bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Walls block waves: Using
an inundation metaphor of immigration predicts support for a border
wall
Authors: Jimenez Tyler , Arndt Jamie , Landau Mark J.
Published: April 2021

From early 20th century headlines to presidential tweets, immigration is
described frequently in terms of waves, floods, and tides. Although usage of
this inundation metaphor has been widely documented, its potential influence on
immigration attitudes has not been assessed empirically. Building from
conceptual metaphor theory’s claim that abstract ideas can be grounded in
simpler, concrete concepts, we hypothesized that using the inundation metaphor
to understand immigration contributes to support for a U.S.—Mexico border wall
as a figurative means to block immigrants. Accordingly, social media posts
supporting a border wall contained more inundation-metaphoric expressions than
messages opposing a wall and messages opposing immigration without reference to
a wall (Study 1; N = 4,067). Converging experimental tests show, when
controlling for political attitudes, exposure to the inundation metaphor
increases support for a border wall (Studies 2a and 2b; N = 737). These findings
add to the growing body of evidence that political cognition and policy
attitudes are partly motivated by metaphoric comparisons to concrete ideas that
are irrelevant in a literal sense.
ASH Highlights and Commentary: Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and Lymphomas
Authors: Tinsley, PhD, APRN, AOCN® Sara , E. Kurtin, PhD, ANP-C, AOCN Sandra
Published: April 2021

Dr. Tinsley gives her perspective on encouraging results from the 5-year analysis of the MURANO study showing the benefit of fixed-duration venetoclax and rituximab. She evaluates early phase 1b/2 trial results showing the benefit of the ViPOR regimen but also associated adverse events that advanced practitioners (APs) should be aware of. Dr. Kurtin considers how APs can use the new Burkitt Lymphoma International Prognostic Index (BL-IPI) to discuss individual risk with patients and risk stratify them.
Generative Adversarial Network Performance in Low-Dimensional
Settings
Authors: Jimenez Felix , Koepke Amanda , Gregg Mary , Frey Michael
Published: April 2021

A generative adversarial network (GAN) is an artificial neural network with a
distinctive training architecture, designed to createexamples that faithfully reproduce
a target distribution. GANs have recently had particular success in applications
involvinghigh-dimensional distributions in areas such as image processing. Little work
has been reported for low dimensions, where properties of GANs may be better identified
and understood. We studied GAN performance in simulated low-dimensional settings,
allowing us totransparently assess effects of target distribution complexity and
training data sample size on GAN performance in a simpleexperiment. This experiment
revealed two important forms of GAN error, tail underfilling and bridge bias, where the
latter is analogousto the tunneling observed in high-dimensional GANs.
Development of a user-resistance-aware framework for implementing enterprise resource planning systems
Authors:   , Bagheri Mohammadjavad
Published: April 2021

Although Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are one of the most important developments in corporate information systems, their implementation process is usually problematic, and many challenges in different aspects come along during the implementation of these large integrated systems. Amongst them, the human-related issues potentially affect ERP implementation projects and decrease their success rate dramatically. Numerous studies have shown that user resistance is the most influential failure factor for such projects. Existing ERP implementation process models usually cover the technical aspects and steps of the implementation and do not face the humanrelated aspects of the process such as resistance to the new system and processes, and organisational conflicts and politics which arise during this huge organisational change. Also, the extant theories of resistance to IS implementation largely adopt a narrow approach to dealing with user resistance and, hence, the solutions provided by them are fragmented and cannot present a holistic approach to our problem (i.e. understanding and dealing with human resistance in the process of implementing ERP systems). This research proposes to use change management body of knowledge as an overarching perspective to deal with resistance in the process of ERP implementation which could provide a more holistic and coherent approach to understand and address such problem, and could enrich the implementation process models in terms of encountering human-related issues (i.e. user resistance). Accordingly, the Kotter’s change model was identified as an appropriate model for such projects, particularly due to the role of power and politics in the system implementation process. The study maps Kotter’s change ii model with ERP implementation process models, and introduces a userresistance-aware framework. To improve this framework, the theories of resistance to information systems implementation are reviewed, and sources of resistance and also the strategies suggested by each theory are categorised according to the process stages. The framework is evaluated and improved through conducting three case studies, during which it is also investigated that how people’s reactions (resistance instances) to the new system could be mapped chronologically against the implementation stages. The final framework mainly helps in understanding the complexity of the issues and improving the change readiness, and can be used as a practical guide for companies and IT project managers. It encourages the organisations to proactively deal with the situation and hence, help people cope with the new routines and environment more conveniently and smoothly, which ultimately improve the success rate of adopting such systems.
The life histories of teacher mothers: exploring a special situation
Authors:   , Quickfall Aimee
Published: April 2021

