bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Vagus nerve stimulation using a miniaturized wirelessly powered stimulator in pigs
Authors: Habibagahi Iman , Omidbeigi Mahmoud , Hadaya Joseph , Lyu Hongming , Jang Jaeeun , Ardell Jeffrey L. , Bari Ausaf A. , Babakhani Aydin 
Published: May 2022

AbstractNeuromodulation of peripheral nerves has been clinically used for a wide range of indications. Wireless and batteryless stimulators offer important capabilities such as no need for reoperation, and extended life compared to their wired counterparts. However, there are challenging trade-offs between the device size and its operating range, which can limit their use. This study aimed to examine the functionality of newly designed wirelessly powered and controlled implants in vagus nerve stimulation for pigs. The implant used near field inductive coupling at 13.56 MHz industrial, scientific, and medical band to harvest power from an external coil. The circular implant had a diameter of 13 mm and weighed 483 mg with cuff electrodes. The efficiency of the inductive link and robustness to distance and misalignment were optimized. As a result, the specific absorption rate was orders of magnitude lower than the safety limit, and the stimulation can be performed using only 0.1 W of external power. For the first time, wireless and batteryless VNS with more than 5 cm operation range was demonstrated in pigs. A total of 84 vagus nerve stimulations (10 s each) have been performed in three adult pigs. In a quantitative comparison of the effectiveness of VNS devices, the efficiency of systems on reducing heart rate was similar in both conventional (75%) and wireless (78.5%) systems. The pulse width and frequency of the stimulation were swept on both systems, and the response for physiological markers was drawn. The results were easily reproducible, and methods used in this study can serve as a basis for future wirelessly powered implants.
The effect of melatonin on the mouse ameloblast-lineage cell line ALCs
Authors: Pan Jing , Ren Qianhui , Yang Zhao , Guo Ying , Kwon Kubin , Shen Checheng , Wang Yueying , Ji Fang 
Published: May 2022

AbstractMelatonin plays a critical role in promoting the proliferation of osteoblasts and the growth and development of dental papilla cells. However, the effect and mechanism of melatonin on the growth and development of ALCs still need to be explored. CCK8 assay was used for the evaluation of cell numbers. qRT-PCR was used to identify the differentially expressed genes in ALCs after melatonin treatment. The number and morphology of ALCs were investigated by confocal microscopy. Alkaline phosphatase assay and Alizarin red S staining were used for measuring mineralization. Then, we focused on observing the crucial factors of the signaling pathway by RNA-seq and qRT-PCR. Melatonin limited the cell number of ALCs in a dose-dependent manner and promoted the production of actin fibers. A high concentration of melatonin significantly promoted the mRNA levels of enamel matrix proteins and the formation of mineralized nodules. RNA-seq data showed that Wnt signaling pathway may be involved in the differentiation of ALCs under the influence of melatonin. This study suggests that melatonin plays a regulatory role in the cell number, differentiation, and mineralization of the ALCs, and then shows the relationship between the Wnt signaling pathway with the ALCs under melatonin.
Inflammatory indices obtained from routine blood tests show an inflammatory state associated with disease progression in engineered stone silicosis patients
Authors: García-Núñez Alejandro , Jiménez-Gómez Gema , Hidalgo-Molina Antonio , Córdoba-Doña Juan Antonio , León-Jiménez Antonio , Campos-Caro Antonio 
Published: May 2022

