bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Uncovering the Mechanism of Astragalus membranaceus in the Treatment of Diabetic Nephropathy Based on Network Pharmacology
Authors: Guo Ming-Fei , Dai Ya-Ji , Gao Jia-Rong , Chen Pei-Jie
Published: March 2020

Background. Diabetic nephropathy (DN), characterized by hyperglycemia, hypertension, proteinuria, and edema, is a unique microvascular complication of diabetes. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) Astragalus membranaceus (AM) has been widely used for DN in China while the pharmacological mechanisms are still unclear. This work is aimed at undertaking a network pharmacology analysis to reveal the mechanism of the effects of AM in DN. Materials and Methods. In this study, chemical constituents of AM were obtained via Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database (TCMSP), and the potential targets of AM were identified using the Therapeutic Target Database (TTD). DisGeNET and GeneCards databases were used to collect DN-related target genes. DN-AM common target protein interaction network was established by using the STRING database. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses were carried out to further explore the DN mechanism and therapeutic effect of AM. The network diagrams of the active component-action target and protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks were constructed using Cytoscape software. Results. A total of 16 active ingredients contained and 78 putative identified target genes were screened from AM, of which 42 overlapped with the targets of DN and were considered potential therapeutic targets. The analysis of the network results showed that the AM activity of component quercetin, formononetin, calycosin, 7-O-methylisomucronulatol, and quercetin have a good binding activity with top ten screened targets, such as VEGFA, TNF, IL-6, MAPK, CCL3, NOS3, PTGS2, IL-1β, JUN, and EGFR. GO and KEGG analyses revealed that these targets were associated with inflammatory response, angiogenesis, oxidative stress reaction, rheumatoid arthritis, and other biological process. Conclusions. This study demonstrated the multicomponent, multitarget, and multichannel characteristics of AM, which provided a novel approach for further research of the mechanism of AM in the treatment of DN.
Suppression of TRPM7 Inhibited Hypoxia-Induced Migration and Invasion of Androgen-Independent Prostate Cancer Cells by Enhancing RACK1-Mediated Degradation of HIF-1α
Authors: Yang Fei , Cai Jiarong , Zhan Hailun , Situ Jie , Li Wenbiao , Mao Yunhua , Luo Yun
Published: March 2020

Transient receptor potential melastatin subfamily member 7 (TRPM7) was essential in the growth and metastatic ability of prostate cancer cells. However, the effects and the relevant molecular mechanisms of TRPM7 on metastasis of prostate cancer under hypoxic atmosphere remain unclear. This study investigated the role of TRPM7 in the metastatic ability of androgen-independent prostate cancer cells under hypoxia. First, data mining was carried out to disclose the relationship between the TRPM7 gene level and the survival of prostate cancer patients. Specific siRNAs were used to knockdown target genes. Western blotting and qPCR were employed to determine protein and gene expression, respectively. The gene transcription activity was evaluated by luciferase activity assay of promoter gene. The protein interaction was determined by coimmunoprecipitation. Wound healing and transwell assays were employed to evaluated cell migration and invasion, respectively. Open access database results showed that high expression of TRPM7 was closely related to the poor survival of prostate cancer patients. Hypoxia simultaneously increased TRPM7 expression and induced HIF-1α accumulation in androgen-independent prostate cancer cells. Knockdown of TRPM7 significantly promoted HIF-1α degradation through the proteasome and inhibited EMT changes in androgen-independent prostate cancer cells under hypoxic condition. Moreover, TRPM7 knockdown increased the phosphorylation of RACK1 and strengthened the interaction between RACK1 and HIF-1α but attenuated the binding of HSP90 to HIF-1α. Whereas knockdown of RACK1 increased the binding of HSP90 to HIF-1α. Furthermore, both TRPM7 and HIF-1α knockdown significantly suppressed hypoxia-induced Annexin A1 protein expression, and suppression of HIF-1α/Annexin A1 signaling significantly inhibited hypoxia-induced cell migration and invasion of androgen-independent prostate cancer cells. Our findings demonstrate that TRPM7 knockdown promotes HIF-1α degradation via an oxygen-independent mechanism involving increased binding of RAKC1 to HIF-1α, and TRPM7-HIF-1α-Annexin A1 signaling axis plays a crucial role in the EMT, cell migration, and invasion of androgen-independent prostate cancer cells under hypoxic conditions.
The Effects of Combined Exercise Training (Resistance-Aerobic) on Serum Kinesin and Physical Function in Type 2 Diabetes Patients with Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy (Randomized Controlled Trials)
Authors: Seyedizadeh Seyedeh Hoda , Cheragh-Birjandi Sadegh , Hamedi Nia Mohammad Reza
Published: March 2020