This thesis, ‘The life histories of teacher mothers: exploring a special situation’ concerns a personally motivated study on the experiences and influences on Primary and Early Years teachers who are also mothers. The study involved unstructured life-history interviews with five teacher-mothers and took a postmodern feminist approach, in that it aimed to tell the stories of women, for women, whilst acknowledging and centring the individual’s experience as unique. Ethical dilemmas were a key part of the study and thesis, including negotiating insider research relationships and maintaining participant voice in the data. It asks three questions: 1. What do the life history stories of teacher mothers suggest about this special circumstance? 2. To what extent does analysis of ‘ecological systems’ and discourses illuminate the life of a teacher mother? 3. What are the points of coalescence and convergence that groups of teacher mothers may relate to, that could be potential sites of new policy and activism? Analysis of interview data involved use of Foucauldian Discourse Analysis, combined with Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems model to create a new model of discourse analysis: ecological systems discourse analysis (ESDA) that considers teacher-mothers’ individual worlds, as well as giving opportunities to map shared themes and positions towards the discourses of teacher-motherhood. This may have future applications for other areas of narrative research. This thesis argues that the special circumstance of being a teacher-mother, whilst unique for every individual, has some points of coalescence of experience. These include the conflicting pressures of work and gender performativity, normalization of overwork, barriers to part-time work, guilt at being ‘good enough’ and a reluctance to identify school leaders as people in a position to change the discourse locally. It concludes that teacher-mothers’ stories are complex and that any local, regional or national policymaking, activism and supportive measures need to acknowledge this. Claims to knowledge include additions to the understanding of teacher-motherhood from coalescences of experience, flexible interview methods for hard to reach groups, the defence of teacher-motherhood as a special circumstance and a new model for discourse analysis.
Research progress of plasma gasification technology for solid waste treatment
Authors: Sun Cheng-Wei , Shen Jie , Ren Xue-Mei , Chen Chang-Lun ,   Institute of Plasma Physics, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, China
Published: April 2021

The rapid development of social economy leads the output of solid waste to increase rapidly. The traditional treatment methods, such as landfilling, incineration and composting, are not only inefficient, but also have many limitations, such as secondary pollution and waste of resources. Therefore, it is urgent to explore new solid waste treatment technology. Due to its high efficiency, environmental protection and high energy conversion, the plasma gasification technology has been applied to the harmless treatment of solid waste. This article introduces the background and significance of plasma gasification technology in solid waste treatment, and summarizes the application of plasma gasification technology to different solid waste treatments, the technical level and research progress of plasma gasification of solid waste in the world are described in detail, and the existing problems in the current application of plasma gasification of solid waste are emphatically analyzed. It is pointed out that plasma gasification technology is an effective way to treat solid waste.
Efficacy of Dehydrated Human Amnion Chorion Membrane in the Treatment of Diabetic Foot Ulcers: A Review
Authors: Au Andrew S. , Leung Wai Y. , Stavosky James W.
Published: April 2021

Studies have been conducted to evaluate the efficacy of dehydrated human amnion chorion membrane (dHACM) in treating recalcitrant diabetic foot ulcers. A literature search was performed to review the data collected from the use of dHACM allografts. Two products were explicitly named in these publications, EpiFix and AmnioBand Membrane. Relevant results included the healing rate, number of wounds healed, and number of grafts used. Data had supported the potential of lowering the overall cost to manage a wound despite a relatively higher cost per dressing. However, discrepancy was observed in the rate of healing between several of the studies. Nonetheless, dHACM had demonstrated improvement in healing of recalcitrant diabetic foot ulcers compared to standard of care alone. These results provide grounds for more inclusive research on dHACM in the future.
Plant-associated CO2 mediates long-distance host location and foraging behaviour of a root herbivore
Authors: Arce Carla CM , Theepan Vanitha , Schimmel Bernardus CJ , Jaffuel Geoffrey , Erb Matthias , Machado Ricardo AR
Published: April 2021

Insect herbivores use different cues to locate host plants. The importance of CO2 in this context is not well understood. We manipulated CO2 perception in western corn rootworm (WCR) larvae through RNAi and studied how CO2 perception impacts their interaction with their host plant. The expression of a carbon dioxide receptor, DvvGr2, is specifically required for dose-dependent larval responses to CO2. Silencing CO2 perception or scrubbing plant-associated CO2 has no effect on the ability of WCR larvae to locate host plants at short distances (<9 cm), but impairs host location at greater distances. WCR larvae preferentially orient and prefer plants that grow in well-fertilized soils compared to plants that grow in nutrient-poor soils, a behaviour that has direct consequences for larval growth and depends on the ability of the larvae to perceive root-emitted CO2. This study unravels how CO2 can mediate plant–herbivore interactions by serving as a distance-dependent host location cue.
Extracting automata from neural networks using active learning
Authors: Xu Zhiwu , Wen Cheng , Qin Shengchao , He Mengda
Published: April 2021

Deep learning is one of the most advanced forms of machine learning. Most modern deep learning models are based on an artificial neural network, and benchmarking studies reveal that neural networks have produced results comparable to and in some cases superior to human experts. However, the generated neural networks are typically regarded as incomprehensible black-box models, which not only limits their applications, but also hinders testing and verifying. In this paper, we present an active learning framework to extract automata from neural network classifiers, which can help users to understand the classifiers. In more detail, we use Angluin’s L* algorithm as a learner and the neural network under learning as an oracle, employing abstraction interpretation of the neural network for answering membership and equivalence queries. Our abstraction consists of value, symbol and word abstractions. The factors that may affect the abstraction are also discussed in the paper. We have implemented our approach in a prototype. To evaluate it, we have performed the prototype on a MNIST classifier and have identified that the abstraction with interval number 2 and block size 1 × 28 offers the best performance in terms of F1 score. We also have compared our extracted DFA against the DFAs learned via the passive learning algorithms provided in LearnLib and the experimental results show that our DFA gives a better performance on the MNIST dataset.
AI-driven deep CNN approach for multi-label pathology classification using chest X-Rays
Authors: Albahli Saleh , Rauf Hafiz Tayyab , Algosaibi Abdulelah , Balas Valentina Emilia
Published: April 2021

