bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Multi-modal nonlinear optical and thermal imaging platform for label-free characterization of biological tissue
Authors: Adams Wilson R. , Mehl Brian , Lieser Eric , Wang Manqing , Patton Shane , Throckmorton Graham A. , Jenkins J. Logan , Ford Jeremy B. , Gautam Rekha , Brooker Jeff , Jansen E. Duco , Mahadevan-Jansen Anita 
Published: April 2021

AbstractThe ability to characterize the combined structural, functional, and thermal properties of biophysically dynamic samples is needed to address critical questions related to tissue structure, physiological dynamics, and disease progression. Towards this, we have developed an imaging platform that enables multiple nonlinear imaging modalities to be combined with thermal imaging on a common sample. Here we demonstrate label-free multimodal imaging of live cells, excised tissues, and live rodent brain models. While potential applications of this technology are wide-ranging, we expect it to be especially useful in addressing biomedical research questions aimed at the biomolecular and biophysical properties of tissue and their physiology.
Role of interferon therapy in severe COVID-19: the COVIFERON randomized controlled trial
Authors: Alavi Darazam Ilad , Shokouhi Shervin , Pourhoseingholi Mohamad Amin , Naghibi Irvani Seyed Sina , Mokhtari Majid , Shabani Minoosh , Amirdosara Mahdi , Torabinavid Parham , Golmohammadi Maryam , Hashemi SayedPayam , Azimi Arsalan , Jafarazadeh Maivan Mohammad Hossein , Rezaei Omidvar , Zali Alireza , Hajiesmaeili Mohammadreza , Shabanpour Dehbsneh Hadiseh , Hoseyni Kusha Akram , Taleb Shoushtari Maryam , Khalili Negar , Soleymaninia Azam , Gachkar Latif , Khoshkar Ali 
Published: April 2021

AbstractType 1 Interferons (IFNs) have been associated with positive effects on Coronaviruses. Previous studies point towards the superior potency of IFNβ compared to IFNα against viral infections. We conducted a three-armed, individually-randomized, open-label, controlled trial of IFNβ1a and IFNβ1b, comparing them against each other and a control group. Patients were randomly assigned in a 1:1:1 ratio to IFNβ1a (subcutaneous injections of 12,000 IU on days 1, 3, 6), IFNβ1b (subcutaneous injections of 8,000,000 IU on days 1, 3, 6), or the control group. All three arms orally received Lopinavir/Ritonavir (400 mg/100 mg twice a day for ten days) and a single dose of Hydroxychloroquine 400 mg on the first day. Our utilized primary outcome measure was Time To Clinical Improvement (TTCI) defined as the time from enrollment to discharge or a decline of two steps on the clinical seven-step ordinal scale, whichsoever came first. A total of 60 severely ill patients with positive RT-PCR and Chest CT scans underwent randomization (20 patients to each arm). In the Intention-To-Treat population, IFNβ1a was associated with a significant difference against the control group, in the TTCI; (HR; 2.36, 95% CI 1.10–5.17, P-value = 0.031) while the IFNβ1b indicated no significant difference compared with the control; HR; 1.42, (95% CI 0.63–3.16, P-value = 0.395). The median TTCI for both of the intervention groups was five days vs. seven days for the control group. The mortality was numerically lower in both of the intervention groups (20% in the IFNβ1a group and 30% in the IFNβ1b group vs. 45% in the control group). There were no significant differences between the three arms regarding the adverse events. In patients with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, as compared with the base therapeutic regiment, the benefit of a significant reduction in TTCI was observed in the IFNβ1a arm. This finding needs further confirmation in larger studies.Trial Registration Number: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04343768. (Submitted: 08/04/2020; First Online: 13/04/2020) (Registration Number: NCT04343768).
The morphology, biomechanics, and physiological function of the suboccipital myodural connections
Authors: Ma Yue , Tang Wei , Gong De-Zheng , Li Xing-Yi , Zhang Jing-Hui , Sun Jia-Hui , Wang Bing , Zhang Ying , Chen Yu-Xiao , Zhang Zhi-Hong , Zheng Nan , Okoye Chukwuemeka Samuel , Chi Yan-Yan , Wu Cheng-Wei , Yu Sheng-Bo , Sui Hong-Jin 
Published: April 2021

