bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Radiomic- and dosiomic-based clustering development for radio-induced neurotoxicity in pediatric medulloblastoma
Authors: Piffer Stefano , Greto Daniela , Ubaldi Leonardo , Mortilla Marzia , Ciccarone Antonio , Desideri Isacco , Genitori Lorenzo , Livi Lorenzo , Marrazzo Livia , Pallotta Stefania , Retico Alessandra , Sardi Iacopo , Talamonti Cinzia 
Published: April 2024

Abstract
Background
Texture analysis extracts many quantitative image features, offering a valuable, cost-effective, and non-invasive approach for individual medicine. Furthermore, multimodal machine learning could have a large impact for precision medicine, as texture biomarkers can underlie tissue microstructure. This study aims to investigate imaging-based biomarkers of radio-induced neurotoxicity in pediatric patients with metastatic medulloblastoma, using radiomic and dosiomic analysis.

Methods
This single-center study retrospectively enrolled children diagnosed with metastatic medulloblastoma (MB) and treated with hyperfractionated craniospinal irradiation (CSI). Histological confirmation of medulloblastoma and baseline follow-up magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were mandatory. Treatment involved helical tomotherapy (HT) delivering a dose of 39 Gray (Gy) to brain and spinal axis and a posterior fossa boost up to 60 Gy. Clinical outcomes, such as local and distant brain control and neurotoxicity, were recorded. Radiomic and dosiomic features were extracted from tumor regions on T1, T2, FLAIR (fluid-attenuated inversion recovery) MRI-maps, and radiotherapy dose distribution. Different machine learning feature selection and reduction approaches were performed for supervised and unsupervised clustering.

Results
Forty-eight metastatic medulloblastoma patients (29 males and 19 females) with a mean age of 12 ± 6 years were enrolled. For each patient, 332 features were extracted. Greater level of abstraction of input data by combining selection of most performing features and dimensionality reduction returns the best performance. The resulting one-component radiomic signature yielded an accuracy of 0.73 with sensitivity, specificity, and precision of 0.83, 0.64, and 0.68, respectively.

Conclusions
Machine learning radiomic-dosiomic approach effectively stratified pediatric medulloblastoma patients who experienced radio-induced neurotoxicity. Strategy needs further validation in external dataset for its potential clinical use in ab initio management paradigms of medulloblastoma.
Bone marrow edema of the knee: a narrative review
Authors: Villari Eleonora , Digennaro Vitoantonio , Panciera Alessandro , Ferri Riccardo , Benvenuti Lorenzo , Cesare Faldini 
Published: April 2024

AbstractBone marrow edema (BME) is a frequent MRI finding in patients with knee pain. According to the etiology, BME of the knee can be classified into three main categories: ischemic, mechanic, and reactive. The diagnosis may be difficult, because of the specificity of symptoms and the poor radiographic findings. MRI is the gold standard, showing an area of altered signal of the bone with an high signal intensity on fat-suppressed, T2 weighted images, usually in combination with an intermediate or low signal intensity on T1 weighted images. Bone marrow edema tends to be self-limiting and, in most cases, resolves without any consequences in a varying amount of time. However, since it may evolve to complete joint destruction, early diagnosis and correct treatment are crucial to prevent the articular degeneration. Conservative therapy is the first step, with no weight-bearing for 3 to 6 weeks on the affected side, in combination with the administration of anti-inflammatory drugs or painkillers to manage symptoms. In non-responding forms and more advanced stages, minimally invasive preservative surgery can provide significant results, with subchondroplasty and core decompression being the two main procedures available. Knee arthroplasty, both total (TKA) or unicompartmental (UKA), is the only effective option when the degradation of cartilage is diffuse and in patients with subchondral bone collapse.
Osteoprotegerin is an Early Marker of the Fibrotic Process and of Antifibrotic Treatment Responses in Ex Vivo Lung Fibrosis
Authors: Putri Kurnia S. S. , Adhyatmika Adhyatmika , Boorsma Carian E. , Habibie Habibie , Ruigrok Mitchel J. R. , Heukels Peter , Timens Wim , de Jager Marina H. , Hinrichs Wouter L. J. , Olinga Peter , Melgert Barbro N. 
Published: April 2024

Abstract
Background
Lung fibrosis is a chronic lung disease with a high mortality rate with only two approved drugs (pirfenidone and nintedanib) to attenuate its progression. To date, there are no reliable biomarkers to assess fibrosis development and/or treatment effects for these two drugs. Osteoprotegerin (OPG) is used as a serum marker to diagnose liver fibrosis and we have previously shown it associates with lung fibrosis as well.

Methods
Here we used murine and human precision-cut lung slices to investigate the regulation of OPG in lung tissue to elucidate whether it tracks with (early) fibrosis development and responds to antifibrotic treatment to assess its potential use as a biomarker.

