Investigación y Educación en Enfermería journal from a scientometric analysis.To analyze levels of production, reach, and thematic development of the Open JournalSystemat Universidad de Antioquia. The third component captured the bibliographic references from the Web of Science and Scopus databases and from the Google Scholar and Lens academic search engines.The study collected 1,066 articles corresponding to the period between 1983 and 2020. The scientometric analysis was carried out from three components of descriptive analysis: performance of the publication, geographic reach, and thematic development. The first two used data consolidated from articles published in the In terms of the production analysis, the Journal shows stable behavior sustained over time with international reach regarding authorship. In the thematic setting, the Journal concentrates on two large clusters: 1) research on human factors from different perspectives and 2) cross-sectional studies differentiated mainly by sex. With respect to emerging clusters, on one side, a thematic pillar is seen with studies in young adult population and another in matters related to the educational process and nursing students.The Journal has maintained outstanding behavior in terms of production over time, aligned with very good visibility for potential authors internationally; something not easily accomplished for most journals in Colombia. Likewise, its production has had a thematic domain to a greater extent related to human factors associated with the nursing practice. What has been the Journal’s geographic reach regarding scientific production and how have the dynamics of collaboration between authors and institutions come about? The capture of institutional affiliations and countries of origin of each of the authors permit observing the origin of the articles published and the collaboration dynamics among authors and, hence, institutions. (iii) What are the main thematic axes the Journal has had? By using the methodology of social network analysis and the VOSViewer software, software, the conssoftware, This speThe following presents the principal’s descriptive results of the IEE journal. Initially, activity or production indicators are described, then the reach and co-authorship, and - lastly - the thematic analysis.As observed in In relation to the authors’ origins, as shown in The thematic analysis by co-occurrence of words permits seeing the relations and closeness among terms worked in the Journal’s articles. This specific case used MeSH terms, which are typical of the specialized language of the health field and have a standardization process. In this case, this type of analysis of social networks provides a panorama of the Journal’s thematic domain, identifying which are the concepts most worked and how those relations are perceived as thematic clusters. This, on the matter of editorial management, permits the Journal to analyze its thematic strengths and, from there, guide policies, seek and motivate authors on the theme, and plan numbers of greater degree of specialization.In general, the Journal concentrates on two large thematic clusters  and anotSpecifically, the thematic cluster can be seen, corresponding to the term Humans; the size of the node shows the importance and recurrence of this concept in the Journal’s publications. The term presents a co-occurrence link with terms, such as qualitative research and analysis techniques associated with this type of research; this supposes that an interesting number of articles use this type of methodology. The relationship can also be seen of this concept with studies on the profile and role of nurses, showing permanent concern of the field for this topic of analysis. Evidence exists of studies that, within this framework, work the patient-nurse relation, communication, and some values with relation to humanism. In transversal manner, it could be understood that multiple related studies have focused on Colombia, which is consistent with the origin of the largest number of authors the Journal has had.The second most relevant cluster shows a thematic development related to cross-sectional studies associated with gender factors. According to other terms associated, these studies could focus on analyzing risk factors, health status or in men and women. Likewise, a node of interest is shown related to the concept of adult. This term can be linked to others, such as young adults, surveys, and questionnaires; this could be associated with multiple studies that focus on applying these instruments to the knowledge of health factors in this population. In turn, other relationships can be seen with quality of life, psychological factors, and family. In addition, the relationship between terms associated with COVID-19 studies and educational resources is also noteworthy. From this cluster, a small emerging cluster can be seen referring to the terms adolescents, children, and hospitalization. This could be interpreted with relation to the term adult, such as the existence of articles that analyze by age groups.Lastly, an emerging cluster may be seen with a principal node related with the term nursing students. Upon seeing the relations available, interesting terms appear, like education and curriculum, a trend that could be taken as interest of the publications for the educational process of nurses and for the lives of university students. Network analysis of co-occurrence of words permitted identifying the Journal’s thematic dimension, seeing which themes are of greater focus or interest and, therefore, an analysis framework that allows promoting editorial strategies to support the consolidation of topics. This exercise is shown as an interesting field of work to continue potentiating from the Journal’s direction and, in that sense, make decisions that support enhancing the editorial management.Scopus, Web of Science and PubMed Central.This section is structured by thinking more on taking advantage of the data results, to provide some ideas to keep in mind when managing the Journal, hence, what will be seen ahead focuses on taking some of those elements to make proposals. It is important, from the start, to recognize the trajectory of the IEE Journal, which can not only be seen as a reference in its field for the University but also for the country and the region. It is significant to consider this, bearing in mind the difficulties endured by many journals for their sustainability over time and, above all, for their indexing in important sources, like The production behavior shows a very stable Journal, with a production that has been maintained over time, not only to boost research from the University but, also, from multiple latitudes. Analyses demonstrate sustained production, principally by authors from Universidad de Antioquia, but much attention is drawn to international visibility where it is possible to see researchers from Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Spain, Portugal, Iran, and India. Considering the foregoing, it is imperative to continue thinking of diverse visibility strategies in different channels, continue motivating researchers from multiple places to publish and evaluate works, participate actively in scientific networks and networks of journals; sustain presence in the main indexing systems and diversify ways of communicating the publication.Facebook, Twitter, and Linked-in, as well as in specialized networks, like Research Gate. This implies, for example, insisting on the design of new ways of communicating the publication and characterizing the audiences that may be interested in the contents of the Journal.In addition, it is suggested for the Journal to design digital marketing strategies that allows it to gain greater presence in social networks, in general networks, like Within the thematic setting, the results evidence a variety of important themes for publication. It is important to continue conducting these types of exercises, considering the possibility of promoting numbers focused on thematic pillars. Likewise, being able to identify authors with those domains to motivate them to publish; in addition to crossing the thematic analysis with identifying or characterizing the citation, given that it could account for which themes are stronger and of greater interest for the academic community. In turn, it is worth to relate with co-authorship analysis to identify the Journal's momentum in building a scientific community.Digital curation is necessary or constant revision of the metadata available in the OJS. When executing this project, problems emerged with the normalization of authors and data on institutional affiliation; for this, it is essential to work hand in hand with the Journals System team at Universidad de Antioquia to, thus, constantly verify the quality of the information. It is also important to monitor indexing systems, given that problems could exist with the information indexed therein or, even, loss of visibility and citations could occur.These types of exercises support, under the focus of data and evidence management, the strengthening of editorial management. In this sense, it is important to continue with a line of work that supports performing new analyses and constructing metrics. Due to such, future exploration is proposed of the type of citation, that is, characterize the types of citations the Journal has; this will permit knowing which can be the greatest strength in terms of impact, like, for example, if the Journal is taken as reference for formative processes, to support new research, or for other types of documents that require the base it offers.Lastly, just as it has insisted on designing strategies for visibility in social networks, it is also important to boost the monitoring and development of metrics in these channels, given that, although evidence exists in the literature that shows the importance of these types of indicators for visibility and citation, each publication has its peculiarities to keep in mind to enhance said processes. In this sense, if Altmetric indicators are systematically designed -14 for t


An aortic graft implantation is an effective therapeutic method for various aortic diseases. However, it is known that sometimes these implanted grafts can be the foci of infections. Here we report a rare case of graft infection that presented multiple embolisms of aortic branches and peripheral organs.Aspergillus graft infection was made based on an elevated serum β-D glucan (βDG) and a positive Aspergillus galactomannan (GM) antigen test. The patient subsequently had surgery with replacement of the descending aortic graft and anti-fungal drugs were instituted with significant improvement noted.A 63-year-old Japanese woman with a history of aortic graft implantation presented with occlusions of large arteries in different loci and time points, with elevation of non-specific inflammatory markers. Thoracic contrast-computed tomography (CT) captured vegetation in the descending aortic graft and the [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography ([18F]FDG PET/CT) showed accumulation of FDG in the same site, suggesting a graft infection. Despite all these suspicious findings, repeated blood culture examinations never detected any microorganisms. A diagnosis of In the present case, the patient’s specific feature in the anatomical vascular construction, past operation, and basal fundamental diseases collaboratively contributed to the pathogenesis of the present infection. It is important to recognize the risk of graft infection and conduct imaging studies when indicative symptoms emerge. The negativity in blood culture studies often makes detection of pathogenic microbes extremely difficult. This case suggests that non-cultural tests such as bDG and GM can be useful for diagnosis and starting appropriate anti-fungal drugs in the early stages. Staphylococci and methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus have been reported as major pathogens, while fungal induced infection is known to be rare fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography / computed tomography ([18F]FDG PET/CT) showed accumulation of FDG in the distal end of the descending aortic graft  for the first four days, but had to change to 50 mg per day of micafungin (MCFG) and 150 mg per day of amphotericin B (AMPH) because of drug-induced hyponatremia. The patient’s condition improved and her inflammatory marker decreased over the course of the anti-fungal therapy Fig. . For theAspergillus species was only 15 or less between 1980 and 2001 FDG PET/CT played important roles in detecting the infectious loci. [18F]FDG PET/CT is known to be useful to detect foci of graft infections with a sensitivity of 85% and a specificity of 68.4% . Unlike This case is also notable for remote onset of infection after an aortic graft insertion. In many reports, end-graft infections occurred during the early phase after insertion of the graft . HoweverCurrent therapeutic options for graft infections are surgical and medication therapies . SurgicaIn conclusion, we experienced a rare case of repeated large-arterial embolisms originating from late-onset end-graft infection in the descending aorta. For the management of complex graft infection as in the present case, this report highlights (1) the importance of repeated imaging studies by using all available modalities including [18F]FDG PET/CT to specify the infectious loci, and (2) the usefulness of non-cultural tests for diagnosis and selection of effective agents, especially in case of fungal infection.


