bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Longitudinal Study of Therapeutic Adherence in a Cystic Fibrosis Unit: Identifying Potential Factors Associated with Medication Possession Ratio
Authors: Girón Rosa Mª , Peláez Adrián , Ibáñez Amparo , Martínez-Besteiro Elisa , Gómez-Punter Rosa Mar , Martínez-Vergara Adrián , Ancochea Julio , Morell Alberto
Published: November 2022

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic and multisystemic disease that requires a high therapeutic demand for its control. The aim of this study was to assess therapeutic adherence (TA) to different treatments to study possible clinical consequences and clinical factors influencing adherence. This is an ambispective observational study of 57 patients aged over 18 years with a diagnosis of CF. The assessment of TA was calculated using the Medication Possession Ratio (MPR) index. These data were related to exacerbations and the rate of decline in FEV1 percentage. Compliance was good for all CFTR modulators, azithromycin, aztreonam, and tobramycin in solution for inhalation. The patients with the best compliance were older; they had exacerbations and the greatest deterioration in lung function during this period. The three variables with the highest importance for the compliance of the generated Random Forest (RF) models were age, FEV1%, and use of Ivacaftor/Tezacaftor. This is one of the few studies to assess adherence to CFTR modulators and symptomatic treatment longitudinally. CF patient therapy is expensive, and the assessment of variables with the highest importance for a high MPR, helped by new Machine learning tools, can contribute to defining new efficient TA strategies with higher benefits.
Theoretical Study at the Molecular Mechanics Level of the Interaction of Tetracycline and Chloramphenicol with the Antibiotic Receptors Present in Enterococcus faecalis (Q839F7) and Streptococcus mutans (Q8DS20)
Authors: Figueroa-Banda Rufo , Figueroa-Castellanos Kimberly , Chávez-Oblitas Edith , Guillen-Nuñez María , Ayqui-Cueva Flor , Del-Carpio-M Bruno , Bellido-Vallejo Karen , Gómez Badhin
Published: November 2022

When dental infections occur, various types of antibiotics are used to combat them. The most common antibiotics to be used are tetracycline and chloramphenicol; likewise, the most common bacteria in dental infections are Enterococcus faecalis and Streptococcus mutans. In the present work, we have studied by molecular mechanics methods the interactions of the ribosomal proteins L16 present in Enterococcus faecalis and Streptococcus mutans, identified with UNIPROT code Q839F7 and Q8DS20, respectively. We evaluated the interactions between Q839F7 and Q8DS20 with tetracycline and chloramphenicol antibiotics. We found that the interaction between Enterococcus faecalis (Q839F7) is much more favorable when treated with chloramphenicol. In contrast, the interaction with tetracycline is favored in the case of Q8DS20 present in Streptococcus mutans. This suggests that the treatment should be differentiated depending on the infection level and the presence of some of these bacteria.
Comparative Chemical Analysis of Eight Punica granatum L. Peel Cultivars and Their Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Activities
Authors: Parisi Valentina , Santoro Valentina , Donadio Giuliana , Bellone Maria Laura , Diretto Gianfranco , Sandri Carla , Mensitieri Francesca , De Tommasi Nunziatina , Dal Piaz Fabrizio , Braca Alessandra
Published: November 2022

A comparative quali-quantitative study of the peel extracts of eight Punica granatum cultivars obtained from underexploited areas of South Italy was carried out in order to valorize them as health-promoting by-products. The results showed that all of the samples possessed 45 ellagitannins, consisting mainly of polyhydroxyphenoyls; 10 flavonoids, belonging to flavonol, flavone, and catechin classes; and 2 anthocyanins. The most representative compounds underwent quantification through a LC-MS/MS multiple reaction monitoring (MRM)-based method; their qualitative profile was almost superimposable, while variability in the quantitative phenolic content was observed. The antioxidant activity was investigated using cell-free and cell-based assays. The in vitro anti-inflammatory potential was also studied by monitoring three typical markers of inflammation (IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α). Moderate differences in both activities were observed between the cultivars. Results showed that all of the investigated peels have a potential use as healthy bioactive phytocomplexes due to the interesting antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities; in particular from the bioinformatic approaches a series of compounds, including galloyl-, pedunculagin- and ellagic acid-based, were found to be highly correlated with bioactivity of the extracts. Finally, the bioactivities showed by a Campanian local cultivar, ‘Granato di Aiello del Sabato’, could promote its cultivation by local farmers and germplasm conservation.
Methylglyoxal-Modified Human Serum Albumin Binds to Leukocyte Myeloperoxidase and Inhibits its Enzymatic Activity
Authors: Panasenko Oleg M. , Ivanov Viktor A. , Mikhalchik Elena V. , Gorudko Irina V. , Grigorieva Daria V. , Basyreva Liliya Yu. , Shmeleva Ekaterina V. , Gusev Sergey A. , Kostevich Valeria A. , Gorbunov Nikolay P. , Sokolov Alexey V.
Published: November 2022

