bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
An Intelligent Monitoring and Controlling of Greenhouse: Deployment of Wireless Sensor Networks and Internet-of-Things
Authors: Arshad Jehangir , Saleem Saqib , Badar Muhammad Sana Ullah , Khalid Samreen , Mumtaz Zain , Ullah Saleem , Illyas2 Zeeshan , Madni Hamza Ahmad
Published: November 2018

Typically, the farmers are using the traditional ways of farming that cannot provide the proper amount of fertilizers and no specific criterion can be set the proper amount of climate parameters. Henceforth, the agricultural field demands up-to-date technology to enhance the desired outputs by deploying automated crop techniques for the better production of crops and plants. In the prescribed context, we have devised an architecture consisting of an embedded system and a wireless sensor network that could be employed to monitor the climatic parameters such as humidity, temperature, carbon dioxide, acidity, soil moisture, and light intensity etc. in a greenhouse. This work is accomplished by manually positioning the different sensor nodes in the greenhouse for collection of climate data which is subsequently forwarded to gateway nodes. Gateway nodes are responsible to send this information to the intended user or an agriculture professional via an internet web browser. The received data trigger the proposed embedded system to automatically proceed a decision by executing suitable actions to adjust an agriculture field with climate parameters. For instance, the climate of a greenhouse is controlled by turning on certain devices including fan, water sprinkler, lights etc. The proposed fruitful system is constructed at lab-scale prototype as a witness to proof the reliability, low-cost and efﬁciency of the proposed design. We consider that the proposed design can be easily implemented at large-scale in future, and will be beneficial for escalation of the profitability, sustainability, and productivity of the agricultural system.
Understanding Land-Atmosphere-Climate Coupling from the Canadian Prairie Dataset
Authors: Betts Alan K , Desjardins Raymond L
Published: November 2018

Analysis of the hourly Canadian Prairie data for the past 60 years has transformed our quantitative understanding of land-atmosphere-cloud coupling. The key reason is that trained observers made hourly estimates of opaque cloud fraction that obscures the sun, moon or stars, following the same protocol for 60 years at all stations. These 24 daily estimates of opaque cloud data are of sufficient quality that they can be calibrated against Baseline Surface Radiation Network data to give the climatology of the daily short-wave, longwave and total cloud forcing (SWCF, LWCF and CF). This key radiative forcing has not been available previously for climate datasets. Net cloud radiative forcing reverses sign from negative in the warm season to positive in the cold season, when reflective snow reduces the negative SWCF below the positive LWCF. This in turn leads to a large climate discontinuity with snow cover, with a systematic cooling of 10°C or more with snow cover. In addition, snow cover transforms the coupling between cloud cover and the diurnal range of temperature. In the warm season, maximum temperature increases with decreasing cloud, while minimum temperature barely changes; while in the cold season with snow cover, maximum temperature decreases with decreasing cloud and minimum temperature decreases even more. In the warm season, the diurnal ranges of temperature, relative humidity, equivalent potential temperature and the pressure height of the lifting condensation level are all tightly coupled to opaque cloud cover. Given over 600 station-years of hourly data, we are able to extract, perhaps for the first time, the coupling between cloud forcing and the warm season imbalance of the diurnal cycle; which changes monotonically from a warming and drying under clear skies to a cooling and moistening under cloudy skies with precipitation. Because we have the daily cloud radiative forci, which is large, we are able to show that the memory of water storage anomalies, from precipitation and the snowpack, goes back many months. The spring climatology shows the memory of snowfall back through the entire winter, and the memory in summer goes back to the months of snowmelt. Lagged precipitation anomalies modify the thermodynamic coupling of the diurnal cycle to the cloud forcing, and shift the diurnal cycle of mixing ratio which has a double peak. The seasonal extraction of the surface total water storage is a large damping of the interannual variability of precipitation anomalies in the growing season. The large land-use change from summer fallow to intensive cropping, which peaked in the early 1990s, has led to a coupled climate response that has cooled and moistened the growing season, lowering cloud-base, increasing equivalent potential temperature, and increasing precipitation. We show a simplified energy balance of the Prairies during the growing season and its dependence on reflective cloud.
Electrochemical Formation and Evaluation of Poly-9,10-Phenanthrenequinone of Layer
Authors: Ramanavicius Arunas , Genys Povilas , Aksun Elif , Valiūnienė Aušra , Ramanaviciene Almira
Published: November 2018

A 9,10-phenanthrenequinone (PQ) was electrochemically polymerized on a graphite rod electrode using potential cycling. The electrode modified by poly-9,10-phenanthrenequinone (poly-PQ) was studied by means of cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The poly-PQ shows variations in growth pattern depending on the number of potential cycles for the initiation of polymerization. Formed poly-PQ layer demonstrates good electric conductivity, great electrochemical capacitance and unique oxidation/reduction properties, which are suitable for broad technological applications, including applicability in biosensors, supercapacitors, and in some other electrochemical systems.
3D-QSAR on a Series of Pyrimidinyl-Piperazine-Carboxamides Based Fatty Acid Amide Hydrolase (FAAH) Inhibitors as a Useful Tool to Obtain Novel Endocannabinoid Enhancers
Authors: Lorca Marcos , Valdes Yudisladys , Chung Hery , Pessoa-Mahana C. David , Mella Jaime
Published: November 2018

