bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) Modulates Energy Metabolism
and Anti-inflammatory Response in Obesity via Combinatorial Analysis
Authors: Liew Fong Fong , Visuvanathan Theysshana , Vellasamy Shalini
Published: March 2023

Since ancient times, fenugreek has been utilized as a dietary condiment as well as for its various
therapeutic properties. The goal of this study is to look at the function of fenugreek in regulating obesity
metabolism by providing a global picture of gene networks and pathways. The buildup of fat in adipose
tissue and other internal organs is a hallmark of obesity, a long-term carbohydrate and lipid metabolic
disorder. The fenugreek plant grows up to 60 cm tall, with golden-yellow rhomboidal seeds. Though
the seeds of fenugreek are more well-known, the leaves and stems have also been suggested to have therapeutic
properties. Various studies have shown that the secondary metabolites in the fenugreek plant are
responsible for these properties. Several studies have shown that fenugreek has anti-obesity properties,
making it a good plant candidate with a high prospect of being used to treat obesity. This review paper
discusses the use of combinatorial analytic approaches to better understand the medicinal uses of fenugreek.
Combinatorial analytical methods that use functional modulation and modelling may make it easier
to come up with research strategies to fill in research gaps and find possible research niches.
A Review on Antidiabetic Potential of Genus Ferula (Apiaceae)
Authors: Bagheri Seyyed Majid , Hakimizadeh Elham , Allahtavakoli Mohammad
Published: March 2023

Background:

One of the most important metabolic disorders in the current century is diabetes, which can negatively affect the physiology of many body parts. Unfortunately, this disease is not limited to a specific part of the body and causes destructive effects on the nervous system, cardiovascular system, kidneys and many other parts of the body. The high costs and increasing prevalence of this disease have made scientists look for natural compounds to prevent and treat diabetes. Medicinal plants are a huge source of unknown compounds that can alleviate many human diseases.

Objective:

One of the oldest plant families that have been used medicinally is the Apiaceae family. One of the most important genera of this family is Ferula, which has 170 different species and is distributed in hot and dry regions of the earth and has various therapeutic properties. The purpose of this article is to review the anti-diabetic effects of the Ferula genus on diabetes.

Methods:

In this review article, key science databases, including Science Direct, PubMed, and Google Scholar, were searched to find information on Ferula genus using a combination of different keywords, including diabetes, hyperglycemia, and alpha-glucosidase inhibition.

Results:

A total of 9 types of Ferula have been reported in the articles that have anti-diabetic properties.

Conclusion:

The review of the conducted research shows that the genus Ferula has a high potential in reducing blood sugar and other aspects of diabetes, and additional research should be performed in this field.
Current Antifungal Drugs
Authors: Kaushik Megha , Sharma Arvind , Gupta Shefali , Gulati Pooja
Published: March 2023

Fungal infections are one of the major causes of fatalities worldwide,
causing an estimated 1.5 million deaths annually. Over the past few decades, the
incidences of fungal infection have risen with the increase in the cases of
immunocompromised patients. However, the impact of fungal diseases on public health
is often underestimated. These infections are predominantly caused by the Aspergillus,
Candida, and Cryptococcus species. Current therapeutic approaches to treat such
fungal infections are limited to five distinct classes of antifungal drugs, viz. polyenes,
echinocandins, azoles, pyrimidine analogs, and allylamines. Moreover, a few synthetic
molecules are also used as fungicidal agents. Despite the current antifungal
armamentarium, the burden of fungal infection is exacerbated by the emergence of
drug resistance, host toxicity, and negative interactions with other drugs. The paucity of
new antifungal drugs has further complicated the treatment of fungal infections. These
limitations provide a rationale for developing novel antifungals preferably with new
mechanisms and molecular targets. This chapter thus summarizes the currently used
antifungal drugs, their effective combinations, and the challenges inherent to the
development of new antifungal drugs. The chapter also addresses strategies to bolster
the antifungal pipeline involving emerging new targets for better management of fungal
infections.
Implementasi Kebijakan Peraturan Walikota Batu Nomor 56 Tahun 2020 Berbasis Collaborative Pentha Helix (Studi pada Sektor Pariwisata Kota Batu)
Authors:   Universitas Brawijaya, Zahidur Rahman , Mochammad Rozikin , I Gede Eko Putra Sri Sentanu
Published: March 2023

Almost all parts of the world, in the last 2 years, have been faced with the spread of COVID-19 originating from Wuhan, China, which then developed rapidly to various countries, including Indonesia. COVID-19 has an impact on all sectors, especially the tourism sector in Batu City. As an effort to protect its citizens, the Batu City Government issued a policy in the form of Mayor Regulation Number 56 of 2020 concerning Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Corona Virus Disease 2019 in the Transitional Status of Emergency to Recovery. The results of the study show that the implementation of the Mayor's Regulation Number 56 of 2020 concerning Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Corona Virus Disease 19 (COVID-19) in the Transitional Status of Emergency to Recovery, especially for the tourism sector in Batu City, has been carried out well from the policy implementation model. Van Matter and Van Horn. The collaboration process of Penthahelix stakeholders in the implementation of Perwali 56/2020 takes place in synergy and mutually reinforcing which involves government actors up to the village level, RW and RT, entrepreneurs, communities, academics and the media.
Peran Perencanaan Partisipatif dalam Kesiapsiagaan Bencana Gunungapi Berbasis Komunitas
Authors: Sarifa Idrus , Firda Hidayati , Oscar Radyan Danar
Published: March 2023

