bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Potential for health economics to influence policies on tobacco use during pregnancy in low-income and middle-income countries: a qualitative case study
Authors: Saygın Avşar Tuba , Jackson Louise , McLeod Hugh
Published: December 2021

Introduction

Tobacco control during pregnancy is a policy priority in high-income countries (HICs) because of the significant health and inequality consequences. However, little evidence exists on interventions to reduce tobacco use in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), especially for pregnant women. This study aimed to assess how health economics evidence, which is mainly produced in HICs, could be adopted for tobacco cessation policies for pregnant women in LMICs.

Methods

A qualitative case study was conducted in an international public health organisation. The organisation was chosen due to its capacity to influence health policies around the world. Tobacco control experts working in the organisation were identified through purposeful sampling and snowballing. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 18 informants with relevant experience of countries from all of the regions covered by the organisation. Data were analysed using the framework method.

Results

In practice, tobacco cessation during pregnancy was not viewed as a priority in LMICs despite international recognition of the issue. In LMICs, factors including the recorded country-specific prevalence of tobacco use during pregnancy, availability of healthcare resources and the characteristics of potential interventions all affected the use of health economics evidence for policy making.

Conclusion

The scale of tobacco use among pregnant women might be greater than reported in LMICs. Health economics evidence produced in HICs has the potential to inform health policies in LMICs around tobacco cessation interventions if the country-specific circumstances are addressed. Economic evaluations of cessation interventions integrated into antenatal care with a household perspective would be especially relevant in LMICs.
Identifying factors that promote and limit the effective use of real-time patient experience feedback: a mixed-methods study in secondary care
Authors: Khanbhai Mustafa , Flott Kelsey , Manton Dave , Harrison-White Stephanie , Klaber Robert , Darzi Ara , Mayer Erik
Published: December 2021

Objectives

The Friends and Family Test (FFT) is commissioned by the National Health Service (NHS) in England to capture patient experience as a real-time feedback initiative for patient-centred quality improvement (QI). The aim of this study was to create a process map in order to identify the factors that promote and limit the effective use of FFT as a real-time feedback initiative for patient-centred QI.

Setting

This study was conducted at a large London NHS Trust. Services include accident and emergency, inpatient, outpatient and maternity, which routinely collect FFT patient experience data.

Participants

Healthcare staff and key stakeholders involved in FFT.

Interventions

Semi-structured interviews were conducted on 15 participants from a broad range of professional groups to evaluate their engagement with the FFT. Interview data were recorded, transcribed and analysed for using deductive thematic analysis.

Results

Concerns related to inefficiency in the flow of FFT data, lack of time to analyse FFT reports (with emphasis on high level reporting rather than QI), insufficient access to FFT reports and limited training provided to understand FFT reports for frontline staff. The sheer volume of data received was not amenable to manual thematic analysis resulting in inability to acquire insight from the free text. This resulted in staff ambivalence towards FFT as a near real-time feedback initiative.

Conclusions

The results state that there is too much FFT free text for meaningful analysis, and the output is limited to the provision of sufficient capacity and resource to analyse the data, without consideration of other options, such as text analytics and amending the data collection tool.
Are sexual health survey items understood as intended by African and Asian migrants to Australia? Methods, results and recommendations for qualitative pretesting
Authors: Vujcich Daniel , Roberts Meagan , Brown Graham , Durham Jo , Gu Zhihong , Hartley Lisa , Lobo Roanna , Mao Limin , Moro Piergiorgio , Mullens Amy B , Offord Baden , Oudih Enaam , Reid Alison
Published: December 2021

Introduction

More research and policy action are needed to improve migrant health in areas such as sexual health and blood-borne viruses (SHBBV). While Knowledge, Attitudes and Practice Surveys (KAPS) can inform planning, there are no SHBBV KAPS suitable for use across culturally and linguistically diverse contexts. This study pretests one instrument among people born in Sub-Saharan Africa, South-East and North-East Asia living in Australia.

Methods

Employees of multicultural organisations were trained to collect data over three rounds using a hybrid qualitative pretesting method. Two researchers independently coded data. Researchers made revisions to survey items after each round. Responses to feedback questions in the final survey were analysed.

Results

Sixty-two participants pretested the survey. Issues were identified in all three rounds of pretesting. Of the 77 final survey respondents who responded to a survey experience question, 21% agreed and 3% strongly agreed with the statement ‘I found it hard to understand some questions/words’.

