bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Trends in Infectious Diseases: A Retrospective 5-year Study
Authors: de Figueiredo Inês Rego , Ferrão Joana Branco , Dias Sara , Alves Rita Vieira , Taulaigo Anna , Ferraz Mário , Castro Sara Guerreiro , Antunes Ana Margarida , Mihon Claudia , Llado Ana , Heidi Gruner Heidi , Panarra António
Published: February 2022

Background: Although hospital admission is frequently due to the exacerbation of chronic diseases, most often it is caused by an underlying infectious process. Patients often have several admissions per year, making them at risk for recurrent infections, increased morbidity, and the emergence of resistant strains of microorganisms.

Methods: This is a retrospective, descriptive study of all patients with an infectious disease diagnosis, who were admitted to the medical ward of a tertiary hospital during a 5-year period. Information was collected from electronic medical files regarding gender, age, autonomy, comorbidities, primary diagnosis, in-hospital length of stay, and mortality as well as microbiological data surveillance.

Results: A total of 355 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Amongst the sample analysed, the average age was 78.10±12.47 years. Of the patients, 57.2% (203) were female, with most patients considered as dependent according to Katz score. The average Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) score was 6.28±2.74, increasing with age. The main diagnostic categories were respiratory (191 patients: 137 with pneumonia and 49 with acute bronchitis) and urinary tract (138 patients: 69 with pyelonephritis and 66 with cystitis). Urinary tract infections were more frequent in females and in dependent patients. Only 37.8% of infections had a microbiologic isolate: Escherichia coli (28.4%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (12.7%), and Klebsiella pneumoniae (8.2%). The overall mortality was 6.77%.

Conclusions: The frequent in-hospital admission due to infectious diseases makes it imperative to characterise and follow-up on evolution of the disease itself in order to better know the characteristics of community-acquired diseases, establish routes of transmission and outbreak identification, microbiology patterns, and resistance towards further improving empiric therapy.
Vigilancia epidemiológica y evaluación del impacto en salud por exposición ocupacional y ambiental a mercurio en los departamentos de la zona de la Mojana, Colombia, 2014 - 2015
Authors: Díaz Sonia Mireya , Muñoz María Nathalia
Published: February 2022

Introducción: el uso no tecnificado de mercurio en la minería artesanal de oro es un problema que está originando contaminación ambiental y paralelamente un problema de salud pública por la exposición de la población.
Objetivos: identificar las características demográficas y sociales de la población en estudio, determinar los niveles de mercurio en muestras biológicas (orina, sangre y cabello) en población expuesta ambiental y ocupacionalmente a este metal y en muestras ambientales (agua y pescado) en los municipios priorizados e identificar los factores de riesgo presentes.
Metodología: estudio descriptivo transversal, en el que se determinaron los niveles de mercurio en muestras biológicas de 1226 personas (cabello, sangre, orina) y ambientales (agua 57 muestras, pescado 50 muestras).
Resultados: los síntomas más reportados fueron los del sistema nervioso central (insomnio, nerviosismo, temblor, depresión y pérdida de memoria).La media de los niveles de mercurio en las tres matrices supe- ro los límites admisibles a excepción del departamento de Bolívar que presentó niveles por debajo del límite en la matriz sangre. Especies como el bagre, moncholo, mojarra, doncella y blanquillo presentaron niveles por encima del límite permisible, mientras que en las muestras de agua no se obtuvieron niveles.
Conclusión. La problemática de salud generada por el uso de mercurio en la minería artesanal para la ex- tracción de oro es un problema muy serio para la salud pública, por lo que es necesario fortalecer las acciones de reducción de mercurio expuestas en el plan de eliminación.
Drepanocitosis en Colombia: análisis de la notificación como enfermedad huérfana o rara al sistema de vigilancia en salud pública, 2016 y 2017
Authors: Misnaza Castrillón Sandra Patricia
Published: February 2022

Introducción: La drepanocitosis está ocasionada por un defecto en la hemoglobina que se hereda de manera autosómica recesiva. El gen está ampliamente difundido en África y fue trasladado a América por el comercio de esclavos.
Objetivo: describir la incidencia, prevalencia y distribución geográfica de los casos de drepanocitosis a partir de la vigilancia rutinaria de enfermedades huérfanas en Colombia durante 2016 y 2017.
Métodos: Estudio descriptivo. Universo: 3.805 casos notificados de enfermedades huérfanas. Población de estudio: 195 casos notificados como drepanocitosis. Plan de análisis: cálculo de frecuencias, medidas de tendencia central y proporciones de incidencia y prevalencia. Los denominadores para las proporciones de prevalencia e incidencia fueron las proyecciones DANE 2016 y 2017.
Resultados: 35 casos se notificaron en el año 2016 y 160 durante 2017. La prevalencia reportada por sexo durante 2017 fue de 0,33 en mujeres y de 0,32 en hombres. La mayor prevalencia por edad se presentó en población de 10 a 14 años. La prevalencia nacional fue de 0,07 por 100.000 personas en 2016 y de 0,32 en 2017. La prevalencia más alta se presentó en 2016, en Valle del Cauca, y en 2017 en Buenaventura. La incidencia nacional fue de 0,01 por 100.000 personas en 2016 y de 0,03 en 2017. La mayor incidencia se presentó en Buenaventura.
Conclusión: La notificación de drepanocitosis ha aumentado a partir del segundo año de vigilancia. Se ha notificado en mayor proporción en el sexo femenino, adolescentes y personas residentes en la costa pacífica. Es más prevalente en el Valle del Cauca y en Buenaventura.
Health and Well-being in Graduate School: Preventing Burnout
Authors: Benson Thomas , Boyes Christina
Published: February 2022

