bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Low-energy spin dynamics in a Kitaev material Na3Ni2BiO6 investigated by nuclear magnetic resonance
Authors: Shi 史 Xinyu 昕雨 , Cui 崔 Yi 祎 , Shangguan 上 Yanyan 官艳艳 , Xu 徐 Xiaoyu 霄宇 , Wu 吴 Zhanlong 占龙 , Hu 胡 Ze 泽 , Li 李 Shuo 硕 , Du 杜 Kefan 柯帆 , Chen 陈 Ying 颖 , Ma 马 Long 龙 , Liu 刘 Zhengxin 正鑫 , Wen 温 Jinsheng 锦生 , Zhang 张 Jinshan 金珊 , Yu 于 Weiqiang 伟强
Published: April 2024

We perform 23Na nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and magnetization measurements on an S = 1, quasi-2D honeycomb lattice antiferromagnet Na3Ni2BiO6. A large positive Curie–Weiss constant of 22.9 K is observed. The NMR spectra at low fields are consistent with a zigzag magnetic order, indicating a large easy-axis anisotropy. With the field applied along the c
* axis, the NMR spectra confirm the existence of a 1/3-magnetization plateau phase between 5.1 T and 7.1 T. The transition from the zigzag order to the 1/3-magnetization plateau phase is also found to be a first-order type. A monotonic decrease of the spin gap is revealed in the 1/3-magnetization plateau phase, which reaches zero at a quantum critical field H
C ≈ 8.35 T before entering the fully polarized phase. These data suggest the existence of exchange frustration in the system along with strong ferromagnetic interactions, hosting the possibility for Kitaev physics. Besides, well below the ordered phase, the 1/T
1 at high fields shows either a level off or an enhancement upon cooling below 3 K, which suggests the existence of low-energy fluctuations.
Crystal growth, magnetic and electrical transport properties of the kagome magnet RCr6Ge6 (R = Gd–Tm)
Authors: Yang 杨 Xingyu 星宇 , Zeng 曾 Qingqi 庆祺 , He 何 Miao 苗 , Xu 许 Xitong 锡童 , Du 杜 Haifeng 海峰 , Qu 屈 Zhe 哲
Published: April 2024

Kagome magnets have attracted considerable research attention due to the interplay between topology, magnetism and electronic correlations. In this study we report single-crystal synthesis of a series of the kagome magnets RCr6Ge6 (R = Gd–Tm) that possess defect-free Cr kagome lattices and systematically study their magnetic and electrical transport properties. The transition from a canted ferrimagnetic to a paramagnetic state in GdCr6Ge6, TbCr6Ge6, DyCr6Ge6, HoCr6Ge6, ErCr6Ge6 and TmCr6Ge6 occurs at 11.3 K, 10.8 K, 4.3 K, 2.5 K, 3.3 K and below 2 K, respectively, due to R–R interactions within the compounds. Magnetization measurements reveal highly anisotropic magnetism with canted magnetic moments in these compounds. In electrical transport, both negative and positive magnetoresistances at different magnetic fields and temperatures have been observed due to the competition between different scattering mechanisms. This work enriches our understanding of the Cr-based kagome magnets and paves the way to search for possible topological responses in this family.
Thermodynamics of charged black holes in Maxwell-dilaton-massive gravity*
Authors: Yue 岳 Rui-Hong 瑞宏 , Qian 钱 Kai-Qiang 凯强 , Liu 刘 Bo 博 , Zou 邹 De-Cheng 德成
Published: April 2024

Considering the nonminimal coupling of the dilaton field to the massive graviton field in Maxwell-dilaton-massive gravity, we obtain a class of analytical solutions of charged black holes, which are neither asymptotically flat nor (A)dS. The calculated thermodynamic quantities, such as mass, temperature, and entropy, verify the validity of the first law of black hole thermodynamics. Moreover, we further investigate the critical behaviors of these black holes in the grand canonical and canonical ensembles and find a novel critical phenomenon never before observed, known as the "reverse" reentrant phase transition with a tricritical point. It implies that the system undergoes a novel "SBH-LBH-SBH" phase transition process and is the reverse of the "LBH-SBH-LBH" process observed in reentrant phase transitions.
The role of shear flow collapse and enhanced turbulence spreading in edge cooling approaching the density limit
Authors: Long Ting , Diamond P.H. , Ke Rui , Chen Zhipeng , Xu Xin , Tian Wenjing , Hong Rongjie , Cao Mingyun , Liu Yanmin , Xu Min , Wang Lu , Yang Zhoujun , Yuan Jinbang , Zhou Yongkang , Yan Qinghao , Yang Qinghu , Shen Chengshuo , Nie Lin , Wang Zhanhui , Hao Guangzhou , Wang Nengchao , Chen Zhongyong , Li Jiquan , Chen Wei , Zhong Wulyu
Published: April 2024

Experimental studies of the dynamics of shear flow and turbulence spreading at the edge of tokamak plasmas are reported. Scans of line-averaged density and plasma current are carried out while approaching the Greenwald density limit on the J-TEXT tokamak. In all scans, when the Greenwald fraction

f

G

=

n
¯

/

n

G

=

n
¯

/

(

I

p

/

π

a
2

)

increases, a common feature of enhanced turbulence spreading and edge cooling is found. The result suggests that turbulence spreading is a good indicator of edge cooling, indeed better than turbulent particle transport is. The normalized turbulence spreading power increases significantly when the normalized

