bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Reservoir Compaction and Surface Subsidence Assessment to Optimize Field Development Planning in Offshore Malay Basin, Malaysia
Authors: Santha Moorthy Priveen Raj , Chatterjee Avirup , Younessi Ahmadreza , Ghosh Amitava
Published: August 2022

A geomechanical model calibrated to field data can be used to analyse the potentially severe impact of reservoir compaction on production. However, field data acquisition programmes can be expensive, and optimal reservoir monitoring design necessitates an understanding of reservoir dynamics. Forward geomechanical models can help establishing the appropriate field data gathering approach while reducing expenses and maximising value for model calibration. Significant reservoir compaction and surface subsidence have potential risks for fault reactivation, integrity of wells and surface facilities. This paper presents an integrated approach and workflow that combines geomechanically derived data, reservoir geometry and production data to predict reservoir compaction and surface subsidence throughout the life of the field. The results provide an essential understanding on the dynamics of production induced changes in effective stresses and formation mechanical properties and their impacts on the field development planning, risks mitigation and provision of contingencies for well construction and downhole and surface field monitoring requirements.
Continuous Improvement on the Performance of Innovative 360 Rolling Diamond Element and Conical Diamond Element Bit led to Save 2.9 Days from Drilling in Hard and Abrasive Sandstone Formation
Authors: Ngo Vi Lan , Khobchit Wanwarang , Teerachotmongkol Teerawat , James Biju , Abbasgholipour Ali , Kongsirinurak Thamonwan , Tungperachaikul Thanakorn , Amranand Sorawit , Panmamuang Nawapol
Published: August 2022

Mid Nam Phong Formation in Thailand’s Sinphuhorm Field consists of hard and abrasive sandstone with unconfined compressive strengths (UCS) of 12,000–24,000 psi. Polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) drill bits used for the 8.5-in. section through this formation were providing low rates of penetration (ROPs) and showing heavy wear, with just 50–180 meterage drilled per run. Multiple bit runs were raising drilling costs. A new drill-bit design to address these challenges is presented.

Rolling cutter (RC) 616—an 8.5-in. drill bit with 16 mm cutters that rotate 360°—is holding the ROP record in offset wells, delivering 3.1 m/h compared with the average 2.15 m/h, a 44% improvement. Rolling elements use the entire circumference of the cutting edge to cut the formation, enabling them to stay sharper and longer. Conical diamond elements (CDE), which provide improved impact strength and greater resistance to abrasive wear, replaced some of the conventional cutters. Based on this result and lessons learned, a new and more robust bit design was proposed featuring 19 mm rolling cutters and conical diamond elements. To combat the damaging vibration observed in offset wells, which could further reduce ROP and increase the likelihood of premature drill-bit and downhole tool failure, a special bottom hole assembly that combined a rotary steerable system and a downhole motor was deployed to reduce stick/slip. Comprehensive simulations provided a detailed road map of drilling parameters that were used to minimize shock and vibration.

The new 8.5in. drill bit and BHA drilled the entire section through the Mid Nam Phong Formation in one run and at a record ROP of 4.9 m/h—58% higher than the maximum rate achieved by the RC616 bit—saving 57.8 hours. The assembly also drilled an additional 179 meterage into the Lower Nam Phong Formation, eliminating the separate bit run that had been required in offset wells. The customer saved 2.9 days or USD 130,000 in total and a new standard of drilling performance was established.

The new concept of PDC bit combining 19 mm rolling cutters and conical diamond elements expands the limit of PDC bit durability drilling hard and abrasive sandstone formation. This new type of bit can efficiently drill in those challenging geological condition reducing the drilling time and cost.

This paper will discuss the application and evolution of rolling cutter bits, along with the results achieved by this bit.
Advance Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and Image Logs Application for Predicting Particle Sand Distribution
Authors: Samuel Elvy Jose , Hanif Mohd Shah Redza , Mustapa Muhd Syaiful Azman , Adeyosfi Merza Media , Lwin Moet Moet , Lee Samie Sok Foon , Millot Pascal , Wong Fui Kent
Published: August 2022

The complexities of designing an effective sand control for unconsolidated gas reservoirs in a deepwater environment is exacerbated when the targeted formation sands are characterized by particle size distributions with poorly sorted and non uniform coeficients, and high fine concentrations. Managing these intricacies requires comprehensive sand retention studies developed to ascertain the effectiveness of the sand control performance of gravel and screen gauge opening combinations in the presence of selected formation sand ratios. To build a representative testing program, actual core samples from the targeted studied zones are desirable. However, for economical, technical or logistic contrains the availability of these cores is not always feasible. This paper covers a workflow to determine a synthetic Particle Size Distribution (PSD) of a targeted well in a development block where no core data is available. The data feeding the workflow is derived from wireline bore hole imagers and Non-Magnetic Resonance (NMR) logs obtained from six wells drilled in the exploration phase of the studied gas block. Results are calibrated with localized PSD from available side wall cores. Furthermore, data obtained from the process is used to interrogate sand retention testing Mastercurves built with formation samples from one of the fields in the studied block (Field I). The interrogation process takes the synthetic PSD from the targeted well and creates normalized formation testing ratios which are then compared to the results documented on the sand retention Mastercurves. This paper is intends to discuss the worklflow and results of its field application.
An Innovated Image-Based Approach for Logging-While-Drilling Image Quality Improvement in Stick and Slip Phase
Authors: Yang Shiduo , Al-Mutairi Fayez , Zhang Tianhua , He Alexis , Shrivastava Chandramani , Shim Yen Han , Taufik Pasaribu Ihsan
Published: August 2022

