bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Safety and efficacy of human juvenile chondrocyte-derived cell sheets for osteochondral defect treatment
Authors: Kondo Makoto , Kameishi Sumako , Kim Kyungsook , Metzler Nicolas F. , Maak Travis G. , Hutchinson Douglas T. , Wang Angela A. , Maehara Miki , Sato Masato , Grainger David W. , Okano Teruo 
Published: October 2021

AbstractKnee cartilage does not regenerate spontaneously after injury, and a gold standard regenerative treatment algorithm has not been established. This study demonstrates preclinical safety and efficacy of scaffold-free, human juvenile cartilage-derived-chondrocyte (JCC) sheets produced from routine surgical discards using thermo-responsive cultureware. JCCs exhibit stable and high growth potential in vitro over passage 10, supporting possibilities for scale-up to mass production for commercialization. JCC sheets contain highly viable, densely packed cells, show no anchorage-independent cell growth, express mesenchymal surface markers, and lack MHC II expression. In nude rat focal osteochondral defect models, stable neocartilage formation was observed at 4 weeks by JCC sheet transplantation without abnormal tissue growth over 24 weeks in contrast to the nontreatment group showing no spontaneous cartilage repair. Regenerated cartilage was safranin-O positive, contained type II collagen, aggrecan, and human vimentin, and lacked type I collagen, indicating that the hyaline-like neocartilage formed originates from transplanted JCC sheets rather than host-derived cells. This study demonstrates the safety of JCC sheets and stable hyaline cartilage formation with engineered JCC sheets utilizing a sustainable tissue supply. Cost-benefit and scaling issues for sheet fabrication and use support feasibility of this JCC sheet strategy in clinical cartilage repair.
DUKweb, diachronic word representations from the UK Web Archive corpus
Authors: Tsakalidis Adam , Basile Pierpaolo , Bazzi Marya , Cucuringu Mihai , McGillivray Barbara 
Published: October 2021

AbstractLexical semantic change (detecting shifts in the meaning and usage of words) is an important task for social and cultural studies as well as for Natural Language Processing applications. Diachronic word embeddings (time-sensitive vector representations of words that preserve their meaning) have become the standard resource for this task. However, given the significant computational resources needed for their generation, very few resources exist that make diachronic word embeddings available to the scientific community. In this paper we present DUKweb, a set of large-scale resources designed for the diachronic analysis of contemporary English. DUKweb was created from the JISC UK Web Domain Dataset (1996–2013), a very large archive which collects resources from the Internet Archive that were hosted on domains ending in ‘.uk’. DUKweb consists of a series word co-occurrence matrices and two types of word embeddings for each year in the JISC UK Web Domain dataset. We show the reuse potential of DUKweb and its quality standards via a case study on word meaning change detection.
CD20 positive CD8 T cells are a unique and transcriptionally-distinct subset of T cells with distinct transmigration properties
Authors: Vlaming Martijn , Bilemjian Vrouyr , Freile Jimena Álvarez , Lourens Harm Jan , van Rooij Nienke , Huls Gerwin , van Meerten Tom , de Bruyn Marco , Bremer Edwin 
Published: October 2021

AbstractThe presence of T cells that are dimly positive for the B cell marker CD20 is well-established in autoimmunity and correlates with disease severity in various diseases. Further, we previously identified that the level of CD20-positive T cells was three–fourfold elevated in ascites fluid of ovarian carcinoma patients, together suggesting a role in both autoimmunity and cancer. In this respect, treatment of autoimmune patients with the CD20-targeting antibody Rituximab has also been shown to target and deplete CD20-positive T cells, previously identified as IFN-gamma producing, low proliferative, CD8 cytotoxic T cells with an effector memory (EM) differentiation state. However, the exact phenotype and relevance of CD20-positive T cells remains unclear. Here, we set out to identify the transcriptomic profile of CD20-positive T cells using RNA sequencing. Further, to gain insight into potential functional properties of CD20 expression in T cells, CD20 was ectopically expressed on healthy human T cells and phenotypic, functional, migratory and adhesive properties were determined in vitro and in vivo. Together, these assays revealed a reduced transmigration and an enhanced adhesive profile combined with an enhanced activation status for CD20-positive T cells.
Diagnostic accuracy of the different hormonal tests used for the diagnosis of autonomous cortisol secretion
Authors: Araujo-Castro Marta , García Cano Ana , Jiménez Mendiguchía Lucía , Escobar-Morreale Héctor F. , Valderrábano Pablo 
Published: October 2021

