bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Immunogenicity and protective efficacy of inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate, BBV152 in rhesus macaques
Authors: Yadav Pragya D. , Ella Raches , Kumar Sanjay , Patil Dilip R. , Mohandas Sreelekshmy , Shete Anita M. , Vadrevu Krishna M. , Bhati Gaurav , Sapkal Gajanan , Kaushal Himanshu , Patil Savita , Jain Rajlaxmi , Deshpande Gururaj , Gupta Nivedita , Agarwal Kshitij , Gokhale Mangesh , Mathapati Basavaraj , Metkari Siddhanath , Mote Chandrashekhar , Nyayanit Dimpal , Patil Deepak Y. , Sai Prasad B. S. , Suryawanshi Annasaheb , Kadam Manoj , Kumar Abhimanyu , Daigude Sachin , Gopale Sanjay , Majumdar Triparna , Mali Deepak , Sarkale Prasad , Baradkar Shreekant , Gawande Pranita , Joshi Yash , Fulari Sidharam , Dighe Hitesh , Sharma Sharda , Gunjikar Rashmi , Kumar Abhinendra , Kalele Kaumudi , Srinivas Vellimedu K. , Gangakhedkar Raman R. , Ella Krishna M. , Abraham Priya , Panda Samiran , Bhargava Balram 
Published: March 2021

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic is a global health crisis that poses a great challenge to the public health system of affected countries. Safe and effective vaccines are needed to overcome this crisis. Here, we develop and assess the protective efficacy and immunogenicity of an inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in rhesus macaques. Twenty macaques were divided into four groups of five animals each. One group was administered a placebo, while three groups were immunized with three different vaccine candidates of BBV152 at 0 and 14 days. All the macaques were challenged with SARS-CoV-2 fourteen days after the second dose. The protective response was observed with increasing SARS-CoV-2 specific IgG and neutralizing antibody titers from 3rd-week post-immunization. Viral clearance was observed from bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, nasal swab, throat swab and lung tissues at 7 days post-infection in the vaccinated groups. No evidence of pneumonia was observed by histopathological examination in vaccinated groups, unlike the placebo group which exhibited interstitial pneumonia and localization of viral antigen in the alveolar epithelium and macrophages by immunohistochemistry. This vaccine candidate BBV152 has completed Phase I/II (NCT04471519) clinical trials in India and is presently in phase III, data of this study substantiates the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of the vaccine candidates.
Complete biosynthesis of a sulfated chondroitin in Escherichia coli
Authors: Badri Abinaya , Williams Asher , Awofiranye Adeola , Datta Payel , Xia Ke , He Wenqin , Fraser Keith , Dordick Jonathan S. , Linhardt Robert J. , Koffas Mattheos A. G. 
Published: March 2021

AbstractSulfated glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are a class of important biologics that are currently manufactured by extraction from animal tissues. Although such methods are unsustainable and prone to contamination, animal-free production methods have not emerged as competitive alternatives due to complexities in scale-up, requirement for multiple stages and cost of co-factors and purification. Here, we demonstrate the development of single microbial cell factories capable of complete, one-step biosynthesis of chondroitin sulfate (CS), a type of GAG. We engineer E. coli to produce all three required components for CS production–chondroitin, sulfate donor and sulfotransferase. In this way, we achieve intracellular CS production of ~27 μg/g dry-cell-weight with about 96% of the disaccharides sulfated. We further explore four different factors that can affect the sulfation levels of this microbial product. Overall, this is a demonstration of simple, one-step microbial production of a sulfated GAG and marks an important step in the animal-free production of these molecules.
Graphene/MoS2/FeCoNi(OH)x and Graphene/MoS2/FeCoNiPx multilayer-stacked vertical nanosheets on carbon fibers for highly efficient overall water splitting
Authors: Ji Xixi , Lin Yanhong , Zeng Jie , Ren Zhonghua , Lin Zijia , Mu Yongbiao , Qiu Yejun , Yu Jie 
Published: March 2021

