bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Antibacterial silver (Ag) containing titanium oxynitride (TiOxNy) coatings for inhibiting surgical site infections (SSI)
Authors: Sikder Prabaha , Liu Lufei , Jayatissa Ahalapitiya H. , Bhaduri Sarit B 
Published: November 2019

AbstractThe Center of Disease Control and Prevention states that about one in every thirty‐one patients gets infected with ‘hospital‐acquired infections'. Bacterial colonization on surgical instruments remains one of the most significant factors for causing them. Such infections not only hinder a patient's recovery but can evolve into life‐threatening scenarios. Further, the moderate surface hardness of instruments might degrade their performance. Considering these issues, the central goal of this paper is to develop antibacterial coatings with favourable hardness. The main objective was to take advantage of the hardness property of titanium oxynitride (TiOxNy) while combining silver's (Ag) antibacterial properties. As surgical instruments are mainly fabricated using Ti6Al4V, we chose this material as our substrate. Radiofrequency magnetron sputtering was employed to develop several multi‐phasic coatings. Phase compositions, morphology and hardness values were analysed by X‐ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and nanoindentation, respectively. The antibacterial efficacy was evaluated against Escherichia coli using zone of inhibition, plate counting assay and Live/Dead assay. The effect of repetitive sterilization of coated samples was also examined. Results indicated the successful formation of antibacterial coatings with favourable hardness. Ag‐containing coatings exhibited pronounced antibacterial effect by ‘contact killing' method with no functionality change even after five sterilizing cycles.
Point‐of‐care stress detection of muscles using a flexible surface potential measurement prototype
Authors: Bhattacharjee Mitradip , Middya Sagnik , Bandyopadhyay Dipankar 
Published: November 2019

AbstractDesign and development of an affordable, user‐friendly and portable proof‐of‐concept prototype for the detection of the physical stress of the muscles of different human body parts have been reported. The prototype is composed of four major components—sensor, signal processing unit (SPU), power supply and display units. The sensor consists of a soft and flexible substrate with high density array of micro/nano patters on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), which in turn is coated with ultra‐thin layers of electrically conducting aluminium (Al) and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) layers. The conductive layer coated on the flexible PDMS substrate helps in detecting the raw surface electromyogarphic (RSEMG) potential of fingertip, tip‐toe, wrist or tongue, once they come in contact with the sensor. The patterned Al/RGO coated PDMS substrate generates an electrical signal, which can be correlated to the stress level of the body parts at a very high precision. The electrical signal of the sensor is transmitted wirelessly to a mobile android application for the display of the results with the help of the SPU. The prototype can be useful for the early detection of stress disorders related to heart, nerves and muscles, among others.
Identification of a novel heterozygous missense mutation of SEMA3E (c.1327G>A; p. Ala443Thr) in a labor induced fetus with CHARGE syndrome
Authors: Song Xiao , Wang Xueyan , Ding Li , He Dan , Sun Jin , Xi Na , Yin Yan , Peng Hui , Sun Lingling 
Published: November 2019

AbstractBackgroundCHARGE syndrome is a complex multisystem genetic disease. We aimed to find the potential gene mutation in the labor induced fetus with CHARGE syndrome.MethodsGenomic DNA was extracted from the fetal thigh muscle tissue and the peripheral blood of his parents. The resulting exomes were sequenced using whole exome sequencing (WES) followed by the selection of the candidate causative mutation genes. The deleteriousness of the identified variants was predicted. Analysis of multiple alignment of protein sequences and protein conserved domains was performed by online software. Finally, Sanger sequencing was applied for validation of the identified variants in the WES.ResultsAfter sequencing and bioinformatics filtering, a heterozygous missense mutation of SEMA3E (c.1327G>A; p. Ala443Thr) was found in the fetus, while the mutation was absent in his parents. Genotyping results showed that the mutation cosegregated fully with definite CHARGE phenotypes between the fetus and his parents. This change was located in the Sema superfamily and highly conserved across different species. Sanger validation result was consistent with the WES analysis.ConclusionOur investigations suggested that the heterozygous missense mutation of SEMA3E (c.1327G>A; p. Ala443Thr) may be a potential causal variant in the fetus with CHARGE syndrome.
Low profile broadband circularly polarized magnetoelectric dipole antenna with short‐circuit patch for wireless communication
Authors: Han Min , Dou Wenbin 
Published: November 2019

