bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Bakshi, Kapadia, and Madan (2003) risk-neutral moment estimators: A Gram–Charlier density approach
Authors: Aschakulporn Pakorn , Zhang Jin E.
Published: June 2022

This paper is a sequel to Aschakulporn and Zhang (J Futures Mark 42(3):365–388, 2022). The errors of the Bakshi et al. (Rev Financ Stud 16(1):101–143, 2003) risk-neutral moment estimators is studied using the Gram–Charlier density—with the skewness and excess kurtosis specified. To obtain skewness with (absolute) errors less than $$10^{-3}$$

10

-
3

, the range of strikes ($$K_{\min }, K_{\max }$$

K
min

,

K
max

) must contain at least 3/4 to 4/3 of the forward price and have a step size ($$\Delta K$$

Δ
K

) of no more than 0.1% of the forward price. The range of strikes and step size corresponds to truncation and discretization errors, respectively. This is consistent to Aschakulporn and Zhang (2022) for non-volatile market periods.
Local emergence, global expansion: understanding the structural evolution of a bi-lingual national research landscape
Authors: Milia Matias Federico , Giralt Ariadna Nebot , Arvanitis Rigas
Published: June 2022

Research institutions organize their scientific activities in an increasingly diverse landscape. In matters of global interest, research relies on an ever-more cross-disciplinary background, which reveals intriguing questions concerning the local dynamics vs. global audiences. This paper proposes new methodological tools to assess, from a strategic perspective, the evolution of a given research landscape. It relies on the Global Research Institute of Paris’ recent experience, a new interdisciplinary Institute focusing on globalization topics beyond the usual economic meaning. The Institute leans on a broad and diverse set of research units of the Université de Paris and relates to the broad landscape of social sciences in France. This article charts the evolution of French authors’ scientific publications on the Institute’s thematic interests in French and English. It focuses on the structural features of the debate, namely the volume, the underlying historical semantic structure, and its main thematic domains. The paper offers significant evidence to understand knowledge circulation dynamics and links that non-speaking countries’ scientific literature builds with the English one.
Analysing academic paper ranking algorithms using test data and benchmarks: an investigation
Authors: Zhang Yu , Wang Min , Saberi Morteza , Chang Elizabeth
Published: June 2022

Research on academic paper ranking has received great attention in recent years, and many algorithms have been proposed to automatically assess a large number of papers for this purpose. How to evaluate or analyse the performance of these ranking algorithms becomes an open research question. Theoretically, evaluation of an algorithm requires to compare its ranking result against a ground truth paper list. However, such ground truth does not exist in the field of scholarly ranking due to the fact that there does not and will not exist an absolutely unbiased, objective, and unified standard to formulate the impact of papers. Therefore, in practice researchers evaluate or analyse their proposed ranking algorithms by different methods, such as using domain expert decisions (test data) and comparing against predefined ranking benchmarks. The question is whether using different methods leads to different analysis results, and if so, how should we analyse the performance of the ranking algorithms? To answer these questions, this study compares among test data and different citation-based benchmarks by examining their relationships and assessing the effect of the method choices on their analysis results. The results of our experiments show that there does exist difference in analysis results when employing test data and different benchmarks, and relying exclusively on one benchmark or test data may bring inadequate analysis results. In addition, a guideline on how to conduct a comprehensive analysis using multiple benchmarks from different perspectives is summarised, which can help provide a systematic understanding and profile of the analysed algorithms.
Ni-alginate hydrogel beads for establishing breakthrough curves of lead ions removal from aqueous solutions
Authors: Sami Nesreen M. , Elsayed A. A. , Ali M. M. S. , Metwally Sayed S.
Published: June 2022

The scientific impact of this work is the protection of the environment from hazardous pollutants using a column technique. Besides its higher stability at working pH and its time persisting, Ni-alginate has a higher ability to remove lead ions compared to the other prepared beads (Sr-alginate, Co-alginate, and Ca-alginate). Also, Ni-alginate possessed a higher removal percent, 93.3%, toward Pb2+ than the other ions, taking the sorption order of Pb2+ > Sr2+ > Co2+ > Cd2+ > Zn2+. Therefore, this study focused on using Ni-alginate as a selective sorbent for lead ions. Fixed-bed column was employed for the sorption process. The results for that efficiency are presented as breakthrough curves in view of the impact of various parameters; influent flow rate (1.5, 3.0, and 5.0 mL/min), lead concentration (100, 150, and 200 mg/L), and bed depth of sorbent (3.0, 5.0, and 7.0 cm). Breakthrough modeling including Thomas and Yan models was employed. The outcomes indicated that Thomas theory is more applicable. The overall outcomes indicated that Ni-alginate is recommended for selective removal of Pb2+ from waste solutions.
Accumulation patterns and health risk assessment of potentially toxic elements in the topsoil of two sloping vineyards (Tokaj-Hegyalja, Hungary)
Authors: Pham Nhung Thi Ha , Babcsányi Izabella , Balling Péter , Farsang Andrea
Published: June 2022

Purpose

In agricultural soils, accumulation and bioavailability patterns of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) are key ecological and health risk issues, especially in metal-based crop protection systems such as those applied in vineyards. However, PTE levels in the topsoils of historical wine-growing regions of Hungary have been scarcely studied so far. The specific goals of this research were to assess the accumulation tendencies and bioavailability of PTEs complemented with human health risk assessment in two sloping vineyards with pH-contrasted soils in Tokaj-Hegyalja, Hungary, and under different farming practices.

