bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Are COVID-19 models blind to the social determinants of health? A systematic review protocol
Authors: John-Baptiste Ava , Moulin Marc S , Ali Shehzad 
Published: July 2021

IntroductionInfectious disease models are important tools to inform public health policy decisions. These models are primarily based on an average population approach and often ignore the role of social determinants in predicting the course of a pandemic and the impact of policy interventions. Ignoring social determinants in models may cause or exacerbate inequalities. This limitation has not been previously explored in the context of the current pandemic, where COVID-19 has been found to disproportionately affect marginalised racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups. Therefore, our primary goal is to identify the extent to which COVID-19 models incorporate the social determinants of health in predicting outcomes of the pandemic.Methods and analysisWe will search MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library and Web of Science databases from December 2019 to August 2020. We will assess all infectious disease modelling studies for inclusion of social factors that meet the following criteria: (a) focused on human spread of SARS-CoV-2; (b) modelling studies; (c) interventional or non-interventional studies; and (d) focused on one of the following outcomes: COVID-19-related outcomes (eg, cases, deaths), non-COVID-19-related outcomes (ie, impacts of the pandemic or control policies on other health conditions or health services), or impact of the pandemic or control policies on economic outcomes. Data will only be extracted from models incorporating social factors. We will report the percentage of models that considered social factors, indicate which social factors were considered, and describe how social factors were incorporated into the conceptualisation and implementation of the infectious disease models. The extracted data will also be used to create a narrative synthesis of the results.Ethics and disseminationEthics approval is not required as only secondary data will be collected. The results of this systematic review will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publication and conference proceedings.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42020207706.
Study protocol for a national cohort of adults focused on respiratory health: the American Lung Association Lung Health Cohort (ALA-LHC) Study
Authors: Reyfman Paul A , Sugar Elizabeth , Hazucha Heather , Hixon Jenny , Reynolds Curt , Bose Sonali , Dransfield Mark T , Han MeiLan K , Estepar Raul San Jose , Rice Mary B , Washko George R , Carnethon Mercedes , Kalhan Ravi 
Published: July 2021

IntroductionThe current framework for investigating respiratory diseases is based on defining lung health as the absence of lung disease. In order to develop a comprehensive approach to prevent the development of lung disease, there is a need to evaluate the full spectrum of lung health spanning from ideal to impaired lung health. The American Lung Association (ALA) Lung Health Cohort is a new, population-based, cohort study focused primarily on characterising lung health in members of the millennial generation without diagnosed severe respiratory disease. Participants will be enrolled for the baseline study visit starting in 2021, and funding will be sought to support future study exams as part of a longitudinal cohort study. This study will be crucial for developing a novel paradigm of lung health throughout the adult life course.Methods and analysisThis study will leverage the existing infrastructure of the ALA Airways Clinical Research Centers network to enrol 4000 participants between ages 25 and 35 years old at 39 sites across the USA between April 2021 and December 2024. Study procedures will include physical assessment, spirometry, chest CT scan, accelerometry and collection of nasal epithelial lining fluid, nasal epithelial cells, blood and urine. Participants will complete questionnaires about their sociodemographic characteristics, home address histories and exposures, work history and exposure, medical histories, lung health and health behaviours and activity.Ethics and disseminationThe study was approved by the Johns Hopkins Medicine Institutional Review Board. Findings will be disseminated to the scientific community through peer-reviewed journals and at professional conferences. The lay public will receive scientific findings directly through the ALA infrastructure including the official public website. Deidentified datasets will be deposited to BioLINCC, and deidentified biospecimens may be made available to qualified investigators along with a limited-use datasets.
Timing of steroid initiation and response rates to immune checkpoint inhibitors in metastatic cancer
Authors: Maslov Diana V , Tawagi Karine , KC Madhav , Simenson Victoria , Yuan Helen , Parent Cameron , Bamnolker Adi , Goel Richa , Blake Zoe , Matrana Marc R , Johnson Daniel H 
Published: July 2021

