bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Accumulation of network redundancy marks the early stage of Alzheimer's disease
Authors: Ghanbari Maryam , Li Guoshi , Hsu Li‐Ming , Yap Pew‐Thian 
Published: March 2023

AbstractBrain wiring redundancy counteracts aging‐related cognitive decline by reserving additional communication channels as a neuroprotective mechanism. Such a mechanism plays a potentially important role in maintaining cognitive function during the early stages of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). AD is characterized by severe cognitive decline and involves a long prodromal stage of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Since MCI subjects are at high risk of converting to AD, identifying MCI individuals is essential for early intervention. To delineate the redundancy profile during AD progression and enable better MCI diagnosis, we define a metric that reflects redundant disjoint connections between brain regions and extract redundancy features in three high‐order brain networks—medial frontal, frontoparietal, and default mode networks—based on dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) captured by resting‐state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs‐fMRI). We show that redundancy increases significantly from normal control (NC) to MCI individuals and decreases slightly from MCI to AD individuals. We further demonstrate that statistical features of redundancy are highly discriminative and yield state‐of‐the‐art accuracy of up to 96.8 ± 1.0% in support vector machine (SVM) classification between NC and MCI individuals. This study provides evidence supporting the notion that redundancy serves as a crucial neuroprotective mechanism in MCI.
High spatial overlap but diverging age‐related trajectories of cortical magnetic resonance imaging markers aiming to represent intracortical myelin and microstructure
Authors: Parent Olivier , Olafson Emily , Bussy Aurélie , Tullo Stephanie , Blostein Nadia , Dai Alyssa , Salaciak Alyssa , Bedford Saashi A. , Farzin Sarah , Béland Marie‐Lise , Valiquette Vanessa , Tardif Christine L. , Devenyi Gabriel A. , Chakravarty M. Mallar 
Published: March 2023

AbstractStatistical effects of cortical metrics derived from standard T1‐ and T2‐weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images, such as gray–white matter contrast (GWC), boundary sharpness coefficient (BSC), T1‐weighted/T2‐weighted ratio (T1w/T2w), and cortical thickness (CT), are often interpreted as representing or being influenced by intracortical myelin content with little empirical evidence to justify these interpretations. We first examined spatial correspondence with more biologically specific microstructural measures, and second compared between‐marker age‐related trends with the underlying hypothesis that different measures primarily driven by similar changes in myelo‐ and microstructural underpinnings should be highly related. Cortical MRI markers were derived from MRI images of 127 healthy subjects, aged 18–81, using cortical surfaces that were generated with the CIVET 2.1.0 pipeline. Their gross spatial distributions were compared with gene expression‐derived cell‐type densities, histology‐derived cytoarchitecture, and quantitative R1 maps acquired on a subset of participants. We then compared between‐marker age‐related trends in their shape, direction, and spatial distribution of the linear age effect. The gross anatomical distributions of cortical MRI markers were, in general, more related to myelin and glial cells than neuronal indicators. Comparing MRI markers, our results revealed generally high overlap in spatial distribution (i.e., group means), but mostly divergent age trajectories in the shape, direction, and spatial distribution of the linear age effect. We conclude that the microstructural properties at the source of spatial distributions of MRI cortical markers can be different from microstructural changes that affect these markers in aging.
Optic radiations representing different eccentricities age differently
Authors: Kruper John , Benson Noah C. , Caffarra Sendy , Owen Julia , Wu Yue , Lee Aaron Y. , Lee Cecilia S. , Yeatman Jason D. , Rokem Ariel ,   UK Biobank Eye and Vision Consortium
Published: March 2023

