bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Evolution of the burden of aortic stenosis by sex in the province of Quebec between 2006 and 2018
Authors: Frieden Philipp , Blais Claudia , Hamel Denis , Gamache Philippe , Pibarot Philippe , Clavel Marie-Annick
Published: March 2022

Objectives

To evaluate the evolution of the burden of aortic stenosis (AS) by sex in the province of Quebec from 2006–2007 to 2018–2019 and compare the percentage of mortality between people who underwent aortic valve intervention and those who did not.

Methods

Persons aged ≥20 years were identified from the Quebec Integrated Chronic Disease Surveillance System using International Classification of Diseases and intervention codes in the hospital files.

Results

In 2018, the crude prevalence and incidence of AS were 0.89% (99% CI 0.89 to 0.90) (n=59 025) and 1.39 per 1000 (1.35 to 1.43) (n=9105), respectively. Age-standardised prevalence and incidence of AS diagnosis increased between 2006 and 2018 from 0.67% (0.66 to 0.68) to 0.75% (0.74 to 0.76) and from 0.91 per 1000 (0.88 to 0.95) to 1.20 per 1000 (1.17 to 1.23), respectively. Among incident AS, the age-standardised percentage of valve interventions increased from 11.7% (10.9 to 12.6) to 14.5% (13.9 to 15.3). This increase was only observed in men. The 30-day mortality was stable among patients with incident AS treated conservatively, from 6.9% (6.5 to 7.4) to 7.3% (6.9 to 7.6), and decreased from 7.6% (6.1 to 9.3) to 3.8% (3.1 to 4.7) among operated patients with incident AS. This decrease was only observed in women. However, from 2010, the age-adjusted mortality among prevalent AS tended to be higher in women.

Conclusions

In the province of Quebec, age-standardised prevalence and incidence of AS diagnosis increased between 2006 and 2018. Among incident AS, there was an increase in valve intervention in men and a decrease in 30-day mortality in women who underwent valve intervention. Overall and age-standardised mortality remained higher in women.
Echo-guided left ventricular assist device speed optimisation for exercise maximisation
Authors: Stapor Maciej , Pilat Adam , Gackowski Andrzej , Misiuda Agnieszka , Gorkiewicz-Kot Izabela , Kaleta Michal , Kleczynski Pawel , Zmudka Krzysztof , Legutko Jacek , Kapelak Boguslaw , Wierzbicki Karol
Published: March 2022

Objective

Current generation left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) operate with a fixed rotation speed and no automated speed adjustment function. This study evaluates the concept of physiological pump speed optimisation based on aortic valve opening (AVO) imaging during a cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET).

Methods

This prospective crossover study (NCT05063006) enrolled patients with implanted third-generation LVADs with hydrodynamic bearing. After resting speed optimisation, patients were randomised to a fixed-modified speed or modified-fixed speed CPET sequence. Fixed speed CPET maintained baseline pump settings. During the modified speed CPET, the LVAD speed was continuously altered to preserve periodic AVO.

Results

We included 22 patients, the mean age was 58.4±7 years, 4.5% were women and 54.5% had ischaemic cardiomyopathy. Exertional AVO assessment was feasible in all subjects. Maintaining periodic AVO allowed to safely raise the pump speed from 2900 (IQR 2640–3000) to 3440 revolutions per minute (RPM) (IQR 3100–3700; p<0.001). As a result, peak oxygen consumption increased from 11.1±2.4 to 12.8±2.8 mL/kg/min (p<0.001) and maximum workload from 1.1 (IQR 0.9–1.5) to 1.2 W/kg (IQR 0.9–1.7; p=0.028). The Borg scale exertion level decreased from 15.2±1.5 to 13.5±1.2 (p=0.005).

Conclusions

Transthoracic AVO imaging is possible during CPETs in patients with LVAD. Dynamic echo-guided pump speed adjustment based on the AVO improves exercise tolerance and augments peak oxygen consumption and maximum workload.
Effect of a conditional cash transfer programme on infant up-to-date and timely vaccination
Authors: Souza Evelyn Lima de , Ferreira Vinicius Leati de Rossi , Waldman Eliseu Alves , Sato Ana Paula Sayuri
Published: March 2022

Background

Conditional cash transfer (CCT) programmes are one of the strategies to increase vaccination coverage among underprivileged families by conditioning cash transfer to the up-to-date immunisation of children. However, there are gaps in knowledge of its impact on vaccination at the recommended age (timely).

Methods

We performed two cross-sectional analyses of secondary data from a retrospective cohort, at the landmark ages of 12 and 24 months, to assess the effect of the Brazilian CCT on the up-to-date and timely vaccination in children born between 2014 and 2016 and resident in the city of Araraquara, São Paulo (Southeast Brazil). The Propensity Score Matching (PSM) was used to balance two pre-defined groups (beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries) according to the profile of socioeconomic and demographic characteristics.

Results

From a total of 7386 children within the cohort, 22.2% (1636) were from beneficiary families of the CCT. After the pairing by PSM, the final sample size included in the analyses was 1440 for each group. We found higher up-to-date vaccination coverage, at 12 (92.1%, 95% CI=90.6% to 93.5%) and 24 months (83.8%, 95% CI=81.8% to 85.7%), among the CCT beneficiaries compared with the non-beneficiaries (85.1%, 95% CI=83.2% to 86.9% at 12 months and 73.6%, 95% CI=71.2% to 75.8% at 24 months). The coverage of timely vaccination did not statistically differ between beneficiaries (41.5%, 95% CI=38.9% to 44.1% and 17.4%, 95% CI=15.4% to 19.4%) and non-beneficiaries (40.7%, 95% CI=38.1% to 43.3% and 17.1%, 95% CI=15.2% to 19.1%) at 12 and 24 months, respectively.

