bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Ellagic acid mitigates rotenone‐induced damage via modulating mitochondria function in Drosophila melanogaster
Authors: Adedara Adeola Oluwatosin , Otenaike Titilayomi A. , Farodoye Oluwabukola M. , Abolaji Amos Olalekan
Published: February 2023

Constant, systematic exposure to rotenone has been utilized in animal models to induce Parkinsonism. Ellagic acid is a polyphenol with anti‐inflammatory and antioxidative properties which is found in numerous natural fruits. Here, we investigated the therapeutic effects of ellagic acid in rotenone‐induced toxicity in Drosophila melanogaster evaluating their antioxidant and mitoprotective properties. Adult flies were treated with rotenone and ellagic acid through their diet for 7 days, thereafter markers of neurotoxicity (acetylcholinesterase, monoamine oxidase, tyrosine hydroxylase), antioxidant and oxidative stress markers (hydrogen peroxide, nitric oxide, lipid peroxidation, protein carbonyl contents, catalase, total thiol, and nonprotein thiol) was measured. Mitochondrial respiration was also evaluated in the flies. Survival assay was carried out with both genders of the flies, and we observed a significant increase in the survival rate of flies exposed to both rotenone and ellagic acid when compared with the increased mortality rate in the groups exposed to rotenone alone. The impaired locomotion, altered redox status, and enzymes of neurotoxicity induced by rotenone were significantly ameliorated by ellagic acid to levels comparable to the control. In addition, rotenone‐induced complex 1 inhibition and altered bioenergetic state were restored upon ellagic acid supplementation. These findings show the beneficial properties of ellagic acid against pesticides induced toxicity.
A survey study of self‐reported comorbidities among adults with vitiligo in the United States
Authors: Ezzedine Khaled , Anastassopoulos Kathryn P. , Gandhi Kavita , Daniel Shoshana R. , Yamaguchi Yuji , Sikirica Vanja , Pandya Amit G.
Published: February 2023

Background

Vitiligo is an autoimmune disorder in which the immune system targets melanocytes, manifesting in patches of lost skin pigmentation.

Objectives

To characterize the occurrence of autoimmune/autoinflammatory and/or nonautoimmune comorbid conditions in patients with vitiligo.

Methods

Adults representative of the 2017 US Census population were recruited for an online, cross‐sectional survey. Based on responses to vitiligo screening questions, participants were categorized into one of three groups: diagnosed vitiligo, undiagnosed vitiligo and no vitiligo. Participants reported clinical‐diagnosed conditions from prespecified lists of 13 autoimmune/autoinflammatory conditions and 21 nonautoimmune conditions.

Results

A total of 40,888 adults participated in the online survey; 315 (0.8%) were categorized as diagnosed vitiligo, 249 (0.6%) as undiagnosed vitiligo and 40,325 (98.6%) as no vitiligo. The percentage of participants with at least one autoimmune/autoinflammatory comorbidity was 2.65 times greater in the diagnosed vitiligo group than in the no vitiligo group. Psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis had the greatest difference in the percentage of participants between the diagnosed vitiligo and no vitiligo groups. The percentage of participants with nonautoimmune comorbidities was higher in the diagnosed vitiligo group than in the no vitiligo group. Vision changes, arthritis, back pain, anxiety, depression and sudden hearing loss had the greatest difference in the percentage of participants between the diagnosed vitiligo group and the no vitiligo group.

Conclusions

This large survey found that both autoimmune/autoinflammatory and nonautoimmune conditions were more common among adults with vitiligo. The greater percentage of autoimmune/autoinflammatory conditions in participants with vitiligo suggests that screening for such comorbidities may be beneficial and may indicate important opportunities for early intervention.
Microstructure and corrosion properties of CoCrCuFeMnNix high‐entropy alloys prepared by powder metallurgy
Authors: Zhao Rui‐Feng , Jiang Ai‐Yun , Ren Bo , Chen Chong , Liu Jian‐Xiu
Published: February 2023

CoCrCuFeMnNix (x = 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 mol, named Ni0.5, Ni1.0, Ni1.5, and Ni2.0, respectively) high‐entropy alloys (HEAs) were prepared by powder metallurgy. The effects of Ni content on its microstructure and corrosion resistance in a 3.5% NaCl solution were studied. The HEAs with low Ni content consisted of FCC1 primary phase, FCC2 secondary phase, and a few σ phases. While the Ni2.0 alloy was composed of the FCC phase and a small amount of σ phase. The results of polarization corrosion in 3.5% NaCl solution show that the increase of Ni content led to the increase of corrosion potential of the alloy and the decrease of corrosion current density and average corrosion rate. Among them, Ni2.0 alloy had the best corrosion resistance. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analysis showed that the increase in Ni content promoted the increase of the polarization resistance of the alloy RCPE and the thickness of the passive film, thus improving the corrosion resistance of the alloys.
Comparison of MR‐guided radiotherapy accumulated doses for central lung tumors with non‐adaptive and online adaptive proton therapy
Authors: Rabe Moritz , Palacios Miguel A. , van Sörnsen de Koste John R. , Eze Chukwuka , Hillbrand Martin , Belka Claus , Landry Guillaume , Senan Suresh , Kurz Christopher
Published: February 2023

Background

Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) of central lung tumors with photon or proton therapy has a risk of increased toxicity. Treatment planning studies comparing accumulated doses for state‐of‐the‐art treatment techniques, such as MR‐guided radiotherapy (MRgRT) and intensity modulated proton therapy (IMPT), are currently lacking.

