bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Modeling and prediction for diesel performance based on deep neural network combined with virtual sample
Authors: Zheng Hainan , Zhou Honggen , Kang Chao , Liu Zan , Dou Zhenhuan , Liu Jinfeng , Li Bingqiang , Chen Yu
Published: August 2021

The performance models are the critical step for condition monitoring and fault diagnosis of diesel engines, and are an important bridge to describe the link between input parameters and targets. Large-scale experimental methods with higher economic costs are often adopted to construct accurate performance models. To ensure the accuracy of the model and reduce the cost of the test, a novel method for modeling the performances of marine diesel engine is proposed based on deep neural network method coupled with virtual sample generation technology. Firstly, according to the practical experience, the four parameters including speed, power, lubricating oil temperature and pressure are selected as the input factors for establishing the performance models. Besides, brake specific fuel consumption, vibration and noise are adopted to assess the status of marine diesel engine. Secondly, small sample experiments for diesel engine are performed under multiple working conditions. Moreover, the experimental sample data are diffused for obtaining valid extended data based on virtual sample generation technology. Then, the performance models are established using the deep neural network method, in which the diffusion data set is adopted to reduce the cost of testing. Finally, the accuracy of the developed model is verified through experiment, and the parametric effects on performances are discussed. The results indicate that the overall prediction accuracy is more than 93%. Moreover, power is the key factor affecting brake specific fuel consumption with a weighting of 30% of the four input factors. While speed is the key factor affecting vibration and noise with a weighting of 30% and 30.5%, respectively.
External validation for sensitivity of the Ottawa subarachnoid hemorrhage rule in a Japanese tertiary teaching hospital
Authors: Suzuki Tomoharu , Itokazu David , Tokuda Yasuharu
Published: August 2021

The Ottawa subarachnoid hemorrhage (OSAH) rule is a validated clinical prediction rule for ruling out subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Another SAH rule (Ottawa-like rule) was developed in Japan but was not well validated. We aimed to validate both rules by examining the sensitivity for ruling out SAH in Japanese patients diagnosed with SAH. We conducted a retrospective cohort study by reviewing the medical records of consecutive adult patients hospitalized with SAH at a tertiary-care teaching hospital in Japan who visited our emergency department between July 2009 and June 2019. Sensitivity and its 95% confidence interval (CI) were estimated for each rule for the diagnosis of SAH. In a total of 280 patients with SAH, 56 (20.0%) patients met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed for the OSAH rule, and a sensitivity of the OSAH rule was 56/56 (100%; 95% CI 93.6–100%). While, 126 (45%) patients met the inclusion criteria of the Ottawa-like rule, and the rule showed a sensitivity of 125/126 (99.2%; 95%CI 95.7–100%). The OSAH rule showed 100% sensitivity among our Japanese patients diagnosed with SAH. The implementation of the Ottawa-like rule should be cautious because the false-negative rate is up to 4%.
Hydrophilic hindering and hydrophobic growing: a vesicle glycometabolism multi-drug combination therapeutic against Alzheimer's disease
Authors: Ren Jian , Jiang Fuxin , Wang Shaoteng , Hu Haodong , Zhang Bo , Zhao Yi Ping , Chen Li , Lv Zhengang , Dai Fengying
Published: August 2021

Advanced drug vehicle exploitation and the sophisticated synergy mechanism revelation are two great difficulties in combination therapy.
Nitric oxide release and related light-induced cytotoxicity of ruthenium nitrosyls with coordinated nicotinate derivatives
Authors: Yakovlev Ivan A. , Mikhailov Artem A. , Eremina Julia A. , Klyushova Lyubov S. , Nadolinny Vladimir A. , Kostin Gennadiy A.
Published: August 2021

Synthetic approaches for the preparation oftrans(NO,OH)-cis(NO2,NO2)-[RuNO(L)2(NO2)2OH] (L = ethyl nicotinate (I) and methyl nicotinate (II)) are reported. Compounds show a nitric oxide release under 445 or 532 nm irradiation in solution.
Enhancement of electrocatalytic abilities toward CO2 reduction by tethering redox-active metal complexes to the active site
Authors: Md. Ahsan Habib , Breedlove Brian K. , Cosquer Goulven , Yamashita Masahiro
Published: August 2021

Redox-active metal complexes were tethered with a modified Ni(ii)cyclen catalytically active site and reduce prior to the catalytically active site and increase the electron density to enhance electrocatalytic abilities towards CO2 reduction.
Flow injection of slurries of a lithium borate fusion disc for multi-elemental analysis by mixed-gas inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry
Authors: Schug Andrew K. , Beauchemin Diane
Published: August 2021

Slurry nebulization, a mixed-gas plasma and external calibration with internal standardization allow the accurate analysis of fused samples by ICPMS.
Visible light-induced C–C bond cleavage in a multicomponent reaction cascade allowing acylations of sulfoximines with ketones
Authors: Tu Yongliang , Zhang Duo , Shi Peng , Wang Chenyang , Ma Ding , Bolm Carsten
Published: August 2021