E

×

B

shearing rate decreases. This indicates that turbulence spreading becomes prominent when the shearing rate is weaker than the turbulence scattering rate. The asymmetry between positive/negative (blobs/holes) spreading events, turbulence spreading power and shear flow are discussed. These results elucidate the important effects of interaction between shear flow and turbulence spreading on plasma edge cooling.
Practical aspects of hybrid cooling devices engineering design for HPGe detectors
Authors: Malgin V.
Published: April 2024

The article discusses some practical aspects of engineering
design associated with the use of Stirling cryocoolers in liquefiers
of hybrid cooling devices for HPGe detectors. A feature of hybrid
cooling devices is the presence of two modes: the recondensation
mode when the cryocooler is operating, and the power interruption
mode with a non-renewable LN
2 boil-off. Based on the Thermal
Networks Method, models for each mode are proposed, for analyzing
heat fluxes between standard components forming the liquefier
unit. The proposed models were validated by comparing calculated
parameters of the transition process between the two above-mentioned
operating modes with those obtained experimentally. It is shown that
the minimization of heat gain through the liquefier unit into Dewar
for both operating modes of the hybrid cooling device leads to
contradictory engineering design requirements. Preliminary
conclusions based on the thermal network models are confirmed
experimentally on a serial hybrid cooling device, produced by the
Baltic Scientific Instruments Company. This resulted in practical
recommendations on the choice of condenser position, which depended
on operating conditions of hybrid cooling device, for example as a
laboratory equipment or as a part of remote radiation monitoring
stations.
Fractal Schrödinger equation: implications for fractal sets
Authors: Khalili Golmankhaneh Alireza , Pellis Stergios , Zingales Massimiliano
Published: April 2024

This paper delves into the world of fractal calculus, investigating its implications for fractal sets. It introduces the Fractal Schrödinger equation and provides insights into its consequences. The study presents a general solution for the time-dependent Schrödinger equation, unveiling its core aspects. Exploring quantum mechanics in the context of fractals, the paper analyzes the probability density of the radial hydrogen atom, unveiling its behavior within fractal dimensions. The investigation extends to deciphering the intricate energy levels of the hydrogen atom, uncovering the interplay of quantum mechanics and fractal geometry. Innovatively, the research applies the Fractal Schrödinger equation to simple harmonic motion, leading to the introduction of the fractal probability density function for the harmonic oscillator. The paper employs a series of illustrative figures that enhance the comprehension of the findings. By intertwining quantum mechanics and fractal mathematics, this research paves the way for deeper insights into their relationship.
Thermalization of linear Fermi systems
Authors: Reslen Jose
Published: April 2024

The issue of thermalization in open quantum systems is explored from the perspective of fermion models with quadratic couplings and linear baths. Both the thermodynamic state and the stationary solution of the Lindblad equation are rendered as a matrix-product sequence following a reformulation in terms of underlying algebras, allowing to characterize a family of stationary solutions and determine the cases where they correspond to thermal states. This characterization provides insight into the operational mechanisms that lead the system to thermalization and their interplay with mechanisms that tend to drive it out of thermal equilibrium.
Optimization method for freeform progressive addition lenses using the coincident degree of weight distributions for power deviation and astigmatism
Authors: Xiang Huazhong , Ding Qihui , Wang Yaqiong , Ma Lefei , Cheng Hui , Zheng Zexi , Chen Jiabi , Wang Cheng , Zhang Dawei , Zhuang Songlin
Published: April 2024

This study proposed an optimization method for freeform progressive addition lenses (PALs) based on the coincident degree of weight distributions (WD) for power deviation and astigmatism. Compared with the existing methods which were limited in optimizing WDs for power deviation and astigmatism, our proposed approach offers a more refined optimization. In the design phase, the power deviation and astigmatism of these lenses were evaluated using the existing surface shape. Compared with the prescriptions of the patients, the coincident degrees between the obtained distributions and prescriptions of the PAL power and astigmatism were calculated in the multi-view axis condition. Normalization processing of coincident degrees was performed, yielding the corresponding threshold value of WDs and optimizing the allocated coincident degrees. Based on a minimization error function model, two PALs were designed, simulated, machined, and evaluated using a commercial software. The optimized method reduced peripheral astigmatism and improved the optical properties of PALs. The proposed approach optimizes the freeform PALs and enhances their design optimization in optometry.
Studies on the motion and radiation of interior plasmas in gas-filled hohlraums with different laser entrance hole sizes
Authors: GUO 郭 Liang 亮 , LI 李 Xin 欣 , LI 李 Qi 琦 , LI 李 Sanwei 三伟 , HU 胡 Xin 昕 , LI 李 Jin 晋 , DENG 邓 Bo 博 , DENG 邓 Keli 克立 , WANG 王 Qiangqiang 强强 , CAO 曹 Zhurong 柱荣 , HOU 侯 Lifei 立飞 , CHE 车 Xingsen 兴森 , DU 杜 Huabing 华冰 , XU 徐 Tao 涛 , HE 何 Xiaoan 小安 , LI 李 Zhichao 志超 , JIANG 蒋 Xiaohua 小华 , JIANG 蒋 Wei 炜 , ZHENG 郑 Chunyang 春阳 , ZHENG 郑 Wudi 无敌 , SONG 宋 Peng 鹏 , DING 丁 Yongkun 永坤 , YANG 杨 Dong 冬 , YANG 杨 Jiamin 家敏
Published: April 2024

