bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A bidirectional phosphate transporter relieves phosphate limitations of photosynthesis to improve grain yield in rice
Authors: Ma Bin , Zhang You , Fan Yanfei , Zhang Lin , Li Xiaoyuan , Shu Qingyao , Huang Jirong , Chen Genyun , Li Qun , Zhu Xin-guang , He Zuhua , Wang Peng 
Published: April 2023

Abstract
Phosphate (Pi) plays an essential role in plant photosynthesis, although the mechanism by which Pi availability is regulated in photosynthesising leaves remains largely unknown. Here, experiments in rice (Oryza sativa L.) demonstrated that the bidirectional phosphate transporter OsPHO1;2 allocated Pi toward the leaves, thus optimizing photosynthesis, especially during grain filling. Ospho1;2 mutants showed decreased Pi concentrations in the leaves, which disrupted photosynthetic protein expression and phosphorylation levels; photosynthetic metabolite accumulation, electron transport activity, and the CO2 assimilation rate were also decreased compared with wild-type plants, resulting in earlier occurrence of Pi-limited photosynthesis. In contrast, OsPHO1;2 overexpression greatly increased Pi availability and therefore photosynthetic rates in leaves during the grain-filling stage. Analysis of germplasm resources in rice accession collection revealed that higher OsPHO1;2 expression was associated with enhanced photosynthesis and yield potential compared to those with lower expression. Moreover, foliar application of phosphate fertilizer at the flowering stage markedly increased photosynthetic rate and grain yield. These findings establish an effective strategy for achieving high photosynthetic efficiency in crop breeding with sustainable application of phosphate resources.
Dynamic Modeling and Hybrid Compliant Control for a 2-DOF Compliant Robotic Leg With a New Biarticular Actuation
Authors: kalibala Abdonoor , Mohamed Abdelfatah , Umezu Shinjiro , Assal Samy F. M. 
Published: April 2023

Abstract
It is well recognized that biarticular muscles cross over two joints instead of just one, granting them the ability to generate substantial forces across both joints. This type of muscle plays a crucial role in human movement, since it produces large forces. In literature, there have been numerous designs of mono- and biarticular actuations applied for a two- or three-link robotic leg, aimed at studying human locomotion. A novel biarticular actuation configuration for a two-link compliant robotic leg is proposed in this research. It features mono-articular rotational actuation for the proximal link and biarticular linear actuation for the distal link. The distal link is actuated by a linear Series Elastic Actuator (SEA) that is suitable for compliant ground interaction, while the proximal link is driven by a stiff rotary actuator. This biarticular actuation is bio-inspired by the biarticular muscles in humans, especially the hamstring muscle, which span two joints instead of one to provide high torque at both joints. This new configuration for the two-link robotic leg realizes the Spring-loaded Inverted Pendulum (SLIP) dynamics, making human locomotion during the compliant ground interaction simpler. In the biarticular coordinates, complete kinematic and dynamic analyses are developed for this new configuration. The approach also involves using a rotating task space to represent the swing and stance phases of human gait. The dynamic model is transformed into this rotating task space and a hybrid impedance and position controller is developed with optimized gains to minimize the tracking errors and prevent any disturbance. A disturbance observer controller is developed and integrated with the hybrid impedance control for the proposed linear SEA in order to improve the force control precision and the resilience against external disturbances. The simulation results show the feasibility of this new approach.
SIRT7 levels are downregulated and are an independent prognostic factor in gallbladder cancer
Authors: Cai Guohao , Huang Guoyu 
Published: April 2023

