bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
First evidence of plastic fallout from the North Pacific Garbage Patch
Authors: Egger Matthias , Sulu-Gambari Fatimah , Lebreton Laurent 
Published: May 2020

AbstractThe infamous garbage patches on the surface of subtropical oceanic gyres are proof that plastic is polluting the ocean on an unprecedented scale. The fate of floating plastic debris ‘trapped’ in these gyres, however, remains largely unknown. Here, we provide the first evidence for the vertical transfer of plastic debris from the North Pacific Garbage Patch (NPGP) into the underlying deep sea. The numerical and mass concentrations of plastic fragments (500 µm to 5 cm in size) suspended in the water column below the NPGP follow a power law decline with water depth, reaching values <0.001 pieces/m3 and <0.1 µg/m3 in the deep sea. The plastic particles in the NPGP water column are mostly in the size range of particles that are apparently missing from the ocean surface and the polymer composition of plastic in the NPGP water column is similar to that of floating debris circulating in its surface waters (i.e. dominated by polyethylene and polypropylene). Our results further reveal a positive correlation between the amount of plastic debris at the sea surface and the depth-integrated concentrations of plastic fragments in the water column. We therefore conclude that the presence of plastics in the water column below the NPGP is the result of ‘fallout’ of small plastic fragments from its surface waters.
Radiographic analysis of adult ankle fractures using combined Danis-Weber and Lauge-Hansen classification systems
Authors: Han Shu-Man , Wu Tian-Hao , Wen Jin-Xu , Wang Yong , Cao Lei , Wu Wen-Juan , Gao Bu-Lang 
Published: May 2020

AbstractThis study was to analyze ankle fractures for determining the epidemiology, types, distribution, possible mechanisms and diagnosis precision. Between January 2013 and December 2017, all Chinese patients older than 16 years of age with ankle fractures excluding old ankle fractures and pathological fractures in a tertiary care hospital were analyzed by using the Danis-Weber and Lauge-Hansen classification systems. Among 3952 patients with ankle fractures, 1225 fractures (31%) were Danis-Weber type A, 1640 (42%) were type B, 751 (19%) were type C, and 336 (9%) were perpendicular compression fracture. There were 1949 fractures on the left side and 2003 on the right with no significant difference (P > 0.05). Male patients between 16 and 50 years of age and women over 50 years had a higher incidence of ankle fractures accounting for 38.4% (1517/3952) and 22.2% (800/3952), respectively. Posterior malleolar fractures, fibular fractures above the inferior tibiofibular joint and Tillaux fractures were easily missed in the diagnosis, with 38 fractures (0.96%) being missed in the diagnosis. In conclusion, young and middle-aged men and older women have a higher incidence of ankle fractures, and use of the Lauge-Hansen and Danis-Weber classification systems can better help assessing the varied and complex ankle fractures, predicting the injuries, increasing diagnostic precision and decreasing misdiagnosis rate.
Intraoperative Laser Speckle Contrast Imaging For Real-Time Visualization of Cerebral Blood Flow in Cerebrovascular Surgery: Results From Pre-Clinical Studies
Authors: Mangraviti Antonella , Volpin Francesco , Cha Jaepyeong , Cunningham Samantha I. , Raje Karan , Brooke M. Jason , Brem Henry , Olivi Alessandro , Huang Judy , Tyler Betty M. , Rege Abhishek 
Published: May 2020

AbstractCerebrovascular surgery can benefit from an intraoperative system that conducts continuous monitoring of cerebral blood flow (CBF). Such a system must be handy, non-invasive, and directly integrated into the surgical workflow. None of the currently available techniques, considered alone, meets all these criteria. Here, we introduce the SurgeON™ system: a newly developed non-invasive modular tool which transmits high-resolution Laser Speckle Contrast Imaging (LSCI) directly onto the eyepiece of the surgical microscope. In preclinical rodent and rabbit models, we show that this system enabled the detection of acute perfusion changes as well as the recording of temporal response patterns and degrees of flow changes in various microvascular settings, such as middle cerebral artery occlusion, femoral artery clipping, and complete or incomplete cortical vessel cautery. During these procedures, a real-time visualization of vasculature and CBF was available in high spatial resolution through the eyepiece as a direct overlay on the live morphological view of the surgical field. Upon comparison with indocyanine green angiography videoangiography (ICG-VA) imaging, also operable via SurgeON, we found that direct-LSCI can produce greater information than ICG-VA and that continuous display of data is advantageous for performing immediate LSCI-guided adjustments in real time.
Study on the experimental performance by electrolysis-integrated ecological floating bed for nitrogen and phosphorus removal in eutrophic water
Authors: Yan Cheng , Wang Mingxuan , Ma Tangming , Yang Shunqing , Kong Ming , Shen Jianing , Yang Liuyan , Gao Yan 
Published: May 2020