Conclusion

The study highlights a positive effect of the CCT on vaccination coverage of the up-to-date infant vaccination schedule. However, there was no difference in timely vaccination.
Unique characteristics of tertiary lymphoid structures in kidney clear cell carcinoma: prognostic outcome and comparison with bladder cancer
Authors: Masuda Tsukasa , Tanaka Nobuyuki , Takamatsu Kimiharu , Hakozaki Kyohei , Takahashi Ryohei , Anno Tadatsugu , Kufukihara Ryohei , Shojo Kazunori , Mikami Shuji , Shinojima Toshiaki , Kakimi Kazuhiro , Tsunoda Tatsuhiko , Aimono Eriko , Nishihara Hiroshi , Mizuno Ryuichi , Oya Mototsugu
Published: March 2022

Background

The aims of this study were (1) to clarify the impact of tertiary lymphoid structure (TLS) status on the outcome and immunogenomic profile of human clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) and (2) to determine phenotypic differences in TLSs between different types of genitourinary cancer, that is, urinary ccRCC and bladder cancer.

Methods

We performed a quantitative immunohistological analysis of ccRCC tissue microarrays and conducted integrated genome mutation analysis by next-generation sequencing and methylation array analysis. Since the tumor immune microenvironment of ccRCC often differs from that of other cancer types, we analyzed the phenotypic differences in TLSs between ccRCC and in-house bladder cancer specimens.

Results

Varying distribution patterns of TLSs were observed throughout ccRCC tumors, revealing that the presence of TLSs was related to poor prognosis. An analysis of genomic alterations based on TLS status in ccRCC revealed that alterations in the PI3K-mTOR pathway were highly prevalent in TLS-positive tumors. DNA methylation profiling also revealed distinct differences in methylation signatures among ccRCC samples with different TLS statuses. However, the TLS characteristics of ccRCC and bladder cancer markedly differed: TLSs had the exact opposite prognostic impact on bladder cancer as on ccRCC. The maturity and spatial distribution of TLSs were significantly different between the two cancer types; TLSs were more mature with follicle-like germinal center organization and likely to be observed inside the tumor in bladder cancer. Labeling for CD8, FOXP3, PD-1, and PD-L1 showed marked differences in the diversity of the immune microenvironment surrounding TLSs. The proportions of CD8-, FOXP3-, and PD-L1-positive cells were significantly higher in TLSs in bladder cancer than in TLSs in ccRCC; rather the proportion of PD-1-positive cells was significantly higher in TLSs in ccRCC than in TLSs in bladder cancer.

Conclusion

The immunobiology of ccRCC is unique, and various cancerous phenomena conflict with that seen in other cancer types; therefore, comparing the TLS characteristics between ccRCC and bladder cancer may help reveal differences in the prognostic impact, maturity and spatial distribution of TLSs and in the immune environment surrounding TLSs between the two cancers.
Harnessing radiotherapy-induced NK-cell activity by combining DNA damage–response inhibition and immune checkpoint blockade
Authors: Patin Emmanuel C , Dillon Magnus T , Nenclares Pablo , Grove Lorna , Soliman Heba , Leslie Isla , Northcote Davina , Bozhanova Galabina , Crespo-Rodriguez Eva , Baldock Holly , Whittock Harriet , Baker Gabriella , Kyula Joan , Guevara Jeane , Melcher Alan A , Harper James , Ghadially Hormas , Smith Simon , Pedersen Malin , McLaughlin Martin , Harrington Kevin J
Published: March 2022

Background

Despite therapeutic gains from immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) in many tumor types, new strategies are needed to extend treatment benefits, especially in patients failing to mount effective antitumor T-cell responses. Radiation and drug therapies can profoundly affect the tumor immune microenvironment. Here, we aimed to identify immunotherapies to increase the antitumor response conferred by combined ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3-related kinase inhibition and radiotherapy.

Methods

Using the human papillomavirus (HPV)-negative murine oral squamous cell carcinoma model, MOC2, we assessed the nature of the antitumor response following ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3-related inhibitor (ATRi)/radiotherapy (RT) by performing RNA sequencing and detailed flow cytometry analyses in tumors. The benefit of immunotherapies based on T cell immunoreceptor with Ig and ITIM domains (TIGIT) and Programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) immune checkpoint blockade following ATRi/RT treatment was assessed in the MOC2 model and confirmed in another HPV-negative murine oral squamous cell carcinoma model called SCC7. Finally, immune profiling was performed by flow cytometry on blood samples in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma enrolled in the PATRIOT clinical trial of combined ATRi/RT.

Results

ATRi enhances radiotherapy-induced inflammation in the tumor microenvironment, with natural killer (NK) cells playing a central role in maximizing treatment efficacy. We demonstrated that antitumor activity of NK cells can be further boosted with ICI targeting TIGIT and PD-1. Analyses of clinical samples from patients receiving ATRi (ceralasertib) confirm the translational potential of our preclinical studies.

