bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Factors influencing severity of recurrent malaria in a conflict-affected State of south Sudan
Authors: Idris Israel Oluwaseyidayo , Ayeni Gabriel Omoniyi , Iyamu Ihoghosa Osamuyi , Sina-Odunsi Ayomide Busayo , Adebisi Yusuff Adebayo , Obwoya Justin Geno 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
Background South Sudan has borne the brunt of years of chronic warfare and remains endemic of malaria, with increasing mortality and morbidity. Limited data still exists on factors influencing the severity of recurrent malaria, especially in emergency context as South Sudan. This study therefore aimed to investigate factors influencing recurrence of severe malaria in selected primary healthcare centres in South Sudan. This would assist and guide in malaria prevention, treatment, and eradication efforts.Methods We conducted a retrospective study of routinely collected clinic data collected for individuals aged 1 year and above who received a diagnosis of severe malaria at 3 primary healthcare centres (PHCC); Malual Bab PHCC, Matangai PHCC and Malek PHCC between September 15, 2019 to December 15, 2019 in South Sudan. Patient characteristics were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics. Inferential statistics were also conducted to identify the associated factors influencing recurrence of severe malaria. All analyses were conducted using R Version 3.6.2.Results A total of 289 recurrent malaria cases were included in this study. More than half of the participants were female. Overall, the prevalence of severe recurrent malaria was 66.1% (191) while 74.4% (215) did not complete malaria treatment. Among those who did not complete malaria treatment, 76.7% (165) had severe recurrent malaria, while among those who completed malaria treatment 35.1% (26) had severe recurrent malaria (p<0.001). There is a significant association between marital status (OR= 0.33, 95% CI: 0.19-0.56, p<0.001), employment status (OR=0.35, 95% CI: 0.14-0.87, p=0.024), the use of preventive measures (OR=3.82, 95% CI: 1.81-8.43, p<0.001) and nutrition status (OR=0.22, 95% CI: 0.13-0.37, p<0.001). When adjusted for employment, marital status, nutritional and prevention measures in turns using Mantel-Haenszel test of association, this effect remained statistically significant.Conclusion Our study showed that there is a high prevalence of severe recurrent malaria in South Sudan and that significant relationship exists between severe recurrent malaria and antimalarial treatment dosage completion influenced by certain personal and social factors. Findings from our study would be useful for effective response to control and prevent malaria in endemic areas of South Sudan.
Associations between the Sense of Coherence and the Motivation to Start and Stop Smoking among Adolescents: findings from a school-based survey
Authors: Rios Leonardo Essado , Nicolau Belinda , Madathil Sreenath Arekunnath , Freire Maria do Carmo Matias 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
Background
The science of behaviour change has advanced considerably in understanding the psychological dimensions that make up individuals’ motivation to change their smoking behaviour. However, there is a lack of studies on the factors associated with the motivational system that prompts smoking initiation and cessation among adolescents. An important psychosocial factor related with smoking in adolescence, which has not yet been investigated in relation to their motivational system, is the Sense of Coherence (SOC). The present study aimed to estimate the extent to which the SOC is associated with the motivation to start and stop smoking among a population of adolescent students.
Methods
A cross-sectional school-based survey was carried out in Midwest Brazil. Participants were high-school students aged between 13 and 19 years who completed self-administered questionnaires. Explanatory variable was the SOC score, measured with Antonovsky’s Orientation to Life Questionnaire (13-item version). Motivation to start and stop smoking were measured with questions based on the Prime Theory of Motivation to address desire to smoke, belief on smoking benefit and intention to future smoking. Logistic regression was used in the statistical analysis, and a Directed Acyclic Graph was used to identify potential confounders.
Results
Participants (n = 2189) were 2073 never-smokers (94.7%) and 116 smokers (5.3%). The mean SOC score was 50.1 (95% CI = 49.6–50.7). About a quarter of the never-smokers were motivated to start smoking, and 14.7% of the smokers were not motivated to quit the habit. For each one-unit increase in the SOC score of never-smokers, the odds of desiring to smoke, believing on smoking benefit, and intending to smoke in the future decreased by 3%, 3% and 5%, respectively. Among smokers, the findings were inconclusive as to whether an association between SOC and motivation to stop smoking was present.
