bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Date fruit melanin is primarily based on (−)-epicatechin proanthocyanidin oligomers
Authors: Alam Muneeba Zubair , Okonkwo Clinton Emeka , Cachaneski-Lopes João P. , Graeff Carlos F. O. , Batagin-Neto Augusto , Tariq Saeed , Varghese Sabu , O’Connor Matthew J. , Albadri Abuzar E. , Webber J. Beau W. , Tarique Mohammed , Ayyash Mutamed , Kamal-Eldin Afaf 
Published: February 2024

AbstractPlant-based melanin seems to be abundant, but it did not receive scientific attention despite its importance in plant biology and medicinal applications, e.g. photoprotection, radical scavenging, antimicrobial properties, etc. Date fruit melanin (DM) has complex, graphene-like, polymeric structure that needs characterization to understand its molecular properties and potential applications. This study provides the first investigation of the possible molecular composition of DM. High performance size-exclusion chromatography (HPSEC) suggested that DM contains oligomeric structures (569–3236 Da) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed agglomeration of these structures in granules of low total porosity (10–1000 Å). Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy provided evidence for the presence of oligomeric proanthocyanidins and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy revealed a g-factor in the range 2.0034–2.005. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations suggested that the EPR signals can be associated with oligomeric proanthocyanidin structures having 4 and above molecular units of (−)-epicatechin. The discovery of edible melanin in date fruits and its characterization are expected to open a new area of research on its significance to nutritional and sensory characteristics of plant-based foods.
Removal of Cr(VI) from aqueous solution using ball mill modified biochar: multivariate modeling, optimization and experimental study
Authors: Tan Yunfeng , Wang Jinxia , Zhan Lingling , Yang Hongjun , Gong Yinchun 
Published: February 2024

AbstractChromium (Cr(VI)) pollution has attracted wide attention due to its high toxicity and carcinogenicity. Modified biochar has been widely used in the removal of Cr(VI) in water as an efficient and green adsorbent. However, the existing biochar prepared by chemical modification is usually complicated in process, high in cost, and has secondary pollution, which limits its application. It is urgent to explore modified biochar with simple process, low cost and environmental friendliness. Therefore, ball milling wheat straw biochar (BM-WB) was prepared by ball milling technology in this paper. The adsorption characteristics and mechanism of Cr(VI) removal by BM-WB were analyzed by functional group characterization, adsorption model and response surface method. The results showed that ball milling effectively reduced the particle size of biochar, increased the specific surface area, and more importantly, enhanced the content of oxygen-containing functional groups on the surface of biochar. After ball milling, the adsorption capacity of Cr(VI) increased by 3.5–9.1 times, and the adsorption capacity reached 52.21 mg/g. The adsorption behavior of Cr(VI) follows the pseudo-second-order kinetics and Langmuir isotherm adsorption model rate. Moreover, the Cr(VI) adsorption process of BM-WB is endothermic and spontaneous. Under the optimized conditions of pH 2, temperature 45 °C, and adsorbent dosage 0.1 g, the removal rate of Cr(VI) in the solution can reach 100%. The mechanism of Cr(VI) adsorption by BM-WB is mainly based on electrostatic attraction, redox and complexation. Therefore, ball milled biochar is a cheap, simple and efficient Cr(VI) removal material, which has a good application prospect in the field of remediation of Cr(VI) pollution in water.
Impact of florfenicol dosing regimen on the phenotypic and genotypic resistance of enteric bacteria in steers
Authors: Halleran Jennifer , Sylvester Hannah , Jacob Megan , Callahan Benjamin , Baynes Ronald , Foster Derek 
Published: February 2024

