bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Learning on tree architectures outperforms a convolutional feedforward network
Authors: Meir Yuval , Ben-Noam Itamar , Tzach Yarden , Hodassman Shiri , Kanter Ido 
Published: January 2023

AbstractAdvanced deep learning architectures consist of tens of fully connected and convolutional hidden layers, currently extended to hundreds, are far from their biological realization. Their implausible biological dynamics relies on changing a weight in a non-local manner, as the number of routes between an output unit and a weight is typically large, using the backpropagation technique. Here, a 3-layer tree architecture inspired by experimental-based dendritic tree adaptations is developed and applied to the offline and online learning of the CIFAR-10 database. The proposed architecture outperforms the achievable success rates of the 5-layer convolutional LeNet. Moreover, the highly pruned tree backpropagation approach of the proposed architecture, where a single route connects an output unit and a weight, represents an efficient dendritic deep learning.
Health effects of shrinking hyper-saline lakes: spatiotemporal modeling of the Lake Urmia drought on the local population, case study of the Shabestar County
Authors: Feizizadeh Bakhtiar , Lakes Tobia , Omarzadeh Davoud , Pourmoradian Samira 
Published: January 2023

AbstractClimate change and its respective environmental impacts, such as dying lakes, is widely acknowledged. Studies on the impact of shrinking hyper-saline lakes suggest severe negative consequences for the health of the affected population. The primary aim was to investigate the relationship between changes in the water level of the hyper-saline Lake Urmia, along with the associated salt release, and the prevalence of hypertension and the general state of health of the local population in Shabestar County north of the lake. Moreover, we sought to map the vulnerability of the local population to the health risks associated with salt-dust scatter using multiple environmental and demographic characteristics. We applied a spatiotemporal analysis of the environmental parameters of Lake Urmia and the health of the local population. We analyzed health survey data from local health care centers and a national STEPS study in Shabestar County, Iran. We used a time-series of remote sensing images to monitor the trend of occurrence and extent of salt-dust storms between 2012 and 2020. To evaluate the impacts of lake drought on the health of the residences, we investigated the spatiotemporal correlation of the lake drought and the state of health of local residents. We applied a GIScience multiple decision analysis to identify areas affected by salt-dust particles and related these to the health status of the residents. According to our results, the lake drought has significantly contributed to the increasing cases of hypertension in local patients. The number of hypertensive patients has increased from 2.09% in 2012 to 19.5% in 2019 before decreasing slightly to 16.05% in 2020. Detailed results showed that adults, and particularly females, were affected most by the effects of the salt-dust scatter in the residential areas close to the lake. The results of this study provide critical insights into the environmental impacts of the Lake Urmia drought on the human health of the residents. Based on the results we suggest that detailed socioeconomic studies might be required for a comprehensive analysis of the human health issues in this area. Nonetheless, the proposed methods can be applied to monitor the environmental impacts of climate change on human health.
High-efficient energy harvesting architecture for self-powered thermal-monitoring wireless sensor node based on a single thermoelectric generator
Authors: Álvarez-Carulla Albert , Saiz-Vela Albert , Puig-Vidal Manel , López-Sánchez Jaime , Colomer-Farrarons Jordi , Miribel-Català Pere Ll. 
Published: January 2023

AbstractIn recent years, research on transducers and system architectures for self-powered devices has gained attention for their direct impact on the Internet of Things in terms of cost, power consumption, and environmental impact. The concept of a wireless sensor node that uses a single thermoelectric generator as a power source and as a temperature gradient sensor in an efficient and controlled manner is investigated. The purpose of the device is to collect temperature gradient data in data centres to enable the application of thermal-aware server load management algorithms. By using a maximum power point tracking algorithm, the operating point of the thermoelectric generator is kept under control while using its power-temperature transfer function to measure the temperature gradient. In this way, a more accurate measurement of the temperature gradient is achieved while harvesting energy with maximum efficiency. The results show the operation of the system through its different phases as well as demonstrate its ability to efficiently harvest energy from a temperature gradient while measuring it. With this system architecture, temperature gradients can be measured with a maximum error of 0.14 $$^{\circ }$$