Understanding risks and formulating appropriate resource requirements is an important role for volcanic disaster-prone communities. However, development planners in the disaster sector often fail to understand and give a role to the community. This study aims to provide an overview of community participation in planning to support preparedness for the threat of volcanic eruptions. By using a systematic review, various related scientific sources are analyzed. The results show that participatory planning can be a forum for identifying existing conditions of threats, vulnerabilities, and community capacities and resources to minimize risks; encouraging the effectiveness of disaster preparedness policies; become a public space for the citizen to exercise their democratic rights and practice the ability to voice their interests in the implementation of disaster risk management in their area. Even though participatory planning conceptually has a good impact, it needs to be supported by the expertise of the facilitator, and adequate competence from the community and other stakeholders so that rational ideas can clash through dialogue, which is expected to produce appropriate risk reduction actions for the community.
De kerk en de geesteswetenschappen: interpretatieve praktijken en hermeneutische kaders
Authors: Paul H.J.
Published: March 2023

Literature on religion and science is vast; that on the humanities and the Christian faith much less so. This essay explores this largely uncharted territory by identifying several remarkable affinities and tensions between the church’s interpretive practices (e.g., in reading the Bible) and those fostered in the humanities (e.g., in analyzing a play of Shakespeare). It then analyzes these tensions in terms of three kinds of reductionism: methodical, contextual, and ontological reductionism. The article identifies some historical, philosophical, and theological resources to remedy these various forms of reductionist thinking. The article ends with a plea to clergy that they not too quickly assume that the relationship between the church and the humanities is fraught with tension. Offering prospective students an anti-reductionist hermeneutical framework will prepare better for study in the humanities
Focus. Wat heeft de theologie de pedagogiek te bieden?
Authors: Kunz A.J.
Published: March 2023

N.a.v.: Wolter Huttinga en Roel Kuiper (red.), Mens worden. Over de relatie tussen theologie en pedagogiek (Amsterdam: Buijten & Schipperheijn Motief, 2021) 252 p., ISBN 9789463691536; en: Bram de Muynck en Roel Kuiper (red.), Faithful Efforts. Formation, Education and the Church (Kampen: Summum, 2021) 147 p., ISBN 9789492701343.
Leren lezen. Godsdienstpedagogische richtingwijzers voor het lezen van de Bijbel met jongeren
Authors: De With F.N.
Published: March 2023

Empirical research in secondary education discloses that students lack interest, and even resist, learning about the Bible because they experience the Bible as dull and it does not speak to their modern selves. This article describes directions towards a biblical pedagogy which aims at a hermeneutic in which students develop a responsible relationship to Scripture in which they recognize its relevance for their world. The essence of wisdom as taught by Proverbs and Job, and research in the teaching of literature form the basis for the guidelines of a pedagogy that addresses student resistance and lack of interest in reading the Bible.
Argollado en tomate
Authors:   Ministerio de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural, Bogotá (Colombia),   Corporación colombiana de investigación agropecuaria, Mosquera (Colombia)
Published: March 2023

En el presente video se recomiendan algunas mejoras en el cultivo de tomate, si se quiere optimizar el cultivo de tomate bajo invernadero y mejorar la rentabilidad de la finca.
Podcast inseminación artificial
Authors:   Ministerio de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural, Bogotá (Colombia),   Corporación colombiana de investigación agropecuaria, Mosquera (Colombia)
Published: March 2023

En el siguiente clip tecnológico usted encontrará el paso a paso para realizar el proceso de inseminación artificial de la mano de expertos de Corpoica.
Caucho
Authors:   Ministerio de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural, Bogotá (Colombia),   Corporación colombiana de investigación agropecuaria, Mosquera (Colombia)
Published: March 2023

En este magazín se habla del cultivo de caucho, su manejo y control, generalidades y beneficios que trae implementarlo.
¿Cómo hacer una calicata?
Authors:   Ministerio de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural, Bogotá (Colombia),   Corporación colombiana de investigación agropecuaria, Mosquera (Colombia)
Published: March 2023

Para el óptimo desarrollo del cultivo de algodón y su posterior comercialización, Se recomienda este paso a paso para hacer una calicata.
El cultivo del pimentón bajo condiciones protegidas
Authors:   Ministerio de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural, Bogotá (Colombia),   Corporación Colombiana de Investigación Agropecuaria, (Colombia)
Published: March 2023

En este magazín, se habla del pimentón, su siembra, fertilización, manejo y control de plagas, enfermedades, malezas y todas las generalidades que tiene este cultivo.
Ácaros o arañitas en el cultivo de aguacate
Authors:   Ministerio de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural, Bogotá (Colombia),   Corporación colombiana de investigación agropecuaria, Mosquera (Colombia)
Published: March 2023

