mdpi-ai/citelens huggingface dataset:
Swarm Exploration Mechanism-Based Distributed Water Wave Optimization
Field: AI

Using sparrow search hunting mechanism to improve water wave algorithm (WWOSSA), which combines the water wave optimization (WWO) algorithm and the sparrow search algorithm (SSA), has good optimization ability and fast convergence speed. However, it still suffers from insufficient exploration ability and is easy to fall into local optimum. In this study, we propose a new algorithm for distributed population structure, called swarm exploration mechanism-based distributed water wave optimization (DWSA). In DWSA, an information exchange component and an optimal individual evolution component are designed to improve information exchange between individuals. This multi-part information interaction and distributed population structure algorithm can help the population algorithm to establish a balance between exploitation and exploration more effectively. We contrast DWSA with the original algorithms WWOSSA and other meta-heuristics in order to show the effectiveness of DWSA. The test set consists of 22 actual optimization issues from the CEC2011 set and 29 benchmark functions from the CEC2017 benchmark functions. In addition, an experimental comparison of the parameter values introduced in DWSA is included. According to experimental results, the proposed DWSA performs substantially better than its competitors. Assessments of the population diversity and landscape search trajectory also confirmed DWSA’s outstanding convergence.
Targeting Sphingosine 1-Phosphate Metabolism as a Therapeutic Avenue for Prostate Cancer
Field: ONCOLOGY

Prostate cancer (PC) is the second most common cancer in men worldwide. More than 65% of men diagnosed with PC are above 65. Patients with localized PC show high long-term survival, however with the disease progression into a metastatic form, it becomes incurable, even after strong radio- and/or chemotherapy. Sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) is a bioactive lipid that participates in all the steps of oncogenesis including tumor cell proliferation, survival, migration, invasion, and metastatic spread. The S1P-producing enzymes sphingosine kinases 1 and 2 (SK1 and SK2), and the S1P degrading enzyme S1P lyase (SPL), have been shown to be highly implicated in the onset, development, and therapy resistance of PC during the last 20 years. In this review, the most important studies demonstrating the role of S1P and S1P metabolic partners in PC are discussed. The different in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo models of PC that were used to demonstrate the implication of S1P metabolism are especially highlighted. Furthermore, the most efficient molecules targeting S1P metabolism that are under preclinical and clinical development for curing PC are summarized. Finally, the possibility of targeting S1P metabolism alone or combined with other therapies in the foreseeable future as an alternative option for PC patients is discussed. Research Strategy: PubMed from INSB was used for article research. First, key words “prostate & sphingosine” were used and 144 articles were found. We also realized other combinations of key words as “prostate cancer bone metastasis” and “prostate cancer treatment”. We used the most recent reviews to illustrate prostate cancer topic and sphingolipid metabolism overview topic.
Evaluation of Gliomas with Magnetic Resonance Fingerprinting with PET Correlation—A Comparative Study
Field: ONCOLOGY

Objectives: Advanced MR imaging of brain tumors is still mainly based on qualitative imaging. PET imaging offers additive metabolic information, and MR fingerprinting (MRF) offers a novel approach to quantitative data acquisition. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ability of MRF to predict tumor regions and grading in combination with PET. Methods: Seventeen patients with histologically verified infiltrating gliomas and available amino-acid PET data were enrolled. ROIs for solid tumor parts (SPo), perifocal edema (ED1), and normal-appearing white matter (NAWM) were selected on conventional MRI sequences and aligned to the MRF and PET images. The predictability of gliomas by region and grading as well as intermodal correlations were assessed. Results: For MRF, we calculated an overall predictability by region (SPo, ED1, and NAWM) for all of the MRF parameters of 76.5%, 47.1%, and 94.1%, respectively. The overall ability to distinguish low- from high-grade gliomas using MRF was 88.9% for LGG and 75% for HGG, with an accuracy of 82.4%, a ppV of 85.71%, and an npV of 80%. PET positivity was found in 13/17 patients for solid tumor parts, and in 3/17 patients for the edema region. However, there was no significant difference in region-specific MRF values between PET positive and PET negative patients. Conclusions: MRF and PET provide quantitative measurements of the tumor tissue characteristics of gliomas, with good predictability. Nonetheless, the results are dissimilar, reflecting the different underlying mechanisms of each method.
Analyzing the associations between motivation and academic performance via the mediator variables of specific mathematic cognitive learning strategies in different subject domains of higher education
Field: EDUCATION

