bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Setting up a new team of support staff for people with mild intellectual disability or borderline intellectual functioning and severe challenging behaviour: A concept mapping study
Authors: Lokman Suzanne , van Oorsouw Wietske M. W. J. , Didden Robert , Embregts Petri J. C. M.
Published: July 2022

Background

Studies about teams of staff supporting people with intellectual disability have focused on team performance of existing teams. This study aimed to examine important factors in the process of setting up a new team of support staff. Specifically, we considered the process for a team that supports service users with mild intellectual disability or borderline intellectual functioning who display severe challenging behaviour from the orthopedagogical perspective (i.e., with a focus on contextual factors).

Method

Three participant groups (service users, support staff, and professionals supporting a team) participated in a concept mapping procedure, including generating statements in interviews and focus groups, sorting, and rating. An expert group interpreted the results.

Results

Important factors to one or more groups were: service users and support staff getting acquainted early, team safety, social support, a shared vision, and a positive reputation of the new home.

Conclusions

Four core outcomes were addressed that may help service organisations to provide an environment matching the needs of service users who show severe challenging behaviour from the start.
Parasite‐induced shifts in host movement may explain the transient coexistence of high‐ and low‐pathogenic disease strains
Authors: Fofana Abdou Moutalab , Hurford Amy
Published: July 2022

Many parasites induce decreased host movement, known as lethargy, which can impact disease spread and the evolution of virulence. Mathematical models have investigated virulence evolution when parasites cause host death, but disease‐induced decreased host movement has received relatively less attention. Here, we consider a model where, due to the within‐host parasite replication rate, an infected host can become lethargic and shift from a moving to a resting state, where it can die. We find that when the lethargy and disease‐induced mortality costs to the parasites are not high, then evolutionary bistability can arise, and either moderate or high virulence can evolve depending on the initial virulence and the magnitude of mutation. These results suggest, firstly, the coexistence of strains with different virulence, which may explain the transient coexistence of low‐ and high‐pathogenic strains of avian influenza viruses, and secondly, that medical interventions to treat the symptoms of lethargy or prevent disease‐induced host deaths can result in a large jump in virulence and the rapid evolution of high virulence. In complement to existing results that show bistability when hosts are heterogeneous at the population level, we show that evolutionary bistability may arise due to transmission heterogeneity at the individual host level.
Subsurface phase imaging of tapping‐mode atomic force microscopy at phase resonance
Authors: Sun Baishun , Cao Liang , Xie Chenchen , Lu Zhengcheng , Liu Mengnan , Yu Miao , Song Zhengxun , Wen Zhankun , Wang Zuobin
Published: July 2022

The phase image of tapping‐mode atomic force microscopy (TM‐AFM) contains energy dissipation, which is related to the sample information on the physical properties such as the sample Young's modulus, adhesion, surface morphology and subsurface morphology. When TM‐AFM is used for sample measurement, the frequency near the first resonance peak of probe is usually selected to drive the probe vibration. When the probe vibration is driven by the frequency, the probe has a high amplitude sensitivity, but the phase sensitivity is relatively low. In this paper, the frequency at the probe phase resonance peak was selected for driving the probe vibration to measure the sample, which improved the image resolution. Phase imaging was performed on three uniform photoresist samples with different thicknesses and the same structure. When the scanning parameters were fixed and the probe setpoint value was changed alone, it was found that with the decrease of setpoint value the horizontal resolution of the phase subsurface image was decreased, and the depth sensitivity was increased first and then decreased. The result shows that TM‐AFM working at the phase resonance peak can better realise the subsurface imaging of samples at different depths. Phase subsurface imaging at the resonance can be used to quantitatively obtain subsurface phase images of different depths.
Neurodevelopmental outcomes in neonatal extracorporeal membrane oxygenation survivors: An institutional perspective
Authors: Quadir Ashfaque , Popat Himanshu , Crowle Cathryn , Galea Claire , Chong Jia Y , Goh Chong T
Published: July 2022

Aim

To describe the neurodevelopmental outcomes following extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in early infancy.

Methods

Thirty‐seven patients who had survived following ECMO support from 2008 to 2018 had their neurodevelopmental outcomes assessed and analysed using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development. Developmental outcome was defined as impairment in any of the developmental domains of motor function, cognition and language with mild impairment being 1–2 standard deviations below the test mean, moderate being 2–3 standard deviations below and severe being greater than 3 standard deviations below.

Results

Of these 37 patients, the median age at admission to Paediatric Intensive Care Unit was 0.4 months (interquartile range 2.8 months) with all of the study patients having an underlying diagnosis of congenital cardiac disease and 37/40 (92.5%) ECMO runs occurring in the immediate post‐operative period. Of the 29 patients who had had follow‐up at 12 months of age or older, 3 (10.3%) had severe impairment, 4 (13.8%) had moderate impairment, 12 (41.3%) had mild impairment and 10 (34.5%) had no impairment. Gross motor function was most significantly impacted in 18/29 (62.1%) patients, of which 7/18 (38.9%) had severe impairment. This was followed by impairment of receptive language in 8/29 (27.6%) patients and expressive language in 6/29 (20.1%) patients.

