bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
How to Slow down the Ticking Clock: Age-Associated Epigenetic Alterations and Related Interventions to Extend Life Span
Authors: Galow Anne-Marie , Peleg Shahaf
Published: January 2022

Epigenetic alterations pose one major hallmark of organismal aging. Here, we provide an overview on recent findings describing the epigenetic changes that arise during aging and in related maladies such as neurodegeneration and cancer. Specifically, we focus on alterations of histone modifications and DNA methylation and illustrate the link with metabolic pathways. Age-related epigenetic, transcriptional and metabolic deregulations are highly interconnected, which renders dissociating cause and effect complicated. However, growing amounts of evidence support the notion that aging is not only accompanied by epigenetic alterations, but also at least in part induced by those. DNA methylation clocks emerged as a tool to objectively determine biological aging and turned out as a valuable source in search of factors positively and negatively impacting human life span. Moreover, specific epigenetic signatures can be used as biomarkers for age-associated disorders or even as targets for therapeutic approaches, as will be covered in this review. Finally, we summarize recent potential intervention strategies that target epigenetic mechanisms to extend healthy life span and provide an outlook on future developments in the field of longevity research.
Extracellular Vesicles Derived from Primed Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Loaded on Biphasic Calcium Phosphate Biomaterial Exhibit Enhanced Macrophage Polarization
Authors: Rana Neha , Suliman Salwa , Al-Sharabi Niyaz , Mustafa Kamal
Published: January 2022

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) loaded on biphasic calcium phosphate biomaterial (MSC + BCP) have been used as an advanced therapy medicinal product to treat complex maxillofacial bone defects in patients. Further, MSC-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) are established vehicles of paracrine factors, supporting inter-cellular communication between MSC and other interacting cell types, such as monocytes/macrophages. However, the information about the immunomodulatory potential of EVs derived from MSC and biomaterial constructs (MSC + BCP:EV) and inflammatory primed constructs (MSCp + BCP:EV) are scarce. Hence, we isolated and characterized EVs from these different systems, and compared their cytokine contents with plastic-adherent MSC-derived EVs (MSC:EV). When EVs from all three MSC systems were added to the primary blood-derived macrophages in vitro, significantly higher numbers of M0 (naive) macrophages shifted to M2-like (anti-inflammatory) by MSCp + BCP:EV treatment. Further, this treatment led to enhanced switching of M1 polarized macrophages to M2 polarized, and conversely, M2 to M1, as evaluated by determining the M1/M2 ratios after treatment. The enhanced macrophage modulation by MSCp + BCP:EV was attributed to their higher immunomodulatory (TNFα, IL1β, IL5), angiogenic (VEGF), and chemokine-rich (RANTES, MCP1, MIP1β) cytokine cargo. In conclusion, we successfully isolated and characterized EVs from MSC + BCP constructs and demonstrated that, depending upon the tissue microenvironment, these EVs contribute towards modulating the macrophage-mediated inflammation and healing responses. The study offers new insights into the use of biomaterial-induced EVs for MSC secretome delivery, as a step towards future ‘cell-free’ bone regenerative therapies.
Polypharmacological Approaches for CNS Diseases: Focus on Endocannabinoid Degradation Inhibition
Authors: Papa Alessandro , Pasquini Silvia , Contri Chiara , Gemma Sandra , Campiani Giuseppe , Butini Stefania , Varani Katia , Vincenzi Fabrizio
Published: January 2022

Polypharmacology breaks up the classical paradigm of “one-drug, one target, one disease” electing multitarget compounds as potential therapeutic tools suitable for the treatment of complex diseases, such as metabolic syndrome, psychiatric or degenerative central nervous system (CNS) disorders, and cancer. These diseases often require a combination therapy which may result in positive but also negative synergistic effects. The endocannabinoid system (ECS) is emerging as a particularly attractive therapeutic target in CNS disorders and neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson’s disease (PD), Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Huntington’s disease (HD), multiple sclerosis (MS), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), stroke, traumatic brain injury (TBI), pain, and epilepsy. ECS is an organized neuromodulatory network, composed by endogenous cannabinoids, cannabinoid receptors type 1 and type 2 (CB1 and CB2), and the main catabolic enzymes involved in the endocannabinoid inactivation such as fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) and monoacylglycerol lipase (MAGL). The multiple connections of the ECS with other signaling pathways in the CNS allows the consideration of the ECS as an optimal source of inspiration in the development of innovative polypharmacological compounds. In this review, we focused our attention on the reported polypharmacological examples in which FAAH and MAGL inhibitors are involved.
Multi-Omics Profiling to Assess Signaling Changes upon VHL Restoration and Identify Putative VHL Substrates in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma Cell Lines
Authors: Wang Xuechun , Hu Jin , Fang Yihao , Fu Yanbin , Liu Bing , Zhang Chao , Feng Shan , Lu Xin
Published: January 2022

