bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Lyapunov-based robust optimal control for time-delay systems with application in milling process
Authors: Bahari Kordabad Arash , Gros Sebastien
Published: May 2023

In this paper, we propose an optimal delay-independent robust controller based on the Lyapunov–Krakovskii theorem for the milling process as a time-delay system in the presence of varying axial depth of cut and different parametric uncertainty, such as stiffness, damping, etc. Milling is widely used in the manufacturing processes for the production of complex-shaped workpieces with high accuracy. However, chatter is a self-excited vibration that may cause adverse effects, such as tool damage, poor surface quality, excessive noise, etc. The dynamic model of the milling process is considered a two-dimensional time-delay system. A nonlinear programming with linear matrix inequality constraints is solved in order to obtain the controller gain where the objective function is corresponding to the norm-2 of controller gain, and the constraints guarantee robust stability. Using the semi-discretization method, stability lobes are shown in both uncontrolled and controlled plants to illustrate the improvement of the stable region via the proposed controller. Bifurcation phenomena have been improved with this controller by postponing the adverse effects to the higher values of the axial depth of cut, reducing the amplitude of limit cycles, and changing the type of bifurcation. Finally, we will compare the proposed controller with an intelligent controller in order to show the efficiency of the proposed method. It is shown that the proposed controller has improved the integral absolute error index by about 3.65 times compared with the intelligent controller.
Tuberculosis in the European Region
Authors: Mencarini Jessica , Spinicci Michele , Zammarchi Lorenzo , Bartoloni Alessandro
Published: May 2023

Purpose of Review

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major public health concern worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic and migration flow due to socioeconomic conditions, climate change, and geopolitical issues, such as the war, are important drivers influencing TB epidemiology in Europe. This article aims to review the data about TB in this area and the new findings about treatment and prevention strategies.

Recent Findings

During the COVID-19 pandemic, access to health facilities and retention in care were difficult for TB patients, with consequences on TB diagnosis and TB incidence. The ongoing conflict in Europe, in areas with high prevalence of TB and MDR-TB, has reduced the access to health services and the availability of anti-TB drugs and increased the migration of refugees. New data on short treatment regimens could change the length of therapy and adverse events.

TB control programs are facing emerging challenges that could change TB incidence in the near future. Novel antibiotic strategies and improved preventive policies could offer new opportunities to reduce the TB impact on public health.
Generalized Ricci Solitons on Non-reductive Four-Dimensional Homogeneous Spaces
Authors: Azami Shahroud , Fasihi-Ramandi Ghodratallah , Pirhadi Vahid
Published: May 2023

In the present paper, we consider the non-reductive four-dimensional homogeneous spaces and we classify homogeneous generalized Ricci solitons on these spaces. We show that any non-reductive four-dimensional homogeneous space admits the least in a generalized Ricci soliton. Also, we will prove that non-reductive four-dimensional homogeneous spaces have non-trivial Killing vector fields and these spaces exclusive of types A1, A4 and B2 are Einstein manifold and admit in non-trivial homogeneous Ricci solitons.
Recent Deoxygenation of Patagonian Fjord Subsurface Waters Connected to the Peru–Chile Undercurrent and Equatorial Subsurface Water Variability
Authors: Linford P. , Pérez‐Santos I. , Montes I. , Dewitte B. , Buchan S. , Narváez D. , Saldías G. , Pinilla E. , Garreaud R. , Díaz P. , Schwerter C. , Montero P. , Rodríguez‐Villegas C. , Cáceres‐Soto M. , Mancilla‐Gutiérrez G. , Altamirano R.
Published: May 2023

In recent decades, global dissolved oxygen (DO) measurements have registered a decrease of ∼1%–2% in oxygen content, raising concerns regarding the negative impacts of ocean deoxygenation on marine life and the greenhouse gas cycle. By combining in situ data from 2016 to 2022, satellite remote sensing, and outputs from a physical‐biogeochemical model, we revealed the deoxygenation process in the Patagonian fjords for the first time. Deoxygenation was associated with the advection of equatorial subsurface water (ESSW) mass into the northern region of Patagonia. An analysis of the circulation regime using the Mercator‐Ocean global high‐resolution model confirmed the importance of the Peru–Chile undercurrent (PCUC) in transporting the ESSW poleward, contributing to the entrance of ESSW into the northern Patagonian fjords. A mooring system installed in the water interchange area between the Pacific Ocean and Patagonian fjords detected a decreasing DO of −21.66 μmol L−1 over 7 years, which was explained by the increase in PCUC transport of 1.46 Sv. Inside the Puyuhuapi fjord system, a second DO time series exhibited more marked deoxygenation with −88.6 μmol L−1 over 3 years linked with the influence of ESSW and local processes, such as DO consumption by the organic matter degradation. The recent deoxygenation registered in the northern Patagonian fjords demonstrates the significance of studying DO in the context of reducing the global oxygen content, further warranting the quantification of the impacts of deoxygenation on life cycles of marine organisms that inhabit the Patagonian fjords and channels and the Humboldt current system.
Implications for Shallow Magma Transfer During the 2017 and 2018 Eruptions at Fernandina (Galápagos) Inferred From InSAR Data
Authors: Galetto Federico , Reale Diego , Sansosti Eugenio , Acocella Valerio
Published: May 2023