Stick/slip motion is an extremely severe torsional oscillation that can cause the drill bit to come to a complete stop and then followed by an extra acceleration of the surface rotation. Due to the lack of downhole sensors for direct speed measurement of logging-while-drilling (LWD) image tools, the depth measured on the surface can appear to be smoother than the downhole sensors’ real movement. Using the smoothed surface depth for time-to-depth gating of the images might lead to the formation features appearing to be compressed or stretched semicyclically in the depth domain when sensor stick/slip occurs.

In this paper, an innovated approach is presented to restore image features altered by the depth desynchronization and stick/slip issue. This method initially identified the drilling status from the interpolated surface depth in a time domain, including sensor movement direction; i.e.,drilling down or reaming down, tool stop, and connection breakdown time. In parallel, the drilling statuses were also identified from a downhole image feature similarity and the artificial intelligence (AI)-aided functions. The surface depth can be synchronized to downhole image measurements in the time domain based on the identified drilling statuses. In the end, the stick/slip time intervals were identified from the synchronized depth when the depth variation exceeded the image's vertical resolution, and the pseudovelocity was filtered and computed in the time domain. The stick/slip image features were restored in the depth domain efficiently after time-to-depth gating using the new processed depth.

This new approach will be applied to an LWD ultrasonic image obtained from a Middle East carbonate reservoir. The drilling statuses were identified confidently in the time domain and no additional stick/slip features were found in the image data in the depth domain. The processed images revealed the reservoir heterogeneity with clear vug features, additional bedding boundary, and confident fracture features.

In a severe stick/slip mode, the LWD resistivity image was processed with downhole speed correction from the multiple sensors’ signal, but the block image features remained on the image in the depth domain. The image features were restored efficiently with an adapted solution from this innovative approach.
Longest 3D Horizontal Granitic Basement Section Record Drilled in Vietnam Using Friction Reduction Technology and Real-Time Torque & Drag Management
Authors: Thai Lam , Nguyen Nam , Blackwell Geoff , Do Minh
Published: August 2022

Granite basement drilling in Vietnam is well-known for challenges such as slow penetration rate, strong drill string vibrations, and multiple bit runs required to finish the section. A 3,217 m length 3D horizontal basement section was successfully drilled in 2017 by applying a new drill string optimization method in combination with using axial oscillation friction reduction tools (AOT), reaching total depth (TD) at 6,280 m measured depth (MD). This run represented the longest 3D lateral well drilled in Vietnam at the time (please reference the SPE-191872-MS). Based on the success of that project, Thang Long Joint Operating Company planned to drill a new well with a longer reach to farther targets as per subsurface objectives to extend the record to a planned 3,543 m 3D horizontal granite section hitting three reservoir targets. The directional plan included building inclination from 19° to 88°, turning from 97° to 57° azimuth, and then turning horizontally from 57° to 16° azimuth, with planned TD at 6,768 m MD.

With the field-proven drill string optimization method from the offset well, a torque and drag model was built for the subject well in order to understand the difficulty and feasibility to reach the well TD. This model was used for drill pipe selection and configuration, as well as AOT planning purposes, and it was continuously updated in real-time throughout the well. A newer and more efficient version of the AOT technology was introduced to help increase the effectiveness of the friction reduction to help reach the planned TD. From the modeling results, drilling to the planned TD was considered achievable, even when applying worst-case scenario drilling conditions.

In terms of trajectory and timing, the actual drilling operation was well-matched with the planning. The selected drill string designs using single AOT systems and dual AOT systems performed as expected and were instrumental in achieving the planned TD. A total of 15 roller cone insert bits and steerable motor BHA's were used to drill the section. From 5,509m MD, due to the high drag condition, dual AOT systems were utilized to aid in weight transfer to the bit to drill to the well TD at 6,768m MD; the longest 3D horizontal basement section drilled in Vietnam to date.

The success of the project once again proves that axial friction reduction technology is a reliable technology for drilling the granitic basement in Vietnam, on time and within budget.
Study on Fracture Propagation Simulation with the Integration of Fully-Coupled Geomechanical and DFN Modeling
Authors: Li Wei , Xing Yangyi , Zhang Haijie , Luo Tongtong , Li Wenhong , He Jinpeng , Huang Xingning , Singjaroen Thanapol , Kieduppatum Piyanuch
Published: August 2022

