Original Reference Research Articles

Where do you measure the Bregma for rodent stereotaxic surgery?

The advent of the stereotaxic apparatus developed by Clarke and Horsley revolutionized neuroscience research, enabling precise 3D navigation along the skull mediolateral, anteroposterior, and dorsoventral axes. In rodents, the Bregma is widely used as the origin reference point for the stereotaxic coordinates, but the specific procedure for its measurement varies among different laboratories. Notably, the renowned brain atlas developed by Paxinos and Franklin lacks explicit instructions on the Bregma determination. Recent studies have found discrepancies in skull and brain landmark measurements. This review describes the commonly used brain atlases and highlights the limitations in accurately measuring the stereotaxic coordinates. In addition, we propose alternative and more reliable approaches to measure the Bregma. It is imperative to address the misconceptions about the accuracy of stereotaxic surgeries, as it can significantly impact a substantial portion of neuroscience research.

The international reference system for beta-particle emitting radionuclides: Validation through the pilot study CCRI(II)-P1.Co-60

The Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) is developing a new transfer instrument to extend its centralized services for assessing the international equivalence of radioactive standards to new radionuclides. A liquid scintillation counter using the triple/double coincidence ratio method is being studied and tested in the CCRI(II)–P1.Co-60 pilot study. The pilot study, involving 13 participating laboratories with primary calibration capabilities, validated the approach against the original international reference system based on ionization chambers, which has been in operation since 1976. The results are in agreement and an accuracy suitable for purpose, below 5×10−4, is achieved. The pilot study also reveals an issue when impurities emitting low-energy electrons are present in the standard solution, which have a different impact on liquid scintillation counting compared to other primary measurement methods.

Tinjauan Hukum Tindak Pidana Plagiarisme Karya Ilmiah

Plagiarism is an offense and an ornament to science. Plagiarists steal the work of other authors or what is commonly called cheating or plagiarizing without citing the origins of the original author. Plagiarism is an act that is vulnerable to criminal activity and this problem must be considered in as much detail as possible. The act of plagiarism is recognized as an act that is disapproved and contrary to the scientific spirit in the academic world in universities. Several types of plagiarism can be distinguished by intentional or unintentional plagiarism motivation, ways of committing plagiarism include handwriting, inappropriate paraphrasing, and summaries, plagiarism itself can be said to be recycling text, redundant or duplicate publications, data fragmentation . The purpose of this study is to find out the legal arrangements for plagiarism of scientific work in tertiary institutions and to find out the legal consequences for perpetrators of the crime of plagiarism of scientific work in tertiary institutions. The research method used by the author is normative research method which positions the law as a building system of norms. There is no law that specifically regulates plagiarism, but someone who commits plagiarism or is called a plagiarist is regulated in Article 1, Minister of National Education Regulation number 17 of 2010 concerning the prevention and control of plagiarism in tertiary institutions. There are several reasons for someone to commit plagiarism, such as the convenience obtaining information via the internet, pressure on academic assignments, poor writing skills, rushing to write under pressure, lack of knowledge and understanding of how to rewrite original references, misunderstandings to self-understand plagiarism, and habitual cheating or plagiarism, such as avoiding theft intellectual, do good writing i.e. quote and paraphrase, and try the same thing or detect plagiarism in many ways like using plagiarism apps or turnitin.
 Keywords: plagiarism, legal actions, scientific works, norms

Carbon stocks and potential sequestration of Uruguayan soils: a road map to a comprehensive characterization of temporal and spatial changes to assess carbon footprint

