bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Comparative evaluation of screening tools for sarcopenia in patients with axial spondyloarthritis
Authors: Chaiamnuay Sumapa , Kanjanavaikoon Natnicha , Saisirivechakun Pannarat 
Published: June 2024

AbstractSarcopenia is linked to chronic inflammation and muscle wasting. This research aims to compare the screening accuracy of tools for sarcopenia in axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA). A cross-sectional study involving 104 axSpA patients was conducted at Phramongkutklao Hospital between January 2020 and February 2021. Sarcopenia was diagnosed according to the AWGS 2019 criteria. Appendicular skeletal muscle mass was measured using DXA. SARC-F, SARC-CalF, and SARC-F+EBM, muscle strength, and physical performance were assessed. The screening tests were evaluated using ROC curves. The optimal cutoffs were identified with the Youden index. Most patients were male (74%), with a mean (SD) age and disease duration of 42.6 (12.22) and 8.3 (8.5), respectively. The prevalence of sarcopenia was 22.1%. The AUCs (95% CI) for calf circumference, SARC-F, SARC-CalF, SARC-F+EBM, handgrip strength, chair stand time, gait speed, and time and go test were 0.830 (0.734, 0.925), 0.509 (0.373–0.645), 0.782 (0.670–0.894), 0.856 (0.758–0.954), 0.710 (0.594–0.825), 0.640 (0.508–0.772), 0.689 (0.539–0.839), and 0.711 (0.576–0.846), respectively. The optimal cutoffs for SARC-F, SARC-CalF, and SARC-F+EBM were 1, 10, and 10, with sensitivity/specificity of 81.0%/29.7%, 90.5%/68.9%, and 77.3%/87.2%, respectively. Calf circumference, SARC-CalF, and SARC-F+EBM had the best performance to screen for sarcopenia in axSpA patients. Lowering the thresholds would potentially enhance the performances of SARC-CalF and SARC-F+EBM.
Bacteriophage ISP eliminates Staphylococcus aureus in planktonic phase, but not in the various stages of the biofilm cycle
Authors: Verheul Mariëlle , Mulder Aat A. , van Dun Sven C. J. , Merabishvili Maia , Nelissen Rob G. H. H. , de Boer Mark G. J. , Pijls Bart G. , Nibbering Peter H. 
Published: June 2024

AbstractMetal-implant associated bacterial infections are a major clinical problem due to antibiotic treatment failure. As an alternative, we determined the effects of bacteriophage ISP on clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus in various stages of its life cycle in relation to biofilm formation and maturation. ISP effectively eliminated all planktonic phase bacteria, whereas its efficacy was reduced against bacteria attached to the metal implant and bacteria embedded within biofilms. The biofilm architecture hampered the bactericidal effects of ISP, as mechanical disruption of biofilms improved the efficacy of ISP against the bacteria. Phages penetrated the biofilm and interacted with the bacteria throughout the biofilm. However, most of the biofilm-embedded bacteria were phage-tolerant. In agreement, bacteria dispersed from mature biofilms of all clinical isolates, except for LUH15394, tolerated the lytic activity of ISP. Lastly, persisters within mature biofilms tolerated ISP and proliferated in its presence. Based on these findings, we conclude that ISP eliminates planktonic phase Staphylococcus aureus while its efficacy is limited against bacteria attached to the metal implant, embedded within (persister-enriched) biofilms, and dispersed from biofilms.
Physical unclonable function using photonic spin Hall effect
Authors: Divyanshu Divyanshu , Goyal Amit Kumar , Massoud Yehia 
Published: June 2024

