bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Evaluating the provision of ecosystem services to support phytoremediation measures for countering soil contamination. A case‐study of the Guadiamar Green Corridor (SW Spain)
Authors: Blanco‐Velázquez Francisco J. , Pino‐Mejías Rafael , Anaya‐Romero María 
Published: March 2020

AbstractFrequently, the plants used for the management of contaminated soil are those native to the area of action and provide a range of ecosystem services (ES). However, in many cases the sustainability of the afforestation planning and the provision of ES are not evaluated under scenarios of climate change (CC). In the present research work, we propose a fast‐track methodology for evaluating the potential distribution of forest species and provisioning of carbon sequestration under soil contaminated by trace elements. Furthermore, the effect of CC on the potential distribution was evaluated through the calibration of the Sierra model from MicroLEIS‐DSS. Seven tree species were selected due to their tolerance of soil contaminated by trace elements during the afforestation planning using the vegetation cover maps (1998–2013) of the Guadiamar Green Corridor. Additionally, compilation, standardization, and cluster process of soil database were applied following INSPIRE, EU‐HYDI, and JRC recommendations. Finally, the carbon sequestration rate of vegetation cover has been calculated according to IPCC methodology. The results show the loss of forest aptitude (Eucalyptus, P. pinea, P. alba, Quercus) under scenario of CC and decreasing of the ES provided. The proposed methodology could support the decision making to determine forest species suited for the regulation of contaminated soils and the provision of ES at spatiotemporal scales.
Multifunctional SEVA shuttle vectors for actinomycetes and Gram‐negative bacteria
Authors: García‐Gutiérrez Coral , Aparicio Tomás , Torres‐Sánchez Lucía , Martínez‐García Esteban , de Lorenzo Víctor , Villar Claudio J. , Lombó Felipe 
Published: March 2020

AbstractActinomycetales, such as the genus Streptomyces, are well‐known cell factories employed to produce a wide variety of secondary metabolites for industrial use. However, not only is the genetic engineering of Streptomyces more complicated and tedious than other model laboratory species, such as Escherichia coli, there is also a considerable lack of genetic tools, hindering its adoption as a common chassis for synthetic biology. In this work, 23 novel shuttle vectors are presented that follow the canonical SEVA (Standard European Vector Architecture) common architecture with the goal of increasing the genetic toolbox repertoire for Streptomyces and other actinomycetes. The ORI module of these plasmids is composed of the combination of two origins of replication, one for Gram‐negative bacteria and the other for Streptomyces, a Gram‐positive bacteria. Origins of replication have been included in the collection for integrative, low‐copy number, and medium‐to‐high‐copy number vectors for Streptomyces. Also, a new selection marker has been developed that confers resistance to apramycin. The functionality of these plasmids was tested via the heterologous expression of GFP and the heterologous production of the plant flavonoid apigenin in Streptomyces albus J1074, with successful results in both cases, therefore expanding the current repertoire of genetic manipulation tools in Streptomyces species.
Investigation of 3D‐printed PLA–stainless‐steel polymeric composite through fused deposition modelling‐based additive manufacturing process for biomedical applications
Authors: Sakthivel Navin , Bramsch Jon , Voung Phi , Swink Isaac , Averick Saadyah , Vora Hitesh D. 
Published: March 2020