Carbon net emission is a critical aspect of the environmental footprint in agricultural systems. However, the alternatives to describe soil organic carbon (SOC) changes associated with different agricultural management practices/land uses are limited. Here we provide an overview of carbon (C) stocks of non-forested areas of Uruguay to estimate SOC changes for different soil units affected by accumulated effects of crop and livestock production systems in the last decades. For this, we defined levels based on SOC losses relative to the original (reference) SOC stocks: 25% or less, between 25% and 50%, and 50% or more. We characterized the reference SOC stocks using three approaches: (1) an equation to derive the potential SOC capacity based on the clay and fine silt soil content, (2) the DayCent model to estimate the SOC stocks based on climate, soil texture and C inputs from the natural grasslands of the area, (3) an estimate of SOC using a proxy derived from remote sensing data (i.e., the Ecosystem Services Supply Index) that accounts for differences in C inputs. Depending on the used reference SOC, the soil units had different distributions of SOC losses within the zones defined by the thresholds. As expected, the magnitude of SOC changes observed for the different soil units was related to the relative frequency of annual crops, however, the high variability observed along the gradient of land uses suggests a wide space for increasing SOC with agricultural management practices. The assessment of the C stock preserved (CSP) belowground and the potential for increasing C accumulation or sequestration (CAP) are critical components of the C footprint of a given system. Thus, we propose a methodological road map to derive indicators of CSP and CAP at the farm level combining both, biogeochemical simulation models and conceptual models based on remote sensing data. We recognize at least three critical issues that require scientific and political consensus to implement the use of this propose: (1) how to define reference C stocks, (2) how to estimate current C stocks over large areas and in heterogeneous agricultural landscapes, and (3) what is a reasonable/acceptable threshold of C stocks reduction.

Modeling and optimization of strategies for making individual decisions in multi-agent socio-economic systems with the use of machine learning

This article presents a new approach to modeling and optimizing individual decision-making strategies in multi-agent socio-economic systems (MSES). This approach is based on the synthesis of agent-based modeling methods, machine learning and genetic optimization algorithms. A procedure for the synthesis and training of artificial neural networks (ANNs) that simulate the functionality of MSES and provide an approximation of the values of its objective characteristics has been developed. The feature of the two-step procedure is the combined use of particle swarm optimization methods (to determine the optimal values of hyperparameters) and the Adam machine learning algorithm (to compute weight coefficients of the ANN). The use of such ANN-based surrogate models in parallel multi-agent real-coded genetic algorithms (MA-RCGA) makes it possible to raise substantially the time-efficiency of the evolutionary search for optimal solutions. We have conducted numerical experiments that confirm a significant improvement in the performance of MA-RCGA, which periodically uses the ANN-based surrogate-model to approximate the values of the objective and fitness functions. A software framework has been designed that consists of the original (reference) agent-based model of trade interactions, the ANN-based surrogate model and the MA-RCGA genetic algorithm. At the same time, the software libraries FLAME GPU, OpenNN (Open Neural Networks Library), etc., agent-based modeling and machine learning methods are used. The system we developed can be used by responsible managers.

Combining bootstrap data envelopment analysis with social networks for rank discrimination and suitable potential benchmarks

Many studies have attempted to overcome the inherent relativity of data envelopment analysis (DEA), which gives rise to the existence of undiscriminated decision-making units (DMUs) or the changes in the reference relationships depending on how the DMUs are grouped. This study presents a new and intuitive algorithm based on the bootstrapping method for generating a network that reflects both the DMUs’ original reference relationships and their potential benchmarks in a way that does not violate DEA's theoretical and practical premises while enabling a fuller ranking of the DMUs. An in-depth discussion regarding the definition of two types of potential benchmarks that can be used to rank DMUs flexibly is provided to highlight the superiority of the proposed algorithm. The application of our proposed algorithm delivers significant advantages over existing network approach models and opens new possibilities for utilizing the bootstrap DEA method.

Synopsis of the species of Monocystis von Stein, 1848 (Apicomplexa: Gregarinomorphea: Arthrogregarida) pathogenic to earthworms described so far.

