bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Improvement in white light emission of Dy3+ doped CaMoO4 via Zn2+ co-doping
Authors: Dixit Prashant , Pandey Prashant Kumar , Chauhan Vaibhav , Deshmukh Pratik , Satapathy S , Pandey Praveen C
Published: July 2022

The research in developing a single ingredient phosphor for white-light emission is progressively increasing. It is well known that the 4F9/2 → 6H13/2 (yellow) and 4F9/2 → 6H15/2 (blue) transitions of Dy3+ ions give near-white light emission. The white light emission of Dy3+ ions can be enhanced via improving the crystallinity of the host phosphor via co-doping of transition metal ions. In this paper, we report a significant improvement in the white light emission of Dy3+ doped CaMoO4 by co-doping Zn2+ ions. The x-ray diffraction pattern confirms the tetragonal phase of pure and doped CaMoO4 phosphor. The peak broadening and a red-shift in the absorption peak are observed by UV–vis absorption analysis of Zn2+/Dy3+ doped CaMoO4. From Photoluminescence studies, we have observed that in Dy3+ doped CaMoO4, the 4% Dy3+ doped CaMoO4 exhibits maximum emission. The Zn2+ ions are co-doped to further increase the luminescence intensity of CaMoO4:4%Dy3+ and the maximum luminescence is obtained for 0.25% Zn2+ concentration. Two intense emission peaks centered at 484 nm and 574 nm related to transitions 4F9/2 → 6H15/2 and 4F9/2 → 6H13/2 of Dy3+ ion are observed for Dy3+ doped phosphor. The 4F9/2 → 6H13/2 transition is the forced electric dipole transition which is affected by its chemical environment. After Zn2+ co-doping, the 4F9/2 → 6H13/2 transition is affected due to a change in asymmetricity around the Dy3+ ions. The 0.25% co-doping of Zn2+ gives 34% enhancement in luminescence emission of 4% Dy3+ doped CaMoO4. As a result, the CIE coordinates of chromaticity diagram and the color purity of the 0.25% Zn2+ co-doped CaMoO4:4Dy3+ show improvement in the overall white light emission. We have shown that with Zn2+ co-doping, the non-radiative relaxations are reduced which results in improved white light emission of Dy3+ions.
Comparison of heating mechanisms of argon helicon plasma in different wave modes with and without blue core
Authors: CUI Ruilin , ZHANG Tianliang , YUAN Qian , HE Feng , HAN Ruoyu , OUYANG Jiting
Published: July 2022

In this work, we investigated the discharge characteristics and heating mechanisms of argon helicon plasma in different wave coupled modes with and without blue core. Spatially resolved spectroscopy and emission intensity of argon atom and ion lines were measured via local optical emission spectroscopy, and electron density was measured experimentally by an RF-compensated Langmuir probe. The relation between the emission intensity and the electron density was obtained and the wavenumbers of helicon and ‘Trivelpiece-Gould’ (TG) waves were calculated by solving the dispersion relation in wave modes. The results show that at least two distinct wave coupled modes appear in argon helicon plasma at increasing RF power, i.e. blue core (or BC) mode with a significant bright core of blue lights and a normal wave (NW) mode without blue core. The emission intensity of atom line 750.5 nm (I
ArI750.5nm) is related to the electron density and tends to be saturated in wave coupled modes due to the neutral depletion, while the intensity of ion line 480.6 nm (I
ArII480.6nm) is a function of the electron density and temperature, and increases dramatically as the RF power is increased. Theoretical analysis shows that TG waves are strongly damped at the plasma edge in NW and/or BC modes, while helicon waves are the dominant mechanism of power deposition or central heating of electrons in both modes. The formation of BC column mainly depends on the enhanced central electron heating by helicon waves rather than TG waves since the excitation of TG waves would be suppressed in this special anti-resonance region.
Development of miniaturized SAF-LIBS with high repetition rate acousto-optic gating for quantitative analysis
Authors: CHEN Fei , HOU Jiajia , WANG Gang , ZHAO Yang , LI Jiaxuan , WANG Shuqing , ZHANG Lei , ZHANG Wanfei , MA Xiaofei , LIU Zhenrong , LUO Xuebin , YIN Wangbao , JIA Suotang
Published: July 2022

The self-absorption effect in laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) reduces the accuracy of quantitative measurement results. The self-absorption-free LIBS (SAF-LIBS) has been proved to directly capture the optically thin plasma spectra by setting an appropriate exposure time. In this work, a novel SAF-LIBS technique with high repetition rate acousto-optic gating is developed, in which an acousto-optic modulator is used as the shutter to diffract the optically thin fluorescence, and a high repetition rate laser is used to produce quasi-continuous plasmas to enhance the integral spectral intensity, so that the CCD spectrometer can replace an intensified CCD (ICCD) and echelle spectrometer in SAF-LIBS. Experimental results show that the average absolute prediction error of aluminum is reduced to 0.18%, which is equivalent to that of traditional SAF-LIBS. This technique not only effectively shields continuous background radiation and broadened spectral lines in optically thick plasma, but also has advantages of miniaturization, low cost, convenience and reliability.
A biology-informed similarity metric for simulated patches of human cell membrane
Authors: Bhatia Harsh , Thiagarajan Jayaraman J , Anirudh Rushil , Jayram T S , Oppelstrup Tomas , Ingólfsson Helgi I , Lightstone Felice C , Bremer Peer-Timo
Published: July 2022

