bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Natural variants in SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein pinpoint structural and functional hotspots with implications for prophylaxis and therapeutic strategies
Authors: Pokhrel Suman , Kraemer Benjamin R. , Burkholz Scott , Mochly-Rosen Daria 
Published: June 2021

AbstractIn December 2019, a novel coronavirus, termed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was identified as the cause of pneumonia with severe respiratory distress and outbreaks in Wuhan, China. The rapid and global spread of SARS-CoV-2 resulted in the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Earlier during the pandemic, there were limited genetic viral variations. As millions of people became infected, multiple single amino acid substitutions emerged. Many of these substitutions have no consequences. However, some of the new variants show a greater infection rate, more severe disease, and reduced sensitivity to current prophylaxes and treatments. Of particular importance in SARS-CoV-2 transmission are mutations that occur in the Spike (S) protein, the protein on the viral outer envelope that binds to the human angiotensin-converting enzyme receptor (hACE2). Here, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of 441,168 individual virus sequences isolated from humans throughout the world. From the individual sequences, we identified 3540 unique amino acid substitutions in the S protein. Analysis of these different variants in the S protein pinpointed important functional and structural sites in the protein. This information may guide the development of effective vaccines and therapeutics to help arrest the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Integrated network analysis identifying potential novel drug candidates and targets for Parkinson's disease
Authors: Quan Pusheng , Wang Kai , Yan Shi , Wen Shirong , Wei Chengqun , Zhang Xinyu , Cao Jingwei , Yao Lifen 
Published: June 2021

AbstractThis study aimed to identify potential novel drug candidates and targets for Parkinson’s disease. First, 970 genes that have been reported to be related to PD were collected from five databases, and functional enrichment analysis of these genes was conducted to investigate their potential mechanisms. Then, we collected drugs and related targets from DrugBank, narrowed the list by proximity scores and Inverted Gene Set Enrichment analysis of drug targets, and identified potential drug candidates for PD treatment. Finally, we compared the expression distribution of the candidate drug-target genes between the PD group and the control group in the public dataset with the largest sample size (GSE99039) in Gene Expression Omnibus. Ten drugs with an FDR < 0.1 and their corresponding targets were identified. Some target genes of the ten drugs significantly overlapped with PD-related genes or already known therapeutic targets for PD. Nine differentially expressed drug-target genes with p < 0.05 were screened. This work will facilitate further research into the possible efficacy of new drugs for PD and will provide valuable clues for drug design.
A meta-analysis of ozone effect on tooth bleaching
Authors: Dietrich Lia , de Assis Costa Marcelo Dias Moreira , Blumenberg Cauane , Nascimento Gustavo G. , Paranhos Luiz Renato , da Silva Gisele Rodrigues 
Published: June 2021

AbstractThis systematic review assessed the effectiveness of ozone (O3) in the color change of in-office tooth bleaching in vital teeth (TB) and the sensitivity control. Only randomized controlled clinical trials were included. Seven databases were used as primary search sources, and three additional sources were searched to capture the "grey literature" partially. The JBI tool was used to assess the risk of bias. TB was assessed using the ΔELab color change metric comparing tooth color pre- and post-bleaching. We meta-analyzed the ΔELab estimates per method and calculated the absolute standardized mean difference using random-effect models. The GRADE approach assessed the certainty of the evidence. The ΔELab estimates ranged from 1.28 when the O3 was used alone to 6.93 when combined with hydrogen peroxide (HP). Two studies compared O3 and HP alone, but their TB was similar (SMD = − 0.02; 95%CI: − 0.54; 0.49). The bleaching effectiveness for the combination of O3 + HP compared to HP was similar (SMD = 0.38; 95%CI: − 0.04; 0.81). Thus, based on the available literature, our findings suggest that O3 is not superior to the conventional technique using HP on the change of tooth color. The O3 did not present sensitivity when used alone. When O3 was used in combination with HP, patients reported hypersensitivity only when O3 was applied before HP, i.e., no sensitivity was perceived when O3 was applied after HP.
A specific phase of transcranial alternating current stimulation at the β frequency boosts repetitive paired-pulse TMS-induced plasticity
Authors: Nakazono Hisato , Ogata Katsuya , Takeda Akinori , Yamada Emi , Oka Shinichiro , Tobimatsu Shozo 
Published: June 2021

AbstractTranscranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) at 20 Hz (β) has been shown to modulate motor evoked potentials (MEPs) when paired with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in a phase-dependent manner. Repetitive paired-pulse TMS (rPPS) with I-wave periodicity (1.5 ms) induced short-lived facilitation of MEPs. We hypothesized that tACS would modulate the facilitatory effects of rPPS in a frequency- and phase-dependent manner. To test our hypothesis, we investigated the effects of combined tACS and rPPS. We applied rPPS in combination with peak or trough phase tACS at 10 Hz (α) or β, or sham tACS (rPPS alone). The facilitatory effects of rPPS in the sham condition were temporary and variable among participants. In the β tACS peak condition, significant increases in single-pulse MEPs persisted for over 30 min after the stimulation, and this effect was stable across participants. In contrast, β tACS in the trough condition did not modulate MEPs. Further, α tACS parameters did not affect single-pulse MEPs after the intervention. These results suggest that a rPPS-induced increase in trans-synaptic efficacy could be strengthened depending on the β tACS phase, and that this technique could produce long-lasting plasticity with respect to cortical excitability.
CGRP, adrenomedullin and adrenomedullin 2 display endogenous GPCR agonist bias in primary human cardiovascular cells
Authors: Clark Ashley J. , Mullooly Niamh , Safitri Dewi , Harris Matthew , de Vries Tessa , MaassenVanDenBrink Antoinette , Poyner David R. , Gianni Davide , Wigglesworth Mark , Ladds Graham 
Published: June 2021

AbstractAgonist bias occurs when different ligands produce distinct signalling outputs when acting at the same receptor. However, its physiological relevance is not always clear. Using primary human cells and gene editing techniques, we demonstrate endogenous agonist bias with physiological consequences for the calcitonin receptor-like receptor, CLR. By switching the receptor-activity modifying protein (RAMP) associated with CLR we can “re-route” the physiological pathways activated by endogenous agonists calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), adrenomedullin (AM) and adrenomedullin 2 (AM2). AM2 promotes calcium-mediated nitric oxide signalling whereas CGRP and AM show pro-proliferative effects in cardiovascular cells, thus providing a rationale for the expression of the three peptides. CLR-based agonist bias occurs naturally in human cells and has a fundamental purpose for its existence. We anticipate this will be a starting point for more studies into RAMP function in native environments and their importance in endogenous GPCR signalling.
TNF receptor agonists induce distinct receptor clusters to mediate differential agonistic activity
Authors: Yu Xiaojie , James Sonya , Felce James H. , Kellermayer Blanka , Johnston David A. , Chan H. T. Claude , Penfold Christine A. , Kim Jinny , Inzhelevskaya Tatyana , Mockridge C. Ian , Watanabe Yasunori , Crispin Max , French Ruth R. , Duriez Patrick J. , Douglas Leon R. , Glennie Martin J. , Cragg Mark S. 
Published: June 2021

AbstractMonoclonal antibodies (mAb) and natural ligands targeting costimulatory tumor necrosis factor receptors (TNFR) exhibit a wide range of agonistic activities and antitumor responses. The mechanisms underlying these differential agonistic activities remain poorly understood. Here, we employ a panel of experimental and clinically-relevant molecules targeting human CD40, 4-1BB and OX40 to examine this issue. Confocal and STORM microscopy reveal that strongly agonistic reagents induce clusters characterized by small area and high receptor density. Using antibody pairs differing only in isotype we show that hIgG2 confers significantly more receptor clustering than hIgG1 across all three receptors, explaining its greater agonistic activity, with receptor clustering shielding the receptor-agonist complex from further molecular access. Nevertheless, discrete receptor clustering patterns are observed with different hIgG2 mAb, with a unique rod-shaped assembly observed with the most agonistic mAb. These findings dispel the notion that larger receptor clusters elicit greater agonism, and instead point to receptor density and subsequent super-structure as key determinants.
Metabolic contrast agents produced from transported solid 13C-glucose hyperpolarized via dynamic nuclear polarization
Authors: Capozzi Andrea , Kilund Jan , Karlsson Magnus , Patel Saket , Pinon Arthur Cesar , Vibert François , Ouari Olivier , Lerche Mathilde H. , Ardenkjær-Larsen Jan Henrik 
Published: June 2021

