bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Awareness and Perception of Health Care Specialists about Precision Medicine
Authors: Ahmed Nehad J. , Alrawili Abdulrahman S. , Alkhawaja Faisal Z. , Ansari Mohammad Javed 
Published: January 2021

Aim: There are a small number of studies about the populations' knowledge and perceptions on precision medicine in Saudi Arabia till now. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the awareness and knowledge of health care specialists about precision medicine in Saudi Arabia.
Methodology: This study was a cross sectional study that included an online survey targeting health care specialists. The survey was converted to an online survey using google forms.
Results: More than half of the participants have heard about the different terms of precision medicine. Most of the health care specialists in the present study said that they have an insufficient knowledge about precision medicine (68.00%). Additionally, most of them said that they are interested to learn more about precision medicine and showed a positive attitude about it.
Conclusion: The present study found that health care specialists had a insufficient knowledge about precision medicine but they are interested to learn more about this field. Therefore, more training and awareness programs about precision medicine are needed to ease its introduction in Saudi Arabia.
The potential of using hair cortisol to measure chronic stress in occupational healthcare; a scoping review
Authors: Schaafsma Frederieke G , Hulsegge Gerben , de Jong Merel A , Overvliet Joyce , van Rossum Elisabeth F C , Nieuwenhuijsen Karen 
Published: January 2021

Abstract

Objectives
Workplace-based selective prevention of mental health problems currently relies on subjective evaluation of stress complaints. Hair cortisol captures chronic stress responses and could be a promising biomarker for the early identification of mental health problems. The objective was to provide an overview of the state-of-the-art knowledge on the practical value of hair cortisol in the occupational setting.

Methods
We performed a scoping review of cross-sectional and longitudinal studies in PubMed, Embase, and PsycINFO up to November 2019 assessing the relations of hair cortisol with work-related stressors, perceived stress, and mental health outcomes in healthy workers.

Results
We found five longitudinal studies, of which two observed an increase in work-related stressors to be associated with higher hair cortisol, one found a relation with lower hair cortisol and one did not find a relationship. Findings of cross-sectional studies were also mixed. The one available longitudinal study regarding mental health showed that hair cortisol was not related to depressive symptoms.

Conclusions
Hair cortisol measurement within occupational health research is still in its early stage and more longitudinal studies are urgently needed to clarify its relationship with work-related stressors and perceived stress before hair cortisol can be used to identify workers at risk for mental health problems.
Elf4 regulates lysosomal biogenesis and the mTOR pathway to promote clearance of Staphylococcus aureus in macrophages
Authors: Kang Yanhua , Wu Tingyue , He Yan , He Yunfan , Zhao Dongjiu 
Published: January 2021

Staphylococcus aureus is a major cause of infectious disease. Macrophages can directly destroy most of the invading bacteria through the phagolysosomal pathway. E74‐like factor 4 (Elf4) is one of the important transcription factors that controls diverse pathogens, but the role of Elf4 in macrophage‐mediated S. aureus eradication is unknown. Our data show that Elf4 is induced by S. aureus in macrophages. Elevated expression of Elf4 results in decreased bacterial load and inflammatory responses during S. aureus infection in vivo and in vitro. Elf4‐overexpressed macrophages have decreased mTOR activity and increased lysosomal mass. Collectively, these results suggest that S. aureus induces Elf4 expression, which enhances lysosomal function and increases the capacity of macrophages to eliminate intracellular pathogens.
A co‐development approach to conservation leads to informed habitat design and rapid establishment of amphibian communities
Authors: O'Brien David , Hall Jeanette E. , Miró Alexandre , O'Brien Katie , Jehle Robert 
Published: January 2021

