bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Medium & long-chain acylcarnitine’s relation to lipid metabolism as potential predictors for diabetic cardiomyopathy: a metabolomic study
Authors: Zheng Dan-meng , An Zhen-ni , Ge Ming-hao , Wei Dong-zhuo , Jiang Ding-wen , Xing Xue-jiao , Shen Xiao-lei , Liu Chang 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
Background
Acylcarnitine is an intermediate product of fatty acid oxidation. It is reported to be closely associated with the occurrence of diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM). However, the mechanism of acylcarnitine affecting myocardial disorders is yet to be explored. This current research explores the different chain lengths of acylcarnitines as biomarkers for the early diagnosis of DCM and the mechanism of acylcarnitines for the development of DCM in-vitro.

Methods
In a retrospective non-interventional study, 50 simple type 2 diabetes mellitus patients and 50 DCM patients were recruited. Plasma samples from both groups were analyzed by high throughput metabolomics and cluster heat map using mass spectrometry. Principal component analysis was used to compare the changes occurring in the studied 25 acylcarnitines. Multivariable binary logistic regression was used to analyze the odds ratio of each group for factors and the 95% confidence interval in DCM. Myristoylcarnitine (C14) exogenous intervention was given to H9c2 cells to verify the expression of lipid metabolism-related protein, inflammation-related protein expression, apoptosis-related protein expression, and cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and fibrosis-related protein expression.

Results
Factor 1 (C14, lauroylcarnitine, tetradecanoyldiacylcarnitine, 3-hydroxyl-tetradecanoylcarnitine, arachidic carnitine, octadecanoylcarnitine, 3-hydroxypalmitoleylcarnitine) and factor 4 (octanoylcarnitine, hexanoylcarnitine, decanoylcarnitine) were positively correlated with the risk of DCM. Exogenous C14 supplementation to cardiomyocytes led to increased lipid deposition in cardiomyocytes along with the obstacles in adenosine 5′-monophosphate (AMP)-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signaling pathways and affecting fatty acid oxidation. This further caused myocardial lipotoxicity, ultimately leading to cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, fibrotic remodeling, and increased apoptosis. However, this effect was mitigated by the AMPK agonist acadesine.

Conclusions
The increased plasma levels in medium and long-chain acylcarnitine extracted from factors 1 and 4 are closely related to the risk of DCM, indicating that these factors can be an important tool for DCM risk assessment. C14 supplementation associated lipid accumulation by inhibiting the AMPK/ACC/CPT1 signaling pathway, aggravated myocardial lipotoxicity, increased apoptosis apart from cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and fibrosis were alleviated by the acadesine.
Integrated space–frequency–time domain feature extraction for MEG-based Alzheimer’s disease classification
Authors: Yang Su , Bornot Jose Miguel Sanchez , Fernandez Ricardo Bruña , Deravi Farzin , Wong-Lin KongFatt , Prasad Girijesh 
Published: November 2021

AbstractMagnetoencephalography (MEG) has been combined with machine learning techniques, to recognize the Alzheimer’s disease (AD), one of the most common forms of dementia. However, most of the previous studies are limited to binary classification and do not fully utilize the two available MEG modalities (extracted using magnetometer and gradiometer sensors). AD consists of several stages of progression, this study addresses this limitation by using both magnetometer and gradiometer data to discriminate between participants with AD, AD-related mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and healthy control (HC) participants in the form of a three-class classification problem. A series of wavelet-based biomarkers are developed and evaluated, which concurrently leverage the spatial, frequency and time domain characteristics of the signal. A bimodal recognition system based on an improved score-level fusion approach is proposed to reinforce interpretation of the brain activity captured by magnetometers and gradiometers. In this preliminary study, it was found that the markers derived from gradiometer tend to outperform the magnetometer-based markers. Interestingly, out of the total 10 regions of interest, left-frontal lobe demonstrates about 8% higher mean recognition rate than the second-best performing region (left temporal lobe) for AD/MCI/HC classification. Among the four types of markers proposed in this work, the spatial marker developed using wavelet coefficients provided the best recognition performance for the three-way classification. Overall, the proposed approach provides promising results for the potential of AD/MCI/HC three-way classification utilizing the bimodal MEG data.
First-time mothers’ experiences of foetal reduction in pregnancy following assisted reproductive technology treatment in Taiwan: a qualitative study
Authors: Huang Mei-Zen , Sun Yi-Chin , Gau Meei-Ling , Puthussery Shuby , Kao Chien-Huei 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
Background
Foetal reduction—removal of one or more foetuses to reduce the number of foetuses in multiple conceptions—is a procedure used for improving pregnancy outcomes following assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatment. While there is a recognition of the importance of understanding the experiences of women who undergo foetal reduction to offer appropriate help and support, studies that provide relevant insights are sparse. Our aim was to gain an in-depth understanding about first-time mothers’ experiences of foetal reduction following ART treatment in Taiwan.

