bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Moyamoya vasculopathy in a young Caucasian woman with significant methamphetamine use
Authors: Lin Tiffany , Yam Charmaine , Lai Su-Ling , Cloud Geoffrey
Published: June 2020

Background

Moyamoya is a rare cerebrovascular disorder seen predominantly in Asian populations. Methamphetamine use is a recognised cause of stroke in young people, but its pathophysiology is not fully understood. The incidence of moyamoya vasculopathy in methamphetamine-associated stroke is unknown due to a lack of sufficient data. We present a rare case of moyamoya syndrome in a young Caucasian woman with methamphetamine-associated stroke.

Case

A 31-year-old Caucasian woman presented with progressive right arm weakness, speech disturbance and seizures on a background of escalating methamphetamine use in the 9 months prior to admission. She did not have a personal or family history of stroke. MRI revealed both embolic and watershed infarcts in bilateral frontal regions and CT angiography showed development of new lenticulostriate collateral vessels. Digital subtraction angiography confirmed steno-occlusive disease of the bilateral anterior circulations and a ‘puff of smoke’ appearance.

Conclusion

In young patients who present with stroke with unclear aetiology, it is important to obtain a thorough substance use history. Moyamoya vasculopathy should be considered when evaluating the pathophysiology of stroke in young people.
Ranking microbiome variance in inflammatory bowel disease: a large longitudinal
intercontinental study
Authors: Clooney Adam G , Eckenberger Julia , Laserna-Mendieta Emilio , Sexton Kathryn A , Bernstein Matthew T , Vagianos Kathy , Sargent Michael , Ryan Feargal J , Moran Carthage , Sheehan Donal , Sleator Roy D , Targownik Laura E , Bernstein Charles N , Shanahan Fergus , Claesson Marcus J
Published: June 2020

Objective

The microbiome contributes to the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease
(IBD) but the relative contribution of different lifestyle and environmental factors
to the compositional variability of the gut microbiota is unclear.

Design

Here, we rank the size effect of disease activity, medications, diet and
geographic location of the faecal microbiota composition (16S rRNA gene sequencing) in
patients with Crohn’s disease (CD; n=303), ulcerative colitis (UC; n = 228) and
controls (n=161), followed longitudinally (at three time points with 16 weeks
intervals).

Results

Reduced microbiota diversity but increased variability was confirmed in CD and
UC compared with controls. Significant compositional differences between diseases,
particularly CD, and controls were evident. Longitudinal analyses revealed reduced
temporal microbiota stability in IBD, particularly in patients with changes in disease
activity. Machine learning separated disease from controls, and active from inactive
disease, when consecutive time points were modelled. Geographic location accounted for
most of the microbiota variance, second to the presence or absence of CD, followed by
history of surgical resection, alcohol consumption and UC diagnosis, medications and
diet with most (90.3%) of the compositional variance stochastic or
unexplained.

Conclusion

The popular concept of precision medicine and rational design of any therapeutic
manipulation of the microbiota will have to contend not only with the heterogeneity of
the host response, but also with widely differing lifestyles and with much variance
still unaccounted for.
Stromal LAG-3+cells infiltration defines poor prognosis subtype muscle-invasive bladder cancer with immunoevasive contexture
Authors: Zeng Han , Zhou Quan , Wang Zewei , Zhang Hongyu , Liu Zhaopei , Huang Qiuren , Wang Jiajun , Chang Yuan , Bai Qi , Xia Yu , Wang Yiwei , Xu Le , Dai Bo , Guo Jianming , Liu Li , Zhu Yu , Xu Jiejie
Published: June 2020

Background

Lymphocyte activation gene 3 (LAG-3) is a promising immune checkpoint therapeutic target being evaluated in clinical trials. We assessed the LAG-3+cells distribution, its association with clinical outcomes and immune contexture and its role in the landscape of muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) treatment.

Methods

141 patients with MIBC from Zhongshan Hospital were included for survival and adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT) benefit analyses. 32 fresh resected samples of MIBC were collected to detect CD8+T cells functional state. The molecular classification analyses were based on 391 patients with MIBC from The Cancer Genome Atlas. Immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry were performed to characterize various immune cells infiltration.

Results

In Kaplan-Meier analyses and Cox regression models, stromal LAG-3+cells enrichment was consistently associated with inferior overall survival and disease-free survival, and indicated suboptimal responsiveness to ACT. Patents with high stromal LAG-3+cells possessed increased protumor cells, immunosuppressive cytokines and immune checkpoint expression. The phenotypic analyses of CD8+T cells correlated its dysfunctional state with LAG-3+cells. Besides, LAG-3 mRNA level was linked to luminal and basal subtypes of MIBC. LAG-3-high tumors exhibited limited FGFR3 mutation and signaling signature, and displayed activated immunotherapeutic and EGFR-associated pathway.

