bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Resveratrol, a Molecule with Anti-Inflammatory and Anti-Cancer Activities: Natural Product to Chemical Synthesis
Authors: Kumar Sunil , Chang Yu-Chia , Lai Kuei-Hung , Hwang Tsong-Long 
Published: October 2020

Background:Resveratrol, a natural polyphenol product, is used in plant defense from fungal and microbial aggression. It is found naturally, especially in plants such as grapes, peanuts, and berries. It has the highest concentrations in blueberries, mulberries, blackberries, and the skin of red grapes. Resveratrol has various pharmacological properties such as anti-inflammatory, cytoprotective, and antineoplastic activities.Methods:We conducted a literature survey using standard tools such as Google, Reaxys, Scifinder, Scihub, and patent Espacenet to compile the biosynthetic pathways, all organic synthetic methods, and biological activities reported for resveratrol till date.Results:More than one hundred research articles and patents were referred to write this review. About twenty-five of them are related to chemical synthesis, and the rests are about the source, pharmacological activity, and other properties of resveratrol. This study reveals that many common pathways are involved in various pharmacological activities, which can be useful for treating various diseases based on the pathways involved. Reactions such as Pfitzner-Moffatt oxidation, Wittig-Horner condensation, Mizoroki–Heck, Perkin, Wittig, etc. have been used in resveratrol synthesis. A structure-activity relationship was also established based on its analogs and derivatives.Conclusion:This review examined and reported all the published biological activities and chemical syntheses of resveratrol apart from the biosynthetic pathway. Due to its valuable biological activities, various synthetic approaches have been reported till date. The reported synthetic operations are suitable for large-scale industrial production. Moreover, these comprehensive synthetic procedures could be utilized in the preparation of stilbenes and other related compounds in future endeavors.
Effect of Visnagin on Altered Steroidogenesis and Spermatogenesis, and Testicular Injury Induced by the Heavy Metal Lead
Authors: Ajarem Jamaan S. , Hegazy Ahmad K. , Allam Gamal A. , Allam Ahmed A. , Maodaa Saleh N. , Mahmoud Ayman M. 
Published: October 2020

Background:
Lead (Pb) is an environmental pollutant causing serious health problems,
including impairment of reproduction. Visnagin (VIS) is a furanochromone with promising antioxidant
and anti-inflammatory effects; however, its protective efficacy against Pb toxicity has not
been investigated.

Objective:
This study evaluated the protective effect of VIS on Pb reproductive toxicity, impaired
steroidogenesis and spermatogenesis, oxidative stress and inflammation.

Methods:
Rats received VIS (30 or 60 mg/kg) and 50 mg/kg lead acetate for 3 weeks and blood and testes samples were collected.

Results:
Pb intoxication impaired the pituitary-testicular axis (PTA) manifested by the decreased
serum levels of gonadotropins and testosterone. Pb decreased sperm count, motility and viability,
increased sperm abnormalities, and downregulated the steroidogenesis markers StAR, CYP17A1,
3β-HSD and 17β-HSD in the testis of rats. VIS significantly increased serum gonadotropins and testosterone,
alleviated sperm parameters and upregulated steroidogenesis. In addition, VIS decreased
pro-inflammatory cytokines, testicular lipid peroxidation and DNA fragmentation, downregulated
Bax, and enhanced antioxidants and Bcl-2.

Conclusion:
These results demonstrate the protective effect of VIS against Pb reproductive toxicity in rats. VIS improved serum gonadotropins and testosterone, enhanced steroidogenesis and spermatogenesis, and attenuated oxidative injury, inflammation and apoptosis. Therefore, VIS is a promising candidate for the protection against Pb-induced reproduction impairment.
Acute and Sub-Acute Toxicity Studies and Pharmacodynamic Studies of Standardized Extract of Trachyspermum ammi (L.) Sprague (Fruits) Against Chemically Induced Inflammation in Rats
Authors: Saraswat Nikita , Sachan Neetu , Chandra Phool 
Published: October 2020

Introduction:
Nowadays, researchers have been attempting to use herbal products as
medicines which have proven to cause lesser side effects. The fruit part of Trachyspermum ammi
(L.) - Ajwain has been an integral part of the Indian medicine system with much importance in
Ayurveda and Unani medicine system and is prescribed by Vaidya gurus and Hakim in raw form
or as a major constituent in the powdered formulations.

