bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Dual mode of action of Talaromyces purpureogenus CFRM02 pigment to ameliorate alcohol induced liver toxicity in rats
Authors: Pandit Saritha Gopal , Mekala Krishna Prashanth Ramesh , Puttananjaiah Mohankumari H. , Peddha Muthukumar Serva , Dhale Mohan Appasaheb
Published: February 2022

Talaromyces purpureogenus CFRM02 pigment exhibited antioxidant activity by scavenging free radicals. The alcohol feeding lead to free radical generation causing pathophysiological processes of alcoholic liver disease (ALD) and alcoholic hepatitis. The T. purpureogenus CFRM02 pigment administered to rats ameliorated the ALD by scavenging ROS. The haematological analysis revealed the increased neutrophil circulation. The neutrophil infiltration was observed in the hepatocytes of the rats fed with pigment (600 mg/kg body weight). The increase in number of neutrophils help in the liver regeneration caused by alcoholic hepatitis. The dual mechanism of action of pigment, antioxidant and liver regeneration through neutrophil production is attributed to alleviate the ALD. These results suggested T. purpureogenus CFRM02 pigment represents a novel protective and therapeutic strategy against ALD.
Analogous study of biogas production by anaerobic digestion of sewage treatment plant sludge, proposal of universal dimensionless models
Authors: billal Ameri , SALAH HANINI
Published: February 2022

The authors have requested that this preprint be removed from Research Square.
Inter-sentence Entity Relation Extraction based on GNN of Message Propagation
Authors: Qian Chen , Chunxiang Guan , Guo Xin , Suge Wang , Deyu Li
Published: February 2022

Compared with sentence-level relation extraction, it is more common that entities involving relationships exist in multiple sentences in actual scenarios. Therefore, document-level relation extraction has gradually become a research hotspot in the field of information extraction in recent years. In order to make full use of the contextual information and structure information of the document, this paper combine embedding representation of entities and the explicit structural relationships between entities to study extraction of document-level inter-sentence relations. Firstly, document is encoded using BiLSTM, while document graph is established using the explicit structure of document; Secondly, relational graph convolutional neural network based on message propagation is used to update nodes in the graph, thus local information of document is integrated into node embedding representation, using which edge embedding is updated; Finally, an iterative algorithm is used to complete the reasoning of edge information, and entity relation is predicted using a feed-forward network based on edge embedding. Experimental results show that, compared with the EoG model, the F1 values of inter-sentence relation are increased by 2.6% and 0.8% on the CDR and GDA datasets, respectively.
Are e-Cigarette Users at an Increased Risk of Bladder and Lung Cancer?
Authors: Herriges Michael Joseph , Shapiro Oleg , Jacob Joseph M. , Basnet Alina , Bratslavsky Gennady , Goldberg Hanan
Published: February 2022

PurposeElectronic cigarette (e-cigarette) smoking and similar novel smoking modalities have raised questions about their impact on various cancers compared with traditional forms of tobacco smoking. Tobacco smoking has been proven to increase the risk of many cancers, including lung (LCa) and bladder (BCa) cancer. Currently, there is little data on how e-cigarette smoking impacts the incidence of these cancers. We investigated whether any disparities exist in the prevalence of LCa and BCa between various smoking histories using a US nationally representative data source.MethodsThis cross-sectional survey-based US study included men and women aged 18+ from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) database between 2016-2018. Primary endpoint was self-reported occurrence of LCa and BCa diagnosis. Multivariable logistic regression analyses assessed possible association of various covariates with diagnosis of these cancers.ResultsPrevalence of BCa and LCa was higher in all smoking histories compared to never smokers. Patients with a history of e-cigarette smoking vs. no history of e-cigarette smoking were significantly younger at BCa diagnosis (56.87 [±9.86] vs. 65.00 [±12.60] years, p=0.001). Multivariable logistic regression models showed that a history of cigarette smoking and e-cigarette smoking individually and exclusively was associated with increased ORs of 2.476 (p=<0.001) and 1.577 (p=<0.001) for BCa diagnosis, respectively, and 4.589 (p=<0.001) and 1.614 (p=0.007) for LCa diagnosis, respectively. ConclusionCompared to never smokers, e-cigarette smoking history was associated with increased risk of LCa and BCa development. Additional studies are needed to better define the public health effects of these novel and unregulated products.
A Reduced Variational Approach for Searching Cycles in High-Dimensional Systems
Authors: Wang Ding , Lan Yueheng
Published: February 2022

Searching recurrent patterns in complex systems with high-dimensional phase spaces is an important task in diverse fields. In the current work, an improved scheme is proposed to accelerate the recently designed variational approach for finding periodic orbits in systems with chaotic dynamics based on the existence of inertial manifold widely observed in various spatially extended systems, especially those with high dimensions. On the premise of keeping exponential convergence of the variational method, an effective loop evolution equation is derived to greatly reduce the storage and computing time. With repeated modification of local coordinates and evolution of the guess loop being carried out alternately, the rapid convergence and the stability of the reduction scheme are effectively achieved. The dimension of local coordiante subspaces is generally larger than the number of nonnegative Lyapunov exponents to ensure the exponential convergence. The proposed scheme is successfully demonstrated on several well-known examples and expected to supply a powerful tool in the exploration of high-dimensional nonlinear systems.
Bodily distress syndrome in Chinese outpatient hospital care: prevalence and associations with psychosocial variables
Authors: Ma Jing , Zheng Linli , Chen Ran , Ren Jie , Chen Hua , Zhang Yaoyin , Li Wentian , Ma Xiquan , Lu Wei , Wu Heng , Fritzsche Kurt , Toussaint Anne Christin , Leonhart Rainer , Wei Jing , Zhang Lan
Published: February 2022