Purpose

We conducted a comparison of accumulated doses for MRgRT, robustly optimized non‐adaptive IMPT, and online adaptive IMPT for central lung tumors. A special focus was set on analyzing the accumulated doses to the bronchial tree, a parameter linked to high‐grade toxicities.

Methods

Data of 18 early‐stage central lung tumor patients, treated at a 0.35 T MR‐linac in eight or five fractions, were analyzed. Three gated treatment scenarios were compared: (S1) online adaptive MRgRT, (S2) non‐adaptive IMPT, and (S3) online adaptive IMPT. The treatment plans were recalculated or reoptimized on the daily imaging data acquired during MRgRT, and accumulated over all treatment fractions. Accumulated dose‐volume histogram (DVH) parameters of the gross tumor volume (GTV), lung, heart, and organs‐at‐risk (OARs) within 2 cm of the planning target volume (PTV) were extracted for each scenario and compared in Wilcoxon signed‐rank tests between S1 & S2, and S1 & S3.

Results

The accumulated GTV D98% was above the prescribed dose for all patients and scenarios. Significant reductions (p < 0.05) of the mean ipsilateral lung dose (S2: –8%; S3: –23%) and mean heart dose (S2: –79%; S3: –83%) were observed for both proton scenarios compared to S1. The bronchial tree D0.1cc was significantly lower for S3 (S1: 48.1 Gy; S3: 39.2 Gy; p = 0.005), but not significantly different for S2 (S2: 45.0 Gy; p = 0.094), compared to S1. The D0.1cc for S2 and S3 compared to S1 was significantly (p < 0.05) smaller for OARs within 1–2 cm of the PTV (S1: 30.2 Gy; S2: 24.6 Gy; S3: 23.1 Gy), but not significantly different for OARs within 1 cm of the PTV.

Conclusions

A significant dose sparing potential of non‐adaptive and online adaptive proton therapy compared to MRgRT for OARs in close, but not direct proximity of central lung tumors was identified. The near‐maximum dose to the bronchial tree was not significantly different for MRgRT and non‐adaptive IMPT. Online adaptive IMPT achieved significantly lower doses to the bronchial tree compared to MRgRT.
Assessing Antipredator Behavior and the Potential to Enhance It in a Species of Conservation Concern
Authors: Kopack Christopher J. , Broder E. Dale , Fetherman Eric R. , Fitzpatrick Ryan M. , Angeloni Lisa M.
Published: February 2023

Animal behavior has the potential to guide the management of populations at risk of extirpation. This includes insights into how animals respond to novel predators and whether those responses can be enhanced to improve survival. Training hatchery-reared fish to recognize predators has been proposed as a way to reduce postrelease mortalities in the wild. Identifying the presence of innate predator recognition and the capacity for learning to recognize predators in specific species or populations can inform conservation management practices. Here, antipredator behavior (time spent moving and distance from a predator) and the efficacy of predator training were assessed for three populations of a species of conservation concern, the Arkansas Darter Etheostoma cragini, which is vulnerable to predation by esocid predators like the introduced Northern Pike Esox lucius. Arkansas Darters demonstrated some innate ability to recognize and respond to a novel esocid predator and also responded to predator cues (training), although the direction of the response to cues was opposite our prediction. Populations differed in their response to the predator treatment, highlighting the value of managing populations separately. Although the fitness consequences of exposure to predator cues remain to be tested in Arkansas Darters, our results suggest that antipredator behavior is innate and that exposure to predator cues does affect behavior; however, whether or how those behavioral changes affect survival is unclear. This study demonstrates the importance of testing enrichment practices and incorporating behavioral observations into conservation programs to guide population-specific management decisions.
Nonadult vertebral maturation in Late Holocene hunter‐gatherers from Patagonia (Salitroso Lake, Argentina)
Authors: Morlesin Milena C. , Guichón Fernández Rocío , García Guraieb Solana
Published: February 2023

Bioarchaeological research of bone growth patterns provides information on the health status and disease of past populations. Recent studies have pointed out the potential of metric analysis of nonadult vertebrae as indicators of stress during different stages of ontogeny, highlighting that most vertebral measurements present low sexual dimorphism, a stable and known pattern of growth and give useful information even in incomplete spines. The aims of this paper are first, to construct a vertebral growth profile for nonadults of a skeletal series of Patagonian Late Holocene hunter‐gatherers from Salitroso Lake (SAC); second, to compare it to the ones obtained in other archaeological and modern populations with different stress experiences; and third, building on this, to assess whether individuals with evidence of stress experienced in early development demonstrate different patterns in vertebral growth than those without. Two spinal dimensions are used: vertebral body height (VBH) and transverse diameter of the neural canal (TDNC) in a sample of 23 nonadult skeletons with ages previously estimated from dental and bone indicators. The vertebral dimensions of 20 adults between 18 and 35 years of age were also measured as reference information. Results show that the growth of the VBH is steady over the years and reaches adulthood size by approximately 16 years of age whereas TDNC dimensions do not experience marked fluctuations in size throughout life and adult dimensions are reached at approximately 4 years of age as expected. The vertebral growth pattern observed in SAC is similar to that obtained in other archaeological samples from very different settings but experiencing relatively high nutritional or pathological stress in early stages of life. However, it is markedly different, and systematically smaller, to the 20th century sample pattern, probably responding to a secular trend in the modern population with a more stable access to resources and medical treatment. Finally, SAC individuals with systemic stress markers do not tend to exhibit smaller vertebral dimensions than those without them.
Reformation of solution process NiO thin films with UV curable polymers for the self‐alignment of liquid crystals
Authors: Kim Dong Hyun , Oh Jin Young , Yang Da‐Bin , Lee Dong Wook , Won Jonghoon , Kim Dai‐Hyun , Choi Se‐Hoon , Kim Jin‐Ah , Park Hong‐Gyu , Seo Dae‐Shik
Published: February 2023

