bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Experimental investigation on nontoxic solvents for separation of vanillic acid
Authors: Eshwar Dhanush Shylaja , Antony Fiona Mary , Kumar Anuj , Wasewar Kailas 
Published: March 2024

AbstractBACKGROUNDVanillic acid, an aromatic carboxylic acid and a derivative of vanillin, is used as an additive in consumer goods for its aroma. Previously, most vanillic acid was produced through a petrochemical route, but as a consequence of stringent environmental policies, it is now produced by the biotransformation of ferulic acid. Vanillic acid is also found in the wastewater streams of paper‐pulp industries and olive‐oil mills. So, recovering vanillic acid from fermentation broth, either during bioproduction or from a wastewater stream, while minimizing toxicity, is a difficult task. In order to reduce the toxicity substantially, bio‐based solvents such as sunflower, mustard and rice bran oils were employed as diluents along with tri‐n‐butyl phosphate (TBP) as extractant in order to recover vanillic acid by reactive extraction.RESULTSThe extraction performance was elucidated using terms such as distribution ratio, extraction efficiency, loading ratio and equilibrium complexation constant for different extractant–diluent combinations. The highest extraction efficiency and distribution ratio for the different solvents were in the following order: TBP + sunflower‐oil (72.02%–92.47%; 2.57–12.29) > TBP + rice bran‐oil (65.56%–90.55%; 1.90–9.58) > TBP + mustard‐oil(64.03%–89.87%; 1.78–8.87). The theoretical number of stages was determined as 4 to achieve a targeted extraction efficiency of 90%; these predictions were borne out experimentally.CONCLUSIONIn this study, vanillic acid was recovered from the aqueous phase using tri‐n‐butyl phosphate in sustainable, environmentally friendly, bio‐based solvents such as rice bran oil, sunflower oil and mustard oil. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry (SCI).
Biology of Callistethus plagiicollis (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea: Rutelinae) and comparative morphology of its larvae
Authors: Long Tingting , Jiang Rixin , Zhu Wenli , Long Jiankun , Chen Xiangsheng 
Published: March 2024

AbstractLarvae of the beetle subfamily Rutelinae are poorly described in the literature. Notably, the morphology of the larvae of Callistethus plagiicollis Fairmaire has not previously been analyzed. Here, we report for the first time that these larvae feed on the tubers and roots of Gastrodia elata Blume, an important traditional Chinese herbal medicine, which causes a reduction in the yield and economic value of G. elata. We employed scanning electron microscopy and light microscopy to investigate the morphology and occurrence regularity of egg, larvae, pupae, and adult specimens of C. plagiicollis collected from the G. elata planting base in Guizhou Province, China, with a focus on the ultrastructure of mature larvae. The results revealed one generation of C. plagiicollis per year in the study area and three instar stages of larvae. Mature larvae were identified by the following characteristics: raster without palidia with a large number of hamate setae, antennal apex containing seven sensilla basiconica, larval haptomerum containing eight sensilla styloconica and four enlarged heli, and seven longitudinally arranged stridulatory teeth on the stipes of the maxilla. The combination of scanning electron and light microscopy effectively revealed the difference between membranous and sclerotized structures, ensuring accurate identification of C. plagiicollis larvae. By determining the feeding characteristics and occurrence regularity of C. plagiicollis, this study has implications for improved pest management in G. elata crops.Research Highlights
We identified C. plagiicollis as a new pest of G. elata, a traditional Chinese medicine
Scanning electron and light microscopy were combined to analyze the morphology of the mature larvae of C. plagiicollis for the first time
We determined the feeding characteristics and occurrence regularity of C. plagiicollis, which can be used to develop effective pest management strategies
Ramsey numbers upon vertex deletion
Authors: Wigderson Yuval 
Published: March 2024

AbstractGiven a graph , its Ramsey number is the minimum so that every two‐coloring of contains a monochromatic copy of . It was conjectured by Conlon, Fox, and Sudakov that if one deletes a single vertex from , the Ramsey number can change by at most a constant factor. We disprove this conjecture, exhibiting an infinite family of graphs such that deleting a single vertex from each decreases the Ramsey number by a super‐constant factor. One consequence of this result is the following. There exists a family of graphs so that in any Ramsey coloring for (i.e., a coloring of a clique on vertices with no monochromatic copy of ), one of the color classes has density .
Unlocking the potential of synthetic patients for accelerating clinical trials: Results of the first GIMEMA experience on acute myeloid leukemia patients
Authors: Piciocchi Alfonso , Cipriani Marta , Messina Monica , Marconi Giovanni , Arena Valentina , Soddu Stefano , Crea Enrico , Feraco Maria Valeria , Ferrante Marco , La Sala Edoardo , Fazi Paola , Buccisano Francesco , Voso Maria Teresa , Martinelli Giovanni , Venditti Adriano , Vignetti Marco 
Published: March 2024

