bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Review on Online Monitoring and Control in Industrial Automation–An IoT Perspective
Authors: Maheswari C. , Ajeesh Babu Perinchery A. , Priyanka E.B. , Ambika K.S. , Narmatha S. , Prenitha A. , Monisha M.
Published: February 2021

Internet of things (IoT) is developing much fast than any other technology. IoT framework can be called as a gathering of smart gadgets that connect on a shared premise to satisfy a shared objective. IoT systems may use different processing and communication architectures, technologies, and design methodologies. This selection is based on the target it must be achieved. This review work focussed on the step into the different communication protocols used in IoT systems.
Rheological properties of self compacting concrete with partial replacement of metakaolin in cement and plastic fibre
Authors: Arun Kumar M , Selvapraveen S , Dharani Prasath P , Bavithran R , Dhanabal G
Published: February 2021

This work deals with the experimental study of SCC with plastic fibre and metakaolin. Metakaolin with 20% replacement for cement and also addition of plastic fibre in SCC are tested. The influence of mineral admixture and the addition of plastic fibre in physical and mechanical properties in SCC are investigated. Plastic fibre is added to SCC with five various ratio are 0%, 0.25%, 0.5%, 0.75% and 1%respectively. The fresh concrete is tested by L – box test, V – funnel test and U – box test. The hardened concrete is tested by compressive test, flexural strength test and split tensile test. The properties of fresh concrete demonstrated that filling and passing capability of SCC are weak because of introduction of plastic fibre but are not greatly affected the properties. The hardened concrete properties show that metakaolin and plastic fibre has an impact on the strength of SCC.
Design and Analysis of Two-Link Discrete Flexible Manipulator
Authors: Punniyawarthana S , Mohanraj T
Published: February 2021

Proposed two-link flexible manipulators suit the requirement of larger work volume than the traditional flexible manipulators and handle high payloads equal to that of rigid manipulators. The simulation was performed on the Computer-Aided Design (CAD) model of the Motoman HC-10DT, a Human-Collaborative robot. During the analysis, one link of the manipulator was modified as a flexible manipulator for which static and modal analysis was done and compared the results with the actual link of the robot to validate the proposed design. The kinematic analysis was also done to find the reach of the modified robot. Total deformation on both the flexible manipulator and the actual link of the robot was 0.2mm but the maximum von Mises stress acting on the flexible manipulator was 2.97% lesser than that of the rigid link of the robot. Eventually, the safety factor of the flexible manipulator was higher compared to the rigid link. The factor of safety of the upper link is 1.41 and the lower link is 1.51 whereas the actual link of the robot has the safety factor of 1.30.
A low cost and user friendly vehicle crash alert system using arduino
Authors: Vijayaraja L , Dhanasekar R , Magesh Krishna R , Mahidhar M , Prakash D , Shashikumar P
Published: February 2021

This paper is aimed at developing a vehicle crash detection system using Arduino, GPS, GSM and accelerometer. Accelerometer detects the sudden change in the axes of vehicle and GSM module sends the alert message on your mobile phone with the location of the accident. Location of accident is sent in the form of Google map link, derived from the latitude and longitude from GPS module. The message also contains the speed of vehicle in kilometers per hour. The proposed model can also be used as a tracking system and much more, by just making few changes in hardware and software. The alert system has been developed in real time and performance is discussed.
Exposure of Crash in Metal Foil Using UWB Antenna
Authors: Vijaya Vardan Reddy S.P. , Vanaja S. , Malarvizhi C. , Krishnan Rahul
Published: February 2021

Crash in aluminium are one of the earliest indications of degradation of products which are made up of aluminium. Detecting crashs in aluminum is a challenging task. Several non-destructive techniques have been used to detect the crack such as laser spot thermography, pulse eddy current technique, dye penetrant testing. In this paper, Ultra-wideband antenna is proposed for crash detection in aluminum. The Proposed Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) antenna has the capability of operating between 3.1GHz to 10.6GHz. The proposed antenna consists of rectangular radiating patch above the FR4 substrate which is having the dielectric constant 4.3 and thickness of 1.6mm. The results of the designed antenna like gain, radiation pattern, directivity, return loss is simulated by CST Microwave Studio software. The return loss features of the antenna shows the presents of crack in the aluminum.
Design of prescriptive model using nano-enabled sensors for water treatment and precise drip irrigation
Authors: Anitha N , Devi Priya R , Baskar C , Jaikaran D
Published: February 2021

Agriculture is one of the major sources of Indian economy where 60% of the population depend on it for survival. Due to increase in population size, water scarcity problem and pollutant water from industries directly affects economic growth in agriculture field. Over the past decade, many researchers have addressed this problem and provided solutions for water treatment and methodologies to effectively use water resources based on crop need. Most studies have only focused on effective water management practice and failed to remove water toxicants. Hence this paper seeks to address the removal of heavy metals in water resources using nano-sensors and proposed a prescriptive model to estimate the amount of resources like nutrients, fertilizers and water based on crop requirements. The proposed model is designed with the objective of implementation in irrigation areas to effectively remove toxicants from water resources and efficiently manage resources like nutrients, soil, fertilizers and water based on drip irrigation.
Role of Artificial Intelligence in the Internet of Things – A Review
Authors: Yashodha G , Pameela Rani P R , Lavanya A , Sathyavathy V
Published: February 2021