Liquid crystal (LC) orientation films are one of the key technologies in display devices. Currently, the commonly used polyimide rubbing method exposes problems such as micro‐defects and static electricity. In this paper, a thin film was prepared from a mixture of UV‐curable polymer and NiO solution using the UV‐NIL method. At room temperature, all three temperatures showed good liquid crystal alignment properties. However, in terms of thermal stability, it was more thermally stable in the 1‐min sample. This means that the formation of patterns has a significant impact on orientation properties, and the change in van der Waals force due to chemical changes also affects the orientation properties to some extent. In addition, excellent electro‐optical properties were also confirmed.
Three‐dimensional graphene/carbon nanotube electromagnetic shielding composite material based on melamine resin foam template
Authors: Song Jinwei , Xu Kangjun , He Jie , Ye Huijian , Xu Lixin
Published: February 2023

Electromagnetic shielding materials with good ductility, low density, and high shielding performance have excellent application prospects in communication and electronics, aerospace, and military industry. Lightweight three‐dimensional porous conductive foam composite with high electrical conductivity and electromagnetic shielding efficiency has been widely concerned in recent years. In this study, we prepared a special physically modified carbonized melamine foam (CMF) by synergistic modification with graphene (GNs) and multi‐walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The lightweight CMF composite with a Unique 3D pore structure has been constructed to achieve high efficiency in EMI shielding. Taking advantage of the synergistic effect of few‐layer nanosheets and CNTs in tailored microporous structure, 15 wt% GNs‐CNTs/CMF composite demonstrates low density of 0.03 g/cm3 and high electrical conductivity of 34.0 S/m, resulting in a significant EMI shielding effectiveness as 3840 dB⋅cm2/g. The microporous architecture contributes to multiple reflection losses of electromagnetic waves by introducing multiple interfaces and also improves the construction of conductive paths to deliver outstanding shielding performance. This work illustrates reference significance for the potential application of lightweight EMI shielding materials with target functions.
TOPCon shingle solar cells: Thermal laser separation and passivated edge technology
Authors: Lohmüller Elmar , Baliozian Puzant , Gutmann Leon , Kniffki Leander , Richter Armin , Wang Lili , Dunbar Ricky , Lepert Arnaud , Huyeng Jonas D. , Preu Ralf
Published: February 2023

This work shows the first demonstration of thermal laser separation (TLS) and post‐metallization passivated edge technology (PET) applied to tunnel‐oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) shingle solar cells. The shingle solar cells with 26.46 mm × 158.75 mm size are separated from industrial full‐square TOPCon host solar cells. The singulation is performed either by TLS from the front side (emitter side) or by conventional laser scribe and mechanical cleaving (LSMC) from the rear side (emitter‐free side). The TLS optimized in this work yields up to 0.2%abs more efficient shingle cells after separation in comparison with LSMC‐separated shingle cells. The most promising PET sequence identified for the singulated TOPCon cells consists of depositing an 8‐nm‐thin aluminum oxide layer by thermal atomic layer deposition at a temperature below 200°C in conjunction with subsequent hotplate annealing at 250°C. Application of the PET yields a boost of up to 0.5%abs in energy conversion efficiency for edge‐passivated TOPCon shingle cells in comparison with their performance directly after separation. This efficiency‐increasing impact of the PET sequence is found not to be strongly dependent on the separation process applied. The most efficient TOPCon shingle cell after PET achieves an efficiency of 22.0% and has been singulated by TLS.
Organic decomposition and synthesis reactions in lactated solution exposed to nonequilibrium atmospheric pressure plasma
Authors: Liu Yang , Ishikawa Kenji , Tanaka Hiromasa , Miron Camelia , Kondo Takashi , Nakamura Kae , Mizuno Masaaki , Kajiyama Hiroaki , Toyokuni Shinya , Hori Masaru
Published: February 2023