Background
Bodily distress syndrome (BDS) is a new, empirical-based diagnosis of functional somatic symptoms. This study aimed to explore the prevalence of BDS and its association with psychosocial variables in a Chinese clinical population.
Methods
A multicentre cross-sectional study of 1269 patients was conducted in 9 different Chinese tertiary outpatient hospitals. The BDS was identified based on a brief version of the Schedules for Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (RIFD) and the BDS Checklist-25. Sociodemographic data and further information were characterised from psychometric questionnaires (PHQ-15, PHQ-9, GAD-7, and WI-8) .
Results
Complete data were available for 697 patients.The prevalence of BDS was 26.8% (95% confidence interval (CI): 23.5–30.1). Among the participants, 5.8% (95% CI: 4.1–7.6) fulfilled the criteria for single-organ BDS, while 20.9% (95%CI: 17.9–24.0) had multi-organ BDS. Comparison of the PHQ-15, PHQ-9, GAD-7, and WI-8 scores revealed higher scores on all dimensions for patients with BDS. In a binary logistic regression analysis, BDS was significantly associated with increased health-related anxiety (WI-8) and depression (PHQ-9). The explained variance was Nagelkerke’s R2 = 0.42.
Conclusions
In China, the BDS is a common clinical condition in tertiary outpatient hospital settings, and is associated with health anxiety and depressive symptoms. In this clinical population, the severe multi-organ subtype of BDS was the most frequent.
Factors Associated with Mortality Among Children Under Five Hospitalized with Severe Acute Malnutrition in Selected Provinces of Zambia: A Retrospective Review of Hospital Records
Authors: Chunga Chipwaila Choolwe , Chalwe Victor , Banda Kutha , Chilengi-Sakala Sandra , Solomon Hiwote , Leonard Colleen , Nkaama Justin , Bobo Mupeta , Aongola Agness , Biemba Godfrey
Published: February 2022

Background: Malnutrition continues to take the lives of millions of children every year. Children under the age of five years are especially susceptible to high rates of malnutrition and more than half of the deaths in under five children are caused by undernutrition in low- and middle-income countries. Zambia continues to have one of the highest rates of malnutrition in Southern Africa, specifically Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM). The country’s prevalence of under-five malnutrition is above the WHO Public Health threshold which may linked to the observed under-mortality. In this study, we assessed the factors associated with under-5 mortality in children with SAM. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study assessing the factors associated with under-5 mortality in children hospitalized with severe acute malnutrition. The study used data from a cross-sectional study which was assessing factors associated with SAM in under-5 children in five underperforming provinces of Zambia. In this study, we reviewed hospital records from 2014 to 2016 and recorded length of hospital stay, co-morbidities, and death among under-5 children presenting with SAM to select level-one hospitals. Stata version 13 was used for analysis. We conducted both descriptive and bivariate logistic regression to assess the association between mortality and select key factors. Results: We found that over half of the records we extracted listed SAM as the main cause of hospital stay. About one-fourth of under-5 children (24%) were recorded as being HIV positive at time of hospital stay. Malnourished under-5 children who were diagnosed as HIV positive were 3.5 times more likely to die than malnourished under-5 children who were HIV negative.Conclusions: Malnutrition continues to be a problem in Zambia. Undernourished children with existing co-morbidities such as HIV are at greater risk for mortality and poor health outcomes. To combat high rates of SAM, continued efforts are needed to provide adequate nutrition services and care especially in rural areas of Zambia.
Intermittent Fasting Two Days per Week versus One Day per Week, Matched for Total Energy Intake and Expenditure, Increases Weight Loss in Overweight/Obese Men and Women
Authors: Arciero Paul J , Arciero Karen M. , Poe Michelle , Mohr Alex E. , Ives Stephen J. , Arciero Autumn , Boyce Molly , Zhang Jin , Haas Melissa , Valdez Emma , Corbet Delaney , Judd Kaitlyn , Smith Annika , Furlong Olivia , Wahler Marley , Gumpricht Eric
Published: February 2022