AbstractMagnetic Resonance Imaging combined with hyperpolarized 13C-labelled metabolic contrast agents produced via dissolution Dynamic Nuclear Polarization can, non-invasively and in real-time, report on tissue specific aberrant metabolism. However, hyperpolarization equipment is expensive, technically demanding and needs to be installed on-site for the end-user. In this work, we provide a robust methodology that allows remote production of the hyperpolarized 13C-labelled metabolic contrast agents. The methodology, built on photo-induced thermally labile radicals, allows solid sample extraction from the hyperpolarization equipment and several hours’ lifetime of the 13C-labelled metabolic contrast agents at appropriate storage/transport conditions. Exemplified with [U-13C, d7]-D-glucose, we remotely produce hyperpolarized 13C-labelled metabolic contrast agents and generate above 10,000-fold liquid-state Magnetic Resonance signal enhancement at 9.4 T, keeping on-site only a simple dissolution device.
An efficient MAC protocol design for adaptive compressed sensing based underwater WSNs
Authors: Shang Nuonuo , Song Lei 
Published: June 2021

AbstractUnderwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) has become one of the most effective way for underwater exploitation and realtime sensing. Unfortunately, there are many challenges for the UWSNs to cope with, the energy limitation for the sensor nodes, the demand for short data latency and also the packets loss in wireless transmission. In order to solve the mentioned problems, the EMAC‐ACS protocol, an adaptive compressive sensing based efficient medium access control protocol is designed to maximise the bandwidth utilisation. First, a feedback compressive sensing structure is designed for sensor nodes to compress the sampling data. Second, a time divide multiplex access based superframe structure is designed to support the medium access control protocol. Third, considering the energy consumption minimisation, an optimisation problem is formulated to obtain the optimal time slots number and length. Fourth, considering the compression sensing method and packets loss, the slot allocation algorithm is designed to maximise the bandwidth utility. Finally, simulations show that the proposed method perform better than most of the state‐of‐art protocols and also a testbed is built up to shown that the battery life can be prolonged for 11%.
Experimental investigations using quadratic‐tripping characteristics based on alienation/coherence coefficients of voltage and current signals for synchronous generators protection
Authors: Mahmoud Ragab A. , Elwakil Ehab S. 
Published: June 2021

AbstractA protection scheme is proposed using alienation method derived from coherence model which is a backup protection method for the differential overcurrent protection of synchronous generators. This scheme which is realized by the computational technique based on the alienation coefficients estimated for generator voltage and current signals is considered to be mounted beside the main differential protection system, which operates in the cases that differential protection is unable to detect the internal faults. This novel protection algorithm operates by adjusting the alienation settings of the suggested relay that sends the trip signal to the three‐phase circuit breaker of the protected generator. In the proposed method, fault occurrences can be determined regardless of variations of terminal voltage and current in different working states of synchronous generator. This is done by designing new quadratic‐tripping characteristics based on alienation limits for the electrical signals. To demonstrate the proposed method, a motor‐synchronous generator set with built instrument transformers, for measuring voltage and current data at the generator terminals, are used. Extensive experimental investigations validate the functionality of this novel protection scheme under different abnormal, unbalance and operating conditions for the generator under test.
Effect of TiO2 coating on the surface condition and corona characteristics of positive DC conductors with particle matters
Authors: Xu Pei , Ma Yanxiang , Zhu Jie , Zhao Luxing , Shen Boyang , Bian Xingming 
Published: June 2021

