bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Cross-Country Skiers With a Fast-Start Pacing Pattern Increase Time-Trial Performance by Use of a More Even Pacing Strategy
Authors: Losnegard Thomas , Tosterud Ola Kristoffer , Kjeldsen Kasper , Olstad Øyvind , Kocbach Jan
Published: February 2022

Purpose: To investigate whether skiers with a fast-start pacing pattern increase time-trial performance by use of a more even pacing strategy. Methods: Thirty-four skiers (∼17 y, 16 male) performed an individual 7.5 (3 × 2.5) km free-technique race on snow with a self-selected pacing strategy (day 1). Based on the starting pace the first ∼2 minutes (lap-1 first 600-m segment pace·7.5 km pace−1), subjects were ranked into 2 groups: an intervention group with the fastest start pace (INT, n = 17) and a control group with a more conservative pace (CON, n = 17). On day 2, INT were instructed to reduce their start pace based on their average laps-1-to-3 segment pace from day 1, while CON were instructed to maintain their day 1 strategy. Results: INT increased their time-trial performance more than CON from day 1 to day 2 (effect size; ES = 0.87, P < .05). From day 1 to day 2, INT slowed their start pace (mean ± 95% confidence interval; 7.7% ± 2.0%, ES = 2.00), with lowered heart rate (HR) (83% ± 2% to 81% ± 2% of HRmax) and 1 to 10 ratings of perceived exertion (5 ± 1 to 4 ± 1), but finished with a faster overall 7.5-km time (−1.9% ± 0.9%, ES = 0.99) (all P < .05). For CON, no change was found for starting pace (−0.7% ± 2.0%, P = .47), overall 7.5-km time (−0.2% ± 1.4%, ES = 0.02, P = .81), ratings of perceived exertion, or HR between days. No differences were found for end-ratings of perceived exertion (9 ± 1) or average HR between day 1 and 2 for either group. Conclusion: Skiers with a pronounced fast-start pattern benefit by using a more even pacing strategy to optimize time-trial distance skiing performance.
The smell of insulin
Authors: Wong Wei
Published: February 2022

Detection of insulin fragments by an odorant receptor in pancreatic β-cells suppresses insulin secretion.
Draft Genome Sequence of Brevibacillus brevis LABIM17, a Biotechnologically Important Antimicrobial-Producing Bacterium
Authors: de Medeiros Chagas Larissa , Teixeira Gustavo Manoel , Mosela Mirela , de Oliveira João Paulo , Nicoletto Maria Luiza Abreu , Bertê Rosiana , da Silva Daniel Vieira , Sanches Danilo Sipoli , Brancher Jacques Duílio , Padua Ulisses Pereira , de Oliveira Admilton Gonçalves
Published: February 2022

Brevibacillus brevis
LABIM17 is a bacterial isolate with biotechnological potential. Its draft genome sequence contains a chromosome of 5,950,202 bp, with 5,477 coding sequences, and exhibits 12 clusters involved in the production of secondary metabolites, which are likely responsible for its antimicrobial activity against several human and plant pathogens.
Using AnnoTree to Get More Assignments, Faster, in DIAMOND+MEGAN Microbiome Analysis
Authors: Gautam Anupam , Felderhoff Hendrik , Bağci Caner , Huson Daniel H.
Published: February 2022

The NCBI-nr database is not explicitly designed for the purpose of microbiome analysis, and its increasing size makes its unwieldy and computationally expensive for this purpose. The AnnoTree protein database is only one-quarter the size of the full NCBI-nr database and is explicitly designed for metagenomic analysis, so it should be supported by alignment-based pipelines.
Age and Sources of Metasedimentary Rocks of the Galam Terrane in the Mongol–Okhotsk Fold Belt: Results of U–Pb Age and Lu–Hf Isotope Data from Detrital Zircons
Authors: Zaika V. A. , Sorokin A. A.
Published: February 2022

The Mongol–Okhotsk fold belt is one of the major structural elements of East Asia. In this article, we present U–Pb age and Hf isotope data for detrital zircons from metasedimentary rocks of the Galam Terrane. Our new data confirm that these rocks contain a significant amount of Archean and Paleoproterozoic zircons: most grains, regardless of age, have negative εHf(t) values from –30.0 to –10.0 and model age tHf(C) > 2.2 Ga. The main sources of detrital material for the metasedimentary rocks of the Galam Terrane were igneous and metamorphic complexes of the southeastern margin of the Siberian Craton. Some of the Devonian and Carboniferous zircons have slightly negative and positive εHf(t) values of ‒7.4 to +6.9 and younger tHf(C) ages of 1.46–0.90 Ga. These zircons were derived from eroded island arcs in the Mongol–Okhotsk Paleocean. Our results suggest that the Galam Terrane is a Paleozoic accretionary complex of the Siberian Craton.
Bridging the gap between science and society: long-term effects of the Healthy Lifestyle Community Programme (HLCP, cohort 1) on weight and the metabolic risk profile: a controlled study
Authors: Anand Corinna , Kranz Ragna-Marie , Husain Sarah , Koeder Christian , Schoch Nora , Alzughayyar Dima-Karam , Gellner Reinhold , Hengst Karin , Englert Heike
Published: February 2022

Background

The potential of adopting a healthy lifestyle to fight non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is not fully used. We hypothesised that the Healthy Lifestyle Community Programme (HLCP, cohort 1) reduces weight and other risk markers compared with baseline and control.

