bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Allogenic umbilical cord‐derived mesenchymal stromal cells improve motor function in prenatal surgical repair of myelomeningocele: An ovine model study
Authors: Athiel Yoann , Jouannic Jean‐Marie , Mauffré Vincent , Dehan Coralie , Adam Clovis , Blot Stéphane , Lallemant Pauline , De Saint Denis Timothé , Larghero Jérôme , Nasone Justine , Guilbaud Lucie 
Published: July 2023

AbstractObjectiveTo investigate the effects of an adjuvant allogenic umbilical cord mesenchymal stromal cell (UC‐MSC) patch applied during fetal surgery on motor and sphincter function in the ovine MMC model.DesignMMC defects were surgically created at 75 days of gestation and repaired 14 days later.PopulationOvine MMC model: fetal lambs.MethodsWe compared lambs that received a UC‐MSC patch with a control group of lambs that received an acellular patch.Main Outcome MeasuresClinical neurological assessment was performed at 2 and 24 hours of life and included determination of the Sheep Locomotor Rating scale (SLR), which has been validated in the ovine MMC model. Electrophysical examinations, spine scans and histological analyses were also performed.ResultsOf the 13 operated lambs, nine were born alive: five had of these had received a UC‐MSC patch and four an acellular patch. At 24 hours of life, lambs in the UC‐MSC group had a significantly higher score (14 versus 5, P = 0.04). Amyotrophy was significantly more common in the control group (75% versus 0%, P = 0.02). All the lambs in the control group and none of those in the UC‐MSC group were incontinent. No significant differences were observed between the UC‐MSC and control groups in terms of the presence of spontaneous EMG activity, nerve conduction or spinal evoked potentials. In the microscopic examination, lambs in the UC‐MSC group had less fibrosis between the spinal cord and the dermis (mean thickness, 453 versus 3921 μm, P = 0.03) and around the spinal cord (mean thickness, 47 versus 158 μm, P < 0.001). Examination of the spinal cord in the area of the MMC defect showed a higher large neuron density in the UC‐MSC group (14.5 versus 5.6 neurons/mm2, P < 0.001). No tumours were observed.ConclusionsFetal repair of MMC using UC‐MSC patches improves motor and sphincter function as well as spinal preservation and reduction of fibrosis.
Bergamot juice powder with high bioactive properties: Spray‐drying for the preservation of antioxidant activity and ultrasound‐assisted extraction for enhanced phenolic compound extraction
Authors: Demircan Bahar , Velioglu Yakup Sedat , Giuffrè Angelo Maria 
Published: July 2023

AbstractThe spray‐drying process yielded functional bergamot juice powder with high antioxidant activity, phenolic content, and vitamin C content. Optimal drying conditions were determined as 10% maltodextrin concentration, 146.02°C inlet temperature, and 39.99% pump rate, preserving powder's bioactive properties. Under these drying conditions, bergamot juice powder exhibited an antioxidant activity of 62.2% DPPH scavenging activity, a total phenolic content of 3862.1 ppm, and a vitamin C content of 1385.9 ppm. The bergamot juice powder, with a water activity of 0.2, bulk density of 0.4 g/mL, tapped density of 0.5 g/mL, porosity of 89.6%, hygroscopicity of 8.6%, and cohesiveness of 37.2%, is highly suitable for further processing. High‐pressure liquid chromatography analysis revealed the presence of major phenolic compounds in both fresh bergamot juice and spray‐dried powder, although their concentrations were lower in the powder form. The major phenolics identified in the fruit juice were naringin (197.5 ppm), eriocitrin (105.9 ppm), neoeriocitrin (53.4 ppm), neohesperidin (68.8 ppm), and naringenin (119.8 ppm). However, in the powder form, the bitterness‐associated compounds, naringin and neohesperidin, exhibited a significant reduction of 85.0% and 90.3%, respectively. Compared to dimethyl sulfoxide (48.4%), ethanol (37.9%), and distilled water (17.3%), ultrasound‐assisted extraction with acetone solvent demonstrated the highest efficiency (61.7%) in obtaining phenolic compounds from bergamot juice powder. In conclusion, spray‐drying is an effective method for obtaining functional bergamot juice powder, and ultrasound‐assisted extraction can further enhance phenolic compound extraction efficiency. These findings have potential applications in the food, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industries, with opportunities for further research in functional foods or nutraceuticals.Practical ApplicationSpray‐drying yields functional bergamot juice powder with high bioactive properties. Optimal drying conditions can be applied in industrial settings. Ultrasound‐assisted extraction enhances phenolic compound extraction efficiency. Potential applications in food, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industries.
Subseasonal to seasonal streamflow forecasting in a semiarid watershed
Authors: Broxton Patrick D. , van Leeuwen Willem J. D. , Svoma Bohumil M. , Walter James , Biederman Joel A. 
Published: July 2023