AbstractThe food animal sector’s use of antimicrobials is heavily critiqued for its role in allowing resistance to develop against critically important antimicrobials in human health. The WHO recommends using lower tier antimicrobials such as florfenicol for disease treatment. The primary objective of this study was to assess the differences in resistance profiles of enteric microbes following administration of florfenicol to steers using both FDA-approved dosing regimens and two different detection methods. Our hypothesis was that we would identify an increased prevalence of resistance in the steers administered the repeated, lower dose of florfenicol; additionally, we hypothesized resistance profiles would be similar between both detection methods. Twelve steers were administered either two intramuscular (20 mg/kg q 48 h; n = 6) or a single subcutaneous dose (40 mg/kg, n = 6). Fecal samples were collected for 38 days, and E. coli and Enterococcus were isolated and tested for resistance. Fecal samples were submitted for metagenomic sequencing analysis. Metagenomics revealed genes conferring resistance to aminoglycosides as the most abundant drug class. Most multidrug resistance genes contained phenicols. The genotypic and phenotypic patterns of resistance were not similar between drug classes. Observed increases in resistant isolates and relative abundance of resistance genes peaked after drug administration and returned to baseline by the end of the sampling period. The use of a “lower tier” antimicrobial, such as florfenicol, may cause an increased amount of resistance to critically important antimicrobials for a brief period, but these changes largely resolve by the end of the drug withdrawal period.
Machine learning driven web-based app platform for the discovery of monoamine oxidase B inhibitors
Authors: Kumar Sunil , Bhowmik Ratul , Oh Jong Min , Abdelgawad Mohamed A. , Ghoneim Mohammed M. , Al‑Serwi Rasha Hamed , Kim Hoon , Mathew Bijo 
Published: February 2024

AbstractMonoamine oxidases (MAOs), specifically MAO-A and MAO-B, play important roles in the breakdown of monoamine neurotransmitters. Therefore, MAO inhibitors are crucial for treating various neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson's disease (PD), Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In this study, we developed a novel cheminformatics pipeline by generating three diverse molecular feature-based machine learning-assisted quantitative structural activity relationship (ML-QSAR) models concerning MAO-B inhibition. PubChem fingerprints, substructure fingerprints, and one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) molecular descriptors were implemented to unravel the structural insights responsible for decoding the origin of MAO-B inhibition in 249 non-reductant molecules. Based on a random forest ML algorithm, the final PubChem fingerprint, substructure fingerprint, and 1D and 2D molecular descriptor prediction models demonstrated significant robustness, with correlation coefficients of 0.9863, 0.9796, and 0.9852, respectively. The significant features of each predictive model responsible for MAO-B inhibition were extracted using a comprehensive variance importance plot (VIP) and correlation matrix analysis. The final predictive models were further developed as a web application, MAO-B-pred (https://mao-b-pred.streamlit.app/), to allow users to predict the bioactivity of molecules against MAO-B. Molecular docking and dynamics studies were conducted to gain insight into the atomic-level molecular interactions between the ligand-receptor complexes. These findings were compared with the structural features obtained from the ML-QSAR models, which supported the mechanistic understanding of the binding phenomena. The presented models have the potential to serve as tools for identifying crucial molecular characteristics for the rational design of MAO-B target inhibitors, which may be used to develop effective drugs for neurodegenerative disorders.
Personalized mood prediction from patterns of behavior collected with smartphones
Authors: Balliu Brunilda , Douglas Chris , Seok Darsol , Shenhav Liat , Wu Yue , Chatzopoulou Doxa , Kaiser William , Chen Victor , Kim Jennifer , Deverasetty Sandeep , Arnaudova Inna , Gibbons Robert , Congdon Eliza , Craske Michelle G. , Freimer Nelson , Halperin Eran , Sankararaman Sriram , Flint Jonathan 
Published: February 2024

AbstractOver the last ten years, there has been considerable progress in using digital behavioral phenotypes, captured passively and continuously from smartphones and wearable devices, to infer depressive mood. However, most digital phenotype studies suffer from poor replicability, often fail to detect clinically relevant events, and use measures of depression that are not validated or suitable for collecting large and longitudinal data. Here, we report high-quality longitudinal validated assessments of depressive mood from computerized adaptive testing paired with continuous digital assessments of behavior from smartphone sensors for up to 40 weeks on 183 individuals experiencing mild to severe symptoms of depression. We apply a combination of cubic spline interpolation and idiographic models to generate individualized predictions of future mood from the digital behavioral phenotypes, achieving high prediction accuracy of depression severity up to three weeks in advance (R2≥ 80%) and a 65.7% reduction in the prediction error over a baseline model which predicts future mood based on past depression severity alone. Finally, our study verified the feasibility of obtaining high-quality longitudinal assessments of mood from a clinical population and predicting symptom severity weeks in advance using passively collected digital behavioral data. Our results indicate the possibility of expanding the repertoire of patient-specific behavioral measures to enable future psychiatric research.
Summer heatwaves on the Baltic Sea seabed contribute to oxygen deficiency in shallow areas
Authors: Safonova Kseniia , Meier H. E. Markus , Gröger Matthias 
Published: February 2024