Conclusion
Increasing SOC was associated with decreasing motivation to start smoking among never-smokers. The findings indicate that SOC may play a protective role in the process of smoking initiation among adolescents, offering a potential adjuvant resource of theory-based interventions to prevent adolescent smoking.
Changes in subsidence and uplift and the nighttime land surface temperature anomaly related the distance to the earthquake epicenter and the faults using Sentinel and MODIS imageries
Authors: Kalkhajeh Reza Ghorbani , Jamali Ali Akbar 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
When an earthquake occurs, the faults of the region usually heat the rocks and soil of the region due to their movements. The purpose of this study was to analyze the uplift, subsidence, cloud cover and changes in nighttime land surface temperature (nLST) anomalies around faults and the earthquake epicenter in Kermanshah, Iran (date and time of earthquake 12 November, 2017 at 18:18 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and at 21:48 Iranian time(. Heat changes were investigated by considering the effect of other cooling factors such as vegetation (EVI), land altitude and soil moisture, rainfall and water areas. Using the MODIS sensor product, the amount of cloud cover and cooling factors were obtained. Using sentinel 1A the amount of earth uplift and subsidence were calculated. The results showed that using statistical analysis, a significant difference was observed in the nighttime land surface temperature around the faults and around the uplift and subsidence on the night of the accident, before and after night of earthquake. However, there was no significant difference between nighttime temperature and changes in the rate of spatial variation of cooling factors. It was found that the earthquake caused an increase in temperature at the fault and earthquake epicenter location. It also causes changes in height such as uplift and subsidence. Cloud cover situation showed before the earthquake, the cloud density was high and after the earthquake, the cloud density decreased. Crises managers can consider these results for monitoring metropolices for more readiness before earthquake accordance.
Photodegradation of fluoroquinolones in aqueous solution under light conditions relevant to surface waters, toxicity assessment of photoproduct mixtures.
Authors: Klementova Sarka , Poncarová Martina , Langhansová Helena , Lieskovská Jaroslava , Kahoun David , Fojtíková Pavla 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
Photochemical degradation of fluoroquinolones ciprofloxacin, enrofloxacin and norfloxacin in aqueous solution under light conditions relevant to surface waters at neutral and alkaline pH was found to proceed readily with half-lives between 0.9 and 2.7 min. The products of photochemical degradation identified by HPLC-MS included defluorinated, hydroxylated, and decarboxylated structures as well as structures with opened cyclic structures. For all of the studied substances, the reaction pathways were influenced significantly by the pH of the reaction system, with more products formed at alkaline pH than at neutral pH: the ratios of products in neutral and alkaline pH were 16/26, 9/19, 15/23 for ciprofloxacin, enrofloxacin, and norfloxacin, respectively. The structures of photoproducts and pathways of photochemical degradation are proposed.
The antibacterial activities of photoproduct mixtures tested on E. coli and S. epidermidis were significantly higher in comparison to parental antibiotics in the case of both ciprofloxacin and enrofloxacin with p-values less than 0.0001 in most cases. The effect of the photoproducts was shown to be dependent on the pH value of the original antibiotic solutions before photodegradation: for ciprofloxacin, antibacterial activity against E. coli was more notably pronounced with regard to neutral pH photoproducts, while a less significant, or in one case not significant, effect of pH was observed against S. epidermidis ; for norfloxacin, antibacterial activity against both E. coli and S. epidermidis were especially high with regard to alkaline pH photoproducts
Blast Induced Vibration Estimation by Using Different Machine Learning Methods in a Tunnel Excavation
Authors: Ozyurt Meric Can , SAHINOGLU ÜLKÜ KALAYCI , Karadogan Abdulkadir , Ozer Umit , Akgundogdu Abdurrahim , Callioglu Mert , Karstarli Cagrihan 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
This study aimed to develop a new model in which rock characteristics, blasting design parameters and excavation planning were also considered by using various machine learning methods in a funicular line excavation where blast-induced vibrations could not estimate with a high correlation by using the commonly and successfully used PPV-SD (Peak Particle Velocity-Scaled Distance) estimation formula. In addition to developing a new model, another aim was to reveal the effect of rock characteristics, blasting and excavation planning parameters on PPV estimation numerically in the form of weights. For this purpose, 225 events in 57 shots were recorded in the funicular line excavation. Each blasted cross-section's rock characteristics were obtained from on-site inspection and geological reports. At first, recorded blasting vibration data were evaluated using the well-known PPV–SD equation, and it was seen that the relationship between PPV and SD was not able to represent the site-specific vibration attenuation. Therefore, the obtained data were evaluated with Random Forest and other Machine Learning Methods. In these evaluations, RQD, UCS, unit of advance, the maximum charge per delay, the cross-sectional area of tunnel face, total charge, and distance between shot point and vibration measurement station were used as inputs, and peak particle velocity was used as output. The results showed that the random forest model's prediction accuracy was more acceptable than the well-known PPV–SD equation and other machine learning methods. Another significant finding of the study is that parameters not considered in PPV estimation, such as UCS, RQD, and cross-sectional area of tunnel face, may be more effective than the commonly used scaled distance.