Health and well-being constitute critical components of graduate students’ success and potential issues like burnout, chronic stress, depression, fatigue, and imposter syndrome threaten to undermine such success. In turn, this chapter provides strategies on how students can manage their health and well-being, including advice for those who are already struggling and those seeking to prevent these issues arising. This manuscript is part of Strategies for Navigating Graduate School and Beyond, a forthcoming volume for those interested in pursuing graduate education in political science (Fall 2022 publication).
The Culture of Overwork in the Discipline of Political Science
Authors: Benson Thomas
Published: February 2022

This chapter offers insights and resources into the culture of overwork in the discipline and how prospective and current political science graduate students can navigate the challenges associated with this culture. Advice is provided for students at different stages and for those with different identities. This manuscript is part of Strategies for Navigating Graduate School and Beyond, a forthcoming volume for those interested in pursuing graduate education in political science (Fall 2022 publication).
Negative or Positive? Loading Area Dependent Correlation Between Friction and Normal Load in Structural Superlubricity
Authors: Wang Kehan , Wang Jin , Ma Ming
Published: February 2022

Structural superlubricity (SSL), a state of ultra-low friction between two solid contacts, is a fascinating phenomenon in modern tribology. With extensive molecular dynamics simulations, for systems showing SSL, here we discover two different dependences between friction and normal load by varying the size of the loading area. The essence behind the observations stems from the coupling between the normal load and the edge effect of SSL systems. Keeping normal load constant, we find that by reducing the loading area, the friction can be reduced by more than 65% compared to the large loading area cases. Based on the discoveries, a theoretical model is proposed to describe the correlation between the size of the loading area and friction. Our results reveal the importance of loading conditions in the friction of systems showing SSL, and provide an effective way to reduce and control friction.
Quantification of Fractional Dynamical Stability of EEG Signals as a Bio-Marker for Cognitive Motor Control
Authors: Reed Emily A. , Bogdan Paul , Pequito Sérgio
Published: February 2022

Assessing the stability of biological system models has aided in uncovering a plethora of new insights in genetics, neuroscience, and medicine. In this paper, we focus on analyzing the stability of neurological signals, including electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. Interestingly, spatiotemporal discrete-time linear fractional-order systems (DTLFOS) have been shown to accurately and efficiently represent a variety of neurological and physiological signals. Here, we leverage the conditions for stability of DTLFOS to assess a real-world EEG data set. By analyzing the stability of EEG signals during movement and rest tasks, we provide evidence of the usefulness of the quantification of stability as a bio-marker for cognitive motor control.
Interval Prediction of the Permeability of Granite Bodies in a High-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Site Using LSTM-RNNs and Probability Distribution
Authors: Pei Nisong , Wu Yong , Su Rui , Li Xueling , Wu Zhenghao , Li Renhai , Yin Heng
Published: February 2022

During long-term geological tectonic processes, multiple fractures are often developed in the rock mass of high-level radioactive waste disposal sites, which provide channels for release of radioactive material or radionuclides. Studies on the permeability of fractured rock masses are essential for the selection and evaluation of geological disposal sites. With traditional methods, observation and operation of fractured rock mass penetration is time-consuming and costly. However, it is possible to improve the process using new methods. Based on the penetration characteristics of fractured rock mass, and using machine learning techniques, this study has created a prediction model of the fractured rock mass permeability based on select physical and mechanical parameters. Using the correlation coefficients developed by Pearson, Spearman, and Kendall, the proposed framework was first used to analyze the correlation between the physical and mechanical parameters and permeability and determine the model input parameters. Then, a comparison model was created for permeability prediction using four different machine-learning algorithms. The algorithm hyper-parameters are determined by a ten-fold cross-validation. Finally, the permeability interval prediction values are obtained by comparing and selecting the prediction results and probability distribution density function. Overall, the computational results indicate the framework proposed in this paper outperforms the other benchmarking machine learning algorithms through case studies in Beishan District, Gansu, China.
Experimental and Simulative Investigations on a Water Immersion Cooling System for Cylindrical Battery Cells
Authors: Luo Mingyun , Cao Jiahao , Liu Ninghui , Zhang Zhengguo , Fang Xiaoming
Published: February 2022

