bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Predictive model of pheochromocytoma based on the imaging features of the adrenal tumours
Authors: Araujo-Castro Marta , García Centeno Rogelio , Robles Lázaro Cristina , Parra Ramírez Paola , Gracia Gimeno Paola , Rojas-Marcos Patricia Martín , Fernández-Ladreda Mariana Tomé , Percovich Hualpa Juan Carlos , Sampedro Núñez Miguel , López-García María-Carmen , Lamas Cristina , Álvarez Escolá Cristina , Calatayud Gutiérrez María , Blanco Carrera Concepción , de Miguel Novoa Paz , Valdés Gallego Nuria , Hanzu Felicia , Marazuela Mónica , Mora Porta Mireia , Mínguez Ojeda César , García Gómez Muriel Isabel , Escobar-Morreale Héctor F. , Valderrabano Pablo 
Published: February 2022

AbstractThe purpose of our study was to develop a predictive model to rule out pheochromocytoma among adrenal tumours, based on unenhanced computed tomography (CT) and/or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features. We performed a retrospective multicentre study of 1131 patients presenting with adrenal lesions including 163 subjects with histological confirmation of pheochromocytoma (PHEO), and 968 patients showing no clinical suspicion of pheochromocytoma in whom plasma and/or urinary metanephrines and/or catecholamines were within reference ranges (non-PHEO). We found that tumour size was significantly larger in PHEO than non-PHEO lesions (44.3 ± 33.2 versus 20.6 ± 9.2 mm respectively; P < 0.001). Mean unenhanced CT attenuation was higher in PHEO (52.4 ± 43.1 versus 4.7 ± 17.9HU; P < 0.001). High lipid content in CT was more frequent among non-PHEO (83.6% versus 3.8% respectively; P < 0.001); and this feature alone had 83.6% sensitivity and 96.2% specificity to rule out pheochromocytoma with an area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC-ROC) of 0.899. The combination of high lipid content and tumour size improved the diagnostic accuracy (AUC-ROC 0.961, sensitivity 88.1% and specificity 92.3%). The probability of having a pheochromocytoma was 0.1% for adrenal lesions smaller than 20 mm showing high lipid content in CT. Ninety percent of non-PHEO presented loss of signal in the “out of phase” MRI sequence compared to 39.0% of PHEO (P < 0.001), but the specificity of this feature for the diagnosis of non-PHEO lesions low. In conclusion, our study suggests that sparing biochemical screening for pheochromocytoma might be reasonable in patients with adrenal lesions smaller than 20 mm showing high lipid content in the CT scan, if there are no typical signs and symptoms of pheochromocytoma.
Evaluation of the antimicrobial and cytotoxic potential of endophytic fungi extracts from mangrove plants Rhizophora stylosa and R. mucronata
Authors: Zhou Jing , Feng Zhao , Zhang Wenfang , Xu Jing 
Published: February 2022

AbstractMangrove endophytic fungi are tolerant to numerous stresses and are inevitably capable of exhibiting excellent biological activity by producing impressive numbers of metabolites with special biological functions, based on previous work on the biological potential of mangrove-derived endophytic fungi. To obtain marked antimicrobial and cytotoxic fermentation products of culturable endophytic fungi from mangrove forests, our research evaluated the antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities of crude extracts of endophytic fungi from Rhizophora stylosa and Rhizophora mucronata. Forty-six fungal isolates were cultured on four different media, namely, dextrose agar (PDA), Czapek’s agar (CZA), rice medium (RM) and grain medium (GM) and harvested by ethyl acetate solvent at 40 days. The extracts were tested for antimicrobial activity by the microdilution method against the gram-negative bacteria Pseudomonas adaceae (PA), gram-positive bacteria Enterococcus faecalis (EF), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and pathogenic fungus Monilia albicans (MA). The cytotoxic activity of the extracts was evaluated by MTT assay using A549 human lung cancer cells, HeLa human cervical carcinoma cells, and HepG2 human hepatocellular cells. The results showed that rice medium could promote the secretion of antimicrobial and antitumour secondary metabolites of endophytic fungi in comparison with other cultivation media. Seventeen strains (68%) from R. stylosa exhibited inhibitory effects on indicators, especially N. protearum HHL46, which could inhibit the growth of four microbes with MIC values reaching 0.0625 mg/mL. Fifteen strains (71.4%) from R. mucronata displayed activities against human pathogenic microbes; in particular, Pestalotiopsis sp. HQD6 and N. protearum HQD5 could resist the growth of four microbes with MIC values ranging from 0.015 to 1 mg/mL. In the cytotoxicity assay, the extracts of 10 strains (40%), 9 strains (40%) and 13 strains (52%) of R. stylosa and 13 strains (61.9%), 10 strains (47.6%) and 10 strains (47.6%) of R. mucronata displayed cytotoxicity against A549, HeLa and HepG2 cancer cells with cell viability values ≤ 50%. Neopestalotiopsis protearum HHL46, Phomopsis longicolla HHL50, Botryosphaeria fusispora HQD83, Fusarium verticillioides HQD48 and Pestalotiopsis sp. HQD6 displayed significant antitumour activity with IC50 values below 20 μg/mL. These results highlighted the antimicrobial and antitumour potential of endophytic fungi from R. stylosa and R. mucronata and the possibility of exploiting their antimicrobial and cytotoxic agents.
Novel connections and physical implications of thermal metamaterials with imperfect interfaces
Authors: Chen Tungyang , Lin Jun-Hong 
Published: February 2022