AbstractA short‐circuit load broadband circularly polarized (CP) magnetoelectric (ME) dipole antenna is proposed for WiMAX, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). The co‐directional electric dipole and magnetic dipole work together to radiate CP electromagnetic waves. The magnetic dipole is realized by a pair of vertical grounded metal patches and the electric dipole is accomplished by a pair of rotationally symmetric horizontal metal patches. The outer edges of the horizontal patches are extended to bend downward and shorted to ground for low‐profile, miniaturization, and axial ratio (AR) bandwidth enhancement. A pair of knife‐shaped horizontal patches effectively enhances the AR bandwidth of the proposed antenna. A prototype is fabricated, and the measured results show that the proposed antenna achieves 67.2% (1.7‐3.42 GHz) 3‐dB AR bandwidth and 87.5% (1.33‐3.4 GHz) impedance bandwidth for |S11| ≤ 10 with a small size of 0.8λL × 0.386λL × 0.177λL (λL denotes to the maximum operation frequency). Over the entire AR frequency band, stable radiation pattern is obtained. Furthermore, the maximum boresight gain is up to 10.4 dBic at 2.4GHz, and the boresight gain is greater than 4.2 dBic over 3‐dB AR band.
Human peripheral blood leukocyte classification method based on convolutional neural network and data augmentation
Authors: Wang Yapin , Cao Yiping 
Published: November 2019

PurposeHuman peripheral blood leukocytes’ classification is important for diagnosing blood diseases. Many microscopic leukocyte image automatic detection methods are proposed. In recent years, convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are applied to microscopic leukocyte image automatic classification. But when a CNN is used for microscopic leukocyte image classification, the dataset’s scarcity and imbalance will lead to low classification accuracy. To improve classification accuracy, a data augmentation method is proposed, and a resampling method is adopted when using a CNN method.MethodsFirst, a deep CNN model for microscopic leukocyte image classification is designed. Then, a new data augmentation method based on feature concentration is proposed to enrich the dataset and overcome the problem of dataset scarcity. To make the CNN model focus on the leukocyte region, many images are generated by putting a segmented leukocyte into images with different microscopic surroundings using an image processing method. Finally, taking the imbalance of the five kinds of leukocytes in the dataset into consideration, a resampling method is adopted. The resampling method iteratively feeds the leukocyte images with a low proportion to the CNN model within an epoch to ensure that images of each of the five kinds of leukocytes are represented in relatively equal numbers in each batch.ResultsThe experimental results demonstrate that the proposed classification method can achieve 97.6% average testing accuracy. Classification precision for the five kinds of leukocytes is above 93.4%, while sensitivity is above 92.5%. Both the proposed data augmentation and the resampling methods improve classification accuracy.ConclusionsA human peripheral blood leukocyte classification method based on a CNN and data augmentation is proposed. The problem of dataset scarcity is solved by the proposed data augmentation method, and the dataset imbalance is solved by a resampling method.
Protein resonance assignment by BSH‐CP‐based 3D solid‐state NMR experiments: A practical guide
Authors: Hoffmann Jutta , Ruta Julia , Shi Chaowei , Hendriks Kitty , Chevelkov Veniamin , Franks W. Trent , Oschkinat Hartmut , Giller Karin , Becker Stefan , Lange Adam 
Published: November 2019