AbstractPatients with silicosis caused by occupational exposure to engineered stone (ES) present a rapid progression from simple silicosis (SS) to progressive massive fibrosis (PMF). Patient classification follows international rules based on radiology and high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT), but limited studies, if any, have explored biomarkers from routine clinical tests that can be used as predictors of disease status. Our objective was thus to investigate circulating biomarker levels and systemic inflammatory indices in ES silicosis patients whose exposure to ES dust ended several years ago. Ninety-one adult men, ex-workers in the manufacturing of ES, 53 diagnosed with SS and 38 with PMF, and 22 healthy male volunteers (HC) as controls not exposed to ES dust, were recruited. The following circulating levels of biomarkers like lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), angiotensin-converting-enzyme (ACE), protein C reactive (PCR), rheumatoid factor, alkaline phosphatase and fibrinogen were obtained from clinical reports after being measured from blood samples. As biochemical markers, only LDH (HC = 262 ± 48.1; SS = 315.4 ± 65.4; PMF = 337.6 ± 79.3 U/L), ACE (HC = 43.1 ± 18.4; SS = 78.2 ± 27.2; PMF = 86.1 ± 23.7 U/L) and fibrinogen (HC = 182.3 ± 49.1; SS = 212.2 ± 43.5; PMF = 256 ± 77.3 U/L) levels showed a significant sequential increase, not been observed for the rest of biomarkers, in the HC → SS → PMF direction. Moreover, several systemic inflammation indices neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), systemic inflammation response index (SIRI), systemic immune-inflammation index (SII), aggregate index of systemic inflammation (AISI) derived from whole blood cell counts showed significant differences between the HC, SS and PMF groups. All these biomarkers were analyzed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, and the results provided moderately high sensitivity and specificity for discriminating between ES silicosis patient groups and healthy controls. Our study reveals that some inflammatory biomarkers, easily available from routine blood analysis, are present in ES silicosis patients even several years after cessation of exposure to ES silica dust and they could help to know the progression of the disease.
Chronotype at the beginning of secondary school and school timing are both associated with chronotype development during adolescence
Authors: Rodríguez Ferrante Guadalupe , Goldin Andrea Paula , Sigman Mariano , Leone María Juliana 
Published: May 2022

AbstractThe misalignment between late chronotypes and early school start times affect health, performance and psychological well-being of adolescents. Here we test whether, and how, the baseline chronotype (i.e. chronotype at the beginning of secondary school) and the school timing affect the magnitude and the direction of the developmental change in chronotype during adolescence. We evaluated a sample of Argentinian students (n = 259) who were randomly assigned to attend school in the morning (07:45 a.m.–12:05 p.m.), afternoon (12:40 p.m.–05:00 p.m.) or evening (05:20 p.m.–09:40 p.m.) school timings. Importantly, chronotype and sleep habits were assessed longitudinally in the same group of students along secondary school (at 13–14 y.o. and 17–18 y.o.). Our results show that: (1) although chronotypes partially align with class time, this effect is insufficient to fully account for the differences observed in sleep-related variables between school timings; (2) both school timing and baseline chronotype are independently associated with the direction and the magnitude of change in chronotype, with greater delays related to earlier baseline chronotypes and later school timings. The practical implications of these results are challenging and should be considered in the design of future educational timing policies to improve adolescents’ well-being.
Temporal phytoremediation potential for heavy metals and bacterial abundance in drainage water
Authors: El-Liethy Mohamed Azab , Dakhil Mohammed A. , El-Keblawy Ali , Abdelaal Mohamed , Halmy Marwa Waseem A. , Elgarhy Abdelbaky Hossam , Kamika Ilunga , El-Sherbeny Ghada A. , Mwaheb Mai Ali 
Published: May 2022

AbstractDrainage water in developing countries has a high abundance of pathogenic bacteria and high levels of toxic and mutagenic pollutants. Remediation of drainage water is important in water-poor counties, especially with the growing need to secure sustainability of safe water resources to fulfill increasing demands for agriculture. Here, we assess the efficiency of macrophyte Pistiastratiotes to remediate a polluted drain in Egypt, rich in macronutrients, heavy metals, and different types of pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacteria. Drainage water was sampled monthly, for a year, to assess seasonal changes in bacterial abundance, water physicochemical properties (transparency, temperature, dissolved oxygen, EC, pH, N, P, and K), and heavy metals contents (Pb, Zn, and Co) in a polluted drain dominated with P.stratiotes. The ability of P.stratiotes to rhizofiltrate the three heavy metals was calculated. The results showed seasonal variations in the plant rhizofiltration potential of Co and Salmonella abundance. The highest values of dissolved oxygen (12.36 mg/L) and macronutrient elements (N and P) were attained in the winter. The counts of total coliform, fecal coliform, fecal streptococci, and in Salmonella spp. were the highest in the summer. P.stratiotes accumulated Pb more than Zn and Co. The highest levels of rhizofiltration were in summer for Pb and Co and in the autumn for Zn. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) showed that the variation in the bacterial abundance and plant rhizofiltration potential was strongly and significantly affected by water-dissolved oxygen. Moreover, the rhizofiltration potential of Pb and Co showed a positive correlation with water N. Overall, P.stratiotes could be proposed as a potential biomonitor for heavy metals in polluted water.
Infected food web and ecological stability
Authors: Mougi Akihiko 
Published: May 2022