Fatty Acid Amide Hydrolase (FAAH) is one of the enzymes responsible of endocannabinoids metabolism. The inhibition of FAAH is a useful and indirect strategy to raise endogenous cannabinoid concentrations, which would be useful for the treatment of various pathological processes in which cannabinoid concentrations are lowered. In the present work, we present an extensive 3D-QSAR/CoMSIA study on a series of 90 irreversible inhibitors of FAAH of pyrimidinyl-piperazine-carboxamide structure. The final model obtained was extensively validated (q2 = 0.734; r2test = 0.966; r2m = 0.723), and based on the information derived from the contour maps we reported a series of 10 new compounds designed as powerful FAAH inhibitors (pIC50 of the best-proposed compounds = 12.196; 12.416).
Fatigue Performance of ABS Specimens Obtained by Fused Filament Fabrication
Authors: Domingo-Espin Miquel , Travieso-Rodriguez J. Antonio , Jerez-Mesa Ramon , Lluma-Fuentes Jordi
Published: November 2018

In this paper, the fatigue response of Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) parts is studied. Different building parameters (layer height, nozzle diameter, infill density, and printing speed) were chosen to study their influence on the lifespan of cylindrical specimens according to a design of experiments (DOE) using the Taguchi methodology. The same DOE was applied on two different specimen sets using two different infill patterns: rectilinear and honeycomb. The results show that infill density is the most important parameter for both studied patterns. The specimens manufactured with the honeycomb pattern show longer lifespans. The best parameter set associated to that infill was chosen for a second experimental phase, in which the specimens were tested under different maximum bending stresses to construct the Wöhler curve associated to this 3D printing configuration. The results of this study are useful to design and manufacture ABS end-use parts that are expected to work under oscillating periodic loads.
A Logic for Quantum Register Measurements
Authors: Masini Andrea , Zorzi Margherita
Published: November 2018

We know that quantum logics are the most prominent logical systems associated to the lattices of closed Hilbert subspaces. But what does it happen if, following a quantum computing perspective, we want to associate a logic to the process of quantum registers measurements? This paper gives an answer to this question, and, quite surprising, shows that such a logic is nothing else that the standard propositional intuitionistic logic.
Entropy Density Acceleration and Minimum Dissipation Principle: Correlation with Heat and Matter Transfer in Glucose Catabolism
Authors: Zivieri Roberto , Pacini Nicola
Published: November 2018

The heat and matter transfer during glucose catabolism in living systems and their relation with entropy production are a challenging subject of the classical thermodynamics applied to biology. In this respect, an analogy between mechanics and thermodynamics has been performed via the definition of the entropy density acceleration expressed by the time derivative of the rate of entropy density and related to heat and matter transfer in minimum living systems. Cells are regarded as open thermodynamic systems that exchange heat and matter resulting from irreversible processes with the intercellular environment. Prigogine’s minimum energy dissipation principle is reformulated using the notion of entropy density acceleration applied to glucose catabolism. It is shown that, for out-of-equilibrium states, the calculated entropy density acceleration is finite and negative and approaches as a function of time a zero value at global thermodynamic equilibrium for heat and matter transfer independently of the cell type and the metabolic pathway. These results could be important for a deeper understanding of entropy generation and its correlation with heat transfer in cell biology with special regard to glucose catabolism representing the prototype of irreversible reactions and a crucial metabolic pathway in stem cells and cancer stem cells.
An Assessment of Couple Stress Theories
Authors: Hadjesfandiari Ali R. , Dargush Gary F.
Published: November 2018

In this paper, we examine the mathematical and physical consistencies of the three primary couple stress theories: original Mindlin-Tiersten-Koiter couple stress theory (MTK-CST), modified couple stress theory (M-CST) and consistent couple stress theory (C-CST).  As has been known for many years, MTK-CST suffers from some fundamental inconsistencies, such as the indeterminacy of the couple-stress tensor.  Therefore, despite the fact that MTK-CST has a fundamental position in the evolution of size-dependent continuum mechanics, it is not a reliable theory within continuum mechanics, for example, in developing new size-dependent multi-physics formulations.  We also observe that M-CST not only inherits all inconsistences from the original MTK-CST, but also suffers from new additional inconsistencies, such as the introduction of a new non-physical governing equation.  These inconsistencies refute the claim of those who state that the couple-stress tensor may be chosen symmetric.  Therefore, the apparent success of MTK-CST and M-CST in describing a size-effect for some problems, such as two-dimensional plate and beam bending, is not enough to justify these theories as suitable for general cases.  In fact, the symmetric couple-stresses in M-CST create torsional or anticlastic deformation, not bending.  On the other hand, C-CST, with a skew-symmetric couple-stress tensor, is the consistent continuum mechanics suitable for solving different size-dependent solid, fluid and multi-physics problems. 
Erythrocyte n-6 Fatty Acids and Risk for Cardiovascular Outcomes and Total Mortality in the Framingham Heart Study
Authors: Harris William S. , Tintle Nathan L. , Vasan Ramachandran S.
Published: November 2018

