Search Our Scientific Publications & Authors

Brief Bioinform 2021 May 10. Epub 2021 May 10.

Department of BioHealth Informatics, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, 420 University Blvd, Indianapolis, IN 46204, USA.

A large number of genetic variations have been identified to be associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related quantitative traits. However, majority of existing studies focused on single types of omics data, lacking the power of generating a community including multi-omic markers and their functional connections. Because of this, the immense value of multi-omics data on AD has attracted much attention. Read More

Brief Bioinform 2021 May 10. Epub 2021 May 10.

Health Data Science Unit, Heidelberg University Hospital, Im Neuenheimer Feld 267, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.

Precision oncology is a rapidly evolving interdisciplinary medical specialty. Comprehensive cancer panels are becoming increasingly available at pathology departments worldwide, creating the urgent need for scalable cancer variant annotation and molecularly informed treatment recommendations. A wealth of mainly academia-driven knowledge bases calls for software tools supporting the multi-step diagnostic process. Read More

Nature 2021 May 10. Epub 2021 May 10.

Division of Viral Products, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD, USA.

Betacoronaviruses (betaCoVs) caused the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreaks, and the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Vaccines that elicit protective immunity against SARS-CoV-2 and betaCoVs circulating in animals have the potential to prevent future betaCoV pandemics. Here, we show that macaque immunization with a multimeric SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain (RBD) nanoparticle adjuvanted with 3M-052/Alum elicited cross-neutralizing antibody (cross-nAb) responses against batCoVs, SARS-CoV-1, SARS-CoV-2, and SARS-CoV-2 variants B. Read More

Aging (Albany NY) 2021 May 7;13. Epub 2021 May 7.

Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health and Management, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou 325035, Zhejiang, China.

Background: Previous studies concerning the effect of plasma hemoglobin (HB) and other factors that may modify the risk of death in people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) treated with antiretroviral therapy (ART) are limited.

Results: Higher HB was independently linked to a lower death risk in PLHIV, with a decrease of 29% (13%, 43%) per standard deviation (SD) increment after adjusting for CD4, VL and other potential factors [hazard ratio (HR): 0.71, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0. Read More

Sci Total Environ 2021 Apr 30;786:147467. Epub 2021 Apr 30.

Exposure and Biomonitoring Division, Environmental Health Science and Research Bureau, HECSB, Health Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada; Earth and Environmental Sciences Department, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.

Road dust is a sink and source of metals and metalloids of human health concern. To date, many studies have examined the composition of road dust but there remain critical knowledge gaps on the chemistry of thoracic fractions (< 10 μm) and their patterns of deposition and resuspension. The goal of this study is to characterize the elemental concentrations and sources of thoracic fractions of road dust and their resuspension potential for Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Read More

Sci Total Environ 2021 Apr 29;786:147344. Epub 2021 Apr 29.

International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Climate change is and will continue to have significant implications for agricultural systems. While adaptation to climate change should be the priority for smallholder production systems, adoption of cost-effective mitigation options in agriculture not only contributes to food security but also reduces the extent of climate change and future adaptation needs. Utilizing management data from 16,413 and 12,548 crop and livestock farmers and associated soil and climatic data, we estimated GHG emissions generated from crop and livestock production using crop and livestock models, respectively. Read More

J Pharm Biomed Anal 2021 May 3;201:114110. Epub 2021 May 3.

University of Würzburg, Institute for Pharmacy and Food Chemistry, 97074, Würzburg, Germany. Electronic address:

Recently, charged aerosol detection (CAD), a universal detection technique in liquid chromatography, has been introduced into monographs of the European Pharmacopoeia (Ph. Eur.), which now employs HPLC-UV-CAD for assessing the impurities of the drug vigabatrin. Read More

Comput Biol Med 2021 Apr 18;133:104378. Epub 2021 Apr 18.

School of Computer Science and Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, India. Electronic address:

Background: Identifying the most important genes in a cancer gene network is a crucial step in understanding the disease's functional characteristics and finding an effective drug.

