bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Nonviral gene delivery to T cells with Lipofectamine LTX
Authors: Harris Emily , Zimmerman Devon , Warga Eric , Bamezai Anil , Elmer Jacob 
Published: January 2021

AbstractRetroviral gene delivery is widely used in T cell therapies for hematological cancers. However, viral vectors are expensive to manufacture, integrate genes in semirandom patterns, and their transduction efficiency varies between patients. In this study, several nonviral gene delivery vehicles, promoters, and additional variables were compared to optimize nonviral transgene delivery and expression in both Jurkat and primary T cells. Transfection of Jurkat cells was maximized to a high efficiency (63.0% ± 10.9% EGFP+ cells) by transfecting cells with Lipofectamine LTX in X‐VIVO 15 media. However, the same method yielded a much lower transfection efficiency in primary T cells (8.1% ± 0.8% EGFP+). Subsequent confocal microscopy revealed that a majority of the lipoplexes did not enter the primary T cells, which might be due to relatively low expression levels of heparan sulfate proteoglycans detected via messenger RNA‐sequencing. Pyrin and HIN (PYHIN) DNA sensors (e.g., AIM2 and IFI16) that can induce apoptosis or repress transcription after binding cytoplasmic DNA were also detected at high levels in primary T cells. Therefore, transfection of primary T cells appears to be limited at the level of cellular uptake or DNA sensing in the cytoplasm. Both of these factors should be considered in the development of future viral and nonviral T cell gene delivery methods.
End‐to‐end collaboration to transform biopharmaceutical development and manufacturing
Authors: Erickson John , Baker Jeffrey , Barrett Shawn , Brady Ciaran , Brower Mark , Carbonell Ruben , Charlebois Tim , Coffman Jon , Connell‐Crowley Lisa , Coolbaugh Michael , Fallon Eric , Garr Eric , Gillespie Christopher , Hart Roger , Haug Allison , Nyberg Gregg , Phillips Michael , Pollard David , Qadan Maen , Ramos Irina , Rogers Kelley , Schaefer Gene , Walther Jason , Lee Kelvin 
Published: January 2021

AbstractAn ambitious 10‐year collaborative program is described to invent, design, demonstrate, and support commercialization of integrated biopharmaceutical manufacturing technology intended to transform the industry. Our goal is to enable improved control, robustness, and security of supply, dramatically reduced capital and operating cost, flexibility to supply an extremely diverse and changing portfolio of products in the face of uncertainty and changing demand, and faster product development and supply chain velocity, with sustainable raw materials, components, and energy use. The program is organized into workstreams focused on end‐to‐end control strategy, equipment flexibility, next generation technology, sustainability, and a physical test bed to evaluate and demonstrate the technologies that are developed. The elements of the program are synergistic. For example, process intensification results in cost reduction as well as increased sustainability. Improved robustness leads to less inventory, which improves costs and supply chain velocity. Flexibility allows more products to be consolidated into fewer factories, reduces the need for new facilities, simplifies the acquisition of additional capacity if needed, and reduces changeover time, which improves cost and velocity. The program incorporates both drug substance and drug product manufacturing, but this paper will focus on the drug substance elements of the program.
Research on the design of analytical communication and information model for teaching resources with cloud‐sharing platform
Authors: Zheng Wang , Muthu BalaAnand , Kadry Seifedine Nimer 
Published: January 2021

AbstractThe recent growth in the adoption by several organizations of cloud computing services has created the challenge to determine their performance of information model. The ability of cloud computing systems to provide the required services in line with the quality of service and service level agreement constraints is a major problem for cloud service providers and consumers. To that end, it is possible to develop the means of ensuring that the desired levels of success are achieved in simulated environments. In the eventual stage of commissioning and running cloud computing, this will reduce the disrupted service and performance degradation problems using analytical communication and information model of cloud technology. However, several modelers and simulators for simulating cloud computing systems are available in conventional research. This paper, therefore, provides a critical assessment with state of the art cloud computing modeling and simulation frameworks. It compares the prominent frameworks of simulation regarding application programming interface features, programming flexibility, operating system requirements, services supported, and licensing needs with 95% reliability. It offers recommendations to the researchers, administrators, and managers of cloud computing systems regarding the choice of the most appropriate framework.
Dust ion acoustic waves in non‐thermal Cairns bi‐Maxwellian plasma
Authors: ul Haq Rashid , Hadi Fazli , Ullah Zakir , Ahmad Zeeshan , Qamar Anisa 
Published: January 2021