Conclusions

One in four infants undergoing ECMO treatment in early infancy has moderate to severe neurodevelopmental impairment. Gross motor and language are the most affected developmental domains.
Slow and steady wins the race: Spatial and stochastic processes and the failure of suppression gene drives
Authors: Paril Jeff F. , Phillips Ben L.
Published: July 2022

Gene drives that skew sex ratios offer a new management tool to suppress or eradicate pest populations. Early models and empirical work suggest that these suppression drives can completely eradicate well‐mixed populations, but models that incorporate stochasticity and space (i.e. drift and recolonization events) often result in loss or failure of the drive. We developed a stochastic model to examine these processes in a simple one‐dimensional space. This simple space allows us to map the events and outcomes that emerged and examine how properties of the drive's wave of invasion affect outcomes. Our simulations, across a biologically realistic section of parameter space, suggest that drive failure might be a common outcome in spatially explicit, stochastic systems, and that properties of the drive wave appear to mediate outcomes. Surprisingly, the drives that would be considered fittest in an aspatial model were strongly associated with failure in the spatial setting. The fittest drives cause relatively fast moving, and narrow waves that have a high chance of being penetrated by wild‐types (WTs) leading to WT recolonization, leading to failure. Our results also show that high rates of dispersal reduce the chance of failure because drive waves get disproportionately wider than WT waves as dispersal rates increase. Overall, wide, slow‐moving drive waves were much less prone to failure. Our results point to the complexity inherent in using a genetic system to effect demographic outcomes and speak to a clear need for ecological and evolutionary modelling to inform the drive design process.
Identification and characterization of sex‐dependent gene expression profile in glioblastoma
Authors: Qin Shangyao , Yuan Yimin , Liu Hong , Pu Yingyan , Chen Kefu , Wu Yulong , Su Zhida
Published: July 2022

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most lethal primary tumor in the human brain and lacks favorable treatment options. Sex differences in the outcome of GBM are broadly acknowledged, but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain largely unknown. To identify the sex‐dependent critical genes in the progression of GBM, raw data from several microarray datasets with the same array platform were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. These datasets included tumorous and normal tissue from patients with GBM and crucial sex features. Then, the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in female and male tumors were identified via bioinformatics analysis, respectively. Functional signatures of the identified DEGs were further annotated by Gene Ontology (GO) and pathway enrichment analyses. Venn diagram and functional protein–protein interaction (PPI) network analyses were performed to screen out the sex‐specific DEGs. Survival analysis of patients with differences in the expression level of selected genes was then carried out using the data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Here, we showed that ECT2, AURKA, TYMS, CDK1, NCAPH, CENPU, OIP5, KIF14, ASPM, FBXO5, SGOL2, CASC5, SHCBP1, FN1, LOX, IGFBP3, CSPG4, and CD44 were enriched in female tumor samples, whereas TNFSF13B, CXCL10, CXCL8, CXCR4, TLR2, CCL2, and FCGR2A were enriched in male tumor samples. Among these key genes, interestingly, ECT2 was associated with increased an survival rate for female patients, whileTNFSF13B could be regarded as a potential marker of poor prognosis in male patients. These results suggested that sex differences in patients may be attributed to the heterogeneous gene activity, which might influence the oncogenesis and the outcomes of GBM.
Dearth of electrophysiology fellows: perspectives from cardiology fellows‐in‐training
Authors: Patel Harshil , Zughaib Marc , Rajpurohit Dhruv , Whitler Cameron , Kalaba Frank , Bradley Christopher , Zughaib Marcel
Published: July 2022

Background

Over the last 6 years, there has been a high percentage of unfilled cardiac electrophysiology (EP) training spots each year. The authors aimed to investigate potential explanations for the unfilled positions based on a survey from the current Fellows‐In‐Training (FITs).

Methods

An attempt was made to reach the current cardiology FITs across all programs of the U.S. via email. An anonymous questionnaire was created consisting of 14 questions. Questions posed were regarding factors affecting each participant's interest in or lack of pursuing an EP fellowship. Descriptive statistics of the responses were performed.

Results

A total of 26% (35/134) respondents expressed their interest in applying to an EP fellowship. The most common reasons to apply to EP were: Interest in EP, procedural specialty, and work‐life balance. Of the 99 respondents that were not applying to EP, the most common reasons not to apply were: Less interest in EP, two‐year training duration, and complexity of the specialty. The top reasons for the fellows to believe there is a dearth of EP FITs were: two‐year training duration, lack of interest in EP, and the complexity of the specialty. The changes that would encourage EP fellowship interest were: More exposure to EP training during general cardiology fellowship, shortening the EP training duration, and having more information available regarding employment opportunities.