High charge/discharge rates and high energy density require a greater cooling power and a more compact structure for battery thermal management systems. The Immersion cooling (direct liquid cooling) system reduces the thermal resistance between the cooling medium and the battery and greatly enhances the cooling effect of the system. However, the high viscosity and low specific heat capacity of dielectric fluid limit the cooling effect of immersion cooling. This study presents an immersion cooling system that uses water as the cooling medium. In this system, a special seal structure was designed to prevent contact between water and the battery’s electrodes. The cooling effect of the system on the battery pack was numerically studied. Even if the battery pack is discharged at 3 C rate, a small water flow rate (200 ml/min) can ensure that the maximum temperature of the battery pack falls below 50°C. However, a good cooling capacity will increase the temperature difference of the battery pack. The temperature difference of the battery pack is difficult to reduce to 5°C until the water flow rate exceeds 1,000 ml/min. Adding a buffer structure at the inlet/outlet can be reduced the negative effects of the turbulent flow and then improve the temperature uniformity of the battery pack. These findings provide a better understanding of the influencing factors of the water immersion cooling system and can help to design a better immersion cooling system.
A Comprehensive Evaluation of the Existing Approaches for Controlling and Managing the Proliferation of Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes): Review
Authors: Karouach Fadoua , Ben Bakrim Widad , Ezzariai Amine , Sobeh Mansour , Kibret Mulugeta , Yasri Abdelaziz , Hafidi Mohamed , Kouisni Lamfeddal
Published: February 2022

The proliferation of the invasive Water hyacinth (WH) plant leads to ecological, economic, public health, and agricultural problems. Several efforts have been deployed to control its spread, but no concreate results have been obtained. Only few studies dealing with systematic approaches for the WH control have been conducted. To establish a road map for the best control methods to be adopted, this review highlights the control programs that have been tested worldwide and describes, through a deep literature analysis and comparison, the most effective and sustainable control programs for managing the proliferation of this aquatic weed. Through a critical analysis, this review evaluates the advantages and drawbacks of the main proposed control methods including biological, chemical and physical methods. The obtained results suggested that short and medium term physical control promptly manages the plant’s proliferation and thus could complement the effect of the biological control. Moreover, to be economically viable, the harvested WH through physical means must be valorized to generate high value-added products. Furthermore, run-off nutrients control could reduce the end-of-catchment loads and would help the resilience of freshwater bodies and promote plant removal. Descriptive results analysis confirmed that an integrated control approach combining “biological and physical’’ is the most sustainable and cost-effective approach. The adaptation of these methods based on the socio-economic context of each country, could promote ecosystem restoration, self-generation, and conservation for a sustainable development.
Burden Imposed by Heterologous Protein Production in Two Major Industrial Yeast Cell Factories: Identifying Sources and Mitigation Strategies
Authors: Kastberg Louise La Barbera , Ard Ryan , Jensen Michael Krogh , Workman Christopher T.
Published: February 2022

Production of heterologous proteins, especially biopharmaceuticals and industrial enzymes, in living cell factories consumes cellular resources. Such resources are reallocated from normal cellular processes toward production of the heterologous protein that is often of no benefit to the host cell. This competition for resources is a burden to host cells, has a negative impact on cell fitness, and may consequently trigger stress responses. Importantly, this often causes a reduction in final protein titers. Engineering strategies to generate more burden resilient production strains offer sustainable opportunities to increase production and profitability for this growing billion-dollar global industry. We review recently reported impacts of burden derived from resource competition in two commonly used protein-producing yeast cell factories: Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Komagataella phaffii (syn. Pichia pastoris). We dissect possible sources of burden in these organisms, from aspects related to genetic engineering to protein translation and export of soluble protein. We also summarize advances as well as challenges for cell factory design to mitigate burden and increase overall heterologous protein production from metabolic engineering, systems biology, and synthetic biology perspectives. Lastly, future profiling and engineering strategies are highlighted that may lead to constructing robust burden-resistant cell factories. This includes incorporation of systems-level data into mathematical models for rational design and engineering dynamical regulation circuits in production strains.
Identification of Potential Candidate Genes From Co-Expression Module Analysis During Preadipocyte Differentiation in Landrace Pig
Authors: Zhao Xitong , Liu Huatao , Pan Yongjie , Liu Yibing , Zhang Fengxia , Ao Hong , Zhang Jibin , Xing Kai , Wang Chuduan
Published: February 2022

Preadipocyte differentiation plays an important role in lipid deposition and affects fattening efficiency in pigs. In the present study, preadipocytes isolated from the subcutaneous adipose tissue of three Landrace piglets were induced into mature adipocytes in vitro. Gene clusters associated with fat deposition were investigated using RNA sequencing data at four time points during preadipocyte differentiation. Twenty-seven co-expression modules were subsequently constructed using weighted gene co-expression network analysis. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analyses revealed three modules (blue, magenta, and brown) as being the most critical during preadipocyte differentiation. Based on these data and our previous differentially expressed gene analysis, angiopoietin-like 4 (ANGPTL4) was identified as a key regulator of preadipocyte differentiation and lipid metabolism. After inhibition of ANGPTL4, the expression of adipogenesis-related genes was reduced, except for that of lipoprotein lipase (LPL), which was negatively regulated by ANGPTL4 during preadipocyte differentiation. Our findings provide a new perspective to understand the mechanism of fat deposition.
Periodontal Infection Aggravates C1q-Mediated Microglial Activation and Synapse Pruning in Alzheimer’s Mice
Authors: Hao Xiaoxiao , Li Zhaofei , Li Wei , Katz Jannet , Michalek Suzanne M. , Barnum Scott R. , Pozzo-Miller Lucas , Saito Takashi , Saido Takaomi C. , Wang Qin , Roberson Erik D. , Zhang Ping
Published: February 2022

