bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
EFFECT OF TIMING SLASHING, BURNING AND SOIL AMENDMENT ON SOIL MICROBES
Authors: Nwokeh U. J. , Nwachukwu S. C. , Onwuka M. I. 
Published: February 2023

Various challenges face the sustainability of soil ecosystem. This research was carried out to assess the impact of burning and application of cow dung on soil microbes. Soil samples were taken from three different locations: Afugiri, Lodu and Umudike. The study comprised of two experiments. The focus of the first experiment was to check the effect of slash and burn on soil pH, organic matter, microbial biomass phosphorus (MBP) and soil microbes. Result obtained showed that burning affected soil pH, organic matter and MBP and microbial population. Burning reduced the organic matter content of soil, and increased soil pH. The results of the microbial biomass showed that burning was disadvantageous to the sustainability of soil ecosystem. However, in the second experiment, cowdung and fortified cowdung amendment were applied to determine the effect of organic amendment on soil microbes. Cowdung significantly affected bacteria population and number of earthworm species. Bacterial species have more population than fungal species. The results from this study indicate that burning in agricultural land increases soil pH, but have the capacity to destroy beneficial microbes and reduce those activities carried out by them.
ON THE PROPERTIES OF TOPP-LEONE KUMARASWAMYWEIBUL DISTRIBUTION WITH APPLICATIONS TO BIOMEDICAL DATA
Authors: Adekunle Ismail Kolawole , Sule Ibrahim , Bello Olalekan Akanji 
Published: February 2023

In this study, a new four-parameter lifetime distribution called the Topp Leone KumaraswamyWeibull distribution was derived using the Topp-Leone Kumaraswamy-G family of distributions. The model includes several important sub-models as special cases such as Topp-Leone exponentiatedWeibull,Topp Leone Weibull, exponentiatedWeibull and Weibull distributions. An expansion for the probability distribution function was carried out which was used to derive some of the mathematical properties. Some mathematical properties of the distribution were presented such as moments, moment generating function, quantile function, survival function, hazard function as well as mean, 1st quartile, median and 3rd quartile. The probability distribution function of order statistics of the Topp-Leone KumaraswamyWeibull distribution was obtained. Estimation of the parameters by maximum likelihood estimation method was discussed. Two real-life application of the distribution was presented and the analysis showed the fit and flexibility of the new distribution over some lifetime models considered. The analysis showed that the model is effective in fitting biomedical data.
PERAN BANK SYARIAH DALAM PEREKONOMIAN MASYARAKAT (Studi Kasus Masyarakat Kota Binjai)
Authors: Hasibuan Reni Ria Armayani , Alfariqi Imam , Pane Ricky , Andiranti Serli 
Published: February 2023

Abstract
This study is intended to find out what work has been done by Islamic banks in the city of Binjai, and the extent to which people in the city of Binjai feel the impact of Islamic banks, especially in the monetary sector. The problem Islamic banks see is that people are used to ordinary financial foundations that have served the financial needs of the local area. The issue that is often discussed is the difference in the understanding of premiums in ordinary banks and benefits in Islamic banking. The results of this study can be concluded that Islamic banks are still classified as having less role in the economy of the special community in the city of Binjai, this is caused by the lack of effectiveness in maximizing the programs that have been designed so that people are still not familiar with the products and benefits of Islamic banks.
As for this research using a quantitative methodology. This methodology withdraws from mathematical information, which is remembered for logical types, into a special examination that looks to clarify the state of each factor under study and the relationship between these factors. The consequence of the review shows that in its use, it is very noticeable that the types of goods that connect money with clients are very diverse and fluctuate. From these important items it is still possible to develop a variety of different items. Islamic banks have various kinds of income from profit sharing, rent, administrative costs, benefits, and profit sharing such as Shadaka, Infaq and Zakat. Through these halal products, Islamic banks provide extraordinary benefits to their customers. The relationship between Islamic banks and the benefits felt by clients through the use of sharia agreements can be seen that financial instruments and the progress of monetary business practice using contract standards that rely on Islamic sharia.
An Exploration of the Implications of Human Resources Analytics for Workforce Planning
Authors: Odom Giamene , Hyams-Ssekasi Denis 
Published: February 2023

