bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Cross-sectional Study of Mental Health, Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms and Post Exposure Changes in Norwegian Ambulance Personnel
Authors: Reid Bjørn Ole , Næss-Pleym Lars Eide , Bakkelund Karin Elvenes , Dale Jostein , Uleberg Oddvar , Nordstrand Andreas Espetvedt
Published: September 2021

Background Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has been shown to be elevated among first responders (Emergency Medical Services, fire service, police force) compared to the general population. Examining the prevalence of mental health issues in a work force with an elevated occupational risk is fundamental towards ensuring their wellbeing and implementing safeguard measures. The goal of this study is therefore to report the prevalence of depression, anxiety, posttraumatic development, and PTSD in Norwegian ambulance personnel. Methods This study is a cross-sectional, anonymous, web-based survey (Questback®), performed among operative personnel employed in the Emergency Medical Services in the Regional Health Trust of Central Norway between 18. February and 9. April 2021. The study was sent to 1052 eligible participants. Questions reported demographic data, a traumatic events exposure index, Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (Depression), Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 scale, Posttraumatic symptom scale (PTSD) and Posttraumatic change scale. Results The response rate in this study was 45.5 % (n=479/1052). The mean age of respondents was 37.1 years (std. 11.1) and 52.8 % (n=253) were male. Of the respondents, 80.6% (n=386) were married or had a partner, and 91.6% (n=439) reported having access to a peer support programme, with 34.9% (n=167) reporting that they had utilized peer support. In this study, 5 % (n=24) showed a prevalence of manifest posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, while 8.6 % (n=41) reported moderate to severe depression and 2.9 % (n=14) presented moderate to severe symptoms of general anxiety. Of the respondents, 77.2 % (n=370) reported personal growth because of their work experiences. Conclusions This study indicates that Norwegian ambulance personnel report a prevalence of posttraumatic stress symptoms and depression, which is slightly higher for men, and lower for the female proportion in this study, when compared to an adult Norwegian population. The vast majority of respondents reported personal growth because of their work experience, and both the degree of peer support and having a partner seem to influence levels of posttraumatic stress and -development.
MCUR1 Promotes Osteosarcoma Cell Growth Through AKT/p53 Pathway
Authors: Wang Yaya , Tan Rui , Hou Zhenghui , Tian Yiyuan , Chen Yafan , Zhang Hongxin , Yuan Peng
Published: September 2021

Background: Osteosarcoma (OS) is one of the most aggressive malignant bone tumor worldwide. This study focuses on investigating the mechanism underlying the mitochondrial calcium uniporter regulator 1 (MCUR1)-mediated osteosarcoma (OS) cell growth. Methods: A total of 49 patients diagnosed as OS in our hospital were included in the current study. The expression of MCUR1 in human OS tissues and various OS cell lines was detected by immunohistochemical staining (IHC) and western blot analysis, respectively. The effect of MCUR1 on AKT/p53 pathway and its correlation with miR-506-3p were investigated by a series of experiments including MTS, QRT-PCR, Western blot and IHC. Results: Our data showed that MCUR1 was highly overexpressed in OS tumor tissues compared with the para-carcinoma tissues (P<0.01). The Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that high expression level of MCUR1 was linked with poor prognosis of OS patients. Additionally, knockdown of MCUR1 enhanced OS cell apoptosis and decreased the growth of OS cells compared with the corresponding controls (P<0.05). Meanwhile, the expression level of p-AKT was decreased, whereas the protein expression level of p53 was increased in OS cells with MCUR1 downregulation. We also found that the IHC scores of MCUR1 were inversely correlated with that of p53 (r = -0.304, P=0.034). Likewise, the expression of MCUR1 and miR-506-3p in OS tissues were also inversely correlated (r=-0.304, P=0.034). Conclusions: MCUR1 is overexpressed in OS cells and its expression is regulated by miR-506-3p. MCUR1 facilitates the progression of OS through activating AKT/p53 pathway. The data in the current study suggests that MCUR1 may serve as a new target for the diagnosis and treatment of OS.
T7-lac Promoter Vectors Derepression Caused by Plant-Derived Growth Media Can Lead to Serious Expression Problems: A Systematic Evaluation.
Authors: Krefft Daria , Prusinowski Maciej , Maciszka Paulina , Skokowska Aleksandra , Zebrowska Joanna , Skowron Piotr M
Published: September 2021