El control de las plagas constituye una de las tareas básicas que deben ser realizadas con prontitud y eficacia en el cultivo. En este clip se muestran las recomendaciones para prevenir los ácaros o arañitas en el cultivo de aguacate.
Cosecha a granel de soya
Authors:   Ministerio de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural, Bogotá (Colombia),   Corporación colombiana de investigación agropecuaria, Mosquera (Colombia)
Published: March 2023

Para el optimo desarrollo del cultivo de soya, y su posterior comercialización en diversos subproductos, se muestra en este clip con el paso a paso para su manejo.
Enhancing Exposure Treatment for Youths With Chronic Pain: Co-design and Qualitative Approach (Preprint)
Authors: Schemer Lea , Hess Courtney W , Van Orden Amanda R , Birnie Kathryn A , Harrison Lauren E , Glombiewski Julia A , Simons Laura E
Published: March 2023

BACKGROUND

Increasing the access to and improving the impact of pain treatments is of utmost importance, especially among youths with chronic pain. The engagement of patients as research partners (in contrast to research participants) provides valuable expertise to collaboratively improve treatment delivery.

OBJECTIVE

This study looked at a multidisciplinary exposure treatment for youths with chronic pain through the lens of patients and caregivers with the aim to explore and validate treatment change processes, prioritize and develop ideas for improvement, and identify particularly helpful treatment elements.

METHODS

Qualitative exit interviews were conducted with patients and caregivers at their discharge from 2 clinical trials (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01974791 and NCT03699007). Six independent co-design meetings were held with patients and caregivers as research partners to establish a consensus within and between groups. The results were validated in a wrap-up meeting.

RESULTS

Patients and caregivers described that exposure treatment helped them better process pain-related emotions, feel empowered, and improve their relationship with each other. The research partners developed and agreed upon 12 ideas for improvement. Major recommendations include that pain exposure treatment should be disseminated more not only among patients and caregivers but also among primary care providers and the general public to facilitate an early referral for treatment. Exposure treatment should allow flexibility in terms of duration, frequency, and delivery mode. The research partners prioritized 13 helpful treatment elements. Most of the research partners agreed that future exposure treatments should continue to empower patients to choose meaningful exposure activities, break long-term goals into smaller steps, and discuss realistic expectations at discharge.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of this study have the potential to contribute to the refinement of pain treatments more broadly. At their core, they suggest that pain treatments should be disseminated more, flexible, and transparent.
Community-Level Social Support to Mitigate the Impact of Combined Frailty and Multimorbidity on Psychological Distress Among Rural Chinese Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Multilevel Modeling Study (Preprint)
Authors: Wang Yi , Fu Peipei , Li Jie , Gao Tingting , Jing Zhengyue , Wang Qiong , Zhao Dan , Zhou Chengchao
Published: March 2023

BACKGROUND

Accumulating research provides evidence that the psychological health of older people deteriorated from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic. Unlike robust individuals, coexisting frailty and multimorbidity expose older adults to more complicated and wide-ranging stressors. Community-level social support (CSS) is also an important impetus for age-friendly interventions, and it is 1 of the components of social capital that is seen as an ecological-level property. To date, we have not found research that examines whether CSS buffered the adverse impacts of combined frailty and multimorbidity on psychological distress in a rural setting during COVID-19 in China.

OBJECTIVE

This study explores the combined effect of frailty and multimorbidity on psychological distress in rural Chinese older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic and examines whether CSS would buffer the aforementioned association.

METHODS

Data used in this study were extracted from 2 waves of the Shandong Rural Elderly Health Cohort (SREHC), and the final analytic sample included 2785 respondents who participated in both baseline and follow-up surveys. Multilevel linear mixed effects models were used to quantify the strength of the longitudinal association between frailty and multimorbidity combinations and psychological distress using 2 waves of data for each participant, and then, cross-level interactions between CSS and combined frailty and multimorbidity were included to test whether CSS would buffer the adverse impact of coexisting frailty and multimorbidity on psychological distress.

RESULTS

Frail older adults with multimorbidity reported the most psychological distress compared to individuals with only 1 or none of the conditions (β=.68, 95% CI 0.60-0.77, P<.001), and baseline coexisting frailty and multimorbidity predicted the most psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic (β=.32, 95% CI 0.22-0.43, P<.001). Further, CSS moderated the aforementioned association (β=–.16, 95% CI –0.23 to –0.09, P<.001), and increased CSS buffered the adverse effect of coexisting frailty and multimorbidity on psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic (β=–.11, 95% CI –0.22 to –0.01, P=.035).

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that more public health and clinical attention should be paid to psychological distress among multimorbid older adults with frailty when facing public health emergencies. This research also suggests that community-level interventions prioritizing social support mechanisms, specifically improving the average levels of social support within communities, may be an effective approach to alleviate psychological distress for rural older adults who concurrently manifest frailty and multimorbidity.
Willingness to Vaccinate Against Herpes Zoster and Its Associated Factors Across WHO Regions: Global Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (Preprint)
Authors: Wang Qiang , Yang Liuqing , Li Lan , Liu Chang , Jin Hui , Lin Leesa
Published: March 2023

BACKGROUND

A life-course immunization approach would enhance the quality of life across all age groups and improve societal well-being. The herpes zoster (HZ) vaccine is highly recommended for older adults to prevent HZ infection and related complications. The proportions of willingness to receive the HZ vaccine varies across countries, and various kinds of factors, including sociodemographics and individual perceptions, influence the willingness to vaccinate.

