bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
NLRP12 interacts with NLRP3 to block the activation of the human NLRP3 inflammasome
Authors: Coombs Jared R. , Zamoshnikova Alina , Holley Caroline L. , Maddugoda Madhavi P. , Teo Daniel Eng Thiam , Chauvin Camille , Poulin Lionel F , Vitak Nazarii , Ross Connie M. , Mellacheruvu Manasa , Coll Rebecca C. , Heinz Leonhard X. , Burgener Sabrina S. , Emming Stefan , Chamaillard Mathias , Boucher Dave , Schroder Kate
Published: January 2024

Inflammasomes are multiprotein complexes that drive inflammation and contribute to protective immunity against pathogens and immune pathology in autoinflammatory diseases. Inflammasomes assemble when an inflammasome scaffold protein senses an activating signal and forms a signaling platform with the inflammasome adaptor protein ASC. The NLRP subfamily of NOD-like receptors (NLRs) includes inflammasome nucleators (such as NLRP3) and also NLRP12, which is genetically linked to familial autoinflammatory disorders that resemble diseases caused by gain-of-function NLRP3 mutants that generate a hyperactive NLRP3 inflammasome. We performed a screen to identify ASC inflammasome–nucleating proteins among NLRs that have the canonical pyrin-NACHT-LRR domain structure. Only NLRP3 and NLRP6 could initiate ASC polymerization to form “specks,” and NLRP12 failed to nucleate ASC polymerization. However, wild-type NLRP12 inhibited ASC inflammasome assembly induced by wild-type and gain-of-function mutant NLRP3, an effect not seen with disease-associated NLRP12 mutants. The capacity of NLRP12 to suppress NLRP3 inflammasome assembly was limited to human NLRP3 and was not observed for wild-type murine NLRP3. Furthermore, peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with an NLRP12 mutant–associated inflammatory disorder produced increased amounts of the inflammatory cytokine IL-1β in response to NLRP3 stimulation. Thus, our findings provide insights into NLRP12 biology and suggest that NLRP3 inhibitors in clinical trials for NLRP3-driven diseases may also be effective in treating NLRP12-associated autoinflammatory diseases.
AgrA directly binds to the promoter of
vraSR
and downregulates its expression in
Staphylococcus aureus
Authors: Liu Xueer , Wang Yangyan , Chang Wenjiao , Dai Yuanyuan , Ma Xiaoling
Published: January 2024

Staphylococcus aureus
is an important human pathogen and vancomycin is widely used for the treatment of
S. aureus
infections. The global regulator
agr
is known as a well-described virulence regulator. Previous studies have found that
agr
-dysfunction strains are more likely to develop into vancomycin-resistant strains, but the mechanism for this phenomenon remains unknown. VraSR is a two-component regulatory system related to vancomycin resistance. In this study, we found that the expression levels of
vraR
were higher in
agr
-dysfunction clinical strains than in the
agr
-functional strains. We knocked out
agr
in a clinical strain, and quantitative reverse transcription PCR and β-galactosidase activity assays revealed that
agr
repressed transcription of
vraR
. After vancomycin exposures, population analysis revealed larger subpopulations displaying reduced susceptibility in
agr
knockout strain compared with wild-type strain, and this pattern was also observed in
agr
-dysfunction clinical strains compared with the
agr
-functional strains. Electrophoretic mobility experiment demonstrated binding of purified AgrA to the promoter region of
vraR
. In conclusion, our results indicated that the loss of
agr
function in
S. aureus
may contribute to the evolution of reduced vancomycin susceptibility through the downregulation of
vraSR
.
Mechanical thrombectomy in acute in-stent thromboembolism
Authors: Dai Monami , Imaoka Yukihiro , Yoshikawa Shinichiro , Kohyama Shinya
Published: January 2024

Following the implantation of a carotid artery stent (CAS), the aetiology of in-stent occlusion typically shifts from embolic events in the acute phase to intimal hyperplasia in the chronic phase. A man in his 70s with a history of CAS implantation (performed 5 years ago) for left internal carotid artery (ICA) stenosis was admitted to our hospital with a chief complaint of left-sided transient scotoma. MRI revealed an acute occlusion of the left ICA, and an urgent digital subtraction angiography (DSA) was performed. The DSA results suggested the presence of an in-stent thrombus instead of in-stent stenosis. An urgent endovascular thrombectomy was performed, and the thrombus was successfully retrieved from the carotid stent. Full reperfusion was achieved, and no damage occurred to the carotid stent. This case highlights the importance of thorough examination of MRI and DSA findings for accurate differentiation between the causes of vessel occlusion.
Quality of melatonin use in children and adolescents: findings from a UK clinical audit
Authors: Paton Carol , Gringras Paul , Ruan Alice , Liew Ashley , Rendora Olivia , Bove Gaia , Barnes Thomas R E
Published: January 2024

Background

Melatonin is commonly used to treat sleep disturbance in children and adolescents, although uncertainties about its optimal use remain.

Objective

To determine to what extent prescribing of melatonin complies with evidence-based clinical practice standards.