∘

C and an efficiency of over 92% for values above 13 $$^{\circ }$$

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C and a single transducer.
Assessment of the therapeutic role of mesenchymal stromal cells in a mouse model of graft-versus-host disease using cryo-imaging
Authors: Wuttisarnwattana Patiwet , Eid Saada , Wilson David L. , Cooke Kenneth R. 
Published: January 2023

AbstractInsights regarding the biodistribution and homing of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), as well as their interaction with alloreactive T-cells are critical for understanding how MSCs can regulate graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) following allogeneic (allo) bone marrow transplantation (BMT). We developed novel assays based on 3D, microscopic, cryo-imaging of whole-mouse-sized volumes to assess the therapeutic potential of human MSCs using an established mouse GVHD model. Following infusion, we quantitatively tracked fluorescently labeled, donor-derived, T-cells and third party MSCs in BMT recipients using multispectral cryo-imaging. Specific MSC homing sites were identified in the marginal zones in the spleen and the lymph nodes, where we believe MSC immunomodulation takes place. The number of MSCs found in spleen of the allo BMT recipients was about 200% more than that observed in the syngeneic group. To more carefully define the effects MSCs had on T cell activation and expansion, we developed novel T-cell proliferation assays including secondary lymphoid organ (SLO) enlargement and Carboxyfluoescein succinimidyl ester (CFSE) dilution. As anticipated, significant SLO volume enlargement and CFSE dilution was observed in allo but not syn BMT recipients due to rapid proliferation and expansion of labeled T-cells. MSC treatment markedly attenuated CFSE dilution and volume enlargement of SLO. These assays confirm evidence of potent, in vivo, immunomodulatory properties of MSC following allo BMT. Our innovative platform includes novel methods for tracking cells of interest as well as assessing therapeutic function of MSCs during GVHD induction. Our results support the use of MSCs treatment or prevention of GVHD and illuminate the wider adoption of MSCs as a standard medicinal cell therapy.
The influence of oral vocabulary knowledge on individual differences in a computational model of reading
Authors: Chang Ya-Ning 
Published: January 2023

AbstractStudies have demonstrated systematic individual differences in the degree of semantic reliance (SR) when reading aloud exception words in adult skilled readers. However, the origins of individual differences in reading remain unclear. Using a connectionist model of reading, this study investigated whether oral vocabulary knowledge may affect the degree of SR as a potential source of individual differences in reading. Variety in oral vocabulary knowledge was simulated by training the model to learn the mappings between spoken and meaning word forms with different vocabulary sizes and quantities of exposure to these vocabularies. The model’s SR in the reading aloud task was computed. The result demonstrated that the model with varying amounts of oral exposure and vocabulary sizes had different levels of SR. Critically, SR was able to predict the performance of the model on reading aloud and nonword reading, which assimilated behavioural reading patterns. Further analysis revealed that SR was largely associated with the interaction between oral vocabulary exposure and oral vocabulary size. When the amount of exposure was limited, SR significantly increased with vocabulary sizes but decreased then with vocabulary sizes. Overall, the simulation results provide the first computational evidence of the direct link between oral vocabulary knowledge and the degree of SR as a source of individual differences in reading.
Relationship of cardiovascular disease risk and hearing loss in a clinical population
Authors: Baiduc Rachael R. , Sun Joshua W. , Berry Caitlin M. , Anderson Melinda , Vance Eric A. 
Published: January 2023

