bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Oil Recovery Prediction for Polymer Flood Field Test of Heavy Oil on Alaska North Slope Via Machine Assisted Reservoir Simulation
Authors: Keith Cody Douglas , Wang Xindan , Zhang Yin , Dandekar Abhijit Y , Ning Samson , Wang Dongmei
Published: April 2022

The first ever polymer flood field pilot to enhance the recovery of heavy oils on the Alaska North Slope is ongoing. This study constructs and calibrates a reservoir simulation model to predict the oil recovery performance of the pilot through machine-assisted reservoir simulation techniques. To replicate the early water breakthrough observed during waterflooding, transmissibility contrasts are introduced into the simulation model, forcing viscous fingering effects. In the ensuing polymer flood, these transmissibility contrasts are reduced to replicate the restoration of injection conformance during polymer flooding, as indicated by a significant decrease in water cut. Later, transmissibility contrasts are reinstated to replicate a water surge event observed in one of the producing wells during polymer flooding. This event may represent decreased injection conformance from fracture overextension; its anticipated occurrence in the other production well is included in the final forecast. The definition of polymer retention in the simulator incorporates the tailing effect reported in laboratory studies; this tailing effect is useful to the simultaneous history match of producing water cut and produced polymer concentration. The top 24 best-matched simulation models produced at each stage of the history matching process are used to forecast oil recovery. The final forecast clearly demonstrates that polymer flooding significantly increases the heavy oil production for this field pilot compared to waterflooding alone. This exercise displays that a simulation model is only valid for prediction if flow behavior in the reservoir remains consistent with that observed during the history matched period. Critically, this means that a simulation model calibrated for waterflooding may not fully capture the benefits of an enhanced oil recovery process such as polymer flooding. Therefore, caution is recommended in using basic waterflood simulation models to scope potential enhanced oil recovery projects.
Pressure Barrier Applicability to Polymer Flood Design
Authors: Wang Dongmei , Namie Shane , Seright Randall
Published: April 2022

Effective oil displacement from a reservoir requires adequate and properly directed pressure gradients in areas of high oil saturation. If the polymer bank is too large or too viscous during a polymer flood, the pressure drop from the injection well to the polymer front may act as a pressure barrier by usurping most of the downstream driving force for oil displacement. Polymer injection pressures must be limited. The maximum allowable injection pressure is commonly constrained by caprock integrity, injection equipment, and/or regulations, even though fractures can be beneficial to polymer injectivity (and even sweep efficiency in some cases). This paper examines when the pressure-barrier concept limits the size and viscosity of the polymer bank during a polymer flood.

Both analytical and numerical methods are used to address this issue. We examine the relevance of the pressure barrier concept for a wide variety of circumstances, including oil viscosities ranging from 10-cp (like at Daqing, China) to 1650-cp (like at Pelican Lake, Alberta), vertical wells (like at Tambaredjo, Suriname) versus horizontal wells (like at Milne Point, Alaska), single versus multiple layered reservoirs, permeability contrast, and with versus with crossflow between layers. We also examine the relation between the pressure-barrier concept and fractures and fracture extension during polymer injection.

We demonstrate that in reservoirs with single layers, the pressure-barrier concept only limits the optimum viscosity of the injected polymer if the mobility of the polymer bank is less than the mobility of the displaced oil bank. The same is true for multi-zoned reservoirs with no crossflow between layers. Thus, for these cases, the optimum polymer viscosity is likely to be dictated by the mobility of the oil bank, unless other factors (like fracture extension) intervene. For multi-zoned reservoirs with free crossflow between layers, the situation is different. A compromise must be reached between injected polymer viscosity and the efficiency of oil recovery. The relevance of our findings is applied to operations for several existing polymer floods. This work is particularly relevant to viscous-oil reservoirs (like Pelican Lake and others) where the injected polymer viscosities are substantially lower than the oil viscosity
Mapping Chemical EOR Technologies to Different Reservoir Settings at Harsh Conditions in North Kuwait
Authors: Al-Dhuwaihi Abdul-Aziz , Tiwari Sanhita , Baroon Bodoor , AlAbbas Reem , Al-Ajmi Moudi , De Bruijn Gerbert , Nabulsi Randa , Abu Shiekah Issa , Glasbergen Gerard , van Batenburg Diederik
Published: April 2022

EOR is a key focus area for sustaining long term production and maximizing of recovery in Raudhatain and Sabriyah oil fields of North Kuwait (NK). NK oil fields consist of multiple stacked reservoirs containing both clastic and carbonate with challenging temperature and formation water salinity conditions for Chemical EOR. In addition to these harsh conditions, reservoirs have geological structural complexity, reservoir heterogeneity and aquifer strength settings. Kuwait Oil Company is putting large efforts into Chemical EOR (cEOR) maturation through two ongoing ASP pilots and polymer flooding maturation studies. Ongoing studies and preliminary piloting performance results revealed that different reservoir segments have different cEOR requirements for viable incremental oil opportunities on top of ongoing water flooding.

An expansion strategy has been developed that provides a view on how to transition from pilot results to larger scale commercial implementation of cEOR for each reservoir segment. This includes front end elements, beyond conventional cEOR screening studies, injectivity, conformance control, inorganic scaling, facility impact and pattern configurations. For larger scale, many additional aspects such as water source, well location, phasing, logistics and impact of back production are important factors. For commerciality, there needs to be abalance between schedule, maximizing economic recovery, operability,availability of source water and costs. A holistic, structured approach has been established in defining production forecasts and life cycle cost estimates for ASP, SP and polymer development concepts screening for major NK reservoirs. The approach has allowed comparison between recovery methods and reservoirs which helped in defining an EOR expansion plan.