AbstractArtificial Intelligence has the potential to reshape the landscape of clinical trials through innovative applications, with a notable advancement being the emergence of synthetic patient generation. This process involves simulating cohorts of virtual patients that can either replace or supplement real individuals within trial settings. By leveraging synthetic patients, it becomes possible to eliminate the need for obtaining patient consent and creating control groups that mimic patients in active treatment arms. This method not only streamlines trial processes, reducing time and costs but also fortifies the protection of sensitive participant data. Furthermore, integrating synthetic patients amplifies trial efficiency by expanding the sample size. These straightforward and cost‐effective methods also enable the development of personalized subject‐specific models, enabling predictions of patient responses to interventions. Synthetic data holds great promise for generating real‐world evidence in clinical trials while upholding rigorous confidentiality standards throughout the process. Therefore, this study aims to demonstrate the applicability and performance of these methods in the context of onco‐hematological research, breaking through the theoretical and practical barriers associated with the implementation of artificial intelligence in medical trials.
Structure of the oral tentacles of early ontogeny stage in brachiopod Hemithiris psittacea (Rhynchonelliformea, Rhynchonellida)
Authors: Kuzmina Tatyana Valerievna , Temereva Elena Nikolaevna 
Published: March 2024

AbstractBrachiopods have the most complex lophophore in comparison with other lophophorates, i.e., phoronids and bryozoans. However, at early ontogenetic stages, brachiopods have a lophophore of simple morphology, which consists of the oral tentacles. Data on the ultrastructure of the oral tentacles is mostly missing. Nonetheless, it has recently been suggested that the structure of oral tentacles is ancestral for all lophophorates in general, and for brachiopods in particular. The fine structure of the oral tentacles in the brachiopod Hemithiris psittacea is studied using light microscopy, transmission and scanning electron microscopy, cytochemistry and confocal laser scanning microscopy. The oral tentacles have a round shape in transverse section, and four ciliary zones, i.e., one frontal, two lateral, and one abfrontal. Latero‐frontal sensory cells occur among the frontal epithelium. Four basiepithelial nerves in the ciliary epithelium are colocalized with ciliary zones. Lophophores of simple morphology in phoronids and brachiopods are characterized by non‐specified round forms of tentacles. In phoronids and bryozoans, tentacles have additional latero‐frontal ciliary zones that function as a sieve during filtration. In most brachiopods, lateral cilia are involved in the capture of food particles, whereas latero‐frontal cells are retained in the frontal zone as sensory elements. The oral tentacles of H. psittacea contain a coelomic canal and have distinct frontal and abfrontal longitudinal muscles, which are separated from each other by peritoneal cells. A similar structure of tentacle muscles occurs in all bryozoans, whereas in phoronids, the frontal and abfrontal tentacle muscles are not separated by peritoneal cells. We suggest that the lophophorates' ancestor had tentacles, which were similar to the tentacles of some phoronids with lophophore of simple morphology. We also assume that the structure of the oral tentacles is ancestral for all brachiopods and the specialization of brachiopod tentacles correlates with the appearance of the double row of tentacles.
Evaluation of 4D Flow MRI‐Derived Relative Residence Time as a Marker for Cirrhosis Associated Portal Vein Thrombosis
Authors: Hyodo Ryota , Takehara Yasuo , Ishizu Yoji , Nishida Kazuki , Mizuno Takashi , Ichikawa Kazushige , Horiguchi Ryota , Kurata Nobuhiko , Ogura Yasuhiro , Yokoyama Shinya , Naganawa Shinji , Jin Ning , Ichiba Yoshito 
Published: March 2024

BackgroundPortal vein thrombosis (PVT) is thought to arise from stagnant blood flow, yet conclusive evidence is lacking. Relative residence time (RRT) assessed using 4D Flow MRI may offer insight into portal flow stagnation.PurposeTo explore the relationship between RRT values and the presence of PVT in cirrhotic participants.Study TypeProspective.PopulationForty‐eight participants with liver cirrhosis (27 males, median age 67 years [IQR: 57–73]) and 20 healthy control participants (12 males, median age 45 years [IQR: 40–54]).Field Strength/Sequence3 T/4D Flow MRI.AssessmentLaboratory (liver and kidney function test results and platelet count) and clinical data (presence of tumors and other imaging findings), and portal hemodynamics derived from 4D Flow MRI (spatiotemporally averaged RRT [RRT‐mean], flow velocity, and flow rate) were analyzed.Statistical TestsWe used multivariable logistic regression, adjusted by selected covariates through the Lasso method, to explore whether RRT‐mean is an independent risk factor for PVT. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) was also calculated to assess the model's discriminative ability. P < 0.05 indicated statistical significance.ResultsThe liver cirrhosis group consisted of 16 participants with PVT and 32 without PVT. Higher RRT‐mean values (odds ratio [OR] 11.4 [95% CI: 2.19, 118]) and lower platelet count (OR 0.98 per 1000 μL [95% CI: 0.96, 0.99]) were independent risk factors for PVT. The incorporation of RRT‐mean (AUC, 0.77) alongside platelet count (AUC, 0.75) resulted in an AUC of 0.84. When including healthy control participants, RRT‐mean had an adjusted OR of 12.4 and the AUC of the combined model (RRT‐mean and platelet count) was 0.90.Data ConclusionProlonged RRT values and low platelet count were significantly associated with the presence of PVT in cirrhotic participants. RRT values derived from 4D Flow MRI may have potential clinical relevance in the management of PVT.Evidence Level2Technical EfficacyStage 2
An energy‐efficient tunable threshold spiking neuron with excitatory and inhibitory function
Authors: Khanday Mudasir A. , Khanday Farooq A. 
Published: March 2024