AbstractThe myodural bridge (MDB) connects the suboccipital musculature to the spinal dura mater (SDM) as it passed through the posterior atlanto-occipital and the atlanto-axial interspaces. Although the actual function of the MDB is not understood at this time, it has recently been proposed that head movement may assist in powering the movement of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) via muscular tension transmitted to the SDM via the MDB. But there is little information about it. The present study utilized dogs as the experimental model to explore the MDB’s effects on the CSF pressure (CSFP) during stimulated contractions of the suboccipital muscles as well as during manipulated movements of the atlanto-occiptal and atlanto-axial joints. The morphology of MDB was investigated by gross anatomic dissection and by histological observation utilizing both light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Additionally biomechanical tensile strength tests were conducted. Functionally, the CSFP was analyzed during passive head movements and electrical stimulation of the suboccipital muscles, respectively. The MDB was observed passing through both the dorsal atlanto-occipital and the atlanto-axial interspaces of the canine and consisted of collagenous fibers. The tensile strength of the collagenous fibers passing through the dorsal atlanto-occipital and atlanto-axial interspaces were 0.16 ± 0.04 MPa and 0.82 ± 0.57 MPa, respectively. Passive head movement, including lateral flexion, rotation, as well as flexion–extension, all significantly increased CSFP. Furthermore, the CSFP was significantly raised from 12.41 ± 4.58 to 13.45 ± 5.16 mmHg when the obliques capitis inferior (OCI) muscles of the examined specimens were electrically stimulated. This stimulatory effect was completely eliminated by severing the myodural bridge attachments to the OCI muscle. Head movements appeared to be an important factor affecting CSF pressure, with the MDB of the suboccipital muscles playing a key role this process. The present study provides direct evidence to support the hypothesis that the MDB may be a previously unappreciated significant power source (pump) for CSF circulation.
Identification of extremely hard coke generation by low-temperature reaction on tungsten catalysts via Operando and in situ techniques
Authors: Takkawatakarn Thotsatham , Praserthdam Supareak , Wannakao Sippakorn , Panpranot Joongjai , Praserthdam Piyasan 
Published: April 2021

AbstractThe coke formation in the catalytic system mainly cause to the catalyst deactivate resulting the dramatic decreasing of the catalyst performance then the catalyst regeneration was required. In this study, adding MgO physically mixed with WO3/SiO2 catalysts were prepared and compared with the ones prepared by physically mixing with SiO2. Adding MgO affected the generation of new species of coke deposited on WO3/SiO2 and MgO itself. Comparing the reaction temperature when adding MgO between at 300 and 450 °C, the different pathway of reaction and the coke formation were found. At 450 °C, the metathesis reaction was more pronounced and the lower temperature of coke deposited on WOx/SiO2 was found. Surprisingly, the extremely hard coke occurred during reaction at 300 °C that the maxima of coke formation was found over 635 °C. This due to the fact that the reduction of reaction temperature from 450 to 300 °C affected the decreasing of the metathesis activity. Conversely, the increasing of dimerization and isomerization of butenes-isomer was observed especially 1-butene and iso-butene. Thus, it could suggest that those quantity of them play the important role to generate the charged monoenyl or cyclopentenyl species by participating with ethene through the dimerization, resulting in the formation of extremely hard coke.
Humic + Fulvic acid mitigated Cd adverse effects on plant growth, physiology and biochemical properties of garden cress
Authors: Yildirim Ertan , Ekinci Melek , Turan Metin , Ağar Güleray , Dursun Atilla , Kul Raziye , Alim Zeynep , Argin Sanem 
Published: April 2021