AbstractSolid‐state NMR (ssNMR) spectroscopy has evolved into a powerful method to obtain structural information and to study the dynamics of proteins at atomic resolution and under physiological conditions. The method is especially well suited to investigate insoluble and noncrystalline proteins that cannot be investigated easily by X‐ray crystallography or solution NMR. To allow for detailed analysis of ssNMR data, the assignment of resonances to the protein atoms is essential. For this purpose, a set of three‐dimensional (3D) spectra needs to be acquired. Band‐selective homo‐nuclear cross‐polarization (BSH‐CP) is an effective method for magnetization transfer between carbonyl carbon (CO) and alpha carbon (CA) atoms, which is an important transfer step in multidimensional ssNMR experiments. This tutorial describes the detailed procedure for the chemical shift assignment of the backbone atoms of 13C–15N‐labeled proteins by BSH‐CP‐based 13C‐detected ssNMR experiments. A set of six 3D experiments is used for unambiguous assignment of the protein backbone as well as certain side‐chain resonances. The tutorial especially addresses scientists with little experience in the field of ssNMR and provides all the necessary information for protein assignment in an efficient, time‐saving approach.
ActiveAxADD: Toward non‐parametric and orientationally invariant axon diameter distribution mapping using PGSE
Authors: Romascano David , Barakovic Muhamed , Rafael‐Patino Jonathan , Dyrby Tim Bjørn , Thiran Jean‐Philippe , Daducci Alessandro 
Published: November 2019

PurposeNon‐invasive axon diameter distribution (ADD) mapping using diffusion MRI is an ill‐posed problem. Current ADD mapping methods require knowledge of axon orientation before performing the acquisition. Instead, ActiveAx uses a 3D sampling scheme to estimate the orientation from the signal, providing orientationally invariant estimates. The mean diameter is estimated instead of the distribution for the solution to be tractable. Here, we propose an extension (ActiveAxADD) that provides non‐parametric and orientationally invariant estimates of the whole distribution.TheoryThe accelerated microstructure imaging with convex optimization (AMICO) framework accelerates mean diameter estimation using a linear formulation combined with Tikhonov regularization to stabilize the solution. Here, we implement a new formulation (ActiveAxADD) that uses Laplacian regularization to provide robust estimates of the whole ADD.MethodsThe performance of ActiveAxADD was evaluated using Monte Carlo simulations on synthetic white matter samples mimicking axon distributions reported in histological studies.ResultsActiveAxADD provided robust ADD reconstructions when considering the isolated intra‐axonal signal. However, our formulation inherited some common microstructure imaging limitations. When accounting for the extra axonal compartment, estimated ADDs showed spurious peaks and increased variability because of the difficulty of disentangling intra and extra axonal contributions.ConclusionLaplacian regularization solves the ill‐posedness regarding the intra axonal compartment. ActiveAxADD can potentially provide non‐parametric and orientationally invariant ADDs from isolated intra‐axonal signals. However, further work is required before ActiveAxADD can be applied to real data containing extra‐axonal contributions, as disentangling the 2 compartment appears to be an overlooked challenge that affects microstructure imaging methods in general.
Combined T2‐preparation and multidimensional outer volume suppression for coronary artery imaging with 3D cones trajectories
Authors: Zeng David Y. , Baron Corey A. , Malavé Mario O. , Kerr Adam B. , Yang Phillip C. , Hu Bob S. , Nishimura Dwight G. 
Published: November 2019

PurposeTo develop a modular magnetization preparation sequence for combined T2‐preparation and multidimensional outer volume suppression (OVS) for coronary artery imaging.MethodsA combined T2‐prepared 1D OVS sequence with fat saturation was defined to contain a 90°−60180°60 composite nonselective tip‐down pulse, two 180°Y hard pulses for refocusing, and a −90° spectral‐spatial sinc tip‐up pulse. For 2D OVS, 2 modules were concatenated, selective in X and then Y. Bloch simulations predicted robustness of the sequence to B0 and B1 inhomogeneities. The proposed sequence was compared with a T2‐prepared 2D OVS sequence proposed by Luo et al, which uses a spatially selective 2D spiral tip‐up. The 2 sequences were compared in phantom studies and in vivo coronary artery imaging studies with a 3D cones trajectory.ResultsPhantom results demonstrated superior OVS for the proposed sequence compared with the Luo sequence. In studies on 15 healthy volunteers, the proposed sequence had superior image edge profile acutance values compared with the Luo sequence for the right (P < .05) and left (P < .05) coronary arteries, suggesting superior vessel sharpness. The proposed sequence also had superior signal‐to‐noise ratio (P < .05) and passband‐to‐stopband ratio (P < .05). Reader scores and reader preference indicated superior coronary image quality of the proposed sequence for both the right (P < .05) and left (P < .05) coronary arteries.ConclusionThe proposed sequence with concatenated 1D spatially selective tip‐ups and integrated fat saturation has superior image quality and suppression compared with the Luo sequence with 2D spatially selective tip‐up.
The vaginal microcirculation after prolapse surgery
Authors: Kastelein Arnoud W. , Diedrich Chantal M. , de Waal Laura , Ince Can , Roovers Jan‐Paul W.R. 
Published: November 2019

