bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Effects of Surgical Facemasks on Perceived Exertion During Submaximal Exercise in Healthy Children
Authors: Reychler Gregory , Standaert Marie , Audag Nicolas , Caty Gilles , Robert Annie , Poncin William 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
BackgroundOnly a few data associated to wearability of facemask during exercise are available in children. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of wearing a facemask on perceived exertion (primary aim), dyspnea, physical performance, and cardiorespiratory response during a submaximal exercise test in children aged between 8 and 12 years. MethodThis study was performed in 2021 in healthy volunteer children from 8 to 12 years. They performed prospectively two one-minute sit-to-stand test (STST), with or without a surgical facemask. The perceived exertion (modified Borg scale), dyspnea (Dalhousie scale), heart rate and pulsed oxygen saturation were recorded before and after STST. The STST measured the submaximal performance. ResultsThirty-eight healthy children were recruited (8-9 years: n=19 and 10-11 years: n=19). After the STST, the perceived exertion increased with or without a facemask (8-9 years group: +1 [0.6; 1.4] and +1.6 [1.0; 2.1]) –10-11 years group: +1.3 [0.7; 1.8]) and +1.9 [1.3; 2.6]) and it was higher with the facemask. The difference between the two conditions in perceived exertion was not clinically relevant in any group (mBorgf: 0.56 pts and 0.68 pts, respectively). The different domains of dyspnea assessed with Dalhousie scale were not influenced by the facemask. The submaximal performance measured by the STST was not changed by the mask whatever the age group. The cardio-respiratory demand was not clinically modified.ConclusionThe surgical facemask had no impact on dyspnoea, cardiorespiratory parameters, and exercise performance during a short submaximal exercise in healthy children.
Humoral Immune Response in a Mouse Model Induced With Dengue Virus-like Particles Serotypes 1 and 4 Produced in Silkworm Larvae
Authors: Irawan Doddy , Pambudi Sabar , Park Enoch Y. 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
Dengue is an arboviral disease, which threatens almost half the global population, and has emerged as the most significant of current global public health challenges. In this study, we prepared dengue virus-like particles (DENV-LPs) consisting of Capsid-Premembrane-Envelope (CprM/E) and Premembrane-Envelope (prM/E) polypeptides from serotype 1 and 4, which were expressed in the silkworms using Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) bacmid. 1CprME, 1prME, 4CprME, and 4prME expressed proteins in hemolymph and molecular weight of the purified proteins were 55 kDa, respectively. The purified polypeptides formed spherical Dengue virus-like particles (DENV-LPs) with approximately 30–55 nm in diameter. The immunoelectron microscopy (IEM) images revealed antigens to the surface of a lipid bilayer of DENV-LPs. The heparin-binding assay shows a positive relationship between absorbance and the quantity of E protein domain III (EDIII), which was supported by the isothermal titration calorimetry assay, showing a moderate binding affinity between heparin and DENV-LP. The high correlation between patient sera and DENV-LP reactivities revealed that these DENV-LPs shared similar epitopes with the natural dengue virus. IgG elicitation studies in mice have demonstrated that DENV-LP/CPrMEs elicits a stronger immune response than DENV-LP/prMEs, which lends credence to this claim.