Shale gas reservoirs are characterized in low gas abundance, poor permeability, lower natural productivity than the lower limit of industrial oil flow, and rapid formation energy decline. At present, the technology of horizontal well drilling and staged hydraulic fracturing is widely used for the exploitation of such low-porosity and low-permeability reservoirs. The long well section of the horizontal well in the reservoir and the hydraulic fractures formed by fracturing act as the "underground expressway" for the deep gas in the reservoir to flow toward the wellbore. Their combination can greatly increase the production performance of the oil and gas resources in the reservoir. Staged multi-cluster fracturing in horizontal wells is the key technology to achieve the profitable shale gas production. The results of on-site downhole perforation imaging and distributed optical fiber temperature and acoustic monitoring show that there are obvious non-uniform liquid inflow and expansion phenomena in each cluster of fractures during the fracturing process. Relevant research results also show that factors such as the heterogeneity of the reservoir and the stress interference caused by the propagation of multiple fractures are the main causes of the non-uniform propagation of hydraulic fractures. Therefore, it is accessible to simulate the complex balanced expansion of each cluster of fractures in the fracturing section to improve the coverage of hydraulic fractures in the horizontal well section with numerical simulation methods based on the basic theory of elasticity and fracture mechanics, to reveal how the above engineering geological factors influence and control the fracture propagation. The results of the simulation of the fracturing treatment section of the deep shale gas horizontal well by the fracture propagation model are consistent with the micro-seismic monitoring results,which has obvious significance for accelerating the exploitation of difficult-to-exploit resources and guaranteeing the supply of gas resources.
Aquatic Animal Monitoring System
Authors: Sakirin Jakkawan , Rapeethasanaphong Thaniyaporn , Maleewong Parichat
Published: August 2022

Aquatic Animal Monitoring Systemis initiated as part of PTTEP's Ocean for Life strategy as we thrive in enhancing Ocean Health & Biodiversity Monitoring to ensure that PTTEP's offshore operations are friendly and safe to the surrounding environment and aquatic animals. The basis of the Aquatic Animal Monitoring Systemproject focuses on conservation survey and tracking of rare aquatic animals as well as marinebiodiversity.

As part of the process, an underwater camera was installed on a jacket leg of PTTEP's platform to allow the video recording of underwater lives. The video footage was then analyzed by Artificial Intelligence (AI)software using an object detection method for determining the animal's categorization, then using machine learning algorithm for more accuracy. This concept can visualize aquatic animals around the platform and the surrounding environment. Moreover, the AI software can shorten the video by cutting off any non-life appearing period. Therefore, this technique can support a processor during the video analysis from the platform, contributing to a better work efficiency as it can save time, manpower, and most importantly cost.

For the detection algorithm, all targets generatea large amount of data in the form of images with labels in order to train a software to memorize the target objects. The AI software was able to detect and identify nine species of aquatic animals which are fish, turtle, whale, dolphin, shark, seal, sea lion, stingray, and seahorse. With AI software in place, the video raw file can be shortened up to 85% by removing non-life periods in the original video and tracking only animal life in the video frame. This is a significant milestone for PTTEP in creating sustainable values to the ocean, which is considered as PTTEP's second home.

Adopting artificial intelligence and machine learning technology to this project, it helps categorizing aquatic animal types and shorten a videofile. Moreover, it can save manpower and time.
Selection pressure dominates the use of synonymous codons in genes linked to epilepsy
Authors: Chaudhary Kaustubh Pramod , Sophiarani Yengkhom , Nath Anupam , Tiwari Rahul , Bordoloi Hemashree , Hanjabam Joykishan Sharma , Singh Ashish , Malakar Arup Kumar , Singh Ravail , Gupta Suruchi , Paul Prosenjit
Published: August 2022

Bioinformatic approaches were utilized to investigate the pattern of codon usage in 109 epilepsy-related genes. The genes were found to be rich in G and C nucleotides, with GC usage 7% higher than AT. Preferred codon analysis confirmed the dominance of G and C at the wobble position of codons. CAG is the most frequently used codon. The ENc analysis, on the other hand, did not reveal any exceptional codon usage bias. Correlation of GC content at the first and second codon positions with the third codon position (neutrality plot) suggested the impact of selection pressure in shaping the GC enriched compositional pattern observed in epilepsy-related genes. It was further confirmed by correspondence analysis. Altogether, our findings imply that the pattern of evolutionary processes (especially selection pressure) operating on epilepsy-related genes. This might aid in identifying disease genes compositional signatures and deciphering the genetic mechanisms underlying epilepsy. Further this information would be useful in facilitating the existing epilepsy related therapies like gene therapy, cell therapy etc.
Genome-wide transcriptome and physiological analyses provide new insights into cadmium tolerance to tomato seedlings
Authors: Liang Quanwu , Song Ge , Li Yuqiong , Wang Haihua , Yan Mingli , Zhang Jihong
Published: August 2022

Background
Cadmium (Cd) pollution in agricultural soils has become one of the main environmental problems in China. This study investigated the underlying molecular mechanism controlling the effects of auxin and lignin in response to Cd stress in tomato.
Results
Cadmium treatment significantly inhibited the root growth (by 43.46%) of tomato seedlings, and induced their antioxidant enzyme activities (POD and CAT). Cadmium treatment decreased their shoot dry weight and root dry weight at day 7, 40.42% and 60.40%, respectively. The content of malondialdehyde (MDA) increased and total chlorophyll contents were reduced during the treatment. A comparative transcriptome (RNA-Seq) was de novo assembled and differentially expressed genes (DEGs) with altered expression levels were investigated among wild type cultivars A57 with or without cadmium ion treatment for 24 h. A total of 18,883 unigenes were grouped into 51 Gene Ontology (GO) categories and 89 Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes terms (KEGG). A number of 1,563 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were found in Cd-exposed tomato seedlings, including 559 down-regulated genes and 1157 up-regulated genes. Go term enrichment analysis indicated that various auxin signaling pathway-related GO terms were significantly enriched in DEGs. Most genes involved in lignin biosynthesis pathway were up-regulated, for instance, COMT and CCOMT.
Conclusions
The transcriptome expression profiles of tomato seedlings under Cd stresses obtained in this study provided a resource for identifying common mechanisms in the lignification formation and the inhibition of plant growth.
Energy Communities Support Climate Policy in Exchange for Transition Assistance
Authors: Gazmararian Alexander
Published: August 2022

