bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Detection of horizontal gene transfer in the genome of the choanoflagellate Salpingoeca rosetta
Authors: Matriano Danielle M. , Alegado Rosanna A. , Conaco Cecilia 
Published: March 2021

AbstractHorizontal gene transfer (HGT), the movement of heritable materials between distantly related organisms, is crucial in eukaryotic evolution. However, the scale of HGT in choanoflagellates, the closest unicellular relatives of metazoans, and its possible roles in the evolution of animal multicellularity remains unexplored. We identified at least 175 candidate HGTs in the genome of the colonial choanoflagellateSalpingoeca rosettausing sequence-based tests. The majority of these were orthologous to genes in bacterial and microalgal lineages, yet displayed genomic features consistent with the rest of theS. rosettagenome—evidence of ancient acquisition events. Putative functions include enzymes involved in amino acid and carbohydrate metabolism, cell signaling, and the synthesis of extracellular matrix components. Functions of candidate HGTs may have contributed to the ability of choanoflagellates to assimilate novel metabolites, thereby supporting adaptation, survival in diverse ecological niches, and response to external cues that are possibly critical in the evolution of multicellularity in choanoflagellates.
Optical coherence tomography features of the repair tissue following RPE tear and their correlation with visual outcomes
Authors: Romano Francesco , Parrulli Salvatore , Battaglia Parodi Maurizio , Lupidi Marco , Cereda Matteo , Staurenghi Giovanni , Invernizzi Alessandro 
Published: March 2021

AbstractTo assess the optical coherence tomography (OCT) features of the repair tissue after retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) tear in neovascular age-related macular degeneration. Retrospective, observational study. Medical and imaging records of patients that developed tears after starting anti-VEGF treatment and with at least 12 months of follow-up were reviewed. OCT reflectivity of the RPE-subretinal hyperreflective tissue (SHT) complex was measured at 6, 12 and 18 months (when available). Reflectivity of the adjacent unaffected RPE-Bruch’s membrane was taken as internal reference. Other variables: grade and rip occurrence (early/late); number of intravitreal injections; type of macular neovascularization; sub-macular hemorrhage (SMH) at onset. Forty-nine eyes (age: 76.1 ± 7.0 years; VA: 0.54 ± 0.27 LogMAR) were included. Thirty-eight eyes had OCT signs of healing during the follow-up, with 21 showing SMH at baseline. Final VA positively correlated with the number of injections and negatively correlated with the RPE-SHT reflectivity and the presence of SMH (p < 0.001). Reflectivity of the RPE-SHT complex was positively associated with time and SMH at baseline (p < 0.05). In our study, most eyes showed signs of tissue repair after RPE tear. The reflectivity of repair tissue, the SMH presence and the number of anti-VEGF injections appeared to be major predictors of visual outcomes.
Control of the nanosized defect network in superconducting thin films by target grain size
Authors: Aye Moe Moe , Rivasto Elmeri , Khan Mukarram Zaman , Rijckaert Hannes , Salojärvi Esko , Haalisto Christopher , Mäkilä Ermei , Palonen Heikki , Huhtinen Hannu , Van Driessche Isabel , Paturi Petriina 
Published: March 2021

AbstractA nanograined YBCO target, where a great number of grain boundaries, pores etc. exist, is shown to hold an alternative approach to future pulsed laser deposition based high-temperature superconductor thin film and coated conductor technologies. Although the nanograined material is introduced earlier, in this work, we comprehensively demonstrate the modified ablation process, together with unconventional nucleation and growth mechanisms that produces dramatically enhanced flux pinning properties. The results can be generalized to other complex magnetic oxides, where an increased number of defects are needed for modifying their magnetic and electrical properties, thus improving their usability in the future technological challenges.
Trial by trial EEG based BCI for distress versus non distress classification in individuals with ASD
Authors: Eldeeb Safaa , Susam Busra T. , Akcakaya Murat , Conner Caitlin M. , White Susan W. , Mazefsky Carla A. 
Published: March 2021

AbstractAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is often accompanied by impaired emotion regulation (ER). There has been increasing emphasis on developing evidence-based approaches to improve ER in ASD. Electroencephalography (EEG) has shown success in reducing ASD symptoms when used in neurofeedback-based interventions. Also, certain EEG components are associated with ER. Our overarching goal is to develop a technology that will use EEG to monitor real-time changes in ER and perform intervention based on these changes. As a first step, an EEG-based brain computer interface that is based on an Affective Posner task was developed to identify patterns associated with ER on a single trial basis, and EEG data collected from 21 individuals with ASD. Accordingly, our aim in this study is to investigate EEG features that could differentiate between distress and non-distress conditions. Specifically, we investigate if the EEG time-locked to the visual feedback presentation could be used to classify between WIN (non-distress) and LOSE (distress) conditions in a game with deception. Results showed that the extracted EEG features could differentiate between WIN and LOSE conditions (average accuracy of 81%), LOSE and rest-EEG conditions (average accuracy 94.8%), and WIN and rest-EEG conditions (average accuracy 94.9%).
Seroprevalence of hepatitis E virus in risk populations and blood donors in a referral hospital in the south of Brazil
Authors: Costa Marisa Boff , Gouvêa Michele Soares Gomes , Chuffi Samira , Dellavia Gustavo Hirata , Ornel Felipe , Von Diemen Lísia , Kessler Félix , Pinho João Renato Rebello , Álvares-da-Silva Mário Reis 
Published: March 2021

AbstractThe prevalence of anti-hepatitis E virus (HEV) antibodies has a high heterogeneity worldwide. South American data are still scarce. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of HEV in populations at risk in comparison to blood donors (BD). A cross-sectional study was carried out in adults of different risk populations including crack users (CK), residents in a low income area (LIA), cirrhotic (CIR) and liver transplant patients (LT) compared with BD. The WANTAI HEV ELISA test was used and real-time PCR (in-house for screening and ALTONA as confirmatory test) for HEV RNA screening. A total of 400 participants were included. Anti-HEV IgG was positive in 19.5% of the total sample, reaching the highest rate in the CIR group, 22.5%, followed by CK, LT, and LIA (20%, 18.7%, and 17.5%, respectively). The prevalence found in BD individuals was of 18.7% (p = NS). Anti-HEV IgM was positive in only 1.5% of the sample (6/400). No blood or stools samples were positive for HEV RNA. The seroprevalence reported is among the highest rates ever found in Brazil. Considering the intense diagnostic investigation, data show that HEV circulation is more common that might be expected in our country.
The role of c-Met and VEGFR2 in glioblastoma resistance to bevacizumab
Authors: Carvalho Bruno , Lopes José Manuel , Silva Roberto , Peixoto Joana , Leitão Dina , Soares Paula , Fernandes Ana Catarina , Linhares Paulo , Vaz Rui , Lima Jorge 
Published: March 2021

AbstractDismal prognosis of glioblastoma (GBM) prompts for the identification of response predictors and therapeutic resistance mechanisms of current therapies. The authors investigated the impact of c-Met, HGF, VEGFR2 expression and microvessel density (MVD) in GBM patients submitted to second-line chemotherapy with bevacizumab. Immunohistochemical expression of c-Met, HGF, VEGFR2, and MVD was assessed in tumor specimens of GBM patients treated with bevacizumab, after progression under temozolomide. Survival analysis was evaluated according to the expression of the aforementioned biomarkers. c-Met overexpression was associated with a time-to-progression (TTP) after bevacizumab of 3 months (95% CI, 1.5–4.5) compared with a TTP of 7 months (95% CI, 4.6–9.4) in patients with low or no expression of c-Met (p = 0.05). VEGFR2 expression was associated with a TTP after bevacizumab of 3 months (95% CI, 1.8–4.2) compared with a TTP of 7 months (95% CI, 5.7–8.3) in patients with no tumoral expression of VEGFR2 (p = 0.009). Concomitant c-Met/VEGFR2 overexpression was associated with worse overall survival (13 months) compared with concomitant c-Met/VEGFR2 negative expression (19 months; p = 0.025). Our data support the hypothesis that c-Met and VEGFR2 overexpression have a role in the development of glioblastoma early resistance and might predict poorer responses to anti-angiogenic therapies.
Factors associated with resolution of type-2 diabetes mellitus after sleeve gastrectomy in obese adults
Authors: Salman Ahmed Abdallah , Salman Mohamed Abdalla , Marie Mohamed A. , Rabiee Ahmed , Helmy Mona Youssry , Tourky Mohamed Sabry , Qassem Mohamed Gamal , Shaaban Hossam El-Din , Sarhan Mohamed D. 
Published: March 2021

