bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Localized, time-dependent responses of rat cranial bone to repeated mild traumatic brain injuries
Authors: Dill Larissa K. , Sims Natalie A. , Shad Ali , Anyaegbu Chidozie , Warnock Andrew , Mao Yilin , Fitzgerald Melinda , Semple Bridgette D. 
Published: September 2022

AbstractWhile it is well-established that bone responds dynamically to mechanical loading, the effects of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) on cranial bone composition are unclear. We hypothesized that repeated mTBI (rmTBI) would change the microstructure of cranial bones, without gross skull fractures. To address this, young adult female Piebald Viral Glaxo rats received sham, 1×, 2× or 3× closed-head mTBIs delivered at 24 h intervals, using a weight-drop device custom-built for reproducible impact. Skull bones were collected at 2 or 10 weeks after the final injury/sham procedure, imaged by micro computed tomography and analyzed at predetermined regions of interest. In the interparietal bone, proximal to the injury site, modest increases in bone thickness were observed at 2 weeks, particularly following 2× and 3× mTBI. By 10 weeks, 2× mTBI induced a robust increase in the volume and thickness of the interparietal bone, alongside a corresponding decrease in the volume of marrow cavities in the diploë region. In contrast, neither parietal nor frontal skull samples were affected by rmTBI. Our findings demonstrate time- and location-dependent effects of rmTBI on cranial bone structure, highlighting a need to consider microstructural alterations to cranial bone when assessing the consequences of rmTBI.
Coupled discrete phase model and Eulerian wall film model for numerical simulation of respiratory droplet generation during coughing
Authors: Anzai Hitomi , Shindo Yugo , Kohata Yutaro , Hasegawa Masahiro , Takana Hidemasa , Matsunaga Tetsuro , Akaike Takaaki , Ohta Makoto 
Published: September 2022

AbstractComputational fluid dynamics is widely used to simulate droplet-spreading behavior due to respiratory events. However, droplet generation inside the body, such as the number, mass, and particle size distribution, has not been quantitatively analyzed. The aim of this study was to identify quantitative characteristics of droplet generation during coughing. Airflow simulations were performed by coupling the discrete phase model and Eulerian wall film model to reproduce shear-induced stripping of airway mucosa. An ideal airway model with symmetric bifurcations was constructed, and the wall domain was covered by a mucous liquid film. The results of the transient airflow simulation indicated that the droplets had a wide particle size distribution of 0.1–400 µm, and smaller droplets were generated in larger numbers. In addition, the total mass and number of droplets generated increased with an increasing airflow. The total mass of the droplets also increased with an increasing mucous viscosity, and the largest number and size of droplets were obtained at a viscosity of 8 mPa s. The simulation methods used in this study can be used to quantify the particle size distribution and maximum particle diameter under various conditions.
Detection of human pathogenic bacteria in rectal DNA samples from Zalophus californianus in the Gulf of California, Mexico
Authors: Cicala Francesco , Ramírez-Delgado David , Gómez-Reyes Ricardo , Martínez-Porchas Marcel , Rojas-Vargas Jorge , Pardo-López Liliana , Licea-Navarro Alexei F. 
Published: September 2022

AbstractHuman intrusions into undisturbed wildlife areas greatly contribute to the emergence of infectious diseases. To minimize the impacts of novel emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) on human health, a comprehensive understanding of the microbial species that reside within wildlife species is required. The Gulf of California (GoC) is an example of an undisturbed ecosystem. However, in recent decades, anthropogenic activities within the GoC have increased. Zalophus californianus has been proposed as the main sentinel species in the GoC; hence, an assessment of sea lion bacterial microbiota may reveal hidden risks for human health. We evaluated the presence of potential human pathogenic bacterial species from the gastrointestinal (GI) tracts of wild sea lions through a metabarcoding approach. To comprehensively evaluate this bacterial consortium, we considered the genetic information of six hypervariable regions of 16S rRNA. Potential human pathogenic bacteria were identified down to the species level by integrating the RDP and Pplacer classifier outputs. The combined genetic information from all analyzed regions suggests the presence of at least 44 human pathogenic bacterial species, including Shigella dysenteriae and Bacillus anthracis. Therefore, the risks of EIDs from this area should be not underestimated.
Optimization two-qubit quantum gate by two optical control methods in molecular pendular states
Authors: Li Jin-Fang , Hu Jie-Ru , Wan Feng , He Dong-Shan 
Published: September 2022