AbstractUsing kinetic theory approach, the dispersion relation ωr and Landau damping rate γ for dust ion acoustic waves are investigated numerically and analytically in an unmagnetized collisionless dusty plasma considering Cairns distribution for electrons and ions in stationary dust particles background. The phase velocity and Landau damping rate are calculated in the limits vtd∥ < vti∥ << ω/k << vte∥. The electrons and ions non‐thermality effects are incorporated via the non‐thermality parameter (0 ≤ α < 1). The real frequency ωr and Landau damping rate γ of the mode in Cairns bi‐Maxwellian distributed plasma are graphically shown to depend on plasma parameters namely non‐thermality index α, ion to electron temperature ratio Ti∥/Te∥ and the dust concentration parameter δ (=1 − ηZd).
Connectivity analysis of directed highway vehicular ad hoc networks using graph theory
Authors: Elaraby Samar , Abuelenin Sherif M. 
Published: January 2021

SummaryGraph theory is a promising approach in handling the problem of estimating the connectivity probability of vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs). With a communication network represented as graph, graph connectivity indicators become valid for connectivity analysis of communication networks as well. In this article, we discuss two different graph‐based methods for VANETs connectivity analysis showing that they capture the same behavior as estimated using probabilistic models. The study is, then, extended to include the case of directed VANETs, resulting from the utilization of different communication ranges by different vehicles. Overall, the graph‐based methods prove a robust performance, as they can be simply diversified into scenarios that are too complex to acquire a rigid probabilistic model for them.
Positive association between the diversity of symbionts and parasitoids of aphids in field populations
Authors: Hafer‐Hahmann Nina , Vorburger Christoph 
Published: January 2021

AbstractParasites and pathogens are crucial in shaping immune systems. Many animals and especially insects have outsourced part of their immune function to protective symbionts. There is good evidence that, akin to immune systems, parasites shape the occurrence and diversity of protective symbionts and that likewise, protective symbionts can shape the occurrence and diversity of parasites. Such a relationship should result in a correlation between symbiont and parasite diversity in nature. Aphids are well known for possessing symbionts that provide specific and effective protection against parasitoid wasps. We compared symbiont and parasitoid diversity across multiple populations of different aphid species of the genus Aphis and their parasitoid wasps. The diversity of protective symbionts and parasitoids was indeed positively associated. Even though this association was very noisy, it is in line with the hypothesis that parasitoids and symbionts promote each other’s diversity.
Cranial nerve palsy caused by metastasis to the skull base in patients with castration‐resistant prostate cancer: Three case reports
Authors: Yasumizu Yota , Kosaka Takeo , Hongo Hiroshi , Mizuno Ryuichi , Oya Mototsugu 
Published: January 2021

IntroductionSkull base metastasis of prostate cancer associated with cranial nerve palsy is rare. We observed three patients with aggressive prostate cancer who experienced cranial nerve palsy.Case presentationCase 1 was a 53‐year‐old patient who was treated with carboplatin and etoposide. He noticed sensory abnormalities on his left mouth edge. Head magnetic resonance imaging revealed skull base metastasis. Case 2 was a 50‐year‐old patient who received docetaxel. This patient exhibited ptosis of the left eye. Skull base metastasis was detected by magnetic resonance imaging. External beam radiation therapy was performed. Case 3 was a 64‐year‐old patient who was treated with docetaxel. He experienced ptosis of the right eye and diplopia. He was also treated with external beam radiation therapy.ConclusionExternal beam radiation therapy exhibited some efficacy against the symptoms, but skull base metastasis of treatment‐resistant prostate cancer has poor prognosis. Three patients died within 3 months after symptoms occurred with or without external beam radiation therapy.
Solubility product of amorphous magnesium carbonate
Authors: Chang Chun‐Yu , Yang Sheng‐Yu , Chan Jerry C. C. 
Published: January 2021

