bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Metal microspherules in breccias of the Onaping Formation, Sudbury impact structure, Ontario, Canada
Authors: Gurov Yevgeniy P. , Permiakov Vitaliy V.
Published: June 2023

Metallic microspheres have been found in rocks from the Onaping Formation of the Sudbury impact structure, Canada. Microspherules are common in contact breccias, the lowest part of the Dowling Member, and rare microspherules have been found in the upper sequences of the Dowling Member. Separate microspherules are dispersed in the breccia matrix and do not form clusters. The sizes of the microspheres range from 5 to 30 μm; most commonly, they are 8–15 μm in size. The microspherules have a regular spherical shape, and in some cases show concentric zonal structures. The microspherules consist mostly of the refractory elements Cr, Co, Fe, Mo, W, and Ti, with a predominant Ni content of 40–75 wt%. The formation of the Sudbury metal microspherules by condensation in a high‐temperature plume is suggested by their spherical shape, concentric‐zoned structure, uniform composition, and distribution in fallback breccias of the crater‐fill Onaping Formation. The content of the most refractory W in the composition of the microspheres indicates early condensation. A decrease in the content of W and an increase in the content of Ni in the microspheres of the upper layers relative to the content of these elements in the earliest microspheres of the contact layers indicate that they could have formed by fractional condensation during the expansion and cooling of the impact vapor plume. As source material, a combination of target rocks with high nickel content with a chondritic impactor is suggested.
Astrocytes in ischemic stroke: Crosstalk in central nervous system and therapeutic potential
Authors: Liu Jueling , Guo Yuying , Zhang Yunsha , Zhao Xiaoxiao , Fu Rong , Hua Shengyu , Xu Shixin
Published: June 2023

In the central nervous system (CNS), a large group of glial cells called astrocytes play important roles in both physiological and disease conditions. Astrocytes participate in the formation of neurovascular units and interact closely with other cells of the CNS, such as microglia and neurons. Stroke is a global disease with high mortality and disability rate, most of which are ischemic stroke. Significant strides in understanding astrocytes have been made over the past few decades. Astrocytes respond strongly to ischemic stroke through a process known as activation or reactivity. Given the important role played by reactive astrocytes (RAs) in different spatial and temporal aspects of ischemic stroke, there is a growing interest in the potential therapeutic role of astrocytes. Currently, interventions targeting astrocytes, such as mediating astrocyte polarization, reducing edema, regulating glial scar formation, and reprogramming astrocytes, have been proven in modulating the progression of ischemic stroke. The aforementioned potential interventions on astrocytes and the crosstalk between astrocytes and other cells of the CNS will be summarized in this review.
Trends in ventricular fibrillation/flutter mortality in US population, 1999 to 2019
Authors: Zuin Marco , Rigatelli Gianluca , Bilato Claudio
Published: June 2023

Background

The Ventricular fibrillation and flutter (VF/VFL)‐related mortality trends in the United States (US) population have not yet been investigated. We aimed to assess the trends of VT/VFL‐related mortality from 1999 to 2019 among subjects aged more than 15 years old in the US.

Methods

Data derived from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) WONDER were analyzed between 1999 and 2019 for VF/VFL‐related mortality in subjects aged more than 15 years of age. Adjusted mortality rates (AAMRs) per 100,000 people by year, sex, race and urban‐rural status with relative confidence intervals (CIs) were determined. Both the average annual percent change (AAPC) and the annual percent change (APC) with 95% Cis were calculated.

Results

Between 1999 and 2019, 242,125 VT/VFL‐related deaths occurred in the US. The overall AAMR steadily declined [AAPC −4.4% (95% CI: −4.7 to −4.0, p < .0001)]. Women showed a more pronounced AAMRs decline [AAPC: −4.8% (95% CI: −5.3 to −4.3, p < .0001). AAMR steadily declined in white subjects and in those of other races [AAPC: −4.5 (95% CI: −4.7 to −4.2, p < .0001) and AAPC: −4.3 (95% CI: −5.1 to −3.5, p < .001), respectively]. Conversely, African Americans showed a steadily AMMR decline between 1999 and 2007 [APC: −8.3 (95% CI: −9.2 to −7.3, p < .0001)], followed by a period of stability from 2007 to 2019 (p = .73). A similar decline was observed for the AAMR among subjects living in urban and rural areas.

Conclusions

VT/VFL‐related mortality steadily decreased between 1999 and 2019 in US. Despite the encouraging results, further efforts are needed to prevent VF/VFL‐related mortality in US subjects.
A rapid method to quantify vein density in C4 plants using starch staining
Authors: Simpson Conor J. C. , Singh Pallavi , Sogbohossou Deedi E. O. , Eric Schranz M. , Hibberd Julian M.
Published: June 2023