AbstractMany bariatric procedures are more effective for improving type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) than conventional pharmacotherapy. The current research evaluated factors linked to complete and partial remission or improvement of T2DM after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG). The current prospective study included all diabetic patients who were submitted LSG between January 2015 and June 2018 and completed a 2-year follow-up period. Patients were assessed at baseline and 2 years after LSG. This work comprised of 226 diabetic cases. Two years after LSG, 86 patients (38.1%) achieved complete remission of DM, and 24 (10.6%) reached partial remission. Only 14 patients (6.2%) showed no change in their diabetic status. On univariate analysis, age ≤ 45 years, duration of diabetes ≤ 5 years, use of a single oral antidiabetic, HbA1c ≤ 6.5%, HOMA-IR ≤ 4.6, C-peptide > 2.72 ng/mL, and BMI ≤ 40 kg/m2 predicted complete remission. The independent predictors of complete remission were age ≤ 45 years, duration of diabetes ≤ 5 years, use of a single oral antidiabetic, HOMA-IR ≤ 4.6, and C-peptide > 2.72 ng/mL. A combined marker of young age, short duration of DM, and low HOMA-IR predicted complete remission with sensitivity 93% and specificity 82%. Independent predictors of complete remission of T2DM after LSG were younger age, shorter duration, single oral antidiabetic, lower HOMA-IR, and higher C-peptide.
Electronegative very-low-density lipoprotein induces brain inflammation and cognitive dysfunction in mice
Authors: Lin Ying-Shao , Liu Ching-Kuan , Lee Hsiang-Chun , Chou Mei-Chuan , Ke Liang-Yin , Chen Chu-Huang , Chen Shiou-Lan 
Published: March 2021

AbstractEpidemiologic studies have indicated that dyslipidemia may facilitate the progression of cognitive dysfunction. We previously showed that patients with metabolic syndrome (MetS) had significantly higher plasma levels of electronegative very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) than did healthy controls. However, the effects of electronegative-VLDL on the brain and cognitive function remain unclear. In this study, VLDL isolated from healthy volunteers (nVLDL) or patients with MetS (metVLDL) was administered to mice by means of tail vein injection. Cognitive function was assessed by using the Y maze test, and plasma and brain tissues were analyzed. We found that mice injected with metVLDL but not nVLDL exhibited significant hippocampus CA3 neuronal cell loss and cognitive dysfunction. In mice injected with nVLDL, we observed mild glial cell activation in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and hippocampus CA3. However, in mice injected with metVLDL, plasma and brain TNF-α and Aβ-42 levels and glial cell activation in the mPFC and whole hippocampus were higher than those in control mice. In conclusion, long-term exposure to metVLDL induced levels of TNF-α, Aβ-42, and glial cells in the brain, contributing to the progression of cognitive dysfunction. Our findings suggest that electronegative-VLDL levels may represent a new therapeutic target for cognitive dysfunction.
The relationship between rice consumption and glioma: a case–control study in adults
Authors: Shahrestani Maryam Aghababaie , Saneei Parvane , Shayanfar Mehdi , Mohammad-Shirazi Minoo , Sharifi Giuve , Sadeghi Omid , Esmaillzadeh Ahmad 
Published: March 2021

