bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The role of letters of recommendation in perpetuating or challenging the social stratification of American secondary schools: a quantitative analysis of admission officer assessments in highly selective college admission
Authors: Butt Mark E. 
Published: July 2024

AbstractAdmission to highly selective institutions offers a pathway to upward social mobility, particularly for low-resource students. However, entrenched wealth disparities in the United States present serious challenges for admission officers at highly selective institutions. Utilizing individualized holistic review (IHR), including letters of recommendation (LOR), and contextual consideration, highly selective institutions aim to account for wealth inequities. This quantitative analysis, conducted at a highly selective research university, examined 95,326 applicants across 4 years to explore if admission officers’ internal assessments of LORs relate to contextual independent variables beyond students’ control. Statistical methods, including ANOVA, Two-Way ANOVA, Chi-Square, multiple linear regression, and logistic regression, were employed, controlling for standard measures of academic readiness. Findings revealed higher LOR assessments for students facing greater contextual challenge levels, underscoring the ability of the admission process to identify high achieving students from high challenge contexts. Paradoxically, elevated LOR ratings were also observed for students from private and smaller schools, indicating a nuanced interplay of factors in the admission process. Importantly, LOR assessments significantly correlated with admission outcomes, emphasizing the pivotal role of LORs in highly selective college admissions. This study reveals the nuanced role of LORs in admissions, exposing their potential to tackle inequities. It calls for improved IHR training and heightened consideration of contextual variables, offering a crucial contribution to advancing equity in highly selective institutions, fostering more informed admission practices.
The salinity impact on changes in some metabolites and some vital subcellular organelles in white maize
Authors: Ali Rania Tawfick , Ahmed Osama Konsowa , Abdel-Samie Negm Sayed , Yousef Rania Saber 
Published: July 2024

Abstract
Background
The great need to propagate new crop genotypes that are well adapted to the changing environmental conditions is urgently needed to support the high demand of food of the growing world population. In this work five white maize inbred lines (P4, P8, P12, P15, and P17) were studied for their salinity tolerance when exposed to: 0, 1000, 2000, 3000, and 10000 mg/L NaCl. The equilibrium balance between reactive oxygen species ROS and the detoxification cascades points to the plant’s performance under stress. The free amino acid and soluble sugar contents (non-enzymatic antioxidants) in addition to the superoxide dismutase & Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase SOD& PAL (enzymatic antioxidants) and some phenolic compounds contents were evaluated against hydrogen peroxide H2O2 as ROS product to classify plants to stress -tolerance or sensitive. Transmission electronic microscope (TEM) investigation is also, used to study the impact of the stress on the plant cells’ compartments after the direct treatment with saline water for 3 h as moderate soil holding time capacity to irrigation water.

Results
Maize line P8 followed by line P17 were the highest to cope with the irrigation of saline water in different ranges of concentrations of salt, accumulate the soluble sugars, free amino acids and antioxidants over control and other maize lines. These results are supported by the root ultrastructure observation with transmission electronic microscope.

Conclusion
Maize line P8 followed by the P17 line are highly recommended to be crossed and planted in the newly reclaimed lands irrigated with salty water.

Graphical Abstract
A Potential Surface Warming Regime for Volcanic Super‐Eruptions Through Stratospheric Water Vapor Increases
Authors: Guzewich Scott D. , Oman Luke D. , Colarco Peter R. , Richardson Jacob A. , Whelley Patrick L. , Fauchez Thomas J. , Kopparapu Ravi K. , Bastelberger Sandra T. 
Published: July 2024

AbstractLarge volcanic eruptions are known to influence the climate through a variety of mechanisms including aerosol‐forced cooling and warming via emitted CO2. The January 2022 Hunga shallow underwater eruption caused an increase in stratospheric water vapor, and demonstrated how the associated positive radiative forcing can be an important component of an eruption's climate forcing. We present interactive stratospheric aerosol model simulations of super‐volcanic eruptions with a range of SO2 emissions that can produce climate warming through feedback effects produced by a large igneous province (or “flood basalt”) mid‐latitude super‐eruption using Goddard Earth Observing System Chemistry Climate Model climate model simulations. The model experiments suggest total SO2 emissions ≳4,000 Tg/4 Gt generate a multi‐year period of sustained aerosol absorptive local‐heating of the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere and hence produce net climate warming after strong initial cooling. The eruptions produce stratospheric water vapor increases of factors of 8–600. The initiation of these feedbacks within the simulations suggest they could occur for individual stratovolcano eruptions of the scale of the Toba or Tambora eruptions. We note the sensitivity of our results to volcanic sulfate aerosol microphysics and model chemistry.
Air Quality Monitoring and the Safety of Farmworkers in Wildfire Mandatory Evacuation Zones
Authors: Chunga Pizarro Carlo A. , Buchholz Rebecca R. , Hornbrook Rebecca S. , Christensen Kevin , Méndez Michael 
Published: July 2024