The Internet of Things (IoT) presents a chance to gather continuous data about each physical activity of a business. Computerized reasoning (AI) is assuming a developingjob in IoT applications and organizations, a move clear in the conduct of organizations working here. Organizations over the world are quickly utilizing the IoT to make new systems of items and administrations that are opening up new business openings and making new plans of action. The subsequent change is introducing another period of how organizations run their tasks and draw in with clients. There is ahugeopen door for those organizations that can change over crude IoT information into business bits of knowledge, and the way to doing so exists in powerful information diagnostic. Associations are currently compelled to look further into their information to discover new and inventive approaches to build effectiveness and seriousness. With ongoing advances in science and innovation, especially in AI, associations are receiving bigger, progressively thorough investigation methodologies. For organizations to understand the maximum capacity of IoT enablement, they have to consolidate IoT with quickly propelling AI innovations, which empower ‘brilliant machines’ to recreate savvy conduct and settle on very much educated choices with practically zero human intercession. Coordinating AI into IoT systems is turning into an essential for achievement in the present IoT-based computerized biological systems. So organizations must move quickly to distinguish how they’ll drive an incentive from consolidating AI and IoT or face playing get up to speed inyears to come. In this paper, we will investigate the development of IoT andhow best IoT can play a key in joining with AI canaccomplish for the business in the future. On-going advancement in the cutting-edge innovation has paid in refining individuals’ survives and subsequently there is a strong belief that approved examination plans together with computerized reasoning will be of noteworthy preferred position in helping individuals to fight this contamination. IoT is useful for a contaminated patient of COVID-19 to recognize manifestations and gives better treatment quickly. It is valuable for quiet, doctor, specialist and emergency clinic the board framework.
Consumer product preference prediction towards online shopping
Authors: Deepa S , Suguna R , Sathishkumar P , Jamunadevi C , Vidhya E N
Published: February 2021

Nowadays E-commerce plays a major role in a business organization. People prefer online shopping rather than offline shopping which helps them to purchase their product from anywhere around the world through mobile phones and laptop. Online shopping websites help people by saving time and product order can be done easily by clicking the product. Online shopping websites are built using the Single Page Application (SPA) framework and the objective of this research is to find the customer preference product prediction by tracking the frequent clicks of the product by the customer. By tracking the clicks of customer we can find their product choice and helps retailer to add the products according to user preference.
Secure data sharing for mobile cloud computing using RSA
Authors: Arumugam M , Deepa S , Arun G , Sathishkumar P , Jeevanantham K
Published: February 2021

Mobile cloud computing (MCC) refers to an infrastructure in which data processing and storage can take place far from mobile devices. The convergence of compact registration and network distributed computing has created scalable distributed computing. This technology provides consumers a number of points of interest, similar to storage limits, reliability, scalability and access to real-time information. As a result, it is expanding steadily and is undoubtedly organised into a daily day-to-day life. The Cloud servers can be used for the preparation and storage of information.However, in the current conditions, the secrecy of photos and information is generally important. In this paper, we concentrate mainly on the safe re-appropriation of photographs.
Counterfeit drugs prevention using block chain techniques
Authors: Arumugam M , Deepa S , Sreekanth G R , Arun G , Nilesh S
Published: February 2021

The production and distribution of counterfeit drugs is an urgent and increasingly critical worldwide issue, especially in developing countries. The pharmaceutical counterfeiting’s market price has hit over billions of dollars yearly. The flawed supply chain system in the pharmaceutical industry is one of the main reasons for drug imitations. Before meeting the clients, the ownership of the medicaments shifts from suppliers to wholesalers. Knowledge is not shared between processes in modern supply chain systems; manufacturers don’t even have any input at what occurs to their goods, just that the drug administration has no summary of the system; reminder programs are complex and inefficient and patients can not follow up. This project describes how in the pharmaceutical supply chains we use block chain technologies to provide the monitoring and protection of the drug supplier. The presented method will also be used by the pharmaceutical industry to track the medication from the particular time it is manufactured to the patient. The result of each drug used is recorded for future use in the database. An accepted block chain is used for storing transactions and only trusted parties can enter the network and move data in the block chain.
Advancement in Precision Medicine and Recommendation System for Clinical Trials Using Deep Learning Methods
Authors: Ponselvakumar A.P. , Anandamurugan S , Logeswaran K. , Nivashini S. , Showentharya S.K. , Swetha Jayashree S.
Published: February 2021

The arena for precision medicine has made vast development in progress with big data, deep learning. The personalized health information provides more insight on patient care in all directions which gives better treatment. Many researchers and peoples accept personalized provides more quality of diagnosis and medicine. This paper provides an overview various methods, algorithms, frameworks developed for personalized healthcare. In this article focus on two main accept one is recommendation system for personalized healthcare which provides more data insight mechanism and approach to diagnosis a patient, second it focus deep learning mechanisms in various fields of healthcare, bioinformatics and genomics to deliver accurate results based on advancements in algorithm. This article reveals both combination of recommendation system along with deep learning quality of precision healthcare achieved to patients.
A Survey on Current Semantic level Algorithms for improving Performance in CBIR
Authors: Arun A , Nirmaladevi P
Published: February 2021

