bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
IL-1β-mediated adaptive reprogramming of endogenous human cardiac fibroblasts to cells with immune features during fibrotic remodeling
Authors: Siamwala Jamila H. , Pagano Francesco S. , Dubielecka Patrycja M. , Ivey Malina J. , Guirao-Abad Jose Pedro , Zhao Alexander , Chen Sonja , Granston Haley , Jeong Jae Yun , Rounds Sharon , Kanisicak Onur , Sadayappan Sakthivel , Gilbert Richard J. 
Published: November 2023

AbstractThe source and roles of fibroblasts and T-cells during maladaptive remodeling and myocardial fibrosis in the setting of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) have been long debated. We demonstrate, using single-cell mass cytometry, a subpopulation of endogenous human cardiac fibroblasts expressing increased levels of CD4, a helper T-cell marker, in addition to myofibroblast markers distributed in human fibrotic RV tissue, interstitial and perivascular lesions in SUGEN/Hypoxia (SuHx) rats, and fibroblasts labeled with pdgfrα CreERt2/+ in R26R-tdTomato mice. Recombinant IL-1β increases IL-1R, CCR2 receptor expression, modifies the secretome, and differentiates cardiac fibroblasts to form CD68-positive cell clusters. IL-1β also activates stemness markers, such as NANOG and SOX2, and genes involved in dedifferentiation, lymphoid cell function and metabolic reprogramming. IL-1β induction of lineage traced primary mouse cardiac fibroblasts causes these cells to lose their fibroblast identity and acquire an immune phenotype. Our results identify IL-1β induced immune-competency in human cardiac fibroblasts and suggest that fibroblast secretome modulation may constitute a therapeutic approach to PAH and other diseases typified by inflammation and fibrotic remodeling.
Biologically derived epicardial patch induces macrophage mediated pathophysiologic repair in chronically infarcted swine hearts
Authors: Lancaster J. J. , Grijalva A. , Fink J. , Ref J. , Daugherty S. , Whitman S. , Fox K. , Gorman G. , Lancaster L. D. , Avery R. , Acharya T. , McArthur A. , Strom J. , Pierce M. K. , Moukabary T. , Borgstrom M. , Benson D. , Mangiola M. , Pandey A. C. , Zile M. R. , Bradshaw A. , Koevary J. W. , Goldman S. 
Published: November 2023

AbstractThere are nearly 65 million people with chronic heart failure (CHF) globally, with no treatment directed at the pathologic cause of the disease, the loss of functioning cardiomyocytes. We have an allogeneic cardiac patch comprised of cardiomyocytes and human fibroblasts on a bioresorbable matrix. This patch increases blood flow to the damaged heart and improves left ventricular (LV) function in an immune competent rat model of ischemic CHF. After 6 months of treatment in an immune competent Yucatan mini swine ischemic CHF model, this patch restores LV contractility without constrictive physiology, partially reversing maladaptive LV and right ventricular remodeling, increases exercise tolerance, without inducing any cardiac arrhythmias or a change in myocardial oxygen consumption. Digital spatial profiling in mice with patch placement 3 weeks after a myocardial infarction shows that the patch induces a CD45pos immune cell response that results in an infiltration of dendritic cells and macrophages with high expression of macrophages polarization to the anti-inflammatory reparative M2 phenotype. Leveraging the host native immune system allows for the potential use of immunomodulatory therapies for treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases not limited to ischemic CHF.
ACO2 deficiency increases vulnerability to Parkinson’s disease via dysregulating mitochondrial function and histone acetylation-mediated transcription of autophagy genes
Authors: Zhu Junge , Xu Fanxi , Lai Hong , Yuan Huiyao , Li Xu-Ying , Hu Junya , Li Wei , Liu Lei , Wang Chaodong 
Published: November 2023

AbstractParkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized by α-synuclein aggregation in dopaminergic (DA) neurons, which are sensitive to oxidative stress. Mitochondria aconitase 2 (ACO2) is an essential enzyme in the tricarboxylic acid cycle that orchestrates mitochondrial and autophagic functions to energy metabolism. Though widely linked to diseases, its relation to PD has not been fully clarified. Here we revealed that the peripheral ACO2 activity was significantly decreased in PD patients and associated with their onset age and disease durations. The knock-in mouse and Drosophila models with the A252T variant displayed aggravated motor deficits and DA neuron degeneration after 6-OHDA and rotenone-induction, and the ACO2 knockdown or blockade cells showed features of mitochondrial and autophagic dysfunction. Moreover, the transcription of autophagy-related genes LC3 and Atg5 was significantly downregulated via inhibited histone acetylation at the H3K9 and H4K5 sites. These data provided multi-dimensional evidences supporting the essential roles of ACO2, and as a potential early biomarker to be used in clinical trials for assessing the effects of antioxidants in PD. Moreover, ameliorating energy metabolism by targeting ACO2 could be considered as a potential therapeutic strategy for PD and other neurodegenerative disorders.
An immortal porcine preadipocyte cell strain for efficient production of cell-cultured fat
Authors: Cheng Yun-Mou , Hong Peng-Cheng , Song Ming-Mei , Zhu Hai-Ning , Qin Jing , Zhang Zeng-Di , Chen Hao , Ma Xing-Zhou , Tian Meng-Yuan , Zhu Wei-Yun , Huang Zan 
Published: November 2023

AbstractAdding adipose cells to cell-cultured meat can provide a distinctive aroma and juicy texture similar to real meat. However, a significant challenge still exists in obtaining seed cells that can be propagated for long periods, maintain their adipogenic potential, and reduce production costs. In this study, we present a cell strain derived from immortalized porcine preadipocytes that can be subculture for over 40 passages without losing differentiation capacity. This cell strain can be differentiated within 3D bioscaffolds to generate cell-cultured fat using fewer chemicals and less serum. Additionally, it can be expanded and differentiated on microcarriers with upscaled culture to reduce costs and labor. Moreover, it can co-differentiate with muscle precursor cells, producing a pattern similar to real meat. Therefore, our cell strain provides an exceptional model for studying and producing cell-cultured fat.
VirB, a transcriptional activator of virulence in Shigella flexneri, uses CTP as a cofactor
Authors: Antar Hammam , Gruber Stephan 
Published: November 2023

AbstractVirB is a transcriptional activator of virulence in the gram-negative bacterium Shigella flexneri encoded by the large invasion plasmid, pINV. It counteracts the transcriptional silencing by the nucleoid structuring protein, H-NS. Mutations in virB lead to loss of virulence. Studies suggested that VirB binds to specific DNA sequences, remodels the H-NS nucleoprotein complexes, and changes DNA supercoiling. VirB belongs to the superfamily of ParB proteins which are involved in plasmid and chromosome partitioning often as part of a ParABS system. Like ParB, VirB forms discrete foci in Shigella flexneri cells harbouring pINV. Our results reveal that purified preparations of VirB specifically bind the ribonucleotide CTP and slowly but detectably hydrolyse it with mild stimulation by the virS targeting sequences found on pINV. We show that formation of VirB foci in cells requires a virS site and CTP binding residues in VirB. Curiously, DNA stimulation of clamp closure appears efficient even without a virS sequence in vitro. Specificity for entrapment of virS DNA is however evident at elevated salt concentrations. These findings suggest that VirB acts as a CTP-dependent DNA clamp and indicate that the cellular microenvironment contributes to the accumulation of VirB specifically at virS sites.
Bone collagen from subtropical Australia is preserved for more than 50,000 years
Authors: Peters Carli , Wang Yiming , Vakil Vikram , Cramb Jonathan , Dortch Joe , Hocknull Scott , Lawrence Rochelle , Manne Tiina , Monks Carly , Rössner Gertrud E. , Ryan Helen , Siversson Mikael , Ziegler Tim , Louys Julien , Price Gilbert J. , Boivin Nicole , Collins Matthew J. 
Published: November 2023