Conclusion

It is essential to pretest SHBBV surveys in migrant contexts. We offer the following pretesting guidance: (1) large samples are needed in heterogeneous populations; (2) intersectionality must be considered; (3) it may be necessary to pretest English language surveys in the participants’ first language; (4) bilingual/bicultural workers must be adequately trained to collect data; (5) results need to be interpreted in the context of other factors, including ethics and research aims; and (6) pretesting should occur over multiple rounds.
Resilient performance in healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic (ResCOV): study protocol for a multilevel grounded theory study on adaptations, working conditions, ethics and patient safety
Authors: Bjurling‐Sjöberg Petronella , Göras Camilla , Lohela-Karlsson Malin , Nordgren Lena , Källberg Ann-Sofie , Castegren Markus , Condén Mellgren Emelie , Holmberg Mats , Ekstedt Mirjam
Published: December 2021

Introduction

Since early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged societies and revealed the built-in fragility and dependencies in complex adaptive systems, such as healthcare. The pandemic has placed healthcare providers and systems under unprecedented amounts of strain with potential consequences that have not yet been fully elucidated. This multilevel project aims to explore resilient performance with the purpose of improving the understanding of how healthcare has adapted during the pandemic’s rampage, the processes involved and the consequences on working conditions, ethics and patient safety.

Methods

An emerging explorative multilevel design based on grounded theory methodology is applied. Open and theoretical sampling is performed. Empirical data are gathered over time from written narratives and qualitative interviews with staff with different positions in healthcare organisations in two Swedish regions. The participants’ first-person stories are complemented with data from the healthcare organisations’ internal documents and national and international official documents.

Analysis

Experiences and expressions of resilient performance at different system levels and times, existing influencing risk and success factors at the microlevels, mesolevels and macrolevels and inter-relationships and consequences in different healthcare contexts, are explored using constant comparative analysis. Finally, the data are complemented with the current literature to develop a substantive theory of resilient performance during the pandemic.

Ethics and dissemination

This project is ethically approved and recognises the ongoing strain on the healthcare system when gathering data. The ongoing pandemic provides unique possibilities to study system-wide adaptive capacity across different system levels and times, which can create an important basis for designing interventions focusing on preparedness to manage current and future challenges in healthcare. Feedback is provided to the settings to enable pressing improvements. The findings will also be disseminated through scientific journals and conferences.
CCWORK protocol: a longitudinal study of Canadian Correctional Workers’ Well-being, Organizations, Roles and Knowledge
Authors: Ricciardelli Rosemary , Andres Elizabeth , Mitchell Meghan M , Quirion Bastien , Groll Diane , Adorjan Michael , Siqueira Cassiano Marcella , Shewmake James , Herzog-Evans Martine , Moran Dominique , Spencer Dale C , Genest Christine , Czarnuch Stephen , Gacek James , Heidi Cramm , Maier Katharina , Phoenix Jo , Weinrath Michael , MacDermid Joy , McKinnon Margaret , Haynes Stacy , Arnold Helen , Turner Jennifer , Eriksson Anna , Heber Alexandra , Anderson Gregory , MacPhee Renee , Carleton Nicholas
Published: December 2021

Introduction

Knowledge about the factors that contribute to the correctional officer’s (CO) mental health and well-being, or best practices for improving the mental health and well-being of COs, have been hampered by the dearth of rigorous longitudinal studies. In the current protocol, we share the approach used in the Canadian Correctional Workers’ Well-being, Organizations, Roles and Knowledge study (CCWORK), designed to investigate several determinants of health and well-being among COs working in Canada’s federal prison system.

Methods and analysis

CCWORK is a multiyear longitudinal cohort design (2018–2023, with a 5-year renewal) to study 500 COs working in 43 Canadian federal prisons. We use quantitative and qualitative data collection instruments (ie, surveys, interviews and clinical assessments) to assess participants’ mental health, correctional work experiences, correctional training experiences, views and perceptions of prison and prisoners, and career aspirations. Our baseline instruments comprise two surveys, one interview and a clinical assessment, which we administer when participants are still recruits in training. Our follow-up instruments refer to a survey, an interview and a clinical assessment, which are conducted yearly when participants have become COs, that is, in annual ‘waves’.

Ethics and dissemination

CCWORK has received approval from theResearch Ethics Board of the Memorial University of Newfoundland(File No. 20190481). Participation is voluntary, and we will keep all responses confidential. We will disseminate our research findings through presentations, meetings and publications (e.g., journal articles and reports). Among CCWORK’s expected scientific contributions, we highlight a detailed view of the operational, organizational and environmental stressors impacting CO mental health and well-being, and recommendations to prison administrators for improving CO well-being.
Efficacy and safety of phacotrabeculectomy versus phacogoniotomy in advanced primary angle-closure glaucoma: study protocol for a multicentre non-inferiority randomised controlled trial (PVP Study)
Authors: Song Yunhe , Song Wulian , Zhang Yi , Zhang Hengli , Xiao Meichun , Zhao Xiaohuan , Lv Aiguo , Yan Xiaowei , Lu Ping , Zhu Xiaomin , Gao Xinbo , Hu Kun , Zhang Yingzhe , Liang Xiaohong , Zhang Xi , Tang Guangxian , Lu Lan , Zhou Minwen , Fan Sujie , Xie Lin , Jin Ling , Tang Li , Yuan Huiping , Zhang Xiulan
Published: December 2021

Introduction

Primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG) has a high prevalence and blinding rate across Asia. The first-line treatment of PACG is surgery, and phacotrabeculectomy remains the mainstream surgery for advanced PACG. However, it may cause vision-threatening complications with long learning curve. Minimally invasive glaucoma surgery has been gradually used in PACG combined with cataract surgery and achieved efficacy without excessive injury, of which goniotomy is the most commonly performed. Therefore, this study aimed to conduct a multicentre, non-inferiority randomised controlled clinical trial to compare the efficacy and safety of phacotrabeculectomy versus phacogoniotomy in advanced PACG.