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy is one of the most common chronic complications of diabetics which causes nerve damage and muscle strength decrease in patients. This in turn results in imbalance leading to the diabetic patients’ daily activity disparity. The present investigation was conducted to specifically study the effects of combined training (resistance-aerobic) on serum kinesin-1 and physical function in type 2 diabetes patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy. 24 diabetic neuropathic females were randomly to be selected out and divided into two experimental and control groups. The experimental group received resistance-aerobic training for 3 sessions during eight weeks. The exercise training included resistance exercises with 2-3 sets, 6-7 exercise stations, 8-12 repetitions (reps), and 3-5 minutes of rest in between the exercises, and the aerobic exercises contained 50-65% of heart rate reserve (HRR) for 3 minutes with 30 seconds of rest interval between sets and 5-10 repetitions. Results show that the serum kinesin-1 level and aerobic endurance declined after eight weeks of combined (resistance-aerobic) exercise training, but this decrease was not significant. The upper body strength increased but it was not significant, while the lower body showed a significant strength increase. With regard to the progressive nature of diabetic peripheral neuropathy, it seems that even the little changes resulting from the combined exercise training can be useful. Nevertheless, more research is required in this area.
The Enhanced Performance of Phase‐Change Materials via 3D Printing with Prickly Aluminum Honeycomb for Thermal Management of Ternary Lithium Batteries
Authors: Cao Ming , Huang Juhua , Liu Ziqiang
Published: March 2020

This study introduces a new type of lightweight, shape‐stable composite phase‐change material (CPCM) to improve the thermal management of ternary lithium batteries. Paraffin wax (PW) was used as a phase‐change material, expanded graphite (EG) and high‐density polyethylene (HDPE) were used as support materials, carbon fiber (CF) was used as a heat‐conductive additive, and a 3D printed aluminum honeycomb with a prickly structure (3D Al‐Hc) was added to enhance the mechanical properties and thermal conductivity of the CPCM. The properties of the CPCM were analyzed based on its microstructure, thermal properties, and stress‐strain response. The CPCM was applied to a battery cooling module to determine the temperature response of a battery. The results showed that when the CF mass fraction was 4.5 wt%, the degree of supercooling in the PW/EG/CF/HDPE was reduced by 51.5% and 43.3% compared to PW PCM and PW/EG CPCM, respectively. In addition, the thermal conductivity of the PW/EG/CF/HDPE/3D AL‐Hc CPCM (5.723 W/(m·K)) was 1.9 times that of the PW/EG. Due to the presence of the 3D AL‐Hc, the CPCM has a strain of 1.25 mm at a pressure of 100 KPa. In addition, the CPCM has excellent battery thermal management performance. At a 2.5°C discharge rate, the operating temperature of the battery is kept within the safe temperature range of 50°C.
Effect of Cooking Methods on Ascorbic Acid Destruction of Green Leafy Vegetables
Authors: Hailemariam Gebrehana Ashine , Wudineh Tadele Andargie
Published: March 2020

Ascorbic acid is highly sensitive vitamin to various modes of cooking processes. Ethiopian green collards (Brassica carinata), locally called Ye’abesha Gomen, and cabbage (Brassica oleracea) are important green vegetables for ascorbic acid source in the country. The rate of ascorbic acid degradation in cabbage and Ethiopian green collard was studied employing two processing methods: open-pan and pressure cooking which are highly customized in household cooking. Samples were cooked at 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35 min under each processing method. Ascorbic acid concentration in each sample was determined by using a spectrophotometer at 520 nm wavelength using the standard plot of pure ascorbic acid solution. The initial concentration of ascorbic acid in fresh cabbage and Ethiopian green collard were found to be 33.76 ± 0.58 and 38.14 ± 0.19 mg/100 g, respectively. Well-cooked and edible Ethiopian green collard was obtained at 10 minutes of cooking time by pressure cooking with ascorbic acid retention of 31.8% from its initial contents. However, a cooking time of 25 min was required by the open-pan cooking method with 26.8% ascorbic acid retention. Edible cabbage was attained at 10 and 20 minutes of cooking time by pressure and open-pan cooking methods maintaining 36.9 and 30.9% of ascorbic acid, respectively. Thus, the pressure cooking method required short cooking time for having well-cooked and edible green leafy vegetable with better ascorbic acid retention. The outputs of this work would be helpful to design and control practical thermal processing situations and to minimize the loss of ascorbic acid in green leafy vegetables.
Multicentre Covariate Adjustment Analysis of Short-Term and 5-Year Outcomes after Endovascular Repair according to Sex
Authors: Mwipatayi Bibombe P. , Tan Rebekah L.W , Faraj Joseph , Daneshmand Ali , Oshin Olufemi , Altaf Nishath , Thomas Shannon D. , Tosenovsky Patrik J , Wong Jackie , Vijayan Vikram , Freeman Anthony J. , Burrows Sally A.
Published: March 2020

Background. Several studies have reported worse outcomes in women compared to men after endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR). This study aimed to evaluate sex-specific short-term and 5-year outcomes after EVAR. Methods. A total of 409 consecutive patients underwent elective EVAR from 2004 to 2017 at two tertiary hospitals in Western Australia. Baseline, intraoperative, and postoperative variables were examined retrospectively according to sex. The primary outcome was 30-day mortality (death within 30 days after EVAR). Secondary outcomes were 30-day composite endpoint, length of stay after EVAR, 5-year survival, freedom from reintervention, residual aneurysm size after EVAR, and major adverse event rate at 5-year follow-up. Results. A cohort of 409 patients, comprising 57 women (14%) and 352 men (86%), was analysed. Female patients were older (median age, 76.8 versus 73.5 years, p=0.017). Male patients were more likely to be past smokers (40.9% versus 22.8%, p=0.005) and have a history of coronary artery bypass grafting (11.2% versus 3.5%, p=0.042) and malignancy (24.1% versus 10.5%, p=0.014). No difference in 30-day mortality or composite endpoints was demonstrated for female patients compared with male patients (3.5% versus 0.3%, p=0.052 and 31.6% versus 27.8%, p=0.562, respectively). The Kaplan–Meier curves demonstrated similar 5-year mortality outcomes amongst male and female patients (p=0.928). Long-term survival analysis adjusting for covariates demonstrated no significant difference in long-term mortality, composite endpoints, and reintervention rate between sexes. Conclusion. This study found no significant differences in 30-day and 5-year outcomes between female and male patients treated with EVAR, implying that EVAR remains a safe treatment choice for female patients.
Signal Transduction Pathways in Breast Cancer: The Important Role of PI3K/Akt/mTOR
Authors: Ortega Miguel A. , Fraile-Martínez Oscar , Asúnsolo Ángel , Buján Julia , García-Honduvilla Natalio , Coca Santiago
Published: March 2020