AbstractThe increasing frequency and severity of wildfires due to climate change pose health risks to migrant farm workers laboring in wildfire‐prone regions. This study focuses on Sonoma County, California, investigating the effectiveness of air monitoring and safety protections for farmworkers. The analysis employs AirNow and PurpleAir PM2.5 data acquired during the 2020 wildfire season, comparing spatial variability in air pollution. Results show significant differences between the single Sonoma County AirNow station data and the PurpleAir data in the regions directly impacted by wildfire smoke. Three distinct wildfire pollution episodes with elevated PM2.5 levels are identified to examine the regional variations. This study also examines the system used to exempt farmworkers from wildfire mandatory evacuation orders, finding incomplete information, ad hoc decision‐making, and scant enforcement. In response, we make policy recommendations that include stricter requirements for employers, real‐time air quality monitoring, post‐exposure health screenings, and hazard pay. Our findings underscore the need for significant consideration of localized air quality readings and the importance of equitable disaster policies for protecting the health of farmworkers (particularly those who are undocumented migrants) in the face of escalating wildfire risks.
Climate Impacts of the Millennium Eruption of Changbaishan Volcano
Authors: Yang Y. Y. , Shi F. , Guo Z. F. , Liu W. , Xue H. H. , Zhuo Z. H. , Sun C. Q. , E C. Y. , Guo Z. T. 
Published: July 2024

AbstractThe Millennium Eruption of Changbaishan Volcano is heralded as one of the largest explosive eruptions in the Late Holocene and produced huge quantities of tephra. The petrogeochemical method estimates that the Millennium Eruption emitted up to 45 Tg of sulfur into the atmosphere—more than in the Tambora eruption in 1815 CE, which caused “a year without a summer” across the Northern Hemisphere in 1816 CE. Despite such massive emissions, evidence for this eruption's climate impact in East Asia remains elusive. To explain this contradiction, this study used 67 high‐resolution tree‐ring‐width records from the Northern Hemisphere spanning the past two millennia, complemented by volcanic sensitivity experiments conducted with the Community Earth System Model. Results reveal a prevailing decreasing/negative trend in the proxy records during the potential eruption period, with 945 CE marking the most notable negative anomaly, suggesting that the Millennium Eruption likely occurred in 945 CE rather than 946 CE. Sensitivity experiments, corroborated by proxy records, demonstrate that the Millennium Eruption induced substantial negative temperature anomalies at middle and high latitudes, alongside an increase in Meiyu‐Baiu‐Changma precipitation in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and southwestern Japan and a decrease in precipitation in India, northern China, and the South China Sea in the first post‐eruption year. This study offers a novel perspective on the climate impact of the Millennium Eruption, reconciling previous discrepancies regarding its climate impact.
Mechanical Properties of LL6 Chondrites Under Pressures Relevant to Rocky Interiors of Icy Moons
Authors: Seltzer Cassandra , O'Ghaffari Hoagy , Peč Matěj 
Published: July 2024

AbstractIcy moons in the outer Solar System likely contain rocky, chondritic interiors, but this material is rarely studied under confining pressure. The contribution of rocky interiors to deformation and heat generation is therefore poorly constrained. We deformed LL6 chondrites at confining pressures ≤100 MPa and quasistatic strain rates. We defined a failure envelope, recorded acoustic emissions (AEs), measured ultrasonic velocities, and retrieved static and dynamic elastic moduli for the experimental conditions. The Young's modulus, which quantifies stiffness, of the chondritic material increased with increasing confining pressure. The material reached its peak strength, which is the maximum supported differential stress (σ1 − σ3), between 40 and 50 MPa confining pressure. Above this 40–50 MPa range of confining pressure, the stiffness increased significantly, while the peak strength dropped. Acoustic emission events associated with brittle deformation mechanisms occurred both during isotropic pressurization (σ1 = σ2 = σ3) as well as at low differential stresses during triaxial deformation (σ1 > σ2 = σ3), during nominally “elastic” deformation, indicating that dissipative processes are likely possible in the rocky interiors of icy moons. These events also occurred less frequently at higher confining pressures. We therefore suggest that the chondritic interiors of icy moons could become less compliant, and possibly less dissipative, as a function of the moons' pressure and size.
Extending the detection limit: innovations in infrared quantum dot photodetectors reaching up to 18 μm
Authors: Wang Chong Wu , Wang Qi Jie 
Published: July 2024