Periodontitis is a dysbiotic infectious disease that leads to the destruction of tooth supporting tissues. There is increasing evidence that periodontitis may affect the development and severity of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, the mechanism(s) by which periodontal infection impacts the neurodegenerative process in AD remains unclear. In the present study, using an amyloid precursor protein (APP) knock-in (App KI) AD mouse model, we showed that oral infection with Porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg), a keystone pathogen of periodontitis, worsened behavioral and cognitive impairment and accelerated amyloid beta (Aβ) accumulation in AD mice, thus unquestionably and significantly aggravating AD. We also provide new evidence that the neuroinflammatory status established by AD, is greatly complicated by periodontal infection and the consequential entry of Pg into the brain via Aβ-primed microglial activation, and that Pg-induced brain overactivation of complement C1q is critical for periodontitis-associated acceleration of AD progression by amplifying microglial activation, neuroinflammation, and tagging synapses for microglial engulfment. Our study renders support for the importance of periodontal infection in the innate immune regulation of AD and the possibility of targeting microbial etiology and periodontal treatment to ameliorate the clinical manifestation of AD and lower AD prevalence.
Properties of Additive-Manufactured Open Porous Titanium Structures for Patient-Specific Load-Bearing Implants
Authors: Zumofen Livia , Kopanska Katarzyna S. , Bono Epifania , Kirchheim Andreas , De Haller Emmanuel B. , Graf-Hausner Ursula
Published: February 2022

Additive manufacturing has been well established in many sectors, including the medical industry. For load-bearing bone implants, titanium and its alloys, such as Ti6Al4V, are widely used due to their high strength to weight ratio and osseointegrative properties. However, bone resorption and loosening of implants is related to the significantly higher stiffness of dense Ti6Al4V, leading to stress shielding. With the aging of population, there is an increasing need for orthopedic implants with a high success rate and a long implant life span. Besides that the treatment of non-healing segmental bone defects, where the self-repairing properties of bone tissue are not sufficient, is still a challenge. In both fields of application, patient-specific titanium implants combined with functionally graded porosity designed according to locally expected loads unlock new possibilities. Many studies underline the huge potential of the new design freedom to generate open porous structures and more personalized implants with enhanced mechanical properties that also integrate well with surrounding tissues. Integration of functionally graded open porosity into implants allows for the implant to more closely mimic the mechanical properties of human bone and its internal architecture. The results of this work represent the basis for developing complex porous titanium structures with various pore sizes and shapes to tailor structural mechanical properties and biological responses. Therefore, 3D porous structures with various pore sizes and shapes were designed and manufactured in Ti6Al4V using laser powder bed fusion (PBF-LB/M). Based on these structures, the correlation of pore size and shape with cell ingrowth, morphology, metabolic activity, and early markers for bone formation (ALP activity) was investigated in static cell cultures using the osteosarcoma cell line Saos-2. Mechanical properties, such as stiffness and compression strength, were investigated with compression testing. The present study concludes that cell morphology, metabolic activity, and ALP activity are widely independent of pore shape and size within the tested range of 400–700 µm pore size. Furthermore, the mechanical properties of the evaluated structures were in the range of cortical and trabecular bone. This opens the possibility to design mechanical properties with gradient porosity without decisively affecting biological responses.
The Trimeric Autotransporter Adhesin YadA of Yersinia enterocolitica Serotype O:9 Binds Glycan Moieties
Authors: Meuskens Ina , Leva-Bueno Juan , Millner Paul , Schütz Monika , Peyman Sally A. , Linke Dirk
Published: February 2022

Yersinia adhesin A (YadA) is a key virulence factor of Yersinia enterocolitica and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis. YadA is a trimeric autotransporter adhesin, a class of adhesins that have been shown to enable many Gram-negative pathogens to adhere to/interact with the host extracellular matrix proteins such as collagen, vitronectin, and fibronectin. Here, we show for the first time that YadA of Yersinia enterocolitica serotype O:9 not only interacts with proteinaceous surface molecules but can also attach directly to glycan moieties. We show that YadA from Y. enterocolitica serotype O:9 does not interact with the vitronectin protein itself but exclusively with its N-linked glycans. We also show that YadA can target other glycan moieties as found in heparin, for example. So far, little is known about specific interactions between bacterial autotransporter adhesins and glycans. This could potentially lead to new antimicrobial treatment strategies, as well as diagnostic applications.
Probiotic Potential of Lactobacillus Strains Isolated From Fermented Vegetables in Shaanxi, China
Authors: Liu Chen , Xue Wen-jiao , Ding Hao , An Chao , Ma Sai-jian , Liu Yao
Published: February 2022

