a dataset to be used as validation data. We found that semi-automatic labeling through clustering and visual inspection added some biases to the intent classification models. However, we still achieved competitive results in terms of accuracy for the trained models.
A step forward in introducing registered reports to the vision science community
Authors: Vera Jesus , Barrett Brendan T , Jimenez Raimundo , Redondo Beatriz
Published: October 2022

Several questionable research practices have been detected by the scientific community, with some of them being associated with the actual format of scientific publication. The field of ophthalmology, optometry and vision sciences is not exempt of this problematic. This article has been written to describe the Registered Reports format of scientific publication, which in our opinion, could help to minimize questionable research practices in our field of knowledge. Complementarily, we have collected the opinion of some editors in-chief from journals in the JCR category of Ophthalmology about the presence of questionable research practices and the potential benefits of implementing the Registered Reports format. Overall, most responders (87.5%) agreed that publication bias, cherry picking, p-hacking and HARKing are a considerable problem in the field of ophthalmology, optometry and vision sciences, and it could be (partially) solved by the adoption of the Registered Reports format. Nevertheless, most journals did not have plans to include this publication format in the near future. In our opinion, and as demonstrated in other fields, the adoption of the Registered Reports format may be an effective alternative to minimize questionable research practices and enhance the quality and rigor of the scientific work in the field of ophthalmology, optometry and vision sciences.
Effects of temporary raised water levels on grassland soil characteristics for a soil foraging wader in nature oriented farmland
Authors: oosterveld ernst , mettrop ivan , sikkema marten
Published: October 2022

Farmland birds are declining across Europe and especially grassland breeding waders. A potentially most effective conservation measure of nature oriented agriculture is increasing wet conditions, to counter the growing risk of food scarcity for waders because of desiccation of the topsoil. We tested the effects of locally and temporary raised water levels during the breeding season, distinguishing between three high water types according to current agri-environmental schemes in nature oriented farmland. We measured soil characteristics that determine foraging conditions of waders in three transects at 3, 10 and 50 m from experimental high water ditches and along low water reference ditches. Additionally, foraging behaviour of Black-tailed Godwits was measured along the ditches within reach of the three transects. We found that raising of water levels, regardless of high water type, increased groundwater level by on average 20 cm, increased soil moisture content by 25% and reduced soil penetration resistance by 27% in the adjacent fields. The effect on reduction of the penetration resistance was most pronounced later in the spring (May, June). This effect was greatest directly along the ditches, but reached at least 50 m from the high water ditch into the adjacent field. Raised water levels generally led to increased rates and a higher percentage of succesful probings by foraging adult Black-tailed Godwits. The godwits had a higher intake rate upon area-wide high water levels and foot drains than at single high water ditches. Only at the high water locations soil penetration resistance was low enough for Black-tailed Godwits to forage successfully.
Effect of Clearance on the Soil Fungi Community in Chaco Dry Forest
Authors: Merlos Cristina S , Silvestro Luciana B , Pelizza Sebastián A , Moreno María Virginia
Published: October 2022

Purpose
The Seasonally dry forests of South America are known as the Gran Chaco are areas vulnerable in the world, the highest percentage of protected areas is found in South America. Anthropogenic processes as clearing of native forests makes ecosystems more fragile to changes, due to agricultural frontier expansion. We purpose study as the soil fungal community has been modified due to land use changes caused by clearing and agricultural activities.
Methods
We observed the response of the soil fungal community due to anthropogenic actions through to use phenotypic and genotypic tools to detecting changes in the diversity, at three study sites under different land uses in Chaco dry forest in Argentina. Soil samples were obtained from relicts of native forests of Schinopsis spp., cleared soils that are used later for agricultural activities and soil of soybean monoculture.
Results
The results provided a signal of consequences of human activity on soil fungal communities. This was visualized by the grouping of different soils by species fungi abundance, the presence of detector species in both sampling years and in the ordering of sampling sites through analysis with traditional and molecular tools such as PCR-DGGE. Soil organic carbon and phosphorous parameters were significantly modified by the interactions of sampling sites and years.
Conclusion
The present study emphasizes the different land use change between fungal communities of native soils and soils for agricultural purposes, being replaced by others with different soil roles.
Evaluation of the efficacy and safety of golimumab in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: A descriptive study
Authors: Kassem Hasan , Qudsi Maysoun , Al-Manasfi Anas
Published: October 2022