Methods

Composite topsoil (< 20 cm) and borehole samples were collected from two vineyards and local forests. The total and bioavailable PTE contents (Zn, Pb, Co, Ni, Cr, Cu) were analyzed following digestion in aqua regia and extraction with a strong chelating agent (0.05 M Na2-EDTA). Enrichment factors (EFs) were calculated based on Fe as a reference element and the local uncultivated soil. The hazard indexes (HIs) for outdoor workers, children, and adults living in residential areas near the vineyards were calculated to assess the health risks associated with the target PTEs.

Results

Higher PTE contents were observed in the organic vineyard (near Tokaj) compared to the conventional one (near Tállya), except for Cu and Pb. The EFs confirmed that the duration of Cu-fungicide applications mainly determines the soil-bound Cu levels, with an average of 2.6 in the 28-year-old organic vineyard and 9.6 in the more than 100-year-old conventional vineyard. The PTEs predominantly accumulated at the top of the hillslope in Tállya, while in Tokaj, a general trend of downslope accumulation of PTEs can be noticed. Bioavailable Cu reached a maximum of 50% of total Cu at the top of the hillslope (Tállya) and positively correlated with soil organic matter content. Iron/Mn oxides, total Ca content, and soil pH show a significant correlation with the PTE total contents (other than Cu); meanwhile, their bioavailability is mainly influenced by Mn oxides. The calculated HIs are less than 1, indicating no elevated health risk. Total Cr is the major contributor to the HI in both vineyards, reaching 79.0% (Tokaj) and 49.7% (Tállya).

Conclusion

Overall, the accumulated Cu contents mainly depended on the vineyard age, while farming practices and terrain morphology play a minor role in its spatial distribution. The further accumulation of PTEs, especially in high-metal hotspots within the vineyards, may ultimately cause toxicity to re-planted grapevines, soil biota, and, in the longer term, farmers and residents.
Pumpkin seed proteins (Cucurbita pepo L.) protect against diet-induced metabolic syndrome by improving insulin resistance and markers of oxidative stress and inflammation in rats
Authors: Abdelkader Chenni , Cherif Fatima Zohra Hamza , Elius Elif Ayse Erdogan , Lucchesi Daniela , Pucci Laura , Yahia Dalila Ait
Published: June 2022

Pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.) seeds are enriched in bioactive compounds having functional properties. The aim of this study was to analyze the pumpkin seed proteins (PSP) effects on insulin resistance, oxidative stress damage and inflammation in rats with high fructose-induced metabolic syndrome.

Twenty four male Wistar rats, fed isoenergetic diets supplemented with: (1) 20% casein (C); (2) 20% casein and 1 g/kg/day PSP (P); (3) 20% casein and 64% D-fructose (C-HF); (4) 20% casein, 1 g/kg/day PSP and 64% D-fructose (P-HF). After 8 weeks of treatment, fructose supply impaired white adipose tissue (WAT) weight, deteriorated glucose tolerance and tAUC, plasma glucose, insulin, insulinogenic index, HOMA-IR and HOMA-β, antioxidant status, lipid and protein oxidation, plasma TNF-α and IL-6 as compared to control diets. Interestingly, rats assigned to the PSPs diet with or without fructose displayed lower plasma glucose, insulin and fructose, improved tolerance of glucose, tAUC, HOMA-IR and HOMA-β and increased insulinogenic index as compared to C diets. PSPs consumption lowered thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, hydroperoxides and carbonyls in WAT and carbonyls in muscle. Superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase in WAT were significantly diminished in P-HF but increased in P as compared to C-HF and C. Rats fed P-HF diet had low catalase in WAT and high in muscle than those fed C-HF. Moreover, catalase activity increased in muscle but decreased in WAT in P group than in C group. In conclusion, pumpkin seed proteins exhibit favorable effects on metabolic disorders of fructose-induced metabolic syndrome, suggesting a key role in disease therapy.
SpaceWire communications in power over ethernet environment
Authors: Martin Jack , Zaidi Yaseen
Published: June 2022

This is a high-level study into the validation of a unified electric power and communications architecture for modern spacecraft systems. We leverage from blending the European Cooperation for Space Standardisation (ECSS) SpaceWire and the IEEE 802.3 Power over Ethernet (PoE) standards for a common onboard power and communications interface. The focus of the work has been communication performance. The requirements from the protocols of both standards were analysed and combined to create a full protocol stack for SpaceWire PoE. The stack is implemented on an embedded platform represented as a proof-of-concept SpaceWire PoE system. The results of functional testing demonstrate SpaceWire PoE as a valid solution that meets the requirements of both protocols. For the 100 Mb/s links, the SpaceWire PoE throughput is on a par (97.39%) with Ethernet (97.52%) and SpaceWire (99.2%). Shared communication and power architecture is intended for decentralised operation achieving greater autonomy of the integrated subsystems. This potentially may lead to standardisation of electrical, mechanical and communication interfaces across spacecraft subsystem manufacturers, easing harness complexity and routing during the assembly, integration and test (AIT) phase of the spacecraft as well as saving mass and launch cost.
Facies and early diagenesis of rainwater-fed paleospring calcareous tufas in the Kurkur oasis area (southern Egypt)
Authors: Sallam Emad Samir
Published: June 2022

