bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Electro-acupuncture for Irritable Bowel Syndrome Patients: Study Protocol for A Single-blinded Randomized Sham-controlled Clinical Trial
Authors: Zhong Linda LD , Lam Tsz Fung , Yang Wei , Zheng Ya , Lyu Zipan , Bian Zhaoxiang 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Background: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is one of the most commonly functional gastrointestinal disorders in clinical practice. The diagnosis of IBS is based on symptoms defined by abdominal pain or discomfort associated with defecation or changes in bowel habit, and no absence of organic diseases. Acupuncture has been used for the treatment of internal medicine including digestive disorders and depressive disorder in Chinese medicine. This study aims to determine whether electro-acupuncture could have significant benefits than sham acupuncture for IBS.Methods/Design: This is a single blinded randomized sham controlled clinical trial with two arms. 120 IBS patients will be recruited. After a 2-week run-in period, eligible subjects will be randomly assigned to one of two arms, acupuncture (AC) arm and sham acupuncture (SAC) arm. Each eligible subject will go through a 2-wk run-in-period, 6-wk treatment period and follow by a 6-wk of follow-up period. Five visits in total were scheduled for each subject in week 0, week 2, week 5, week 8 and week 14. The outcomes would be measured with 1) IBS-SSS; 2) Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-17); 3) Clinical Global Impression-severity (CGI-S); 4) Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS); 5) IBS Quality of Life (IBS-QoL).Discussion：The study will compare electro-acupuncture with sham acupuncture to explore the feasibility for electro-acupuncture in improving IBS symptoms. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04387383
Economic costs of biological invasions in protected areas worldwide - where do we stand?
Authors: Moodley Desika , Angulo Elena , Cuthbert Ross N. , Leung Brian , Turbelin Anna , Novoa Ana , Kourantidou Melina , Heringer Gustavo , Haubrock Phillip J. , Renault David , Robuchon Marine , Fantle-Lepczyk Jean , Courchamp Franck , Diagne Christophe 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Biological invasions are one of the main threats to biodiversity within protected areas (PAs) worldwide. Meanwhile, the resilience of PAs along with their capacity to mitigate impacts from invasions remains largely unknown. Filling this knowledge gap is therefore critical for informing policy responses and optimally allocating resources invested in prevention and control strategies. Here we use the InvaCost database to address this gap from three perspectives: (i) characterizing the total cost of invasive alien species (IAS) in PAs; (ii) examining differences in mean observed costs of IAS between PAs and non-PAs; and (iii) evaluating factors affecting mean observed costs of IAS in PAs. Our results show that reported economic costs of IAS in PAs amounted to US$ 22.13 billion between 1976 and 2020, of which US$ 802.47 million were observed costs (incurred) and US$ 21.18 billion were potential costs (expected). The highest observed total costs were reported for Africa and South America; mainly caused by mammals, plants and insects; and predominantly impacted the finances of government agencies. Most of the observed total costs were reported for management (69%) versus damage (27%), however, the vast majority of management costs were reported for post-invasion actions (US$ 453 million; focused on control and eradication). PAs incurred on average higher costs than non-PAs, however, this was dependent on the environment and the continent. When analyzing costs of IAS within PAs, observed mean costs significantly differed with the environment (higher in terrestrial environments), continent (higher in Pacific islands), taxon (higher for vertebrates and invertebrates than in plants) and the human development index (developed countries incur higher costs). Managers of selected PAs surveyed acknowledged IAS as the most threatening factor, concurred on the necessity of reporting costs in PAs, and pointed to insufficient budget allocation for pre-invasion actions. Our findings highlight the need for a deeper understanding of the economic costs caused by invasions across PAs, direct driving factors and management challenges.
