bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
UnderPressure: Deep Learning for Foot Contact Detection, Ground Reaction Force Estimation and Footskate Cleanup
Authors: Mourot Lucas , Hoyet Ludovic , Clerc François Le , Hellier Pierre
Published: March 2023

Human motion synthesis and editing are essential to many applications like video games, virtual reality, and film post‐production. However, they often introduce artefacts in motion capture data, which can be detrimental to the perceived realism. In particular, footskating is a frequent and disturbing artefact, which requires knowledge of foot contacts to be cleaned up. Current approaches to obtain foot contact labels rely either on unreliable threshold‐based heuristics or on tedious manual annotation. In this article, we address automatic foot contact label detection from motion capture data with a deep learning based method. To this end, we first publicly release Under Pressure, a novel motion capture database labelled with pressure insoles data serving as reliable knowledge of foot contact with the ground. Then, we design and train a deep neural network to estimate ground reaction forces exerted on the feet from motion data and then derive accurate foot contact labels. The evaluation of our model shows that we significantly outperform heuristic approaches based on height and velocity thresholds and that our approach is much more robust when applied on motion sequences suffering from perturbations like noise or footskate. We further propose a fully automatic workflow for footskate cleanup: foot contact labels are first derived from estimated ground reaction forces. Then, footskate is removed by solving foot constraints through an optimisation‐based inverse kinematics (IK) approach that ensures consistency with the estimated ground reaction forces. Beyond footskate cleanup, both the database and the method we propose could help to improve many approaches based on foot contact labels or ground reaction forces, including inverse dynamics problems like motion reconstruction and learning of deep motion models in motion synthesis or character animation. Our implementation, pre‐trained model as well as links to database can be found at github.com/InterDigitalInc/UnderPressure.
MP‐NeRF: Neural Radiance Fields for Dynamic Multi‐person synthesis from Sparse Views
Authors: Chao X. J. , Leung H.
Published: March 2023

Multi‐person novel view synthesis aims to generate free‐viewpoint videos for dynamic scenes of multiple persons. However, current methods require numerous views to reconstruct a dynamic person and only achieve good performance when only a single person is present in the video. This paper aims to reconstruct a multi‐person scene with fewer views, especially addressing the occlusion and interaction problems that appear in the multi‐person scene. We propose MP‐NeRF, a practical method for multi‐person novel view synthesis from sparse cameras without the pre‐scanned template human models. We apply a multi‐person SMPL template as the identity and human motion prior. Then we build a global latent code to integrate the relative observations among multiple people, so we could represent multiple dynamic people into multiple neural radiance representations from sparse views. Experiments on multi‐person dataset MVMP show that our method is superior to other state‐of‐the‐art methods.
Occluder Generation for Buildings in Digital Games
Authors: Wu Kui , He Xu , Pan Zherong , Gao Xifeng
Published: March 2023

Occlusion culling has become a prevalent method in modern game engines. It can significantly reduce the rendering cost by using an approximate coarse mesh (occluder) for culling hidden objects. An ideal occluder should use as few faces as possible to represent the high‐resolution input mesh with a high culling accuracy. We address the open problem of automatic occluder generation for 3D building models with complex topology and interior structures. Our method first generates two coarse sets of faces via patch‐based and voxel‐based mesh simplification techniques. A metric‐guided selection algorithm chooses the best subset of faces to form the occluder, achieving a high occlusion rate and accuracy. Over an evaluation of 77 building models, our method compares favorably against state‐of‐the‐arts in terms of occlusion accuracy, occlusion rate, and face number.
Joint Hand and Object Pose Estimation from a Single RGB Image using High‐level 2D Constraints
Authors: Song H.‐X. , Mu T.‐J. , Martin R. R.
Published: March 2023

Joint pose estimation of human hands and objects from a single RGB image is an important topic for AR/VR, robot manipulation, etc. It is common practice to determine both poses directly from the image; some recent methods attempt to improve the initial poses using a variety of contact‐based approaches. However, few methods take the real physical constraints conveyed by the image into consideration, leading to less realistic results than the initial estimates. To overcome this problem, we make use of a set of high‐level 2D features which can be directly extracted from the image in a new pipeline which combines contact approaches and these constraints during optimization. Our pipeline achieves better results than direct regression or contact‐based optimization: they are closer to the ground truth and provide high quality contact.
EL‐GAN: Edge‐Enhanced Generative Adversarial Network for Layout‐to‐Image Generation
Authors: Gao Lin , Wu Lei , Meng Xiangxu
Published: March 2023

Although some progress has been made in the layout‐to‐image generation of complex scenes with multiple objects, object‐level generation still suffers from distortion and poor recognizability. We argue that this is caused by the lack of feature encodings for edge information during image generation. In order to solve these limitations, we propose a novel edge‐enhanced Generative Adversarial Network for layout‐to‐image generation (termed EL‐GAN). The feature encodings of edge information are learned from the multi‐level features output by the generator and iteratively optimized along the generator's pipeline. Two new components are included at each generator level to enable multi‐scale learning. Specifically, one is the edge generation module (EGM), which is responsible for converting the output of the multi‐level features by the generator into images of different scales and extracting their edge maps. The other is the edge fusion module (EFM), which integrates the feature encodings refined from the edge maps into the subsequent image generation process by modulating the parameters in the normalization layers. Meanwhile, the discriminator is fed with frequency‐sensitive image features, which greatly enhances the generation quality of the image's high‐frequency edge contours and low‐frequency regions. Extensive experiments show that EL‐GAN outperforms the state‐of‐the‐art methods on the COCO‐Stuff and Visual Genome datasets. Our source code is available at https://github.com/Azure616/EL-GAN.
Generative Deformable Radiance Fields for Disentangled Image Synthesis of Topology‐Varying Objects
Authors: Wang Ziyu , Deng Yu , Yang Jiaolong , Yu Jingyi , Tong Xin
Published: March 2023

