bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Additive effects of coexisting respiratory comorbidities on overall or respiratory mortality in patients with asthma: a national cohort study
Authors: Yeo Yoomi , Lee Hyun , Ryu Jiin , Chung Sung Jun , Park Tai Sun , Park Dong Won , Kim Sang-Heon , Kim Tae Hyung , Sohn Jang Won , Yoon Ho Joo , Min Kyung Hoon , Moon Ji-Yong 
Published: May 2022

AbstractAsthmatic patients are generally considered to have an increased risk of mortality compared with subjects without asthma. However, this issue has been less evaluated using nationally representative data. Moreover, it is unclear whether respiratory comorbidities other than chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are associated with increased mortality in asthmatic patients compared with subjects without. Using a nationally representative sample database, we performed a retrospective cohort study of patients with asthma and age-sex-matched control cohort. We estimated the hazard ratio (HR) and stratified the asthma cohort based on respiratory comorbidities. During a median 8.9-year follow-up, the overall mortality rate was higher in the asthma cohort than in the control cohort (p < 0.001). The hazard ratio (HR) for overall mortality in the asthma cohort compared with the control cohort was 1.13. The effects of asthma on overall mortality were more evident in males, patients under medical aid, and subjects with COPD. Respiratory comorbidities were significantly associated with increased risk of overall mortality in asthmatic patients compared with controls (adjusted HRs; 1.48 for COPD, 1.40 for bronchiectasis, 4.08 for lung cancer, and 1.59 for pneumonia). While asthma and lung cancer showed an additive effect only on overall mortality, asthma and other respiratory comorbidities (COPD, pneumonia, and bronchiectasis) had additive effects only on respiratory mortality. Patients with asthma had a higher overall mortality rate compared with subjects without asthma. Respiratory comorbidities showed an additive effect on overall or respiratory mortality in patients with asthma.
Muscle contractions and pain sensation accompanying high-frequency electroporation pulses
Authors: Cvetkoska Aleksandra , Maček-Lebar Alenka , Trdina Peter , Miklavčič Damijan , Reberšek Matej 
Published: May 2022

AbstractTo minimize neuromuscular electrical stimulation during electroporation-based treatments, the replacement of long monophasic pulses with bursts of biphasic high-frequency pulses in the range of microseconds was suggested in order to reduce muscle contraction and pain sensation due to pulse application. This treatment modality appeared under the term high-frequency electroporation (HF-EP), which can be potentially used for some clinical applications of electroporation such as electrochemotherapy, gene electrotransfer, and tissue ablation. In cardiac tissue ablation, which utilizes irreversible electroporation, the treatment is being established as Pulsed Field Ablation. While the reduction of muscle contractions was confirmed in multiple in vivo studies, the reduction of pain sensation in humans was not confirmed yet, nor was the relationship between muscle contraction and pain sensation investigated. This is the first study in humans examining pain sensation using biphasic high-frequency electroporation pulses. Twenty-five healthy individuals were subjected to electrical stimulation of the tibialis anterior muscle with biphasic high-frequency pulses in the range of few microseconds and both, symmetric and asymmetric interphase and interpulse delays. Our results confirm that biphasic high-frequency pulses with a pulse width of 1 or 2 µs reduce muscle contraction and pain sensation as opposed to currently used longer monophasic pulses. In addition, interphase and interpulse delays play a significant role in reducing the muscle contraction and/or pain sensation. The study shows that the range of the optimal pulse parameters may be increased depending on the prerequisites of the therapy. However, further evaluation of the biphasic pulse protocols presented herein is necessary to confirm the efficiency of the newly proposed HF-EP.
Evaluation of future estuarine floods in a sea level rise context
Authors: Lopes Carina Lurdes , Sousa Magda Catarina , Ribeiro Américo , Pereira Humberto , Pinheiro João Pedro , Vaz Leandro , Dias João Miguel 
Published: May 2022

