bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Identification of a necroptosis-related gene signature as a novel prognostic biomarker of cholangiocarcinoma
Authors: Xu Lixia , Gao Xueping , Xing Jiyuan , Guo Zhixian 
Published: March 2023

BackgroundCholangiocarcinoma (CHOL) is the most prevalent type of malignancy and the second most common form of primary liver cancer, resulting in high rates of morbidity and mortality. Necroptosis is a type of regulated cell death that appears to be involved in the regulation of several aspects of cancer biology, including tumorigenesis, metastasis, and cancer immunity. This study aimed to construct a necroptosis-related gene (NRG) signature to investigate the prognosis of CHOL patients using an integrated bioinformatics analysis.MethodsCHOL patient data were acquired from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) (GSE89748, GSE107943) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) databases, with NRGs data from the necroptosis pathway in the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database. Univariate and multivariate regression analyses were performed to establish the NRG signatures. Kaplan–Meier (KM) curves were used to evaluate the prognosis of patients with CHOL. Functional enrichment analysis was performed to identify key NRG-associated biological signaling pathways. We also applied integrative multi-omics analysis to the high- and low-risk score groups. Spearman’s rank correlation was used to clarify the relationship between the NRG signature and immune infiltration.Results65 differentially expressed (DE) NRGs were screened, five of which were selected to establish the prognostic signature of NRGS based on multivariate Cox regression analysis. We observed that low-risk patients survived significantly longer than high-risk patients. We found that patients with high-risk scores experienced higher immune cell infiltration, drug resistance, and more somatic mutations than patients with low-risk scores. We further found that sensitivities to GW843682X, mitomycin C, rapamycin, and S-trityl-L-cysteine were significantly higher in the low-risk group than in the high-risk group. Finally, we validated the expression of five NRGs in CHOL tissues using the TCGA database, HPA database and our clinical data.ConclusionThese findings demonstrate that the five-NRG prognostic signature for CHOL patients is reasonably accurate and valid, and it may prove to be of considerable value for the treatment and prognosis of CHOL patients in the future.
Extending the dosing interval of COVID-19 vaccination leads to higher rates of seroconversion in people living with HIV
Authors: Wang Yi , Li Jianhua , Zhang Wenhui , Liu Shourong , Miao Liangbin , Li Zhaoyi , Fu Ai , Bao Jianfeng , Huang Lili , Zheng Liping , Li Er , Zhang Yanjun , Yu Jianhua 
Published: March 2023

IntroductionVaccination against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is an effective way of protecting individuals from severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, immune responses to vaccination vary considerably. This study dynamically assessed the neutralizing antibody (NAb) responses to the third dose of the inactivated COVID-19 vaccine administered to people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV; PLWH) with different inoculation intervals.MethodsA total of 171 participants were recruited: 63 PLWH were placed in cohort 1 (with 3-month interval between the second and third doses), while 95 PLWH were placed in cohort 2 (with 5-month interval between the second and third doses); 13 individuals were enrolled as healthy controls (HCs). And risk factors associated with seroconversion failure after vaccination were identified via Cox regression analysis.ResultsAt 6 months after the third vaccination, PLWH in cohort 2 had higher NAb levels (GMC: 64.59 vs 21.99, P &lt; 0.0001) and seroconversion rate (68.42% vs 19.05%, P &lt; 0.0001). A weaker neutralizing activity against the SARSCoV-2 Delta variant was observed (GMT: 3.38 and 3.63, P &lt; 0.01) relative to the wildtype strain (GMT: 13.68 and 14.83) in both cohorts. None of the participants (including HCs or PLWH) could mount a NAb response against Omicron BA.5.2. In the risk model, independent risk factors for NAb seroconversion failure were the vaccination interval (hazed ration [HR]: 0.316, P &lt; 0.001) and lymphocyte counts (HR: 0.409, P &lt; 0.001). Additionally, PLWH who exhibited NAb seroconversion after vaccination had fewer initial COVID-19 symptoms when infected with Omicron.DiscussionThis study demonstrated that the third vaccination elicited better NAb responses in PLWH, when a longer interval was used between vaccinations. Since post-vaccination seroconversion reduced the number of symptoms induced by Omicron, efforts to protect PLWH with risk factors for NAb seroconversion failure may be needed during future Omicron surges.Clinical trial registrationhttps://beta.clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05075070, identifier NCT05075070.
Effect of holding time on the properties of porous ceramics with high-volume polished slag and its pore structure characteristics
Authors: Fu Siyuan , Liu Rongjin , Wei Jiazhan , lv Wenxin , Zhang Chengqiang , Ouyang Zijian 
Published: March 2023