AbstractImplementation of quantum gates are important for quantum computations in physical system made of polar molecules. We investigate the feasibility of implementing gates based on pendular states of the molecular system by two different quantum optical control methods. Firstly, the Multi-Target optimal control theory and the Multi-Constraint optimal control theory are described for optimizing control fields and accomplish the optimization of quantum gates. Numerical results show that the controlled NOT gate (CNOT) can be realized under the control of above methods with high fidelities (0.975 and 0.999) respectively. In addition, in order to examine the dependence of the fidelity on energy difference in the same molecular system, the SWAP gate in the molecular system is also optimized with high fidelity (0.999) by the Multi-Constraint optimal control theory with the zero-area and constant-fluence constraints.
Determinants of cervical cancer screening utilization among women in Southern Ethiopia
Authors: Ayanto Samuel Yohannes , Belachew Tefera , Wordofa Muluemebet Abera 
Published: September 2022

AbstractCervical cancer has been an important public health problem. Despite the availability of screening services, its utilization in Ethiopia is low. This study therefore, aimed to identify contextual predictors of cervical cancer screening utilization among eligible women. This study employed facility-based unmatched case–control study design. Data were collected from 410 participants using interviewer-administered techniques. The collected data were entered using EpiInfo version 7 and transported to SPSS version 20 for statistical analysis. We performed descriptive analysis and logistic regression to identify predictors of screening utilization. This study demonstrated that urban residence, being in marital union, membership in women development army, knowledge of cervical cancer screening location, use of maternal health care in the previous year and knowledge on cervical cancer and its screening were predictors of screening utilization. Therefore, it is important to improve women’s knowledge on cervical cancer, promote maternal health care use, disseminate health information through women’s groups and consider all positive effects of urban residence among rural women to improve screening utilization.
SepsEast Registry indicates high mortality associated with COVID-19 caused acute respiratory failure in Central-Eastern European intensive care units
Authors: Benes Jan , Jankowski Miłosz , Szułdrzynski Konstanty , Zahorec Roman , Lainscak Mitja , Ruszkai Zoltán , Podbregar Matej , Zatloukal Jan , Kletecka Jakub , Kusza Krzysztof , Szrama Jakub , Ramic Estera , Galkova Katarina , Krbila Stefan , Valky Josef , Ivanic Jaka , Kurnik Marko , Mikó Angéla , Kiss Tamás , Hetényi Barbara , Hegyi Peter , Sustic Alan , Molnar Zsolt 
Published: September 2022

AbstractThe coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic caused unprecedented research activity all around the world but publications from Central-Eastern European countries remain scarce. Therefore, our aim was to characterise the features of the pandemic in the intensive care units (ICUs) among members of the SepsEast (Central-Eastern European Sepsis Forum) initiative. We conducted a retrospective, international, multicentre study between March 2020 and February 2021. All adult patients admitted to the ICU with pneumonia caused by COVID-19 were enrolled. Data on baseline and treatment characteristics, organ support and mortality were collected. Eleven centres from six countries provided data from 2139 patients. Patient characteristics were: median 68, [IQR 60–75] years of age; males: 67%; body mass index: 30.1 [27.0–34.7]; and 88% comorbidities. Overall mortality was 55%, which increased from 2020 to 2021 (p = 0.004). The major causes of death were respiratory (37%), cardiovascular (26%) and sepsis with multiorgan failure (21%). 1061 patients received invasive mechanical ventilation (mortality: 66%) without extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (n = 54). The rest of the patients received non-invasive ventilation (n = 129), high flow nasal oxygen (n = 317), conventional oxygen therapy (n = 122), as the highest level of ventilatory support, with mortality of 50%, 39% and 22%, respectively. This is the largest COVID-19 dataset from Central-Eastern European ICUs to date. The high mortality observed especially in those receiving invasive mechanical ventilation renders the need of establishing national–international ICU registries and audits in the region that could provide high quality, transparent data, not only during the pandemic, but also on a regular basis.
Ascorbate content of clinical glioma tissues is related to tumour grade and to global levels of 5-hydroxymethyl cytosine
Authors: Crake Rebekah L. I. , Burgess Eleanor R. , Wiggins George A. R. , Magon Nicholas J. , Das Andrew B. , Vissers Margreet C. M. , Morrin Helen R. , Royds Janice A. , Slatter Tania L. , Robinson Bridget A. , Phillips Elisabeth , Dachs Gabi U. 
Published: September 2022