This paper expounds a complete review of recent topical methodological attainments in the investigation region of CBIR. Many decades, Images are being utilized in variety of applications counting with Education, Healthcare, Defense, Engineering and Entertainment etc. Commonly, the amount of images across the world has developed in an enormous way. Consequently, in enormous and wide-ranging group, retrieving images in effective and efficient way is a challenging constraint. To elucidate this situation, diverse practices are implemented. This review comprises numerous publications to pronounce the study features of its region related to extraction of content features in different sized of the vectors, distance matrices, connect bridge between complexities and added with objective of the applications improvement such as precision and recall rate. Moreover, established on the demand of dissimilar applications and recent methodology, limited capable research directions are submitted.
Enhanced Algorithm for Bio Metric Based Secret Data Hiding
Authors: Kavitha M , Syedakbar S , Meenal T , Sarath Kumar R , Stonier Albert Alexander
Published: February 2021

Distributed illustration is used for compression method. For a replacement given fingerprint pictures, represent its patches in line with the wordbook by computing l0-minimization then quantize and cipher the illustration. Experiments additionally illustrates that the algorithmic program is robust to extract trivia. This algorithmic program is economical compared with JPEG, JPEG 2000 and WSQ. All previous strategies have ompressed fingerprint pictures. then compressed pictures 2 finger combination primarily based new finger print produce for prime secure privacy protection. a very distinctive system for shielding fingerprint privacy by combining 2 totally different fingerprints into a replacement identity for authentication. And additionally to classify the coaching samples ought to embrace fingerprints with totally different.
Overview on Various Techniques for Reduction of cogging torque and torque ripples of Permanent Magnet motors of different rotor configurations
Authors: Ravisankar B , Senthilnathan N , Sethupathi P
Published: February 2021

Different types of PM motors are finding applications substituting squirrel cage induction motors for its smooth control, energy efficient operations and high power density. Even though these motors are energy efficient, they are affected by ripples in the torque and cogging torque. Torque ripples are nothing but the oscillations leading to various mechanical issues like vibrations, rotor stress and noise. Factors like non sinusoidal distribution of flux, saturation, wrong selection of slots etc are creating ripples in developed torque. These ill effects are deteriorating PM motors performance in starting and steady state. Now a days reducing cogging torque and ripples in torque gained significance in the motor design. So in this work, various techniques to reduce ripples in torque and to reduce cogging torque of various PM motors has been investigated and reported.
Mathematical Model Approach for AC and DC Regulators Excitation Systems (ES)
Authors: Demeke Diresie Yirgu , Pattanaik Balachandra , Hussain Syed Masood , Abibual Abate , Sundaram Balanaidu
Published: February 2021

Balancing equations for excitation system is very basic and fundamental concept and in some cases it becomes more difficult so that a mathematical treatment is needed in order to make it easy for AC and DC Regulators Excitation Systems (ES). This research paper mainly focuses on an excellent application of The power generating units and higher power motors are majority included by wound field synchronous machines because of it has flexible field excitation, flux intrinsic weakening capacity and high efficiency. It can be also used in low to medium power range for high end solutions in a wide range. This paper is analyzing a study of modern methods and technologies of excitation system for AC and DC regulators.
Design of Bidirectional Battery Charger for Electric Vehicle
Authors: Srinivasan M , Stonier Albert Alexander , Visalaxi G , Revanth M , Sanjeevkumar K , Sinduja B , Subiksha S
Published: February 2021

This paper proposes a design for the Bidirectional electric vehicle charger which is capable of doing both the Grid to Vehicle and Vehicle to Grid power transfer, and the interaction will be made through an automatic smart energy management system(EMS). A simple power electronics topology is used. The user can adjust the output of this charger by using the control signal provided by the controller. The simulation result obtained shows that it has an interaction between the charger and an Energy Management System(EMS) in a residence.
Hybrid PV-Wind System With Power Quality Improvement Using PV-DVR
Authors: Navinkumar T M , Aruljothi R , Srinivasan M. , Stonier Albert Alexander
Published: February 2021

Owing to the rapid growth of Renewable Energy Sources, Microgrid finds greater significance in satisfying consumer need in today’s world. However, the increased number of Distributed Energy Resources might introduce power quality issues in a grid connected microgrid system due to the intermittent nature of such natural resources and power electronic converters associated with their conversion. So as to compensate such power quality issues, this paper proposes a Custom Power Device (CPD) namely Photovoltaic -Dynamic Voltage Restorer (PV-DVR), which uses a PV as a source for the Battery Energy Storage System (BESS). A PMSG driven PV Microgrid system with a MPPT controller for maximum power extraction from PV source and a hysteresis controller for effective grid synchronization and lesser harmonic distortion is taken for analysis. The dynamic performance of the grid connected microgrid system with DVR is analyzed for various loads and different power quality issues like voltage sag/swell, harmonics, interruption etc. Wavelet Transform based switching controller is used to detect the power quality event occurring and operate the PV-DVR accordingly.
Investigation of low frequency fibre Bragg grating accelerometer based on thermoplastic cantilever beam
Authors: Hafizi Z M , Vorathin E
Published: February 2021