A synopsis of the species of Monocystis (Apicomplexa: Gregarinomorphea: Arthrogregarida) is presented, including a total of 114 species of worldwide. The most significant morphological and morphometric traits for each species are included together with information on the type-host, type locality, the infection site within the host and the original references. This checklist enumerates total Monocystis spp. in a place described so far in the worldwide pattern.

Trueness of cone-beam computed tomography-derived skull models fabricated by different technology-based three-dimensional printers

BackgroundThree-dimensional (3D) printing is a novel innovation in the field of craniomaxillofacial surgery, however, a lack of evidence exists related to the comparison of the trueness of skull models fabricated using different technology-based printers belonging to different cost segments.MethodsA study was performed to investigate the trueness of cone-beam computed tomography-derived skull models fabricated using different technology based on low-, medium-, and high-cost 3D printers. Following the segmentation of a patient’s skull, the model was printed by: (i) a low-cost fused filament fabrication printer; (ii) a medium-cost stereolithography printer; and (iii) a high-cost material jetting printer. The fabricated models were later scanned by industrial computed tomography and superimposed onto the original reference virtual model by applying surface-based registration. A part comparison color-coded analysis was conducted for assessing the difference between the reference and scanned models. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Bonferroni correction was applied for statistical analysis.ResultsThe model printed with the low-cost fused filament fabrication printer showed the highest mean absolute error (1.33pm 0.24 text{mm}), whereas both medium-cost stereolithography-based and the high-cost material jetting models had an overall similar dimensional error of 0.07pm 0.03 text{mm} and 0.07pm 0.01 text{mm}, respectively. Overall, the models printed with medium- and high-cost printers showed a significantly (p<0.01) lower error compared to the low-cost printer.ConclusionsBoth stereolithography and material jetting based printers, belonging to the medium- and high-cost market segment, were able to replicate the skeletal anatomy with optimal trueness, which might be suitable for patient-specific treatment planning tasks in craniomaxillofacial surgery. In contrast, the low-cost fused filament fabrication printer could serve as a cost-effective alternative for anatomical education, and/or patient communication.

Species delimitation and biogeography of Cyphostemma (Vitaceae), emphasizing diversification and ecological adaptation in Madagascar

AbstractCyphostemma, with ca. 200 species, is the second‐largest genus after Cissus in the grape family Vitaceae. Cyphostemma exhibits a high degree of morphological variation both between and within species that confounds species delimitation. Additional questions remain due to limited taxon sampling, original reference specimens damaged or lost and incomplete descriptions of taxa. Previous molecular studies, with limited taxon sampling, suggested three major clades corresponding to their distribution in continental Africa, Madagascar and Asia. However, deep relationships and biogeographic history within Cyphostemma remain unresolved. We conducted phylogenetic analysis and morphological character reconstruction of Cyphostemma using 91 newly assembled plastomes, with a focus on resolving complex taxonomic issues in Madagascar. Our results strongly support the Malagasy Cyphostemma as non‐monophyletic for the first time. Biogeographic reconstructions reveal two independent dispersals from continental Africa to Madagascar. The first dispersal is dated to the Oligocene and has led to the diversification of species with pinnate leaves in Madagascar. The second dispersal is estimated to have occurred during the late Miocene and has given rise to the only species with digitate leaves in Madagascar. Ancestral state reconstructions reveal that several morphological innovations may have promoted adaptation of Cyphostemma to a diverse range of habitats in Madagascar. In particular, a group of species from southern Madagascar have evolved both succulent stems and leaves to cope with extreme aridification in this region. Finally, relationships within three species complexes from the “Sambirano domain”, the southern spiny forest‐thicket and the northern limestone areas of Madagascar are clarified and four new taxa are proposed based on molecular and morphological evidence.

