bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Postnatal Osterix but not DMP1 lineage cells significantly contribute to intramembranous ossification in three preclinical models of bone injury
Authors: Buettmann Evan G. , Yoneda Susumu , Hu Pei , McKenzie Jennifer A. , Silva Matthew J. 
Published: January 2023

Murine models of long-bone fracture, stress fracture, and cortical defect are used to discern the cellular and molecular mediators of intramembranous and endochondral bone healing. Previous work has shown that Osterix (Osx+) and Dentin Matrix Protein-1 (DMP1+) lineage cells and their progeny contribute to injury-induced woven bone formation during femoral fracture, ulnar stress fracture, and tibial cortical defect repair. However, the contribution of pre-existing versus newly-derived Osx+ and DMP1+ lineage cells in these murine models of bone injury is unclear. We addressed this knowledge gap by using male and female 12-week-old, tamoxifen-inducible Osx Cre_ERT2 and DMP1 Cre_ERT2 mice harboring the Ai9 TdTomato reporter allele. To trace pre-existing Osx+ and DMP1+ lineage cells, tamoxifen (TMX: 100 mg/kg gavage) was given in a pulse manner (three doses, 4 weeks before injury), while to label pre-existing and newly-derived lineage Osx+ and DMP1+ cells, TMX was first given 2 weeks before injury and continuously (twice weekly) throughout healing. TdTomato positive (TdT+) cell area and cell fraction were quantified from frozen histological sections of injured and uninjured contralateral samples at times corresponding with active woven bone formation in each model. We found that in uninjured cortical bone tissue, Osx Cre_ERT2 was more efficient than DMP1 Cre_ERT2 at labeling the periosteal and endosteal surfaces, as well as intracortical osteocytes. Pulse-labeling revealed that pre-existing Osx+ lineage and their progeny, but not pre-existing DMP1+ lineage cells and their progeny, significantly contributed to woven bone formation in all three injury models. In particular, these pre-existing Osx+ lineage cells mainly lined new woven bone surfaces and became embedded as osteocytes. In contrast, with continuous dosing, both Osx+ and DMP1+ lineage cells and their progeny contributed to intramembranous woven bone formation, with higher TdT+ tissue area and cell fraction in Osx+ lineage versus DMP1+ lineage calluses (femoral fracture and ulnar stress fracture). Similarly, Osx+ and DMP1+ lineage cells and their progeny significantly contributed to endochondral callus regions with continuous dosing only, with higher TdT+ chondrocyte fraction in Osx+versus DMP1+ cell lineages. In summary, pre-existing Osx+ but not DMP1+ lineage cells and their progeny make up a significant amount of woven bone cells (particularly osteocytes) across three preclinical models of bone injury. Therefore, Osx+ cell lineage modulation may prove to be an effective therapy to enhance bone regeneration.
Increased sizes and improved qualities of tibia bones by myostatin mutation in Japanese quail
Authors: Lee Joonbum , Tompkins Yuguo , Kim Dong-Hwan , Kim Woo Kyun , Lee Kichoon 
Published: January 2023

Production of large amounts of meat within a short growth period from modern broilers provides a huge economic benefit to the poultry industry. However, poor bone qualities of broilers caused by rapid growth are considered as one of the problems in the modern broilers industry. After discovery and investigation of myostatin (MSTN) as an anti-myogenic factor to increase muscle mass by targeted knockout in various animal models, additional positive effects of MSTN mutation on bone qualities have been reported in MSTN knockout mice. Although the same beneficial effects on muscle gain by MSTN mutation have been confirmed in MSTN mutant quail and chickens, bone qualities of the MSTN mutant birds have not been investigated, yet. In this study, tibia bones were collected from MSTN mutant and wild-type (WT) quail at 4 months of age and analyzed by Micro-Computed Tomography scanning to compare size and strength of tibia bone and quality parameters in diaphysis and metaphysis regions. Length, width, cortical thickness, and bone breaking strength of tibia bones in the MSTN mutant group were significantly increased compared to those of the WT group, indicating positive effects of MSTN mutation on tibia bone sizes and strength. Furthermore, bone mineral contents and bone volume of whole diaphysis, diaphyseal cortical bone, whole metaphysis, and metaphyseal trabecular and cortical bones were significantly increased in the MSTN mutant group compared to the WT group, indicating increased mineralization in the overall tibia bone by MSTN mutation. Especially, higher bone mineral density (BMD) of whole diaphysis, higher total surface of whole metaphysis, and higher BMD, trabecular thickness, and total volume of metaphyseal trabecular bones in the MSTN mutant group compared to the WT group suggested improvements in bone qualities and structural soundness of both diaphysis and metaphysis regions with significant changes in trabecular bones by MSTN mutation. Taken together, MSTN can be considered as a potential target to not only increase meat yield, but also to improve bone qualities that can reduce the incidence of leg bone problems for the broiler industry.
Acute resistance exercise training does not augment mitochondrial remodelling in master athletes or untrained older adults
Authors: Marshall Ryan Neil , McKendry James , Smeuninx Benoit , Seabright Alex Peter , Morgan Paul T. , Greig Carolyn , Breen Leigh 
Published: January 2023