Visible light (provided by blue LEDs) induces a very smooth C–C-bond cleavage (analogous to a Norrish Type 1 reaction), which allows to use simple ketones for N-aroylations of sulfoximines.
Bioinspired, nucleobase-driven, highly resilient, and fast-responsive antifreeze ionic conductive hydrogels for durable pressure and strain sensors
Authors: Di Xiang , Li Jian , Yang Mingming , Zhao Qian , Wu Guolin , Sun Pingchuan
Published: August 2021

Nucleobase-driven high-resilience and fast-responsive antifreezing ionic conductive hydrogels for durable pressure and strain sensors.
Performance optimisation of a segmented outer rotor flux switching permanent magnet motor for direct drive washing machine application
Authors: Saghin Sadegh Mollaei , Ghaheri Aghil , Shirzad Hossein , Afjei Ebrahim
Published: August 2021

Electrical machines are widely used in home appliances, the performance of which is mostly related to the quality function of the electrical machines. What has been used so far in home appliances brought with themselves a wide assortment of advantages and disadvantages. With the aim to overcome the drawbacks of the previously implemented electrical motors in washing machines, a new configuration of flux switching permanent magnet motor (FSPM) with the segmented outer rotor (SOR‐FSPM) is proposed benefitting from a direct driven drum. To reduce the cogging torque as well as torque ripple and to improve the total harmonic distortion, cutting the stator in a way to lower overlapping between the rotor and stator pole, inserting notches into the poles of the rotor to modify the air gap between the stator teeth and the rotor segments are proposed. The Taguchi method and sensitivity analysis are further applied to find the best combination set of changes in such a way to smoothen the chart showing reluctance between stator and rotor and fix the zero‐point crossing of the flux linkages in different rotor positions. Finally, the proposed SOR‐FSPM is prototyped, and experimental results along with the finite element method results are discussed and compared in order to verify the design process.
COVID-19 Mass Vaccination Resource Calculator
Authors: Pryor Grace E. , Marble Kelsea , Velasco Ferdinand T. , Lehmann Christoph U. , Basit Mujeeb A.
Published: August 2021

Background Despite the recent emergency use authorization of two vaccines for the prevention of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) disease, vaccination rates are lower than expected. Vaccination efforts may be hampered by supply, delivery, storage, patient prioritization, administration infrastructure or logistics problems. To address the last issue, our institution is sharing publically a calculator to optimize the management of staffing and facility resources in an outpatient mass vaccination effort.

Objective By sharing our calculator locally and through this paper, we aim to help health organizations administering vaccines optimize resource allocation while maximizing efficiency.

Methods Our calculator determines the maximum number of vaccinations that can be administered per hour, the number of check-in staff (clerks) needed, the number of vaccination staff (nurses) needed, and the required room capacity needed for the vaccination and the mandatory 15-minute observation period after inoculation.

Results We provide a functional version of the calculator, allowing users to replicate the calculation for their own vaccine events.

Conclusion An efficient and organized vaccination program is critical to halting the spread of COVID-19. By sharing this calculator, it is our hope that other organizations may use it to facilitate rapid and efficient vaccination.
Uncertainty quantification of forecast error in coupled fire–atmosphere wildfire spread simulations: sensitivity to the spatial resolution
Authors: Ciri U. , Garimella M. M. , Bernardoni F. , Bennett R. L. , Leonardi S.
Published: August 2021

A methodology to quantify uncertainty in wildfire forecast using coupled fire-atmosphere computational models is presented. In these models, an atmospheric solver is coupled with a fire-spread module. In order to maintain a low computational cost, the atmospheric simulation is limited to a coarse numerical resolution, which increases the uncertainty in the wildfire spread prediction. Generalised polynomial chaos is proposed to quantify this uncertainty and obtain a response function for the forecast error in terms of the atmospheric resolution and the forecast horizon. The response is obtained from a set of simulations of a grassland fire with an in-house coupled fire-atmosphere model at varying degrees of resolution. Global sensitivity analysis of the response shows that the resolution is the primary parameter affecting the error. However, due to the strongly coupled fire-atmosphere dynamics in the initial fire development, the forecast time horizon locally becomes the dominant variable. A parametric study on the effect of the fire spreading regime suggests that the forecast uncertainty is large in plume-dominated spreading conditions: coarse resolution forecasts accumulate a large error because they cannot capture the intense small-scale vortical motion at the fire front.
On the non-monotonic behaviour of fire spread
Authors: Viegas Domingos Xavier Filomeno Carlos , Raposo Jorge Rafael Nogueira , Ribeiro Carlos Fernando Morgado , Reis Luís Carlos Duarte , Abouali Abdelrahman , Viegas Carlos Xavier Pais
Published: August 2021

A conceptual model based on the dynamic interaction between fire, the fuel bed and the surrounding flow to explain the non-monotonic or intermittent behaviour of fires is proposed. According to the model, even in nominally permanent and uniform boundary conditions, the fire-induced flow modifies the geometry of the flame and its rate of spread. After an initial acceleration, there is a reduction in the rate of spread followed by one or more cycles of growth. Carefully controlled experiments of fires in slopes and canyons show that the evolution of fire properties, namely flame angle and rate of spread, have high-frequency oscillations superimposed on the low-frequency fire growth cycle described above.
Holistic Management of Pollinators and Pests: Integrating Semiochemicals With On-Farm Pesticides
Authors: Okosun Olabimpe O , Reddy Gadi V P
Published: August 2021