AbstractDevelopment of excellent and cheap electrocatalysts for water electrolysis is of great significance for application of hydrogen energy. Here, we show a highly efficient and stable oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalyst with multilayer-stacked hybrid structure, in which vertical graphene nanosheets (VGSs), MoS2 nanosheets, and layered FeCoNi hydroxides (FeCoNi(OH)x) are successively grown on carbon fibers (CF/VGSs/MoS2/FeCoNi(OH)x). The catalyst exhibits excellent OER performance with a low overpotential of 225 and 241 mV to attain 500 and 1000 mA cm−2 and small Tafel slope of 29.2 mV dec−1. Theoretical calculation indicates that compositing of FeCoNi(OH)x with MoS2 could generate favorable electronic structure and decrease the OER overpotential, promoting the electrocatalytic activity. An alkaline water electrolyzer is established using CF/VGSs/MoS2/FeCoNi(OH)x anode for overall water splitting, which generates a current density of 100 mA cm−2 at 1.59 V with excellent stability over 100 h. Our highly efficient catalysts have great prospect for water electrolysis.
Thalamic morphology predicts the onset of freezing of gait in Parkinson’s disease
Authors: D’Cruz Nicholas , Vervoort Griet , Chalavi Sima , Dijkstra Bauke W. , Gilat Moran , Nieuwboer Alice 
Published: March 2021

AbstractThe onset of freezing of gait (FOG) in Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a critical milestone, marked by a higher risk of falls and reduced quality of life. FOG is associated with alterations in subcortical neural circuits, yet no study has assessed whether subcortical morphology can predict the onset of clinical FOG. In this prospective multimodal neuroimaging cohort study, we performed vertex-based analysis of grey matter morphology in fifty-seven individuals with PD at study entry and two years later. We also explored the behavioral correlates and resting-state functional connectivity related to these local volume differences. At study entry, we found that freezers (N = 12) and persons who developed FOG during the course of the study (converters) (N = 9) showed local inflations in bilateral thalamus in contrast to persons who did not (non-converters) (N = 36). Longitudinally, converters (N = 7) also showed local inflation in the left thalamus, as compared to non-converters (N = 36). A model including sex, daily levodopa equivalent dose, and local thalamic inflation predicted conversion with good accuracy (AUC: 0.87, sensitivity: 88.9%, specificity: 77.8%). Exploratory analyses showed that local thalamic inflations were associated with larger medial thalamic sub-nuclei volumes and better cognitive performance. Resting-state analyses further revealed that converters had stronger thalamo-cortical coupling with limbic and cognitive regions pre-conversion, with a marked reduction in coupling over the two years. Finally, validation using the PPMI cohort suggested FOG-specific non-linear evolution of thalamic local volume. These findings provide markers of, and deeper insights into conversion to FOG, which may foster earlier intervention and better mobility for persons with PD.
Probable REM sleep behavior disorder is associated with longitudinal cortical thinning in Parkinson’s disease
Authors: Yoon Eun Jin , Monchi Oury 
Published: March 2021

AbstractREM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) has a poor prognostic implication in both motor and non-motor functions in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients. However, to the best of our knowledge no study to date investigated the longitudinal cerebral changes underlying RBD symptoms in PD. We performed the longitudinal study to investigate the association between probable RBD and cortical and subcortical changes in early, de novo PD patients. We studied 78 participants from the Parkinson’s Progression Marker Initiative who underwent structural MRI at baseline and after 2 years. The presence of probable RBD (pRBD) was evaluated using the RBD screening questionnaire. We compared the cross-sectional and longitudinal cortical thickness and subcortical volume changes, between PD patients with and without pRBD. At baseline, we found bilateral inferior temporal cortex thinning in the PD-pRBD group compared with the PD-noRBD group. Longitudinally, the PD-pRBD group revealed a significant increase in the rate of thinning in the left insula compared with the PD-noRBD group, and the increased thinning correlated with decreased cognitive performance. In subcortical volume analyses, the presence of pRBD was linked with volume decrease over time in the left caudate nucleus, pallidum and amygdala. The volume changes in the left caudate nucleus revealed correlations with global cognition. These results support the idea that RBD is an important marker of rapid progression in PD motor and non-motor symptoms and suggest that the atrophy in the left insula and caudate nucleus might be the underlying neurobiological mechanisms of the poorer prognosis in PD patients with RBD.
Rheumatoid arthritis decreases risk for Parkinson’s disease: a Mendelian randomization study
Authors: Li ChunYu , Ou RuWei , Shang HuiFang 
Published: March 2021