OBJECTIVE

We aim to estimate the HZ vaccination willingness rate and identify factors associated with vaccine uptake willingness across all World Health Organization (WHO) regions.

METHODS

A global systematic search was performed on PubMed, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library for all papers related to the HZ vaccine published until June 20, 2022. Study characteristics were extracted for each included study. Using double arcsine transformation, vaccination willingness rates with 95% CIs were pooled and reported. The willingness rate and associated factors were analyzed by geographical context. Associated factors were also summarized based on Health Belief Model (HBM) constructs.

RESULTS

Of the 26,942 identified records, 13 (0.05%) papers were included, covering 14,066 individuals from 8 countries in 4 WHO regions (Eastern Mediterranean Region, European Region, Region of the Americas, and Western Pacific Region). The pooled vaccination willingness rate was 55.74% (95% CI 40.85%-70.13%). Of adults aged ≥50 years, 56.06% were willing to receive the HZ vaccine. After receiving health care workers’ (HCWs) recommendations, 75.19% of individuals were willing to get the HZ vaccine; without HCWs’ recommendations, the willingness rate was only 49.39%. The willingness rate was more than 70% in the Eastern Mediterranean Region and approximately 55% in the Western Pacific Region. The willingness rate was the highest in the United Arab Emirates and the lowest in China and the United Kingdom. The perception of HZ severity and susceptibility was positively associated with vaccination willingness. The perceived barriers to vaccination willingness (main reasons for unwillingness) included low trust in the effectiveness of the HZ vaccine, concerns about safety, financial concerns, and being unaware of the HZ vaccine’s availability. Older individuals, those having lower education, or those having lower income levels were less likely to willing to be vaccinated.

CONCLUSIONS

Only 1 in 2 individuals showed a willingness to be vaccinated against HZ. The willingness rate was the highest in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. Our findings show the critical role HCWs play in promoting HZ vaccination. Monitoring HZ vaccination willingness is necessary to inform public health decision-making. These findings provide critical insights for designing future life-course immunization programs.
Putting ChatGPT’s Medical Advice to the (Turing) Test: Survey Study (Preprint)
Authors: Nov Oded , Singh Nina , Mann Devin
Published: March 2023

BACKGROUND

Chatbots are being piloted to draft responses to patient questions, but patients’ ability to distinguish between provider and chatbot responses and patients’ trust in chatbots’ functions are not well established.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to assess the feasibility of using ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer) or a similar artificial intelligence–based chatbot for patient-provider communication.

METHODS

A survey study was conducted in January 2023. Ten representative, nonadministrative patient-provider interactions were extracted from the electronic health record. Patients’ questions were entered into ChatGPT with a request for the chatbot to respond using approximately the same word count as the human provider’s response. In the survey, each patient question was followed by a provider- or ChatGPT-generated response. Participants were informed that 5 responses were provider generated and 5 were chatbot generated. Participants were asked—and incentivized financially—to correctly identify the response source. Participants were also asked about their trust in chatbots’ functions in patient-provider communication, using a Likert scale from 1-5.

RESULTS

A US-representative sample of 430 study participants aged 18 and older were recruited on Prolific, a crowdsourcing platform for academic studies. In all, 426 participants filled out the full survey. After removing participants who spent less than 3 minutes on the survey, 392 respondents remained. Overall, 53.3% (209/392) of respondents analyzed were women, and the average age was 47.1 (range 18-91) years. The correct classification of responses ranged between 49% (192/392) to 85.7% (336/392) for different questions. On average, chatbot responses were identified correctly in 65.5% (1284/1960) of the cases, and human provider responses were identified correctly in 65.1% (1276/1960) of the cases. On average, responses toward patients’ trust in chatbots’ functions were weakly positive (mean Likert score 3.4 out of 5), with lower trust as the health-related complexity of the task in the questions increased.

CONCLUSIONS

ChatGPT responses to patient questions were weakly distinguishable from provider responses. Laypeople appear to trust the use of chatbots to answer lower-risk health questions. It is important to continue studying patient-chatbot interaction as chatbots move from administrative to more clinical roles in health care.
Behind OPEC’s Invitation for Indonesia to Rejoin: An Analysis of Membership Dynamics in an International Organization
Authors: Putri Rudiany Novita , Kusumawardhana Indra
Published: March 2023

