bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Research on Garbage Sorting in College Campus—Take colleges in Dongguan and Jieyang as examples
Authors: Yuan Wang , Li-li Wang , Zi-kai Chen , Jie-bin Lin
Published: March 2021

This paper made a related survey on the current situation of the garbage in colleges in Dongguan and Jieyang, discussed the main types of garbage on campus, analyzed the attitude and behavior of college students towards garbage sorting and recycling, demonstrated the feasibility of campus garbage sorting and recycling, and put forward constructive suggestions accordingly. Relevant systems should be improved, the campers’ management of garbage classification should be strengthened, publicity should be strengthened, and students’ environmental awareness should be improved.
Study on Dust Concentration Distribution in a Construction Tunnel
Authors: Liu Fangfang , Feng Xiyang
Published: March 2021

At present, dust is not only the main occupational hazard factor in tunnel construction, which seriously threats the safety of production and the health of construction workers, but also an important source of environmental pollution. Taking the working face of a construction tunnel as the research object, the numerical model is constructed with the help of fluid software FLUENT, and the dust distribution law of the construction tunnel is simulated and analyzed, so as to provide research direction for environmental protection and personal health protection. The comparative analysis results of numerical simulation and field measured dust concentration show that the dust in the tunnel construction is easy to accumulate in the lower right side of the tunnel. When the fan mouth is 5 meters away from the working face, the dust concentration within 8 meters near the working face is the lowest. When the fan mouth is 10 meters away from the working face, the dust diffusion range is the longest and it is not easy to accumulate.
Simulation of Atmosphere Temperature of the 20th Century in 50 US State Capitals with Random Walk
Authors: Yan Shaomin , Wu Guang
Published: March 2021

Although humans have been recording the temperature for about 200 years, the temperature in the 20th century is more important because the trend of increase of temperature was observed. The increasing temperature has been the objective of many studies across natural and social sciences. The similarity between the temperature and the curve generated by the random walk model was noticed in 1991, since then, however, very few studies have been conducted along this research line due to the limitation of computational power. In this study, we use the random walk model to simulate the atmosphere temperature of the 20th century in 50 US state capitals in terms of converting the temperature into its simplest form with random walk simulation as well as the recorded temperature. The results show that the random walk model can simulate the simplest form of temperature and recorded temperature satisfactorily.
A New Strategy for Comparison of Land Surface Temperature Retrieval Methods with Landsat Remote Sensing Images Considering Regional Consistency
Authors: Qingyu Xu , Xiong Xu , Huan Xie , Xiaochun Zhang , Yuting Huang
Published: March 2021

Landsat remote sensing images are widely used in fields such as land surface temperature retrieval, urban expansion, and urban heat islands, due to their high spatial resolution and the availability of long time series data. Long-term land surface temperature (LST) change analysis usually requires comprehensive utilization of remote sensing data from different sensors, such as Landsat 7, Landsat 8. A LST retrieval algorithm with generalization for Landsat thermal infrared image can effectively improve the reliability of long-term analysis using multi-source images. In order to evaluate the performances of different LST retrieval methods for Landsat images, a new strategy based on regional consistency was proposed in this paper so that different LST retrieval algorithms can be compared with each other without utilizing reference data from ground observation. The general hypothesis is that there is a significant positive correlation between the obtained Landsat 7 and Landsat 8 LST products with adjacent imaging time, similar imaging environment for the identical area. Firstly, the Landsat 7 and Landsat 8 image pairs from Shenzhen were selected under aforementioned constraints. Secondly, four representative LST retrieval methods, radiative transfer equation method (RTEM), image-based method (IBM), mono-window algorithm (MWA) and single-channel algorithm (SCA) were used to generate the LST products from the Landsat 7 and Landsat 8 image pairs respectively. Lastly, the correlation between the Landsat 7 and Landsat 8 LST products from different methods can be calculated as different indexes, including the goodness of fit, Pearson correlation coefficient and Euclidean distance. It is convincing that the optimal LST retrieval method should exhibit a higher regional consistency between the Landsat 7 and Landsat 8 LST product pair given the certain area. The experimental results show that the radiative transfer equation method generates the highest correlation and it is considered as a suitable option for long-term LST research with multi-source Landsat datasets.
Research on Application of Blockchain Technology in Departure Audit of Natural Resources Assets
Authors: Zhou Guangxiu
Published: March 2021

Blockchain technology is the first underlying support technology applied to bitcoin. In recent years, it has formed a “blockchain +” technology mode, entered various fields of economic and social development, and promoted the further integration of blockchain and real economy. As early as 2015, General Office of the State Council issued the “Implementation Opinions on Implementing the Audit Full Coverage”. There are still many difficulties in auditing the natural resources assets of leading cadres, which represents the general trend of economic responsibility. This paper studies the related issues of the combination of blockchain and natural resource assets departure audit, and discusses the development prospect of blockchain audit technology, in order to comply with the historical change of full audit coverage.
Research on Optimization of Carbon Emission Reduction of Coal Supply Chain System in Iron and Steel Industry
Authors: Yang Wei , Abu Munai , Sha Jiemin
Published: March 2021