Artificial intelligence (AI) has played a significant role in image analysis and feature extraction, applied to detect and diagnose a wide range of chest-related diseases. Although several researchers have used current state-of-the-art approaches and have produced impressive chest-related clinical outcomes, specific techniques may not contribute many advantages if one type of disease is detected without the rest being identified. Those who tried to identify multiple chest-related diseases were ineffective due to insufficient data and the available data not being balanced. This research provides a significant contribution to the healthcare industry and the research community by proposing a synthetic data augmentation in three deep Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) architectures for the detection of 14 chest-related diseases. The employed models are DenseNet121, InceptionResNetV2, and ResNet152V2; after training and validation, an average ROC-AUC score of 0.80 was obtained competitive as compared to the previous models that were trained for multi-class classification to detect anomalies in x-ray images. This research illustrates how the proposed model practices state-of-the-art deep neural networks to classify 14 chest-related diseases with better accuracy.
FNDC5 expression closely correlates with muscle fiber types in porcine longissimus dorsi muscle and regulates myosin heavy chains (MyHCs) mRNA expression in C2C12 cells
Authors: Men Xiao-Ming , Xu Zi-Wei , Tao Xin , Deng Bo , Qi Ke-Ke
Published: April 2021

Background

Irisin (a glycosylated protein) is cleaved from fibronectin type III domain-containing protein 5 (FNDC5), which is expressed mainly in animal muscle tissues and has multiple metabolic regulatory activities. However, their roles in controlling myofiber types in skeletal muscle remain unclear.

Methodology

Two different commercial hybridized pigs, LJH (a crossed pig containing Chinese native pig genotypes) and DLY (Duroc × Landrace × Yorkshire) were selected to analyze FNDC5 mRNA expression and the mRNA composition of four adult myosin heavy chain (MyHC) isoforms (IIIaIIxIIb) in the longissimus dorsi (LD) muscle. C2C12 myoblasts were cultured to investigate the effects of FNDC5 on the four MyHCs mRNA expressive levels, using small interfering RNA for depletion and a eukaryotic expression vector carrying FNDC5 for overexpression. ZLN005 (a small molecule activator of FNDC5’s upstream control gene PGC1α) or recombinant human irisin protein were also used.

Results

In LD muscle, LJH pigs had the higher FNDC5 mRNA level, and MyHC I or IIa proportion than DLY pigs (P <  0.05). For C2C12 cells in vitro, small interfering RNA (si-592) silencing of FNDC5 expression markedly reduced MyHC IIa mRNA levels (P <  0.05), while FNDC5 overexpression significantly increased MyHC IIa mRNA levels (P <  0.05). Exogenous irisin increased the mRNA levels of PGC1α (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha), FNDC5, MyHCI, MyHCIIa, NRF1 (nuclear respiratory factor 1), VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor), and TFAM (mitochondrial transcription factor A,) (P <  0.05), and the enzyme activities of SDH (succinate dehydrogenase), CK (creatine kinase), and MDH (malate dehydrogenase) in C2C12 myotubes (P <  0.05). These results showed that FNDC5 mRNA expression had a significant association with the characteristics of myofiber types in porcine muscle, and participated in regulating MyHCs mRNA expression of C2C12 myogenic differentiation cells in vitro. FNDC5 could be an important factor to control muscle fiber types, which provides a new direction to investigate pork quality via muscle fiber characteristics.
Development and validation of an oxidative stress—associated prognostic risk model for melanoma
Authors: Yang Yu , Long Xuan , Li Kun , Li Guiyun , Yu Xiaohong , Wen Ping , Luo Jun , Tian Xiaobin , Zhao Jinmin
Published: April 2021

Background

Oxidative stress (OS) is key to various diseases and is implicated in cancer progression and oncogenesis. However, the potential diagnostic value of OS-related genes in skin cutaneous melanoma (SKCM) remains unclear.

Methods

We used data of RNA sequencing from 471 tumor tissues and one healthy tissue acquired from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA)-SKCM cohort. The Genome Tissue Expression database was used to acquire transcriptome data from 812 healthy samples. OS-related genes that were differentially expressed between SKCM and healthy samples were investigated and 16 prognosis-associated OS genes were identified. The prognostic risk model was built using univariate and Cox multivariate regressions. The prognostic value of the hub genes was validated in the GSE65904 cohort, which included 214 SKCM patients.

