bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Exploring healthcare professionals’ perceptions of diet and exercise as a form of symptom management in Parkinson’s Disease
Authors: Calladine A. , Coe S. , Daly A. , Lawrie S. 
Published: July 2024

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder in which dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra, a region of the brain that controls movement, are lost over time (1). This results in motor symptoms, such as bradykinesia, and non-motor symptoms such as depression (2). Evidence- based resources and programmes utilising exercise for symptom management are widely available (3). However, despite emerging evidence showing that diet changes can improve quality of life and reduce disease severity (4), there are few dietary guidelines and programmes. This study aims to address a current literature gap in qualitative studies assessing the opinions of healthcare professionals (HCPs) towards diet and exercise in PD care, and to identify barriers and facilitators of this in care.A qualitative design was used to assess the views and beliefs of HCPs. Semi-structured interviews were conducted via telephone, using a topic guide developed by the research team, consisting of 20 questions. The data were analysed using the six-phase process of Reflexive Thematic analysis to determine key themes in the data (5).Five HCPs participated in this study. One main theme and two subthemes were identified. The main theme was that provisions of care and dietary advice are limited by a lack of knowledge of evidence- based, PD-specific, dietary guidelines. Subtheme 1 was that evidence-based exercise guidelines have been important facilitators in supporting care provision. Subtheme 2 was that lack of dietary guidance has been a barrier to optimum care provision and self-efficacy of HCPs.HCPs were less likely to discuss diet, due to barriers including lack of available resources or knowledge thereof, self-efficacy to recommend dietary changes, time constraints in the clinic, and less well-established referral pathways for dietitians. HCPs were unaware of the influence of diet in PD treatment, despite diet’s impact on symptoms being discussed in clinic. However, HCPs agreed that evidence-based resources would benefit HCPs’ practice, to improve symptom severity and nutritional status of patients. Exercise was more likely to be discussed, as evidence-based guidelines and empirical understanding meant HCPs were more aware of the beneficial effects on symptoms.While limited by small numbers, these findings suggest that a lack of knowledge, low self-efficacy, and time pressures mean that patients may not receive dietary guidelines which may be beneficial to their care. Self-efficacy of HCPs should be improved through PD-specific nutritional education, development and dissemination of PD-specific nutrition guidelines and resources. Future research should aim to determine the effectiveness of relevant dietary strategies’ in managing and caring for PD.
Relationship between carrot intake, dietary/circulating α-carotene and cancer risk: A systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective observational studies
Authors: Ojobor C.C , O’Brien G.M , Siervo M. , Ogbonnaya C. , Brandt K. 
Published: July 2024

Carrot consumption reduces tumour development in several animal models. The constituent alpha- carotene has not by itself shown anti-cancer properties, however carrots typically provide >85% of alpha-carotene dietary intake(1-3), justifying its use as an indicator of carrot intake(3). We conducted a meta-analysis to investigate inverse associations of carrot/dietary α-carotene intakes and cancer risk, and to quantify potential dose–response relationships.PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Scopus, EBSCO, and JSTOR were searched (from database inception to August 2021) for studies reporting risk estimates with 95% CIs for the relationship between carrot intake or α-carotene and cancer risk. Meta-analyses were conducted using a random-effects model comparing highest and lowest intakes to estimate summary risk estimates (RRs).Of 80 prospective studies included, 15 (with 25738 cases) reported data on carrot intake, 35 (26262 cases) on dietary α-carotene intake and 30 (9331 cases) on plasma α-carotene levels. A significantly (P<0.01) decreased risk of overall cancer was associated with carrot intake (RR = 0·90), dietary α- carotene intake (RR = 0·90) and plasma α-carotene (RR = 0·80). In addition, both carrot intake and plasma α-carotene level manifested linear dose-response relationships with cancer risk, with increasing carrot intake reaching 20% risk reduction at 5 servings (400g) per week (p < 0·0001),and successive 50μg/L increments in plasma α-carotene associated with 11% risk reduction (p < 0·0058).Carrot consumption is robustly associated with decreased cancer risk. Carrot consumption should be encouraged, and the causal mechanisms further investigated.
The effectiveness of e-storybook on children’s vegetable acceptance
Authors: Mohd Nor N.D , Che Mustafa M. , Bacotang J. 
Published: July 2024