Workforce is a tangible and talent-driven asset for high-performing organisations in today's global economy. Arguably, if workforce is not adequately planned, it impacts the effective execution of future business strategies. This research uses Standard Chartered and HSBC Holdings as a case study. A sample size of 60 participants is selected and descriptive data analysis employed to examine the online survey questionnaire. The findings indicate that HRA helps organisations to develop and sustain high-quality planning and eliminates the conventional obstacles HRA provides. It aligns strategic planning by head counting and establishing a clear view of talent demand and supply problems. It is a useful tool used to evaluate the impact of their decision and prioritise future investments in the workforce. Key identifiers include: Control, employee production efficiency, and structure. The study recommends organisations combine demand planning and internal supply analysis to identify workforce gaps and plan accordingly.
Shifts and importance of viable bacteria in treatment of DSS-induced ulcerative colitis mice with FMT
Authors: Liu Jinglong , Lin Hao , Cao Man , Lin Tan , Lin Aiqiang , Xu Wei , Wang Han , He Jianquan , Li Yuantao , Tang Hailing , Zhang Bangzhou 
Published: February 2023

Background and AimsUlcerative colitis (UC) has become a global public health concern, and is in urgent need of novel therapies. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) targeting gut microbiota has recently been applied to the treatment of UC. Despite its recent successes, it is still largely unknown how FMT functionally modulates the gut microbiota and improves the disease.MethodsWe prospectively collected fecal samples from the 40 mice (30 mice for dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced, 10 for controls), followed by Propidium monoazide treatment for 16S rRNA gene sequencing. These 30 mice were divided equally into 3 groups, which were transplanted with original donor microbiota (DO), inactivated donor microbiota (DI) and saline, respectively. Subsequently, we used 16S rRNA gene sequencing to analyze the viable gut bacteria of ulcerative colitis (UC) mice and histological analysis to evaluate the effects of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) with viable microbiota.ResultsWe demonstrated that the community structure of viable bacteria was significantly different from fecal bacteria based on total DNA. Furthermore, the intestinal viable microbiota and colonic mucosal structure of mice were significantly changed by DSS induction. The histological analysis showed that only the mice treated with original donor microbiota group (HF) achieved a significant improvement. Compared with inactivated donor microbiota group (IF) and saline (NF), Lactobacillus and Halomonas were significantly enriched in the HF group.ConclusionWe inferred that only live bacteria from human donor reversed the histopathology and symptoms of UC in mice and altered the gut microbiota. The activity of gut microbiota in donor samples should be considered in FMT and that detailed analysis of viable microbiota is essential to understand the mechanisms by which FMT produces therapeutic effects in the future.
Epigenetic clocks derived from western samples differentially reflect Taiwanese health outcomes
Authors: Lin Wan-Yu 
Published: February 2023

Introduction: Several epigenetic clocks have been developed, with five measures of epigenetic age acceleration (EAA) especially receiving extensive investigations: HannumEAA, IEAA, PhenoEAA, GrimEAA, and DunedinPACE. These epigenetic clocks were mainly developed by individuals of European or Hispanic ancestry. It remains unclear whether they can reflect disease morbidity and physiological conditions in Asian populations.Methods: I here investigated five measures of EAA of 2,474 Taiwan Biobank participants with DNA methylation data. Using logistic regressions, I sequentially regressed various health outcomes on each of the five measures of EAA while adjusting for chronological age, sex, body mass index, the number of smoking pack-years, drinking status, regular exercise, educational attainment, and six cell-type proportions.Results: Except for IEAA, all measures of EAA reflected the obesity of Taiwanese (p &lt; 4.0E-4). Diabetes was reflected by DunedinPACE (p = 5.4E-6) and GrimEAA (p = 5.8E-5). Moreover, DunedinPACE was associated with dyslipidemia, including hypertriglyceridemia (p = 1.1E-5), low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (p = 4.0E-5), and high triglyceride to HDL-C ratio (p = 1.6E-7).Discussion: This is one of the first studies to show that epigenetic clocks (developed by individuals of European or Hispanic ancestry) can reflect Taiwanese physiological conditions. DunedinPACE was associated with more Taiwanese health outcomes than the other four measures of EAA.
Immune checkpoints expression patterns in early-stage triple-negative breast cancer predict prognosis and remodel the tumor immune microenvironment
Authors: Zhang Jinguo , Jin Hongwei , Pan Shuaikang , Han Chaoqiang , Sun Qingqing , Han Xinghua 
Published: February 2023