Background: There are different teaching methods and learning content in the academic field of mathematics between school and university. Many students fail in their studies when the proportion of mathematics is high. Additionally, dropout rates, due to mathematical performance, are high. However, there are different strategies used to improve mathematical skills. Based on the process model of self-regulated learning, an analysis of the association between motivational aspects in the pre-action phase as well as seven special cognitive learning strategies for mathematics in the action phase was conducted. The variables were compared with student performance. The study drew on data from 548 retrospective interviews of cooperative students, using a cross-sectional research design.Results: The analysis via structural equation modeling shows a direct association between motivational aspects, such as academic self-concept and curiosity, and the seven learning strategies in mathematics. Furthermore, there is a direct effect of academic self-concept on performance. However, the learning strategy of practicing was the only variable with associations to performance. Additionally, the indirect effect of curiosity on performance via practicing is analyzed.Conclusion: It can be seen, that curiosity on its own is not enough to ensure a good level of performance in mathematics. The findings suggest student learning strategies focusing on harnessing their curiosity and on practicing. A high academic self-concept is also relevant to the performance level achieved. Lecturers should create a learning environment to support such student behavior.
Evaluating a complex and sustained STEM engagement programme through the lens of science capital: insights from Northeast England
Field: EDUCATION

Background: STEM education providers increasingly use complex intervention models to redress persistent under-representation in STEM sectors. These intervention models require robust evaluation to determine their effectiveness. The study examines a complex, sustained intervention intended to build science capital in young people aged 11–15 over 3 years, which drew on science capital theory and related research to inform intervention design and evaluation. When evaluation results differed from those anticipated, process evaluation supported authors to interpret these findings. By outlining challenges faced in the evaluation of a complex, sustained STEM outreach intervention, this paper addresses critique that outreach programmes focus too often on short-term and positive findings. Results: Intervention outcomes were assessed using a quantitative questionnaire adapted from science capital research, issued to pupils at the intervention’s baseline (2015), midpoint (2017) and endpoint (2019). Adopting a cohort-based model, the 2015 questionnaire collected a baseline for the Year 7 intervention group (children aged 11–12, N = 464), and established baseline comparator groups for Year 9 (children aged 13–14, N = 556) and Year 11 (children aged 15–16, N = 342). The Year 7 intervention group was re-evaluated again in 2017 when in Year 9 (N = 556), and in 2019 when in Year 11 (N = 349). Analysis explored differences in science capital between the intervention and comparator groups and identified lower composite science capital scores and greater proportions of low- and medium-science capital in the intervention group when compared with the two comparator groups. A rationale for this emerged from the subsequent process evaluation. Conclusions: This study’s main contribution is the provision of nuanced insight into the evaluation of STEM interventions for use by others evaluating in similar circumstances, particularly those adopting sustained or complex delivery models. This paper concludes that assessing the effectiveness of complex interventions cannot rely on quantitative evaluation of outcomes alone. Process evaluation can complement quantitative instruments and aid interventions to better understand variability and interpret results. While this study highlights the value of science capital when designing intervention models, it also illustrates the inherent challenges of using an outcome measure of ‘building science capital’, and quantifying levels over an intervention’s course.
Teaching and Learning Optics in High School: From Fermat to Feynman
Field: EDUCATION

In this article, we analyze the basis of a proposal that allows teaching the notions of reflection, refraction, interference and diffraction from a unified perspective, using Fermat’s variational principle, recovered by Richard Feynman in his formulation of the paths sum for quantum mechanics. This allows reconsidering the notions of geometrical and physical optics, using the probabilistic and unified model of quantum mechanics by means of mathematical notions that are accessible to high school students.
The effect of marital satisfaction on the self-assessed depression of husbands and wives: investigating the moderating effects of the number of children and neurotic personality
Field: PSYCHOLOGY

Background: Based on the family system theory, there is an interactive relationship in the family, especially the cognitive style and emotional changes of the husband and wife will affect the behavior, cognition and emotion of the partner. Data about the effects of marital relationships on mental health are often paired. Scholars study the effect of individual independent variables on the dependent variables and the effect of spouse independent variables on the dependent variables to explore the actor and partner effect in marital relationships. Methods: This study used the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) 2018 dataset to collect paired data on the marital satisfaction and self-rated mental health of 9,560 couples. The Actor–Partner Interdependence Moderation Model (APIMoM) was used to analyze whether moderator variables affect the direction and strength of the effect of marital satisfaction on self-rated depression. In the robustness test part, the robustness of the APIMoM model was tested by reanalyzing the independent variables using two kinds of binary codes respectively, and the results showed that the models were robust. Results: Individuals’ marital satisfaction was significantly negatively correlated with their own depression level and with that of their spouse. The number of family members had a positive moderating effect on the results of the wife’s partner effect. Couples who lived in the environment with more family members had lower depression scores. Couples who have more children have higher depression scores. The number of children has a negative moderating effect on the results of partner effect of husbands and wives. The wife’s neurotic personality score has a negative moderating effect on the wife’s actor effect. Conclusions: In terms of measures to prevent depression, women’s mental health should be given more priority than men’s. Living in a larger family with more children is beneficial for couples’ mental health. Efforts to prevent depression in couples should take into account the neurotic character of the members, especially the wife, and design special treatment and preventive measures accordingly. These findings highlight that binary dynamics should be considered in exploring what factors influence the mental health of married couples.
Face negotiation in graduate school: the decision to conceal or reveal depression among life sciences Ph.D. students in the United States
Field: EDUCATION

