bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Synthesis, Cytotoxicity and Antimicrobial Evaluation of New Coumarin‐Tagged β‐Lactam Triazole Hybrid
Authors: Dhawan Sanjeev , Awolade Paul , Kisten Prishani , Cele Nosipho , Pillay Ashona‐Singh , Saha SouravTaru , Kaur Mandeep , Jonnalagadda Sreekantha B. , Singh Parvesh 
Published: December 2019

AbstractA series of coumarin‐tagged β‐lactam triazole hybrids (10a–10o) were synthesized and tested for their cytotoxic activity against MDA‐MB‐231 (triple negative breast cancer), MCF‐7 (estrogen receptor positive breast cancer (ER+)) and A549 (human lung carcinoma) cancer cell lines including one normal cell line, HEK‐293 (human embryonic kidney). Two compounds 10b and 10d exhibited substantial cytotoxic effect against MCF‐7 cancer cell lines with IC50 values of 53.55 and 58.62 μm, respectively. More importantly, compounds 10b and 10d were non‐cytotoxic against HEK‐293 cell lines. Structure–activity relationship (SAR) studies suggested that the nitro and chloro group at the C‐3 position of phenyl ring are favorable for anticancer activity, particularly against MCF‐7 cell lines. Furthermore, antimicrobial evaluation of these compounds revealed modest inhibition of examined pathogenic strains with compounds 10c and 10i being the most promising antimicrobial agents against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans, respectively.
Distal transradial access for cardiac catheterization: A systematic scoping review
Authors: Coomes Eric A. , Haghbayan Hourmazd , Cheema Asim N. 
Published: December 2019

AbstractObjectiveSystematically review the literature for cardiac catheterization and coronary angiography via distal transradial access (dTRA) and its outcomes.BackgrounddTRA, via anatomical snuffbox, may have several advantages over conventional transradial access (cTRA) for percutaneous cardiac procedures, including easier left‐sided access for aorto‐coronary grafts, future proximal radial artery preservation, and patient and operator comfort. However, its procedural characteristics and safety profile remain unclear.MethodsOvid MEDLINE and EMBASE were searched from inception to September 2018. Two authors independently performed two‐stage selection and data extraction. Reports assessing the dTRA approach for cardiac intervention in adults reporting any outcomes were eligible. Descriptive summary statistics were calculated from pooled data.ResultsA total of 19 publications comprising 4,212 participants undergoing dTRA were included. Mean age was 63.8 years, and 23.0% were female. dTRA was primarily undertaken for assessment of stable coronary artery disease (87.6%), with 41.7% for diagnostic procedures and 46.9% undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention. The overall success rate for undertaking the dTRA approach was 95.4% (69–100%). Complications occurred in 2.4% of cases, of which the leading complications were bleeding/hematoma (18.2%). Complication rates did not significantly differ between dTRA and cTRA. The occurrence of radial artery occlusion in patients undergoing dTRA was low (1.7%).ConclusionsObservational data demonstrate that dTRA is a safe and feasible method for percutaneous cardiac procedures, with high rates of procedural success and low rates of complication. As data comparing dTRA with cTRA remain limited, future high‐quality randomized comparative studies are required.
A Mechanochemical‐Assisted Synthesis of Boron, Nitrogen Co‐Doped Porous Carbons as Metal‐Free Catalysts
Authors: Zhao Li‐Yuan , Dong Xiao‐Ling , Chen Jun‐Yue , Lu An‐Hui 
Published: December 2019

AbstractA green and convenient solid‐state method assisted by mechanical energy is employed for the synthesis of boron (B) and nitrogen (N) co‐doped porous carbons (B,N‐Cs). Glutamic acid (Glu) and boric acid (H3BO3) are used as the N‐containing carbon precursor and boron source, respectively. This method is easy to perform and proved to be efficient towards co‐doping B and N into the carbon matrix with high contents of B (7 atom %) and N (10 atom %). By adjusting the molar ratio of H3BO3 to Glu, the surface chemical states of B and N could be readily modulated. When increasing H3BO3 dosage, the pore size of B,N‐Cs could be tuned ranging from micropores to mesopores with a Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area up to 940 m2 g−1. Finally, the B,N‐Cs were applied as metal‐free catalysts for the cycloaddition of CO2 to epoxides, which outperform the N‐doped carbon catalyst (NC‐900) and the physically mixed catalyst of NC‐900/B4C. The enhanced activity is attributed to the cooperative effect between B and N sites. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis reveals that BN3 in the B,N‐Cs serves as a critical active site for the cooperative catalysis.
Supercritical water oxidation treatment of humic acid as a model organic compound of landfill leachate
Authors: C. C. Martins Danielly , J. Scandelai Ana Paula , Cardozo‐Filho Lúcio , G. Tavares Célia Regina 
Published: December 2019