AbstractIn this work, a complementary metal‐oxide‐semiconductor (CMOS) based leaky‐integrate and fire neuron has been proposed and investigated for neuromorphic applications. The neuron has been designed in Cadence Virtuoso and validated experimentally. It has been observed that the neuron consumes a maximum energy of 68.87 fJ/spike. The response of the neuron to excitatory as well as inhibitory inputs has been studied. To verify the applicability, the proposed neuron has been explored for reconfigurable threshold logic to implement various linearly separable Boolean functions including OR, AND, NOT, NOR, and NAND. Moreover, the threshold tunability of the neuron has also been verified and this property has been exploited to design threshold‐controlled logic gates. Instead of adjusting the weights of the applied inputs, the functionality of such gates can be controlled by changing the threshold of the neuron, simplifying the synaptic architecture of a neural network. Finally, a multilayer network has been designed and the recognition ability of the proposed network for MNIST handwritten digits has been verified with an accuracy of 96.93%.
Functional neuroanatomy of basal forebrain projections to the basolateral amygdala: Transmitters, receptors, and neuronal subpopulations
Authors: McDonald Alexander Joseph 
Published: March 2024

AbstractThe projections of the basal forebrain (BF) to the hippocampus and neocortex have been extensively studied and shown to be important for higher cognitive functions, including attention, learning, and memory. Much less is known about the BF projections to the basolateral nuclear complex of the amygdala (BNC), although the cholinergic innervation of this region by the BF is actually far more robust than that of cortical areas. This review will focus on light and electron microscopic tract‐tracing and immunohistochemical (IHC) studies, many of which were published in the last decade, that have analyzed the relationship of BF inputs and their receptors to specific neuronal subtypes in the BNC in order to better understand the anatomical substrates of BF‐BNC circuitry. The results indicate that BF inputs to the BNC mainly target the basolateral nucleus of the BNC (BL) and arise from cholinergic, GABAergic, and perhaps glutamatergic BF neurons. Cholinergic inputs mainly target dendrites and spines of pyramidal neurons (PNs) that express muscarinic receptors (MRs). MRs are also expressed by cholinergic axons, as well as cortical and thalamic axons that synapse with PN dendrites and spines. BF GABAergic axons to the BL also express MRs and mainly target BL interneurons that contain parvalbumin. It is suggested that BF‐BL circuitry could be very important for generating rhythmic oscillations known to be critical for emotional learning. BF cholinergic inputs to the BNC might also contribute to memory formation by activating M1 receptors located on PN dendritic shafts and spines that also express NMDA receptors.
False springs and spring phenology: Propagating effects of downscaling technique and training data
Authors: Wootten Adrienne M. , Dixon Keith W. , Adams‐Smith Dennis J. , McPherson Renee A. 
Published: March 2024

AbstractProjected changes to spring phenological indicators (such as first leaf and first bloom) are of importance to assessing the impacts of climate change on ecosystems and species. The risk of false springs (when a killing freeze occurs after plants of interest bloom), which can cause ecological and economic damage, is also projected to change across much of the United States. Given the coarse nature of global climate models, downscaled climate projections have commonly been used to assess local changes in spring phenological indices. Few studies that examine the influence of the sources of uncertainty sources in the downscaling approach on projections of phenological changes. This study examines the influence of sources of uncertainty on projections of spring phenological indicators and false spring risk using the South Central United States. The downscaled climate projections were created using three statistical downscaling techniques applied with three gridded observation datasets as training data and three global climate models. This study finds that projections of spring phenological indicators and false spring risk are primarily sensitive to the choice of global climate models. However, this study also finds that the formulation of the downscaling approach can cause errors representing the daily low‐temperature distribution, which can cause errors in false spring risk by failing to capture the timing between the last spring freeze and the first bloom. One should carefully consider the downscaling approach used when using downscaled climate projections to assess changes to spring phenology and false spring risk.
Torsion constants and virtual mechanical tests are valid image‐based surrogate measures of ovine fracture healing
Authors: Ren Tianyi , Inglis Brendan , Darwiche Salim , Dailey Hannah L. 
Published: March 2024