Background: Intermittent fasting (IF), consisting of either a one-day (IF1) or two consecutive days (IF2) per week, is commonly used for optimal body weight loss (WL). Our laboratory has previously shown an IF1 diet combined with 6d/week of protein pacing (P; 4-5 meals/day evenly spaced, ~30% protein/day) significantly enhances WL, body composition, and cardiometabolic health in obese men and women. Whether an IF1-P or IF2-P, matched for weekly energy intake (EI) and expenditure (EE), is superior for WL, body composition, and cardiometabolic health is unknown. Methods: This study directly compared an IF1-P (n=10) versus an IF2-P (n=10) diet on WL and body composition, cardiovascular (blood pressure and lipids), hormone, and hunger responses in 20 overweight men and women during a 4-week WL period. Participants received weekly dietary counseling and monitoring of compliance from a registered dietitian. All outcome variables were assessed pre (week 0) and post (week 5).Results: Both groups significantly reduced body weight, waist circumference, percent body fat, fat mass, hunger, blood pressure, lipids, glucose, and increased percent fat-free mass (p < 0.05). However, IF2-P resulted in significantly greater reductions in body weight (-29%) and waist circumference (-38%) compared to IF1-P (p < 0.05), and showed a strong tendency for greater reductions in fat mass, glucose, and hunger levels (p < 0.10) despite similar weekly total EI (IF1-P, 9058 ± 692 vs. IF2-P, 8389 ± 438 kcals/week; p = 0.90), EE (~300 kcals/day; p = 0.79), and hormone responses (p > 0.10). Conclusions: These findings support short-term IF1-P and IF2-P to optimize weight loss and improve body composition, cardiometabolic health, and hunger management, with IF2-P providing enhanced benefits in overweight women and men. Trial Registration: This trial was registered March 03, 2020 at www.clinicaltrials.gov as NCT04327141.
Underlying the mechanisms of changes in cancer prevalence among the U.S. Medicare beneficiaries: contributions of incidence, survival, and ascertainment at early stages.
Authors: Akushevich Igor , Yashkin Arseniy , Kovtun Mikhail , Yashin Anatoliy I. , Kravchenko Julia
Published: February 2022

Purpose: To quantitatively evaluate contributions of trends in incidence, relative survival, and stage at diagnosis to the dynamics in the prevalence of major cancers (lung, prostate, colon, breast, urinary bladder, ovaries, stomach, pancreas, esophagus, kidney, liver, and skin melanoma) among older U.S. adults age 65+. Methods: Trend partitioning was applied to the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program data for 1973-2016. Results: Growth of cancer prevalence in older adults decelerated or even decreased over time for all studied cancers due to decreasing incidence and improving survival for most of cancers, with a smaller contribution of the stage at cancer diagnosis. Changes in prevalence of cancers of lung, colon, stomach, and breast were predominantly due to decreasing incidence, increasing survival and more frequent diagnoses at earlier stages. Changes in prevalence of some other cancers demonstrated adverse trends such as decreasing survival in localized and regional stages (urinary bladder and ovarian) and growing impact of late-stage diagnoses (esophageal cancer). Conclusion: While decelerating or decreasing prevalence of many cancers were due to a beneficial combination of decreasing incidence and increasing survival, there are cancers for which decelerating prevalence is due to the lack of improvement in their stage-specific survival and/or increasing frequency of diagnosis at advanced stages. Overall, if the observed trends persist, it is likely that cancer burden due to its prevalence in older U.S. population will be lower than it was projected in earlier studies.
Impact of Anthropogenic Activity on Community Structure and Function of Microbiomes in Polluted Stretches of River Yamuna at New Delhi, India: Insights From Shotgun Metagenomics
Authors: Parida Pranaya Kumar , Behera Bijay Kumar , Dehury Budheswar , Rout Ajaya Kumar , Sarkar Dhruba Jyoti , Rai Anil , Das Basnata Kumar , Mohapatra Trilochan
Published: February 2022

The large population residing in the northern region of India surrounding Delhi mostly depends on water of River Yamuna, a tributary of mighty Ganga for agriculture, drinking and various religious activities. However, continuous anthropogenic activities mostly due to pollution mediated by rapid urbanization and industrialization has profoundly affected river microflora and their function thus its health. In this study, potential of whole genome metagenomics was exploited to unravel the novel consortia of microbiome and their functional potential in the polluted sediments of the river at Delhi. Analysis of high-quality metagenome data from Illumina NextSeq500 revealed substantial differences in composition of microbiota at different sites dominated by Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria and Chloroflexi phyla. The presence of highly dominant anaerobic bacteria like, Dechloromonas aromatica (benzene reducing and denitrifying), Rhodopseudomonas palustris (organic matter reducing), Syntrophus aciditrophicus (fatty acid reducing), and Syntrophobacter fumaroxidans (sulfate reducing) in the polluted river Yamuna signifies the impact of unchecked pollution in declining health of the river ecosystem. A decline in abundance of phages were also noticed along the downstream of river Yamuna. Mining of mycobiome reads uncovered plethora of fungal communities (i.e., Nakaseomyces, Aspergillus, Schizosaccharomyces, and Lodderomyces) in the polluted stretches due to the availability of higher organic carbon and total nitrogen (%) could be decoded as promising bioindicators of river trophic status. Pathway analysis through KEGG revealed higher abundance of genes involved in energy metabolism (nitrogen and sulphur), methane metabolism, degradation of xenobiotics (Nitrotoluene, Benzoate and Atrazine), two-component system (atoB, cusA and silA) and membrane transport (ABC transporters). Catalase peroxidase and 4-hydroxybenzoate 3-monooxygenase were the most abundant pollution degrading enzymes in polluted sites of river Yamuna. Overall, our results provide crucial insights into microbial dynamics and their function in response to high pollution and could be insightful to the ongoing remediation strategies to clean river Yamuna.
Advanced Harmonization Techniques Result in Accurate Establishment of In Vitro–In Vivo Correlations for Oxybenzone from Four Complex Dermal Formulations with Reapplication
Authors: Zambrana Paige , Hammell Dana , Stinchcomb Audra
Published: February 2022

