bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Capsule endoscopy transit-related indicators in choosing the insertion route for double-balloon enteroscopy: a systematic review
Authors: Cortegoso Valdivia Pablo , Skonieczna-Żydecka Karolina , Pennazio Marco , Rondonotti Emanuele , Marlicz Wojciech , Toth Ervin , Koulaouzidis Anastasios
Published: January 2021

Background and study aims When capsule endoscopy (CE) detects a small bowel (SB) target lesion that may be manageable with enteroscopy, the selection of the insertion route is critical. Time- and progression-based CE indices have been proposed for localization of SB lesions. This systematic review analysed the role of CE transit indicators in choosing the insertion route for double-balloon enteroscopy (DBE).

Methods A comprehensive literature search identified papers assessing the role of CE on the choice of the route selection for DBE. Data on CE, criteria for route selection, and DBE success parameters were retrieved and analyzed according to the PRISMA statement. Risk of bias was assessed through the STROBE assessment. The primary outcome evaluated was DBE success rate in reaching a SB lesion, measured as the ratio of positive initial DBE to the number of total DBE.

Results Seven studies including 262 CEs requiring subsequent DBE were selected. Six studies used time-based indices and one used the PillCam Progress indicator. SB lesions were identified and insertion route was selected according to a specific cut-off, using fixed landmarks for defining SB transit except for one study in which the mouth-cecum transit was considered. DBE success rate was high in all studies, ranging from 78.3 % to 100 %. Six of seven studies were high quality.

Conclusions The precise localization of SB lesions remains an open issue, and larger studies are required to determine the most accurate index for selecting the DBE insertion route. In the future, 3 D localization technologies and tracking systems will be essential to accomplish this tricky task.
Evaluation eines integrierten OP-Saals auf Basis offener Standards in der Cochlea-Implantat-Chirurgie
Authors: Weber-Chüo Teresa , Rockstroh Max , Franke Stefan , Hofer Mathias , Dietz Andreas , Neumuth Thomas , Pirlich Markus
Published: January 2021

Hintergrund Die zunehmende Digitalisierung in der Chirurgie macht die Entwicklung moderner Operationskonzepte notwendig. Dabei werden neue Ansätze der Systemvernetzung und Integration auf Basis offener Standards der medizinischen Geräte verfolgt.

Methodik Gemeinsam mit dem Innovationszentrum für Computerassistierte Chirurgie (ICCAS) konnte die Demonstration eines integrierten OP-Saals am Beispiel der Cochlea-Implantation durchgeführt werden. Evaluiert wurden das präoperative Management, die intraoperativen Prozeduren sowie die postoperative Dokumentation von insgesamt n = 30 Studienteilnehmern (2 Gruppen). Neben der Erhebung objektiver Parameter kamen qualitative Fragebögen und quantitative, intervallskalierte Fragen zur Anwendung.

Ergebnisse Präoperativ wurde die digitale Präsentation klinischer Daten der Patienten von beiden Gruppen als hilfreich angesehen (Gruppe 1: Median = 5, Gruppe 2: Median = 4). Dies gilt auch für die personalisierten OP-Einstellungen, die intraoperativen Darstellungsmöglichkeiten sowie die dynamische, Operateur-zentrierte Visualisierung (Median = 4). Ähnlich positive Schlussfolgerungen wurden für die postoperative Dokumentation und die postoperative Nachsorge gezogen (Median = 4). Ein signifikanter Unterschied in der Gesamtbewertung des integrierten Operationskonzepts zwischen beiden Expertengruppen konnte nicht festgestellt werden (p > 0,05).

Schlussfolgerungen Die positiven Studienergebnisse zeigen, dass die theoretische Idee der Systemvernetzung auf der Basis offener Standards am Beispiel einer Cochlea-Implantation erfolgreich in die Praxis umgesetzt werden kann. Damit scheint der intelligente „Operationssaal der Zukunft“ keine fiktive Idee mehr zu sein, sondern ein realistisches Abbild der modernen chirurgischen Medizin.
A twist sensor based on polarization-maintaining fibers with different cladding diameters
Authors: Liu Xiaoqi , Liu Yange , Wang Zhi
Published: January 2021

A fiber twist sensor using a Sagnac interferometer incorporating a tapered polarization-maintaining fiber (PMF) is proposed. The transmission properties of the sensor are investigated both theoretically and experimentally. Given the optoelastic effect, which depends on fiber geometry, the modal and group birefringences of the PMF can be controlled by applying different twist angles. The spectral wavelength shifts, free spectral ranges, and transmission losses of the original, microtapered, and etched PMFs were compared. Notably, the interference dips for the etched PMF move in opposite directions. As a result, the proposed PMF-based sensor could have multiparameter sensing applications.
A tungsten external heater for BX90 diamond anvil cells with a range up to 1700 K
Authors: Yan J. , Doran A. , MacDowell A. A. , Kalkan B.
Published: January 2021