An experiment on 100 kJ laser facility is performed to study the motive features and radiation properties of plasmas from different areas inside gas-filled cylindrical hohlraums. These hohlraums are designed to possess one open end and one laser entrance hole (LEH) with different diameters, which would or not result in the blocking of the LEH. An x-ray streak camera that is set at 16 degrees with respect to the hohlraum axis is applied to acquire the time-resolved x-ray images from the open end. Based on the images, we can study the evolutions of the wall plasma, corona bubble plasma and LEH plasma simultaneously through an equivalent view field of hohlraum interior. Multi-group flat response x-ray detectors are applied to measure the x-ray fluxes. In order to understand these characteristics, our two-dimensional radiation hydrodynamic code is used to simulate the experimental results. For the accuracy of reproduction, dielectronic recombination and two parameter corrections are applied in our code. Based on the comparison between experiments and simulations, we quantitatively understand the blocking process of LEH and the motion effects of other plasmas. The calibrated code is beneficial to design the gas-filled hohlraum in a nearby parameter space, especially the limit size of LEH.
The spectral form of the functional model for maximally dissipative operators: A Lagrange identity approach
Authors: Brown M. , Marletta M. , Naboko S. , Wood I.
Published: April 2024

This paper is a contribution to the theory of functional models. In particular, it develops the so-called spectral form of the functional model where the selfadjoint dilation of the operator is represented as the operator of multiplication by an independent variable in some auxiliary vector-valued function space. With the help of a Lagrange identity, in the present version the relationship between this auxiliary space and the original Hilbert space will be explicit. A simple example is provided.
Solutions of Gross–Pitaevskii equation with periodic potential in dimension three
Authors: Karpeshina Yu. , Kim Seonguk , Shterenberg R.
Published: April 2024

Quasiperiodic solutions of the Gross–Pitaevskii equation with a periodic potential in dimension three are studied. It is proved that there is an extensive “nonresonant” set

G

⊂

R

3

\mathcal {G}\subset \mathbb {R}^3

such that for every

\vv k\in \mathcal {G} there is a solution asymptotically close to a plane wave

Ae^{i\langle \vv {k},\vv {x}\rangle } as

|\vv k|\to \infty , given 

A
A

is sufficiently small.
Taking the legal perspective seriously
Authors: Ryu Angelo , Sewell Trenton
Published: April 2024

Perspectivalism is a popular way to understand legal obligations. That there is a legal obligation, on this view, is equivalent to there being a moral obligation from the legal perspective. But Adam Perry argues that perspectivalism cannot account for arguments going from legal premisses to a factual conclusion. Take, for instance, the premisses (i) only those over 18 have a legal right to vote and (ii) Sarah has a legal right to vote. Seemingly we should be able to arrive at the valid conclusion that Sarah is over 18. Perry says perspectivalism cannot explain the validity of this conclusion. We show that it can. So his objection – that perspectivalism cannot make sense of an important feature of legal argumentation – fails. Along the way, our discussion reveals an important lesson: those who endorse perspectivalism must take care to ensure that all parts of a legal argument, both premisses and conclusions, are true according to the legal perspective.
The effect of global change on the expression and evolution of floral traits
Authors: Day Briggs Samantha , Anderson Jill T
Published: April 2024

Background

Pollinators impose strong selection on floral traits, but other abiotic and biotic agents also drive the evolution of floral traits and influence plant reproduction. Global change is expected to have widespread effects on biotic and abiotic systems, resulting in novel selection on floral traits in future conditions.

Scope

Global change has depressed pollinator abundance and altered abiotic conditions, thereby exposing flowering plant species to novel suites of selective pressures. Here, we consider how biotic and abiotic factors interact to shape the expression and evolution of floral characteristics (the targets of selection), including floral size, colour, physiology, reward quantity and quality, and longevity, amongst other traits. We examine cases in which selection imposed by climatic factors conflicts with pollinator-mediated selection. Additionally, we explore how floral traits respond to environmental changes through phenotypic plasticity and how that can alter plant fecundity. Throughout this review, we evaluate how global change might shift the expression and evolution of floral phenotypes.