AbstractTo evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of the different tests commonly used in the evaluation of adrenal incidentalomas (AIs) for the identification of autonomous cortisol secretion (ACS) and comorbidities potentially related to ACS. In a retrospective study of patients with AIs ≥ 1 cm, we evaluated the diagnostic reliability and validity of the dexamethasone suppression test (DST), urinary free cortisol (UFC), ACTH, late-night salivary cortisol (LNSC), and dehydroepiandrosterone-sulphate (DHEAS) for the diagnosis of comorbidities potentially related to ACS. Diagnostic indexes were also calculated for UFC, ACTH, LNSC, and DHEAS considering DST as the gold standard test for the diagnosis of ACS, using three different post-DST cortisol thresholds (138 nmol/L, 50 nmol/L and 83 nmol/L). We included 197 patients with AIs in whom the results of the five tests abovementioned were available. At diagnosis, 85.9% of patients with one or more AIs had any comorbidity potentially related to ACS, whereas 9.6% had ACS as defined by post-DST cortisol > 138 nmol/L. The reliability of UFC, ACTH, LNSC, and DHEAS for the diagnosis of ACS was low (kappa index < 0.30). Of them, LNSC reached the highest diagnosis accuracy for ACS identification (AUC = 0.696 [95% CI 0.626–0.759]). The diagnostic performances of these tests for comorbidities potentially related to ACS was poor; of them, the DST was the most accurate (AUC = 0.661 [95% CI 0.546–0.778]) and had the strongest association with these comorbidities (OR 2.6, P = 0.045). Patients presenting with increased values of both DST and LNSC had the strongest association with hypertension (OR 7.1, P = 0.002) and with cardiovascular events (OR 3.6, P = 0.041). In conclusion, LNSC was the test showing the highest diagnosis accuracy for the identification of ACS when a positive DST was used as the gold standard for its diagnosis. The DST test showed the strongest association with comorbidities potentially related to ACS. The definition of ACS based on the combination of elevated DST and LNSC levels improved the identification of patients with increased cardiometabolic risk.
Retinal diffusion restrictions in acute branch retinal arteriolar occlusion
Authors: Danyel Leon Alexander , Miszczuk M. , Villringer K. , Bohner G. , Siebert E. 
Published: October 2021

AbstractThis study sought to investigate the occurrence of retinal diffusion restrictions (RDR) in branch retinal arteriolar occlusion (BRAO) using standard brain diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI). Two radiologists assessed DWI MRI scans of BRAO patients for RDR in a retrospective cohort study. Inter- and intrarater reliability were calculated using Kappa statistics. Detection rates of RDR were compared among MRI scans with varying field strength, sequence type and onset-to-DWI time intervals. 85 BRAO patients (63.1 ± 16.5 years) and 89 DWI scans were evaluated. Overall sensitivity of RDR in BRAO was 46.1% with visually correlating low ADC signal in 56.1% of cases. Localization of RDR matched distribution of fundoscopic retinal edema in 85% of patients. Inter- and intra-rater agreement for RDR in BRAO was κinter = 0.64 (95% CI 0.48–0.80) and κintra = 0.87 (95% CI 0.76–0.96), respectively. RDR detection rate tended to be higher for 3T, when compared to 1.5T MRI scans (53.7% vs. 34.3%%; p = 0.07). RDR were identified within 24 h up to 2 weeks after onset of visual impairment. RDR in BRAO can be observed by means of standard stroke DWI in a substantial proportion of cases, although sensitivity and interrater reliability were lower than previously reported for complete central retinal artery occlusion.
ULK1 promotes mitophagy via phosphorylation and stabilization of BNIP3
Authors: Poole Logan P. , Bock-Hughes Althea , Berardi Damian E. , Macleod Kay F. 
Published: October 2021

