bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Stepped psychological care in post-stroke aphasia: Feasibility protocol to evaluate the co- designed “Kalmer” online relaxation intervention
Authors: El-Helou Rebecca , Ryan Brooke , Hilari Katerina , Kneebone Ian
Published: February 2024

Background: People with stroke are at greater risk of experiencing depression and anxiety. The prevalence of these difficulties in those with the communication disorder aphasia after stroke is even higher. Relaxation training is recommended as part of stepped care for mental health difficulties for those with stroke. The potential impact of the online co-designed Kalmer relaxation intervention and thus its place within stepped care for people with post stroke aphasia is unknown.
Methods/design: This study will determine the feasibility and potential efficacy of the Kalmer relaxation intervention on people with post stroke aphasia and who met the cut off on screening instruments for anxiety and/or depression. Primary outcomes will be assessed using two observer rated scales; the Behavioural Outcomes of Anxiety (BOA) and the Stroke Aphasia Depression Questionnaire - 10 item (SADQ-10). A case series design will utilise a multiple baseline procedure. Up to 12 participants will be recruited. Consent procedures modified for those with aphasia will be employed. The Reliable Change Index will be used to determine the interventions impact on anxiety and depressive symptoms. Participants will be followed-up at 3- and 6-month intervals.
Discussion: This study represents the first known evaluation of the online co-designed Kalmer relaxation intervention program. The results will have implications for recommending its inclusion as a recommended treatment at Step 2 of mental health care for people with aphasia after stroke.
Hexokinase 2 aggravates airway inflammation in experimental asthma by regulating airway epithelial cell death
Authors: Tian Zhen , Wang Shanshan , Fan Yan , Li Boyu , Zheng Hongyan , Lu Yanjiao , Huang Zhenli , Wang Meijia , Zhang Jixian , Zhao Jianping , Xie Jungang
Published: February 2024

Background
Asthma is a prevalent inflammatory lungs disease which poses a substantial global health and economic burden. Abnormal glucose metabolism in asthmatic patients has recently attracted much attention. As a key enzyme in glycolysis, the participation of Hexokinase 2(HK2) in the disease course of asthma has not been fully understudied.
Methods
In an asthma mouse model, the expression levels of Hexokinase 2 (HK2) were validated, and a mouse model with HK2 specifically knocked out in airway epithelial cells was created to investigate the role of HK2 in bronchial asthma. In vitro cellular experiments involved the overexpression and knockdown of HK2 to study its role and related mechanisms in airway epithelial cell death and airway inflammation in bronchial asthma.
Results
HK2 is found to have increased expression in both mouse asthma models, especially showing elevated expression in airway epithelial cells. Mice that specifically lacked HK2 in their airway epithelium were observed to be protected from cell death and inflammation during asthma. Moreover, airway epithelial cells treated with HK2 overexpression exacerbated cell death and elevated the expression of inflammatory interleukins, conversely after silencing HK2 in vitro, cell death and inflammatory interleukins expression were greatly improved. We further surmise that HK2 might be involved in the regulation of airway epithelial cell death and airway inflammation through PPIF and VDAC1. Furthermore, the treatment of mice with HK2 inhibitor, 2-DG, markedly attenuated the inflammatory cell infiltration in the pulmonary tissues.
Conclusion
HK2 plays a crucial role in the occurrence and progression of bronchial asthma, being involved in airway epithelial cell death and airway inflammation.
Can multinationals withstand growing trade barriers?
Authors: Ghodsi Mahdi , Vujanovic Nina , Landesmann Michael
Published: February 2024

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) are increasingly dealing with challenges shaped by the new geopolitical and trade environments. Besides traditional tariffs, exporting firms need to comply with regulatory non-tariff measures (NTMs) in the form of technical barriers to trade (TBTs) and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures. Although trade costs associated with these policy measures affect all firms, implications could be multifaceted for multinationals that base their international activities on exporting and importing and are important for the formation of global supply chains. Applying Poisson pseudo maximum likelihood to the unique Orbis dataset of firms on multinational subsidiaries, we show that NTMs pose a greater challenge to MNEs’ subsidiaries’ activity and performance than tariffs do. High-tech manufacturing subsidiaries of foreign MNEs are particularly vulnerable to these NTMs, as they suffer higher regulatory losses. However, multinational affiliates that have higher productivity, those with full foreign ownership representation, those that are embedded within a larger international network of subsidiaries, and those that are located in trading partners with deep preferential trade agreements can turn these trade challenges to their advantage. Our results have important implications for policy makers regulating trade in goods.
JEL: F23, F211, F12, F13, F15, C55
Debunking Rumors: Exploring the truth in a sea of social Whispers
Authors: Ma Manfu , Zhang Cong , Li Yong , Chen Jiahao , Wang Xuegang
Published: February 2024