AbstractThermal metamaterials are of great importance in advanced energy control and management. Previous studies mainly focused on interfaces with perfect bonding conditions. In principle, imperfectness always exists across interface and the effect is intriguingly important with small-length scales. This work reports the imperfect interface effect in thermal metamaterials thoroughly. Low conductivity- and high conductivity-type interfaces are considered. We show that an object can always be made thermally invisible, with the effect of imperfect interface, as that of a homogeneous background material. This unprecedented condition is derived in an exact and analytic form, systematically structured, with much versatile and physical implications. Conditions for thermal shielding and enhancements are analytically found and numerically exemplified, highlighting the specific role of material and geometric parameters. We find that both types of interfaces are complementing with each other which, all together, will constitute a full spectrum to achieve the thermal invisibility. The analytic finding offers a general perception that adds to the understanding of heat transport mechanism across interfaces in thermal metamaterials, in ways that drastically distinct from that of ideal interfaces. This finding opens up new possibilities for the control and management of thermal metamaterials with imperfect bonding interfaces.
Quantifying fish otolith mineralogy for trace-element chemistry studies
Authors: Wood R. Seth , Chakoumakos Bryan C. , Fortner Allison M. , Gillies-Rector Kat , Frontzek Matthias D. , Ivanov Ilia N. , Kah Linda C. , Kennedy Brian , Pracheil Brenda M. 
Published: February 2022

AbstractOtoliths are frequently used to infer environmental conditions or fish life history events based on trace-element concentrations. However, otoliths can be comprised of any one or combination of the three most common polymorphs of calcium carbonate—aragonite, calcite, and vaterite—which can affect the ecological interpretation of otolith trace-element results. Previous studies have reported heterogeneous calcium carbonate compositions between left and right otoliths but did not provide quantitative assessments of polymorph abundances. In this study, neutron diffraction and Raman spectroscopy were used to identify and quantify mineralogical compositions of Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha otolith pairs. We found mineralogical compositions frequently differed between otoliths in a pair and accurate calcium carbonate polymorph identification was rarely possible by visual inspection alone. The prevalence of multiple polymorphs in otoliths is not well-understood, and future research should focus on identifying otolith compositions and investigate how variations in mineralogy affect trace-element incorporation and potentially bias environmental interpretations.
Artificial intelligence enabled automated diagnosis and grading of ulcerative colitis endoscopy images
Authors: Sutton Reed T. , Zai͏̈ane Osmar R. , Goebel Randolph , Baumgart Daniel C. 
Published: February 2022