BackgroundThe widespread usage of protein expression systems in Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a workhorse of molecular biology research and practical applications in biotechnology industry, including pharmaceutical drugs production. Various factors can highly affect successful clones construction and their stable maintenance as well as obtained biosynthesis levels. These include correct selection of recombinant hosts, expression systems, promoters regulation, repression level at uninduced state, growth temperature, codon usage, codon context, mRNA secondary structure, translation kinetics and chaperons presence/absence, among others. However, the optimization of the growth media compositions is often overlooked. We systematically evaluate this factor, which can have dramatic effect on biosynthesis of recombinant proteins, especially those, which are toxic to a recombinant host. Results Commonly used animal tissue- and plant-based media were evaluated using a series of clones in pET vector, containing expressed ORFs with wide spectrum of toxicity to the recombinant E. coli: (i) gfpuv (nontoxic); (ii) tp84_28 – coding thermophilic endolysin (moderately toxic) and (iii) tthHB27IRM – coding for thermophilic restriction endonuclease-methyltransferase (REase-MTase) (very toxic). The use of plant-derived peptones (soy peptone and wheat extract) in culture media causes leakage of the T7-lac expression system. We show, that the presence of raffinose and stachyose (galactoside derivatives) in those peptones causes premature and uncontrolled induction of gene expression, which affects the course of cultures, clones stability and biosynthesis levels.Conclusions The use of plant-derived peptones in culture media when using the T7-lac hybrid promoter expression systems, such as Tabor-Studier, can lead to uncontrolled production of a recombinant protein. These conclusions also extend to other, lac operator-controlled promoters. In the case of proteins toxic to a recombinant host, this can result in the expression vector and/or cloned gene mutations, deletions, host’s death or highly decreased expression levels. This phenomenon is caused by certain saccharides content in plant peptones, some of which (galactosides) may act as T7-lac promoter inducers by theirinteraction with Lac repressors. Thus, when attempting to overexpress toxic proteins, it is recommended to either not use plant-derived media or use them with caution and to pilot-scale evaluate the derepression effect on the case-by-case basis.
Trends in Obesity and Metabolic Status Among a Health Check-Up Population in Beijing and Hunan Between 2012 and 2020
Authors: Li Ying , Yang Lin , Yin Lu , Liu Qingqi , Wang Yaqin , Yang Pingting , Wang Jiangang , Chen Zhiheng , Li Xiaohui , Yang Qinyu , He Yongmei , Huang Xin
Published: September 2021

Background: Previous cross-sectional studies have reported the prevalence of obesity and metabolic status in China. However, the trend of change in obesity and metabolic status, especially in different sex and age groups are lacking. Methods: In a series cross-sectional study, data on 256,782 participants surveyed between 2014 and 2020 in Beijing and 697,170 participants surveyed between 2012 and 2020 in Hunan were analyzed. Anthropometrics, blood pressure measurements, and blood tests were performed according to standard protocols. Trends in obesity and metabolic status were evaluated using the Joinpoint software to estimate annual percentage changes in slopes.Results: Based on age- and sex-standardized values, the mean BMI values in Beijing and Hunan participants were 23.94 (95%CI: 23.93, 23.95) and 23.68 (95%CI: 23.67, 23.69) kg/m2, respectively. Between 2014-2020, the overall obesity prevalence among Beijing participants increased from 12.70% (95%CI: 12.17%, 13.23%) to 14.33% (95% CI: 13.97%, 14.70%) (P=0.009), mainly derived by the 20-39 and 40-59 age groups. Moreover, the prevalence of metabolically healthy obese significantly increased from 2.07% (95%CI: 1.84%, 2.30%) to 4.33% (95% CI: 4.13%, 4.53%) in Beijing. Between 2012-2020, no significant trend in obesity was found among overall Hunan participants, but the prevalence of metabolically unhealthy obese significantly increased from 5.36% (95% CI: 5.18%, 5.54%) to 7.35% (95% CI: 7.11%, 7.58%), mainly derived by the 20-39 and 40-59 age groups.Conclusions: The trends in obesity and metabolic status were different between Hunan and Beijing. National weight control plan is needed in China, with a particular focus on young and middle-aged population.
Forecasting Daily Emergency Department Arrivals Using High-Dimensional Multivariate Data: A Feature Selection Approach
Authors: Tuominen Jalmari , Lomio Francesco , Oksala Niku , Palomäki Ari , Peltonen Jaakko , Huttunen Heikki , Roine Antti
Published: September 2021

Background and Objective Emergency Department (ED) overcrowding is a chronic international issue that is associated with adverse treatment outcomes. Accurate forecasts of future service demand would enable intelligent resource allocation that could alleviate the problem. There has been continued academic interest in ED forecasting but the number of used explanatory variables has been low, limited mainly to calendar and weather variables. In this study we investigate whether predictive accuracy of next day arrivals could be enhanced using high number of potentially relevant explanatory variables and document two feature selection processes that aim to identify which subset of variables is associated with number of next day arrivals.Methods We extracted numbers of total daily arrivals from Tampere University Hospital ED between the time period of June 1, 2015 and June 19, 2019. 158 potential explanatory variables were collected from multiple data sources consisting not only of weather and calendar variables but also an extensive list of local public events, numbers of website visits to two hospital domains, numbers of available hospital beds in 33 local hospitals or health centres and Google trends searches for the ED. We used two feature selection processes: Simulated Annealing (SA) and Floating Search (FS) with Recursive Least Squares (RLS) and Least Mean Squares (LMS). Performance of these approaches was compared against autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA), regression with ARIMA errors (ARIMAX) and Random Forest (RF). Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) was used as the main error metric.Results Calendar variables, load of secondary care facilities and local public events were dominant in the identified predictive features. RLS-SA and RLS-FA provided slightly better accuracy compared ARIMA. ARIMAX was the most accurate model but the difference between RLS-SA and RLS-FA was not statistically significant.Conclusions Our study provides new insight into potential underlying factors associated with number of next day presentations. It also suggests that predictive accuracy of next day arrivals can be increased using high-dimensional feature selection approach when compared to both univariate and nonfiltered high-dimensional approach. However, outperforming ARIMAX remains a challenge when working with daily data. Future work should focus on enhancing the feature selection mechanism, investigating its applicability to other domains and in identifying other potentially relevant explanatory variables.
Stunting and Associated Factors Among 6-23 Month Old Children in Drought Vulnerable Kebeles of Demba Gofa District, Southern Ethiopia
Authors: Tringo Tadele Tuba , Chalite Gebremedhin Chameno , Urugo Markos Makiso , Liben Fitsum Endale
Published: September 2021