Effects of Fertilization On The Growth Dominance of Inland Northwest Forests of The United States
Authors: Chen Cen , Nelson Andrew S. , Shaw Terry , Kimsey Mark 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
Large trees have disproportionally large competitive advantage in access to light, which has been proposed to increase growth dominance of large trees (e.g., accounting for a larger proportion of growth than volume of a stand). Tree growth may also be limited by the availability of other resources besides light. Nutrient deficiency, especially of nitrogen, is considered common among temperate forests, including mixed-conifer forests of the Inland Northwest of the United States. Data from a long-term forest nutrition study across four Inland Northwest states were analyzed to evaluate nitrogen × potassium fertilization's effects on growth dominance over an eight-year period following treatment in a region of complex forest vegetation types and site conditions. Our results show that growth dominance varied substantially across similar plots in each fertilization treatment, and its mean values generally were at minuscule magnitudes, negative, and not significantly different from zero. We propose that this lack of a clear pattern in growth dominance was the result of the mixed-species composition where shade-tolerant species remained in lower crown positions, yet their relative growth kept pace with large trees. Limited moisture availability at dry sites may have hampered the development of growth dominance. Growth dominance also was lowered by mortality observed among relatively large trees. The largely negative growth dominance across fertilization treatments indicates that small trees maintained higher relative growth rates than large trees, even if absolute growth and size was concentrated in large trees. In the case fertilization does improve stand growth, a significant part of this improved growth will be lost in density-dependent mortality over time if not captured through biomass removals.
Finite Time Consensus Control for Nonlinear Heterogeneous Multi-agent Systems With Disturbances
Authors: Ji Lianghao , Lv Donglin , Yang Shasha , Guo Xing , Li Huaqing 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
This paper discusses the finite time consensus (FTC) issue of nonlinear heterogeneous multi-agent systems (HMASs) by combining integral sliding-mode control (SMC), event-triggered control (ETC) and pinning control methods. The SMC is constructed separately for first-order and second-order agents to assure that the system is not interfered by the nonlinearities and disturbances when the state trajectory of the system moves on the sliding surface. To stimulate the FTC of system, a novel control protocols are designed and a fully distributed ETC with adjustable trigger frequency only rely on the local information is introduced. Moreover, the Zeno behavior is eliminated and the range of pinning gain of each agent under directed topology is determined. Meanwhile, we also give the conditional criteria for the system to achieve FTC. Eventually, the correctness of the obtained conclusion is illustrated by several simulation examples.
Adolescent Cannabis Users Who Have Never Smoked A Combustible Cigarette: Trends and Level of Addictive Drug Use from 1976 to 2020
Authors: Miech Richard A. 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
Background. Adolescents cannabis users are at a substantially elevated risk for use of highly addictive drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and nonmedical use of prescription drugs. Unknown is whether this elevated risk applies to adolescent cannabis users who have never smoked a combustible cigarette, a group that has grown considerably in size in recent years. This study documents the recent growth in the proportion of adolescent cannabis users who abstain from combustible cigarette use, and examines their probability for use of addictive drugs. Methods. Data are annual, cross-sectional, nationally-representative Monitoring the Future surveys of 607,932 U.S. 12th grade students from 1976-2020. Results. Among ever cannabis users, the percentage who had never smoked a combustible cigarette grew from 11% in 2000 to 58% in 2020. This group had levels of addictive drug use that were 8% higher than their peers. In comparison, adolescents who had ever used cannabis – regardless of whether they had ever smoked a cigarette – had levels of addictive drug use 500% higher than their peers.Conclusions. Adolescent cannabis users who have not smoked a combustible cigarette have much lower levels of addictive drug use than the group of cannabis users as a whole. These results suggest policies and laws aimed at reducing adolescent prevalence of addictive drugs may do better to focus on cigarette use of adolescent cannabis users rather than cannabis use per se.
The Expression And The Tumor Suppressor Role of CLDN6 In Colon Cancer
Authors: Qu Huinan , Wang Min , Wang Miaomiao , Liu Yuanyuan , Quan Chengshi 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
As a member of the tight junction family, CLDN6 is a tumor suppressor gene in breast cancer, but its role in colon cancer is unknown. In this research, we aimed at revealing the function of CLDN6 in colon cancer. We found that CLDN6 expressed lower in colon cancer tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues and the low expression of CLDN6 was correlated with lymph node metastasis. Similarly, CLDN6 expressed lower in the colon cancer cell line SW1116 compared with the normal human colon epithelial cell line NCM460. Upon CLDN6 overexpression in SW1116 cells, the proliferation of cells was suppressed in vitro and in vivo. Consistently, the migration and invasion abilities of cells were significantly inhibited after CLDN6 overexpression. Furthermore, the TYK2/STAT3 pathway was activated in SW1116/CLDN6 cells, and inhibition of this pathway with AG490 reversed the inhibition of migration and invasion of SW1116 cells by CLDN6. Therefore, our data indicated that CLDN6 acted as a tumor suppressor and had the potential to be regarded as a biomarker for the progression of colon cancer.