Abstract
Background: Nucleosome-localized sirtuin 7 (SIRT7) has been found to function as an oncogene and tumor suppressor gene in different tumors, respectively. However, the clinical significance of SIRT7 protein in gallbladder cancer (GBC) and the effects of its expression on GBC have not been assessed.
Methods: We assessed the levels of SIRT7 protein in tissue microarrays containing 80 GBC patients, and the associations with clinicopathological parameters and overall survival time of GBC patients by immunohistochemical staining. We also constructed GBC cell lines (GBC-SD) with overexpression or interference of SIRT7 by lentiviral infection. The effects of SIRT7 on the proliferation, migration, and invasive ability of GBC-SD cells were then investigated using cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assays, wound healing assays, and migration and invasion assays. Additionally, we investigated the effects of SIRT7 on the cell cycle and apoptosis of GBC cells, and the relationship with nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) pathway.
Results: Immunohistochemistry revealed that SIRT7 protein levels were reduced in GBC, and that higher SIRT7 levels were associated with larger tumor volumes, poorer pathological differentiation, later T-staging, later N-staging and later AJCC staging in GBC patients and were an independent prognostic factor in GBC patients. Interfering with SIRT7 significantly inhibited the proliferative viability, scratch healing capacity, migratory capacity, and invasive capacity of GBC-SD cells, whilst overexpression of SIRT7 had the opposite effect. Additionally, interfering with SIRT7 significantly inhibited the cell cycle and increased the apoptosis rate of GBC-SD cells, and inhibited the nuclear translocation of p65 protein.
Conclusions: Our study suggests that SIRT7 is an independent prognostic factor for GBC, and that SIRT7 inhibits apoptosis and thus proliferation, migration, and invasion by suppressing NF-κB pathway activity. This suggests that SIRT7 could be a potential target for the diagnosis and treatment of GBC.
Association between obtaining injury prevention information and maternal and child health services during COVID-19
Authors: Honda Chikako , Yamamoto-Takiguchi Natsuki 
Published: April 2023

Abstract
Background: Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death and disability in children worldwide, and many are preventable. Public maternal and child health services provide ideal opportunities for disseminating injury prevention education. However, the COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted these services, reducing access to injury prevention information. This study aimed to obtain suggestions for delivering injury prevention information to the public during future pandemics.
Methods: In March 2022, a nationwide Internet survey of mothers raising children ages 0-2 was conducted, asking whether they could obtain injury prevention information when required and when, what, and how they would like to receive it.
Results: Over half of the mothers wanted injury prevention information throughout their pregnancy. They preferred receiving information through traditional face-to-face services provided by local governments, such as antenatal classes or checkups. However, 34.1% of mothers said they did not obtain the information they needed, especially those unemployed, mothers of children aged 0 to 1, and mothers of children with illnesses requiring hospital visits. In public services, failure to be interviewed when submitting pregnancy notification was associated with failure to obtain injury prevention information.
Conclusions: It is suggested that the interruption of public services prevented mothers, especially those with fewer opportunities to obtain informal information, from obtaining injury prevention information. Maintaining face-to-face services with infection control measures and considering alternative means of information and support are crucial to prevent parents from being cut off from information sources during future pandemics.
Assessing the threat of invasive plant species in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area in Queensland, Australia
Authors: Ngugi Michael R , Neldner Victor J. 
Published: April 2023

Abstract
Invasive species, climate change and the negative impacts of tourism are currently and globally recognised as the three most significant threats to Outstanding Universal Values of natural World Heritage listed areas. This study investigated the threat of incursion of invasive plant species associated with access roads in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area in Queensland, Australia. We assessed richness, composition, and the spread of invasive plant species along roads and in the adjacent vegetation using 34 transects established in 2015 and remeasured in 2021. Species and foliage cover of all ground-layer plants were recorded. Thirty-one invasive species were recorded, and their richness was found to be significantly higher at the road edge (27 species) than in the adjacent vegetation (16 species). While invasive species richness decreased with distance from the road edge, their foliage cover did not show a consistent trend. Foliage cover for more than 73% of the recorded invasive species at the road edge was < 5%. Invasive species with the highest foliage cover were signal grass (Urochloa decumbens) with 65% at the road edge, and Parramata grass (Sporobolus fertilis) in the adjacent vegetation with 64% foliage cover. The abundance of invasive species and the potential for a small set to dominate the road edge and spread into the adjoining environment, highlights the importance of timely surveillance and targeted control of invasive species at road edges to ensure that they do not spread to the adjacent vegetation.
Deep Learning based Minerals’ Recognition and Mapping using Sentinel-2 Imagery
Authors: Jan Nazir , Minallah Nasru , Sher Madiha , Frnda Jaroslav , Nedoma Jan 
Published: April 2023