Background

Stunting is impaired linear growth of children that they experience it in the first 1000 days after conception and indication of chronic malnutrition. It is caused by poor maternal nutrition and other interrelated factors.
Objective

This study conducted to assess the magnitude and associated factors of stunting among 6–23 month old children in drought vulnerable kebeles of Demba Gofa district.
Methodology:

A cross-sectional study with stratified multistage sampling was conducted. Semi-structured questionnaire and anthropometric measurements were used to collect the data. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression models were fitted using SPSS 20.0 for Windows. Adjusted odds ratios (AOR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were used to measure the strength of the association between dependent and associated variables at a p value < 0.05.
Result

From the total study population (362), 79 (21.82%) of the children were stunted. Household dietary diversity [AOR = 0.45, 95% CI, 0.78, 0.966], exclusive breast feeding [AOR = 3.54, 95% CI, 1.33, 9.41], early initiation of complementary feeding [AOR = 0.08, 95% CI, 0.044–0.174] and not feeding animal source food during complementary feeding [AOR = 0.061, 95% CI, 0.016–0.226] were significantly associated with child stunting.
Conclusions

The extent of stunting in the study area is relatively lower than national and regional average. However, based on the findings awareness creation on exclusive breast feeding, complementary feeding and dietary diversification strategies suggested to lessening the problem.
Development of In-Vitro Regeneration Protocol From Seedling Explants of Populus Gamblei Dode: A Difficult to Propagate Endemic Tree Species of Eastern Himalayas
Authors: Chandra Puran , Thakur Ajay , Mohapatra K P , Mehra T S , Kunwar Arti , Chauhan Monika
Published: September 2021

This is the first report of in-vitro regeneration of Populus gamblei, an endemic and rare tree of montane to subtropical forest of Eastern Himalayas. Nodal segment from coppice shoot of young headed back seedling resulted in 100 % sprouting in MS + 1.0 mg L-1 BAP. Each micro shoot proliferated and gave 7.06 micro shoots on MS + 0.50 mg L-1 BAP + 0.10 mg L-1 IBA. In vitro multiplied shoots produced 100 % rooting in ½ MS + 0.5 mg L-1 NAA. In-vitro regenerated plants recorded 80 percent survival during hardening.
The Perception of Feedback and Strengthening the Feedback Process. A Qualitative Thematic Analysis Among Residents and Supervisors in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care
Authors: Tigerschiöld Stephanie , Darvish Bijan , Falk Ann-Charlotte , Nordquist Jonas
Published: September 2021

BackgroundMedical education worldwide is currently undergoing a shift through the implementation of Competency Based Medical Education (CMBE). Feedback is a key factor for implementation of CBME as well as an important element in the process of continuous learning for healthcare professionals. We have investigated the perception of feedback and how to strengthen feedback processes among residents and supervisors in five anaesthesia and intensive care departments in Stockholm, Sweden. MethodA survey was sent out to 101 residents and 168 supervisors in anaesthesia and intensive care in Stockholm. The data was analysed using thematic analysis. Results Our results show that both residents and supervisors had similar mental models of feedback. Feedback was considered to enhance teamwork, create positive reinforcement and support professional development. Our material provides insights to factors that inhibit feedback, such as psychological unsafety, lack of feedback culture and shortage of knowledge regarding feedback processes. ConclusionAn organizational and systematic approach is needed to empower the use of feedback within the anaesthesia and critical care environment. Establishing good learning environments and strong feedback cultures is an investment for the future of medical education.
A Comparative Transcriptome Analysis Reveals New Insights into Pre-Harvest Sprouting (PHS) in Wheat
Authors: Li Xingyan , Qiao Hongyu , Wang Zeng , Han Bing , Xing Yanping , Yang Yan
Published: September 2021