Previous work at Fernandina, the most active volcano of the Western Galápagos (Ecuador), revealed evidence for both a shallow and a deep magma reservoir, but the relative contribution of the two reservoirs to eruptions remains unclear. Here we investigate the September 2017 circumferential eruption and the June 2018 radial eruption using interferometric synthetic aperture radar data and geodetic modeling. Our results show that during the 2017 eruption magma was simultaneously withdrawn from the deep reservoir, injected upwards through the shallow reservoir, and then fed the circumferential feeder dike to the SW of the caldera. Two episodes of inflow of new magma occurred in both the deep and shallow magma reservoirs in the inter‐eruptive period from December 2017 to May 2018. During the 2018 eruption, both reservoirs fed two radial feeder dikes below the north flank, probably interacting with an underlying peripheral melt pocket, and an inclined sheet below the NW sector of the caldera. Our results highlight the primary role of the deeper reservoir which accumulates most of the magma before eruptions. Both eruptions were characterized by rapid magma transfer from the deeper to the shallower reservoir. This is similar to what is observed at the nearby Wolf volcano, but unlike nearby Sierra Negra, where a shallower reservoir accumulates higher volumes of magma before eruptions. These differences in the pre‐eruptive role of the deeper and shallower reservoirs might be related to the different evolutionary stages of Fernandina and Wolf with regard to the more mature Sierra Negra.
Spatial Variability of Turbulent Mixing From an Underwater Glider in a Large, Deep, Stratified Lake
Authors: Sepúlveda Steiner Oscar , Forrest Alexander L. , McInerney Jasmin B. T. , Fernández Castro Bieito , Lavanchy Sébastien , Wüest Alfred , Bouffard Damien
Published: May 2023

Recent efforts using microstructure turbulence measurements have contributed to our understanding of the overall energy budget in lakes and linkages to vertical fluxes. A paucity of lake‐wide turbulence measurements hinders our ability to assess how representative such budgets are at the basin scale. Using an autonomous underwater glider equipped with a microstructure payload, we explored the spatial variability of turbulence in pelagic and near‐shore regions of Lake Geneva. Dissipation rates of kinetic energy and thermal variance were estimated by fitting temperature gradient fluctuations spectra to the Batchelor spectrum. In deep waters, turbulent dissipation rates in the surface and thermocline were mild (∼10−8 W kg−1) and weakened toward the hypolimnion (∼10−11 to 10−10 W kg−1). The seasonal thermocline exhibited inhibited interior mixing, with extremely low values of mixing efficiency (Rif ≪ 0.1). In contrast, in the slope zone, a band of significantly enhanced energy dissipation (∼5 × 10−8 W kg−1) extended well above the bottom boundary layer and was associated with strong, efficient mixing (Rif > 0.17). The resulting contribution of the slope region to basin‐scale mixing was large, with 90% of the basin‐wide mixing—and only 30% energy dissipation—occurring within 4 km of the shoreline. This boundary mixing will modify overturning circulation and the transport pathways of dissolved compounds exchanged with the sediments. The dynamics responsible for the shift in the mixing regime, which appears crucial for the mixing budget of lakes, could not be fully unraveled with the collected observations. Additional model data analyses hint at the role of submesoscale instabilities.
Variation of Surface Air Temperature Induced by Enhanced Land–Atmosphere Coupling During 1981–2020 in Xinjiang, Northwest China
Authors: Yang Yang , Lin Zhaohui , Luo Lifeng , Zhong Linhao , Jiang Dabang
Published: May 2023

Land–atmosphere coupling (LAC) is a critical process in the climate system, and has great effects on surface air temperature over the humid–dry transition zones. Using ERA5/ERA5‐land reanalysis datasets, we show that the summer temperature anomalies over Northwest China (NWC), known as one of the most important LAC hotpots in China, are significantly correlated with the LAC strength during 1981–2020. The stronger the coupling strength between air temperature and land surface, the more pronounced decrease in air temperature and extreme hot days over NWC. Among the four pathways of land–air temperature coupling, including soil moisture (SM)/soil temperature–latent heat flux/sensible heat flux–air temperature coupling, SM–sensible heat flux–air temperature pathway corresponds most closely with the temperature changes in summer. By analyzing the possible local and non‐local physical links in this relationship, we show that the wave trains composed of the intensification of Ural ridge and Central–Asia trough stimulate a meridional fluctuation of westerly airflow over the mid–high latitudes of Eurasia. Large moisture, therefore, converges into NWC, leading to excessive precipitation and deficient incident solar radiation reaching the land surface. In such case, wetter and cooler soil states accelerate the cooling of the environment through feedbacks between the lands, land–atmosphere exchanging fluxes and air temperature locally, accompanied by a significant enhancement in LAC strength. Our study provides insight into the physical processes causing variations in summer temperature over a typical LAC hotspot and suggests that the role of land surface–atmosphere interactions needs to be considered when studying temperature extremes under climate change.
Groundwater Depletion Rate Over China During 1965–2016: The Long‐Term Trend and Inter‐annual Variation
Authors: Huang Zhongwei , Yuan Xing , Sun Siao , Leng Guoyong , Tang Qiuhong
Published: May 2023

