bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Green synthesis of silver and iron oxide nanoparticles mediated photothermal effects on Blastocystis hominis
Authors: Alexeree Shaimaa M. I. , Abou-Seri Hanan M. , EL-Din Hala E. Shams , Youssef Doaa , Ramadan Marwa A. 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
The evolution of parasite resistance to antiparasitic agents has become a serious health issue indicating a critical and pressing need to develop new therapeutics that can conquer drug resistance. Nanoparticles are novel, promising emerging drug carriers that have demonstrated efficiency in treating many parasitic diseases. Lately, attention has been drawn to a broad-spectrum nanoparticle capable of converting absorbed light into heat via the photothermal effect phenomenon. The present study is the first to assess the effect of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) and iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe3O4 NPs) as sole agents and with the combined action of the light-emitting diode (LED) on Blastocystis hominins (B. hominis) in vitro. Initially, the aqueous synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy, zeta potential, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The anti-blastocyst efficiency of these NPs was tested separately in dark conditions. As these NPs have a wide absorption spectrum in the visible regions, they were also excited by a continuous wave LED of wavelength band (400–700 nm) to test the photothermal effect. The sensitivity of B. hominis cysts was evaluated using scanning laser confocal microscopy whereas the live and dead cells were accurately segmented based on superpixels and the k-mean clustering algorithm. Our findings showed that this excitation led to hyperthermia that induced a significant reduction in the number of cysts treated with photothermally active NPs. The results of this study elucidate the potential role of photothermally active NPs as an effective anti-blastocystis agent. By using this approach, new therapeutic antiparasitic agents can be developed.
The influence of APOE status on rate of cognitive decline
Authors: Morrison Cassandra , Oliver Michael D. , Berry Virginia , Kamal Farooq , Dadar Mahsa 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
Background
Apolipoprotein (APOE) ɛ4 positivity and subjective cognitive decline (SCD) both increase risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) development. However, few studies have examined the relationship between SCD and APOE status, especially using longitudinal data. The current study examined whether APOE is associated with the rate of cognitive change in SCD and mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

Methods
A sample of 3494 older adults (1990 normal controls, NC, 775 SCD, and 729 MCI) with a mean follow-up of 9.09 years were included from the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center Research Sharing Hub. Linear mixed effects models examined the relationship between APOE status and cognitive change in older adults with SCD normal controls, and people with MCI.

Results
The presence of at least one ɛ2 allele in SCD and MCI results in cognitive change rates similar to a NC with the ɛ3ɛ3 genotype. Older adult SCD-ɛ4 individuals exhibited increased rate of cognitive decline compared to all groups, including NC-ɛ4 and MCI-ɛ4.

Conclusion
People with SCD with at least one ɛ4 allele experience increased rates of cognitive decline compared to cognitively healthy older adults and people with MCI. These findings have important implications for treatments and interventions and can improve future research and clinical trials by targeting people in the preclinical AD phase (i.e., SCD) who also possess at least one APOE ɛ4 allele.
Turing Instabilities are Not Enough to Ensure Pattern Formation
Authors: Krause Andrew L. , Gaffney Eamonn A. , Jewell Thomas Jun , Klika Václav , Walker Benjamin J. 
Published: January 2024

AbstractSymmetry-breaking instabilities play an important role in understanding the mechanisms underlying the diversity of patterns observed in nature, such as in Turing’s reaction–diffusion theory, which connects cellular signalling and transport with the development of growth and form. Extensive literature focuses on the linear stability analysis of homogeneous equilibria in these systems, culminating in a set of conditions for transport-driven instabilities that are commonly presumed to initiate self-organisation. We demonstrate that a selection of simple, canonical transport models with only mild multistable non-linearities can satisfy the Turing instability conditions while also robustly exhibiting only transient patterns. Hence, a Turing-like instability is insufficient for the existence of a patterned state. While it is known that linear theory can fail to predict the formation of patterns, we demonstrate that such failures can appear robustly in systems with multiple stable homogeneous equilibria. Given that biological systems such as gene regulatory networks and spatially distributed ecosystems often exhibit a high degree of multistability and nonlinearity, this raises important questions of how to analyse prospective mechanisms for self-organisation.
Optimal Design of a Cold Spray Nozzle for Inner Wall Coating Fabrication by Combining CFD Simulation and Neural Networks
Authors: Meng Yuxian , Saito Hiroki , Bernard Chrystelle , Ichikawa Yuji , Ogawa Kazuhiro 
Published: January 2024