Methods and analysis

This is a non-inferiority multicentre randomised controlled trial and will be conducted at eight ophthalmic departments and institutes in China. 124 patients with advanced PACG will be enrolled and randomised to undergo phacotrabeculectomy or phacogoniotomy. Comprehensive ophthalmic examinations will be performed before and after the surgery. The primary outcome is the change of intraocular pressure at 12 months after surgery compared with the baseline intraocular pressure. An extended follow-up period of 36 months will be required. Cumulative success rate of surgery, intraoperative and postoperative complications, and number of anti-glaucomatous medications will also be compared between the groups as secondary outcomes.

Ethics and dissemination

Ethical approval has been obtained from the ethical committee of Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, China (ID: 2021KYPJ090) and all subcentres. All the participants will be required to provide written informed consent. The results will be disseminated through scientific meetings and published in peer-reviewed journals.

Trial registration number

NCT04878458.
Emerging spectrum of post-COVID-19 syndrome
Authors: Kunal Shekhar , Madan Manu , Tarke Chandrakant , Gautam Dinesh Kumar , Kinkar Jiwan Shriram , Gupta Kashish , Agarwal Ritu , Mittal Shruti , Sharma Shashi Mohan
Published: December 2021

‘Post-COVID-19 syndrome’ refers to symptoms in the convalescent phase following initial COVID-19 infection. This term encompasses a wide array of presentation involving lungs, heart and the neuromuscular system. Pulmonary manifestations include post-COVID-19 fibrosis, which is akin to post acute respiratory distress syndrome fibrosis and may reflect the permanent damage to the lungs following an initial bout of infection. Cardiovascular system is often involved, and the presentation can be in terms of acute coronary syndrome, myocarditis and heart failure. Clinical manifestations are often varied and non-specific, which entails a detailed workup and a multidisciplinary approach. Post-COVID-19 syndrome adds to the overall disease morbidity and leads to a prolonged hospital stay, greater healthcare utilisation and loss of productivity marring the country's dwindling economy. Thus, it is imperative that post-COVID-19 syndrome be prevented and identified early followed by a prompt treatment.
Influence of medical trainee sleep pattern (chronotype) on burn-out and satisfaction with work schedules: a multicentre observational study
Authors: Gohar Ashraf A , Knauert Melissa , Kalot Mohamad A , Khan Akram , Sider Darby , Javed Muhammad Ali , Wooldridge David , Eck Leigh , Buckhold Fred , Colaco Brendon , Bhat Abid , Castillo Dubier Matos , Newman Ross , Mustafa Reem A
Published: December 2021

Background

Medical trainees’ work schedule is designed to cover duties without consideration of differences in circadian rhythms during a 24-hour period (chronotype).

Objective

To explore chronotype variation among medical trainees and understand its association with burn-out and schedule satisfaction.

Methods

In a multicentre observational study, we conducted two surveys between 1 October 2018 and 1 April 2019. Trainees from nine centres across the USA participated. We measured burn-out using Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), and trainee chronotype using the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ).

Results

324 (32%) out of 1012 responded to our survey. Participants were 51% female and had a mean age of 30.8 years. Most participants had an intermediate MEQ type (65%). A large proportion of participants had burn-out on at least one of three tested MBI scales (62%); 5% of participants had burn-out on all three MBI scales. More participants with evening MEQ type had burn-out (66%) compared with morning MEQ type (55%), however, the results were not statically significant (p=0.294). Overall satisfaction with work shifts was 6.5 (95% CI 6.3 to 6.7), with higher satisfaction with day shift 7.7 (95% CI 7.5 to 7.9) and lowest satisfaction with overnight 24-hour call 3.5 (95% CI 3.2 to 3.9). Satisfaction was lower in trainees with burn-out 6.0 (95% CI 5.7 to 6.4), (p<0.001). In the follow-up survey, burn-out was present in at least one scale in 64% compared with 60% of respondents in the initial survey.

Conclusion

Burn-out is prevalent among medical trainees. Improving alignment between trainee preferences may improve performance, reduce human errors and burn-out.
Existence of knowledge silos in the adult blunt cerebrovascular injury literature
Authors: Schnurman Zane , Chagoya Gustavo , Jansen Jan O , Harrigan Mark R
Published: December 2021

Background

Blunt cerebrovascular injuries (BCVI) remain a significant source of disability and mortality among trauma patients. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether knowledge silos exist in the overall BCVI literature.

Methods

An object-oriented programmatic script written in Python programming language was used to extract and categorize articles and references on the topic of BCVI. Additionally, each BCVI article was searched for by digital object identifier in the other BCVI references to build a network analysis and visualize topic reference patterns. Analyses were performed using Stata V.14.2 (StataCorp).