Complex scientific inquiries rely increasingly upon large and autonomous multiscale simulation campaigns, which fundamentally require similarity metrics to quantify ‘sufficient’ changes among data and/or configurations. However, subject matter experts are often unable to articulate similarity precisely or in terms of well-formulated definitions, especially when new hypotheses are to be explored, making it challenging to design a meaningful metric. Furthermore, the key to practical usefulness of such metrics to enable autonomous simulations lies in in situ inference, which requires generalization to possibly substantial distributional shifts in unseen, future data. Here, we address these challenges in a cancer biology application and develop a meaningful similarity metric for ‘patches’—regions of simulated human cell membrane that express interactions between certain proteins of interest and relevant lipids. In the absence of well-defined conditions for similarity, we leverage several biology-informed notions about data and the underlying simulations to impose inductive biases on our metric learning framework, resulting in a suitable similarity metric that also generalizes well to significant distributional shifts encountered during the deployment. We combine these intuitions to organize the learned embedding space in a multiscale manner, which makes the metric robust to incomplete and even contradictory intuitions. Our approach delivers a metric that not only performs well on the conditions used for its development and other relevant criteria, but also learns key spatiotemporal relationships without ever being exposed to any such information during training.
Learning torsional eye movements through active efficient coding
Authors: Zhu Qingpeng , Zhang Chong , Triesch Jochen , Shi Bertram E
Published: July 2022

The human eye has three rotational degrees of freedom: azimuthal, elevational, and torsional. Although torsional eye movements have the most limited excursion, Hering and Helmholtz have argued that they play an important role in optimizing visual information processing. In humans, the relationship between gaze direction and torsional eye angle is described by Listing’s law. However, it is still not clear how this behavior initially develops and remains calibrated during growth. Here we present the first computational model that enables an autonomous agent to learn and maintain binocular torsional eye movement control. In our model, two neural networks connected in series: one for sensory encoding followed by one for torsion control, are learned simultaneously as the agent behaves in the environment. Learning is based on the active efficient coding (AEC) framework, a generalization of Barlow’s efficient coding hypothesis to include action. Both networks adapt by minimizing the prediction error of the sensory representation, subject to a sparsity constraint on neural activity. The policies that emerge follow the predictions of Listing’s law. Because learning is driven by the sensorimotor contingencies experienced by the agent as it interacts with the environment, our system can adapt to the physical configuration of the agent as it changes. We propose that AEC provides the most parsimonious expression to date of Hering’s and Helmholtz’s hypotheses. We also demonstrate that it has practical implications in autonomous artificial vision systems, by providing an automatic and adaptive mechanism to correct orientation misalignments between cameras in a robotic active binocular vision head. Our system’s use of fairly low resolution (100 × 100 pixel) image windows and perceptual representations amenable to event-based input paves a pathway towards the implementation of adaptive self-calibrating robot control on neuromorphic hardware.
Further Characterization of Clinicopathologic Features of Cystic Neutrophilic Granulomatous Mastitis
Authors: Liang Yuanxin , Zhan Haiying , Krishnamurti Uma , Harigopal Malini , Sun Tong
Published: July 2022

Objectives

Clinical and demographic features of cystic neutrophilic granulomatous mastitis (CNGM) have not been fully explored due to the rarity of the disease. Herein we studied clinicopathologic characteristics of CNGM in a sizable hospital-based cohort.

Methods

A case-control study was performed to compare clinicopathologic characteristics between patients with CNGM and granulomatous mastitis other than CNGM and between CNGM with and without Corynebacterium identification.

Results

Cases of CNGM (n = 31) and non-CNGM (n = 30) were included. Compared with the non-CNGM group, patients with CNGM were statistically significantly younger (median age: 38 vs 43 years), were less likely to be smokers (9% vs 40%), were more likely to have a painful lesion (97% vs 77%) or a larger mass-like lesion (median size: 4.6 vs 1.9 cm), and tended to have a higher Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System score in radiologic studies (score ≥4: 81% vs 53%), positive Corynebacterium identification results (36% vs 0%), and a longer resolving time (12 vs 6 months; all P values for above comparisons <.05). Among CNGM cases, patients with and without Corynebacterium identification shared a similar clinicopathologic profile.

Conclusions

Our study further demonstrated that CNGM is a unique infectious disease with distinct clinicopathologic features.
Relationship Between Risks for Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Resistant Hypertension, and Aldosterone Among African American Adults in the Jackson Heart Study
Authors: Koo Patrick , Muntner Paul , Hall Michael E , Gjelsvik Annie , McCool Franklin Dennis , Eaton Charles B
Published: July 2022

BACKGROUND

African Americans have a higher prevalence of resistant hypertension compared with Caucasians. Racial differences in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and increased aldosterone level may explain the racial disparity in resistant hypertension prevalence. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate if aldosterone level and hypertension status differ by risks for OSA (e.g., obesity, loud snoring, and daytime sleepiness) and how aldosterone level varies with hypertension severity and control among African Americans.

METHODS

A cross-sectional analysis was performed using baseline data on 5,052 African American adults in the Jackson Heart Study to investigate the relationships of interest using multivariable linear and multinomial logistic regression models adjusted for potential confounders. Risks for OSA were defined by a “risk score” consisting of the number of risks for OSA.