AbstractRecently, the low-pressure cold spray (LPCS) technique has been used to fabricate superhydrophobic polymer coatings on metallic substrates, suggesting a significant potential in engineering applications. This study aims to design a spiral LPCS nozzle to coat the pipe’s inner wall with superhydrophobic polymer. The design goal is to achieve the maximum particle velocity in a confined (limited) space, assuming that the powder can enter the feeding tube through the Venturi effect. Achieving these two goals simultaneously using only computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation is challenging. Therefore, the CFD simulation was combined with the neural network (NN) method to design the new spiral nozzle. During training, the effects of the NN models and algorithms were investigated. The results showed that the feedforwardnet model combined with the trainbr or trainlm algorithm (from MATLAB 2016b software), presented a minimal error for particle velocity or gas flux prediction, respectively. The trained NN correlates the nozzle parameters (i.e., mean coil diameter, spring lift angle, and expansion ratio) and its performances (i.e., particle velocity and gas flux in the powder feeding tube). As a result, the optimal spiral nozzle was determined based on the design goal of maximum particle velocity and suitable gas flux in the powder feeding tube. Furthermore, the effect of each nozzle parameter on the particle velocity and gas flux in the powder feeding tube was analyzed. The cold spray experiment confirmed that the designed spiral nozzle could fabricate Perfluoroalkoxy alkane (PFA) coatings.
Group control for procedural rules: parameterized complexity and consecutive domains
Authors: Yang Yongjie , Dimitrov Dinko 
Published: January 2024

AbstractWe consider GROUP CONTROL BY ADDING INDIVIDUALS (GCAI) in the setting of group identification for two procedural rules—the consensus-start-respecting rule and the liberal-start-respecting rule. It is known that GCAI for both rules are NP-hard, but whether they are fixed-parameter tractable with respect to the number of distinguished individuals remained open. We resolve both open problems in the affirmative. In addition, we strengthen the NP-hardness of GCAI by showing that, with respect to the natural parameter the number of added individuals, GCAI for both rules are W[2]-hard. Notably, the W[2]-hardness for the liberal-start-respecting rule holds even when restricted to a very special case where the qualifications of individuals satisfy the so-called consecutive ones property. However, for the consensus-start-respecting rule, the problem becomes polynomial-time solvable in this special case. We also study a dual restriction where the disqualifications of individuals fulfill the consecutive ones property, and show that under this restriction GCAI for both rules turn out to be polynomial-time solvable. Our reductions for showing W[2]-hardness also imply several algorithmic lower bounds.
A Panel of miRNA Biomarkers Common to Serum and Brain-Derived Extracellular Vesicles Identified in Mouse Model of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Authors: Vassileff Natasha , Spiers Jereme G. , Lee John D. , Woodruff Trent M. , Ebrahimie Esmaeil , Mohammadi Dehcheshmeh Manijeh , Hill Andrew F. , Cheng Lesley 
Published: January 2024

AbstractAmyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive motor neuron disease characterised by the deposition of aggregated proteins including TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) in vulnerable motor neurons and the brain. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) facilitate the spread of neurodegenerative diseases and can be easily accessed in the bloodstream. This study aimed to identify a panel of EV miRNAs that can capture the pathology occurring in the brain and peripheral circulation. EVs were isolated from the cortex (BDEVs) and serum (serum EVs) of 3 month-old and 6-month-old TDP-43*Q331K and TDP-43*WT mice. Following characterisation and miRNA isolation, the EVs underwent next-generation sequencing where 24 differentially packaged miRNAs were identified in the TDP-43*Q331K BDEVs and 7 in the TDP-43*Q331K serum EVs. Several miRNAs, including miR-183-5p, were linked to ALS. Additionally, miR-122-5p and miR-486b-5p were identified in both panels, demonstrating the ability of the serum EVs to capture the dysregulation occurring in the brain. This is the first study to identify miRNAs common to both the serum EVs and BDEVs in a mouse model of ALS.
A hospitalization mechanism based immune plasma algorithm for path planning of unmanned aerial vehicles
Authors: Aslan Selcuk 
Published: January 2024

AbstractUnmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and their specialized variants known as unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) have triggered a profound change in the well-known military concepts and researchers from different disciplines tried to solve challenging problems of the mentioned vehicles. Path planning is one of these challenging problems about the UAV or UCAV systems and should be solved carefully by considering some optimization requirements defined for the enemy threats, fuel or battery usage, kinematic limitations on the turning and climbing angles in order to further improving the task success and safety of autonomous flight. Immune plasma algorithm (IP algorithm or IPA) modeling the details of a medical method gained popularity with the COVID-19 pandemic has been introduced recently and showed promising performance on solving a set of engineering problems. However, IPA requires setting the control parameters appropriately for maintaining a balance between the exploration and exploitation characteristics and does not design the particular treatment and hospitalization procedures by taking into account the implementation simplicity. In this study, IP algorithm was supported with a newly designed and realistic hospitalization mechanism that manages when an infected population member enters and discharges from the hospital. Moreover, the existing treatment schema of the algorithm was changed completely for improving the efficiency of the plasma transfer operations and removing the necessity of IPA specific control parameters and then a novel path planner called hospital IPA (hospIPA) was presented. For investigating the performance of hospIPA on solving path planning problem, a set of detailed experiments was carried out over twenty test cases belonging to both two and three-dimensional battlefield environments. The paths calculated by hospIPA were also compared with the calculated paths of other fourteen meta-heuristic based path planners. Comparative studies proved that the hospitalization mechanism making an exact discrimination between the poor and qualified solutions and modified treatment schema collecting the plasma being transferred by guiding the best solution give a tremendous contribution and allow hospIPA to obtain more safe and robust paths than other meta-heuristics for almost all test cases.
Operational analysis of the biological treatment unit's ultraviolet-wave disinfection method for wastewater outflow
Authors: Fotoohi Edris , Mokhtarian Nader , Farahbod Farshad 
Published: January 2024

AbstractWastewater can be contaminated with all kinds of microorganisms and small organisms, including bacteria, parasites, fungi and viruses. Therefore, it can be said that biological pollution is one of the most dangerous pollutions. These types of pollution can endanger human health and the environment. In this study, industrial wastewater disinfection has been investigated in a laboratory pilot. In this study, ultraviolet waves have been used for wastewater disinfection. In this research, treatment indicators such as wastewater pH, phosphate, nitrate, biological oxygen and chemical oxygen, organic carbon, and wastewater turbidity have been investigated. The results of this research show that if 4.5 g of dry ice is added to the wastewater entering the disinfection unit, the pH of the wastewater will decrease to about 7.9. The results presented from the disinfection unit show that the amount of chemical oxygen demand and biological oxygen demand have decreased by about 35% and 20.3%, respectively. The results of this unit show that the amount of phosphate and nitrate has decreased by 61.3 and 71.9%, respectively. Laboratory results show that the TDS of wastewater has decreased from 600 to 451 mg/l.
Numerical simulation of hydraulic fracture propagation after thermal shock in shale reservoir
Authors: Wu Jianfa , Zeng Bo , Chen Liqing , Huang Haoyong , Guo Yintong , Guo Wuhao , Song Wenjing , Li Junfeng 
Published: January 2024