BackgroundCurrently, targeting immune checkpoint molecules holds great promise for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). However, the expression landscape of immune checkpoint genes (ICGs) in TNBC remains largely unknown.MethodHerein, we systematically investigated the ICGs expression patterns in 422 TNBC samples. We evaluated the ICGs molecular typing based on the ICGs expression profile and explored the associations between ICGs molecular subtypes and tumor immune characteristics, clinical significance, and response to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs).ResultsTwo ICGs clusters and two ICGs-related gene clusters were determined, which were involved in different survival outcomes, biological roles and infiltration levels of immune cells. We established a quantification system ICGs riskscore (named IRS) to assess the ICGs expression patterns for individuals. TNBC patients with lower IRS were characterized by increased immune cell infiltration, favorable clinical outcomes and high sensitivity to ICIs therapy. We also developed a nomogram model combining clinicopathological variables to predict overall survival in TNBC. Genomic feature analysis revealed that high IRS group presented an increased tumor mutation burden compared with the low IRS group.ConclusionCollectively, dissecting the ICGs expression patterns not only provides a new insight into TNBC subtypes but also deepens the understanding of ICGs in the tumor immune microenvironment.
Smaller baseline subcortical infarct volume predicts good outcomes in patients with a large core in early acute ischemic stroke after endovascular treatment
Authors: Gu Yiming , Ding Yasuo , Hang Yu , Cao Yuezhou , Jia Zhenyu , Zhao Linbo , Liu Ying , Liu Sheng 
Published: February 2023

BackgroundPatients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) and a large core may benefit from endovascular treatment (EVT) in the early time window.PurposeTo examine the prognostic factors for good outcomes in patients with a large core (70–130 ml) after EVT.Materials and methodsWe retrospectively reviewed 40 patients who met the criteria from October 2019 to April 2021. Based on the modified Rankin Score (mRS) at 90 days, the patients were divided into a good outcome group (mRS 0–2) and a poor outcome group (mRS 3–6). Baseline and procedural characteristics were collected for unilateral and multivariate regression analyses to explore the factors that influence good outcomes. In particular, the infarct territories were quantified as subcortical infarct volume (SIV) and cortical infarct volume (CIV).ResultsOf the 40 patients included, good outcomes were observed in 11 (27.5%) patients. Younger age, smaller SIV and larger mismatch volume were noted in the good outcome group than in the poor outcome group (all P &lt; 0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that only a smaller SIV [odds ratio (OR) 0.801; 95% CI 0.644–0.996; P = 0.046] was an independent predictor for good outcomes. The receiver operating characteristic curve indicated a moderate value of SIV for predicting good outcomes, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.735 (95% CI 0.572–0.862; P = 0.007).ConclusionSubcortical infarct volume was a potential useful predictor of good outcomes in patients with a large core after EVT in the early time window.
Prognostic analysis of telangiectatic osteosarcoma of the extremities
Authors: Zhong Wei , Luo Wei , Lin Zili , Wu Ziyi , Yuan Yuhao , He Yizhe 
Published: February 2023