Methods

24-month, non-randomised, controlled intervention trial. Intervention: intensive 8-week phase with seminars, workshops and coaching focusing on a healthy lifestyle (eg, plant-based diet, physical activity, stress management) and group support followed by a 22-month alumni phase. Weight reduction as the primary outcome and other NCD risk parameters were assessed at six time points. Participants were recruited from the general population. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted.

Results

143 participants (58±12 years, 71% female) were enrolled (91 in the intervention (IG) and 52 in the control group (CG)). Groups’ baseline characteristics were comparable, except participants of IG were younger, more often females, overweight and reported lower energy intake (kcal/day). Weight significantly decreased in IG at all follow-ups by −1.5 ± 1.9 kg after 8 weeks to −1.9 ± 4.0 kg after 24 months and more than in CG (except after 24 months). Being male, in the IG or overweight at baseline and having a university degree predicted more weight loss. After the intervention, there were more participants in the IG with a ‘high’ adherence (+12%) to plant-based food patterns. The change of other risk parameters was most distinct after 8 weeks and in people at elevated risk. Diabetes-related risk parameters did not improve.

Conclusion

The HLCP was able to reduce weight and to improve aspects of the NCD risk profile. Weight loss in the IG was moderate but maintained for 24 months. Participants of lower educational status might benefit from even more practical units. Future interventions should aim to include more participants at higher risk.

Trial registration number

DRKS00018821.
Development of cognition decline in non-acute symptomatic patients with cerebral small vessel disease: Non-Acute Symptomatic Cerebral Ischemia Registration study (NASCIR)—rationale and protocol for a prospective multicentre observational study
Authors: Zhang Shuting , Wang Zhetao , Liu Peng , Tuo Qingzhang , Cheng Yajun , Xu Mangmang , Wu Qian , Lei Peng , Dai Lunzhi , Kwapong William Robert , Tan Mingying , Liu Ming
Published: February 2022

Introduction

Headaches, dizziness and memory loss of unspecific causes are the most common non-acute ischemia symptoms in the ageing population, which are often associated with cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) imaging markers; however, there is insufficient evidence concerning their association with the development of cognitive decline. This study aims to investigate risk factors, clinical course, cerebral and retinal imaging changes, proteomics features of non-symptomatic ischaemia symptomatic patients with cognitive decline.

Methods and analysis

The Non-Acute Symptomatic Cerebral Ischemia Registration study is a multicentre, registry-based, prospective observational study, is designed to investigate the cognitive decline in non-acute ischaemia symptomatic patients. We will recruit 500 non-acute ischaemia symptomatic patients from four tertiary hospitals in China. For this study, non-acute ischaemia symptoms will be defined as headaches, dizziness and memory loss. Patients with headaches, dizziness or memory loss over 50 years of age will be included. Clinical features, cognitive assessment, cerebral and retinal imaging data, and a blood sample will be collected after recruitment. Patients will be followed up by structured telephone interviews at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 years after recruitment. This study will improve our knowledge of the development of cognitive decline in non-acute ischaemia symptomatic patients and factors affecting the cognitive outcomes, which will eventually elucidate underlying pathways and mechanisms of cognitive decline in these patients and facilitate the optimisation of individualised interventions for its prevention and treatment.

Ethics and dissemination

Ethics approval is obtained from The Biomedical Research Ethics Committee of West China Hospital, Sichuan University (Reference No. 2016 (335)). We will present our findings at national and international conferences and peer-reviewed journals in stroke and neurology.

Trial registration number

ChiCTR-COC-17013056.
Longitudinal trajectories of suicidal ideation and attempts in adolescents with psychiatric disorders in Chile: study protocol
Authors: Méndez-Bustos Pablo , Fuster-Villaseca Jaime , Lopez-Castroman Jorge , Jiménez-Solomon Oscar , Olivari Cecilia , Baca-Garcia Enrique
Published: February 2022

Introduction

Adolescent suicide is a worldwide public health problem, being the second and the third leading cause of death in the 15–29 and the 15–19 age groups, respectively. Among adolescents, it is estimated that for every suicide, there are 100–200 suicide attempts. Although 79% of suicides in the world occur in low/middle-income countries, most of scientific evidence comes from high-income and low-risk countries. In recent years, adolescent suicide rates have steadily increased in Chile. Deaths caused by self-harm increased by 220% in the population aged 10–19 years between 2000 and 2015. The Maule Region is one of the regions of Chile with the highest levels of suicide among those aged 15 and 19 years old. The objective of this study is to evaluate the trajectories of ideation and suicidal attempts in adolescents with psychiatric disorders treated within the public health system of the Maule Region, Chile, based on different clinical, psychological and neuropsychological factors.

Method

A prospective naturalistic study of a clinical sample of adolescents under psychiatric treatment in the Maule Region, Chile. Adolescents will be evaluated using a thorough protocol that includes suicide-related clinical variables. The study seeks to establish patterns of change in the trajectories of ideation and suicide attempts among adolescents.

Ethics and dissemination

Ethical approval was granted by the Scientific Ethics Committee of the Universidad Católica del Maule in Chile. This protocol was registered in ClinicalTrials.gov. The results of this study will be disseminated to health centres through executive reports and feedback sessions. In addition, the most relevant findings will be presented in scientific articles, conferences and seminars open to the community.