Methods

As part of a quality improvement programme, the Prescribing Observatory for Mental Health conducted a retrospective clinical audit in UK services for children and adolescents.

Findings

Data were submitted for 4151 children and adolescents up to 18 years of age, treated with melatonin: 3053 (74%) had a diagnosis of neurodevelopmental disorder. In 2655 (73%) of the 3651 patients prescribed melatonin to be taken regularly, the main reason was to reduce sleep latency (time taken to fall asleep). In 409 patients recently starting melatonin, a non-pharmacological intervention had already been tried in 279 (68%). The therapeutic response of patients early in treatment (n=899) and on long-term treatment (n=2353) had been assessed and quantified in 36% and 31%, respectively, while for review of side effects, the respective proportions were 46% and 43%. Planned treatment breaks were documented in 317 (13%) of those on long-term treatment.

Conclusions

Melatonin was predominantly prescribed for evidence-based clinical indications, but the clinical review and monitoring of this treatment fell short of best practice.

Clinical implications

With limited methodical review of melatonin use in their patients, clinicians will fail to garner reliable information on its risks and benefits for individual patients. The lack of such practice-based evidence may increase the risk of melatonin being inappropriately targeted or continued despite being ineffective or no longer indicated.
How prices and income influence global patterns in saturated fat intake by age, sex and world region: a cross-sectional analysis of 160 countries
Authors: Ahles Amelia , Muhammad Andrew , Yenerall Jacqueline N , Reedy Julia , Shi Peilin , Zhang Jianyi , Cudhea Frederick , Erndt-Marino Josh , Miller Victoria , Mozaffarian Dariush
Published: January 2024

Objective

When considering proposals to improve diets, it is important to understand how factors like price and income can affect saturated fat (SF) intake and demand. In this study, we examine and estimate the influence of price and income on intake across 160 countries, by age and sex, and derive sensitivity measures (price elasticities) that vary by age, sex and world region.

Design

We econometrically estimate intake responsiveness to income and prices across countries, accounting for differences by world region, age and sex. Intake data by age, sex and country were obtained from the 2018 Global Dietary Database. These data were then linked to global price data for select food groups from the World Bank International Comparison Programme and income data from the World Development Indicators Databank (World Bank).

Results

Intake differences due to price were highly significant, with a 1% increase in price associated with a lower SF intake (% energy/d) of about 4.3 percentage points. We also find significant differences across regions. In high-income countries, median (age 40) intake reductions were 1.4, 0.8 and 0.2 percentage points, given a 1% increase in the price of meat, dairy, and oils and fats, respectively. Price elasticities varied with age but not sex. Intake differences due to income were insignificant when regional binary variables were included in the analysis.

Conclusion

The results of this study show heterogeneous associations among prices and intake within and across countries. Policymakers should consider these heterogeneous effects as they address global nutrition and health challenges.
Essential healthcare services during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study of community needs and perspectives in West Java, Indonesia
Authors: Kusnadi Gita , Fletcher Emma , Espressivo Aufia , Fitrianingrum Nisaatul Maharanita , Saputra Muhammad Anugrah , Sophiarany Nabilla , Soebagio Febriansyah
Published: January 2024

Objectives

While issues in healthcare facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic have been widely discussed, little is known about health service issues from community (demand) sides. This study aimed to identify community needs in the utilisation of health services and highlight the key roles and barriers that community health workers (CHWs) face in delivering community-based services during the pandemic.

Design

Cross-sectional study.

Setting

38 randomly selected villages covered by 21 preidentified community health centres in 3 districts in West Java, Indonesia. The survey was conducted from 22 January 2022 to 7 February 2022 (2 years after the pandemic began).

Participants

118 respondents, consisting of community leaders, vulnerable group representatives and CHWs.

Results

Laboratory examination (55.1%), emergency care (52.5%), non-communicable disease screening (50%) and routine treatment (49.2%) were perceived as the highest unmet needs of essential healthcare services. Fear of infection (90.3%) became one main barrier to access healthcare services. Vulnerable populations including lower socioeconomic groups (61.2%), households with elderly (25.4%), persons with disabilities (25.4%), pregnant women, people with mental illness and people with lower education (26.9%) were reported facing difficulties in accessing healthcare services. Further, the pandemic was deemed to have significantly impacted the community economic situation (91.5%). CHWs were actively engaged in community-based services and were mentioned as the first contact when the community needed help (57.6%). CHWs reported essential needs on financial support (45.2%), logistics (54.8%) and protective equipment (22.6%).

Conclusions

Essential health services for the community, including those belonging to vulnerable groups, were highly impacted during the pandemic. CHWs appear to have significant roles in delivering health services during this health crisis, hence, adequate support is needed to equip them in strengthening pandemic response.
Non-pharmacological interventions for the reduction and maintenance of blood pressure in people with prehypertension: a systematic review protocol
Authors: Bray Emma P , Georgiou Rachel F , Hives Lucy , Iqbal Nafisa , Benedetto Valerio , Spencer Joseph , Harris Cath , Clegg Andrew , Williams Nefyn , Rutter Paul , Watkins Caroline
Published: January 2024

Introduction

Prehypertension is defined as blood pressure that is above the normal range but not high enough to be classed as hypertension. Prehypertension is a warning of development of hypertension as well as a risk for cardiovascular disease, heart attack and stroke. In the UK, non-pharmacological interventions are recommended for prehypertension management but no reviews have focused on the effectiveness of these types of interventions solely in people with prehypertension. Therefore, the proposed systematic review will assess the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions in reducing or maintaining blood pressure in prehypertensive people.

