bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Investigating the biomechanics function of the plate-type external fixator in the treatment of tibial fractures: a biomechanical study
Authors: Shi Di , Liu Kaiyuan , Zhang Haomeng , Wang Xinli , Li Guochen , Zheng Lianhe 
Published: October 2019

Abstract
Background People have been pursuing to design an external fixator with the optimal biomechanics function and the lowest profile, since the fracture healing is dependent on the stability and durability of fixation and a low profile is more acceptable to patients. The plate-type external fixator, a novel prototype of an external tibial fixation device, is a low profile construct. However, the biomechanical properties remained unclear. The objective of the study was to investigate stiffness and strength of the plate-type external fixator and the unilateral external fixator. We hypothesized that the plate-type external fixator could provide higher stiffness, while retaining sufficient strength. Methods Fifty-four cadaver tibias underwent a standardized midshaft osteotomy to create a fracture gap model to simulate a comminuted diaphyseal fracture. All specimens were randomly divided into three groups of eighteen specimens each and stabilized with either the unilateral external fixator or the two configurations of the plate-type external fixator. Six specimens of each configuration were tested to determine fixation stiffness in axial compression, four-point bending, and torsion, respectively. Afterwards, dynamically loading until failure was performed in each load mode to determine construct strength and failure modes. Results The plate-type external fixator provided higher stiffness and strength compared with the traditional unilateral external fixator. The highest biomechanics was observed for the classical plate-type external fixator, with the extended plate-type external fixator close behind. Conclusions The plate-type external fixator is stiffer and stronger than the traditional unilateral external fixator under axial compression, four-point bending and torsion loading conditions.
Path analysis of skin cancer preventive behaviors in rural women based on protection motivation theory
Authors: Kaviani Abdol-Hossain , Khorsandi Mahboobeh , Roozbahani Nasrin 
Published: October 2019

Abstract
Background: Determining factors affecting adopting preventive behaviors of skin cancer is helpful in designing interventions promoting these behaviors. The present study was conducted aimed to analyze preventive behaviors’ path of skin cancer in rural women based on protection motivation theory.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 230 rural women in the west of Iran were selected randomly. Data were collected by a valid and reliable questionnaire including demographic information and structures of protection motivation theory by interview with rural women and then analyzed using SPSS 22 and LISREL8.8.
Results: In relation with skin cancer preventive behaviors, 27.8% of women were dressed up when working under the sun, 21.7% used sunscreen cream, 5.7% wore cap and 4.8 wore gloves and sunglasses. Protection motivation theory and per capita income explained 76% of motivation variance and 25% of the variance of skin cancer preventive behaviors. Response efficacy structure was the strongest predictor of the motivation of protection (0/001> p, ß= -0.44) and per capita income (0/001> p, ß= -0.34) and motivation (0/001> p, ß= -0.33) were the strongest predictors of these behaviors.
Conclusions: This study showed that protection motivation theory is efficient in predicting preventive behaviors of skin cancer and promoting interventions of the behaviors can be designed and implemented by this theory. It is also necessary to perform proper planning in promoting these behaviors in people with low per capita income.
Osimertinib versus afatinib in patients with T790M-positive, non-small-cell lung cancer and multiple central nervous system metastases after failure of initial EGFR-TKI treatment
Authors: Chen Wenli , Hua Xiaoxiao , Yu Weiguang , Liu Jun , Xiao Li , Han Guowei 
Published: October 2019

Abstract
Background

The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of osimertinib (OSI) versus afatinib (AFA) in patients with T790M-positive, non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and multiple central nervous system (CNS) metastases after failure of initial epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI) treatment.

Methods

The cohort consisting of 124 patients (OSI: n=60, median age=64.24 years [range, 51.91 to 76.57]; AFA: n=64, median age=64.13 years [range, 50.41 to 77.85]) with T790M-positive NSCLC and multiple CNS metastases after failure of initial EGFR-TKI treatment were consecutively identified at the Cancer Medical Center, Sun Yat-Sen University between March 2017 and July 2017; patients underwent either oral OSI (80 mg/day) or oral AFA (40 mg/day) until the occurrence of disease progression, intolerable adverse events (AEs), or death. The co-primary endpoints were overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS).