A diet high in fruit and vegetables is beneficial to reduce the risk of many diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, certain cancers and hypertension(1,2). However, reports show that vegetable consumption among children is still low. Intervention must be made to encourage children to eat more vegetables as a dietary pattern in childhood will determine a dietary pattern in adulthood(3). This current study investigated the effects of an e-storybook on children’s vegetable acceptance.Sixty-five parents and their children aged 4 to 7 years participated in this study and they were divided into 2 groups. Parents in an experimental group read an e-storybook about a target vegetable (asparagus) with their child for 10 days, while the control group did not receive an e-book. Parents in both groups were asked to offer the target vegetable and a match control vegetable (peas) before and after the intervention and record their child’s vegetable intake (measured using a 6-point scale) and liking (measured using a 6-point scale).In the experimental group, liking of target vegetable increased from 2.5 ± 1.5 to 3.0 ± 1.4 (p = 0.01), but not for control vegetable. There was a tendency that intake of target vegetable increased following exposure to the e-storybook, from 1.6 ± 1.6 to 1.9 ± 1.7 (p=0.052), but there was no significant increase in intake for control vegetable. While in the control group, there were no significant increases in intake and liking for both vegetables post-intervention. When comparing means between groups, there were no significant differences in intake and liking at pre-intervention, however at post-intervention, there was a significant difference in intake (p=0.02), where the intervention group had a higher intake than the control group by 0.9 ± 1.9. There was also a significant difference in liking between these groups at post-intervention (p=0.001), where the intervention group had a higher liking than the control group by 1.1 ± 1.8.Results suggest that e-storybooks are an effective strategy for parents to use to increase vegetable acceptance in children.
Forecasting West Nile Virus With Graph Neural Networks: Harnessing Spatial Dependence in Irregularly Sampled Geospatial Data
Authors: Tonks Adam , Harris Trevor , Li Bo , Brown William , Smith Rebecca 
Published: July 2024

AbstractMachine learning methods have seen increased application to geospatial environmental problems, such as precipitation nowcasting, haze forecasting, and crop yield prediction. However, many of the machine learning methods applied to mosquito population and disease forecasting do not inherently take into account the underlying spatial structure of the given data. In our work, we apply a spatially aware graph neural network model consisting of GraphSAGE layers to forecast the presence of West Nile virus in Illinois, to aid mosquito surveillance and abatement efforts within the state. More generally, we show that graph neural networks applied to irregularly sampled geospatial data can exceed the performance of a range of baseline methods including logistic regression, XGBoost, and fully‐connected neural networks.
Picky Eaters: Carbon Isotopic Evidence for the Uniform Bioavailability of Riverine Dissolved Organic Matter to a Model Marine Microorganism
Authors: Baumser Lea , Potts Lindsey , Walker Brett D. , Mahmoudi Nagissa 
Published: July 2024

AbstractDissolved organic matter (DOM) is a key component of the global carbon cycle, with rivers delivering significant amounts of DOM to oceans. Urbanization and agricultural land‐use alter the age and chemical composition of riverine DOM, which likely impact the downstream bioavailability of riverine DOM. Here, we use bioreactor incubations of a marine bacterium (Pseudoalteromonas sp. 3D05) to investigate DOM bioavailability from two distinct rivers: the Suwannee River (natural, non‐urbanized), and the Upper Mississippi River Basin (anthropogenically influenced). We measured rates of microbial CO2 production and radiocarbon ages (as Δ14C) to assess DOM remineralization. We observed nearly identical cell densities and degradation patterns for both riverine DOM incubations. Respired DOM Δ14C values were also similar and decreased over time indicative of preferential utilization of recently synthesized “modern” substrates. These findings reveal unexpected similarities in riverine DOM bioavailability, indicating similar short term biological reactivity despite large DOM compositional differences.
Geology Matters for Antarctic Geothermal Heat
Authors: Stål Tobias , Halpin Jacqueline A. , Goodge John W. , Reading Anya M. 
Published: July 2024