AbstractSince the early 1980ies, the shallow and brackish Baltic Sea, located in northern Europe, has warmed fastest of all the world’s coastal seas. Hence, the total heat exposure during marine heatwaves increased in frequency and duration, which may have a major impact on the marine ecosystem. We found that marine heatwaves, using two different, commonly used definitions, occurred everywhere on the sea surface since the early 1990s. Periods with sea surface temperatures larger than 20 °C lasting longer than 10 days were particularly numerous in the shallow coastal zone of the southern and eastern Baltic Sea. Furthermore, summer marine heatwaves that reached the seabed mainly occurred in water depths of less than 20 m, where they led to a decrease in oxygen concentration. Since the early 1990s, a positive trend in the expansion of marine heatwaves has been observed on the seabed. The increasing number of marine heatwaves increases the risk of hypoxia events in the coastal zone.
Highly efficient photosynthesis of hydrogen peroxide by a stable Zr(iv)-based MOF with a diamino-functionalized ligand
Authors: Zhai Qixiang , Ren Yanwei , Wang Haosen , Liu Cheng , Li Ze , Jiang Huanfeng 
Published: February 2024

The introduction of diamino groups into UiO-67 enhances its ability to absorb visible light and facilitates the separation of photogenerated electron/hole pairs, leading to higher photocatalytic activity for H2O2 production from H2O and O2.
On optimization of resource allocation for LTE aided by WLAN networks with unlicensed frequency bands in internet of vehicles
Authors: Yao Di , Zhang Kai , Song Huaju , Wei Sha , Qian Yuwen , Li Jun 
Published: February 2024

AbstractDue to the explosive growth of communication devices and vehicles, the ever‐increasing communication data traffic is a challenge for mobile communication in the Internet of Vehicles (IoV). A practical solution is to offload the traffic from cellular networks to Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), that is, WiFi, where the spectrum is license‐free. However, the coordination of unlicensed spectrum severely reduces the utilization rate on the spectrum. In this case, unlicensed networks assisted access is proposed to facilitate long‐term evolution technology in unlicensed spectrum (LTE‐U). To improve the data rate for LTE‐U and WLAN users, an allocation optimization scheme for the resources of the licensed and unlicensed spectrum is proposed. Accordingly, the data rate of LTE‐U users and WLAN users can be maximized by adjusting the transmit power and the frequency occupancy time ratio of the unlicensed spectrum for the small cell and WLAN users. Numerical results show that the proposed hybrid LTE networks with WLAN can improve the communication efficiency for the served users.
Mechanical dicing of optical quality facets and waveguides in a silicon nitride platform
Authors: Gow Paul C , Churchill Glenn M , Vitali Valerio , Bucio Thalia Dominguez , Gardes Frederic Y , D'Souza Matthew P , Petropoulos Periklis , Gawith Corin B E , Gates James C 
Published: February 2024

AbstractThe authors report a ductile dicing process for manufacturing optical‐quality facets in a multi‐layered silicon nitride platform without the need for polishing. A surface roughness (Sa) of 1.5 nm was achieved. This technique was extended to fabricate ridge waveguides, and the results and characterization are reported.
Multistage converter with reduced switch voltage stress and diode current stress
Authors: Bhaskar M. S. , Subramaniam Umashankar , Almakhles Dhafer , Selvam Sivakumar , Muhibbullah M. 
Published: February 2024