The steel industry is an important basic industry for the development of the national economy and national defense construction, but it is also a major source of energy consumption and environmental pollution. In particular, the carbon emissions in the process of coal combustion and steelmaking are huge. This situation urgently needs to be improved and optimized. Therefore, based on the perspective of the coal supply chain in the steel industry, this paper constructs a multi-objective planning model to achieve a balanced optimization of total economic costs and carbon emission reduction, and verifies the effectiveness of the model through specific case data. This paper sets three different emission reduction scenarios, discusses and analyzes the changes of economic total cost and carbon emission under different emission reduction scenarios, and finds that suppliers with good coal mining technology and low carbon emission factor have more opportunities to be selected and can obtain more coal market orders. At the same time, steel plants with mature processing technology and low carbon emission factor can further gain market competitive advantage and undertake more steelmaking tasks. Finally, based on results, management suggestions for coal suppliers and steel plants are provided.
Study on Location Selection of Low-Carbon Fresh Fruit Distribution Center Considering Customer Satisfaction-Route Optimization
Authors: Li Zongxin , Fu Yingjun , Li Meiyan
Published: March 2021

With the development of society and the needs of consumers, the concept of low-carbon and the improvement of customer satisfaction have become the focus of enterprises. Cold chain logistics is a product with high energy consumption and perishable characteristics, this paper will consider improving customer satisfaction on the basis of low carbon, and establish a cold chain distribution center location-routing optimization model with the minimum total cost as the optimization objective. The mathematical model is constructed and solved by using bi level programming theory and genetic algorithm, and neighborhood search is added to the lower model to optimize the route structure. Finally, the simulation results show that the final cost of considering carbon emissions and customer satisfaction is less than the cost of only considering the shortest route.
NetworkPlanning of Regional EnvironmEntal Monitoring System in Modern City
Authors: Li Yijie
Published: March 2021

Based on the network planning of urban regional environmental monitoring system, the network of urban regional environmental monitoring is established. Through data collection and data analysis of regional environmental system, the network framework of urban regional environmental system is formed and analyzed from multiple perspectives. Through comprehensive and perfect environmental monitoring analysis methods, the effectiveness of urban regional environmental system network is improved, the urban regional environmental management and environmental assessment are discussed, and the network planning and layout of environmental monitoring and environmental management system are realized. This paper analyzes the relevant environmental monitoring data from many aspects, and gives the urban regional environmental monitoring system and reasonable structure.
Prospect and Economic Development Analysis of Prefabricated Building Industry in An Ethnic Minority Area
Authors: Zhao Yuhe , Fang Guangxiu
Published: March 2021

By comparing the prefabricated building industry with the traditional construction mode, national policies and development planning of the prefabricated building industry were combined to analyze the development advantages and economic benefits of the prefabricated building industry in Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, Jilin Province, and meanwhile, its development prospects were given, thus providing a reference for the development of prefabricated building industry and economic development in similar ethnic minority areas.
Structural Elements, Synergy Mechanism and System Optimization of Atmospheric Environmental Self-cleaning Capability
Authors: Zhou Jingkun , Li Yating
Published: March 2021

On the basis of defining the connotation and structural elements of atmospheric environmental self-cleaning capability, this paper systematically analyses the synergy mechanism of atmospheric environment self-cleaning capability, and puts forward the system optimization of atmospheric environmental self-cleaning capability. The self-cleaning ability of the atmospheric environment mainly includes nature’s ability to cleanse itself and rationality of human design. The synergy mechanism of self-cleaning capability of nature mostly refers to the fact that pollutants in the atmosphere can be transformed chemically or scavenged by means of the dry deposition, wet deposition, transportation and dispersion of atmospheric hydrometeors, such as rain, snow, wind, geography, humidity and the like. The synergy mechanism of rationality of human design chiefly refers to the human ability to take a variety of comprehensive prevention and control measures such as reasonable urban planning, wind tunnel design, hydraulic facilities, pollution source layout and others to make the most of nature’s self-cleaning capability and the ability to reduce the impact of the atmospheric pollutants. On this basis, seven measures have been proposed system optimization of atmospheric environmental self-cleaning capability. First, we should quicken the construction of artificial wetlands in areas with lower atmospheric self-cleaning capability; second, we should rapidly improve the vegetation coverage rate in the areas with low atmospheric self-cleaning capability; third, we should systematically plan urban construction in areas with lower atmospheric self-cleaning capability; fourth, we should scientifically construct urban air ducts in the area with low atmospheric environment self-cleaning capability; fifth, we should work out scientific production plans for the pollution intensive industries and gradiently transferring pollution intensive industries; sixth, we should vigorously propel the ecological migration work in areas with lower atmospheric self-cleaning capability; seventh, we should strengthen the construction of a linkage system of atmospheric environment self-cleaning capability.
Research on vehicle recycling based on ELV Directive
Authors: Li Chuan Jie , Yang Wen Xuan , Liu Xiao Dong , Wang Yan Meng , Feng Shi Hao , He Yong Ao
Published: March 2021