AbstractUNC51-like kinase-1 (ULK1) is the catalytic component of the autophagy pre-initiation complex that stimulates autophagy via phosphorylation of ATG14, BECLN1 and other autophagy proteins. ULK1 has also been shown to specifically promote mitophagy but the mechanistic basis of how has remained unclear. Here we show that ULK1 phosphorylates the BNIP3 mitochondrial cargo receptor on a critical serine residue (S17) adjacent to its amino terminal LIR motif. ULK1 similarly phosphorylates BNIP3L on S35. Phosphorylation of BNIP3 on S17 by ULK1 promotes interaction with LC3 and mitophagy. ULK1 interaction also promotes BNIP3 protein stability by limiting its turnover at the proteasome. The ability of ULK1 to regulate BNIP3 protein stability depends on an intact “BH3” domain and deletion of its “BH3” domain reduces BNIP3 turnover and increases BNIP3 protein levels independent of ULK1. In summary ULK1 promotes mitophagy by both stabilization of BNIP3 protein and via phosphorylation of S17 to stimulate interaction with LC3.
Varying impact of neonicotinoid insecticide and acute bee paralysis virus across castes and colonies of black garden ants, Lasius niger (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
Authors: Schläppi Daniel , Kettler Nina , Glauser Gaétan , Straub Lars , Yañez Orlando ,  Neumann Peter 
Published: October 2021

AbstractPesticides and pathogens are known drivers of declines in global entomofauna. However, interactions between pesticides and viruses, which could range from antagonistic, over additive to synergistic, are poorly understood in ants. Here, we show that in ants the impact of single and combined pesticide and virus stressors can vary across castes and at the colony level. A fully-crossed laboratory assay was used to evaluate interactions between a sublethal dose of the neonicotinoid thiamethoxam and Acute bee paralysis virus (ABPV) in black garden ants, Lasius niger. After monitoring colonies over 64 weeks, body mass, neonicotinoid residues and virus titres of workers and queens, as well as worker behavioural activity were measured. ABPV, but not thiamethoxam, reduced activity of workers. Neonicotinoid exposure resulted in reduced body mass of workers, but not of queens. Further, thiamethoxam facilitated ABPV infections in queens, but not in workers. Overall, virus exposure did not compromise detoxification and body mass, but one colony showed high virus titres and worker mortality. Although the data suggest additive effects at the level of individuals and castes, co-exposure with both stressors elicited antagonistic effects on colony size. Our results create demand for long-term holistic risk assessment of individual stressors and their interactions to protect biodiversity.
Identifying thresholds in the impacts of an invasive groundcover on native vegetation
Authors: O’Loughlin Luke S. , Panetta F. Dane , Gooden Ben 
Published: October 2021

AbstractImpacts of invasive species are often difficult to quantify, meaning that many invaders are prioritised for management without robust, contextual evidence of impact. Most impact studies for invasive plants compare heavily invaded with non-invaded sites, revealing little about abundance–impact relationships. We examined effects of increasing cover and volume of the non-native herbaceous groundcoverTradescantia fluminensison a temperate rainforest community of southern Australia. We hypothesised that there would be critical thresholds inT. fluminensisabundance, below which the native plant community would not be significantly impacted, but above which the community’s condition would degrade markedly. We modelled the abundance–impact relationship from 83 plots that varied inT. fluminensisabundance and landscape context and found the responses of almost all native plant indicators to invasion were non-linear. Native species richness, abundance and diversity exhibited negative exponential relationships with increasingT. fluminensisvolume, but negative threshold relationships with increasingT. fluminensiscover. In the latter case, all metrics were relatively stable until cover reached between 20 and 30%, after which each decreased linearly, with a 50% decline occurring at 75–80% invader cover. Few growth forms (notably shrubs and climbers) exhibited such thresholds, with most exhibiting negative exponential relationships.Tradescantia fluminensisbiomass increased dramatically at > 80% cover, with few native species able to persist at such high levels of invasion. Landscape context had almost no influence on native communities, or the abundance–impact relationships betweenT. fluminensisand the plant community metrics. Our results suggest that the diversity of native rainforest community can be maintained whereT. fluminensisis present at moderate-to-low cover levels.
Variations in urban land surface temperature intensity over four cities in different ecological zones
Authors: Ayanlade Ayansina , Aigbiremolen Michael I. , Oladosu Olakunle R. 
Published: October 2021

