bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Transcanal endoscopic treatment for congenital middle ear cholesteatoma in children
Authors: Zeng Nan , Liang Meng , Yan Shang , Zhang Lue , Yang Qiong , Li Shuo 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
Background

To investigate the feasibility and efficacy of transcanal endoscopic treatment for congenital middle ear cholesteatoma in children.
Methods

Eleven children diagnosed with congenital middle ear cholesteatoma were collected at Huazhong University of Science and Technology Union Shenzhen Hospital from January 2016 to December 2020. The retrospective study of their operation process, comparison of pre- and post-operative hearing result, surgical complications through the surgical video.
Results

Eleven children received total ear endoscopic surgery under general anesthesia. One of them received planned second operation to reconstruct the ossicular chain. At six months after operation, 11 children underwent re-examination. The mean bone conduction hearing threshold had no significant change (P>0.05), the mean air conduction hearing threshold was significantly decreased (P<0.05), and the air-bone conduction difference was significantly reduced (P<0.05). In 11 children, the air-bone conduction difference were all reduced to less than 20 dB, and 7 cases were reduced to less than 10 dB. All the children were followed up so far without sensorineural deafness, facial paralysis and other serious complications, as well as no recurrence.
Conclusion

Otoendoscope can provide a wide-angle field of vision and advantages in small surgical trauma, quick healing, avoiding repeated dressing changes and high acceptance of secondary surgery. Intraoperative application of 30° and 45° otoendoscope can effectively reduce residuals. Otoendoscope is widely used as a surgical method in the treatment of congenital middle ear cholesteatoma in children.
Green Tea-Derived Theabrownin Induces Cellular Senescence and Apoptosis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma via P53 Signaling-Mediated Mechanism Bypassed by JNK Regulation
Authors: Xu Jiaan , Yan Bo , Xiao Xiujuan , Yuan Qiang , Dong Xiaoqiao , Du Quan , Zhang Jin , Shan Letian , Ding Zhishan , Zhou Li , Efferth Thomas 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
Background: Theabrownin (TB) is a bioactive component of tea and has been reported to exert effects against many human cancers, but its efficacy and mechanism on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with different p53 genotypes remains unclarified. Methods: MTT assay, DAPI staining, flow cytometry and SA-β-gal staining were applied to evaluate the effects of TB on HCC cells. Quantitative real time PCR (qPCR) and Western blot (WB) were conducted to explore the molecular mechanism of TB. And xenograft model of zebrafish was established to evaluate the anti-tumor effect of TB.Results: MTT assays showed that TB significantly inhibited the proliferation of SK-Hep-1, HepG2, and Huh7 cells in a dose-dependent manner, of which SK-Hep-1 was the most sensitive one with the lowest IC50 values. The animal data showed that TB remarkably suppressed SK-Hep-1 tumor growth in xenograft model of zebrafish. The cellular data showed TB′s pro-apoptotic and pro-senescent effect on SK-Hep-1 cells. The molecular results revealed the mechanism of TB that p53 signaling pathway (p-ATM, p-ATR, γ-H2AX, p-Chk2, and p-p53) was activated with up-regulation of downstream senescent genes (P16, P21, IL-6 and IL-8) as well as apoptotic genes (Bim, Bax and PUMA) and proteins (Bax, c-Casp9 and c-PARP). The p53-mediated mechanism was verified by using p53-siRNA. Moreover, by using JNK-siRNA, we found JNK as a bypass regulator in TB′s mechanism. Conclusions: To sum up, TB exerted tumor-inhibitory, pro-senescent and pro-apoptotic effects on SK-Hep-1 cells through ATM-Chk2-p53 signaling axis in accompany with JNK bypass regulation. This is the first report on the pro-senescent effect and multi-target (p53 and JNK) mechanism of TB on HCC cells, providing new insights into the underlying mechanisms of TB′s anti-HCC efficacy.
Association between personality traits and self-care behaviors in patients with gastrointestinal cancer undergoing outpatient chemotherapy
Authors: Takei Yuri , Arao Harue , Yamamoto Sena , Tazumi Keiko , Mizuki Masao , Satoh Taroh 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
Purpose