AbstractOperational streamflow forecasting is critically important to managers of river basins that supply water, hydropower, and flood protection. While seasonal water supply forecasts (WSFs) are important for long‐term water resources planning operations, shorter term (e.g., 1–5 weeks) streamflow forecasts are critical for balancing water conservation with flood risk during wet periods. In this study, we designed a streamflow forecasting system with the water resources group at the Salt River Project (SRP), a provider of water and power to millions of customers in central Arizona (AZ), to provide streamflow forecasts for a diverse and operationally important set of watersheds in AZ. The forecast system uses machine learning to make seasonal WSFs, a rainfall–runoff model driven by ensemble meteorological forecasts to make 35‐day streamflow forecasts, and an innovative approach to improve the WSFs based on the 35‐day streamflow forecasts. This model integration allows for an assessment of the impact of different meteorological forecasts on WSFs, helping SRP to balance water conservation goals with shorter term flood risks. In addition, seasonal WSFs are improved in the early winter when they incorporate the 35‐day streamflow predictions. Furthermore, these improvements are larger than when they incorporate 7‐day streamflow predictions, demonstrating the value of using subseasonal to seasonal (S2S, >1–2 weeks) forecasts to improve seasonal WSFs in these watersheds.
Safety and feasibility of a novel chest tube placement in uniportal video‐assisted thoracoscopic surgery for non‐small cell lung cancer
Authors: Xu Yang , Luo Jing , Ge Qi‐Yue , Cong Zhuang‐Zhuang , Jiang Zhi‐Sheng , Diao Yi‐Fei , Huang Hai‐Rong , Wei Wei , Shen Yi 
Published: July 2023

AbstractBackgroundThe type and placement of chest tube for patients undergoing uniportal video‐assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy remains controversial. The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of a novel technique in which a pigtail catheter was used alone as the chest tube and placed near the incision for chest drainage after uniportal video‐assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy and extended lymphadenectomy.MethodsA total of 217 patients undergoing uniportal video‐assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy were retrospectively reviewed and divided into two groups. In group A, a 12‐Fr pigtail catheter with several side ports was placed next to the uniportal wound. In group B, a conventional 20‐Fr chest tube was placed through the uniportal wound itself. Postoperative complications related to chest tube placement and patients' subjective satisfaction were compared between the two groups. Postoperative pain management effect and other clinical outcomes such as duration of chest drainage and postoperative stay were also compared.ResultsThere were 112 patients in group A and 105 patients in group B. A significantly lower incidence of wound complications was found in group A postoperatively (p = 0.034). The pain score on coughing in group A was significantly lower than that in group B on postoperative day two (POD2) (p = 0.021). There was no significant difference of other clinical outcomes such as duration of chest drainage and postoperative stay as well as major complications between the two groups.ConclusionPlacing a 12‐Fr pigtail catheter alone next to the uniportal wound for chest drainage might be effective and safe after uniportal video‐assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy and extended lymphadenectomy.
Pregestational maternal risk factors for preterm and term preeclampsia: A population‐based cohort study
Authors: Sande Anne Kvie , Dalen Ingvild , Torkildsen Erik Andreas , Sande Ragnar Kvie , Morken Nils‐Halvdan 
Published: July 2023