Lactate is used in the food and pharmaceutical industries and is a crucial intermediate for synthesis. Plasma‐activated lactate (PAL) in Ringer's solution was recently shown to have effective antitumor action. Small molecule aldehydes, ketones, and organic acids were produced from lactate during plasma exposure, and five‐membered conjugated lactone isomers of furanone (C5H6O2) were detected formed by interactions of lactate or its fragments with •OH, organic radicals, and H2O2. 2,3‐Dimethyl‐tartaric acid may be the effective component in PAL for the selective killing of cancer but not normal cells and possible pathways for its synthesis are provided. Aqueous reaction mechanisms are explained, including dehydration, esterification, hydrolysis, and dimerization. This study will help develop novel cancer therapies and further plasma organic chemistry.
A scoping review of lung function in children and adolescents living with HIV in the era of antiretroviral treatment
Authors: Liu Jingbo , Maleche‐Obimbo Elizabeth , Shanthikumar Shivanthan , Graham Stephen M.
Published: February 2023

Background

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in children and adolescents remains an important health challenge in many countries and is commonly associated with lung disease. The introduction of antiretroviral therapy (ART) has greatly improved survival but chronic lung disease is a common ongoing challenge. We conducted a scoping review of studies that have reported lung function in school‐aged children and adolescents living with HIV.

Methods

A systematic literature search was performed by searching Medline, Embase, and PubMed databases, limited to articles published between 2011 and 2021 in English language. Inclusion criteria were studies involving participants living with HIV aged 5–18 years and having spirometry data. The primary outcome was lung function as measured by spirometry.

Results

Twenty‐one studies were included in the review. Most study participants were living in the sub‐Saharan African region. The prevalence of reduced forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) ranged from 25.3% to 73% across studies, reduced forced vital capacity (FVC) ranged from 10% to 42% and reduced FEV1/FVC ranged from 3% to 26%. The mean z‐score of FEV1 ranged from −2.19 to −0.73, mean zFEV1/FVC ranged from −0.74 to 0.2, and mean FVC ranged from −1.86 to −0.63.

Conclusion

There is a high prevalence of lung function impairment in children and adolescents living with HIV, which persists in the ART era. Further studies are needed of interventions that might improve lung function in these vulnerable populations.
Flexible bronchoscopy in pediatric patients with Down syndrome: A case‐control study of the indications, findings, and complications
Authors: Arwas Noga , Goldbart Aviv , Aviram Micha , Dizitzer Yotam , Pansky Itay , Golan‐Tripto Inbal
Published: February 2023

Background

Children with Down syndrome (DS) often undergo flexible bronchoscopies (FB) due to common respiratory symptoms.

Objective

To examine the indications, findings, and complications of FB in pediatric DS patients.

Methods

A retrospective case‐control study on FB performed in DS pediatric patients between 2004 and 2021 in a tertiary center. DS patients were matched to controls (1:3) based on age, gender, and ethnicity. Data collected included demographics, comorbidities, indications, findings, and complications.

Results

Fifty DS patients (median age 1.36 years, 56% males) and 150 controls (median age 1.27 years, 56% males), were included. Evaluation for obstructive sleep apnea and oxygen dependence were more common indications among DS (38% vs. 8%, 22% vs. 4%, p < 0.01, respectively). Normal bronchoscopy was less frequent in DS compared with controls (8% vs. 28%, p = 0.01). Soft palate incompetence and tracheal bronchus were more frequent in DS (12% vs. 3.3%, p = 0.024, 8% vs. 0.7%, p = 0.02, respectively). Complications were more frequent in DS (22% vs. 9.3%, incidence rate ratio [IRR] 2.36, p = 0.028). In DS, cardiac anomalies (IRR 3.96, p < 0.01), pulmonary hypertension (IRR 3.76, p = 0.006), and pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) hospitalization before the procedure (IRR 4.2, p < 0.001) were associated with higher complication rates. In a multivariate regression model, history of cardiac disease and PICU hospitalization before the procedure, but not DS, were independent risk factors for complications with an IRR of 4 and 3.1, respectively (p = 0.006, p = 0.05).

Conclusion

DS pediatric patients undergoing FB are a unique population with specific indications and findings. DS pediatric patients with cardiac anomalies and pulmonary hypertension are at the highest risk for complications.
Clinical effect of different doses of ciprofol for induction of general anesthesia in elderly patients: A randomized, controlled trial
Authors: Duan Gongchen , Lan Haiyan , Shan Weifeng , Wu Yini , Xu Qiaomin , Dong Xiaoli , Mei Peiyi , You Minji , Jin Linfei , Wu Jimin
Published: February 2023

Ciprofol is a newly developed intravenous anesthetic agent with improved pharmacokinetic properties. Compared to propofol, ciprofol exhibits stronger binding to the GABAA receptor and elicits a greater enhancement of GABAA receptor‐mediated neuronal currents in vitro. The aims of the present clinical trials were to examine the safety and efficacy of different doses of ciprofol for induction of general anesthesia in elderly patients. A total of 105 elderly patients undergoing elective surgery were randomized, in a 1:1:1 ratio, to receive one of three sedation regimens: (1) the C1 group (0.2 mg/kg ciprofol), (2) the C2 group (0.3 mg/kg ciprofol), (3) the C3 group (0.4 mg/kg ciprofol). The primary outcome was the incidence of various adverse events, including hypotension, hypertension, bradycardia, tachycardia, hypoxemia, and injection pain. The secondary outcomes of efficacy were the success rate of general anesthesia induction, the time to anesthesia induction, and the frequency of remedial sedation was recorded in each group. Adverse events occurred in 13 patients (37%) in group C1, 8 patients (22%) in group C2, and 24 patients (68%) in group C3. Compared with group C2, the total incidence of adverse events was significantly higher in group C1 and group C3 (p < .001).The success rate of general anesthesia induction in the three groups was 100%. Compared with group C1, the frequency of remedial sedation was significantly lower in group C2 and group C3. The outcomes demonstrated that ciprofol at a dose of 0.3 mg/kg has good safety and efficacy in the induction of general anesthesia in elderly patients. Overall, ciprofol is a new and viable option for the induction of general anesthesia in elderly patients undergoing elective surgery.
Improving antimicrobial stewardship in general practice
Authors: Motta Marco , Wilcock Michael
Published: February 2023

