bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Precise individual muscle segmentation in whole thigh CT scans for sarcopenia assessment using U-net transformer
Authors: Kim Hyeon Su , Kim Hyunbin , Kim Shinjune , Cha Yonghan , Kim Jung-Taek , Kim Jin-Woo , Ha Yong-Chan , Yoo Jun-Il 
Published: February 2024

AbstractThe study aims to develop a deep learning based automatic segmentation approach using the UNETR(U-net Transformer) architecture to quantify the volume of individual thigh muscles(27 muscles in 5 groups) for Sarcopenia assessment. By automating the segmentation process, this approach improves the efficiency and accuracy of muscle volume calculation, facilitating a comprehensive understanding of muscle composition and its relationship to Sarcopenia. The study utilized a dataset of 72 whole thigh CT scans from hip fracture patients, annotated by two radiologists. The UNETR model was trained to perform precise voxel-level segmentation and various metrics such as dice score, average symmetric surface distance, volume correlation, relative absolute volume difference and Hausdorff distance were employed to evaluate the model’s performance. Additionally, the correlation between Sarcopenia and individual thigh muscle volumes was examined. The proposed model demonstrated superior segmentation performance compared to the baseline model, achieving higher dice scores (DC = 0.84) and lower average symmetric surface distances (ASSD = 1.4191 ± 0.91). The volume correlation between Sarcopenia and individual thigh muscles in the male group. Furthermore, the correlation analysis of grouped thigh muscles also showed negative associations with Sarcopenia in the male participants. This thesis presents a deep learning based automatic segmentation approach for quantifying individual thigh muscle volume in sarcopenia assessment. The results highlights the associations between Sarcopenia and specific individual muscles as well as grouped thigh muscle regions, particularly in males. The proposed method improves the efficiency and accuracy of muscle volume calculation, contributing to a comprehensive evaluation of Sarcopenia. This research enhances our understanding of muscle composition and performance, providing valuable insights for effective interventions in Sarcopenia management.
Changes in alcohol consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal cohort study using smart-breathalyzer data
Authors: Houston Parker D. , Vittinghoff Eric , Marcus Gregory M. 
Published: February 2024

AbstractPrevious studies relying on alcohol sales, alcohol-related injuries, and surveys have suggested that alcohol consumption increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. We sought to leverage over 1 million Breath Alcohol Concentration (BrAC) measurements from Bluetooth-enabled breathalyzers to conduct an objective and longitudinal assessment of alcohol use during the pandemic. Serial BrAC measurements revealed a decrease in drinking between January 1, 2020 and March 30, 2020, an increase between March 30, 2020 and May 25, 2020, a statistically insignificant decrease between May 25, 2020 and January 1, 2021, and an increase again between January 1, 2021 and June 4, 2021. No statistically significant relationships between shelter-in-place orders and alcohol consumption were detected. These findings demonstrate the complex relationship between the pandemic and alcohol consumption patterns, providing insights that may be relevant to the use of this commonly consumed substance with implications relevant to long-term effects from the patterns observed.
The visual perception of long outdoor distances
Authors: Norman J. Farley , Lewis Jessica L. , Ramirez Alejandro B. , Bryant Emily N. , Adcock Payton , Peterson Roseanna D. 
Published: February 2024

AbstractMany previous studies have investigated visual distance perception, especially for small to moderate distances. Few experiments, however, have evaluated the perception of large distances (e.g., 100 m or more). The studies that have been conducted have found conflicting results (diametrically opposite conclusions). In the current experiment, the functions relating actual and perceived distance were obtained for sixteen adult observers using the method of equal appearing intervals. These functions relating perceived and actual distance were obtained for outdoor viewing in a typical University environment—the experiment was conducted along a sidewalk adjacent to a typical street where campus buildings, trees, street signs, etc., were visible. The overall results indicated perceptual compression of distances in depth so that the stimulus distance intervals appeared significantly shorter than the actual (physical) distance intervals. It is important to note, however, that there were sizeable individual differences—the judgments of half of the observers were relatively accurate, whereas the judgments of the remaining half were inaccurate to varying degrees. The results of the experiment demonstrate that there is no single function that describes how human observers visually perceive large distance intervals in outdoor environments.
Formation of various structures caused by particle size difference in colloidal heteroepitaxy
Authors: Sato Masahide 
Published: February 2024