Hyperglycemia in diabetes mellitus induces modification of proteins by glucose and its derivative methylglyoxal (MG). Neutrophils perform their bactericidal activity mainly via reactive halogen (RHS) and oxygen (ROS) species generation catalyzed by myeloperoxidase (MPO) stored in neutrophil azurophilic granules (AGs) and membrane NADPH oxidase, respectively. Herein, we study the binding of human serum albumin (HSA) modified with MG (HSA-MG) to MPO and its effects on MPO activity and release by neutrophils. Peroxidase activity of MPO was registered by oxidation of 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt, and chlorinating activity by decolorization of Celestine blue B dye. Binding of HSA-MG to MPO was studied by affinity chromatography, disc-electrophoresis, ligand Western blotting and enzyme-linked solid phase immunoassay using monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to MPO. ROS and RHS generation were detected by lucigenin (Luc) and luminol (Lum) chemiluminescence (CL), respectively. Neutrophil degranulation was assessed by flow cytometry using fluorescent labeled antibodies to the marker proteins CD63 from AGs and CD11b from peroxidase-negative granules (PNGs). NETosis was assayed by quantifying DNA network-like structures (NET-like structures) in blood smears stained by Romanowsky. HSA-MG bound to MPO, giving a stable complex (Kd = 1.5 nM) and competing with mAbs, and non-competitively inhibited peroxidase and chlorinating MPO activity and induced degranulation of PNGs but not of AGs. HSA-MG enhanced Luc-CL per se or following PMA, unlike Lum-CL, and did not affect spontaneous or PMA-stimulated NETosis. Thus, HSA modified under hyperglycemia-like conditions stimulated NADPH oxidase of neutrophils but dampened their functions dependent on activity of MPO, with no effect on its release via degranulation or NETosis. This phenomenon could underlie the downregulation of bactericidal activity of MPO and neutrophils, and hence of innate immunity, giving rise to wound healing impairment and susceptibility to infection in patients with hyperglycemia.
Inhibition of Tumor Growth and Modulation of Antioxidant Activity of Rhodoxanthin Isolated from Taxus baccata Aril against B16F10 Murine Malignant Melanoma
Authors: Dumitraş Daria-Antonia , Dreanca Alexandra Iulia , Pall Emoke , Gal Adrian Florin , Rus Vasile , Morohoschi Andreea Georgiana , Cotul Mihaela , Nan Monica Irina , Andrei Sanda
Published: November 2022

Malignant melanoma is the most aggressive type of skin cancer, and due to the numerous limitations of current treatment methods, there is an urgent need to develop novel approaches for both the prevention and treatment of malignant melanoma, with research-oriented bioactive substances representing a notable first step. The current study decided to expand on previous rhodoxanthin research by investigating the possible anti-tumor effect as well as the effect on the antioxidant status in the case of murine melanoma in an experimental model. The 21-day study was carried out on female C57BL/6J mice. On the first day of the experiment, they were subcutaneously inoculated with 106 B16F10 cells and were given rhodoxanthin orally until the end of the study. Rhodoxanthin supplementation significantly reduced tumor growth (42.18%) and weight (15.74%). Furthermore, the epidermal growth factor (EGF) activity was reduced and the concentration of 8-OHdG dropped in the treated melanoma-bearing mice compared to the untreated ones, demonstrating the role of rhodoxanthin in slowing tumor growth, one of the mechanisms being the reduction of EGF level and the decrease of DNA oxidation. The administration of rhodoxanthin determined variations in antioxidant enzymes, both at the plasma level and at the tissue level.
Rain Removal of Single Image Based on Directional Gradient Priors
Authors: Huang Shuying , Xu Yating , Ren Mingyang , Yang Yong , Wan Weiguo
Published: November 2022

Images taken on rainy days often lose a significant amount of detailed information owing to the coverage of rain streaks, which interfere with the recognition and detection of the intelligent vision systems. It is, therefore, extremely important to recover clean rain-free images from the rain images. In this paper, we propose a rain removal method based on directional gradient priors, which aims to retain the structural information of the original rain image to the greatest extent possible while removing the rain streaks. First, to solve the problem of residual rain streaks, on the basis of the sparse convolutional coding model, two directional gradient regularization terms are proposed to constrain the direction information of the rain stripe. Then, for the rain layer coding in the directional gradient prior terms, a multi-scale dictionary is designed for convolutional sparse coding to detect rain stripes of different widths. Finally, to obtain a more accurate solution, the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) is used to update the multi-scale dictionary and coding coefficients alternately to obtain a rainless image with rich details. Finally, experiments verify that the proposed algorithm achieves good results both subjectively and objectively.
Effects of Varroa destructor on Hemolymph Sugars and Secondary Infections in Honeybees (Apis mellifera)
Authors: Cournoyer Antoine , Plamondon Laurence , Bau-Gaudreault Liza , Deschamps Annie , Dubreuil Pascal , Benoit-Biancamano Marie-Odile
Published: November 2022