3D‐aware generative models have demonstrated their superb performance to generate 3D neural radiance fields (NeRF) from a collection of monocular 2D images even for topology‐varying object categories. However, these methods still lack the capability to separately control the shape and appearance of the objects in the generated radiance fields. In this paper, we propose a generative model for synthesizing radiance fields of topology‐varying objects with disentangled shape and appearance variations. Our method generates deformable radiance fields, which builds the dense correspondence between the density fields of the objects and encodes their appearances in a shared template field. Our disentanglement is achieved in an unsupervised manner without introducing extra labels to previous 3D‐aware GAN training. We also develop an effective image inversion scheme for reconstructing the radiance field of an object in a real monocular image and manipulating its shape and appearance. Experiments show that our method can successfully learn the generative model from unstructured monocular images and well disentangle the shape and appearance for objects (e.g., chairs) with large topological variance. The model trained on synthetic data can faithfully reconstruct the real object in a given single image and achieve high‐quality texture and shape editing results.
Depth‐Aware Shadow Removal
Authors: Fu Yanping , Gai Zhenyu , Zhao Haifeng , Zhang Shaojie , Shan Ying , Wu Yang , Tang Jin
Published: March 2023

Shadow removal from a single image is an ill‐posed problem because shadow generation is affected by the complex interactions of geometry, albedo, and illumination. Most recent deep learning‐based methods try to directly estimate the mapping between the non‐shadow and shadow image pairs to predict the shadow‐free image. However, they are not very effective for shadow images with complex shadows or messy backgrounds. In this paper, we propose a novel end‐to‐end depth‐aware shadow removal method without using depth images, which estimates depth information from RGB images and leverages the depth feature as guidance to enhance shadow removal and refinement. The proposed framework consists of three components, including depth prediction, shadow removal, and boundary refinement. First, the depth prediction module is used to predict the corresponding depth map of the input shadow image. Then, we propose a new generative adversarial network (GAN) method integrated with depth information to remove shadows in the RGB image. Finally, we propose an effective boundary refinement framework to alleviate the artifact around boundaries after shadow removal by depth cues. We conduct experiments on several public datasets and real‐world shadow images. The experimental results demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed method and superior performance against state‐of‐the‐art methods.
Color‐mapped noise vector fields for generating procedural micro‐patterns
Authors: Grenier C. , Sauvage B. , Dischler J.‐M. , Thery S.
Published: March 2023

Stochastic micro‐patterns successfully enhance the realism of virtual scenes. Procedural models using noise combined with transfer functions are extremely efficient. However, most patterns produced today employ 1D transfer functions, which assign color, transparency, or other material attributes, based solely on the single scalar quantity of noise. Multi‐dimensional transfer functions have received widespread attention in other fields, such as scientific volume rendering. But their potential has not yet been well explored for modeling micro‐patterns in the field of procedural texturing. We propose a new procedural model for stochastic patterns, defined as the composition of a bi‐dimensional transfer function (a.k.a. color‐map) with a stochastic vector field. Our model is versatile, as it encompasses several existing procedural noises, including Gaussian noise and phasor noise. It also generates a much larger gamut of patterns, including locally structured patterns which are notoriously difficult to reproduce. We leverage the Gaussian assumption and a tiling and blending algorithm to provide real‐time generation and filtering. A key contribution is a real‐time approximation of the second order statistics over an arbitrary pixel footprint, which enables, in addition, the filtering of procedural normal maps. We exhibit a wide variety of results, including Gaussian patterns, profiled waves, concentric and non‐concentric patterns.
Pixel Art Adaptation for Handicraft Fabrication
Authors: Igarashi Yuki , Igarashi Takeo
Published: March 2023

Knitting and weaving patterns can be visually represented as pixel art. With hand knitting and weaving, human error (shifting, duplicating, or skipping pixels) can occur during manual fabrication. It is too costly to change already‐fabricated pixels, so experts often adapt pixels that have not yet been fabricated to make the errors less visible. This paper proposes an automatic adaptation process to minimize visual artifacts. The system presents multiple adaptation possibilities to the user, who can choose the proposed adaptation or untie and re‐fabricate their work. In typical handicraft fabrication, the design is complete before the start of fabrication and remains fixed during fabrication. Our system keeps updating the design during fabrication to tolerate human errors in the process. We implemented the proposed algorithm in a system that visualizes the knitting pattern, cross‐stitching and bead weaving processes.
Efficient Texture Parameterization Driven by Perceptual‐Loss‐on‐Screen
Authors: Sun Haoran , Wang Shiyi , Wu Wenhai , Jin Yao , Bao Hujun , Huang Jin
Published: March 2023