Due to high variability during clinical pharmacokinetic (PK) evaluation, the prediction of in vivo exposure from in vitro absorption testing of topical semisolid and liquid dermal products has historically proven difficult. Since absorption from unoccluded formulations can be influenced by environmental factors such as temperature and humidity, maximal effort must be placed on the harmonization of experimental parameters between in vitro and in vivo testing conditions to establish accurate in vitro/in vivo correlations (IVIVC). Using four different sunscreen formulations as a model, we performed in vitro permeation testing (IVPT) studies with excised human skin and maintained strict harmonization techniques to control application time, occlusion, temperature and humidity during in vivo human serum PK evaluation. The goal was to investigate if increased control over experimental parameters would result in decreased inter-subject variability of common topical formulations leading to acceptable IVIVC establishment. Using a deconvolution-based approach, excellent point-to-point (Level A correlation) IVIVC for the entire 12 h study duration was achieved for all four sunscreen formulations with < 10% prediction error of both area under the curve (AUC) and peak concentration (Cmax) estimation. The low variability of in vivo absorption data presents a proof-of-concept protocol design for testing of complex semisolid and liquid topical formulations applied over a large surface area with reapplication in a reliable manner. This work also presents the opportunity for expanded development of testing for the impact of altered temperature and humidity conditions on product absorption in vivo with a high degree of precision.
Efficiency of spatial sampling designs in estimating abundance and species richness of carabids at landscape level
Authors: Thiele Jan , Erley Gunda Schulte auf'm , Glemnitz Michael , Gabriel Doreen
Published: February 2022

Context: Declining biodiversity in agricultural landscapes has increased the need for research and monitoring of insect abundance and diversity at landscape level.Objectives: We investigated the accuracy of different spatial sampling designs in estimating landscape-level abundance and species richness of carabids in agricultural landscapes and, further, which sample size per landscape section was required and whether dominating land use or landscape subdivision affected accuracy and required sample size.Methods: We developed a simulation model that created raster maps of agricultural landscapes, compiled local carabid communities (species composition and abundances) within raster cells and simulated the sampling of carabids with pitfall traps using different spatial sampling designs and sample sizes between 4 and 49 sampling points per landscape section. Spatial sampling designs included random, systematic grid-based, stratified and clustered schemes.Results: To estimate landscape-level abundance, area-proportional stratified random sampling was most accurate followed by systematic grid-based designs. A sample size of 25 appeared to be the best trade-off between accuracy and sampling cost. Accuracy was not affected substantially by landscape characteristics in most cases. With respect to species richness, all designs except for clustered sampling had comparable accuracies, but even 49 samples were not sufficient to detect 80 % of the species.Conclusions: Systematic grid-based designs are generally recommendable for sampling of carabids in agricultural landscapes and, in case a carabid-specific habitat classification is available, area-proportional stratified random sampling provides optimal accuracy for estimating landscape-level abundance. For assessment of species richness, large sample size is more important than spatial sampling design.
Depicting the innate immune response landscape in Covid-19 emphasized type 1 interferon a key defense against SARS-CoV-2
Authors: Xu Rulong , Zong Yali , Lin Yunhua , Liu Zhaoxia , Zhang Zhi , Kuang XinLei
Published: February 2022

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been rampantly threatening much more people life, thus timely and precise countermeasures against SARS-COV-2 were a matter of urgency. Here, integrated bio-information analyse were used for deeply understanding the process of SARS-COV-2 infection. And it was demonstrated that pathways related to antivirus response, innate immune response, and type 1 interferon pathways were dominantly enriched in Covid-19, while neutrophil degranulation, inflammatory reaction and Covid-19 adverse outcome were also assigned significance. PPI network revealed that type 1 interferon pathways related genes ranked as the hub genes in Covid-19, and among these genes OASL, IFIT1,IFIT2,IFIT3 might be typically drug targeted, which was demonstrated by the cerna network and drug interaction network. Our research in the end meant to fundamentally achieve recommended strategies to benefit people suffering from SARS-COV-2 infection.
Diagnosis and Monitoring Value of Circulating Tumour Cells in Breast Cancer With an Optimised Microfluidic Device: A Retrospective Study
Authors: Gong Zhiyun , Yan Jing , Chen Yan , Li Aoshuang , Yang Xiaorong , Shi Weizhong , Guo Lin , Dai Tiantian , Wang Jie , Lu Renquan
Published: February 2022