Conclusions

Floral traits evolve in response to multiple interacting agents of selection. Different agents can sometimes exert conflicting selection. For example, pollinators often prefer large flowers, but drought stress can favour the evolution of smaller flowers, and the size of floral organs can evolve as a trade-off between selection mediated by these opposing actors. Nevertheless, few studies have manipulated abiotic and biotic agents of selection factorially to disentangle their relative strengths and directions of selection. The literature has more often evaluated plastic responses of floral traits to stressors than it has considered how abiotic factors alter selection on these traits. Global change will likely alter the selective landscape through changes in the abundance and community composition of mutualists and antagonists and novel abiotic conditions. We encourage future work to consider the effects of abiotic and biotic agents of selection on floral evolution, which will enable more robust predictions about floral evolution and plant reproduction as global change progresses.
Evaluation of Differential Diagnostics Potential of Uniform Data Set 2 Neuropsychology Battery Using Alzheimer’s Disease Biomarkers
Authors: Čihák Martin , Horáková Hana , Vyhnálek Martin , Veverová Kateřina , Matušková Veronika , Laczó Jan , Hort Jakub , Nikolai Tomáš
Published: April 2024

Objective

This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of the Uniform Data Set (UDS) 2 battery in distinguishing between individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) attributable to Alzheimer’s disease (MCI-AD) and those with MCI due to other causes (MCI-nonAD), based on contemporary AT(N) biomarker criteria. Despite the implementation of the novel UDS 3 battery, the UDS 2 battery is still used in several non-English-speaking countries.

Methods

We employed a cross-sectional design. A total of 113 Czech participants with MCI underwent a comprehensive diagnostic assessment, including cerebrospinal fluid biomarker evaluation, resulting in two groups: 45 individuals with prodromal AD (A+T+) and 68 participants with non-Alzheimer’s pathological changes or normal AD biomarkers (A−). Multivariable logistic regression analyses were employed with neuropsychological test scores and demographic variables as predictors and AD status as an outcome. Model 1 included UDS 2 scores that differed between AD and non-AD groups (Logical Memory delayed recall), Model 2 employed also Letter Fluency and Rey’s Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). The two models were compared using area under the receiver operating characteristic curves. We also created separate logistic regression models for each of the UDS 2 scores.

Results

Worse performance in delayed recall of Logical Memory significantly predicted the presence of positive AD biomarkers. In addition, the inclusion of Letter Fluency RAVLT into the model significantly enhanced its discriminative capacity.

Conclusion

Our findings demonstrate that using Letter Fluency and RAVLT alongside the UDS 2 battery can enhance its potential for differential diagnostics.
DockingGA: enhancing targeted molecule generation using transformer neural network and genetic algorithm with docking simulation
Authors: Gao Changnan , Bao Wenjie , Wang Shuang , Zheng Jianyang , Wang Lulu , Ren Yongqi , Jiao Linfang , Wang Jianmin , Wang Xun
Published: April 2024

Generative molecular models generate novel molecules with desired properties by searching chemical space. Traditional combinatorial optimization methods, such as genetic algorithms, have demonstrated superior performance in various molecular optimization tasks. However, these methods do not utilize docking simulation to inform the design process, and heavy dependence on the quality and quantity of available data, as well as require additional structural optimization to become candidate drugs. To address this limitation, we propose a novel model named DockingGA that combines Transformer neural networks and genetic algorithms to generate molecules with better binding affinity for specific targets. In order to generate high quality molecules, we chose the Self-referencing Chemical Structure Strings to represent the molecule and optimize the binding affinity of the molecules to different targets. Compared to other baseline models, DockingGA proves to be the optimal model in all docking results for the top 1, 10 and 100 molecules, while maintaining 100% novelty. Furthermore, the distribution of physicochemical properties demonstrates the ability of DockingGA to generate molecules with favorable and appropriate properties. This innovation creates new opportunities for the application of generative models in practical drug discovery.
Self-supervised learning on millions of primary RNA sequences from 72 vertebrates improves sequence-based RNA splicing prediction
Authors: Chen Ken , Zhou Yue , Ding Maolin , Wang Yu , Ren Zhixiang , Yang Yuedong
Published: April 2024

Language models pretrained by self-supervised learning (SSL) have been widely utilized to study protein sequences, while few models were developed for genomic sequences and were limited to single species. Due to the lack of genomes from different species, these models cannot effectively leverage evolutionary information. In this study, we have developed SpliceBERT, a language model pretrained on primary ribonucleic acids (RNA) sequences from 72 vertebrates by masked language modeling, and applied it to sequence-based modeling of RNA splicing. Pretraining SpliceBERT on diverse species enables effective identification of evolutionarily conserved elements. Meanwhile, the learned hidden states and attention weights can characterize the biological properties of splice sites. As a result, SpliceBERT was shown effective on several downstream tasks: zero-shot prediction of variant effects on splicing, prediction of branchpoints in humans, and cross-species prediction of splice sites. Our study highlighted the importance of pretraining genomic language models on a diverse range of species and suggested that SSL is a promising approach to enhance our understanding of the regulatory logic underlying genomic sequences.
BEERS2: RNA-Seq simulation through high fidelity in silico modeling
Authors: Brooks Thomas G , Lahens Nicholas F , Mrčela Antonijo , Sarantopoulou Dimitra , Nayak Soumyashant , Naik Amruta , Sengupta Shaon , Choi Peter S , Grant Gregory R
Published: April 2024

