bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Relationship between Gestational Hypertension and High Birth Weight, in the State of Guanajuato, Mexico
Authors: Raygoza Nicolás Padilla- , Lara-Mares Edna Griselda , Olivos Efraín Navarro- , Gómez Jorge Lira- , Vargas Gilberto Flores- , Luna María de Jesús Gallardo-
Published: December 2022

Hypertensive disease is one of the main concerns during pregnancy. It is classified as gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, and eclampsia. The objective of this study was to analyze whether there is a relationship between gestational hypertension and high birth weight (≥3500 g) in newborns. It was designed a retrospective quantitative study, considering women admitted for obstetric resolution and their products treated in hospitals from Guanajuato State, Mexico, with hypertension developing after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The Chi-squared test was performed to show a relationship between gestational hypertension and preeclampsia-eclampsia with the newborn's birth weight. Then calculated the effect of gestational hypertension on birthweight by computing the corresponding Odds Ratios (OR). We also fitted a multivariate logistic regression model that included age group, marital status, number of previous pregnancies, and gestational age as covariates. It was computed the Pearson correlation and adjusted a linear regression model to identify the relationship between systolic and diastolic pressure with birthweight. The alpha value was fixed at .05 as a threshold for statistical significance. The number of reviewed registries was 1,675. For the variables age, gestational age at hospital admission, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and birth weight of the products, there are differences between the groups of mothers (P<.05). For the logistic regression model just including gestational hypertension as covariable, the OR was 1.28 (95% CI=1.0 to 1.63). The gestational age plays a confounding role -other variables did not improve the model-. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure showed a statistically significant (P=0.2, P=0.048) low negative correlation (r=-0.07, r=-0.06) with birth weight for women with gestational hypertension. There is an effect between gestational hypertension and high birth weight, although the effect is confounded by gestational age at birth time. Linear regression between systolic-diastolic pressure and birthweight supports this association. The evidence is low and further studies are advisable.
The Anticancer Effect of Phytochemicals and Potential of Breynia cernua: An overview
Authors: Azzam Muhammad Hilman , Fauziah Nisa , Wiraswati Hesti Lina
Published: December 2022

Cancer treatment still has challenges from its expense, side effect, and survival rate. One of the actions to improve this is searching for new anticancer agents. Medicinal plants are a candidate source since they have traditionally been used to treat illness. Phytochemicals of medicinal plants play a significant role in exhibiting anticancer effects. Literature studies of the phytochemicals of existing medicinal plants can be a clue to finding out the potential other plants whose studies are still limited, such as Breynia cernua, a plant with anticancer effects used traditionally. This study will provide information on the phytochemicals effect of medicinal plants or other compounds against cancer and their anticancer mechanisms. The agents are collected based on their compound's group, and each group's anticancer mechanism is resumed. The results showed that phytochemicals (flavonoids, alkaloids, saponins, quinone, tannins, and terpenoids) affect cancer cell through variant mechanism; induction of apoptosis, inhibition of cell growth, inhibition of cell migration, and induction of autophagic pathway. Most of the studies used methanol extracts, and most showed very strong toxicity to cancer cells. For further study, we suggest using isolated compounds from methanol, ethanol, or N-hexane extracts of Breynia cernua to get better anticancer activity, especially compounds belonging to the flavonoid or quinone group.
Effectiveness of Clove Oil (Syzigium aromaticum) as Biolarvacide of Aedes aegypti
Authors: B Budiman , Ishak Hasanuddin , S Stang , Ibrahim Erniwati , Yudhastuti Ririh , Maidin Alimin , Naiem Furqaan , Wahid Isra , Mallongi Anwar
Published: December 2022