AbstractThe thermodynamic solubility product of amorphous magnesium carbonate (AMC) was studied at room temperature. The samples had been prepared at pH 8.78 and 9.37, where the particle size was 58 ± 11 nm and 49 ± 9 nm, respectively. Solid‐state NMR measurements showed that the former contained a minute amount of bicarbonate species, whereas we did not detect any for the latter. While the AMC sample prepared at higher pH exhibited a one‐step decomposition at 413°C, the one at lower pH decomposed in two steps at 425 and 510°C. The solubility products of AMC prepared at two pH are statistically identical and the average value is estimated to be 6.3 × 10−6.
E7‐Modified Substrates to Promote Adhesion and Maintain Stemness of Mesenchymal Stem Cells
Authors: Ge Qunzi , Wang Xuemei , Luo Yu , Zheng Xiaowen , Ma Lie 
Published: January 2021

AbstractMesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have drawn great attention in clinical applications due to the self‐renewal ability, multi‐differentiation potential, and low immunogenicity. However, there are challenges in the ex vivo expansion of MSCs, including low efficiency, stemness loss, and safety. Therefore, it is crucial to construct a substrate that can show an alterable affinity to MSCs, and induce efficient cell expansion with minimal stemness loss. In this study, EPLQLKM (E7)‐modified substrates with tunable E7 densities are fabricated on PEGylated substrates. The PEG layer with an average thickness of 1.7 nm shows good antifouling ability. E7‐modified substrates have an improving effect on adhesion and spreading of the rat bone marrow‐derived mesenchymal stem cells (rBMSCs), along with the increase of E7 densities. rBMSCs on E7‐modified substrates maintain the stem cell phenotypes, and shows robust proliferation and multilineage differentiation, especially on the substrates with high E7 densities. In summary, this study provides a novel strategy of E7 functionalization to promote adhesion and maintain stemness of MSCs, which holds great potentials in the functionalization of microcarriers for the expansion of MSCs.
DeepControl: 2DRF pulses facilitating inhomogeneity and B0 off‐resonance compensation in vivo at 7 T
Authors: Vinding Mads Sloth , Aigner Christoph Stefan , Schmitter Sebastian , Lund Torben Ellegaard 
Published: January 2021

PurposeRapid 2DRF pulse design with subject‐specific inhomogeneity and B0 off‐resonance compensation at 7 T predicted from convolutional neural networks is presented.MethodsThe convolution neural network was trained on half a million single‐channel transmit 2DRF pulses optimized with an optimal control method using artificial 2D targets, and B0 maps. Predicted pulses were tested in a phantom and in vivo at 7 T with measured and B0 maps from a high‐resolution gradient echo sequence.ResultsPulse prediction by the trained convolutional neural network was done on the fly during the MR session in approximately 9 ms for multiple hand‐drawn regions of interest and the measured and B0 maps. Compensation of inhomogeneity and B0 off‐resonances has been confirmed in the phantom and in vivo experiments. The reconstructed image data agree well with the simulations using the acquired and B0 maps, and the 2DRF pulse predicted by the convolutional neural networks is as good as the conventional RF pulse obtained by optimal control.ConclusionThe proposed convolutional neural network‐based 2DRF pulse design method predicts 2DRF pulses with an excellent excitation pattern and compensated and B0 variations at 7 T. The rapid 2DRF pulse prediction (9 ms) enables subject‐specific high‐quality 2DRF pulses without the need to run lengthy optimizations.
Design and characterization of a surfactant‐conjugated, long‐acting, balanced GLP‐1/glucagon receptor dual agonist
Authors: Nestor John J. , Zhang Xiaoming , Jaw‐Tsai Sarah , Parkes David G. , Becker Cyrus K. 
Published: January 2021

AbstractExisting candidates for treating non‐alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), including glucagon‐like peptide‐1 (GLP‐1) analogs and previous GLP‐1/glucagon receptor (GLP‐1R/GCGR) dual agonists, do not address the need for substantial weight loss adequately. We sought a more effective, evenly balanced GLP‐1/GCGR dual agonist suitable for weekly administration. We studied a new class of covalent modifiers, glycolipid surfactants, to prolong the duration of action of candidate peptides. Variation of the hydrophobic tail of such surfactant modifications resulted in a wide and tunable range of physical properties and t1/2 values. We selected compound 17, which demonstrated high, evenly balanced potency for activation of human GLP‐1R and GCGRs, return of diet induced obese (DIO) rodents to lean body/liver weight and prolonged duration correlated with high serum albumin binding. We observed a prolonged pharmacodynamic (PD) profile in rodents and pharmacokinetics (PK) in mini‐pigs (t1/2 = 52 hours, mean residence time, MRT = 86 hours), suggesting suitability for weekly dosing. Accordingly, 17 (ALT‐801) was selected for clinical development.
A guide to therapeutic drug monitoring of β‐lactam antibiotics
Authors: Fratoni Andrew J. , Nicolau David P. , Kuti Joseph L. 
Published: January 2021

AbstractTherapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) opens the door to personalized medicine, yet it is infrequently applied to β‐lactam antibiotics, one of the most commonly prescribed drug classes in the hospital setting. As we continue to understand more about β‐lactam pharmacodynamics (PD) and wide inter‐ and intra‐patient variability in pharmacokinetics (PK), the utility of TDM has become increasingly apparent. For β‐lactams, the time that free concentrations remain above the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) as a function of the dosing interval (%fT>MIC) has been shown to best predict antibacterial effect. Many studies have shown that β‐lactam %fT>MIC exposures are often suboptimal across a wide variety of disease states and clinical settings. A limitation to implementing this practice is the general lack of understanding on how to best operationalize this intervention and interpret the results. The instrumentation and expertise needed to quantify β‐lactams for TDM is rarely available locally, but certain laboratories advertise these services and perform them regularly. Familiarity with the modalities and nuances of antimicrobial susceptibility testing is crucial to establishing β‐lactam concentration targets that meet the relevant exposure thresholds. Evaluation of these concentrations is best accomplished using population PK software and Bayesian modeling, for which a multitude of programs are available. While TDM of β‐lactams has shown an ability to increase the rate of target attainment, there is currently limited evidence to suggest that it leads to improved clinical outcomes. Although consensus guidelines for β‐lactam TDM do not exist in the United States, guidance would help to promote this important practice and better standardize the approach across institutions. Herein, we discuss the basis for β‐lactam TDM, review supporting evidence, and provide guidance for implementation in specific patient populations.
Integral‐type‐observer‐based control with measurement uncertainty and application to two‐wheeled inverted pendulum
Authors: Liang Song , Wang Zaihua 
Published: January 2021

AbstractTo overcome the deficiencies of traditional disturbance observers in the presence of measurement uncertainty, an integral‐type observer‐based control using measured signals is proposed. The integral‐type observer is in terms of an explicit integral‐algebra form of measured signals. As a combination of the integral‐type observer and high‐gain controller, the observer‐based control is a proportional‐integral‐derivative control with special combination of parameters for feedback linearization, simple in structure and easy in implementation. Without the observer, the high‐gain controller alone may not have good control performance, but the proposed observer‐based control works very well in stabilizing the system even when the observer performance is not good enough, due to the use of the high‐gain control. The main results are applied to the control of a two‐wheeled inverted pendulum.
Sustaining a Cleaner Environment by Curbing Down Biomass Energy Consumption
Authors: Danlami Abubakar Hamid , Applanaidu Shri Dewi 
Published: January 2021

AbstractEnvironmental degradation, soil erosion, and desertification are some of the consequences of high rate of traditional biomass fuel use by households in developing countries. The critical issues to raise here are how can these households be encouraged to change their energy consumption behavior? What are the factors that cause the rampant use of biomass fuel in developing countries? How and to what extent can these factors be manipulated so that households in developing countries are encouraged to adopt clean energy fuel an alternative to the most widely used biomass fuel? Therefore, this chapter tries to find answer to the above questions raised, by carrying out an in depth analysis of households’ use of biomass fuel in developing countries using Bauchi State, Nigeria, as the case study. Cluster area sampling technique was utilized to generate the various responses, where a total number of 539 respondents were analyzed. The study estimated ordered logit model to analyze the factors that influence the movement of households along the energy ladder from nonclean energy to the cleaner energy. Furthermore, Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) model was estimated to analyze the impacts of socio-economic, residential, and environmental factors on biomass energy consumption. It was found that age of the household head and his level of education, income, living in urban areas, home ownership, and hours of electricity supply have positive and significant impact on household energy switching from traditional biomass energy use to the cleaner energy. Therefore, policies that will enhance household income and the increase in the availability of cheap cleaner energy will encourage households switching to cleaner energy sources thereby reducing the level of environmental pollution in the study area.
From Durkheim to Machine Learning: Finding the Relevant Sociological Content in Depression and Suicide-Related Social Media Discourses
Authors: Koltai Júlia , Kmetty Zoltán , Bozsonyi Károly 
Published: January 2021