Many countries have experienced the increase of groundwater depletion rate (GWDR), posing great challenges to the environment and society. Given the slow variation of groundwater, long‐term estimation of GWDR at high‐resolution is critical for sustainable managements of regional water resources and risks of hydrological extremes in a changing climate. However, limited in‐situ and satellite observations and uncertainties from hydrological model simulations prohibit reliable estimation of the long‐term trend and inter‐annual variation of GWDR. Using survey‐based water withdrawal and water availability datasets, this study provided a spatially distributed estimation of annual GWDR over China at the 0.25° × 0.25° grid scale for the period 1965–2016 using a flux‐based approach. The estimated GWDR has higher spatial resolution and longer temporal coverage than previous products. With the newly compiled data, we found that groundwater over China was depleted at an average rate of 20.4 km3 year−1 during 1965–2016, especially in the arid and semi‐arid areas of northern China. The GWDR showed a significant increasing trend during 1965–2016, but such trend slowed down from 0.66 km3 year−1 during 1965–2001 to 0.06 km3 year−1 during 2001–2016, which was mainly attributed to the deceleration in human water withdrawal. Further analysis showed that over 40% of the inter‐annual variability of GWDR could be explained by precipitation variability, and the climate control increased over time. This study suggested a growing control of climate variations on GWDR over China as the human water withdrawal has been decelerating, and a need for climate change adaptation for a sustainable groundwater management.
Toward Network‐Based Planetary Biosignatures: Atmospheric Chemistry as Unipartite, Unweighted, Undirected Networks
Authors: Wong M. L. , Prabhu A. , Williams J. , Morrison S. M. , Hazen R. M.
Published: May 2023

Previous examinations of astrophysical chemical reaction networks found that Earth's atmospheric network was distinct in its hierarchical organization and scale‐free nature. If Earth's unique atmospheric network structure is due to the coevolution between the biosphere and atmosphere, it may hint at a novel planetary‐scale biosignature. Here, we use updated chemical reaction networks of planetary atmospheres and explore their topologies using a plethora of diagnostic techniques from network science and graph theory, including global metrics, centrality metrics, community detection, and cluster analysis methods. We show that the topologies of atmospheric chemical reaction networks of different planetary bodies in the Solar System are distinct from one another. While we find that model networks of Earth's atmosphere do not display scale‐free topology, Earth's chemical reaction network is nonetheless distinguishable from those of other Solar System atmospheres through various other metrics. Earth's network has the most nonrandom topology of all the planetary networks and, in some global metrics, is more similar to biological networks than are the other planetary networks. Finally, we discuss how further investigations of atmospheric chemical networks using more advanced network representations and novel network metrics may lead to the development of a network‐based biosignature applicable to exoplanets.
EEAGER: A Neural Network Model for Finding Beaver Complexes in Satellite and Aerial Imagery
Authors: Fairfax Emily , Zhu Eric , Clinton Nicholas , Maiman Stefania , Shaikh Aman , Macfarlane William W. , Wheaton Joseph M. , Ackerstein Dan , Corwin Eddie
Published: May 2023

Beavers are ecosystem engineers that create and maintain riparian wetland ecosystems in a variety of ecologic, climatic, and physical settings. Despite the large‐scale implications of ongoing beaver conservation and range expansion, relatively few landscape‐scale studies have been conducted, due in part to the significant time required to manually locate beaver dams at scale. To address this need, we developed EEAGER—an image recognition machine learning model that detects beaver complexes in aerial and satellite imagery. We developed the model in the western United States using 13,344 known beaver dam locations and 56,728 nearby locations without beaver dams. Performance assessment was performed in twelve held out evaluation polygons of known beaver occupancy but previously unmapped dam locations. These polygons represented regions similar to the training data as well as more novel landscape settings. Our model performed well overall (accuracy = 98.5%, recall = 63.03%, precision = 25.83%) in these areas, with stronger performance in regions similar to where the model had been trained. We favored recall over precision, which results in a more complete catalog of beaver dams found but also a higher incidence of false positives to be manually removed during quality control. These results have far‐reaching implications for monitoring of beaver‐based river restoration, as well as potential applications detecting other complex landforms.
Quantitative Analysis of Faulting in the Danakil Depression Rift of Afar: The Importance of Faulting in the Final Stages of Magma‐Rich Rifting
Authors: Hurman Gareth L. , Keir Derek , Bull Jonathan M. , McNeill Lisa C. , Booth Adam D. , Bastow Ian D.
Published: May 2023