AbstractThe new-type electrolysis-integrated ecological floating beds (EEFBs) were set up to study their water removal ability due to the excellent water treatment capacity of electrolysis, this enhanced EEFBs were made of polyethylene filled with biochar substrate and in middle of the substrate placed the Mg-Al alloy served as anode and graphite served as cathode. The results show that removal rates of total nitrogen (TN), ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), total phosphorus (TP) and phosphate (PO43−-P) by the EEFBs increased 53.1%, 96.5%, 76.5% and 74.5%, respectively. The electrolysis reaction was the main pathway for TN and TP removals in the EEFBs. A higher concentration of hydrogen autotrophic denitrification bacteria was recorded in the substrate of the EEFBs than that in the traditional ecological floating beds (EFBs) (p < 0.05), suggesting that the electrolysis may have enhanced the NO3−-N removal efficiency of the EEFBs by promoting the growth and reproduce of hydrogen autotrophic denitrification bacteria. The in-situ formation of Mg2+ and Al3+ ions from a sacrificial Mg-Al alloy anode, caused PO43−-P and other suspended matter flocculation, improved phosphorus removal and simultaneously reduced turbidity. Thus, electrolysis-integrated ecological floating bed has high nitrogen and phosphorus removal potential in eutrophic water.
Cyto-Feature Engineering: A Pipeline for Flow Cytometry Analysis to Uncover Immune Populations and Associations with Disease
Authors: Fox Amy , Dutt Taru S. , Karger Burton , Rojas Mauricio , Obregón-Henao Andrés , Anderson G. Brooke , Henao-Tamayo Marcela 
Published: May 2020

AbstractFlow cytometers can now analyze up to 50 parameters per cell and millions of cells per sample; however, conventional methods to analyze data are subjective and time-consuming. To address these issues, we have developed a novel flow cytometry analysis pipeline to identify a plethora of cell populations efficiently. Coupled with feature engineering and immunological context, researchers can immediately extrapolate novel discoveries through easy-to-understand plots. The R-based pipeline uses Fluorescence Minus One (FMO) controls or distinct population differences to develop thresholds for positive/negative marker expression. The continuous data is transformed into binary data, capturing a positive/negative biological dichotomy often of interest in characterizing cells. Next, a filtering step refines the data from all identified cell phenotypes to populations of interest. The data can be partitioned by immune lineages and statistically correlated to other experimental measurements. The pipeline’s modularity allows customization of statistical testing, adoption of alternative initial gating steps, and incorporation of other datasets. Validation of this pipeline through manual gating of two datasets (murine splenocytes and human whole blood) confirmed its accuracy in identifying even rare subsets. Lastly, this pipeline can be applied in all disciplines utilizing flow cytometry regardless of cytometer or panel design. The code is available athttps://github.com/aef1004/cyto-feature_engineering.
On the use of DNA as a linker in antibody-drug conjugates: synthesis, stability and in vitro potency
Authors: Dovgan Igor , Ehkirch Anthony , Lehot Victor , Kuhn Isabelle , Koniev Oleksandr , Kolodych Sergii , Hentz Alexandre , Ripoll Manon , Ursuegui Sylvain , Nothisen Marc , Cianférani Sarah , Wagner Alain 
Published: May 2020