Insect pollinators and insect herbivores affect plant reproduction and fitness. Floral displays are used to attract and manipulate pollinators’ behavior to support plant sexual reproduction while rewarding the visitors with access to nectar and pollen. The plant–pollinator interactions use various semiochemicals as important communication channels for successful species interaction networks. Floral display and scents can also attract insect herbivores (in which case they act as kairomones). Consequently, semiochemical-color-based traps used for monitoring pest insects in crop fields often accidentally capture pollinators, and these interactions simultaneously affect pest monitoring, pollinator assemblages, and crop production in agroecosystems. An integrated interdisciplinary approach that would use inter- and intraspecific signals employed by foraging insects for predator’s avoidance with the goal of deterring pollinators and beneficial insects from entering pesticide-treated fields is proposed. Specifically, it should be possible to reduce the bycatch of pollinators by pest monitoring traps if these trap lures also include the alarm pheromones of insect pollinators such as bees. In addition, other tactics for pollinator protection could include first the application of nonlethal repellants to fields that have recently been treated with synthetic chemical pesticides to deter pollinators’ visitation. A second action would be to incorporate the results of comparative risk evaluations (pollinators vs pests) for botanical pesticides, as well as for synthetic pesticides. Finally, we urge that wild pollinator species be included in pesticide risk assessments, especially for new classes of insecticides. Collectively, these actions should integrate pest and pollinator management strategies.
ScCAEs: deep clustering of single-cell RNA-seq via convolutional autoencoder embedding and soft K-means
Authors: Hu Hang , Li Zhong , Li Xiangjie , Yu Minzhe , Pan Xiutao
Published: August 2021

Clustering and cell type classification are a vital step of analyzing scRNA-seq data to reveal the complexity of the tissue (e.g. the number of cell types and the transcription characteristics of the respective cell type). Recently, deep learning-based single-cell clustering algorithms become popular since they integrate the dimensionality reduction with clustering. But these methods still have unstable clustering effects for the scRNA-seq datasets with high dropouts or noise. In this study, a novel single-cell RNA-seq deep embedding clustering via convolutional autoencoder embedding and soft K-means (scCAEs) is proposed by simultaneously learning the feature representation and clustering. It integrates the deep learning with convolutional autoencoder to characterize scRNA-seq data and proposes a regularized soft K-means algorithm to cluster cell populations in a learned latent space. Next, a novel constraint is introduced to the clustering objective function to iteratively optimize the clustering results, and more importantly, it is theoretically proved that this objective function optimization ensures the convergence. Moreover, it adds the reconstruction loss to the objective function combining the dimensionality reduction with clustering to find a more suitable embedding space for clustering. The proposed method is validated on a variety of datasets, in which the number of clusters in the mentioned datasets ranges from 4 to 46, and the number of cells ranges from 90 to 30 302. The experimental results show that scCAEs is superior to other state-of-the-art methods on the mentioned datasets, and it also keeps the satisfying compatibility and robustness. In addition, for single-cell datasets with the batch effects, scCAEs can ensure the cell separation while removing batch effects.
A span-based joint model for extracting entities and relations of bacteria biotopes
Authors: Zuo Mei , Zhang Yang
Published: August 2021

Motivation

Information about bacteria biotopes (BB) is important for fundamental research and applications in microbiology. BB task at BioNLP-OST 2019 focuses on the extraction of locations and phenotypes of microorganisms from PubMed abstracts and full-text excerpts. The subtask BB-rel+ner aims to recognize relevant entities and extract interrelationships about BBs. The corresponding corpus owns some distinctive features (e.g. nested entities) which are challenging to deal with. Therefore, previous methods achieved low performance on entity and relation extraction and limited the mutual effect between named entity recognition and relation extraction. There is still much room for improvement.

Results

We propose a span-based model to extract entities and relations jointly from biomedical text regarding the BBs. For alleviating the problem of annotated data deficiency in domain-specific task, we employ a BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) model pre-trained on the domain-specific corpus to encode sentences. Our model considers all spans in a sentence as potential entity mentions and computes relation scores between the most confident entity spans based on representations of spans and contexts between spans. Experiments on the BB-rel+ner 2019 corpus demonstrate that our model achieves significantly better performance than the state-of-the-art method, with a reduction of 21.6% slot error rate (SER) for extracting relations. Our model is also effective in recognizing nested entities. Furthermore, the model can be applied to the CHEMPROT corpus for joint extraction of chemical–protein entities and relations, achieving state-of-the-art performance.