Reducing inappropriate antibiotic prescribing in primary care is a key element of antimicrobial stewardship. This study carried out in GP surgeries in Cornwall examined whether clarithromycin was being prescribed in accordance with NICE guidance, and whether allergy status and symptoms were correctly recorded in the case of patients who had penicillin allergy noted.
Realising the potential of faecal microbiota transplant
Authors: Dowden Angela
Published: February 2023

First reported in Western medical literature in the 1950s, faecal microbiota transplant (FMT) has now come of age as a cost‐effective treatment for recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection. But what do we know about FMT, what are its uses and limitations, and where might microbiome treatments take us in the future?
Primary pulmonary diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma presenting multiple nodules mimicking metastasis: A case report
Authors: Fujioka Nobuhiro , Kai Yoshiro , Kataoka Ryosuke , Suzuki Kentaro , Sakaguchi Kazuhiro , Yamamoto Yoshifumi , Kawaguchi Takeshi , Sawabata Noriyoshi , Tanaka Haruyuki , Matsuoka Minami , Takeda Maiko , Muro Shigeo
Published: February 2023

Primary pulmonary diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma is a rare entity. We describe a case of pulmonary lymphoma with multiple nodules mimicking metastases in a treated patient with rheumatoid arthritis. A 73‐year‐old man was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis at the age of 30. He was treated with leflunomide. He was followed up for a nontuberculous mycobacterial infection. He underwent percutaneous coronary intervention for acute myocardial infarction at the age of 70. In April 2022, routine follow‐up revealed new‐onset multiple nodules on chest computed tomography (CT). A position emission tomography/CT scan with 18F‐fluorodeoxyglucose showed a low‐high maximum standardized uptake value by multiple nodules. Pathologic examination of a video‐assisted thoracic surgical biopsy revealed pulmonary diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma. Systemic chemotherapy with rituximab, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and prednisolone reduced and eliminated multiple nodules. Pulmonary lymphoma should be considered as a differential diagnosis in the case of multiple nodules on a chest CT.
Quality of Life in Hidradenitis Suppurativa (Acne Inversa): A Scoping Review
Authors: Kaur Amrit P. , Laing Mary E. , Griffin Laoise , Carr Peter J.
Published: February 2023

Background

Hidradenitis Suppurativa (HS) is a chronic, relapsing, inflammatory skin condition which is physically, psychologically and socially disabling and often affects a patient's quality of life (QOL). There are numerous QOL tools used in dermatology. However, assessment of QOL in patients with HS is difficult due to the inability of generic QOL tools to specifically capture QOL in patients with HS. Numerous HS-specific QOL tools have been developed in recent years. It is important to identify evidence on full psychometric evaluation of these tools.

Objectives

There has been a gradual increase in the use of generic and disease-specific QOL tools in the last few decades. The aim of this scoping review (SR) is to evaluate the most widely used generic QOL tools and HS-specific QOL tools to identify the psychometric evaluation of such tools.

Methods

Design: An SR guided by Joanna Briggs Institute manual and Arskey O’Malley framework guidelines. Data extraction included the studies available on full psychometric evaluation of the most widely used dermatology generic QOL tools in HS and HS-specific QOL tools.

Results

Ten papers were included in the review, eight papers demonstrated HS-specific QOL assessment tools. The psychometric properties of these tools were underpinned by reliability, validity and sensitivity measurement. Six disease-specific tools were identified in this SR. However, they all lack full psychometric evaluation.

Conclusion

This review indicates that an extensive research in the field of QOL tools for HS is much needed. It is crucial to develop user-friendly and validate disease-specific tools to measure the real impact of disease on patients QOL. QOL instruments can evaluate the impact on life of an HS patient, thus helping improve intervention and management of disease. There is a necessity for more research into existing HS-specific QOL tools and they should be widely tested and fully validated.
Co‐Assembly of Carbon Nanotube Porins into Biomimetic Peptoid Membranes
Authors: Zhang Shuai , Hettige Jeevapani J. , Li Yuhao , Jian Tengyue , Yang Wenchao , Yao Yun‐Chiao , Zheng Renyu , Lin Zhixing , Tao Jinhui , De Yoreo James J. , Baer Marcel , Noy Aleksandr , Chen Chun‐Long
Published: February 2023