AbstractThis study presents a novel method leveraging surface wave-assisted photonic spin Hall effect (PSHE) to construct physical unclonable functions (PUFs). PUFs exploit inherent physical variations to generate unique Challenge–Response pairs, which are critical for hardware security and arise from manufacturing discrepancies, device characteristics, or timing deviations. We explore PSHE generation-based PUF design, expanding existing design possibilities. With recent applications in precise sensing and computing, PSHE offers promising performance metrics for our proposed PUFs, including an inter-Hamming distance of 47.50% , an average proportion of unique responses of 62.5% , and a Pearson correlation coefficient of − 0.198. The PUF token demonstrates robustness to simulated noise. Additionally, we evaluate security using a machine learning-based attack model, employing a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) regression model with a randomized search method. The average accuracy of successful attack prediction is 9.70% for the selected dataset. Our novel PUF token exhibits high non-linearity due to the PSHE effect, resilience to MLP-based attacks, and sensitivity to process variation.
Observational study of frailty in older Japanese patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation receiving anticoagulation therapy
Authors: Matsui Kunihiko , Kusano Kengo , Akao Masaharu , Tsuji Hikari , Hiramitsu Shinya , Hatori Yutaka , Odakura Hironori , Ogawa Hisao 
Published: June 2024

AbstractThe number of patients with atrial fibrillation is increasing, and frailty prevalence increases with age, posing challenges for physicians in prescribing anticoagulants to such patients because of possible harm. The effects of frailty on anticoagulant therapy in older Japanese patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) are unclear. Herein, we prescribed rivaroxaban to Japanese patients with NVAF and monitored for a mean of 2.0 years. The primary endpoint was stroke or systemic embolism. The secondary endpoints were all-cause or cardiovascular death, composite endpoint, and major or non-major bleeding. Frailty was assessed using the Japanese long-term care insurance system. A multiple imputation technique was used for missing data. The propensity score (PS) was obtained to estimate the treatment effect of frailty and was used to create two PS-matched groups. Overall, 5717 older patients had NVAF (mean age: 73.9 years), 485 (8.5%) were classified as frail. After PS matching, background characteristics were well-balanced between the groups. Rivaroxaban dosages were 10 and 15 mg/day for approximately 80% and the remaining patients, respectively. Frailty was not associated with the primary endpoint or secondary endpoints. In conclusion, frailty does not affect the effectiveness or safety of rivaroxaban anticoagulant therapy in older Japanese patients with NVAF.Trial registration: UMIN000019135, NCT02633982.
Satellite data is revealing long time changes in the world largest lakes
Authors: Kutser Tiit , Soomets Tuuli 
Published: June 2024

AbstractLakes are a crucial source of drinking water, provide ecological services from fisheries and aquaculture to tourism and are also a critical part of the global carbon cycle. Therefore, it is important to understand how lakes are changing over time. The ESA Ocean Colour Climate Change Initiative (OC-CCI) database allows to study changes in the largest lakes over 1997–2023 period. The Caspian Sea and ten next largest lakes were under investigation. Changes in the phytoplankton biomass (Chl-a), the concentration of particulate matter (bbp(555)), the colored dissolved organic matter, CDOM (adg(412)), and the light diffuse attenuation coefficient in water (Kd(490)) were analyzed. Both increasing and decreasing trends (or no significant trend at all) of studied parameters were observed in these lakes over the study period. In some of the Laurentian Great Lakes the changes in CDOM over the study period were found to be in accordance with the lake water level changes i.e. with the inflow from the catchment. There was difference between the trends of Chl-a and bbp(555) in lakes Michigan and Huron indicating that there may have been shift in phytoplankton community that took place around 2005. The study demonstrated that remote sensing products, like the ones created by ESA OC-CCI, are valuable tools to study behavior of large lakes ecosystems over time.
360-degree virtual reality video to teach neonatal resuscitation: an exploratory development study
Authors: Tachejian Sevag , Moussa Ahmed 
Published: June 2024

AbstractSimulation is an effective training method for neonatal resuscitation (NR). However, the limitations brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, and other resource constraints, have necessitated exploring alternatives. Virtual reality (VR), particularly 360-degree VR videos, have gained attraction in medical training due to their immersive qualities. The primary objectives of the study were to produce a high quality 360-degree virtual reality (VR) video capturing NR simulation and to determine if it could be an acceptable adjunct to teach NR. The secondary objective was to determine which aspects of NR could benefit from the incorporation of such a video in training. This was an exploratory development study. The first part consisted of producing the video using a GoPro action camera, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Unity Editor. In the second part participants were recruited, based on level of experience, to watch the video and answer questionnaires to determine acceptability (user experience and cognitive load) and aspects of NR which could benefit from the video. The video was successfully developed. Forty-six participants showed a strong general appreciation. User experience revealed high means (> 6) in the positive subscales and low means (< 4) for immersion side effect, with no difference between groups. Cognitive load was higher than anticipated. Participants indicated that this video could be effective for teaching crisis resource management principles, human and environment interactions, and procedural skills. The 360-degree VR video could be a potential new simulation adjunct for NR. Future studies are needed to evaluate learning outcomes of such videos.
A digital image analysis approach to understand the microscopic and macroscopic phenomena in dissolved air flotation
Authors: Taghizadeh Mohammadi Mohammad Javad , Movahedirad Salman 
Published: June 2024