Simulation of RNA-seq reads is critical in the assessment, comparison, benchmarking and development of bioinformatics tools. Yet the field of RNA-seq simulators has progressed little in the last decade. To address this need we have developed BEERS2, which combines a flexible and highly configurable design with detailed simulation of the entire library preparation and sequencing pipeline. BEERS2 takes input transcripts (typically fully length messenger RNA transcripts with polyA tails) from either customizable input or from CAMPAREE simulated RNA samples. It produces realistic reads of these transcripts as FASTQ, SAM or BAM formats with the SAM or BAM formats containing the true alignment to the reference genome. It also produces true transcript-level quantification values. BEERS2 combines a flexible and highly configurable design with detailed simulation of the entire library preparation and sequencing pipeline and is designed to include the effects of polyA selection and RiboZero for ribosomal depletion, hexamer priming sequence biases, GC-content biases in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification, barcode read errors and errors during PCR amplification. These characteristics combine to make BEERS2 the most complete simulation of RNA-seq to date. Finally, we demonstrate the use of BEERS2 by measuring the effect of several settings on the popular Salmon pseudoalignment algorithm.
MUSCLE: multi-view and multi-scale attentional feature fusion for microRNA–disease associations prediction
Authors: Ji Boya , Zou Haitao , Xu Liwen , Xie Xiaolan , Peng Shaoliang
Published: April 2024

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) synergize with various biomolecules in human cells resulting in diverse functions in regulating a wide range of biological processes. Predicting potential disease-associated miRNAs as valuable biomarkers contributes to the treatment of human diseases. However, few previous methods take a holistic perspective and only concentrate on isolated miRNA and disease objects, thereby ignoring that human cells are responsible for multiple relationships. In this work, we first constructed a multi-view graph based on the relationships between miRNAs and various biomolecules, and then utilized graph attention neural network to learn the graph topology features of miRNAs and diseases for each view. Next, we added an attention mechanism again, and developed a multi-scale feature fusion module, aiming to determine the optimal fusion results for the multi-view topology features of miRNAs and diseases. In addition, the prior attribute knowledge of miRNAs and diseases was simultaneously added to achieve better prediction results and solve the cold start problem. Finally, the learned miRNA and disease representations were then concatenated and fed into a multi-layer perceptron for end-to-end training and predicting potential miRNA–disease associations. To assess the efficacy of our model (called MUSCLE), we performed 5- and 10-fold cross-validation (CV), which got average the Area under ROC curves of 0.966${\pm }$0.0102 and 0.973${\pm }$0.0135, respectively, outperforming most current state-of-the-art models. We then examined the impact of crucial parameters on prediction performance and performed ablation experiments on the feature combination and model architecture. Furthermore, the case studies about colon cancer, lung cancer and breast cancer also fully demonstrate the good inductive capability of MUSCLE. Our data and code are free available at a public GitHub repository: https://github.com/zht-code/MUSCLE.git.
Effect of tokenization on transformers for biological sequences
Authors: Dotan Edo , Jaschek Gal , Pupko Tal , Belinkov Yonatan
Published: April 2024

Motivation

Deep-learning models are transforming biological research, including many bioinformatics and comparative genomics algorithms, such as sequence alignments, phylogenetic tree inference, and automatic classification of protein functions. Among these deep-learning algorithms, models for processing natural languages, developed in the natural language processing (NLP) community, were recently applied to biological sequences. However, biological sequences are different from natural languages, such as English, and French, in which segmentation of the text to separate words is relatively straightforward. Moreover, biological sequences are characterized by extremely long sentences, which hamper their processing by current machine-learning models, notably the transformer architecture. In NLP, one of the first processing steps is to transform the raw text to a list of tokens. Deep-learning applications to biological sequence data mostly segment proteins and DNA to single characters. In this work, we study the effect of alternative tokenization algorithms on eight different tasks in biology, from predicting the function of proteins and their stability, through nucleotide sequence alignment, to classifying proteins to specific families.

Results

We demonstrate that applying alternative tokenization algorithms can increase accuracy and at the same time, substantially reduce the input length compared to the trivial tokenizer in which each character is a token. Furthermore, applying these tokenization algorithms allows interpreting trained models, taking into account dependencies among positions. Finally, we trained these tokenizers on a large dataset of protein sequences containing more than 400 billion amino acids, which resulted in over a 3-fold decrease in the number of tokens. We then tested these tokenizers trained on large-scale data on the above specific tasks and showed that for some tasks it is highly beneficial to train database-specific tokenizers. Our study suggests that tokenizers are likely to be a critical component in future deep-network analysis of biological sequence data.

Availability and implementation

Code, data, and trained tokenizers are available on https://github.com/technion-cs-nlp/BiologicalTokenizers.
Supramolecular salicylic acid combined with niacinamide in chloasma: a randomized controlled trial
Authors: Xiong Ying , Jiang Xian , Lai Wei , Gao Xinghua , You Yan , Huang Yongmei , Li Xueli , Zhang Junling , Tao Shiqin , Chen Jin , Zhang Wei , Yu Nan , Xu Nan , Liu Chunling , Zeng Weihui , Lv Shichao , Wang Gang
Published: April 2024

Background

Chloasma is a common skin hyperpigmentation condition, with treatment options ranging from topical agents to advanced interventions such as chemical peels and laser therapy. Salicylic acid, including its supramolecular form (SSA), has shown promise in managing chloasma. However, to date, no multicentre randomized controlled trial of SSA for chloasma is available.

