bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Bioactive compounds and pharmacological activities of enzymatic extracts of cardoon flowers (Cynara cardunculus L.) used as coagulants in cheese production
Authors: Saci Fairouz , Zikiou Abdellah , Fiala Samah , Bensouici Chawki 
Published: August 2023

AbstractIn the current study, the enzymatic flower extracts ofCynara cardunculusL. var.sylvestrisandCynara cardunculusL. var.altilisused as coagulants in cheese production were phytochemically and biologically analysed. Chemical composition analysis of these extracts revealed appreciable quantities of proteins, free amino acids, sugars, phenolic compounds, flavonoids and condensed tannins. The antioxidant potential of the twoCynara cardunculusL. (C.cardunculus) varieties extracts was evidenced in DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging, ferric and cupric reducing capacity, ferrous and copper chelating capacity and ß carotene–linoleic acid bleaching inhibition assays. In addition, the two extracts also displayed an interesting anti-enzymatic effects, as assessed in angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitory (588.72–619.20 µg/mL) and α-amylase inhibitory (468.19-567.28 µg/mL) activities. Overall, the results of our study indicate that the twoC. cardunculusvarieties could be regarded as a rich source of biologically active compounds, opening thus the perspectives for their future large scale cultivation and valorization as vegetable rennet and bio-functional ingredients with putative antioxidant and anti-enzymatic effects.
Increased Case-Load of Malaria in an Epidemic Prone Zone that had been Masked by Insufficient Surveillance Data Reveled during Yellow Fever Outbreak Investigation in Kenya, 2022
Authors: Nchoko Serah , Ndunge Dorcas , Githinji Geoffrey , Mwanyalu Nassoro , Stephine Aricha , Owiny Maurice , Odhiambo Fredrick , Oyugi Elvis 
Published: August 2023

Abstract

Background: Early detection is key to the control of malaria infection. Over 70% of the population in Kenya is constantly at risk of infection. In March 2022, several samples were collected from yellow fever suspects, during a yellow fever outbreak investigation in Isiolo County, with malaria being detected in more than 92% of them. This prompted further investigations to, find more cases characterizing them, conduct data quality audits, assess health facilities malaria surveillance, and establish possible factors associated with malaria infection in Isiolo County.
Methods: This was a retrospective review of data from sixteen purposively selected health facilities. Outpatient, inpatient, pharmacy and parasitology laboratory registers were reviewed from 1st October 2021 to 31st March 2022, line listed suspected malaria cases in Excel, abstracted sociodemographic, clinical, and laboratory information. Plotted epidemic curve to illustrate distribution of cases. We interviewed clinicians, pharmacists, and laboratory officers to assess malaria surveillance. For Data Quality Audit (DQA), we used a standardized tool and automatically score data quality at various service delivery points, summarised continuous variables into frequencies and proportions using STATA 15. Bivariate analysis was applied to generate odds ratios and logistic regression to identify factors associated with malaria. Data were presented in tables, map, and figures.
Results: Of the 5527 records analyzed, 54.9% (3453/5527) were females. Median age was 15 years (IQR 5-30). Participants with laboratory results were 89.6% (4957/5527), of these 11.5% (572/4957) were malaria positive. Exposure to malaria infection was two times more likely among participants ≥5 years, OR=1.85(95% CI 1.46, 2.35; p=0.00), males OR=1.45(95% CI 1.22,1.73; p=0.00), and residents in Garbatula Sub County OR=1.50(95% CI 1.07,2.10; p=0.01).
In adjusted multivariable logistic regression analysis, ≥5 years aOR=1.5(95% CI 1.16,2.06; p=0.000), Males aOR=1.45(95% CI 1.223,1.732; p=0.000), and residents in Garbatula Sub County aOR=1.51(95% CI 1.078,2.105; p=0.016) were significantly associated with malaria infection. Data completeness was 83%, and timeliness 71%. Stock-outs of malaria commodities in 25% (4/16) of the facilities.
Conclusions: malaria case load surpassed the alert threshold not depicted by the routine surveillance data. Incompleteness of data, untimeliness reporting and poor inventory may have attributed to the observed under-reporting. Interventions aimed at improving malaria data and inventory management would improve malaria surveillance indicators in the County.