AbstractReliable predictions of future inundation extent within estuaries require a precise evaluation of future extreme sea levels and the application of accurate numerical models that account for the physical processes driving estuarine hydrodynamics. In this study, a methodology that integrates the estimation of local extreme sea levels with high-resolution numerical modeling was applied to assess the future inundation extent in five estuarine systems located on the Portuguese Coast. The main findings obtained were compared with available results from the popular bathtub approach, that disregards the physical processes driving estuarine hydrodynamics and therefore provide imprecise predictions of inundation extent and associated socio-economic impacts. The inundation extent is revealed to be highly dependent on the extreme sea levels and on the estuarine geomorphology, which controls the propagating long-wave. As the long-wave height is highly attenuated within estuaries that have adjacent low-lying areas, restricted inlets, or extensive tidal flats, the results of this study revealed that the extent of inundation is considerably smaller than that obtained by the bathtub approach. The uncertainties associated with mean sea level rise and the estuarine geomorphological evolution constitute the greatest difficulty in assessing the extent of flooding, posing major challenges to the efficient and sustainable management of estuaries.
Projections of wildfire weather danger in the Canary Islands
Authors: Carrillo J. , Pérez J. C. , Expósito F. J. , Díaz J. P. , González A. 
Published: May 2022

AbstractClimate change is expected to enhance weather conditions prone to wildfires. Climate regionalized projections for the Canary Islands were performed, using as boundary conditions some of the results provided by the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) initiative, and covering the recent past (1980–2009) and future (2070–2099) periods, under two Representative Concentration Pathways, 4.5 and 8.5. All fire risk indicators derived from the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) are foreseen to worsen by the end of the century. The fire season could increase its length up to 75 days per year, being more noticeable as altitude increases. The extreme risk days (FWI > 60) show an average increase of 58%, reaching 12 days a year, and the area with high risk could increase by 44%. Analyzing the contribution of the different meteorological variables, it is observed that the main parameter in the fire danger index result is the temperature (currently weights 46%). However, in the future, the importance of precipitation will increase, since the rainfall reduction in some areas could reach 41%. The high dependence of the expected changes on land height, and the small size of the islands, demonstrates the necessity of using high-resolution climate regionalizations.
Glaucoma diagnosis using multi-feature analysis and a deep learning technique
Authors: Akter Nahida , Fletcher John , Perry Stuart , Simunovic Matthew P. , Briggs Nancy , Roy Maitreyee 
Published: May 2022

AbstractIn this study, we aimed to facilitate the current diagnostic assessment of glaucoma by analyzing multiple features and introducing a new cross-sectional optic nerve head (ONH) feature from optical coherence tomography (OCT) images. The data (n = 100 for both glaucoma and control) were collected based on structural, functional, demographic and risk factors. The features were statistically analyzed, and the most significant four features were used to train machine learning (ML) algorithms. Two ML algorithms: deep learning (DL) and logistic regression (LR) were compared in terms of the classification accuracy for automated glaucoma detection. The performance of the ML models was evaluated on unseen test data, n = 55. An image segmentation pilot study was then performed on cross-sectional OCT scans. The ONH cup area was extracted, analyzed, and a new DL model was trained for glaucoma prediction. The DL model was estimated using five-fold cross-validation and compared with two pre-trained models. The DL model trained from the optimal features achieved significantly higher diagnostic performance (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) 0.98 and accuracy of 97% on validation data and 96% on test data) compared to previous studies for automated glaucoma detection. The second DL model used in the pilot study also showed promising outcomes (AUC 0.99 and accuracy of 98.6%) to detect glaucoma compared to two pre-trained models. In combination, the result of the two studies strongly suggests the four features and the cross-sectional ONH cup area trained using deep learning have a great potential for use as an initial screening tool for glaucoma which will assist clinicians in making a precise decision.
Study on the associations of physical activity types and cardiovascular diseases among Chinese population using latent class analysis method
Authors: Chen Chong , Liu Jiali , Lu Shurong , Ding Ganling , Wang Jiaqi , Qin Yu , Wang Zengwu , Wang Xin , Zhang Zhiyong , Xiang Quanyong 
Published: May 2022

