bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Long-Term Training Increases Atrial Fibrillation Sustainability in Standardbred Racehorses
Authors: Carstensen Helena , Nissen Sarah Dalgas , Saljic Arnela , Hesselkilde Eva Melis , van Hunnik Arne , Hohl Mathias , Sattler Stefan Michael , Fløgstad Cecilie , Hopster-Iversen Charlotte , Verheule Sander , Böhm Michael , Schotten Ulrich , Jespersen Thomas , Buhl Rikke
Published: April 2023

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is more prevalent in athletes, and currently, the mechanisms are not fully understood. Atrial fibrillation inducibility and stability was investigated in trained and untrained Standardbred racehorses. The horses underwent echocardiography for evaluation of atrial size. High-density mapping during AF was performed, and the presence of structural remodeling, as well as the expression of inflammatory and pro-inflammatory markers in the atria, was studied. Atrial fibrillation sustained significantly longer after tachypacing in the trained horses, whereas no difference in AF inducibility was found. The untrained horses displayed a significant difference in the AF complexity when comparing right and left atria, whereas such difference was not observed in the trained animals. No evidence of increased structural remodeling or inflammation could be identified. Left atrial dimensions were not significantly increased. The increased AF sustainability in trained horses was not related to fibrosis or inflammation as seen in other animal exercise models.

Graphical abstract
Investigation of X-band and Ka-band amplitude scintillation based on measurement data collected during ESA’s BepiColombo superior solar conjunction campaign
Authors: Chen Shun-Ping , Lanucara Marco , Villalvilla Jose
Published: April 2023

Solar phase scintillation and solar amplitude scintillation are fundamentally important in deep space mission operations for designing a communication system capable of transmitting signals when the signal path is close to the Sun. The ESA’s BepiColombo measurement data were analyzed in a previous paper in terms of the power spectral density of the solar phase scintillation, also with a comparison with Woo’s solar phase scintillation theory, when X-band and Ka-band signals propagate close to the Sun with a small Sun-Earth-Probe (SEP) angle during the superior solar conjunction campaign in March 2021 in its cruise phase to Mercury. In this paper the solar amplitude scintillation is analyzed both by calculating the power spectral density and the scintillation index. The results of scintillation index, derived from these measurement data, fit the NASA JPL’s scintillation index model.
Applying the ‘Candidacy’ Model to understand access to key nutrition, food & health services in LMIC contexts: a qualitative study in Odisha, India
Authors: Mitchell Rebecca , Gordon Jessica , Bhoi Gopal Krushna , Nisbett Nicholas
Published: April 2023

In order to make progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 2 – Zero Hunger - we must acquire a better understanding of what continues to hamper achieving food security, particularly in contexts where progress has been achieved, but has then faltered. This article investigates access to nutrition and food services in three of the Indian state of Odisha’s traditionally poorer districts, where a large number of the state’s most marginalised populations live. Semi-structured interviews were carried out in 11 villages. The Dixon-Woods Candidacy Model was employed to provide greater insight into the experiences of access to health and nutrition services, from both the supply and the demand sides. We found that there are many points along the journey that hamper access. We identified two levels of gatekeepers that can create (or remove) barriers, the first as front-line service providers and the second as high-level officials. The candidacy model shows that marginalisation caused by identity, poverty and education disparities hampers progress throughout this journey. This article aims to provide a view to improve our understanding of access to health, food and nutrition services, to improve food security, and to show the value of the candidacy model applied to an LMIC health setting.
The Relationship Between Health Expenditure, CO2 Emissions, and Economic Growth in G7: Evidence from Heterogeneous Panel Data
Authors: Dritsaki Melina , Dritsaki Chaido
Published: April 2023

Τhe current paper examines the relationship between per capita health care expenditures, per capita CO2 emissions, and per capita gross domestic product (GDP) in G7 countries. At the beginning, we examine the cross-sectional dependence and the slope homogeneity between the countries. Then, the second-generation unit root test is applied using the Pesaran, CIPS (2007) test, while for the cointegration test, the Westerlund (Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics 69(6):709-748, 2007) test was applied. The long -run panel cointegration coefficients were analyzed with the augmented mean group (AMG) estimators, which allow the cross-sectional dependence and heterogeneity. Finally, the test by Dumitrescu and Hurlin (Economic Modelling 29(4):1450-1460, 2012) was used in order to check for causality taking into account the heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence on panel data. The preliminary analyses show that variables are cross-sectional-dependant and heterogenous and are first-order stationary. Cointegration test by Westerlund (Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics 69(6):709-748, 2007) which allows heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence show that there is a stable and long-run relationship between variables. Moreover, the long-run coefficients which were estimated with the AMG approach are found to be statistically significant and positive for the GDP per capita, and negative in the case of greenhouse gas emissions per capita. Finally, causality test by Dumitrescu and Hurlin (Economic Modelling 29(4):1450-1460, 2012) revealed a unilateral causality from greenhouse gas emissions per capita towards health expenditure per capita for all G7 countries.
Arthur Marble Aquifer and Te Waikoropupu Springs, New Zealand: flow contributions and nitrate sources
Authors: Williams Paul W.
Published: April 2023

