bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Bojungikgi-tang improves skin barrier function and immune response in atopic dermatitis mice fed a low aryl hydrocarbon receptor ligand diet
Authors: Ahn You Mee , Shin Sarah , Jang Ji-hye , Jung Jeeyoun
Published: May 2023

Background: The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is an essential regulator of skin barrier function and a ligand-activated transcription factor that is highly active in the epidermis. The herbal medicine Bojungikgi-tang (BJIKT) has been reported to be effective against allergies and immune diseases, including atopic dermatitis (AD) in mice. However, the mechanisms underlying the effects of BJIKT on the skin barrier, AhR target signaling, and immune response in AD mice fed a low-AhR ligand diet are not well understood. The present study aimed to evaluate the role of the AhR ligand in skin inflammation using an AD-induced mouse model fed a low-AhR ligand diet (LowAhR + AD).
Methods: AD was induced with 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB), and BJIKT was administered orally daily for ten weeks. Serum IgE, splenocyte IL-4, and IFN-γ levels, skin barrier genes, and AhR target gene expressions were analyzed using RNA-sequencing analysis. Spleen tissues were extracted for fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis to analyze the effect of BJIKT on immune responses. A correlation analysis was conducted to analyze the correlation between immune markers and skin barrier genes and AhR target genes.
Results: BJIKT alleviated AD symptoms in AD mice and decreased the numbers of neutrophils and eosinophils, as well as the levels of IgE, IL-4, and IFN-γ in splenocytes. Additionally, BJIKT significantly reduced epithelial skin thickness and transepidermal water loss (TEWL) values and reversed the decreased expression of skin barrier genes. BJIKT also considerably altered the expression of AhR target genes, including Ahr, Ahrr, cytochrome P450 1A1 (CYP1A1), and CYP1B1. Furthermore, AhR target pathway genes were negatively correlated with immune cell subtypes, including CD4+ and CD8+ T cells and macrophages (CD11b + F4/80+) at the systemic level.
Conclusions: BJIKT can regulate AhR activation and may help reduce inflammation in AD by regulating the expression of skin barrier genes and immune responses. However, further studies on the effects of BJIKT on AD, BJIKT components, and the regulation of the AhR signaling pathway are required to more comprehensively reveal the underlying mechanisms. Keywords: BJIKT; low-AhR ligand diet; atopic dermatitis; skin barrier; inflammation; immune response
Survival of microorganisms during two-year exposure in outer space near the ISS
Authors: Deshevaya Elena A. , Fialkina Svetlana V. , Shubralova Elena V. , Tsygankov Oleg S. , Khamidullina Natalia M. , Vasilyak Leonid M. , Pecherkin Vladimir Ya. , Shcherbakova Viktoria A. , Nosovsky Andrey M. , Orlov Oleg I.
Published: May 2023

The results of the "Test" experiment on the study of the survival and variability of microorganisms in open space near the International Space Station are presented. It was found that after two years of exposure, spore-forming bacteria of the species Bacillus subtilis, fungi of the species Aurobasidium pullulans and archaea of the species Methanosarcina mazei S-6T, deposited on cotton wool, are able to survive, and their numbers decreased equally, regardless of whether the microorganisms belong to different taxonomic groups. Such duration of microorganism survival may be the result of their dehydration and partial lyophilization in the vacuum of near-Earth space. A study of the radiation resistance of the fungus species Aurobasidium pullulans after two-year stay in space revealed that resistance to gamma radiation increased in 30% of subcultures compared to the original culture. It was found that the response to the action of different concentrations of hydrogen peroxide and 1% chlorine in the control strain Aurobasidium pullulans VKM F-1116 is more pronounced than in the studied surviving strains on the ISS of a similar species.
Misinformation and COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance in Kampala, Uganda: A Comparison of Health Care Workers and the General Public
Authors: Atuheirwe Maxine , Richard Otim , Male Keneth Junior , Stella Ahimbisibwe , Sackey Joachim , Sande Obondo James
Published: May 2023

COVID-19 has greatly impacted communities worldwide, more so in developing countries. To successfully resolve the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccination coverage of more than 80% is required. However, this has been impacted by misinformation that has increased COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Limited studies have assessed the effect of COVID-19 misinformation on vaccine acceptance, especially in Africa. This assessed the current understanding of COVID-19 vaccination as well as the effect of circulating misinformation on vaccine uptake among healthcare workers (HCWs) versus the general public (GP) in Uganda.
Methods: This was a quantitative cross-sectional study conducted among HCWs and the GP in Kampala, Uganda. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data. A total of 564 participants were recruited, and of these, 311 were HCWs, and 253 were GP. Data were analyzed using frequency distributions and Chi-square tests. SPSS version 22.0 was used to conduct all study analyses.
Results: This study revealed that the proportion of vaccinated HCWs (77.4%) was significantly higher than that of vaccinated GP (64.4%, p= 0.010).
Nearly all study participants were aware of COVID-19 vaccines (96.7%). The study showed that the majority of the study participants (89.7%) were exposed to rumors about the unconfirmed bad COVID-19 vaccine side effects, and this information left the majority hesitant about getting vaccinated (81.1%) and not willing to take up the vaccines (55%). Conclusions: The study showed a negative impact of misinformation on vaccine uptake and could be the most significant contributor to vaccine hesitancy in future vaccine programs
First case of meningoencephalitis and bacteremia with Flavobacterium lindanitolerans
Authors: Zurbuchen Rebecca , de Roche Mirjam , Galimanis Aikaterini , Narr Kerstin , Dubuis Olivier , Resch Christiane , Ziaka Mairi
Published: May 2023

