bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A heuristic-based package-aware function scheduling approach for creating a trade-off between cold-start time and cost in FaaS computing environments
Authors: Ebrahimpour Hossein , Ashtiani Mehrdad , Bakhtiariazad Ghazaleh
Published: June 2022

With the migration of the enterprise applications to micro-services and containers, cloud service providers, starting with Amazon in 2014, announced a new computational model called function-as-a-service. In these platforms, developers create a set of fine-grained functions with shorter execution times instead of developing coarse-grained software. In addition, the management of system resources and servers is entrusted to cloud service providers. This model has many benefits, such as reducing costs, but still faces many challenges such as balancing cost, balancing performance, programming models, using current dev tools, containers’ cold start problem, saving data in caches, security issues, privacy concerns, and scheduling challenges like execution time prediction. In this paper, we focus on scheduling and cold start problems. Compromise occurs when keeping warm operating environments which can reduce cold start times but increase costs. Here, we aim to create a trade-off by using four different types of decisions at runtime using a heuristic method and analyzing the function dependency graph, functions’ invocation frequency, and other environmental parameters. The proposed method shows a 32% improvement over the fixed-time method (i.e. the method used by Amazon). This comparison is made from the cumulative measurement viewpoint which is a combination of response time, turnaround time, cost, and utilization.
Nutrient sequestration and lipid production potential of Chlorella vulgaris under pharmaceutical wastewater treatment: Experimental, optimization, and prediction modeling studies
Authors: Kumari Sonika , Kumar Vinod , Kothari Richa , Kumar Pankaj
Published: June 2022

The efficient management and treatment of pharmaceutical industry wastewater (PIWW) have become a serious environmental issue due to its high toxicity.To overcome this problem, the present study deals with the phycoremediation of PIWW using Chlorella vulgaris microalga isolated from the Ganga River at Haridwar, India. For this, response surface methodology (RSM) and artificial neural network (ANN) tools were used to identify the best reduction of total phosphorus (TP) and total Kjeldahl’s nitrogen (TKN) based pollutants along with lipid production efficiency of C. vulgaris. Three different concentrations of pharmaceutical wastewater (0, 50, and 100%), operating temperatures (20, 25, and 30°C), and light intensity (2000, 3000, and 4000 lx)were used to design the phycoremediation experiments. Findings revealed thatC.vulgaris was good enough to remove maximum TP (90.35%), TKN (83.55%) along 20.88% of lipid yield at 25.62℃ temperature, 60.73% PIW concentration, and 4000 lx of light intensity, respectively.Based on the model performance and validation results, ANN showed more accuracy as compared to the RSM tool. Therefore, the findings of this study showed thatC.vulgarisis capable of treating PIWW efficiently along with significant production of lipid content which can further be used in various applications including biofuels production.
Human Emotion Recognition in Video Data Using Deep Learning Frameworks
Authors: Prasad Mal Hari , Swarnalatha P.
Published: June 2022

Human emotion recognition is a crucial application in human-computer interaction (HCI). This task is done using facial expressions as main modality. This work focuses on recognition of facial emotion expressions in video sequences and proposes an integrated and hybrid deep learning frameworks. Reasonable interaction is the basic form of interaction; it exists in social interaction, role interaction and symbolic interaction, interactive mode and has its particularity. The reason is the subject consciousness of autonomous interaction based on equality and full democratic conditions, because the main body needs and beliefs, purpose and value driven, between the main bodies in the subject. Between the main body and the social, emotional, attitude, a series of interactive response or change process of cognition and behavior. The structure of Ideological and political education reason interaction mechanism mainly from the sense of Ideological and political education interaction, process and mode, environment and other aspects of the ideological and political education structure is the main reason of interactive behavior, emotion, the cognitive nodes, multiple structure transmit information through language or symbols such as the ideological and political education; reasonable interaction process is in a certain environment, because of the need. There will be a series of patterns to interact with each other, and then interact with each other in order to form a series of patterns.
Impact of a NICU High Risk Follow up Clinic on Readmission rates and ER Visits in VLBW Infants
Authors: Chadive Deepika , Hoy Deborah , Desale Sameer , Ramasethu Jayashree
Published: June 2022

Objective
To compare rates of readmission and emergency room (ER) visits of very low birth weight (VLBW, birth weight ≤ 1500 grams) infants followed up in a NICU Follow Up Clinic (NFC) to those who did not.
Method
Email/ phone surveys of parents of VLBW infants discharged from a Level IV NICU between 2016–2018.
Result
Of 126 discharged VLBW infants, 94 infants who followed up in NFC were compared to 22 who did not. Ten patients (7.9%) were lost to follow up. NFC infants had significantly lower rates of unplanned admissions (17% vs 41%), ER/ urgent care visits (21% vs 82%) and multiple ER/ Urgent care visits (2% vs 41%) compared to infants who did not follow up at NFC.
Conclusion
NICU graduates who follow up in NFC had significantly lower rates of hospital admissions and ER/urgent Care visits compared to non-clinic patients, emphasizing the effectiveness of such a clinic.
Late-onset obstructive hydrocephalus associated with occipital encephalocele with large skull defect successfully treated by endoscopic third ventriculostomy: A case report
Authors: Munekata Yuki , Sugiyama Taku , Ueda Yuki , Mizushima Makoto , Motegi Hiroaki , Fujimura Miki
Published: June 2022

