bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Determination of the safety and efficacy of recombinant Chlamydia muridarum MOMP vaccines, formulated with CpG-1826 and 70%, 50%, 30% or 10% concentrations of Montanide ISA-720 VG, to elicit protective immune responses against a C. muridarum respiratory challenge.
Authors: Maza Luis de la , Slepenkin Anatoli , Pal Sukumar , Rasley Amy , Coleman Matthew 
Published: December 2023

Abstract

To determine the safety and protective efficacy of a C. muridarum MOMP vaccine, formulated with CpG-1826 and four different concentrations of Montanide ISA 720 VG (70%, 50%, 30% and 10%), BALB/c mice were immunized twice intramuscularly. Local reactogenicity was significant for vaccines formulated with 70% and 50% Montanide but not in mice receiving 30% and 10% Montanide. Robust humoral and cell mediated memory immune responses were elicited by the 70%, 50% and 30% Montanide formulations. Mice were challenged intranasally with C. muridarum and, at day 10 post-challenge, mice were euthanized. Based on changes in body weight, lung’s weight and number of IFU recovered, mice vaccinated with the 70%, 50% and 30% Montanide formulations were significantly protected, but not mice receiving 10% Montanide. To conclude, we recommend the 30% Montanide concentration to be tested in humans and animal models to determine its safety and efficacy, in comparison to the 70% Montanide concentration currently used. The 30% Montanide formulation will significantly facilitate licensing for human use.
End to end delay aware Service Function Chain Scheduling in Network Function Virtualization enabled networks
Authors: Dubba Sudha , Killi Balaprakasa Rao 
Published: December 2023

Abstract

Network function virtualization is a key enabling technology for the customization of network services in next-generation networks to support diverse applications. Most enterprise and network services contain specific network functions that are stitched together in a predefined sequence to form a service function chain. The deployment and scheduling of a service function chain onto the substrate network play a vital role in deciding the efficiency of resource utilization and the performance of network management. For a delay-sensitive network service request traversing a service function chain, the end-to-end packet delay is a crucial parameter that indicates the deployment performance. Transmission, propagation, processing, edge queueing, and virtualization delays all impact the order in which virtual network functions execute. Service level agreement violations and incorrect schedules are produced when the controller does not take edge queueing and virtualization delays into account. In this work, we propose a service function chain scheduling problem for the optimization of the end-to-end delay while considering transmission, propagation, queueing, virtualization, and processing delays. Then, we propose a scheduling approach based on the earliest finish times of the physical machines to minimize the end-to-end delay of the service function chain. The performance of the proposed service function chain scheduling approach using the earliest finish time is evaluated in terms of end-to-end delay, service level agreement violation ratio, resource utilization, and acceptance ratio. We compare our proposed algorithm with four existing approaches from the literature. Simulation results show that our proposed approach outperforms existing approaches in terms of end-to-end delay, service level agreement violation ratio, resource utilization, and acceptance ratio.
Mapping the scientific output of organoids for modeling animal and human infectious diseases: A bibliometric assessment
Authors: Yan Jin , Cougoule Céline , Lacroix-Lamandé Sonia , Wiedemann Agnès 
Published: December 2023