Morbidity and Mortality Reduction Associated with Polysomnography Testing in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: A Population-Based Cohort Study
Authors: Vozoris Nicholas T , Wilton Andrew S , Austin Peter C , Kendzerska Tetyana , Ryan Clodagh M , Gershon Andrea S 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Background: It is not well-known if diagnosing and treating sleep breathing disorders among individuals with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) improves health outcomes. We evaluated the association between receipt of laboratory-based polysomnography (which is the first step in the diagnosis and treatment of sleep breathing disorders in Ontario, Canada) and respiratory-related hospitalization and all-cause mortality among individuals with IPF.Methods: We used a retrospective, population-based, cohort study design, analyzing health administrative data from Ontario, Canada, from 2007-2019. Individuals with IPF were identified using an algorithm based on health administrative codes previously developed by IPF experts. Propensity score matching was used to account for potential differences in 41 relevant covariates between individuals that underwent polysomnography (exposed) and individuals that did not undergo polysomnography (controls), in order minimize potential confounding. Respiratory-related hospitalization and all-cause mortality were evaluated up to 12 months after the index date. Results: Out of 5044 individuals with IPF identified, 201 (4.0%) received polysomnography, and 189 (94.0%) were matched to an equal number of controls. Compared to controls, exposed individuals had significantly reduced rates of respiratory-related hospitalization (hazard ratio [HR] 0.43, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.24-0.75), p=0.003) and all-cause mortality (HR 0.49, 95% CI 0.30-0.80), p=0.004). Significantly reduced rate of respiratory-related hospitalization (but not all-cause mortality) was also observed among those with >=1 respiratory-related hospitalization (HR 0.38, 95% CI 0.15-0.99) and systemic corticosteroid receipt (HR 0.37, 95% CI 0.19-0.94) in the year prior to the index date, which reflect sicker subgroups of persons. Conclusions: Undergoing polysomnography was associated with significantly improved clinically-important health outcomes among individuals with IPF, highlighting the potential importance of incorporating this testing in IPF disease management.
Genome-wide identification, genomic organization, and expression profiling of the CONSTANS-like (COL) gene family in petunia under multiple stresses
Authors: Khatun Khadiza , Debnath Sourav , Robin Arif Hasan Khan , Wai Antt Htet , Nath Ujjal Kumar , Lee Do-Jin , Kim Chang-Kil , Mi‑Young Chung 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
BackgroundCONSTANS-like (CO-like, COL) is a putative zinc-finger transcription factor family that plays a key role in the control of flowering time in photoperiod-sensitive plants. Besides, the COL family protein is also involved in plant development, responses to stresses. However, information on plant development and stress response related function has not been previously performed in any solanaceous crop. In this study, a genome-wide analysis of COL gene family was conducted in Petunia hybrida cv. Mirage Rose to elucidate their roles in organ development and stress response.ResultsA total of 15 COL genes were identified in petunia. Based on their amino acid sequence identity and domain composition they were phylogenetically classified into three groups those are conserved among the flowering plants. Similar gene structure and motif distribution were observed in the same group. Subcellular localization assays demonstrated that all PaCOL proteins were localized in nucleus. Furthermore, differential expression patterns of PaCOL genes were observed in various tissues. The expression patterns of PaCOL genes were observed under various abiotic and phytohormone treatment to explore their relatedness in different stresses. Moreover, several stress and light-responsive cis-elements were detected for different PaCOL genes.ConclusionThe COL genes of petunia genome, those were clustered into three distinct groups, are conserved among flowering plants, were expressed in different tissues and induced under multiple abiotic stress treatments indicating their involvement in plant growth and development and stress response mechanism. This work laid the significant foundation for functional characterization of PaCOL gene family to uncover their biological roles in plant growth, development and in stress response.
A Maxwell-demon-like Mechanism Verified by Molecular Dynamics Simulations
Authors: Jiang Jiantang 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Here we report a series of molecular dynamics simulations to confirm the feasibility of a molecule-rectifying mechanism which can continuously induce a net particle flow but has to work with an external electric field. Here we also propose an optimized model that can work without the external electric field. The results of a series of simulations show that our new model can also continuously induce net flows without any external forces. The new model can generate a considerable vapor pressure difference of up to 7.073kPa at a temperature of 370K. The new model will be easier to be verified by physical experiments and can be used to develop useful nanodevices. It is generally believed that it is impossible to exploit the kinetic energy of molecules in thermal motion at equilibrium state, but our simulation results may change this view.
A Novel Strong Cyan Luminescence Emission of Tb2O3 Particles
Authors: Unal Fatma 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Terbium oxide (Tb2O3) particles (NPs) were synthesized by precipitation method using ammonium carbonate as precipitation agent. Effects of precursor molarity (0.1, 0.15 and 0.2 M) on photoluminescence (PL) behaviour of the NPs were investigated. The presence of the Tb2O3 phase was confirmed by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analyses. Morphological investigations of the produced powders were made by Field Emission Gun-Scanning Electron Microscopy (FEG-SEM). It showed that the morphology of Tb2O3 particles transformed from the nanograin chain to bundles morphology of rod-like as the amount of precursor molarity increased. Emission spectrum were investigated by Photoluminescence (PL) Spectroscopy. All the Tb2O3 particles exhibited the strongest peak at 493 nm ascribed to 5D4-7F6 (magnetic dipole (MD), C2) transition. The increase in the number of C2 sites released from the MD transition with the increase of the precursor molarity caused a negative increase in the b* (yellowness/blueness of the emission) value in the CIE diagram, indicating that the colour shifted to the blue region. The Tb2O3 particles produced by the precipitation method exhibited novel strong cyan colour and the PL emission intensity increased with increasing molarity.