Abstract1. Effective wildlife restoration is a critical requirement of many conservation actions. The outcome of conservation interventions can be optimized through knowledge of species’ habitat requirements, but few studies consider the impact of using explicit evidence from dedicated local research to inform the design phase of habitat management. Furthermore, interventions administered externally from the top down, whilst simpler than those developed in discussion with multiple stakeholders including land managers (i.e. co‐development), run the risk of failing to engage local people.2. In this study, we focus on interventions in the Scottish Highlands to improve the availability and suitability of breeding ponds for local amphibian assemblages. We collected and analysed data based on 129 ecological variables across 88 reference ponds to quantify the local habitat preferences. We used the findings from these analyses to inform the construction or restoration of 25 intervention ponds co‐developed in partnership with stakeholders (landowners, foresters, citizen scientists and government agencies). Following the interventions, we monitored amphibian communities at these sites over 4 years. We assessed presence and abundance of all five native amphibians (the anurans Rana temporaria and Bufo bufo, and the salamanders Lissotriton helveticus, L. vulgaris and Triturus cristatus) using egg searching, dip‐netting, torching and trapping.3. The new habitats were overall characterized by ecological conditions more favourable to amphibians than the reference ponds. We recorded a total of 51 colonization events. Within two breeding seasons after construction or restoration, the intervention ponds hosted the full complement of species, mirroring amphibian diversity patterns found in the local reference ponds.4. Our study shows that ecological research to quantify local habitat requirements and working with commercial landmanagers to ensure equitable benefits prior to designing conservation actions can promote rapid and efficient recovery of wildlife.
Examination of the best head tilt angle to reduce the parotid gland dose maintaining a safe level of lens dose in whole‐brain radiotherapy using the four‐field box technique
Authors: Shimizu Hidetoshi , Sasaki Koji , Aoyama Takahiro , Tachibana Hiroyuki , Tanaka Hiroshi , Koide Yutaro , Iwata Tohru , Kitagawa Tomoki , Kodaira Takeshi 
Published: January 2021

AbstractThe parotid gland is recognized as a major‐risk organ in whole‐brain irradiation; however, the beam delivery from the left and right sides cannot reduce the parotid gland dose. The four‐field box technique using a head‐tilting device has been reported to reduce the parotid gland dose by excluding it from the radiation field. This study aimed to determine the appropriate head tilt angle to reduce the parotid gland dose in the four‐field box technique. The bilateral, anterior, and posterior beams were set for each of ten patients. The orbitomeatal plane angle (OMPA) was introduced as an indicator that expresses the head tilt angle. Next, principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to understand the interrelationship between variables (dosimetric parameters of the lens and parotid gland and OMPA). In PCA, the angle between the OMPA vector and maximum lens dose or mean parotid gland dose vector was approximately opposite or close, indicating a negative or positive correlation [r = −0.627 (p < 0.05) or 0.475 (p < 0.05), respectively]. The OMPA that reduced the maximum lens dose to <10 Gy with a 95% confidence interval was approximately 14°. If the lens dose was not considered, the parotid gland dose could be reduced by decreasing the OMPA.
Spectral CT quantification stability and accuracy for pediatric patients: A phantom study
Authors: Shapira Nadav , Mei Kai , Noël Peter B. 
Published: January 2021

AbstractBackgroundSpectral computed tomography (spectral CT) provides access to clinically relevant measures of endogenous and exogenous materials in patients. For pediatric patients, current spectral CT applications include lesion characterization, quantitative vascular imaging, assessments of tumor response to treatment, and more.ObjectiveThe aim of this study is a comprehensive investigation of the accuracy and stability of spectral quantifications from a spectral detector‐based CT system with respect to different patient sizes and radiation dose levels relevant for the pediatric population.Materials and methodsA spectral CT phantom with tissue‐mimicking materials and iodine concentrations relevant for pediatric imaging was scanned on a spectral detector CT system using a standard pediatric abdominal protocol at 100%, 67%, 33% and 10% of the nominal radiation dose level. Different pediatric patient sizes were simulated using supplemental 3D‐printed extension rings. Virtual mono‐energetic, iodine density, effective atomic number, and electron density results were analyzed for stability with respect to radiation dose and patient size.ResultsCompared to conventional CT imaging, a pronounced improvement in the stability of attenuation measurements across patient size was observed when using virtual mono‐energetic images. Iodine densities were within 0.1 mg/ml, effective atomic numbers were within 0.26 atomic numbers and electron density quantifications were within ±1.0% of their respective nominal values. Relative to the nominal dose clinical protocol, differences in attenuation of all tissue‐mimicking materials were maintained below 1.6 HU for a 33% dose reduction, below 2.7 HU for a 67% dose reduction and below 3.7 HU for a 90% dose reduction, for all virtual mono‐energetic energies equal to or greater than 50 keV. Iodine, and effective atomic number quantifications were stable to within 0.1 mg/ml and 0.06 atomic numbers, respectively, across all measured dose levels.ConclusionSpectral CT provides accurate and stable material quantification with respect to radiation dose reduction (up to 90%) and differing pediatric patient size. The observed consistency is an important step towards quantitative pediatric imaging at low radiation exposure levels.
Decreased serum creatinine levels predict short survival in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Authors: Guo Qi‐Fu , Hu Wei , Xu Liu‐Qing , Luo Hao , Wang Ning , Zhang Qi‐Jie 
Published: January 2021