While social media platforms promote people's information exchange and dissemination, they also make rumors spread rapidly on online platforms. Therefore, how to detect rumors quickly, timely and accurately has become a hot topic for scholars in related fields. Traditional deep learning models ignore the relationship and topology between nodes in the rumor detection task, and use fixed weights or mean aggregation strategies in the feature aggregation process, which fail to capture the complex interactions between nodes and the dynamics of information propagation, limiting the accuracy and robustness of the rumor detection model. To address the these problems, we propose a location-aware weighted GraphSAGE rumor detection model GSMA. we first introduce an attention mechanism that dynamically assigns different attention weights to different neighboring nodes for different degrees of aggregation, improving GraphSAGE's strategy of using mean-value aggregation for all neighboring nodes during the aggregation process; second, we introduce a modulated location encoding into the model and encode the position information of nodes into the features to improve the model's ability to perceive the relative position and order of nodes; finally, the post text sentiment is incorporated into the features to provide additional semantic information for the model as a way to achieve rumor detection in microblogging platforms. Experiments show that the accuracy of the GSMA model on Ma-Weibo and Weibo23 reaches 97.43% and 97.55%, which is an improvement of 1.11% and 0.77% compared to the benchmark GraphSAGE, and all the evaluation metrics are also improved compared to other optimal rumor detection models.
A network science-based model for the evolution of environmental mass events
Authors: Xue-ting Qi , Bu Fanliang
Published: February 2024

The characteristics of environmental group events vary significantly, and the evolution law is profound and complex. It is essential to establish an evolutionary model to reasonably analyze environmental group events, and based on the network science theory using limited topological information of event meta-nodes, the evolutionary process of environmental group events can be effectively simulated, but the existing evolutionary model of environmental group events is limited by macroscopic evaluation indexes, and the same similarity calculation index is used to describe the evolutionary fluctuations of all event nodes. The differences in node evolutionary fluctuations in different group-based events are neglected, which is not conducive to enhancing the performance of the model on evolutionary processes among different environmental group-based events. To enhance the accuracy and sensitivity of the model, this paper proposes a simulation method NodeAL based on network science theory for environmental group sex events. specific work is as follows: (1) propose SimDecide algorithm to quantify evolutionary fluctuations, fit environmental group sex events under different similarity calculation index algorithms, and determine the best similarity of environmental group sex event nodes in different periods according to the results (2) proposed MicroEvol algorithm to quantitatively evaluate the overall evolutionary impact of environmental mass events (3) conducted comparative experiments in real environmental mass events, and the experimental results show that NodeAL has a better fit to each stage of environmental mass event evolution, which is more conducive to the simulation of environmental mass events, making it a decision maker and researcher in the management field This makes it a valuable tool for decision-makers and researchers in the management field.
Do Intensıve Care Nurses Experıence Moral Dıstress Whıle Carıng for COVID-19 Patıents and are Theır Carıng Behavıors Affected?: A Descriptive Study
Authors: Bulmuş Esra , Torun Serap
Published: February 2024

Background
Examining the effect of the level of moral distress experienced by nurses on their care behaviors is important since it has a positive effect on health care services and patient satisfaction. This study was conducted to examine the effect of moral distress experienced by nurses working in intensive care units while caring for COVID-19 patients on their care behaviors.
Method
The universe of the study consisted of 142 nurses working in COVID-19 intensive care units in a university hospital in Adana, and the study sample consisted of 104 nurses who agreed to participate in the study between April and July 2022. For data collection, Personal Information Form, Moral Distress Scale (MDS) and Caring Behaviors Scale (CBS-24) were used. In statistical analysis; frequency, number and percentage values, independent Student-t test and Mann Whitney U test were used in two-group variables, and simple regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between the two scales. A statistical significance value of p < 0.005 was accepted.
Findings:
The mean MDS score was 91.75 ± 48.80 and the mean CBS-24 score was 5.49 ± 0.45. According to simple regression analysis, there was no statistically significant relationship between the total and subscale scores of MDS and CBS-24. In the study, it was found that the variables of age, professional experience, staffing, and experiencing moral distress in the way of managing patient care in the institution statistically affected the mean scores of the "knowledge-skill" subscale of CBS-24 (p < 0.05), and those who wanted to resign from nursing at the time of the study had a higher mean total score of MDS (p < 0.05).
Conclusion
As a result of the study, it was found that nurses had low level of moral distress and high level of positive caring behaviors.
Safety and accuracy assessment of static computer assisted localized piezoelectric alveolar decortication: an in vitro study
Authors: Lara-Muros María , Camps-Font Octavi , Vilarrasa Javi , Vilarrasa Jordi , Mir-Mari Javier , Figueiredo Rui , Valmaseda-Castellón Eduard
Published: February 2024

Objectives
To assess the safety and accuracy of static computer assisted corticotomy surgery (sCACS) in comparison with freehand piezocision.
Material and methods
A randomized in vitro study was conducted. A total of 260 interradicular corticotomies were performed in 20 identical printed models. dsCACS was performed in half of the models, while the rest underwent freehand localized decortication. Accuracy was measured in the three spatial axes by overlapping the digital planning with a previous cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) scan of the patient and a postoperative CBCT of the models. Safety was determined as the number of damaged root surfaces. Descriptive and bivariate analyses were performed.
Results
Freehand corticotomies increased the likelihood of iatrogenic root damage 2.21-fold (95%CI: 1.30 to 3.77; p = 0.004). Both groups showed some degree of deviation compared to digital planning. Nevertheless, the accuracy of sCACS was significantly greater in sagittal (B = -0.21 mm, 95%CI: -0.29 to -0.12; p < 0.001), axial (B = -0.32 mm, 95%CI: -0.48 to -0.18; p < 0.001) and angular deviation (B = -2.02º; 95%CI: -2.37 to -1.66; p < 0.001) compared to freehand surgery, with the exception of depth.
Conclusions
The precision and safety of sCACS are greater than that of the freehand technique.
Clinical relevance:
Corticotomies are performed in crowded areas where there is usually space limitation. Clinicians should consider the systematic use of surgical guides, since minimal deviations can cause iatrogenic root damage in areas where malocclusions are present.
A simple and efficient Agrobacterium tumefaciens mediated transgenic system for tetraploid potato cultivar Desiree
Authors: Xu Chunjiang , Qi Lipan , Chang Shiwei , Yuan Pingping , Zhang Zhenxin , Shan Youjiao , Magembe Eric , Kear Philip , Feng Yan , Li Yafei , Ji Yihong , Wang Lei , Li Jieping
Published: February 2024