AbstractPersistent severe smog and dust weather exists in many regions of China. Particles accumulate on the surface of high‐voltage transmission lines, which affects the surface morphology of the transmission line and induces corona discharge. This work mainly studies the influence of electric field and photocatalysis on the corona characteristics of transmission lines. In this work, plasma spraying is used to prepare a dense, smooth and excellent photocatalytic TiO2 coating on the surface of transmission wires. An electron microscope and a white light interference profilometer is used to study the surface condition of the samples. The variation in the surface condition of the samples is observed under different fouling, light time and electric field intensity. The corona characteristics of power transmission lines under different surface conditions are studied. The results show that light and applied electric field promote the photocatalytic effect of TiO2, which helps to decompose the contamination on the surface of power transmission wires and thus reduce the corona discharge of transmission lines. The increase in corona inception voltage reduces the corona current pulse repetition rate and the ion current density during corona discharge.
Integration of gradient guidance and edge enhancement into super‐resolution for small object detection in aerial images
Authors: Mu Jinzhen , Li Shuang , Liu Zongming , Zhou Yan 
Published: June 2021

AbstractDetecting small objects are difficult because of their poor‐quality appearance and small size, and such issues are especially pronounced for aerial images of great importance. To address the small object detection (SOD) problem, a united architecture that tries to upsample small objects into super‐resolved versions, achieving characteristics similar to those large objects and thus resulting in more discriminative detection is used. For this purpose, a new end‐to‐end multi‐task generative adversarial network (GAN) is proposed. In the architecture, the generator is a super‐resolution (SR) network, and the discriminator is a multi‐task network. In the generator, a gradient guide and an edge‐enhancement strategy are introduced to alleviate structural distortions. In the discriminator, a faster region‐based convolutional neural network (FRCNN) is incorporated for the task of object detection. Specifically, the discriminator outputs a distribution scalar to measure the realness. Then, each super‐resolved image passes through the discriminator with a realness distribution, classification scores, and bounding box regression offsets. Furthermore, the losses of the detection task are backpropagated into the generator during training rather than being optimized independently. Extensive experiments on the challenging cars overhead with context dataset (COWC), detectIon in optical remote sensing images (DIOR), vision meets drones (VisDrone), and dataset for object detection in aerial images (DOTA) demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in reconstructing structures while generating natural super‐resolved images and show the superiority of the proposed method in detecting small objects over state‐of‐the‐art detectors.
Part‐level attention networks for cross‐domain person re‐identification
Authors: Zhao Qun , Du Nisuo , Ouyang Zhi , Kang Ning , Liu Ziyan , Wang Xu , He Qing , Xu Yiling , Ge Shichun , Song Jingkuan 
Published: June 2021

AbstractPerson re‐identification (Re‐ID) is in significant demand for intelligent security and single or multiple‐target tracking. However, there are issues in the person Re‐ID tasks, such as sharp decline in cross‐data sets detection accuracy, poor generalization and cross‐domain ability of the model. This work mainly studies the generalization and adaptation of cross‐domain person Re‐ID models. Different from most existing methods for cross‐domain Re‐ID tasks, the authors use diversified spatial semantic feature in pixel‐level learning in the target domain to improve the generality and adaptability of the model. In the case that no information of the target domain is used during the model training, the trained model is directly tested on the data set of the target domain. It has proven effective to add the attention cascade module into the backbone network combining with the part‐level branch. The authors conducted extensive experiments based on the three data sets of Market‐1501, DukeMTMC‐ReID and MSMT17, resulting in both single‐domain and cross‐domain tests with an average improvement of Rank1 and mAP values of about 10% compared with Baseline through the authors' proposed method named Part‐Level Attention Network.
INS/GPS Sensor Fusion based on Adaptive Fuzzy EKF with Sensitivity to Disturbances
Authors: Sabzevari Danial , Chatraei Abbas 
Published: June 2021