Based on researches on ELV directive at home and abroad, this paper developed an ELV directive-based vehicle recycling test program and offered solutions for the government and enterprises to manage end-of-life vehicles. The vehicle ELV test realized the verification by tests and scrutiny of the ELV directive and the self-inspection of enterprises, and improved the ELV management system.
The Characteristics and Geographical Features of Plant Populations in the Forest Region of Wanda Mountains
Authors: Li Jialin , Yang Jiao , Sun XueWei , Luo Jincheng , Qiu Hongbin , Li Lan
Published: March 2021

The study of species diversity and fauna characteristics in the Wandashan area is of great significance for the protection and utilization of plant resources in the future. The relevant characteristics and characteristics of species diversity in the Wandashan area are analyzed. The various species diversity indices of the Dashan area are calculated, reflecting the species richness, dominance, uniformity and the information volume and community complexity of the Wandashan area. Through Matlab, the location of each plot in the Wandashan area and the species diversity index of Joe, Irrigation, Grass and all species are represented in the form of graphs, reflecting the different species diversity indices in other areas of the mountainous region. Changes combining the results of the field survey with the existing literature, the floristic analysis is carried out to obtain the characteristics of the flora of the mountainous area, and reflec the information about the species diversity of the mountainous area. Through the similarity coefficient comparison and analysis of plant distribution, the relationship between the flora of Wandashan, Changbai Mountain and Xiaoxing’anling was determined. The results of flora analysis show that the flora of the Wandashan area belongs to the North Temperate Zone and has a general connection with other floras in the world. The flora of Northeast China mainly includes Xiaoxing’anling area, Wandashan area and Changbai Mountain. By comparing the similarity coefficients at the three levels of families, genera and species, it can be seen that the similarity coefficient between Xiaoxing’anling and Wandashan is higher than that between Changbai Mountain and Wandashan.
Flexible printed single-walled carbon nanotubes olfactory synaptic transistors with crosslinked poly(4-vinylphenol) as dielectrics
Authors: Li Min , Deng Jie , Wang Xin , Shao Shuangshuang , Li Xiaoqian , Gu Weibing , Wang Hua , Zhao Jianwen
Published: March 2021

Flexible brain-inspired neuromorphic transistors are spring up in the scopes of artificial electronic skins and human-interactive electronics for wearable devices and robotic applications benefiting from the capability of synchronous recognition and processing of the external information. In this work, we reported the flexible printed single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) synaptic thin film transistors (TFTs) with printed silver electrodes as source/drain and gate electrodes, and the solid state electrolyte blending ionic liquids with crosslinked-poly(4-vinylphenol) (c-PVP) as dielectric layers. Our flexible printed SWCNT synaptic transistors display excellent electrical properties, such as low operation voltages (between ±1 V), high on/off ratios (>106) and low off currents (∼10−12 A), as well good stability and good mechanical flexibility. These flexible printed SWCNT TFT devices can imitate some typical synaptic plasticities like excitatory postsynaptic current and paired-pulse facilitation. The results indicate that synaptic behaviors of flexible devices are related to weight concentrations of ionic liquids in ionic c-PVP insulators. Moreover, our synaptic transistors can imitate the olfactory neurons and show the inhibitory characteristic when triggered by under a series of electrical stimulations after exposure to NH3.
Physical explanations of Einstein’s gravity
Authors: Robinson V N E
Published: March 2021

Einstein’s gravitational field equations from his general theory of relativity have formed the foundations of gravitational studies since their publication. His work is widely acknowledged as an example of a theoretical study that made a great contribution to our understanding of gravity. Einstein’s mathematical approach has made the topic complex and open to misinterpretation. This study evaluates the physics upon which his mathematics operates. It shows that mass distorts space–time by the redshift of photons. It derives two alternative metrics to the Schwarzschild metric. One was derived directly from Einstein’s early work on gravity. The other was derived from Einstein’s field equations by removing the approximations introduced in the Schwarzschild metric derivation. Both match observation better than the Schwarzschild metric and show why Einstein did not believe in black holes. The metric derived directly from Einstein’s early gravitational study, predicts the torus shape shown in the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration image. In showing the physics involved, this study suggests it is easier to understand the complexities of his work.
Evaluation of interparticle interactions between magnetic nanoparticles using first order reversal curves and Weiss temperature
Authors: Mamiya H , Furukawa I , Huaman J L Cuya , Suzuki K , Miyamura H , Jeyadevan B
Published: March 2021

Two conventional methods for evaluating interparticle magnetic interactions are applied to magnetic nanoparticle assemblies with various interparticle distances that are controlled by a silica coating. According to Weiss temperatures derived from superparamagnetic response analysis, the mean values of the interparticle magnetic interactions are relatively small and seem to be independent of the interparticle distance. The interaction fields in the first-order reversal curve diagram for narrow interparticle distances are widely distributed. However, the interaction fields disappear when the interparticle distance is sufficiently large. Analysis of these two contrasting results indicates that ferromagnetic-like and antiferromagnetic-like magnetic couplings coexist and cancel each other, as in atomic spin glasses.
Distinct vegetation response to drying and wetting trends across an aridity threshold
Authors: Zhao Wei , Yu Xiubo , Liu Yu , Xu Li , Chen Zhi , Li Shenggong
Published: March 2021