Background: Currently, there are various platforms for circulating tumor cells (CTCs) detection that need further improvement. Here we performed CTCs detection with a novel automatic CTCs isolation and enrichment platform, CytoBot® 2000.Methods: We conducted a retrospective study with186 breast cancer patients and 20 healthy volunteers. Peripheral blood was obtained and the CTCs were detected immediately. The performance of CytoBot® 2000 was verified by spiking assay and clinical samples through the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. The number of CTCs and CD45 positive CTCs were analyzed along with clinicopathologic features and clinical therapies. Additionally, a short-term follow-up review was presented for treatment monitoring with CTC.Results: CTCs were discovered in 119 of 137 patients (86.86%) with malignant tumors and 31 of 49 patients (63.27%) with benign carcinoid, but not in healthy group. Statistical analysis revealed that CTCs could easily distinguish malignant breast cancer from benign carcinoid (P < 0.0001). Notably, CTCs were significantly correlated with tumour progression (P = 0.0216). When the cut-off value was 2, the ROC curve estimated the sensitivity and specificity of 74.5% and 81.2%, respectively. The number of CTC was significantly associated with tumour TNM stage (P = 0.032) and tumour size (P = 0.0326). In retrospective follow-up, the majority of patients (65.22%) exhibited a reduction in CTCs enumeration because of improved treatment. Additionally, the increased proportion of CD45 positive CTCs has found during treatment with different strategies. Conclusion: The CTCs enumeration on CytoBot 2000® platform could accurately respond to the clinical diagnosis and treatment. CTCs and CD45 positive CTCs both have significance in clinical indication of cancer diagnosis and monitoring.
Production potential of cellulose nanofibrils from transgenic trees with reduced expression of cellulose synthase interacting 1
Authors: Jonasson Simon , Bünder Anne , Berglund Linn , Niittylä Totte , Oksman Kristiina
Published: February 2022

Cellulose nanofibrils can be derived from the native load-bearing cellulose microfibrils in wood. These microfibrils are synthesized by a cellulose synthase enzyme complex residing in the plasma membrane of developing wood cells. In addition to the cellulose synthase complex several other proteins, including cellulose synthase interacting 1 (CSI1), facilitate cellulose biosynthesis. It was previously shown that transgenic hybrid aspen trees with reduced expression of CSI1 exhibit changes in wood mechanics and cellulose microfibril properties. We hypothesized that these changes in native cellulose may impact the quality of corresponding nanofibrils. To investigate this hypothesis wood from wild type and transgenic trees with reduced expression of CSI1 was subjected to oxidative nanofibril isolation processes. The transgenic wood extracted nanofibrils exhibited a significantly lower suspension viscosity and estimated surface area. Furthermore, the manufactured nanofibril networks exhibited a higher stiffness, reduced water-uptake, tensile strength, strain-to-break and degree of polymerization compared to wild type derived nanofibrils. It was concluded that the difference in wood properties caused by decreased expression of CSI1 gave rise to nanofibrils with distinctive qualities. The observed changes in the physicochemical properties suggest that the differences are caused by changes in apparent nanofibril aspect ratio and surface accessibility. This study demonstrates the possibility to influence wood derived nanofibril quality through genetic engineering of trees and opens for breeding of wood properties for extraction of nanomaterials with defined characteristics.
QSAR, molecular docking and ADMET studies of Quinoline, Isoquinoline and Quinazoline derivatives against Plasmodium falciparum malaria
Authors: Said EL Rhabori , Abdellah El Aissouq , Samir Chtita , Fouad Khalil
Published: February 2022

With the aim of researching new antimalarial drugs, a series of quinoline, isoquinoline and quinazoline derivatives were studied against the Plasmodium falciparum CQ-sensitive and MQ-resistant strain 3D7 protozoan parasite. DFT with B3LYP functional and 6-311G basis set was used to calculate quantum chemical descriptors for QSAR models. The molecular mechanics (MM2) method was used to calculate constitutional, physicochemical, and topological descriptors. By randomly dividing the dataset into training and test sets, we were able to construct reliable models using linear regression (MLR), nonlinear regression (MNLR) and artificial neural networks (ANN). The determination coefficient values indicate the predictive quality of the established models. The robustness and predictive power of the generated models were also confirmed via internal validation, external validation, the Y-Randomization test and the applicability domain. Furthermore, molecular docking studies were conducted to identify the key interactions between the studied molecules and the PfPMT receptor's active site. The findings of this contribution study indicate that the antimalarial activity of these compounds against Plasmodium falciparum appears to be largely determined by four descriptors, i.e., Total Connectivity (Tcon), percentage of carbon (C (%)), density (D) and bond length between the two nitrogen atoms (Bond N-N). On the basis of the reliable QSAR model and molecular docking results, several new antimalarial compounds have been designed. The selection of drug-candidates was performed according to drug-likeness and ADMET parameters.
Outcomes and Associated Factors of Mothers Admitted to Intensive Care Unit During Pregnancy and Postpartum at Saint Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Authors: Mideksa Tsegaye , Mekonnen Tadios , Mengiste Bezatu
Published: February 2022