Conclusion

The study was able to identify factors responsible for vacancies in EP fellowship positions from the view of current cardiology FITs. Stakeholders at the national level involved in framing policies related to fellowship education would be able to utilize this information to address the shortage of EP FITs and increase recruitment to EP fellowships.
Relationship between sleep apnea and hospital readmission in rural and urban populations
Authors: Newcomb Patricia , Tadlock Joell , Nelson Tanna , Urban Regina , Mullen Hannah , Cordero Rosette , Thinn Su
Published: July 2022

Objectives

The aims of this study were to evaluate geographic differences in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) prevalence, to determine if readmissions were more likely among rural patients with OSA than others, and to model predictors, including diagnosed OSA, of 30, 60, and 90‐day acute‐care readmissions.

Design

This cohort study employed a secondary analysis of data extracted from the electronic health record shared by all hospitals in a north Texas healthcare system.

Sample

The sample consisted of records associated with 472,503 adult patients admitted to any of the study system's acute‐care facilities from 2016 through 2019.

Measurements

Measurements consisted of case‐level health information, including admissions, demographic variables, payors, diagnoses, screens, and physician orders.

Results

OSA was significantly related to hospital readmission when considered in isolation but did not significantly predict readmission when modeled with plausible covariates. Screening rates for OSA did not vary by geography. Differences in rural/urban‐suburban OSA prevalence were not statistically significant.

Conclusions

Findings contrast with previous suggestions that OSA plays an independent role in hospital readmissions or that rural resident may be disadvantaged regarding services that support the OSA diagnosis. Prevalence and screening rates were almost identical in urban and rural populations.
MRI diffusion tensor imaging scalar values in dogs with intervertebral disc herniation: A comparison between manual and semiautomated region of interest methods
Authors: Shinn Richard , Riffe Ashley , Edwards Michael , Rossmeisl John
Published: July 2022

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) measures have been described as methods for quantifying spinal cord injury and predicting outcome in dogs with intervertebral disc herniation (IVDH); however, studies comparing methods for selecting regions of interest (ROIs) are currently lacking. The aims of this retrospective, methods comparison, observational study were to compare DTI measurements acquired using manual (mROI) versus semiautomated ROI (sROI) methods and to compare DTI measurements with patient outcomes. Magnetic resonance imaging scans that included DTI pulse sequences were retrieved for 65 dogs with confirmed IVDH. Regions of interest were placed at one vertebral length cranial and caudal to the region of spinal cord compression (RSCC) using the mROI and sROI methods. Scalar values based on the mROI and sROI methods were compared. There was a significant difference for all DTI measures (P < 0.0001), where fractional anisotropy was higher (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.15, 0.19) and mean diffusivity (MD; CI: −0.41, −0.35), axial diffusivity (AD; CI: −0.47, −0.36) and radial diffusivity (RD; CI: −0.36, −0.27) were lower for the mROI than for the sROI. For both the mROI and sROI, MD, AD, and RD were significantly lower (p < 0.05) at the RSCC in paraplegic dogs that did not regain motor function. The findings indicated that DTI methods for quantifying SCI using open source software and ROI were feasible for use in dogs with IVDH; however, values based on sROI methods differed from values based on mROI methods. Some DTI measures based on both the mROI and sROI methods were predictive of poor patient outcome.
Deposition-last lithographically defined epitaxial complex oxide devices on Si(100)
Authors: Chrysler M. , Jiang J. C. , Lorkowski G. , Meletis E. I. , Ngai J. H.
Published: July 2022

The epitaxial growth of SrTiO3 on Si(100) substrates that have been lithographically patterned to realize deposition-last, lithographically defined oxide devices on Si is explored. In contrast to traditional deposition-last techniques which create a physical hard mask on top of the substrate prior to epitaxial growth, a pseudomask is instead created by texturing the Si substrate surface itself. The Si is textured through a combination of reactive ion etching and wet-etching using a tetramethylammonium hydroxide solution. Desorbing the native SiOx at high temperatures prior to epitaxial growth in ultrahigh vacuum presents no complications as the patterned substrate is comprised entirely of Si. The inverted profile in which the epitaxial oxide device layer is above the textured pseudomask circumvents shadowing during deposition associated with conventional hard masks, thereby opening a pathway for highly scaled devices to be created.
A survey of sound source localization with deep learning methods
Authors: Grumiaux Pierre-Amaury , Kitić Srđan , Girin Laurent , Guérin Alexandre
Published: July 2022

This article is a survey of deep learning methods for single and multiple sound source localization, with a focus on sound source localization in indoor environments, where reverberation and diffuse noise are present. We provide an extensive topography of the neural network-based sound source localization literature in this context, organized according to the neural network architecture, the type of input features, the output strategy (classification or regression), the types of data used for model training and evaluation, and the model training strategy. Tables summarizing the literature survey are provided at the end of the paper, allowing a quick search of methods with a given set of target characteristics.
An Exploratory Study: The Role of Social Networks and Self-Efficacy in the Retention of Noyce Teachers
Authors: Alemdar Meltem , Gale Jessica , Cappelli Christopher , Boice Katherine
Published: July 2022