Background: Hydrocephalus is one of the most common presentations of occipital encephaloceles and usually develops within the first year of life. This case report presents a rare case of late-onset obstructive hydrocephalus associated with occipital encephalocele with an extraordinarily large occipital skull defect.Case Report: At birth, a newborn girl presented with an absence of a vast amount of occipital cranium and skin and was diagnosed with occipital encephalocele. Under meticulous sterile management, the affected area was successfully epithelialized, and the patient was discharged without infectious complication. Despite an obstructed cerebral aqueduct, she grew without any signs of hydrocephalus until the age of 7 years. Her gait gradually worsened, and imaging tests at the age of 8 years revealed markedly enlarged lateral and third ventricles but not the fourth ventricle. Endoscopic third ventriculostomy successfully relieved her symptoms with improvement of hydrocephalus. Conclusion: This is the first case of late-onset obstructive hydrocephalus associated with an occipital encephalocele characterized by large-scale cranial bony defects. Although further investigation is required to elucidate the mechanism of hydrocephalus, this rare phenomenon should be noted during neurological and radiological follow-up.
A Reliable DSR Protocol Using Link Availability Time Estimation for Wireless Ad hoc Networks
Authors: Malwe Shweta R , Taneja Naman , Nitesh Kumar
Published: June 2022

Dynamic topology and power-controlled lightweight mobile devices usually affect the performance of wireless ad hoc networks and have always been a major focus of research. Data transmission between a source-destination pair is governed by different types of routing protocols like proactive, reactive, hybrid, geographical, etc. Reactive routing techniques are highly preferred due to on-demand source-based routing with limited space requirements. The routing process should consider the link availability between the communicating nodes to get a stable route. If any two nodes along the route become unreachable, the communication could be interrupted. This could cause the receiver to lose data and experience longer delays. In this paper, we suggest a way to improve the existing DSR protocol. The focus is on choosing a stable route with less control overhead. During the route request phase, every participating node calculates its link availability time (LAT) for each adjacent link based on the current position of the neighbor and

receiving signal strength. Links with lesser LATs than a threshold are not considered for route setup hence the flooding of control packets is reduced. Simulation has been performed over the basic DSR and proposed improvements over DSR in terms of control overhead, successful data transmission rate, and the number of route errors generated in the network. The findings show that previous knowledge

of link availability during the routing phase aids in the discovery of more stable routes with lower control overhead, thereby promoting reliable data delivery and improving the overall network performance.
Biotechnological synthesis, immobilization, characterization and comparison of novel anti-viral drug as Protease Inhibitor from Bacillus subtilis-M15
Authors: Ilyas Mina , Noreen Bushra , Zahra Memoona , Anwar Muhammad Zeeshan , Hadi Faheem , Maqbool Tahir , Khawaja Ali Imran , Iqbal Zafar , Ali Qurban , Javed Muhammad Arshad , Haider Muhammad Saleem , Madni Muhammad Asadullah , Sumreen Laila , Shamim Tahira , Ali Iftikhar
Published: June 2022

Protease Inhibitors belong to class of drug which are used to cure or prevent infection by viruses like HIV and HCV. Protease Inhibitors from Bacillus subtilis-M15 prevent viral multiplication by inhibiting the activity of Trypsin and Pepsin. Pharmaceutically designed ion-exchange resins are proved as promising candidates to enhance the Inhibitory activities of Protease. The novel Biological anti-viral drugs are characterized by Hydrogen Peroxide, Dimethyl Sulfur, HCl, and Acidic-Alkaline Proteinase. When Protease Inhibitory activity of chemically formulated drug already available in market i.e. Lopinavir/Ritonavir are compared with novel anti-viral drug from Bacillus subtilis-M15 then Lopinavir/Ritonavir are proved as less effective than Biological drug due to their lower Inhibitory activity in terms of units per milliliter. Lopinavir/Ritonavir has 2446U/ml and 241U/ml Protease Inhibitory activities against trypsin and pepsin respectively whereas Biological drug from Bacillus subtilis-M15 has 2581U/ml and 3360U/ml Protease Inhibitory activities against Trypsin and Pepsin respectively. In this context Biological drug developing treatment has attracted much attention than chemically designed drug due to their high efficacy, least side effect, cost efficient and environment friendly nature. Hence we conclude the current application of novel anti-viral drug as a Protease Inhibitors from Bacillus subtilis-M15 and its future clinical prospects against targeted Protease based HIV and HCV therapy.
Genome-wide identification and expression pattern of sugar transporter genes in salt tolerant fungus Aspergillus sydowii H-1
Authors: Jie Zeng , Cao Yi
Published: June 2022