Breast cancer is the cancer with the highest prevalence in women and is the number-one cause of cancer mortality worldwide. Cell transduction is a fundamental process in the development and progression of cancer. Modifications in various cell signalling pathways promote tumour cell proliferation, progression, and survival. The PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway is an example of that, and it is involved in growth, proliferation, survival, motility, metabolism, and immune response regulation. Activation of this pathway is one of the main causes of cancer cell resistance to antitumour therapies. This makes PI3K/Akt/mTOR signalling a crucial object of study for understanding the development and progression of this disease. Thus, this pathway may have a role as a potential therapeutic target, as well as prognostic and diagnostic value, in patients with breast cancer. Despite the existence of selective PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway inhibitors and current clinical trials, the cellular mechanisms are not yet known. The present review aims to understand the current state of this important disease and the paths that must be forged.
Effects of Varying Acupuncture Manipulations at ST36 (Zusanli) on Gastric Electrical Frequency and Amplitude in Bradygastria Rabbits
Authors: Wang Kang , Xu Yuan , Niu Yan , Liu Yangyang , Lai Hezheng , Xu Zhifang , Zhang Kuo , Guo Yongming , Guo Yi
Published: March 2020

Objective. To observe the effects of different manual acupuncture (MA) manipulation on gastric electrical amplitude and frequency for noradrenaline‐induced bradygastria in rabbits. Methods. A total of 60 rabbits were randomly allocated into six groups: four MA manipulation groups; reinforcing by twisting the manipulation group (FTG), reducing by twisting the manipulation group (RTG), reinforcing by lifting and thrusting the manipulation group (FLG), and reducing by lifting and thrusting the manipulation group (RLG), a control group (CG), and a model group (MG). The total treatment time length was 45 minutes. The bradygastria was induced via administration of noradrenaline via the marginal ear vein of the rabbits at 5 minutes from baseline, and the bradygastria model was established at 12 minutes from baseline. The rabbits in the four MA manipulation groups received different stimulation parameters at ST36 (Zusanli) for a duration of 3 minutes in accordance with their respective group allocation. The needles were then retained without further manipulation for a further 25 minutes. Gastric electrical amplitude and frequency were recorded using a data acquisition system (Biopac System MP150) at five different time points: baseline (for a duration of 5 minutes), after the bradygastria model was established at 12 minutes from baseline (for a duration of 5 minutes), during MA manipulation commencing at 17 minutes from baseline (for a duration of 3 minutes), 5 minutes after MA manipulation at 25 minutes from baseline (for a duration of 5 minutes), and at 20 minutes following MA manipulation at 40 minutes from baseline (for a duration of 5 minutes). Results. After noradrenaline induction, gastric electrical frequency levels in MA and MG groups were significantly decreased compared to the CG group (P < 0.05). However, there were no significant changes to gastric electrical amplitude (P > 0.05). During MA manipulation, gastric electrical frequency levels in RTG, FLG, and RLG groups were higher than in the MG group (P < 0.05). At 5 minutes after MA manipulation, gastric electrical frequency levels in RTG and FLG groups were higher than in the MG group (P < 0.05), and gastric electrical frequency level in the RTG group was higher than in the CG group (P < 0.05). At 20 minutes after MA manipulation, gastric electrical frequency levels in FTG, RTG, and FLG groups were higher than in the MG group (P < 0.05). Conclusion. All four variations of MA manipulations have a recovery effect on the gastric electrical frequency of rabbits with bradygastria. In particular, results indicated that FTG, RTG, and FLG at ST36 may have a regular and significant recovery trend through the whole process of the acupuncture intervention.
Systematic Establishment of Robustness and Standards in Patient-Derived Xenograft Experiments and Analysis
Authors: Evrard Yvonne A. , Srivastava Anuj , Randjelovic Jelena , Doroshow James H. , Dean Dennis A. , Morris Jeffrey S. , Chuang Jeffrey H.
Published: March 2020

Patient-derived xenografts (PDX) are tumor-in-mouse models for cancer. PDX collections, such as the NCI PDXNet, are powerful resources for preclinical therapeutic testing. However, variations in experimental and analysis procedures have limited interpretability. To determine the robustness of PDX studies, the PDXNet tested temozolomide drug response for three prevalidated PDX models (sensitive, resistant, and intermediate) across four blinded PDX Development and Trial Centers using independently selected standard operating procedures. Each PDTC was able to correctly identify the sensitive, resistant, and intermediate models, and statistical evaluations were concordant across all groups. We also developed and benchmarked optimized PDX informatics pipelines, and these yielded robust assessments across xenograft biological replicates. These studies show that PDX drug responses and sequence results are reproducible across diverse experimental protocols. In addition, we share the range of experimental procedures that maintained robustness, as well as standardized cloud-based workflows for PDX exome-sequencing and RNA-sequencing analyses and for evaluating growth.