The novelty in this EOR expansion strategy is in application of a structured and holistic approach to map viable cEOR technologies to different reservoir segments based on in-depth screening criteria. The methodology allowed generating "standardized" time bound forecasts and cost estimates for screening a range of viable mapped cEOR methods for a range of reservoir segments- facilitating like for like comparison.
Future droughts in northern Italy: high resolution projections using EURO-CORDEX and MED-CORDEX ensembles
Authors: BARONETTI Alice , Dubreuil Vincent , Provenzale Antonello , Fratianni Simona
Published: April 2022

We analyse the expected characteristics of drought events in northern Italy for baseline (1971–2000), near (2021–2050) and far (2071–2100) future conditions, estimating the drought spatial extent and duration, the percentage of affected area and the frequency of drought episodes. To this end, daily ensembles of precipitation and temperature records from Global Climate Models (GCMs) and Regional Climate Models (RCMs) pairs, extracted from EURO-CORDEX and MED-CORDEX for the RCP 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios, were collected at spatial resolution of 0.11 degrees. Before the analysis, model outputs were validated on daily weather station time series, and scaling factors for possible use in bias correction were identified. Annual temperature and precipitation anomalies for near and far future conditions were investigated; drought events were identified by the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index and Standardized Precipitation Index at the 12-, 24- and 36-month time scales. This study highlights the importance of using multiple drought indicators in the detection of drought events, since the comparison revealed that evapotranspiration anomaly is the main triggering factor. For both scenarios, the results indicated an intensification of droughts in northern Italy for the period 2071–2100, with the Alpine chain being especially affected by an increase of drought severity. A North-to-South spatial gradient of drought duration was also observed.
Modified differential overlap factor and modal gain equalization criteria based comparative analysis of 4M-EDFA 980;1480 nm towards identification of unique Erbium doping profile for 4M-EDFA1480 nm system
Authors: Naik Suhail , Qazi Gausia
Published: April 2022

Space division multiplexing (SDM) based four mode erbium doped fiber amplifier (4M-EDFA) system is explored with 𝐿𝑃01;980 𝑛𝑚 and 𝐿𝑃01;1480 𝑛𝑚 pump power respectively. Main objective of this work is reduction in inherent differential modal gain (DMG) and differential spectral gain (DSG) between amplified signal modes 𝐿𝑃𝑙𝑚 (𝐿𝑃01; 𝐿𝑃11; 𝐿𝑃21 and 𝐿𝑃02) while maintaining high modal gain. Differential modal noise figure (DMNF) and differential spectral noise figure (DSNF) parameters are introduced to quantify amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) impact in 4M-EDFA980 𝑛𝑚; 1480 𝑛𝑚 system. A modified erbium ion inclusive overlap factor (𝜂𝑠𝑝) and more decisive DMG related differential modal overlap factor (DMOF) and DSG related differential spectral overlap factor (DSOF) parameters are extracted using coupled mode equations. Calculations reveal 𝜂𝑠𝑝 favourably high in 4M-EDFA980 𝑛𝑚 than in 4M-EDFA1480 𝑛𝑚 system. However, calculated DMOF and DSOF values are also unfavorably high in the former than in latter. Thereby, 4M-EDFA1480 𝑛𝑚 is further explored for the simultaneous reduction in DMOF and DSOF values. Modified erbium doped profile (MEDP) 4M-EDFA980 𝑛𝑚;1480 𝑛𝑚 system is simulated with erbium ion profile variants: uniform, 𝑁𝑖𝑛𝑣(𝑟) and 𝑁𝑜𝑝𝑡 (𝑟) in the order of their improved performances. 𝑁𝑖𝑛𝑣(𝑟) is extracted from inverse sum of normalised signal intensities related function and subsequently unique 𝑁𝑜𝑝𝑡 (𝑟) profile is proposed that satisfies reasonably differential modal gain equalization criteria. In 4M-EDFA1480 𝑛𝑚 system at 1550 nm wavelength respective values with 𝑁𝑖𝑛𝑣(𝑟) and 𝑁𝑜𝑝𝑡 (𝑟) for average modal gain is 24.05 dB, 24.17 dB; DMG is 2.4388 dB, 0.3624 dB and DMNF is 2.6862 dB, 0.3278 dB.
Evaluation of the Factors Affect Vision Related Quality of Life and Level of Depression in the Patients with Age-Related Macular Degeneration
Authors: Dogan Levent , Tanriverdi Derya , Gungor Kıvanc
Published: April 2022