Conclusion

This work delineates a previously unrecognized role for NK cells in the antitumor immune response to radiotherapy that can be augmented by small-molecule DNA damage–response inhibitors and immune checkpoint blockade.
Trajectories of mental health among UK university staff and postgraduate students during the pandemic
Authors: Carr Ewan , Oetzmann Carolin , Davis Katrina , Bergin-Cartwright Gabriella , Dorrington Sarah , Lavelle Grace , Leightley Daniel , Polling Catherine , Stevelink Sharon A M , Wickersham Alice , Vitiello Valentina , Razavi Reza , Hotopf Matthew
Published: March 2022

Objectives

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the social and working lives of many. Past studies have highlighted worsening mental health during the pandemic, but often rely on small samples or infrequent follow-up. This study draws on fortnightly assessments from a large occupational cohort to describe differing trajectories of mental health between April 2020 and April 2021 and individual characteristics associated with these trajectory types.

Methods

King’s College London Coronavirus Health and Experiences of Colleagues at King’s is an occupational cohort study at a large university in London, UK. Participants (n=2241) completed online questionnaires fortnightly between April 2020 and April 2021. Symptoms of anxiety and depression were assessed using Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9).

Results

On average, participants reported low levels of anxiety and depression (GAD-7 and PHQ-9 scores of 0–9, consistent with ‘none’, ‘minimal’ or ‘mild’ symptoms) throughout the year, with symptoms highest in April 2020 and decreasing over the summer months when no lockdown measures were in place. However, we observed more severe and variable symptoms among subgroups of participants. Four trajectory types for anxiety and depression were identified: ‘persistent high severity’ (6%–7% of participants), ‘varying symptoms, opposing national cases’ (4%–8%), ‘varying symptoms, consistent with national cases’ (6%–11%) and ‘persistent low severity’ (74%–84%). Younger age, female gender, caring responsibilities and shielding were associated with higher severity trajectory types.

Conclusions

These data highlight differing individual responses to the pandemic and underscore the need to consider individual circumstances when assessing and treating mental health. Aggregate trends in anxiety and depression may hide greater variation and symptom severity among subgroups.
Evaluation of a health and social care programme to improve outcomes following critical illness: a multicentre study
Authors: Henderson Philip , Quasim Tara , Shaw Martin , MacTavish Pamela , Devine Helen , Daniel Malcolm , Nicolson Fiona , O’Brien Peter , Weir Ashley , Strachan Laura , Senior Lorraine , Lucie Phil , Bollan Lynn , Duffty Jane , Hogg Lucy , Ross Colette , Sim Malcolm , Sundaram Radha , Iwashyna Theodore J , McPeake Joanne
Published: March 2022

Rationale

At present, clinicians aiming to support patients through the challenges after critical care have limited evidence to base interventions.

Objectives

Evaluate a multicentre integrated health and social care intervention for critical care survivors. A process evaluation assessed factors influencing the programme implementation.

Methods

This study evaluated the impact of the Intensive Care Syndrome: Promoting Independence and Return to Employment (InS:PIRE) programme. We compared patients who attended this programme with a usual care cohort from the same time period across nine hospital sites in Scotland. The primary outcome was health-related quality of life (HRQoL) measured via the EuroQol 5-dimension 5-level instrument, at 12 months post hospital discharge. Secondary outcome measures included self-efficacy, depression, anxiety and pain.

Results

137 patients who received the InS:PIRE intervention completed outcome measures at 12 months. In the usual care cohort, 115 patients completed the measures. The two cohorts had similar baseline demographics. After adjustment, there was a significant absolute increase in HRQoL in the intervention cohort in relation to the usual care cohort (0.12, 95% CI 0.04 to 0.20,p=0.01). Patients in the InS:PIRE cohort also reported self-efficacy scores that were 7.7% higher (2.32 points higher, 95% CI 0.32 to 4.31,p=0.02), fewer symptoms of depression (OR 0.38, 95% CI 0.19 to 0.76, p=0.01) and similar symptoms of anxiety (OR 0.58, 95% CI 0.30 to 1.13,p=0.11). There was no significant difference in overall pain experience. Key facilitators for implementation were: integration with inpatient care, organisational engagement, flexibility to service inclusion; key barriers were: funding, staff availability and venue availability.

Conclusions

This multicentre evaluation of a health and social care programme designed for survivors of critical illness appears to show benefit at 12 months following hospital discharge.
Effect of inorganic ions on the microstructure and visible-light-driven photocatalysis of WO3 nanostructures
Authors: Liu Yangsi , Xi Xiaoli , Li Mengmeng
Published: March 2022

Tungsten trioxide (WO[Formula: see text] nanostructures were synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method. The morphology of WO3 nanostructures can be varied by adding inorganic ions from alkali metal salts. The effect of inorganic ions on the microstructure and visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity was characterized via X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and UV-vis spectroscopy. Methylene blue (MB) photodegradation experiments showed that the one-dimensional (1D) WO3 nanorods prepared by the aid of potassium sulfate exhibited the highest photocatalytic efficiency (96.4% in 2.5 h) under visible light irradiation. It is deduced that the excellent photocatalytic property of 1D WO3 nanorods was mainly attributed to the efficient charge transfer capability, which is promising for practical applications in environmental remediation.
Investigation on electron beam welding of dissimilar wrought/selective laser melting AISI 304 stainless steel plates
Authors: Qi Kai , Chang Tao , Shi Zhongxing , Gu Jiayang , Li Taotao , Li Ruifeng
Published: March 2022