Background: Depression is one of the top mental health concerns among biology graduate students and has contributed to the “graduate student mental health crisis” declared in 2018. Several prominent science outlets have called for interventions to improve graduate student mental health, yet it is unclear to what extent graduate students with depression discuss their mental health with others in their Ph.D. programs. While sharing one’s depression may be an integral step to seeking mental health support during graduate school, depression is considered to be a concealable stigmatized identity (CSI) and revealing one’s depression could result in loss of status or discrimination. As such, face negotiation theory, which describes a set of communicative behaviors that individuals use to regulate their social dignity, may help identify what factors influence graduate students’ decisions about whether to reveal their depression in graduate school. In this study, we interviewed 50 Ph.D. students with depression enrolled across 28 life sciences graduate programs across the United States. We examined (1) to what extent graduate students revealed their depression to faculty advisors, graduate students, and undergraduates in their research lab, (2) the reasons why they revealed or concealed their depression, and (3) the consequences and benefits they perceive are associated with revealing depression. We used a hybrid approach of deductive and inductive coding to analyze our data.Results: More than half (58%) of Ph.D. students revealed their depression to at least one faculty advisor, while 74% revealed to at least one graduate student. However, only 37% of graduate students revealed their depression to at least one undergraduate researcher. Graduate students’ decisions to reveal their depression to their peers were driven by positive mutual relationships, while their decisions to reveal to faculty were often based on maintaining dignity by performing preventative or corrective facework. Conversely, graduates performed supportive facework when interacting with undergraduate researchers by revealing their depression as a way to destigmatize struggling with mental health.Conclusions: Life sciences graduate students most commonly revealed their depression to other graduate students, and over half reported discussing depression with their faculty advisor. However, graduate students were reluctant to share their depression with undergraduate researchers. Power dynamics between graduate students and their advisors, their peers, and their undergraduate mentees influenced the reasons they chose to reveal or conceal their depression in each situation. This study provides insights into how to create more inclusive life science graduate programs where students can feel more comfortable discussing their mental health.
Relationship between leadership-member exchange (LMX) and flow at work among medical workers during the COVID-19: the mediating role of job crafting
Field: PSYCHOLOGY

Based on relational leadership theory and self-determination theory, this study aims to investigate the relationship between leader-member exchange (LMX), job crafting, and flow at work among medical workers in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants in the study consisted of 424 hospital employees. The results showed that: (1) the LMX positively predicted flow at work; (2) two types of job crafting (increasing structural job resources and challenging job demands) played a mediating role between the LMX and flow at work; and (3) gender did not moderate these mediating effects as suggested by previous studies. These results indicate that the LMX can not only directly predict flow at work, but also indirectly predict work-related flow through job crafting by increasing structural job resources and challenging job demands, thus providing new insights for enhancing flow experiences of medical workers.
Symptomatic, Alexithymic, and Suicidality-Related Features in Groups of Adolescent Self-Harmers: A Case-Control Study
Field: PSYCHOLOGY

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is an increasing phenomenon among both clinical and nonclinical adolescent groups and is associated with several psychopathological symptoms, in addition to being one of the main risk factors for suicidality. Nevertheless, differences between clinical and nonclinical samples of self-harmers in symptom dimensions, alexithymia, suicidality, and NSSI-related variables are still scarcely investigated. The current study aimed to fill this gap by enrolling a sample of Italian girls (age range: 12–19 years) that included 63 self-harmers admitted to mental health outpatient services (clinical group), 44 self-harmers without admission to mental health services (subclinical group), and 231 individuals without an NSSI history (control group). Questionnaires investigating psychopathological symptoms, alexithymia, and NSSI-related variables were administered. The results highlighted that all symptom-related variables and alexithymic traits were more severe in the NSSI groups than in the control group; in particular, self-depreciation, anxiety, psychoticism, and pathological interpersonal relationships were distinguished between the clinical and subclinical groups. Compared to the subclinical group, the clinical group was characterized by higher NSSI frequency, NSSI disclosure, self-punishment as the main reason for engagement in NSSI, and suicidal ideation. These findings were then discussed in terms of clinical practice and primary and secondary prevention in the adolescent population.
Effectiveness of digital educational game and game design in STEM learning: a meta-analytic review
Field: EDUCATION