Resistive heating of a sample in a diamond anvil cell (DAC) can generate a homogeneous temperature field across the sample chamber with reliable temperatures measured by a thermocouple. It is of importance in experiments aiming at exploring phase diagrams and quantifying thermoelastic properties of materials. Here, we present a ring-heater design developed for BX90 diamond anvil cells (DACs). It is made of a ring-shaped aluminum oxide holder hosting a tungsten wire coil inside and coupled with Ar + 2% H2 gas to prevent oxidation during experiment. This modular plug-and-play design enables in situ studies of samples via x-ray diffraction up to a temperature of 1700 K. Temperature in the BX90 sample volume as measured through a thermocouple was calibrated using the melting point of gold. As an application of this design, we report the thermal expansion coefficient of MgO at 9.5(1) GPa.
Multi-objective optimization of PV-CSP system in different dispatch strategies, case of study: Midelt city
Authors: Bousselamti Loubna , Ahouar Wafaa , Cherkaoui Mohamed
Published: January 2021

Photovoltaic-concentrated solar power (PV-CSP) hybridization has been experienced to combine the competitive advantages of the low cost of PV systems and the high energy dispatchability of a CSP plant coupled with a thermal storage system. The objective of this paper is to implement an optimization study of the PV-CSP system under different dispatch strategies, in order to get an optimal PV-CSP configuration and strategy to cover a baseload generation taking into account the equivalent operating hours for the power block. Therefore, a model of PV-CSP plant was established and a multi-objective optimization using the genetic algorithm was adopted. The purpose of the first optimization is to minimize the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) and to maximize the capacity factor simultaneously. For the second optimization, reducing the dumped energy is added as a criterion. The results obtained were presented in a Pareto frontier that shows a trade-off between the three objectives. An example of the multi-criteria decision method called the TOPSIS method was applied to choose a unique solution. The selection of the dispatch strategy is highly linked to the optimal PV-CSP configuration obtained by optimization results. In addition, the concept of equivalent operating hours is used to further the selection of the dispatch strategy. The dispatch strategy that maintains the power block operation at minimum rated power is more suitable and results in a high capacity factor, low LCOE, and low dumped energy. Furthermore, it minimizes the turbine starts and maximizes power block operating hours. The simulation model has been investigated in a case study of Midelt city in Morocco.
High-precision frequency measurement for microresonant sensors based on improved modified multi-phase clock method
Authors: Li Dong , Zhao Qiancheng , Cui Jian
Published: January 2021

Microelectromechanical system resonant sensors are widely used in high precision applications. Frequency measurement plays an important role in such frequency readout sensors. This paper proposed an improved modified frequency measurement method based on the multi-phase clock (MPC), which can effectively improve the measurement accuracy but does not reduce the output rate. Innovative claims include (1) building a model of measurement error for MPC in which the probability of triggering error under different conditions is calculated, (2) improving the accuracy of the MPC measurement by phase reverse, and (3) proposing an algorithm to eliminate jitters of the measured signal. We compared the measurement results of this optimized MPC realized by the field programmable gate array (FPGA) device with those of the conventional MPC, spectral measurement, and equal precision measurement implemented with the National Instruments acquisition equipment PXI-4461 and USB-6366, respectively. The results show that the bias instability of the adopted method is ∼10 µHz obtained by Allan variance analysis, which is better than that of the other three methods. It can meet the accuracy requirements for the resonant frequency measurement of state-of-the-art resonant accelerometers. In addition, an algorithm running in FPGA is proposed to eliminate jitters caused by the noise of the measured signal for enhancing the robust of optimized MPC. The results demonstrate that the optimized MPC has features of high accuracy and anti-interference capability and can be easily transferred to the application specific integrated circuit in the future due to its full digital circuit version.
Research on transient multi-field coupling model of GMM under variable pressure in embedded GMA
Authors: Peng Huanghu , Chen Yu , Wu Yijie , Lu Jinying , Zhang Gangyu
Published: January 2021

To improve the output performance of embedded giant magnetostrictive actuators (GMAs) for non-circular hole precision machining and to describe the transient nonlinear hysteresis behavior of giant magnetostrictive material (GMM), the magnetostrictive process of GMM is analyzed in detail in this paper. Based on the J–A model and the Gibbs free energy model, a transient multi-field coupling model of GMM is developed by considering the eddy current effect, compression stress variation, and ΔE effect. The simulation results show that the hysteresis loop area increases with increasing driving frequency. The strain of GMM increases first and then decreases with increasing preloading stress. If the stiffness of the deformable bar is too large, the stress of GMM will increase rapidly, thus hindering the elongation of GMM. The simulation process combines the magneto-mechanical coupling model and the dynamic model of embedded GMAs. The simulation results at different excitation frequencies are basically consistent with the experimental data, indicating that the proposed model can predict the output displacement well and provide a theoretical basis for the optimized design of magneto-mechanical coupling for high-performance embedded GMAs.
The microwave absorption properties of Y2Fe16Si@MOF and Y2Fe16Si@GO composites
Authors: Wang Yuankang , Liu Zhou , Zhang Pengyu , Cai Kunting , Yang Wenyun , Han Jingzhi , Liu Shunquan , Wang Changsheng , Zou Ruqiang , Yang Jinbo
Published: January 2021