As the fourth staple food crop in the world, potatoes can provide enough energy, protein, and nutrients necessary for humans. However, the population growth and negative effects of climate change call for improved potato yields and resilience. Genetic engineering is a convenient way to improve potato varieties and create new germplasm resources. Agrobacterium tumefaciens mediated transformation is a stable and widely used method for genetic improvement. In this study, a simple and efficient transgenic system was built by testing different potato materials, explants type, selection medium, selection agent, A. tumefaciens EHA105 strain carried different vectors. The results shown this simple system produced positive transformed seedlings in about 40 days. The lower ploidy change ratio for tetraploid variety Desiree compared to diploid recipient. Both SEG and SE could function as a single regeneration medium. Leaf discs explants is eligible. The concentration of 20μg/L is suitable for chlorsulfuron selection. The positive transgenic efficiency of tetraploid recipient Desiree is up to 68.79%, This simple and fast transgenic system provides a powerful tool for supporting basic research on potato functional genes and creating new potato materials for genetic engineering breeding.
Research on Deck-Disposed Scheduling Method of Carrier Aircraft Based on BPSO
Authors: Si WeiChao , Song Chao , Sun Tao , Li Cheng
Published: February 2024

Before taking off, carrier aircraft need to be placed on the battle position of the aircraft carrier flight deck in advance, and different deployment schemes have an important impact on the entire departure process. Based on this background, this paper studies the carrier aircraft deployment scheduling problem. Firstly, the mathematical model of carrier aircraft deployment and scheduling is analyzed and proposed. The carrier aircraft fleet deployment and scheduling problem is transformed into a multiobjective optimization problem with constraints to find the minimum solution. Secondly, taking Nimitz class aircraft carrier as the research object, the digital modeling of aircraft carrier battle position, the constraint and target analysis, and the take-off calculation model design are carried out. Thirdly, the aircraft carrier flight deck deployment scheduling algorithm BPSO is designed, which is improved on the basis of PSO and has faster optimization speed and better optimization results. Finally, based on the previous model and BPSO algorithm, taking the Nimitz class aircraft carrier's maximum wave take-off task as an example, the carrier deployment and scheduling simulation analysis is carried out. The simulation results show that the whole method can solve the carrier aircraft deployment scheduling problem well.
CLC number: TP3; V24
Supracluster Rotaxanes with Adaptive Al8 Macrocycle for Tunable Optical Limiting
Authors: Fang Wei-Hui , Liu Ya-Jie , Zheng Chan , Wang Di , Xiao Han , Wang Zirui , Zhang Cheng-Yang , Zhang Xue-Zhen , Wang San-Tai , Chen Ran-Qi , Zhang Jian
Published: February 2024

Mechanically interlocked molecules like rotaxane have attracted considerable attention in supramolecular chemistry and have been shown useful for the construction of molecular machines. Metal coordination chemistry plays an important role to expand the rotaxanes and immobilize the ring components to the axial molecules. Although many types of macrocycles have been extensively used to make rotaxanes, those based on metal-organic macrocycles are relatively undeveloped. Therefore, there is a large potential for exploring their supracluster assemblies for target properties. Different from the currently limited study on "axle-H···ring” noncovalent binding mode in host-guest inorganic-organic supramolecular chemistry, we herein developed an opposite supracluster assembly pattern naming "ring-H···axles". The key to the success of donor and acceptor role reversal is the use of a flexible Al8 macrocycle: its capsule-shaped cavity with sufficient hydrophobic aromatic inner wall and hydrophilic -OH sites provide an excellent environment to form and adapt to the axles. Such "ring-H···axles" noncovalent binding mode pattern altered the fixed binding mode of ring and axle in reported hybrid inorganic-organic rotaxanes and versatility of the axles involving molecules, metal complexes and infinite metal coordination “strings”. The capsule-shaped Al8 macrocycle acts as a confined reactor demonstrating the directional, stepwise, and controlled assembly process from molecules, metal complexes to metal coordination “strings”, resulting in the isolation from [2]-pseudorotaxane, [2]-rotaxane, to higher-ordered polyrotaxanes. Different from the traditional solution-phase method to make rotaxane, this work provides an atomically precise synthesis route for constructing supracluster rotaxane. Such controlled synthesis in the atomic-level confined cavity provides an excellent platform for property study. A rigid Al8 macrocycle can trap metal centers through electrostatic interaction, while flexible organic ligands can interact with aromatic guests through π···π stacking. Therefore, the heavy metal effect and conjugation effect can be introduced simultaneously to remarkably improve photo-related properties such as optical limiting and third-order nonlinear responses.
Successful treatment of a rare complication of pulmonary vein stenting: atrial rupture and stent detachment: a case report
Authors: yu wei , LI Fajiu , Zhu ziyang , qin wei
Published: February 2024