On 13 December 2020, the 79th Conference of the International Law Association (ILA) adopted by consensus the ‘ILA Guidelines for Sustainable Natural Resources Management for Development’ (Resolution 2020/4). This resolution was passed at the conclusion of its Kyoto session, which in view of COVID-19 constraints took place virtually for the first time in history. The ILA Sustainable Natural Resources Guidelines had been prepared by the ILA Committee on the Role of International Law in the Sustainable Natural Resources Management for Development, in which Professor Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger (Canada) and Professor Nico Schrijver (the Netherlands) served as Rapporteur and Chairperson, respectively. This Committee was established in November 2012, building on a distinguished history of ILA enquiry into international law on sustainable development and with a traditional focus on the developmental dimensions. The ILA Committee engaged 49 legal expert members from over 30 countries from six continents, and over eight years met in collaborative working sessions in Leiden (2015), Montreal (2017), Cambridge (2018), Athens (2019) and Lugano .1Global concern about sustainable natural resource management is increasing significantly. In response, the field of international law on sustainable development has been rapidly evolving. The Committee adopted a broad notion of ‘natural resources’. Systematic deliberations focused on: (1) global natural resources that have been recognised as common concerns or the common heritage of humankind, such as celestial bodies, the atmosphere and a stable climate system, biological diversity and ecological systems, and the ocean and its mineral and living resources; (2) regional and transboundary natural resources of global importance such as forests and landscapes, rivers and freshwater ecosystems, and migratory species; and (3) national natural resources of global relevance such as forests and landscapes, land and soil, mineral commodities, including precious minerals, and sustainable energy. The experts on the ILA Committee considered instances in which commitments to the sustainable management of natural resources for development have been enshrined in international treaty law, reflected in the practices of States and international organizations and in the decisions of international courts and tribunals, and increasingly operationalized in international ‘soft law’ goals, standards and guidelines in relation to different resources, taking into consideration selected national level developments where relevant.Three principal pillars formed the Work Programme of this ILA Committee:(i) The study and analysis of the contents, legal status and application of the principles and rules of international law related to the sustainable management of natural resources at the international and national levels, as well as an assessment of the practice of States, and international organizations in this field;the status of the obligation of States to use natural resources in a manner that is sustainable, including issues such as the obligation to undertake impact assessments of plans and projects that might affect sustainable development, transboundary resources management, the sharing of resources in the world interest and taking into account the interests and needs of future generations;innovative instruments to support sustainable use of natural resources and their status and implementation in international and national law, including measures within regional trade and investment agreements and multilateral economic treaties;the relationship between natural resource management and the enjoyment of human and peoples’ rights;decisions of international courts and tribunals on matters related to natural resource management.(ii) An examination of the relationship between the evolving international law in the field of sustainable development and the principle of the sustainable use of natural resources, particularly analysis of:(iii) The study of national and international approaches to the regulation of natural resources in developing countries and the impact of such approaches on the sustainable use of natural resources and on the evolution of international law in this field.In essence, the ILA Committee’s work has demonstrated that the world’s natural resources, once seen as national and subject to permanent sovereignty, are now increasingly recognized as eliciting common global, regional, transboundary and national concerns, thereby challenging international law to provide more coherent and effective cooperative regimes for sustainable management. Tensions can exist with regard to certain nationally-based resources, however myriad rules and standards now define, guide and direct State practice, providing a roadmap for the progressive development of international law on the sustainable management of natural resources for development.In the view of the ILA Committee, international law has the potential to shape the principles, regulatory frameworks, institutions, standards and incentives for natural resource management on multiple local, national, regional and global levels. After a thorough review, the Committee’s findings suggest that international law both reflects and also serves as a critical catalyst for the design, adoption, and implementation of sustainable natural resource management and resolution of disputes in relation to the use of natural resources. Global natural resources which have been recognised as common concerns or the common heritage of humankind crucially require increased collective commitment and compliance with the international law and practices reflected in the newly adopted ILA Sustainable Natural Resources Guidelines. Regional and transboundary natural resources of global importance are also greatly at risk, and their sustainability depends on the crafting, implementation and enforcement of effective and collaborative international legal regimes. Further, the sustainable management of national natural resources of global relevance can be greatly facilitated by international law. Indeed, international law and non-binding international and national instruments such as standards and guidelines function as a baseline for States and other actors involved in natural resource management, shaping operating environments in which sustainable development will either be fostered, or frustrated.In assessing the role of international law in this context, it is crucial to take into account how concepts of sovereignty and territory are evolving to accommodate new scientific understanding of interrelated ecological systems and conditions, whereby notions of custodial sovereignty may offer useful insights. The Committee’s work has established that sovereignty, of key importance to international law from its inception, is becoming both more fluid and more qualified in the face of shared responsibilities for the sustainable use of transboundary, regional, and global international natural resources, and collaborative regimes for management. The Committee has identified tensions in the context of nationally-based natural resources, and has considered how international legal regimes may offer options to reconcile key concerns, avoiding or reducing the potential for conflict between and within States over resource use, as well as defusing potential clashes between resource conservation and exploitation goals.Natural resources are also essential to advance nearly all 17 Sustainable Development Goals, and many of their 169 targets, from poverty elimination, to ending hunger, to access to water and energy, to combating climate change and promoting peace, justice and security.lex lata rules of treaty law that are binding on the Parties as well as customary rules, and also many norms that are still lex ferenda, with a view to future directions in law-making.These Guidelines reflect both established international law, including The Guidelines are organized in three parts. The First Part (I) presents, sector by sector in a non-exhaustive survey, certain guidelines for the sustainable management of global, regional, transboundary and national natural resources, covering: (1) global natural resources such as celestial bodies, the atmosphere and a stable climate system, biological diversity and ecological systems, and the ocean and its mineral and living resources; (2) regional and transboundary natural resources of global importance such as forests and landscapes, rivers and freshwater ecosystems, and migratory species; and (3) national natural resources of global relevance such as forests and landscapes, land and soil, mineral commodities, including precious minerals, and sustainable energy. The Second Part (II) addresses trends and innovations in international legal instruments and approaches in sustainable natural resources management for development, with a non-exhaustive