Background: The prognostic value of erythrocyte levels of the n-6 fatty acids (FAs) for total mortality and cardiovascular disease (CVD) outcomes remains an open question. Methods: We examined CV outcomes and death in 2500 individuals in the Framingham Heart Study Offspring cohort without prevalent CVD (mean age 66 years, 57% women) as a function of baseline levels of different length n-6 FAs (18 carbon, 20 carbon and 22 carbon) in the erythrocyte membranes. Clinical outcomes were monitored for up to 9.5 years (median follow up, 7.26 years). Cox proportional hazards models were adjusted for a variety of demographic characteristics, clinical status and RBC n-6 and long chain n-3 FA content. Results: There were 245 CV events, 119 CHD events, 105 ischemic strokes, 58 CVD deaths, and 350 deaths from all causes. Few associations between either mortality or CVD outcomes were observed for the n-6 FAs, with those that were observed becoming non-significant after adjusting for n-3 FA levels. Conclusions: Higher circulating levels of the marine n-3 FA levels are associated with reduced risk for incident CVD and ischemic stroke and for death from CHD and all-causes, however in the same sample, little evidence exists for association with n-6 FAs. Further work is needed to identify a full profile of FAs associated with cardiovascular risk and mortality.
Victimization and Social Structure: The Case of Spain in 1999 and 2016
Authors: Herranz de Rafael Gonzalo , Fernández-Prados Juan Sebastián
Published: November 2018

After brings about a brief review of the theoretical explanations and researches on the reasons for being a victim, this article is organized into two sections. The first presents a comparative analysis of the data for 1999 and 2016 in terms of perceptions, profiles and most significant sociodemographic and socioeconomic variables. The second one shows an explanatory analysis based on a multivariate logistical regression model using as an independent variable lifestyle of the population and socioeconomic variables, and as dependent variables individual’s susceptibility to becoming a victim of certain crimes. The results points towards an explanatory model of victimization in which sociodemographic variables play an increasingly less important role while variables related to lifestyle and subjective perceptions make a significant contribution to greater understanding of the nature of being the victim of a crime.
Improvement of Wu et al.'s Three-Factor User Authentication Scheme for Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Ryu Jihyeon , Lee Hakjun , Kim Hyoungshick , Won Dongho
Published: November 2018

Wireless sensor networks are widely used in many applications such as environmental monitoring, health care, smart grid and surveillance. Many security protocols have been proposed and intensively studied due to the inherent nature of wireless networks. In particular, Wu et al. proposed a promising authentication scheme which is sufficiently robust against various attacks. However, according to our analysis, Wu et al.'s scheme has two serious security weaknesses against malicious outsiders. First, their scheme can lead to user impersonation attacks. Second, user anonymity is not preserved in their scheme. In this paper, we present these vulnerabilities of Wu et al.'s scheme in detail. We also propose a new scheme by fixing such vulnerabilities and improving the performance of the protocol.
Quantitative Structure-Activity Analysis of Triazines Immune Recognition Based on Immunoassay Data for Polyclonal and Monoclonal Antibodies
Authors: Buglak Andrey A. , Zherdev Anatoly V. , Lei Hong-Tao , Dzantiev Boris B.
Published: November 2018

A common task in the immunodetection of structurally close compounds is to analyze the selectivity of immune recognition: it is required to understand the regularities of immune recognition and to elucidate the basic structural elements which provide it. Triazines are compounds of particular interest for such a research due to their high variability and the necessity of their monitoring to provide safety of agricultural products and foodstuffs. We evaluated the binding of 20 triazines with polyclonal (pAb) and monoclonal (mAb) antibodies obtained using atrazine as the immunogenic hapten. A total of >3000 descriptors was used in QSAR analysis of binding activities (pIC50). Comparison of the two enzyme immunoassay systems showed that the system with pAb is much easier to describe using 2D QSAR methodology, while the system with mAb can be described using the 3D QSAR COMFA. Thus, for the 3D QSAR model of the polyclonal antibodies, the main statistical parameter q2 (‘leave-many-out’) is equal 0.498, and for monoclonal antibodies q2 is equal 0.566. Obviously, in the case of pAb, we deal with several targets, while in the case of mAb the target is one, and therefore it is easier to describe it using specific fields of molecular interactions distributed in space.
A Comparative Study of Modern Stationary Phases for Fast Liquid Chromatography Separation of Synthetic Food Colorants
Authors: Lhotská Ivona , Šatínský Dalibor , Solich Petr
Published: November 2018

Food analysis demands fast methods for routine control and high throughput of samples. Chromatographic separation enables simultaneous determination of numerous compounds in complex matrices, several approaches increasing separation efficiency and speed of analysis were involved. In this work, modern types of column with monolithic rod or superficially porous particles were employed and compared for determination of eight synthetic food dyes, their chromatographic performance was evaluated. During method optimization, cyano stationary phase Chromolith Performance CN 100 × 4.6 mm and Ascentis Express ES-CN 100 × 4.6 mm, 5 µm were selected for the separation of polar colorants. The separation was performed by gradient elution of acetonitrile/methanol and 2% water solution of ammonium acetate at flow rate 2.0 ml min-1. Mobile phase composition and the gradients were optimized in order to enable efficient separation on both columns. The method using fused-core particle column provided higher separation efficiency, narrow peaks of analytes resulted in increased peak capacity and shortening of analysis time. After the validation, the method was applied for analysis of colored beers, soft drinks and candies.
Improving Operations Performance through Artificial Intelligence, Digital, and Advanced Analytics Applications
Authors: Brun Anders
Published: November 2018