Texture mapping is a ubiquitous technique to enrich the visual effect of a mesh, which represents the desired signal (e.g. diffuse color) on the mesh to a texture image discretized by pixels through a bijective parameterization. To achieve high visual quality, large number of pixels are generally required, which brings big burden in storage, memory and transmission. We propose to use a perceptual model and a rendering procedure to measure the loss coming from the discretization, then optimize a parameterization to improve the efficiency, i.e. using fewer pixels under a comparable perceptual loss. The general perceptual model and rendering procedure can be very complicated, and non‐isotropic property rooted in the square shape of pixels make the problem more difficult to solve. We adopt a two‐stage strategy and use the Bayesian optimization in the triangle‐wise stage. With our carefully designed weighting scheme, the mesh‐wise optimization can take the triangle‐wise perceptual loss into consideration under a global conforming requirement. Comparing with many parameterizations manually designed, driven by interpolation error, or driven by isotropic energy, ours can use significantly fewer pixels with comparable perception loss or vise vesa.
Learning Dynamic 3D Geometry and Texture for Video Face Swapping
Authors: Otto C. , Naruniec J. , Helminger L. , Etterlin T. , Mignone G. , Chandran P. , Zoss G. , Schroers C. , Gross M. , Gotardo P. , Bradley D. , Weber R.
Published: March 2023

Face swapping is the process of applying a source actor's appearance to a target actor's performance in a video. This is a challenging visual effect that has seen increasing demand in film and television production. Recent work has shown that data‐driven methods based on deep learning can produce compelling effects at production quality in a fraction of the time required for a traditional 3D pipeline. However, the dominant approach operates only on 2D imagery without reference to the underlying facial geometry or texture, resulting in poor generalization under novel viewpoints and little artistic control. Methods that do incorporate geometry rely on pre‐learned facial priors that do not adapt well to particular geometric features of the source and target faces. We approach the problem of face swapping from the perspective of learning simultaneous convolutional facial autoencoders for the source and target identities, using a shared encoder network with identity‐specific decoders. The key novelty in our approach is that each decoder first lifts the latent code into a 3D representation, comprising a dynamic face texture and a deformable 3D face shape, before projecting this 3D face back onto the input image using a differentiable renderer. The coupled autoencoders are trained only on videos of the source and target identities, without requiring 3D supervision. By leveraging the learned 3D geometry and texture, our method achieves face swapping with higher quality than when using off‐the‐shelf monocular 3D face reconstruction, and overall lower FID score than state‐of‐the‐art 2D methods. Furthermore, our 3D representation allows for efficient artistic control over the result, which can be hard to achieve with existing 2D approaches.
BareSkinNet: De‐makeup and De‐lighting via 3D Face Reconstruction
Authors: Yang Xingchao , Taketomi Takafumi
Published: March 2023

We propose BareSkinNet, a novel method that simultaneously removes makeup and lighting influences from the face image. Our method leverages a 3D morphable model and does not require a reference clean face image or a specified light condition. By combining the process of 3D face reconstruction, we can easily obtain 3D geometry and coarse 3D textures. Using this information, we can infer normalized 3D face texture maps (diffuse, normal, roughness, and specular) by an image‐translation network. Consequently, reconstructed 3D face textures without undesirable information will significantly benefit subsequent processes, such as re‐lighting or re‐makeup. In experiments, we show that BareSkinNet outperforms state‐of‐the‐art makeup removal methods. In addition, our method is remarkably helpful in removing makeup to generate consistent high‐fidelity texture maps, which makes it extendable to many realistic face generation applications. It can also automatically build graphic assets of face makeup images before and after with corresponding 3D data. This will assist artists in accelerating their work, such as 3D makeup avatar creation.
Ivacaftor: Five‐year outcomes in the West of Scotland cystic fibrosis population
Authors: Al‐Din Yasmin , Dryden Carol , MacGregor Gordon , Young David , Coelho Cristina
Published: March 2023

Introduction

Ivacaftor has shown to be effective in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) with a G551D mutation.

Objectives

This work aims to evaluate ivacaftor's effectiveness and safety in the real world, over 5 years, in the West of Scotland CF population.

Methods

We evaluated ivacaftor's effect on pulmonary function, body mass index (BMI), hospital bed occupancy, and adverse effects in patients ≥6 years with at least one G551D mutation.

Results

Statistically significant increases from baseline were observed in mean per cent predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) at year 1 (which was maintained at years 2 and 5) and BMI over 5 years in our adolescent/adult cohort. Improvements were observed in per cent predicted FEV1 within the paediatric cohort with a suggestion of a plateau effect. The increase in paediatric BMI z‐score was nonstatistically significant. There was a reduction in the number of pulmonary exacerbations requiring intravenous antibiotics and hospital bed occupancy. Ivacaftor was well tolerated.