Trial registration number

NCT04635163.
Interventions in sexual and reproductive health services addressing violence against women in low-income and middle-income countries: a mixed-methods systematic review
Authors: Lewis Natalia V , Munas Muzrif , Colombini Manuela , d'Oliveira A F , Pereira Stephanie , Shrestha Satya , Rajapakse Thilini , Shaheen Amira , Rishal Poonam , Alkaiyat Abdulsalam , Richards Alison , Garcia-Moreno Claudia M , Feder Gene S , Bacchus Loraine J
Published: February 2022

Objectives

To synthesise evidence on the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and barriers to responding to violence against women (VAW) in sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services in low/middle-income countries (LMICs).

Design

Mixed-methods systematic review.

Data sources

Medline, Embase, Psycinfo, Cochrane, Cinahl, IMEMR, Web of Science, Popline, Lilacs, WHO RHL, ClinicalTrials.gov, Google, Google Scholar, websites of key organisations through December 2019.

Eligibility criteria

Studies of any design that evaluated VAW interventions in SRH services in LMICs.

Data extraction and synthesis

Concurrent narrative quantitative and thematic qualitative syntheses, integration through line of argument and mapping onto a logic model. Two reviewers extracted data and appraised quality.

Results

26 studies of varied interventions using heterogeneous outcomes. Of ten interventions that strengthened health systems capacity to respond to VAW during routine SRH consultation, three reported no harm and reduction in some types of violence. Of nine interventions that strengthened health systems and communities’ capacity to respond to VAW, three reported conflicting effects on re-exposure to some types of VAW and mixed effect on SRH. The interventions increased identification of VAW but had no effect on the provision (75%–100%) and uptake (0.6%–53%) of referrals to VAW services. Of seven psychosocial interventions in addition to SRH consultation that strengthened women’s readiness to address VAW, four reduced re-exposure to some types of VAW and improved health. Factors that disrupted the pathway to better outcomes included accepting attitudes towards VAW, fear of consequences and limited readiness of the society, health systems and individuals. No study evaluated cost-effectiveness.

Conclusions

Some VAW interventions in SRH services reduced re-exposure to some types of VAW and improved some health outcomes in single studies. Future interventions should strengthen capacity to address VAW across health systems, communities and individual women. First-line support should be better tailored to women’s needs and expectations.

PROSPERO registration number

CRD42019137167.
End-of-life care for people with severe mental illness: mixed methods systematic review and thematic synthesis of published case studies (the MENLOC study)
Authors: Coffey Michael , Edwards Deborah , Anstey Sally , Gill Paul , Mann Mala , Meudell Alan , Hannigan Ben
Published: February 2022

Objectives

People with severe mental illness (SMI) have significant comorbidities and reduced life expectancy. The objective of the review reported in this paper was to synthesise material from case studies relating to the organisation, provision and receipt of care for people with SMI who have an end-of-life (EoL) diagnosis.

Design

Systematic review and thematic synthesis.

Data sources

MEDLINE, PsycINFO, EMBASE, HMIC, AMED, CINAHL, CENTRAL, ASSIA, DARE and Web of Science from inception to December 2019. Supplementary searching for additional material including grey literature along with 62 organisational websites.

Results

Of the 11 904 citations retrieved, 42 papers reporting 51 case studies were identified and are reported here. Twenty-five of the forty-two case study papers met seven, or more quality criteria, with eight meeting half or less. Attributes of case study subjects included that just over half were men, had a mean age of 55 years, psychotic illnesses dominated and the EoL condition was in most cases a cancer. Analysis generated themes as follows diagnostic delay and overshadowing, decision capacity and dilemmas, medical futility, individuals and their networks, care provision.

Conclusions

In the absence of high-quality intervention studies, this evidence synthesis indicates that cross disciplinary care is supported within the context of established therapeutic relationships. Attention to potential delay and diagnostic overshadowing is required in care provision. The values and preferences of individuals with severe mental illness experiencing an end-of-life condition should be recognised.

PROSPERO registration number

CRD42018108988.
Healthy Ageing and Intellectual Disability study: summary of findings and the protocol for the 10-year follow-up study
Authors: de Leeuw Marleen J , Oppewal Alyt , Elbers Roy G , Knulst Mireille W E J , van Maurik Marco C , van Bruggen Marjoleine C , Hilgenkamp Thessa I M , Bindels Patrick J E , Maes-Festen Dederieke A M
Published: February 2022

Introduction

The Healthy Ageing and Intellectual Disability (HA-ID) study is a prospective multicentre cohort study in the Netherlands that started in 2008, including 1050 older adults (aged ≥50) with intellectual disabilities (ID). The study is designed to learn more about the health and health risks of this group as they age. Compared with the amount of research in the general population, epidemiological research into the health of older adults with ID is still in its infancy. Longitudinal data about the health of this vulnerable and relatively unhealthy group are needed so that policy and care can be prioritised and for guiding clinical decision making about screening, prevention and treatment to improve healthy ageing.

Methods and analysis

This article presents a summary of the previous findings of the HA-ID study and describes the design of the 10-year follow-up in which a wide range of health data will be collected within five research themes: (1) cardiovascular disease; (2) physical activity, fitness and musculoskeletal disorders; (3) psychological problems and psychiatric disorders; (4) nutrition and nutritional state; and (5) frailty.