Methods and analysis

This systematic review will follow the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. The databases/trial registries that will be searched to identify relevant randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and economic evaluations include Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, CENTRAL, the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, ClinicalTrials.gov, Cochrane Library, Scopus and the International HTA Database. Search terms have been identified by the team including an information specialist. Three reviewers will be involved in the study selection process. Risk of bias will be evaluated using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for RCTs and the Consensus Health Economic Criteria list for economic evaluations. Findings from the included studies will be tabulated and synthesised narratively. Heterogeneity will be assessed through visual inspection of forest plots and the calculation of the χ2and I2statistics and causes of heterogeneity will be assessed where sufficient data are available. If possible, we plan to investigate differential effects on specific subgroups and from different types of interventions using meta-regression. Where relevant, the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations (GRADE) will be used to assess the certainty of the evidence found.

Ethics and dissemination

Ethical approval is not needed. Results will be published in a peer-reviewed journal, disseminated via the wider study website and shared with the study sites and participants.

Registration details

The review is registered with PROSPERO (CRD420232433047).
Effects of indoor air pollution on clinical outcomes in patients with interstitial lung disease: protocol of a multicentre prospective observational study
Authors: Yoon Hee-Young , Kim Sun-Young , Song Jin Woo
Published: January 2024

Background

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic progressive fibrosing interstitial lung disease with a poor prognosis. While there is evidence suggesting that outdoor air pollution affects the clinical course of IPF, the impact of indoor air pollution on patients with IPF has not been extensively studied. Therefore, this prospective multicentre observational study aims to investigate the association between indoor air pollution and clinical outcomes in patients with IPF.

Methods and analysis

This study enrolled 140 patients with IPF from 12 medical institutes in the Seoul and Metropolitan areas of the Republic of Korea. Over the course of 1 year, participants visited the institutes every 3 months, during which their clinical data and blood samples were collected. Additionally, indoor exposure to particulate matter ≤2.5 µm (PM2.5) was measured using MicroPEM (RTI International, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA) in each participant’s house for 5 days every 3 months. Lung function was assessed using both site spirometry at each institution and portable spirometry at each participant’s house every 3 months. The study will analyse the impact of indoor PM2.5on clinical outcomes, including mortality, acute exacerbation, changes in lung function and health-related quality of life, in the participants. This study represents the first attempt to evaluate the influence of indoor air pollution on the prognosis of patients with IPF.

Ethics and dissemination

This study has received approval from the institutional review board of all participating institutions, including Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea (2021-0072).

Trial registration number

KCT0006217.
Factors associated with the use of psychedelics, ketamine and MDMA among sexual and gender minority youths in Canada: a machine learning analysis
Authors: Dharma Christoffer , Liu Esther , Grace Daniel , Logie Carmen , Abramovich Alex , Mitsakakis Nicholas , Baskerville Bruce , Chaiton Michael
Published: January 2024

Background

Substance use is increasing among sexual and gender minority youth (SGMY). This increase may be due to changes in social norms and socialisation, or due to SGMY exploring the potential therapeutic value of drugs such as psychedelics. We identified predictors of psychedelics, MDMA and ketamine use.

Methods

Data were obtained from 1414 SGMY participants who completed the ongoing longitudinal 2SLGBTQ+ Tobacco Project in Canada between November 2020 to January 2021. We examined the association between 80 potential features (including sociodemographic factors, mental health-related factors and substance use-related factors) with the use of psychedelics, MDMA and ketamine in the past year. Random forest classifier was used to identify the predictors most associated with reported use of these drugs.

Results

18.1% of participants have used psychedelics in the past year; 21.9% used at least one of the three drugs. Cannabis and cocaine use were the predictors most strongly associated with any of these drugs, while cannabis, but not cocaine use, was the one most associated with psychedelic use. Other mental health and 2SLGBTQ+ stigma-related factors were also associated with the use of these drugs.

Conclusion

The use of psychedelics, MDMA and ketamine among 2SLGBTQ+ individuals appeared to be largely driven by those who used them together with other drugs. Depression scores also appeared in the top 10 factors associated with these illicit drugs, suggesting that there were individuals who may benefit from the potential therapeutic value of these drugs. These characteristics should be further investigated in future studies.
Safety and efficacy of adjunctive intra-arterial antithrombotic therapy during endovascular thrombectomy for acute ischemic stroke: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Marei Omar , Podlasek Anna , Soo Emma , Butt Waleed , Gory Benjamin , Nguyen Thanh N , Appleton Jason P , Richard Sébastien , Rice Hal , de Villiers Laetitia , Carraro do Nascimento Vinicius , Domitrovic Luis , McConachie Norman , Lenthall Robert , Nair Sujit , Malik Luqman , Panesar Jasmin , Krishnan Kailash , Bhogal Pervinder , Dineen Robert A , England Timothy J , Campbell Bruce C V , Dhillon Permesh Singh
Published: January 2024

Background

Half of patients who achieve successful recanalization following endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) for acute ischemic stroke experience poor functional outcome. We aim to investigate whether the use of adjunctive intra-arterial antithrombotic therapy (AAT) during EVT is safe and efficacious compared with standard therapy (ST) of EVT with or without prior intravenous thrombolysis.

