bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Conservatization of Japanese Political Society: Focus on the Crisis of Public Sphere and Political society polarization
Authors:   Global Studeis Education Association, Yoon Seok Sang
Published: October 2023

This article analyzed the conservatism of Japanese political society, focusing on the division of Japanese political society and the crisis of the public sphere. In general, conservatization in Japanese political society focuses on the rise of conservatives due to the decline of innovative forces, excessive representation of right-wing ideologies, and support for conservative forces that led reform discourse in the process of overcoming a long-term recession. However, it is noteworthy that the silence of the general public on political issues is deeply related to conservatism in Japanese political society. This fact is meaningful in that it is possible to grasp the characteristics of the conservatization of Japanese political society, which is carried out regardless of political support. Based on this point, this article examined the characteristics of right-wing conservatism in Japanese society, focusing on the fact that it is a crisis of polarization and public sphere. In conclusion, the polarization of Japanese political society that has intensified since the 2000s and the resulting self-satisfied and present-oriented attitudes of the public have made them passive and subordinate to social affairs. As a result, the conservatist, which are active political participants, are overrepresented, and Japanese political society is being tilted toward conservative and rightward.
What is ‘drought stress’ and what are options to increase crop yield?
Authors:   North Carolina State University, USA, Sinclair Thomas R. , Ghanem Michel E. ,   Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement (CIRAD), France,   Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Morocco
Published: October 2023

‘Drought’ is vague and ill-defined term that fails to account for the temporal dynamics through the growing seasons due to variable weather conditions, soil water status, plant development stage, and crop growth conditions. These variables all lead to an infinity of responses to water deficit. Instead of the common ‘static’ perspective of drought, it is proposed that a temporally dynamic framework is required within and across growing seasons at a given location. Yield changes in response to trait modification need to be expressed as probabilities obtained from either simulation study or extensive field observations. Such results allow important insight about yield changes that can occur under the economically challenging growing seasons when yields are especially low. Plant traits that result in water conservation early in the growing season in favor of increased availability of water during reproductive development tend to result in high probabilities of yield increase under water-deficit conditions.
Inteligentne miasta i sztuczna inteligencja. Wybrane aspekty teoretycznoprawne
Authors: Blicharz Jolanta
Published: October 2023

The use of artificial intelligence brings not only with the promised advantages in terms of the development of smart cities, but also challenges ranging from security issues to concerns about job losses. In this context, quite serious questions arise about the role of sociale robotics and artificial intelligence from a legal, ethical, political and economic perspective.
A Study On Actionable Steps Taken By Citizens For Controlling Air Pollution In Non-Attainment Areas Of Mumbai
Authors: Devang Devang
Published: October 2023

A change in climate really become a big question now, it not only affect our area but also the entire world and with an increasing population, human activities, vehicles, and industries, it’s going to be worsen more.

 

Now we have to take some action, to tackle the growing incidents of climate otherwise the world will face severe results. We had seen a lot of difficulties with respect to rising for e.g. air pollution, global temperature, glacier melting and a resource crunch.

 

Therefore, if this gets continuous then in coming days the world will be severely affected and Mumbai, being one of the populous and polluted city who will face badly. So, Governments and NGOs are working to control the same.

 

As per the current IQAir report Mumbai is ranking top Ten amongst most polluted city in the world for this result there are many reasons behind the same. So this paper will derive the actionable steps to be taken by citizens along with state government of Mumbai in non-attainment areas which will lead to come out from this polluted situation. The researcher would also try to identify certain green strategies to take the same.

 

Keywords: sustainability, air pollution, non-attainment, areas, actionable steps, pollution, green strategies
How Informed Investing Will Result In better Investment Decision in Stock Market with reference of Retail Investor from Maharashtra.
Authors: Supriya Sadakal Tushar Bhagwan Sadakal , NIKHIL BALKRISHNA UBALE
Published: October 2023

This research is related to study the new wave is coming into a Stock Market to earn easy money though online trading with the respect of industries and brokerages. The Indian Stock Market is one of the important elements in Indian economy which determines the growth in our Indian economy. In today’s competitive world there are millions of people having an Internet facility in their home and offices. From last 32 years since 1991, Globalization, privatization and Liberalization) the internet has impacted much on people perception and the present study is a way to find out the customer awareness about online trading. The main objective of the study is to understand how the investor or trader takes a decision in market and how this process can be made in better way with the help of traders based in Mumbai.
Evidentiality in Ninam of Alto Mucajaí
Authors: Infante Peña Victoria Elizabeth
Published: October 2023

Evidentiality, as a grammatical category, has been identified as a common feature among the languages of the Amazon region, including the Yanomami languages. This paper presents new findings on the evidentiality system used in Ninam of Alto Mucajaí, a Yanomami language located along the banks of the Mucajaí River in Northern Brazil. These findings were obtained through the review of data collected in 1970 and the analysis of data collected between 2021 and 2022. Older data from Ninam indicated that the language had a five-term system and that, fifty years later, it has been reduced to a three-term system. This evidentiality system is composed of VISUAL, HEARSAY, AND UNSPECIFIED markers. The appearance and placement of evidentiality markers are affected by tense/aspect morphemes and the presence of adverbs. In addition, evidentiality is a grammatical category exclusively found in the main clause.
Arabic and English Relative Clauses and Machine Translation Challenges
Authors: Nagi Khalil A.
Published: October 2023