AbstractHere we present the synthesis and evaluation of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), for which antibody and drug are non-covalently connected using complementary DNA linkers. These ADCs are composed of trastuzumab, an antibody targeting HER2 receptors overexpressed on breast cancer cells, and monomethyl auristatin E (MMAE) as a drug payload. In this new ADC format, trastuzumab conjugated to a 37-mer oligonucleotide (ON) was prepared and hybridized with its complementary ON modified at 5-end with MMAE (cON-MMAE) in order to obtain trastuzumab-DNA-MMAE. As an advantage, the cON-MMAE was completely soluble in water, which decreases overall hydrophobicity of toxic payload, an important characteristic of ADCs. The stability in the human plasma of these non-engineered ON-based linkers was investigated and showed a satisfactory half-life of 5.8 days for the trastuzumab-DNA format. Finally, we investigated the in vitro cytotoxicity profile of both the DNA-linked ADC and the ON-drug conjugates and compared them with classical covalently linked ADC. Interestingly, we found increased cytotoxicity for MMAE compared to cON-MMAE and an EC50 in the nanomolar range for trastuzumab-DNA-MMAE on HER2-positive cells. Although this proved to be less potent than classically linked ADC with picomolar range EC50, the difference in cytotoxicity between naked payload and conjugated payload was significant when an ON linker was used. We also observed an interesting increase in cytotoxicity of trastuzumab-DNA-MMAE on HER2-negative cells. This was attributed to enhanced non-specific interaction triggered by the DNA strand as it could be confirmed using ligand tracer assay.
Chemical Compositions and Sources Contribution of Atmospheric Particles at a Typical Steel Industrial Urban Site
Authors: Zhang Guiqin , Ding Chun , Jiang Xiaojing , Pan Guang , Wei Xiaofeng , Sun Youmin 
Published: May 2020

AbstractOnline monitoring concentrations of PM at five sites were obtained from 01/01/2016 to 31/12/2016 in Laiwu, China, and PM2.5 filters were manually sampled for total 34 days at the same sites in four seasons in 2016. PM pollution sources, including soil dust, urban dust, construction dust, coal-fired power plants dust, steel plant dust and motor vehicle exhaust dust were sampled, respectively. The overall mean PM2.5/PM10 ratio (0.57) in Laiwu was at a relatively lower level compared with that in other Chinese cities, which was higher in winter, indicating fine particulate was the main contributor of atmospheric pollution in this period. NH4+ mainly existed in the form of NH4NO3 and (NH4)2SO4 during the sampling periods. Higher sulfate and NH4+ concentrations were in summer while higher nitrate concentrations prevailed in winter. The annual value of OC/EC was (5.38 ± 1.70), higher in summer and lower in winter, and the calculated SOC/OC value (%) was (43.68 ± 12.98)%. The characteristic components were Si, Fe and Ca in urban dust and soil dust; Ca, Mg, and NH4+ in construction dust; Fe, Ca and SO42− in steel dust; OC, EC and Si in motor vehicle exhaust dust; SO42−, Al and NH4+ in power plant dust. Compared with other cities at home and abroad, it was found that the concentrations of metal elements in Laiwu were significantly higher than those in foreign cities, and at a medium level in China. With the improved CRAESCMB model, the urban dust was regarded as the receptor and the source of PM2.5 and apportioned its secondary sources contributions to PM2.5. The CMB results showed the contributions of secondary sources including sulfate (17%), nitrate (17%) and SOC (13%) to PM2.5 accounted for nearly half of all sources. Therefore, more attentions should be paid on secondary sources from the primary emission sources of the motor vehicle exhaust, coal combustion sources especially.
Determination of earthquake epicentres based upon invariant quantities of GRACE strain gravity tensors
Authors: Fatolazadeh Farzam , Goïta Kalifa , Javadi Azar Rahim 
Published: May 2020

AbstractInvestigation of regional and temporal variations in Earth’s gravitational field that are detected by the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) twin-satellites may be useful in earthquake epicentre determinations. This study focuses on monthly spherical harmonic coefficients that were extracted from GRACE observations, which were corrected for hydrological effects to determine earthquake epicentres. For the first time, we use the concept of deformation of Earth’s gravity field to estimate invariant components of strain tensors. Four different earthquakes (Iran, China, Turkey, Nepal) were analysed that occurred between 2003 and 2015 and under different hydrological regimes. Wavelet analysis was explored as a means of refining and reconstructing tectonic signals forming the disturbance gravitational potential tensor in the GRACE gravity field models. Dilatation and maximum shear were extracted from these tensors and used to map earthquake epicentre locations. Both components reached their maxima during months of the earthquakes (respectively, 11.78 and 4.93, Bam earthquake; 61.36 and 169.10, Sichuan-Gansu border earthquake; 2415.80 and 627.93, Elazig earthquake; 98.71 and 157.37, Banepa earthquake). For the aforementioned earthquakes, we estimated their respective epicentres in the ranges: φ = 29°–29.5° λ = 58.5°–59°; φ = 32.5°–33° λ = 105.5°–106°; φ = 38.5°–39° λ = 39.5°–40°; and φ = 27.5°–28° λ = 85°–85.5°. Overall, these results agree well with values from other sources. The advance that is provided by our method compared to other research is the ability of determining earthquake epicentres with magnitudes ≤7.5 based upon GRACE observations. However, the approach is of limited use for very deep earthquakes.
Catechol inhibits epidermal growth factor-induced epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and stem cell-like properties in hepatocellular carcinoma cells
Authors: Lim Won-Chul , Kim Hyunhee , Kim Young-Joo , Jeon Bu-Nam , Kang Hee-Bum , Ko Hyeonseok 
Published: May 2020

AbstractEpithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a major cellular process in which epithelial cells lose cell polarity and cell-cell adhesion and become motility and invasiveness by transforming into mesenchymal cells. Catechol is one of the natural compounds present in fruits and vegetables and has various pharmacological and physiological activities including anti-carcinogenic effects. However, the effects of catechol on EMT has not been reported. Epidermal growth factor (EGF) is one of the growth factors and is known to play a role in inducing EMT. The present study showed that catechol suppressed not only the morphological changes to the mesenchymal phenotype of epithelial HCC cells, but also the reduction of E-cadherin and the increment of Vimentin, which are typical hallmark of EMT. In addition, catechol suppressed EMT-related steps such as migration, invasion, anoikis resistance acquisition, and stem cell-like characterization through the EGFR-AKT-ERK signaling pathway during liver cancer metastasis. Therefore, these results suggest that catechol may be able to regulate the early metastasis of liver cancer in vitro.
Fluorescence spectroscopy and chemometrics for simultaneous monitoring of cell concentration, chlorophyll and fatty acids in Nannochloropsis oceanica
Authors: Sá Marta , Bertinetto Carlo G. , Ferrer-Ledo Narcís , Jansen Jeroen J. , Wijffels Rene , Crespo João G. , Barbosa Maria , Galinha Claudia F. 
Published: May 2020

AbstractOnline monitoring of algal biotechnological processes still requires development to support economic sustainability. In this work, fluorescence spectroscopy coupled with chemometric modelling is studied to monitor simultaneously several compounds of interest, such as chlorophyll and fatty acids, but also the biomass as a whole (cell concentration). Fluorescence excitation-emission matrices (EEM) were acquired in experiments where different environmental growing parameters were tested, namely light regime, temperature and nitrogen (replete or deplete medium). The prediction models developed have a high R2 for the validation data set for all five parameters monitored, specifically cell concentration (0.66), chlorophyll (0.78), and fatty acid as total (0.78), saturated (0.81) and unsaturated (0.74). Regression coefficient maps of the models show the importance of the pigment region for all outputs studied, and the protein-like fluorescence region for the cell concentration. These results demonstrate for the first time the potential of fluorescence spectroscopy for in vivo and real-time monitoring of these key performance parameters during Nannochloropsis oceanica cultivation.
Afebrile Bacteremia in Adult Emergency Department Patients with Liver Cirrhosis: Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes
Authors: Chen Hung-Yu , Hsu Yin-Chou 
Published: May 2020

AbstractCirrhotic patients with bacteremia are at an increased risk of organ failure and mortality. In addition, they can develop serious infection without fever because of their impaired immune response. Our study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics and outcomes in afebrile bacteremic patients with liver cirrhosis. A single-center, retrospective cohort study was performed on adult patients who visited the emergency department from January 2015 to December 2018. All patients with bacteremia and diagnosis of liver cirrhosis were enrolled and classified as either afebrile or febrile. In total, 104 bacteremic patients with liver cirrhosis (afebrile: 55 patients and, febrile: 49) were included in the study. Compared with the febrile group, patients in the afebrile group showed a significantly higher rate of inappropriate antibiotics administration (43.6% vs. 20.4%,p = 0.01). They were also at an increased risk of 30-day mortality (40% vs. 18.4%,p = 0.02), intensive care unit transfer (38.2% vs. 18.4%,p = 0.03) and endotracheal intubation (27.3% vs. 10.2%,p = 0.03). The afebrile state was also an independent risk factor associated with 30-day mortality in cirrhotic patients with bacteremia. Clinicians should perform a prudent evaluation in cirrhotic patients and carefully monitor for possible signs of serious infection even in the absence of fever.
Responses of soil microbial biomass and enzyme activity to herbicides imazethapyr and flumioxazin
Authors: Pertile Mariane , Antunes Jadson Emanuel Lopes , Araujo Fabio Fernando , Mendes Lucas William , Van den Brink Paul J. , Araujo Ademir Sérgio Ferreira 
Published: May 2020