AbstractA regrowth method was used to synthesize large-sized colloidal quantum dots (CQDs). With the assistance of doping engineering, the synthesized CQD detectors demonstrate exceptional long-wavelength infrared detection performance, reaching up to 18 μm, significantly extending the spectral response limit for CQD-based infrared detectors. These detectors also achieve a reasonably high detectivity of 6.6 × 108 Jones.
Identifying small-molecules binding sites in RNA conformational ensembles with SHAMAN
Authors: Panei F. P. , Gkeka P. , Bonomi M. 
Published: July 2024

AbstractThe rational targeting of RNA with small molecules is hampered by our still limited understanding of RNA structural and dynamic properties. Most in silico tools for binding site identification rely on static structures and therefore cannot face the challenges posed by the dynamic nature of RNA molecules. Here, we present SHAMAN, a computational technique to identify potential small-molecule binding sites in RNA structural ensembles. SHAMAN enables exploring the conformational landscape of RNA with atomistic molecular dynamics simulations and at the same time identifying RNA pockets in an efficient way with the aid of probes and enhanced-sampling techniques. In our benchmark composed of large, structured riboswitches as well as small, flexible viral RNAs, SHAMAN successfully identifies all the experimentally resolved pockets and ranks them among the most favorite probe hotspots. Overall, SHAMAN sets a solid foundation for future drug design efforts targeting RNA with small molecules, effectively addressing the long-standing challenges in the field.
Perturbation of METTL1-mediated tRNA N7- methylguanosine modification induces senescence and aging
Authors: Fu Yudong , Jiang Fan , Zhang Xiao , Pan Yingyi , Xu Rui , Liang Xiu , Wu Xiaofen , Li Xingqiang , Lin Kaixuan , Shi Ruona , Zhang Xiaofei , Ferrandon Dominique , Liu Jing , Pei Duanqing , Wang Jie , Wang Tao 
Published: July 2024

AbstractCellular senescence is characterized by a decrease in protein synthesis, although the underlying processes are mostly unclear. Chemical modifications to transfer RNAs (tRNAs) frequently influence tRNA activity, which is crucial for translation. We describe how tRNA N7-methylguanosine (m7G46) methylation, catalyzed by METTL1-WDR4, regulates translation and influences senescence phenotypes. Mettl1/Wdr4 and m7G gradually diminish with senescence and aging. A decrease in METTL1 causes a reduction in tRNAs, especially those with the m7G modification, via the rapid tRNA degradation (RTD) pathway. The decreases cause ribosomes to stall at certain codons, impeding the translation of mRNA that is essential in pathways such as Wnt signaling and ribosome biogenesis. Furthermore, chronic ribosome stalling stimulates the ribotoxic and integrative stress responses, which induce senescence-associated secretory phenotype. Moreover, restoring eEF1A protein mitigates senescence phenotypes caused by METTL1 deficiency by reducing RTD. Our findings demonstrate that tRNA m7G modification is essential for preventing premature senescence and aging by enabling efficient mRNA translation.
Genetically encoded Nδ-vinyl histidine for the evolution of enzyme catalytic center
Authors: Huang Haoran , Yan Tao , Liu Chang , Lu Yuxiang , Wu Zhigang , Wang Xingchu , Wang Jie 
Published: July 2024