C4 photosynthesis has evolved multiple times in the angiosperms and typically involves alterations to the biochemistry, cell biology and development of leaves. One common modification found in C4 plants compared with the ancestral C3 state is an increase in vein density such that the leaf contains a larger proportion of bundle sheath cells. Recent findings indicate that there may be significant intraspecific variation in traits such as vein density in C4 plants but to use such natural variation for trait‐mapping, rapid phenotyping would be required. Here we report a high‐throughput method to quantify vein density that leverages the bundle sheath‐specific accumulation of starch found in C4 species. Starch staining allowed high‐contrast images to be acquired permitting image analysis with MATLAB‐ and Python‐based programmes. The method works for dicotyledons and monocotolydons. We applied this method to Gynandropsis gynandra where significant variation in vein density was detected between natural accessions, and Zea mays where no variation was apparent in the genotypically diverse lines assessed. We anticipate this approach will be useful to map genes controlling vein density in C4 species demonstrating natural variation for this trait.
A novel mutation in the SCN9A gene associated with congenital insensitivity to pain, anhidrosis, and mild cognitive impairment
Authors: Romagnuolo Maurizio , Moltrasio Chiara , Cavalli Riccardo , Brena Michela , Tadini Gianluca
Published: June 2023

Congenital insensitivity to pain (CIP) is a rare phenotype characterized by the inability to perceive pain stimuli with subsequent self‐injuries, whereas CIP associated with anhidrosis (CIPA) is an overlapping phenotype mainly characterized by insensitivity to noxious stimuli and anhidrosis. CIP is primarily associated with pathogenetic variants in the SCN9A gene while CIPA is associated with pathogenetic variants in NGF and NRTK genes. However, in recent years, a significant overlap between these two disorders has been observed highlighting the presence of anhidrosis in SCN9A variants. We report the cases of two siblings (age 4 and 6 years) born from consanguineous parents presenting with a previously undescribed phenotype due to a novel pathogenic variant in SCN9A clinically characterized by congenital insensitivity to pain, anhidrosis, and mild cognitive impairment.
Sun protection, progress, myths, and inconsistencies (a proposal for the democratization of ISO 24443)
Authors: Minaberry Yanina Susana , Svarc Federico Eugenio
Published: June 2023

The concept of modern human sun protection is no more than one hundred years, but real development of it, including protection against UVA + UVB radiation (and more recently also the IR and blue light), has been no more than 30 years. One fundamental issue while formulating sunscreens is the photostability of the UV filters, which is particularly feeble for the UVA. The gold standard for the determination of sunscreen UVA protection “in vitro” is ISO 24443:2021. Still, interlaboratory results are not as consistent as expected. The Technical Committee for Cosmetics (ISO TC 217) has tried to standardize the method with precise specifications for the materials and equipment used. In particular, the standardization of UV exposure sources based on Xe arc lamps. This fact requires expensive equipment out of the reach of many laboratories to achieve adequate temperature control on the samples. In this paper, it will be shown that, within the experimental error, satisfactory results were achieved with a cheap commercial LED source irradiating only in the UVA spectra. Evidence is presented to conclude that other more relevant factors must be considered as the main cause of uncertainties.
PARG1 and EXA1 genes as possible components of the facultative epigenetic control of plant development
Authors: Kupriyanova Evgenia , Manakhov Andrey , Ezhova Tatiana
Published: June 2023

Plants are able to adjust their developmental program in response to incremental environmental changes by reprogramming the epigenomes of the cells. This process, known as facultative epigenetic developmental control, underlies plant developmental plasticity and the amazing diversity of morphotypes, which arises from the changes in cell fates. How plants determine when epigenome reprogramming should occur is largely unclear. Here, we show that the Arabidopsis PARG1 and EXA1 genes, encoding poly(ADP‐ribose) glycohydrolase and GYF domain protein involved in nonsense‐mediated mRNA decay, respectively, act synergistically in maintaining leaf cell identity. Loss of their function in Arabidopsis tae mutant triggers autoimmunity and wounding response, alters transcription of a number of epigenetic regulators, initiates the acquisition of pluripotency by cells of the developed leaf and ectopic outgrowths and buds formation. The dependence of the cell fate on the activity level of PARG1 and EXA1 genes indicates that these interacting genes may function as an important regulator of facultative epigenetic control of plant development.
Insourcing public services: Consequences for wages and employment
Authors: Hansen Gustav Egede , Petersen Ole Helby
Published: June 2023

After decades of private companies delivering public services, governments are increasingly using a mix of outsourcing and insourcing to provide services. With insourcing, governments replace market competition with public monopoly and concentrated private ownership with more dispersed public ownership. Despite these fundamental changes in competition and ownership, little is known theoretically and empirically about how insourcing affects employees. This study uses high‐quality, individual‐level Danish register data to examine how insourcing affects employees overall and among employees of different gender and age. The analysis shows that insourcing significantly and positively affects short‐ and intermediate‐term work income and employment. Moreover, moderation analyses suggest that insourcing is particularly beneficial for female, younger, and older employees. These findings have important implications for policy makers, as they provide insights into longstanding questions about insourcing in public administration and reveal how estimating total insourcing costs should include employee consequences, especially for female and younger/older employees.
Roughness‐induced effects on the thermomicropolar fluid flow through a thin domain
Authors: Pažanin Igor , Suárez‐Grau Francisco J.
Published: June 2023