Magmatic intrusion and faulting both accommodate crustal extension in magma‐rich rifts. However, quantitative constraints on the contribution of faulting to total extension and along‐rift variations of faulting during the final stages of break‐up are lacking. We targeted the Danakil Depression (Afar, Ethiopia) to conduct a quantitative, high‐resolution study of fault activity and interaction in a magma‐rich rift near break‐up. Quantitative analysis of >500 rift axis faults, identified using remote sensing data (satellite imagery, DEMs), shows an increase in fault density, length and connectivity away from magmatic segments. Kinematic and earthquake focal mechanism data demonstrate a transition from transtensional opening in the northern and central sub‐regions of the rift to oblique opening in the southern Giulietti Plain and Tat‐Ali sub‐regions. Oblique opening is attributed to the along‐axis step between the Erta‐Ale and Harak sub‐regions. Integration of seismic reflection and borehole data with the mapped faults shows that extension is primarily accommodated by magmatism within the rift center, with faulting more significant toward the ends of the rift. ∼30% of crustal extension is accommodated by axial faulting in areas of low magmatism, highlighting the importance of faulting even in the final stages of magma‐rich rifting. Comparing our findings with spreading ridge morphology and structure, relevant due to the rift maturity and extensive magmatism, we conclude that the Danakil Depression is in a transitional stage between continental rifting and seafloor spreading. Spatial changes in the importance of faulting and magmatism in accommodating extension, alongside rift morphology, resemble the relationships observed along spreading ridges.
An Analytic Model for Tropical Cyclone Outer Winds
Authors: Cronin Timothy W.
Published: May 2023

The variation of Tropical cyclone azimuthal wind speed (V) with distance from storm center (r) is a fundamental aspect of storm structure with important implications for risk and damages. The theoretical model of Emanuel (2004, https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511735035.010), which applies outside the rainy core of the storm, matches radiatively‐driven subsidence and Ekman suction rates just above the boundary layer to obtain a nonlinear differential equation for dV/dr. This model is appealing because of its strong physical foundation, but lacks a known analytic solution for V(r). In this paper, I obtain an analytic solution to V(r) for the Emanuel (2004, https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511735035.010) outer wind model. Following previous work, I then use this solution to explore properties of merged wind models that combine the outer model with an inner model, which applies to the rainy core of a storm.
The Phloem: A Case of Theory Against Experiment
Authors: Konrad Wilfried , Roth‐Nebelsick Anita
Published: May 2023

The history of the long‐distance transport systems of vascular plants, phloem, and xylem, is a long and winding road of scientific progress which fascinated and occupied foresters, botanists, and physicists during the last 250 years. Although the Münch pressure flow hypothesis of phloem transport is meanwhile generally accepted, some details are not yet really understood. This pertains especially to the sieve plates whose function within the sieve tubes is controversially debated. Recently, Nakad et al. (2023, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022jg007361) contributed a fresh interpretation of the sieve plates based on a simple experimental setup which allowed to study their effect on phloem flow.
Evolutionarily recent retrotransposons contribute to schizophrenia
Authors: Modenini Giorgia , Abondio Paolo , Guffanti Guia , Boattini Alessio , Macciardi Fabio
Published: May 2023

Transposable elements (TEs) are mobile genetic elements that constitute half of the human genome. Recent studies suggest that polymorphic non-reference TEs (nrTEs) may contribute to cognitive diseases, such as schizophrenia, through a cis-regulatory effect. The aim of this work is to identify sets of nrTEs putatively linked to an increased risk of developing schizophrenia. To do so, we inspected the nrTE content of genomes from the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of schizophrenic and control individuals and identified 38 nrTEs that possibly contribute to the emergence of this psychiatric disorder, two of them further confirmed with haplotype-based methods. We then performed in silico functional inferences and found that 9 of the 38 nrTEs act as expression/alternative splicing quantitative trait loci (eQTLs/sQTLs) in the brain, suggesting a possible role in shaping the human cognitive genome structure. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt at identifying polymorphic nrTEs that can contribute to the functionality of the brain. Finally, we suggest that a neurodevelopmental genetic mechanism, which involves evolutionarily young nrTEs, can be key to understanding the ethio-pathogenesis of this complex disorder.
Genetic improvement of speed across distance categories in thoroughbred racehorses in Great Britain
Authors: Sharman Patrick , Wilson Alastair J.
Published: May 2023

Several studies over recent decades have reported a lack of contemporary improvement in thoroughbred racehorse speed, despite apparent additive genetic variance and putatively strong selection. More recently, it has been shown that some phenotypic improvement is ongoing, but rates are low in general and particularly so over longer distances. Here we used pedigree-based analysis of 692,534 records from 76,960 animals to determine whether these phenotypic trends are underpinned by genetic selection responses, and to evaluate the potential for more rapid improvement. We show that thoroughbred speed in Great Britain is only weakly heritable across sprint (h2 = 0.124), middle-distance (h2 = 0.122) and long-distance races (h2 = 0.074), but that mean predicted breeding values are nonetheless increasing across cohorts born between 1995 and 2012 (and racing from 1997 to 2014). For all three race distance categories, estimated rates of genetic improvement are statistically significant and also greater than can be explained by drift. Taken together our results show genetic improvement for thoroughbred speed is ongoing but slow, likely due to a combination of long generation times and low heritabilities. Additionally, estimates of realised selection intensities raises the possibility that the contemporary selection emerging from the collective actions of horse breeders is weaker than previously assumed, particularly over long distances. We suggest that unmodelled common environment effects may have upwardly biased estimates of heritability, and thus expected selection response, previously.
Dielectric tunability of magnetic properties in orthorhombic ferromagnetic monolayer CrSBr
Authors: Rudenko Alexander N. , Rösner Malte , Katsnelson Mikhail I.
Published: May 2023