Purpose: To determine the effect of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) on Vision Related Quality of Life (VRQOL) and depression level.Method: 108 patients followed up or newly diagnosed with AMD in Ophthalmology Clinic at Gaziantep University had been included in this cross-sectional study. The Turkish version of the National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire-25 (NEI VFQ-25) and Geriatric Depression Scale-15 (GDS-15) were assessed to the patients. The results of these two questionnaires were evaluated according to the demographic findings of the patients, the severity, and treatment procedures of the AMD. Results: The scores obtained from subscales varied from 43.48 for ‘Near activities’ to 81.48 for ‘Color vision’ subscales in NEI VFQ-25 test. According to the results of GDS-15 questionnaire, we detected that 62.9% of all the patients were compatible with depression when the cut-off value was accepted as ‘5’. Intravitreal anti-VEGF injection as a treatment procedure had no correlation with depression (p>0.05).Conclusion: The lowest and highest scores had been obtained in ‘Near activities’ and ‘Color vision’ respectively. The patients with AMD had higher depression levels. The female AMD patients had higher rates of depression and lower visual acuity levels.
Fog and dew impacts the hydrological balance in a montane chaparral community
Authors: Gillespie Breahna , Oechel Walter C , Lai Chun-Ta
Published: April 2022

The dry climate of southern California chaparral can cause substantive water stress on ecosystems that limits productivity throughout the year. From the mid-20th century, fog-days have happened less frequently and with decreasing levels of thickness in southern California (Witiw & LaDochy 2008), yet summer fog and higher winter precipitation have been found as key factors that explain the compositional diversity of the maritime chaparral community (Vasey et al. 2014). While the meteorological impact of fog lessens surface radiation in chaparral, the seasonal influence of year-round fog events on chaparral species remained uncertain. In particular, the effect of fog and dew on chaparral water supply and water stress has not been well understood. This includes for chamise (Adenostoma fasciculatum) and redshank (A. sparsifolium), two common, co-occurring species in semi-arid montane chaparral communities of southern California. Evaluating evapotranspiration, precipitation, and fog and dew from an eddy covariance tower system we estimated seasonal daily contributions of fog and dew water in a watershed at Sky Oaks Biological Field Station Reserve, California, USA, from May 2019 to April 2020. A leaf wetness sensor (LWS) measured the amount of water deposited during fog conditions or dew events, showing the highest deposition and longest duration in spring, and the lightest and shortest fog and dew presence during summer. The fog and dew water deposition typically peaked between 00:00 and 06:00 and totaled 97.3 mm y− 1 during the study period. Despite the low fog and dew deposition rates in the summer (20.5 mm) it was the only season when the amount of fog and dew water was greater than precipitation (10.3 mm). Based on stable isotope measurements, chamise absorbed more water from atmospheric sources (rain and fog + dew) than redshank across seasons, yet redshank had a higher foliar uptake capacity for liquid water than chamise in laboratory tests. This study suggests that the importance of fog and dew as a water source is species dependent, and that fog and dew water input may influence community structure and overall water balance in semi-arid shrublands. The intensity and frequency of fog and dew occurrence under future climate conditions may therefore be important to the future structure and functioning of this chaparral ecosystems.
Investigating the physicochemical properties of permeate-based orange beverage powder prepared by foam mat drying method
Authors: Nemati Azita , Motamedzadegan Ali , Milani Jafar M.
Published: April 2022

Permeate is the by-product of the ultrafiltration in a kind of cheese making process, and as a waste disposal of dairy companies, was applied in production of orange beverage. The purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility of using the foam mat drying method to prepare permeate-based orange beverage powder while maintaining its physicochemical properties. In 3 order to prepare the beverage foam, the desired amounts of egg white 4% and basil gum solution 0.2% were added to the orange beverage and were mixed for 6 minutes. Drying was performed under different temperatures (45, 65, and 80°C) and microwave power (360, 600 and 900 W) and freeze-dryer with (3 mm) thickness. Some properties of the beverage powder including moisture content, water activity, solubility, water binding capacity, rehydrating the powder, hygroscopy, flowability, porosity, pH, color, DSC, and FTIR characteristics were investigated. It was observed that freeze dried beverage powder had the maximum solubility and highest flowability.
Determinants of Husbands’ Involvement in Promoting Skilled-Delivery Attendants in Deder Town, Oromiya, Ethiopia
Authors: Mohammed Abdusamed , Kifle Gizaw , Mume Abas , Abdullahi Yassin , Abdulwehab Remziya , Beshir Furo
Published: April 2022

Background
Husbands’ involvement strategies are employed as a means to support their wives to access care, address the influence of gender inequality on maternal and newborn health and promote husbands positive involvement as fathers. Yet, evidence on the husbands’ involvement in promoting skilled-delivery attendants in Ethiopia is scarce which limits the facility to improve institutional delivery services. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the determinants of husbands’ involvement in promoting skilled-delivery attendants among fathers of children of less than one year in Deder town, Oromiya, Ethiopia.
Methods
A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted using a structured questionnaire among 399 fathers selected by simple random sampling technique. Data were collected through face to face interview from March 24 to April 20, 2021. Data entry was done by Epi-data version-4.2 and analyzed with SPSS version-21. Descriptive analyses used frequency, mean and median and presented by tables and figures. Level of significance was set at p-value ≤ 0.05 for multivariable logistic regression and adjusted odds ratio with 95% confidence interval was used to measure the degree of statistical significance of dependent and independent variables.
Result
The prevalence of husbands’ involvement in promoting skilled-delivery attendants was 84.2%. Age group of 25 to 29 years (AOR = 2.63, CI: 1.124–6.142), prior knowledge of skilled-delivery attendants (AOR = 2.75, CI: 1.456–5.205) and good attitude on skilled-delivery attendants (AOR = 2.46, CI: 1.227–4.948) were statistically significant determinants of husbands’ involvement in promoting skilled-delivery attendants.
Conclusion and recommendation:
This study revealed that the husbands’ involvement in skilled-delivery attendants was high. Age, level of knowledge and attitude were the significant determinants of husbands’ involvement in promoting skilled-delivery attendants. Therefore, improving husbands’ level of knowledge and attitude towards skilled-delivery attendants are needed.
Optical coherence tomography angiography follow-up for long-term outcomes of conbercept treatment for myopic choroidal neovascularisation and idiopathic choroidal neovascularisation
Authors: Huang Chunmei , Hao Yanlei , Zhu Wei , Yuan Zhongfang , Liu Jiehui , Ma Yan
Published: April 2022

