bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Study the Incidence of TNF-α-induced Protein 3 Genetic Polymorphisms in Primary Immune Thrombocytopenia Patients
Authors: Zanaty Mohamed Ibrahim , Korayem Osama , Meabed Mohamed Hussien , Demerdash Doaa El- , Abdelghany Wafaa Mohamed 
Published: February 2021

Abstract
BackgroundImmune Thrombocytopenia (ITP) is a relatively common acquired hematological disorder, affecting 2 to 4/100000 adults. Understanding of the pathogenesis of ITP has been greatly improved with taking into consideration the important role of the genetic variants. This study aimed at investigating the incidence of TNFAIP3 SNPs (rs2230926 and rs5029939) in primary ITP Egyptian patients as well as their response to therapy in addition to the linkage between the two SNPs.Methods and Resultsthe study was conducted in 110 ITP patients diagnosed as primary ITP (PITP) selected among cases referred to the Hematology Outpatient Clinic of Kasr El Aini Hospital and 110 matched healthy controls. The polymorphisms were detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction (real-time PCR). Data indicated that there is a significant difference in the allelic distribution between PITP patients and the control group regarding rs2230926 and rs5029939 (p-value <0.05). Regarding LD analysis of the two SNPs, it has been revealed that there was a significant linkage disequilibrium between rs2230926 and rs5029939 among PITP group LD (D' = 0.966, r2 = 0.694, p-value < 0.001). On behalf of improvement by treatment, patients with rs2230926 wild genotype showed a more significant response to treatment than mutant type (p-value <0.05).ConclusionThere was a correlation between TNFAIP3 SNPs (rs2230926 and rs5029939) and the occurrence of primary ITP in the adult Egyptian populations and there was a linkage disequilibrium between them. Moreover, patients with rs2230926 wild genotype showed significant improvement than mutant type.
Emotional exhaustion in front-line healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic -- the effects of time pressure, social sharing and cognitive reappraisal: A cross-sectional study
Authors: Wang Huan , Zhou Xinyao , Jia Xiuli , Song Caiping , Luo Xu , Zhang Hua , Wu Hao , Ye Junying 
Published: February 2021

Abstract
Background: With the increasing spread of COVID-19, healthcare workers, especially front-line medical staff, have become more vulnerable to emotional exhaustion.Objectives: This study aimed to determine the influence of time pressure on the emotional exhaustion of front-line healthcare workers, and explore the effects of social sharing and cognitive reappraisal on this.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in March 2020. A total of 232 questionnaires were completed by front-line healthcare workers in Wuhan city, Hubei province, China. Hierarchical linear regression and conditional process analysis were performed to explore the relationships among time pressure, social sharing, cognitive reappraisal, and emotional exhaustion.Results: Time pressure was positively associated with social sharing and emotional exhaustion. Social sharing presented a dark side in terms of the impact on emotional exhaustion. Cognitive reappraisal negatively moderated the relationship between time pressure and social sharing, and it further indirectly influenced the relationship between time pressure and emotional exhaustion through social sharing.Conclusions: Our findings shed light on how time pressure influences the emotional exhaustion of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 period. Although social sharing is commonly regarded as a positive behavior, we identified a dark side in terms of its impact. We also identified that improving cognitive reappraisal may present a positive strategy toward alleviating emotional exhaustion.
Exploration of Learning and Memorizing Ability of OSAS rat with Neuroinflammation
Authors: Luo Min , Li YuQing , Bao ChunHua , Ai Xin , Zheng YuRong , Liu RenShuai , Lu YaFeng , Wu Yue , Yin Mei 
Published: February 2021

Abstract
Background

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is a respiratory disorder during sleep that has become a significant public health problem over time. OSAS patients elicited the frontal cortex neuron injury, leading to cognitive dysfunction, a significant and extraordinary complication of OSAS patients. Learning and memory testing is critical when assessing potential therapeutic strategies and the effectiveness of treatments to manage OSAS. The objective of this article was to explore the relationship between inflammation and cognitive dysfunction in OSAS.
Methods