BackgroundCorticosteroids (CS) are the mainstay of immune-related adverse effect (irAE) management, as well as for other indications in cancer treatment. Previous studies evaluating whether CS affect immune checkpoint inhibitor (CPI) efficacy compared patients receiving CS versus no CS. However, there is a paucity of clinical data evaluating the timing of concomitant CS and CPI efficacy.MethodsWe retrospectively collected data from patients who received CS during CPI treatment at a single institution. Patients were in two cohorts based on timing of initiation of CS (≥2 months vs <2 months after initiating CPI). Patient characteristics, irAEs, cancer type, treatment type, treatment response/progression per RECIST V.1.1, and survival data were collected. Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazard regression methods estimated HRs for the primary endpoint of progression-free survival (PFS) along with overall survival (OS).ResultsWe identified 247 patients with metastatic cancer who received CS concurrently with CPIs. The median time on CS was 1.8 months. After adjusting for treatment type, tumor type, brain metastases, and irAEs, those treated with CS ≥2 months after starting CPI had a statistically significant longer PFS (HR=0.30, p<0.001), and OS (HR 0.34, p<0.0001) than those who received CS <2 months after starting CPI. Objective response rate (ORR) for patients on CS ≥2 months was 39.8%, versus ORR for patients <2 months was 14.7% (p value =<0.001)ConclusionOur results suggest that early use of CS during CPI treatment significantly hinders CPI efficacy. This data needs to be validated prospectively. Future studies should focus on the immune mechanisms by which CSs affect T-cell function early in the CPI treatment course.
Co-delivery of novel bispecific and trispecific engagers by an amplicon vector augments the therapeutic effect of an HSV-based oncolytic virotherapy
Authors: Ravirala Divya , Mistretta Brandon , Gunaratne Preethi H , Pei Guangsheng , Zhao Zhongming , Zhang Xiaoliu 
Published: July 2021

BackgroundAlthough oncolytic virotherapy has shown substantial promises as a new treatment modality for many malignancies, further improvement on its therapeutic efficacy will likely bring more clinical benefits. One plausible way of enhancing the therapeutic effect of virotherapy is to enable it with the ability to concurrently engage the infiltrating immune cells to provide additional antitumor mechanisms. Here, we report the construction and evaluation of two novel chimeric molecules (bispecific chimeric engager proteins, BiCEP and trispecific chimeric engager protein, TriCEP) that can engage both natural killer (NK) and T cells with tumor cells for enhanced antitumor activities.MethodsBiCEP was constructed by linking orthopoxvirus major histocompatibility complex class I-like protein, which can selectively bind to NKG2D with a high affinity to a mutant form of epidermal growth factor (EGF) that can strongly bind to EGF receptor. TriCEP is similarly constructed except that it also contains a modified form of interleukin-2 that can only function as a tethered form. As NKG2D is expressed on both NK and CD8+ T cells, both of which can thus be engaged by BiCEP and TriCEP.ResultsBoth BiCEP and TriCEP showed the ability to engage NK and T cells to kill tumor cells in vitro. Coadministration of BiCEP and TriCEP with an oncolytic herpes simplex virus enhanced the overall antitumor effect. Furthermore, single-cell RNA sequencing analysis revealed that TriCEP not only engaged NK and T cells to kill tumor cells, it also promotes the infiltration and activation of these important immune cells.ConclusionsThese novel chimeric molecules exploit the ability of the oncolytic virotherapy in altering the tumor microenvironment with increased infiltration of important immune cells such as NK and T cells for cancer immunotherapy. The ability of BiCEP and TriCEP to engage both NK and T cells makes them an ideal choice for arming an oncolytic virotherapy.
Morphological changes and bioaccumulation in response to cadmium exposure in Morchella spongiola, a fungus with potential for detoxification
Authors: Xu Hongyan , Xie Zhanling , Guo Jing , Men Qing 
Published: July 2021

