bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Analysis of lung cancer risk model (PLCOM2012 and LLPv2) performance in a community-based lung cancer screening programme
Authors: Lebrett Mikey B , Balata Haval , Evison Matthew , Colligan Denis , Duerden Rebecca , Elton Peter , Greaves Melanie , Howells John , Irion Klaus , Karunaratne Devinda , Lyons Judith , Mellor Stuart , Myerscough Amanda , Newton Tom , Sharman Anna , Smith Elaine , Taylor Ben , Taylor Sarah , Walsham Anna , Whittaker James , Barber Phil V , Tonge Janet , Robbins Hilary A , Booton Richard , Crosbie Philip A J
Published: July 2020

Introduction

Low-dose CT (LDCT) screening of high-risk smokers reduces lung cancer (LC) specific mortality. Determining screening eligibility using individualised risk may improve screening effectiveness and reduce harm. Here, we compare the performance of two risk prediction models (PLCOM2012 and Liverpool Lung Project model (LLPv2)) and National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) eligibility criteria in a community-based screening programme.

Methods

Ever-smokers aged 55–74, from deprived areas of Manchester, were invited to a Lung Health Check (LHC). Individuals at higher risk (PLCOM2012 score ≥1.51%) were offered annual LDCT screening over two rounds. LLPv2 score was calculated but not used for screening selection; ≥2.5% and ≥5% thresholds were used for analysis.

Results

PLCOM2012 ≥1.51% selected 56% (n=1429) of LHC attendees for screening. LLPv2 ≥2.5% also selected 56% (n=1430) whereas NLST (47%, n=1188) and LLPv2 ≥5% (33%, n=826) selected fewer. Over two screening rounds 62 individuals were diagnosed with LC; representing 87% (n=62/71) of 6-year incidence predicted by mean PLCOM2012 score (5.0%). 26% (n=16/62) of individuals with LC were not eligible for screening using LLPv2 ≥5%, 18% (n=11/62) with NLST criteria and 7% (n=5/62) with LLPv2 ≥2.5%. NLST eligible Manchester attendees had 2.5 times the LC detection rate than NLST participants after two annual screens (≈4.3% (n=51/1188) vs 1.7% (n=438/26 309); p<0.0001). Adverse measures of health, including airflow obstruction, respiratory symptoms and cardiovascular disease, were positively correlated with LC risk. Coronary artery calcification was predictive of LC (adjOR 2.50, 95% CI 1.11 to 5.64; p=0.028).

Conclusion

Prospective comparisons of risk prediction tools are required to optimise screening selection in different settings. The PLCOM2012 model may underestimate risk in deprived UK populations; further research focused on model calibration is required.
Sequential Cu(II)-promoted oxidation/[3 + 2] cycloaddition/aromatization tandem reaction for the synthesis of 2-substituted benzo[f]isoindole-4,9-dione
Authors: Lin Zhang-qi , Li Chao-dong , Su Jun-yi , Niu Wen-jie , Gao Jian-rong , Li Yu-jin
Published: July 2020

An efficient method for the synthesis of 2-substituted benzo[f]isoindole-4,9-dione derivatives from N-substituted iminodiacetates and quinones via a Cu(II)-promoted oxidation/[3 + 2] cycloaddition/aromatization tandem reaction was reported. This tandem reaction uses a wide range of N-substituted iminodiacetate derivatives that contain the chain-alkyl, cycloalkyl, and aryl group on the N-atom. Based on optimized reaction conditions, the desired product of 2-substituted benzo[f]isoindole-4,9-diones was obtained in moderate to excellent yields. Taken together, the promising results of this research would provide an especially efficient strategy to synthesize polysubstituted pyrroles from easy available starting materials and promoted by cheaper Cu(OAc)2.
Approximate non-relativistic energy expression and the rotational–vibrational constants of the Tietz–Hua potential: a semiclassical approach
Authors: Omugbe Ekwevugbe
Published: July 2020

The low- and high-lying rovibrational energy levels of the Schrodinger equation with the molecular Tietz–Hua potential are obtained via the Wentzel–Kramers–Brilluoin (WKB) quantization approach. The Pekeris-type approximation scheme is applied to deal with the orbital centrifugal term of the effective potential function. The obtained energy spectra and the rotational–vibrational (rovibrational) coefficients for [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], and [Formula: see text] diatomic molecules were compared with the ones obtained by other analytical methods and available experimental data in the literature. The results revealed that the accuracy of the energy spectra for the high-lying rovibrational quantum states may depend on the rotational-vibrational constants.
An examination of the Iridovirus core genes for reconstructing Ranavirus phylogenies
Authors: Ballard D.R. , Davis A.J. , Fuller R.B. , Garner A.R. , Mileham A.D. , Serna J.D. , Brue D.E. , Harding C.M. , Dodgen C.D. , Culpepper W. , Piatt B. , Rosario S.E. , Duffus A.L.J.
Published: July 2020