Ethics and dissemination

Ethical approval for the 10-year follow-up measurements of the HA-ID study has been obtained from the Medical Ethics Review Committee of the Erasmus MC, University Medical Centre Rotterdam (MEC-2019-0562).

Trial registration number

This cohort study is registered in the Dutch Trial Register (NTR number NL8564) and has been conducted according to the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.
Variation in health visiting contacts for children in England: cross-sectional analysis of the 2–2½ year review using administrative data (Community Services Dataset, CSDS)
Authors: Fraser Caroline , Harron Katie , Barlow Jane , Bennett Samantha , Woods Geoffrey , Shand Jenny , Kendall Sally , Woodman Jenny
Published: February 2022

Objective

The 2–2½ year universal health visiting review in England is a key time point for assessing child development and promoting school readiness. We aimed to ascertain which children were least likely to receive their 2–2½ year review and whether there were additional non-mandated contacts for children who missed this review.

Design, setting, participants

Cross-sectional analysis of the 2–2½ year review and additional health visiting contacts for 181 130 children aged 2 in England 2018/2019, stratified by ethnicity, deprivation, safeguarding vulnerability indicator and Looked After Child status.

Analysis

We used data from 33 local authorities submitting highly complete data on health visiting contacts to the Community Services Dataset. We calculated the percentage of children with a recorded 2–2½ year review and/or any additional health visiting contacts and average number of contacts, by child characteristic.

Results

The most deprived children were slightly less likely to receive a 2–2½ year review than the least deprived children (72% vs 78%) and Looked After Children much less likely, compared with other children (44% vs 69%). When all additional contacts were included, the pattern was reversed (deprivation) or disappeared (Looked After children). A substantial proportion of all children (24%), children with a ‘safeguarding vulnerability’ (22%) and Looked After children (29%) did not have a record of either a 2–2½ year review or any other face-to-face contact in the year.

Conclusions

A substantial minority of children aged 2 with known vulnerabilities did not see the health visiting team at all in the year. Some higher need children (eg, deprived and Looked After) appeared to be seeing the health visiting team but not receiving their mandated health review. Further work is needed to establish the reasons for this, and potential solutions. There is an urgent need to improve the quality of national health visiting data.
Knowledge and use of lactational amenorrhoea as a family planning method among adolescent mothers in Uganda: a secondary analysis of Demographic and Health Surveys between 2006 and 2016
Authors: Birabwa Catherine , Bakkabulindi Pamela , Wafula Solomon T , Waiswa Peter , Benova Lenka
Published: February 2022

Objective

To assess the level of knowledge and use of the lactational amenorrhoea method (LAM) among adolescents in Uganda between 2006 and 2016 using nationally representative data from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS).

Design

Cross-sectional design involving analysis of three DHS (2006, 2011, and 2016) in Uganda.

Setting

The data collection took place in Uganda. The DHS are nationally representative surveys on a wide range of indicators including contraception knowledge and use.

Participants

A total of 1948 (2006), 2026 (2011) and 4276 (2016) adolescents (15–19 years) and 1662 (2006), 1666 (2011) and 3782 (2016) young women (20–24 years) were included.

Primary outcome measure

Use of LAM among adolescents and young women with a live birth within 6 months before each survey.

Results

In 2016, less than 1.0% (95% CI: 0.2% to 3.5%) of eligible adolescents correctly used LAM, and 56.3% (95% CI: 48.8% to 63.6%) were passively benefitting from LAM. The median duration of postpartum amenorrhoea (PPA) among adolescents in 2016 was 6.9 months, declining from 8.3 months in 2006. Compared with adolescents (56.7%), eligible young women had higher knowledge of LAM (64.1%) and higher median PPA duration (8.0 months) in 2016. The percentage of eligible adolescents who met the LAM criteria irrespective of whether they reported LAM use (were protected by LAM) decreased from 76.4% (95% CI: 66.5% to 84.0%) in 2006 to 57.2% (95% CI: 49.5% to 64.6%) in 2016. More than 50.0% (95% CI: 49.2% to 63.8%) of eligible adolescents were aware of LAM in 2016, increasing from 6.0% (95% CI: 2.5% to 13.8) in 2006.

Conclusion

Despite increasing awareness of LAM, reported and correct use of LAM was low among adolescents who could benefit from this method in Uganda, and declining over time. Support for adolescents to harness the benefits of correct LAM use should be increased. Additional research is needed to better understand the dynamics of LAM use in adolescents, including the transition to use of other modern contraceptive methods.
Oncolytic adenovirus decreases the proportion of TIM-3+ subset of tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells with correlation to improved survival in patients with cancer
Authors: Liikanen Ilkka , Basnet Saru , Quixabeira Dafne C A , Taipale Kristian , Hemminki Otto , Oksanen Minna , Kankainen Matti , Juhila Juuso , Kanerva Anna , Joensuu Timo , Tähtinen Siri , Hemminki Akseli
Published: February 2022

Background

Oncolytic viruses are a potent form of active immunotherapy, capable of invoking antitumor T-cell responses. Meanwhile, less is known about their effects on immune checkpoints, the main targets for passive immunotherapy of cancer. T-cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain-3 (TIM-3) is a coinhibitory checkpoint driving T-cell exhaustion in cancer. Here we investigated the effects of oncolytic adenovirus on the TIM-3 checkpoint on tumor-infiltrating immune cells and clinical impact in patients with cancer receiving oncolytic immunotherapy.