Results

After a median follow-up of 24 months (range, 6 to 26), a significant improvement in OS was observed in the OSI group compared with the AFA group (hazard ratio [HR] 0.30, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.23 - 0.41; p = 0.009; median, 13.0 versus 9.2 months). The median duration of PFS was significantly longer with OSI than with AFA (HR 0.25, 95% CI 0.11 - 0.34; p = 0.001; median, 5.4 versus 4.3 months). The proportion of grade 3 or higher AEs was lower with OSI (22.4%) than with AFA (39.4%).

Conclusion

In patients with T790M-positive NSCLC and multiple CNS metastases after failure of initial EGFR-TKI treatment, OSI was associated with significantly improved survival benefit compared with AFA, and OSI exhibited a controllable tolerability profile.
The development and external validation of a nomogram predicting overall survival for gastric cancer patients with inadequate lymph nodes based on an international database
Authors: Li Shuangxi , Desiderio Jacopo , Li Ziyu , Tozzi Federico , Ji Jiafu , Parisi Amilcare 
Published: October 2019

Abstract
Background The inadequate lymph nodes could lead to stage migration and indicate a poor prognosis for gastric cancer after curative surgery. Some emerging novel predictors and the methodology of nomogram could increase the accuracy of survival prediction.Methods An international database regarding gastric cancer was employed as the primary cohort. The patients with inadequate (<30) lymph nodes (LN) were analyzed by Cox proportional hazards regression. Based on the selected model, a nomogram was plotted and calibrated by the external validation database.Results A total of 1109 patients were included in the primary cohort, and 6584 patients in the validation cohort. There were significant differences regarding the clinical characteristics between the two cohorts. The model containing age, T stages, N stages, metastatic lymph nodes (mLN), and the number of total LN retrieved (TLN) showed superiority over the conventional TNM stages. The Harrell's concordance index of the nomogram and TNM stages was 0.744 and 0.717 respectively. The external validation demonstrated a good concordance with the nomogram-predicted survival.Conclusions The nomogram containing age, T stages, N stages, mLN, and TLN had a better accuracy than the conventional TNM staging system in predicting overall survival for gastric cancer patients with inadequate (<30) LNs.
COESA - Sustainable, healthy cities: Protocol of a mixed methods evaluation of a cluster randomized controlled trial for Aedes control in Brazil using a community mobilization approach
Authors: Zinszer Kate , Caprara Andrea , Lima Antonio , Degroote Stéphanie , Zahreddine Monica , Abreu Kellyanne , Carabali Mabel , Charland Katia , Dantas Mayana Azevedo , Wellington José , Parra Beatriz , Fournet Florence , Bonnet Emmanuel , Pérez Denis , Robert Emilie , Dagenais Christian , Benmarhnia Tarik , Andersson Neil , Ridde Valéry 
Published: October 2019

Abstract
Background: Dengue is increasing in its global presence with an estimated 4 billion people at-risk of infection in at least 128 countries. Despite the promising results of EcoHealth and community mobilization approaches to Aedes reduction, more evidence of their efficacy on reducing dengue risk is needed. The principal research question is to determine if interventions based upon community mobilization reduce the risk of dengue virus infection among children 3 to 9 years old compared to usual dengue control practice in Fortaleza, Brazil. Methods: The present study will follow a pragmatic cluster randomized controlled trial (cRCT) design with randomization at the census tract level with equal allocation to the two arms. In each arm, there will be 34 clusters of 86 children between 3 to 9 years old for an expected total of 5,848 children enrolled in the study, assuming a risk reduction of 29.5% based upon findings from a previous multi-site cRCT. The primary outcomes are rates of anti-dengue Immunoglobulin G (IgG) seroconversion and adult female Aedes density. The intervention is based upon a participatory health research approach, Socializing Evidence for Participatory Action (SEPA), where the research evidence is used to foster community engagement and ownership of the health issue and solution. Following allocation, intervention communities will develop and implement their own solutions that will likely include a wide variety of collective events and media approaches. Data collection activities over a period of three years include household visits for blood collection, household surveys, and entomological surveys; and qualitative activities including focus groups, indepth interviews, and document analysis to evaluate the process, acceptability, fidelity, and sustainability of the intervention. Study participants will be aware of their assignment and all research staff will be blinded although the intervention assignment will likely be revealed to field staff through interaction with participants. Discussion: The results of our study will provide evidence on community mobilization as an intervention for dengue control. We anticipate that if community mobilization is effective in Fortaleza, the results of this study will help develop evidence-based vector control programs in Brazil, and also in other countries struggling with Aedes-transmitted diseases.
Economic assessment of the accidental risk of natural emergencies for train traffic
Authors: Popov V. G. , Sukhov F. I. , Bolandova Yu. K. 
Published: October 2019