The inactivation of von Hippel–Lindau (VHL) is critical for clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) and VHL syndrome. VHL loss leads to the stabilization of hypoxia-inducible factor α (HIFα) and other substrate proteins, which, together, drive various tumor-promoting pathways. There is inadequate molecular characterization of VHL restoration in VHL-defective ccRCC cells. The identities of HIF-independent VHL substrates remain elusive. We reinstalled VHL expression in 786-O and performed transcriptome, proteome and ubiquitome profiling to assess the molecular impact. The transcriptome and proteome analysis revealed that VHL restoration caused the downregulation of hypoxia signaling, glycolysis, E2F targets, and mTORC1 signaling, and the upregulation of fatty acid metabolism. Proteome and ubiquitome co-analysis, together with the ccRCC CPTAC data, enlisted 57 proteins that were ubiquitinated and downregulated by VHL restoration and upregulated in human ccRCC. Among them, we confirmed the reduction of TGFBI (ubiquitinated at K676) and NFKB2 (ubiquitinated at K72 and K741) by VHL re-expression in 786-O. Immunoprecipitation assay showed the physical interaction between VHL and NFKB2. K72 of NFKB2 affected NFKB2 stability in a VHL-dependent manner. Taken together, our study generates a comprehensive molecular catalog of a VHL-restored 786-O model and provides a list of putative VHL-dependent ubiquitination substrates, including TGFBI and NFKB2, for future investigation.
The Effects of Mechanical Loading Variations on the Hypertrophic, Anti-Apoptotic, and Anti-Inflammatory Responses of Differentiated Cardiomyocyte-like H9C2 Cells
Authors: Zevolis Evangelos , Philippou Anastassios , Moustogiannis Athanasios , Chatzigeorgiou Antonios , Koutsilieris Michael
Published: January 2022

Cardiomyocytes possess the ability to respond to mechanical stimuli by adapting their biological functions. This study investigated cellular and molecular events in cardiomyocyte-like H9C2 cells during differentiation as well as the signalling and gene expression responses of the differentiated cells under various mechanical stretching protocols in vitro. Immunofluorescence was used to monitor MyHC expression and structural changes during cardiomyoblast differentiation. Moreover, alterations in the expression of cardiac-specific markers, cell cycle regulatory factors, MRFs, hypertrophic, apoptotic, atrophy and inflammatory factors, as well as the activation of major intracellular signalling pathways were evaluated during differentiation and under mechanical stretching of the differentiated H9C2 cells. Compared to undifferentiated cells, advanced-differentiation cardiomyoblasts exhibited increased expression of cardiac-specific markers, MyHC, MRFs, and IGF-1 isoforms. Moreover, differentiated cells that underwent a low strain/frequency mechanical loading protocol of intermediate duration showed enhanced expression of MRFs and hypertrophic factors, along with a decreased expression of apoptotic, atrophy, and inflammatory factors compared to both high-strain/frequency loading protocols and to unloaded cells. These findings suggest that altering the strain and frequency of mechanical loading applied on differentiated H9C2 cardiomyoblasts can regulate their anabolic/survival program, with a low-strain/frequency stretching being, overall, most effective at inducing beneficial responses.
Fingerprinting Metabolic Activity and Tissue Integrity of 3D Lung Cancer Spheroids under Gold Nanowire Treatment
Authors: Hashemzadeh Hadi , Kelkawi Ali Hamad Abd , Allahverdi Abdollah , Rothbauer Mario , Ertl Peter , Naderi-Manesh Hossein
Published: January 2022

Inadequacy of most animal models for drug efficacy assessments has led to the development of improved in vitro models capable of mimicking in vivo exposure scenarios. Among others, 3D multicellular spheroid technology is considered to be one of the promising alternatives in the pharmaceutical drug discovery process. In addition to its physiological relevance, this method fulfills high-throughput and low-cost requirements for preclinical cell-based assays. Despite the increasing applications of spheroid technology in pharmaceutical screening, its application, in nanotoxicity testing is still in its infancy due to the limited penetration and uptake rates into 3D-cell assemblies. To gain a better understanding of gold nanowires (AuNWs) interactions with 3D spheroids, a comparative study of 2D monolayer cultures and 3D multicellular spheroids was conducted using two lung cancer cell lines (A549 and PC9). Cell apoptosis (live/dead assay), metabolic activity, and spheroid integrity were evaluated following exposure to AuNWs at different dose-time manners. Results revealed a distinct different cellular response between 2D and 3D cell cultures during AuNWs treatment including metabolic rates, cell viability, dose–response curves and, uptake rates. Our data also highlighted further need for more physiologically relevant tissue models to investigate in depth nanomaterial–biology interactions. It is important to note that higher concentrations of AuNWs with lower exposure times and lower concentrations of AuNWs with higher exposure times of 3 days resulted in the loss of spheroid integrity by disrupting cell–cell contacts. These findings could help to increase the understanding of AuNWs-induced toxicity on tissue levels and also contribute to the establishment of new analytical approaches for toxicological and drug screening studies.
Low-Dose-Rate Irradiation Suppresses the Expression of Cell Cycle-Related Genes, Resulting in Modification of Sensitivity to Anti-Cancer Drugs
Authors: Shimabukuro Kiichi , Fukazawa Takahiro , Kanai Akinori , Kawai Hidehiko , Mekata Kengo , Hirohashi Nobuyuki , Kakimoto Naoya , Tanimoto Keiji
Published: February 2022