AbstractCadmium (Cd) is a toxic and very mobile heavy metal that can be adsorbed and uptaken by plants in large quantities without any visible sign. Therefore, stabilization of Cd before uptake is crucial to the conservation of biodiversity and food safety. Owing to the high number of carboxyl and phenolic hydroxyl groups in their structure, humic substances form strong bonds with heavy metals which makes them perfect stabilizing agents. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of humic and fulvic acid (HA + FA) levels (0, 3500, 5250, and 7000 mg/L) on alleviation of Cadmium (Cd) toxicity in garden cress (Lepidium sativum) contaminated with Cd (CdSO4.8H2O) (0, 100, and 200 Cd mg/kg) under greenhouse conditions. Our results showed that, Cd stress had a negative effect on the growth of garden cress, decreased leaf fresh, leaf dry, root fresh and root dry weights, leaf relative water content (LRWC), and mineral content except for Cd, and increased the membrane permeability (MP) and enzyme (CAT, SOD and POD) activity. However, the HA + FA applications decreased the adverse effects of the Cd pollution. At 200 mg/kg Cd pollution, HA + FA application at a concentration of 7000 mg/L increased the leaf fresh, leaf dry, root fresh, root dry weights, stem diameter, leaf area, chlorophyll reading value (CRV), MP, and LRWC values by 262%, 137%, 550%,133%, 92%, 104%, 34%, 537%, and 32% respectively, compared to the control. Although the highest H2O2, MDA, proline and sucrose values were obtained at 200 mg/L Cd pollution, HA + FA application at a concentration of 7000 mg/L successfully alleviated the deleterious effects of Cd stress by decreasing H2O2, MDA, proline, and sucrose values by 66%, 68%, 70%, and 56%, respectively at 200 mg/kg Cd pollution level. HA + FA application at a concentration of 7000 mg/L successfully mitigated the negative impacts of Cd pollution by enhanced N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Cu, Mn, Zn, and B by 75%, 23%, 84%, 87%, 40%, 85%, 143%, 1%, 65%, and 115%, respectively. In addition, HA + FA application at a concentration of 7000 mg/L successfully reduced Cd uptake by 95% and Cl uptake by 80%. Considering the plant growth parameters, the best results were determined when HA + FA concentration was 7000 mg/L. We have shown that, it is critical to apply a humic substance with high percentage of FA, which was 10% in this study, to mitigate the adverse effects of heavy metal stress on plant growth. In conclusion, the application of HA + FA may be suggested as an effective solution for reducing the Cd uptake of the plants by stabilizing Cd in soil and preventing translocation of Cd from the roots of plant to its shoot and leaves.
Comprehensive comparative genomics reveals over 50 phyla of free-living and pathogenic bacteria are associated with diverse members of the amoebozoa
Authors: Tekle Yonas I. , Lyttle Janae M. , Blasingame Maya G. , Wang Fang 
Published: April 2021

AbstractThe Amoebozoa, a group containing predominantly amoeboid unicellular protists has been shown to play an important ecological role in controlling environmental bacteria. Amoebozoans not only graze bacteria but also serve as a safe niche for bacterial replication and harbor endosymbiotic bacteria including dangerous human pathogens. Despite their importance, only a few lineages of Amoebozoa have been studied in this regard. In this research, we conducted a comprehensive genomic and transcriptomic study with expansive taxon sampling by including representatives from the three known clades of the Amoebozoa. We used culture independent whole culture and single cell genomics/transcriptomics to investigate the association of bacteria with diverse amoebozoans. Relative to current published evidence, we recovered the largest number of bacterial phyla (64) and human pathogen genera (51) associated with the Amoebozoa. Using single cell genomics/transcriptomics we were able to determine up to 24 potential endosymbiotic bacterial phyla, some potentially endosymbionts. This includes the majority of multi-drug resistant pathogens designated as major public health threats. Our study demonstrates amoebozoans are associated with many more phylogenetically diverse bacterial phyla than previously recognized. It also shows that all amoebozoans are capable of harboring far more dangerous human pathogens than presently documented, making them of primal public health concern.
Prognosis of nontuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease according to the method of microbiologic diagnosis
Authors: Sin Sooim , Han Seungchul , Lee Yeon Joo , Cho Young-jae , Park Jong Sun , Yoon Ho Il , Lee Choon-Taek , Lee Jae Ho 
Published: April 2021

AbstractMicrobiological criteria for nontuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease (NTM-PD) require cultures from two separate sputum or one non-sputum specimen. However, there is limited data on the progression of NTM-PD following non-sputum culture-based diagnosis. We compared the disease progression of NTM-PD diagnosed with non-sputum vs sputum cultures. We included 833 patients and divided them into sputum NTM isolation (n = 123), sputum NTM-PD (n = 558), and non-sputum NTM-PD groups (n = 152). Disease progression, defined as radiographic aggravation and therapy initiation, was compared between groups. The median observation time was 60.5 months (interquartile range, 31.4–96.0). The non-sputum NTM-PD group showed longer treatment-free survival (log-rank test; p = 0.009) and lower risk of treatment (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] of sputum NTM-PD group, 1.36; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.01–1.84) than the sputum NTM-PD group. The non-sputum NTM-PD group showed longer radiographic aggravation-free survival (Log-rank test; p = 0.015) and lower risk of radiographic aggravation (aHR of sputum NTM-PD group, 1.52; 95% CI, 1.06–2.19) than the sputum NTM-PD group. NTM-PD diagnosed using methods other than sputum culture showed a low risk of disease progression and progressed slower than NTM-PD diagnosed from a sputum culture. NTM-PD diagnosed using methods other than sputum culture may be a mild disease, not equivalent to NTM-PD diagnosed from sputum culture.
Machine learning, transcriptome, and genotyping chip analyses provide insights into SNP markers identifying flower color in Platycodon grandiflorus
Authors: Yu Go-Eun , Shin Younhee , Subramaniyam Sathiyamoorthy , Kang Sang-Ho , Lee Si-Myung , Cho Chuloh , Lee Seung-Sik , Kim Chang-Kug 
Published: April 2021