Conclusions

Stromal LAG-3+cells abundance indicated an immunoevasive contexture with dysfunctional CD8+T cells, and represented an independent predictor for adverse survival outcome and ACT resistance in MIBC. LAG-3 expression could potentially be a novel biomarker for FGFR3-targeted and EGFR-targeted therapies and immunotherapy. The crucial role of LAG-3+cells in the therapeutic landscape of MIBC needs further validation retrospectively and prospectively.
Ultrasonographic needle tip tracking for in-plane infraclavicular brachialis plexus blocks: a randomized controlled volunteer study
Authors: Kåsine Trine , Romundstad Luis , Rosseland L A , Fagerland Morten Wang , Kessler Paul , Omenås Ivar Nagelgaard , Holmberg Anne , Sauter Axel R
Published: June 2020

Background

Onvision is a new technology for needle tip detection and tracking in ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia. The system consists of a piezoelectric sensor close to the needle tip and an electronic console integrated in the ultrasound system. The needle tip is visualized by a green circle on the ultrasound screen. The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of the new needle tip tracking technology on in-plane infraclavicular plexus blocks.

Methods

The study was a randomized, controlled, observer blinded cross-over trial in 26 healthy volunteers. Two specialists in anesthesiology performed an ultrasound-guided infraclavicular lateral sagittal brachial plexus block with and without needle tip tracking. Primary outcome was procedure time, measured from insertion of the needle until local anesthesia injection was completed. Secondary outcome measures included the number of hand movements and path lengths (assessed by hand motion analysis), block success rate, onset time and duration, discomfort experienced by the volunteers, and the anesthesiologists’ confidence as to whether their block would be successful or not.

Results

Mean (SD) procedure time was 183.0 (56.1) s with and 206.8 (56.2) s without needle tip tracking (p=0.16). There were no significant differences in any of the secondary outcomes. Two volunteers’ experienced Horner syndrome after blocks without needle tip tracking. No other adverse events occurred during the study.

Conclusion

Our study on needle tip tracking for infraclavicular blocks did not reveal any significant differences between active needle tip tracking and the control procedures, neither for primary outcome nor secondary outcome measurements.

Trial registration number

NCT03631914
Species-specific responses to targeted fertilizer application on reconstructed soils in a reclaimed upland area
Authors: Stack Shauna , Yarmuch Marty , Landhäusser Simon M.
Published: June 2020

Forested reclamation of oil sand mines in northern Alberta often use peat salvaged from lowland organic soils as a coversoil during soil reconstruction of man-made landforms. Previous studies suggest that planted tree seedlings may be limited in part by low phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) availability in peat. Fertilization is commonly used to treat nutrient limitations on reclamation sites; however, broad spectrum applications can induce strong competition from colonizing vegetation. This study explores the ability of a targeted application of individual macronutrients to (1) reduce nutrient deficiencies in peat coversoils and improve tree growth, while (2) minimizing the colonizing competition. Liquid fertilizer was applied to 6-yr-old aspen, pine, and spruce trees in the field using five nutrient combinations: control (no fertilizer), NPK, PK, P, and K. Tree growth, foliar nutrient concentrations, vegetation cover, and environmental parameters were monitored over two growing seasons. Aspen responded the strongest to fertilization, particularly in the P treatment, whereas pine and spruce marginally responded to NPK. Competing vegetation increased in the NPK but did not respond to the P and K treatments, indicating targeted fertilization can reduce colonizing competition. Additional analyses of the soil conditions of the site suggest that other factors were potentially more limiting to the trees during the study. Targeted fertilization of forest reclamation sites at a later stand age can be an option to improve efficacy and cost savings; however, response will also depend on other site (e.g., soil pH, precipitation, and soil water content) and management (e.g., fertilizer application rate) factors.
Erratum to: High-derivatives and massive electromagnetic models in the Lemaître–Tolman–Bondi spacetime
Authors: Fernandes Rafael L. , Abreu Everton M. C. , Ribeiro Marcelo B.
Published: June 2020

The original version of this article contained some mistakes which were not corrected during the proof process, i.a. stylistic and spelling errors.
Geodesic motion around a supersymmetric $$\hbox {AdS}_5$$ black hole
Authors: Drawer Jens-Christian , Grunau Saskia
Published: June 2020

In this article the geodesic motion of test particles in the spacetime of a supersymmetric $$\hbox {AdS}_5$$AdS5 black hole is studied. The equations of motion are derived and solved in terms of the Weierstrass $$\wp $$℘, $$\sigma $$σ, and $$\zeta $$ζ functions. Effective potentials and parametric diagrams are used to analyze and characterize timelike, lightlike, and spacelike particle motion and a list of possible orbit types is given. Furthermore, various plots of orbits are presented.
An improved mathematical prediction of the time evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic in Italy, with a Monte Carlo simulation and error analyses
Authors: Ciufolini Ignazio , Paolozzi Antonio
Published: June 2020