This paper investigates sources of early signs of nitrate pollution in a karst aquifer and major karst spring. Te Waikoropupu Springs are the largest springs in New Zealand and amongst the largest in the Southern Hemisphere with a mean outflow of 13.4 m3/s. They discharge the clearest water ever recorded from a karst spring, but early warning of water quality deterioration is signalled by increasing nitrate concentrations. The springs discharge water from a partly artesian aquifer of 2.85 km3 volume in karstified Ordovician marble with a transmission time averaging 7.9 years. Reservoir porosity is unusually high for a crystalline carbonate rock, estimated as 6%. Water emerging at Main Spring (9.89 m3/s) and adjacent Fish Creek Springs (3.48 m3/s) is a mix of recharge from four main sources. The paper investigates by means of mass balance modelling the proportions of water coming from each source, the origins of nitrate contamination and the contribution of nitrification. Water losses into the bed of the upper Takaka River, about 17 km from the Springs, provide 13% of the mean flow at Main Spring, 34% of the flow at Fish Creek Springs, and 83% of the volume discharged at submarine springs. Infiltration from rain falling over farmed land in the middle valley is estimated to supply 10% of total outflow at Main Spring and Fish Creek Springs but to contribute 82% of the NO3-N output discharged at the springs. Nitrification accounts for 16% of the nitrate discharged. A 34% reduction of leachate concentration in the middle valley would be required to bring NO3-N values at Main Spring back to levels recorded in the 1970s.
HAkAu: hybrid algorithm for effective k-automorphism anonymization of social networks
Authors: Medková Jana , Hynek Josef
Published: April 2023

Online social network datasets contain a large amount of various information about their users. Preserving users’ privacy while publishing or sharing datasets with third parties has become a challenging problem. The k-automorphism is the anonymization method that protects the social network dataset against any passive structural attack. It provides a higher level of protection than other k-anonymity methods, including k-degree or k-neighborhood techniques. In this paper, we propose a hybrid algorithm that effectively modifies the social network to the k-automorphism one. The proposed algorithm is based on the structure of the previously published k-automorphism KM algorithm. However, it solves the NP-hard subtask of finding isomorphic graph extensions with a genetic algorithm and employs the GraMi algorithm for finding frequent subgraphs. In the design of the genetic algorithm, we introduce the novel chromosome representation in which the length of the chromosome is independent of the size of the input network, and each individual in each generation leads to the k-automorphism solution. Moreover, we present a heuristic method for selecting the set of vertex disjoint subgraphs. To test the algorithm, we run experiments on a set of real social networks and use the SecGraph tool to evaluate our results in terms of protection against deanonymization attacks and preserving data utility. It makes our experimental results comparable with any future research.
Farmers’ perception and management of water scarcity in irrigated rice-based systems in dry climatic zones of West Africa
Authors: Johnson Jean-Martial , Becker Mathias , Dossou-Yovo Elliott Ronald , Saito Kazuki
Published: April 2023

Water scarcity threatens irrigated agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Knowledge of farmers’ perceptions and drivers for decision-making in view of coping with water scarcity is so far lacking but needed to improve local technologies and frame policies fostering their adoption. Here, for the first time, we investigated farmers’ perception of water scarcity, key adaptation strategies, and the determinants of their adoption in irrigated rice schemes in dry climatic zones of West Africa. We surveyed 572 farming households and conducted expert interviews with key informants in four contrasting irrigated rice schemes in Burkina Faso between April 2018 and August 2019. Information was gathered on biophysical field characteristics, grain yields, agronomic and water management practices, farmers’ perception of water scarcity, their adaptive responses, and social-economic attributes of adopting households. Nearly 80% of the respondents reported having experienced water scarcity during the past 5 years. To cope with the adverse effect of water scarcity, farmers implemented seventeen different adaptation strategies that could be categorized into seven groups. Most popular among those were “water and soil conservation practices” (consisting mainly of field bunding and leveling), “no rice cultivation,” and “crop rotation.” Farmers in drier areas (Sudano-Sahelian zone) were less likely to adopt and implement several adaptation strategies to water scarcity compared to farmers in wetter areas (Sudanian zone). Belonging to farming associations increased the probability of implementing several strategies to alleviate water scarcity, while female-headed households tended to have a lower propensity to adopt and implement concomitantly several adaptation strategies in comparison with their male counterpart. The dissemination of scheme- and household-specific technology options could contribute to mitigating water scarcity in irrigated rice-based systems in the dry climatic zones of West Africa, thus contributing to rural livelihood and food security.
Fostering Computational Thinking and Social-emotional Skills in Children with ADHD and/or ASD: a Scoping Review
Authors: Oswald Christina , Paleczek Lisa , Maitz Katharina , Husny Maximilian , Gasteiger-Klicpera Barbara
Published: April 2023