Methods

Electronic databases were searched (PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Library) from 2010 until October 2023. Data were pooled using a random-effects model and reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Risk of bias was assessed using ROBINS-I and ROB-2. The primary outcome was functional independence (modified Rankin Scale (mRS) 0–2) at 3 months. Secondary outcomes were successful recanalization (modified Thrombolysis In Cerebral Infarction (TICI) 2b-3), symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (sICH), and 90-day mortality.

Results

41 randomized and non-randomized studies met the eligibility criteria. Overall, 15 316 patients were included; 3296 patients were treated with AAT during EVT and 12 020 were treated with ST alone. Compared with ST, patients treated with AAT demonstrated higher odds of functional independence (46.5% AAT vs 42.6% ST; OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.40, P=0.004, I2=48%) and a lower likelihood of 90-day mortality (OR 0.71, 95% CI 0.61 to 0.83, P<0.0001, I2=20%). The rates of sICH (OR 1.00, 95% CI 0.82 to 1.22,P=0.97, I2=13%) and successful recanalization (OR 1.09, 95% CI 0.84 to 1.42, P=0.52, I2=76%) were not significantly different.

Conclusion

The use of AAT during EVT may improve functional outcomes and reduce mortality rates compared with ST alone, without an increased risk of sICH. These findings should be interpreted with caution pending the results from ongoing phase III trials to establish the efficacy and safety of AAT during EVT.
Oral health in cancer palliative care: cross-sectional study
Authors: Kudva Adarsh , Ghoshal Arunangshu , Mishra Prachi , John Anupama R , Saran Tarangini , Roy Sreea , Salins Naveen
Published: January 2024

Objectives

Patients on anticancer therapy attending palliative care services often have oral health problems, but not enough is known in this regard (in India). This cross-sectional study aimed to elucidate this issue.

Methods

Participants were 98 patients with metastatic cancer (52 males, 46 females) who attended the palliative care clinic and were assessed by a multidisciplinary team consisting of dental health professionals working alongside the palliative care team, between August 2021 and October 2022. Their demographic and medical details were collected from the charts. Details about oral health were assessed using the National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events for dysphagia and xerostomia, Dental Caries Decayed, Missing, and Filled Teeth (DMFT) index, and the WHO Mucositis scale. Quality of life was assessed using the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Module for Oral Health (EORTC QLQ-OH15).

Results

Patients had an average age of 58 years, with 46.9% having an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group score of 1, and 61 (64.9%) receiving anticancer treatment along with palliative care. Dental issues were prevalent, with 39.5% classified as DMFT score grade 2. Subgroup analysis showed higher mean DMFT scores in head/neck cancers, particularly in those receiving radiation therapy (2.3) versus without (1.7), and older age (p<0.05).

Conclusion

Patients with cancer on anticancer treatment attending a palliative care clinic, especially those with head/neck cancers and older age, had poor oral health. Further prospective research with a dentist on the team is warranted to assess its impact.
Structural evolutions of MX80 bentonite pellet/powder mixtures under wetting and suction-controlled oedometer loading
Authors: Yang J.W. , Cui Y.J. , Mokni N.
Published: January 2024

The compression behaviour of MX80 bentonite pellet/powder mixture was investigated by performing suction-controlled oedometer tests. The suction from 113 to 4.2 MPa was imposed by vapour equilibrium technique (VET), and zero suction by water circulation (WC). After instantaneously unloaded from various target vertical stresses, the structural observation was conducted by mercury intrusion porosimetry and micro-computed tomography. Results showed that during wetting, the intra-grain micro- and macro-pores increased due to the swelling of pellets and powder grains. During loading, the variation of intra-grain micro-pores was characterised by the loading effect, while that of intra-grain micro-pores was controlled by the suction and loading effects. The inter-grain pores, for the VET samples, were reduced by the swelling of pellets and powder grains during wetting on one hand, and by the movement of pellets and powder grains during loading on the other hand. For the WC samples, most inter-grain pores were closed during wetting, with a few pores in the top closed by further loading. The global compression of bentonite mixture samples during loading was mainly governed by the filling of inter-grain pores for the VET samples, but controlled by the compression of intra-grain pores for the WC samples.
A plastic scintillation muon veto for sub-Kelvin temperatures
Authors: Erhart A. , Wagner V. , Wex A. , Goupy C. , Lhuillier D. , Namuth E. , Nones C. , Rogly R. , Savu V. , Schwarz M. , Strauss R. , Vivier M. , Abele H. , Angloher G. , Bento A. , Burkhart J. , Canonica L. , Cappella F. , Casali N. , Cerulli R. , Cruciani A. , del Castello G. , del Gallo Roccagiovine M. , Doblhammer A. , Dorer S. , Friedl M. , Garai A. , Ghete V. M. , Hauff D. , Jeanneau F. , Jericha E. , Kaznacheeva M. , Kinast A. , Kluck H. , Langenkämper A. , Lasserre T. , Mancuso M. , Martin R. , Mauri B. , Mazzolari A. , Mazzucato E. , Neyrial H. , Oberauer L. , Ortmann T. , Pattavina L. , Peters L. , Petricca F. , Potzel W. , Pröbst F. , Pucci F. , Reindl F. , Romagnoni M. , Rothe J. , Schermer N. , Schieck J. , Schönert S. , Schwertner C. , Scola L. , Soum-Sidikov G. , Stodolsky L. , Tamisari M. , Tomei C. , Vignati M.
Published: January 2024

