bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Electrodeposited graphene/layered double hydroxides micro/nanocontainers for both passive and active corrosion protection
Authors: Xu Teng , Wang Qian-Yu , Zhang Jin-Tao , Hu Ji-Ming 
Published: February 2024

AbstractThe poor dispersibility of layered double hydroxides (LDHs) is considered to be the main drawback limiting their application in anti-corrosive coatings. In this work, the problem is solved by combining LDHs with graphene (Gr). A facile electrochemically assisted deposition technique (EAT) is developed to prepare Gr/LDH micro/nano-containers. The high-barrier Gr and LDHs synergistically build a ‘labyrinth effect’ to lengthen the diffusion path of corrosive mediums. Moreover, corrosion inhibitors can be released from the interlayer galleries of LDHs and impede corrosion of metal substrate by substituting the aggressive ions. Therefore, the polyvinyl butyral (PVB) coatings doped with Gr/LDH micro/nano-containers pre-loaded with inhibitors 2-Mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT) have both passive and active corrosion protection properties and provide excellent protection to copper substrate.
Identification of 27 allele-specific regulatory variants in Parkinson’s disease using a massively parallel reporter assay
Authors: Farrow Sophie L. , Gokuladhas Sreemol , Schierding William , Pudjihartono Michael , Perry Jo K. , Cooper Antony A. , O’Sullivan Justin M. 
Published: February 2024

AbstractGenome wide association studies (GWAS) have identified a number of genomic loci that are associated with Parkinson’s disease (PD) risk. However, the majority of these variants lie in non-coding regions, and thus the mechanisms by which they influence disease development, and/or potential subtypes, remain largely elusive. To address this, we used a massively parallel reporter assay (MPRA) to screen the regulatory function of 5254 variants that have a known or putative connection to PD. We identified 138 loci with enhancer activity, of which 27 exhibited allele-specific regulatory activity in HEK293 cells. The identified regulatory variant(s) typically did not match the original tag variant within the PD associated locus, supporting the need for deeper exploration of these loci. The existence of allele specific transcriptional impacts within HEK293 cells, confirms that at least a subset of the PD associated regions mark functional gene regulatory elements. Future functional studies that confirm the putative targets of the empirically verified regulatory variants will be crucial for gaining a greater understanding of how gene regulatory network(s) modulate PD risk.
Parkinson’s disease and schizophrenia interactomes contain temporally distinct gene clusters underlying comorbid mechanisms and unique disease processes
Authors: Karunakaran Kalyani B. , Jain Sanjeev , Brahmachari Samir K. , Balakrishnan N. , Ganapathiraju Madhavi K. 
Published: February 2024

AbstractGenome-wide association studies suggest significant overlaps in Parkinson’s disease (PD) and schizophrenia (SZ) risks, but the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. The protein-protein interaction network (‘interactome’) plays a crucial role in PD and SZ and can incorporate their spatiotemporal specificities. Therefore, to study the linked biology of PD and SZ, we compiled PD- and SZ-associated genes from the DisGeNET database, and constructed their interactomes using BioGRID and HPRD. We examined the interactomes using clustering and enrichment analyses, in conjunction with the transcriptomic data of 26 brain regions spanning foetal stages to adulthood available in the BrainSpan Atlas. PD and SZ interactomes formed four gene clusters with distinct temporal identities (Disease Gene Networks or ‘DGNs’1-4). DGN1 had unique SZ interactome genes highly expressed across developmental stages, corresponding to a neurodevelopmental SZ subtype. DGN2, containing unique SZ interactome genes expressed from early infancy to adulthood, correlated with an inflammation-driven SZ subtype and adult SZ risk. DGN3 contained unique PD interactome genes expressed in late infancy, early and late childhood, and adulthood, and involved in mitochondrial pathways. DGN4, containing prenatally-expressed genes common to both the interactomes, involved in stem cell pluripotency and overlapping with the interactome of 22q11 deletion syndrome (comorbid psychosis and Parkinsonism), potentially regulates neurodevelopmental mechanisms in PD-SZ comorbidity. Our findings suggest that disrupted neurodevelopment (regulated by DGN4) could expose risk windows in PD and SZ, later elevating disease risk through inflammation (DGN2). Alternatively, variant clustering in DGNs may produce disease subtypes, e.g., PD-SZ comorbidity with DGN4, and early/late-onset SZ with DGN1/DGN2.
Changes in kynurenine metabolites in the gray and white matter of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of individuals affected by schizophrenia
Authors: Antenucci Nico , D’Errico Giovanna , Fazio Francesco , Nicoletti Ferdinando , Bruno Valeria , Battaglia Giuseppe 
Published: February 2024