Objective:
This research aimed to evaluate acute and sub-acute toxicity of standardized T. ammi
fruit and its anti-inflammatory property using experimental models.

Methods:
The extract of herbs was spectroscopically analyzed for the estimation of the number of
bioactive compounds. Then acute and sub-acute toxicity analysis of the herbal extract was performed
to ensure the toxic effects, if any. Biochemical parameters like ALT, AST, ALP, etc. and
histopathological analysis were determined to study the toxicity of the extract. Then, the anti-inflammatory
activity of the T. ammi fruit extract employing Carrageenan and formalin-induced edema
model in rats was studied.

Results:
Ajwain seeds have a pungent smell and a characteristic odor. The powder microscopy
clearly showed endosperm, unicellular warty trichomes, striated cuticle in surface view, vittae, endodermis,
and vascular strand. Phytochemical tests reported the presence of carbohydrates, alkaloids,
tannins, etc. and characteristic peaks in UV, Mass, NMR, FTIR and HPLC were observed for
the extract. Acute and sub-acute toxicity studies did not report any toxicity, and significant anti-inflammatory
action was recorded.

Conclusion:
The spectroscopic and pharmacognostic analysis has shown the strong presence of
flavonoids, mineral matter, protein, phenols, saponins, carbohydrates, volatile oils, fiber, glycosides
and fat. Spectroscopic study interpretations have shown the presence of compounds like thymol,
para-cymene, γ-terpinene, α- and β-pinene, carvone, limonene, saponins,, β-phellandrene,
βfenchyl alcohol, α-thujene, β-phellendrene, α-thujene, etc. No signs of toxicity were recorded in
acute and sub-acute toxicity studies assessing the relative weight and histopathological analysis.
Significant anti-inflammatory potential of T. ammi fruit extract was found and LD50 was found to
be beyond 3000 mg/kg. The results of this study could be useful; in setting the quality parameters
for further identification of the crude herb and preparation of the monograph.
Peripheral Arterial Disease in Persons with Diabetic Foot Ulceration: a Current Comprehensive Overview
Authors: Marco Meloni , Valentina Izzo , Daniele Morosetti , Valerio Da Ros , Andrea Panunzi , Roberto Gandini , Laura Giurato , Luigi Uccioli 
Published: October 2020

Abstract::
In developed countries, the prevalence of persons with diabetes and peripheral arterial
disease (PAD) is approximately 50%. The presence of PAD is associated with non-healing ulcers,
major amputation, cardiovascular morbidity, and mortality. It is estimated that persons with diabetes,
foot ulceration and PAD have 50% of 5-years mortality rate. Therefore, subjects with ischemic
diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) should be considered a special group of patients with specific
clinical characteristics, general health status and prognosis. In persons with ischemic DFUs, an early
diagnosis and treatment are mandatory to reduce the risk of worse outcomes such as major amputation.
Revascularization of occluded lower extremity arteries is the main treatment to restore
blood flow in the foot and promote wound healing. Nonetheless, there are several unmet needs in
the management of diabetic subjects with PAD and foot ulceration as medical therapy, diagnostic
criteria and indications for revascularization, revascularization strategy and technical approach as
well as the management of no-option critical limb ischemia patients. It is a common opinion that
there is an evolution of PAD features in diabetic persons, which seems to present a more aggressive
pattern. This may be related to the frequent presence of concomitant comorbidities such as renal
failure which could influence the characteristics of atherosclerotic plaques and their distribution.
The aim of this review is to commence a complete overview and state of the art in the treatment
of patients with diabetes, PAD, and foot ulceration and to describe the current challenges and
future perspectives.
Evaluation on Auto-segmentation of the Clinical Target Volume (CTV) for Graves' Ophthalmopathy (GO) with a Fully Convolutional Network (FCN) on CT Images
Authors: Jiang Jialiang , Luo Yong , Wang Feng , Fu Yuchuan , Yu Hang , He Yisong 
Published: October 2020

Purpose:
The aim of this study is to evaluate the accuracy and dosimetric effects for auto-
segmentation of the CTV for GO in CT images based on FCN.