AbstractPrevious studies reported on the association between physical activity (PA) and cardiovascular diseases (CVDS) among the Western population. However, evidence on the association between different patterns of PA and the risk of CVDS among Chinese population are limited. This study aims to evaluate the association of different PA types and the risk of CVDS in a Chinese adult population. A total of 3568 community residents were recruited from Jiangsu Province of China using a stratified multistage cluster sampling method. The latent class analysis method was employed to identify the types of PA, and the Framingham risk score (FRS) was used to estimate the risk of CVDS within 10 years. Three types of PA were identified: CLASS1 represented participants with high occupational PA and low sedentary PA (32.1% of male, 26.5% of female), ClASS2 represented those engaging in low occupational PA and high leisure-time PA (27.0% of male, 14.2% of female), and CLASS3 represented low leisure-time and high sedentary PA (40.9% of male, 59.3% of female). The average of FRS in males was higher than that in females across PA types. CLASS1 (OR = 0.694, 95%CI 0.553–0.869) and CLASS2 (OR = 0.748, 95%CI 0.573–0.976) were both found to be protective against CVDS in males; however, such associations were not statistically significant among females. Therefore, higher occupational or leisure-time PA appear to be associated with decreased risk of CVDS, while more sedentary behaviors may increase the risk of CVDS, particularly for male Chinese adults.
Numerical simulation of quantum dots as a buffer layer in CIGS solar cells: a comparative study
Authors: Abdulghani Zuhair R. , Najm Asmaa Soheil , Holi Araa Mebdir , Al-Zahrani Asla Abdullah , Al-Zahrani Khaled S. , Moria Hazim 
Published: May 2022

AbstractQuantum bandgap buffer layers can improve sunlight absorption in the short wavelength region, hence improving the performance of CIGS solar cells. In this study, we use numerical modelling to determine the impact of various buffer layers' electrical characteristics on the performance of CIGS thin film photovoltaic devices, particularly, carrier concentration and the quantum effect. As well Ag2S buffer layer has been experimentally examined to fulfilment its effect in term of bulk and quantum bandgap. Experimental results depicted that, Ag2S QDs has polycrystalline nature of films, with smooth surface roughness, and average diameter 4 nm. Meanwhile, a simulation revealed that the Fermi level of the (n-buffer layer) material shifts closer to the conduction band with an increase in carrier concentration. The findings indicate that, a buffer layer with a wider bandgap and carrier concentration is an essential demand for achieving a device with a higher conversion efficiency and a broader bandgap-CBO window. It was attributed to beneficial synergistic effects of high carrier concentration and narrower depletion region, which enable carriers to overcome high CBO barrier. Most importantly, modelling results indicate that the optic-electrical characteristics of the buffer layer are critical in determining the progress of a CIGS solar cell.
Low divergent MeV-class proton beam with micrometer source size driven by a few-cycle laser pulse
Authors: Singh Prashant K. , Varmazyar Parvin , Nagy Bence , Son Joon-Gon , Ter-Avetisyan Sargis , Osvay Karoly 
Published: May 2022

AbstractSpatial characterization of 0.5 MeV proton beam, driven by 12 fs, 35 mJ, 1019 W/cm2 intense laser-foil interaction is presented. The accelerated proton beam has been applied to obtain a high-resolution, point-projection static radiograph of a fine mesh using a CR-39 plate. The reconstruction of mesh edge blurring and particle ray tracing suggests that these protons have an effective source size (FWHM) of just 3.3 ± 0.3 µm. Furthermore, the spatial distribution of the proton beam recorded on the CR-39 showed that the divergence of these particles is less than 5-degree (FWHM). The low divergence and small source size of the proton beam resulted in an ultralow transverse emittance of 0.00032 π-mm-mrad, which is several orders of magnitude smaller than that of a conventional accelerator beam.
Comprehensive metabolomics unveil the discriminatory metabolites of some Mediterranean Sea marine algae in relation to their cytotoxic activities
Authors: Ghallab Dina S. , Shawky Eman , Ibrahim Reham S. , Mohyeldin Mohamed M. 
Published: May 2022