Evidence for Enhanced Dissipation of Chlorpyrifos in an Agricultural Soil Inoculated with Serratia Rubidaea Strain ABS 10
Authors: Salem Asma Ben , Chaabane Hanene , Ghazouani Tesnime , Caboni Pierluigi , Coroneo Valentina , Devers Marion , Béguet Jérémie , Laurent Fabrice Martin , Fattouch Sami 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
Important mineralization of 14C-chlorpyrifos was found in a Tunisian soil exposed repeatedly to this insecticide. A bacterial strain able to grow in minimal salt medium (MSM) supplemented with 25 mg L− 1 of chlorpyrifos was isolated from this soil. It was characterized as Serratia rubidaea strain ABS 10 using morphological and biochemical analyses, as well as 16S rRNA sequencing. In liquid culture S. rubidaea stain ABS 10 was able to almost entirely dissipate chlorpyrifos within 48 hours of incubation. Although, S. rubidaea strain ABS 10 was able to grow on MSM supplemented with chlorpyrifos and to dissipate it in liquid culture, it was not able to mineralize 14C-chlorpyrifos. Therefore, one can conclude that the dissipation capability of this bacteria might be attributed to its capacity to adsorb CHL. In both non-sterile and sterile soil inoculated with S. rubidaea strain ABS 10, chlorpyrifos was more rapidly dissipated than in respective controls.
Men, the Missing Link in Gender-equitable Family Planning
Authors: Seth Kuhika , Nanda Sharmishtha , Sahay Aishwarya , Verma Ravi , Achyut Pranita 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
Background: Across societies, gender norms often allow men to hold key decision-making power within relationships, households and communities. This extends to almost all domains, consisting of family planning (FP) as well. FP programmes have largely engaged men as clients and rarely as equal partners or influencers although across lower and middle income countries (LMICs), and especially in South Asia, men hold key decision-making power on the domain of family planning. The objective of this article is to explore couple dynamics through the lens of spousal communication and decision-making and unpacking male engagement and spousal dynamics in family planning.Methods: This review presents a synthesis of evidence from two peer-reviewed databases, PubMed and Jstor, and and insights from programmatic documents to shed light on gender equitable engagement of young married men in family planning. Inclusion and exclusion criteria for both these databases was set and search strategies were finalized. This was followed by title and abstract screening, data extraction, synthesis and analysis.Results: Study participants included unmarried men (16%, n= 8), married men (19%, n= 9), married women (19%, n=9), married couples (25%, n =12) or more than two respondent categories (21%, n= 10). Almost three-fourth (71%, n=34) of the studies selected had FP as the primary area of inquiry. Other prominent thematics on which the studies reported were around norms (n=9, 16%), couple dynamics and intimacies (n=12, 22%).Conclusion: The evidence presented provides sufficient impetus to expand on gender-equitable male engagement, viewing men as equal and supportive partners for informed, equitable and collaborative contraceptive uptake and FP choices by couples.