Pulmonary vein stenosis is a rare disease of Pulmonary vein ablation (PVA). Due to the lack of specific manifestations and inconsistent follow-up, the disease may be misdiagnosed. Severe pulmonary vein stenosis requires intervention. The current main treatment methods are pulmonary vein stent implantation and / or balloon dilation. Such treatment methods have potential serious complications. We report a 61-year-old male patient who was diagnosed with left pulmonary vein occlusion due to repeated hemoptysis pain. Atrial rupture and stent detachment occurred during the intervention. Active intervention during the operation successfully avoided serious consequences.
Effect of Temperature and Humidity on Mechanical Properties and Constitutive Modeling of Pressure- Sensitive Adhesives
Authors: Luo Weiquan , Chen Wenzhen , Liu Dashun , Huang Xiaofeng , Ma Baoguang
Published: February 2024

Pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSAs) are crucial for the structural and functional integrity of flexible devices. This study conducts systematic mechanical tests, including uniaxial tensile, compression, planar shear, and stress relaxation, on PSAs at temperatures ranging from − 25℃ to 85℃ and relative humidity levels from 0–90%. The Ogden model effectively describes the hyperelastic behavior of PSAs under large deformations, as indicated by an R-Square value above 0.97. The results show that temperature markedly affects PSA properties, particularly near the glass transition temperature (Tg), with lower temperatures leading to decreased elasticity and higher temperatures aiding in stress relaxation. Similarly, humidity impacts PSA behavior, increasing elasticity and decreasing stiffness, especially noticeable in stress relaxation tests. These findings highlight the substantial influence of environmental conditions on the material properties of PSAs and underscore the necessity of understanding both hyperelastic and viscoelastic responses for their application in flexible technologies. This research provides critical insights for the optimal utilization of PSAs in the rapidly evolving field of flexible electronics, including OLED displays.
Charge Plasma Based Dual Buried Gates Power MOSFET: Design and Analysis
Authors: Nigar Hafsa , Alkhammash Hend , Loan Sajad A
Published: February 2024

In this work, we design and simulate a high performance electrostatically doped dual buried gate power MOSFET (EDDBGP-MOS) structure. The novelty of the proposed device is three folds. Firstly, the n + source and P + body regions of the device are realized using induced charge plasma by employing metal electrodes on the silicon film. The device thus reduces the risk of random doping fluctuations and the formation of highly abrupt junctions during fabrication. The high temperature processes involved in defining the doped regions are not required, thus providing low thermal budget. Secondly, the Gaussian hole plasma profile in the p body region allows increase in drift doping concentration from 5x1015/cm3 to 7x1015/cm3 resulting in Ron reduction to almost 24% of its uniformly doped counterpart structure, with only a slight reduction in breakdown voltage of the device. The proposed device thus provides 10% increase in the Baliga’s figure of merit (FOM1 = BV2/Rsp). Further, the linearly graded Gaussian profile at the source side reduces the source coupling with gate. The gate charge together with the reduced specific ON resistance value provides as good as 19% reduction in Baliga’s high frequency figure of merit FOM2 = Rsp.Qsp). As compared to the conventional trench MOSFET structure, the two buried gates in the proposed structure provides low gate drain coupling along with the suppression in parasitic BJT effect. A two-dimensional simulation study of the proposed EDDBGP-MOS device reveals that it outperforms the conventional trench MOSFET device in terms of the performance parameters of power devices, along with the reduced fabrication complexity.
A mutant Trichoderma harzianum improves tomato growth and defense against Fusarium wilt
Authors: Sorahinobar Mona , Eslami Soghra , Shahbazi Samira , Najafi Javad
Published: February 2024

Background and aims Plant diseases can limit crop growth and development by affecting the physiological, biochemical, molecular, and metabolic processes of affected plants. In this study, we assessed the alleviative role of wild-type (ThW) and a gamma ray induced mutant (ThM) of Trichoderma harziantum pretreatments on Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. Lycopersici (Fol) infected tomato plants. Methods For assessment of the ThW and ThM efficacy in the biological control of Fol infection in tomato plants, a greenhouse experiment was conducted. The effect of T. harzianum on the alleviation of Fol infection was investigated by analyzing plant fresh biomass, length, chlorophylls contents, and the activity of some antioxidant enzymes in the shoot and root of tomato plants at 4 and 14 days post inoculation (dpi). Results Both ThW and ThM genotypes improved the competitive capability of tomato plants against Fol infection. Our data showed that mutant Trichoderma (ThM) pretreatment significantly improved growth and defense indices of tomato plants with or without Fol infection. Pretreatment by both genotypes of Trichoderma followed by Fol infection, decreased lipid peroxidation and H2O2 accumulation compared to untreated tomato seedlings. Trichoderma pretreated and –untreated tomato plants respond differently to Fol infection through employing enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant defense. Significantly higher activities of antioxidant enzymes, superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POX), and polyphenol oxidase (PPO) under Fol infection were recorded, indicating that Trochoderma-treated plants were more responsive to pathogen-induced oxidative stress as compared to mock-inoculated controls. In addition, carbohydrate allocation to root was significantly increased in Trichoderma-treated Fol-challenged plants. Conclusions Altogether, this study confirmed the effective adaptive strategy and potential of the gamma-ray-induced mutant of Trichoderma harzianum in alleviating the negative impact of Fol infection in tomato.
GABA-mediated tolerance in fragrant rice to individual and interactive Pb and Cd stress
Authors: Ashraf Umair , Anjum Shakeel Ahmad , Rasul Fahd , Kanu Adam Sheka , Tang Xiangru
Published: February 2024