Rare-event search experiments located on-surface, such as short-baseline reactor neutrino experiments, are often limited by muon-induced background events. Highly efficient muon vetos are essential to reduce the detector background and to reach the sensitivity goals. We demonstrate the feasibility of deploying organic plastic scintillators at sub-Kelvin temperatures. For the NUCLEUS experiment, we developed a cryogenic muon veto equipped with wavelength shifting fibers and a silicon photo multiplier operating inside a dilution refrigerator. The achievable compactness of cryostat-internal integration is a key factor in keeping the muon rate to a minimum while maximizing coverage. The thermal and light output properties of a plastic scintillation detector were examined. We report first data on the thermal conductivity and heat capacity of the polystyrene-based scintillator UPS-923A over a wide range of temperatures extending below one Kelvin. The light output was measured down to 0.8 K and observed to increase by a factor of 1.61 ± 0.05 compared to 300 K. The development of an organic plastic scintillation muon veto operating in sub-Kelvin temperature environments opens new perspectives for rare-event searches with cryogenic detectors at sites lacking substantial overburden.
Triad’s consonance and dissonance: combining roughness and compactness models
Authors: Masina Isabella , Lo Presti Giuseppe
Published: January 2024

Theories of consonance and dissonance based on the “roughness” approach are those that explain these perceptions as due to the primary beatings between harmonics. Originally proposed by Helmholtz, this approach has been very popular in the last century, being naturally associated to continuous functions of the frequency ratios, on the contrary of theories based on the “compactness” approach. In a previous work, we focused on the roughness consonance and dissonance indicators for dyads, showing the importance of including weight functions and especially secondary beatings. Here, we generalize the roughness indicators to describe the consonance and dissonance for triads. We compare our model predictions with perceptual data from a recent psychoacoustic test by means of a Chi-square analysis. The result is that roughness indicators provide a quite effective, but not fully satisfactory, description of consonance and dissonance for triads. We then study the effect of combining roughness and compactness models for triads: in this case, a very satisfactory agreement with perceptual data is achieved.
Growth and characterization of epitaxial films based on semimagnetic Pb1−xEuxTe solid solutions on various substrates
Authors: Mehrabova Matanat , Sadigov Rafig , Nuriyev Idayat , Nazarov Afin
Published: January 2024

This paper presents the results of a study of the growth and structure properties of Pb[Formula: see text]EuxTe, ([Formula: see text]) epitaxial films with 0.5–1[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]m thickness, grown on BaF2 and SiO2 substrates oriented in the (111) direction, by the molecular beam condensation method in a vacuum of 10[Formula: see text] Pa with the use of an additional compensating source of Te vapor during the growth process. The optimal conditions for obtaining structurally perfect ([Formula: see text]–100[Formula: see text]) epitaxial films were established: [Formula: see text]–623[Formula: see text]K; [Formula: see text]K; [Formula: see text]–9 Å/s. It was determined that conductivity inversion occurs at the temperature of the compensating source 410[Formula: see text]K.
EDGE-WIENER INDEX OF SIERPINSKI FRACTAL NETWORKS
Authors: YAO YIQI , DU CAIMIN , XI LIFENG
Published: January 2024

The edge-Wiener index, an invariant index representing the summation of the distances between every pair of edges in the graph, has monumental influence on the study of chemistry and materials science. In this paper, drawing inspiration from Gromov’s idea, we use the finite pattern method proposed by Wang et al. [Average geodesic distance of Sierpinski gasket and Sierpinski networks, Fractals 25(5) (2017) 1750044] to figure out the exact formula of edge-Wiener index of the Sierpinski fractal networks.
Efficiency Improvisation of Large-Scale Knowledge Systems in Feature Determination using Proposed HVGAN Architecture
Authors: Nagarajan Senthil Murugan , Asha Jerlin M. , Devarajan Ganesh Gopal , Sivakami R. , Tiwari Ravi Shekhar
Published: January 2024

