bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Elite Immune Ant Colony Optimization-Based Task Allocation for Maximizing Task Execution Efficiency in Agricultural Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Xu Mengying , Zhou Jie
Published: January 2020

The research of agricultural wireless sensor networks (AWSNs) plays an important role in the field of facility agricultural technology. The temperature and humidity nodes in AWSNs are so tiny that they are limited on computation, network management, information collection, and storage size. Under this condition, task allocation plays a key role in improving the performance of AWSNs to reduce energy consumption and computational constraints. However, the optimization of task allocation is a nonlinearly constrained optimization problem whose complexity increases when constraints such as limited computing capabilities and power are undertaken. In this paper, an elite immune ant colony optimization (EIACO) is proposed to deal with the problem of task allocation optimization, which is motivated by immune theory and elite optimization theory. The EIACO uses ant colony optimization (ACO) to combine the clone operator and elite operator together for the optimization of task allocation. The performances of EIACO with different numbers of temperature and humidity sensor nodes and tasks have been compared by both genetic algorithm (GA) and simulated annealing (SA) algorithm. Simulation results show that the proposed EIACO has a better task execution efficiency and higher convergence speed than GA and SA. Furthermore, the convergence speed of EIACO is faster than GA and SA. Therefore, the whole system efficiency can be improved by the proposed algorithm.
Comparison of Clinical Features and Treatment Outcome in Benign and Malignant Lacrimal Sac Tumors
Authors: Kuo Che-Yuan , Tsai Chieh-Chih , Kao Shu-Ching , Hsu Wen-Ming , Jui-Ling Liu Catherine
Published: January 2020

Purpose. To compare the clinical characteristics and treatment outcome between benign and malignant lacrimal sac tumors. Methods. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of all patients with pathologically confirmed lacrimal sac lesions from 1995 to 2018 in a tertiary medical center. Results. Among 65 eligible cases, 46 (70.8%) were benign lacrimal sac tumors and 19 (29.2%) were malignant lacrimal sac tumors. Secondary malignancy from nasal or paranasal cancer accounted for 47% of malignant lacrimal sac tumors. The patient’s mean age at the time of diagnosis was 60 years in the benign group and 48 years in the malignant group (p = 0.03). The most common presenting symptoms were a palpable lump/mass and epiphora in both groups. Palpable mass extending above the medial canthal tendon was noted in 9% of the benign group and in 74% of the malignant group, respectively (p < 0.001). Bloody tears were noted in 5% of the benign group and in 20% of the malignant group (p = 0.21). In the malignant group, 10 (52.6%) were primary tumors and 9 (47.4%) were secondary tumors. The primary sites of the metastatic tumor to the lacrimal sac area were mostly from neighboring paranasal sinuses and nasal cavity. The recurrence rate was higher in patients with malignant tumors, as compared to the benign tumors (42% and 6%, respectively, p = 0.001). The metastatic rate was 47% and the mortality rate was 53% in malignant lacrimal sac tumors. Conclusion. Although benign and malignant lacrimal sac tumors may present similar initial symptoms, timely diagnosis and intervention for malignant lacrimal sac lesions are important because they tend to be infiltrating tumors with a poor outcome.
Detection of Prostate Cancer Antigen 3 and Prostate Cancer Susceptibility Candidate in Non-DRE Urine Improves Diagnosis of Prostate Cancer in Chinese Population
Authors: Ye Lie-Fu , He Sha , Wu Xiaopei , Jiang Shengying , Zhang Ruo-Chen , Yang Ze-Song , Chen Fa-Wen , Pan Dan-Ling , Li Dong , Li Gang
Published: January 2020

Although prostate biopsy is the gold standard for the diagnosis of prostate cancer, it also leads to high incidence of negative biopsies and the diagnosis of clinically low-risk prostate cancer and the subsequent overtreatment. It remains an unmet need to discover new biomarkers in order to defer the unnecessary biopsies in clinical practice. In this study, we described a new method, LBXexo score, to measure the urine exosomal PCA3/PRAC expression from non-DRE urine as a noninvasive diagnosis to improve the detection rate in Chinese population with a low serum PSA level. First-voided urine samples were collected to isolate exosomes, and exosomal RNAs of PCA3 and PRAC were measured by quantitative reverse transcription PCR. A significant increase in exoPCA3/PRAC was observed in both any-grade and high-grade prostate cancer groups when compared with the biopsy-negative group. Receiver-operating characteristic curve analyses showed that the LBXexo score significantly improved diagnostic performance in predicting biopsy results, with AUCs of 0.723 (p=0.017) and 0.736 (p=0.038) for any-grade and high-grade (GS ≥ 7) prostate cancer, respectively. For high-grade cancer, LBXexo had the negative and positive predictive values of 100% and 27.59%, respectively, and could potentially avoid unnecessary biopsy. This is the first report in Chinese population that demonstrates the predictive value of the exosomal expression of PCA3 and PRAC derived from non-DRE urine in predicting prostate biopsy outcomes. It could be used in clinical practice to make a better informed biopsy decision and avoid unnecessary biopsies in Chinese population.
Relative Permeability of Porous Media with Nonuniform Pores
Authors: Chen He , Yang Minghui , Chen Ke , Zhang Chao
Published: January 2020