The present study assessed the effect of the exogenous application of gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA) on the performance of fragrant rice plants under individual and combined lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) toxicity. The treatments included Ck (no Pb or Cd), GABA, Pb+GABA, Cd+GABA, Pb+Cd+GABA, Pb, Cd, and Pb+Cd, where GABA was applied at 1 mM, while Pb and Cd were applied at 800 and 75 mg kg-1 of soil, respectively. The results showed that individual or combined Pb and Cd toxicity enhanced malondialdehyde (MDA) content, electrolyte leakage (EL) and H2O2 while reduced photosynthetic pigments. GABA application also increased the protein, proline and GABA contents, which were the lowest in the Pb+Cd treatment. The peroxidase (POD), superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and catalase (CAT) activities were greater in the GABA-applied plants treated with and without Pb/Cd, whereas the nitrate reductase (NR) and glutamine synthetase (GS) activities were variably affected by the Pb/Cd and GABA treatments. Moreover, net photosynthesis and gas exchange were greater in plants treated with GABA without Pb/Cd toxicity. Compared to those in the Pb+Cd treatment, the grain yields were 34.03, 31.94, 15.88, 24.86 and 17.32% greater in the Pb+GABA, Cd+GABA, Pb+Cd+GABA, Pb, and Cd treatments, respectively, whereas the maximum grain yield was noted in the GABA treatment. Furthermore, GABA application also decreased the Pb and Cd contents in the aboveground plant parts, whereas the concentrations of the mineral elements Fe, Cu, Zn and Mn were also higher in the (Pb, Cd, Pb+Cd)+GABA treatment group than without GABA.
Transcriptome Heterogeneity in COVID-19-induced Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome
Authors: Nishii Mototsugu , Honzawa Hiroshi , Oki Hana , Matsumura Reo , Sakai Kazuya , Saji Ryo , Ban Tatsuma , Tamura Tomohiko , Takeuchi Ichiro
Published: February 2024

COVID-19 is a major etiology of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The biological phenotypes and underlying mechanisms in COVID-19-induced ARDS are not fully understood. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) cells and clinical data were collected from patients with COVID-19-induced ARDS. Principal component analysis of genome-wide expression data obtained from bulk RNA sequencing of BALF cells subgrouped COVID-19-induced ARDS patients. Moreover, comparing transcriptome profiles between the subgroups showed two biological phenotypes, illustrated by up- and down-regulation of interferon (IFN) responses, despite no significant differences in clinical characteristics including onset and outcomes. In the low-IFN phenotype, in contrast to the high-IFN phenotype, the TLR-MyD88-IFN regulatory factor (IRF) 5 and cGAS-STING1 axes related to type Ⅰ IFN and the IRF8-interleukin (IL)-12-STAT4 and IRF1-IL-15-DNAX-activation protein 10 axes related to type Ⅱ IFN were inactivated at the transcriptional level, together with the PERK-C/EBP homologous protein axis and the IL-10-hemoglobin scavenger receptor CD163 axis. The pathogenesis of ARDS in the low-IFN phenotype was illustrated by damage to type II alveolar epithelial cells due to increased viral replication by reduced antiviral response, cytotoxicity, and apoptotic signaling and impaired free hemoglobin catabolism. Our data uncovered heterogeneous IFN responses, the underlying mechanisms, and related pathogenesis in COVID-19-induced ARDS.
Whole genome sequence analysis of canine parvovirus reveals pan-Indian replacement with Novel CPV-2c strain
Authors: Reddy Harish , Mukhopadhyay Hirak Kumar , Srini Mouttou Vivek , Vasu Jayalakshmi , Prabavathy Abiramy , Dhodapkar Rahul
Published: February 2024

Canine parvovirus (CPV) infection causes severe gastroenteritis in canines with high mortality in puppies. This virus evolved from FPV by altering its transferrin receptor (TfR) followed by emergence of CPV-2 variants in subsequent years by altering the immunodominant VP2 amino acid residues. Though the previous studies analysed VP2 gene, there are limited studies on non-structural protein (NS1 & NS2) genes. In this study, comparative whole genomic analysis was performed with the CPV suspected clinical samples collected Pan-India in 2023 with the repository CPV strains (2009–2019 isolates) and the current Indian CPV vaccine strain. The present pan-Indian study showed that the CPV-2c (N426E) had almost completely replaced the previously dominant CPV-2a variant (N426) in India. The Q370R mutation of VP2 was the most common change in the recent CPV-2c strain (CPV-2c 370Arg variant). Phylogeny showed the existence of three clades among the recent CPV-2c strains. The study identified several new positive selection sites in VP1 (N terminus), VP2, NS1 and NS2 genes in the recent CPV strains indicating emergence of new CPV-2c variants with varied antigenic and replication properties. The predominant ‘CPV-2c 370Arg variants’ were grouped along with the Chinese and Nigerian CPV-2c strains away from the CPV vaccine strain and repositories. VP2 epitope analysis predicted nine amino acid variations (includes 2 new variations) at four potential linear B-cell epitopes in the ‘CPV-2c 370Arg variants’ underlying chance of vaccine failure. This pan-Indian study, laid the foundation for further research concerning the dynamics of virus evolution and understanding genetic mutations.
Cloud-based event-triggered leader-follower quasi-bipartite consensus of stochastic multi-agent systems under mixed attacks
Authors: Tan Chong , Han Shiliu , Hu Jun
Published: February 2024

