bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Solvent‐Free Templated Synthesis of Core‐Crosslinked Star‐Shaped Polymers in Supramolecular Body‐Centered Cubic Phase
Authors: Liu Xiaobo , Tang Lei , Chen Yutong , Fu Mi , Guo Zi‐Hao , Tang Wen , Yue Kan 
Published: May 2022

AbstractThis study reports the exploration of a solvent‐free supramolecular templated synthesis strategy toward highly core‐cross‐linked star‐shaped polymers (CSPs). To achieve this, a kind of cross‐linkable giant surfactant, based on a functionalized polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS) head tethered with a diblock copolymer tail containing reactive benzocyclobutene groups, is designed and prepared. By varying the volume fraction of linear block copolymer tail, these giant surfactants can self‐assemble into a body‐centered cubic (BCC) structure in bulk, in which the supramolecular spheres are composed of a core of POSS cages, a middle shell of crosslinkable poly(4‐vinylbenzocyclobutene) (PBCB) blocks, and a corona of inert polystyrene (PS) blocks. The solvent‐free thermally induced cross‐linking reaction of the benzocyclobutene groups can be finished in 5 min upon heating, resulting in well‐defined polymeric spheres with over 90 linear chains surrounding the cross‐linked cores. The outer PS blocks serve as the protection corona to ensure that cross‐linking of giant surfactants occurs in each supramolecular spherical domain. Given the modular design and diversity of the POSS‐based giant surfactants, it is believed that the strategy may enable access to a wide range of CSPs.
Can We Treat Neurodegenerative Proteinopathies by Enhancing Protein Degradation?
Authors: Engelender Simone , Stefanis Leonidas , Oddo Salvatore , Bellucci Arianna 
Published: May 2022

AbstractNeurodegenerative proteinopathies are defined as a class of neurodegenerative disorders, with either genetic or sporadic age‐related onset, characterized by the pathological accumulation of aggregated protein deposits. These mainly include Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Huntington's disease (HD) as well as frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). The deposition of abnormal protein aggregates in the brain of patients affected by these disorders is thought to play a causative role in neuronal loss and disease progression. On that account, the idea of improving the clearance of pathological protein aggregates has taken hold as a potential therapeutic strategy. Among the possible approaches to pursue for reducing disease protein accumulation, there is the stimulation of the main protein degradation machineries of eukaryotic cells: the ubiquitin proteasomal system (UPS) and autophagy lysosomal pathway (ALP). Of note, several clinical trials testing the efficacy of either UPS‐ or ALP‐active compounds are currently ongoing. Here, we discuss the main gaps and controversies emerging from experimental studies and clinical trials assessing the therapeutic efficacy of modulators of either the UPS or ALP in neurodegenerative proteinopathies, to gather whether they may constitute a real gateway from these disorders. © 2022 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.
Caregiver's perspective on psychosocial issues of paediatric cancer patients during COVID 19 pandemic lockdown
Authors: Gopalakrishnan Vidhya , Veeraiah Surendran , Chidambaram Sundaramoorthy , Sudhakar Revathy , Radhakrishnan Venkatraman 
Published: May 2022

Key points

The unprecedented pandemic crisis has caused serious changes in the medical care for cancer patients, thereby mandating research studies to focus and understand the psychosocial issues faced by paediatric cancer patients during the pandemic lockdown in India.

Paediatric cancer patients irrespective of diagnosis and treatment status were assessed for psychosocial issues (N = 103) and distress (n = 74).

Caregivers were chosen as the primary respondents except for distress score in order to obtain data with better clarity and comprehension.

The data was summarized using descriptive statistics; chi square analysis was adopted to find the association between psychosocial issues and outcome variables; multivariate logistic regression was used to find the predictors of treatment status and distress.

