bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Chicken or Porcine Aminopeptidase N Mediates Cellular Entry of Pseudoviruses Carrying Spike Glycoprotein from the Avian Deltacoronaviruses HKU11, HKU13, and HKU17
Authors: Liang Qi-Zhang , Wang Bin , Ji Chun-Miao , Hu Feifan , Qin Pan , Feng Yaoyu , Tang Yan-Dong , Huang Yao-Wei
Published: January 2023

The receptor usage of avian deltacoronaviruses (DCoVs) has not been investigated thus far, though porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) has been shown to utilize aminopeptidase N (APN) as a cell receptor. We report here that chicken or porcine APN also mediates cellular entry by three avian DCoV (HKU11, HKU13, and HKU17) spike pseudoviruses, and the S1 subunit of three avian DCoVs binds to APN
in vitro
and in the surface of avian and porcine cells.
Predicting the Next Superspreader
Authors: Chavez-Arroyo Alfredo , Bäumler Andreas J.
Published: January 2023

The spread of multidrug-resistant zoonotic pathogens, such as
Salmonella
, within livestock is of concern for food safety. The spread of
Salmonella
on the farm is escalated by superspreaders, which shed the pathogen at high numbers with their feces.
Erratum to: Several Articles in JETP Letters
Authors: Nikolaev N. N. , Bazhenov A. Yu. , Nikitina M. M. , Alodjants A. P. , Rizaev G. E. , Mokrousova D. V. , Pushkarev D. V. , Shipilo D. E. , Nikolaeva I. A. , Panov N. A. , Seleznev L. V. , Kosareva O. G. , Ionin A. A. , Makarov G. N.
Published: January 2023

An Erratum to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0021364022380027
Application of Pretrained Large Language Models in Embodied Artificial Intelligence
Authors: Kovalev A. K. , Panov A. I.
Published: January 2023

A feature of tasks in embodied artificial intelligence is that a query to an intelligent agent is formulated in natural language. As a result, natural language processing methods have to be used to transform the query into a format convenient for generating an appropriate action plan. There are two basic approaches to the solution of this problem. One is based on specialized models trained with particular instances of instructions translated into agent-executable format. The other approach relies on the ability of large language models trained with a large amount of unlabeled data to store common sense knowledge. As a result, such models can be used to generate an agent’s action plan in natural language without preliminary learning. This paper provides a detailed review of models based on the second approach as applied to embodied artificial intelligence tasks.
Loss Function Dynamics and Landscape for Deep Neural Networks Trained with Quadratic Loss
Authors: Nakhodnov M. S. , Kodryan M. S. , Lobacheva E. M. , Vetrov D. S.
Published: January 2023

Knowledge of the loss landscape geometry makes it possible to successfully explain the behavior of neural networks, the dynamics of their training, and the relationship between resulting solutions and hyperparameters, such as the regularization method, neural network architecture, or learning rate schedule. In this paper, the dynamics of learning and the surface of the standard cross-entropy loss function and the currently popular mean squared error (MSE) loss function for scale-invariant networks with normalization are studied. Symmetries are eliminated via the transition to optimization on a sphere. As a result, three learning phases with fundamentally different properties are revealed depending on the learning step on the sphere, namely, convergence phase, phase of chaotic equilibrium, and phase of destabilized learning. These phases are observed for both loss functions, but larger networks and longer learning for the transition to the convergence phase are required in the case of MSE loss.
Effect of sex and combat employment on musculoskeletal injuries and medical downgrading in trained military personnel: an observational cohort study
Authors: Wardle Sophie L , O'Leary T J , Jackson S , Greeves J P
Published: January 2023

Introduction

Following the opening of all combat roles to women across the UK Armed Forces, there is a requirement to understand the risk of injury to these female personnel. Women injure at a higher rate than men during basic military training, but fewer data are published from individuals who have passed military training.

Methods

A bespoke survey was designed to investigate differences in injury prevalence and medical downgrading between sexes and career employment groups (ie, job roles) in the UK Armed Forces.

Results

Questionnaire data were evaluated from 847 service personnel (87% men) employed incombatroles (Royal Marines, Infantry, Royal Armoured Corps, Royal Air Force Regiment (all men)) andnon-combatroles (Royal Regiment of Artillery, Corps of Royal Engineers, Royal Logistic Corps and Combat Service Support Corps who were attached to one of the participating units (men and women)). Women reported more total (OR 1.64 (95% CI: 1.03 to 2.59), p=0.035), lower limb (OR 1.92 (95% CI: 1.23 to 2.98), p=0.004) and hip (OR 2.99 (95% CI: 1.59 to 5.62), p<0.001) musculoskeletal injuries in the previous 12 months than men, but there were no sex differences in the prevalence of current or career medical downgrading due to musculoskeletal injury (both p>0.05). There were no differences in 12-month musculoskeletal injury prevalence between men in combat roles and men in non-combat roles (all p>0.05), but men in non-combat roles were more likely to be currently medically downgraded (OR 1.88 (95% CI: 1.27 to 2.78), p=0.001) and medically downgraded during their career (OR 1.49 (95% CI: 1.11 to 2.00), p=0.008) due to musculoskeletal injury than men in combat roles. More time in service and quicker 1.5-mile run times were associated with increased prevalence of total musculoskeletal injuries, and female sex was a predictor of hip injury.