Ranaviruses are globally emerging infections of poikilothermic vertebrates and belong to the viral family Iridoviridae. The six species of ranaviruses are responsible for unknown numbers of infections and disease and mortality events around the world in amphibians, fish, and reptiles. Genomic investigations have shown that there are 24 core genes shared by all iridoviruses. In this study, we examine the utility of each of these genes in reconstructing phylogenetic relationships across six species of Ranavirus. We also performed dot-plot analysis for the 17 isolates in the study. For large-scale differentiation, using the major capsid protein gene creates a tree similar to the whole genome tree. Other comparable genes include open reading frame (ORF) 19R (a serine–theonine protein kinase) and ORF 88R (Erv I/Alr Family protein). The poorest candidate for phylogenetic reconstruction, due to high homology, was ORF 1R (a putative replication factor and (or) DNA binding-packing protein). There are a plethora of genes that may be useful to examine phylogenies at smaller scales (e.g., to examine local adaptation); however, they do not necessarily belong to the set of highly conserved core genes.
Tribological and thermo-physical properties of jatropha oil containing TiO2nanoparticles
Authors: Rajaganapathy C. , Vasudevan D.
Published: July 2020

In this paper, an attempt was made to evaluate the tribological aspects of Al 6082 under lubricated conditions. The bio-lubricant jatropha oil was used, and its performance was compared with SAE20W40 engine oil. For enhancing the lubricating properties of jatropha oil, TiO2nanoparticles were used. Experiments were conducted with pure jatropha oil with different weight percentages of TiO2nanoparticles, such as 0%, 0.1%, 0.3%, and 0.5%. The coefficient of friction and specific wear rate of the Al specimens were determined using a pin-on-disc tribo-meter as per ASTM G99 standards, at a constant speed of 1 m/s and different loads, such as 20, 40, and 60 N. The experimental results indicated that the addition of TiO2to jatropha oil reduced the friction and enhanced anti-wear properties, compared with SAE20W40 engine oil. The lubricant viscosity and thermal conductivity were measured using a Redwood viscometer and a transient hot wire method. Surface analysis was performed using a scanning electron microscopy to study the surface morphology of the worn-out pin material. Surface examination revealed that TiO2nanoparticles lead to a smoother worn surfaces than commercial engine oil SAE20W40.
Asymptotically safe QED
Authors: Gies Holger , Ziebell Jobst
Published: July 2020

High-energy completeness of quantum electrodynamics (QED) can be induced by an interacting ultraviolet fixed point of the renormalization flow. We provide evidence for the existence of two of such fixed points in the subspace spanned by the gauge coupling, the electron mass and the Pauli spin-field coupling. Renormalization group trajectories emanating from these fixed points correspond to asymptotically safe theories that are free from the Landau pole problem. We analyze the resulting universality classes defined by the fixed points, determine the corresponding critical exponents, study the resulting phase diagram, and quantify the stability of our results with respect to a systematic expansion scheme. We also compute high-energy complete flows towards the long-range physics. We observe the existence of a renormalization group trajectory that interconnects one of the interacting fixed points with the physical low-energy behavior of QED as measured in experiment. Within pure QED, we estimate the crossover from perturbative QED to the asymptotically safe fixed point regime to occur somewhat above the Planck scale but far below the scale of the Landau pole.
On g-Extra Conditional Diagnosability of Twisted Hypercubes under MM∗ Model
Authors: Zhang Shunzhe , Li Dong , Liu Huiqing
Published: July 2020

Connectivity and diagnosability are important parameters in measuring the reliability and fault-tolerance of an interconnection network [Formula: see text]. The [Formula: see text]-extra conditional faulty set [Formula: see text] is a faulty vertex set such that every component of [Formula: see text] has at least [Formula: see text] vertices. The [Formula: see text]-extra connectivity [Formula: see text] of a connected graph [Formula: see text] is the minimum cardinality of a [Formula: see text]-extra conditional faulty set [Formula: see text] of [Formula: see text] such that [Formula: see text] is disconnected. The [Formula: see text]-extra conditional diagnosability [Formula: see text] of a graph [Formula: see text] is the maximum value of [Formula: see text] such that [Formula: see text] is [Formula: see text]-extra conditionally [Formula: see text]-diagnosable. The [Formula: see text]-extra connectivity of [Formula: see text] is necessary for [Formula: see text]-extra diagnosability of [Formula: see text]. The [Formula: see text]-dimensional twisted hypercube [Formula: see text] is a new variant of hypercubes with asymptotically optimal diameter. In this paper, we first give the [Formula: see text]-extra connectivity of [Formula: see text] for [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]; and then obtain the [Formula: see text]-extra conditional diagnosability of [Formula: see text] for [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] under the MM[Formula: see text] model.
Extremely short optical pulses and superstrings
Authors: Belonenko Mikhail B. , Konobeeva Natalia N. , Zhukov Alexander V.
Published: July 2020

We analyze the propagation of an extremely short optical pulse from the numerical solution of the Maxwell’s equation related to the effective action obtained in the framework of the theory of superstrings in flat time space. The pulse dynamics turned out to be unstable and eventually leads to a collapse. We particularly analyze the Schwinger mechanism which occurs during the collapse of the pulse.
New exact solution of the conformable Gilson–Pickering equation using the new modified Kudryashov’s method
Authors: Rezazadeh Hadi , Zafar Asim , Hashemi M. S. , Tala-Tebue Eric
Published: July 2020