AbstractEndoscopic evaluation to reliably grade disease activity, detect complications including cancer and verification of mucosal healing are paramount in the care of patients with ulcerative colitis (UC); but this evaluation is hampered by substantial intra- and interobserver variability. Recently, artificial intelligence methodologies have been proposed to facilitate more objective, reproducible endoscopic assessment. In a first step, we compared how well several deep learning convolutional neural network architectures (CNNs) applied to a diverse subset of 8000 labeled endoscopic still images derived from HyperKvasir, the largest multi-class image and video dataset from the gastrointestinal tract available today. The HyperKvasir dataset includes 110,079 images and 374 videos and could (1) accurately distinguish UC from non-UC pathologies, and (2) inform the Mayo score of endoscopic disease severity. We grouped 851 UC images labeled with a Mayo score of 0–3, into an inactive/mild (236) and moderate/severe (604) dichotomy. Weights were initialized with ImageNet, and Grid Search was used to identify the best hyperparameters using fivefold cross-validation. The best accuracy (87.50%) and Area Under the Curve (AUC) (0.90) was achieved using the DenseNet121 architecture, compared to 72.02% and 0.50 by predicting the majority class (‘no skill’ model). Finally, we used Gradient-weighted Class Activation Maps (Grad-CAM) to improve visual interpretation of the model and take an explainable artificial intelligence approach (XAI).
Time trend and Bayesian mapping of multiple myeloma incidence in Sardinia, Italy
Authors: Broccia Giorgio , Carter Jonathan , Ozsin-Ozler Cansu , Meloni Federico , Pilia Ilaria , De Matteis Sara , Cocco Pierluigi 
Published: February 2022

AbstractA few reports have described increasing trends and spatial distribution of multiple myeloma (MM). We used a validated database including the 1606 cases of MM diagnosed in Sardinia in 1974–2003 to explore its time trend, and we applied Bayesian methods to plot MM probability by administrative unit on the regional map. Over the 30 years of observation, the MM standardized incidence rate (standard world population, all ages) was 2.17 × 10–5 (95% CI 2.01–2.34), 2.29 (95% CI 2.06–2.52) among men, and 2.06 (95% CI 1.83–2.28) among women. MM incidence increased by 3.3%/year in 1974–2003, in both males and females, particularly among the elderly and in the high incidence areas. Areas at risk tended to cluster in the north-eastern part of the region. A higher proportion of elderly in the resident population, but not socioeconomic factors, nor livestock farming, was associated with higher incidence rates. The steep upward time trend and the spatial clustering of MM suggest interactions between genetic and environmental determinants that might be more efficiently investigated in the areas at risk.
A randomised double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial of oral hydroxyurea for transfusion-dependent β-thalassaemia
Authors: Yasara Nirmani , Wickramarathne Nethmi , Mettananda Chamila , Silva Ishari , Hameed Nizri , Attanayaka Kumari , Rodrigo Rexan , Wickramasinghe Nirmani , Perera Lakshman , Manamperi Aresha , Premawardhena Anuja , Mettananda Sachith 
Published: February 2022

AbstractHydroxyurea is an antimetabolite drug that induces fetal haemoglobin in sickle cell disease. However, its clinical usefulness in β-thalassaemia is unproven. We conducted a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of hydroxyurea in transfusion-dependent β-thalassaemia. Sixty patients were assigned 1:1 to oral hydroxyurea 10–20 mg/kg/day or placebo for 6 months by stratified block randomisation. Hydroxyurea treatment did not alter the blood transfusion volume overall. However, a significantly higher proportion of patients on hydroxyurea showed increases in fetal haemoglobin percentage (89% vs. 59%; p < 0.05) and reductions in erythropoietic stress as measured by soluble transferrin receptor concentration (79% vs. 40%; p < 0.05). Based on fetal haemoglobin induction (> 1.5%), 44% of patients were identified as hydroxyurea-responders. Hydroxyurea-responders, required significantly lower blood volume (77 ± SD27ml/kg) compared to hydroxyurea-non-responders (108 ± SD24ml/kg; p < 0.01) and placebo-receivers (102 ± 28ml/kg; p < 0.05). Response to hydroxyurea was significantly higher in patients with HbE β-thalassaemia genotype (50% vs. 0%; p < 0.01) and Xmn1 polymorphism of the γ-globin gene (67% vs. 27%; p < 0.05). We conclude that oral hydroxyurea increased fetal haemoglobin percentage and reduced erythropoietic stress of ineffective erythropoiesis in patients with transfusion-dependent β-thalassaemia. Hydroxyurea reduced the transfusion burden in approximately 40% of patients. Response to hydroxyurea was higher in patients with HbE β-thalassaemia genotype and Xmn1 polymorphism of the γ-globin gene.
A novel isothermal method for amplification of long specific amplicon from linear template
Authors: Park Gun-Soo , Maeng Jin-Soo 
Published: February 2022

