bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Comparison of Bispectral Index and Patient State Index values according to recovery from moderate neuromuscular block under steady-state total intravenous anesthesia
Authors: Kim Doyeon , Ahn Jin Hee , Heo Gunyoung , Jeong Ji Seon 
Published: March 2021

AbstractThere were insufficient researches of the comparison between Bispectral Index (BIS) and Patient State Index (PSI) values during the recovery of moderate NMB. We investigated the response of these indices during neuromuscular blockade (NMB) reversal by sugammadex under steady-state total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA) using propofol/remifentanil. In this prospective, observational study, patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy were enrolled. At the end of surgery, after confirming that train-of-four (TOF) count as 1 or 2, we maintained a steady state (BIS value of 40–50). After administration of 2 mg kg−1 sugammadex, BIS, PSI, and electromyography (EMG) signal values were recorded at one-minute intervals for 10 min. The primary outcome was the difference between the changes in BIS and PSI from baseline to a TOF ratio (TOFR) of 90 after sugammadex administration in steady-state TIVA. A total of 48 patients completed this trial. There was no significant difference between the changes in BIS and PSI values from baseline to TOFR 90 (− 0.333 ± 4.955 vs. − 0.188 ± 4.616; 95% confidence interval [CI] − 2.095 to 1.803; p = 0.882). Both BIS-EMG and PSI-EMG values at baseline and TOFR 90 were not statistically different (95% CI − 0.550 to 1.092; p = 0.510, 95% CI − 1.569 to 0.527; p = 0.322, respectively). No patient experienced any complications. Changes in BIS and PSI values after NMB reversal during steady-state TIVA were not significantly different. Both BIS and PSI provide trustworthy values for monitoring anesthetic depth during NMB reversal under TIVA.Trial Registration: This study was registered in the Clinical Trial Registry of Korea (https://cris.nih.go.kr: KCT 0003805).
No difference for changes in BMD between two different cementless hip stem designs 2 years after THA
Authors: Dyreborg Karen , Solgaard Søren , Skettrup Michael , Petersen Michael Mørk 
Published: March 2021

AbstractThis study evaluates how 2 different total hip arthroplasty (THA) stems compares regarding adaptive bone remodelling. The stems are both proximally porous coated, aiming for proximal fixation, but with different dispersal of the coating. They are also differently designed regarding the distal tip of the stem. We aimed to investigate if there is a difference in periprosthetic adaptive bone remodelling between two different designs. From February 2016 to September 2017, we randomised 62 patients, 1:1 (mean age = 64 years, Female/Male = 28/34), scheduled for an uncemented THA to receive either an EBM or a BM THA stem. We performed dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scans within a week after surgery and at 3, 6, 12 and 24 months with measurements of bone mineral density (BMD) in the 7 Gruen zones (region of interest (ROI) 1–7). Additionally, Oxford Hip Score and Harris Hip Score were collected at 6, 12 and 24 months. We found a decrease in BMD between the postoperative and the 24-months values in all ROIs for both stems. The greatest decrease over time was seen for both groups in the ROI1 (BM = − 8.4%, p = 0.044, and EBM = − 6.5%, p = 0.001) and ROI7 (BM = − 7%, p = 0.005, and EBM = − 8.6%, p < 0.0005). We found a tendency in ROI2–4 of a higher degree of bone loss in the EBM group. However, this difference only continued beyond 6 months in ROI4 (24 months: BM = − 1.2% and EBM = − 2.8%, p = 0.001). The stems show similar adaptive bone remodelling and are clinically performing well.
Aging selectively dampens oscillation of lipid abundance in white and brown adipose tissue
Authors: Held Ntsiki M. , Buijink M. Renate , Elfrink Hyung L. , Kooijman Sander , Janssens Georges E. , Luyf Angela C. M. , Pras-Raves Mia L. , Vaz Frédéric M. , Michel Stephan , Houtkooper Riekelt H. , van Weeghel Michel 
Published: March 2021