Aridity regulates the terrestrial ecosystem productivity in water-limited regions. The aridity index (AI) is often defined as the ratio of annual precipitation to annual potential evapotranspiration. However, how the drying and wetting influence the vegetation response and its characteristic along aridity gradient remains unclear. Here, we examined trends of the AI and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) in the drylands of East Asia from 1982 to 2015, which denoted the drying and wetting trends and vegetation response, respectively. The results show that the variability in land area and AI from 1982–2015 was lower in the whole dryland than its subtypes including hyper-arid, arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid regions. Drying and wetting trends were observed in each AI interval along a spatial aridity gradient. Wetting trends are prevalent owing to their area and magnitude were twice those of drying trends. Spatial variation of aridity shaped the pattern of trends in vegetation response to drying and wetting trends; drier regions had smaller and narrower ranges of variation in NDVI trends relative to wetter regions. A shift in AI trends and NDVI trends along the spatial aridity gradient occurred at 0.4 of AI. Distinct patterns of vegetation response to aridity change were observed across the aridity threshold, and the transition region was identified in the studied drylands. The results suggest that changes in the subtypes might be masked by the entire drylands and then leading to failure in recognizing the transformation of the subtypes. This implies that terrestrial carbon storage variability prediction should consider the spatial aridity changes to avoid the uncertainties due to the divergent vegetation response to AI trends at different aridity levels.
Seven steps to reliable cyclic voltammetry measurements for the determination of double layer capacitance
Authors: Morales Dulce M , Risch Marcel
Published: March 2021

Discovery of electrocatalytic materials for high-performance energy conversion and storage applications relies on the adequate characterization of their intrinsic activity, which is currently hindered by the dearth of a protocol for consistent and precise determination of double layer capacitance (C
DL). Herein, we propose a seven-step method that aims to determine C
DL reliably by scan rate-dependent cyclic voltammetry considering aspects that strongly influence the outcome of the analysis, including (a) selection of a suitable measuring window, (b) the uncompensated resistance, (c) optimization of measuring settings, (d) data acquisition, (e) selection of data suitable for analysis, (f) extraction of the desired information, and (g) validation of the results. To illustrate the proposed method, two systems were studied: a resistor–capacitor electric circuit, and a glassy carbon disk in an electrochemical cell. With these studies, it is demonstrated that when any of the mentioned steps of the procedure are neglected, substantial deviations of the results are observed with misestimations as large as 61% in the case of the investigated electrochemical system. Moreover, we propose allometric regression as a more suitable model than linear regression for the determination of C
DL for both the ideal and the non-ideal systems investigated. We stress the importance of assessing the accuracy of not only highly specialized electrochemical methods, but also of those that are well-known and commonly used as it is the case of the voltammetric methods. The procedure proposed herein is not limited to the determination of C
DL, but can be effectively applied to any other analysis that aims to deliver quantitative results via voltammetric methods, which is crucial for the study of kinetic and diffusion phenomena in electrochemical systems.
Efficient hyperparameter tuning for kernel ridge regression with Bayesian optimization
Authors: Stuke Annika , Rinke Patrick , Todorović Milica
Published: March 2021

Machine learning methods usually depend on internal parameters—so called hyperparameters—that need to be optimized for best performance. Such optimization poses a burden on machine learning practitioners, requiring expert knowledge, intuition or computationally demanding brute-force parameter searches. We here assess three different hyperparameter selection methods: grid search, random search and an efficient automated optimization technique based on Bayesian optimization (BO). We apply these methods to a machine learning problem based on kernel ridge regression in computational chemistry. Two different descriptors are employed to represent the atomic structure of organic molecules, one of which introduces its own set of hyperparameters to the method. We identify optimal hyperparameter configurations and infer entire prediction error landscapes in hyperparameter space that serve as visual guides for the hyperparameter performance. We further demonstrate that for an increasing number of hyperparameters, BO and random search become significantly more efficient in computational time than an exhaustive grid search, while delivering an equivalent or even better accuracy.
Keratin 17 Is a Novel Cytologic Biomarker for Urothelial Carcinoma Diagnosis
Authors: Babu Sruthi , Kim Nam W , Wu Maoxin , Chan Ina , Escobar-Hoyos Luisa F , Shroyer Kenneth R
Published: March 2021

Objectives

The microscopic features of urine cytology specimens are subjective and may not reliably distinguish between benign urothelial cells and low-grade urothelial carcinoma (UC). Prior studies demonstrated that keratin 17 (K17) detection in biopsies is highly sensitive for UC. The current study aimed to define K17 diagnostic test performance for initial screening and detect recurrent UC in urine specimens.

Methods

K17 was detected by immunocytochemistry (ICC) in consecutively collected urine specimens (2018-2019). A qualitative score for the K17 test was determined in 81 samples (discovery cohort) and validated in 98 samples (validation cohort). K17 sensitivity and specificity were analyzed in both cohorts across all grades of UC.