AbstractDissolved air flotation (DAF) is an effective method for separating suspended oil and solid particles from wastewater by utilizing small air bubbles. This study aims to investigate the impact of key factors, such as saturating pressure and water flow rate, on the separation of fine oil droplets from a water stream. The macroscopic flow patterns within the cell were analyzed using particle image velocimetry (PIV), while Digital Image Analysis (DIA) was employed to study microscopic phenomena, including oil droplet rising velocity and oil-bubble contact mechanisms. Our findings propose a safe operating window (specifically, water flow rate and saturation pressure) for the effective separation of oil droplets without any oil escaping into the clean water stream. It was found that the oil droplet rising velocity increases with the saturation pressure up to 200 kPa. However, a further increase in the pressure of the air saturating chamber leads to a decrease in oil droplet rising velocity. Additionally, we identified a peak in rising velocity at an oil droplet size of approximately 200 µm. Below this threshold, the rising velocity increases with droplet size, while for droplet sizes exceeding 200 µm, the rising velocity decreases with size. This behavior can be explained by the conflicting effects of droplet size increment according to the Stokes law for the rising velocity of oil droplets. As the droplet size increases, the average density of the bubbles/droplet aggregate rises, reducing the ∆ρ in the Stokes law and subsequently lowering the aggregate rising rate. However, as per the Stokes law, the oil droplet rising velocity increases proportionally to the square of its size.
Dietary incorporation of brown seaweed spent oyster mushroom substrate alters growth performance, physiological responses and meat quality parameters in Boschveld roosters
Authors: Mhlongo Godfrey , Mnisi Caven M. 
Published: June 2024

AbstractUse of brown seaweed (Ecklonia maxima) as a nutraceutical source in indigenous chicken diets is limited by high dietary fibre levels. Inoculating seaweeds with oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) spawn (OMS) could enhance the utility of the spent mushroom substrate (SMS). This study investigated the effect of feeding incremental levels of brown seaweed SMS on growth performance, physiological responses, and meat quality parameters in Boschveld roosters. A total of 324, 4-week-old Boschveld roosters were weighed and randomly allotted to 36 pens (9 birds per pen) to produce six replicates per dietary treatment. The diets were formulated as follows: a standard grower diet (CON); and CON containing 150 g/kg of brown seaweed inoculated with OMS at 0 (SMS0), 20 (SMS20), 30 (SMS30), 40 (SMS40) and 50% (SMS50). Birds fed diet CON had the least feed intake (p < 0.05) than all the other SMS treatment levels in weeks 7, 8, 12, 14 and 15. Diet SMS40 promoted higher (p < 0.05) body weight gain (BWG) than CON in weeks 6, 7, 9 and 14. Gain-to-feed ratio linearly increased in weeks 7 [R2 = 0.288; p = 0.010], 11 [R2 = 0.581, p = 0.0001] and 14 [R2 = 0.389, p = 0.004], respectively. Quadratic responses (p < 0.05) were observed for BWG in week 5, white blood cells, heterophils, platelets, lymphocytes, monocytes, and relative spleen and large intestine weights as OMS levels increased. Linear increases were recorded for slaughter [R2 = 0.197, p = 0.017] and breast weights [R2 = 0.197, p = 0.020] as OMS levels increased. Diet SMS0 promoted higher (p < 0.05) relative caeca weights than the CON and SMS treatment groups. Neither quadratic nor linear responses (p > 0.05) were observed for breast meat quality parameters. In conclusion, feeding brown seaweed SMS improved growth performance and slaughter weight, altered some blood parameters and internal organs, without affecting breast meat quality of Boschveld roosters. Based on the quadratic response for BWG, the optimum OMS level was deduced at 20% in a brown seaweed-based Boschveld rooster diet.
Alternative crop residue management practices to mitigate the environmental and economic impacts of open burning of agricultural residues
Authors: Prateep Na Talang Rutjaya , Na Sorn Warangluck , Polruang Sucheela , Sirivithayapakorn Sanya 
Published: June 2024