AbstractThe neural pathways that carry information from the foveal, macular, and peripheral visual fields have distinct biological properties. The optic radiations (OR) carry foveal and peripheral information from the thalamus to the primary visual cortex (V1) through adjacent but separate pathways in the white matter. Here, we perform white matter tractometry using pyAFQ on a large sample of diffusion MRI (dMRI) data from subjects with healthy vision in the U.K. Biobank dataset (UKBB; N = 5382; age 45–81). We use pyAFQ to characterize white matter tissue properties in parts of the OR that transmit information about the foveal, macular, and peripheral visual fields, and to characterize the changes in these tissue properties with age. We find that (1) independent of age there is higher fractional anisotropy, lower mean diffusivity, and higher mean kurtosis in the foveal and macular OR than in peripheral OR, consistent with denser, more organized nerve fiber populations in foveal/parafoveal pathways, and (2) age is associated with increased diffusivity and decreased anisotropy and kurtosis, consistent with decreased density and tissue organization with aging. However, anisotropy in foveal OR decreases faster with age than in peripheral OR, while diffusivity increases faster in peripheral OR, suggesting foveal/peri‐foveal OR and peripheral OR differ in how they age.
Does paid sick leave encourage staying at home? Evidence from the United States during a pandemic
Authors: Andersen Martin , Maclean Johanna Catherine , Pesko Michael F. , Simon Kosali 
Published: March 2023

AbstractWe study the impact of a temporary U.S. paid sick leave mandate that became effective April 1st, 2020 on self‐quarantining, proxied by physical mobility behaviors gleaned from cellular devices. We study this policy using generalized difference‐in‐differences methods, leveraging pre‐policy county‐level heterogeneity in the share of workers likely eligible for paid sick leave benefits. We find that the policy leads to increased self‐quarantining as proxied by staying home. We also find that COVID‐19 confirmed cases decline post‐policy.
Self‐reported behaviour change among multiple sclerosis community members and interested laypeople 6 months following participation in a free online course about multiple sclerosis
Authors: Claflin Suzi B. , Campbell Julie , van der Mei Ingrid , Mainsbridge Casey , Taylor Bruce V. 
Published: March 2023

AbstractIssue addressedEvaluated the impact of the Understanding Multiple Sclerosis (MS) massive open online course, which was intended to increase understanding and awareness about MS, on self‐reported health behaviour change 6 months after course completion.MethodsObservational cohort study evaluating precourse(baseline) and postcourse (immediately postcourse and six‐month follow‐up) survey data. The main study outcomes were self‐reported health behaviour change; change type; and measurable improvement. We also collected participant characteristic data (eg, age, physical activity). We compared participants who reported health behaviour change at follow‐up to those who did not and compared those who improved to those who did not using χ2 and t tests. Participant characteristics, change types and change improvement were described descriptively. Consistency between changes reported immediately postcourse and at the 6‐month follow‐up was assessed using χ2 tests and textual analysis.ResultsN = 303 course completers were included in this study. The study cohort included MS community members (eg, people with MS, healthcare providers) and nonmembers. N = 127 (41.9%) reported behaviour change in ≥1 area at follow‐up. Of these, 90 (70.9%) reported a measured change, and of these, 57 (63.3%) showed improvement. The most reported change types were knowledge, exercise/physical activity and diet. N = 81 (63.8% of those reporting a change) reported a change in both immediately and 6 months after course completion, with 72.0% of those that described both changes giving similar responses each time.ConclusionUnderstanding MS encourages health behaviour change among course completers up to 6 months after course completion.So what?An online education intervention can effectively encourage health behaviour change over a 6‐month follow‐up period, suggesting a transition from acute change to maintenance. The primary mechanisms underpinning this effect are information provision, including both scientific evidence and lived experience, and goal‐setting activities and discussions.
Strong 3‐Flow Conjecture for projective planar graphs
Authors: de Jong Jamie V. , Richter R. Bruce 
Published: March 2023

AbstractIn 1972, Tutte posed the 3‐Flow Conjecture: that all 4‐edge‐connected graphs have a nowhere‐zero 3‐flow. This was extended by Jaeger et al. to allow vertices to have a prescribed, possibly nonzero difference (modulo 3) between the inflow and outflow. They conjectured that all 5‐edge‐connected graphs with a prescription function have a nowhere‐zero 3‐flow meeting that prescription. Kochol showed that replacing 4‐edge‐connected with 5‐edge‐connected would suffice to prove the 3‐Flow Conjecture and Lovász et al. showed that both conjectures hold if the edge connectivity condition is relaxed to 6‐edge‐connected. Both problems are still open for 5‐edge‐connected graphs. The 3‐Flow Conjecture was known to hold for planar graphs, as it is the dual of Grötzsch's Colouring Theorem. Steinberg and Younger provided the first direct proof using flows for planar graphs, as well as a proof for projective planar graphs. Richter et al. provided the first direct proof using flows of the Strong 3‐Flow Conjecture for planar graphs. We prove the Strong 3‐Flow Conjecture for projective planar graphs.
FBXO11 amplifies type I interferon signaling to exert antiviral effects by facilitating the assemble of TRAF3–TBK1–IRF3 complex
Authors: Gao Long , Gao Yufeng , Han Kexing , Wang Zining , Meng Fang , Liu Jiaying , Zhao Xin , Shao Yun , Shen Jiapei , Sun Weijie , Liu Yanyan , Xu Honghai , Du Xiaohong , Li Jiabin , Qin Frank Xiao‐Feng 
Published: March 2023

