bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Anime as a medium for science learning
Authors: Mahler Leah S. , Mayer Richard E.
Published: December 2023

Background

Emotional design of multimedia lessons involves adding features that are intended to increase learner enjoyment and promote learning—such as adding narrative, anthropomorphizing non‐human elements, and using warm colours.

Objective

The present study extends this work to examine the potential of Japanese animation (anime) for improving science learning.

Method

Specifically, 134 English‐speaking students learned about cells in the human body by viewing the popular anime, Cells at Work, either in Japanese with English subtitles or dubbed in English with no subtitles (anime groups), or by viewing a slideshow containing the same information (slideshow group). The anime conditions were vibrant story‐driven lessons that depicted human‐looking cells working to fight off invaders in a human body that looked like a city. The slideshow used very similar wording as the anime groups, and displayed the cells without anthropomorphism or a storyline.

Results and Conclusion

The anime groups did not differ significantly from each other on any dependent measures and were therefore combined. The anime groups scored significantly higher than the slideshow group on retention (d = 0.35) and transfer (d = 0.48) tests. The anime groups also had significantly higher ratings of motivation (d = 0.60) and enjoyment (d = 1.13), whereas, the slideshow group had significantly higher ratings of distraction (d = 0.59). These results support the cognitive‐affective theory of learning with media (CATLM) and demonstrate that anime may be an effective learning medium.

Takeaways

Anime should be considered as a medium for science learning, especially when students might not otherwise be motivated to learn.
Modeling and optimization of spray drying process parameters using artificial neural network and genetic algorithm for the production of probiotic (Lactiplantibacillus plantarum) finger millet milk powder
Authors: Yadav Shweta , Mishra Sabyasachi
Published: December 2023

Consumers have been more inclined towards functional food due to various health issues. Non‐dairy‐based probiotic milk could be the potential alternative to fulfill consumer demand. Spray drying of functional health drinks could enhance the shelf life and reduce the transportation cost of developed food powder. The current study was focused on the modeling and optimization of spray‐drying process parameters using an artificial neural network (ANN) coupled with a genetic algorithm (GA). The data so obtained using ANN‐GA was also compared with the data obtained using response surface methodology (RSM) coupled with desirability function (DF). The results indicated that the ANN model was better at predicting the response parameters compared to the RSM model with a higher correlation coefficient (R) of .9997, .9994, .9964, and .9992 for training, testing, validation, and all datasets, respectively. The optimum conditions obtained using RSM‐DF were 160.41°C of inlet air temperature, 33.77% of maltodextrin content, and 138.79 mL/h of feed rate while that for ANN‐GA were 160.87°C, 20%, and 200 mL/h. The RSM‐DF method proved to be better for the optimization of response parameters. Therefore method selection for modeling and optimization of process and response parameters must be based on fulfilling the specific criteria.

Practical Applications

Non‐dairy milk production has gained popularity in the area of research and product development. Various process protocols have been reported to produce high‐quality non‐dairy milk to fulfill the demand for a vegan diet. However, nutrient bioavailability, longer shelf life, product stability, and consumer acceptability are hard to obtain from cereal‐based non‐dairy milk. The current study contributes to produce spray‐dried milk powder followed by fermentation at optimum drying conditions with good quality and stability. The process has been modeled and optimized in the study using advanced statistical tools such as ANN‐GA and RSM‐DF. They can effectively predict the quality parameters and determine the optimal conditions for new experimental data.
Challenging behaviour and its correlates in preschool‐aged children with an intellectual disability in Saudi Arabia
Authors: Alarifi S. , Denne L. , Hastings R. P.
Published: December 2023

Background

Young children with an intellectual disability have a higher risk of developing challenging behaviour (CB). Early identification of risk factors for CB allows for earlier intervention. The aim of the current study was to assess the prevalence and correlates of CB in preschool‐aged children with an intellectual disability in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia).

Methods

One hundred twenty parents of preschool‐aged (3–6 years old) children who had been diagnosed (DSM‐5 criteria) with an intellectual disability completed an online cross‐sectional survey that included demographic, CB and child adaptive skills measures. The relationship between CB and 15 potential correlates (e.g. gender and degree of disability) was examined using independent samples t‐tests and chi‐squared tests.

Results

Most preschool‐aged (3–6 years old) children with an intellectual disability exhibited CB (78.8%, 95% CI [70.3, 85.8]), with a 63.2% prevalence rate for self‐injurious behaviours (95% C [53.8, 72.0]), a 57.6% rate for aggressive destructive behaviours (95% CI [48.2, 66.7]) and a 25% rate for stereotypy (95% CI [17.7, 34.0]). The likelihood of a child engaging in self‐injurious and stereotyped behaviours was higher in those with autism and intellectual disability. Children with Down syndrome displayed fewer stereotyped behaviours. Low adaptive skill levels were associated with increased overall CB, self‐injurious and stereotyped behaviours.