The purpose of our Noyce Track 4 research, funded in 2016, was to conduct an exploratory study investigating Noyce early career teachers’ retention in high-need schools. A sequential explanatory mixed-method design was used to investigate personal networks, teaching self-efficacy, and retention among a convenience sample of early career Noyce teachers from across the nation. The quantitative component of this study was guided by social network analysis (SNA). Based on network and graph theories, SNA is a method used to investigate and interpret patterns of social ties among network individuals. Additionally, a previously validated instrument and open-ended survey items were used to measure teaching self-efficacy. Following the survey, we conducted interviews with purposively selected teachers to follow-up on their experiences related to teaching self-efficacy, retention, and their Noyce programs. Our results showed that teachers who have more connected networks are more likely to remain in high-need schools. Additionally, our study identified a set of nine characteristics of Noyce programs that were positively correlated with retention. This indicates that when a teacher was exposed to these program characteristics, there was an overall increase in the likelihood that they would remain in a high-need school. Although self-efficacy was not significantly correlated with retention, we did find correlations between teaching self-efficacy and several Noyce program characteristics. The study carries implications for educational research spanning multiple areas including SNA, teacher education, and teacher self-efficacy. This study provides novel findings documenting the nuanced ways in which the social networks of Noyce program participants and various aspects of Noyce programs themselves may influence retention among early-career teachers in high-need schools. Additionally, our results show the importance of expanding teachers’ networks and the significance of receiving unique types of support from the various people within teachers’ networks.
Impacts of an Undergraduate STEM Teacher Recruitment and Preparation Program on Prospective Teachers’ Aspirations and Understanding
Authors: Carpenter Stacey L. , Arevalo Erik , Macias Meghan , Bianchini Julie A.
Published: July 2022

We investigated how participating in a STEM teacher recruitment program impacted undergraduate students’ decisions to pursue teaching and their self-reported preparation for teaching. We collected and analyzed survey and interview data from current and former participants of a University of California system-wide STEM teacher recruitment program called CalTeach. We found a significant relationship between undergraduates’ decision to pursue a career in teaching and the number of undergraduate education courses they completed. We also found that undergraduates who decided to pursue a career in teaching reported various ways that CalTeach influenced their decision. Undergraduates reported that participating in CalTeach reinforced or strengthened their decision to pursue teaching and that the classroom-based field experiences were especially helpful in shaping their decision. Indeed, the field experience component of CalTeach provided participants with opportunities to gain experience working with students in a variety of grade levels and classroom contexts, gain a teacher’s perspective of classrooms, and gain opportunities to practice teaching or to apply theory and methods. Further, we found that undergraduates who decided not to pursue a teaching career also reported ways that CalTeach influenced their decision. For many in this latter group, CalTeach helped them realize that a career in teaching was not aligned with their strengths or interests. Finally, we found that CalTeach participants reported gaining more knowledge of current science and mathematics standards and a greater appreciation of teachers. However, fewer participants reported gaining an understanding of teaching multilingual learners. Our findings strengthen the argument for the implementation of STEM teacher recruitment programs and suggest ways to improve these programs. Recruitment programs should attend to the types of field experiences offered and how field experiences and coursework can deepen prospective teachers’ understanding of reform-based instruction for linguistically diverse students.
Impacts of the STEM Teacher and Researcher (STAR) Program on Teachers, Students, and Classrooms
Authors: Buxner Sanlyn , Vokos Stamatis , Keller John , Good Catherine , Donnelly-Hermosillo Dermot , Horvath Larry , Sessoms Deidre , Bailey Elsa , Citkowicz Martyna , Yisak Melissa , Moreno Dan , Zhu Bo , Fulbeck Eleanor , Chen Charlotte , Pardo Max
Published: July 2022

For over a decade, the STEM Teacher and Researcher (STAR) Program has been supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program along with other funders to provide paid summer research experiences for preservice and early-career science and mathematics teachers at national laboratories and other research facilities. Research into teacher research experiences (TREs) often includes self-report data from program participants, with few studies looking at impacts on students or longer-term impacts. We present results from a set of three Noyce Track 4 Research studies regarding the impact of the STAR Program on teacher effectiveness and productive mind-set. The first study compared eight STAR and non-STAR classrooms and found measurable differences both in how teachers describe their classroom practices and in how students perceive these practices and their own interests and skills, specifically in STEM career awareness, perception of the value of STEM learning, and student perseverance. The second study investigated the impact of STAR teachers on student achievement and found that there were no measurable differences in student achievement on high-stakes state assessments between students of nine STAR teachers and students of other teachers in their five respective districts. The third study found that infusing explicit instruction on productive mind-sets has a positive impact on preservice teachers’ own mind-sets and the strategies that they plan to use with their students. Ongoing work involves investigating the impact of the STAR Program on teacher retention, comparing long-term retention rates of STAR and non-STAR teachers in the state of California. Our work demonstrates the value of supported research experiences for future STEM teachers and illustrates some of the complexity of assessing the impact for students.
How Getting Friendly with Bacteria Can Promote Student Appreciation of Microbial Diversity and Their Civic Scientific Literacy
Authors: Smyth Davida S. , Chen Simon , Sompanya Geena , Metz Molly , Conefrey Theresa
Published: July 2022

ePortfolios are digital repositories where students can curate papers, projects, and reflections from individual or multiple courses across the disciplines and in a variety of formats to showcase their learning. This transparent and portable medium, which enables students to document their knowledge and abilities for assessment and career development, has been recognized by the American Association of Colleges and Universities as one of 11 high-impact practices.
Forecasting Staphylococcus aureus Infections Using Genome-Wide Association Studies, Machine Learning, and Transcriptomic Approaches
Authors: Sassi Mohamed , Bronsard Julie , Pascreau Gaetan , Emily Mathieu , Donnio Pierre-Yves , Revest Matthieu , Felden Brice , Wirth Thierry , Augagneur Yoann
Published: July 2022