AbstractThe utilization of switched inductors, involving parallel charging and series discharging of inductors, is extensively embraced in diverse DC–DC converters for attaining high voltage gain; nevertheless, the stress on switch voltage and diode current escalates considerably with an increased count of inductors integrated into the switched inductors network. In the classical multistage switched inductor converter, the switch voltage aligns with the output voltage, and the diode experiences a high current as the number of stages increases. This research recommends a DC–DC multistage converter for energy conversion and high voltage gain with low stress. In this paper, a novel multistage switched inductor converter is introduced and designed to attain higher voltage gain while mitigating the stresses on switch voltage and diode current. The proposed circuit is created by replacing the standard multistage switched inductor converter's possible diodes with power switches. All of the switching devices are connected in such a way that the output voltage and input current are shared by all of the switches and diodes, respectively. As a consequence, the voltage stress on switches and the current stress on diodes are comparatively low, resulting in a high efficiency compared to a typical multistage switched inductor converter. It's interesting to note that the proposed converter and a typical multistage switched inductor converter both require the same amount of components. Different operation modes, analysis, a non‐ideal model, and a comparison of the suggested and recently constructed converters are discussed. The effectiveness and performance of the circuit are validated experimentally.
A new differential magnetic‐field probe with high detection sensitivity for near‐field scanning
Authors: Nie Duan , Wang Ruiqi , Wang Lei 
Published: February 2024

AbstractIn this article, a new differential magnetic‐field probe with high detection sensitivity for near‐field scanning is proposed. The proposed probe consists of a U‐shaped differential loop as a driven element, a pair of asymmetric inverted U‐shaped differential loops as a parasitic element, two transmission line, two connected vias, two shorted vias, and two output ports. Connected and shorted vias are used to form the sensing structure with high sensitivity. Some shield vias are used to reject the unwanted electric–field coupling. The proposed probe is simulated, fabricated, and measured to demonstrate the design rationality. The measured results reveal that the presented probe has a higher detection sensitivity and a high electric‐field suppression ratio greater than −35 dB in the range of 0.01 to 20 GHz.
Modeling the structure of the dayside Venusian ionosphere: Impacts of protonation and Coulomb interaction
Authors: Wu Xiaoshu , Cui Jun , Wu Shiqi , Gu Hao , Cao Yutian , Liang Wenjun , Liao Shuxin 
Published: February 2024

Context. The CO2-dominated thick atmosphere of Venus coexists with an ionosphere that is mainly formed, on the dayside, via the ionization of atmospheric neutrals by solar extreme ultraviolet and soft X-ray photons. Despite extensive modeling efforts that have reproduced the electron distribution reasonably well, we note two main shortcomings with respect to prior studies. The effects of pro-tonation and Coulomb interaction are crucial to unveiling the structure and composition of the Venusian ionosphere.Aims. We evaluate the role of protonated species on the structure of the dayside Venusian ionosphere for the first time. We also evaluate the role of ion-ion Coulomb collisions, which are neglected in many existing models.Methods. Focusing on the solar minimum condition for which the effect of protonation is expected to be more prominent, we constructed a detailed one-dimensional photochemical model for the dayside Venusian ionosphere, incorporating more than 50 ion and neutral species (of which 17 are protonated species), along with the most thorough chemical network to date. We included both ion-neutral and ion-ion Coulomb collisions. Photoelectron impact processes were implemented with a two-stream kinetic model.Results. Our model reproduces the observed electron distribution reasonably well. The model indicates that protonation tends to diverge the ionization flow into more channels via a series of proton transfer reactions along the direction of low to high proton affinities for parent neutrals. In addition, the distribution of O2+is enhanced by protonation by a factor of nearly 2 at high altitudes, where it is efficiently produced via the reaction between O and OH+. We find that Coulomb collisions influence the topside Venusian ionosphere not only directly by suppressing ion diffusion, but also indirectly by modifying ion chemistry. Two ion groups can be distinguished in terms of the effects of Coulomb collisions: one group preferentially produced at high altitudes and accumulated in the topside ionosphere, which is to be compared with another group that is preferentially produced at low altitudes and, instead, depleted in the topside ionosphere.Conclusions. Both protonation and Coulomb collisions have appreciable impacts on the topside Venusian ionosphere, which account for many of the significant differences in the model ion distribution between this study and early calculations.
Unveiling [C II] clumps in a lensed star-forming galaxy at z ∼ 3.4
Authors: Zanella A. , Iani E. , Dessauges-Zavadsky M. , Richard J. , De Breuck C. , Vernet J. , Kohandel M. , Arrigoni Battaia F. , Bolamperti A. , Calura F. , Chen C.-C. , Devereaux T. , Ferrara A. , Mainieri V. , Pallottini A. , Rodighiero G. , Vallini L. , Vanzella E. 
Published: February 2024