Background: Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) was performed as a follow-up to report 2-year outcomes of the use of two initial doses of intravitreal conbercept in subjects with myopic choroidal neovascularisation (mCNV) and idiopathic choroidal neovascularisation (iCNV).Methods: 20 consecutive subjects with mCNV (group A) and 18 with iCNV (group B) were enrolled in this retrospective study. Subjects received 1.0 mg intravitreal conbercept at diagnosis and again 35 days later. Further injections of conbercept were needed when best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) decreased; upon aggravation of metamorphosis, macular oedema, or haemorrhage; increased retinal thickness as documented by OCT; or leakage documented by OCTA.Results: Group A comprised 8 men and 12 women (mean age, 31.72years). The mean follow-up duration was 24.95±1.03months (range: 23.5-27.2 months). Group B patients comprised 8 men and 10 women (mean age, 30.22 years). The mean follow-up duration was 25.67±1.35months (range: 24.5-­29.5 months). Following intravitreal conbercept injection, vision improved in 17 group A subjects and 15 group B subjects. Vision remained stable in 3 group A and 3 group B subjects. The mean BCVA of group A improved from baseline logMAR 0.31±0.16 to logMAR 0.12±0.03 at the final follow-up(P=0.000); the mean BCVA of group B improved from baseline at logMAR0.33±0.16 to logMAR0.12±0.03 at the final follow-up(P=0.000). Metamorphopsia was reduced. The mean central retinal thickness at the last postoperative visits were reduced from pre-treatment levels of 311.83±30.95 in group A and 351.17±37.09 in group B to 229.56±5.75 and 227.67±4.98μm, respectively (P = 0.000 in group A and P = 0.000 in group B). The injections were well tolerated by all subjects, with no ocular or systemic complications.Conclusion: OCTA used for mCNV and iCNV follow-up showed that intravitreal injection of 1 mg conbercept was effective in improving and stabilising vision as well as dramatically alleviating metamorphopsia.
Perspectives and quality of life in skin of color patients with mycosis fungoides/Sézary syndrome: a qualitative analysis
Authors: Abraham Jaclyn , Wei Grace , Desai Seemal R. , Chen Pei-Ling , Seminario-Vidal Lucia
Published: April 2022

Purpose: Prior quantitative studies have described diminished health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) faced by the mycosis fungoides (MF)/Sézary syndrome (SS) population, yet little is known about how they specifically affect HRQoL in patients with skin of color (SOC). The objective of this qualitative study was to gain insights into the lived experiences of SOC patients with MF/SS and the disease’s impact on various facets of HRQoL. Methods: Interviews with SOC patients with MF/SS ≥18 recruited from a cutaneous lymphoma clinic. A thematic analysis was performed to identify overarching themes.Results: Ten patients were invited to participate during July to September 2021. One SS and seven MF patients [4 early stage, 4 advanced stage] with a median age of 60.5 years agreed to participate. Emerging themes included diagnostic and therapeutic delays frequently due to initial misdiagnoses with other skin conditions. Physical and functional burdens significantly hindered participants’ abilities to carry out daily responsibilities and maintain employment. Impacts on physical appearance (e.g., darkened skin) led to increased self-consciousness and lack of social acceptance. Participants regarded family and faith as main sources of support, in addition to developing healthy coping strategies and personal growth, which included self-acceptance and adaptability. All participants reported feeling satisfied with their access to healthcare information and quality of care received. Conclusion: Our findings provide greater insight into how HRQoL is impacted across SOC patients with MF/SS, which can help raise awareness among healthcare providers and assist with creating interdisciplinary approaches of care to better support the needs of this population.
Fiscal policy and economic growth nexus: an empirical investigation from Somalia
Authors: Ali Abdullahi Osman , Mohamed Jama Mohamed , Mohamed Mohamed Osman
Published: April 2022

Somalia’s high dollarization limited the role of monetary policy, thus making fiscal policy the main economic management tool for the government. Therefore, we adopted this finding to examine asymmetric impact of fiscal policy on economic growth in Somalia. The study adopted annual time series data covering from 1970-2019 and NARDL as estimation method. The result revealed the presence of cointegration among the variables. In the long-run the result shows that both increase and decrease of government expenditure has significant positive effect on economic growth but decrease in public expenditure has stronger effect on economic growth compared to government expenditure increase. The result also shows that decrease and increase of government expenditure has significant positive effect on economic growth in the short-run, although increase in government expenditure has stronger effect economic growth compared to decrease in government expenditure. the result outperformed various diagnostic test. Based on the result, the study recommends to policy makers to consider fiscal policy specifically public spending as an important channel of boosting economic growth. in addition, the study recommends, policy makers to channel public spending to the productive sectors of the economy and promote fiscal transparency as a means of realizing fiscal policy objectives.
Meta-QTL analysis explores the key genes, especially hormone related genes, involved in the regulation of grain water content and grain dehydration rate in maize.
Authors: Wang Wei , Ren Zhaobin , Li Lu , Du Yiping , Zhou Yuyi , Zhang Mingcai , Li Zhaohu , Yi Fei , Duan Liusheng
Published: April 2022