Although Computational Thinking (CT) is considered an essential 21st century skill, little is known about teaching CT to students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and/or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). To address this gap in the research, we conducted a scoping review to identify those approaches promoting programming skills and/or CT in children aged 6–15 with ASD and/or ADHD. We also investigated which other skills were simultaneously fostered and examined the challenges and benefits reported in the interventions undertaken. Results indicate that fostering programming and/or CT in students with ASD and/or ADHD has a beneficial effect. CT-related skills acquired by such students were found to persist beyond the intervention period and were often associated with an improvement in student social-emotional competences.
Narratives as a Tool for Practically Wise Leadership
Authors: Bostanli Lu , Habisch Andre
Published: April 2023

Recent studies have identified practical wisdom as a critical area for exploration in the domains of management and leadership. This paper delves into the cultivation and manifestation of practical wisdom in leadership, emphasizing the potential of narratives as an efficacious tool, as corroborated by academic literature. Employing practical wisdom theory and a refined analytical model, we examine the role of narratives as a key instrument for practically wise leaders. Through the provision of theoretical underpinnings and empirical evidence, our study seeks to elucidate the tripartite interconnectedness of practical wisdom, narratives, and leadership. Subsequently, a conceptual model is developed and illustrated, outlining the relationship between narratives and practical wisdom across diverse leadership contexts. This analysis positions practical wisdom as a fundamental guidance for leaders’ narrative practices. Acknowledging the paper’s conceptual focus, we discuss the practical and theoretical implications of the proposed model and advocate for empirical inquiry to further enhance understanding of narrative practices in practically wise leadership.
Novel control of house fly Musca domestica and bacterial isolates by ozone gas
Authors: Metwally Ahmed M. , Salem Salem S. , Hammad Kotb M. , Metwaly Khaled H. , Awad Mohamed A.
Published: April 2023

Ozone is a sturdy oxidant which canrub insects and microorganisms. Thus, it could be useful in eliminate the Housefly in hospitals. The purpose of test here is to determine degree of ozone exposure required to remove houseflies and reduction of pathogenic bacteria. Ozone was effective with housefly, requiring only low minutes of treatment (1 to 14 min.) at minimum concentrations of ozone gas O3 (0.125 g/m3 to 1 g/m3), the insects were eliminated the ozone. Thus, ozone exhibit potential as a fumigant for ousefly nesting materials, but moreover research is needed to evaluate its acceptability and efficacy in that field. The need for a dependable method to decontaminate housefly nesting materials as part of an overall ousefly (Musca domestica) system at hospitals sterilization is discussed. In this paper, we are using ozone gas as an alternative housefly pest and to remove house flies at hospitals, and we also illustrate data on the efficacy of ozone against the housefly (Musca domestica) and its effect on specific characteristics and properties of the treated zone application is currently attracting attention, particularly since. (a) There are no residues on the product. (b) There is no need for aeration to remove the gas. Green synthesis industrial applications and improvements in ozone technology together with new regulatory actions worldwide have emerged in last years, making it easier to use and applicable in a wide range - as the same with the pathogenic bacteria we are using ozone gas to control it, the numbers of bacterial cells remaining after ozone treatments were less than for untreated cells. The lowest dose of ozone gas for complete reduction of pathogenic bacteria was 0.125 g/m3 after 24 h of incubation.
Habitat type affects the diversity of dung beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) assemblages in a neotropical mountainous region of Colombia
Authors: Salomão Renato Portela , Lopera-Toro Alejandro , Pulido-Herrera Luz Astrid , Arias-Buriticá Jorge Armando
Published: April 2023

Ecological communities of tropical regions respond to habitat configuration, being negatively affected by anthropogenic habitats. In the tropics, mountainous highland landscapes sustain ecological communities with contrasting responses to habitat transformation. This study assessed the effect of different habitats under different disturbance regimes on the dung beetle assemblage that inhabits a mountainous Andean landscape in Colombia. The habitat types surveyed were oak forest cores (low intervention), forest edges (medium intervention), and pastures (high intervention). A total of 3,810 dung beetles from ten species were collected. Dung beetle diversity was affected by habitat type, and forest cores and forest edges had higher diversity than pastures. Besides, each habitat type was characterized by a distinct dung beetle assemblage, with pastures showing the highest heterogeneity in the dung beetle assemblage. In conclusion, our study suggests that the dung beetles of a portion of Colombian Andean landscapes are sensitive to shifts of habitat quality. The higher dung beetle diversity in forested habitats indicates that pastures comprise limiting environments for their assemblages at this Andean region.
A nonenzymatic laser-induced flexible amperometric graphene electrode for glucose detection in saliva
Authors: Nugba Betty Edem , El-Moneim A. A. , Mousa Nahla O. , Osman Ahmed
Published: April 2023

