bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Functional septorhinoplasty alters brain structure and function: Neuroanatomical correlates of olfactory dysfunction
Authors: Whitcroft Katherine L. , Mancini Laura , Yousry Tarek , Hummel Thomas , Andrews Peter J. 
Published: April 2023

IntroductionWe previously demonstrated functionally significant structural plasticity within the central olfactory networks, in association with improved olfaction after surgical treatment of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). In order to confirm and expand on these findings, the primary aim of this study was to determine whether these same regions undergo functionally significant structural plasticity following functional septorhinoplasty (fSRP), in patients with non-CRS olfactory dysfunction (OD) of mixed cause. fSRP has previously been shown to improve olfactory function, and the secondary aim of this study was to provide initial insights into the mechanism by which fSRP affects olfaction.MethodsWe performed a pilot prospective, multimodal neuroimaging study in 20 participants undergoing fSRP, including patients with non-CRS OD of mixed cause, as well as normosmic surgical controls. Participants underwent psychophysical olfactory testing, assessment of nasal airway, structural and functional neuroimaging. This was performed pre- and postoperatively in patients, and preoperatively in controls.ResultsThere was a statistically and clinically significant improvement in mean psychophysical olfactory scores after surgery. This was associated with structural and functional plasticity within areas of the central olfactory network (anterior cingulate, orbitofrontal cortex, insula, temporal pole). Improved psychophysical scores were significantly correlated with change in bilateral measures of nasal airflow, not measures of airflow symmetry, suggesting that improved overall airflow was more important than correction of septal deviation.ConclusionThis work highlights the importance of these neuroanatomical regions as potential structural correlates of olfactory function and dysfunction. Our results also provide initial insight into the mechanistic effects of fSRP on olfaction. Further work could investigate the utility of these regions as personalised biomarkers of OD, as well as the role of fSRP in treating OD.
Saccharomyces cerevisiae surface display of endolysin LysKB317 for control of bacterial contamination in corn ethanol fermentations
Authors: Lu Shao-Yeh , Liu Siqing , Patel Maulik H. , Glenzinski Kristina M. , Skory Christopher D. 
Published: April 2023

Control of bacterial contamination in bioethanol fermentation facilities has traditionally relied on chemical-based products such as hop acids and use of antibiotics. Recent emphasis on antibiotic stewardship has prompted new research into the development of alternative approaches to microbial remediation strategies. We recently described a recombinant peptidoglycan hydrolase, endolysin LysKB317, which inhibited Limosilactobacillus fermentum strains in corn mash fermentation. Here, Saccharomyces cerevisiae EBY100 was used to anchor recombinant LysKB317 using cell surface display with the a-agglutinin proteins Aga1p–Aga2p. Immunostaining and confocal fluorescence were used for localization of the extracellular interface of the cells. Yeast surface-expressed endolysin demonstrated an 83.8% decrease in bacterial cell counts compared to a 9.5% decrease in control yeast. Recombinant S. cerevisiae expressing LysKB317 used for small-scale corn mash fermentation, when infected with L. fermentum, could proactively control bacterial infection for 72 h with at least 1-log fold reduction. Analysis of fermentation products showed improved ethanol concentrations from 3.4% to at least 5.9% compared to the infection-only control and reduced levels of lactic and acetic acid from 34.7 mM to 13.8 mM and 25.5 mM to 18.1 mM, respectively. In an optimized yeast surface display system, proactive treatment of bacterial contaminants by endolysin LysKB317 can improve fermentation efficiency in the presence of L. fermentum contamination.
Patterning of the Drosophila retina by the morphogenetic furrow
Authors: Warren Jasmine , Kumar Justin P. 
Published: April 2023