Tomorrows O&G leaders embrace digital technologies today

As oil price outlooks have recovered from 2015 lows and many companies have exhausted traditional improvements levers, advanced analytics and digital transformations offer new opportunities for O&G operators to modernize operations, improve financials and establish a sustainable competitive platform

Anders Brun, partner and global leader of Advanced Analytics and Digital Transformation service line in McKinsey's O&G practice
Technical analysis testing in forecasting Socially Responsible Investment Index in Indonesia Stock Exchange
Authors: Parlagutan Pulungan Dolly , Wahyudi Sugeng , Suharnomo Suharnomo , Muharam Harjum
Published: November 2018

This study aims to examine whether the Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model is appropriate to be applied in the Indonesia Stock Exchange, especially for the socially resposible investment stocks. For the ARIMA model combines the autoregressive and moving average method, so it is viewed as a useful tool to predict the stock prices. Those methods are frequently used methods to forecast the stock prices. The data used in this study were daily SRI-KEHATI Index during the period of June 8, 2009 to July 17, 2017. The results showed that the daily SRI-KEHATI Index data were not stationary data, thus this data needed to be transformed. The transformation was done by using the first seasonal differencing transformation process. After being transformed, those data became stationary. Furthermore, this study found that ARIMA (3,1,1) was a model, which might be appropriate and fit with the data condition. This method was also relevant to be applied in the Indonesia Stock Exchange in order to forecast the stock prices.
Future prospects for breast cancer immunotherapy
Authors: Semiglazov V. F. , Tseluiko A. I. , Donskikh R. V. , Krivorotko P. V. , Dashyan G. A. , Semiglazov V. V. , Komyakhov A. V.
Published: November 2018

Immunotherapy has already become an important component of the standard treatment of patients with advanced cancer. Most treatment methods include monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that block immune checkpoints, in particular, the programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) receptor and its ligand 1 (PD-L1) or are directed against T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4). The future prospects for immuno-oncology will be to determine whether these agents can be more effective if administered in a postoperative adjuvant or in a neoadjuvant regimen prior to surgical treatment. Vaccine therapy has shown promising results, and this therapy is especially attractive due to absence of pronounced toxicity.
Characteristics of population of patients with sarcoidiosis in the republic of Tatarstan: the results of multi-year monitoring
Authors: Vizel I. Yu. , Vizel A. A. , Shakirova G. R. , Ganibaeva G. S.
Published: November 2018

Sarcoidosis is a systemic epithelioid cell granulomatous disease of unknown etiology, which prevalence has increased over the past three decades. The objective of this work was to analyse the register of patients with sarcoidosis, in which the patients from the Republic of Tatarstan were entered for the period from 1969 until now. Methods. A patient database was created and processed using the SPSS18 program with the calculation of frequencies, means, errors of the mean and confidence interval. The authors analysed the data at the time of detection of sarcoidosis. Results. A total of 2477 patients (69.9% of women) aged from 15 to 87 years old (44.04 ± 0.26 (12.9) years) were entered in the register. There were 28.7% under the age of 35, 51.6% were 36–55, and 19.8% were older than 55 years. Radiation stages were distributed as follows: 0 - 0.9%, I - 42.6%, II - 46.2%, III - 9.4% and IV - 0.8%. 13.1% of newly diagnosed patients had a Lofgren’s syndrome. Histological verification was carried out in 40.9% of cases. 31.4% of patients were affected by occupational or environmental factors that might negatively influence their health. The number of new cases of sarcoidosis in Tatarstan began to grow from 1995 (50 new cases) with a peak in 2016 (141 cases), which corresponds to the opinion of leading international experts on sarcoidosis, who reported an increase in the incidence rate over the last three decades. The proportion of verified patients in these years varied around 50%, reaching a maximum of 60.5% in 2012. Out of the total number of 1014 verified cases, 62.8% validated the diagnosis in oncological institutions, 25.2% in multidisciplinary institutions, 8.0% in phthisiological institutions, and 1 case at autopsy. Histological material (video-assisted thoracoscopy) was obtained in 75.1% of cases, and aspirate obtained during bronchoscopy was used in 24.9% of cases. Active monitoring was the most commonly used disease management (37.3%), vitamin E was used in 23.4%, vitamin E and pentoxifylline in 21.2%, systemic glucocorticosteroids were used in 14.9%, methotrexate was used in 1.7%, inhaled steroids in 1.3%, antibiotics in 0.2%, azathioprine in 0.1% and N-acetylcysteine was used in 1 patient. Conclusion. In Tatarstan, verified cases did not exceed half of cases against the background of increased detection of patients with sarcoidosis and the availability of skilled care. Patient management was consistent with modern international guidelines.
Ixabepilone: new perspectives for its use in breast cancer
Authors: Mescheryakov A. A. , Lubennikova E. V. , Abramov M. E.
Published: November 2018