In this paper, we study the asymptotic behavior of the thermomicropolar fluid flow through a thin channel with rough boundary. The flow is governed by the prescribed pressure drop between the channel's ends and the heat exchange through the rough wall is allowed. Depending on the limit of the ratio between channel's thickness and the wavelength of the roughness, we rigorously derive different asymptotic models clearly showing the roughness‐induced effects on the average velocity and microrotation. To accomplish that, we employ the adaptation of the unfolding method to a thin‐domain setting.
Welfare‐improving tax evasion
Authors: Canta Chiara , Cremer Helmuth , Gahvari Firouz
Published: June 2023

We study optimal income taxation in a two‐group framework where the private cost of misreporting income is positively correlated with productivity. If high‐wage types always reveal their income truthfully, then letting low‐wage types cheat leads to Pareto‐superior outcomes regardless of the audit costs (as compared to deterrence). With no cheating, redistribution takes place on first‐ or second‐best frontiers and low‐wage types always end up worse off than high‐wage types. Letting low‐wage types misreport reduces the need to recourse to second‐best mechanisms. Additionally, it increases the reach of first‐best redistribution to outcomes at which low‐wage types are better off than high‐wage types.
Trapped within the logic of modernity/coloniality
Authors: Hernandez‐Carranza Giovanni , Carranza Mirna , Grigg Elizabeth
Published: June 2023

Background

Academic research is the site where the production and dissemination of knowledge are embedded in Eurocentric epistemologies which are posited as universal and non‐Eurocentric knowledges are devalued, dismissed, and ignored.

Objectives

The goal was to explore the tensions that emerged between the Global North team and the Global South team, from the Global North's perspective.

Methods

This paper a collaborative autoethnography to trace how the logics' of coloniality of power structured a transnational research project focused on exploring Indigenous Women's experience of marginalization. The autoethnography involved engaging in critical reflexive auto‐interviews between the team members in the Global North, analyzing field notes and personal written reflections.

Results

Autoethnography revealed how colonial conditioning respectively shaped both—the Global North and the Global South teams' expectations of one another, and as such, how they each operationalized decoloniality in the research process.

Conclusion

The Global North team focused on epistemically disengaging from coloniality but became overly concerned on meeting the expectations of the funder's temporally oriented productivity demands and ended up rearticulating coloniality's logics. The Global South was concerned with remedying the material dimensions of coloniality in their local community but became overly focused on adopting neoliberal logic models to efficiently satisfy the North's productivity expectations. Meaning, they, too, rearticulated coloniality's logics.
Poisson average maximum likelihood‐centered penalized estimator: A new estimator to better address multicollinearity in Poisson regression
Authors: Li Sheng , Wang Wei , Yao Menghan , Wang Junyu , Du Qianqian , Li Xuelin , Tian Xinyue , Zeng Jing , Deng Ying , Zhang Tao , Yin Fei , Ma Yue
Published: June 2023

The Poisson ridge estimator (PRE) is a commonly used parameter estimation method to address multicollinearity in Poisson regression (PR). However, PRE shrinks the parameters toward zero, contradicting the real association. In such cases, PRE tends to become an insufficient solution for multicollinearity. In this work, we proposed a new estimator called the Poisson average maximum likelihood‐centered penalized estimator (PAMLPE), which shrinks the parameters toward the weighted average of the maximum likelihood estimators. We conducted a simulation study and case study to compare PAMLPE with existing estimators in terms of mean squared error (MSE) and predictive mean squared error (PMSE). These results suggest that PAMLPE can obtain smaller MSE and PMSE (i.e., more accurate estimates) than the Poisson ridge estimator, Poisson Liu estimator, and Poisson K‐L estimator when the true s have the same sign and small variation. Therefore, we recommend using PAMLPE to address multicollinearity in PR when the signs of the true s are known to be identical in advance.
What Does it Take to Love a Bug? Knowledge, Emotional Valence, and Politics in Attitudes Toward Insect Conservation
Authors: Malt* Barbara C. , Marsh Jessecae K.
Published: June 2023

Domain knowledge is often considered a minor contributor to environmental attitudes, with social and motivational factors dominating. Yet, domains may differ. Declining insect populations are a critical conservation concern but are not prominent in public discourse, potentially reducing the impact of social and motivational variables. We present data on the relations of insect knowledge (both propositional and causal), associated emotional valences, and political orientation to concern for insect conservation, for samples of American college students and U.S. and U.K. Prolific workers. We asked whether concern for insect conservation is more associated with knowledge than emotional valence or political orientation, and whether this is especially so for U.K. residents, who have a reputation for a love of nature that is not linked to political identity. We found that U.K. participants did show greater overall concern, consistent with the national reputation. Causal knowledge mattered, but political orientation was the strongest predictor of concern for insect conservation for both U.S. and U.K. participants. Valence contributed for U.S. participants but not for U.K. participants. Our results suggest that politicized public discourse penetrates attitudes toward insects even when it does not explicitly concern insects, and knowledge variation has less impact. However, the emotional reaction has a reduced influence where relevant discourse is less polarized. Insects may often evoke negative emotions and motivations, but it is not impossible to love a bug.
Dynamic Behavior of a Tilting-Pad Thrust Bearing Operating Under a Hybrid Lubrication Regime
Authors: Silva Barbosa Jefferson , Cavallini Aldemir Ap , Ferreira Santos Ilmar , Steffen Valder
Published: June 2023