Purpose: Flavobacterium lindanitolerans is an environmental gram-negative, non-spore-forming rod which is usually not considered to be a human pathogen. Isolation from human clinical samples has been described only once. Herein, we report the first case of meningoencephalitis and bacteremia with Flavobacterium lindanitolerans.
Methods: Report of clinical, imaging, and laboratory findings, treatment considerations, and outcome.
Case description: A 76-year-old female presented herself with fever, headache, alteration of mental status, marked meningism, and dysarthria. Lumbar puncture demonstrated cerebrospinal fluid findings consistent with bacterial meningitis and a broad-spectrum antibiotic therapy was initiated. Blood and cerebrospinal fluid cultures revealed growth of Flavobacterium lindanitolerans. Based on antimicrobial susceptibilities testing antibiotic treatment was changed to levofloxacin, resulting in a remission of the clinical symptoms after 21 days of treatment.
Conclusion: Flavobacterium species are extremely rare human pathogens. However, some of them have been reported to cause opportunistic infections. We describe the first case of meningoencephalitis and bacteremia caused by Flavobacterium lindanitolerans which was effectively treated with levofloxacin for 21 days.
VG111, A novel formulation (VG111) demonstrating clinical evidence of anti-pathogenic activity and accelerated wound healing in humans and companion animals
Authors: Singhal Lipika , Kaushik Swati , Panda Rajendra Kumar , Malik Yashpal Singh , Verma Rahul K , Ghosh Deepa , Singh Navdeep , Kaur Paviter , Batra Priyam , Khare Siddhant , Thakur Vipul , Kumar Rajesh , Shekhar Nishant , Chakraborty Surajit , Bhattacharya Shalmoli , Singh Inderjeet , Vasisht Karan , Sharma Ashish , Singh Kanwar Arshjot , Gautam Vikas
Published: May 2023

VG111, a novel natural product formulation developed at PGIMER, Chandigarh is an attempt to meet the requirements of an ideal wound healing product. The present study demonstrates the efficacy of VG111 in antimicrobial assay, in tissue-regeneration,and in direct application-based wound healing. VG111 was able to kill major human pathogens, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Escherichia coli, carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB), while biofilm clearance was observed for Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14 and Stenotrophomonas sepilia. Scratch assay and cytokine estimation in VG111-treated RAW464.7 cell lines show that it enhances cell migration and limits host inflammatory response by lowering IL-6 and TNF-α levels. VG111 application in canine and human patients’ representative cases provides evidence of remarkable wound healing and improved recovery. In particular, its potential to treat aggravated wounds in diabetic patients without the need of administering additional antibiotics in patients on steroids and obviating the need of skin graft adds on to make this natural product formulation to be a game-changer in the segment.
EnDairy: An Ensemble Learning-based Framework for Efficient Dairy Product Identification
Authors: Wang Pengbo , Yan Junyi , Li Yilin , Zuo Enguang , Sun Xuan , Xu Yuzheng , Yan Ziwei , Lv Xiaoyi
Published: May 2023

Food safety has been a worldwide concern, and raw materials’ adulteration is oneof the significant factors contributing to this problem. Camel milk has high nutri-tional and economic value but faces adulteration problems. With time-consuming,poor stability, and low accuracy, the existing adulteration identification frame-works are limited applications. This paper proposes an efficient dairy adulterationidentification framework (EnDairy) based on an ensemble learning algorithmto solve these problems. Specifically, samples are identified by comparing theprobabilistic prediction values obtained and the optimal threshold by data pre-processing and weak learners iteration fusion into a strong learner. In this paper,we used a batch of camel milk data to verify the effectiveness of EnDairy in realscenarios. We tested its discriminative ability for data with missing values byfeature mask. The results show that EnDairy performs well; the AUC and Recallvalues are equal and 0.986 and 0.981 for the 10% and 20% feature mask treat-ments, respectively. The time taken by the identification model is only 0.637sand 0.648s. EnDairy ensures the accuracy of identification and effectively reducesthe economic and time costs, which can provide supportive information for camelmilk regulation, promote dairy product safety, and advance health for all.
Electroluminescence and hyperphosphorescence from stable blue Ir(III) carbene complexes with suppressed efficiency roll-off
Authors: CHI Yun , YAN Jie , Zhou Dong-Ying , Liao Liang-Sheng , Kuhn Martin , Zhou Xiuwen , Yiu Shek-Man
Published: May 2023