Results

Based on the discovery cohort, the presence of 5 or more K17 immunoreactive urothelial cells (area under the curve = 0.90; P < .001) was the optimal threshold to define a K17-positive test. The sensitivity of the K17 ICC test for biopsy-confirmed UC was 35 of 36 (97%) and 18 of 21 (86%) in the discovery and validation cohorts, respectively. K17 was positive in 16 of 19 (84%) specimens with biopsy-confirmed low-grade UC and in 34 of 34 (100%) of specimens with high-grade UC.

Conclusions

K17 ICC is a highly sensitive diagnostic test for initial screening and detection of recurrence across all grades of UC.
Adjustment for Disease Severity in the Test-Negative Study Design
Authors: Ciocănea-Teodorescu Iuliana , Nason Martha , Sjölander Arvid , Gabriel Erin E
Published: March 2021

The test-negative study design is often used to estimate vaccine effectiveness in influenza studies, but it has also been proposed in the context of other infectious diseases, such as cholera, dengue, or Ebola. It was introduced as a variation of the case-control design, in an attempt to reduce confounding bias due to health-care–seeking behavior, and has quickly gained popularity because of its logistic advantages. However, examination of the directed acyclic graphs that describe the test-negative design reveals that without strong assumptions, the estimated odds ratio derived under this sampling mechanism is not collapsible over the selection variable, such that the results obtained for the sampled individuals cannot be generalized to the whole population. In this paper, we show that adjustment for severity of disease can reduce this bias and, under certain assumptions, makes it possible to unbiasedly estimate a causal odds ratio. We support our findings with extensive simulations and discuss them in the context of recently published cholera test-negative studies of the effectiveness of cholera vaccines.
Polypharmacy side-effect prediction with enhanced interpretability based on graph feature attention network
Authors: Bang Sunjoo , Jhee Jong Ho , Shin Hyunjung
Published: March 2021

Motivation

Polypharmacy side effects should be carefully considered for new drug development. However, considering all the complex drug–drug interactions that cause polypharmacy side effects is challenging. Recently, graph neural network (GNN) models have handled these complex interactions successfully and shown great predictive performance. Nevertheless, the GNN models have difficulty providing intelligible factors of the prediction for biomedical and pharmaceutical domain experts.

Method

A novel approach, graph feature attention network (GFAN), is presented for interpretable prediction of polypharmacy side effects by emphasizing target genes differently. To artificially simulate polypharmacy situations, where two different drugs are taken together, we formulated a node classification problem by using the concept of line graph in graph theory.

Results

Experiments with benchmark datasets validated interpretability of the GFAN and demonstrated competitive performance with the graph attention network in a previous work. And the specific cases in the polypharmacy side-effect prediction experiments showed that the GFAN model is capable of very sensitively extracting the target genes for each side-effect prediction.

Availability and implementation

https://github.com/SunjooBang/Polypharmacy-side-effect-prediction.
ExperimentSubset: an R package to manage subsets of Bioconductor Experiment objects
Authors: Sarfraz Irzam , Asif Muhammad , Campbell Joshua D
Published: March 2021

Motivation

R Experiment objects such as the SummarizedExperiment or SingleCellExperiment are data containers for storing one or more matrix-like assays along with associated row and column data. These objects have been used to facilitate the storage and analysis of high-throughput genomic data generated from technologies such as single-cell RNA sequencing. One common computational task in many genomics analysis workflows is to perform subsetting of the data matrix before applying down-stream analytical methods. For example, one may need to subset the columns of the assay matrix to exclude poor-quality samples or subset the rows of the matrix to select the most variable features. Traditionally, a second object is created that contains the desired subset of assay from the original object. However, this approach is inefficient as it requires the creation of an additional object containing a copy of the original assay and leads to challenges with data provenance.

Results

To overcome these challenges, we developed an R package called ExperimentSubset, which is a data container that implements classes for efficient storage and streamlined retrieval of assays that have been subsetted by rows and/or columns. These classes are able to inherently provide data provenance by maintaining the relationship between the subsetted and parent assays. We demonstrate the utility of this package on a single-cell RNA-seq dataset by storing and retrieving subsets at different stages of the analysis while maintaining a lower memory footprint. Overall, the ExperimentSubset is a flexible container for the efficient management of subsets.