Conclusions

Although women are at greater risk of injury than men, we have no evidence that combat employment is more injurious than non-combat employment. The prevention of hip injuries should form a specific focus of mitigation efforts for women.
Factors associated with mortality in congenital malformations of the gastrointestinal tract in a tertiary center in Senegal
Authors: Zeng Florent Tshibwid A , Mbaye Papa Alassane , Gueye Doudou , Seck Ndèye Fatou , Wellé Ibrahima Bocar , Niang Rosalie , Diedhiou Youssouph , Fall Mbaye , Ndoye Ndèye Aby , Sagna Aloïse , Ndour Oumar , Ngom Gabriel
Published: January 2023

Objective

Patients with congenital malformations (CMs) of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) have a very high mortality. However, the literature on the factors associated with mortality in these patients is scarce in sub-Saharan Africa. The aim of this study is to identify independent risk factors for mortality in patients with CMs of the GIT at our pediatric surgical department.

Methods

We conducted a retrospective analysis of cases with CMs of the GIT managed at a tertiary center from 2018 to 2021. Patients were subdivided into two groups based on the outcomes, and variables with a significant difference were analyzed by logistic regression.

Results

Our review included 226 patients, 63 of whom died (27.88%). Patient age ranged from 0 to 15 years. Taking into account statistical significance, mortality was more frequent in neonates than in older patients (57.30% vs 6.15%), in patients coming out of the Dakar area than in those from the Dakar area (43.75% vs 19.18%), in patients with abnormal prenatal ultrasound than in those with normal ultrasound (100% vs 26.67%), in premature children than in those born at term (78.57% vs 21.87%), in patients with an additional malformation than in those with an isolated malformation (69.23% vs 25.35%), and in those with intestinal, esophageal, duodenal and colonic atresia than in those with other diagnoses (100%, 89%, 56.25% and 50%, respectively). Referred patients died more than those who changed hospitals or came from home (55.29% vs 25% and 9.09%, respectively). On multivariable logistic regression, two independent factors of mortality were identified: presence of associated malformation [odds ratio (OR)=13.299; 95% Confidence interval (CI) 1.370 to 129.137] and diagnosis of esophageal atresia (OR=46.529; 95% CI 5.828 to 371.425).

Conclusion

The presence of an associated malformation or diagnosis of esophageal atresia increases mortality in patients with CMs of the GIT in our environment.
Approximate Nash Equilibria for Scheduling Game on Serial-Batching-Machines with Activation Cost
Authors: Zhang Long , Yu Jiguo , Zhang Yuzhong , Du Donglei
Published: January 2023

We consider the scheduling game with activation cost, where jobs as selfish agents compete for processing on serial-batching identical machines. Each job selects a machine (more precisely, a batch on a machine) for processing to minimize his disutility composed of the load of his machine and the fraction of activation cost. We claim that such a game may not admit any Nash equilibrium under the uniform sharing rule. We present an algorithm and prove that the schedule produced by the algorithm is a tight approximate Nash equilibria.
Transportation Problem Allowing Sending and Bringing Back
Authors: Asano Tetsuo
Published: January 2023

This paper considers a transportation problem on a weighted graph. The weights specify the amounts of commodities at nodes, which are positive if the amounts are stored at nodes and negative if the amounts are needed at nodes. To meet all demands we use vehicles, one at each node, with some loading capacity to and from neighbors. In a trip using a vehicle we can send commodities from a node to a neighbor along an edge and also bring back some other commodities from the neighbor.

In this paper we are interested in feasibility problem, which is to decide whether there is a single round of trips that meet all demands. We prove the feasibility problem is NP-complete even in the easiest case of a one-commodity transportation problem with unbounded capacity. We also present several different polynomial-time algorithms for other cases.
Efficacy and Safety of Glycyrrhizic Acid in Treatment of Autoimmune Hepatitis
Authors: Bi Xiaoyue , Yang Liu , Lin Yanjie , Deng Wen , Jiang Tingting , Zhang Lu , Lu Yao , Yi Wei , Xie Yao , Li Minghui
Published: January 2023

To compare the long-term efficacy and safety of glycyrrhizic acid preparation and hormone treatment in patients with autoimmune hepatitis, we enrolled 377 patients in a study that lasted from January 2009 to January 2020. After performing propensity score matching, we included 58 patients in the hormone group and 58 in the glycyrrhizic acid preparation group in statistical analysis. We then compared the ratio of sustained biochemical responses at 48 weeks after treatment. Adverse events, including some incidence of decompensated liver cirrhosis and liver cancer, were evaluated. The results showed that a total of 61.8% of treated patients achieved complete biochemical remission. The cumulative biochemical remission rate in the hormone group and glycyrrhizic acid preparation group showed no significant difference (62.3% vs. 60.7%, [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text]). At the end of follow-up, the total bile acid in the hormone group was significantly higher than that in the glycyrrhizic acid preparation group (8.9[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]mol/L vs. 5.6[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]mol/L, [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text]). The incidence of adverse reactions in the hormone group was significantly higher than that in the glycyrrhizic acid preparation group (31.03% vs. 15.52%, [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text]). In conclusion, compared with the hormone treatment, glycyrrhizic acid preparation might be a safe and effective treatment for autoimmune hepatitis.
Phenomenological implications of a magnetic 5th force
Authors: Krause Dennis E. , Bertaux Joseph , McNamara A. Meenakshi , Gruenwald John T. , Longman Andrew , Scarlett Carol Y. , Fischbach Ephraim
Published: January 2023

