bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of methods to assess the quality of cryopreserved Solanaceae pollen
Authors: Langedijk Nathalia S. M. , Kaufmann Silvan , Vos Ellen , Ottiger Tanja 
Published: May 2023

AbstractSolanaceae pollen cryopreservation is a common practice in the hybrid seed production industry worldwide, enabling effective hybridization across geographical and seasonal limitations. As pollination with low quality pollen can result in significant seed yield loss, monitoring the pollen quality has become an important risk management tool. In this study, pollen quality analysis methods were evaluated for their suitability for routine quality control of cryopreserved pollen batches. The assessments, including pollen viability, pollen germinability and pollen vigor analysis, were conducted in two locations on a diverse set of cryopreserved tomato and pepper pollen batches. While the viability obtained by Impedance Flow Cytometry (IFC) can be interpreted as the pollen’s potential to germinate, the in vitro germination assay directly quantifies this functionality under given assay conditions. A linear correlation was found between pollen viability obtained by IFC and in vitro germinability. In conclusion, IFC is the most suitable tool for applications and industries requiring a high degree of automation, throughput, repeatability, and reproducibility. In vitro germination assays are suitable for studies within certain temporal and geographic limitations, due to difficulties in standardization. On the other hand, vigor assessments are not sufficiently addressing the needs of the industry due to poor reproducibility and low throughput.
Modulation of pulmonary desmosomes by inhaler therapy in preterm-born children with bronchopulmonary dysplasia
Authors: Course Christopher W. , Lewis Philip A. , Kotecha Sarah J. , Cousins Michael , Hart Kylie , Watkins W. John , Heesom Kate J. , Kotecha Sailesh 
Published: May 2023

AbstractDespite evidence demonstrating persistent lung function deficits in preterm-born children, especially in those who had bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in infancy, the underlying biological mechanisms explaining these lung function deficits remain poorly understood. We characterised the exhaled breath condensate (EBC) proteome in preterm-born children, with and without BPD; and before and after inhaler treatment. EBC from children aged 7–12 years, from the Respiratory Health Outcomes in Neonates (RHiNO) study, were analysed by Nano-LC Mass Spectrometry with Tandem Mass Tag labelling. Children with percent predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 second ≤ 85% were enrolled to a 12-week blinded randomised trial of inhaled corticosteroids alone (ICS) or with long-acting β2-agonist (ICS/LABA) or placebo. EBC was analysed from 218 children at baseline, and 46 children received randomised inhaled therapy. 210 proteins were detected in total. For the 19 proteins present in every sample, the desmosome proteins: desmoglein-1, desmocollin-1 and plakoglobin were significantly decreased, and cytokeratin-6A was increased in preterm-born children with BPD when compared to preterm- and term-born controls. ICS/LABA treatment significantly increased abundance of desmoglein-1, desmocollin-1 and plakoglobin in the BPD group with low lung function, and significantly increased plakoglobin in those without BPD. No differences were noted after ICS treatment. Exploratory analyses of proteins not detected in all samples suggested decreased abundance of several antiproteases. This study provides proteomic evidence of ongoing pulmonary structural changes with decreased desmosomes in school-aged preterm-born children with BPD and low lung function, which was reversed with combined inhaled corticosteroids and long-acting β2-agonists therapy.
Activity of pemetrexed in pre-clinical chordoma models and humans
Authors: Kesari Santosh , Wang Feng , Juarez Tiffany , Ashili Shashaanka , Patro C. Pawan K. , Carrillo Jose , Nguyen Minhdan , Truong Judy , Levy Joan , Sommer Josh , Freed Daniel M. , Xiu Joanne , Takasumi Yuki , Bouffet Eric , Gill Jaya M. 
Published: May 2023