Conclusion

Ivacaftor was effective in our population.
The impact of pre‐existing hematologic disorders on morbidity and mortality following heart transplantation: Focus on early graft dysfunction
Authors: Carey Matthew R. , Ladanyi Annamaria , Mehlman Yonatan , Molinsky Rebecca L. , Eisenberger Andrew , Clerkin Kevin J. , Aaron Justin G. , Takeda Koji , Sayer Gabriel T. , Uriel Nir , Demmer Ryan T. , Colombo Paolo C. , Yuzefpolskaya Melana
Published: March 2023

Background

Heart transplantation (HT) is the gold standard therapy for advanced heart failure, providing excellent long‐term outcomes. However, postoperative outcomes are limited by bleeding, infections, and primary graft dysfunction (PGD) that contribute to early mortality after HT. HT candidates with pre‐existing hematologic disorders, bleeding, and clotting, may represent a higher risk population. We assessed the short‐ and long‐term outcomes of patients with pre‐existing hematologic disorders undergoing HT.

Methods and results

Medical records of all adult patients who received HT from January 2010 to December 2019 at our institution were retrospectively reviewed. Hematologic disorders were identified via chart review and adjudicated by a board‐certified hematologist. Inverse probability weighting and multivariable models were used to adjust for potential pretransplant confounders. Four hundred and ninety HT recipients were included, of whom 29 (5.9%) had a hematologic disorder. Hematologic disorders were associated with severe PGD requiring mechanical circulatory support (aOR 3.15 [1.01–9.86]; p = .049), postoperative infections (aOR 2.93 [1.38–6.23]; p = .01), and 3‐year acute cellular rejection (ACR) (≥1R/1B) (aSHR 2.06 [1.09–3.87]; p = .03). There was no difference in in‐hospital mortality (aOR 1.23 [.20–7.58], p = .82) or 3‐year mortality (aHR 1.58 [.49–5.12], p = .44).

Conclusions

Patients with hematologic disorders undergoing HT are at increased risk of severe PGD, postoperative infections, and ACR, while in‐hospital and 3‐year mortality remain unaffected.
Multi‐attribute group decision‐making based on linguistic Pythagorean fuzzy copula extended power average operator
Authors: Kou Yaqing , Wang Jun , Xu Wuhuan , Xu Yuan
Published: March 2023

This paper aims to propose a novel multi‐attribute group decision‐making (MAGDM) method based on linguistic Pythagorean fuzzy copula extended power average operator. Existing researches under linguistic Pythagorean fuzzy environment lack of the ability to handle with extreme values and the flexible operational rules. To fill these two gaps, this paper first provides the definition of Archimedean copula and co‐copula operational rules under linguistic Pythagorean fuzzy environment, which can reflect the connection among arguments and provide more choices for experts to express their preferences. Then, we gather the extended power average (EPA) operator to present some new aggregation operators, which can reduce the negative influence of extreme evaluation values. To show the application of the proposed method to MAGDM problems, we apply it to handle a case of takeout O2O platform assessment problem. The numerical case and comparative analysis with other existing methods illustrate that our proposed method is more scientific and flexible.
Nanoplastics modulate the outcome of a zooplankton–microparasite interaction
Authors: Mavrianos Stylianos , Manzi Florent , Agha Ramsy , Azoubib Noemi , Schampera Charlotte , Wolinska Justyna
Published: March 2023

The accumulation and degradation of plastic waste in freshwater bodies poses a threat to aquatic biota. Microplastics (<5 mm) can transfer upwards in food chains and have been shown to induce deleterious effects on important players of freshwater ecosystems, including zooplankton.

A smaller category of microplastic particles, the so‐called nanoplastics (≤100 nm) raise special concern due to their ability to act at sub‐cellular and molecular levels. Despite growing knowledge of their effects on physiological traits of individual species, the way they affect interactions between species remains largely unexplored.

We studied the effects of nanoplastics on host–parasite interactions by exposing the zooplankton host Daphnia galeata × longispina to the parasitic yeast Metschnikowia bicuspidata without plastic and at two different concentrations of polystyrene nanoplastic beads (100 nm): 5 and 20 mg/L.

Both concentrations of nanoplastics increased the proportion of infected hosts; at the higher concentration, however, elevated rates of host mortality and impaired spore production cancelled out the parasite's advantage. Consequently, parasite success was greatest at the lower level of nanoplastic exposure.

Infection by Metschnikowia greatly reduced host lifespan and total offspring production (regardless of nanoplastic exposure), but only decreased the proportion of successfully reproducing hosts when Daphnia were additionally exposed to nanoplastics. Nanoplastics alone did not cause such a reduction in host fitness parameters: instead, the lower concentration increased lifetime offspring production by about 50%, suggesting hormesis.

Given that parasitism is a ubiquitous lifestyle in nature and that parasites can play important roles in the shaping and functioning of ecosystems, these results highlight the importance of including interactions between host and parasite species as alternative ecotoxicological endpoints to better assess the ecological consequences of plastic pollution.
A shift in paradigm? Collaborative public administration in the context of national digitalization strategies
Authors: Hammerschmid Gerhard , Palaric Enora , Rackwitz Maike , Wegrich Kai
Published: March 2023