A 5th force coupling to baryon number [Formula: see text] has been proposed to account for the correlations between the acceleration differences [Formula: see text] of the samples studied in the Eötvös experiment, and the corresponding differences in the baryon-to-mass ratios [Formula: see text]. To date the Eötvös results have not been supported by modern experiments. Here, we investigate the phenomenological implications of a possible magnetic analog [Formula: see text] of the conventional 5th force electric field, [Formula: see text], arising from the Earth’s rotation. We demonstrate that, in the presence of couplings proportional to [Formula: see text], both the magnitude and direction of a possible 5th force field could be quite different from what would otherwise be expected and warrants further investigation.
Caching Hybrid Rotation: A Memory Access Optimization Method for CNN on FPGA
Authors: Dong Dong , Jiang Hongxu , Wei Xuekai
Published: January 2023

Custom computing architectures on field programmable gate array (FPGA) platforms are a viable solution to further accelerate convolutional neural network (CNN) inference. However, due to the large size feature map matrix data, the optimization of CNN feature maps storage computing on FPGA remains a challenge. To overcome these challenges, a FPGA-oriented memory access optimization method for CNN is proposed. Firstly, the feature map partition strategy is used to group the feature map efficiently. Second, the input and the output caching rotation methods are employed in adaptive memory access mode. Third, a caching hybrid rotation method is proposed to optimize memory access performance and can effectively reduce the access time of the CNN feature map. Experimental results based on SkyNet and VGG16 show that the inference speed of the proposed model is accelerated by 7.1 times compared with the previous conventional memory access optimization for CNN on FPGA. Through the evaluation of computational energy efficiency, our method can be improved by 6.4 times compared to the current typical accelerators.
Automated Priority Prediction for Bug Reports Using Comment Intensiveness Features and SMOTE Data Balancing
Authors: Dao Anh-Hien , Yang Cheng-Zen
Published: January 2023

The processing priorities for software bug reports are important for software maintenance. Predicting the priorities for bug reports is the subject of many software engineering studies. This study proposes a priority prediction method that uses comment intensiveness features and a Synthetic Minority Over-sampling Technique (SMOTE)-based data balancing scheme. Experiments use datasets for three open-source projects: Eclipse, Mozilla and OpenOffice. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is determined using five classification models: Multinomial Naïve Bayes, Support Vector Machines, Random Forest, Extra Trees and eXtreme Gradient Boosting. The results show that the CIS-SMOTE-based models achieve 0.6078 Precision, 0.4927 Recall, 0.4465 F1-score and 0.7836 Accuracy in priority perdition. The results also show that CIS-SMOTE-RF, CIS-SMOTE-ET and CIS-SMOTE-XGB outperform two advanced priority prediction approaches, eApp and cPur, in terms of all performance measures.
The average genus of oriented rational links with a given crossing number
Authors: Ray Dawn , Diao Yuanan
Published: January 2023

In this paper, we enumerate the number of oriented rational knots and the number of oriented rational links with any given crossing number and minimum genus. This allows us to obtain a precise formula for the average minimal genus of oriented rational knots and links with any given crossing number.
Analytical Model for Thermoelastic Dissipation in Oscillations of Toroidal Micro/Nanorings in the Context of Guyer–Krumhansl Heat Equation
Authors: Jalil Abduladheem Turki , AbdulAmeer Sabah Auda , Hassan Yaser Mohammed , Mohammed Ibrahim Mourad , Ali Malak Jaafar , Ward Zahraa Hassan , Ghasemi Saeid
Published: January 2023

Thermoelastic dissipation or thermoelastic damping (TED) can restrict the quality factor of micro/nanoring resonators seriously. This paper employs the non-Fourier model of Guyer–Krumhansl (GK model) to render a size-dependent formulation and analytical solution for approximating the amount of TED in micro/nanorings with circular cross-section by inclusion of nonlocal and single-phase-lagging effects. To fulfill this objective, the equation of heat conduction in the ring is first established according to GK model. Then, by placing the temperature distribution obtained from the heat conduction equation in the TED relation defined on the basis of thermal energy approach, an expression in the form of infinite series is given for TED, which includes non-classical parameters of GK model. Finally, after checking the validity of the model through a comparative study, several simulation results are prepared to emphasize on the influence of different factors such as non-classical parameters of GK model, geometry of ring, vibrational mode and ambient temperature on TED value. Numerical examples reveal that the mentioned factors along with the two- or three-dimensional heat transfer (2D or 3D) model have major influences on TED variations.
Relative homological dimensions in recollements of extriangulated categories
Authors: Zhang Yafeng , Zhao Tiwei , He Jing
Published: January 2023