Method: In this study, a popular influence maximization technique was applied on a large breast cancer gene network to identify the most influential genes computationally. The novel approach involved incorporating gene expression data and protein to protein interaction network to create a customized pruned and weighted gene network. Read More

Med Image Anal 2021 Apr 21;71:102085. Epub 2021 Apr 21.

School of Information and Electronics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China. Electronic address:

Super-resolvedq-space deep learning (SR-q-DL) has been developed to estimate high-resolution (HR) tissue microstructure maps from low-quality diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) scans acquired with a reduced number of diffusion gradients and low spatial resolution, where deep networks are designed for the estimation. However, existing methods do not exploit HR information from other modalities, which are generally acquired together with dMRI and could provide additional useful information for HR tissue microstructure estimation. In this work, we extend SR-q-DL and propose multimodal SR-q-DL, where information in low-resolution (LR) dMRI is combined with HR information from another modality for HR tissue microstructure estimation. Read More

Prev Vet Med 2021 May 4;192:105373. Epub 2021 May 4.

Department of Vaccinology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Antwerp, Belgium.

Cystic echinococcosis (CE) or hydatidosis is a common parasitic disease worldwide, especially in poor and developing countries. In Morocco, CE is a major zoonosis, despite the implementation of a national control program since 2007. Therefore, in 2016, a field trial that associates the EG95 vaccine (lambs) and anthelmintic treatment (dogs) was started in the Mid Atlas, the most endemic region in Morocco, with preliminary positive results. Read More

Pathol Res Pract 2021 Apr 30;223:153460. Epub 2021 Apr 30.

Clinical Laboratory, Linyi Central Hospital, Linyi, 276400 Shandong, China. Electronic address:

Laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC), is the second most common malignant cancer of the head and neck after oral cavity cancer. Laryngeal cancer is associated with huge socio-economic burden worldwide. Studies have widely explored the role of non-coding RNAs, especially microRNAs and long non-coding RNAs in pathogenesis of laryngeal cancer. Read More

Appl Ergon 2021 May 7;95:103451. Epub 2021 May 7.

Naval Medical Research Unit Dayton, United States.

Objective: Identify whether contextual information may unintentionally alter decision-making during lethal force training.

Background: Lethal force decisions inherently involve a threat assessment, where an individual learns to identify a threat and use force commensurate to the situation. This decision is ultimately subject to numerous cognitive influences, particularly during training where artificial factors may bias decision-making. Read More

Food Chem 2021 Apr 6;357:129739. Epub 2021 Apr 6.

School Food and Biological Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, China. Electronic address:

Gutter oil is strictly prohibited from being reprocessed back to the catering and food industry. Extensive attention has been paid to rapid screening of gutter oil to guarantee the safety of edible oil. Capsaicin, a special component of condiments, has been adopted as the marker of gutter oil. Read More

Water Res 2021 Apr 26;199:117193. Epub 2021 Apr 26.

Applied Material Division, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 S. Cass Ave., Argonne, IL 60439, United States.

Due to the growing and diverse demands on water supply, exploitation of non-conventional sources of water has received much attention. Since water consumption for irrigation is the major contributor to total water withdrawal, the utilization of non-conventional sources of water for the purpose of irrigation is critical to assuring the sustainability of water resources. Although numerous studies have been conducted to evaluate and manage non-conventional water sources, little research has reviewed the suitability of available water technologies for improving water quality, so that water reclaimed from non-conventional supplies could be an alternative water resource for irrigation. Read More

Phys Med 2021 Apr 30;85:63-71. Epub 2021 Apr 30.

Medical Physics, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milano, Italy. Electronic address:

Purpose: To train and validate a predictive model of mortality for hospitalized COVID-19 patients based on lung densitometry.

Methods: Two-hundred-fifty-one patients with respiratory symptoms underwent CT few days after hospitalization. "Aerated" (AV), "consolidated" (CV) and "intermediate" (IV) lung sub-volumes were quantified by an operator-independent method based on individual HU maximum gradient recognition. Read More

Ultrason Sonochem 2021 May 4;74:105583. Epub 2021 May 4.