Significance:

The PDXNet Consortium shows that PDX drug responses and sequencing results are reproducible across diverse experimental protocols, establishing the potential for multisite preclinical studies to translate into clinical trials.
Outcome-Related Signatures Identified by Whole Transcriptome Sequencing of Resectable Stage III/IV Melanoma Evaluated after Starting Hu14.18-IL2
Authors: Yang Richard K. , Kuznetsov Igor B. , Ranheim Erik A. , Wei Jun S. , Sindiri Sivasish , Gryder Berkley E. , Gangalapudi Vineela , Song Young K. , Patel Viharkumar , Hank Jacquelyn A. , Zuleger Cindy , Erbe Amy K. , Morris Zachary S. , Quale Renae , Kim KyungMann , Albertini Mark R. , Khan Javed , Sondel Paul M.
Published: March 2020

Purpose:

We analyzed whole transcriptome sequencing in tumors from 23 patients with stage III or IV melanoma from a pilot trial of the anti-GD2 immunocytokine, hu14.18-IL2, to identify predictive immune and/or tumor biomarkers in patients with melanoma at high risk for recurrence.

Experimental Design:

Patients were randomly assigned to receive the first of three monthly courses of hu14.18-IL2 immunotherapy either before (Group A) or after (Group B) complete surgical resection of all known diseases. Tumors were evaluated by histology and whole transcriptome sequencing.

Results:

Tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) levels directly associated with relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) in resected tumors from Group A, where early responses to the immunotherapy agent could be assessed. TIL levels directly associated with a previously reported immune signature, which associated with RFS and OS, particularly in Group A tumors. In Group A tumors, there were decreased cell-cycling gene RNA transcripts, but increased RNA transcripts for repair and growth genes. We found that outcome (RFS and OS) was directly associated with several immune signatures and immune-related RNA transcripts and inversely associated with several tumor growth–associated transcripts, particularly in Group A tumors. Most of these associations were not seen in Group B tumors.

Conclusions:

We interpret these data to signify that both immunologic and tumoral cell processes, as measured by RNA-sequencing analyses detected shortly after initiation of hu14.18-IL2 therapy, are associated with long-term survival and could potentially be used as prognostic biomarkers in tumor resection specimens obtained after initiating neoadjuvant immunotherapy.
PIK3CA and p53 Mutations Promote 4NQO-Initated Head and Neck Tumor Progression and Metastasis in Mice
Authors: García-Carracedo Darío , Cai Yi , Qiu Wanglong , Saeki Kiyoshi , Friedman Richard A. , Lee Andrew , Li Yinglu , Goldberg Elizabeth M. , Stratikopoulos Elias E. , Parsons Ramon , Lu Chao , Efstratiadis Argiris , Philipone Elizabeth M. , Yoon Angela J. , Su Gloria H.
Published: March 2020

The PI3K signaling pathway is frequently mutated in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), often via gain-of-function (GOF) mutations in the PIK3CA gene. Here, we present novel genetically engineered mouse models (GEMM) carrying a GOF allele Loxp-STOP-Loxp(LSL)-PIK3CAH1047R (E20) alone or in combination with heterozygous LSL-p53+/R172H (p53) mutation with tissue-specific expression to interrogate the role of oncogenic PIK3CA in transformation of upper aerodigestive track epithelium. We demonstrated that the GOF PIK3CA mutation promoted progression of 4-nitroquinoline 1-oxide–induced oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) in both E20 single mutant and E20/p53 double mutant mice, with frequent distal metastasis detected only in E20/p53 GEMM. Similar to in human OSCC, loss of p16 was associated with progression of OSCC in these mice. RNA-seq analyses revealed that among the common genes differentially expressed in primary OSCC cell lines derived from E20, p53, and E20/p53 GEMMs compared with those from the wild-type mice, genes associated with proliferation and cell cycle were predominantly represented, which is consistent with the progressive loss of p16 detected in these GEMMs. Importantly, all of these OSCC primary cell lines exhibited enhanced sensitivity to BYL719 and cisplatin combination treatment in comparison with cisplatin alone in vitro and in vivo, regardless of p53 and/or p16 status. Given the prevalence of mutations in p53 and the PI3K pathways in HNSCC in conjunction with loss of p16 genetically or epigenetically, this universal increased sensitivity to cisplatin and BYL719 combination therapy in cancer cells with PIK3CA mutation represents an opportunity to a subset of patients with HNSCC.