AbstractGliomas are incurable brain cancers with poor prognosis, with epigenetic dysregulation being a distinctive feature. 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5-hmC), an intermediate generated in the demethylation of 5-methylcytosine, is present at reduced levels in glioma tissue compared with normal brain, and that higher levels of 5-hmC are associated with improved patient survival. DNA demethylation is enzymatically driven by the ten–eleven translocation (TET) dioxygenases that require ascorbate as an essential cofactor. There is limited data on ascorbate in gliomas and the relationship between ascorbate and 5-hmC in gliomas has never been reported. Clinical glioma samples (11 low-grade, 26 high-grade) were analysed for ascorbate, global DNA methylation and hydroxymethylation, and methylation status of the O-6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) promoter. Low-grade gliomas contained significantly higher levels of ascorbate than high-grade gliomas (p = 0.026). Levels of 5-hmC were significantly higher in low-grade than high-grade glioma (p = 0.0013). There was a strong association between higher ascorbate and higher 5-hmC (p = 0.004). Gliomas with unmethylated and methylated MGMT promoters had similar ascorbate levels (p = 0.96). One mechanism by which epigenetic modifications could occur is through ascorbate-mediated optimisation of TET activity in gliomas. These findings open the door to clinical intervention trials in patients with glioma to provide both mechanistic information and potential avenues for adjuvant ascorbate therapy.
Deep learning-based patient re-identification is able to exploit the biometric nature of medical chest X-ray data
Authors: Packhäuser Kai , Gündel Sebastian , Münster Nicolas , Syben Christopher , Christlein Vincent , Maier Andreas 
Published: September 2022

AbstractWith the rise and ever-increasing potential of deep learning techniques in recent years, publicly available medical datasets became a key factor to enable reproducible development of diagnostic algorithms in the medical domain. Medical data contains sensitive patient-related information and is therefore usually anonymized by removing patient identifiers, e.g., patient names before publication. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to show that a well-trained deep learning system is able to recover the patient identity from chest X-ray data. We demonstrate this using the publicly available large-scale ChestX-ray14 dataset, a collection of 112,120 frontal-view chest X-ray images from 30,805 unique patients. Our verification system is able to identify whether two frontal chest X-ray images are from the same person with an AUC of 0.9940 and a classification accuracy of 95.55%. We further highlight that the proposed system is able to reveal the same person even ten and more years after the initial scan. When pursuing a retrieval approach, we observe an mAP@R of 0.9748 and a precision@1 of 0.9963. Furthermore, we achieve an AUC of up to 0.9870 and a precision@1 of up to 0.9444 when evaluating our trained networks on external datasets such as CheXpert and the COVID-19 Image Data Collection. Based on this high identification rate, a potential attacker may leak patient-related information and additionally cross-reference images to obtain more information. Thus, there is a great risk of sensitive content falling into unauthorized hands or being disseminated against the will of the concerned patients. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous chest X-ray datasets have been published to advance research. Therefore, such data may be vulnerable to potential attacks by deep learning-based re-identification algorithms.
The effect of surface roughness on capillary rise in micro-grooves
Authors: Bamorovat Abadi Gholamreza , Bahrami Majid 
Published: September 2022