Background: Despite the drastic decrease in maternal morbidity over the last few decades, because of improvements in obstetric care, maternal mortality remains to be a challenge in developing world. Analyzing intensive care unit (ICU) utilization during pregnancy and postpartum is an accepted approach to identify severe and “near-miss” maternal morbidity. Even though data regarding obstetric admission to ICU is available in developed countries, such data is few or lacking in developing countries specially Ethiopia. The objective of the study was to describe profiles and outcomes of women who required admission to ICU during pregnancy and Postpartum.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, data from case notes of 154 women who were admitted to the Saint Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College ICU during pregnancy and postpartum from 2016 to 2020 were collected using simple data extraction format. Mothers admitted over the 5-year period were included in the study. SPSS version 26 was used for data entry and analysis. Data was presented as mean ± SD and categorical variables as number (percentage). The association between maternal ICU outcome and associated factors was assessed using Binary Logistic regression and P-values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: There were 154 obstetric ICU admissions during the study period. The most common reasons for obstetric ICU admissions were Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy (48.7%) and Obstetric hemorrhage (12.9%). The mean age of the patients was 27.8 years, and median duration of ICU stay was 5 days (range 1-40 days). Forty-six maternal deaths occurred (29.9%) and Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy accounted for 45.6% of all deaths. Not having follow up at this hospital [AOR, 5.480, CI (1.890-15.890)] and shorter ICU stay (less than 10 days) [AOR, 0.127, CI (0.028-0.572)] were significantly associated with death of mothers admitted to ICU.Conclusion: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy were the leading cause of admission to ICU and leading cause of maternal mortality, which can be easily prevented with early diagnosis and timely intervention. Improving the quality of prenatal care to recognize hypertensive disorders during pregnancy, coupled with prompt management, might help to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality.
A New Protocol Applied to Cancer Treatment-Mathematical Model-Singular Perturbed Vector Field Algorithm
Authors: Nave Ophir
Published: February 2022

In this study, we investigated the mathematical model for cancer treatment. The model takes into account the interaction of the cancer cells with the immune system and the treatment that combined unlicensed dendritic cells and anti-VEGF. We propose a new non-standard protocol for the treatment of cancer. In addition, the mathematical model includes equations of the variability of the treatments unlicensed dendritic cells and anti-VEGF as a function of the time and dependence on the Length of tumor vasculature.
Visualization of human optic nerve and tract by diffusion tensor mapping and degree of neuropathy
Authors: Łabieniec Łukasz , Lisowski Łukasz , Petrache Horia , Hładuński Marcin , Konopińska Joanna , Kochanowicz Jan , Szymański Krzysztof
Published: February 2022

Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging of the human optic nerve and tract is technically difficult because of its small size, the inherent strong signal generated by the surrounding fat and the cerebrospinal fluid, and due to eddy current-induced distortions and subject movement artifacts. In addition, the effects of the bone channel through which the optic nerve passes, and the proximity of blood vessels, muscles and tendons are generally unknown. Furthermore, the limited technical capabilities of the scanners and the minimization of acquisition times result in poor quality diffusion-weighted images. It is challenging for current tractography methods to accurately track optic pathway fibers that correspond to known anatomy and to produce a reasonable fraction of decussating fibers. Despite these technical limitations and low image resolution, here we show how to visualize the optic nerve and tract and quantify nerve atrophy. Our visualization method based on the analysis of the diffusion tensor shows marked differences between a healthy male subject and a male subject with progressive optic nerve neuropathy, differences that are otherwise not visible on standard morphological images or scalar diffusion maps. Importantly, our method provides a quantification of the degree of optic nerve atrophy in a systematic way.
Benchmarking the Nutrition-Related Commitments and Practices of Major French Food Companies
Authors: Dam Iris Van , Sciensano Stefanie Vandevijvere
Published: February 2022

Background: To benchmark and quantitatively assess the transparency, specificity and comprehensiveness of nutrition-related commitments and related practices of the major companies within the French food industry.Methods: To evaluate the nutrition-related commitments and practices across policy domains such as product reformulation, labelling, marketing and accessibility, the ‘Business Impact Assessment on Obesity and population-level nutrition’ (BIA-Obesity) was applied. A total of 33 French companies were selected using Euromonitor 2018 market share data, including major packaged food and non-alcoholic beverage manufacturers (N=20), quick-service restaurants (N=7), and supermarkets (N=6). During 2019-2020 the publicly available commitments were collected for each company, scored according to the BIA-Obesity, and company representatives provided with the opportunity to complete and verify the collected data. Following performance metrics were included to assess company practices: the median Nutri-Score of product portfolios, the proportion of products with Nutri-Score A or B, the percentage of products (not-)permitted to be marketed to children according to the World Health Organisation Europe nutrient profile model and the proportion of ultra-processed food products as determined by the NOVA‑classification. In addition supermarket flyers were collected over a 6-month period to assess the healthiness of product promotions. Correlations between commitments and performance metrics were assessed applying the Spearman's rank correlation coefficient.Results: Among the selected companies, 13 companies verified and completed the publicly available data (response rate= 39%). Overall BIA-Obesity scores for company commitments varied between 2% and 74% with a median score of 28%. Scores for packaged food and non-alcoholic beverage manufacturers were higher than those for supermarkets and quick‑service restaurants. The median proportion of foods with Nutri-Score A or B within product portfolios was 38% (range=1%-95%), while the median proportion of non-permitted products was 84% (range=7%‑100%) and the median proportion of ultra-processed food products 63% (range=5%-100%). Stronger company commitments did not translate into better performance metrics. Conclusions: There is room for significant improvement of both company commitments and performance. Current food industry action does not meet recommended best practices. The French government is urged to regulate food industry practices to create healthier food environments.
Cold Intolerance and Associated Factors: A Population Study
Authors: Khabbazi Alireza , Farzaneh Rojin , Mahmoudi Maryam , Shahi Mohammad , Sarmadian Amirreza Jabbaripour , Babapour Elaheh , Alizadeh Leila , Khabbazi Raha , Nouri-Vaskeh Masoud
Published: February 2022