AbstractHearing loss has been associated with individual cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and, to a lesser extent, CVD risk metrics. However, these relationships are understudied in clinical populations. We conducted a retrospective study of electronic health records to evaluate the relationship between hearing loss and CVD risk burden. Hearing loss was defined as puretone average (PTA0.5,1,2,4) > 20 dB hearing level (HL). Optimal CVD risk was defined as nondiabetic, nonsmoking, systolic blood pressure (SBP) < 120 and diastolic (D)BP < 80 mm Hg, and total cholesterol < 180 mg/dL. Major CVD risk factors were diabetes, smoking, hypertension, and total cholesterol ≥ 240 mg/dL or statin use. We identified 6332 patients (mean age = 62.96 years; 45.5% male); 64.0% had hearing loss. Sex-stratified logistic regression adjusted for age, noise exposure, hearing aid use, and body mass index examined associations between hearing loss and CVD risk. For males, diabetes, hypertension, smoking, and ≥ 2 major CVD risk factors were associated with hearing loss. For females, diabetes, smoking, and ≥ 2 major CVD risk factors were significant risk factors. Compared to those with no CVD risk factors, there is a higher likelihood of hearing loss in patients with ≥ 2 major CVD risk factors. Future research to better understand sex dependence in the hearing loss-hypertension relationship is indicated.
Mask R-CNN assisted 2.5D object detection pipeline of 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT-positive metastatic pelvic lymph node after radical prostatectomy from solely CT imaging
Authors: Xu Di , Ma Martin , Cao Minsong , Kishan Amar U. , Nickols Nicholas G. , Scalzo Fabien , Sheng Ke 
Published: January 2023

AbstractProstate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) is a molecular and functional imaging modality with better restaging accuracy over conventional imaging for detecting prostate cancer in men suspected of lymph node (LN) progression after definitive therapy. However, the availability of PSMA PET/CT is limited in both low-resource settings and for repeating imaging surveillance. In contrast, CT is widely available, cost-effective, and routinely performed as part of patient follow-up or radiotherapy workflow. Compared with the molecular activities, the morphological and texture changes of subclinical LNs in CT are subtle, making manual detection of positive LNs infeasible. Instead, we harness the power of artificial intelligence for automated LN detection on CT. We examined 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT images from 88 patients (including 739 PSMA PET/CT-positive pelvic LNs) who experienced a biochemical recurrence after radical prostatectomy and presented for salvage radiotherapy with prostate-specific antigen < 1 ng/mL. Scans were divided into a training set (nPatient = 52, nNode = 400), a validation set (nPatient = 18, nNode = 143), and a test set (nPatient = 18, nNodes = 196). Using PSMA PET/CT as the ground truth and consensus pelvic LN clinical target volumes as search regions, a 2.5-dimensional (2.5D) Mask R-CNN based object detection framework was trained. The entire framework contained whole slice imaging pretraining, masked-out region fine-tuning, prediction post-processing, and “window bagging”. Following an additional preprocessing step—pelvic LN clinical target volume extraction, our pipeline located positive pelvic LNs solely based on CT scans. Our pipeline could achieve a sensitivity of 83.351%, specificity of 58.621% out of 196 positive pelvic LNs from 18 patients in the test set, of which most of the false positives can be post-removable by radiologists. Our tool may aid CT-based detection of pelvic LN metastasis and triage patients most unlikely to benefit from the PSMA PET/CT scan.
The suppressive potential of a gene drive in populations of invasive social wasps is currently limited
Authors: Meiborg Adriaan B. , Faber Nicky R. , Taylor Benjamin A. , Harpur Brock A. , Gorjanc Gregor 
Published: January 2023

