bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Pulmonary Hypertension in Mitral Valve Disease -- Rheumatic Mitral Stenosis Versus Organic Mitral Regurgitation: The Doppler-Echocardiographic Study Revisited
Authors: Ratanasit Nithima , Karaketklang Khemajira , Rasmeehirun Prayuth , Chanwanitkulchai Roongthip 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
Purpose: The aims of the study were to determine the factors associated with PH among patients with mitral valve disease, and the similarities and differences in the subgroups of mitral stenosis (MS) and mitral regurgitation (MR). Methods: Patients with isolated moderate to severe organic mitral valve disease were prospectively enrolled. Pulmonary hypertension (PH) was defined echocardiographically as pulmonary artery systolic pressure > 50 mmHg. Patients with MS who had mitral valve area > 1.5 cm2 and patients with MR who had effective regurgitant orifice area < 20 mm2 were excluded. Results: There were 318 patients (mean age 54.3 ± 15.5 years, 57.6% female, 66.7% MR). PH was present in 119 (37.4%) patients (48.1% and 31.8% in MS and MR, respectively). Severe mitral valve disease was reported in 245 (77.0%) patients. Left atrial (LA) diameter and pulmonary artery pressure were significantly higher in patients with MS. Dyspnea, LA volume index, significant tricuspid and pulmonary regurgitation, severe mitral valve disease and the presence of MS were independently associated with PH. Among patients with MS, LA volume index and severe disease were independently associated with PH. Significant tricuspid and pulmonary regurgitation, LA volume index and severe disease were independently associated with PH in patients with MR. Conclusions: PH is common in patients with mitral valve disease. LA volume index and severe disease were, in common, independently associated with PH in patients with mitral valve disease and in the subgroups of MS and MR.
An Improved Term Weighting Method Based on Relevance Frequency for Text Classification
Authors: Li Chuanxiao , Li Wenqiang , Tang Zhong , Li Song , Xiang Hai 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
As a vital step of text classification (TC) task, the assignment of term weight has a great influence on the performance of TC. Currently, masses of term weighting schemes can be utilized, such as term frequency-inverse documents frequency (TF-IDF) and term frequency-relevance frequency (TF-RF), and they are all consisted of local part (TF) and global part (e.g., IDF, RF). However, most of these schemes adopt the logarithmic processing on their respective global parts, and it is natural to consider whether the logarithmic processing apply to all these schemes or not. Actually, for a specific term weighting scheme, due to its different ratio of local weight and global weight resulting from logarithmic processing, it usually shows diverse text clasification results on different text sets, which presents poor robustness. To explore the influence of logarithmic processing imposed on the global weight on the classification result of term weighting schemes, TF-RF is selected as the representative because it can achieve a better performance among these schemes adopting logarithmic processing. Then, two propositions along with corresponding methods about the relation between TF part and RF part are proposed based on TF-RF. In addition, two groups of experiments are conducted on the two methods. The first group of experiments proves that one method (denoted as TF-ERF) is more helpful to the improvement than the other one (denoted as ETF-RF). The second group of experiments shows that TF-ERF not only ourperforms TF-RF but also obtains better performance than other existing term weighting schemes.
The Assessment of Musculoskeletal Disorders of Pregnancy
Authors: Afshar Ahmadreza , Tabrizi Ali , Bagheri Vahid , Sedokani Amin 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
Background

Almost all women experience some degree of musculoskeletal disorder during pregnancy, and almost a quarter of them develop at least temporarily musculoskeletal disorders during pregnancy. The most common of which is lower back pain, which affects half of all pregnant women. In this study, we aimed to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders caused by pregnancy in women referred to Motahari Hospital of Urmia.
Methods

The present study is a cross-sectional study in which 344 pregnant patients referred to Motahari and Imam Hospitals of Urmia during 2020 were studied. The demographic factors and pregnancy characteristics of patients were recorded and evaluated. Patients were also questioned and examined using a questionnaire. The relationship between demographic factors and the frequency of various skeletal abnormalities was investigated.
Results

The mean age of patients and the mean gestational age were 27 ± 4.76 years and 22 ± 3.4 weeks, respectively. The analysis of the relationship between age, gravid and parity of pregnant women with the prevalence of complaints and clinical examination findings, indicated women with gravid 4 or more had more complaints of back pain (p-value = 0.021). It was also found that there is a statistical relationship between the increase in body mass index of patients and the frequency of wrist pain and carpal tunnel syndrome in the study population (p-value = 0.03).