Robust and cost‐effective membrane‐based separations are essential to solving many global crises, such as the lack of clean water. Even though the current polymer‐based membranes are widely used for separations, their performance and precision can be enhanced by using a biomimetic membrane architecture that consists of highly permeable and selective channels embedded in a universal membrane matrix. Researchers have shown that artificial water and ion channels, such as carbon nanotube porins (CNTPs), embedded in lipid membranes can deliver strong separation performance. However, their applications are limited by the relative fragility and low stability of the lipid matrix. In this work, we demonstrate that CNTPs can co‐assemble into two dimension (2D) peptoid membrane nanosheets, opening up a way to produce highly programmable synthetic membranes with superior crystallinity and robustness. A combination of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, Raman spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction (XRD), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements to verify the co‐assembly of CNTP and peptoids are used and show that it does not disrupt peptoid monomer packing within the membrane. These results provide a new option for designing affordable artificial membranes and highly robust nanoporous solids.
A Membrane‐Associated Light‐Harvesting Model is Enabled by Functionalized Assemblies of Gene‐Doubled TMV Proteins
Authors: Dai Jing , Wilhelm Kiera B. , Bischoff Amanda J. , Pereira Jose H. , Dedeo Michel T. , García‐Almedina Derek M. , Adams Paul D. , Groves Jay T. , Francis Matthew B.
Published: February 2023

Photosynthetic light harvesting requires efficient energy transfer within dynamic networks of light‐harvesting complexes embedded within phospholipid membranes. Artificial light‐harvesting models are valuable tools for understanding the structural features underpinning energy absorption and transfer within chromophore arrays. Here, a method for attaching a protein‐based light‐harvesting model to a planar, fluid supported lipid bilayer (SLB) is developed.  The protein model consists of the tobacco mosaic viral capsid proteins that are gene‐doubled to create a tandem dimer (dTMV). Assemblies of dTMV break the facial symmetry of the double disk to allow for differentiation between the disk faces. A single reactive lysine residue is incorporated into the dTMV assemblies for the site‐selective attachment of chromophores for light absorption. On the opposing dTMV face, a cysteine residue is incorporated for the bioconjugation of a peptide containing a polyhistidine tag for association with SLBs. The dual‐modified dTMV complexes show significant association with SLBs and exhibit mobility on the bilayer. The techniques used herein offer a new method for protein‐surface attachment and provide a platform for evaluating excited state energy transfer events in a dynamic, fully synthetic artificial light‐harvesting system.
Radiation‐Induced Immunogenic Cell Death for Cancer Radioimmunotherapy
Authors: Liu Teng , Pei Pei , Shen Wenhao , Hu Lin , Yang Kai
Published: February 2023

In cancer treatment, traditional radiotherapy (RT) is routinely conducted in local tumors and limited by radioresistance, while recently emerged immunotherapy is confronted with low response rate, high cost, and cytokine release syndrome. Logically, the combination of the two therapeutic modalities into radioimmunotherapy is promising to complement with each other for systemic elimination of cancer cells with high specificity, efficiency, and safety. Especially, RT‐induced immunogenic cell death (ICD) plays an imperative role in radioimmunotherapy to evoke systemic immune response against cancer, including elevating the immunity of tumor antigens, recruiting and activating antigen‐presenting cells, and priming cytotoxic T lymphocytes for tumoral infiltration and cancer cell eradication. This review first retrospects the origin and concept of ICD, summarizes the major damage‐associated molecular patterns and signaling pathways, and highlights the characteristics of RT‐induced ICD. Subsequently, therapeutic strategies enhancing RT‐induced ICD for radioimmunotherapy are reviewed from the perspectives of enhancing RT itself, combination with other treatments, and stimulating the holistic immune system. On the basis of these published research and underlying mechanism, this work attempts to forecast possible directions for RT‐induced ICD enhancement to promote clinical applications.
The single and hybrid use of steel and basalt fibers on high‐temperature resistance of sustainable ultra‐high performance geopolymer cement mortars
Authors: Guler Soner , Akbulut Zehra Funda
Published: February 2023

This paper primarily examines the flowability, physical appearance, mass loss, residual compressive strength (RCS), and residual flexural strength (RFS) properties of steel (ST) and basalt (BA) fiber‐added sustainable ultra‐high performance geopolymer cement (UHPGPC) mortars exposed to high‐temperature effects. According to the results obtained, ST and BA fibers adversely influence the workability properties of UHPGPC mortars and thus significantly reduce the spreading diameters of the mortars. However, ST and BA fibers substantially improve the RCS and RFS capacities of UHPGPC specimens exposed to high temperatures because they have a powerful bonding effect with the matrix and effectually restrict the development of micro‐ and macro‐cracks with their bridging effect. Furthermore, this phenomenon is slightly more effective in hybrid form than using ST and BA fibers.
Vacuum metrology and its impact on research and industry
Authors: Jousten Karl
Published: February 2023

To mark our anniversary, we are presenting articles that have been particularly appreciated by readers of our online edition once again in print. Here:

By accurate vacuum measurement, it is possible to control processes in industry, to ensure the necessary environmental conditions for many experiments in science and research and to support the commercial relationship between manufacturers and users of vacuum equipment. The main task of vacuum metrology, the science of vacuum measurement, is to provide traceability of vacuum measurements to the SI. In recent years, also the characterization of vacuum by partial pressure analysis and outgassing rate measurement, and the dynamics of vacuum measurement became an issue for vacuum metrology.
Introduction: What Does It Mean to Do the Health Humanities in Application?
Authors: Riegel Christian , Robinson Katherine M.
Published: February 2023

