bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Transgenerational effects of multiple mating in Spodoptera litura Fabricius (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)
Authors: Di Xue‐yuan , Yan Bin , Liu Jian‐feng , Wu Cheng‐xu , Yu Xiao‐fei , Smith Cecil L. , Yang Mao‐fa 
Published: June 2023

AbstractPolyandrous mating can result in sexual conflict and/or promote the evolution of mating patterns. Does multiple mating by females support the genetic benefits hypothesis and can it be validated as an evolutionary strategy? If we are to decipher the consequences of sexual interactions and understand the interplay of sexual conflict and multiple generational benefits, the transgenerational effects need to be followed over multiple generations. We investigated the effects of three mating patterns, single mating, repeated mating, and multiple mating, on parental Spodoptera litura copulation behavior, and then identified the impact on the development, survival, and fecundity of the F1 and F2 generations. Fecundity was not significantly affected in the F1 generation but was substantially enhanced in the F2 generation. There was a reversal of offspring fitness across the F2 generations from the F1 generations in progeny produced by multiple mating. In addition, the intrinsic rate of increase, finite rate of increase and net reproductive rate in the F1 generation the multiple mating treatment was significantly lower than in the single mating treatment, but there was no apparent effect on the F2 generation. Repeated mating had no significant effects on progeny fitness. We postulate that multiple mating imposes cross‐transgenerational effects and may ultimately influence multigenerational fitness in S. litura.
Drivers of the spatiotemporal patterns of the mangrove crab metacommunity in a tropical bay
Authors: Gu Xuan , Chen Guogui , Lin Yufeng , Wang Wenqing , Wang Mao 
Published: June 2023

AbstractRevealing community patterns and driving forces is essential in community ecology and a prerequisite for effective management and conservation efforts. However, the mangrove ecosystem and its important fauna group such as the crabs, still lack multi‐processes research under metacommunity framework, resulting in evidence and theorical application gaps. To fill these gaps, we selected China's most representative mangrove bay reserve in tropical zone as a stable experimental system and conducted a seasonal investigation (July 2020, October 2020, January 2021, and April 2021) of mangrove crabs. We performed a multi‐approach analysis using both pattern‐based and mechanistic method to distinguish the processes driving the mangrove crab metacommunity. Our results showed that the crab metacommunity exhibits a Clementsian pattern in the bay‐wide mangrove ecosystem but is influenced by both local environmental heterogeneity and spatial processes, thus representing a combined paradigm of species sorting and mass effect. Moreover, the long‐distance spatial constraints are more pronounced compared to the local environmental factors. This is reflected in the greater importance of the broad‐scale Moran's Eigenvector Maps, the distance‐decay pattern of similarity, and the difference in beta diversity dominated by the turnover component. This pattern changes throughout the year, mainly due to changes in dominant functional groups caused by the stress of changes in water salinity and temperature induced by air temperature and precipitation. This research provides multi‐dimension research data and relevant analysis, offering clear evidence for understanding the patterns and related driving forces of crab metacommunity in tropical bay mangroves, and verifies the applicability of some general laws in the system. Future studies can address more diverse spatiotemporal scales, gaining a clearer understanding to serve the conservation of mangrove ecosystems and economically important fishery species.
Long‐term subtropical grassland plots take a long time to change: Replacement is more important than richness differences for beta diversity
Authors: Ward David , Kirkman Kevin , Morris Craig 
Published: June 2023