Conclusions

The present study indicated the rate of musculoskeletal complaints of patients and pathological factors such as lumbar hyperlordosis in women with higher gravidity is higher than other groups of pregnant women. Larger body mass index is associated with more wrist pain and carpal tunnel syndrome.
Electrostatic Characteristics of High-k Stacked Gate-All-Around Heterojunction Tunnel Field Effect Transistor using Superposition Principle
Authors: C usha , Vimala P , Ramkumar K , Ramakrishnan V.N. 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
We use superposition method to model the electrostatic characteristics of high-k stacked Gate-All-Around Hetero Junction TFETs (GAA-HJTFETs). The hetero junction is set up by using Ge/Si material in the source/channel respectively. The modeling is accomplished by considering the space charge regions at the source-channel/drainchannel junctions and the channel region. The surface potential in the channel region is obtained by applying superposition principle, where as in source/drain it is derived by solving 2-D/1-D Poisson's equation respectively. Furthermore, the electric field and drain current are modeled from the surface potential and Kane model respectively. The results are confirmed using ATLAS TCAD simulation.
Joint Roughness Profiling using Photogrammetry
Authors: SARICAM T. , Ozturk Hasan 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
We propose an automated camera setup for photogrammetric roughness analysis in the laboratory environment. The developed fast and low-cost automation setup can be very useful for tedious and laborsome manual field logging practices. The photographs are processed in MATLAB to obtain disparity maps. Coding routines for stereo photogrammetry and digital measurements are written in MATLAB. Secondly, 6 effecting factors (projecting an image onto core face, depth of field, brightness, camera-to-object to baseline distance ratio, projected image size and occlusion) influencing noise in roughness depth maps computed by employing stereo photogrammetry are investigated. After deciding the best values that allow the lowest amount of noise, depth maps of 6 core faces are computed. Using the 3D point cloud generated, roughness profile measurements are made. Then, 8 profile measurements are made for each core face, both manually and digitally. The accuracy of the disparity maps has been verified by comparing 48 joint roughness coefficient (JRC) measurements made manually using a profile gauge. It was proved that surface roughness can be measured very fast in millimetric accuracy with an average Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of 3.50 and Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of 3.02 by the help of the proposed set-up and calibration.
Impacts of Autofluorescence on Fluorescence Based Techniques to Study Microglia
Authors: Zhang Haozhe , Tan Chen , Shi Xiaoyue , Xu Ji 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
Microglia, the resident immune cells in the central nervous system, accrue autofluorescent granules inside their cytoplasm throughout their lifespan. In this report, we studied the impacts of autofluorescence on widely used fluorescence based techniques to study microglia, including flow cytometry, immunofluorescence staining and live imaging. The failed attempt of using fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) conjugated antibody to detect LAG3 protein in microglia prompted us to compare the sensitivity of FITC, PE and APC conjugated antibodies to detect surface protein expression in microglia. We found that phycoerythrin (PE) outperforms FITC and allophycocyanin (APC) as the fluorophore conjugated to antibody for flow cytometry by overcoming the interference from microglia autofluorescence. To identify the location and source of microglia autofluorescence, we did confocal imaging and spectral analysis of microglia autofluorescence on fixed brain tissues, revealing that microglia autofluorescence emits from cytoplasmic granules and displays a multi-peak emission spectrum. On live brain slices, autofluorescence could reduce the detected calcium signals imaged by GCaMP6s in microglia. In conclusion, autofluorescence is a critical factor to consider when designing experiments and interpreting results relying on fluorescence based techniques to study microglia.