AbstractSocial insects are very successful invasive species, and the continued increase of global trade and transportation has exacerbated this problem. The yellow-legged hornet,Vespa velutina nigrithorax(henceforth Asian hornet), is drastically expanding its range in Western Europe. As an apex insect predator, this hornet poses a serious threat to the honey bee industry and endemic pollinators. Current suppression methods have proven too inefficient and expensive to limit its spread. Gene drives might be an effective tool to control this species, but their use has not yet been thoroughly investigated in social insects. Here, we built a model that matches the hornet’s life history and modelled the effect of different gene drive scenarios on an established invasive population. To test the broader applicability and sensitivity of the model, we also incorporated the invasive European paper waspPolistes dominula. We find that, due to the haplodiploidy of social hymenopterans, only a gene drive targeting female fertility is promising for population control. Our results show that although a gene drive can suppress a social wasp population, it can only do so under fairly stringent gene drive-specific conditions. This is due to a combination of two factors: first, the large number of surviving offspring that social wasp colonies produce make it possible that, even with very limited formation of resistance alleles, such alleles can quickly spread and rescue the population. Second, due to social wasp life history, infertile individuals do not compete with fertile ones, allowing fertile individuals to maintain a large population size even when drive alleles are widespread. Nevertheless, continued improvements in gene drive technology may make it a promising method for the control of invasive social insects in the future.
Comparison of the fluorescein angiography-guided and indocyanine green angiography-guided photodynamic therapy in the treatment of non-resolving central serous chorioretinopathy
Authors: Ebrahimiadib Nazanin , Mirzaei Arash , Esfandiarifard Shaghayegh , Tuli Sonal , Najibzadeh Ehsan , Imani Fooladi Marjan , Fadakar Kaveh 
Published: January 2023

AbstractTo compare the functional and anatomical outcome of fluorescein angiography (FA) versus indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) guided photodynamic therapy (PDT) in the treatment of non-resolving central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR). In this prospective interventional case series, all patients with non-resolving CSCR, defined as persistent SRF involving subfoveal area for at least three months, were nonrandomly assigned to receive either FA or ICGA-guided half dose PDT. Baseline and 4 months post-treatment data including best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), the status of foveal subretinal fluid, subfoveal choroidal thickness, choroidal vascularity index, pigment epithelial detachment area, treatment and PDT spot numbers were collected. Thirty-six eyes were included; 24 received ICGA-guided and 12 received FA-guided PDT. Overall, improvement in BCVA and choroidal parameters were observed in all patients. There was no significant difference in baseline parameters as well as follow-up measurements between groups. However, the mean total energy dose and spot number in the IGCA-guided PDT were significantly higher than the FA-guided PDT group (P = 0.001). Both FA-guided and ICGA-guided half-dose PDT were effective in the treatment of non-resolving CSCR, with favorable functional and anatomical outcome. In FA group, PDT with smaller spot sizes and fewer numbers of spots were applied.
Genetic and demographic consequences of range contraction patterns during biological annihilation
Authors: Rogan Jordan E. , Parker Mickey Ray , Hancock Zachary B. , Earl Alexis D. , Buchholtz Erin K. , Chyn Kristina , Martina Jason , Fitzgerald Lee A. 
Published: January 2023

AbstractSpecies range contractions both contribute to, and result from, biological annihilation, yet do not receive the same attention as extinctions. Range contractions can lead to marked impacts on populations but are usually characterized only by reduction in extent of range. For effective conservation, it is critical to recognize that not all range contractions are the same. We propose three distinct patterns of range contraction: shrinkage, amputation, and fragmentation. We tested the impact of these patterns on populations of a generalist species using forward-time simulations. All three patterns caused 86–88% reduction in population abundance and significantly increased average relatedness, with differing patterns in declines of nucleotide diversity relative to the contraction pattern. The fragmentation pattern resulted in the strongest effects on post-contraction genetic diversity and structure. Defining and quantifying range contraction patterns and their consequences for Earth’s biodiversity would provide useful and necessary information to combat biological annihilation.
Quantitative relationships between national cultures and the increase in cases of novel coronavirus pneumonia
Authors: Yu Ningyao , Tao Le , Zou Guilin 
Published: January 2023

