bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Stabilization and optimization of host-microbe-environment interactions as a potential reason for the behavior of natal philopatry
Authors: Bo Ting-bei , Kohl Kevin D. 
Published: March 2021

AbstractMany animals engage in a behavior known as natal philopatry, where after sexual maturity they return to their own birthplaces for subsequent reproduction. There are many proposed ultimate factors that may underlie the evolution of natal philopatry, such as genetic optimization, suitable living conditions, and friendly neighbors, which can improve the survival rates of offspring. However, here we propose that a key factor that has been overlooked could be the colonization of gut microbiota during early life and the effects these microorganisms have on host performance and fitness. In addition to the bacteria transmitted from the mother to offspring, microbes from the surrounding environment also account for a large proportion of the developing gut microbiome. While it was long believed that microbial species all have global distributions, we now know that there are substantial geographic differences and dispersal limitations to environmental microbes. The establishment of gut microbiota during early life has enormous impacts on animal development, including energy metabolism, training of the immune system, and cognitive development. Moreover, these microbial effects scale to influence animal performance and fitness, raising the possibility for natural selection to act on the integrated combination of gut microbial communities and host genetics (i.e. the holobiont). Therefore, in this paper, we propose a hypothesis: that optimization of host-microbe-environment interactions represents a potentially important yet overlooked reason for natal philopatry. Microbiota obtained by natal philopatry could help animals adapt to the environment and improve the survival rates of their young. We propose future directions to test these ideas, and the implications that this hypothesis has for our understanding of host-microbe interactions.
Cancer Screening in the Coronavirus Pandemic Era: Adjusting to a New Situation
Authors: Basu Partha , Alhomoud Samar , Taghavi Katayoun , Carvalho Andre L. , Lucas Eric , Baussano Iacopo 
Published: March 2021

PURPOSE The coronavirus-induced pandemic has put great pressure on health systems worldwide. Nonemergency health services, such as cancer screening, have been scaled down or withheld as a result of travel restrictions and resources being redirected to manage the pandemic. The present article discusses the challenges to cancer screening implementation in the pandemic environment, suggesting ways to optimize services for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening. METHODS The manuscript was drafted by a team of public health specialists with expertise in implementation and monitoring of cancer screening. A scoping review of literature revealed the lack of comprehensive guidance on continuation of cancer screening in the midst of waxing and waning of infection. The recommendations in the present article were based on the advisories issued by different health agencies and professional bodies and the authors' understanding of the best practices to maintain quality-assured cancer screening. RESULTS A well-coordinated approach is required to ensure that essential health services such as cancer management are maintained and elective services are not threatened, especially because of resource constraints. In the context of cancer screening, a few changes in invitation strategies, screening and management protocols and program governance need to be considered to fit into the new normal situation. Restoring public trust in providing efficient and safe services should be one of the key mandates for screening program reorganization. This may be a good opportunity to introduce innovations (eg, telehealth) and consider de-implementing non–evidence-based practices. It is necessary to consider increased spending on primary health care and incorporating screening services in basic health package. CONCLUSION The article provides guidance on reorganization of screening policies, governance, implementation, and program monitoring.
Effect of the modified Heisenberg algebra on the black hole thermodynamics
Authors: Hamil B. , Lütfüoğlu B. C. 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
In this letter, we introduce two new forms of uncertainty relations by extending the usual Heisenberg algebra with higher terms. Within these scenarios, at first, we study the Unruh temperature. We find that the Unruh temperature increases in one of the new forms while it decreases in the other form. Next, we explore the thermodynamic properties of a Schwarzschild black hole by relying on these two new forms of the Heisenberg uncertainty relation. We present the modifications in the mass-temperature, specific heat, and entropy functions of the black hole according to the extension parameters.
Role of links on the structural properties of different network topologies
Authors: Hazrati Motahare , Panahi Shirin , Parastesh Fatemeh , Jafari Sajad , Ghosh Dibakar 
Published: March 2021