Background:
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease affecting the small joints in particular, leading to deformities which affects the quality of patient's life(1,2),so the treatment" goal is to achieve a state of clinical remission or, at least, low disease activity to prevent the progression of joint damage(3,4)
Golimumab is an anti-TNF-alpha monoclonal antibody shows clinical efficacy in RA patients alone as a therapy, or with MTX, or after MTX failure, or after failure of at least one anti-TNF-alpha (8,10) and inhibition of the radiological progression of joint damage (11).
Design:
A Cross-Sectional Study conducted in Syria.
Patients and methods:
Subcutaneous golimumab 50mg once a month during 6 months was injected to Rheumatoid arthritis patients. The primary endpoint was the percentage of individuals with a good or moderate EULAR DAS28-ESR response after 6 months of treatment.
Results:
A total of 42 patients were included. Of these, 78.1% had very active disease (DAS28-ESR >5.4). 81.2% were taking methotrexate, 39.0% other DMARDs in monotherapy or combined, and 64.9% received corticosteroids (7, 5-15 mg/day).
After 6 months, 82.7% of the patients showed a good or moderate EULAR response, 41.4% had low disease activity, and 29.1% were in remission. The percentage of responders one month after the first dose was 70.0%. The efficacy was similar in patients treated with methotrexate or other DMARDs, with different methotrexate doses, with or without corticosteroids, or in subjects who had failed one or more DMARDs. The response to golimumab was observed from the first dose. Golimumab was well tolerated and its safety profile was consistent with the findings of previous studies. Serious adverse events were reported in 3 patients (7.1%).
Conclusion:
RA patients treated with subcutaneous golimumab 50mg once a month to different DMARDs had achieved a moderate or good response after 6 months in 82.2% of the cases. The response was observed early, from the start of the second month, after a single dose of golimumab.
The role of functional therapy in temporomandibular joint pain dysfunction: pathophysiological and clinical aspects
Authors: Kerimkhanov Kamil’ A. , Bobyntsev Igor I. , Iordanishvili Andrey K.
Published: October 2022

Nowadays, each second patient seeking dental care suffers from some pathology of the temporomandibular joint. Most often patients are diagnosed with temporomandibular joint pain dysfunction syndrome, which is poorly treatable and often relapses. Objective: to evaluate changes in the clinical course of TMJ pain dysfunction syndrome when using myogymnastics in the complex rehabilitation of patients suffering from this pathology. Materials and methods. We performed dynamic observation of 62 young patients who suffered from painful dysfunction of the temporomandibular joint, revealed during the preparation of patients for dental prosthetics. Group 1 included 31 people who were treated with the conventional complex treatment to relieve painful dysfunction. Group 2 included 31 people, for the treatment of which the same standard complex of therapeutic and prophylactic measures with the additional application of masticatory muscles myogymnastics was applied. To objectivize the efficiency of using myogymnastics we used the method of severity degree evaluation as well as semi-quantitative method of efficiency evaluation of the treatment of the pathology in question. Results. It was found out that application of masticatory muscles myogymnastics in the complex treatment of painful dysfunction of the temporomandibular joint allows increasing the efficiency of dental rehabilitation of such patients by 6,9% and decreasing the number of patients with recurrence of the disease by 16,1% in the period up to 2 years. Conclusion. As a pathogenetic functional method of treatment of painful temporomandibular joint dysfunction, application of masticatory muscle myogymnastics to patients allowed to develop mutually consistent reflexes of the masticatory muscles, causing movements of the mouth opening (lowering the lower jaw) without its deviation and advancement. It is advisable to include the technique of masticatory muscle myogymnastics for painful TMJ dysfunction in the clinical guidelines.
Development of methods for determining the content of residual organic solvents in a new pharmaceutical substance of 3-(1H-benzimidazol-2-yl)-1,2,2-trimethylcyclopentane-carboxylic acid
Authors: Metelev Anton V. , Kazakova Valentina S. , Fadeeva Dariya A. , Buzov Andrey A. , Chuev Vladimir P.
Published: October 2022