Structural Optimization and Simulation of a Magnetic Leak Detection Device for Streak-like Defects in Oil Pipes

Striped defects are a common type of defects in oil pipelines, divided into horizontal and longitudinal stripes, and it is difficult to accurately quantify the results of conventional pipeline leakage magnetic detection to correspond to the type of defects and their extent. In this paper, a new type of oil pipe non-destructive testing equipment is proposed and designed based on the principle of magnetic leakage detection using three-dimensional finite element simulation, and the magnetic field distribution inside the equipment is simulated using ANSYS finite element analysis software to provide original data reference for the development of the new equipment.

Measuring Expiratory Diaphragm Activity: An Electrifying Tool to Guide Positive End-Expiratory Pressure Strategy in Critically Ill Children?

Measuring Expiratory Diaphragm Activity: An Electrifying Tool to Guide Positive End-Expiratory Pressure Strategy in Critically Ill Children?

The prognosis and safety of continuous saline bladder irrigation in patients after transurethral resection of bladder tumors: a systematic review and meta-analysis of comparative study.

The prognosis and safety of continuous saline bladder irrigation (CSBI) after transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURB) as an alternative method needs to be explored. A literature review and meta-analysis were performed by searching PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library databases and original references of the included articles. PRISMA checklists were followed. We used the GRADEpro GDT to assess the certainty of evidence from the results of our meta-analysis. A total of eight articles including 1600 patients were studied. The results indicated that patients received CSBI after TURB had no statistical differences compared to the control group in the recurrence-free survival and progression-free survival. However, the CSBI group showed significant improvements compared to the control group in terms of the number of recurrences during follow-up and the period to first recurrence except for the number of tumor progression during follow-up. Furthermore, patients treated with CSBI did not show an inferior effect than those treated with immediate intravesical chemotherapy (IC) in respects of recurrence-free survival, progression-free survival, the number of recurrences during follow-up, the number of tumor progression during follow-up and the period to first recurrence. But the immediate IC group had a higher incidence than the CSBI group in terms of macrohematuria, micturition pain, frequency of urination, dysuria, retention and local toxicities. Patients treated with CSBI after TURB showed a significant improvement compared to the control group in terms of the number of recurrences during follow-up and the period to first recurrence. However, compared to immediate IC, CSBI did not show an inferior effect except for lower incidence of adverse reactions.PROSPERO registration number CRD42021247088.

Is it time to end race and ethnicity adjustment for pediatric pulmonary function tests?

The continued inclusion of race in spirometry reference equations is a topic of intense debate for adult lung function, but less discussion has focused on implications for children. Obtaining accurate estimates of children's lung function is an important component of the diagnosis of childhood respiratory illnesses, including asthma, cystic fibrosis, and interstitial lung disease. Given the higher burden among racial/ethnic minorities for many respiratory illnesses, it is critical to avoid racial bias in interpreting lung function. We recommend against the continued use of race-specific reference equations for a number of reasons. The original reference populations used to develop the equations were comprised of children with restricted racial diversity, relatively small sample sizes, and likely included some unhealthy children. Moreover, there is no scientific justification for innate racial differences in lung function, as there is no clear physiological or genetic explanation for the disparities. Alternatively, many environmental factors harm lung development, including allergens from pests, asbestos, lead, prenatal smoking, and air pollution, as well as preterm birth and childhood respiratory illnesses, which are all more common among minority racial groups. Race-neutral equations may provide a temporary solution, but still rely on the racial diversity of the reference populations used to build them. Ultimately researchers must uncover the underlying factors truly driving racial differences in lung function.

Multi-view aggregation transformer for no-reference point cloud quality assessment

With the increasing maturity of 3D point cloud acquisition, storage, and transmission technologies, a large number of distorted point clouds without original reference exist in practical applications. Hence, it is necessary to design a no-reference point cloud quality assessment (PCQA) for point cloud systems. However, the existing no-reference PCQA metrics ignore the content differences and positional context among the projected images. For this, we propose a Multi-View Aggregation Transformer (MVAT) with two different fusion modules to extract the comprehensive feature representation of PCQA. Specifically, considering the content differences of different projected images, we first design a Content Fusion Module (CFM) to fuse multiple projected image features by adaptive weighting. Then, we design a Bidirectional Context Fusion Module (BCFM) to extract context features for reflecting the contextual relationship among projected images. Finally, we joint the above two fusion modules via Content-Position Fusion Module (CPFM) to fully mine the feature representation of point clouds. Experimental results show that our MVAT can achieve comparable or better performance than state-of-the-art metrics on three open point cloud datasets.