AbstractLipid metabolism is under the control of the circadian system and circadian dysregulation has been linked to obesity and dyslipidemia. These factors and outcomes have also been associated to, or affected by, the process of aging. Here, we investigated whether murine white (WAT) and brown (BAT) adipose tissue lipids exhibit rhythmicity and if this is affected by aging. To this end, we have measured the 24 h lipid profiles of WAT and BAT using a global lipidomics analysis of > 1100 lipids. We observed rhythmicity in nearly all lipid classes including glycerolipids, glycerophospholipids, sterol lipids and sphingolipids. Overall, ~ 22% of the analyzed lipids were considered rhythmic in WAT and BAT. Despite a general accumulation of lipids upon aging the fraction of oscillating lipids decreased in both tissues to 14% and 18%, respectively. Diurnal profiles of lipids in BAT appeared to depend on the lipid acyl chain length and this specific regulation was lost in aged mice. Our study revealed how aging affects the rhythmicity of lipid metabolism and could contribute to the quest for targets that improve diurnal lipid homeostasis to maintain cardiometabolic health during aging.
Increase in plasma Niemann–Pick disease type C2 protein is associated with poor prognosis of sepsis
Authors: Bai Yu , Yin Shuangyi , Gbordzor Vivian , Guo Yu , Bai Qing , Wang Shuaiwei , Wei Xiangyan , Chen Na , Zhang Yijie , Li Wei 
Published: March 2021

AbstractThe functional significance of extracellular Niemann–Pick disease type C2 protein (NPC2) is poorly defined. It is not known whether there is an association between plasma NPC2 and sepsis. Our exploratory, quantitative proteomic analysis showed a significant increase in the level of plasma NPC2 in moribund sepsis patients. Thus, we subsequently determined NPC2 concentration in plasma from healthy subjects, pneumonia patients and sepsis patients with comorbid pneumonia; and analyzed the association of plasma NPC2 with organ dysfunction and prognosis of sepsis patients. Our data shows that plasma NPC2 concentration was significantly higher in pneumonia and sepsis patients than healthy subjects, and was further increased in sepsis patients when the SOFA score reached 14. In addition, NPC2 concentration was significantly higher in patients that subsequently developed septic shock or died within 30 days. Moreover, NPC2 level showed the strongest association with the degree of renal dysfunction in sepsis patients. In moribund sepsis patients, however, NPC2 had highest correlation coefficient with indicators of coagulation anomaly. Based on these results, we conclude that the increase in plasma NPC2 in sepsis patients is associated with multiple organ failure, possibly results from a deficiency in renal clearance, and may serve as a prognostic marker for sepsis.
A simple new method for aged seed utilization based on melatonin-mediated germination and antioxidant nutrient production
Authors: Yu Song , Zhu Xuetian , Yang Helin , Yu Lihe , Zhang Yifei 
Published: March 2021

AbstractSeed deterioration, coupled with a decrease in nutrients, is unavoidable following long-term storage, and these seeds are therefore used as livestock fodder. Here, we developed a simple, rapid and efficient method of producing high amounts of antioxidants from deteriorated seeds via melatonin-induced germination. Legume seeds were subjected to high humidity at 55 °C for 12–36 h to obtain aged seeds with a 40% germination rate and severely reduced antioxidant nutrition (total phenolics content, ferric reducing power and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging capacity). Aged seeds were then treated with 0.1 mM melatonin, resulting in the production of sprouts with a higher total phenolics content (fivefold), greater ferric reducing power (sevenfold) and greater DPPH radical scavenging capacity (twofold) compared to the aged seeds. These findings suggest that melatonin treatment efficiently converted aged seed reserve residues into antioxidant nutrients, providing an alternative use for deteriorated seeds in food production.
PLA1A expression as a diagnostic marker of BRAF-mutant metastasis in melanoma cancer
Authors: Yang Gang , Liu Shuya , Maghsoudloo Mazaher , Shasaltaneh Marzieh Dehghan , Kaboli Parham Jabbarzadeh , Zhang Cuiwei , Deng Youcai , Heidari Hajar , Entezari Maliheh , Fu ShaoZhi , Wen QingLian , Imani Saber 
Published: March 2021