AbstractThe estimation accuracy of the inertial navigation system integrated with the global positioning system (GPS) through multiple kinds of Kalman filters (KFs) has been widely considered. Since the classical KFs could not overcome environmental disturbances and noises, adaptive and robust structures are utilised in sensor fusion techniques. Here, different types of adaptive structures have been assumed. The fuzzy inference system benefits the adaption of the measurement covariance matrix, a scale factor employed to tune the process covariance matrix and the Chi‐square algorithm to detect and bound the disturbances. The estimation accuracy and robustness of the adaptive fuzzy extended Kalman filter (AFEKF) are compared with the unscented Kalman filter (UKF) and extended Kalman filter (EKF) structure in various scenarios involving position, velocity, attitude, accelerometer and gyroscope bias estimation errors. Likewise, in order to evaluate the AFEKF approach practically, an embedded electronic board is designed involving an ARM microcontroller, an inertial measurement unit sensor, and a GPS receiver, which was installed on a land vehicle. The results demonstrated the superiority of the AFEKF over the UKF and EKF in the case of lower estimation error and higher robustness against disturbances and outliers.
Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA)
Authors: Sureshkumar U. , Durkalec A. , Pollo A. , Bilicki M. , Loveday J. , Farrow D. J. , Holwerda B. W. , Hopkins A. M. , Liske J. , Pimbblet K. A. , Taylor E. N. , Wright A. H. 
Published: June 2021

Context. Galaxies are biased tracers of the underlying network of dark matter. The strength of this bias depends on various galaxy properties and on redshift. One of the methods used to study these dependences of the bias is measurement of galaxy clustering. Such studies are made using galaxy samples from various catalogues, which frequently bear their own problems related to sample selection methods. It is therefore crucial to understand how sample choice influences clustering measurements and which galaxy property is the most direct tracer of the galaxy environment.
Aims. We investigate how different galaxy properties, such as luminosities in the u, g, r, J, and K bands, stellar mass, star formation rate, and specific star formation rate, trace the environment in the local universe. We also study the effect of survey flux limits on galaxy clustering measurements.
Methods. We measure the two-point correlation function and marked correlation functions using the aforementioned properties as marks. We use a nearly stellar-mass-complete galaxy sample in the redshift range 0.1 < z < 0.16 from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey with a flux limit of r < 19.8. Further, we impose a brighter flux limit of r < 17.8 on our sample and repeated the measurements to study how this affects galaxy clustering analysis. We compare our results to measurements from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey with flux limits of r < 17.8 and r < 16.8.
Results. We show that the stellar mass is the most direct tracer of galaxy environment, the K-band luminosity being a good substitute, although such a proxy sample misses close pairs of evolved, red galaxies. We also show that the u-band luminosity can be a proxy to the star formation rate in the context of galaxy clustering. We observe an effect of the survey flux limit on clustering studies; samples with a higher flux limit (smaller magnitude) miss some information about close pairs of starburst galaxies.
Rapid Implementation of Remote Online Patient Portal Activation in a Children's Hospital during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Vuong Kim T. , Rungvivatjarus Tiranun , Garcia Isabel P. , Lewis Cindy , Miller Lisa , Kuelbs Cynthia L. 
Published: June 2021

AbstractBackground Patient portal access allows more patient engagement, yet portal usage is not universal. Telemedicine visits became critical when the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic limited in-office visits. Given physical distancing requirements and telemedicine platform integrated into the patient portal, our institution needed to rapidly enroll patients and their proxies remotely, including hospitalized patients, to minimize care disruptions.Objectives The study aimed to describe the rapid implementation of remote patient portal activation in a pediatric integrated delivery network during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, to increase the percentage of patients with active portal status upon discharge by 15% (absolute change) across inpatient units within 3 months.Methods A multidisciplinary taskforce utilized quality improvement tools to identify barriers to successful inpatient patient portal activation followed by rapid intervention cycles to effect change. Weekly progress was monitored on a portal activation dashboard.Results We created clinical decision support tools and training within 2 weeks. Active patient portal status upon hospital discharge increased from 44 to 66% within 12 weeks. Online patient portal conversion within 7 days after hospital discharge increased from 6.0 to 24%. Offer rate increased from 73 to 85% across all inpatient units.Conclusion We rapidly and effectively implemented a remote proxy portal activation process in the inpatient setting. Remote activation, training, clinical decision support, multidisciplinary involvement, and emphasis on the portal as integral to ongoing care allowed us to dramatically increase portal conversion. This experience may be informative for pediatric hospitals aiming to increase proxy portal enrollment and adult hospitals with medical decision-making proxies.