Let [Formula: see text] be a recollement of extriangulated categories with a negative first extension and [Formula: see text] be a generative subcategory of [Formula: see text]. We prove that [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] have a generative subcategory, respectively. Using these subcategories, we obtain proper classes of [Formula: see text]-triangles. Moreover, we compare [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] with respect to the [Formula: see text]-global dimensions of [Formula: see text] under mild conditions. In particular, we show that the finiteness of the [Formula: see text]-global dimensions of extriangulated categories is invariant with respect to the recollements of extriangulated categories. As an application, these results generalize the work by Hu-Yao in triangulated categories.
Depolarizing metrics in the biomedical field: Vision enhancement and classification of biological tissues
Authors: Canabal-Carbia Mónica , Van Eeckhout Albert , Rodríguez Carla , González-Arnay Emilio , Estévez Irene , Gil José J. , García-Caurel Enrique , Ossikovski Razvigor , Campos Juan , Lizana Angel
Published: January 2023

Polarimetry encompasses a collection of optical techniques broadly used in a variety of fields. Nowadays, such techniques have provided their suitability in the biomedical field through the study of the polarimetric response of biological samples (retardance, dichroism and depolarization) by measuring certain polarimetric observables. One of these features, depolarization, is mainly produced by scattering on samples, which is a predominant effect in turbid media as biological tissues. In turn, retardance and dichroic effects are produced by tissue anisotropies and can lead to depolarization too. Since depolarization is a predominant effect in tissue samples, we focus on studying different depolarization metrics for biomedical applications. We report the suitability of a set of depolarizing observables, the indices of polarimetric purity (IPPs), for biological tissue inspection. We review some results where we demonstrate that IPPs lead to better performance than the depolarization index, which is a well-established and commonly used depolarization observable in the literature. We also provide how IPPs are able to significantly enhance contrast between different tissue structures and even to reveal structures hidden by using standard intensity images. Finally, we also explore the classificatory potential of IPPs and other depolarizing observables for the discrimination of different tissues obtained from ex vivo chicken samples (muscle, tendon, myotendinous junction and bone), reaching accurate models for tissue classification.
Filtering and Extended Vocabulary based Translation for Low-resource Language Pair of Sanskrit-Hindi
Authors: Jha Piyush , Kumar Rashi , Sahula Vineet
Published: January 2023

Neural Machine Translation (NMT) is widely employed for language translation tasks because it performs better than the conventional statistical and phrase-based approaches. However, NMT techniques involve challenges, such as requiring a large and clean corpus of parallel data and the inability to deal with rare words. They need to be faster for real-time applications. More work needs to be done using NMT to address the challenges in translating Sanskrit, one of the oldest and rich languages known to the world, with its morphological richness and limited multilingual parallel corpus. There is usually no similar data between a language pair; hence, no application exists so far that can translate Sanskrit to/from other languages. This study presents an in-depth analysis to address these challenges with the help of a low-resource Sanskrit-Hindi language pair. We employ a novel training corpus filtering with extended vocabulary in a zero-shot transformer architecture. The structure of the Sanskrit language is thoroughly investigated to justify the use of each step. Furthermore, the proposed method is analyzed based on variations in sentence length and also applied to a high-resource language pair in order to demonstrate its efficacy.
Emotional Intelligence Attention Unsupervised Learning Using Lexicon Analysis for Irony-based Advertising
Authors: Ahmed Usman , Lin Jerry Chun-Wei , Srivastava Gautam
Published: January 2023

Social media platforms have made increasing use of irony in recent years. Users can express their ironic thoughts with audio, video, and images attached to text content. When you use irony, you are making fun of a situation or trying to make a point. It can also express frustration or highlight the absurdity of a situation. The use of irony in social media is likely to continue to increase, no matter the reason. By using syntactic information in conjunction with semantic exploration, we show that attention networks can be enhanced. Using learned embedding, unsupervised learning encodes word order into a joint space. By evaluating the entropy of an example class and adding instances, the active learning method uses the shared representation as a query to retrieve semantically similar sentences from a knowledge base. In this way, the algorithm can identify the instance with the maximum uncertainty and extract the most informative example from the training set. An ironic network trained for each labelled record is used to train a classifier (model). The partial training model and the original labelled data generate pseudo-labels for the unlabeled data. To correctly predict the label of a dataset, a classifier (attention network) updates the pseudo-labels for the remaining datasets. After the experimental evaluation of the 1,021 annotated texts, the proposed model performed better than the baseline models, achieving an F1 score of 0.63 on ironic tasks and 0.59 on non-ironic tasks. We also found that the proposed model generalized well to new instances of datasets.
How Can the Artificial Intelligence of Things Create Public Value? Lessons Learned from Use Cases
Authors: Lee Gwanhoo
Published: January 2023

The Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) has the potential to create new public value. However, its application in government is in an early stage. This study identifies three technological capabilities—sensing, analytics, and controlling—as building blocks of an AIoT system and then proposes four value creation models that configure the building blocks differently. This research analyzes four use cases of AIoT systems deployed in the public transport sector that match the value creation models. Based on the analysis of the use cases, this study identifies critical success factors for public AIoT applications and makes recommendations to government leaders for creating public value through the effective deployment of AIoT systems. It concludes with discussion of limitations and future research areas.
Clarification of Photoelectrochemical Oxygen Evolution Sites in TiO2 Nanotube Array Electrodes by PbO2 Deposition Method
Authors: Amano Fumiaki , Nomura Shimpei , Tateishi Chihiro , Nakayama Satoshi
Published: January 2023