AbstractBRAF and NRAS are the most reported mutations associated to melanomagenesis. The lack of accurate diagnostic markers in response to therapeutic treatment in BRAF/NRAS-driven melanomagenesis is one of the main challenges in melanoma personalized therapy. In order to assess the diagnostic value of phosphatidylserine-specific phospholipase A1-alpha (PLA1A), a potent lysophospholipid mediating the production of lysophosphatidylserine, PLA1A mRNA and serum levels were compared in subjects with malignant melanoma (n = 18), primary melanoma (n = 13), and healthy subjects (n = 10). Additionally, the correlation between histopathological subtypes of BRAF/NRAS-mutated melanoma and PLA1A was analyzed. PLA1A expression was significantly increased during melanogenesis and positively correlated to disease severity and histopathological markers of metastatic melanoma. PLA1A mRNA and serum levels were significantly higher in patients with BRAF-mutated melanoma compared to the patients with NRAS-mutated melanoma. Notably, PLA1A can be used as a diagnostic marker for an efficient discrimination between naïve melanoma samples and advanced melanoma samples (sensitivity 91%, specificity 57%, and AUC 0.99), as well as BRAF-mutated melanoma samples (sensitivity 62%, specificity 61%, and AUC 0.75). Our findings suggest that PLA1A can be considered as a potential diagnostic marker for advanced and BRAF-mutated melanoma.
TIGIT-related transcriptome profile and its association with tumor immune microenvironment in breast cancer
Authors: Zhang Qin , Gao Chaowei , Shao Jianqiang , Wang Zunyi 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Immune checkpoints are intensively investigated as targets in cancer immunotherapy. T-cell immunoreceptor with immunoglobulin (Ig) and ITIM domains (TIGIT) are recently emerging as a novel promising target in cancer immunotherapy. Herein, we systematically investigated TIGIT-related transcriptome profile and relevant clinical information derived from a total of 2994 breast cancer patients recorded in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Molecular Taxonomy of Breast Cancer International Consortium (METABRIC). We uncovered the relationship between TIGIT and major molecular and clinical characteristics in breast cancer. More importantly, we depicted the landscape of associations between TIGIT and other immune cell populations. Gene ontology analyses and Gene Set Variation Analysis (GSVA) of genes correlated with TIGIT revealed that TIGIT were mainly involved in immune responses and inflammatory activities. In summary, TIGIT expression was tightly related to the aggressiveness of breast cancer; TIGIT might manipulate anti-tumor immune responses by impacting not only T cells but also other immune cells. To the best of our knowledge, this is by far the most comprehensive and largest study characterizing the molecular and clinical features of TIGIT in breast cancer through large-scale transcriptome data.
Event‐triggered load frequency control of smart grids under deception attacks
Authors: Liu Xinghua , Bai Dandan , Wu Yi‐De , Ge Ming‐Feng , Vargas Alessandro N. 
Published: March 2021

AbstractThis paper shows a result for the load frequency control with event‐triggering mechanism under deception attacks. Specifically, the event‐triggering mechanism and deception attacks are considered in the dynamic model of power systems. The event‐triggering is used to reduce the frequency of controller update and communication between nodes. The controller is designed and the stability of the system is guaranteed by utilising the Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional method and truncated Bessel–Legendre inequality. Finally, a three‐area interconnected networked power system is given and the simulated results are presented to show the effectiveness of the developed theoretical results.
Low‐complexity joint active and passive beamforming for RIS‐aided MIMO systems
Authors: Siddiqi Muhammad Zain , Mir Talha , Hao Mo , MacKenzie Richard 
Published: March 2021

AbstractIn this paper, we consider the reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)‐aided MIMO systems to realize a high quality link between the base station (BS) and the users via a RIS. To achieve this goal, the active beamforming at the BS and the passive beamforming at the RIS should be jointly optimized. However, most of the existing joint optimization schemes that maximize the sum‐rate have high computational complexity due to the complex derivative calculations and matrix inversion. To this end, a biologically inspired particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is exploited to solve the non‐convex sum‐rate optimization problem with low‐complexity. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme provides a better trade‐off between performance and complexity than existing solutions for RIS‐aided MIMO systems.
A review of approaches investigated for right ventricular segmentation using short‐axis cardiac MRI
Authors: Ammari Asma , Mahmoudi Ramzi , Hmida Badii , Saouli Rachida , Bedoui Mohamed Hédi 
Published: March 2021