This paper addresses the problem of leader-follower quasi-bipartite consensus (LFQBC) over the finite-horizon for discrete-time time-varying networked multi-agent systems (NMASs). The NMASs undergo stochastic nonlinearities and randomly occurring mixed attacks (ROMAs), where the false data injection attacks (FDIAs) and denial-of-service attacks (DoSAs) are addressed. A time-varying output feedback controller is proposed in the framework of the signed digraph. Moreover, in order to save transmission resources and reduce computational burden, the controller is deployed in the cloud, and also an event-triggered mechanism (ETM) is designed between the controller and the actuators. The transient characteristics of consensus behavior in NMASs with both cooperative and antagonistic interactions are demonstrated by establishing a sufficient condition of the LFQBC, based on the utilization of recursive linear matrix inequality and stochastic analysis. In addition, a convex optimization algorithm is proposed to ensure locally optimal LFQBC. The proposed approach is shown to be effective by using a numerical example.
Vibration Varying Grease Thickener: Application for Fighter Aircraft Fuel Level Adjusting Rack Gear Mechanism Bearings
Authors: EZME ENES , AKKAYA AHMET ARDA
Published: February 2024

Aerospace bearings must be lubricated for proper operation and flight safety. Appropriate bearing grease minimises metal-to-metal contact of the rolling elements by reducing friction between the sliding surfaces within the bearing components.
Particularly in the aerospace industry, factors such as the flight criticality of components, high temperatures and vibrations require the use of lubricants such as low viscosity oils or greases to lubricate aerospace bearings. Apart from high speed bearings and specially designed lubrication systems, some aerospace components can be lubricated with liquid grease.
Grease resists deformation under load, unlike the elastic and viscous forces of thickening fibres and oil. This property prevents the grease from leaking, while the viscosity property ensures contact and lubrication of the grease.
This experimental study examines how the amount of grease in bearings used in the Rack and Gear mechanism, which regulates the critical fuel level for flight, varies with environmental conditions such as vibration profile, and investigates the removal of conta-minants that affect the life of the grease.
Systematic Evaluation of Linear Transformations for Cross-lingual Semantic Spaces
Authors: Mištera Adam , Brychcín Tomáš , Šmíd Jakub
Published: February 2024

In the field of natural language understanding (NLU), a fundamental element is the representation of word meanings, a process that is integral to a wide range of applications. These applications span numerous domains including machine translation, question answering systems, text summarization, information retrieval, and supporting the functionality of virtual assistants. The increasing demand for reasoning in environments that are multilingual and knowledge transfer in cross-lingual systems has led to the development of cross-lingual semantic spaces. These spaces provide a representation of words from different languages in a shared space.
With the increased emphasis on cross-lingual representations, several methods have been developed. Related works usually differ in training strategies and evaluate only limited aspects of semantic spaces. This lack of meaningful comparison made us write this study as we think it is crucial for the following research. As a basis for our comparison, we project semantic spaces into a shared space using both linear transformations supervised by bilingual dictionaries and transformations with no supervision at all. To allow comparison from different points of view, our evaluation includes both intrinsic tasks, such as cross-lingual word similarities, cross-lingual word analogies, and word machine translation, and extrinsic tasks like sentiment analysis and topic classification. Additionally, we also explored hubness to investigate the internal relationships within the semantic space. Our experiments include six languages from three different language families: English, German, Italian, Spanish, Croatian and Czech. Finally, we show that different preprocessing steps can have a significant impact on the performance of cross-lingual semantic spaces.
Identification of key genes and molecular mechanism in hip joint capsule of patients with developmental dysplasia of the hip
Authors: Zhou Xuguang , Yin Xiangyu , Yin Qingfeng , Liu Wenguang , Zhou Doctor Xuguang
Published: February 2024