The selective laser melting (SLM) process gives a possibility to create complex shape parts. Joining SLM alloy parts to similar or dissimilar alloy parts can overcome some product design limitations such as limited dimensions and residual stress concentration. In this study, successful electron beam joining work on to SLM AISI 304 stainless steel plates was performed. The influence of beam current on the weld bead profile was investigated. Typical welded joints were analyzed by microstructure, microhardness, and tensile tests. The optimal welding parameters were obtained accordingly. A thorough analysis of the element and microstructure distribution in SLM and its influence on the properties of the welded joints were also investigated.
The cell responses on Sr-incorporated Na–Ti–O nano-network on titanium surface
Authors: Liu Yanlian , Zhang Li , Hang Ruiqiang , Li Taotao , Liu Chengzhi
Published: March 2022

A Sr-incorporated Na–Ti–O nano-network with a lateral pore size of 20–300 nm was developed on titanium (Ti) substrate using one-step alkali etching in a mixed solution of NaOH and Sr(OH)2. The pore size of coating increases with Sr content, implying the proper amount of Sr in the electrolyte accelerates nanowire aggregation. The Sr(OH)2 particle precipitation has no significant effect on the coating morphology. Moreover, biological experiments suggest the prepared coating exhibits good cytocompatibility, and the amount of Sr under 0.7 at.% has no noticeable promoting effect on the cytocompatibility.
Review of the cavitation mechanism and prevention or enhancement
Authors: Gao Dan , Yang Jiaxi , Ge Lining
Published: March 2022

Cavitation is not rare in the field of the water conservancy machinery, and it also effects production and life deeply. To explore the results of cavitation, the formation, expansion, collapse and movement mechanism of the cavitation bubble are integrated and the theories of cavitation under various conditions are summarized; at the same time, the adverse effects and the available ways of engineering caused by cavitation are analyzed. Based on this, the ways or methods for further analysis, prevention or enhancement of cavitation in the field of engineering technology are proposed, so as to provide guidance for engineering technology.
A Rectal CT Tumor Segmentation Method Based on Improved U-Net
Authors: Dong Haowei , Zhang Haifei , Wu Fang , Qiu Jianlin , Zhang Jian , Wang Haoyu
Published: March 2022

Automatic and accurate segmentation of tumor area from rectal CT image plays an extremely key role in the treatment and diagnosis of rectal cancer. This paper proposes the MR-U-Net network model. The improvement is that a pair of encoder and decoder is added longitudinally to the U-shaped structure, which is the network structure of the fifth layer, and a residual module is added horizontally to the encoder and decoder of each layer. This model is used to conduct targeted research on the automatic segmentation method of rectal cancer. [H. Gao et al., Rectal tumor segmentation method based on U-Net improved model, J. Comput. Appl.40(8) (2020) 2392–2397] also improved U-Net and used the same dataset as this paper, but the Dice coefficient of all targets was only 83.15%, and the Dice coefficient of small targets was only 87.17%. This paper evaluates the improved MR-U-Net network model with the three indicators of precision, recall and Dice coefficient, and finds that in comparison to Ref.  4 the precision is 95.13%, 2.29% higher than the former work, recall is 94.28%, higher than the former work by 0.34%, Dice coefficient of all targets is 88.45%, increased by 5.3% compared with the former work, and the small targets Dice coefficient is increased by 1.28%, which is the best optimization state of this paper. Experiments show that for datasets with extremely skewed positive and negative samples, the MR-U-Net network structure after improving the hyperparameters in the optimizer can more accurately segment the rectal CT tumor lesion area.
Alternative ideas in cosmology
Authors: López-Corredoira Martín , Marmet Louis
Published: March 2022

Some remarkable examples of alternative cosmological theories are reviewed here, ranging from a compilation of variations on the Standard Model through the more distant quasi-steady-state cosmology, plasma cosmology, or universe models as a hypersphere, to the most exotic cases including static models.

The present-day Standard Model of cosmology, [Formula: see text]CDM, gives us a representation of a cosmos whose dynamics is dominated by gravity (Friedmann equations derived from general relativity) with a finite lifetime, large scale homogeneity, expansion and a hot initial state, together with other elements necessary to avoid certain inconsistencies with observations (inflation, nonbaryonic dark matter, dark energy, etc.). There are however some models with characteristics that are close to those of the Standard Model but differing in some minor aspects; we call these “variations on the Standard Model”. Many of these models are indeed investigated by some mainstream cosmologists: different considerations on CP violation, inflation, number of neutrino species, quark-hadron phase transition, baryonic or nonbaryonic dark-matter, dark energy, nucleosynthesis scenarios, large-scale structure formation scenarios; or major variations like a inhomogeneous universe, Cold Big Bang, varying physical constants or gravity law, zero-active mass (also called “[Formula: see text]”), Milne, and cyclical models.