AbstractAmong the several 3D printing technologies, fused deposition modelling (FDM) is gaining popularity because it can fabricate geometrically complex shapes of polymeric bio‐implants at reasonable quality and cost mainly due to lower cost of FDM‐based 3D printers as well as the filament form of feedstock material. Particularly, to cater the need of cost‐effective biomedical applications, both poly(lactic) acid (PLA) and stainless‐steel materials individually displayed the biocompatibility for various biomedical applications. The pure polymeric components are generally lower in mechanical strength, but these limitations can be resolved by developing a polymer–metallic composite; therefore, the recently developed PLA–stainless‐steel composite was selected for the present work. This is new material and the current literature lacks in providing the necessary FDM processing parameters to obtain desired functional properties of PLA–stainless‐steel components with unaltered biocompatibility. Therefore, the objective here is to obtain the optimized processing parameters through the design of experiments that shows the desired functional properties of PLA–stainless‐steel specimens manufactured by FDM and later validate the structural strength through the tensile and impact tests. It was observed that the PLA–stainless‐steel composite has a toughness of 18 kJ/m2 and has an ultimate tensile strength of ~69 MPa at 45° and ~23 MPa at 90° raster orientation of the print. Biocompatibility of the PLA–stainless‐steel polymeric composite was assessed using pre‐osteoblast cells, and materials were found to have biocompatibility unchanged from pure PLA. Overall, it was proved from this work that the low‐cost desktop FDM printer can be numerically optimized using statistical analyses to fabricate the next‐generation biomaterials for biomedical implants with tailored dimensions and surface finish with required mechanical strength and biocompatibility.
Exploring the Diversity of Sugar Compounds in Healthy, Prediabetic, and Diabetic Volunteers
Authors: Mack Carina I. , Ferrario Paola G. , Weinert Christoph H. , Egert Björn , Hoefle Anja S. , Lee Yu‐Mi , Skurk Thomas , Kulling Sabine E. , Daniel Hannelore 
Published: March 2020

ScopeDiabetes is thought to primarily represent a disturbance of carbohydrate metabolism; however, population studies employing metabolomics have mainly identified plasma amino acids and lipids, or their products, as biomarkers. In this pilot study, the aim is to analyze a wide spectrum of sugar compounds in the fasting state and during an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in healthy, prediabetic, and type 2 diabetic volunteers.Methods and resultsThe three volunteer groups underwent a standard OGTT. Plasma samples obtained in the fasting state, 30 and 90 min after the OGTT, are subjected to a semitargeted GC–MS (gas chromatography–mass spectrometry) sugar profiling. Overall, 40 sugars are detected in plasma, of which some are yet unknown to change during an OGTT. Several sugars (e.g., trehalose) reveal significant differences between the volunteer groups both in fasting plasma and in distinct time courses after the OGTT. This suggests an endogenous production from orally absorbed glucose and/or an insulin‐dependent production/removal from plasma.ConclusionIt is demonstrated that more sugars than expected can be found in human plasma. Since some of these show characteristic differences depending on health status, it may be worthwhile to assess their usability as biomarkers for diagnosing early‐stage insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.
Hybrid adversarial‐discriminative network for leukocyte classification in leukemia
Authors: Zhang Chuanhao , Wu Shangshang , Lu Zhiming , Shen Yajuan , Wang Jing , Huang Pu , Lou Jingjiao , Liu Cong , Xing Lei , Zhang Jian , Xue Jie , Li Dengwang 
Published: March 2020

PurposeLeukemia is a lethal disease that is harmful to bone marrow and overall blood health. The classification of white blood cell images is crucial for leukemia diagnosis. The purpose of this study is to classify white blood cells by extracting discriminative information from cell segmentation and combining it with the fine‐grained features. We propose a hybrid adversarial residual network with support vector machine (SVM), which utilizes the extracted features to improve the classification accuracy for human peripheral white cells.MethodsFirstly, we segment the cell and nucleus by utilizing an adversarial residual network, which contains a segmentation network and a discriminator network. To extract features that can handle the inter‐class consistency problem effectively, we introduce the adversarial residual network. Then, we utilize convolutional neural network (CNN) features and histogram of oriented gradient (HOG) features, which can extract discriminative features from images of segmented cell nuclei. To utilize the representative features fully, a discriminative network is introduced to deal with neighboring information at different scales. Finally, we combine the vectors of HOG features with those of CNN features and feed them into a linear SVM to classify white blood cells into six types.ResultsWe used three methods to evaluate the effect of leukocyte classification based on 5000 leukocyte images acquired from a local hospital. The first approach is to use the CNN features as the input of SVM to classify leukocytes, which achieved 94.23% specificity, 95.10% sensitivity, and 94.41% accuracy. The use of the HOG features for SVM achieved 83.50% specificity, 87.50% sensitivity, and 85.00% accuracy. The use of combined CNN and HOG features achieved 94.57% specificity, 96.11% sensitivity, and 95.93% accuracy.ConclusionsWe propose a novel hybrid adversarial‐discriminative network for the classification of microscopic leukocyte images. It improves the accuracy of cell classification, reduces the difficulty and time pressure of doctors’ work, and economizes the valuable time of doctors in daily clinical diagnosis.
NMR relaxometry of oil paint binders
Authors: Busse Franziska , Rehorn Christian , Küppers Markus , Ruiz Naira , Stege Heike , Blümich Bernhard 
Published: March 2020