Methods
We adopted a qualitative design based on a phenomenological approach for this study. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven first-time mothers who underwent foetal reduction following ART treatment at a fertility centre in Taipei, Taiwan. All interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed using the Colaizzi strategy.

Results
The views and experiences relating to foetal reduction reflected five key themes: hesitation, ambivalence and distress; the guilt of knowingly terminating a life; rituals and ceremonies to ease the sense of guilt; persuading oneself to consider the ‘big picture’; and wishing for a reunion in next pregnancy. Mothers often regretted that they took clinical advice to implant multiple embryos and then having had to resort to foetal reduction. There was a sense of hesitation, ambivalence and distress reflected in the views from all participants. They believed that they ended the fetuses’ lives knowingly and expressed strong feelings of guilt. Mothers often tried to persuade themselves to look at foetal reduction within the ‘big picture’ of the overall pregnancy outcome. Losing their unborn babies was as an unforgettable incident for most mothers, and they wished for a reunion with the lost baby in the next pregnancy.

Conclusion
Findings indicate the need for ART providers to undertake a more sensitive approach that involves detailed discussions with women and their families to tailor the embryo transfer processes to suit individual needs. Women who undergo foetal reduction should be provided with tailored interventions towards enhancing their coping strategies before and after foetal reduction taking into account the cultural and religious context.
Plant community response to fuel break construction and goat grazing in a southern California shrubland
Authors: Grupenhoff Ashley , Molinari Nicole 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
Background
Shrub-dominated ecosystems in California are widespread and provide invaluable ecosystem services to surrounding human-dominated communities. Yet shrublands, especially those at the wildland-urban interface, are at risk of degradation due to increasing wildfire frequency. Strategically placed fuel breaks are an important fuel management technique for reducing fire risk to neighboring communities and natural landscapes. Fuel breaks in shrub-dominated ecosystems are typically linear features where woody biomass is reduced, thereby providing fire suppression opportunities that limit fire spread. While fuel breaks are important for tactical response to fire, they can also affect the composition and structure of shrubland habitats. To understand the ecological changes resulting from fuel treatments in southern California chaparral, we measured vegetation change associated with fuel management techniques on a recently created fuel break established around the Lake Morena community on the Cleveland National Forest. The area was initially treated with cut and pile burning, then treated with herbicide, and 2 years later was subjected to short-term grazing by 1200 goats. The purpose of this study is to (1) evaluate the compositional and structural differences associated with fuel break creation and (2) quantify compositional shifts in herbaceous and woody vegetation caused by short-duration goat grazing as a method of fuel break maintenance.

Results
Plots on the fuel break and in untreated adjacent chaparral exhibited significantly different species assemblages. Total herbaceous cover (both native and non-native) was 92 times greater on the fuel break than in adjacent chaparral-dominated wildlands, and native shrub cover was 55.3 times greater in untreated adjacent chaparral than on the fuel break. Goats had a significant impact on reducing native and non-native herbaceous cover (87% reduction in cover, 92% reduction in height), but were ineffective at reducing the cover and height of most woody species such as Adenostoma fasciculatum, Eriogonum fasciculatum, Quercus berberidifolia, and Artemisia tridentata.