At the most extreme distance from the Standard Model, the static models, a noncosmological redshift includes “tired-light” hypotheses, which assume that the photon loses energy owing to an intrinsic property or an interaction with matter or light as it travels some distance, or other nonstandard ideas. Our impression is that none of the alternative models has acquired the same level of development as [Formula: see text]CDM in offering explanations of available cosmological observations. One should not, however, judge any theory in terms of the number of observations that it can successfully explain (ad hoc in many cases) given the much lower level of development of the alternative ones, but by the plausibility of its principles and its potential to fit data with future improvements of the theories. A pluralist approach to cosmology is a reasonable option when the preferred theory is still under discussion.
Winograd Convolution for Deep Neural Networks: Efficient Point Selection
Authors: Alam Syed Asad , Anderson Andrew , Barabasz Barbara , Gregg David
Published: March 2022

Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have dramatically improved the accuracy of image, video, and audio processing for tasks such as object recognition, image segmentation, and interactive speech systems. CNNs require large amounts of computing resources for both training and inference, primarily because the convolution layers are computationally intensive. Fast convolution algorithms such as Winograd convolution can greatly reduce the computational cost of these layers. However, Winograd convolution has poor numeric properties, such that greater savings in computation cause exponentially increasing floating point errors.

A defining feature of each Winograd convolution algorithm is a set of real-value points where polynomials are sampled. The choice of points impacts the numeric accuracy of the algorithm, but the optimal set of points for small convolutions remains unknown. Existing work considers only small integers and simple fractions as candidate points. In this work, we propose a novel approach to point selection using points of the form

\(\lbrace -\frac{1}{c},-c,c,\frac{1}{c}\rbrace\)

using the full range of real-valued numbers for
c
. We show that groups of this form cause cancellations in the Winograd transform matrices that reduce numeric error. We find empirically that the error for different values of
c
forms a rough curve across the range of real-value numbers. It is therefore possible to localize the values of
c
that lead to lower error. We show that it is not necessary to choose integers or simple fractions as evaluation points, and that lower errors can be achieved with non-obvious real-valued points. We study a range of sizes for small convolutions and achieve reduction in error ranging from 2% to around 59% for both 1D and 2D convolution, when compared to state of the art. Furthermore, we identify patterns in cases when we select a subset of our proposed points that will always lead to a lower error. Finally, we implement a complete Winograd convolution layer and use it to run state-of-the-art deep convolution neural networks on real datasets and show that our proposed points achieve reduction in error, ranging from 22% to 63%, while also showing how an increased Winograd output size can result in execution speed-up for some cases.
Brain-inspired Cognition in Next-generation Racetrack Memories
Authors: Khan Asif Ali , Ollivier Sébastien , Longofono Stephen , Hempel Gerald , Castrillon Jeronimo , Jones Alex K.
Published: March 2022

Hyperdimensional computing (HDC) is an emerging computational framework inspired by the brain that operates on vectors with thousands of dimensions to emulate cognition. Unlike conventional computational frameworks that operate on numbers, HDC, like the brain, uses high-dimensional random vectors and is capable of one-shot learning. HDC is based on a well-defined set of arithmetic operations and is highly error resilient. The core operations of HDC manipulate HD vectors in bulk bit-wise fashion, offering many opportunities to leverage parallelism. Unfortunately, on conventional von Neumann architectures, the continuous movement of HD vectors among the processor and the memory can make the cognition task prohibitively slow and energy intensive. Hardware accelerators only marginally improve related metrics. In contrast, even partial implementations of an HDC framework inside memory can provide considerable performance/energy gains as demonstrated in prior work using memristors. This article presents an architecture based on
racetrack memory
(RTM) to conduct and accelerate the entire HDC framework within memory. The proposed solution requires minimal additional CMOS circuitry by leveraging a read operation across multiple domains in RTMs called
transverse read
(TR) to realize exclusive-or (
XOR
) and addition operations. To minimize the CMOS circuitry overhead, an RTM nanowire-based counting mechanism is proposed. Using language recognition as the example workload, the proposed RTM HDC system reduces the energy consumption by 8.6× compared to the state-of-the-art in-memory implementation. Compared to dedicated hardware design realized with an FPGA, RTM-based HDC processing demonstrates 7.8× and 5.3× improvements in the overall runtime and energy consumption, respectively.
QUAREM: Maximising QoE Through Adaptive Resource Management in Mobile MPSoC Platforms
Authors: Isuwa Samuel , Dey Somdip , Ortega Andre P. , Singh Amit Kumar , Al-Hashimi Bashir M. , Merrett Geoff V.
Published: March 2022

Heterogeneous
multi-processor system-on-chip (MPSoC)
smartphones are required to offer increasing performance and user
quality-of-experience (QoE)
, despite comparatively slow advances in battery technology. Approaches to balance instantaneous power consumption, performance and QoE have been reported, but little research has considered how to perform longer-term budgeting of resources across a complete battery discharge cycle. Approaches that have considered this are oblivious to the daily variability in the user’s desired charging time-of-day (plug-in time), resulting in a failure to meet the user’s battery life expectations, or else an unnecessarily over-constrained QoE. This paper proposes QUAREM, an adaptive resource management approach in mobile MPSoC platforms that maximises QoE while meeting battery life expectations. The proposed approach utilises a model that learns and then predicts the dynamics of the energy usage pattern and plug-in times. Unlike state-of-the-art approaches, we maximise the QoE through the adaptive balancing of the battery life and the
quality of service (QoS)
for the duration of the battery discharge. Our model achieves a good degree of accuracy with a mean absolute percentage error of 3.47% and 2.48% for the energy demand and plug-in times, respectively. Experimental evaluation on an off-the-shelf commercial smartphone shows that QUAREM achieves the expected battery life of the user within 20–25% energy demand variation with little or no QoE degradation.
Earf-YOLO: An Efficient Attention Receptive Field Model for Recognizing Symbols of Zhuang Minority Patterns
Authors: Wang Xin , Yan Jingke , Qin Qin , Wang Qin , Cai Jingye , Deng Jianhua , Wang Jun , Shi Zhuo , Feng Yi , Chen Bingxu
Published: March 2022