Background: pre-harvest sprouting (PHS) is a significant cause of yield loss in cereal crops, and is an important topic of study for the improvement of wheat quality. Many studies have focused on PHS in wheat during the last 10 years, especially on the involvement of abscisic acid (ABA) in PHS, however, a lot remained unknown about this topic.Results: In this study, a PHS resistant line was isolated from an ethylmethane sulfonate (EMS) mutant population derived from the wheat cultivar ‘Long 13-3778’, namely ‘LQ18’. The mutant line LQ18 showed highly significant resistance to PHS compared with the wild-type. Transcriptome sequencing was conducted to determine the differences between the LQ18 mutant and the wild-type at the level of gene expression. The results showed no conclusive evidence that the ABA biosynthesis and signaling pathways contribute to the differences in PHS between the mutant and the wild-type, and some genes and their alleles associated with PHS tolerance showed differential expression between the mutant and wild-type lines. The most interesting result of this study was that the expression levels of the chitinase family genes showed significant differences between the mutant and the wild-type as determined by GO enrichment analysis, and a subsequent analysis of differential expression profiling of the chitinase genes led to the same conclusion.Conclusions: Transcriptomic analysis in this study have revealed the global transcriptome profiles of the PHS sensitive wheat cultivar ‘Long 13-3778’ and its PHS resistant mutants. Furthermore, this study has proposed a possible explanation of the connection between PHS and the chitinase family for the first time, which added to our understanding of PHS and seed dormancy in common wheat.
Using an Eigenvector Spatial Filtering Based Spatially Varying Coefficient Model to Analyze the Spatial Heterogeneity of COVID-19 and Its Influencing Factors in Mainland China
Authors: Chen Meijie , Chen Yumin , Wilson John P , Tan Huangyuan , Chu Tianyou
Published: September 2021

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to many deaths and economic disruptions across the world. Several studies have examined the effect of health risk factors on COVID-19 rates in different places, but the problem of spatial heterogeneity has not been adequately addressed.Methods: In this paper, we developed an Eigenvector Spatial Filtering based spatially varying coefficient model (ESF-SVC) to reveal the spatially varying impact of certain health risk factors on the COVID-19 spread. The experiment was conducted during 7 weeks within two study extents (Hubei province and mainland China). Spatial varying coefficient maps were produced for spatial pattern discovery.Results: Results showed that the ESF-SVC model could take good control of over-fitting problems, with average adjusted R2 16.31% (in Hubei province) and 10.25% (in mainland China) higher than that of GWR. The cross validation RMSE of ESF-SVC model was also the lowest. In Hubei province, Population density and wind speed had a significant impact on COVID-19 infection rates and that their effect was constant across cities. While in mainland China, migration score, building density, temperature and altitude showed significant impact and their effect varies across space. The influence of migration score was less contributive and less significant in cities around Wuhan than cities farther away, while the altitude showed stronger contributions in high altitude cities.Conclusions: Our study hopes to provide not only a feasible path to solve the problem of spatial autocorrelation and spatial heterogeneity in COVID-19 characterization but also an intuitive way to discover spatial patterns in large study areas, which could help people and government awareness of the potential health risks and shed some light in COVID-19 control strategies.
Female International Entrepreneurship: Financing Factors of Business Venturing
Authors: Khavarinezhad Sepideh , Biancone Paolo Pietro , Jafari-Sadeghi Vahid
Published: September 2021

The study explores the influence of financing drivers on female entrepreneurial activity. We study the interaction of financing elements on domestic entrepreneurial activities and the role of financing on female-oriented international entrepreneurship in the United States, Italy and France. We analyse entrepreneurship at the two levels of total entrepreneurial activities (TEA) and export function by applying a logistic regression model and, we hypothesise that financing factors are affected by the motivation of starting business and export activities. The findings reveal that there is a significant and positive relationship between women entrepreneurship and financial institution-fund supporting at the domestic level. They confirm a positive and strong impact of access to finance on women’s entrepreneurial activities in three selected countries. In addition, the positive effect of the perception of entrepreneurship capability (as an indicator for human capital) on access to finance is identified. The research highlights how the different effects of economic freedom led to differences in the management of a company and the associated decision-making of female entrepreneurs. Future research could contribute by comparing financing for women’s entrepreneurship in developing countries compared to developed countries. The study mitigates the large research gap in the female entrepreneurial literature by examining the impact of the relationship between access to finance and women's performance in the international arena. It sheds new light on the concept of female entrepreneurship and the foresight needed for starting an activity.
Person-Centered Maternity Care During Childbirth and Associated Factors at Selected Public Hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2021: A Cross-Sectional Study
Authors: Tarekegne Azezew Ambachew , Giru Berhanu Wordofa , Mekonnen Bazie
Published: September 2021