AbstractAs the key component of host innate antiviral immunity, type I interferons (IFN‐Is) exert multiple antiviral effects by inducing hundreds of IFN‐stimulated genes. However, the precise mechanism involved in host sensing of IFN‐I signaling priming is particularly complex and remains incompletely resolved. This research identified F‐box protein 11 (FBXO11), a component of the E3‐ubiquitin ligase SKP/Cullin/F‐box complex, acted as an important regulator of IFN‐I signaling priming and antiviral process against several RNA/DNA viruses. FBXO11 functioned as an essential enhancer of IFN‐I signaling by promoting the phosphorylation of TBK1 and IRF3. Mechanistically, FBXO11 facilitated the assembly of TRAF3–TBK1–IRF3 complex by mediating the K63 ubiquitination of TRAF3 in a NEDD8‐dependent manner to amplify the activation of IFN‐I signaling. Consistently, the NEDD8‐activating enzyme inhibitor MLN4921 could act as a blocker for FBXO11–TRAF3–IFN‐I axis of signaling. More significantly, examination of clinical samples of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and public transcriptome database of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus‐2‐, HBV‐, and hepatitis C virus‐infected human samples revealed that FBXO11 expression was positively correlated with the stage of disease course. Taken together, these findings suggest that FBXO11 is an amplifier of antiviral immune responses and might serve as a potential therapeutic target for a number of different viral diseases.
Isolation, purification, and mass spectrometry identification of the enzyme involved in citrus flavor (+)‐valencene biotransformation to (+)‐nootkatone by Yarrowia lipolytica
Authors: Li Xiao , Ren Jing‐Nan , Fan Gang , Zhang Lu‐Lu , Pan Si‐Yi 
Published: March 2023

AbstractBACKGROUND(+)‐Nootkatone is a highly valuable sesquiterpene compound that can be used as an aromatic in the food industry because of its grapefruit flavor and low sensory threshold. The unconventional yeast Yarrowia lipolytica has many unique physical and chemical properties, metabolic characteristics, and genetic structure, which has aroused the interest of researchers. Previous research showed that Y. lipolytica possesses the ability to transform the sesquiterpene (+)‐valencene to (+)‐nootkatone. The aim of this study was to isolate, purify, and identify the enzyme involved in the (+)‐valencene bioconversion to (+)‐nootkatone by Y. lipolytica.RESULTSIn this study, ultrasonic‐assisted extraction, ammonium sulfate precipitation, anion‐exchange chromatography, and gel‐filtration chromatography were used to separate and purify the enzyme involved in the (+)‐valencene bioconversion by Y. lipolytica. The protein was identified as aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) (gene0658) using sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry analysis. The ALDH had the highest activity when the pH value was 6.0 and the temperature was 30 °C. The activity of ALDH was significantly stimulated by ferrous ions and inhibited by barium, calcium, and magnesium ions.CONCLUSIONThis is the first time that ALDH was found to participate in (+)‐valencene biotransformation by Y. lipolytica. It may be involved in regulating the microbial transformation of (+)‐valencene to (+)‐nootkatone through redox characteristics. This study provides a theoretical basis and reference for the biological synthesis of citrus flavor (+)‐nootkatone. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.
Early Pregnancy Fetal Facial Ultrasound Standard Plane‐Assisted Recognition Algorithm
Authors: Xue Hao , Yu Weifeng , Liu Zhonghua , Liu Peizhong 
Published: March 2023