Department of Agriculture, Food, Natural Resources and Engineering (DAFNE), University of Foggia, Via Napoli 25, 71122 Foggia, Italy. Electronic address:

This paper focused on the evaluation of Ultrasound effect on the growth patterns (3-6% of salt and 45 °C), acidification (pH-decrease), interactions with microorganisms, and membrane permeability of nine strains of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum. Ultrasound treatment was applied at 20% of net power by modulating duration (2-10 min) and pulses (2-10 s). Viable count (7. Read More

J Environ Manage 2021 May 7;291:112748. Epub 2021 May 7.

Department of Environment and Energy, Jeonbuk National University, Jeonju, Jeonbuk, 54896, Republic of Korea; Department of Mineral Resources and Energy Engineering, Jeonbuk National University, Jeonju, Jeonbuk, 54896, Republic of Korea. Electronic address:

Bimetallic (Ag-Pd/α-AlO) catalysts are essentially applied to naptha-cracking process with a controlled CO emission. After losing the catalytic properties in long run, the landfilling disposal of spent catalysts poses severe stress to the environment and deprivation of precious metals. Therefore, an innovative solvo-chemical recycling approach that involving the solid-liquid and liquid-liquid mass transfer phenomena was studied. Read More

Food Chem 2021 Apr 22;360:129790. Epub 2021 Apr 22.

Department of Food and Drug, University of Parma, Parma Via del Taglio, 10, Parma 43126, Italy. Electronic address:

Quadrupole inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (Q-ICP-MS) and direct mercury analysis were used to determine the elemental composition of 180 transformed (salt-ripened) anchovies from three different fishing areas before and after packaging. To this purpose, four decision trees-based algorithms, corresponding to C5.0, classification and regression trees (CART), chi-squareautomatic interaction detection (CHAID), and quick unbiased efficient statistical tree (QUEST) were applied to the elemental datasets to find the most accurate data mining procedure to achieve the ultimate goal of fish origin prediction. Read More

Forensic Sci Int 2021 Apr 28;323:110810. Epub 2021 Apr 28.

Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, Legnaro (Padova), Italy.

Carbamate pesticides (CBs) are reported as one of the main causes of intentional or accidental poisoning of animals. Anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) form the main class of poisons implicated in analyzed poisoned baits. These two groups of pesticide compounds include multiple substances, and thus, the development of a simple and rapid multiclass/multiresidue analytical method for simultaneous identification of both toxicant classes should be a useful strategy for analytical laboratories to reduce analysis time and cost. Read More

Environ Pollut 2021 Apr 27;286:117214. Epub 2021 Apr 27.

Henan Province Engineering Research Center for Biomass Value-added Products, School of Forestry, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, 450002, China.

Salinisation of soil is associated with urban pollution, industrial development and rising sea level. Understanding how high salinity is managed at the plant cellular level is vital to increase sustainable farming output. Previous studies focus on plant stress responses under salinity tolerance. Read More

J Surg Res 2021 May 7;265:323-332. Epub 2021 May 7.

Special Functions Section, The Fourth Sanatorium Area of Hangzhou Special Service Sanatorium Center of Air Force, Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, China. Electronic address:

Background: Nowadays, there is no approved targeted agent for lung injury induced by sepsis. S1PR2 is confirmed to be a promising diagnosis and treatment target. JTE-013 as S1PR2 antagonists may be an agent of great potential. Read More

Soc Sci Med 2021 May 3;279:113986. Epub 2021 May 3.

British Columbia Centre on Substance Use, 400-1045 Howe Street, Vancouver, BC, V6Z 2A9, Canada; Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, St. Paul's Hospital, 608-1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, V6Z 1Y6, Canada.

The practice of prescription opioid (PO) diversion remains highly controversial and has been characterized as a source of significant drug-related harm by physicians and public health officials. We critically analyze the "problem" of diversion through an examination of the perspectives of people who divert POs during an overdose epidemic to better understand the practice, including benefits and challenges, as well as how diversion is shaped by structural contexts. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 participants recruited from ongoing cohort studies involving people who use drugs in Vancouver, Canada. Read More

Soc Sci Med 2020 Dec 31;279:113667. Epub 2020 Dec 31.