AbstractBy performing isothermal–isochoric Monte Carlo simulations with depletion force, the author investigated the dependence of the epitxial layer structure on the differences in the particle size between the substrate in colloidal heteroepitaxy. By changing the size of epitaxial particles and performing simulations comprehensively, various structures including the structures observed in a experiment, such as a honeycomb, one created by hexagonal heptamers, and one consisting of both pentagonal tiles and triangular tiles, were created. When the ratio of particle sizes between the epitxial layer and substrate takes a specific value, two types of hexagonal structures were created. One is the hexagonal layer parallel to the substrate layer and the other layer is rotated by 60$$^\circ $$

∘

from the substrate layer. The former structure was created over a wide range of particle-size ratios, whereas the latter structure was created when the particle-size ratio was only around the specific ratio, and it seemed a metastable structure.
Functional characterisation of a new halotolerant seawater active glycoside hydrolase family 6 cellobiohydrolase from a salt marsh
Authors: Leadbeater Daniel R. , Bruce Neil C. 
Published: February 2024

AbstractRealising a fully circular bioeconomy requires the valorisation of lignocellulosic biomass. Cellulose is the most attractive component of lignocellulose but depolymerisation is inefficient, expensive and resource intensive requiring substantial volumes of potable water. Seawater is an attractive prospective replacement, however seawater tolerant enzymes are required for the development of seawater-based biorefineries. Here, we report a halophilic cellobiohydrolase SMECel6A, identified and isolated from a salt marsh meta-exo-proteome dataset with high sequence divergence to previously characterised cellobiohydrolases. SMECel6A contains a glycoside hydrolase family 6 (GH6) domain and a carbohydrate binding module family 2 (CBM2) domain. Characterisation of recombinant SMECel6A revealed SMECel6A to be active upon crystalline and amorphous cellulose. Mono- and oligosaccharide product profiles revealed cellobiose as the major hydrolysis product confirming SMECel6A as a cellobiohydrolase. We show SMECel6A to be halophilic with optimal activity achieved in 0.5X seawater displaying 80.6 ± 6.93% activity in 1 × seawater. Structural predictions revealed similarity to a characterised halophilic cellobiohydrolase despite sharing only 57% sequence identity. Sequential thermocycling revealed SMECel6A had the ability to partially reversibly denature exclusively in seawater retaining significant activity. Our study confirms that salt marsh ecosystems harbour enzymes with attractive traits with biotechnological potential for implementation in ionic solution based bioprocessing systems.
Climate change linked to drought in Southern Madagascar
Authors: Rigden Angela , Golden Christopher , Chan Duo , Huybers Peter 
Published: February 2024

AbstractSouthern Madagascar experienced a prolonged drought over the last five years, but whether these conditions are a manifestation of global climate change has been unclear. Here, we document trends beginning as early as 1980 towards a later rainy-season onset across three distinct remotely sensed indicators: precipitation, soil moisture, and vegetation greenness. All three indicators closely covary, particularly over the last decade when satellite observational resolution and accuracy is greatest. Furthermore, observed soil moisture trends early in the rainy season agree with the mean from CMIP6 historical and SSP5-8.5 simulations, but are distinct from pre-industrial control simulations, implicating anthropogenic changes in radiative forcing as the source of the trends. Physically, these models simulate a poleward migration of the mid-latitude jet that leads to a delay in the seasonal steering of storm tracks over Southern Madagascar. Soil moisture trends driven by anthropogenic forcing made the recent drought significantly more likely over 2017–2022 (p < 0.01), and such droughts are expected to become increasingly likely over this century. These results indicate that, although Madagascar has not substantially contributed to global greenhouse gas emissions, farmers in Southern Madagascar will need to adapt to drier conditions early in the rainy season as a consequence of global climate change.
Optimizing skin disease diagnosis: harnessing online community data with contrastive learning and clustering techniques
Authors: Shen Yue , Li Huanyu , Sun Can , Ji Hongtao , Zhang Daojun , Hu Kun , Tang Yiqi , Chen Yu , Wei Zikun , Lv Junwei 
Published: February 2024