The biological effects of low-dose-rate (LDR) radiation exposure in nuclear power plant accidents and medical uses of ionizing radiation (IR), although being a social concern, remain unclear. In this study, we evaluated the effects of LDR-IR on global gene expression in human cells and aimed to clarify the mechanisms. RNA-seq analyses demonstrated that relatively low dose rates of IR modify gene expression levels in TIG-3 cells under normoxic conditions, but those effects were attenuated under hypoxia-mimicking conditions. Gene set enrichment analysis demonstrated that LDR-IR significantly decreased gene expression related to cell division, cell cycle, mitosis, and the Aurora kinase B and FOXM1 pathways. Quantitative RT-PCR confirmed the down-regulation of AURKB and FOXM1 genes in TIG-3 cells with LDR-IR or hypoxia-mimicking treatments without any dose-rate effect. Knock-down experiments suggested that HIF-1α and HIF-2α, as well as DEC1, participated in down-regulation of AURKB and FOXM1 under DFOM treatments, but to a lesser extent under LDR-IR treatment. FACS and microscopic analyses demonstrated that LDR-IR induced G0/G1 arrest and increased micronucleus or chromosome condensation. Finally, MTT assays demonstrated that LDR-IR decreased sensitivity to paclitaxel or barasertib in TIG-3 cells but not in A549 cells. In conclusion, LDR-IR modifies global gene expression and cell cycle control, resulting in a reduction of sensitivity to anti-cancer chemotherapy in non-cancer cells and thus a reduction in untoward effects (GA).
Durable Polymer Coatings: A Comparative Study of PDMS-Based Nanocomposites as Protective Coatings for Stone Materials
Authors: Weththimuni Maduka L. , Chobba Marwa Ben , Sacchi Donatella , Messaoud Mouna , Licchelli Maurizio
Published: January 2022

Nowadays, durable protective coatings receive more attention in the field of conservation for several reasons (they are cost effective, time consuming, more resistance, etc.). Hence, this study was focused on producing a multi-functional, durable coating to protect different stone materials, especially, Lecce stone, bricks, and marble. For this purpose, ZrO2-doped-ZnO-PDMS nanocomposites (PDMS, polydimethylsiloxane used as the binder) were synthesized by in situ reaction (doped nanoparticles were inserted into the polymer matrix during the synthesis of PDMS) and the performances of resulting coatings were examined by handling different experimental analyses. In particular, the study aimed to evaluate the durability properties of the coating along with the self-cleaning effect. As a result, the durability of the nanocomposite coating with respect to the well-known PDMS coating was assessed after exposure to two different ageing cycles: solar ageing (300 W, 1000 h) and humid chamber ageing (RH > 80%, T = 22 ± 3 °C, desiccator, 2 years). All the results were in good agreement with each other providing that newly prepared nanocomposite coating can be used as a durable protective coating for different stone materials.
Acknowledgment to Reviewers of Chemosensors in 2021
Authors:   Chemosensors Editorial Office
Published: January 2022

Rigorous peer-reviews are the basis of high-quality academic publishing [...]
Child Distress Expression and Regulation Behaviors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Authors: Gennis Hannah G. , Bucsea Oana , Badovinac Shaylea D. , Costa Stefano , McMurtry C. Meghan , Flora David B. , Pillai Riddell Rebecca
Published: February 2022

The goal of the current study was to review and meta-analyze the literature on relationships between child distress expression behaviors (e.g., cry) and three clusters of child distress regulation behaviors (disengagement of attention, parent-focused behaviors, and self-soothing) in the first three years of life. This review was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42020157505). Unique abstracts were identified through Medline, Embase, and PsycINFO (n = 13,239), and 295 studies were selected for full-text review. Studies were included if they provided data from infants or toddlers in a distress task, had distinct behavioral measures of distress expression and one of the three distress regulation clusters, and assessed the concurrent association between them. Thirty-one studies were included in the meta-analysis and rated on quality. Nine separate meta-analyses were conducted, stratified by child age (first, second, and third year) and regulation behavior clusters (disengagement of attention, parent-focused, and self-soothing). The weighted mean correlations for disengagement of attention behaviors were −0.28 (year 1), −0.44 (year 2), and −0.30 (year 3). For parent-focused behaviors, the weighted mean effects were 0.00 (year 1), 0.20 (year 2), and 0.11 (year 3). Finally, the weighted mean effects for self-soothing behaviors were −0.23 (year 1), 0.25 (year 2), and −0.10 (year 3). The second year of life showed the strongest relationships, although heterogeneity of effects was substantial across the analyses. Limitations include only analyzing concurrent relationships and lack of naturalistic distress paradigms in the literature.
Neonatal Resuscitation in Children 2021: Focus on Training, Technology, and New Clinical Approaches
Authors: Trevisanuto Daniele , Ramaswamy Viraraghavan Vadakkencherry , Villani Paolo Ernesto
Published: February 2022

Neonatal resuscitation remains a hot topic for pediatricians and neonatologists worldwide [...]
Children on the Autism Spectrum and the Use of Virtual Reality for Supporting Social Skills
Authors: Frolli Alessandro , Savarese Giulia , Di Carmine Francesca , Bosco Antonia , Saviano Emilio , Rega Angelo , Carotenuto Marco , Ricci Maria Carla
Published: February 2022

Background: Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are characterized by differences in socio-pragmatic communication. These conditions are allocated within a “spectrum” of phenotypic variability. Virtual reality (VR) is a useful tool for healthcare intervention and particularly safely advancing social abilities in children with ASD. Methods: In our study two types of intervention for improving social skills were compared: (i) emotional training obtained by the use of virtual reality (Gr1), (ii) traditional emotional training performed individually with a therapist (Gr2). We aimed to identify the intervention with the shortest acquisition time for the proposed social tasks. Results: Our findings show that both types of intervention had the same acquisition time for the recognition of primary emotions. However, for the use of primary and secondary emotions, the group using VR showed shorter acquisition times. Conclusions: These findings together with previous preliminary datasuggest that VR can be a promising, dynamic and effective practice for the support of basic and complex social skills of these individuals.
Acknowledgment to Reviewers of Clinics and Practice in 2021
Authors:   Clinics and Practice Editorial Office
Published: January 2022