Results

The overall survival rate of SKCM patients in the high-risk group was decreased compared to the low-risk group. In both TCGA and GSE65904 cohorts, the ROC curves suggested that our prognostic risk model was more accurate than other clinicopathological characteristics to diagnose SKCM. Moreover, risk score and nomograms associated with the expression of hub genes were developed. These presented reiterated our prognostic risk model. Altogether, this study provides novel insights with regards to the pathogenesis of SKCM. The 16 hub genes identified may help in SKCM prognosis and individualized clinical treatment.
Identification and comparison of circular RNAs in preeclampsia
Authors: Ping Zepeng , Ai Ling , Shen Huaxiang , Zhang Xing , Jiang Huling , Song Ye
Published: April 2021

Background

Preeclampsia (PE) is a pregnancy-specific syndrome, belongs to the gestational hypertension diseases category and is considered among the causes of maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity. However, the pathogenesis of PE is still vague.

Methods

In the present study, the circular RNA (circRNA) expression patterns of normal pregnant women and PE patients were investigated using whole RNA sequencing.

Results

A total of 151 differential expressed circRNAs were identified including 121 upregulated and 30 downregulated ones. Functional and pathway enrichment analysis was conducted on the differentially expressed circRNAs using Gene Ontology and KEGG databases. The results of this analysis indicated that several crucial biological processes and pathways were enriched in PE patients. circRNA–microRNA (miRNA) interaction analysis indicated that the reported differentially expresse circRNAs may be associated with some regulatory functions through miRNAs in PE patients. Two ceRNAs networks were constructed according to the targeting relationship between circRNAs/miRNAs and miRNAs/mRNAs. One sub-network contained one upregulated circRNA, four downregulated miRNAs and five upregulated mRNAs, and another sub-network contained 10 downregulated circRNAs, 21 upregulated miRNAs and 15 downregulated mRNAs.

Conclusion

CircRNA expression patterns have been investigated and this analysis revealed their potential regulatory mechanisms in PE patients. We constructed the ceRNAs (competing endogenous RNA) to reveal the potential molecular roles of dysregulated circRNAs in the PE patients using RNA sequencing data. circRNA_13301 was the only one upregulated circRNA in ceRNA being targeted by four miRNAs.
Sexual dimorphism and skull size and shape in the highly specialized snake species,Aipysurus eydouxii(Elapidae: Hydrophiinae)
Authors: Borczyk Bartosz , Paśko Łukasz , Kusznierz Jan , Bury Stanisław
Published: April 2021

Background

Snakes exhibit sexual dimorphism in both head size and shape. Such differences are often attributed to different reproductive roles and feeding habits. We aim to investigate how sexual dimorphism is displayed in the highly specialised fish-egg-eating snake,Aipysurus eydouxii, by analysing two complementary features: body size and skull morphology.

Methods

We used data on body length, weight, and skull shape from 27 measurements of 116 males and females ofA. eydouxii. We investigated both sexual dimorphism and allometric (multivariate and bi-variate) properties of skull growth in the analysed data set.

Results

We found that although there was female-biased sexual size dimorphism in body length, females were not heavier than males, contrary to what is commonly observed pattern among snakes. Moreover, females tend to possess relatively smaller heads than males. However, we only found very subtle differences in skull shape reflected in nasal width, mandibular fossa, quadrate crest and quadrate length.

Discussion

We suggest that the feeding specialisation inA. eydouxiidoes not allow for an increase in body thickness and the size of the head above a certain threshold. Our results may be interpreted as support for prey-size divergence as a factor driving skull dimorphism since such species in which the sexes do not differ in prey size also shows very subtle or no differences in skull morphology.
Marine Tourism Development Study to Improve Tourist Visit at Santolo Beach, Garut Regency
Authors: Tanhira Gista , Rizal Achmad , Rosidah . , Suryana Asep Agus Handaka
Published: April 2021

This study aims to analyze the tourism potential of Santolo Beach and formulate a development strategy for Santolo Beach so that it can be developed as a marine tourism area to increase tourist visits. The research was conducted at Santolo Beach in January - March 2021. This study used a case study method using primary and secondary data. Primary data obtained from questionnaires and interviews as many as 60 respondents consisting of tourists and Santolo Beach managers using purposive sampling method as the research sample.Secondary data were obtained from related agencies. The analysis used is a SWOT analysis to analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Santolo Beach which will produce a development strategy for Santolo Beach. The results of the study are based on calculations carried out through SWOT analysis, the final value of the strengths is 1.64, the weaknesses are 1.44, the opportunities are 1.78 and the threats are 1.41. It can be seen from the results of these calculations that the Marine Tourism of Santolo Beach, Garut Regency has dominant strengths compared to weaknesses and greater opportunities than threats. If these values ​​are included in the SWOT Quadrant Diagram, it can be seen that the position of marine tourism development to increase tourist visits in Santolo Beach, Garut Regency is in the position of the Growth Strategy / SO Strategy, which is to make optimal use of the strengths and opportunities it has.
Giant Cell Tumor of Phalanx – An Unusual Site
Authors: Phogat Deepika , Dogra Shavinder , Tara Swayam , Suthari Suresh , Vij Vineet
Published: April 2021