TiO2 nanotube (TNT) photoanodes exhibit activity and stability for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) by photoelectrochemical water oxidation. However, the location of the OER site by the photogenerated holes has not been clarified for the TNT photoanodes, unlike well-studied macrocrystalline photocatalysts. In this study, we performed reactions of TNT photoanodes in a 0.1 M Pb(NO3)2 under UV irradiation. The photoelectrochemically deposited PbO2 particles were observed through scanning electron microscopy in the backscattered electron mode. We found that β-PbO2 was deposited on the nanotubes with photocurrent decay and that the reaction site was located on the upper part (∼1 μm) of the TNT array with ∼3 μm length. The photocurrent decay implies the selective deposition of PbO2 on the catalytic site for water oxidation. The PbO2 nanoparticles were deposited on the inner and outer surfaces of the tube walls. This result is consistent with the mechanism of charge separation at the space charge layers formed on both surfaces of the walls. We also confirmed that the OER site changes depending on the wavelength of the incident light due to the change in the light penetration depth.
Performance Evaluation of Dry Faecal Sludge-Derived Activated Carbon (DFSAC) for Wastewater Pollutant Removal: A Case Study of the Lavender Hill Faecal Treatment Plant
Authors: Ahmed Issahaku , Awuah Esi , Essandoh Helen M. K. , Oduro-Kwarteng Sampson , Ofori-Amanfo Dennis , Cobbold Florence
Published: January 2023

This study evaluates the applicability of dry faecal sludge activated carbon (DFSAC) as a wastewater pollutant removal technology by employing both laboratory- and large-scale setups. The setups were monitored using effluent from the Mudor wastewater treatment plant in Accra. The DFSAC was produced from primary sludge obtained from a primary treatment to treat approximately 1000 liters of effluent water per hour to meet the needs of backwashing, cleaning, irrigation, and flushing purposes. The laboratory-scale experiment was monitored for a period of two weeks, while the large-scale experiment was monitored for a period of 16 weeks. Physicochemical, microbial, and metal characteristics were analyzed for the polished effluent. The results obtained from the lab scale showed high removal efficiencies of the wastewater pollutants for the first and second weeks of treatments, respectively, as follows: colour (99.47%, 69.06%), turbidity (99.59%, 42.59%), COD (96.58%, 43.49%), BOD (99.26%, 77.42%), TSS (100%, 62.296%), TDS (92.92, 32.90), ammonia (98.41%, 50.83%), and EC (73.60%, 19.94%). The

P

value obtained indicated a highly significant difference between the influent and effluents of both weeks. The large-scale application of the DFSAC yielded a percentage reduction of 99.36%, 99.37%, 99.52%, 79.63%, 100%, 48.85%, 90.08%, and 46.72% for colour, turbidity, COD, BOD, TSS, TDS, ammonia, and EC, respectively. The DFSAC showed high removal potential for heavy metals and microbial contaminants over the study period. Pollutant removal in wastewater with DFSAC proved a promising intervention by significantly reducing pollutants in wastewater effluent as a tertiary treatment. The removal efficiencies are indications that physisorption and chemisorption play an important role in the adsorption of pollutants onto the DFSAC. The study has shown that faecal sludge can be used as activated carbon for remediation of wastewater pollutants, especially in treatment facilities, which do not meet EPA effluent discharge guidelines while ensuring a close resource utilization loop.
Components’ Tolerance Impact on the Design of a Real Case of One MW PV Substation
Authors: Ben Ayed Ramzi , Chakroun Rawia , Derbel Nabil , Ben Makhlouf Abdellatif
Published: January 2023

In this article, a real case of a one MW PV substation design problem is described. The impact of the tolerances of power components (mainly inductors and capacitors) on the design is highlighted through two studies using two different control strategies that are selective harmonic elimination (SHE) and selective harmonic modulation (SHM). The obtained results show that the components’ tolerances have a significant effect on the design, especially for the SHE strategy. While the design using SHM control shows a weak sensitivity to the components’ tolerance. In this study, an upgrade of the most sensitive control strategy is proposed in order to improve its sensitivity against components’ tolerance. The results show that the strategy upgrading leads not only to improving the sensitivity but also to generating better power quality.
Evaluation of Wound Healing and Anti‐Inflammatory Activities of 80% Methanol Crude Extract and Solvent Fractions of Trichilia dregeana Sond (Meliaceae) Leaves in Mice
Authors: Shewaye Daniel Gizachew , Kahaliw Wubayehu , Mulaw Belete Tafere , Ahmed Nejat
Published: January 2023