Woods versus waves: Wave attenuation through non-uniform forests under extreme conditions
Authors: Wesenbeeck Bregje K. van , Wolters Guido , Antolínez José A. A. , Kalloe Sudarshini , Hofland Bas , Boer Wiebe de , Çete Ceylan , Bouma Tjeerd J. 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Worldwide, communities are facing increasing flood risk, due to more frequent and intense hazards and rising exposure through more people living along coastlines and in flood plains. Nature-based Solutions (NbS), such as mangroves, and riparian forests, offer huge potential for adaptation and risk reduction. The capacity of trees and forests to attenuate waves and mitigate storm damages receives massive attention, especially after extreme storm events. However, application of forests in flood mitigation strategies remains limited to date, due to lack of real-scale measurements on the performance under extreme conditions. Experiments executed in a large-scale flume with a willow forest to dissipate waves show that trees are hardly damaged and strongly reduce wave and run-up heights, even when maximum wave heights are up to 2.5 meters. It was observed for the first time that the surface area of the tree canopy is most relevant for wave attenuation, but that the very flexible leaves hardly add to effectiveness. Overall, the study shows that forests can play a significant role in reducing wave heights and run-up under extreme conditions. Currently, this potential is hardly used but may result in considerable cost savings in levee designs.
Comprehensive Analysis of Clinical Prognosis and Molecular Immune Characterization of TPM4 in Pancreatic Cancer
Authors: Zhou Xue , Zhu Xiaowei , Yao Junchao , Wang Xue , Wang Ning 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Pancreatic cancer (PC) is one of the most lethal human solid malignancies with devastating prognosis, making biomarker detection considerably important. Immune infiltrates in microenvironment is associated with patients’ survival in PC. The role of TPM4 (Tropomyosin 4) gene in PC has not been reported. Our study first identifies TPM4 expression and its potential biological functions in PC. The potential oncogenic roles of TPM4 was examined using the datasets of TCGA (The cancer genome atlas) and GEO (Gene expression omnibus). We investigated the clinical significance and prognostic value of TPM4 gene based on The Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) and survival analysis. TIMER and TISIDB databases were used to analyze the correlations between TPM4 gene and tumor-infiltrating immune cells. We found that the expression level of TPM4 was upregulated in PC malignant tissues with the corresponding normal tissues as controls. High TPM4 expression was correlated with the worse clinicopathological features and poor prognosis in PC cohorts. The positive association between TPM4 expression and tumor-infiltrating immune cells was identified in tumor microenvironment (TME). Moreover, functional enrichment analysis suggested that TPM4 might participate in cell adhesion and promote tumor cell migration. This is the first comprehensive study to disclose that TPM4 may serve as a novel prognostic biomarker associating with immune infiltrates and provide a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of PC.This study is not a clinical trial without the registration number.
LncRNA-BG&nbsp;Inhibited Th17 Cells Differentiation By Targeting RORγt Protein.
Authors: he hanlin , qiu xiangjie , qi mingming , Bajinka Ousman , qin ling , TAN YURONG 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Background: In our previous study, we obtained lncRNA-BG related to COPD through high-throughput screening, but we could not determine the specific mechanism involved. To this responds, here, we designed this study to verify whether lncRNA-BG could regulate the differentiation of Th17 cells and its mechanism. Methods: The interaction between lncRNA-BG and RORγt protein was predicted using bioinformatics approaches. This was then confirmed by RNA pull down and dual luciferase reporter assay. The correlation between lncRNA-BG and Th17 cell differentiation was verified among patients with COPD and in vitro culture experiment. Meanwhile, the regulatory effect of lncRNA-BG on Th17 cell differentiation was determined by regulation the expression level of lncRNA-BG. Results: LncRNA-BG could bind with RORγt protein and inhibit the differentiation of Th17 cells. LncRNA-BG was significantly negatively correlated with Th17 differentiation in patients with COPD and in vitro experiment. The decrease level of LncRNA-BG could promote Th17 differentiation, while the increase level of LncRNA-BG could inhibit Th17 differentiation. Conclusion: LncRNA-BG directly targets RORγt protein, inhibits the mutual binding of RORγt and IL-17 gene promoter, and eventually inhibits Th17 differentiation. LncRNA-BG as a potential target may confer applications in the clinical treatment and diagnosis of Th17-related diseases.