The objective of this study was to assess in vitro probiotic potential of Lactobacillus strains derived from artisanal fermented vegetables in Shaanxi, China. In total, 74 acid-producing Gram-positive strains with rod-shaped under the microscope were isolated from 16 samples of spontaneously fermented vegetables. Out of 74 strains, 26 showed high survival rate under low pH and high bile salts conditions and were subjected to molecular identification by 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis. The results showed that 15 isolates belonged to Lactobacillus plantarum, 9 isolates belonged to Lactobacillus brevis, and the 2 remaining strains belonged to Weissella viridescens. The 24 Lactobacillus strains were investigated for their survival rate to transit simulated gastrointestinal tract, cell surface hydrophobicity, auto-aggregation, co-aggregation with pathogen, adhesion to Caco-2, antimicrobial activity, antibiotics susceptibility, radical scavenging ability, α-glucosidase inhibition, and the cholesterol assimilation. The results showed that the probiotic characteristics were strain-dependent, and several strains exhibited great probiotic potential with specific health benefits, which indicated that they might be excellent candidates for production of functional foods. Interestingly, it was first found that L. plantarum generally had higher antibacterial activities, α-glucosidase inhibition ability, and antibiotics susceptibility compared to L. brevis in this study. The results indicated that Lactobacillus strains isolated from fermented vegetables in Shaanxi, China, could be exploited as a promising novel probiotic source.
Occurrence, Diversity, and Character of Bacillaceae in the Solid Fermentation Process of Strong Aromatic Liquors
Authors: Tong Wenhua , He Ping , Yang Ying , Qiao Zongwei , Huang Dan , Luo Huibo , Feng Xinjun
Published: February 2022

Strong aromatic liquors, also known as strong aromatic Baijiu (SAB) in China, are manufactured by solid fermentation, with a multi-microbe mixing and cooperative fermentation process that uses Daqu as a brewing starter. Bacillaceae have a specific action in food fermentation, such as soybean and wine, and more recent studies have found Bacillaceae play important roles in the SAB making industry. This review describes the diversity, functionality, and influence of Bacillaceae in Daqu, pit mud, Zaopei, Huangshui within making processes of SAB. Furthermore, aromatic flavor components from the Bacillaceae metabolism of SAB are discussed in this review. Ultimately, the resulting improvements and deeper understanding will benefit practical efforts to apply representatives of Bacillaceae in improving the quality of SAB as well as biological control of the micro-ecological environment of brewing.
How Many Gammas? Redefining Hippocampal Theta-Gamma Dynamic During Spatial Learning
Authors: Aguilera Matthieu , Douchamps Vincent , Battaglia Demian , Goutagny Romain
Published: February 2022

The hippocampal formation is one of the brain systems in which the functional roles of coordinated oscillations in information representation and communication are better studied. Within this circuit, neuronal oscillations are conceived as a mechanism to precisely coordinate upstream and downstream neuronal ensembles, underlying dynamic exchange of information. Within a global reference framework provided by theta (θ) oscillations, different gamma-frequency (γ) carriers would temporally segregate information originating from different sources, thereby allowing networks to disambiguate convergent inputs. Two γ sub-bands were thus defined according to their frequency (slow γ, 30–80 Hz; medium γ, 60–120 Hz) and differential power distribution across CA1 dendritic layers. According to this prevalent model, layer-specific γ oscillations in CA1 would reliably identify the temporal dynamics of afferent inputs and may therefore aid in identifying specific memory processes (encoding for medium γ vs. retrieval for slow γ). However, this influential view, derived from time-averages of either specific γ sub-bands or different projection methods, might not capture the complexity of CA1 θ-γ interactions. Recent studies investigating γ oscillations at the θ cycle timescale have revealed a more dynamic and diverse landscape of θ-γ motifs, with many θ cycles containing multiple γ bouts of various frequencies. To properly capture the hippocampal oscillatory complexity, we have argued in this review that we should consider the entirety of the data and its multidimensional complexity. This will call for a revision of the actual model and will require the use of new tools allowing the description of individual γ bouts in their full complexity.
Mitochondrial Dynamics and Mitochondria-Lysosome Contacts in Neurogenetic Diseases
Authors: Pijuan Jordi , Cantarero Lara , Natera-de Benito Daniel , Altimir Arola , Altisent-Huguet Anna , Díaz-Osorio Yaiza , Carrera-García Laura , Expósito-Escudero Jessica , Ortez Carlos , Nascimento Andrés , Hoenicka Janet , Palau Francesc
Published: February 2022