Background: Person-centered maternity care is respectful and responsive care to individual women’s preferences, needs, and values and ensuring that their values guide all clinical decisions during childbirth. It is recognized as a key dimension of the quality of maternity care that increases client satisfaction and institutional delivery. However, little research has been conducted about person-centered maternity care in Ethiopia. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the status of person-centered maternity care and associated factors among mothers who gave birth at selected public hospitals in Addis Ababa city, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2021.Method: A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted at selected public hospitals in Addis Ababa city. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data from post-natal mothers selected by systematic random sampling. The data was coded and entered using Epi-data version 4.6 and analyzed using SPSS version 25. Bivariate and multivariable linear regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with person-centered maternity care. The strength of association between independent and dependent variables was reported by using unstandardized β at 95% CI and p-value < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.Results: In this study 384 mothers were participated with a response rate of 99.2%. The overall prevalence of person-centered maternity care was 65.8%. Respondents who had no ANC follow-up (β= -5.39, 95% CI: -10.52, -0.26), <4 ANC follow up (β= -3.99, 95% CI: -6.63, -1.36), night time delivery (β= -3.95, 95% CI: -5.91, -1.98) and complications during delivery (β= -3.18, 95% CI: -6.01, -0.35) were factors significantly associated with person-centered maternity care.Conclusion and Recommendations: The finding of this study showed that the proportion of person-centered maternity care among mothers who gave birth in public hospitals of Addis Ababa was high as compared to previous studies. The factors affecting person-centered maternity care are manageable to interventions. Therefore, Health care providers need to provide person-centered maternity care for all mothers.
The Effect Mechanism and Model Optimization of Pulsed Light Dark Duration on Lettuce
Authors: Yu Hui-bin , Xu Xiao-dong , Ma Li-yuan , zhang guan-zhi , Bai Ya-hui , Mou Sun-tao , Liu Yi , Wu Yong-jin , Yang Zhen-chao
Published: September 2021

Background: Despite its rapid development, the costs of crop artificial light source technology are still high. In addition, both the luminous efficiency and photosynthetic light supplement efficiency of the light source require further improvement. This study aims to improve the photosynthetic light supplement efficiency by altering the luminescence mode of the light source, transforming the conventional continuous supplementary light source into a pulse light source, and exploring how to further reduce energy consumption and improve the light supplement efficiency without influencing the light supplement effect of Lettuce.Results: For this purpose, Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) was selected as the experimental material to investigate the effects of varying the duty ratio, frequency and dark duration on the Pn (net photosynthetic rate) of leaves. The results revealed that Pn values under each duty ratio treatment increased with frequency and gradually stabilized to a level similar to that of continuous light. At higher duty ratios, the lettuce leaf Pn under pulse light reached a stable state at a lower frequency, with Pn leveling showing an overall upward trend with the decreasing dark period duration and a large increase in the early stage. For dark period durations lower than a certain value (0.000683594 s), variations in Pn among treatments were minimal, with a gradual increasing trend until no significant differences are observed with continuous light (CK); Under the D3 (weak light) condition, plants were easy to spindling(excessive growth)and exhibited narrow and slender leaves. Plants under the D2 condition (The duration period duration was 0.000465468s) presented the strongest roots and stems, with wide leaves and a compact growth. The following trend in Pn was observed across all duty ratios D2>D1 (0.000046547s)>CK>D3 (0.004654685s). Conclusions: The dominant influencing factor of the plant net photosynthetic rate was determined as the ratio of the frequency and duty ratio (i.e., dark period duration). Compared with continuous light, pulsed light is more beneficial to plant growth and utilization.
Nodal Peripheral T-cell Lymphoma with T Follicular Helper Phenotype Present CD20 Positive: A Case Report and Review of Literature
Authors: huang jianxian , Liu Ni , zhang wenhui , liu fang , Cao Qinghua
Published: September 2021

Background: T follicular helper cell is considered to be involved in B cell and a subset of effector T cell maturing. Nodal peripheral T-cell lymphoma with T-follicular helper phenotype (NPTCL-TFH) is a subset of peripheral T-cell lymphoma defined by expression of at least 2 or 3 TFH markers. Here we report a case of typical NPTCL-TFH while the B cell marker CD20 is positive.Case presentation: A 62-year-old male presented to our hospital with a symptom of dizzy and neck mass for 10 days. Physical examination and PET/CT revealed right cervical, armpit and inguinal lymphadenopathy, some of which were accompanied by pain. In the nodule biopsy, lymph node structure is destroyed, completely effaced by intermediate-sized monotonous lymphoid cells with round nuclei and abundant mitosis. Immunohistochemical staining confirmed that tumor cells were positive for T cell marker, and expressed several markers of TFH (CD4, Bcl-6, CXCL-13 and PD-1 ). Besides, in situ hybridization of EB virus showed scattered positive and TCR gamma arrangement is positive. However, with all these evidences of NPTCL-TFH, the tissue weirdly expressed CD20, a B lymphocyte maturing marker. The patient gave up treatment and unfortunately was died of tumor cachexia after 4-5 months. Conclusions: We report the first case of CD20 positive in a NPTCL-TFH. More investigation and knowledge of this new phenotype need to be explored.
Ansatz-Independent Variational Quantum Classifiers and the Price of Ansatz
Authors: Miyahara Hideyuki , Roychowdhury Vwani
Published: September 2021