AbstractObjectiveTo explore the associations between serum creatinine and creatine kinase (CK) levels with survival in male and female ALS patients.MethodsA prospective cohort study was carried out including 346 ALS patients with repeated serum creatinine and CK measurements. Kaplan Meier analysis and multivariable Cox regression were used to perform survival analysis.ResultsThere were 218 male and 128 female patients, and the males had significantly higher baseline serum creatinine and CK levels than females. After multivariable Cox regression analysis, lower baseline serum creatinine levels were associated with a short survival in both male (≤61 μmol/L, HR: 1.629; 95%CI: 1.168–2.273) and female ALS patients (≤52 μmol/L, HR: 1.677; 95%CI: 1.042–2.699), whereas, the serum CK levels were not correlated with survival. Besides, creatinine levels were positively associated with ALSFRS‐R scores, and inversely with the decline rate of ALSFRS‐R per month. During follow‐up, serum creatinine levels tended to be decreased along with the disease progression, and the higher decline rate of creatinine per month (>1.5) showed significantly shorter survival, compared to the lower group (≤1.5) (30.0 months vs. 65.0 months, Chi square = 28.25, P < 0.0001).InterpretationSerum creatinine could be a reliable and easily accessible prognostic chemical marker for ALS, and decreased baseline creatinine levels could predict a poor prognosis and a short survival in both male and female ALS patients.
Noise covariance matrix estimation with subspace model identification for Kalman filtering
Authors: Mussot Vincent , Mercère Guillaume , Dairay Thibault , Arvis Vincent , Vayssettes Jérémy 
Published: January 2021

SummaryA problem frequently encountered in Kalman filtering is the tuning of the noise covariance matrices. Indeed, misspecifying their values can drastically reduce the performance of the Kalman filter. Unfortunately, in most practical cases, noise statistics are not known a priori. This paper focuses on a method relying on subspace model identification theory to determine them accurately. This solution is developed for linear time invariant systems with stationary random disturbances having constant covariance matrices. Practically, these noise covariance matrices are determined from the comparison between an estimated state space representation and the discrete time state space representation involved in the Kalman filter equations. The method developed in this paper departs from most of the solutions available in the literature by the fact that it does not need any tuning parameter to be chosen by the user. After discussing theoretical results, several numerical examples are given to demonstrate the efficiency of the approach.
dynoNet: A neural network architecture for learning dynamical systems
Authors: Forgione Marco , Piga Dario 
Published: January 2021

SummaryThis article introduces a network architecture, called dynoNet, utilizing linear dynamical operators as elementary building blocks. Owing to the dynamical nature of these blocks, dynoNet networks are tailored for sequence modeling and system identification purposes. The back‐propagation behavior of the linear dynamical operator with respect to both its parameters and its input sequence is defined. This enables end‐to‐end training of structured networks containing linear dynamical operators and other differentiable units, exploiting existing deep learning software. Examples show the effectiveness of the proposed approach on well‐known system identification benchmarks.
Advances in Targeted Therapy and Immunotherapy for Pancreatic Cancer
Authors: Liu Xiaoxiao , Li Zhang , Wang Yuexiang 
Published: January 2021