In this paper, a new exact solution of the conformable Gilson–Pickering equation is investigated. It should be noted that some of the individual cases of the Gilson–Pickering equation are the conformable Camassa–Holm, the conformable Fornberg–Whitham, and the conformable Rosenau–Hyman equations. A new version of modified Kudryashov’s method with the help of the mathematical software package is employed to carry out this aim. It is believed that the new modified Kudryashov’s method is well suited, such that it can adapt to a broad range of partial differential equations.
Charge instabilities of the extended attractive Hubbard model on the cubic lattice
Authors: Frésard Raymond , Dao Vu Hung
Published: July 2020

The paramagnetic phase of the extended attractive Hubbard model on the cubic lattice is studied within the spin rotation invariant Kotliar-Ruckenstein slave boson representation at zero temperature. It is obtained that the quasiparticle residue of the Fermi liquid phase vanishes for all densities at an interaction strength slightly smaller than [Formula: see text] that signals the Brinkman–Rice transition, and that it weakly depends on density. While for vanishing non-local interaction parameters, homogeneous static charge instabilities are found in a rather narrow window centered around quarter filling and [Formula: see text], increasing them to [Formula: see text] results into a severe narrowing of this window. On the contrary, when all interaction parameters are attractive, for example for [Formula: see text], a large parameter range in which homogeneous static charge instabilities is found. Yet, this systematically happens inside the Fermi liquid phase.
Modal Analysis of a Bridge During High-Speed Train Passages by Enhanced Variational Mode Decomposition
Authors: Yang Xiao-Mei , Qu Chun-Xu , Yi Ting-Hua , Li Hong-Nan , Liu Hua
Published: July 2020

Modal analysis of bridge under high-speed trains is essential to the design and health monitoring of bridge, but it is difficult to be implemented since the vehicle–bridge interaction (VBI) effect is involved. In this paper, the time–frequency analysis technique is performed on the non-stationary train-induced bridge responses to estimate the frequency variations. To suppress the interference terms in time–frequency analysis but preserve the time-variant characteristics of responses, the enhanced variational mode decomposition (VMD) is proposed, which is used to decompose the train-induced dynamic response into many of envelope-normalized intrinsic mode functions (IMFs). Then the short-time Fourier transform is applied to observe the time–frequency energy distribution of each IMF. The train-induced bridge signals measured from a large-scale high-speed railway bridge are analyzed in this paper. The IMFs associated with the pseudo-frequencies caused by train or the resonant frequencies of bridge are distinguished. And, frequency variations are captured from the time–frequency energy distributions of envelope-normalized IMFs. The results show the proposed method can extract the frequency variations of low-energy IMFs effectively, which are hard to be observed from the time–frequency energy distribution of train-induced bridge response. The instantaneous frequency characteristics extracted from the train-induced bridge response could be the important support for investigating the VBI effect of train–bridge system.
Line zero divisor graphs
Authors: Barati Zahra
Published: July 2020

Let [Formula: see text] be a commutative ring and [Formula: see text] be the zero divisor graph of [Formula: see text]. In this paper, we investigate when the zero divisor graph is a line graph. We completely present all commutative rings which their zero divisor graphs are line graphs. Also, we study when the zero divisor graph is the complement of a line graph.
UNDERSTANDING THE INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL CONSTRAINTS TO GROWTH OF MICROENTERPRISE ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN A SOUTH AFRICAN PROVINCIAL CONTEXT: A CASE OF MPUMALANGA-MKHONDO
Authors: MAHADEA DARMA , KHUMALO SAMUKELISIWE
Published: July 2020

Although post-apartheid South Africa has introduced various policies and institutions to support small and micro businesses, these efforts have not delivered expected results; many such firms are not growing and are failing. Hence, this study investigates the constraints holding back the development of micro ventures and recommends what can be done to assist them. It is based on a sample of microenterprise informal sector operators in the South African province of Mpumalanga. Using Principal Component Analysis (PCA), a set of fourteen external and another of fifteen internal environmental constraints on growth were examined. The results indicate each set explains almost two-thirds of the total variation in growth limitations, with growth as an integrated component of sale, asset, labor and profit. The regression analyses confirmed that internal factors were significantly heavier hurdles in limiting the growth of the microenterprise operators than the external ones. The internal constraints were ‘education and training,’ ‘entrepreneurial factors’ and ‘storage and infrastructure,’ and the external constraints related to market factors. Because the external constraint is mainly exogenous, more efforts have to be placed on addressing internal entrepreneurial limitations for microenterprise to experience growth.
Experimental Investigation of Performance Enhancement of a Vapor Compression Refrigeration System by Vortex Tube Cooling
Authors: Puangcharoenchai Phupoom , Kachapongkun Pongsakorn , Rattanadecho Phadungsak , Prommas Ratthasak
Published: July 2020