AbstractAimsOxygen plays a crucial role in wound healing after prolapse surgery. Trauma to the vaginal vasculature might limit the delivery of oxygen to the surgical wound, which may negatively affect wound healing and regeneration of connective tissue. This possibly increases the future risk of recurrence. We aimed to determine the effects of vaginal prolapse surgery on the microcirculation of the vaginal wall.MethodsWe evaluated the vaginal microcirculation in healthy participants without known vascular disease undergoing anterior and/or posterior colporrhaphy. We used incident dark‐field imaging for in vivo assessment before and after (1 day, 2 weeks, and 6 weeks) surgery. We studied perfusion (microvascular flow index [MFI]), angioarchitecture (morphology/layout of microvessels) and capillary density.ResultsTen women were included. Interindividual differences were observed 1 day postoperatively with regard to perfusion and angioarchitecture. Microvascular flow at the surgical site was absent or significantly reduced in some participants, whereas normal microvascular flow was observed in others (MFI range 0–3). Perfusion and angioarchitecture had been restored in all participants after 6 weeks (MFI range 2–3), regardless of the extent of vascular trauma 1 day postoperatively.ConclusionsThe difference in the extent of vascular trauma between women undergoing seemingly identical surgical procedures suggests that some individuals are more susceptible to vascular trauma than others. Delivery of oxygen to the wound and subsequent wound healing may be compromised in these cases, which could be related to the development of anatomical recurrence. Future studies should investigate whether there is a relationship between the vaginal microvasculature and the recurrence of prolapse.
A compact finite difference scheme for the fourth‐order time‐fractional integro‐differential equation with a weakly singular kernel
Authors: Xu Da , Qiu Wenlin , Guo Jing 
Published: November 2019

AbstractIn this paper, a compact finite difference scheme is constructed and investigated for the fourth‐order time‐fractional integro‐differential equation with a weakly singular kernel. In the temporal direction, the Caputo derivative term is treated by means of L1 discrete formula and the Riemann–Liouville fractional integral term is discretized by the second‐order convolution quadrature rule. A fully discrete compact difference scheme is constructed with the space discretization by the fourth‐order compact approximation. The stability and convergence are obtained by the discrete energy method, the Cholesky decomposition and the reduced‐order method. Numerical experiments are presented to verify the theoretical analysis.
Measures of adiposity correlate with renal filtration in young nulliparous women: An observational cohort study
Authors: Williams Frank B. , McBride Carole A. , Badger Gary J. , Bernstein Ira M. 
Published: November 2019