Graphene is a suitable transducer for wearable sensors because of its high conductivity, large specific surface area, flexibility, and other unique considerable features. Using a simple, fast galvanic pulse electrodeposition approach, a unique nonenzymatic glucose amperometric electrode was successfully developed based on well-distributed fine Cu nanoparticles anchored on the surface of 3D structure laser-induced graphene. The fabricated electrode allows glucose detection with a sensitivity of 2665 µA/mM/cm2, a response time of less than 5 s, a linear range of 0.03–4.5 mM, and a LOD of 0.023 µM. It also detects glucose selectively in the presence of interfering species such as ascorbic acid and urea. These provide the designed electrode the advantages for glucose sensing in saliva with 97% accuracy and present it among the best saliva-range non-enzymatic glucose sensors reported to date for real-life diagnostic applications.
A probabilistic multi-objective optimization mechanical design
Authors: Zheng Maosheng , Yu Jie
Published: April 2023

Optimization design of machinery is usually a multi-objective one inevitably. At present, the popular mechanical optimization design is limited by the intrinsic shortcomings of the previous multi-objective optimization methods, which leads to the difficulty of non-comprehensive and nonsystematic optimal solutions in the viewpoint of probability theory. In the linear weighting “additive” method, there is inherent problems of normalization and introduction of subjective factors, and the final results depend on the normalization method to a great extent; the Pareto solution set is a “set” instead of an exact solution. In this paper, the probability—based multi-objective optimization, discretization with uniform design and sequential optimization are combined to establish a new approach of multi-objective optimization mechanical design based on probability theory; the probabilistic multi-objective optimization is used to transform the multi-objective optimization problem into single-objective optimization one from the perspective of probability theory; the discretization by means of uniform design provides an effective sampling to simplify the mathematical processing, which is especially important for dealing with multi-objective optimization problems with continuous objective functions; the sequential optimization algorithm is used to conduct the successive deep optimization. Furthermore, the implementation steps are illustrated with two examples. The results show that the approach can not only give excellent optimization results, but also provide a relatively simple processing.
Trends in regional inequalities in childhood anemia in Ethiopia: evidence from the 2005–2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Surveys
Authors: Negussie Shiferaw Tessema , Nigatu Regassa Geda
Published: April 2023

Introduction

Globally, 269 million children aged 6–59 months were anemic in 2019. Of these, 103 million anemic children were from Africa. Childhood anemia is still a serious public health concern in SSA countries, including Ethiopia. In Ethiopia, the prevalence of childhood anemia largely varies by geographic administration regions. This study is aimed to examine trends in regional inequalities in childhood anemia in Ethiopia over the period 2005–2016.

Method

This cross-sectional study was based on a pooled total sample of 17,766 children aged 6–59 months drawn from three rounds of the Ethiopian Demography and Health Surveys (2005–2016). We employed multilevel binary logistic regression analysis to identify the determinants of childhood anemia among children aged 6–59 months. We also used Theil and multivariate decomposition analyses to examine the levels and trends in relative regional inequalities in childhood anemia.

Result

A combination of individual-, household- and community-level factors were significantly (p < 001) associated with childhood anemia. From the pooled data, the highest childhood anemia was observed in Somali (78.68%) followed by Afar region (72.76%) while the lowest childhood anemia was in Amhara (41.01%), Addis Ababa (42.64%) and SNNPR (44%) between 2005 and 2016. The total relative inequality declined from 0.620 in 2005 to 0.548 in 2016. Overall, one-third of change in regional inequalities in childhood anemia was due to the differential resulted from the difference in observable characteristics of the subjects.

Conclusion

Overall progress made in Ethiopia was very slow with only a 13.14% reduction in the relative regional inequalities in childhood anemia over 11 years. The present study underscores addressing the existing disparities in socioeconomic status, maternal anemia and maternal employment status between emerging and non-emerging regions to reduce regional inequality in childhood anemia.
Machine Learning Driven Mental Stress Detection on Reddit Posts Using Natural Language Processing
Authors: Inamdar Shaunak , Chapekar Rishikesh , Gite Shilpa , Pradhan Biswajeet
Published: April 2023

People’s mental conditions are often reflected in their social media activity due to the internet's anonymity. Psychiatric issues are often detected through such activities and can be addressed in their early stages, potentially preventing the consequences of unattended mental disorders like depression and anxiety. In this paper, the authors have implemented machine learning models and used various embedding techniques to classify posts from the famous social media blog site Reddit as stressful and non-stressful. The dataset used contains user posts that can be analyzed to detect patterns in the social media activity of those diagnosed with mental disorders. This paper uses different NLP (Natural Language Processing) tools such as ELMo (Embeddings from Language Models) word embeddings, BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) tokenizers, and BoW (Bag of Words) approach to create word/sentence data that can be fed to machine learning models. The results of each method have been discussed. The results achieved a top F1 score of 0.76, a Precision score of 0.71, and a Recall of 0.74 using only the preprocessed texts and machine learning algorithms to classify the posts. The results achieved by this paper are significant and have the potential to be applied in real-world scenarios to analyze mental stress among social media users. Although this paper focuses on data from Reddit, the techniques used can be transferred to similar social media platforms and could help solve the growing mental health crisis.
Violence against Women and Specialized Justice in Guatemala: Advances and Limitations
Authors: Beck Erin
Published: April 2023