AbstractAlterations in the kynurenine pathway of tryptophan metabolism have been implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Here, we performed an in-depth analysis of all metabolites of the kynurenine pathway, i.e., tryptophan (TRY), kynurenic acid (KYNA), L-kynurenine (KYN), 3-hydroxykynurenine (3-HK), anthranylic acid (ANA), 3-hydroxyanthranylic acid (3-HANA), xanthurenic acid (XA) and quinolinic acid (QUINA), in postmortem samples of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC, Brodmann area 46, 9) of individuals affected by schizophrenia and non-schizophrenic controls. The analysis was carried out in the gray and white matter. Levels of KYN, 3-HK, ANA, and 3-HANA were significantly increased in both the gray and white matter of the DLPFC of individuals affected by schizophrenia, whereas levels of TRY, KYNA, and QUINA were increased exclusively in the white matter and remained unchanged in the gray matter. These increases in kynurenine metabolites did not correlate with age, sex, duration of the disease, and duration and type of antipsychotic medication. These findings suggest that the two major branches of the kynurenine pathway, i.e., the transamination of KYN into KYNA, and hydroxylation of KYN into 3-HK are activated in the white matter of individuals affected by schizophrenia, perhaps as a result of neuroinflammation, and support the evidence that abnormalities of the white matter are consistenly associated with schizophrenia.
Salmonellosis outbreak archive in China: data collection and assembly
Authors: Wang Zining , Huang Chenghu , Liu Yuhao , Chen Jiaqi , Yin Rui , Jia Chenghao , Kang Xiamei , Zhou Xiao , Liao Sihao , Jin Xiuyan , Feng Mengyao , Jiang Zhijie , Song Yan , Zhou Haiyang , Yao Yicheng , Teng Lin , Wang Baikui , Li Yan , Yue Min 
Published: February 2024

AbstractInfectious disease outbreaks transcend the medical and public health realms, triggering widespread panic and impeding socio-economic development. Considering that self-limiting diarrhoea of sporadic cases is usually underreported, the Salmonella outbreak (SO) study offers a unique opportunity for source tracing, spatiotemporal correlation, and outbreak prediction. To summarize the pattern of SO and estimate observational epidemiological indicators, 1,134 qualitative reports screened from 1949 to 2023 were included in the systematic review dataset, which contained a 506-study meta-analysis dataset. In addition to the dataset comprising over 50 columns with a total of 46,494 entries eligible for inclusion in systematic reviews or input into prediction models, we also provide initial literature collection datasets and datasets containing socio-economic and climate information for relevant regions. This study has a broad impact on advancing knowledge regarding epidemic trends and prevention priorities in diverse salmonellosis outbreaks and guiding rational policy-making or predictive modeling to mitigate the infringement upon the right to life imposed by significant epidemics.
A modified generative adversarial networks with Yolov5 for automated forest health diagnosis from aerial imagery and Tabu search algorithm
Authors: Jayagopal Prabhu , Purushothaman Janaki Kumar , Mohan Prakash , Kondapaneni Upendra Babu , Periyasamy Jayalakshmi , Mathivanan Sandeep Kumar , Dalu Gemmachis Teshite 
Published: February 2024

AbstractOur environment has been significantly impacted by climate change. According to previous research, insect catastrophes induced by global climate change killed many trees, inevitably contributing to forest fires. The condition of the forest is an essential indicator of forest fires. Analysis of aerial images of a forest can detect deceased and living trees at an early stage. Automated forest health diagnostics are crucial for monitoring and preserving forest ecosystem health. Combining Modified Generative Adversarial Networks (MGANs) and YOLOv5 (You Only Look Once version 5) is presented in this paper as a novel method for assessing forest health using aerial images. We also employ the Tabu Search Algorithm (TSA) to enhance the process of identifying and categorizing unhealthy forest areas. The proposed model provides synthetic data to supplement the limited labeled dataset, thereby resolving the frequent issue of data scarcity in forest health diagnosis tasks. This improvement enhances the model's ability to generalize to previously unobserved data, thereby increasing the overall precision and robustness of the forest health evaluation. In addition, YOLOv5 integration enables real-time object identification, enabling the model to recognize and pinpoint numerous tree species and potential health issues with exceptional speed and accuracy. The efficient architecture of YOLOv5 enables it to be deployed on devices with limited resources, enabling forest-monitoring applications on-site. We use the TSA to enhance the identification of unhealthy forest areas. The TSA method effectively investigates the search space, ensuring the model converges to a near-optimal solution, improving disease detection precision and decreasing false positives. We evaluated our MGAN-YOLOv5 method using a large dataset of aerial images of diverse forest habitats. The experimental results demonstrated impressive performance in diagnosing forest health automatically, achieving a detection precision of 98.66%, recall of 99.99%, F1 score of 97.77%, accuracy of 99.99%, response time of 3.543 ms and computational time of 5.987 ms. Significantly, our method outperforms all the compared target detection methods showcasing a minimum improvement of 2% in mAP.
Hypercrosslinked waste polycarbonate to remove heavy metal contaminants from wastewater
Authors: Masoumi Hadiseh , Ghaemi Ahad 
Published: February 2024