The study aims at performing an error analysis as well as providing an evaluation of the quality of neural machine translation (NMT) represented by Google Translate when translating relative clauses. The study uses two test suites are composed of sentences that contain relative clauses. The first test suite composes of 108 pair sentences that are translated from English to Arabic whereas the second composes of 72 Arabic sentences that are translated into English. Errors annotation is performed by 6 professional annotators. The study presents a list of the annotated errors divided into accuracy and fluency errors that occur based on MQM. Manual evaluation is also performed by the six professionals along with a BLEU automatic evaluation using the Tilde Me platform. The results show that fluency errors are more frequent than accuracy errors. They also show that the frequency of errors and MT quality when translating from English into Arabic is lower than the frequency of errors and MT quality when translating from Arabic into English is also presented. Based on the performed error analysis and both manual and automatic evaluation, it is pointed out that the gap between MT and professional human translation is still large.
Síndrome pós-covid-19 e funções executivas: produção de uma cartilha com as contribuições da Terapia Ocupacional
Authors: Amorim Debora Cristina Pimentel de , Silva Ana Carolina Souza da , Gomes Luana Aparecida Silva
Published: October 2023

Em 2019, observou-se um aumento nos casos de uma pneumonia ocasionada pelo SARS-CoV-2, que originou a covid-19. Posteriormente, o vírus disseminou-se, ocasionando uma pandemia. Sabe-se que a covid-19 provoca comprometimentos respiratórios, motores, neurológicos e cognitivos. Diante disso, o objetivo do estudo é a produção de uma cartilha educativa com exercícios de estimulação cognitiva, que contenham as possibilidades de intervenção da Terapia Ocupacional na reabilitação de pessoas com as funções executivas alteradas pós-covid-19. Trata-se de um estudo descritivo, com abordagem quantiqualitativa, de natureza exploratória e transversal, em que foram entrevistados 36 indivíduos cadastrados no Programa Pós-Covid-19 da Universidade do Estado do Pará (UEPA). Os dados foram coletados via questionário e analisados por meio de estatística descritiva. Os resultados demonstraram que 61,1% dos participantes apresentam sequelas nas funções executivas pós-covid-19. Logo, foi elaborada uma cartilha com exercícios para funções executivas.
RFID Performance Under Material and Wi-Fi Interference
Authors: Sridhar Eshwara Prasad , Mufid Syed , Goyal Yogesh , Nair Aysuh , Bhosale Saloni Sachin , Jones Jr. Erick
Published: October 2023

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology is an essential component in modern logistical systems and has found widespread use across multiple sectors such as supply chain management, inventory tracking, and retail operations. The ability of RFID systems to efficiently track and manage goods and services has not only streamlined operations, but also catalyzed industry growth and economic development.
Quantifying Digital Biomarkers for Well-Being: Stress, Anxiety, Positive and Negative Affect via Wearable Devices and Their Time-Based Predictions
Authors: Saylam Berrenur , İncel Özlem Durmaz
Published: October 2023

Wearable devices have become ubiquitous, collecting rich temporal data that offers valuable insights into human activities, health monitoring, and behavior analysis. Leveraging this data, researchers have developed innovative approaches to classify and predict time-based patterns and events in human life. Time-based techniques allow the capture of intricate temporal dependencies, which is the nature of the data coming from wearable devices. This paper focuses on predicting well-being factors, such as stress, anxiety, positive and negative affect, on the Tesserae dataset collected from office workers. We examine the performance of different methodologies, including deep learning architectures, LSTM, ensemble techniques, Random Forest (RF) and XGBoost and compare their performances for time-based and non-time-based versions. In time-based versions, we investigate the effect of previous records of well-being factors on the upcoming ones. The overall results show that time-based LSTM performs the best among conventional (non-time-based) RF, XGBoost, and LSTM. The performance even increases when we consider a more extended previous period, in this case, 3 past-days rather than 1 past-day to predict the next day. Furthermore, we explore the corresponding biomarkers for each well-being factor using feature ranking. The obtained rankings are compatible with the psychological literature. In this work, we validated them based on device measurements rather than subjective survey responses.
Screening of Visuospatial Abilities in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS): A Pilot Study Using the Battery for Visuospatial Abilities (BVA)
Authors: Sharbafshaaer Minoo , Siciliano Mattia , Passaniti Carla , Sant’Elia Valeria , Silvestro Marcello , Russo Antonio , Esposito Sabrina , Tedeschi Gioacchino , Trojano Luigi , Trojsi Francesca
Published: October 2023