Objective. Organic solvents, which often have toxic and/or carcinogenic properties, are used at all stages of the production of pharmaceutical substances - synthesis, isolation and purification - and are not completely removed after the completion of the technological process. The presence of even extremely small amounts of such compounds in medicines can be dangerous for patients. The article presents the results of the development of a method for determining the content of residual organic solvents (ROS) - ethanol, toluene and dimethylformamide - in a new active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) 3-(1H-benzimidazol-2-yl)-1,2,2-trimethylcyclopentane-carboxylic acid by gas chromatography. Materials and methods. Static vapor phase analysis was used to identify and to quantify residual organic solvents. It was determined by the internal standard method using a Shimadzu GC-2014ATF/SPL gas chromatograph with an AOC-6000Plus autosampler; PID detection. Isobutyl alcohol was used as an internal standard. Results. The developed method was used to determine the content of residual organic solvents in the validation series of the new pharmaceutical substance 3-(1H-benzimidazol-2-yl)-1,2,2-trimethylcyclopentane-carboxylic acid. The method was validated in accordance with the requirements of the State Pharmacopoeia of the Russian Federation. Conclusion. The developed method is suitable for further use in quality control in the production of 3-(1H-benzimidazol-2-yl)-1,2,2-trimethylcyclopentane-carboxylic acid.
Novel DNA Promoter Hypermethylation in Nasal Epithelium of Asthma
Authors: Zeng Zhimin , Liang Yuxia , Xu Changyi , Tan Weiping , Du Lijuan , Liu Yangli , Chen Fengjia , Guo Yubiao
Published: October 2022

Background:

Abnormal epigenetic alterations influenced by external factors and affecting DNA expression contribute to the development of asthma. However, the role of nasal epithelium in airway inflammation remains unknown.

Objective:

The objective of this study is to identify novel DNA promoter hypermethylation, which completely suppresses mRNA expression in nasal epithelial of asthma.

Methods:

Microarray datasets were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus [GEO] database. Gene expression and DNA promoter methylation sites in key correlated modules between asthma and normal were identified by weighted gene co-expression network analysis [WGCNA]. Gene Ontology and KEGG were conducted to analyse the function of genes. Further validation was performed in human BEAS-2B cells challenged by IL-4 or IL-13.

Results:

Lightcyan, lightgreen, midnightblue, cyan and tan modules in mRNA expression dataset showed a close relationship with asthma, in which genes were enriched in TNF, IL-17, ErbB, MAPK and Estrogen signalling pathways. Blue and turquoise modules in methylation profiling dataset were associated with asthma. 49 lowly expressed genes were identified to be correlated with aberrant DNA hypermethylation of promoters. Among these genes, the mRNA levels of BCL10, GADD45B, LSR and SQSTM1 were downregulated in BEAS-2B cells challenged with IL-4 or IL-13.

Conclusion:

Four potential genes in nasal epithelium, by hypermethylating their own DNA promoter, might mediate the inflammatory response in the pathogenesis of asthma. Analyzing epigenomic data by integrated bioinformatics helps to understand the role of DNA methylation in asthma, with the goal of providing new perspectives for diagnosis and therapy.
Benzotriazole Substituted 2-Phenylquinazolines as Anticancer Agents:
Synthesis, Screening, Antiproliferative and Tubulin Polymerization Inhibition
Activity
Authors: Prasad Amit , Kumar Vinod , Dwivedi Ashish Ranjan , Rawat Suraj Singh , Kumar Vijay , Kumar Naveen , Kumar Vinay , Yadav Ravi Prakash , Baranwal Somesh
Published: October 2022

Aims:

Development of anticancer agents targeting tubulin protein.

Background:

Tubulin protein is being explored as an important target for anticancer drug
development. Ligands binding to the colchicine binding site of the tubulin protein act as tubulin
polymerization inhibitors and arrest the cell cycle in the G2/M phase.

Objective:

Synthesis and screening of benzotriazole-substituted 2-phenyl quinazolines as potential
anticancer agents.

Methods:

A series of benzotriazole-substituted quinazoline derivatives have been synthesized and
evaluated against human MCF-7 (breast), HeLa (cervical) and HT-29 (colon) cancer cell lines using
standard MTT assays.