AbstractPrevious studies have shown the effect of refined grains on various cancers; however, data on the link between rice consumption and brain cancer are scarce. We aimed to investigate the relationship between rice consumption and glioma in Iranian adults. Current hospital-based case–control study was done in Tehran between 2009 and 2011. Cases were individuals with pathologically confirmed glioma in a maximally 1 month of the disease diagnosis (n = 128). Controls were individuals, aged between 20 and 75 years, who were hospitalized or were outpatients referred to other wards of the same hospital (n = 256). Cases and controls were frequently matched in terms of age and gender. Usual dietary intakes of participants, including rice consumption, during the preceding year were examined using a Block-format validated semi-quantitative 126-item food frequency questionnaire. Compared with participants in the lowest tertile of rice consumption (< 181 g/day), those in the highest tertile (≥ 279 g/day) had 2.47 times greater chance for having glioma (OR: 2.47, 95% CI 1.44–4.23). This relationship was also seen when potential confounders including demographic variables, energy and dietary intakes as well as body mass index were taking into account; such that individuals in the top tertile of rice consumption had 2.46 times greater odds of glioma compared with those in the bottom tertile (OR: 2.46, 95% CI 1.01–5.97). We found that rice consumption was positively associated with risk of glioma in adults. Further prospective studies are required to confirm this finding.
Radiofrequency remote control of thermolysin activity
Authors: Collins Christian B. , Riskowski Ryan A. , Ackerson Christopher J. 
Published: March 2021

AbstractThe majority of biological processes are regulated by enzymes, precise control over specific enzymes could create the potential for controlling cellular processes remotely. We show that the thermophilic enzyme thermolysin can be remotely activated in 17.76 MHz radiofrequency (RF) fields when covalently attached to 6.1 nm gold coated magnetite nanoparticles. Without raising the bulk solution temperature, we observe enzyme activity as if the solution was 16 ± 2 °C warmer in RF fields—an increase in enzymatic rate of 129 ± 8%. Kinetics studies show that the activity increase of the enzyme is consistent with the induced fit of a hot enzyme with cold substrate.
AptaNet as a deep learning approach for aptamer–protein interaction prediction
Authors: Emami Neda , Ferdousi Reza 
Published: March 2021

AbstractAptamers are short oligonucleotides (DNA/RNA) or peptide molecules that can selectively bind to their specific targets with high specificity and affinity. As a powerful new class of amino acid ligands, aptamers have high potentials in biosensing, therapeutic, and diagnostic fields. Here, we present AptaNet—a new deep neural network—to predict the aptamer–protein interaction pairs by integrating features derived from both aptamers and the target proteins. Aptamers were encoded by using two different strategies, including k-mer and reverse complement k-mer frequency. Amino acid composition (AAC) and pseudo amino acid composition (PseAAC) were applied to represent target information using 24 physicochemical and conformational properties of the proteins. To handle the imbalance problem in the data, we applied a neighborhood cleaning algorithm. The predictor was constructed based on a deep neural network, and optimal features were selected using the random forest algorithm. As a result, 99.79% accuracy was achieved for the training dataset, and 91.38% accuracy was obtained for the testing dataset. AptaNet achieved high performance on our constructed aptamer-protein benchmark dataset. The results indicate that AptaNet can help identify novel aptamer–protein interacting pairs and build more-efficient insights into the relationship between aptamers and proteins. Our benchmark dataset and the source codes for AptaNet are available in: https://github.com/nedaemami/AptaNet.
End‐to‐End Multi‐Domain and Multi‐Step Jamming Prediction in Wireless Communications
Authors: Su Zhe , Qi Nan , Jia Luliang , Chen Jiaxin , Liu Yijia , Sun Wen 
Published: March 2021

AbstractIn this letter, the problem of jamming data prediction in wireless communications is investigated. Both time and frequency domains are considered to construct the multi‐domain historical jamming data tensor. Besides, due to the perceiver's limited ability, false alarm data and missing detection data are considered. Two neural network prediction models are proposed to predict the jammers' future actions based on deep learning techniques. One is the multi‐variate long‐short‐term‐memory (multi‐variate LSTM) model, and the other is the 2‐D convolutional long‐short‐term‐memory model. Simulation results show that the proposed models have better prediction accuracy and robustness than the benchmark method.
Covert communications with channel inversion power control in uplink NOMA systems
Authors: Wang Maochun , Tu Jia , Wang Meng , Wang Yida , Shi Hui , Yang Weiwei 
Published: March 2021