With the development in communication technology, severe electromagnetic wave radiation pollution has been created, resulting in electromagnetic interference and health hazards. Thus, materials with excellent microwave absorbing properties have become an urgent need. Magnetic particles with core-shell structures are widely used as microwave absorbers due to their high magnetic loss, little eddy current effect, and tunable dielectric properties. Herein, carbonized Metal-Organic Framework (MOF), and Graphene Oxide (GO) are used to coat the Y2Fe16Si (YFeSi) magnetic powders to form YFeSi@MOF and YFeSi@GO core-shell structures. Their microwave absorption properties are studied. The reflection loss (RL) of YFeSi@MOF can reach -19.2dB@15.1GHz under 1.4 mm thickness with an effective bandwidth of 4.7 GHz, and the reflection loss of YFeSi@GO can reach -18.3dB@16.2GHz under 1.6 mm thickness with an effective bandwidth of 3.9 GHz.
Loss of hepatic miR-33 improves metabolic homeostasis and liver function without altering body weight or atherosclerosis
Authors: Price Nathan L. , Zhang Xinbo , Fernández-Tussy Pablo , Singh Abhishek K. , Burnap Sean A. , Rotllan Noemi , Goedeke Leigh , Sun Jonathan , Canfrán-Duque Alberto , Aryal Binod , Mayr Manuel , Suárez Yajaira , Fernández-Hernando Carlos
Published: January 2021

Significance

Prior work has suggested that the ability of miR-33, a microRNA involved in regulation of lipid metabolism, to regulate liver function underlies its effects on obesity and/or atherosclerosis. In this work, we selectively remove miR-33 from the liver and demonstrate that, unlike mice globally deficient for miR-33, mice lacking miR-33 in the liver are not predisposed to diet-induced obesity and are actually protected from hepatic insulin resistance and fibrosis. While loss of liver miR-33 increases circulating high-density lipoprotein and increases reverse cholesterol transport in mice on a chow diet, it is not sufficient to decrease atherosclerotic plaque burden under hyperlipidemic conditions where hepatic miR-33 is already repressed. This information will help improve efforts to develop novel therapies against cardiometabolic diseases.
Virus-like insertions with sequence signatures similar to those of endogenous nonretroviral RNA viruses in the human genome
Authors: Kojima Shohei , Yoshikawa Kohei , Ito Jumpei , Nakagawa So , Parrish Nicholas F. , Horie Masayuki , Kawano Shuichi , Tomonaga Keizo
Published: January 2021

Significance

Ancient animals left diverse physical fossil records from which we can deduce that species with extraordinary features once populated our planet. By infecting germlines, some ancient viruses deposited genetic fossil records. However, inferring that a sequence is a viral fossil has so far required homology to circulating viruses. We developed a method to recognize viral fossils that do not closely resemble known viruses. Rather than homology, we detected sequence patterns of fossilized and modern RNA viruses that distinguish them from human sequences. Our results indicate that as-yet-undiscovered fossils from unknown viruses remain hidden in animal genomes. These relics of the ancient virosphere, including sequences reported here, will expand our knowledge about the diversity of ancient viruses and also our genomes.
Arsenic trioxide replacing or reducing chemotherapy in consolidation therapy for acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL2012 trial)
Authors: Chen Li , Zhu Hong-Ming , Li Yan , Liu Qi-Fa , Hu Yu , Zhou Jian-Feng , Jin Jie , Hu Jian-Da , Liu Ting , Wu De-Pei , Chen Jie-Ping , Lai Yong-Rong , Wang Jian-Xiang , Li Juan , Li Jian-Yong , Du Xin , Wang Xin , Yang Ming-Zhen , Yan Jin-Song , Ouyang Gui-Fang , Liu Li , Hou Ming , Huang Xiao-Jun , Yan Xiao-Jing , Xu Dan , Li Wei-Ming , Li Deng-Ju , Lou Yin-Jun , Wu Zheng-Jun , Niu Ting , Wang Ying , Li Xiao-Yang , You Jian-Hua , Zhao Hui-Jin , Chen Yú , Shen Yang , Chen Qiu-Sheng , Chen Yù , Li Jian , Wang Bing-Shun , Zhao Wei-Li , Mi Jian-Qing , Wang Kan-Kan , Hu Jiong , Chen Zhu , Chen Sai-Juan , Li Jun-Min
Published: January 2021

Significance

The APL2012 trial is currently the largest randomized, multicenter clinical study of APL based on ATRA-ATO treatment with risk stratification. We enrolled 855 newly diagnosed APL patients during December 2012 to December 2017 for careful follow-up. All patients received ATRA-ATO–based protocols for remission induction. At the consolidation phase, the key part of the trial, ATO was used to replace or reduce chemotherapy in a risk-stratified way. Patients were then treated with ATRA-ATO as maintenance. The results indicated not only the noninferiority of ATO compared to intensive chemotherapy in survival but also an advantage in adverse effects. The trial provides support for the ATO regimen as a standard for making further refinements in the treatment of this highly curable disease.
Improving second language reading comprehension through reading strategies
Authors: Yapp Deborah June , de Graaff Rick , van den Bergh Huub
Published: January 2021

Effective readers consciously or unconsciously use reading strategies to help them process information on what they read. All readers can benefit from reading strategy instruction but, empirical research on which strategies are effective is lacking. Less is known about reading strategy effectiveness in a second language (L2). This meta-analysis of 46 L2 reading strategy studies analysed ten reading strategies, also in combination with a range of pedagogical approaches, and found an overall mean effect size of0.91,underscoring the benefits of multi strategy teaching. Effect sizes were calculated for each strategy, as well as the combination of strategy with approach, instructor type, intervention duration and type of test used. Some strategies were more effective than others. Also, differences in effect sizes are dependent on the approach used. Some pedagogical approaches are effective for some strategies but not with all. We recommend further research in L2 reading strategy interventions and instruction.
Eye-tracking as a window into assembled phonology in native and non-native reading
Authors: Martin Katherine I. , Juffs Alan
Published: January 2021