AbstractIn this research, the waste polycarbonate was hypercrosslinked during the Friedel–Crafts reaction to eliminate metallic ions from the wastewater solution. The experiments for inspecting the adsorption behavior of lead and cadmium ions were conducted at the initial concentration of 20–100 mg/L, contact time of 10–80 min, temperature of 20–80 °C, and pH of 6–11. The isotherm, kinetic, and thermodynamic models have been used to explain the behavior of the metal ions removal process. The correlation coefficient and adsorption capacity of the kinetic model for cadmium ion have obtained 0.995 and 160.183 mg/g, respectively, and the correlation coefficient and adsorption capacity of the kinetic model for lead ion has obtained 0.998 and 160.53 mg/g, respectively, which declared that the cascade was not monolayer. The correlation coefficient of the Freundlich is calculated at 0.995 and 0.998 for Cd and Pb, respectively, indicating the resin plane was not homogenized. The n constant for cadmium and lead ions has been calculated at 2.060 and 1.836, respectively, confirming that the resin is not homogenized, and the process has performed well. Afterward, the values of enthalpy and Gibbs free energy changes were obtained at − 7.68 kJ/mol and − 0.0231 kJ/mol.K for lead ions, respectively, which implies the exothermic and spontaneous state of the process. The values of enthalpy and Gibbs free energy changes have been obtained at − 6.62 kJ/mol and − 0.0204 kJ/mol.K for cadmium ions, respectively, which implies the exothermic and spontaneous nature of the adsorption. Also, the optimal empirical conditions for lead and cadmium ions have been found at a time of 60 min, temperature of 20 °C, initial concentration of 100 mg/L, and pH of 10. At a time of 45 min, the diffusion coefficient and mass transfer coefficient for lead ions have been calculated at 0.1269 × 1020 m2/s and 0.2028 × 1015 m/s, respectively. In addition, at a time of 45 min, the diffusion coefficient and mass transfer coefficient for cadmium ions have been calculated at 0.1463 × 1020 m2/s and 0.1054 × 1015 m/s, respectively. Moreover, the mechanism study explains that the C–O–C and C–H in the aromatic groups have a crucial aspect in the bond formation among metallic ions and resin.
Multicenter study of seasonal and regional airborne allergens in Chinese preschoolers with allergic rhinitis
Authors: Huang Zhifeng , Li Aoli , Zhu Huiqing , Pan Junxiu , Xiao Jun , Wu Jiang , Han Yumin , Zhong Lili , Sun Xuhui , Wang Lei , Hu Liang , Wang Cuihua , Ma Xingkai , Qiao Zaixia , Zhang Min , Yuan Ling , Liu Xin , Tang Jun , Li Yue , Yu Hong , Zheng Zhaobing , Sun Baoqing 
Published: February 2024