Giant Cell Tumor (GCT) is a locally aggressive bone tumor typically affecting the ends of long bones with fewer than 5% of cases involving the tubular bones of the hands and feet. At these rare sites, other differential diagnosis have to be considered and ruled out based upon the clinical, radiological and histopathological findings. We came across a case of giant cell tumor of the base of proximal phalanx of index finger in a 34-year-old male in whom the clinical presentation, radiological finding and most importantly the key features on histopathological examination helped us clinch this rare diagnosis. Through this case we understood the importance of differentiating features of GCT from other giant cell lesions of bone that form the basis of the final diagnosis, that is crucial in order to decide the line of management.
Curcumin Scavenges Peroxynitrite in RAW 264.7 Macrophages through Phenolic Hydroxyl Groups
Authors: Kassim Mustafa , Al-abd Nazeh M , Hasan Mohd Shahnaz , Mansor Marzida , Ibrahim Mohamed Izham Mohamed
Published: April 2021

Background: Overproduction of free radicals is implicated in cell death and tissue injury. Peroxynitrite (PN) is a highly oxidizing and short-lived free radical that is formed by the interaction of nitric oxide (NO) with superoxide. Curcumin is a natural compound obtained from Curcuma longa and has high antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities.

Aim: We investigated the PN scavenging ability of curcumin to determine its potential as a therapeutic agent for chronic diseases caused by highly oxidative molecules.

Methodology: We examined the PN scavenging ability of curcumin either by directly incubating lipopolysaccharide (LPS)+interferon (IFN)-γ-stimulated RAW 264.7 murinacrophages with PN or indirectly through incubation with a PN donor (the artificial substrate SIN-1). Student t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to determine the statistical significance of differences between the experimental and control groups. 

Results: The results demonstrate that curcumin inhibits PN and the synthesis of PN from SIN-1. Curcumin also significantly improved the viability of LPS+IFN-γ-treated RAW 264.7 macrophages and inhibited NO production. In macrophages, curcumin inhibited cellular PN synthesis, as evidenced by the absence of 3-nitrotyrosine, a marker of PN-oxidized proteins. 

Conclusion: Curcumin attenuates the immune responses that lead to cellular damage and cell death through suppression or scavenging of cytotoxic molecules such as NO and PN. The role of the phenolic hydroxyl of curcumin is critical in PN scavenging.
Study of Serum Lipoprotein (a) in Hypothyroidism
Authors: Rina Leishangthem , Kalaiselvi V. S. , Shanthi B.
Published: April 2021

Hypothyroidism occurs when your body doesn’t produce enough thyroid hormones. The thyroid is a small, butterfly-shaped gland that sits at the front of your neck. It releases hormones to help your body regulate and use energy. To this study compare Serum lipoprotein levels in hypothyroid patients and in control group. To find the correlation of Lp(a) with thyroid hormones status in hypothyroid patients. To find the hypothyroid patients. Levels of serum Lp (a), FT3, FT4, TSH, TC and TG were all estimated from the samples of the study group. The results of this study provide ample evidence that the levels of Serum Lp(a) are increased in hypothyroid patients.
Pharmaceutical Consultation in Hospitals at Northern Border Region, Saudi Arabia
Authors: Alotaibi Nawaf M.
Published: April 2021

Background: Pharmacists' traditional position as drug dispensers has recently developed into a more active role in risk evaluation and management. Dispensing is often handled by pharmacy technicians in Saudi Arabia because pharmacists are so preoccupied with their managerial and administrative responsibilities. Pharmacists' meetings with patients are limited to medication dosage and frequency, as well as rare adverse effects and drug interactions.

Methods: We conducted a quantitative questionnaire study in Saudi Arabia to look into the role of hospital pharmacists in patient counseling, the assessment of pharmacists' patient counseling opinions, and the possible determinants of personal consultation.

Results: The number of patient inquiries was found to be very low, ranging from 5 to 20 per month. The amount of private pharmaceutical consultations was also poor. This finding showed that people trust pharmacists.

Conclusion: Reorganizing the pharmacist's operations will help to enhance pharmaceutical consultations. This will help patients make better decisions about their medications and improve their quality of life.
Formulation and Optimization of Zaltoprofen Loaded Ethosomal Gel by using 23 Full Factorial Designs
Authors: Anju K. , Priya Sneh , Sandeep D. S. , Nayak Prashant , Kumar Pankaj , Kumar Abhishek , Lobo Cynthia Lizzie , Krithi S. P.
Published: April 2021

Aim:The objective of the present study is to design and characterize the ethosomal gel containing Zaltoprofen for sustained drug delivery and also to reduce the side effects. Zaltoprofen was chosen here as the drug candidate because of its short half-life and increased dosing frequency.

Methods: The ethosomes containing Zaltoprofen was prepared by using cold method. A 23 full factorial design containing 10 experimental trails was used in order to obtain an optimized formulation. The prepared ethosomes were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy, PDI, zeta potential, vesicle size, and percentage entrapment efficiency. Optimized ethosomal formulation was incorporated in 1% carbopol gel to deliver the drug through topical route. Invitro drug permeation studies of ethosomal gel (EGL) and conventional gel (CGL) was conducted and flux and permeability coefficient were calculated.

Results:The vesicle size, zeta potential, and % entrapment efficiency of optimized formulation were found to be 124.33 nm, -45.2 mV and 70.03%, respectively. The surface of the vesicles was found to be spherical and smooth. The in vitro drug release studies of the ethosomal gel formulation showed sustained drug delivery when compared with the conventional gel containing the pure drug. In vitro permeability studies show that the flux of ethosomal gel was 2.5 fold higher than conventional gel, which may be the attribution of ethanol and flexible nature of ethosomes.