Overall survival benefit of patients with biliary tract cancer receiving molecular profiling: a real-world multicenter retrospective cohort analysis
Authors: Doleschal Bernhard , Taghizadeh Hossein , Webersinke Gerald , Piringer Gudrun , Schreil Georg , Decker Jörn , Aichberger Karl J. , Kirchweger Patrick , Thaler Josef , Petzer Andreas , Schmitt Clemens A. , Prager Gerald , Rumpold Holger 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
Biliary tract cancers are rare cancers with poor prognosis due to a lack of therapeutic options, especially after the failure of first-line systemic treatment. Targeted treatments for this clinical situation are promising and have entered clinical practice. We aimed to describe the overall survival of matched targeted treatment after first-line treatment in patients with biliary tract cancers in an Austrian real-world multicenter cohort. We performed a multicenter retrospective chart review of patients with biliary tract cancer between September 2015 and January 2022. Data, including comprehensive molecular characteristics (NGS and IHC), clinical history, surgical procedures, ablative treatments, patient history, and systemic chemotherapy, were extracted from the records of the participating institutions. Targeted treatment was matched according to the ESMO scale for the clinical actionability of molecular targets (ESCAT). We identified 159 patients with the available molecular characteristics. A total of 79 patients underwent second-line treatment. Of these, 36 patients received matched targeted treatment beyond the first-line and were compared with 43 patients treated with cytotoxic chemotherapy in terms of efficacy outcomes. For Tier I/II alterations, we observed a longitudinal PFS ratio (PFStargeted/PFSpre−chemotherapy) of 1.86, p = 0.059. The median overall survival for patients receiving at least two lines of systemic treatment significantly favored the targeted approach, with an overall survival of 22,3 months (95% CI 14.7–29.3) vs. 17.5 months (95% CI 1.7–19.8; p = 0.048). Our results underscore the value of targeted treatment approaches based on extended molecular characterization of biliary tract cancer to improve clinical outcomes.
Zero-Shot Transfer for Wildlife Bioacoustics Detection
Authors: Miao Zhongqi , Elizalde Benjamin , Deshmukh Soham , Kitzes Justin , Wang Huaming , Dodhia Rahul , Ferres Juan M. Lavista 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
Automatically detecting sound events with Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become increasingly popular in the field of bioacoustics, particularly for wildlife monitoring and conservation. Conventional methods predominantly employ supervised learning techniques that depend on substantial amounts of manually annotated bioacoustics data. However, manual annotation in bioacoustics is tremendously resource-intensive, both in terms of human labor and financial resources, and requires considerable domain expertise. This consequently undermines the validity of crowdsourcing annotation methods, such as Amazon Mechanical Turk. Additionally, the supervised learning framework restricts application scope to predefined categories within a closed setting. To address these challenges, we present a novel approach leveraging a multi-modal contrastive learning technique called Contrastive Language-Audio Pretraining (CLAP). CLAP allows for flexible class definition during inference through the use of descriptive text prompts and is capable of performing Zero-Shot Transfer on previously unencountered datasets. In this study, we demonstrate that without specific fine-tuning or additional training, an out-of-the-box CLAP model can effectively generalize across 9 bioacoustics benchmarks, covering a wide variety of sounds that are unfamiliar to the model. We show that CLAP achieves comparable, if not superior, recognition performance compared to supervised learning baselines that are fine-tuned on the training data of these benchmarks. Our experiments also indicate that CLAP holds the potential to perform tasks previously unachievable in supervised bioacoustics approaches, such as foreground / background sound separation and the discovery of unknown animals. Consequently, CLAP offers a promising foundational alternative to traditional supervised learning methods for bioacoustics tasks, facilitating more versatile applications within the field.
Association between sarcopenia and risk of osteoarthritis among the US adults
Authors: Peng Peng , Wu Jiawei , Fang Weiuhua , Tian Jiaqing , He Mincong , Xiao Fangjun , Lin Kun , Xu Xuemeng , He Wei , Liu Wengang , Wei Qiushi 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
Background: The association between sarcopenia and the risk of OA still presents many uncertainties. We aimed to assess whether sarcopenia is associated with a higher risk of OA in US adults.