AbstractChordomas are rare slow growing tumors, arising from embryonic remnants of notochord with a close predilection for the axial skeleton. Recurrence is common and no effective standard medical therapy exists. Thymidylate synthase (TS), an intracellular enzyme, is a key rate-limiting enzyme of DNA biosynthesis and repair which is primarily active in proliferating and metabolically active cells. Eighty-four percent of chordoma samples had loss of TS expression which may predict response to anti-folates. Pemetrexed suppresses tumor growth by inhibiting enzymes involved in folate metabolism, resulting in decreased availability of thymidine which is necessary for DNA synthesis. Pemetrexed inhibited growth in a preclinical mouse xenograft model of human chordoma. We report three cases of metastatic chordoma that had been heavily treated previously with a variety of standard therapies with poor response. In two cases, pemetrexed was added and objective responses were observed on imaging with one patient on continuous treatment for > 2 years with continued shrinkage. One case demonstrated tumor growth after treatment with pemetrexed. The two cases which had a favorable response had a loss of TS expression, whereas the one case with progressive disease had TS present. These results demonstrate the activity of pemetrexed in recurrent chordoma and warrant a prospective clinical trial which is ongoing (NCT03955042).
Effect of pterygium on corneal astigmatism, irregularity and higher-order aberrations: a comparative study with normal fellow eyes
Authors: Yoon Chang Ho , Seol Bo Ram , Choi Hyuk Jin 
Published: May 2023

AbstractPterygium is an abnormal growth of fibrous conjunctival tissue that invades the cornea, resulting in corneal distortion, astigmatism, and increased higher-order aberrations (HOAs). However, few studies have compared eyes with pterygium to normal fellow eyes when interpreting HOAs and there is no study that revealed the effect of the thickness or grading of the pterygium on the change of HOAs. Therefore, we evaluated the effects of nasal pterygium by comparing the normal fellow eye of 59 patients. The pterygium significantly increased with-the-rule corneal astigmatism and corneal irregularity. Trefoils, horizontal coma, and quatrefoils were significantly induced by the pterygium. The grading of the pterygium was not correlated with its characteristics except for the thickness. In multiple linear regression analysis, pterygium-induced corneal astigmatic/irregularity values and horizontal trefoil/quatrefoil were associated with the area of the pterygium. The length of the pterygium was an independent inducer of oblique trefoil/quatrefoil, while horizontal coma was independently associated with both its length and width. The thickness was not correlated with any optical parameters. Together, the results demonstrate that nasal pterygium significantly induces corneal astigmatism, irregularity and some HOAs. These pterygium-associated changes in optical parameters could be predicted by the length, width and area of the pterygium.
Physical and chemical properties of Coarse Woody Debris submitted to the natural process of decomposition in a Secondary Atlantic Forest Fragment in Brazil
Authors: Villanova Paulo Henrique , Torres Carlos Moreira Miquelino Eleto , Jacovine Laércio Antônio Gonçalves , de Cássia Oliveira Carneiro Angélica , Ballotin Fabiane Carvalho , Schettini Bruno Leão Said , da Rocha Samuel José Silva Soares , Rufino Maria Paula Miranda Xavier , de Freitas Mariany Filipini , Castro Renato Vinícius Oliveira 
Published: May 2023

AbstractCoarse Woody Debris (CWDs) are constantly exposed to the natural decomposition process of wood, which can lead to a change in its physical–chemical properties. However, these changes have not yet been fully elucidated, requiring further studies to help to understand the effect of this process on CWDs degradation. Thus, the objectives of this study were: (i) verify if the decomposition affects the physical–chemical properties of the CWDs; (ii) verify if the structural chemical composition of the CWDs is altered as a function of decomposition, using immediate chemical and thermogravimetric analysis. Wood samples were collected from the CWDs to carry out these analyses, considering pieces with diameters ≥ 5 cm separated into 4 decay classes. The results indicated that the average apparent density decreased as a function of the increase of CWDs decomposition (0.62–0.37 g cm−3). The averages contents of Carbon and Nitrogen suffered less impact with the increase of CWDs decompositions, ranging from 49.66 to 48.80% and 0.52 to 0.58%, respectively. Immediate chemical and thermogravimetric analysis indicated a loss of holocelluloses and extractives and an increase in the concentration of lignin and ash throughout the decomposition process. The weight loss analyzed by thermogravimetric analysis was greater for less decomposed CWDs and with larger diameters. The use of these analyzes removes the subjectivity of CWDs decay classes, reducing the number of tests to determine CWDs physical–chemical properties and increasing the studies accuracy focused on the carbon cycle of these materials.
NK cell marker gene-based model shows good predictive ability in prognosis and response to immunotherapies in hepatocellular carcinoma
Authors: Li Juan , Li Yi , Li Fulei , Xu Lixia 
Published: May 2023

AbstractHepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fourth leading cause of malignancy worldwide, and its progression is influenced by the immune microenvironment. Natural killer (NK) cells are essential in the anti-tumor response and have been linked to immunotherapies for cancers. Therefore, it is important to unify and validate the role of NK cell-related gene signatures in HCC. In this study, we used RNA-seq analysis on HCC samples from public databases. We applied the ConsensusClusterPlus tool to construct the consensus matrix and cluster the samples based on their NK cell-related expression profile data. We employed the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression analysis to identify the hub genes. Additionally, we utilized the CIBERSORT and ESTIMATE web-based methods to perform immune-related evaluations. Our results showed that the NK cell-related gene-based classification divided HCC patients into three clusters. The C3 cluster was activated in immune activation signaling pathways and showed better prognosis and good clinical features. In contrast, the C1 cluster was remarkably enriched in cell cycle pathways. The stromal score, immune score, and ESTIMATE score in C3 were much higher than those in C2 and C1. Furthermore, we identified six hub genes: CDC20, HMOX1, S100A9, CFHR3, PCN1, and GZMA. The NK cell-related genes-based risk score subgroups demonstrated that a higher risk score subgroup showed poorer prognosis. In summary, our findings suggest that NK cell-related genes play an essential role in HCC prognosis prediction and have therapeutic potential in promoting NK cell antitumor immunity. The six identified hub genes may serve as useful biomarkers for novel therapeutic targets.
Spontaneous symmetry breaking and ghost states in two-dimensional fractional nonlinear media with non-Hermitian potential
Authors: Zhong Ming , Yan Zhenya 
Published: May 2023

AbstractThe interaction of fractional diffraction and parity-time ($${{{{{\mathcal{PT}}}}}}$$
PT
) symmetric would bring some unique properties to certain physical system. Here we report a spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) phenomenon and ghost states of solitons supported by the two-dimensional (2D) fractional nonlinear Schrödinger (FNLS) equation with focusing and defocusing Kerr media under 2D non-Hermitian $${{{{{\mathcal{PT}}}}}}$$
PT
-symmetric potential. The continuous asymmetric soliton bifurcates out in a SSB way. For the focusing regime, as the power exceeds a critical value, the asymmetric soliton bifurcates from fundamental symmetric solitons, and when it turns to the defocusing regime, the symmetry breaking phenomenon is found in the branch of the first excited state. The symmetric solitons (including fundamental one and first excited state) are destabilized at this point. Intriguingly, the branches of asymmetry solitons are existing with complex conjugate propagation constants (alias ghost states), which is solely in fractional media. Moreover, we investigate the dependence of fractional Lévy index (α) on the symmetry breaking of solitons in detail. And the stabilities of fundamental symmetric soliton, asymmetric solitons, as well as the first excited states are explored. Moreover, The management of optical field propagation is achieved by modulation of the external potential. Meanwhile, we find the stable excitations of solitons via adiabatic excitations of system parameters. These results will provide some theoretical basis for the study of SSB phenomena and related physical experiments in the 2D fractional media with $${{{{{\mathcal{PT}}}}}}$$
PT
-symmetric potentials.
Myeloperoxidase inhibition may protect against endothelial glycocalyx shedding induced by COVID-19 plasma
Authors: Teo Andrew , Chan Louisa L. Y. , Cheung Christine , Chia Po Ying , Ong Sean Wei Xiang , Fong Siew Wai , Ng Lisa F. P. , Renia Laurent , Lye David Chien , Young Barnaby Edward , Yeo Tsin Wen 
Published: May 2023

Abstract
Background
SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19, is a threat to public health. Evidence suggests increased neutrophil activation and endothelial glycocalyx (EG) damage are independently associated with severe COVID-19. Here, we hypothesised that an increased level of blood neutrophil myeloperoxidase (MPO) is associated with soluble EG breakdown, and inhibiting MPO activity may reduce EG damage.