We present an improved mathematical analysis of the time evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic in Italy and a statistical error analyses of its evolution, including a Monte Carlo simulation with a very large number of runs to evaluate the uncertainties in its evolution. A previous analysis was based on the assumption that the number of nasopharyngeal swabs would be constant. However, the number of daily swabs is now more than five times what it was when we did our previous analysis. Therefore, here we consider the time evolution of the ratio of the new daily cases to number of swabs, which is more representative of the evolution of the pandemic when the number of swabs is increasing or changing in time. We consider a number of possible distributions representing the evolution of the pandemic in Italy, and we test their prediction capability over a period of up to 6 weeks. The results show that a distribution of the type of Planck black body radiation law provides very good forecasting. The use of different distributions provides an independent possible estimate of the uncertainty. We then consider five possible trajectories for the number of daily swabs and we estimate the potential dates of a substantial reduction in the number of new daily cases. We then estimate the spread in a substantial reduction, below a certain threshold, of the daily cases per swab among the Italian regions. We finally perform a Monte Carlo simulation with 25,000 runs to evaluate a random uncertainty in the prediction of the date of a substantial reduction in the number of diagnosed daily cases per swab.
THE IMPACT OF THE BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE ON FIRMS’ EMPLOYMENT STRUCTURE AND WAGE — EVIDENCE FROM CHINA’S PUBLIC LISTED FIRMS
Authors: CHEN BO , CHEN YUE
Published: June 2020

In this paper, we use the Belt and Road Initiative (B&R) as a semi-natural experiment and apply a difference-in-difference analysis together with the propensity score matching approach to estimate the impact of the B&R on China’s A-Share listed firms with outbound FDI to the B&R countries during 2011–2017. We find that China’s firms investing in B&R countries, compared to those investing elsewhere in the world, tend to reduce their total employment, increase the share of skilled labor, and increase wages. Various tests show that the key results of B&R impacts remain robust. We also find that the adjustment after investing in B&R countries is mainly found in non-SOEs, the firms in key provinces that enjoy pilot B&R policies. Both vertical and horizontal FDI firms are found to significantly adjust their employment, skill structure, and wage payment, with the former as more responsive.
Violation of the Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics in a spin chain
Authors: Li Zhi-Xia , Yao Yu-Chen , Zhang Sheng , Hou Ji-Xuan
Published: June 2020

A long-range interacting spin chain can exhibit temperature jump at the transition energy under the microcanonical description. After two identical long-range interacting subsystems of the same size at the same temperatures are weakly coupled, they exchange energy and the total microcanonical entropy of the full system increases irreversibly, leading to a violation of the Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics. In addition, microcanonical Monte Carlo simulations are performed to verify our conclusion.
Implications of Government Borrowing for Corporate Financing in Emerging Economies: A Crowding Out Kuznets Curve
Authors: Nasir Muhammad Ali , Huynh Toan Luu Duc , Do Quynh Thi Nhu , Nguyen Cuc Thi , Tran Quynh Thi
Published: June 2020

This paper investigates the implications of government borrowing for corporate financing and capital structure of the firms. In doing so, we explore the effects of government debt, macroeconomic and firm-specific factors on firm’s choice of financing and capital structure. We draw on the 10-year data (2007–2017) of 225 non-financial firms listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) and employ the system Generalized Method of Moments (system-GMM) for estimation. Our key findings suggest that the government borrowing and debt financing for the Vietnamese listed companies have a negative relationship. Specifically, the short-term corporate leverage structure is influenced more strongly than the long-term leverage structure. We also define the threshold for the association between government borrowing and corporate financing decisions by capturing a U-shaped relationship i.e., Crowding out Kuznets Curve (CKC). Furthermore, macroeconomic factors also show a statistically significant impact on corporate financing decisions. Our findings have profound implications for the fiscal and public policymakers, investors as well as corporate finance managers and firms.
Nichols algebras over classical Weyl groups
Authors: Tan Zhengtang , Wu Weicai , Zhang Shouchuan
Published: June 2020

We show that except in several cases conjugacy classes of classical Weyl groups [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] are of type [Formula: see text]. We prove that except in three cases Nichols algebras of irreducible Yetter–Drinfeld (YD) modules over the classical Weyl groups are infinite dimensional.
Annihilator graphs of MV-algebras
Authors: Gan Aiping , Yang Yichuan
Published: June 2020

In this paper, we introduce the annihilator graph [Formula: see text] of an MV-algebra [Formula: see text]. We show that [Formula: see text] contains the zero-divisor graph [Formula: see text] as a spanning subgraph. We then prove that [Formula: see text] if and only if [Formula: see text]. Moreover, we obtain that the girth [Formula: see text].
Changes in structure and flexibility of p53 TAD2 upon binding to p300 Taz2
Authors: Li Tongtong , Stevens Amy O. , Gil Pineda Laura I. , Song Shenghan , Ameyaw Baah Christabel A. , He Yi
Published: June 2020

p53 is a transcription factor with intrinsically disordered regions that plays an essential role in many cellular processes. As a tumor suppressor, the dysfunction of p53 causes various cancers. p53 can be activated by binding with cofactors in the cell due to stresses or DNA damages. The N-terminal transactivation domain (TAD) of p53 can regulate cell apoptosis by interacting with its binding partners, such as the transcriptional adaptor zinc-binding 2 (Taz2) domain of p300, and cofactors, i.e. cyclic-AMP response element-binding protein (CREB)-binding protein (CBP). The experimentally solved structure of p300 Taz2 and p53 TAD2 has provided insights into the interactions that potentially lead to the structural changes of p53 TAD2 and stabilize the complex. To explore the structural changes as well as the residues that lead to such changes from an isolated state to a bound state in p53 TAD2, we used all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) to simulate two different systems: (1) the p300 Taz2–p53 TAD2 complex and (2) isolated p53 TAD2 (residues 35–59). Although still largely unstructured, residues across the p53 TAD2 contribute significantly to stabilizing the binding between p300 Taz2 and p53 TAD2. Our results suggest that the binding affinity of the p300 Taz2–p53 TAD2 complex originates from hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions. The results are in agreement with previous reports and experimental data. By comparing the two simulated systems, our results not only demonstrate the structural changes of p53 TAD2 after binding with Taz2 but also identify the key residues leading to such changes. We also identify the critical residues that can provide insight into the interaction network between p300 Taz2 and p53 TAD2.
Multi-Objective Optimization of Hybrid Aluminum–Composite Tube Under Axial Crushing
Authors: Emadi M. , Beheshti H. , Heidari-Rarani M.
Published: June 2020