This study aimed to analyze the difference in operation of the vapor compression refrigeration (VCR) system with vortex tube cooling. By using varied loads, experiments were conducted on the evaporator section of a vapor compression refrigeration system. In an attempt to improve the use of subcooling for the refrigeration, the effect of subcooling of refrigerant by vortex tube cooling was likewise examined. The test conditions included various loads (25%, 50%, 75% and 100%) and cold mass fractions (25%, 50% and 75%). This research described coefficient of performance (COP) as one of the significant parameters, in addition to heat rejection and refrigerating effect. The ideal efficiency appeared to be with the cold mass fraction of 25% and load of 100%, as identified by the results. Consequently, the COP could be enhanced by 5.16% along with an approximately 4.36% decline in average power use. Improved guidelines for vapor compression refrigeration systems to enhance the operation of the system are an expected benefit of this study.
Towards an Optimal Outdoor Advertising Placement
Authors: Zhang Ping , Bao Zhifeng , Li Yuchen , Li Guoliang , Zhang Yipeng , Peng Zhiyong
Published: July 2020

In this article, we propose and study the problem of trajectory-driven influential billboard placement: given a set of billboards
U
(each with a location and a cost), a database of trajectories
T
, and a budget
L
, we find a set of billboards within the budget to influence the largest number of trajectories. One core challenge is to identify and reduce the overlap of the influence from different billboards to the same trajectories, while keeping the budget constraint into consideration. We show that this problem is NP-hard and present an enumeration based algorithm with (1-1/e) approximation ratio. However, the enumeration would be very costly when |
U
| is large. By exploiting the locality property of billboards’ influence, we propose a partition-based framework PartSel. PartSel partitions
U
into a set of small clusters, computes the locally influential billboards for each cluster, and merges them to generate the global solution. Since the local solutions can be obtained much more efficiently than the global one, PartSel would reduce the computation cost greatly; meanwhile it achieves a non-trivial approximation ratio guarantee. Then we propose a LazyProbe method to further prune billboards with low marginal influence, while achieving the same approximation ratio as PartSel. Next, we propose a branch-and-bound method to eliminate unnecessary enumerations in both PartSel and LazyProbe, as well as an aggregated index to speed up the computation of marginal influence. Experiments on real datasets verify the efficiency and effectiveness of our methods.
First-Order Interpretations of Bounded Expansion Classes
Authors: Gajarský Jakub , Kreutzer Stephan , NešETřil Jaroslav , Mendez Patrice Ossona De , Pilipczuk Michał , Siebertz Sebastian , Toruńczyk Szymon
Published: July 2020

The notion of bounded expansion captures uniform sparsity of graph classes and renders various algorithmic problems that are hard in general tractable. In particular, the model-checking problem for first-order logic is fixed-parameter tractable over such graph classes. With the aim of generalizing such results to dense graphs, we introduce classes of graphs with
structurally bounded expansion
, defined as first-order transductions of classes of bounded expansion. As a first step towards their algorithmic treatment, we provide their characterization analogous to the characterization of classes of bounded expansion via low treedepth covers (or colorings), replacing treedepth by its dense analogue called shrubdepth.
Multi-View Graph Matching for 3D Model Retrieval
Authors: Su Yu-Ting , Li Wen-Hui , Nie Wei-Zhi , Liu An-An
Published: July 2020

3D model retrieval has been widely utilized in numerous domains, such as computer-aided design, digital entertainment, and virtual reality. Recently, many graph-based methods have been proposed to address this task by using multi-view information of 3D models. However, these methods are always constrained by many-to-many graph matching for the similarity measure between pairwise models. In this article, we propose a multi-view graph matching method (MVGM) for 3D model retrieval. The proposed method can decompose the complicated multi-view graph-based similarity measure into multiple single-view graph-based similarity measures and fusion. First, we present the method for single-view graph generation, and we further propose the novel method for the similarity measure in a single-view graph by leveraging both node-wise context and model-wise context. Then, we propose multi-view fusion with diffusion, which can collaboratively integrate multiple single-view similarities w.r.t. different viewpoints and adaptively learn their weights, to compute the multi-view similarity between pairwise models. In this way, the proposed method can avoid the difficulty in the definition and computation of the traditional high-order graph. Moreover, this method is unsupervised and does not require a large-scale 3D dataset for model learning. We conduct evaluations on four popular and challenging datasets. The extensive experiments demonstrate the superiority and effectiveness of the proposed method compared against the state of the art. In particular, this unsupervised method can achieve competitive performances against the most recent supervised and deep learning method.
Handling SQL Databases in Automated System Test Generation
Authors: Arcuri Andrea , Galeotti Juan P.
Published: July 2020

Automated system test generation for web/enterprise systems requires either a sequence of actions on a GUI (e.g., clicking on HTML links and form buttons) or direct HTTP calls when dealing with web services (e.g., REST and SOAP). When doing
white-box
testing of such systems, their code can be analyzed, and the same type of heuristics (e.g., the
branch distance
) used in search-based unit testing can be employed to improve performance. However, web/enterprise systems do often interact with a database. To obtain higher coverage and find new faults, the state of the databases needs to be taken into account when generating white-box tests. In this work, we present a novel heuristic to enhance search-based software testing of web/enterprise systems, which takes into account the state of the accessed databases. Furthermore, we enable the generation of SQL data directly from the test cases. This is useful when it is too difficult or time consuming to generate the right sequence of events to put the database in the right state. Also, it is useful when dealing with databases that are “read-only” for the system under test, and the actual data are generated by other services. We implemented our technique as an extension of E
VO
M
ASTER
, where system tests are generated in the JUnit format. Experiments on six RESTful APIs (five open-source and one industrial) show that our novel techniques improve coverage significantly (up to +16.5%), finding seven new faults in those systems.
Fine-grained Code Coverage Measurement in Automated Black-box Android Testing
Authors: Pilgun Aleksandr , Gadyatskaya Olga , Zhauniarovich Yury , Dashevskyi Stanislav , Kushniarou Artsiom , Mauw Sjouke
Published: July 2020