AbstractThis study is nationwide multicenter epidemiological research, aimed at investigating the distribution changes and seasonal patterns of various airborne allergens among preschool children with allergic rhinitis (AR) in different regions of China, and analyzing the clinical correlation between sensitization to various airborne allergens and AR symptoms in children. Information on children was collected through standard questionnaires, and total IgE (tIgE) and specific IgE (sIgE) for 11 inhalant allergens were tested. The results showed that dust mites are the primary allergens for preschool AR children (39%). Among pollen allergens, Amb a had the highest positivity rate (8.1%), followed by Art v (7.8%). The sensitization rates for two mites peaked in May (46.9% and 40.6%). Art v peaked in August (21.5%), while Amb a had peaks in May (12.7%) and August (17.8%). The sensitization peaks for various tree pollens mainly occurred in August. In the Eastern monsoon region, the sensitization rate to mites was significantly higher than in the Northwest arid and semi-arid regions; whereas, for pollen allergens, the sensitization rates to Amb a, Pla a, Pin a, Pop d, and Bet v were significantly higher in the Northwest arid and semi-arid regions than in the Eastern monsoon region. The correlation among various tree pollens, specifically between Pla a, Pin r, Pop d, and Bet v was strong (0.63 ~ 0.79), with a cross-overlapping percentage of 53.9%. Children with multiple pollen sensitizations had higher cumulative nasal symptom scores than those negative for pollen (P < 0.01). Children with only pollen sensitization had higher cumulative rhinitis symptom scores than the all-negative group (P < 0.0001) and the mite-only sensitization group [P < 0.05], while the mite-only sensitization group also had higher scores than the all-negative group [P < 0.05], and the group sensitized to both pollen and mites had lower scores than the pollen-only group [P < 0.05]. This study indicates that sensitization to mites and grass pollens exhibits significant regional differences, with grass pollen allergies primarily occurring in autumn, sensitization to pollens in general exhibits a pronounced seasonal pattern. Moreover, pollen sensitization aggravates nasal and ocular symptoms in AR children.
Effects of isometric training and R.I.C.E. treatment on the arm muscle performance of swimmers with elbow pain
Authors: Li Weihan , Hadizadeh Maryam , Yusof Ashril , Naharudin Mohamed Nashrudin 
Published: February 2024

AbstractThe effects of IT and R.I.C.E. treatment on arm muscle performance in overhead athletes with elbow pain (EP) have been partially validated. However, there is a lack of research evidence regarding the efficacy of these two methods on arm muscle performance among swimmers with EP. The aim of this study was to investigate the trends and differences in the effects of IT and R.I.C.E. treatment on arm muscle performance among swimmers with EP. The main outcomes were the time effects and group effects of interventions on muscle voluntary contraction (MVC). Sixty elite freestyle swimmers from Tianjin, China, voluntarily participated in the study and completed a 10-week intervention program. Swimmers with EP in the IT group showed a positive trend in MVC, with an approximately 2% increase, whereas the MVC of subjects in the R.I.C.E. treatment group and control group decreased by approximately 4% and 5%, respectively. In comparison, the effects of the IT intervention on the MVC of the triceps and brachioradialis muscles in swimmers with EP were significant (p = 0.042 < 0.05, p = 0.027 < 0.05). The mean MVC value of the IT group (0.60) was greater than that of the other two groups (0.51, 0.50). IT has a beneficial impact on the MVC performance of the triceps and brachioradialis muscles in swimmers with EP. It is recommended that professionals consider incorporating IT into regular training routines to mitigate the risk of EP issues. Future research should examine the effectiveness of both interventions on hand-grip strength and completion time in 50-m freestyle swim drills in order for swimmers with EP to return to this sport.
Exploring the reported adverse effects of COVID-19 vaccines among vaccinated Arab populations: a multi-national survey study
Authors: Amer Samar A. , Al-Zahrani Ali , Imam Esraa A. , Ishteiwy Ehab M. , Djelleb Ines F. , Abdullh Lina R. , Ballaj Dana , Amer Youmna A. , El-Sokkary Rehab H. , Elshabrawy Arafa M. , Eskander Georgette , Shah Jaffer , Raza Muhammad Liaquat , ALsafa Abdulaziz Majed A. Aba , Ali Hossam Tharwat , Fawzy Hebatallah M. 
Published: February 2024

AbstractThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been a major challenge worldwide for the past years with high morbidity and mortality rates. While vaccination was the cornerstone to control the pandemic and disease spread, concerns regarding safety and adverse events (AEs) have been raised lately. A cross-sectional study was conducted between January 1st and January 22nd, 2022, in six Arabic countries namely Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Libya, Iraq, and Algeria. We utilized a self-administered questionnaire validated in Arabic which encompassed two main parts. The first was regarding sociodemographic data while the second was about COVID-19 vaccination history, types, doses, and experienced AEs. A multistage sampling was employed in each country, involving the random selection of three governorates from each country, followed by the selection of one urban area and one rural area from each governorate. We included the responses of 1564 participants. The most common AEs after the first and second doses were local AEs (67.9% and 46.6%, respectively) followed by bone pain and myalgia (37.6% and 31.8%, respectively). After the third dose, the most common AEs were local AEs (45.7%) and fever (32.4%). Johnson and Johnson, Sputnik Light, and Moderna vaccines showed the highest frequency of AEs. Factors associated with AEs after the first dose included an increase in age (aOR of 61–75 years compared to the 12–18 years group: 2.60, 95% CI: 1.59–4.25, p = 0.001) and male gender (OR: 0.72, 95% CI: 0.63–0.82, p < 0.001). The cumulative post-vaccination COVID-19 disease was reported with Sinovac (16.1%), Sinopharm (15.8%), and Johnson and Johnson (14.9) vaccines. History of pre-vaccination SARS-CoV-2 infection significantly increases the risk of post-vaccination COVID-19 after the first, second, and booster doses (OR: 3.09, CI: 1.9–5.07, p < 0.0001; OR: 2.56, CI: 1.89–3.47, p < 0.0001; and OR: 2.94, CI: 1.6–5.39, p = 0.0005 respectively). In conclusion, AEs were common among our participants, especially local AEs. Further extensive studies are needed to generate more generalizable data regarding the safety of different vaccines.
In silico optimization of aligned fiber electrodes for dielectric elastomer actuators
Authors: Firoozan Mohammadreza , Baniassadi Majid , Baghani Mostafa , Chortos Alex 
Published: February 2024

AbstractDielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) exhibit fast actuation and high efficiencies, enabling applications in optics, wearable haptics, and insect-scale robotics. However, the non-uniformity and high sheet resistance of traditional soft electrodes based on nanomaterials limit the performance and operating frequency of the devices. In this work, we computationally investigate electrodes composed of arrays of stiff fiber electrodes. Aligning the fibers along one direction creates an electrode layer that exhibits zero stiffness in one direction and is predicted to possess high and uniform sheet resistance. A comprehensive parameter study of the fiber density and dielectric thickness reveals that the fiber density primary determines the electric field localization while the dielectric thickness primarily determines the unit cell stiffness. These trends identify an optimal condition for the actuation performance of the aligned electrode DEAs. This work demonstrates that deterministically designed electrodes composed of stiff materials could provide a new paradigm with the potential to surpass the performance of traditional soft planar electrodes.
The lncRNAs Gas5, MALAT1 and SNHG8 as diagnostic biomarkers for epithelial malignant pleural mesothelioma in Egyptian patients
Authors: Elkahwagy Dina Mohamed , Kiriacos Caroline Joseph , Sobeih Mohamed Emam , Khorshid Ola M. Reda , Mansour Manar 
Published: February 2024

AbstractLong noncoding RNAs have been shown to be involved in a myriad of physiological and pathological pathways. To date, malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is considered an extremely aggressive cancer. One reason for this is the late diagnosis of the disease, which can occur within 30–40 years of asbestos exposure. There is an immense need for the development of new, sensitive, inexpensive and easy methods for the early detection of this disease other than invasive methods such as biopsy. The aim of this study was to determine the expression of circulating lncRNAs in mesothelioma patient plasma to identify potential biomarkers. Ten previously identified lncRNAs that were shown to be aberrantly expressed in mesothelioma tissues were selected as candidates for subsequent validation. The expression of the ten selected candidate lncRNAs was verified via quantitative PCR (qPCR) in human plasma samples from mesothelioma patients versus healthy controls. The expression levels of circulating GAS5, SNHG8 and MALAT1 were significantly greater in plasma samples from patients than in those from controls. The ROC analysis of both MALAT1 and SNHG8 revealed 88.89% sensitivity and 66.67% specificity. The sensitivity of these markers was greater than that of GAS5 (sensitivity 72.22% and specificity 66.67%). The regression model for GAS5 was statistically significant, while that for SNHG8 and MALAT1 was not significant due to the small sample size. The area under the curve (AUC) of the three ROC curves was acceptable and significant: 0.7519 for GAS5, 0.7352 for SNHG8 and 0.7185 for MALAT1. This finding confirmed their ability to be used as markers. The three lncRNAs were not affected by age, sex or smoking status. The three lncRNAs showed great potential as independent predictive diagnostic biomarkers. Although the prediction model for MALAT1 did not significantly differ, MALAT1 was significantly expressed in patients more than in controls (p = 0.0266), and the recorded sensitivity and specificity were greater than those of GAS5.