AbstractParasites are widespread in nature. Nevertheless, they have only recently been incorporated into food web studies and community ecology. Earlier studies revealed the large effects of parasites on food web network structures, suggesting that parasites affect food web dynamics and their stability. However, our understanding of the role of parasites in food web dynamics is limited to a few theoretical studies, which only assume parasite-induced mortality or virulence as a typical characteristic of parasites, without any large difference in terms of predation effects. Here, I present a food web model with parasites in which parasites change the mortality and interaction strengths of hosts by affecting host activity. The infected food web shows that virulence and infection rate have virtually no effect on food web stability without any difference in interaction strengths between susceptible and infected individuals. However, if predation rates are weakened through a restriction of the activity of infected individuals, virulence and infection rate can greatly influence stability: diseases with lower virulence and higher transmission rate tend to increase stability. The stabilization is stronger in cascade than random food webs. The present results suggest that parasites can greatly influence food web stability if parasite-induced diseases prevent host foraging activity. Parasite-induced infectious disease, by weaking species interactions, may play a key role in maintaining food webs.
Deep learning model for the automatic classification of COVID-19 pneumonia, non-COVID-19 pneumonia, and the healthy: a multi-center retrospective study
Authors: Nishio Mizuho , Kobayashi Daigo , Nishioka Eiko , Matsuo Hidetoshi , Urase Yasuyo , Onoue Koji , Ishikura Reiichi , Kitamura Yuri , Sakai Eiro , Tomita Masaru , Hamanaka Akihiro , Murakami Takamichi 
Published: May 2022

AbstractThis retrospective study aimed to develop and validate a deep learning model for the classification of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia, non-COVID-19 pneumonia, and the healthy using chest X-ray (CXR) images. One private and two public datasets of CXR images were included. The private dataset included CXR from six hospitals. A total of 14,258 and 11,253 CXR images were included in the 2 public datasets and 455 in the private dataset. A deep learning model based on EfficientNet with noisy student was constructed using the three datasets. The test set of 150 CXR images in the private dataset were evaluated by the deep learning model and six radiologists. Three-category classification accuracy and class-wise area under the curve (AUC) for each of the COVID-19 pneumonia, non-COVID-19 pneumonia, and healthy were calculated. Consensus of the six radiologists was used for calculating class-wise AUC. The three-category classification accuracy of our model was 0.8667, and those of the six radiologists ranged from 0.5667 to 0.7733. For our model and the consensus of the six radiologists, the class-wise AUC of the healthy, non-COVID-19 pneumonia, and COVID-19 pneumonia were 0.9912, 0.9492, and 0.9752 and 0.9656, 0.8654, and 0.8740, respectively. Difference of the class-wise AUC between our model and the consensus of the six radiologists was statistically significant for COVID-19 pneumonia (p value = 0.001334). Thus, an accurate model of deep learning for the three-category classification could be constructed; the diagnostic performance of our model was significantly better than that of the consensus interpretation by the six radiologists for COVID-19 pneumonia.
Analysis of rhodopsin G protein-coupled receptor orthologs reveals semiochemical peptides for parasite (Schistosoma mansoni) and host (Biomphalaria glabrata) interplay
Authors: Phan Phong , Liang Di , Zhao Min , Wyeth Russell C. , Fogarty Conor , Duke Mary G. , McManus Donald P. , Wang Tianfang , Cummins Scott F. 
Published: May 2022