Methods

Modulation of TIM-3 expression on tumor-infiltrating immune cells was studied preclinically in B16 melanoma following intratumoral treatment with Ad5/3∆24-granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor oncolytic adenovirus. We conducted a retrospective longitudinal analysis of 15 patients with advanced-stage cancer with tumor-site biopsies before and after oncolytic immunotherapy, treated in the Advanced Therapy Access Program (ISRCTN10141600, April 5, 2011). Following patient stratification with regard to TIM-3 (increase vs decrease in tumors), overall survival and imaging/marker responses were evaluated by log-rank and Fisher’s test, while coinhibitory receptors/ligands, transcriptomic changes and tumor-reactive and tumor-infltrating immune cells in biopsies and blood samples were studied by microarray rank-based statistics and immunoassays.

Results

Preclinically, TIM-3+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in B16 melanoma showed an exhausted phenotype, whereas oncolytic adenovirus treatment significantly reduced the proportion of TIM-3+ TIL subset through recruitment of less-exhausted CD8+ TIL. Decrease of TIM-3 was observed in 60% of patients, which was associated with improved overall survival over TIM-3 increase patients (p=0.004), together with evidence of clinical benefit by imaging and blood analyses. Coinhibitory T-cell receptors and ligands were consistently associated with TIM-3 changes in gene expression data, while core transcriptional exhaustion programs and T-cell dysfunction were enriched in patients with TIM-3 increase, thus identifying patients potentially benefiting from checkpoint blockade. In striking contrast, patients with TIM-3 decrease displayed an acute inflammatory signature, redistribution of tumor-reactive CD8+ lymphocytes and higher influx of CD8+ TIL into tumors, which were associated with the longest overall survival, suggesting benefit from active immunotherapy.

Conclusions

Our results indicate a key role for the TIM-3 immune checkpoint in oncolytic adenoviral immunotherapy. Moreover, our results identify TIM-3 as a potential biomarker for oncolytic adenoviruses and create rationale for combination with passive immunotherapy for a subset of patients.
Neoantigens as potential vaccines in hepatocellular carcinoma
Authors: Repáraz David , Ruiz Marta , Llopiz Diana , Silva Leyre , Vercher Enric , Aparicio Belén , Egea Josune , Tamayo-Uria Ibon , Hervás-Stubbs Sandra , García-Balduz Jorge , Castro Carla , Iñarrairaegui Mercedes , Tagliamonte Maria , Mauriello Angela , Cavalluzzo Beatrice , Buonaguro Luigi , Rohrer Charlotte , Heim Kathrin , Tauber Catrin , Hofmann Maike , Thimme Robert , Sangro Bruno , Sarobe Pablo
Published: February 2022

Background

Neoantigens, new immunogenic sequences arising from tumor mutations, have been associated with response to immunotherapy and are considered potential targets for vaccination. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a moderately mutated tumor, where the neoantigen repertoire has not been investigated. Our aim was to analyze whether tumors in HCC patients contain immunogenic neoantigens suitable for future use in therapeutic vaccination.

Methods

Whole-exome sequencing and RNAseq were performed in a cohort of fourteen HCC patients submitted to surgery or liver transplant. To identify mutations, single-nucleotide variants (SNV) originating non-synonymous changes that were confirmed at the RNA level were analyzed. Immunogenicity of putative neoAgs predicted by HLA binding algorithms was confirmed by using in vitro HLA binding assays and T-cell stimulation experiments, the latter in vivo, by immunizing HLA-A*02.01/HLA-DRB1*01 (HHD-DR1) transgenic mice, and in in vitro, using human lymphocytes.

Results

Sequencing led to the identification of a median of 1217 missense somatic SNV per patient, narrowed to 30 when filtering by using RNAseq data. A median of 13 and 5 peptides per patient were predicted as potential binders to HLA class I and class II molecules, respectively. Considering only HLA-A*02.01- and HLA-DRB1*01-predicted binders, 70% demonstrated HLA-binding capacity and about 50% were immunogenic when tested in HHD-DR1 mice. These peptides induced polyfunctional T cells that specifically recognized the mutated but not the wild-type sequence as well as neoantigen-expressing cells. Moreover, coimmunization experiments combining CD8 and CD4 neoantigen epitopes resulted in stronger CD8 T cell responses. Finally, responses against neoantigens were also induced in vitro using human cells.

Conclusion

These results show that mutations in HCC tumors may generate immunogenic neoantigens with potential applicability for future combinatorial therapeutic strategies.
Assessing the validity of QRISK3 in predicting cardiovascular events in systemic lupus erythematosus
Authors: Zhu Lisa , Singh Manpreet , Lele Sonia , Sahakian Lori , Grossman Jennifer , Hahn Bevra , McMahon Maureen
Published: February 2022

Objectives

Traditional cardiovascular risk calculators such as the Framingham Risk Score (FRS) have been shown to underestimate risk in patients with SLE. The QRISK3 calculator is unique in including SLE and corticosteroid use as risk factors. This study aims to assess the validity of QRISK3 compared with other cardiovascular risk models in a cohort of patients with SLE in the USA.