Developmental dysplasia of the hip(DDH) is a complex musculoskeletal congenital malformation, which is characterized by shallow acetabulum and laxity of joint capsule. While few studies have been conducted on the pathological changes of DDH joint capsule. Microarray technology can provide abundant gene expression information by bioinformatics analysis to predict diagnostic and therapeutic targets for DDH. Datasets GSE169494 downloaded from GEO were associated with DDH joint capsule. Weighted Gene Co-Expression Network Analysis was used for the initial gene module screening. Differentially expressed genes were obtained from R package DESeq2, which was set at the rate of P < 0.05, log FC >1.5 or < -1.5, then input into David for GO and KEGG enrichment to explore various biological characteristics. String database was utilized to construct protein-protein interaction network. Key genes were screened by plug-in Cytohubba of Cytoscape. 175 DEGs were mainly related to extracellular matrix metabolism and abnormal muscularization. Three key genes were obtained, including MMP3, COL3A1 and TCAP. ROC shows they all have diagnostic value(AUC=0.861, 0.917, 1.000). The pathogenesis of DDH is closely related to abnormal extracellular matrix metabolism, especially the process of collagen production and breakdown, which causes the repair and remodeling process of the extracellular matrix to slow down. And hip instability may contribute to abnormal muscularization of fibroblasts. Three key genes may be used as targets for diagnosis and therapy in DDH.
Prenatal cigarette smoke exposure sensitizes acetaminophen-induced liver injury by modulating miR-34a-5p in male offspring mice
Authors: Yang Daram , Jeong Hyuneui , Kim Min-Seok , Oh Sang-Ik , Lee Kyuhong , Kim Jong-Won , Kim Bumseok
Published: February 2024

Background: Cigarette smoke (CS) is a cause of premature death and exacerbates the severity of diseases not only in lungs, but also in systemic organs having no direct contact with smoke. In addition, smoking during pregnancy can have severe health consequences for both the mother and the fetus. Therefore, our aim was to evaluate effects of prenatal exposure to CS on acetaminophen (APAP)-induced acute liver injury (ALI) in offspring.
Methods: Female C57BL/6 mice on day 6 of gestation were exposed to mainstream CS (MSCS) for 2 hours a day, 5 days a week for 2 weeks using a nose-only exposure system. At four weeks old, male offspring mice were injected intraperitoneally with a single dose of APAP at 300 mg/kg body weight to induce ALI.
Results: Maternal MSCS exposure significantly amplified pathological effects associated with ALI as evidenced by elevated serum alanine aminotransferase levels, increased hepatocellular apoptosis, higher oxidative stress, and increased inflammation. Interestingly, maternal MSCS exposure reduced microRNA (miR)-34a-5p expression in livers of offspring. Moreover, treatment with a miR-34a-5p mimic significantly mitigated the severity of APAP-induced hepatotoxicity. Overexpression of miR-34a-5p completely abrogated adverse effects of maternal MSCS exposure in offspring with ALI. Mechanistically, miR-34a-5p significantly decreased expression levels of hepatocyte nuclear factor 4 alpha, leading to down-regulated expression of cytochrome P450 (CYP)1A2 and CYP3A11.
Conclusions: Prenatal exposure to MSCS can alter the expression of miRNAs, even in the absence of additional MSCS exposure, potentially increasing susceptibility to APAP exposure in male offspring mice.
Physiological effects and safety of bed verticalization in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome
Authors: BOUCHANT Louis , GODET Thomas , ARPAJOU Gauthier , AUPETITGENDRE Lucie , CAYOT Sophie , GUERIN Renaud , JABAUDON Matthieu , VERLHAC Camille , BLONDONNET Raiko , BORAO Lucile , PEREIRA Bruno , CONSTANTIN Jean-Michel , BAZIN Jean-Etienne , FUTIER Emmanuel , AUDARD Jules
Published: February 2024

Background Patient position, such as prone position, can improve prognosis in acute respiratory distress syndrome. Total verticalization is now possible using dedicated beds, but the feasibility, safety, and pulmonary or hemodynamic effects of the position remain unknown in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome. Methods Adult patients with moderate to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome were prospectively enrolled in this single-center pilot study. After protocolized hemodynamic optimization, they were gradually verticalized using a dedicated bed, from a 30° semi-seated position (baseline) to different levels of inclination (0°, 30°, 60°, and 90°), before returning to the baseline position. The duration of each level was 30 minutes, at the end of which ventilatory (including respiratory mechanics, transpulmonary pressures, end-expiratory lung volumes, mechanical power, and gas exchange parameters) and hemodynamic (including cardiac output and stroke volume by transpulmonary thermodilution, mean arterial pressure, sand serum lactate levels) variables, along with potential adverse events, were recorded. The primary endpoint was the variation in transpulmonary driving pressure through the verticalization procedure. Results From May 2020 through January 2021, 30 patients were included. Transpulmonary driving pressure increased slightly from baseline (median and interquartile range [IQR], 9 [5–11] cmH2O) to the 90° position (10 [7–14] cmH2O; P < 10−2 for the overall effect of position in mixed model). Although static compliance of the respiratory system decreased with verticalization, lung compliance remained stable. End-expiratory lung volume increased with verticalization, in parallel to decreases in alveolar strain and mechanical power and increased arterial oxygenation. Although mean arterial pressure remained stable, verticalization was associated with decreased cardiac output and stroke volume, and increased norepinephrine doses and serum lactate levels, prompting interruption of the procedure in two patients. There were no adverse events such as falls or equipment accidental removals. Conclusions In patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome, bed verticalization at the 90° position may have potential respiratory benefits, but at the cost of hemodynamic impact, which deserves caution and further research. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov registration number NCT04371016, April 24, 2020
Anemia in patients ten years after bariatric surgery
Authors: Sjöberg Klas , Karlsson Mimmi , Ottosson Johan
Published: February 2024

