Prominent Component Research Articles

Interaction effects of Action Real-Time Strategy Game experience and trait anxiety on brain functions measured via EEG rhythm

Purpose Action Real-Time Strategy Games (ART SGs) is a prominent component of lifestyles and offers an ecological venue to investigate brain functions. Anxiety is an adaptive emotion and may exert its wide influence on brain functions. However, little is known about the potential interaction effects of trait anxiety and ART SG exper ence on brain functions.Materials and methods In this study, EEG and behavioral data of 215 League of Legends (LOL) video game players were collected. And then, two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were conducted on relative power indices, and relations between power indices and game performance scores were calculated using Spearman's correlation.Results Results showed that (a) gamma (resting and game play states) and beta (game play state) powers of high-level ART SG players were greater than those of low-level players in the high-Trait Anxiety Inventory (TAI) score group (p<0.05); (b) during the game play state, the delta power of highlevel players was lower than that of the low-level players in the high-TAI score group (p<0.05); and (c) game performance scores were positively correlated with gamma powers.Conclusions These findings indicated that brain functions may be influenced by interactions of the ART SG experience and trait anxiety levels, and provided new insights into the potential mechanisms of brainapparatus conversation.

Blood Count-Derived Inflammatory Markers and Acute Complications of Ischemic Heart Disease in Elderly Women.

Coronary artery disease (CAD) in women occurs later than in men. Underlying atherosclerosis, a chronic process of lipoprotein deposition in arterial walls with a prominent inflammatory component, is influenced by several risk factors. In women, commonly used inflammatory markers are generally found to be related to the occurrence of acute coronary syndrome (ACS), as well as the development of other diseases that influence CAD. New inflammatory markers derived from total blood count-systemic inflammatory response index (SII), systemic inflammatory reaction index (SIRI), monocyte-lymphocyte ratio (MLR), platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR)-were analyzed in the group of 244 elderly, postmenopausal women with the diagnosis of ACS or stable CAD. SII, SIRI, MLR, and NLR were significantly higher in women with ACS compared to those with stable CAD (p < 0.05 for all)-the highest values were observed in women with NSTEMI. MLR from new inflammatory markers, HDL, and history of MI turned out to be significant factors associated with ACS. These results suggest that MLR as representative of blood count-derived inflammatory markers may be considered as additional CVD risk factors in women with suspected ACS.

Effects of Three Different Tillage Patterns on Ground and Below-Ground Dwelling Insect Assemblage

Tillage could significantly change the biodiversity in farmlands. As a prominent component of farmland ecology, crops play a key role in regulating biological communities. To explore the effects of tillage patterns and planting modes, including high-disturbance tillage practices and different plant compositions, on the abundance of soil insects, we tested the responses of soil insects to no-tillage (NT), ridge tillage (RT), and fall plow (FP) treatments with different planting modes. The results illustrated that planting modes significantly changed the distributions of ground-dwelling insect species and disturbed interactions on the farmland. Soil-dwelling insect assemblages were mainly influenced by tillage patterns, which reflected that soil physicochemical properties, especially pH, had the highest contribution to the determination of community composition. The no-tillage system supported the highest predator species richness and lower herbivore richness with higher abundance. In the no-tillage system, most of the insects on the farmland have established relationships, forming a relatively high degree of connection between different insects. The network was more specialized and nested in the field with fall ploughing. In conclusion, the effects of tillage patterns and planting modes on insect assemblage can be divided into two spatial dimensions: the success of soil-ground insect maintenance determined by plants and below-ground depended on tillage.