Selected male rats were 3-months-old and with a similar weight (mean, 200 ± 10 g) were assigned to the model group (n = 30) and the control group (n = 30). The rats in the OSAS model group were injected with 0.1 ml sodium hyaluronate solution into the upper respiratory tract at the junction between the hard and soft palate. The model and normal rats were compared using tests of Morris Water Maze. The tissue sections were stained by hematoxylin eosin(HE) and immunohistochemically(IHC).
Results

Tests of training test and spatial probe test proved significant differences between 2、4、6 week’s OSAS rats over all swims, p < 0.05. Histopathology showed cortical laminar oedema with vacuolation ,irregular arrangement, disorganization, rods of the nerve cells were identified, astrocyte activation and reactive gliosis ,abundant astrocyte. And IHC staining showed Iba1-positive cells increased as compared to control group.
Conclusion

We suggest assessing spatial and related forms of learning and memory in OSAS rat by the new statistical method. Microglial and astrocyte activation is involved in OSAS-induced changes in inflammatory molecules, neurogenesis, and spatial memory.
Low Alanine Aminotransferase as a Risk Factor for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Males: A Retrospective Population-based Cohort Study
Authors: Choi Yong Jun , Kwon Do Sun , Kim Taehee , Cho Jae Hwa , Kim Hyung Jung , Byun Min Kwang , Park Hye Jung 
Published: February 2021

Abstract
Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels reflect skeletal muscle volume and general performance scales, which are significantly associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) development and prognosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the ALT levels as a risk factor for COPD development. This 13-year population-based retrospective cohort observational study included patients registered in the health check-up cohort database of the Korean National Health Insurance Service. A total of 422,452 participants were analysed. We classified groups according to the baseline ALT levels (groups 1–5: ALT (IU/L) < 10; 10–19; 20–29; 30–39; and ≥ 40, respectively). The incidence of COPD was highest in group 1, decreasing as the group number increased among in males. Cox regression analysis in males revealed that lower ALT level was a significant risk factor for COPD development (univariable, HR: 0.992, 95% CI: 0.991–0.994; multivariable, HR: 0.998, 95% CI: 0.996–0.999). In addition, in the low ALT level groups (< 40 IU/L), COPD was more likely to be developed (univariable, HR: 1.341, 95% CI: 1.263–1.424; multivariable, HR: 1.097, 95% CI: 1.030–1.168). Our findings suggest that males with low ALT levels should be carefully monitored for COPD development.
Elevation of Unsaturated Lipid Species is Accompanied by the Upregulation of Stearoyl-CoA Desaturase in Ovarian Clear Cell Carcinoma
Authors: Mir Sartaj Ahmad , Wong Soon Boon Justin , Narasimhan Kothandaraman , Esther Chua Wee Ling , Ji Shanshan , Burla Bo , Wenk Markus R. , Tan David S.P. , Bendt Anne K. 
Published: February 2021