Monolayer CrSBr is a recently discovered semiconducting spin-3/2 ferromagnet with a Curie temperature of around 146 K. In contrast to many other known 2D magnets, the orthorhombic lattice of CrSBr gives rise to spatial anisotropy of magnetic excitations within the 2D plane. Triaxial magnetic anisotropy and considerable magnetic dipolar interactions in CrSBr challenge its theoretical description in terms of spin Hamiltonians. Here, we employ a Green’s function formalism combined with first-principles calculations to study the magnetic properties of monolayer CrSBr in different regimes of surrounding dielectric screening. In the free-standing limit, the system is close to an easy-plane magnet, whose long-range ordering is partially suppressed. On the contrary, in the regime of large external screening, monolayer CrSBr behaves like an easy-axis ferromagnet with more stable magnetic ordering. Our findings suggest that anisotropic layered magnets form a potentially promising platform for studying the effects of substrate screening on magnetic ordering in 2D.
CHQ- SocioEmo: Identifying Social and Emotional Support Needs in Consumer-Health Questions
Authors: Alasmari Ashwag , Kudryashov Luke , Yadav Shweta , Lee Heera , Demner-Fushman Dina
Published: May 2023

General public, often called consumers, are increasingly seeking health information online. To be satisfactory, answers to health-related questions often have to go beyond informational needs. Automated approaches to consumer health question answering should be able to recognize the need for social and emotional support. Recently, large scale datasets have addressed the issue of medical question answering and highlighted the challenges associated with question classification from the standpoint of informational needs. However, there is a lack of annotated datasets for the non-informational needs. We introduce a new dataset for non-informational support needs, called CHQ-SocioEmo. The Dataset of Consumer Health Questions was collected from a community question answering forum and annotated with basic emotions and social support needs. This is the first publicly available resource for understanding non-informational support needs in consumer health-related questions online. We benchmark the corpus against multiple state-of-the-art classification models to demonstrate the dataset’s effectiveness.
SRAM-Based PUF Readouts
Authors: Vinagrero Sergio , Martin Honorio , de Bignicourt Alice , Vatajelu Elena-Ioana , Di Natale Giorgio
Published: May 2023

Large-scale parameter characterization of Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) is of paramount importance in order to assess the quality and thus the suitability of such PUFs which would then be developed as an industrial-grade solution for hardware root of trust. Carrying out a proper characterization requires a large number of devices that need to be repeatedly sampled at various conditions. These prerequisites make PUF characterization process a very time-consuming and expensive task. Our work presents a dataset for the study of SRAM-based PUFs on microcontrollers; it includes full SRAM readouts along with internal voltage and temperature sensors of 84 microcontrollers of STM32 type. Data has been gathered with a custom-made and open platform designed for the automatic acquisition of SRAM readouts of such devices. This platform also provides possibilities of experimenting aging and reliability properties.
High fibrinogen levels are associated with poor survival in patients with liposarcoma
Authors: Peschek L. S. , Hobusch Gerhard M. , Funovics P. T. , Willegger M. , Schmid M. P. , Amann G. , Lamm W. , Brodowicz Th. , Ay C. , Windhager R. , Panotopoulos J.
Published: May 2023

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether (preoperative) plasma levels of fibrinogen, an essential clotting and acute phase protein, are associated with the prognosis of patients with a liposarcoma, a subtype of sarcoma derived from adipose tissue. We performed a retrospective cohort study of 158 patients with liposarcoma treated at the Department of Orthopaedics of the Medical University of Vienna in Austria from May 1994 to October 2021. Kaplan–Meier curves as well as uni- and multivariable Cox proportional hazard models were performed to evaluate the association between fibrinogen levels and overall survival. Elevated fibrinogen was associated with adverse overall survival in cause specific hazards analysis of mortality (hazard ratio [HR] per 10 mg/dL increase: 1.04; 95% CI 1.02–1.06; p < 0.001). This association prevailed in multivariable analysis after adjustment for AJCC tumor stage (HR 1.03; 95% CI 1.01–1.05; p = 0.013). Increasing levels of fibrinogen, a routinely available and inexpensive parameter, predicts the risk of mortality in patients with liposarcoma.
Sub-inhibitory gentamicin pollution induces gentamicin resistance gene integration in class 1 integrons in the environment
Authors: Sanchez-Cid Concepcion , Ghaly Timothy M. , Gillings Michael R. , Vogel Timothy M.
Published: May 2023