Efficient Förster energy transfer from a phosphorescent sensitizer to a thermally activated delayed fluorescent terminal emitter constitutes a potential solution for achieving superb blue emissive organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), which are urgently needed for high-performance displays. Herein, we report the design of four Ir(III) metal complexes, f-ct1a ‒ d, bearing functionalized imidazo[4,5-b]pyrazinylidene fragments that are supported by an aryl cyclometalate, a vertically arranged N-aryl appendage, and two peripheral tert-butyl substituents. These Ir(III) phosphors exhibit efficient true-blue emissions and a fast radiative decay lifetime. More importantly, they also undergo facile isomerization in the presence of catalysts (NaOAc and TsOH) at elevated temperature and, hence, allow for the mass production of either emitter by chromatographic separation, followed by thermal recycling of other isomers. One OLED device with doped f-ct1c shows a peak wavelength at 472 nm and a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 20.0%. Upon introduction of the terminal emitter ν-DABNA, the resulting hyper-OLED exhibits a true-blue color (CIEy = 0.11), a FWHM of 18 nm, a maximum EQE of 35.5% and a high EQE of 20.3% at 5000 cd m‒2, paving the way for innovative blue OLED technology.
Excellent survival in relapsed stage I testicular cancer
Authors: Speicher Philip , Fankhauser Christian D. , Lorch Anja , Ardizzone Davide , Helnwein Simon , Hoch Dennis , Hermanns Thomas , Beyer Jörg , Akhoundova Dilara
Published: May 2023

Background Two thirds of patients with germ-cell cancer (GCC) present as clinical stage I (CSI). Following orchiectomy, active surveillance (AS) has become their standard management. However, 15–50% of patients eventually relapse with metastatic disease after AS. Relapses need to be detected early in order to achieve cure and avoid overtreatment.Methods We retrospectively analyzed consecutive GCC patients treated at two Swiss academic centers between 2010 and 2020. Patients with stage IS and extragonadal primaries were excluded. We compared disease characteristics and survival outcomes of patients relapsed from initial CSI to patients with de novo metastatic disease. Primary endpoint was the IGCCCG category at the time of relapse. Main secondary endpoints were progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS).Results We identified 360 GCC patients with initial CSI and 245 de novo metastatic patients. After a median follow-up of 47 months, 81 of 360 (22.5%) CSI patients relapsed: 41 seminoma (Sem) and 40 non-seminoma (NSem) patients. All Sems relapsed in the IGCCCG good prognosis group. NSem relapsed with good 29/40 (72.5%) and intermediate 11/40 (27.5%) prognostic features; 95.1% of relapses occurred within five years post-orchiectomy. Only 3 relapsed NSem patients died from metastatic disease. Five-year OS for relapsed CSI patients was 100% for Sem and 87% (95% CI: 61–96%) for NSem patients; five-year PFS was 92% (95% CI: 77–97) and 78% (95% CI: 56–90) for Sem and NSem, respectively. When stratified by IGCCCG prognostic groups, good risk relapsed patients had a trend towards better OS and PFS as compared to de novo metastatic patients.Conclusions GCC patients who relapse after initial CSI can be detected early by active surveillance and have an excellent survival.
Canopy Velocity Models Recreate Variation in Zero Plane Displacement and Roughness Length for Momentum
Authors: Kunadi Ashvath Singh , Silberstein Richard , Thompson Sally E
Published: May 2023

Zero plane displacement length (d0) and roughness length for momentum (z0m), describe the aerodynamic characteristics of a land surface and govern its fluxes. Usually, d0 and z0m are assumed to be constants representing the physical characteristics of the surface, such as the canopy height or leaf area index. Prior evidence in the literature and our examination of OzFlux and Ameriflux sites data show that d0 and z0m variation occurs at sites with vegetated canopies, but is almost absent in a short-canopy grassland, and cannot be adequately explained by variations in wind or friction velocity. We hypothesize that in sites with vegetated canopies, variation in d0 and z0m arises from the canopy's response to the wind.
The hypothesis was developed by matching four analytical canopy velocity models to a logarithmic above-canopy velocity profile at canopy height. This generated d0 and z0m in terms of 2 non-dimensional terms, the canopy momentum absorption capacity (a parameter) and a (measurable) Peclet number. We tested the velocity profiles from Ozflux and Ameriflux sites. These tests produced estimates of canopy momentum absorption capacity which varied consistently with phenological changes in the canopies. Conversely, simple linear regression of d0 and z0m against wind speed and friction velocity generated fitting parameters that did not exhibit physically interpretable variations. The canopy velocity models were able better to much of the variations in d0 and z0m. This technique can be applied at any eddy covariance site where velocity is measured at the canopy height.
Demonstration of a roll-to-roll-configurable, all-solution-based progressive assembly of flexible transducer devices consisting of functional nanowires on micropatterned electrodes
Authors: Han Inhui , Song Jungkeun , Kim Kwangjun , Kim Hyein , Son Hyunji , Kim Minwook , Lee Useung , Choi Kwangjin , Ji Hojae , Lee Sung Ho , Kwak Moon Kyu , Ok Jong G.
Published: May 2023