Practicing self-care behaviors is important for patients with gastrointestinal cancer undergoing outpatient chemotherapy. Knowledge of personality traits may be useful in providing individualized support that can improve self-care behaviors. Therefore, we assessed the association between personality traits and self-care behaviors in these patients.
Methods

This cross-sectional study was conducted among patients who received intravenous chemotherapy at a designated regional cancer hospital between June 2020 and October 2020. A self-administered survey was conducted among these patients using the Japanese version of the Ten Item Personality Inventory and a 29-item questionnaire to assess self-care behaviors. Association between the scores of the personality traits and frequency of each self-care behavior was analyzed using the Spearman's rank correlation coefficient.
Results

In total, 53 responses were obtained from 57 participants, of which 52 valid responses were included in the analysis. Openness and conscientiousness were personality traits significantly associated with multiple self-care behaviors. High degree of openness, characterized by the ability to tackle new situations, had a moderately significant positive correlation with adjustment of exercise (ρ = 0.49, p<0.01) and activities for a change of mood (ρ = 0.40, p<0.01). High degree of conscientiousness, characterized by the ability to take a health action, had a significant positive correlation with acquisition of information on disease and treatment (ρ = 0.30, p=0.03) and confirmation of inspection results (ρ = 0.39, p<0.01).
Conclusion

Openness and conscientiousness are associated with self-care behaviors in patients with gastrointestinal cancer undergoing outpatient chemotherapy and may be useful in explaining and predicting individual self-care behaviors.
Identification of novel small molecule inhibitors against nsP2 protease of CHIKV through a molecular modeling approach
Authors: Mukhopadhyay Sutanu 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
Chikungunya is a tropical viral disease spread by the female Aedes mosquitoes infected with the Chikungunya virus (CHIKV). Non-structural protein 2 (nsp2) plays a crucial role in the viral life cycle by its proteolytic activity and hence it is one of the most important drug targets. There is currently no permanent treatment available to tackle the infection. In this molecular modeling-based study, a combination of de novo ligand design, molecular docking, and ADMET-based screening is employed to identify novel inhibitor molecules targeting the active site of nsP2 protease of the CHIKV. A set of molecules have been shortlisted as potential inhibitors based on their binding affinity and drug-likeness score. Further experimental validation is required to verify the potency of the proposed leads against CHIKV nsp2 protease activity to combat the infection.
The correlation of tuberculosis smear results and immuno-suppression with CD4+ counts as a surrogate marker among HIV infected patients.
Authors: Kamvuma Kingsley , ademola Yusuf , Chanda Warren , Phiri Christopher Newton , Phiri Sam Bezza , Mitchelo Miyoba , Mulemena John Amos 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and M.tuberculosis are two intracellular pathogens that interact at the cellular, clinical and population levels. Since the recognition of AIDS in 1981, the number of reported cases of TB in the has increased substantially, especially in regions with high incidence of AIDS. The main aim of this study was to establish weather there is a relationship between sputum smear positives and low CD4 cell counts among HIV infected patients.Materials and methods: This was a retrospective study involving 473 participants. The patients recruited in this study were those who tested HIV positive and smear positive for TB. Their HIV status was determined by performing an HIV blood test, if they were HIV positive their CD4 cell count were then made.Results: This study examined the relation between smear positivity and low CD4 (below 200cells/µl) together with CD8 and CD3 markers as a measure of immune function among patients infected with HIV. The study participants’ constituted males 67% and females 33%. The overall mean age was 33.2 (SD 6.9) with the youngest and oldest participants being 18 and 60 respectively. It was found that smear positive results negatively (r=-0.13; p=0.021) correlated with CD4+ below 200 cells/µl. No correlation was observed between smear positives and CD8+ or CD3+ since the calculated correlation coefficient was not significant 0.007 (p=0.9) and 0.03 (p=0.6) respectively. There are more 3+ smear results below 200 cells/µl than the others while above 200 cells/µl 1+ was the most commonly reported smear result. The scanty smear positives were the least commonly reported result in the low and high CD4 counts. Conclusion: The smear positive result negatively correlated with a low CD4+ (r=-0.13; p=0.021) but no correlation with low CD+8 and CD+3 results was observed. The long held theory that low bacillary counts in patients with low CD4+ counts needs to be revisited. The reduction of CD4+ cell count parallels' that of the total lymphocyte count and is more marked in patients with high bacillary counts. Further, studies are required to confirm these findings
Impact of COVID-19 on ‘living well’ with mild-to-moderate dementia in the community: findings from the IDEAL cohort
Authors: Clare Linda , Martyr Anthony , Gamble Laura D , Pentecost Claire , Collins Rachel , Dawson Eleanor , Hunt Anna , Parker Sophie , Allan Louise , Burns Alistair , Hillman Alexandra , Litherland Rachael , Quinn Catherine , Matthews Fiona E. , Victor Christina 
Published: November 2021