Antibiotics at sub-inhibitory concentrations are often found in the environment. Here they could impose selective pressure on bacteria, leading to the selection and dissemination of antibiotic resistance, despite being under the inhibitory threshold. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effects of sub-inhibitory concentrations of gentamicin on environmental class 1 integron cassettes in natural river microbial communities. Gentamicin at sub-inhibitory concentrations promoted the integration and selection of gentamicin resistance genes (GmRG) in class 1 integrons after only a one-day exposure. Therefore, sub-inhibitory concentrations of gentamicin induced integron rearrangements, increasing the mobilization potential of gentamicin resistance genes and potentially increasing their dissemination in the environment. This study demonstrates the effects of antibiotics at sub-inhibitory concentrations in the environment and supports concerns about antibiotics as emerging pollutants.
Improved species level bacterial characterization from rhizosphere soil of wilt infected Punica granatum
Authors: Das Anupam J. , Sarangi Aditya Narayan , Ravinath Renuka , Talambedu Usha , Krishnareddy Prasannakumar Muthukapalli , Nijalingappa Ramesh , Middha Sushil Kumar
Published: May 2023

Pomegranate crops are prone to wilt complex disease, which is known to severely hamper the crop yield. There have been limited studies that have explored bacteria–plant–host associations in wilt complex disease affecting pomegranate crops. In the present study, wilt infected rhizosphere soil samples (ISI, ASI) in pomegranate were studied in comparison to a healthy control (HSC). The 16S metagenomics sequencing approach using the MinION platform was employed for screening of bacterial communities and predictive functional pathways. Altered physicochemical properties in the soil samples were recorded showing a comparatively acidic pH in the ISI (6.35) and ASI (6.63) soil samples to the HSC soil (7.66), along with higher electrical conductivity in the ISI (139.5 µS/cm), ASI soil (180 µS/cm), HSC soil sample (123.33 µS/cm). While concentration of micronutrients such as Cl and B were significantly higher in the ISI and ASI soil as compared to the HSC, Cu and Zn were significantly higher in the ASI soil. The effectiveness and accuracy of 16S metagenomics studies in identifying beneficial and pathogenic bacterial communities in multi-pathogen–host systems depend on the completeness and consistency of the available 16S rRNA sequence repositories. Enhancing these repositories could significantly improve the exploratory potential of such studies. Thus, multiple 16S rRNA data repositories (RDP, GTDB, EzBioCloud, SILVA, and GreenGenes) were benchmarked, and the findings indicated that SILVA yields the most reliable matches. Consequently, SILVA was chosen for further analysis at the species level. Relative abundance estimates of bacterial species showed variations of growth promoting bacteria, namely, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus megatarium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pseudomonas putida, Pseudomonas stutzeri and Micrococcus luteus. Functional profiling predictions employing PICRUSt2 revealed a number of enriched pathways such as transporter protein families involved in signalling and cellular processes, iron complex transport system substrate binding protein, peptidoglycan biosynthesis II (staphylococci) and TCA cycle VII (acetate-producers). In line with past reports, results suggest that an acidic pH along with the bioavailability of micronutrients such as Fe and Mn could be facilitating the prevalence and virulence of Fusarium oxysporum, a known causative pathogen, against the host and beneficial bacterial communities. This study identifies bacterial communities taking into account the physicochemical and other abiotic soil parameters in wilt-affected pomegranate crops. The insights obtained could be instrumental in developing effective management strategies to enhance crop yield and mitigate the impact of wilt complex disease on pomegranate crops.
Theoretical investigation on the linear and nonlinear optical properties of DAPSH crystal
Authors: Valverde Clodoaldo , Medeiros Renato , Franco Leandro R. , Osório Francisco A. P. , Castro Marcos A. , Fonseca Tertius L.
Published: May 2023

The linear polarizability, first and second hyperpolarizabilities of the asymmetric unit of DAPSH crystal are studied and compared with available experimental results. The polarization effects are included using an iterative polarization procedure, which ensures the convergence of the dipole moment of DAPSH embedded within a polarization field generated by the surrounding asymmetric units whose atomic sites are considered as point charges. We estimate macroscopic susceptibilities from the results of the polarized asymmetric units in the unit cell, considering the significant contribution of the electrostatic interactions in crystal packing. The results show that the influence of the polarization effects leads to a marked decrease of the first hyperpolarizability, compared with the respective isolated counterpart, which improves the concordance with the experiment. There is a minor influence of polarization effects on the second hyperpolarizability but our estimated result for the third-order susceptibility, related to the NLO process of the intensity dependent refractive index, is significant as compared with the results for other organic crystals, such as chalcone-derivatives. In addition, supermolecule calculations are conducted for explicit dimers in presence of the electrostatic embedding to illustrate the role played by the electrostatic interactions in the hyperpolarizabilities of the DAPSH crystal.
Psychometric validation for a brand-new tool for the assessment of executive functions using 360° technology
Authors: Borgnis Francesca , Borghesi Francesca , Rossetto Federica , Pedroli Elisa , Meloni Mario , Riva Giuseppe , Baglio Francesca , Cipresso Pietro
Published: May 2023