The membership structure matters to ensure a durable negotiating forum in an international organization. However, in July 2017, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, on behalf of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), requested Indonesia to reactivate its membership, which the country had suspended—for the second time—in November 2016. The first suspension was in January 2009—annulled in January 2016. The Government of Indonesia (GoI) then welcomed the invitation. This study aims to analyze OPEC’s membership scheme, which has given leeway to its members to send a request like the above. In-depth interviews were conducted with Indonesia’s representatives in OPEC to capture the organization’s internal condition. By analyzing the organization’s membership dynamics, we can identify three reasons behind Indonesia’s invitation to rejoin. The first is because OPEC’s country members need Indonesia’s presence in negotiations as they consider Indonesia neutral. Second, OPEC needs a country with a different attribute to strengthen the organization’s image of diversity on the international stage. The third reason is the historical elements. OPEC strives to maintain historically good relations with the GoI as the country has contributed to the organization’s development. For those reasons, an international organization might reinvite its former member to join the group.
Group-Based Participatory Arts Interventions Validate Personhood for those Living with Dementia
Authors: Kaplan Daniel B. , Glazner Gary , Drake Charles
Published: March 2023

Participatory arts-based interventions for people living with dementia involve the collaborative creation and performance of poetry, story, song, dance, and visual arts. These programs are designed to support self-expression and productive collaboration among people living with dementia while stimulating positive social interactions and feelings of empowerment and validation. In this commentary, we explore the use and potential benefits of validation in the implementation of person-centered participatory arts interventions in the context of dementia care. We offer a novel framework for understanding validation as a common intervention method during these activities, organized into five themes: collaboration, connection, communication, creation, and confirmation. These validation opportunities are suggested to offer direct benefits for participants as well as indirect benefits when modeled in the presence of formal care providers and family members. Clinicians and other transdisciplinary care providers are encouraged to understand, use, and teach these and other validation-focused arts interventions with persons living with dementia.
A Comparative Analysis of Except and Except for in the COCA
Authors: Kang Namkil
Published: March 2023

The ultimate goal of this paper is to show how similar except and except for are in the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA). A point to note is that except and except for exhibit the same pattern in six genres, whereas they show a different pattern in two genres. What this suggests is that except is 75% the same as except for in the genre analysis of the COCA. A further point to note is that except and except for exhibit the lowest similarity in the fiction genre, whereas they reveal the highest similarity in the spoken genre. The COCA clearly shows that except people is the most preferable one among Americans, followed by except death, except Mr, and except water, in that order. The COCA further shows that except for people (45 tokens) is the most preferable one for Americans, followed by except for Mr, except for cases, and except for things, in that order. Finally, this paper argues that 21.95% of 41 nouns are the collocations of both except and except for. This amounts to saying that except is 21.95% the same as except for in the analysis of 41 collocations.
Book Review: Achieng-Evensen, C., Stockbridge, K. & SooHoo, S. (Eds.) (2021). Freirean echoes: Scholars and practitioners dialogue on critical ideas in education. Myers Education Press
Authors: Reddington Sarah
Published: March 2023

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Pharmaceutical Micropellets: A Multi-particulate Drug Delivery System
Authors: Agrawal Ankit , Jain Sourabh D , Das Ashutosh K , Gupta Arun K
Published: March 2023

Abstract: The major target of Pharmaceutical Sciences is to design a successful and suitable dosage forms for effective therapy, considering individual patient needs and compliance. Development of new technology or development of new dosage form using the existing technology is growing in importance and attracting increased interest, as they are specifically effective at a comparably low dose. Pellets falling in the size range of 1-1000μm are of great interest in the pharmaceutical industry for a variety of reasons which are not only offer flexibility in dosage form design and development, but are also utilized to improve the safety and efficacy of bioactive agents. The most important factor responsible for the proliferation of pelletized products is the popularity of controlled release technology in the delivery of drugs. Moreover, controlled release pellets are less susceptible to dose dumping than the reservoir-type single unit formulations. In case of oral products these pellets solve difficult taste-masking problems, disperse freely in the gastro intestinal tract, invariably maximize drug absorption, reduce peak plasma fluctuations and minimize potential side effects without appreciably lowering drug bioavailability, and also reduce variations in gastric emptying rate and overall transit time, thus, intra and inter subject variability of plasma profiles, which are common with single unit regimens, are minimized.
Emfisema Subkutis sebagai Komplikasi pada Pasien Covid-19 dengan Penggunaan Ventilasi Mekanik
Authors: Panduwaty Lira , Panduwaty Lira , Trilaksmi Antin , Cipta Ferdy
Published: March 2023

Background. The incidence of subcutaneous emphysema in patients with severe pneumonia caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus infection has been in the spotlight recently. Subcutaneous emphysema is a rare complication. With the increasing prevalence of subcutaneous emphysema in patients with confirmed coronavirus disease (COVID-19), it is necessary to know what factors can cause this and how to treat it.
Case Description. Two patients, a man and a woman aged 50 and 70 years, diagnosed with COVID-19, came to the Emergency Room (IGD) of Bunda Menteng General Hospital, Jakarta, with symptoms of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Both patients experienced severe shortness of breath with a respiratory rate above 30 times per minute. Then the two patients were treated in the intensive care Unit (ICU) isolation room and required mechanical ventilation assistance. After 3-4 days of mechanical ventilation treatment, subcutaneous emphysema develops, characterized by subcutaneous crepitus. After chest x-rays were carried out in both patients, the results were subcutaneous emphysema and pneumomediastinum. Several invasive procedures have been performed, such as subcutaneous insertion of an intravenous cannula, mediastinoscopy, and chest tube insertion.
Conclusion. Complications of subcutaneous emphysema in COVID-19 patients are rare and require further research to determine the cause, where the infection is still the focus. With this case report, it is hoped that clinicians will pay more attention to the initial clinical findings of subcutaneous emphysema to reduce even more severe complications such as pneumothorax.
A cellular automaton decoder for a noise-bias tailored color code
Authors: Miguel Jonathan F. San , Williamson Dominic J. , Brown Benjamin J.
Published: March 2023