Results
OPG mRNA expression in murine lung slices was higher after treatment with profibrotic cytokines TGFβ1 or IL13, and closely correlated with Fn and PAI1 mRNA expression. More OPG protein was released from fibrotic human lung slices than from the control human slices and from TGFβ1 and IL13-stimulated murine lung slices compared to control murine slices. This OPG release was inhibited when murine slices were treated with pirfenidone or nintedanib. OPG release from human fibrotic lung slices was inhibited by pirfenidone treatment.

Conclusion
OPG can already be detected during the early stages of fibrosis development and responds, both in early- and late-stage fibrosis, to treatment with antifibrotic drugs currently on the market for lung fibrosis. Therefore, OPG should be further investigated as a potential biomarker for lung fibrosis and a potential surrogate marker for treatment effect.
UAS-based mapping of the July 3, 2019, ballistics density distribution on the W flank of Stromboli with uncertainty quantification
Authors: Bevilacqua A. , Nannipieri L. , Favalli M. , Fornaciai A. 
Published: April 2024

AbstractStromboli is a volcanic island in a persistent state of activity, located off the northern coast of Sicily. The paroxysms have been the most powerful explosive phenomena at Stromboli in the last 150 years. These explosions can produce ballistic projectiles that can heavily affect trails and observation sites as well as hit inhabited areas at lower elevations, down to the coast. On July 3, 2019, a paroxysm significantly affected a great portion of the island with ballistic projectiles. In particular, many decimeter and meter-sized spatter bombs hit the W flank of Stromboli, and ignited multiple fires. In May 2022, we conducted an Unmanned Aerial System photogrammetric campaign over a sector of the W flank of Stromboli that was heavily affected by the paroxysm. The largest clasts were still preserved after 3 years, not disturbed by significant mass wasting phenomena or human interference, and they were not yet hidden by the post-fire regrowth of the brush vegetation. In this study, we constrained the main sources of uncertainty affecting the bombs distribution on the ground, by characterizing a percentage of uncertain clasts, testing various density estimators, and by modeling an areal buffer around the mapped clasts. We produced a 0.18 km2 wide 1.6-cm resolution orthomosaic, a 10-cm resolution Digital Surface Model, and 2813 outlines of the mapped ballistics. Spatial distribution of the ground cover and associated uncertainty were analyzed as a function of the distance and of the angular direction from the source.
Curvature Sets Over Persistence Diagrams
Authors: Gómez Mario , Mémoli Facundo 
Published: April 2024

AbstractWe study a family of invariants of compact metric spaces that combines the Curvature Sets defined by Gromov in the 1980 s with Vietoris–Rips Persistent Homology. For given integers $$k\ge 0$$

k
≥
0

and $$n\ge 1$$

n
≥
1

we consider the dimension k Vietoris–Rips persistence diagrams of all subsets of a given metric space with cardinality at most n. We call these invariants persistence sets and denote them as $${\textbf{D}}_{n,k}^{\textrm{VR}}$$

D

n
,
k

VR

. We first point out that this family encompasses the usual Vietoris–Rips diagrams. We then establish that (1) for certain range of values of the parameters n and k, computing these invariants is significantly more efficient than computing the usual Vietoris–Rips persistence diagrams, (2) these invariants have very good discriminating power and, in many cases, capture information that is imperceptible through standard Vietoris–Rips persistence diagrams, and (3) they enjoy stability properties analogous to those of the usual Vietoris–Rips persistence diagrams. We precisely characterize some of them in the case of spheres and surfaces with constant curvature using a generalization of Ptolemy’s inequality. We also identify a rich family of metric graphs for which $${\textbf{D}}_{4,1}^{\textrm{VR}}$$

D

4
,
1

VR

fully recovers their homotopy type by studying split-metric decompositions. Along the way we prove some useful properties of Vietoris–Rips persistence diagrams using Mayer–Vietoris sequences. These yield a geometric algorithm for computing the Vietoris–Rips persistence diagram of a space X with cardinality $$2k+2$$

2
k
+
2

with quadratic time complexity as opposed to the much higher cost incurred by the usual algebraic algorithms relying on matrix reduction.
IHHO: an improved Harris Hawks optimization algorithm for solving engineering problems
Authors: Akl Dalia T. , Saafan Mahmoud M. , Haikal Amira Y. , El-Gendy Eman M. 
Published: April 2024