AbstractThe use of herbicides is important for controlling weeds in crops. However, they can present impacts on soil properties, such as biological properties. In this study, we evaluated the responses of soil microbial biomass and enzymes activity to the application of the herbicides imazethapyr and flumioxazin and their mixture in an experiment under laboratory conditions, using soils with a different history of use. Soil microbial biomass C (MBC) decreased, while microbial biomass N (MBN) was not affected after the application of the herbicides as compared to the control. Soil respiration, respiratory quotient, and dehydrogenase (DHA) activity increased significantly after the application of the herbicides compared to the control. The hydrolysis of fluorescein diacetate (FDA) was not significantly different between the control and the herbicide treatments. The principal response curve showed the largest initial effects for the flumioxazin, followed by imazethapyr and their mixture. Flumioxazin had a different influence on soil respiration and respiratory quotient than imazethapyr and their mixture. Finally, the effects of herbicides on soil microbial biomass and enzymes are short-term as we observed recovery in the biological parameters over time.
Bimetallic Implanted Plasmonic Photoanodes for TiO2 Sensitized Third Generation Solar Cells
Authors: Kaur Navdeep , Bhullar Viplove , Singh Davinder Paul , Mahajan Aman 
Published: May 2020

AbstractAn auspicious way to enhance the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of third generation sensitized solar cells is to improve the light harvesting ability of TiO2 sensitizer and inhibition of back recombination reactions. In the present work, we have simultaneously comprehended both the factors using stable bimetallic Au and Ag metal nanoparticles (Mnps) embedded in TiO2 with ion implantation technique at lower fluence range; and explored them in third generation dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The best performing Au-Ag implanted DSSC (Fluence- 6 × 1015 ions cm−2) revealed 87.97% enhancement in its PCE relative to unimplanted DSSC; due to plasmon induced optical and electrical effects of Mnps. Here, optimized bimetallic Au-Ag Mnps embedded in TiO2 improves light harvesting of N719 dye; due to the well matched localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) absorption band of Au and Ag with low and high energy absorption bands of N719 dye molecules, respectively. Furthermore, Au and Ag acts as charge separation centers in TiO2 that inhibit the recombination reactions occurring at photoanode/electrolyte interface via prolonging photo-generated electron lifetime; resulting in efficient inter-facial charge transportation in DSSCs.
Effect of Curing on Micro-Physical Performance of Polypropylene Fiber Reinforced and Silica Fume stabilized Expansive Soil Under Freezing Thawing Cycles
Authors: Tiwari Nitin , Satyam Neelima , Singh Kundan 
Published: May 2020

AbstractThis study presents the micro-physical investigation of polypropylene (PP) fiber-reinforced, and silica fume (SF) stabilized expansive soil (BC) subgrade. The coupling effect of soil, PP fiber, and SF has been evaluated under the freezing-thawing (F-T) cycle to assess the durability of treated BC Soil. The curing method and duration staggeringly influence the strength of SF treated BC soil; therefore, three different curing method, i.e., moisture-controlled curing (MC), gunny bag curing (GC), and water submerged curing (SC) to a period of 7, 14, and 28 days were considered. The BC soil has been reinforced with 0.25%, 0.50%, and 1.00% PP fiber and stabilized with 2%, 4%, 6% and 8% SF. The physical, chemical, and microstructural properties were determined before and after 2,4,6,8,10 F-T cycles. With the increase in SF content, the unconfined compressive strength of the expansive soil has been increased due to the formation of Calcium Silicate Hydrate (C-S-H) gel. The chemically inert, hydrophobic, non-corrosive nature, and higher tensile strength of PP fiber, it has a higher potential to reinforce the BC soil for durability under tensile failure. This research confirms the possibility of incorporating SF and PP Fiber in road work applications, with significant environmental benefits.