Since lightweight and energy-absorbing materials have an effective role in occupant safety during accidents, the use of hybrid aluminum–composite tubes and their optimum designs are of great importance in the crashworthiness. In this study, finite element simulation and multi-objective optimization of a hybrid aluminum–composite tube are performed under axial crushing to investigate the effect of metal volume fraction (MVF) on the objective functions, the specific energy absorption and the peak force. Besides, the effects of annealing and tempering of ductile aluminum alloys (Al-6061) as the base metal of hybrid tubes are investigated. The optimum values of the objective functions are obtained at [Formula: see text] (the same thickness of aluminum and composite). Also, annealing of ductile aluminum alloys has a negative effect on the objective functions. As a guideline for the design of fiber metal laminates under crushing, it is suggested to use tempered Al-6061 and increase the thickness of composite material so that [Formula: see text].
Comparison of fluorine sources on the electrochemical property of Li1.2Ni0.2Mn0.6O2 cathode materials
Authors: Zhou Yu , Liu Dongming , Su Mingru , Dou Aichun , Liu Yunjian
Published: June 2020

Li-rich nickel manganese oxide materials are promising cathode materials for their high theoretical capacity and cobalt-free property. However, the poor cycle and rate performance still hamper their commercial application. In this study, fluorine-doped Li1.2Ni0.2Mn0.6O2 (LNMO) materials have been prepared successfully with different fluorine sources. XRD results verified that the (003) and (104) peaks of F-doped samples slightly shift to the lower diffraction angle than bare LNMO, and the large lithium slab distance of F-doped samples is beneficial for the transport and diffusion of Li+. The sample with PVDF as fluorine sources exhibits the best electrochemical performance than other F-doped LNMO samples. Specifically, this sample exhibits a high discharge capacity of 213.5[Formula: see text]mAh g−1 at 0.2 C (2.0–4.8 V), corresponding to a capacity retention of 88.7% after 100 cycles. The excellent electrochemical performance is due to the substitution of fluorine for oxygen sites with the host lattice, which can significantly enhance the Li+ migration and stabilize the layer structure of LNMO during the cycle process. These results demonstrated that PVDF was the best fluorine source to facilitate the electrochemical property of LNMO.
BANK EARNINGS MANAGEMENT AND DIVIDEND POLICY UNDER AGENCY PROBLEM CONTEXTS
Authors: TRAN DUNG VIET
Published: June 2020

Using a large sample of U.S. bank holding companies (BHC) from 2000:Q1–2017:Q4, we investigate the impacts of dividend policy to bank earnings management, and document that banks that pay dividends tend to be less opaque than banks that do not pay dividends. The dividend policy not only impacts the conditional average earnings management of banks, but also exerts influence on their dispersion. The impact of dividend policy appears to be more profound for highly opaque banks. We identify different conditions that motivate different discretionary behaviors of banks, which allows us to better observe different managerial motives between dividend-paying and dividend-non-paying banks. Under high information asymmetry context, there is valuably additional information conveyed by paying dividends, and it follows that the role of dividends as a means of conveying information is more pronounced. For banks subject to high agency problems, paying dividends make them to be less opaque through reducing the discretionary behaviors.
Inverse Procedural Modeling of Branching Structures by Inferring L-Systems
Authors: Guo Jianwei , Jiang Haiyong , Benes Bedrich , Deussen Oliver , Zhang Xiaopeng , Lischinski Dani , Huang Hui
Published: June 2020

We introduce an inverse procedural modeling approach that learns L-system representations of pixel images with branching structures. Our fully automatic model generates a compact set of textual rewriting rules that describe the input. We use deep learning to discover atomic structures such as line segments or branchings. Orientation and scaling of these structures are determined and the detected structures are combined into a tree. The initial representation is analyzed, and repeating parts are encoded into a small grammar by using greedy optimization while the user can control the size of the detected rules. The output is an L-system that represents the input image as a simple text and a set of terminal symbols. We apply our approach to a variety of examples, demonstrate its robustness against noise and blur, and we show that it can detect user sketches and complex input structures.
FingerTrak
Authors: Hu Fang , He Peng , Xu Songlin , Li Yin , Zhang Cheng
Published: June 2020