Methods

We studied a prospective cohort of 366 adult patients with SLE without history of any cardiovascular event and followed them for 10 years. We compared the diagnostic performance of QRISK3 with FRS, modified FRS, Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease (ASCVD), and Predictors of Risk for Elevated Flares, Damage Progression and Increased Cardiovascular Disease in Patients with SLE (PREDICTS).

Results

Sixty-four of the 366 patients (17.4%) experienced at least one cardiovascular event during the 10-year follow-up period. Of these patients 45% had a QRISK3 score >10%, whereas 20.5% of patients who did not have an event had a QRISK3 score >10% (p<0.001). The corresponding numbers for FRS, modified FRS, ASCVD and PREDICTS were 11.0% vs 7.2% (p=ns), 40.6% vs 28.0% (p=0.05), 12.2% vs 5.9% (p=ns), and 77% vs 32.1% (p<0.001), respectively. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve using QRISK3 >10% and high-risk PREDICTS were both larger than those using ASCVD >10%, FRS >10% and modified FRS >10%.

Conclusions

Both QRISK3 and PREDICTS demonstrated better performance in predicting risk of cardiovascular disease in this cohort of patients with SLE compared with FRS, modified FRS and ASCVD.
DAAMSIM: A simulation framework for establishing detect and avoid SYSTEM requirements
Authors: Borshchova Iryna , Ellis Kristopher
Published: February 2022

Performance requirements for detect, alert, and avoid (DAA) systems for remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) are under development by many regulatory agencies and standards bodies. A DAA system can be decomposed into three functions, “detect” — situational awareness; “alert” — determination of traffic that may be in conflict, evaluation of the de-conflicting flight path, and informing the pilot-in-command; and “avoid” — avoidance maneuver execution, and determination of “clear of conflict”. The “Detect” function of a DAA system depends on the sensor, target, and environment characteristics (e.g., signal-to-noise ratio of the target vs. background). The “alert” function depends on conflict prediction algorithms and human factors requirements. The “avoid” function depends on the RPAS maneuvering performance, airspace “rules”, and the size of the protection volume. The aforementioned factors impact the time required to calculate, and execute, an avoidance maneuver that will guarantee a prescribed miss distance, and dominate the “detect” requirements of a sensor. This paper describes DAAMSim: a publicly available modeling and simulation framework, developed by the National Research Council of Canada, to support the determination of DAA system requirements, and evaluation of DAA system performance. The framework described herein incorporates the functional components including various sensor, tracker, and avoid models; data replay; visualization tools; and offline metrics. Further, this paper presents sample results of the framework’s ability to determine DAA system requirements for various degrees of RPAS and intruder performance, and concludes with a description of future work activities.
A quintessence dynamical dark energy model from ratio gravity
Authors: Liu Jackie C. H.
Published: February 2022

Based on the work of ratio gravity developed in 2018, which postulates the deformation of the cross ratio to associate with the physical model of gravity, we develop a mechanism to generate dynamical dark energy – a quintessence field coupled with gravity. Such model causes the dark energy behaving differently in early and late time universe. In the radiation-dominated-era and matter-dominated-era, the related analytical solutions of the quintessence field have an interesting property – starting as a constant field, then oscillating as the universe expands. By Markov Chain Monte Carlo search of the parameter space with the local measurement (Type Ia supernovae) in the Bayesian framework, the probed range of $$H_0$$

H
0

(within $$1\sigma $$

1
σ

) overlaps the $$H_0$$

H
0

value inferred from Planck CMB dataset by $$\Lambda $$
Λ
CDM model.
A study of cylindrically symmetric solutions in $$f(R, \phi , X)$$ theory of gravity
Authors: Malik Adnan , Nafees Ayesha , Ali Akram , Butt Muhammad Naeem
Published: February 2022

In this article, we aim to investigate some cylindrically symmetric solutions in a very well known modified theory named as $$f(R, \phi , X)$$

f
(
R
,
ϕ
,
X
)

theory of gravity, where the terms R, $$\phi $$
ϕ
and X are clarified as Ricci Scalar, scalar potential, and kinetic term respectively. For this purpose, we consider the cylindrically symmetric space-time to discuss the cylindrical solutions in some realistic regions. We further discuss six distinct cases of exact solutions using the field equations of $$f(R, \phi , X)$$

f
(
R
,
ϕ
,
X
)

modified theory of gravity. Furthermore, we set some suitable values of $$U_0$$

U
0

and $$\alpha $$
α
in $$f(R, \phi , X)=R+\alpha R^2 - V(\phi )+ X$$

f

(
R
,
ϕ
,
X
)

=
R
+
α

R
2

-
V

(
ϕ
)

+
X

for the investigation of well-known Levi–Civita and cosmic string solutions. The Energy conditions are also investigated for all different cases and observed that null energy conditions are violated, which is the indication of the existence of cylindrical wormholes.
Harmonic functions on compactly generated groups
Authors: Creutz Darren
Published: February 2022

A compactly generated group is noncompact if and only if it admits a nonconstant harmonic function (for some, equivalently for every, reasonable measure). This generalizes the known fact that a finitely generated group is infinite if and only if it admits a nonconstant harmonic function (for some, equivalently every, reasonable measure).
Traffic dynamics around freeway merging area with mixed conventional vehicles and connected and autonomous vehicles
Authors: Kong Dewen , Sun Lishan , Chen Yingda
Published: February 2022