AbstractEpidemiological and clinical studies have suggested comorbidity between rheumatoid arthritis and Parkinson’s disease (PD), but whether there exists a causal association and the effect direction of rheumatoid arthritis on PD is controversial and elusive. To evaluate the causal relationship, we first estimated the genetic correlation between rheumatoid arthritis and PD, and then performed a two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis based on summary statistics from large genome-wide association studies of rheumatoid arthritis (N = 47,580) and PD (N = 482,703). We identified negative and significant correlation between rheumatoid arthritis and PD (genetic correlation: −0.10, P = 0.0033). Meanwhile, one standard deviation increase in rheumatoid arthritis risk was associated with a lower risk of PD (OR: 0.904, 95% CI: 0.866–0.943, P: 2.95E–06). The result was robust under all sensitivity analyses. Our results provide evidence supporting a protective role of rheumatoid arthritis on PD. A deeper understanding of the inflammation and immune response is likely to elucidate the potential pathogenesis of PD and identify therapeutic targets for PD.
Human moral decision-making through the lens of Parkinson’s disease
Authors: Ponsi Giorgia , Scattolin Marina , Villa Riccardo , Aglioti Salvatore Maria 
Published: March 2021

AbstractParkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the basal ganglia (BG) and thalamocortical circuitry. While defective motor control has long been considered the defining symptom of PD, mounting evidence indicates that the BG are fundamentally important for a multitude of cognitive, emotional, and motivational processes in addition to motor function. Here, we review alterations in moral decision-making in people with PD, specifically in the context of deceptive behavior. We report that PD patients exhibit two opposite behavioral patterns: hyper- and hypo-honesty. The hyper-honest subgroup engages in deception less often than matched controls, even when lying is associated with a monetary payoff. This behavioral pattern seems to be linked to dopaminergic hypo-activity, implying enhanced harm avoidance, risk aversion, non-impulsivity, and reduced reward sensitivity. On the contrary, the hypo-honest subgroup—often characterized by the additional diagnosis of impulse control disorders (ICDs) and dopamine dysregulation syndrome (DDS)—deceives more often than both PD patients without ICDs/DDS and controls. This behavioral pattern appears to be associated with dopaminergic hyperactivity, which underpins enhanced novelty-seeking, risk-proneness, impulsivity, and reward sensitivity. We posit that these two complementary behavioral patterns might be related to dysfunction of the dopaminergic reward system, leading to reduced or enhanced motivation to deceive. Only a few studies have directly investigated moral decision-making in PD and other neurodegenerative disorders affecting the BG, and further research on the causal role of subcortical structures in shaping moral behavior is needed.
Spin-induced negative thermal expansion and spin–phonon coupling in van der Waals material CrBr3
Authors: Kozlenko D. P. , Lis O. N. , Kichanov S. E. , Lukin E. V. , Belozerova N. M. , Savenko B. N. 
Published: March 2021

AbstractThe two-dimensional van der Waals (vdW) magnets retaining magnetic order in atomically thin limit demonstrate challenging physical phenomena and they are considered as prospective building blocks for construction of advanced spintronics and nanoelectronics devices. Here, we present experimental evidence for negative thermal expansion of lattice volume and vdW layers and strong spin–phonon coupling effects, caused by formation of the long-range ferromagnetic order in the vdW material CrBr3. The neutron and X-ray diffraction measurements revealed anomalous temperature variation of lattice parameters and interatomic distances and angles in the vicinity of Curie temperature (TC). A pronounced rise of the frequencies of the most of the observed vibrational modes and unusual reversal broadening of their full widths at half maximum below TC was found from Raman spectroscopy measurements.
Structural phase transition and superconductivity hierarchy in 1T-TaS2 under pressure up to 100 GPa
Authors: Dong Qing , Li Quanjun , Li Shujia , Shi Xuhan , Niu Shifeng , Liu Shijie , Liu Ran , Liu Bo , Luo Xuan , Si Jianguo , Lu Wenjian , Hao Ning , Sun Yuping , Liu Bingbing 
Published: March 2021