Background
Low grain water content (GWC) at harvest of maize (Zea mays L.) is essential for mechanical harvesting, transportation and storage. Grain drying rate (GDR) is a key determinant of GWC. Many quantitative trait locus (QTLs) related to GDR and GWC have been reported, however, the confidence interval (CI) of these QTLs are too large and few QTLs has been fine-mapped or even been cloned. Meta-QTL (MQTL) analysis is an effective method to integrate QTLs information in independent populations, which helps to understand the genetic structure of quantitative traits.
Results
In this study, MQTL analysis was performed using 282 QTLs from 25 experiments related GDR and GWC. Totally, 11 and 34 MQTLs were found to be associated with GDR and GWC, respectively. The average CI of GDR and GWC MQTLs was 24.44 and 22.13 cM which reduced the 57% and 65% compared to the average QTL interval for initial GDR and GWC QTL, respectively. Finally, 1494 and 5011 candidate genes related to GDR and GWC were identified in MQTL intervals, respectively. Among these genes, there are 48 genes related to hormone metabolism.
Conclusions
Our studies combined traditional QTL analyses, genome-wide association study and RNA-seq to analysis major locus for regulating GWC in maize.
Inconclusive evidence that breathing shapes pupil dynamics in humans: a systematic review
Authors: Schaefer Martin , Edwards Sylvia , Nordén Frans , Lundström Johan N. , Arshamian Artin
Published: April 2022

More than fifty years ago it was proposed that breathing shapes pupil dynamics [7, 16]. This widespread idea is also the general understanding currently. However, there has been no attempt at synthesizing the progress on this topic since. We therefore conducted a systematic review (preregistered on Prospero; ID CRD42022285044) of the literature on how breathing affects pupil dynamics in humans. We assessed the effect of breathing phase, depth, rate, and route. We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines [50], and conducted a systematic search of the scientific literature databases Medline, Web of Science, and PsycInfo in November 2021. Thirty-one studies were included in the final analyses, and their quality was assessed with QualSyst [32]. The study findings were summarized in a descriptive manner, and the strength of the evidence for each parameter was estimated following the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) approach [18]. The effect of breathing phase on pupil dynamics was rated as “Low” (6 studies). The effect of breathing depth and breathing rate (6 and 20 studies respectively) were rated as “Very Low”. Breathing route was not investigated by any of the included studies. Overall, we show that there is, at best, inconclusive evidence for an effect of breathing on pupil dynamics in humans. Finally, we suggest some possible confounders to be considered, and outstanding questions that need to be addressed, to answer this fundamental question.
Future projection of the African easterly waves in a high-resolution atmospheric general circulation model
Authors: Raj Jerry , Bangalath Hamza Kunhu , Stenchikov Georgiy
Published: April 2022

Simulating the features of the African Easterly Waves (AEWs), such as their westward propagation off the coast, is challenging for coarseresolution climate models. In this study, we use High-Resolution Atmospheric Model (HiRAM) to simulate AEWs and analyze their future projections by the end of the 21 st century. The simulations are performed globally at a horizontal resolution of ∼ 25km. The model uses shallow convective parameterization for moist convection and stratiform cloudiness. Future projections are conducted using representative concentration pathway 8.5. The AEWs are separated with respect to their periods as 3–5- and 6–9-day AEWs, and bandpass filtering is used to filter the waves from the mean flow. HiRAM simulates structure and propagation of the waves well; however, it tends to overestimate the associated precipitation. In the future, the AEW activity and intensity of the circulation will considerably increase. The northward extent of the AEW track also shows a significant increase in the future. The increased wave activity can be translated as more Atlantic hurricanes in the future because AEWs are the seed disturbances for cyclogenesis in this region.
Knowledge Graph Embeddings for ICU readmission prediction
Authors: Carvalho Ricardo Miguel Serafim , Oliveira Daniela , Pesquita Catia
Published: April 2022