The mixed traffic of conventional vehicles (CVs) and connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) will dominate a long period in the popularization of CAVs and its dynamics are still not clear, especially in some complicated traffic scenarios. In this paper, an improved cellular automaton model was applied to investigate the CVs–CAVs mixed traffic dynamics around freeway merging area. The lane-changing rules were improved to consider the difference between CAVs and CVs and also the variation of drivers’ aggressive driving during the merging process. The simulation has been conducted with different traffic demands and percentages of CAVs while the phase diagram, spatial-temporal diagram, characteristics of traffic volume, velocity profiles, stability and traffic conflict around the merging area were obtained. The results show that CAVs contribute to improving the traffic operation of freeway merging area in most conditions. However, more CAVs in the merging area without proper management will have a negative impact on traffic if the traffic demand for the main road is great. For example, the stability can decrease and particularly, the on-ramp traffic will be completely blocked when the percentage of CAVs is one. The findings can provide a basis for further research on the CVs–CAVs mixed traffic.
Aspect-Level Sentiment Analysis with Local Semantic and Global Syntactic Features Integration
Authors: Liu Yifan , Xiao Luwei , Huang Yue-Cai , Xue Yun , Hu Xiaohui , Zhao Haoliang , Li Ying
Published: February 2022

Aspect-level sentiment analysis aims to predict the sentiment polarity toward a specific aspect in a sentence. Most current approaches are based on deep learning and the attention mechanism. However, these models cannot simultaneously include the context semantic information carried by local words and the global syntactic information possibly carried by remote words. In this paper, we propose a local semantic and global syntactic integration scheme, which employs a local focus mechanism over local context words and exploits improved graph convolutional networks over dependency tree to encode global syntactic information. Moreover, multi-head attention is used to capture both the semantic information and also the interactive information between semantics and syntactic features. Experimental results on five datasets show the effectiveness of our model over a series of latest models.
Self-Supervised Multi-Label Transformation Prediction for Video Representation Learning
Authors: Assefa Maregu , Jiang Wei , Yilma Getinet , Kumeda Bulbula , Ayalew Melese , Seid Mohammed
Published: February 2022

Self-supervised learning is a promising paradigm to address the problem of manual-annotation through effectively leveraging unlabeled videos. By solving self-supervised pretext tasks, powerful video representations can be discovered automatically. However, recent pretext tasks for videos rely on utilizing the temporal properties of videos, ignoring the crucial supervisory signals from the spatial subspace of videos. Therefore, we present a new self-supervised pretext task called Multi-Label Transformation Prediction (MLTP) to sufficiently utilize the spatiotemporal information in videos. In MLTP, all videos are jointly transformed by a set of geometric and color-space transformations, such as rotation, cropping, and color-channel split. We formulate the pretext as a multi-label prediction task. The 3D-CNN is trained to predict a composition of underlying transformations as multiple outputs. Thereby, transformation invariant video features can be learned in a self-supervised manner. Experimental results verify that 3D-CNNs pre-trained using MLTP yield video representations with improved generalization performance for action recognition downstream tasks on UCF101 ([Formula: see text]) and HMDB51 ([Formula: see text]) datasets.
Phthalocyanine as catalyst for rechargeable lithium-oxygen batteries
Authors: Kichambare Padmakar , Rodrigues Stanley , Hankins Kie , Balbuena Perla B. , Feld William A. , Scanlon Lawrence
Published: February 2022

Tetrabutylammonium lithium phthalocyanine (TBA-LiPc) can function as a soluble catalyst in low-donor-number (DN) solvents such as tetraethylene glycol dimethyl ether (TEGDME) (DN=16.6) for rechargeable lithium-oxygen cells. It is able to do so given that molecular oxygen forms a complex with the lithium phthalocyanine anion thereby keeping oxygen and the reaction intermediates in solution. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations show the mechanism for complex formation and cyclic voltammetry results support the notion of reaction intermediates that are soluble in solution during oxygen reduction and oxygen evolution reactions. Deep discharge of a lithium-oxygen cell with TBA-LiPc had a capacity that was 3.6 times greater (5.28 mAh) than a similar cell with no TBA-LiPc (1.47 mAh). Long-term cycling of a lithium-oxygen cell with TBA-LiPc at a fixed capacity of 0.55 mAh did not fail after 100 cycles. A similar cell without TBA-LiPc failed after 37 cycles. Long-term cycling of a lithium-oxygen cell with TBA-LiPc and using natural air in low humidity as the source of oxygen cycled 151 times before cell failure.
Multilevel Thresholding for Image Segmentation Using Mean Gradient
Authors: Ashir Abubakar M.
Published: February 2022

Image binarization and segmentation have been one of the most important operations in digital image processing and related fields. In spite of the enormous number of research studies in this field over the years, huge challenges still exist hampering the usability of some existing algorithms. Some of these challenges include high computational cost, insufficient performance, lack of generalization and flexibility, lack of capacity to capture various image degradations, and many more. These challenges present difficulties in the choice of the algorithm to use, and sometimes, it is practically impossible to implement these algorithms in a low-capacity hardware application where computational power and memory utilization are of great concern. In this study, a simple yet effective and noniterative global and bilevel thresholding technique is proposed. It uses the concept of image gradient vector to binarize or segment the image into three clusters. In addition, a parametric preprocessing approach is also proposed that can be used in image restoration applications. Evidences from the experiments from both visual and standard evaluation metrics show that the proposed methods perform exceptionally well. The proposed global thresholding outperforms the formidable Otsu thresholding technique.
Analysis of the Effect of Nursing Intervention for Thyroid Diseases Based on Family Nursing Methods
Authors: Chen Xin
Published: February 2022