Pattern formation is the process by which cells within a homogeneous epithelial sheet acquire distinctive fates depending upon their relative spatial position to each other. Several proposals, starting with Alan Turing’s diffusion-reaction model, have been put forth over the last 70 years to describe how periodic patterns like those of vertebrate somites and skin hairs, mammalian molars, fish scales, and avian feather buds emerge during development. One of the best experimental systems for testing said models and identifying the gene regulatory networks that control pattern formation is the compound eye of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. Its cellular morphogenesis has been extensively studied for more than a century and hundreds of mutants that affect its development have been isolated. In this review we will focus on the morphogenetic furrow, a wave of differentiation that takes an initially homogeneous sheet of cells and converts it into an ordered array of unit eyes or ommatidia. Since the discovery of the furrow in 1976, positive and negative acting morphogens have been thought to be solely responsible for propagating the movement of the furrow across a motionless field of cells. However, a recent study has challenged this model and instead proposed that mechanical driven cell flow also contributes to retinal pattern formation. We will discuss both models and their impact on patterning.
Neglected intrapulmonary arteriovenous anastomoses: A comparative study of pulmonary right-to-left shunts in patients with patent foramen ovale
Authors: Chen Anni , Zhu Jianbo , Zhu Lei , Tang Yunyi , Li Yun , Zhang Qi , Zhao Yeping , Ma Caiye , Liu Xiatian 
Published: April 2023

ObjectivePulmonary right-to-left shunt (P-RLS) and patent foramen ovale right-to-left shunt (PFO-RLS) often appear in combination, and there are often differences and connections between them. Intrapulmonary arteriovenous anastomoses (IPAVAs), as part of P-RLS, are often overlooked because there are no technologies to detect and identify them. This study aimed to further clarify the incidence and characteristics of P-RLS with the help of contrast transesophageal echocardiography (c-TEE) and contrast transthoracic echocardiography (c-TTE), providing a reference for clinically relevant research and patent foramen ovale (PFO) management disposal decisions.MethodsWe retrospectively investigated 414 subjects who came to our hospital for c-TEE from October 2021 to July 2022, and all subjects completed c-TTE simultaneously. 7 Patients who were newly diagnosed with an atrial septal defect were excluded. Eventually, 407 patients were included in this study. Among them, 157 patients with PFO (58 patients were treated with PFO closure subsequently) and 250 patients without PFO confirmed by c-TEE were finally enrolled. In the process, we observed and analysed the presence of P-RLS.ResultsA total of 407 patients were included in the final analysis and divided into PFO group (N = 157) and non-PFO group (N = 250) according to the results of c-TEE. Whether at rest or after Valsalva maneuver, the incidence of P-RLS was significantly higher under c-TEE than under c-TTE in the two groups (P &lt; 0.001). For both c-TTE and c-TEE, the incidence of P-RLS was slightly higher after Valsalva maneuver than at rest, but the difference was not significant (c-TTE: rest vs. Valsalva maneuver, P = 0.214; c-TEE: rest vs. Valsalva maneuver, P = 0.076). The Valsalva maneuver increased the incidence of P-RLS in the group without PFO, which was more significant in c-TEE (c-TTE: rest vs. Valsalva maneuver, P = 0.591; c-TEE: rest vs. Valsalva maneuver, P = 0.008). In both groups, the P-RLS semiquantitative grading was statistical significance under different states and examinations (P &lt; 0.001).ConclusionThe vast majority of P-RLS are grade 1–2 and are derived from physiological IPAVAs. Even so, attention should be given to the differentiation between P-RLS and PFO-RLS. c-TEE is an effective method to detect P-RLS; however, the recruitments of c-TEE and Valsalva maneuver to P-RLS should be noted.
Students’ development of deliberative competences: The contribution of democratic experiences in urban schools
Authors: Strijbos Jetske , Engels Nadine 
Published: April 2023