AbstractMobile nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a flexible technique for nondestructive characterization of water in plants, the physical properties of polymers, moisture in porous walls, or the binder in paintings by relaxation measurements. NMR relaxation data report material properties and therefore can also help to characterize the state of tangible cultural heritage. In this work, we discuss the relaxation behavior in two series of naturally aged paint mock‐up samples. First, paints with different pigment concentrations were prepared and investigated in terms of the longitudinal and transverse relaxation‐time distributions. We document the evolution of both relaxation‐time distributions during the initial drying stage and demonstrate the heightened importance of transverse over longitudinal relaxation measurements. Second, we observe nonlinear dependences of the relaxation times on the pigment concentration in a typical oil binder. Third, in a study of naturally aged paint samples prepared in the years between 1914 and 1951 and subsequently aged under controlled conditions, we explore the possibility of determining the age of paintings using partial least square regression (PLS) by fitting T1–T2 data with the sample age. Our results suggest some correlation, albeit with significant scatter. Estimating the age of a painting stored under unknown conditions from NMR relaxation data is therefore not feasible, as the cumulative effects of light irradiation, humidity, and biological degradation further obfuscate the chemical and physical impact of aging on the relaxation times in addition to the impact of pigment concentration.
Magnetic resonance imaging of enhanced nerve repair with mesenchymal stem cells combined with microenvironment immunomodulation in neurotmesis
Authors: Yang Zehong , Zheng Chushan , Zhang Fang , Lin Binglin , Cao Minghui , Tian Xuwei , Zhang Jingzhong , Zhang Xiao , Shen Jun 
Published: March 2020

AbstractIntroductionThe immuno‐microenvironment of injured nerves adversely affects mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapy for neurotmesis. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be used noninvasively to monitor nerve degeneration and regeneration. The aim of this study was to investigate nerve repair after MSC transplantation combined with microenvironment immunomodulation in neurotmesis by using multiparametric MRI.MethodsRats with sciatic nerve transection and surgical coaptation were treated with MSCs combined with immunomodulation or MSCs alone. Serial multiparametric MRI examinations were performed over an 8‐week period after surgery.ResultsNerves treated with MSCs combined with immunomodulation showed better functional recovery, rapid recovery of nerve T2, fractional anisotropy and radial diffusivity values, and more rapid restoration of the fiber tracks than nerves treated with MSCs alone.DiscussionTransplantation of MSCs in combination with immunomodulation can exert a synergistic repair effect on neurotmesis, which can be monitored by multiparametric MRI.
Shear wave elastography of the median nerve: A mechanical study
Authors: Schrier Verena J.M.M. , Lin Jason , Gregory Adriana , Thoreson Andrew R. , Alizad Azra , Amadio Peter C. , Fatemi Mostafa 
Published: March 2020

AbstractBackgroundShear wave elastography (SWE) shows promise in peripheral neuropathy evaluation but has potential limitations due to tissue size and heterogeneity. We tested SWE sensitivity to elasticity change and the effect of probe position in a median nerve cadaver model.MethodsTen specimens were used to measure median nerve elasticity under increasing loads using SWE and indentation. Measurements were compared using repeated‐measures analysis of variance.ResultsIndentation and SWE‐based longitudinal nerve elasticity increased with tensile loading (P< .01), showing a similar relationship. Acquisition in a transverse plane showed lower values compared with longitudinal measurements, mostly under higher loads (P= .03), as did postdissection elasticity (P= .02). Elasticity did not change when measured proximal to the carpal tunnel.ConclusionsLongitudinal SWE is sensitive to changes in median nerve elasticity. Measuring elasticity of peripheral nerves noninvasively could elucidate intra‐neural pathology related to compression neuropathies, and proof to be of added value as a diagnostic or prognostic tool.
Predicting the development of overweight and obesity in children between 2.5 and 8 years of age: The prospective ABIS study
Authors: Duchen Karel , Jones Mike , Faresjö Åshild Olsen , Faresjö Tomas , Ludvigsson Johnny 
Published: March 2020