Despite claims of a paradigmatic shift toward the increased role of networks and partnerships as a form of governance—driven and enabled by digital technologies—the relation of “Networked Governance” with the pre‐existing paradigms of “Traditional Weberian Public Administration” and “New Public Management” remains relatively unexplored. This research aims at collecting systematic evidence on the dominant paradigms in digitalization reforms in Europe by comparing the doctrines employed in the initial and most recent digitalization strategies across eight European countries: Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and the United Kingdom. We challenge the claim that Networked Governance is emerging as the dominant paradigm in the context of the digitalization of the public sector. The findings confirm earlier studies indicating that information and communication technologies tend to reinforce some traditional features of administration and the recentralization of power. Furthermore, we find evidence of the continued importance of key features of “New Public Management” in the digital era.
Reduction of senescence‐associated secretory phenotype and exosome‐shuttled miRNAs by Haritaki fruit extract in senescent dermal fibroblasts
Authors: Bogdanowicz Patrick , Roullet Nicolas , Bensadoun Paul , Bessou‐Touya Sandrine , Lemaitre Jean‐Marc , Duplan Hélène
Published: March 2023

Objective

Skin ageing is linked to the accumulation of senescent cells and a “senescence‐associated secretory phenotype” (SASP). SASP factors include chemokines, cytokines, and small extracellular vesicles (EVs) containing miRNAs. We characterized SASP profile markers in normal human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs) and evaluated the effect of Haritaki fruit extract on these senescence markers.

Methods

Senescence was induced in HDFs by ionizing radiation (X ray), followed by 14 days of culture. Parallel incubations included fibroblasts treated for 12 days with 10 or 100 μg/mL Haritaki (a standardized extract of Terminalia chebula fruit). Senescence was assessed on Day 14 according to cell morphology, β‐galactosidase activity, RT‐qPCR measurement of SASP genes, as well as semi‐quantitative (RT‐qPCR) expression of miRNAs contained in EVs isolated from the medium. The size and distribution of EVs were measured by Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis.

Results

Human dermal fibroblasts exhibited a senescent phenotype 14 days after ionizing‐radiation, demonstrated by a flattened and irregular shape, increased β‐galactosidase activity and over‐expression of SASP genes. CSF3, CXCL1, IL1β, IL6 and IL8 genes were increased by 1492%, 1041%, 343%, 478%, 2960% and 293%, respectively. The cell cycle inhibitor, CDKN1A, was increased by 357%, while COL1A1, was decreased by 56% and MMP1 was increased by 293%. NTA analysis of the EVs size distribution indicated a mix of exosomes (45–100 nm) and microvesicles (100–405 nm). miRNA expression in EVs was increased in senescent fibroblasts. miR 29a‐3p, miR 30a‐3p, miR 34a‐5p, miR 24a‐3p and miR 186‐5p were increased in senescent HDF by 4.17‐, 2.43‐, 1.17‐, 2.01, 12.5‐fold, respectively. Incubation of senescent fibroblasts with Haritaki extract strongly decreased SASP mRNA levels and miRNA expression in EVs.

Conclusion

Haritaki strongly reduced SASP expression and EV‐shuttled miRNAs in senescent fibroblasts. These results indicate that Haritaki has strong senomorphic properties and may be a promising ingredient for the development of new anti‐ageing dermo‐cosmetic products by inhibiting deleterious effects of senescent cells.
Targeting hexokinase 1 alleviates NLRP3‐mediated inflammation in apical periodontitis: A laboratory investigation
Authors: Qian Yajie , Chen Deyan , Zhu Yanan , Wu Jing , Wang Yong , Yang Weidong
Published: March 2023

Aim

The aim of the study was to explore whether hexokinase 1 (HK1) is involved in the inhibition of inflammation mediated by nucleotide‐binding oligomerization domain‐like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) signalling pathway in the development of apical periodontitis (AP).

Methodology

Human AP tissues and normal control tissues were collected in the clinic. First, the levels of glucose, pyruvate, lactate and hexokinase activity were examined in human AP tissues. ECAR and OCR were further measured to detect the level of glycolysis in vitro model of inflammation, which established with lipopolysaccharide (LPS)‐stimulated RAW264.7 cell line. Secondly, the expression of HK1, NLRP3, caspase‐1 and interleukin (IL)‐1β were measured by Western blot, immunohistochemistry or RT–qPCR. Finally, lentiviral short hairpin RNA (shRNA) silencing technique or the inhibitor 2‐deoxy‐d‐glucose (2‐DG) were used to further detect the relationship between HK1‐mediated glycolysis and NLRP3‐mediated inflammation in the development of AP in vitro.

Results

Initially, the level of glycolysis was significantly increased in human AP tissues. Subsequently, the expression of HK1, NLRP3, caspase‐1 and IL‐1β were upregulated significantly in human AP tissues. Furthermore, in the model of AP in vitro, a high level of glycolysis and the high expression of HK1, NLRP3, caspase‐1 and IL‐1β was observed. Finally, the expression of NLRP3, caspase‐1 and IL‐1β mediated by LPS stimulation was significantly reduced via HK1 knockdown or 2‐DG treatment in vitro.