Abstract
Marble and limestone possess calcium carbonate (chemical formula: CaCo3) as major ingredient that’s why they are called carbonates or carbonated mineral. Carbonates are 70% of the total minerals’ deposits of the intended study area which are divulged and mapped using the significant deep learning neural network models and latest Sentinel-2 imagery. While delineating them, an overall accuracy of 96% for 1-dimensional convolution neural network and 95% for artificial neural network was achieved while targeted carbonates class accuracy remained 99% and 100% respectively. Sentinel-2 sensors record data in visible, Near infrared, and short wave infrared bands which are much appropriate to delineating carbonated minerals as they show greater absorption features in these bands. Sentinel-2 data was downloaded in Level-2 format and resampled to 10 meter spatial resolution using bilinear nearest neighbors algorithm. Significant amount of data polygons (2500+) were drawn and cleaned up for various class members in order to prepare them for various deep learning and machine learning models. Data was split in the ratio of 70:30 as training-test sets which provided with the most optimal mapping results. Classification and accuracy assessment reports of the models with high quality resultant imageries were overlaid in ArcGIS 10.2 and presented in article.
Performance Evaluation of CMIP6 GCMs for the Projections of Precipitation Extremes in Pakistan
Authors: Ali Zulfiqar , Hamed Mohammad Magdy , Muhammad Mohd Khairul Idlan , Iqbal Zafar , Shahid Shamsuddin 
Published: April 2023

Abstract
Extreme weather events are more detrimental to human culture and ecosystems than typical weather patterns. A multimodel ensemble (MME) of the top-performing global climate models (GCMs) to simulate 11 precipitation extremes was selected using a hybrid method to project their changes in Pakistan. It also compared the benefits of using all GCMs compared to using only selected GCMs when projecting precipitation extremes for two future periods (2020–2059) and (2060–2099) for four shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs), SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP3-7.0 and SSP5-8.5. Results showed that EC-Earth3-Veg, MRI-ESM2-0 and NorESM2-MM performed best among GCMs in simulating historical and projecting precipitation extremes. Compared to the MME of all GCMs, the uncertainty in future projections of all precipitation indices using the selected GCMs was significantly smaller. The MME median of the selected GCMs showed increased precipitation extremes over most of Pakistan. The greater increases were in one-day maximum precipitation by 6–12 mm, five-day maximum precipitation by 12–20 mm, total precipitation by 40–50 mm, 95th percentile precipitation events by greater than 30 mm, 99th percentile precipitation events by more than 9 mm, days when precipitation ≥ 4 mm by 0–4 days, days when precipitation ≥ 10 mm by 2–6 days, days when precipitation ≥ 20 mm by 1–3 days, and precipitation intensity by 1 mm/day, consecutive wet days by one day, consecutive dry days by 0–4 days in the northern high elevated areas for SSP5-8.5 in the late future. These results emphasize the greater influence of climate change on precipitation extremes in the northern, high-elevation areas, which provide the majority of the country's water. This emphasizes the necessity to adopt suitable climate change mitigation strategies for sustainable development, particularly in the country's northern regions.
An investigation of psychoactive polypharmacy and related gender-differences in older adults with dementia: A retrospective cohort study
Authors: Trenaman Shanna C , Quach Jack , Bowles Susan K , Kirkland Susan , Andrew Melissa K 
Published: April 2023

