bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Spatiotemporal Diurnal Modulation Characteristic of Wind Speed and Power Generation Revealed by Its Measured Data Processing
Authors: Wan Jie , Yao Kun , Ren Guorui , Han Ke , Wang Qi , Yu Jilai
Published: March 2022

Atmospheric turbulence is an intrinsic factor that causes uncertainty of wind speed and its power generation by wind turbine. The research of atmospheric turbulence characteristics of wind farms can be used to reduce this uncertainty. In this paper, enough measurement data getting from actual wind farms is used for information processing to quantitatively analyze the daily variation of wind speed and its power output characteristics. Furthermore, the concept of spatiotemporal diurnal modulation characteristics of atmospheric turbulence is proposed with a global scope, which is an intrinsic property of wind. Besides the daily variation characteristics, the average hourly wind speed has a short-term modulation effect on its turbulence and provides a modulation characteristic on wind speed uncertainty. Moreover, the long-term modulation process is affected by seasonal and regional factors, indicating that it has spatiotemporal characteristics. This atmospheric turbulence characteristic has similar effects on characteristic description parameters. However, the characteristics description parameters of wind speed and wind power variation fail to reflect such intrinsic characteristics that are not affected by the spatiotemporal diurnal modulation characteristics of atmospheric turbulence. This indicates that they do not have diurnal characteristics. Finally, a time-varying model combined with the spatiotemporal diurnal modulation characteristics of wind speed and its power generation is discussed by applying on the evaluation of frequency control in power systems. It is shown that the results obtained by measured data processing could improve the power generation quality of large-scale wind power effectively.
On Postediting of Machine Translation and Workflow for Undergraduate Translation Program in China
Authors: Yang Zhengang , Mustafa Hema Rosheny
Published: March 2022

With the improvement in machine translation output quality, postediting of machine translation has made far-reaching impact upon the language service industry. As a result, it has been introduced to translation training to avoid split between academic discipline and profession. However, postediting of machine translation and its application to undergraduate translation program in China are less studied, and few researches have touched on the students’ own perceptions. Based on a literature review on postediting of machine translation, this study is aimed at identifying the vital role of it and then proposing a practical postediting workflow for undergraduate translation education in China. The study adopted a mixed methods approach. Data were collected via online questionnaire responded by students of undergraduate translation program at a university in northwest China and then analyzed from the perspective of technology acceptance model. The results and findings showed that as a promising workflow, postediting of machine translation gained positive responses in general from students who have learnt the basics of translation technology. The themes of negative responses include confusing postediting standard, inconsistent quality, ways to choose machine translation providers, and technical issues. The results and findings indicated that a tailored postediting workflow for undergraduate translation program is feasible. By focusing on undergraduate pedagogical settings in China, this study confirmed the findings of previous studies on the more positive attitude on postediting of machine translation, suggesting that postediting be considered as an important subcompetence in translation education.
Anomaly Detection and Restoration for AIS Raw Data
Authors: Chen Shuguang , Huang Yikun , Lu Wei
Published: March 2022

With the wide application of location detection sensors in maritime surveillance, a large amount of raw automatic identification system (AIS) data is produced by many moving ships. Anomaly detection and restoration of the big AIS data are important issues in marine data mining, because they offer a reliable support to users to mining the behaviors of ships. This paper develops a novel approach to detect anomaly AIS data based on the ships’ maneuverability, such as the maximum acceleration, the minimum acceleration, the maximum distance, and the maximum angular displacement, which were designed to detect the anomaly AIS data. Furthermore, the performance of the developed approach is compared with that of Daiyong-Zhang’s method and Behrouz-Haji-Soleimani’s method to assess its detection efficiency. The results show that the proposed approach can be applied to easily extract the abnormal data. Finally, based on the developed approach to detect the anomaly data and cubic spline interpolation method to restore the AIS data, experiments are conducted on the AIS data of Xiamen Port of Fujian Province, China, that prove to be effective for marine intelligence research.
Application of Pedrail Powered Support on Strata Control in Short-Wall Coal Mining
Authors: Ma Jingong , Ding Yongcheng , Zhang Hongwei
Published: March 2022

In this study, the role of the pedrail powered (PP) support produced in China in the Wongawilli short-wall mining was explored, and the process from its import and introduction to its localization and use effect were detailed. The influences of the gob side and the solid-coal side on the pillar pressure were numerically simulated by exploring the working resistance of PP support at different locations and under different widths of pillar between mining caves (PMC) of the same branch lane during mining and investigating the pressure distribution and variations of each single pillar. The main influencing factors and their relationships with the working resistance were derived accordingly. Finally, key processing technologies to solve the problem of PP support crushing in the crushed zone were analyzed. The results suggest that the rated working resistance of PP support satisfies the requirement for use, and the roof of the branch lane behind the cutting roof line does not collapse, which ensures the safety of short-wall mining. The gob-side pressure is notably higher than the solid-coal-side pressure. When the PP support undergoes a support crushing accident, it can be pulled out by jointly adopting four key technologies, i.e., reinforced support to the roof, reinforcing rib support and ground bolt support for caving gangue piles, roof and loose body reinforcement by grouting, and traction by a prop-pulling winch.
Beacon Aided Positioning Method for Lunar Probes Using Temporal Interferometry
Authors: Liu Yang
Published: March 2022