Today, there are millions of third-party Android applications. Some of them are buggy or even malicious. To identify such applications, novel frameworks for automated black-box testing and dynamic analysis are being developed by the Android community. Code coverage is one of the most common metrics for evaluating effectiveness of these frameworks. Furthermore, code coverage is used as a fitness function for guiding evolutionary and fuzzy testing techniques. However, there are no reliable tools for measuring fine-grained code coverage in black-box Android app testing.

We present the Android Code coVerage Tool, ACVTool for short, that instruments Android apps and measures code coverage in the black-box setting at class, method and instruction granularity. ACVTool has successfully instrumented 96.9% of apps in our experiments. It introduces a negligible instrumentation time overhead, and its runtime overhead is acceptable for automated testing tools. We demonstrate practical value of ACVTool in a large-scale experiment with Sapienz, a state-of-the-art automated testing tool. Using ACVTool on the same cohort of apps, we have compared different coverage granularities applied by Sapienz in terms of the found amount of crashes. Our results show that none of the applied coverage granularities clearly outperforms others in this aspect.
Efficient Approaches to k Representative G-Skyline Queries
Authors: Zhou Xu , Li Kenli , Yang Zhibang , Gao Yunjun , Li Keqin
Published: July 2020

The G-Skyline (GSky) query is a powerful tool to analyze optimal groups in decision support. Compared with other group skyline queries, it releases users from providing an aggregate function. Besides, it can get much comprehensive results without overlooking some important results containing non-skylines. However, it is hard for the users to make sensible choices when facing so many results the GSky query returns, especially over a large, high-dimensional dataset or with a large group size. In this article, we investigate
k
representative G-Skyline (
k
GSky) queries to obtain a manageable size of optimal groups. The
k
GSky query can also inherit the advantage of the GSky query; its results are representative and diversified. Next, we propose three exact algorithms with novel techniques including an upper bound pruning, a grouping strategy, a layered optimum strategy, and a hybrid strategy to efficiently process the
k
GSky query. Consider these exact algorithms have high time complexity and the precise results are not necessary in many applications. We further develop two approximate algorithms to trade off some accuracy for efficiency. Extensive experiments on both real and synthetic datasets demonstrate the efficiency, scalability, and accuracy of the proposed algorithms.
Untangling the Concept of Adversarial Legalism
Authors: Barnes Jeb , Burke Thomas F.
Published: July 2020

The concept of adversarial legalism has been widely used by scholars of law, public administration, public policy, political science, sociology, and Law and Society, but the varying ways in which the concept has been employed raise concerns that it has become stretched to the point of incoherence. We argue that adversarial legalism entails both a style, an everyday practice of dispute resolution and policy making with distinct attributes, and a structure of governance that can be compared to other structures of authority. Untangling these aspects of adversarial legalism allows us to make sense of its different uses and identify future avenues of inquiry. Despite its wide application, adversarial legalism is in fact underutilized, especially in studies aimed at understanding consequences of judicialization, legalization, and juridification in the United States and abroad.
Nutrient Control of mRNA Translation
Authors: Shu Xin Erica , Swanda Robert V. , Qian Shu-Bing
Published: July 2020

The emergence of genome-wide analyses to interrogate cellular DNA, RNA, and protein content has revolutionized the study of control networks that mediate cellular homeostasis. mRNA translation represents the last step of genetic flow and primarily defines the proteome. Translational regulation is thus critical for gene expression, in particular under nutrient excess or deficiency. Until recently, it was unclear how the global effects of translational control are orchestrated by nutrient signaling pathways. An emerging concept of translational reprogramming addresses how to maintain the expression of specific proteins during nutrient stress by translation of selective mRNAs. In this review, we describe recent advances in our understanding of translational control principles; nutrient-sensing mechanisms; and their dysregulation in human diseases such as diabetes, cancer, and aging. The mechanistic understanding of translational regulation in response to different nutrient conditions may help identify potential dietary and therapeutic targets to improve human health.
Impacts and Echoes: The Lasting Influence of the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition, and Health
Authors: Woteki Catherine E. , Kramer Brandon L. , Cohen Samantha , Lancaster Vicki A.
Published: July 2020

The 1969 White House Conference on Food, Nutrition, and Health had a significant influence on the direction of food and nutrition policy in the United States. The conference produced recommendations leading to federal legislation and programs to alleviate hunger and malnutrition, improve consumers’ nutrition knowledge through education and labeling, and monitor the nutritional status of the population. Fifty years later, its legacy was revisited at a conference convened by Harvard University and Tufts University. This article reviews the literature contributing to the first author's keynote speech at the conference, its influencers, and its influences. We focus on the highlights of five domains that set the stage for the conference: the social environment, the food environment, nutrition science, public health data, and policy events. We briefly describe the conference, its proposed directions, and its lasting legacy in these five domains.
Flipped classroom improves results in pathophysiology learning: results of a nonrandomized controlled study
Authors: Herrero Jose I. , Quiroga Jorge
Published: July 2020