Identification of a Programmed Cell Death-related Signature for Prediction of Osteosarcoma
Authors: Xu Ankai , Lin Jinti , Yu Wei , Jin Jiakang , Liu Bing , Tao Huimin 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Background: This study aims to perform bioinformatics analysis of programmed cell death-related genes (PCDGs) in osteosarcoma, and to construct a multi-gene signature for predicting the prognosis.Methods: The functional enrichment analysis was applied for prognostic PCDGs, and PPI network as well as drug-gene interactions were constructed. In order to set up the prognosis evaluation system, we established a prognosis model by integrating PCDGs. The Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) logistic regression analysis as well as the multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression analysis were used to construct the five-genes signature (MUC1, TCF7L2, TGFB2, TRIAP1, CBS) for prediction in Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) cohort. According to the median risk score, survival analysis was conducted to evaluate the prognostic value of the risk score in GEO cohort. Next, by combining other clinic-pathological independent prognostic factor, stage at diagnosis, a nomogram was established to predict individual survival probability. Result: GO analysis showed that the 15 prognostic PCDGs were mainly enriched in apoptotic signaling pathway, regulation of secretion and p53 signaling pathway. KEGG analysis showed that aforesaid genes were mainly related to PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, diverse neoplasms signaling pathway and hepatitis B. Drug-gene interactions displayed available drugs for influencing osteosarcoma via programmed cell death, such as adalimumab, tacrolimus and sirolimus. The risk score was constructed based on 5 genes and patients were significantly divided into high-risk and low-risk groups according to overall survival. In multivariate Cox regression analysis, risk score was still an independent prognostic factor (HR = 2.526, 95% CI = 1.597−3.994, P < 0.001). Cumulative curve showed that low-risk score patients were significantly had better prognosis than that of patients with high-risk score (P < 0.001). The external independent TARGET cohort proved the validity of risk score model and the nomograph.Conclusion: From the facet of programmed cell death, we provided a multi-gene signatureand the nomograph for the prognostic predictors of osteosarcoma patients, and available drugs displayed may provide promising treatment strategies.
Machine-learning-based children’s pathological gait classification with low-cost gait-recognition system
Authors: Xu Linghui , Chen Jiansong , Wang Fei , Chen Yuting , Yang Wei , Yang Canjun 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Background: Pathological gaits of children may lead to terrible diseases, such as osteoarthritis or scoliosis. By monitoring the gait pattern of a child, proper therapeutic measures can be recommended to avoid the terrible consequence. However, low-cost systems for pathological gait recognition of children automatically have not been on market yet. Our goal was to design a low-cost gait-recognition system for children with only pressure information.Methods: In this study, we design a pathological gait-recognition system (PGRS) with an 8 × 8 pressure-sensor array. An intelligent gait-recognition method (IGRM) based on machine learning and pure plantar pressure information is also proposed in static and dynamic sections to realize high accuracy and good real-time performance. To verifying the recognition effect, a total of seventeen children were recruited in the experiments wearing PGRS to recognize three pathological gaits (toe in, toe out, and flat) and normal gait. Children are asked to walk naturally on level ground in the dynamic section or stand naturally and comfortably in the static section. The evaluation of the performance of recognition results included stratified 10-fold cross-validation with recall, precision, and a time cost as metrics.Results: The experimental results show that all of the IGRMs have been identified with a practically applicable degree of average accuracy either in the dynamic or static section. Experimental results indicate that the IGRM has 92.41% and 97.79% recognition accuracy respectively in the static and dynamic sections. And we find methods in the static section have less recognition accuracy due to the unnatural gesture of children when standing.Conclusions: In this study, a low-cost PGRS has been verified and realize feasibility, highly average precision, and good real-time performance of gait recognition. The experimental results reveal the potential for the computer supervision of non-pathological and pathological gaits in the plantar-pressure patterns of children and for providing feedback in the application of gait-abnormality rectification.
Fusion Energy: On the track of a different philosophy and solution
Authors: Ferro Joao 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
When two (or more) nuclei fuse, to form a heavier element, a known quantity of energy is released. The process seems easily to be described, at least to some degree. And the today technological development on the subject has been introducing applications in many areas. Even so, there are some challenges before we can be able to provide energy by an appropriated fusion process: high needs of power, plasma confinement issues, heavy equipment, etc.The present idea intends to show a different view. The author calls, in a broad sense, a Conceptual Thesis, and it has the Natural Language as principal tool. The author either explicitly or implicitly discusses the space-time fabric, double-slit experiment, and other concepts like non-duality. One nano-apparatus draft with the purpose to be in the scope of a near future research, closes the picture.