AbstractIsothermal nucleic acid amplification methods have been successfully developed and applied for diagnostic purpose, especially for detection of pathogens. However, amplicon size of such methods is relatively short (< 500 bp) to limit their application for long amplicon production that can be used for various downstream applications including genomic surveillance of pathogens. To fill the gap, we developed a method for specific amplification of kilobases-long target sequence from RNA templates. This method, named CREA, utilizes sequence specific recombination of Cre recombinase to generate circular intermediate template for subsequent RCA reaction. CREA with SARS-CoV-2 spike template could amplify ~ 2.9 kb target and up to ~ 1.9 kb amplicon was able to produce in sufficient amount for general cloning. Each step of CREA procedure was thoroughly analyzed to provide directions for further optimizations. Furthermore, we evaluated a variation of CREA which utilized DNA ligase.
Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of apolipoprotein A1 and B with glycosylated hemoglobin in Chinese adults
Authors: Dong Hongli , Ni Wenqing , Bai Yamin , Yuan Xueli , Zhang Yan , Zhang Hongmin , Sun Yuanying , Xu Jian 
Published: February 2022

AbstractApolipoproteins exert a key role on glucose metabolism; however, scarce data have examined the relationship between apolipoproteins and glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) in Chinese adults. This study determined the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of serum Apolipoprotein A1 (ApoA1), Apolipoprotein B (ApoB) and the ApoB/A1 ratio with HbA1c in Chinese adults. A total of 1448 subjects (584 men and 864 women) aged 54.8 years were included in a baseline survey, and the concentrations of Apo and HbA1c were measured. A total of 826 participants were followed up approximately once after 3.94 ± 0.62 years. In cross-sectional analysis, serum ApoA1 was inversely associated with HbA1c, while ApoB and the ApoB/A1 ratio were positively associated with HbA1c. After further adjusting for the potential covariates, a higher ApoA1 was associated with lower HbA1c (Quartile 4 [Q4] vs. Q1 = 5.673% vs. 5.796%, P-trend = 0.014). In contrast, positive association of ApoB concentration and the ApoB/A1 ratio with HbA1c level were showed (Q4 vs. Q1 = 5.805% vs. 5.589% for ApoB; Q4 vs. Q1 = 5.841% vs. 5.582% for ApoB/A1 ratio). The longitudinal results showed no significant associations of ApoA1, ApoB levels and the ApoB/A1 ratio with HbA1c changes (all P-trends > 0.05). Path analysis suggested that body mass index did not have mediating effect on Apo-HbA1c association. Our findings revealed that higher ApoA1, lower ApoB concentrations and the ApoB/A1 ratio were associated with lower HbA1c level in Chinese adults.
Health-focused conversational agents in person-centered care: a review of apps
Authors: Parmar Pritika , Ryu Jina , Pandya Shivani , Sedoc João , Agarwal Smisha 
Published: February 2022

AbstractHealth-focused apps with chatbots (“healthbots”) have a critical role in addressing gaps in quality healthcare. There is limited evidence on how such healthbots are developed and applied in practice. Our review of healthbots aims to classify types of healthbots, contexts of use, and their natural language processing capabilities. Eligible apps were those that were health-related, had an embedded text-based conversational agent, available in English, and were available for free download through the Google Play or Apple iOS store. Apps were identified using 42Matters software, a mobile app search engine. Apps were assessed using an evaluation framework addressing chatbot characteristics and natural language processing features. The review suggests uptake across 33 low- and high-income countries. Most healthbots are patient-facing, available on a mobile interface and provide a range of functions including health education and counselling support, assessment of symptoms, and assistance with tasks such as scheduling. Most of the 78 apps reviewed focus on primary care and mental health, only 6 (7.59%) had a theoretical underpinning, and 10 (12.35%) complied with health information privacy regulations. Our assessment indicated that only a few apps use machine learning and natural language processing approaches, despite such marketing claims. Most apps allowed for a finite-state input, where the dialogue is led by the system and follows a predetermined algorithm. Healthbots are potentially transformative in centering care around the user; however, they are in a nascent state of development and require further research on development, automation and adoption for a population-level health impact.
Tract-specific statistics based on diffusion-weighted probabilistic tractography
Authors: Reid Andrew T. , Camilleri Julia A. , Hoffstaedter Felix , Eickhoff Simon B. 
Published: February 2022