Background: Intensive Care Unit readmissions represent both a health riskfor patients and a financial burden for healthcare facilities. As healthcare became more data-driven with the introduction of Electronic Health Records, machine learning methods have been applied to predict Intensive Care Unit (ICU) readmission risk. However, these methods disregard the meaningand relationships of data objects and work blindly over clinical data without taking into account scientific knowledge and context. Ontologies and Knowledge Graphs can help bridge this gap between data and scientific context, as they are computational artefacts that represent the entities of adomain and their relationships to each other in a formalized way. Methods and Results: We have developed an approach that enriches Electronic Health Records data with semantic annotations to ontologies, and then generates Knowledge Graph embeddings to represent a patient’s stay in the ICU in a contextualized manner. These are used by machine learning models to predict the 30-day ICU readmission risk. This approach is based on several contributions: (1) an enrichment of the MIMIC-III dataset with patient-oriented annotations to various biomedical ontologies; (2) a predictive model of ICU readmission risk that uses Knowledge Graph embeddings to represent patient data using semantic annotations; (3) a variant of the predictive model that targets different time points during an ICU stay. Our predictive approaches outperformed both a baseline and state-of-the-art works achieving a mean Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (AUROC) of 0.827 and an Area Under the Precision-Recall Curve (AUPRC) of 0.691. The application of this novel approach to help clinicians decide whether a patient can be discharged has the potential to prevent the readmission of 40% of Intensive Care Unit patients, without unnecessarily prolonging the stay of those who would not require it.Conclusion: The coupling of semantic annotation and Knowledge Graph embeddings affords two clear advantages: they consider scientific context and they are able to build representations of Electronic Health Records (EHR) information of different types in a common format. This work demonstrates the potential for impact that integrating ontologies and Knowledge Graphs into clinical machine learning applications can have.
The E3 ubiquitin ligase TRIM9 ubiquitin-modified Beclin1 regulates autophagy to relieve myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury
Authors: Wang Limeiting , Wang Nan , Rao Peng , Li Changyan , Liu Xiang , Lv Rumin , Song Wenting , Sun Lin , Lu Di
Published: April 2022

TRI partite motif (TRIM) family proteins are RING finger domain-containing proteins that are related to the maintenance of cellular functions. TRIM9, a pivotal E3 ubiquitin ligase, and a member of TRIM family, has been implicated in the pathogenesis of many diseases. However, the role of TRIM9 in myocardial ischemia–reperfusion injury (MIRI) remains unknown. In this study, we found that TRIM9 expression is upregulated in MIRI in vivo and in vitro. The inhibition of TRIM9 expression further increased the protein levels of LC3II and p62, and they were elevated in the process of MIRI, suggesting the disruption of autophagic flow. Furthermore, we examined the cell viability, the result showed that when the ischemia reperfusion and TRIM9 knocked down both happened, which harmful to H9c2. Mechanistically, TRIM9 downregulated the expression of Beclin1, a crucial protein in autophagy, and promoted the ubiquitination of Beclin1, followed by a decreased expression of LC3II and p62. Collectively, our data revealed that TRIM9 could protect against MIRI and might be a novel influence factor for cardiovascular disease.
Blocking Cx43 alleviates neuropathic pain mediated by P2X4 receptor in CCI rats
Authors: Xing Juping , Wang Hongji , Chen Lisha , Wang Hanxi , Huang Huan , Huang Jiabao , Xu Changshui
Published: April 2022

Background: The current treatment strategy for pain is still the application of traditional analgesic drugs to relieve pain but with many side effects. Therefore, neuropathic pain is a growing concern in the medical community, and the search for new analgesic targets for neuropathic pain has become a new hot spot. In this study, we examined whether Cx43 have the key role in response to peripheral nerve injury in P2X4 receptor-mediated neuropathic pain rats, thereby activating large numbers of satellite glial cells and neurons. Methods: A rat model of chronic compression injury of the sciatic nerve was established, and the dorsal root ganglion and serum were examined at the relevant molecular levels using western blot, quantitative fluorescent PCR, multiplex immunofluorescence and ELISA. Results: Our results confirm an important role for Cx43 in P2X4 receptor-mediated neuropathic pain. The release of ATP from Cx43 into the extracellular space activates itself and neighboring satellite glial cells and triggers a cascade amplification effect of inflammation, creating an inflammatory microenvironment that ultimately leads to neuronal sensitization of neuropathic pain in CCI rats. Conclusions: In brief, blockade of CX43 could attenuate P2X4 receptor-mediated neuropathic pain in rats suffering from CCI, and Cx43may be promising therapeutic targets for the development of novel pharmacological agents in the management of neuropathic pain.
Dissipative-based Sampled-data Control for T-S Fuzzy Wind Turbine System Via Fragmented-delayed State Looped Functional Approach
Authors: Anbalagan Pratap , Joo Young Hoon
Published: April 2022

This study analyzes the problem of dissipative-based fuzzy sampled-data control mechanism for variable-speed wind turbine system (WTS) by fragmented-delayed state looped functional (FDSLF) framework. First, the proposed nonlinear variable-speed WTS is transformed into linear subsystems based on the Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy approach. Then, the concept of coupling leakage time-varying delay is proposed to construct a more generalized T-S fuzzy model. After that, two novel integral inequalities are introduced to tackle the derivative of the time-dependent looped Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional (LKF). Besides, an improved FDSLF approach is presented such that the considered LKF can contain more information on fragmented-delayed states and sampling intervals from tk to tk+1. Based on this FDSLF approach, some sufficient conditions are derived to ensure the addressed system is asymptotically stable under an optimizing performance index. And then, the desirable control gains are obtained by solving the linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) with bounds of sampling intervals. Finally, the derived conditions are validated with the considered model and verify the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.
FAM83A: A Prognostic Biomarker and Its Correlation with Immune Infiltration in Lung Adenocarcinoma
Authors: Sun Xue , Bai Li-Hong , Xu Pei-Hang , Kuang Yu-Kun , Zheng Yi-Fan , Wang Ji-Yu , Li Zi-Mu , Gan Run-Jing , Tang Ke-Jing
Published: April 2022