Result:

ARV-2 with IC50 values of 3.16 μM, 5.31 μM, 10.6 μM against MCF-7, HELA and HT29 cell
lines, respectively displayed the most potent antiproliferative activities in the series while all the
compounds were found non-toxic against HEK293 (normal cells). In the mechanistic studies involving
cell cycle analysis, apoptosis assay and JC-1 studies, ARV-2 and ARV-3 were found to induce
mitochondria-mediated apoptosis.

Conclusion:

The benzotriazole-substituted 2-phenyl quinazolines have the potential to be developed as
potent anticancer agents.
Sex Differences in Serum Prolactin Levels in Children and Adolescents on
Antipsychotics: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Authors: Ilzarbe Lidia , Ilzarbe Daniel , Gutiérrez-Arango Felipe , Baeza Inmaculada
Published: October 2022

Background:

Serum prolactin levels are influenced by sex, physical development and medications
among other factors. Antipsychotics usually increase serum prolactin levels in both adults and
younger patients, but no study has reviewed the potential association between sex and vulnerability for
developing hyperprolactinemia among children and adolescents.

Objective:

Systematic review and meta-analysis of serum prolactin levels in children and adolescents
on antipsychotic treatment for any psychiatric diagnosis to determine the effect of sex.

Methods:

A systematic search was performed in MEDLINE/PubMed/Web of Science and Cochrane
databases for randomized controlled trials of antipsychotics in children and adolescents reporting serum
prolactin levels by sex.

Results:

Of 1278 identified records, seven studies were included, comparing different single antipsychotics
to placebo (risperidone N=4; lurasidone N=1; olanzapine N=1; queriapine N=1). Both male
and female children and adolescents on antipsychotics presented a significant increase in prolactin levels
relative to subjects receiving a placebo. (Male: 16.53 with 95% CI: 6.15-26.92; Female: 26.97 with
95% CI: 9.18-44.75). The four studies using risperidone had similar findings (Male: 26.49 with 95%
CI: 17.55-35.43; Female: 37.72 with 95% CI: 9.41-66.03). In the direct comparison between sexes,
females showed greater increases in prolactin, but the differences were not statistically significant.

Conclusion:

Serum prolactin levels are increased in children and adolescents of both sexes on antipsychotics,
with females showing a slightly greater increase than males. Further research is needed to
clarify the influence of sex and pubertal status on prolactin levels in children and adolescents taking
antipsychotics.
Identification of a New HIV-1 Circulating Recombinant Form
CRF112_01B Strain in Baoding City, Hebei Province, China
Authors: Shi Penghui , Wang Hao , Zhao Xuanhe , Su Miaomiao , Meng Juan , Fan Weiguang
Published: October 2022

Background:

A large number of HIV-1 recombinants that originated from CRF01_AE
and B strains are constantly emerging in men who have sex with men populations in China and deserve
more attention and further monitoring.

Objective:

To analyze the near-full-length genome structure and recombination characteristics of a
new HIV-1 strain (BD226AJ) detected in Baoding City and determine its subtype.

Case Representation:

Viral RNA was extracted from a blood sample collected from an infected
individual and reverse transcribed to cDNA. Two overlapping segments of the HIV-1 genome were
amplified using a near-endpoint dilution method and sequenced. Recombinant breakpoints were
determined using RIP, jpHMM, and SimPlot 3.5.1 software. MEGA v6.0 was used to construct a
neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree to determine the homology relationships of this strain.

Results and Discussion:

We obtained 8830 nucleotides (nt) of the HIV-1 genome sequence by amplification
and sequencing, and four recombinant fragments were identified by recombination analysis,
namely CRF01_AE (HXB2, 823–4224 nt), subtype B (HXB2, 4225–5991 nt), CRF01_AE
(HXB2, 5992–9295 nt), and subtype B (HXB2, 9296–9406 nt). The BLAST results showed that
96% of the sequence was similar to CRF112_01B. The jpHMM results confirmed that BD226AJ
was the CRF112_01B strain.