Morchella is a genus of edible fungi with strong resistance to cadmium (Cd) and the ability to accumulate it in its mycelia. However, the mechanisms underlying Cd resistance in Morchella remain unknown. In the present study, morphological and physiological responses to Cd were evaluated in the mycelia of Morchella spongiola. Variations in hyphal micromorphology, including twisting, folding, and kinking, in mycelia exposed to different Cd concentrations (0.15, 0.9, 1.5, 2.4, 5.0 mg/L) were observed using scanning electron microscopy. Deposition of Cd precipitates on cell surfaces (at Cd concentrations >2.4 mg/L) was shown by SEM-EDS. Transmission electron microscopy analysis of cells exposed to different concentrations of Cd revealed the loss of intracellular structures and the localization of Cd depositions inside and outside the cell. FTIR analysis showed that functional groups such as C=O, –OH, –NH, and –CH could be responsible for Cd binding on the cell surface of M. spongiola. In addition, intracellular accumulation was observed in cultures at low Cd concentrations (<0.9 mg/L), while extracellular adsorption occurred at higher concentrations. These results provide valuable information on the Cd tolerance mechanism in M. spongiola and provide a robust foundation for further studies on fungal bioremediation strategies.
Iterative treatment of the Coulomb potential in laser–atom interactions
Authors: Piraux B. , Galstyan A. , Popov Yu. V. , Mota-Furtado F. , O’Mahony P. F. 
Published: July 2021

Abstract
We discuss a Faddeev-like iterative approach which allows one to consistently include the Coulomb potential in strong field phenomena through a Born series. To assess the validity of this approach, we calculate the probability of excitation to given states of atomic hydrogen exposed to radiation pulses of various frequencies, durations and peak intensities and compare our results with those obtained by solving numerically the time-dependent Schrödinger equation. We obtain excellent agreement for a range of frequencies. As the frequency decreases, many high-order terms have to be included in order to get convergence of the Born series. Our results indicate that this Faddeev-like method is particularly suitable to treat the interaction of atoms with attosecond pulses. For the lowest frequency considered ($$\omega = 0.057$$

ω
=
0.057

a.u.), we study in more detail the re-collision-based frustrated tunneling process in atomic hydrogen and compare our results with those existing in the literature.

Graphic Abstract
DFT investigations on electronic and optical properties of (In, N, In–N) doped graphene
Authors: Zhang Wenchao , Guan Feng , Zhao Kuo , Jiang Min , He Xunjun , Wang Yi 
Published: July 2021

The satisfactory performances of electronic structures, electronic and optical properties based on pure graphene and different components graphene of doping N, doping In and doping N–In were acquired by First-principle calculations. The pure graphene is an excellent semiconductor material with the zero gap. However, when graphene is doped with N, In and N–In, the gaps of energy will be opened. In the results of three different doping, the gap values of N, In and N–In are 0.2, 0.37 and 0.51 eV, respectively. In N-doped graphene, as the electrons leave the carbon, electrons are trapped by the nitrogen. On the contrary, electrons leave the indium atom and are picked up by the carbon for the In-doped graphene. When graphene is doped with N–In, more electrons (0.61 e) will be lost to nitrogen atoms compared with N-doped graphene (0.27 e) and more electrons (1.97 e) will be obtained to indium atoms compared with In-doped graphene (1.93 eV). After N, In, N–In doping, the overall strength of graphene absorption peaks will be weakened, which is more obvious for low-frequency peaks of graphene-doped with N and In. Pure graphene and N–In-doped graphene have similar absorption curves, but the difference between them is that the peak value of low-frequency absorption peak of N–In-doped graphene will be decreased compared with pure graphene. It is a satisfactory result to fully demonstrate that the band gap of graphene-doped system can be better regulated by the addition of nitrogen and indium atoms.
Compact and High-Speed Hsiao-Based SEC-DED Codec for Cache Memory
Authors: Samanta Jagannath , Kewat Akash 
Published: July 2021