Decarbonization to mitigate climate change will require a reduction in fossil fuel consumption. The economic effects of moving away from fossil fuels motivates communities that produce coal, oil and gas to obstruct climate policy. How could climate policy be designed to win support for decarbonization in fossil fuel communities? Answering this question requires public opinion data from these crucial regions and measurement of multi-dimensional preferences, but national surveys often fail to recruit respondents from these areas and studies often focus on individual transition policy instruments. To overcome these limitations, we field surveys at Appalachian county fairs to access this hard-to reach population (N=249) and employing a conjoint experiment designed to elicit multi-dimensional preferences. We find that policies reducing transition costs, such as investments in worker healthcare and pensions and income compensation, increase support for transition assistance. In turn, respondents report willingness to back climate policy coupled with assistance for workers and community members. The findings suggest that smart policy design can build climate coalitions for decarbonization, even in the places most impacted by moving away from fossil fuels.
Characteristics of metastatic breast cancer patients who survived more than 10 years
Authors: KIKUCHI MAMI , FUJII TAKAAKI , HONDA CHIKAKO , TANABE KEIKO , NAKAZAWA YUKO , OGINO MISATO , OBAYASHI SAYAKA , SHIRABE KEN
Published: August 2022

Background/Aim: Despite advances in treatment for breast cancer, metastatic breast cancer (MBC) remains difficult to cure, and few MBC patients survive 10 years after receiving a breast cancer metastasis diagnosis. We collected the cases of MBC patients who survived >10 years post-metastasis diagnosis and assessed the patients’ characteristics. ﻿Results: We retrospectively analyzed the cases of 245 consecutive patients diagnosed with MBC between January 2005 and December 2012 at our institution. Among them, 167 patients with confirmed survival of >10 years (i.e., long-term survival) or confirmed death at ≤10 years post-metastasis diagnosis were enrolled. There were 22 patients with MBC who survived >10 years. Regarding the cancer subtypes, 11 patients (50%) with long-term survival were HER2-positive. Seven of the 11 patients with HER2-positive MBC have been without recurrence although anti-HER2 therapy was discontinued. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) was most common in the patients who survived ≤5 years, but was not present in the >10-year survival group. In the HER2-negative cases, more cases in the long-term survival group were treated with local therapy (34.4% in the <5-year survival group, 43.8% in the 5–10-year group, and 72.7% in the >10-year group).Conclusion: Our analyses revealed that MBC patients who survive >10 years after being diagnosed with metastasis are more likely to be HER2-positive and more likely to be treated with local therapy. This suggests the efficacy of anti-HER2 therapy, and, conversely, clarifies unmet needs in TNBC and luminal-type MBC. The usefulness of local therapy was also supported by our findings.
Genome-Wide Disease Screening of Early Human Embryos at Base-Pair Resolution
Authors: Xia Yuntao , Gonzalez-Pena Veronica , Klein David , Chandramohan Dhruva , Chertman Willy , Bechor Elan , Luquette Lovelace , Schleede Justin , Alvero Ruben , Kort Jonathan , Moon Jeong , Reddy Vik , Park Peter , Siddiqui Noor , Behr Barry , Gawad Charles
Published: August 2022

Whole-genome sequencing of preimplantation human embryos (PGT-WGS) is not currently performed due to the insufficient quality of amplified DNA from embryo biopsies. Here we present a PGT-WGS approach that takes advantage of the improved genome coverage and uniformity of primary template-directed amplification (PTA) to call almost all early embryo genetic variants accurately and reproducibly from a preimplantation biopsy. In a research sibling cohort, we identified clonal and mosaic chromosomal aneuploidy, de novo mitochondrial variants, and variants predicted to cause mendelian and non-mendelian diseases. In addition, we utilized the genome-wide data to compute polygenic risk scores for common diseases. Finally, we performed a clinical study on the parents and 8 sibling embryos of an infant with neonatal-onset seizures and severe developmental delay. We first used low-pass whole genome sequencing to identify embryos most likely to successfully implant based on aneuploidy. We then performed PGT-WGS and evenly covered a mean of 99.1% of the embryo genomes at least 10X, resulting in the detection of 99.5% of parental variants and enabling us to screen genome-wide for inherited and de novo genetic variants in each embryo using ACMG rules. Although numerous computational, interpretive, and ethical challenges remain for widespread implementation, this study establishes the technical feasibility of screening for and preventing numerous debilitating genetic diseases with PGT-WGS.
Mutations involving TGFB and MAPK may be associated with malignancy in granular cell tumors
Authors: Dehner Carina , Moon Tyler , Lyu Yang , Zhang Xiaochun , Zhou Zhaohe , Yang Kuangying , Chrisinger John , Griffin Anthony , Wunder Jay , Dickson Brendan , Hirbe Angela
Published: August 2022