The European honeybee contributes to the agriculture by its pollination; however, the overwintering loss rate over the last decades is worrisome. Varroa destructor is considered one of the most important causes of bee colony declines. This project aims to correlate the infestation by varroa to the hemolymph sugar concentrations and bacterial and viral coinfections. Six highly infested and six control hives were compared over time. Pooled hemolymph samples from honeybees were collected for sugar concentration measurements using a previously validated portable glucometer. The hemolymph samples were submitted for bacteriology. Multiplex RT-PCR analysis was performed on honeybees for six viruses: DWV-A, DWV-B, BQCV, ABPV, KBV, and IAPV. There was also no predominance of pathogenic bacteria. In September, sugar concentrations in hemolymph were significantly lower in highly infested hives than in control hives. Infested hives showed markedly higher viral loads except for ABPV. DWV-A and BQCV viral loads from highly infested hives were significantly higher in September compared to July. A continued and severe exposure to varroa leads to increased viral charges and decreased sugar concentrations, suggesting alterations in immunity, metabolism, and reserve mobilization. These parameters contribute to the weakening and mortality of the colonies.
Digital Technologies for the Assessment of Oral English Skills
Authors: Gutiérrez-Porlán Isabel , Prendes-Espinosa Paz , Sánchez-Vera María del Mar
Published: November 2022

The assessment of oral skills in the learning process of a foreign language is very important for promoting the improvement of these competences. Furthermore, digital tools can be useful for making this task easier for teachers and promoting their collaboration based on professional online communities. In this article, we present the AROSE platform, a new digital tool developed to help secondary education teachers assess their students’ oral skills in English as a foreign language. To evaluate this platform, we have promoted an international online community of secondary education teachers in a project funded by the Erasmus+ programme. The research has been developed using a design-based research methodology. Three different iterations of the platform design process were carried out. We have used a mixed method combining focus groups (of both teachers and experts), observation forms, and questionnaires for teachers. The main results obtained demonstrate the need among teachers to integrate technology to improve the evaluation process. The AROSE platform successfully caters to this need, as demonstrated by the significant data on the use and satisfaction of its users.
The Combination of Epigallocatechin Gallate and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum P101 Alleviated Carbon Tetrachloride-Induced Liver Injury in Mice by Regulating Gut Microbiota
Authors: Wang Mengqi , Wang Keyu , Zhou Yuankun , Aguilar Zoraida P. , Wang Yuanxing , Xu Hengyi
Published: November 2022

Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) is a main active ingredient in tea, but it is difficult for it to be absorbed and utilized by the body, resulting in limited bioactivity. Therefore, we explored the role of probiotics in enhancing the physiological activity of EGCG in a mice model of liver injury. Mice were methodically treated with either a single ingredient or a combination of EGCG and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum P101 (LP.P101) for 21 days, and then administrated with intraperitoneal injection of carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) on the last day. As a result, the antioxidative genes were activated and pro-inflammatory genes were suppressed, reducing the oxidative and inflammatory injury of mice, which indicated a better preventive effect of the combination of EGCG and LP.P101 than the single ingredient. Furthermore, 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing revealed the role of gut microbiota played in liver injury mitigation. The combination of EGCG and LP.P101 increased the relative abundance of Lactobacillus, Akkermansia and other beneficial bacteria that negatively correlated with inflammation and positively correlated with antioxidation. In conclusion, the combination of EGCG and LP.P101 was more effective than the single ingredient in alleviating liver damage caused by CCl4. Altered gut microbiota may be an important cause.
Recognition of Earthquake Surface Ruptures Using Deep Learning
Authors: Chen Xiaolin , Hu Guang , Liu Xiaoli
Published: November 2022

Investigating post-earthquake surface ruptures is important for understanding the tectonics of seismogenic faults. The use of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) images to identify post-earthquake surface ruptures has the advantages of low cost, fast data acquisition, and high data processing efficiency. With the rapid development of deep learning in recent years, researchers have begun using it for image crack detection. However, due to the complex background and diverse characteristics of the surface ruptures, it remains challenging to quickly train an effective automatic earthquake surface rupture recognition model on a limited number of samples. This study proposes a workflow that applies an image segmentation algorithm based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to extract cracks from post-earthquake UAV images. We selected the 16-layer visual geometry group (VGG16) network as the primary network architecture. Then, we improved the VGG16 network and deleted several convolutional layers to reduce computation and memory consumption. Moreover, we added dilated convolution and atrous spatial pyramid pooling (ASPP) to make the network perform well in the surface crack identification of post-earthquake UAV images. We trained the proposed method using the data of the MS 7.4 Maduo earthquake and obtained a model that could automatically identify and draw small and irregular surface ruptures from high-resolution UAV images.
Inhibition of Galactooligosaccharide (GOS) Degradation in High-Heat-Treated Goat’s Milk as a Raw Material for Functional Dairy Products
Authors: Cais-Sokolińska Dorota , Kaczyński Łukasz K. , Bielska Paulina
Published: November 2022

The aim of this study was to analyze the inhibition of galactooligosaccharide (GOS) degradation in heat-treated milk with permeate obtained by microfiltration and concentrated by ultrafiltration. An attempt was made to obtain raw material with a designed composition and stability in terms of GOS content for the production of fermented milk beverages. This study is important due to the versatile possibility of using milk and permeate with GOS in further processing and food production. During the heat treatment of goat’s milk, GOS degradation was approx. 16%. However, no changes in GOS content were observed in goat’s milk with permeate after 30 and 60 min of heating between 72 and 92 °C. Therefore, goat’s milk with permeate in terms of GOS content was stable for up to 60 min, regardless of the temperature. The addition of permeate effectively inhibits GOS degradation in milk. It has been shown that the produced raw material with a stable GOS content during heating can be further used for the production of kefir.
Investigation of Potential Material Inhomogeneity in the Magnetically Detected Neutron-Irradiation-Generated Structural Degradation of Nuclear Reactor Pressure Vessel Steel
Authors: Vértesy Gábor , Gasparics Antal , Szenthe Ildikó
Published: November 2022