AbstractComplex networks are of major importance in many areas of science. The network property analysis of such networks can help researchers to understand many real-world systems. Different collective phenomena emerge in complex networks, synchronization is one of the most interesting states. The number of links plays a major role in synchronizability. In this paper, the specific properties of the different well-known network topologies are studied, and their synchronizability is compared. Networks with different structures, such as the regular, star, random, small-world, and scale-free networks, are investigated. For each topology, the clustering coefficient, average and variance of the path length, and the eigenvalues of the Laplacian matrix of connections are obtained by varying the number of links. The results show some relations between the network's properties and synchronizability. One of the obtained results is that the type-one networks in a small number of links show better synchronization in the lowest average and variance of path length. However, for a greater number of links, the best synchronizability belongs to the topologies with lower clustering coefficient.
A guide to accurate reporting in digital image processing – can anyone reproduce your quantitative analysis?
Authors: Aaron Jesse , Chew Teng-Leong 
Published: March 2021

ABSTRACT
Considerable attention has been recently paid to improving replicability and reproducibility in life science research. This has resulted in commendable efforts to standardize a variety of reagents, assays, cell lines and other resources. However, given that microscopy is a dominant tool for biologists, comparatively little discussion has been offered regarding how the proper reporting and documentation of microscopy relevant details should be handled. Image processing is a critical step of almost any microscopy-based experiment; however, improper, or incomplete reporting of its use in the literature is pervasive. The chosen details of an image processing workflow can dramatically determine the outcome of subsequent analyses, and indeed, the overall conclusions of a study. This Review aims to illustrate how proper reporting of image processing methodology improves scientific reproducibility and strengthens the biological conclusions derived from the results.
Autotomy-induced effects on the locomotor performance of the ghost crabOcypode quadrata
Authors: Pfeiffenberger Janne A. , Hsieh S. Tonia 
Published: March 2021

ABSTRACTThe voluntary amputation of an appendage, or autotomy, is an effective defensive mechanism that allows an animal to escape aggressive interactions. However, animals may suffer long-term costs that can reduce their overall fitness. Atlantic ghost crabs (Ocypode quadrata) are one of the fastest terrestrial invertebrates, and regularly lose one or more limbs in response to an antagonist encounter. When running laterally at fast speeds, they adopt a quadrupedal gait using their first and second pairs of legs while raising their fourth, and sometimes the third, pair of legs off the ground. This suggests that some limbs may be more important for achieving maximal locomotor performance than others. The goal of this study was to determine whether the loss of certain limbs would affect running performance more than others, and what compensatory strategies were used. Crabs were assigned to four different paired limb removal treatments or the control group and run on an enclosed trackway in their natural habitat. Ghost crabs were found to adjust stride kinematics in response to limb loss. Loss of the second or third limb pairs caused a reduction in running speed by about 25%, suggesting that the remaining intact limbs were unable to compensate for the loss of either limb, either due to a lack of propulsive forces produced by these limbs or issues stemming from re-coupling limb arrangements. Loss of any of the other limbs had no detectable effect on running speed. We conclude that compensatory ability varies depending on the limb that is lost.
Transgenerational plasticity responses of oysters to ocean acidification differ with habitat
Authors: Parker Laura M. , Scanes Elliot , O'Connor Wayne A. , Ross Pauline M. 
Published: March 2021