Background: Ageing is associated with alterations to skeletal muscle oxidative metabolism that may be influenced by physical activity status, although the mechanisms underlying these changes have not been unraveled. Similarly, the effect of resistance exercise training (RET) on skeletal muscle mitochondrial regulation is unclear.Methods: Seven endurance-trained masters athletes ([MA], 74 ± 3 years) and seven untrained older adults ([OC]. 69 ± 6 years) completed a single session of knee extension RET (6 x 12 repetitions, 75% 1-RM, 120-s intra-set recovery). Vastus lateralis muscle biopsies were collected pre-RET, 1 h post-RET, and 48h post-RET. Skeletal muscle biopsies were analyzed for citrate synthase (CS) enzyme activity, mitochondrial content, and markers of mitochondrial quality control via immunoblotting.Results: Pre-RET CS activity and protein content were ∼45% (p &lt; .001) and ∼74% greater in MA compared with OC (p = .006). There was a significant reduction (∼18%) in CS activity 48 h post-RET (p &lt; .05) in OC, but not MA. Pre-RET abundance of individual and combined mitochondrial electron transport chain (ETC) complexes I-V were significantly greater in MA compared with OC, as were markers of mitochondrial fission and fusion dynamics (p-DRP-1Ser616, p-MFFSer146, OPA-1 &amp; FIS-1, p &lt; .05 for all). Moreover, MA displayed greater expression of p-AMPKThr172, PGC1α, TFAM, and SIRT-3 (p &lt; .05 for all). Notably, RET did not alter the expression of any marker of mitochondrial content, biogenesis, or quality control in both OC and MA.Conclusion: The present data suggest that long-term aerobic exercise training supports superior skeletal muscle mitochondrial density and protein content into later life, which may be regulated by greater mitochondrial quality control mechanisms and supported via superior fission-fusion dynamics. However, a single session of RET is unable to induce mitochondrial remodelling in the acute (1h post-RET) and delayed (48 h post-RET) recovery period in OC and MA.
Apelin-17 to diagnose idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension: A biomarker study
Authors: Foris Vasile , Kovacs Gabor , Avian Alexander , Bálint Zoltán , Douschan Philipp , Ghanim Bahil , Klepetko Walter , Olschewski Andrea , Olschewski Horst 
Published: January 2023