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study consisting of 11,456 participants from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2006. Sarcopenia was defined by a low muscle mass. The skeletal muscle index (SMI) was calculated as the appendicular skeletal muscle mass divided by body mass indexes (BMI) or body weight (Wt). OA status was assessed by using self-reported questionnaire. We evaluated the association between sarcopenia and the risk of OA using multivariate regression models. In addition, subgroup and interaction analysis were performed.
Results: Sarcopenia was associated with an increased risk of OA when it was defined by the BMI-adjusted SMI (OR = 1.23 [95% CI,1.01, 1.51]; P = 0.038) and defined by the weight-adjusted SMI (OR = 1.30 [95% CI,1.10, 1.55]; P = 0.003). Subgroup and interaction analysis found that the strongest positive association mainly exists in smoker (OR = 1.54 [95% CI, 1.21, 1.95], Pint = 0.006), and this association is not significant in other groups.
Conclusions: In conclusion, we found that sarcopenia was associated with an increased risk of OA. Subgroup analysis revealed that the association between sarcopenia and risk of OA was more pronounced in smoker. Further well-designed prospective cohort studies are needed to assess our results.
Design and validation of a multi-epitope vaccine candidate against Acinetobacter baumannii using advanced computational methods
Authors: Heidarinia Hana , Tajbakhsh Elahe , Rostamian Mosayeb , Momtaz Hassan 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
Acinetobacter baumannii is a significant cause of hospital-acquired infections and is often resistant to multiple antibiotics. In this study, we designed a multi-epitope vaccine candidate using the outer membrane protein K (OmpK) of A. baumannii. T-cell and B-cell epitopes were predicted, and the best epitopes were selected for multi-epitope design. For selecting the best epitopes, many in silico studies, as well as molecular docking of epitope-HLAs, were performed. The multi-epitope was designed using β-defensin as an adjuvant, PADRE sequence as an immunogenicity enhancer, and appropriate linkers. The tertiary structure of the multi-epitope was obtained using modeling and several molecular dynamics (MD)-based refinements. The sequence and/or 3D model of the multi-epitope was investigated for physicochemical, structural, in silico cloning, conformational B epitope prediction, immune response simulation, molecular docking for assay binding to toll-like receptors (TLRs), and deformability studies. The results showed that the multi-epitope construct is favorable in the case of immunogenicity, physicochemical properties, structure, binding to TLRs, solubility, stability, toxicity, allergenicity, and cross-reactivity. This multi-epitope vaccine candidate has the potential to elicit multiple immune responses against A. baumannii. However, in vitro and in vivo experimental tests are needed to validate its efficacy as a potential vaccine candidate.
Alternative Strategy of Mophorlogy and Vocal Behavior in Burying Beetle (Nicrophorus nepalensis)
Authors: Hwang Wenbe , Li Yingqi , Yang Yi-Lin 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
Competition for reproductive resources is a popular topic in behavioral ecology. Burying beetles’ body size determines the victory in the competition for breeding resources1,2. The small male beetles who usually lose in the competion could adpot alternative strategy by being satellite males to reproduce offspring3. It has been observed in male Nicrophorus spp. that there is an obviour secondary sexual characteristic on their clypeus, and secondary sexual characteristic degeneration has been found on some small males. This study investigate the relationship between secondary sexual characteristic degeneration and body size in males and compare the strategies used by different types of male beetles in competition in term of vocalization structure and vocal behavior. We reveal small inferior males would disguise as females with degenerative secondary sexual characteristic and being silent to avoid attacks from dominant males. Males’ size and development of secondary sexual characteristic are impacted by the acquired food intake instead of gene. And we found the difference of vocal behavior between genders when they encounter different individuals. This research highlights satelite males would employ mixed strategy based on developmental plasticity to lower the attention of dominant males and beetles would adopt conditional strategy with vocal behavior in competion.