ABSTRACT
Transgenerational plasticity (TGP) has been identified as a critical mechanism of acclimation that may buffer marine organisms against climate change, yet whether the TGP response of marine organisms is altered depending on their habitat is unknown. Many marine organisms are found in intertidal zones where they experience episodes of emersion (air exposure) daily as the tide rises and recedes. During episodes of emersion, the accumulation of metabolic carbon dioxide (CO2) leads to hypercapnia for many species. How this metabolic hypercapnia impacts the TGP response of marine organisms to climate change is unknown as all previous transgenerational studies have been done under subtidal conditions, where parents are constantly immersed. Here, we assess the capacity of the ecologically and economically important oyster, Saccostrea glomerata, to acclimate to elevated CO2 dependent on habitat, across its vertical distribution, from the subtidal to intertidal zone. Tidal habitat altered both the existing tolerance and transgenerational response of S. glomerata to elevated CO2. Overall, larvae from parents conditioned in an intertidal habitat had a greater existing tolerance to elevated CO2 than larvae from parents conditioned in a subtidal habitat, but had a lower capacity for beneficial TGP following parental exposure to elevated CO2. Our results suggest that the TGP responses of marine species will not be uniform across their distribution and highlights the need to consider the habitat of a species when assessing TGP responses to climate change stressors.
Synchrony of complex signals in an acoustically communicating katydid
Authors: Nityananda Vivek , Balakrishnan Rohini 
Published: March 2021

ABSTRACTInvestigating the ability to entrain to auditory stimuli has been a powerful approach to uncovering the comparative rhythm abilities of different animals. While synchrony to regular simple rhythms is well documented, synchrony to complex stimuli, with multiple components at unequal time intervals, is rarer. Several katydid species with simple calls have been shown to achieve synchrony as part of their natural calling interactions in multi-individual choruses. Yet no study so far has demonstrated synchrony in any insect with a complex call. Using natural calling behaviour and playback experiments, we investigated acoustic synchrony and the mechanisms underlying it in the katydid Mecopoda sp. ‘Two-part caller’. This katydid has a complex call consisting of a long trill followed by two or more chirps. We found that individual males synchronized trills and, to a lesser extent, chirps. Further investigation of trill synchrony showed that the timing of trills is modified by external trills but not chirps. Chirp synchrony is modified by external chirps, but also by trills. We suggest a qualitative two-oscillator model underlying synchrony in this species and discuss the implications for the evolution of acoustic synchrony.
Matching Returning Donors to Projects on Philanthropic Crowdfunding Platforms
Authors: Song Yicheng , Li Zhuoxin , Sahoo Nachiketa 
Published: March 2021

We propose an approach to match returning donors to fundraising campaigns on philanthropic crowdfunding platforms. It is based on a structural econometric model of utility-maximizing donors who can derive both altruistic (from the welfare of others) and egoistic (from personal motivations) utilities from donating—a unique feature of philanthropic giving. We estimate our model using a comprehensive data set from DonorsChoose.org—the largest crowdfunding platform for K–12 education. We find that the proposed model more accurately identifies the projects that donors would like to donate to on their return in a future period, and how much they would donate, than popular personalized recommendation approaches in the literature. From the estimated model, we find that primarily egoistic factors motivate over two-thirds of the donations, but, over the course of the fundraising campaign, both motivations play a symbiotic role: egoistic motivations drive the funding in the early stages of a campaign when the viability of the project is still unclear, whereas altruistic motivations help reach the funding goal in the later stages. Finally, we design a recommendation policy using the proposed model to maximize the total funding each week considering the needs of all projects and the heterogeneous budgets and preferences of donors. We estimate that over the last 14 weeks of the data period, such a policy would have raised 2.5% more donation, provided 9% more funding to the projects by allocating them to more viable projects, funded 17% more projects, and provided 15% more utility to the donors from the donations than the current system. Counterintuitively, we find that the policy that maximizes total funding each week leads to higher utility for the donors over time than a policy that maximizes donors’ total utility each week. The reason is that the funding-maximizing policy focuses donations on more viable projects, leading to more funded projects, and, ultimately, higher realized donors’ utility. This paper was accepted by Kartik Hosanagar, information systems.
Image-matching enhancement using a polarized intensity-hue-saturation fusion method
Authors: Shen Linghao , Reda Mohamed , Zhao Yongqiang 
Published: March 2021