SummaryBackgroundA relationship between overweight and obesity early in life and adolescence has been reported. The aim of this study was to track changes in overweight/obesity in children and to assess risk factors related to the persistence of overweight/obesity between 2.5 and 8 years.Study designChildren who participated in all three follow‐ups at 2.5, 5 and 8 years in the prospective cohort All Children in Southeast Sweden (ABIS) (N = 2245, 52.1% boys and 47.9% girls) were classified as underweight, normal, overweight or with obesity, and changes within categories with age were related to risk factors for development of obesity in a multivariate analysis.ResultsThe prevalence of overweight and obesity between 2.5 and 8 years was 11%–12% and 2%–3%, respectively. Children with normal weight remained in the same category over the years, 86% between 2.5 to 5 years and 87% between 5 and 8 years. Overweight and obesity at 5 and 8 years were positively related to each other (p < 0.0001 for both). High level of TV watching at 8 years and high maternal body mass index (BMI) when the child was 5 years were related to lower probability to a normalized ISO‐BMI between 5 and 8 years of age (p < 0.05 for both).ConclusionChildren with ISO‐BMI 18.5 to 24.9 remain in that range during the first 8 years of life. Children with overweight early in life gain weight and develop obesity, and children with obesity tend to remain with obesity up to 8 years of age. TV watching and high maternal BMI were related to lower probability to weight normalization between 5 and 8 years of age. A multidisciplinary approach to promote dietary and physical activity changes in the entire family should be used for the treatment and prevention of overweight and obesity in early childhood.
Fabrication of highly filled wood plastic composite pallets with extrusion‐compression molding technique
Authors: Jiang Taijun , Zeng Guangsheng , Hu Can 
Published: March 2020

AbstractThe aim of this study was to fabricate highly filled wood plastic composite pallets with extrusion‐compression molding technique and investigate the effects of processing parameters on mechanical performance and production stability. The composites were blended in twin‐screw extruder and subsequently measured by weight with an electronic scale. Before compression, it was divided into pieces and rearranged in the cavities of compression mould according to the mass distribution. The effects of compression pressure and mould temperature on flexure strength, density, water absorption, and dimensional deviation were investigated. The results show that both the flexure strength and density of the pallets increased with compression pressure and remained higher than that of extruded deck when compression pressure exceeded 6.5 MPa. Water absorption and dimensional deviation decreased with compression pressure and remained lower than that of extruded deck after the compression pressure exceeded 6.0 MPa. Compression pressure could increase the final passed yield by improving the composite melt filling state and lowering the buckling deformation, but further increase above 6.7 MPa would result in a decline in final passed yield. Increase in mould temperature contributed to the production stability but an excessive value would extend the molding cycle. The insights gained from this study may be of assistance in optimizing extrusion‐compression processing parameters and expanding the application of highly filled wood plastic composites in complicated and irregular products.
A glimpse into the molecular mechanism of integral membrane proteins through hydrogen–deuterium exchange mass spectrometry
Authors: Martens Chloe , Politis Argyris 
Published: March 2020

AbstractIntegral membrane proteins (IMPs) control countless fundamental biological processes and constitute the majority of drug targets. For this reason, uncovering their molecular mechanism of action has long been an intense field of research. They are, however, notoriously difficult to work with, mainly due to their localization within the heterogeneous of environment of the biological membrane and the instability once extracted from the lipid bilayer. High‐resolution structures have unveiled many mechanistic aspects of IMPs but also revealed that the elucidation of static pictures has limitations. Hydrogen–deuterium exchange coupled to mass spectrometry (HDX‐MS) has recently emerged as a powerful biophysical tool for interrogating the conformational dynamics of proteins and their interactions with ligands. Its versatility has proven particularly useful to reveal mechanistic aspects of challenging classes of proteins such as IMPs. This review recapitulates the accomplishments of HDX‐MS as it has matured into an essential tool for membrane protein structural biologists.
Template‐based modeling and ab‐initio docking using CoDock in CAPRI
Authors: Kong Ren , Liu Ran‐Ran , Xu Xi‐Ming , Zhang Da‐Wei , Xu Xiao‐Shuang , Shi Hang , Chang Shan 
Published: March 2020