AbstractIntroductionMost studies on factors affecting the risk of preeclampsia have not separated preterm from term preeclampsia, and we still know little about whether the predisposing conditions have a differentiated effect on the risk of preterm and term preeclampsia. Our aim was to assess whether diabetes type 1 and 2, chronic kidney disease, asthma, epilepsy, rheumatoid arthritis and chronic hypertension were differentially associated with preterm and term preeclampsia.Material and methodsThis is a nationwide, population‐based cohort study containing all births registered in the Medical Birth Registry of Norway from 1999 to 2016. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to estimate relative risk ratios (RRRs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs), adjusting for maternal age, parity, multiple gestation and all other studied maternal risk factors.ResultsWe registered 1 044 860 deliveries, of which 9533 (0.9%) women had preterm preeclampsia (<37 weeks) and 26 504 (2.5%) women had term preeclampsia (>37 weeks). Most of the assessed maternal risk factors were associated with increased risk for both preterm and term preeclampsia, with adjusted RRRs ranging from 1.2 to 10.5 (preterm vs no preeclampsia) and 0.9–5.7 (term vs no preeclampsia). Diabetes type 1 and 2 (RRR preterm vs term preeclampsia 2.89, 95% CI 2.46–3.39 and RRR 1.68, 95% CI 1.25–2.25, respectively), chronic kidney disease (RRR 1.55, 95% CI 1.11–2.17) and chronic hypertension (RRR 1.85, 95% CI 1.63–2.10) were more strongly associated with preterm than term preeclampsia in adjusted analyses. For asthma, epilepsy and rheumatoid arthritis, RRRs were closer to one and not significant when comparing risk of preterm and term preeclampsia. Main results were similar when using a diagnosis at <34 weeks to define preterm preeclampsia.ConclusionsDiabetes type 1 and 2, chronic kidney disease and chronic hypertension were more strongly associated with preterm than term preeclampsia.
Challenges and opportunities for proton therapy during pregnancy
Authors: Blommaert Jeroen , De Saint‐Hubert Marijke , Depuydt Tom , Oldehinkel Edwin , Poortmans Philip , Amant Frederic , Lambrecht Maarten 
Published: July 2023

AbstractDuring pregnancy, the use of radiation therapy for cancer treatment is often considered impossible due to the assumed associated fetal risks. However, suboptimal treatment of pregnant cancer patients and unjustifiable delay in radiation therapy until after delivery can be harmful for both patient and child. In non‐pregnant patients, proton‐radiation therapy is increasingly administered because of its favorable dosimetric properties compared with photon‐radiation therapy. Although data on the use of pencil beam scanning proton‐radiation therapy during pregnancy are scarce, different case reports and dosimetric studies have indicated a more than 10‐fold reduction in fetal radiation exposure compared with photon‐radiation therapy. Nonetheless, the implementation of proton‐radiation therapy during pregnancy requires complex fetal dosimetry for the neutron‐dominated out‐of‐field radiation dose and faces a lack of clinical guidelines. Further exploration and standardization of proton‐radiation therapy during pregnancy will be necessary to improve radiotherapeutic management of pregnant women with cancer and further reduce risks for their offspring.
Trait variation in juvenile plants from the soil seed bank of temperate forests in relation to macro‐ and microclimate
Authors: Gasperini Cristina , Carrari Elisa , Govaert Sanne , Meeussen Camille , De Pauw Karen , Plue Jan , Sanczuk Pieter , Vanneste Thomas , Vangansbeke Pieter , Iacopetti Giovanni , De Frenne Pieter , Selvi Federico 
Published: July 2023

AbstractAimThe soil seed bank is a key component of the biodiversity of plant communities, but various aspects of its functioning in temperate forest ecosystems are still unknown. We here adopted a trait‐based approach to investigate the effects of macro‐ and microclimatic gradients on the juvenile plant communities from the realized seed bank of two types of European temperate forest.LocationOak‐dominated forests in Italy and Belgium.MethodsWe analysed the variation of key functional traits (plant height, leaf area, leaf dry weight, specific leaf area and leaf number) of juvenile plants from the realised soil seed bank in relation to elevation (from 0 to 800 m a.s.l.), forest type (thinned and unthinned forest) and distance to the forest edge. We translocated soil samples from the forest core to the edge (and vice versa) and from high‐ to low‐elevation forests to test the effects of edge and warming respectively.ResultsTaller communities developed at the forest edge due to higher light availability and warmer temperatures. The translocation from the core to the edge did not significantly modify mean trait values. Instead, the shadier and cooler microclimate of the forest core reduced the mean leaf area, mean dry weight, height and leaf number in the communities realised from the edge soil. The translocation from high‐ to lowland forests led to increased values for all traits (except specific leaf area). Edge vs core trait variation was more driven by intraspecific variability, whereas the translocation from high‐ to low‐elevation forests caused trait changes mostly due to species turnover.ConclusionsGlobal warming might result in a functional shift of the understorey due to both an early filtering effect on the seedlings from soil seed banks and their adaptive trait adjustments to temperature increase. Furthermore, our study underpins the importance of edge vs core microclimate in driving the functional composition of the realised soil seed bank.
Co‐designing teacher support technology for problem‐based learning in middle school science
Authors: Hutchins Nicole M. , Biswas Gautam 
Published: July 2023