Cold intolerance has been defined as a set of symptoms including pain, tingling, numbness, chills, stiffness, weakness, swelling or skin color changes on exposure to cold. Cold intolerance may have a profound effect on health-related quality of life. In this cross-sectional study, we investigated the prevalence of cold intolerance and associated factors in the general population of Tabriz. Simple random sampling of individuals aged ≥18 was performed from the population covered by Emamieh health center under the supervision of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. A telephone interview was conducted with the participants by the general physician of that center. In participants with a positive response to each of two questions “I am oversensitive to cold” and “I experience pain or discomfort when exposed to cold” a Cold Intolerance Symptom Severity (CISS) questionnaire was filled. We used a cut off value 50 for defining cold intolerance. Of the 353 person who received telephone calls, 322 answered questions. Cold related symptoms and cold intolerance were reported in 144 (44.7%) and 38 (11.1%) persons, respectively. Being female and having fibromyalgia, upper limb disease and history of upper limb surgery were independent risk factors for predicting cold intolerance. Cold intolerance disturbed job in 27 (8.4%) and led to a change in job in 6 (1.9%) persons. Cold intolerance is a common problem in the general population that may lead to job disruption and even job change.
Classified 3D Mapping and Deep Learning Aided Signal Power Estimation Architecture for the Deployment of Wireless Communication Systems
Authors: Egi Yunus , Eyceyurt Engin
Published: February 2022

The traditional wireless communication systems deployment models require expensive and time-consuming procedures, including environment selection(rural, urban, and suburban), drive test data collection, and analysis of the raw data. These procedures mainly utilize stochastic and deterministic approaches for signal strength prediction to locate the optimum cellular tower(eNodeB) position for 4G and 5G systems. Since environment selection is limited by urban, suburban, and rural areas, they do not cover complex macro and micro variations, especially buildings and tree canopies having a higher impact on signal fading due to scattering and absorption. Therefore, they usually end up with high prediction errors. This article proposes an efficient architecture for the deployment of communication systems. The proposed method determines the effect of the environment via extracting tree and building properties by using a classified 3D map and You Only Look Once (YOLO) V5, which is one of the most efficient deep learning algorithms. According to the results, the Mean Average Precision(mAP) 0.5% and mAP 0.95% accuracies are obtained as 0.96 and 0.45, and Image Color Classification(ICC) findings indicate 77.6% accuracy on vegetation detection, especially for tree canopies. Thus, the obtained results significantly improved signal strength prediction with a 3.96% Mean Absolute Percentage Error(MAPE) rate, while other empirical models’ prediction errors fall in the range of 6.07%-15.26%.
Surgical Treatment of Selected Tumors via the Navigated Minimally Invasive Presigmoidal Suprabulbar Infralabyrinthine Approach without Rerouting of the Facial Nerve
Authors: Cinibulak Zafer , Al-Afif Shadi , Nakamura Makoto , Krauss Joachim K.
Published: February 2022

BACKROUND: The feasibility of a novel skull base approach, the navigated minimal ly invasive presigmoidal suprabulbar infralabyrinthine approach (NaMIPSI-A) without rerouting of the fallopian canal for selected jugular foramen tumors (JFTs), has been demonstrated in a neuroanatomical laboratory study. OBJECTIVE: Here, we present our clinical experience with this approach for selected JFTs, with a particular focus on its efficacy and safety. METHODS: All patients with JFTs who were treated via the NaMIPSI-A were included in this study. The JFTs were classified according to a modified Fisch classification. The neurological and neuroradiological outcome, the extent of tumor resection, and the approach-related morbidity were examined.RESULTS: Five patients (two women, three men; mean age 57y, range 48-65) were available. According to the modified Fisch classification, two JFTs were graded as C1, one as De1 and two as De2. Gross total resection (GTR) was achieved in three patients and near-total resection (NTR) in two. Postsurgically, no new neurological deficits and no approach-related morbidity and mortality occurred. One case with a postoperative cerebrospinal fluid leak was managed successfully with lumbar drainage. During the follow-up period (mean 67,6 months, range 12-119 months) tumor recurrence was noted in the NTR group but not in the GTR group. CONCLUSIONS: The NaMIPSI-A to the jugular foramen without rerouting of the fallopian canal is highly valuable for selected tumors of the jugular foramen. It is less invasive than other skull approaches, and it allows safe and complete tumor removal in appropriate patients.
Incorporation of 16O-rich anhydrous silicates in the protolith of highly hydrated asteroid Ryugu
Authors: Liu Ming-Chang , McCain Kaitlyn , Matsuda Nozomi , Yamaguchi Akira , Kimura Makoto , Tomioka Naotaka , Ito Motoo , Uesugi Masayuki , Imae Naoya , Shirai Naoki , Ohigashi Takuji , Greenwood Richard , Uesugi Kentaro , Nakato Aiko , Yogata Kasumi , Yuzawa Hayato , Kodama Yu , Hirahara Kaori , Sakurai Ikuya , Okada Ikuo , Karouji Yuzuru , Nakazawa Satoru , Okada Tatsuaki , Saiki Takanao , Tanaka Satoshi , Terui Fuyuto , Yoshikawa Makoto , Miyazaki Akiko , Nishimura Masahiro , Yada Toru , Abe Masanao , Usui Tomohiro , Watanabe Sei-ichiro , Tsuda Yuichi
Published: February 2022