Background and objectivesTelangiectatic osteosarcoma (TOS) is a rare but highly malignant subtype of osteosarcoma. Although surgical treatment is the primary treatment modality for osteosarcoma, evidence on the benefits of different surgical methods in patients with TOS is lacking. This study aimed to compare the effects of different surgical and adjuvant treatments on overall survival of TOS, and the association of patient demographics, oncological characteristics, and socioeconomic status on treatment outcomes.MethodThis retrospective study selected the most common TOS cases of the extremities registered in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database from 1989 to 2019. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression models were used to analyze all prognostic factors, and Kaplan-Meier analyses were performed for disease-specific treatment factors of survival.ResultA total of 127 patients were included in the analysis. The average age at initial diagnosis was 20.09 years. In univariate analyses, the absence of metastasis at initial diagnosis, limb-salvage surgery, adjuvant chemotherapy, and no regional lymph node dissection were associated with a lower risk of death. Multivariate analysis further showed that the presence or absence of distant metastasis and regional lymph node dissection, implementation of adjuvant chemotherapy, and choice of surgical method were independent predictors of prognosis.ConclusionDistant metastasis and regional lymph node dissection are associated with poorer outcomes in TOS, and amputation has no better prognosis than limb salvage surgery. Compared with conventional chemotherapy, neoadjuvant chemotherapy did not significantly improve the prognosis of TOS.
Asthma with recurrent middle lobe syndrome in children: Clinical features and lung function patterns
Authors: Feng Yong , Yu Haoting , Liu Xin , Chen Ning , Shang Yunxiao , Zhang Han 
Published: February 2023

BackgroundMiddle lobe syndrome (MLS) is a complication of childhood asthma. This study aimed to compare the clinical features and lung function between asthmatic children with recurrent MLS and transient right middle lobe (RML) and/or lingula atelectasis.MethodsThis study retrospectively analyzed asthmatic children with RML and/or lingula atelectasis between 2010 and 2020 using data from the pediatric pulmonary department. According to the episodes of atelectasis, children were divided into recurrent (≥2 episodes) and non-recurrent (only 1 episode) MLS groups, to compare clinical features and lung function. Spirometry during acute asthma exacerbation and stable stages were recorded, and variations were calculated.ResultsA total of 35 children with asthma and RML and/or lingula atelectasis were included, 15 of whom had recurrent MLS. The recurrent MLS group had a higher proportion of girls, infections, family allergy history, severe asthma, severe exacerbation, and higher levels of total IgE than the non-recurrent MLS group (P &lt; 0.05). The recurrent MLS group had a significantly higher % predicted and z-scores for forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC), a greater proportion of high FEV1 and higher variations in FEV1 and FVC than that in the non-recurrent group (P &lt; 0.05). After excluding children with mild to moderate asthma in the recurrent MLS group, the differences in clinical features disappeared, but the results regarding lung function remained similar, when compared to severe asthma patients without RML and/or lingula atelectasis.ConclusionsChildhood asthma with recurrent MLS has more frequent severe asthma and exacerbation but high lung function and variations.
First use of antineoplastic agents in women with breast cancer in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Authors: Santos Ranailla Lima Bandeira dos , Osorio-de-Castro Claudia Garcia Serpa , Sobreira-da-Silva Mario Jorge , Pepe Vera Lúcia Edais 
Published: February 2023