AbstractThis paper provides an experience report on a co‐design approach with teachers to co‐create learning analytics‐based technology to support problem‐based learning in middle school science classrooms. We have mapped out a workflow for such applications and developed design narratives to investigate the implementation, modifications and temporal roles of the participants in the design process. Our results provide precedent knowledge on co‐designing with experienced and novice teachers and co‐constructing actionable insight that can help teachers engage more effectively with their students' learning and problem‐solving processes during classroom PBL implementations.
Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic

Success of educational technology depends in large part on the technology's alignment with teachers' goals for their students, teaching strategies and classroom context.
Teacher and researcher co‐design of educational technology and supporting curricula has proven to be an effective way for integrating teacher insight and supporting their implementation needs.
Co‐designing learning analytics and support technologies with teachers is difficult due to differences in design and development goals, workplace norms, and AI‐literacy and learning analytics background of teachers.
What this paper adds

We provide a co‐design workflow for middle school teachers that centres on co‐designing and developing actionable insights to support problem‐based learning (PBL) by systematic development of responsive teaching practices using AI‐generated learning analytics.
We adapt established human‐computer interaction (HCI) methods to tackle the complex task of classroom PBL implementation, working with experienced and novice teachers to create a learning analytics dashboard for a PBL curriculum.
We demonstrate researcher and teacher roles and needs in ensuring co‐design collaboration and the co‐construction of actionable insight to support middle school PBL.
Implications for practice and/or policy

Learning analytics researchers will be able to use the workflow as a tool to support their PBL co‐design processes.
Learning analytics researchers will be able to apply adapted HCI methods for effective co‐design processes.
Co‐design teams will be able to pre‐emptively prepare for the difficulties and needs of teachers when integrating middle school teacher feedback during the co‐design process in support of PBL technologies.
Radioiodine versus no radioiodine outcomes in low‐risk differentiated thyroid cancers: A propensity‐score matched analysis
Authors: Satapathy Swayamjeet , Tupalli Avinash , Chandekar Kunal Ramesh , Ballal Sanjana , Bal Chandrasekhar 
Published: July 2023

AbstractObjectiveThe 2015 American Thyroid Association guidelines recommend against radioiodine (RAI) ablation for patients with low‐risk papillary microcarcinoma. However, its role in other low‐risk differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) patients remains controversial. Here, we compare long‐term outcomes with RAI versus no‐RAI in a large cohort comprising all low‐risk DTCs.MethodsPatients with low‐risk, histologically‐proven DTC post‐thyroidectomy, treated with RAI or kept on follow‐up without RAI, between 1990 and 2019 were included. The main outcomes included recurrence rate and recurrence‐free survival (RFS), and were validated by propensity‐score matching analysis.ResultsOf the 2074 low‐risk DTC patients (median age: 35 years), 1686 patients underwent RAI‐ablation (RAI group), while 388 patients underwent no‐RAI follow‐up (NOI group). Over a median follow‐up of 8 years (range: 3–29), the recurrence rates were similar between the RAI and NOI groups (2.0% vs. 3.3%, p = .161). The 5‐ and 10‐year RFS probabilities were 99.2% and 97.4%, respectively in RAI group versus 98.4% and 96.2%, respectively, in NOI group (p = .055). Subgroup regression analyses showed that patients with age <55 years (p = .044), male sex (p = .015), papillary histology (p = .043), pT3a tumours (p = .049) and postoperative thyroglobulin ≥5 ng/mL (p = .002) had significantly better RFS with RAI compared to NOI follow‐up. Propensity‐score matching generated 776 matched pairs with no significantly different outcomes between the two groups.ConclusionsIn low‐risk DTC patients post‐thyroidectomy, RAI ablation does not confer significant survival advantage over no‐RAI follow‐up. Further studies are required to demonstrate any long‐term benefit with RAI, specifically in patients with tumour size >4 cm and elevated postoperative thyroglobulin.
Markov Chain Mixture Models for Real‐Time Direct Illumination
Authors: Dittebrandt Addis , Schüßler Vincent , Hanika Johannes , Herholz Sebastian , Dachsbacher Carsten 
Published: July 2023