The present contribution aims to evaluate the effects of the oil pressure injection on the dynamic behavior of a hybrid-lubricated tilting-pad thrust bearing. First, a thermohydrodynamic model is applied to determine the equilibrium position as dictated by pressure and temperature distributions resulting from both hydrodynamic and hybrid lubrication regimes. Subsequently, the perturbation and frequency reduction methods are applied to determine the stiffness and damping coefficients of the bearing for various operational conditions. The results show that the dynamic force coefficients are strongly dependent on the operational conditions of the bearing, such as static load and rotating speed, as well as the perturbation frequency, for both lubrication regimes. The quantification of the injection pressure influence on the force coefficients of hybrid-lubricated thrust bearings is the main original contribution of this work.
Investigation of the Effects of Transmission Layout on Powertrain Efficiency, Performance, and Exhaust Emissions in Parallel Hybrid Vehicles
Authors: Karaoğlan Mustafa Umut
Published: June 2023

The investigation studies about increasing powertrain efficiency and reducing exhaust emissions and fuel consumption have been focused on hybrid vehicles for a few decades. However, the investigations are related to improvement of an individual powertrain component or energy management strategy for hybrid vehicles. Therefore, this study investigates the effects of the layout of the three-speed transmission and various gear selection procedures on vehicle performance, component efficiency, and exhaust emissions for same vehicle parameters, gear ratios, and capacity of the components in a parallel hybrid powertrain. Three design alternatives have been modeled and powertrain simulations have been performed according to the three different drive cycles as New European Drive Cycle (NEDC), Federal Test Procedure (FTP-72), and Istanbul Drive Cycle (IDC) using matlab®—Simulink® environment. The main simulation results are given for vehicle performance (acceleration, grading capacity, and maximum speed) and component efficiencies (battery and electric motor), brake-specific fuel consumption, and exhaust emissions of the engine as CO2, CO, HC, and NOx during the operation on the three-drive cycle. The simulation results showed that better vehicle performance, fuel consumption, and exhaust emissions can be achieved separately by changing the layout of the transmission in parallel hybrid vehicles.
Development and Validation of the Greek Version of Weight Pressures in Sport—Females Questionnaire
Authors: Kontele Ioanna , Vassilakou Tonia , Psychountaki Maria , Reel Justine J. , Donti Olyvia
Published: June 2023

Weight Pressures in Sport—Females (WPS-F) questionnaire measures sport-related pressures that female athletes experience regarding body weight, shape, size, and appearance. In order to examine the psychometric properties of the Greek version of the inventory, two different studies were conducted. In the first study, using a sample (n = 225) of female Greek athletes aged 12–20 years, exploratory factor analysis produced two factors (Factor 1: Pressures From Coaches and Sports About Weight and Factor 2: Pressures Regarding Appearance and Performance) and supported the original factor structure. In the second study, using a different sample (n = 318) of female Greek athletes aged 11–18 years, confirmatory factor analysis provided support for the two-factor structure. Weight Pressures in Sport—Females questionnaire was demonstrated to be a valid and reliable instrument for Greek female athletic populations. Future studies should further test the factorial structure in younger and older athletes and in larger samples.
An ode to owls
What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds
Jennifer Ackerman
Penguin, 2023. 352 pp.
Authors: Franklin Alan B.
Published: June 2023

New tools and techniques offer insight into the lives of these secretive birds
Inherited anthropogenic disturbance and decadal sediment dynamics in a mountain fluvial system: The case of the Marecchia River canyon, Northern Apennines
Authors: Llena Manel , Simonelli Tommaso , Brardinoni Francesco
Published: June 2023

We evaluate decadal coarse sediment dynamics along the Marecchia River of the Northern Apennines, a fluvial system with a history of gravel mining that led to the incision of a 6-km-long canyon. To this purpose, we subdivided the river into 21 reaches, seen as sediment reservoirs, to examine (1) historical variations in active channel width (1955−2019) in conjunction with (2) change in alluvial sediment storage (2009−2019), by differencing two sequential LiDAR digital elevation models (DEMs) within the active channel footprint. Combined examination of lateral (widening or narrowing) and vertical (aggradation or degradation) channel changes allowed the identification of composite styles of reservoir adjustment, as well as the refinement of geomorphic inference solely based on changes in active channel width. In particular, we find that different styles of decadal adjustment (1) are compatible with supply- and transport-limited conditions, as constrained by degree of confinement, stream channel slope, and active channel width; and (2) indicate different stages of evolution at reservoirs located upstream and downstream of the canyon head (dynamic equilibrium vs. transient response). The persistence of this geomorphic divide is supported over historical time scales by distinctive trends in planform channel changes, suggesting that sedimentary signal propagation downstream becomes abruptly interrupted at the canyon head. Over this 10-year natural experiment, the spatial pattern of erosion along the canyon exemplifies a striking case of transient response to anthropogenic forcing, where decadal topographic change, modulated by varying styles of hillslope-channel coupling, declines nonlinearly downstream. Depth of incision along the canyon increases progressively upstream, suggesting that the canyon head has been evolving toward a more unstable configuration with no significant change in sediment supply. This tendency, which points to a possible runaway style of development as bedload wearing on weak pelitic side walls continues, may hold basic implications for our understanding of channel incision into bedrock and strath terrace formation.
Detection of Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Spectra of Optically Induced Carriers with the Properties of the Effective Mass in the WS2 Transition Metal Dichalcogenide
Authors: Babunts R. A. , Batueva A. V. , Gurin A. S. , Likhachev K. V. , Edinach E. V. , Baranov P. G.
Published: June 2023