AbstractAncient protein studies have demonstrated their utility for looking at a wide range of evolutionary and historical questions. The majority of palaeoproteomics studies to date have been restricted to high latitudes with relatively temperate environments. A better understanding of protein preservation at lower latitudes is critical for disentangling the mechanisms involved in the deep-time survival of ancient proteins, and for broadening the geographical applicability of palaeoproteomics. In this study, we aim to assess the level of collagen preservation in the Australian fossil record. Collagen preservation was systematically examined using a combination of thermal age estimates, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry, and protein deamidation calculations. We reveal unexpected subtropical survival of collagen in bones more than 50 thousand years old, showing that protein preservation can exceed chemical predictions of collagen survival in bone. These findings challenge preconceptions concerning the suitability of palaeoproteomics in subtropical Pleistocene environments. We explore potential causes of this unexpected result to identify the underlying mechanisms leading to this exceptional preservation. This study serves as a starting point for the analysis of ancient proteins in other (sub)tropical contexts, and at deeper timescales.
Partial IDS decoding based on the base graph of protograph LDPC codes
Authors: Liang Shuo , Liu Xingcheng , Xie Suipeng 
Published: November 2023

AbstractThe residual belief propagation (RBP) algorithm, which is the most classic informed dynamic scheduling strategy, achieves outstanding performance in error correction and can drastically accelerate convergence speed. However, the greedy algorithmic property of this iterative decoding will inevitably cause loss of decoding performance. To address this, a novel algorithm called the partial average bundle residual belief propagation (PABRBP) is proposed in this paper. According to the construction characteristics of a base matrix of protograph‐LDPC codes, informed dynamic scheduling (IDS) strategies are applied to an edge bundle of base matrices for the first time. This edge bundle of the base matrix can be applied to a corresponding cyclic permutation matrix. Furthermore, the update level of each bundle is determined by the value of the Partially Average Bundle Residual (PABR). Therefore, the edge message with the maximum residual in each bundle is updated in order, and the process of iterative decoding is less likely to become trapped in a local optimum. Additionally, the generation of silent nodes is reduced as much as possible. To further improve the PABRBP decoding performance for medium and long codes over the fading channel, the adjusted compensation term is periodically introduced. Analysis and simulation results show that PABRBP demonstrates a notable convergence quality and decoding performance improvement over the fading channels compared to existing state‐of‐art IDS algorithms.
Distributed cooperative control of mechatronic system driving multiple electrohydraulic actuators with uncertain nonlinearity and communication delay
Authors: Zhang Jiyu , Gao Wei , Guo Qing , Ren Xing , Wang Chen , Shi Yan 
Published: November 2023

AbstractBeing different from many centralized mechatronic systems, the distributed transmission mechanism has the significant advantage such that realize cooperative task only based on small amount neighbour nodes with low computational complexity. In this study, a distributed cooperative control is proposed for multiple electrohydraulic system (MEHS) to guarantee the follower electrohydraulic node tracking the leader motion, based on the approach of directed spanning tree. Firstly, the MEHS model is constructed as three‐orders isomorphic nonlinear dynamics. Then, a disturbance observer is adopted to estimate uncertain nonlinearities caused by hydraulic parametric uncertainties and unknown external loads in the MEHS. To address unknown communication delays in the network topology of MEHS, a quasi‐synchronous controller is designed via Lyapunov–Krasovskii technique to guarantee that the synchronous errors asymptotically converge to a zero neighbourhood. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed distributed synchronous control is verified by simulation results under uncertain nonlinearities and different communication delays.
Evolutionary game analysis of behaviour strategy for UAV swarm in communication‐constrained environments
Authors: Hu Shiguang , Ru Le , Lv Maolong , Wang Zhenhua , Lu Bo , Wang Wenfei 
Published: November 2023