As for recognizing Zhuang minority pattern symbols, current recognition models often cause high computational overhead and low accuracy since Zhuang minority pattern symbols have large feature vectors and some complex features. In this paper, we present the efficient attention receptive field you only look once (Earf-YOLO), a new scheme to address those problems. Firstly, a global-local-transformer (GLocalT) structure is proposed, through which other control systems are introduced into the axial self-attention module, and global-local training strategies are also designed. The structure can use other control systems to compensate for the lost feature information along the height, width, and channel axes. The global-local training strategy can encode long-term dependencies between features and reduce local information loss, fully illustrating that the structure has high feature expression ability. Besides, strength receptive field block (SRFB) is suggested to use the dilated convolution to control the receptive field’s eccentricity and enrich the feature information of the receptive field during its training. With more branches, it can better extract multiscale features, enrich the feature space of the convolution block, and reparametrize multibranch during prediction to fuse them into the main branch, all of which contribute to the improvement of the model performance. Finally, some advanced training techniques are adopted to enhance the detection effect further. In the end, comparative experiments are conducted on the datasets of Zhuang pattern symbols and PASCAL VOC, whose results indicate that the AP and FPS of the suggested model reach their highest values, manifesting its high efficiency.
Unveiling Potential Mechanisms of Spatholobi Caulis against Lung Metastasis of Malignant Tumor by Network Pharmacology and Molecular Docking
Authors: Xie Feiyu , Wang Mina , Su Yixin , Xiao Kunmin , Chu Xuelei , Long Sidan , Li Linlu , Zhang Xin , Xue Peng , Zhu Shijie
Published: March 2022

Background. Lung metastasis of malignant tumor signifies worse prognosis and immensely deteriorates patients’ life quality. Spatholobi Caulis (SC) has been reported to reduce lung metastasis, but the mechanism remains elusive. Methods. The active components and corresponding targets of SC were obtained from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Database and Analysis Platform (TCMSP) database and the SwissTargetPrediction database. The disease targets were acquired from DisGeNET and GeneCards databases. Venn map was composed to figure out intersection targets by using R. The PPI network was constructed through STRING and Cytoscape, and MCODE plug-in was used to sift hub targets. Gene Ontology (GO)-Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis was carried out by utilizing clusterProfiler package (R3.6.1) with adjusted

P

value <0.05. Network of SC-active components-intersection targets-KEGG pathway was accomplished with Cytoscape. Molecular docking between hub targets and active components was performed, analyzed, and visualized by AutoDockTools, AutoDock Vina, PLIP Web tool, and PYMOL. Results. 24 active components and 123 corresponding targets were screened, and the number of disease targets and intersection targets was 1074 and 47, respectively. RELA, JUN, MAPK1, MAPK14, STAT3, IL-4, ESR1, and TP53 were the 8 hub targets. GO analysis and KEGG analysis elucidated that SC could ameliorate lung metastasis mainly by intervening oxidative stress, AGE-RAGE signaling pathway, and microRNAs in cancer. All 8 hub targets were proven to combine successfully with active components of SC. Conclusion. Inflammation is the core factor that integrates all these targets, biological process, and signaling pathways, which indicates that SC prevents or reduces lung metastasis mainly by dispelling inflammation.
Effect of Electroacupuncture at Wushu Acupoints of the Cardiopulmonary Meridian on the Autophagy in Rats with Acute Myocardial Ischemia
Authors: Zhu Chao , Wu Shengbing , Wu Xin , Zhou Meiqi , Wang Kun , Cui Shuai , Zhou Jie
Published: March 2022

Wushu acupoints are the five acupoints distributed below the human elbow and knee joint. They are all located on the same meridian and divided into five categories: Jing, Ying, Shu, Jing, and He. It has been shown that electroacupuncture (EA) at Shenmen point of heart meridian can improve acute myocardial ischemia (AMI) early. However, it is still unclear if all the Wushu acupoints of the heart meridian can improve AMI. Hence, this study emphasizes Wushu acupoints of heart meridian, compares them with Wushu acupoints of lung meridian, and studies the therapeutic effect of EA at Wushu acupoints on AMI and its possible mechanism. It also discusses the specificity of the heart meridian to heart disease. The AMI model is established by ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery. The detection methods like the physiological recorder, TTC staining, ELISA, and so forth were used to determine the ECG, myocardial infarct size, serum myocardial enzymes, and myocardial tissue-related protein expression in rats. The heart rate (HR) and ST segment along with creatine kinase (CK), creatine kinase isoenzymes (CK-MB), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and myocardial infarctions increased after the induction with AMI. Furthermore, the expressions of PINK1 and Parkin protein also showed an increase. However, EA at Wushu acupoints in the heart meridian can reverse the above changes, whereas EA at the lung meridian exhibits limited effect. It is depicted that the heart meridian has a relatively specific relationship with the heart in a diseased state.
Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice toward Youth-Friendly Reproductive Health Services among Mizan-Tepi University Students, South-Western Ethiopia
Authors: Getachew Samuel , Abate Lema , Asres Abyot , Mandefro Abel
Published: March 2022