Aim. The paper is dedicated to the evaluation of the risk of transportation accidents caused by natural emergencies affecting train traffic on a specific line. The ever-growing anthropogenic burden on the environment inevitably causes climate change that, in turn, gives rise to higher numbers of extreme weather events. The latter usually cause industrial accidents and disasters. The assessment of the factors of climate-related risk that quantitatively characterize their effect on the railway infrastructure is the starting point of calamity risk management and adaptation of human activities to the ever-changing climate. Methods. The authors propose a method of risk assessment that takes into consideration the effect of various natural emergencies that affect rolling stock in motion. The method is based on elements of the probability theory and mathematical statistics. The developed method enables the assessment of the risk of a transportation accident caused by natural emergencies specific to not only a line, but a route on a railway network. Results. For the Nevinnomysskaya – Tuapse line that includes 6 sections of the North Caucasus Railway, one of which was damaged due to abundant precipitations on October 24 and 25, 2018, the risk of transportation accident caused by the effects of three types of natural emergencies on the sociotechnical system of this line has been calculated: – flood, – hurricane with wind strength of over 22 mps, – heavy rain. The parameters of such emergencies are characterized by the following factors: – frequency as compared to other types of emergencies, – average annual number of natural emergencies, – characteristic spatial scale of the natural emergency, – characteristic duration of the natural emergency. The conditional probabilities of the effects on the railway sociotechnical system of an event that has characteristic spatial scale and duration and has caused a transportation accident involving a train were estimated based on the assumption that a train flow in space follows the normal Erlang distribution of the k-th kind. The risk of transportation accident involving up and down trains travelling along the i-th line of the j-th railway caused by a hazardous effect of a natural emergency of the m-th type is identified subject to the jointness of events. Using the discounting method, an equation was obtained for estimating the mathematical expectation of economic damage by traffic safety disturbances, which allowed estimating the economic component of the risk. Conclusions. As the result, a method is proposed for estimation of the risk of transportation accidents caused by natural emergencies, an example is provided of such risk estimation, including the economic component, for the Nevinnomysskaya – Tuapse line.
Nglyc: A Random Forest Method for Prediction of N-Glycosylation Sites in Eukaryotic Protein Sequence
Authors: Pugalenthi Ganesan , Nithya Varadharaju , Chou Kuo-Chen , Archunan Govindaraju 
Published: October 2019

Background:N-Glycosylation is one of the most important post-translational mechanisms in eukaryotes. N-glycosylation predominantly occurs in N-X-[S/T] sequon where X is any amino acid other than proline. However, not all N-X-[S/T] sequons in proteins are glycosylated. Therefore, accurate prediction of N-glycosylation sites is essential to understand Nglycosylation mechanism.Objective:In this article, our motivation is to develop a computational method to predict Nglycosylation sites in eukaryotic protein sequences.Methods:In this article, we report a random forest method, Nglyc, to predict N-glycosylation site from protein sequence, using 315 sequence features. The method was trained using a dataset of 600 N-glycosylation sites and 600 non-glycosylation sites and tested on the dataset containing 295 Nglycosylation sites and 253 non-glycosylation sites. Nglyc prediction was compared with NetNGlyc, EnsembleGly and GPP methods. Further, the performance of Nglyc was evaluated using human and mouse N-glycosylation sites.Results:Nglyc method achieved an overall training accuracy of 0.8033 with all 315 features. Performance comparison with NetNGlyc, EnsembleGly and GPP methods shows that Nglyc performs better than the other methods with high sensitivity and specificity rate.Conclusion:Our method achieved an overall accuracy of 0.8248 with 0.8305 sensitivity and 0.8182 specificity. Comparison study shows that our method performs better than the other methods. Applicability and success of our method was further evaluated using human and mouse N-glycosylation sites. Nglyc method is freely available at https://github.com/bioinformaticsML/ Ngly.
Correlation between the Activity of Aldehyde Dehydrogenase and Oxidative Stress Markers in the Saliva of Diabetic Patients
Authors: Younus Hina , Ahmad Sumbul , Alam Md. Fazle 
Published: October 2019