In this paper, we present FingerTrak, a minimal-obtrusive wristband that enables continuous 3D finger tracking and hand pose estimation with four miniature thermal cameras mounted closely on a form-fitting wristband. FingerTrak explores the feasibility of continuously reconstructing the entire hand postures (20 finger joints positions) without the needs of seeing all fingers. We demonstrate that our system is able to estimate the entire hand posture by observing only the outline of the hand, i.e., hand silhouettes from the wrist using low-resolution (32 x 24) thermal cameras. A customized deep neural network is developed to learn to "stitch" these multi-view images and estimate 20 joints positions in 3D space. Our user study with 11 participants shows that the system can achieve an average angular error of 6.46° when tested under the same background, and 8.06° when tested under a different background. FingerTrak also shows encouraging results with the re-mounting of the device and has the potential to reconstruct some of the complicated poses. We conclude this paper with further discussions of the opportunities and challenges of this technology.
Detection of Artifacts in Ambulatory Electrodermal Activity Data
Authors: Gashi Shkurta , Di Lascio Elena , Stancu Bianca , Swain Vedant Das , Mishra Varun , Gjoreski Martin , Santini Silvia
Published: June 2020

Recent wearable devices enable continuous and unobtrusive monitoring of human's physiological parameters, like e.g., electrodermal activity and heart rate, over long periods of time in everyday life settings. Continuous monitoring of these parameters enables the creation of systems able to predict affective states and stress with the goal of providing feedback to improve them. Deployment of such systems in everyday life settings is still complex and prone to errors due to the low quality of the collected data impacted by the presence of artifacts. In this paper we present an automatic approach to detect artifacts in electrodermal activity (EDA) signals collected in-the-wild over long periods of time. To this end we first perform a systematic literature review and compile a set of guidelines for human annotators to label artifacts manually and we use these labels as ground-truth to test our automatic approach. To evaluate our approach, we collect physiological data from 13 participants in-the-wild and two human annotators label 107.56 hours of this data set. We make the data set publicly available to other researchers upon request. Our model achieves a recall of 98% for clean and shape artifacts classification on data collected in-the-wild using leave-one-subject-out cross-validation, which is 42 percentage points higher than the baseline. We show that state of the art approaches do not generalize well when tested with completely in-the-wild data and identify only 17% of the artifacts present in our data set, even after manual adaption. We further test the robustness of our approach over time using leave-one-day-out and achieve very similar performance. We then introduce a new metric to evaluate the quality of EDA segments that considers the impact of not only artifacts in the shape of EDA but also artifacts generated by environmental temperature changes or user's high intensity movement. Our results imply that we can eliminate the need for human annotators or significantly reduce the time they need to label data. Also, our approach can be used in an online manner to automatically detect artifacts in EDA signals.
Adversarial Multi-view Networks for Activity Recognition
Authors: Bai Lei , Yao Lina , Wang Xianzhi , Kanhere Salil S. , Guo Bin , Yu Zhiwen
Published: June 2020

Human activity recognition (HAR) plays an irreplaceable role in various applications and has been a prosperous research topic for years. Recent studies show significant progress in feature extraction (i.e., data representation) using deep learning techniques. However, they face significant challenges in capturing multi-modal spatial-temporal patterns from the sensory data, and they commonly overlook the variants between subjects. We propose a Discriminative Adversarial MUlti-view Network (DAMUN) to address the above issues in sensor-based HAR. We first design a multi-view feature extractor to obtain representations of sensory data streams from temporal, spatial, and spatio-temporal views using convolutional networks. Then, we fuse the multi-view representations into a robust joint representation through a trainable Hadamard fusion module, and finally employ a Siamese adversarial network architecture to decrease the variants between the representations of different subjects. We have conducted extensive experiments under an iterative left-one-subject-out setting on three real-world datasets and demonstrated both the effectiveness and robustness of our approach.
(M)ad to See Me?
Authors: Nguyen Ngoc Thi , Zuniga Agustin , Lee Hyowon , Hui Pan , Flores Huber , Nurmi Petteri
Published: June 2020

Advertising is an unavoidable albeit a frustrating part of mobile interactions. Due to limited form factor, mobile advertisements often resort to intrusive strategies where they temporarily block the user's view in an attempt to increase effectiveness by forcing the user's attention. While such strategies contribute to advertising awareness and effectiveness, they do so at the cost of degrading the user's overall experience and can lead to frustration and annoyance. In this paper, we contribute by developing Perceptive Ads as an intelligent advertisement placement strategy that minimizes disruptions caused by ads while preserving their effectiveness. Our work is the first to simultaneously consider the needs of users, app developers, and advertisers. Ensuring the needs of all stakeholders are taken into account is essential for the adoption of advertising strategies as users (and indirectly developers) would reject strategies that are disruptive but effective, while advertisers would reject strategies that are non-disruptive but inefficient. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our technique through a user study with N = 16 participants and two representative examples of mobile apps that commonly integrate advertisements: a game and a news app. Results from the study demonstrate that our approach improves perception towards advertisements by 43.75% without affecting application interactivity while at the same time increasing advertisement effectiveness by 37.5% compared to a state-of-the-art baseline.
Rataplan
Authors: Veuskens Tom , Luyten Kris , Ramakers Raf
Published: June 2020