The Effect of Quarantine During the COVID-19 Pandemic on The Oral Health Habits of the Syrian Community
Authors: Kazwini Rudwan , Alawad Walaa , Alhaffar MHD Bahaa Aldin , Alomari Haya Doura , Othman Muhamad Abdulaziz , Ebrahim Abedulrahman 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
Introduction: Corona Virus appeared at the end of 2019. It belongs to a large family of viruses that can cause respiratory infections. Due to its ability to spread rapidly and easily, it has become a pandemic throughout almost the entire world. This has necessitated the establishment of quarantine procedures in order to reduce the rate of spread of the virus and thus the number of deaths. However, these procedures may cause a range of effects on people. One of the most important aspects that can be affected is oral health care. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of quarantine procedures on the oral health habits of the Syrian community.Materials and methods:A survey was created using Google Forms and published on Facebook from 16 April 2020 until 11 May 2020. The number of people corresponding to the study criteria in Syria reached 1033. The survey looked at the effect of quarantine procedures on changing oral health habits, including the number of times of brushing and the time of brushing.Results: Quarantine led to a change in oral health habits in 57.4% of the sample. Females were significantly more affected by changing habits during quarantine (P=0.020). The number of brushing times was not clearly affected and it was twice daily (49.4% before quarantine, 42.1% during quarantine). There was no statistically significant difference between the two periods in terms of the number of times of brushing.Conclusion: This study is the first study that showed the effect of home quarantine on the oral habits of members of the Syrian community. Home quarantine did not significantly affect the oral health habits of Syrians.
Self-Supervised Machine Learning Approach for Identifying Biochemical Influences on Protein-Ligand Binding Affinity
Authors: Singh Arjun 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
Drug discovery is incredibly time-consuming and expensive, averaging over 10 years and $985 million per drug. Calculating the binding affinity between a target protein and a ligand is critical for discovering viable drugs. Although supervised machine learning (ML) models can predict binding affinity accurately, they suffer from lack of interpretability and inaccurate feature selection caused by multicollinear data. This study used self-supervised ML to reveal underlying protein-ligand characteristics that strongly influence binding affinity. Protein-ligand 3D models were collected from the PDBBind database and vectorized into 2422 features per complex. LASSO Regression and hierarchical clustering were utilized to minimize multicollinearity between features. Correlation analyses and Autoencoder-based latent space representations were generated to identify features significantly influencing binding affinity. A Generative Adversarial Network was used to simulate ligands with certain counts of a significant feature, and thereby determine the effect of a feature on improving binding affinity with a given target protein. It was found that the CC and CCCN fragment counts in the ligand notably influence binding affinity. Re-pairing proteins with simulated ligands that had higher CC and CCCN fragment counts could increase binding affinity by 34.99-37.62% and 36.83%-36.94%, respectively. This discovery contributes to a more accurate representation of ligand chemistry that can increase the accuracy, explainability, and generalizability of ML models so that they can more reliably identify novel drug candidates. Directions for future work include integrating knowledge on ligand fragments into supervised ML models, examining the effect of CC and CCCN fragments on fragment-based drug design, and employing computational techniques to elucidate the chemical activity of these fragments.