Results

A total of 306 articles with 10 282 references were included for analysis. Of these, 24% (74) were published in neurosurgery journals, 45% (137) were published in trauma journals, and 31% (95) were published in a journal of another specialty. Similar proportions were found when categorized by author departmental affiliation. Trauma surgery authors disproportionately referenced articles in the trauma literature, compared with neurosurgeons (73.5% vs. 48.0%, p<0.0001), and other authors. The biggest factor influencing reference proportions was the specialty of the publishing journal. Finally, a network analysis revealed that there are more trauma BCVI articles, and there are more frequently cited trauma BCVI articles by all specialties.

Conclusions

This study revealed the existence of a one-way knowledge silo in the BCVI literature. However, a robust preference by both trauma and neurosurgery to cite trauma references when publishing in trauma journals may indicate a possible conscious curating of citations by authors to increase the likelihood of publication. These observations highlight the need for an active role by journal editors, peer reviewers, and authors to actively foster diversity of citations and cross-specialty collaboration to improve dissemination of information between these specialties.

Level of evidence

Level IV. Observational study.
Primordial big bang nucleosynthesis and generalized uncertainty principle
Authors: Luciano Giuseppe Gaetano
Published: December 2021

The Generalized Uncertainty Principle (GUP) naturally emerges in several quantum gravity models, predicting the existence of a minimal length at Planck scale. Here, we consider the quadratic GUP as a semiclassical approach to thermodynamic gravity and constrain the deformation parameter by using observational bounds from Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and primordial abundances of the light elements $${}^4 He, D, {}^7 Li$$

4

H
e
,
D
,

7

L
i

. We show that our result fits with most of existing bounds on $$\beta $$
β
derived from other cosmological studies.
Assessing woody vegetation recovery in the Rayas River following the eruption of the Chaitén Volcano in 2008
Authors: Ulloa Héctor , Mazzorana Bruno , Iroumé Andrés , Paula Susana
Published: December 2021

We studied the recovery of the woody vegetation in a segment of the Rayas River, which drains the Chaitén Volcano, in southern Chile. Data collection in the river corridor was performed to assess the regeneration rates of the colonizing vegetation within the river corridor, to investigate the site-specific regeneration modes (i.e. with respect to the different morphological units), to determine the species composition and to observe potential similarities with the regeneration process on hillslopes (i.e. outside the river corridor). We first performed a sampling of the shrub and tree vegetation regenerating in the Forest adjacent to the study segment. Further sampling efforts were executed on Islands, High bars, the Floodplain, and in association with Wood jams. Results show that 9 years after the volcano's last eruption, pre-eruption remnant Islands and the Floodplain exhibited abundant regeneration, with the highest density of recruits and species richness. In addition, a clear difference was observed between the river corridor and the forest, both in the characteristics of the plants that were regenerating as well as in the species composition. Finally, the vegetation that has re-established after the eruption has not yet acquired the capacity to play a stabilizing role in the fluvial corridor. New insights are provided on reforestation patterns at sites impacted by large infrequent disturbances.
A Late Triassic vegetation record from the Huangshanjie Formation, Junggar Basin, China: possible evidence for the Carnian Pluvial Episode
Authors: Peng Jungang , Slater Sam M. , Vajda Vivi
Published: December 2021

The Carnian Pluvial Episode (CPE;
c.
234–232 million years ago) is characterized by an accelerated hydrological cycle, global warming and a period of elevated biotic turnover. Using spores and pollen, we reconstruct vegetation and climate changes through a Carnian–Norian (Upper Triassic) interval of the Huangshanjie Formation from the Junggar Basin, China. Four palynofloras were identified, representing distinct vegetation communities. Among these palynofloras, we observed a prominent shift from a conifer-dominated climax forest community, with common ginkgophytes and bennettites, to a fern-dominated community, suggestive of an environmental perturbation. We interpret this change as a regional shift in vegetation, likely caused by increased humidity, consistent with the CPE. Our records represent the first indication of a possible CPE-induced vegetation response in the Junggar Basin and highlight how this event likely affected floral communities of inland Laurasia.
Truncated Models for Probabilistic Weighted Retrieval
Authors: Paik Jiaul H. , Agrawal Yash , Rishi Sahil , Shah Vaishal
Published: December 2021

Existing probabilistic retrieval models do not restrict the domain of the random variables that they deal with. In this article, we show that the upper bound of the normalized term frequency (
tf
) from the relevant documents is much smaller than the upper bound of the normalized
tf
from the whole collection. As a result, the existing models suffer from two major problems: (i) the domain mismatch causes data modeling error, (ii) since the outliers have very large magnitude and the retrieval models follow
tf
hypothesis, the combination of these two factors tends to overestimate the relevance score. In an attempt to address these problems, we propose novel weighted probabilistic models based on truncated distributions. We evaluate our models on a set of large document collections. Significant performance improvement over six existing probabilistic models is demonstrated.
Personalized and Explainable Employee Training Course Recommendations: A Bayesian Variational Approach
Authors: Wang Chao , Zhu Hengshu , Wang Peng , Zhu Chen , Zhang Xi , Chen Enhong , Xiong Hui
Published: December 2021