Objectives

The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of 30% SSA combined with 10% niacinamide in treating ­chloasma.

Methods

This multicentre (n = 15), randomized, double-blind, parallel placebo-controlled trial (Clinical trial registration number: ChiCTR2200065346) enrolled and randomized 300 participants (1 : 1) to either 30% SSA treatment or placebo, with 150 allocated to treatment and 150 to placebo in the full analysis set, and 144 to treatment and 147 to placebo in the per-protocol set. A Visia® Skin Analysis System was used at each visit to assess the degree of improvement in chloasma lesions. The primary endpoint was the effective rate after 16 weeks, assessed using the modified Melasma Area and Severity Index (mMASI) score [(pretreatment score − post-treatment score)/pretreatment score × 100%].

Results

The total mMASI score, overall score on the Griffiths 10-point scale, and Griffiths 10 score for the left and the right sides of the face were significantly lower in the 30% SSA group than in the placebo group (all P < 0.001). One study of drug-related adverse events (AEs) and one study of drug-unrelated AEs were reported in the 30% SSA group. No AE was reported in the placebo group.

Conclusions

Among our patients, 30% SSA combined with 10% niacinamide was shown to be effective and safe for treating chloasma.
How conspecific and allospecific eggs and larvae drive oviposition preference in Drosophila
Authors: Moreira-Soto Rolando D , Khallaf Mohammed A , Hansson Bill S , Knaden Markus
Published: April 2024

Where to lay the eggs is a crucial decision for females as it influences the success of their offspring. Female flies prefer to lay eggs on food already occupied and consumed by larvae, which facilitates social feeding, but potentially could also lead to detrimental interactions between species. Whether females can modulate their attraction to cues associated with different species is unknown. Here, we analyzed the chemical profiles of eggs and larvae of 16 Drosophila species, and tested whether Drosophila flies would be attracted to larvae-treated food or food with eggs from 6 different Drosophila species. The chemical analyses revealed that larval profiles from different species are strongly overlapping, while egg profiles exhibit significant species specificity. Correspondingly, female flies preferred to lay eggs where they detected whatever species’ larval cues, while we found a significant oviposition preference only for eggs of some species but not others. Our findings suggest that both larval and egg cues present at a given substrate can drive oviposition preference in female flies.
GNN-Based Multimodal Named Entity Recognition
Authors: Gong Yunchao , Lv Xueqiang , Yuan Zhu , You Xindong , Hu Feng , Chen Yuzhong
Published: April 2024

The Multimodal Named Entity Recognition (MNER) task enhances the text representations and improves the accuracy and robustness of named entity recognition by leveraging visual information from images. However, previous methods have two limitations: (i) the semantic mismatch between text and image modalities makes it challenging to establish accurate internal connections between words and visual representations. Besides, the limited number of characters in social media posts leads to semantic and contextual ambiguity, further exacerbating the semantic mismatch between modalities. (ii) Existing methods employ cross-modal attention mechanisms to facilitate interaction and fusion between different modalities, overlooking fine-grained correspondences between semantic units of text and images. To alleviate these issues, we propose a graph neural network approach for MNER (GNN-MNER), which promotes fine-grained alignment and interaction between semantic units of different modalities. Specifically, to mitigate the issue of semantic mismatch between modalities, we construct corresponding graph structures for text and images, and leverage graph convolutional networks to augment text and visual representations. For the second issue, we propose a multimodal interaction graph to explicitly represent the fine-grained semantic correspondences between text and visual objects. Based on this graph, we implement deep-level feature fusion between modalities utilizing graph attention networks. Compared with existing methods, our approach is the first to extend graph deep learning throughout the MNER task. Extensive experiments on the Twitter multimodal datasets validate the effectiveness of our GNN-MNER.
Twenty-five years’ experience with isolated bicuspid aortic valve repair: impact of commissural orientation
Authors: Ehrlich Tristan , Abeln Karen B , Froede Lennart , Schmitt Flora , Giebels Christian , Schäfers Hans-Joachim
Published: April 2024

OBJECTIVES

Repair of the bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) has evolved in the past 25 years. The aim of this study was to review and analyse the long-term durability of isolated BAV repair with particular focus on commissural orientation (CO).

METHODS

All patients who underwent BAV repair for severe aortic regurgitation between October 1998 and December 2022 were included. The study group consists of all patients operated after 2009, i.e. since CO modification. The control group includes patients who were operated before 2009. CO was classified as symmetric, asymmetric and very asymmetric.

RESULTS

Overall, 594 adult patients (93% male; mean age 42 years) were included. At 15 years, survival was 94.8% [standard deviation (SD): 2.2]; freedom from reoperation was 86.8% (SD: 2.3). Freedom from aortic insufficiency ≥II was 70.8% (SD: 4.7) at 15 years. Modification of CO by sinus plication was performed in 200 (33.7%) instances. Using competing risks analysis, the absence of effective height measurement (P = 0.018), very asymmetric CO (P = 0.028), the presence of calcification (P < 0.001), the use of pericardial patch (P < 0.001), the use of subcommissural sutures (P < 0.001) and preoperative endocarditis (P = 0.005) were identified as independent predictors for reoperation. Follow-up was 97% complete (4228 patient-years); mean follow-up was 7 years (SD: 5).