Knowledge Management (KM) is crucial for efficient information retrieval and forms the backbone of implementing an Information System (IS). Efficiently extracting meaningful trends from headlines aids in visualising demographic situations and addressing emergency handling needs. Understanding Information Resource Management (IRM) and Knowledge Resource Management (KRM) concepts benefits end users. This proposed KRM concept organises knowledge, ensuring global resource control through a neural decision framework. Traditional methods like Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) have higher computational steps, whereas neural network strategies in KM reduce steps and improve data prediction accuracy. The paucity of input data is a common challenge, which can be overcome by using Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) architecture for probabilistic generative processes. This research evaluates acquisition, spreading, vulnerability, and application using GAN-based knowledge systems that mitigate data scarcity through generative methods. The proposed Hierarchical Vanilla Generative Adversarial Network (HVGAN) utilises gradient functions and hierarchical computation algorithms to achieve desired knowledge extraction with lower time complexity and higher accuracy. Implementation improves efficiency in accessing stored knowledge, yielding an AUC score of 96% compared to other GAN architectures.
Should Fairness be a Metric or a Model? A Model-based Framework for Assessing Bias in Machine Learning Pipelines
Authors: Lalor John P. , Abbasi Ahmed , Oketch Kezia , Yang Yi , Forsgren Nicole
Published: January 2024

Fairness measurement is crucial for assessing algorithmic bias in various types of machine learning (ML) models, including ones used for search relevance, recommendation, personalization, talent analytics, and natural language processing. However, the fairness measurement paradigm is currently dominated by fairness metrics that examine disparities in allocation and/or prediction error as univariate key performance indicators (KPIs) for a protected attribute or group. Although important and effective in assessing ML bias in certain contexts such as recidivism, existing metrics don’t work well in many real-world applications of ML characterized by imperfect models applied to an array of instances encompassing a multivariate mixture of protected attributes, that are part of a broader process pipeline. Consequently, the upstream representational harm quantified by existing metrics based on how the model represents protected groups doesn’t necessarily relate to allocational harm in the application of such models in downstream policy/decision contexts. We propose FAIR-Frame, a model-based framework for parsimoniously modeling fairness across multiple protected attributes in regard to the representational and allocational harm associated with the upstream design/development and downstream usage of ML models. We evaluate the efficacy of our proposed framework on two testbeds pertaining to text classification using pretrained language models. The upstream testbeds encompass over fifty thousand documents associated with twenty-eight thousand users, seven protected attributes and five different classification tasks. The downstream testbeds span three policy outcomes and over 5.41 million total observations. Results in comparison with several existing metrics show that the upstream representational harm measures produced by FAIR-Frame and other metrics are significantly different from one another, and that FAIR-Frame’s representational fairness measures have the highest percentage alignment and lowest error with allocational harm observed in downstream applications. Our findings have important implications for various ML contexts, including information retrieval, user modeling, digital platforms, and text classification, where responsible and trustworthy AI is becoming an imperative.
Geography-aware Heterogeneous Graph Contrastive Learning for Travel Recommendation
Authors: Chen Lei , Cao Jie , Liang Weichao , Ye Qiaolin
Published: January 2024

Recommendation system concentrates on quickly matching products to consumer’s needs, which plays a major role in improving user experiences and increase conversion rate. Travel recommendation has become a hot topic in both industry and academia with the development of the tourism industry. Nevertheless, the selection of travel products entails careful consideration of various geographical factors, such as departure and destination. Meanwhile, due to the limitation of finance and time, users browse and purchase travel products less frequently than they do for traditional products, which leads to data sparsity problem in representation learning. To solve these challenges, a novel model named GHGCL (short for
G
eography-aware
H
eterogeneous
G
raph
C
ontrastive
L
earning) is proposed for recommending travel products. Concretely, we model the travel recommender system as a heterogeneous information network with geographical information and capture diverse user preferences from local and high-order structures. Especially, we design two kinds of contrastive learning tasks for better user and travel product representation learning. The multi-view contrastive learning aims to bridge the gap between network schema and meta-path view representations. The meta-path contrastive learning focuses on modeling the coarse-grained commonality between different meta-paths from the perspective of different geographical factors, i.e., departure and destination. We assess the performance of GHGCL by performing a series of experiments on a real-world dataset, and the results clearly verify its superiority as compared to the baseline methods.
Knowledge Graph Enhanced Contextualized Attention-Based Network for Responsible User-Specific Recommendation
Authors: Elahi Ehsan , Anwar Sajid , Shah Babar , Halim Zahid , Ullah Abrar , Rida Imad , Waqas Muhammad
Published: January 2024