Background: The vector control that is often done so far is by chemical control, which will continually have a negative impact. Therefore, it is necessary to control methods that are more friendly to the environment, effective and efficient, and safe for health, one of which is the use of essential oils from plants. Clove (Syzigium aromaticum) is one of the plants that can be used as an alternative larvicide to kill mosquito vectors because it contains many chemical compounds, including eugenol compounds, eugenol acetate, methyl eugenol, b-caryophyllene, methyl eugenol, saponins, flavonoids and larvicidal tannins. Objective: This study aims to determine the effectiveness of clove leaf waste oil (Syzygium ) as a biolarvicide for the Aedes aegypti mosquito. Methods: The research method used is experimental with a Quasi-Experimental Design approach and Post-test Control Group Design. The object of this research is clove leaf waste oil (Syzigium aromaticum) that has been obtained from the distillation of dried clove leaf waste. The object of this research is the third-stage larvae and adult Aedes aegypti mosquitoes obtained by rearing or self-reproducing mosquitoes in the laboratory. The bioassay test method used a glass test vessel with a volume of 200 ml of solution consisting of a mixture of water (aquades) with clove leaf waste oil. This study used a treatment concentration of 0.006%; 0.007%; 0.008%; 0.009% and 0.01%. The control used aquades (0%). Then put 25 Aedes aegypti larvae in the test container and then observe the number of mortality larvae during 24 hours of observation. Results: The results showed that clove (Syzygium aromaticum) leaf waste oil was effective as a biolarvicide with LC50 at a concentration of 0.005% and Kruskal Wallis test value of 0.000 (P<0.05) which means that there is significant difference in the number of deaths of Aedes aegypti mosquito larvae at each concentration. Conclusion: Clove leaf waste oil (Syzygium aromaticum) is effective as a biolarvicide for Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.
Adherence monitoring methods to measure virological failure in people living with HIV on long-term antiretroviral therapy in Uganda
Authors: Okoboi Stephen , Musaazi Joseph , King Rachel , Lippman Sheri A. , Kambugu Andrew , Mujugira Andrew , Izudi Jonathan , Parkes-Ratanshi Rosalind , Kiragga Agnes N. , Castelnuovo Barbara
Published: December 2022

Appointment keeping and self-report within 7-day or and 30-days recall periods are non-objective measures of antiretroviral treatment (ART) adherence. We assessed incidence of virological failure (VF), predictive performance and associations of these adherence measures with VF among adults on long-term ART. Data for persons initiated on ART between April 2004 and April 2005, enrolled in a long-term ART cohort at 10-years on ART (baseline) and followed until December 2021 was analyzed. VF was defined as two consecutives viral loads ≥1000 copies/ml at least within 3-months after enhanced adherence counselling. We estimated VF incidence using Kaplan-Meier and Cox-proportional hazards regression for associations between each adherence measure (analyzed as time-dependent annual values) and VF. The predictive performance of appointment keeping and self-reporting for identifying VF was assessed using receiver operating characteristic curves and reported as area under the curve (AUC). We included 900 of 1,000 participants without VF at baseline: median age was 47 years (Interquartile range: 41–51), 60% were women and 88% were virally suppressed. ART adherence was ≥95% for all three adherence measures. Twenty-one VF cases were observed with an incidence rate of 4.37 per 1000 person-years and incidence risk of 2.4% (95% CI: 1.6%-3.7%) over the 5-years of follow-up. Only 30-day self-report measure was associated with lower risk of VF, adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) = 0.14, 95% CI:0.05–0.37). Baseline CD4 count ≥200cells/ml was associated with lower VF for all adherence measures. The 30-day self-report measure demonstrated the highest predictive performance for VF (AUC = 0.751) compared to appointment keeping (AUC = 0.674), and 7-day self-report (AUC = 0.687). The incidence of virological failure in this study cohort was low. Whilst 30- day self-report was predictive, appointment keeping and 7-day self-reported adherence measures had low predictive performance in identifying VF. Viral load monitoring remains the gold standard for adherence monitoring and confirming HIV treatment response.
Trypanosoma cruzi PARP is enriched in the nucleolus and is present in a thread connecting nuclei during mitosis
Authors: Kevorkian María Laura , Vilchez Larrea Salomé C. , Fernández Villamil Silvia H.
Published: December 2022

Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) is responsible for the synthesis of ADP-ribose polymers, which are involved in a wide range of cellular processes such as preservation of genome integrity, DNA damage signaling and repair, molecular switches between distinct cell death pathways, and cell cycle progression. Previously, we demonstrated that the only PARP present in T. cruzi migrates to the nucleus upon genotoxic stimulus. In this work, we identify the N-terminal domain as being sufficient for TcPARP nuclear localization and describe for the first time that TcPARP is enriched in the parasite’s nucleolus. We also describe that TcPARP is present in a thread-like structure that connects two dividing nuclei and co-localizes with nucleolar material and microtubules. Furthermore, ADP-ribose polymers could also be detected in this thread during mitosis. These findings represent a first approach to new potential TcPARP functions inside the nucleus and will help understand its role well beyond the largely described DNA damage response protein in trypanosomatids.
Exploring county-level spatio-temporal patterns in opioid overdose related emergency department visits
Authors: Acharya Angeela , Izquierdo Alyssa M. , Gonçalves Stefanie F. , Bates Rebecca A. , Taxman Faye S. , Slawski Martin P. , Rangwala Huzefa S. , Sikdar Siddhartha
Published: December 2022