Abstract

Background Cancer metabolism is associated with enhanced lipogenesis required for rapid growth and proliferation. However, the magnitude of dysregulation of diverse lipid species mostly remain to be characterized, particularly in understudied cancers such as ovarian clear cell carcinoma (OCCC). Further, formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) specimen represent valuable and readily available resources for laboratory investigations but are still underutilized for lipidomics studies. Here we implemented an integrated workflow to investigate lipidomic alterations in OCCC, utilizing FFPE specimen. Methods Lipid extraction of FFPE specimen was carried out by using 1-butanol and methanol in 1:1 (v/v), followed by targeted LC-MS/MS to identify the lipidomic changes in FFPE specimen from OCCC (n=14) as compared to uninvolved contralateral ovarian tissue (n=14). Immunohistochemistry (IHC) assays were implemented to evaluate the expression levels of stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD), the rate-limiting enzyme for the synthesis of monounsaturated fatty acids, in OCCC and control tissue specimen. Results We quantified 340 lipid species representing 29 lipid classes. We observed differential regulation of unsaturated lipid species belonging to several glycerophospholipid classes including ether-linked phospholipids, and trihexosylceramide species. We confirmed upregulation of SCD in OCCC by IHC assays. Conclusions By using lipidomic and IHC analysis of archival tissue samples, we were able to provide novel insights into the molecular alterations in OCCC. We show the feasibility of using FFPE specimen to carry out detailed lipidomic analysis of archival cancer samples.
The Monash Autism-ADHD Genetics and Neurodevelopment (MAGNET) Project Design and Methodologies: A dimensional approach to understanding neurobiological and genetic aetiology.
Authors: Knott Rachael , Johnson Beth P , Tiego Jeggan , Mellahn Olivia , Finlay Amy , Kallady Kathryn , Kouspous Maria , Sindhu Vishnu Priya Mohankuma , Hawi Ziarih , Arnatkeviciute Aurina , Chau Tracey , Maron Dalia , Mercieca Emily-Clare , Furley Kirsten , Harris Katrina , Williams Katrina , Ure Alexandra , Fornito Alex , Gray Kylie , Coghill David , Nicholson Ann , Phuong Dinh , Loth Eva , Mason Luke , Murphy Declan , Buitelaar Jan , Bellgrove Mark A. 
Published: February 2021

Abstract
Background
ASD and ADHD are prevalent neurodevelopmental disorders that frequently co-occur and have strong evidence for a degree of shared genetic aetiology. Behavioural and neurocognitive heterogeneity in ASD and ADHD has hampered attempts to map the underlying genetics and neurobiology, predict intervention response, and improve diagnostic accuracy. Moving away from categorical conceptualisations of psychopathology to a dimensional approach is anticipated to facilitate discovery of data-driven clusters and enhance our understanding of the neurobiological and genetic aetiology of these conditions. The Monash Autism-ADHD Genetics and Neurodevelopment (MAGNET) Project is one of the first large-scale, family-based studies to take a truly transdiagnostic approach to ASD and ADHD. Using a comprehensive phenotyping protocol capturing dimensional traits central to ASD and ADHD, the MAGNET Project aims to identify data-driven clusters across ADHD-ASD spectra using deep phenotyping of symptoms and behaviours; investigate the degree of familiality for different dimensional ASD-ADHD phenotypes and clusters; and map the neurocognitive, brain imaging, and genetic correlates of these data-driven symptom-based clusters.
Methods
The MAGNET Project will recruit 1,200 families with children who are either typically developing, or who display elevated ASD, ADHD, or ASD-ADHD traits, in addition to affected and unaffected biological siblings of probands, and parents. All children will be comprehensively phenotyped for behavioural symptoms, comorbidities, neurocognitive and neuroimaging traits and genetics.
Conclusion
The MAGNET Project will be the first large-scale family study to take a transdiagnostic approach to ASD-ADHD, utilising deep phenotyping across behavioural, neurocognitive, brain imaging and genetic measures.
Permafrost Thaw and Ground Settlement Considering Long-Term Climate Impact in Northern Alaska
Authors: Yang Joey , Lee Kannon C. , Liu Haibo 
Published: February 2021