The paradigm of variational quantum classifiers (VQCs) encodes classical information as quantum states, followed by quantum processing and then measurements to generate classical predictions. VQCs are promising candidates for efficient utilizations of noisy intermediate scale quantum (NISQ) devices: classifiers involving M-dimensional datasets can be implemented with only ⌈log2 M⌉ qubits by using an amplitude encoding. A general framework for designing and training VQCs, however, is lacking. An encouraging specific embodiment of VQCs, quantum circuit learning (QCL), utilizes an ansatz: a circuit with a predetermined circuit geometry and parametrized gates expressing a time-evolution unitary operator; training involves learning the gate parameters through a gradient- descent algorithm where the gradients themselves can be efficiently estimated by the quantum circuit. The representational power of QCL, however, depends strongly on the choice of the ansatz, as it limits the range of possible unitary operators that a VQC can search over. Equally importantly, the landscape of the optimization problem may have challenging properties such as barren plateaus and the associated gradient-descent algorithm may not find good local minima. Thus, it is critically important to estimate (i) the price of ansatz; that is, the gap between the performance of QCL and the performance of ansatz-independent VQCs, and (ii) the price of using quantum circuits as classical classifiers: that is, the performance gap between VQCs and equivalent classical classifiers. This paper develops a computational framework to address both these open problems. First, it shows that VQCs, including QCL, fit inside the well-known kernel method. Next it introduces a framework for efficiently designing ansatz-independent VQCs, which we call the unitary kernel method (UKM). The UKM framework enables one to estimate the first known bounds on both the price of anstaz and the price of any speedup advantages of VQCs: numerical results with datatsets of various dimensions, ranging from 4 to 256, show that the ansatz-induced gap can vary between 10−20%, while the VQC-induced gap (between VQC and kernel method) can vary between 10−16%. To further understand the role of ansatz in VQCs, we also propose a method of decomposing a given unitary operator into a quantum circuit, which we call the variational circuit realization (VCR): given any parameterized circuit block (as for example, used in QCL), it finds optimal parameters and the number of layers of the circuit block required to approximate any target unitary operator with a given precision.
Altered Brain Functional Network Dynamics in Classic Trigeminal Neuralgia: A Resting-state Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study
Authors: Zhang Pengfei , Jiang Yanli , Liu Guangyao , Han Jiao , Wang Jun , Ma Laiyang , Hu Wanjun , Zhang Jing
Published: September 2021

Background: Accumulating studies have indicated a wide range of brain alterations in structure and function of Classic trigeminal neuralgia (CTN). Given the dynamic nature of pain experience, the exploration of temporal fluctuations in interregional activity covariance may enhance the understanding of pain process in brain. The present study aimed to characterize the temporal features of functional connectivity (FC) states as well as topological alteration in CTN.Methods: Resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) and three-dimensional T1-weighted images were obtained from 41 CTN patients and 43 matched healthy controls (HC). After group independent component analysis, sliding window based dynamic functional network connectivity (dFNC) analysis was applied to investigate specific FC states and related temporal properties. Then the dynamics in whole brain topological organization were estimated by calculating coefficient of variation of graph-theoretical properties. The further correlation analysis were performed between all those measurements and clinical data.Results: Two distinct states were identified, of which the state 2, characterized by complicate coupling between default mode network (DMN) and cognitive control network (CC) and tight connections within DMN, expressed more in CTN patients, presented as increased fractional windows and dwell time. Also, patients switched less frequently between states than HC. Regarding to dynamic topological analysis, disruptions in global graph-theoretical properties (including network efficiency and small-worldness) were observed in patients, coupled with decreased variability in nodal efficiency of anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in salience network (SN) and thalamus, caudate in subcortical network (SC). The variation of topological properties showed negative correlation with disease duration and attack frequency.Conclusions: The present study indicated disrupted flexibility of brain topological organization under persistent noxious stimulation and further highlighted the important role of “dynamic pain connectome” regions (including DMN/CC/SN) in pathophysiology of CTN from temporal fluctuation aspect. Additionally, the findings provided supplementary evidence for current knowledge about the aberrant cortical-subcortical interaction in pain development.
Effects of surgery on survival of GSCC without distant metastasis：Propensity Score Analysis and Nomogram Construction based on SEER Database
Authors: Zhang Guixing , Xiao Xian , Liu Yunhe , Tian Fei
Published: September 2021

Purpose: Surgery remains the preferred treatment for head and neck of malignancies. Our purpose was to appraise the postoperative survival benefit of primary gingival squamous cell carcinoma (GSCC) patients without distant metastasis and to construct a nomogram in order to predict overall survival(OS). Method: Patients who diagnosed with GSCC without distant metastasis and receiving active treatment between 2004 and 2015 were selected from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database. The primary endpoint was OS. Univariate, multivariate Cox regression analysis and propensity score (PS) analysis were used to compare the association between surgical treatment and OS. The nomogram was to predict the 3-year and 5-year OS probabilities. The concordance index (C-index), the area under the curve (AUC), and calibration plot were used to evaluate the data performance of the nomogram model. The Decision Curve Analysis (DCA) curve was used to evaluate the clinical efficacy of the nomogram. Results: We reviewed 2440 GSCC patients without distant metastasis. The median OS was 85 and 10 months in the surgery group and non-surgery group, respectively. After univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis, surgery for the primary tumor was independent factors for OS. In order to balance the influence of confounding factors on the statistics, we used propensity score matching (PSM) analysis to evaluate the influence of surgery on OS, and the analysis results showed that OS still preferred surgical treatment at the primary tumor. In addition, independent influencing factors determined by univariate and multivariate Cox analysis were selected to prepare the survival prediction model of the nomogram. The model has well prediction performance. The C-index of the model is 0.708 and the AUC value of the 3-year and 5-year nomogram prediction model is 0.730. The calibration curve is also close to 45 degree. Both net benefit and net reduction curves showed that the nomogram model had good clinical benefit. Conclusion: Our analysis suggests that surgery for primary site tumors is a viable option for GSCC patients without distant metastasis. Meanwhile, we have developed and verified a nomogram model which can effectively predict 3- and 5-year OS for GSCC patients, which has been proved to have well distinction, calibration abilities and clinical benefit. It can provide practical help for clinicians to make decision. Of course, our results and model need to be further validated with real-world data.
A Rare Case of Undifferentiated Pleomorphic Sarcoma of the Pancreas and Literature Review
Authors: Liang Ze , Han Jingzhao , Tuo Hongfang , Xue Dongdong , Yu Hanxiang , Peng Yanhui
Published: September 2021