Conclusion
Initial fuel break creation was effective at reducing native woody cover and height, simultaneously giving rise to an abundance and diversity of native and non-native herbaceous species. Targeted goat grazing was successful at reducing herbaceous biomass but was ineffective at reducing woody biomass which is often one of the most important goals for fuel management in chaparral ecosystems. In areas where control of woody biomass is the primary objective, land managers should consider grazing duration and plant species composition when contemplating goats as a tool for fuel break maintenance.
Application of the Athlete Biological Passport Approach to the Detection of Growth Hormone Doping
Authors: Equey Tristan , Pastor Antoni , de la Torre Fornell Rafael , Thomas Andreas , Giraud Sylvain , Thevis Mario , Kuuranne Tiia , Baume Norbert , Barroso Osquel , Aikin Reid 
Published: November 2021

Abstract

Context
Because of its anabolic and lipolytic properties, growth hormone (GH) use is prohibited in sport. Two methods based on population-derived decision limits are currently used to detect human GH (hGH) abuse: the hGH Biomarkers Test and the Isoforms Differential Immunoassay.

Objective
We tested the hypothesis that longitudinal profiling of hGH biomarkers through application of the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) has the potential to flag hGH abuse.

Methods
Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) and procollagen III peptide (P-III-NP) distributions were obtained from 7 years of anti-doping data in elite athletes (n = 11 455) and applied as priors to analyze individual profiles from an hGH administration study in recreational athletes (n = 35). An open-label, randomized, single-site, placebo-controlled administration study was carried out with individuals randomly assigned to 4 arms: placebo, or 3 different doses of recombinant hGH. Serum samples were analyzed for IGF-1, P-III-NP, and hGH isoforms and the performance of a longitudinal, ABP-based approach was evaluated.

Results
An ABP-based approach set at a 99% specificity level flagged 20/27 individuals receiving hGH treatment, including 17/27 individuals after cessation of the treatment. ABP sensitivity ranged from 12.5% to 71.4% across the hGH concentrations tested following 7 days of treatment, peaking at 57.1% to 100% after 21 days of treatment, and was maintained between 37.5% and 71.4% for the low and high dose groups 1 week after cessation of treatment.

Conclusion
These findings demonstrate that longitudinal profiling of hGH biomarkers can provide suitable performance characteristics for use in anti-doping programs.
New incidence or recurrence hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in genotype 4 hepatitis C virus treated with sofosbuvir/daclatasvir with or without ribavirin
Authors: Essawy Aya , Mehrez Mai , Shaheen Sara M. , El Garem Hassan , Sabri Nagwa 
Published: November 2021

Background: Several studies have resulted in controversial data about the recurrence or new incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with hepatitis C who were treated with direct-acting antivirals (DAAs). Aim: This observational study aimed to assess the occurrence rate of HCC in patients who developed a sustained virological response (SVR).. METHOD: A six-month prospective study was done at the National Hepatology and Tropical Medicine Research Institute [NHTMRI] in Cairo, Egypt on 150 chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients treated with sofosbuvir and daclatasvir with or without ribavirin. Patients were assigned into two groups according to their laboratory values to either receive sofosbuvir/daclatasvir and ribavirin (S/D/R) or receive only sofosbuvir/daclatasvir (S/D). The main outcome measure was the occurrence of HCC. Results: SVR-12 was 100%. 8.5% of patients developed HCC in the S/D/R group, while 0% in the S/D group. Conclusion: New incidence or recurrence of HCC may occur in CHC genotype 4 cirrhotic patients receiving sofosbuvir/daclatasvir and ribavirin (difficult to treat) although achieving SVR. The cause of HCC development in this study is cirrhosis, not the administered DAAs.
Post-pandemic e-learning: a pre-protocol to assess the integration of mobile VR and its effect on VARK learning styles
Authors: Manzoor Shahida Raihan , Mohd-Isa Wan-Noorshahida , Dollmat Khairi Shazwan 
Published: November 2021