Abstract
The escalation of antibiotic resistance, pandemics, and nosocomial infections underscores the importance of research in both animal and human infectious diseases. Recent advancements in three-dimensional tissue cultures, or "organoids," have revolutionized the development of in vitro models for infectious diseases. Our study conducts a bibliometric analysis on the use of organoids in modeling infectious diseases, offering an in-depth overview of this field's current landscape. We examined scientific contributions from 2009 onward that focused on organoids in host‒pathogen interactions using the Web of Science Core Collection. Our analysis included temporal trends, reference aging, author and institutional productivity, collaborative networks, citation metrics, and keyword cluster dynamics. VOSviewer and CiteSpace facilitated this analytical assessment. The findings reveal significant growth and advancements in organoid-based infectious disease research. Analysis of keywords and impactful publications identified three distinct developmental phases in this area that were significantly influenced by outbreaks of Zika virus and SARS-CoV-2. Hans Clevers and his team are prominent within the author and institutional collaboration networks. The research also highlights the synergistic efforts between academia and publishers in tackling global pandemic challenges. Organoids are proving to be a promising tool in infectious disease research. Their integration into the field necessitates methodological refinements for better physiological emulation and the establishment of extensive organoid biobanks. These improvements are crucial for fully harnessing the potential of organoids in understanding infectious diseases and advancing the development of targeted treatments and vaccines.
High-performance Cementitious Composites Containing Nanostructured Carbon Additives Made from Charred Coal Fines
Authors: Gao Yuan , Pham Viet Hung , Kim Ki-Joong , Weidman Jennifer , Wang Congjun , Matranga Christopher , Spaulding Richard 
Published: December 2023

Abstract

Graphene-based nanomaterials, such as graphene nanoplatelets, graphene oxide, and graphene quantum dots, have many possible end-use applications due to their ability to impart unique mechanical, electrical, thermal, and optical properties to composites. Despite this potential, these materials are rarely used in the construction industry due to high material costs and limited data on performance and durability. In this study, domestic coal is used to fabricate low-cost carbon nanomaterials that can be used economically in cement formulations. A range of chemical and physical processing approaches are employed to control the size, morphology, and chemical functionalization of the carbon nanomaterial, which improves its miscibility with cement formulations and its impact on mechanical properties and durability. At low loadings of coal-derived carbon nanomaterials, significant improvements are observed in the mechanical properties (compressive strength and flexural strength) of enhanced cement and concrete composites. In addition, a decrease in porosity and permeability was observed, as well as a decrease in chloride penetration depth, which should improve the durability and corrosion resistance of these graphene-based cement composites.
Adoptive cell therapy for treatment of rare diseases and orphan designation.
Authors: Kalland Maria Elisabeth , Pose Tomas , Palomo Gloria , Naumann-Winter Fraike , Costa Enrico , Matusevicius Darius , Duarte Dinah , Malikova Eva , Vitezic Dinko , Larsson Kristina , Magrelli Armando , Stoyanova-Beninska Violeta , Mariz Segundo 
Published: December 2023

Abstract
Adoptive cell therapies exploit the body’s immune system to target and treat oncological conditions. Many substances are developed to treat rare haematological malignancies which fulfil the criteria for being considered as orphan conditions according to the EU Orphan Regulation (1-2). Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell products belong to this group of therapy.
The Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products has reviewed 23 adoptive cell therapies which were associated with 36 different applications for orphan designation (OD) over a 10-year period, and nineteen of these were CAR-T cell products intended to treat various rare conditions. Most of these products were developed for the treatment of rare haematological malignancies. Preliminary clinical data was used in 80% (29/36) of the OD submissions to support medical plausibility (promise of efficacy) of the candidate products and an assumption of significant benefit, which is the added benefit of the new product over currently authorised medicines for the proposed orphan condition. Eighty-nine percent (32/36) cases of significant benefit were accepted based on a clinically relevant advantage. Twelve of fourteen submissions reviewed for maintenance of the OD at time of marketing authorisation or extension of indication demonstrated significant benefit of the products over existing therapies within the approved therapeutic indications, but one of these were withdrawn during the evaluation.
In conclusion, adoptive cell immunotherapy is a dynamic field in the treatment of haematological malignancies. In the case of applications and ODs granted by the European Commission, autologous CAR-T cell products using a lentiviral vector represent most of the submissions, while CD19 was the most frequently targeted antigen. Clinical data was the most common type of data taken into account at the time of initial OD to support medical plausibility. A high rate of successful initial ODs for these products also seem to translate into a high success rate at the time of marketing authorisation or extension of indication.
Healthcare monitoring at your fingertips: validation of a smartphone alternative to routine measures of skin sensibility
Authors: Lindsay Owen , Hammad Hanan , Baysic James , Young Abbey , Osman Nasir , Ferber Reed , Culos-Reed Nicole , Peters Ryan 
Published: December 2023