AbstractGeothermal heat plays a vital role in Antarctic ice sheet stability. The continental geothermal heat flow distribution depends on lithospheric composition and ongoing tectonism. Heat‐producing elements are unevenly enriched in the crust over deep time by various geological processes. The contribution of crustal heat production to geothermal heat flow is widely recognized; however, in Antarctica, crustal geology is largely hidden, and its complexity has frequently been excluded in thermal studies due to limited observations and oversimplified assumptions. Li and Aitken (2024), https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL106201 take a significant step forward, focusing on Antarctic crustal radiogenic heat. Utilizing gravity inversion and rock composition data, they show that the crustal heterogeneity introduces considerable variability to heat flow. However, modeling crustal heat production proves challenging because it lacks distinct associations with geophysical observables and has a narrow spatial association. Robust quantification of geothermal heat production and heat flow must incorporate explicit aspects of geology.
Shortcut to multipartite entanglement generation: A graph approach to boson subtractions
Authors: Chin Seungbeom , Kim Yong-Su , Karczewski Marcin 
Published: July 2024

AbstractWe propose a graph method for systematically searching for schemes that can generate multipartite entanglement in linear bosonic systems with heralding. While heralded entanglement generation offers more tolerable schemes for quantum tasks than postselected ones, it is generally more challenging to find appropriate circuits for multipartite systems. We show that our graph mapping from boson subtractions provides handy tactics to overcome the limitations in circuit designs. Within our graph framework, we identify enhanced schemes for qubit N-partite GHZ, W, and the superposition of N = 3 GHZ and W states. Furthermore, we have found a qudit N-partite GHZ state generation scheme, which requires substantially fewer particles than previous proposals. These results demonstrate the power of our approach in discovering optimized solutions for the generation of intricate heralded entangled states. We expect our method to serve as a promising tool in generating diverse entanglement.
The cortical amygdala consolidates a socially transmitted long-term memory
Authors: Liu Zhihui , Sun Wenfei , Ng Yi Han , Dong Hua , Quake Stephen R. , Südhof Thomas C. 
Published: July 2024

AbstractSocial communication guides decision-making, which is essential for survival. Social transmission of food preference (STFP) is an ecologically relevant memory paradigm in which an animal learns a desirable food odour from another animal in a social context, creating a long-term memory1,2. How food-preference memory is acquired, consolidated and stored is unclear. Here we show that the posteromedial nucleus of the cortical amygdala (COApm) serves as a computational centre in long-term STFP memory consolidation by integrating social and sensory olfactory inputs. Blocking synaptic signalling by the COApm-based circuit selectively abolished STFP memory consolidation without impairing memory acquisition, storage or recall. COApm-mediated STFP memory consolidation depends on synaptic inputs from the accessory olfactory bulb and on synaptic outputs to the anterior olfactory nucleus. STFP memory consolidation requires protein synthesis, suggesting a gene-expression mechanism. Deep single-cell and spatially resolved transcriptomics revealed robust but distinct gene-expression signatures induced by STFP memory formation in the COApm that are consistent with synapse restructuring. Our data thus define a neural circuit for the consolidation of a socially communicated long-term memory, thereby mechanistically distinguishing protein-synthesis-dependent memory consolidation from memory acquisition, storage or retrieval.
Semantic encoding during language comprehension at single-cell resolution
Authors: Jamali Mohsen , Grannan Benjamin , Cai Jing , Khanna Arjun R. , Muñoz William , Caprara Irene , Paulk Angelique C. , Cash Sydney S. , Fedorenko Evelina , Williams Ziv M. 
Published: July 2024