AbstractThe adoption of high pressure not only reinforces the comprehension of the structure and exotic electronic states of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) but also promotes the discovery of intriguing phenomena. Here, 1T-TaS2 was investigated up to 100 GPa, and re-enhanced superconductivity was found with structural phase transitions. The discovered I4/mmm TaS2 presents strong electron–phonon coupling, revealing a good superconductivity of the nonlayered structure. The P–T phase diagram shows a dome shape centered at ~20 GPa, which is attributed to the distortion of the 1T structure. Accompanied by the transition to nonlayered structure above 44.5 GPa, the superconducting critical temperature shows an increasing trend and reaches ~7 K at the highest studied pressure, presenting superior superconductivity compared to the original layered structure. It is unexpected that the pressure-induced re-enhanced superconductivity was observed in TMDs, and the transition from a superconductor with complicated electron-pairing mechanism to a phonon-mediated superconductor would expand the field of pressure-modified superconductivity.
Compilation of longitudinal microbiota data and hospitalome from hematopoietic cell transplantation patients
Authors: Liao Chen , Taylor Bradford P. , Ceccarani Camilla , Fontana Emily , Amoretti Luigi A. , Wright Roberta J. , Gomes Antonio L. C. , Peled Jonathan U. , Taur Ying , Perales Miguel-Angel , van den Brink Marcel R. M. , Littmann Eric , Pamer Eric G. , Schluter Jonas , Xavier Joao B. 
Published: March 2021

AbstractThe impact of the gut microbiota in human health is affected by several factors including its composition, drug administrations, therapeutic interventions and underlying diseases. Unfortunately, many human microbiota datasets available publicly were collected to study the impact of single variables, and typically consist of outpatients in cross-sectional studies, have small sample numbers and/or lack metadata to account for confounders. These limitations can complicate reusing the data for questions outside their original focus. Here, we provide comprehensive longitudinal patient dataset that overcomes those limitations: a collection of fecal microbiota compositions (>10,000 microbiota samples from >1,000 patients) and a rich description of the “hospitalome” experienced by the hosts, i.e., their drug exposures and other metadata from patients with cancer, hospitalized to receive allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) at a large cancer center in the United States. We present five examples of how to apply these data to address clinical and scientific questions on host-associated microbial communities.
Spatio-temporal selection of reference genes in the two congeneric species of Glycyrrhiza
Authors: Li Yuping , Liang Xiaoju , Zhou Xuguo , An Yu , Li Ming , Yuan Ling , Li Yongqing , Wang Ying 
Published: March 2021

AbstractGlycyrrhiza, a genus of perennial medicinal herbs, has been traditionally used to treat human diseases, including respiratory disorders. Functional analysis of genes involved in the synthesis, accumulation, and degradation of bioactive compounds in these medicinal plants requires accurate measurement of their expression profiles. Reverse transcription quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) is a primary tool, which requires stably expressed reference genes to serve as the internal references to normalize the target gene expression. In this study, the stability of 14 candidate reference genes from the two congeneric species G. uralensis and G. inflata, including ACT, CAC, CYP, DNAJ, DREB, EF1, RAN, TIF1, TUB, UBC2, ABCC2, COPS3, CS, R3HDM2, were evaluated across different tissues and throughout various developmental stages. More importantly, we investigated the impact of interactions between tissue and developmental stage on the performance of candidate reference genes. Four algorithms, including geNorm, NormFinder, BestKeeper, and Delta Ct, were used to analyze the expression stability and RefFinder, a comprehensive software, provided the final recommendation. Based on previous research and our preliminary data, we hypothesized that internal references for spatio-temporal gene expression are different from the reference genes suited for individual factors. In G. uralensis, the top three most stable reference genes across different tissues were R3HDM2, CAC and TUB, while CAC, CYP and ABCC2 were most suited for different developmental stages. CAC is the only candidate recommended for both biotic factors, which is reflected in the stability ranking for the spatio (tissue)-temporal (developmental stage) interactions (CAC, R3HDM2 and DNAJ). Similarly, in G. inflata, COPS3, R3HDM2 and DREB were selected for tissues, while RAN, COPS3 and CS were recommended for developmental stages. For the tissue-developmental stage interactions, COPS3, DREB and ABCC2 were the most suited reference genes. In both species, only one of the top three candidates was shared between the individual factors and their interactions, specifically, CAC in G. uralensis and COPS3 in G. inflata, which supports our overarching hypothesis. In summary, spatio-temporal selection of reference genes not only lays the foundation for functional genomics research in Glycyrrhiza, but also facilitates these traditional medicinal herbs to reach/maximize their pharmaceutical potential.
Importance of HBsAg recognition by HLA molecules as revealed by responsiveness to different hepatitis B vaccines
Authors: Nishida Nao , Sugiyama Masaya , Ohashi Jun , Kawai Yosuke , Khor Seik-Soon , Nishina Sohji , Yamasaki Kazumi , Yazaki Hirohisa , Okudera Kaori , Tamori Akihiro , Eguchi Yuichiro , Sakai Aiko , Kakisaka Keisuke , Sawai Hiromi , Tsuchiura Takayo , Ishikawa Miyuki , Hino Keisuke , Sumazaki Ryo , Takikawa Yasuhiro , Kanda Tatsuo , Yokosuka Osamu , Yatsuhashi Hiroshi , Tokunaga Katsushi , Mizokami Masashi 
Published: March 2021