AbstractSkin diseases pose significant challenges in China. Internet health forums offer a platform for millions of users to discuss skin diseases and share images for early intervention, leaving large amount of valuable dermatology images. However, data quality and annotation challenges limit the potential of these resources for developing diagnostic models. In this study, we proposed a deep-learning model that utilized unannotated dermatology images from diverse online sources. We adopted a contrastive learning approach to learn general representations from unlabeled images and fine-tuned the model on coarsely annotated images from Internet forums. Our model classified 22 common skin diseases. To improve annotation quality, we used a clustering method with a small set of standardized validation images. We tested the model on images collected by 33 experienced dermatologists from 15 tertiary hospitals and achieved a 45.05% top-1 accuracy, outperforming the published baseline model by 3%. Accuracy increased with additional validation images, reaching 49.64% with 50 images per category. Our model also demonstrated transferability to new tasks, such as detecting monkeypox, with a 61.76% top-1 accuracy using only 50 additional images in the training process. We also tested our model on benchmark datasets to show the generalization ability. Our findings highlight the potential of unannotated images from online forums for future dermatology applications and demonstrate the effectiveness of our model for early diagnosis and potential outbreak mitigation.
Beyond the 510(k): The regulation of novel moderate-risk medical devices, intellectual property considerations, and innovation incentives in the FDA’s De Novo pathway
Authors: Aboy Mateo , Crespo Cristina , Stern Ariel 
Published: February 2024

AbstractModerate-risk medical devices constitute 99% of those that have been regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) since it gained authority to regulate medical technology nearly five decades ago. This article presents an analysis of the interaction between the 510(k) process —the historically dominant path to market for most medical devices— and the De Novo pathway, a more recent alternative that targets more novel devices, including those involving new technologies, diagnostics, hardware, and software. The De Novo pathway holds significant potential for innovators seeking to define new categories of medical devices, as it represents a less burdensome approach than would have otherwise been needed historically. Moreover, it supports the FDA in its effort to modernize the long-established 510(k) pathway by promoting the availability of up-to-date device “predicates” upon which subsequent device applications can be based, reflecting positive spillovers that are likely to encourage manufacturers to adopt current state-of-the-art technologies and modern standards of safety and effectiveness. We analyze the of characteristics all the De Novo classification requests to date, including the submission type, trends, FDA review times, and device types. After characterizing how the De Novo process has been used over time, we discuss its unique challenges and opportunities with respect to medical device software and AI-enabled devices, including considerations for intellectual property, innovation, and competition economics.
A bispecific antibody approach for the potential prophylactic treatment of inherited bleeding disorders
Authors: Gandhi Prafull S. , Zivkovic Minka , Østergaard Henrik , Bonde Amalie C. , Elm Torben , Løvgreen Monika N. , Schluckebier Gerd , Johansson Eva , Olsen Ole H. , Olsen Eva H. N. , de Bus Ian-Arris , Bloem Karien , Alskär Oskar , Rea Catherine J. , Bjørn Søren E. , Schutgens Roger E. , Sørensen Benny , Urbanus Rolf T. , Faber Johan H. 
Published: February 2024

AbstractInherited bleeding disorders such as Glanzmann thrombasthenia (GT) lack prophylactic treatment options. As a result, serious bleeding episodes are treated acutely with blood product transfusions or frequent, repeated intravenous administration of recombinant activated coagulation factor VII (rFVIIa). Here we describe HMB-001, a bispecific antibody designed to bind and accumulate endogenous FVIIa and deliver it to sites of vascular injury by targeting it to the TREM (triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells)-like transcript-1 (TLT-1) receptor that is selectively expressed on activated platelets. In healthy nonhuman primates, HMB-001 prolonged the half-life of endogenous FVIIa, resulting in its accumulation. Mouse bleeding studies confirmed antibody-mediated potentiation of FVIIa hemostatic activity by TLT-1 targeting. In ex vivo models of GT, HMB-001 localized FVIIa on activated platelets and potentiated fibrin-dependent platelet aggregation. Taken together, these results indicate that HMB-001 has the potential to offer subcutaneous prophylactic treatment to prevent bleeds in people with GT and other inherited bleeding disorders, with a low-frequency dosing regimen.
Oligomers are a major fraction of the submicrometre particles released during washing of polyester textiles
Authors: Yang Tong , Xu Yanghui , Liu Gang , Nowack Bernd 
Published: February 2024