The Quaternary calcareous tufas precipitated in the Kurkur Oasis area in the southern Western Desert of Egypt were analyzed to determine their implications for the construction of environmental conditions during their formation. X-ray diffraction analysis showed that the tufas consist of low-Mg calcite, whereas macroscopic and microscopic analyses showed the presence of both allochthonous (clastic) and autochthonous components consisting predominantly of pisoliths, oncoids, intraclasts, lithoclasts, stromatolites and encrusted plant materials. These tufas form four facies associations that represent pisolitic intraclastic/lithoclastic oncoidal rudstones, phytohermal /bryophyte framestones, stromatolite-algal boundstones, and speleothem-like flowstones. These tufa associations were formed within a karstified carbonate terrain by a rainwater-fed paleospring system comprising waterfalls, slopes, dammed areas, lacustrines-paludal, and fluvial channel margin environments. Early diagenetic features are cementation, neomorphism and subaerial dissolution. Isotope-geochemical analysis indicated that the negative δ18O values (between – 13.26 and – 8.89‰ V-PDB) and the negative δ13C values (between – 3.16 and – 1.62‰ V-PDB) of the studied tufas are consistent with carbonates deposited from meteoric water in regions with much precipitation.
A Virtue-Based Framework to Support Putting AI Ethics into Practice
Authors: Hagendorff Thilo
Published: June 2022

Many ethics initiatives have stipulated sets of principles and standards for good technology development in the AI sector. However, several AI ethics researchers have pointed out a lack of practical realization of these principles. Following that, AI ethics underwent a practical turn, but without deviating from the principled approach. This paper proposes a complementary to the principled approach that is based on virtue ethics. It defines four “basic AI virtues”, namely justice, honesty, responsibility and care, all of which represent specific motivational settings that constitute the very precondition for ethical decision making in the AI field. Moreover, it defines two “second-order AI virtues”, prudence and fortitude, that bolster achieving the basic virtues by helping with overcoming bounded ethicality or hidden psychological forces that can impair ethical decision making and that are hitherto disregarded in AI ethics. Lastly, the paper describes measures for successfully cultivating the mentioned virtues in organizations dealing with AI research and development.
The Impact of Air Pollution and Aeroallergens Levels on Upper Airway Acute Diseases at Urban Scale
Authors: Ottaviano Giancarlo , Pendolino Alfonso Luca , Marioni Gino , Crivellaro Maria Angiola , Scarpa Bruno , Nardello Ennio , Pavone Chiara , Trimarchi Maria Vittoria , Alexandre Enrico , Genovois Clervie , Moretto Angelo , Marani Marco , Andrews Peter James , Marchese-Ragona Rosario
Published: June 2022

Air pollution (AP) represents one of the main environmental threats to public health and exposure to AP has been connected to upper airway (UA) disease. We evaluated the relationships between the ENT urgent referrals recorded at the Hospital of Padua and the daily levels of particulate matter (PM) as well as other environmental factors in a single year. Patients with UA disorders were included in the study group while those referred for facial trauma or foreign body inhalation formed the control group. Daily PM concentrations, meteorological data and the concentrations of the commonest aeroallergens were obtained. 6368 patients formed the study group and 910 the control one. The concentration of compositae allergens showed a positive effect on the total number of admissions (p = 0.001). PM10 did not demonstrate an effect on the total number of admissions or either the study or control groups admissions (p = 0.25). Alternaria positively influenced admissions of patients in the study group (p = 0.005). Significant relationships were found between the following: PM10 measured on the seventh day before A&E admission and rhinosinusitis (p = 0.007), PM10 on the fifth day and laryngitis (p = 0.01), PM10 on the second day and otitis media (p = 0.03), PM10 on the admission day and epistaxis (p = 0.0198). Our study confirms the causal relationship between aeroallergen concentration and ENT admissions. The levels of PM10 at specific days preceding A&E admission correlated with certain UA disorders. This study strongly points towards the harmful effects of pollution and climate change on UA disease.
Housing wealth, food spending, and diet quality: Evidence from panel data
Authors: Zhang Bo , Wrenn Douglas H. , Joshi Janak , Jaenicke Edward C.
Published: June 2022

Diet is important in determining positive health outcomes. Income constraints are often provided as an explanation for poor dietary choices made by households. We test this hypothesis by exploiting shocks to household budgets driven by changes in house prices. Using a comprehensive panel of household food purchases matched to house price data, we find that house prices have a positive impact on food expenditure, but no impact on diet quality. We also find that the total quantity of food purchased increases as budget constraints are relaxed suggesting that changes in quantity are the primary driver of the expenditure change. Finally, we demonstrate that the impact of budget constraints is larger for lower income and younger age households.
The 8-rank of the narrow class group and the negative Pell equation
Authors: Chan Stephanie , Koymans Peter , Milovic Djordjo , Pagano Carlo
Published: June 2022

