bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Experience of self-regulated fatigue among type 2 diabetes patients in China : a qualitative study
Authors: Wang Yao , Guan Yuxiang , XU Juan , Wu Qionghua , Liu Minchen , Chu Lingxin 
Published: June 2024

Abstract

This qualitative study aimed to understand the real experience of self-regulated fatigue (SRF) in Chinese patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), increase the awareness of SRF from the patient's perspective to inform the development of targeted interventions. A qualitative research design was used to conduct individual semi-structured interviews to investigate SRF among T2DM in Anhui Province, all interviews were conducted from February to May 2024, and the interview data were collated and analyzed by using NVIvo 12 software. A total of four themes, including multidimensional perceived SRF, negative impact on patients, coping strategies and desire for multiple supports were distilled. The experience of SRF in T2DM is multidimensional, and negative coping strategies can result in multiple adverse effects, healthcare professionals should meet their diverse needs and enhance multifaceted support to promote positive coping behaviors and improve quality of life.
Anatomical variations of the extracranial internal carotid artery: prevalence, risk factors, and imaging insights from CT-angiography
Authors: Barfzadeh Aida , Saba Mohammad , Pourzand Pouria , Jalalifar Mohammad-Rasoul , Alizadeh Seyed Danial , Mirkamali Hanieh , Rukerd Mohammad Rezaei Zadeh 
Published: June 2024

Abstract

Purpose
To determine the prevalence of different EICA variations in CT angiography (CTA) of the neck and its predisposing factors.
Methods
In this prospective study from 2021 to 2023 that was conducted in the radiology department of Shafa Hospital, Kerman, Iran, all patients who had undergone neck CTA were invited to participate in the study. Expert radiologists blindly examined each CTA image for the following: EICA variations—coiling, kinking, straight morphology, and tortuosity—and the distance between the internal carotid artery with the apex of the epiglottis and the C2 lower margin.
Results
Of the 106 patients, the mean age of the participants was 55.9 ± 16.9 years. 64.2% of the participants were men, and 35.8% were women. The frequency of EICA variations was equal to 70.27%. Tortuosity, kinking, and coiling variation were found in 61.79%, 4.24%, and 4.24% of arteries, respectively. Also, 54.7%, 1.8%, and 0.94% of the participants had bilateral tortuosity, kinking, and coiling separately. There was a significant relationship between the prevalence of EICA variations and female, age, and hypertension.
Conclusion
The frequency of EICA variations in arteries and patients was equal to 70.27% and 73.5%, respectively. Tortuosity variation was present in 131 (61.7%) arteries, which was the most common variation. Females, old age, and hypertension were risk factors for EICA variations. There was no significant relationship between diabetes, tinnitus, ICA to the apex of the epiglottis, and ICA to the C2 Lower Margin distance with the occurrence of EICA variations.
Anthropogenic influence on excess warming in Europe during recent decades
Authors: Dong Buwen , Sutton Rowan 
Published: June 2024

Abstract

Over the period 1979–2022, European surface air temperatures warmed around three times faster than global mean temperatures in both winter and summer. Here we define “excess” European warming as the difference between the rate of European regional warming and the rate of global warming and investigate the causes. We estimate that about 40% (in winter) and 29% (in summer) of excess European warming is “dynamical” - attributable to changes in atmospheric circulation. We show that the rate of European warming simulated in CMIP6 models compares well with the observations, but only because these models warm too fast in the global mean; excess European warming is underestimated, particularly in winter. The CMIP6 models simulate well the magnitude of the thermodynamic component of excess European warming since 1979 in both winter and summer, but do not simulate the dynamical contribution. The models suggest greenhouse gas induced warming made the largest contribution to excess thermodynamic warming in winter, whereas changes in anthropogenic aerosols made the largest contribution in summer. They also imply a substantially reduced future rate of excess European warming in summer. However, the failure of current models to simulate observed circulation trends also implies large uncertainty in future rates of European warming.
Study of the establishment of a guinea pig model of ocular accommodative spasm by carbachol eye drops
Authors: Li Feifei , Ding Yanhong , Wang Jie , Zhang Xin , Miao Wanhong 
Published: June 2024