Conclusions

Our data support that HK1‐mediated glycolysis plays a crucial role in the development of AP via upregulating the NLRP3 signalling pathway. Moreover, targeting HK1 may contribute to prevent the progression of AP, which has a potential clinical translation.
Preparation of low lactose prebiotic milk using β‐galactosidase from lotus seeds (Nelumbo nucifera)
Authors: Zhong Ailing , Katrolia Priti , Zhu Chong , Kopparapu Narasimha Kumar
Published: March 2023

A novel β‐galactosidase (NelnuGal) was isolated from Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) seeds for the first time in this study. The enzyme was purified to homogeneity using hydrophobic interaction chromatography and ion exchange chromatography. Purified NelnuGal appeared as a monomer with a molecular mass of 50 kDa on SDS‐PAGE gel and zymogram. It was optimally active at pH 4.0 and stable in a broad pH range of 4–10. NelnuGal displayed temperature optimum of 50 °C and thermostability from 20 to 50 °C. It was resistant to inhibition by most of the metal ions tested, especially Ca+2and Mg+2making it useful in hydrolysis of milk. Remarkably, NelnuGal was not inhibited by high concentrations of galactose, which is end‐product of lactose hydrolysis. The purified NelnuGal displayed lactose hydrolysis and transgalactosylation properties. Addition of lotus seed powder to milk and whey resulted in lactose hydrolysis, forming galactose, glucose and galactooligosaccharides. Therefore, the addition of lotus seed powder to milk and whey can be applied for reducing the lactose present in dairy products which will also have potential prebiotic properties.
Specificity of phonological representations in U.S. English‐speaking late talkers and typical talkers
Authors: Curtis Philip R. , Estabrook Ryne , Roberts Megan Y. , Weisleder Adriana
Published: March 2023

Late talkers are a heterogeneous group of children who experience delayed language development in the absence of other known causes. Late talkers show delays in expressive phonological development, but less is known about their receptive phonological development. In the current study, U.S. monolingual English‐speaking typical talkers (TTs) (n = 23, mean age = 26.27 months, 57% male; 78.3% White) and late talkers (n = 22, mean age = 24.57 months, 59% male, 72.7% White) completed a Looking‐While‐Listening task to assess their sensitivity to mispronunciations. Results revealed that late talkers and TTs looked to the referent of a word for a shorter duration when it was mispronounced than when it was correctly pronounced, suggesting they were sensitive to mispronunciations. However, there were no significant differences between the two groups in their sensitivity to mispronunciations.
Coronally advanced flap versus tunnel technique for the treatment of peri‐implant soft tissue dehiscences with the connective tissue graft: A randomized, controlled clinical trial
Authors: Tavelli Lorenzo , Majzoub Jad , Kauffmann Frederic , Rodriguez Maria Vera , Mancini Leonardo , Chan Hsun‐Liang , Kripfgans Oliver D. , Giannobile William V. , Wang Hom‐Lay , Barootchi Shayan
Published: March 2023

Aim

To evaluate the efficacy of coronally advanced flap (CAF) versus tunnel technique (TUN) in covering isolated mid‐facial peri‐implant soft tissue dehiscences (PSTDs).

Materials and Methods

Twenty‐eight participants presenting with isolated non‐molar implants exhibiting PSTDs were enrolled and randomized to receive either CAF or TUN, both with a connective tissue graft (CTG). The primary outcome of the study was the percentage of mean PSTD coverage at 12 months. Secondary endpoints included the frequency of complete PSTD coverage, changes in keratinized mucosa width (KMW) and horizontal mucosal thickness (MT), as assessed with transgingival probing, 3D optical scanning and ultrasonography, professional aesthetic evaluation and patient‐reported outcome measures (PROMs).

Results

At 12 months, the mean PSTD coverage of the CAF and TUN groups was 90.23% and 59.76%, respectively (p = .03). CAF‐treated sites showed a substantially higher frequency of complete PSTD coverage (p = .07), together with significantly greater gain of KMW (p = .01), increase in MT (p = .02), volumetric gain (p < .01) and professional aesthetic outcomes (p = .01). Both interventions showed an improvement in patient‐reported aesthetics and a reduction of the anxiety related to the appearance of the implant compared to baseline, with the CAF group obtaining significantly higher scores (p = .03 for both PROMs).

Conclusions

CAF + CTG resulted in superior PSTD coverage outcomes, greater gain in KMW and MT, and better PROMs than TUN + CTG for the treatment of isolated PSTDs (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03498911).
Auxin signaling module OsSK41‐OsIAA10‐OsARF regulates grain yield traits in rice
Authors: Ma Fuying , Zhang Fan , Zhu Yu , Lan Dengyong , Yan Peiwen , Wang Ying , Hu Zejun , Zhang Xinwei , Hu Jian , Niu Fuan , Liu Mingyu , He Shicong , Cui Jinhao , Yuan Xinyu , Yan Ying , Wu Shujun , Cao Liming , Bian Hongwu , Yang Jinshui , Li Zhikang , Luo Xiaojin
Published: March 2023