AbstractThe right ventricular assessment is crucial to heart disease diagnosis. Unfortunately, its segmentation is quite challenging due to its intricate shape, ill‐defined thin edges, large variability among patients, and pathologies. Besides, it is a very laborious and time‐consuming task to be done manually. Therefore, automated segmentation techniques are very suitable to reduce the strain on the expert. Here, it is attempted to review the taxonomy of the current RV segmentation approaches adopted to handle the afore‐mentioned issues. Enhanced by our expert's interpretation, the results of over forty research papers were evaluated based on several metrics such as the dice metric and the Hausdorff distance. Synthetic tables and charts were also used to discuss the reviewed approaches. The following study shows that none of the existing methods has proved accurate enough to meet all the RV challenging issues. Many misestimated results were reported for several cases. Eventually, global guidance is outlined, which supports combining different methods to enhance the expected results during the MRI short‐axis slice processing.
DuGAN: An effective framework for underwater image enhancement
Authors: Zhang Huiqing , Sun Luyu , Wu Lifang , Gu Ke 
Published: March 2021

AbstractUnderwater image enhancement is an important low‐level vision task with much attention of community. Clear underwater images are helpful for underwater operations. However, raw underwater images often suffer from different types of distortions caused by the underwater environment. To solve these problems, this paper proposes an end‐to‐end dual generative adversarial network (DuGAN) for underwater image enhancement. The images processed by existing methods are taken as training samples for reference, and they are segmented into clear parts and unclear parts. Two discriminators are used to complete adversarial training toward different areas of images with different training strategies, respectively. The proposed method is able to output more pleasing images than reference images benefit by this framework. Meanwhile, to ensure the authenticity of the enhanced images, content loss, adversarial loss, and style loss are combined as loss function of our framework. This framework is easy to use, and the subjective and objective experiments show that excellent results are achieved compared to those methods mentioned in the literature.
Bike‐sharing systems with a dual selection mechanism and a dynamic double‐threshold repositioning policy
Authors: Fan Rui‐Na , Ma Fan‐Qi 
Published: March 2021

AbstractBike‐sharing systems have gained considerable attention with the tide of sharing economy. This paper proposes a dual selection mechanism and a dynamic double‐threshold repositioning policy to reduce problematic stations. The selection mechanism is a preventive self‐balancing measure, which is carried out before problematic stations appear. To prove the effectiveness of this selection mechanism, a system of differential equations is set up, the steady‐state probabilities of the bike‐sharing system are computed, and numerical experiments to verify the applicability and computability of the computational method are provided. The method providd in this study contributes to improving the efficiency of the bike‐sharing by self‐balancing measure.
Citizen social science in practice: the case of the Empty Houses Project
Authors: Albert Alexandra 
Published: March 2021

AbstractThe growth of citizen science and participatory science, where non-professional scientists voluntarily participate in scientific activities, raises questions around the ownership and interpretation of data, issues of data quality and reliability, and new kinds of data literacy. Citizen social science (CSS), as an approach that bridges these fields, calls into question the way in which research is undertaken, as well as who can collect data, what data can be collected, and what such data can be used for. This article outlines a case study—the Empty Houses Project—to explore how CSS plays out in practice, and to reflect on the opportunities and challenges it presents. The Empty Houses Project was set up to investigate how citizens could be mobilised to collect data about empty houses in their local area, so as to potentially contribute towards tackling a pressing policy issue. The study shows how the possibilities of CSS exceed the dominant view of it as a new means of creating data repositories. Rather, it considers how the data produced in CSS is an epistemology, and a politics, not just a realist tool for analysis.
HflX is a GTPase that controls hypoxia-induced replication arrest in slow-growing mycobacteria
Authors: Ngan Jie Yin Grace , Pasunooti Swathi , Tse Wilford , Meng Wei , Ngan So Fong Cam , Jia Huan , Lin Jian Qing , Ng Sze Wai , Jaafa Muhammad Taufiq , Cho Su Lei Sharol , Lim Jieling , Koh Hui Qi Vanessa , Abdul Ghani Noradibah , Pethe Kevin , Sze Siu Kwan , Lescar Julien , Alonso Sylvie 
Published: March 2021