Abstract

Background
Negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on people with dementia have been widely-documented, but most studies have relied on carer reports and few have compared responses to information collected before the pandemic.
Objective
We aimed to explore the impact of the pandemic on community-dwelling individuals with mild-to-moderate dementia and compare responses with pre-pandemic data.
Methods
During the second wave of the pandemic we conducted structured telephone interviews with 173 people with dementia and 242 carers acting as informants, all of whom had previously participated in the IDEAL cohort. Where possible we benchmarked responses against pre-pandemic data.
Results
Significant perceived negative impacts were identified in cognitive and functional skills and ability to engage in self-care and manage everyday activities, along with increased levels of loneliness and discontinuity in sense of self and a decline in perceived capability to ‘live well’. Compared to pre-pandemic data there were lower levels of pain, depression and anxiety, higher levels of optimism, and better satisfaction with family support. There was little impact on physical health, mood, social connections and relationships, or perceptions of neighbourhood characteristics.
Conclusion
Efforts to mitigate negative impacts of pandemic-related restrictions and restore quality of life could focus on reablement to address the effects on participation in everyday activities, creating opportunities for social contact to reduce loneliness, and personalised planning to reconnect people with their pre-COVID selves. Such efforts may build on the resilience demonstrated by people with dementia and carers in coping with the pandemic.
TET1-Mediated Tumor Inhibition and Dox Resistance in Colon Cancer by Blocking WNT / β-Catenin Pathway
Authors: Shiyu Lu , Mingli Feng , Jiyun Tian , Chenqu Wu , Yuanye Jiang , Qin Cao , Lin Hui 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
BackgroundAs DNA demethylation protein, Ten-eleven translocation 1 (TET1) has been widely reported that is related to tumorigenesis and tumor metastasis. This study is to investigate the role and regulation mechanism of TET1 in colon cancer.Methods The TET1 and Catenin beta-1 (CTNNB1) expression level in colon cancer samples and cancer cell lines HCT116/SW480 were observed to discover the relationship between these two genes. Knockdown and overexpression of TET1 through shRNA and CRISPR technology were used to elucidate the effect of TET1 on WNT/β-catenin pathway. The 5-hmC/5-mC level were explored by bisulfate sequencing (BSP) and Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) to further explain the regulation mechanism. Combined with the reverse assay and transwell invasion assay, the cell migration and invasion ability were tested. Finally, the role of TET1 on DOX resistance was analyzed.Results TET1 downregulated in colon cancer and showed an opposite expression trend with WNT pathway associated gene CTNNB1. TET1 bound to CTNNB1 promotor and catalyzed demethylation to activate transcription of CTNNB1, inhibiting WNT/β‐catenin signaling pathways. Colon cancer cells proliferation was promoted by TET1 downregulation, which was further verified as shTET1 could upregulate the tumor invasion. The DOX addition could rescue the cell migration, compared with normal expression of TET1. Meanwhile, TET1 down-regulation was related to DOX resistances.Conclusion TET1 played as a DNA hydroxymethylation activates inhibitors of the WNT/β-catenin signaling pathway in colon tumor and TET1 down-regulation contributed to DOX-resistance, which might provide reference to targeting therapy in clinical practice.
Self-distillation contrastive learning enables clustering-free signature extraction and mapping to multimodal single-cell atlas of multimillion scale
Authors: Yang Meng , Yang Yueyuxiao , Huang Haiping , Xie Chenxi , Yang Huanming , Mu Feng 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
