bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Research on hybrid synchronization methods in multi‐user collaborative VR simulation medical surgery training system
Authors: Gong Ao , Cheng Yun , Su Jing , Zhang Li 
Published: December 2023

SummaryThe simulation training system based on VR technology has been applied in clinical medicine due to its immersive interactive experience, economy, and safety. In response to the limitation that most medical surgery training systems can only achieve single user operations, a hybrid synchronous model based multi‐user collaborative framework design is proposed to meet the needs of collaborative training in virtual reality teaching processes. Based on the characteristics of frame synchronization and state synchronization, the synchronization method has been improved. Based on frame synchronization, specific state synchronization is used on interactive events to improve the consistency of operation details and real‐time action. On this basis, a system prototype has been implemented using Unity 3D, and compared with traditional schemes, analysis shows that it has faster response speed for disconnected reconnection and more stable interaction state.
How Not to Play an Indian Mythic: Raji: A Modern Fantasy
Authors: Chaudhury Arkabrata , Chaudhuri Arunoday 
Published: December 2023

AbstractThe current paper analyses the video game Raji: An Ancient Epic (Nodding Head Games 2020) to determine the accuracy of its representation of historical Indian experiences, in the domains of architecture, aesthetics, spatiality, technology, and so on. The ludic elements of the game, including weapon or enemy design and their compatibility with reflecting an Indian ethos in video game mechanisms have also been discussed. The treatment of Indian mythology is extensively explored, with an eye to locating its space in Indian mythic tradition. Through an analysis of narrative storytelling in the game, aspects such as the foregrounding of a female protagonist and the apparent progressive feminist attitude of the game have been scrutinised. The sociocultural depiction of India and its implications and contexts relating to contemporary understanding of the space of the subcontinent has also been taken into consideration. A careful study of the game within the contemporary post‐colonial discourse constitutes a part of the article. We also undertake a comparative study with another Indian mythic video game, Unrest (Pyrodactyl 2014), to better understand the issues surrounding the treatment of mythic and historical elements. The article both contemplates the missed opportunities and future potentials, for example, in terms of more nuanced and accurate representation and the balance between ludic execution and representational possibilities, as experienced in the ludo‐narrative experience offered by the game.
In vitro studies of a novel liposomal formulation for safe and efficient iron delivery
Authors: Szostak‐Paluch Kamila , Drabik Dominik , Jędruchniewicz Natalia , Dwornikowska‐Dąbrowska Mariola 
Published: December 2023

AbstractAnemia of chronic diseases is the most popular type of anemia. Treatment of such conditions is based on iron supplementation. However, chronic conditions are accompanied by increased activity of hepcidin, which significantly limits iron absorption from traditional supplementation forms. Modern liposomal technologies allow for efficient encapsulation of macromolecules, which can result in a significant absorption improvement. The presented results show an encapsulation efficiency of more than 90% of iron‐dextran complexes, with a decrease in cytotoxicity and reactive oxygen species generation.Practical Application: These results can be used to prepare novel liposomal iron ion formulation with high encapsulation efficiency due to the appliance of iron(III) oxide complex with dextran.
Fatigue can influence the development of late‐onset pain in post‐COVID‐19 syndrome: An observational study
Authors: Baroni A. , Fregna G. , Lamberti N. , Manfredini F. , Straudi S. 
Published: December 2023