Conclusions

The identified correlates of CB in this population and cultural context align with the international evidence base. Findings have implications for the importance of early systematic screening of CB in preschool‐aged children in Saudi Arabia and other similar contexts. Preventative measures are suggested for preschool‐aged children with an intellectual disability who are more likely to demonstrate CB, such as those with autism and poor adaptive behaviours.
Work and social reproduction in rural India: Lessons from time‐use data
Authors: Rao Smriti , Ramnarain Smita , Naidu Sirisha , Uppal Anupama , Mukherjee Avanti
Published: December 2023

Efforts to decentre/decolonize our understanding of capitalist development in the Global South call for more complex and differentiated categories of work that acknowledge the significance of both non‐waged and reproductive labour. These categories would allow us to more clearly ‘see’ the varying intersections of gender, class and caste within this world of work. Even as the literature on work in the Global South acknowledges the importance of forms of non‐waged work, there is still more work to be done to sufficiently incorporate the labour of social reproduction. In this paper, which emerges from an effort to apply a feminist social reproduction lens in the field, we propose understanding work through four conceptual dyads: waged productive labour, non‐waged productive labour, waged reproductive labour and non‐waged reproductive labour. Through an in‐depth description of three specific cases from a time‐use survey we conducted in rural Punjab, India, we argue not only that all four dyads are required to encompass the world of work but also that this more expansive conceptualization can help us produce richer analyses of the intersections of class, caste and gender.
Diversity–functioning relationships across hierarchies of biological organization
Authors: Mayor Sarah , Allan Eric , Altermatt Florian , Isbell Forest , Schaepman Michael E. , Schmid Bernhard , Niklaus Pascal A.
Published: December 2023

Numerous biodiversity–ecosystem functioning (BEF) experiments have shown that plant community productivity typically increases with species diversity. In these studies, diversity is generally quantified using metrics of taxonomic, phylogenetic, or functional differences among community members. Research has also shown that the relationships between species diversity and functioning depends on the spatial scale considered, primarily because larger areas may contain different ecosystem types and span gradients in environmental conditions, which result in a turnover of the species set present locally. A fact that has received little attention, however, is that ecological systems are hierarchically structured, from genes to individuals to communities to entire landscapes, and that additional biological variation occurs at levels of organization above and below those typically considered in BEF research. Here, we present cases of diversity effects at different hierarchical levels of organization and compare these to the species‐diversity effects traditionally studied. We argue that when this evidence is combined across levels, a general framework emerges that allows the transfer of insights and concepts between traditionally disparate disciplines. Such a framework presents an important step towards a better understanding of the functional importance of diversity in complex, real‐world systems.
Do Patients with Borderline Anemia Need Treatment before Total Hip Arthroplasty? A Propensity Score‐Matched Cohort Study
Authors: Cai Lijun , Chen Liyile , Zhao Chengcheng , Han Guangtao , Wang Qiuru , Kang Pengde
Published: December 2023

Objective

Preoperative anemia has been identified as a modifiable risk factor for multiple adverse outcomes. In real clinical practice, considering treatment of anemia would increase costs and delay surgery. Patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty (THA) with mild anemia are usually neglected and still underdiagnosed or inadequately treated. This study investigated the effects of preoperative borderline anemia and anemia intervention before THA on perioperative outcomes.

Methods

We screened 706 patients from those receiving THA at our hospital from January 2020 to January 2022, with 112 in the borderline anemia group and 594 in the non‐anemia group. The cohort for this retrospective study was created by using propensity score matching (PSM) and subgroup analysis. The primary outcome was perioperative blood loss, while secondary outcomes were the rate of allogeneic blood transfusion and human serum albumin transfusion, perioperative laboratory indicators, postoperative length of stay, and complications. The independent sample t‐test and the Mann–Whitney U‐test were used to analyze continuous data, and the Pearson χ2‐test or the Fisher exact test was used to analyze categorical variables.

Results

After PSM, there was no significant difference in perioperative blood loss between patients in the borderline anemia group and the non‐anemia group. The primary outcomes of hidden (p = 0.004) and total (p = 0.005) blood loss were significantly lower in the intervention group than in the control group. No statistical differences were found in allogeneic blood transfusion, human serum albumin transfusion, postoperative length of stay, or complications (p > 0.05).

Conclusions

Anemia treatments for patients with borderline anemia before THA significantly reduced hidden blood loss and total blood loss in the perioperative period and decreased the drop of hemoglobin and hematocrit without increasing postoperative complications.
Introduction and An Analysis of Inter‐ and Intra‐observer Validity to the Classification of Hoffa‐Like Tibial Plateau Fractures
Authors: Wang Zhongzheng , Wang Yanwei , Wang Yuchuan , Ye Pengyu , Zhu Yanbin , Chen Wei , Hou Zhiyong , Zhang Yingze
Published: December 2023

Objective

The posterior coronal shearing fractures of the tibial plateau are rare and can be easily missed or ignored. Our team defined these fractures as Hoffa‐like fracture of the tibial plateau and conducted a series of studies. The aim of this study is to introduce the characteristics of the Hoffa‐like fracture of the tibial plateau, propose a new classification system and evaluate its validity.