selection covering trends from: (1) human rights approaches; (2) economic instruments; (3) environment and sustainable development cooperation including scientific collaboration, financing mechanisms, monitoring, reporting and verification, and public participation and access to information and justice; and (4) peacebuilding and post-conflict instruments, including secure land and water access. This Part also covers (5) innovative techniques and requirements in international instruments on the sustainable management of natural resources for development, with special attention to: (a) sustainable resources management through transparency and stakeholder engagement, (b) equitable benefit-sharing from sustainable natural resources management, (c) legal indicators of effectiveness for sustainable natural resources management, and (d) control of illicit flows for sustainable natural resources management. The Part further covers a brief, non-exhaustive update on (6) sustainable natural resources management in international dispute settlement. Finally, in the Third Part (III), explanatory notes are provided for the interpretation and application of the 2020 ILA Guidelines on the Role of International Law in Sustainable Natural Resources Management for Development.NILR (1986), pp. 326–333 and the ILA New Delhi Declaration of Principles of International Law Relating to Sustainable Development, published in 49 NILR (2002), pp. 299–305.These ILA Kyoto Sustainable Natural Resources Guidelines build on and contribute important insights to earlier key normative standards of the ILA, including the ILA Seoul Declaration on the Progressive Development of Principles of Public International Law relating to a New International Economic Order, published in 33


This study introduces the EpiCurator workflow to predict and prioritize epitopes from SARS-CoV-2 genomes by combining a series of computational filtering tools. To validate the workflow effectiveness, SARS-CoV-2 genomes retrieved from the GISAID database were analyzed. We identified 11 epitopes in the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of Spike glycoprotein, an important antigenic determinant, not previously described in the literature or published on the Immune Epitope Database (IEDB). Interestingly, these epitopes have a combination of important properties: recognized in sequences of the current variants of concern, present high antigenicity, conservancy, and broad population coverage. The RBD epitopes were the source for a multi-epitope design to in silico validation of their immunogenic potential. The multi-epitope overall quality was computationally validated, endorsing its efficiency to trigger an effective immune response since it has stability, high antigenicity and strong interactions with Toll-Like Receptors (TLR). Taken together, the findings in the current study demonstrated the efficacy of the workflow for epitopes discovery, providing target candidates for immunogen development.The ongoing coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, triggered by the emerging SARS-CoV-2 virus, represents a global public health challenge. Therefore, the development of effective vaccines is an urgent need to prevent and control virus spread. One of the vaccine production strategies uses the  The emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 infection, causing COVID-19 disease, has spread rapidly worldwide and represents a global challenge for public health . This viCurrent research aims to develop effective interventions for controlling and preventing the COVID-19 pandemic; furthermore, vaccination is still the most economical and effective approach to prevent infection by the virus . At the The current vaccines are generally based on B cell immunity with neutralizing antibody production . HoweverTo improve the vaccine’s effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2, global efforts in resources, cooperation, and innovation have contributed to the accelerated development of COVID-19 vaccines . These eThis work highlights the peptide-based vaccine described in several studies about SARS-CoV-2 vaccines . CurrentThe peptide-based vaccine design requires the immunoinformatic approach as part of the computational vaccinology strategy for epitopes prediction . This apT cell epitopes offer advantages for vaccine design since it does not depend on the recognition of structural proteins  and are in vitro peptide-based vaccine design a robust, refined and accurate in silico selection of epitopes is crucial. Despite the many immunoinformatic tools for epitope prediction, the curation for epitope selection is still limited and needs different web servers to complete the analysis. In this paper, we focus on a computational prediction, curation and validation of SARS-CoV-2 epitopes. We have as a central proposal a workflow (EpiCurator) that brings together different approaches for accurate selection of epitopes, providing the refined identification of promising SARS-CoV-2 epitopes. To validate the efficacy of this new tool, we use samples of circulating Brazilian lineages available in GISAID (https://www.gisaid.org/) (To provide effective T cell epitopes for id.org/)  from Decn = 770), P.2 , B.1.1.28 (n = 223) and B.1.1.33 (n = 136). These genomes were analyzed by The Viral Annotation Pipeline and iDentification (VAPiD) (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/). The final genome processing includes clustering the amino acid sequences for each protein using the CD-HIT package   to deter package  with a 1Clustal Omega and MView tool performed a homology analysis for the Spike protein ; Brown, among 10https://services.healthtech.dtu.dk/) that allow the high-throughput computing analysis. These predictors support FASTA files containing amino acids marked with “X” in the sequence expanding the possibility of public genomes analysis, even with minor sequencing errors. This prediction features decreasing the pre-processing sequence steps and avoids the false-positive epitopes provided by joining sequences.The T and B cell epitopes prediction was performed using the softwares NetCTL, NetMHCpan, and NetMHCIIpan  or available in the IEDB database  to identify the predicted epitopes sequence in the human genome. The workflow keeps the human protein sequences in memory to enhance the analysis readiness, searching strictly for the corresponding epitope sequences (exact match). Only the unmatched epitopes are selected, returning a filtered list of epitopes without human homology .A comparison is performed between the sequence of the epitopes derived from three groups of prediction . This analysis calculates the intersection and the identity among the lists of epitopes belonging to these groups returning four reports: (i) the intersection of all groups, (ii) B cell x Class I epitopes, B cell x Class II epitopes, and (iii) Class I x Class II epitopes. The result keeps the epitopes with less than 60% similarity in each report .i.e., .doc, .docx, .txt, .pdf).The EpiMiner was developed to execute an automatic search of the predicted epitopes list on Pubmed and PMC published papers  Fig. 1BFig. 1B. https://www.iedb.org/database_export_v3.php) was retrieved (accessed on July 2021), and the structured files were parsed to filter the epitopes belonging to SARS-CoV-2 organisms   v3 release  . This fi 1, 268) .https://covid-19.uniprot.org/). This analysis describes the coordinates and presence of mutations in the predicted epitopes  (γ), interleukin-4 (IL-4), interleukin-10 (IL-10), and interleukin-17 (IL-17)  . Likewis (IL-17)  was eval (IL-17)  and immu (IL-17)  was verihttp://tools.iedb.org/population/) is used to analyze how T cell epitopes-HLA binding alleles diverge across ethnicities, regions, and countries around the world ; additionally, six genome sequences reported by Protein sequences for SARS-CoV-2 isolates reported by n = 11) were used to construct a multi-epitope sequence connected by specific linkers ) in the N-terminal sequence and a histidine hexamer in the C-terminal portion  to evaluate the in silico immune profile of the multi-epitope construct  that predicts structural properties such as solvent accessibility (ACC) and disorder regions (DIS)  server which improves global and local model quality by rebuilding all side-chain conformations and applying structural relaxations (https://prosa.services.came.sbg.ac.at/prosa.php) to validate the structural models checking for potential errors (https://cluspro.bu.edu) (http://imods.chaconlab.org) that performs Normal Mode Analysis (NMA) to describe functional motions between macromolecules in complexes and simulates feasible trajectories between two conformations (The tertiary structure multi-epitope construct is modeled by the RaptorX server (ns (DIS)    using th.bu.edu) . Their srmations  , HLA Class II (CD4+ T cell), and B cell. To predict potential CD8+ T cell epitopes, the NetCTL and