Paediatric cancer patients experienced significant physical and psychological issues pertaining to the unprecedented pandemic lockdown and its associated changes with the cancer treatment and interruptions.
Asthma risk after a pediatric intensive care unit admission for respiratory syncytial virus bronchiolitis
Authors: Be'er Moria , Bushmitz Shai , Cahal Michal , Sadot Efraim , Yochpaz Sivan , Besor Omri , Amirav Israel , Lavie Moran 
Published: May 2022

AbstractBackgroundAdmission to a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) has been associated with respiratory consequences in children with asthma and carries major implications for management control. Whereas respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) bronchiolitis has been associated with increasing intensity of wheezing, the relationship between RSV‐bronchiolitis PICU admission and future asthma is unclear. This retrospective case‐control study evaluated whether hospitalization in the PICU due to RSV bronchiolitis is more likely to be associated with future asthma in early life compared with hospitalization in a general pediatric ward.MethodsChildren hospitalized due to RSV bronchiolitis between 2007 and 2019 in the PICU (study group) were compared to those hospitalized in a general pediatric ward (controls). Asthma prevalence was assessed by a follow‐up questionnaire based on The International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood questionnaire.ResultsSixty‐three PICU patients and 66 controls were included. The PICU patients presented with more severe disease during RSV hospitalization. At follow‐up, significantly more PICU patients aged 3–6 years had physician‐diagnosed asthma, respiratory symptoms during the previous 12 months, and underwent respiratory treatment since hospital discharge compared to controls (14 [60.9%] vs. 4 [18.2%] patients; 15 [65.2%] vs. 6 [27.3%]; and 16 [69.6%] vs. 8 [36.4%]; respectively). These differences were no longer observed after 6 years of age.ConclusionsChildren admitted to the PICU for RSV bronchiolitis are at higher risk for asthma in subsequent pre‐school years and will require close respiratory follow‐up than those admitted to general pediatric wards. Admission venue should be queried when asthma is suspected.
Proteomics reveals unique plasma signatures in constitutional thinness
Authors: Cominetti Ornella , Núñez Galindo Antonio , Corthésy John , Carayol Jérôme , Germain Natacha , Galusca Bogdan , Estour Bruno , Hager Jörg , Gheldof Nele , Dayon Loïc 
Published: May 2022

AbstractPurposeStudying the plasma proteome of control versus constitutionally thin (CT) individuals, exposed to overfeeding, may give insights into weight‐gain management, providing relevant information to the clinical entity of weight‐gain resistant CT, and discovering new markers for the condition.Experimental DesignUntargeted protein relative quantification of 63 CT and normal‐weight individuals was obtained in blood plasma at baseline, during and after an overfeeding challenge using mass spectrometry‐based proteomics.ResultsThe plasma proteome of CT subjects presented limited specificity with respect to controls at baseline. Yet, CT showed lower levels of inflammatory C‐reactive protein and larger levels of protective insulin‐like growth factor‐binding protein 2. Differences were more marked during and after overfeeding. CT plasma proteome showed larger magnitude and significance in response, suggesting enhanced “resilience” and more rapid adaptation to changes. Four proteins behaved similarly between CT and controls, while five were regulated in opposite fashion. Ten proteins were differential during overfeeding in CT only (including increased fatty acid‐binding protein and glyceraldehyde‐3‐phosphate dehydrogenase, and decreased apolipoprotein C‐II and transferrin receptor protein 1).Conclusions and Clinical RelevanceThis first proteomic profiling of a CT cohort reveals different plasma proteomes between CT subjects and controls in a longitudinal clinical trial. Our molecular observations further support that the resistance to weight gain in CT subjects appears predominantly biological.ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02004821
Location of the cross‐β structure in prion fibrils: A search by seeding and electron spin resonance spectroscopy
Authors: Chu Brett K.‐Y. , Tsai Ruei‐Fong , Hung Chien‐Lun , Kuo Yun‐Hsuan , Chen Eric H.‐L. , Chiang Yun‐Wei , Chan Sunney I. , Chen Rita P.‐Y. 
Published: May 2022

