bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Rickettsia species in Dermacentor reticulatus ticks feeding on human skin and clinical manifestations of tick-borne infections after tick bite
Authors: Koczwarska Julia , Pawełczyk Agnieszka , Dunaj-Małyszko Justyna , Polaczyk Justyna , Welc-Falęciak Renata 
Published: June 2023

AbstractDermacentor reticulatus ticks are sporadically removed from human skin and therefore the medical consequences of their feeding are neglected compared to Ixodes ricinus. We investigated the prevalence of pathogens in D. reticulatus removed from human skin and possible clinical manifestations suggestive of tick-borne diseases after a tick bite. A total of 2153 ticks were studied and of these only 34 were D. reticulatus. The mean prevalence of Rickettsia in D. reticulatus was 50.0% and R. raoultii was identified in 82.4% of infected D. reticulatus ticks. We confirmed the first case of R. aeschlimannii infection in D. reticulatus ticks. Among participants bitten by D. reticulatus, 13.3% reported reddening around the tick bite site and flu-like symptoms, including lymphadenopathy and 3.3% reported eschar on the tick site bite. All of the participants with flu-like symptoms after tick removal were bitten by ticks infected with R. raoultii. The results of this study indicate that even though D. reticulatus ticks bite humans sporadically, pathogenic Rickettsia have a remarkably high prevalence in this tick species. We can expect that the incidence of tick-borne lymphadenopathy might increase with the reported expansion of the D. reticulatus into new areas and its growing abundance in Central Europe.
Trends in hypertension prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control: an 8-year follow-up study from rural North India
Authors: Longkumer Imnameren , Yadav Suniti , Rajkumari Sunanda , Saraswathy Kallur Nava 
Published: June 2023

AbstractHypertension is a major contributor to global CVD burden. LMICs including India is challenged with rising hypertension prevalence, yet limited studies are available on temporal change and incidence among community-cohorts. This study aimed to describe trends in hypertension prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control over 8 years among a rural community-cohort from Haryana, India. The study also lends towards an analysis of incidence. Adults ≥ 30 years (N = 1542) recruited during baseline cross-sectional study between 2011 and 2014 were followed up after a median 8.1 years. At endline, demographic/lifestyle characteristics and blood pressure were re-examined. Overall median SBP significantly increased from 120 mmHg at baseline to 125.5 mmHg at endline (p < 0.001), while hypertension prevalence increased from 34.4% (95% CI 32.0–36.9) to 40.4% (95% CI 37.5–43.4) (p = 0.002). Age-standardized hypertension incidence was 30.2% (95% CI 26.7–35.2) over 8 years. Among hypertensive group, awareness, treatment, and control increased from 9.6, 8.8 and 5.0% to 31.8, 27.3 and 9.6% (p < 0.05), respectively. Increasing trend in SBP and hypertension prevalence was observed as the cohort ages. This increase is supported by the high incidence of hypertension. Nevertheless, our study highlights positive trends in hypertension care cascade but poor control, suggesting that this trend may not be adequately impactful to reduce hypertension burden.
Climate resilience of dry season cereals in India
Authors: DeFries Ruth , Liang Shefang , Chhatre Ashwini , Davis Kyle Frankel , Ghosh Subimal , Rao Narasimha D. , Singh Deepti 
Published: June 2023

AbstractIndia is the world’s second largest producer of wheat, with more than 40% increase in production since 2000. Increasing temperatures raise concerns about wheat’s sensitivity to heat. Traditionally-grown sorghum is an alternativerabi(winter season) cereal, but area under sorghum production has declined more than 20% since 2000. We examine sensitivity of wheat and sorghum yields to historical temperature and compare water requirements in districts where both cereals are cultivated. Wheat yields are sensitive to increases in maximum daily temperature in multiple stages of the growing season, while sorghum does not display the same sensitivity. Crop water requirements (mm) are 1.4 times greater for wheat than sorghum, mainly due to extension of its growing season into summer. However, water footprints (m3per ton) are approximately 15% less for wheat due to its higher yields. Sensitivity to future climate projections, without changes in management, suggests 5% decline in wheat yields and 12% increase in water footprints by 2040, compared with 4% increase in water footprint for sorghum. On balance, sorghum provides a climate-resilient alternative to wheat for expansion inrabicereals. However, yields need to increase to make sorghum competitive for farmer profits and efficient use of land to provide nutrients.
Utility of a rapid assay for prostaglandin E-major urinary metabolite as a biomarker in pediatric ulcerative colitis
Authors: Hagiwara Shin-ichiro , Abe Naoki , Hosoi Kenji , Hara Tomoko , Ishige Takashi , Shimizu Hirotaka , Mizuochi Tatsuki , Kakiuchi Toshihiko , Kunisaki Reiko , Matsuoka Ryo , Kondou Hiroki , Kakuta Fumihiko , Nakayama Yoshiko , Kimura Takeshi , Maeyama Takatoshi , Honma Hitoshi , Hirano Daishi , Saruta Masayuki , Yoshida Tsutomu , Okayasu Isao , Etani Yuri 
Published: June 2023