AbstractSynthetic textiles are a significant source of microplastic fibre pollution. While the microplastic fibre release mechanism during the washing of textiles is well studied, little is known about the release of nanoplastics. The first investigations on the nanoplastic fraction released during the washing and abrasion of polyester textiles have been published; however, questions were raised regarding the chemical composition of the observed submicrometre particles. Using a combination of analytical methods, we show here that 12 different polyester textiles released 4.6 × 1010 to 8.9 × 1011 particles per gram of textile during washing, with a mean size of 122–191 nm. The number of released submicrometre particles was not significantly influenced by the cutting method nor by the textile structure, but positively correlated (P < 0.01) with the number of submicrometre particles present on the fibre surface before washing. We found that 34–89% of the extracted submicrometre particles were soluble in ethanol. These particles are most likely water-insoluble poly(ethylene terephthalate) oligomers. Our results clearly show the urgent need to better understand the contribution of water-insoluble oligomer particles to the pollution of the environment by anthropogenic nanoplastics.
Autonomous execution of highly reactive chemical transformations in the Schlenkputer
Authors: Bell Nicola L. , Boser Florian , Bubliauskas Andrius , Willcox Dominic R. , Luna Victor Sandoval , Cronin Leroy 
Published: February 2024

AbstractWe design a modular programmable inert-atmosphere Schlenkputer (Schlenk-line computer) for the synthesis and manipulation of highly reactive compounds, including those that are air and moisture sensitive or pyrophoric. Here, to do this, we constructed a programmable Schlenk line using the Chemputer architecture for the inertization of glassware that can achieve a vacuum line pressure of 1.5 × 10−3 mbar, and integrated a range of automated Schlenk glassware for the handling, storage and isolation of reactive compounds at sub-ppm levels of O2 and H2O. This has enabled automation of a range of common organometallic reaction types for the synthesis of four highly reactive compounds: [Cp2TiIII(MeCN)2]+, CeIII{N(SiMe3)2}3, B(C6F5)3 and {DippNacNacMgI}2, which are variously sensitive to temperature, pressure, water and oxygen. Automated crystallization, filtration and sublimation are demonstrated, along with analysis using inline nuclear magnetic resonance or reaction sampling for ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy. Finally, we demonstrate low-temperature reactivity down to −90 °C as well as safe handling and quenching of alkali metal reagents using dynamic feedback from an in situ temperature probe.
Boosting the performance of low‐cost eco‐friendly pyramidal absorbers with a Salisbury screen
Authors: Sahraei A. , Sadeghzadeh R. A. , Aliakbarian H. , Vandenbosch Guy A. E. 
Published: February 2024

AbstractInstead of using expensive highly performing conventional pyramidal absorbers, in some cases, the use of absorbers based on very cheap eco‐friendly materials is an attractive alternative. The authors introduce a novel technique to improve the absorption bandwidth of these intrinsically low‐quality absorbers by adding a Salisbury screen at the base of the pyramidal absorber, which adds two extra design parameters. The first is the resistive sheet surface impedance, and the second is the resonance frequency of the Salisbury screen. By tuning these two parameters, better impedance matching can be obtained. This is verified with the help of a transmission line model, full‐wave simulations, and measurements. The method is applied to two different lower‐quality absorbers found in the literature. In the first absorber, the operating bandwidth is increased at the lower frequency side by 40%, and in the second one, this is about 90%. Finally, a prototype of an eco‐friendly combined absorber is designed and fabricated. The measurement validates the expected behaviour.
The debiased morphological transformations of galaxies since z = 3 in CANDELS
Authors: Salvador D. , Cerulo P. , Valenzuela K. , Demarco R. , Oyarzo F. , Gatica C. 
Published: February 2024