Availability and implementation

Our source code is available at https://github.com/zmmzGitHub/SpanMB_BERT.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
‘She Was Just Like A Lassie’: Analysing The Views of Cis-Women In Custody About Their Experiences of Living With Transgender Women In The Scottish Prison Estate
Authors: Maycock Matthew
Published: August 2021

The subject of transgender rights has recently come under increasing scrutiny in many parts of the world. Despite this, there has been no research that analyses this issue from the perspective of cis-women living alongside transwomen in prison settings. This paper addresses this omission by analysing the views of fifteen cis-women in prison in Scotland, living on halls of four prisons that also housed transgender women. Findings are analysed across a range of areas incorporating the acceptance, support and solidarity as well rejection, feelings of vulnerability relating to transgender people in custody. Responses analysed highlight a diversity of views, reflective of wider societal perspectives about transgender people. This paper has relevance for prisons systems housing transgender people, and provides unique insights into the complexity of performances of gender within the contemporary prison settings.
JAK/STAT of all trades: linking inflammation with cancer development, tumor progression and therapy resistance
Authors: Sabaawy Hatem E , Ryan Bríd M , Khiabanian Hossein , Pine Sharon R
Published: August 2021

Inflammation is at the forefront of carcinogenesis, tumor progression and resistance to therapy. The Janus kinase (JAK)/signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) signaling axis is a central pathway that mediates the cellular response to inflammation and contributes to carcinogenesis. The JAK/STAT pathway coordinates intercellular communication between tumor cells and their immune microenvironment, and JAK/STAT activation leads to the expression of a variety of proteins involved in cell proliferation, cell survival, stemness, self-renewal, evasion of immunosurveillance mechanisms and overall tumor progression. Activation of JAK/STAT signaling also mediates resistance to radiation therapy or cytotoxic agents and modulates tumor cell responses to molecularly targeted and immune modulating drugs. Despite extensive research focused on understanding its signaling mechanisms and downstream phenotypic and functional consequences in hematological disorders, the importance of JAK/STAT signaling in solid tumor initiation and progression has been underappreciated. We highlight the role of chronic inflammation in cancer, the epidemiological evidence for contribution of JAK/STAT to carcinogenesis, the current cancer prevention measures involving JAK/STAT inhibition and the impact of JAK/STAT signaling activity on cancer development, progression and treatment resistance. We also discuss recent therapeutic advances in targeting key factors within the JAK/STAT pathway with single agents and the use of these agents in combination with other targeted therapies and immune checkpoint inhibitors.
Maine’s Bumble Bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Assemblage—Part 1: Composition, Seasonal and Regional Distribution, and Resource Use
Authors: Butler Ronald G , Lage Christopher , Dobrin Scott E , Staples Joseph K , Venturini Eric , Frank Jereme , Drummond Francis A
Published: August 2021

Global declines of bumble bees place natural and agricultural ecosystems at risk. Given bumble bees importance to Maine’s major agricultural crops, we conducted a statewide, quantitative survey of bumble bee species seasonal and ecoregional abundance, richness, diversity, and floral resource use. We recorded 11 Bombus species at 40 survey sites across Maine’s three ecoregions, with Bombus ternarius Cresson, 1863 and Bombus impatiens Cresson, 1863 being the most common and Bombus citrinus Smith, 1854 the least commonly encountered. Bumble bee species richness did not differ as a function of ecoregion, but did decline over the season, while species diversity differed by ecoregion and also declined over the season. Multiple response permutation procedure (MRPP) indicated ecoregional differences in species composition of bumble bee assemblages and nonmetric multidimensional scaling produced a stable ordination suggesting assemblage differences were associated with survey site variables including forage plant cover, forage plant richness, elevation, development, and deciduous forest cover. Both MRPP and correspondence analysis also revealed differences in the floral resources utilized by bumble bee species in each ecoregion. Low connectance and nestedness levels indicated low stability pollinator networks in each ecoregion, suggesting Maine bumble bee assemblages may be at risk of decline in response to additional external perturbations.
A rapidly growing cardiac calcified amorphous tumour diagnosed after coronary artery bypass graft surgery: a case report
Authors: Suzue Takashi , Sawayama Yuichi , Suzuki Tomoaki , Nakagawa Yoshihisa
Published: August 2021

Background

A cardiac calcified amorphous tumour (CAT) is a non-neoplastic intracavitary cardiac mass. The most serious complication is systemic embolism. Cardiac CATs tend to be surgically resected immediately after detection; therefore, its progress of growth is rarely reported.

Case summary

An 83-year-old Japanese woman received on-pump beating coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) for angina pectoris. Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) performed preoperatively and 1 month postoperatively revealed the presence of mitral annular calcification, with no other abnormal findings. However, follow-up TTE performed 5 months after CABG revealed a mobile nodular mass (5.0 × 8.2 mm) in the left ventricular outflow tract. At 1 month after detection, the mass had enlarged to 5.0 × 13.0 mm. Transoesophageal echocardiography revealed that the pedunculated high-echoic mass was adhered to the posterior commissure of the mitral valve and was dynamically swinging towards the non-coronary cusp in the systolic phase. As the mass had grown rapidly in less than 6 months, it was surgically resected to prevent systemic embolism. The histological specimen consisted mainly of fibrin, including calcification and hemosiderin deposition, which lead to a diagnosis of cardiac CAT. The patient had an uneventful postoperative course during her hospital stay and had no evidence of recurrence for 1 year after discharge.