Implications:

Our results suggest that combination therapy of cisplatin and PI3K inhibitor may be worthy of consideration in patients with HNSCC with PIK3CA mutation.
Age at Initiation and Frequency of Screening to Prevent Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma in High-risk Regions: an Economic Evaluation
Authors: Wu Bin , Wang Zhenhua , Zhang Qiang
Published: March 2020

The aim of this study was to identify the economic screening strategies for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) in high-risk regions. We used a validated ESCC health policy model for comparing different screening strategies for ESCC. Strategies varied in terms of age at initiation and frequency of screening. Model inputs were derived from parameter calibration and published literature. We estimated the effects of each strategy on the incidence of ESCC, costs, quality-adjusted life-year (QALY), and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs). Compared with no screening, all competing screening strategies decreased the incidence of ESCC from 0.35% to 72.8%, and augmented the number of QALYs (0.002-0.086 QALYs per person) over a lifetime horizon. The screening strategies initiating at 40 years of age and repeated every 1–3 years, which gained over 70% of probabilities that was preferred in probabilistic sensitivity analysis at a $1,151/QALY willingness-to-pay threshold. Results were sensitive to the parameters related to the risks of developing basal cell hyperplasia/mild dysplasia. Endoscopy screening initiating at 40 years of age and repeated every 1–3 years could substantially reduce the disease burden and is cost-effective for the general population in high-risk regions.
Asma: Efectos de la obesidad en pacientes adultos
Authors: Hernández-Morales Víctor Gabriel
Published: March 2020

Background: Asthma is defined by variable respiratory symptoms and lung function, and may influence work ability. Similarly, obesity may contribute to respiratory symptoms, affect lung function, and reduce work ability. Thus, assessment of the influence of obesity on work ability, respiratory symptoms, and lung function in adults with asthma is needed. Objectives: We hypothesized that patients with obesity and asthma have more respiratory symptoms and reduced work ability and lung function compared with normal-weight patients with asthma. Methods: We examined 626 participants with physician-diagnosed asthma, aged 18-52 years, recruited from a cross-sectional general population study using a comprehensive questionnaire including work ability score, the asthma control test (ACT), height and weight, and spirometry with reversibility testing. Results: Participants with a body mass index (BMI) ≥30 kg/m2 (i.e., obese) had a higher symptom score (OR 1.78, 95% CI 1.14-2.80), current use of asthma medication (1.60, 1.05-2.46), and incidence of ACT scores ≤19 (poor asthma control) (1.81, 1.03-3.18) than participants with BMI ≤24.9 kg/m2 (i.e., normal weight). Post-bronchodilator forced vital capacity (FVC) as a percentage of predicted (β coefficient -4.5) and pre-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 s as a percentage of predicted (FEV1) (β coefficient -4.6) were negatively associated with BMI ≥30 kg/m2. We found no statistically significant association of BMI >30 kg/m2 (compared to BMI <24.9 kg/m2) with sick leave (1.21, 0.75-1.70) or reduced work ability (1.23, 0.74-2.04). Conclusions: There were indications that patients with obesity had a higher symptom burden, poorer asthma control, higher consumption of asthma medication, and reduced lung function, in particular for FVC, compared with normal-weight patients.
Enhanced Fermentable Sugar Production from Enteromorpha Polysaccharides by the Crude Enzymes of Vibrio sp. H11
Authors: Li Jin , Xu Yan , Peng Tao , Zhong Mingqi , Hu Zhong
Published: March 2020

In recent years, large-scale outbreaks of the green alga Enteromorpha prolifera in China’s offshore waters have posed a serious threat. This study aimed to improve Enteromorpha polysaccharide (EP) enzymatic sugar production using the hydrolase system of Vibrio sp. H11, an EP-utilizing microbial strain. Strain H11 was found to contain 711 carbohydrate-related genes, and 259 genes belong to glycoside hydrolases that have the potential to hydrolyze EP. To maximize the capability of strain H11 to hydrolyze EP, both the culture medium and the composition were optimized. Response surface methodology analysis showed that maximal enzymatic production from strain H11 was 8.43 U/mL after 26-h incubation. When 50 g/L of EP were treated with crude H11 enzyme, the concentration of fermentation sugars increased by 36.12%. Under these conditions, the hydrolysates were capable of generating 3,217 mL/L of biogas and 6.74 g/L of biosolvents, with increases of 28.17 and 7.29%, respectively, compared to controls. The combined application of the H11 enzymatic system and anaerobic fermentation has the potential to improve the comprehensive application of EP.
Tibial Osteomyelitis Caused by Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacter cloacae
Authors: Cinats David J. , Strovski Evgeny , Lee Cheng-Han , Viskontas Darius
Published: March 2020

A 31-year-old man presented with a symptomatic tibial non-union following an open tibia fracture sustained in India. The open fracture was persistently draining for 8 months following the initial injury. The decision was made to revise his tibia fracture to promote union. Intraoperative cultures of the non-union site during the revision procedure revealed osteomyelitis caused by carbapenemase-producing Enterobacter cloacae which was multi-drug resistant to all antibiotics except for tigecycline. The patient was treated successfully with a tigecycline-impregnated antibiotic spacer and intravenous tigecycline with repeat bone cultures demonstrating eradication of the infection. Eight weeks into treatment (1 year from initial injury), the patient developed new pain and swelling in the adjacent proximal fibula of the limb treated for osteomyelitis. MRI and biopsy revealed Ewing sarcoma. The patient underwent transfemoral amputation. This report describes a management protocol of carbapenemase-resistant post-traumatic osteomyelitis with no evidence of infection recurrence.
Caffeine Uptake into the Vitreous after Peroral Coffee Consumption
Authors: Leisser Christoph , Stimpfl Thomas , Ruiss Manuel , Pilwachs Caroline , Hienert Julius , Fisus Andreea , Burgmüller Wilhelm , Findl Oliver , Kronschläger Martin
Published: March 2020