Abstract

The capacity to perceive tactile input at the fingertips, referred to as tactile sensibility, is known to diminish with age due to regressive changes to mechanoreceptor density and morphology. Sensibility is measured as perceptual responses to stimuli of varying intensity. Contrary to traditional sensibility monitoring instruments, smartphones are uniquely suited for remote assessment and have shown to deliver highly calibrated stimuli along a broad spectrum of intensity, which may improve test reliability. The aim of this study was to evaluate a vibration-emitting smartphone application, the Vibratus App, as a mode of estimating tactile sensory thresholds in the aging adult. The peripheral nerve function of 40 neurologically healthy volunteers (ages 18–71) was measured using monofilaments, a 128-Hz tuning fork, the Vibratus App, and nerve conduction studies (NCS). Between group differences were analyzed to determine each measurement’s sensitivity to age. Spearman correlation coefficients depicted the associative strength between hand-held measurements and sensory nerve action potential (SNAP) amplitude. Inter-rater reliability of traditional instruments and the software-operated smartphone were assessed by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC2,k). Measurements taken with Vibratus App were sensitive to the age-related decline in tactile sensitivity (t(30.643) = -3.480, p = .002). The inter-rater reliability of smartphone and tuning fork testing was moderate (ICC2,k = 0.57 and 0.51, respectively), whereas monofilament testing was good (ICC2,k = 0.83). The findings of this study support further investigation of smartphones as remote tactile sensitivity monitoring devices.
Filtration Analysis of Microparticles Using Paper-Based Microfluidics
Authors: Bhuvaneshwari K. S. , Jeroish Z. E. , Futane Abhishek , Samsuri Fahmi , Narayanamurthy Vigneswaran 
Published: December 2023

Abstract

A virus is a sub-microscopic infectious organism that causes diseases in humans, animals, and plants resulting in morbidity and may cause mortality. Proper diagnosis is necessary to initiate the treatment and pave the way to eradicate the viral infection. The current diagnostic kits for nucleic acid amplification assay, blood filtration, single-cell analysis are highly accurate, even though the procedure necessitates large sample volumes, complicated fabrication steps, time-consuming processes, and high costs. The filtration of viral samples from the blood is a tedious process. In this research, we have presented a home-based fabricated paper microfluidic chip to effectively filtrate viral particles from the sample to facilitate the nucleic acid amplification assay. The filtration analysis was exhibited for lateral and vertical flow paper chips fabricated via laser printing and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) encapsulation that circumvents the necessity of a traditional wax printer and hot plate. The results convey that the vertical flow paper chip with grade 4 inlet and outlet filters 98.57% of unnecessary particles from the sample. The paper-based microfluidic chip developed in this research is simple, easy to fabricate, and inexpensive to access in underdeveloped countries. The paper chip can pave the way for applications like lab-on-chip devices, POC assays, rapid nucleic acid amplification tests, cell cultures, and biomolecular research.
Glycemic control in women with GDM: Insights from a randomized controlled pilot trial on plant-based Nordic Healthy diet versus moderately carbohydrate restricted diet
Authors: Markussen Lisa Torsdatter , Kivelä Jemina , Lindström Jaana , Ollikainen Miina , Kytö Mikko , Heinonen Seppo , Koivusalo Saila , Meinilä Jelena 
Published: December 2023