With a series of complex lunar exploration missions carried out, reliable autonomous navigation approaches for lunar probes are in demand. In this paper, aiming to obtain the position of the probes with high accuracy and computational efficiency, a novel passive positioning scheme for lunar probes is presented. We first designed a reference system including four beacons with known positions. Then, we proposed arctangent temporal interferometry (ATI) method for ambiguity resolution in displacement measurement. Moreover, the quad-beacon displacement search (QBDS) algorithm is proposed for 2-dimension (2D) position search, which enables accurate and computational-efficient 2D positioning for lunar probes. The simulation validations show the effectiveness of the proposed positioning scheme and algorithms.
Nonlinear Autoregressive Neural Network for Antimicrobial Waste Water Treatment
Authors: Hilal Anwer Mustafa , Asiri Mashael M. , Al-Otaibi Shaha , Nafie Faisal Mohammed , Al-Rasheed Amal , Rizwanullah Mohammed , Yaseen Ishfaq , Motwakel Abdelwahed
Published: March 2022

Antibiotics become an emerging contaminant and receive more interests due to its ecotoxicological and strong stability in water ecosystems. Antibiotic adsorption onto carbon materials are biochars among the wastewater mechanisms. This research used machine learning (ML) techniques to generate general adsorption forecasting model for sulfamethoxazole (SMX) and tetracycline (TC) on CBM. Dirichlet design parameters and a combined combination of Neumann and Dirichlet boundary situation are applied to the system of differential equations. In addition, the proposed method use the learning under supervision technique of a nonlinear autoregressive for estimating the CO2 concentration and flows in units of rate of a reaction characteristics, an exogenous (NARX) neural network model with two activation functions was used (Log-sigmoid and hyperbolic tangent) and for both the findings of a TC and SMX absorption simulations showed the random forest performed support vector tree and nonlinear autoregressive exogenous neural networks and machine learning methods. Their relevance and complete dependency graph evaluation lead reasonable CBM uses for antimicrobial wastewater treatment. Also, machine learning forecasting model with good generalization capability is useful for building effective CBMs with few empirical screens. It evaluates the accuracy, precision, recall, false positive rate (FPR), and false negative rate (FNR) and also reduces the experimental screening.
An Efficient Conformable Fractional Chaotic Map‐Based Online/Offline IBSS Scheme for Provable Security in ROM
Authors: Meshram Chandrashekhar , Ibrahim Rabha W. , Elobaid Rafida M.
Published: March 2022

Chaos distributes with a covert method to condense the dynamic of complexity and satisfies the security requirements of a cryptographic system. This study gives an ability online/offline (O/O) ID‐based short signature (IBSS) scheme using conformable fractional chaotic maps. Furthermore, we establish its security under IBSS existential unforgeability of identity‐based short signature (IBSS) under chosen message attack (EUF‐IBSS‐CMA) in the random oracle model (ROM). Some of the stimulating preparations of obtainable processes are that they give a multiperiod application of the offline storage, which licenses the agent to recycle the offline pre‐registered data in time series (especially the polynomial time), rather than one‐period usage in all past IBSS processes.
Spatiotemporal Trends and Distributions of Malaria Incidence in the Northwest Ethiopia
Authors: Nigussie Teshager Zerihun , Zewotir Temesgen T. , Muluneh Essey Kebede
Published: March 2022

Understanding and extracting noticeable patterns of malaria surveillance data at the district level are crucial for malaria prevention, control, and elimination progress. This study aimed to analyze spatiotemporal trends and nonparametric dynamics of malaria incidences in northwest Ethiopia, considering spatial and temporal correlations. The data were analyzed using count regression spatiotemporal models under the Bayesian setups, and parameters were estimated using integrated nested Laplace approximations (INLA). The region had a declining linear trend, and the average annual malaria incidence rate was 24.8 per 1,000 persons between 2012 and 2020. The malaria incidence rate was decreased by 0.984 (95% CI: 0.983, 0.986) per unit increase in months between July 2012 and June 2020. Districts found in the western and northwestern parts of the region had a steeper trend, while districts in the eastern and southern parts had a less steep trend than the average trend of the region. Compared to the regional level trend, the decreasing rate of malaria incidence trends was lower in most town administrations. The nonparametric dynamics showed that the monthly malaria incidence had a sinusoidal wave shape that varied throughout study periods. Malaria incidence had a decreasing linear trend changed across districts of the study region, and the steepness of trends of districts might not depend on incidences. Thus, an intervention and controlling mechanism that considers malaria incidences and district-specific differential trends would be indispensable to mitigate malaria transmission in the region.
Clinical Study of Clopidogrel Combined with Huoxue Tongluo Prescription in Improving Transient Ischemic Attack and the Effect on MMP-9, Hcy, and CRP
Authors: Ma Lifang , Chen Zhe , Li Yan’e , Meng Xin , Ma Yongsheng
Published: March 2022