A novel nondestructive method called magnetic adaptive testing has been previously applied to detect the neutron-irradiation-generated structural changes in reactor pressure vessel steel material. This method has been found to be a useful tool for this purpose, and good correlation—as a tendency—has been found between the estimated ductile-to-brittle transition temperature and magnetic parameters. However, a significant scattering of measured points was also observed for the investigated set of Charpy specimens. The main result of the work was that by magnetic selection of samples, the scatter can be notably reduced. As a conclusion, the magnetically measured parameters seemed to be precise and reliable for the detection of embrittlement of the reactor pressure vessel steel, with lower scattering of points than in the conventionally used destructive mechanical characteristics (ductile-to-brittle transition temperature). This result is surprising and needs further verification. The purpose of the present work is to repeat the measurement on irradiated reactor steel blocks. In this work, instead of the DBTT transition temperature, individually measured Vickers hardness (VH) data were used to help characterize the mechanical properties of the material. The so-called “property transformation” is a known and applied technique in the nuclear industry. The mechanical property characterized by the transition temperature cannot be determined individually for each specimen; instead, it can be obtained only on a set of samples by statistical fitting. Therefore, the individually measured Vickers hardness values can be utilized in order to predict the individual transition temperature values by the help of the property transformation technique. In this paper, however, not these derived transition temperature values, but their origins, the Vickers hardness values, are studied in a direct manner. The same behavior of blocks was observed as in the case of Charpy specimens, which is considered to validate the previously published results. As a possible reason for the scattering of points, large magnetic inhomogeneity of samples cut even from the same block was also proved. The magnetic parameters and Vickers hardness correlate well with each other. This result justifies the potential future application of magnetic techniques in practice aimed at the regular inspection of nuclear reactors.
Identification of Shark Species Based on Their Dry Dorsal Fins through Image Processing
Authors: Carrillo-Aguilar Luis Alfredo , Guerra-Rosas Esperanza , Álvarez-Borrego Josué , Echavarría-Heras Héctor Alonso , Hernández-Muñóz Sebastián
Published: November 2022

Shark populations worldwide have suffered a decline that has been primarily driven by overexploitation to meet the demand for meat, fins, and other products for human consumption. International agreements, such as CITES, are fundamental to regulating the international trade of shark specimens and/or products to ensure their survival. The present study suggests algorithms to identify the dry fins of 37 shark species participating in the shark fin trade from 14 countries, demonstrating high sensitivity and specificity of image processing. The first methodology used a non-linear composite filter using Fourier transform for each species, and we obtained 100% sensitivity and specificity. The second methodology was a neural network that achieved an efficiency of 90%. The neural network proved to be the most robust methodology because it supported lower-quality images (e.g., noise in the background); it can recognize shark fin images independent of rotation and scale, taking processing times in the order of a few seconds to identify an image from the dry shark fins. Thus, the implementation of this approach can support governments in complying with CITES regulations and in preventing illegal international trade.
Fast Support Vector Machine for Power Quality Disturbance Classification
Authors: Lin Whei-Min , Wu Chien-Hsien
Published: November 2022

The power quality disturbance (PQD) problem involves problems of voltage swell, voltage sag, power interruption, harmonics and complex events involving multiple PQD problems. The PQD problem attracted considerable attention from utilities, especially when renewable energy is getting a higher penetration. The PQD problem could downgrade the service quality, causing problems of malfunctions and instabilities. This paper proposed a simplified SVM technique to identify the PQD problem including the multiple PQD classification. With the simple structure proposed, the methodology could reduce a great deal of training data; requires much less memory space and saves computing time. An IEEE 14-bus power system was used to show the performance. Many tests were conducted, and the method was compared with an artificial neural network (ANN). Simulation results showed the shortened processing time and the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
A Single-Bit Incremental Second-Order Delta-Sigma Modulator with Coarse-Fine Input Buffer
Authors: Yoo Mookyoung , Nam Kyeongsik , Choi Gyuri , Kang Sanggyun , Jin Byeongkwan , Son Hyeoktae , Kim Kyounghwan , Ko Hyoungho
Published: November 2022

