bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Clinical utility of the “balloon lever technique” in the right inferior pulmonary vein cryoballoon ablation
Authors: Wakabayashi Yasushi , Kobayashi Masanori , Ichikawa Tomohide , Koyama Takashi , Abe Hidetoshi 
Published: December 2022

AbstractBackgroundThe acute success rate of pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) with cryoballoon (CB) is reported to be lower in the right inferior pulmonary vein (RIPV). This study aimed to investigate the utility of the “balloon lever technique (BLT)” for RIPV CB ablation.MethodsWe retrospectively studied consecutive patients who underwent CB‐PVI for atrial fibrillation between February 21, 2020 and June 3, 2022. RIPV cryoablation was performed according to a specific protocol. The patients underwent RIPV cryoablation using the conventional method. If the method was found ineffective, BLT cryoablation was performed. The acute success rate of RIPV CB ablation was examined. We also investigated the RIPV isolation rate and procedural parameters during conventional and BLT cryoablation.ResultsNinety‐three patients were included in the analysis. RIPV isolation was achieved in 89.2% (83/93) of the patients using conventional method and subsequent BLT cryoablation. Meanwhile, 68 patients underwent BLT cryoablation because the conventional method was ineffective. RIPV was isolated with BLT in 85.3% (58/68) of patients. Additionally, BLT was found to be superior to conventional cryoablation in terms of nadir balloon temperature, freezing time, and thawing time to a specific temperature in patients who underwent both conventional and BLT cryoablations.ConclusionsBLT is useful in RIPV cryoablation when the conventional method is ineffective. BLT cryoablation may be helpful, mainly because of the BLT‐mediated contact of the balloon with the bottom of the RIPV, which leads to optimal RIPV occlusion.
Thermal behavior and decomposition kinetics of nitro‐1,2,4‐triazol‐3‐one by gas manometric technique
Authors: Xiao Yiyi , Jia Haonan , Jin Bo , Huang Qiong , Peng Rufang , Chu Shijin 
Published: December 2022

AbstractIsothermal decomposition kinetics play an important role in the stability assessment, risk assessment, and reaction mechanism inference of energetic materials. Herein, the thermal decomposition of nitro‐1,2,4‐triazol‐3‐one (NTO) was investigated using a self‐development isothermal decomposition gas manometric device at both high and low temperature ranges. The kinetic parameters were calculated by model‐free method and model‐fitting method. The results show that the activation energies determined by these two methods are in good agreement. At 473–493 K, the entire decomposition process of NTO showed two distinct stages. The activation energy (Ea) and pre‐exponential factor (lnA) in the first stage are 260.1 ± 11.5 kJ mol−1 and 52.5 ± 2.9 s−1, respectively, while they are 166.0 ± 24.5 kJ mol−1 and 28.4 ± 6.1 s−1 in the second stage. At 383–423 K, the initial decomposition process of NTO was investigated. During this process, Ea is 99.8 ± 3.2 kJ mol−1 and lnA is 11.5 ± 1.0 s−1. According to the kinetic results, a mechanism was speculated to be the transition of a rate‐limiting step from nucleation and nuclei growth to the gas diffusion. Moreover, the Ea–lnA sets were found to lie on the kinetic compensation regression line, which indicates that the kinetic data in this work are reliable. All the results will further support and complement the kinetic database of NTO.
Grassland ecosystems resilience to drought: The role of surface water ponds
Authors: Chen Lin , Sofia Giulia , Qiu Junliang , Wang Jian , Tarolli Paolo 
Published: December 2022