BackgroundPrimary undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS) of the pancreas is an exceedingly rare malignant tumor, with only 15 cases have been reported in the medical literature. At present, clinicians have poor recognition of the tumor, the epidemiology, diagnosis and treatment of this disease have yet not been established. Case presentationIn this report, we depict the clinical and imaging characteristics of a 37-year-old man presenting with a primarily cystic UPS. The patient complained of epigastric pain and distention over 20 days. Abdominal CT and pancreatic magnetic resonance imaging revealed cystic and cystic solid masses in the pancreatic body and tail. An abdominal ultrasound echogram revealed the mass in the body of the pancreas to be cystic with separation echo inside, and the wall was thick, not smooth. Besides, a hypoechoic mass was seen in the tail area of the pancreas with an inhomogeneous echoic pattern, containing small patches of no echo zone in the central. Microscopically, spindle fibroblast-like cells are arranged in a characteristic storiform pattern with pleomorphic and multinucleated cells. Immunohistochemically, tumor cells were positive for CD68 and vimentin. Seven months postoperatively, he was diagnosed with pulmonary lymph node metastasis and died five months later. Combined with this case report, we also reviewed the literature regarding UPS of the pancreas. ConclusionsAs we know, this is the first report on ultrasonography findings of pancreatic UPS. Despite there are no distinctive manifestation of UPS, a solid cystic lesion on ultrasonography or a hypodense area in the lesion on T2-weighted imaging, should be considered for differential diagnosis with pancreatic UPS. We believe this article may add some ideas into the diagnosis and therapy of patients with this tumor.
Contribution of Low Birth Weight to Childhood Malnutrition in India
Authors: Jana Arup , Dey Deepshikha , Ghosh Ranjita
Published: September 2021

Background Although Low birth weight (LBW) is an independent predictor of malnutrition, it is still a negligible public health issue in the Indian context. Where, a large number of children died due to complications from maternal and child malnutrition. Furthermore, each year, India loses its GDP due to the cost of micronutrient malnutrition which is more that the public health budget. MethodsTo conduct the study, 4th round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4), a large-scale survey was used. The study used the last birth information (190,898) due to the detailed availability of maternal care information. The univariate and bivariate analysis was done to find out the percentage distribution. Further, a logistic regression was applied to examine the association between LBW and malnutrition (stunting, wasting, and underweight). The study also employed the Fairlie decomposition technique to estimate the contribution of LBW to malnutrition among Indian children. ResultsThe estimated result shows that childhood malnutrition was higher in most of the Empowered Action Group (EAG) states of India. Furthermore, the infant who was born with low birth weight was more likely to have stunted (OR=1.67; 95% CI: 1.60-1.75), wasting (OR=1.32; 95% CI: 1.26-1.39), and underweight (OR=1.44; 95% CI: 1.38-1.51) in their childhood as compared to infants with no low birth weight. The findings of the decomposition model explained 19 % of the difference in stunting, 12% in wasting, and 16% in underweight among the children born with low birth weight after controlling for background characteristics of the individuals. Other variables such as wealth status, mother’s education, height, mother’s age at birth, and sanitation facility were the significant contributors to childhood malnutrition in India. ConclusionsAlthough many nutrient-centric programmes are going on to control the nutrition status of children, the Indian government should focus more on control LBW. As LBW has a significant contribution to malnutrition, the study recommends that government should take all the necessary steps to implement and monitor some special schemes like the Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) at the ground level to reduce the burden of LBW.
Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation in Newly Diagnosed Type-1 Diabetes Patients: A Phase I/II Randomized Placebo Controlled Clinical Trial
Authors: Izadi Mahmoud , Nejad Anavasadat Sadr Hashemi , Moazenchi Maedeh , Masoumi Safdar , Rabbani Ali , Kompani Farzad , Asl Amir Abbas Hedayati , Abbasi Fatemeh , Jarooghi Neda , Meybodi Mohamad Ali Mohseni , Setoodeh Aria , Abbasi Farzaneh , Hosseini Seyedeh Esmat , Nia Fatemeh Moeini , Yazdi Reza Salman , Navabi Roghayeh , Hajizadeh-Saffar Ensiyeh , Baharvand Hossein
Published: September 2021