Granular cell tumors are mesenchymal neoplasms of presumed schwannian differentiation that may present as solitary or multifocal lesions with excision usually being curative. A minority of cases, however, shows histological features associated with an increased risk for metastasis and are highly aggressive leading to death in about a third of cases1. While benign and malignant cases have been shown to harbor mutations in the H + ATPase genes, there is only limited data examining molecular aberrations associated with malignancy. The departmental archives were searched for cases of atypical/malignant granular cell tumor. Clinical and histopathological features were noted. Whole exome sequencing was performed. Three cases of malignant granular cell tumor and on atypical granular cell tumor were included. Three tumors metastasized to distant sites with a median disease-free survival of 16 months and an overall follow-up time of 32.5 months. Whole exome sequencing showed mutations involving TGFβ and MAPK pathways in all four tumors. Mutations involving the TGFβ and MAPK pathways may be associated with tumor progression or malignant transformation in granular cell tumor pathogenesis.
High Thermal Conductivity in Wafer-Scale Cubic Silicon Carbide Crystals
Authors: Cheng Zhe , Liang Jianbo , Kawamura Keisuke , Asamura Hidetoshi , Uratani Hiroki , Graham Samuel , Ohno Yutaka , Nagai Yasuyoshi , Shigekawa Naoteru , Cahill David
Published: August 2022

High thermal conductivity electronic materials are critical components for high-performance electronic and photonic devices as both active functional materials and thermal management materials. We report an isotropic high thermal conductivity exceeding 500 W m− 1K− 1 at room temperature in high-quality wafer-scale cubic silicon carbide (3C-SiC) crystals, which is the second highest among large crystals (only surpassed by diamond). Furthermore, the corresponding 3C-SiC thin films are found to have record-high in-plane and cross-plane thermal conductivity, even higher than diamond thin films with equivalent thicknesses. Our results resolve a long-standing puzzle that the literature values of thermal conductivity for 3C-SiC are lower than the structurally more complex 6H-SiC. We show that the observed high thermal conductivity in this work arises from the high purity and high crystal quality of 3C-SiC crystals which avoids the exceptionally strong defect-phonon scatterings. Moreover, 3C-SiC is the only SiC polytype which can be epitaxially grown on Si. We show that the measured 3C-SiC-Si thermal boundary conductance is among the highest for semiconductor interfaces. These findings provide insights for fundamental phonon transport mechanisms, and suggest that 3C-SiC is an excellent wide-bandgap semiconductor for applications of next-generation power electronics as both active components and substrates.
Understanding repertoire sequencing data through a multiscale computational model of the germinal center
Authors: Kampen Antoine H. C. van , García-Valiente Rodrigo , Tejero Elena Merino , Stratigopoulou Maria , Balashova Daria , Jongejan Aldo , Lashgari Danial , Pélissier Aurélien , Caniels Tom G. , Claireaux Mathieu A. F. , Musters Anne , Gils Marit J. van , Martinez Maria Rodriguez , de Vries Niek , Meyer-Hermann Michael , Guikema Jeroen E.J. , Hoefsloot Huub
Published: August 2022

Sequencing of B cell and T cell immune receptor repertoires helps us to understand the adaptive immune response, although it only provides information about the clonotypes and their frequencies. Generally, additional time-consuming or expensive experiments are required to further characterize the identified (dominant) clones by measuring, for example, their affinity or function. Here, we present a multiscale model of the germinal center (GC) to gain general insight in B cell repertoires, to establish the relationship between clonal abundance and affinity, to establish the variability of affinity within a clone, and to establish the extent that plasma cells (PCs) with high B cell receptor (BcR) mRNA content may disturb the identification of dominant clones. Since we simulate B cell repertoires generated from a single GC we also compare the extent that these repertoires deviate from experimental repertoires established from single GCs, blood or tissue. Our simulations show that there is a limited correlation between clonal abundance and affinity and that there is large affinity variability among same-ancestor subclones. Our simulations suggest that low abundant (sub)clones might also be of interest since they may have high affinity for the Ag. We show that the presence of PCs does not significantly affect the number of dominant clones derived from single GCs by sequencing BcR mRNAs. As expected, immune repertoires generated from our single GC model deviate in several aspects from experimental repertoires. At the same time, results from these simulations guide data interpretation and the design of follow-up experiments.
An efficient empirical mode decomposition based feature extraction model for human activity recognition of elderly people using machine learning algorithms
Authors: Gnanadesigan Naveen Sundar , Dhanasegar Narmadha , S Jebapriya , Ramachandran Meenakumari , Muthusamy Suresh , Thangavel Gunasekaran , Veerappan Prasanna Moorthy
Published: August 2022