(Background) Cognitive deficits related to frontotemporal dysfunction are common in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Visuospatial deficits, related to posterior cerebral regions, are often underestimated in ALS, though they play a crucial role in attending daily living activities. Our pilot study aims at assessing visuospatial abilities using a domain-specific tool in ALS patients compared to healthy controls (HC). (Methods) Twenty-three patients with early ALS and 23 age- and education-matched HC underwent the Battery for Visuospatial Abilities (BVA), including visuo-perceptual and visuo-representational subtests. (Results) When compared to HC, ALS scored worse in 2 out of 4 visuo-perceptual subtests (i.e., Line Length Judgment and Line Orientation Judgment) and 1 out of 4 visuo-representational tasks (i.e., Hidden Figure Identification, HFI) (p <0.01). No correlations arose between ALS clinical features and BVA performance. More than 80% of the ALS cohort obtained abnormal scores in HFI subtest. (Conclusions) Our findings revealed that ALS scored worse (compared to HC) on selective tests tapping “perceptual” and “representational” visuospatial abilities, since early stages of disease. In clinical practice, our findings highlight the need of multi-domain neuropsychological assessment, for monitoring disease course and properly organizing care management of patients with ALS.
Assessment of Soil Management Practices Enhancing Soil Resilience in Small-Scale Agroecosystems: Case of Mount-Lebanon
Authors: Mayassi Nour Eddine , Atallah Therese , Sukkariyah Beshr , Zdruli Pandi
Published: October 2023

Soil resilience has become a central theme in research aimed at understanding the impacts of human activities on the environment and mitigating the negative effects of soil disturbance. To evaluate how soil management practices affect soil resilience, 26 small farms were studied in a mountainous district of Lebanon. Farms were categorized into conventional (C), neutral (N), and regenerative (R), based on the practices adopted including tillage, amendments, rotation, cover crops, residues management, and pest control. Common practices included intercropping (85%), residue retention (73%), cover crops (61%), and organic amendments (46%). Qualitative assessment of soil health used indicators from Latin American Society for Agroecology (SOCLA) as well as from ‘Tool for Agroecological Performance Evaluation’ of the FAO. The indicators aligned with the classification of farms into their respective C/N/R groups. The sustainability scores were 4.28 (Low) for conventional, 6.34 (Moderate) for neutral, and 7.88 (Good) for regenerative farms. Quantitative analysis determined for 15 selected farms showed significant differences in soil organic matter (1.86% C, 2.75% N, 3.32% R), soil respiration (156C, 296N, 380R mg C-CO₂. week⁻¹), and earthworm abundance/liter (2.92C, 4.24N, 5.72R). The Soil Quality Index (SQI) provided an accurate representation of the current soil health condition, with increment from 0.05, 0.27 (low), to 0.49 (good) in conventional, neutral, and regenerative farms, respectively. The research highlights that soil resilience is influenced by a combination of intricate factors, encompassing biotic interactions, as well as physical, chemical, and biological processes. Particularly in regions like the Mediterranean basin, adopting sustainable soil management practices contributes to enduring productivity while preserving the functional integrity and resilience characteristics of the soil.
The hydrological impacts of large-scale mining operations: A social and environmental perspective
Authors: Arenas-Collao Katherine , Valdés-González Héctor
Published: October 2023

This study investigates water consumption in two areas with limited water resources – the Salar de Atacama and Salar de Atacama-Vertiente Pacifico basins in Chile's Antofagasta Region – with the aim of developing strategies that incorporate social and environmental aspects into water management. A qualitative approach was employed that involved a focus group with four water management representatives and surveys of the general population (156 responses). Additionally, the current state of water rights in the basins was examined and the feasibility of the proposed strategies was assessed. The findings reveal that the mining industry's development approach is viewed negatively, mainly due to inadequate community engagement, confidential consumption data, and limited government oversight. Adopting a comprehensive water stewardship approach that considers social and environmental factors would help mitigate the adverse effects of mining on communities. Therefore, improved management and transparent collaboration among stakeholders are essential for responsible water resource use in mining.
The Epidemiology of Hepatitis in the Marche Region (Italy): Notification System in a Decade, 2012–2021
Authors: Mangino Cosimo Damiano Giorgio , Fortunato Corinna , Ilochonwu Love Chibuzor , Mazzacchera Andrea , Mengarelli detto Rinaldini Davide , Mercante Giulia , Paladini Andrea , Filippetti Fabio
Published: October 2023

The World Health Organization has highlighted the substantial impact of viral hepatitis on individuals, healthcare systems, and economies worldwide. This study's objective is to monitor disease notifications to assess their trend. Data were analyzed from infectious disease notifications detected in the Marche Region (Italy) and entered on the Nuovo Sistema Informativo Sanitario portal between 01/01/2012 and 31/12/2021. In this period there were 399 confirmed reports, of which 47,9% were for hepatitis A, 26,8% for B, 7% for C, 18,3% for E; 67.4% were male and the average age was 43.5 years old. The year with the highest peak was 2017, with 18% of reports, while the year with the lowest number was 2020 followed by 2021, with 3.8% and 4.5% respectively. Effective surveillance systems are key to combating the spread of hepatitis and reducing its impact, although they have been affected by the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic, with many cases remaining undetected.
WRKY22 Transcription Factor from Iris laevigata Regulates Flowering Time and Abiotic Stress Resistance
Authors: Fan Lijuan , Niu Zhaoqian , Liu Guiling , Shi Gongfa , Song Ziyi , Yang Qianqian , Zhou Sheng , Wang Ling
Published: October 2023