AbstractPrion diseases are transmissible fatal neurodegenerative disorders spreading between humans and other mammals. The pathogenic agent, prion, is a protease‐resistant, β‐sheet‐rich protein aggregate, converted from a membrane protein called PrPC. PrPSc is the misfolded form of PrPC and undergoes self‐propagation to form the infectious amyloids. Since the key hallmark of prion disease is amyloid formation, identifying and studying which segments are involved in the amyloid core can provide molecular details about prion diseases. It has been known that the prion protein could also form non‐infectious fibrils in the presence of denaturants. In this study, we employed a combination of site‐directed nitroxide spin‐labeling, fibril seeding, and electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy to identify the structure of the in vitro‐prepared full‐length mouse prion fibrils. It is shown that in the in vitro amyloidogenesis, the formation of the amyloid core is linked to an α‐to‐β structural transformation involving the segment 160‐224, which contains strand 2, helix 2, and helix 3. This method is particularly suitable for examining the hetero‐seeded amyloid fibril structure, as the unlabeled seeds are invisible by ESR spectroscopy. It can be applied to study the structures of different strains of infectious prions or other amyloid fibrils in the future.
Evaluating post radical prostatectomy mechanisms of early continence
Authors: Sood Akshay , Grauer Ralph , Jeong Wooju , Butaney Mohit , Mukkamala Anudeep , Borchert Alex , Baumgarten Lee , Hensley Patrick J. , Abdollah Firas , Menon Mani 
Published: May 2022

AbstractBackgroundTo identify the periprostatic structures associated with early return of urinary continence after radical prostatectomy (RP).MethodsWe compared total continence results between four different techniques of robot‐assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP). Specifically, we studied 1‐week and 1‐month zero‐pad continence rates of anterior (n = 60), posterior (n = 59), a novel hybrid posterior‐anterior (n = 12), and transvesical (n = 12) approaches of RARP. Each technique preserved a unique set of periprostatic anatomic structures, thereby, allowing evaluation of the individual impact of preservation of nerves, bladder neck, and space of Retzius with associated anterior support structures on early continence. Urethral length was preserved in all approaches. The space of Retzius was preserved in posterior and transvesical approaches, while the bladder neck was preserved in posterior and hybrid approaches. Nerve sparing was done per preoperative oncological risk. For all patients, 24‐h pad usage rates and 24‐h pad weights were noted at 1 week and 1 month after catheter removal. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to identify predictors of early continence. Data were obtained from prospective studies conducted between 2015 and 2021.ResultsAt 1 week, 15%, 42%, 45%, and 8% of patients undergoing anterior, posterior, hybrid, and transvesical RARP approaches, respectively, were totally continent (p = 0.003). These rates at 1 month were 35%, 66%, 64%, and 25% (p = 0.002), respectively. The transvesical approach, which preserved the space of Retzius but not the bladder neck, was associated with the poorest continence rates, while the posterior and hybrid approaches in which the bladder neck was preserved with or without space of Retzius preservation were associated with quickest urinary continence recovery. Bladder neck preservation was the only significant predictor of 1‐week and 1‐month total continence recovery in adjusted analysis, Odds ratios 9.06 (p = 0.001) and 5.18 (p = 0.004), respectively.ConclusionsThe beneficial effect of the Retzius‐sparing approach on early continence recovery maybe associated with bladder neck preservation rather than space of Retzius preservation.
Proarrhythmic risk assessment of drugs by dVm/dt shapes using the convolutional neural network
Authors: Jeong Da Un , Yoo Yedam , Marcellinus Aroli , Kim Ki‐Suk , Lim Ki Moo 
Published: May 2022

AbstractComprehensive in vitro Proarrhythmia Assay (CiPA) projects for assessing proarrhythmic drugs suggested a logistic regression model using qNet as the Torsades de Pointes (TdP) risk assessment biomarker, obtained from in silico simulation. However, using a single in silico feature, such as qNet, cannot reflect whole characteristics related to TdP in the entire action potential (AP) shape. Thus, this study proposed a deep convolutional neural network (CNN) model using differential action potential shapes to classify three proarrhythmic risk levels: high, intermediate, and low, considering both characteristics related to TdP not only in the depolarization phase but also the repolarization phase of AP shape. We performed an in silico simulation and got AP shapes with drug effects using half‐maximal inhibitory concentration and Hill coefficients of 28 drugs released by CiPA groups. Then, we trained the deep CNN model with the differential AP shapes of 12 drugs and tested it with those of 16 drugs. Our model had a better performance for classifying the proarrhythmic risk of drugs than the traditional logistic regression model using qNet. The classification accuracy was 98% for high‐risk level drugs, 94% for intermediate‐risk level drugs, and 89% for low‐risk level drugs.
Bronchial artery aneurysm presenting with epigastric pain that improves with vomiting
Authors: Hayashi Kazuki , Hanaoka Jun , Kita Yusuke 
Published: May 2022

AbstractA 64‐year‐old man presented to the emergency department with a chief complaint of epigastric pain that improved with vomiting. He was initially treated for gastrointestinal disease, but computed tomography (CT) showed a mediastinal haematoma and contrast‐enhanced CT and bronchial arteriography showed a bronchial aneurysm. Bronchial artery aneurysm is a rare but potentially life‐threatening condition that can lead to haemorrhagic shock if it ruptures. Patients with bronchial aneurysms may present with symptoms similar to that of gastrointestinal diseases owing to increased pressure in the mediastinum caused by mediastinal haematoma.
Distributed recursive filtering under random access protocols: A multirate strategy
Authors: Liu Shuai , Zhao Xiaoxiao , Tian Engang , Wei Guoliang 
Published: May 2022

AbstractThis article addresses the distributed recursive filtering problem for a class of time‐varying multirate systems in sensor networks with randomly occurring nonlinearities and the communication protocol. A multirate model is considered where the sampling period of the sensors is slower than the updating period of the system state. Accordingly, the lifting technique is proposed to transform the multirate system into a single‐rate system. In order to avoid data collisions, the random access protocol (RAP) scheduling is applied to determine which signal/packet selected by RAP scheduling can access the shared network for each sensor. Attention is focused on the design of a distributed recursive filter such that, in the simultaneous presence of randomly occurring nonlinearities, the multirate strategy and the RAP scheduling, an upper bound for the filtering error covariance is obtained with the help of the mathematical induction method. Furthermore, by utilizing a novel matrix simplification technique, the filter parameters are recursively calculated by minimizing the obtained upper bound. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed distributed recursive filtering scheme is demonstrated via a numerical example.
Translating questions to estimands in randomized clinical trials with intercurrent events
Authors: Stensrud Mats J. , Dukes Oliver 
Published: May 2022

AbstractIntercurrent (post‐treatment) events occur frequently in randomized trials, and investigators often express interest in treatment effects that suitably take account of these events. Contrasts that naively condition on intercurrent events do not have a straight‐forward causal interpretation, and the practical relevance of other commonly used approaches is debated. In this work, we discuss how to formulate and choose an estimand, beyond the marginal intention‐to‐treat effect, from the point of view of a decision maker and drug developer. In particular, we argue that careful articulation of a practically useful research question should either reflect decision making at this point in time or future drug development. Indeed, a substantially interesting estimand is simply a formalization of the (plain English) description of a research question. A common feature of estimands that are practically useful is that they correspond to possibly hypothetical but well‐defined interventions in identifiable (sub)populations. To illustrate our points, we consider five examples that were recently used to motivate consideration of principal stratum estimands in clinical trials. In all of these examples, we propose alternative causal estimands, such as conditional effects, sequential regime effects, and separable effects, that correspond to explicit research questions of substantial interest.
Facile Preparation of Millimeter‐Sized Sodium Alginate‐Silica Composite Spheres for Highly Selective Adsorption of Heavy Metal Ions
Authors: Zhou Ailing , Chi Chenglong , Jia Aizhong , Li Fang , Wang Yingying , Wang Yanji 
Published: May 2022

AbstractMillimeter‐sized (∼3.5 mm) sodium alginate‐silica composite spheres with macroporous structure and functional groups of amino‐ (NH2‐SiO2/SA) and sulfhydryl (SH‐SiO2/SA), respectively, were successfully prepared by a simple hydrothermal copolycondensation. The obtained materials were characterized by FT‐IR, SEM, XPS, N2 adsorption‐desorption techniques, and their heavy metal ion adsorption performance was evaluated in detail under different conditions. Characterization results revealed that the functional group plays a key role in the selectivity of metal ions, that is, NH2‐SiO2/SA preferentially adsorbs the relatively hard Pb(II) ions while SH‐SiO2/SA favors the softer Ag(I) ion, which is attributed to the fact that S atoms are softer donor than N atoms. The adsorption kinetics and the adsorption equilibrium fitted well with the pseudo‐second‐order model and Langmuir adsorption isotherms, respectively. The adsorption experiments showed the maximum adsorption capacities of Pb(II) for NH2‐SiO2/SA and Ag(I) for SH‐SiO2/SA are 460 mg/g and 417 mg/g, respectively, giving good stability without a significant decrease in 5 recycles. Therefore, the synthesized materials display promising adsorbents for recycling heavy metal pollutants from wastewater due to their good selectivity, high adsorption capacity, stability and easy recovery due to their large size.
Electrochromism of Main‐Chain Polyazobenzenes Synthesized in Liquid Crystal Template and Its Orientation Behavior
Authors: Otaki M. , Goto H. 
Published: May 2022