The past 30 years of reading research has confirmed the importance of bottom-up processing. Rather than a psycholinguistic guessing game (Goodman, 1967), reading is dependent on rapid, accurate recognition of written forms. In fluent first language (L1) readers, this is seen in the automatic activation of a word’s phonological form, impacting lexical processing (Perfetti & Bell, 1991;Rayner, Sereno, Lesch & Pollatsek, 1995). Although the influence of phonological form is well established, less clear is the extent to which readers are sensitive to thepossiblepronunciations of a word (Lesch & Pollatsek, 1998), derived from the varying consistency of grapheme-to-phoneme correspondences (GPCs) (e.g., although ‘great’ has only one pronunciation, [ɡɹeɪt], the grapheme  within it has multiple possible pronunciations: [i] in [plit] ‘pleat’, [ɛ] in [bɹɛθ] ‘breath’;Parkin, 1982). Further, little is known about non-native readers’ sensitivity to such characteristics. Non-native readers process text differently from L1 readers (Koda & Zehler, 2008;McBride-Chang, Bialystok, Chong & Li, 2004), with implications for understanding L2 reading comprehension (Rayner, Chace, Slattery & Ashby, 2006). The goal of this study was thus to determine whether native and non-native readers are sensitive to the consistency of a word’s component GPCs during lexical processing and to compare this sensitivity among readers from different L1s.
Interplay between perceived cross-linguistic similarity and L2 production
Authors: Georgiou Georgios
Published: January 2021

The present study aims to investigate the relationship between perceived cross-linguistic similarity and second language
(L2) production. To this purpose, Egyptian Arabic learners of Greek in Cyprus who took part in a previous cross-linguistic perceptual study,
completed a production test with respect to the Cypriot Greek vowels. The findings showed that perceived cross-linguistic similarity was
linked with L2 production since along with the consideration of first language (L1)-L2 acoustic differences, it predicted most of the L2
vowel productions. Also, many L2 vowels were considerably longer than the corresponding L1 vowels. This can be interpreted as an L1 transfer
since Egyptian Arabic vowels are longer in duration than the Cypriot Greek vowels. An interesting finding was that the production of the L2
vowels had only partial overlap with the productions of the L1 vowels, a finding that provides support for the hypotheses of the Speech
Learning Model.
SAY-complementizers and indexical shift in Poshkart Chuvash
Authors: Knyazev Mikhail
Published: January 2021

Although SAY-complementizers have been extensively documented, the question of theformsused in this function and their specific properties has received less attention. The paper focuses on the complementizertenine(an action nominalization of SAY), which is used with communicative reception verbs (‘hear’, ‘read’, etc.), in a dialect of Chuvash (Turkic). The main puzzle concerns the difference betweentenineand the more general complementizerteze(the same-subject converb of SAY) with respect to the controller of shifted first person (namely,teze, but nottenine, disallows non-subject controllers). An account of this restriction based on three independent language-specific constraints is offered. An alternative account is discussed wherebytenine(andteze) aresynchronicallynon-finite forms of SAY. The findings highlight the importance of the form of the complementizer as well as of the choice of controller for shifted 1st person in SAY-based complementation and extend the typological parameters of indexical shift.
Rheumatoid arthritis relapse in patients with other iatrogenic immunodeficiency-associated lymphoproliferative disorders and its treatment
Authors: Nagafuchi Hiroko , Goto Yutaka , Suzuki Shotaro , Sakurai Keiichi , Imamura Mitsuru , Suzuki Takeshi , Yamasaki Yoshioki , Shibata Tomohiko , Kawahata Kimito
Published: January 2021

Objectives

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in patients undergoing immunosuppressive therapy (IS) is sometimes involved with other iatrogenic immunodeficiency-associated lymphoproliferative disorders (LPD). We aimed to clarify the effects of LPD treatment on RA and the current status of RA treatment options after LPD onset and subsequent IS withdrawal.

Methods

We retrospectively analyzed data of patients who had RA with LPD and examined the relationship between LPD course and RA treatment as well as that between RA relapse and LPD treatment.

Results

LPD patients were categorized into two groups: patients who regressed spontaneously (n = 19) and those who needed chemotherapy (n = 12). The chemotherapy group had significantly less RA relapse than the spontaneous regression group (p = .041). RA almost relapsed early in the spontaneous regression group and needed treatment for RA. Chemotherapy with rituximab prevented long-term RA relapse, and RA did not relapse for long even after rituximab monotherapy. The total dose of rituximab in monotherapy correlated with the time to RA relapse. Six patients with RA relapse received biologics and had no LPD relapse for more than 1 year.