Most classical predictive models of relative permeability conceptualize the pores in porous media as assemblies of uniform capillary tubes with different sizes. However, this simplification may overestimate the transport capacity of porous media due to overlooking the effects of the pore nonuniformity. This study presents a simple way to quantify the effect of the nonuniformity of pore cross section on the transport characteristic of unsaturated porous media. The way is based on the index relationship between the porosity of a newly defined reference cross section and that of porous media, which satisfies the intrinsic constraints for the nonuniform porosity of cross sections in porous media. Moreover, the index factor can be captured by a newly defined parameter, called the nonuniformity factor, which is used to establish an extended Darcy’s law. Based on these, a fractal-based continuous analytical model and a fractal-based Monte Carlo model of relative permeability as well as a permeability-porosity model are established. Experimental data of five wetting-nonwetting phase systems, including the water-air, water-steam, water-nitrogen, water-oil, and oil-gas systems, are selected to assess the performance of the proposed model. The results confirm the proposed model’s capacity in capturing the transport properties of various porous media. It is found that the nonuniformity of pores can significantly increase the resistance of fluid flow and thus reduce the transport capacity of porous media.
Probiotics Used for Postoperative Infections in Patients Undergoing Colorectal Cancer Surgery
Authors: Chen Chongxiang , Wen Tianmeng , Zhao Qingyu
Published: January 2020

Objective. The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review and meta‐analysis about probiotics to improve postoperative infections in patients undergoing colorectal cancer surgery. Methods. The PubMed and the Web of Science were used to search for appropriate randomized clinical trials (RCTs) comparing probiotics with placebo for the patients undergoing colorectal cancer surgery. The RevMan 5.3 was performed for meta‐analysis to evaluate the postoperative infection, including the total infection, surgical site infection, central line infection, pneumonia, urinary tract infection, septicemia, and postoperative leakage. Results. Our meta‐analysis included 6 studies involving a total of 803 patients. For the incidence of total postoperative infection (odd ratios (OR) 0.31, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.15–0.64, I2 = 0%), surgical site infection (OR 0.62, 95% CI 0.39–0.99, I2 = 11%), central line infection (OR 0.61, 95% CI 0.15–2.45, I2 = 65%), pneumonia (OR 0.36, 95% CI 0.18–0.71, I2 = 0%), urinary tract infection (OR 0.26, 95% CI 0.11–0.60, I2 = 26%), septicemia (OR 0.28, 95% CI 0.17–0.49, I2 = 10%), postoperative leakage (OR 0.45, 95% CI 0.06–3.27, I2 = 68%), the results showed that the incidences of infections were significantly lower in the probiotics group than the placebo group. Conclusions. Probiotics is beneficial to prevent postoperative infections (including total postoperative infection, surgical site infection, pneumonia, urinary tract infection, and septicemia) in patients with colorectal cancer.
Mixed Rational-Exponential Solutions to the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili-II Equation with a Self-Consistent Source
Authors: Su Dan , Ma Wen-Xiu , Yong Xuelin , Huang Yehui
Published: January 2020

Explicit rational-exponential solutions for the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili-II equation with a self-consistent source (KPIIESCS) are studied by the Hirota bilinear method. One typical feature for this hybrid type of solutions is that they contain two arbitrary functions of time variable t which affect the amplitudes and propagation trajectories. The dynamics of solutions are demonstrated by the three-dimensional figures. The method used here is quite general and can be applied to other equations with self-content sources.
Biomimetic Effect of Nano‐Hydroxyapatite in Demineralized Enamel before Orthodontic Bonding of Brackets and Attachments: Visual, Adhesion Strength, and Hardness in In Vitro Tests
Authors: Scribante Andrea , Dermenaki Farahani Mohammad Reza , Marino Giorgio , Matera Claudia , Rodriguez y Baena Ruggero , Lanteri Valentina , Butera Andrea
Published: January 2020

Dietary habits with high consumption of acidic food can induce in orthodontic patients an increased risk of demineralization lesions around orthodontic brackets and bands. The purpose of the present laboratory study is to assess the in vitro visual efficacy of a biomimetic nano‐hydroxyapatite remineralizing solution in a hypomineralized enamel surface and its effect on adhesion of fixed orthodontic appliances and on enamel microhardness. Intact teeth were demineralized, and subsequently the areas of demineralization were visually recorded using a 0–100 scale. Subsequently, a remineralizing solution (Biorepair® Repair Shock Treatment) was applied for ten minutes once a day/for one week per month for a total remineralizing treatment of 3 months. Visual effects were recorded. Moreover, bond strength was recorded and adhesive remnant index scores were measured for both orthodontic brackets and composite attachments both before demineralization and after demineralization and application of remineralizing solution. Also, Vickers microhardness was measured. All data were submitted to statistical analysis. The application of remineralizing solution induced a significant in vitro reduction of demineralized areas after the first week of application. No significant differences between untreated enamel surfaces and remineralized surfaces were detected after 2 months of remineralizing treatment. Bond strength values were significantly reduced for both brackets and attachments after remineralizing treatment. However, attachments showed higher adhesion values than brackets in both conditions tested. Remineralized enamel showed significantly higher microhardness values than demineralized enamel and lower values than intact enamel.
The Effect of Long‐Term Traditional Chinese Medicine Treatment on Survival Time of Colorectal Cancer Based on propensity Score Matching: A Retrospective Cohort Study
Authors: Wang Yuli , Liu Ping , Fang Yuan , Tian Jianhui , Li Shufang , Xu Jing , Zhao Fanchen , Yin Xiaoling , Zhang Qiang , Li Yan
Published: January 2020