AbstractCurrently, grassland ecosystems' stability is facing severe challenges due to climate variability and the increased frequency and intensity of extreme droughts. In many grasslands worldwide, closed‐basin ponds supply various ecosystem services by collecting rainfall and runoff. These ponds may provide a significant opportunity to mitigate climate change pressures and improve the resilience of grasslands. Nevertheless, their conservation is hampered by problems auditing these small and dynamic features. Understanding the dynamics that characterise the interactions of ponds and grassland vegetation with climate changes is, therefore, a priority for better quantifying future impacts of climate change on managed‐land systems. This study investigated variations of grassland vegetation quality from 2001 to 2021 in Lessinia Regional Park, a pre‐alpine historical rural landscape in northern Italy. We combined multi‐source data, weather information, and satellite‐derived vegetation quality indices. The work focuses the analysis using a ‘pond landscape dominance’ index, calculated as a proxy of hydrologic connectivity, to illustrate the function of ponds in regulating vegetation. We provided an unprecedented mapping of 459 ponds across the whole area. The results show a progressively decreasing vegetation quality in Lessinia, following rainfall and temperature variability. Overall, however, the analysis highlighted the benefit of water extent and closeness to ponds in providing higher resistance of grasslands against drought, especially during the driest study years. These results demonstrate that this approach has great potential for monitoring the resistance of grasslands in response to drought over large regions. This study supports the importance of identifying multiple co‐benefits and ecosystem services related to ponds, which can help communities cope with climate change and environmental challenges.
Linking ecosystem service benefit and grazing prohibition intensity can better optimize fence layout in northern Tibet
Authors: Chen Junhe , Wang Yafeng , Sun Jian , Zhang Jianxiang , Zhang Jingtian , Wang Yingxin , Zhou Tiancai , Huo Huangyu , Liang Eryuan 
Published: December 2022

AbstractThere is an urgent need to link grazing exclusion policy and the resulting benefits for fence layout management. However, policy implementation intensity and benefits are rarely considered together. Here, combining the changes in the rate of the livestock and fenced area, we constructed a grazing prohibition intensity (GPI) index that reflected the intensity of policy implementation. We also quantified ecosystem service benefits (ESBs), including net primary productivity (NPP) and soil conservation by the different models. Then, a new perspective in combination with ESBs and GPI was used to assess whether a fence layout is appropriate using the four–quadrant model and how to optimize a potentially unreasonable fence layout based on seven drivers. We found that the NPP and soil conservation service notably increased by 59% and 87%, respectively, in the total fenced area, after the implementation of the grazing exclusion program. The high values of ESBs and GPI were concentrated in the eastern and central‐eastern regions of the northern Tibet, respectively. Moreover, the potentially unreasonable fence layout accounted for 10% of the total fenced area, and was focused on meadow areas with a high human footprint. The area proportion of reasonable fence layout coupling ESBs and GPI increased by 20% compared with ESBs individually. Finally, an optimal potential unreasonable fence layout might reduce the mismatch between the ESB and GPI by considering countermeasures such as attention to the potential unreasonable fence layout, setting a target for supplying carbon sinks and soil and water conservation quantities and reducing the human footprint. Our study indicates the necessity of linking ESBs and GPI for fence layout management.
The costs of delivering environmental outcomes with land sharing and land sparing
Authors: Collas Lydia , Crastes dit Sourd Romain , Finch Tom , Green Rhys , Hanley Nick , Balmford Andrew 
Published: December 2022

Abstract

The biodiversity and climate crises demand ambitious policies lowering the environmental impacts of farming. Most current interventions incentivise so‐called land‐sharing approaches to address the widespread trade‐off between farm yields and on‐farm environmental outcomes by compensating farmers who adopt yield‐reducing interventions that encourage wildlife or reduce net emissions within farmed land.

Here, we present the first quantification of the likely costs to taxpayers of land sharing compared with land sparing, in which large areas are removed from production altogether because of high‐yielding practices elsewhere in the landscape. Focusing on arable production in the United Kingdom, we used a choice experiment to explore farmer preferences and estimated the overall costs of contrasting agri‐environment schemes that delivered increased populations of three well‐studied farmland birds and reduced net carbon emissions in England. We included capital, administration and monitoring costs, and lost food production.

Sparing delivered our target biodiversity and carbon emission outcomes at 79% of the food production cost and 48% of the taxpayer cost of sharing. The difference in subsidy payments required by farmers roughly tracked lost food production but other costs favoured sparing even more strongly.

The cost‐related merits of sparing would probably increase further in studies incorporating (1) the many species and ecosystem services not deliverable on farmland, (2) the costs of food imports to compensate domestic lost production and (3) countries without as long and extensive a history of agriculture as the United Kingdom.

Our results suggest that, for at least some conservation outcomes, continuing a land‐sharing approach in countries such as the United Kingdom is not only an inefficient use of government funds but also undermines conservation and food security in food‐exporting countries which bear the burden of compensating domestic production forgone in the name of conservation.

Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
Interspecies and in vitro‐in vivo scaling for quantitative modeling of whole‐body drug pharmacokinetics in patients: Application to the anticancer drug oxaliplatin
Authors: Catozzi Simona , Hill Roger , Li Xiao‐Mei , Dulong Sandrine , Collard Elodie , Ballesta Annabelle 
Published: December 2022

AbstractQuantitative systems pharmacology holds the promises of integrating results from laboratory animals or in vitro human systems into the design of human pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) models allowing for precision and personalized medicine. However, reliable and general in vitro‐to‐in vivo extrapolation and interspecies scaling methods are still lacking. Here, we developed a translational strategy for the anticancer drug oxaliplatin. Using ex vivo PK data in the whole blood of the mouse, rat, and human, a model representing the amount of platinum (Pt) in the plasma and in the red blood cells was designed and could faithfully fit each dataset independently. A “purely physiologically‐based (PB)” scaling approach solely based on preclinical data failed to reproduce human observations, which were then included in the calibration. Investigating approaches in which one parameter was set as species‐specific, whereas the others were computed by PB scaling laws, we concluded that allowing the Pt binding rate to plasma proteins to be species‐specific permitted to closely fit all data, and guaranteed parameter identifiability. Such a strategy presenting the drawback of including all clinical datasets, we further identified a minimal subset of human data ensuring accurate model calibration. Next, a “whole body” model of oxaliplatin human PK was inferred from the ex vivo study. Its three remaining parameters were estimated, using one third of the available patient data. Remarkably, the model achieved a good fit to the training dataset and successfully reproduced the unseen observations. Such validation endorsed the legitimacy of our scaling methodology calling for its testing with other drugs.
What matters most? Network analysis of mental health, recovery experiences, sleep, and fatigue among career firefighters
Authors: Zhang Shu , Jiang Junying , Hao Leilei , Yu Yu , Zhang Qi , Meng Hui 
Published: December 2022

AbstractFirefighters exhibit a higher prevalence of mental health issues than other occupations because they often directly or indirectly experience potentially traumatic events. Previous research has suggested that recovery experiences, sleep, and fatigue may be protective or risk factors for firefighters' mental health. This study conducted regularised partial correlation network analysis to investigate and visualise the complex relationships between these variables. We collected data through an online survey, and 3144 career firefighters from a large east‐coast city in China, were included in the analyses. The results of the network analysis showed that: (1) only relaxation and mastery experiences directly correlated with one dimension of the mental health scale, namely, life/social functioning; (2) sleep quality had stronger correlations with mental health issues than sleep quantity; and (3) mental health issues were central nodes of the network. These results indicated that firefighters' mental health was close to other variables in the network and acted as a bridge linking other variables. Therefore, more attention should be paid to the mental health of firefighters to prevent comorbidities. The study's results also indicated that recovery experiences and sleep may be protective factors for firefighters' mental health.
“Blockchain‐Like” MIL‐101(Cr)/Carbon Black Electrodes for Unprecedented Defluorination by Capacitive Deionization
Authors: Yu Fei , Zhang Xiaochen , Liu Peng , Chen Bingbing , Ma Jie 
Published: December 2022

AbstractMetal‐organic frameworks (MOF) have attracted extensive attention due to their ultra‐high specific surface area and tunable structure, the mechanism of direct utilization for capacitive deionization (CDI) defluorination remains undefined. Here, MIL‐101(Cr) with ultra‐high specific surface area, high water stability, and open metal sites (OMSs) is prepared by a hydrothermal method for defluorination of CDI. Carbon black is used as a “chain” to connect F‐stored in the holes of MIL‐101(Cr) (Cr‐MOF)as “blocks” to enhance the conductivity and ion storage capacity of MIL‐101(Cr)/carbon black electrodes (Cr‐MOF electrodes). This simple construction method avoids the process complexity of in situ synthesis and performs better. These easily constructed “blockchain‐like” Cr‐MOF electrodes exhibit excellent defluorination capacity (39.84 mgNaF gelectrodes−1), low energy consumption (1.2 kWh kgNaF−1), and good stability. The coupling of the electrochemical redox reaction of Cr3+/Cr4+ with confined water is investigated using in situ and ex situ analysis methods combined with density functional theory (DFT), resulting in an unprecedented defluorination mechanism for Cr‐MOF electrodes. This study opens up new ideas for the application of MOF in CDI, clarifies the removal mechanism of MOF, and lays a foundation for further promoting the application of raw materials with poor conductivity in the field of CDI.
PROTAC Degraders of Androgen Receptor‐Integrated Dissolving Microneedles for Androgenetic Alopecia and Recrudescence Treatment via Single Topical Administration
Authors: Wang Ruxuan , Zhong Tengjiang , Bian Qiong , Zhang Sai , Ma Xiaolu , Li Liming , Xu Yihua , Gu Yueting , Yuan Anran , Hu Weitong , Qin Chong , Gao Jianqing 
Published: December 2022