Atmospheric absorption and scattering (e.g., haze) cause degradation in the image quality of outdoor scenes, which affects the image-matching process. The scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) algorithm is not effective in haze. Edge information is required to enhance the matching process. Utilizing the polarization information expressed by the Stokes vector component S1 with its edge information can improve the keypoint localization in the matching process. In this paper, a novel, to the best of our knowledge, fusion method called polarized intensity-hue-saturation is proposed that uses polarization and depth information by fusion of a polarized haze-removed image with the estimated depth and by applying S1. The instant dehazing method uses polarized images to obtain a haze-removed image and its estimated depth map. The fused image has high spatial details required for enhancing the matching process. The experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms the existing image-matching schemes and improves the conventional SIFT matching method.
Optimization study of metallic hole arrays as the multi-channel spectral filters in long-infrared wavelengths
Authors: Liu Tao , Pan Xiaohang , Feng Bo , Yang Zongyao , Chen Yifang , Lu Bingrui 
Published: March 2021

The development of miniaturized multi-channel infrared filters based on plasmonic metasurfaces is attracting growing attention, driven by its potential applications in infrared imaging, photodetectors, and spectroscopy. However, the advance of such filters in long-infrared wavelengths has rarely been reported. This paper reports our recent progress on developing multi-channel spectral filters based on micrometer metallic hole arrays in the long-infrared band of 10–15 µm. The effects of structural parameters and the shapes of metallic hole arrays on filtering performance are investigated by numerical simulations with the finite-difference time-domain method and then experimentally verified by optical characterizations of fabricated filters using electron beam lithography. The transmission peaks of the filter on a zinc selenide substrate were optimized with a maximum transmittance of 63%. A comparison of the hole shapes shows that elliptical holes give rise to sharper transmission peak quality than round ones by 28%. The progress achieved in this work should be a promising step in the development of metallic hole-based spectral filters with miniaturized dimensions.
Powerful Q-switched Raman laser at 589  nm with a repetition rate between 200 and 500  kHz
Authors: Hsiao J. Q. , Huang Yu Jung , Lee C. C. , Yu Y. T. , Tsou C. H. , Liang H. C. , Chen Y. F. 
Published: March 2021

We demonstrate a highly powerful acousto-optically

Q

-switched

N
d

:

Y
V
O

4

yellow laser at 589 nm by using a

N
p

-cut KGW crystal and a phase-matching lithium triborate crystal to performance the intracavity stimulated Raman scattering and second-harmonic generation, respectively. We experimentally verify that the design of the separate cavity is superior to the conventional design of the shared cavity. By using the separate cavity, the optical-to-optical efficiency can be generally higher than 32% for the repetition rate within 200–500 kHz. The maximum output power at 589 nm can be up to 15.1 W at an incident pump power of 40 W and a repetition rate of 400 kHz.
Clinical laboratory reference values in adults in Kisumu County, Western Kenya; hematology, chemistry and CD4
Authors: Sing’oei Valentine , Ochola Jew , Owuoth John , Otieno June , Rono Eric , Andagalu Ben , Otieno Lucas , Nwoga Chiaka , Copeland Nathanial K. , Lawlor John , Yates Adam , Imbach Michelle , Crowell Trevor A. , Eller Leigh Anne , Kamau Edwin , Modjarrad Kayvon , Cowden Jessica , Ake Julie , Robb Merlin L. , Polyak Christina S. 
Published: March 2021