We present Rataplan, a robust and resilient pixel-based approach for linking multi-modal proxies to automated sequences of actions in graphical user interfaces (GUIs). With Rataplan, users demonstrate a sequence of actions and answer human-readable follow-up questions to clarify their desire for automation. After demonstrating a sequence, the user can link a proxy input control to the action which can then be used as a shortcut for automating a sequence. Alternatively, output proxies use a notification model in which content is pushed when it becomes available. As an example use case, Rataplan uses keyboard shortcuts and tangible user interfaces (TUIs) as input proxies, and TUIs as output proxies. Instead of relying on available APIs, Rataplan automates GUIs using pixel-based reverse engineering. This ensures our approach can be used with all applications that offer a GUI, including web applications. We implemented a set of important strategies to support robust automation of modern interfaces that have a flat and minimal style, have frequent data and state changes, and have dynamic viewports.
Learning to Recognize Handwriting Input with Acoustic Features
Authors: Yin Huanpu , Zhou Anfu , Su Guangyuan , Chen Bo , Liu Liang , Ma Huadong
Published: June 2020

For mobile or wearable devices with a small touchscreen, handwriting input (instead of typing on the touchscreen) is highly desirable for efficient human-computer interaction. Previous passive acoustic-based handwriting solutions mainly focus on print-style capital input, which is inconsistent with people's daily habits and thus causes inconvenience. In this paper, we propose WritingRecorder, a novel universal text entry system that enables free-style lowercase handwriting recognition. WritingRecorder leverages the built-in microphone of the smartphones to record the handwritten sound, and then designs an adaptive segmentation method to detect letter fragments in real-time from the recorded sound. Then we design a neural network named Inception-LSTM to extract the hidden and unique acoustic pattern associated with the writing trajectory of each letter and thus classify each letter. Moreover, we adopt a word selection method based on language model, so as to recognize legislate words from all possible letter combinations. We implement WritingRecorder as an APP on mobile phones and conduct the extensive experimental evaluation. The results demonstrate that WritingRecorder works in real-time and can achieve 93.2% accuracy even for new users without collecting and training on their handwriting samples, under a series of practical scenarios.
Net release and uptake of xenometabolites across intestinal, hepatic, muscle, and renal tissue beds in healthy conscious pigs
Authors: Mercer Kelly E. , Ten Have Gabriella A. M. , Pack Lindsay , Lan Renny , Deutz Nicolaas E. P. , Adams Sean H. , Piccolo Brian D.
Published: June 2020

Xenometabolites from microbe origins influence host health and disease, but absorption and tissue uptake of these metabolites remain speculative. Results herein are the first to demonstrate in vivo organ uptake and release of these metabolites. We used a conscious catheterized pig model to confirm gastrointestinal origins for several xenometabolites (e.g., indolic compounds, 4-hydroxyphenyllactic acid, dodecanendioic acid, and phenylacetylgycine). Liver and kidney were major sites for xenometabolite uptake, likely highlighting liver conjugation metabolism and renal excretion.
Chronic unilateral cervical vagotomy reduces renal inflammation, blood pressure, and renal injury in a mouse model of lupus
Authors: Pham G. S. , Shimoura C. G. , Chaudhari S. , Kulp D. V. , Mathis K. W.
Published: June 2020

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is characterized by hypertension that results from chronic renal inflammation and dysautonomia in the form of dampened vagal tone. In health, the vagus nerve regulates inflammatory processes through mechanisms like the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway; so in the case of SLE, reduced efferent vagus nerve activity may indirectly affect renal inflammation and therefore hypertension. In this study, we sought to investigate the impact of disrupting vagal neurotransmission on renal inflammation and hypertension in the setting of chronic inflammatory disease. Female SLE ( NZBWF1) and control ( NZW) mice were subjected to a right unilateral cervical vagotomy or sham surgery and 3 wk later were implanted with indwelling catheters to measure blood pressure. Indices of splenic and renal inflammation, as well as renal injury, were assessed. Unilateral vagotomy blunted SLE-induced increases in mean arterial pressure, albumin excretion rate, and glomerulosclerosis. This protection was associated with reduced splenic T cells and attenuated SLE-induced increases in renal proinflammatory mediators. In summary, these data indicate that unilateral vagotomy reduces renal inflammation and reduces blood pressure in SLE mice. The vagus nerves have myriad functions, and perhaps other neuroimmune interactions compensate for the ligation of one nerve.
lncRNA RP11‐838N2.3 Promoted Cisplatin Resistance in Lung Adenocarcinoma
Authors: Chen Jie , Jiang Feng , Hu Lijuan , Zhang Fan , Wang Junjun , Huang Kate , Wang Yumin
Published: June 2020