Abstract
Background: Older adults with dementia may express challenging responsive behaviours. One management strategy is pharmacologic treatment though these options have limited benefit. The limited benefit may lead to multiple treatments being prescribed.
Methods: The aim of the present study was to describe psychoactive medication polypharmacy and explore factors associated with psychoactive polypharmacy in a cohort of older adults with dementia in Nova Scotia, Canada, including a gender-stratified analysis. This was a retrospective cohort study of those aged 65 years or older with a recorded diagnosis of dementia between 2005 and 2015. Medication dispensation data was collected from April 1, 2010, or dementia diagnosis (cohort entry) to either death or March 31, 2015 (cohort exit). Psychoactive medication claims were captured. Psychoactive medication polypharmacy was defined as presence of three or more psychoactive prescription medications dispensed to one subject and overlapping for more than 30 days. Psychoactive polypharmacy episodes were described in duration, quantity, and implicated medications. Regression analysis examined factors associated with experience and frequency of psychoactive polypharmacy. All analysis were stratified by gender.
Results: The cohort included 15,819 adults with dementia (mean age 80.7 years; 70.0% female), with 54.3% (n = 15,728) receiving at least one psychoactive medication. 19.3% met the definition of psychoactive polypharmacy. Logistic regression adjusted for age at dementia diagnosis, year of dementia diagnosis, and rural or urban location of residence demonstrated for both men and women that younger age was associated with increased risk of psychoactive polypharmacy (women: OR 0.97, 95%CI[0.96, 0.98], men: OR 0.96, 95%CI[0.95, 0.97]). Men were less likely to experience psychoactive polypharmacy if their location of residence was urban (OR 0.86, 95%CI[0.74, 0.99]), but there was no significant association between location of residence (urban or rural) and polypharmacy for older women with dementia. Antidepressants were the most dispensed class, while quetiapine was the most dispensed medication.
Conclusions: This study suggests that younger adults with dementia are dispensed more psychoactive medications and that adults with dementia living in rural locations may benefit from increased access to non-pharmacological options for dementia management.
Intelligent VSM Model: A way to adopt Industry 4.0 Technologies in Manufacturing Industry
Authors: M Raja Chandra Sekar , V Anbumalar , K.P Paranitharan , K.E.K VIMAL 
Published: April 2023

Abstract
In the present scenario, the industry and manufacturers find hardship to run the business in a profitable manner by enhancing the production and efficiency of the system, Multiple factors influences the industry to meet out the customer’s requirements and to sustain in this competitive environment. The purpose of this research is to develop an Intelligent VSM Model which is used here to integrate with the Industry 4.0 and lean tools to monitor the real time manufacturing setup with recent trends in information technology. Our research is focused to develop an Intelligent VSM (IVSM) system enabled with IoT for the industry which caters the need to enhance the performance of any manufacturing setup.
A study has been conducted in an electronics component industry through the Current state IVSM and the Intelligent VSM model for the future state was designed and implemented.
The IoT enabled Future Intelligent VSM system facilitates the need of the today’s dynamic manufacturing environment scenario, which continuously monitors through Integrated Efficiency Monitoring System (IEMS). The improved performance of the system is visualized in the dashboard at the specified regular intervals. Further to improve the effectiveness of the Intelligent VSM system, Kaizen activities is been tasked in to eliminate the shortfalls and increase the efficiency in the future DVSM system. The proposed system integrates all the process in the industry to predict the uncertainty. This research work can further extend to all other manufacturing and service support system to predict the critical condition in advance.
Oral TGF-βR1 inhibitor Vactosertib promotes osteosarcoma regression by targeting tumor proliferation and enhancing anti-tumor immunity
Authors: Choi Sung Hee , Myers Jay , Tomchuck Suzanne , Bonner Melissa , Eid Saada , Kingsley Daniel , VanHeyst Kristen , Kim Seong-Jin , Kim Byung-Gyu , Huang Alex 
Published: April 2023

Abstract
Osteosarcoma (OS) is an aggressive malignant bone cancer, with refractory and metastatic disease remaining a significant challenge. Transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β) is a potent immune suppressive cytokine in OS and the TGF-β is increased in the sera of OS patients and this increase is associated with high-grade OS and lung metastases. Therefore, blocking TGF-β1 signaling may be a novel therapy for OS treatment. Here we show that blocking TGF-β1 signaling using TGF-βR1 inhibitor, Vactosertib, significantly inhibited OS proliferation in vitro and in vivo. Notably, Vactosertib inhibits c-Myc expression in the OS cells. Vactosertib increased immune effectors (IFNγ+CD8+ cells and NK cells) and inhibited immune suppressors (M2-like TAM, MDSC) in the OS tumor microenvironment. Our results suggest that inhibition of TGF-β1 signaling is an effective therapeutic strategy against OS through a multi-pronged approach that targets tumor intrinsic and extrinsic factors to achieve optimal immune-effector functions and maximal clinical response.
Neuro-camouflaging is an Indicator of Human Camouflage, an Assumption of Brain Engineering for Self-protection against Criminal Attacking
Authors: Hossain Md. Anowar 
Published: April 2023