EXecutive-functions Innovative Tool 360° (EXIT 360°) is an original 360° instrument for an ecologically valid and multicomponent evaluation of executive functioning. This work aimed to test the diagnostic efficacy of EXIT 360° in distinguishing executive functioning between healthy controls (HC) and patients with Parkinson’s Disease (PwPD), a neurodegenerative disease in which executive dysfunction is the best-defined cognitive impairment in the early stage. 36 PwPD and 44 HC underwent a one-session evaluation that involved (1) neuropsychological evaluation of executive functionality using traditional paper-and-pencil tests, (2) EXIT 360° session and (3) usability assessment. Our findings revealed that PwPD made significantly more errors in completing EXIT 360° and took longer to conclude the test. A significant correlation appeared between neuropsychological tests and EXIT 360° scores, supporting a good convergent validity. Classification analysis indicated the potential of the EXIT 360° for distinguishing between PwPD and HC in terms of executive functioning. Moreover, indices from EXIT 360° showed higher diagnostic accuracy in predicting PD group membership compared to traditional neuropsychological tests. Interestingly, EXIT 360° performance was not affected by technological usability issues. Overall, this study offers evidence that EXIT 360° can be considered an ecological tool highly sensitive to detect subtle executive deficits in PwPD since the initial phases of the disease.
Targeting long non-coding RNA MALAT1 reverses cancerous phenotypes of breast cancer cells through microRNA-561-3p/TOP2A axis
Authors: Hajibabaei Sara , Nafissi Nahid , Azimi Yasamin , Mahdian Reza , Rahimi-Jamnani Fatemeh , Valizadeh Vahideh , Rafiee Mohammad Hessam , Azizi Masoumeh
Published: May 2023

Non-coding RNAs, including Inc-RNA and miRNA, have been reported to regulate gene expression and are associated with cancer progression. MicroRNA-561-3p (miR-561-3p), as a tumor suppressor, has been reported to play a role in preventing cancer cell progression, and MALAT1 (Lnc-RNA) have also been demonstrated to promote malignancy in various cancers, such as breast cancer (BC). In this study, we aimed to determine the correlation between miR-561-3p and MALAT1 and their roles in breast cancer progression. The expression of MALAT1, mir-561-3p, and topoisomerase alpha 2 (TOP2A) as a target of miR-561-3p was determined in BC clinical samples and cell lines via qRT-PCR. The binding site between MALAT1, miR-561-3p, and TOP2A was investigated by performing the dual luciferase reporter assay. MALAT1 was knocked down by siRNA, and cell proliferation, apoptotic assays, and cell cycle arrest were evaluated. MALAT1 and TOP2A were significantly upregulated, while mir-561-3p expression was downregulated in BC samples and cell lines. MALAT1 knockdown significantly increased miR-561-3p expression, which was meaningfully inverted by co-transfection with the miR 561-3p inhibitor. Furthermore, the knockdown of MALAT1 by siRNA inhibited proliferation, induced apoptosis, and arrested the cell cycle at the G1 phase in BC cells. Notably, the mechanistic investigation revealed that MALAT1 predominantly acted as a competing endogenous RNA in BC by regulating the miR-561-3p/TOP2A axis. Based on our results, MALAT1 upregulation in BC may function as a tumor promoter in BC via directly sponging miRNA 561-3p, and MALAT1 knockdown serves a vital antitumor role in BC cell progression through the miR-561-3p/TOP2A axis.
Evaluation of the anti-inflammatory, analgesic, anti-pyretic and anti-ulcerogenic potentials of synthetic indole derivatives
Authors: Siddique Saira , Ahmad Khawaja Raees , Nawaz Syed Kashif , Raza Abdul Rauf , Ahmad Syeda Nadia , Ali Rabiyah , Inayat Iram , Suleman Sadia , Kanwal Muhammad Ali , Usman Muhammad
Published: May 2023