NetMHCpan, predictive algorithms were performed for all proteins annotated from 1,652 SARS-CoV-2 genomes (see Methods). Thus 9-mer epitopes were predicted with strong binding affinity assigned by percentile scores (rank) ≤0.5% across HLA class I alleles frequent in the Brazilian population . Cumulatn = 3, 702), suggesting that HLA-DRB1 alleles could lead these epitopes to activate the cellular immune response  to the accurately selected epitopes .To the workflow’s quality assessment analysis, we sought to characterize the number of epitopes taken for the main analysis. The epitopes conservancy selected 29.23% of the predicted epitopes with 100% identity across at least 90% of the SARS-CoV-2 samples. Nevertheless, 70.77% of the predicted epitopes do not correspond to the conservancy parameter , Fig. S2To further assess the quality of the EpiCurator analysis, a pairwise comparison validation was performed. The comparison used NGS data reported by four papers with substantial similarity with our methodologies . The pren = 154 (77.4%)) and Spike glycoprotein (n = 15 (7.5%)) (n = 111 (72.5%)) and Spike glycoprotein (n = 22 (14.4%)). The HLA class II epitopes showed an affinity prevalence for the HLA-DPA1-DPB1 haplotypes  HLA class I-restricted T cell epitopes were selected from SARS-CoV-2 proteins, mainly identified in ORF1ab ( (7.5%)) , Fig. 3A (7.5%)) . The HLAplotypes . The complotypes . Interesplotypes .in silico protective immune responses. The analysis identified the profile of HLA class I and HLA class II epitopes respectively as follow: IL-4 inducer activity (26.6% and 23.8%), IFNγ production (22.1% and 39.7%), immunomodulatory activity (2% and 3.3%), and proinflammatory activity (78.9% and 81.4%)  .in silico Brazilian epitopes candidate, we sought to estimate their distribution among the Brazilian circulating lineages at the time of analysis . Firstly, we identify the number of epitopes in common across P.1, P.2 and B.1.1.28 lineages identifying the highest proportion of HLA class II epitopes (61.4%), following by HLA class I (46.7%) and B cell (14.3%)  . Thereaf (14.3%) .In the last analysis, considering the HLA promiscuity epitopes selection, the population coverage for the T cell epitopes associated with their respective HLA allele binding  was estin = 58) were mainly in the N-terminal domain (NTD) (53.4%) and receptor-binding domain (RBD) (18.9%)  .n = 11) comprise three of HLA class I , three of HLA class II , and five B cell epitopes  (The RBD epitopes (ERD-480) .To evaluate the robust and refined RBD epitopes selection, we perform a diversified analysis. They unveil the highest antigenicity (1.1 ± 0.27)  reflectiThe high conservancy observed suggests that epitope sequences are shared in the circulating Brazilian lineages. Considering the natural homology among the SARS-CoV-2 lineages but regardless of the epitopes’ conservancy with other lineages, we expand the identification of the RBD epitopes for diversified samples available in GISAID at the time of writing. Interestingly these epitopes were identified in more than 1 million samples for around 1 thousand lineages of GISAID . These fin silico structural binding performance was assessed by the PepDock docking tool. Thus, the RBD epitopes and the most major HLA alleles in studies with COVID-19 (see Methods) were structurally bonded in complex HLA-epitope  was performed to check stability and binding affinity. The best complexes  for eachin silico properties for an immunogen candidate target.Several studies have used immunoinformatic approaches to select B cell and T cell SARS-CoV-2 epitopes for epitopes-based vaccine formulation . HoweverIts effectiveness was validated with a pairwise comparison analysis with four previously published papers . The maiin silico candidates with a plausible assumption to be described by the first time in this study. Consequently, this analysis might also validate the effectiveness of our workflow’s accurate selection analysis, since our epitopes were identified in different studies previously published , an adjuvant represented in orange, linked by EAAAK, AAY and GPGPG linkers (right legend). The linear sequence of the multi-epitopes is represented with the same colors previously listed, added with a histidine hexamer.Click here for additional data file.10.7717/peerj.12548/supp-2Supplemental Information 2The plot represents the percentage of epitopes removed and each different analysis identified in the caption for the HLA class I epitopes (A), HLA class II epitopes (B) and B cell epitopes (C).Click here for additional data file.10.7717/peerj.12548/supp-3Supplemental Information 3Structure complexes provided by docking simulation show the MHC binding grooves (blue ribbons), and the epitope (red structure) for HLA class I alleles (A) and HLA class II alleles (B). For each complex, the amino acids sequence of the epitope and HLA binding allele are available.Click here for additional data file.10.7717/peerj.12548/supp-4Supplemental Information 4The alpha helix residues are in pink square, the beta strand residues are in yellow square, the coil residues are in grey square. The disordered residues are in Blue border square and purple border square and the epitopes are in black border square.Click here for additional data file.10.7717/peerj.12548/supp-5Supplemental Information 5(A) Concentration of B cell population, including memory B cell after multi-epitope exposures. (B) Concentration of T-cell population, including memory cell after multi-epitope exposures. (C) Concentration of B cell population per state - Active, Internalized the Ag, Presentation on MHC II, Duplicating in the mitotic cycle and Anergic (D) Concentration of T cell population per state - Active, Duplicating in the mitotic cycle, Anergic and Resting - not active. For all panels the specific subclasses are indicated as colored peaks.Click here for additional data file.10.7717/peerj.12548/supp-6Supplemental Information 6(A) shows the solvent accessibility of each residue along the structure, and the proportion of buried, medium exposed and high exposed residues. (B) represents the disorder degree of each residue.Click here for additional data file.10.7717/peerj.12548/supp-7Supplemental Information 7The structure refined using the GalaxyRefine server had all the RBD epitopes highlighted following their type: yellow color refers to HLA class I T-cell epitopes, pink color corresponds to the HLA class II T-cell epitopes, and the B-cell epitopes are represented by the blue color.Click here for additional data file.10.7717/peerj.12548/supp-8Supplemental Information 8(A) shows the z-score comparing our multi-epitope structure to determined structures from PDB of the same size. (B) corresponds to the level of energy of each residue.Click here for additional data file.10.7717/peerj.12548/supp-9Supplemental Information 9(A) refers to the eigenvalue and the needed energy for structure deformation; (B) shows the covariance matrix representing the unrelated (white), correlated (red) and anti-correlated (blue) residues; (C) demonstrates the results of the elastic network model and the darker gray regions point to more rigid springs; plot (D) shows the main-chain deformability simulation; and (E) represents the uncertainty quantification for each residue through the b-factor values.Click here for additional data file.10.7717/peerj.12548/supp-10Supplemental Information 10(A) refers to the eigenvalue and the needed energy for structure deformation; (B) shows the covariance matrix representing the unrelated (white), correlated (red) and anti-correlated (blue) residues; (C) demonstrates the results of the elastic network model and the darker gray regions point to more rigid springs; plot (D) shows the main-chain deformability simulation; and (E) represents the uncertainty quantification for each residue through the b-factor values.Click here for additional data file.10.7717/peerj.12548/supp-11Supplemental Information 11Click here for additional data file.10.7717/peerj.12548/supp-12Supplemental Information 12Click here for additional data file.10.7717/peerj.12548/supp-13Supplemental Information 13Click here for additional data file.10.7717/peerj.12548/supp-14Supplemental Information 14Click here for additional data file.10.7717/peerj.12548/supp-15Supplemental Information 15Click here for additional data file.10.7717/peerj.12548/supp-16Supplemental Information 16Click here for additional data file.10.7717/peerj.12548/supp-17Supplemental Information 17Click here for additional data file.10.7717/peerj.12548/supp-18Supplemental Information 18Click here for additional data file.10.7717/peerj.12548/supp-19Supplemental Information 19Click here for additional data file.10.7717/peerj.12548/supp-20Supplemental Information 20The quality features are QDT-HA, RMSD, MolProbity, Clash score, Poor Rotamers and the Ramachandran plot score (Rama favored).Click here for additional data file.