Auxin is an important phytohormone in plants, and auxin signaling pathways in rice play key roles in regulating its growth, development, and productivity. To investigate how rice grain yield traits are regulated by auxin signaling pathways and to facilitate their application in rice improvement, we validated the functional relationships among regulatory genes such as OsIAA10, OsSK41, and OsARF21 that are involved in one of the auxin (OsIAA10) signaling pathways. We assessed the phenotypic effects of these genes on several grain yield traits across two environments using knockout and/or overexpression transgenic lines. Based on the results, we constructed a model that showed how grain yield traits were regulated by OsIAA10 and OsTIR1, OsAFB2, and OsSK41 and OsmiR393 in the OsSK41‐OsIAA10‐OsARF module and by OsARF21 in the transcriptional regulation of downstream auxin response genes in the OsSK41‐OsIAA10‐OsARF module. The population genomic analyses revealed rich genetic diversity and the presence of major functional alleles at most of these loci in rice populations. The strong differentiation of many major alleles between Xian/indica and Geng/japonica subspecies and/or among modern varieties and landraces suggested that they contributed to improved productivity during evolution and breeding. We identified several important aspects associated with the genetic and molecular bases of rice grain and yield traits that were regulated by auxin signaling pathways. We also suggested rice auxin response factor (OsARF) activators as candidate target genes for improving specific target traits by overexpression and/or editing subspecies‐specific alleles and by searching and pyramiding the ‘best’ gene allelic combinations at multiple regulatory genes in auxin signaling pathways in rice breeding programs.
Naïve Buying Diversification and Narrow Framing by Individual Investors
Authors: GATHERGOOD JOHN , HIRSHLEIFER DAVID , LEAKE DAVID , SAKAGUCHI HIROAKI , STEWART NEIL
Published: March 2023

We provide the first tests to distinguish whether individual investors equally balance their overall portfolios (naïve portfolio diversification, NPD) or, in contrast, equally balance the values of same‐day purchases of multiple assets (naïve buying diversification, NBD). We find NBD in purchases of multiple stocks, and in mixed purchases of individual stocks and funds. In contrast, there is little evidence of NPD. Evidence suggests that NBD arises due to stock picking behavior and neglect of diversification. These findings suggest that behavioral finance theory should incorporate transaction, as well as portfolio, framing.
Self‐concealment, secrecy, and guilt
Authors: Davis Christopher G.
Published: March 2023

Objective

Individuals with a tendency to conceal unflattering information about themselves are more likely to be preoccupied by their secrets and tend to report more negative affect. According to theory, this negative affect is due to self‐concealers' conflicting motivation to be authentic in their relationship but fear the negative consequences should they reveal their secrets, which promotes ill‐fated attempts to suppress. The purpose of the current study was to test a central component of this model.

Methods

Two studies of adults who were in a romantic relationship and keeping a secret from their partner (combined N = 635; 67.2% women; Mage = 39.6, SD = 11.9) were surveyed on four biweekly occasions. Multilevel mediation analyses were conducted to test whether preoccupation and suppression mediated the link between self‐concealing and negative affect and guilt.

Results

The data support the hypotheses. Self‐concealers were more preoccupied with and prone to suppress their secret than those low on the trait, which, in turn, predicted greater negative affect and guilt.

Conclusion

The findings suggest that self‐concealers' insecurities and fear of the relational consequences of disclosure set the stage for the debilitating cycle of suppression and preoccupation that leaves them feeling anxious and guilty.
Quality of low‐carbohydrate diets among Australian post‐partum women: Cross‐sectional analysis of a national population‐based cohort study
Authors: Lewandowski Sophie , Neale Elizabeth , D'Arcy Ellie , Hodge Allison M. , Schoenaker Danielle A. J. M.
Published: March 2023

Low‐carbohydrate diets (LCDs) are popular among people attempting weight loss and recommended for pregnant women with gestational diabetes (GDM), but they may increase health risks if nutritionally inadequate. We aimed to describe the dietary intake of post‐partum women according to their relative carbohydrate intake, overall, and among women attempting weight loss or diagnosed with GDM in their recent pregnancy. This cross‐sectional population‐based cohort study included 2093 post‐partum women aged 25–36 years who participated in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health. Dietary intake was assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire. Relative carbohydrate intake was determined using a previously developed LCD score. Data were weighted to account for oversampling of women from rural/remote areas. More than half of women (n[weighted] = 1362, 66.3%) were trying to lose weight, and 4.6% (n[weighted]=88) had GDM in their recent pregnancy. Women with the lowest relative carbohydrate intake (LCD score quartile 4) consumed 36.8% of total energy intake from carbohydrates, and had a lower intake of refined grains, whole grains, fruit and fruit juice, and a higher intake of red and processed meat, compared with women with the highest relative carbohydrate intake (quartile 1). Different food groups, both healthy and unhealthy, were restricted depending on whether women were attempting weight loss and had recent GDM. These findings may reflect a lack of knowledge among post‐partum women on carbohydrates and dietary guidelines. Health professionals may have an important role in providing advice and support for post‐partum women who wish to restrict their carbohydrate intake, to ensure optimal diet quality.
Intralesional steroid injections for inflammatory nail dystrophies in the pediatric population
Authors: Iorizzo Matilde , Gioia Di Chiacchio Nilton , Di Chiacchio Nilton , Grover Chander , Lipner Shari R. , Richert Bertrand , Piraccini Bianca Maria , Starace Michela , Tosti Antonella
Published: March 2023

Intralesional injections of triamcinolone acetonide are widely used to successfully treat several inflammatory nail conditions. This procedure is well described in adults, but less frequently reported in children and teenagers, being largely considered too invasive and fear‐provoking for pediatric patients. Our report shows how this procedure is feasible and successful in children, even without a digital block. The step‐by‐step technique and tips to reduce pain should encourage clinicians to offer it as an alternative option to children with inflammatory nail disorders.
In utero acetaminophen exposure and child neurodevelopmental outcomes: Systematic review and meta‐analysis
Authors: Ricci Christina , Albanese Carmela Melina , Pablo Lesley A. , Li Jiaying , Fatima Maryam , Barrett Kathryn , Levis Brooke , Brown Hilary K.
Published: March 2023

Background

Acetaminophen is a frequently used analgesic for pain and fever. There have been reports of adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes associated with in utero acetaminophen exposure. However, it is unclear whether this association is related directly to acetaminophen use, or the reasons for use.