Methods

Sixty‐one patients with Hoffa‐like fractures of the tibial plateau were treated in five trauma centers (I–III) from 2017 to 2020. A new classification system was developed based on the morphological fracture patterns in CT and radiographic of the first 30 cases. Ten cases of suspected tibial plateau Hoffa‐like fractures were supplemented additionally to the 61 cases to increase the accuracy. CT and radiographic images of the 71 cases were reviewed independently by four reviewers on two separate occasions and classified according to the new classification system. Cohen's kappa coefficient (κ) was used to analyze the reliability on separate observers at the same time and to analyze the classification made by same observer at different times (intra‐observer), which measures inter‐observer and intra‐observer agreements.

Results

Out of the 61 patients, 46 (75.4%) isolated coronal fractures involving the medial condyle of tibial plateaus and 53 (86.9%) combined with intercondylar spine fractures. The κ‐values were calculated for the new classification system (mean κ = 0.74 inter‐observer, mean κ = 0.79 intra‐observer, indicating substantial agreement).

Conclusion

The novel classification lends insight into fracture morphology of the tibial plateau Hoffa‐like fractures, has good inter‐ and intra‐observer validity, and it aids in treatment.
Children of Separation: An International Profile
Authors: Zilincikova Zuzana , Skopek Jan , Leopold Thomas
Published: December 2023

This study offers a comprehensive international overview of children from separated families across 13 countries, with an emphasis on the European context. We investigate changes in the number of children experiencing parental separation over birth cohorts (1960–1989) and changes in their social composition using data from the Generations and Gender Survey and official statistics. Results on absolute numbers highlight the impact of demographic shifts and complement previous research that focused on the relative risk of experiencing parental separation. We show that declining fertility rates have, in most countries, mitigated the rise in the number of children affected by increasing separation rates. Moreover, a large majority of contemporary children of separation are born to higher‐educated mothers, demonstrating that the spread of education across parent cohorts outweighed educational risk gradients in shaping the socioeconomic background of children of separation. These findings improve our demographic understanding of children of separation and inform policy targeting family disruption as a social problem and allocating resources to address it.
Articulating sustainable transitions, food justice and food democracy: Insights from three social experiments in France, Belgium and Brazil
Authors: Lamine Claire , Tuscano Martina , Feyereisen Marlène , Castro Terena Peres , Bui Sibylle
Published: December 2023

Transitions to sustainable consumption and production patterns now appear as a widely acknowledged necessity for contemporary food systems. Sustainable transition processes raise major issues of social justice as they often exclude some actors and social groups, as the literature on alternative food networks has amply shown. Based on three case studies anchored in different national contexts (France, Brazil and Belgium), which all emerged at the interface of civil society and public policy, the aim of this article is to show how their promoters try to tackle together sustainable transitions, food justice and food democracy, and thus make food system transitions not only sustainable but also socially just. They adopt on the one hand, an analytical stance on transitions to more sustainable food practices, on inequalities of access and on participation, and on the other hand, an experimental stance leading them to put to test specific mechanisms to support these transitions, to alleviate food injustice and to favour participation and thus also food democracy. We show that it is by combining these analytical and experimental stances that these social experiments succeed to different degrees in articulating sustainable transitions, food justice and food democracy.
The new mentee: Exploring Gen Z women medical students' mentorship needs and experiences
Authors: Li Calandra , Veinot Paula , Mylopoulos Maria , Leung Fok‐Han , Law Marcus
Published: December 2023

Purpose

The incoming Canadian cohort of medical students is comprised mainly of individuals from Generation Z (Gen Z; born between 1997 and 2012), with greater than 50% of applicants identifying as female. A gap remains in our understanding of Gen Z women learners in their challenges in navigating medical education, their expectations for their medical careers and the influences that have impacted their worldview. This study explored the needs, values, and experiences of Gen Z women medical students and the impact of these factors on mentorship expectations among this population that will soon be entering the workforce.

Methods

Upon receiving ethics approval from the University of Toronto Research Ethics Board, semi‐structured interviews were conducted (February–May 2021) with 15 Gen Z women students from 14 English‐speaking Canadian medical schools who had given written consent to participate. An iterative constant comparative team approach was utilised in which the interview guide and sampling were adjusted as the data evolved. Transcripts were line by line coded into categories, then grouped into themes using descriptive analysis.

Results

These socially aware learners described how society had afforded them greater opportunities for expression, which gave them a sense of feeling advantaged over older generations. However, participants paradoxically expressed feelings of powerlessness and commented on tensions they experienced when interacting with older generation physician mentors, especially during conversations on social justice issues. They also highlighted instances of biased mentorship specific to their gender. Participants emphasised a desire for inclusive mentorship that considered the mentee's identity and intersectionality.