Self-correcting quantum memories demonstrate robust properties that can be exploited to improve active quantum error-correction protocols. Here we propose a cellular automaton decoder for a variation of the color code where the bases of the physical qubits are locally rotated, which we call the XYZ color code. The local transformation means our decoder demonstrates key properties of a two-dimensional fractal code if the noise acting on the system is infinitely biased towards dephasing, namely, no string-like logical operators. As such, in the high-bias limit, our local decoder reproduces the behavior of a partially self-correcting memory. At low error rates, our simulations show that the memory time diverges polynomially with system size without intervention from a global decoder, up to some critical system size that grows as the error rate is lowered. Furthermore, although we find that we cannot reproduce partially self-correcting behavior at finite bias, our numerics demonstrate improved memory times at realistic noise biases. Our results therefore motivate the design of tailored cellular automaton decoders that help to reduce the bandwidth demands of global decoding for realistic noise models.
Quantum Multi-Solution Bernoulli Search with Applications to Bitcoin's Post-Quantum Security
Authors: Cojocaru Alexandru , Garay Juan , Kiayias Aggelos , Song Fang , Wallden Petros
Published: March 2023

A proof of work (PoW) is an important cryptographic construct enabling a party to convince others that they invested some effort in solving a computational task. Arguably, its main impact has been in the setting of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and its underlying blockchain protocol, which received significant attention in recent years due to its potential for various applications as well as for solving fundamental distributed computing questions in novel threat models. PoWs enable the linking of blocks in the blockchain data structure and thus the problem of interest is the feasibility of obtaining a sequence (chain) of such proofs. In this work, we examine the hardness of finding such chain of PoWs against quantum strategies. We prove that the chain of PoWs problem reduces to a problem we call multi-solution Bernoulli search, for which we establish its quantum query complexity. Effectively, this is an extension of a threshold direct product theorem to an average-case unstructured search problem. Our proof, adding to active recent efforts, simplifies and generalizes the recording technique of Zhandry (Crypto'19). As an application, we revisit the formal treatment of security of the core of the Bitcoin consensus protocol, the Bitcoin backbone (Eurocrypt'15), against quantum adversaries, while honest parties are classical and show that protocol's security holds under a quantum analogue of the classical “honest majority'' assumption. Our analysis indicates that the security of Bitcoin backbone is guaranteed provided the number of adversarial quantum queries is bounded so that each quantum query is worth O(p−1/2) classical ones, where p is the success probability of a single classical query to the protocol's underlying hash function. Somewhat surprisingly, the wait time for safe settlement in the case of quantum adversaries matches the safe settlement time in the classical case.
Entrepreneurial marketing strategy and customer loyalty: An empirical evidence from coffee shops
Authors: Basha Mohamed Bilal , Ghafar Abdul , Alzarooni Mariam Abdulrahman , Alzoubi Haitham M. , Ghazal Taher M. , Alshurideh Muhammad Turki
Published: March 2023

For many decades, the main focus of successful businesses has been customer orientation. However, the role of the entrepreneur in shaping the landscape of marketing and business performance was recognized recently. Entrepreneurial marketing (EM) is described as the marketing done by entrepreneurs or business owners of entrepreneurial businesses by employing different strategies that are distinct from the typical textbook marketing to attract new businesses. In EM, the entrepreneur is a crucial actor in the marketing process (Adel et al., 2020). Grounded on the concept of entrepreneurial marketing and business performance, the aim of this study revolves around analysing the relationship among entrepreneurial marketing, business performance, antecedents of entrepreneur, and customer loyalty. Six hundred customers who regularly visit the coffee shops in Muwaileh, Sharjah, were a part of this study. The study used a descriptive research method. Entrepreneurial marketing was measured using five sub-variables namely, Product strategy, Pricing strategy, Promotion strategy, Behavioural strategy, and Locality/Area characteristics (Al-Shaikh, 2022). Statistical techniques like descriptive analysis, reliability analysis, structural equation modelling (SEM), and mean comparison tests were performed in this study. The study found that all the factors of entrepreneurial marketing have a significant impact on business performance. It was also evident from the study that the antecedent of entrepreneur, as well as customer loyalty, have a positive influence on business performance.
Capital Structure Adjustment Speed in Indonesia: Does Sharia Compliance Matter?
Authors: Pujiastuti Arum , Saefudin Saefudin , Yunita Rizki Dini Shandra , Astuti Yuni
Published: March 2023