Conclusion:

Our results confirm the first epidemic of CRF112_01B in Hebei Province. This finding
suggests that HIV-1 CRF112_01B may have been introduced into Hebei by men who have sex with
men and indicates that the epidemic trend of this strain should be closely monitored.
Genus Acronychia: An Extensive Review on Phytochemistry and Pharmacological
Activities
Authors: Son Ninh The
Published: October 2022

Background:

Acronychia is a genus of the medicinal plants that was used traditionally to treat various ailments such as cough, asthma, sores, ulcers, itchy skin, fever, and rheumatism. Acronychia plants have a wide range of distribution, but they are mostly native to India, Siri Lanka, Australia, and Indochina. Since the 1950s Acronychia plants have been extensively used in phytochemical research and pharmacological examinations.

Objective:

The goal of this study is to structurally compile almost secondary metabolites from the title plants, as well as coverage of full information on their biomedical actions.

Conclusion:

Phytochemical profile of this genus is associated with the appearances of various chemical
classes, including principal compounds type acetophloroglucinols and alkaloids, as well as other
types coumarins, mono-phenols, flavonoids, phytosterols, lignans, xanthenes, and tocopherols. More
than one hundred thirty secondary metabolites have been isolated. Naturally occurring acetophloroglucinols
represented in both monomers and dimers, and most of them were new in nature.
Phytochemical research based on GC-MS identification showed that Acronychia plants should be
suitable for the cosmeceutical field and food chemistry due to the high content of volatiles.
Acronychia extracts are safe in use, and they are increasingly exploited within pharmacological assays.
In agreement with traditional properties, crude plant extracts, fractions, and their isolated compounds
are well-known for antimicrobial, antioxidative, antiinflammatory, antiprotozal, antiarrhythmic,
antinociceptive, antihistamine, and allelopathic activities, especially in terms of cytotoxicity. A
sustainable use program should be established to aid the further studies of these medicinal plants.
Acute Mesenteric Ischemia: The Diagnostic Value of QT Parameters and their
Relationship with CT Findings
Authors: Alan Bircan , Alan Sait , Gurel Safiye , Inanir Mehmet , Acar Emrah , Donmez Ibrahim , Kalaycioglu Oya
Published: October 2022

Background:

One of the greatest challenges in the diagnosis of acute mesenteric ischemia (AMI) is the lack of specific laboratory tests that support multidetector computed tomography (CT). Our aim is to investigate the diagnostic value of electrocardiographic QT parameters in AMI and their relationship with CT findings.

Materials and Methods:

Patients who were admitted to the emergency department with abdominal pain were recruited retrospectively from the hospital information system . Grouping was carried out on the basis of AMI(n=78) and non-AMI (n=78). In both groups, the corrected QT (QTc) and QT dispersion (QTD) were measured on electrocardiographs, and the qualitative and quantitative CT findings were evaluated on CT examinations.

Results:

The QTc and QTD values were higher in the AMI group. The median QTc values were 456.16 (IQR: 422.88-483.16) for the AMI group and
388.83 (IQR: 359.74-415.83) for the control group (p<0.001), and the median QTD values were 58 (IQR: 50.3-68.25) for the AMI group and 46
(IQR: 42-50) for the control group (p<0.001).

:

In the CT analysis, the QTc values were significantly higher among AMI patients, with images of paper-thin bowel walls and the absence of bowel
wall enhancement (p=0.042 and p=0.042, respectively). Meanwhile, the QTD values were significantly higher among patients with venous
pneumatosis findings on CT (p=0.005). In the regression analysis, a significant relationship was found between the QT parameters and AMI
(p<0.001). For QTc, an AUC of 0.903 (95% CI: 0.857-0.950, p<0.001), a sensitivity of 80.8%, and a specificity of 82.3% were found. For QTD, an
AUC of 0.821 (95% CI: 0.753-0.889, p<0.001), a sensitivity of 73.1%, and a specificity of 82.3% were found.

Conclusion:

We found the QTc and QTD values to be significantly higher among AMI patients. Furthermore, we found a significant relationship between the CT findings and QTc and QTD as well as a significant relationship between survival and QTc in the AMI group.
Ellagic Acid Prevents Oxidative Stress and Memory Deficits in a Rat Model of Scopolamine-induced Alzheimer's Disease
Authors: Rajabian Arezoo , Assaran Amir Hossein , Akbarian Mahsan , Amirahmadi Sabiheh , Salmani Hossein , Shirzad Shima , Hosseini Mahmoud , Beheshti Farimah
Published: October 2022

Background:

Ellagic acid (EA) has various pharmacological effects such as anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effects.