Aspergillus sydowii is a kind of fungus with rich metabolic capacity, halophilic and can cause coral disease. In this paper, 173 sugar transporter genes in A. sydowii H-1 genome were identified and divided into 9 subgroups by bioinformatics method. The transcription levels of these genes were analyzed under different fermentation time and different salt concentration. Combined with protein interaction network analysis, we identified that a glycerol transporter AsSTL1 gene interacted with five MAPK cascade genes: HOG, SSK22, STE11, PBS2 and FUS3. The abundant sugar transporter genes may be an important condition for A. sydowii to survive in extreme marine environment, and also indicate that these sugar transporters respond to low carbon source stress caused by prolonged fermentation cycle and salt stress.
Prevotella histicola inhibits neuroinflammation-induced activation of the Toll-like receptor 4 pathway by promoting the release of interleukin 10 from FoxP3+ Treg cells
Authors: Du Juan-Juan , Li Shi-Mo , Gu Yan-Lan , Zhuang Wei-Hao , Zhou Tao , Zhao Si-Yuan , Xu Ze-Ting , Lu Qiu-Xia , Pan Jing , Ren Yan-Hua , Chen Wei-Guang , Peng Peng , Liao Min
Published: June 2022

Background
Accumulating evidence indicates that intestinal microbiota not only influence development and behavior but also play important roles in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases. However, the relationships between gut bacteria and diseases of the nervous system remain to be fully explored. Microglial activation has been identified as an important factor affecting the progression of many degenerative diseases. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the effects of Prevotella histicola on neuroinflammation and associated mechanisms in an animal model of dopaminergic neuron death caused by microglia activation.
Methods
We used the Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) agonist lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to establish an animal model of dopaminergic neuron death induced by microglia activation. LPS was injected into the mouse substantia nigra, followed by gavage with P. histicola.
Results
P. histicola inhibited LPS-induced microglia activation by increasing the proportion of peripheral regulatory T cells (Treg), thereby increasing the secretion of interleukin (IL)-10, reducing dopaminergic neuron damage, stimulating activation of anti-inflammatory M2 type microglia, and improving exercise capacity. Interestingly, P. histicola treatment suppressed the expression of SUMO-specific protease 3 (SENP3), which plays an important role in LPS-stimulated inflammatory TLR4 signaling. P. histicola treatment also downregulated inflammatory factors including IL-1, IL-6, IL-12, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα).
Conclusion
These results suggest that P. histicola inhibits the TLR4 inflammatory signaling pathway and release of inflammatory factors by regulating the release of IL-10 from FoxP3 + Treg cells in the spleen. Our findings may provide insight into a new therapeutic avenue for attenuating the progression of degenerative diseases involving microglial activation.
Knowledge Extraction and Question Formation from Transcripts of Video using WebRTC and YAKE
Authors: Dhingra Glen , Solkar Ahmed , Shah Shreyas , Sawant Vaishnavi , Patade Ashok
Published: June 2022

With the advancements in communication technology we now have access to more sophisticated and effective methods of communication. People can interact with one another through electronic mediums and this has paved the way for corporations and businesses to connect better with partners and employees. Video conferencing is a type of distance conferencing where two or more number of people can visually connect and interact with each other. The face of video communication has changed dramatically due to the global pandemic. The ban on travel has limited the reach of the enterprises in the foreign market, which in turn, has increased the adoption of video conferencing software.If some users miss the conference or get disconnected or want to review the conference again ,going through the recorded video of the conference becomes a hassle. Also there is a problem of language barrier in video conferencing. The presented system overcomes all these problems. The system firstly generates the transcript of the meeting in language which was used in the meeting by using speech to text recognition and stores it. Some meetings may be conducted for a long duration of time hence reading these transcripts becomes time consuming and is not feasible. So to handle these situations the system generates a summary of each meeting by extracting the important sections of the meeting by using YAKE keyword extractor. In addition to this a question answer based format is also generated in the selected language so the users may search the questions they want the answer to ,instead of reading the whole summary which saves time. The presented system helps the end user by understanding the essential part of the meeting in their preferred language.
Predictors of response for percutaneous balloon compression for the treatment of recurrent trigeminal neuralgia following surgical procedures: a retrospective study
Authors: Liu Lu , Sun Zhe , Zhang Yan , Ma Guofeng , Luo Fang
Published: June 2022

Recurrent trigeminal neuralgia (TN) after surgical procedures can be rather difficult to treat, and standardized treatment measures are not available yet. It is unclear whether percutaneous balloon compression (PBC) can be used as the preferred surgical treatment for postoperative recurrent TN. To determine the efficacy of PBC and identify the predictors of response of PBC for the treatment of recurrent TN following TN-related surgeries, we retrospectively collected and analyzed the data of patients with recurrent TN following surgical treatments who underwent PBC under three-dimensional computed tomography (3D-CT) guidance at the department of Pain Management of Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University from January 2018 to January 2022. We found, within one month after PBC, the total efficacy of PBC on recurrent TN following TN-related surgeries was 86.7%. Based on the effectiveness of PBC one month postoperatively, patients were divided into the effective group (130, 86.7%) and the ineffective group (20, 13.3%). Fourteen (10.8%) patients in the effective group had undergone RFT before, which was significantly lower than that in the ineffective group (6, 30%, p = 0.02). In the crude, adjust I and adjust II models, previous RFT was considered to be a significant predictor of poor outcome at 1 month’s follow-up (non-adjusted, OR 0.28; adjust I, OR 0.28; adjust II, OR 0.30, respectively). Thus, PBC was found to be a moderately effective and safe treatment for recurrent TN after TN-related surgery. However, previous RFT procedure may predict a slightly worse outcome after PBC.
The Role of Companion Animals in Advanced Cancer: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis
Authors: McGhee William R.G , Dempster Martin , Graham-Wisener Lisa
Published: June 2022