Background:Reactive aldehydes are involved in diseases associated with oxidative stress, including diabetes. Human salivary aldehyde dehydrogenase (hsALDH) presumably protects us from many toxic ingredient/contaminant aldehydes present in food.Objective:This study aimed to probe the activity of hsALDH in patients with diabetes and than to correlate it with various oxidative stress markers in the saliva.Methods:The saliva samples were collected from total 161 diabetic patients from Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Diabetes, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College (JNMC), AMU, Aligarh, (India). HsALDH activity and markers of oxidative stress [8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHDG), malondialdehyde (MDA) and advanced glycation end products (AGEs)] were measured in the saliva samples.Results:Patients with early stage of diabetes had higher activity of hsALDH when compared with the control group. As the history of diabetes increases, the activity of the enzyme decreases and also higher oxidative stress markers (8-OHDG, MDA and AGEs) are detected in the saliva samples. Negative significant correlation between hsALDH activity and oxidative stress markers were observed (p <0.0001).Conclusion:The activity of hsALDH increases in early stages of diabetes most probably to counter the increased oxidative stress associated with diabetes. However, in later stages of diabetes, the activity of the enzyme decreases, possibly due to its inactivation resulting from glycation.
Multivariate Optimization of the Refolding Process of an Incorrectly Folded Fc-Fusion Protein in a Cell Culture Broth
Authors: Behrouz Hossein , Molavi Behnaz , Tavakoli Ata , Askari Mansoureh , Maleknia Shayan , Mahboudi Fereidoun , Khodadadian Mehdi 
Published: October 2019

Background:Protein misfolding is a common problem in large-scale production of recombinant proteins, which can significantly reduce the yield of the process.Objective:In this work, we aimed at treating a cell culture broth containing high levels (>45%) of incorrectly folded Fc-fusion proteins by a simple redox buffer system in order to increase the proportion of the protein with correct conformation.Methods:Multi-variable process optimization was firstly conducted at a small scale (25 mL), employing an experimental design methodology. After identifying the key variables using a resolution IV Fractional Factorial Design (FFD), the process was then optimized by the Central Composite Design (CCD).Results:The optimal conditions for the refolding reaction were 340 mM Tris-base, 6.0 mM L-cysteine, 0.5 mM L-cystine, a buffer pH of 9.0, a reaction temperature of 8.5ºC and a reaction time of 24 h. Based on the treatment conditions obtained at a small scale, the process was further scaled up to 4500- L. The misfolded content was always less than 20%. The reaction can proceed well in the absence of chemical additives, such as chaotropic agents, aggregation suppressors, stabilizers and chelators.Conclusion:The refolding process increases the fraction of active protein in the original broth reducing the burden on downstream purification steps markedly.
Characterizations and Fibrinolytic Activity of Serine Protease from Bacillus subtilis C10
Authors: Thu Nguyen T.A. , Khue Nguyen T.M. , Huy Nguyen D. , Tien Nguyen Q.D. , Loc Nguyen H. 
Published: October 2019

Background:
Fibrinolytic enzymes, such as Nattokinases from Bacillus species are known
to degrade the fibrin blood clots. They belong to serine protease group having commercial applications,
such as therapeutic agents and functional food formulation.

Objective:
The present study reports some characteristics and fibrinolytic activity of serine protease
from B. subtilis C10 strain that was isolated from shrimp shell.

Method:
Extracellular enzyme from B. subtilis C10 culture was harvested and partially purified by
ammonium sulphate precipitation. Fibrinolytic activity of the enzyme was determined by zymography
and measured by spectrophotometry with fibrinogen and thrombin used as substrates. The optimal
temperature and pH for fibrinolytic activity were studied in the range of 31-43ºC and 5-10, respectively.
The thermal and pH stability of enzyme was studied by incubating enzyme for 30 min in the same
range of temperature and pH as above. The effect of some metal ions and reagents on fibrinolytic activity
of enzyme was evaluated by concentrations of 5 mM and 5%, respectively.