RESULTS

Of the 5,052 participants, 623 had no risks for OSA. Body mass index was the highest among those with a risk score of 6. About 39% of the sample had no hypertension, 29% had controlled hypertension, 26% had uncontrolled hypertension, and 6% had resistant hypertension. Higher odds of having uncontrolled hypertension or resistant hypertension were present in those with a higher risk score compared with those without risks for OSA. Log-aldosterone level increased with each additional risk for OSA (P-trend <0.05). Similarly, log-aldosterone also increased with more severe hypertension (P-trend <0.001). The highest aldosterone level was found in those with resistant hypertension that was inadequately controlled with medications.

CONCLUSIONS

Risks for OSA were positively associated with resistant hypertension and higher aldosterone level in African American adults.
Trail Making Test Could Predict Impairment in Cognitive Domains in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis: A Study of Diagnostic Accuracy
Authors: Kabiri Samaneh , Jameie Melika , Balali Pargol , Adib Moradi Sahand , Sanjari Moghaddam Hossein , Aghamollaii Vajiheh , Harirchian Mohammad Hossein
Published: July 2022

Objective

Cognitive impairment (CI) and executive dysfunction (ED) are prevalent in patients with multiple sclerosis (PwMS). The Minimal Assessment of Cognitive Function in Multiple Sclerosis (MACFIMS) is the gold standard neuropsychological battery (NPB) for detecting CI. Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (DKEFS) NPB evaluates ED. We aimed to find practical test(s) from DKEFS with acceptable diagnostic utility for early detection of impairment in cognitive and executive domains.

Methods

Cognitive and executive tasks, physical disability, and depression scores of 30 PwMS were assessed (17 women, age: 38.1). Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT), and Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT) from MACFIMS and Trail Making Test (TMT), Design Fluency Test (DFT), and Verbal Fluency Test (VFT) from DKEFS were selected. The association between patients' characteristics and performance in tests, and diagnostic accuracy of DKEFS tests in detecting impairment in cognitive tasks were evaluated, using Pearson correlation and receiver operator characteristic curve analyses, respectively.

Results

A significant correlation was found between disease duration and SDMT and TMT subtests. Expanded Disability Status Scale was significantly related to SDMT, VFT-switching, and TMT subtests. Beck Depression Inventory was significantly related to DFT. TMT-switching detected abnormalities in SDMT and PASAT with 100% sensitivity, 93.3% (for SDMT), and 85.7% specificity (for PASAT). TMT-letter showed 100% sensitivity and 90% specificity in identifying abnormalities in COWAT.

Conclusions

TMT, particularly the switching condition, is a practical paper-based test that could predict impairment in cognitive tasks. Clinicians may use TMT as a screening tool among PwMS.
EVAtool: an optimized reads assignment tool for small ncRNA quantification and its application in extracellular vesicle datasets
Authors: Xie Gui-Yan , Liu Chun-Jie , Guo An-Yuan
Published: July 2022

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) carrying various small non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs) play a vital roles in cell communication and diseases. Correct quantification of multiple sncRNA biotypes simultaneously in EVs is a challenge due to the short reads (<30 bp) could be mapped to multiple sncRNA types. To address this question, we developed an optimized reads assignment algorithm (ORAA) to dynamically map multi-mapping reads to the sncRNA type with a higher proportion. We integrated ORAA with reads processing steps into EVAtool Python-package (http://bioinfo.life.hust.edu.cn/EVAtool) to quantify sncRNAs, especially for sncRNA-seq from EV samples. EVAtool allows users to specify interested sncRNA types in advanced mode or use default seven sncRNAs (microRNA, small nucleolar RNA, PIWI-interacting RNAs, small nuclear RNA, ribosomal RNA, transfer RNA and Y RNA). To prove the utilities of EVAtool, we quantified the sncRNA expression profiles for 200 samples from cognitive decline and multiple sclerosis. We found that more than 20% of short reads on average were mapped to multiple sncRNA biotypes in multiple sclerosis. In cognitive decline, the proportion of Y RNA is significantly higher than other sncRNA types. EVAtool is a flexible and extensible tool that would benefit to mine potential biomarkers and functional molecules in EVs.
Learning representations for gene ontology terms by jointly encoding graph structure and textual node descriptors
Authors: Zhao Lingling , Sun Huiting , Cao Xinyi , Wen Naifeng , Wang Junjie , Wang Chunyu
Published: July 2022

Measuring the semantic similarity between Gene Ontology (GO) terms is a fundamental step in numerous functional bioinformatics applications. To fully exploit the metadata of GO terms, word embedding-based methods have been proposed recently to map GO terms to low-dimensional feature vectors. However, these representation methods commonly overlook the key information hidden in the whole GO structure and the relationship between GO terms. In this paper, we propose a novel representation model for GO terms, named GT2Vec, which jointly considers the GO graph structure obtained by graph contrastive learning and the semantic description of GO terms based on BERT encoders. Our method is evaluated on a protein similarity task on a collection of benchmark datasets. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of using a joint encoding graph structure and textual node descriptors to learn vector representations for GO terms.
SECEDO: SNV-based subclone detection using ultra-low coverage single-cell DNA sequencing
Authors: Rozhoňová Hana , Danciu Daniel , Stark Stefan , Rätsch Gunnar , Kahles André , Lehmann Kjong-Van
Published: July 2022