AbstractBellflower is an edible ornamental gardening plant in Asia. For predicting the flower color in bellflower plants, a transcriptome-wide approach based on machine learning, transcriptome, and genotyping chip analyses was used to identify SNP markers. Six machine learning methods were deployed to explore the classification potential of the selected SNPs as features in two datasets, namely training (60 RNA-Seq samples) and validation (480 Fluidigm chip samples). SNP selection was performed in sequential order. Firstly, 96 SNPs were selected from the transcriptome-wide SNPs using the principal compound analysis (PCA). Then, 9 among 96 SNPs were later identified using the Random forest based feature selection method from the Fluidigm chip dataset. Among six machines, the random forest (RF) model produced higher classification performance than the other models. The 9 SNP marker candidates selected for classifying the flower color classification were verified using the genomic DNA PCR with Sanger sequencing. Our results suggest that this methodology could be used for future selection of breeding traits even though the plant accessions are highly heterogeneous.
Cardiolipin enhances the enzymatic activity of cytochrome bd and cytochrome bo3 solubilized in dodecyl-maltoside
Authors: Asseri Amer H. , Godoy-Hernandez Albert , Goojani Hojjat Ghasemi , Lill Holger , Sakamoto Junshi , McMillan Duncan G. G. , Bald Dirk 
Published: April 2021

AbstractCardiolipin (CL) is a lipid that is found in the membranes of bacteria and the inner membranes of mitochondria. CL can increase the activity of integral membrane proteins, in particular components of respiratory pathways. We here report that CL activated detergent-solubilized cytochrome bd, a terminal oxidase from Escherichia coli. CL enhanced the oxygen consumption activity ~ twofold and decreased the apparent KM value for ubiquinol-1 as substrate from 95 µM to 35 µM. Activation by CL was also observed for cytochrome bd from two Gram-positive species, Geobacillus thermodenitrificans and Corynebacterium glutamicum, and for cytochrome bo3 from E. coli. Taken together, CL can enhance the activity of detergent-solubilized cytochrome bd and cytochrome bo3.
Sustained sustainable development actions of China from 1986 to 2020
Authors: Liu Bingsheng , Wang Tao , Zhang Jiaming , Wang Xiaoming , Chang Yuan , Fang Dongping , Yang Mengjun , Sun Xinzhang 
Published: April 2021

AbstractAchieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a long-term task, which puts forward high requirements on the sustainability of related policies and actions. Using the text analysis method, we analyze the China National Sustainable Communities (CNSCs) policy implemented over 30 years and its effects on achieving SDGs. We find that the national government needs to understand the scope of sustainable development more comprehensively, the sustained actions can produce positive effects under the right goals. The SDGs selection of local governments is affected by local development levels and resource conditions, regions with better economic foundations tend to focus on SDGs on human well-being, regions with weaker foundations show priority to basic SDGs on the economic development, infrastructures and industrialization.
A psychometric and validity study of callous-unemotional traits in 2.5 year old children
Authors: Wright Nicola , Pickles Andrew , Sharp Helen , Hill Jonathan 
Published: April 2021

AbstractCallous-unemotional (CU) traits are associated with severe and stable antisocial behaviour in childhood and adolescence. In order to understand the earliest origins of CU traits we need first to know whether measurement is reliable and valid in young children. This study evaluated the psychometric properties and validity of a CU traits measure generated from existing child problem behaviour scales at age 2.5 years. The participants were members of an epidemiological longitudinal study starting in pregnancy. Items from the Antisocial Process Screening Device and other problem behaviour scales were subjected to exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Structural equation modelling was used to test whether age 2.5 CU traits showed incremental validity in predicting aggression at age 5. The CU measure showed acceptable psychometric properties, factorial invariance by sex and good stability. Incremental prediction to later aggression was evident in girls, whereas boys showed strong continuity in aggression not found for girls.
Humans rely more on algorithms than social influence as a task becomes more difficult
Authors: Bogert Eric , Schecter Aaron , Watson Richard T. 
Published: April 2021