Abstract

Objective: To explore a method for establishing a model of ocular accommodative spasm in guinea pigs by using different concentrations of carbachol eye drops and different frequency of administration.
Methods: Eighteen healthy guinea pigs were selected to establish models for both eyes. Guinea pigs were randomly divided into two groups. Group A was modeled with carbachol eye drops at a concentration of 2 ml:0.1 mg, and group B was modeled with carbachol eye drops at a concentration of 4 ml:0.1 mg. The two groups were further randomly divided into three groups according to the random number table method. Three groups of guinea pigs were established: In the A1, B1 group, the drug was administered one time/day; in the A2, B2 group, the drug was administered two times/day; and in the A3, B3 group, the drug was administered three times/day. Before modeling, retinoscopy optometry was performed on the guinea pigs without mydriasis and mydriasis, and a refractive state was recorded.On subsequent days, modeling was performed again, and carbachol eye drops were administered using the same administration times. Retinoscopy was performed in a dark room without mydriasis on days 1, 3, 7, 14 and 21, and the data were recorded. After optimizing the modeling method, the ciliary muscle tissue of the model guinea pig and normal guinea pig were obtained for hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining of paraffin sections to compare the morphological differences under a light microscope.
Results: (1) There was no statistical significance in the interaction of time*0 d and time*drug frequency between group A and group B (P > 0.05). However, the main effect of different dose times varied between group A and group B (P < 0.05), and the modeling effect of three drops was better. (2) The overall modeling methods of groups A and B were not affected by the time factor, but three doses of carbachol eye drops achieved the best modeling effect on the 7th day, and the diopter of guinea pigs stabilized on the 14th and 21st days.(3) To further optimize the medication, the A and B groups were given three drops. On the 7th day, the refractive data of guinea pigs were compared between the groups, and the refractive status of the two groups of guinea pigs before modeling was compared within the groups. There was no statistical difference between the groups (P > 0.05), and there was a statistical difference within the groups (P < 0.05). (4) In the H&E staining of paraffin sections, the color of the ciliary muscle of the guinea pig withspasm of accommodation was darker than that of the normal guinea pig, and the myofilaments were more closely arranged.
Conclusion: (1) Carbachol has the effect of contracting the ciliary muscle; (2) Three drops of 2 ml:0.1 mg or 4 ml:0.1 mg of carbachol eye drops can be selected for seven days for modeling.
AW-YOLO: a multi-object detection network for autonomous driving under all weather conditions
Authors: Yue Xiangdi , Gu Qian , Huang Siming , Pan Jiaji , Zhang Yihuan , He Miaolei 
Published: June 2024

Abstract

Over the years, object detection technology based on deep learning has attracted extensive research in autonomous driving. Achieving a robust object detection network under all weather conditions (e.g., sunny, fog, nighttime, rain, and snow) is highly significant for autonomous driving systems, which ensure safety by recognizing pedestrians, vehicles, traffic lights, etc. This paper proposes a robust multi-object detection network named AW (All Weather)-YOLO based on YOLOv8, with a trade-off between precision and lightweightness. Considering the blurring or absence of the salient object features of the image under all weather conditions, we propose a developed dilation-wise residual (D-DWR) module. Specifically, it combines the dilatation-wise residual module with the dilated re-param block using a large kernel convolution to see wide without going deep, greatly improving the feature extraction ability. Moreover, we introduce an efficient dynamic upsampler (DySample) that formulates upsampling from the viewpoint of point sampling and avoids dynamic convolution, which can improve the network's ability to feature fusion. Lightweight is an essential requirement for autonomous driving. To this end, we adopt a multi-scale shared detection head (MSSD-Head) to achieve lightweight deployment in autonomous vehicle. Experimental results show that the mAP50-95 values of AW-YOLO on the KITTI and ACDC datasets exceed the baseline model YOLOv8 by 1.7% and 1.5%, respectively. Meanwhile, the parameters and model size of AW-YOLO have decreased by 21.4% and 20.4%, respectively.
Effect of Sr2+ on the properties of Roddlesden-Popper Structured, Ca3Ti2O7 based ceramics
Authors: Hayat Sarriruddin , Nouman Muhammad , Ali Nisar , Alotaibi Nouf , Mohammad Saikh 
Published: June 2024

Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) perovskite-like slabs are a class of materials that are structurally identical but have one direction of reduced dimensionality, giving the material a layered or sheet-like structure. Such materials have outstanding dielectric properties in ceramics. Such ceramic compositions of (SrxCa1−x)3Ti2O7 (0.2 ≤ x ≥ 0.8) were synthesized using the solid-state technique. The phase, microstructural and microwave dielectric properties of dense sintered (SrxCa1−x)3Ti2O7 ceramics (0.2 ≤ x ≥ 0.8) were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and impedance analysis. All the samples have a Tetragonal phase structure with a space group of I4/mmm formation and the crystalline size, dislocation density and lattice strain changes with respect to Sr2+ doping were observed in the XRD analysis. The Fourier Transform Infrared Spectra (FT-IR) confirmed the bonding characteristics of CaCO3, TiO2 with SrCO3. The dielectric constant (εr) increased from 6.02 to 42.5 while minimum tangent loss (tan δ) observed was 0.0015.
Prognostic role of HIST1H4C expression and neoadjuvant therapy efficacy in breast cancer
Authors: Qian Li , Ge Rui , Cairong Zhu , Haihu Zhong , Yuanxuan Cai , Yongdong Liao , Xiaofeng Zhu , jingjing Li , Xuan Ye , Kai Chen , Jie Li 
Published: June 2024

Abstract

Purpose
breast cancer is a common and highly malignant, currently, HIST1H4C was found to be associated with several human malignancies. The purpose of this study is to investigate tissue HIST1H4C expression in breast cancer and explore its role in disease progression and its interaction with neoadjuvant therapy efficacy.
Methods
we analyzed tissue HIST1H4C mRNA expression in BC tissue samples from 105 patients received with neoadjuvant therapy using qPCR between 2019–2022.
Results
Statistical analysis showed that a high expression of HIST1H4C before neoadjuvant therapy was positively related to good responder (CR + PR), while high expression of HIST1H4C after neoadjuvant therapy was negatively related good responder. And HIST1H4C expression was significantly decreased in patients with good responder. In addition, high HIST1H4C expression was also related to ER negative, PR negative, high KI67 expression, high level of histological grade, large tumor size and more lymph node metastases in Curtis database. Furthermore, high HIST1H4C expression before and after-treatment in our center or in database has a positively correlation with poor prognosis.
Conclusions
HIST1H4C is the potential biomarker of neoadjuvant therapy and prognosis for breast cancer.
Human Papilloma Virus and Male Infertility: An Analysis Following World Health Organization 2021 Guidelines
Authors: Notari Tiziana , Buttà Michela , Serra Nicola , Sucato Arianna , Rizzo Giovanni , Capra Giuseppina , Bosco Liana 
Published: June 2024

Abstract

Male infertility is a complex and multifaceted issue, which can be influenced by multiple environmental and pathological factors. In this context, the impact of Human papillomavirus (HPV) male infection remains controversial. The introduction of new WHO 2021 evaluation criteria, i.e. DNA fragmentation index (DFI), slow and rapid progressive motility, could provide additional information about this debated correlation. In this regard, 121 semen samples of male partners of HPV-positive women attending In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) were evaluated following WHO 2021 and HPV-DNA test. Comparing HPV-negative and positive samples for rapid progressive motility and slow progressive motility showed significantly different results (p = 0.0018, p = 0.0004), contrary to what observed for total progressive motility. Regarding sperm DFI, only high-risk HPV infections appear to affect DNA integrity. In addition, the correlation between the different semen parameters has brought out a statistically significant correlation between midpiece morphological defects and rapid progressive motility in the HPV-positive group. We can conclude that WHO 2021 provides additional information about the impact of HPV on male infertility. Moreover, the correlation between HPV positivity, midpiece defects and a higher rapid progressive motility opens new lines of research that may help unravel the issues surrounding the role of HPV in compromising sperm quality.
A Novel Multi-population Optimization Algorithm: Adaptive Differential Evolution Integration Algorithm with Dynamic Tracking Strategy
Authors: Zhao Zhibiao , Li Zhen , Hao Xiayi , Zhou Wuzhou 
Published: June 2024