As a major component of strategic talent management, learning and development (L&D) aims at improving the individual and organization performances through planning tailored training for employees to increase and improve their skills and knowledge. While many companies have developed the learning management systems (LMSs) for facilitating the online training of employees, a long-standing important issue is how to achieve personalized training recommendations with the consideration of their needs for future career development. To this end, in this article, we present a focused study on the explainable personalized online course recommender system for enhancing employee training and development. Specifically, we first propose a novel end-to-end hierarchical framework, namely Demand-aware Collaborative Bayesian Variational Network (DCBVN), to jointly model both the employees’ current competencies and their career development preferences in an explainable way. In DCBVN, we first extract the latent interpretable representations of the employees’ competencies from their skill profiles with autoencoding variational inference based topic modeling. Then, we develop an effective demand recognition mechanism for learning the personal demands of career development for employees. In particular, all the above processes are integrated into a unified Bayesian inference view for obtaining both accurate and explainable recommendations. Furthermore, for handling the employees with sparse or missing skill profiles, we develop an improved version of DCBVN, called the
Demand-aware Collaborative Competency Attentive Network (DCCAN) framework
, by considering the connectivity among employees. In DCCAN, we first build two employee competency graphs from learning and working aspects. Then, we design a graph-attentive network and a multi-head integration mechanism to infer one’s competency information from her neighborhood employees. Finally, we can generate explainable recommendation results based on the competency representations. Extensive experimental results on real-world data clearly demonstrate the effectiveness and the interpretability of both of our frameworks, as well as their robustness on sparse and cold-start scenarios.
Review—Carbon Electrodes in Magnesium Sulphur Batteries: Performance Comparison of Electrodes and Future Directions
Authors: Chadha Utkarsh , Bhardwaj Preetam , Padmanaban Sanjeevikumar , Kabra Dikshita , Pareek Garima , Naik Samriddhi , Singh Mahika , Banavoth Murali , Sonar Prashant , Singh Shalu , Latha Srinivasan , Ray Arun Kumar , Badoni Badrish , Rao Nalamala Srinivasa
Published: December 2021

Magnesium-sulfur batteries have developed as a new and emerging technology benefiting from high energy density, low cost, reasonable safety, and excellent energy storage due to the high natural abundance of electrochemically active materials and low dendrite formation in magnesium. Here we report various enhancement strategies and also focus on using carbon electrodes, coating layers of carbon over the cathodes, carbon nanotubes, reduced graphene oxide, graphene-carbon nanotubes in magnesium-sulfur batteries because of its high conductivity and improved overall electrochemical functioning of the magnesium-sulfur battery. However, developing these batteries remains challenging due to significant problems caused during theirs operation, such as self-discharge, Mg-anode passivation, insufficient reversible capacity, low sulfur cathode utilization, and rapid capacity loss. We acknowledge the synthesis of non-nucleophilic electrolytes, both situ characterizations of anode or electrode reactions and kinetics, strategic development of sulfur-based cathodes and carbon electrode in Mg–S battery as a critical factor toward improvement in cycle performance, specific capacity, overpotential and working voltage, and confinement of Mg-PS polysulfide, to limit the shuttling of polysulphides, steady accumulation and desolvation of magnesium divalent ions to create a magnesium-conducting surface electrode interphase(SEI). We also present a detailed description of the Mg–S battery, its challenges, future research directions for the practical implementation of the various developed electrolyte and electrodes.
Electrochemical Formation of Elemental Boron in LiCl–KCl–KBF4 at 723 K
Authors: Katasho Yumi , Oishi Tetsuo
Published: December 2021

The electrochemical reduction behavior of B(III) ions was investigated in LiCl–KCl–KBF4 at 723 K. The results of cyclic voltammetry using Mo, Ag, and Ni electrodes suggested the reduction of B(III) to B(0) at potentials of 1.5 V or at a more negative potential (vs Li+/Li). Spherical electrodeposits were observed after potentiostatic electrolysis at 1.1–1.5 V. From the results of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning transmission electron microscope/energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (STEM/EDX), and selected area electron diffraction, it was concluded that the spherical electrodeposits obtained at 1.1 V were elemental amorphous boron. The purity of the products was 85 wt% boron, as determined by STEM/EDX analysis. The current efficiency of elemental B electrodeposition was 96.2% in this system. The formation of Ni2B at 1.1–1.9 V was indicated by X-ray diffraction, although it was not the main product. These results indicate that the presence of B(III) ions in a melt causes a fatal adverse effect on the recycling process of Nd–Fe–B magnets due to the reduction of B(III) ions. Further, the possibility of reducing the energy and cost of the elemental boron production process was discussed.
Cells and mediators of inflammation as effectors of epithelial repair in the inflamed intestine
Authors: Crifo Bianca , MacNaughton Wallace K.
Published: December 2021

