bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Protection of Sacubitril/Valsartan against Pathological Cardiac Remodeling by Inhibiting the NLRP3 Inflammasome after Relief of Pressure Overload in Mice
Authors: Li Xueling , Zhu Qin , Wang Qingcheng , Zhang Qinggang , Zheng Yaru , Wang Lihong , Jin Qinyang 
Published: May 2020

Abstract
Background/aims
The persistent existence of pathological cardiac remodeling, resulting from aortic stenosis, is related to poor clinical prognosis after successful transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). Sacubitril/valsartan (Sac/Val), comprising an angiotensin receptor blocker and a neprilysin inhibitor, has been demonstrated to have a beneficial effect against pathological cardiac remodeling, including cardiac fibrosis and inflammation in heart failure. The aim of this study was to determine whether Sac/Val exerts a cardioprotective effect after pressure unloading in mice.

Methods and results
Male C57BL/6 J mice were subjected to debanding (DB) surgery after 8 weeks (wk) of aortic banding (AB). Cardiac function was assessed by echocardiography, which indicated a protective effect of Sac/Val after DB. After treatment with Sac/Val post DB, decreased heart weight and myocardial cell size were observed in mouse hearts. In addition, histological analysis, immunofluorescence, and western blot results showed that Sac/Val attenuated cardiac fibrosis and inflammation after DB. Finally, our data indicated that Sac/Val treatment could significantly suppress NF-κB signaling and NLRP3 inflammasome activation in mice after relief of pressure overload.

Conclusion
Sac/Val exerted its beneficial effects to prevent maladaptive cardiac fibrosis and dysfunction in mice following pressure unloading, which was at least partly due to the inhibition of NLRP3 inflammasome activation.
The Stroke-Induced Increase of Somatostatin-Expressing Neurons is Inhibited by Diabetes: A Potential Mechanism at the Basis of Impaired Stroke Recovery
Authors: Chiazza Fausto , Pintana Hiranya , Lietzau Grazyna , Nyström Thomas , Patrone Cesare , Darsalia Vladimer 
Published: May 2020

AbstractType 2 diabetes (T2D) hampers recovery after stroke, but the underling mechanisms are mostly unknown. In a recently published study (Pintana et al. in Clin Sci (Lond) 133(13):1367–1386, 2019), we showed that impaired recovery in T2D was associated with persistent atrophy of parvalbumin+ interneurons in the damaged striatum. In the current work, which is an extension of the abovementioned study, we investigated whether somatostatin (SOM)+ interneurons are also affected by T2D during the stroke recovery phase. C57Bl/6j mice were fed with high-fat diet or standard diet (SD) for 12 months and subjected to 30-min transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO). SOM+ cell number/density in the striatum was assessed by immunohistochemistry 2 and 6 weeks after tMCAO in peri-infarct and infarct areas. This was possible by establishing a computer-based quantification method that compensates the post-stroke tissue deformation and the irregular cell distribution. SOM+ interneurons largely survived the stroke as seen at 2 weeks. Remarkably, 6 weeks after stroke, the number of SOM+ interneurons increased (vs. contralateral striatum) in SD-fed mice in both peri-infarct and infarct areas. However, this increase did not result from neurogenesis. T2D completely abolished this effect specifically in the in the infarct area. The results suggest that the up-regulation of SOM expression in the post-stroke phase could be related to neurological recovery and T2D could inhibit this process. We also present a new and precise method for cell counting in the stroke-damaged striatum that allows to reveal accurate, area-related effects of stroke on cell number.
Diffusivities of an Equimolar Methane–Propane Mixture Across the Two-Phase Region by Dynamic Light Scattering
Authors: Piszko Maximilian , Giraudet Cédric , Fröba Andreas P. 
Published: May 2020