AbstractFrom sequences of speech sounds1,2 or letters3, humans can extract rich and nuanced meaning through language. This capacity is essential for human communication. Yet, despite a growing understanding of the brain areas that support linguistic and semantic processing4–12, the derivation of linguistic meaning in neural tissue at the cellular level and over the timescale of action potentials remains largely unknown. Here we recorded from single cells in the left language-dominant prefrontal cortex as participants listened to semantically diverse sentences and naturalistic stories. By tracking their activities during natural speech processing, we discover a fine-scale cortical representation of semantic information by individual neurons. These neurons responded selectively to specific word meanings and reliably distinguished words from nonwords. Moreover, rather than responding to the words as fixed memory representations, their activities were highly dynamic, reflecting the words’ meanings based on their specific sentence contexts and independent of their phonetic form. Collectively, we show how these cell ensembles accurately predicted the broad semantic categories of the words as they were heard in real time during speech and how they tracked the sentences in which they appeared. We also show how they encoded the hierarchical structure of these meaning representations and how these representations mapped onto the cell population. Together, these findings reveal a finely detailed cortical organization of semantic representations at the neuron scale in humans and begin to illuminate the cellular-level processing of meaning during language comprehension.
Assessing the antioxidant properties of Naringin and Rutin and investigating their oxidative DNA damage effects in breast cancer
Authors: Pravin Badhe , Nanaware Vivek , Ashwini Badhe , Wondmie Gezahign Fentahun , Jardan Yousef A. Bin , Bourhia Mohammed 
Published: July 2024

AbstractThis work examines the capacity of Naringin and Rutin to influence the DNA damage response (DDR) pathway by investigating their interactions with key DDR proteins, including PARP-1, ATM, ATR, CHK1, and WEE1. Through a combination of in silico molecular docking and in vitro evaluations, we investigated the cytotoxic and genotoxic effects of these compounds on MDA-MB-231 cells, comparing them to normal human fibroblast cells (2DD) and quiescent fibroblast cells (QFC). The research found that Naringin and Rutin had strong affinities for DDR pathway proteins, indicating their capacity to specifically regulate DDR pathways in cancer cells. Both compounds exhibited preferential cytotoxicity towards cancer cells while preserving the vitality of normal 2DD fibroblast cells, as demonstrated by cytotoxicity experiments conducted at a dose of 10 µM. The comet experiments performed particularly on QFC cells provide valuable information on the genotoxic impact of Naringin and Rutin, highlighting the targeted initiation of DNA damage in cancer cells. The need to use precise cell models to appropriately evaluate toxicity and genotoxicity is emphasized by this discrepancy. In addition, ADMET and drug-likeness investigations have emphasized the pharmacological potential of these compounds; however, they have also pointed out the necessity for optimization to improve their therapeutic profiles. The antioxidant capabilities of Naringin and Rutin were assessed using DPPH and free radical scavenging assays at a concentration of 10 µM. The results confirmed that both compounds have a role in reducing oxidative stress, hence enhancing their anticancer effects. Overall, Naringin and Rutin show potential as medicines for modulating the DDR in cancer treatment. They exhibit selective toxicity towards cancer cells while sparing normal cells and possess strong antioxidant properties. This analysis enhances our understanding of the therapeutic uses of natural chemicals in cancer treatment, supporting the need for more research on their mechanisms of action and clinical effectiveness.
Colon cancer diagnosis by means of explainable deep learning
Authors: Di Giammarco Marcello , Martinelli Fabio , Santone Antonella , Cesarelli Mario , Mercaldo Francesco 
Published: July 2024

AbstractEarly detection of the adenocarcinoma cancer in colon tissue by means of explainable deep learning, by classifying histological images and providing visual explainability on model prediction. Considering that in recent years, deep learning techniques have emerged as powerful techniques in medical image analysis, offering unprecedented accuracy and efficiency, in this paper we propose a method to automatically detect the presence of cancerous cells in colon tissue images. Various deep learning architectures are considered, with the aim of considering the best one in terms of quantitative and qualitative results. As a matter of fact, we consider qualitative results by taking into account the so-called prediction explainability, by providing a way to highlight on the tissue images the areas that from the model point of view are related to the presence of colon cancer. The experimental analysis, performed on 10,000 colon issue images, showed the effectiveness of the proposed method by obtaining an accuracy equal to 0.99. The experimental analysis shows that the proposed method can be successfully exploited for colon cancer detection and localisation from tissue images.
Clinical features and treatment outcomes of intraocular and ocular adnexal metastasis
Authors: Tsutsumi Wantanee Dangboon , Rattanasuwan Apinya , Aryasit Orapan 
Published: July 2024