We demonstrate continuous fabrication of flexible transducer devices consisting of interdigitated (IDT) Ag microelectrodes interconnected by ZnO nanowires (ZNWs), created via serially connected solution-processable micro- and nanofabrication processes. On an Ag layer obtainable from the mild thermal reduction of an ionic Ag ink coating, the roll-to-roll-driven photolithography process (termed photo roll lithography (PRL)) followed by wet-etching can be applied to continuously define the IDT microelectrode structure. Conformal ZNWs can then be grown selectively on the Ag electrodes to interconnect them via an Ag-mediated hydrothermal ZNW growth that does not require high-temperature seed sintering. Given that all of these constitutive processes are vacuum-free and solution-processable at a low temperature, and are compatible with continuous processing onto flexible substrates, they can be eventually configured into the roll-to-roll-processable progressive assembly. Through parametric optimizations of processes consisting of the roll-to-roll-configurable, solution-based progressive assembly of nanostructures (ROLSPAN), a flexible transducer consisting of ZNW-interconnected, PRL-ed IDT Ag electrodes can be developed. This flexible architecture faithfully performs UV sensing as well as optoelectronic transduction. The ROLSPAN concept along with its specific applicability to flexible devices may inspire many diverse functional systems requiring high-throughput low-temperature fabrication over large-area flexible substrates.
Objective Wearable Measures and Subjective Questionnaires for Predicting Response to Spinal Cord Stimulation Therapy in People with Chronic Pain
Authors: Heros Robert , Patterson Denis , Huygen Frank , Skaribas Ioannis , Schultz David , Wilson Derron , Fishman Michael , Falowski Steven , Moore Gregory , Kallewaard Jan Willem , Dehghan Soroursh , Kyani Anahita , Mansouri Misagh
Published: May 2023

Background: Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is a highly effective therapy for treating and management of refractory chronic pain. However, complex nature of pain and infrequent in-clinic visits, determining subject’s long-term response to the therapy remains difficult. Frequent measurement of pain in this population can help with early diagnosis, disease progression monitoring, and evaluating long-term therapeutic efficacy. This paper compares the utilization of the common subjective patient-reported outcomes with objective measures captured through a wearable device for predicting the response to SCS therapy.
Method: Data is from the ongoing international prospective post-market REALITY clinical study, which collects long-term patient-reported outcomes from 557 subjects and the sub-study designed for collecting additional wearables data on a subset of participants for up to six months after SCS implantation. We first implemented a combination of dimensionality reduction algorithms and correlation analyses to explore the mathematical relationships between objective wearable data and subjective patient-reported outcomes. We then developed machine learning models to predict SCS therapy outcome based on the subject’s response to NRS or PGIC.
Results: Principal component analysis results showed that psychological aspects of pain were closely associated with heart rate variability, while movement-related measures were closely associated with patient-reported outcomes related to physical function and social role participation. Our machine learning models using objective wearable data predicted both PGIC and NRS outcomes with high accuracy in the absence of subjective data. The prediction accuracy was higher for PGIC compared with the NRS using subjective-only measures primarily driven by the patient satisfaction feature. Similarly, the PGIC questions, reflects an overall change since the study onset and could be a better predictor of long-term therapy outcome.
Conclusions: The significance of this study is to introduce a novel use of wearable data collected from a subset of patients to capture multi-dimensional aspects of pain and compare the prediction power with the subjective data from a larger data set. The discovery of pain digital biomarkers could result in a better understanding of the patient’s response to therapy and their general well-being.
Incidence of birth defects in Hunan Province, China: an in-depth cross-analysis according to gender, residence, and maternal age
Authors: Zhou Xu , Cai Shenglan , Wang Hua , Fang Junqun , Gao Jie , Kuang Haiyan , Xie Donghua , He Jian , Wang Aihua
Published: May 2023

Objective There is some evidence that birth defects are related to maternal age, gender, and residence, but in-depth studies need to be included. To define the relationships between gender, residence, maternal age, and a broad range of birth defects, we examined surveillance data from the Birth Defects Surveillance System in Hunan Province.Methods Data were obtained from the Birth Defects Surveillance System in Hunan Province, China, 2010–2020. Incidences of birth defects (number of cases per 10000 fetuses (births and deaths at 28 weeks of gestation and beyond)) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated by residence, gender, maternal age, year, and 23 specific defects. Crude odds ratios (ORs) were calculated to examine the association of each maternal characteristic with birth defects.Results Our study included 1619376 fetuses, and 30596 fetuses had at least one birth defect diagnosis. The incidence of birth defects was 188.94/10000 (95%CI: 186.82-191.05). Birth defects were more frequent in males than females (210.46 vs. 163.03/10000, OR = 1.30, 95%CI: 1.27–1.33), in urban areas than rural areas (223.61 vs. 162.90/10000, OR = 1.38, 95%CI: 1.35–1.41), and in mothers ≥ 35 years old compared to mothers 25–29 years old (206.35 vs. 187.79/10000, OR = 1.10, 95%CI: 1.06–1.14). Cleft palates were more frequent in males, and nine specific defects were more frequent in females. Five specific defects were more frequent in rural areas, and eight were more frequent in urban areas. Compared to mothers 25–29 years old, five specific defects were more frequent in mothers < 20 years old, seven specific defects had higher incidences in mothers 20–24 years old, two specific defects had higher incidences in mothers 30–34 years old, and ten specific defects had higher incidences in mothers ≥ 35 years old.Conclusion Our data indicate that gender, residence, and maternal age differences in the incidences of birth defects and most specific defects are common. Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain these differences. Our study is of great significance for researchers attempting to identify novel risk factors for birth defects.
Outcomes of Transcatheter Mitral Valve Repair in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis – A Retrospective Study from the National Inpatient Sample Database
Authors: Abdelradi Amr , Pai Rima , Feher Cynthia , Sostin Oleg
Published: May 2023