Despite significant advances in recent years, the drug therapy for breast cancer (BC) is still based on chemotherapy. The introduction of new effective cytostatic agents with a favorable toxicity profile is likely to remain an urgent objective for modern pharmacology in oncology. Ixabepilone, first in a new class of antineoplastic agents, the epothilones, has demonstrated high efficacy in the treatment of breast cancer both in its early stages and in patients, who have received 2 or more lines of chemotherapy. The article discusses the results of major studies, as well as the last meta-analysis of Ixabepilone studies in locally advanced and metastatic breast cancer. It presents the results of two large randomized studies of Ixabepilone in adjuvant regimens in patients with early breast cancer with an unfavourable prognosis.
CHARACTERISTICS AND TRENDS OF WORK-RELATED INCIDENTS AND VOCATIONAL DISEASES IN THE KEMEROVO REGION
Authors: Шевченко Леонид , Shevchenko Leonid
Published: November 2018

The current paper features the statistical data on injuries and accidents at enterprises of Kuzbass for the last five years in their mutual comparison. It gives an analysis of the factors contributing to a sharp decrease in industrial injuries with simultaneous growth of coal and other mineral resources extraction and statistics of occupational diseases of workers in the Kemerovo region for various industries. The assessment is performed on the basis of data analysis. The research reveals that the region’s indicator in this aspect is 7–8 times higher than that in other regions of the Russian Federation. The study shows an underrepresented effectiveness of the pre-shift medical examinations at hazardous production facilities and poor professional examinations of patients due to the federal funding reduction. In addition, the paper considers accidents that are not related to production, including deaths in the workplace for reasons of general illnesses, alcohol or drug poisoning, suicide, etc. It involves data characterizing the dynamics of costs for labor protection measures in the Kemerovo region for the last 19 years.
A meta-heuristic approach for multivariate design flood quantile estimation incorporating historical information
Authors: Yin Jiabo , Guo Shenglian , Wu Xushu , Yang Guang , Xiong Feng , Zhou Yanlai
Published: November 2018

Design flood quantiles are crucial for hydraulic structures design, water resources planning and management, whereas previous multivariate hydrological quantile estimation methods usually do not consider historical flood information. To overcome such limitations, a meta-heuristic inference function for margins (MHIFM) approach, coupling meta-heuristic algorithm with a modified inference function for margins (IFM) method, is developed for modeling the joint distributions of flood peak and volumes with incorporation of historical flood information. Then, the most likely realization (MLR) and equivalent frequency combination (EFC) methods are employed for selecting multivariate design floods on a quantile iso-surface. The Danjiangkou reservoir located in Hanjiang River basin, the first pilot basin of most regulated water resources management policy in China, is selected as a case study. Application results indicate that the MHIFM approach shows good performance for estimating the parameters of marginal and joint distributions; moreover, the MLR method yields safer design flood quantiles than the EFC method in terms of highest routed reservoir water levels. The proposed MHIFM approach associated with the MLR method is safer and more rational for reservoir design, which would provide rich information as the reference for flood risk assessment, reservoir operation and management.
Erosion characteristics of raw sewage: investigations for a pumping station in northern Germany under energy efficient pump control
Authors: Rinas Martin , Traenckner Jens , Koegst Thilo
Published: November 2018

Flow controlled sewage pumping stations offer high potential for energy savings. But along with a reduced flow velocity, flow-controlled pumping increases the risk of deposits formation. This work presents an experimental procedure to assess the erosion behaviour of municipal wastewater as a basis for solid transport characterization considering an energy efficient pump control. Raw sewage, sampled at the inflow channel to a pumping station in the city of Rostock (northern Germany), has been investigated under dry weather inflow conditions by means of a self-constructed laboratory-scale erosion measurement. Received data have been processed into critical bed shear stress points (for incipient erosion and total resuspension) and into erosion rates. Both bed shear stress points increase with the settling duration, from initially 0.016 N/m2 (incipient erosion) and 0.2 N/m2 (total resuspension) after 20 minutes settling, to respectively 0.14 N/m2 and 1 N/m2 after 3 days settling. With a reduced flow rate within the energy efficient control, the pump pauses decrease, from 64 min (regular control with higher flow rate) down to 20 min. Thus, both respective bed shear stress points are below the bed shear stress level of the energy saving control (0.2 N/m2), and a resuspension of the settled particles is guaranteed.
Isoliquiritigenin (ISL) and its Formulations: Potential Antitumor Agents
Authors: Zhao Ting-Ting , Xu Yu-Qing , Hu Hui-Min , Gong Hai-Bin , Zhu Hai-Liang
Published: November 2018

Isoliquiritigenin (2’,4’,4-trihydroxychalcone, ISL) is one of the most important chalcone compounds which is mainly derived from licorice root and many other plants. It exhibits a remarkable range of potent biological and pharmacological activities such as antioxidative, antitumor, antiaging, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic activities, etc. Numerous research teams have demonstrated that ISL posseses the ability to carry out antigrowth and proliferation in various cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. Meanwhile, the underlying mechanisms of ISL that inhibit cancer cell proliferation have not been well explored. However, the poor bioavailability and low water-soluble limit its clinical application. This review aims at providing a comprehensive overview of the pharmacology antitumor activity of ISL and its mechanisms in different malignancy especially in breast cancer cell line and summarize developments of formulation utilized to overcome the barrier between its delivery characteristics and application in clinics over the past 20 years.
Anthocyanins As Modulators of Cell Redox-Dependent Pathways in Non-Communicable Diseases
Authors: Speciale Antonio , Saija Antonella , Bashllari Romina , Molonia Maria Sofia , Muscarà Claudia , Occhiuto Cristina , Cimino Francesco , Cristani Mariateresa
Published: November 2018

:

Chronic Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs), mostly represented by cardiovascular
diseases, diabetes, chronic pulmonary diseases, cancers, and several chronic pathologies,
are one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality, and are mainly related to
the occurrence of metabolic risk factors. Anthocyanins (ACNs) possess a wide spectrum
of biological activities, such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, cardioprotective and chemopreventive
properties, which are able to promote human health. Although ACNs present
an apparent low bioavailability, their metabolites may play an important role in the in
vivo protective effects observed.