ObjectivesUltrasound screening during early pregnancy is vital in preventing congenital disabilities. For example, nuchal translucency (NT) thickening is associated with fetal chromosomal abnormalities, particularly trisomy 21 and fetal heart malformations. Obtaining accurate ultrasound standard planes of a fetal face during early pregnancy is the key to subsequent biometry and disease diagnosis. Therefore, we propose a lightweight target detection network for early pregnancy fetal facial ultrasound standard plane recognition and quality assessment.MethodsFirst, a clinical control protocol was developed by ultrasound experts. Second, we constructed a YOLOv4 target detection algorithm based on the backbone network as GhostNet and added attention mechanisms CBAM and CA to the backbone and neck structure. Finally, key anatomical structures in the image were automatically scored according to a clinical control protocol to determine whether they were standard planes.ResultsWe reviewed other detection techniques and found that the proposed method performed well. The average recognition accuracy for six structures was 94.16%, the detection speed was 51 FPS, and the model size was 43.2 MB, and a reduction of 83% compared with the original YOLOv4 model was obtained. The precision for the standard median sagittal plane was 97.20%, and the accuracy for the standard retro‐nasal triangle view was 99.07%.ConclusionsThe proposed method can better identify standard or non‐standard planes from ultrasound image data, providing a theoretical basis for automatic acquisition of standard planes in the prenatal diagnosis of early pregnancy fetuses.
Sonochemical Degradation of Gelatin Methacryloyl to Control Viscoelasticity for Inkjet Bioprinting
Authors: Lee Yunji , Park Ju An , Tuladhar Tri , Jung Sungjune 
Published: March 2023

AbstractInkjet printing enables the mimicry of the microenvironment of natural complex tissues by patterning cells and hydrogels at a high resolution. However, the polymer content of an inkjet‐printable bioink is limited as it leads to strong viscoelasticity in the inkjet nozzle. Here it is demonstrated that sonochemical treatment controls the viscoelasticity of a gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) based bioink by shortening the length of polymer chains without causing chemical destruction of the methacryloyl groups. The rheological properties of treated GelMA inks are evaluated by a piezo‐axial vibrator over a wide range of frequencies between 10 and 10 000 Hz. This approach enables to effectively increase the maximum printable polymer concentration from 3% to 10%. Then it is studied how the sonochemical treatment effectively controls the microstructure and mechanical properties of GelMA hydrogel constructs after crosslinking while maintaining its fluid properties within the printable range. The control of mechanical properties of GelMA hydrogels can lead fibroblasts more spreading on the hydrogels. A 3D cell‐laden multilayered hydrogel constructs containing layers with different physical properties is fabrictated by using high‐resolution inkjet printing. The sonochemical treatment delivers a new path to inkjet bioprinting to build microarchitectures with various physical properties by expanding the range of applicable bioinks.
A parasitic nematode induces dysbiosis in susceptible but not resistant gastropod hosts
Authors: Sheehy Laura , MacDonald‐Howard Kerry , Williams Chris D. , Weedall Gareth D. , Jones Hayley , Rae Robbie 
Published: March 2023

AbstractAnimals’ gut microbiomes affect a wide array of biological processes including immunity and protection from pathogens. However, how the microbiome changes due to infection by parasites is still largely unknown, as is how the microbiome changes in hosts that differ in their susceptibility to parasites. To investigate this, we exposed two slug species of differing susceptibility to the parasitic nematode Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita (Deroceras reticulatum is highly susceptible and Ambigolimax valentianus resistant to the nematode) and profiled the gut microbiota after 7 and 14 days. Before infection, both slug species’ microbiota was dominated by similar bacterial genera: Pseudomonas (by far the most abundant), Sphingobacterium, Pedobacter, Chryseobacterium, and Flavobacterium. In the resistant host A. valentianus, there was no significant change in the bacterial genera after infection, but in D. reticulatum, the bacterial profile changed, with a decrease in the abundance of Pseudomonadaceae and an increase in the abundance of Flavobacteriaceae and Sphingobacteriaceae after 7 days postinfection. This suggests nematode infection causes dysbiosis in hosts that are susceptible to infection, but the microbiome of resistant species remains unaltered. In summary, the regulation of the immune system is tightly linked with host survival, and nematode infection can alter the microbiome structure.
Ratio product model: A rank‐preserving normalization‐agnostic multi‐criteria decision‐making method
Authors: Mohammadi Majid , Rezaei Jafar 
Published: March 2023