BackgroundClinical laboratory reference intervals (RIs) are essential for diagnosing and managing patients in routine clinical care as well as establishing eligibility criteria and defining adverse events in clinical trials, but may vary by age, gender, genetics, nutrition and geographic location. It is, therefore, critical to establish region-specific reference values in order to inform clinical decision-making.MethodsWe analyzed data from a prospective observational HIV incidence cohort study in Kombewa, Kenya. Study participants were healthy males and females, aged 18–35 years, without HIV. Median and 95% reference values (2.5thpercentile to 97.5thpercentile) were calculated for laboratory parameters including hematology, chemistry studies, and CD4 T cell count. Standard Deviation Ratios (SDR) and Bias Ratios (BR) are presented as measures of effect magnitude. Findings were compared with those from the United States and other Kenyan studies.ResultsA total of 299 participants were analyzed with a median age of 24 years (interquartile range: 21–28). Ratio of males to females was 0.9:1. Hemoglobin range (2.5th—97.5thpercentiles) was 12.0–17.9 g/dL and 9.5–15.3 g/dL in men and women respectively. In the cohort, MCV range was 59-95fL, WBC 3.7–9.2×103/μL, and platelet 154–401×103/μL. Chemistry values were higher in males; the creatinine RI was 59–103 μmol/L in males vs. 46–76 μmol/L in females (BRUL>.3); and the alanine transferase range was 8.8–45.3 U/L in males vs. 7.5–36.8 U/L in females (SDR>.3). The overall CD4 T cell count RI was 491–1381 cells/μL. Some parameters including hemoglobin, neutrophil, creatinine and ALT varied with that from prior studies in Kenya and the US.ConclusionThis study not only provides clinical reference intervals for a population in Kisumu County but also highlights the variations in comparable settings, accentuating the requirement for region-specific reference values to improve patient care, scientific validity, and quality of clinical trials in Africa.
Profiling immuno-metabolic mediators of vitamin B12 deficiency among metformin-treated type 2 diabetic patients in Ghana
Authors: Sakyi Samuel Asamoah , Laing Edwin Ferguson , Mantey Richard , Kwarteng Alexander , Owiredu Eddie-Williams , Dadzie Richard Ephraim , Amoani Benjamin , Opoku Stephen , Afranie Bright Oppong , Boakye Daniel 
Published: March 2021

Background
The association between prolong metformin usage and B12 deficiency has been documented. However, the prevalence estimates of metformin-induced vitamin B12 deficiency showed substantial disparity among studies due to varied study definitions of vitamin B12 deficiency. Metformin blocks the calcium dependent absorption of the vitamin B12-Intrinsic Factor complex at the terminal ileum. Lack of intrinsic factor due to the presence of auto-antibodies to parietal cells (IFA) could lead to vitamin B12 deficiency and subsequently cause peripheral neuropathy. We investigated the prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency using more sensitive, combined markers of vitamin B12 status (4cB12) and the immuno-biochemical mediators of vitamin B12 deficiency.

Methods
In this observational study, 200 consecutive consenting metformin-treated T2DM patients, aged 35 and above, attending the diabetic clinic at KATH were recruited. Vitamin B12 deficiency was classified based on the Fedosov age-normalized wellness quotient. Anthropometric measurement was taken as well as blood samples for immunological and biochemical mediators. Peripheral neuropathy was assessed using the Michigan Neuropathy Screening Instrument (MNSI). Statistical analysis was performed using the R Language for Statistical Computing.

Results
Using the combined indicator (4cB12), the prevalence of metformin induced vitamin B12 deficiency was 40.5% whilst the prevalence of MNSI-Q and MNSI-PE diabetic neuropathy was 32.5% and 6.5% respectively. Participants with vitamin B12 deficiency had significantly higher levels of IFA, GPA, TNF-α, TC, LDL and albumin compared to those with normal vitamin B12 levels (p < 0.05). Correlation analysis revealed a statistically significant negative association between 4cB12 and the immunological markers [IFA (rs = -0.301, p<0.0001), GPA (rs = -0.244, p = 0.001), TNF-α (rs = -0.242, p = 0.001) and IL-6 (rs = -0.145, p = 0.041)]. Likewise, 4cB12 was negatively associated with TC (rs = -0.203, p = 0.004) and LDL (rs = -0.222, p = 0.002) but positively correlated with HDL (rs = 0.196, p = 0.005).

Conclusion
Vitamin B12 deficiency and diabetic neuropathy are very high among metformin-treated T2DM patients and it is associated with increased GPA, IFA, TNF-α and cardiometabolic risk factors (higher LDL and TC and lower HDL). Upon verification of these findings in a prospective case-control study, it may be beneficial to include periodic measurement of Vitamin B12 using the more sensitive combined indicators (4cB 12) in the management of patients with T2DM treated with metformin in Ghana.