Intra-Host Co-Existing Strains of SARS-CoV-2 Reference Genome Uncovered by Exhaustive Computational Search.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has had a severe impact on people worldwide. The reference genome of the virus has been widely used as a template for designing mRNA vaccines to combat the disease. In this study, we present a computational method aimed at identifying co-existing intra-host strains of the virus from RNA-sequencing data of short reads that were used to assemble the original reference genome. Our method consisted of five key steps: extraction of relevant reads, error correction for the reads, identification of within-host diversity, phylogenetic study, and protein binding affinity analysis. Our study revealed that multiple strains of SARS-CoV-2 can coexist in both the viral sample used to produce the reference sequence and a wastewater sample from California. Additionally, our workflow demonstrated its capability to identify within-host diversity in foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV). Through our research, we were able to shed light on the binding affinity and phylogenetic relationships of these strains with the published SARS-CoV-2 reference genome, SARS-CoV, variants of concern (VOC) of SARS-CoV-2, and some closely related coronaviruses. These insights have important implications for future research efforts aimed at identifying within-host diversity, understanding the evolution and spread of these viruses, as well as the development of effective treatments and vaccines against them.

Update of the parasitic crustacean holdings of the Museo de la Plata, Argentina

The Carcinological Collection of the División Zoología Invertebrados, Museo de La Plata (FCNyM UNLP) currently contains 2446 lots, of which 124 represent type material. There is a total of 162 batches corresponding to parasitic crustaceans. Six orders are represented in the collection and recorded here: Arguloida, Cyclopoida, Siphonostomatoida, Harpacticoida, Isopoda, and the infraclass Rizocephala, belonging to four classes of the Suphylum Crustacea. The species names are listed in systematical order, and the type locality, collection number, current taxonomic status and original bibliographic reference are given. Host and site of infection are also provided.

Laboratory Practice of Reference Intervals Modification for Children’s Blood Cell Analysis in China

Background: The unreliability of reference intervals (RIs) for children’s blood cell analysis has led to an unnecessary effort in interpreting results. The Standard published in 2021 is expected to solve this problem in China but should be clinically evaluated before its application. In this study, we aim to analyse the advantages and disadvantages of the new reference intervals (RIs) and realize the optimization based on clinical communication with pediatricians. Methods: Compared with the laboratory’s original reference intervals (RIs), the RIs’ numerical trends were mapped and analysed, and the data of the past seven years were retrospectively re-interpreted. Pediatricians were then consulted to discuss the data analyses. Results: Basically, the new reference intervals (RIs) characterized with more detailed age stratification and two specimen types. The numerical range of some parameters was wider while some were unilaterally shifted. Retrospective analysis showed that the revised reference intervals (RIs) could correct previously abnormal results to the normal range in a large proportion. The recovery ratio of three lineage cells was white blood cells &gt; red blood cells &gt; platelets, and the ratio sorted by age is 28 days~1-year-old &gt; 1~13years old &gt; 13~18 years old. The leukocyte recovery ratio of 28 days~1-year was the largest, approximately 55% to 83%. Pediatricians recognized the value of the new reference intervals (RIs). The only exception is that the platelets’ reference intervals (RIs) were too broad, recommending maintaining the original RI. The missing 0~28-day’s reference intervals (RIs) were recommended to be supplemented with other reference books. Conclusions: The new reference intervals (RIs) were optimized and, combined with clinical feedback, produced new reference intervals (RIs) derived from accumulated experience, evolving a better set of RIs.