AbstractWe studied β diversity of grasses in a subtropical grassland over 60 years in South Africa. We examined the effects of burning and mowing on 132 large plots. We sought to determine the effects of burning and mowing, and mowing frequency, on the replacement of species and the species richness. We conducted the study at Ukulinga, research farm of the University of KwaZulu‐Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa (29°24′E, 30°24′S) from 1950–2010. Plots were burned annually, biennially, triennially, and a control (unburned). Plots were mowed in spring, late summer, spring plus late summer, and a control (unmowed). We calculated β diversity, with a focus on replacement and richness differences. We also used distance‐based redundancy analyses to examine the relative effects of replacement and richness differences on mowing and burning. We used beta regressions to test for the effect of soil depth and its interactions with mowing and burning. There was no significant change in grass beta diversity until 1995. Thereafter, there were changes in β diversity that demonstrated the primary effects of summer mowing frequency. There was no significant effect of richness differences but a strong effect of replacement post‐1995. There was a significant interaction between mowing frequency and soil depth in one of the analyses. Changes in grassland composition took a long time to manifest themselves and were unapparent prior to 1988. However, there was a change in sampling strategy prior to 1988, from point hits to nearest plants, that may also have influenced the rates of changes in replacement and richness differences. Using β‐diversity indices, we found that mowing was more important than burning that burning frequency was unimportant, and there was a significant interaction effect between mowing and soil depth in one of the analyses.
Byzantine attack detection using optimized dual‐channel capsule generative adversarial network for securing cognitive radio network
Authors: A. Darwin Nesakumar , S. Rukmani Devi , T. M. Inbamalar , K. N. Pavithra 
Published: June 2023

AbstractCognitive Radio Networks (CRN) is emerged as a solution for the problem of spectrum scarcity as it achieves transmission opportunities in under‐utilized spectrum bands for primary users (PUs). Therefore, in this manuscript, an efficient Byzantine attack detection using optimized Dual‐Channel Capsule Generative Adversarial Network and Auto‐Metric Graph Neural Network (AMGNN) to secure Cognitive Radio Network. Here, two types of layers are utilized that is processing layer and decision layer. In processing layer, the dataset generation based on emission matrix from Hidden Markov Model (HMM) contains labeled data for the legitimate secondary users including malicious Byzantine attackers. In decision layer, the generated dataset is given to Dual‐Channel Capsule Generative Adversarial Network (DCCGAN) to classify secondary users (SUs) as Normal or Attacker. Normally, DCCGAN not exposes any optimization techniques adoption to compute optimum parameters for assuring exact prediction. Thus, capuchin search algorithm (CSA) is employed for optimizing DCCGAN weight parameters. Once the attack is detected, then alert information is fed to AMGNN opportunistic spectrum access. Proposed model executed at MATLAB and performance analyzed with performance metrics like system utility rate Vs available spectrum range, Attack detection rate, Accuracy, Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR), and throughput. The proposed method attains higher accuracy of 96.31%, 97.06%, 93.52%, higher system utility rate of 97.22%, 91.39%, 96.41%, and higher attack detection rate of 96.25%, 94.12%, 97.15% analyzed to the existing models, such as BAD‐AESA‐SCRN, BAD‐BMHHO‐ENN‐SCRN, and BAD‐HCM‐EELM‐SCRN respectively.
Effect of macadamia oil cake on blood lipid characteristics and intestinal microbiota in hyperlipidemic rat
Authors: Liu Yao , Xie Tengfei , Wu Shijun , Yang Guang , Zhang Jinyun , Song Jie , Yang Guifang 
Published: June 2023

AbstractMacadamia oil cake (MOC) is a type of macadamia nut by‐product, that is extremely rich in amino acids and has beneficial health effects. It lowers blood lipid levels and regulates the intestinal microbiota. MOC effectively attenuated total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL‐C), and high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL‐C) levels in model rats. Depending on the morphology of the colon, MOC can effectively attenuate damage to the tissue structure. The 16S rDNA gene of the rat intestinal microbiota was sequenced using Illumina PE250 high‐throughput sequencing technology, and the changes in the intestinal microbiota in each group are discussed. Supplementing MOC at different doses significantly increased the microbiota of Dorea, Erysipelotrichaceae, Stercoris, etc. in the intestinal tracts of rats fed a high‐fat diet. Therefore, MOC can be included in lipid healthy dietary patterns to lower lipid characteristics and restructure the intestinal microbiota. Future clinical trials are required to determine the therapeutic effects and mechanisms of hypolipidemia.
Geotechnical challenges and innovations in urban underground construction – The Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit project
Authors: Khoo Chee‐Min , Ooi Teik‐Aun 
Published: June 2023