With ever-increasing dataset size and data storage capacity, there is a strong need to build systems that can effectively utilize these vast datasets to extract valuable information. Large datasets often exhibit sparsity and pose cold start problems, necessitating the development of responsible recommender systems. Knowledge graphs have utility in responsibly representing information related to recommendation scenarios. However, many studies overlook explicitly encoding contextual information, which is crucial for reducing the bias of multi-layer propagation. Additionally, existing methods stack multiple layers to encode high-order neighbor information while disregarding the relational information between items and entities. This oversight hampers their ability to capture the collaborative signal latent in user-item interactions. This is particularly important in health informatics, where knowledge graphs consist of various entities connected to items through different relations. Ignoring the relational information renders them insufficient for modeling user preferences. This work presents an end-to-end recommendation framework named
KGCAN
(Knowledge Graph Enhanced Contextualized Attention-Based Network), which explicitly encodes both relational and contextual information of entities to preserve the original entity information. Furthermore, a user-specific attention mechanism is employed to capture personalized recommendations. The proposed model is validated on three benchmark datasets through extensive experiments. The experimental results demonstrate that KGCAN outperforms existing knowledge graph based recommendation models. Additionally, a case study from the healthcare domain is discussed, highlighting the importance of attention mechanisms and high-order connectivity in the responsible recommendation system for health informatics.
DeadWood: Including Disturbance and Decay in the Depiction of Digital Nature
Authors: Peytavie Adrien , Gain James , Guérin Eric , Argudo Oscar , Galin Eric
Published: January 2024

The creation of truly believable simulated natural environments remains an unsolved problem in Computer Graphics. This is, in part, due to a lack of visual variety. In nature, apart from variation due to abiotic and biotic growth factors, a significant role is played by disturbance events, such as fires, windstorms, disease, and death and decay processes, which give rise to both standing dead trees (snags) and downed woody debris (logs). For instance, snags constitute on average 10% of unmanaged forests by basal area, and logs account for 2

\(\frac{1}{2}\)

times this quantity.

While previous systems have incorporated individual elements of disturbance (e.g., forest fires) and decay (e.g., the formation of humus), there has been no unifying treatment, perhaps because of the challenge of matching simulation results with generated geometric models.

In this paper, we present a framework that combines an ecosystem simulation, which explicitly incorporates disturbance events and decay processes, with a model realization process, which balances the uniqueness arising from life history with the need for instancing due to memory constraints. We tested our hypothesis concerning the visual impact of disturbance and decay with a two-alternative forced-choice experiment (
n
= 116). Our findings are that the presence of dead wood in various forms, as snags or logs, significantly improves the believability of natural scenes, while, surprisingly, general variation in the number of model instances, with up to 8 models per species, and a focus on disturbance events, does not.
Generating Seed Mappings for Machine Learning-Based Code-to-Architecture Mappers Using InMap
Authors: Sinkala Zipani Tom , Herold Sebastian
Published: January 2024

Software architecture consistency checking (SACC) is a popular method to detect architecture degradation. Most SACC techniques require software engineers to manually map a subset of entities of a system's implementation onto elements of its intended software architecture. Manually creating such a "seed mapping" for complex systems is a time-consuming activity.

The objective of this paper is to investigate if creating seed mappings semi-automatically based on mapping recommendations for training automatic, machine learning-based mappers can reduce the effort for this task.

To this end, we applied InMap, a highly accurate, interactive code-to-architecture mapping approach, to create seed mappings for five opensource systems with known architectures and mappings. Three different machine learning-based mappers were trained with these seed mappings and analysed regarding their predictive performance. We then compared the manual effort involved in using the combination of InMap and the most accurate automatic mapper and the manual effort of mapping the systems solely with InMap.

The results suggest that InMap, with a minor adaption, can be used to seed an accurate mapper at a size of 20--25% based on Naive Bayes. A full mapping with only InMap though turns out to involve slightly less manual effort on average; this is, however, not consistent across all systems. These results give evidence that more advanced ways of combining automatic mappers with InMap may further reduce that effort.
Report on the 3rd Workshop on the Perspectives on the Evaluation of Recommender Systems (PERSPECTIVES 2023) at RecSys 2023
Authors: Said Alan , Zangerle Eva , Bauer Christine
Published: January 2024

Evaluation is a central step when developing, optimizing, and deploying recommender systems. The PERSPECTIVES 2023 workshop, held as part of the 17th ACM Conference on Recommender Systems (RecSys 2023), served as a forum where researchers from both academia and industry critically reflected on the evaluation of recommender systems. The goal of the PERSPECTIVES workshop series is to capture the current state of evaluation from different perspectives and discuss the different targets that recommender systems evaluation should strive for. In the third edition of the workshop, we discussed problems and lessons learned, and aimed to move the discourse forward within the community.

Date
: 19 September 2023.

Website
: https://perspectives-ws.github.io/2023/.
Knowledge-based Visual Question Answering about Named Entities
Authors: Lerner Paul
Published: January 2024

This thesis is positioned at the intersection of several research fields, Natural Language Processing, Information Retrieval (IR) and Computer Vision, which have unified around representation learning and pre-training methods. We have defined and studied a new multimodal task: Knowledge-based Visual Question Answering about Named Entities (KVQAE). We were particularly interested in cross-modal interactions and different ways of representing named entities. We also focused on data used to train and, more importantly, evaluate Question Answering systems through different metrics. We annotated a dataset for this purpose, the first in KVQAE comprising various types of entities. We also defined an experimental framework for dealing with KVQAE in two stages through an unstructured knowledge base and identified IR as the main bottleneck of KVQAE, especially for questions about non-person entities. To improve the IR stage, we studied different multimodal fusion methods, which are pre-trained through an original task: the Multimodal Inverse Cloze Task. We found that these models leveraged a cross-modal interaction that we had not originally considered, and which may address the heterogeneity of visual representations of named entities. These results were strengthened by a study of the CLIP model, which allows this cross-modal interaction to be modeled directly.