AbstractProstaglandin E-major urinary metabolite (PGE-MUM) is a urinary biomarker reflecting ulcerative colitis (UC) activity. This prospective observational study aimed to evaluate the usefulness of PGE-MUM via rapid chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay in detecting endoscopic remission (ER) and histologic remission (HR) in pediatric UC (6–16 years) in comparison with fecal calprotectin (FCP). ER and HR were defined as Mayo endoscopic score (MES) of 0 and Matts’ histological grades (Matts) of 1 or 2, respectively. A total of 104 UC and 39 functional gastrointestinal disorder (FGID) were analyzed. PGE-MUM levels were significantly higher in the UC group than in the FGID group (P < 0.001). FCP levels were significantly elevated in the group without ER and HR than in the group with ER and HR (P < 0.001 and P = 0.001), whereas PGE-MUM levels were significantly higher in the group without ER compared to the group with ER (P < 0.001). No significant differences were noted in the AUCs for PGE-MUM and FCP in detecting ER and HR. Although PGE-MUM was inferior to FCP for the detection of HR, it might have the potential for application as a biomarker of endoscopic activity in pediatric UC owing to its noninvasive and rapid method.
Radiocesium-bearing microparticles discovered on masks worn during indoor cleaning
Authors: Higaki Shogo , Yoshida-Ohuchi Hiroko , Shinohara Naohide 
Published: June 2023

AbstractA decade has passed since the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident on March 11, 2011. However, radioactive particles have recently been detected in the indoor air of some residences near the FDNPP. Following the recommendations of previous research, we determined the presence of radiocesium-bearing microparticles (CsMPs) and measured the radioactivity of radiocesium that adhered on non-woven face masks worn by six persons during the indoor cleaning of 59 residences in Namie, Futaba, Okuma, and Tomioka towns in Fukushima Prefecture. Of the 284 masks worn in this study, significant 137Cs radioactivity was detected in 268, and 44 new CsMPs were discovered in 28. The results of this study also suggest the presence of highly concentrated soluble radiocesium particles or soluble radioactive cesium aerosols adhered to house dust. This implies that the CsMPs constituted a large proportion of radioactivity in the indoor air contamination for particles in the 1.0–2.5 µm size range due to the radioactive radiocesium particles. It is desirable to wear masks during cleaning to prevent inhalation of CsMPs.
The influence of lumbo-sacral transitional vertebrae in developmental dysplasia of the hip: a matched pair analysis
Authors: Becker Luis , Hipfl Christian , Schömig Friederike , Perka Carsten , Hardt Sebastian , Pumberger Matthias , Leopold Vincent Justus 
Published: June 2023