AbstractBackgroundLate‐onset pain is frequent following COVID‐19, and many pathogenetic mechanisms have been proposed. Identifying the main features of patients may help in designing tailored rehabilitative interventions.MethodsWe enrolled post‐COVID‐19 patients with an increase in pain intensity of two points on the COVID‐19 Yorkshire Rehabilitation Scale (C19‐YRS) at 52 weeks compared to the pre‐COVID‐19 condition. All subjects were retrospectively monitored at 12, 26, and 52 weeks. A specific pain assessment was performed to determine the characteristics and mechanisms of pain. Catastrophizing, kinesiophobia, and other psychological symptoms were evaluated. The pressure pain threshold (PPT) and temporal summation (TS) were measured and compared in age‐ and sex‐matched healthy controls to analyse pain characteristics.ResultsA total of 67 patients were recruited, with 20 of them presenting an increase in pain at 52 weeks. Subjects of the two subgroups were similar in demographic and clinical characteristics at baseline; significant differences in fatigue, anxiety, mobility, ability to perform daily activities, and general health perception were recorded at 26 weeks. Fatigue significantly predicted pain onset (β = 0.54, p = 0.002). Sixteen different body regions were identified as painful, with a pain intensity of 6.0 ± 1.9. Most of the samples did not show neuropathic or nociplastic mechanisms. No differences in PPT and TS were recorded between patients and healthy controls.ConclusionsAlmost one out of three patients hospitalized for COVID‐19 developed pain 1 year later, and fatigue seems responsible for chronicity. An overlapping of conditions may explain late‐onset post‐COVID‐19 pain, and a comprehensive approach must be considered for patient management.SignificanceLate‐onset pain is frequent in post‐COVID‐19 syndrome and an overlapping of different mechanisms seems to be responsible for its development. Among many predisposing factors, fatigue in the months before seems to be one of the primary causes of pain one year following infection and its management may help to identify new strategies for prevention and treatment of late‐onset pain.
Recurrent neural network and federated learning based channel estimation approach in mmWave massive MIMO systems
Authors: Shahabodini Sajjad , Mansoori Mobina , Abouei Jamshid , Plataniotis Konstantinos N. 
Published: December 2023

AbstractSo far, various data‐driven approaches have been presented to obtain channel state information (CSI) in millimeter wave multiple‐input‐multiple‐output wireless networks. In almost all previous works, training and testing channels were assumed to have the same distribution, which may not be the case in practice. In this article, we address this challenge by proposing a learning framework that is a combination of a recurrent neural network (RNN) model and a deep neural network (DNN) for estimating CSI in a dynamic wireless communication environment. Furthermore, we use federated learning to train the learning‐based channel estimation model. More specifically, we introduce a two‐stage downlink pilot transmission procedure, where in the initial stage, long frame length downlink pilot signals are used to train the introduced RNN‐DNN model. Following that, users will receive shorter‐frame‐length pilot signals that can be used for CSI estimation. To speed up the training procedure of the proposed network, we first generate a pre‐trained model and then modify it according to the collected data samples. Simulation results demonstrate that, when the channel distribution is unavailable, the proposed approach performs significantly better than the most recent channel estimation algorithms in terms of estimation performance and computational complexity.
Ginseng in white and red processed forms: Ginsenosides and cardiac side effects
Authors: Zhou Jiexin , Zhang Jiarui , Jing Pu , Lan Yu , Cao Xiaonian , Feng Huafang , Liu Xiaogang , Liu Qingqing 
Published: December 2023

AbstractGinseng (Panax ginseng Meyer) has long been consumed as a medicinal or functional food in East Asia. It is available as dried white ginseng (WG) and steamed red ginseng (RG), which might differ in ginsenoside profiles. We compared ginsenoside types of RG and WG using UPLC‐MS/MS and evaluated how they biologically affected heart of healthy rats by recording electrocardiography, measuring biochemical indicators, analyzing cardiac tissue slides, and Ca2+ signaling pathways. About 25 and 29 ginsenosides were detected in WG and RG, respectively, and the total ginsenoside content of RG contained was nearly 1.8 times higher than that of WG. Among them, ginsenoside Rg4, ginsenoside Rg6, ginsenoside Rh4, ginsenoside Rk1, ginsenoside Rg5, and protopanaxadiol were detected only in RG, while 20(R)‐ginsenoside Rg2 was detected only in WG. Male SD rats treated by intraperitoneal injection of WG or RG extracts were similar to the control in terms of electrocardiography and heart histology, indicating that both may not significantly affect the rats' myocardial function. However, WG and RG may induce mild cardiac injury resulting in increased cardiac collagen and creatine kinase levels. In addition, upregulated p‐CaMKII and PPARδ and downregulated SERCA2a for WG and RG treatments were further associated with increased cardiac contractility. In general, RG had less effect on the heart of healthy rats than WG, which may be due to RG having a high proportion of low‐polar ginsenosides.
Self, context, and power: Introducing the critical campus ecology model
Authors: Noble Chelsea E. 
Published: December 2023