Vibration measurement technique is very important in structural integrity monitoring. Various fibre Bragg grating (FBG) based accelerometers have been developed for vibration measurement. However, most of the researchers focused on high frequency monitoring and only few reported works are based on low frequency measurement. Therefore, this paper presented a low frequency FBG accelerometer based on Polyphenylene Ether (PPE) thermoplastic cantilever beam. The proposed FBG accelerometer was attached to a shaker and vibration signals were given with variations in frequency and acceleration. As a result, the FBG accelerometer has a sensitivity of 110 pm/g and natural frequency of 9 Hz. The proposed accelerometer capable to detect low frequency of 2 Hz at 0.04 g which is suitable for utilisation in seismic monitoring of earthquake.
Effect of thread profile on bending strength of pedicle screw
Authors: Daud Rosdi , Kennedy S J , Mas Ayu H , Shah A
Published: February 2021

Current pedicle screw designs have not achieved strong bending strength due to varying bone density among patients. Osteoporosis further presents complications in screw fixation and instrumentation failure due patients having less dense bones. We conducted this study to investigate the effect of thread profile on the bending strength of pedicle screw. The study also focus on the bending performance comparison between single threaded and dual threaded pedicle screw via finite element method. The finite element analysis (FEA) was apply to investigate the effect of thread design on the bending strength of pedicle screw (dual threaded, double dual threaded and the dual lead dual threaded screw designs) under normal and osteoporotic bone conditions. The FEA results obtained show that the thread profile does influence the bending strength of a pedicle screw in normal and osteoporotic bones. The dual lead dual threaded pedicle screw showed an improvement of 1.88% in its deflection due to bending. While for the osteoporotic condition, the dual lead dual threaded pedicle screw showed an improvement of 32.3% in term of deflection. Thus, this finding have potential in assisting the optimum pedicle screw design in future although further investigation needed to support this finding.
A review on 3D printing bio-based polymer composite
Authors: Sandanamsamy L , Mogan J , Halim N A , Harun W S W , Kadirgama K , Ramasamy D
Published: February 2021

Polymers play a vital role in our daily lives. In various fields such as medical, food industry and automotive applications, the use of biopolymers is commonly used. The most widely used polymers and fillers among biopolymers are polylactic acid (PLA) and cellulose, which are biocompatible and biodegradable due to their eco-friendly properties. Extensive usage of cellulose in various forms has been applied in combination to PLA but there is only a few research that has been done by using the 3D printing method. This paper covers the types of biodegradable biopolymer materials, types of coupling agents and plasticizers, mechanical properties and applications. This paper discusses the types of cellulose ranging from micro to nano, including other types and sources of cellulose that have been researched and are compatible with PLA. In order to generate biocompatible polymers with stronger and better mechanical properties, the findings of these experiments are all tied together. These biopolymers are commonly used in the biomedical industry and are expected to improve their benefits in this field.
Smart solution for low humidity problems using automatic ultrasonic humidifier (AUH)
Authors: Sakib Md Nazmus , Hasan Sohel Md Mahmudul , Islam Shahanul , Islam Minarul
Published: February 2021

Humidity has a substantial impact on biological and environmental factors. Improper relative humidity (too high or very low) can create discomfort for individuals and affect several systems and apparatus. On the other hand, the correct type of humidifying machinery and functions may facilitate reliable, economic, and trouble-free control of moisture. Humidity in the winter region is always too low, which causes anxiety. This study aims to develop a microcontroller-based system to identify and eliminate such low humidity problems. A control system is implemented to generate air humidity according to the need to decide whether the unit is working. A wireless sensor was used to measure the room’s relative humidity and temperature. The Humidifier is activated whenever the relative humidity is less than that of the setting’s value according to the standard humidity value. A humidifier is developed using vaporizing ultrasound, which can still be considered the automatic ultrasonic Humidifier (AUH). The setting is suitable in the winter zone or where the relative humidity is below the standard comfort value. In this study, data were recorded in Khulna, Bangladesh, between April and May of 2018. Most of the sensor’s recorded values were greater than the standard comfort Relative humidity, so the Humidifier was disabled. Humidifier activated while the sensor recorded lower relative humidity value with comparison to the standard set value.
Influence of polymer coated aggregate on the aggregate impact and crushing value
Authors: Ahmad A F , Razali A R , Romlay F R M , Razelan I S M
Published: February 2021

Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) and latex belong to the family of the polymer. PET type of plastic bottle is the most commonly found in the household waste stream. Recycling this type of plastic into another form is the cheapest and the best way of recycling. However, this may not become a green waste management solution when energy is used to transform this plastic into another useable form. In this study, PET was used to discover the potential for improvement of asphalt mixture properties. This study examines the plastic waste used as an aggregate coating. PET plastic bottle was shredded and sieved to obtain size 0.425 to 0.075mm then was blended with hot aggregate to form a thin layer of plastic coating on the aggregate surface. The comparison between unmodified aggregate properties and modified properties was studied. 1%, 3%, 5%, 7%, 9%, 11%, 13% and 15% of plastic by weight of aggregate were used as aggregate coating. The aggregate impact value test (AIV) and aggregate crushing value test (ACV) were done on the plastic coated aggregate. The test result had shown an improvement in the properties of plastic coated aggregate. From the experiment results conducted on the PET and aggregate, we can conclude that the lowest percent of aggregate loss on the crushing value test is 16.34% when PET content is 9% while 8.00% when PET content is 13% for the impact value test. The lowest percent of aggregate loss for impact value is then compared with the percent loss of PET Latex coated aggregate. The presence of latex and PET has caused the strength of the aggregate to increase where the percentage loss value when performed impact test is very low that is can achieve 3.48%. The quality of flexible pavement can be improved when the surface of the aggregate is coated with the polymer.
Effect of the particle size of graphene oxide powders on the electrochemical performance of graphene-based supercapacitors
Authors: Lim TaeGyeong , Suk Ji Won
Published: February 2021

Graphene has been extensively investigated as an electrode material for high-performance supercapacitors due to its high electrical conductivity and large surface area. Because conventional graphene-based supercapacitors use reduced graphene oxide (rGO) in a powder form, the particle size can be one of the important factors affecting the supercapacitor performance. In this study, the effect of the particle size of graphene oxide (GO) powders was studied for the electrochemical performance of graphene-based supercapacitors. The GO powders with three different particle size distributions were used for the electrochemical tests after reducing the GO powders using simple microwave irradiation. The chemical characteristics and specific surface areas of the rGO powders synthesized by microwave irradiation (MWrGO) were nearly the same for all cases. However, the supercapacitor using the MWrGO powders with a medium size showed a higher specific capacitance (109.1 F g−1) with a lower internal resistance and efficient charge transfer. This work provides an effective method to enhance the electrochemical performance of the MWrGO powders.
Data-driven molecular design for discovery and synthesis of novel ligands: a case study on SARS-CoV-2
Authors: Born Jannis , Manica Matteo , Cadow Joris , Markert Greta , Mill Nil Adell , Filipavicius Modestas , Janakarajan Nikita , Cardinale Antonio , Laino Teodoro , Rodríguez Martínez María
Published: February 2021

Bridging systems biology and drug design, we propose a deep learning framework for de novo discovery of molecules tailored to bind with given protein targets. Our methodology is exemplified by the task of designing antiviral candidates to target SARS-CoV-2 related proteins. Crucially, our framework does not require fine-tuning for specific proteins but is demonstrated to generalize in proposing ligands with high predicted binding affinities against unseen targets. Coupling our framework with the automatic retrosynthesis prediction of IBM RXN for Chemistry, we demonstrate the feasibility of swift chemical synthesis of molecules with potential antiviral properties that were designed against a specific protein target. In particular, we synthesize an antiviral candidate designed against the host protein angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2); a surface receptor on human respiratory epithelial cells that facilitates SARS-CoV-2 cell entry through its spike glycoprotein.

This is achieved as follows. First, we train a multimodal ligand–protein binding affinity model on predicting affinities of bioactive compounds to target proteins and couple this model with pharmacological toxicity predictors. Exploiting this multi-objective as a reward function of a conditional molecular generator that consists of two variational autoencoders (VAE), our framework steers the generation toward regions of the chemical space with high-reward molecules. Specifically, we explore a challenging setting of generating ligands against unseen protein targets by performing a leave-one-out-cross-validation on 41 SARS-CoV-2-related target proteins. Using deep reinforcement learning, it is demonstrated that in 35 out of 41 cases, the generation is biased towards sampling binding ligands, with an average increase of 83% comparing to an unbiased VAE. The generated molecules exhibit favorable properties in terms of target binding affinity, selectivity and drug-likeness. We use molecular retrosynthetic models to provide a synthetic accessibility assessment of the best generated hit molecules. Finally, with this end-to-end framework, we synthesize 3-Bromobenzylamine, a potential inhibitor of the host ACE2 protein, solely based on the recommendations of a molecular retrosynthesis model and a synthesis protocol prediction model. We hope that our framework can contribute towards swift discovery of de novo molecules with desired pharmacological properties.
Designing TiO2 nanostructures through hydrothermal growth: influence of process parameters and substrate position
Authors: Dey Sutapa , Roy Somnath C
Published: February 2021

Synthesis conditions and processing parameters profoundly affect the growth and morphology of nanostructures. In particular, when nanostructures are fabricated through a chemical technique such as hydrothermal, the process parameters such as reaction time, temperature, precursor concentration, and substrate orientation play a crucial role in determining the structure-property relationships. In this work, we report the hydrothermal growth of Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanostructures as a function of these parameters and show that specific morphologies can be obtained by a variation of these parameters. A systematic study is carried out to understand the influence of reaction time (from 0.5 h to 3.0 h), reaction temperature (180 °C–200 °C), titanium precursor concentration (0.25 ml and 0.50 ml in 20 ml solution of HCl and deionized water) and substrate orientation (horizontal and tilted at an angle), and we show that significant variation in morphology- from nanowires to nanorods and then dandelions can be achieved. In particular, we demonstrate that high surface area multidirectional growth of nanorods leading to flower-like nanostructures or dandelions resulting from precipitation during the hydrothermal process. This is in contrast with previous reports on similar structures, where the role of precipitations was not analyzed. The work shows a possibility to control such growth by manipulating substrate position inside the autoclave during the hydrothermal process and will be useful for surface-dependent applications.
Suboptimal management of hypernatraemia in acute medical admissions
Authors: Brennan Michelle , Mulkerrin Lorcan , Wall Deirdre , O'Shea Paula M , Mulkerrin Eamon C
Published: February 2021