The flipped classroom has become increasingly popular in health professions education. The aim of this study was to analyze its effect on learning in a pathophysiology course. Flipped classroom was introduced to teach respiratory pathophysiology in 2018. We compared the exam results in respiratory pathophysiology in 2017 and 2018 and the exam results in blood pathophysiology from both years (taught by the same teacher, in a traditional way). Groups were compared with Student’s t test. Students answered a survey after finishing the term. Two hundred and one students were examined in 2018 (and 229 in 2017). Gender distribution and the qualifications obtained in general pathology (in the previous year) were comparable in both years. Results in respiratory pathophysiology were significantly better in 2018 than in 2017 (mean: 48 vs. 42 out of 100; P = 0.004), but the results in blood pathophysiology remained similar. The improvement was significant only in students who scored below the median (mean: 40 vs. 33; P = 0.009) and was more evident in male than in female students (mean: 52 vs. 44; P = 0.01) and in those who did not have an academic delay (mean 51 vs. 44; P = 0.002). Most students considered that flipped classroom was more attractive and helped them to learn more and with less effort. Flipped classroom increased medical students’ knowledge acquisitions in pathophysiology. It was more beneficial to male students and those with lower qualifications with no academic delay.
Urinary bladder smooth muscle ion channels: expression, function, and regulation in health and disease
Authors: Malysz John , Petkov Georgi V.
Published: July 2020

Urinary bladder smooth muscle (UBSM), also known as detrusor smooth muscle, forms the bladder wall and ultimately determines the two main attributes of the organ: urine storage and voiding. The two functions are facilitated by UBSM relaxation and contraction, respectively, which depend on UBSM excitability shaped by multiple ion channels. In this review, we summarize the current understanding of key ion channels establishing and regulating UBSM excitability and contractility. They include excitation-enhancing voltage-gated Ca2+ (Cav) and transient receptor potential channels, excitation-reducing K+ channels, and still poorly understood Cl− channels. Dynamic interplay among UBSM ion channels determines the overall level of Cav channel activity. The net Ca2+ influx via Cav channels increases global intracellular Ca2+ concentration, which subsequently triggers UBSM contractility. Here, for each ion channel type, we describe UBSM tissue/cell expression (mRNA and protein) profiles and their role in regulating excitability and contractility of UBSM in various animal species, including the mouse, rat, and guinea pig, and, most importantly, humans. The currently available data reveal certain interspecies differences, which complicate the translational value of published animal research results to humans. This review highlights recent developments, findings on genetic knockout models, pharmacological data, reports on UBSM ion channel dysfunction in animal bladder disease models, and the very limited human studies currently available. Among all gaps in present-day knowledge, the unknowns on expression and functional roles for ion channels determined directly in human UBSM tissues and cells under both normal and disease conditions remain key hurdles in the field.
MiR-21 promotes calcium oxalate-induced renal tubular cell injury by targeting PPARA
Authors: Su Boxing , Han Haibo , Ji Chaoyue , Hu Weiguo , Yao Jingjing , Yang Jianghui , Fan Yunfei , Li Jianxing
Published: July 2020

Kidney stone disease is a crystal concretion formed in the kidneys that has been associated with an increased risk of chronic kidney disease. MicroRNAs are functionally involved in kidney injury. Data mining using a microRNA array database suggested that miR-21 may be associated with calcium oxalate monohydrate (COM)-induced renal tubular cell injury. Here, we confirmed that COM exposure significantly upregulated miR-21 expression, inhibited proliferation, promoted apoptosis, and caused lipid accumulation in an immortalized renal tubular cell line (HK-2). Moreover, inhibition of miR-21 enhanced proliferation and decreased apoptosis and lipid accumulation in HK-2 cells upon COM exposure. In a glyoxylate-induced mouse model of renal calcium oxalate deposition, increased miR-21 expression, lipid accumulation, and kidney injury were also observed. In silico analysis and subsequent experimental validation confirmed the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-α gene (PPARA) a key gene in fatty acid oxidation, as a direct miR-21 target. Suppression of miR-21 by miRNA antagomiR or activation of PPAR-α by its selective agonist fenofibrate significantly reduced renal lipid accumulation and protected against renal injury in vivo. In addition, miR-21 was significantly increased in urine samples from patients with calcium oxalate renal stones compared with healthy volunteers. In situ hybridization of biopsy samples from patients with nephrocalcinosis revealed that miR-21 was also significantly upregulated compared with normal kidney tissues from patients with renal cell carcinoma who underwent radical nephrectomy. These results suggested that miR-21 promoted calcium oxalate-induced renal tubular cell injury by targeting PPARA, indicating that miR-21 could be a potential therapeutic target and biomarker for nephrolithiasis.
Weight Analysis for Multiattribute Group Decision-Making with Interval Grey Numbers Based on Decision-Makers’ Psychological Criteria
Authors: Guo Sandang , Liu Junjuan , Yang Yingjie
Published: July 2020