AbstractHepatitis B (HB) vaccines (Heptavax-II and Bimmugen) designed based on HBV genotypes A and C are mainly used for vaccination against HB in Japan. To determine whether there are differences in the genetic background associated with vaccine responsiveness, genome-wide association studies were performed on 555 Heptavax-II and 1193 Bimmugen recipients. Further HLA imputation and detailed analysis of the association with HLA genes showed that two haplotypes, DRB1*13:02-DQB1*06:04 and DRB1*04:05-DQB1*04:01, were significantly associated in comparison with high-responders (HBsAb > 100 mIU/mL) for the two HB vaccines. In particular, HLA-DRB1*13:02-DQB1*06:04 haplotype is of great interest in the sense that it could only be detected by direct analysis of the high-responders in vaccination with Heptavax-II or Bimmugen. Compared with healthy controls, DRB1*13:02-DQB1*06:04 was significantly less frequent in high-responders when vaccinated with Heptavax-II, indicating that high antibody titers were less likely to be obtained with Heptavax-II. As Bimmugen and Heptavax-II tended to have high and low vaccine responses to DRB1*13:02, 15 residues were found in the Heptavax-II-derived antigenic peptide predicted to have the most unstable HLA-peptide binding. Further functional analysis of selected hepatitis B patients with HLA haplotypes identified in this study is expected to lead to an understanding of the mechanisms underlying liver disease.
Influence of age on sperm characteristics evaluated by light and electron microscopies
Authors: Collodel Giulia , Ferretti Fabio , Masini Maurizio , Gualtieri Giacomo , Moretti Elena 
Published: March 2021

AbstractThe impact of male aging on male fertility has only recently become of interest to the scientific community. This study aims to assess the relationship between age and fertility among a sample of men, considering the individual and pathological characteristics. In this retrospective study data of semen analysis and medical history of 1294 Italian male patients were considered. Semen analysis was performed by light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy mathematically elaborated. A generalized linear model was used to explore the influence of male age on semen quality, considering as confounders wine consumption, smoking habits, presence of varicocele, consanguinity and positive semen bacteriological analysis and urethral swab. The mean age of the participants was 36.41 ± 6.379. Male aging without impact of confounders was correlated with a decrease in sperm concentration and motility and an increased in sperm necrosis. Sperm concentration and progressive motility were negatively related to the presence of confounders as wine consumption (sperm motility), urogenital infection (sperm concentration and motility), varicocele (sperm concentration) and consanguinity (sperm motility). Urogenital infection, varicocele and consanguinity positively correlated with sperm necrosis. The most important finding was the observation of a negative effect of male aging on sperm parameters such as concentration, motility, and viability. It is possible to hypothesize age-dependent changes of testicular environment, probably related to reactive oxygen species production. The demonstration, in a large sample of patients, that aging influences sperm quality strongly motivates further research focused on the mechanisms involved in this phenomenon and its effects on offspring fitness.