CONCLUSIONS

Isolated BAV repair leads to good survival and durability in all morphologic types if cusp repair is guided by effective height, suture annuloplasty is performed, and CO is modified using sinus plication in asymmetrical valves. Very asymmetrical valves may should be treated with a lower threshold for replacement.
Ischaemic stroke in women with atrial fibrillation: temporal trends and clinical implications
Authors: Teppo Konsta , Airaksinen K E Juhani , Jaakkola Jussi , Halminen Olli , Salmela Birgitta , Kouki Elis , Haukka Jari , Putaala Jukka , Linna Miika , Aro Aapo L , Mustonen Pirjo , Hartikainen Juha , Lip Gregory Y H , Lehto Mika
Published: April 2024

Background and Aims

Female sex has been linked with higher risk of ischaemic stroke (IS) in atrial fibrillation (AF), but no prior study has examined temporal trends in the IS risk associated with female sex.

Methods

The registry-linkage Finnish AntiCoagulation in Atrial Fibrillation (FinACAF) study included all patients with AF in Finland from 2007 to 2018. Ischaemic stroke rates and rate ratios were computed.

Results

Overall, 229 565 patients with new-onset AF were identified (50.0% women; mean age 72.7 years). The crude IS incidence was higher in women than in men across the entire study period (21.1 vs. 14.9 events per 1000 patient-years, P < .001), and the incidence decreased both in men and women. In 2007–08, female sex was independently associated with a 20%–30% higher IS rate in the adjusted analyses, but this association attenuated and became statistically non-significant by the end of the observation period. Similar trends were observed when time with and without oral anticoagulant (OAC) treatment was analysed, as well as when only time without OAC use was considered. The decrease in IS rate was driven by patients with high IS risk, whereas in patients with low or moderate IS risk, female sex was not associated with a higher IS rate.

Conclusions

The association between female sex and IS rate has decreased and become non-significant over the course of the study period from 2007 to 2018, suggesting that female sex could be omitted as a factor when estimating expected IS rates and the need for OAC therapy in patients with AF.
Genetic redundancy in the naphthalene-degradation pathway of Cycloclasticus pugetii strain PS-1 enables response to varying substrate concentrations
Authors: Vogel Anjela L , Thompson Katharine J , Straub Daniel , Musat Florin , Gutierrez Tony , Kleindienst Sara
Published: April 2024

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) contamination in marine environments range from low-diffusive inputs to high loads. The influence of PAH concentration on the expression of functional genes [e.g. those encoding ring-hydroxylating dioxygenases (RHDs)] has been overlooked in PAH biodegradation studies. However, understanding marker-gene expression under different PAH loads can help to monitor and predict bioremediation efficiency. Here, we followed the expression (via RNA sequencing) of Cycloclasticus pugetii strain PS-1 in cell suspension experiments under different naphthalene (100 and 30 mg L−1) concentrations. We identified genes encoding previously uncharacterized RHD subunits, termed rhdPS1α and rhdPS1β, that were highly transcribed in response to naphthalene-degradation activity. Additionally, we identified six RHD subunit-encoding genes that responded to naphthalene exposure. By contrast, four RHD subunit genes were PAH-independently expressed and three other RHD subunit genes responded to naphthalene starvation. Cycloclasticus spp. could, therefore, use genetic redundancy in key PAH-degradation genes to react to varying PAH loads. This genetic redundancy may restrict the monitoring of environmental hydrocarbon-degradation activity using single-gene expression. For Cycloclasticus pugetii strain PS-1, however, the newly identified rhdPS1α and rhdPS1β genes might be potential target genes to monitor its environmental naphthalene-degradation activity.
Enhancing xylose-fermentation capacity of engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae by multistep evolutionary engineering in inhibitor-rich lignocellulose hydrolysate
Authors: Demeke Mekonnen M , Echemendia Dannele , Belo Edgard , Foulquié-Moreno María R , Thevelein Johan M
Published: April 2024

Major progress in developing Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains that utilize the pentose sugar xylose has been achieved. However, the high inhibitor content of lignocellulose hydrolysates still hinders efficient xylose fermentation, which remains a major obstacle for commercially viable second-generation bioethanol production. Further improvement of xylose utilization in inhibitor-rich lignocellulose hydrolysates remains highly challenging. In this work, we have developed a robust industrial S. cerevisiae strain able to efficiently ferment xylose in concentrated undetoxified lignocellulose hydrolysates. This was accomplished with novel multistep evolutionary engineering. First, a tetraploid strain was generated and evolved in xylose-enriched pretreated spruce biomass. The best evolved strain was sporulated to obtain a genetically diverse diploid population. The diploid strains were then screened in industrially relevant conditions. The best performing strain, MDS130, showed superior fermentation performance in three different lignocellulose hydrolysates. In concentrated corncob hydrolysate, with initial cell density of 1 g DW/l, at 35°C, MDS130 completely coconsumed glucose and xylose, producing ± 7% v/v ethanol with a yield of 91% of the maximum theoretical value and an overall productivity of 1.22 g/l/h. MDS130 has been developed from previous industrial yeast strains without applying external mutagenesis, minimizing the risk of negative side-effects on other commercially important properties and maximizing its potential for industrial application.
The Dual Role of Code-Switching in Alejandro Morales’s Reto en el paraíso
Authors: Montes-Alcalá Cecilia
Published: April 2024