Poor utilization of ceramic polishing slag and uneven foaming at high temperatures are some of the crucial problems associated with the formation of porous ceramics. To overcome this, the present study was designed to prepare closed-ended polishing slag porous ceramics by controlling the holding time. Scanning electron microscope, XRD, and X-CT were used to investigate the effects of holding time on the microstructure, pore structure, and phase composition of porous ceramics. The results showed that the holding time had a great influence on the physical properties of the samples, and it provides uniform porosity without significant change in the composition of the material phase of the porous ceramics. Under a holding time of 30 min, volume density reached up to 0.68 g/cm3, while the water absorption and the apparent porosity were 27.33% and 15.49%, respectively. The compressive strength reached 13.07 MPa, and the pore size distribution is mainly between 25 μm and 100 μm, of which the d30 pore diameter accounted for about 28%, the d50 pore diameter accounted for 25%, the d70 pore diameter accounted for 12%, and the d90 pore diameter accounted for 10% of the pore size distribution. In conclusion, the present study clearly shows that the pore structure and properties of porous ceramics can be effectively controlled by controlling the holding time while using a high volume of polishing slag. The feasibility of X-CT for studying the pore distribution inside porous ceramics was verified.
Mechanical, durability and thermal properties of foamed concrete reinforced with synthetic twisted bundle macro-fibers
Authors: Othuman Mydin Md Azree , Mohd Nawi Mohd Nasrun , Omar Roshartini , Dulaimi Anmar , Najm Hadee Mohammed , Mahmood Shaker , Sabri Sabri Mohanad Muayad 
Published: March 2023

The use of foamed concrete (FC) in the construction sector has been rapidly growing over the past few years as a result of the several advantages it possesses in comparison to traditional high-strength concrete. FC, on the other hand, suffers from a number of deficiencies, such as brittleness, limited ductility, high porosity, excessive drying shrinkage, little resistance to cracking and deformation. To improve the tensile strength and fracture resistance of FC, engineers usually opt for steel fibre or polymer fibre as the reinforcement material of choice. Hence this research aims to investigate the potential utilization of synthetic twisted bundle macro-fibers (SF) in FC to enhance its durability, mechanical and thermal properties. The SF were included in the FC in varied amounts of weight fractions, including 0%, 1%, 2%, 3%, 4%, and 5% respectively. FC was produced at three low densities, precisely 1,000, 1,300, and 1,600 kg/m3, which were all prepared. Compression, flexural, splitting tensile, flow table, porosity, water absorption and thermal conductivity tests were conducted to establish the thermal, mechanical and durability properties of SF-reinforced FC. The findings imply that the integration of SF into FC results in a significant enhancement of the material’s strength and thermal conductivity properties while simultaneously lowering the material’s capacity for water absorption and porosity. For the purpose of improving the material’s mechanical, durability and thermal properties, the weight percentage of SF that was ideal ranged from 3% to 4%. The incorporation of SF into FC resulted in a rise in the material’s ductility, and the specimens maintained their integrity from the loading stage to failure. The SF is able to lessen the cracks that were already present in the FC and prevent the formation of additional cracks in the FC.
Married women pre-marital HIV testing status in Ethiopia: Individual and community level factor analysis
Authors: Birhanu Molla Yigzaw , Ketema Daniel Bekele , Desta Melaku , Habtegiorgis Samuel Derbie , Mengist Belayneh , Alamneh Alehegn Aderaw , Abeje Ayenew Negesse , Tegegne Eniyew , Mengist Aytenew Geremew , Dessalegn Migbar , Bekele Getamesay Molla , Jemberie Selamawit Shita 
Published: March 2023