AbstractLandfill leachate is a complex and variable effluent, rich in organic and inorganic matters resistant to decomposition, and is an extreme pollutant. Humic acids (HA) are some of the most refractive substances in the leachates, which is the reason why they have been used as an organic model. The degradation of an HA solution through supercritical water oxidation (ScWO) was evaluated under a constant pressure of 22.5 MPa, temperatures from 400°C to 600°C, and reaction times from 15 to 60 seconds. The results showed that the most influential factor was temperature and it guided the operational conditions of the ScWO for the landfill leachate (22.5 MPa, 600°C, and 60 seconds). The landfill leachate treatment promoted high removal rates of true colour (87%), total dissolved solids (94%), nitrate (70%), and total phosphorus (96%). In addition, it removed 57% of the COD, which was similar to the HA removal rate (61%) under the same operational conditions. This indicates that HA are an adequate organic model for landfill leachates. The results suggest that ScWO is a clean and promising treatment technology that can be applied to landfills and can have even better results if used in combination with oxidizers and catalysts, or with the use of higher temperatures.
Role of cell‐to‐cell communication in cancer: New features, insights, and directions
Authors: Eugenin Eliseo A. 
Published: December 2019

AbstractThe current special issue entitled “Role of tunneling nanotubes (TNTs) in carcinogenesis” was designed to discuss the role of cell‐to‐cell communication, especially TNTs, in cancer pathogenesis. In addition, we discuss the exploitation of TNTs as a potential therapeutic target to prevent and reduce cancer incidence. It is accepted that cell‐to‐cell communication is essential for the development of multicellular systems, and it is coordinated by soluble factors, associated membrane proteins, exosomes, gap junction channels, and TNTs. An old belief in the cancer field is that cancer cells are “disconnected” from healthy cells, resulting in loss of cell‐to‐cell communication and neighbor control. However, recent data obtained from different kind of tumors indicate that TNTs and others forms of communication (exosomes and localized cell‐to‐cell communication) are highly expressed and functional during tumor development . In physiological conditions, TNTs are expressed by few cells, and their main function is to coordinate long‐distance signaling. However, upon carcinogenesis, TNTs proliferate and provide an alternative route of communication to enable the transfer of several signaling molecules and organelles to spread disease and toxicity. We propose that TNTs and their cargo are an attractive therapeutic target to reduce or prevent cancer development. All these unique aspects of cell‐to‐cell diffusion and organelle sharing will be discussed in this special issue.
Low phase noise L‐band oscillators based on novel general Chebyshev bandpass filters
Authors: Xu Jun , Xiao Fei , Cao Yu 
Published: December 2019

SUMMARYOscillators act as signal sources for wireless communication systems, radars, wireless charging, and other industrial applications, whose phase noises directly determine system performance. In this paper, two low‐phase noise microwave oscillators based on novel microstrip second‐order band‐pass filters are presented. These filters are characterized by good frequency selectivity owing to two transmission zeros near to the passbands. As a result, relatively high group delay can be achieved at center frequencies, which is vital to the phase noise performance of the oscillators to be designed. Simultaneously, the bandwidths can be made narrow enough so that actual oscillating frequency is very close to the designed one. In addition, the introduction of stepped impedance makes these filters capable of harmonic suppression, which efficiently suppresses the harmonics in the output such as the second harmonic. These filters are compact and also of easy design. Finally, two microwave oscillators at 2.0 GHz are designed on these microstrip filters. As the measured results show, their output frequencies are 2.002 GHz. The phase noises are −127.21 and −127.03 dBc/Hz@100 kHz, respectively. The second harmonic suppressions are as great as 30.45 and 39.21 dBc, respectively.
A new design of QCA‐based nanoscale multiplexer and its usage in communications
Authors: Xingjun Li , Zhiwei Shao , Hongping Cheng , Haghighi Mohammad Reza Jamali 
Published: December 2019