Patients with thyroid disease must take long-term antithyroid drugs and go to the outpatient clinic for regular check-ups. This requires patients to have good compliance behaviors in order to better control their thyroid hormone levels. In order to improve patients’ compliance behavior and seek effective family care interventions, this paper combines family care methods to evaluate the nursing effect of thyroid disease and combines investigation and analysis and experimental methods to verify the effectiveness of the method proposed in this paper. In addition, this paper compares family nursing methods with conventional methods under the guidance of family philosophy and objectively analyzes and evaluates the application value of accelerated rehabilitation surgery concepts and methods in thyroid surgery. Finally, this paper sets up a control group and a test group to carry out the nursing effect of home nursing in thyroid diseases. Through comparative experiments, it can be seen that the nursing intervention for thyroid diseases based on home nursing in this paper has a good nursing effect.
An Entity Relation Extraction Method for Few-Shot Learning on the Food Health and Safety Domain
Authors: Zuo Min , Zhang Baoyu , Zhang Qingchuan , Yan Wenjing , Ai Dongmei
Published: February 2022

In recent years, entity relation extraction has been a critical technique to help people analyze complex structured text data. However, there is no advanced research in food health and safety to help people analyze the complex concepts between food and human health and their relationships. This paper proposes an entity relation extraction method FHER for the few-shot learning in the food health and safety domain. For few-shot learning in the food health and safety domain, we propose three methods that effectively improve the performance of entity relationship extraction. The three methods are applied to the self-built data sets FH and MHD. The experimental results show that the method can effectively extract domain-related entities and their relations in a small sample size environment.
On Neighborhood Degree-Based Topological Analysis of Polyphenylene Network
Authors: Sun Chuang , Khalid A. , Usman H. M. , Ahmad A. , Siddiqui M. K. , Fufa S. A.
Published: February 2022

Organic compounds such as polyphenylene are very important and useful for the synthesis of many new organic compounds due to their physio-chemical properties. To ascertain these properties, one can use QSPR/QSAR methods which necessitate the computation of topological indices. The topological indices based on two newly introduced abstract notions of ev-degree and ve-degree are in practice to model numerous chemical properties as well as physical properties of organic, inorganic, hybrid, and biological compounds. In this study, we computed a certain number of topological indices for the chemical graph of polyphenylene network which will help to model some of its physio-chemical properties.
Mechanical Properties and Acoustic Emission Characteristics of Thawing Frozen Sandstone
Authors: Yang Gengshe , Liang Bo , Liu Hui , Shen Yanjun , Jia Hailiang
Published: February 2022

After the construction of a frozen shaft wall is completed, it undergoes a long thawing process. Damage accumulation under load may result in the rupture of the frozen wall and cause engineering accidents. The change in the mechanical properties of the frozen rock during the thawing process is crucial to the stability of the frozen wall. In this study, we selected Cretaceous saturated sandstone as the research object and performed uniaxial compression tests on the frozen sandstone to analyze its mechanical properties during the thawing process. In addition, acoustic emission technology was used to analyze the damage and failure characteristics of the rock. The main findings of the study are as follows: (1) the results of the uniaxial compression tests revealed that the thawing of frozen sandstone comprises five stages. The closure stress, crack initiation stress, expansion strength, and peak strength were obtained from the volumetric stress-strain curve. These four stress values act as the dividing points of the five stages. (2) The initiation stress of frozen sandstone at different temperatures accounts for approximately 50% of the peak strength. The strength value is low, the deformation is large, and it exhibits an obvious strain-softening phenomenon. (3) As the temperature increases, the closure level of the saturated sandstone gradually increases, and the crack initiation and expansion levels gradually decrease. (4) Based on the four characteristic stresses of the thawing process of frozen sandstone, the acoustic emission signal can be divided into a quiet period, an increasing period, a frequent period, a sharp increase period, and a decline period. (5) A frozen sandstone damage model was established based on the D-P failure criterion. The efficacy of the model was evaluated against the test data and was found to be reasonably accurate. This paper uses acoustic emission technology to simultaneously monitor the melting process of frozen rocks and reveal the relationship between intensity and temperature. The results provide theoretical and technical support for evaluating the mechanical damage induced by thawing of a frozen shaft wall.
Computing Edge Version of Resolvability and Double Resolvability of a Graph
Authors: Ahmad Muhammad , Zahid Zohaib , Rashid Tabasam , Guirao Juan Luis Garcia
Published: February 2022

The field of graph theory is extensively used to investigate structure models in biology, computer programming, chemistry, and combinatorial optimization. In order to work with the chemical structure, chemists require a mathematical form of the compound. The chemical structure can be depicted using nodes (which represent the atom) and links (which represent the many types of bonds). As a result, a graph theoretic explanation of this problem is to give representations for the nodes of a graph such that different nodes have unique representations. This graph theoretic study is referred to as the metric dimension. In this article, we have computed the edge version of the metric dimension and doubly resolving sets for the family of cycle with chord

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