AbstractAzobenzene with a controllable structure is suitable for applications in electronic devices due to its multichromatic and optoelectrical properties. Therefore, in this study, main chain‐type conjugated polyazobenzenes are synthesized via electrochemical polymerization (EP) using liquid crystal (LC) as a template. EP in cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) affords π‐conjugated polyazobezene films with CLC‐like helical morphologies and optical activities due to chirality transfer from CLCs. Further, EP in a macroscopically aligned nematic liquid crystal (NLC) field obtained via a simple rubbing method resulted in macroscopically ordered conjugated polyazobenzene films. Consequently, main chain‐type polyazobenzene films having a controllable structure can be conveniently obtained using LC as a template.
A Simple Hydrothermal Synthesis of Flower‐like NiCo2S4@Biomass‐graded Porous Carbon with Structural Synergy and Excellent Capacitive Performance
Authors: Liu Yuan‐zheng , Chen Ting , Zhang Qiang , Jiang Rong‐yan 
Published: May 2022

AbstractFlower‐like NiCo2S4@biomass‐graded porous carbon (NiCo2S4@BGPC) material was successfully prepared using a simple hydrothermal method and the pseudocapacitive performance was investigated. The results showed that the composite had good capacitive behavior and electrochemical activity due to the structural synergy of the porous carbon and flower‐like material. In this composite, the flower‐like NiCo2S4 had a large contact area with the electrolyte solution, providing many active sites for pseudocapacitive reactions. Meanwhile, the introduction of the porous carbon skeleton further ensured the structural stability of the composite‘s conductive network. In summary, the flower‐like NiCo2S4@BGPC material showed the high specific capacitance of 1322.5 F g−1 at the current density of 1 A g−1 and excellent coulombic efficiency (96.8 % after 1000 cycles at 10 A g−1). However, it has poor cycling stability (77 % of the initial specific capacitance after 1000 cycles at 10 A g−1), which can be attributed to blockage of the pore structure due to volume expansion during the redox process. In two‐electrode system tests, both NiCo2S4@BGPC//NiCo2S4@BGPC symmetrical supercapacitor and NiCo2S4@BGPC//AC asymmetrical supercapacitor showed good capacitance performance and cycling performance, implying potential applications of NiCo2S4@BGPC in commercial electrochemical energy storage.
Federated learning based multi‐task feature fusion framework for code expressive semantic extraction
Authors: Deng Fengyang , Fu Cai , Qian Yekui , Yang Jia , He Shuai , Xu Hao 
Published: May 2022

AbstractUsing multi‐task learning to extract code features can effectively increase the information of the features. However, the existing multi‐task learning methods mainly have two limitations: (1) They cannot extract enough code‐related information or only extract similar semantic features. Similar multi‐task makes the information in the features increased insufficiently. However, the high difference multi‐task is challenging to converge. (2) They cannot train multi‐task on heterogeneous datasets. In standard multi‐task training, we need to label all tasks for all data, which consumes enormous labor. To solve the above limitations, we select two high difference tasks, the cross‐language code completion task and variable misuse task, to extract expressive semantic code features. We propose an attention‐based feature fusion module to merge information among high difference tasks, avoiding the convergence dilemma of standard multi‐task learning. We propose a federated learning framework, extracting semantic information and using the feature fusion module to integrate multi‐task information among single labeled datasets. We experiment on C# and Python datasets for the code completion and variable misuse tasks. The results show that the performance of fusion features by FedMTFF improved by up to 22.6% and 15.1% compared to single tasks. We use FedMTFF to perform four cross‐language multi‐task features fusion, exceeding the current best baseline by 24.1%.