Introduction: Caffeine and its metabolites have antioxidant activity, scavenging reactive oxygen species. The aim of our study was to measure caffeine concentrations in vitreous samples after peroral caffeine intake. Methods: This prospective study included patients scheduled for 23-G pars plana vitrectomy with membrane peeling due to epiretinal membranes. The study was performed in two parts: in the first part, patients were recruited into three different groups: group A consisted of habitual coffee drinkers who agreed to drink coffee containing 180 mg caffeine 1 h before surgery (n = 10), group B consisted of habitual coffee drinkers who were not offered coffee before surgery (n = 5), and group C consisted of non-habitual coffee drinkers, forming the control group (n = 5). In the second part (group D) patients (habitual coffee drinkers) agreed to give additional blood serum samples for measurement of caffeine concentration. Harvested samples of vitreous (groups A–D), epiretinal membranes (groups A–C), and blood serum samples (group D) were examined for concentrations of caffeine with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Results: Samples of 40 eyes of 40 patients were harvested. The concentrations of caffeine in the vitreous samples were 1,998 ± 967 ng/mL in group A and 1,108 ± 874 ng/mL in group B. In group C, caffeine concentrations were below 176 ng/mL in all vitreous samples. Both groups A and B had significantly higher concentrations of caffeine in the vitreous samples than group C (p < 0.002, p < 0.01, Mann-Whitney U test). Caffeine concentrations in epiretinal membranes were below the limits of detection. Correlation of caffeine concentrations between blood serum samples and vitreous samples in group D was high, with significantly higher caffeine concentrations in the blood serum. Conclusion: Coffee consumption leads to significant caffeine levels in the vitreous compared to patients in the control group, and caffeine concentrations in the vitreous showed a high correlation to blood serum concentrations of caffeine after peroral coffee consumption.
Exploration on digital marketing as business strategy model among Malaysian entrepreneurs via neurocomputing
Authors: Rahim Hazrita Ab , Ibrahim Shafaf , Kamaruddin Saadi Bin Ahmad , Md. Ghani Nor Azura , Musirin Ismail
Published: March 2020

Artificial Intelligence is great when it comes to routine activities and vast amounts of data are analyzed. This can be done more quickly and efficiently than men. In the world of digital marketing, Artificial Intelligence is quickly coming into play. With Artificial Intelligence joining the digital marketing environment, predicting user behavior, search cycles, and much more will be easier. This can support websites that are highly user-friendly for organizations. Moreover, with the aid of Artificial Intelligence, content creation has become a faster and easier task for brands. Practically, a company's degree of enterprise marketing can have an effect on its overall business efficiency. Entrepreneurial marketing is driven by entrepreneurial opportunities which involves the proactive identification and exploitation of opportunities for acquiring and retaining profitable customers through Digital approaches to risk management, resource leveraging and value creation. This research was done by collecting data using semi structure questionnaire distributed to 169 start up owners in Klang Valley area. Using two-layer 6-3-1 with hyperbolic tangent-purelin configurations neural network model, it was found that proactiveness, risk taking, resource leveraging, opportunity focus, intensity and value add are the significant factors towards digital marketing respectively. It is expected that the findings would give some inputs to the Malaysian entrepreneurs on innovative digital marketing in their businesses, regardless the sizes.
Iris segmentation using a new unsupervised neural approach
Authors: Ohmaid Hicham , Eddarouich S. , Bourouhou A. , Timouyas M.
Published: March 2020

A biometric system of identification and authentication provides automatic recognition of an individual based on certain unique features or characteristic possessed by an individual. Iris recognition is a biometric identification method that uses pattern recognition on the images of the iris. Owing to the unique epigenetic patterns of the iris, Iris recognition is considered as one of the most accurate methods in the field of biometric identification. One of the crucial steps in the iris recognition system is the iris segmentation because it significantly affects the accuracy of the feature extraction the iris. The segmentation algorithm proposed in this article starts with determining the regions of the eye using unsupervised neural approach, after the outline of the eye is found using the Canny edge, The Hough Transform is employed to determine the center and radius of the pupil and the iris.
Surface roughness condition of field-aged polymer insulators at different installation area
Authors: Din A. , M. Piah M.A. , R. Abdullah A. , F. Kasri N.
Published: March 2020

This paper presents surface degradation assessment based on surface roughness condition for various field-aged high voltage polymer insulators that were installed at different locations. The measurement of arithmetical mean surface roughness is done, and statistical analysis is implemented in this study. Three groups of insulators labeled as 6 years, 12 years, 18 years, and with their respective controlled samples are tested using a surface roughness tester. Data measurements from the testing are analyzed in conjunction with visual observation to investigate an indication of surface degradation within the groups. Further statistical analysis is applied for the comparison of the surface roughness conditions. In order to observe the environmental stress factors that will affect the roughness condition, within the installation area, the virtual three-dimensional mapping program represented the Earth based on satellite imagery is utilized. The correlation analysis on all that three groups has indicated the positive outcomes with the roughness increased with respect to the age of insulator that located in quite similar environmental stress conditions. Regardless of the age of an insulator, the degradation due to surface roughness condition can be used to indicate what levels of environmental stress around the installation area have.
Optimal capacitor placement in a distribution system using ETAP software
Authors: J. Tahir M. , A. Bakar Badri. , Alam M. , S. Mazlihum M.
Published: March 2020