AbstractSchistosomiasis is a medically significant disease caused by helminth parasites of the genus Schistosoma. The schistosome life cycle requires chemically mediated interactions with an intermediate (aquatic snail) and definitive (human) host. Blocking parasite development within the snail stage requires improved understanding of the interactions between the snail host and the Schistosoma water-borne free-living form (miracidium). Innovations in snail genomics and aquatic chemical communication provide an ideal opportunity to explore snail-parasite coevolution at the molecular level. Rhodopsin G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are of particular interest in studying how trematode parasites navigate towards their snail hosts. The potential role of GPCRs in parasites makes them candidate targets for new antihelminthics that disrupt the intermediate host life-cycle stages, thus preventing subsequent human infections. A genomic-bioinformatic approach was used to identify GPCR orthologs between the snail Biomphalaria glabrata and miracidia of its obligate parasite Schistosoma mansoni. We show that 8 S. mansoni rhodopsin GPCRs expressed within the miracidial stage share overall amino acid similarity with 8 different B. glabrata rhodopsin GPCRs, particularly within transmembrane domains, suggesting conserved structural features. These GPCRs include an orphan peptide receptor as well as several with strong sequence homologies with rhabdomeric opsin receptors, a serotonin receptor, a sulfakinin (SK) receptor, an allatostatin-A (buccalin) receptor and an FMRFamide receptor. Buccalin and FMRFa peptides were identified in water conditioned by B. glabrata, and we show synthetic buccalin and FMRFa can stimulate significant rates of change of direction and turn-back responses in S. mansoni miracidia. Ortholog GPCRs were identified in S. mansoni miracidia and B. glabrata. These GPCRs may detect similar ligands, including snail-derived odorants that could facilitate miracidial host finding. These results lay the foundation for future research elucidating the mechanisms by which GPCRs mediate host finding which can lead to the potential development of novel anti-schistosome interventions.
Investigating the efficiency of dynamic vaccination by consolidating detecting errors and vaccine efficacy
Authors: Tatsukawa Yuichi , Arefin Md. Rajib , Utsumi Shinobu , Tanimoto Jun 
Published: May 2022

AbstractVaccination, if available, is the best preventive measure against infectious diseases. It is, however, needed to prudently design vaccination strategies to successfully mitigate the disease spreading, especially in a time when vaccine scarcity is inevitable. Here we investigate a vaccination strategy on a scale-free network where susceptible individuals, who have social connections with infected people, are being detected and given vaccination before having any physical contact with the infected one. Nevertheless, detecting susceptible (also infected ones) may not be perfect due to the lack of information. Also, vaccines do not confer perfect immunity in reality. We incorporate these pragmatic hindrances in our analysis. We find that if vaccines are highly efficacious, and the detecting error is low, then it is possible to confine the disease spreading—by administering a less amount of vaccination—within a short period. In a situation where tracing susceptible seems difficult, then expanding the range for vaccination targets can be socially advantageous only if vaccines are effective enough. Our analysis further reveals that a more frequent screening for vaccination can reduce the effect of detecting errors. In the end, we present a link percolation-based analytic method to approximate the results of our simulation.
Dissociating passage and duration of time experiences through the intensity of ongoing visual change
Authors: Jording Mathis , Vogel David H. V. , Viswanathan Shivakumar , Vogeley Kai 
Published: May 2022

AbstractThe experience of passage of time is assumed to be a constitutive component of our subjective phenomenal experience and our everyday life that is detached from the estimation of time durations. However, our understanding of the factors contributing to passage of time experience has been mostly restricted to associated emotional and cognitive experiences in temporally extended situations. Here, we tested the influence of low-level visual stimuli on the experience of passage and duration of time in 10–30 s intervals. We introduce a new paradigm in a starfield environment that allows to study the effects of basic visual aspects of a scene (velocity and density of stars in the starfield) and the duration of the situation, both embedded in a color tracking task. Results from two experiments show that velocity and density of stars in the starfield affect passage of time experience independent from duration estimation and the color tracking task: the experienced passage of time is accelerated with higher rates of moment-to-moment changes in the starfield while duration estimations are comparably unaffected. The results strongly suggest differential psychological processes underlying the experience of time passing by and the ability to estimate time durations. Potential mechanisms behind these results and the prospects of experimental approaches towards passage of time experience in psychological and neuroscientific research are discussed.
Sportomics suggests that albuminuria is a sensitive biomarker of hydration in cross combat
Authors: Gonçalves Luis C. O. , Magalhães-Neto Anibal M. , Bassini Adriana , Prado Eduardo Seixas , Muniz-Santos Renan , Verli Marcio V. A. , Jurisica Lukas , Lopes Jaqueline S. S. , Jurisica Igor , Andrade Claudia M. B. , Cameron L. C. 
Published: May 2022