Although most contemporary Chicano authors tend to write exclusively in one language, English or Spanish, they have a range of linguistic options available to them – as would any member of a bilingual community – including code-switching. Code-switching in US literature dates back to the Mexican–American War and has been employed to establish aesthetic or stylistic credibility and to communicate biculturalism or ethnic identity. This article examines the dual role of code-switching in Alejandro Morales’s only bilingual novel, Reto en el paraíso. It explores how code-switching serves as a narrative technique to develop character identity in a bilingual and bicultural context, while also performing some of the socio-pragmatic and communicative functions commonly attested in natural bilingual discourse. Morales’s linguistic choices exemplify how Chicano writers living between two cultures may, and often must, use both languages to depict accurately the intricate cultural and linguistic realities of their characters.
A chromosome-level genome assembly of the Asian house martin implies potential genes associated with the feathered-foot trait
Authors: Chan Yuan-Fu , Lu Chia-Wei , Kuo Hao-Chih , Hung Chih-Ming
Published: April 2024

The presence of feathers is a vital characteristic among birds, yet most modern birds had no feather on their feet. The discoveries of feathers on the hind limbs of basal birds and dinosaurs have sparked an interest in the evolutionary origin and genetic mechanism of feathered feet. However, the majority of studies investigating the genes associated with this trait focused on domestic populations. Understanding the genetic mechanism underpinned feathered-foot development in wild birds is still in its infancy. Here, we assembled a chromosome-level genome of the Asian house martin (Delichon dasypus) using the long-read High Fidelity sequencing approach to initiate the search for genes associated with its feathered feet. We employed the whole-genome alignment of D. dasypus with other swallow species to identify high-SNP regions and chromosomal inversions in the D. dasypus genome. After filtering out variations unrelated to D. dasypus evolution, we found six genes related to feather development near the high-SNP regions. We also detected three feather development genes in chromosomal inversions between the Asian house martin and the barn swallow genomes. We discussed their association with the wingless/integrated (WNT), bone morphogenetic protein, and fibroblast growth factor pathways and their potential roles in feathered-foot development. Future studies are encouraged to utilize the D. dasypus genome to explore the evolutionary process of the feathered-foot trait in avian species. This endeavor will shed light on the evolutionary path of feathers in birds.
The Cluster Complex for Cluster Poisson Varieties and Representations of Acyclic Quivers
Authors: Melo Carolina , Nájera Chávez Alfredo
Published: April 2024

Let $\mathcal{X}$ be a skew-symmetrizable cluster Poisson variety. The cluster complex $\Delta ^{+}(\mathcal{X})$ was introduced in [ 12]. It codifies the theta functions on $\mathcal{X}$ that restrict to a character of a seed torus. Every seed $\textbf{s}$ for $\mathcal{X}$ determines a fan realization $\underline{\Delta ^{+}_{\textbf{s}}(\mathcal{X})}$ of $\Delta ^{+}(\mathcal{X})$. For every $\textbf{s}$ we provide a simple and explicit description of the cones of $\underline{\Delta ^{+}_{\textbf{s}}(\mathcal{X})}$ and their facets using c-vectors. Moreover, we give formulas for the theta functions parametrized by the integral points of $\underline{\Delta ^{+}_{\textbf{s}}(\mathcal{X})}$ in terms of $F$-polynomials. In case $\mathcal{X}$ is skew-symmetric and the quiver $Q$ associated to $\textbf{s}$ is acyclic, we describe the normal vectors of the supporting hyperplanes of the cones of $\underline{\Delta ^{+}_{\textbf{s}}(\mathcal{X})}$ using g-vectors of (non-necessarily rigid) objects in $\textsf{K}^{\textrm{b}}(\textrm{proj} \; kQ)$.
Measuring interpersonal firearm violence: natural language processing methods to address limitations in criminal charge data
Authors: Kafka Julie M , Schleimer Julia P , Toomet Ott , Chen Kaidi , Ellyson Alice , Rowhani-Rahbar Ali
Published: April 2024

Objective

Firearm violence constitutes a public health crisis in the United States, but comprehensive data infrastructure is lacking to study this problem. To address this challenge, we used natural language processing (NLP) to classify court record documents from alleged violent crimes as firearm-related or non-firearm-related.

Materials and Methods

We accessed and digitized court records from the state of Washington (n = 1468). Human review established a gold standard label for firearm involvement (yes/no). We developed a key term search and trained supervised machine learning classifiers for this labeling task. Results were evaluated in a held-out test set.

Results

The decision tree performed best (F1 score: 0.82). The key term list had perfect recall (1.0) and a modest F1 score (0.65).

Discussion and Conclusion

This case report highlights the accuracy, feasibility, and potential time-saved by using NLP to identify firearm involvement in alleged violent crimes based on digitized narratives from court documents.