Conclusions

The growing number of women learners in Canadian medical schools necessitates a re‐evaluation of mentorship delivery. Mentors must adapt by integrating Gen Z ideals to overcome mentorship challenges.
An internal medicine residency preparatory curriculum for fourth‐year medical students
Authors: Donohue Katelyn , Davis Natalie , Farber Dara , Retener Norman , Dittmar Philip
Published: December 2023

Background

Intern preparation courses are often broad in scope; there are few published specialty‐specific programs outside of General Surgery and Obstetrics. We designed an internal medicine (IM) residency preparatory course at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, which aimed to prepare graduating medical students for the rigours of IM residency training, mapped to Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs).

Methods

Fourteen fourth‐year medical students who were matriculating into IM residency programs enrolled in a 4‐week long residency preparation course. The course was designed to teach skills using case‐based learning modules, specialty topic seminars, simulation laboratories, procedure laboratories and clinical practice. Participants were surveyed before and after the course on their perceived knowledge and ability with the skills tested.

Results

With the exception of ‘giving signout to a colleague’, there was a significant difference in the participant's perceived ability for each skill taught within the course (P < 0.03 for each), with mean pre‐course scores of 1.4–3.7 (SD = 0.5–1.2) and mean post‐course scores of 3.2–4.2 (SD = 0.5–1.3). A second survey on course evaluation and perceived impact, completed 3 months after starting intern year, resulted in all respondents reporting that the information learned during the course had directly affected their care of patients on a daily or weekly basis. The modified Ottawa scale was the primary assessment means for the EPAs, with participants approaching entrustment at the conclusion of the course.

Conclusions

Implementation of an IM‐specific residency preparation course is a useful adjunct in the fourth year of medical school.
Glucose metabolism and autonomic function in healthy individuals and patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus at rest and during exercise
Authors: Hamaoka Takuto , Leuenberger Urs A. , Drew Rachel C. , Murray Matthew , Blaha Cheryl , Luck Jonathan Carter , Sinoway Lawrence I. , Cui Jian
Published: December 2023

Autonomic dysfunction is a common complication of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, the character of dysfunction varies in different reports. Differences in measurement methodology and complications might have influenced the inconsistent results. We sought to evaluate comprehensively the relationship between abnormal glucose metabolism and autonomic function at rest and the response to exercise in healthy individuals and T2DM patients. We hypothesized that both sympathetic and parasympathetic indices would decrease with the progression of abnormal glucose metabolism in individuals with few complications related to high sympathetic tone. Twenty healthy individuals and 11 T2DM patients without clinically evident cardiovascular disease other than controlled hypertension were examined. Resting muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA), heart rate variability, spontaneous cardiovagal baroreflex sensitivity (CBRS), sympathetic baroreflex sensitivity and the MSNA response to handgrip exercise were measured. Resting MSNA was lower in patients with T2DM than in healthy control subjects (P = 0.011). Resting MSNA was negatively correlated with haemoglobin A1c in all subjects (R = −0.45, P = 0.024). The parasympathetic components of heart rate variability and CBRS were negatively correlated with glycaemic/insulin indices in all subjects and even in the control group only (all, P < 0.05). In all subjects, the MSNA response to exercise was positively correlated with fasting blood glucose (R = 0.69, P < 0.001). Resting sympathetic activity and parasympathetic modulation of heart rate were decreased in relationship to abnormal glucose metabolism. Meanwhile, the sympathetic responses to handgrip were preserved in diabetics. The responses were correlated with glucose/insulin parameters throughout diabetic and control subjects. These results suggest the importance of a comprehensive assessment of autonomic function in T2DM.
Skeletal muscle mitochondria demonstrate similar respiration per cristae surface area independent of training status and sex in healthy humans
Authors: Schytz Camilla Tvede , Ørtenblad Niels , Lundby Anne‐Kristine Meinild , Jacobs Robert Acton , Nielsen Joachim , Lundby Carsten
Published: December 2023

The impact of training status and sex on intrinsic skeletal muscle mitochondrial respiratory capacity remains unclear. We examined this by analysing human skeletal muscle mitochondrial respiration relative to mitochondrial volume and cristae density across training statuses and sexes. Mitochondrial cristae density was estimated in skeletal muscle biopsies originating from previous independent studies. Participants included females (n = 12) and males (n = 41) across training statuses ranging from untrained (UT, n = 8), recreationally active (RA, n = 9), active‐to‐elite runners (RUN, n = 27) and cross‐country skiers (XC, n = 9). The XC and RUN groups demonstrated higher mitochondrial volume density than the RA and UT groups while all active groups (RA, RUN and XC) displayed higher mass‐specific capacity of oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) and mitochondrial cristae density than UT. Differences in OXPHOS diminished between active groups and UT when normalising to mitochondrial volume density and were lost when normalising to muscle cristae surface area density. Moreover, active females (n = 6–9) and males (n = 15–18) did not differ in mitochondrial volume and cristae density, OXPHOS, or when normalising OXPHOS to mitochondrial volume density and muscle cristae surface area density. These findings demonstrate: (1) differences in OXPHOS between active and untrained individuals may be explained by both higher mitochondrial volume and cristae density in active individuals, with no difference in intrinsic mitochondrial respiratory capacity (OXPHOS per muscle cristae surface area density); and (2) no sex differences in mitochondrial volume and cristae density or mass‐specific and normalised OXPHOS. This highlights the importance of normalising OXPHOS to muscle cristae surface area density when studying skeletal muscle mitochondrial biology.

image

Key points

Oxidative phosphorylation is the mitochondrial process by which ATP is produced, governed by the electrochemical gradient across the inner mitochondrial membrane with infoldings named cristae.