AbstractDeliberate open burning of crop residues emits greenhouse gases and toxic pollutants into the atmosphere. This study investigates the environmental impacts (global warming potential, GWP) and economic impacts (net cash flow) of nine agricultural residue management schemes, including open burning, fertilizer production, and biochar production for corn residue, rice straw, and sugarcane leaves. The environmental assessment shows that, except the open burning schemes, fossil fuel consumption is the main contributor of the GWP impact. The fertilizer and biochar schemes reduce the GWP impact including black carbon by 1.88–1.96 and 2.46–3.22 times compared to open burning. The biochar schemes have the lowest GWP (− 1833.19 to − 1473.21 kg CO2-eq/ton). The economic assessment outcomes reveal that the biochar schemes have the highest net cash flow (222.72—889.31 US$2022/ton or 1258.15–13409.16 US$2022/ha). The expenditures of open burning are practically zero, while the biochar schemes are the most costly to operate. The most preferable agricultural residue management type is the biochar production, given the lowest GWP impact and the highest net cash flow. To discourage open burning, the government should tailor the government assistance programs to the needs of the farmers and make the financial assistance more accessible.
Topography of the GLP-1/GLP-1 receptor system in the spinal cord of male mice
Authors: Ruska Yvette , Csibi Andrea , Dorogházi Beáta , Szilvásy-Szabó Anett , Mohácsik Petra , Környei Zsuzsanna , Dénes Ádám , Kádár Andrea , Puskár Zita , Hrabovszky Erik , Gereben Balázs , Wittmann Gábor , Fekete Csaba 
Published: June 2024

AbstractGlucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonists are now commonly used to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity. GLP-1R signaling in the spinal cord has been suggested to account for the mild tachycardia caused by GLP-1R agonists, and may also be involved in the therapeutic effects of these drugs. However, the neuroanatomy of the GLP-1/GLP-1R system in the spinal cord is still poorly understood. Here we applied in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry to characterize this system, and its relation to cholinergic neurons. GLP-1R transcript and protein were expressed in neuronal cell bodies across the gray matter, in matching distribution patterns. GLP-1R-immunolabeling was also robust in dendrites and axons, especially in laminae II–III in the dorsal horn. Cerebrospinal fluid-contacting neurons expressed GLP-1R protein at exceedingly high levels. Only small subpopulations of cholinergic neurons expressed GLP-1R, including a subset of sympathetic preganglionic neurons at the rostral tip of the intermediolateral nucleus. GLP-1 axons innervated all regions where GLP-1R neurons were distributed, except laminae II–III. Scattered preproglucagon (Gcg) mRNA-expressing neurons were identified in the cervical and lumbar enlargements. The results will facilitate further studies on how GLP-1 regulates the sympathetic system and other autonomic and somatic functions via the spinal cord.
The research on infrared radiation affected by smoke or fog in different environmental temperatures
Authors: Li Huaizhou , Wen Shupei , Li Sen , Wang Hong , Geng Xin , Wang Shuaijun , Zhai Jinlong , Zhang Wenhua 
Published: June 2024

AbstractInfrared thermal imaging camera as a non-contact monitoring of the object to be measured is widely used in fire detection, driving assistance and so on. Although there are many related studies, there is a lack of research on the influence of fog or smoke on infrared imaging under different environmental temperatures. To address this shortcoming, The temperature of both the environment and the target in this experiment is controlled by PID technology. The smoke or fog environment is generated using a smoke cake or an ultrasonic fog machine. The temperature of the target was measured by infrared thermal imaging camera. It was observed that as the temperature of the environment increases, the measured temperature of the target also increases. However, the change in temperature is more pronounced in the fog environment compared to either the smoke environment or the normal environment. It has been found through research that environmental radiation causes temperature changes in fog droplets. Therefore, Infrared radiation is less affected in the smoke environment and more affected in the fog environment. Additionally, when the environmental temperature is close to the target's temperature, the infrared image becomes blurred.
Development of a new prognostic model to predict pneumonia outcome using artificial intelligence-based chest radiograph results
Authors: Shin Hyun Joo , Lee Eun Hye , Han Kyunghwa , Ryu Leeha , Kim Eun-Kyung 
Published: June 2024