IntroductionMarriage between serodiscordant individuals accounts for 65–85% of new infections. Pre-marital Human Immune Virus (HIV) testing opens the door for HIV infection prevention and control. There are no studies that have evaluated the coverage and factors influencing pre-marital HIV testing at the community level in Ethiopia.MethodsThis study was conducted using 10,008 samples of data extracted from Ethiopian demographic and health surveys (EDHS), 2016. To identify individual and community level factors a multi-level binary logistic regression model was used. Among fitted models, “full” model was taken as the best model. To declare the presence or absence of significant association with pre-marital HIV testing, a p-value &lt; 0.05 with confidence interval (CI) was used.ResultsIn Ethiopia, 21.4% (95% CI: 20.6, 22.2%) of study participants had pre-marital HIV testing. Age 35–49 years (AOR = 0.25; 95% CI: 0.09, 0.66), educated (AOR = 1.76; 95% CI: 1.17, 2.79), rich (AOR = 1.95; 95% CI: 1.13, 3.55), having media exposure (AOR = 1.54; 95% CI: 1.30, 4.71), and high community level literacy (AOR = 0.38; 95% CI: 0.22, 0.66) were factors significantly associated with pre-marital HIV testing.ConclusionThe low coverage of pre-marital HIV testing in Ethiopia is insufficient to have a significant influence on the HIV/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) epidemic. Information dissemination to create awareness about human rights and public health implications of pre-marital HIV testing áre necessary while it is made mandatory.
Exploring the differences between sole silages of gramineous forages and mixed silages with forage legumes using 16S/ITS full-length sequencing
Authors: Lai Xianjun , Wang Haiyan , Yan Junfeng , Zhang Yizheng , Yan Lang 
Published: March 2023

Background/ObjectiveSilage characteristics of grass materials directly affect their silage qualities. To expand the source of silage raw materials and develop mixed silages underlined by exploring the positive interactions between forage grasses and legumes, three gramineous grasses, Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum), king grass (Pennisetum sinese), and forage maize (Zea mays) were separately mixed ensiled with a combination of four forage legumes including Medicago sativa, Vicia villosa, Vicia sativa, and Trifolium repens.MethodsThe chemical composition and fermentation quality of the mixed silages were analyzed and compared with those of the sole silages of these three grasses, as well as the diversity of microbial communities, through the 16S/ITS full-length sequencing.ResultsThe results showed that the inclusion of forage legumes could somewhat improve the fermentation quality, as indicated by significantly (p &lt; 0.05) higher crude protein and lactic acid contents while lower neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber contents and pH values, compared with the sole silages. Among the three types of mixed silages, the mixed king grass had the highest dry matter and crude protein content as well as lowest neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent fiber content. Meanwhile, the bacterial and fungal communities in the mixed silages were influenced by increased the relative abundance of lactic acid bacteria, which inhibited the proliferation of undesirable bacteria, such as Hafnia alvei, Enterobacter cloacae, and Serratia proteamaculanss. Co-occurrence networks identified 32 nodes with 164 positive and 18 negative correlations in bacteria and 80 nodes with two negative and 76 positive correlations in fungi during fermentation.ConclusionInclusion of forage legume to grasses can improve the fermentation quality and optimize the structure of microbial community, which appears to be a feasible strategy to enhance the forage resource utilization.
High prevalence of fluconazole resistant Candida tropicalis among candiduria samples in China: An ignored matter of concern
Authors: Fan Xin , Tsui Clement K. M. , Chen Xi , Wang Peng , Liu Zhen-jia , Yang Chun-xia 
Published: March 2023