Recently, there have been continuous rising interests of multi-bit error correction codes (ECCs) for protecting memory cells from soft errors which may also enhance the reliability of memory systems. The single error correction and double error detection (SEC-DED) codes are generally employed in many high-speed memory systems. In this paper, Hsiao-based SEC-DED codes are optimized based on two proposed optimization algorithms employed in parity check matrix and error correction logic. Theoretical area complexity of SEC-DED codecs require maximum 49.29%, 18.64% and 49.21% lesser compared to the Hsiao codes [M. Y. Hsiao, A class of optimal minimum odd-weight-column SEC-DED codes, IBM J. Res. Dev. 14 (1970) 395–401], Reviriego et al. codes [P. Reviriego, S. Pontarelli, J. A. Maestro and M. Ottavi, A method to construct low delay single error correction codes for protecting data bits only, IEEE Trans. Comput.-Aided Des. Integr. Circuits Syst. 32 (2013) 479–483] and Liu et al. codes [S. Liu, P. Reviriego, L. Xiao and J. A. Maestro, A method to recover critical bits under a double error in SEC-DED protected memories, Microelectron. Reliab. 73 (2017) 92–96], respectively. Proposed codec is designed and implemented both in field programmable gate array (FPGA) and ASIC platforms. The synthesized SEC-DED codecs need 31.14% lesser LUTs than the original Hsiao code. Optimized codec is faster than the existing related codec without affecting its power consumption. These compact and faster SEC-DED codecs are employed in cache memory to enhance the reliability.
Dependence of Ice Microphysical Properties On Environmental Parameters: Results from HAIC-HIWC Cayenne Field Campaign
Authors: Hu Yachao , McFarquhar Greg M. , Wu Wei , Huang Yongjie , Schwarzenboeck Alfons , Protat Alain , Korolev Alexei , Rauber Robert M , Wang Hongqing 
Published: July 2021

AbstractHigh Ice Water Content (HIWC) regions above tropical mesoscale convective systems are investigated using data from the second collaboration of the High Altitude Ice Crystals and High Ice Water Content projects (HAIC-HIWC) based in Cayenne, French Guiana in 2015. Observations from in-situ cloud probes on the French Falcon 20 determine the microphysical and thermodynamic properties of such regions. Data from a 2-D stereo probe and precipitation imaging probe show how statistical distributions of ice crystal mass median diameter (MMD), ice water content (IWC), and total number concentration (Nt) for particles with maximum dimension (Dmax) > 55 μm vary with environmental conditions, temperature (T), and convective properties such as vertical velocity (w), MCS age, distance away from convective peak (L), and surface characteristics.IWCis significantly correlated withw, whereasMMDdecreases andNtincreases with decreasingTconsistent with aggregation, sedimentation and vapor deposition processes at lower altitudes.MMDtypically increases withIWCwhenIWC< 0.5 g m-3, but decreases withIWCwhenIWC> 0.5 g m-3for -15 °C ≤T≤ -5 °C. Trends also depend on environmental conditions, such as presence of convective updrafts that are the ice crystal source,MMDbeing larger in older MCSs consistent with aggregation and less injection of small crystals into anvils, andIWCs decrease with increasingLat lowerT. The relationship betweenIWCandMMDdepends on environmental conditions, with correlations decreasing with decreasingT. The strength of correlation betweenIWCandNtincreases asTdecreases.
Seasonal mode-1 M2 internal tides from satellite altimetry
Authors: Zhao Zhongxiang 
Published: July 2021

AbstractThe seasonal variability of mode-1 M2 internal tides is investigated using 25 years of multi-satellite altimeter data from 1992–2017. Four seasonal internal tide models are constructed using seasonally-subsetted altimeter data and World Ocean Atlas seasonal climatologies. This work is made possible by a newly-developed mapping procedure that can significantly suppress model errors. Seasonal-mean and seasonally-variable internal tide models are derived from the four seasonal models. All the models are inter-compared and evaluated using independent CryoSat-2 data. The seasonal-mean model is overall the best model because averaging the four seasonal models further reduces model errors. The seasonally-variable models are better in the tropical zone, where large seasonal signals may overcome model errors. Each seasonal model works best in its own season and worst in its opposite season. These internal tide models reveal that mode-1 M2 internal tides are subject to significant seasonal variability and their seasonal variations are a function of location. Large seasonal variations dominantly occur in the tropical zone, where the World Ocean Atlas climatology shows strong seasonal variations in ocean stratification. Seasonal phase variations are obtained from the directionally-decomposed internal tide components. They are dominantly ±60° at the equator and up to ±120° in the central Arabian Sea. Incoherence caused by seasonal phase variations is usually <10%, but may be up to 40–50% in the tropical zone.
Validation of X-band multi-parameter phased array weather radar by comparing data from Doppler weather radar with a parabolic dish antenna
Authors: Asai Keitaro , Kikuchi Hiroshi , Ushio Tomoo , Hobara Yasuhide 
Published: July 2021