Iris laevigata Fisch. is a perennial aquatic plant with strong cold resistance and showy flowers. However, the flowering period of a single flower is only two days, greatly limiting its potential use in landscaping and the cutting-flower industry. In addition, I. laevigata is often challenged with various abiotic stresses including high salinity and drought in its native habitat. Thus, breeding novel cultivars with prolonged flowering time and higher resistance to abiotic stress is of high importance. In this study, we first performed genome-wide identification of WRKYs, key transcription factors in modulating flowering time and abiotic stress responses. We overexpressed IlWRKY22 in Arabidopsis thaliana and found the flowering time was delayed in the transgenic plants. Molecular characterization further revealed that IlWRKY22 promotes the expression of CO and GA20OX genes in the photoperiod and gibberellin pathways, respectively, and inhibits the expression of SPL3 in the aging pathway. We also created transgenic Nicotiana tabacum overexpressing IlWRKY22, which showed significantly improved resistance to both salt and drought compared to control plants. Specifically, the photosynthetic rate, maximum potential quantum efficiency of Photosystem II (Fv/Fm), and chlorophyll content were higher in the transgenic plants, which was accompanied with higher antioxidant enzyme activity and lower levels of reactive oxygen species. Thus, our study revealed a unique dual function of IlWRKY22, an excellent candidate gene for breeding novel I. laevigata cultivars of desirable traits.
Self-Entrapment of Antimicrobial Peptides in Silica Nanoparticles for Stable and Effective Antimicrobial Peptide Delivery System
Authors: Ki Mi-Ran , Kim Sung Ho , Park Tae In , PACK Seung Pil
Published: October 2023

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have emerged as a promising solution to tackle bacterial infections and combat antibiotic resistance. However, their clinical application has been hindered by their vulnerability to protease degradation and toxicity towards mammalian cells. To overcome these challenges, our study aims to develop a method to enhance the stability and safety of AMPs, applicable to effective drug-device combination products. KR12 antimicrobial peptide was chosen and in order to further enhance its delivery and efficacy, HIV TAT protein-derived cell-penetrating peptide (CPP) was fused to form CPP-KR12. A new product, CPP-KR12@Si, was developed by forming silica nanoparticles with self-entrapped CPP-KR12 peptide using the biomimetic silica precipitability due to its cationic nature. Peptide delivery from CPP-KR12@Si to bacteria and cells was delivered at a slightly delayed rate with improved stability against trypsin treatment and a reduction in cytotoxicity over CPP-KR12. Finally, the antimicrobial potential of CPP-KR12@Si/bone graft substitute (BGS) combination product was demonstrated, which is coated with CPP-KR12 in the form of nanoparticles on the surface of BGS. Self-entrapped AMP in silica nanoparticles is a safe and effective AMP delivery method that will be useful for developing a drug/device combination product for tissue regeneration.
Interpretable Geometry Problem Solving Using Improved RetinaNet and Graph Convolutional Network
Authors: Jian Pengpeng , Guo Fucheng , Pan Cong , Wang Yanli , Yang Yangrui , Li Yang
Published: October 2023

This paper proposes an interpretable geometry solution based on the formal language set of text and diagram. Geometry problems are solved by machines, which still poses challenges in natural language processing and computer vision. Significant progress promotes existing methods in the extraction of geometric formal languages. However, the neglect of the graph structure information in the formal language and the lack of further refinement of the extracted language set can lead to the poor effect of the theorem prediction and affect the accuracy in problem solving. In this paper, the formal language graph is constructed by the extracted formal language set and used to theorem prediction by graph convolutional network. So as to better extract the relationship set of diagram elements, an improved diagram parser was proposed. The test results indicate that the improved method has good results in solving the problem with interpretability geometry.
The Critical Role of SNMP in Enabling Network Security
Authors: alkasassbeh mouhammd
Published: October 2023

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is extensively utilized for monitoring and managing computer networks. This paper synthesizes and reviews recent research on harnessing SNMP data for developing effective network security solutions driven by artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques. The comprehensive device-level visibility and timely data provided by SNMP offers significant potential to enable high-performance intrusion detection systems, security analytics, and real-time monitoring capabilities to protect against evolving cyber threats. However, inherent vulnerabilities in versions like SNMP v1/v2c persist, especially due to default community strings allowing uncontrolled access. A number of techniques like newer SNMPv3 standard have been proposed to improve security through encryption, authentication, and fine-grained access control. Additionally, general best practices around firewalling, traffic monitoring, and compliance audits are recommended for robust SNMP deployment. The literature reviewed demonstrates SNMP’s capabilities in enabling anomaly detection with over 99% accuracy by applying supervised learning methods like random forests and neural networks to SNMP Management Information Base (MIB) data. The network-centric visibility offered by SNMP's extensive statistics on traffic configurations and behaviors provides an invaluable advantage over packetlevel data for developing intelligent detection models. Beyond intrusion detection systems, SNMP data has also shown significant utility for security analytics like attack pattern discovery, bandwidth modeling, and large-scale threat intelligence by aggregating data from distributed network devices. Further research opportunities exist in areas like feature engineering, model optimization, and continued evaluation of evolving attacks patterns. In conclusion, with appropriate secure configurations, SNMP provides the comprehensive and real-time data needed by modern artificial intelligence security applications in a scalable manner due to its device-centric focus, standardized schema, and ubiquitous deployment
Association of gut microbiota with age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma: a bidirectional Mendelian randomization study
Authors: Li Chen , Lu Peirong
Published: October 2023

Purpose The objective of this study was to eliminate any ambiguity by examining the correlation between gut microbiota and both AMD and glaucoma.