AbstractHarris Hawks optimization (HHO) algorithm was a powerful metaheuristic algorithm for solving complex problems. However, HHO could easily fall within the local minimum. In this paper, we proposed an improved Harris Hawks optimization (IHHO) algorithm for solving different engineering tasks. The proposed algorithm focused on random location-based habitats during the exploration phase and on strategies 1, 3, and 4 during the exploitation phase. The proposed modified Harris hawks in the wild would change their perch strategy and chasing pattern according to updates in both the exploration and exploitation phases. To avoid being stuck in a local solution, random values were generated using logarithms and exponentials to explore new regions more quickly and locations. To evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm, IHHO was compared to other five recent algorithms [grey wolf optimization, BAT algorithm, teaching–learning-based optimization, moth-flame optimization, and whale optimization algorithm] as well as three other modifications of HHO (BHHO, LogHHO, and MHHO). These optimizers had been applied to different benchmarks, namely standard benchmarks, CEC2017, CEC2019, CEC2020, and other 52 standard benchmark functions. Moreover, six classical real-world engineering problems were tested against the IHHO to prove the efficiency of the proposed algorithm. The numerical results showed the superiority of the proposed algorithm IHHO against other algorithms, which was proved visually using different convergence curves. Friedman's mean rank statistical test was also inducted to calculate the rank of IHHO against other algorithms. The results of the Friedman test indicated that the proposed algorithm was ranked first as compared to the other algorithms as well as three other modifications of HHO.
Beyond ownership: assessing diverse housing typologies and policy interventions for affordable housing in Dilla, Ethiopia
Authors: Sunikka-Blank Minna , Esayas Dube Engida , Teku Selamawit 
Published: April 2024

AbstractThis research addresses global housing crisis, a secondary city of Dilla in Ethiopia as a case study. This study seeks to fill the empirical knowledge gap in popular housing typologies and tenure types in urban development in the Global South outside metropolitan areas. Drawing from an in-depth study of 18 households, the focus is on housing choices of middle- and low-income households in a secondary city of Dilla, Ethiopia. Such cities so far have been less in the focus of researchers, compared to capital regions. The studied housing types are tenures of homeownership, private rental and a rent-free model as housing types, with informal arrangements playing a role in the last two types. Our study underlines the necessity of not only acknowledging, repairing and formalizing the existing semi- and informal housing developments but also of proactively planning for peripheral housing developments and future expansion, a strategy with broader applicability to the region and the Global South. Such anticipating measures include the development of water and energy infrastructure, land earmarking for much-needed public rental housing, and the establishment of robust tenant rights through legislative foresight.
Sea-level rise impacts on groundwater: exploring some misconceptions with simple analytic solutions
Authors: Morgan Leanne K. 
Published: April 2024

Abstract
Sea-level rise (SLR) causes groundwater salinisation and water-table rise. The impacts these processes can have on water security, agricultural production and infrastructure are becoming widely recognised. However, some misconceptions relating to SLR impacts on groundwater have been observed among students, which may interfere with further learning and the application of science principles to everyday life. These misconceptions include the following: (1) water-table rise will equal SLR; (2) inland movement of the interface causes the rise in the water table under SLR; (3) seawater intrusion (SI) caused by SLR is small compared to SI caused by pumping. These misconceptions are explored with the aid of simple analytic solutions and a Jupyter Notebook. It is shown that: (1) water-table rise is only equal to SLR above the interface under flux-controlled inland boundary conditions; (2) water-table rise under SLR is not caused by SI, but rather is caused by the change in levels at the coastal boundary; (3) SI caused by SLR is a considerable risk, especially under the head-controlled conditions, which will become more common when land is drained to counter the effects of groundwater shoaling.
Targeting ferroptosis for treating kidney disease
Authors: Mishima Eikan 
Published: April 2024

AbstractFerroptosis is a type of regulated cell death hallmarked by iron-mediated excessive lipid oxidation. Over the past decade since the coining of the term ferroptosis, advances in research have led to the identification of intracellular processes that regulate ferroptosis such as GSH-GPX4 pathway and FSP1-coenzyme Q10/vitamin K pathway. From a disease perspective, the involvement of ferroptosis in pathological conditions including kidney disease has attracted attention. In terms of renal pathophysiology, ferroptosis has been widely investigated for its involvement in ischemia–reperfusion injury, nephrotoxin-induced kidney damage and other renal diseases. Therefore, therapeutic interventions targeting ferroptosis are expected to become a new therapeutic approach for these diseases. However, when considering cell death as a therapeutic target, careful consideration must be given to (i) in which type of cells, (ii) which type of cell death mode, and (iii) in which stage or temporal window of the disease. In the next decade, elucidation of the true involvement of ferroptosis in kidney disease setting in human, and development of clinically applicable and effective therapeutic drugs that target ferroptosis are warranted.
Governance, Mobility, and Pastureland Ecology. An Eco-Anthropological Study of Three Pastoral Commons in Northeastern Andalusia
Authors: Godoy-Sepúlveda Francisco , Sanosa-Cols Pau , Parra Santiago A. , Peña-Enguix Adrià , Pérez-Luque Antonio J. , Ramos-Font María Eugenia , Robles Ana Belén , Tognetti Mauro J. , González-Robles Ana , Ravera Federica , Ventura Montserrat , Dominguez Pablo 
Published: April 2024