Opioid overdoses within the United States continue to rise and have been negatively impacting the social and economic status of the country. In order to effectively allocate resources and identify policy solutions to reduce the number of overdoses, it is important to understand the geographical differences in opioid overdose rates and their causes. In this study, we utilized data on emergency department opioid overdose (EDOOD) visits to explore the county-level spatio-temporal distribution of opioid overdose rates within the state of Virginia and their association with aggregate socio-ecological factors. The analyses were performed using a combination of techniques including Moran’s I and multilevel modeling. Using data from 2016–2021, we found that Virginia counties had notable differences in their EDOOD visit rates with significant neighborhood-level associations: many counties in the southwestern region were consistently identified as the hotspots (areas with a higher concentration of EDOOD visits) whereas many counties in the northern region were consistently identified as the coldspots (areas with a lower concentration of EDOOD visits). In most Virginia counties, EDOOD visit rates declined from 2017 to 2018. In more recent years (since 2019), the visit rates showed an increasing trend. The multilevel modeling revealed that the change in clinical care factors (i.e., access to care and quality of care) and socio-economic factors (i.e., levels of education, employment, income, family and social support, and community safety) were significantly associated with the change in the EDOOD visit rates. The findings from this study have the potential to assist policymakers in proper resource planning thereby improving health outcomes.
Association between microbial composition, diversity, and function of the maternal gastrointestinal microbiome with impaired glucose tolerance on the glucose challenge test
Authors: Dreisbach Caitlin , Prescott Stephanie , Alhusen Jeanne , Dudley Donald , Trinchieri Giorgio , Siega-Riz Anna Maria
Published: December 2022

Over the last two decades, the incidence of gestational diabetes (GDM) has almost doubled resulting in almost 9% of pregnant women diagnosed with GDM. Occurring more frequently than GDM is impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), also known as pre-diabetes, but it has been understudied during pregnancy resulting in a lack of clinical recommendations of maternal and fetal surveillance. The purpose of this retrospective, cross-sectional study was to examine the association between microbial diversity and function of the maternal microbiome with IGT while adjusting for confounding variables. We hypothesized that reduced maternal microbial diversity and increased gene abundance for insulin resistance function will be associated with IGT as defined by a value greater than 140 mg/dL on the glucose challenge test. In the examination of microbial composition between women with IGT and those with normal glucose tolerance (NGT), we found five taxa which were significantly different. Taxa higher in participants with impaired glucose tolerance were Ruminococcacea (p = 0.01), Schaalia turicensis (p<0.05), Oscillibacter (p = 0.03), Oscillospiraceae (p = 0.02), and Methanobrevibacter smithii (p = 0.04). When we further compare participants who have IGT by their pre-gravid BMI, five taxa are significantly different between the BMI groups, Enterobacteriaceae, Dialister micraerophilus, Campylobacter ureolyticus, Proteobacteria, Streptococcus Unclassified (species). All four metrics including the Shannon (p<0.00), Simpson (p<0.00), Inverse Simpson (p = 0.04), and Chao1 (p = 0.04), showed a significant difference in alpha diversity with increased values in the impaired glucose tolerance group. Our study highlights the important gastrointestinal microbiome changes in women with IGT during pregnancy. Understanding the role of the microbiome in regulating glucose tolerance during pregnancy helps clinicians and researchers to understand the importance of IGT as a marker for adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes.
Socio-economic factors associated with adolescent pregnancy and motherhood: Analysis of the 2017 Ghana maternal health survey
Authors: Senkyire Ephraim Kumi , Boateng Dennis , Boakye Felix Oppong , Logo Divine Darlington , Ohaja Magdalena
Published: December 2022

Background

Adolescent pregnancy and motherhood have been linked to several factors stemming from social, cultural and to a large extent economic issues. This study examined the socio-economic factors associated with adolescent pregnancy and motherhood in Ghana.