Rigorous peer-reviews are the basis of high-quality academic publishing [...]
Effect of Trehalose on the Physicochemical Properties of Freeze-Dried Powder of Royal Jelly of Northeastern Black Bee
Authors: Li Liangyu , Wang Peiren , Xu Yanli , Wu Xiaoguang , Liu Xuejun
Published: January 2022

Trehalose is known for its effect of improving the stability of freeze-dried foods. In this work, vacuum freeze-drying (VFD) technology was employed to prepare northeast black bee royal jelly into lyophilized powder and a novel method mixing trehalose into royal jelly is successfully developed to enhance the free radical scavenging ability and the nutrition stability of royal jelly lyophilized powder. The effects of different trehalose content (0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7 and 0.9 wt.%) on the physicochemical properties of lyophilized royal jelly powder were studied. With systematic analysis, it was found that the incorporation of suitable trehalose content in lyophilized royal jelly powder can reduce the loss of the protein, total sugar, total flavone content during the VFD process and enhance the total phenolic antioxidant capacity, solubility, angle of repose, and bulk density of the royal jelly powder. Finally, lyophilized royal jelly with 0.5 wt.% trehalose is selected as the suitable addition content which exhibits the best radical scavenging ability as well as the lowest hygroscopicity. From the perspective of sensory evaluation, all royal jelly lyophilized powders with trehalose are acceptable.
A Method for Calculating the Reliability of Welded Metal Bellows for Mechanical Seals
Authors: Zhang Zhong , Ma Chenbo , Sun Jianjun , Zhang Yuyan , Ni Xingya
Published: January 2022

Welded metal bellows are an elastic element widely used in the field of mechanical seals. The main objective of the present study was to investigate the reliability of welded metal bellows in mechanical seals under specified working conditions. To this end, a stress relaxation test bench was built to obtain the residual elastic force data of welded metal bellows under different compression loads in high-temperature environments. Then, the elastic force loss equation of the bellows was fitted. Moreover, a failure judgment form of welded metal bellows in the mechanical seal is proposed. According to the calculation relationship between the seal face pressure and the welded metal bellows’ elastic force, the elasticity force loss range of the bellows was 556–708 N. Finally, according to the elastic force loss equation, elastic force loss was determined. The maintenance time of the welded metal bellows, and the bellow’s failure limit state equation were determined, and the limit state equation was substituted into the center point method. The reliability of the welded metal bellows was 0.9958. The results show that the new failure criterion and the center point reliability calculation method proposed in this paper have certain practical value for the rapid reliability prediction of welded metal bellows.
Effect of Oxidation and Crystallization on Pitting Initiation Behavior of Fe-Based Amorphous Coatings
Authors: Zhang Haoran , Wang Shanlin , Li Hongxiang , Wang Shuaixing , Chen Yuhua
Published: January 2022

Fe-based amorphous coatings are typically fabricated by high-velocity oxygen-fuel spraying using industrial raw materials. The bonding mode between the coating particles and the corrosion mechanism of the coating in the chloride-rich environment were studied. The results indicate that some fine crystallites such as α-Fe and Fe3C tend to precipitate from the amorphous matrix as the kerosene flow rate increases or the travel speed of spraying gun decreases. Moreover, some precipitates of the (Cr, Fe)2O3 nanocrystal were detected in the metallurgical interfaces of the amorphous coating. The relationship among the amorphous volume fraction, porosity, and spraying parameters, such as the kerosene flow rate and the travel speed of the spray gun, were established. Due to an oxidation effect during spraying process, atomic diffusion, crystallite precipitation and regional depletion of Cr occur in the area along the pre-deposited side near the metallurgical bonding interface, leading to the initiation of pitting. A model of pitting initiation and expansion of Fe-based amorphous coatings is proposed in this paper.
PANI-Based Hydrogen Sulfide Gas Sensors
Authors: Kumawat Meenakshi , Thapliyal Devyani , Verros George D. , Arya Raj Kumar , Barman Sanghamitra , Halder Gopinath , Shandilya Pooja
Published: February 2022