Introduction: Transcatheter mitral valve repair (TMVR) with the MitraClip device is a widely performed procedure for both primary and secondary mitral regurgitation. Several studies have assessed outcomes of TMVR in subpopulations with different comorbidities. However, there is no data on the safety and outcomes of TMVR in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), which is a known independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis using data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) database from 2016-2019 to assess the outcomes of TMVR in patients with RA vs. without RA. Our primary outcome was in-hospital mortality following TMVR. Our secondary outcomes included the association of pre-specified comorbidities with in-hospital mortality and rates of post-procedural complications between RA vs. without RA groups.
Results: A total of 4,176 patients were included in analysis (85 with RA, 4091 without RA). Our results showed no significant difference in mortality between patients with versus without RA (OR 0.798, p = 0.825). Patients with underlying diabetes had significantly increased mortality following TMVR (OR 1.843, p = 0.027). Patients with underlying CABG had significantly lower mortality following TMVR (OR 0.439, p = 0.047). Multivariate regression analysis of in-hospital complications showed no significant difference in complications between the RA vs. without RA groups.
Conclusion: Our data shows no increased risk of in-hospital mortality or complications in patients with RA following TMVR.
In silico Analysis and Molecular Dynamic Modeling of Three-dimensional Structure of Glutelin type-B 5-like Proteins from Proso Millet: Effects of Temperature and Electric Field
Authors: Akharume Felix , Singh Ashutosh , Korotkov Konstantin , Adedeji Akinbode
Published: May 2023

This study determined the 3D structure of glutelin type-B 5-like (GTB) protein from proso millet using homology modeling and investigated the effects of simulated temperature and static electric field on its secondary structures, solvent accessibility surface area (SASA), the radius of gyration (Rg), root mean square deviation (RMSD), and total dipole moment. The result showed that the structure of GTB is majorly a protomer that comprises three monomers with one jelly-like β-barrel and two extended helix domains, and the remaining 35% as coils. Based on the molecular dynamic simulation, the secondary structure of the protein was not disrupted at temperatures between 300–400 K and static electric fields of between 0.1-3 V/nm, albeit the loss of a few amino acid residues. The RMSD increased significantly with an increase in temperature, static electric field, and simulation time. But the Rg and SASA decreased for the same conditions, suggesting that, the protein structure is compacting during thermal and electrical treatment.
Rep-Tracker: a lightweight tiny ball tracking method using structure re-parameterization
Authors: Wu Wenjia , Ren Lingfei , Yang Wenyuan
Published: May 2023

Vision-based object tracking techniques are used to analyze sport competition videos. The latest tennis tracking models achieve very high accuracy. However, high precision networks often imply higher computational complexity, which in turn brings higher hardware requirements. Also, part of the networks suffer from the problem of different degrees of adaptation to different courses. In this paper, a lightweight tiny ball tracking method is developed based on deep learning call Rep-Tracker, which incorporates the structure re-parameterization strategy on the basis of the pruned VGG-style model to construct a tennis tracking network. Firstly, the video frames will be sent into a pruned VGG-16 encoder follow by a decoder composed of deconvolution, and heatmap will be output after a softmax layer. Based on the encoder-decoder structure , pruning methods are used to reduce the number of non-essential convolutional layers and channels in the network. Secondly, residual connections are added at each layers to form a multi-branch block at training time. By using a structural re-parameterization strategy, each branch in a multi-branch block will be equivalently transformed into a shape consistent convolution. The trained blocks are convert into a single convolution layer for inference. Finally, based on the heatmap, the position of the target object is obtained by Gaussian distribution function 1 Springer Nature 2021 L A T E X template Article Title and Hough gradient function. In the tennis tracking task our method achieves a high accuracy with GFLOPs only 1.29 on RTX 3080 GPU.
A risk model based on the tumor infiltrating CD8+T cells correlated with the prognosis and therapy in bladder urothelial carcinoma
Authors: Xin Shiyong , Li Ruixin , Su Junjie , Cao Qiong , Wang Haojie , Wei Zhihao , Wang Chengliang , Zhang Chengdong , Zhang Jianguo
Published: May 2023

Background: With growing evidence that immune cells contribute greatly in tumor progression, identifying their role in tumor prognosis and therapy is crucial. Our aim is to comprehensively characterize tumor infiltration immune cells in BLCA and identify valuable immune cells and gene model related to prognosis and therapy in BLCA.
Methods: Firstly, after comparing the relationship between the abundance of infiltrating immune cells and prognosis, CD8+T cell was selected to establish the risk model, which was constructed based on five key genes(GNLY, LHFPL6, APOL6, LRP1, and UBA7). Then ROC curve was drawn to demonstrate the risk model own high prognosis predictive value in BLCA.
Results: Our results of correlation analysis showed that riskscore were negatively correlated with several steps of the tumor immune cycle, such as infiltration of tumor tissue T cells, and positively correlated with the fourth step of the cancer immune cycle. Furthermore, riskscore was negatively correlated with the expression of CD8,CD274,IFNG, Merck18, and several common immune checkpoint (TIGIT, CTLA4, HAVCR2 LAG3, PDCD). Moreover, tumor exclusion score and Tumor Immune Dysfunction and Exclusion (TIDE) score were higher in high-score group than that in low-score group. Importantly, riskscore was negatively correlated with the enrichment score of immunotherapy-related pathways, and the therapeutic benefit of low-score group was greater than that in high-score group. A total of 171 chemotherapy and targeted drugs were identified, of which the high-score group were more sensitive to 82 drugs and the low-score group were more sensitive to the other 89 drugs. Among the commonly used chemotherapy drugs for BLCA, such as cisplatin and doxorubicin, the IC50 in low-score group was smaller and more sensitive. Subsequently, immunohistochemistry was used to make a verification on the risk model. Finally, we explored the relationship between APOL6 expression and clinicopathological characteristics and found that the expression of APOL6 was positively correlated with tumor grade.
Conclusions: Our results confirmed that the tumor infiltration CD8+T cells played a crucial role in the prognosis and therapy of BLCA,which may provide us a new inspiration and direction in prognosic prediction and therapy of bladder cancer in future.
Anti-Ro52 antibody is a risk factor for depression and anxiety in patients with connective tissue diseases
Authors: Yang Leilei , Wang Xiaoqin , Kang Haiyan , Gu Bingjie , Ren Qijie , Su Dinglei , Shen Minning
Published: May 2023