Objectives

To summarise the literature on the association between in utero acetaminophen exposure and child neurodevelopmental outcomes, and assess the extent to which the association is due to confounding by indication.

Data Sources

OVID for Medline, Embase, and PsycINFO, and EBSCO for CINAHL, from inception to August 18, 2022.

Study Selection and Data Extraction

We searched for peer‐reviewed, English‐language studies on in utero acetaminophen exposure and child neurodevelopmental outcomes. Data were extracted using a standardised form created a priori, and quality was assessed using the Systematic Assessment of Quality in Observational Research.

Synthesis

We generated pooled risk ratios (RR) for outcomes examined by ≥3 studies using random‐effects models; outcomes that could not be meta‐analysed were narratively summarised following Synthesis Without Meta‐Analysis guidelines.

Results

Twenty‐two studies including 23 cohorts were eligible (n = 367,775 total participants; median: 51.7% with acetaminophen exposure). Studies were primarily prospective cohort studies from Europe and the US, with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) being the most common outcome. Quality assessments resulted in 13.6% of studies being classified as high, 59.1% as medium, 22.7% as low, and 4.5% as very low quality. In utero acetaminophen exposure was associated with an elevated risk of ADHD (unadjusted pooled RR 1.32, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.20, 1.44; I2 = 47%, n = 7 studies), with little difference after adjusting for confounders, including indications for acetaminophen use (adjusted pooled RR 1.34, 95% CI 1.15, 1.55; I2 = 50%, n = 4 studies).

Conclusions

Confounding by indication did not explain the association between in utero acetaminophen exposure and child ADHD. Further, high‐quality research is needed on this and other neurodevelopmental outcomes.
Effect of Diameter of Carbon Nanotubes in Nanocomposite Membrane for Methyl Orange Dye Removal
Authors: Kah Chun Ho , Lim Jin Heng , Mohd Idris Aida Isma , Teow Yeit Haan , Ng Nii Chien
Published: March 2023

It is worth noticing that structure of nanomaterials affects the membrane performance, however, the effect of diameter of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) has not been discussed in the past. This research aims to investigate the effect of diameter of MWCNTs on the performance of graphene oxide (GO)/ MWCNTs nanocomposite membrane for methyl orange dye removal. MWCNTs with different diameters (12-15 nm, 30-50 nm) with the same length (< 10 µm) are used to synthesize the nanocomposite membrane. The characteristics of the synthesized nanocomposite membrane were determined by surface hydrophilicity, pore size and porosity, zeta potential, and Fourier-transfer infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Besides, the membrane performance was evaluated by the water permeability test, dye rejection test, and antifouling test. The result showed that pure MWCNTs (30-50 nm) nanocomposite membrane (M2b) has the best performance among the synthesized membrane. The dye rejection of M2b membrane reached 86.77% and the normalized flux was approximately 0.82. Lower dye rejection (83.37%) and normalized flux (0.76) were attained by M2a membrane with smaller diameter MWCNTs (12-15 nm). This was due to M2b membrane having a smaller pore size (0.032 nm), which helped reduce the tendency of dye to pass through the membrane. Besides, M2b membrane has a more negative surface charge (-10.93 mV) that produces larger repulsion force, resulting in more dye being rejected. In conclusion, the performance of the synthesized nanocomposite membrane particularly antifouling properties can be enhanced with the addition of MWCNTs with larger diameter.
The Pilot-Scale Membrane Distillation Systems for Wastewater Treatment: A Mini-Review
Authors: Adam Mohd Ridhwan , Shafie Muhammad Hakimin , Hubadillah Siti Khadijah , Abd Aziz Mohd Haiqal , Jamalludin Mohd Riduan , Mohd Nasir Atikah
Published: March 2023

Industrial wastewater includes large amounts of contaminants thus, the wastewater must be treated prior to disposal. Moreover, since a substantial volume of wastewater is generated, environmental considerations should include the reutilizing of reclaimed water. Since industrial wastewater consists mostly of chemicals and persistent contaminants, it must be adequately treated with eco-friendly technology. Membrane technologies, specifically membrane distillation, are frequently employed in the treatment of industrial wastewater due to their significant benefits over typical wastewater remediation approaches. The substantial investigation completed to date has been undertaken on a lab scale, however, both full and pilot-scale practices have already been implemented progressively. This study presents a concise overview of industrial wastewater treatment and its utilization following proper handling by membrane processes in both full and pilot-scale relevance. In addition, the future prospects and existing obstacles for membrane processes, including cleansing techniques and financial impact, are also studied. In addition, given that there are fewer full-scale trials than pilot-scale studies, process flaws are highlighted to facilitate future research investigations.