Spectral characterization of the effect of gas-water ratio on dissolved organic nitrogen variation along biological aerated filter for micropolluted source water pre-treatment
Authors: Kang Jia , Song Gang-fu , Liu Shu-li , Song Chu-qiong , Gao Xu 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
In order to improve our understanding of dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) variation characteristics in the biological aerated filter (BAF) for drinking water treatment, this study focused on gas-water ratio, a controlling factor of BAF operation, to study spectral characteristics of DON under different gas-water ratio conditions (0, 0.5:1, 2:1 and 10:1). The variations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and DON concentrations showed that DOC removal efficiency was consistent with DON concentration, both of which increased with the increase of gas-water ratio, but the increase gradually reduced and was certain limited. Three-dimensional excitation–emission matrix (3D-EEM) spectroscopy combined with parallel factor (PARAFAC) model and fluorescence regional integration (FRI) technique were applied to analyze the effect of gas-water ratio on spectral characteristics of DON, PARAFAC analysis results identified the main component of DON were tryptophan and protein related substances. The resistances of various fluorescent substances in the FRI technique under the influence of gas-water ratio were shown as: protein substances > humic acid and fulvic acid substances ≈ SMPs-like substances. Correlation analysis showed that the variation of FIS from PARAFAC model was consistent with corresponding normalized integration volume in FRI analysis under different gas-water ratios.
Dopamine Signaling Modulates Microglial NLRP3 Inflammasome Activation: Implications for Parkinson’s Disease
Authors: Pike Adrianne F. , Longhena Francesca , Faustini Gaia , Eik Jean-Marc van , Gombert Iris , Herrebout Maaike A.C. , Fayed Mona M.H.E. , Sandre Michele , Varanita Tatiana , Teunissen Charlotte E. , Hoozemans Jeroen J.M. , Bellucci Arianna , Veerhuis Robert , Bubacco Luigi 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized by the loss of nigral dopaminergic neurons leading to impaired striatal dopamine signaling, α-synuclein- (α-syn-) rich inclusions, and neuroinflammation. Degenerating neurons are surrounded by activated microglia with increased secretion of interleukin-1β (IL-1β), driven largely by the NLRP3 inflammasome. A critical role for microglial NLRP3 inflammasome activation in the progression of both dopaminergic neurodegeneration and α-syn pathology has been demonstrated in parkinsonism mouse models. Fibrillar α-syn activates this inflammasome in mouse and human macrophages, and we have shown previously that the same holds true for primary human microglia. Dopamine blocks microglial NLRP3 inflammasome activation in the MPTP model, but its effects in this framework, highly relevant to PD, remain unexplored in primary human microglia and in other in vivo parkinsonism models. Methods: Biochemical techniques including quantification of IL-1β secretion and confocal microscopy were employed to gain insight into dopamine signaling-mediated inhibition of the NLRP3 inflammasome mechanism in primary human microglia and the SYN120 transgenic mouse model. Dopamine and related metabolites were applied to human microglia together with various inflammasome activating stimuli. The involvement of the receptors through which these catecholamines were predicted to act were assessed with agonists in both species. Results: We show in primary human microglia that dopamine, L-DOPA, and high extracellular K+, but not norepinephrine and epinephrine, block canonical, non-canonical, and α-syn-mediated NLRP3 inflammasome-driven IL-1β secretion. This suggests that dopamine acts as an inflammasome inhibitor in human microglia. Accordingly, we provide evidence that dopamine exerts its inhibitory effect through dopamine receptor D1 and D2 (DRD1 and DRD2) signaling. We also show that aged mice transgenic for human C-terminally truncated (1-120) α-syn (SYN120 tg mice) display increased NLRP3 inflammasome activation in comparison to WT mice that is diminished upon DRD1 agonism. Conclusions: Dopamine inhibits canonical, non-canonical, and α-syn-mediated activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome in primary human microglia, as does high extracellular K+. We suggest that dopamine serves as an endogenous repressor of the K+ efflux-dependent microglial NLRP3 inflammasome activation that contributes to dopaminergic neurodegeneration in PD, and that this reciprocation may account for the specific vulnerability of these neurons to disease pathology.