AbstractDiffusion-weighted neuroimaging approaches provide rich evidence for estimating the structural integrity of white matter in vivo, but typically do not assess white matter integrity for connections between two specific regions of the brain. Here, we present a method for deriving tract-specific diffusion statistics, based upon predefined regions of interest. Our approach derives a population distribution using probabilistic tractography, based on the Nathan Kline Institute (NKI) Enhanced Rockland sample. We determine the most likely geometry of a path between two regions and express this as a spatial distribution. We then estimate the average orientation of streamlines traversing this path, at discrete distances along its trajectory, and the fraction of diffusion directed along this orientation for each participant. The resulting participant-wise metrics (tract-specific anisotropy; TSA) can then be used for statistical analysis on any comparable population. Based on this method, we report both negative and positive associations between age and TSA for two networks derived from published meta-analytic studies (the “default mode” and “what-where” networks), along with more moderate sex differences and age-by-sex interactions. The proposed method can be applied to any arbitrary set of brain regions, to estimate both the spatial trajectory and DWI-based anisotropy specific to those regions.
The Antarctic Weddell seal genome reveals evidence of selection on cardiovascular phenotype and lipid handling
Authors: Noh Hyun Ji , Turner-Maier Jason , Schulberg S. Anne , Fitzgerald Michael L. , Johnson Jeremy , Allen Kaitlin N. , Hückstädt Luis A. , Batten Annabelle J. , Alfoldi Jessica , Costa Daniel P. , Karlsson Elinor K. , Zapol Warren M. , Buys Emmanuel S. , Lindblad-Toh Kerstin , Hindle Allyson G. 
Published: February 2022

AbstractThe Weddell seal (Leptonychotes weddellii) thrives in its extreme Antarctic environment. We generated the Weddell seal genome assembly and a high-quality annotation to investigate genome-wide evolutionary pressures that underlie its phenotype and to study genes implicated in hypoxia tolerance and a lipid-based metabolism. Genome-wide analyses included gene family expansion/contraction, positive selection, and diverged sequence (acceleration) compared to other placental mammals, identifying selection in coding and non-coding sequence in five pathways that may shape cardiovascular phenotype. Lipid metabolism as well as hypoxia genes contained more accelerated regions in the Weddell seal compared to genomic background. Top-significant genes wereSUMO2andEP300; both regulate hypoxia inducible factor signaling. Liver expression of four genes with the strongest acceleration signals differ between Weddell seals and a terrestrial mammal, sheep. We also report a high-density lipoprotein-like particle in Weddell seal serum not present in other mammals, including the shallow-diving harbor seal.
Drone honey bees are disproportionately sensitive to abiotic stressors despite expressing high levels of stress response proteins
Authors: McAfee Alison , Metz Bradley N. , Milone Joseph P. , Foster Leonard J. , Tarpy David R. 
Published: February 2022

AbstractDrone honey bees (Apis mellifera) are the obligate sexual partners of queens, and the availability of healthy, high-quality drones directly affects a queen’s fertility and productivity. Yet, our understanding of how stressors affect adult drone fertility, survival, and physiology is presently limited. Here, we investigated sex biases in susceptibility to abiotic stressors (cold stress, topical imidacloprid exposure, and topical exposure to a realistic cocktail of pesticides). We found that drones (haploid males) were more sensitive to cold and imidacloprid exposure than workers (sterile, diploid females), but the cocktail was not toxic at the concentrations tested. We corroborated this lack of cocktail toxicity with in-hive exposures via pollen feeding. We then used quantitative proteomics to investigate protein expression profiles in the hemolymph of topically exposed workers and drones, and found that 34 proteins were differentially expressed in exposed drones relative to controls, but none were differentially expressed in exposed workers. Contrary to our hypothesis, we show that drones express surprisingly high baseline levels of putative stress response proteins relative to workers. This suggests that drones’ stress tolerance systems are fundamentally rewired relative to workers, and susceptibility to stress depends on more than simply gene dose or allelic diversity.