Using a recent breakthrough of Smith [18], we improve the results of Fouvry and Klüners [4, 5] on the solubility of the negative Pell equation. Let

$\mathcal {D}$

denote the set of positive squarefree integers having no prime factors congruent to

$3$

modulo

$4$

. Stevenhagen [19] conjectured that the density of d in

$\mathcal {D}$

such that the negative Pell equation

$x^2-dy^2=-1$

is solvable with

$x, y \in \mathbb {Z}$

is

$58.1\%$

, to the nearest tenth of a percent. By studying the distribution of the

$8$

-rank of narrow class groups

$\operatorname {\mathrm {Cl}}^+(d)$

of

$\mathbb {Q}(\sqrt {d})$

, we prove that the infimum of this density is at least

$53.8\%$

.
Molecular and phenotypic characterization of two cryptic species of the predatory genus Mononchoides Rahm, 1928 (Rhabditida: Diplogastridae) and their congeneric affinities
Authors: Mahboob M. , Bashir I. , Asif M. , Nazir N. , Jahan R. , Tahseen Q.
Published: June 2022

Based on morphometric, morphological and molecular characterization using partial small subunit 18S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) and the D2/D3 domain of large subunit 28S rDNA, we described a new species Mononchoides kanzakii collected from manure, and the known species Mononchoides composticola Steel, Moens, Scholaert, Boshoff, Houthoofd and Bert, 2011, isolated from the dung beetle Oniticellus cinctus (Fabricius, 1775). Phylogenetic trees based on the evolutionary model (GTR + I + G) were inferred by Bayesian inference algorithms. Mononchoides kanzakii sp. n. is characterized by 28–32 longitudinal ridges, discontinuous at level of stoma; amphidial apertures inconspicuous; metastegostom armed with thorn-shaped dorsal tooth; a flattened, claw-like right subventral tooth, and left subventral denticulate ridge with 12–14 fine denticles delimited by a group of five denticles in females vs. triangular, flattened right subventral tooth, 5–8 prominent denticles at left subventral sector in males; cloacal lips with a distinct rim; and gubernaculum with cuticularized, proximal and distal extensions of equal length, each constituting half of the length of the wider part of gubernaculum.
High-energy proton beam acceleration driven by an intense ultrarelativistic electron beam in plasma
Authors: Liu Xiangyang , Fan Houchen , Qu Junfan , Liu Peng , Zhao Guangyi , Yin Liru , Li Xiaofeng , Yu Qin , Zhang Linwen , Kong Qing
Published: June 2022

We report a generation of energetic protons by the interaction of a high-energy electron driving beam with an underdense plasma slab. After an interaction period of approximately 4000 fs, a proton beam with maximum energy greater than 250 MeV can be achieved by applying a driving beam with energy 1.0 GeV to a 200

$\mathrm {\mu }$

m plasma slab. Our two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations also show that the proton acceleration process can be divided into two stages. In the first stage, a strong positive longitudinal electric field appears near the rear boundary of the plasma slab after the driving beam has passed through it. This acceleration process is similar to the target normal sheath acceleration scheme by the interaction between intense pulsed laser with overdense plasma targets. In the second stage, the accelerated protons experience a long-range acceleration process with a two-stream instability between the high-energy driving beam and the proton beam. Further analyses show that this accelerated proton beam is equipped with the property of good collimation and high energy. This scheme presents a new way for proton or ion acceleration on some special occasions.
Contextual influence of reinforcement learning performance of depression: evidence for a negativity bias?
Authors: Vandendriessche Henri , Demmou Amel , Bavard Sophie , Yadak Julien , Lemogne Cédric , Mauras Thomas , Palminteri Stefano
Published: June 2022

Backgrounds

Value-based decision-making impairment in depression is a complex phenomenon: while some studies did find evidence of blunted reward learning and reward-related signals in the brain, others indicate no effect. Here we test whether such reward sensitivity deficits are dependent on the overall value of the decision problem.

Methods

We used a two-armed bandit task with two different contexts: one ‘rich’, one ‘poor’ where both options were associated with an overall positive, negative expected value, respectively. We tested patients (N = 30) undergoing a major depressive episode and age, gender and socio-economically matched controls (N = 26). Learning performance followed by a transfer phase, without feedback, were analyzed to distangle between a decision or a value-update process mechanism. Finally, we used computational model simulation and fitting to link behavioral patterns to learning biases.

Results

Control subjects showed similar learning performance in the ‘rich’ and the ‘poor’ contexts, while patients displayed reduced learning in the ‘poor’ context. Analysis of the transfer phase showed that the context-dependent impairment in patients generalized, suggesting that the effect of depression has to be traced to the outcome encoding. Computational model-based results showed that patients displayed a higher learning rate for negative compared to positive outcomes (the opposite was true in controls).