AbstractLumbo-sacral transitional vertebrae (LSTV) are the most common congenital alteration of the lumbo-sacral junction and known to significantly influence pelvic anatomy. However, the influence of LSTV on dysplasia of the hip (DDH) and the surgical treatment by periacetabular osteotomy (PAO) remains unknown. We retrospectively examined standardized standing anterior–posterior pelvic radiographs of 170 patients in 185 PAO procedures. Radiographs were examined for LSTV, lateral-central-edge-angle (LCEA), Tönnis-angle (TA), femoral-head-extrusion index (FHEI), and anterior-wall-index (AWI) and posterior-wall-index (PWI). Patients with LSTV were compared to an age- and sex-matched control group. Patient-reported outcome measurements (PROMs) were evaluated pre- and in the mean 63.0 months (range 47–81 months) postoperatively. 43 patients (25.3%) had LSTV. Patients with LSTV had significantly greater PWI (p = 0.025) compared to the matched control group. No significant differences were seen in AWI (p = 0.374), LCEA (p = 0.664), TA (p = 0.667), and FHEI (p = 0.886). Between the two groups, no significant differences were detected in pre- or postoperative PROMs. Due to the increased dorsal femoral head coverage in patients with LSTV and DDH compared to patients with sole DDH, a more pronounced ventral tilting might be performed in those patients with prominent posterior wall sign to avoid anterior undercoverage, which is a significant predictor for premature conversion to hip arthroplasty after PAO. However, anterior overcoverage or acetabular retroversion must be avoided due to the risk of femoroacetabular impingement. Patients with LSTV reported similar functional outcomes and activity after PAO as the control group. Therefore, even for patients with concomitant LSTV, which are frequent with one-fourth in our cohort, PAO is an efficient treatment option to improve clinical symptoms caused by DDH.
Data mining on identifying diagnosis and prognosis biomarkers in head and neck squamous carcinoma
Authors: Ju Guoyuan , Yao Zhangyu , Zhao Yanbin , Zhao Xiaotong , Liu Fangzhou 
Published: June 2023

AbstractHead and neck squamous carcinoma (HNSC) induces high cancer-related death worldwide. The biomarker screening on diagnosis and prognosis is of great importance. This research is aimed to explore the specific diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for HNSC through bioinformatics analysis. The mutation and dysregulation data were acquired from UCSC Xena and TCGA databases. The top ten genes with mutation frequency in HNSC were TP53 (66%), TTN (35%), FAT1 (21%), CDKN2A (20%), MUC16 (17%), CSMD3 (16%), PIK3CA (16%), NOTCH1 (16%), SYNE1 (15%), LRP1B (14%). A total of 1,060 DEGs were identified, with 396 up-regulated and 665 downregulated in HNSC patients. Patients with lower expression of ACTN2 (P = 0.039, HR = 1.3), MYH1 (P = 0.005, HR = 1.5), MYH2 (P = 0.035, HR = 1.3), MYH7 (P = 0.053, HR = 1.3), and NEB (P = 0.0043, HR = 1.5) exhibit longer overall survival time in HNSC patients. The main DEGs were further analyzed by pan-cancer expression and immune cell infiltration analyses. MYH1, MYH2, and MYH7 were dysregulated in the cancers. Compared with HNSC, their expression levels are lower in the other types of cancers. MYH1, MYH2, and MYH7 were expected to be the specific diagnostic and prognostic molecular biomarkers of HNSC. All five DEGs have a significant positive correlation with CD4+T cells and macrophages.
Human well-being responses to species’ traits
Authors: Fisher J. C. , Dallimer M. , Irvine K. N. , Aizlewood S. G. , Austen G. E. , Fish R. D. , King P. M. , Davies Z. G. 
Published: June 2023

AbstractPeople rely on well-functioning ecosystems to provide critical services that underpin human health and well-being. Consequently, biodiversity loss has profound negative implications for humanity. Human–biodiversity interactions can deliver individual-level well-being gains, equating to substantial healthcare cost savings when scaled up across populations. However, critical questions remain about which species and/or traits (for example, colours, sounds and smells) elicit well-being responses. The traits that influence well-being can be considered ‘effect’ traits. Using techniques from community ecology, we have analysed a database of species’ effect traits articulated by people to identify those that generate different types of well-being (physical, emotional, cognitive, social, spiritual and ‘global’ well-being, the latter being akin to ‘whole-person health’). Effect traits have a predominately positive impact on well-being, influenced by the identity and taxonomic kingdom of each species. Different sets of effect traits deliver different types of well-being. However, traits cannot be considered independently of species because multiple traits can be supported by a single species. Indeed, we have found that numerous effect traits from across the ecological community can elicit multiple types of well-being, illustrating the complexity of biodiversity experiences. Our empirical approach can help to implement interdisciplinary thinking for biodiversity conservation and nature-based public health interventions designed to support human well-being.
Functional connectivity gradients of the cingulate cortex
Authors: Shen Yuhao , Cai Huanhuan , Mo Fan , Yao Shanwen , Yu Yongqiang , Zhu Jiajia 
Published: June 2023