Conclusions

Rituximab in chemotherapy for LPD may help prevent RA relapse with LPD. Large-scale studies are required in the future for verification.
Recoverable self-cleaning surface formed by nanostructured microcapsules encapsulating hydrophobic agent
Authors: Park Dong Hyeok , Nguyen Xuan Don , Jeon Hyeong Jin , Go Jeung Sang
Published: January 2021

A recoverable self-cleaning surface is studied by coating the nanostructured core–shell microcapsules like a chestnut bur. The microcapsules encapsulate the hydrophobic agent so that when they are broken by mechanical damage, it is released and functions to recover the loss of the self-cleaning performance. The core–shell droplets encapsulating the hydrophobic agent are generated continuously by introducing immiscible fluids into a multi-coaxial microfluidic channel platform and cured by UV irradiation to be polymerized. The control of the size and shell thickness of the microcapsules, and the volume of the hydrophobic agent are examined. Also, the nanostructures on the surface of the microcapsules are obtained by the polyaniline process for additional increase in roughness. The critical breakage forces of the microcapsules are measured for increasing the shell thickness. Finally, the nanostructured microcapsule surface is fabricated on a glass substrate and the water contact angle is measured to determine the self-cleaning performance. Also, its recovery of the self-cleaning performance surface from the mechanical damage is demonstrated. The formation of the recoverable self-cleaning surface by coating enables to apply for a large scale and arbitrary curved surface.
Tapered racetrack microring resonator for single nanoparticle detection
Authors: Bag Saawan K , Sinha Rajat K , Wan Meher , Varshney S K
Published: January 2021

Rapid detection of a single nanoparticle has always been challenging and demanding. Several methods and approaches have been employed over the last few years. In this work, we have devised an integrated photonic platform to detect a single nanoparticle (NP) such as gold (Au) nanoparticle. The proposed platforms make use of a racetrack micro-ring resonator where a small region in the lower arm (non-coupled) of the resonator has been tapered to enhance the evanescent field strength many folds, which enhances the sensitivity of the device. Numerical simulations have been performed using finite difference time domain that reveal the splitting of a resonant mode in the presence of Au nanoparticle (AuNP) of radius 100 nm. The proposed approach has the capability to distinguish between different sizes and numbers of NPs. We have also studied the effect of assorted NPs in the vicinity of the tapered region. Numerical results also confirm the unique potentiality to detect NPs even if they are not adjacent to waveguide surface as well detection of a single NP of infinitesimally small size. We believe that the proposed architecture may pave a pivotal role in the sensing of biological objects such as novel viruses whose size is similar to the size of AuNP as studied in this work.
Large magnetocaloric effect in rapidly quenched Mn50−

x
Co
x
Ni40In10 nanomaterials
Authors: Zhang Wenyong , Kharel Parashu , Valloppilly Shah , Sellmyer David J
Published: January 2021

The effect of Co addition on magnetic hysteresis, martensitic transformation temperature, and magnetic entropy change of rapidly-quenched Mn50−x
Co
x
Ni40In10 alloy nanomaterials has been investigated. The melt-spun Mn50Ni40In10 sample exhibits a small magnetic hysteresis which is further reduced by Co doping as measured between 0 and 2 T. The martensitic transformation temperature increases linearly with the electron concentration in the alloy from 195 K for Mn50Ni40In10 to 378 K for Mn45Co5Ni40In10. The Mn47Co3Ni40In10 alloy, which has phase-transition temperature close to room temperature, exhibits a substantial peak entropy change of 29.7 J kg−1 K−1 at magnetic field change of 2 T. Our results demonstrate that Mn47Co3Ni40In10 nanomaterial exhibits promising magnetocaloric properties for near-room-temperature magnetic refrigeration.
On the rate of convergence of the Legendre spectral collocation method for multi-dimensional nonlinear Volterra–Fredholm integral equations
Authors: Elkot Nermeen A , Zaky Mahmoud A , Doha Eid H , Ameen Ibrahem G
Published: January 2021

While the approximate solutions of one-dimensional nonlinear Volterra–Fredholm integral equations with smooth kernels are now well understood, no systematic studies of the numerical solutions of their multi-dimensional counterparts exist. In this paper, we provide an efficient numerical approach for the multi-dimensional nonlinear Volterra–Fredholm integral equations based on the multi-variate Legendre-collocation approach. Spectral collocation methods for multi-dimensional nonlinear integral equations are known to cause major difficulties from a convergence analysis point of view. Consequently, rigorous error estimates are provided in the weighted Sobolev space showing the exponential decay of the numerical errors. The existence and uniqueness of the numerical solution are established. Numerical experiments are provided to support the theoretical convergence analysis. The results indicate that our spectral collocation method is more flexible with better accuracy than the existing ones.
Resilience modes of an ancient mountain valley grassland in South Africa indicated by palaeoenvironmental methods
Authors: Dabengwa Abraham N , Gillson Lindsey , Bond William J
Published: January 2021

Grassland ecosystems supporting wildlife and livestock populations have undergone significant transformation in the last millennium. Climate, herbivory, fire, and people are identified as important drivers of ecosystems dynamics; however, grassland resilience has been rarely explored in landscapes with mixed grazing histories. Here we analyse ecosystems states from a South African mountain valley grassland in the last 1250 years using palaeoenvironmental proxies. Our results suggest that a tallgrass phase maintained by climate, people and fire replaced a shortgrass phase driven by indigenous herbivores after ca. 690 cal BP. Furthermore, the tallgrass phase had unpalatable grasses and disturbed soil. We suggest these ecological changes were linked to climate change and arrival of pastoralists in the region. Therefore, our results indicate that human activities may undermine resilience of grasslands and that reversing some changes may be difficult.
Efficient photoluminescence enhancement and tunable photocarrier transfer in vertical 2D organic–inorganic heterostructure by energy funneling
Authors: Qiao Jia-Wei , Niu Meng-Si , Wen Zhen-Chuan , Yang Xi-Kai , Chen Zhi-Hao , Wang Yan-Xin , Feng Lin , Qin Wei , Hao Xiao-Tao
Published: January 2021

Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) are attractive for their novel physical properties. However, the photoluminescence (PL) quantum yield of TMDCs has been limited, due to their abundant defects and strong many-body effect. Here, we present a vertical energy funneling channel which is constructed in organic–inorganic heterostructures comprising MoSe2, pentacene and graphene oxide. These heterostructures show efficient PL enhancement (3.7 times) ratio of monolayer MoSe2. Besides, the PL signal is further increased as high as 4.7 times at low temperature due to reduced electron-phonon interactions and also sensitive to the gradient magnetic field. Apart from the efficient PL enhancement, the photocarrier pumping efficiency which is modulated by energy offset of top layer and external field is >130 times greater than that in isolated MoSe2. These findings focused on manipulating the efficient photocarrier transfer open up a new route to adjust the luminescent properties of monolayer TMDCs for designing future 2D material based optoelectronic devices.
Thermal conductivity of Mg2Si1−xSnx nanowire assemblies synthesized using solid-state phase transformation of silicon nanowires
Authors: Ali Azhar , Shamberger Patrick , Vaddiraju Sreeram
Published: January 2021

Recent studies have indicated that doping, alloying, interface-engineering and nanostructuring are some of the strategies useful for obtaining high power factors and low thermal conductivities in materials that are needed for the fabrication of highly efficient thermoelectrics. With the intent of experimentally demonstrating the use of these strategies for designing highly efficient thermoelectrics, our group has in the past reported a solid-state phase transformation strategy for converting silicon nanowires into Mg2Si nanowires and Mg2Si welded nanowire networks. In this paper, the phase transformation strategy is extended to obtain Mg2Si0.92Sn0.08 nanowires from silicon nanowires. This report discusses not only the synthesis of Mg2Si0.92Sn0.08 nanowires from silicon nanowires, but also demonstrates that it is possible to control their diameters using variations of the silicon nanowire diameters as a parameter. Moreover, thermal conductivities of the nanowire assemblies discussed in detail in this paper indicated that nanostructuring through the formation of Mg2Si0.92Sn0.08 nanowires led to a drastic decrease in their thermal conductivities.
Preparation and photocatalytic activity of red light-emitting carbon dots/P25 heterojunction photocatalyst with ultra-wide absorption spectrum
Authors: Han Junqiang , Han Zhaoxia , Da Xianniu , Yang Zhijin , Zhang Dawei , Hong Ruijin , Tao Chunxian , Lin Hui , Huang Yuanshen
Published: January 2021

Carbon dots have attracted growing research interest due to its unique properties, and are expected to be used in the field of photocatalysis to solve the visible absorption loss problem of TiO2 (P25). In this paper, red light-emitting carbon dots (RCDs) with high fluorescence quantum yield (40%) and RCDs/P25 heterojunction photocatalysts were synthesized by a simple and green hydrothermal method. Characterization results indicated that RCDs were successfully coupled with P25, and RCDs could effectively broaden the visible absorption region of bare P25 from 410 nm to 800 nm. The photocatalytic activity of the as-synthesized RCDs/P25 on the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) under visible light irradiation was greatly improved compared with that of bare P25. The degradation rate of RhB by 2%RCDs/P25 reached 98.4% in 150 min, the degradation efficiency was 7.4 times that of bare P25. The RCDs played an important role in improving the photocatalytic activity of RCDs/P25, which not only increased visible light absorption, but also promoted efficient separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. Furthermore, the possible degradation mechanism of RCDs/P25 heterojunction photocatalyst was given.
Characterization of 2D boron nitride nanosheets with hysteresis effect in the Schottky junctions
Authors: Ortiz Wilber , Ramirez Nereida J , Barrionuevo Danilo , Bhattarai Mohan K , Feng Peter
Published: January 2021

Carbon doped two-dimensional (2D) hexagonal boron nitride nanosheets (BNNSs) are obtained through a CO2—pulsed laser deposition (CO2—PLD) technique on silicon dioxide (SiO2) or molybdenum (Mo) substrates, showing - stable hysteresis characteristics over a wide range of temperatures, which makes them a promising candidate for materials based on non-volatile memory devices. This innovative material with electronic properties of n-type characterized in the form of back-to-back Schottky diodes appears to have special features that can enhance the device performance and data retention due to its functional properties, thermal-mechanical stability, and its relation with resistive switching phenomena. It can also be used to eliminate sneak current in resistive random-access memory devices in a crossbar array. In this sense constitutes a good alternative to design two series of resistance-switching Schottky barrier models in the gold/BNNS/gold and gold/BNNS/molybdenum structures; thus, symmetrical and non-symmetrical characteristics are shown at low and high bias voltages as indicated by the electrical current-voltage (I–V) curves. On the one hand, the charge recombination caused by thermionic emission does not significantly change the rectification characteristics of the diode, only its hysteresis properties change due to the increase in external voltage in the Schottky junctions. The addition of carbon to BNNSs creates boron vacancies that exhibit partially ionic character, which also helps to enhance its electrical properties at the metal-BNNS-metal interface.
Frailty is associated with in-hospital mortality in older hospitalised COVID-19 patients in the Netherlands: the COVID-OLD study
Authors: Blomaard Laura C , van der Linden Carolien M J , van der Bol Jessica M , Jansen Steffy W M , Polinder-Bos Harmke A , Willems Hanna C , Festen Jan , Barten Dennis G , Borgers Anke J , Bos Jeannet C , van den Bos Frederiek , de Brouwer Esther J M , van Deudekom Floor J A , van Dijk Suzanne C , Emmelot-Vonk Mariëlle H , Geels Raya E S , van de Glind Esther M M , de Groot Bas , Hempenius Liesbeth , Kamper Ad M , Kampschreur Linda M , de Koning Marre M M , Labots Geert , Looman Roy , Lucke Jacinta A , Maas Huub A A M , Mattace-Raso Francesco U S , el Moussaoui Rachida , van Munster Barbara C , van Nieuwkoop Cees , Oosterwijk Leanne (B L E) , Regtuijt Marlies (E M) , Robben Sarah H M , Ruiter Rikje , Salarbaks Aisha M , Schouten Henrike J , Smit Orla M , Smits Rosalinde A L , Spies Petra E , Vreeswijk Ralph , de Vries Oscar J , Wijngaarden Marjolein A , Wyers Caroline E , Mooijaart Simon P
Published: January 2021