AbstractGenetic code expansion has emerged as a powerful tool for precisely introducing unnatural chemical structures into proteins to improve their catalytic functions. Given the high catalytic propensity of histidine in the enzyme pocket, increasing the chemical diversity of catalytic histidine could result in new characteristics of biocatalysts. Herein, we report the genetically encoded Nδ-Vinyl Histidine (δVin-H) and achieve the wild-type-like incorporation efficiency by the evolution of pyrrolysyl tRNA synthetase. As histidine usually acts as the nucleophile or the metal ligand in the catalytic center, we replace these two types of catalytic histidine to δVin-H to improve the performance of the histidine-involved catalytic center. Additionally, we further demonstrate the improvements of the hydrolysis activity of a previously reported organocatalytic esterase (the OE1.3 variant) in the acidic condition and myoglobin (Mb) catalyzed carbene transfer reactions under the aerobic condition. As histidine is one of the most frequently used residues in the enzyme catalytic center, the derivatization of the catalytic histidine by δVin-H holds a great potential to promote the performance of biocatalysts.
Evolution and subfunctionalization of CIPK6 homologous genes in regulating cotton drought resistance
Authors: Sun Weinan , Xia Linjie , Deng Jinwu , Sun Simin , Yue Dandan , You Jiaqi , Wang Maojun , Jin Shuangxia , Zhu Longfu , Lindsey Keith , Zhang Xianlong , Yang Xiyan 
Published: July 2024

AbstractThe occurrence of whole-genome duplication or polyploidy may promote plant adaptability to harsh environments. Here, we clarify the evolutionary relationship of eight GhCIPK6 homologous genes in upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum). Gene expression and interaction analyses indicate that GhCIPK6 homologous genes show significant functional changes after polyploidy. Among these, GhCIPK6D1 and GhCIPK6D3 are significantly up-regulated by drought stress. Functional studies reveal that high GhCIPK6D1 expression promotes cotton drought sensitivity, while GhCIPK6D3 expression promotes drought tolerance, indicating clear functional differentiation. Genetic and biochemical analyses confirm the synergistic negative and positive regulation of cotton drought resistance through GhCBL1A1-GhCIPK6D1 and GhCBL2A1-GhCIPK6D3, respectively, to regulate stomatal movement by controlling the directional flow of K+ in guard cells. These results reveal differentiated roles of GhCIPK6 homologous genes in response to drought stress in upland cotton following polyploidy. The work provides a different perspective for exploring the functionalization and subfunctionalization of duplicated genes in response to polyploidization.
Targeting the transmembrane cytokine co-receptor neuropilin-1 in distal tubules improves renal injury and fibrosis
Authors: Li Yinzheng , Wang Zheng , Xu Huzi , Hong Yu , Shi Mengxia , Hu Bin , Wang Xiuru , Ma Shulin , Wang Meng , Cao Chujin , Zhu Han , Hu Danni , Xu Chang , Lin Yanping , Xu Gang , Yao Ying , Zeng Rui 
Published: July 2024

AbstractNeuropilin-1 (NRP1), a co-receptor for various cytokines, including TGF-β, has been identified as a potential therapeutic target for fibrosis. However, its role and mechanism in renal fibrosis remains elusive. Here, we show that NRP1 is upregulated in distal tubular (DT) cells of patients with transplant renal insufficiency and mice with renal ischemia-reperfusion (I-R) injury. Knockout of Nrp1 reduces multiple endpoints of renal injury and fibrosis. We find that Nrp1 facilitates the binding of TNF-α to its receptor in DT cells after renal injury. This signaling results in a downregulation of lysine crotonylation of the metabolic enzyme Cox4i1, decreases cellular energetics and exacerbation of renal injury. Furthermore, by single-cell RNA-sequencing we find that Nrp1-positive DT cells secrete collagen and communicate with myofibroblasts, exacerbating acute kidney injury (AKI)-induced renal fibrosis by activating Smad3. Dual genetic deletion of Nrp1 and Tgfbr1 in DT cells better improves renal injury and fibrosis than either single knockout. Together, these results reveal that targeting of NRP1 represents a promising strategy for the treatment of AKI and subsequent chronic kidney disease.
Dysregulated gene subnetworks in breast invasive carcinoma reveal novel tumor suppressor genes
Authors: Agarwal Shivangi , Parija Monalisa , Naik Sanoj , Kumari Pratima , Mishra Sandip K. , Adhya Amit K. , Kashaw Sushil K. , Dixit Anshuman 
Published: July 2024