Mucosal and histological healing have become the gold standards for assessing the efficacy of therapy in patients living with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Despite these being the accepted goals in therapy, the mechanisms that underlie the healing of the mucosa after an inflammatory insult are not well understood, and many patients fail to meet this therapeutic endpoint. Here we review the emerging evidence that mediators (e.g., prostaglandins, cytokines, proteases, reactive oxygen, and nitrogen species) and innate immune cells (e.g., neutrophils and monocytes/macrophages), that are involved in the initiation of the inflammatory response, are also key players in the mechanisms underlying mucosal healing to resolve chronic inflammation in the colon. The dual function mediators comprise an inflammation/repair program that returns damaged tissue to homeostasis. Understanding details of the dual mechanisms of these mediators and cells may provide the basis for the development of drugs that can help to stimulate epithelial repair in patients affected by IBD.
MRSA-induced endothelial permeability and acute lung injury are attenuated by FTY720 S-phosphonate
Authors: Wang Lichun , Letsiou Eleftheria , Wang Huashan , Belvitch Patrick , Meliton Lucille N. , Brown Mary E. , Bandela Mounica , Chen Jiwang , Garcia Joe G. N. , Dudek Steven M.
Published: December 2021

Disruption of the lung endothelial barrier is a hallmark of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), for which no effective pharmacologic treatments exist. Prior work has demonstrated that FTY720 S-phosphonate (Tys), an analog of sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) and FTY720, exhibits potent endothelial cell (EC) barrier protective properties. In this study, we investigated the in vitro and in vivo efficacy of Tys against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a frequent bacterial cause of ARDS. Tys-protected human lung EC from barrier disruption induced by heat-killed MRSA (HK-MRSA) or staphylococcal α-toxin and attenuated MRSA-induced cytoskeletal changes associated with barrier disruption, including actin stress fiber formation and loss of peripheral VE-cadherin and cortactin. Tys-inhibited Rho and myosin light chain (MLC) activation after MRSA and blocked MRSA-induced NF-κB activation and release of the proinflammatory cytokines, IL-6 and IL-8. In vivo, intratracheal administration of live MRSA in mice caused significant vascular leakage and leukocyte infiltration into the alveolar space. Pre- or posttreatment with Tys attenuated MRSA-induced lung permeability and levels of alveolar neutrophils. Posttreatment with Tys significantly reduced levels of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) VCAM-1 and plasma IL-6 and KC induced by MRSA. Dynamic intravital imaging of mouse lungs demonstrated Tys attenuation of HK-MRSA-induced interstitial edema and neutrophil infiltration into lung tissue. Tys did not directly inhibit MRSA growth or viability in vitro. In conclusion, Tys inhibits lung EC barrier disruption and proinflammatory signaling induced by MRSA in vitro and attenuates acute lung injury induced by MRSA in vivo. These results support the potential utility of Tys as a novel ARDS therapeutic strategy.
A Review of Asphaltic Crack Healing Approaches and Its Mechanism
Authors: Haikal Mohd Ghazali Mohd Fahmi , Mohd Hasan Mohd Rosli , Seman Anasyida Abu , Dorett Dillon Dipagk , Mukhtar Najib , Jaya Ramadhansyah Putra
Published: December 2021

The concept of self‐healing has an excellent potential to extend the life of asphalt pavement. This technology can be considered a sustainable technology due to its ability to reduce the utilization of asphalt mixture production materials used for road maintenance, polluting the environment. It is a complex physicochemical process wherein the molecular diffusion healing mechanisms in asphalt materials are inspired by self‐healing polymeric systems, which describe the self‐recovery behaviors based on polymer chain dynamics. Several methods have been adopted to improve the self‐healing of asphalt, one of which is induction healing. It is the process of heating the asphalt pavement incorporated with an electrically conductive material such as steel fibers, wherein asphalt healing is undertaken via electric field induction. Induction healing via induction heating occurs with eddy current where the electric current flows within the conductive fibers when magnetically susceptible under the magnetic field. Microwave heating is another self‐healing method similar to induction in which magnetic radiation is employed to treat asphalt mixtures instead of the electric field‐induced induction healing processes. The conductive fibers can absorb the electromagnetic (EM) waves to convert them into heat energy through doublet polarization, interface polarization, and electrical conduction dissipation when placed in the microwave field. These two types of heating systems, which are induction heating and microwave heating, are compared and discussed thoroughly in this study. Finally, some recommendations for the future development of self‐healing asphalt are proposed.
Research on Cooperative Optimization Control Strategy of Multitype Energy Sources
Authors: Liu Renliang , Chen Yong , Tan Zhe , Liu Chao , Yang Kun , Pei Liang
Published: December 2021