The spin properties of transition metal dichalcogenides are of interest for applications in spintronics. Anisotropic electron paramagnetic resonance spectra in a WS2 single crystal under optical excitation have been detected. These spectra assumingly belong to localized carriers near the valence band and reflect features of the 5d shell of the crystal. It has been shown that the g-factor for the magnetic field perpendicular to the c‑axis of the crystal (in-plane magnetic field) is larger than that for the magnetic field parallel to the c‑axis (perpendicular to the layer plane), which can provide information on the type of the 5d function. The discussed center is most likely described by the $$5d({{z}^{2}} - {{r}^{2}})$$ wavefunction, which can be associated with the valence band of the crystal.
Attendance characteristics of the breast and colorectal cancer screening programmes in a highly urbanised region of the Netherlands: a retrospective observational study
Authors: Bongaerts Thomas H G , Büchner Frederike L , de Munck Linda , Elferink Marloes A G , Guicherit Onno R , Numans Mattijs E
Published: June 2023

Objectives

Throughout Europe, many countries offer population-based cancer screening programmes (CSPs). In the Netherlands, two implemented CSPs are targeting people of 50 years and older, aiming at breast cancer (BC) and colorectal cancer (CRC). In order for a CSP to be (cost-)effective, high participation rates and outreach to the populations at risk are essential. People living in highly urbanised areas and big cities are known to participate less in CSPs. The aim of this study was to gain further insight into the participation patterns of a screening-eligible population of 50 years and over, living in a highly urbanised region, over a longer time period.

Design

A retrospective observational study.

Setting

Participation data of the regional screening organisation, linked to the cancer incidence data derived from the Netherlands Cancer Registry, concerning the city of The Hague, between 2005 and 2019. Attendance groups were defined as attenders (attending >50% of the invitations) and non-attenders (attending ≤50% of the invitations), and were mutually compared.

Results

The databases contained 106 377 unique individuals on the BC screening programme (SP) and 73 669 on the CRC-SP. Non-attendance at both CSPs was associated with living in a lower socioeconomic status (SES) neighbourhood and as a counter effect, also associated with a more unfavourable, relatively late-stage, tumour diagnosis. When combining the results of the two CSPs, our results imply high screening adherence over time. Women who did not participate in both CSPs were older, and more often lived in neighbourhoods with a lower SES score.

Conclusions

Since low screening uptake is one of the factors that contribute to increasing inequalities in cancer survival, future outreach strategies should be focused on engaging specific non-attending subgroups.
Effects of metformin on bone mineral density and bone turnover markers: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Hu Jinhua , Han Jingjie , Jin Min , Jin Jing , Zhu Jialei
Published: June 2023

Objectives

Metformin is associated with osteoblastogenesis and osteoclastogenesis. This study aims to investigate the impacts of metformin therapy on bone mineral density (BMD) and bone turnover markers.

Design

Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.

Methods

Searches were carried out in PubMed, EMBASE, Web of science, Cochrane library, ClinicalTrials.gov from database inception to 26 September 2022. Two review authors assessed trial eligibility in accordance with established inclusion criteria. The risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool (RoB V.2.0). Data analysis was conducted with Stata Statistical Software V.16.0 and Review Manager Software V.5.3.

Results

A total of 15 studies with 3394 participants were identified for the present meta-analysis. Our pooled results indicated that metformin had no statistically significant effects on BMD at lumbar spine (SMD=−0.05, 95% CI=–0.19 to 0.09, p=0.47, participants=810; studies=7), at femoral (MD=−0.01 g/cm2, 95% CI=−0.04 to 0.01 g/cm2, p=0.25, participants=601; studies=3) and at hip (MD=0.01 g/cm2, 95% CI=–0.02 to 0.03 g/cm2, p=0.56, participants=634; studies=4). Metformin did not lead to significant change in osteocalcin, osteoprotegerin and bone alkaline phosphatase. Metformin induced decreases in N-terminal propeptide of type I procollagen (MD=−6.09 µg/L, 95% CI=–9.38 to −2.81 µg/L, p=0.0003, participants=2316; studies=7) and C-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen (MD=−55.80 ng/L, 95% CI=–97.33 to −14.26 ng/L, p=0.008, participants=2325; studies=7).