Background

Hypernatraemia arises commonly in acute general medical admissions. Affected patients have a guarded prognosis with high rates of morbidity and mortality. Age-related physiology and physical/cognitive barriers to accessing water predispose older patients to developing hypernatraemia. This study sought to perform a descriptive retrospective review of hypernatraemic patients admitted under acute general medicine teams.

Methods

A retrospective cross-sectional study of a sample of acute medical in-patients with serum[sodium]>145 mmol/L was conducted. Patients were exclusively older(>69 years) and admitted from Nursing homes (NH)(41%) and non-NH pathways(59%). A comparison of management of NH /non-NH patients including clinical presentation, comorbidities, laboratory values, [sodium] monitoring, intravenous fluid regimes and patient outcomes was performed.

Results

In total, 102 consecutive patients (males, n=69(67.6%)) were included. Dementia and reduced mobility were more common in NH residents and admission serum [Sodium] higher (148 vs 142 mmol/L/p=0.003). Monitoring was inadequate: no routine bloods within the first 12h in >80% of patients in both groups. No patient had calculated free water deficit documented. More NH patients received correct fluid management (60% vs 33%/p%0.015). Incorrect fluid regimes occurred in both groups (38% vs 58%/p=0.070). Length of stay in discharged patients was lower in NH, (8(4-20) vs 20.5(9.8-49.3 days)/p=0.003). Time to death for NH residents was shorter (9(5.5-11.5) vs 16 (10.25-23.5) days/p=0.011).

Conclusion

This study highlights suboptimal management of hypernatraemia. Implementation of hypernatraemia guidelines for general medical older inpatients are clearly required with mechanisms to confirm adherence. Health care workers require further education on diagnostic challenges of dehydration in older people and the importance of maintaining adequate hydration.
Life-Course Socioeconomic Status and Risk of Hospitalization for Heart Failure or Atrial Fibrillation in the Moli-sani Study Cohort
Authors: Bonaccio Marialaura , Di Castelnuovo Augusto , Costanzo Simona , De Curtis Amalia , Persichillo Mariarosaria , Cerletti Chiara , Donati Maria Benedetta , de Gaetano Giovanni , Iacoviello Licia , on behalf of the Moli-sani Study Investigators  
Published: February 2021

We investigated the association of cumulative socioeconomic disadvantage (CSD) and socioeconomic status (SES) trajectories across the life course with the risk of first hospitalization for heart failure (HF) or atrial fibrillation (AF) and tested some biological mechanisms to explain such associations. Longitudinal analysis was conducted of 21,756 people without HF or AF who were recruited for the Moli-sani Study (2005–2010; Italy) and followed up for 8.2 years. CSD was computed using childhood SES, education, and adulthood SES indicators, and the same were used to define overall trajectories. A high level of disadvantage across the life course (CSD ≥ 8) was associated with increased risk of HF (hazard ratio (HR) = 2.58, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.78, 3.74) or AF (HR = 1.57, 95% CI: 1.05, 2.33), as compared with lower CSD. All explanatory factors accounted for 18.5% and 24% of the excess of HF and AF risks, respectively, associated with CSD. For people with low childhood SES, advancements in education lowered their risk of HF (HR = 0.70, 95% CI: 0.48, 1.02) or AF (HR = 0.50, 95% CI: 0.28, 0.89), whereas achievements of adulthood SES were unlikely to contribute to disease reduction. In conclusion, a life-course–disadvantaged SES is an important predictor of first hospitalization for HF and AF; known risk factors partially explained the SES–disease gradient. Being in an upwardly mobile group is likely to mitigate the effect of poor childhood circumstances, especially through educational advancement.
A spatial-temporal gated attention module for molecular property prediction based on molecular geometry
Authors: Li Chunyan , Wang Jianmin , Niu Zhangming , Yao Junfeng , Zeng Xiangxiang
Published: February 2021

Motivation

Geometry-based properties and characteristics of drug molecules play an important role in drug development for virtual screening in computational chemistry. The 3D characteristics of molecules largely determine the properties of the drug and the binding characteristics of the target. However, most of the previous studies focused on 1D or 2D molecular descriptors while ignoring the 3D topological structure, thereby degrading the performance of molecule-related prediction. Because it is very time-consuming to use dynamics to simulate molecular 3D conformer, we aim to use machine learning to represent 3D molecules by using the generated 3D molecular coordinates from the 2D structure.