Combinations of HDAC inhibitor and PPAR agonist induce ferroptosis of leukemia stem and progenitor cells in acute myeloid leukemia
Authors: Zha Jie , Zhou Hui , Qin Dongmei , Xie Chendi , Zhou Jie , Li Wenjuan , Jia Shuman , Zhou Ziwei , Qiu Yi , Xu Bing 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
Leukemia stem cells (LSCs) are responsible for leukemia initiation, relapse, and therapeutic resistance. Therefore, the development of novel therapeutic approaches targeting LSCs is urgently needed for patients with AML. Here, we report that the histone deacetylase inhibitor chidamide (CS055), in combination with peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) pan agonist (chiglitazar), synergistically targets leukemia stem-like cells from leukemia cell lines and patient samples, while sparing normal hematopoietic progenitor cells. Mechanistically, chiglitazar enhances the inhibitory effect of CS055 on HDAC3 and induces ferroptosis in leukemia stem-like cells by down-regulating the expression of ferroptosis suppressor SLC7A11. In fact, the inhibition of HDAC3 increases H3K27AC levels in the promoter region of activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3), a transcriptional repressor of the SLC7A11 gene, and upregulates the expression of ATF3. In contrast, ATF4, a SLC7A11 activator, is suppressed by HDAC3 inhibition. Thus, our findings suggest that treatment with CS055 combined with chiglitazar, will target LSCs by inducing ferroptosis and may confer an effective approach for the treatment of AML.
RETRACTED: Unveiling the Therapeutic Potential of Thymol from Nigella sativa L Seed: Selective Anticancer Action against Human Breast Cancer Cells (MCF-7) through Down-Regulation of Cyclin D1 and Proliferative Cell Nuclear Antigen (PCNA) Expressions
Authors: Vahitha V. , Lail Growther , Prasad Saradh , Rajasulochana P. , AlSalhi Mohamad S. 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
The authors have requested that this preprint be removed from Research Square.
Intelligent identification system of gastric stromal tumors based on blood biopsy indicators
Authors: Han Shangjun , Song Meijuan , Wang Jiarui , Huang Yalong , Li Zuxi , Yang Aijia , Sui Changsheng , Zhang Zeping , Qiao Jilin , Yang Jing 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
Background
The most prevalent mesenchymal-derived gastrointestinal cancers are gastric stromal tumors (GSTs), which have the highest incidence (60–70%) of all gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs). However, simple and effective diagnostic and screening methods for GST remain a great challenge at home and abroad. This study aimed to build a GST early warning system based on a combination of machine learning algorithms and routine blood, biochemical and tumour marker indicators.
Methods
In total, 697 complete samples were collected from four hospitals in Gansu Province, including 42 blood indicators from 318 pretreatment GST patients, 180 samples of gastric polyps and 199 healthy individuals. In this study, three algorithms, gradient boosting machine (GBM), random forest (RF), and logistic regression (LR), were chosen to build GST prediction models for comparison. The performance and stability of the models were evaluated using two different validation techniques: 5-fold cross-validation and external validation. The DeLong test assesses significant differences in AUC values by comparing different ROC curves, the variance and covariance of the AUC value.
Results
The AUC values of both the GBM and RF models were higher than those of the LR model, and this difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). The GBM model was considered to be the optimal model, as a larger area was enclosed by the ROC curve, and the axes indicated robust model classification performance according to the accepted model discriminant. Finally, the integration of 8 top-ranked blood indices was proven to be able to distinguish GST from gastric polyps and healthy people with sensitivity, specificity and area under the curve of 0.941, 0.807 and 0.951 for the cross-validation set, respectively.
Conclusion
The GBM demonstrated powerful classification performance and was able to rapidly distinguish GST patients from gastric polyps and healthy individuals. This identification system not only provides an innovative strategy for the diagnosis of GST but also enables the exploration of hidden associations between blood parameters and GST for subsequent studies on the prevention and disease surveillance management of GST. The GST discrimination system is available online for free testing of doctors and high-risk groups at https://jzlyc.gsyy.cn/bear/mobile/index.html.
Intentional Intoxication with Monkshood Plant Leading to Atrioventricular Dissociation and Ventricular Ectopy in a 17-Year-Old Female: A Case Report
Authors: Klokman V.W. , Tempelaar S. , Kuipers B.C.W. , Dijk I.A.G. van , Moviat M.A.M. 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
Background: Monkshood, a toxic plant containing a potent cardio- and neurotoxin called aconitine, can lead to a range of symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, dizziness, seizures, and cardiac arrhythmias. Mortality associated with this intoxication are due to ventricular tachyarrhythmias which are difficult to treat and often refractory in nature.