IntroductionThe rapid rise of azole resistance in Candida tropicalis causing invasive infections has become a public health concern; however, the prevalence of resistant isolates in urine samples was not well studied, because the clinical significance of candiduria was not unambiguous due to possible host colonization.MethodsWe performed a 12-year laboratory-based surveillance study of C. tropicalis causing either invasive infection or candiduria and studied their susceptibility profiles to common antifungal drugs. The complete coding domain sequence of the ERG11 gene was amplified in all fluconazole resistant isolates, and aligned with the wild-type sequence to detect nucleotide mutations.ResultsA total of 519 unique C. tropicalis strains isolates, 69.9% of which were isolated from urine samples and remaining 30.1% were invasive strains. Overall, 16.5% isolates were confirmed to be resistant to fluconazole, of which 91.9% were cross-resistant voriconazole. Of note, at the beginning of surveillance (2010–2011), the fluconazole resistance rates were low in both candiduria and invasive groups (6.8% and 5.9%, respectively). However, the resistant rate in the candiduria group significantly increased to 29.5% since 2012–2013 (p = 0.001) and stayed high since then, whilst the resistance rate in the invasive group only showed a gradually increasing trends till 2021 (p &gt; 0.05). Sequence analysis of ERG11 from fluconazole-resistant strains revealed the prevalence of A395T/W mutations were relatively low (16.7%) in the beginning but reached 87.5–100% after 2014. Moreover, the A395W heterozygous mutation isolates became predominant (&gt;60% of resistant strains) after 2016, and indeed isolates carrying corresponding amino acid substitution (Y132F) was highly resistant to fluconazole with MIC50 exceeded 256 μg/ml.ConclusionOur study revealed high azole resistant rate in candiduria with its increasing trends observed much earlier than stains causing invasive infections. Given antimicrobial resistance as a critical “One Health” issue, the emergence of antifungal resistance in Candida species that are common commensal colonizers in the human body should be concerned.
A low-cost recombinant glycoconjugate vaccine confers immunogenicity and protection against enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli infections in mice
Authors: Williams Asher J. , Warfel Katherine F. , Desai Primit , Li Jie , Lee Jen-Jie , Wong Derek A. , Nguyen Phuong M. , Qin Yufan , Sobol Sarah E. , Jewett Michael C. , Chang Yung-Fu , DeLisa Matthew P. 
Published: March 2023

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is the primary etiologic agent of traveler’s diarrhea and a major cause of diarrheal disease and death worldwide, especially in infants and young children. Despite significant efforts over the past several decades, an affordable vaccine that appreciably decreases mortality and morbidity associated with ETEC infection among children under the age of 5 years remains an unmet aspirational goal. Here, we describe robust, cost-effective biosynthetic routes that leverage glycoengineered strains of non-pathogenic E. coli or their cell-free extracts for producing conjugate vaccine candidates against two of the most prevalent O serogroups of ETEC, O148 and O78. Specifically, we demonstrate site-specific installation of O-antigen polysaccharides (O-PS) corresponding to these serogroups onto licensed carrier proteins using the oligosaccharyltransferase PglB from Campylobacter jejuni. The resulting conjugates stimulate strong O-PS-specific humoral responses in mice and elicit IgG antibodies that possess bactericidal activity against the cognate pathogens. We also show that one of the prototype conjugates decorated with serogroup O148 O-PS reduces ETEC colonization in mice, providing evidence of vaccine-induced mucosal protection. We anticipate that our bacterial cell-based and cell-free platforms will enable creation of multivalent formulations with the potential for broad ETEC serogroup protection and increased access through low-cost biomanufacturing.
Associating brain imaging phenotypes and genetic risk factors via a hypergraph based netNMF method
Authors: Zhuang Junli , Tian Jinping , Xiong Xiaoxing , Li Taihan , Chen Zhengwei , Chen Rong , Chen Jun , Li Xiang 
Published: March 2023