Conclusion

This meta-analysis indicated that metformin had no significant effect on BMD. Metformin decreased some bone turnover markers as N-terminal propeptide of type I procollagen and C-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen. But the outcomes should be interpreted with caution due to several limitations.
Effects of tramadol via a µ-opioid receptor on pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma in vitro and in vivo
Authors: Kuramochi Tomoya , Sano Makoto , Kajiwara Ichie , Oshima Yukino , Itaya Tomoaki , Kim Jinsuk , Ichimaru Yoshimi , Kitajima Osamu , Masamune Atsushi , Ijichi Hideaki , Suzuki Takahiro
Published: June 2023

Introduction

Tramadol, a weak opioid anesthetic, is used for pain management in patients with cancer, but the effects of tramadol on cancer via µ-opioid receptor are still unknown. We assessed the effects of tramadol on pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma using transgenic mice (LSL-KrasG12D/+; Trp53flox/flox; Pdx-1cre/+).

Methods

Six-week-old transgenic mice were orally administered 10 mg/kg/day tramadol (n=12), 10 mg/kg/day tramadol and 1 mg/kg/day naltrexone (n=9), or vehicle water (n=14) until the humane endpoint. Cancer-related pain and plasma cytokine levels were assessed by the mouse grimace scale and cytokine array, respectively. Tumor status was determined histopathologically. Tramadol’s effects on proliferation and invasion in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cell lines were studied in vitro.

Results

Tramadol with/without naltrexone improved mouse grimace scale scores while decreasing inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6. Proliferative Ki-67 and cyclins decreased by tramadol, while local M1-like tumor-associated macrophages increased by tramadol, which was blocked by naltrexone. Meanwhile, tramadol with/without naltrexone reduced juxta-tumoral cancer-associated fibroblasts and M2-like tumor-associated macrophages. Tumor-associated neutrophils, natural killers, and cytotoxic T cells were not altered. Tramadol decreased the proliferative and invasive potentials of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cell lines via decreasing cyclins/cyclin-dependent kinases, which was partially reversed by naltrexone.

Conclusions

These findings imply that tramadol might be a useful anesthetic for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma: inhibiting the proliferation and invasion along with increasing antitumor M1-like tumor-associated macrophages via the µ-opioid receptor, while improving cancer-associated pain possibly through the antitumor effects with the decrease of inflammatory cytokines.
Measures to safeguard and restore river connectivity
Authors: Thieme Michele , Birnie-Gauvin Kim , Opperman Jeffrey J. , Franklin Paul A. , Richter Holly , Baumgartner Lee , Ning Nathan , Vu An Vi , Brink Kerry , Sakala Michael , O'Brien Gordon C. , Petersen Robin , Tongchai Pakkasem , Cooke Steven J.
Published: June 2023

Freshwater connectivity and the associated flow regime are critical components of the health of freshwater ecosystems. When freshwater ecosystems are fragmented, the movements and flows of species, nutrients, sediments, and water are altered, changing the natural dynamics of freshwater ecosystems. The consequences of these changes include declines and loss of freshwater species populations and freshwater ecosystems, and alterations in the delivery of certain ecosystem services, such as fisheries, buffering of flood events, healthy deltas, recreational and cultural values, and others. Measures exist that can maintain and restore connectivity or mitigate against its loss in the face of constructed barriers or other habitat alterations. These measures include system-scale planning for energy and water resources that includes options for limiting loss of freshwater connectivity; putting in place protections for keeping critically important freshwater habitats connected; mitigating impacts on freshwater ecosystems via barrier design, fish passage, or implementation of environmental flows; and restoring freshwaters via barrier removal and reconnection of rivers, wetlands, and floodplains and via active management of groundwater recharge. We present case studies of measures applied in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas and reflect on the next generation of innovation needed to further enhance and advance the implementation of restoration and protection and the mitigation of freshwater connectivity impacts.
Non-supersymmetric SO(10) models with Gauge and Yukawa coupling unification
Authors: Djouadi Abdelhak , Fonseca Renato , Ouyang Ruiwen , Raidal Martti
Published: June 2023

We study a non-supersymmetric SO(10) Grand Unification Theory with a very high energy intermediate symmetry breaking scale in which not only gauge but also Yukawa coupling unification are enforced via suitable threshold corrections and matching conditions. For gauge unification, we focus on a few symmetry breaking patterns with the intermediate gauge groups$$\text {SU}(4)_{\textrm{C}} \times \text {SU}(2)_{\textrm{L}} \times \text {SU}(2)_{\textrm{R}}$$SU(4)C×SU(2)L×SU(2)R(Pati–Salam) and$$\text {SU}(3)_{\textrm{C}} \times \text {SU}(2)_{\textrm{L}} \times \text {SU}(2)_{\textrm{R}}\times \text {U}(1)_{{\textrm{B}}-{\textrm{L}}}$$SU(3)C×SU(2)L×SU(2)R×U(1)B-L(minimal left-right symmetry) assuming an additional global U(1) Peccei–Quinn symmetry, and having the Standard Model supplemented by a second Higgs doublet field at the electroweak scale. We derive the conditions as well as the approximate analytical solutions for the unification of the gauge coupling constants at the two-loop level and discuss the constraints from proton decay on the resulting high scale. Specializing to the case of the Pati–Salam intermediate breaking pattern, we then impose also the unification of the Yukawa couplings of third generation fermions at the high scale, again at the two-loop level. In the considered context, Yukawa unification implies a relation between the fermion couplings to the 10- and 126-dimensional scalar representations of the SO(10) group. We consider one such possible relation which is obtainable in an$$\text {E}_6$$E6model where the previous two scalar fields are part of a single multiplet. Taking into account some phenomenological features such as the absence of flavor changing neutral currents at tree-level, we derive constraints on the parameters of the low energy model, in particular on the ratio of the two Higgs doublets vacuum expectation values$$\tan \beta $$tanβ.
Theoretical Analysis of Sequencing Bioinformatics Algorithms and Beyond
Authors: Medvedev Paul
Published: June 2023