Availability and implementation

ExperimentSubset package is available at Bioconductor: https://bioconductor.org/packages/ExperimentSubset/ and Github: https://github.com/campbio/ExperimentSubset.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Zp4 is completely dispensable for fertility in female rats
Authors: Zeng Ming-Hua , Wang Yan , Huang Hua-Lin , Quan Ru-Ping , Yang Jun-Ting , Guo Dan , Sun Ying , Lv Chao , Li Tian-Ying , Wang Le , Tan Hang-Jin , Long Pan-Pan , Deng Hong-Wen , Xiao Hong-Mei
Published: March 2021

Zona pellucida (ZP), which is composed of at most four extracellular glycoproteins (ZP1, ZP2, ZP3, and ZP4) in mammals, shelters the oocytes and is vital in female fertility. Several studies have identified the indispensable roles of ZP1–3 in maintaining normal female fertility. However, the understanding of ZP4 is still very poor because only one study on ZP4-associated infertility performed in rabbits has been reported up to date. Here we investigated the function of mammalian Zp4 by creating a knockout (KO) rat strain (Zp4−/− rat) using CRISPR–Cas9-mediated DNA-editing method. The influence of Zp4 KO on ZP morphology and some pivotal processes of reproduction, including oogenesis, ovulation, fertilization, and pup production, were studied using periodic acid–Schiff’s staining, superovulation, in vitro fertilization, and natural mating. The ZP morphology in Zp4−/− rats was normal, and none of these pivotal processes was affected. This study renewed the knowledge of mammalian Zp4 by suggesting that Zp4 was completely dispensable for female fertility.
The extreme capsule and aphasia: proof-of-concept of a new way relating structure to neurological symptoms
Authors: Martinez Oeckel Ariane , Rijntjes Michel , Glauche Volkmar , Kümmerer Dorothee , Kaller Christoph P , Egger Karl , Weiller Cornelius
Published: March 2021

We present anatomy-based symptom-lesion mapping to assess the association between lesions of tracts in the extreme capsule and aphasia. The study cohort consisted of 123 patients with acute left-hemispheric stroke without a lesion of language-related cortical areas of the Stanford atlas of functional regions of interest. On templates generated through global fibre tractography, lesions of the extreme capsule and of the arcuate fascicle were quantified and correlated with the occurrence of aphasia (n = 18) as defined by the Token Test. More than 15% damage of the slice plane through the extreme capsule was a strong independent predictor of aphasia in stroke patients, odds ratio 16.37, 95% confidence interval: 3.11–86.16, P < 0.01. In contrast, stroke lesions of >15% in the arcuate fascicle were not associated with aphasia. Our results support the relevance of a ventral pathway in the language network running through the extreme capsule.
Daily activity rhythms, chronotypes, and risk-taking behavior in the signal crayfish
Authors: Sbragaglia Valerio , Breithaupt Thomas
Published: March 2021

Consistent inter-individual differences in daily activity rhythms (i.e., chronotypes) can have ecological consequences in determining access to food resources and avoidance of predators. The most common measure to characterize chronotypes in animals as well as humans is the onset of activity (i.e., early or late chronotypes). However, daily activity rhythms may also differ in the relative amount of activity displayed at particular time periods. Moreover, chronotypes may also be linked to other consistent inter-individual differences in behavior (i.e., personality), such as the propensity to take risks. Here, we used the signal crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus to test the presence of chronotypes and risk-taking personality traits and a potential behavioral syndrome between these traits. We first exposed crayfish to 5 days of light–darkness to measure daily activity rhythms and then we applied a visual predator-simulating stimulus in 2 different contexts (neutral and food). Our results showed consistent (i.e., across 5 days) inter-individual differences in the relative nocturnal activity displayed in the early and middle, but not in the late part of darkness hours. Moreover, while crayfish displayed inter-individual differences in risk-taking behavior, these were not found to be consistent across 2 contexts. Therefore, we were not able to formally test a behavioral syndrome between these 2 traits. In conclusion, our study provides the first evidence of chronotypes in the relative amount of activity displayed at particular time periods. This could be a valuable information for applied ecological aspects related to the signal crayfish, which is a major invasive species of freshwater ecosystems.
Utilization of sacubitril/valsartan in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction: real-world data from the ARIADNE registry
Authors: Zeymer Uwe , Clark Andrew L , Barrios Vivencio , Damy Thibaud , Drożdż Jaroslaw , Fonseca Candida , Lund Lars H , Kalus Stefanie , Ferber Philippe C , Hussain Rizwan I , Koch Cornelia , Maggioni Aldo P
Published: March 2021

Aims

To compare baseline characteristics of patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) initiated on sacubitril/valsartan compared with patients continued on conventional heart failure (HF)-treatment in a European out-patient setting.

Methods and results

Between July 2016 and July 2019, ARIADNE enrolled 8787 outpatients aged ≥18 years with HFrEF from 17 European countries. Choice of therapy was solely at the investigators’ discretion. In total, 4173 patients were on conventional HF-treatment (non-S/V group), while 4614 patients were on sacubitril/valsartan either at enrolment or started sacubitril/valsartan within 1 month of enrolment (S/V group). Of these, 2108 patients started sacubitril/valsartan treatment ±1 month around enrolment [restricted S/V (rS/V) group]. The average age of the patients was 68 years. Patients on S/V were more likely to have New York Heart Association (NYHA) class III or IV symptoms (50.3%, 44.6%, 32.1% in rS/V, S/V, and non-S/V, respectively) and had lower left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF; 32.3%, 32.7%, and 35.4% in rS/V, S/V, and non-S/V, respectively; P < 0.0001). The most frequently received HF treatments were angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor/angiotensin receptor blocker (ACEI/ARB; ∼84% in non-S/V), followed by β-blockers (∼80%) and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRAs; 53%). The use of triple HF therapy (ACEI/ARB/angiotensin receptor neprilysin inhibitor with β-blockers and MRA) was higher in the S/V groups than non-S/V group (48.2%, 48.2%, and 40.2% in rS/V, S/V, and non-S/V, respectively).