AbstractThe capillary action is a unique feature of micro-grooves with numerous applications. This spontaneous flow eliminates the need for an extra pumping device to deliver a liquid. Capillary action depends on physical properties and features of the solid surface, as well as on thermophysical properties of the liquid. In this study, our previously proposed unifying capillary rise model is extended to include the effect of surface roughness. A new characteristic length scale is proposed that includes salient geometrical parameters, such as micro-grooves height, width, and surface roughness. Furthermore, it is shown that by using the proposed characteristic length scale, it can be determined whether the capillary action would occur in a given micro-groove and liquid. Various metallic and polymeric surfaces with a wide range of surface roughness are fabricated from aluminum, stainless-steel, natural graphite sheet, and 3D-printed stainless-steel and a polymer. A profilometer and sessile drop method are used to measure surface roughness and the contact angles, respectively. The present unifying model is compared against our measured data, and it is shown that it can predict the capillary rise in rough micro-grooves with less than a 10% relative difference. It is observed that the capillary height can be increased for a wetting surface by introducing surface roughness and by using optimal micro-groove cross-sections that are triangular as opposed to rectangular. The proposed compact, unifying model can be used to predict the capillary rise for any given micro-groove cross-section, and as a design tool for numerous industrial and biomedical applications, such as heat pipes, power electronic cooling solutions, sorption systems, medicine delivery devices, and microfluidics that utilize capillary micro-grooves.
Urinary marker panels for aggressive prostate cancer detection
Authors: Lih Tung-Shing Mamie , Dong Mingming , Mangold Leslie , Partin Alan , Zhang Hui 
Published: September 2022

AbstractMajority of patients with indolent prostate cancer (PCa) can be managed with active surveillance. Therefore, finding biomarkers for classifying patients between indolent and aggressive PCa is essential. In this study, we investigated urinary marker panels composed of urinary glycopeptides and/or urinary prostate-specific antigen (PSA) for their clinical utility in distinguishing non-aggressive (Grade Group 1) from aggressive (Grade Group ≥ 2) PCa. Urinary glycopeptides acquired via data-independent acquisition mass spectrometry (DIA-MS) were quantitatively analyzed, where prostatic acid phosphatase (ACPP), clusterin (CLU), alpha-1-acid glycoprotein 1 (ORM1), and CD antigen 97 (CD97) were selected to be evaluated in various combinations with and without urinary PSA. Targeted parallel reaction monitoring (PRM) assays of the glycopeptides from urinary ACPP and CLU were investigated along with urinary PSA for the ability of aggressive PCa detection. The multi-urinary marker panels, combined via logistic regression, were statistically evaluated using bootstrap resampling and validated by an independent cohort. Majority of the multi-urinary marker panels (e.g., a panel consisted of ACPP, CLU, and Urinary PSA) achieved area under the curve (AUC) ranged from 0.70 to 0.85. Thus, multi-marker panels investigated in this study showed clinically meaningful results on aggressive PCa detection to separate Grade Group 1 from Grade Group 2 and above warranting further evaluation in clinical setting in future.
Incidence of tick-borne spotted fever group Rickettsia species in rodents in two regions in Kazakhstan
Authors: Wagner E. , Tukhanova N. , Shin A. , Turebekov N. , Shapiyeva Z. , Shevtsov A. , Nurmakhanov T. , Sutyagin V. , Berdibekov A. , Maikanov N. , Lezdinsh I. , Freimüller K. , Ehmann R. , Ehrhardt C. , Essbauer S. , Peintner L. 
Published: September 2022

AbstractRecords on the distribution of Rickettsia spp. in their natural hosts in Central Asia are incomplete. Rodents and small mammals are potential natural reservoirs for Rickettsiae in their natural lifecycle. Studies about the maintenance of Rickettsia in wild animals are available for Western nations, but—to our knowledge—no studies and data are available in the Republic of Kazakhstan so far. The first case description of Rickettsioses in Kazakhstan was made in the 1950ies in the Almaty region and now Kyzylorda, East Kazakhstan, Pavlodar and North Kazakhstan are endemic areas. The existence of murine and endemic typhus was proven in arthropod vectors in the regions Kyzylorda and Almaty. Here we show for the first time investigations on tick-borne Rickettsia species detected by a pan-rickettsial citrate synthase gene (gltA) real-time PCR in ear lobes of small mammals (n = 624) in Kazakhstan. From all analysed small mammals 2.72% were positive for Rickettsia raoultii, R. slovaca or R. conorii. Sequencing of the rickettsial gene OmpAIV and the 23S–5S interspacer region revealed a similar heritage of identified Rickettsia species that was observed in ticks in previous studies from the region. In summary, this study proves that rodents in Kazakhstan serve as a natural reservoir of Rickettsia spp.
Body size has primacy over stoichiometric variables in nutrient excretion by a tropical stream fish community
Authors: Oliveira-Cunha Priscila , McIntyre Peter B. , Neres-Lima Vinicius , Caliman Adriano , Moreira-Ferreira Beatriz , Zandonà Eugenia 
Published: September 2022