A hydrogen sulfide gas-sensitive chemiresistive sensor was screen printed on a flexible polyethylene terphthalate substrate using a nanocomposite of polyaniline(PANI)/WO3/CuCl2 (PET). FE-SEM analysis validated the nanoscale morphology of the composite, which revealed tungsten oxide particles in nano-rectangular forms, i.e., rod-like structures. The gas-sensing capabilities of the film were affected by the PANI and WO3 ratio, with the optimal ratio of 0.5 showing the best response. It was tested at various H2S gas concentrations and demonstrated a progressive response as the gas concentration increased. PANI/WO3/CuCl2 film was more sensitive than PANI/CuCl2 binary composite film. Around 1 ppm of gas concentration, with a response time of 67.9 s at room temperature, the highest response of two orders of magnitude change was observed, of 93%. This study found that PANI/WO3/CuCl2 is an excellent composite for improving the reversibility and humidity sensitivity of PANI/CuCl2 composite-based chemiresistors during H2S gas sensing, and that screen printing is a simple and cost-effective method for producing stable and uniform film-based chemiresistive gas sensors.
Exploring the Association of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Employee Sleep Quality at a Healthcare Technology and Services Organization
Authors: Arku Daniel , Bingham Jennifer M. , Turgeon Jacques , Michaud Veronique , Warholak Terri , Axon David R.
Published: January 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic led to global healthcare consequences including insomnia. This survey used the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) to assess sleep quality at two time points (July 2020 and November 2020) among employees at a healthcare technology and services organization during the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the 1280 eligible employees, 251 complete responses (response rate, RR = 19.6%) in July and 108 (RR = 8.4%) in November were received and analyzed. The overall mean global PSQI scores were 7.3 ± 3.6 in July and 7.7 ± 3.6 in November 2020 (p > 0.05). There was no significant difference in any of the PSQI components or global scores between periods. Our findings indicate poor reported sleep quality among our study participants during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additional studies are needed to assess the longitudinal impact on sleep quality post-COVID-19 pandemic.
Current Advances in Immune Checkpoint Inhibition and Clinical Genomics in Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma: State of the Art
Authors: Califano Gianluigi , Ouzaid Idir , Laine-Caroff Paul , Peyrottes Arthur , Collà Ruvolo Claudia , Pradère Benjamin , Elalouf Vincent , Misrai Vincent , Hermieu Jean-François , Shariat Shahrokh F. , Xylinas Evanguelos
Published: January 2022

Upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) is a rare and challenging-to-treat malignancy. In most patients it is a sporadic tumor entity, less commonly it falls on the spectrum of Lynch syndrome, an autosomal dominant familial tumor syndrome. Localized UTUC with high-risk features as well as the metastatic disease scenario might require systemic therapy. Platinum-based combination chemotherapy is currently the recommended management option. However, the introduction of immune checkpoint inhibitors into the therapeutic armamentarium has led to a paradigm shift in treatment standards. Immunotherapy has been shown to be safe and effective in treating at least metastatic UTUC, although UTUC-specific high-level evidence is still lacking. Recent technological advances and noteworthy research efforts have greatly improved the general understanding of the biological landscape of UTUC. According to the main findings, UTUC represent a particular subtype of urothelial carcinoma frequently associated with activated FGFR3 signaling, a luminal–papillary phenotype and a T-cell-depleted microenvironment. This improved knowledge promises precision oncology approaches that match treatment decision strategies and genomic profile to ultimately result in better clinical outcomes. The aim of this review was to summarize the main currently available evidence on immune checkpoint inhibition and clinical genomics in UTUC.
Vibrio spp.: Life Strategies, Ecology, and Risks in a Changing Environment
Authors: Sampaio Ana , Silva Vanessa , Poeta Patrícia , Aonofriesei Florin
Published: January 2022

Vibrios are ubiquitous bacteria in aquatic systems, especially marine ones, and belong to the Gammaproteobacteria class, the most diverse class of Gram-negative bacteria. The main objective of this review is to update the information regarding the ecology of Vibrio species, and contribute to the discussion of their potential risk in a changing environment. As heterotrophic organisms, Vibrio spp. live freely in aquatic environments, from marine depths to the surface of the water column, and frequently may be associated with micro- and macroalgae, invertebrates, and vertebrates such as fish, or live in symbiosis. Some Vibrio spp. are pathogenic to humans and animals, and there is evidence that infections caused by vibrios are increasing in the world. This rise may be related to global changes in human behavior (increases in tourism, maritime traffic, consumption of seafood, aquaculture production, water demand, pollution), and temperature. Most likely in the future, Vibrio spp. in water and in seafood will be monitored in order to safeguard human and animal health. Regulators of the microbiological quality of water (marine and freshwater) and food for human and animal consumption, professionals involved in marine and freshwater production chains, consumers and users of aquatic resources, and health professionals will be challenged to anticipate and mitigate new risks.
The Comparison of Cybersecurity Datasets
Authors: Alshaibi Ahmed , Al-Ani Mustafa , Al-Azzawi Abeer , Konev Anton , Shelupanov Alexander
Published: January 2022

Almost all industrial internet of things (IIoT) attacks happen at the data transmission layer according to a majority of the sources. In IIoT, different machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) techniques are used for building the intrusion detection system (IDS) and models to detect the attacks in any layer of its architecture. In this regard, minimizing the attacks could be the major objective of cybersecurity, while knowing that they cannot be fully avoided. The number of people resisting the attacks and protection system is less than those who prepare the attacks. Well-reasoned and learning-backed problems must be addressed by the cyber machine, using appropriate methods alongside quality datasets. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of the cybersecurity datasets used to train the algorithms which are used for building IDS detection models, as well as analyzing and summarizing the different and famous internet of things (IoT) attacks. This is carried out by assessing the outlines of various studies presented in the literature and the many problems with IoT threat detection. Hybrid frameworks have shown good performance and high detection rates compared to standalone machine learning methods in a few experiments. It is the researchers’ recommendation to employ hybrid frameworks to identify IoT attacks for the foreseeable future.
Absence of TFE3 Immunoexpression in a Spectrum of Cutaneous Mixed Tumors: A Retrospective Pilot Study
Authors: Zengin Hatice B. , Yildiz Bahadir , Pukhalskaya Tatsiana , Smoller Bruce R.
Published: January 2022