Predicting the outcome of bacterial colonization and infections, based on extensive genomic and transcriptomic data from a given pathogen, would be of substantial help for clinicians in treating and curing patients. In this report, genome-wide association studies and random forest algorithms have defined gene combinations that differentiate human from animal strains, colonization from diseases, and nonsevere from severe diseases, while it revealed the importance of IGRs and CDS, but not small RNAs (sRNAs), in anticipating an outcome.
Mechanisms Behind the Indirect Impact of Metabolic Regulators on Virulence Factor Production in Staphylococcus aureus
Authors: Stephens Amelia C. , Thurlow Lance R. , Richardson Anthony R.
Published: July 2022

The human pathogen
Staphylococcus aureus
produces a great number of virulence factors that contribute to the pathogen’s ability to cause dangerous, invasive infections. Understanding the full scope of the regulation of these virulence factors can provide us with new information about how to target virulence factor production.
Characteristics of Vacuolar Inclusions in Coelastrella rubescens Namsu R1 Green Microalgae Cells in Low- and High-Intensity Light
Authors: Zaitseva A. A. , Zaitsev P. A. , Gorelova O. A. , Bakhareva D. A. , Lobakova E. S.
Published: July 2022

Coelastrella rubescens Kaufnerová & Eliás (Chlorophyceae) is a green, single-celled algae that lives in the terrestrial-air environment. Under stress conditions, its cells go into a state characterized by low photosynthetic activity and high content of reserve lipids and secondary carotenoids. For the first time, a comparative morphological, ultrastructural, and elemental analysis of vacuolar inclusions in the C. rubescens NAMSU R1 strain when cultivated on a mineral medium under conditions of low and high (causing stress) light intensity. Microalgae cells stained with the fluorescent dye DAPI showed signs of the presence of polyphosphates. Polarization microscopy in cells of C. rubescens has identified structures capable of refracting polarized light, which is typical of crystals. Cell analysis of C. rubescens with the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) method revealed the presence of various vacuoles with heterogeneous contents (autophagic bodies, crystalloids, and rounded globules of inhomogeneous electron density). With the exception of autophagic bodies noted in cells only in bright light, these inclusions were characteristic of microalgae cells, regardless of the intensity of illumination. The elemental composition of vacuolar inclusions was characterized by TEM in combination with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy: the predominant content of nitrogen, phosphorus, or both elements simultaneously was established in them. The potential physiological role of C. rubescens vacuolar inclusions is discussed.
Extending the utility of anterior corneal buttons through refrigeration and glycerol cryopreservation: utility rate and outcome analysis
Authors: Liu Hsin-Yu , Chu Hsiao Sang , Chen Wei-Li , Wang I-Jong , Hu Fung-Rong
Published: July 2022

Background/aims

To evaluate the utility rate, indication, outcome, and cost of refrigeration and glycerol cryopreservation for storing anterior corneal buttons during endothelial keratoplasty for subsequent use in tectonic lamellar patch grafting.

Method

Anterior corneal buttons collected after precutting or prestripping during endothelial keratoplasty from January 2014 to December 2019 were preserved using the following protocol: (1) refrigeration for up to 4 weeks at 4°Cin Optisol-GS and (2) glycerol cryopreservation for up to 2 years. The utility rate, outcome and cost of these cryopreserved anterior corneal buttons were retrospectively examined.

Results

During the 6-year study period, 26 anterior corneal buttons were refrigerated and 49 were cryopreserved for extended use. The utility rates for the refrigerated and cryopreserved anterior corneal buttons were 69.2% and 73.5%, respectively. Their average preservation periods were 0.53±0.05 and 12.76±0.94 months, respectively. Noninfection-related perforation was the leading indication for using the extendedly preserved anterior corneal buttons. The average postoperative follow-up periods were 10.03±2.91 and 14.35±2.17 months for refrigerated and cryopreserved anterior corneal buttons. Secondary keratoplasty was required by 7 of 18 (38.9%) and 6 of 36 (16.7%) patients receiving refrigerated and cryopreserved anterior corneal buttons, respectively. None of our patients developed graft infection from donor tissues.