Discussion

This was a rare case in which a rapidly growing cardiac CAT was detected following on-pump CABG. Cardiac CATs may grow very rapidly and therefore early surgery should be considered after initial diagnosis.
Thrombosed sinus of Valsalva aneurysm masquer ading as a cardiac tumour: a case report
Authors: Sato Wakana , Seki Katsuhito , Yamamoto Hiroshi , Watanabe Hiroyuki
Published: August 2021

Background

An aortic sinus of Valsalva aneurysm (SVA) often remains undiagnosed until it ruptures. An SVA filled with thrombus can be challenging to diagnose accurately.

Case summary

A 70-year-old man was admitted with a clinical diagnosis of well-tolerated complete atrioventricular block (AVB). Transthoracic echocardiography revealed a spherical mass (43 × 49 mm) at the interatrial septum. Enhanced computed tomography (CT) showed a well-defined, hollow, and non-enhanced mass suggesting a cardiac tumour. However, 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/CT (18F-FDG PET/CT) showed no uptake in the mass. After implantation of a permanent pacemaker, anticoagulant therapy was started for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. Two months later, follow-up evaluation by echocardiography and enhanced CT revealed an increase in size of the hollow interior cavity, suggesting thrombolysis by the anticoagulant. We diagnosed a non-coronary SVA filled with thrombus, which masqueraded as a cardiac tumour and may have caused complete AVB.

Conclusions

We describe a rare case of a giant thrombosed SVA masquerading as a cardiac tumour. Initial 18F-FDG PET/CT and serial imaging studies were helpful in distinguishing it from a cardiac tumour.
Acute coronary syndrome of the left main coronary artery caused by a huge floating thrombus in the ascending aorta: a case report of intravascular ultrasound effectiveness
Authors: Takafuji Hiroya , Nakama Tatsuya , Asano Kazuhiro , Obunai Kotaro
Published: August 2021

Background

Left main coronary artery (LMCA)–acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is a rare complication of a floating thrombus in the ascending aorta. However, diagnosing the aetiology of LMCA–ACS during an emergency situation is challenging. We present a rare case of LMCA–ACS caused by a large thrombus in the ascending aorta, confirmed by intravascular ultrasound (IVUS).

Case summary

A 90-year-old woman presented to the emergency department complaining of chest pain and syncope. On admission, her electrocardiogram showed normal sinus rhythm and a complete right bundle branch block with significant ST depression in the V3–V6 leads; hence, ACS was suspected. The first emergency angiogram of the left coronary artery showed filling defect in the proximal ascending aorta. IVUS revealed a large thrombus in the ascending aorta. The thrombus extended from the ascending aorta to the proximal left anterior descending coronary artery. IVUS confirmed that there was no dissection of the coronary artery or the proximal ascending aorta. Based on the IVUS findings, this case was diagnosed as ACS of the LMCA caused by a floating thrombus in the ascending aorta.

Discussion

This rare case of LMCA–ACS caused by a thrombus in the ascending aorta was confirmed by IVUS, which can be a useful imaging tool for diagnosing morphological abnormalities during emergencies.
Global representation of heart failure clinical trial leaders, collaborators, and enrolled participants: a bibliometric review 2000–20
Authors: Zhu Jie Wei , Le NhatChinh , Wei Sunny , Zühlke Liesl , Lopes Renato D , Zannad Faiez , Van Spall Harriette G C
Published: August 2021

Aims

The geographic representation of investigators and participants in heart failure (HF) randomized controlled trials (RCTs) may not reflect the global distribution of disease. We assessed the geographic diversity of RCT leaders and explored associations with geographic representation of enrolled participants among impactful HF RCTs.

Methods and results

We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL for HF RCTs published in journals with impact factor ≥ 10 between January 2000 and June 2020. We used the Jonckheere–Terpstra test to assess temporal trends and multivariable logistic regression models to explore associations between predictors and outcomes. There were 414 eligible RCTs. Only 80 of 828 trial leaders [9.7%; 95% confidence interval (CI): 7.8–11.8%] and 453 of 4656 collaborators (9.7%; 95% CI: 8.8–10.6%) were from outside Europe and North America, with no change in temporal trends and with greater disparities in large RCTs. The adjusted odds of trial leadership outside Europe and North America were lower with industry funding [adjusted odds ratio (aOR): 0.33; 95% CI: 0.15–0.75; P = 0.008]. Among 157 416 participants for whom geography was reported, only 14.5% (95% CI: 14.3–14.7%) were enrolled outside Europe and North America, but odds of enrolment were 10-fold greater with trial leadership outside Europe and North America (aOR: 10.0; 95% CI: 5.6–19.0; P < 0.001).

Conclusion

Regions disproportionately burdened with HF are under-represented in HF trial leadership, collaboration, and enrolment. RCT leadership outside Europe and North America is independently associated with participant enrolment in under-represented regions. Increasing research capacity outside Europe and North America could enhance trial diversity and generalizability.
Family support modifies the effect of changes to same-sex marriage legislation on LGB mental health: evidence from a UK cohort study
Authors: Teo Celine , Metheny Nicholas , Chum Antony
Published: August 2021

Background

Many lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) individuals continue to experience unique challenges, such as the lack of family support and access to same-sex marriage. This study examines the effect of the introduction of same-sex marriage in the UK (2013–14) on mental health functioning among sexual minorities, and investigates whether low family support may hamper the positive effects of marriage equality legislation among LGB individuals.