AbstractThe scale of propagation of hydraulic fractures in deep shale is closely related to the effect of stimulation. In general, the most common means of revealing hydraulic fracture propagation rules are laboratory hydraulic fracture physical simulation experiments and numerical simulation. However, the former is difficult to meet the real shale reservoir environment, and the latter research focuses mostly on fracturing technology and the interaction mechanism between hydraulic fractures and natural fractures, both of which do not consider the influence of temperature effect on hydraulic fracture propagation. In this paper, the hydraulic fracturing process is divided into two stages (thermal shock and hydraulic fracture propagation). Based on the cohesive zone method, a coupled simulation method for sequential fracturing of deep shale is proposed. The effects of different temperatures, thermal shock rates, and times on the scale of thermal fractures are analyzed. As well as the effects of horizontal stress difference and pumping displacement on the propagation rule of hydraulic fractures. The results show that the temperature difference and the thermal shock times determine the size and density of thermal fractures in the surrounding rock of the borehole, and the number of thermal fractures increases by 96.5% with the increase of temperature difference. Thermal fractures dominate the initiation direction and propagation path of hydraulic fractures. The main hydraulic fracture width can be increased by 150% and the length can be increased by 46.3% by increasing the displacement; the secondary fracture length can be increased by 148.7% by increasing the thermal shock times. This study can provide some inspiration for the development of deep shale by improving the complexity of hydraulic fractures.
Childhood traumatic experiences in people with obesity with and without eating disorders who are seeking bariatric surgery: the role of attachment relationships and family functioning
Authors: Paone Emanuela , Di Trani Michela , Visani Enrico , Di Monte Cinzia , Campedelli Virginia , Silecchia Gianfranco , Lai Carlo 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
Purpose
The present study examines the impact of traumatic childhood experiences in people with obesity seeking bariatric surgery. It considers the presence of eating disorders (ED) in the population with obesity and tests the role of attachment and family relationships as mediators of the relationship between traumatic events and ED.

Method
110 participants with severe obesity and 98 participants of a healthy weight (control group) filled out The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ-SF), the Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ) and the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale (FACES IV).

Results
Comparing the two groups on psychological variables, higher scores in the CTQ Emotional neglect and ASQ insecure attachment scales emerged in the control group than the group with obesity. Considering the presence/absence of an ED only in the group with obesity, and comparing these subgroups, higher scores in traumatic experiences emerged in the individuals with obesity and with ED than the individuals with obesity without ED. Moreover, participants with ED scored higher in ASQ insecure attachment and had lower levels of flexibility in family functioning than the group without ED. Finally, Logistic Regression models showed that insecure anxious attachment and dysfunctional familial relationships affected the relationship between traumatic childhood experiences and the presence of ED in the group with obesity.

Conclusion
These findings suggest the importance focusing on psychosocial factors linked to obesity, specifically on attachment styles and familial relationships as emotion regulation strategies, since the impact of traumatic childhood events on psychopathology could be ameliorated by an individual’s ability to rely on a significant attachment figure.

Level of evidence
Level II, evidence obtained from well-designed controlled trials without randomization.
TECH preserves global cognition of older adults with MCI compared with a control group: a randomized controlled trial
Authors: Givon Schaham Noa , Buckman Zvi , Rand Debbie 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
Background
Cognitive training using touchscreen tablet casual game applications (apps) has potential to be an effective treatment method for people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

Aims
This study aimed to establish the effectiveness of ‘Tablet Enhancement of Cognition and Health’ (TECH), a novel cognitive intervention for improving/preserving cognition in older adults with MCI.

Methods
A single-blind randomized controlled trial with assessments pre-, post-, and at 6-month follow-up was conducted. TECH entailed 5 weeks of daily self-training utilizing tablet apps, facilitated by weekly group sessions. Global cognition was assessed by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and specific cognitive components were assessed using WebNeuro computerized battery. Short Form Health Survey (SF-12) assessed health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Intention-to-treat analysis was conducted and the %change was calculated between pre–post and between pre–follow-up. Cohen’s d effect size was also calculated.