AbstractIn this chapter, I introduce the critical campus ecology model (CCEM) to account for systems of oppression in an individual's ecosystem. Drawing insights from queer geographies and critical whiteness studies, I add “oppressive systems” as the fifth contextual system to the Process‐Person‐Context‐Time model. Forces in the oppressive system, such as racism and cissexism, influence each of the individual's systems and have real, material influence on all aspects of the student's context. Further, I share how I utilized the CCEM as a framework for data collection and analysis for a study of students’ conceptions of their campus LGBTQ+ center. I conclude with implications for research and practice, such as leveraging the CCEM as a tool for reflection, identity exploration, and social critique.Practical Takeaways
Oppressive systems influence all levels of an individual's ecosystem. Yet, classic ecological models including Bronfenbrenner's Process‐Person‐Context‐Time model, do not attend to power and oppression.
The critical campus ecology model (CCEM) orients scholars and practitioners to the overt and insidious ways that oppressive systems shape an individual's ecology. Additionally, it acknowledges that the individual and their contexts can also act on oppressive systems.
The CCEM can be a powerful tool in research settings to guide participants’ self‐reflection about the contexts and forces shaping their experiences. In practice settings, it can be similarly leveraged as a tool for reflection, identity exploration, and social critique.
An analysis of a rural hospital's investment decision under different payment systems
Authors: Guo Xidong 
Published: December 2023

AbstractFrom an economic perspective, large investments in medical equipment are justifiable only when many patients benefit. Although rural hospitals play a crucial role locally, the treatments they can offer are limited. In this study, I characterize investment level that maximizes the total surplus, encompassing patients' welfare and producer surplus, and subtracting treatment costs. Specifically, I account for economic externalities generated by the investment in the rural hospital and for different utility losses that patients suffer when they cannot be treated locally. I demonstrate that the optimal investment level can be implemented if the Health Authority has the power to set specific prices for each disease. Additionally, I explore a decentralized situation wherein the investment decision lies with the rural hospital manager, and the Health Authority can only make a discrete decision between two payment systems: Fee‐for‐service, which covers all treatment costs, or Diagnosis‐Related‐Groups, which reimburses a price per patient based on the overall average cost. I find that the Diagnosis‐Related‐Groups system outperforms the Fee‐for‐service in terms of total surplus when the treatment cost at the rural hospital is lower. However, when the rural hospital has higher costs and the Health Authority seeks to incentivize investment, the Fee‐for‐service system is superior.
Quantitative imaging workshop XIX: Utilizing quantitative thoracic imaging to optimize population health final summary
Authors: Mulshine James L. , Avila Riccardo S. , Rizzo Albert A. , Estepar Raul San Jose , McGlothlin Anita , Pyenson Bruce , Hoyos Jody , Aldigé Carolyn R. , Yankelevitz David F. 
Published: December 2023

AbstractLung cancer screening involves the use of thoracic CT for both detection and measurements of suspicious lung nodules to guide the screening management. Since lung cancer screening eligibility typically requires age over 50 years along with >20 pack‐year tobacco exposure, thoracic CT scans also frequently reveal evidence for pulmonary emphysema as well as coronary artery calcification. These three thoracic diseases are collectively three of the leading causes of premature death across the world. Screening for the major thoracic diseases in this heavily tobacco‐exposed cohort is broadening the focus of lung cancer screening to a more comprehensive health evaluation including discussing the relevance of screen‐detected findings of the heart and lung parenchyma. The status and implications of these emerging issues were reviewed in a multidisciplinary workshop focused on the process of quantitative imaging in the lung cancer screening setting to guide the evolution of this important new area of public health.
An efficient lung image classification and detection using spiral‐optimized Gabor filter with convolutional neural network
Authors: Sivakumar V. , Yogesh C. K. , Vatchala S. , Kaliraj S. 
Published: December 2023