Tumor-microenvironment Responsive Targeted Exosome-like Nanovesicles From Dunaliella Salina for Enhancing Gene/immune Combination Therapy
Authors: Zhu Mengxi , Li Shan , Feng Shuying , Wang Haojie , Hu Lina , Gao Shegan , Yu Yingjie , Liang Gaofeng 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
BackgroundAs an endogenous extracellular vesicle, exosome is increasingly presenting its great potential in the field of drug delivery. However, it is the bottleneck to obtain a large number of uniform, stable and multi-component controllable exosomes with low cost and time. ResultsIn this study, we develop a novel targeted drug delivery system based on exosome-like nanovesicle by use of natural marine single-celled Dunaliella salina (DENV), the c(RGDyK) peptide has been conjugated to DENV surface to achieve the targeted delivery to esophageal cancer cells. Furthermore, miR-375 has been loaded into the cRGD-DENV through electroporation, and aPD-L1 has been conjugated onto its surface via Gly-PLGLAG-Cys peptide, a matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2)-cleavable peptide, which facilitates the release of aPD-L1 in tumor environment to achieve the high-efficiency combination of gene therapy and immunotherapy. Firstly, the engineered DENV delivery system was prepared and characterized. It exhibited a proper particle diameter (approximately 150 nm) with in vitro sustained release features in the presence of MMP-2/9. More importantly, the cRGD-DENV was effective, promoted selective delivery of cargo to the target site, and reduced nonspecific uptake, consequently, significantly inhibit tumor growth in vitro and in vivo. ConclusionThe specific nanocarrier delivery system provide a promising strategy for the rapid and large-scale production of functionalized exosome-like nanovesicle by adapting multifunctional peptides specifically targeted tumor.
Neuron Navigator 3 (NAV3) is Required for Heart Development
Authors: Lv Feng , Yuan Fang , Lu Xiaofeng , Ge Xiaojuan , Shi Linsheng , Wang Xin , Liu Dong , Chen Changsheng 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
Background: As a tightly controlled biological process, cardiogenesis requires the specification and migration of a suite of cell types to form a particular three-dimensional configuration of the heart. Many genetic factors are involved in the formation and maturation of the heart, and any genetic mutations may result in severe cardiac failures. The neuron navigator (NAV) family consists of three vertebrate homologs (NAV1, NAV2, and NAV3) of the neural guidance molecule Uncoordinated-53 (UNC-53) in Caenorhabditis elegans. Although they are recognized as neural regulators, their expressions are also detected in many organs, including the heart, kidney, and liver. However, the functions of NAVs, regardless of neural guidance, remain largely unexplored. In this study, we aim to investigate the role of NAV3 in heart development.Results: The nav3 gene was found to be expressed in the cardiac region of zebrafish embryos from 24 to 48 hours post-fertilization (hpf) by means of in situ hybridization (ISH) assay. A CRISPR/Cas9-based genome editing method was utilized to delete the nav3 gene in zebrafish and loss-of-function of Nav3 resulted in a severe deficiency in its cardiac morphology and structure. The similar phenotypic defects of the knockout mutants could recur by nav3 morpholino injection and be rescued by nav3 mRNA injection. Dual-color fluorescence imaging of ventricle and atrium markers further confirmed the disruption of the heart development in nav3-deleted mutants. Although the heart rate was not affected by the deletion of nav3, the heartbeat intensity was decreased in the mutants. Conclusions: The nav3 gene can be expressed in a variety of tissues or organs although it is initially identified as a neural guiding factor. Gene knockout of nav3 in zebrafish leads to severe development malformation of the heart. Moreover, the defective heart development can be rescued by nav3 mRNA injection. All these findings indicate that Nav3 was required for cardiogenesis in the development of zebrafish embryos.
Preparation of Tree-Structured ZnO Films And Application In Quantum Dots Sensitized Solar Cells
Authors: Dong Shaokang , Li Shengjun , Cai Junhao , Chen Zeng , Sun Fuhao , Lv Pin 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
This study reported the fabrication of tree-structured ZnO films through hydrothermal method. Long ZnO nanowires (NWs) were firstly deposited on the transparent conductive glass substrates. ZnO braches were then grown on the surface of ZnO NWs. The morphology of the as-prepared tree-structured ZnO films was affected by several factors, such as the concentration of Zn(CH3COO)2 in the seed precursor solution, and the hydrothermal reaction time. ZnO branches were vertically grown on the ZnO NWs when the concentration of Zn(CH3COO)2 was 0.04 M. Quantum dots (QDs)-sensitized solar cells were assembled using the CdS/CdSe QDs co-sensitized ZnO films as the photoanodes. The value of Incident photon-to-current conversion eﬃciency (IPCE) in the range of 550–650 nm was obviously enhanced with the growth of ZnO braches. The short-circuit current density (JSC) was increased from 9.65 to 12.60 mA cm-2 when the growth time of ZnO branches was 6 h. The overall PCE increased from 3.21% to 5.19%.