Abstract

In response to the limitations observed in existing single intelligent optimization algorithms, particularly their shortcomings in global search capability and population diversity, we propose the Adaptive Differential Evolution Integral (ADEI) algorithm. Drawing inspiration from collective behaviors observed in social organisms, this algorithm introduces four roles: "leaders," "followers," "contemplators," and "rationalists," employing a dynamic following strategy to effectively integrate these diverse particles and populations. Specifically, individuals in the Differential Evolution algorithm serve as the leader population, with tailored trial vector generation strategies implemented to enhance global search capability. Concurrently, improvements are made to the Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm to facilitate its role as the evolution strategy for other populations. By adopting this approach, the algorithm's population diversity is enhanced, striking a balance between global and local search performance, thereby augmenting search efficiency and convergence accuracy. To evaluate its performance, extensive testing was conducted using the CEC2013 test function suite. The results indicate that the proposed algorithm achieved superior performance in over half of the 28 tested problems, demonstrating robust convergence accuracy and speed across unimodal, multimodal, and composite problem domains.
A neuromorphic electronic artist for robotic painting
Authors: Schürmann Lioba , D'Angelo Giulia , Indiveri Giacomo , Bartolozzi Chiara , Grayver Liat 
Published: June 2024

Abstract

Recent advances in computer vision and deep learning have led to a surge of interest in the field of AI-generated art, including digital image creation and robot-assisted painting. Traditional painting machines rely on static images and offline processing to incorporate visual feedback into their painting process. However, this approach does not consider the dynamic nature of painting and fails to decompose complex overlapping patterns into individual strokes. As an alternative to frame-based RGB cameras, neuromorphic cameras capture changes in light intensity within a scene via asynchronous event streams, promising to overcome some of the inherent limitations of traditional computer vision techniques. In this project, a robotic system for physical painting is presented which utilizes event-based visual input from a Dynamic Vision Sensor (DVS) camera. To take advantage of the camera's ultra-low latency and sparse encoding, the proposed system also employs event-based information processing, implemented with spiking neural networks on the neuromorphic DynapSE-1 processor. The robotic system receives DVS sensory data which represents the trajectory of a brush stroke and computes the required joint velocities to recreate the stroke with a 6-DOF robotic arm in a closed-loop manner. The controller additionally integrates tactile feedback from a force-torque sensor to dynamically adjust the end-effector’s distance towards the canvas depending on the brush’s deformation. Within the scope of the project, it was further demonstrated how speed information about a perceived brush stroke can be extracted from DVS data. The system was tested in a real-world setting and successfully generated a collection of physical brush strokes. The proposed network is a first step towards a fully spiking robotic controller with the ability to seamlessly incorporate event-based sensory feedback, providing ultra-low latency responsiveness. Beyond its utility in robot-assisted painting, the developed network is applicable to any robotic task requiring real-time adaptive control.
Seismic Response of Multi-span Suspension Bridge under Multi-Support Excitation
Authors: Chauhan Yogesh J. , Chandrasekaran Srinivasan , Datta Tushar K. , Jain Arvind K. , Gohel Harshal 
Published: June 2024