Massively generated single-cell multi-omics datasets are revolutionizing biological studies of heterogenous tissues and organisms, which necessitate powerful computational methods to unleash the full potential of these tremendous data. Here, we present Concerto, stands for self-distillation contrastive learning of cell representations, a self-supervised representation learning framework optimized with asymmetric teacher-student configuration to analyze single-cell multi-omics datasets with scalability up to building 10 million-cell reference within 1.5 hour and querying 10k cells within 8 seconds. Concerto leverages dropout layer as minimal data augmentation to learn meaningful cell representations in a contrastive manner. The teacher module uses attention mechanism to aggregate contextualized gene embeddings within cellular context, while the student module uses simpler dense structure with discreate input. The learned task-agnostic representations can be adapted to a broad range of single-cell computation tasks. 1) Via supervised fine-tuning, Concerto enables automatic cell classification as well as novel cell-type discovery; 2) Attention weights provide model interpretability via automatically extracting specific molecular signatures at single-cell resolution without the needs of clustering; 3) Via source-aware training, Concerto supports efficient data integration by projecting all cells across multiple batches into a joint embedding space. 4) Via batch-aware inference or unsupervised fine-tuning, Concerto enables mapping query cells onto reference and accurately transferring annotations. Concerto can flexibly extend to multi-omics datasets simply through cross-modality summation operation to obtain unified cell embeddings. Using examples from human peripheral blood, human thymus, human pancreas, and mouse tissue atlas, Concerto shows superior performance benchmarking against other top-performing methods. We also demonstrate Concerto recapitulates detailed COVID-19 disease variation through query-to-reference mapping. Concerto can operate on all genes and represents a fully data-driven approach with minimum prior distribution assumptions, eliminating the needs of PCA-like or autoencoder-like dimensionality reduction, which significantly reforms the current best practice. Concerto is a simple, straightforward, robust, and scalable framework, offering a brand new perspective to derive cell representations and can effectively satisfy the emerging paradigm of query-to-reference mapping in the era of atlas-level single-cell multimodal analysis.
Elevated expression of LRRC15 Shows Putative Tumor-promoting Characteristics in tumor microenvironment of breast cancer
Authors: Li Lei , Fei Yin-Jiao , Liang Ming-Xing , Zhou Hong-Lei , Wo Guan-Qun , Shao Xin-Yi , Lan Jian-Yun , Xu Wen-Xiu , tang jinhai 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
Background
Leucine-rich repeat containing 15 (LRRC15), belongs to the LRR superfamily and has emerged as a marker of cancer-associated fibroblasts. It was found to be particularly upregulated in breast cancer (BCa). This study aimed to investigate the correlation between LRRC15 expression and immune microenviroment and visualize its prognostic landscape in BCa.
Methods
The mRNA expression level, prognostic value, correlation of immunity, gene-gene interaction network of LRRC15 in BCa were analyzed utilizing the Oncomine, Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA), UALCAN, Kaplan-Meier plotter, and TIMER database. We next analyzed the biological functions of LRRC15 and pathways of its co-expressed genes, and its correlation with immune system responses via the Metascape and GeneMANIA database, respectively. We validated the expression of LRRC15 in BCa via western blot and IHC assays and analyzed its correlation with clinicopathological parameters.
Results
We explored LRRC15 expression in multiple types of cancer based on the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, with the effect being particularly pronounced in BCa. Both mRNA and protein abundance of LRRC15 were significantly elevated in BCa as compared to its non-tumor counterparts. Overexpression of LRRC15 significantly associated with reduced overall survival. LRRC15 knockdown significantly inhibited cell proliferation and cell cycle in BCa cells. There were significant positive correlations between LRRC15 expression and tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TIICs), with a particularly strong effect on macrophage infiltration. Moreover, markers of TIICs exhibited different LRRC15-related immune infiltration patterns. GSEA analysis showed that upregulated expression of LRRC15 was related to ECM receptor interaction, focal adhesion, regulation of actin cytoskeleton, and TGF Beta signaling pathway.
Conclusions
These findings revealed that LRRC15 served as a novel prognostic biomarker and putative oncogene for BCa by promoting cell proliferation, giving a novel hint for therapeutics of BCa.