AbstractEcological Stoichiometry (ES) and the Metabolic Theory of Ecology (MTE) are the main theories used to explain consumers’ nutrient recycling. ES posits that imbalances between an animal’s body and its diet stoichiometry determine its nutrient excretion rates, whereas the MTE predicts that excretion reflects metabolic activity arising from body size and temperature. We measured nitrogen, phosphorus and N:P excretion, body N:P stoichiometry, body size, and temperature for 12 fish species from a Brazilian stream. We fitted competing models reflecting different combinations of ES (body N:P, armor classification, diet group) and MTE (body size, temperature) variables. Only body size predicted P excretion rates, while N excretion was predicted by body size and time of day. N:P excretion was not explained by any variable. There was no interspecific difference in size-scaling coefficients neither for N nor for P. Fitted size scaling coefficients were lower than the MTE prediction of 0.75 for N (0.58), and for P (0.56). We conclude that differences in nutrient excretion among species within a shared environment primarily reflect contrasts in metabolic rates arising from body size, rather than disparities between consumer and resource stoichiometry. Our findings support the MTE as the primary framework for predicting nutrient excretion rates.
Prenatal acrylamide exposure results in time-dependent changes in liver function and basal hematological, and oxidative parameters in weaned Wistar rats
Authors: Tomaszewska E. , Muszyński S. , Świetlicka I. , Wojtysiak D. , Dobrowolski P. , Arciszewski M. B. , Donaldson J. , Czech A. , Hułas-Stasiak M. , Kuc D. , Mielnik-Błaszczak M. 
Published: September 2022

AbstractAcrylamide (ACR) is a toxic compound commonly found in fried, baked and heat-processed starchy foods. The current study investigated the time-dependent effects of maternal exposure to non-toxic ACR doses on the oxidative stress, liver function, and basal blood morphology of the rat offspring. Pregnant, Wistar rats were randomly divided into the control group or the groups administrated with ACR (3 mg/kg b.w./day): long exposure for 15 days, medium exposure for 10 days and short exposure for 5 days during pregnancy. Body mass, blood morphology and hematology, serum concentrations of growth hormone, IGF-1, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6 and insulin, liver histomorphometry, liver activity of beclin1, LC2B and caspase3, markers of oxidative stress and the activity of antioxidative enzymes in blood serum and the liver were measured in offspring at weaning (postnatal day 21). Even short prenatal exposure to ACR led to oxidative stress and resulted in changes in liver histomorphometry and upregulation of autophagy/apoptosis. However, the most significant changes were observed following the long period of ACR exposure. This study has shown for the first time that ACR is responsible for changes in body mass in a time-dependent manner, which could lead to more serious illnesses like overweight and diabetes later in life.
Mendelian randomization study of the effect of coronary artery calcification on atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases
Authors: Sae-jie Wichanon , Tangcharoen Tarinee , Vathesatogkit Prin , Aekplakorn Wichai , Charoen Pimphen 
Published: September 2022

AbstractCalcium calcification in the wall of arteries (CAC) leads to a higher risk of atherosclerosis related outcomes, especially myocardial infarction (MI). Nevertheless, the causal role of CAC on other related outcomes is unclear. In this study, we used Mendelian randomization (MR) to systematically investigate the causal role of CAC across a broad range of atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases including coronary heart disease, angina, MI, ischemic heart disease, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease. Publicly available data from the UK biobank and other data sources were used. Using the two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) approach, we applied 3 MR models including the inverse variance weighted, the weighted-median, and the weighted-mode methods. Eight SNPs associated with CAC were selected as instrumental variables. We observed causal evidence of CAC on MI consistently across all MR models (PIVW = 1.0 × 10−4, PW-Median = 1.1 × 10−4, PW-Mode = 3.8 × 10−2) and this causation is shown in an acute transmural MI of inferior wall (PIVW = 1.5 × 10−4, PW-Median = 4.8 × 10−5, PW-Mode = 3.2 × 10−2) but not consistently observed in an anterior wall. As each site of acute MI was suggested to have relatively specific mechanisms, our finding suggested that the causal role of CAC on MI is in an inferior wall possibly as a consequence of large calcification from a prolonged process, whereas non-calcified artery plaque or other underlying mechanisms may predominantly play role in an anterior infarction during an advanced atherosclerotic process.