Methods Mendelian randomization studies were conducted utilizing the data sourced from the GWAS database for the gut microbiome, AMD, and glaucoma. SNP estimates were summarized through five MR methods. We utilized Cochran's Q statistic to evaluate the heterogeneity of the instrumental variables. Additionally, we employed a "leave-one-out" approach to verify the stability of our findings.

Results IVW suggests that Eubacterium (oxidoreducens group) and Parabacteroides had a protective effect on AMD. Both weighted median and IVW suggests that Lachnospiraceae (NK4A136 group) and Ruminococcaceae (UCG009) had a protective effect on AMD. However, both weighted median and IVW suggests that Dorea had a risk effect on AMD. Similarly, The IVW of Eubacterium (ventriosum group) showed a risk effect on AMD. The weighted median of Eubacterium (nodatum group), Lachnospiraceae (NC2004 group), and Roseburia had a risk effect on glaucoma. IVW suggested that Ruminococcaceae (UCG004) had a risk effect on glaucoma. Reverse MR analysis found a causal link between Eubacterium (nodatum group) and glaucoma. No causal relationships were found between AMD or glaucoma and the other mentioned bacterial groups. No significant heterogeneity or evidence of horizontal pleiotropy was detected.

Conclusions This study found that certain gut bacteria had protective effects on AMD, while others may be risk factors for AMD or glaucoma. Besides, reverse MR found that glaucoma led to increased abundance of certain gut bacteria. Further trials are needed to clarify the specific mechanisms involved.
Pharmacokinetics, Tissue Distribution and Excretion of Desmethylberberine in Rats and Mice, a Metabolite of the Berberine
Authors: Tong Yongbin , Lu Chengyu
Published: October 2023

Demethyleneberberine is an active component extracted from the Chinese herbal drug Cortex Phellodendri. It is also a metabolite of the berberine in animals and humans. However, the pharmacokinetics, tissue distribution and excretion of demethyleneberberine have not been reported. The present study aimed to investigate the pharmacokinetic parameters of demethyleneberberine by developing a method of high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The detection was performed by using positive ion electrospray ionization in multiple reaction monitoring mode. The MS/MS ion transitions were monitored at m/z 324.4→308.3 for demethyleneberberine and 465.5→350.3 for IS. After oral administration of demethyleneberberine in rats and mice, the pharmacokinetics, tissue distribution, and excretion of desmethylberberine in rats and mice were comparatively studied for the first time. The plasma concentration of desmethylberberine reached its peak within 5 min after oral administration in both rats and mice. The bioavailability of rats and mice was comparable, ranging from 4.47% to 5.94%, higher than that of berberine. The total excretion of desmethylberberine in urine, feces and bile is 7.28~9.77%. These findings provide valuable insights into the pharmacological and clinical research on desmethylberberine.
Multi-Omics Data Integration Reveals Sex-Dependent Hippocampal Programming by Maternal High-Fat Diet during Lactation in Adult Mouse Offspring
Authors: Gauvrit Thibaut , Benderradji Hamza , Pelletier Alexandre , Aboulouard Soulaimane , Faivre Emilie , Carvalho Kevin , Deleau Aude , Vallez Emmanuelle , Launay Agathe , Bogdanova Anna , Besegher Mélanie , Le Gras Stéphanie , Tailleux Anne , Salzet Michel , Buée Luc , Delahaye Fabien , Blum David , Vieau Didier
Published: October 2023

Early-life exposure to high-fat diet (HF) can program metabolic and cognitive alterations in adult offspring. Although the hippocampus plays a crucial role in memory and metabolic homeostasis, few studies reported the impact of maternal HF on this structure. We assessed the effects of maternal HF during lactation on physiological, metabolic and cognitive parameters in young adult offspring mice. To identify early-programming mechanisms in hippocampus, we developed a multi-omics strategy in male and female offspring. Maternal HF induced a transient increased body weight at weaning, a mild glucose intolerance only in 3-month-old male mice with no change in plasma metabolic parameters in adult male and female offspring. Behavioral alterations revealed by Barnes maze test were observed both in 6-month-old male and female mice. Multi-omics strategy unveiled sex-specific transcriptomic and proteomic modifications in the hippocampus of adult offspring. These studies that were confirmed by regulon analysis, showing that, although genes whose expression was modified by maternal HF were different between sexes, the main pathways affected were similar with mitochondria and synapses as main hippocampal targets of maternal HF. The effects of maternal HF reported here may help to better characterize sex-dependent molecular pathways involved in cognitive disorders and neurodegenerative diseases.
Impact of the Pai-Khoi-Altai Regional Strike-Slip Zone on Localization of Hydrocarbon Fields in the Pre-Jurassic Basement of the Central Part of West Siberian Oil and Gas Province
Authors: Egorov Aleksey , Antonchik Vladimir , Senchina Natalia , Movchan Igor , Oreshkova Maria
Published: October 2023