In human skeletal muscle, the mass‐specific capacity of oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) can change independently of shifts in mitochondrial volume density, which may be attributed to variations in cristae density.

We demonstrate that differences in skeletal muscle OXPHOS between healthy females and males, ranging from untrained to elite endurance athletes, are matched by differences in cristae density.

This suggests that higher OXPHOS in skeletal muscles of active individuals is attributable to an increase in the density of cristae.

These findings broaden our understanding of the variability in human skeletal muscle OXPHOS and highlight the significance of cristae, specific to mitochondrial respiration.
Palmitoylated Sept8-204 modulates learning and anxiety by regulating filopodia arborization and actin dynamics
Authors: Liu Huicong , Yan Peipei , Wu Can , Rao Muding , Zhu Jiangli , Lv Luxian , Li Wenqiang , Liang Yinming , Qi Shiqian , Lu Kefeng , Kong Eryan
Published: December 2023

Septin proteins are involved in diverse physiological functions, including the formation of specialized cytoskeletal structures. Septin 8 (Sept8) is implicated in spine morphogenesis and dendritic branching through palmitoylation. We explored the role and regulation of a Sept8 variant in human neural-like cells and in the mouse brain. We identified Sept8-204 as a brain-specific variant of Sept8 that was abundant in neurons and modified by palmitoylation, specifically at Cys
469
, Cys
470
, and Cys
472
. Sept8-204 palmitoylation was mediated by the palmitoyltransferase ZDHHC7 and was removed by the depalmitoylase PPT1. Palmitoylation of Sept8-204 bound to F-actin and induced cytoskeletal dynamics to promote the outgrowth of filopodia in N2a cells and the arborization of neurites in hippocampal neurons. In contrast, a Sept8-204 variant that could not be palmitoylated because of mutation of all three Cys residues (Sept8-204-3CA) lost its ability to bind F-actin, and expression of this mutant did not promote morphological changes. Genetic deletion of
Sept8
,
Sept8
-204, or
Zdhhc7
caused deficits in learning and memory and promoted anxiety-like behaviors in mice. Our findings provide greater insight into the regulation of Sept8-204 by palmitoylation and its role in neuronal morphology and function in relation to cognition.
Draft genome sequence of the endophytic fungus
Phoma
sp. strain YAFEF320, isolated from
Gerbera jamesonii
Authors: Lu Zhenhong , Yuan Xiaolong , Zhang Chuanguang , Li Shenchong , Yang Chunmei , Wang Yi
Published: December 2023

Here, we report a draft genome sequence of endophytic fungus
Phoma
sp
.
strain YAFEF320, isolated from the roots of
Gerbera jamesonii
. The genome size of
Phoma
sp. YAFEF320 was 32,542,820 bp with 52.08% GC content. The genome resource will support future research into potential secondary metabolite diversity of this fungus.
Structural changes in the gut virome of patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease
Authors: Li Youshan , Ma Jie , Meng Jinxin , Li Shenghui , Zhang Yan , You Wei , Sai Xulin , Yang Jianfeng , Zhang Shuo , Sun Wen
Published: December 2023

The gut microbiota is an important risk factor and therapeutic target in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ACVD), a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. However, alterations in the gut viral community and its contribution to ACVD have rarely been investigated. In this study, we characterized and compared the gut viromes from the fecal metagenomes of 214 patients with ACVD and 171 healthy individuals using a reference-dependent virome approach. We revealed that ACVD patients exhibited a significant increase in viral richness at the family level and a visible alteration in overall virome structure regardless of host sex, age, or body mass index. At the viral operational taxonomic unit (vOTU) level, we identified 105 vOTUs that significantly increased in abundance in ACVD patients and 60 vOTUs that increased in abundance in healthy controls. A majority (43.8%) of the ACVD-enriched vOTUs were predicted to infect
Streptococcaceae
,
Lachnospiraceae
,
Ruminococcaceae
, and
Enterobacteriaceae
, and
Streptococcaceae
had tight correlations with the corresponding gut bacterial species, whereas a considerable proportion (35.0%) of the control-enriched vOTUs were
Bacteroidaceae
,
Burkholderiaceae
, and
Lachnospiraceae
phages. Functional analyses revealed five viral auxiliary metabolic genes that differed in frequency between ACVD-enriched and control-enriched vOTUs. Moreover, we identified gut viral signatures for ACVD discrimination and achieved an optimal area under the receiver operator characteristic curve of 0.878 for distinguishing patients from healthy controls. Our results provide a comprehensive view of the ACVD gut virome, which may contribute to the development of novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for ACVD and additional relevant cardiovascular diseases.