SummaryObjectiveRenal hyperfiltration, which has been documented in severe obesity and obesity‐associated hypertension, can occur with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. Identification of prepregnancy risk factors for unrecognized renal hyperfiltration could inform screening and intervention strategies to protect against pregnancy complications. In young, healthy, nulliparous women, associations between associations between measures of adiposity, insulin resistance, and renal vascular resistance were thus evaluated.MethodsThis is a secondary analysis of a prospective observational trial characterizing associations of prepregnancy and late‐pregnancy maternal physiology. Seventy‐nine nulligravid women aged 18‐42 years without major medical conditions were assessed for percent android body fat using dual‐energy X‐ray absorption. Renal cortical vessel blood flow resistance index (CVRI) was determined using Doppler ultrasonography. Creatinine clearance was calculated from 24‐hour urine collection.ResultsRenal CVRI inversely correlates with body mass index (r = ‐0.23, p = 0.047), percent android fat (r = ‐0.30, p = 0.008), and supine pulse (r = ‐0.44, p < 0.001). Creatinine clearance is positively associated with BMI and HOMA‐IR.In regression modeling, supine pulse (r2 = 0.22, p < 0.001) and cardiac index (r2 = 0.05, p = 0.045) predict renal CVRI, whereas HOMA‐IR (r2 = 0.11, p = 0.008) and cardiac output (r2 = 0.06, p = 0.039) predict creatinine clearance. Measures of adiposity are not independently predictive of either measure.ConclusionsIn healthy young women, measures of adiposity and insulin resistance correlate positively with renal filtration. Preclinical manifestations of renal hyperfiltration may have implications for pregnancy outcomes.
Associations between lifestyle intervention‐related changes in dietary targets and migraine headaches among women in the Women's Health and Migraine (WHAM) randomized controlled trial
Authors: Evans Whitney E. , Raynor Hollie A. , Howie Whitney , Lipton Richard B. , Thomas Graham J. , Wing Rena R. , Pavlovic Jelena , Farris Samantha G. , Bond Dale S. 
Published: November 2019

SummaryBackgroundMigraine and obesity are comorbid particularly in women of reproductive age. Obesity treatment involves reducing energy intake and improving dietary quality but the effect of these changes on migraine is largely unknown.ObjectiveTo determine if adherence to dietary intervention targets (ie, total energy, dietary fat intake, and dietary quality) were associated with improvements in migraine and weight.MethodsEighty‐four women with overweight/obesity and migraine were randomized to and completed either a 16‐week behavioral weight loss (BWL) or a migraine education (ME) intervention. For 28 days at baseline and posttreatment, women recorded monthly migraine days, duration, and maximum pain intensity via smartphone‐based diary. At each assessment, weight was measured and dietary intake (total energy intake, percent (%) energy from fat, and diet quality, as measured by the Healthy Eating Index, 2010 [HEI‐2010]) was assessed using three nonconsecutive 24‐hour diet recalls.ResultsThere were no significant group differences in change mean migraine days per month (BWL: ‐2.6+4.0, ME: ‐4.0+4.4; p = 0.1). Participants in BWL significantly reduced their percent fat intake 3.8% (p = 0.004) and improved total diet quality (HEI‐2010) by 6.7 points (p = 0.003) relative to baseline and those in ME (%fat: +0.3%; p = 0.821; HEI‐2010: +0.7; p = 0.725). After controlling for race/ethnicity and weight change, changes in dietary intake were not related to changes in migraine characteristics or weight loss among BWL participants (p's > 0.05).ConclusionsChanges in dietary intake among participants were small and may have been insufficient to improve migraine in women with overweight/obesity and migraine.
Recent advances in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease pathogenesis: from disease mechanisms to precision medicine
Authors: Brandsma Corry‐Anke , Van den Berge Maarten , Hackett Tillie‐Louise , Brusselle Guy , Timens Wim 
Published: November 2019

AbstractChronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a devastating lung disease with a high personal and societal burden. Exposure to toxic particles and gases, including cigarette smoke, is the main risk factor for COPD. Together with smoking cessation, current treatment strategies of COPD aim to improve symptoms and prevent exacerbations, but there is no disease‐modifying treatment. The biggest drawback of today's COPD treatment regimen is the ‘one size fits all’ pharmacological intervention, mainly based on disease severity and symptoms and not the individual's disease pathology. To halt the worrying increase in the burden of COPD, disease management needs to be advanced with a focus on personalized treatment. The main pathological feature of COPD includes a chronic and abnormal inflammatory response within the lungs, which results in airway and alveolar changes in the lung as reflected by (small) airways disease and emphysema. Here we discuss recent developments related to the abnormal inflammatory response, ECM and age‐related changes, structural changes in the small airways and the role of sex‐related differences, which are all relevant to explain the individual differences in the disease pathology of COPD and improve disease endotyping. Furthermore, we will discuss the most recent developments of new treatment strategies using biologicals to target specific pathological features or disease endotypes of COPD. © 2020 The Authors. The Journal of Pathology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland.