bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Deep eutectic solvent enhances antibacterial activity of a modular lytic enzyme against Acinetobacter baumannii
Authors: Kocot Aleksandra Maria , Swebocki Tomasz , Ciemińska Karolina , Łupkowska Adrianna , Kapusta Małgorzata , Grimon Dennis , Laskowska Ewa , Kaczorowska Anna-Karina , Kaczorowski Tadeusz , Boukherroub Rabah , Briers Yves , Plotka Magdalena 
Published: January 2025

Abstract
In this study, we evaluated the combined effect between MLE-15, a modular lytic enzyme composed of four building blocks, and reline, a natural deep eutectic solvent. The bioinformatic analysis allowed us to determine the spatial architecture of MLE-15, whose components were bactericidal peptide cecropin A connected via a flexible linker to the cell wall binding domain (CBD) of mesophilic 201ϕ2 − 1 endolysin and catalytic domain (EAD) of highly thermostable Ph2119 endolysin. The modular enzyme showed high thermostability with the melting temperature of 93.97 ± 0.38 °C, significantly higher than their natural counterparts derived from mesophilic sources. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of MLE-15 was 100 µg/mL for a panel of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, while the MIC of reline ranged from 6.25 to 25% v/v for the same strains. The addition of reline effectively reduced the MIC of MLE-15 from 100 µg/mL to 3.15–50 µg/mL. This combination displayed additive effects for most strains and synergism for extensively antibiotic-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii and Bacillus subtilis. The subsequent evaluation revealed that MLE-15 eliminated planktonic cells of A. baumannii RUH134, but was ineffective against matured biofilms. However, combined with reline, MLE-15 reduced the bacterial load in the matured biofilm by 1.39 log units. Confocal fluorescence microscopy indicated that reline damaged the structure of the biofilm, allowing MLE-15 to penetrate it. Additionally, MLE-15 and its combination with reline eradicated meropenem-persistent cells of A. baumannii RUH134. Effectiveness in lowering the MIC value of MLE-15 as well as protection against antibiotic-tolerant persister cells, indicate that MLE-15 and reline combination is a promising candidate for effective therapies in bacterial infections, which is especially important in the light of the global crisis of antimicrobial resistance.
Hardware-efficient preparation of architecture-specific graph states on near-term quantum computers
Authors: Brandhofer Sebastian , Polian Ilia , Barz Stefanie , Bhatti Daniel 
Published: January 2025

Abstract
Highly entangled quantum states are an ingredient in numerous applications in quantum computing. However, preparing these highly entangled quantum states on currently available quantum computers at high fidelity is limited by ubiquitous errors. Besides improving the underlying technology of a quantum computer, the scale and fidelity of these entangled states in near-term quantum computers can be improved by specialized compilation methods. In this work, the compilation of quantum circuits for the preparation of highly entangled architecture-specific graph states is addressed by defining and solving a formal model, i.e., a form of discrete constraint optimization. Our model incorporates information about gate cancellations, gate commutations, and accurate gate timing to determine an optimized graph state preparation circuit. Up to now, these aspects have only been considered independently of each other, typically applied to arbitrary quantum circuits. We quantify the quality of a generated state by performing stabilizer measurements and determining its fidelity. We show that our new method reduces the error when preparing a seven-qubit graph state by 3.5x on average compared to the state-of-the-art Qiskit solution. For a linear eight-qubit graph state, the error is reduced by 6.4x on average. The presented results highlight the ability of our approach to prepare higher fidelity or larger-scale graph states on gate-based quantum computing hardware.
Association between air pollution and lifestyle with the risk of developing mild cognitive impairment and dementia in individuals with cardiometabolic diseases
Authors: Wang Bo , Yang Lingling , Ma Ting , He Shulan , Li Jiangping , Sun Xian 
Published: January 2025