Background. This study aimed to explore the clinical study of clopidogrel combined with Huoxue Tongluo prescription in improving transient ischemic attack (TIA) and the effect on MMP-9, Hcy, and CRP. Methods. A total of 84 patients with TIA admitted to our hospital from December 2019 to February 2021 were selected. The patients were divided into the control group (42 cases: not treated with Huoxue Tongluo prescription) and study group (42 cases: treatment with Huoxue Tongluo prescription). The clinical efficacy, adverse reactions, the levels of blood pressure and lipid, blood rheology and cerebral hemodynamics, neurological function-related indicators, MMP-9, Hcy, and CRP of the two groups were compared. Results. The total effective rate in the study group was higher than the control group. Compared with before treatment, the levels of SBP and DBP in both groups decreased memorably after treatment, and those in the study group decreased more particularly than the control group. The levels of LDL, HDL, TC, and TG in the study group were significantly better than those in the control group. The plasma viscosity, whole blood high shear viscosity, whole blood low shear viscosity, and hematocrit of patients in the study group were lower than those in the control group, and the maximum blood flow velocity, minimum blood flow velocity, average blood flow velocity, and average blood flow were higher than those in the control group. The levels of NSE, MBP, and S100β in the study group were more memorably lower than those in the control group. After treatment, the levels of MMP-9, Hcy, and CRP in the study group were significantly lower than those in the control group. There was no obvious difference in the incidence of adverse reactions between the study group and control group. Conclusion. Clopidogrel combined with Huoxue Tongluo prescription can significantly improve the therapeutic effect and reduce the levels of MMP-9, Hcy, and CRP in patients with TIA.
Application Value of Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound Combined with Enhanced MR Scanning in Patients with Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma
Authors: Zhang Mingming , Liu Yan , Han Lei , Zhang Guixiang
Published: March 2022

Objective. To explore the clinical application effect of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) combined with enhanced MR scanning in patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC). Methods. 90 patients with ICC admitted to Ganyu District People’s Hospital of Lianyungang City from June 2017 to June 2018 were selected as the research objects and randomly divided into control group and experimental group, with 45 cases in each group. The control group was tested by CEUS, and the experimental group was tested by CEUS combined with enhanced MR scanning. The test results of the two groups were compared, and the benign and malignant indicators of the two groups were detected. Results. The rate of lesion detection, accuracy of localization qualitative accuracy, and diagnosis coincidence rate of the experimental group were significantly better than those of the control group (p < 0.05). The lesion length, tube wall thickness, and enhancement ratio of triple-phase multislice CT scan of the experimental group were lower than the control group (p＜0.05). Conclusions. CEUS combined with enhanced MR scanning has high sensitivity and specificity and can significantly improve the accuracy of the detection results. It provides scientific and accurate scientific basis for clinical treatment and diagnosis of ICC, which is worthy of popularization and application.
Design and Analysis of a Low-Cost Electronically Controlled Mobile Ventilator, Incorporating Mechanized AMBU Bag, for Patients during COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Kshetry Rohan Lal , Gupta Arnab , Chattopadhyaya Somnath , Srivastava Madhulika , Sharma Shubham , Singh Jujhar , Gupta Anirban Das , Rajkumar S.
Published: March 2022

The outbreak of novel COVID-19 has severely and unprecedentedly affected millions of people across the globe. The painful respiratory distress caused during this disease calls for external assistance to the victims in the form of ventilation. The most common types of artificial ventilating units available at the healthcare facilities and hospitals are exorbitantly expensive to manufacture, and their number is fairly inadequate even in the so-called developed countries to cater to the burning needs of an ever-increasing number of ailing human subjects. According to available reports, without the provision of ventilation, the novel COVID-19 patients are succumbing to their ailments in a huge number of cases. This colossal problem of the availability of ventilator units can be addressed to a great extent by readily producible and cost-effective ventilating units that can be used on those suffering patients during an acute emergency and in the absence of conventional expensive ventilators at hospitals and medical care units. This paper has made an attempt to design and simulate a simple, yet effective, mechanized ventilator unit, which can be conveniently assembled without a profuse skillset and operated to resuscitate an ailing human patient. The stepper motor-controlled kinematic linkage is designed to deliver the patient with a necessitated discharge of air at optimum oxygen saturation through the AMBU bag connected in a ventilation circuit. With the associated code on MATLAB, the motor control parameters such as angular displacement and speed are deduced according to the input patient conditions (age group, tidal volume, breathing rate, etc.) and thereafter fed to the controller that drives the stepper motor. With a proposed feedback loop, the real-time static and dynamic compliance, airway resistance values can be approximately determined from the pressure variation cycle and fed to the controller unit to adjust the tidal volume as and when necessary. The simplistic yet robust design not only renders easy manufacturability by conventional and rapid prototyping techniques like 3D printing at different scales but also makes the product easily portable with minimal handling difficulty. Keeping the motto of Health for All as envisioned by the WHO, this low-cost indigenously engineered ventilator will definitely help the poor and afflicted towards their right to health and will help the medical professionals buy some time to manage the patient with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) towards recovery. Moreover, this instrument mostly includes readily available functional units having standard specifications and can be considered as standard bought-out items.
Discipline Construction and Development of Medical Universities in Complex Environment under Digital Technology and Structural Equation Model
Authors: Ge Bingchen , Ma Wanzhen , Ji Jing
Published: March 2022