Many individuals throughout the globe need to be constantly monitored for health reasons, including diabetes patients and individuals with other chronic diseases, the elderly, and the disabled. At any time, these individuals may be at a higher risk of suffering life-threatening falls or experiencing fainting. HAR (Human Activity Recognition) model using machine learning techniques play an important role in observing the activities of the people. The existing methods of activity monitoring lacks accuracy. Hence, the proposed method focuses to improve the prediction accuracy using accelerometer and gyroscope data. The research work analysis accelerometer and gyroscope data using various decomposition techniques such as EMD(Empirical Mode Decomposition), DWT (Discrete Wavelet Transform), FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) to process non-linear data and to split series of signal data into set of IMF(Intrinsic Mode Function), PCA(Principal Component Analysis) was performed for selecting optimal features. Then human activities are recognized by using multi-class classification techniques. The proposed EMD method achieves better performance with 98.4% accuracy, 100% Precision, 100% Recall and 100% F-measure.
Polyol-mediated synthesis of nickel oxide nanoparticles through aqueous sol-gel route
Authors: Zahra Samreen , Shahid Waneeza , Amin Chaudhry Athar , Zahra Sarwat , Kanwal Bushra
Published: August 2022

Background:In this work, nickel oxide nanoparticles were prepared by polyol mediated aqueous route of sol-gel process using nickel nitrate hexahydrate as precursor, a mixture of isopropyl alcohol and water as solvent and glycerol for making polyol medium. The synthesized nanoparticles were calcined at various temperatures ranging from 500 to 900 °C in order to investigate the effect of calcination temperature on their structure and morphology. Characterization was carried out using X-ray diffractometry, differential scanning calorimetry-thermogravimetry, infrared spectroscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy.Results:The results confirmed the formation of face-cantered cubic structure of nickel oxide with significant variation in the surface morphology with the increasing calcination temperature.Conclusions:The study revealed that the aqueous sol-gel route can be employed successfully for the synthesis of ultrafine nickel oxide.
Color Image Splicing Localization Based On Block Classification Using Transition Probability Matrix
Authors: YILDIRIM ESRA ODABAS , TAHAOGLU Gul , ULUTAS Guzin , USTUBIOGLU Beste , NABIYEV Vasif
Published: August 2022

With the increasing technology, digital images have become a widely used data type in crucial areas such as medical journalism and law. Since it is used in such important areas, it has become questionable whether digital images are original or not. Image splicing forgery is one of the most common forgery types applied to digital images. This work proposes a new image splicing detection and localization method. Our motivation is to reveal the boundaries of forgery by using statistical features of the image blocks. The proposed method has two main stages: training and localizing. In both phases, image blocks that contain edge information are used because the splicing operation causes some inconsistency on the edges. In the training stage, original blocks are selected from the regions that include original boundaries, and forged blocks are selected from the areas that contain splicing operation-induced edges. Transition probability matrices are calculated in eight directions to obtain the correlation of the borders between the neighbor blocks on original and splicing edges. These matrices are used as a feature for each block. The blocks are classified as authentic and spliced using SVM. A new post-processing step has been proposed to eliminate the false positives that may occur due to the presence of original regions that are likely to be detected as spliced edges in the image. The publicly available Columbia dataset has been used to show the effectiveness of the state-of-the-art and proposed method. The results indicate that the proposed method has performed well even under JPEG compression and Gaussian blurring attacks.
Acute heart failure outcome and predictors of outcome among patients admitted to Jimma University Medical Center, Southwest Ethiopia
Authors: Tegene Elsah , Mekonin Gemechis , Dukessa Tadesse , Dube Lamessa , Tadesse Iyasu
Published: August 2022

Background: Acute heart failure (AHF) is a life-threatening medical condition requiring urgent evaluation and treatment. Despite the high burden of the disease in Ethiopia, limited studies and literatures are available that describe the clinical characteristics, and outcome of the disease in the country. Objectives: To determine the etiology, precipitating factors and treatment outcome and predictors of outcome among patients with AHF admitted to Emergency and Medical ward, Jimma university medical center, Southwest Ethiopia from July 12, 2021 to January 10, 2022.Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted in AHF patients admitted to Emergency and Medical ward. We used Purposive sampling technique to get the sample population. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire developed according to the guidelines of Ethiopian national major non-communicable diseases assessment, European Society of Cardiology, and ACC/AHA. Imaging findings (chest X-ray, electrocardiogram, and echocardiography), treatments given and hospital stay were abstracted from the patient’s card. SPSS software version 26 was used for data analysis. The level of significance was chosen at 5% and p–value ≤ 0.05 was reported statistically significant and results were reported as 95% confidence intervals.Result: We enrolled 184 AHF patients. Ninety eight (53.3%) patients were males. The mean age of the participants was 48.33(±18.855). Out of the total patients, 90 (48.9%) had denovo heart failure, 94 (51.1%) had acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) and 66 (70.2%) of those with ADHF had readmission history of more than two times in the past 1 year.The most common chest X-ray findings in the patients were cardiomegaly; 168(91.3%). The most common identified precipitating cause for AHF was pneumonia; 54(29.3%). Systemic hypertension was the most common comorbidity being seen in 52 (28.3%) patients. Yet, pulmonary hypertension, chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and tuberculosis were the next common comorbidities being found in 46 (25%), 31(16.8%), 12 (6.5%), 9 (4.9 %) respectively.Smoking history, admission systolic blood pressure, presence of acute coronary syndrome as precipitating factor, presence of chronic kidney disease as a comorbidity, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and troponin were all predictors in hospital mortality. Conclusion: Pneumonia and hypertension were the most common identified precipitating factors and comorbidities, respectively. Acute coronary syndrome, chronic kidney disease, smoking, and BUN are independent predictors of mortality in hospitalized AHF patients in JUMC.
Age-related effects of fenofibrate on the hepatic expression of sirtuin 1, sirtuin 3, and lipid metabolism-related genes
Authors: Zubrzycki Adrian , Wronska Agata , Wierzbicki Piotr M. , Kmieć Zbigniew
Published: August 2022