IntroductionA democratic school culture has been identified in previous research as a lever for the development of deliberative competences. However, the antecedents of deliberative competence development at school level are less examined. Therefore, this study investigated the impact of student characteristics (age, gender, finality), urban school contexts (location of the school, socioeconomic and cultural characteristics of the student population) and different dimensions of the perceived democratic school culture (fair support, responsibility, co-decision, discussion, acceptance) on students’ mastery of three deliberative competences: tolerance, curiosity, and empathy.MethodsA multilevel analysis of a survey, completed by 5,165 Dutch-speaking Belgian secondary school students was conducted.ResultsThis study revealed the importance of the perceived fair support from teachers, opportunities to discuss, and acceptance by peers at school for the mastery of deliberative competences. Furthermore, urban schools were discovered to be strong negative predictors of all three competences, although fair support and discussion opportunities appear to partially compensate for this effect.DiscussionThese results highlight the importance of a democratic school culture, especially in urban schools, for developing empathy, tolerance, and curiosity. Moreover, the detailed results of this study could guide urban school teams in shaping democratic learning environments.
Chemical stability of carbon pool in peatlands dominated by different plant types in Jilin province (China) and its potential influencing factors
Authors: Cong Jinxin , Gao Chuanyu , Zhao Haiyang , Han Dongxue , Meng Fang , Wang Guoping 
Published: April 2023

IntroductionThe peat carbon pool stores 30% of the total global soil carbon accounting for 3–4% of the global land surface. The stability of the peatland carbon pool is a key factor affecting global carbon cycling that is seriously disturbed by climate change and regional human activities. However, the impact of these factors on carbon pool stability remains poorly understood.MethodsBased on the physicochemical properties and carbon compounds of 973 peat samples from Jilin Province (China), which are widely distributed in different altitude regions of the Changbai Mountains, we investigated the stability of the carbon pool in different dominant plants and degradation types of peatlands and assessed the effects of regional environmental factors on the peatland carbon pool.Results and DiscussionOur results showed that the carbohydrate content of peat soils in different peatland types ranged from 33.2 ± 6.9% to 40.5 ± 4.8%, and the aromatic content ranged from 19.8 ± 1.2% to 22.7 ± 2.3%. Bulk density is the most important physicochemical factor, and annual average temperature is the most important environmental factor that influences carbon stability. The effects of selected environmental factors on the peatland carbon pool covered by different plants were different, and the carbon stability in shrub peatlands is more sensitive to climate characteristics than in peatlands dominated by the other two plant types. Peatland degradation decreases the carbon stability in herb and herb/shrub peatlands and increases the carbon stability in shrub peatlands, leading the peatland carbon pool to be more easily influenced by regional human activities than natural peatlands.
The causal association between smoking initiation, alcohol and coffee consumption, and women’s reproductive health: A two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis
Authors: Jiang Zhaoying , He Renke , Wu Haiyan , Yu Jiaen , Zhu Kejing , Luo Qinyu , Liu Xueying , Pan Jiexue , Huang Hefeng 
Published: April 2023

Objective: A number of epidemiological studies have demonstrated that smoking initiation and alcohol and coffee consumption were closely related to women’s reproductive health. However, there was still insufficient evidence supporting their direct causality effect.Methods: We utilized two-sample Mendelian randomization (TSMR) analysis with summary datasets from genome-wide association study (GWAS) to investigate the causal relationship between smoking initiation, alcohol and coffee consumption, and women’s reproductive health-related traits. Exposure genetic instruments were used as variants significantly related to traits. The inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method was used as the main analysis approach, and we also performed MR-PRESSO, MR-Egger, weighted median, and weighted mode to supplement the sensitivity test. Then, the horizontal pleiotropy was detected by using MRE intercept and MR-PRESSO methods, and the heterogeneity was assessed using Cochran’s Q statistics.Results: We found evidence that smoking women showed a significant inverse causal association with the sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) levels (corrected β = −0.033, p = 9.05E-06) and age at menopause (corrected β = −0.477, p = 6.60E-09) and a potential positive correlation with the total testosterone (TT) levels (corrected β = 0.033, p = 1.01E-02). In addition, there was suggestive evidence for the alcohol drinking effect on the elevated TT levels (corrected β = 0.117, p = 5.93E-03) and earlier age at menopause (corrected β = −0.502, p = 4.14E-02) among women, while coffee consumption might decrease the female SHBG levels (corrected β = −0.034, p = 1.33E-03).Conclusion: Our findings suggested that smoking in women significantly decreased their SHBG concentration, promoted earlier menopause, and possibly reduced the TT levels. Alcohol drinking had a potential effect on female higher TT levels and earlier menopause, while coffee consumption might lead to lower female SHBG levels.
The Tet2–Upf1 complex modulates mRNA stability under stress conditions
Authors: Xia Meiling , Yan Rui , Wang Wenjuan , Kong Anqi , Zhang Meng , Miao Zhigang , Ge Wei , Wan Bo , Xu Xingshun 
Published: April 2023