Generally, in medical colleges and universities, discipline is assumed as one the challenging and predominant research domain both for staff and students. Therefore, in this paper, we have aimed to explore the discipline construction and development of medical colleges and universities in a complex environment. First, the contribution model of advantageous discipline construction to improve the core competitiveness of colleges and universities is implemented. Second, the staff involved in discipline construction in medical colleges and universities in Shaanxi Province are investigated. Finally, the structural equation model (SEM) is used to test the hypotheses and verify the basic elements of the construction of the core competitiveness of colleges and universities. The results show that discipline construction in colleges and universities includes the construction of advantageous characteristics, the construction of the academic echelon, the construction of scientific research, the construction of resource conditions, and the construction of talent training. The five elements interact and jointly affect the construction of advantageous disciplines in colleges and universities. And they have different effects on the university’s core competitiveness. Among them, the advantage trait construction has an implicit effect on the improvement of efficient management ability, and the influence of resource condition construction is indirect. The study provides a reference for the development of higher education. The successful experience of using discipline construction to improve the core competitiveness from function orientation and degrees and some corresponding suggestions, which were made, are achieved.
Assessment of Mental Workload by Visual Motor Activity among Control Group and Patient Suffering from Depressive Disorder
Authors: Murugesan G. , Ahmed Tousief Irshad , Shabaz Mohammad , Bhola Jyoti , Omarov Batyrkhan , Swaminathan R. , Sammy F. , Sumi Sharmin Akter
Published: March 2022

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a mood state that is not usually associated with vision problems. Recent research has found that the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA levels in the occipital brain have dropped. Aim. The aim of the research is to evaluate mental workload by single channel electroencephalogram (EEG) approach through visual-motor activity and comparison of parameter among depressive disorder patient and in control group. Method. Two tests of a visual-motor task similar to reflect drawings were performed in this study to compare the visual information processing of patients with depression to that of a placebo group. The current study looks into the accuracy of monitoring cognitive burden with single-channel portable EEG equipment. Results. The alteration of frontal brain movement in reaction to fluctuations in cognitive burden stages generated through various vasomotor function was examined. By applying a computerised oculomotor activity analogous to reflector image diagram, we found that the complexity of the path to be drawn was more important than the real time required accomplishing the job in determining perceived difficulty in depressive disorder patients. The overall perceived difficulty of the exercise is positively linked with EEG activity measured from the motor cortex region at the start of every experiment test. The average rating for task completion for depression patients and in control group observed and no statistical significance association reported between rating scale and time spent on each trial (

p
=
1.43

) for control group while the normalised perceived difficulty rating had 0.512, 0.623, and 0.821 correlations with the length of the pathway, the integer of inclination in the pathway, and the time spent to complete every experiment test, respectively (

p
<
0.0001

) among depression patients. The findings imply that alterations in comparative cognitive burden levels during an oculomotor activity considerably modify frontal EEG spectrum. Conclusion. Patients with depression perceived the optical illusion in the arrays as weaker, resulting in a little bigger disparity than individuals who were not diagnosed with depression. This discovery provided light on the prospect of adopting a user-friendly mobile EEG technology to assess mental workload in everyday life.
Digital Outburst: The Expression of a Social Crisis through Online Social Networks
Authors: Cárdenas Juan Pablo , Urbina Carolina , Vidal Gerardo , Olivares Gastón , Fuentes Miguel
Published: March 2022

There is a growing concern about the effects that the relationship between the activity of society in the physical world and in the digital world could have. In this study, we address this question in a context of social crisis. Our quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data associated with the critical process suggests a deep and nontrivial relationship between both worlds. Perhaps the most important result refers to the leading role of language, its meaning, and symbolism in the development of social transformation processes linked to the complexity of the social system and its adaptive nature.
Efficient COVID-19 CT Scan Image Segmentation by Automatic Clustering Algorithm
Authors: Shivahare Basu Dev , Gupta S. K.
Published: March 2022

This article addresses automated segmentation and classification of COVID-19 and normal chest CT scan images. Segmentation is the preprocessing step for classification, and 12 DWT-PCA-based texture features extracted from the segmented image are utilized as input for the random forest machine-learning algorithm to classify COVID-19/non-COVID-19 disease. Diagnosing COVID-19 disease through an RT-PCR test is a time-consuming process. Sometimes, the RT-PCR test result is not accurate; that is, it has a false negative, which can cause a threat to the person’s life due to delay in starting the specified treatment. At this moment, there is an urgent need to develop a reliable automatic COVID-19 detection tool that can detect COVID-19 disease from chest CT scan images within a shorter period and can help doctors to start COVID-19 treatment at the earliest. In this article, a variant of the whale optimization algorithm named improved whale optimization algorithm (IWOA) is introduced. The efficiency of the IWOA is tested for unimodal (F1–F7), multimodal (F8–F13), and fixed-dimension multimodal (F14–F23) benchmark functions and is compared with the whale optimization algorithm (WOA), salp swarm optimization (SSA), and sine cosine algorithm (SCA). The experiment is carried out in 30 trials and population size, and iterations are set as 30 and 100 under each trial. IWOA achieves faster convergence than WOA, SSA, and SCA and enhances the exploitation and exploration phases of WOA, avoiding local entrapment. IWOA, WOA, SSA, and SCA utilized Otsu’s maximum between-class variance criteria as fitness function to compute optimal threshold values for multilevel medical CT scan image segmentation. Evaluation measures such as accuracy, specificity, precision, recall, Gmean, F_measure, SSIM, and 12 DWT-PCA-based texture features are computed. The experiment showed that the IWOA is efficient and achieved better segmentation evaluation measures and better segmentation mask in comparison with other methods. DWT-PCA-based texture features extracted from each of the 160 IWOA-, WOA-, SSA-, and SCA-based segmented images are fed into random forest for training, and random forest is tested with DWT-PCA-based texture features extracted from each of the 40 IWOA-, WOA-, SSA-, and SCA-based segmented images. Random forest has reported a promising classification accuracy of 97.49% for the DWT-PCA-based texture features, which are extracted from IWOA-based segmented images.
Achieving Private and Fair Truth Discovery in Crowdsourcing Systems
Authors: Wang Zhenya , Cheng Xiang , Su Sen , Wang Longhan
Published: March 2022

Nowadays, crowdsourcing has witnessed increasing popularity as it can be adopted to solve many challenging question-answering tasks. One of the most significant problems in crowdsourcing is truth discovery, which aims to find reliable information from conflict answers provided by different workers. Despite the effectiveness for providing reliable aggregated results, existing works on truth discovery either fall short of preserving the workers’ privacy or fail to consider the unfairness issue in their design. In light of this deficiency, we propose a novel private and fair truth discovery approach called PFTD, which is implemented by two non-colluding cloud servers and leverages the Paillier cryptosystem. This approach not only preserves the privacy of the answers of each worker, but also addresses the unfairness issue in crowdsourcing. Extensive experiments conducted on both real and synthetic datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed PFTD approach.
Study on the Macroeconomic Model Based on the Genetic Algorithm
Authors: Shihao Sun , Zhou Yixin , Wang Yong , Wang Wu
Published: March 2022

In order to design a more reliable general push time cycle prediction software for macroeconomic indicators, a set of general software is used to serve financial transactions, bulk material transactions, international trade, macro-control and other fields, so as to improve the prediction of macroeconomic indicators. Because the macro data is one-dimensional array data, the essence of the mutation algorithm is to obtain the movement direction of the mutation of data nodes, obtain the distance between the linear programming result and the original data through the least square method, and calculate the average value in the original data, After binary

t

-correction, it refers to the binary

t

-correction results of the one-dimensional matrix before the final evaluation output factor and the one-dimensional matrix after the final evaluation output factor. In this study, genetic algorithm is introduced as the core algorithm. In the algorithm efficiency verification test, the calculation model based on genetic algorithm is constructed in Matlab environment, and the data space construction mode and genetic variation mode of genetic algorithm are explored. Finally, a high-throughput macroeconomic timing prediction scheme based on genetic algorithm is designed. This scheme is more accurate than the paid full-function 10jqka software, and has a higher prediction cycle for stock price and stock index. The simulation software composed of this algorithm has the prediction function that 10jqka software cannot complete.
Adsorption Characteristics of Antibiotic Meropenem on Magnetic CoFe2O4@Au Nanoparticles
Authors: Pham Thi Ngoc Mai , Hoang Thi Hieu , Nguyen Thu Phuong , Nguyen Quang Khanh , Pham Bach , Hoang Quoc Anh , Pham Tien Duc , Nguyen Thi Anh Huong , Le Anh Tuan , Pham Duc Thang
Published: March 2022

Adsorption characteristics of the antibiotic meropenem on a novel magnetic material synthesized by surface coating cobalt iron oxide (CFO) with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were systematically investigated. The AuNPs can enhance material adsorption capacity by having high affinity towards the thioether and amine groups in the meropenem structure. Au coverage on the CFO surface decreased the saturation magnetization from 55.8 emu/g to 48.8 emu/g, still allowing synthesized CFO@Au nanomaterials to be magnetically recoverable. The CFO@Au nanomaterials showed enhanced adsorption capacity of 25.5 mg/g at optimum conditions of pH 4.0 adsorption time 120 min, and adsorbent mass 0.05 g. Adsorption equilibrium was in accordance with a monolayer Langmuir isotherm, while the adsorption kinetics followed pseudo-first-order kinetics and intraparticle diffusion models. This work provides a simple method to prepare a magnetic composite material with high adsorption efficiency for meropenem and probably other thioether-containing substances.
Antimicrobial Resistance Profile and Associated Factors of Group B Streptococci Colonization among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Clinics in Jigjiga, Southeast Ethiopia
Authors: Tesfaye Addisu , Melese Addisu , Derbie Awoke
Published: March 2022

Background. Streptococcus agalactiae (group B Streptococcus, GBS) is one of the causes of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality in many parts of the world. It is associated with severe maternal and neonatal outcomes. The colonization rate, associated factors, and antimicrobial sensitivity (AST) profile of GBS among pregnant women in Eastern Ethiopia is less studied. Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted from

1

st

 

March to

30

th

May, 2021 in Jigjiga. A total of 182 pregnant women with a gestational period of ≥36 weeks were included. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data on the participants’ demographic and clinical history. Vaginal-rectal samples were collected by brushing the lower vagina and rectum with a sterile cotton swab for bacteriological culture. An antimicrobial sensitivity test (AST) was performed using the Kary-Bauer disk diffusion method. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 25. The logistic regression model was used to find out factors associated with GBS colonization. Results. GBS colonization among pregnant women attending antenatal care was at 15.9% (29/182). The AST result showed that the majority of the isolates were sensitive to vancomycin (96.6%), chloramphenicol (96.6%), ampicillin (93.1%) azithromycin (89.7%), and penicillin (86.2%). In contrast, the isolates were found to be resistant to ceftriaxone, erythromycin, ciprofloxacin, clindamycin, and tetracycline at 17.2%, 20.7%, 27.6%, 27.6%, and 34.5%, respectively. Multidrug resistance (MDR) was noted in 4 isolates (13.79%). GBS colonization was significantly associated a with history of preterm labor (<37 weeks of gestation) (AOR = 3.87, 95% CI = 1.36–10.9) and a history of prolonged ruptured membrane (>18 hr.) (AOR = 3.44, 95% CI = 1.34–8.83). Conclusions. The colonization rate of GBS was considerably high among pregnant women attending antenatal care in the present study area. The observed antimicrobial resistance for the common drugs and the reported MDR level calls for routine screening of pregnant women for GBS and actions to minimize antimicrobial resistance (AMR) should be strengthened.
Objective Home-Monitoring of Physical Activity, Cardiovascular Parameters, and Sleep in Pediatric Obesity
Authors: Knijff Janine M. , Houdijk Euphemia C.A.M. , van der Kaay Daniëlle C.M. , van Berkel Youri , Filippini Luc , Stuurman Frederik E. , Cohen Adam F. , Driessen Gertjan J.A. , Kruizinga Matthijs D.
Published: March 2022

Introduction: Clinical research and treatment of childhood obesity is challenging, and objective biomarkers obtained in a home-setting are needed. The aim of this study was to determine the potential of novel digital endpoints gathered by a home-monitoring platform in pediatric obesity. Methods: In this prospective observational study, 28 children with obesity aged 6–16 years were included and monitored for 28 days. Patients wore a smartwatch, which measured physical activity (PA), heart rate (HR), and sleep. Furthermore, daily blood pressure (BP) measurements were performed. Data from 128 healthy children were utilized for comparison. Differences between patients and controls were assessed via linear mixed effect models. Results: Data from 28 patients (average age 11.6 years, 46% male, average body mass index 30.9) and 128 controls (average age 11.1 years, 46% male, average body mass index 18.0) were analyzed. Patients were recruited between November 2018 and February 2020. For patients, the median compliance for the measurements ranged from 55% to 100% and the highest median compliance was observed for the smartwatch-related measurements (81–100%). Patients had a lower daily PA level (4,597 steps vs. 6,081 steps, 95% confidence interval [CI] 862–2,108) and peak PA level (1,115 steps vs. 1,392 steps, 95% CI 136–417), a higher nighttime HR (81 bpm vs. 71 bpm, 95% CI 6.3–12.3) and daytime HR (98 bpm vs. 88 bpm, 95% CI 7.6–12.6), a higher systolic BP (115 mm Hg vs. 104 mm Hg, 95% CI 8.1–14.5) and diastolic BP (76 mm Hg vs. 65 mm Hg, 95% CI 8.7–12.7), and a shorter sleep duration (difference 0.5 h, 95% CI 0.2–0.7) compared to controls. Conclusion: Remote monitoring via wearables in pediatric obesity has the potential to objectively measure the disease burden in the home-setting. The novel endpoints demonstrate significant differences in PA level, HR, BP, and sleep duration between patients and controls. Future studies are needed to determine the capacity of the novel digital endpoints to detect effect of interventions.
Sigmoid Volvulus in Myotonic Dystrophy Type I (Steinert Disease)
Authors: Bayoumy Ahmed B. , Gjertsen Jennifer Suzanne , Tushuizen Maarten E.
Published: March 2022

Myotonic dystrophy (MD) is a progressive multisystem genetic disorder that is characterized by progressive muscle weakness and wasting. MD1 (also known as Steinert disease) is associated with various clinical entities such as skeletal muscle weakness, myotonia, cardiac abnormalities, respiratory dysfunction, gastrointestinal involvement, and cognitive impairment. In this case report, we present a 32-year-old woman with MD1 who presented with a sigmoid volvulus, which was treated with endoscopic decompression.
Interstitial Lung Disease Associated with Agaricus blazei Murill in a Patient with Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Receiving Gemcitabine-Based Therapy
Authors: Iwai Naoto , Okuda Takashi , Sawada Ryo , Ohara Tomoya , Hattori Chie , Taniguchi Masashi , Sakai Hiroaki , Oka Kohei , Hara Tasuku , Tsuji Toshifumi , Komaki Toshiyuki , Sakagami Junichi , Kagawa Keizo , Dohi Osamu , Yasuda Hiroaki , Itoh Yoshito
Published: March 2022

A male in his sixties with locally advanced pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) was administered gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel therapy. Computed tomography (CT) scans after five courses revealed nonspecific interstitial pneumonitis in addition to PDAC aggravation. No evidence of respiratory infection was detected, and his condition was stable and asymptomatic at diagnosis. Sputum test and interferon-gamma release assay revealed no evidence of tuberculosis. Through careful history taking, the patient was found to be taking dietary supplementation with Agaricus blazei Murill extract for approximately 1 month. Drug-induced lymphocyte stimulation tests for gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel were negative, whereas those for Agaricus blazei Murill were positive. CT scans after withdrawal showed improved pneumonitis. These findings suggest a possibility that the dietary supplementation may lead to drug-induced interstitial lung disease (ILD). This patient indicates that pertinent diagnostic interviews are essential for the identification of drug-induced ILD.
COVID-19 Impact on Stroke Admissions during France’s First Epidemic Peak: An Exhaustive, Nationwide, Observational Study
Authors: Risser Clémence , Tran Ba Loc Pierre , Binder-Foucard Florence , Fabacher Thibaut , Lefèvre Hassina , Sauvage Claire , Sauleau Erik-André , Wolff Valérie
Published: March 2022

Introduction: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to have great impacts on the care of non-COVID-19 patients. This was especially true during the first epidemic peak in France, which coincided with the national lockdown. The aim of this study was to identify whether a decrease in stroke admissions occurred in spring 2020, by analyzing the evolution of all stroke admissions in France from January 2019 to June 2020. Methods: We conducted a nationwide cohort study using the French national database of hospital admissions (Information Systems Medicalization Program) to extract exhaustive data on all hospitalizations in France with at least one stroke diagnosis between January 1, 2019, and June 30, 2020. The primary endpoint was the difference in the slope gradients of stroke hospitalizations between pre-epidemic, epidemic peak, and post-epidemic peak phases. Modeling was carried out using Bayesian techniques. Results: Stroke hospitalizations dropped from March 10, 2020 (slope gradient: −11.70), and began to rise again from March 22 (slope gradient: 2.090) to May 7. In total, there were 23,873 stroke admissions during the period March–April 2020, compared to 29,263 at the same period in 2019, representing a decrease of 18.42%. The percentage change was −15.63%, −25.19%, −18.62% for ischemic strokes, transient ischemic attacks, and hemorrhagic strokes, respectively. Discussion/Conclusion: Stroke hospitalizations in France experienced a decline during the first lockdown period, which cannot be explained by a sudden change in stroke incidence. This decline is therefore likely to be a direct, or indirect, result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Colonic Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection for a Granular Cell Tumor with Insufficient Endoscopic Manipulation in the Hepatic Flexure
Authors: Kawashima Kazumasa , Hikichi Takuto , Onizawa Michio , Gunji Naohiko , Takeda Yutaro , Mochimaru Tomoaki , Ishizaki Yuto , Murakami Mai , Kobayashi Reiko , Shioya Yasuo , Suzuki Osamu , Hashimoto Yuko , Kobayakawa Masao , Ohira Hiromasa
Published: March 2022

This report describes a granular cell tumor (GCT) with insufficient endoscopic manipulation in the hepatic flexure (HF) of the colon, which was treated by endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) using a splinting tube and the spring S-O clip traction method. A 44-year-old man presented with a 10 mm subepithelial tumor in the HF near the ascending colon on colonoscopy. The lesion had a smooth surface without erosion. The histology of biopsied specimen from the lesion was suspected as a GCT. Most GCTs are considered low-grade malignant, but ESD was chosen to treat the lesion due to the patient’s insistence on endoscopic treatment. Because the lesion was located in the HF, it was assumed that the scope manipulation during ESD would be difficult. During ESD, a splinting tube was utilized to stabilize endoscopic manipulation and the spring S-O clip traction method to keep clear visualization of the submucosa, and the procedure was completed without adverse events. An 8 × 7 mm lesion with negative margins was removed by ESD. Hematoxylin and eosin staining showed atypical cells with round-to-oval nuclei and acidophilic vesicles, and immunohistochemical staining for S-100 protein was strongly positive with a Ki-67 labeling index of 5%. The lesion was pathologically confirmed as a GCT. This case showed the usefulness and safety of ESD for GCT with insufficient endoscopic manipulation in the HF.
Mental Health Symptoms and Associations with Tobacco Smoking, Dependence, Motivation, and Attempts to Quit: Findings from a Population Survey in Germany (DEBRA Study)
Authors: Kastaun Sabrina , Brose Leonie S. , Scholz Esther , Viechtbauer Wolfgang , Kotz Daniel
Published: March 2022