Conclusion

Cryopreservation can safely extend the utility of anterior corneal buttons. This method not only reduced the wastage of the limited donor tissue but also was cost-effective.
Effect of a home-based inspiratory muscular training programme on functional capacity in patients with chronic COVID-19 after a hospital discharge: protocol for a randomised control trial (InsCOVID trial)
Authors: Palau Patricia , Domínguez Eloy , Sastre Clara , Martínez M Luz , Gonzalez Cruz , Bondía Elvira , Albiach Crtstina , Núñez Julio , López Laura
Published: July 2022

Introduction

Exercise intolerance and fatigue are the most common symptoms in patients with chronic COVID-19 after hospital discharge. Supervised exercise training programmes improve symptoms, but scarce research has been done on home-based exercise programmes on the maximal functional capacity for discharged symptomatic COVID-19 patients. This study evaluates whether a home-based inspiratory muscle training (IMT) programme improves maximal functional capacity in chronic COVID-19 after hospital admission.

Methods and analysis

This single-centre, assessor-blinded randomised controlled trial, powered for superiority, seeks to evaluate maximal functional capacity as the primary endpoint. A total of 26 eligible patients with a previous admission for acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pneumonia (>3 months after hospital discharge) will be randomised (1:1) to receive a 12-week programme of IMT versus usual care alone. A blinded assessor will measure outcomes at baseline and after the intervention (12 weeks). An analysis of variance will be used to compare continuous outcomes among the two-intervention groups. As of 21 March 2022, eight patients have been enrolled.

Ethics and dissemination

The research ethics committee (Comité Ético de Investigación con Medicamentos de l'Hospital Clínic Universitari de València) approved the protocol following the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and national regulations (Approval Number: 021/226). Findings will be published in peer-reviewed journals and conference publications.

Trial registration number

NCT05279430.
Clinical, biochemical and genetic characteristics of MOGS-CDG: a rare congenital disorder of glycosylation
Authors: Shimada Shino , Ng Bobby G , White Amy L , Nickander Kim K , Turgeon Coleman , Liedtke Kristen L , Lam Christina T , Font-Montgomery Esperanza , Lourenco Charles M , He Miao , Peck Dawn S , Umana Luis A , Uhles Crescenda L , Haynes Devon , Wheeler Patricia G , Bamshad Michael J , Nickerson Deborah A , Cushing Tom , Gates Ryan , Gomez-Ospina Natalia , Byers Heather M ,   UW Center for Mendelian Genomics, Scalco Fernanda B , Martinez Noelia N , Sachdev Rani , Smith Lacey , Poduri Annapurna , Malone Stephen , Harris Rebekah V , Scheffer Ingrid E , Rosenzweig Sergio D , Adams David R , Gahl William A , Malicdan May Christine V , Raymond Kimiyo M , Freeze Hudson H , Wolfe Lynne A
Published: July 2022

Purpose

To summarise the clinical, molecular and biochemical phenotype of mannosyl-oligosaccharide glucosidase-related congenital disorders of glycosylation (MOGS-CDG), which presents with variable clinical manifestations, and to analyse which clinical biochemical assay consistently supports diagnosis in individuals with bi-allelic variants inMOGS.

Methods

Phenotypic characterisation was performed through an international and multicentre collaboration. Genetic testing was done by exome sequencing and targeted arrays. Biochemical assays on serum and urine were performed to delineate the biochemical signature of MOGS-CDG.

Results

Clinical phenotyping revealed heterogeneity in MOGS-CDG, including neurological, immunological and skeletal phenotypes. Bi-allelic variants inMOGSwere identified in 12 individuals from 11 families. The severity in each organ system was variable, without definite genotype correlation. Urine oligosaccharide analysis was consistently abnormal for all affected probands, whereas other biochemical analyses such as serum transferrin analysis was not consistently abnormal.

Conclusion

The clinical phenotype of MOGS-CDG includes multisystemic involvement with variable severity. Molecular analysis, combined with biochemical testing, is important for diagnosis. In MOGS-CDG, urine oligosaccharide analysis via matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation time-of-flight mass spectrometry can be used as a reliable biochemical test for screening and confirmation of disease.
The role of single-cell genomics in human genetics
Authors: Sreenivasan Varun K A , Balachandran Saranya , Spielmann Malte
Published: July 2022

Single-cell sequencing is a powerful approach that can detect genetic alterations and their phenotypic consequences in the context of human development, with cellular resolution. Humans start out as single-cell zygotes and undergo fission and differentiation to develop into multicellular organisms. Before fertilisation and during development, the cellular genome acquires hundreds of mutations that propagate down the cell lineage. Whether germline or somatic in nature, some of these mutations may have significant genotypic impact and lead to diseased cellular phenotypes, either systemically or confined to a tissue. Single-cell sequencing enables the detection and monitoring of the genotype and the consequent molecular phenotypes at a cellular resolution. It offers powerful tools to compare the cellular lineage between ‘normal’ and ‘diseased’ conditions and to establish genotype-phenotype relationships. By preserving cellular heterogeneity, single-cell sequencing, unlike bulk-sequencing, allows the detection of even small, diseased subpopulations of cells within an otherwise normal tissue. Indeed, the characterisation of biopsies with cellular resolution can provide a mechanistic view of the disease. While single-cell approaches are currently used mainly in basic research, it can be expected that applications of these technologies in the clinic may aid the detection, diagnosis and eventually the treatment of rare genetic diseases as well as cancer. This review article provides an overview of the single-cell sequencing technologies in the context of human genetics, with an aim to empower clinicians to understand and interpret the single-cell sequencing data and analyses. We discuss the state-of-the-art experimental and analytical workflows and highlight current challenges/limitations. Notably, we focus on two prospective applications of the technology in human genetics, namely the annotation of the non-coding genome using single-cell functional genomics and the use of single-cell sequencing data for in silico variant prioritisation.
Ginsenoside Rh2 Regulates the CFAP20DC-AS1/MicroRNA-3614-3p/BBX and TNFAIP3 Axis to Induce Apoptosis in Breast Cancer Cells
Authors: Park Jae Eun , Ji Hwee Won , Kim Hyeon Woo , Baek Minjae , Jung Sanghyun , Kim Sun Jung
Published: July 2022