Mitochondrial network is constantly in a dynamic and regulated balance of fusion and fission processes, which is known as mitochondrial dynamics. Mitochondria make physical contacts with almost every other membrane in the cell thus impacting cellular functions. Mutations in mitochondrial dynamics genes are known to cause neurogenetic diseases. To better understand the consequences on the cellular phenotype and pathophysiology of neurogenetic diseases associated with defective mitochondrial dynamics, we have compared the fibroblasts phenotypes of (i) patients carrying pathogenic variants in genes involved in mitochondrial dynamics such as DRP1 (also known as DNM1L), GDAP1, OPA1, and MFN2, and (ii) patients carrying mutated genes that their dysfunction affects mitochondria or induces a mitochondrial phenotype, but that are not directly involved in mitochondrial dynamic network, such as FXN (encoding frataxin, located in the mitochondrial matrix), MED13 (hyperfission phenotype), and CHKB (enlarged mitochondria phenotype). We identified mitochondrial network alterations in all patients’ fibroblasts except for CHKBQ198*/Q198*. Functionally, all fibroblasts showed mitochondrial oxidative stress, without membrane potential abnormalities. The lysosomal area and distribution were abnormal in GDAP1W67L/W67L, DRP1K75E/+, OPA1F570L/+, and FXNR165C/GAA fibroblasts. These lysosomal alterations correlated with mitochondria-lysosome membrane contact sites (MCSs) defects in GDAP1W67L/W67L exclusively. The study of mitochondrial contacts in all samples further revealed a significant decrease in MFN2R104W/+ fibroblasts. GDAP1 and MFN2 are outer mitochondrial membrane (OMM) proteins and both are related to Charcot-Marie Tooth neuropathy. Here we identified their constitutive interaction as well as MFN2 interaction with LAMP-1. Therefore MFN2 is a new mitochondria-lysosome MCSs protein. Interestingly, GDAP1W67L/W67L and MFN2R104W/+ fibroblasts carry pathogenic changes that occur in their catalytic domains thus suggesting a functional role of GDAP1 and MFN2 in mitochondria–lysosome MCSs. Finally, we observed starvation-induced autophagy alterations in DRP1K75E/+, GDAP1W67L/W67L, OPA1F570L/+, MFN2R104W/+, and CHKBQ198*/Q198* fibroblasts. These genes are related to mitochondrial membrane structure or lipid composition, which would associate the OMM with starvation-induced autophagy. In conclusion, the study of mitochondrial dynamics and mitochondria-lysosome axis in a group of patients with different neurogenetic diseases has deciphered common and unique cellular phenotypes of degrading and non-degrading pathways that shed light on pathophysiological events, new biomarkers and pharmacological targets for these disorders.
Are They Still Friends? Friendship Stability of Adolescents With Chronic Pain: 1-Year Follow-Up
Authors: Forgeron Paula A. , Dick Bruce D. , Chambers Christine , Cohen Janice , Lamontagne Christine , Finley Gordon Allen
Published: February 2022

Most adolescents identify their best friend as their main source of social support. Adolescents with chronic pain (ACP) report the loss of friendships due to pain. Friendships protect against loneliness and depression, yet adolescents with pain experience increased levels of loneliness and depression compared to peers. This longitudinal study examines the friendship stability of dyads that included an adolescent with chronic pain compared to non-pain friendship dyads as well as the factors contributing to a friendship breakup. Eighty-three participants from 61 same-sex friendship dyads across 3 sites participated in a 1-year follow-up survey designed to capture friendship features, indices of social-emotional well-being, pain characteristics, and friendship stability. Chi-square, repeated measures ANOVA, and logistic regression were used to analyze the data. Dyads that included an ACP experienced higher rates of friendship breakup. The shorter length of friendship and having chronic pain predicted a friendship breakup at time 2. ACP continues to experience worse scores on indices of social-emotional well-being that are not predicted with a friendship breakup. Understanding what contributes to positive long-term friendships for those with pain may inform strategies to maintain and improve friendships for those with pain and who experience social challenges.
Deletion of Wild-type p53 Facilitates Bone Metastatic Function by Blocking the AIP4 Mediated Ligand-Induced Degradation of CXCR4
Authors: Li Qiji , Wang Min , Zeng Leli , Guo Wei , Xu Yuandong , Li Chenxin , Lai Yingrong , Ye Liping , Peng Xinsheng
Published: February 2022

Background: Management of patients with prostate cancer and bone metastatic disease remains a major clinical challenge. Loss or mutation of p53 has been identified to be involved in the tumor progression and metastasis. Nevertheless, direct evidence of a specific role for wild-type p53 (wt-p53) in bone metastasis and the mechanism by which this function is mediated in prostate cancer remain obscure.

Methods: The expression and protein levels of wt-53, AIP4, and CXCR4 in prostate cancer cells and clinical specimens were assessed by real-time PCR, immunohistochemistry and western blot analysis. The role of wt-p53 in suppressing aggressive and metastatic tumor phenotypes was assessed using in vitro transwell chemotaxis, wound healing, and competitive colocalization assays. Furthermore, whether p53 deletion facilitates prostate cancer bone-metastatic capacity was explored using an in vivo bone-metastatic model. The mechanistic model of wt-p53 in regulating gene expression was further explored by a luciferase reporter assay and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay.