Motivation

Several recently developed single-cell DNA sequencing technologies enable whole-genome sequencing of thousands of cells. However, the ultra-low coverage of the sequenced data (<0.05× per cell) mostly limits their usage to the identification of copy number alterations in multi-megabase segments. Many tumors are not copy number-driven, and thus single-nucleotide variant (SNV)-based subclone detection may contribute to a more comprehensive view on intra-tumor heterogeneity. Due to the low coverage of the data, the identification of SNVs is only possible when superimposing the sequenced genomes of hundreds of genetically similar cells. Thus, we have developed a new approach to efficiently cluster tumor cells based on a Bayesian filtering approach of relevant loci and exploiting read overlap and phasing.

Results

We developed Single Cell Data Tumor Clusterer (SECEDO, lat. ‘to separate’), a new method to cluster tumor cells based solely on SNVs, inferred on ultra-low coverage single-cell DNA sequencing data. We applied SECEDO to a synthetic dataset simulating 7250 cells and eight tumor subclones from a single patient and were able to accurately reconstruct the clonal composition, detecting 92.11% of the somatic SNVs, with the smallest clusters representing only 6.9% of the total population. When applied to five real single-cell sequencing datasets from a breast cancer patient, each consisting of ≈2000 cells, SECEDO was able to recover the major clonal composition in each dataset at the original coverage of 0.03×, achieving an Adjusted Rand Index (ARI) score of ≈0.6. The current state-of-the-art SNV-based clustering method achieved an ARI score of ≈0, even after merging cells to create higher coverage data (factor 10 increase), and was only able to match SECEDOs performance when pooling data from all five datasets, in addition to artificially increasing the sequencing coverage by a factor of 7. Variant calling on the resulting clusters recovered more than twice as many SNVs as would have been detected if calling on all cells together. Further, the allelic ratio of the called SNVs on each subcluster was more than double relative to the allelic ratio of the SNVs called without clustering, thus demonstrating that calling variants on subclones, in addition to both increasing sensitivity of SNV detection and attaching SNVs to subclones, significantly increases the confidence of the called variants.

Availability and implementation

SECEDO is implemented in C++ and is publicly available at https://github.com/ratschlab/secedo. Instructions to download the data and the evaluation code to reproduce the findings in this paper are available at: https://github.com/ratschlab/secedo-evaluation. The code and data of the submitted version are archived at: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6516955.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
PLCOjs, a FAIR GWAS web SDK for the NCI Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Genetic Atlas project
Authors: Ruan Eric , Nemeth Erika , Moffitt Richard , Sandoval Lorena , Machiela Mitchell J , Freedman Neal D , Huang Wen-Yi , Wong Wendy , Chen Kai-Ling , Park Brian , Jiang Kevin , Hicks Belynda , Liu Jia , Russ Daniel , Minasian Lori , Pinsky Paul , Chanock Stephen J , Garcia-Closas Montserrat , Almeida Jonas S
Published: July 2022

Motivation

The Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG) and the Division of Cancer Prevention (DCP) at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have recently generated genome-wide association study (GWAS) data for multiple traits in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Genomic Atlas project. The GWAS included 110 000 participants. The dissemination of the genetic association data through a data portal called GWAS Explorer, in a manner that addresses the modern expectations of FAIR reusability by data scientists and engineers, is the main motivation for the development of the open-source JavaScript software development kit (SDK) reported here.

Results

The PLCO GWAS Explorer resource relies on a public stateless HTTP application programming interface (API) deployed as the sole backend service for both the landing page’s web application and third-party analytical workflows. The core PLCOjs SDK is mapped to each of the API methods, and also to each of the reference graphic visualizations in the GWAS Explorer. A few additional visualization methods extend it. As is the norm with web SDKs, no download or installation is needed and modularization supports targeted code injection for web applications, reactive notebooks (Observable) and node-based web services.

Availability and implementation

code at https://github.com/episphere/plco; project page at https://episphere.github.io/plco
Introduction: Centering Women on Post-2010 Chinese TV
Authors: Zhao Jamie J , Ng Eve
Published: July 2022

This introduction to the special issue on the topic of “Centering Women on Post-2010 Chinese TV” presents a brief review of major topics in the scholarship on televisual representations of women in contemporary China. The issue includes five research articles that, collectively, address research gaps in studies of post-2010 Chinese televisual-cultural discourses to do with ethnic minority women, women’s media authorship, women’s extramarital romance, and national heroines of the COVID-19 pandemic. We propose novel focuses for examining women’s plural roles and subjectivities on and off the TV screen. We thus call for complex understandings that move beyond the predominant attention of existing scholarship on conventional depictions of women as (virtuous) wives, (good) mothers, (inspirational) female professionals or heroines, and masculine feminist girls. Instead, this special issue sheds light on the polyvalent and contested positionality of Chinese women as gendered, ethnicized, (trans)nationalized, and romanticized subjects during a (post-)globalization and (post-)pandemic age.
Statin Use May Be Associated With a Lower Risk of Invasive Aspergillosis in Lung Transplant Recipients
Authors: Villalobos Armelle Pérez-Cortés , Foroutan Farid , Davoudi Setareh , Kothari Sagar , Martinu Tereza , Singer Lianne G , Keshavjee Shaf , Husain Shahid
Published: July 2022

Background

Statins are competitive inhibitors of 3-hydroxy-3methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMG-CoA reductase) that catalyses HMG-CoA conversion to mevalonate, a process involved in synthesizing cholesterol in humans and ergosterol in fungi. The effect of statin use on the risk of development of invasive aspergillosis (IA) in lung transplant recipients (LTRs) is not well documented.