This paper presents an incremental second-order delta-sigma modulator with a coarse-fine input buffer in 180-nm CMOS. The modulator’s architecture was implemented as a second-order cascade of integrators with a feedback structure. The switched-capacitor integrator was operated in discrete time, with high-gain amplifiers required to achieve improved performance during the integration phase. The amplifier comprised rail-to-rail input and gain-boosted cascode intermediate stages, thus achieving a high gain and wide input voltage range. The circuit adopts a coarse-fine buffer for higher performance. The coarse buffer is operated first to enable fast settling through a high slew rate, followed by the fine buffer to satisfy the low-noise and high-accuracy characteristics. The fine buffer has a smaller current consumption with higher power efficiency. The experiment results show that the proposed input buffer achieved a 13.14 effective number of bits and an 80.87 dB signal-to-noise and distortion ratio. The modulator operates a single bit and sampling clock at 125 kHz. The proposed delta-sigma modulator was operated at 1.8 V. The proposed circuit was designed using a standard 0.18-μm CMOS process with an active area of 1.06 mm2. The total current consumption with the coarse-fine buffer was 1.374 mA.
Experimental Investigation on a Novel Necking Heat Pipe with Double-End Heating for Thermal Management of the Overload Operation
Authors: Li Jie , Zhang Shiwei , Tang Heng , Liang Yifu , Wang Sheng , Zhong Guisheng , Tang Yong
Published: November 2022

This work proposed a novel necking heat pipe with double-end heating for thermal management of the overload operation. The addition of another heat load was adopted to obtain a higher threshold critical power for the heat pipe system. The thermal performance of thermal switch heat pipe (TSHP) and traditional grooved heat pipe (TGHP) was investigated experimentally, including the threshold critical power, starting characteristic, recovery characteristic, surface temperature distribution, thermal resistance, etc. The optimized TSHP exhibited a larger threshold critical power range with low additional heat load input (from 55 W to 65 W, almost 20% increase), low starting additional heat load input (2 W), good recovery characteristic (less than 150 s from 75 °C to normal after overload), and low thermal resistance with additional heat load input (less than 0.13 °C/W). These results indicate that the optimized TSHP can offer great potential for the overload operation situation with the additional heat load. Such a novel necking heat pipe with double-end heating can be utilized in heat pipe systems to obtain different thermal performances for complicated working situations, especially for the overload operation situation.
A Novel Study: GAN-Based Minority Class Balancing and Machine-Learning-Based Network Intruder Detection Using Chi-Square Feature Selection
Authors: Alabrah Amerah
Published: November 2022

The network security problem becomes a routine problem for networks and cyber security specialists. The increased data on every minute not only creates big data problems, but also it expands the network size on the cloud and other computing technologies. Due to the big size and data, the network becomes more vulnerable to cyber-attacks. However, the detection of cyber-attacks on networks before or on time is a challenging task to solve. Therefore, the network intruder detection system (NIDS) is used to detect it. The network provided data-based NIDS were proposed previously, but still needed improvements. From the network data, it is also essential to find the most contributing features to avoid overfitting and lack of confidence in NIDS. The previously proposed solutions of NIDS mostly ignored the class imbalance problems that were normally found in the training of machine learning (ML) methods used in NIDS. However, few studies have tried to solve class imbalance and feature selection separately by achieving significant results on different datasets. The performance of these NIDS needs improvements in terms of classification and class balancing robust solutions. Therefore, to solve the class imbalance problem of minority classes in public datasets of NIDS and to select the most significant features, the proposed study gives a framework. In this framework, the minority class instances are generated using Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) model hyperparameter optimization and then the chi-square method of feature selection is applied to the fed six ML classifiers. The binary and multi-class classifications are applied on the UNSW-NB15 dataset with three versions of it. The comparative analysis on binary, multi-class classifications showed dominance as compared to previous studies in terms of accuracy (98.14%, 87.44%), precision (98.14%, 87.81%), F1-score (98.14%, 86.79%), Geometric-Mean (0.976, 0.923) and Area Under Cover (0.976, 0.94).
Should the Application of Diode Laser Completely Replace Conventional Pulpotomy of Primary Teeth?
Authors: Šimunović Luka , Špiljak Bruno , Vranić Lara , Bašić Rebecca , Negovetić Vranić Dubravka
Published: November 2022

Nowadays, the use of lasers in dental medicine has become an effective approach for numerous restorative and soft tissue therapeutic procedures. The use of different types of lasers depends on how the tissue interacts with the laser light and the purpose of treatment. Although some studies show the benefits of laser pulpotomy compared to the conventional method of pulpotomy, clinical studies are lacking. Moreover, the material used for a definitive restoration of endodontically treated primary teeth can also affect the outcome of the therapy. Therefore, this prospective study aimed to compare the clinical use of the diode laser and the conventional method of vital pulpotomy, as well as the influence of the material chosen for a definitive restoration for the outcome of the procedure. Patients were divided into two groups: conventional pulpotomy and 980 nm diode laser. Each group was then divided into two subgroups according to the type of material for the final restoration. By comparing the success of the therapy according to clinical parameters depending on the material of the final restoration, the advantage of the composite material compared to the glass ionomer cement was noticed at 6 months checkup (p = 0.045). A strong positive correlation between the quality of the final restoration according to the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) criteria and the success of the clinical parameters was found in all investigated time points. There is no statistically significant difference between the diode laser and the conventional pulpotomy, however, the choice and quality of the final restoration significantly contribute to the outcome of therapy.
An Optimized Methodology for Patient-Specific Therapeutic Activity Administration in Liver Radioembolization
Authors: Ferreira Paulo , Oliveira Francisco P. M. , Parafita Rui , Correia Paulo L. , Girão Pedro S. , Costa Durval C.
Published: November 2022