AbstractWe have been using sportomics to understand hypermetabolic stress. Cross Combat (CCombat) has recently been initiated as a high-intensity functional training method inspired by CrossFit. We used a CCombat session to induce metabolic stress and evaluated its effects on hydration and kidney function. Blood samples were collected from 16 elite-level professional male athletes engaged in training sessions over a 96-h protocol. Blood myoglobin increased by ~ 3.5-fold (119 ± 21 to 369 ± 62 nmol/L;p = .001) in response to the protocol, returning to the pre-exercise level within 48 h. Furthermore,d-dimer levels increased from 6.5 ± 0.6 to 79.4 ± 21.3 μmol/L (p < .001) in response to exercise decreasing during recovery with high variability among the studied athletes. Albuminemia and creatininemia increased ~ 10% and cystatin C increased ~ 240% (1.7 ± 0.1 to 5.7 ± 0.5 mg/L; p < .001; effect size = 2.4) in response to the protocol. We measured albuminuria (HuA) to assess kidney permeability to albumin caused by exercise. HuA increased ~ 16-fold (0.16 ± 0.03 to 2.47 ± 0.41 μmol/L;p < .001; effect size = 1.4) in response to exercise, dropping and reaching basal levels during 48 h. Here, we suggest that microalbuminuria can be used as an early, sensitive, easy, and inexpensive biomarker to evaluate hydration status changes during intensive exercise, decreasing chronic impairment in renal function.
Piezo2 is not an indispensable mechanosensor in murine cardiomyocytes
Authors: Kloth Benjamin , Mearini Giulia , Weinberger Florian , Stenzig Justus , Geertz Birgit , Starbatty Jutta , Lindner Diana , Schumacher Udo , Reichenspurner Hermann , Eschenhagen Thomas , Hirt Marc N. 
Published: May 2022

AbstractA short-term increase in ventricular filling leads to an immediate (Frank-Starling mechanism) and a slower (Anrep effect) rise in cardiac contractility, while long-term increased cardiac load (e.g., in arterial hypertension) decreases contractility. Whether these answers to mechanical tension are mediated by specific sensors in cardiomyocytes remains elusive. In this study, the piezo2 protein was evaluated as a potential mechanosensor. Piezo2 was found to be upregulated in various rat and mouse cardiac tissues upon mechanical or pharmacological stress. To investigate its function, C57BL/6J mice with homozygous cardiomyocyte-specific piezo2 knockout [Piezo2-KO] were created. To this end, α-MHC-Cre mice were crossed with homozygous “floxed” piezo2 mice. α-MHC-Cre mice crossed with wildtype mice served as controls [WT-Cre+]. In cardiomyocytes of Piezo2-KO mice, piezo2 mRNA was reduced by > 90% and piezo2 protein was not detectable. Piezo2-KO mice displayed no morphological abnormalities or altered cardiac function under nonstressed conditions. In a subsequent step, hearts of Piezo2-KO or WT-Cre+-mice were stressed by either three weeks of increased afterload (angiotensin II, 2.5 mg/kg/day) or one week of hypercontractility (isoprenaline, 30 mg/kg/day). As expected, angiotensin II treatment in WT-Cre+-mice resulted in higher heart and lung weight (per body weight, + 38%, + 42%), lower ejection fraction and cardiac output (− 30%, − 39%) and higher left ventricular anterior and posterior wall thickness (+ 34%, + 37%), while isoprenaline led to higher heart weight (per body weight, + 25%) and higher heart rate and cardiac output (+ 24%, + 54%). The Piezo2-KO mice reacted similarly with the exception that the angiotensin II-induced increases in wall thickness were blunted and the isoprenaline-induced increase in cardiac output was slightly less pronounced. As cardiac function was neither severely affected under basal nor under stressed conditions in Piezo2-KO mice, we conclude that piezo2 is not an indispensable mechanosensor in cardiomyocytes.