PI(4,5)P2 Controls Slit Diaphragm Formation and Endocytosis in Drosophila Nephrocytes
Authors: Gass Maximilian , Borkowsky Sarah , Lotz Marie-Luise , Schröter Rita , Nedvetsky Pavel , Luschnig Stefan , Rohlmann Astrid , Missler Markus , Krahn Michael P. 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
Drosophila nephrocytes are an emerging model system for mammalian podocytes and podocyte-associated diseases. Like podocytes, nephrocytes exhibit characteristics of epithelial cells, but the role of phospholipids in polarization of these cells is yet unclear. In epithelia phosphatidylinositol(4,5)bisphosphate (PI(4,5)P2) and phosphatidylinositol(3,4,5)-trisphosphate (PI(3,4,5)P3) are asymmetrically distributed in the plasma membrane and determine apical-basal polarity. Here we demonstrate that both phospholipids are present in the plasma membrane of nephrocytes, but only PI(4,5)P2 accumulates at slit diaphragms. Knockdown of Skittles, a phosphatidylinositol(4)phosphate 5-kinase, which produces PI(4,5)P2, abolished slit diaphragm formation and led to strongly reduced endocytosis. Notably, reduction in PI(3,4,5)P3 by overexpression of PTEN or expression of a dominant-negative phosphatidylinositol-3-Kinase did not affect nephrocyte function, whereas enhanced formation of PI(3,4,5)P3 by constitutively active phosphatidylinositol-3-Kinase resulted in strong slit diaphragm and endocytosis defects by ectopic activation of the Akt/mTOR pathway. Thus, PI(4,5)P2 but not PI(3,4,5)P3 is essential for slit diaphragm formation and nephrocyte function. However, PI(3,4,5)P3 has to be tightly controlled to ensure nephrocyte development.
Treatment of Interstitial Lung Disease In Anti-MDA5-Positive Dermatomyositis: A Retrospective Study of 87 Patients
Authors: Gui Xianhua , Shi Shenyun , Zhao Tingting , Qiu Yuying , Yu Min , Ma Miao , Ding Jingjing , Chen Lulu , Qiu Xiaohua , Xin Xiaoyan , Zhang Yingwei , Cao Min , Huang Mei , Cao Mengshu , Dai Jinghong , Cai Hourong , Xiao Yonglong 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
Objectives: The prognosis of anti-melanoma differentiation-associated gene (MDA5) antibody-positive dermatomyositis (DM)-interstitial lung disease (ILD) (anti-MDA5 -positive DM-ILD) is often poor, especially in rapidly progressive interstitial lung disease (RPILD). So far there is no established therapy. This study evaluated the efficacy and safety of pharmacological treatments for anti-MDA5-positive DM-ILD. Methods: This retrospective study comprised 87 anti-MDA5-positive DM-ILD patients. We reviewed the clinical characteristics, laboratory findings, lung function treatments, and outcomes of the 87 patients. Cox regression analysis was used to identify predictors of 6-month survival. The association between different combined immunosuppressive regimen and 6-month survival were evaluated.Results: High level of CYFRA21-1 and low PaO2/FiO2 ratio were associated with poor prognosis. Corticosteroid (CS) alone treatment group with higher CYFRA21-1 and lower PaO2/FiO2 ratio showed worse 6-month survival than the combination of CS with immunosuppressants group (p<0.01). In addition, tacrolimus/cyclosporine-treated anti-MDA5-positive DM Non-RPILD exhibited a better survival, comparing with tacrolimus/cyclosporine combined intravenous cyclophosphamide (IVCY)-treated patients (p<0.05). Conclusion: Addition of immunosuppressants to CS, were associated with better 6-month survival in anti-MDA5-positive DM-ILD. The triple regimen (CS, tacrolimus/cyclosporine and IVCY) was not superior to duple one (CS, tacrolimus/cyclosporine) in anti-MDA5-positive DM Non-RPILD.