Methods:
An FCN-8s network architecture for auto-segmentation was built based on Caffe. CT images
of 121 patients with GO who have received radiotherapy at the West China Hospital of
Sichuan University were randomly selected for training and testing. Two methods were used to segment
the CTV of GO: treating the two-part CTV as a whole anatomical region or considering the
two parts of CTV as two independent regions. Dice Similarity Coefficient (DSC) and Hausdorff
Distance (HD) were used as evaluation criteria. The auto-segmented contours were imported into
the original treatment plan to analyse the dosimetric characteristics.

Results:
The similarity comparison between manual contours and auto-segmental contours showed
an average DSC value of up to 0.83. The max HD values for segmenting two parts of CTV separately
was a little bit smaller than treating CTV with one label (8.23±2.80 vs. 9.03±2.78). The
dosimetric comparison between manual contours and auto-segmental contours showed there was a
significant difference (p<0.05) with the lack of dose for auto-segmental CTV.

Conclusion:
ased on deep learning architecture, the automatic segmentation model for small target
areas can carry out auto contouring tasks well. Treating separate parts of one target as different
anatomic regions can help to improve the auto-contouring quality. The dosimetric evaluation can
provide us with different perspectives for further exploration of automatic sketching tools.
Simulation and Emulation Tools for Fog Computing
Authors: Singh Simar Preet , Kumar Rajesh , Sharma Anju , Reddy S. Raji , Vashisht Priyanka 
Published: October 2020

Background:Fog computing paradigm has recently emerged and gained higher attention in present era of Internet of Things. The growth of large number of devices all around, leads to the situation of flow of packets everywhere on the Internet. To overcome this situation and to provide computations at network edge, fog computing is the need of present time that enhances traffic management and avoids critical situations of jam, congestion etc.Methods:For research purposes, there are many methods to implement the scenarios of fog computing i.e. real-time implementation, implementation using emulators, implementation using simulators etc. The present study aims to describe the various simulation and emulation tools for implementing fog computing scenarios.Results:Review shows that iFogSim is the simulator that most of the researchers use in their research work. Among emulators, EmuFog is being used at higher pace than other available emulators. This might be due to ease of implementation and user-friendly nature of these tools and language these tools are based upon. The use of such tools enhance better research experience and leads to improved quality of service parameters (like bandwidth, network, security etc.).Conclusion:There are many fog computing simulators/emulators based on many different platforms that uses different programming languages. The paper concludes that the two main simulation and emulation tools in the area of fog computing are iFogSim and EmuFog. Accessibility of these simulation/emulation tools enhance better research experience and leads to improved quality of service parameters along with the ease of their usage.
Predictors and Effects of Usage of an Online Mindfulness Intervention for Distressed Cancer Patients: Usability Study
Authors: Cillessen Linda , van de Ven Monique OM , Compen Félix R , Bisseling Else M , van der Lee Marije L , Speckens Anne EM 
Published: October 2020

Background
One in three cancer patients experience high psychological distress. Mindfulness-based interventions are effective in reducing psychological distress in this patient group. However, these interventions lack availability and flexibility, which may compromise participation in the intervention for cancer patients experiencing late symptoms like fatigue or pain. Therefore, mindfulness-based interventions are increasingly offered via the internet. However, little is known about the usage of these online mindfulness-based interventions.

Objective
The aim of this study was to (1) predict uptake of and adherence to online mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (eMBCT) using baseline patient characteristics (demographic, cancer-related, personality, and psychological variables) and (2) examine the relations between adherence and treatment outcomes in eMBCT for cancer patients.