AbstractThis paper presents a new multi‐criteria decision‐making (MCDM) method, namely the ratio product model (RPM). We first overview two popular aggregating models: the weighted sum model (WSM) and the weighted product model (WPM). Then, we argue that the two models suffer from some fundamental issues mainly due to ignoring the ratio nature of the alternatives' scores with respect to the criteria and the importance weights of the criteria. Building on the notion of compositional data analysis, the developed RPM regards performance scores and criteria weights as compositions, which solves the issues around the WSM and WPM. Using several examples, we show that the WSM and WPM could lead to erroneous conclusions, whereas the RPM could lead to fully reliable conclusions. Since many MCDM methods rely on some aggregation approaches, the proposed method is a significant contribution to the field and puts forward the correct way to analyze decision problems while respecting the nature and constraints of the input data.
Overproduce and select, or determine optimal molecular descriptor subset via configuration space optimization? Application to the prediction of ecotoxicological endpoints
Authors: García‐González Luis A. , Marrero‐Ponce Yovani , Brizuela Carlos A. , García‐Jacas César R. 
Published: March 2023

AbstractPredicting the likely biological activity (or property) of compounds is a fundamental and challenging task in the drug discovery process. Current computational methodologies aim to improve their predictive accuracies by using deep learning (DL) approaches. However, non‐DL based approaches for small‐ and medium‐sized chemical datasets have demonstrated to be most suitable for. In this approach, an initial universe of molecular descriptors (MDs) is first calculated, then different feature selection algorithms are applied, and finally, one or several predictive models are built. Herein we demonstrate that this traditional approach may miss relevant information by assuming that the initial universe of MDs codifies all relevant aspects for the respective learning task. We argue that this limitation is mainly because of the constrained intervals of the parameters used in the algorithms that compute MDs, parameters that define the Descriptor Configuration Space (DCS). We propose to relax these constraints in an open CDS approach, so that a larger universe of MDs can be initially considered. We model the generation of MDs as a multicriteria optimization problem and tackle it with a variant of the standard genetic algorithm. As a novel component, the fitness function is computed by aggregating four criteria via the Choquet integral. Experimental results show that the proposed approach generates a meaningful DCS by improving state‐of‐the‐art approaches in most of the benchmarking chemical datasets accounted for.
Psychometric evaluation of the Chinese version of the supportive care needs survey for caregivers of children with Paediatric cancer (SCNS‐C‐Ped‐C)
Authors: Wang Jingting , Bi Xuanyi , Zhang Shuyi , Wang Yingwen , Wu Huifang , Yang Qi , Ma Linyu , Yuan Changrong 
Published: March 2023

AbstractAimTo revise the Supportive Care Needs Survey for Partners and Caregivers of Cancer Patients (SCNS‐P&C) and evaluate the psychometric properties of the Chinese Version of the Supportive Care Needs Survey for Caregivers of Children with Paediatric Cancer (SCNS‐C‐Ped‐C) in caregivers of children with paediatric cancer.DesignA cross sectional design was used.MethodsIn this methodological research, the reliability and validity of the SCNS‐C‐Ped‐C were measured by a questionnaire survey among 336 caregivers of children with paediatric cancer in China. The construct validity was evaluated by exploratory factor analysis and internal consistency was examined by Cronbach's alpha, split‐half reliability, and corrected item‐to‐total correlation coefficients.ResultsThe exploratory factor analysis revealed six factors consist of: Healthcare and Informational Needs, Daily Care and Communication Needs, Psychological and Spiritual Needs, Medical Service Needs, Economic Needs, and Emotional Needs, explaining 65.615% of the variance. The Cronbach's alpha was 0.968 at full scale and 0.603–0.952 on the six domains. The split‐half reliability coefficient was 0.883 at full scale and 0.659–0.931 on the six domains.ConclusionsThe SCNS‐C‐Ped‐C demonstrated both reliability and validity. It can be used to evaluate multi‐dimensional supportive care needs for caregivers of children with paediatric cancer in China.