Abstract
Alaska’s North Slope is predicted to experience twice the warming expected globally. When summers are longer and winters are shortened, ground surface conditions in the Arctic are expected to change considerably. This is significant for Arctic Alaska, a region that supports surface infrastructure such as energy extraction and transport assets (pipelines), buildings, roadways, and bridges. Climatic change at the ground surface has been shown to infiltrate soil layers beneath through the harmonic fluctuation of the active layer. Past studies found that warmer air temperature resulted in increasingly deeper thaw, leading to a deeper active layer. This study attempts to assess climate change based on the climate model data from the fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project and its impact on a study site on the North Slope. The predicted air temperature data are analyzed to evaluate how the freezing and thawing indices will change due to climate warming. A thermal model was developed that incorporated a ground surface condition defined by either undisturbed intact tundra or a gravel fill surface and applied climate model predicted air temperatures. Results indicate similar fluctuation in active layer thickness and values that fall within the range of minimum and maximum readings. It is found that the active layer thickens when the ground surface is either gravel fill or undisturbed tundra, but its thickness varies based on climate model predictions. These variations in active layer thickness are then analyzed by considering the near-surface frozen soil ice content. Analysis of results indicates that strain is most significant in the near-surface layers during thaw, indicating that settlement would be concurrent with annual thaw penetration. From this study, the climate model predicted air temperatures for a warming Arctic suggest that the thaw of near-surface frozen ground is largely dependent on ground surface conditions and the thermal properties of soil. Moreover, ice content is a major factor in the settlement predictions on Alaska’s North Slope. This study's results can help enhance the resilience of the existing and future new infrastructure in a changing Arctic environment.
A Spectrum Defragmentation Algorithm Using Jellyfish Optimization Technique in Elastic Optical Network (EON)
Authors: S Selvakumar , Manivannan S S 
Published: February 2021

Abstract
The rapid growth of the technologies, high bandwidth applications and cloud data centers consume heavy internet service. So, the consumer of the internet expects a high capacity medium for communication. The Elastic Optical Network (EON) provides a flexible and reliable transmission service for the consumers. The spectrum fragmentation is a key challenge in EON. In simple terms, unaligned Frequency Slots (FSs) in the network are referred to as fragmented spectrum, while in defragmentation, the available FSs need to be rearranged to create room for the new connection requests. The problem in defragmentation occurs due to the lack of a continuous spectrum and it leads to depreciation in spectrum usage and simultaneously increasing the Blocking Probability (BP) which disrupts the majority of the existing connections in the network. Several techniques and approaches were suggested to reduce the possibility of disruption and reconfiguration in the network while defragmenting the frequency slots. This paper proposes a new algorithm to overcome the drawbacks and improvement in the quality of service of the network. The proposed algorithm holds the approach of proactive and reactive along with the meta-heuristic nature-inspired optimization technique called Jellyfish Search Optimization (JSO). The proposed combination, PR-DF-JFSO outperforms well in terms of spectrum utilization, network efficiency, and quality of service offered when compared to the state-of-the-art spectrum defragmentation algorithms according to the results of experiments done using standard quality metrics.
Comparative Investigation of the Suitability of DNA Preparation Methods for Microbiome Analysis of Complex Clinical Samples
Authors: Mann Brendon Coenraad , Wepener Cara , Bezuidenhout Johannes Jacobus , Vermeulen Urban , Grobler Anne 
Published: February 2021

Abstract
Efficient DNA preparation is essential for accurate and reproducible microbial data acquisition. In this study an in-house method (NWU lysis system), involving a lysis micro tube (LMT) was employed to determine its suitability for safe, rapid and accurate characterisation of the bacterial microbiome associated with clinical samples in comparison to two available commercial DNA extraction kits. During the experimental setup, it was confirmed that the LMT is suitable for downstream bacterial microbiome analyses with the incorporation of short read sequencing; but due to the fragmented nature of the DNA its suitability is highly dependent on the sequencing technology applied downstream. The study also served to demonstrate that shearing of DNA can have a significant impact on downstream microbiome analyses, based on the sequencing technology used; and that care must be taken especially if long read sequencing is to be used employed.
Estrogen Markedly Reduces Circulating Low-density Neutrophils and Enhances Pro-tumoral Gene Expression in Neutrophil of Tumour-bearing Mice
Authors: Lim Chew Leng , Lin Valerie C-L 
Published: February 2021