Background: NT-proBNP and GDF-15 are established blood-derived biomarkers for risk assessment in pulmonary hypertension (PH), despite limited sensitivity and specificity. Apelin has a crucial function in endothelial homeostasis, thus it might represent a new biomarker for PH. However, there are numerous circulating apelin isoforms, and their potential role in this setting is unknown. This study evaluated different apelin isoforms in PH patients and prospectively evaluated the role of apelin-17 in comparison with NT-proBNP and GDF-15 as diagnostic marker in idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH).Methods: Based on our pilot study, we performed a power calculation for apelin-13, apelin-17, apelin-36, as predictor of IPAH vs healthy controls. Apelin-17 provided the best discriminatory power, and accordingly, we enrolled n = 31 patients with IPAH and n = 31 matched healthy controls in a prospective study. NT-proBNP and GDF-15 was determined in all patients. ROC curve analysis was performed to assess the diagnostic value of the markers and their combinations.Results: Apelin-17, NT-proBNP, and GDF-15 were significantly elevated in IPAH patients as compared to controls (p &lt; .001). Apelin-17 detected IPAH with a sensitivity of 68% and a specificity of 93% at a cut-off value of &gt;1,480 pg/ml (AUC 0.86, 95%CI:0.76–0.95) as compared to GDF-15 (sensitivity 86%; specificity 72%, AUC 0.81 (95%CI:0.7–0.92)) and NT-proBNP (sensitivity 86%; specificity 72% (AUC 0.85, 95%CI:0.75–0.95)). Combinations of these markers could be used to increase either specificity or sensitivity.Conclusion: Apelin-17 appears to be suitable blood derived diagnostic marker for idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension.
Ten new high-quality genome assemblies for diverse bioenergy sorghum genotypes
Authors: Voelker William G. , Krishnan Krittika , Chougule Kapeel , Alexander Louie C. , Lu Zhenyuan , Olson Andrew , Ware Doreen , Songsomboon Kittikun , Ponce Cristian , Brenton Zachary W. , Boatwright J. Lucas , Cooper Elizabeth A. 
Published: January 2023

IntroductionSorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) is an agriculturally and economically important staple crop that has immense potential as a bioenergy feedstock due to its relatively high productivity on marginal lands. To capitalize on and further improve sorghum as a potential source of sustainable biofuel, it is essential to understand the genomic mechanisms underlying complex traits related to yield, composition, and environmental adaptations.MethodsExpanding on a recently developed mapping population, we generated de novo genome assemblies for 10 parental genotypes from this population and identified a comprehensive set of over 24 thousand large structural variants (SVs) and over 10.5 million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs).ResultsWe show that SVs and nonsynonymous SNPs are enriched in different gene categories, emphasizing the need for long read sequencing in crop species to identify novel variation. Furthermore, we highlight SVs and SNPs occurring in genes and pathways with known associations to critical bioenergy-related phenotypes and characterize the landscape of genetic differences between sweet and cellulosic genotypes.DiscussionThese resources can be integrated into both ongoing and future mapping and trait discovery for sorghum and its myriad uses including food, feed, bioenergy, and increasingly as a carbon dioxide removal mechanism.
Maize-soybean intercropping at optimal N fertilization increases the N uptake, N yield and N use efficiency of maize crop by regulating the N assimilatory enzymes
Authors: Nasar Jamal , Zhao Chang Jiang , Khan Rayyan , Gul Hina , Gitari Harun , Shao Zeqiang , Abbas Ghulam , Haider Imran , Iqbal Zafar , Ahmed Waqas , Rehman Raheela , Liang Qing Ping , Zhou Xun Bo , Yang Juan 
Published: January 2023

IntroductionSurplus use of chemical nitrogen (N) fertilizers to increase agricultural Q9 production causes severe problems to the agricultural ecosystem and environment. This is contrary to N use efficiency and sustainable agricultural production.MethodsHence, this study was designed to investigate the effect of maizesoybean intercropping on N uptake, N yield, N utilization use efficiency, and the associated nitrogen assimilatory enzymes of maize crops under different N fertilization for two consecutive years 2021-2022.ResultsThe findings of the study showed that intercropping at the optimal N rate (N1) (250 kg N ha-1) increased significantly maize grain yield by 30 and 34%, residue yield by 30 and 37%, and 100-grain weight by 33 and 39% in the year 2021 and 2022, respectively. As compared with mono-cropping, at this optimal N rate, the respective increase (of maize’s crop N yield indices) for 2021 and 2022 were 53 and 64% for grain N yield, and 53 and 68% for residue N yield. Moreover, intercropping at N1 resulted in higher grain N content by 28 and 31%, residue N content by 18 and 22%, and total N uptake by 65 and 75% in 2021 and 2022, respectively. The values for the land equivalent ratio for nitrogen yield (LERN) were greater than 1 in intercropping, indicating better utilization of N under the intercropping over mono-cropping. Similarly, intercropping increased the N assimilatory enzymes of maize crops such as nitrate reductase (NR) activity by 19 and 25%, nitrite reductase (NiR) activity by 20 and 23%, and glutamate synthase activity (GOGAT) by 23 and 27% in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Consequently, such increases resulted in improved nitrogen use efficiency indices such as N use efficiency (NUE), partial factor nitrogen use efficiency (PFNUE), nitrogen uptake efficiency (NUpE), and nitrogen agronomic efficiency (NAE) under intercropping than mono-cropping. ConclusionThus, this suggests that maize-soybean intercropping under optimal N fertilization can improve the nitrogen status and nitrogen use efficiency of maize crops by regulating the nitrogen assimilatory enzymes, thereby enhancing its growth and yield. Therefore, prioritizing intercropping over an intensive mono-cropping system could be a better option for sustainable agricultural production.
YOLO-P: An efficient method for pear fast detection in complex orchard picking environment
Authors: Sun Han , Wang Bingqing , Xue Jinlin 
Published: January 2023