Introduction. The leaves of Trichilia dregeana Sond are traditionally used to treat wounds. Even though there have been in vitro studies and claims supporting wound healing, there are no scientific data on in vivo wound healing and anti‐inflammatory activities of the leaves of T. dregeana. Objective. This study aimed to evaluate wound healing and anti‐inflammatory activity of 80% methanol crude extract and solvent fractions of T. dregeana in mice. Method. The leaves of T. dregeana were dried, ground, and macerated with 80% methanol three times successively. The crude extract was fractioned by water, ethyl acetate, and hexane separately. The acute dermal and oral toxicity tests were done by applying 2000 mg/kg of 10% (w/w) crude extract ointment (CEO) topically and 2000 mg/kg of crude extract orally, respectively. The wound healing activity of the crude extract was evaluated on excision, incision, and burn wound models while the fractions were evaluated only on excision wound model. The anti‐inflammatory activity of the crude extract was evaluated on xylene‐induced ear edema and cotton pellet granuloma tests. Result. Both acute dermal and oral toxicity tests were found to be safe after topical application of 2000 mg/kg of 10% (w/w) CEO and oral administration of 2000 mg/kg of crude extract suspension, respectively. Both 5% and 10% (w/w) CEO produced significant (p < 0.001) wound contraction and period of epithelialization from day 4 onwards as compared to simple ointment (SO) on both excision and burn wounds. The tensile strength was increased significantly (p < 0.001) for the CEO‐treated mice as compared to both untreated and SO groups. The crude extract also showed anti‐inflammatory activity at 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg by inhibiting ear edema, exudate, and granuloma formation as compared to the SO group. Conclusion. The increase in wound contraction, reduction in period of epithelialization, and increase in tensile strength support the traditional claims of T. dregeana for wound healing.
Are NR5A1 Variations a Frequent Cause of 46,XX Ovotesticular Disorders of Sex Development? Analysis from a Single Center and Systematic Review
Authors: Barros Beatriz Amstalden , Guaragna Mara Sanches , Fabbri-Scallet Helena , Palandi de Mello Maricilda , Guerra-Júnior Gil , Maciel-Guerra Andréa Trevas
Published: January 2023

Introduction: Ovotesticular disorder of sex development (OT-DSD) is a rare condition defined by concomitance of testicular tissue and ovarian tissue (containing follicles) in the same individual. In SRY-negative 46,XX OT-DSD, the presence of testicular tissue may be due to variations in NR5A1. Our aims were to search for NR5A1 variants in SRY-negative 46,XX OT-DSD patients and to perform a systematic review on the contribution of NR5A1 variations to 46,XX OT-DSD. Methods: Sanger sequencing of NR5A1 was performed in seven SRY-negative 46,XX OT-DSD patients: five simplex cases and two with another sibling with a 46,XX DSD. Systematic review of original studies on NR5A1 sequencing of 46,XX OT-DSD patients was performed according to PRISMA-P guideline. Case reports were selected for analysis of clinical features. Individuals with NR5A1-associated testicular DSD were not included. Results: Sanger sequencing of NR5A1 did not reveal pathogenic variants among our patients. Our cohort was included in this systematic review with seven other articles, totalizing fifty-six 46,XX OT-DSD patients investigated by Sanger or whole-exome sequencing. From them, three NR5A1 pathogenic variants were identified (5% of the cases). Clinical analysis of these 3 cases and 5 case reports revealed: predominance of ovotestis (13/16 gonads) and bilateral OT-DSD (5/8 cases). Conclusion: The etiology of most 46,XX OT-DSD cases remains elusive, highlighting the importance of a deeper molecular investigation.
Physicians’ Perceptions of Dietitians’ Services and Roles in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Authors: Alsamani Alhanouf S. , Aldubayan Khalid , Almuhtadi Yara , Aladel Alanoud
Published: January 2023

Introduction: Nutrition is a fundamental part of living a healthy lifestyle and is well-recognized in the prevention and treatment of several illnesses. The physicians’ collaboration according to their perception regarding the nutrition services and dietitian roles is important for optimal healthcare management. However, gaps exist in the knowledge and understanding of how the dietitian is perceived by physicians. To the researchers’ knowledge, this is the first study to assess the physicians’ perceptions regarding the role and services of dietitians in Riyadh city. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted by using an anonymous self-administered online-based survey to investigate physicians’ perceptions regarding the role and services of dietitians. In addition to demographics, the questionnaire consisted of 20 statements that covered five domains of the dietitians’ scope of practice (Medical Nutrition Therapy, Legislation and Policy, Research and Interventions, Community Programs, and Sports Nutrition). A total of 407 participants were recruited between February and March 2021. Male and female medical physicians with different professional degrees who worked in Riyadh city were eligible to be included in the study. A cross-tabulation test was used to determine the difference among physicians regarding their perceptions of dietitians’ services and roles. Results: For all of the 20 statements that demonstrated dietitians’ services and roles, the mean score was classified as “strongly agree” with a mean of 4.33 (SD ± 0.541). There was a statistically significant relationship between physicians’ perceptions according to their nutritional background and two statements regarding dietitians’ clinical roles. In addition, there was also a statistically significant relationship between physicians’ perceptions who are not working in academia and three statements regarding dietitians’ clinical and nonclinical roles. Conclusions: This study’s findings support the importance of dietitians’ services in the healthcare setting as a multidisciplinary approach and recommend expanding dietitians’ employment opportunities outside the healthcare setting. Additionally, this study emphasizes incorporating nutrition education for physicians and demonstrates physicians’ understanding of nutrition as a discipline.
Small Intestine Perforation due to Foreign Body: Case Report
Authors: AL Hosein Mouhsen , Eghtedari Ali
Published: January 2023