Methods

This retrospective study included LTRs from 2010 to 2017 who were followed for one-year post-transplant. Proven or probable IA was diagnosed as per ISHLT criteria. We performed a multivariable Cox proportional hazards model of the association between IA and statin use (minimum of 2 weeks duration prior to IA), adjusting for other known IA risk factors.

Results

We identified 785 LTRs, 44% female, mean age 53 years old, the most common underlying disease being pulmonary fibrosis (23.8%). In total, 451 LTRs (57%) received statins post-transplant, atorvastatin was the most commonly used statin (68%). The mean duration of statins post-transplant was 347 days (interquartile range [IQR]: 305 to 346). And 55 (7%) LTRs developed IA in the first-year post-transplant. Out of these 55 LTRs, 9 (16.3%) had received statin before developing IA. In multivariable analysis, statin use was independently associated with a lower risk of IA (P = .002, SHR 0.30, 95% confidence interval [CI] 95% .14–.64). Statin use was also associated with a lower incidence of post-transplant Aspergillus colonization, 114 (34%) in the no statin group vs 123 (27%) in the statin group (P = .038).

Conclusions

The use of statin for a minimum of two weeks during the first-year post-transplant was associated with a 70% risk reduction of IA in LTRs.
The Status Dilemma in World Politics: An Anatomy of the China–India Asymmetrical Rivalry
Authors: Pu Xiaoyu
Published: July 2022

The role of status in world politics has become an important research topic. This article examines China–India relations through a new framework for status dilemmas. This article, through a careful comparison of the status dilemma with other models of conflict, clarifies the logic and mechanism of status dilemmas in world politics. In particular, it differentiates between the status competition model and the status dilemma model. The status dilemma entails overestimation of the competitive nature of the status relationship and underestimation of the potential compatibility of the status goal. The article demonstrates that the China–India relationship is not always a zero-sum game, even though its competitive nature is real. Asymmetrical power and motivated reasoning contribute to misunderstanding and misperception. The power asymmetry makes India oversensitive to Chinese actions, and it makes China less sensitive to India’s concerns. Motivated reasoning, based on historical memory and domestic politics, moreover, makes India’s perception of China more negative and competitive than China’s apprehension of India. The status dilemma has broad implications for power politics in the new era which suggest that policymakers should realistically evaluate the challenges of status competition while avoiding deterministic zero-sum thinking.
Treatment with sotrovimab for SARS-CoV-2 infection in a cohort of high-risk kidney transplant recipients
Authors: Villanego Florentino , Mazuecos Auxiliadora , Cubillo Beatriz , Merino M José , Poveda Inmaculada , Saura Isabel M , Segurado Óscar , Cruzado Leónidas , Eady Myriam , Zárraga Sofía , Aladrén M José , Cabello Sheila , López Verónica , González Esther , Lorenzo Inmaculada , Espí-Reig Jordi , Fernández Constantino , Osma July , Ruiz-Fuentes M Carmen , Toapanta Néstor , Franco Antonio , Burballa Carla C , Muñoz Miguel A , Crespo Marta , Pascual Julio
Published: July 2022

Background

Sotrovimab is a neutralizing monoclonal antibody (mAb) that seems to remain active against recent severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants. The evidence on its use in kidney transplant (KT) recipients, however, is limited.

Methods

We performed a multicenter, retrospective cohort study of 82 KT patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection {coronavirus disease 2019 [COVID-19]} treated with sotrovimab.

Results

Median age was 63 years. Diabetes was present in 43.9% of patients, and obesity in 32.9% of patients; 48.8% of patients had an estimated glomerular filtration rate under 30 mL/minute/1.73 m2. Additional anti–COVID-19 therapies were administered to 56 patients, especially intravenous steroids (65.9%). Sotrovimab was administered early (<5 days from the onset of the symptoms) in 46 patients (56%). Early-treated patients showed less likely progression to severe COVID-19 than those treated later, represented as a lower need for ventilator support (2.2% vs 36.1%; P < .001) or intensive care admission (2.2% vs 25%; P = .002) and COVID-19–related mortality (2.2% vs 16.7%; P = .020). In the multivariable analysis, controlling for baseline risk factors to severe COVID-19 in KT recipients, early use of sotrovimab remained as a protective factor for a composite outcome, including need for ventilator support, intensive care, and COVID-19–related mortality. No anaphylactic reactions, acute rejection episodes, impaired kidney function events, or non-kidney side effects related to sotrovimab were observed.