The risk of mental disorders such as depression and anxiety is increased in connective tissue diseases (CTDs). However, little is known about whether this risk is related to autoantibodies. We conducted an observational, single-center, cross-sectional study to investigate the correlation of depression and anxiety with the presence of autoantibodies in patients with CTDs. Three hundred and fifty-two inpatients with CTDs were recruited and their demographic, serological and imaging data were collected through the medical record system. Depression and anxiety were assessed by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 Scale (GAD-7) respectively. Analysis of variance (ANOVA), rank sum test, chi-square test and logistic regression were performed to investigate risk factors for depression and anxiety. The prevalence of depression (PHQ-9 ≥ 5) and anxiety (GAD-7 ≥ 5) in CTD patients was significantly higher than that in the Chinese general population (depression: 44.3% vs 32.2%, anxiety: 39.5% vs 22.2%). Sleep time was a protective factor for both depression and anxiety (OR = 0.719, 95% CI: 0.605 ~ 0.856, P = 0.0002 and OR = 0.639, 95% CI: 0.528 ~ 0.773, P < 0.0001, respectively) while anti-Ro52 antibody was a risk factor for them (OR = 5.545, 95% CI: 3.053 ~ 10.074, P < 0.001 and OR = 5.642, 95% CI: 3.071 ~ 10.363, P < 0.0001, respectively). Further analysis showed that anti-Ro52 antibody was a risk factor for depression and anxiety in all four subgroups, namely SLE, SS, RA, and other CTDs. CTD patients with the presence of anti-Ro52 antibody are more prone to depression and anxiety than those without it.
NFFNet : An Encoder-Decoder Net for Crack Detection based on Noise Filtering Fusion
Authors: Xie Yonghua , Zhuo Annan , Chen Ya , Bai Yong
Published: May 2023

Crack detection is a challenging and critical task for building collapse prevention. Cracks show weakcharacteristic and is easily interfered by noises such as spalling defects and grinding defects. Many seg-mentation methods improve the detection accuracy through fusing the encoder and decoder features.However, the encoder features contain spatial noises in low-level convolution layers and channel noisesin high-level convolution layers. Fusing these noisy encoder features and decoder features directly hasadverse impact on detection. To solve this problem, we design a noise filtering fusion module whichfilters the noises in encoder features and fuses the optimized encoder features with decoder features.The noise filtering fusion module consists of the channel and spatial noise filtering fusion module. Thenoise filtering fusion module is embedded in the improved encoder-decoder structure to constitute anend-to-end convolutional neural network, NFFNet. Experimental results on three crack datasets showthat the proposed method can effectively reduce the impact of the image noises, and the detectionperformance is superior to the othe
Early-onset familial essential tremor is associated with nucleotide expansions of spinocerebellar ataxia in China
Authors: Zheng Zhilin , Zhu Zeyu , Pu Jiali , Zhou Chen , Cao Lanxiao , Lv Dayao , Lu Jinyu , Zhao Gaohua , Chen Yanxing , Tian Jun , Yin Xinzhen , Zhang Baorong , Yan Yaping , Zhao Guohua
Published: May 2023

BackgroundEssential tremor (ET) is a neurological disease characterized by action tremor in upper arms. Although its high heritability and prevalence worldwide, its etiology and association with other diseases are still unknown.MethodWe investigated 10 common spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs), including SCA1, SCA2, SCA3, SCA6, SCA7, SCA8, SCA12, SCA17, SCA36, dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy (DRPLA) in 92 early-onset familial ET pedigrees in China collected from 2016 to 2022.ResultWe found one SCA12 proband carried 51 CAG repeats withinPPP2R2Bgene and one SCA3 proband with intermediate CAG repeats (55) withATXN3gene. The other 90 ET probands all had normal repeat expansions.ConclusionTremor can be the initial phenotype of certain SCA and it is necessary to screen SCAs in ET patients, especially in early-onset and familial patients.
Protective effect of phage pSal-4 on chicken intestinal epithelial cells injured by Salmonella Enteritidis
Authors: Xie Ziqiang , Lv Xingbang , Zhong Cuihong , Wang Fangfang , Zhang Yongying , Li Yue , Huang Yangling , Liu Guanhui , Shi Yuxiang
Published: May 2023

Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) is one of the most important pathogens posing a huge threat to the poultry industry, bacteriophages are used as an alternative antibiotic product for the treatment of SE due to their specific bactericidal effect and safety. This study aimd to investigate the protective effect of bacteriophage against SE infection of chicken intestinal epithelial cells. Chicken intestinal epithelial cells were treated with different concentrations of bacterial suspension, and cell damage was assessed by measuring the changes of cell viability and observation by transmission electron microscopy. In the phage protection experiment, the phages were co-incubated with SE for 2, 4, and 6 h, the adhesion rate and invasion rate of bacteria and gene transcription levels of Occludin, Claudin-1, ZO-1, NF-κB p65, TNF-α and IL-6 in cells were determined. The results showed that the transcription level of immune factor gene in chicken small intestinal epithelial cells was significantly decreased, and the transcription level of tight junction protein gene was significantly increased. Phages could decrease the infection of bacteria to chicken intestinal epithelial cells. Furthermore, phages were able to alleviate inflammation and barrier integrity disruption inflicted by bacteria in the co-culture. Based on these observations, phages seemed to be promising candidates for the prevention and treatment of gastrointestinal bacterial infections.
GIP receptor agonism improves dyslipidemia and atherosclerosis independently of body weight loss in preclinical mouse model for cardio-metabolic disease
Authors: Sachs Stephan , Götz Anna , Finan Brian , Feuchtinger Annette , DiMarchi Richard D. , Döring Yvonne , Weber Christian , Tschöp Matthias H. , Müller Timo D. , Hofmann Susanna M.
Published: May 2023

Background Agonism at the receptor for the glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIPR) is a key component of the novel unimolecular GIPR:GLP-1R co-agonists, which are among the most promising drugs in clinical development for the treatment of obesity and type 2 diabetes. The therapeutic effect of chronic GIPR agonism to treat dyslipidemia and thus to reduce the cardiovascular disease risk independently of body weight loss has not been explored yet.Methods After 8 weeks on western diet, LDL receptor knockout (LDLR-/-) male mice were treated with daily subcutaneous injections of long-acting acylated GIP analog (acyl-GIP; 10nmol/kg body weight) for 28 days. Body weight, food intake, whole-body composition were monitored throughout the study. Fasting blood glucose and intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test (ipGTT) were determined on day 21 of the study. Circulating lipid levels, lipoprotein profiles and atherosclerotic lesion size was assessed at the end of the study. Acyl-GIP effects on fat depots were determined by histology and transcriptomics.Results Herein we found that treatment with acyl-GIP reduced dyslipidemia and atherogenesis in male LDLR-/- mice. Acyl-GIP administration resulted in smaller adipocytes within the inguinal fat depot and RNAseq analysis of the latter revealed that acyl-GIP may improve dyslipidemia by directly modulating lipid metabolism in this fat depot.Conclusions This study identified an unanticipated efficacy of chronic GIPR agonism to improve dyslipidemia and cardiovascular disease independently of body weight loss, indicating that treatment with acyl-GIP may be a novel approach to alleviate cardiometabolic disease.
Long-term effects of a 1940s nitrogen and phosphorus fertilization experiment on diatoms from Cache Lake (Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada)
Authors: Christopher A.T. Wilkins , Kathleen M. Ruhland , Andrew M. Paterson , John P. Smol
Published: May 2023

Cache Lake, an ultra-oligotrophic Precambrian Shield lake located in Algonquin Provincial Park (Ontario, Canada), was manipulated in the summers of 1946 and 1947 when approximately 9.4 tons (cumulatively) of 12-24-12 (nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium) fertilizer was added to promote plankton growth and the possible enhancement of fish populations. Little is known about the long-term impacts of this lake manipulation, nor the effects of previous disturbances such as logging in the late-1800s, increased tourism following the extension of the Grand Trunk Railway to Cache Lake in 1896, limited cottage development starting ca. 1905, and subsequent construction of Highway 60 in the 1930s. We used a diatom-based paleolimnological approach to track limnological changes during the past ~ 200 years. Prior to the 1940s, assemblage changes were minimal, although small increases in, for example, Aulacoseira ambigua, likely tracked modest nutrient inputs from historical watershed disturbances. The most striking change was an increase in planktonic Fragilaria tenera in tandem with the near extirpation of the previously abundant Discostella stelligera from the sediment record that was concurrent with the 1946–1947 lake fertilization experiment. Although other lake sediment archives in the region record increases in D. stelligera with limnological changes linked to recent climate warming, this taxon never recovered to pre-disturbance abundances in Cache Lake following nutrient enrichment, but continued to be replaced by other planktonic taxa, also linked to recent warming (e.g. F. tenera, Asterionella formosa). The 1940s experimental fertilization has left a long-term legacy on Cache Lake diatoms, despite its return to ultra-oligotrophic conditions.
Transformation of a Vortex Cosine-hyperbolic-Gaussian Beam by an Airy Transform Optical System
Authors: Yaalou M. , Hricha Z. , Belafhal A.
Published: May 2023