Results: Our findings revealed that wt-p53 suppressed the prostate cancer cell migration rate, chemotaxis and attachment toward the osteoblasts in vitro. The bone-metastatic model showed that deletion of wt-p53 remarkably increased prostate cancer bone-metastatic capacity in vivo. Mechanistically, wt-p53 could induce the ligand-induced degradation of the chemokine receptor CXCR4 by transcriptionally upregulating the expression of ubiquitin ligase AIP4. Treatment with the CXCR4 inhibitor AMD3100 or transduction of the AIP4 plasmid abrogated the pro-bone metastasis effects of TP53 deletion.

Conclusion: Wt-p53 suppresses the metastasis of prostate cancer cells to bones by regulating the CXCR4/CXCL12 activity in the tumor cells/bone marrow microenvironment interactions. Our findings suggest that targeting the wt-p53/AIP4/CXCR4 axis might be a promising therapeutic strategy to manage prostate cancer bone metastasis.
Characterization Method for Particle Extraction From Raw-Reconstructed Images Using U-Net
Authors: Hao Zhitao , Li Wei-Na , Hou Bowen , Su Ping , Ma Jianshe
Published: February 2022

Digital holographic imaging can capture a volume of a particle field and reconstruct three-dimensional (3D) information of the volume from a two-dimensional (2D) hologram. However, it experiences a DC term, twin-images, defocus images of other particles and noise induced by the optical system. We propose the use of a U-net model to extract in-focus particles and encode the in-focus particles as squares at ground truth z. Meanwhile, zero-order images, twin-images, defocused images of other particle and noise induced by the optical system are filtered out. The central coordinate of the square represents the lateral position of the particle, and the side length of the square represents the particle diameter. The 2D raw-reconstructed images generated from the pre-processed hologram by utilizing backward Fresnel propagation serve as the input of the network. A dense block is designed and added to the encoder and decoder of the traditional U-net model. Each layer takes the inputs from all previous layers and passes the feature maps to all subsequent layers, thereby facilitating full characterization of the particles. The results show that the proposed U-net model can extract overlapping particles along the z-axis well, allowing the detection of dense particles. The use of that squares characterize particles makes it more convenient to obtain particle parameters.
Relaxation, Percolation, and Non-Spontaneous Fluctuation of Linguistic Behavior in a Quasi-Isolated System
Authors: Tilsen Sam
Published: February 2022

Linguistic behaviors arise from strongly interacting, non-equilibrium systems. There is a wide range of spatial and temporal scales that are relevant for the analysis of speech. This makes it challenging to study language from a physical perspective. This paper reports on a longitudinal experiment designed to address some of the challenges. Linguistic and social preference behavior were observed in an ad-hoc social network over time. Eight people participated in weekly sessions for 10 weeks, playing a total of 535 map-navigation games. Analyses of the degree of order in social and linguistic behaviors revealed a global relaxation toward more ordered states. Fluctuations in linguistic behavior were associated with social preferences and with individual interactions.
Phylogeny, Age, and Evolution of Tribe Lilieae (Liliaceae) Based on Whole Plastid Genomes
Authors: Li Juan , Cai Jing , Qin Huan-Huan , Price Megan , Zhang Zhen , Yu Yan , Xie Deng-Feng , He Xing-Jin , Zhou Song-Dong , Gao Xin-Fen
Published: February 2022

Tribe Lilieae, encompassing Lilium, Notholirion, Cardiocrinum, and Fritillaria, includes economically important crops with a horticultural and medicinal value. It is considered to be a core lineage of Liliaceae, but phylogenetic relationships within it, and the timing of the origin of individual clades, remain incompletely resolved. To address these issues, we reconstructed the evolutionary history of the tribe. We sequenced 45 Liliaceae plastomes and combined them with publicly available data (for a total of 139 plastomes) to explore the systematics, origin, divergence, and evolution of Lilieae. Our taxon sampling covers all ten sections of Lilium, all Cardiocrinum species, three Notholirion species, and major phylogenetic clades of Fritillaria. Our phylogenetic analysis confirms the monophyly of major sections/subgenera of Lilium and Fritillaria with strong support. We dated the origin of Lilieae to the Eocene, with genera and species radiations inferred to have occurred in the Miocene. The reconstruction of the ancestral area implies that Lilieae may have originated from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP): the Himalayas and Hengduan Mountains and uplifting of the QTP likely promoted divergence within the tribe. Ancestral-state reconstructions of the bulb component number (including bulblets and scales) show a strong correlation with the genus-level phylogenetic diversity in Lilieae. They also predict that the most recent common ancestor of Lilieae had bulbs with numerous bulblets. Based on these observations, we predicted that climatic oscillations associated with the QTP uplift played an important role in the evolution of the Lilieae bulb. Our findings provide a well-supported picture of evolutionary relationships and a useful framework for understanding the pathway of bulb evolution within Lilieae, contributing to a better understanding of the evolutionary history of lilies.
Effects of COVID-19 on Multilingual Communication
Authors: Pilgun Maria , Raskhodchikov Aleksei N. , Koreneva Antonova Olga
Published: February 2022

The paper presents the results of a study on the analysis of the perception of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by Spanish-, German- and Russian-speaking social media actors after the emergence of vaccines and attitudes toward vaccination. The empirical base of the study was corpus data, materials from online media, social networks, microblogging, blogs, instant messengers, forums, reviews, and video hosting data. The Spanish-language database included 6,640,912 tokens and 43,251,900 characters; the German-language database included 16,322,042 tokens and 109,139,405 characters; and the Russian-language database included 16,310,307 tokens and 109,060,935 characters. With a neural network approach, a multilingual analysis was performed, which made it possible to analyze the topic structure and the semantic network with the allocation of the semantic core and the associative network. Differential and integral features of the identified structures based on the material of these three databases made it possible to determine the general and different characteristics of the perception by Spanish-, German-, and Russian-speaking users of the development of the pandemic, a number of social problems, attitudes toward various types of vaccines, observance of preventive measures, and readiness for vaccination.
Research on Chinese Consumers’ Attitudes Analysis of Big-Data Driven Price Discrimination Based on Machine Learning
Authors: Wang Jun , Shu Tao , Zhao Wenjin , Zhou Jixian
Published: February 2022

From the end of 2018 in China, the Big-data Driven Price Discrimination (BDPD) of online consumption raised public debate on social media. To study the consumers’ attitude about the BDPD, this study constructed a semantic recognition frame to deconstruct the Affection-Behavior-Cognition (ABC) consumer attitude theory using machine learning models inclusive of the Labeled Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), and Snow Natural Language Processing (NLP), based on social media comments text dataset. Similar to the questionnaires published results, this article verified that 61% of consumers expressed negative sentiment toward BDPD in general. Differently, on a finer scale, this study further measured the negative sentiments that differ significantly among different topics. The measurement results show that the topics “Regular Customers Priced High” (69%) and “Usage Intention” (67%) occupy the top two places of negative sentiment among consumers, and the topic “Precision Marketing” (42%) is at the bottom. Moreover, semantic recognition results that 49% of consumers’ comments involve multiple topics, indicating that consumers have a pretty clear cognition of the complex status of the BDPD. Importantly, this study found some topics that had not been focused on in previous studies, such as more than 8% of consumers calling for government and legal departments to regulate BDPD behavior, which indicates that quite enough consumers are losing confidence in the self-discipline of the platform enterprises. Another interesting result is that consumers who pursue solutions to the BDPD belong to two mutually exclusive groups: government protection and self-protection. The significance of this study is that it reminds the e-commerce platforms to pay attention to the potential harm for consumers’ psychology while bringing additional profits through the BDPD. Otherwise, the negative consumer attitudes may cause damage to brand image, business reputation, and the sustainable development of the platforms themselves. It also provides the government supervision departments an advanced analysis method reference for more effective administration to protect social fairness.
Balancing Collective Exploration and Exploitation in Multi-Agent and Multi-Robot Systems: A Review
Authors: Kwa Hian Lee , Leong Kit Jabez , Bouffanais Roland
Published: February 2022

Multi-agent systems and multi-robot systems have been recognized as unique solutions to complex dynamic tasks distributed in space. Their effectiveness in accomplishing these tasks rests upon the design of cooperative control strategies, which is acknowledged to be challenging and nontrivial. In particular, the effectiveness of these strategies has been shown to be related to the so-called exploration–exploitation dilemma: i.e., the existence of a distinct balance between exploitative actions and exploratory ones while the system is operating. Recent results point to the need for a dynamic exploration–exploitation balance to unlock high levels of flexibility, adaptivity, and swarm intelligence. This important point is especially apparent when dealing with fast-changing environments. Problems involving dynamic environments have been dealt with by different scientific communities using theory, simulations, as well as large-scale experiments. Such results spread across a range of disciplines can hinder one’s ability to understand and manage the intricacies of the exploration–exploitation challenge. In this review, we summarize and categorize the methods used to control the level of exploration and exploitation carried out by an multi-agent systems. Lastly, we discuss the critical need for suitable metrics and benchmark problems to quantitatively assess and compare the levels of exploration and exploitation, as well as the overall performance of a system with a given cooperative control algorithm.
Water, Energy and Food Nexus: Policy Relevance and Challenges
Authors: Orimoloye Israel R.
Published: February 2022

Connections between water, food, and energy are at the center of long-term economic and environmental development and protection. Water, energy and food are the keys to economic input and a necessary component of economic progress. The adoption of water management policies and techniques that support the sustainable use of resources while promoting economic growth is becoming an important concern, particularly in countries where water and food scarcity are critical or problematic. This study aimed at evaluating Water, Energy and Food Nexus (WEF), and as well as challenges of its implementation. This study looked at the articles that were published on WEF nexus between 2015 and 2021 acquired from the Scopus database, focusing on gaps and implementations. I searched for relevant key terms in the database and the search found hundreds of articles on WEF, of which 28 articles were relevant to the scope of the study and these articles were downloaded as BibTeX file for the analysis and the analysis was done using R programming. A number of insights and implications were identified based on the analyses of the findings of the reviewed research in order to increase the policy relevance and overall implementation of the WEF nexus by public policy and decision-making institutions. To boost uptake of the findings, the study gives an outline of the primary constraints and challenges that restrict the policy relevance of the WEF nexus.