AbstractMarine algae have served as a treasure trove of structurally variable and biologically active metabolites. The present study emphasizes on UPLC–MS metabolites fingerprinting for the first systematic broad scale metabolites characterization of three different phyla of marine seaweeds; Ulva fasciata, Pterocladia capillacea and Sargassum hornschuchii along with Spirulina platensis harvested from the Mediterranean Sea. A total of 85 metabolites belonging to various classes including mostly fatty acids and their derivatives, terpenoids, amino acids and dipeptides with considerable amounts of polyphenolic compounds. OPLS-DA model offered a better overview of phylum-based discrimination rapidly uncovering the compositional heterogeneity in metabolite profiles of algae extracts. An OPLS model was constructed using the cytotoxic activities against PC3 and MDA-MB-231 tumor cells to succinctly screen cytotoxic discriminatory metabolites among the tested algae species. The coefficient plot revealed that unsaturated fatty acids as stearidonic acid and linolenic acid, terpenoids namely as rosmanol, campestanol, dipeptides primarily glutamylglycine, glycyltyrosine along with polyphenolic compounds being abundantly present in S. platensis and U. fasciata samples with relatively marked cytotoxic potential might be the significant contributors synergistically meditating their anti-proliferative activity against PC3 and MDA-MB-231 tumor cells. Such results serve as baseline for understanding the chemistry of these species and performing strict correlation between metabolite and activity where a lack of information in this regard is observed.
Unveiling the relationship between the multilayer structure of metallic MoS2 and the cycling performance for lithium ion batteries
Authors: Liu Zhipeng , Wang Kaiwen , Huang Guoqing , Yu Shuyi , Li Xiaotian , Li Nan , Yu Kaifeng 
Published: May 2022

The cycling stability of 1T phase molybdenum sulfide (1T-MoS2) as anode of lithium ion battery (LIBs) correlates with the layer number.
Activation and turnover of the plant immune signaling kinase BIK1: a fine balance
Authors: Gonçalves Dias Márcia , Soleimani Faranak , Monaghan Jacqueline 
Published: May 2022

Abstract
Mechanisms to sense and respond to pathogens have evolved in all species. The plant immune pathway is initiated by the activation of transmembrane receptor kinases that trigger phosphorylation relays resulting in cellular reprogramming. BOTRYTIS-INDUCED KINASE 1 (BIK1) is a direct substrate of multiple immune receptors in Arabidopsis thaliana and is a central regulator of plant immunity. Here, we review how BIK1 activity and protein stability are regulated by a dynamic interplay between phosphorylation and ubiquitination.
Robust image similarity metric method for SAR images
Authors: Zeng Zhiqiang , Tan Xiaoheng , Chen Zhanye , Huang Yan , Tang Shiyang , Wan Jun 
Published: May 2022

AbstractSynthetic aperture radar (SAR) image similarity metric is at the core of SAR image interpretation techniques, however, it is still a challenging task due to complex nonlinear intensity, scale, and rotation differences between SAR images and other remote sensing images. This letter addresses this problem by proposing a novel similarity metric method for SAR images using structure and shape properties. The magnitude and orientation representation of the phase congruency model is first built based on the local phase of images. Then a new scale and rotation‐invariant local binary pattern (SRI‐LBP) descriptor is proposed using local structure and shape information. Finally, a similarity metric is defined using the symmetry Kullback Leibler divergence (SKLD) of the SRI‐LBP descriptors. Numerical experiment results verify its robustness in terms of nonlinear intensity, scale, and rotation differences.
Many‐field packet classification with decomposition and reinforcement learning
Authors: Jamil Hasibul , Yang Ning , Weng Ning 
Published: May 2022

AbstractScalable packet classification is a key requirement to support scalable network applications such as firewalls, intrusion detection, and differentiated services. With the ever increasing line‐rate in core networks, it becomes a great challenge to design a scalable packet classification solution using hand‐tuned heuristic approaches. The authors present a scalable learning‐based packet classification engine by building an efficient data structure for different rulesets with many fields. This method consists of the decomposition of fields into subsets and building separate decision trees on those subsets using a deep reinforcement learning procedure. To decompose given fields of a ruleset, the authors consider different grouping metrics such as standard deviation of individual fields and introduce a novel metric called diversity index (DI). The authors examine different decomposition schemes and construct decision trees for each scheme using deep reinforcement learning and compare the results. The results show that the SD decomposition metrics results in 11.5% faster than DI metrics, 25% faster than random 2 and 40% faster than random 1. Furthermore, the authors’ learning‐based selection method can be applied to varying rulesets due to its ruleset independence.
Impact of very massive stars on the chemical evolution of extremely metal-poor galaxies
Authors: Goswami S. , Silva L. , Bressan A. , Grisoni V. , Costa G. , Marigo P. , Granato G. L. , Lapi A. , Spera M. 
Published: May 2022