Context. Morphological quantitative measurements and visual-like classifications are susceptible to biases arising from the expansion of the Universe. One of these biases is the effect of cosmological surface brightness dimming (CSBD): the measured surface brightness of a galaxy decays with redshift as (1 + z)−4. This effect might lead an observer to perceive an altered morphology compared to the real one.
Aims. Our goal is to investigate the impact of CSBD on morphological classifications to determine the true evolution of morphological classes over redshift for field galaxies, and to interpret these results in the context of morphological transformations and star formation quenching.
Methods. We employed artificial redshifting techniques on a sample of 268 galaxies in the five CANDELS fields, spanning redshifts from z = 0.2 to z = 3.0. We compared the visual classifications and morphological coefficients (G, M20, and As) obtained from the original and simulated images. Subsequently, we developed two correction methods to mitigate the effects of CSBD.
Results. Our findings reveal that CSBD, low resolution, and signal-to-noise significantly bias the visual morphological classifications beyond z > 1. Specifically, we observed an overestimation of the fractions of spheroids and irregular galaxies by up to 50%, while the fractions of early- and late-type disks were underestimated by 10% and 50%, respectively. However, we found that morphological coefficients are not significantly affected by CSBD at z < 2.25. We validated the consistency of our correction methods by applying them to the observed morphological fractions in the IllustrisTNG-50 sample and comparing them to previous studies.
Conclusions. We propose two potential sources of confusion regarding the visual classifications due to CSBD. Firstly, galaxies may be misclassified as spheroids, as the dimming effect primarily renders the bulge component visible. Secondly, galaxies may be misidentified as irregulars due to their more diffuse and asymmetric appearance at high redshifts. By analyzing the morphological fractions of star-forming and quiescent subsamples as a function of redshift and stellar mass, we propose a scenario where late-type disks transform into quiescent spheroids through mergers or to early-type disks through secular evolution or active galactic nucleus feedback.
Management of Rheumatic Diseases During Pregnancy and Breastfeeding
Authors: Kuschel Bettina , Schäfer-Graf Ute Margaretha , Schmidt Markus , Kühnert Maritta , Hagenbeck Carsten , Thürmel Klaus ,   for the AGG – Section Maternal Diseases in Pregnancy
Published: February 2024

Abstract
Purpose These recommendations issued by the AGG (Section Maternal Diseases in Pregnancy) were developed as a rapid orientation on maternal rheumatic diseases for counselling and
disease management in pregnancy and breastfeeding.
Methods The standard literature, consensus and position papers, guidelines and recommendations by other specialist associations were evaluated by a task force of the Section and
summarized in these recommendations following a joint consensus process.
Recommendations This paper provides an orientating overview of the physiology, pathophysiology and definitions of rheumatic diseases which is relevant for gynecologists and
obstetricians. The recommendations focus on the maternal, fetal and neonatal diagnostic workup in cases with underlying maternal rheumatic disease.
Kardiovaskuläre Prävention in der Praxis – Bekanntes und Neues
Authors: Pozza Robert Dalla 
Published: February 2024

ZUSAMMENFASSUNGAus vielerlei Gründen werden Kinder und Jugendliche bereits in frühen Jahren durch zahlreiche kardiovaskuläre Risikofaktoren belastet, welche in Summe vorzeitige Atherosklerose fördern können. Eine Übertragung des kardiovaskulären Risikos in das Erwachsenenalter ist bekannt – und weiterhin stellen kardiovaskuläre Komplikationen wie Myokardinfarkt und ischämischer Schlaganfall die Haupttodesursache weltweit. Es gilt also, das „Übel an der Wurzel zu packen“ – primär präventiv tätig zu sein. Hierzu ist der Kinder- und Jugendarzt in Klinik und vor allem in der Praxis aufgerufen. Er steht an erster Stelle, wenn es um die frühzeitige Entdeckung von Risikofaktoren für spätere Erkrankungen geht. Er kann Weichen stellen, wenn es um die Verhinderung von Komplikationen geht. Eine derartige Tätigkeit setzt profunde Kenntnisse im Bereich der Diagnose und Behandlung kardiovaskulärer Risikofaktoren voraus. Der folgende Überblick will dazu eine Hilfestellung geben.