Background: Cutaneous mixed tumors (CMTs) include benign, atypical, and malignant chondroid syringomas. This spectrum of entities is known to be a part of myoepithelial neoplasms, which display considerable genetic heterogeneity. In a previous report, a malignant chondroid syringoma (MCS) demonstrated PHF1-TFE3 gene fusion and strong TFE3 immunohistochemical (IHC) staining. The authors suggested that the MCS is genetically related to tumors with TFE3 rearrangements such as renal cell carcinoma and might have genetic heterogeneity. In this study, we aim to investigate potential TFE3 gene fusions with TFE3 IHC stain in a spectrum of CMTs. Materials: Eleven benign chondroid syringoma (BCS), one atypical chondroid syringoma (ACS), and one malignant chondroid syringoma cases were identified, stained with TFE3 IHC stain, and interpreted based on preset criteria. Results: ACS and MCS cases did not show any staining. In 7 of 11 BCS cases, weak (1+) staining was observed in less than 20% of the tumor cells and were considered negative. Additionally, in one BCS case, weak (1+) and (2+) staining was shown in approximately 15% and less than 1% of the tumor cells, respectively. Based on our positivity criteria, this case was also interpreted as negative. Conclusions: Our study failed to reveal possible TFE3 gene fusion by IHC staining in benign, atypical, and malignant chondroid syringomas. Although the negative staining in MCS suggests a genetic heterogeneity in this entity, further studies with larger case groups are needed for a more definitive conclusion.
Preprocessing Effects on Performance of Skin Lesion Saliency Segmentation
Authors: Joseph Seena , Olugbara Oludayo O.
Published: January 2022

Despite the recent advances in immune therapies, melanoma remains one of the deadliest and most difficult skin cancers to treat. Literature reports that multifarious driver oncogenes with tumor suppressor genes are responsible for melanoma progression and its complexity can be demonstrated by alterations in expression with signaling cascades. However, a further improvement in the therapeutic outcomes of the disease is highly anticipated with the aid of humanoid assistive technologies that are nowadays touted as a superlative alternative for the clinical diagnosis of diseases. The development of the projected technology-assistive diagnostics will be based on the innovations of medical imaging, artificial intelligence, and humanoid robots. Segmentation of skin lesions in dermoscopic images is an important requisite component of such a breakthrough innovation for an accurate melanoma diagnosis. However, most of the existing segmentation methods tend to perform poorly on dermoscopic images with undesirable heterogeneous properties. Novel image segmentation methods are aimed to address these undesirable heterogeneous properties of skin lesions with the help of image preprocessing methods. Nevertheless, these methods come with the extra cost of computational complexity and their performances are highly dependent on the preprocessing methods used to alleviate the deteriorating effects of the inherent artifacts. The overarching objective of this study is to investigate the effects of image preprocessing on the performance of a saliency segmentation method for skin lesions. The resulting method from the collaboration of color histogram clustering with Otsu thresholding is applied to demonstrate that preprocessing can be abolished in the saliency segmentation of skin lesions in dermoscopic images with heterogeneous properties. The color histogram clustering is used to automatically determine the initial clusters that represent homogenous regions in an input image. Subsequently, a saliency map is computed by agglutinating color contrast, contrast ratio, spatial feature, and central prior to efficiently detect regions of skin lesions in dermoscopic images. The final stage of the segmentation process is accomplished by applying Otsu thresholding followed by morphological analysis to obliterate the undesirable artifacts that may be present at the saliency detection stage. Extensive experiments were conducted on the available benchmarking datasets to validate the performance of the segmentation method. Experimental results generally indicate that it is passable to segment skin lesions in dermoscopic images without preprocessing because the applied segmentation method is ferociously competitive with each of the numerous leading supervised and unsupervised segmentation methods investigated in this study.
Ensembles of Convolutional Neural Networks for Survival Time Estimation of High-Grade Glioma Patients from Multimodal MRI
Authors: Ben Ahmed Kaoutar , Hall Lawrence O. , Goldgof Dmitry B. , Gatenby Robert
Published: January 2022

Glioma is the most common type of primary malignant brain tumor. Accurate survival time prediction for glioma patients may positively impact treatment planning. In this paper, we develop an automatic survival time prediction tool for glioblastoma patients along with an effective solution to the limited availability of annotated medical imaging datasets. Ensembles of snapshots of three dimensional (3D) deep convolutional neural networks (CNN) are applied to Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI) data to predict survival time of high-grade glioma patients. Additionally, multi-sequence MRI images were used to enhance survival prediction performance. A novel way to leverage the potential of ensembles to overcome the limitation of labeled medical image availability is shown. This new classification method separates glioblastoma patients into long- and short-term survivors. The BraTS (Brain Tumor Image Segmentation) 2019 training dataset was used in this work. Each patient case consisted of three MRI sequences (T1CE, T2, and FLAIR). Our training set contained 163 cases while the test set included 46 cases. The best known prediction accuracy of 74% for this type of problem was achieved on the unseen test set.
Diagnostic Accuracy of Whole-Body Computed Tomography for Incidental Ovarian Tumors in Patients with Prior Breast Cancer
Authors: Huang Pei-Ching , Wu Ren-Chin , Juan Yu-Hsiang , Ho Hui-Yu , Lin Yung-Chang , Huang Yi-Ting , Ng Shu-Hang , Lai Chyong-Huey , Chao Angel , Lin Gigin
Published: January 2022