Radioembolization (RE) with glass microspheres (MS) loaded with Yttrium-90 (90Y) has been used to treat tumors in the liver with some reported success. However, assessing absorbed doses (AD) in the planning tumor volume (PTV) and normal liver volume (NLV) is a key problem to address in RE. In clinical practice, the computation of 90Y activity to be administered follows the manufacturer’s recommendations, which do not consider the specific characteristics of MS deposition in each patient’s liver. Our main aim is to develop a methodology to estimate the optimal activity for each patient treatment. It uses the absorbed dose distribution (ADD) derived from the Technetium-99m (99mTc)-labeled macroaggregated albumin (MAA) obtained from pre-treatment planning single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) images. Post-treatment positron emission tomography (PET) images of the 90Y-MS distribution were used to estimate the ADD for treatment verification. Sixteen RE treatments were retrospectively selected. The agreement between the estimated mean AD based on the planning imaging and real post-treatment mean AD was good in PTV with an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.79 and excellent in NLV (ICC = 0.97). The optimization of 90Y activity using pre-defined clinical AD thresholds (<70 Gy in NLV and >80 Gy in PTV) imposed on the PTV and NLV voxels showed remarkably high agreement (ICC = 0.96, p < 0.001) in eleven out of the sixteen RE treatments between SPECT-MAA-based and PET-MS-based optimal activity estimates. In conclusion, under well-controlled conditions, pre-treatment SPECT-MAA imaging predicts well the treatment of ADD. In addition, SPECT-MAA imaging can be used to optimize the 90Y-MS activity to be administered to the liver.
Seasonal Characteristics of Atmospheric PM2.5 in an Urban Area of Vietnam and the Influence of Regional Fire Activities
Authors: Bui Quang Trung , Nguyen Duc Luong , Bui Thi Hieu
Published: November 2022

This study investigated the seasonal variation and chemical characteristics of atmospheric PM2.5 at an urban site in Hanoi City of Vietnam in summer (July 2020) and winter (January 2021) periods. The study results showed that the average value of daily PM2.5 concentrations observed for the winter period was about 3 times higher than the counterpart for the summer period. The concentrations of major species in atmospheric PM2.5 (SO42−, NH4+, K+, OC and EC) measured during the winter period were also significantly higher than those during the summer period. The contribution of secondary sources to the measured OC (the largest contributor to PM2.5) was larger than that of primary sources during the winter period, compared to those in the summer period. The correlation analysis among anions and cations in PM2.5 suggested that different sources and atmospheric processes could influence the seasonal variations of PM2.5 species. The unfavorable meteorological conditions (lower wind speed and lower boundary layer height) in the winter period were identified as one of the key factors contributing to the high PM2.5 pollution in this period. With the predominance of north and northeast winds during the winter period, the long-range transport of air pollutants which emitted from the highly industrialized areas and the intensive fire regions in the southern part of China and Southeast Asia region were likely other important sources for the highly elevated concentrations of PM2.5 and its chemical species in the study area.
Atmospheric and Ocean Optics: Atmospheric Physics III
Authors: Romanovskii Oleg A. , Kharchenko Olga V.
Published: November 2022

This Special Issue aimed to collect novel papers presented at the 27th International Conference on “Atmospheric and Ocean Optics: Atmospheric Physics” (AOO—21) held from 5 to 9 July 2021 in Moscow, Russia [...]
First Experiments with CRYRING@ESR
Authors: Lestinsky Michael , Menz Esther Babette , Danared Håkan , Krantz Claude , Lindroth Eva , Andelkovic Zoran , Brandau Carsten , Bräuning-Demian Angela , Fedotova Svetlana , Geithner Wolfgang , Herfurth Frank , Kalinin Anton , Kraus Ingrid , Spillmann Uwe , Vorobyev Gleb , Stöhlker Thomas
Published: November 2022

The low-energy heavy ion storage ring CRYRING was transported from Stockholm to Darmstadt, modernized and reconfigured, and recommissioned as CRYRING@ESR. The machine is now in operation with all installations in service and is available as a user facility for experiments proposed through the SPARC collaboration. During the 2020–2022 period, we brought a number of experimental installations into service and used them to measure first data: the ultra-cold electron cooler for merged-beam electron–ion collisions, the gas jet target for atomic collisions, a next-generation microcalorimeter-based X-ray spectroscopy setup, and others. Ions can be injected either in low charge states from a local ion source through a 300 keV/u RFQ linac, or in high charge states from the GSI accelerator chain through ESR. This allows for very broad access to ions across the entire periodic table. CRYRING@ESR is able to de- or accelerate ions and cool and store beams of isotopically pure species in a desired charge state. While the analysis is still largely ongoing, the first experimental data already show that the machine reached its expected performance level, and our high expectations regarding achievable resolution in spectroscopy experiments have been fulfilled. With access to new classes of ions available through ESR injection and a new generation of experimental instrumentation, CRYRING@ESR is a unique facility for experiments with heavy, highly charged ions. Here, we will review our present setup and machine performance, discuss the data from our first commissioning experiments and briefly preview the upcoming new installations for the coming years.
Design, Synthesis, Kinetic Analysis and Pharmacophore-Directed Discovery of 3-Ethylaniline Hybrid Imino-Thiazolidinone as Potential Inhibitor of Carbonic Anhydrase II: An Emerging Biological Target for Treatment of Cancer
Authors: Ahmed Atteeque , Aziz Mubashir , Ejaz Syeda Abida , Channar Pervaiz Ali , Saeed Aamer , Zargar Seema , Wani Tanveer A. , Hamad Asad , Abbas Qamar , Raza Hussain , Kim Song Ja
Published: November 2022