This article provides the first detailed account of the structure, functioning, and impact of Guatemala’s Femicide and Other Forms of Violence against Women Criminal Courts. I assess the achievements and limitations of these courts from two views: a bird’s eye view, which explores how cases proceed through these specialized courts, and an insiders’ view, which explores the perspectives and practices of their judges. Combined, these views demonstrate that judges’ personal commitments and the courts’ institutional frameworks benefit the minority of women whose cases are heard in them but that these benefits are undercut by the broader social and institutional contexts in which judges and courts operate. This can be seen both in a panoramic view that reveals key locations where cases involving violence against women and girls stall in the judicial process and also through judges’ critiques of the systems in which they are embedded. Both views provide insights that should guide policy makers and activists seeking to better fulfill the promise of these courts.
How fast do we forget our past social interactions? Understanding memory retention with parametric decays in relational event models
Authors: Arena Giuseppe , Mulder Joris , Leenders Roger Th. A.J.
Published: April 2023

In relational event networks, endogenous statistics are used to summarize the past activity between actors. Typically, it is assumed that past events have equal weight on the social interaction rate in the (near) future regardless of the time that has transpired since observing them. Generally, it is unrealistic to assume that recently past events affect the current event rate to an equal degree as long-past events. Alternatively one may consider using a prespecified decay function with a prespecified rate of decay. A problem then is that the chosen decay function could be misspecified yielding biased results and incorrect conclusions. In this paper, we introduce three parametric weight decay functions (exponential, linear, and one-step) that can be embedded in a relational event model. A statistical method is presented to decide which memory decay function and memory parameter best fit the observed sequence of events. We present simulation studies that show the presence of bias in the estimates of effects of the statistics whenever the decay, as well as the memory parameter, are not properly estimated, and the ability to test different memory models against each other using the Bayes factor. Finally, we apply the methodology to two empirical case studies.
First records of two rays and three bony fishes for the Galapagos Islands
Authors: Mossbrucker Magdalena E. , Acuña-Marrero David , Cundy Megan E. , Fierro-Arcos Denisse , Suárez-Moncada Jenifer M. , Rastoin-Laplaine Etienne , Salinas-de-León Pelayo
Published: April 2023

The Galapagos Islands lie within the oceanic ecoregion of the Tropical Eastern Pacific, which has a unique fish assemblage composition due to the influence of several ocean currents and El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events. In the El Niño phase of these events, water temperature changes facilitate the movement of fish species between oceanic ecoregions, as well as across the Eastern Pacific Barrier. Here, we present five new fish records for the Galapagos Marine Reserve based on underwater imagery. These include two rays (Mobula thurstoni and Myliobatis longirostris) and three bony fishes (Lobotes pacifica, Lutjanus colorado and Sphyraena stellata). Of these, the first species is proposed as potentially resident to the Galapagos, and the latter four as vagrant species in the Galapagos until further sightings can conclusively determine their status. The effects of ENSO, the use of underwater video technology, and the importance of up-to-date and accurate species listings to understand the impact of the climate crisis are discussed.
Plasma mid-regional proadrenomedullin level in children with pulmonary hypertension associated with CHD
Authors: Elesawy Shimaa A. , El-Serogy Hesham A. , Sorour Esraa A. , Zoair Amr M.
Published: April 2023

Adrenomedullin has been shown to inhibit proliferation in pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells and to alleviate pulmonary artery collagen accumulation in pulmonary hypertension. We aimed to assess mid-regional proadrenomedullin level in children with pulmonary hypertension due to CHDs. The current study was conducted in the Pediatric Cardiology Unit, Tanta University Hospital, on 50 children with CHDs: twenty-five patients had a complication of pulmonary hypertension and the other 25 patients without pulmonary hypertension. Another 25 children without CHDs were concluded as a control group. We performed complete history taking, full clinical assessment, chest X-ray, electrocardiogram, and echocardiographic assessment. Plasma level of mid-regional proadrenomedullin was assessed using a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay test. Our results showed that the mean plasma level of mid-regional proadrenomedullin was significantly increased in patients with pulmonary hypertension. Significant positive correlation was found between mid-regional proadrenomedullin and mean pulmonary artery pressure. The best cut-off point of mid-regional proadrenomedullin as a diagnostic biomarker to discriminate patients with CHDs complicated with pulmonary hypertension was 199.22 nmol/l. Mid-regional proadrenomedullin significantly increased in patients with pulmonary hypertension who died as compared to patients who survived, with the best cut-off point was 428,8 nmol/l. We concluded that plasma levels of mid-regional proadrenomedullin were significantly elevated in children with pulmonary hypertension complicated by the CHDs. It could be used as a cardiac biomarker in these patients, with good diagnostic and prognostic value.
How Extreme Events in China Would Be Affected by Global Warming—Insights From a Bias‐Corrected CMIP6 Ensemble
Authors: Guo Junhong , Wang Xiuquan , Fan Yurui , Liang Xi , Jia Hongtao , Liu Lvliu
Published: April 2023