Guest Editor’s Introduction: Critical Philosophy of Caste and Race

Guest Editor’s Introduction: Critical Philosophy of Caste and Race

Overview of the application of ecological concrete in sponge city construction

As a prominent component of the construction field of sponge cities, ecological concrete is an essential tool to reach the goals of green, low-carbon living and sustainable development. A quantitative summary of the preliminary research on ecological concrete infrastructure in sponge city architecture is needed. Therefore, CiteSpace and VOSviewer were applied to perform a comparative analysis of the number of papers, countries, institutions, core authors, literature co-citations, research hotspots, and future trends in ecological concrete in the sponge city construction industry. The results show that the number of papers on ecological concrete is increasing, the research collaboration between domestic and foreign authors is relatively single, and there is insufficient interdisciplinary integration between institutions and the phenomenon of “relatively independent research.” The number of papers published in the field of ecological concrete construction has been on the rise, reaching more than 100 in each of the last 10 years, with China and the United States contributing more to the scientific output of the field. To meet the needs of global environmental protection and resource conservation, the theme of “promoting comprehensive resource conservation and recycling” will continue in the future, making concrete a feature of green, low-carbon, sustainable development and other areas of environmental protection in the construction field.

Investigating the evolution of undergraduate medical students' perception and performance in relation to an innovative curriculum-based research module: A convergent mixed methods study launching the 8A-Model.

Embedding into undergraduate medical programs experiential research curricula, based on holistic theories of education which emphasize participation in the social world, remains uncommon. The purpose of this study was to investigate the journey of undergraduate medical students in relation to an innovative compulsory curriculum-based research module, which has a prominent experiential learning component. A convergent mixed methods study design was adapted to develop a systemic understanding of the experience of the undergraduate medical students throughout the respective research module. As such, the students' perception of the experience was qualitatively explored using thematic analysis (n = 15). In parallel, the students' performance data were quantitatively analyzed using multi-repeated ANOVA (n = 158). The findings from both types of analyses (i.e., qualitative and quantitative study components) were then mapped onto each using joint display analysis. The exploration generated four themes that correspond to sequential steps that the students go through to effectively integrate the scientific research method. These themes include: 1- Attend-Acquire, 2- Accumulate-Assimilate, 3- Apply-Appreciate, and 4-Articulate-Affect. Quantitatively, two distinct clusters of mean Grade Point Average were revealed (p<0.01). Joint display analysis enabled integrating the qualitative and quantitative findings, generating the 8A-Model. The evidence-driven 8A-Model, generated by this study, highlights that medical students' understanding of the true value of research seems to increase as they progress in the module. They begin expressing appreciation of the significance of the experience when they start implementing what they are learning as part of their own research studies. It is recommended for such a research module, with a firm experiential learning component, to be integral to undergraduate medical programs. This is expected to improve the future physicians' research competences, and in turn add value in terms of quality of care and patient outcomes.

ANGIOLIPOMA OF LABIA MAJORA: A RARE CASE REPORT

Angiolipoma is a benign, soft tissue tumor. It is a variant of lipoma with a prominent vascular component consisting of only 6-7% of all lipomas. Though conventional lipomas are commonly found over the neck and upper back, shoulders, abdomen, buttocks, and proximal portions of the extremities, vulval lipomas are very rare and fewer than 70 cases have been reported in world literature. Herein, we report a case of angiolipoma in a 35 years old female in labia majora on account of its rarity with a review of literature. A clinical diagnosis of lipoma was provided to usby the surgeon and on the basis of histopathological examination of the excised mass, a diagnosis of angiolipoma was conferred upon. Our case report describes a rare variant of lipoma, at an uncommon location and also highlights the importance of histopathological examination in arriving at the final diagnosis.

Exploring ginseng's potential role as an adjuvant therapy in COVID-19

&lt;abstract&gt; &lt;p&gt;Ginseng is a plant from the Panax genus used since ancient times as a prominent component of traditional Chinese medicine, and is prized for its energizing, antiaging and antioxidant properties. Over time, the scientific community has taken a keen interest in ginseng's potential as a supplement in various health sectors. While there is a substantial body of data demonstrating the effectiveness of ginseng and other natural products as adjuncts in the treatment of respiratory diseases, the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the attention on ginseng and its extracts as potential antiviral and antibacterial agents. This review aims to summarize the potential benefits of ginseng in the prevention of COVID-19, the alleviation of symptoms and the enhancement of clinical outcomes for patients. It suggests incorporating ginseng and other natural compounds into complementary therapeutic regimens to augment the effectiveness of vaccines and pharmacological treatments. However, it's important to note that further experiments and clinical studies are necessary to solidify the efficacy of ginseng against COVID-19 and to establish its use as a viable option.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/abstract&gt;