With the increasing consumption of energy, the efficiency of energy utilization urgently needs to be further improved. At present, the coordinated optimization control of the integrated energy system of multiple types of cooling, heating, and power equipment is an important way to improve the comprehensive energy efficiency of the regional power grid and reduce the operating cost of the power grid. Aiming at this scenario, this paper establishes a fine energy storage model by analyzing the uncertainty of wind power output and considering the influence of low temperature and other conditions on the energy storage device in the energy storage side. On the load side, the influence of comprehensive demand response of electricity and heat on system operation is analyzed, and a combined cold, heat, and electricity supply system including renewable energy and energy storage device is established. Aiming at the optimal total cost of the integrated energy cooling and heating triple power system collaborative optimization control, the crow search algorithm is used to iteratively optimize the configuration model of the triple power system. The four models are considered in the article include groundless heat pump and energy storage, excluding joint demand response, including ground source heat pump and traditional energy storage model, excluding joint demand response, including ground source heat pump and fine energy storage model, excluding joint demand response, including ground source heat pump and fine energy storage model, taking into account the joint demand response. The simulation results show that the cooperative optimization control strategy of the combined cooling, heating, and power system with renewable energy and fine energy storage device model can enhance the system’s schedulable space, improve the comprehensive energy utilization efficiency, and have considerable economic benefits.
Evaluation of Antidiabetic Properties of the Leaves Extract of Ficus vallis-choudae Delile in a Model of Type 2 Diabetes Induced by High-Fat Diet and Streptozotocin
Authors: Kolefer Kilenma , Miaffo David , Ponka Roger
Published: December 2021

This work aimed to determine the phytochemical composition of the aqueous extract of leaves of Ficus vallis-choudae (AEFV) and to evaluate its antidiabetic properties on a model of type 2 diabetes induced by a high-fat diet (HFD) and a low dose of streptozotocin (STZ). The phytochemical analysis was carried out according to several methods using the standard of each bioactive compound. Type 2 diabetes was induced by feeding rats for 4 weeks with HFD lard followed by injection of a low dose of STZ (35 mg/kg). After induction, the rats were divided into groups and treated for 28 days with metformin (40 mg/kg) and the AEFV at doses of 110, 220, and 440 mg/kg. The results showed that the AEFV contains saponins, flavonoids, tannins, and total polyphenols. In addition, it dramatically reduced body mass, body mass index (BMI), atherogenic index (AI), coronary heart risk index (CRI), and abdominal fat and increased homeostatic model assessment of β-cell function (HOMA-β), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) levels, and cardioprotective index (CI). The AEFV also lowered blood glucose levels, insulinemia, homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) index, and total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoproteins cholesterol (LDL-c), and very-low-density lipoproteins cholesterol (VLDL-c) levels. There was a decrease in alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activity and in urea and serum creatinine levels following the administration of AEFV. The AEFV caused increased superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities, reduced glutathione (GSH) levels, and decreased malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in the liver, kidneys, and heart of rats. The AEFV has hypoglycemic, antioxidant, and cardioprotective properties, thus validating its use in traditional medicine for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and its complications.
Identification and Validation of the lncRNA BACE1-AS as Immune-Related Influencing Factor in Tumorigenesis following Pan-Carcinoma Analysis
Authors: Wang Mengmeng , Chen Di , Xu Yushuang , Qiu Mengjun , Jiang Xin , Xiong Zhifan
Published: December 2021

Background. The lncRNA BACE1-AS was identified as a plasma molecular marker in the early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, but its role in tumors remains poorly defined. Methods. The expression patterns, genomic mutation, and prognostic significance of BACE1-AS in pan-cancers were compared by analyzing 32 types of tumors from The Cancer Genome Atlas and cBioPortal databases. The relationships between BACE1-AS expression levels and the degree of immune cell infiltration, immune components, and immune-related genes were explored. The possible molecular mechanisms of BACE1-AS in tumors were explored using gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA). Finally, the role of BACE1-AS in hepatocellular carcinoma was confirmed via quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Results. BACE1-AS expression levels were significantly upregulated in LIHC, GBM, KIRC, CHOL, STAD, KICH, COAD, and PRAD. Higher expression levels of BACE1-AS were associated with worse overall survival in patients with HNSC and LIHC, while the opposite was found in PCPG and THCA. The overall mutation rate of BACE1-AS in pan-cancer was only approximately 0.9%, and it occurred mainly in uveal melanoma and uterine carcinoma. Generally, BACE1-AS expression was negatively correlated with the immune microenvironment. BACE1-AS expression was mainly related to naïve B cells, activated memory CD4 T cells, monocytes, M1 macrophages, M2 macrophages, and resting mast cells. The potential mechanisms of BACE1-AS in tumors were mainly via regulating the activities of B cell-mediated immunity, immune response regulating cell surface receptor signaling, RNA binding in posttranscriptional gene silencing, B cell receptor signaling pathways, and immune receptor activity. Finally, the qRT-PCR results confirmed that the expression levels of BACE1-AS in hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines were upregulated. Conclusions. Overall, our results suggest that BACE1-AS is associated with the expression, prognosis, and rate of immune cell infiltration of most tumors. Thus, BACE1-AS may be a potential target for immunotherapies aimed at improving cancer patient outcomes.
A Novel Methodology for Calculating Crack Opening Stress under Tension‐Compression Cyclic Load
Authors: Zhang Lin , Wei Xiaohui
Published: December 2021