Conclusions

Sotrovimab had an excellent safety profile, even in high-comorbidity patients and advanced chronic kidney disease stages. Earlier administration could prevent progression to severe disease, while clinical outcomes were poor in patients treated later. Larger controlled studies enrolling KT recipients are warranted to elucidate the true efficacy of monoclonal antibody therapies.
A Clothoid Curve-Based Intersection Collision Warning Scheme in Internet of Vehicles
Authors: Luo Xuanhao , Feng Yong , Wang Chengdong
Published: July 2022

One of the most important problems in traffic safety is providing effective collision warnings in intersection areas. In this paper, we propose a Clothoid Curve-based Intersection Collision Warning scheme (CICW) in the Internet of Vehicles. In CICW, we first present a clothoid curve-based vehicle trajectory prediction model. In this model, vehicles can establish the trajectory prediction equations by themselves. Each vehicle solves the equations based on its internal state information, electronic map, GPS data and neighbour vehicles’ state information derived from periodical beacons. The vehicle then predicates the crossing points of the predicted trajectory between itself and the neighbour vehicles. Based on the reference points, it further obtains the earliest possible collision location and then issues a warning. Extensive simulation results show that the performance of the proposed scheme achieves higher collision warning accuracy and a lower error warning ratio compared to existing schemes.
The Ability of Bumblebees Bombus terrestris (Hymenoptera: Apidae) to Detect Floral Humidity is Dependent Upon Environmental Humidity
Authors: Harrison Amy S , Rands Sean A
Published: July 2022

Flowers produce local humidity that is often greater than that of the surrounding environment, and studies have shown that insect pollinators may be able to use this humidity difference to locate and identify suitable flowers. However, environmental humidity is highly heterogeneous, and is likely to affect the detectability of floral humidity, potentially constraining the contexts in which it can be used as a salient communication pathway between plants and their pollinators. In this study, we use differential conditioning techniques on bumblebees Bombus terrestris audax (Harris) to explore the detectability of an elevated floral humidity signal when presented against different levels of environmental noise. Artificial flowers were constructed that could be either dry or humid, and individual bumblebees were presented with consistent rewards in either the humid or dry flowers presented in an environment with four levels of constant humidity, ranging from low (~20% RH) to highly saturated (~95% RH). Ability to learn was dependent upon both the rewarding flower type and the environment: the bumblebees were able to learn rewarding dry flowers in all environments, but their ability to learn humid rewarding flowers was dependent on the environmental humidity, and they were unable to learn humid rewarding flowers when the environment was highly saturated. This suggests that floral humidity might be masked from bumblebees in humid environments, suggesting that it may be a more useful signal to insect pollinators in arid environments.
Subclinical left ventricular systolic dysfunction and incident stroke in the elderly: long-term findings from Cardiovascular Abnormalities and Brain Lesions
Authors: Yoshida Yuriko , Jin Zhezhen , Russo Cesare , Homma Shunichi , Nakanishi Koki , Ito Kazato , Mannina Carlo , Elkind Mitchell S V , Rundek Tatjana , Yoshita Mitsuhiro , DeCarli Charles , Wright Clinton B , Sacco Ralph L , Di Tullio Marco R
Published: July 2022

Aims

Heart disease is associated with an increased risk for ischaemic stroke. However, the predictive value of reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) for stroke is controversial and only observed in patients with severe reduction. LV global longitudinal strain (LV GLS) can detect subclinical LV systolic impairment when LVEF is normal. We investigated the prognostic role of LV GLS for incident stroke in a predominantly elderly cohort.

Methods and results

Two-dimensional echocardiography with speckle tracking was performed in the Cardiac Abnormalities and Brain Lesions (CABL) study. Among 708 stroke-free participants (mean age 71.4 ± 9.4 years, 60.9% women), abnormal LV GLS (>−14.7%: 95% percentile of the subgroup without risk factors) was detected in 133 (18.8%). During a mean follow-up of 10.8 ± 3.9 years, 47 participants (6.6%) experienced an ischaemic stroke (26 cardioembolic or cryptogenic, 21 other subtypes). The cumulative incidence of ischaemic stroke was significantly higher in participants with abnormal LV GLS than with normal LV GLS (P < 0.001). In multivariate stepwise logistic regression analysis, abnormal LV GLS was associated with ischaemic stroke independently of cardiovascular risk factors including LVEF, LV mass, left atrial volume, subclinical cerebrovascular disease at baseline, and incident atrial fibrillation [hazard ratio (HR): 2.69, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.47–4.92; P = 0.001]. Abnormal LV GLS independently predicted cardioembolic or cryptogenic stroke (adjusted HR: 3.57, 95% CI: 1.51–8.43; P = 0.004) but not other subtypes.

Conclusion

LV GLS was a strong independent predictor of ischaemic stroke in a predominantly elderly stroke-free cohort. Our findings provide insights into the brain–heart interaction and may help improve stroke primary prevention strategies.
A framework of deep learning networks provides expert-level accuracy for the detection and prognostication of pulmonary arterial hypertension
Authors: Diller Gerhard-Paul , Benesch Vidal Maria Luisa , Kempny Aleksander , Kubota Kana , Li Wei , Dimopoulos Konstantinos , Arvanitaki Alexandra , Lammers Astrid E , Wort Stephen J , Baumgartner Helmut , Orwat Stefan , Gatzoulis Michael A
Published: July 2022

Aims

To test the hypothesis that deep learning (DL) networks reliably detect pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and provide prognostic information.