The mechanism of RP11‐838N2.3 promoting cisplatin resistance in lung adenocarcinoma (LAD) was unclear. The RP11‐838N2.3 expression level in cells and LAD tissues was detected by qPCR. We constructed lentivirus‐mediated GV303 overexpression and GV248 shRNA vector targeting RP11‐838N2.3, then infected A549 and A549/DDP cell and furtherly analyzed cell biology. High‐throughput gene chip analysis showed that RP11‐838N2.3 was significantly upregulated in A549/DDP (change fold = 66.056595). The qPCR results showed that the expression level of RP11‐838N2.3 in A549/DDP cell was significantly higher than that in A549 cells (P < 0.05), and the expression level of RP11‐838N2.3 in LAD tissues was also significantly higher than that in adjacent tissues (P < 0.05). The expression level of RP11‐838N2.3 in cisplatin‐insensitive LAD tissues was also significantly higher than that in cisplatin‐sensitive LAD tissues (P < 0.05). Survival analysis showed that OS (overall survival) and DFS (progression‐free survival) of high RP11‐838N2.3 expression in the cisplatin‐sensitive or cisplatin‐insensitive LAD group were lower (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001) than those of low RP11‐838N2.3 expression in the cisplatin‐sensitive or cisplatin‐insensitive LAD group. CCK8 showed that the OD450 value of RP11‐838N2.3 overexpression increased significantly at 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h after transfection, while the knockdown of RP11‐838N2.3 caused OD450 value at 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h after transfection significantly reduced, under the action of cisplatin that had the same trend (P < 0.05). The cell migration showed that the RP11‐838N2.3 overexpression increased significantly migration activity and RP11‐838N2.3 knockdown inhibited migration activity at 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h after transfection. The same trend was also observed under the action of cisplatin (P < 0.05). The cell invasion showed that the invasion rate of RP11‐838N2.3 overexpression increased significantly, while the invasion rate of RP11‐838N2.3 knockdown decreased significantly, and the same trend was observed under the action of cisplatin (P < 0.05). Apoptosis results showed that the apoptosis rate of RP11‐838N2.3 overexpressed cells decreased significantly and the apoptosis rate of RP11‐838N2.3 knockdown cells increased significantly, and the same trend was also observed under the action of cisplatin (P < 0.05). However, the results of cell cycle showed that there was no significant difference in the proportion of cells in each phase of the cell cycle after RP11‐838N2.3 overexpression or knockdown (P > 0.05).RP11‐838N2.3 was significantly upregulated in cisplatin‐resistant cell and tissues of LAD. RP11‐838N2.3 could enhance the proliferation, migration, and invasion and inhibit apoptosis of LAD cisplatin‐resistant cell. So RP11‐838N2.3 could enhance the cisplatin resistance of LAD cells and was a resistant lncRNA molecule.
Traffic State Recognition of Intersection Based on Image Model and PCA Hashing
Authors: Zhang Li-li , Wang Li , Zhao Qi
Published: June 2020

The premise of implementing an effective traffic control strategy is the accurate traffic state recognition. In the existing study, traffic state recognition methods were processed by using statistical characteristics and long-term scale detection of field traffic data. Hence, the dynamic characteristics and subtle changes in traffic flow were easy to overlook. At present, more and more advanced traffic detection technology provides reliable and accurate data for measuring and distinguishing the state of urban road traffic, such as the cooperative vehicle-infrastructure system, wide-area radar technology, and 5G technology. This study proposes a novel method called HTSI (High Precision Traffic State Identification Method), which is based on the advanced detection technology in traffic state recognition at the intersection: The raw data used for intersection traffic state recognition is high-precision detection data of tracking characteristics, which make the data look like a picture of the intersection at God’s perspective. To this end, we construct an image model for intersections and implement image feature extraction in a way that is different from traditional image processing. Then, the traffic state recognition problem at the intersection is translated into an image searching problem with tags. The image searching is realized by the hashing algorithm. Finally, the comprehensive experiments prove that the proposed method is more accurate and finer than other methods.
Association between Uric Acid and Bone Mineral Density in Postmenopausal Women with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in China: A Cross-Sectional Inpatient Study
Authors: Zhao Xin , Yu Xiaofeng , Zhang Xiaomei
Published: June 2020

Objective. To analyze the association between uric acid levels and bone mineral density in postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Methods. We retrospectively analyzed 262 postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes mellitus, to assess uric acid levels and bone mineral density using the T score of dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Results. (1) Women in the osteoporosis group demonstrated higher uric acid levels and lower estimated glomerular filtration rate (p<0.05, respectively). (2) Uric acid levels were positively correlated with the hip and lumbar spine bone mineral density and T score (r=0.17, p<0.05; r=0.25, p<0.05; r=0.17, p<0.05; and r=0.28, p<0.05, respectively). Meanwhile, there was a positive relation between estimated glomerular filtration rate and hip bone mineral density (r=0.22, p<0.05). (3) Logistic regression analysis showed that age, body mass index, and diabetic duration are independent risk factors for osteoporosis in postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The level of estimated glomerular filtration rate and uric acid levels were not independent effect factors for osteoporosis in menopausal women. Conclusion. Uric acid levels are neither a protective factor nor a risk factor for osteoporosis in women with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
A Synchronized Hybrid Brain-Computer Interface System for Simultaneous Detection and Classification of Fusion EEG Signals
Authors: Yang Dalin , Nguyen Trung-Hau , Chung Wan-Young
Published: June 2020