Digital educational games exhibit substantial promise in advancing STEM education. Nevertheless, the empirical evidence on both the efficacy of digital game-based learning and its designs in STEM education is characterized by notable inconsistencies. Therefore, the current study aimed to investigate (1) the general effect of digital game-based STEM learning over STEM learning without digital game, and (2) the enhancement effect of added game-design elements against base game versions in STEM learning. Two meta-analyses were conducted in this study. Based on the 136 effect sizes extracted from 86 studies, the first meta-analysis revealed a medium to large general effect of digital game-based STEM learning over conventional STEM learning (g = 0.624, 95% CI [0.457, 0.790]). In addition, digital game-based STEM learning appeared to be differentially effective for different learning outcome, different types of game, and different subject. A total of 44 primary studies and 81 effect sizes were identified in the second meta-analysis. The results revealed a small to medium enhancement effect of added game-design elements over base game versions (g = 0.301, 95% CI [0.163, 0.438]). Furthermore, our results indicated that the game-design elements added for content learning were more effective than those added for gaming experience. Possible explanations for these findings, as well as the limitations and directions for future research were discussed.
Unraveling the Role of Epithelial–Mesenchymal Transition in Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma of the Salivary Glands: A Comprehensive Review
Field: ONCOLOGY

Salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma (SACC) is considered a challenging malignancy; it is characterized by a slow-growing nature, yet a high risk of recurrence and distant metastasis, presenting significant hurdles in its treatment and management. At present, there are no approved targeted agents available for the management of SACC and systemic chemotherapy protocols that have demonstrated efficacy remain to be elucidated. Epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a complex process that is closely associated with tumor progression and metastasis, enabling epithelial cells to acquire mesenchymal properties, including increased mobility and invasiveness. Several molecular signaling pathways have been implicated in the regulation of EMT in SACC, and understanding these mechanisms is crucial to identifying new therapeutic targets and developing more effective treatment approaches. This manuscript aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the latest research on the role of EMT in SACC, including the molecular pathways and biomarkers involved in EMT regulation. By highlighting the most recent findings, this review offers insights into potential new therapeutic strategies that could improve the management of SACC patients, especially those with recurrent or metastatic disease.
“Not Every Advisor Is for Me, but Some Are”: Black Men’s Academic Advising Experiences during COVID-19
Field: EDUCATION

Contemporary research indicates that Black American men encounter multiple obstacles in higher education settings. Understanding the complexities of how Black men perceive and make sense of academic environments requires addressing a number of elements that influence their academic success. The purpose of this study is to investigate the academic advising challenges faced in virtual environments by Black men during the COVID-19 pandemic. This qualitative case study provides detailed accounts of ten Black men navigating academic advising practices in a virtual setting at large research one historically white institution using focus groups as a method of data collection. Implications and suggestions for future research highlight the significance of supporting Black men in virtual academic advising spaces to create equitable and sustainable practices.
The influence of selected microRNAs on the expression profile of genes and proteins related to the tumor necrosis factor-alpha signaling pathways in endometrioid endometrial cancer
Field: ONCOLOGY

Purpose Tumor necrosis factor exerts many adverse biological effects, from cell proliferation to cell death. Accurate diagnosis and treatment are therefore difficult due to many factors influencing tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) signaling, including microRNAs (miRNAs), especially in tumors. The aim of the study was to determine the influence of miRNAs on the expression profile of genes and proteins related to TNF-α signaling in endometrial cancer. Methods The material consisted of 45 endometrioid endometrial cancer and 45 normal endometrium tissue samples. Gene expression was determined with microarrays and then validated for TNF-α, tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 (TNFR1) and 2 (TNFR2), caveolin 1 (CAV1), nuclear factor kappa B subunit 1 (NFKB1), and TGF-beta activated kinase 1 (MAP3K7)-binding protein 2 (TAB2) using real-time quantitative reverse transcription reaction (RT-qPCR). The protein concentration was assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In addition, differentiating miRNAs were identified using miRNA microarrays and their relationships with TNF-α signaling genes were evaluated using the mirDIP tool. Results TNF-α, TNFR1, TNFR2, CAV1, NFKB1, and TAB2 were upregulated both on the mRNA and protein levels. The decrease in the activity of miR-1207-5p, miR-1910-3p, and miR-940 may be related to CAV1 overexpression. Similarly for miR-572 and NFKB1 as well as miR-939-5p and TNF-α. In turn, miR-3178 may partially inhibit TNFR1 activity up to grade 2 cancer. Conclusion TNF-α signaling, especially the TNF-α/NF-κB axis, is disrupted in endometrial cancer and worsens with disease progression. The observed changes may be the result of miRNAs’ activity in the initial stage of endometrial cancer and its gradual loss in later grades.