A new polycondensation aromatic rigid-chain polyester macroinitiator was synthesized and used to graft linear poly-2-ethyl-2-oxazoline as well as poly-2-isopropyl-2-oxazoline by cationic polymerization. The prepared copolymers and the macroinitiator were characterized by NMR, GPC, AFM, turbidimetry, static, and dynamic light scattering. The molar masses of the polyester main chain and the grafted copolymers with poly-2-ethyl-2-oxazoline and poly-2-isopropyl-2-oxazoline side chains were 26,500, 208,000, and 67,900, respectively. The molar masses of the side chains of poly-2-ethyl-2-oxazoline and poly-2-isopropyl-2-oxazoline and their grafting densities were 7400 and 3400 and 0.53 and 0.27, respectively. In chloroform, the copolymers conformation can be considered as a cylinder wormlike chain, the diameter of which depends on the side chain length. In water at low temperatures, the macromolecules of the poly-2-ethyl-2-oxazoline copolymer assume a wormlike conformation because their backbones are well shielded by side chains, whereas the copolymer with short side chains and low grafting density strongly aggregates, which was visualized by AFM. The phase separation temperatures of the copolymers were lower than those of linear analogs of the side chains and decreased with the concentration for both samples. The LCST were estimated to be around 45 °C for the poly-2-ethyl-2-oxazoline graft copolymer, and below 20 °C for the poly-2-isopropyl-2-oxazoline graft copolymer. The synthesis of rigid-chain polymers in the middle of the 20th century was a breakthrough in polymer science and technology, which made it possible to obtain new ultra-strong materials. Rigid-chain polymers usually include polymers with a Kuhn segment length A of more than 10 nm. The high rigidity of macromolecules predetermines their elongated state in the direction of the main chain and often provides lyotropic mesomorphism ,4,5. SucThe establishment of the correlation of molecular characteristics of such polymers with their structure has been and is still being actively pursued by many scientific groups. Analysis of the various molecular structures showed that the high chain equilibrium and kinetic rigidity is the effect of a specific chemical structure of macromolecules ,11. The Research on comb-like polymers, or more precisely, molecular brushes, intensified at the end of the 20th century, when new synthetic approaches were developed that allowed the controlled synthesis of high-molecular compounds of various architectures ,27,28,29Recently, special attention has been attracted by amphiphilic stimuli-sensitive graft copolymers, solutions of which are characterized by a nonlinear response to a weak external effect, for example, to a change in the temperature or acidity of the medium, to irradiation with light at a certain wavelength, etc. ,55,56,57r.ch.-graft-PAlOx), in which thermosensitive PEtOx or PiPrOx are grafted to a rigid-chain aromatic polyester (APEr.ch.); (ii) determination of hydrodynamic and conformational characteristics of the synthesized APEr.ch.-graft-PAlOx; and (iii) the study of the thermal response of aqueous solutions of the synthesized molecular brushes and its dependence on the chemical structure of the side PAlOx chains. The structure of APEr.ch.-graft-PAlOx is shown in All the cited works investigated graft copolymers in which flexible-chain polymers were used as the main chain. It seems interesting to analyze how the behavior of molecular brushes with PAlOx side chains will change if the backbone is a rigid chain polymer. In connection with the above, the objectives of this work are: (i) the development of approaches to the controlled synthesis of copolymers (APE2-(4-(2-bromoethyl)phenylsulfonylhydroquinone was chosen as a polycondensation monomer containing functional groups suitable for initiating cationic polymerization of 2-alkyl-2-oxazolines. The choice of this compound was determined by the fact that previously described  soluble Synthesis of 2-(4-(2-bromoethyl)phenylsulfonylhydroquinone was carried out using the previously published procedure , which i-2,5-dicarbonyl dichloride was used as a comonomer. The polymer synthesis was carried out under the conditions of acceptorless high-temperature polycondensation , which h3COOH, m-cresol), which significantly limits the choice of a medium for cationic polymerization. It is obvious that protonic acids are unsuitable for this purpose, while chlorinated hydrocarbons are close to theta-solvents for synthesized macroinitiators at room temperatures phenylsulfonylhydroquinone (1)  and 2-is3. Dialysis was performed with the use of dialysis bags  with an MWCO of 3500 Da. NMR spectra were recorded on a Bruker AC 400 spectrometer (400 MHz) for solutions in CDClMw = 6 × 102–4 × 104).The chromatographic analysis was performed on a Shimadzu LC-20AD chromatograph equipped with a SDA0830055E1 column (PSS SDV 50 Å (5 µm) 300 mm × 8.0 mm, Mainz, Germany) and a refractometric detector. A solution of LiBr in DMF (0.1 mol/L) at 60 °C was used as the mobile phase. Calibration was performed relative to poly(ethylene glycol) standards , 2,5-dichlorocarbonylbiphenyl , and 1-chloronaphthalene (30 mL). The obtained mixture was purged with dry argon and heated up to 200 °C under a flow of gas. The reaction mixture was kept at 200 °C for 2 h. The polymer was precipitated with hexane, continuously extracted with hexane in Soxlet apparatus for 6 h, and dried. Yield 6.5 g (93%).1H NMR : 3.22 , 3.56 , 7.11–8.43 A solution of initiator and monomer in 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane  was heated under argon for 72 h at 70 °C. The solvent was distilled off in vacuum, the polymer was dissolved in ethanol, dialyzed against water for 48 h, and freeze-dried.A solution of 0.1 g of a graft-copolymer in 5 mL of 1 M KOH in 2-methoxyethanol was heated under reflux for 10 min, after which it was neutralized and evaporated to dryness in vacuo. The residue was dissolved in 5 mL of ethanol, dialyzed against sodium bicarbonate (concentration 0.1 mol/L) using CellaSep dialysis bags with MWCO 1000 Da, and freeze-dried. The product was dissolved in 15 mL of propionic anhydride or isobutyric anhydride, heated at 50 °C for 30 min, and evaporated under reduced pressure.Mw of the macroinitiator APEr.ch. and the APEr.ch.-graft-PAlOx graft copolymers, and the hydrodynamic radii Rh of their macromolecules were determined in dilute solutions in organic solvents by static (SLS) and dynamic (DLS) light scattering. Tetrachloroethane  was used as a solvent for the APEr.ch., and it was chloroform for the molecular brushes , since associative phenomena were absent in them. Weight-average molar masses λ0 = 659.1 nm was used as a light source. Calibration was carried out using toluene, the absolute scattering intensity of which was Rv = 1.38×10−5 cm−1. Before measurements, the solutions were filtered into dust-free cells using Chromafil polyamide filters  with a pore size of 0.45 μm.The measurements were carried out in a Photocor Complex instrument , which was equipped with a Photocor-PC2 correlator with 288 channels, as well as a Photocor-PD detector for measuring the intensity of transmitted light. A Photocor-DL semiconductor laser with a wavelength Mw values were obtained by the usual Debye technique by measuring the light scattering intensity at an angle of 90°. The plots for Mw determination for the macroinitiator and the grafted copolymers are shown on Mw were calculated using the equation:I90 is the intensity of the light scattering at the 90° angle, A2 is the second virial coefficient, H is the optical constant, and the value of H is:NA is the Avogadro’s number.For all solutions, there was no scattered light asymmetry, and Rh(c) collected at concentrations c did not depend on c (Rh(c) values were averaged over the concentration to obtain the Rh.The scattered light intensity distributions were unimodal. The hydrodynamic radii of the macromolecules end on c , and then was measured on a RA-620 refractometer . The refractive index increment dn/dc, which is a factor in (7), was calculated as a slope of the dependence (n − n0)/c on c, where n is the refractive index of the solution taken at a concentration c.The refractive index r.ch.-graft-PAlOx copolymers in aqueous solutions was studied by light scattering and turbidimetry using the Photocor Complex device described above. The temperature T was controlled with an accuracy of 0.1 °C, changing it discretely with a step from 5.0 °C at low temperatures to 1.0 °C near the phase separation interval.The thermal sensitivity of the APEI* were measured as a function of T with increasing temperature. The temperatures T1 of the beginning of phase separation were determined from the dependences I(T) and I*(T), taking as T1 the temperatures at which a decrease in I* began. The hydrodynamic radii Rh of scattering species were measured as a function of T The measurements of the particles’ size were carried out after reaching the equilibrium state of the solutions, that is, after the values of I and I* reached constant values over time.The scattered light intensity I and the transmitted light intensity The surface morphology of the samples was investigated by the AFM method on the SPM-9700HT scanning probe microscope equipped with the SPM software v.4.76.1  using NSG30-SS Silicon probes with the radius of the tip curvature of 2 nm produced by “TipsNano” . To take the sample, the tapping mode measurements were conducted in air using mica as a support.r.ch.-graft-PEtOx and the APEr.ch.-graft-PiPrOx, respectively. In contrast to the previously studied molecular brushes APE-graft-PAlOx, in this case, the macroinitiator was a rigid-chain polymer. The Kuhn segment length for the APEr.ch. macroinitiator is estimated to be of the order of 23 nm, which results in specific properties of the polymer brushes as in organics as in a selective solvent. In chloroform, the APEr.ch.-graft-PEtOx and APEr.ch.