Significance
GTPases play essential roles in living organisms, functioning as molecular switches or timers in many fundamental cellular processes. HflX is a GTPase that is highly conserved in the entire prokaryotic kingdom and is involved in the stress response of bacteria. We show here that under hypoxic stress, by modulating the cell’s translational activity, HflX controls mycobacteria growth rate and entry into nonreplicating state. Our work assigns a physiological role to HflX in pathogenic mycobacteria, implicating this factor in one of the most elusive but critical phenomena of replication arrest, which is responsible for the worldwide TB drug resistance crisis and a major roadblock to successful shorter TB therapies.
Trait similarity in reef fish faunas across the world’s oceans
Authors: McLean Matthew , Stuart-Smith Rick D. , Villéger Sébastien , Auber Arnaud , Edgar Graham J. , MacNeil M. Aaron , Loiseau Nicolas , Leprieur Fabien , Mouillot David 
Published: March 2021

SignificanceBiogeography has focused extensively on species identities, yet global patterns in species traits (morphological, physiological, or behavioral features) are not well known, including whether they are shaped by modern environmental conditions or by shared evolutionary history. Our global analysis of nearly 3,000 reef fish species found a consistent variety of traits across ocean basins worldwide, including a backbone of 21 trait combinations common to all oceans. At the regional scale, we found that fish assemblages in similar environments had similar trait compositions despite being separated by up to 100 degrees of latitude and hosting different species with distinct evolutionary histories. Thus, environmental conditions have likely shaped global patterns in reef fish traits regardless of geography, species identity, or evolutionary history.
Protein design-scapes generated by microfluidic DNA assembly elucidate domain coupling in the bacterial histidine kinase CpxA
Authors: Clark Iain C. , Mensa Bruk , Ochs Christopher J. , Schmidt Nathan W. , Mravic Marco , Quintana Francisco J. , DeGrado William F. , Abate Adam R. 
Published: March 2021

Significance
DNA variant libraries allow unbiased analysis of sequence–function relationships. However, exhaustive combinatorial assemblies of even a modest number of parts produce libraries too large to practically screen. Library size can be reduced by manually blending parts to remove unwanted combinations, but this yields limited improvements and is difficult to scale. To address this challenge, we built a microfluidic hybrid valve–droplet device that selectively combines and assembles DNA parts into libraries of predefined composition with low bias. We use this system to construct and study a library of engineered histidine kinases, revealing how structural changes are communicated across adjacent domains to modulate kinase activity. Our method creates rationally reduced libraries and has applications in synthetic biology and protein engineering.
Electrochromic shift supports the membrane destabilization model of Tat-mediated transport and shows ion leakage during Sec transport
Authors: Asher Anthony H. , Theg Steven M. 
Published: March 2021

SignificanceDue to the transient nature of the active Tat complex, much of the knowledge available has been hard won. Electric-field-indicating absorbance transients allow investigation of transmembrane ion movement using native electric potential in thylakoids while circumventing challenges of reconstitution. Electrical behavior of transiently and/or constitutively assembled complexes suggests that Sec translocation occurs through a barrel-stave-type proteinaceous pore, while Tat translocation likely occurs through a toroidal pore. This would be the first instance of toroidal pores being exploited by a general protein translocation system. Our electrochemical analysis offers insight into how protein transport might be linked to light stimulation. Localized membrane destabilization presents a rational link between the proton motive force, membrane thinning, and Tat-mediated transport of substrates critical to photosynthesis.
Type III secretion system effector proteins are mechanically labile
Authors: LeBlanc Marc-André , Fink Morgan R. , Perkins Thomas T. , Sousa Marcelo C. 
Published: March 2021

Significance
The type III secretion system (T3SS) is an important virulence factor that enables some bacteria to directly inject effector proteins into host cells, facilitating colonization. To be secreted, effector proteins must be unfolded, and tightly packed proteins like GFP cannot be secreted through the T3SS, leading to the model that effector proteins have low thermodynamic stability. We show that two model effector proteins have thermodynamic stabilities similar to tightly packed proteins (GFP and ubiquitin) but are much more mechanically labile. These results strongly suggest that mechanical stability predicts whether a protein is compatible with secretion through the T3SS and may shed light on the distinct evolutionary pressures that resulted in the sequence divergence of effector proteins from their nonsecreted homologues.