AbstractPancreatic cancer is a highly aggressive malignancy with an overall 5‐year survival rate of <6% due to therapeutic resistance and late‐stage diagnosis. These statistics have not changed despite 50 years of research and therapeutic development. Pancreatic cancer is predicted to become the second leading cause of cancer mortality by the year 2030. Currently, the treatment options for pancreatic cancer are limited. This disease is usually diagnosed at a late stage, which prevents curative surgical resection. Chemotherapy is the most frequently used approach for pancreatic cancer treatment and has limited effects. In many other cancer types, targeted therapy and immunotherapy have made great progress and have been shown to be very promising prospects; these treatments also provide hope for pancreatic cancer. The need for research on targeted therapy and immunotherapy is pressing due to the poor prognosis of pancreatic cancer, and in recent years, there have been some breakthroughs for targeted therapy and immunotherapy in pancreatic cancer. This review summarizes the current preclinical and clinical studies of targeted therapy and immunotherapy for pancreatic cancer and ends by describing the challenges and outlook.
Covalent Cell‐Loading Injectable Hydrogel Scaffold Significantly Promotes Tissue Regeneration In Vivo Compared with a Conventional Physical Cell‐Loading Hydrogel Scaffold
Authors: Kimura Yuka , Aoyama Seika , Ueda Natsumi , Katayama Tokitaka , Ono Kimika , Nagahama Koji 
Published: January 2021

AbstractCurrently, one of the major tendencies to be adopted for the design of hydrogel scaffolds in tissue engineering include that cells are loaded physically into the pores of 3D hydrogel networks. In this study, a drastic deviation from this tendency is proposed and developed a new type of hydrogel scaffold in which cells are covalently connected to 3D hydrogel networks via bioorthogonal click cross‐linking reactions of azide‐modified cells with alkyne‐modified polymers. The purpose of this study is to directly compare the utility of the covalent cell‐loading approach and the conventional physical cell‐loading approach as hydrogel scaffolds for in vivo tissue engineering. It is found that the proposed covalent cell‐loading approach significantly promotes tissue regeneration and functional recovery in vivo in comparison with the conventional physical cell‐loading approach. This is the first report demonstrating the importance of the covalent cell‐loading approach in tissue engineering. This covalent cell‐loading approach is applicable to a broad spectrum of mammalian cells, including stem cells. The present findings provide a promising new route to generate innovative hydrogel scaffolds for in vivo tissue engineering.
Sessile Liquid Marbles with Embedded Hydrogels as Bioreactors for Three‐Dimensional Cell Culture
Authors: Vadivelu Raja , Kashaninejad Navid , Nikmaneshi Mohammad Reza , Khadim Rubina Rahaman , Salehi Seyedeh Sarah , Ramulu Naveen Chintala , Sakai Yasuyuki , Nishikawa Masaki , Firoozabadi Bahar , Nguyen Nam‐Trung 
Published: January 2021

AbstractDigital microfluidics based on liquid marble (LM) has recently emerged as a promising platform for liquid handling and cell‐based assays. However, evaporation is a critical problem in such platforms, hindering their wide‐range applications in various fields. This study aims to develop a functional sessile LM system for long‐term 3D cell culture. Previously, this study group and others demonstrated that floating LM‐based bioreactors could reduce the evaporation rate, and were thus suitable for growing multicellular spheroids. However, floating LMs are not robust and easily collapse. Herein, an evaporation‐reducing sessile LM by embedding LM with agarose gel is proposed. Through a series of comprehensive mathematical modeling, numerical simulations, and experimental investigations (both with and without biological cells), it is shown that such a platform acts as a moisture absorption system to control the evaporation and thus extends the life span of LMs. It is also found that unlike pure LMs, the LMs filled with agarose maintain their spherical shapes within 72 h inside a humidified incubator. Moreover, the presence of agarose significantly contributes to minimizing evaporation and improves the viability of the harvested multicellular spheroids. These results can open up a new avenue in using LMs in life sciences and chemistry.
Progresses in Tensile, Torsional, and Multifunctional Soft Actuators
Authors: Zou Min , Li Sitong , Hu Xiaoyu , Leng Xueqi , Wang Run , Zhou Xiang , Liu Zunfeng 
Published: January 2021