AbstractThis study aims at assessing variations and changes in the intensity of urban land surface temperature (LST) over four major cities in different ecological zone. The study intends to examine the contributions of different land cover types and variation in ecological locations on the intensity of urban LST. Remote Sensing and GIS techniques were used to measure the extent of the LST intensity over different cities and implications of land use/land cover (LULC) changes, using the Landsat TM/ ETM from 1984 to 2012, and Landsat OLI/TIRS from 2015 to 2019. The contributions of different landscape types to urban LST intensity were examined, using contribution index (CI) and Landscape index (LI) methods while the relationship between urban LST, and changes in LULC was examined using zonal statistics. The results revealed that the spatial and temporal changes in the LULC have greatly influenced the LST in the cities, though this varies from identified LULC. Changes in estimated LST vary from 0.12 to 1 °C yearly, while the changes are much intensified in the core section of the cities. The contribution of each landscapes varies, − 0.25 < CI > − 1.17 for sink landscape and 0.24 < CI > 1.05 for source landscape. The results further reveal that asLI ≥ 1, the contribution of source landscape to intensity of LST is lesser than that of sink landscape, butLI ≤ 1 shows that source landscapes contribute more to intensity of LST than sink landscapes. This might be as a result of changes in the vegetation cover between 1984 and 2019 as revealed in LULC change. Loss in the vegetal cover is anthropogenically induced leading to an increase in built-up and impervious surfaces resulted in mean monthly and yearly temperature changes. It is observed that the core and densities areas of cities witnessed higher LST compared with the rural area. The study concludes that different types of land cover within an urban area can affect the spatial pattern of urban LST, though this varies from one ecological zone to another and distribution of LST intensity in the urban area depends on its changes LULC. Thus, as cities’ population is expected to keep expanding there is a need to establish more viable linkages between the ever-growing population and land use patterns. The major findings from this study are useful in informing policymakers of the need to promote more sustainable urban development in the cities.
A prehospital diagnostic algorithm for strokes using machine learning: a prospective observational study
Authors: Hayashi Yosuke , Shimada Tadanaga , Hattori Noriyuki , Shimazui Takashi , Yoshida Yoichi , Miura Rie E. , Yamao Yasuo , Abe Ryuzo , Kobayashi Eiichi , Iwadate Yasuo , Nakada Taka-aki 
Published: October 2021

AbstractHigh precision is optimal in prehospital diagnostic algorithms for strokes and large vessel occlusions. We hypothesized that prehospital diagnostic algorithms for strokes and their subcategories using machine learning could have high predictive value. Consecutive adult patients with suspected stroke as per emergency medical service personnel were enrolled in a prospective multicenter observational study in 12 hospitals in Japan. Five diagnostic algorithms using machine learning, including logistic regression, random forest, support vector machine, and eXtreme Gradient Boosting, were evaluated for stroke and subcategories including acute ischemic stroke with/without large vessel occlusions, intracranial hemorrhage, and subarachnoid hemorrhage. Of the 1446 patients in the analysis, 1156 (80%) were randomly included in the training (derivation) cohort and cohorts, and 290 (20%) were included in the test (validation) cohort. In the diagnostic algorithms for strokes using eXtreme Gradient Boosting had the highest diagnostic value (test data, area under the receiver operating curve 0.980). In the diagnostic algorithms for the subcategories using eXtreme Gradient Boosting had a high predictive value (test data, area under the receiver operating curve, acute ischemic stroke with/without large vessel occlusions 0.898/0.882, intracranial hemorrhage 0.866, subarachnoid hemorrhage 0.926). Prehospital diagnostic algorithms using machine learning had high predictive value for strokes and their subcategories.
The effectiveness of various gargle formulations and salt water against SARS-CoV-2
Authors: Tiong Vunjia , Hassandarvish Pouya , Bakar Sazaly Abu , Mohamed Nurul Azmawati , Wan Sulaiman Wan Shahida , Baharom Nizam , Abdul Samad Farishah Nur , Isahak Ilina 
Published: October 2021