Abstract

Background:
Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) prevalence is rising worldwide. GDM poses health risks for both mothers and offspring. Optimal dietary strategies for GDM remain unclear. The eMOM pilot compared a plant-protein rich Healthy Nordic Diet (HND) and a moderately carbohydrate restricted diet (MCRD) and their potential effects on glucose control and newborn body composition.
Methods:
Forty-two (HND, n = 20, MCRD, n = 22) participants were assigned to have dietary intervention and nutritional counseling from gestational weeks (GW) 24 + 0–28 + 6 (baseline) until delivery. Continuous glucose monitoring (Freestyle Libre, Abbott, USA) assessed glucose levels. Blood samples for glucose and lipid metabolism and 3-day food diaries were collected at baseline and at GW 34 + 0–35 + 6. Neonatal body composition was measured (Peapod, COSMED, USA). Difference between groups and newborn body composition was analysed with t-test and Wilcoxon test.
Results:
Thirty-two women completed the study. Both groups maintained the glucose time in range (≤ 7.8 mmol/L) during majority of the time (98.9 and 99.3% for MCRD and HND respectively, p = 0.921) in GW 34 + 0–35 + 6. The mean glucose was lower in the MCRD group compared to the HND group (5.0 SD 1.03 vs. 5.2 SD 0.96 mmol/l, p < 0.001). No differences were observed between the groups in glucose variability, lipid metabolism, gestational weight gain, or in the body composition of the newborns. There was no difference in the macronutrient composition between the groups as the HND had lower macronutrient adherence than the MCRD. The HND decreased intake of meat and increased fish consumption significantly compared to the MCRD.
Conclusions:
This pilot study indicates that both a moderately restricted carbohydrate diet and a diet focused on plant-based protein effectively maintained a large time within the treatment target range in women with GDM. Further research could explore the impact of protein quantity and sources in maternal diets on glycemic control and newborn outcomes.
Trial registration
The eMOM pilot trial is registered in Clinicaltrials.gov (21/09/2018, NCT03681054)
Cell-specific models of hiPSC-CMs developed by the gradient-based parameter optimization method fitting two different action potential waveforms
Authors: Zhang Yixin , Toyoda Futoshi , Himeno Yukiko , Noma Akinori , Amano Akira 
Published: December 2023

Abstract
Parameter optimization (PO) methods to determine the ionic current composition of experimental cardiac action potential (AP) waveform have been developed using a computer model of cardiac membrane excitation. However, it was suggested that fitting a single AP record in the PO method was not always successful in providing a unique answer because of a shortage of information. We found that the PO method worked perfectly if the PO method was applied to a pair of a control AP and a model output AP in which a single ionic current out of 11 current species, such as IKr, ICaL, INa, IKs or IKur, was partially blocked in silico. When the target was replaced by a pair of experimental control and IKr-blocked records of APs generated spontaneously in human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs), the simultaneous fitting of the two waveforms by the PO method was hampered to some extent by the irregular slow fluctuations in the Vm recording and/or sporadic alteration in AP configurations in the hiPSC-CMs. This technical problem was largely removed by selecting stable segments of the records for the PO method. Moreover, the PO method was made fail-proof by running iteratively in identifying the optimized parameter set to reconstruct both the control and the IKr-blocked AP waveforms. In the lead potential analysis, the quantitative ionic mechanisms deduced from the optimized parameter set were totally consistent with the qualitative view of ionic mechanisms of AP so far described in physiological literature.
Hierarchical craquelure patterns in paintings on panels
Authors: Antropov Sergii , Bratasz Łukasz 
Published: December 2023