Methods

This analysis included LGB participants (n = 2172) from the UK household longitudinal study waves 3–7, comprising two waves before and two waves after marriage equality legislation passed in England, Wales and Scotland. Individual-level mental health functioning was measured using the mental component score (MCS-12) of the Short Form-12 survey. Fixed-effect panel linear models examined the effect of marriage equality on MCS-12 across varying family support levels. Analyses included adjustment for covariates and survey weights.

Results

Legalization of same-sex marriage was independently associated with an increase of 1.17 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.28–2.05] MCS-12 in men and 1.13 (95% CI: 0.47–2.27) MCS-12 in women. For men, each additional standard deviation of family support modified the effect of legalization on mental health functioning by +0.70 (95% CI: 0.22–1.18) MCS-12 score. No interaction was found in women.

Conclusions

Our findings provide evidence that same-sex marriage will likely improve LGB mental health functioning, and these effects may be generalizable to other European countries. Since male sexual minorities with low family support benefited the least, additional interventions aimed at improving family support and acceptance of this group is required to help reduce mental health disparities.
Optimization of Alcian blue pH 1.0 histo-staining protocols to match mass spectrometric quantification of sulfomucins and circumvent false positive results due to sialomucins
Authors: Padra János Tamás , Lindén Sara K
Published: August 2021

Sulfomucins are in some body locations and species a normal occurrence, whereas in other situations, are a sign of pathology. Sulfomucin content on histological sections and isolated material is frequently analyzed with Alcian blue staining at pH 1.0. However, since the stain detects the charge, a high density of other charged molecules, such as sialic acids, has potential to impede specificity. Here, we compared the outcome from four staining protocols with the level of sulfation determined by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometric analysis on samples from various tissues with variable sulfation and sialylation levels. We found that a protocol we designed, including rinsing with MetOH and 0.5 M NaCl buffer at pH 1.0, eliminates the false positive staining of tissues outperforming commonly recommended solutions. In tissues with low-to-moderately sulfated mucins (e.g. human stomach and salmonid epithelia), this method enables accurate relative quantification (e.g. sulfate scoring comparisons between healthy and diseased tissues), whereas the range of the method is not suitable for comparisons between tissues with high sulfomucin content (e.g. pig stomach and colon).
Between-country analysis of implementing an obesity prevention intervention using RE-AIM: HENRY in Israel and UK
Authors: Rudolf Mary C J , Bord Shiran , Hasson Ronnie , Sahar Yair , Rubin Lisa , Manor Niva , Paldi Yuval , Baron-Epel Orna
Published: August 2021

Health Exercise Nutrition for the Really Young (HENRY) is a UK community–based early childhood obesity prevention intervention that was adopted and implemented in Israel between 2013 and 2018. The aim of this study was to explore the implementation process in Israel and compare it with that of the ‘parent’ programme in the UK, in order to throw light on the challenges of introducing complex interventions into different countries and cultures. Published reports from HENRY and Haifa University’s evaluation of the Israeli implementation were reviewed and comparisons between the UK and Israel were carried out utilizing the RE-AIM framework. In both countries, the intention was to implement in lower SES communities. When comparing the individual items, Reach and Effectiveness, we found a difference in the Reach although Effectiveness was similar: Reach was proportionally lower in Israel, but parent and professional changes in behaviour were positive in both countries. For the organizational items Adoption, Implementation and Maintenance, we found large differences between the countries. Major challenges identified in Israel included: failing to take adequate account when planning and implementing the intervention of the different ways social and health services are organized and how local authorities are structured and provide services. In addition, differences in culture beyond language and professional variations were challenges, when trying to transfer the intervention with high fidelity from the UK to Israel. Lessons learnt may benefit others in attempting cross-country implementation of complex interventions
The mutation c.346-1G > A in SOHLH1 impairs sperm production in the homozygous but not in the heterozygous condition
Authors: Liu Mohan , Yang Yihong , Wang Yan , Chen Suren , Shen Ying
Published: August 2021