AbstractCommunity-based natural resource governance is increasingly valued by the leading international organizations that promote environmental conservation and sustainable development. At the same time, the ecosystems of the northeastern Andalusian mountains are intrinsically related to the long-standing presence of pastoralism and its different communal forms that have favored a very particular biocultural diversity and sustainable socio-ecological systems locally. Through a transdisciplinary anthropological and ecological study, we aimed to compare how different types of communal governance and pastoral mobilities impact pasturelands in the region. We focused on three contiguous mountain pastoral commons, those of Castril, Santiago de la Espada, and Pontones, which exhibit different forms of communal organization and two main transhumant types of mobility: long-distance and short-distance transhumance. We conducted long-term ethnographic fieldwork with year-round participatory observations of social life, pastoral practices, and governance systems, and performed botanical and soil analyses. As a general result, we found that local pastoralism positively impacts the environment. There were differences between commons and mobility regimes, with a positive impact related mainly to closer forms of cooperation between herders and daily guiding of flocks, along with seasonal long-distance transhumance, especially when the latter is combined with stricter formal community rules. Within the current context highly determined by public subventions, particularly from the EU, primarily directed at pastureland management’s administrative and economic aspects, local governance increasingly favors these methods over the conservation of traditional, sustainable uses of pastures. This innovative research marks the first step towards a sounder intertwining of anthropological and ecological approaches towards a more holistic understanding of pastoral commons in general and in the Mediterranean region specifically.
Multi-Agent Cooperative Camera-Based Semantic Grid Generation
Authors: Caillot Antoine , Ouerghi Safa , Dupuis Yohan , Vasseur Pascal , Boutteau Rémi 
Published: April 2024

AbstractThe idea of cooperative perception for navigation assistance was introduced about a decade ago with the aim to increase safety on dangerous areas like intersections. In this context, roadside infrastructure appeared very recently to provide a new point of view of the scene. In this paper, we propose to combine the Vehicle-To-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-To-Infrastructure (V2I) approaches in order to take advantage of the elevated points of view offered by the infrastructure and the in-scene points of view offered by the vehicles to build a semantic grid map of the moving elements in the scene. To create this map, we chose to use camera information and 2-Dimentional (2D) bounding boxes in order to minimize the impact on the network and ignored possible depth information as opposed to all state-of-the art methods. We propose a framework based on two fusion methods: one based on the Bayesian theory and the other on the Dempster-Shafer Theory (DST) to merge the information and chose a label for each cell of the semantic grid in order to assess the best fusion method. Finally, we evaluate our approach on a set of datasets that we generated from the CARLA simulator varying the proportion of Connected Vehicle (CV) and the traffic density. We also show the superiority of the method based on the DST with a gain on the mean intersection over union between the two methods of up to 23.35%.
Indium Bump Bonding: Advanced Integration Techniques for Low-Temperature Detectors and Readout
Authors: Lucas T. J. , Biesecker J. P. , Doriese W. B. , Duff S. M. , Durkin M. S. , Lew R. A. , Ullom J. N. , Vissers M. R. , Schmidt D. R. 
Published: April 2024

AbstractWe have examined the influence of bump shape and bonding pressure on low-temperature electrical properties of indium bump connections including superconducting transition temperature, normal state resistance, and superconducting critical current. We describe our test structures, bonding process, and methods of characterization. At temperatures below 1 K, we observe critical currents greater than 70 mA for indium bump connections with a nominal bump size of 17 µm × 17 µm.
Assessment of pluvial flood events based on monitoring and modeling of an old urban storm drainage in the city center of Yangon, Myanmar
Authors: Min Aung Khaing , Tashiro Takashi 
Published: April 2024

AbstractPluvial flooding is a critical issue in cities worldwide, particularly in lowland areas with old and deteriorating drainage systems. The primary driver of pluvial flooding is extreme rainfall; other drivers include urbanization, inadequate drainage systems, improper solid-waste management, and the tidal backwater effect. However, the interplay between these drivers makes predicting pluvial floods difficult and complex. Previous studies in developing countries seldom used water-level data or simulation modeling to identify the causes of pluvial flooding. In this study, rainfall data and water-level variations in an open channel drain and a receiving river controlled by sluice gates were collected and evaluated in detail to investigate pluvial flooding events. To predict these events, we generated a hydrodynamic model using InfoWorks ICM and verified its results using water logger data and official field reports. Analysis shows that drainage-system failures due to solid blockage and receiving water-level variation contribute more to pluvial flood occurrence than heavy rainfall. Lastly, we discuss measures to mitigate pluvial flooding in Yangon, Myanmar. The proposed monitoring and modeling approach can suitably predict pluvial flooding occurrence and provide useful quantitative data for flood risk management.