Background: FAM83A (Family with sequence similarity 83, member A) has been found to promote tumor cell proliferation and accelerate the progression of several cancer types. However, integrated studies on the prognostic value of FAM83A and its function as an immunotherapy target in pan-cancers remain limited.Methods: Multiple online databases, including ONCOMINE, PrognoScan, Kaplan-Meier plotter, GEPIA, Lung Cancer Explorer, and TIMER, were accessed to evaluate the clinical prognostic value of FAM83A and its association with tumor-infiltrating immune cells across different cancer types.Results: Compared with normal tissues, the expression of FAM83A was higher in breast, colorectal, gastric, head and neck, and lung cancers. High FAM83A expression significantly correlated with inferior overall survival (OS) in lung cancer including lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). In patients with LUAD, overexpressed FAM83A was negatively associated with infiltration levels of B cells and dendritic cells. In addition, the FAM83A expression level was positively associated with PD-L1, STAT1, STAT3, and JAK1 in LUAD.Conclusions: The high expression level of FAM83A was significantly correlated with a worse prognosis, which was also associated with a decreased level of infiltration of B cells and dendritic cells. FAM83A might increase the expression of PD-L1 through JAK / STAT pathway in the tumor microenvironment of lung adenocarcinoma.
A comparative assessment of the novel water pollution index and the water quality index using empirical data: Improving water quality evaluation
Authors: Amuah Ebenezer Ebo Yahans , Kpiebaya Prosper
Published: April 2022

Different water assessment indices have been employed in the evaluation of water quality for human use. However, these methods have their peculiar drawbacks. This study applied the novel water pollution index (WPI) against the water quality index using empirical data (packaged and groundwater sources) from some parts of Ghana. The study showed that the WPI method is flexible and easy to compute compared to WQI. In this study area, WPI ranged from 0.22–0.31 and 0.23–0.32 for packaged water obtained from production and vending sites respectively. However, the WQI outputs were 0.12–0.36 (production site) and 0.27–0.42 (vending sites). Though the water samples from both sources were excellent for drinking, the wide variation in the WQI suggests the biases resulting from the selection of the weighting factors for the various parameters. Considering the groundwater sources applied in this study, 74% as against 93% and 19% as against 5% of the samples were excellent and good water sources based on the WPI and WQI respectively. These disparities are largely attributed to the biases posed by the quality rating and weighting factors which are researcher-described.
In silico screening of minocycline as an Mpro inhibitor and the adjunctive therapy value for the treatment of COVID-19
Authors: Xiao Bin , Wu Si , Han Yaru , Ren Liwen , Wang Jinhua , Luan Xiurong , Du Guanhua , She Zhanfei
Published: April 2022

To explore potential inhibitors of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) for the treatment of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in silico screening of 135 clinical drugs was performed targeting on 3-chymotrypsin-like protease (3CLpro, or Mpro). Six drugs including anti-HIV drug (raltegravir), antibacterial drugs (cefonicid, cefoperazone, minocycline), and antidiabetic drugs (canaglifozin, glyburide) showed high binding affinities (≤ -8.5 kcal/mol) and interesting binding conformations compared with the designed co-crystal ligand N3 (-7.7 kcal/mol). In which the antibiotic minocycline, an inhibitor of bacterial ribosomal rRNA, showed the highest binding affinity (-9.6 kcal/mol). Valuable hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions were found between minocycline and Mpro active site. Beside the hydrogen bond with Cys145, minocycline formed a Pi-Cation with His41, which strongly supported minocycline as a Michael Addition acceptor to bind with the catalytic site of Mpro. The structure-affinity relationship was studied based on molecular docking of minocycline analogues. Minocycline showed in vitro Mpro inhibitory activity with IC50 of 5 mM. More importantly, the literature review found that minocycline had both in vitro and in vivo broad-spectrum antiviral as well as anti-inflammatory activities. Minocycline deserves in vivo evaluations as well as randomized controlled trial to investigate the efficacy for the treatment of COVID-19.
The effects of Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells on m6A RNA methylation modification profile of aged granulosa cells
Authors: Tian Chuan , An Yuanyuan , Zhu Xiangqing , Wei Wei , Ruan Guangping , Zhao Jing , Li Ye , pan xinghua
Published: April 2022

Background
Ovarian ageing causing endocrine disturbances and degenerates systemic tissue and organ functions, seriously affects women's physical and mental health, effective treatment methods are urgently needed. On the basis of our previous studies on juvenile rhesus monkey bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells(BMMSCs) treated ovarian ageing of rhesus monkey, found that BMMSCs improved the ovarian structure and function. This study continues to explore the mechanism of BMMSCs reversd granulosa cell(GC) ageing.
Methods
Established GC ageing model and coculture system of BMMSCs, detected m6A methylation modification changes, performed m6A modified RNA immunoprecipitation sequencing (MeRIP-seq), corrected between m6A peaks with mRNA expression, and identified the expression of hub genes through q-PCR, Immunofluorescence staining, and western blot .
Results
Our results showed that H2O2 induced GC aging successfully and that BMMSCs reversed measures of GC ageing, BMMSCs promoted the expression of FTO and reduced the overall methylation level of m6A. We identified 797 m6A peaks (348 hypomethylated, 449 hypermethylated) and 817 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) (412 upregulated, 405 downregulated) after aged GCs cocultured with BMMSCs, which associated with ovarian function and epigenetic modification. Lysine Demethylase 8 (KDM8) involve in the negative regulation of osteoblast differentiation which was contracted with the positive regulation of osteoblast differentiation to mediate cellular senescence, and downregulated after treated with BMMSCs.
Conclusions
KDM8 may become new target in BMMSCs reversed ovarian ageing.
Catabolic reprogramming of Brassica rapa leaf mesophyll protoplasts during the isolation procedure.
Authors: Watanabe Masami , Nakayama Yoshihiro , Kusano Miyako , Manabe Riichiro
Published: April 2022