AbstractSupport vector machine (SVM) and genetic algorithm were successfully used to predict the changes in the prevalence rate (ΔPR) measured by the increase of reported cases per million population from the 16th to the 45th day during a nation’s lockdown after the COVID-19 outbreak. The national cultural indices [individualism–collectivism (Ind), tightness–looseness (Tight)], and the number of people per square kilometer (Pop_density) were used to develop the SVM model of lnΔPR. The SVM model has R2 of 0.804 for the training set (44 samples) and 0.853 for the test set (11 samples), which were much higher than those (0.416 and 0.593) of the multiple linear regression model. The statistical results indicate that there are nonlinear relationships between lnΔPR and Tight, Ind, and Pop_density. It is feasible to build the model for lnΔPR with SVM algorithm. The results suggested that the risk of COVID-19 epidemic spread will be reduced if a nation implements severe measures to strengthen the tightness of national culture and individuals realize the importance of collectivism.
A quadruple dissociation of reward-related behaviour in mice across excitatory inputs to the nucleus accumbens shell
Authors: Lind Erin B. , Sweis Brian M. , Asp Anders J. , Esguerra Manuel , Silvis Keelia A. , David Redish A. , Thomas Mark J. 
Published: January 2023

AbstractThe nucleus accumbens shell (NAcSh) is critically important for reward valuations, yet it remains unclear how valuation information is integrated in this region to drive behaviour during reinforcement learning. Using an optogenetic spatial self-stimulation task in mice, here we show that contingent activation of different excitatory inputs to the NAcSh change expression of different reward-related behaviours. Our data indicate that medial prefrontal inputs support place preference via repeated actions, ventral hippocampal inputs consistently promote place preferences, basolateral amygdala inputs produce modest place preferences but as a byproduct of increased sensitivity to time investments, and paraventricular inputs reduce place preferences yet do not produce full avoidance behaviour. These findings suggest that each excitatory input provides distinct information to the NAcSh, and we propose that this reflects the reinforcement of different credit assignment functions. Our finding of a quadruple dissociation of NAcSh input-specific behaviours provides insights into how types of information carried by distinct inputs to the NAcSh could be integrated to help drive reinforcement learning and situationally appropriate behavioural responses.
Split luciferase-based assay to detect botulinum neurotoxins using hiPSC-derived motor neurons
Authors: Cotter Laurent , Yu Feifan , Roqueviere Sylvain , Duchesne de Lamotte Juliette , Krupp Johannes , Dong Min , Nicoleau Camille 
Published: January 2023

AbstractBotulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) have been widely used clinically as a muscle relaxant. These toxins target motor neurons and cleave proteins essential for neurotransmitter release like Synaptosomal-associated protein of 25 kDa (SNAP-25). In vitro assays for BoNT testing using rodent cells or immortalized cell lines showed limitations in accuracy and physiological relevance. Here, we report a cell-based assay for detecting SNAP-25-cleaving BoNTs by combining human induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (hiPSC)-derived motor neurons and a luminescent detection system based on split NanoLuc luciferase. This assay is convenient, rapid, free-of-specialized antibodies, with a detection sensitivity of femtomolar concentrations of toxin, and can be used to study the different steps of BoNT intoxication.
The first-order structural transition in NiO at high pressure
Authors: Gavriliuk Alexander G. , Struzhkin Viktor V. , Ivanova Anna G. , Prakapenka Vitali B. , Mironovich Anna A. , Aksenov Sergey N. , Troyan Ivan A. , Morgenroth Wolfgang 
Published: January 2023

AbstractInsulator-metal transition in NiO and concomitant collapse of spin and magnetism in the material are important subjects in studies of strong electronic correlations and as such they generate multiple theoretical and experimental efforts aimed at understanding the complicated physics of strongly correlated electronic systems. We report here the iso-structural transition in NiO accompanying the previously observed by us transition to the metallic state. These findings resolve some experimental controversies regarding the transition. We also discuss the latest theoretical results in detail and show that our data confirm some recent theoretical models. Given the simplicity of the material and its fundamental importance to the understanding of strongly correlated electronic systems, our findings should stimulate further experimental and theoretical efforts to understand this prototype Mott insulator.