To address the problem of multiattribute group decision-making with interval grey numbers, decision matrices are adjusted using kernels of interval grey numbers to reduce the psychological effects of decision-makers. The comprehensive weights of attributes are obtained by aggregating the subjective weights with objective weights, which are calculated based on the accuracy and difference of attributes. Considering the consistent, best, and worst decision-making abilities of decision-makers, grey incidence models are established to obtain the consistency weights and individual bipolar weights of decision-makers; then, the comprehensive weights of decision-makers are determined. A clustering approach of interval grey numbers is presented, and overall evaluations are obtained. Finally, an example is provided and its validity is tested to verify the feasibility of the proposed method.
Research on NOFRF Entropy-Based Detection Method for Early Damage of Pillar Porcelain Insulator
Authors: Mao Hanling , Tang Weili , Huang Yingxiang , Mao Hanying , Huang Zhenfeng , Li Xinxin
Published: July 2020

The pillar porcelain insulator is an important protection device that is related to the safety of the entire power grid. Small damage of it may even cause a disaster. Nonlinear output frequency response functions (NOFRFs) can well reflect the nonlinear characteristics of early damage in the system. This paper uses the NOFRF entropy-based harmonic excitation detection method to detect the damage of the structure. Its effect has been verified by using metal specimens. Then, the pulse hammer detection and harmonic detection are carried out to detect the early-stage damage of the pillar porcelain insulator, and they achieve a good result, which verifies that the harmonic detection method can detect the early-stage damage in the pillar porcelain insulator as well. In addition, the orthogonal test of the simulated breathing crack model is used to search the greatest influence of the parameters of crack on the detection index. Through the orthogonal analysis, the results show that among the lengths, positions, and angles of the crack, the length of crack is the main factor that affects the detection index.
Safety of Technique and Procedure of Stromal Vascular Fraction Therapy: From Liposuction to Cell Administration
Authors: Karina Karina , Rosliana Iis , Rosadi Imam , Schwartz Rachel , Sobariah Siti , Afini Irsyah , Widyastuti Tias , Remelia Melinda , Wahyuningsih Komang Ardi , Pawitan Jeanne A.
Published: July 2020

Background. Stromal vascular fraction (SVF) therapy has been performed over the past six years to treat 421 patients by our group in five clinical centers. Autologous SVF, which is a substance containing stem cells, was isolated from lipoaspirate, mixed with platelet-rich plasma (PRP), and administered to patients with degenerative diseases, autoimmune diseases, trauma, aging, and other diseases with unknown etiology. This study aimed to determine the safety of SVF and PRP that were given through infusion, spinal, and intra-articular injection. Methods. The lipoaspirate was treated with a tissue-dissociating enzyme, and then, through centrifugation, SVF was isolated. In addition, blood was drawn from each patient, and PRP was isolated. Autologous PRP and SVF were administered to all subjects by intravenous (IV) injection. A minority group within the population received an additional spinal or intra-articular injection. The type of intervention was determined by each disease evaluation. The cell doses and adverse events for each patient were documented and analyzed. Results. Cell dose that was considered to be safe was less than 10 billion SVF cells in 250 cc of normal saline, for IV injection, and less than 1 billion SVF, for intra-articular and spinal injection. Adverse events were not severe and were treated successfully. Any observed adverse events were identified as a result of spinal or intra-articular injections and were not related to SVF or PRP. Conclusions. Our results showed that administration of high dose of SVF until 10 billion cells in a majority of 421 patients through infusion, spinal, and intra-articular injection was feasible without causing major adverse events and should be further investigated in well-designed phase I-II clinical trial to address the safety and efficacy of therapy.
Dynamic Models of Pollution Penalties and Rewards with Time Delays
Authors: Matsumoto Akio , Szidarovszky Ferenc
Published: July 2020

In cases of nonpoint pollution sources, the regulator can observe the total emission but unable to distinguish between the firms. The regulator then selects an environmental standard. If the total emission level is higher than the standard, then the firms are uniformly punished, and if lower, then uniformly awarded. This environmental regulation is added to n-firm dynamic oligopolies, and the asymptotical behavior of the corresponding dynamic systems is examined. Two particular models are considered with linear and hyperbolic price functions. Without delays, the equilibrium is always (locally) asymptotically stable. It is shown how the stability can be lost if time delays are introduced in the output quantities of the competitors as well as in the firms’ own output levels. Complete stability analysis is presented for the resulting one- and two-delay models including the derivations of stability thresholds, stability switching curves, and directions of the stability switches.
Global Seismic Fragility Functions for Low‐Rise RC Frames with Construction Deficiencies
Authors: Rizwan M. , Ahmad N. , Akbar J. , Ilyas B. , Arifullah  , Ali A. , Ahmad M. E. , Pervez S. , Rahim M. E. , Khan M. A. Z.
Published: July 2020