Conclusions

Our results illustrate that reinforcement learning performances in depression depend on the value of the context. We show that depressive patients have a specific trouble in contexts with an overall negative state value, which in our task is consistent with a negativity bias at the learning rates level.
Actors in forums: work input and different types of benefits
Authors: Fischer Manuel , Maag Simon
Published: June 2022

Forums provide venues where different actors from the public administration sector, the interest group sector, or the research sector jointly discuss an issue of common interest. This article analyses which types of benefits are related to actors’ investing working time to forums. Actors’ dedication and work are basic predicates for forums to be able to produce outputs. The analysis of members of eight forums dealing with habitat and natural hazard governance in Switzerland suggests that actors participating in forums attribute more importance to exchange benefits, corresponding to opportunities of interaction with other actors – than to policy benefits – corresponding to opportunities for actors to influence policy or practice. However, more working time is invested by actors that lend importance to individual benefits – as opposed to collective benefits. These findings are important for understanding why actors provide work for forums in collaborative and polycentric governance systems.
Successful retrieval of embolised Occlutech atrial septal defect occluder from descending aorta in a 4-year-old child using a “mother and child” technique: a case report and literature review
Authors: Salam Abdul , Yates Robert , Khambadkone Sachin
Published: June 2022

A 9 mm Occlutech septal occluder Flex II device was retrieved in a 4-year-old 22 kg child; A 6 Fr Cook® Flexor sheath (child) was inserted into a 9 Fr Occlutech® ASD Delivery Set (mother). Once the tip of the smaller sheath was close to the device, a 4 Fr right Judkins catheter was introduced with a snare. The right atrial hub was captured and withdrawn to the level of the 6 Fr sheath which was then withdrawn into the 9 Fr sheath before being removed completely. The “mother and child” technique offers a greater likelihood of slenderising and retrieving embolised devices.
Why Is Right-Wing Media Consumption Associated With Lower Compliance	With COVID-19 Measures?
Authors: Ponizovskiy Vladimir , Grigoryan Lusine , Hofmann Wilhelm
Published: June 2022

Abstract. Exposure to right-wing media has been shown to be related to lower perceived threat from COVID-19, lower compliance with prophylactic measures against it, and higher incidence of infection and death. What features of right-wing media messages may account for these effects? In a preregistered cross-sectional study ( N = 554), we tested a model that differentiates perceived consequences of two CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) recommendations – washing hands and staying home – for basic human values. People who consumed more right-wing media perceived these behaviors as less beneficial for their personal security, for the well-being of close ones, and the well-being of society at large. Perceived consequences of following the CDC recommendations mediated the relationship between media consumption and compliance with recommendations. Implications for public health messaging are discussed.
Sustained effects of single doses of classical psychedelics in humans
Authors: Knudsen Gitte M.
Published: June 2022

The serotonergic classical psychedelics include compounds that primarily activate the brain’s serotonin 2 A receptor (5-HT2AR), such as LSD, psilocybin, and DMT (ayahuasca). The acute effects of these compounds are well-known as are their ability to increase the emotional state both in healthy people and in those with neuropsychiatric disorders. In particular psilocybin, the psychoactive constituent in “magic mushrooms”, has shown great potential for treatment of anxiety and depression. A unique and compelling feature of psychedelics is that intake of just a single psychedelic dose is associated with long-lasting effects. This includes effects on personality, e.g., higher openness, and amelioration of depressive symptoms. This review focuses on these stunning effects and summarizes our current knowledge on which behavioral, biochemical, neuroimaging, and electrophysiological data support that the intriguing effects of psychedelics on the human brain and mind are based on neural plasticity. The review also points to so far understudied areas and suggests research questions to be addressed in future studies which potentially can help to understand the intriguing long-term effects after intake of a single (or a few) psychedelic doses.
Strong, tough, ionic conductive, and freezing-tolerant all-natural hydrogel enabled by cellulose-bentonite coordination interactions
Authors: Wang Siheng , Yu Le , Wang Shanshan , Zhang Lei , Chen Lu , Xu Xu , Song Zhanqian , Liu He , Chen Chaoji
Published: June 2022

Ionic conductive hydrogels prepared from naturally abundant cellulose are ideal candidates for constructing flexible electronics from the perspective of commercialization and environmental sustainability. However, cellulosic hydrogels featuring both high mechanical strength and ionic conductivity remain extremely challenging to achieve because the ionic charge carriers tend to destroy the hydrogen-bonding network among cellulose. Here we propose a supramolecular engineering strategy to boost the mechanical performance and ionic conductivity of cellulosic hydrogels by incorporating bentonite (BT) via the strong cellulose-BT coordination interaction and the ion regulation capability of the nanoconfined cellulose-BT intercalated nanostructure. A strong (compressive strength up to 3.2 MPa), tough (fracture energy up to 0.45 MJ m−3), yet highly ionic conductive and freezing tolerant (high ionic conductivities of 89.9 and 25.8 mS cm−1 at 25 and −20 °C, respectively) all-natural cellulose-BT hydrogel is successfully realized. These findings open up new perspectives for the design of cellulosic hydrogels and beyond.
Islet autoantibody seroconversion in type-1 diabetes is associated with metagenome-assembled genomes in infant gut microbiomes
Authors: Zhang Li , Jonscher Karen R. , Zhang Zuyuan , Xiong Yi , Mueller Ryan S. , Friedman Jacob E. , Pan Chongle
Published: June 2022