This chapter examines key developments in the evolution of the health humanities, beginning with the field’s relationship to the medical humanities. The health humanities are presented as a field that has a wide range of intellectual interests and practical applications, serving researchers, educators, students, health care practitioners, and community members wherever health and wellness and the humanities intersect. Central to the focus of this book is the health humanities as inherently applied: how we do the health humanities forms a core approach. The chapter serves as an introduction to the health humanities and provides insight to the health humanities as an important intellectual and practical concern in the current moment.
Inter and Intra Signal Variance in Feature Extraction and Classification of Affective State
Authors: Dair Zachary , Dockray Samantha , O’Reilly Ruairi
Published: February 2023

Psychophysiology investigates the causal relationship of physiological changes resulting from psychological states. There are significant challenges with machine learning-based momentary assessments of physiology due to varying data collection methods, physiological differences, data availability and the requirement for expertly annotated data. Advances in wearable technology have significantly increased the scale, sensitivity and accuracy of devices for recording physiological signals, enabling large-scale unobtrusive physiological data gathering. This work contributes an empirical evaluation of signal variances acquired from wearables and their associated impact on the classification of affective states by (i) assessing differences occurring in features representative of affective states extracted from electrocardiograms and photoplethysmography, (ii) investigating the disparity in feature importance between signals to determine signal-specific features, and (iii) investigating the disparity in feature importance between affective states to determine affect-specific features. Results demonstrate that the degree of feature variance between ECG and PPG in a dataset is reflected in the classification performance of that dataset. Additionally, beats-per-minute, inter-beat-interval and breathing rate are identified as common best-performing features across both signals. Finally feature variance per-affective state identifies hard-to-distinguish affective states requiring one-versus-rest or additional features to enable accurate classification.
Brain Tumor Synthetic Data Generation with Adaptive StyleGANs
Authors: Tariq Usama , Qureshi Rizwan , Zafar Anas , Aftab Danyal , Wu Jia , Alam Tanvir , Shah Zubair , Ali Hazrat
Published: February 2023

Generative models have been very successful over the years and have received significant attention for synthetic data generation. As deep learning models are getting more and more complex, they require large amounts of data to perform accurately. In medical image analysis, such generative models play a crucial role as the available data is limited due to challenges related to data privacy, lack of data diversity, or uneven data distributions. In this paper, we present a method to generate brain tumor MRI images using generative adversarial networks. We have utilized StyleGAN2 with ADA methodology to generate high-quality brain MRI with tumors while using a significantly smaller amount of training data when compared to the existing approaches. We use three pre-trained models for transfer learning. Results demonstrate that the proposed method can learn the distributions of brain tumors. Furthermore, the model can generate high-quality synthetic brain MRI with a tumor that can limit the small sample size issues. The approach can addresses the limited data availability by generating realistic-looking brain MRI with tumors. The code is available at: https://github.com/rizwanqureshi123/Brain-Tumor-Synthetic-Data.
A Self-attention Guided Multi-scale Gradient GAN for Diversified X-ray Image Synthesis
Authors: Saad Muhammad Muneeb , Rehmani Mubashir Husain , O’Reilly Ruairi
Published: February 2023

Imbalanced image datasets are commonly available in the domain of biomedical image analysis. Biomedical images contain diversified features that are significant in predicting targeted diseases. Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) are utilized to address the data limitation problem via the generation of synthetic images. Training challenges such as mode collapse, non-convergence, and instability degrade a GAN’s performance in synthesizing diversified and high-quality images. In this work, MSG-SAGAN, an attention-guided multi-scale gradient GAN architecture is proposed to model the relationship between long-range dependencies of biomedical image features and improves the training performance using a flow of multi-scale gradients at multiple resolutions in the layers of generator and discriminator models. The intent is to reduce the impact of mode collapse and stabilize the training of GAN using an attention mechanism with multi-scale gradient learning for diversified X-ray image synthesis. Multi-scale Structural Similarity Index Measure (MS-SSIM) and Frechet Inception Distance (FID) are used to identify the occurrence of mode collapse and evaluate the diversity of synthetic images generated. The proposed architecture is compared with the multi-scale gradient GAN (MSG-GAN) to assess the diversity of generated synthetic images. Results indicate that the MSG-SAGAN outperforms MSG-GAN in synthesizing diversified images as evidenced by the MS-SSIM and FID scores.
Privacy-Enhanced ZKP-Inspired Framework for Balanced Federated Learning
Authors: Marzo Stefano , Pinto Royston , McKenna Lucy , Brennan Rob
Published: February 2023