:

This article directly addresses the scientific evidences supporting that ACNs could be useful
to protect human population against several NCDs not only acting as antioxidant but
through their capability to modulate cell redox-dependent signaling. In particular, ACNs
interact with the NF-κB and AP-1 signal transduction pathways, which respond to oxidative
signals and mediate a proinflammatory effect, and the Nrf2/ARE pathway and its
regulated cytoprotective proteins (GST, NQO, HO-1, etc.), involved in both cellular antioxidant
defenses and elimination/inactivation of toxic compounds, so countering the alterations
caused by conditions of chemical/oxidative stress. In addition, supposed crosstalks
could contribute to explain the protective effects of ACNs in different pathological
conditions characterized by an altered balance among these pathways. Thus, this review
underlines the importance of specific nutritional molecules for human health and focuses
on the molecular targets and the underlying mechanisms of ACNs against various diseases.
An Update on the Neurochemistry of Essential Tremor
Authors: Jiménez-Jiménez Félix Javier , Alonso-Navarro Hortensia , García-Martín Elena , Agúndez José A.G.
Published: November 2018

Background:

The pathophysiology and neurochemical mechanisms of essential
tremor (ET) are not fully understood, because only a few post-mortem studies have been reported,
and there is a lack of good experimental model for this disease.

Objective:

The main aim of this review is to update data regarding the neurochemical features
of ET. Alterations of certain catecholamine systems, the dopaminergic, serotonergic,
GABAergic, noradrenergic, and adrenergic systems have been described, and are the object of
this revision.

Methods:

For this purpose, we performed a literature review on alterations of the neurotransmitter
or neuromodulator systems (catecholamines, gammaaminobutyric acid or GABA,
excitatory amino acids, adenosine, T-type calcium channels) in ET patients (both post-mortem
or in vivo) or in experimental models resembling ET.

Results and Conclusion:

The most consistent data regarding neurochemistry of ET are related
with the GABAergic and glutamatergic systems, with a lesser contribution of adenosine
and dopaminergic and adrenergic systems, while there is not enough evidence of a definite
role of other neurotransmitter systems in ET. The improvement of harmaline-induced tremor
in rodent models achieved with T-type calcium channel antagonists, cannabinoid 1 receptor,
sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor agonists, and gap-junction blockers, suggests a potential
role of these structures in the pathogenesis of ET.
The Effects of Coenzyme Q10 Supplementation on Metabolic Profiles of Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials
Authors: Bakhshayeshkaram Marzieh , Lankarani Kamran B , Mirhosseini Naghmeh , Tabrizi Reza , Akbari Maryam , Dabbaghmanesh Mohammad H. , Asemi Zatollah
Published: November 2018

Background:

This systematic review and meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) were
conducted to determine the effects of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) supplementation on metabolic profiles of patients
diagnosed with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD).

Methods:

Two independent reviewers systematically searched online databases including PubMed, Cochrane
Library, and Web of Science databases, Scopus, EMBASE until July 2018 to identify eligible clinical trials. The
heterogeneity across included trials was assessed using Cochran’s Q test and I-square (I2) statistic. Cochrane
Collaboration risk of bias tool was applied to evaluate the quality of selected RCTs. Standardized mean difference
(SMD) and 95% Confidence Interval (CI) between two groups of intervention were used to determine pooled
effect sizes.

Results:

Out of 721 potential papers, 7 RCTs were appropriate to be included in our meta-analysis. The pooled
results revealed that CoQ10 supplementation significantly reduced total-cholesterol (SMD=-0.58; CI, -0.94, -
0.21; P=0.002; I2: 54.9), LDL-cholesterol (SMD=-0.47; 95% CI, -0.78, -0.17; P=0.003; I2:00.0), malondialdehyde
(MDA) (SMD=-3.0; 95% CI, -5.10, -0.90; P=0.005; I2: 95.4) and creatinine levels (SMD=-1.65; 95% CI, -
2.75, -0.54; P=0.003; I2: 95.0) in patients diagnosed with CKD. Triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol, fasting glucose,
insulin, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), and C-reactive protein
(CRP) concentrations did not affect following CoQ10 supplementation.