Abstract
Lifestyle factors and ambient air pollution are linked to dementia and CMDs, yet few studies have investigated their impact on dementia risk in CMDs patients at the same time. The Cox proportional hazards model was used to evaluate the influence of lifestyle and ambient air pollution on the dementia risk of the CMDs population among 438,681 participants in the UK Biobank. It is found that the risk of developing mild cognitive impairment and dementia in the population seems to increase with the increase in the number of CMDs. There appears to be a statistically significant association between high levels of ambient air pollution, unhealthy lifestyles, and a higher risk of developing mild cognitive impairment and dementia in the CMDs population. It is found that a healthy lifestyle may have an effect modifier role in the association between ambient air pollution and the risk of mild cognitive impairment and the development of dementia in patients with CMDs. Therefore, maybe people with CMDs can lessen the impact of ambient air pollution on their risk of developing mild cognitive impairment and dementia by improving their lifestyle.
An improved SPWM control approach with aid of ant lion optimization for minimizing the THD in multilevel inverters
Authors: Abdel-hamed Alaa M. , Nasser Abdelrahman M. , Shatla Hamdy , Refky Amr 
Published: January 2025

Abstract
This article presents an innovative asymmetric multilevel inverter (MLI) topology that outperforms conventional counterparts. The introduced topology presents a breakthrough in implementing power electronics control by maximizing specific levels while minimizing switching components. A cutting-edge control scheme for optimal operation of the cascaded half-bridge MLI is presented. The ant lion optimization (ALO) algorithm was implemented to optimize the switching control to reduce the total harmonic distortion (THD) and improve power quality. For verification, the performance and effectiveness of the ALO technique are assessed by comparing its results to those obtained using the simplified sinusoidal pulse width modulation (SSPWM) technique, genetic algorithm (GA), and particle swarm optimization (PSO) in existing literature. Simulation results verified the efficacy of ALO in finding the optimal parameters. The suggested method showcases a remarkable reduction in the THD compared to SSPWM. The quality of the resulting waveform was enhanced, and both filter size and cost were significantly reduced. To meet stringent IEEE standards, an LC filter has been designed with minimal size and proper requirements. Experimental results validation of the suggested scheme, using a dSPACE R&D controller board unequivocally, confirmed its robustness and effectiveness. This groundbreaking study not only introduces a superior asymmetric MLI topology but also validates its exceptional performance through comprehensive analysis and experimentation. The experimental waveforms showed good matching with the simulation outcomes. The findings hold immense promise for advancing the field of power system control and revolutionizing the designing and implementation of efficient and cost-effective inverter systems.
Application of three statistical approaches to explore effects of dietary intake of multiple persistent organic pollutants on ER-positive breast cancer risk in the French E3N cohort
Authors: Frenoy Pauline , Ahmed Ismaïl , Marques Chloé , Ren Xuan , Severi Gianluca , Perduca Vittorio , Mancini Francesca Romana 
Published: January 2025

Abstract
Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are a group of organic chemical compounds. Contradictory results have emerged in epidemiological studies attempting to elucidate their relationship with breast cancer risk. This study explored the relationship between dietary exposures to multiple POPs and ER-positive breast cancer risk in the French E3N cohort study, using three different approaches to handle multicollinearity among exposures. Intakes of 81 POPs were estimated using food consumption data from a validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire and food contamination data. In the first approach, hierarchical clustering was performed to identify clusters of correlated POPs. For each cluster, the levels of POPs belonging to it were averaged. These average levels were then included in a Cox model to estimate their associations with ER-positive breast cancer occurrence. The second and third approaches applied in the present study were Principal component Cox regression (PCR-Cox) and partial least squares Cox regression (PLS-Cox) respectively, both being dimension-reduction methods (respectively unsupervised and supervised) coupled to a Cox model, used to identify principal components of POPs and to estimate their associations with ER-positive breast occurrence. All models were adjusted for potential confounders previously identified using a directed acyclic graph. The study included 66,722 women with a median follow-up of 20.3 years, during which 3,739 developed an incident ER-positive breast cancer. The variable clustering method did not identify any association between the averaged variables and ER-positive breast cancer risk. Five components were retained using both the PCR-Cox and PLS-Cox methods explaining 82% and 77% of the variance in the initial exposure matrix respectively. Among these components, none was significantly associated with the occurrence of ER-positive breast cancer. This study provides an illustrative example of the application of three distinct statistical methods in the context of highly correlated environmental exposures, discussing their potential relevance and limitations within this specific framework.
Plasma levels of anti phosphocholine IgM antibodies are negatively correlated with bone mineral density in humans
Authors: Palmieri Michela , Maraka Spyridoula , Spencer Horace J. , Thostenson Jeff D. , Dishongh Katherine , Knox Micheal , Ussery Betty , Byrd Jesse , Kuipers Jacqueline K. , Abedzadeh-Anaraki Sanaz , Duvoor Chitharanjan , Mao Yuanjie , Menon Lakshmi , Williams James S. , Manolagas Stavros C. , Jilka Robert L. , Ambrogini Elena 
Published: January 2025

Abstract
Phosphatidylcholine is a ubiquitous phospholipid. It contains a phosphocholine (PC) headgroup and polyunsaturated fatty acids that, when oxidized, form reactive oxidized phospholipids (PC-OxPLs). PC-OxPLs are pathogenic in multiple diseases and neutralized by anti-PC IgM antibodies. The levels of anti-PC IgM increase as the levels of PC-OxPLs increase and, in humans, are inversely correlated with the incidence of cardiovascular diseases and steatohepatitis. PC-OxPLs also decrease bone mass in mice. Overexpression of anti-PC IgM ameliorates atherosclerosis and steatohepatitis, increases bone mass in young mice, and protects against high fat diet- and age-associated osteoporosis. We investigated the relationship between anti-PC IgM plasma levels and bone mineral density (BMD) in a cross-sectional study of 247 participants [mean age: 65.5 (± 8.6) years] without medical conditions known to influence BMD or antibody production. Anti-PC IgM levels negatively correlated with both T- and Z-scores at the lumbar spine, femur and, to a lesser extent, the forearm. These correlations were maintained after adjustment for age, race, and sex. These results raise the possibility that higher levels of anti-PC IgM in patients with lower BMD reflect exposure to higher levels of PC-OxPLs, which are known to affect bone mass, and could be a novel risk marker for osteoporosis.
Unique ultrastructural organization of human rod photoreceptors
Authors: Lewis Tylor R. , Klementieva Natalia V. , Phan Sebastien , Castillo Carson M. , Kim Keun-Young , Cao Lauren Y. , Ellisman Mark H. , Arshavsky Vadim Y. , Alekseev Oleg 
Published: January 2025

Abstract
Rod and cone photoreceptor cells are specialized neurons responsible for transforming the information reaching the eyes in the form of photons into the language of neuronal activity. Rods are the most prevalent photoreceptor type, primarily responsible for light detection under conditions of limited illumination. Here we demonstrate that human rods have a morphological organization unique among all described species, whereby the cell soma extends alongside the light-sensitive outer segment compartment to form a structure we have termed the “accessory inner segment.” These structures have two striking features: they are reinforced by a massive microtubular cytoskeleton and contain electron-dense adhesions that mediate their attachment to outer segments. Given that the spacing of human rod photoreceptors is sparser than in most other species, the accessory inner segment likely provides mechanical support to the closely apposed outer segment. This discovery expands our understanding of the human retina and directs future studies of human photoreceptor function in health and disease.
Functional genomics implicates ebony in the black pupae phenotype of tephritid fruit flies
Authors: Paulo Daniel F. , Nguyen Thu N. M. , Ward Chris M. , Corpuz Renee L. , Kauwe Angela N. , Rendon Pedro , Ruano Rocio E. Y. , Cardoso Amanda A. S. , Gouvi Georgia , Fung Elisabeth , Crisp Peter , Okada Anzu , Choo Amanda , Stauffer Christian , Bourtzis Kostas , Sim Sheina B. , Baxter Simon W. , Geib Scott M. 
Published: January 2025

Abstract
The remarkable diversity of insect pigmentation offers a captivating avenue for studying evolution and genetics. In tephritids, understanding the molecular basis of mutant traits is also crucial for applied entomology, enabling the creation of genetic sexing strains through genome editing, thus facilitating sex-sorting before sterile insect releases. Here, we present evidence from classical and modern genetics showing that the black pupae (bp) phenotype in the GUA10 strain of Anastrepha ludens is caused by a large deletion at the ebony locus, removing the gene’s entire coding region. Targeted knockout of ebony induced analogous bp phenotypes across six major tephritid agricultural pests, demonstrating that disruption of Ebony alone is sufficient to produce the mutant trait in distantly related species. This functional characterization further allowed a deeper exploration of Ebony’s role in pigmentation and development across life stages in diverse species. Our findings offer key insights for molecular engineering of sexing strains based on the bp marker and for future evolutionary developmental biology studies in tephritids.
Deciphering the safeguarding role of cysteine residues in p53 against H2O2-induced oxidation using high-resolution native mass spectrometry
Authors: Peris-Díaz Manuel David , Krężel Artur , Barran Perdita 
Published: January 2025

Abstract
The transcription factor p53 is exquisitely sensitive and selective to a broad variety of cellular environments. Several studies have reported that oxidative stress weakens the p53-DNA binding affinity for certain promoters depending on the oxidation mechanism. Despite this body of work, the precise mechanisms by which the physiologically relevant DNA-p53 tetramer complex senses cellular stresses caused by H2O2 are still unknown. Here, we employed native mass spectrometry (MS) and ion mobility (IM)-MS coupled to chemical labelling and H2O2-induced oxidation to examine the mechanism of redox regulation of the p53-p21 complex. Our approach has found that two reactive cysteines in p53 protect against H2O2-induced oxidation by forming reversible sulfenates.
A novel reliability estimation methodology towards the design and implementation of symmetric multilevel inverter for long run applications
Authors: Krishnachaitanya Daki , Annamalai Chitra , Al‐Greer Maher , Biswas Sitangshu Sekhar 
Published: January 2025

AbstractMultilevel inverters (MLIs) are gaining attention in numerous applications due to their better performance attributes. Still, their utility in long‐run applications remains a critical concern due to the reliability issues. This work proposes a novel reliability estimation methodology tailored specifically for MLIs. The proposed reliability method employs advanced simulation techniques and statistical models to estimate the failure probabilities of critical components within the MLI. The proposed methodology provides a more optimal assessment of the MLI's expected reliability over time. This enables designers and engineers to make informed decisions regarding component selection, system configuration, and maintenance schedules to enhance the long‐term reliability of the MLI. Considering the drawbacks of the existing MLIs, this work has proposed a new symmetrical 7‐level inverter with promising functional and reliability traits. The proposed topology appears to surpass existing topologies in several key metrics, including switching losses, reliability, THD, and component count. The performance of the proposed MLI has been validated through hardware results. These results show that the reliability methodology implemented can accurately estimate the MLI's reliability across various scenarios, enabling the identification of potential failure points and the formulation of strategies to mitigate reliability risks.
Hubble expansion signature on simulated halo density profiles
Authors: Korkidis Giorgos , Pavlidou Vasiliki 
Published: January 2025

Context. Density profiles are important tools in galaxy cluster research, offering insights into clusters dynamical states and their relationship with the broader Universe. While these profiles provide valuable information about the matter content of the Universe, their utility in understanding its dark energy component has remained limited due to a lack of tools allowing us to study the transition from cluster portions that are relaxed and infalling, to those that are merging with the Hubble flow.
Aims. In this work we investigate signatures of this transition in stacked density profiles of simulated cluster-sized halos at different redshifts.
Methods. To highlight the Hubble flow around clusters, we used their turnaround radius to normalize stacked simulated density profiles and calculate their logarithmic slope. Then, we complement our analysis by modeling the outer portions of these profiles assuming Gaussian early Universe statistics and the spherical collapse model (SCM) without shell-crossing.
Results. We find the logarithmic slope of median cluster density profiles beyond the turnaround radius – where the Hubble flow dominates – to be Universal and well described by our model. Importantly, we find the slope of the profiles to diverge from the SCM prediction from within the turnaround radius where the actual profiles exhibit caustics which give rise to the splashback feature.
Conclusions. We suggest utilizing this divergence from the spherical collapse model as a method to identify the turnaround radius in stacked cluster density profiles, offering a new perspective on understanding cluster dynamics and their cosmological implications.
Search for the multi-wavelength counterparts to extragalactic unassociated Fermi γ-ray sources
Authors: Ulgiati A. , Paiano S. , Pintore F. , Russell T. D. , Sbarufatti B. , Pinto C. , Ambrosi E. , D’Aì A. , Cusumano G. , Del Santo M. 
Published: January 2025