Results

We proposed Drug3D-Net, a novel deep neural network architecture based on the spatial geometric structure of molecules for predicting molecular properties. It is grid-based 3D convolutional neural network with spatial-temporal gated attention module, which can extract the geometric features for molecular prediction tasks in the process of convolution. The effectiveness of Drug3D-Net is verified on the public molecular datasets. Compared with other deep learning methods, Drug3D-Net shows superior performance in predicting molecular properties and biochemical activities.

Availability and implementation

https://github.com/anny0316/Drug3D-Net

Supplementary Data

Supplementary data are available online at https://academic.oup.com/bib.
E-MAGMA: an eQTL-informed method to identify risk genes using genome-wide association study summary statistics
Authors: Gerring Zachary F , Mina-Vargas Angela , Gamazon Eric R , Derks Eske M
Published: February 2021

Motivation

Genome-wide association studies have successfully identified multiple independent genetic loci that harbour variants associated with human traits and diseases, but the exact causal genes are largely unknown. Common genetic risk variants are enriched in non-protein-coding regions of the genome and often affect gene expression (expression quantitative trait loci, eQTL) in a tissue-specific manner. To address this challenge, we developed a methodological framework, E-MAGMA, which converts genome-wide association summary statistics into gene-level statistics by assigning risk variants to their putative genes based on tissue-specific eQTL information.

Results

We compared E-MAGMA to three eQTL informed gene-based approaches using simulated phenotype data. Phenotypes were simulated based on eQTL reference data using GCTA for all genes with at least one eQTL at chromosome 1. We performed 10 simulations per gene. The eQTL-h2 (i.e. the proportion of variation explained by the eQTLs) was set at 1%, 2% and 5%. We found E-MAGMA outperforms other gene-based approaches across a range of simulated parameters (e.g. the number of identified causal genes). When applied to genome-wide association summary statistics for five neuropsychiatric disorders, E-MAGMA identified more putative candidate causal genes compared to other eQTL-based approaches. By integrating tissue-specific eQTL information, these results show E-MAGMA will help to identify novel candidate causal genes from genome-wide association summary statistics and thereby improve the understanding of the biological basis of complex disorders.

Availability and implementation

A tutorial and input files are made available in a github repository: https://github.com/eskederks/eMAGMA-tutorial.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Abolishment of high-risk left lateral accessory pathway by myocardial infarction: a blessing in disguise? A case report
Authors: O’Brien Jim , Kozhuharov Nikola , Chin Shui Hao , Hall Mark
Published: February 2021

Background

Antegradely conducting left lateral accessory pathways are a risk for supraventricular tachycardias and pre-excited atrial fibrillation. Rarely, an anomalous coronary sinus can cause difficulty in locating the pathway. The left circumflex coronary artery and obtuse marginal branches supply the posterolateral left ventricle. We describe a case report of a high-risk accessory pathway associated with an anomalous coronary sinus which, between successive electrophysiology studies, was obliterated by a felicitous acute coronary syndrome in the left circumflex territory.

Case summary

A 49-year-old male with palpitations and manifest pre-excitation was referred for electrophysiology study. Initial study revealed a high-risk left lateral accessory pathway with antegrade effective refractory period of 240 ms and rapidly conducting pre-excited atrial fibrillation. The coronary sinus could not be cannulated to localize the pathway. Coronary angiography and cardiac computed tomography showed an anomalous coronary sinus emptying into the right atrial free wall and patent coronaries. While awaiting repeat electrophysiology study, the patient suffered an acute coronary syndrome with immediate loss of previously visible pre-excitation on electrocardiogram, and underwent stenting of an occluded marginal branch of the circumflex. Repeat electrophysiology study demonstrated a now low-risk accessory pathway (effective refractory period 390 ms). Since infarction, the patient’s palpitations have fully settled with all subsequent electrocardiograms devoid of manifest pre-excitation.

Discussion

Left lateral accessory pathways, which can associate with an anomalous coronary sinus, derive from tissue similar to normal ventricular myocardium and are vulnerable to ischaemic insults in the area subtended by the circumflex artery.
Association of the combined effects of air pollution and changes in physical activity with cardiovascular disease in young adults
Authors: Kim Seong Rae , Choi Seulggie , Kim Kyuwoong , Chang Jooyoung , Kim Sung Min , Cho Yoosun , Oh Yun Hwan , Lee Gyeongsil , Son Joung Sik , Kim Kyae Hyung , Park Sang Min
Published: February 2021

Aims

Little is known about the trade-off between the health benefits of physical activity (PA) and the potential harmful effects of increased exposure to air pollution during outdoor PA. We examined the association of the combined effects of air pollution and changes in PA with cardiovascular disease (CVD) in young adults.

Methods and results

This nationwide cohort study included 1 469 972 young adults aged 20–39 years. Air pollution exposure was estimated by the annual average cumulative level of particulate matter (PM). PA was calculated as minutes of metabolic equivalent tasks per week (MET-min/week) based on two consecutive health examinations from 2009 to 2012. Compared with the participants exposed to low-to-moderate levels of PM2.5 or PM10 who continuously engaged in ≥1000 MET-min/week of PA, those who decreased their PA from ≥1000 MET-min/week to 1–499 MET-min/week [PM10 adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) 1.22; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.00–1.48] and to 0 MET-min/week (physically inactive; PM10 aHR 1.38; 95% CI 1.07–1.78) had an increased risk of CVD (P for trend <0.01). Among participants exposed to high levels of PM2.5 or PM10, the risk of CVD was elevated with an increase in PA above 1000 MET-min/week.