Abstract
Panel paintings are multi-layer structures composed of humidity-sensitive materials. Preventing or limiting stresses in these structures, generated by the loss or gain of moisture, requires an understanding of the relevant processes and risks. A three-dimensional elastic model of a panel painting was used to analyse surface stresses and understand how hierarchical crack patterns are formed in the two-layer structure of the pictorial layer – the gesso and the paints. Two historically important paint types were considered ‒ egg tempera and oil paints, laid on a gesso produced following historical procedures. Two scenarios of stress development were analysed: cumulative drying shrinkage of paints or gesso, owing to gradual loss of water or evolution of the molecular composition of the binders, and moisture-induced swelling of the wood substrate. Ratios of distances between cracks in the tangential and longitudinal directions of a wood panel to the layer thickness were estimated for increasing magnitudes of materials’ dimensional response in the two scenarios. The critical values of the ratios for which stress in the midpoint between the cracks dropped below the value inducing strain at break in the materials and saturation of the crack patterns occurred, was approximately 3–4 or 5–6 for the paints and the gesso, respectively. The critical distance normalized to the gesso thickness between cracks parallel to the wood grain induced by swelling of the wood substrate due to relative humidity variation in the range of 50–70% was 6. The study demonstrated that crack spacings in the fully developed crack systems remain sensitive only to the thicknesses of paint or gesso layers which, therefore, can be derived from the crack pattern geometry. Existing flaws in gesso were found not to increase the risk of new crack development.
Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of Iron biomarkers and cardiovascular risk factors in pre- and postmenopausal women: leveraging repeated measurements to address natural variability
Authors: Ahanchi Noushin Sadat , Fischer Amira Salomé , Quezada-Pinedo Hugo G. , khatami Farnaz , Eisenga Michele F , Muka Taulant , Vidal Pedro-Marques 
Published: December 2023

Abstract

Background
The association between iron biomarkers and cardiovascular disease risk factors (CVD-RFs) remains unclear. We aimed to 1) evaluate the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between iron biomarkers (serum ferritin, transferrin saturation (TSAT), transferrin) and CVD-RFs among women, and 2) explore if these associations were modified by menopausal status.
Method
Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses including 2542 and 1482 women from CoLaus cohort, respectively. Multiple linear regression and multilevel mixed models were used to analyse the associations between Iron biomarkers and CVD-RFs. Variability of outcomes and iron markers between surveys was accessed using intraclass correlation (ICC).
Results
In the cross-sectional analysis, after multivariable adjustment, high ferritin levels were associated with higher insulin and transferrin levels were associated with higher levels of glucose, insulin, total and HDL-cholesterol, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure. No association between CVD-RFs and TSAT was found. All iron biomarkers indicated low reliability across reproductive stages but were stronger in the perimenopausal group. In the longitudinal analysis, we found significant association only between transferrin and lower levels of glucose and diastolic blood pressure. The associations between iron biomarkers and CVD-RFs did not change according to menopausal status.
Conclusion
In cross-sectional analysis, transferrin was associated with several CVD-RFs, and the associations did not change according to menopausal status. Conversely, in the longitudinal analyses, changes in transferrin were associated only with lower glucose and diastolic blood pressure levels. These differences might stem from the substantial longitudinal variation of iron biomarkers, underscoring the need for multiple iron measurements in longitudinal analyses.
Plasmonic interaction of gold nanoparticles with the anti-hypoglycemic medicament metformin
Authors: Hennemann Artur Luis , Ramos Miguel Domingos , Sihn Luca Michael , Nakamura Marcelo , Araki Koiti , Toma Henrique Eisi 
Published: December 2023

Abstract

Metformin (MF) is one of the most important medicaments in the market and has been extensively employed in the treatment of type-2 diabetes. Because of its positive charge, it interacts with negatively charged gold nanoparticles, leading to agglomeration even at low concentrations (< 0.01 mmol L− 1). This is accompanied by the rise of a plasmon coupling band at 645 nm, allowing its colorimetric monitoring with a limit of detection, LOD, of 1.9 µmol L− 1. However, above 0.01 mmol L− 1, aggregation takes place, shifting the plasmonic band to 700 nm. Consequently, in this range of concentration, the optical correlation departs from that observed in the agglomeration regime. Therefore, for a critical evaluation, systematic monitoring of the spectral changes is required. In this work, the interaction of metformin with gold nanoparticles has also been monitored by Raman spectroscopy, through the SERS effect. The large enhancement of the Raman signals promoted by the plasmonic nanoparticles improved the detection limit to 0.093 µmol L− 1. While the monitoring of the plasmonic band has inherently a low specificity, the Raman technique has the advantage of providing an unequivocal detection of metformin, based on its characteristic vibrational profiles.