AbstractThe Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit (KVMRT) project involves the construction of an urban passenger transport system, i.e., Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system, together with the existing urban rail network, will form the backbone of the public transport system in the Greater Kuala Lumpur/Klang Valley region in Malaysia. The first MRT line implemented is the 47 km Kajang Line, of which 9.5 km is underground tunnels with seven underground stations. Construction of the line began on 8 July 2011 and achieved the full line opening on 17 July 2017. The second MRT line―Putrajaya Line―began fully operations on 16 March 2023, stretches from Sungai Buloh to Serdang and ends at Putrajaya for a length of 57.7 km, of which 13.5 km is underground tunnels with 10 new underground stations. Like all other metro underground stations/tunnels designed as part of the urban city, the KVMRT underground construction faces challenges from a technical (engineering design and construction) as well as social (environmental and land related) point of view. Needless to say, underground construction in Klang Valley is intensified with the inherent geotechnical challenges presented by complex ground conditions ranging from hard granite, heterogeneous Kenny Hill formation and extreme karstic limestone with fully developed weathered profiles to soft recent deposits including alluvium and mine tailing that is under‐consolidated in places due to past mining activities. The development of this large‐scale infrastructure project has not only opened up tremendous works and new frontier for tunnelling and geotechnical engineering in Malaysia, but it also provided a wealth of information of unique geotechnical challenges/accomplishments as well as technology breakthrough and design innovation in underground engineering. This article discusses some aspects of geotechnical challenges and interesting lessons learnt as well as numerous innovations embedded into this highly complex urban underground construction project.
Structural plasticity in the entorhinal and perirhinal cortices following hippocampal lesions in rhesus monkeys
Authors: Villard Justine , Chareyron Loïc J. , Piguet Olivia , Lambercy Pauline , Lonchampt Gianni , Banta Lavenex Pamela , Amaral David G. , Lavenex Pierre 
Published: June 2023

AbstractImmature neurons expressing the Bcl2 protein are present in various regions of the mammalian brain, including the amygdala and the entorhinal and perirhinal cortices. Their functional role is unknown but we have previously shown that neonatal and adult hippocampal lesions increase their differentiation in the monkey amygdala. Here, we assessed whether hippocampal lesions similarly affect immature neurons in the entorhinal and perirhinal cortices. Since Bcl2‐positive cells were found mainly in areas Eo, Er, and Elr of the entorhinal cortex and in layer II of the perirhinal cortex, we also used Nissl‐stained sections to determine the number and soma size of immature and mature neurons in layer III of area Er and layer II of area 36 of the perirhinal cortex. We found different structural changes in these regions following hippocampal lesions, which were influenced by the time of the lesion. In neonate‐lesioned monkeys, the number of immature neurons in the entorhinal and perirhinal cortices was generally higher than in controls. The number of mature neurons was also higher in layer III of area Er of neonate‐lesioned monkeys but no differences were found in layer II of area 36. In adult‐lesioned monkeys, the number of immature neurons in the entorhinal cortex was lower than in controls but did not differ from controls in the perirhinal cortex. The number of mature neurons in layer III of area Er did not differ from controls, but the number of small, mature neurons in layer II of area 36 was lower than in controls. In sum, hippocampal lesions impacted populations of mature and immature neurons in discrete regions and layers of the entorhinal and perirhinal cortices, which are interconnected with the amygdala and provide major cortical inputs to the hippocampus. These structural changes may contribute to some functional recovery following hippocampal injury in an age‐dependent manner.
Predictors of hospital length of stay and mortality among COVID‐19 inpatients during 2020–2021 in Hormozgan Province of Iran: A retrospective cohort study
Authors: Mastaneh Zahra , Mouseli Ali , Mohseni Shokrollah , Dadipoor Sara 
Published: June 2023