IMPORTANCE

Existing studies have found that there is a close relationship between human virome and numerous diseases, and diseases may affect the diversity and composition of the virome; at the same time, changes in the virome will in turn affect the onset and progression of the disease. However, the composition and functional capabilities of the gut virome associated with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ACVD) have not been systematically investigated. To our knowledge, this is the first study investigating the gut virome in patients with ACVD. We characterized the structural changes in the gut virome of ACVD patients, which may facilitate additional mechanistic, diagnostic, and interventional studies of ACVD and related diseases.
Supplemental Material: Stepwise astronomical tuning of obliquity-driven evaporite cycles in an Eocene salt lake (Jianghan Basin, Hubei Province, China): Implications for middle Eocene East Asian monsoon-like climate evolution
Authors: Kong Xiangxin , et al.
Published: December 2023

Supplemental Text S1: Comparison of possible solutions to the Astronomical driving model of salt rhythmic cycles of studied interval. Figures S1-3: Time-series analyses and astronomical tuning of wells W2, X1 and X2. Table S1: Main Paleogene evaporite-bearing basins in China. Table S2: Stratigraphic correlation and geological age. Table S3: Species of thermophilic and xerophytic pollen identified in Qianjiang 4L. Table S4: The filtering ranges of each curve in Figs. 5 and 6. Supplemental Data: Gamma-Ray (GR) and lithologic rank series.
Advances in the management of chronic kidney disease
Authors: Chen Teresa K , Hoenig Melanie P , Nitsch Dorothea , Grams Morgan E
Published: December 2023

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) represents a global public health crisis, but awareness by patients and providers is poor. Defined as persistent abnormalities in kidney structure or function for more than three months, manifested as either low glomerular filtration rate or presence of a marker of kidney damage such as albuminuria, CKD can be identified through readily available blood and urine tests. Early recognition of CKD is crucial for harnessing major advances in staging, prognosis, and treatment. This review discusses the evidence behind the general principles of CKD management, such as blood pressure and glucose control, renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system blockade, statin therapy, and dietary management. It additionally describes individualized approaches to treatment based on risk of kidney failure and cause of CKD. Finally, it reviews novel classes of kidney protective agents including sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors, glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, non-steroidal selective mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists, and endothelin receptor antagonists. Appropriate, widespread implementation of these highly effective therapies should improve the lives of people with CKD and decrease the worldwide incidence of kidney failure.
Diet and growth of vegetarian and vegan children
Authors: Alexy Ute
Published: December 2023

The prevalence of plant-based diets, that is, vegetarian (without meat and fish) and vegan (plant foods only) diets, is increasing also among children and adolescents, and energy and nutrient requirements are highest during this age. Hence the question emerges whether and, if so, how much animal-source food should be included in a healthy and sustainable diet. Recent studies, published 2018–2023, mostly showed comparable anthropometrics between omnivore and vegetarian children, however, fat mass was lower in vegetarians or vegans. Results on marker of iron status were inconsistent. Vitamin B12 status was lower without supplementation, but did not differ between groups when supplementation prevalence was high. Blood lipid profile seems to be more favourable in plant-based groups. Bone mineral density was lower in vegetarians and vegans, but differences attenuated after adjustment. Nevertheless, the long-term clinical relevance of these results remains unclear. Energy intake did not differ between groups and was in the recommended range, although protein intake was lower in vegetarians and vegans. Reported calcium intakes did not differ or were lower in vegetarians compared with omnivores, and were lowest in vegans. More favourable intakes in subjects on plant-based diets were found for fibre, sugar, folate, magnesium and iron. All but one study were cross-sectional, and longitudinal studies of both vegetarian and vegan children/adolescents are required to prospectively examine associations of plant-based diets with health. Professional societies should develop country-specific food-based dietary guidelines adapted to the special dietary habits for children on plant-based diets.
Adaptation of student behavioural routines during Covid-19: a multimodal approach
Authors: Girardini Nicolò Alessandro , Centellegher Simone , Passerini Andrea , Bison Ivano , Giunchiglia Fausto , Lepri Bruno
Published: December 2023

One population group that had to significantly adapt and change their behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic is students. While previous studies have extensively investigated the impact of the pandemic on their psychological well-being and academic performance, limited attention has been given to their activity routines. In this work, we analyze students’ behavioural changes by examining qualitative and quantitative differences in their daily routines between two distinct periods (2018 and 2020). Using an Experience Sampling Method (ESM) that captures multimodal self-reported data on students’ activity, locations and sociality, we apply Non-Negative Matrix Factorization (NMF) to extract meaningful behavioural components, and quantify the variations in behaviour between students in 2018 and 2020. Surprisingly, despite the presence of COVID-19 restrictions, we find minimal changes in the activities performed by students, and the diversity of activities also remains largely unaffected. Leveraging the richness of the data at our disposal, we discover that activities adaptation to the pandemic primarily occurred in the location and sociality dimensions.
Learning the Geodesic Embedding with Graph Neural Networks
Authors: Pang Bo , Zheng Zhongtian , Wang Guoping , Wang Peng-Shuai
Published: December 2023