Brain-computer interface (BCI) technology represents a fast-growing field of research and applications for disabled and healthy people, which is a direct communication pathway to translate the neural information into an active command. Owing to the complicated headset structure, low accuracies, extended training periods, and nonstationary noises, BCI still has many challenges that should be dealt with for further facilitation of BCI technology use in daily life. In this study, a simplified synchronized hybrid BCI system is proposed for multiple command control by the electroencephalograph (EEG) signals in the motor cortex. This system can detect the single motor imagery (MI) task, single steady-state visually evoked potential (SSVEP) task, and hybrid MI + SSVEP tasks simultaneously (total ten mental tasks) via 2 EEG channels with high accuracy. The fast independent component analysis algorithm is employed to hybrid signals for obtaining clear EEG signals resulting from denoising. Feature extraction is performed by the wavelet transform, which is extracted by the features in the frequency and time domains. Furthermore, a four-layer convolutional neural network (CNN) is used as a classifier to distinguish different mental tasks. Finally, the hybrid MI + SSVEP system with a simple structure achieves a high accuracy of 95.56%. Additionally, the single MI-based and the SSVEP-based BCI system obtain the classification accuracy of 90.16% and 93.21%, respectively. Experimental results indicate that the synchronized hybrid BCI system could achieve multiple command control with a simple structure. In comparison with the single MI-based and the SSVEP-based BCI system, the hybrid MI + SSVEP BCI system shows a stable performance and higher efficiency. The proposed investigation provides a new method for the multiple command control by a hybrid BCI system. Also, the proposed BCI system offers the possibility of friendly utilization for disabled people because of its reliability, ease of use, and simplified headset structure.
Detection of Solitary Pulmonary Nodules Based on Brain-Computer Interface
Authors: Qiu Shi , Li Junjun , Cong Mengdi , Wu Chun , Qin Yan , Liang Ting
Published: June 2020

Solitary pulmonary nodules are the main manifestation of pulmonary lesions. Doctors often make diagnosis by observing the lung CT images. In order to further study the brain response structure and construct a brain-computer interface, we propose an isolated pulmonary nodule detection model based on a brain-computer interface. First, a single channel time-frequency feature extraction model is constructed based on the analysis of EEG data. Second, a multilayer fusion model is proposed to establish the brain-computer interface by connecting the brain electrical signal with a computer. Finally, according to image presentation, a three-frame image presentation method with different window widths and window positions is proposed to effectively detect the solitary pulmonary nodules.
Transcatheter Approach for Critical Pulmonary Stenosis or Pulmonary Atresia with Intact Ventricular Septum in Young Infants Using the Simmons Catheter
Authors: Wang Jian , Sun Jing , Shen Jian , Yang Jianping , Yang Ling , Zhao Pengjun , Chen Sun
Published: June 2020

Objectives and Background. The conventional process of percutaneous balloon pulmonary valvuloplasty for critical pulmonary stenosis (CPS) and pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum (PA/IVS) is challenging because of the difficulty in positioning the catheter stably into the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT), especially in young infants with a hypertrophic right ventricle. In this study, we introduced a novel transcatheter approach with the Simmons catheter to reach the RVOT and compared its efficacy and safety with those of the approaches using a floating catheter and the Judkins right coronary catheter. Methods and Results. We retrospectively reviewed 52 young infants, 41 of whom had CPS and 11 had PA/IVS, in a single center from June 2009 to October 2017. Patients were divided into three groups according to the type of catheter used to enter through the RVOT. The unique structure of the Simmons catheter allowed it to be maneuvered directly into the RVOT within a few minutes. Compared with the other two groups, the Simmons catheter group had a significantly shorter fluoroscopy time entering through the RVOT (P<0.001) and a shorter total X-ray exposure time (P<0.001). Furthermore, compared with the floating catheter group, the success rate of surgery was much higher in the Simmons catheter group (P<0.001). Conclusions. The Simmons catheter is a safe and effective method to enter through the RVOT in infants with CPS or PA/IVS. Therefore, the Simmons catheter could be an alternative catheter when entering through the RVOT in young infants, especially neonates with low birth weight.
Cardiolipin Synthesis in Skeletal Muscle Is Rhythmic and Modifiable by Age and Diet
Authors: Nohara Kazunari , Kim Eunju , Wirianto Marvin , Mileykovskaya Eugenia , Dowhan William , Chen Zheng , Yoo Seung-Hee
Published: June 2020

Circadian clocks regulate metabolic processes in a tissue-specific manner, which deteriorates during aging. Skeletal muscle is the largest metabolic organ in our body, and our previous studies highlight a key role of circadian regulation of skeletal muscle mitochondria in healthy aging. However, a possible circadian regulation of cardiolipin (CL), the signature lipid class in the mitochondrial inner membrane, remains largely unclear. Here, we show that CL levels oscillate during the diurnal cycle in C2C12 myotubes. Disruption of the Ror genes, encoding the ROR nuclear receptors in the secondary loop of the circadian oscillator, in C2C12 cells was found to dampen core circadian gene expression. Importantly, several genes involved in CL synthesis, including Taz and Ptpmt1, displayed rhythmic expression which was disrupted or diminished in Ror-deficient C2C12 cells. In vivo studies using skeletal muscle tissues collected from young and aged mice showed diverse effects of the clock and aging on the oscillatory expression of CL genes, and CL levels in skeletal muscle were enhanced in aged mice relative to young mice. Finally, consistent with a regulatory role of RORs, Nobiletin, a natural agonist of RORs, was found to partially restore transcripts levels of CL synthesis genes in aged muscle under a dietary challenge condition. Together, these observations highlight a rhythmic CL synthesis in skeletal muscle that is dependent on RORs and modifiable by age and diet.