A case study reveals the theoretical analysis of algorithms is not always as helpful as standard dogma might suggest.
Efficient and Near-optimal Algorithms for Sampling Small Connected Subgraphs
Authors: Bressan Marco
Published: June 2023

We study the following problem: Given an integer
k
≥ 3 and a simple graph
G
, sample a connected induced
k
-vertex subgraph of
G
uniformly at random. This is a fundamental graph mining primitive with applications in social network analysis, bioinformatics, and more. Surprisingly, no efficient algorithm is known for uniform sampling; the only somewhat efficient algorithms available yield samples that are only approximately uniform, with running times that are unclear or suboptimal. In this work, we provide: (i) a near-optimal mixing time bound for a well-known random walk technique, (ii) the first efficient algorithm for truly uniform graphlet sampling, and (iii) the first sublinear-time algorithm for ε-uniform graphlet sampling.
Brain-Computer Integration: A Framework for the Design of Brain-Computer Interfaces from an Integrations Perspective
Authors: Semertzidis Nathan , Zambetta Fabio , Mueller Florian “Floyd”
Published: June 2023

Brain-computer interface (BCI) systems hold the potential to foster human flourishing and self-actualization. However, we believe contemporary BCI system design approaches unnecessarily limit these potentialities as they are approached from a traditional interaction perspective, producing command-response experiences. This article proposes to go beyond “interaction” and toward a paradigm of human-computer integration. The potential of this paradigm is demonstrated through three prototypes: Inter-Dream, a system that integrates with the brain's autonomic physiological processes to drive users toward healthy sleep states; Neo-Noumena, a system that integrates with the user's affective neurophysiology to augment the interpersonal communication of emotion; and PsiNet, a system that integrates interpersonal brain activity to amplify human connection. Studies of these prototypes demonstrate the benefits of the integration paradigm in realizing the multifaceted benefits of BCI systems, and this work presents the brain-computer integration framework to help guide designers of future BCI integrations.
VERB: Visualizing and Interpreting Bias Mitigation Techniques Geometrically for Word Representations
Authors: Rathore Archit , Dev Sunipa , Phillips Jeff M. , Srikumar Vivek , Zheng Yan , Yeh Chin-Chia Michael , Wang Junpeng , Zhang Wei , Wang Bei
Published: June 2023

Word vector embeddings have been shown to contain and amplify biases in the data they are extracted from. Consequently, many techniques have been proposed to identify, mitigate, and attenuate these biases in word representations. In this article, we utilize interactive visualization to increase the interpretability and accessibility of a collection of state-of-the-art debiasing techniques. To aid this, we present the Visualization of Embedding Representations for deBiasing (VERB) system, an open-source web-based visualization tool that helps users gain a technical understanding and visual intuition of the inner workings of debiasing techniques, with a focus on their geometric properties. In particular, VERB offers easy-to-follow examples that explore the effects of these debiasing techniques on the geometry of high-dimensional word vectors. To help understand how various debiasing techniques change the underlying geometry, VERB decomposes each technique into interpretable sequences of primitive transformations and highlights their effect on the word vectors using dimensionality reduction and interactive visual exploration. VERB is designed to target natural language processing (NLP) practitioners who are designing decision-making systems on top of word embeddings and researchers working with the fairness and ethics of machine learning systems in NLP. It can also serve as a visual medium for education, which helps an NLP novice understand and mitigate biases in word embeddings.
Big Code Search: A Bibliography
Authors: Kim Kisub , Ghatpande Sankalp , Kim Dongsun , Zhou Xin , Liu Kui , Bissyandé Tegawendé F. , Klein Jacques , Le Traon Yves
Published: June 2023

Code search is an essential task in software development. Developers often search the internet and other code databases for necessary source code snippets to ease the development efforts. Code search techniques also help learn programming as novice programmers or students can quickly retrieve (hopefully good) examples already used in actual software projects. Given the recurrence of the code search activity in software development, there is an increasing interest in the research community. To improve the code search experience, the research community suggests many code search tools and techniques. These tools and techniques leverage several different ideas and claim a better code search performance. However, it is still challenging to illustrate a comprehensive view of the field considering that existing studies generally explore narrow and limited subsets of used components. This study aims to devise a grounded approach to understanding the procedure for code search and build an operational taxonomy capturing the critical facets of code search techniques. Additionally, we investigate evaluation methods, benchmarks, and datasets used in the field of code search.
A Constructive Heuristic for the Uniform Capacitated Vertex
k
-center Problem
Authors: Cornejo-Acosta José Alejandro , García-Díaz Jesús , Pérez-Sansalvador Julio César , Ríos-Mercado Roger Z. , Pomares-Hernández Saúl Eduardo
Published: June 2023