Background: The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in an abrupt but accelerated shift to e-learning worldwide. Education in a post-pandemic world has to amalgamate the advantages of e-learning with important pedagogical goals associated with in-person teaching. Although various advanced technologies are present at our fingertips today, we are still unable to use their full potential in teaching and learning. In this regard, mobile VR technology is both cost-efficient, versatile and engaging for students. Developing countries have more smartphone users than developed countries, implying that developing countries, like Malaysia, should utilize mobile or cellphones more significantly. With that in mind, we propose here a pre-protocol to investigate learner motivation and levels of engagement for e-learning with smartphone-integrated VR, based on their VARK (Visual, Auditory, Read/Write, Kinesthetic) learning styles. Proposed methodology: This study intends to use a minimum sample of 30 students from the same age group under the K-12 (particularly grade 9-12) belonging to STEM curriculum. The Google Cardboard VR set will be used as the prime technology for its affordability, easy build feature and variety of available vendors. A mixed-method (survey and activity log/tracking) for data collection is suggested to find the degree of engagement and motivation of the learners’ learning in the mobile VR-assisted e-learning context. The students will be taught a topic using the mobile VR and then be assessed through simple classroom quizzes to assess how well they grasped the concept. The data collected through activity logs (while teaching the topic in mobile VR) and questionnaires will be mapped to each individual learner and organized in a data repository. Further visualization, analysis and investigation will be performed using Smart PLS, Python or R language. Conclusions: The study aims to provide context for smartphone and software companies to develop technologies that could facilitate learner engagement during the post-pandemic state.
Morbidity of Children's Population of Lermontov City, Located in the Uranium Legacy Area
Authors: Lyaginskaya A. , Shandala N. , Titov A. , Metlyaev E. , Kuptsov V. , Karelina N. 
Published: November 2021

Purpose: To carry out assessment the health status of the child population of the Lermontov city. This child population living in the area, of uranium legacy, and they are critical group of the population in terms of sensitivity to adverse environmental factors.
Materials and methods: The object of the study was the morbidity of children 0–14 years old (primary, chronic, oncological). The research material was the data of reporting forms of medical statistics, presented in the following forms: 7 – information on malignant neoplasms and 12 - information on the number of diseases in children. The development included data from Clinical hospital # 101 of the FMBA of Russia for 2014–2018. Statistical data processing was carried out using standard methods used for the analysis of biomedical data.
Results: The morbidity of children 0–14 years old in Lermontov in 2014–2018 averaged 2310.9 ± 115.7 per 1000. In the structure of morbidity, the leading places were occupied by diseases of the respiratory system – 59.2 %, the digestive system – 8.8 %, skin and subcutaneous tissue 5.5 %, trauma and poisoning – 4, 8 % and infectious and parasitic diseases. The frequency of chronic morbidity does not exceed the population estimates – 73.0 ± 4.1 per 1000. The peculiarity of chronic morbidity is the relatively high incidence of skin diseases – 25.3 % and the musculoskeletal system – 20.4 %. The morbidity of children in the first year of life is 2348.0 ± 135.1 per 1000. A feature of the morbidity structure is the high incidence of respiratory diseases, which makes up 66.3 % of the total morbidity, with population estimates – 20–30 %.
Conclusion: The increased radiation background can be considered as one of the possible negative environmental factors affecting the health of the population.
DACON: a reconfigurable application-centric optical network for disaggregated data center infrastructures [Invited]
Authors: Guo Xiaotao , Xue Xuwei , Yan Fulong , Pan Bitao , Exarchakos Georgios , Calabretta Nicola 
Published: November 2021