Edge-Guided Hyperspectral Image Compression With Interactive Dual Attention

Compressing hyperspectral images (HSIs) into compact representations under the premise of ensuring high-quality reconstruction is an essential task in HSI processing. However, existing compression methods usually encode images by smoothing due to the low-frequency information occupying a prominent component in most images. Consequently, these methods fail to capture sufficient structural information, especially in low bit rates, often causing inferior reconstruction. To address this problem, we propose here an edge-guided hyperspectral compression network, called CENet, to realize high-quality reconstruction. To enhance the structural latent representation ability, the CENet model incorporates an edge extractor neural network into the compression architecture to guide compression optimization by the edge-guided loss. We propose an interactive dual attention module to selectively learn edge features, obtain the most effective edge structure, and avoid additional edge information redundancy at the same time. In the proposed CENet, the edge-guided loss and interactive dual attention module are combined to enhance the comprehensive structure of the latent representation. Concretely, interactive dual attention makes the edge extraction network focus only on moderate boundaries rather than on all edges, which enables savings on the bit rate cost and helps achieve a strong structural representation. As a result, the reconstruction quality is significantly improved. The extensive experiments on seven HSI datasets verify that our model can effectively raise the rate–distortion performance for HSIs of any type or resolution (e.g., yielding an average peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) of 30.59 dB at 0.2382 bpppb, which exceeds the baseline for Chikusei by 10.99%).

Flos Lonicerae: A Review of Chemical Structures and Biological Activities of Phenolic Derivatives

Flos Lonicerae, a widely used Vietnamese medicinal material, is the dried buds or flowers of Lonicera japonica Thunb., and several other species of genus Lonicera such as Lonicera dasystyla Rehd., Lonicera confusa DC., Lonicera cambodiana Pierre ex Danguy, belonging to the family Caprifoliaceae. This material has been used for a long time in traditional medicine for clearing heat, removing toxins, and dispersing wind heat. According to a variety of recent phytochemistry and biological studies that we systematically summarized, Flos Lonicerae contains 129 phenolic derivatives including 48 flavonoids, 13 lignans and neolignans, 55 phenolic acid derivatives, and 13 other phenolic compounds. These phenolic compounds have remarkable biological effects such as antibacterial, antiviral, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, hepatoprotective, anti-endotoxin, anti-allergic, anti-diabetic, cardioprotective, anti-allergic activities, etc. In particular, chlorogenic acid, a prominent component with significant biological activities, is utilized as a marker compound to evaluate the quality of Flos Lonicerae in the Vietnamese and Chinese Pharmacopoeia.&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D;

Invited Review: Ecosystem services provided by grasslands in the Southeast United States

This review describes ecosystem services (ES) obtained from grasslands within the southeastern United States. In addition, future direction and the importance of these ES to sustain productive agroecosystems are de- scribed. Results from published studies investigating various ES provided by grasslands within the southeastern United States are summarized in this article. Ecosystem services can be classified into 4 categories: provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cul- tural. Grasslands in the southeastern United States range from wet prairies in Florida, to transitional grasslands emerging from tallgrass prairie and longleaf pine ecosys- tems into coastal marshes in Texas. Provisioning ES from grasslands include animal products, timber, fruits, pods, and medicinal products. Supporting and regulating ES in- clude nutrient cycling, biological nitrogen fixation, water catchment and purification, recharge of aquifers, climate regulation, primary productivity, habitat for wildlife and pollinators, and biodiversity. Grasslands are also impor- tant for aesthetic and cultural ES, including hunting leases and recreational parks. Grasslands in the southeastern United States have decreased due to urban- ization, rising livestock production costs, and decreases in seed resources. Providing ES assessments will be impor- tant to assign value to grassland ecosystems, especially to increase adoption of novel management practices that may enhance delivery of ES. Remote sensing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence are promising tools to scale up the measurement of ES at landscape and watershed levels. In the future, ES will likely be a more prominent component of agroecosystems, and payment mechanisms will become more common to compensate landowners for the benefit they provide for the entire society.