Non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) is an important cause of male infertility, and the genetic pathogenesis is still incompletely understood. The previous study reported that heterozygous mutation of c.346-1G > A in spermatogenesis and oogenesis specific basic helix–loop–helix 1 (SOHLH1) was identified in two NOA patients and suggested it is the pathogenic factor for NOA. However, in our research, this heterozygous mutation was confirmed in three Chinese infertile patients who suffered from teratozoospermia, but they had normal sperm number. Intriguingly, a homozygous mutation of c.346-1G > A in SOHLH1 was detected in a severe oligozoospermia (SOZ) patient, characterized with severely decreased sperm count. Notably, we unprecedently revealed that this homozygous mutation of c.346-1G > A in SOHLH1 leads to the sharp decrease in various germ cells and spermatogenesis dysfunction, which is similar to the phenotype of SOHLH1 knockout male mice. Moreover, western blotting confirmed that the homozygous mutation declined SOHLH1 protein expression. Additionally, we correlated the good prognosis of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) in the patients carrying the mutation of c.346-1G > A in SOHLH1. Thus, we suggested that the heterozygous mutation of c.346-1G > A in SOHLH1 is responsible for teratozoospermia, and this homozygous mutation in SOHLH1 impairs spermatogenesis and further leads to the reduced sperm count, eventually causing male infertility, which unveils a new recessive-inheritance pattern of SOHLH1-associated male infertility initially.
Pricing energy quanto options in the framework of Markov-modulated additive processes
Authors: Benth Fred E , Deelstra Griselda , Kozpınar And Sinem
Published: August 2021

Energy quanto options are risk management tools that have a payoff similar to the product of the payoffs of two options, each written on an energy-related underlying. These options, as opposed to standardized contracts that only account for price risk, are designed to manage both volumetric and price risk in energy markets. Since the use of such options enables actors in the energy market also to hedge against production volume risk, they are becoming very popular. This paper considers the valuation of such an option on futures when the underlying futures prices are governed by Markov-modulated additive processes, which have independent but non-stationary increments within each regime. We derive a valuation formula by using the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) technique under the assumption that the joint characteristic function of the log-futures prices is known analytically. We study this approximation under different regime-switching models. Several numerical case studies illustrate that our FFT-based valuation has a high precision and is much faster than Monte Carlo estimates.
The Politics of Emotions in International Relations: Who Gets to Feel What, Whose Emotions Matter, and the “History Problem” in Sino-Japanese Relations
Authors: Gustafsson Karl , Hall Todd H
Published: August 2021

A large literature within the field of international relations has now explored both how emotions can shape political perceptions and behavior and how international actors may seek to manipulate, harness, or deploy emotions and emotional displays for political ends. Less attention, however, has been paid to how political struggles can also center upon issues of who can or should feel what emotion and whose feelings matter. Precisely, we theorize a distributive politics of emotion that can manifest in three general forms, all of which have their own properties and logics of contestation. The first centers on emotional obligations, understood as an actor's duties to feel and express specific emotions. The second concerns emotional entitlements, or the rights an actor enjoys to either feel or not feel certain emotions. And the third involves hierarchies of emotional deference, that is, the varying degrees of priority accorded to different actors’ feelings. We illustrate how the politics of emotions can unfold on the international stage by looking at developments in the so-called history problem within Sino-Japanese relations.
The administration of diets contaminated with low to intermediate doses of deoxynivalenol and supplemented with antioxidants and binding agents slightly affects the growth, antioxidant status, and vaccine response in weanling pigs
Authors: Lo Verso Luca , Dumont Kristina , Lessard Martin , Lauzon Karoline , Provost Chantale , Gagnon Carl A , Chorfi Younes , Guay Frédéric
Published: August 2021

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of grading levels of deoxynivalenol (DON) in the diet of weaned pigs, as well as the effects of a supplementation with antioxidants (AOX), hydrated sodium calcium aluminosilicates (HSCAS), and their combination on the growth, AOX status, and immune and vaccine responses against the porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) and porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2). At weaning, 336 piglets were allocated to six dietary treatments according to a randomized complete block design. Treatments were as follows: basal diet (CTRL); basal diet containing DON at 1.2 mg/kg (DON1.2); basal diet containing DON at 2.4 mg/kg (DON2.4); DON2.4 diet + a mix of AOX which included vitamins A and E at 20,000 IU and 200 IU/kg feed respectively, selenized yeast at 0.3 mg/kg, and a grape seed extracts at 100 mg/kg feed (DON2.4 + AOX); DON2.4 diet + the mix of AOX and the modified HSCAS mentioned above (DON2.4 + AOX + HSCAS); DON2.4 + AOX + HSCAS. Pigs were vaccinated against PRRSV and PCV2 at 7 d; on 0, 14, and 35 d, growth performance was recorded, and blood samples were collected in order to evaluate the oxidative status, inflammatory blood markers, lymphocyte blastogenic response, and vaccine antibody response. Increasing intake of DON resulted in a quadratic effect at 35 d in the lymphocyte proliferative response to concanavalin A and PCV2 as well as in the anti-PRRSV antibody response, whereas the catalase activity decreased in DON2.4 pigs compared with the CTRL and DON1.2 groups (P ≤ 0.05). Compared with the DON2.4 diet, the AOX supplementation slightly reduced gain to feed ratio (P = 0.026) and increased the ferric reducing ability of plasma as well as α-tocopherol concentration (P < 0.05), whereas the association of AOX + HSCAS increased the anti-PRRSV IgG (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the HSCAS supplement reduced haptoglobin levels in serum at 14 d compared with the DON2.4 group; however, its concentration decreased in all the experimental treatments from 14 to 35 d and particularly in the DON2.4 + AOX pigs, whereas a different trend was evidenced in the DON2.4 + HSCAS group, where over the same period haptoglobin concentration increased (P < 0.05). Overall, our results show that the addition of AOX and HSCAS in the diet may alleviate the negative effects due to DON contamination on the AOX status and immune response of vaccinated weanling pigs.
How to Minimize Patient Anxiety From Screening Mammography
Authors: Pai Vidya R , Rebner Murray
Published: August 2021