We present GEGNN, a learning-based method for computing the approximate geodesic distance between two arbitrary points on discrete polyhedra surfaces with constant time complexity after fast precomputation. Previous relevant methods either focus on computing the geodesic distance between a single source and all destinations, which has linear complexity at least or require a long precomputation time. Our key idea is to train a graph neural network to embed an input mesh into a high-dimensional embedding space and compute the geodesic distance between a pair of points using the corresponding embedding vectors and a lightweight decoding function. To facilitate the learning of the embedding, we propose novel graph convolution and graph pooling modules that incorporate local geodesic information and are verified to be much more effective than previous designs. After training, our method requires only one forward pass of the network per mesh as precomputation. Then, we can compute the geodesic distance between a pair of points using our decoding function, which requires only several matrix multiplications and can be massively parallelized on GPUs. We verify the efficiency and effectiveness of our method on ShapeNet and demonstrate that our method is faster than existing methods by orders of magnitude while achieving comparable or better accuracy. Additionally, our method exhibits robustness on noisy and incomplete meshes and strong generalization ability on out-of-distribution meshes. The code and pretrained model can be found on https://github.com/IntelligentGeometry/GeGnn.
Decaf: Monocular Deformation Capture for Face and Hand Interactions
Authors: Shimada Soshi , Golyanik Vladislav , Pérez Patrick , Theobalt Christian
Published: December 2023

Existing methods for 3D tracking from monocular RGB videos predominantly consider articulated and rigid objects (
e.g.
, two hands or humans interacting with rigid environments). Modelling dense non-rigid object deformations in this setting (
e.g.
when hands are interacting with a face), remained largely unaddressed so far, although such effects can improve the realism of the downstream applications such as AR/VR, 3D virtual avatar communications, and character animations. This is due to the severe ill-posedness of the monocular view setting and the associated challenges (
e.g.
, in acquiring a dataset for training and evaluation or obtaining the reasonable non-uniform stiffness of the deformable object). While it is possible to naïvely track multiple non-rigid objects independently using 3D templates or parametric 3D models, such an approach would suffer from multiple artefacts in the resulting 3D estimates such as depth ambiguity, unnatural intra-object collisions and missing or implausible deformations.

Hence, this paper introduces the first method that addresses the fundamental challenges depicted above and that allows tracking human hands interacting with human faces in 3D from single monocular RGB videos. We model hands as articulated objects inducing non-rigid face deformations during an active interaction. Our method relies on a new hand-face motion and interaction capture dataset with realistic face deformations acquired with a markerless multi-view camera system. As a pivotal step in its creation, we process the reconstructed raw 3D shapes with position-based dynamics and an approach for non-uniform stiffness estimation of the head tissues, which results in plausible annotations of the surface deformations, hand-face contact regions and head-hand positions. At the core of our neural approach are a variational auto-encoder supplying the hand-face depth prior and modules that guide the 3D tracking by estimating the contacts and the deformations. Our final 3D hand and face reconstructions are realistic and more plausible compared to several baselines applicable in our setting, both quantitatively and qualitatively. https://vcai.mpi-inf.mpg.de/projects/Decaf
NodeGit
: Diffing and Merging Node Graphs
Authors: Rinaldi Eduardo , Sforza Davide , Pellacini Fabio
Published: December 2023

The use of version control is pervasive in collaborative software projects. Version control systems are based on two primary operations: diffing two versions to compute the change between them and merging two versions edited concurrently. Recent works provide solutions to diff and merge graphics assets such as images, meshes and scenes. In this work, we present a practical algorithm to diff and merge procedural programs written as node graphs. To obtain more precise diffs, we version the graphs directly rather than their textual representations. Diffing graphs is equivalent to computing the graph edit distance, which is known to be computationally infeasible. Following prior work, we propose an approximate algorithm tailored to our problem domain. We validate the proposed algorithm by applying it both to manual edits and to a large set of randomized modifications of procedural shapes and materials. We compared our method with existing state-of-the-art algorithms, showing that our approach is the only one that reliably detects user edits.
Developable Quad Meshes and Contact Element Nets
Authors: Inza Victor Ceballos , Rist Florian , Wallner Johannes , Pottmann Helmut
Published: December 2023