Abstract
Every animal has camouflage behavior for self-protection against enemies. Neuro-camouflaging is a common behavior of human brain (HB) for personal protection. Neuro-physics and neuro-chemistry relates to neuro-camouflaging of HB. Camouflage physics and camouflage chemistry of HB was assumed and biologically explicated under theoretical and practical observations. The wiring structure of HB-neuron-cerebrospinal fluid is influenced by cortical excitability versus frightened symptom for having an artificial potency of neuro-camouflaging. Hence, neuro-camouflaging response of HB shows a tendency of self-protection behavior which tends to the action of human-camouflaging against criminal attacking.
Targeted Delivery of Interleukin-12 Plasmid into HepG2 cells through Folic Acid Conjugated Graphene Oxide Nanocarrier
Authors: Safari Farshad , Bardania Hasan , Dehshahri Ali , Hallaj-Nezhadi Somayeh , Asfaram Arash , Mohammadi Vahid , Baneshi Marzieh , Mirzaei Ali , Bahramianpour Sima , Khalvati Bahman 
Published: April 2023

Abstract
Background
Successful gene therapy relies on carriers to transfer genetic materials with high efficiency and low toxicity in a targeted manner. To improve targeted cell binding and uptake, we developed and synthesized a new gene delivery vector based on graphene oxide (GO) modified by branched polyethyleneimine (BPEI) and folic acid (FA).
Methods and Results
The GO-PEI-FA nanocarriers exhibit less toxicity as compared to the unmodified PEI, as well as having potential efficacy in compressing and protecting pDNA. Interestingly, by increasing the polymer content in the polyplex formulation, the plasmid transfer ability increased. Graphene oxide substitution of PEI at N/P:10 on HepG2 cell line, improved hIL-12 expression by up to around eight folds relative to the simple PEI, which is 2-fold higher than Go-PEI-FA on Hek293 at the same N/P ratio.
Conclusions
Hence, the GO-PEI-FA described in this study might introduce as a targeting nanocarrier for delivery of hIL-12 plasmid into the cells overexpressing folic acid receptors, such as hepatocellular carcinoma.
Ocular instillation of conditioned medium from mesenchymal stem cells is effective for dry eye syndrome by improving corneal barrier function
Authors: Imaizumi Tsutomu , Hayashi Ryuhei , Kudo Yuji , Li Xiaoqin , Yamaguchi Kaito , Shibata Shun , Okubo Toru , Ishi Tsuyoshi , Honma Yoichi , Nishida Kohji 
Published: April 2023

Abstract
Dry eye syndrome (DES) is a chronic ocular disease that induces epithelial damage to the cornea by decreasing tear production and quality. Adequate treatment options have not been established for severe DES such as Sjogren’s syndrome due to complicated pathological conditions. To solve this problem, we focused on the conditioned medium of human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hAdMSC-CM), which have multiple therapeutic properties. Here, we showed that hAdMSC-CM suppressed Benzalkonium Chloride (BAC)-induced cytotoxicity and inflammation in human corneal epithelial cells (hCECs). In addition, hAdMSC-CM increased the expression level and regulated the localisation of barrier function-related components, and improved the BAC-induced barrier dysfunction in hCECs. RNA-seq analysis and inhibition experiments revealed that the effects of hAdMSC-CM were associated with the TGFβ and JAK-STAT signalling pathways. Moreover, in DES model rats with exorbital and intraorbital lacrimal gland excision, ocular instillation of hAdMSC-CM suppressed corneal epithelial damage by improving barrier dysfunction of the cornea. Thus, we demonstrated that hAdMSC-CM has multiple therapeutic properties associated with TGFβ and JAK-STAT signalling pathways, and ocular instillation of hAdMSC-CM may serve as an innovative therapeutic agent for DES by improving corneal barrier function.