The Genesis of the Cult of Trotsky in the Russian Civil War

AbstractFrom 1914 onwards, leader‐centric imagery became a prominent component of hegemonic Russian political discourse, and these early cults of military and political leaders served as inspiration for later veneration of Lenin and Stalin. The case of Leon Trotsky, a top leader of the Red Army and the Soviet state, is of crucial importance for understanding the political universe of the revolutionary era. However, among the many biographies of Trotsky, including those which focus heavily on his Civil War‐era political activities, few consider how the symbolic image of Trotsky was manifested in political communication. This article addresses the genesis of the Trotsky cult in its early stage during the Russian Civil War, asking who and how participated in the formation of the cult, and what its meanings were in the context of the revolutionary milieu. Based on an analysis of dominant narratives in the Soviet press, including Trotsky's personal newspaper, as well as of the language of the people's letters to the leader, the article concludes that the cult‐building is best understood as a part of multiple, local, often individual initiatives, rather than as a conscious, well‐coordinated, top‐down political propaganda strategy of Soviet officials.

Prognostic impact of tumor microenvironment-related markers in patients with adenocarcinoma of the lung

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are a prominent component in the tumor microenvironment (TME), which plays an important role in lung carcinogenesis. Here, we investigated microenvironmental markers expressed by CAFs, including α-smooth muscle actin, CD10, podoplanin, fibroblast-specific protein 1, platelet-derived growth factor α and β, fibroblast-associated protein, tenascin-C, zinc finger E-box binding homeobox 1 (ZEB1), and twist-related protein 1 expression levels. We evaluated samples from 257 patients with lung adenocarcinoma (LAD) to assess the associations of CAF-related protein expression patterns with prognosis. LAD cases were stratified using cluster analysis. To determine the utility of prognostic markers in LAD, univariate and multivariate analyses were performed. LAD cases were classified into subgroups 1 and 2. Subgroup 2 was shown to be significantly correlated with disease-free and overall survival using univariate and multivariate analyses in this group. Upregulation of podoplanin was identified as a single prognostic marker in this study by univariate and multivariate analyses. In addition, ZEB1 overexpression was correlated with disease-free survival. Our current results suggested that the specific CAF phenotype (e.g., the expression pattern of CAF-related proteins) could predict outcomes in patients with LAD. In addition, podoplanin upregulation may predict outcomes in these patients.

The Immunomodulatory Functions of BTK Inhibition in the Central Nervous System.

Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) is a central signaling node in B cells. BTK inhibition has witnessed great success in the treatment of B-cell malignancies. Additionally, in the immune system, BTK is also a prominent component linking a wide variety of immune-related pathways. Therefore, more and more studies attempting to dissect the role of BTK in autoimmune and inflammation progression have emerged in recent years. In particular, BTK expression was also found to be elevated within the central nervous system (CNS) during neuroinflammation. BTK inhibitors are capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier rapidly to modulate B cell functions, attenuate microglial activities and affect NLRP3 inflammasome pathways within the CNS to improve the outcome of diseases. Thus, BTK inhibition appears to be a promising approach to modulate dysregulated inflammation in the CNS and alleviate destruction caused by excessive inflammatory responses. This review will summarize the immunomodulatory mechanisms in which BTK is involved in the development of neurological diseases and discuss the therapeutic potential of BTK inhibition for the treatment of neuroinflammatory pathology.

Immunological Insights into Cigarette Smoking-Induced Cardiovascular Disease Risk.