The paper presents the results of geological interpretation of the set of geophysical data with substantiation of geological-geophysical and structural geological criteria of oil and gas potential of the sedimentary cover deep levels and the upper part of the consolidated basement in the central West Siberian oil and gas basin. Gravity, magnetic and seismic data are used. The character of manifestation of the regional Pai-Khoi–Altai strike-slip zone covering an area up to 200 km wide is shown. The study provides a basis for assuming a spatial genetic relationship between the conditions for localizing hydrocarbon traps and the extensional and strike-slip and thrust structures of the zone that form so-called "flower structures". The substantiated structural geological criteria were applied to solve the problem of pattern recognition with training, highlighting the environments favourable for localization of hydrocarbon fields.
Review Article: Transfusion of Blood Products in Cardiac Surgery for Endocarditis: Predictors and Consequences
Authors: Mistiaen Wilhelm
Published: October 2023

Infective endocarditis (IE) is a serious condition with a high mortality rate, even after surgery. Need for transfusion might be increased in surgery for IE. This review aims to identify the predictors for the need of transfusion in IE patients and the effect of transfusion on outcome. Only 17 manuscripts could be identified partially addressing this issue. Minimal access surgery and valve repair instead of replacement seems favorable in this respect. However, IE has opposing effects on the coagulation system with increase in bleeding and thromboembolic events. There are indications that in IE patients, transfusion need is higher but this might be compounded by the complexity of surgery and a prolonged cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) time. Since organ dysfunction is associated with IE, this comorbidity could cloud the effect of the need for transfusion on outcome. To avoid potential adverse effect of transfusion, alternative methods have been proposed such as the use of cytokine absorbers during CPB run, intraoperative cell salvage and acute normovolemic hemodilution. These methods need further study in this subgroup of patients. In the meantime, allogeneic transfusion should be kept at a minimum, using only recently stored blood, to minimize harmful effects.
18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose-Positron Emission Tomography-Computed Tomography findings of Polymyalgia Rheumatica in Patients with Large Vessel vasculitis
Authors: Heras-Recuero Elena , Martínez de Bourio-Allona Marta , Landaeta-Kancev Laura Cristina , Blázquez-Sánchez Teresa , Torres-Roselló Arantxa , Álvarez-Rubio Miguel , Belhaj-Gandar Mariam , Martínez-López Juan Antonio , Martínez-Dhier Luis , Llorca Javier , Largo Raquel , González-Gay Miguel Ángel
Published: October 2023

Objective: Polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) and giant cell arteritis (GCA) are often overlapping conditions. We aimed to determine whether 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) is useful in identifying PMR in the setting of large vessel vasculitis (LVV)-GCA.
Methods: Patients diagnosed with LVV-GCA by PET-CT at a tertiary referral hospital for a population of 450,000 people over a two-year period were reviewed. Scoring was performed based on potential significant FDG uptake at up to 16 sites in nine different extravascular areas (SCORE 16). Differences in extravascular sites of significant FDG uptake were evaluated between LVV-GCA with a clinical diagnosis of PMR or not.
Results: Fifty-four patients were diagnosed with LVV-GCA by 18F-FDG-PET-CT. Of them, 21 (38.8%) were clinically diagnosed with PMR. Significant extravascular FDG uptake was more frequently observed in those with a clinical diagnosis of PMR. In this sense, the SCORE 16 was higher in those with clinical PMR (5.10 ± 4.05 versus 1.73 ± 2.31 in those without a clinical diagnosis of PMR; p< 0.001). A SCORE 16 involving more than 4 sites of significant FDG uptake yielded a sensitivity of 52% and a specificity of 91% for establishing a clinical diagnosis of PMR associated with LVV-GCA. The best areas of significant FDG uptake to clinically identify PMR in patients with LVV were the shoulder, the greater trochanter and the lumbar interspinous regions with an area under the ROC curve of 0.810 (0.691-0.930).
Conclusion: Significant extravascular 18F-FDG-PET-CT uptake may help establish a clinical diagnosis of PMR in patients with LVV-GCA. These patients are more commonly diagnosed with PMR if they have significant FDG uptake in the shoulder, greater trochanter, and lumbar interspinous areas.
Ethnobotany of the Sakha People: Traditional Medicine, Rites, and Food Culture
Authors: Grenoble Lenore A. , Malysheva Ninel , Turantaeva Nina
Published: October 2023

The Sakha people have a long history of use of medicinal plants in traditional medicine and healing practices. This article explores the use and naming practices found with 10 plants that grow in far northeastern Russia, in the Arctic and Subarctic zones of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). A field survey of 2500 participants was used to identify the most widely used medicinal plants, their names, and uses. Findings were double-checked with published resources. A small set of criteria are used in naming practices. These practices are based on the plant’s appearance, its habit, or in some way are related to their use, indexing the disease, or the diseased organ, or the result of healing. We find robust knowledge and practice of traditional medicine across the Sakha population, and deep knowledge of plants among Sakha herbalists, healers and shamans.
Discharges in a Neotropical River: A Descriptive Study
Authors: Orozco González Christopher E.
Published: October 2023