AbstractHeterogeneity of the cingulate cortex is evident in multiple dimensions including anatomy, function, connectivity, and involvement in networks and diseases. Using the recently developed functional connectivity gradient approach and resting-state functional MRI data, we found three functional connectivity gradients that captured distinct dimensions of cingulate hierarchical organization. The principal gradient exhibited a radiating organization with transitions from the middle toward both anterior and posterior parts of the cingulate cortex and was related to canonical functional networks and corresponding behavioral domains. The second gradient showed an anterior–posterior axis across the cingulate cortex and had prominent geometric distance dependence. The third gradient displayed a marked differentiation of subgenual and caudal middle with other parts of the cingulate cortex and was associated with cortical morphology. Aside from providing an updated framework for understanding the multifaceted nature of cingulate heterogeneity, the observed hierarchical organization of the cingulate cortex may constitute a novel research agenda with potential applications in basic and clinical neuroscience.
Silver/chiral pyrrolidinopyridine relay catalytic cycloisomerization/(2 + 3) cycloadditions of enynamides to asymmetrically synthesize bispirocyclopentenes as PDE1B inhibitors
Authors: Jiang Jing , Zhou Jin , Li Yang , Peng Cheng , He Gu , Huang Wei , Zhan Gu , Han Bo 
Published: June 2023

AbstractSignificant progress has been made in asymmetric synthesis through the use of transition metal catalysts combined with Lewis bases. However, the use of a dual catalytic system involving 4-aminopyridine and transition metal has received little attention. Here we show a metal/Lewis base relay catalytic system featuring silver acetate and a modified chiral pyrrolidinopyridine (PPY). It was successfully applied in the cycloisomerization/(2 + 3) cycloaddition reaction of enynamides. Bispirocyclopentene pyrazolone products could be efficiently synthesized in a stereoselective and economical manner (up to >19:1 dr, 99.5:0.5 er). Transformations of the product could access stereodivergent diastereoisomers and densely functionalized polycyclic derivatives. Mechanistic studies illustrated the relay catalytic model and the origin of the uncommon chemoselectivity. In subsequent bioassays, the products containing a privileged drug-like scaffold exhibited isoform-selective phosphodiesterase 1 (PDE1) inhibitory activity in vitro. The optimal lead compound displayed a good therapeutic effect for ameliorating pulmonary fibrosis via inhibiting PDE1 in vivo.
Rice availability and stability in Africa under future socio-economic development and climatic change
Authors: De Vos Koen , Janssens Charlotte , Jacobs Liesbet , Campforts Benjamin , Boere Esther , Kozicka Marta , Havlík Petr , Folberth Christian , Balkovič Juraj , Maertens Miet , Govers Gerard 
Published: June 2023

AbstractAs Africa is facing multiple challenges related to food security, frameworks integrating production and availability are urgent for policymaking. Attention should be given not only to gradual socio-economic and climatic changes but also to their temporal variability. Here we present an integrated framework that allows one to assess the impacts of socio-economic development, gradual climate change and climate anomalies. We apply this framework to rice production and consumption in Africa whereby we explicitly account for the continent’s dependency on imported rice. We show that socio-economic development dictates rice availability, whereas climate change has only minor effects in the long term and is predicted not to amplify supply shocks. Still, rainfed-dominated or self-producing regions are sensitive to local climatic anomalies, while trade dominates stability in import-dependent regions. Our study suggests that facilitating agricultural development and limiting trade barriers are key in relieving future challenges to rice availability and stability.
Large‐scale system identification using self‐adaptive penguin search algorithm
Authors: Udaichi Karthikeyan , Chinaveer Nagappan Ravi , Garcia‐Torres Miguel , Bidare Divakarachari Parameshchari , Bhukya Shankar Nayak 
Published: June 2023