Mostly loads are inductive in nature in content of distribution side for any power system. Due to which system faces high power losses, voltage drop and reduction in system power factor. Capacitor placement is a common method to improve these factors. To maximize the reduction of inductive load impact, optimal capacitor placement (OCP) is necessary with the objective function of system cost minimization for voltage profile enhancement, power factor improvement and power losses minimization. As OCP is a non-linear problem with equality and inequality limitations, so the stated objective depends upon he placement and sizes of the capacitor banks. Electrical transient analyzer program (ETAP) software is used for the evaluation and modelling the power systems and genetic algorithm (GA) is used as an optimization technique for the minimization of the objective function. In this paper, to show the effectiveness of the technique IEEE 4bus,33bus system and NTDC 220KV real time grid system is modelled and evaluated in terms of objective minimization i-e maximum cost saving of the power system
Anomaly detection on in-home activities data based on time interval
Authors: Poh Soon-Chang , Tan Yi-Fei , Cheong Soon-Nyean , Ooi Chee-Pun , Tan Wooi-Haw
Published: March 2020

The world population of the elderly is expected to have a continuous growth and the number of elderly living in solitude is also expected to increase in the coming years. As our health decline with age, early detection of possible deterioration in health becomes important. Behavioral changes in in-home activities can be used as an indicator of health decline. For example, changes in routine of in-home activities. Past research mainly focused on detecting anomalies in routine of each type of in-home activities individually. In this paper, an anomaly detection model to detect changes in routine of in-home activities collectively for a day is proposed. The experiment was evaluated with an existing public dataset. The experimental results demonstrated that the anomaly detection model performed well on unseen testing data with an accuracy of 94.44%.
Denoising performance analysis of adaptive decision based inverse distance weighted interpolation (DBIDWI) algorithm for salt and pepper noise
Authors: Patanavijit Vorapoj
Published: March 2020

Due to its superior performance for denoising an image, which is contaminated by impulsive noise, an adaptive decision based inverse distance weighted interpolation (DBIDWI) algorithm is one of the most dominant and successful denoising algorithm, which is recently proposed in 2017, however this DBIDWI algorithm is not desired for denoising the full dynamic intensity range image, which is comprised of min or max intensity. Consequently, the research article aims to study the performance and its limitation of the DBIDWI algorithm when the DBIDWI algorithm is performed in both general images and the images, which are comprised of min or max intensity. In this simulation experiments, six noisy images (Lena, Mobile, Pepper, Pentagon, Girl and Resolution) under salt&pepper noise are used to evaluate the performance and its limitation of the DBIDWI algorithm in denoised image quality (PSNR) perspective.
Analysis of wave propagation for wireless implantable body area network application
Authors: H. Ramli N. , Jaafar Haryati , S. Lee Y. , Othman Hazila
Published: March 2020

The enhancement technologies of wireless body area network improved the health monitoring system. Previous work have been designed the implantable chip printed antenna at 4.8 GHz. This paper is continuing the investigation where the antenna wave propagation in term of attenuation and polarization were studied. The antenna is implanted in human hand voxel model from CST Microwave Studio Software. The performances of the antenna are evaluated in term of return loss, gain and efficiency. Results show that the rate attenuation for the propagation is approximately 0.16 dB up to 0.42 dB. All the results will be guidelines in designing implantable antennas in futures.
HR analytics a roadmap for decision making: case study
Authors: Jabir Brahim , Falih Noureddine , Rahmani Khalid
Published: March 2020

In the socio-economic world, the human resources are in the most top phase of the enterprise evolution. This evolution began when the arithmetic, statistics are applicable over a vast of opportunities and used to identify problems and support decision. However, analytics has been emerged to provide predictions and understand the people performance based on available data.
In light of this vast amount of information, human resources services need to deploy a predictive management model and operating system of analytics that can be an efficient and an instead solution that can respond to the gaps of the traditional existing ones and facilitate the decision making. In this paper, we present a literature review of this HR analytics concept and a case study concerning the impact of interventions using an analytics solution.
 
The problems of soy market development in the far east and the ways of their solutions
Authors: Gorlov Alexander V , Churilova Claudia S. , Reimer Valery V.
Published: March 2020

Soybean production is the main branch of specialization of agriculture in the south of the Far East, which is due to the unique natural advantages associated with favorable climatic conditions for the cultivation of this crop. In Russia, soybean as an agricultural crop has not historically found wide distribution, which is due to the exacting nature of this plant for various factors of production, the undeveloped culture of consumption of soy products in the diet of the population. Therefore soybeans were more used as technical raw materials for the production of the most important products of its processing - oil and meal. The purpose of this study is to identify trends in the soybean seeds market in the Far East and develop recommendations for improving the efficiency of its functioning in modern conditions. The methodology of soybean market research is based on the synthesis of economic analysis and applied methods developed in mathematical statistics. The scientific value of the results of the study is to identify the development trend of the soybean market localized in the Far East of Russia and to develop practical recommendations that complement the main provisions of the theory of spatial development and institutional configuration of market structures in the agrarian sphere.
Axial compressor fouling detection for gas turbine driven gas compression unit
Authors: Batayev Nurlan
Published: March 2020