AbstractThe aim of this study was to investigate the primary sites, clinical characteristics, and treatment outcomes of patients with metastatic tumors in the eye and ocular adnexa. This retrospective case series consisted of 42 patients diagnosed with intraocular metastasis (IM) or ocular adnexal metastasis (OAM) at a tertiary center between January 2001 and June 2023. The patients comprised 18 men and 24 women; 24 (57%) and 18 (43%) patients were diagnosed with IM and OAM, respectively. In the IM group, the primary tumors originated from the lungs (79%), followed by the breasts (17%). In the OAM group, the primary tumors originated from the breasts (33%). Previously, 57% of the patients had been diagnosed with cancer. In the IM group, 38% exhibited bilateral involvement. Only 6% of the patients with OAM had bilateral diseases. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year overall survival (OS) was 42%, 18%, and 7%, respectively. The median OS since metastasis diagnosis in the lungs and breast was 11.8 and 10.5 months, respectively. Lung cancer remains the predominant primary cancer in IM, whereas breast cancer is the major cancer in OAM. Despite poor OS, early detection will facilitate the prompt treatment of primary cancer and metastatic sites.
Bergenin inhibits growth of human cervical cancer cells by decreasing Galectin-3 and MMP-9 expression
Authors: Chauhan Ravi , Malhotra Lakshay , Gupta Ashna , Dagar Gunjan , Mendiratta Mohini , Masoodi Tariq , Hashem Sheema , Al Marzooqi Sara , Das Dayasagar , Uddin Shahab , Ethayathulla Abdul Samath , Macha Muzafar A. , Akil Ammira Al-Shabeeb , Sahoo Ranjit Kumar , Rai Ekta , Bhat Ajaz A. , Singh Mayank 
Published: July 2024

AbstractCervical cancer is still the leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide even after introduction of vaccine against Human papillomavirus (HPV), due to low vaccine coverage, especially in the developing world. Cervical cancer is primarily treated by Chemo/Radiotherapy, depending on the disease stage, with Carboplatin/Cisplatin-based drug regime. These drugs being non-specific, target rapidly dividing cells, including normal cells, so safer options are needed for lower off-target toxicity. Natural products offer an attractive option compared to synthetic drugs due to their well-established safety profile and capacity to target multiple oncogenic hallmarks of cancer like inflammation, angiogenesis, etc. In the current study, we investigated the effect of Bergenin (C-glycoside of 4-O-methylgallic acid), a natural polyphenol compound that is isolated from medicinal plants such as Bergenia crassifolia, Caesalpinia digyna, and Flueggea leucopyrus. Bergenin has been shown to have anti-inflammatory, anti-ulcerogenic, and wound healing properties but its anticancer potential has been realized only recently. We performed a proteomic analysis of cervical carcinoma cells treated with bergenin and found it to influence multiple hallmarks of cancers, including apoptosis, angiogenesis, and tumor suppressor proteins. It was also involved in many different cellular processes unrelated to cancer, as shown by our proteomic analysis. Further analysis showed bergenin to be a potent-angiogenic agent by reducing key angiogenic proteins like Galectin 3 and MMP-9 (Matrix Metalloprotease 9) in cervical carcinoma cells. Further understanding of this interaction was carried out using molecular docking analysis, which indicated MMP-9 has more affinity for bergenin as compared to Galectin-3. Cumulatively, our data provide novel insight into the anti-angiogenic mechanism of bergenin in cervical carcinoma cells by modulation of multiple angiogenic proteins like Galectin-3 and MMP-9 which warrant its further development as an anticancer agent in cervical cancer.