Anxiety has been portrayed by the media and some organizations and societies as one of the harms of mammography. However, one experiences anxiety in multiple different medical tests that are undertaken, including screening examinations; it is not unique to mammography. Some may argue that because this anxiety is transient, the so-called harm is potentially overstated, but for some women the anxiety is significant. Anxiety can increase or decrease the likelihood of obtaining a screening mammogram. There are multiple ways that anxiety associated with screening mammography can be diminished, including before, during, and after the examination. These include simple measures such as patient education, improved communication, being aware of the patient’s potential discomfort and addressing it, validating the patient’s anxiety as well as providing the patient with positive factual data that can easily be implemented in every breast center. More complex interventions include altering the breast center environment with multisensory stimulation, reorganization of patient flow to minimize wait times, and relaxation techniques including complementary and alternative medicine. In this article we will review the literature on measures that can be taken to minimize anxiety that would maximize the likelihood of a woman obtaining an annual screening mammogram.
Shifting Geographies: Herbert Bayer’s World Geo-Graphic Atlas and the Mapping of the Post-war Globe
Authors: Schum Courtney
Published: August 2021

This article explores the intersection of Bauhaus principles, communication design, transnationalism, and postwar global affairs present in Herbert Bayer’s World Geo-Graphic Atlas. The book was produced exclusively for clients of the Chicago-based Container Corporation of America in 1953 as part of the company’s unique patronage of artists and designers. Driven by the design prowess Bayer honed as a Bauhaus instructor, it is exemplary of modernist informational graphics. However, the book is most notable for its encapsulation of postwar plurality. It visualizes geopolitical networks, air communication, comparative economic development, industrial resources, and mounting Soviet pressure, while maintaining the sophisticated design identity the Container Corporation adopted in its branding of products and itself. The World Geo-Graphic Atlas is here used as a case study to explore applications of Bauhaus reframing and design in the context of a postwar, capitalist America.
Natural substances derived from herbs or plants are promising sources of anticancer agents against colorectal cancer via triggering apoptosis
Authors: Liu Zi-Bo , Zhang Ting , Ye Xun , Liu Zi-Qi , Sun Xue , Zhang Li-Lin , Wu Chun-Jie
Published: August 2021

Objectives

Nowadays, one of the most common gastrointestinal cancers is colorectal cancer (CRC). Chemotherapy is still one of the main methods to treat cancer. However, the currently available synthetic chemotherapy drugs often cause serious adverse reactions. Apoptosis is generally considered as an ideal way for induction the death of tumour cells without the body’s inflammatory response, and it is reported that lots of natural agents could trigger various cancer cells to apoptosis. The overarching aim of this project was to elucidate the specific mechanisms by which natural substances induce apoptosis in CRC cells and to be used as an alternative therapeutic option in the future.

Key findings

The mechanisms for the pro-apoptotic effects of natural substances derived from herbs or plants include death receptor pathway, mitochondrial pathway, endoplasmic reticulum stress pathway, related signal transduction pathways (PI3K/Akt, MAPK, p53 signalling), and so on.

This paper updated this information regarding the anti-tumour effects of natural agents via induction of apoptosis against CRC, which would be beneficial for future new drug research regarding natural products from herbs or plants.
Long non-coding RNA HLA complex group 18 promotes gastric cancer progression by targeting microRNA-370-3p expression
Authors: Yuan Zhi , Zhang Yuan , Chen Peng , Liu Shuhong , Xin Li , Liu Chengxia
Published: August 2021

Objectives

Our research was aimed at investigating the biological character of human leukocyte antigen complex group 18 (HCG18) on gastric cancer (GC) progression and its potential mechanisms.

Methods

The expression characteristics and prognostic values of HCG18 in GC were evaluated through the GEPIA database and Kaplan–Meier plotter database. Quantitative real-time PCR and Western blot were used for quantification of messenger RNA expression, microRNA (miRNA) expression and protein expression. Cell proliferation, migration and invasion were detected by cell counting kit-8 assay, 5′-bromo-2′-deoxyuridine assay and Transwell assay, respectively. Dual-luciferase reporter gene assay and RNA immunoprecipitation assay were used for examination of the interactions among HCG18, miR-370-3p and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) 3′UTR.

Key findings

HCG18 expression was up-regulated in GC tissues, and its high expression was closely associated with increased tumour size, advanced TNM stage, poor differentiation of tumour tissues and unfavourable prognosis of patients with GC. Additionally, HCG18 overexpression promoted the proliferation, migration and invasion of GC cells, and its knockdown suppressed the malignant phenotypes of GC cells. Furthermore, HCG18 served as a miRNA sponge to repress miR-370-3p and indirectly up-regulated EGFR expression in GC cells.

Conclusions

HCG18 served as a tumour-promoting factor in GC progression by modulating the miR-370-3p/EGFR axis.