Objective:

This study aimed to investigate the effects EA on learning and memory dysfunction as well as oxidative stress in scopolamine-induced amnesic rats.

Methods:

The studied rats were treated according to the following protocol: Control (group 1) and scopolamine (group 2) groups received saline (intraperitoneal injection (i.p.)) while the treatment groups (group 3-5) were given EA (25, 50, and 100 mg/kg, i.p.) for 3 weeks. Thereafter, their behavioral performance was evaluated using Morris water maze (MWM) and passive avoidance (PA) tasks. Notably, scopolamine was injected (into groups II-V at a dose of 2 mg/kg, i.p.) before conducting the tasks. Finally, the oxidative stress indicators in the brain were measured.

Results:

EA reduced the escape latencies and distances during learning phase of MWM. The results of probe trials also indicated that EA improved memory retrieval and helped the animals recall the platform. Moreover, EA increased delay and light time, while decreasing the frequency of entries to the dark area of PA. In the EA-treated groups, the level of malondialdehyde was decreased, while the levels of total thiol groups, superoxide dismutase, and catalase were increased.

Conclusion:

EA prevented the negative effects of scopolamine on learning and memory which is probably mediated via modulating oxidative stress. Hence, EA could be considered as a potential alternative therapy in dementia.
Acrophialophora fusispora as an Agent of Mycotic Keratitis: A Case
Report and Review of Literature
Authors: Singla Nidhi , Sharma Swati , Gulati Neelam , Arya Sudesh Kumar , Chander Jagdish
Published: October 2022

Background:

Acrophialophora species is an infrequent human opportunistic pathogen. It is widely distributed in temperate as well as tropical regions. Hereby, we are presenting a rare case of fungal keratitis caused by A. fusispora.

Case Report:

A 26 year, Male, driver, presented with pain, watering, redness, whitish discoloration and blurring of vision in left eye for the last 3-4 days. On examination, he had a dry looking corneal ulcer with infiltration and satellite lesions. Corneal scrapings were positive for septate fungal hyphae by Gram staining and KOH mount. After five days, growth observed was presumptively identified to be genus Acrophialophora and finally identified to be Acrophialophora fusispora by genetic sequencing. The patient failed to respond medically and was planned for therapeutic keratoplasty.

Discussion:

Till date four cases of mycotic keratitis due to Acrophialophora have been described. Amongst which one case was associated with immunocompromised state. Two of the cases resolved medically while two required therapeutic keratoplasty indicating possible strong pathogenicity to eye.

Conclusion:

As Acrophialophora seems to have a predilection for eye infections, an early diagnosis with timely appropriate treatment is the best way to restore normal vision of patient.
The Natural Neuroprotective Compounds Used in the 6-Hydroxydopamine-
Induced Parkinson’s Disease in Zebrafish: The Current
Applications and Perspectives
Authors: Abidar Sara , Hritcu Lucian , Nhiri Mohamed
Published: October 2022

Background and Objective:

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized
by the degeneration of the dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta, resulting
in the loss of dopamine in the striatum, leading thus to the PD classic movement symptoms:
resting tremor, rigidity, and bradykinesia/akinesia. Furthermore, Levodopa’s efficacy declines with
long-term use, generating serious motor complications. Neuroprotection implies the use of different
agents exhibiting various neuroprotective strategies to prevent brain degeneration and neuron loss. The
present review aims to summarize and analyze the natural neuroprotective compounds that have been
tested against PD induced by the 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) in zebrafish.

Results:

The current study collected 23 different natural substances, divided into five distinct categories,
namely herbal extracts, herbal formulations, bioactive compounds, marine products, and marine
extracts. They modulate various signaling pathways involved in PD pathogenesis and exhibit specific
activities such as an anxiolytic profile, improving locomotor impairment, restoring memory troubles,
preventing DNA loss, inhibiting acetylcholinesterase, reducing lipid peroxidation and antiinflammatory
activity, and enhancing the brain antioxidant enzymes.