Background:There is evidence that a companion animal (CA) or ‘pet’ can be helpful during the management of chronic illness. However, the psychological effects of CAs and the mechanism by which they can be beneficial to individuals managing life-limiting conditions is unknown. This study addresses this gap and provides the first examination of the lived experience of CAs among community-dwelling adults with advanced cancer. Methods:Semi-structured interview study consisting of a homogenous sample of 6 individuals with an advanced cancer diagnosis, who either self-selected to the study or were recruited through a regional charity that supports palliative and end-of-life care patients in maintaining a connection with their CA. Data were transcribed verbatim and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Results: Four superordinate themes occurred in the data: a protective relationship, positive behavioural change, facilitating meaningful social connections and increased loss-orientated cognitions. The findings suggest that CAs offer de-arousing and stress-buffering supports that mitigate physical and psychological sequalae experienced by people with advanced cancer. However, as their illness progresses, individuals may also experience negative effects associated with their CA and increased loss-orientated cognitions. Conclusions:CAs provide emotional, practical and social supports to individuals diagnosed with advanced cancer that can improve individual psychological wellbeing. Consequently, it is important that CAs are considered in advance care planning processes and that services are available to mitigate any negative effects of CA ownership, in order to maximise the benefits CAs confer to individuals managing advanced cancer.
Dynamic Spectrum Optimization for Internet-of-Vehicles with Deep-Learning-Based Mobility Prediction
Authors: Li Feng , Sun Zhongming , Lam Kwok-Yan , Sun Lianzhong , Shen Bowen , Peng Bao
Published: June 2022

Internet-of-Vehicles (IoV) plays an important part of Intelligent Transportation Systems, and is widely regarded as one of the most strategic applications in smart cities development. Next generation wireless network is especially crucial for meeting the connectivity and bandwidth demands of IoVs. Smart spectrum resource management has received much attention of the research community as it is believed to be a promising approach for solving the spectrum resource challenge of IoV and Intelligent Transportation Systems. In this article, we propose a smart spectrum optimization technique based on a deep learning method for user mobility prediction. For this purpose, based on the Exploration and Preferential Return (EPR) model which can be used to investigate the movement trend and aggregation behavior of the target, we adopt the D-Exploration and Preferential Return (D-EPR) model as a deep learning technique to train a Long-Short Term Memory (LSTM) recurrent neural network (RNN) in order to predict the future locations of IoV nodes. With predicted user’s mobility, a graph theoretic algorithm is then applied to achieve spectrum reuse and optimization. Besides, our proposed deep-learningbased user mobility prediction is able to identify the user position. This paper then compares the performances of mobility prediction by traditional method and our proposal. The outcomes of spectrum efficiency and network capacity are also provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed solution.
Nitazoxanide and Azithromycin for the early Treatment of Covid-19: A Multi-Spectroscopic, Biochemical and Computational Drug-Drug Interaction Study
Authors: Ali Syed Abid , Abid Muhammad , Ahmed Ayaz , Wadood Abdul , Ahmad Shakil
Published: June 2022

Current investigation presented an experimental and theoretical drug-drug interaction study between nitazoxanide (NTZ) and azithromycin (AZT) in aqueous solution. Understudy drugs alone, in combination, and with other drugs are widely prescribed for the early treatment of COVID-19. Interaction was primarily studied by using UV/Vis, fluorescence, ATR-FTIR and CD spectroscopy. While molecular docking studies was performed to established the drugs interaction computationally. Two drugs when allowed to interact, the bright yellow color was observed giving hyper chromic band at 420 nm. The rate of absorbance was linearly increased with increasing drug concentrations and in a time-dependent manner. Stability of the interaction complex (i.e. NTZ: AZT) was measured at variable temperature (25–80 °C), pH (5.0–10.0) and ionic strength (0.05-2.0 M NaCl), and not only proved stable but also retain antimicrobial potential with reduced cellular toxicity. Mole ratio and Job`s method of continuous variation were used to established the binding stoichiometry between NTZ and AZT and found to be 2:1. While, the calculated binding constant (kb = 8400 M− 1) and Gibb’s free energy (ΔG° = -22.4 KJ/mol) were also suggested the energetically favorable interaction. FTIR spectra of NTZ: AZT complex in comparison with two drugs alone revealed significant interactions which was also complemented from molecular docking studies. The interaction was also successfully demonstrated in presence of carrier protein HSA and by spiking the two drugs in real samples of fresh human plasma and urine. Cumulatively, present study provided new protocol for drug’s interaction, functional efficacy and bioavailability in combination therapy.
A Proposal for a Robust Validated Weighted General Data Protection Regulation-based Scale to Assess the Fairness of Privacy Policies of Mobile Health Applications: a Delphi Study
Authors: Benjumea Jaime , Ropero Jorge , Dorronzoro-Zubiete Enrique , Rivera-Romero Octavio , Carrasco Alejandro
Published: June 2022