IntroductionFruit detection is one of the key functions of an automatic picking robot, but fruit detection accuracy is seriously decreased when fruits are against a disordered background and in the shade of other objects, as is commmon in a complex orchard environment.MethodsHere, an effective mode based on YOLOv5, namely YOLO-P, was proposed to detect pears quickly and accurately. Shuffle block was used to replace the Conv, Batch Norm, SiLU (CBS) structure of the second and third stages in the YOLOv5 backbone, while the inverted shuffle block was designed to replace the fourth stage’s CBS structure. The new backbone could extract features of pears from a long distance more efficiently. A convolutional block attention module (CBAM) was inserted into the reconstructed backbone to improve the robot’s ability to capture pears’ key features. Hard-Swish was used to replace the activation functions in other CBS structures in the whole YOLOv5 network. A weighted confidence loss function was designed to enhance the detection effect of small targets.ResultAt last, model comparison experiments, ablation experiments, and daytime and nighttime pear detection experiments were carried out. In the model comparison experiments, the detection effect of YOLO-P was better than other lightweight networks. The results showed that the module’s average precision (AP) was 97.6%, which was 1.8% higher than the precision of the original YOLOv5s. The model volume had been compressed by 39.4%, from 13.7MB to only 8.3MB. Ablation experiments verified the effectiveness of the proposed method. In the daytime and nighttime pear detection experiments, an embedded industrial computer was used to test the performance of YOLO-P against backgrounds of different complexities and when fruits are in different degrees of shade.DiscussionThe results showed that YOLO-P achieved the highest F1 score (96.1%) and frames per second (FPS) (32 FPS). It was sufficient for the picking robot to quickly and accurately detect pears in orchards. The proposed method can quickly and accurately detect pears in unstructured environments. YOLO-P provides support for automated pear picking and can be a reference for other types of fruit detection in similar environments.
Activation of CO2 assimilation during photosynthetic induction is slower in C4 than in C3 photosynthesis in three phylogenetically controlled experiments
Authors: Arce Cubas Lucía , Vath Richard L. , Bernardo Emmanuel L. , Sales Cristina Rodrigues Gabriel , Burnett Angela C. , Kromdijk Johannes 
Published: January 2023

IntroductionDespite their importance for the global carbon cycle and crop production, species with C4 photosynthesis are still somewhat understudied relative to C3 species. Although the benefits of the C4 carbon concentrating mechanism are readily observable under optimal steady state conditions, it is less clear how the presence of C4 affects activation of CO2 assimilation during photosynthetic induction.MethodsIn this study we aimed to characterise differences between C4 and C3 photosynthetic induction responses by analysing steady state photosynthesis and photosynthetic induction in three phylogenetically linked pairs of C3 and C4 species from Alloteropsis, Flaveria, and Cleome genera. Experiments were conducted both at 21% and 2% O2 to evaluate the role of photorespiration during photosynthetic induction.ResultsOur results confirm C4 species have slower activation of CO2 assimilation during photosynthetic induction than C3 species, but the apparent mechanism behind these differences varied between genera. Incomplete suppression of photorespiration was found to impact photosynthetic induction significantly in C4Flaveria bidentis, whereas in the Cleome and Alloteropsis C4 species, delayed activation of the C3 cycle appeared to limit induction and a potentially supporting role for photorespiration was also identified.DiscussionThe sheer variation in photosynthetic induction responses observed in our limited sample of species highlights the importance of controlling for evolutionary distance when comparing C3 and C4 photosynthetic pathways.
Parallel genetic and phenotypic differentiation of Erigeron annuus invasion in China
Authors: Liu Yuan-Yuan , Yang Qin-Fen , Li Zhen , Zhou Zhi-Xiang , Shi Xue-Ping , Wang Yong-Jian 
Published: January 2023