Methods
A total of 125 cancer patients were assigned to eMBCT in a parent randomized controlled trial comparing MBCT and eMBCT with treatment as usual in distressed cancer patients. Various usage measures of eMBCT were automatically tracked within the online program. Based on activity of use, participants were classified as nonusers, minimal users, low users, and intended users. Questionnaires were used to assess baseline characteristics (preintervention) and outcomes (pre- and postintervention). To answer the research questions, data were analyzed with t tests, χ2 tests, and linear regression models.

Results
Based on weekly activity, participants were classified as nonusers (n=17, 13.6%), who completed no exercises in MBCT; minimal users (n=31, 24.8%), who completed at least one exercise of one to three sessions; low users (n=12, 9.6%), who completed at least one exercise of four to seven sessions; and intended users (n=65, 52.0%), who completed at least one exercise of eight to nine sessions. Nonusers had more fear of cancer recurrence at baseline than users (uptake), and intended users were more conscientious than minimal and low users (adherence). Intended users reported a larger reduction in psychological distress and more improvement of positive mental health (ie, emotional, psychological, and social well-being) after the intervention than other participants.

Conclusions
This study showed that adherence was related to improved patient outcomes. Patients with strong fear of recurrence or low levels of conscientiousness should receive extra attention, as they are less likely to respectively start or complete eMBCT. Future research may focus on the development of flexible and adaptive eMBCT programs to fit individual needs.
Use of a Low-Cost Portable 3D Virtual Reality Simulator for Psychomotor Skill Training in Minimally Invasive Surgery: Task Metrics and Score Validity
Authors: Alvarez-Lopez Fernando , Maina Marcelo Fabián , Arango Fernando , Saigí-Rubió Francesc 
Published: October 2020

BackgroundThe high cost and low availability of virtual reality simulators in surgical specialty training programs in low- and middle-income countries make it necessary to develop and obtain sources of validity for new models of low-cost portable simulators that enable ubiquitous learning of psychomotor skills in minimally invasive surgery.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to obtain validity evidence for relationships to other variables, internal structure, and consequences of testing for the task scores of a new low-cost portable simulator mediated by gestures for learning basic psychomotor skills in minimally invasive surgery. This new simulator is called SIMISGEST-VR (Simulator of Minimally Invasive Surgery mediated by Gestures - Virtual Reality).MethodsIn this prospective observational validity study, the authors looked for multiple sources of evidence (known group construct validity, prior videogaming experience, internal structure, test-retest reliability, and consequences of testing) for the proposed SIMISGEST-VR tasks. Undergraduate students (n=100, reference group), surgical residents (n=20), and experts in minimally invasive surgery (n=28) took part in the study. After answering a demographic questionnaire and watching a video of the tasks to be performed, they individually repeated each task 10 times with each hand. The simulator provided concurrent, immediate, and terminal feedback and obtained the task metrics (time and score). From the reference group, 29 undergraduate students were randomly selected to perform the tasks 6 months later in order to determine test-retest reliability.ResultsEvidence from multiple sources, including strong intrarater reliability and internal consistency, considerable evidence for the hypothesized consequences of testing, and partial confirmation for relations to other variables, supports the validity of the scores and the metrics used to train and teach basic psychomotor skills for minimally invasive surgery via a new low-cost portable simulator that utilizes interaction technology mediated by gestures.ConclusionsThe results obtained provided multiple sources of evidence to validate SIMISGEST-VR tasks aimed at training novices with no prior experience and enabling them to learn basic psychomotor skills for minimally invasive surgery.
Federated Learning on Clinical Benchmark Data: Performance Assessment
Authors: Lee Geun Hyeong , Shin Soo-Yong 
Published: October 2020

Background
Federated learning (FL) is a newly proposed machine-learning method that uses a decentralized dataset. Since data transfer is not necessary for the learning process in FL, there is a significant advantage in protecting personal privacy. Therefore, many studies are being actively conducted in the applications of FL for diverse areas.