IZA, Bonn, Germany; Erasmus School of Economics and Tinbergen Institute, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Economics, University of Melbourne, Australia; CEPR, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address:

This paper studies the association between homelessness and mental health episodes focusing on episodes of depression, anxiety and other conditions (bipolar affective disorder, schizophrenia, and post-traumatic stress disorder). Using panel data from the Australian Journeys Home survey, we investigate the extent to which this association is due to common determinants of homelessness and mental health episodes, or whether there is a causal link between them. The results indicate that episodes of depression increase the probability that a person becomes homeless. Read More

Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc 2021 Apr 20;259:119830. Epub 2021 Apr 20.

Department of Physics, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China.

The influences of the conjugation effect on the charge transfer and nonlinear optical (NLO) properties of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are comprehensively investigated at the microscopic molecular level. We found that the conjugation effect of π bridge is negatively correlated with molecular planarity, excitation energy, two-photon absorption (TPA) cross-section, and the second hyperpolarizability. For the first time, the charge transfer matrix (CTM) is applied to the molecular two-photon transition process. Read More

Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc 2021 Apr 2;259:119768. Epub 2021 Apr 2.

Key Laboratory of Modern Precision Agriculture System Integration Research, Ministry of Education, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China. Electronic address:

The tuber development and nutrient transportation of potato crops are closely related to canopy photosynthesis dynamics. Chlorophyll fluorescence parameters of photosystem II, especially the maximum quantum yield of primary photochemistry (Fv/Fm), are intrinsic indicators for plant photosynthesis. Rapid detection of Fv/Fm of leaves by spectroscopy method instead of time-consuming pulse amplitude modulation technique could help to indicate potato development dynamics and guide field management. Read More

Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc 2021 Apr 24;259:119853. Epub 2021 Apr 24.

ICS, CNRS, Université de Strasbourg, BP 296 R8, 670008 Strasbourg, France.

The determination of the abundances of the CH, C = O and aromatic groups in chondritic Insoluble Organic Matter (IOM) and coals by Infrared (IR) spectroscopy is a challenging issue due to insufficient knowledge on the absorption cross-sections and their sensitivity to the molecular environment. Here, we report a calibration approach based on a C synthetic model material whose composition was unambiguously determined by Direct-Pulse/Magic Angle Spinning Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (DP/MAS NMR). Ratios of the cross-sections of the CH, C = O and aromatic groups have been determined, and the method has been applied to IOM samples extracted from four chondrites as Orgueil (CI), Murchison (CM), Tagish Lake (C2-ungrouped) and EET 92042 (CR2), and to a series of coals. Read More

Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc 2021 Apr 30;259:119884. Epub 2021 Apr 30.

Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2457, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.

Crizotinib (CZT) is a potent and selective tyrosine kinase inhibitor used for treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The development of high-throughput assays for its quality control (QC) is very essential to assure its therapeutic benefits. CZT molecule has multiple electron-donating atoms that can contribute to the formation of colored charge-transfer (CT) complex with iodine as σ-electron acceptor and with 2,5-dichloro-3,6-dihydroxy-1,4-benzoquinone (CHBQ) and 7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ) as π-electron acceptors. Read More

Epidemics 2021 Mar 18;35:100453. Epub 2021 Mar 18.

Department of Mathematics, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada; Department of Mathematics, Imperial College London, London, UK. Electronic address:

Following successful non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI) aiming to control COVID-19, many jurisdictions reopened their economies and borders. As little immunity had developed in most populations, re-establishing higher contact carried substantial risks, and therefore many locations began to see resurgence in COVID-19 cases. We present a Bayesian method to estimate the leeway to reopen, or alternatively the strength of change required to re-establish COVID-19 control, in a range of jurisdictions experiencing different COVID-19 epidemics. Read More

Comput Biol Med 2021 Apr 29;134:104425. Epub 2021 Apr 29.

Department of Engineering, King's College London, Strand, London, WC2R 2LS, United Kingdom. Electronic address:

Understanding and classifying Chest X-Ray (CXR) and computerised tomography (CT) images are of great significance for COVID-19 diagnosis. The existing research on the classification for COVID-19 cases faces the challenges of data imbalance, insufficient generalisability, the lack of comparative study, etc. To address these problems, this paper proposes a type of modified MobileNet to classify COVID-19 CXR images and a modified ResNet architecture for CT image classification. Read More