SummaryQuantum‐dot cellular automata (QCA) is one of the proposed nanotechnologies in the electronics industry, which offers a new construction for scheming digital circuits with less energy consumption on the nanoscale and possibly can be an appropriate replacement of complementary metal‐oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. Nanocommunication in QCA has attracted a wide range of researcher's attention. However, there is still a broad scope to design QCA‐based architecture for nanocommunication. The multiplexer is hugely used in the telecommunication system and transmits multiple data at the same time. Therefore, in this paper, a useful structure to implement a 2 to 1 multiplexer based on the novel XOR gate is presented and is used as a module to implement the 4 to 1 and 8 to 1 multiplexers. Simulations using QCADesigner tool are done to check the performance of the suggested designs. The 2 to 1, 4 to 1, and 8 to 1 QCA multiplexer structures utilize 22, 92, and 260 cells and consume 0.03, 0.12, and 0.40 μm2 of area, respectively. They have shown that the suggested designs have stable and applicable structures regarding area, cost, and complexity.
Multiple input and multiple output and energy‐aware peering routing protocol for energy consumption in sensor networks
Authors: Raj A. Sundar , Chinnadurai M. 
Published: December 2019

SummaryWireless sensor network consumes large number of energy‐constrained nodes that are used to monitor the external devices while transferring the information in the sensor networks. At the time of the information transmission process, node contains high energy, and battery of node may be recharged continuously, which leads to reduction of the entire information transmission system performance. This paper introduces the multiple input and multiple output (MIMO) method with energy‐efficient protocol for reducing the energy consumption in the network. Initially, the network coverage is determined by applying the shadow fading sensing model, and the clusters are formed with the help of the particle dual clustering process. After the cluster is formed, the information has been transmitted with the help of the energy‐aware peering routing protocol (EPR), which reduces the network traffic and also improves the energy efficiency with efficient manner. Then, the efficiency of the system is analyzed with the help of experimental results in terms of coverage fraction, accuracy of the cluster, and energy consumption.
Simple validated method of LC–MS/MS determination of BZ agent in rat plasma samples
Authors: Herman David , Dlabkova Alzbeta , Cechova Lenka , Vanova Nela , Misik Jan , Jun Daniel , Zdarova Karasova Jana 
Published: December 2019

AbstractAgent BZ (3‐quinuclidinyl benzilate) is a centrally acting synthetic anticholinergic agent, considered as a potential military incapacitating chemical warfare agent. Despite its significance as a model compound in pharmacological research and its potential misuse in chemical attacks, few modern analytical methods for BZ determination in biological samples have been published. The goal of the present work is to develop and validate a sensitive and rapid LC–MS/MS method for the determination of agent BZ in rat plasma. The sample preparation was based on solid‐phase extraction on C‐18 cartridges. The reversed‐phase HPLC coupled with the mass spectrometer with electrospray ionization in the positive ion‐selective reaction monitoring mode was employed in the BZ analysis. Atropine was used as an internal standard. The presented method is selective, accurate, precise, and linear (r2 = 0.9947) in a concentration range from 0.5 ng/mL to 1 000 ng/mL and sensitive enough (limit of detection 0.2 ng/mL; limit of quantification 0.5 ng/mL) to determine the BZ plasma levels in rats exposed to 2 mg/kg and 10 mg/kg of BZ. The highest level of BZ in plasma was observed 5 minutes after intramuscular administration (154.6 ± 22.3 ng/mL in rats exposed to 2 mg/kg of BZ and 1024 ± 269 ng/mL in rats exposed to 10 mg/kg). After 48 h, no BZ was observed at detectable levels. This new method allows the detection and quantification of BZ in biological samples after exposure of an observed organism and it will be further optimized for other tissues to observe the distribution of BZ in organs.
High Pressure Processing of Lipase (Thermomyces lanuginosus): Kinetics and Structure Assessment
Authors: Ramos‐de‐la‐Peña Ana Mayela , Aguilar Oscar 
Published: December 2019