Puerto Rico is a neotropical island located in the Caribbean. Like other neotropical regions, Puerto Rico streams discharges can vary with the seasons, atmospheric events, and human activities. The Lapa River is part of the Puerto Rico Heritage Rivers Program. This program identifies and manages the protection of hydrographic systems that maintain their natural conditions. The necessity of increasing the knowledge of the natural processes of the Lapa River and providing valuable information for the development of a future management plan for the ecosystem, the following objectives were established in this research: (1) to describe the temporal variations in water discharges in the Lapa River and (2) to describe the impact of atmospheric events on the water discharges at the Lapa River. This study concluded that the highest annual discharge averages recorded from 1989 to 2021 in the Lapa River occurred in 2011 and 2017. 2011, the annual mean discharge was 31.20 (ft3/s); in 2017, the average was 40.44 (ft3/s). In terms of atmospheric events, this study concludes that, during the evaluated period, the highest discharge event occurred after the impact of hurricanes Irma and Maria, with an average discharge of 164.40 ft3/s in October and 182.60 ft3/s in September. This event set a precedent in the river Lapa’s discharges, impacting the river basin’s flora, fauna, and morphology from its headwaters downstream.
Optical Diffraction Tomography and Raman Confocal Microscopy for the Investigation of Vacuoles Associated with Cancer Senescent Engulfing Cells
Authors: Ghislanzoni Silvia , Kang Jeon Woong , Bresci Arianna , Masella Andrea , Kobayashi-Kirschvink Koseki J. , Polli Dario , Bongarzone Italia , So Peter T. C.
Published: October 2023

Wild-type p53 cancer therapy-induced senescent cells frequently engulf and degrade neighboring ones inside a massive vacuole in their cytoplasm. After clearance of the internalized cell, the vacuole persists, seemingly empty, for several hours. Despite large vacuoles being associated with cell death, this process is known to confer a survival advantage to cancer engulfing cells, leading to therapy resistance and tumor relapse. Previous attempts to resolve the vacuolar structure and visualize their content using dyes were unsatisfying for lack of known targets and ineffective dye penetration and/or retain. Here, we overcame this problem by applying optical diffraction tomography and Raman spectroscopy to MCF7 doxorubicin-induced engulfing cells. We demonstrated a real ability of cell tomography and Raman to phenotype complex microstructures, such as cell-in-cells and vacuoles, and detect chemical species in extremely low concentrations within live cells in a completely label-free fashion. We show that vacuoles had a density indistinguishable to the medium, but were not empty, instead contained diluted cell-derived macromolecules, and we could discern vacuoles from medium and cells using their Raman fingerprint. Our approach is useful for the non-invasive investigation of senescent engulfing (and other peculiar) cells in unperturbed conditions, crucial for a better understanding of complex biological processes.
Health Surveillance Actions in the Context of COVID-19 in Brazil: A Scoping Review
Authors: Borges Larissa Araújo , Silva Pedro Henrique Brito da , Baixinho Cristina Rosa Soares Lavareda , Zara Ana Laura de Sene Amâncio , Oliveira Ellen Synthia Fernandes de
Published: October 2023

To describe the main health surveillance strategies for the control of COVID-19 in Brazil, with emphasis on decisions and actions taken at the federal level to prevent the infection caused by the new SARS-CoV-2. This is a scoping review study carried out from November 2019 to January 2021 using the DECS and MeSH health descriptors in Portuguese and English in four databases, in addition to the legislation found on the Brazilian Government's legislation portal. Based on the analysis of the documents, the actions describe non-pharmacological and pharmacological measures, measures related to decisions on closing and opening international borders, the acquisition of supplies and essential services. Although some strategies for containing the pandemic were identified, discrete and unnoticed surveillance measures are observed in view of the number of cases and number of deaths during the period of research analysis. The results show the absence of the federal level as support for the states and municipalities and imply decision-making and planning of actions by the Unified Health System to control the pandemic.
Insight into the Critical Roles of Rab11 GTPase in Regulating Osteoclastogenesis through Modulating the Lysosome-Mediated Turnover of the Cell Surface Receptors
Authors: Tran Tien Manh
Published: October 2023

Osteoclasts (OCs) are the multinucleated, bone-resorbing giant cells originally differentiated from a monocyte/macrophage lineage. OC differentiation and maturation, also called osteoclastogenesis, are strictly regulated by a variety of signaling pathways primarily induced by the interactions of two prerequisite cytokines, macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) and the receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand (RANKL) to their respective surface receptors, c-fms and RANK, in OC precursors (pre-OCs). Rab11 has emerged as the spatiotemporal regulators of intracellular vesicular transport in the endosomal recycling system; however, how it regulates osteoclastogenesis is incompletely understood. OC-triggered bone resorption is best characterized to be immensely dependent upon lysosomal function, the intracellular acidic organelles containing more than 50 acid hydrolases secreted into bone matrix microenvironment (BME). On the contrary, it is little known about the lysosomal function on modulating the turnover of c-fms and RANK surface receptors via Rab GTPase-mediated vesicular transport, thereby dictating osteoclastogenesis. In this review, I briefly describe the mechanism underlying lysosome-induced osteoclastogenesis via the Rab11-mediated modulation of the surface receptors in OCs.
Multi-level Perceptions on Higher Education Development for Sanitation and Hygiene Management in Nigeria
Authors: Cookey Peter Emmanuel , Peter-Cookey Mayowa Abiodun , Unwobuesor Richard Iloma , Brdanovic Damir
Published: October 2023