AbstractLung cancer has a high death rate of around seven million cases every year worldwide. A computed tomography (CT) scan provides certain essential data concerning lung diseases and their diagnosis. The main objective of this work is to classify various lung diseases such as Normal, Bronchiectasis, and Pleural Effusion. The proposed approach consists of three stages, namely pre‐processing, feature extraction, and classification. At first, CT lung images are collected from the dataset and pre‐processed. After pre‐processing, the important texture features are extracted from each image. For feature extraction, spiral‐optimized Gabor filter (SOGF) is utilized. The proposed SOGF is a combination of spiral optimization algorithm (SOA) and Gabor filter (GF). Then, the extracted features are given to the convolutional neural network (CNN) to classify different types of lung diseases. For comparison, we use different classifiers, namely artificial neural network (ANN), Random Tree, and the Naïve Bayes. The experimental results show that our proposed approach attained the maximum accuracy of 93.67% which is high compared to other methods.
Vascularization of PEGylated fibrin hydrogels increases the proliferation of human iPSC‐cardiomyocytes
Authors: Vanderslice Ethan J. , Golding Staunton G. H. , Jacot Jeffrey G. 
Published: December 2023

AbstractStudies have long sought to develop engineered heart tissue for the surgical correction of structural heart defects, as well as other applications and vascularization of this tissue has presented a challenge. Recent studies suggest that vascular cells and a vascular network may have regenerative effects on implanted cardiomyocytes (CM) and nearby heart tissue separate from perfusion of oxygen and nutrients. The goal of this study was to test whether vascular cells or a formed vascular network in a fibrin‐based hydrogel would alter the proliferation of human iPSC‐derived CM. First, vascular network formation in a slowly degrading PEGylated fibrin hydrogel was optimized by altering the cell ratio of human umbilical vein endothelial cells to human dermal fibroblasts, the inclusion of growth factors, and the total cell concentration. An endothelial to fibroblast ratio of 5:1 and a total cell concentration of 1.1 × 106 cells/mL without additional growth factors generated robust vascular networks while minimizing the number of cells required. Using this optimized system, human iPSC‐derived CM were cultured on hydrogels without vascular cells, hydrogels with unorganized encapsulated vascular cells, or hydrogels with encapsulated vascular cells organized into networks for 7 days. CM proliferation and gene expression were assayed following 7 days of culture on the hydrogels. The presence of vascular cells in the hydrogel, whether unorganized or in vascular networks, significantly increased CM proliferation compared to an acellular hydrogel. Hydrogels with unorganized vascular cells resulted in lower CM maturity evidenced by decreased expression of cardiac troponin t (TNNT2), myosin light chain 7, and phospholamban compared to hydrogels without vascular cells and hydrogels with vascular networks. Altogether, this study details a robust method of forming rudimentary vascular networks in a fibrin‐based hydrogel and shows that a hydrogel containing endothelial cells and fibroblasts can induce proliferation in adjacent CM, and these cells do not hinder CM gene expression when organized into a vascular network.
Comparison of the electrophysiological properties of the pulmonary veins between paroxysmal and persistent atrial fibrillation
Authors: Mori Hitoshi , Hamabe Akira , Kawano Daisuke , Naganuma Tsukasa , Tahara Mai , Gatate Yodo , Kimura Toyokazu , Tabata Hirotsugu , Kato Ritsushi 
Published: December 2023