Methods
Analysing a subset of acute and convalescent COVID-19 plasma, 10 from severe and 15 from non-severe COVID-19 cases, and 9 from pre-COVID-19 controls, we determined MPO levels, MPO activity and soluble EG proteins (syndecan-1 and glypican-1) levels by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In vitro primary human aortic endothelial cells were cultured with plasma untreated or treated with specific MPO inhibitors (MPO-IN-28, AZD5904) to determine EG shedding. We then investigated whether inhibiting MPO activity decreased EG degradation.

Results
In COVID-19 plasma, MPO levels, MPO activity and levels of soluble EG proteins are significantly raised compared to controls, and concentrations increase in proportion to disease severity. Despite clinical recovery, protein concentrations remain significantly elevated. Interestingly, there is a trend of increasing MPO activity in convalescent plasma in both severe and non-severe groups. MPO levels and MPO activity correlate significantly with soluble EG levels and inhibiting MPO activity leads to reduced syndecan-1 shedding, in vitro.

Conclusions
Neutrophil MPO may increase EG shedding in COVID-19, and inhibiting MPO activity may protect against EG degradation. Further research is needed to evaluate the utility of MPO inhibitors as potential therapeutics against severe COVID-19.
Efficient catalysis of H2O2with ionic liquid molecules to generate hydroxyl radicals and application in green chemistry cotton processes
Authors: Xie Kongliang , Zhuang Xiang , Luo Xiang , Jing Zeye , Song Xiyu , Hou Aiqin , Gao Aiqin 
Published: May 2023

IL molecules can efficiently catalyze H2O2 to produce ˙OH radicals at room temperature and very low concentrations, thus the IL/H2O2 system could be applied in cotton cold pad-batch bleaching, achieving combined scouring/bleaching one step process.
Integer codes correcting single errors and detecting burst errors within two bytes
Authors: Radonjic Aleksandar , Ristic Igor , Scepanovic Ivan 
Published: May 2023

AbstractThe need for fast communication has led to the introduction of 100 Gbps optics in local area networks (LANs). To avoid retransmission of corrupted packets, in some LANs, the CRC codes were replaced by Reed‐Solomon (RS) codes. Although this solution has met its primary goal, it has two drawbacks: first, the payload size was significantly reduced, and second, each network node had to be equipped with much more complex hardware, which increased the cost of the network. Starting from the fact that the vast majority of corrupted packets contain only single errors, in this paper, a simple strategy for error control in 100 Gbps optical LANs is presented. More precisely, instead of protecting the data with the CRC or RS codes, using integer codes is suggested that can correct single errors and detect two types of burst errors: l‐bit burst errors within one b‐bit byte and h‐bit burst errors within two b‐bit bytes (1 ≤ h < l < b). Unlike the CRC or RS codes, the proposed ones use integer and lookup table operations, which are supported by all processors. In addition, the proposed codes can be interleaved without delay and without using any additional hardware. This feature allows the decoder not only to process larger data sets in parallel, but also to detect all double burst errors.
Lightweight attention‐guided redundancy‐reuse network for real‐time semantic segmentation
Authors: Hu Xuegang , Xu Shuhan , Jing Liyuan 
Published: May 2023

AbstractSemantic segmentation is a critical topic in computer vision, and it has numerous practical applications, including mobile devices, autonomous driving, and many other fields. However, in these application scenarios, it is often essential for the segmentation models to achieve a balance between efficiency and performance. A lightweight attention‐guided redundancy‐reuse network (LARNet) was proposed to address this challenge in this paper. Specifically, the multi‐scale asymmetric redundancy reuse (MAR) module was designed as the main component of the encoder for dense encoding of contextual semantic features. Furthermore, the efficient attention fusion (EAF) module was established for multi‐scale information fusion via the channel and spatial attention mechanisms in the decoder. A series of experiments were conducted to verify the proposed network. The results of tests on multiple datasets suggest that the network has higher accuracy and faster speed than the existing real‐time semantic segmentation methods.
Design and verification of a dual‐band wearable antenna based on characteristic mode theory
Authors: Liu Rui , Zhang Jing‐Wei , Chen Wen‐Qiong , Zhang Yi‐Fan , Mei Zhong‐Lei , Niu Tiao‐Ming 
Published: May 2023