In recent years, concurrent climate extreme conditions (i.e., hot‐dry, cold‐dry, hot‐wet, and cold‐wet) have led to various unprecedented natural disasters (e.g., floods, landslide, wildfire, droughts, etc.), causing significant damages to human societies and ecosystems. This is especially true for China where many unprecedented natural disasters have been reported due to the recent warming in local climate. In this paper, we focus on the issue of ultra‐extreme events (1‰ threshold) and address how future global warming would affect the climate extreme conditions in China. Specifically, to reduce the uncertainties from models, we use a downscaled and bias‐corrected CMIP6 ensemble under two continuously‐warming scenarios to evaluate the impact of global warming on ultra‐extreme events over China. The results show that, under both SSP245 and SSP585 scenarios, extreme hot conditions would become dominant in most regions of China and some regions are likely to experience over 50 extreme hot days at future warming levels. The frequency of extreme cold events is projected to be small. More frequent extreme hot‐wet events with concurrence in the same month and year would be expected for China under the continuously‐warming scenarios. This is particularly obvious for the west where more than 6 hot‐wet months are likely to take place under future warming scenarios. This may imply that more extreme heat waves and flooding events would coincide in the same month or year for China in the future. For univariate ultra‐extreme events, both extreme hot events and extreme wet events would drop by above 25% from 2.0°C to 1.5°C global warming level, particularly under the SSP245 scenario. When the global mean temperature is limited to 1.5°C rather than 2°C, the avoided impacts of hot‐wet and cold‐wet extremes concurring in the same month will be larger than those of dry‐related compound extremes. Overall, the results suggest that slowing down global warming can reduce the frequency of concurrent climate extreme conditions in China, highlighting the importance of immediate action toward carbon emission reduction.
Spectroscopic Approach Toward Unraveling the Electrical Signature of Roots
Authors: Ehosioke Solomon , Garré Sarah , Huisman Johan Alexander , Zimmermann Egon , Placencia‐Gomez Edmundo , Javaux Mathieu , Nguyen Frédéric
Published: April 2023

Geoelectrical methods are increasingly used to investigate soil‐plant interactions in an agricultural context. For this, it is essential to quantify root electrical properties, since they influence the bulk electrical signal of vegetated soil. This quantification has to be done at the root segment scale with attention for the variability of root properties in time and space as well as within and across plant species. In this study, we investigated the frequency‐dependent electrical properties in terms of conduction and polarization of single root segments of Brachypodium (Brachypodium distachyon L.) and Maize (Zea mays L.). A sample holder to investigate the electrical properties of root segments was designed and tested on ideal resistors. We found that it is suitable to assess the electrical properties of crop root segments of 1–5‐cm length in a frequency range between 1 Hz and 45 kHz. The system was then used to obtain the complex electrical response of Brachypodium and Maize root segments at 10 different ages. It was found that the electrical properties of the root segments varied with age and species. This variation was linked to root anatomy based on the microscopic analysis of root sections.
Opening the Black Box of the Radiation Belt Machine Learning Model
Authors: Ma Donglai , Bortnik Jacob , Chu Xiangning , Claudepierre Seth G. , Ma Qianli , Kellerman Adam
Published: April 2023

Many Machine Learning (ML) systems, especially deep neural networks, are fundamentally regarded as black boxes since it is difficult to fully grasp how they function once they have been trained. Here, we tackle the issue of the interpretability of a high‐accuracy ML model created to model the flux of Earth's radiation belt electrons. The Outer RadIation belt Electron Neural net (ORIENT) model uses only solar wind conditions and geomagnetic indices as input features. Using the Deep SHAPley additive explanations (DeepSHAP) method, for the first time, we show that the “black box” ORIENT model can be successfully explained. Two significant electron flux enhancement events observed by Van Allen Probes during the storm interval of 17–18 March 2013 and non‐storm interval of 19–20 September 2013 are investigated using the DeepSHAP method. The results show that the feature importance calculated from the purely data‐driven ORIENT model identifies physically meaningful behavior consistent with current physical understanding. This work not only demonstrates that the physics of the radiation belt was captured in the training of our previous model, but that this method can also be applied generally to other similar models to better explain the results and to potentially discover new physical mechanisms.
Programmable microfluidics for dynamic multiband camouflage
Authors: Feng Chunzao , Mao Mingran , Zhang Xiaohui , Liao Yutian , Xiao Xiaohui , Liu Huidong , Liu Kang
Published: April 2023