The present paper investigates the Airy transformation of a vortex cosine-hyperbolic-Gaussian beam (vChGB). The analytical expression for this beam passing through an Airy Transform Optical System is derived in detail based on the Huygens-Fresnel integral. It is demonstrated that the Airy transform vChGB is a superposition of Airy and Airy prime modes. Numerical results show that the output beam is Airy-like with a central vortex, and its intensity distribution can be controlled by adjusting the initial vChGB parameters and control factors of the Airy Transform. The obtained results could be beneficial for the applications of Airy-related beams.
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT BY INTEGRITY AND SAFETY – MAIS METHOD A Comprehensive Approach to Evaluating the Integrity and Safety of Reinforced Concrete Structures
Authors: OLIVEIRA Ana Luiza , PANTOJA João , VARUM Humberto , PRADO Sara , MORAIS Rafael
Published: May 2023

The assessment of an existing structure is a complex activity that requires a realistic overview of the materials involved, the acting loads, environmental aggressiveness, and other factors in order to describe the correct functioning and adequately predict the level of structural safety. This paper proposes a probabilistic methodology that couples reliability analysis to a structural inspection and evaluation process: the Method of Assessment by Integrity and Safety - MAIS Method. The MAIS Method is an innovative approach used to quantify the integrity of existing buildings in reinforced concrete by identifying pathologies that may compromise their structural safety. This method is distinguished by its ease of applicability, which considers uncertainties in the data and, with parameterized inputs, facilitates the collection of variables required for the analysis. The approach streamlines the assessment process, integrating the two fundamental aspects of evaluating a structure: the identification of degradation phenomena and the assessment of the structure's resistance. The method employs probability theory to offer more accurate results, making it more reliable. The MAIS Method was applied to a building in the Asa Sul neighborhood of Brasilia, and with the aid of a risk matrix, was modeled to visualize the reliability of each element of the building. As a result, the structure presented a "medium-high" risk. Therefore, the MAIS Method presented a very satisfactory and consistent result with reality, assertive, being the kick-start of what can be a great contribution to the structural evaluation of assets and properties and it has enormous potential for application and collaboration in the field of structural assessment.
The mental health of younger adults after relief of the zero-COVID prevention policy in China: a cross-sectional study
Authors: Zhang Haihong , Xiong Min , Xie Nan , Zou Liqun
Published: May 2023

Background With the relief of the zero-COVID prevention policy in China, great changes in the COVID-19 pandemic took place. Against this backdrop, we aimed to investigate the impact of this policy shift on the mental health of younger adults in China.Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted using an online questionnaire survey between January 1st and February 28th, 2023. The survey aimed to estimate the prevalence of sleep quality, anxiety, and depression among participants aged 18-45years old. Pearson's correlation analysis was used to explore the relationships between these variables. Logistic regression analyses were used to identify factors associated with anxiety and depression.Results We collected the data from 992 persons in the final analysis. The estimated prevalence of poor sleep quality, anxiety, and depression was 71.4%, 11.1%, and 57.5% respectively. Poor sleep quality was positively correlated with both anxiety and depression. Between the two sleep quality groups, variables that showed significant differences included gender, marital status, education, comorbidity, occupation, COVID-19 healthcare work, and infection status (p < 0.05), but not fertility(p = 0.099).In the logistic regression analyses, divorce(or widow)(OR 4.115, 95%CI:1.361–12.441, p = 0.012),comorbidity(OR 1.879, 95%CI: 1.088–3.245,p = 0.024), and poor sleep quality(OR 13.417, 95%CI:4.189–42.97, p < 0.001) were identified as independent factors for anxiety. Bachelor's degree (OR 0.598, 95% CI: 0.373–0.959, p = 0.033), postgraduate or above degree (OR 0.555, 95%CI: 0.316–0.975, p = 0.041) and poor sleep quality (OR 2.438, 95%CI: 1.814–3.276, p < 0.001) were identified as independent factors for depression.Conclusions Under the new social environment, younger adults showed serious mental health problems, especially poor sleep quality and depression. Divorce (or widow), comorbidity, and poor sleep quality contribute to anxiety. Poor sleep quality was the risk factor for depression, while a bachelor’s or above degree served as a protective factor.
Microvascular endothelial function assessed using peripheral arterial tonometry in adolescents with repaired congenital heart disease
Authors: Odanaka Yutaka , Kishi Kanta , Takigiku Kiyohiro , Ashida Atsuko , Ozaki Noriyasu , Ashida Akira
Published: May 2023

Atherosclerosis can develop in adult patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) and should be given attention. Endothelial function is well known as a predictor of the development of atherosclerosis but has not been well investigated in patients with repaired CHD. This study aimed to clarify the endothelial function and its relationship with clinical backgrounds and parameters in adolescents with various types of repaired CHD. Endothelial function was evaluated using peripheral arterial tonometry (PAT). The reactive hyperemia index (RHI) was evaluated and compared between adolescents with repaired CHD and those in the control group. The relationship between the clinical background and parameters was also investigated in patients with repaired CHD. Forty-eight patients with repaired CHD (age 14.0 ± 3.3 years) and 114 healthy volunteers were included in this study. The patients with repaired CHD comprised 16 with repaired non-cyanotic CHD, 14 with repaired tetralogy of Fallot, and 18 who underwent Fontan procedure. RHI in the repaired CHD group was significantly lower than in the control group. There was no significant correlation between the RHI and biochemical blood markers, such as uric acid, creatine, and brain natriuretic peptide levels. The RHI was significantly higher in patients taking angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) than in those who did not. Endothelial function was impaired in adolescents with repaired CHD compared to that in the control group. Microvascular endothelial dysfunction developed even in adolescents with simple non-cyanotic CHD.