AbstractIn large animal studies, the mechanical reintegration of the bone fragments is measured using postmortem physical testing, but these assessments can only be performed once, after sacrifice. Image‐based virtual mechanical testing is an attractive alternative because it could be used to monitor healing longitudinally. However, the procedures and software required to perform finite element analysis (FEA) on subject‐specific models for virtual mechanical testing can be time consuming and costly. Accordingly, the goal of this study was to determine whether a simpler image‐based geometric measure—the torsion constant, sometimes known as polar moment of inertia—can be reliably used as a surrogate measure of bone healing in large animals. To achieve this, postmortem biomechanical testing and microCT scans were analyzed for a total of 33 operated and 20 intact ovine tibiae. An image‐processing procedure to compute the attenuation‐weighted torsion constant from the microCT scans was developed in MATLAB and this code has been made freely available. Linear regression analysis was performed between the postmortem biomechanical data, the results of virtual mechanical testing using FEA, and the torsion constants measured from the scans. The results showed that virtual mechanical testing is the most reliable surrogate measure of postmortem torsional rigidity, having strong correlations and high absolute agreement. However, when FEA is not practical, the torsion constant is a viable alternative surrogate measure that is moderately correlated with postmortem torsional rigidity and can be readily calculated.
An interactive visualization and data portal tool (PALTIDE) for relative sea level and palaeotidal simulations of the northwest European shelf seas since the Last Glacial Maximum
Authors: Scourse James , Ward Sophie , Wainwright Adam , Bradley Sarah , Wilson Jerome Keaton , Guo Jessica 
Published: March 2024

ABSTRACTRelative sea level (RSL) predictions based on glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) simulations and palaeotidal predictions generated by hydrodynamic models using GIA‐generated palaeotopographies are available in the published literature, and datasets are available via data repositories. However, these data are often difficult to extract for specific locations or timeslices, requiring users to request datasets from corresponding authors. To overcome the intractability of these data and to enable users to interrogate datasets themselves without requiring offline requests, we have developed PALTIDE, an online visualization tool with intuitive user interface accessible at https://shiny.bangor.ac.uk/paleotidal/. The model domain for this interactive visualization tool is the northwest European continental shelf, covering the period from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to the present day, and is based on previous GIA simulations by Bradley and colleagues and hydrodynamic simulations using Regional Ocean Modelling System (ROMS) published by Ward and colleagues. The tool is developed in R and utilizes a number of packages including shiny and bslib for the frontend, and arrow, raster and the tidyverse for backend data processing. The tool enables visualizations and data downloads for RSL, tidal amplitude and tide‐dependent parameters for any location within the model domain over 1000‐year timesteps from the LGM to the present.
Donor age has no relevant role in biomechanical properties of allografts used in anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction: A systematic review
Authors: Grassi Alberto , Agostinone Piero , Di Paolo Stefano , Altovino Emanuele , Gallese Alessandro , Akbaba Derya , Bonanzinga Tommaso , Marcacci Maurilio , Zaffagnini Stefano 
Published: March 2024

AbstractPurposeSurgeons generally consider the donor age as a factor that negatively influences the quality of allograft used in anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction, however, the available evidence does not clearly support this statement. The purpose of the study was to investigate if donor age influences the biomechanical properties of allografts used in ACL reconstruction.MethodsA comprehensive literature search was conducted for all relevant articles using MEDLINE (PubMed), Scopus, and Cochrane Collaboration Library, according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analysis. Studies including the analysis of the correlation between biomechanical properties of the allografts and donor age were selected. The role of donor age was labelled as ‘none’ if absent, ‘higher’ or ‘lower’ if the properties were higher or lower in older specimens with respect to younger. The correlation was defined as ‘weak’ or ‘strong’ according to each study definition.ResultsNo conflicting role of donor age was reported for modulus of elasticity, load to failure, strain, stiffness and displacement. The only parameters where the significant results were consistent were the tensile strength and the stress (low or moderate correlations). When considering the tested samples with a donor's age <65 years, a significant role of age was reported in only four out of 13 groups of graft tested (patellar tendon, fascia lata, anterior tibialis tendon and posterior tibialis tendon).ConclusionThe current literature did not allow to state that the donor age negatively influences the biomechanical properties of allografts, making it impossible to identify a clear age cut‐off value to exclude them from ACL reconstruction procedures.Level of EvidenceLevel IV, systematic review.