Background: Sirtuin 1 (Sirt1) and sirtuin 3 (Sirt3) participate in regulation of lipid metabolism. Our aim was to investigate the effects of the hypolipemic drug fenofibrate (FN) on hepatic Sirt1 and Sirt3 expression, in relation to the expression of lipid metabolism-related genes and in the context of aging. Methods and Results: Young and old male Wistar rats were fed standard chow or supplemented with 0.1% or 0.5% FN for 30 days (n = 7-10 in each group). In young rats, 0.1% FN did not affect Sirt1 expression, however, 0.5% FN decreased Sirt1 and both doses reduced Sirt3 protein levels. In old rats, 0.5% FN decreased hepatic Sirt1 mRNA and both doses reduced Sirt1 protein levels, but not Sirt3 expression. Although hepatic Pparα protein levels did not change, FN treatment of young rats induced Cpt1b expression, whereas Lcad, Acox1, Pmp70, and Hmgcs2 expression increased only after 0.1% FN, and Fas2 expression decreased after 0.5% FN. In the liver of old rats, both doses increased Cpt1b and Lcad expression. Only 0.1% FN increased Pmp70 and Hmgcs2 expression, and only 0.5% FN increased Acox1 and Fas2 mRNA levels. Conclusions: Treatment with fenofibrate at moderate or high dose may downregulate the hepatic expression of Sirt1 and Sirt3 proteins. The dosage of FN affects the molecular changes, and aging alters the response to 0.5% FN.
SDSS ameliorates cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury by inhibiting CLIC4/NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated endothelial cell pyroptosis
Authors: Zhang Xiaolu , Yang Qiuyue , Guo Lin , Zhang Yilin , Zeng Wenyun , Yu Qun , Zeng Miao , Gan Jiali , Li Huhu , Yang Lin , Jiang Xijuan , Gao Qing
Published: August 2022

Background: Endothelial pyroptosis promotes cerebral ischemic-reperfusion injury (CIRI). Sodium Danshensu (SDSS) has been shown to attenuate CIRI and have anti-inflammatory properties in endothelial cells. Nevertheless, the mechanism of SDSS on endothelial pyroptosis after CIRI remains unclear. Objective: We aimed to investigate the efficacy and mechanism of SDSS for reducing endothelial pyroptosis. Methods: In vitro, the effect of SDSS alleviating CIRI was first confirmed by detecting pyroptosis and NLRP3 inflammasome related indicators in oxygen-glucose deprivation/reoxygen (OGD/R) treated bEnd3 cells. Further, CLIC4 was identified as a potential target of SDSS through protein microarray, molecular docking, and cellular thermal shift assay (CETSA). Following this, the translocation and expression of CLIC4, and chloride outflow were detected. Finally, CLIC4 was further tested, either overexpressed or knocked down, to determine whether it is a target of SDSS to inhibit endothelial pyroptosis. In vivo, neurological deficit scores and infarct volume were served to evaluate the effect of SDSS in middle cerebral artery occlusion/reperfusion (MCAO/R) rats. Further investigation of pyroptosis was conducted using the CLIC4/NLRP3/GSDMD pathway. Results: SDSS administration inhibited NLRP3 inflammasome mediated pyroptosis in vitro and vivo. As demonstrated by protein microarray, molecular docking and CETSA, SDSS bound strongly to CLIC4 and decreased its protein level, and inhibited its translocation from cytoplasm to cell membrane. Further, SDSS effectiveness was weakened by CLIC4 overexpression but not knockdown. Conclusion: The present study indicated that a beneficial effect of SDSS against CIRI was ascribed to block endothelial pyroptosis via binding to CLIC4, and then inhibiting chloride efflux-dependent NLRP3 inflammasome activation.
Optimal method for detecting cervical lymph node metastasis from papillary thyroid cancer
Authors: Xiao Jing , Meng Shuyu , Zhang Mingbo , Li Yingying , Yan Lin , Li Xinyang , Yang Zhen , Zhang Yan , Luo Yukun
Published: August 2022

Purpose Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is often accompanied by cervical lymph node metastases (LNM). This study compared the diagnostic performance of fine needle aspiration (FNA), the combination of FNA and thyroglobulin measurement in the washout (FNA-Tg), and core needle biopsy(CNB) in order to determine the optimal method in detecting cervical LNM from PTC. Methods PTC patients with suspicious cervical lymph nodes, who underwent ultrasonography-guided CNB, or FNA were retrospectively reviewed between January 2021 and April 2022. Patients’ demographics, lymph node size, and results of FNA, FNA-Tg, CNB and surgical pathology were collected. Sensitivitity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), accuracy and the area under the curves (AUC) of receiver operating characteristic were obtained. Results FNA-Tg had a higher AUC with a threshold of 55 ng/mL than that with a threshold of 1 ng/mL (0.782 vs. 0.636,P = 0.005). The sensitivity of the combination of FNA and FNA-Tg was higher than that of FNA alone (91.3% vs. 81.0%,P = 0.01), but it was not different from that of CNB (91.3% vs. 88.0%,P > 0.05). No significant difference was found in specificity, PPV, NPV, accuracy and AUC among FNA alone, CNB alone, and the combination of FNA and FNA-Tg. Conclusions FNA-Tg is useful to improve the sensitivity of FNA. The diagnostic performance of the combination of FNA and FNA-Tg is better than that of FNA or FNA-Tg alone, but is not different from that of CNB in detecting LNM from PTC.
Comparison of tramadol and lornoxicam for the prevention of postoperative catheter-related bladder discomfort: A randomized controlled trial
Authors: Liao Xin , Xie Min , Li Shuying , Yu Xiaolan
Published: August 2022