AbstractLipases are highly demanded enzymes, used to synthesize high commercial value products in food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, textile, paper, and detergent industries. The effect of high pressure processing (HPP) on Thermomyces lanuginosus lipase is studied at 0.1, 100, and 300 MPa and 25 °C. Kinetics is assessed after HPP treatment in three sets of time series: 0–25, 51–75, and 101–112 min. Conformational change of lipase is studied by infrared attenuated total reflectance (ATR)–FTIR spectra deconvolution and 1D 1H NMR. Pressure treatment lead to changes in enzymatic activity from 51 to 75 and from 101 to 112 min. Treated enzyme at 300 MPa has the highest activity (≈twofold higher than untreated lipase). Statistical difference in activity (p > 0.05) is not found during the first 25 min. Lipase activity is best described by first‐order model (0–25 min) and zero‐order model (51–75 and 101–112 min). Lipase unfolding is evident at 100 MPa due to an increase of β‐turns and β‐sheet components. Pressurized enzyme at 300 MPa enhances its activity from 51 to 112 min, due to an increase of β‐sheet and α‐helix structures (refolding). These findings impact directly on cost‐effectiveness of lipase catalyzed products manufacture.Practical Applications: Enzyme enhanced activity and stability improves the performance of manufacture processes. Assessment of structure changes of lipase induced by HPP lead to accurate parameter selection to increase stability and profitability of lipase catalyzed products processing. Pressure levels of 100 MPa led to enzyme unfolding, whereas 300 MPa causes improved activity and stability provoked by lipase refolding. Pressure treatment at 300 MPa of Thermomyces lanuginosus lipase is recommended for long term bioprocessing (≥112 min), which require increased activity and stability of the enzyme.
A first approach using micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography for the determination of fipronil and fipronil‐sulfone in eggs
Authors: Aparicio‐Muriana M. Mar , Lhotská Ivona , García‐Campaña Ana M. , Lara Francisco J. 
Published: December 2019

AbstractFipronil is an insecticide that is not approved in the European Union in food. In 2017, fipronil was involved in a European health alert due to its presence in fresh hen eggs because of an illicit use in poultry farms, so reliable methods are needed to determine fipronil and its main metabolites in these matrixes. In this work, we report the first approach to the study of fipronil and two metabolites, fipronil‐sulfone and fipronil‐sulfide by CE. MEKC mode was employed using a solution of 50 mM ammonium perfluorooctanoate pH 9.0 with 10% (v/v) methanol as background electrolyte. The proposed method was combined with a simple sample treatment based on salting‐out assisted LLE (SALLE) using acetonitrile as extraction solvent and ammonium sulfate as salt. The SALLE–MEKC–UV method allowed the simultaneous quantification of fipronil and fipronil‐sulfone. Validation parameters yielded satisfactory results, with precision, expressed as relative SD, below 14% and recoveries higher than 83%. Limits of detection were 90 µg/kg for fipronil and 150 µg/kg for fipronil‐sulfone, so in terms of sensitivity further studies of sample treatments allowing extra preconcentration or the use of more sensitive detection, such as MS, would be needed.
Tunnelbohrmaschinen für Hartgestein – Stand der Technik im Jahr 2020
Authors: Flora Matthias , Goliasch Robert , Strauss Armin , Atzori Denis 
Published: December 2019

AbstractAt this year's International Planning Design and Construction (IPDC) Workshop of the Unit of Project and Construction Management (i3b) of the University of Innsbruck, a selected group of tunnelling engineers took a closer look at the state of the art of hard rock tunnel boring machines and the challenges of tunnelling systems along the Brenner axis. The three currently active construction contracts using mechanized tunnelling technology at the Brenner Base Tunnel have an intersection of comparable geological/geotechnical conditions (quartz phyllite, schist, gneiss and granite) and yet different machine types were selected: a Gripper TBM for the Tulfes‐Pfons exploration tunnel – H33, three Double Shield machines for the Mauls 2/3 contract and four Single Shield machines for contract H51. The focus of this workshop was accordingly: from geology/geotechnics to the key specifications of the TBM as a basis, followed by the consideration of the type‐independent TBM parameters, the differences as well as advantages and disadvantages of the three machine types and finally an outlook into the future regarding further developments and need for innovation. This article summarizes the contents of the workshop.
The right VLPFC and downregulation of social pain: A TMS study
Authors: He Zhenhong , Zhao Jun , Shen Junshi , Muhlert Nils , Elliott Rebecca , Zhang Dandan 
Published: December 2019