Achieving multiband camouflage covering both visible and infrared regions is challenging due to the broad bandwidth and differentiated regulation demand in diverse regions. In this work, we propose a programmable microfluidic strategy that uses dye molecules in layered fluids to manipulate visible light- and infrared-semitransparent solvent to manipulate infrared light. With three primary fluid inputs, we achieve 64 chromaticity values and 8 emissivities from 0.42 to 0.90. In view of the wide tuning range, we demonstrate that the microfluidic film can dynamically change its surface reflectance to blend into varying backgrounds in both visible and infrared images. Moreover, we fabricate the microfluidic device in a textile form and demonstrate its ability to match exactly with the colors of natural leaves of different seasons in the full hyperspectrum range. Considering the broadband modulation and ease of operation, the programmable microfluidic strategy provides a feasible approach for smart optical surfaces in long-span optical spectra.
Temperament & Character account for brain functional connectivity at rest: A diathesis-stress model of functional dysregulation in psychosis
Authors: Zwir Igor , Arnedo Javier , Mesa Alberto , del Val Coral , de Erausquin Gabriel A. , Cloninger C. Robert
Published: April 2023

The human brain’s resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) provides stable trait-like measures of differences in the perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social functioning of individuals. The rsFC of the prefrontal cortex is hypothesized to mediate a person’s rational self-government, as is also measured by personality, so we tested whether its connectivity networks account for vulnerability to psychosis and related personality configurations. Young adults were recruited as outpatients or controls from the same communities around psychiatric clinics. Healthy controls (n = 30) and clinically stable outpatients with bipolar disorder (n = 35) or schizophrenia (n = 27) were diagnosed by structured interviews, and then were assessed with standardized protocols of the Human Connectome Project. Data-driven clustering identified five groups of patients with distinct patterns of rsFC regardless of diagnosis. These groups were distinguished by rsFC networks that regulate specific biopsychosocial aspects of psychosis: sensory hypersensitivity, negative emotional balance, impaired attentional control, avolition, and social mistrust. The rsFc group differences were validated by independent measures of white matter microstructure, personality, and clinical features not used to identify the subjects. We confirmed that each connectivity group was organized by differential collaborative interactions among six prefrontal and eight other automatically-coactivated networks. The temperament and character traits of the members of these groups strongly accounted for the differences in rsFC between groups, indicating that configurations of rsFC are internal representations of personality organization. These representations involve weakly self-regulated emotional drives of fear, irrational desire, and mistrust, which predispose to psychopathology. However, stable outpatients with different diagnoses (bipolar or schizophrenic psychoses) were highly similar in rsFC and personality. This supports a diathesis-stress model in which different complex adaptive systems regulate predisposition (which is similar in stable outpatients despite diagnosis) and stress-induced clinical dysfunction (which differs by diagnosis).
Perceived patient burden and acceptability of MRI in comparison to PSA and ultrasound: results from the IP1-PROSTAGRAM study
Authors: Eldred-Evans David , Winkler Mathias , Klimowska-Nassar Natalia , Burak Paula , Connor Martin J. , Fiorentino Francesca , Day Emily , Price Derek , Gammon Martin , Tam Henry , Sokhi Heminder , Padhani Anwar R. , Ahmed Hashim U.
Published: April 2023

Background

The IP1-PROSTAGRAM study showed that a short, non-contrast MRI detected more significant cancers with similar rates of biopsy compared to PSA. Herein, we compare the expected and perceived burden of PSA, MRI and ultrasound as screening tests.

Methods

IP1-PROSTAGRAM was a prospective, population-based, paired screening study of 408 men conducted at seven UK primary care practices and two imaging centres. The screening tests were serum PSA, non-contrast MRI and ultrasound. If any test was screen-positive, a prostate biopsy was performed. Participants completed an Expected Burden Questionnaire (EBQ) and Perceived Burden Questionnaire (PBQ) before and after each screening test.

Results

The overall level of burden for MRI and PSA was minimal. Few men reported high levels of anxiety, burden, embarrassment or pain following either MRI or PSA. Participants indicated an overall preference for MRI after completing all screening tests. Of 408 participants, 194 (47.5%) had no preference, 106 (26.0%) preferred MRI and 79 (19.4%) preferred PSA. This indicates that prior to screening, participants preferred MRI compared to PSA (+6.6%, 95% CI 4.4–8.4, p = 0.02) and after completing screening, the preference for MRI was higher (+21.1%, 95% CI 14.9–27.1, p < 0.001). The proportion of participants who strongly agreed with repeating the test was 50.5% for ultrasound, 65% for MRI and 68% for PSA. A larger proportion of participants found ultrasound anxiety-inducing, burdensome, embarrassing and painful compared to both MRI and PSA.

Conclusions

Prostagram MRI and PSA are both acceptable as screening tests among men aged 50–69 years. Both tests were associated with minimal amounts of anxiety, burden, embarrassment and pain. The majority of participants preferred MRI over PSA and ultrasound.