IntroductionThe factors that determine the growth and spread advantages of an alien plant during the invasion process remain open to debate. The genetic diversity and differentiation of an invasive plant population might be closely related to its growth adaptation and spread in the introduced range. However, little is known about whether phenotypic and genetic variation in invasive plant populations covary during the invasion process along invaded geographic distances.MethodsIn a wild experiment, we examined the genetic variation in populations of the aggressively invasive species Erigeron annuus at different geographical distances from the first recorded point of introduction (FRPI) in China. We also measured growth traits in the wild and common garden experiments, and the coefficient of variation (CV) of populations in the common garden experiments.Results and discussionWe found that E. annuus populations had better growth performance (i.e., height and biomass) and genetic diversity, and less trait variation, in the long-term introduced region (east) than in the short-term introduced region (west). Furthermore, population growth performance was significantly positively or negatively correlated with genetic diversity or genetic variation. Our results indicate that there was parallel genetic and phenotypic differentiation along the invaded geographic distance in response to adaptation and spread, and populations that entered introduced regions earlier had consistently high genetic diversity and high growth dominance. Growth and reproduction traits can be used as reliable predictors of the adaptation and genetic variation of invasive plants.
A framework for designing AI systems that support community wellbeing
Authors: van der Maden Willem , Lomas Derek , Hekkert Paul 
Published: January 2023

IntroductionDesigning artificial intelligence (AI) to support health and wellbeing is an important and broad challenge for technologists, designers, and policymakers. Drawing upon theories of AI and cybernetics, this article offers a design framework for designing intelligent systems to optimize human wellbeing. We focus on the production of wellbeing information feedback loops in complex community settings, and discuss the case study of My Wellness Check, an intelligent system designed to support the mental health and wellbeing needs of university students and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsThe basis for our discussion is the community-led design of My Wellness Check, an intelligent system that supported the mental health and wellbeing needs of university students and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our system was designed to create an intelligent feedback loop to assess community wellbeing needs and to inform community action. This article provides an overview of our longitudinal assessment of students and staff wellbeing (n = 20,311) across two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.ResultsWe further share the results of a controlled experiment (n = 1,719) demonstrating the enhanced sensitivity and user experience of our context-sensitive wellbeing assessment.DiscussionOur approach to designing “AI for community wellbeing,” may generalize to the systematic improvement of human wellbeing in other human-computer systems for large-scale governance (e.g., schools, businesses, NGOs, platforms). The two main contributions are: 1) showcasing a simple way to draw from AI theory to produce more intelligent human systems, and 2) introducing a human-centered, community-led approach that may be beneficial to the field of AI.
Doubly latent multilevel analysis of the relationship among collective teacher efficacy, school support, and organizational commitment
Authors: Zhang Zhonghua , Lee John Chi-Kin , Yin Hongbiao , Yang Xin 
Published: January 2023

IntroductionUnderstanding the sources and the effects of collective teacher efficacy has been one of the central interests to many educational researchers and practitioners, because it is critical to understand how teachers can shape, and are shaped by, the educational processes in schools. Following the social cognitive perspective on the sources and consequences of efficacy beliefs, this study examined how school support influences collective teacher efficacy which in turn affects teachers’ organizational commitment.MethodThe participants included 969 teachers sampled from 28 primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong. To appropriately address the nature of collective teacher efficacy and school support as school-level variables, the doubly latent multilevel structural equation modeling approach was used to analyze the data.ResultsThe results revealed the mediation mechanism played by collective teacher efficacy in explaining the effect of school support on teachers’ organizational commitment.DiscussionSchools are suggested to consider fostering a supportive school environment as a strategy to improve teachers’ collective efficacy beliefs if it is wished to enhance teachers’ commitment to schools.