Abstract

The multi-span suspension bridge, a novel bridge system, has emerged as an economically viable alternative for sea-crossing bridges with extensive spans. However, as bridge length increases, the complex correlation between support excitation becomes apparent due to the coherency effect in the underlying soil and the seismic wave-passage effect, termed Multi-Support Excitation (MSE). This study focuses on the seismic responses of Multi-span Suspension Bridge (MSB) under MSE, taking into account incoherence and wave-passage effects. The study conducts a time history analysis of “Cheon-Sa Bridge” to investigate the responses of girder and pylons under three different types of homogenous soil conditions: soft, medium, and firm, with three different apparent wave velocities of 600 m/s, 900 m/s, and 1200 m/s. The responses obtained for different MSE cases are compared with a uniform seismic excitation of recorded earthquake ground motion of El-Centro 1940, Imperial Valley: 180 deg. Results show that MSE significantly affects the longitudinal and vertical responses of MSB. The girder exhibits 3.3 times higher deflections under soft and medium soil MSE cases. The MSE cases significantly increase the girder axial force by about 6 times that of the uniform excitation case. The side pylons exhibit a 30% – 38% increase in transverse responses and approximately 10–12 times higher longitudinal responses. It is concluded that the local site conditions and corresponding acceleration spectral density of bedrock motion significantly influence the response of MSB. Merely considering the wave-passage effect may underestimate the actual response.
Application of Exogenous Jasmonic Acid Enhances the Resistance of Pak Choi (Brassica chinensis L.) to High Levels of Selenium-Toxicity in the Soil
Authors: Chen Jinping , Xing Ying , Huang Taiqing , Pan Liping , Liao Qing , Zeng Chengcheng , Liu Yongxian 
Published: June 2024

Abstract

Background and Aims
Enhancing selenium (Se) accumulation in crops is an important way to overcome human Se deficiency. However, increasing the Se content in the soil can produce toxic effects in crops. This study aimed to clarify the role of exogenous foliar JA on alleviating Se toxicity of pak choi exposed to high levels of Se-Toxicity in the Soil.
Methods
Here, subject a model crop, pak choi (Brassica chinensis L.) to high levels of soil Se stress and evaluate the physiological response, variation of Se accumulation and root exudates of plants treated with JA compared to those untreated under soil Se stress.
Results
We found that Se stress severely inhibits pak choi growth and biomass accumulation by reducing their photosynthetic capacity of photosystem II and inducing a heavy lipid peroxidation. When we sprayed plants with JA, we found lower levels of lipid peroxidation, but enhanced photochemical reactions of PSII, catalase activity, and shoot biomass, as well as higher Se content in the shoots. We found 53 metabolic compounds were altered by JA application compared to Se group (21 upgraded and 32 downgraded). Of those, JA application induced increased in secondary metabolites of root secretions, including organoheterocyclic compounds, lipids and lipid-like molecules, organic acids and derivatives, and benzenoids, which may be crucial for defense against Se stress defense and Se accumulation.
Conclusions
This study provides us novel insights to understand the potential for JA to enhance Se tolerance and accumulation in pak choi, as well as its underlying mechanisms.
Unveiling Genome Plasticity as a Mechanism of Non-Antifungal-Induced Antifungal Resistance in Cryptococcus neoformans
Authors: Zheng Lijun , Xu Yi , Wang Chen , Dong Yubo , Guo Liangsheng 
Published: June 2024

Abstract

Cryptococcus neoformans, designated as a "critical priority" pathogen by the World Health Organization, poses significant therapeutic challenges with only three drug classes currently available for cryptococcosis treatment. The emergence of antifungal resistance, compounded by cross-resistance, further limits therapeutic efficacy. Aneuploidy, known for its potential to induce diverse traits, including antifungal resistance, remains poorly documented in C. neoformans. Utilizing tunicamycin, a well-established ER stress inducer, we investigated its impact on aneuploidy formation in C. neoformans. Our findings reveal that both mild and severe ER stress induced by tunicamycin result in the formation of aneuploidy in C. neoformans. These aneuploid strains exhibit diverse karyotypes, with select karyotypes conferring resistance or cross-resistance to fluconazole and 5-flucytosine. Additionally, these aneuploid strains display instability, spontaneously losing extra chromosomes in the absence of stress. Transcriptome analysis unveiled simultaneous upregulation of multiple drug resistance-associated genes in aneuploid strains, highlighting the genome plasticity of C. neoformans as a major mechanism contributing to non-antifungal-induced antifungal resistance.