Objective. To explore the effect of long‐term traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatment on survival time of colorectal cancer (hereinafter referred to as CRC). Methods. Our clinical study included patients who were diagnosed with CRC clinically or pathologically. Patients were divided into TCM treatment group and control group according to whether the modified Anti‐cancer Decoction II Formula was applied for more than six months. Propensity score matching (hereinafter referred to as PSM) was used to further balance the covariates between groups. One‐year to six‐year progression‐free survival rates of the two groups and the median progression‐free survival (mPFS), median overall survival (mOS) of the two groups before and after PSM were calculated respectively. Furthermore, 15 factors that may affect the mPFS in CRC were included in COX multivariate regression analysis to explore the prognostic factors related to CRC as well as to analyze the risk ratio of different subgroups. Results. A total of 529 CRC patients were included in our study, 285 patients were in the TCM treatment group and 244 patients were in the control group. Before PSM, the mPFS and mOS in the TCM treatment group were 68 months and 75 months respectively, while mPFS and mOS in the control group were 40 months and 65 months respectively. After PSM, mPFS and mOS in the TCM treatment group were both 75 months, while mPFS and mOS in the control group were 28 months and 44 months respectively. One‐year to six‐year progression‐free survival rates were 94.0%, 76.1%, 64.7%, 57.9%, 52.0%, 44.1% respectively in the TCM treatment group, and 78.6%, 61.4%, 51.7%, 40.8%, 33.0%, 29.1% respectively in the control group (p < 0.01). COX multivariate regression analysis indicated that surgery, chemotherapy and taking Chinese herbal decoction were protective factors for CRC recurrence and metastasis, while combining with intestinal obstruction, drinking history and family history were independent factors for CRC recurrence and metastasis. The results of subgroup analysis showed that the decoction of TCM could reduce the risk of recurrence and metastasis in each subgroup (p < 0.01). The results of the survival analysis based on tumor stage demonstrated that patients may benefit from the long‐term TCM treatment in the whole process, especially CRC patients with stage III∼IV. Conclusions. Long‐term TCM treatment by the usage of the modified Anti‐cancer Decoction II Formula not only has a positive effect on the survival time of CRC patients, but also helps reduce the risk of recurrence and metastasis of CRC, which can be flexibly applied in the whole process of CRC treatment.
Seismic Response Analysis and Connection Performance Evaluation of a Hybrid Coupled PEC Wall System
Authors: Shi Yun , Su Mingzhou , Jiang Lu , Zhou Qiaoling , Guan Lingyu , Yang Yukun , Zhang Lili
Published: January 2020

This paper proposes a hybrid coupled partially encased composite (PEC) wall system, obtained through the connection of two PEC walls by means of the shear critical steel coupling beams with an innovative welded connection. This structural solution is designed to take advantage of both the stiffness of the PEC walls (required to limit building damage under frequent earthquakes) and the ductility of the steel coupling beams (necessary to dissipate energy under medium‐intensity and high‐intensity earthquakes). The connection performance of an innovative rigid joint with different configurations in this system is studied through pseudostatic analysis, and the seismic performance of the proposed hybrid coupled PEC wall system is evaluated through multirecord nonlinear dynamic analysis of a set of case studies. Adopted finite element models are developed and validated against the available experimental results. A summary of the results is presented and discussed to highlight the potential of the proposed hybrid coupled PEC wall systems. The key feature of this system is development of a reasonable two‐level yielding mechanism (the first level is the yielding of the coupling beams, and the second level is the yielding of the PEC wall) without damage to the welded joints.
Phytochemicals as Potential Anticancer Drugs: Time to Ponder Nature’s Bounty
Authors: Ashraf Mohammad Arif
Published: January 2020

Medicinal plants have been used from the beginning of human civilization, which is mostly evident from the ancient script and traditional herbal medicine recipe. Despite the historically enriched demonstration about the use of plant as therapeutics, the pharmaceutical industries lack interest on phytochemical research compared with synthetic drug. Mostly, the absence of information about plant‐based medicinal therapeutics is responsible to draw the attention of researchers to think about natural products as potential drug for detrimental diseases, such as cancer. This review will cover about clinically successful plant‐based anticancer drugs and underappreciated, but potential, drugs to bridge the information gap between plant biologists and clinical researchers. Additionally, unprecedented advancement of synthetic chemistry, omics study to pin point the target genes/proteins, and efficient drug delivery system have made it easier for researchers to develop a phytochemical as an efficient anticancer drug.
A Microclimate Study of Traffic and Pedestrianization Scenarios in a Densely Populated Urban City
Authors: Wong Paulina P. Y.
Published: January 2020

Urban streets are known to have a significant role in creating urban microclimates. This study aims to empirically quantify temporal and spatial microclimate variation within the same street configurations with pedestrian schemes. To evaluate the urban microclimates at the pedestrian level, a detailed monitoring project was performed at five representative locations near intersections, within a busy street canyon of the typical urban community in a densely populated urban city. Monitoring was done for warm and cool seasons. A strong, significant correlation (p<0.01) was found under multiple time scenarios (traffic, nontraffic, and as a whole) and for both seasons. These findings suggest that the average urban daily temperature was not significantly reduced when there was no vehicular traffic present, whereas pedestrian activity contributed to urban heat regardless of the season. These findings provide an essential foundation for further studies on urban microclimates within pedestrianized areas and will likely lead to better urban design and policy management, especially concerning thermal comfort and Quality of Life at the pedestrian level.
Deep Ensemble Learning for Human Action Recognition in Still Images
Authors: Yu Xiangchun , Zhang Zhe , Wu Lei , Pang Wei , Chen Hechang , Yu Zhezhou , Li Bin
Published: January 2020