Providing safely-managed sanitation/hygiene requires key competencies for education, training, service delivery, enterprise development and management, product and infrastructure design and development, construction and installation, governance, financing, research, etc. These strategic sanitation capacities will have to be built from higher education’s academic and professional programmes structured and designed to produce skilled and knowledgeable professionals and practitioners. This study aims to investigate the quality of the sanitation/hygiene management content of Environmental Health programmes; the adequacy of the existing central curricula; and the perception of environmental health sanitation/hygiene-trained professionals to determine the next phase for building knowledge and capacity of sanitation professionals in Nigeria through higher education institutions. A multilevel mixed method concurrent study was used for sampling and data collection with a multilevel perception analysis to examine the perceptions of students, lecturers and graduate alumni as well as employers/supervisors and clients/service-users of sanitation/hygiene related graduates. The main findings of this paper show limited understanding of the concepts of contemporary issues of sanitation/hygiene management; the central/national teaching and curricula were found to be seriously out of date; and clients/service-users were dissatisfied with the skills and knowledge levels of the graduates. The study concludes by recommending a national sanitation management higher education pathway to guide the provision of integrated sanitation/hygiene management education at higher education institutions (HEIs), to build effective, efficient, competent, and sufficient workforce for the country.
From Pulses to Sleep Stages: Towards Optimised Sleep Classification Using Heart-Rate Variability
Authors: Topalidis Pavlos I. , Baron Sebastian , Heib Dominik P. J. , Eigl Esther-Sevil , Hinterberger Alexandra , Schabus Manuel
Published: October 2023

More and more people quantify their sleep using wearables and are getting obsessed in their pursuit of optimal sleep (“orthosomnia”). However, it is criticized that many of these wearables are giving inaccurate feedback and even can lead to negative daytime consequences. Acknowledging these facts, we here aim to extend previous findings [] in a new sample of 136 self-reported poor sleepers by implementing optimization procedures to minimize erroneous classification when ambulatory sensing sleep. Firstly, here, we introduce an advanced interbeat-interval (IBI) quality control using a random forest method to account for wearable recordings in naturalistic and more noisy settings. We further aim to improve sleep classification by opting for a loss function model instead of overall epoch-by-epoch accuracy to avoid model biases towards the majority class (i.e., “light sleep”). Using these implementations, we compare the classification performance between the optimized (loss function model) and the accuracy model. We use signals derived from PSG, one-channel ECG, and two consumer wearables: the ECG breast belt Polar® H10 (H10) and the Polar® Verity Sense (VS), an optical Photoplethysmography (PPG) heart-rate sensor. Results reveal high overall accuracy for the new model for ECG (86.3 %, κ=.79), H10 (84.4%, κ=.76), and VS (84.2%, κ=.75) with intended improvements in deep sleep and wake. In addition, the new optimized model displays moderate to high correlations and agreement with PSG on primary sleep parameters, while measures of reliability, expressed in intra-class correlations, suggest excellent reliability for most sleep parameters. Finally, it is demonstrated that the new model is still classifying sleep accurately in 4-classes in users taking heart-affecting and/or psychoactive medication which can be considered a prerequisite for use also in high age groups and/or with common disorders. Further improving and validating sleep stage classification algorithms with affordable wearables may resolve existing scepticism and open the door for such approaches in clinical practice.
The Influences of Micro-Alloying Element Sn and Magnetic Field on the Microstructure Evolution of Al-Bi Immiscible Alloys
Authors: Shu Chen , Xiang Jiang hong , Zhao Jiuzhou
Published: October 2023

Directional solidification experiments were carried out to investigate the effect of micro-alloying element Sn and magnetic field on the solidification of Al-Bi immiscible alloys. Experimental results show that the size distribution of the dispersed particles in the low-speed solidified Al-3.4wt%Bi alloy presents two peaks, while it only shows one peak when solidified at a relatively high speed. The addition of Sn not only can enhance the nucleation rate and the number density of the Bi-rich droplets in the sample, but also decrease the Marangoni migration velocity and the axial resultant velocity of minority phase droplets in front of the solidification interface. Thereby it promotes the formation of Al-Bi alloys with a well-dispersed microstructure. A static magnetic with the strength of 0.2T increase the number density of the dispersed particles and decrease the average size and the size distribution width of the dispersed particles. Under the effect of Sn addition and static magnetic field, the average radius of the dispersed particles  and the solidification velocity V_0 satisfy ∝〖V_0〗^(-1/3) when the alloy was solidified at a relatively low velocity,  and V_0 satisfy ∝〖V_0〗^(-1/2) when the alloy is solidified at a high velocity.