Nowadays, the health sector is involved in a digital transformation. The use of technological systems supporting in the health care are becoming common among all stakeholders. The COVID-19 pandemic has also accelerated this process increasing the use of digital tools, devices, and services supporting patients in the self-management and/or in the communication with healthcare providers. In such circumstances, mobile health (mHealth) has also experienced a significant growth because of the potential benefits of its use in health self-management. However, the quality of the mHealth solutions is not always high enough reducing its adoption and acceptance. This study is focused on one of the components of the quality of mHealth solutions, privacy, particularly on the fairness of the privacy policies. Following a modified Delphi method, we assessed the robustness of a General Data Protection Regulation-based privacy scale, identified new tentative items to be included, and define weights to items according to their relevance. This Delphi study was conducted in two rounds through two online questionnaires that a selected expert panel filled out. Most of the experts considered all the items defined in the original scale as “important” or “very important” (4 and 5 in a 5-point Likert scale, respectively). An original item was reworded, and two new items were added. Regarding weight assignment, 11 of the 16 items in the scale were considered "very important", so that they were assigned a weight of 1, while the other 5 were considered "important", and were assigned a weight of 0.5. As a result, a new robust scale to assess the fairness of the privacy policy of a mHealth solution is defined. The Benjumea privacy scale is a new tool to assess a key component of privacy, privacy policy, providing a deeper and complementary analysis to other scales that assesses the general quality of mHealth solutions. Also, this robust scale provides a guideline for development of high-quality privacy policies of mHealth solutions.
Selecting logging, and old secondary vegetation conserve biodiversity and composition of bacteria and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in a community-based forestry in the Maya Forest
Authors: Puch-Hau Carlos , Polo-Marcial Martín H. , Quintanilla-Mena Mercedes , Cañizares-Martínez Alejandra , Adame-Castro Diana E. , Pérez-Garfias Brisni Z. , Granados-Puerto Silvia G. , González-Godoy Edgar , Márquez-Santos Magdalena , Lara Luis Alberto
Published: June 2022

The impacts of selective logging on arbuscular mycorrhiza and bacteria of tropical forests are little known globally. In this study, we analysed and compared the composition and diversity of bacteria and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in a forest with sustainable management (stands with 6-years-old after selective logging) compared with a conserved forest and secondary vegetation recovered from agriculture (20-years-old) in Nuevo Becal, Campeche, Mexico. The analyses were based on environmental DNA sequences using Illumina miseq platform and morphological diversity of AMF glomerospores. We found 30 species of virtual AMF taxa (10 potential new virtual taxa) based on DNA sequences, 22 AMF species based on morphology, and 3,963 amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) for bacteria. For AMF, the most abundant order (in the whole study) were the Glomerales (with higher significant abundance in secondary vegetation), followed by Gigasporales and Diversisporales, while for bacterial phylum, Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria were highly represented, followed by Acidobacteria, Planctomycetes, Nitrospirae, Bacteroidetes, and Gemmationonadetes. Actinobacteria showed significantly higher relative abundance in conserved forests, Chloroflexi in managed forests, and Verrucomicrobia in secondary vegetation. Bacterial and glomerospores community composition did not showed significant differences among the three sites analysed. However, AMF VT community composition were significant different between the conserved forest and secondary vegetation. Forest management showed higher bacteria and glomerospores diversity (Shannon index) compared to the conserved forest and secondary vegetation. Our study showed that stands 6 years after selective logging and old secondary vegetation conserved an important bacteria and AMF species compared with conserved forests.
A Real-world Study on a Large Retrospective Cohort of Castleman Disease from a Single Center
Authors: Guo Meiyu , Nong Lin , Wang Mingyue , Zhang Yang , Wang Lihong , Sun Yuhua , Wang Qingyun , Liu Huihui , Ou Jinping , Cen Xinan , Ren Hanyun , Dong Yujun
Published: June 2022

Castleman disease(CD) is a rare lymphoid tissue proliferative disease with an increasing focus on etiology and treatment in recent years. The consensus on CD diagnosis and treatment has been published by several organizations, playing an important role in promoting cooperation on CD managements and investigations among different teams. Based on the last 15-years retrospective real-world data from Peking University First Hospital (PKUFH), we re-classified and re-evaluated the clinical and pathological information of patients with pathologically suspected diagnosis of CD. A total of 203 patients were included in our study, in which the diagnosis of CD was confirmed in 189 cases, including 118 patients with unicentric CD (UCD, n = 118, 62.4%) and 71 patients with multicentric CD (MCD, n = 71, 37.6%). 44.1% (n = 52) of UCDs in our cohort were complicated with Paraneoplastic Pemphigus (PNP). The treatment of UCD is mostly surgical resection, with a 5-year overall survival(OS) 88.1%. Patients with PNP had a poorer prognosis than those without PNP [82.9% (95% CI 123–178) vs 92.8% (95% CI 168–196), log-rank P = 0.041). The rate of concurrent systemic symptoms was 74.6% (n = 53), and renal involvement occurred in 49.3% (n = 35) MCD patients. The MCD treatments were mainly chemotherapy regimens, with a 5-year OS of 77.6% (95% CI, 143–213). In conclusion, UCDs have a better overall prognosis than MCDs. But the prognosis of those complicated with PNP was poor. Differential diagnosis of MCD is difficult. MCD treatment in China is heterogeneous. The inaccessibility of anti-IL-6-targeted drugs in China may contribute to the poor prognosis of MCD.
Evaluation of the physicochemical and antimicrobial properties of the polyvinyl alcohol-mulberry leaf extract blend film
Authors: Chowdhury Sujan , Zaidi Nur Syaliani Binti Mohamed Rafflisman , Mah Shee Keat
Published: June 2022