While a number of coding genes have explained the anticancer activity of ginsenoside Rh2, little is known about noncoding RNAs. This study was performed to elucidate the regulatory activity of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) CFAP20DC-AS1, which is known to be downregulated by Rh2. MiR-3614-3p, which potentially binds CFAP20DC-AS1, was screened using the LncBase Predicted program, and the binding was verified by assaying the luciferase activity of a luciferase/lncRNA recombinant plasmid construct. The competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) relationship of the two RNAs was further validated by quantitative PCR after deregulation of each RNA using siRNA. The effect of miRNA and target genes on the MCF-7 cancer cell growth was determined by monitoring proliferation and apoptosis in the presence of Rh2 after deregulating the corresponding gene. The miRNA decreased the luciferase activity of the luciferase/CFAP20DC-AS1 fusion vector, confirming the binding. SiRNA-based deregulation of CFAP20DC-AS1 attenuated the expression of miR-3614-3p and vice versa. In contrast to CFAP20DC-AS1, miR-3614-3p was upregulated by Rh2, inhibiting proliferation but stimulating apoptosis of the MCF-7 cells. Target genes of miR-3614-3p, BBX and TNFAIP3, were downregulated by Rh2 and the miRNA but upregulated by the lncRNA. Rh2 inhibits CFAP20DC-AS1, which obscures the association of the lncRNA with miR-3614-3p, resulting in the suppression of oncogenic BBX and TNFAIP3. Taken together, the Rh2/CFAP20DC-AS1/miR-3614-3p/target gene axis contributes to the antiproliferation activity of Rh2 in cancer cells.
Dynamical features of f(T,B) cosmology
Authors: Kadam S. A. , Mishra B. , Tripathy S. K.
Published: July 2022

In this paper, we have explored the field equations of [Formula: see text] gravity and determined the dynamical parameters with the hyperbolic function of Hubble parameter. The accelerating behavior has been observed and the behavior of equation of state parameter indicates the [Formula: see text]CDM model at late time. The role of model parameters in assessing the accelerating behavior has been emphasized. Interestingly, the term containing [Formula: see text], the coefficient of boundary term, in the model parameter vanishes during the simplification. The scalar perturbation has been presented to show the stability of the model.
Comparison of measurement results of MgF2–Nb2O5 distributed Bragg reflectors with different periods
Authors: Weng Chien-Erh , Chen Bo-Syuan , Lin Jing-Jenn , Wu You-Lin , Yang Cheng-Fu
Published: July 2022

In this study, by using the Corning 1737 glass as a substrate and an e-beam system, the optical properties of the deposit MgF2 and Nb2O5 single-layer film were investigated in terms of extinction coefficients ([Formula: see text] values) and refractive indices ([Formula: see text] values). The equation [Formula: see text]/(4[Formula: see text] was used to calculate the thickness ([Formula: see text] of 1/4 wavelength ([Formula: see text] for each layer of MgF2 and Nb2O5 layer in the MgF2–Nb2O5 bilayer films of the designed distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) with a reflective wavelength at blue light ([Formula: see text]450 nm). Each pair of MgF2–Nb2O5 bilayer film was defined as a period, and the glass substrates were used to deposit the films with two, four, and six periods for the fabrication of the DBRs. The field emission scanning electron microscope equipped with a focused ion beam was used to measure the thickness of each MgF2–Nb2O5 layer in the DBRs with different periods. The measured maximum reflective ratios were compared with Sheppard’s approximate equation, which calculates only the maximum reflective ratio at a specific wavelength. We would show that the measured results of the fabricated DBRs matched the results simulated using Sheppard’s approximate equation.
DISCRETE MATURITY AND DELAY DIFFERENTIAL-DIFFERENCE MODEL OF HEMATOPOIETIC CELL DYNAMICS WITH APPLICATIONS TO ACUTE MYELOGENOUS LEUKEMIA
Authors: ADIMY MOSTAFA , CHEKROUN ABDENNASSER , EL ABDLLAOUI ABDERRAHIM , MARZORATI ARSÈNE
Published: July 2022