Prognostic Nomogram on Clinicopathologic Features and Serum Uric Acid for Precancerous Lesions and Gastric Cancer
Authors: Tang Shanshan , Chen Ying , Fu Chenhong , Xie Xin , Song Ziyu , Xu Jianzhong , Zhang Yihan , Fan Nengguang , Peng Yongde , Zhang Qifa , Xu Huanbai 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
The relationship between Uric acid (UA) and malignant tumor are still confusing. Gastric cancer(GC) is recognized to be closely related to Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection, early diagnosis rate is very low. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between H. pylori and hyperuricemia (HUA), and evaluate the predictive value of serum uric acid (SUA) in gastric precancerous lesion (GPL) and gastric cancer (GC). This retrospective study included 486 patients who underwent gastroscopy (155 controls, 272 GPL, 59 GC patients). The risk factors for GPL and GC were identified by multiple logistic regression analysis and nomogram was constructed to evaluate the ability of SUA to predict the risk of these diseases based on SUA score. We found that in healthy controls, HUA is positively correlated with H. Pylori (+). SUA was an independent risk factor for GPL and GC. Verification shows that the nomogram was better fitted for GC than for GPL. In conclusion, our study established nomogram based on SUA to predict the risk of GPL and GC, suggested that the incidence of GPL and GC is higher in H. pylori (+) HUA patients, so early intervention and vigilance should be raised.
Low Urine Secretion of Semaphorin3A In Lupus Patients With Proteinuria
Authors: Rimar Doron , Lidar Merav , Eiza Nasrin , Sabag Adi D , Toubi Elias , Slobodin Gleb , Rosner Itzhak , Rozenbaum Michael , Vadasz Zahava 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
Background: Immune semaphorins are important players in controlling both innate and adaptive immune responses. The regulatory role of semaphorin3A (sema3A) in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other autoimmune diseases is widely reported. Decreased levels of serum sema3A were shown to be associated with SLE disease activity. Objectives: To assess urine concentrations of sema3A in SLE patients and its correlation with renal involvement and disease activity. Methods: Urine levels of sema3A were analyzed in 38 SLE patients of whom 13 had renal involvement and were compared to 10 healthy controls and 8 RA patients (disease control group). Results: The secretion of urine sema3A was found to be significantly lower in SLE patients compared to healthy controls and RA patients (4.9±3.9 ng/ml, 8.5±2.7 ng/ml, 9.85±1.7 ng/ml, respectively, p = 0.0006). Urine sema3A was significantly lower in SLE patients with lupus nephritis than in patients without nephritis (4.0±3.4 ng/ml vs 6.5±3.8 ng/ml, p=0.03). Urine sema3A was inversely correlated with proteinuria and SLE disease activity. Conclusion: Urine sema3A is decreased in lupus patients and should be further evaluated as a possible biomarker for disease activity and renal involvement.
Health-Related Quality of Life in PARP-Inhibitor Olaparib Maintenance in Ovarian Cancer Patients: Real World Data and Experience of a Single-Center in China
Authors: Jiang Yi , Meng Huangyang , Ruan Xinjia , Yuan Lin , Luo Chengyan , Wan Yicong , Cheng Wenjun 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
Objectives:To preliminarily explore the germline BRCA1/2 gene mutation status of patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), analyze the relationship with clinicopathological characteristics and the impact on survival and prognosis. Then examine the BRCA1/2 gene sequence mutation rate and the QOL of ovarian cancer patients with oral Olaparib in a single-center of China.Methods:A retrospective analysis of the survival and prognostic factors of 82 ovarian cancer patients who had undergone genetic testing in the Department of Gynecology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from 2015 to 2018. These patients also underwent germline BRCA1/2 genetic testing. Then, we use the Quality of Life Questionnaire (QLQ-C30) and the Quality of Life Ovarian Cancer 28 Questionnaire (QLQ-OV28) to determine the relationship between quality of life (QOL) in each category, and key demographic and clinical factors.Results: The total mutation rate of BRCA1/2 was 30.48%, among which the pathogenic mutation rate of BRCA1 was 20.73%, and the pathogenic mutation rate of BRCA2 was 9.75% in our single-center. A total of 18 pathogenic mutation sites and 2 mutation sites of unknown significance were found. Olaparib as maintenance therapy was significantly associated with better QOL on all functioning domains and several symptom domains. The patients without Olaparib maintenance therapy may experience deteriorating QOL in several domains. Conclusions: Patients with EOC have a higher frequency of BRCA1/2 gene mutation rate, which is related to the malignant biological behavior of the tumor. Patients with BRCA1/2 gene mutation may have a better prognosis. Olaparib maintenance therapy is associated with better QOL and higher QOL in several domains in single center of Chinese.