Background. Youth-friendly reproductive health services are designed to meet the unique needs of young individuals. Nevertheless, in developing countries such as Ethiopia, knowledge, attitude, and utilization of these services are very limited. This study was designed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and utilization of youth-friendly health services and associated factors among students. Method. A public university-based cross-sectional study was conducted between October and January 2019. Participants were chosen from the target group using a simple random selection procedure. To find the factors linked to youth-friendly health services, researchers used descriptive analysis, the chi-square test, and a logistic regression model. Result. This study revealed that 237 (55.4%), 256 (59.8%), and 262 (61.2%) students had no knowledge, negative attitude, and not practiced youth-friendly reproductive health services, respectively. The binary logistic regression results revealed that male students were more likely to have knowledge and practice (AOR = 1.847; 95% CI: 1.124, 3.034;

p
=
0.015

) and (AOR = 1.821; 95% CI: 1.114, 2.975;

p
=
0.017

) respectively; however, they had less likely positive attitudes (AOR = 0.519; 95% CI: 0.315, 0.856;

p

value = 0.010) compared to female students. Students from primary and above educated families were more likely to have knowledge, attitude, and practice compared to students from uneducated families. Conclusion. Overall, students’ knowledge, attitudes, and utilization of youth-friendly reproductive health services were poor. As a result, additional efforts, such as the availability of service providers and the improvement of facilities, as well as education linked to the service for young people and the allocation of appropriate service time, are required.
Overview: Application of Resin Waterproof Adhesive Materials in Bridge Deck Pavement in China
Authors: Zhou Lu , Zhang Dan , Li Xiaogang , Gao Zhiwei , Chen Qian , Wang Chaohui
Published: March 2022

To further promote the research and application of resin type waterproof adhesive layer materials, the types, relevant specifications, and research trends of resin type waterproof adhesive layer in China are comprehensively investigated. The performance evaluation indicators, performance requirement, and requirements in different specifications are systematically analyzed, and the key performance evaluation indicators are recommended. The basic properties of common resin type waterproof adhesive layer materials are studied, and the bonding properties of different resin waterproof adhesive layers were compared and evaluated. The results showed that pull‐out strength, shear strength, tensile strength, elongation at break, low temperature flexibility, and impermeability are the key performance evaluation indicators of resin waterproof adhesive layer. The tensile property, corrosion resistance, and water impermeability of resin type waterproof adhesive layer material are good, the flexibility of epoxy resin type waterproof adhesive layer material is poor, and the flexibility of methyl methacrylate (MMA) waterproof adhesive layer material is good. The bonding performance of the epoxy resin waterproof adhesive layer is better than that of the MMA. As the temperature rises, the bonding performance of the two waterproof adhesive layers is significantly reduced. At 60°C, the average pull‐out strengths of the epoxy resin and MMA waterproof adhesive layer were 1.83 MPa and 1.47 MPa, respectively.
Drug Discovery of Plausible Lead Natural Compounds That Target the Insulin Signaling Pathway: Bioinformatics Approaches
Authors: Shanak Siba , Bassalat Najlaa , Barghash Ahmad , Kadan Sleman , Ardah Mahmoud , Zaid Hilal
Published: March 2022

The growing smooth talk in the field of natural compounds is due to the ancient and current interest in herbal medicine and their potentially positive effects on health. Dozens of antidiabetic natural compounds were reported and tested in vivo, in silico, and in vitro. The role of these natural compounds, their actions on the insulin signaling pathway, and the stimulation of the glucose transporter-4 (GLUT4) insulin-responsive translocation to the plasma membrane (PM) are all crucial in the treatment of diabetes and insulin resistance. In this review, we collected and summarized a group of available in vivo and in vitro studies which targeted isolated phytochemicals with possible antidiabetic activity. Moreover, the in silico docking of natural compounds with some of the insulin signaling cascade key proteins is also summarized based on the current literature. In this review, hundreds of recent studies on pure natural compounds that alleviate type II diabetes mellitus (type II DM) were revised. We focused on natural compounds that could potentially regulate blood glucose and stimulate GLUT4 translocation through the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt) pathway. On attempt to point out potential new natural antidiabetic compounds, this review also focuses on natural ingredients that were shown to interact with proteins in the insulin signaling pathway in silico, regardless of their in vitro/in vivo antidiabetic activity. We invite interested researchers to test these compounds as potential novel type II DM drugs and explore their therapeutic mechanisms.
Strata Caving and Gob Evolution Characteristic in Longwall Mining
Authors: Pan Weidong , Li Xinyuan , Zhao Zhining
Published: March 2022