Leverage Speed of Adjustment (henceforth SOA) has previously been studied by researchers; however, the examination of its connection with sharia law has been overlooked. The majority of the literature currently in circulation comes from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and Malaysian markets, so its implications for businesses in Indonesia may not be applicable given local regulations and cultural norms. This study investigates the distinction in the debt levels and the SOA of firms in Indonesia based on compliance to sharia law. The Two-step Generalized Method of Moment (GMM) model was used to calculate the SOA in the leverage model. We discover that sharia compliance plays a role in stimulating the Indonesian firm’s level of debt and leverage SOA. To put it more precisely, sharia firms use less debt and have a slower SOA than conventional firms. Overall, Indonesian firms implement the dynamic trade-off theory in their leverage framework. Instead of relying on conventional debt, which is only available at certain levels, sharia firms must issue Islamic debt instruments to accelerate the speed of adjustment. Even after a robustness test using various sharia compliance approaches, our results remained consistent.
Dynamics-based characterization and classification of the biodiversity indicators
Authors: Otomo Yuri , Masuda Reiji , Osada Yutaka , Kawatsu Kazutaka , Kondoh Michio
Published: March 2023

Various biodiversity indicators, such as species richness, total
abundance and species diversity indices, have been developed to capture
the state of ecological community over space and time. As biodiversity
is a multifaceted concept, it is important to understand the dimension
of biodiversity reflected by each indicator for successful biodiversity
conservation and management. Here we present a method to characterize
and classify biodiversity indicators according to their dynamical
similarity and apply the methodology to the monitoring data of a marine
fish community under the intermittent anthropogenic warm water
discharge. Our analysis reveals that ten biodiversity indicators can be
classified into three super-groups that possibly reflect the same
dimension of biodiversity. Group I (species richness) with the most
robust dynamics to the temperature changes; Group II (species diversity
and total abundance) showing an abrupt change in the middle of the
monitoring period, presumably due to a change in temperature; Group III
(species evenness) with the highest sensitivity to temperature changes.
The finding suggests that selecting indicators from different
super-groups might help to fully assess biodiversity response to
environmental change.
T1, T2 and T2* relaxations in MRI based on Gd5Si4 nanoparticles of varying sizes
Authors: Hunagund S , Rosenberg J , Harstad S M , Gupta S , Pecharsky V , El-Gendy A A , Hadimani R L
Published: March 2023

Our previous study has shown that ferromagnetic gadolinium silicide
(Gd5Si4) nanoparticles (NP) could be potentially efficient T2 CA for MRI
with significantly reduced echo time (TE) compared to Superparamagnetic
Iron Oxide Nanoparticles (SPION) [1]. T2 CA are defined by their
relaxivity, r2, which is dependent on both the saturation magnetization
(Ms) and size of the NPs [1,2,4]. In this study, effect of Gd5Si4
NPs of varying sizes and concentrations are investigated on T1, T2 and
T2* (effective/observed T2) relaxations times. Gd5Si4 NPs categorized
into three fractions (named S1, S2 and S3) based on average sizes of 586
nm, 287 nm and 135 nm respectively as analyzed from SEM images (Fig. 1).
XRD analysis on the combined samples shows that Gd5Si4 is the major
phase while GdSi and Gd5Si3 are present as the minor phases in all
fractions (Fig. 1). Magnetic properties measured in VSM reveal that the
Curie temperature (Tc) decreases for Gd5Si4 phase from 312 K for S1 to
304 K for S2 and is undetectable in S3. The M-H curves at 300 K exhibits
ferromagnetic behavior descending to paramagnetic as we move from S1 to
S3 fraction (Fig. 1). MR data were acquired on the 21.1 T (900 MHz)
magnet. The results shown in Table 1 indicate that higher concentrations
of NPs shorten the T2 and T2* relaxation times and the contrast
disappears rapidly at higher dilutions. The S2 fraction at 1/20 dilution
shows notably shortened T1 and T2 relaxation times compared to the other
two fractions. Although S1 has higher Gd5Si4 phase volume fraction and
larger average particle size compared to S2, further investigation is
needed inorder to establish the reason for shortened relaxation times
compared to the S1 fraction.
Drivers of high rates of carbon burial in a riverine-influenced freshwater marsh in the Lake Erie watershed of southern Ontario, Canada
Authors: Loder Amanda Lily , Gillespie Adam , Ardakani Omid Haeri , Finkelstein Sarah A
Published: March 2023