Methods and results

Consecutive patients with PAH, right ventricular (RV) dilation (without PAH), and normal controls were included. An ensemble of deep convolutional networks incorporating echocardiographic views and estimated RV systolic pressure (RVSP) was trained to detect (invasively confirmed) PAH. In addition, DL-networks were trained to segment cardiac chambers and extracted geometric information throughout the cardiac cycle. The ability of DL parameters to predict all-cause mortality was assessed using Cox-proportional hazard analyses. Overall, 450 PAH patients, 308 patients with RV dilatation (201 with tetralogy of Fallot and 107 with atrial septal defects) and 67 normal controls were included. The DL algorithm achieved an accuracy and sensitivity of detecting PAH on a per patient basis of 97.6 and 100%, respectively. On univariable analysis, automatically determined right atrial area, RV area, RV fractional area change, RV inflow diameter and left ventricular eccentricity index (P < 0.001 for all) were significantly related to mortality. On multivariable analysis DL-based RV fractional area change (P < 0.001) and right atrial area (P = 0.003) emerged as independent predictors of outcome. Statistically, DL parameters were non-inferior to measures obtained manually by expert echocardiographers in predicting prognosis.

Conclusion

The study highlights the utility of DL algorithms in detecting PAH on routine echocardiograms irrespective of RV dilatation. The algorithms outperform conventional echocardiographic evaluation and provide prognostic information at expert-level. Therefore, DL methods may allow for improved screening and optimized management of PAH.
Comparative analysis of right ventricular strain in Fabry cardiomyopathy and sarcomeric hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
Authors: Meucci Maria Chiara , Lillo Rosa , Lombardo Antonella , Lanza Gaetano A , Bootsma Marianne , Butcher Steele C , Massetti Massimo , Manna Raffaele , Bax Jeroen J , Crea Filippo , Ajmone Marsan Nina , Graziani Francesca
Published: July 2022

Aims

To perform a comparative analysis of right ventricle (RV) myocardial mechanics, assessed by 2D speckle-tracking echocardiography (2D-STE), between patients with Fabry disease and patients with sarcomeric disease.

Methods and results

Patients with Fabry cardiomyopathy (FC) (n = 28) were compared with patients with sarcomeric hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), matched for degree of left ventricle hypertrophy (LVH) and demographic characteristics (n = 112). In addition, patients with Fabry disease and no LVH [phenotype-negative carriers of pathogenic α-galactosidase gene mutations (GLA LVH-)] (n = 28) were compared with age and sex-matched carriers of sarcomeric gene mutations without LVH [Phenotype-negative carriers of pathogenic sarcomeric gene mutations (Sarc LVH-)] (n = 56). Standard echocardiography and 2D-STE were performed in all participants. Despite a subtle impairment of RV global longitudinal strain (RV-GLS) was common in both groups, patients with FC showed a more prominent reduction of RV free wall longitudinal strain (RV-FWS) and lower values of difference between RV-FWS and RV-GLS (ΔRV strain), in comparison to individuals with HCM (P < 0.001 and P = 0.002, respectively). RV-FWS and ΔRV strain demonstrated an independent and additive value in discriminating FC from HCM, over the presence of symmetric LVH, systolic anterior motion of the mitral valve and RV hypertrophy. Similar results were found in GLA LVH- patients: they had worse RV-FWS and lower values of ΔRV strain as compared to Sarc LVH- patients (both P < 0.001).

Conclusion

Patients with FC show a specific pattern of RV myocardial mechanics, characterized by a larger impairment of RV-FWS and lower ΔRV strain in comparison to patients with HCM, which may be helpful in the differential diagnosis between these two diseases.
Scuttle for shelter: flight-to-safety and political uncertainty during the Spanish Second Republic
Authors: Battilossi Stefano , Houpt Stefan O , Verdickt Gertjan
Published: July 2022

The Spanish Second Republic was a unique experiment of democratization in interwar Europe, which was characterized by extreme levels of political uncertainty. We find that investors responded to shifts in uncertainty by selling stocks in favor of government bonds—a behavior known as flight-to-safety. Additionally, we find that political uncertainty caused stock market stress and induced significant differences in the cross-section of expected stock returns, consistent with the exposures to political uncertainty. The fact that investors recurrently scuttled to shelter into government bonds suggests that they did not perceive a radical change in the political regime as an immediate and credible threat.
Role Change and Russia's Responses to Upheavals in Ukraine
Authors: Strycharz Damian
Published: July 2022

Russia reacted in markedly different ways to comparable upheavals in Ukraine: the Orange Revolution in 2004 and the Euromaidan Revolution in 2013/2014. This paper argues that a combination of important external and internal factors led to a change in Russia's dominant national role conceptions, which contributed to Moscow's more assertive foreign policy, exemplified by divergent reactions to these two upheavals. Consequently, the paper aims to contribute to the existing scholarship on role change, demonstrating mechanisms behind such changes and examining the necessary scope conditions. The analysis reveals two types of role change: long-term, comprehensive ones that may lead to shifts in foreign policy behavior and swift changes motivated by contemporary events that result from role conflict.
Meta-Prism 2.0: Enabling algorithm and web server for ultra-fast, memory-efficient, and accurate analysis among millions of microbial community samples
Authors: Kang Kai , Chong Hui , Ning Kang
Published: July 2022

Background

Microbial community samples have been accumulating at a speed faster than ever, with hundreds of thousands of samples been sequenced each year. Mining such a huge amount of multisource heterogeneous data is becoming an increasingly difficult challenge, so efficient and accurate compare and search of samples is in urgent need: faced with millions of samples in the data repository, traditional sample comparison and search approaches fall short in speed and accuracy.