AbstractThe COVID-19 is difficult to contain due to its high transmissibility rate and a long incubation period of 5 to 14 days. Moreover, more than half of the infected patients were young and asymptomatic. Virus transmission through asymptomatic patients is a major challenge to disease containment. Due to limited treatment options, preventive measures play major role in controlling the disease spread. Gargling with antiseptic formulation may have potential role in eliminating the virus in the throat. Four commercially available mouthwash/gargle formulations were tested for virucidal activity against SARS-CoV-2 in both clean (0.3 g/l BSA) and dirty (0.3 g/l BSA + 3 mL/L human erythrocytes) conditions at time points 30 and 60 s. The virus was isolated and propagated in Vero E6 cells. The cytotoxicity of the products to the Vero E6 was evaluated by kill time assay based on the European Standard EN14476:2013/FprA1:2015 protocol. Virus titres were calculated as 50% tissue culture infectious dose (TCID50/mL) using the Spearman-Karber method. A reduction in virus titer of 4 log10 corresponds to an inactivation of ≥ 99.99%. Formulations with cetylperidinium chloride, chlorhexidine and hexitidine achieved > 4 log10 reduction in viral titres when exposed within 30 s under both clean and dirty conditions. Thymol formulations achieved only 0.5 log10 reduction in viral titres. In addition, salt water was not proven effective. Gargle formulations with cetylperidinium chloride, chlorhexidine and hexetidine have great potential in reducing SAR-CoV-2 at the source of entry into the body, thus minimizing risk of transmission of COVID-19.
Resilience of spider communities affected by a range of silvicultural treatments in a temperate deciduous forest stand
Authors: Samu Ferenc , Elek Zoltán , Kovács Bence , Fülöp Dávid , Botos Erika , Schmera Dénes , Aszalós Réka , Bidló András , Németh Csaba , Sass Vivien , Tinya Flóra , Ódor Péter 
Published: October 2021

AbstractTo secure the ecosystem services forests provide, it is important to understand how different management practices impact various components of these ecosystems. We aimed to uncover how silvicultural treatments affected the ground-dwelling spider communities during the first five years of a forest ecological experiment. In an oak-hornbeam forest stand, five treatments, belonging to clear-cutting, shelterwood and continuous cover forestry systems, were implemented using randomised complete block design. Spiders were sampled by pitfall traps, and detailed vegetation, soil and microclimate data were collected throughout the experiment. In the treatment plots spider abundance and species richness increased marginally. Species composition changes were more pronounced and treatment specific, initially diverging from the control plots, but becoming more similar again by the fifth year. These changes were correlated mostly to treatment-related light intensity and humidity gradients. The patchy implementation of the treatments induced modest increase in both gamma and beta diversity of spiders in the stand. Overall, spiders gave a prompt and species specific response to treatments that was by the fifth year showing signs of relatively quick recovery to pre-treatment state. At the present fine scale of implementation the magnitude of changes was not different among forestry treatments, irrespective of their severity.
Resolution-enhanced OCT and expanded framework of information capacity and resolution in coherent imaging
Authors: Leartprapun Nichaluk , Adie Steven G. 
Published: October 2021

AbstractSpatial resolution in conventional optical microscopy has traditionally been treated as a fixed parameter of the optical system. Here, we present an approach to enhance transverse resolution in beam-scanned optical coherence tomography (OCT) beyond its aberration-free resolution limit, without any modification to the optical system. Based on the theorem of invariance of information capacity, resolution-enhanced (RE)-OCT navigates the exchange of information between resolution and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) by exploiting efficient noise suppression via coherent averaging and a simple computational bandwidth expansion procedure. We demonstrate a resolution enhancement of 1.5 × relative to the aberration-free limit while maintaining comparable SNR in silicone phantom. We show that RE-OCT can significantly enhance the visualization of fine microstructural features in collagen gel and ex vivo mouse brain. Beyond RE-OCT, our analysis in the spatial-frequency domain leads to an expanded framework of information capacity and resolution in coherent imaging that contributes new implications to the theory of coherent imaging. RE-OCT can be readily implemented on most OCT systems worldwide, immediately unlocking information that is beyond their current imaging capabilities, and so has the potential for widespread impact in the numerous areas in which OCT is utilized, including the basic sciences and translational medicine.