Smoking is one of the most prominent addictions of the modern world, and one of the leading preventable causes of death worldwide. Although the number of tobacco smokers is believed to be at a historic low, electronic cigarette use has been on a dramatic rise over the past decades. Used as a replacement for cigarette smoking, electronic cigarettes were thought to reduce the negative effects of burning tobacco. Nonetheless, the delivery of nicotine by electronic cigarettes, the most prominent component of cigarette smoke (CS) is still delivering the same negative outcomes, albeit to a lesser extent than CS. Smoking has been shown to affect both the structural and functional aspects of major organs, including the lungs and vasculature. Although the deleterious effects of smoking on these organs individually is well-known, it is likely that the adverse effects of smoking on these organs will have long-lasting effects on the cardiovascular system. In addition, smoking has been shown to play an independent role in the homeostasis of the immune system, leading to major sequela. Both the adaptive and the innate immune system have been explored regarding CS and have been demonstrated to be altered in a way that promotes inflammatory signals, leading to an increase in autoimmune diseases, inflammatory diseases, and cancer. Although the mechanism of action of CS has not been fully understood, disease pathways have been explored in both branches of the immune system. The pathophysiologically altered immune system during smoking and its correlation with cardiovascular diseases is not fully understood. Here we highlight some of the important pathological mechanisms that involve cigarette smoking and its many components on cardiovascular disease and the immune systems in order to have a better understanding of the mechanisms at play.

Endometrial carcinomas with dyshesive, eosinophilic, and vacuolated (histiocyte-like) tumor cells: a reactive-like phenotype associated with aggressive behavior.

Herein, we present a clinicopathological and molecular analysis of four cases of endometrial carcinoma (EC) diffusely exhibiting dyshesive cells with wide eosinophilic and vacuolated cytoplasm (histiocyte-like tumor cells, HLTCs). We compared these HLTCs to similar cells found in microcystic, elongated and fragmented (MELF) pattern (n = 20) or after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) (n = 5). The four cases were endometrioid, serous, clear cell, and gastric-type; all were at FIGO stage ≥ III. HLTCs showed an epithelial Müllerian phenotype and at least focal CK20, HNF1β, and CK5/6 expression, with aberrant e-cadherin and β-catenin expression; two cases were MMR-deficient, and one was p53-abnormal; all were POLE wild type. MELF-associated and NAC-associated HLTCs showed similar morphological/immunophenotypical features. However, MELF-associated HLTCs were mainly intraglandular and inflammation-associated, did not form a distinct tumor component, and showed no relationship with lymph node metastases. In conclusion, different histotypes of EC may show a prominent HLTC component, which shows peculiar morphological/immunophenotypical features and appears associated with aggressive behavior.

Deregulated hyaluronan metabolism in the tumor microenvironment drives cancer inflammation and tumor-associated immune suppression

Hyaluronan (HA) is known to be a prominent component of the extracellular matrix in tumors, and many solid cancers are characterized by aberrant HA metabolism resulting in increased production in tumor tissue. HA has been implicated in regulating a variety of cellular functions in tumor cells and tumor-associated stromal cells, suggesting that altered HA metabolism can influence tumor growth and malignancy at multiple levels. Importantly, increased HA production in cancer is associated with enhanced HA degradation due to high levels of expression and activity of hyaluronidases (Hyal). Understanding the complex molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in abnormal HA metabolism and catabolism in solid cancers could have important implications for the design of future cancer therapeutic approaches. It appears that extensive crosstalk between immune cells and HA-enriched stroma contributes to tumor growth and progression in several ways. Specifically, the interaction of tumor-recruited Hyal2-expressing myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) of bone marrow origin with HA-producing cancer-associated fibroblasts and epithelial tumor cells results in enhanced HA degradation and accumulation of small pro-inflammatory HA fragments, which further drives cancer-related inflammation. In addition, hyaluronan-enriched stroma supports the transition of tumor-recruited Hyal2+MDSCs to the PD-L1+ tumor-associated macrophages leading to the formation of an immunosuppressive and tolerogenic tumor microenvironment. In this review, we aim to discuss the contribution of tumor-associated HA to cancer inflammation, angiogenesis, and tumor-associated immune suppression. We also highlight the recent findings related to the enhanced HA degradation in the tumor microenvironment.