Association Between CLOCK 3111 T/C Polymorphism with Ghrelin, GLP-1, Food Timing, Sleep and Chronotype in Overweight and Obese Iranian Adults
Authors: Rahati Sara , Qorbani Mostafa , Naghavi Anoosh , Nia Milad Heidari , Pishva Hamideh 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
Background

Circadian Locomotor Output Cycles Kaput (CLOCK), an essential element of the positive regulatory arm in the human biological clock, is involved in metabolic regulation. The aim was to investigate the behavioral (sleep duration, food timing, dietary intake, appetite and chronobiologic characteristics) and hormonal (plasma ghrelin and Glucagon-like peptide-1 concentrations) factors that could explain the previously reported association between the CLOCK 3111T/C SNP and obesity.
Methods

This cross-sectional study included 403 subjects, overweight and/or obesity, aged 20- 50 years from Iran. The CLOCK rs1801260 data were measured by the PCR-RFLP method. Dietary intake, food timing, sleep duration, appetite and Chrono-type were assessed using validated questionnaires. Ghrelin and GLP-1 were measured by radioimmunoassay in plasma samples. Participants were also divided into three groups based on rs1801260 genotype and BMI. Logistic regression models and general linear regression models were used to assess the association between CLOCK genotype and study parameters. Univariate linear regression models were used to assess the interaction between CLOCK and VAS, Food timing, chronotype and sleep on food intakes.
Results

After controlling for confounding factors, there was a significant difference between genotypes for physical activity (P=0.001), waist circumference (P˂0.05), BMI (˂0.01), weight (P=0.001), GLP-1 (P= 0.02), ghrelin (P= 0.04), appetite (P˂0.001), chronotype (P˂0.001), sleep (P˂0.001), food timing (P˂0.001), energy (P˂0.05), carbohydrate (P˂0.05) and fat intake (P˂0.001). Our findings also show that people with the minor allele C who ate lunch after 3 PM and breakfast after 9 AM are more prone to obesity (P˂0.05). furthermore, there was significant interactions between C allele carrier group and high appetite on fat intake (Pinteraction=0.041), eat lunch after 3 PM on energy intake (Pinteraction=0.039) and morning type on fat intake (Pinteraction=0.021).
Conclusion

Sleep reduction, changes in ghrelin and GLP-1 levels, changes in eating behaviors and evening preference that characterized CLOCK 3111C can all contribute to obesity. Furthermore, the data demonstrate a clear relationship between the timing of food intake and obesity. Our results support the hypothesis that the influence of the CLOCK gene may extend to a wide range of variables related to human behaviors.
Effect of the Gravel Filters and Plastic Cover on Improving Water Infiltration Process and Increasing Moisture Storage of Rainwater Harvesting Systems in Sloping Lands
Authors: Feng Li , Liu Jiajun , Azamathulla Hazi Mohammad , Youshanlouei Mohammad Mehdizadeh 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
Rainwater harvesting is a suitable method to plant seedlings in sloping lands in arid and semi-arid regions. In this research, a combination of plastic coating and gravel filter has been used to penetrate water into the soil. In this method, water is stored in the soil during the rainy months and the plant uses these waters in the warm months of the year. For this purpose, five treatments (with three replications) including control treatment, system vegetation removal with filter, system vegetation removal without filter, semi-insulated system with filter and semi-insulated system without filter are considered. Two sensors are installed in each of the treatments at a depth of 20 cm and 60 cm of soil, which will record moisture in seven-day periods. Apricot seedlings have been planted in all treatments. The information obtained was analyzed through a completely randomized block design. The results showed that the semi-insulated treatment with gravel filter stored significant moisture in the soil rather than other treatments and stored more moisture in the warm months of the year. The results showed that semi-insulated treatment with gravel filter is a suitable solution to increase soil moisture in the warm months of the year (June, July, August and September).