A large number of new synthetic compounds are synthesized in the field of heterocyclic chemistry having a variety of biological potentials. In the present study, some synthetic indole derivatives are used to check anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antipyretic and gastroprotective activity in albino mice. Albino mice of either sex of reproductive age were used for each study (n = 5). In anti-inflammatory activity, the negative control (NC) and positive control group animals were treated with normal saline and 10 mg/kg of indomethacin respectively. The treated groups received the twenty four different synthetic chemicals, after 30 min of sub cutaneous injection of carrageenan. In analgesic activity, hot-plate method is used and for each group the latency period was recorded at zero moment of the provision of required dose and after 30, 60, 90, 120 and 180 min. In anti-pyretic activity, Pyrexia was induced by using Brewer's yeast method. Before any treatment and then after duration of 18 h, the rectal temperatures were recorded. Among all the chemicals, only those chemicals which show any potential related to above mentioned activities were selected for gastroprotective activity. The gastroprotective activity was performed to check the gastric ulcers by using 300 mg/kg of single oral dose of indomethacin to animals of all groups except NC group. This study helped to screen out the most potent indole derivatives 3a-II and 4a-II from the 24 synthetic indole derivatives which demonstrated the best biological potential (anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antipyretic, and gastroprotection) as compared to the remaining ones. The micrometric and biochemical results also support the histological findings. Out of the twenty-four novel indole amines tested, 3a-II and 4a-II have shown the effective pharmacological capacity and additionally have not shown any overt and systemic toxicity. Thus these two indole amines need further in-depth pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics studies before they are recommended for any pre-clinical trial.
Top-down and bottom-up effects and relationships with local environmental factors in the water frog–helminth systems in Latvia
Authors: Čeirāns Andris , Pupins Mihails , Kirjusina Muza , Gravele Evita , Mezaraupe Ligita , Nekrasova Oksana , Tytar Volodymyr , Marushchak Oleksii , Garkajs Alberts , Petrov Iurii , Skute Arturs , Georges Jean-Yves , Theissinger Kathrin
Published: May 2023

Semi-aquatic European water frogs (Pelophylaxspp.) harbour rich helminth infra-communities, whose effects on host population size in nature are poorly known. To study top-down and bottom-up effects, we conducted calling male water frog counts and parasitological investigations of helminths in waterbodies from different regions of Latvia, supplemented by descriptions of waterbody features and surrounding land use data. We performed a series of generalized linear model and zero-inflated negative binomial regressions to determine the best predictors for frog relative population size and helminth infra-communities. The highest-ranked (by Akaike information criterion correction, AICc) model explaining the water frog population size contained only waterbody variables, followed by the model containing only land use within 500 m, while the model containing helminth predictors had the lowest rank. Regarding helminth infection responses, the relative importance of the water frog population size varied from being non-significant (abundances of larval plagiorchiids and nematodes) to having a similar weight to waterbody features (abundances of larval diplostomids). In abundances of adult plagiorchiids and nematodes the best predictor was the host specimen size. Environmental factors had both direct effects from the habitat features (e.g., waterbody characteristics on frogs and diplostomids) and indirect effects through parasite-host interactions (impacts of anthropogenic habitats on frogs and helminths). Our study suggests the presence of synergy between top-down and bottom-up effects in the water frog–helminth system that creates a mutual dependence of frog and helminth population sizes and helps to balance helminth infections at a level that does not cause over-exploitation of the host resource.
Horses (Equus caballus) facial micro-expressions: insight into discreet social information
Authors: Tomberg Claude , Petagna Maxime , de Selliers de Moranville Lucy-Anne
Published: May 2023

Facial micro-expressions are facial expressions expressed briefly (less than 500 ms) and involuntarily. Described only in humans, we investigated whether micro-expressions could also be expressed by non-human animal species. Using the Equine Facial action coding system (EquiFACS), an objective tool based on facial muscles actions, we demonstrated that a non-human species, Equus caballus, is expressing facial micro-expressions in a social context. The AU17, AD38 and AD1 were selectively modulated as micro-expression—but not as standard facial expression (all durations included)—in presence of a human experimenter. As standard facial expressions, they have been associated with pain or stress but our results didn’t support this association for micro-expressions which may convey other information. Like in humans, neural mechanisms underlying the exhibit of micro-expressions may differ from those of standard facial expressions. We found that some micro-expressions could be related to attention and involved in the multisensory processing of the ‘fixed attention’ observed in horses’ high attentional state. The micro-expressions could be used by horses as social information in an interspecies relationship. We hypothesize that facial micro-expressions could be a window on transient internal states of the animal and may provide subtle and discreet social signals.
Dermatophytosis and its risk factors among children visiting dermatology clinic in Hawassa Sidama, Ethiopia
Authors: Haro Mengistu , Alemayehu Tsegaye , Mikiru Abraham
Published: May 2023

Dermatophytosis represents one of the common fungal diseases that attack the skin, hair and nail of human beings worldwide. It causes chronic morbidity in children and the condition is more common, in developing countries. The study aimed to determine dermatophytosis and its associated factors among children in Hawassa Sidama, Ethiopia April 2021–October 2021. A cross-sectional study was conducted on children suspected of cutaneous fungal infections. Data were surveyed based on a semi-structured questionnaire. Standard laboratory methods were used to identify the dermatophytes. The data entry and analysis were conducted with SPSS version 26. The Chi-square test was used to check the predictor and a p-value < 0.05 was taken as a significant value. A total of 83 study subjects included in the study in which all 83 (100%) patients were positive for fungal elements (hyphae/and spores) in microscopy, of this 81 (97.6%) yielded growth on culture. Hair scalps 75 (90.4%) were the dominant among the case. Trichophyton 52 (62.6%) was the dominant aetiology followed by Microsporum 22 (26.6%). Intervention measures to tackle dermatophytosis should emphasis on tinea capitis among 6–10 years old children with history of recent migration by raising awareness of communities through health extension programs.