Background
Obesity, i.e., BMI above 35, affects more than 10% of the global population. Bariatric surgery is an efficient way to treat this condition. Unfortunately, there is a risk for nutritional deficiencies. The number of studies after a longer time span are scarce. The aim of this study was to determine the occurrence of anemia five and ten years after bariatric surgery and how it was related to substitution therapy.
Patients and methods
Registry data from individuals having primary bariatric surgery in the Scandinavian Obesity Surgery Registry (SOReg) from 2007 to 2022 and with a follow-up at five or ten years was retrieved. Demographic data including weight, as well as method of surgery, Hb levels, supplementation, PPI use and stomal ulcerations were recorded.
Results
In total, 59 557 individuals (mean age 41 years, range 18-74, 76% women) could be included. The majority, 86%, had undergone laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. After five years 2 838/13 944 women (20.3%) and 456/4 049 men (11.2%) had anaemia. After ten years 644/3 400 women (18.9%) and 178/947 men (18.8%) had anaemia. The use of oral iron increased from 40 to 45% and the need for parenteral iron intake increased from 5 to 11%.
Conclusions
Anaemia is a significant but manageable condition five and ten years after bariatric surgery. Despite prescription of oral iron supplements to 45% ten years after surgery the Hb levels could still not be fully restored. Consequently, the importance of follow-up visits and continuous supplementation is emphasized.
Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Flow, Combustion and Emission Characteristics of Novel Multi-Swirl LDI burners.
Authors: Perikathra Sarath , Mahalingam Muruganandam Thiruchengode
Published: February 2024

Academic investigations and development have been directed towards exploring alternatives that can enhance aircraft engines' efficiency while minimizing emissions. We have developed two novel multi-swirl LDI burners, named LDI-3AB and LDI-4C, for low-emission aero propulsion systems, which consists of numerous lean direct injection modules with distributed fuel injection surrounded by airflow through hexagonal swirlers with a 45° vane angle. This study presents an experimental and numerical analysis of these burners' flow, combustion and emission characteristics under various operating conditions. Numerical analysis is carried out using the URANS with the realizable \(\kappa\)-\(\varepsilon\) turbulence model in combination with the FGM combustion model, and it is compared against the results of stereo PIV data. The numerical results correlated well with the experimental data, and all simulations accurately captured the flow patterns. The comparative study showed that LDI-4C exhibits vigorous mixing activity, which gives low mixture fraction values throughout the combustor length compared to the LDI-3AB burner. This is because the cross-fuel injection effectively distributes the fuel to the shear layer of the swirling air stream and helps in quick mixing. The LDI-4C always has a lower \(NO_{x}\) value at the exit of the combustion chamber than LDI-3AB due to low temperature and residence time and it has high \(CO_{2}\) production, and more \(O_{2}\) consumption indicates better combustion efficiency than the LDI-3AB burner.
Automatic detection of the height of poured concrete via fiber-optic temperature sensing
Authors: LI HAO , YANG HUADONG , ZHU HAO , LIU ZHIANG
Published: February 2024

In the process of bridge foundation construction, the height of poured concrete cannot be measured automatically, which depends on manual operation and construction interruption. This paper proposes an automatic detection technology of the height of poured concrete via fiber-optic temperature sensing, which use the small temperature difference between concrete and air medium in the process of concrete pouring. The median filtering method is used to process the temperature position curve to obtain a signal curve similar to a step signal. The step functions with different periods are constructed, and the correlation coefficient curve is obtained by cross-correlation operation between the obtained temperature curve and the step functions with different periods. The variable step size search method is used to improve computational efficiency. Finally, the correlation coefficient curve is processed by peak seeking to realize the automatic discrimination of concrete level elevation. This technology has been successfully applied to the diaphragm wall project of Zhang-Jing-Gao Yangtze River Bridge. Limited by the spatial resolution of the temperature measurement system, the resolution of the liquid level elevation is ± 0.5m, and the automatic judgment of the liquid level elevation is consistent with the actual measurement results judged by the temperature nephogram, indicating that the algorithm has good accuracy, and the results of 30 operations at the same time are consistent, indicating that the algorithm has good stability.
In-air Handwritten English Word Recognition Based on Corner Point Feature Fusion and Contrastive Learning
Authors: Shi Na , Wei Hongxi
Published: February 2024

In recent years, in-air handwritten English word recognition is a novel and challenging task, it has gained the attention of many researchers.
Since there are no spatial constraints and friction feedback when writing in the air, the gesture and angle of the hand are constantly changing. This led to writing text with drag-and-drop handwriting. Thus the in-air handwritten text is more ambiguous, resulting in low recognition accuracy. To solve this difficulty, this paper proposes a novel method for analyzing static trajectory images using an encoder-decoder model based on Transformer. Firstly, a corner detector is used to detect the corner point of a character, and corner features are introduced to suppress the interference of font appearance and distortion. Secondly, an enhanced feature extractor (EFE) is also proposed, which facilitates the capture of useful character features instead of useless drag-and-drop handwritten features. Finally, a joint loss function based on contrastive learning is used. A joint loss function based on contrastive learning is introduced to cluster the same class of character features based on the cross-entropy loss function, which in turn improves the performance of in-air handwritten English word recognition. In this paper, experiments were conducted on the in-air handwritten English words dataset of IAHEW-UCAS2016. The experimental results show that our method achieves higher recognition accuracy without the help of any dictionary and data augmentation.