Conclusion

In this large multinational HFrEF registry, patients receiving sacubitril/valsartan tended to be younger with lower LVEF and higher NYHA class. Fewer than half of the patients received triple HF therapy.
Sarcopenic Obesity and Amino Acids: Concord Health and Ageing in Men Project
Authors: Le Couteur David G , Handelsman David J , Stanaway Fiona , Waite Louise M , Blyth Fiona M , Naganathan Vasi , Cumming Robert G , Hirani Vasant
Published: March 2021

Although characteristic changes in amino acid concentrations occur in obesity and sarcopenia, amino acids concentrations have not been reported in sarcopenic obesity. We studied n = 831 men aged 75 years and older from the 5-year follow-up of the Concord Health and Ageing in Men Project. Sarcopenia was defined using the Foundation of the National Institutes of Health criteria and obesity was defined as >30% fat mass. There were 31 men (3.7%) who had sarcopenic obesity. Branched chain amino acids were elevated in the obese (but not sarcopenic) group (n = 348) but reduced in both the sarcopenic (but not obese) (n = 44) and the sarcopenic obese groups. Apart from this, most of the amino acid concentrations were between those for the obese and the sarcopenic groups. Yet despite low concentrations of branched chain amino acids, the sarcopenic obese group had indications of insulin resistance and diabetes mellitus (fasting glucose and insulin concentrations, homeostatic model assessment, and percentage of participants taking diabetes medications) that were similar to the obese group. In summary, sarcopenic obese participants did not have a unique amino acid signature. In obesity, elevated branched chain amino acids are not a prerequisite for insulin resistance and diabetes if obesity is associated with sarcopenia.
Risk of Nursing Home Use Among Older Americans: The Impact of Psychiatric History and Trajectories of Cognitive Function
Authors: Brown Maria T , Mutambudzi Miriam
Published: March 2021

Objectives

Mental illness and cognitive functioning may be independently associated with nursing home use. We investigated the strength of the association between baseline (1998) psychiatric history, 8-year cognitive function trajectories, and prospective incidence of nursing home use over a 10-year period while accounting for relevant covariates in U.S. adults aged 65 and older. We hypothesized that self-reported baseline history of psychiatric, emotional, or nervous problems would be associated with a greater risk of nursing home use and that cognition trajectories with the greatest decline would be associated with a subsequent higher risk of nursing home use.

Methods

We used 8 waves (1998–2016) of Health and Retirement Study data for adults aged 65 years and older. Latent class mixture modeling identified 4 distinct cognitive function trajectory classes (1998–2006): low-declining, medium-declining, medium-stable, and high-declining. Participants from the 1998 wave (N = 5,628) were classified into these 4 classes. Competing risks regression analysis modeled the subhazard ratio of nursing home use between 2006 and 2016 as a function of baseline psychiatric history and cognitive function trajectories.

Results

Psychiatric history was independently associated with greater risk of nursing home use (subhazard ratio [SHR] 1.26, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.06–1.51, p < .01), net the effects of life course variables. Furthermore, “low-declining” (SHR 2.255, 95% CI 1.70–2.99, p < .001) and “medium-declining” (2.103, 95% CI 1.69–2.61, p < .001) trajectories predicted increased risk of nursing home use.

Discussion

Evidence of these associations can be used to educate policymakers and providers about the need for appropriate psychiatric training for staff in community-based and residential long-term care programs.
The Association Between Subjective Age and Motoric Cognitive Risk Syndrome: Results From a Population-Based Cohort Study
Authors: Stephan Yannick , Sutin Angelina R , Canada Brice , Terracciano Antonio
Published: March 2021

Objectives

The motoric cognitive risk (MCR) syndrome, characterized by cognitive complaints and slower gait speed, is a predementia syndrome associated with dementia and mortality risk. The present study examined whether subjective age, that is, how old or young individuals feel relative to their chronological age, is related to concurrent and incident MCR syndrome. A relation between subjective age and MCR will inform knowledge on psychological factors related to dementia risk, identify who is at greater risk, and suggest a potential target of intervention.

Methods

The study sample was composed of 6,341 individuals aged 65–107 years without dementia from the Health and Retirement Study, a longitudinal study of adults aged 50 years and older. Participants completed measures of subjective age, cognitive complaints, and gait speed and provided information on demographic factors, cognition, physical activity, depressive symptoms, and body mass index (BMI) at baseline in 2008/2010. Incident MCR was assessed 4 and 8 years later.

Results

Controlling for demographic factors, an older subjective age was related to more than 60% higher likelihood of MCR at baseline and to around 50% higher risk of incident MCR over time. These associations remained significant when cognition, physical inactivity, depressive symptoms, and BMI were included in the analytic models.