AbstractAndrogenetic alopecia (AGA) is a transracial and cross‐gender disease worldwide with a youth‐oriented tendency, but it lacks effective treatment. The binding of androgen receptor (AR) and androgen plays an essential role in the occurrence and progression of AGA. Herein, novel proteolysis targeting chimera degrader of AR (AR‐PROTAC) is synthesized and integrated with dissolving microneedles (PROTAC‐MNs) to achieve AR destruction in hair follicles for AGA treatment. The PROTAC‐MNs possess adequate mechanical capabilities for precise AR‐PROTAC delivery into the hair follicle‐residing regions for AR degradation. After applying only once topically, the PROTAC‐MNs achieve an accelerated onset of hair regeneration as compared to the daily application of the first‐line topical drug minoxidil. Intriguingly, PROTAC‐MNs via single administration still realize superior hair regeneration in AGA recrudescence, which is the major drawback of minoxidil in clinical practice. With the degradation of AR, the PROTAC‐MNs successfully regulate the signaling cascade related to hair growth and activate hair follicle stem cells. Furthermore, the PROTAC‐MNs do not cause systemic toxicity or androgen deficiency‐related chaos in vivo. Collectively, these AR‐degrading dissolving microneedles with long‐lasting efficacy, one‐step administration, and high biocompatibility provide a great therapeutic potential for AGA treatment.
Assessment of alkaloids from the stems of 14 Berberis species in China
Authors: Yin Xiaoming , Huang Siyu , Wu Xing , Wang Yi , Li Xinhua 
Published: December 2022

AbstractThe total alkaloids and its five monomeric alkaloids were studied from the stems of 14 species of the genus Berberis from China. The optimal extraction conditions of the total alkaloids were established as including a ratio of liquid‐to‐material of 249.55:1 (ml/g), extraction temperature of 59.6°C, and extraction time of 137.5 min. The contents of total alkaloids of the 14 Berberis species range from 7.74 to 29.37 mg/g, three species, B. pruinosa, B. wilsonae, B. verruculosa, possess higher contents between 21.19 and 29.37 mg/g. The contents of five monomeric alkaloids were analyzed by ultra‐high‐performance liquid chromatography, using methanol and 0.2% formic acid as the optimal mobile phase, jatrorrhizine, berberine, and palmatine are found in all the 14 species, and three species, B. pruinosa, B. wilsonae, B. verruculosa, possess the higher contents between 1.99 and 9.48 mg/g, while epiberberine is detected in eight species with low contents (0.06–0.07 mg/g), and coptisine is detected in just three species with low contents (0.05–0.11 mg/g). Only one species, B. taliensis, is found to contain all five monomeric alkaloids. The results may promote the development and utilization of the largely unexploited abundant wild medicinal plant resources of Berberis species in China.
Best practices to increase your shot at grant funding
Authors: Sutton Halley 
Published: December 2022

LAS VEGAS — “I spent about 16 years at Syracuse University, in their emergency communications department. In [this] my former job, ‘no’ was never an option. I had to find a solution [to whatever problem we faced]. Grant funding is similar,” Shannon Day, Grants Development Consultant, Grants Office, LLC, said.
Bridging conservation across the ex situ‐in situ spectrum: Insights into the reproductive ecology of the threatened narrow‐headed gartersnake (Thamnophis rufipunctatus)
Authors: Blais Brian R. , Wells Stuart A. , Poynter Bradley M. , Harris Tara R. , Allard Ruth A. , Koprowski John L. 
Published: December 2022