AbstractThe multi-parameter phased array weather radar (MP-PAWR) was the first dual-polarized phased array weather radar to be commissioned in Japan (2017). When conducting a volume scan, the MP-PAWR respectively uses electronic and mechanical scanning in the elevation and azimuth angles to achieve rapid scanning and high-density observations. Although the effectiveness of the MP-PAWR has been demonstrated in case studies, its observation accuracy is yet to be quantitatively analyzed. Therefore, this study compared data of MP-PAWR with that of an operational dual-polarized weather radar with a parabolic-type antenna (X-MP radar) using 2,347,097 data samples obtained over 14 h. The results showed that the observation accuracy of the MP-PAWR was approximately the same as that of the X-MP radar at low elevations. The correlations of observational parameters (radar reflectivity factor, differential resistivity, specific differential phase, and Doppler velocity) between the MP-PAWR and X-MP radar ranged from 0.77–0.99 when MP-PAWR data were recorded within 15 s of the X-MP radar observations. The correlation between the observational parameters of the two radars decreased as the observation time difference between the X-MP radar and MP-PAWR increased. In particular, the correlation coefficients between the specific differential phase and the differential reflectivity were considerably lower than the single-polarization parameter at observation time difference of 240–300 s. By providing high-frequency and high-density dual-polarization observations, the MP-PAWR can contribute to rainfall prediction in Japan and reduce the damage caused by localized, rapidly developing cumulonimbus clouds.
Fast Storm Surge Ensemble Prediction using Searching Optimization of a Numerical Scenario Database
Authors: XIE YANSHUANG , SHANG SHAOPING , CHEN JINQUAN , ZHANG FENG , HE ZHIGAN , WEI GUOMEI , WU JINYU , ZHU BENLU , ZENG YINDONG 
Published: July 2021

AbstractAccurate storm surge forecasts provided rapidly could support timely decision-making with consideration of tropical cyclone (TC) forecasting error. This study developed a fast storm surge ensemble prediction method based on TC track probability forecasting and searching optimization of a numerical scenario database (SONSD). In a case study of the Fujian Province coast (China), a storm surge scenario database was established using numerical simulations generated by 93,150 hypothetical TCs. In a GIS-based visualization system, a single surge forecast representing 2562 distinct typhoon tracks and the occurrence probability of overflow of seawalls along the coast could be achieved in 1–2 min. Application to the cases of Typhoon Soudelor (2015) and Typhoon Maria (2018) demonstrated that the proposed method is feasible and effective. Storm surge calculated by SONSD had excellent agreement with numerical model results (i.e., mean MAE/RMSE: 7.1/10.7 cm, correlation coefficient: >0.9). Tide prediction also performed well with MAE/RMSE of 9.7/11.6 cm versus the harmonic tide, and MAE/RMSE of phase prediction for all high waters of 0.25/0.31 h versus observations. The predicted high-water level was satisfactory (MAE of 10.8 cm versus observations) when the forecasted and actual positions of the typhoon were close. When the forecasted typhoon position error was large, the ensemble surge prediction effectively reduced prediction error (i.e., the negative bias of −58.5 cm reduced to −5.2 cm versus observations), which helped avoid missed alert warnings. The proposed method could be applied in other regions to provide rapid and accurate decision-making support for government departments.