Aims. We searched for the multi-wavelength (X-ray, optical, and radio) counterparts to the unassociated gamma-ray sources (UGS) of the Fermi 4FGL-DR4 catalogue. The main goal was to identify new blazars and/or new active galactic nuclei that emit at GeV energies [such as (narrow-line) Seyfert-1 and radio galaxies].
Methods. We focused on sky regions that were observed by the Swift satellite and that overlap with the reported positions of the UGSs. Our primary interest are extragalactic sources, and we therefore focused on UGSs that are located outside the Galactic plane (|b|> 10°). Because of the large number of sources (about 1800 UGS), we developed a pipeline to automatise the search for counterparts and significantly reduce the computational time for the analysis. Our association process began by identifying potential X-ray counterparts for each UGS. When one was found, we further searched for corresponding radio and optical counterparts in the X-ray counterpart error box to minimise ambiguities.
Results. Out of the 1284 UGSs in the 4FGL-DR4 catalogue, 714 were observed at least once by Swift/X-ray Telescope (Swift/XRT). We detected at least one X-ray source within the Fermi error box with a significance of ≥3σ for 274 of these γ-ray emitters. Of these, 193 UGSs have a single potential X-ray counterpart (referred to as UGS1), while 81 have multiple potential X-ray counterparts within the Fermi error box (referred to as UGS2). Of the UGS2, 54 have two X-ray counterparts, 11 have three, and the remaining 16 have more than three counterparts. Each UGS1 has an optical counterpart, and 113 might also be associated with a radio counterpart. We compared the properties of the possible counterpart with those of the γ-ray emitters identified by Fermi with the aim to assess the goodness of our associations.
Arthropathie als erste Manifestation einer undiagnostizierten Hämochromatose: ein Fallbericht zu einem ungewöhnlichen Verlauf
Authors: Besjana Hoxha , Schattenberg Jörn M. , Triantafyllias Konstantinos 
Published: January 2025

ZusammenfassungEin 54-jähriger Mann stellte sich aufgrund seit etwa 2 Jahren zunehmenden Arthralgien und Schwellungen der Metakarpophalangeal-Gelenke (MCP) II und III vor. Zusätzlich klagte er über Morgensteifigkeit und Arthralgien in beiden Knien und Füßen.Rheumatologisch zeigten sich Druckschmerzen an den MCP-Gelenken II und III sowie an den proximalen Interphalangeal-Gelenken II und III ohne sichtbare Schwellungen. Röntgenaufnahmen der Hände wiesen symmetrische Arthrosen der MCP-Gelenke I–III auf. Die Arthrosonografie ergab symmetrische osteophytäre Ausziehungen ohne entzündliche Zeichen. Laborchemisch waren Ferritin (1436µg/l), Eisen (252µg/dl) und die Transferrin-Sättigung (79%) erhöht. Eine homozygote C282Y-Mutation wurde genetisch nachgewiesen, und die FibroScan-Elastografie ergab eine fortgeschrittene Fibrose.Hämochromatose-assoziierte Arthropathie.Einleitung einer symptomorientierten Analgesie mit Metamizol. Stationär zusätzlich physiotherapeutische und ergotherapeutische Behandlungen. Die weitere Therapie erfolgt durch hepatologische Spezialisten eines universitären Zentrums, der Verlauf bleibt abzuwarten.Ein symmetrischer Befall der MCP-Gelenke II und III sollte an das Vorliegen einer Hämochromatose denken lassen.