AbstractBreast invasive carcinoma (BRCA) is the most malignant and leading cause of death in women. Global efforts are ongoing for improvement in early detection, prevention, and treatment. In this milieu, a comprehensive analysis of RNA-sequencing data of 1097 BRCA samples and 114 normal adjacent tissues is done to identify dysregulated genes in major molecular classes of BRCA in various clinical stages. Significantly enriched pathways in distinct molecular classes of BRCA have been identified. Pathways such as interferon signaling, tryptophan degradation, granulocyte adhesion & diapedesis, and catecholamine biosynthesis were found to be significantly enriched in Estrogen/Progesterone Receptor positive/Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 negative, pathways such as RAR activation, adipogenesis, the role of JAK1/2 in interferon signaling, TGF-β and STAT3 signaling intricated in Estrogen/Progesterone Receptor negative/Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 positive and pathways as IL-1/IL-8, TNFR1/TNFR2, TWEAK, and relaxin signaling were found in triple-negative breast cancer. The dysregulated genes were clustered based on their mutation frequency which revealed nine mutated clusters, some of which were well characterized in cancer while others were less characterized. Each cluster was analyzed in detail which led to the identification of NLGN3, MAML2, TTN, SYNE1, ANK2 as candidate genes in BRCA. They are central hubs in the protein–protein-interaction network, indicating their important regulatory roles. Experimentally, the Real-Time Quantitative Reverse Transcription PCR and western blot confirmed our computational predictions in cell lines. Further, immunohistochemistry corroborated the results in ~ 100 tissue samples. We could experimentally show that the NLGN3 & ANK2 have tumor-suppressor roles in BRCA as shown by cell viability assay, transwell migration, colony forming and wound healing assay. The cell viability and migration was found to be significantly reduced in MCF7 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines in which the selected genes were over-expressed as compared to control cell lines. The wound healing assay also demonstrated a significant decrease in wound closure at 12 h and 24 h time intervals in MCF7 & MDA-MB-231 cells. These findings established the tumor suppressor roles of NLGN3 & ANK2 in BRCA. This will have important ramifications for the therapeutics discovery against BRCA.
A chemometric approach to assess the oil composition and content of microwave-treated mustard (Brassica juncea) seeds using Vis–NIR–SWIR hyperspectral imaging
Authors: Hamad Rajendra , Chakraborty Subir Kumar 
Published: July 2024

AbstractThe wide gap between the demand and supply of edible mustard oil can be overcome to a certain extent by enhancing the oil-recovery during mechanical oil expression. It has been reported that microwave (MW) pre-treatment of mustard seeds can have a positive effect on the availability of mechanically expressible oil. Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) was used to understand the change in spatial spread of oil in the microwave (MW) treated seeds with bed thickness and time of exposure as variables, using visible near-infrared (Vis–NIR, 400–1000 nm) and short-wave infrared (SWIR, 1000–1700 nm) systems. The spectral data was analysed using chemometric techniques such as partial least square discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) and regression (PLSR) to develop prediction models. The PLS-DA model demonstrated a strong capability to classify the mustard seeds subjected to different MW pre-treatments from control samples with a high accuracy level of 96.6 and 99.5% for Vis–NIR and SWIR-HSI, respectively. PLSR model developed with SWIR-HSI spectral data predicted (R2 > 0.90) the oil content and fatty acid components such as oleic acid, erucic acid, saturated fatty acids, and PUFAs closest to the results obtained by analytical techniques. However, these predictions (R2 > 0.70) were less accurate while using the Vis–NIR spectral data.
The features analysis of hemoglobin expression on visual information transmission pathway in early stage of Alzheimer’s disease
Authors: Li Xuehui , Tang Pan , Pang Xinping , Song Xianghu , Xiong Jing , Yu Lei , Liu Hui , Pang Chaoyang 
Published: July 2024

AbstractAlzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized primarily by cognitive impairment. The motivation of this paper is to explore the impact of the visual information transmission pathway (V–H pathway) on AD, and the following feature were observed: Hemoglobin expression on the V–H pathway becomes dysregulated as AD occurs so as to the pathway becomes dysfunctional. According to the feature, the following conclusion was proposed: As AD occurs, abnormal tau proteins penetrate bloodstream and arrive at the brain regions of the pathway. Then the tau proteins or other toxic substances attack hemoglobin molecules. Under the attack, hemoglobin expression becomes more dysregulated. The dysfunction of V–H pathway has an impact on early symptoms of AD, such as spatial recognition disorder and face recognition disorder.