Awarded by
: Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay, France on 8 November 2023.

Supervised by
: Olivier Ferret and Camille Guinaudeau.

Available at
: https://www.theses.fr/s247993.
Chronic Isolated Fallopian Tube Torsion in a Sexually Inactive Adolescent Female Diagnosed Peroperatively
Authors: Hirahara Yuhya , Nagai Koichi , Mukaida Kazunori
Published: January 2024

Introduction. Isolated fallopian tube torsion (IFTT) has rarely been confirmed in sexually inactive adolescents, and preoperative diagnosis of IFTT is difficult because of the absence of specific symptoms. Therefore, pediatric patients with IFTT tend to be misdiagnosed before the surgery. Case. A 15‐year‐old female patient with no history of abdominal surgery or sexual intercourse presented with acute left lower abdominal pain and purpura. MRI revealed hydrosalpinx in the left adnexal region. Her abdominal pain had completely resolved at our examination; she was followed up as an outpatient. One month after the initial presentation, she experienced a large volume of watery discharge. Magnetic resonance imaging, which was performed every three months, showed a gradual decrease in the size of the hydrosalpinx; however, it persisted in the left adnexal region. She was counseled to receive laparoscopy to treat the hydrosalpinx, which was the most likely cause of the watery discharge. IFTT was detected during the laparoscopy, and left salpingectomy was performed for pathological evaluation of the persistent hydrosalpinx. Following laparoscopy, the patient’s watery discharge was resolved. Pathological findings confirmed no signs of malignancy. Conclusion. Our current report highlighted watery discharge as an indicative symptom of IFTT. It is unclear whether IFTT induced the hydrosalpinx or vice versa. We presumed that the patient’s hydrosalpinx occurred due to IFTT, because the patient complained watery discharge one month after the initial appearance, and noncongenital hydrosalpinx in adolescents, especially without a history of sexual intercourse, is a rare event. Clinicians should consider IFTT in patients presenting with unremitting watery discharge and hydrosalpinx, because IFTT may persist even after the pain disappears.
Analysis of Vibration Transmission Path in Packaging System and Design of Teaching Experiment
Authors: Gong Meilin , Lin Cong
Published: January 2024

It is essential for realizing the most suitable product buffer packaging design to quantify the vibration transmission characteristics of the product packaging system. The experiment system for the vibration transmission path of protective packaging is designed in this paper. The practical system is used to analyze the vibration transfer path of the product packaging system and identify the critical transfer path. The concepts of the cushions’ contribution rate and the cushions’ weighted contribution rate are introduced. The product cushioning based on the weighted equal contribution rate of the cushions is proposed. It has been verified by experiments that the system can accurately identify the transfer path with the weighted contribution rate of the cushions as a reference for the design of product buffer packaging, which improves the utilization rate of buffer packaging materials and reduces the cost of packaging materials. The weighted equal contribution rates of buffer pads 1, 2, 3, and 4 are 40%, 27%, 22%, and 11%, respectively. For the needs of experiment teaching, the teaching content based on the protective packaging transfer path testing system is designed, which provides a reference for the practical education of the packaging specialty.
Research on Grid‐Connected Optimal Operation Mode between Renewable Energy Cluster and Shared Energy Storage on Power Supply Side
Authors: Liu Xiaoou
Published: January 2024

The renewable energy cluster can reduce the total power deviation of renewable energy stations and also bring cooperative benefits to renewable energy stations. Shared energy storage can assist in tracking the power generation plan of renewable energy and has advantages in the scale of investment, utilization rate, and other aspects. Therefore, this article proposes a study on the grid‐connected optimal operation mode between renewable energy cluster and shared energy storage on the power supply side. Firstly, for the complementary characteristics blurring each member’s contribution to the cluster power deviation, an improved Shapley value method is used to build a rational mechanism for apportioning the cluster power deviation penalty. Secondly, based on the Nash negotiation model and allocation mechanism, the revenue model of the renewable energy cluster is constructed, and an improved particle swarm optimization algorithm is proposed to solve the cluster operation strategy. Then, based on the charge and discharge demand of renewable energy cluster, with the goal of maximizing the benefits of shared energy storage, capacity pricing is optimized, as well as capacity allocation and participation in the frequency control auxiliary service market. Finally, the solving process of grid‐connected optimal operation mode is proposed, and the rationality of the grid‐connected optimal operation strategy between renewable energy cluster and shared energy storage is verified by example analysis. The results indicate that renewable energy cluster and shared energy storage can effectively increase both benefits, and a win‐win situation for all parties can be realized. On the one hand, the cooperation mode and allocation mechanism can effectively guarantee the benefit of each renewable energy station. On the other hand, shared energy storage is beneficial for assisting in tracking the power generation plan of renewable energy and reducing the renewable energy power curtailment situation. There also has residual capacity in the shared energy storage system; it can participate in the frequency control ancillary service market, which can improve the capacity utilization rate and benefit of shared energy storage.