Context. Observations at UV and optical wavelengths have revealed that galaxies at z ∼ 1 − 4 host star-forming regions, dubbed “clumps”, which are believed to form due to the fragmentation of gravitationally unstable, gas-rich disks. However, the detection of the parent molecular clouds that give birth to such clumps is still possible only in a minority of galaxies, mostly at z ∼ 1.
Aims. We investigated the [C II] and dust morphology of a z ∼ 3.4 lensed galaxy hosting four clumps detected in the UV continuum. We aimed to observe the [C II] emission of individual clumps that, unlike the UV, is not affected by dust extinction, to probe their nature and cold gas content.
Methods. We conducted ALMA observations probing scales down to ∼300 pc and detected three [C II] clumps. One (dubbed “NE”) coincides with the brightest UV clump, while the other two (“SW” and “C”) are not detected in the UV continuum. We do not detect the dust continuum.
Results. We converted the [C II] luminosity of individual clumps into molecular gas mass and found Mmol ∼ 108 M⊙. By complementing it with the star formation rate (SFR) estimate from the UV continuum, we estimated the gas depletion time (tdep) of clumps and investigated their location in the Schmidt–Kennicutt plane. While the NE clump has a very short tdep = 0.16 Gyr, which is comparable with high-redshift starbursts, the SW and C clumps instead have longer tdep > 0.65 Gyr and are likely probing the initial phases of star formation. The lack of dust continuum detection is consistent with the blue UV continuum slope estimated for this galaxy (β ∼ −2.5) and it indicates that dust inhomogeneities do not significantly affect the detection of UV clumps in this target.
Conclusions. We pushed the observation of the cold gas content of individual clumps up to z ∼ 3.4 and showed that the [C II] line emission is a promising tracer of molecular clouds at high redshift, allowing the detection of clumps with a large range of depletion times.
Efficacy of a combination of esafoxolaner, eprinomectin and praziquantel (NexGard® Combo) against Thelazia callipaeda in naturally infected cats
Authors: Di Cesare Angela , Zanet Stefania , Traversa Donato , Colombo Mariasole , Tielemans Eric , Beugnet Frederic , Ferroglio Ezio 
Published: February 2024

This clinical study assessed the efficacy of a topical combination of esafoxolaner, eprinomectin and praziquantel (NexGard® Combo) in treating cats naturally infected with the eyeworm Thelazia callipaeda (Nematoda, Thelaziidae). On Study Day (SD) 0, sixteen client-owned cats with eyeworm infection were allocated to an untreated control group (G1, 8 cats) or to a NexGard® Combo treated group (G2, 8 cats) and subjected to ocular examination. Cats in G2 received the treatment as per label recommendations. On SD 7 and 14 (±1), cats were examined for the presence of eyeworms and clinical signs. On SD 14, eyeworms were collected and counted. On SD 7 and 14, all cats in G1 were still infected with eyeworms, while G2 cats were free from eyeworms on SD 7 and 14, demonstrating 100% efficacy (p < 0.0001). All collected eyeworms were morphologically and molecularly confirmed to be T. callipaeda. On SD 0, fifteen out of the sixteen cats (7 in G1 and 8 in G2) displayed inflammatory ocular signs. On SD 7, all eight untreated cats and seven treated cats displayed inflammatory ocular signs. On SD 14, five out of eight G2 treated cats had recovered, while the eight untreated cats still displayed inflammatory ocular signs. The treatment significantly reduced lacrimation and conjunctivitis (p = 0.0001). No adverse reactions occurred. This clinical study provides evidence that NexGard® Combo is highly safe and effective for the treatment of T. callipaeda infection in cats under field conditions.