The abundant phyllosilicate and carbonate minerals characterizing most of the returned particles from asteroid Ryugu suggest a history of extensive aqueous alteration on its parent body1,2, similar to the rare, mineralogically altered, but chemically primitive CI (Ivuna-type) chondrite meteorites. Particle C0009 differs mineralogically from other Ryugu particles examined to date by containing anhydrous silicates at a level of ~0.5 vol% (Ito et al. submitted), and thus can help shed light on the original materials that constituted Ryugu’s protolith. In-situ oxygen isotope measurements of the most Mg-rich olivine and pyroxene in C0009 reveal two populations of ∆17O: −25‰ to −15‰ and −8‰ to −3‰, correlating well with the silicate morphologies similar to those seen in amoeboid olivine aggregates (AOAs)3–7 and chondrule phenocrysts8,9, respectively, abundant in less aqueously altered carbonaceous chondrites. This result represents the first discovery of olivine with ∆17O close to the solar value10 in either a CI chondrite or an asteroid of CI-chondrite characteristics and provides strong evidence that AOAs and Mg-rich chondrules accreted into Ryugu’s protolith. Our data also raise the possibility that the protoliths of CI and other carbonaceous chondrites incorporated similar anhydrous silicates.
Resource Allocation for UAV-assisted backscatter communication
Authors: Wang Zhengqiang , Hong Duan , Fan Zifu , Wan Xiaoyu , Xu Yongjun , Duo Bin
Published: February 2022

As a promising new technology for green communication, backscatter communication has attracted wide attention in academics and industry. This paper studies the resource allocation problem for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-assisted backscatter communication network. The UAV is used as an airborne mobile base station (BS) by time division multiple access (TDMA) protocol to help backscatter devices (BDs) forward signals to backscatter receiver (BR). Considering the fairness among BDs, we investigate maximizing the minimum (max-min) rate of the proposed network by jointly optimizing backscatter device scheduling, reflection coefficient, UAV's power control, and UAV's trajectory. The optimization problem is a non-convex problem, which is challenging to obtain the optimal solution. Therefore, we propose an efficient iterative algorithm to decompose the optimization problem into four subproblems by the block coordinate descent (BCD) method. The variables are alternatively optimized by the interior point method and successive convex approximation (SCA) techniques in each iteration. Finally, simulation results show that the max-min rate of the system obtained by the proposed scheme outperforms other benchmark schemes.
Propofol protects against erastin-induced ferroptosis in HT-22 cells.
Authors: Li Yuanhai , Xuan Wenting , Lu Xinyi , Yang Zeyong , Li Jun , Jin Weilin
Published: February 2022

Propofol is a short-acting intravenous anesthetic, which is widely used in clinical treatment. Previous articles indicated that propofol is a therapeutic target for anti-apoptosis, anti-inflammation, anti-lipid peroxidation, and anti-Reactive oxygen species (ROS). Moreover, cell ferroptosis has strong correlations with cellular ROS, inflammatory responses, and lipid peroxidation. However, the mechanisms of propofol attenuating neuron injury by reducing ferroptosis remain unknown. Hence, we hypothesized that propofol could protect neuron cells via reducing cell ferroptosis. To test this hypothesis, HT-22 cells were treated with a specific ferroptosis activator (erastin) in the presence of propofol (50 μM). In such a study, we found propofol reduced erastin induced high Fe 2+ concentration, lipid peroxides, and excess ROS. The western blot also helps us understand that propofol could rescue erastin-induced low expression of GXP4 and system Xc - . Further experiments indicated that propofol attenuated p-ALOX5 expression at Ser663 independent of ERK. In addition, we built two transient transfection cell lines, ALOX5 OE, and Ser663Ala-ALOX5 OE to confirm the target of propofol. We found that Ser663 point is the critical role of propofol in rescuing erastin induced cell injury/lipid peroxidation. In conclusion, propofol may help attenuates ferroptosis, which may provide a new therapeutic method to treat neuron injury or brain inflammatory response.