AbstractFrom an engineering point of view, non‐linear systems are essential to the operation of control systems, because all systems actually have a non‐linear state in nature. In reality, there are many different kinds of non‐linear systems hidden by this negative definition. For successful analysis and control, the identification of non‐linear systems using unknown models is typically necessary. Till now, numerous approaches are developed for identifying non‐linear systems, but it cannot be employed with a large number of components. Moreover, system identification is typically restricted to output and input signals alone, also such systems are rarely used in reality. This is the primary justification for using non‐linear systems in this research. So, this research proposed a non‐linear model of system identification for large‐scale systems under the consideration of two systems: bilinear system and Volterra system. Therefore, a novel algorithm named Self Adaptive Penguin Search Optimization (SAPeSO) is introduced to attain the system characteristics properly and minimize the output variation. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed work is compared with existing works in terms of various error measures. This research mainly focuses on the application‐oriented engineering problems. In particular, the Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of the proposed work for the Volterra system at 4000 samples is 18.83%, 14.05%, 8.88%, 29.72%, 19.91%, and 6.70% which is better than the existing bald eagle search (BES), arithmetic optimization algorithm (AOA), whale optimization algorithm (WOA), nonlinear autoregressive moving average with exogenous inputs‐ frequency response function + principal component analysis (NARMAX‐FRF+PCA), Global Gravitational Search Algorithm‐Assisted Kalman Filter (CGS‐KF), and sparse regression and separable least squares method (SR‐SLSM) methods, respectively. Finally, the error is minimum for the proposed model when compared with the other traditional approaches.
Identification and location method of strip ingot for autonomous robot system using kmeans clustering and color segmentation
Authors: Li Qiguang , Zheng Huazheng , Cui Tianwei , Zhang Yumeng 
Published: June 2023

AbstractIn order to improve the efficiency of autonomous robot sorting steel ingots, this paper proposes a two‐dimensional weighted equivalent clustering‐based progressive probabilistic hough transform (2D‐WEC‐PPHT) algorithm for the problem of identifying and locating strip ingots in automatic picking strip ingot palletizing. First, the steel ingot image is preprocessed and the PPHT linear detection method is used to extract the edge linear information of the steel ingot. Second, the angle and position information are normalized and weighted, and a two‐dimensional clustering distance calculation method is proposed for two‐dimensional clustering of the extracted line information. Besides, the clustering line clusters with close angles were processed into equivalent lines by mean fitting. Then, the average threshold method was used to segment the ingot between each two fitting lines, and the minimum rectangle was used to box the segmentation part. The centroid of the box‐selected rectangle is the positioning center of the ingot, and the long side angle of the box‐selected rectangle is the deviation angle information of the ingot. Finally, the experimental results show that the number of redundant lines detected by the 2D‐WEC‐PPHT is significantly less than that of traditional methods such as HT and PPHT. The positioning speed of ingot is faster than that of HT and PPHT, and the processing time is reduced from 20 s to 10 s. In the case of large proportion of old ingots with weak reflection, the recognition accuracy reached 93.5%, and the angular and position positioning accuracy were 2.270° and 11.675 mm, respectively. The recognition accuracy of new ingots with strong reflection reached 99.574%, which met the requirements of picking positioning accuracy.
DASTSiam: Spatio‐temporal fusion and discriminative enhancement for Siamese visual tracking
Authors: Huang Yucheng , Firkat Eksan , Zhang Jinlai , Zhu Lijuan , Zhu Bin , Zhu Jihong , Hamdulla Askar 
Published: June 2023

AbstractThe use of deep neural networks has revolutionised object tracking tasks, and Siamese trackers have emerged as a prominent technique for this purpose. Existing Siamese trackers use a fixed template or template updating technique, but it is prone to overfitting, lacks the capacity to exploit global temporal sequences, and cannot utilise multi‐layer features. As a result, it is challenging to deal with dramatic appearance changes in complicated scenarios. Siamese trackers also struggle to learn background information, which impairs their discriminative ability. Hence, two transformer‐based modules, the Spatio‐Temporal Fusion (ST) module and the Discriminative Enhancement (DE) module, are proposed to improve the performance of Siamese trackers. The ST module leverages cross‐attention to accumulate global temporal cues and generates an attention matrix with ST similarity to enhance the template's adaptability to changes in target appearance. The DE module associates semantically similar points from the template and search area, thereby generating a learnable discriminative mask to enhance the discriminative ability of the Siamese trackers. In addition, a Multi‐Layer ST module (ST + ML) was constructed, which can be integrated into Siamese trackers based on multi‐layer cross‐correlation for further improvement. The authors evaluate the proposed modules on four public datasets and show comparative performance compared to existing Siamese trackers.