One of the main reasons of the performance degradation of gas turbines is the axial compressor fouling due to air pollutants. Considering the fact that the fouling leads to high consumption of fuel, reducing of the axial compressor’s discharge air pressure and increasing of the exhaust temperature, thus designing a compressor degradation detection system will allow prevent such issues. Many gas turbine plants lose power due to dirty axial compressor blades, which can add up to 4% loss of power. In case of power plants, the power loosing could be observed by less megawatts produced by generator. But in case of gas compression stations the effect of power loosing could not be quickly detected, because there is not direct measurement of the discharge power produced by gas turbine. This article represents technique for detection of gas turbine axial compressor degradation in case of gas turbine driven natural gas compression units. Calculation of the centrifugal gas compressor power performed using proven methodology. Approach for evaluation of the gas turbine performance based on machine learning prediction model is shown.  Adequacy of the model has been made to three weeks’ operation data of the 10 Megawatt class industrial gas turbine.
Aperture coupling rectangular slotted circular ring microstrip patch antenna
Authors: Majid Abil Fathir , Mukhlis Yulisdin
Published: March 2020

This paper designed circular ring microstrip patch antenna using aperture coupling feeding techniques with rectangular slots on the patch for LTE. The use of aperture coupling feeding techniques were expected to optimize antenna parameters performance. The addition of rectangular slots on the patch produced multi resonant frequencies than the original characteristics. The simulated optimized design generated 1.8 GHz, 2.1 GHz, and 2.72 GHz with Return Loss value -22.3683 dB, -18.8133 dB, -24.3451 dB and VSWR value 1.1648, 1.259, 1.1291. Meanwhile, the measurement results of fabricated antenna showed the frequency produced by the antenna was 1.8 GHz with value of Return Loss and VSWR -18.257 dB and 1.278 in a reference value of VSWR < 2 and Return Loss < -10 dB.
Entire X-band region metamaterial absorber and reflector with a microstrip patch switch for X-band applications
Authors: Gajibo M.M. , Rahim M. K. A. , Murad N. A. , Ayop O. , Majid H.A. , Aminu-Baba M. , Dewan R.
Published: March 2020

A metamaterial structure capable of operating as a wide band absorber as well as an AMC reflector is presented in this report. A microstrip patch copper was used as a switch to switch between the two modes. An FR4 substrate was used and the incidental wave angles were varied from 00 to 600. Simulations results showed that the absorber was able achieve 96% absorption at 13.05 GHz and 100% absorption at 10.00 GHz and 12.00 GHz. Furthermore, it archived over 85% absorption for the entire X-band frequency range. The AMC reflector also was able to achieve 84.97%, 82.88% and 78.69% for incident angles 00, 200 and 400 respectively. Unfortunately, the structure is polarization sensitive.
Modeling of a planar SOFC performances using artificial neural network
Authors: Zambri N. A. , Salim Norhafiz , Mohamed A. , Mohd Nordin Ili Najaa Aimi
Published: March 2020

The Planar Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (PSOFC) is one of the renewable energy technologies that is important as the main source for distributed generation and can play a significant role in the conventional electrical power generation. PSOFC stack modeling is performed in order to provide a platform for the optimal design of fuel cell systems. It is explained by the structure and operating principle of the PSOFC for the modeling purposes. PSOFC model can be developed using Artificial Neural Network approach. The data required to train the neural net-work model is generated by simulating the existing PSOFC model in the MATLAB/ Simulink software. The Radial Basis Function (RBF) and Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) neural networks are the most useful techniques in many applications and will be applied in developing the PSOFC model. A detailed analysis is presented on the best ANN network that gives the greatest results on the performances of the PSOFC. The simulation results show that Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) gives the best outcomes of the PSOFC performance based on the smallest errors and good regression analysis.
Detecting leakage current by infrared thermography method
Authors: B. M Shariff M Riduan , L. Abdullah M.F. , B. A Latiff M Yusop , B. Mohamad Ahmad , B. Ismail Iszaizul
Published: March 2020

An alternating current leakage can happen in electrical installation such as switchgear panel. If it’s not being detected earlier and address properly, it might lead to unintended incident or accident such as fire, electric shock, and power supply trip. Occasionally, if it appears, tracing its root cause can be difficult. The conventional method is by isolating one by one of the electrical loads with aids of multimeter and clamp meter.  Unfortunately, this conventional method could be a tedious job for installations involved in numbers of electrical panels. Therefore, an alternative method is deeming necessary. This paper describes research works on Infrared Thermography (IRT) as a new method in detecting leakage current as aids in resolving related electrical problems. The scope of study mingling around to determine IRT’s suitable parameters that represent the identification of leakage current, derive new mathematical equation correlating leakage current to IRT and conduct experiment accordingly. Two new equations derived which are leakage current relationship to thermogram and infrared net radiation power. The results of experiment adherence to the hypothesis drawn. Consequently, helps to realize predictive maintenance concept by detecting the root cause of leakage current ahead its triggering points of unintended incident and accident.