Conclusion:

Overall, the current meta-analysis demonstrated that CoQ10 supplementation significantly improved
metabolic profile in patients with CKD by reducing total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, MDA and creatinine levels,
yet it did not affect fasting glucose, insulin, HOMA-IR, and CRP concentrations.
Convolutional Neural Networks for ATC Classification
Authors: Lumini Alessandra , Nanni Loris
Published: November 2018

Background:

Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification of unknown compound has
raised high significance for both drug development and basic research. The ATC system is a multi-label classification
system proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO), which categorizes drugs into classes according
to their therapeutic effects and characteristics. This system comprises five levels and includes several classes
in each level; the first level includes 14 main overlapping classes. The ATC classification system simultaneously
considers anatomical distribution, therapeutic effects, and chemical characteristics, the prediction for an unknown
compound of its ATC classes is an essential problem, since such a prediction could be used to deduce not only a
compound’s possible active ingredients but also its therapeutic, pharmacological, and chemical properties. Nevertheless,
the problem of automatic prediction is very challenging due to the high variability of the samples and the
presence of overlapping among classes, resulting in multiple predictions and making machine learning extremely
difficult.

Methods:

In this paper, we propose a multi-label classifier system based on deep learned features to infer the
ATC classification. The system is based on a 2D representation of the samples: first a 1D feature vector is obtained
extracting information about a compound’s chemical-chemical interaction and its structural and fingerprint
similarities to other compounds belonging to the different ATC classes, then the original 1D feature vector is
reshaped to obtain a 2D matrix representation of the compound. Finally, a convolutional neural network (CNN) is
trained and used as a feature extractor. Two general purpose classifiers designed for multi-label classification are
trained using the deep learned features and resulting scores are fused by the average rule.

Results:

Experimental evaluation based on rigorous cross-validation demonstrates the superior prediction quality
of this method compared to other state-of-the-art approaches developed for this problem.

Conclusion:

Extensive experiments demonstrate that the new predictor, based on CNN, outperforms other existing
predictors in the literature in almost all the five metrics used to examine the performance for multi-label systems,
particularly in the “absolute true” rate and the “absolute false” rate, the two most significant indexes.
Matlab code will be available at https://github.com/LorisNanni.
Advances in Antidiabetic Drugs Targeting Insulin Secretion
Authors: Ding Yanting , Li Yilian , Chen Qin , Niu Bing
Published: November 2018

Background:

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a disease of systemic metabolic disorders caused by the decrease
of secretion or sensitivity of insulin. In recent years, the study of insulin-related drug targets and the development
of new drugs have become the popular topic of current medical research, and studies have shown that
multiple signaling pathways are associated with diabetes treatment. At present, some new drugs based on the new
target design have been listed on the market and have achieved good hypoglycemic effect. However, most of the
drugs are still in the clinical or pre-clinical stage. The efficacy and safety of the drugs need further clinical validation.

Objective:

This article will introduce the advancements of targets and drugs to promote insulin secretion.
Epidemics and Peptide Vaccine Response: A Brief Review
Authors: Nandy Ashesh , Dey Sumanta , Roy Proyasha , Basak Subhash C.
Published: November 2018

We briefly review the situations arising out of epidemics that erupt rather suddenly, threatening life and livelihoods of humans. Ebola, Zika and the Nipah virus outbreaks are recent examples where the viral epidemics have led to considerably high degree of fatalities or debilitating consequences. The problems are accentuated by a lack of drugs or vaccines effective against the new and emergent viruses, and the inordinate amount of temporal and financial resources that are required to combat the novel pathogens. Progress in computational, biological and informational sciences have made it possible to consider design of synthetic vaccines that can be rapidly developed and deployed to help stem the damages. In this review, we consider the pros and cons of this new paradigm and suggest a new system where the manufacturing process can be decentralized to provide more targeted vaccines to meet the urgent needs of protection in case of a rampaging epidemic.
Efficacy of β-D-Mannuronic Acid [M2000] on the Pro-Apoptotic Process and Inflammatory-Related Molecules NFκB, IL-8 and Cd49d using Healthy Donor PBMC
Authors: Khalatbari Atousa , Mahdavi Mehdi , Jafarnezhad Fahimeh , Afraei Sanaz , Zavareh Farzaneh Tofighi , Aghazadeh Zahra , Ghaderi Afshin , Mirshafiey Abbas
Published: November 2018

Objective:

This investigation evaluates the pro-apoptotic and anti-inflammatory effects
of β-D-mannuronic acid [M2000] compared to diclofenac, based on gene expression involved in
apoptosis and inflammation process [including Bcl2, NFκB, IL-8 and Cd49d] in Peripheral Blood
Mononuclear Cells [PBMCs] of healthy donors under exvivo conditions.

Material:

The venous blood samples of twelve healthy volunteers with aged 25-60 years were
collected in heparinized tubes. The healthy volunteers were selected from no smoking group and
without using illicit drugs and suffering from diabetes. The PBMCs were separated and divided
into untreated and treated groups.

Methods:

The PBMCs of each sample were cultured in 5 wells of culture plate, so that the first
well consisted of 2×106 cells exposed by LPS-EB [1μg/ml] to stimulate PBMCs and absence of
M2000 [untreated well]. The second, third, fourth and fifth wells containing 2×106 cells/well and
LPS-EB, after 4 hours incubation at 37ºC, received 5, 25 and 50 μg/well of M2000 and 5 μg/well
of diclofenac, respectively as treated group.