Results
Sixty-one participants aged 65–89 years were randomly allocated to TECH (N = 31, 14 women) or to standard care (N = 30, 14 women). Pre–post and pre–follow-up MoCA %change scores were significantly higher in TECH than control (U = 329.5, p < .05; U = 294.5, p < .05) with intermediate effect size values (Cohen’s d = .52, Cohen’s d = .66). Forty percent of TECH participants versus 6.5% of control participants achieved a minimal clinical important difference in MoCA. Pre–post between-group differences for specific cognitive components were not found and HRQoL did not change.

Discussion and conclusions
TECH encouraged daily self-training and showed to preserve global cognition of older adults with MCI. The implementation of TECH is recommended for older adults with MCI, who are at risk for further cognitive decline.
Efficacy and safety of the combination nasal spray olopatadine hydrochloride-mometasone furoate in the treatment of allergic rhinitis
Authors: Klimek Ludger , Klimek Felix , Bergmann Christoph , Hagemann Jan , Cuevas Mandy , Becker Sven 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
Introduction
Pharmacotherapy is the main pillar in the treatment of allergic rhinitis. While antihistamines (AH) and intranasal glucocorticosteroids (INCS) have long been part of the therapeutic standard, a pharmacological combination of both active substances in a nasal spray has so far only been implemented and made available in two preparations in Germany. Recently, an intranasal olopatadine hydrochloride-mometasone furoate (Olo-Mom) combination was introduced as a nasal spray for the treatment of seasonal and perennial allergic rhinitis.

Methods
In a literature search, treatment options for allergic rhinitis were analyzed and the available evidence was determined by searching Medline, PubMed, and the national and international study (ClinicalTrials.gov) and guideline registers and the Cochrane Library. Human studies published on the topic in the period up to and including August 2023 were taken into account.

Results
Based on the international literature and previous experience, the results are summarized and recommendations are given. The drugs used in the pharmacotherapy of AR primarily include INCS, intranasal and oral AH, leukotriene antagonists, intranasal cromoglicic acid preparations, intranasal and oral vasoconstrictors, and nasal rinses. For patients with intermittent and persistent allergic rhinitis, INCS are the first-line therapy, but in many patients they do not work sufficiently or quickly enough. The fixed combination Olo-Mom nasal spray showed significant improvements in the Reflective Total Nasal Symptom Score (rTNSS) in two phase II clinical trials with twice-daily and once-daily administration. In phase III studies, Olo-Mom nasal spray administered twice daily showed significant improvements in rTNSS compared to placebo, olopatadine monotherapy, and mometasone monotherapy.

Conclusion
In summary, AH and INCS will remain the main groups of active ingredients in the treatment of allergic rhinitis in the future. In combination preparations such as the new combination nasal spray olopatadine hydrochloride-mometasone furoate, they are highly effective and safe, thus opening up new perspectives, especially for patients with moderate and severe allergic rhinitis from the age of 12 years.
Construct and Query A Fine-Grained Geospatial Knowledge Graph
Authors: Wei Bo , Guo Xi , Li Xiaodi , Wu Ziyan , Zhao Jing , Zou Qiping 
Published: January 2024

AbstractIn this paper, we propose the fine-grained geospatial knowledge graph (FineGeoKG), which can capture the neighboring relations between geospatial objects. We call such neighboring relations strong geospatial relations (SGRs) and define six types of SGRs. In FineGeoKG, the vertices (or entities) are geospatial objects. The edges (or relations) can have “sgr” labels together with properties, which are used to quantify SGRs in both topological and directional aspects. FineGeoKG is different from WorldKG, Yago2Geo, and other existing geospatial knowledge graphs, since its edges can capture the spatial coherence among geospatial objects. To construct FineGeoKG efficiently, the crucial problem is to find out SGRs. We improve the existing geospatial interlinking algorithm in order to find out SGRs faster. To answer SGR queries efficiently, we design an index to organize the SGR edges and improve the binary join method for subgraph matching. We conduct experiments on the real datasets and the experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is more efficient than the baseline algorithms. We also demonstrate the usefulness of FineGeoKG by presenting the results of complicated spatial queries which focus on structural and semantic information. Such queries can help researchers (for example, ecologists) find groups of objects following specific spatial patterns.