Crack closure model has been used in several applications on the prediction of fatigue crack growth life, with expression of crack opening stress often serving as milestones. A typical difficulty in calculating the crack opening stress is the phenomenon of crack closure caused by the compressive load effect. Compressive load effect, resulting in the change of residual stress status at the unloading stage and the decrease of crack opening stress, is a long‐term challenge for predicting fatigue crack growth life. We propose the expression of crack opening stress to predict fatigue crack growth life based on the analysis of compact tensile specimen with elastoplastic element method. It combines the characteristics of material and load to deal with the phenomenon of crack closure and uses stress ratio and normalized maximum applied load variable to construct the expression of crack opening stress. In the study of tensile‐compression fatigue crack growth experiments, the proposed expression is proved to improve, by comparative analysis, the predictive ability on the whole range of experiment data. The novel expression is accurate and simple. Consequently, it is conducive to calculate the crack opening stress under tension‐compression load.
Optimal Selection of the Cluster Head in Wireless Sensor Networks by Combining the Multiobjective Genetic Algorithm and the Gravitational Search Algorithm
Authors: Nabavi Seyed Reza , Ostovari Moghadam Vahid , Yahyaei Feriz Hendi Mohammad , Ghasemi Amirhossein
Published: December 2021

With the development of various applications of wireless sensor networks, they have been widely used in different areas. These networks are established autonomously and easily in most environments without any infrastructure and collect information of environment phenomenon for proper performance and analysis of events and transmit them to the base stations. The wireless sensor networks are comprised of various sensor nodes that play the role of the sensor node and the relay node in relationship with each other. On the other hand, the lack of infrastructure in these networks constrains the sources such that the nodes are supplied by a battery of limited energy. Considering the establishment of the network in impassable areas, it is not possible to recharge or change the batteries. Thus, energy saving in these networks is an essential challenge. Considering that the energy consumption rate while sensing information and receiving information packets from another node is constant, the sensor nodes consume maximum energy while performing data transmission. Therefore, the routing methods try to reduce energy consumption based on organized approaches. One of the promising solutions for reducing energy consumption in wireless sensor networks is to cluster the nodes and select the cluster head based on the information transmission parameters such that the average energy consumption of the nodes is reduced and the network lifetime is increased. Thus, in this study, a novel optimization approach has been presented for clustering the wireless sensor networks using the multiobjective genetic algorithm and the gravitational search algorithm. The multiobjective genetic algorithm based on reducing the intracluster distances and reducing the energy consumption of the cluster nodes is used to select the cluster head, and the nearly optimal routing based on the gravitational search algorithm is used to transfer information between the cluster head nodes and the sink node. The implementation results show that considering the capabilities of the multiobjective genetic algorithm and the gravitational search algorithm, the proposed method has improved energy consumption, efficiency, data delivery rate, and information packet transmission rate compared to the previous methods.
Transneuronal Degeneration in the Visual Pathway of Rats following Acute Retinal Ischemia/Reperfusion
Authors: Fu Yanyan , Hu Tu , Zhang Qianyue , Meng Shuhan , Lu Ying , Xiang Aiqun , Yin Yewei , Li Yuanjun , Song Jiayu , Wen Dan
Published: December 2021

The maintenance of visual function not only requires the normal structure and function of neurons but also depends on the effective signal propagation of synapses in visual pathways. Synapses emerge alterations of plasticity in the early stages of neuronal damage and affect signal transmission, which leads to transneuronal degeneration. In the present study, rat model of acute retinal ischemia/reperfusion (RI/R) was established to observe the morphological changes of neuronal soma and synapses in the inner plexiform layer (IPL), outer plexiform layer (OPL), and dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) after retinal injury. We found transneuronal degeneration in the visual pathways following RI/R concretely presented as edema and mitochondrial hyperplasia of neuronal soma in retina, demyelination, and heterotypic protein clusters of axons in LGN. Meanwhile, small immature synapses formed, and there are asynchronous changes between pre- and postsynaptic components in synapses. This evidence demonstrated that transneuronal degeneration exists in RI/R injury, which may be one of the key reasons for the progressive deterioration of visual function after the injury is removed.
RAEF: An Imputation Framework Based on a Gated Regulator Autoencoder for Incomplete IIoT Time‐Series Data
Authors: Zhao Jianyong , Qiu Jiachen , Sun Danfeng , Chen Baiping
Published: December 2021

The number of intelligent applications available for IIoT environments is growing, but when the time‐series data these applications rely on are incomplete, their performance suffers. Unfortunately, incomplete data are all too frequent to a phenomenon in the world of IIoT. A common workaround is to use imputation. However, the current methods are largely designed to reconstruct a single missing pattern, where a robust and flexible imputation framework would be able to handle many different missing patterns. Hence, the framework presented in this study, RAEF, is capable of processing multiple missing patterns. Based on a recurrent autoencoder, RAEF houses a novel neuron structure, called a gated regulator, which reduces the negative impact of different missing patterns. In a comparison of the state‐of‐the‐art time‐series imputation frameworks at a range of different missing rates, RAEF yielded fewer errors than all its counterparts.