Whole-body computed tomography (WBCT) serves as the first-line imaging modality for breast cancer follow-up. To investigate the imaging characteristics and diagnostic accuracy of WBCT for incidental ovarian tumors in patients with prior breast cancer, we retrospectively reviewed a consecutive cohort of 13,845 patients with breast cancer, of whom 149 had pathologically-proven ovarian lesions. We excluded patients with ovarian diagnosis before breast cancer, CT scan not including ovary, CT-pathology interval >30 days, and severe CT artifact. Among our 60 breast cancer patients (median age, 46 years) with pathologically proven ovarian lesions, 49 patients had benign diseases, seven had primary ovarian cancer and four had ovarian metastasis from breast cancer. The histologic types of breast cancer with ovarian metastases included invasive ductal carcinoma, lobular carcinoma and angiosarcoma. Cystic ovarian lesions identified on WBCT during the breast cancer follow-up are more likely to be benign, while solid-cystic lesions are likely to be primary ovarian cancers, and solid lesions may indicate ovarian metastasis. The diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve of WBCT were 98.3%, 100.0%, 98.0%, and 0.99 (malignant vs. benign); 90.0%, 100.0%, 85.7%, and 0.93 (metastasis vs. primary ovarian cancer), respectively. The only false positive solid lesion was a Sertoli–Leydig tumor. In conclusion, WBCT may help diagnose incidental ovarian tumors in patients with prior breast cancers and guide disease management.
Identification of the Optimal Cut-Off Value of PSA for Assessing Severity of Disease in [68Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT Study in Prostate Cancer Patients after Radical Prostatectomy
Authors: Cegla Paulina , Wojewódzka Marta , Gorczewska Izabela , Chalewska Wioletta , Łapińska Grażyna , Ochman Paweł , Sackiewicz Agata , Dedecjus Marek
Published: January 2022

Objective: The objective of this study was to identify the optimal cut-off value of prostate specific antigen (PSA) to assess the extent of the disease in [68Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT study in patients after radical prostatectomy. Materials and Methods: Retrospective analysis was performed on a group of 215 patients who underwent a [68Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT examination because of suspected recurrence after radical prostatectomy. Patients were divided into four groups: 1, no active lesions suggesting recurrence (n = 92); 2, suspected isolated local recurrence (n = 19); 3, oligometastatic disease (n = 82); and 4, polymetastatic disease (n = 22). Results: In group 1, the mean PSA level was 0.962 ng/mL (median: 0.376; min: 0.004; max: 25 ng/mL); in group 2, it was 4.970 ng/mL (median 1.320; min: 0.003; max: 40.350 ng/mL); in group 3, it was 2.802 ng/mL (median: 1.270; min: 0.020; max: 59.670 ng/mL); and in group 4, it was 4.997 ng/mL (median: 3.795; min: 0.007; max 21.110 ng/mL). Statistically significant differences were shown in PSA levels when comparing groups 1 and 2 (p = 0.0025) and groups 3 and 4 (p = 0.0474). The PSA cut-off point for discriminating groups 1 and 2 was 0.831 (sensitivity: 0.684; specificity: 0.772; area under the curve (AUC): 0.775), and for groups 3 and 4, it was 2.51 (sensitivity: 0.682; specificity: 0.780; AUC: 0.720). Conclusions: Our preliminary data suggested that the PSA level has an essential influence on determining the extent of disease in a [68Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT study in patients after radical prostatectomy. Identification of the optimal cut-off values for the oligo- and polymetastatic diseases might be helpful in stratifying these patients.
Lung Cancer Screening with Low-Dose CT: Radiation Risk and Benefit–Risk Assessment for Different Screening Scenarios
Authors: Nekolla Elke A. , Brix Gunnar , Griebel Jürgen
Published: February 2022

Lung cancer is a severe disease that affects predominantly smokers and represents a leading cause of cancer death in Europe. Recent meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have yielded that low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) screening can significantly reduce lung cancer mortality in heavy smokers or ex-smokers by about 20% compared to a control group of persons who did not receive LDCT. This benefit must be weighed against adverse health effects associated with LDCT lung screening, in particular radiation risks. For this purpose, representative organ doses were determined for a volume CT dose index of 1 mGy that can be achieved on modern devices. Using these values, radiation risks were estimated for different screening scenarios by means of sex-, organ-, and age-dependent radio-epidemiologic models. In particular, the approach was adjusted to a Western European population. For an annual LDCT screening of (ex-)smokers aged between 50 and 75 years, the estimated radiation-related lifetime attributable risk to develop cancer is below 0.25% for women and about 0.1% for men. Assuming a mortality reduction of about 20% and taking only radiation risks into account, this screening scenario results in a benefit–risk ratio of about 10 for women and about 25 for men. These benefit–risk ratio estimates are based on the results of RCTs of the highest evidence level. To ensure that the benefit outweighs the radiation risk even in standard healthcare, strict conditions and requirements must be established for the entire screening process to achieve a quality level at least as high as that of the considered RCTs.
The Value of Cytology in the Evaluation of Malignant Pericardial Effusions: A Systematic Review
Authors: Shartouni Ranim , Shartouni Roy , Mahmoodi Maryam , Nikas Ilias P.
Published: February 2022