Federated learning (FL) is a distributed machine learning approach that enables remote devices i.e. workers to collaborate to compute the fitting of a neural network model without sharing their data. While this method is favorable to ensure data privacy, an imbalanced data distribution can introduce unfairness in the model training, causing discriminatory bias towards certain under-represented groups. In this paper, we show that imbalance federated data decreases indexes of equity i.e. differences in treatment for underrepresented classes. To address the problem, we propose a federated learning framework called Z-Fed that 1) balances the training without exchange of privacy protected data using a zero knowledge proof (ZKP) technique, and 2) allows for the collection of information on data distributions based on one or more categorical features to produce metadata about population proportions. The proposed framework infers the precise data distribution without exchanging knowledge of the data categories and uses it to coordinate a balanced training set. Z-Fed aims to mitigate the effect of imbalanced data in FL while respecting privacy and without using mediators or probabilistic approaches. Compared to a non-balanced framework, Z-Fed improves fairness and equality measured in equal opportunities (EPD) by 53.54%, equal odds (EOD) by 56.41%, and statistical parity (SPD) by 46.1% on imbalanced UTK datasets, reducing biased predictions among subgroups. EPD, EOD, and SPD measure the disparity of treatment between privileged e.g. over-represented and non-privileged groups. Given the results obtained, Z-Fed can reduce discriminatory behaviors and enhance trustworthiness of federated learning.
Automatic Vehicle Ego Body Extraction for Reducing False Detections in Automated Driving Applications
Authors: Hogan Ciarán , Sistu Ganesh
Published: February 2023

Fisheye cameras are extensively employed in autonomous vehicles due to their wider field of view, which produces a complete 360-degree image of the vehicle with a minimum number of sensors. The drawback of having a broader field of view is that it may include undesirable portions of the vehicle’s ego body in its perspective. Due to objects’ reflections on the car body, this may produce false positives in perception systems. Processing ego vehicle pixels also uses up unnecessary computing power. Unexpectedly, there is no literature on this relevant practical problem. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to discuss the significance of autonomous ego body extraction for automobile applications that are crucial for safety. We also proposed a simple deep learning model for identifying the vehicle’s ego-body. This model would enable us to eliminate any pointless processing of the car’s bodywork, eliminate the potential for pedestrians or other objects to be mistakenly detected in the car’s ego-body reflection, and finally, check to see if the camera is mounted incorrectly. The proposed network is a U-Net model with a Res-Net50 encoder pre-trained on ImageNet and trained for binary semantic segmentation on vehicle ego-body data. Our training data is an internal Valeo dataset with 10K samples collected by three separate car lines across Europe. This proposed network could then be integrated into the vehicles existing perception system by extracting the ego-body contour data and supplying this to the other algorithms which then ignore the area outside the contour coordinates. The proposed network can run at set intervals to save computing power and to check if the camera is misaligned by comparing the new contour data to the previous data.
Graph-Based Diffusion Method for Top-N Recommendation
Authors: Zhou Yifei , Hayes Conor
Published: February 2023

Data that may be used for personalised recommendation purposes can intuitively be modelled as a graph. Users can be linked to item data; item data may be linked to item data. With such a model, the task of recommending new items to users or making new connections between items can be undertaken by algorithms designed to establish the relatedness between vertices in a graph. One such class of algorithm is based on the random walk, whereby a sequence of connected vertices are visited based on an underlying probability distribution and a determination of vertex relatedness established. A diffusion kernel encodes such a process. This paper demonstrates several diffusion kernel approaches on a graph composed of user-item and item-item relationships. The approach presented in this paper, RecWalk*, consists of a user-item bipartite combined with an item-item graph on which several diffusion kernels are applied and evaluated in terms of top-n recommendation. We conduct experiments on several datasets of the RecWalk* model using combinations of different item-item graph models and personalised diffusion kernels. We compare accuracy with some non-item recommender methods. We show that diffusion kernel approaches match or outperform state-of-the-art recommender approaches.
CouRGe: Counterfactual Reviews Generator for Sentiment Analysis
Authors: Carraro Diego , Brown Kenneth N.
Published: February 2023

Past literature in Natural Language Processing (NLP) has demonstrated that counterfactual data points are useful, for example, for increasing model generalisation, enhancing model interpretability, and as a data augmentation approach. However, obtaining counterfactual examples often requires human annotation effort, which is an expensive and highly skilled process. For these reasons, solutions that resort to transformer-based language models have been recently proposed to generate counterfactuals automatically, but such solutions show limitations.

In this paper, we present CouRGe, a language model that, given a movie review (i.e. a seed review) and its sentiment label, generates a counterfactual review that is close (similar) to the seed review but of the opposite sentiment. CouRGe is trained by supervised fine-tuning of GPT-2 on a task-specific dataset of paired movie reviews, and its generation is prompt-based. The model does not require any modification to the network’s architecture or the design of a specific new task for fine-tuning.

Experiments show that CouRGe’s generation is effective at flipping the seed sentiment and produces counterfactuals reasonably close to the seed review. This proves once again the great flexibility of language models towards downstream tasks as hard as counterfactual reasoning and opens up the use of CouRGe’s generated counterfactuals for the applications mentioned above.
Meme Sentiment Analysis Enhanced with Multimodal Spatial Encoding and Face Embedding
Authors: Hazman Muzhaffar , McKeever Susan , Griffith Josephine
Published: February 2023

Internet memes are characterised by the interspersing of text amongst visual elements. State-of-the-art multimodal meme classifiers do not account for the relative positions of these elements across the two modalities, despite the latent meaning associated with where text and visual elements are placed. Against two meme sentiment classification datasets, we systematically show performance gains from incorporating the spatial position of visual objects, faces, and text clusters extracted from memes. In addition, we also present facial embedding as an impactful enhancement to image representation in a multimodal meme classifier. Finally, we show that incorporating this spatial information allows our fully automated approaches to outperform their corresponding baselines that rely on additional human validation of OCR-extracted text.