The uniform capacitated vertex
k
-center problem is an
𝒩𝒫
-hard combinatorial optimization problem that models real situations where
k
centers can only attend a maximum number of customers, and the travel time or distance from the customers to their assigned center has to be minimized. This article introduces a polynomial-time constructive heuristic algorithm that exploits the relationship between this problem and the minimum capacitated dominating set problem. The proposed heuristic is based on the one-hop farthest-first heuristic that has proven effective for the uncapacitated version of the problem. We carried out different empirical evaluations of the proposed heuristic, including an analysis of the effect of a parallel implementation of the algorithm, which significantly improved the running time for relatively large instances.
Double-Layer Search and Adaptive Pooling Fusion for Reference-Based Image Super-Resolution
Authors: Guo Kehua , Chen Liang , Zhu Xiangyuan , Kui Xiaoyan , Zhang Jian , Shi Heyuan
Published: June 2023

Reference-based image super-resolution (RefSR) aims to reconstruct high-resolution (HR) images from low-resolution (LR) images by introducing HR reference images. The key step of RefSR is to transfer reference features to LR features. However, existing methods still lack an efficient transfer mechanism, resulting in blurry details in the generated image. In this article, we propose a double-layer search module and an adaptive pooling fusion module group for reference-based image super-resolution, called DLASR. Based on the re-search strategy, the double-layer search module can produce an accurate index map and score map. These two maps are used to filter out accurate reference features, which greatly increases the efficiency of feature transfer in the later stage. Through two continuous feature-enhancement steps, the adaptive pooling fusion module group can transfer more valuable reference features to the corresponding LR features. In addition, a structure reconstruction module is proposed to recover the geometric information of the images, which further improves the visual quality of the generated image. We conduct comparative experiments on a variety of datasets, and the results prove that DLASR achieves significant improvements over other state-of-the-art methods, in terms of quantitative accuracy and qualitative visual effect. The code is available at https://github.com/clttyou/DLASR.
A Granularity-Based Clustering Method for Reducing Write Amplification in Solid-State Drives
Authors: Hsu Yao-Jen , Wu Chin-Hsien , Tsai Yu-Chieh , Liu Chia-Cheng
Published: June 2023

In recent years, solid-state drives (SSDs) that adopt NAND flash memory have been widely used as the main storage devices. In particular, NAND flash memory has a special feature of “out-of-place” updates to write the up-to-date data to a free page, and the corresponding old page will become invalid. When the number of free pages in SSDs is insufficient, garbage collection (GC) will be executed to reclaim the invalid pages in a block by erasing the block. Many studies have shown that a good hot/cold data separation (i.e., clustering) can greatly reduce the overhead of GC so as to improve the SSD performance. However, previous clustering methods usually use a static number of clusters or a fixed size of granularity (i.e., a fine-grained or a coarse-grained granularity), so they may not always perform well for different kinds of workloads. Therefore, we propose a granularity-based clustering method to adaptively adjust the size of granularity groups for an appropriate number of clusters at runtime according to the update distances of logical addresses. According to the experimental results, we can improve SSD performance by reducing the overhead of GC and decrease the write amplification. Furthermore, we can show that the proposed method can utilize a fine-grained granularity to retain the record accuracy of update distances and also utilize a coarse-grained granularity to reduce the space required to record update distances.
Transformer-Based Relational Inference Network for Complex Visual Relational Reasoning
Authors: Tan Mingkui , Wen Zhiquan , Fang Leyuan , Wu Qi
Published: June 2023

Visual Relational Reasoning is the basis of many vision-and-language based tasks (e.g., visual question answering and referring expression comprehension). In this article, we regard the complex referring expression comprehension (c-REF) task as the reasoning basis, in which c-REF seeks to localise a target object in an image guided by a complex query. Such queries often contain complex logic and thus impose two critical challenges for reasoning: (i) Comprehending the complex queries is difficult since these queries usually refer to multiple objects and their relationships; (ii) Reasoning among multiple objects guided by the queries and then localising the target correctly are non-trivial. To address the above challenges, we propose a Transformer-based Relational Inference Network (Trans-RINet). Specifically, to comprehend the queries, we mimic the language-comprehending mechanism of humans, and devise a language decomposition module to decompose the queries into four types, i.e., basic attributes, absolute location, visual relationship and relative location. We further devise four modules to address the corresponding information. In each module, we consider the intra-(i.e., between the objects) and inter-modality relationships(i.e., between the queries and objects) to improve the reasoning ability. Moreover, we construct a relational graph to represent the objects and their relationships, and devise a multi-step reasoning method to progressively understand the complex logic. Since each type of the queries is closely related, we let each module interact with each other before making a decision. Extensive experiments on the CLEVR-Ref+, Ref-Reasoning, and CLEVR-CoGenT datasets demonstrate the superior reasoning performance of our Trans-RINet.