AbstractBackground and AimsAbout one‐fifth of patients with COVID‐19 need to be hospitalized. Predicting factors affecting the hospital length of stay (LOS) can be effective in prioritizing patients, planning for services, and preventing the increase in LOS and death of patients. The present study aimed to identify the factors that predict LOS and mortality in COVID‐19 patients in a retrospective cohort study.MethodsA total of 27,859 patients were admitted to 22 hospitals from February 20, 2020 to June 21, 2021. The data collected from 12,454 patients were screened according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The data were captured from the MCMC (Medical Care Monitoring Center) database. The study tracked patients until their hospital discharge or death. Hospital LOS and mortality were assessed as the study outcomes.ResultsAs the results revealed, 50.8% of patients were male and 49.2% were female. The mean hospital LOS of the discharged patients was 4.94. Yet, 9.1% of the patients (n = 1133) died. Among the predictors of mortality and long hospital LOS were the age above 60, admission to the ICU, coughs, respiratory distress, intubation, oxygen level less than 93%, cigarette and drug abuse, and a history of chronic diseases. Masculinity, gastrointestinal symptoms, and cancer were the effective variables in mortality, and positive CT was a factor significantly affecting the hospital LOS.ConclusionPaying special attention to high‐risk patients and modifiable risk factors such as heart disease, liver disease, and other chronic diseases can diminish the complications and mortality rate of COVID‐19. Providing training, especially for those who care for patients experiencing respiratory distress such as nurses and operating room personnel can improve the qualifications and skills of medical staff. Also, ensuring the availability of sufficient supply of medical equipment is strongly recommended.
Global incidence, mortality, and burden of esophageal cancer, and its correlation with SDI, metabolic risks, fasting plasma glucose, LDL cholesterol, and body mass index: An ecological study
Authors: Mazidimoradi Afrooz , Ghavidel Fatemeh , Momenimovahed Zohre , Allahqoli Leila , Salehiniya Hamid 
Published: June 2023

AbstractBackground and AimsEsophageal cancer (EC) is one of the most common gastrointestinal malignancies. The geographical variation shows the influence of genetic factors, ethnicity, and distribution of various risk factors. Accurate knowledge of EC epidemiology at the global level will help to develop management strategies. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the global and regional disease burden of EC, including the incidence, mortality, and burden of this cancer in 2019.MethodsIncidence, mortality, disability‐adjusted life years (DALYs), and age‐standardized rates (ASRs) associated with EC in 204 countries in different classifications were extracted from the global burden of disease study. After collecting information on metabolic risks, fasting plasma glucose (FPG), low‐density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and body mass index (body mass index), the relationship between age‐standardized incidence rate (ASIR), mortality rate, and DALYs with these variables was determined.ResultsIn 2019, 534,563 new cases of EC were reported worldwide. The highest ASIR is related to regions with medium sociodemographic index (SDI), and high middle income according to the World Bank, the Asian continent, and the western Pacific region. In 2019, a total of 498,067 deaths from EC were recorded. The highest mortality rate due to ASR is in countries with medium SDI and countries with upper middle income of the World Bank. In 2019, 1,166,017 DALYs were reported due to EC. The ASIR, ASDR, and DALYS ASR of EC showed a significant negative linear correlation with SDI, metabolic risks, high FPG, high LDL cholesterol, and high BMI (p < 0.05).ConclusionsThe results of this study showed significant gender and geographic variation in the incidence, mortality, and burden of EC. It is recommended to design and implement preventive approaches based on known risk factors and improve quality and access to efficient and appropriate treatments.
AhR agonist tapinarof ameliorates lupus autoimmunity by suppressing Tfh cell differentiation via regulation of the JAK2‐STAT3 signaling pathway
Authors: Zhang Ying , Pan Yanyan , Zhang Peiyi , Wang Fang , Han Ying , Li Kailin , Jiang Wen , Wang Jue , Luan Yun , Xin Qian 
Published: June 2023