The immune system of some genetically susceptible children can be triggered by certain environmental factors to produce islet autoantibodies (IA) against pancreatic β cells, which greatly increases their risk for Type-1 diabetes. An environmental factor under active investigation is the gut microbiome due to its important role in immune system education. Here, we study gut metagenomes that arede-novo-assembled in 887 at-risk children in the Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young (TEDDY) project. Our results reveal a small set of core protein families, present in >50% of the subjects, which account for 64% of the sequencing reads. Time-series binning generates 21,536 high-quality metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) from 883 species, including 176 species that hitherto have no MAG representation in previous comprehensive human microbiome surveys. IA seroconversion is positively associated with 2373 MAGs and negatively with 1549 MAGs. Comparative genomics analysis identifies lipopolysaccharides biosynthesis inBacteroidesMAGs and sulfate reduction inAnaerostipesMAGs as functional signatures of MAGs with positive IA-association. The functional signatures in the MAGs with negative IA-association include carbohydrate degradation in lactic acid bacteria MAGs and nitrate reduction inEscherichiaMAGs. Overall, our results show a distinct set of gut microorganisms associated with IA seroconversion and uncovered the functional genomics signatures of these IA-associated microorganisms
A trefoil knot self-templated through imination in water
Authors: Lei Ye , Li Zhaoyong , Wu Guangcheng , Zhang Lijie , Tong Lu , Tong Tianyi , Chen Qiong , Wang Lingxiang , Ge Chenqi , Wei Yuxi , Pan Yuanjiang , Sue Andrew C.-H. , Wang Linjun , Huang Feihe , Li Hao
Published: June 2022

The preparation of topologically nontrivial molecules is often assisted by covalent, supramolecular or coordinative templates that provide spatial pre-organization for all components. Herein, we report a trefoil knot that can be self-assembled efficiently in water without involving additional templates. The direct condensation of three equivalents of a tetraformyl precursor and six equivalents of a chiral diamine produces successfully a [3 + 6] trefoil knot whose intrinsic handedness is dictated by the stereochemical configuration of the diamine linkers. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that imine condensation is not amenable to use in water, the multivalent cooperativity between all the imine bonds within the framework makes this trefoil knot robust in the aqueous environment. Furthermore, the presence of water is proven to be essential for the trefoil knot formation. A topologically trivial macrocycle composed of two tetraformyl and four diamino building blocks is obtained when a similar reaction is performed in organic media, indicating that hydrophobic effect is a major driving force behind the scene.
Suspension printing of liquid metal in yield-stress fluid for resilient 3D constructs with electromagnetic functions
Authors: Wu Qian , Zhu Fengbo , Wu Ziliang , Xie Yu , Qian Jin , Yin Jun , Yang Huayong
Published: June 2022

Liquid metal is an ideal conductive material for soft electronics because of its high conductivity and fluidity at room temperature. However, the large surface tension and high mass density of liquid metal make forming three-dimensional (3D) dangling structures a challenging task. Reported here is a suspension printing strategy for direct deposition of galinstan-based liquid metal into 3D dangling structures with high shape fidelity and spatial resolution (~150 μm). Acrylamide/nanoclay suspension served as a yield-stress fluid support bath, with selected hydrogen peroxide to immediately oxidize the gallium skin and strengthen the extruded liquid metal, thus continuous liquid metal filaments were deposited successfully. The subsequent photo-curing of acrylamide/nanoclay works as a resilient outer packaging, giving rise to a ~500% tensile deformation for liquid metal-hydrogel composite. This suspension printing strategy should broaden the opportunity of using 3D and functional liquid metal constructs for soft yet resilient electromagnetic devices.
COVID-19 associated mucormycosis in Assiut University Hospitals: a multidisciplinary dilemma
Authors: Farghly Youssif Sahar , Abdelrady Marwa M. , Thabet Ahmed Atef , Abdelhamed Mohamed A. , Gad Mohamed Omar A. , Abu-Elfatth Ahmed Mohmmed , Saied Ghada Mohamed , Goda Islam , Algammal Abdelazeem M. , Batiha Gaber El-Saber , Abd el-Rady Nessren M. , Hetta Helal F. , Kasem Soheir M.
Published: June 2022