AbstractThe present contribution examines the accessibility of diffusivities across the two-phase region of an equimolar methane–propane mixture for dynamic light scattering (DLS) experiments. Heterodyne DLS experiments and theoretical calculations of the Rayleigh ratio were performed at 125 different thermodynamic states including the gas, liquid, supercritical, and the two-phase region. The present measurements document that two diffusivities can be determined simultaneously in the liquid state and saturated liquid phase for temperatures and pressures which correspond to densities larger than 1.15 times the critical density. Based on a rigorous assignment of the signals detected in this work, the slow and fast diffusivities could be associated with the Fick and thermal diffusivities. For all other thermodynamic states, a single hydrodynamic mode or signal was obtained experimentally. With the help of theoretical Rayleigh ratios as well as from the general behavior of the diffusivities as a function of temperature and pressure, the signals were identified to be related to the Fick diffusivity in the supercritical state and to a mixed diffusivity in the gas state and the saturated vapor phase. The results are discussed in connection with the behavior of the diffusivities along certain paths in the pressure–temperature projection of the phase diagram of the mixture.
Size control of Au nanoparticles from the scalable and solvent-free matrix assembly cluster source
Authors: Spadaro Maria Chiara , Cao Lu , Terry William , Balog Richard , Yin Feng , Palmer Richard E. 
Published: May 2020

AbstractNanostructured gold is an intriguing system for heterogeneous catalysis at low temperature. Its activity is related to choice of support selection, particle-support interaction, and especially the particle size. Here, we investigate the possibility of controlling the size of Au clusters (nanoparticles) in the novel Matrix Assembly Cluster Source (MACS), a solvent-free nanoparticle source with potential for scale-up to the gram level. The novelty of the MACS is the idea of making clusters by sputtering a pre-condensed matrix of metal atoms embedded in a condensed non-reactive gas, e.g., Ar. This concept, introduced in 2016, has already proved deposition rates several orders of magnitude higher than conventional cluster beam routes. Such scale-up in the cluster production rate is crucial for industrial research on nanocatalysis under realistic reaction condition. Here, we report a systematic study of how Au metal loading in the matrix affects the size distribution of clusters generated. Furthermore, the obtained dependence of cluster size on deposition time provides clear confirmation of cluster formation inside the matrix by ion irradiation, rather than by aggregation of atoms on the TEM support after deposition.
Is Localization of Wireless Sensor Networks in Irregular Fields a Challenge?
Authors: Bhat Soumya J. , Santhosh K. V. 
Published: May 2020

AbstractWireless sensor networks have been considered as an emerging technology for numerous applications of cyber-physical systems. These applications often require the deployment of sensor nodes in various anisotropic fields. Localization in anisotropic fields is a challenge because of the factors such as non-line of sight communications, irregularities of terrains, and network holes. Traditional localization techniques, when applied to anisotropic or irregular fields, result in colossal location estimation errors. To improve location estimations, this paper presents a comparative analysis of available localization techniques based on taxonomy framework. A detailed discussion on the importance of localization of sensor nodes in irregular fields from the reported real-life applications is presented along with challenges faced by existing localization techniques. Further, taxonomy based on techniques adopted by localization methods to address the effects of irregular fields on location estimations is reported. Finally, using the designed taxonomy framework, a comparative analysis of different localization techniques addressing irregularities and the directions towards the development of an optimal localization technique is addressed.
Red-leafed species for urban “greening” in the age of global climate change
Authors: Lo Piccolo Ermes , Landi Marco 
Published: May 2020

AbstractUrban trees provide vital ecosystem services such as mitigating heat island, improving air quality by removing various air pollutants, capturing rainwater, and acting as topsoil carbon storage. The aesthetic value of urban trees is also another feature that has to be considered in the context of urban greening. Classical criteria for the selection of urban trees have to respond to new challenges imposed to the cities in a near future. Global climate change factors increase the harshness of our cities, and thereby the plant resilience to abiotic stresses has also to be seriously considered for planning the urban greening. Red-leafed species, characterized by the permanent presence of foliar anthocyanins, show a greater tolerance to different environmental cues than green-leafed species commonly used in our cities. In addition, red tree species own a great aesthetic value which has been underestimated in the context of urban areas, especially in the harsh Mediterranean cities. In this study, we emphasize the “privilege of being red” from different point of view, in order to drive the attention to the possibility to increase the use of red-leafed species for urban “greening”. Some possible negative aspects related to their use are rebutted and the direction of future researches are proposed.
Iron and Manganese Retention of Juvenile Zebrafish (Danio rerio) Exposed to Contaminated Dietary Zooplankton (Daphnia pulex)—a Model Experiment
Authors: Herman Petra , Fehér Milán , Molnár Áron , Harangi Sándor , Sajtos Zsófi , Stündl László , Fábián István , Baranyai Edina 
Published: May 2020