Conclusion and Perspectives:

This review discusses the most promising natural neuroprotective compounds
that have been evaluated for their potential efficiency on the 6-OHDA-induced lesions in the
zebrafish model. These natural substances deserve further consideration for determination of their optimum
concentrations, bioavailability, and their ability to cross the blood-brain-barrier to exert their
effects on PD. Furthermore, a complete understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in PD
and larger epidemiologic and randomized clinical trials in humans is also required.
Caring for Transgender Youth with Eating Disorders in a Day
Treatment Program
Authors: Salvatore Lauren , Dancyger Ida , Shadianloo Shervin , Fornari Victor
Published: October 2022

Background:

The treatment of transgender youth with an eating disorder presents particular considerations due to the unique combination of body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness, malnutrition coupled with the evolving gender identity in the midst of biological and physical changes. At this time, public awareness, societal acknowledgment and legislative initiatives have led to wider acceptance of Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgender rights. However, at the same time, transgender youth are at increased risk for mental health problems, including eating disorders.

Objective:

To describe two cases of trans adolescents with anorexia nervosa treated in a day treatment program.

Methods:

In this paper, the two clinical vignettes of transgender adolescent with anorexia nervosa will be discussed. The focused care included specific attention to the initial disclosure of gender identity in a safe space, name and pronoun preferences as well as wardrobe and hair style changes. In addition, treatment focused on the reduction of social anxiety around meal consumption with special attention given to the impact of weight on the development of secondary sex characteristics. Themes of identity, rejection and secrecy were explored.

Conclusion:

In summary, the treatment of transgender youth with anorexia nervosa is more complex than treatment of cis gender youth. Additional issues, such as hormonal treatments, the development of secondary sexual characteristics as well as social and cultural factors can exacerbate eating disorder symptoms. Treatment should focus on understanding the etiology and the trajectory of the disorder within this lens.
The Impact of SSRI Use on the Clinical Outcome and Prognosis of
COVID-19 Patients: A Single-Center Prospective Study
Authors: Safa Mitra , Ziaee Seyed Ali , Moniri Afshin , Boroujerdi Fatemeh Ghassem , Zadeh Farzaneh Haji , Soheili Amirali , Afaghi Siamak , Rahimi Fatemeh Sadat , Zadeh Ardekani Bamdad Mirab
Published: October 2022

Background:

Recent studies have found a link between the usage of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and a lower mortality rate in COVID-19 cases.

Objective:

The goal of current research was evaluating the effectiveness of SSRI drugs on improvement of COVID-19 patients.

Methods:

This prospective case-control study, compared SSRI-treated patients with matched control patients not treated with SSRIs at Masih Daneshvari Hospital on a population of 350 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 from March 15th 2021 to March 16th 2022.

Results:

ICU admission rates were significantly more in the control group than in the case group (44.8% vs. 25.9%; p-value=0.0002; Odds Ratio (OR)= 2.32). Intubation was reported for more cases in the control group than the case group (26.7% vs. 11.4%; p-value=0.0002; OR=2.84). Mortality rate was found to be significantly more in the control group than the case group (23.0% vs. 10.8%; p-value=0.0002; OR=2.46). Furthermore, the subgroup analyses on Fluvoxamine and Sertraline showed that Hospitalization period, ICU admission rates, and intubation were all reported to be significantly smaller in each case subgroups as against the control group.

Conclusion:

Our assessments underlined the potential efficacy of SSRIs in improving COVID-19 patients’ prognosis, since the use of SSRIs were shown to be associated with shorter hospital stay and ICU stay, lower ICU admission rates and intubation rates, and ultimately decreased mortality rates.
Electrospun Nanofiber Composite for Levofloxacin in Ocular Drug
Delivery
Authors: Sangole Shrinivas , Salave Sagar , Rana Dhwani , Shah Srushti , Medhe Tanvi Pawar , Benival Derajram
Published: October 2022

Background:

Levofloxacin is available in the form of an eye drop solution for the
treatment of ocular bacterial infection and inflammatory diseases. Below 5% of the drug gets absorbed after topical application of eye drop. The major portion of administered drug either comes
out from the eye or drains out by the nasolacrimal duct, which results in poor bioavailability.

Objective:

We aim to prepare a polymeric ocular insert containing levofloxacin as a drug prepared
by the electrospinning technique that can release the drug for an extended duration.