In this study, mulberry (Morus nigra sp.) leaves extract (MN) was used as a structure modifier and antimicrobial agent in poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) blend films. We prepared PVA/MN blend films by solution casting at various concentrations. The SEM micrographs showed that PVA_MN75 has a smooth and continuous cross-sectional morphology with better compatibility. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy results suggest that a specific concentration of MN in PVA films facilitates a physical interaction that improves mechanical and thermal properties. The tensile strength of the films increased from 1.886 MPa to 2.907 MPa after adding mulberry leaf extract. Furthermore, the films were assessed for their solubility in water (12.116-15.833 %), absorption (9.800-21.610 %), and moisture content (6.530-14.257), which further demonstrates that blend films exhibit lower water solubility. Moreover, the soil burial biodegradation test indicates that PVA/MN film biodegradability is strongly affected by its MN concentration. Upon soil burial, all films showed an increase in biodegradability of 29% as burial time has prolonged in both soil and compost for thirty seven (37) days. Enhanced antibacterial activity has been observed in the PVA/MN film-forming solution and can be considered a promising substitute for polluting plastic packaging.
Dissections and Elastic Recoil Post Chocolate™ Balloon Catheter Treatment in Femoropopliteal Artery Lesions: Visions from Intravascular Ultrasound and 12- month following-up results
Authors: Zou Yuchi , Cheng Jun , Wang Xuehu , Song Wei , Dai Yuanbin , Zhao Yu
Published: June 2022

Purpose
Situations of vessel wall in IVUS images after Chocolate balloon dilatation remains unknown and 12-month following-up results would be performed.
Materials and Methods
25 patients were enrolled in this observational study. Angiography and intravascular ultrasound were performed before Chocolate balloon inflation and post inflation. Dissections were quantified and classified according to the iDissection classification on intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute classification on angiography. The elastic recoil rate, plaque burden and luminal gain were calculated in each patient too. Doppler ultrasound was presented in 30days, 3months, 6months and 12months each patient during follow-up.
Results
The mean lesion length was 168.3 ± 26.6 mm and arc of calcium was 115.1 ± 84.6°. 7 of the 25 patients required stents because of flow-limiting dissections and another 8 patients used stents with residual narrowing > 30%. Post Chocolate balloon angioplasty, the elastic recoil rate was 32.4 ± 13.1% and luminal gain was 6.1 ± 2.8mm2. The plaque burden volume reduction was 7.0 ± 4.6%. Diameters on cine were 5.1 ± 0.7mm and 5.9 ± 0.6mm on IVUS. Total number of dissections were 2.9 times (114/40) on IVUS images than cine film, more non-flow-limiting dissections observed on IVUS compared cine (102/31). 2 patients lost follow-up because of death, primary patency in patients was 52.2% (12/23) and secondary patency was 82.6% (19/23) in 12-month.
Conclusion
Vessel injury from Chocolate balloon angioplasty and diameter in femoropopliteal artery lesions were grossly underestimated on angiography. Severe elastic recoil performed in most of patients according to IVUS images after Chocolate. Further randomized controlled trials are needed to support their use.
Can we predict who will benefit most from biologics in severe asthma? A post-hoc analysis of two phase 3 trials
Authors: Chen Wenjia , Reddel Helen K. , FitzGerald J Mark , Beasley Richard , Janson Christer , Sadatsafavi Mohsen
Published: June 2022

Background: Individualized prediction of treatment response may improve the value proposition of advanced treatment options in severe asthma. This study aimed to investigate the combined capacity of patient characteristics in predicting treatment response to mepolizumab in patients with severe asthma. Methods: Patient-level data were pooled from two multinational phase 3 trials of mepolizumab in severe eosinophilic asthma. We fitted penalized regression models to quantify reductions in the rate of severe exacerbations and the 5-item Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ5) score. The capacity of 15 covariates towards predicting treatment response was quantified by the Gini index (measuring disparities in treatment benefit) as well as observed treatment benefit within the quintiles of predicted treatment benefit. Results: There was marked variability in the ability of patient characteristics to predict treatment response; covariates explained greater heterogeneity in predicting treatment response to asthma control than to exacerbation frequency (Gini index 0.35 v. 0.24). Overall, the average reduction in exacerbations was 0.90/year (95%CI, 0.87‒0.92) and average reduction in ACQ5 score was 0.18 (95% CI, 0.02‒0.35). Among the top 20% of patients for predicted treatment benefit, exacerbations were reduced by 2.23/year (95% CI, 2.03‒2.43) and ACQ5 score were reduced by 0.59 (95% CI, 0.19‒0.98). Among the bottom 20% of patients for predicted treatment benefit, exacerbations were reduced by 0.25/year (95% CI, 0.16‒0.34) and ACQ5 by -0.20 (95% CI, -0.51 to 0.11).Conclusion: A precision medicine approach based on multiple patient characteristics can guide biologic therapy in severe asthma, especially in identifying patients who will not benefit as much from therapy. Patient characteristics had a greater capacity to predict treatment response to asthma control than exacerbation.Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01691521 (registered September 24, 2012) and NCT01000506 (registered October 23, 2009).
LIX1L promotes EMT and EGFR-TKIs resistance via nucleolin-mediated ribosomal RNA synthesis in NSCLC
Authors: Li Minglei , Zhang Jiaxi , Meng Xue , Liu Bei , Xie Shelly , Liu Fang , Yao Demin , Zhang Jingguo , Shen Haitao , Xing Lingxiao
Published: June 2022