Introduction: Environmental stress promotes epigenetic alterations that impact gene expression and subsequently participate in the pathological processes of the disorder. Among epigenetic regulations, ten–eleven Translocation (Tet) enzymes oxidize 5-methylcytosine (5mC) to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) in DNA and RNA and function as critical players in the pathogenesis of diseases. Our previous results showed that chronic stress increases the expression of cytoplasmic Tet2 in the hippocampus of mice exposed to chronic mild stress (CMS). Whether the cytoplasmic Tet2 alters RNA 5hmC modification in chronic stress-related processes remains largely unknown.Methods: To explore the role of cytoplasmic Tet2 under CMS conditions, we established CMS mice model and detected the expression of RNA 5hmC by dot blot. We verified the interaction of Tet2 and its interacting protein by co-immunoprecipitation combined with mass spectrometry and screened downstream target genes by cluster analysis of Tet2 and upstream frameshift 1 (Upf1) interacting RNA. The expression of protein was detected by Western blot and the expression of the screened target genes was detected by qRT-PCR.Results: In this study, we found that increased cytoplasmic Tet2 expression under CMS conditions leads to increase in total RNA 5hmC modification. Tet2 interacted with the key non-sense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) factor Upf1, regulated the stability of stress-related genes such as Unc5b mRNA, and might thereby affect neurodevelopment.Discussion: In summary, this study revealed that Tet2-mediated RNA 5hmC modification is involved in stress-related mRNA stability regulation and may serve as a potential therapeutic target for chronic stress-related diseases such as depression.
Contribution of S100A4-expressing fibroblasts to anti-SSA/Ro-associated atrioventricular nodal calcification and soluble S100A4 as a biomarker of clinical severity
Authors: Firl Christina E. M. , Halushka Marc , Fraser Nicola , Masson Mala , Cuneo Bettina F. , Saxena Amit , Clancy Robert , Buyon Jill 
Published: April 2023

BackgroundFibrosis and dystrophic calcification disrupting conduction tissue architecture are histopathological lesions characterizing cardiac manifestations of neonatal lupus (cardiac-NL) associated with maternal anti-SSA/Ro antibodies.ObjectivesIncreased appreciation of heterogeneity in fibroblasts encourages re-examination of existing models with the consideration of multiple fibroblast subtypes (and their unique functional differences) in mind. This study addressed fibroblast heterogeneity by examining expression of α-Smooth Muscle Actin (myofibroblasts) and of S100 Calcium-Binding Protein A4 (S100A4).MethodsUsing a previously established model of rheumatic scarring/fibrosis in vitro, supported by the evaluation of cord blood from cardiac-NL neonates and their healthy (anti-SSA/Ro-exposed) counterparts, and autopsy tissue from fetuses dying with cardiac-NL, the current study was initiated to more clearly define and distinguish the S100A4-positive fibroblast in the fetal cardiac environment.ResultsS100A4 immunostaining was observed in 4 cardiac-NL hearts with positional identity in the conduction system at regions of dystrophic calcification but not fibrotic zones, the latter containing only myofibroblasts. In vitro, fibroblasts cultured with supernatants of macrophages transfected with hY3 (noncoding ssRNA) differentiated into myofibroblasts or S100A4+ fibroblasts. Myofibroblasts expressed collagen while S100A4+ fibroblasts expressed pro-angiogenic cytokines and proteases that degrade collagen. Cord blood levels of S100A4 in anti-SSA/Ro-exposed neonates tracked disease severity and, in discordant twins, distinguished affected from unaffected.ConclusionsThese findings position the S100A4+ fibroblast alongside the canonical myofibroblast in the pathogenesis of cardiac-NL. Neonatal S100A4 levels support a novel biomarker of poor prognosis.
A novel molecular signature for predicting prognosis and immunotherapy response in osteosarcoma based on tumor-infiltrating cell marker genes
Authors: Tang Haijun , Liu Shangyu , Luo Xiaoting , Sun Yu , Li Xiangde , Luo Kai , Liao Shijie , Li Feicui , Liang Jiming , Zhan Xinli , Wei Qingjun , Liu Yun , He Maolin 
Published: April 2023

BackgroundTumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), the main component in the tumor microenvironment, play a critical role in the antitumor immune response. Few studies have developed a prognostic model based on TILs in osteosarcoma.MethodsScRNA-seq data was obtained from our previous research and bulk RNA transcriptome data was from TARGET database. WGCNA was used to obtain the immune-related gene modules. Subsequently, we applied LASSO regression analysis and SVM algorithm to construct a prognostic model based on TILs marker genes. What’s more, the prognostic model was verified by external datasets and experiment in vitro. ResultsEleven cell clusters and 2044 TILs marker genes were identified. WGCNA results showed that 545 TILs marker genes were the most strongly related with immune. Subsequently, a risk model including 5 genes was developed. We found that the survival rate was higher in the low-risk group and the risk model could be used as an independent prognostic factor. Meanwhile, high-risk patients had a lower abundance of immune cell infiltration and many immune checkpoint genes were highly expressed in the low-risk group. The prognostic model was also demonstrated to be a good predictive capacity in external datasets. The result of RT-qPCR indicated that these 5 genes have differential expression which accorded with the predicting outcomes.ConclusionsThis study developed a new molecular signature based on TILs marker genes, which is very effective in predicting OS prognosis and immunotherapy response.
Modification of polypropylene mesh by titanium compound: An in Vivo and in Vitro study
Authors: Xiao Yelei , He Xinyue , Yang Guang , Li Huanhuan , Zhao Yu , Wang Xuehu 
Published: April 2023

Objective: Previous basic studies on the use of titanized polypropylene meshes in abdominal external hernia repair are not only limited, but also highly controversial. This study aims to investigate the modification effect of titanium compounds on polypropylene materials and compare the performance of two kinds of meshes both in vivo and in vitro.Methods: Human peritoneal mesothelial cells (HMrSV5), human epidermal fibroblasts (HSF), and human monocytic cells (THP-1) were cultured in vitro to simulate the abdominal external hernia environment. Titanized polypropylene meshes (Ti) and polypropylene mesh (Non-Ti) were co-cultured with the cells respectively. The effects of titanium compounds on cell growth were determined by cell activity and apoptosis, and the growth of cells on the mesh surface was assessed using a scanning electron microscope and a confocal microscope. In vivo experiments, different sizes titanized polypropylene meshes and polypropylene meshes were placed between the external oblique abdominal muscle and the internal oblique abdominal muscle, the parietal peritoneum, the serous layer of the descending colon, and the underside of the femoral nerve in rabbits. The effects of titanium compounds were evaluated by observing the anti-adhesion, anti-contraction, anti-fibrotic properties, and effects on nerves of the mesh.Results: Titanium compounds effectively reduced the effects of polypropylene material on cell growth, and improved the fixation and adhesion of HMrSV5, HSF and THP-1 (M0) on the surface of titanized polypropylene meshes. Furthermore, titanium compounds improved the adhesion, contraction and fibrosis of polypropylene material, as well as reduced nerve damage. This improvement demonstrated a regular trend with the type of titanized polypropylene meshes.Conclusion: The titanium compounds improved the biocompatibility of the polypropylene material, which was conducive to the fixation and adhesion of cells on the surface of the meshes, and alleviated the adhesion and contraction of the meshes, and the degree of tissue fibrosis, as well as the influence on nerves.