AbstractPrevious studies have demonstrated that the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (RVLPFC) is crucially involved in downregulating physical and social pain. However, it remains unclear whether the RVLPFC is more specific to either physical or social pain. The present study compares the role of RVLPFC in emotion regulation in physical‐ and social‐pain conditions using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). A total of 60 healthy participants underwent active (n = 30) or sham (n = 30) rTMS over the RVLPFC. Following each TMS session, participants performed a non‐reappraisal and then a reappraisal task to downregulate imagined physical or social pain evoked by pictures. Self‐reported negative emotional ratings and electroencephalogram data were recorded during the emotion regulation task. Participants were then required to rate the valence and arousal of those pictures 30 min after the task. It is found that rTMS‐activated RVLPFC led to reductions in subjective negative feelings and amplitudes of the late positive potential during reappraisal; however, these effects were found exclusively in the social‐pain condition. Participants also reported higher positive valence for socially, compared to physically, painful pictures after 30 min of the task. Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence both supported the functional specificity of RVLPFC in regulation of social pain. The prominent delayed effect of rTMS makes it possible to consider the potential application of rTMS‐VLPFC in clinical practice for social pain relief.
Pain modulates neural responses to reward in the medial prefrontal cortex
Authors: Wang Chenbo , Bao Chaofei , Gao Jiatao , Gu Yujin , Dong Xiao‐Wei 
Published: December 2019

AbstractPain has been found to promote reward‐seeking behaviors, which might be a consequence of modulated brain activities in the reward neural circuitry in a painful state. The present study investigated how pain affected reward processing and reward‐related neural activities using fMRI technique. A total of 50 healthy participants were recruited and used for data analyses, with half being treated with topical capsaicin cream and the other half with hand cream (treatment: pain or control). The participants were asked to perform a card‐guessing game when their brain activities responding to feedbacks (outcome: win or loss) were recorded. Behavioral results showed that participants in pain group overestimated their correct choices in the card‐guess game. Whole‐brain fMRI analysis revealed that the main effect of outcome (win vs. loss) activated a typical network of the reward neural circuitry, including the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the bilateral nucleus accumbens (NAcc). Importantly, the region of interest analysis revealed a significant interaction of treatment and outcome in the mPFC, with increased mPFC neural activity responding to win outcome in pain condition. Moreover, the functional connectivity between the mPFC and the NAcc was decreased in pain condition. We conclude that the pain‐induced modulation of the mPFC activity could result in alterations of both the emotional response to and the cognitive evaluation of reward.
Disruptions of frontoparietal control network and default mode network linking the metacognitive deficits with clinical symptoms in schizophrenia
Authors: Jia Wenbin , Zhu Hong , Ni Yinmei , Su Jie , Xu Rui , Jia Hongxiao , Wan Xiaohong 
Published: December 2019

AbstractThe metacognitive deficit in awareness of one's own mental states is a core feature of schizophrenia (SZ). The previous studies suggested that the metacognitive deficit associates with clinical symptoms. However, the neural mechanisms underlying the relationship remain largely unknown. We here investigated the neural activities associated with the metacognitive deficit and the neural signatures associated with clinical symptoms in 38 patients with SZ using functional magnetic resonance imaging with a perceptual decision‐making task accompanied with metacognition, in comparison to 38 age, gender, and education matched healthy control subjects. The metacognitive deficit in patients with SZ was associated with reduced regional activity in both the frontoparietal control network (FPCN) and the default mode network. Critically, the anticorrelational balance between the two disrupted networks was substantially altered during metacognition, and the extent of alteration positively scaled with negative symptoms. Conversely, decoupling between the two networks was impaired when metacognitive monitoring was not required, and the strength of excessive neural activity positively scaled with positive symptoms. Thus, disruptions of the FPCN and the default mode network underlie the metacognitive deficit, and alternations of network balance between the two networks correlate with clinical symptoms in SZ. These findings implicate that rebalancing these networks holds important clinical potential in developing more efficacious therapeutic treatments.