Conclusion: It was concluded that the ethosomal gel could be a better choice for the topical delivery of Zaltoprofenwith improved bioavailability for its anti-inflammatory activity.
Assessment of Some Biochemical Parameters in Vitreous Humor of Rabbits Exposed to Sodium Cyanide
Authors: Elleh B. I. , Bartimaeus E. S. , Igwe F. U. , Tamuno-Emine D. G. , Agoro E. S.
Published: April 2021

Aim: The aim of this study was to assess some biochemical parameters in the vitreous humor of Rabbits exposed to sodium cyanide.

Study Design: This study is an interventional study.

Place and Duration of Study: This study was carried out at Animal House, Applied and Environmental Biology Department, Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria, between April 2020 and November 2020.

Methodology: A total of twelve (12) rabbits as indicated by Mead’s formula constituted the sample size. The study was divided into three groups including the control. 1 mg/kg sodium cyanide was administered to the rabbits orally in group one and vitreous humor was collected using standard procedure after thirty minutes. In group two the rabbits were put to death mechanically and 1 mg/kg sodium cyanide was administered to the rabbits after thirty minutes, vitreous humor was collected after thirty minutes using standard procedure. The rabbits in group three, control group, were put to death mechanically and nothing was given to the rabbits, then after thirty minutes vitreous humor was collected using standard procedure. Biochemical parameters investigated included vitreous glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, very low density lipoprotein cholesterol, total proteins (TP), albumin (ALB), total bilirubin, conjugated bilirubin, aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activities. Data were expressed as mean ± SD. Statistical differences between groups were computed using Graph pad prism 7.0 version developed by Graph pad software, San Siago, Califonia, USA. Results were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and significance between groups was taken at p<.05.

Results: Vitreous biochemical results showed significant (p<.05) increase in levels of TC, LDL-C, AST, ALT, TB and CB in rabbits given 1 mg/kg sodium cyanide compared to control. Significant (p<.05) decrease in levels of glucose, TP and ALB were also observed. This study also revealed that there was no significant (p<.05) difference in biochemical results of rabbits given 1 mg/kg sodium cyanide thirty minutes after they were put to death mechanically compared to the control. It can be concluded that a lethal dose of sodium cyanide (1 mg/kg) may lead to alterations in vitreous biochemical parameters and this may enhance death differentiation due to sodium cyanide poisoning and other causes of death for example mechanical death.   

Conclusion: The findings of this study support a central role for vitreous humor biochemistry in many postmortem forensic and pathological evaluations and it could also be used for death differentiation in sodium cyanide poisoning.
Highly Robust, Flexible Top‐Emission Organic Light‐Emitting Diode Exhibiting Stable Performance under Infolding of Curvature Radius of 0.32 mm
Authors: Jeong Hansol , Kim Hyo-Min , Kim Jeonggi , Jeong Wonkyeong , Jang Jin
Published: April 2021

Flexible top‐emission organic light‐emitting diodes (TOLEDs) with a thin‐film encapsulation (TFE) are of increasing attention to improve the flexibility of foldable smartphone organic light‐emitting diode (OLED) displays. There are inevitable issues to achieve foldable display with smaller folding radius for the future portable display. Herein, the device flexibility is investigated with infolding and outfolding tests with the curvature radius from 2.5 to 0.32 mm. Parylene (1 μm)/silicon nitride (SiNx) (X nm)/parylene (1 μm)/SiNx (X nm) (X = 100, 70, 50, and 30 nm) of TFEs are applied on the TOLEDs. It is found that stable device performances can be achieved at the curvature radius of 0.32 mm after 100 000 cycles infolding testing when the SiNx thickness is 30 nm. The device has significant degradation upon outfolding of 5000 cycles at the same radius of 0.32 mm. Note that, the water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) of the TFT with 30 nm SiNx is higher than the TFE with thicker SiNx (e.g., 50 nm). The flexibility and WVTR can be much improved using four‐stacked TFE with 30 nm SiNx for foldable active‐matrix OLED displays.
Wide Bandgap Sb2S3 Solar Cells
Authors: Shah Usman Ali , Chen Shiwu , Khalaf Gomaa Mohamed Gomaa , Jin Zhixin , Song Haisheng
Published: April 2021

The wide bandgap Sb2S3 is considered to be one of the most promising absorber layers in single‐junction solar cells and a suitable top‐cell candidate for multi‐junction (tandem) solar cells. However, compared to mature thin‐film technologies, Sb2S3 based thin‐film solar cells are still lagging behind in the power conversion efficiency race, and the highest of just 7.5% has been achieved to date in a sensitized single‐junction structure. Furthermore, to break single junction solar cell based Shockley–Queisser (S–Q) limits, tandem devices with wide bandgap top‐cells and low bandgap bottom‐cells hold a high potential for efficient light conversion. Though matured and desirable bottom‐cell candidates like silicon (Si) are available, the corresponding mature wide bandgap top‐cell candidates are still lacking. Hence, a literature review based on Sb2S3 solar cells is urgently warranted. In this review, the progress and present status of Sb2S3 solar cells are summarized. An emphasis is placed mainly on the improvement of absorber quality and device performance. Moreover, the low‐performance causes and possible overcoming mechanisms are also explained. Last but not least, the potential and feasibility of Sb2S3 in tandem devices are vividly discussed. In the end, several strategies and perspectives for future research are outlined.
Lamellar MXene Composite Aerogels with Sandwiched Carbon Nanotubes Enable Stable Lithium–Sulfur Batteries with a High Sulfur Loading
Authors: Zhang Bin , Luo Chong , Zhou Guangmin , Pan Zheng‐Ze , Ma Jiabin , Nishihara Hirotomo , He Yan‐Bing , Kang Feiyu , Lv Wei , Yang Quan‐Hong
Published: April 2021

Realizing long cycling stability under a high sulfur loading is an essential requirement for the practical use of lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries. Here, a lamellar aerogel composed of Ti3C2Tx MXene/carbon nanotube (CNT) sandwiches is prepared by unidirectional freeze‐drying to boost the cycling stability of high sulfur loading batteries. The produced materials are denoted parallel‐aligned MXene/CNT (PA‐MXene/CNT) due to the unique parallel‐aligned structure. The lamellae of MXene/CNT/MXene sandwich form multiple physical barriers, coupled with chemical trapping and catalytic activity of MXenes, effectively suppressing lithium polysulfide (LiPS) shuttling under high sulfur loading, and more importantly, substantially improving the LiPS confinement ability of 3D hosts free of micro‐ and mesopores. The assembled Li–S battery delivers a high capacity of 712 mAh g−1 with a sulfur loading of 7 mg cm−2, and a superior cycling stability with 0.025% capacity decay per cycle over 800 cycles at 0.5 C. Even with sulfur loading of 10 mg cm−2, a high areal capacity of above 6 mAh cm−2 is obtained after 300 cycles. This work presents a typical example for the rational design of a high sulfur loading host, which is critical for the practical use of Li–S batteries
Configurational Isomers Induced Significant Difference in All‐Polymer Solar Cells
Authors: Wang Hengtao , Chen Hui , Xie Weicheng , Lai Hanjian , Zhao Tingxing , Zhu Yulin , Chen Lin , Ke Chunxian , Zheng Nan , He Feng
Published: April 2021

The design of polymer acceptors plays an essential role in the performance of all‐polymer solar cells. Recently, the strategy of polymerized small molecules has achieved great success, but most polymers are synthesized from the mixed monomers, which seriously affects batch‐to‐batch reproducibility. Here, a method to separate γ‐Br‐IC or δ‐Br‐IC in gram scale and apply the strategy of monomer configurational control in which two isomeric polymeric acceptors (PBTIC‐γ‐2F2T and PBTIC‐δ‐2F2T) are produced is reported. As a comparison, PBTIC‐m‐2F2T from the mixed monomers is also synthesized. The γ‐position based polymer (PBTIC‐γ‐2F2T) shows good solubility and achieves the best power conversion efficiency of 14.34% with a high open‐circuit voltage of 0.95 V when blended with PM6, which is among the highest values recorded to date, while the δ‐position based isomer (PBTIC‐δ‐2F2T) is insoluble and cannot be processed after parallel polymerization. The mixed‐isomers based polymer, PBTIC‐m‐2F2T, shows better processing capability but has a low efficiency of 3.26%. Further investigation shows that precise control of configuration helps to improve the regularity of the polymer chain and reduce the π–π stacking distance. These results demonstrate that the configurational control affords a promising strategy to achieve high‐performance polymer acceptors.
Weakening Intermediate Bindings on CuPd/Pd Core/shell Nanoparticles to Achieve Pt‐Like Bifunctional Activity for Hydrogen Evolution and Oxygen Reduction Reactions
Authors: Xie Huan , Chen Shaoqing , Liang Jiashun , Wang Tanyuan , Hou Zhufeng , Wang Hsing‐Lin , Chai Guoliang , Li Qing
Published: April 2021

Although Pd is a potential substitution of Pt‐based catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), the binding of *H and oxygenated (*O, *OOH, *OH) intermediates on Pd are stronger than on Pt, leading to its inferior activity for HER and ORR. In this work, CuPd/Pd core/shell nanoparticles with an ultrathin Pd shell (0.5 nm) are developed, which demonstrate the Pt‐like bifunctional activity for HER and ORR in acid electrolytes. The overpotential at 350 mA cm−2 for HER and the half‐wave potential for ORR on the optimal CuPd/Pd core/shell NPs are 76 mV and 0.854 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), respectively, which are comparable to that of Pt and among the best of the reported Pd‐based catalysts. Density functional theory calculations indicate that the significantly enhanced HER/ORR activity on CuPd/Pd core/shell NPs with 0.5 nm Pd shell stem from the compressive strain induced downshift of d‐band center for Pd (by 2.0%), which weakens the binding strength of *H and oxygenated intermediates and promotes the reaction kinetics.
Nanomedicine Strategies for Anti‐Inflammatory Treatment of Noninfectious Arthritis
Authors: Chen Long , Wang Yuanzheng , Sun Li , Yan Jerry , Mao Hai‐Quan
Published: April 2021