Accidental ingestion of foreign bodies is a common condition in clinical practice. However, small bowel perforation due to ingestion of foreign bodies has been rarely seen. In this article, we report a case of small bowel perforation due to ingestion of foreign body. A 38-year-old female patient, presenting with complaints of acute abdomen for 2 days, was admitted to the emergency department. She denied nausea and vomiting. The patient had tenderness and positive rebound tenderness in the right lower quadrant. Contrast-enhanced abdominal computed tomography has been performed. This revealed distended ascending colon and oral contrast retention denoting delayed bowel emptying. The patient was operated for. A micro perforation due to fish bone was detected in the jejunum. The patient underwent debridement and primary repair. The patient was discharged postoperative 6th day without problem. Bowel perforation due to the ingestion of foreign bodies should be considered in the differential diagnosis of acute abdomen.
Wirksamkeit des fäkalen Mikrobiota-Transfers bei systemischem Lupus erythematodes
Authors: Blumenstein Irina
Published: January 2023

Gut microbiota dysbiosis is involved in the development of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The safety and efficacy of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) for the treatment of SLE patients has not been explored. In this 12-week, single-arm pilot clinical trial of oral encapsulated fecal microbiome from healthy donors to patients with active SLE, we aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of FMT in patients with SLE (ChiCTR2000036352). 20 SLE patients with SLEDAI ≥6 were recruited. FMT was administered once a week for three consecutive weeks along with standard treatment and the patients were followed for 12 weeks. Safety was evaluated throughout the trial. The primary endpoint was the SLE Responder Index-4 (SRI-4) at week 12. Microbiome composition, levels of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in the gut and of cytokines in the sera were measured along with lymphocyte phenotyping. No serious adverse events were observed after FMT. At week 12, the SRI-4 response rate was 42.12%, and significant reductions in the SLEDAI-2K scores and the level of serum anti-dsDNA antibody were observed compared to baseline. Significant enrichment of SCFAs-producing bacterial taxa and reduction of inflammation-related bacterial taxa were observed, along with increased production of SCFAs in the gut and reduced levels of IL-6 and CD4+ memory/naïve ratio in the peripheral blood. Furthermore, SRI-4 responding patients displayed specific microbiota signatures both before and after FMT. The first clinical trial of FMT in active SLE patients provides supportive evidence that FMT might be a feasible, safe, and potentially effective therapy in SLE patients by modifying the gut microbiome and its metabolic profile.
Intralesional Corticosteroid Administration in the Treatment of Keloids: A Scoping Review on Injection Methods
Authors: Yin Qi , Louter Juliette M.I. , Niessen Frank B. , Gibbs Susan , Tasdemir-Kilic Gizem , Lapid Oren , van Zuijlen Paul P.M. , Wolkerstorfer Albert
Published: January 2023

Background: Intralesional corticosteroid administration (ICA) is a first-line treatment for keloids. However, its clinical results are still highly variable and often suboptimal. Treatment results may strongly be influenced by various operator-dependent factors. The aim of this study was to map the details of ICA in keloids described in randomized controlled trials (RCTs), hence presenting the scientific practice of a first-line treatment for keloids in the best available evidence. Summary: A systematic search was performed on PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid EMBASE, and CENTRAL. Eligible studies were RCTs including patients with keloids treated with intralesional corticosteroids. Treatment and study design-related data were charted on a predefined form. Thirty-eight RCTs were included for data extraction. Triamcinolone acetonide was used in 37 (97.4%) studies. Dosing per cm2 could only be compared among ten (26%) studies and varied from 1 to 20 mg. The maximum dose per session varied from 20 to 80 mg. Local anesthetics were administered in seven (20%) RCTs. Treatment intervals varied from weekly to monthly, with 4 weeks most frequently (50%) used. Needle size was reported in eleven (29%) studies and varied from 26 to 30-gauge. Syringe size was specified in four (11%) studies, being 1 mL. The injection level was described in eleven (29%) studies. Blanching as endpoint was reported in ten (26%) studies. Outcome measures varied widely, from height, surface area, or volume, to Vancouver Scar Scale, Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale, pain and itch scores, patient satisfaction, and different efficacy rates. Only six studies had a follow-up of ≥6 months. Recurrence was identified in two studies with 18 weeks and 1 year of follow-up. Adverse events were reported in 23 (61%) studies.
Immunology of Giant Cell Arteritis
Authors: Weyand Cornelia M. , Goronzy Jörg J.
Published: January 2023