Results:

The PBMCs were separated and RNAs were then extracted and cDNAs synthesized and
gene expression levels were assessed by qRT-PCR. Furthermore, we studied whether M2000 is
able to facilitate apoptosis in PBMCs. Our findings represent that the high dose of M2000 could
significantly decrease the expression level of NFκB gene compared to untreated group (p <
0.0002). On the other hand, no significant change was observed in treated cells with diclofenac. All
doses of M2000 could significantly augment apoptosis compared to untreated group [p < 0.0001].
Additionally, we observed the same apoptotic effects between the medium dose of M2000 and diclofenac.
Besides, no significant reduction was shown in expression levels of IL8, Bcl2 and Cd49d
genes in all doses of M2000 and diclofenac compared to untreated group. This experiment demonstrates
M2000 as a new effective NSAID with immunosuppressive characteristics capable of stimulating
apoptosis through lowering expression levels of NFκB gene, which might be probably considered
as an appropriate drug for reducing the risk of developing inflammatory diseases and cancer.
Effect of Tithonia diversifolia extract on the biodegradability of the bioplastics in plantation soil (Pengaruh ekstrak Tithonia diversifolia terhadap biodegradabilitas bioplastik di tanah perkebunan)
Authors: ISROI . , WIBOWO Nendyo A , SAVITRI Evi , ERIS Deden D , PURWANTARA Agus
Published: November 2018

Effect of Tithonia diversifoliaextract on biodegradability of the bioplastic was evaluated using plantation soil as natural inoculum. The bioplastic was a composite of cellulose from cacao pod husk, starch and enriched by tithoniaextract. Biodegradation test wasereconducted in the glass jar for 60 days. The carbon dioxide generated from the biodegradation test titrated by 0.1 N sodium hydroxide solutions. The carbon dioxide was measured with 0.1 N HCl and using phenolphthalein followed by methyl orange as indicator. Carbon dioxide was detected in the bioplastic samples but not detected in the conventional plastic sample during the test. Biodegradation of the bioplastic enriched by tithoniaextract was higher than  that of the bioplastic without tithoniaextract. Biodegra-dation rate of the bioplastic samples in plantation soil were 0.068 mg CO2/day and 0.178 mg CO2/day for the bioplastic without and with tithoniaextract, respectively. Biodegradation of the bioplastic samples for 45 days were 12.44% and 28.07% for the bioplastic without and with tithoniaextract, respectively. Complete biodegradation of the bioplastic predicted in 244 days and 200 days for the bioplastic without and with tithoniaextract, respectively. [Kata kunci :Tithonia diversifolia, biodegrada-bility, bioplastic, plantation soil]. AbstrakPengaruh ekstrak Tithonia diversifoliaterhadap biodegradabilitas bioplastik dievaluasi dengan menggunakan tanah perkebunan sebagai inokulum alami. Bioplastik yang digunakan adalah komposit selulosa dari kulit buah kakao, pati dan diperkaya dengan ekstrak tithonia. Uji biodegra-dasi dilakukan di dalam botol selama 60 hari. Karbon dioksida yang dihasilkan dari uji biodegradasi diserap oleh larutan natrium hidroksida 0,1 N. Karbon dioksida dititrasi dengan HCl 0,1 N dan menggunakan fenolftalein diikuti dengan metil jingga sebagai indikator. Karbon dioksida terdeteksi pada sampel bioplastik namun tidak terdeteksi pada sampel plastik konvensional.Bioplastik yang diperkaya dengan ekstrak tithonia menghasilkan tingkat biodegradasi yang lebih tinggi dari pada bioplastik tanpa ekstrak tithonia. Tingkat biodegradasi sampel bioplastik di tanah perkebunan adalah 0,068 mg CO2/hari dan0,188 mg CO2/hari masing-masing untuk bioplastik tanpa dan dengan ekstrak tithonia. Biodegradasi sampel bioplastik selama 45 hari adalah 12,44% dan 28,07%berturut-turutuntuk bioplastik tanpa dan dengan ekstrak tithonia. Biodegradasi keseluruhan bioplastik diperkirakan membutuh-kan waktu 244 hari dan 200 harimasing-masinguntuk bioplastik tanpa dan dengan ekstrak tithonia.[Keywords:Tithonia diversifolia, biodegradaibi-litas, bioplastik, tanah perkebunan].
GEOMETRY EXPLORATION ACTIVITIES ASSISTED WITH DYNAMIC GEOMETRY SOFTWARE (DGS) IN A TEACHER EDUCATION CLASSROOM
Authors: Maarif Samsul , Wahyudin Wahyudin , Noto Muchamad Subali , Hidayat Wahyu , Mulyono Herri
Published: November 2018

The aims of this study were conducted to investigate the effectiveness of pre-service teachers’ geometric exploration activities assisted by Dynamic Geometry Software (DGS) Cabri II Plus computer application in constructing geometry proofs in a teacher education classroom. To these ends, mix-method design. A total of 72 pre-service teachers taking geometry course participated in the study. Findings of the study show that students who participated in geometric exploration activities assisted by DGS Cabri II Plus computer application had better achievement compared to their counterpart. The use of DGS Cabri II Plus computer application was observed to enable the students to present diagrams of verification problems appropriately, determine the valid conjectures, and make justification regarding the statements in the written proof. More importantly, participating in geometric exploration activities assisted by DGS Cabri II Plus computer application provide students with opportunities to explore alternative proofs related to geometry.