Discussion

This study provides evidence that how old individuals feel is related to concurrent and incident MCR beyond the effect of chronological age, other demographic factors, physical inactivity, depressive symptoms, BMI, and cognitive functioning.
Early-onset developmental impairments among infants attending the routine immunization clinic at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria
Authors: Adeniyi Y C , Asinobi A , Idowu O O , Adelaja A A , Lagunju I A
Published: March 2021

Developmental disorders are frequently overlooked in the developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Early identification of developmental delays (DDs) is critical to optimal outcomes. This study set out to determine the proportion of children who are at risk of DDs among infants attending immunization clinics at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria. Infants 6 weeks to 12 months of age (median age 6 months) who presented for routine immunization were screened for DDs using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire. A total of 587 infants [312 (53.2%) males] were enrolled. A total of 198 (33.7%) children showed signs of DDs. For the domains of communication skills, fine motor skills, gross motor skills, problem solving/cognition skills and personal/social skills, the prevalences of DDs were 7.5%, 15.0%, 10.7%, 14.1% and 14.8%, respectively, and 14.3% had global DDs. Factors that significantly predicted DDs included prematurity (odds ratio [OR] 2.64 [95% confidence interval {CI} 1.45 to 2.05]) and a history of perinatal asphyxia (OR 1.74 [95% CI 1.77 to 2.49]). There is a need to incorporate routine developmental screening into the Nigerian healthcare system for timely recognition of DDs and prompt interventions.
A Multicenter Evaluation of a Point-of-Care Blood Glucose Meter System in Critically Ill Patients
Authors: Nichols James H , Brandler Ethan S , Fantz Corinne R , Fisher Kimberley , Goodman Michael D , Headden Gary , Hoppensteadt Debra , Matika Ryan , Peacock W Frank , Rodrigo John , Schützenmeister Andre , Swanson Jonathan R , Canada-Vilalta Cristina , Miles Gabrielle , Tran Nam
Published: March 2021

Background

Our purpose was to evaluate the performance of the ACCU-CHEK® Inform II blood glucose monitoring system (Roche Diagnostics GmbH) compared with the perchloric acid hexokinase (PCA-HK) comparator method on the cobas® 6000 analyzer (Roche Diagnostics International Ltd) in critically ill patients.

Methods

Overall, 476 arterial (376 pediatric/adult, 100 neonate), 375 venous, and 100 neonatal heel-stick whole-blood samples were collected and evaluated from critical care settings at 10 US hospitals, including the emergency department, medical and surgical intensive care units (ICUs), and neonatal and pediatric ICUs. The ACCU-CHEK Inform II system was evaluated at 2 cutoff boundaries: boundary 1 was ≥95% of results within ±12 mg/dL of the reference (samples with blood glucose <75 mg/dL) or ±12% of the reference (glucose ≥75 mg/dL), and boundary 2 was ≥98% of results within ±15 mg/dL or ±15% of the reference. Clinical performance was assessed by evaluating sample data using Parkes error grid, Monte Carlo simulation, and sensitivity and specificity analyses to estimate clinical accuracy and implications for insulin dosing when using the ACCU-CHEK Inform II system.

Results

Proportions of results within evaluation boundaries 1 and 2, respectively, were 96% and 98% for venous samples, 94% and 97% for pediatric and adult arterial samples, 84% and 98% for neonatal arterial samples, and 96% and 100% for neonatal heel-stick samples. Clinical evaluation demonstrated high specificity and sensitivity, with low risk of potential insulin-dosing errors.

Conclusions

The ACCU-CHEK Inform II system demonstrated clinically acceptable performance against the PCA-HK reference method for blood glucose monitoring in a diverse population of critically ill patients in US care settings.
Dynamics of D-amino acid oxidase ain kidney epithelial cells under amino acid starvation
Authors: Sogabe Hirofumi , Shishido Yuji , Miyazaki Hayato , Kim Soo Hyeon , Rachadech Wanitcha , Fukui Kiyoshi
Published: March 2021

D-amino acid oxidase (DAO) is a flavoenzyme catalyzing the oxidation of D-amino acid (AA)s. In the kidney, its expression is detected in proximal tubules, and DAO is considered to play a role in the conversion of D-form AAs to α-keto acids. LLC-PK1 cells, a pig renal proximal tubule cell line, were used to elucidate the regulation of DAO protein synthesis and degradation. In this study, we showed that trypsinization of LLC-PK1 cells in culture system rapidly reduced the intracellular DAO protein level to ∼33.9% of that before treatment, even within 30 min. Furthermore, we observed that the DAO protein level was decreased when LLC-PK1 cells were subjected to AA starvation. To determine the degradation pathway, we treated the cells with chloroquine and MG132. DAO degradation was found to be inhibited by chloroquine, but not by MG132 treatment. We next examined whether or not DAO was degraded by autophagy. We found that AA starvation led to an increased accumulation of LC3-II, suggesting that DAO protein is degraded by autophagy due to AA starvation conditions. Furthermore, treatment with cycloheximide inhibited DAO protein degradation. Taken together, DAO protein is degraded by autophagy under starvation. The present study revealed the potential dynamics of DAO correlated with renal pathophysiology.