Numerous human actions such as “Phoning,” “PlayingGuitar,” and “RidingHorse” can be inferred by static cue-based approaches even if their motions in video are available considering one single still image may already sufficiently explain a particular action. In this research, we investigate human action recognition in still images and utilize deep ensemble learning to automatically decompose the body pose and perceive its background information. Firstly, we construct an end-to-end NCNN-based model by attaching the nonsequential convolutional neural network (NCNN) module to the top of the pretrained model. The nonsequential network topology of NCNN can separately learn the spatial- and channel-wise features with parallel branches, which helps improve the model performance. Subsequently, in order to further exploit the advantage of the nonsequential topology, we propose an end-to-end deep ensemble learning based on the weight optimization (DELWO) model. It contributes to fusing the deep information derived from multiple models automatically from the data. Finally, we design the deep ensemble learning based on voting strategy (DELVS) model to pool together multiple deep models with weighted coefficients to obtain a better prediction. More importantly, the model complexity can be reduced by lessening the number of trainable parameters, thereby effectively mitigating overfitting issues of the model in small datasets to some extent. We conduct experiments in Li’s action dataset, uncropped and 1.5x cropped Willow action datasets, and the results have validated the effectiveness and robustness of our proposed models in terms of mitigating overfitting issues in small datasets. Finally, we open source our code for the model in GitHub (https://github.com/yxchspring/deep_ensemble_learning) in order to share our model with the community.
[Retracted] Strontium/Chitosan/Hydroxyapatite/Norcantharidin Composite That Inhibits Osteosarcoma and Promotes Osteogenesis In Vitro
Authors: Huang Zhipeng , Sun Haoyuan , Lu Yang , Zhao Fengnian , Liu Chang , Wang Qinglong , Zheng Changming , Lu Renpei , Song Keguan
Published: January 2020

Hydroxyapatite can deliver drugs, and its composite material is capable of repairing bone defects in tumors. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of composite materials on tumor growth inhibition and bone growth induction. Composites containing drug delivery compounds were synthesized by coprecipitation and freeze‐drying and then characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X‐ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). In addition, the effect of hydroxyapatite nanoparticles (nano‐SHAP) on proliferation of an osteosarcoma cell line (MG‐63) and an osteoblast cell line (MC3T3‐E1) was evaluated, and its mechanism was studied. The use of nano‐SHAP alone did not affect the proliferation of normal cell lines. However, nanoparticles containing different amounts of norcantharidin in the composite materials and had different inhibitory effects on osteosarcoma and different effects on osteoblasts. And, with the increase of the content of norcantharidin, the antitumor performance of the composite has been enhanced. In summary, the nano‐SHAP system developed in this study is a drug delivery material that can inhibit the growth of tumors and induce the proliferation of osteoblasts.
¿Primavera chilena?
Authors: Jalil Milad Roberto
Published: January 2020

Para los antiguos romanos, octubre era el octavo mes del año, y pese a que el calendario juliano lo transformó en el X, conservó su origen etimológico que representa al VIII. Pero sin duda, el mes de octubre aporta a la historia acontecimientos que marcan un antes y un después: así fueron en occidente 1492, 1917, 1962. En el primero, el descubrimiento del mundo Nuevo, en el segundo, la revolución rusa y el tercero la “así llamada crisis de los misiles de octubre” en el cual -este último- el mundo se asomó al apocalipsis. En nuestro entorno nacional, en los años por venir, sin duda que octubre será considerado, recordado y analizado en forma iterativa para comprender a cabalidad los orígenes, el desarrollo y las repercusiones del movimiento que se inició el 18 de octubre.
A Phase I Study of Safety, Pharmacokinetics, and Pharmacodynamics of Concurrent Everolimus and Buparlisib Treatment in Advanced Solid Tumors
Authors: Owonikoko Taofeek K. , Harvey R. Donald , Carthon Bradley , Chen Zhengjia , Lewis Colleen , Collins Hanna , Zhang Chao , Lawson David H. , Alese Olatunji B. , Bilen Mehmet Asim , Sica Gabriel L. , Steuer Conor E. , Shaib Walid L. , Wu Christina , Harris Wayne B. , Akce Mehmet , Kudchagkar Ragini R. , El-Rayes Bassel F. , Lonial Sagar , Ramalingam Suresh S. , Khuri Fadlo Raja
Published: January 2020

Purpose:

Concurrent inhibition of mTOR and PI3K led to improved efficacy in preclinical models and provided the rationale for this phase I study of everolimus and buparlisib (BKM120) in patients with advanced solid tumor.

Patients and Methods:

We used the Bayesian Escalation with Overdose Control design to test escalating doses of everolimus (5 or 10 mg) and buparlisib (20, 40, 60, 80, and 100 mg) in eligible patients. Pharmacokinetic assessment was conducted using blood samples collected on cycle 1, days 8 and 15. Pharmacodynamic impact on mTOR/PI3K pathway modulation evaluated in paired skin biopsies collected at baseline and end of cycle 1.