AbstractAlzheimer’s disease (AD) is a severe neurodegenerative disease for which there is currently no effective treatment. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is an early disease that may progress to AD. The effective diagnosis of AD and MCI in the early stage has important clinical significance.MethodsTo this end, this paper proposed a hypergraph-based netNMF (HG-netNMF) algorithm for integrating structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) of AD and MCI with corresponding gene expression profiles.ResultsHypergraph regularization assumes that regions of interest (ROIs) and genes were located on a non-linear low-dimensional manifold and can capture the inherent prevalence of two modalities of data and mined high-order correlation features of the two data. Further, this paper used the HG-netNMF algorithm to construct a brain structure connection network and a protein interaction network (PPI) with potential role relationships, mine the risk (ROI) and key genes of both, and conduct a series of bioinformatics analyses.ConclusionFinally, this paper used the risk ROI and key genes of the AD and MCI groups to construct diagnostic models. The AUC of the AD group and MCI group were 0.8 and 0.797, respectively.
Do different robot appearances change emotion recognition in children with ASD?
Authors: Pinto-Bernal Maria J. , Sierra M. Sergio D. , Munera Marcela , Casas Diego , Villa-Moreno Adriana , Frizera-Neto Anselmo , Stoelen Martin F. , Belpaeme Tony , Cifuentes Carlos A. 
Published: March 2023

IntroductionSocially Assistive Robotics has emerged as a potential tool for rehabilitating cognitive and developmental disorders in children with autism. Social robots found in the literature are often able to teach critical social skills, such as emotion recognition and physical interaction. Even though there are promising results in clinical studies, there is a lack of guidelines on selecting the appropriate robot and how to design and implement the child-robot interaction.MethodsThis work aims to evaluate the impacts of a social robot designed with three different appearances according to the results of a participatory design (PD) process with the community. A validation study in the emotion recognition task was carried out with 21 children with autism.ResultsSpectrum disorder results showed that robot-like appearances reached a higher percentage of children's attention and that participants performed better when recognizing simple emotions, such as happiness and sadness.DiscussionThis study offers empirical support for continuing research on using SAR to promote social interaction with children with ASD. Further long-term research will help to identify the differences between high and low-functioning children.
Identification and validation of ferroptosis-related hub genes in obstructive sleep apnea syndrome
Authors: Liu Peijun , Zhao Dong , Pan Zhou , Tang Weihua , Chen Hao , Hu Ke 
Published: March 2023

BackgroundBy 2020, the prevalence of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS) in the US has reached 26. 6–43.2% in men and 8.7–27.8% in women. OSAS promotes hypertension, diabetes, and tumor growth through unknown means. Chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH), sleep fragmentation, and increased pleural pressure are central mechanisms of OSAS complications. CIH exacerbates ferroptosis, which is closely related to malignancies. The mechanism of ferroptosis in OSAS disease progression remains unknown.MethodsOSAS-related datasets (GSE135917 and GSE38792) were obtained from the GEO. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened using the R software and intersected with the ferroptosis database (FerrDb V2) to get ferroptosis-related DEGs (f-DEGs). GO, DO, KEGG, and GSEA enrichment were performed, a PPI network was constructed and hub genes were screened. The TCGA database was used to obtain the thyroid cancer (THCA) gene expression profile, and hub genes were analyzed for differential and survival analysis. The mechanism was investigated using GSEA and immune infiltration. The hub genes were validated with RT-qPCR, IHC, and other datasets. Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly separated into normoxia and CIH groups. ROS, MDA, and GSH methods were used to detect CIH-induced ferroptosis and oxidative stress.ResultsGSEA revealed a statistically significant difference in ferroptosis in OSAS (FDR &lt; 0.05). HIF1A, ATM, HSPA5, MAPK8, MAPK14, TLR4, and CREB1 were identified as hub genes among 3,144 DEGs and 74 f-DEGs. HIF1A and ATM were the only two validated genes. F-DEGs were mainly enriched in THCA. HIF1A overexpression in THCA promotes its development. HIF1A is associated with CD8 T cells and macrophages, which may affect the immunological milieu. The result found CIH increased ROS and MDA while lowering GSH indicating that it could cause ferroptosis. In OSAS patients, non-invasive ventilation did not affect HIF1A and ATM expression. Carvedilol, hydralazine, and caffeine may be important in the treatment of OSAS since they suppress HIF1A and ATM.ConclusionsOur findings revealed that the genes HIF1A and ATM are highly expressed in OSAS, and can serve as biomarkers and targets for OSAS.