AbstractBackgroundThe aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is a critical regulator of the pathogenesis of autoimmune disorders. We aimed to investigate the therapeutic effect of the AhR agonist tapinarof during the development of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).MethodsMRL/lpr mice were intraperitoneally injected with 1 or 5 mg/kg tapinarof for 6 weeks. Kidney histopathology was evaluated using hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and Periodic‐Acid‐Schiff (PAS) staining. Immunofluorescence microscopy was performed to detect immune complex renal depositions. Flow cytometry (FCM) analysis was carried out to determine the proportions of T and B cell subsets. Realtime qPCR was used to quantify the expression of Tfh cell‐associated genes. We conducted an in vitro polarization experiment to observe the effect of tapinarof on Tfh differentiation. Western blotting was used to detect the expression of target proteins.ResultsWe found that tapinarof treatment ameliorated lupus phenotypes, including splenomegaly, lymph node enlargement, kidney damages, immune complex deposition, and excessive secretion of antibodies. Additionally, we showed that Treg subpopulation frequencies significantly increased in MRL/lpr mice treated with tapinarof, while the proportion of Th1/Th2 cells was reduced after tapinarof administration. Moreover, tapinarof suppressed Tfh cell differentiation and germinal center (GC) reaction in vivo. The inhibitory effect of tapinarof on Tfh cells was further verified in the in vitro Tfh cell polarization experiment. Realtime qPCR revealed that tapinarof repressed the expression of Tfh signature genes. Mechanistically, tapinarof significantly inhibited the phosphorylation levels of JAK2 and STAT3. The capacity for Tfh differentiation was partially rescued by the STAT3 activator Colivelin TFA. Furthermore, our in vitro Tfh polarization experiments indicated that tapinarof suppressed Tfh cell development in SLE.ConclusionsOur data demonstrated that tapinarof modulated the JAK2‐STAT3 pathway to suppress Tfh cell differentiation for the treatment of lupus symptoms in MRL/lpr mice.
Astrocytic deletion of protein kinase R‐like ER kinase (PERK) does not affect learning and memory in aged mice but worsens outcome from experimental stroke
Authors: Lahiri Anirudhya , Walton James C. , Zhang Ning , Billington Neil , DeVries A. Courtney , Meares Gordon P. 
Published: June 2023

AbstractAging is associated with cognitive decline and is the main risk factor for a myriad of conditions including neurodegeneration and stroke. Concomitant with aging is the progressive accumulation of misfolded proteins and loss of proteostasis. Accumulation of misfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) leads to ER stress and activation of the unfolded protein response (UPR). The UPR is mediated, in part, by the eukaryotic initiation factor 2α (eIF2α) kinase protein kinase R‐like ER kinase (PERK). Phosphorylation of eIF2α reduces protein translation as an adaptive mechanism but this also opposes synaptic plasticity. PERK, and other eIF2α kinases, have been widely studied in neurons where they modulate both cognitive function and response to injury. The impact of astrocytic PERK signaling in cognitive processes was previously unknown. To examine this, we deleted PERK from astrocytes (AstroPERKKO) and examined the impact on cognitive functions in middle‐aged and old mice of both sexes. Additionally, we tested the outcome following experimental stroke using the transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) model. Tests of short‐term and long‐term learning and memory as well as of cognitive flexibility in middle‐aged and old mice revealed that astrocytic PERK does not regulate these processes. Following MCAO, AstroPERKKO had increased morbidity and mortality. Collectively, our data demonstrate that astrocytic PERK has limited impact on cognitive function and has a more prominent role in the response to neural injury.