Results:

We enrolled 43 patients, median age of 63 (range, 39–78) years; 25 (58.1%) females, 35 (81.4%) Caucasians, and 8 (18.6%) Blacks. The most frequent toxicities were hyperglycemia, diarrhea, nausea, fatigue, and aspartate aminotransferase elevation. Dose-limiting toxicities observed in 7 patients were fatigue (3), hyperglycemia (2), mucositis (1), acute kidney injury (1), and urinary tract infection (1). The recommended phase II dose (RP2D) for the combination was established as everolimus (5 mg) and buparlisib (60 mg). The best response in 27 evaluable patients was progressive disease and stable disease in 3 (11%) and 24 (89%), respectively. The median progression-free survival and overall survival were 2.7 (1.8–4.2) and 9 (6.4–13.2) months. Steady-state pharmacokinetic analysis showed dose-normalized maximum concentrations and AUC values for everolimus and buparlisib in combination to be comparable with single-agent pharmacokinetic.

Conclusions:

The combination of everolimus and buparlisib is safe and well-tolerated at the RP2D of 5 and 60 mg on a continuous daily schedule.
Multimodal Imaging in Fibrinous Central Serous Chorioretinopathy Compared with Exudative Maculopathy
Authors: Lyu Yanan , Li Xinxin , Gong Yuanyuan
Published: January 2020

Aims: To analyze ocular fundus characteristics of patients finally diagnosed with fibrinous central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) using multimodal imaging and compare the characteristics with images of other confusable exudative maculopathies. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the records from 189 patients with CSC and found records on 16 patients with fibrinous CSC. Some of these 16 patients were misdiagnosed with another exudative maculopathy and were treated inappropriately. Multimodal imaging comprised fundus photography, spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT), fluorescein angiography (FA), indocyanine green angiography (ICGA), and OCT angiography (OCTA), and the results were compared with those of other exudative maculopathy patients from this study. Results: Twenty-one eyes of 16 patients with a mean age of 45.44 ± 10.66 years were included in the study. The mean central choroidal thickness was 401.6 ± 47.6 μm. Eight of the 16 patients with fibrinous CSC had initially been misdiagnosed (such as with uveitis or exudative retinal detachment). On fundoscopy, a typical dark spot was seen in 19 eyes, surrounded by yellow-white exudate, corresponding to the site of leakage on FA. A hyporeflective oval-shaped vacuole-like area was observed in 14 patients. All patients showed FA signs of dye leakage and dilated choroidal vessels on ICGA. Among the patients misdiagnosed with choroidal neovascularization (CNV), OCTA showed a legible branching vessel and no signs of a blood flow signal breaking Bruch’s membrane. Conclusions: A dark spot on fundus photography images and a hyporeflective vacuole on OCT are important clinical signs that can help avoid misdiagnosing fibrinous CSC. With some small confusing lesions suspected as CNV or chronic CSC in elderly patients, OCTA may help in their identification. FA/ICGA still helps to show dye leakage sites and typical dilated choroidal vessels in fibrinous CSC, similar to other common CSCs. Multimodal imaging is mandatory in order to establish an appropriate diagnosis.
Intradermal Administration of Atrial Natriuretic Peptide Attenuates Cutaneous Vasodilation but Not Sweating in Young Men during Exercise in the Heat
Authors: McGarr Gregory W. , Fujii Naoto , Muia Caroline M. , Nishiyasu Takeshi , Kenny Glen P.
Published: January 2020

Introduction: Prolonged exercise in the heat stimulates plasma release of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) in association with dehydration-induced reductions in blood volume. Elevated plasma ANP levels under these conditions may indirectly attenuate cutaneous blood flow and sweating responses due to the effects of this hormone on central blood volume and plasma osmolality and the resulting stimulation of nonthermal reflexes. However, it remains unclear whether cutaneous blood flow and sweating are directly modulated by ANP at the level of the cutaneous end organs (cutaneous microvessels and eccrine sweat glands) during prolonged exercise in the heat. Objective: Therefore, we evaluated the effects of local ANP administration on forearm cutaneous vascular conductance (CVC) and local sweat rate (LSR) during rest and exercise in the heat. Methods: In 9 habitually active young men (26 ± 6 years) CVC and LSR were evaluated at 3 intradermal microdialysis sites continuously perfused with lactated Ringer solution (control) or ANP (0.1 or 1.0 μM). Participants rested in a non-heat-stress condition (25°C) for approximately 60 min followed by 70 min in the heat (35°C). They then performed 50 min of moderate-intensity cycling (approx. 55% VO2 peak), with a 30-min recovery. Thereafter, 50 mM sodium nitroprusside was administered at all sites to elicit maximum CVC, which was subsequently used to normalize all values (CVC%max). Results: No effects of ANP on CVC%max were observed in the non-heat-stress resting condition compared to the untreated control site (both p > 0.05). Conversely during rest in the heat there was an 11% (5–17%) reduction in CVC%max at the 1.0 μM ANP site relative to the untreated control site (p < 0.05). At the end of exercise CVC%max was attenuated by 12% (1–23%) at the 0.1 μM ANP site and by 21% (7–35%) at the 1.0 μM ANP site relative to the untreated control site (all p < 0.05). Conversely, neither concentration of ANP influenced sweating at any time point (all p > 0.05). Conclusion: Intradermal ANP administration directly attenuated cutaneous blood flow, but not sweating, in habitually active young men during rest and exercise in the heat.
Platycodin D Protects Human Fibroblast Cells from Premature Senescence Induced by H2O2 through Improving Mitochondrial Biogenesis
Authors: Shi Chenyang , Li Qin , Zhang Xinyue
Published: January 2020