Shake table tests were performed on three two‐story 1 : 3 reduced scale RC frame structures, representative of buildings with construction deficiencies in Pakistan. The models were subjected to the natural accelerogram of the 1994 Northridge earthquake and tested under multiple scaled excitations until the models attained incipient collapse state. The models’ damage mechanisms were studied, and the seismic response in terms of floor acceleration and floor displacement was retrieved. A uniform damage scale was developed for global performance assessment of considered deficient RC frames, listing average estimate of limit states’ drifts and base shear coefficients, with measured uncertainty, and describing frame damage condition. Numerical frame models were prepared in finite element‐based program SeismoStruct and calibrated against experimental tests. The frames were analyzed through incremental dynamic analyses. Seismic fragility functions were derived using a probabilistic‐based methodology, which may be used for global damageability assessment of the considered frame building typology. Available building damage‐to‐loss factors were employed to transform structural damages to repair cost ratio, which were correlated with seismic intensity (repair cost ratio versus seismic intensity) to derive the seismic vulnerability curve, which may be used for the direct economic loss estimation of the considered frame building typology.
Evaluation of the Effects of Paclobutrazol and Cultivation Years on Saponins in Ophiopogon japonicus Using UPLC-ELSD
Authors: Sun Peng , Tong Juhua , Li Xianen
Published: July 2020

Nowadays, there is a growing concern about the quality of herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine. In this study, we evaluated the impacts of paclobutrazol and cultivation period on steroid saponins in Ophiopogon japonicus. A rapid method to simultaneously determine three principle steroid saponins (ophiopogonins B, D, and D′) using ultraperformance liquid chromatography combined with an evaporative light-scattering detector was developed. The contents of three saponins in paclobutrazol-treated and nontreated Sichuan O. japonicus and those in the 2-year and 3-year Zhejiang O. japonicus were analyzed. The results showed that the saponin contents were sharply reduced in paclobutrazol-treated O. japonicus as compared to the control, whereas the concentrations of the three targeted saponins in Zhejiang O. japonicus varied with the increase in cultivation years, reflecting varied effects on saponins. Our study provided chemical evidences for further quality control and agricultural practices of O. japonicus.
Research on Construction and Application for the Model of Multistage Job Shop Scheduling Problem
Authors: Xu Jianzhong , Zhang Song , Hu Yuzhen
Published: July 2020

Based on the practical application of an enterprise, we address the multistage job shop scheduling problem with several parallel machines in the first stage (production), a few parallel machines in the second stage (processing and assembly), and one machine in the following stages (including joint debugging, testing, inspection, and packaging). First, we establish the optimization objective model for the first two stages. Then, based on the design of the sequencing algorithm in the first two stages, a correction algorithm is designed between the first stage and the second stage to solve this problem systematically. Finally, we propose two benchmark approaches to verify the performance of our proposed algorithm. Verification of numerical experiments shows that the model and algorithm constructed in this paper effectively improve the production efficiency of the enterprise.
Associations ofKCNQ1Polymorphisms with the Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: An Updated Meta-Analysis with Trial Sequential Analysis
Authors: Yu Xiao-xuan , Liao Min-qi , Zeng Yu-fei , Gao Xu-ping , Liu Yan-hua , Sun Wei , Zhu Sui , Zeng Fang-fang , Ye Yan-bin
Published: July 2020

Background. Previous studies have examined the role of the KQT-like subfamily Q member1 (KCNQ1) gene polymorphisms on the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), but the findings are inconclusive.Objective. To examine the association between theKCNQ1gene polymorphisms and the risk of T2DM using an updated meta-analysis with an almost tripled number of studies.Methods. Five electronic databases, such as PubMed and Embase, were searched thoroughly for relevant studies on the associations between seven most studiedKCNQ1gene polymorphisms, including rs2237892, rs2237897, rs2237895, rs2283228, rs231362, rs151290, and rs2074196, and T2DM risk up to September 14, 2019. The summary odds ratios (ORs) with their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were applied to assess the strength of associations in the random-effects models. We used the trial sequential analysis (TSA) to measure the robustness of the evidence.Results. 49 publications including 55 case-control studies (68,378 cases and 66,673 controls) were finally enrolled. In overall analyses, generally, increased T2DM risk was detected for rs2237892, rs2237895, rs2283228, rs151290, and rs2074196, but not for rs231362 under all genetic models. The ORs and 95% CIs for allelic comparison were 1.23 (1.14-1.33) for rs2237892, 1.21 (1.16-1.27) for rs2237895, 1.27 (1.11-1.46) for rs2237897, 1.25 (1.09-1.42) for rs2283228, 1.14 (1.03-1.27) for rs151290, 1.31 (1.23-1.39) for rs2074196, and 1.16 (0.83, 1.61) for rs231362. Stratified analyses showed that associations for rs2237892, rs2237895, rs2283228, and rs151290 were more evident among Asians than Caucasians. TSA demonstrated that the evidence was sufficient for all polymorphisms in this study. The genotypes of the three SNPs (rs2237892, rs2283228, and rs231362) were significantly correlated with altered KCNQ1 gene expression.Conclusion. This meta-analysis suggested thatKCNQ1gene polymorphisms (rs2237892, rs2283228, rs2237895, rs151290, and rs2074196) might be the susceptible factors for T2DM, especially among Asian population.