Conclusion

Reducing PA may lead to subsequent elevation of CVD risk in young adults exposed to low-to-moderate levels of PM2.5 or PM10, whereas a large increase in PA in a high-pollution environment may adversely affect cardiovascular health.
A proteomic atlas of the neointima identifies novel druggable targets for preventive therapy
Authors: Wierer Michael , Werner Julia , Wobst Jana , Kastrati Adnan , Cepele Ganildo , Aherrahrou Redouane , Sager Hendrik B , Erdmann Jeanette , Dichgans Martin , Flockerzi Veit , Civelek Mete , Dietrich Alexander , Mann Matthias , Schunkert Heribert , Kessler Thorsten
Published: February 2021

Aims 

In-stent restenosis is a complication after coronary stenting associated with morbidity and mortality. Here, we sought to investigate the molecular processes underlying neointima formation and to identify new treatment and prevention targets.

Methods and results 

Neointima formation was induced by wire injury in mouse femoral arteries. High-accuracy proteomic measurement of single femoral arteries to a depth of about 5000 proteins revealed massive proteome remodelling, with more than half of all proteins exhibiting expression differences between injured and non-injured vessels. We observed major changes in the composition of the extracellular matrix and cell migration processes. Among the latter, we identified the classical transient receptor potential channel 6 (TRPC6) to drive neointima formation. While Trpc6  −/− mice presented reduced neointima formation compared to wild-type mice (1.44 ± 0.39 vs. 2.16 ± 0.48, P = 0.01), activating or repressing TRPC6 in human vascular smooth muscle cells resulted in increased [vehicle 156.9 ± 15.8 vs. 1-oleoyl-2-acetyl-sn-glycerol 179.1 ± 8.07 (103 pixels), P = 0.01] or decreased migratory capacity [vehicle 130.0 ± 26.1 vs. SAR7334 111.4 ± 38.0 (103 pixels), P = 0.04], respectively. In a cohort of individuals with angiographic follow-up (n = 3068, males: 69.9%, age: 59 ± 11 years, follow-up 217.1 ± 156.4 days), homozygous carriers of a common genetic variant associated with elevated TRPC6 expression were at increased risk of restenosis after coronary stenting (adjusted odds ratio 1.49, 95% confidence interval 1.08–2.05; P = 0.01).

Conclusions 

Our study provides a proteomic atlas of the healthy and injured arterial wall that can be used to define novel factors for therapeutic targeting. We present TRPC6 as an actionable target to prevent neointima formation secondary to vascular injury and stent implantation.
Serial assessment of biomarkers and the risk of stroke or systemic embolism and bleeding in patients with atrial fibrillation in the ENGAGE AF-TIMI 48 trial
Authors: Oyama Kazuma , Giugliano Robert P , Berg David D , Ruff Christian T , Jarolim Petr , Tang Minao , Murphy Sabina A , Lanz Hans J , Grosso Michael A , Antman Elliott M , Braunwald Eugene , Morrow David A
Published: February 2021

Aims

We investigated whether patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) demonstrate detectable changes in biomarkers including high-sensitivity troponin T (hsTnT), N-terminal B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), and growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) over 12 months and whether such changes from baseline to 12 months are associated with the subsequent risk of stroke or systemic embolic events (S/SEE) and bleeding.

Methods and results

ENGAGE AF-TIMI 48 was a randomized trial of the oral factor Xa inhibitor edoxaban in patients with AF and a CHADS2 score of ≥2. We performed a nested prospective biomarker study in 6308 patients, analysing hsTnT, NT-proBNP, and GDF-15 at baseline and 12 months. hsTnT was dynamic in 46.9% (≥2 ng/L change), NT-proBNP in 51.9% (≥200 pg/mL change), GDF-15 in 45.6% (≥300 pg/mL change) during 12 months. In a Cox regression model, upward changes in log2-transformed hsTnT and NT-proBNP were associated with increased risk of S/SEE [adjusted hazard ratio (adj-HR) 1.74; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.36–2.23 and adj-HR 1.27; 95% CI 1.07–1.50, respectively] and log2-transformed GDF-15 with bleeding (adj-HR 1.40; 95% CI 1.02–1.92). Reassessment of ABC-stroke (age, prior stroke/transient ischaemic attack, hsTnT, and NT-proBNP) and ABC-bleeding (age, prior bleeding, haemoglobin, hsTnT, and GDF-15) risk scores at 12 months accurately reclassified a significant proportion of patients compared with their baseline risk [net reclassification improvement (NRI) 0.50; 95% CI 0.36–0.65; NRI 0.42; 95% CI 0.33–0.51, respectively].

Conclusion

Serial assessment of hsTnT, NT-proBNP, and GDF-15 revealed that a substantial proportion of patients with AF had dynamic values. Greater increases in these biomarkers measured over 1 year are associated with important clinical outcomes in anticoagulated patients with AF.