Limb expression 1-like protein (LIX1L) might be an RNA binding protein involved in post-transcriptional regulation. However, little is known regarding the biological function and mechanism of LIX1L in cancer cells. Here we demonstrate a clear correlation between LIX1L expression and EMT markers in 81 NSCLC tissues and TCGA database, suggesting that LIX1L is a mesenchymal marker. Besides, LIX1L expression is obviously elevated in TGFβ1-induced EMT NSCLC cells, and enhances cell migration, invasion, anoikis resistance, EGFR-TKIs resistance and proliferation. Interestingly, the increased LIX1L expression prominently localizes to the nucleoli, where it physically interacts with the key ribosome biogenesis regulator NCL protein, inducing rRNA synthesis in EMT NSCLC cells. NCL knockdown or inhibition of rRNA synthesis reverses the enhanced EMT functions and proliferation ability caused by LIX1L overexpression in NSCLC cells, indicating that NCL expression and rRNA synthesis participates in LIX1L-mediated biological functions during EMT. Collectively, our findings suggest that the LIX1L-NCL-rRNA synthesis axis is a novel EMT-activated mechanism. Targeting the pathway might be a therapeutic option for EMT and EGFR-TKIs resistance in NSCLC.
The Impact of Vitamin D and Cognitive Function on All-Cause Mortality Among Older Chinese Adults: A Population-based Longitudinal Study
Authors: Dai Miao , Song Quhong , Wang Xiang , Lin Taiping , Liang Rui , Jiang Tingting , Shu Xiaoyu , Yue Jirong
Published: June 2022

Background
While both vitamin D deficiency and cognitive impairment have individually been linked to a greater risk of all-cause mortality, the combined effects of these two different conditions have not previously been explored in this context. We aimed to investigate the combined impact of vitamin D levels and cognitive impairment on all-cause mortality in older adults.
Methods
Analyzed data were collected from community-dwelling adults ≥ 65 years of age that were enrolled in the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey for whom follow-up data were available over a 7-year period (n = 2,154). The Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) was used to detect cognitive impairment, while plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations were used to measure vitamin D concentrations. The associations between baseline cognitive function and vitamin D were assessed using bivariate logistic regression models, while the relationships between vitamin D levels, cognitive function, and all-cause mortality were assessed with Cox proportional hazards models. Joint effect testing to explore interactions between vitamin D levels and cognitive function.
Results
Of the included study participants, 839 (39.0%) died over the course of follow-up. Individuals in the lowest 25(OH)D quartile exhibited a 1.61-fold higher risk of cognitive impairment as compared to participants within the highest quartile. A negative dose-response relationship was observed between 25(OH)D levels and odds of all-cause mortality. Similarly, cognitive impairment was significantly related to mortality risk (HR 1.75, 95% CI: 1.49 to 2.06). Relative to participants with normal cognition in the highest 25(OH)D quartile, a negative dose-response relationship was observed between the levels of 25(OH)D and the odds of all-cause mortality. Moreover, the interaction between 25(OH)D levels and cognitive function was found to be significant with respect to the risk of mortality (P for interaction < 0.001).
Conclusions
These data suggest that lower plasma 25(OH)D concentrations are related to the development of cognitive impairment, while 25(OH)D and cognitive impairment exhibit an additive combined effect on all-cause mortality among older Chinese adults.
Gender differences in perceptions of the convenience of outdoor activity among elderly people with a physical disability
Authors: Xu Qi , Lin Youyi , He Yiqi , Zhou Xianhong , Liu Jinhai , Shen Dewang , Wu Fan , Lin Xin , Zhang Yun , Li Taibiao , Yan Tiebin
Published: June 2022