AbstractWe present a novel technique to efficiently render complex direct illumination in real‐time. It is based on a spatio‐temporal randomized mixture model of von Mises‐Fisher (vMF) distributions in screen space. For every pixel we determine the vMF distribution to sample from using a Markov chain process which is targeted to capture important features of the integrand. By this we avoid the storage overhead of finite‐component deterministic mixture models, for which, in addition, determining the optimal component count is challenging. We use stochastic multiple importance sampling (SMIS) to be independent of the equilibrium distribution of our Markov chain process, since it cancels out in the estimator. Further, we use the same sample to advance the Markov chain and to construct the SMIS estimator and local Markov chain state permutations avoid the resulting bias due to dependent sampling. As a consequence we require one ray per sample and pixel only. We evaluate our technique using implementations in a research renderer as well as a classic game engine with highly dynamic content. Our results show that it is efficient and quickly readapts to dynamic conditions. We compare to spatio‐temporal resampling (ReSTIR), which can suffer from correlation artifacts due to its non‐adapting candidate distributions that can deviate strongly from the integrand. While we focus on direct illumination, our approach is more widely applicable and we exemplarily show the rendering of caustics.
Ray‐aligned Occupancy Map Array for Fast Approximate Ray Tracing
Authors: Zeng Z. , Xu Z. , Wang L. , Wu L. , Yan L. 
Published: July 2023

AbstractWe present a new software ray tracing solution that efficiently computes visibilities in dynamic scenes. We first introduce a novel scene representation: ray‐aligned occupancy map array (ROMA) that is generated by rasterizing the dynamic scene once per frame. Our key contribution is a fast and low‐divergence tracing method computing visibilities in constant time, without constructing and traversing the traditional intersection acceleration data structures such as BVH. To further improve accuracy and alleviate aliasing, we use a spatiotemporal scheme to stochastically distribute the candidate ray samples. We demonstrate the practicality of our method by integrating it into a modern real‐time renderer and showing better performance compared to existing techniques based on distance fields (DFs). Our method is free of the typical artifacts caused by incomplete scene information, and is about 2.5×–10× faster than generating and tracing DFs at the same resolution and equal storage.
Efficient Path‐Space Differentiable Volume Rendering With Respect To Shapes
Authors: Yu Z. , Zhang C. , Maury O. , Hery C. , Dong Z. , Zhao S. 
Published: July 2023

AbstractDifferentiable rendering of translucent objects with respect to their shapes has been a long‐standing problem. State‐of‐the‐art methods require detecting object silhouettes or specifying change rates inside translucent objects—both of which can be expensive for translucent objects with complex shapes.In this paper, we address this problem for translucent objects with no refractive or reflective boundaries. By reparameterizing interior components of differential path integrals, our new formulation does not require change rates to be specified in the interior of objects. Further, we introduce new Monte Carlo estimators based on this formulation that do not require explicit detection of object silhouettes.
Practical Acquisition of Shape and Plausible Appearance of Reflective and Translucent Objects
Authors: Lin A. , Lin Y. , Ghosh A. 
Published: July 2023

AbstractWe present a practical method for acquisition of shape and plausible appearance of reflective and translucent objects for realistic rendering and relighting applications. Such objects are extremely challenging to scan with existing capture setups, and have previously required complex lightstage hardware emitting continuous illumination. We instead employ a practical capture setup consisting of a set of desktop LCD screens to illuminate such objects with piece‐wise continuous illumination for acquisition. We employ phase‐shifted sinusoidal illumination for novel estimation of high quality photometric normals and transmission vector along with diffuse‐specular separated reflectance/transmission maps for realistic relighting. We further employ neural in‐painting to fill gaps in our measurements caused by gaps in screen illumination, and a novel NeuS‐based neural rendering that combines these shape and reflectance maps acquired from multiple viewpoints for high‐quality 3D surface geometry reconstruction along with plausible realistic rendering of complex light transport in such objects.