Background

During the first wave of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, older patients had an increased risk of hospitalisation and death. Reports on the association of frailty with poor outcome have been conflicting.

Objective

The aim of the present study was to investigate the independent association between frailty and in-hospital mortality in older hospitalised COVID-19 patients in the Netherlands.

Methods

This was a multicentre retrospective cohort study in 15 hospitals in the Netherlands, including all patients aged ≥70 years, who were hospitalised with clinically confirmed COVID-19 between February and May 2020. Data were collected on demographics, co-morbidity, disease severity and Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS). Primary outcome was in-hospital mortality.

Results

A total of 1,376 patients were included (median age 78 years (interquartile range 74–84), 60% male). In total, 499 (38%) patients died during hospital admission. Parameters indicating presence of frailty (CFS 6–9) were associated with more co-morbidities, shorter symptom duration upon presentation (median 4 versus 7 days), lower oxygen demand and lower levels of C-reactive protein. In multivariable analyses, the CFS was independently associated with in-hospital mortality: compared with patients with CFS 1–3, patients with CFS 4–5 had a two times higher risk (odds ratio (OR) 2.0 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.3–3.0)) and patients with CFS 6–9 had a three times higher risk of in-hospital mortality (OR 2.8 (95% CI 1.8–4.3)).

Conclusions

The in-hospital mortality of older hospitalised COVID-19 patients in the Netherlands was 38%. Frailty was independently associated with higher in-hospital mortality, even though COVID-19 patients with frailty presented earlier to the hospital with less severe symptoms.
Systematic Review and Dose–Response Meta-Analysis on the Relationship Between Alcohol Consumption and Sickness Absence
Authors: Marzan Melvin , Callinan Sarah , Livingston Michael , Leggat Geoffrey , Jiang Heng
Published: January 2021

Aims

Alcohol consumption (AC) may cause workplace absence, but the findings of individual studies vary markedly. To date, no dose–response meta-analysis (DRMA) of the relationship between AC and sickness absence (SA) has been completed. This paper aims to estimate the dose–response relationship between AC and the risk of SA based on published observational studies.

Methods

We used DRMA and modelling to investigate the effects of varying doses of AC (including heavy episodic drinking (HED)) onSA.

Results

The meta-analysis included 21 studies (12 cohort studies and 9 cross-sectional). It showed that HED, risky (20–40 g of alcohol/day) and high-risk (>40 g of alcohol/day) drinkers had an elevated risk of SA when compared with light-to-moderate drinkers for both sexes. Those who abstained from alcohol had a higher risk of SA than those who drink moderately.

Conclusions

Our results indicate that risky, high-risk drinking and HED may increase the risk of absenteeism. The implementation of population-based strategies may be appropriate to address the burdens of alcohol-related SA. Additionally, economic evaluations of alcohol policies should incorporate their impacts on SA. However, the current literature has substantial limitations, relying on modestly designed studies from just a few settings and more studies are needed—especially those that measure abstention in more nuancedways.
Female-biased sex ratios in urban centers create a “fertility trap” in post-war Finland
Authors: Pettay Jenni E , Lummaa Virpi , Lynch Robert , Loehr John
Published: January 2021

Because sex ratios are a key factor regulating mating success and subsequent fitness both across and within species, there is widespread interest in how population-wide sex ratio imbalances affect marriage markets and the formation of families in human societies. Although most modern cities have more women than men and suffer from low fertility rates, the effects of female-biased sex ratios have garnered less attention than male-biased ratios. Here, we analyze how sex ratios are linked to marriages, reproductive histories, dispersal, and urbanization by taking advantage of a natural experiment in which an entire population was forcibly displaced during World War II to other local Finnish populations of varying sizes and sex ratios. Using a discrete time-event generalized linear mixed-effects model, and including factors that change across time, such as annual sex ratio, we show how sex ratios, reproduction, and migration are connected in a female-dominated environment. Young childless women migrated toward urban centers where work was available to women, and away from male-biased rural areas. In such areas where there were more females, women were less likely to start reproduction. Despite this constraint, women showed little flexibility in mate choice, with no evidence for an increase in partner age difference in female-biased areas. We propose that together these behaviors and conditions combine to generate an “urban fertility trap” which may have important consequences for our understanding of the fertility dynamics of today including the current fertility decline across the developed world.
The stacking strategy-based hybrid framework for identifying non-coding RNAs
Authors: Wang Xin , Yang Yang , Liu Jian , Wang Guohua
Published: January 2021