It is usually difficult to capture strata caving and gob evolution characteristic in longwall mining at engineering scales. This paper uses bonded block modelling (BBM) approach within a distinct element method (DEM) code to simulate strata behaviour in longwall mining, which captures the caving phenomena and bulking characteristics of roof strata successfully. Many features in longwall mining, including the caving and compaction of gob strata and the associated stress evolution, are reproduced in the model. Four zones in longwall gob are identified based on its stress characteristics: voussoir influencing zone, compacted zone, compacting zone, and pilling zone. The initial bulking factor of the caved strata ranges from 1.12 to 1.25 and decreases gradually to the residual bulk factor of approximately 1.05 as the longwall face advances. The caved strata in the longwall gob present strain hardening behaviour and the load carrying capacity increases exponentially as a function of strain. Moreover, the range of the interaction between the caving strata and the overburden in gob was discussed, which provides a reference when using a continuum method to simulate longwall mining.
Apelin-13 Pretreatment Promotes the Cardioprotective Effect of Mesenchymal Stem Cells against Myocardial Infarction by Improving Their Survival
Authors: Chen Guona , Liang Xiaoting , Han Qian , Mai Cong , Shi Linli , Shao Zhuang , Hong Yimei , Lin Fang , Li Mimi , Hu Bei , Li Xin , Zhang Yuelin
Published: March 2022

Although mesenchymal stem cell- (MSC-) based therapy has shown promising results for myocardial infarction (MI), low cell survival heavily limits its beneficial effects. Apelin plays an essential regulatory role in cell proliferation. This study was aimed at determining whether Apelin-13 pretreatment could improve the survival of MSCs in the ischemic heart and enhance their cardioprotective efficacy against MI. MSCs were pretreated with or without Apelin-13 for 24 hours and then exposed to serum deprivation and hypoxia (SD/H) for 48 hours. The mitochondrial morphology of MSCs was assessed by MitoTracker staining. The apoptosis of MSCs was determined by TUNEL staining. The level of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) of MSCs was detected by Mito-Sox staining. MSCs and Apelin-13-pretreated MSCs were transplanted into the peri-infarct region in a mouse MI model. Apelin-13 pretreatment protected MSCs against SD/H-induced mitochondrial fragmentation and apoptosis. Apelin-13 pretreatment reduced ROS generation induced by SD/H in MSCs. Furthermore, Apelin-13 pretreatment enhanced the angiogenesis of MSCs under SD/H conditions. Mechanistically, Apelin-13 pretreatment inhibited SD/H-induced MSC apoptosis by downregulating mitochondrial fission via activation of the ERK pathway, and these effects were partially abrogated by ERK inhibitor U0126. Apelin-13 pretreatment promoted the survival of MSCs in the ischemic heart. Moreover, transplantation with Apelin-13-pretreated MSCs improved heart function and increased angiogenesis accompanied by decreased fibrosis compared with MSC transplantation at 28 days following MI. These findings reveal that pretreatment with Apelin-13 improves MSCs survival and enhances their therapeutic efficacy for MI. Our study provides a novel approach to improve MSC-based therapy for cardiovascular disease.
Coupling Coordination Degree Measurement and Forecast of Poverty Alleviation, Energy Conservation, and Ecological Protection: Evidence from 30 Provinces and Cities in China
Authors: Guan Shuai , Zhang Qichun
Published: March 2022

As China experiences rapid economic development, tasks involving poverty alleviation, energy conservation and ecological protection need to be addressed. Whether poverty alleviation, energy conservation and ecological protection in China have coordinated development has become a question worth studying. Based on the coupling coordination degree model and the GM (1, 1) model, this paper calculates and forecasts the development level of poverty alleviation, energy conservation and ecological protection of 30 provinces (cities) in China and analyses the synergy of the three systems spatially and temporally. The results show that first, from 2010 to 2019, the development level of China’s poverty alleviation system, energy conservation system and ecological protection system presented increasing trends, but regional differences could be seen in development trends. Second, the coupling coordination degree of the three systems in China showed an upwards trend. The average coupling coordination degree of 30 provinces (cities) rose from slight coordination in 2010 to moderate coordination in 2019. Third, in the following years, development level will still be on an upwards trend in the four regions of China from 2020 to 2025. The development level of the ecological protection system will be the highest in China, and poverty alleviation and energy conservation will rank second and third. Fourth, the coupling coordination degree of the three systems of 30 provinces (cities) in China will rise significantly, indicating that the development of the three systems in China will be more coordinated in the following years.
Analysis of Learning Ability of Ideological and Political Course Based on BP Neural Network and Improved
k
-Means Cluster Algorithm
Authors: Zeng Guidong
Published: March 2022

With the rapid development of technologies such as big data analysis, machine learning, and cloud computing, artificial intelligence has made breakthrough progress in many fields. Artificial intelligence technology has also brought profound changes to higher education. Therefore, the ideological and political course in colleges and universities should integrate artificial intelligence technology into the teaching of ideological and political education and create an “intelligent ideological and political learning” to adapt to the goal of educational reform in the new era. This paper presents a research method of innovation ability of ideological and political course based on BP neural network and improved

k

-means clustering algorithm. Firstly, this method obtains the objective index that can comprehensively measure the learning ability through BP neural network and acquires the evaluation score of learning ability. Then, SPSS software is utilized to test the correlation between the influencing factors and the index, harvesting the factors that significantly affect graduate students’ ideological and political learning ability. Finally, an improved

k

-means clustering algorithm is designed, which clusters the graduate students according to the different characteristics of the survey objects and gives targeted suggestions for each class of individuals to improve their ideological and political learning ability. The experimental results indicate that the proposed method is feasible and effective. The research method of ideological and political course ability proposed in this paper is of great significance to the promotion of ideological and political education in the era of big data.