Background: Although Platycodin D (PLD) is the main active saponin of Platycodon grandiflorum (PG) and responsible for multiple therapeutic benefits, including antioxidant and antiaging, only few direct demonstrations have been reported on the role of PLD in antiaging process. The present investigation was carried out to elucidate the protection of PLD against aging in vitro and associated molecular mechanisms on H2O2-induced premature senescence model in human ­fetal lung diploid fibroblasts 2BS cells. Methods: The cellular morphology, cell cycle, and senescence-associated β-galactosidase activity assays were used for senescence-like phenotypes determination in the oxidant challenged model. The oxygen-free radicals reactive oxygen species (ROS), 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE), and malondialdehyde (MDA) determinations were estimated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay assay. The potential of the mitochondria mass and the mitochondrial membrane were used to observe the alteration of mitochondria. Western blot analysis was performed to determine the protein expression. Results: The results showed that PLD significantly reversed senescence-like phenotypes in the oxidant challenged model, as well as related molecules expression such as p53, p21, and p16. Moreover, PLD treatment significantly decreased the levels of ROS, 4-HNE, and MDA in H2O2-treated 2BS cells. The mechanisms responsible for the antioxidant and antiaging effects of PLD were investigated, we found that mitochondria under PLD conditions show increase membrane potential ratio and stimulate the proliferation of mitochondria mass. In addition, the protein expression of peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma coactivator 1α and its downstream targets, that is, nuclear respiratory factor and mitochondrial transcription factor A were also increased in mitochondrial biogenesis. Conclusion: These results indicated that PLD prevented H2O2-induced premature senescence in vitro by improving mitochondrial biogenesis to attenuate age-dependent endogenous oxidative damage. Key Message: The study revealed the antioxidant and antiaging potential of PLD against H2O2-induced premature senescence.
Cognitive Reserve Attenuates the Relation between Gastrointestinal Diseases and Subsequent Decline in Executive Functioning
Authors: Ihle Andreas , Gouveia Élvio R. , Gouveia Bruna R. , Zuber Sascha , Kliegel Matthias
Published: January 2020

Aims: We investigated whether the longitudinal relationship between gastrointestinal diseases and subsequent decline in executive functioning over 6 years differed by cognitive reserve. Methods: We analyzed longitudinal data from 897 older adults (mean age 74.33 years) tested on TMT parts A and B in two waves 6 years apart. Participants reported information on education, occupation, leisure activity engagement, and gastrointestinal diseases. Results: There was a significant interaction of gastrointestinal diseases with leisure activity engagement on latent change in executive functioning. Specifically, only for individuals with low (but not those with high) leisure activity engagement, gastrointestinal diseases significantly predicted a steeper subsequent decline in executive functioning across 6 years (i.e., increases in TMT completion time). Conclusion: Cognitive reserve may attenuate the detrimental influences of gastrointestinal diseases on subsequent decline in executive functioning.
Transcriptomic Analysis of MAP3K1 and MAP3K4 in the Developing Marsupial Gonad
Authors: Paranjpe Monika , Yu Hongshi , Frankenberg Stephen , Pask Andrew J. , Shaw Geoff , Renfree Marilyn B.
Published: January 2020

MAPKs affect gonadal differentiation in mice and humans, but whether this applies to all mammals is as yet unknown. Thus, we investigated MAPK expression during gonadal differentiation and after treatment with oestrogen in a distantly related mammal, the marsupial tammar wallaby, using our model of oestrogen-induced gonadal sex reversal. High-throughput RNA-sequencing was carried out on gonads collected from developing tammar 2 days before birth to 8 days after birth to characterise MAPK and key sexual differentiation markers. Day 25 foetal testes were cultured for 120 h in control medium or medium supplemented with exogenous oestrogen and processed for RNA-seq to identify changes in gene expression in response to oestrogen. MAPK pathway genes in the tammar were highly conserved at the sequence and amino acid level with those of mice and humans. Marsupial MAP3K1 and MAP3K4 clustered together in a separate branch from eutherian mammals. There was a marked decrease in the expression of male-determining genes SOX9 and AMH and increase in the female marker FOXL2 in oestrogen-treated male gonads. Only MAP3K1 expression increased in male gonads in response to oestrogen while other MAPK genes remained unaffected. This study suggests that MAP3K1 can be influenced by exogenous oestrogens during gonadal differentiation in this marsupial.
Agreement between Cardiopulmonary Exercise Test and Modified 6-Min Walk Test in Determining Oxygen Uptake in COPD Patients with Different Severity Stages
Authors: Vonbank Karin , Marzluf Beatrice , Knötig Monika , Funk Georg-Christian
Published: January 2020