AbstractIn present study the effect of iron (Fe) and manganese (Mn) contamination was assessed by modeling a freshwater food web of water, zooplankton (Daphnia pulex), and zebrafish (Danio rerio) under laboratory conditions. Metals were added to the rearing media of D. pulex, and enriched zooplankton was fed to zebrafish in a feeding trial. The elemental analysis of rearing water, zooplankton, and fish revealed significant difference in the treatments compared to the control. In D. pulex the Mn level increased almost in parallel with the dose of supplementation, as well as the Fe level differed statistically. A negative influence of the supplementation on the fish growth was observed: specific growth rate (SGR%) and weight gain (WG) decreased in Fe and Mn containing treatments. The redundancy analysis (RDA) of concentration data showed strong correlation between the rearing water and D. pulex, as well as the prey organism of Fe- and Mn-enriched D. pulex and the predator organism of D. rerio. The bioconcentration factors (BCF) calculated for water to zooplankton further proved the relationship between the Fe and Mn dosage applied in the treatments and measured in D. pulex. Trophic transfer factor (TTF) results also indicate that significant retention of the metals occurred in D. rerio individuals, however, in a much lower extent than in the water to zooplankton stage. Our study suggests that Fe and Mn significantly accumulate in the lower part of the trophic chain and retention is effective through the digestive track of zebrafish, yet no biomagnification occurs.
Gene Expression Programming (GEP) to predict coefficient of discharge for oblique side weir
Authors: Mohammed Ahmed Y. , Sharifi Ali 
Published: May 2020

AbstractIn irrigation and drainage structures, side weir is widely used for flow diversion from main to branch channels. Side weir is also used as a measuring device for discharge measurements, so discharge coefficient was mainly studied in many previous studies. Skew side weir was not taking a good highlight in previous studies and literature, so the present work discharge coefficient calculation for the skew side weir was adopted and studied. Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) and Gene Expression Programming (GEP) tools were used in the present study and compared with observed values ofCd. The mean absolute error forCdobserved and calculated in MLR and GEP was not exceeded 5%. TheCdvalues for skew side weir ranged from (0.65) to (0.85), while its values for straight vertical side from previous literature weir ranged from (0.45) to (0.65); this mean skew side weir can be used for increase in discharge diversion to the branch channel at the same water levels by 27%. The Akaike information criteria (AIC) with (AICs), root-mean-square error (RMSE), mean absolute relative error (MARE) and scatter index (SI) are used in this study for measuring the GEP model performance. From results, the GEP model has AIC = − 216.51, AICs = − 918.51, RMSE = 0.004653, MARE = 0.005234,R2 = 0.994 and SI = 0.006231 performed the best. According to previous results, the new equation presented through GEP can be adopted for discharge coefficient calculation in skew side weir.
Investigating the effects of fault reactivation and CO2 migration during combined CO2-EOR and sequestration within a mature oil reservoir
Authors: Pulchan Shawn , Alexander David , Boodlal Donnie 
Published: May 2020