Findings

Here we proposed Meta-Prism 2.0, a microbial community sample analysis method that has pushed the time and memory efficiency to a new limit without compromising accuracy. Based on sparse data structure, time-saving instruction pipeline, and SIMD optimization, Meta-Prism 2.0 has enabled ultra-fast, memory-efficient, flexible, and accurate search among millions of samples. Meta-Prism 2.0 was put to test on several data sets, with the largest containing 1 million samples. Results show that Meta-Prism 2.0’s 0.00001-s per sample pair compare speed and 8-GB memory needs for searching against 1 million samples have made it one of the most efficient sample analysis methods. Additionally, Meta-Prism 2.0 can achieve accuracy comparable with or better than other contemporary methods. Third, Meta-Prism 2.0 can precisely identify the original biome for samples, thus enabling sample source tracking. Finally, we have provided a web server for fast search of microbial community samples online.

Conclusions

In summary, Meta-Prism 2.0 has changed the resource-intensive sample search scheme to an effective procedure, which could be conducted by researchers every day even on a laptop, for insightful sample search, similarity analysis, and knowledge discovery. Meta-Prism 2.0 can be accessed at https://github.com/HUST-NingKang-Lab/Meta-Prism-2.0, and the web server can be accessed at https://hust-ningkang-lab.github.io/Meta-Prism-2.0/.
Functional Morphology of the Urohyal Shunt for Symmetrical and Asymmetrical Ventilation in the Flatfish, Isopsetta isolepis
Authors: Amacker K , Farina S C
Published: July 2022

Flatfishes are benthic fishes that are well known for their ability to bury in the sediment, making the transition from above to below the sediment in a matter of seconds. Laterally flattened bodies allow flatfishes to lay flush against the substrate, a behavior facilitated by having an asymmetrical neurocranium with two eyes on one side of the head. Despite neurocranial asymmetry, their gill chambers are highly symmetrical. Additionally, most flatfishes have a uniquely shaped urohyal bone that forms passageway for water to travel ventrally between the “eyed-side” and “blind-side” gill chambers. Our study examines whether the kinematics and pressures generated by the gill chambers are also symmetrical during breathing above and below the sediment and during rapid burial in sediment. We studied Isopsetta isolepis individuals using sonomicrometry crystals to measure the changes in positions of the opercle bones relative to the urohyal and pressure transducers to record gill chamber pressures during burial. We conclude I. isolepis exhibit both symmetrical and asymmetrical breathing above and below the sediment. Pressures and movements were highly asymmetrical during burial jetting. We observed motions that indicate that the urohyal is an active shunt to allow passage of water between the eyed to the blind-side gill chambers.
CD8 T-cell heterogeneity during T-cell exhaustion and PD-1-targeted immunotherapy
Authors: Ando Satomi , Araki Koichi
Published: July 2022

Persistent antigenic stimulation results in loss of effector function or physical deletion of antigen-specific CD8 T cells. This T-cell state is called T-cell exhaustion and occurs during chronic infection and cancer. Antigen-specific CD8 T cells during T-cell exhaustion express the inhibitory receptor PD-1, the expression of which plays a major role in T-cell dysfunction. PD-1 blockade re-invigorates CD8 T-cell immunity and has been proven effective against many different types of human cancer. To further improve the efficacy of PD-1-targeted immunotherapy in cancer patients, a better understanding of T-cell exhaustion is required. Recent studies have revealed that antigen-specific CD8 T cells during T-cell exhaustion are heterogeneous and have also uncovered the detailed mechanisms for PD-1-targeted immunotherapy. Here, we review the CD8 T-cell subsets that arise during T-cell exhaustion, the lineage relationship among these individual subsets and the role of each subset in PD-1 blockade. Also, we discuss potential strategies to enhance the efficacy of PD-1-targeted immunotherapy.
Masculinized Sexual Ornaments in Female Lizards Correlate with Ornament-Enhancing Thermoregulatory Behavior
Authors: Assis B A , Avery J D , Earley R L , Langkilde T
Published: July 2022

Synopsis

The adaptive significance of colorful or exaggerated traits (i.e., ornaments) expressed in females is often unclear. Competing hypotheses suggest that expression of female ornaments arises from maladaptive (or neutral) genetic inheritance from males along with incomplete epigenetic regulation, or from positive selection for ornaments in females under social competition. Whether costly or advantageous, the visibility of such traits can sometimes be behaviorally modulated in order to maximize fitness. Female eastern fence lizards express blue badges that are variable in size and color saturation. These are rudimentary compared to those seen in males and carry important costs such as reduced mating opportunities. Body temperature is a well-established enhancer of badge color, and thus thermoregulation may be one way these animals modulate badge visibility. We quantified realized body temperatures of female lizards paired in laboratory trials and observed that females with larger badges attained higher body temperatures when freely allowed to thermoregulate, sometimes beyond physiological optima. In this association between phenotype and behavior, females with larger badges exhibited thermoregulatory patterns that increase their badges’ visibility. This signal-enhancing behavior is difficult to reconcile with the widely held view that female ornaments are maladaptive, suggesting they may carry context-dependent social benefits.