With the development of next-generation sequencing technology, a large number of transcripts need to be analyzed, and it has been a challenge to distinguish non-coding ribonucleic acid (RNAs) (ncRNAs) from coding RNAs. And for non-model organisms, due to the lack of transcriptional data, many existing methods cannot identify them. Therefore, in addition to using deoxyribonucleic acid-based and RNA-based features, we also proposed a hybrid framework based on the stacking strategy to identify ncRNAs, and we innovatively added eight features based on predicted peptides. The proposed framework was based on stacking two-layer classifier which combined random forest (RF), LightGBM, XGBoost and logistic regression (LR) models. We used this framework to build two types of models. For cross-species ncRNAs identification model, we tested it on six different species: human, mouse, zebrafish, fruit fly, worm and Arabidopsis. Compared with other tools, our model was the best in datasets of Arabidopsis, worm and zebrafish with the accuracy of 98.36%, 99.65% and 94.12%. For performance metrics analysis, the datasets of the six species were considered as a whole set, and the sensitivity, accuracy, precision and F1 values of our model were the best. For the plant-specific ncRNAs identification model, the average values of the six metrics of the two experiments were all greater than 95%, which demonstrated it can be used to identify ncRNAs in plants. The above indicates that the hybrid framework we designed is universal between animals and plants and has significant advantages in the identification of cross-species ncRNAs.
A dynamic recursive feature elimination framework (dRFE) to further refine a set of OMIC biomarkers
Authors: Han Yuanyuan , Huang Lan , Zhou Fengfeng
Published: January 2021

Motivation

A feature selection algorithm may select the subset of features with the best associations with the class labels. The recursive feature elimination (RFE) is a heuristic feature screening framework and has been widely used to select the biological OMIC biomarkers. This study proposed a dynamic recursive feature elimination (dRFE) framework with more flexible feature elimination operations. The proposed dRFE was comprehensively compared with 11 existing feature selection algorithms and five classifiers on the eight difficult transcriptome datasets from a previous study, the ten newly collected transcriptome datasets and the five methylome datasets.

Results

The experimental data suggested that the regular RFE framework did not perform well, and dRFE outperformed the existing feature selection algorithms in most cases. The dRFE-detected features achieved Acc = 1.0000 for the two methylome datasets GSE53045 and GSE66695. The best prediction accuracies of the dRFE-detected features were 0.9259, 0.9424 and 0.8601 for the other three methylome datasets GSE74845, GSE103186 and GSE80970, respectively. Four transcriptome datasets received Acc = 1.0000 using the dRFE-detected features, and the prediction accuracies for the other six newly collected transcriptome datasets were between 0.6301 and 0.9917.

Availability and implementation

The experiments in this study are implemented and tested using the programming language Python version 3.7.6.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
wiSDOM: a visual and statistical analytics for interrogating microbiome
Authors: Su Shih-Chi , Galvin James E. , Yang Shun-Fa , Chung Wen-Hung , Chang Lun-Ching
Published: January 2021

Motivation

We proposed a wiSDOM (web-based inclusionary analysis Suite for Disease-Oriented Metagenomics) R Shiny application which comprises six functional modules: (i) initial visualization of sampling effort and distribution of dominant bacterial taxa among groups or individual samples at different taxonomic levels; (ii) statistical and visual analysis of α diversity; (iii) analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) of β diversity on UniFrac, Bray-Curtis, Horn-Morisita or Jaccard distance and visualizations; (iv) microbial biomarker discovery between two or more groups with various statistical and machine learning approaches; (v) assessment of the clinical validity of selected biomarkers by creating the interactive receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and calculating the area under the curve (AUC) for binary classifiers; and lastly (vi) functional prediction of metagenomes with PICRUSt or Tax4Fun.

Results

The performance of wiSDOM has been evaluated in several of our previous studies for exploring microbial biomarkers and their clinical validity as well as assessing the alterations in bacterial diversity and functionality. The wiSDOM can be customized and visualized as per users’ needs and specifications, allowing researchers without programming background to conduct comprehensive data mining and illustration using an intuitive browser-based interface.

Availability and implementation

The browser-based R Shiny interface can be accessible via (https://lun-ching.shinyapps.io/wisdom/) and freely available at (https://github.com/lunching/wiSDOM).

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Missing at random: a stochastic process perspective
Authors: Farewell D M , Daniel R M , Seaman S R
Published: January 2021

We offer a natural and extensible measure-theoretic treatment of missingness at random. Within the standard missing-data framework, we give a novel characterization of the observed data as a stopping-set sigma algebra. We demonstrate that the usual missingness-at-random conditions are equivalent to requiring particular stochastic processes to be adapted to a set-indexed filtration. These measurability conditions ensure the usual factorization of likelihood ratios. We illustrate how the theory can be extended easily to incorporate explanatory variables, to describe longitudinal data in continuous time, and to admit more general coarsening of observations.