Intensification of catechin extraction from the bark of Syzygium cumini using ultrasonication: Optimization, characterization, degradation analysis and kinetic studies

Catechin is a prominent polyphenolic component that possesses various medicinal properties. Present work communicates the intensification and optimization of catechin extraction from the bark of Syzygium cumini tree using stirred reactor, soxhlet, ultrasonic bath, and ultrasonic horn technique. The optimization of several parameters such as type of solvent, solid to solvent ratio (1:100 w/v), speed of agitation (300 RPM), extraction temperature (40 °C), and amplitude (20%) has been done for the maximization of catechin extraction yield. The kinetic (second-order rate mechanism) and degradation analysis (based on LC-MS characterization) have been performed to understand the extraction mechanism, forecast extraction stability, and avoid unwanted catechin degradation during ultrasonication. The effectiveness of different extraction techniques was compared based on the yield of catechin per unit of power dissipated. These studies revealed that ultrasonic horn produced maximum extraction yield (13.8 mg/g) in a shorter time (5 min), consumed less energy (0.2974 kJ), and gave the highest extraction rate (0.0910 g/mg.min) as compared to other techniques. The effectiveness of extraction using the ultrasonic horn was 39.67 mg/g.kJ. A mathematical model using the linear regression method was investigated for the process, which shows numerical correlation and significance factor between the yield and all other parameters.

Superconducting properties of doped blue phosphorene: effects of non-adiabatic approach

We study the effects of Kohn anomalies on the superconducting properties in electron- and hole-doped cases of monolayer blue phosphorene (BLP), considering both adiabatic and non-adiabatic phonon dispersions using first-principles calculations. We show that the topology of the Fermi surface is crucial for the formation of Kohn anomalies of doped BLP. By using the anisotropic Eliashberg formalism, we further carefully consider the temperature dependence of the non-adiabatic phonon dispersions. In cases of low hole densities, strong electron–phonon coupling (EPC) leads to a maximum critical temperature of K for superconductivity. In electron-doped regimes, on the other hand, a maximum superconducting critical temperature of K is reached at a doping level that includes a Lifshitz transition point. Furthermore, our results indicate that the most prominent component of EPC arises from the coupling between an in-plane (out-of-plane) deformation and in-plane (out-of-plane) electronic states of the electron (hole) type doping.

A pattern recognition receptor ficolin from Portunus trituberculatus (Ptficolin) regulating immune defense and hemolymph coagulation

Ficolins, belonging to the fibrinogen-related protein superfamily, are important pattern recognition receptors in innate immunity. Here, a ficolin gene Ptficolin was characterized from the swimming crab Portunus trituberculatus. The completed cDNA sequence of Ptficolin encoded a signal peptide, a coiled-coil region and a fibrinogen-like domain but without the typical collagen region of vertebrate ficolins. Ptficolin showed higher expression in stomach and hepatopancreas, and presented a time-dependent response after pathogen challenge and injury stimulation. The recombinant Ptficolin (rPtficolin) could bind to various PAMPs and microorganisms, and agglutinate microorganisms and rabbit erythrocytes in a Ca2+-dependent manner, with strong binding ability to N-acetyl sugars. Meanwhile, rPtficolin promoted the hemocyte phagocytosis and clearance activity of Vibrio, while Ptficolin knockdown impaired the bacterial phagocytosis and clearance ability, suggesting the opsonin activity of Ptficolin. Knockdown of Ptficolin could downregulate the transcription of most complement-like genes and AMPs, but enhance the expression of most proPO system-related genes and key genes of Toll, IMD and JNK pathways. Moreover, knockdown of Ptficolin led to the increased hemolymph clotting time and the decreased expression of clotting-related genes. Our results indicate that Ptficolin could recognize and eliminate invading pathogens, and might be a prominent component in hemolymph coagulation of crab.