Carbonic anhydrases (CA), having Zn2+ metal atoms, are responsible for the catalysis of CO2 and water to bicarbonate and protons. Any abnormality in the functioning of these enzymes may lead to morbidities such as glaucoma and different types of cancers including brain, renal and pancreatic carcinomas. To cope with the lack of presence of a promising therapeutic agent against these cancers, searching for an efficient and suitable carbonic anhydrase inhibitor is crucial. In the current study, ten novel 3-ethylaniline hybrid imino-thiazolidinones were synthesized and characterized by FTIR, NMR (1H, 13C), and mass spectrometry. Synthesis was carried out by diethyl but-2-ynedioate cyclization and different acyl thiourea substitutions of 3-ethyl amine. The CA (II) enzyme inhibition profile for all synthesized derivatives was determined. It was observed that compound 6e demonstrated highest inhibition of CA-II with an IC50 value of 1.545 ± 0.016 µM. In order to explore the pharmacophoric properties and develop structure activity relationship, in silico screening was performed. In silico investigations included density functional theory (DFT) studies, pharmacophore-guided model development, molecular docking, molecular dynamic (MD) simulations, and prediction of drug likeness scores. DFT investigations provided insight into the electronic characteristics of compounds, while molecular docking determined the binding orientation of derivatives within the CA-II active site. Compounds 6a, 6e, and 6g had a reactive profile and generated stable protein-ligand interactions with respective docking scores of −6.12, −6.99, and −6.76 kcal/mol. MD simulations were used to evaluate the stability of the top-ranked complex. In addition, pharmacophore-guided modeling demonstrated that compound 6e produced the best pharmacophore model (HHAAARR) compared to standard brinzolamide. In vitro and in silico investigations anticipated that compound 6e would be an inhibitor of carbonic anhydrase II with high efficacy. Compound 6e may serve as a potential lead for future synthesis that can be investigated at the molecular level, and additional in vivo studies are strongly encouraged.
Evaluating the Potential of Marine Invertebrate and Insect Protein Hydrolysates to Reduce Fetal Bovine Serum in Cell Culture Media for Cultivated Fish Production
Authors: Batish Inayat , Zarei Mohammad , Nitin Nitin , Ovissipour Reza
Published: November 2022

The use of fetal bovine serum (FBS) and the price of cell culture media are the key constraints for developing serum-free cost-effective media. This study aims to replace or reduce the typical 10% serum application in fish cell culture media by applying protein hydrolysates from insects and marine invertebrate species for the growth of Zebrafish embryonic stem cells (ESC) as the model organism. Protein hydrolysates were produced from black soldier flies (BSF), crickets, oysters, mussels, and lugworms with a high protein content, suitable functional properties, and adequate amino-acid composition, with the degree of hydrolysis from 18.24 to 33.52%. Protein hydrolysates at low concentrations from 0.001 to 0.1 mg/mL in combination with 1 and 2.5% serums significantly increased cell growth compared to the control groups (5 and 10% serums) (p < 0.05). All protein hydrolysates with concentrations of 1 and 10 mg/mL were found to be toxic to cells and significantly reduced cell growth and performance (p < 0.05). However, except for crickets, all the hydrolysates were able to restore or significantly increase cell growth and viability with 50% less serum at concentrations of 0.001, 0.01, and 0.1 mg/mL. Although cell growth was enhanced at lower concentrations of protein hydrolysates, the cell morphology was altered due to the lack of serum. The lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity results indicated that BSF and lugworm hydrolysates did not alter the cell membrane. In addition, light and fluorescence imaging revealed that the cell morphological features were comparable to those of the 10% serum control group. Overall, lugworm and BSF hydrolysates reduced the serum by up to 90% while preserving excellent cell health.
Expanding Quality by Design Principles to Support 3D Printed Medical Device Development Following the Renewed Regulatory Framework in Europe
Authors: Adalbert Livia , Kanti S P Yamini , Jójárt-Laczkovich Orsolya , Akel Hussein , Csóka Ildikó
Published: November 2022

The vast scope of 3D printing has ignited the production of tailored medical device (MD) development and catalyzed a paradigm shift in the health-care industry, particularly following the COVID pandemic. This review aims to provide an update on the current progress and emerging opportunities for additive manufacturing following the introduction of the new medical device regulation (MDR) within the EU. The advent of early-phase implementation of the Quality by Design (QbD) quality management framework in MD development is a focal point. The application of a regulatory supported QbD concept will ensure successful MD development, as well as pointing out the current challenges of 3D bioprinting. Utilizing a QbD scientific and risk-management approach ensures the acceleration of MD development in a more targeted way by building in all stakeholders’ expectations, namely those of the patients, the biomedical industry, and regulatory bodies.
Scarcity Enhances Outcome Evaluation in the Present: Electroencephalography Evidence
Authors: Yi Liangliang , Ding Daoqun , Zhang Xiangyi , Fu Die
Published: November 2022