Objective
The aim of this study was to evaluate the reliability and performance of FL using three benchmark datasets, including a clinical benchmark dataset.

Methods
To evaluate FL in a realistic setting, we implemented FL using a client-server architecture with Python. The implemented client-server version of the FL software was deployed to Amazon Web Services. Modified National Institute of Standards and Technology (MNIST), Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care-III (MIMIC-III), and electrocardiogram (ECG) datasets were used to evaluate the performance of FL. To test FL in a realistic setting, the MNIST dataset was split into 10 different clients, with one digit for each client. In addition, we conducted four different experiments according to basic, imbalanced, skewed, and a combination of imbalanced and skewed data distributions. We also compared the performance of FL to that of the state-of-the-art method with respect to in-hospital mortality using the MIMIC-III dataset. Likewise, we conducted experiments comparing basic and imbalanced data distributions using MIMIC-III and ECG data.

Results
FL on the basic MNIST dataset with 10 clients achieved an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of 0.997 and an F1-score of 0.946. The experiment with the imbalanced MNIST dataset achieved an AUROC of 0.995 and an F1-score of 0.921. The experiment with the skewed MNIST dataset achieved an AUROC of 0.992 and an F1-score of 0.905. Finally, the combined imbalanced and skewed experiment achieved an AUROC of 0.990 and an F1-score of 0.891. The basic FL on in-hospital mortality using MIMIC-III data achieved an AUROC of 0.850 and an F1-score of 0.944, while the experiment with the imbalanced MIMIC-III dataset achieved an AUROC of 0.850 and an F1-score of 0.943. For ECG classification, the basic FL achieved an AUROC of 0.938 and an F1-score of 0.807, and the imbalanced ECG dataset achieved an AUROC of 0.943 and an F1-score of 0.807.

Conclusions
FL demonstrated comparative performance on different benchmark datasets. In addition, FL demonstrated reliable performance in cases where the distribution was imbalanced, skewed, and extreme, reflecting the real-life scenario in which data distributions from various hospitals are different. FL can achieve high performance while maintaining privacy protection because there is no requirement to centralize the data.
The Ground of All Negative Existential Truths
Authors: De Rizzo Julio 
Published: October 2020

A natural proposal for the grounds of negative existential truths, such as that Vulcan does not exist, states that these truths are grounded in the totality truth affirming the existence of every existent thing together with the truth that they are all. In this paper I will put forward three objections to straightforward formulations of this idea, and argue that a change in the usual grammar of grounding claims, allowing for pluralities of sentences to express not only grounds, but also groundees, is effective in making the account immune to the objections raised.
The domestic risk of chinese partnerships: cross-conditionality and coalition building
Authors: Angel Alejandro 
Published: October 2020

Empréstimos chineses se tornaram alternativas viáveis de financiamento durante a onda rosa devido à ausência de cláusulas de condicionalidade tradicionais. No entanto, essas operações financeiras, além de outras de diversos tipos, implicam com frequência a condicionalidade cruzada. Contrário à condicionalidade tradicional, a condicionalidade cruzada implica que operações nas áreas de comércio, financeira ou de ajuda ao desenvolvimento sejam prejudicadas em resposta a decisões de autoridades nacionais que mudem condições de projetos paralelos. O objetivo do presente trabalho é explorar as possíveis consequências políticas da condicionalidade cruzada nos assuntos domésticos dos países da América Latina. A hipótese é que a condicionalidade cruzada representa um risco similar àquele da condicionalidade tradicional em termos de autonomia nacional, mas por motivos diferentes. Se conclui que a condicionalidade cruzada afeta os esforços governamentais de construção de uma coalizão de governo devido aos impactos potenciais que ela possa ter sobre parceiros importantes do mesmo. No Brasil, o setor agroexportador, parceiro chave da coalizão de governo atual, seria aquele que poderia ser potencialmente afetado se o governo chinês decide implementar a condicionalidade cruzada como medida de retaliação a políticas ou declarações hostis do governo brasileiro a respeito de interesses chineses.