Methods:

Electrospun nanofiber sheets were prepared using hydroxypropyl cellulose and polycaprolactone polymer. Drug content was analysed by HPLC. Nanosheet was examined by DSC
and FTIR for compatibility study. Optimized nanosheet was further studied for weight uniformity,
swellability index, surface pH, and in-vitro drug release. The morphology of the prepared sheets
was examined using optical microscopy and SEM analysis.

Results:

The uniform, beadles, and continuous nanofibers were obtained by electrospinning. From
the DSC and FTIR data, it was proved that drugs and polymers were compatible in nanosheets.
Drug content and % drug loading in the electrospun sheets were found to be 101.70% and 4.33%,
respectively. The thickness of the sheets was around 0.31± 0.04 mm and the swelling index was
observed at 566.66% after 30 min. The surface pH of the ocular insert was found to be 6.81 and
6.83 after 30 min and 24 h., respectively. In-vitro drug release showed that 99% of the drug was
released in 24 h

Conclusion:

A prepared nanocomposite sheet can be used for the sustained drug delivery of
levofloxacin in ocular eye disease, reducing the dosing frequency and improving patient compliance.
Anti-COVID-19 Traditional Chinese Medicine Database
Authors: Zhou Jinming , Chen Chao , Zhang Rongyu , Wei Wancheng
Published: October 2022

Background:

Novel coronavirus pneumonia COVID-19 has become a serious threat to human
health. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has a good clinical effect in the treatment of COVID-19,
with a high effective rate and a low rate of turning to the serious stage.

Objective:

We generated the web-accessed anti-COVID-19 TCM database to provide the anti-COVID-19
TCM information to develop effective drugs for the treatment of COVID-19.

Methods:

Herein, we collected these prescriptions data by querying the CNKI and Wanfang Chinese databases,
the clinical guidance for COVID-19 pneumonia diagnosis and treatment, and further set up the
web-accessible anti-COVID-19 TCM database.

Results:

Altogether, 293 different prescriptions are applied in four different COVID-19 stages of treatment,
and the prevention of COVID-19 is composed of 452 TCM components.

Conclusion:

The database provides comprehensive information for anti-COVID TCM and thus would
help to investigate novel ways to develop new anti-COVID-19 agents.
Rainwater Quality Improvement Model as an Alternative Source for Drinking Water in Mojoagung District, Jombang Regency
Authors: Fatian Galih , Siswoyo Hari , Haribowo Riyanto
Published: October 2022

Water is a basic need for humans, yet often the quality and quantity become cronstrained as happened in Mojoagung District, Jombang Regency. During the dry season, the potential for water reserves available for use is rainwater that has been stored. Based on laboratory tests, the quality of the stored rainwater is below the quality standard due to its high KMnO4 (Calium Permanganate) content. Hence we need a simple filter to improve the water quality. Researchers have conducted experiments with the filter composition of zeolite, activated charcoal, activated sand, sterile cotton, and aquarium filter. The results of the filtration process showed a significant decrease in potassium permanganate. The filtration results from the filter with the composition of zeolite, activated charcoal, activated sand, sterile cotton, and an aquarium filter sequentially 5 cm, 10 cm, 15 cm, 4 cm, and 2 cm succeeded in reducing potassium permanganate levels from 11.73 to an average of 2.12 mg. /l. The best filter due to experimental activities will be integrated with rainwater harvesting structure system which has been discussed along with related social community and stakeholders
Risk Mitigation of Toll Road Development
Authors: Mandia I Wayan , Wahyuni Putu , Sinarta I Nengah
Published: October 2022

To achieve the level of infrastructure performance as a middle-income country by 2025, as well as to catch up with the backwardness of infrastructure, specifically for toll road projects, the government targets that by 2021 Indonesia will have 5200 km of toll roads. Hence, there is a significant increase of 3000 km. The government, especially in the development of toll road infrastructure, gives a more significant portion to the purely private sector, BUMN, and Public Private Partnership - Government Business Entity Cooperation. Risk analysis is carried out by structuring risk using the RBS (Risk Breakdown Structure) method and multiplying the impact value and frequency to get the risk level value for each risk factor. The results of the analysis obtained from RBS are further analyzed based on the practical experience of project implementers to determine their actions in overcoming risks, then analyzed and discussed again using a table comparing the amount of risk, comparison of the level of importance of risk (importance level) and the level of risk based on the payment system. The results obtained from this study are the types of risk and the level of risk at each stage of the project