AbstractThe phenomenon of suicide has been a focal point since Durkheim among social scientists. Internet and social media sites provide new ways for people to express their positive feelings, but they are also platforms to express suicide ideation or depressed thoughts. Most of these posts are not about real suicide, and some of them are a cry for help. Nevertheless, suicide- and depression-related content varies among platforms, and it is not evident how a researcher can find these materials in mass data of social media. Our paper uses the corpus of more than four million Instagram posts, related to mental health problems. After defining the initial corpus, we present two different strategies to find the relevant sociological content in the noisy environment of social media. The first approach starts with a topic modeling (Latent Dirichlet Allocation), the output of which serves as the basis of a supervised classification method based on advanced machine-learning techniques. The other strategy is built on an artificial neural network-based word embedding language model. Based on our results, the combination of topic modeling and neural network word embedding methods seems to be a promising way to find the research related content in a large digital corpus.Our research can provide added value in the detection of possible self-harm events. With the utilization of complex techniques (such as topic modeling and word embedding methods), it is possible to identify the most problematic posts and most vulnerable users.
Resümee und Schlussbetrachtungen
Authors: Störkle Mario 
Published: January 2021

ZusammenfassungIn meiner Studie habe ich den Blick auf ein Phänomen der neuen Zuwanderung der Schweiz gelegt und mich mit dem freiwilligen Engagement von Expatriates im Kanton Zug auseinandergesetzt. Dabei habe ich mich zum einen auf die Expatriates selbst konzentriert und herausgearbeitet, welchen Platz Expatriates im Kanton Zug dem Engagement in ihren alltäglichen Lebenswelten einräumen. Anhand von narrativen Interviews mit Expatriates habe ich vier Expatriate-Typen herausgearbeitet, die sich hinsichtlich ihrer Orientierungen zum freiwilligen Engagement unterscheiden.
Ausgangslage und Fragestellung
Authors: Störkle Mario 
Published: January 2021

ZusammenfassungIn den wirtschaftlichen Grossregionen der Schweiz wird das gesellschaftliche Leben zunehmend von internationalen Angestellten und ihren Familien mitgeprägt. Häufig wird für diese Personengruppe die Bezeichnung Expatriates (oder die Kurzform Expats) verwendet. Viele dieser – oftmals von ihren Arbeitgebern in die Schweiz entsendeten – Expatriates arbeiten in global agierenden Grossunternehmen mit internationalem Arbeitsumfeld (Müller-Jentsch 2008: 48ff); so ist auch tendenziell Englisch die vorherrschende Sprache am Arbeitsplatz.
Expatriates oder hochqualifizierte Migrantinnen und Migranten? Wichtige Begriffe und Tatbestände aus der wissenschaftlichen Forschung
Authors: Störkle Mario 
Published: January 2021

ZusammenfassungIn der vorliegenden Arbeit interessiere ich mich für die Lebenswelt hochqualifizierter und privilegierter Migrantinnen und Migranten im Kanton Zug, vielfach fällt in diesem Zusammenhang der Begriff der Expatriates (oder die Kurzform Expats). Mein Forschungsinteresse fällt dabei auf eine heterogene Gruppe von Zugewanderten, die in der Regel wirtschaftlich gut bis sehr gut situiert ist und die im Vergleich zu nicht-privilegierten, geringqualifizierten Migrantinnen und Migranten salopp ausgedrückt eher als die „first class“-Migration (vgl. Amit 2007) beschrieben wird. So wird im Alltagsgebrauch häufig zwischen Migrantinnen und Migranten und Expatriates unterschieden (mit Ersteren sind für gewöhnlich die weniger gutsituierten Zugewa0nderten gemeint), obwohl es sich bei Letzteren gleichfalls um Migrantinnen und Migranten handelt (d. h. je nachdem, welche Definition verwendet wird), wenn auch mit anderen Herausforderungen und Bedürfnissen. Aber wer sind die Expatriates nun eigentlich?