Pericardial effusions can be caused by diverse etiologies, including heart-related conditions, kidney failure, trauma, infections, autoimmune diseases, and cancer. This systematic review aimed to assess the role of cytology in identifying the most prevalent cancers related to malignant pericardial effusions (MPEs), the ability of cytology, compared to histology, to detect cancer while evaluating pericardial effusions, and the prognostic impact of MPEs. Four electronic databases were investigated using a predefined algorithm, and specific inclusion and exclusion criteria. We found that the most prevalent primaries associated with MPEs were lung (especially NSCLCs), breast, hematolymphoid, and gastrointestinal cancers. MPEs tended to be hemorrhagic rather than serous or serosanguinous and to occupy larger volumes compared to non-neoplastic effusions. In addition, cytology was shown to exhibit an enhanced ability to detect cancer compared to biopsy in most of the included studies. Lastly, the presence of an MPE was associated with poor prognosis, while survival depended on the specific cancer type detected. Particularly, prognosis was found to be worse when MPEs were caused by lung or gastric cancer, rather than breast or hematolymphoid malignancies. In conclusion, evidence suggests that cytologic evaluation has a significant diagnostic and prognostic impact in patients with MPEs.
Atypical Polypoid Adenomyoma of the Vagina: Follow Up and Subsequent Evolution: A Case Report and Update
Authors: Mitranovici Melinda Ildiko , Oală Ioan Emilian , Petre Izabella , Craina Marius Lucian , Floruț Silviana Narcisa , Chiorean Diana Maria , Cocuz Iuliu Gabriel , Turdean Sabin Gligore , Cotoi Ovidiu Simion , Pușcașiu Lucian
Published: February 2022

Atypical polypoid adenomyoma (APA) is a rare tumor developed from a mix of cells of epithelial and mesenchymal origin. We present the case of an 84-year-old patient with atypical polypoid adenomyoma on the vaginal vault, after total hysterectomy with total adnexectomy for endometrial hyperplasia with atypia four years ago. Not following regular indicated gynecological appointments, the symptoms presented were vaginal bleeding and anemia. The importance of the case consists both in the unique way in which the adenomyoma appears on the vaginal vault and in the subsequent evolution of this pathology. After complete resection, it recurs in five months with a malignant transformation into carcinosarcoma. This fact shows that adenomas can turn not only into carcinomas but also the mesenchymal component can progress to sarcoma, a fact of exceptional rarity. Follow-up and accurate diagnosis are essential for proper management, which is a challenge anyway due to the lack of case studies.
An Intuitionistic Extension of the Simple WISP Method
Authors: Zavadskas Edmundas Kazimieras , Stanujkic Dragisa , Turskis Zenonas , Karabasevic Darjan
Published: January 2022

In this article, we present a new extension of the Integrated Simple Weighted Sum-Product (WISP) method, adapted for intuitionistic numbers. The extension takes advantage of intuitionistic fuzzy sets for solving complex decision-making problems. The example of contractor selection demonstrates the use of the proposed extension.
Acknowledgment to Reviewers of Earth in 2021
Authors:   Earth Editorial Office
Published: January 2022

Rigorous peer-reviews are the basis of high-quality academic publishing [...]
The Effect of Inflation Targeting (IT) Policy on the Inflation Uncertainty and Economic Growth in Selected African and European Countries
Authors: Nene Shelter Thelile , Ilesanmi Kehinde Damilola , Sekome Mashapa
Published: February 2022

The study assessed the effect of inflation targeting (IT) policy on inflation uncertainty and economic growth in African and European IT countries. This study contributes to the existing knowledge by analysing and comparing the African IT and European IT countries using two advanced approaches which include the Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (GARCH) and Panel Vector Autoregressive (PVAR). To determine how the IT policy affects the inflation uncertainty in selected countries, time series techniques were employed. Panel data approaches were used to determine the effect of inflation targeting on economic growth in the selected countries. The results are as follows: (1) Inflation Targeting policy is insignificant in reducing inflation uncertainty in South Africa, and the effect of the policy in Ghana is inconclusive; (2) The IT policy has a significant impact in reducing inflation uncertainty in European countries (i.e., Poland and the Czech Republic); (3) Inflation targeting has a negative impact on economic growth in African Countries; (4) The policy has a positive impact on economic growth in European Countries; (5) In comparison to European countries, the strategy has a negligible impact on economic growth in Africa. Overall, the results suggest that European countries inflation targeting regimes are more credible in terms of reducing the level of inflation uncertainty and sustaining economic growth compared to African countries. In this respect, policymakers must ensure that they assess the economic condition of an individual country before implementing such a policy.
Exploring Teacher Educators’ Perspectives of Play-Based Learning: A Mixed Method Approach
Authors: Khalil Nibal , Aljanazrah Ahmad , Hamed Ghadeer , Murtagh Elaine
Published: January 2022

Background: This study examined teacher educators’ perceptions of play-based learning in the context of university-based teacher education programmes in Palestine. Methods: Using a cross-sectional, multi-method design, we explored factors relating to teacher educators’ capability, opportunity and motivation to incorporate play-based learning into their practice. Thirty-six staff from four Palestinian universities completed an online survey and 17 were interviewed. Results: Teacher educators recognise the value of play-based learning and are motivated to apply this pedagogical approach. However, attempts to incorporate play-based learning into their practices is affected by insufficient knowledge and skills to apply play-based learning in practical contexts. Furthermore, social cues, cultural norms and physical challenges currently limit their opportunity to adopt play-based approaches. Conclusion: Our findings highlight that Palestinian teacher educators are motivated to embrace play-based learning as a pedagogical approach and recognise the importance of using play-based learning in educational practices. The findings can inform future professional development programs for teacher educators.