AbstractZoo‐based (ex situ) conservation breeding programs provide invaluable opportunities to uncover enigmatic behaviors and traits of focal species under managed care, which can support research and conservation management efforts. A suite of factors and a limited range have yielded population declines in the threatened narrow‐headed gartersnake (Thamnophis rufipunctatus). Better understanding its cryptic ecology and life history (e.g., reproductive ecology) offers conservation benefits. We analyzed data on courtship behavior, parity and litter size, offspring size, and neonatal growth from an ex situ T. rufipunctatus population at the Phoenix Zoo from 2009 to 2018. Courtship behavior and parturition phenology are likely linked with the North American monsoon season, yet the courtship window may be wider than realized. We document the first instances of interannual iteroparity and multigenerational rearing of successful breeders at the ex situ level. Litter sizes varied but were relative to maternal body mass, suggesting that fecundity may be driven by intrinsic condition (e.g., age and size) of breeding females. Mean offspring body masses were equivalent between sexes, and neonate growth trends were quadratic during their first 9 months. Sexual dimorphism became apparent around 4–5 months age. Much of these data are novel for T. rufipunctatus and provide insight into their reproductive ecology. Phenology of reproductive ecology and body size metrics can guide field surveillance, age estimations, and population ecology monitoring, as well as inform ex situ adaptive management practices. Strategies spanning the ex situ‐in situ spectrum are applicable to other imperiled taxa to better inform conservation management decisions.
The fuzzy BTZ
Authors: Burić Ilija , Burić Maja 
Published: December 2022

AbstractWe introduce a model of a noncommutative BTZ black hole, obtained by quantisation of Poincaré coordinates together with a moving frame. The fuzzy BTZ black hole carries a covariant differential calculus, satisfies Einstein’s equations and has a constant negative curvature. The construction passes through a larger space, the fuzzy anti-de Sitter, and implements discrete BTZ identifications as conjugations by a unitary operator. We derive the spectrum of the suitably regularised radial coordinate: it consists of a continuum of scattering states outside the horizonr+and an infinite discrete set of bound states inside.
Signatures of non-thermal dark matter with kination and early matter domination. Gravitational waves versus laboratory searches
Authors: Ghoshal Anish , Heurtier Lucien , Paul Arnab 
Published: December 2022

Abstract
The non-thermal production of dark matter (DM) usually requires very tiny couplings of the dark sector with the visible sector and therefore is notoriously challenging to hunt in laboratory experiments. Here we propose a novel pathway to test such a production in the context of a non-standard cosmological history, using both gravitational wave (GW) and laboratory searches. We investigate the formation of DM from the decay of a scalar field that we dub as the reheaton, as it also reheats the Universe when it decays. We consider the possibility that the Universe undergoes a phase with kination-like stiff equation-of-state (wkin> 1/3) before the reheaton dominates the energy density of the Universe and eventually decays into Standard Model and DM particles. We then study how first-order tensor perturbations generated during inflation, the amplitude of which may get amplified during the kination era and lead to detectable GW signals. Demanding that the reheaton produces the observed DM relic density, we show that the reheaton’s lifetime and branching fractions are dictated by the cosmological scenario. In particular, we show that it is long-lived and can be searched by various experiments such as DUNE, FASER, FASER-II, MATHUSLA, SHiP, etc. We also identify the parameter space which leads to complementary observables for GW detectors such as LISA and u-DECIGO. In particular we find that a kination-like period with an equation-of-state parameter wkin ≈ 0.5 and a reheaton mass $$ \mathcal{O} $$
O
(0.5–5) GeV and a DM mass of $$ \mathcal{O} $$
O
(10–100) keV may lead to sizeable imprints in both kinds of searches.
Jordan blocks and the Bethe Ansatz II: The eclectic spin chain beyond K = 1
Authors: García Juan Miguel Nieto 
Published: December 2022

Abstract
We continue the classification of the Jordan chains of the eclectic three state spin chain that we started in our previous article. Following the same steps, we construct the generalised eigenvectors of this spin chain by computing the strongly twisted limit of linear combinations of eigenvectors of a twisted XXX SU(3) spin chain. We show that this classification problem can be mapped to the computation of the number of positive integer solutions of a system of linear equations.