BackgroundType-1 diabetes (T1D) occurs following autoimmune-induced pancreatic beta cells death. Among several treatment modalities, Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) transplantation is promising for autoimmune disorders due to immunomodulation, regeneration, and migration to damaged tissue upon systemic injection. This study assessed the safety and efficacy of intravenous injection of autologous bone marrow-derived MSCs in newly diagnosed T1D patients. MethodsAfter receiving informed consent, 21 patients who met the study criteria were enrolled and randomly assigned to receive either MSCs or placebo. Each patient in the experimental group received two doses of MSCs and followed for at least one year post-transplantation. ResultsThe results have shown that this transplantation is safe and significantly reduces the number of hypoglycemic episodes. MSCs transplantation improved glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), shifted serum cytokine patterns from pro-inflammatory to anti-inflammatory, increased the number of regulatory T-cells in the peripheral blood, and improved quality of life. Early transplantation of MSCs significantly improved HbA1c and C-peptide levels and shifted pro-inflammatory cytokines to anti-inflammatory cytokines. Also, exercise combined with MSCs transplantation improved glycemic and immunologic indices. ConclusionsIn conclusion, autologous MSC transplantation is safe and effective, and its early transplantation is a promising treatment in newly-diagnosed T1D children suffering from hypoglycemic episodes. Trial registrationThis clinical trial was registered at the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT) with the identifier IRCT ID: IRCT2016070428786N1 registered on August 20, 2016 (Retrospectively registered) (https://en.irct.ir/trial/23256) and at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (ClinicalTrials.gov) with the related identifier NCT04078308 registered on September 6, 2019 (Retrospectively registered). (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04078308)
HIF-1α stabilization modified by glutaredoxin-1 is critical for intestinal angiogenesis in NEC pathogenesis
Authors: Zhang Yunfei , Zhang Xiao , Tian Bing , Deng Qin , Guo Chunbao
Published: September 2021

Background: Hypoxia inducible factor (HIF-1α) are essential in the pathogenesis of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), which is stabilized by Grx1 deletion. Until now, the mechanism of HIF-1α in the intestinal microcirculation in NEC is not well defined. We intend to investigate the role of HIF-1α in the development of NEC in regulating the microcirculation and the following vasodilatory signal, VEGF. Materials and methods: Experimental NEC was induced in full-term C57BL/6 mouse and Grx1-/-pups through the formula gavage and hypoxia technique. The HIF-1α signal was blocked utilizing the HIF-1α inhibitor, YC-1. Intestinal tissues were collected at predetermined time points for the assessment of intestinal microcirculation and the HIF-1α activity involved signal. Results: We found that NEC inducement impaired the intestinal microcirculation, but intestinal blood flow and capillary density were ameliorated in Grx1-/-mice, which was associated with the GSH-protein adducts of HIF-1α in the intestinal tissue. Grx1 ablation could also promote vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGFA) production in the intestinal tissue. This intestinal microvascular improvement was not found in the HIF-1α inhibited mice, suggesting the HIF-1α dependent manner for intestinal microcirculatory perfusion. Conclusion: The current data demonstrated that HIF-1α signaling is involved in the intestinal microvascular modification during the pathogenesis of NEC, suggesting that targeting with HIF-1α might be a promising strategy for NEC treatment.
Research on the Effect of Texture on Wear Performance of High-Pressure Piston Pump Valve Pair
Authors: He Hengsuo , Wu Huaichao , Zhao Limei , Yang Lv , Yuan Kui , He Muyang
Published: September 2021

In this paper, the surface wear performance of the valve pair of a high-pressure axial piston pump is improved. Firstly, the friction and wear tests are carried out for different materials of the axial piston pump valve pair. Moreover, the friction and wear behavior of the valve pair contact is studied. A valve pair material that is more suitable for processing surface texture is chosen. Friction and wear models of a valve pair based on degradation coefficient are proposed and wear conditions of different textures are calculated. Lastly, the texture with the best anti-wear effect is selected. Finally, the selected textures are experimentally validated by laser processing. The results show that a long strip with a diameter of 400 μm, a depth of 20 μm, and an area ratio of 2% can effectively reduce wear. Through comparative analysis, it is concluded that the texture shape has the least influence on the wear of the valve pair. On the other hand, the area ratio of the texture has the greatest effect on the wear of the valve pair. As the diameter of the texture increases, the wear of the valve pair gradually decreases. As the texture depth increases, the wear amount of the valve pair shows a downward trend.
Silicon nitride ring resonator biosensors operated at 1310 nm wavelengths via TM-mode grating couplers
Authors: Castelló-Pedrero Lucía , Gómez-Gómez María I. , García-Rupérez Jaime , Griol Amadeu , Martínez Alejandro
Published: September 2021

In this work, we demonstrate a full photonic integrated device for performing highly-sensitive biosensing using silicon nitride ring resonators propagating transverse-magnetic modes at wavelengths around 1310 nm. The device includes fully-etched grating couplers as interfaces with external optical fibres. Sensing experiments are performed in a microfluidic environment using bovine serum albumin and anti-bovine serum albumin as biological agents. In comparison with other photonic platforms based on ring resonators propagating transverse-electric modes, our device shows a better detection performance though the efficiency of the grating couplers can be further improved.