Results:
Zymogram analysis indicated the presence of four fibrinolytic enzymes with molecular
weights of approximately 69, 67, 39 and 36 kDa. The optimal temperature and pH for enzyme activity
were 37°C and 9, respectively. The thermal and pH stability ranged from 35-39°C and 8-10, respectively.
Fibrinolytic activity reached a maximum value of about 400 U/mg protein after 16 h of C10
strain culture. Enzyme has been drastically inhibited by PMSF and SDS, and partially inhibited by
EDTA, while Triton X-100 has significantly increased enzyme activity. Effects of ions such as Mg2+,
Ca2+ and Mn2+ on enzyme were negligible, except Cu2+ and Zn2+ have strongly decreased its activity.

Conclusion:
Results from the present study suggested that enzyme obtained from B. subtilis C10 could
be serine protease that has a high fibrinolytic activity up to about 400 U/mg protein at the most appropriate
temperature and pH of 37ºC and 9. This activity can be improved up to 142% by incubating enzyme
with 5% Triton X-100 for 30 min.
pH-Sensitive Magnetite Nanoparticles Modified with Hyperbranched Polymers and Folic Acid for Targeted Imaging and Therapy
Authors: Rezaei Seyed Jamal Tabatabaei , Malekzadeh Asemeh Mashhadi , Ramazani Ali , Niknejad Hassan 
Published: October 2019

Objective:
A novel pH-sensitive superparamagnetic drug delivery system was developed
based on quercetin loaded hyperbranched polyamidoamine-b-polyethylene glycol-folic acid-modified
Fe3O4 nanoparticles (Fe3O4@PAMAM-b-PEG-FA).

Methods:
The nanoparticles exhibit excellent water dispersity with well-defined size distribution
(around 51.8 nm) and strong magnetisability. In vitro release studies demonstrated that the quercetinloaded
Fe3O4@PAMAM-b-PEG-FA nanoparticles are stable at normal physiologic conditions (pH 7.4
and 37°C) but sensitive to acidic conditions (pH 5.6 and 37°C), which led to the rapid release of the
loaded drug.

Results:
Fluorescent microscopy results indicated that the Fe3O4@PAMAM-b-PEG-FA nanoparticles
could be efficiently accumulated in tumor tissue compared with non-folate conjugated nanoparticles.
Also, in comparison with free quercetin, the quercetin loaded Fe3O4@PAMAM-b-PEG-FA exerts
higher cytotoxicity. Furthermore, this magnetic nanocarrier showed high MRI sensitivity, even in its
lower iron content.

Conclusion:
The results indicated that the prepared nanoparticles are an effective chemotherapy and
diagnosis system to inhibit proliferation and monitor the progression of tumor cells, respectively.
Carvedilol Promotes Retinal Ganglion Cell Survival Following Optic Nerve Injury via ASK1-p38 MAPK Pathway
Authors: Liu Bei , Liu Yu-Jia 
Published: October 2019

Background:
Carvedilol, which is considered as a nonselective β-adrenoreceptor blocker,
has many pleiotropic activities. It also causes great impact on neuroprotection because of its antioxidant
ability, which suggested that carvedilol may be effective in protecting RGCs from increased oxidative
stress.

Objective:
To examine the effects of carvedilol on preventing Retinal Ganglion Cell (RGC) death in a
mouse model of Optic Nerve Injury (ONI).

Methods:
C57BL/6J mice were subjected to Optic Nerve Injury (ONI) model and treated with carvedilol
or placebo. Histological and morphometric studies were performed; the RGC number, the
amount of neurons in the ganglion cell layer and the thickness of the Inner Retinal Layer (IRL) was
quantified. The average thickness of Ganglion Cell Complex (GCC) was determined by the Spectral-
Domain OCT (SD-OCT) assay. Immunohistochemistry, western blot and quantitative real-time PCR
analysis were also applied.

Results:
Daily treatment of carvedilol reduced RGC death following ONI, and in vivo retinal imaging
revealed that carvedilol can effectively prevent retinal degeneration. The expression of chemokines
important for micorglia recruitment was deceased with carvedilol ingestion and the accumulation of
retinal microglia is reduced consequently. In addition, the ONI-induced expression of inducible nitric
oxide synthase in the retina was inhibited with carvedilol treatment in the retina. We also discovered
that carvedilol suppressed ONI-induced activation of Apoptosis Signal-regulating Kinase-1 (ASK1)
and p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase (MAPK) pathway.

Conclusion:
The results of this study indicate that carvedilol can stimulate neuroprotection and neuroregeneration,
and may be useful for treatment of various neurodegenerative diseases.