AbstractThis study aimed to develop a new simple and effective prognostic model using artificial intelligence (AI)-based chest radiograph (CXR) results to predict the outcomes of pneumonia. Patients aged > 18 years, admitted the treatment of pneumonia between March 2020 and August 2021 were included. We developed prognostic models, including an AI-based consolidation score in addition to the conventional CURB-65 (confusion, urea, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and age ≥ 65) and pneumonia severity index (PSI) for predicting pneumonia outcomes, defined as 30-day mortality during admission. A total of 489 patients, including 310 and 179 patients in training and test sets, were included. In the training set, the AI-based consolidation score on CXR was a significant variable for predicting the outcome (hazard ratio 1.016, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.001–1.031). The model that combined CURB-65, initial O2 requirement, intubation, and the AI-based consolidation score showed a significantly high C-index of 0.692 (95% CI 0.628–0.757) compared to other models. In the test set, this model also demonstrated a significantly high C-index of 0.726 (95% CI 0.644–0.809) compared to the conventional CURB-65 and PSI (p < 0.001 and 0.017, respectively). Therefore, a new prognostic model incorporating AI-based CXR results along with traditional pneumonia severity score could be a simple and useful tool for predicting pneumonia outcomes in clinical practice.
Unraveling ice multiplication in winter orographic clouds via in-situ observations, remote sensing and modeling
Authors: Georgakaki Paraskevi , Billault-Roux Anne-Claire , Foskinis Romanos , Gao Kunfeng , Sotiropoulou Georgia , Gini Maria , Takahama Satoshi , Eleftheriadis Konstantinos , Papayannis Alexandros , Berne Alexis , Nenes Athanasios 
Published: June 2024

AbstractRecent years have shown that secondary ice production (SIP) is ubiquitous, affecting all clouds from polar to tropical regions. SIP is not described well in models and may explain biases in warm mixed-phase cloud ice content and structure. Through modeling constrained by in-situ observations and its synergy with radar we show that SIP in orographic clouds exert a profound impact on the vertical distribution of hydrometeors and precipitation, especially in seeder-feeder cloud configurations. The mesoscale model simulations coupled with a radar simulator strongly support that enhanced aggregation and SIP through ice-ice collisions contribute to observed spectral bimodalities, skewing the Doppler spectra toward the slower-falling side at temperatures within the dendritic growth layer, ranging from −20 °C to −10 °C. This unique signature provides an opportunity to infer long-term SIP occurrences from the global cloud radar data archive, particularly for this underexplored temperature regime.
Redefined background state in the tropical Pacific resolves the entanglement between the background state and ENSO
Authors: Huang Ping , Chen Yue , Li Jinbao , Yan Hong 
Published: June 2024

AbstractUnderstanding the co-variability between the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the background state in the tropical Pacific is critical for projecting future ENSO. The difficulty is rooted in a circular logic that the background state routinely defined by multi-decadal mean modulates, and is modulated by, ENSO. This circularity arises due to the asymmetry between El Niño and La Niña, resulting in a non-zero mean, referred to as the ENSO rectification effect. Here, we develop a method based on Box-Cox normalization to define the tropical Pacific background state and its associated anomalies, which removes the ENSO rectification effect and is referred to as the normalized mean state. The normalized mean state accurately quantifies ENSO-related anomalies, ENSO asymmetry, and the ENSO rectification effect. It is evident in both observations and model simulations that the normalized mean state has a clear asymmetric impact on the amplitude of ENSO. A warm background state weakens El Niño but strengthens La Niña through two key processes: the nonlinear response of precipitation to SST and oceanic zonal advection feedback. The normalized mean state successfully solves the circular reasoning fallacy resulting from ENSO asymmetry and offers a framework to study ENSO and tropical climate dynamics with far-reaching impacts on global climate.