Behavior of Short Columns Constructed using Engineered Cementitious Composites under Seismic Loads
Authors: Basha Syed Humayun , Lian Xiaoqin , Hou Wei , Zheng Pandeng , Guo Zi-Xiong 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
The present research reports the application of engineered cementitious composites (ECC) as an alternative to conventional concrete to improve the brittle shear behavior of short columns. Experimental and finite element investigation was conducted by testing five reinforced engineered cementitious composite (RECC) concrete columns (half-scale specimens) and one control reinforced concrete (RC) specimen for different shear-span and transverse reinforcement ratios under cyclic lateral loads. RECC specimens with higher shear-span and transverse reinforcement ratios demonstrated a significant effect on the column shear behavior by improving ductility (>5), energy dissipation capacity (1.2 to 4.1 times RC specimen), gradual strength degradation (ultimate drift >3.4%), and altering the failure mode. The self-confinement effect of ECC fibers maintained the integrity in the post-peak region and reserved the transmission of stress through fibers without noticeable degradation in strength. Finite element modelling of RECC specimens was carried out by adopting simplified constitutive material models. It was apprehended that the model simulated the global response (strength and stiffness) with an accuracy of about 95%, and captured the shear and flexure crack patterns reasonably well.
Synthesis and Characterization of Erythromycin Loaded PLGA and PCL Microspheres: Antimicrobial Application
Authors: Bennabi Lamia , Abedelemalek Ilham , Ammari Abedelkader , Sediri Khaldia , Bennabi Fatima , Guemra Kaddour , Belarbi Lahcen 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
We presents in this work the preparation of several formulations, based on biocompatible biodegradable polymers: polycaprolactone (PCL) and poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA) loaded with Erythromycin (ERYT) antibiotic. These biocompatible materials were used to prepare microspheres with and without immobilized ERYT via simple evaporation method by simple emulsion. The particle size was determined by scanning electron microscopy and the absence of the interaction with ERYT was confirmed via X-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy. The release kinetics of ERYT were studied and then, ERYT loaded PCL and PLGA blends microspheres were used for the inhibition of gram-positive S. aureus strain. The microbial activity was carried-out by Agar diffusion disc method. The results show that PCL/PLGA blend and PCL alone inhibited the strain by ERYT present in kinetic aliquots with the complementary effect of the polymers. A numerical model was proposed for modeling the kinetics reported in our study.
Bioinformatics approaches to investigate the phytochemicals of Centella asiatica against the main protease of SARS-CoV-2
Authors: Khan Md. Arif , Khan Md. Abdullah Al Mamun , Rahman Shahidur , Ahsan Asif , Sanjana Jannatul Maowa , Mahmud Shafi , Mahfuz A M U B , Sharfaraz Ashik , Khan Mobaidul Islam , Emran Abdullah Al , Ahmed Firoz , Moni Mohammad Ali 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
The recent pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has impacted global health by increasing mortality and unexpected infection rate. Extensive clinical research is undergoing to repurposing the old drug against this virus. So, this is an emerging need to develop therapy against the virus. Plant-derived natural products have proven to be potent therapeutics for several infections and diseases. Centella asiatica, is a native plant of the Indian subcontinent, has been vastly using as folk medicine against diseases including infectious diseases. So, using bioinformatics approach we identified and checked the phytochemicals of the plant as inhibitors against the main protease (Mpro), the key regulatory enzyme of the SARS-CoV-2 lifecycle. Computer-aided drug designing methods were performed to reveal the best nine drug-like phytochemicals those theoretically have the higher binding affinity of inhibiting Mpro. This outcome may direct to the development of potent therapeutics against the SARS-CoV-2 and demands experimental validation.
How does social security affect people’s subjective wellbeing in China? A chain mediation model
Authors: Li Na , He Mang 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
We utilize data from 2017CSS to explore factors related to people’s subjective wellbeing (SWB). Employing statistical analysis software, we test the chain mediation effect among social security, social fairness, social trust, and SWB. The results show that social security has a direct positive effect on people’s SWB (β = 0.481, p <0.001). Social security also indirectly influences people’s SWB through social fairness and social trust. High quality of social security can enhance the degree of social fairness thereby increasing the level of social trust, finally contributing to higher levels of SWB in China. The total effect of SWB explained is 49% in the chain mediation model. Based on the results, contributions and limitations are discussed in this paper.