To solve the issues of low resource utilization and performance bottleneck in current server-centric data center networks (DCNs), we propose and experimentally demonstrate a disaggregated application-centric optical network (DACON) for data center infrastructures based on hybrid optical switches. DACON achieves flexible provision and dynamic reconfiguration of hardware nodes exploiting the softwared-define networking (SDN) orchestration plane. A four-node SDN-enabled disaggregated prototype is implemented with a field-programmable-gate-array-based controller of hardware nodes and nanosecond optical switches, performing a minimal node-to-node network latency of 378.6 ns and zero packet loss. Based on the unmodified Linux kernel and two different applications (distributed computing and a Memcached database), the application runtime of the disaggregated prototype is investigated and compared with the server-centric architecture. Experimental results show that the disaggregated prototype performs better with Memcached database applications, achieving a1.46×faster runtime than the server-centric network at a memory node access ratio of 0.9. Based on the customized control plane orchestrator and dynamic resource reallocation, the node-to-node latency is reduced by 21% when CPU nodes access memory nodes. The scalability of DACON is then numerically assessed based on experimentally measured parameters. Results show that the intra-rack node-to-node latency is less than 404.8 ns with a 6144-node network and memory node access ratio of 0.9. Finally, the cost and power consumption are also studied and compared with current DCN architectures. Results indicate DACON saves 13.4% of the cost of an interconnect network compared with current disaggregated architecture and consumes up to 31.1% less power with respect to server-centric DCN architectures.
Demonstration of latency-aware 5G network slicing on optical metro networks
Authors: Shariati B. , Velasco L. , Pedreno-Manresa J.-J. , Dochhan A. , Casellas R. , Muqaddas A. , González de Dios O. , Luque Canto L. , Lent B. , López de Vergara J. E. , López-Buedo S. , Moreno F. , Pavón P. , Ruiz M. , Patri S. K. , Giorgetti A. , Cugini F. , Sgambelluri A. , Nejabati R. , Simeonidou D. , Braun R.-P. , Autenrieth A. , Elbers J.-P. , Fischer J. K. , Freund R. 
Published: November 2021

The H2020 METRO-HAUL European project has architected a latency-aware, cost-effective, agile, and programmable optical metro network. This includes the design of semidisaggregated metro nodes with compute and storage capabilities, which interface effectively with both 5G access and multi-Tbit/s elastic optical networks in the core. In this paper, we report the automated deployment of 5G services, in particular, a public safety video surveillance use case employing low-latency object detection and tracking using on-camera and on-the-edge analytics. The demonstration features flexible deployment of network slice instances, implemented in terms of European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) network function virtualization network services. We summarize the key findings in a detailed analysis of end-to-end quality of service, service setup time, and soft-failure detection time. The results show that the round-trip time over an 80 km link is under 800 µs and the service deployment time is under 180 s.
Feasibility of continuous-variable quantum key distribution through fog
Authors: Wang Shiyu , Huang Peng , Wang Tao , Zeng Guihua 
Published: November 2021

Free-space quantum key distribution (QKD) can be very attractive due to the possibility of its flexible and rapid deployment. In spite of the advantages of free-space transmission, there is still a risk of encountering bad weather such as fog. Here we experimentally demonstrate free-space QKD using continuous variables under foggy conditions and estimate achievable transmission distances based on the experimental results. Pessimistically, a weather condition that has visibility of 1 km allows about 0.6-km transmission. An optimistic result, on the other hand, shows that a transmission distance of 1.8 km at visibility of 1.5 km can be achieved. The results suggest that free-space continuous-variable quantum communication systems are potentially applicable in the presence of fog.
Precision determination of the ground-state hyperfine splitting of trapped 113Cd+ ions
Authors: Miao S. N. , Zhang J. W. , Qin H. R. , Xin N. C. , Han J. Z. , Wang L. J. 
Published: November 2021

We measured the ground-state hyperfine splitting of trapped

113

C

d

+

ions to be 15199862855.02799(27) Hz with a fractional uncertainty of

1.8
×

10

−
14

. The ions were trapped and laser-cooled in a linear quadrupole Paul trap. The fractional frequency stability was measured to be

4.2
×

10

−
13

/

τ

, obtained from Ramsey fringes of high signal-to-noise ratios and taken over a measurement time of nearly 5 h, which is close to the short-term stability limit estimated from the Dick effect. Our result is consistent with previously reported values, but the measurement precision is four times better than the best result obtained to date.