Freshwater marshes are prevalent and important stores of carbon. They
bury carbon in deeper soils, although reported rates of carbon
accumulation are significantly higher over recent (decadal) versus
longer (centennial and millennial) timescales. Intrinsic organic matter
degradation, long-term climatic and ecological changes, and recent
anthropogenic impacts on sediment fluxes and organic matter production
may have a role in explaining this discrepancy, yet remain poorly
understood for freshwater marshes. We collected a 4-m core from a
riverine-influenced marsh in the watershed of Big Creek which drains
into Lake Erie in southern Ontario, Canada, and conducted radiometric
dating, elemental analyses, and programmed pyrolysis for organic matter
characterization. Over the past 5,710 calibrated years, burial of
organic (on average 26 ± 34 g C m-2 yr-1) and inorganic (22 ± 25 g C m-2
yr-1) carbon fractions has resulted in high rates of carbon
accumulation. We found that elevated recent rates of organic carbon
accumulation are driven by fractions that have low thermal stability and
are predominantly from aquatic sources. This type of organic carbon is
buried intermittently in deeper marsh sediments and corresponds to major
hydro-fluvial events (e.g., Nipissing highstands), which coincide with
regional marsh development. We deduce that lower fractions of labile
carbon in deeper soils reflect long-term degradation, which underscores
the notion that high recent rates of carbon accumulation are generally
not sustained over centuries and millennia. Our research demonstrates
the importance of identifying various carbon fractions in understanding
carbon burial in freshwater marsh soils, and informing marsh
conservation.
Comment on “Phosphine in the Venusian Atmosphere: A Strict Upper Limit from SOFIA GREAT Observations” by Cordiner et al.
Authors: Greaves Jane , Petkowski Janusz Jurand , Richards Anita M S , Sousa-Silva Clara , Seager Sara , Clements David L
Published: March 2023

Searches for phosphine in Venus’ atmosphere have sparked a debate.
Cordiner et al. 2022 analyse spectra from the Stratospheric Observatory
For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) and infer <0.8 ppb of PH3. We
noticed that some spectral artefacts arose from non-essential
calibration-load signals. By-passing these signals allows simpler
post-processing and a 5.7σ candidate detection, suggesting
~3 ppb of PH3 above the clouds. Compiling six phosphine
results hints at an inverted abundance trend: decreasing above the
clouds but rising again in the mesosphere from some unexplained source.
However, no such extra source is needed if phosphine is undergoing
destruction by sunlight (photolysis), to a similar degree as on Earth.
Low phosphine values/limits are found where the viewed part of the
super-rotating Venusian atmosphere had passed through sunlight, while
high values are from views moving into sunlight. We suggest Venusian
phosphine is indeed present, and so merits further work on models of its
origins.
The Green’s Function Model Intercomparison Project (GFMIP) Protocol
Authors: Bloch-Johnson Jonah , Rugenstein Maria A.A. , Alessi Marc J. , Proistosescu Cristian , Zhao Ming , Zhang Bosong , Williams Andrew I.L. , Gregory Jonathan M. , Cole Jason , Dong Yue , Duffy Margaret L , Kang Sarah M. , Zhou Chen
Published: March 2023

The atmospheric Green’s function method is a technique for modeling the
response of the atmosphere to changes in the spatial field of surface
temperature. While early studies applied this method to changes in
atmospheric circulation, it has also become an important tool to
understand changes in radiative feedbacks due to evolving patterns of
warming, a phenomenon called the “pattern effect.’ To better study this
method, this paper presents a protocol for creating atmospheric Green’s
functions to serve as the basis for a model intercomparison project,
GFMIP. The protocol has been developed using a series of sensitivity
tests performed with the HadAM3 atmosphere-only general circulation
model, along with existing and new simulations from other models. Our
preliminary results have uncovered nonlinearities in the response of the
atmosphere to surface temperature changes, including an asymmetrical
response to warming vs. cooling patch perturbations, and a change in the
dependence of the response on the magnitude and size of the patches.
These nonlinearities suggest that the pattern effect may depend on the
heterogeneity of warming as well as its location. These experiments have
also revealed tradeoffs in experimental design between patch size,
perturbation strength, and the length of control and patch simulations.
The protocol chosen on the basis of these experiments balances
scientific utility with the simulation time and setup required by the
Green’s function approach. Running these simulations will further our
understanding of many aspects of atmospheric response, from the pattern
effect and radiative feedbacks to changes in circulation, cloudiness,
and precipitation.
Tracer stirring and variability in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current near the Southwest Indian Ridge
Authors: Balwada Dhruv , Gray Alison , Dove Lilian A. , Thompson Andrew F.
Published: March 2023

Oceanic macroturbulence is efficient at stirring and transporting
tracers. The dynamical properties of this stirring can be characterized
by statistically quantifying tracer structures. Here, we characterize
the macroscale (1-100 km) tracer structures observed by two Seagliders
downstream of the Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR) in the Antarctic
Circumpolar Current (ACC). These are some of the first glider
observations in an energetic standing meander of the ACC, regions
associated with enhanced ventilation. The small-scale density variance
in the mixed layer (ML) was relatively enhanced near the surface and
base of the ML, while being muted in the middle, suggesting the
formation mechanism to be associated to ML instabilities and eddies. In
addition, ML density fronts were formed by comparable contributions from
temperature and salinity gradients, suggesting the dominant role of
stirring, over air-sea interactions, in their formation and
sustainability. In the interior, along-isopycnal spectra and structure
functions of spice indicated that there is relatively lower variance at
smaller scales than would be expected based on non-local stirring,
suggesting that flows smaller than the deformation radius play a role in
the cascade of tracers to small scales. These interior spice anomalies
spanned across isopycnals, and were found to be about 3-5 times flatter
than the aspect ratio that would be expected for O(1) Burger number
flows like interior QG dynamics, suggesting the ratio of vertical shear
to horizontal strain is greater than $N/f$. This further supports that
small-scale flows, with high-mode vertical structures, stir tracers and
impact tracer distributions.