Context: Breast cancer is the most common cancer, except for non-melanoma skin cancer, among women in Brazil and worldwide. Breast cancer treatment involves surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, which is used in 70% of patients. This study analyzes the utilization of antineoplastic agents among women undergoing their first round of chemotherapy in Brazil’s public health system (SUS) in the state of Rio de Janeiro.Methods: Data from the SUS Outpatient Information System’s authorizations for high-complexity outpatient procedures (APACs) billed between January 2013 and December 2019 were extracted, and three datasets were created: all type 1 and type 2 APACs (including all chemotherapy procedures performed); all type 1 APACs; and first type 1 APACs (containing data only for the first round of breast cancer chemotherapy). Names of antineoplastic agents were standardized to enable the subsequent classification of therapy regimens, mitigating limitations related to data quality. Absolute and relative frequencies were used to describe sociodemographic, clinical and treatment characteristics, therapy regimen and supportive drugs.Results: We analyzed 23,232 records of women undergoing their first round of chemotherapy. There was a progressive increase in the number of procedures over time. Women were predominantly white, lived in the capital and close to the treatment center. Most had stage 3 cancer at diagnosis (50.51%) and a significant proportion had regional lymph node invasion (37.9%). The most commonly used chemotherapy regimens were TAC (docetaxel, doxorubicine, cyclophosphamide) (21.05%) and and cyclophosphamide (17.71%), followed by tamoxifen (15.65%) and anastrozole (12.94%). Supportive drugs were prescribed to 386 women and zoledronic acid was predominant (59.58%).Conclusion: The findings point to important bottlenecks and possible inequities in access to treatment and medicine utilization for breast cancer patients in Brazil. Efforts to improve breast cancer treatment and prevention should not only focus on interventions at the individual level but address the disease as a public health problem. The study focused on women undergoing their first round of treatment, providing valuable insight into patient and treatment characteristics to inform policy decisions.
A fully-mapped and energy-efficient FPGA accelerator for dual-function AI-based analysis of ECG
Authors: Liu Wenhan , Guo Qianxi , Chen Siyun , Chang Sheng , Wang Hao , He Jin , Huang Qijun 
Published: February 2023

In this paper, a fully-mapped field programmable gate array (FPGA) accelerator is proposed for artificial intelligence (AI)-based analysis of electrocardiogram (ECG). It consists of a fully-mapped 1-D convolutional neural network (CNN) and a fully-mapped heart rate estimator, which constitute a complementary dual-function analysis. The fully-mapped design projects each layer of the 1-D CNN to a hardware module on an Intel Cyclone V FPGA, and a virtual flatten layer is proposed to effectively bridge the feature extraction layers and fully-connected layer. Also, the fully-mapped design maximizes computational parallelism to accelerate CNN inference. For the fully-mapped heart rate estimator, it performs pipelined transformations, self-adaptive threshold calculation, and heartbeat count on the FPGA, without multiplexed usage of hardware resources. Furthermore, heart rate calculation is elaborately analyzed and optimized to remove division and acceleration, resulting in an efficient method suitable for hardware implementation. According to our experiments on 1-D CNN, the accelerator can achieve 43.08× and 8.38× speedup compared with the software implementations on ARM-Cortex A53 quad-core processor and Intel Core i7-8700 CPU, respectively. For the heart rate estimator, the hardware implementations are 25.48× and 1.55× faster than the software implementations on the two aforementioned platforms. Surprisingly, the accelerator achieves an energy efficiency of 63.48 GOPS/W, which obviously surpasses existing studies. Considering its power consumption is only 67.74 mW, it may be more suitable for resource-limited applications, such as wearable and portable devices for ECG monitoring.
Candidate genes potentially involved in molting and body size reduction in the male of the horned gall aphid, Schlechtendalia chinensis
Authors: Wei Hongyuan , Xu Xin , Feng Guorui , Shao Shuxia , Chen Xiaoming , Yang Zixiang 
Published: February 2023

In general, insects grow (increase in body size) through molting. To the opposite, the body size of the males of the horned gall aphid, Schlechtendalia chinensis, gets smaller after molting and as they age. To understand the molecular bases of this rare phenomenon, transcriptomes were generated from 1–5 days old male and the data were analyzed via a weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). A total of 15 partitioned modules with different topological overlaps were obtained, and four modules were identified as highly significant for male body length (p &lt; 0.05). Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis suggested that a portion of genes in the four modules are likely involved in autophagy and apoptosis. In addition, a total of 40 hub genes were obtained in the four modules, and among them eight genes were highly expressed in males compared to individuals of other generations of S. chinensis. These eight genes were associated with autophagy and apoptosis. Our results reveal the unique negative growth phenomenon in male S. chinensis after molting, and also suggest that the male S. chinensis with no ability to feed probably decompose their own substances via autophagy and apoptosis to provide energy for life activities such as germ cell development.