AbstractIn the process of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) cluster coordination, communication obstruction may cause situational misjudgement and increase the risk of decision‐making errors. Therefore, based on evolutionary game theory, this research aimed to study the behaviour decision‐making selection problem in the process of UAV swarm missions in limited communication networks. First, the evolution process of the UAV swarm confrontation game is analyzed and the decision‐making risks associated with the communication network of the UAV swarm during coordination, which are caused by the complex confrontation environment are identified. Second, the decision‐making risks and mechanisms of UAV swarm communication is discussed and an evolutionary game mathematical model for the cooperative strategy of a UAV swarm under communication constraints is established. Finally, the influence of various key parameters is simulated and analyzed, such as the initial strategy probability of both parties, amount of platform information data, information analysis and utilization ability, and information interaction coefficient, on the evolution of the UAV swarm strategy. This research provides a theoretical basis and feasible reference for the improvement of UAV mission decision response mechanisms and system model construction, which have important theoretical value and practical significance.
A Spatio‐Temporal Enhanced Graph‐Transformer AutoEncoder embedded pose for anomaly detection
Authors: Zhu Honglei , Wei Pengjuan , Xu Zhigang 
Published: November 2023

AbstractDue to the robustness of skeleton data to human scale, illumination changes, dynamic camera views, and complex backgrounds, great progress has been made in skeleton‐based video anomaly detection in recent years. The spatio‐temporal graph convolutional network has been proven to be effective in modelling the spatio‐temporal dependencies of non‐Euclidean data such as human skeleton graphs, and the autoencoder based on this basic unit is widely used to model sequence features. However, due to the limitations of the convolution kernel, the model cannot capture the correlation between non‐adjacent joints, and it is difficult to deal with long‐term sequences, resulting in an insufficient understanding of behaviour. To address this issue, this paper applies the Transformer to the human skeleton and proposes the Spatio‐Temporal Enhanced Graph‐Transformer AutoEncoder (STEGT‐AE) to improve the capability of modelling. In addition, the multi‐memory model with skip connections is employed to provide different levels of coding features, thereby enhancing the ability of the model to distinguish similar heterogeneous behaviours. Furthermore, the STEGT‐AE has a single encoder‐double decoder architecture, which can improve the detection performance by the combining reconstruction and prediction error. The experimental results show that performances of STEGT‐AE is significantly better than other advanced algorithms on four baseline datasets.
Learning adaptive motion search for fast versatile video coding in visual surveillance systems
Authors: Thanh Huong Bui , Quang Sang Nguyen , Huu Tien Vu , HoangVan Xiem 
Published: November 2023

AbstractVisual surveillance systems have been playing an important role in monitoring and managing at public areas. However, the computational complexity of video compression in these applications is still a great challenge. To meet practical requirements, the authors propose in this paper a low‐complexity surveillance video coding solution in which the most recent Versatile Video Coding (VVC) standard is improved with a novel learning adaptive motion search algorithm. The proposed algorithm is designed based on the temporal motion and spatial texture characteristics of surveillance videos. First, the authors study and define a list of spatial and temporal features which indicates the motion and texture characteristics of surveillance video. These features are used together with a machine learning algorithm to appropriately assign a search range for the VVC motion search. Second, to reduce search points, the authors propose an adaptive Test Zone (TZ) search in which TZ steps are early terminated following the variation of spatial–temporal features. Performance evaluation conducted for a rich set of surveillance videos and relevant benchmarks have shown the superiority of the proposed method, notably with around 33% of encoding time saving when compared with the state‐of‐the art VVC solution and relevant benchmarks while asking for negligible compression loss.
Siloxane‐containing polyimide films with high heat resistance and low dielectric constant
Authors: Mo Song , Zhai Lei , Liu Yi , Han Gang , Jia Yan , He Min‐Hui , Fan Lin 
Published: November 2023