Registration

This study was registered on clinicaltrials.gov at https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03702439.
Increased plasma DYRK1A with aging may protect against neurodegenerative diseases
Authors: Delabar Jean M. , Lagarde Julien , Fructuoso Marta , Mohammad Ammara , Bottlaender Michel , Doran Eric , Lott Ira , Rivals Isabelle , Schmitt Frederic A. , Head Elizabeth , Sarazin Marie , Potier Marie-Claude
Published: April 2023

Abstract

Early markers are needed for more effective prevention of Alzheimer’s disease. We previously showed that individuals with Alzheimer’s disease have decreased plasma DYRK1A levels compared to controls. We assessed DYRK1A in the plasma of cognitively healthy elderly volunteers, individuals with either Alzheimer’s disease (AD), tauopathies or Down syndrome (DS), and in lymphoblastoids from individuals with DS. DYRK1A levels were inversely correlated with brain amyloid β burden in asymptomatic elderly individuals and AD patients. Low DYRK1A levels were also detected in patients with tauopathies. Individuals with DS had higher DYRK1A levels than controls, although levels were lower in individuals with DS and with dementia. These data suggest that plasma DYRK1A levels could be used for early detection of at risk individuals of AD and for early detection of AD. We hypothesize that lack of increase of DYRK1A at middle age (40–50 years) could be a warning before the cognitive decline, reflecting increased risk for AD.
Density and maturity of peritumoral tertiary lymphoid structures in oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma predicts patient survival and response to immune checkpoint inhibitors
Authors: Hayashi Yoshinori , Makino Tomoki , Sato Eiichi , Ohshima Kenji , Nogi Yuya , Kanemura Takashi , Honma Keiichiro , Yamashita Kotaro , Saito Takuro , Tanaka Koji , Yamamoto Kazuyoshi , Takahashi Tsuyoshi , Kurokawa Yukinori , Miyata Hiroshi , Nakajima Kiyokazu , Wada Hisashi , Morii Eiichi , Eguchi Hidetoshi , Doki Yuichiro
Published: April 2023

Background

Tertiary lymphoid structures (TLSs) are ectopic lymphoid aggregates in non-lymphoid tissues, which are associated with improved prognosis in some cancer types. This study aimed to investigate the clinical significance of TLSs in oesophageal cancer (EC).

Methods

In a series of 316 EC surgical specimens from two different institutes, we evaluated the density and maturity of peritumoral TLSs using haematoxylin/eosin, immunohistochemistry, and multiplex immunofluorescence staining. We analysed the association between TLSs and clinicopathological parameters. The clinical significance of TLSs was further evaluated in a different cohort of 34 patients with recurrent EC treated with anti-PD-1 antibody.

Results

Tumours with high TLS density predominantly consisted of matured TLSs. High TLS density was significantly associated with less advanced tumour stage, absence of lymphatic/vascular invasion, better serum nutrition parameters (neutrophils count, albumin, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, and prognostic nutritional index), and prolonged survival. This survival trend was more remarkable in cases with matured TLSs, which represented an increased population of CD138+ plasma cells. In the second EC cohort, TLS density predicted the clinical response to anti-PD-1 antibody and patient survival.

Conclusion

The density and maturity of peritumoral TLSs are useful parameters for predicting long-term survival and response to anti-PD-1 antibody treatment in EC patients.
Heating a dipolar quantum fluid into a solid
Authors: Sánchez-Baena J. , Politi C. , Maucher F. , Ferlaino F. , Pohl T.
Published: April 2023

Raising the temperature of a material enhances the thermal motion of particles. Such an increase in thermal energy commonly leads to the melting of a solid into a fluid and eventually vaporises the liquid into a gaseous phase of matter. Here, we study the finite-temperature physics of dipolar quantum fluids and find surprising deviations from this general phenomenology. In particular, we describe how heating a dipolar superfluid from near-zero temperatures can induce a phase transition to a supersolid state with a broken translational symmetry. We discuss the observation of this effect in experiments on ultracold dysprosium atoms, which opens the door for exploring the unusual thermodynamics of dipolar quantum fluids.
Low-temperature and circadian signals are integrated by the sigma factor SIG5
Authors: Cano-Ramirez Dora L. , Panter Paige E. , Takemura Tokiaki , de Fraine Tara Saskia , de Barros Dantas Luíza Lane , Dekeya Richard , Barros-Galvão Thiago , Paajanen Pirita , Bellandi Annalisa , Batstone Tom , Manley Bethan F. , Tanaka Kan , Imamura Sousuke , Franklin Keara A. , Knight Heather , Dodd Antony N.
Published: April 2023

Chloroplasts are a common feature of plant cells and aspects of their metabolism, including photosynthesis, are influenced by low-temperature conditions. Chloroplasts contain a small circular genome that encodes essential components of the photosynthetic apparatus and chloroplast transcription/translation machinery. Here, we show that in Arabidopsis, a nuclear-encoded sigma factor that controls chloroplast transcription (SIGMA FACTOR5) contributes to adaptation to low-temperature conditions. This process involves the regulation of SIGMA FACTOR5 expression in response to cold by the bZIP transcription factors ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL5 and ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL5 HOMOLOG. The response of this pathway to cold is gated by the circadian clock, and it enhances photosynthetic efficiency during long-term cold and freezing exposure. We identify a process that integrates low-temperature and circadian signals, and modulates the response of chloroplasts to low-temperature conditions.