Scarcity goods have generally been perceived as high in value in real-world and empirical studies. However, few studies have investigated this value over time, such as performance in intertemporal decision making. This study’s chief objective was to determine how scarcity evaluation changes temporally. We used the electroencephalogram technique and an outcome evaluation task with the valuation of scarcity and ordinary rewards delivered at different times to explore the effect of scarcity on delay discounting. The feedback-related negativity (FRN) results show that ordinary goods were associated with a more negative amplitude than scarcity goods, and that rewards delivered in the future evoked more negative deflection compared to those delivered immediately. The prominent FRN effect was derived mainly from ordinary trials rather than scarcity trials in the immediate condition and in the future rather than only in the immediate condition. The Frontal Asymmetry Index (FAI) results show that the scarcity condition was associated with greater relative left frontal cortical activity than the ordinary condition when delivered immediately. The frontal asymmetry indicated greater approach motivation. Our electrophysiology data indicate that scarcity goods have a perceived high value, particularly when delivered immediately.
Numerical Analysis of Passive Piles under Surcharge Load in Extensively Deep Soft Soil
Authors: Gu Meixiang , Cai Xiaocong , Fu Qiang , Li Haibo , Wang Xi , Mao Binbing
Published: November 2022

The three-dimensional finite difference method was used in this study to analyze the deformation and stresses of a passive pile under surcharge load in extensively deep soft soil. A three-dimensional numerical model was proposed and verified by a field test. The horizontal displacements of the pile agreed well with the field results. This study investigated the pile-foundation soil interaction, the load transfer mechanism, the excess pore water pressure (EPWP), and the horizontal resistance of the foundation soil. The results show that the soil in the corner of the loading area developed a large uplift deformation, while the center of the loading area developed a large settlement. The lateral displacement of the pile decreased sharply with the increase of the depth and increased with the surcharge load. The lateral displacement of the soil was negligible when the depth exceeded 30 m. The EPWP increased in a nonlinear way with the increase of the surcharge load and accumulated with the placement of the new lift. The distribution of the lateral earth pressure in the shallow soil layer was complex, and the negative value was observed under a high surcharge load due to the suction effect. The proportion coefficient of the horizontal resistance coefficient showed much smaller value in the situation of large lateral deformation and high surcharge load. The design code overestimated the horizontal resistance of the shallow foundation soil, which should be given attention for the design and analysis of the laterally loaded structures in extensively soft soil.
Experimental Study and Numerical Simulation of the Tensile Properties of Corroded Bolt-Sphere Joints
Authors: Si Qi , Tang Yong , Zong Liang , Liu Heng , Kang Buqing
Published: November 2022

In order to study the mechanical behavior of corroded bolt-sphere joints and predict the bearing capacity of the joints in a corrosive environment, bolt-sphere-connection and bolt-sphere-joint specimens with differing degrees of corrosion were obtained by accelerated corrosion. The tensile properties of the corroded bolt-sphere connections and the bolt-sphere joints with members were tested, respectively, and the effects of different degrees of corrosion on the tensile properties of bolted spherical joints were studied. Finally, a numerical simulation of the corroded bolt-sphere connections and bolt-sphere joints with members was carried out, and the main factors affecting the tensile performance of the corroded bolt-sphere joints was clarified; the degradation law of the tensile properties of the bolted sphere joints with service time was established.
The Effect of Microbiologically Induced Concrete Corrosion in Sewer on the Bearing Capacity of Reinforced Concrete Pipes: Full-Scale Experimental Investigation
Authors: Wang Yajian , Li Pengpeng , Liu Huifang , Wang Wentao , Guo Yang , Wang Linbing
Published: November 2022

The main part of sewer pipelines is commonly made up of precast reinforced concrete pipes (RCPs). However, they often suffer from microbiologically induced concrete corrosion (MICC), which has made them less durable than expected. In this study, three-edge bearing tests (TEBT) are performed on full-scale RCPs with preset wall losses to determine how MICC influences their bearing performance. For this purpose, several bearing indices such as D-load, peak load, ultimate load, ring deflection, ring stiffness, and failure energy are presented or specified to characterize the load-carrying capacity, stiffness, and toughness of these RCPs. It is found that crown concrete corrosion hardly changes the mechanical behavior of the first elastic zone of RCPs, so that D-load is not affected, but it shortens the crack propagation zone significantly, leading to a reduction in ultimate and peak loads. Furthermore, RCPs’ ring stiffness and toughness are negatively correlated to thickness of wall loss, while the transverse deformability of the ring cross-section is positively correlated with it. Additionally, it was found that crown corrosion affects the ultimate load of different sizes of RCP in different ways. The 2000 mm RCP is affected the most, with a 50 percent reduction in ultimate load. The 1000 mm RCP follows, with a 36 percent reduction, and the 1500 mm RCP has a reduction of less than 20 percent. This research contributes to comprehending the degradation of in-service sewage pipes, hence informing decision making on sewer maintenance and rehabilitation.