AbstractA series of siloxane‐containing polyimide films (PIS) were prepared by copolymerising with rigid aromatic dianhydride, siloxane diamines and six different aromatic diamines. The effects of siloxane structures, fluorine and imide content, rigid or flexible segment on the heat resistance, moisture absorption, dielectric performance, mechanical and bonding properties were systematically studied. The results show that PIS films maintain good heat resistance with Tg between 292 and 420°C and 5% weight loss temperature higher than 500°C. The moisture absorption and dielectric constant can be significantly reduced due to the presence of siloxanes and fluorinated groups, with the absorption rate as low as 1.2% and dielectric constant of 2.85 at 1 MHz. When measured at 10 GHz, the dielectric constant ranges from 3.10 to 3.50, and dielectric loss varies from 0.0059 to 0.0098. The PIS‐6 film has the best comprehensive performance due to the low imide content, introduction of trifluoromethyl and ether bonds. The peeling strength of bonding PIS‐6 film with a copper foil can reach 9.2 N/cm. It is proven that siloxane‐containing PIS films with high heat resistance, low dielectric and outstanding adhesion are achieved, which can be applied for flexible integrated circuit boards, high‐frequency electronics and microelectronics fields.
Optimising smart city evaluation: A people‐oriented analysis method
Authors: Fang Yufei , Shan Zhiguang 
Published: November 2023

AbstractSmart cities integrate information technology with urban transformation, making it crucial to systematically evaluate their development level and effectiveness. Recent years have seen increased attention towards smart city evaluations worldwide, but there is still research space for theoretical models, technical methods, and practical applications. To address this gap, this study proposes an efficiency evaluation model for smart cities and a smart city user demand analysis model. It answers two research questions: how to configure investments in different aspects of smart city for a better user experience, and how to judge the extent and specific points of public demand in various sectors of a smart city. By analysing evaluation data, this study accurately identifies the development direction and construction focus of smart cities, supports targeted optimisation and improvement strategies, enhances user experience, and provides rationalised suggestions for a dynamic revision of smart city evaluation indicators.
Reproducibility of Anterior Scalene Stiffness Measurement with Shear Wave Elastography: An Inter-Examiner Reliability Study
Authors: Varol Umut , Sánchez-Jiménez Elena , Valera-Calero Juan Antonio , Plaza-Manzano Gustavo , Fernández-de-las-Peñas César , Navarro-Santana Marcos José , Sanchez-Jorge Sandra , Ortega-Santiago Ricardo 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
Purpose Although previous studies have highlighted the clinical relevance of the anterior scalene muscle (AS) in patients with neck pain or nerve compressive syndromes, evidence reporting the diagnostic accuracy of shear wave elastography (SWE) for assessing the AS stiffness properties is lacking. This study aimed to analyze the SWE inter-examiner reliability for calculating the Young’s modulus and shear wave speed of the AS muscle in asymptomatic subjects.
Materials and Methods Using a linear transducer, ultrasound images of the antero-lateral neck region at the C7 level were acquired in 35 healthy volunteers by one experienced examiner and one novice examiner. After codifying the images to blind the participants’ identity, the trial, and the side, Young’s modulus and shear wave speed were obtained by an independent experienced rater in randomized order. Intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC), standard error of measurement (SEM), minimal detectable changes (MDC), and coefficient of variation (CV%) were calculated.
Results The assessed AS metrics showed no side-to-side differences (p>0.05). Sex differences were found for muscle size (p=0.002), but muscle brightness and stiffness were similar (p>0.05). Inter-examiner reliability was good for determining the AS muscle stiffness (ICC = 0.881 for Young’s modulus and 0.850 for shear wave speed).
Conclusion The obtained results suggest that assessing the AS stiffness properties in asymptomatic subjects is a reliable procedure. Further studies should verify the SWE capacity for discriminating healthy and clinical populations and identify potential factors contributing to the variance of measurement errors.
New Synthesis of 3-Aminohydantoins via Condensation of Hydrazines with Isocyanates Derived from α-Amino Esters
Authors: Ollevier Thierry , Kraïem Jamil , Bouchnak Houda 
Published: November 2023

AbstractA new, simple, and efficient method for the synthesis of 3-aminohydantoins was reported in two steps, starting from the corresponding
l
-amino esters. Commercially available α-amino esters were converted into the corresponding isocyanate derivatives, which were then subjected to the condensation reaction with hydrazine hydrate and arylhydrazines, in the presence of DMAP and DIPEA. This method provides the corresponding 3-aminohydantoins in moderate and good yields under a simple and practical protocol.