Sleep Patterns and Sleep Disruptions in Preschoolers Midst the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown in Greece
Authors: Tatsiopoulou Paraskevi , Holeva Vasiliki , Nikopoulou Vasiliki Aliki , Parlapani Eleni , Diakogiannis Ioannis 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
The COVID- 19 pandemic and the restrictions to minify contagion, affected globally the entire population. The prolonged home confinement during the COVID-19 outbreak changed dramatically the family life taking into consideration school closures, online education, continuous need for self-protection, restrictions of social interactions and work schedule alterations. Designed to examine the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on preschoolers’ sleep this study documented sleep patterns during the COVID-19 lockdown and explored the effects of screen time and diet. Parents of 146 children provided survey data on their children's night-time sleep habits, dietary habits and screen time usage. Children's sleep problems were measured with the Children Sleep Habits Questionnaire. Descriptive and qualitative analyses showed that most parents (54.1%) reported that children’s sleep patterns changed during the imposed home confinement. Children with more sleep problems were more likely to have increased screen exposure. The present study provides evidence on the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sleep behavior of Greek preschoolers. Focused action is probably needed to safeguard and promote children’s overall physical and mental health outcomes during the pandemic and afterwards during the crisis recovery period.
Infection of the Parasitic Isopods on Commercial Fishes of the Northern Part of the East Coast of India
Authors: Ray Dipanjan , Mohapatra Parnasree , Ghorai Narayan , Seth Jaya Kishor , Mohapatra Anil 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
The present study report the parasitic isopod infection on commercial fishes of the northern part of the east coast of India collected during the period 2010-2015 from the marine water of Odisha and West Bengal. During the study, 394 isopods were collected after examining 2668 fishes. These include 14 species of isopods, out of which 13 belong to 5 genera under the family Cymothoidae, and a single species Alitropus typus belongs to the family: Aegidae. Of theses, 03 species viz., Catoessa boscii, Cymothoa eremita and Nerocila loveni are first record to the northern part of east coast of India. Out of the 2668 fishes examined, 326 examples belonging to 34 species under 19 different families were infected by different isopods. Member of the host fish family Carangidae was more parasitized by isopods, followed by Clupeidae, Scoberidae, and Leiognathidae. The dominant isopods were Nerocila phaiopleura and Catoessa boschii. The total prevalence was 12.21. The prevalence was high on the host fish Alepes djedaba and lowest on Lutjanus johnii. The total infection caused by genus Alitropus was 1.52%, Anilocra was 5.07%, Catoessa was 24.87%, Cymothoa was 0.25%, Nerocila was 65.73%, and Norileca was 2.55%. The isopod prevention was high during the post-monsoon and low during the monsoon period.
Landscape of somatic alterations in large-scale solid tumors from an Asian population
Authors: Wang Kai , Wu Qun , Yao Herui 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
Extending the benefits of tumor molecular profiling for all cancer patients will require comprehensive analysis of tumor genomes across distinct patient populations world-wide. In this study, we performed deep next-generation DNA sequencing (NGS) from tumor tissues and matched blood specimens from over 10,000 patients in China by using a 450-gene comprehensive assay, developed and implemented under international clinical regulations. We performed a comprehensive comparison of somatically altered genes, the distribution of tumor mutational burden (TMB), gene fusion patterns and the spectrum of various somatic alterations between Chinese and American patient populations. In total, 64% of cancers from Chinese patients in this study were found to have clinically actionable genomic alterations, which may affect clinical decisions related to targeted therapy or immunotherapy. These findings describe the similarities and differences between tumors from Chinese and American patients, providing valuable information for personalized medicine.