-graft-PiPrOx macromolecules take a wormlike cylindrical conformation, the asymmetry of which depends on the PAlOx side chains’ length.New diphylic grafted copolymers were synthesized successfully. A polycondensation aromatic polyester served as a macroinitiator to graft poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) and poly(2-isopropyl-2-oxazoline) side chains by cationic polymerization. A fundamentally different chemical class of the backbone and the side chains ensure diphilicity of the resulting polymer brushes. Analysis of their molecular and architectural characteristics made it possible to conclude that they can be considered as loose brushes, with a grafting degree of 0.53 and 0.27 for the APEr.ch. backbone determines either the intra- or intermolecular organization of macromolecules, depending on the length of the side chains and the distance between the grafting points. A rigid-chain brush with a low side chain grafting density takes on a cylindrical wormlike conformation in the case of sufficiently long PAlOx side chains and aggregate in water in big structures if the side chains are short.It was shown that architectural parameters are essential for their conformational properties in selective solvents, self-organization, and thermoresponsiveness. Due to high equilibrium rigidity of the main chain, the nature of the self-assembly process of the graft copolymers of the aromatic polyester with PAlOx side chains differs significantly from that of the flexible-chain polymer brushes with similar side chains. Whereas a flexible APE main chain with short side chains is sufficiently labile and capable of changing conformation in various solvents, the rigid hydrophobic APEr.ch. copolymer, which is conditioned by the thermoresponsiveness of the PAlOx side chains, was studied. The LCST of the APEr.ch.-graft-PEtOx under consideration, at given molecular and architectural characteristics, is assumed to be around 45 °C, whereas for the APEr.ch.-graft-PiPrOx, the LCST is much lower than 20 °C. The phase separation temperatures are determined by both the structure and the length of the side chains, and the grafting density. Thus, architecture parameters play a prominent role as in conformational and aggregative properties as in the thermoresponsive behavior of hybrid graft copolymers with a hydrophobic aromatic polyester main chain and hydrophilic thermosensitive polyalkyloxazoline side chains.The range of thermosensitivity of the rigid-chain APE


Purpose: This study investigated the effects of isometric plantar-flexion against different resistances on the thoracolumbar fascia (TLF), erector spinae (ES), and gastrocnemius stiffness by shear wave elastography (SWE). The purpose was to explore the interaction between the lower limb muscle and lumbar tissue in the myofascial tensegrity network.Methods: Twenty healthy young female were recruited in this study. The stiffness of the TLF, ES, medial gastrocnemius (MG), and lateral gastrocnemius (LG) was measured by SWE under four isometric plantar-flexion resistance conditions. The resistance conditions involved 0% maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC), 20% MVIC, 40% MVIC, and 60% MVIC.Results: There was a strong correlation between the stiffness change of MG and that of TLF  and ES , while it was moderate to strong correlation between MG and that of LG . There was no significant difference in the stiffness between the nondominant and dominant sides of TLF and ES under the resting position (p > 0.05). The increase in stiffness of the TLF, ES, MG, and LG, with MVIC percentage (p < 0.05), and the stiffness of TLF and ES on the nondominant side is much higher than that on the dominant side.Conclusions: Our data shows that isometric plantar-flexion has a significant effect on the stiffness of the lumbar soft tissue and gastrocnemius. The gastrocnemius has a strong correlation with the stiffness changes of TLF and ES, which provides preliminary evidence for exploring the myofascial tensegrity network between the dorsal side of the lower limb muscle and lumbar tissue. Fascia et al. found that the triceps surae are the largest synergist among plantar-flexors  the stiffness of nondominant and dominant lumbar tissues increased asymmetrically with the increase of isometric plantar-flexion resistance; (2) the stiffness of gastrocnemius increased with the increase of isometric plantar-flexion resistance, and the stiffness of MG and LG increased unevenly; and (3) there was a significant correlation between the stiffness changes of the lower leg and the back tissue.This study received approval by the ethics committee of the Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine (YE 2020-131-01). This research follows the principles of the Helsinki Declaration. Before the experiment, all the participants fully understood the safety of SWE, the basic rights of the participants, the experimental purpose, and the process by a written agreement, and they signed an informed consent.The researchers recruited 20 healthy young female participants from Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine from November 2020 to March 2021 . The location of the study was the Department of Ultra-sound Imaging of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine. The inclusion criteria were that (1) all participants had no pain or trauma to their feet, lower limbs, and waist that affected their lives and work for, at least, the past 6 months; (2) all the participants had no history of surgery on their feet, lower limbs, and waist and had no history of neuromuscular diseases and joint diseases; and (3) with the right hands and feet on the dominant side . The participants were instructed to abstain from physical activity for 48 h before the start of the experiment.The study was conducted using an Aixplorer ultrasound device . A 40-mm linear array sensor  is selected for the instrument that was a handheld device. Musculoskeletal mode and SWE mode were selected for device mode. The equipment parameter settings were as follows : conventional preset enhancement mode, image display of 85% opacity, and measurement range from 0 to 300 kPa. The ergometer is HOGGAN Scientific microFET2 , which converts the pressure signal into pounds through the pressure sensor and displays it on the screen.In this experiment, SWE was used to measure the stiffness of TLF, ES, MG, and LG. The lumbar tissue (TLF and ES) stiffness was measured at the third and fourth lumbar vertebra levels (L3 and L4). Firstly, the L4 spinous process was palpated according to the body surface markers, and the L3 spinous process and the L2 spinous process were palpated upward in turn. Then, B-mode ultrasound was used for confirmation and correction, and an oil pen was used to mark the measuring points 2 cm away from the midpoint of L2-3 and L3-4. The measurement site of MG was located at 30% of the length from the medial popliteal fossa to the lateral malleolus and that of LG was located at 30% of length from the lateral popliteal fossa to the medial malleolus. These measuring parts were marked with an oil pen .During the measurement period, all participants remained in the prone position with the hands at both sides of their body, the lower limbs straight, and the ankle joint at 90° position . After tThe experiment was carried out according to the following steps: (1) the participants walked to the ultrasound room on the 4th floor of the hospital, they were fixed on a special bed according to the test requirements, their ankles were fixed at 90° with a special ankle foot orthosis (an ergometer at the bottom), their shoulder was fixed with a wooden block, and then they rested in the prone position for 5 min; (2) the stiffness of TLF, ES, MG, and LG was measured by SWE; (3) the participants were required to perform the maximum isometric plantar-flexion, and the ergometer value was recorded, which was the MVIC. The calculation of resistance value required for each contraction was as follows: 20% MVIC = 0.2 MVIC, 40% MVIC = 0.4 MVIC, and 60% MVIC = 0.6 MVIC. At each contraction, the participants were informed of the target resistance. The participants viewed the resistance value through the screen and kept the displayed value at the target value; (4) SWE was used to monitor the stiffness of the measured point until the stiffness value recovers to the value measured in step (2); (5) the participants were asked to perform 20% MVIC isometric plantar-flexion, and the stiffness of TLF, ES, MG, and LG were measured; (6) after repeating step (4), the participants were instructed to perform isometric plantar-flexion with 40% MVIC, and the stiffness of TLF, ES, MG, and LG was measured; and (7) after repeating step (4), the participants were ordered to perform 60% MVIC isometric plantar-flexion, and the stiffness of TLF, ES, MG, and LG was measured.In the process of image acquisition, the B-mode was used to obtain clear images, and then the preset SWE mode was used to quantify the stiffness of each tissue. Each MVIC contraction was held for 8 s . The measurements were carried out in the order of MG, LG, TLF, and ES. One position was measured for each contraction, and between two contractions, SWE was used to monitor the stiffness of the measured point until the stiffness value recovered to the original stiffness , then followed by the next contraction. Another researcher used the region of interest  of Aiexplorer software to obtain the shear modulus (kPa) from the intercepted image. The size of the ROIs of TLF was set to 1 mm, three adjacent ROIs were set for each measurement area to read data, and the size of ROI of ES, MG, and LG were set to 5 mm . Each mepost-hoc Tukey’s test was performed (t-test was performed to verify the difference in lumbar tissue stiffness (the same tissue and lumbar vertebra level) between the dominant and nondominant sides  was used for statistical analysis. The statistical data was the average of the three measurements, and all statistical data were expressed as mean ± standard deviation (SD). The Shapiro–Wilk test was used for normal distribution of stiffness and stiffness percentage change data, and all data conformed to normal distribution. The one way-ANOVA with stiffness (the same measuring position) as the dependent variable and 0% MVIC, 20% MVIC, 40% MVIC, and 60%MVIC as the independent variables was used to judge whether there were differences in stiffness between different MVICs . When therformed . The paint sides . The sigr-values) of stiffness percentage change between different tissues. The raw values of stiffness reflected the absolute change of tissue under mechanical force loaded, in which it was easy to ignore the stiffness characteristics of the tissue itself. The stiffness percentage change was calculated by the ratio of absolute change of tissue stiffness with its initial stiffness, which truly reflected the influence of the mechanical force on the tissue itself. Therefore, we chose the stiffness percentage change of different tissues to calculate the correlation coefficients as follows: Stiffness percentage change (%) =  ÷ original stiffness × 100% The stiffness percentage change of each measured position was compared to the stiffness percentage change of MG for the same test conditions. The correlation strength of the r-value was set to r <0.3 for weak correlation, 0.3 ≤ r ≤ 0.6 for moderate correlation, and r >0.6 for a strong correlation. The statistical significance level was set as p = 0.05.Pearson’s correlation was used to calculate the correlation coefficients  and ES  has a strong correlation with the