Context.In recent observations of extremely metal-poor, low-mass, starburst galaxies, almost solar Fe/O ratios are reported, despite N/O ratios consistent with the low metallicity.Aims.We aim to investigate if the peculiar Fe/O ratios can be a distinctive signature of an early enrichment produced by very massive objects dying as pair-instability supernova (PISN).Methods.We ran chemical evolution models with yields that account for the contribution by PISN. We used both the non-rotating stellar yields from a recent study and new yields from rotating very massive stars calculated specifically for this work. We also searched for the best initial mass function (IMF) that is able to reproduce the observations.Results.We can reproduce the observations by adopting a bi-modal IMF and by including an initial burst of rotating very massive stars. Only with a burst of very massive stars can we reproduce the almost solar Fe/O ratios at the estimated young ages. We also confirm that rotation is absolutely needed to concomitantly reproduce the observed N/O ratios.Conclusions.These results stress the importance of very massive stars in galactic chemical evolution studies and strongly support a top-heavy initial mass function in the very early evolutionary stages of metal-poor starburst galaxies.
The disk of FU Orionis viewed with MATISSE/VLTI
Authors: Lykou F. , Ábrahám P. , Chen L. , Varga J. , Kóspál Á. , Matter A. , Siwak M. , Szabó Zs. M. , Zhu Z. , Liu H. B. , Lopez B. , Allouche F. , Augereau J.-C. , Berio P. , Cruzalèbes P. , Dominik C. , Henning Th. , Hofmann K.-H. , Hogerheijde M. , Jaffe W. J. , Kokoulina E. , Lagarde S. , Meilland A. , Millour F. , Pantin E. , Petrov R. , Robbe-Dubois S. , Schertl D. , Scheuck M. , van Boekel R. , Waters L. B. F. M. , Weigelt G. , Wolf S. 
Published: May 2022

Aims. We studied the accretion disk of the archetypal eruptive young star FU Orionis with the use of mid-infrared interferometry, which enabled us to resolve the innermost regions of the disk down to a spatial resolution of 3 milliarcseconds (mas) in the L band, that is, within 1 au of the protostar.
Methods. We used the interferometric instrument MATISSE/VLTI to obtain observations of FU Ori’s disk in the L, M, and N bands with multiple baseline configurations. We also obtained contemporaneous photometry in the optical (UBVRIr′i′; SAAO and Konkoly Observatory) and near-infrared (JHKs; NOT). Our results were compared with radiative transfer simulations modeled by RADMC-3D.
Results. The disk of FU Orionis is marginally resolved with MATISSE, suggesting that the region emitting in the thermal infrared is rather compact. An upper limit of ~1.3 ± 0.1 mas (in L) can be given for the diameter of the disk region probed in the L band, corresponding to 0.5 au at the adopted Gaia EDR3 distance. This represents the hot, gaseous region of the accretion disk. The N-band data indicate that the dusty passive disk is silicate-rich. Only the innermost region of said dusty disk is found to emit strongly in the N band, and it is resolved at an angular size of ~5 mas, which translates to a diameter of about 2 au. The observations therefore place stringent constraints for the outer radius of the inner accretion disk. Dust radiative transfer simulations with RADMC-3D provide adequate fits to the spectral energy distribution from the optical to the submillimeter and to the interferometric observables when opting for an accretion rate M ~ 2 × 10−5 M⊙ yr−1 and assuming M* = 0.6 M⊙, Most importantly, the hot inner accretion disk’s outer radius can be fixed at 0.3 au. The outer radius of the dusty disk is placed at 100 au, based on constraints from scattered-light images in the literature. The dust mass contained in the disk is 2.4 × 10−4 M⊙, and for a typical gas-to-dust ratio of 100, the total mass in the disk is approximately 0.02 M⊙. We did not find any evidence for a nearby companion in the current interferometric data, and we tentatively explored the case of disk misalignment. For the latter, our modeling results suggest that the disk orientation is similar to that found in previous imaging studies by ALMA. Should there be an asymmetry in the very compact, inner accretion disk, this might be resolved at even smaller spatial scales (≤1 mas).