AbstractBackgroundThe role of the pulmonary veins (PVs) as triggers in atrial fibrillation (AF) is well‐known; however, their detailed electrophysiological properties have not been thoroughly examined.ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate the electrophysiological properties of the PVs between paroxysmal AF (pAF) and persistent AF (perAF).MethodsPrior to catheter ablation in patients with pAF (n = 51) and perAF (n = 41), a voltage map of the left atrium and PVs was created under sinus rhythm, and the area of the myocardial sleeves in the PVs and their electrophysiological characteristics, including the pacing threshold and effective refractory period (ERP), were compared between the two groups.ResultsCompared with perAF, the myocardial sleeves of PVs for pAF were significantly larger for all PVs. The ERP for perAF was significantly shorter than that for pAF for all PVs. The pacing threshold for perAF was significantly higher than that for pAF for the right and left superior PVs.ConclusionIn patients with perAF, a decrease in the normal myocardial sleeves and a shortening of the ERP were observed for all PVs. Those changes in the electrophysiological properties of the PVs might be related to the persistence of AF.
Maximizing SNR per unit time in diffusion MRI with multiband T‐Hex spirals
Authors: Engel Maria , Mueller Lars , Döring André , Afzali Maryam , Jones Derek K. 
Published: December 2023

AbstractPurposeThe characterization of tissue microstructure using diffusion MRI (dMRI) signals is rapidly evolving, with increasing sophistication of signal representations and microstructure models. However, this progress often requires signals to be acquired with very high b‐values (e.g., b > 30 ms/μm2), along many directions, and using multiple b‐values, leading to long scan times and extremely low SNR in dMRI images. The purpose of this work is to boost the SNR efficiency of dMRI by combining three particularly efficient spatial encoding techniques and utilizing a high‐performance gradient system (Gmax ≤ 300 mT/m) for efficient diffusion encoding.MethodsSpiral readouts, multiband imaging, and sampling on tilted hexagonal grids (T‐Hex) are combined and implemented on a 3T MRI system with ultra‐strong gradients. Image reconstruction is performed through an iterative cg‐SENSE algorithm incorporating static off‐resonance distributions and field dynamics as measured with an NMR field camera. Additionally, T‐Hex multiband is combined with a more conventional EPI‐readout and compared with state‐of‐the‐art blipped‐CAIPIRINHA sampling. The advantage of the proposed approach is furthermore investigated for clinically available gradient performance and diffusion kurtosis imaging.ResultsHigh fidelity in vivo images with b‐values up to 40 ms/μm2 are obtained. The approach provides superior SNR efficiency over other state‐of‐the‐art multiband diffusion readout schemes.ConclusionThe demonstrated gains hold promise for the widespread dissemination of advanced microstructural scans, especially in clinical populations.
The effect of and correction for through‐slice dephasing on 2D gradient‐echo double angle B1+ mapping
Authors: Belsley Gabriela , Tyler Damian J. , Robson Matthew D. , Tunnicliffe Elizabeth M. 
Published: December 2023

AbstractPurposeTo show that variations through slice and slice profile effects are two major confounders affecting 2D dual angle maps using gradient‐echo signals and thus need to be corrected to obtain accurate maps.MethodsThe 2D gradient‐echo transverse complex signal was Bloch‐simulated and integrated across the slice dimension including nonlinear variations in inhomogeneities through slice. A nonlinear least squares fit was used to find the factor corresponding to the best match between the two gradient‐echo signals experimental ratio and the Bloch‐simulated ratio. The correction was validated in phantom and in vivo at 3T.ResultsFor our RF excitation pulse, the error in the factor scales by approximately 3.8% for every 10 Hz/cm variation in along the slice direction. Higher accuracy phantom maps were obtained after applying the proposed correction; the root mean square error relative to the gold standard decreased from 6.4% to 2.6%. In vivo whole‐liver maps using the corrected map registered a significant decrease in gradient through slice.Conclusion inhomogeneities varying through slice were seen to have an impact on the accuracy of 2D double angle maps using gradient‐echo sequences. Consideration of this confounder is crucial for research relying on accurate knowledge of the true excitation flip angles, as is the case of mapping using a spoiled gradient recalled echo sequence.