Background: In moderate-to-severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients the 6-min walk test (6MWT) is often exhaustive and correlates with the incremental cycle cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET). Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the agreement between oxygen uptake (VO2) measured during the 6MWT by portable equipment and incremental cycle exercise in COPD patients with Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) I–IV. Methods: A total of 30 patients with COPD GOLD I–IV (14 patients GOLD stage I and II and 16 patients GOLD stage III and IV) underwent a 6MWT and an incremental CPET. Breath-by-breath analysis for VO2, carbon dioxide output (VCO2), and minute ventilation (VE) were measured during each test. Blood gas analysis and lactate measurements were performed before, during, and after the test. Results: VO2 in COPD patients GOLD stage I and II was 16.2 ± 4.2 mL/kg/min measured by 6MWT and 20.5 ± 7.0 mL/kg/min measured by CPET as compared to GOLD stage III and IV (11.2 ± 3.7 mL/kg/min measured by 6MWT and 15.5 ± 4.3 mL/kg/min measured by CPET). No significant correlation in VO2 measurements could be found between both tests in COPD GOLD I and II (r = 0.17), whereas the VO2 significantly correlated in patients with COPD stage III and IV (r = 0.7). Conclusions: A significant relationship between VO2 measured by 6MWT and CPET could only be found in patients with more severe COPD but not in milder stages. 6MWT and CPET provide different VO2 measurements in COPD patients. The two methods cannot be used interchangeably.
Rapid Identification of Biallelic SPTB Mutation in a Neonate with Severe Congenital Hemolytic Anemia and Liver Failure
Authors: Richmond Christopher M. , Campbell Sally , Foo Hee W. , Lunke Sebastian , Stark Zornitza , Moody Amanda , Bannister Elizabeth , Greenway Anthea , Brown Natasha
Published: January 2020

Heterozygous pathogenic variants in SPTB cause autosomal dominant hereditary spherocytosis, an important cause of neonatal nonimmune hemolytic anemia. Biallelic mutations are rarely reported, all with severe neonatal presentation. We describe rapid (68 h) genomic diagnosis of homozygous β-spectrin deficiency in a newborn with severe transfusion-dependent hemolytic anemia, conjugated hyperbilirubinemia, and progressive liver failure. Trio whole-exome sequencing identified a novel biallelic SPTB variant (c.6119C>T; p.Thr2040Ile) located in the critical spectrin repeat region. Pretransfusion blood film showed marked spherocytosis including microspherocytes and nucleated erythrocytes, and eosin-5-maleimide (E5M) staining was markedly reduced, supporting pathogenicity. Both asymptomatic heterozygous parents demonstrated mildly reduced E5M staining, with occasional spherocytes and elliptocytes. Early molecular diagnosis facilitated hypertransfusion to suppress ineffective erythropoiesis and reverse hepatic dysfunction. This report broadens the genotypic and phenotypic spectrum of spectrin deficiency and highlights the utility of rapid genomic testing in facilitating early diagnosis and informing targeted therapy in critically ill patients.
Extending the Phenotypic Spectrum of Huntington Disease: Hypothermia
Authors: Altıner Şule , Ardic Senol , Çebi Alper H.
Published: January 2020

Huntington disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant progressive neurodegenerative disorder associated with expanded CAG repeat size in the huntingtin gene and usually presenting with movement disorder, psychiatric symptoms, and cognitive decline. Sleep problems, weight loss, and cachexia are also common. Here, we report a patient presenting with hypothermia in late-stage HD. Although thermoregulatory defects were documented in animal models, this is the first report describing HD with hypothermia in humans.
Importance of Complete Pathology Reporting for Neuroendocrine Carcinoma: WHO Guidelines Are a Good Start but Not Enough
Authors: Zandee Wouter T. , van der Zwan Jan Maarten , de Herder Wouter W. , van Velthuysen Marie-Louise F.
Published: January 2020

Background: Neuroendocrine carcinomas (NECs) are diagnosed through a combination of immunohistochemistry (IHC) and morphology according to WHO guidelines. The presence of these crucial components for classification in the pathology report is critical for appropriate understanding of the report especially since terminology and definitions of NEC have been changing a lot lately. Objectives: The aim of this study is to assess the effect of WHO 2010 on the quality of pathology reporting for NEC and to assess the relevance of the criteria demanded. Methods: Patients registered with a NEC (gastrointestinal or unknown origin) in the Netherlands Cancer Registry (NCR) between 2008 and 2012 were included. Local pathology reports were reviewed for reporting of morphology and IHC comparing 2008–2010 (baseline) with 2011–2012. The diagnosis of NEC was confirmed according to WHO 2010, if synaptophysin or chromogranin were positive in a majority of cells and Ki-67 or mitotic count confirmed a grade 3 tumour. Results: 591 patients were registered with a NEC in the NCR. 436 pathology reports were reviewed. 62.2% of reports described morphology, IHC and grading in accordance with WHO 2010. Reporting of these parameters increased from 50.0% in 2008 to 69.2% in 2012. Large-cell NEC could be confirmed in 45.0% of patients, increasing from 31.7% in 2008 to 56.7% in 2012 (p = 0.02). Other diagnoses included neuroendocrine tumour (NET) G1/2 13.3%, small-cell carcinoma 2.8%, no neuroendocrine neoplasm (NEN) 17.7%, NEN grade unknown 21.3%. Mean survival was 1.1 years in large cell NEC versus 2.2 years in NET G1/2 (p = 0.005). Conclusion: Implementation of the WHO 2010 guideline is associated with a significant increase in reporting parameters needed for classification. Stratification of patients is more reliable based on reports containing all parameters. Guidelines alone however are not enough to warrant complete reporting; synoptic reports might be needed.
Birth Weight and Cardiorespiratory Fitness Among Young Men Born at Term: The Role of Genetic and Environmental Factors
Authors: Ahlqvist Viktor H. , Persson Margareta , Ortega Francisco B. , Tynelius Per , Magnusson Cecilia , Berglind Daniel
Published: January 2020

Background

Preterm delivery and low birth weight are prospectively associated with low cardiorespiratory fitness (
CRF
). However, whether birth weight, within the at‐term range, is associated with later
CRF
is largely unknown. Thus, the aim of the current study was to examine this issue and whether such association, if any, is explained by shared and/or nonshared familial factors.