Case Presentation: We present a case of a 17-year-old female patient who presented to the emergency department after intentionally ingesting a monkshood plant and developed atrioventricular dissociation and frequent ventricular ectopy. The patient was successfully treated with activated charcoal, supportive care and cardiac monitoring.
Conclusion: This case highlights the importance of early recognition of aconitine poisoning and the need for prompt supportive care, cardiac rhythm monitoring and preemptive antiarrhythmic treatment planning.
Classifying stages in the gonotrophic cycle of mosquitoes from images using computer vision techniques
Authors: Azam Farhat Binte , Carney Ryan M. , Kariev Sherzod , Nallan Krishnamoorthy , Subramanian Muthukumaravel , Sampath Gopalakrishnan , Kumar Ashwani , Chellappan Sriram 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
The ability to distinguish between the abdominal conditions of adult female mosquitoes has important utility for the surveillance and control of mosquito-borne diseases. However, doing so requires entomological training and time-consuming manual effort. Here, we design computer vision techniques to determine stages in the gonotrophic cycle of female mosquitoes from images. Our dataset was collected from 139 adult female mosquitoes across three medically important species – Aedes aegypti, Anopheles stephensi, and Culex quinquefasciatus – and all four gonotrophic stages of the cycle (unfed, fully fed, semi-gravid and gravid). From these mosquitoes and stages, a total of 1,959 images were captured on a plain background via multiple smartphones. We then trained and validated an EfficientNet-B0-based model. With unseen data, the overall classification accuracy achieved by the model was 93.59%. Furthermore, we also assessed the explainability of our AI model, by implementing Grad-CAMs - a technique that highlights pixels in an image that were prioritized for classification. We observe that the highest significance was for those pixels representing the mosquito abdomen, demonstrating that our AI model has indeed learned correctly. To the best of our knowledge, this work is the first to use computer vision techniques to identify the stages of the gonotrophic cycle of mosquitoes, and we discuss some potential practical applications of our techniques.
WITHDRAWN: Performance assessment of multiple precipitation and temperature products for hydro- climatic applications over Pakistan
Authors: Munir Iqra , Lu Jianzhong , Chen Xiaoling , Waqas Hassan 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
Due to limited gauge network, Pakistan presents a challenge for cryosphere, hydrological, and ecological studies. Thus, before using precipitation and temperature products for hydro-climatic applications, they must be properly assessed. This study compared six satellite-based precipitation products (SBPPs), one satellite-based temperature product (SBTP), and three temperature reanalysis products (TRPs) to in-situ gauge data to assess their accuracy using ground gauge-based rainfall measurements for the period (2000–2020). The evaluation investigated point-to-pixel data on daily, monthly, seasonal (winter, spring, summer, and fall), and yearly timescales. All products were assessed using four continuous indices (RMSE, CC, bias, and rBias) and four categorical indices (false alarm ratio, probability of detection, success ratio, and crucial success index). According to the evaluation findings, CHIRPS and IMERG outperformed soil moisture family products in daily spatial-temporal capabilities. In terms of accuracy, ERA5 outperformed other temperature products. Monthly satellite-based temperature and precipitation data and temperature reanalysis products performed better than daily estimates (CC < 0.7 and rBIAS within ± 10). On a seasonal scale, IMERG precipitation estimates and ERA5 temperature estimates agreed well with in-situ gauge estimates. In areas with moderate topography, SM2Rain-GPM and ASCAT performed effectively. The evaluation of temperature reanalysis products on the ground demonstrated higher capabilities than AMSR2 LPRM. In terms of detection probability, the ground validation of IMERG beat other SBPPs, whereas ERA5 fared best among SBT and TRPs. The probability density function (PDF) showed that all satellite-based precipitation products captured light precipitation occurrences (> 2mm/day). In general, MEERA-2 and GEOS-5 FP demonstrated moderate performance in low elevated regions, whereas ERA5 and AMSR2 LPRM demonstrated performance comparable to that of gauge estimations across the entire country. The ground evaluation suggests using IMERG's daily and monthly precipitation estimates and ERA5 monthly temperature estimates for hydroclimatic applications in Pakistan's subtropical climates.