Mucormycosis is a life-threatening opportunistic angioinvasive fungal infection. We aimed to describe the frequency, presentations, predictors, and in-hospital outcome of mucormycosis patients in the scope of CoronaVirusDisease-19 (COVID-19) during the third viral pandemic wave. This cross-sectional retrospective study included all patients who fulfilled the criteria of mucormycosis with concurrent confirmed covid19 infection admitted to Assuit University Hospital between March 2021 and July 2021. Overall, 433 patients with definite covid-19 infection, of which 33 (7.63%) participants were infected with mucormycosis. Mucormycosis was predominantly seen in males (21 vs. 12; p = 0.01). Diabetes mellitus (35% vs. 63.6%; p < 0.001), hypertension (2% vs.45.5%; p 0.04), and Smoking (26.5% vs. 54.5%; p < 0.001) were all significantly higher in mucormycosis patients. Inflammatory markers, especially E.S.R., were significantly higher in those with mucormycosis (p < 0.001). The dose of steroid intake was significantly higher among patients with mucormycosis (160 mg vs. 40 mg; p < 0.001). Except for only three patients alive by residual infection, 30 patients died. The majority (62%) of patients without mucormycosis were alive. Male sex; Steroid misuse; D.M.; Sustained inflammation; Severe infection were significant risk factors for mucormycosis by univariate analysis; however, D.M.; smoking and raised E.S.R. were predictors for attaining mucormycosis by multivariate analysis.
Urinary extracellular vesicles and micro-RNA as markers of acute kidney injury after cardiac surgery
Authors: Miller Douglas , Eagle-Hemming Bryony , Sheikh Sophia , Joel-David Lathishia , Adebayo Adewale , Lai Florence Y. , Roman Marius , Kumar Tracy , Aujla Hardeep , Murphy Gavin J. , Woźniak Marcin J.
Published: June 2022

We hypothesised that measuring changes in urinary levels of EV and miR will predict the onset of acute kidney injury in cardiac surgery patients. The study was performed in the cohort of the REVAKI-2 trial. Urine samples were collected before and 24 h after the procedure from 94 cardiac surgery patients. Urinary particle concentrations and size distribution were assessed using NanoSight. EV derivation and levels were measured using flow cytometry. Samples from 10 selected patients were sequenced, and verification was performed with advanced TaqMan assays in samples from all patients. Urinary particle concentrations significantly increased in patients with AKI after surgery, with the percentage of EV positive for CD105 and β1-integrin also increasing. Pre-surgery podocalyxin-positive EV were significantly lower in patients with AKI. Their levels correlated with the severity of the injury. Pre-operative miR-125a-5p was expressed at lower levels in urine from patients with AKI when adjusted for urinary creatinine. Levels of miR-10a-5p were lower after surgery in AKI patients and its levels correlated with the severity of the injury. Pre-operative levels of podocalyxin EVs, urinary particle concentrations and miR-125a-5p had moderate AKI predictive value and, in a logistic model together with ICU lactate levels, offered good (AUC = 82%) AKI prediction.
Deep imagination is a close to optimal policy for planning in large decision trees under limited resources
Authors: Mastrogiuseppe Chiara , Moreno-Bote Rubén
Published: June 2022

Many decisions involve choosing an uncertain course of action in deep and wide decision trees, as when we plan to visit an exotic country for vacation. In these cases, exhaustive search for the best sequence of actions is not tractable due to the large number of possibilities and limited time or computational resources available to make the decision. Therefore, planning agents need to balance breadth—considering many actions in the first few tree levels—and depth—considering many levels but few actions in each of them—to allocate optimally their finite search capacity. We provide efficient analytical solutions and numerical analysis to the problem of allocating finite sampling capacity in one shot to infinitely large decision trees, both in the time discounted and undiscounted cases. We find that in general the optimal policy is to allocate few samples per level so that deep levels can be reached, thus favoring depth over breadth search. In contrast, in poor environments and at low capacity, it is best to broadly sample branches at the cost of not sampling deeply, although this policy is marginally better than deep allocations. Our results can provide a theoretical foundation for why human reasoning is pervaded by imagination-based processes.
Microstructure effects on the phase transition behavior of a prototypical quantum material
Authors: Schunck Jan O. , Döring Florian , Rösner Benedikt , Buck Jens , Engel Robin Y. , Miedema Piter S. , Mahatha Sanjoy K. , Hoesch Moritz , Petraru Adrian , Kohlstedt Hermann , Schüßler-Langeheine Christian , Rossnagel Kai , David Christian , Beye Martin
Published: June 2022

Materials with insulator-metal transitions promise advanced functionalities for future information technology. Patterning on the microscale is key for miniaturized functional devices, but material properties may vary spatially across microstructures. Characterization of these miniaturized devices requires electronic structure probes with sufficient spatial resolution to understand the influence of structure size and shape on functional properties. The present study demonstrates the use of imaging soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy with a spatial resolution better than 2 $$\upmu$$
μ
m to study the insulator-metal transition in vanadium dioxide thin-film microstructures. This novel technique reveals that the transition temperature for the conversion from insulating to metallic vanadium dioxide is lowered by 1.2 K ± 0.4 K close to the structure edges compared to the center. Facilitated strain release during the phase transition is discussed as origin of the observed behavior. The experimental approach enables a detailed understanding of how the electronic properties of quantum materials depend on their patterning at the micrometer scale.
Phase memory of optical vortex beams
Authors: Eshaghi Mahdi , Acevedo Cristian Hernando , Batarseh Mahed , Guzman-Sepulveda José Rafael , Dogariu Aristide
Published: June 2022