AbstractThe investigation into the combined processes of CO2-EOR and geologic carbon sequestration was seen to be a viable solution to reducing CO2 emissions from the atmosphere, while boosting production from mature oil fields. However, the practicality of the combined process hinges on the determination of an optimum injection pressure to maximize the application of both methods. In addition, the success of these two operations is also contingent upon the dynamic sealing capacity of bounding faults, to allow hydrocarbon accumulation and trapping of injected CO2. Consequentially, the goal of this research is to optimize the implementation of combined CO2-EOR with simultaneous CO2 sequestration and investigate the enhancing/diminishing aspects of fault reactivation and CO2 migration. The study was approached from two scenarios; the first was the determination of an optimum injection pressure for the combined process, with the main focus on maximizing recovery from a mature oil field. The results saw a maximum cumulative recovery of 73.7090 Mbbls being facilitated at an optimal injection rate of 722 Scf/day. The second scenario entailed the investigation of the occurrence or lack thereof, of injection-induced fault reactivation at this predetermined injection rate of 722 Scf/day. Simulations reflecting the characteristics of fault reactivation were conducted, and are indicative of relations between fault opening stress, reactivation time, hydraulic fracture permeability, fracture propagation length, and leakage. Conclusively, the viability of the combination of CO2-EOR and sequestration were seen to depend on the technicalities of fault reactivation. In some cases, reactivation resulted in increases of accessible storage capacity, whereas, in other instances, it led to the leakage of the injected CO2.
Existence of variational solutions to a Cauchy–Dirichlet problem with time-dependent boundary data on metric measure spaces
Authors: Collins Michael 
Published: May 2020

AbstractThe objective of this work is an existence proof for variational solutionsuto parabolic minimizing problems. Here, the functions being considered are defined on a metric measure space$$({\mathcal {X}}, d, \mu )$$(X,d,μ). For such parabolic minimizers that coincide with Cauchy-Dirichlet data$$\eta $$ηon the parabolic boundary of a space-time-cylinder$$\varOmega \times (0, T)$$Ω×(0,T)with an open subset$$\varOmega \subset {\mathcal {X}}$$Ω⊂Xand$$T > 0$$T>0, we prove existence in the parabolic Newtonian space$$L^p(0, T; {\mathcal {N}}^{1,p}(\varOmega ))$$Lp(0,T;N1,p(Ω)). In this paper we generalize results from Collins and Herán (Nonlinear Anal 176:56–83, 2018) where only time-independent Cauchy–Dirichlet data have been considered. We argue completely on a variational level.
Progress in the treatment of osteoarthritis with umbilical cord stem cells
Authors: Liang Hanguang , Suo Haiqiang , Wang Zhiwei , Feng Wei 
Published: May 2020

AbstractOsteoarthritis is a chronic degenerative joint disease with an incidence of 81% among people aged over 65 years in China. Osteoarthritis significantly decreases the quality of life of patients, causing physical and psychological damage and posing a serious economic burden. Clinical treatments for osteoarthritis include drug and surgical treatments. Drug treatment can successfully alleviate pain but not satisfactorily reverse joint damage, while surgical intervention is typically used to treat end-stage disease. Stem cells are multi-potential progenitor cells with self-renewal and multi-lineage differentiation abilities, and can differentiate into many kinds of cells, including chondrocytes. Umbilical cord stem cells, also known as Wharton’s jelly mesenchymal stem cells (WJ-MSCs), have become the first choice for cartilage regeneration engineering owing to their availability and convenience of collection. This article reviews the biological characterization of WJ-MSCs in recent years, their advantages compared with other stem cells, and their application in the treatment of osteoarthritis in animal experiments and clinical trials.
Adipogenesis Inhibitory Activity of Hypersampsone P from Hypericum subsessile
Authors: Zhou Hui-Min , Ye Yan-Song , Jiang Na-Na , Mu Rong-Fang , Wang Qian , Hu Jing , Liu Xia , Qin Wan-Ying , Xu Gang , Xiong Wen-Yong 
Published: May 2020

Abstract
Adamantane polycyclic polyprenylated acylphloroglucinols (PPAPs) with caged architecture, a special class of hybrid natural products, is specifically rich in the plant family Guttiferae, especially Hypericum or Garcinia genus. Hypersampsone P is one of Adamantane PPAPs compounds extracted from Hypericum subsessile. Here we have chosen, screened ten PPAPs and identified one of them showed an activity in inhibiting of adipocytes differentiation. Particularly, the compound, hypersampsone P, blunted the adipocyte differentiation dose-dependently. Moreover, hypersampsone P down-regulated the expressions of several key regulators for adipogenesis, including PPARγ and FABP4. The treatment of cells at the early stage of adipogenesis by hypersampsone P induced the greatest blunting of adipocyte differentiation and the effect might be involved in the LKB1-AMPK signaling pathway.