AbstractSoft actuators have received intensive attention in the fields of soft robots, sensors, intelligent control, artificial intelligence, and visual intelligence. By combination of tensile and torsional deformations, different types of motions can be realized, such as bending, rolling, and jumping. Soft robotics need soft actuators, such as artificial muscles to lift or move objects to perform some work. Additionally, actuation integrated with functions of sensing, signal transmission, and control is also needed in the development of advanced intelligent systems, which further stimulates the requirement of multifunctional actuators. Here different types of soft actuators that can perform tensile and torsional actuations are summarized, including twisted fiber artificial muscles, shape memory polymers, hydrogels, liquid crystal polymers, electrochemical actuators with conducting polymers, and some natural materials. Examples are also included regarding the bending or rolling deformations of the actuators for lifting objects. Then, recent interesting reports about multifunctional soft actuators combined with sensing and signal transmission performances, are summarized. Last, a summary of different ways to realize tensile and torsional actuations, different materials, and designs for lifting or moving objects, as well as construction of multifunctional actuators with actuation and sensing functions is provided.
Copper Sulfide Nanoparticle‐Redirected Macrophages for Adoptive Transfer Therapy of Melanoma
Authors: Xu Jiaojiao , Zheng Binbin , Zhang Sihang , Liao Xueling , Tong Qinli , Wei Guoguang , Yu Sheng , Chen Gaoxian , Wu Aihua , Gao Shuai , Qian Yuyi , Xiao Zeyu , Lu Wei 
Published: January 2021

AbstractAdoptive cell therapy (ACT) has achieved landmark advances in treating cancer in clinic. Recent advances in ACT of macrophages engineered to express chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) have shown effectiveness in treating solid tumors. However, the CAR‐macrophage therapy is dependent on tumor antigen recognition and gene editing methods. Herein, an adoptive macrophage therapy is presented through copper sulfide nanoparticle‐regulation that exhibits substantial antitumor effect in melanoma‐bearing mice, without the need for tumor antigen repertoire. Bone marrow derived macrophages (BMDMs) incubated with the nanoparticles promote the cellular production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) through dynamin‐related protein 1 (Drp1)‐mediated mitochodrial fission. The high intracellular ROS level directs BMDMs polarization toward M1 phenotype by classical IKK‐dependent NF‐κB activation. Moreover, the copper sulfide nanoparticle‐stimulated BMDMs (CuS‐MΦ) reduce the expression of programmed death‐1 (PD‐1) and exhibit enhanced phagocytic and digestive ability. Intratumoral transfer of CuS‐MΦ significantly prolongs the median survival time of the tumor‐bearing mice, remodels the tumor microenvironment, and elicits systemic antitumor immunity. These results suggest a cancer therapeutic approach of adoptively transferred macrophages through the induction of intracellular ROS with nanomaterials.
Laser‐Based Printing: From Liquids to Microstructures
Authors: Armon Nina , Greenberg Ehud , Edri Eitan , Nagler‐Avramovitz Ornit , Elias Yuval , Shpaisman Hagay 
Published: January 2021

AbstractAssembly of materials into microstructures under laser guidance is attracting wide attention. The ability to pattern various materials and form 2D and 3D structures with micron/sub‐micron resolution and less energy and material waste compared with standard top‐down methods make laser‐based printing promising for many applications, for example medical devices, sensors, and microelectronics. Assembly from liquids provides a smaller feature size than powders and has advantages over other states of matter in terms of relatively simple setup, easy handling, and recycling. However, the simplicity of the setup conceals a variety of underlying mechanisms, which cannot be identified simply according to the starting or resulting materials. This progress report surveys the various mechanisms according to the source of the material—preformed or locally synthesized. Within each category, methods are defined according to the driving force of material deposition. The advantages and limitations of each method are critically discussed, and the methods are compared, shedding light on future directions and developments required to advance this field.