Abstract
Background: Neutrophils are important for immune surveillance of tumour cells. Neutrophils may also be epigenetically programmed in the tumour microenvironment to promote tumour progression. In addition to the commonly known high-density neutrophils (HDN) based on their separation on density gradient, recent studies have reported the presence of high levels of low-density neutrophils (LDN) in tumour-bearing mice and cancer patients. We reported previously that estrogen promotes the growth of estrogen receptor α-negative mammary tumours in mice undergoing mammary involution through stimulating pro-tumoral activities of neutrophils in the mammary tissue. Methods: Female BALB/cAnNTac mice at 7-8 weeks old were mated and bilateral ovariectomy performed two days post-partum. At 24h post-weaning, mice were treated with either E2V, or vehicle control once every 2 days. On 48h post-weaning, mice were inoculated subcutaneously with 4T1-Luc2 cells into the 9th abdominal mammary gland. Age-matched nulliparous female was treated similarly. For 48h E2V treatment, mice were treated with one dose of E2V on day 12 post-tumour inoculation. Animals were euthanized on day 14 post-tumour inoculation for analysis.Results: Estrogen treatment for 2-weeks reduces the number of blood LDN by more than 10-fold in tumour-bearing nulliparous and involuting mice, whilst it had no effect on blood HDN. The effect on tumour-bearing mice is associated with reduced number of mitotic neutrophils in the bone marrow and increased apoptosis in blood neutrophils. Since estrogen enhanced tumour growth in involuting mice, but not in nulliparous mice, we assessed the effect of estrogen on the gene expression associated with pro-tumoral activities of neutrophils. Whilst 48h treatment with estrogen had no effect, 2-weeks treatment significantly increased the expression of Arg1, Il1b and Tgfb1 in both HDN and LDN of involuting mice. In contrast, estrogen increased the expression of Arg1 and Ccl5 in HDN and LDN of nulliparous mice. Conclusions: Prolonged estrogenic stimulation in tumour-bearing mice markedly hampered tumour-associated increase of LDN plausibly by inhibiting their output from the bone marrow and by shortening their life span. Estrogen also alters the gene expression in neutrophils that is not seen in tumour-free mice. The results imply that estrogen may significantly influence the tumour-modulating activity of blood neutrophils.
Modelling Reference Evapotranspiration using a Novel Regression-based Method: Radial basis M5 Model Tree
Authors: Kisi Ozgur , Keshtegar Behrooz , Zounemat-Kermani Mohammad , Heddam Salim , Trung Nguyen-Thoi 
Published: February 2021

Abstract
In the current study, an ability of a novel regression-based method is evaluated in modelling daily reference evapotranspiration (ET0), which is an important issue in water resources management plans and helps farmers in irrigation planning. The method was developed by hybridizing radial basis function and M5 model tree and called as radial basis M5 model tree (RM5Tree). The radial-based kernel function was used to control the input variables in modelling process of M5 model tree. The new model results were compared with traditional M5 model tree (M5Tree), response surface method (RSM) and two neural networks (multi-layer perceptron neural networks, MLPNN & radial basis function neural network, RBFNN) with respect to several statistical indices. Daily climatic data (relative humidity, RH, solar radiation, SR, wind speed, air temperature, T) recorded at three stations in Turkey, Mediterranean Region, were used. The effect of each weather data on ET0 was also investigated by utilizing three different input scenarios with various combinations of input variables. On the whole, the RM5Tree provided the best results (NSE > 0.997) followed by the MLPNN (NSE > 0.990), and M5Tree (NSE > 0.945) in modelling daily ET0. The SR was observed as the most effective input parameter on ET0 which was followed by the T and RH. However, the findings of the third modelling scenario revealed that taking into account of all variables would considerably increase models’ accuracies for the three stations.
Determination Morse Potential Parameters by the Theoretical Method in EXAFS
Authors: Duc Nguyen Ba , Hiep Trinh Phi , Thu Nguyen 
Published: February 2021

Abstract
A new method for estimating Morse potential's effective parameters has developed using the sublimation energy, the compressibility, and the lattice constant in expanded X-ray absorption fine structure spectra. Application the received parameters of Morse potential to calculate the mean square relative displacement, elastic constant, anharmonic effective potential, correlated function, and local force constant for diamond-type structure crystals such as silicon and germanium crystals, and face-centered cubic crystals as copper, silver. Numerical results agree well with the experimental values and other theories.