In this study, profiling, clustering, co-expression analysis, and KEGG pathway analysis of primary metabolites and transcriptomes of Brassica rapa leaves and leaf mesophyll protoplasts were performed. Primary metabolite profiling indicated that the metabolism of B. rapa protoplasts was converted to catabolism. The number of down-regulated differentially expressed genes (DEGs) increased during protoplast isolation. An analysis of GO overexpression revealed activation of genes involved in catabolism and immune system processes and inactivation of chloroplasts and photosynthetic genes. KEGG pathway analysis showed that the activation of autophagy and the proteasome accounted for senescence-associated proteolysis during protoplast isolation. It also revealed activation of the genes involved in endoplasmic reticulum stress and disease resistance responses during the first three hours of isolation. This suggests that elicitor receptor-mediated signal transduction stimulated the pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), which triggered immunity.There were more down-regulated than up-regulated transcription factors during the protoplast isolation. AT5G39610 (ANAC092, ATNAC2) gene expression was significantly activated throughout the entire period of protoplast isolation. ANAC092 was co-expressed with up-regulated AT5G26340 (STP13), which encodes a protein with high affinity, i.e., hexose-specific/H+ symporter activity. AT1G50030 encodes TOR (target of rapamycin) proteins, and the expression of TOR decreased during protoplast isolation. Ethylene and photosynthesis-related gene inhibition by glucose and sucrose promoted senescence-associated gene expression of protoplasts. Since a decrease in glucose down-regulates glucose TOR signaling, inactivated TOR signaling promotes catabolic reprogramming, senescence, and autophagy in protoplasts during protoplast isolation. We concluded that the initialization of protoplasts requires the blocking of these complicated crosstalk signaling pathways.
Heat-stress induced sesquiterpenes of Chrysanthemum nankingense attract herbivores but repel herbivore feeding
Authors: Wen Dian , Guan Yaqin , Chen Sumei , Chen Fadi , Liu Bin , Niinemets Ülo , Jiang Yifan
Published: April 2022

Plants are frequently exposed to heat stress as a result of global warming. Heat stress leads to a series of physiological responses including stress volatile elicitation, but how heat stress-induced volatile cues affect the behavior of herbivores is poorly understood. In this study, the polyphagous herbivore Spodoptera litura (tobacco cutworm, TCW) and perennial forb Chrysanthemum nankingense were selected as the model to elucidate the interactions between herbivore behavior and heat stress-induced plant physiological changes. Photosynthetic characteristics and volatile emissions were measured in C. nankingense control plants (25 ℃) and in plants exposed to moderate (35 ℃ for 3 h), and severe (45 ℃ for 3 h) heat stresses. Net photosynthetic rate (An) decreased by more than two-fold after exposure to 45 ℃ due to non-stomatal inhibition of photosynthesis. 45 ℃ treatment induced emissions of the monoterpene camphor and sesquiterpene (E)-β-caryophyllene. Exposure to 35 ℃ had minor effects on photosynthetic characteristics and did not induce terpene emissions. Using dual-choice olfactometer bioassays, we found that 45 ℃ treatment enhanced the attractiveness of the plants to TCW. Moreover, the leaf concentrations of 9 sesquiterpenes were increased and the feeding of TCW was strongly inhibited after 45 ℃ treatment compared with control plants. Taken together, our study highlights the impact of heat stress on the behavior of the herbivore mediated by the accumulation and emission of sesquiterpenes and suggests altered pest-host interactions under future warmer climates. Modulation of terpenoid emissions and contents should be considered in developing future ecological pest control strategies in agricultural fields.
Expression and Prognostic Significance of Stem Cell Marker CD133 in Survival Rate of Colon Cancer Patients
Authors: Tolooei Mohammad , Ehteram Hassan , Kashani Hamed Haddad
Published: April 2022

Background: Today, colon cancer is one of the most common types of gastrointestinal cancers CD133 as a known cancer stem cell marker has been found effective in cell proliferation and differentiation in various cancers, including colon. We aimed to investigate the relationship between the CD133 expression in colon cancer with prognostic factors and the survival rate of colon cancer patients by immunohistochemistry. Materials and Methods: Formalin- fixed-paraffinembedded (FFPE) tissues was taken from colon patients. Histopathology examination was done using hematoxylin and eosin staining. Immunohistochemistry was performed to determine CD133 expression. An association between CD133 expression and clinic pathological profile was then analyzed.Results: There was a statistically significant difference between CD133 protein expression and sex, cancer stage and lymphatic invasion (p=0.044, p=0.131 and p=0.002, respectively). However, no significant correlation was identified between the CD133 expression and other factors such as: age of CRC patients (p-value=0.267), tumor location (p-value=0.494), tumor differentiation grade (p-value=0.263), neural tissue invasion and 5 years’ survival (p value=0.054). Conclusion: CD133 is a useful predictive or prognostic biomarker for CRC in clinical assessment and may serve as a potential therapeutic target for CRC.