Introduction: This study aimed to estimate prevalence rates of mental health symptoms (anxiety, depression, and overall psychological distress) by tobacco smoking status, and associations between such symptoms and the level of dependence, motivation, and attempts to quit smoking in the German population. Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of data from six waves of a nationally representative household survey collected in 2018/19 (N = 11,937 respondents aged ≥18). Mental health symptoms were assessed with the Patient Health Questionnaire-4. Associations with smoking status, dependence, motivation to quit, and ≥1 past-year quit attempt (yes/no) were analysed with adjusted regression models among the total group, and among subgroups of current (n = 3,248) and past-year smokers (quit ≤12 months ago, n = 3,357). Results: Weighted prevalence rates of mental health symptoms among current, former, and never smokers were: 4.1%, 2.4%, 2.5% (anxiety), 5.4%, 4.7%, 4.0% (depression), and 3.1%, 2.5%, 2.4% (psychological distress). Current versus never smokers were more likely to report symptoms of anxiety and depression. Smokers with higher versus lower levels of dependence were more likely to report higher levels of all three mental health symptoms. Higher versus lower levels of overall psychological distress were associated with a higher motivation to quit smoking and, among past-year smokers, with higher odds of reporting a past-year quit attempt. Conclusions: We found various relevant associations between mental health symptoms and smoking behaviour. Healthcare professionals need to be informed about these associations and trained to effectively support this vulnerable group in translating their motivation into abstinence.
Poor Outcome due to the Plasmacytoid Variant of Urothelial Carcinoma
Authors: Fukuta Kyotaro , Shiozaki Keito , Kobayashi Saki , Nakanishi Ryoichi , Izaki Hirofumi , Kanda Kazuya , Inai Tohru , Kudo Eiji , Fukawa Tomoya , Yamaguchi Kunihisa , Yamamoto Yasuyo , Takahashi Masayuki , Kanayama Hiro-omi
Published: March 2022

A 72-year-old man visited our hospital due to pollakiuria and lower abdominal pain. Urinary cytology was positive, and cystoscopy revealed diffuse edematous nonpapillary tumor. We performed transurethral biopsy, and clinical stage T3 plasmacytoid variant of urothelial carcinoma (PUC) was diagnosed. Although we planned for radical cystectomy, peritoneal dissemination and lung and pelvic lymph node metastases appeared 3 weeks after the initial visit. We also planned for chemotherapy; however, the metastases rapidly progressed, and he died 7 weeks after the biopsy. PUC is rare and shows an aggressive clinical course and poor prognosis.
Utility of Under-Gel Endoscopic Mucosal Resection with Partial Submucosal Injection and Under-Gel Precutting Endoscopic Mucosal Resection for Difficult Colorectal Polyp Cases
Authors: Yamamoto Kazuki , Ikeya Takashi , Shiratori Yasutoshi
Published: March 2022

Background: Here, we evaluated the utility of under-gel endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) with partial submucosal injection (PI) and under-gel precutting EMR for difficult-to-treat colorectal polyps. Methods: A retrospective case series was conducted from April 1, 2020, to April 1, 2021, at St. Luke’s International Hospital (Japan). We included all consecutive patients who underwent colonoscopy and subsequent under-gel EMR with PI and under-gel precutting EMR. Baseline and clinical data were obtained from electronic medical records. Results: Under-gel EMR with PI was performed in 6 patients, treating a total of seven lesions. In this group, 50% (3/6) were women (mean age = 59.2 years). The mean procedure time and specimen size were 5.1 min and 12.1 mm, respectively, achieving a 100% (7/7) en bloc resection rate. Under-gel precutting EMR was performed in 8 patients. In this group, 50% (4/8) were women (mean age = 66.1 years). The mean procedure time and specimen size were 22.6 min and 23.0 mm, respectively; en bloc resection rate was 62.5% (5/8). Regarding lesions over 20 mm in diameter, the en bloc resection rate was 50% (3/6). No complications were observed. Conclusions: PI is potentially useful for colorectal polyps where the distal end is not visible; when PI cannot be used, precutting EMR may constitute another troubleshooting method for difficult-to-treat colorectal polyps. The gel immersion method is also a viable option when the use of water causes rapid mixing of blood and residual stool, resulting in poor visibility.
Infantile Cocktail of Erythropoietin and Melatonin Restores Gait in Adult Rats with Preterm Brain Injury
Authors: Jantzie Lauren L. , Muthukumar Sankar , Kitase Yuma , Vasan Vikram , Fouda Mohammed A. , Hamimi Sarah , Burkhardt Christopher , Burton Vera Joanna , Gerner Gwendolyn , Scafidi Joseph , Ye Xiaobu , Northington Frances J. , Robinson Shenandoah
Published: March 2022

Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common cause of physical disability for children worldwide. Many infants and toddlers are not diagnosed with CP until they fail to achieve obvious motor milestones. Currently, there are no effective pharmacologic interventions available for infants and toddlers to substantially improve their trajectory of neurodevelopment. Because children with CP from preterm birth also exhibit a sustained immune system hyper-reactivity, we hypothesized that neuro-immunomodulation with a regimen of repurposed endogenous neurorestorative medications, erythropoietin (EPO) and melatonin (MLT), could improve this trajectory. Thus, we administered EPO + MLT to rats with CP during human infant-toddler equivalency to determine whether we could influence gait patterns in mature animals. After a prenatal injury on embryonic day 18 (E18) that mimics chorioamnionitis at ∼25 weeks human gestation, rat pups were born and raised with their dam. Beginning on postnatal day 15 (P15), equivalent to human infant ∼1 year, rats were randomized to receive either a regimen of EPO + MLT or vehicle (sterile saline) through P20. Gait was assessed in young adult rats at P30 using computerized digital gait analyses including videography on a treadmill. Results indicate that gait metrics of young adult rats treated with an infantile cocktail of EPO + MLT were restored compared to vehicle-treated rats (p < 0.05) and similar to sham controls. These results provide reassuring evidence that pharmacological interventions may be beneficial to infants and toddlers who are diagnosed with CP well after the traditional neonatal window of intervention.