Objective: To clarify the relationships among health-related quality of life, social factors, behavioral factors and the self-reported convenience of outdoor activity among older Chinese people with a physical disability. Gender differences were studied.Method: A cross-sectional study of 1216 community-dwelling persons over or equal to 60 with a physical disability from Chinese Xiamen’s Xiang’an District between May and December 2019. The theory of planned behavior was applied to generate gender-specific structural equation models predicting convenience perceptions. The standardized coefficients explained the contribution of the variance.Results: The final structural models demonstrated good fit. Convenience of outdoor activity for both women and men was directly impacted by their physical functioning (βwoman = 0.641, βman = 0.675, pboth ≤ 0.01) and intention of participation in community physical activities (βwoman = 0.134, βman = 0.302, pboth ≤ 0.01) , and indirectly by social and economic factors, pain, and role emotions. Positive mental health was more influential for women, while men were more influenced by social norms in the pathway.Conclusions: Both gender models demonstrated good fit in predicting self-reported convenience of outdoor activity. Interventions targeting health-related quality of life, behavior and social factors could predict perceptions of the convenience of outdoor activities. Gender differences need to be considered.
The relative influence of habitat modification on bird assemblage in the university's domain of Notre Dame du Kasaï in Kananga, the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Authors: KAFUTSHI Robert KISASA , KUMANENGE Julien PUNGA
Published: June 2022

The study was conducted at the University of Notre Dame du Kasaï from 2019 to 2021, combined with observation and photography. The aim was to understand the characteristics of avifauna and the composition and diversity of species in this environment. the results of the study indicate that there are 72 species of birds representing 35 families and 12 orders. The order Passeriformes alone contains 50 or 69.4% of species and 22 or 62.9% of families. The order Accipitriformes has a single-family and four species. The other charges include one to two families with often a single species. Over time, the avian fauna of this university site has undergone many changes in its composition and diversity. The installation of the artificial eucalyptus forest associated with the various consecutive changes in habitats seems to be the main factor that modulates these characteristics. Indeed, most of the reputed forest species were observed from 2019 to 2021, coinciding with this forest's maximum vegetation cover. However, information gathered on the IUCN website reveals that the protection status of all these species comma on the common concern (LC).
Ultrastructural characterization of dark microglia during aging in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease pathology and in human post-mortem brain samples
Authors: St-Pierre Marie-Kim , Carrier Micaël , Ibáñez Fernando González , Šimončičová Eva , Wallman Marie-Josée , Vallières Luc , Parent Martin , Tremblay Marie-Eve
Published: June 2022

A diverse heterogeneity of microglial cells was previously described in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathology, including dark microglia, a state characterized by ultrastructural markers of cellular stress. To provide novel insights into the roles of dark microglia during aging in the context of AD pathology, we performed a quantitative density and ultrastructural analysis of these cells using high-throughput scanning electron microscopy in the ventral hippocampus CA1 stratum lacunosum-moleculare of 20-month-old APP-PS1 vs C57BL/6J male mice. The density of dark microglia was significantly higher in APP-PS1 vs C57BL/6J mice, with these cells accounting for nearly half of all microglia observed near amyloid-beta (Aß) plaques. This dark microglial state interacted more with dystrophic neurites compared to other APP-PS1 microglia and possessed glycogen granules, associated with a metabolic shift toward glycolysis, which provides the first ultrastructural evidence of their presence in microglia. Dark microglia were further observed in aging human post-mortem brain samples showing similar ultrastructural features as in mouse. Overall, our results provide a quantitative ultrastructural characterization of a microglial state associated with cellular stress (i.e., dark microglia) that is primarily restricted near Aß plaques and dystrophic neurites. The presence of this microglial state in the aging human post-mortem brain is further revealed.
Elemental Variability of PM 2.5 aerosols in Old Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Authors: Shaltout Abdallah A. , Ali Safaa S. M. , Al-Malawi Dhaif-allah R. , Alzahrani Eman
Published: June 2022

Air particulate matter with a diameter ≤ 2.5 µm (PM2.5) has been assembled from the historical old Jeddah district (downtown) throughout the whole year. Additional PM2.5 aerosols have been collected during the autumn and winter seasons from another newly constructed district inside Jeddah city (Alnaeem). The annual concentrations of the total mass of the PM2.5 aerosols from old Jeddah and Alnaeem sites were found to be 43 ± 6 and 61 ± 14 µg/m3, respectively. These values are greater than the annual mass concentration of the air quality standards of the European Commission (EC, 25 µg/m3) and the world health organization (WHO, 10 µg/m3). The elemental analysis of the collected fine atmospheric aerosols has been achieved by an energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) with three secondary targets (CaF, Ge, and Mo). Quantitative elemental analyses of twenty-two (22) elements have been achieved starting from the low Z element (Na) up to the high Z element (Pb). Although the old Jeddah site is not well organized, the elemental concentrations and total mass concentrations are lower than other sites. The statistical analyses including enrichment factors, the correlation analysis of Pearson, and the principal component analysis reveal more information about the source identification of the PM2.5 aerosols collected from both locations. It was recognized that the quantified elements Al, Si, K, Ca, Ti, Mn, Fe, Rb, and Sr originate from a natural source. On the other hand, the elements Ta, Br, Pb, Sc, Ni, Cu, Zn, and S originate from anthropogenic source. Finally, the elements Na, Cl, and Br come mainly from the sea spray source.
Comparative Investigation of Drying and Quality Characteristics of Organic and Conventional Black Carrots Dried by Intermittent Microwave and Hot Air Drying
Authors: Arslan Aysel , Soysal Yurtsever , Keskin Muharrem
Published: June 2022

The authors have requested that this preprint be removed from Research Square.