Qualitative evaluation of content similarity in the context of clinical research

‘Burnout’ is one of those medical terms that lack a consensual definition, although its definitions may appear very similar. This paper outlines and discusses research carried out to find the shared elements of the original reference definitions of ‘burnout’ used in scientific literature between the 1990s and today, as a preliminary step towards the setting up of a harmonised definition. In order to pinpoint what is common in the original reference definitions of ‘burnout’, we developed and implemented a methodology based on the application of a linguistic – in particular, semantic – analysis. Our methodology may be of interest to researchers in other fields as a way to carry out a preliminary investigation of the definitions in use for a (specialist) term.

Pulmonary function in a cohort of heart-healthy individuals from Northern Sweden—a comparison with discordant reference values

BackgroundDynamic spirometry is an important investigation to differentiate between impaired and normal lung function. This study aimed to evaluate the results of lung function testing in a cohort of subjects from Northern Sweden without any known heart or pulmonary disease. Our focus was to compare with two reference materials that have showed differences in the age-dependency of lung function in Swedish subjects.MethodsThe study population consisted of 285 healthy adults (148 males, 52%) between 20–90 years of age. The subjects had been randomly selected from the population register for inclusion in a study investigating cardiac function in heart-healthy subjects, but were also assessed with dynamic spirometry. At least seven percent reported smoking. Sixteen subjects presented with pulmonary functional impairments and were excluded from the current study. The sex-specific age-dependency in lung volumes was estimated using the LMS model, where non-linear equations were derived for the mean value (M), the location (L) or skewness, and the scatter (S) or coefficient of variation. This model of the observed lung function data was compared with reference values given by the original LMS model published by the Global Lung Initiative (GLI), and with the model from the recent Obstructive Lung Disease In Norrbotten (OLIN) study, where higher reference values were presented for Swedish subjects than those given by the GLI model.ResultsNo differences were found in the age-dependency of pulmonary function between the LMS model developed in the study and the OLIN model. Although the study group included smokers, the original GLI reference values suggested significantly lower normal values of FEV1 (forced expiratory volume) and FVC (forced vital capacity), and consequently fewer subjects below the lower limit of normality, than both the rederived LMS and OLIN models.ConclusionsOur results are in line with previous reports and support that the original GLI reference values underestimate pulmonary function in the adult Swedish population. This underestimation could be reduced by updating the coefficients in the underlying LMS model based on a larger cohort of Swedish citizens than was available in this study.

Attention Mechanism Architecture for Arabic Sentiment Analysis

This article tackles the problem of sentiment analysis in the Arabic language where a new deep learning model has been put forward. The proposed model uses a hybrid bidirectional gated recurrent unit (BiGRU) and bidirectional long short-term memory (BiLSTM) additive-attention model where the Bidirectional GRU/LSTM reads the individual sentence input from left to right and vice versa, enabling the capture of the contextual information. However, the model is trained on two types of embeddings: FastText and local learnable embeddings. The BiLSTM and BiGRU architectures are put into competition to identify the best hyperparameter set for the model. The developed model has been tested on three large-scale commonly employed Arabic sentiment dataset: large-scale Arabic Book Reviews Dataset (ABRD), Hotel Arabic-Reviews Dataset (HARD), and Books Reviews in the Arabic Dataset (BRAD). The testing results demonstrate that our model outperforms both the baseline models and the state-of-the-art models reported in the original references of these datasets, achieving accuracy scores of 98.6%, 96.19%, 95.65% for LARB, HARD, and BRAD, respectively. Furthermore, to demonstrate the generalization capabilities of our model, the performances of the model have been evaluated on three other natural language processing tasks: news categorization, offensive speech detection, and Russian sentiment analysis. The results demonstrated the developed model is language- and task-independent, which offers new perspectives for the application of the developed models in several other natural language processing challenges.