The property of a surface being developable can be expressed in different equivalent ways, by vanishing Gauss curvature, or by the existence of isometric mappings to planar domains. Computational contributions to this topic range from special parametrizations to discrete-isometric mappings. However, so far a local criterion expressing developability of general quad meshes has been lacking. In this paper, we propose a new and efficient discrete developability criterion that is applied to quad meshes equipped with vertex weights, and which is motivated by a well-known characterization in differential geometry, namely a rank-deficient second fundamental form. We assign contact elements to the faces of meshes and ruling vectors to the edges, which in combination yield a developability condition per face. Using standard optimization procedures, we are able to perform interactive design and developable lofting. The meshes we employ are combinatorially regular quad meshes with isolated singularities but are otherwise not required to follow any special curves on a developable surface. They are thus easily embedded into a design workflow involving standard operations like remeshing, trimming, and merging operations. An important feature is that we can directly derive a watertight, rational bi-quadratic spline surface from our meshes. Remarkably, it occurs as the limit of weighted Doo-Sabin subdivision, which acts in an interpolatory manner on contact elements.
Efficient Hybrid Zoom Using Camera Fusion on Mobile Phones
Authors: Wu Xiaotong , Lai Wei-Sheng , Shih Yichang , Herrmann Charles , Krainin Michael , Sun Deqing , Liang Chia-Kai
Published: December 2023

DSLR cameras can achieve multiple zoom levels via shifting lens distances or swapping lens types. However, these techniques are not possible on smart-phone devices due to space constraints. Most smartphone manufacturers adopt a hybrid zoom system: commonly a Wide (
W
) camera at a low zoom level and a Telephoto (
T
) camera at a high zoom level. To simulate zoom levels between
W
and
T
, these systems crop and digitally upsample images from
W
, leading to significant detail loss. In this paper, we propose an efficient system for hybrid zoom super-resolution on mobile devices, which captures a synchronous pair of W and
T
shots and leverages machine learning models to align and transfer details from
T
to
W.
We further develop an adaptive blending method that accounts for depth-of-field mismatches, scene occlusion, flow uncertainty, and alignment errors. To minimize the domain gap, we design a dual-phone camera rig to capture real-world inputs and ground-truths for supervised training. Our method generates a 12-megapixel image in 500ms on a mobile platform and compares favorably against state-of-the-art methods under extensive evaluation on real-world scenarios.
SAILOR: Synergizing Radiance and Occupancy Fields for Live Human Performance Capture
Authors: Dong Zheng , Xu Ke , Gao Yaoan , Sun Qilin , Bao Hujun , Xu Weiwei , Lau Rynson W. H.
Published: December 2023

Immersive user experiences in live VR/AR performances require a fast and accurate free-view rendering of the performers. Existing methods are mainly based on Pixel-aligned Implicit Functions (PIFu) or Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF). However, while PIFu-based methods usually fail to produce photorealistic view-dependent textures, NeRF-based methods typically lack local geometry accuracy and are computationally heavy (
e.g.
, dense sampling of 3D points, additional fine-tuning, or pose estimation). In this work, we propose a novel generalizable method, named SAILOR, to create high-quality human free-view videos from very sparse RGBD live streams. To produce view-dependent textures while preserving locally accurate geometry, we integrate PIFu and NeRF such that they work synergistically by conditioning the PIFu on depth and then rendering view-dependent textures through NeRF. Specifically, we propose a novel network, named SRONet, for this hybrid representation. SRONet can handle unseen performers without fine-tuning. Besides, a neural blending-based ray interpolation approach, a tree-based voxel-denoising scheme, and a parallel computing pipeline are incorporated to reconstruct and render live free-view videos at 10 fps on average. To evaluate the rendering performance, we construct a real-captured RGBD benchmark from 40 performers. Experimental results show that SAILOR outperforms existing human reconstruction and performance capture methods.
Stable Discrete Bending by Analytic Eigensystem and Adaptive Orthotropic Geometric Stiffness
Authors: Wang Zhendong , Yang Yin , Wang Huamin
Published: December 2023

In this paper, we address two limitations of dihedral angle based discrete bending (DAB) models, i.e. the indefiniteness of their energy Hessian and their vulnerability to geometry degeneracies. To tackle the indefiniteness issue, we present novel analytic expressions for the eigensystem of a DAB energy Hessian. Our expressions reveal that DAB models typically have positive, negative, and zero eigenvalues, with four of each, respectively. By using these expressions, we can efficiently project an indefinite DAB energy Hessian as positive semi-definite analytically. To enhance the stability of DAB models at degenerate geometries, we propose rectifying their indefinite geometric stiffness matrix by using orthotropic geometric stiffness matrices with adaptive parameters calculated from our analytic eigensystem. Among the twelve motion modes of a dihedral element, our resulting Hessian for DAB models retains only the desirable bending modes, compared to the undesirable altitude-changing modes of the exact Hessian with original geometric stiffness, all modes of the Gauss-Newton approximation without geometric stiffness, and no modes of the projected Hessians with inappropriate geometric stiffness. Additionally, we suggest adjusting the compression stiffness according to the Kirchhoff-Love thin plate theory to avoid over-compression. Our method not only ensures the positive semidefiniteness but also avoids instability caused by large bending forces at degenerate geometries. To demonstrate the benefit of our approaches, we show comparisons against existing methods on the simulation of cloth and thin plates in challenging examples.