AbstractIn this article, a novel design method is proposed based on characteristic mode theory (CMT). Based on the proposed method, a linearly polarised dual‐band wearable antenna with double‐layered substrates sandwiched by three layers of copper circle patches is designed and optimised step by step. The structure and excitation position of the antenna are obtained by progressively tailoring a classical circle patch antenna. Firstly, the characteristic mode analysis is performed on the middle‐layer planar circle patch to find the modes that can be excited in the designed frequency band. Secondly, the configuration of the middle layer is adjusted step by step based on the modal current distributions to realise the mode shift. Then, the top circle patch is changed to a metasurface to increase the number of modes and expand the mode bandwidth. Finally, the location of the excitation port is selected based on the modal electric fields to successfully obtain the desired performance of the antenna. The prototype of the proposed antenna with a radius of 2.6 cm fed by a single probe is fabricated and experimentally verified. The antenna operates in the 2.45 and 5 GHz bands, and the measured 10 dB impedance bandwidths on the two bands are 1.2% and 39.7%, respectively, which agrees well with the expectation predicted by the CMT. It should be noted that the desired antenna performance is achieved by step‐by‐step derivation using the CMT, rather than applying the theory to illustrate the working principle of antennas. The proposed design method can be broadly employed to various antenna designs.
A hybrid control strategy for dynamic compensation of cross‐coupling effect in two‐load IPT system
Authors: Cao Lingling , Bao Jiawei , Loo Ka‐Hong , Pan Xuewei , Zhang Ruihong 
Published: May 2023

AbstractThe cross coupling between receiver coils complicates the control and optimization of “one‐to‐may” multi‐load IPT systems. In this paper, the cross‐coupling effect in a two‐load IPT system is thoroughly discussed. It is noted that the input impedance, the total output power and the power distribution ratio among receivers are all affected. After developing a new leakage‐inductance‐based model considering the cross‐coupling effect, it is suggested that the operating frequency is adjusted according to the cross‐coupling coefficient to ensure a constant power distribution ratio. The total output power and the input impedance are regulated by coordinated adjustment of the inverter's duty cycle and the transmitter‐side compensation capacitance with switched control capacitor (SCC) control. Based on the proposed hybrid control strategy (frequency, duty cycle, and SCC), the power distribution among loads and the total output power are kept constant under variable cross‐coupling coefficient, and the input impedance are shaped to be inductive to achieve zero voltage switching (ZVS) realization for all switches in the inverter. The theoretical analysis is finally verified by experimental results on a 35 W two‐load IPT prototype.
Sparse hydrophone array synthesis for frequency‐invariant and multi‐angle beampatterns using block‐structured Bayesian compressive sensing
Authors: Wang Lening , Zhao Hangfang 
Published: May 2023

AbstractTo solve the synthesised accuracy degradation of traditional Bayesian compressive sensing (BCS) in wideband multi‐beam hydrophone array synthesis, a novel sparse array synthesis method based on block‐structure Bayesian compressive sensing (BS‐BCS) is proposed for frequency‐invariant and multi‐angle beampatterns. The multi‐angle beampatterns at different frequencies are synthesised in block structure using the shared position strategy which effectively reduces the number of array elements. In order to meet the minimum spacing requirement of adjacent array elements in practical engineering, the constraint converted off‐grid method is proposed to improve the array synthesis accuracy. The grid scaling is introduced to obtain the possible array element positions. The array positions and weights can be solved by the BCS solver and corrected by Taylor perturbation. To validate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed method, simulations and actual experiments are carried out. The synthesised errors and peak sidelobe levels (PSLLs) of multi‐angle beampatterns obtained by the constraint converted off‐grid method outperforms those of other methods. The beamforming results of actual experiments in marine environment show that the PSLLs of the beampatterns obtained by BS‐BCS is lower at least 6.3 dB than that of uniform array, which demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method.