Noninfectious arthritis (NIA) comprises a class of chronic and progressive inflammatory disorders that require early‐stage management to prevent disease progression. The most common forms include osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and gouty arthritis. Current treatments involve nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs, disease‐modifying antirheumatic drugs and glucocorticoids to alleviate clinical symptoms, although regular use of these can result in a high risk of chronic kidney disease and heart failure, as well as severe adverse gastrointestinal effects. Nanomedicine offers unique opportunities to address these challenges and improve therapeutic efficacy due to its ability to deliver therapeutics locally in a sustained manner, thus extending the half‐life, improving bioavailability, and reducing the side effects of these agents. This review includes a comprehensive analysis of the mechanisms of various treatment options for NIA and highlights recent progress and emerging strategies in treating NIA with nanomedicine platforms, particularly related to long‐term biosafety and nonspecific targeting in designing nanomedicine delivery systems.
HOTAIR‐Loaded Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cell Extracellular Vesicles Enhance Angiogenesis and Wound Healing
Authors: Born Louis J. , Chang Kai‐Hua , Shoureshi Pouria , Lay Frank , Bengali Sameer , Hsu Angela Ting Wei , Abadchi Sanaz Nourmohammadi , Harmon John W. , Jay Steven M.
Published: April 2021

Chronic wounds remain a substantial source of morbidity worldwide. An emergent approach that may be well‐suited to induce the complex, multicellular processes such as angiogenesis that are required for wound repair is the use of extracellular vesicles (EVs). EVs contain a wide variety of proteins and nucleic acids that enable multifactorial signaling. Here, the capability of EVs is leveraged to be engineered via producer cell modification to investigate the therapeutic potential of EVs from mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) transfected to overexpress long non‐coding RNA HOX transcript antisense RNA (HOTAIR). HOTAIR is previously shown by the authors' group to be critical in mediating angiogenic effects of endothelial cell EVs, and MSCs are chosen as EV producer cells for this study due to their widely reported intrinsic angiogenic properties. The results indicate that MSCs overexpressing HOTAIR (HOTAIR‐MSCs) produce EVs with increased HOTAIR content that promote angiogenesis and wound healing in diabetic (db/db) mice. Further, endothelial cells exposed to HOTAIR‐MSC EVs exhibit increased HOTAIR content correlated with upregulation of the angiogenic protein vascular endothelial growth factor. Thus, this study supports EV‐mediated HOTAIR delivery as a strategy for further exploration toward healing of chronic wounds.
Ethical Considerations of Wearable Technologies in Human Research
Authors: Tu Jiaobing , Gao Wei
Published: April 2021

Wearable technologies hold great promise for disease diagnosis and patient care. Despite the flourishing research activities in this field, only a handful of wearable devices are commercialized and cleared for medical usage. The successful translation of current proof‐of‐concept prototypes requires extensive in‐human testing. There is a lag between current standards and operation protocols to guide the responsible and ethical conduct of researchers in such in‐human studies and the rapid development of the field. This essay presents relevant ethical concerns in early‐stage human research from a researcher's perspective.
Tissue Engineering for Mimics and Modulations of Immune Functions
Authors: Tao Chao , Wang Dong‐An
Published: April 2021

In the field of regenerative medicine, advances in tissue engineering have surpassed the reconstruction of individual tissues or organs and begun to work towards engineering systemic factors such as immune objects and functions. The immune system plays a crucial role in protecting and regulating systemic functions in the human body. Engineered immune tissues and organs have shown potential in recovering dysfunctions and aplasia of the immune system and the evasion from immune‐mediated inflammatory responses and rejection elicited by engineered implants from allogeneic or xenogeneic sources are also being pursued to facilitate clinical transplantation of tissue engineered grafts. Here, current progress in tissue engineering to mimic or modulate immune functions is reviewed and elaborated from two perspectives: 1) engineering of immune tissues and organs per se and 2) immune evasion of host immunoinflammatory rejection by tissue‐engineered implants.
Realizing Colorful Holographic Mimicry by Metasurfaces
Authors: Xiong Bo , Xu Yihao , Wang Jianan , Li Lin , Deng Lin , Cheng Feng , Peng Ru‐Wen , Wang Mu , Liu Yongmin
Published: April 2021

Mimicry is a biological camouflage phenomenon whereby an organism can change its shape and color to resemble another object. Herein, the idea of biological mimicry and rich degrees of freedom in metasurface designs are combined to realize holographic mimicry devices. A general mathematical method, called phase matrix transformation, to accomplish the holographic mimicry process is proposed. Based on this method, a dynamic metasurface hologram is designed, which shows an image of a “bird” in the air, and a distinct image of a “fish” when the environment is changed to oil. Furthermore, to make the mimicry behavior more generic, holographic mimicry operating at dual wavelengths is also designed and experimentally demonstrated. Moreover, the fully independent phase modulation realized by phase matrix transformation makes the working efficiency of the device relatively higher than the conventional multiwavelength holographic devices with off‐axis illumination or interleaved subarrays. The work potentially opens a new research paradigm interfacing bionics with nanophotonics, which may produce novel applications for optical information encryption, virtual/augmented reality (VR/AR), and military camouflage systems.