Giant cell arteritis is an autoimmune disease of medium and large arteries, characterized by granulomatous inflammation of the three-layered vessel wall that results in vaso-occlusion, wall dissection, and aneurysm formation. The immunopathogenesis of giant cell arteritis is an accumulative process in which a prolonged asymptomatic period is followed by uncontrolled innate immunity, a breakdown in self-tolerance, the transition of autoimmunity from the periphery into the vessel wall and, eventually, the progressive evolution of vessel wall inflammation. Each of the steps in pathogenesis corresponds to specific immuno-phenotypes that provide mechanistic insights into how the immune system attacks and damages blood vessels. Clinically evident disease begins with inappropriate activation of myeloid cells triggering the release of hepatic acute phase proteins and inducing extravascular manifestations, such as muscle pains and stiffness diagnosed as polymyalgia rheumatica. Loss of self-tolerance in the adaptive immune system is linked to aberrant signaling in the NOTCH pathway, leading to expansion of NOTCH1
+
CD4
+
T cells and the functional decline of NOTCH4
+
T regulatory cells (Checkpoint 1). A defect in the endothelial cell barrier of adventitial vasa vasorum networks marks Checkpoint 2; the invasion of monocytes, macrophages and T cells into the arterial wall. Due to the failure of the immuno-inhibitory PD-1 (programmed cell death protein 1)/PD-L1 (programmed cell death ligand 1) pathway, wall-infiltrating immune cells arrive in a permissive tissues microenvironment, where multiple T cell effector lineages thrive, shift toward high glycolytic activity, and support the development of tissue-damaging macrophages, including multinucleated giant cells (Checkpoint 3). Eventually, the vascular lesions are occupied by self-renewing T cells that provide autonomy to the disease process and limit the therapeutic effectiveness of currently used immunosuppressants. The multi-step process deviating protective to pathogenic immunity offers an array of interception points that provide opportunities for the prevention and therapeutic management of this devastating autoimmune disease.
Cortical Tracking of Continuous Speech Under Bimodal Divided Attention
Authors: Xie Zilong , Brodbeck Christian , Chandrasekaran Bharath
Published: January 2023

Speech processing often occurs amid competing inputs from other modalities, for example, listening to the radio while driving. We examined the extent to which dividing attention between auditory and visual modalities (bimodal divided attention) impacts neural processing of natural continuous speech from acoustic to linguistic levels of representation. We recorded electroencephalographic (EEG) responses when human participants performed a challenging primary visual task, imposing low or high cognitive load while listening to audiobook stories as a secondary task. The two dual-task conditions were contrasted with an auditory single-task condition in which participants attended to stories while ignoring visual stimuli. Behaviorally, the high load dual-task condition was associated with lower speech comprehension accuracy relative to the other two conditions. We fitted multivariate temporal response function encoding models to predict EEG responses from acoustic and linguistic speech features at different representation levels, including auditory spectrograms and information-theoretic models of sublexical-, word-form-, and sentence-level representations. Neural tracking of most acoustic and linguistic features remained unchanged with increasing dual-task load, despite unambiguous behavioral and neural evidence of the high load dual-task condition being more demanding. Compared to the auditory single-task condition, dual-task conditions selectively reduced neural tracking of only some acoustic and linguistic features, mainly at latencies >200 ms, while earlier latencies were surprisingly unaffected. These findings indicate that behavioral effects of bimodal divided attention on continuous speech processing occur not because of impaired early sensory representations but likely at later cognitive processing stages. Crossmodal attention-related mechanisms may not be uniform across different speech processing levels.
Introduction: On the Relevance of Arab Parliaments
Authors: Esber Paul Maurice , Völkel Jan Claudius
Published: January 2023

This introduction leads into the Special Issue “Parliaments in the Middle East and North Africa: A Struggle for Relevance.” Parliaments in the Arab world have hardly been considered to be relevant institutions during the decades of authoritarianism in the post-independence era. If at all, they were of importance as a strategic element in the power-saving strategies of regimes. The “Arab Spring” ten years ago, with its loud calls for a more democratic and socially just political sphere, opened a new window of potentiality for the legislative chambers in the countries concerned, yet to very different avail: while the “Assemblée des Représentants du Peuple” in Tunisia gained unprecedented relevance as constitution-maker and governmental watchdog, the Egyptian Majlis al-Shaʿb was dissolved in 2012 after Islamists sweepingly won the elections and were reinstated only after the old forces had resecured their stark grip on power. Here, parliament has hardly gained any new relevance. This introduction outlines the core structure of the Special Issue which takes stock of parliaments in the Arab world a decade after the 2011 uprisings, discusses the state of research, and develops its guiding theoretic framework.
A new species of Melipriopsis Kirejtshuk, 2011 (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae: Meligethinae) from the Eocene Baltic amber
Authors: KIREJTSHUK ALEXANDR G. , BUKEJS ANDRIS
Published: January 2023

Melipriopsis baltica sp. nov. is described and illustrated from the Eocene Baltic amber. The described holotype (female) of this species has the fully exposed ovipositor with characters similar (general outline, configuration of lobes of the gonocoxites, and disposition of styli) to those in the extant members of the subfamily Meligethinae.
Oracula campbelli sp. n.—the first fossil darkling beetle (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Alleculinae) from the late Eocene Rovno amber (Ukraine)
Authors: NABOZHENKO MAXIM V. , PERKOVSKY EVGENY E.
Published: January 2023

A new species of the currently Oriental alleculine genus Oracula Novák, 2019 is described from the Eocene Rovno amber, Ukraine: O. campbelli sp. n. This is the first report of a representative of the family Tenebrionidae from this Lagerstätte. Extant species of Oracula occur in Nepal, southern China (Yunnan), Thailand, Laos and Indonesia. The newly discovered extinct species is similar to extant O. amica Novák, 2019 from Nepal.