AbstractCovert communications hide the very existence of wireless transmissions and thus can address privacy and security issues in non‐orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) systems. In this paper, we investigate covert communications in uplink NOMA systems with channel inversion power control (CIPC), where a public user's transmission is exploited to confuse a warden's detection on a covert user's communication behaviour. More precisely, the public link with CIPC causes the channel uncertainty of received signals at the warden. Specifically, the warden's detection error probability is derived and a guideline to make the optimal choice of CIPC parameters to obtain the maximum covert rate is proposed. The analysis and simulation results show that the covert rate is restricted by the interference between two users when the public user's CIPC parameter is relatively large.
Inertia emulation with incorporating the concept of virtual compounded DC machine and bidirectional DC–DC converter for DC microgrid in islanded mode
Authors: Pishbahar Hesam , Moradi CheshmehBeigi Hassan , Piri Yengijeh Navid , Bagheri Shokoofeh 
Published: March 2021

AbstractIndependence in energy generation, attention to environmental issues, limited fossil fuel sources, and easy access to renewable energy sources have led governments, industry, and engineering to use renewable energy sources for decades. Meanwhile, microgrids for residential, commercial, industrial, and military purposes are widely used using these resources. However, the use of these sources in microgrids is associated with the challenges of uncertainty and lack of inertia. Therefore, by using energy storage systems in DC microgrids, the mentioned challenges can be overcome by emulating inertia. The purpose of this paper is to present a virtual compounded DC machine (VCDCM). The governing equations of the compounded DC machine have been accurately studied and the desired characteristics of this machine have been used to emulate inertia through the control of the buck‐boost converter connected to the energy storage systems in the concept of VCDCM. Proposed scheme; in an islanded microgrid with maximum components and standards required; Simulated in the Simulink/MATLAB environment. The results obtained under different scenarios confirm the ability of the proposed scheme to stabilize the DC bus voltage. The magnitude of DC bus voltage deviation from the reference value when an error occurs has resulted in a significant reduction compared to conventional schemes.
Design and verification of an effective state‐of‐charge estimator for thermal energy storage
Authors: Morales Sandoval Daniel A. , De La Cruz Loredo Iván , Bastida Héctor , Badman Jordan J. R. , Ugalde‐Loo Carlos E. 
Published: March 2021

AbstractThermal energy storage (TES) is widely used in district heating and cooling systems (DHCS) to act as a buffer between the supply and demand schedules. The adequate control of charging and discharging modes of TES may improve the overall performance of a DHCS and, to this end, an effective regulation of its state‐of‐charge (SoC) is required. However, the calculation of SoC depends on the availability and accuracy of temperature measurements. A model‐based observer for the calculation of the SoC of water‐based TES tanks is presented. A dynamic model of a one‐dimensional stratified water tank is adopted to develop the observer. Its effectiveness is assessed through ‘model‐in‐the‐loop’ cosimulations, with the observer and the feedback control system being implemented in MATLAB/Simulink and a high‐fidelity water tank component available in Apros being used as the plant model. Simulation results considering three different system configurations demonstrate that the model‐based observer accurately estimates the temperature distribution within the tank, leading to an effective SoC computation and control—even in the case of sensor failure or upon limited sensor availability.
A time error correction method based on virtual power for parallel simulation of power system
Authors: Liu Keyan , Meng Xiaoli , Ye Xueshun , Gong Zhen , Kang Wei , Kang Zhongjian 
Published: March 2021

AbstractThe simulation of complex power grid adopts the method of model segmentation. The system is divided into two or more subsystems. Each subsystem is calculated and solved in different computing units. Because the simulation model runs on different hardware, the time synchronization between subsystems may bring errors and stability problems. In this paper, a time synchronization method based on virtual power is proposed. It is assumed that there is a virtual load composed of resistance and inductance between different simulation subsystems, and two identical voltage sources are set at both terminals of the virtual load. When there is no time error between the subsystems, the power consumed by the virtual load should be zero, otherwise virtual power will be generated. The virtual power is sent to the PI regulator as the error signal, and the output of the regulator is used as the time error correction signal of the subsystem until the virtual power is zero, so as to realize the clock synchronization between multiple computers. In this paper, the theoretical analysis and implementation method of this time synchronization scheme are given in detail, and the simulation results show that the method is correct.