Optical vortex beams are under considerable scrutiny due to their demonstrated potential for applications ranging from quantum optics to optical communications and from material processing to particle trapping. However, upon interaction with inhomogeneous material systems, their deterministic properties are altered. The way these structured beams are affected by different levels of disturbances is critical for their uses. Here, for the first time, we quantify the degradation of perfect optical vortex beams after their interaction with localized random media. We developed an analytical model that (1) describes how the spatial correlation and the phase variance of disturbance affect the phase distribution across the vortex beams and (2) establishes the regimes of randomness for which the beams maintain the memory of their initial vorticity. Systematic numerical simulations and controlled experiments demonstrate the extent of this memory effect for beams with different vorticity indices.
NMDA receptor inhibition prevents intracellular sodium elevations in human olfactory neuroepithelial precursors derived from bipolar patients
Authors: Gao Yonglin , Mack Aaron A. , Litteral Carleigh , Delamere Nicholas A. , El-Mallakh Rif S.
Published: June 2022

Dysregulation of ion flux across membranes and glutamate-induced excitotoxicity appear to be important pathophysiologic abnormalities in bipolar illness. Understanding ion control and responses to ionic stress is important to decipher the pathogenesis of this disorder. Monensin alone significantly increased [Na]i in ONPs from bipolar individuals (5.08 ± 0.71 vs baseline 3.13 ± 0.93, P = 0.03) and AP5 had no effect (2.0 ± 1.2 vs baseline 3.13 ± 0.93, P = 0.27). However, the combination of AP5 and monensin resulted in normalization of [Na]i (3.25 ± 1.28 vs baseline 3.13 ± 0.93, P = 0.89). This effect was not observed in cells from non-bipolar individuals (monensin alone, 1.72 ± 1.10 vs baseline 2.42 ± 1.80, P = 0.25; AP5 alone, 1.37 ± 0.74 vs baseline 2.42 ± 1.80; AP5 combined with monensin, 1.53 ± 0.98 vs baseline 2.42 ± 1.80, P = 0.31). Sodium regulation is central to neuronal function and may be disturbed in patients with bipolar disorder. Monensin is an ionophore, meaning that it incorporates itself into the membrane and allows sodium to enter independent of cellular membrane proteins. While the mechanism remains obscure, the observation that the NMDA receptor antagonist, AP5, normalizes [Na]i only in olfactory neuroepithelial precursors obtained from bipolar illness may provide novel insights into ion regulation in tissues from subjects with bipolar illness.
Efficient terminal erythroid differentiation requires the APC/C cofactor Cdh1 to limit replicative stress in erythroblasts
Authors: Cuadrado Myriam , Garzón Javier , Moreno Sergio , García-Higuera Irene
Published: June 2022

The APC/C-Cdh1 ubiquitin ligase complex drives proteosomal degradation of cell cycle regulators and other cellular proteins during the G1 phase of the cycle. The complex serves as an important modulator of the G1/S transition and prevents premature entry into S phase, genomic instability, and tumor development. Additionally, mounting evidence supports a role for this complex in cell differentiation, but its relevance in erythropoiesis has not been addressed so far. Here we show, using mouse models of Cdh1 deletion, that APC/C-Cdh1 activity is required for efficient terminal erythroid differentiation during fetal development as well as postnatally. Consistently, Cdh1 ablation leads to mild but persistent anemia from birth to adulthood. Interestingly, loss of Cdh1 seems to affect both, steady-state and stress erythropoiesis. Detailed analysis of Cdh1-deficient erythroid populations revealed accumulation of DNA damage in maturing erythroblasts and signs of delayed G2/M transition. Moreover, through direct assessment of replication dynamics in fetal liver cells, we uncovered slow fork movement and increased origin usage in the absence of Cdh1, strongly suggesting replicative stress to be the underlying cause of DNA lesions and cell cycle delays in erythroblasts devoid of Cdh1. In turn, these alterations would restrain full maturation of erythroblasts into reticulocytes and reduce the output of functional erythrocytes, leading to anemia. Our results further highlight the relevance of APC/C-Cdh1 activity for terminal differentiation and underscore the need for precise control of replication dynamics for efficient supply of red blood cells.
Anti-HER2 scFv-CCL19-IL7 recombinant protein inhibited gastric tumor growth in vivo
Authors: Zhang Haiqiang , Ye Xueshuai , Wen Junye , Cai Ziqi , Li Yang , Zhang Mengya , Shen Li , Cai Jianhui
Published: June 2022

HER-2 targeted therapies, such as monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and CAR-T cell therapy have been applied in the treatment of various of cancers. However, the anti-HER2 CAR-T cell therapy are limited by its expensive production procedure and fatal side effects such as cytokine storm or “On target, off tumor”. The application of anti-HER2 mAbs to the soild tumor are also plagued by the patients resistant with different mechanisms. Thus, the recombinant protein technology can be presented as an attractive methods in advantage its less toxic and lower cost. In this study, we produced a HER-2-targeting recombinant protein, which is the fusion of the anti-HER-2 single chain fragment variable domain, CCL19 and IL7 (HCI fusion protein). Our results showed that the recombinant protein can induce the specific lysis effects of immune cells on HER-2-positive gastric tumor cells and can suppress gastric tumor growth in a xenograft model by chemotactic autoimmune cell infiltration into tumor tissues and activated T cells. Taken together, our results revealed that the HCI fusion protein can be applied as a subsequent clinical drug in treating HER-2 positive gastric tumors.