Intensity-dependent nonlinear optical properties in an asymmetric Gaussian potential quantum well modulated by external fields
Authors: Sayraç Muhammed , Turkoglu Aslan , Mora-Ramos Miguel Eduvardo , ungan fatih 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
In this paper, the effects of external electric, magnetic and non-resonant intense laser fields on the nonlinear optical rectification (NOR), second-harmonic (SH), and third-harmonic (TH) generation in a GaAs quantum well with asymmetrical Gaussian potential are theoretically investigated. Firstly, the energy eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of a single electron confined in the structure are obtained by using the diagonalization method within the framework of the effective-mass and parabolic band approaches. Then, using these energy eigenvalues and eigenfunctions, expressions derived within the compact density matrix approximation has been employed to calculate the coefficients of the nonlinear optical response in the structure. The obtained simulation results show that the influence of the external fields leads to significant changes in the coefficients of nonlinear optical rectification, second and third harmonic generation in the system. As a result, it has been seen that the amplitude and position of the peaks of nonlinear optical rectification, second and third harmonic coefficients can be controlled by changing the applied external fields.
The mitochondrial calcium uniporter compensates for Complex I dysfunction
Authors: Balderas Enrique , Eberhardt David , Pleinis John , Sommakia Salah , Balynas Anthony , Yin Xue , Lee Sandra , Parker Mitchell , Maguire Colin , Cho Scott , Bakhtina Anna , Bia Ryan , Friederich Marisa , Locke Timothy , Hove Johan Van , Drakos Stavros , Sancak Yasemin , Tristani-Firouzi Martin , Franklin Sarah , Rodan Aylin , Chaudhuri Dipayan 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
Calcium (Ca2+) entering mitochondria potently stimulates ATP synthesis. Increases in Ca2+ preserve energy synthesis in cardiomyopathies caused by mitochondrial dysfunction, and occur due to enhanced activity of the mitochondrial Ca2+ uniporter channel. The signaling mechanism that mediates this compensatory increase remains unknown. Here, we find that increases in the uniporter are due to impairment in Complex I of the electron transport chain (ETC). In normal physiology, Complex I promotes uniporter degradation via an interaction with the uniporter pore-forming subunit, a process we term Complex I-induced protein turnover (CLIPT). When Complex I dysfunction ensues, contact with the uniporter is inhibited, preventing degradation, and leading to a build-up in functional channels. Preventing uniporter activity leads to early demise in Complex I-deficient animals. Conversely, enhancing uniporter stability rescues survival and function in Complex I deficiency. Taken together, our data identify a fundamental pathway producing compensatory increases in Ca2+ influx during Complex I impairment.
Fully-automatic ultrasound-based neuro-navigation : The functional ultrasound brain GPS
Authors: Nouhoum M. , Ferrier J. , Osmanski B.-F. , Ialy-Radio N. , Pezet S. , Tanter M. , Deffieux T. 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
Recent advances in ultrasound imaging triggered by ultrafast plane waves transmission have rendered functional ultrasound (fUS) imaging a valuable neuroimaging modality capable of mapping cerebral vascular networks, but also to indirectly capture neuronal activity with high sensitivity thanks to the neurovascular coupling. However, the expansion of fUS imaging is still limited by the difficulty to identify cerebral structures during experiments based solely on the Doppler images and the shape of the vessels. In order to tackle this challenge, this study introduces the vascular brain positioning system (BPS), a GPS of the brain. The BPS is a whole-brain neuro-navigation system based on the on-the-fly automatic alignment of ultrafast ultrasensitive transcranial Power Doppler volumic images to common templates such as the Allen mouse brain Common Coordinates Framework. This method relies on the online registration of the complex cerebral vascular fingerprint of the studied animal to a pre-aligned reference vascular atlas, thus allowing rapid matching and identification of brain structures. We quantified the accuracy of the automatic registration using super-resolution vascular images obtained at the microscopic scale using Ultrasound Localization Microscopy and found a positioning error of 44 µm and 96 µm for intra-animal and inter-animals vascular registration, respectively. The proposed BPS approach outperforms the manual vascular landmarks recognition performed by expert neuroscientists (inter-annotator errors of 215 µm and 259 µm). Using the online BPS approach coupled with the Allen Atlas, we demonstrated the capability of the system to position itself automatically over chosen anatomical structures and to obtain corresponding functional activation maps even in complex oblique planes. Finally, we show that the system can be used to acquire and estimate functional connectivity matrices automatically. The proposed functional ultrasound on the fly neuro-navigation approach allows automatic brain navigation and could become a key asset to ensure standardized experiments and protocols for non-expert and expert researchers.