AbstractIntegration of template‐based modeling, global sampling and precise scoring is crucial for the development of molecular docking programs with improved accuracy. We combined template‐based modeling and ab‐initio docking protocol as hybrid docking strategy called CoDock for the docking and scoring experiments of the seventh CAPRI edition. For CAPRI rounds 38‐45, we obtained acceptable or better models in the top 10 submissions for eight out of the 16 evaluated targets as predictors, nine out of the 16 targets as scorers. Especially, we submitted acceptable models for all of the evaluated protein‐oligosaccharide targets. For the CASP13‐CAPRI experiment (round 46), we obtained acceptable or better models in the top 5 submissions for 10 out of the 20 evaluated targets as predictors, 11 out of the 20 targets as scorers. The failed cases for our group were mainly the difficult targets and the protein‐peptide systems in CAPRI and CASP13‐CAPRI experiments. In summary, this CAPRI edition showed that our hybrid docking strategy can be efficiently adapted to the increasing variety of challenges in the field of molecular interactions.
Effects of the Starch Types and the Grafting Conditions on the In Vitro Mucoadhesiveness of the Starch‐graft‐Poly(Methacrylic Acid) Hydrogels
Authors: Güler Mehmet Ali , Gök Mehmet Koray , Özgümüş Saadet 
Published: March 2020

AbstractIn the present study, grafting of poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) onto various types of starches (maize; rice; wheat; potato) is realized in the aqueous media for the first time using methacrylic acid as monomer and ammonium cerium‐IV‐nitrate as initiator system. The effects of the gelatinization pretreatment and the use of a crosslinker in the grafting reactions are investigated. The formation of the starch‐graft‐poly(methacrylic acid) (S‐g‐PMAA) is confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis. The grafting amounts (GA%) of the S‐g‐PMAAs are determined. The swelling and the erosion characteristics of the S‐g‐PMAAs are examined in deionized water and pH = 5 lactate buffer solution as an in vitro vaginal medium. Mechanical and in vitro mucoadhesiveness of the S‐g‐PMAAs are also investigated using ewe vaginal mucosa. The results demonstrate that the gelatinization pretreatment and crosslinking significantly affect the GA% values, swelling, erosion, mechanical, and mucoadhesive characteristics of the S‐g‐PMAAs depending on the types of starches. S‐g‐PMAAs with different mechanical and reasonable mucoadhesiveness can be obtained by manipulating the grafting conditions and using various types of starches. It is concluded that S‐g‐PMAAs could be appropriate candidates for applications as vaginal drug delivery systems.
A Semi‐Empirical Model for Mass Transfer in Carbohydrate Polymers: A Case of Native Cassava Starch Hydration Kinetic in Hot Water Media
Authors: Matias Gustavo de Souza , Lermen Fernando Henrique , Gonçalves Karoline Yoshiko , Jorge Luiz Mario de Matos , Ribeiro José Luis Duarte , Coelho Tânia Maria 
Published: March 2020

AbstractDespite several works in the literature that approach modifications of starch to obtain hydrophobic characteristics, few studies have the objective of understanding and modeling the mechanisms of water absorption in starch. This paper aims to determine the parameters of a model based on mass balance to represent the process of native cassava starch hydration. For that purpose, experimental data on the hydration of natural starch subject to different temperatures are collected. Next, a semi‐empirical model obtained by the differential balance of the amount of hot water in the sample is adjusted for each temperature, and model parameters are studied. Results reveal that the mass transfer constant of the model does not suffer from a significant influence of temperature on hydration. However, the equilibrium moisture content is affected by this temperature. Through this study, it is concluded that: i) the hydration of natural starch profile has a logarithmic behavior over time, and ii) the correlation that best describes the behavior of equilibrium moisture content is linear. Results allow the construction of a generalized model for the range of studied temperatures. Finally, it is suggested the replication of the methodology applied in this paper to analyze other starch modifications.