Methods and Results

We conducted a prospective cohort study, including 286 761 young male adults and a subset of 52 544 siblings born at‐term. Objectively measured data were retrieved from total population registers.
CRF
was tested at conscription and defined as the maximal load obtained on a cycle ergometer. We used linear and nonlinear and fixed‐effects regression analyses to explore associations between birth weight and
CRF
. Higher birth weight, within the at‐term range, was strongly associated with increasing
CRF
in a linear fashion. Each
SD
increase in birth weight was associated with an increase of 7.9 (95%
CI
, 7.8–8.1) and 6.6 (95%
CI
; 5.9–7.3) Wmax in the total and sibling cohorts, respectively. The association did not vary with young adulthood body mass index.

Conclusions

Birth weight is strongly associated with increasing
CRF
in young adulthood among men born at‐term, across all categories of body mass index. This association appears to be mainly driven by factors that are not shared between siblings. Hence,
CRF
may to some extent be determined already in utero. Prevention of low birth weight, also within the at‐term‐range, can be a feasible mean of increasing adult
CRF
and health.
AMR-To-Text Generation with Graph Transformer
Authors: Wang Tianming , Wan Xiaojun , Jin Hanqi
Published: January 2020

Abstract meaning representation (AMR)-to-text generation is the challenging task of generating natural language texts from AMR graphs, where nodes represent concepts and edges denote relations. The current state-of-the-art methods use graph-to-sequence models; however, they still cannot significantly outperform the previous sequence-to-sequence models or statistical approaches. In this paper, we propose a novel graph-to-sequence model (Graph Transformer) to address this task. The model directly encodes the AMR graphs and learns the node representations. A pairwise interaction function is used for computing the semantic relations between the concepts. Moreover, attention mechanisms are used for aggregating the information from the incoming and outgoing neighbors, which help the model to capture the semantic information effectively. Our model outperforms the state-of-the-art neural approach by 1.5 BLEU points on LDC2015E86 and 4.8 BLEU points on LDC2017T10 and achieves new state-of-the-art performances.
What BERT Is Not: Lessons from a New Suite of Psycholinguistic Diagnostics for Language Models
Authors: Ettinger Allyson
Published: January 2020

Pre-training by language modeling has become a popular and successful approach to NLP tasks, but we have yet to understand exactly what linguistic capacities these pre-training processes confer upon models. In this paper we introduce a suite of diagnostics drawn from human language experiments, which allow us to ask targeted questions about information used by language models for generating predictions in context. As a case study, we apply these diagnostics to the popular BERT model, finding that it can generally distinguish good from bad completions involving shared category or role reversal, albeit with less sensitivity than humans, and it robustly retrieves noun hypernyms, but it struggles with challenging inference and role-based event prediction— and, in particular, it shows clear insensitivity to the contextual impacts of negation.
How Self-Motion in Virtual Reality Affects the Subjective Perception of Time
Authors: Weber Stefan , Weibel David , Mast Fred W.
Published: January 2020

The velocity of moving stimuli has been linked to their experienced duration. This effect was extended to instances of self-motion, where one’s own movement affects the subjective length of time. However, the experimental evidence for this extension is scarce and the effect of self-motion has not been investigated using a reproduction paradigm. Therefore, we designed a virtual reality scenario that controls for attention and eliminates the confounding effect of velocity and acceleration. The scenario consisted of a virtual road on which participants (n = 26) moved along in a car for six different durations and with six different velocities. We measured the subjective duration of the movement with reproduction and direct numerical estimation. We also assessed levels of presence in the virtual world. Our results show that higher velocity was connected to longer subjective time for both forms of measurement. However, the effect showed deviations from linearity. Presence was not associated with subjective time and did not improve performance on the task. We interpreted the effect of velocity as corroborating previous work using stimulus motion, which showed the same positive association between velocity of movement and subjective time. The absence of an effect of presence was explained in terms of a lacking dependency of time on characteristics of the virtual environment. We suggest applying our findings to the design of virtual experiences intended for inducing time loss.
Funding, training, permits—the three big challenges of taxonomy
Authors: BRITZ RALF , HUNDSDÖRFER ANNA , FRITZ UWE
Published: January 2020

We feel that two of the biggest challenges taxonomy is facing are the same as during the last twentyfive years since the biodiversity crisis moved to the centerof attention: (1) inadequate funding combined with (2) the lack of succession planning, training and recruitment into permanent positions of competent taxonomists. Another significant issue, to us the third big challenge for taxonomy, is represented by the increasingly difficult and complex legislative side of biodiversity research.
Advancing Taxonomy in the Global South and completing the Grand Linnaean Enterprise
Authors: PRATHAPAN K. D. , RAJAN PRIYADARSANAN DHARMA
Published: January 2020

We propose three most important measures for addressing the Linnaean shortfall in the Global South such as, a) completing the Grand Linnaean Enterprise; b) massification of taxonomy; and c) creating an enabling legal and regulatory milieu, which would be our best hold against the global biodiversity crisis.