Graphic Abstract
Building Magnetoresponsive Composite Elastomers for Bionic Locomotion Applications
Authors: Lei Yi , Sheng Zhizhi , Zhang Jian , Liu Jing , Lv Wei , Hou Xu 
Published: May 2020

AbstractThe ability of natural living organisms, transferring deformations into locomotion, has attracted researchers’ increasing attention in building bionic actuators and smart systems. As a typical category of functional materials, magnetoresponsive composite elastomers, comprised of flexible elastomer matrices and rigid magnetic particles, have been playing critical roles in this field of research due to their dynamic changes in response to applied magnetic field direction and intensity. The magnetically driven bionic actuators based on magnetoresponsive composite elastomers have been developed to achieve some specific functions in some special fields. For instance, under the control of the applied magnetic field, the bionic actuators can not only generate time-varying deformation, but also motion in diverse environments, suggesting new possibilities for target gripping and directional transporting especially in the field of artificial soft robots and biological engineering. Therefore, this review comprehensively introduces the component, fabrication, and bionic locomotion application of magnetoresponsive composite elastomers. Moreover, existing challenges and future perspectives are further discussed.
A Facile Modifier-free Approach to Fabricate Antistatic Superhydrophobic Composite Coatings with Remarkable Thermal Stability and Corrosion Resistance
Authors: Liu Xiang , Zhang Dekun , Guo Zhiguang 
Published: May 2020

AbstractResearch on antistatic superhydrophobic surfaces has attracted widespread attention in some fields. However, in the application of superhydrophobic materials, fabricating stable and practical superhydrophobic surfaces through facile and low-cost approaches still faces considerable challenges. Herein, a polyphenylene sulfide (PPS)-based antistatic superhydrophobic composite coating with a high water contact angle (166°) and a low sliding angle (2°) was fabricated on a Q345 steel surface through a simple spray-coating method without any modifier. Furthermore, the as-prepared superhydrophobic coating also displayed excellent superhydrophobicity for water droplets at different pH values, as well as self-cleaning, anti-fouling and anti-icing properties. Importantly, the superhydrophobic coating still exhibited superhydrophobicity after calcination at 350 °C for 1 h, indicating its outstanding thermal stability. Excellent antistatic and anticorrosion properties were obtained on the prepared coating surface, which allows the coating to be applied under harsh conditions. Benefiting from the above characteristics, compared with the commercial coating, the as-obtained antistatic superhydrophobic coating may be applied more widely in related fields.
Reward Value-Based Goal Selection for Agents’ Cooperative Route Learning Without Communication in Reward and Goal Dynamism
Authors: Uwano Fumito , Takadama Keiki 
Published: May 2020

AbstractThis paper proposes a goal selection method to operate agents get maximum reward values per time by noncommunicative learning. In particular, that method aims to enable agents to cooperate along to dynamism of reward values and goal locations. Adaptation against to these dynamisms can enable agents to learn cooperative actions along to changing transportation tasks and changing incomes/rewards because of transporting tasks for heavy/valuable and light/valueless items in a storehouse. Concretely, this paper extends the previous noncommunicative cooperative action learning method (Profit minimizing reinforcement learning with oblivion of memory: PMRL-OM) and sets the two unified conditions combined of the number of time steps and the rewards. One of the unified conditions is calculated the approximated number of time steps if the expected reward values are the same each other for all purposes, and the other is the minimum number of time steps divided by the reward value. The proposed method makes all agents learn to achieve the purposes in the order in which they have the minimum number of the condition values. After that, each agent learns cooperative policy by PMRL-OM as the previous method. This paper analyzes the unified conditions and derives that the condition calculating the approximated time steps can be combined both evaluations with almost same weight unlike the value the other condition, that is, the condition can help the agents to select the appropriate purposes among them with the small difference in terms of the two evaluations. This paper tests empirically the performances of PMRL-OM with the two conditions by comparing with the PMRL-OM in three cases of grid world problems whose goal locations and reward values are changed dynamically. The results of this derive that the unified conditions perform better than PMRL-OM without some conditions in grid world problems. In particular, it is clear that the condition calculating the approximated time step can direct the appropriate goals for the agents.