AbstractAlgorithms have begun to encroach on tasks traditionally reserved for human judgment and are increasingly capable of performing well in novel, difficult tasks. At the same time, social influence, through social media, online reviews, or personal networks, is one of the most potent forces affecting individual decision-making. In three preregistered online experiments, we found that people rely more on algorithmic advice relative to social influence as tasks become more difficult. All three experiments focused on an intellective task with a correct answer and found that subjects relied more on algorithmic advice as difficulty increased. This effect persisted even after controlling for the quality of the advice, the numeracy and accuracy of the subjects, and whether subjects were exposed to only one source of advice, or both sources. Subjects also tended to more strongly disregard inaccurate advice labeled as algorithmic compared to equally inaccurate advice labeled as coming from a crowd of peers.
A review and comparison of breast tumor cell nuclei segmentation performances using deep convolutional neural networks
Authors: Lagree Andrew , Mohebpour Majidreza , Meti Nicholas , Saednia Khadijeh , Lu Fang-I. , Slodkowska Elzbieta , Gandhi Sonal , Rakovitch Eileen , Shenfield Alex , Sadeghi-Naini Ali , Tran William T. 
Published: April 2021

AbstractBreast cancer is currently the second most common cause of cancer-related death in women. Presently, the clinical benchmark in cancer diagnosis is tissue biopsy examination. However, the manual process of histopathological analysis is laborious, time-consuming, and limited by the quality of the specimen and the experience of the pathologist. This study's objective was to determine if deep convolutional neural networks can be trained, with transfer learning, on a set of histopathological images independent of breast tissue to segment tumor nuclei of the breast. Various deep convolutional neural networks were evaluated for the study, including U-Net, Mask R-CNN, and a novel network (GB U-Net). The networks were trained on a set of Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E)-stained images of eight diverse types of tissues. GB U-Net demonstrated superior performance in segmenting sites of invasive diseases (AJI = 0.53, mAP = 0.39 & AJI = 0.54, mAP = 0.38), validated on two hold-out datasets exclusively containing breast tissue images of approximately 7,582 annotated cells. The results of the networks, trained on images independent of breast tissue, demonstrated that tumor nuclei of the breast could be accurately segmented.
A multiparametric extraction method for Vn96-isolated plasma extracellular vesicles and cell-free DNA that enables multi-omic profiling
Authors: Roy Jeremy W. , Taylor Catherine A. , Beauregard Annie P. , Dhadi Surendar R. , Ayre D. Craig , Fry Sheena , Chacko Simi , Wajnberg Gabriel , Joy Andrew P. , Mai-Thi Ngoc-Nu , Crapoulet Nicolas , Barnett David A. , Ghosh Anirban , Lewis Stephen M. , Ouellette Rodney J. 
Published: April 2021

AbstractExtracellular vesicles (EVs) have been recognized as a rich material for the analysis of DNA, RNA, and protein biomarkers. A remaining challenge for the deployment of EV-based diagnostic and prognostic assays in liquid biopsy testing is the development of an EV isolation method that is amenable to a clinical diagnostic lab setting and is compatible with multiple types of biomarker analyses. We have previously designed a synthetic peptide, known as Vn96 (ME kit), which efficiently isolates EVs from multiple biofluids in a short timeframe without the use of specialized lab equipment. Moreover, it has recently been shown that Vn96 also facilitates the co-isolation of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) along with EVs. Herein we describe an optimized method for Vn96 affinity-based EV and cfDNA isolation from plasma samples and have developed a multiparametric extraction protocol for the sequential isolation of DNA, RNA, and protein from the same plasma EV and cfDNA sample. We are able to isolate sufficient material by the multiparametric extraction protocol for use in downstream analyses, including ddPCR (DNA) and ‘omic profiling by both small RNA sequencing (RNA) and mass spectrometry (protein), from a minimum volume (4 mL) of plasma. This multiparametric extraction protocol should improve the ability to analyse multiple biomarker materials (DNA, RNA and protein) from the same limited starting material, which may improve the sensitivity and specificity of liquid biopsy tests that exploit EV-based and cfDNA biomarkers for disease detection and monitoring.