stiffness percentage change of MG under different resistance. The correlation of hardness percentage change between LG and MG was moderate and strong .Each stiffness percentage change of every measurement position was compared with the stiffness percentage change of MG for the same test conditions . The resThe purpose of this study was to elucidate the stiffness changes of the lower limb muscle and lumbar tissue during isometric plantar-flexion so as to better understand the interaction between different tissues in the myofascial tensegrity network. This study found that the stiffness changes of the lower limb muscle and lumbar tissue during isometric plantar-flexion had the following characteristics: (1) the stiffness of the TLF, ES, MG, and LG increased with the increase of isometric resistance; (2) there was a strong correlation between the stiffness percentage change of the lumbar tissue and MG; and (3) the stiffness percentage change of the nondominant lumbar tissue was greater than that of the dominant lumbar tissue.et al. dissected and analyzed the connection structure between the waist, back, and hip and found that TLF is directly connected with the gluteus maximus in the area near the posterior superior iliac spine (PSIS) and S3 spinous process. The aponeurosis of ES extends to be part of the origin of GMax, and the GMax extends downward to be part of the origin of iliotibial tract  during passively stretching the gastrocnemius (et al. showed that the gastrocnemius and hamstring muscles communicate with each other at the popliteal fossa through the deep fascia of the popliteal fossa (The muscle and fascia tissues do not exist in isolation in structure and function but function together in body movement through a mutual connection forming a myofascial tension network to connect all parts of the body as a whole —for examal tract . Wilke eocnemius . The anaal fossa . Their ral fossa . Therefoet al. observed, the myoelectric activity of the nondominant side of the PSIS level was significantly higher than that of the dominant side during the maximum resistance plantar-flexion of the dominant foot, indicating that the impulse conduction generated by the lower extremity tissue tension may complete the cross before reaching the PSIS level (et al. have shown that the fascia can sense the tension produced by the contraction of the proximal muscle and transmit the signal to the distance, leading to the activation of the distal muscle (There was no significant difference in lumbar tissue stiffness between the dominant side and the non-dominant side in the resting state, but after the beginning of plantar flexion, the lumbar tissue stiffness of the nondominant side was always greater than that of the dominant side. We speculate that the reason for this difference may be that the plantar flexion movement on the dominant side changes the tension distribution of the lumbar tissues on both sides. Previous studies have shown that passive dorsiflexion of the ankle can induce joint displacement of the gastrocnemius, semimembranosus, and quadriceps femoris . The conIS level . The stul muscle . Becausel muscle . Therefol muscle . From thPlantar-flexion is an important part of walking, running, jumping, and other activities. ln the process of the foot pushing off the ground, it is accompanied by isometric plantar-flexion and a continuous increase of plantar-flexion myodynamia . TherefoThere are some limitations to this study. First, we failed to measure the thigh portion of the myofascial tensegrity network due to technical reasons. Second, the ankle 90° fixator covers the distal end of the soleus muscle and the Achilles tendon, so we could not evaluate these two areas. Third, only female participants were recruited. In our preliminary experiments, the tissue stiffness of 40 and 60% MVIC in male participants often exceeded the measuring range of the instrument. Therefore, only female individuals were recruited in this study. We need to develop instruments with a larger measuring range to meet the needs of future research. Fourth, although we fully trained the participants to not contract the auxiliary muscles, due to the lack of EMG monitoring equipment, we cannot confirm that this was the case. In the next experiment, we will introduce an EMG device to objectively monitor the muscle activity. Finally, the results of this study were only applicable to healthy young people. We will gradually carry out research on injured people in the future.This study quantified stiffness values of the TLF, ES, MG, and LG in healthy humans during isometric plantar-flexion against different resistances using the SWE. We found a moderate to strong correlation between TLF, ES, MG, and LG during isometric plantar-flexion, which provides preliminary data for exploring the interaction between different tissues in the myofascial tensegrity network. Through the study of different resistance conditions, we know that the change of local force will have a synergistic effect on other parts of the myofascial tensegrity network, which provides a valuable reference for us to understand the overall regulation mode of the myofascial tensegrity network of injury more comprehensively.


Litopenaeus vannamei) surimi were evaluated in the present study. The results showed that the apparent viscosity, G′, and G'' of the samples were increased by adding 6% CLS, making it easy to extrude the sample from the nozzle and resulting in an improvement in the printing accuracy. In addition, after adding 6% CLS, the hardness, adhesiveness, and springiness of the sample were increased, which assist with maintaining the shape of the printed material and improve the printing stability of the sample. Moreover, the water holding capacity of shrimp surimi increased as a result of the addition of 6% CLS. In summary, 6% CLS can improve the material properties of shrimp surimi and make it more suitable for 3D printing.The three‐dimensional (3D) printing properties of pure shrimp surimi are poor and require improvement via the addition of other materials. The effects of the different amounts of potato starch, corn starch, tapioca starch, and cross‐linked starch (CLS)  on the 3D printing properties and material properties of white shrimp  printing properties of pure shrimp surimi were poor. Adding 6% CLS could improve the rheological and textural properties of shrimp surimi. Shrimp surimi adding 6% CLS was more suitable for 3D printing. Potato starch, corn starch, tapioca starch, and cross‐linked starch (first grade) were purchased from Xin Liang Food Company .2.2Fresh nonpregnant shrimps with an average weight of 15 ± 1 g were purchased from Happy Ocean  and immediately shipped to the laboratory in a tank with seawater. Then, the shrimps were stunned in an ice bath, beheaded, and shelled, before lining and washing under low temperature conditions (4°C). The shrimp muscles were chopped for 5 min in a mixer machine . Then, the minced shrimp meat was mixed with iced water at a ratio of 1:5 (w/w) for three washing cycles. The shrimp paste was then wrapped in three layers of gauze for manual dewatering. Then, 3% (w/w) salt was added to the shrimp, which was then chopped for 2 min. Next, 3% (w/w) cooking wine, 1% (w/w) monosodium glutamate, and 1% (w/w) sugar were added to the shrimp, which was then chopped for 2 min. Finally, the shrimp surimi was divided into 13 equal portions, among which, 12 portions of shrimp surimi were chopped for a further 2 min, with different amounts  of PS, CS, TS, and CLS added. The final portion of shrimp surimi was chopped for another 2 min without any starch and was used as a control. The temperature during the preparation process was maintained at 2–5°C. The shrimp surimi was printed immediately once it was prepared.2.3sL represents the side length of the printed sample (mm); Lm represents the side length of the model (mm); H0min represents the height (mm) of the sample stored for 0 min; and H60min represents the height (mm) of the sample stored for 60 min.In this study, a syringe‐type fused deposition modeling 3D food printer  was used. The shrimp surimi with different starch additions were loaded into a 3D printed extrusion barrel, the 3D printer nozzle diameter was 1.20 mm, the printing speed was set to 30 mm/s, the printing height was set to 2 mm, and the printer barrel temperature was set to 25°C for printing. To conveniently measure the printing accuracy and stability of the printed product, a cube model with a side length of 20 mm was designed. The 3D printing properties of the shrimp surimi were evaluated by assessing their appearance during printing as well as the printing accuracy and stability of the 3D printed cubes. The printing accuracy of shrimp surimi was measured after printing was completed. For the printing stability measurement, the printed products were placed at room temperature (25°C) for 60 min, and the length and height of the sample after printing for 0 and 60 min were measured using Vernier callipers. The printing accuracy and stability were calculated as follows:2.4‐1. After loading, the sample was allowed to rest for 2 min at 25°C.The rheological properties of the mixed shrimp surimi at different starch levels were determined by an advanced modular rheometer  with a parallel plate (diameter = 20 mm). The gap between the two plates was set to 1.0 mm. For the determination of steady shear apparent viscosity, the shear rate was ramped from 0.1 to 100 sG′), loss modulus (G''), and loss tangent  were recorded , and the detection indexes included hardness, adhesiveness, and springiness. The instrument was calibrated with a 1 kg load cell, and the test probe was a round cake with a diameter of 38 mm. Sample test parameters were as follows: The height of the probe rising to the sample surface was 30 mm, the compression deformation was 50%, the detection speed was 60 mm/min, and the trigger force was 0.5 N.2.6T2) of shrimp surimi with different starch additions was measured with a low‐field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF‐NMR) instrument . The resonance frequency was set to 22.6 MHz, and the magnetic field strength of the instrument was set to 0.47 T. Then, 10 g of shrimp surimi was placed in a 35 mm‐diameter plastic dish, and the transverse relaxation curve was derived using the Carr–Purcell–Meiboom–Gill pulse sequence mode. The NMR imaging (MRI) of shrimp surimi samples was measured by the same LF‐NMR analyzer, according to the methods of Zhang et al.,  of shrimp surimi sample was placed in a 50 ml centrifuge tube and centrifuged at 10,000 × g for 10 min at 4°C with a refrigerated centrifuge . After centrifugation, the surface water of the shrimp surimi was absorbed by the filter paper, and the weight of the sample was accurately weighed . The WHC was calculated with the following equation:The WHC of the shrimp surimi samples was determined using centrifugation ; Wd represents the dried sample weight (g).The water content of the shrimp surimi was determined by drying samples in a drying oven  at 105°C until a constant weight was achieved. The water content was calculated as follows:2.9p <.05). Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed by SPSS 22.0 . Three batches of (replicated) shrimp surimi were produced. For each batch of samples, all measurements were performed in triplicate. In particular, the TPA experiment was repeated five times.Data were expressed as mean ± standard deviation and analyzed by the general linear model program of JMP software . The significance between means was determined by two‐way analysis of variance and Tukey's multiple comparison method with a confidence interval of 95% (33.1p <.05). This may be because CLS is a modified starch, which has higher viscosity and stability than the original starch . This may be due to the high degree of cross‐linking of CLS, which can increase the stability of the protein internal network structure. In addition, modified starch has inherent physical and chemical advantages such as good solubility in cold water, high water resistance, good mechanical shear resistance, and good freeze‐thaw stability, which can increase the stability of materials . This might be related to the different effects of starch on the gel properties of shrimp surimi as a result of the different ratios and types of branched and straight chains in starch granules . The hardness of the control group was 0.70 N, while that of shrimp surimi with 9% PS, CS, TS, and CLS increased to 0.94, 0.88, 0.98, and 1.01 N, respectively, which may be explained by starch absorbed with the extra moisture increasing the hardness of the raw materials. Starch can expand by absorbing water to stabilize the protein network structure inside the shrimp surimi and increase its hardness. Among the samples with the same starch content, the CLS group had the highest hardness, followed by the TS, PS, and CS groups (p <.05), which corresponds to the results of the WHC. Since native starch is linked together by hydrogen bonds, which is extremely unstable under acidic, high temperature and shear conditions. After the introduction of cross‐linking agents, the physicochemical structure of starch granules can be strengthened by covalently connecting the hydroxyl groups of adjacent polymers . The adhesiveness of the 9% TS group was 3.83 N·mm, which was four times higher than that of the control group (0.95 N·mm). This may be because TS is amylopectin, which has a high viscosity and can enhance the adhesion of shrimp surimi  represents the lower amount of bound water, which is closely bonded within the macromolecules, and water population T21 (10–100 ms) reflects the water trapped within the gel microstructure (immobilized water).LF‐NMR analysis, as a new, nondestructive testing method, can reflect changes in the water state, distribution, and composition of food  of the two water populations. Figure T2 of the samples shifts to the left (short relaxation time direction), A21 gradually decreases, and A2b gradually increases. These results indicate that the addition of starch increases the ability of shrimp surimi to bind water. This is mainly due to the fact that starch molecules contain a large number of hydrophilic groups, which can promote the hydrogen bonding of starch and water, increase the stability of bound water, thus, reduce the T2b and T21 . This might be due to the strong swelling ability of modified starch, which can be fully filled in the structure of shrimp surimi, increasing the ability of shrimp surimi to hold water. Both CS and PS content more amylose. Due to their tightly closed helical structure, they are not conducive to the formation of strong intramolecular hydrogen bonds with water molecules or to combining with water molecules. TS is rich in amylopectin, which is relatively open owing to its high degree of branching and is good for hydrogen bonding with water molecules . This may be because starch has water absorption ability. This result is similar to that of a study by Yang et al., (p <.05). This may be related to the extremely strong water absorption capacity of CLS and TS and, to a certain extent, to the poor water absorption capacity of CS and PS. The WHC of shrimp surimi indirectly reflects the compactness of the microscopic network structure of shrimp surimi. The higher the WHC, the stronger the binding capacity of the network structure of shrimp surimi to water and starch, that is, the denser and more uniform the spatial network structure  in the water content of shrimp surimi adding the same amount of different types of starch, indicating that different types of starch did not affect the water content of shrimp surimi. However, the water content of shrimp surimi gradually decreased (p <.05) with increasing the amount of starch. The water mass in shrimp surimi was fixed, when starch was added, the total mass of mixture increased, while the water mass remained unchanged, so the relative water content of mixture decreased. These results explained why the hardness of shrimp surimi adding starch increased and the 3D printing stability increased with increasing the amount of starch.Water is the most abundant ingredient in shrimp surimi, which directly affects the texture properties of shrimp surimi , increased the WHC and decreased the water content of the shrimp surimi. In summary, adding 6% CLS can improve the 3D printability of shrimp surimi.The addition of starch can effectively improve the 3D printing accuracy and stability of shrimp surimi. The shrimp surimi with 6% CLS had the highest printing accuracy and stability among all the groups studied. Additionally, 6% CLS appropriately increased the The authors declare that they have no competing interests.


This year, 2021, marks the “coming of age” for JoEB with its indexing in PubMed Central. It is also a century since some of the earliest studies on tissue impedance. This editorial briefly reviews the time-line of research in the field to mark this occasion. Les lois de la resistance electrique des tissus vivants”  [It is opportune in 2021 to reflect upon the history of electrical bioimpedance research. While one cannot easily define a starting point for research in the field, 2021 marks one hundred years since the publication by Philippson of “The 1980s saw the rapid rise in publications in the field and interest in impedance techniques from various research groups around the world. The initial stimulus for this surge in interest can be largely attributed to the work of Hoffer in 1969, and earlier Thomasset in 1965, who demonstrated that one could estimate total body water from a measurement of whole-body, wrist to ankle, impedance. Until this time, studies of electrical bioimpedance had been largely of theoretical or academic interest rather than of clinical applicability; arguably, impedance plethysmographic measurement of cardiac function had not fully realized its potential and impedance studies were a technology looking for an application. In 1981, Dr William Mills of the U.S. Navy initiated a study to measure the hydration of soldiers at altitude using the impedance technique of Hoffer. For this work, Mills commissioned RJL Systems, a small company (in today's terms a start-up) to design and build a suitable impedance device. RJL Systems had been established a few years earlier by Rudolph Liedtke who had previously worked on Impedance systems with Nyboer at Wayne State University. A little later in 1985, Lukaski and colleagues published what was to become one of the most influential papers in the field. Lukaski demonstrated that the fat-free mass of the human body could be estimated from whole-body impedance measurements using the RJL device. This paper has now been cited over 1400 times and moved what is now known as bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) from a laboratory research tool to a clinical tool and ultimately mass consumer technology.et al. [There are now many manufacturers of dedicated impedance devices for body composition assessment. These range from those designed for clinical/medical monitoring and research to simple consumer-orientated devices, the body fatness bathroom scale. In parallel with this technological development has been a marked increase in research activity. Scientific publications related to impedance technology now number more than 1500 per year of which around 40% are associated with body composition measurement , crusaders for low and high frequency and adherents of either constant-current or constant-voltage”. These are issues on which there is now little dissent. Devices, except for some specific applications, are almost exclusively 4-terminal and constant current with frequency ranging devices in common use in body composition analysis. It was decided at the XI ICEBI to establish a bioimpedance society with the International Society for Electrical Bioimpedance formally coming into being when its statutes were approved at the XII ICEBI in 2004.Increasing interest in electrical bioimpedance from the late 1960s gave rise to a series of international conferences now formally organized under the auspices of the International Committee for Promotion of Research in Bio-Impedance (ICPRBI). The first International Conference on Electrical Bioimpedance (ICEBI) was held in late September 1969 and the latest, the 17 in 1970 ; it makehttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/journals/3936/). This deservedly will bring much greater exposure to the journal and those that publish therein in the future.Bioimpedance research received further impetus in 2010, when the Oslo Bioimpedance Group established the Journal of Electrical Bioimpedance. In the past 12 years, the journal has gone from strength to strength as an international, peer-reviewed open access journal providing a channel for the publication of a wide-range of papers in the broad field of bioimpedance research. It is fitting, in this hundredth year since Philippson's pioneering study, that JoEB has been accepted for indexing in Pubmed Central  but miniaturization of impedance devices and the advent of wearable electrodes and devices would lead to an important role in real-time monitoring of physiological processes. These views still hold a decade later. The increasing application of health monitoring via smart-phone or dedicated device technologies suggest an increasing role for measurement of electrical impedance. The pioneers in the field would be delighted that their interests are still being pursued with vigor and practical applications in human health are being realized.