Background
Catheter-related bladder discomfort (CRBD) is a painful complication of intraoperative urinary catheterization after anesthesia. We conducted this study to compare the effect of tramadol and lornoxicam for the prevention of postoperative CRBD.
Methods
One hundred twenty patients (aged 18–60 years), ASA physical status I-II, undergoing elective uterine surgery requiring intraoperative urinary catheterization were randomly divided into three groups with 40 patients in each group. Group T received 1.5 mg/kg tramadol, Group L received 8 mg lornoxicam, and Group C received normal saline. The study drugs were administered intravenously at the end of the surgery. The incidence and severity of CRBD were reported at 0, 1, 2, and 6 h after arrival at the postanesthesia care unit (PACU).
Results
The incidence of CRBD was significantly lower in Groups T and L than in Group C at 1, 2, and 6 h after surgery. The incidence of moderate to severe CRBD was aslo significantly lower in Groups T and L than in Group C at 0, 1, and 2 h after surgery. The severity of CRBD reported as mild, moderate, and severe was reduced in Groups T and L compared with group C at most times after surgery. Group T had a higher incidence of nausea than Group C, and there were no differences in dizziness, drowsiness, or vomit among the three groups.
Conclusions
Tramadol and lornoxicam administered intravenously at the end of the surgery were both effective in preventing the incidence and severity of CRBD after uterine surgery. However, tramadol increased the incidence of nausea compared with saline, but there was no difference between tramadol and lornoxicam.
Trial registration:
ChiCTR2100052003. Registered on 12/10/2021.
A Recommended Novel Green Economic Sample Preparation for Developed Verified Chromatographic Assays to Determine a Common Insecticidal Blend’s Residues on Samples of Natural Nutrition and Commercial Formulation for Governmental Guarantee in the Middle East
Authors: Hegazy Amira , Mahmoud Hamada , Elsayed Mohamed , Abdelfatah Rehab
Published: August 2022

Spraying a tertiary blend of the insecticides; hexythiazox, imidacloprid, and thiamethoxam, on tomato fruits, are routine in agriculture-attentive countries, especially in the Middle East region, to protect them against insects’ attacks. Insecticide residuals represent one of the major environmental contamination and health risks. Specific HP-TLC and RP-HPLC methodologies are established to estimate the residual insecticides and subsequently unassuming sample collection procedures. In the planner chromatographic methodology, methanol: chloroform: glacial acetic acid: triethyl amine (8.5: 1.5: 0.2: 0.1, v/v) is recommended as a mobile system. The other one is columnar chromatography; acetonitrile: water (20: 80, v/v), pH 2.8, is recommended as a mobile system. The validation parameters are examined following the ICH rules. They are applied to field samples for estimating the insecticides’ residues, effectively.
BrWAX3, encoding a β-ketoacyl-CoA synthase, participates in cuticular wax biosynthesis in Chinese cabbage
Authors: Yang Shuangjuan , Wang Zhaojun , Tang Hao , Wei Xiaochun , Zhao Yanyan , Wang Zhi-yong , Su Henan , Niu Liujing , Yuan Yuxiang , Zhang Xiaowei
Published: August 2022

In this study, we identified a novel glossy mutant from Chinese cabbage, named SD369, all wax monomers longer than 26 carbons were significantly decreased. Inheritance analysis revealed that the glossy trait of SD369 was controlled by a single recessive locus, BrWAX3. We fine-mapped the BrWAX3 locus to an interval of 161.82 kb on chromosome A09. According to the annotated genome of Brassica rapa, Bra024749 (BrCER60.A09), which encodes a β-ketoacyl-CoA synthase, was identified as the candidate gene. Expression analysis showed that BrCER60.A09 was significantly downregulated in all aerial organs of glossy plants. Subcellular localization indicated that the BrCER60.A09 protein functions in the endoplasmic reticulum. A 5,567-bp insertion was identified in exon 1 of BrCER60.A09 in SD369, which lead to a premature stop codon and thus causing a loss of function of the BrCER60.A09 enzyme. Moreover, comparative transcriptome analysis revealed that the 'cutin, suberine and wax biosynthesis' pathway was significantly enriched, and genes involved in this pathway were almost upregulated in glossy plants. Further, two functional markers, BrWAX3-InDel and BrWAX3-KASP1, were developed and validated. Overall, these results provide new information for the cuticular wax biosynthesis and provide applicable markers for marker-assisted selection (MAS)-based breeding of Brassica rapa.