In the last few years, many efforts were oriented towards describing the hematopoiesis phenomenon in normal and pathological situations. This complex biological process is organized as a hierarchical system that begins with primitive hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and ends with mature blood cells: red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. Regarding acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), a cancer of the bone marrow and blood, characterized by a rapid proliferation of immature cells, which eventually invade the bloodstream, there is a consensus about the target cells during the HSCs development which are susceptible to leukemic transformation. We propose and analyze a mathematical model of HSC dynamics taking into account two phases in the cell cycle, a resting and a proliferating one, by allowing just after division a part of HSCs to enter the resting phase and the other part to come back to the proliferating phase to divide again. The resulting mathematical model is a system of nonlinear differential-difference equations. Due to the hierarchical organization of the hematopoiesis, we consider n stages of HSCs characterized by their maturity levels. We obtain a system of 2n nonlinear differential-difference equations. We study the existence, uniqueness, positivity, boundedness and unboundedness of the solutions. We then investigate the existence of positive and axial steady states for the system, and obtain conditions for their stability. Sufficient conditions for the global asymptotic stability of the trivial steady state as well as conditions for its instability are obtained. Using neutral differential equation associated to the differential-difference system, we also obtain results on the local asymptotic stability of the positive steady state. Numerical simulations are carried out to show the influence of variations of the differentiation rates and self-renewal coefficients of the HSCs on the behavior of the system. In particular, we show that a blocking of differentiation at an early stage of HSC development can lead in an overexpression of very immature cells. Such situation corresponds to the observation in the case of AML.
QUANTUM STATISTICAL PERSPECTIVE TO EXAMINE THE SOURCE CHAOS FRACTION THROUGH BOSON FEMTOSCOPY
Authors: BARY GHULAM , AHMED WAQAR , AHMAD RIAZ , LING DENNIS CHUAN CHING , MOUSA ABD ALLAH A. , KHAN ILYAS
Published: July 2022

Bose–Einstein correlations of identical particles reveal the shape and size of the particle emitting source of the given boson. These correlations are pivotal for a better understanding of the source dynamics and developing techniques to examine the propagation of quantum chaos in the presence of coherence at a certain temperature and momentum. Femtoscopy is of the utmost importance during this transformation for data processing and coherence-chaos analysis discrepancies. We introduced an evolving source to describe chaotic information inside quantum entanglement and the impact of the coherence order is discussed in this research. We also investigate the role of source size parameter and particle number in the dynamics of the temperature profiles with the function of momentum variation. The influences of the modeling factors on the correlations with their normalized correlator in the perspective of source coherence have been evaluated and the orientation of the source has an effect on the diffusivity of the fluid under consideration. Such consequences can cause an increase or decrease the genuine correlations due to the distributions of velocity and temperature. The main findings of the paper have been illustrated using the graphical representations of the considered correlations according to the geometry of the expanding source. Such results reveal the lucrativeness in the field of engineering applications.
Where Technology and Content Fuse: Applying Technology Acceptance to the Usage of and Payment for Digital Journalism
Authors: Püchel Lea , Wellbrock Christian-Mathias , Buschow Christopher
Published: July 2022

This paper investigates drivers of technology acceptance of and payment for digital journalism. Environments in which digital media content and technology are fused from the perspective of the user, have yet to be researched with technology acceptance models. In this paper, we subsume digital journalistic content as such technology and investigate how the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) explains the use of journalism. Further, we extend traditional acceptance research by investigating not only usage, but payment intention and behavior. To this end, we refer to a representative survey of the German online population ([Formula: see text]) and estimate effects within the framework of a structural equation model. The results reveal that the traditional model is better suited to explain usage, but can also explain a substantial part of the variance in payment. Above all, price value, hedonic motivation and social influence appear to have the strongest positive effects on intent and behavior. Surprisingly, effort expectancy has a positive influence on paying intent. Managers who engage in content creation should highlight these aspects. The findings further contribute towards a much needed, better understanding of user behavior across technologies.
Capture Salient Historical Information: A Fast and Accurate Non-autoregressive Model for Multi-turn Spoken Language Understanding
Authors: Cheng Lizhi , Jia Weijia , Yang Wenmian
Published: July 2022

Spoken Language Understanding (SLU), a core component of the task-oriented dialogue system, expects a shorter inference facing the impatience of human users. Existing work increases inference speed by designing non-autoregressive models for single-turn SLU tasks but fails to apply to multi-turn SLU in confronting the dialogue history. The intuitive idea is to concatenate all historical utterances and utilize the non-autoregressive models directly. However, this approach seriously misses the salient historical information and suffers from the uncoordinated-slot problems. To overcome those shortcomings, we propose a novel model for multi-turn SLU named Salient History Attention with Layer-Refined Transformer (SHA-LRT), which comprises a SHA module, a Layer-Refined Mechanism (LRM), and a Slot Label Generation (SLG) task. SHA captures salient historical information for the current dialogue from both historical utterances and results via a well-designed history-attention mechanism. LRM predicts preliminary SLU results from Transformer’s middle states and utilizes them to guide the final prediction, and SLG obtains the sequential dependency information for the non-autoregressive encoder. Experiments on public datasets indicate that our model significantly improves multi-turn SLU performance (17.5% on Overall) with accelerating (nearly 15 times) the inference process over the state-of-the-art baseline as well as effective on the single-turn SLU tasks.