Design

This was a secondary analysis of the 2017 Ghana Maternal Health Survey, which was a nationally representative cross-sectional survey. Data from 4785 adolescents aged between 15–19 years were included in the analysis. Adolescent pregnancy was defined as adolescents who have ever been pregnant, whiles adolescent motherhood was defined as adolescents who have ever given birth. Weighted logistic regression was used to assess the association between the socio-economic variables and adolescent pregnancy and motherhood.

Results

Of the 25062 women aged between 15 and 49 years included in the 2017 maternal health survey, 4785 (19.1%) were adolescents between 15–19 years. Adolescent pregnancy was reported in 14.6% (CI:13.2% -16.1%) of the respondents, whereas 11.8% (CI: 10.5% -13.1%) of the respondents had ever given birth. In the multivariate regression analysis, zone (p<0.001), wealth index (p<0.001), age (p<0.001), marital status (p<0.001) and level of education (p<0.001) were all significantly associated with adolescent pregnancy and motherhood. The odds of pregnancy and motherhood were significantly higher in the Middle and Coastal zones (p<0.001), and among older adolescents (p<0.001). However, the odds of pregnancy and motherhood was significantly lower among adolescents from households with the highest wealth index (p<0.001), among those who were never married (p<0.001) and among adolescents who had secondary/higher education (p<0.001).

Conclusion

Several socio-economic variables including education, household wealth, marital status and zone of residence were significantly associated with adolescent pregnancy and adolescent motherhood. Sexual and reproductive health education should be intensified among these populations. Adolescent friendly corners should be made available and accessible to all adolescents in Ghana irrespective of where they live or their age.
Acquirement of the autonomic nervous system modulation evaluated by heart rate variability in medaka (Oryzias latipes)
Authors: Watanabe-Asaka Tomomi , Niihori Maki , Sonobe Hiroki , Igarashi Kento , Oda Shoji , Iwasaki Ken-ichi , Katada Yoshihiko , Yamashita Toshikazu , Terada Masahiro , Baba Shoji A. , Mitani Hiroshi , Mukai Chiaki
Published: December 2022

Small teleosts have recently been established as models of human diseases. However, measuring heart rate by electrocardiography is highly invasive for small fish and not widely used. The physiological nature and function of vertebrate autonomic nervous system (ANS) modulation of the heart has traditionally been investigated in larvae, transparent but with an immature ANS, or in anesthetized adults, whose ANS activity may possibly be disturbed under anesthesia. Here, we defined the frequency characteristics of heart rate variability (HRV) modulated by the ANS from observations of heart movement in high-speed movie images and changes in ANS regulation under environmental stimulation in unanesthetized adult medaka (Oryzias latipes). The HRV was significantly reduced by atropine (1 mM) in the 0.25–0.65 Hz and by propranolol (100 μM) at 0.65–1.25 Hz range, suggesting that HRV in adult medaka is modulated by both the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems within these frequency ranges. Such modulations of HRV by the ANS in adult medaka were remarkably suppressed under anesthesia and continuous exposure to light suppressed HRV only in the 0.25–0.65 Hz range, indicating parasympathetic withdrawal. Furthermore, pre-hatching embryos did not show HRV and the power of HRV developed as fish grew. These results strongly suggest that ANS modulation of the heart in adult medaka is frequency-dependent phenomenon, and that the impact of long-term environmental stimuli on ANS activities, in addition to development of ANS activities, can be precisely evaluated in medaka using the presented method.
Non-contact heart rate estimation based on singular spectrum component reconstruction using low-rank matrix and autocorrelation
Authors: Wang Weibo , Wei Zongkai , Yuan Jin , Fang Yu , Zheng Yongkang
Published: December 2022

The remote photoplethysmography (rPPG) based on cameras, a technology for extracting pulse wave from videos, has been proved to be an effective heart rate (HR) monitoring method and has great potential in many fields; such as health monitoring. However, the change of facial color intensity caused by cardiovascular activities is weak. Environmental illumination changes and subjects’ facial movements will produce irregular noise in rPPG signals, resulting in distortion of heart rate pulse signals and affecting the accuracy of heart rate measurement. Given the irregular noises such as motion artifacts and illumination changes in rPPG signals, this paper proposed a new method named LA-SSA. It combines low-rank sparse matrix decomposition and autocorrelation function with singular spectrum analysis (SSA). The low-rank sparse matrix decomposition is employed to globally optimize the components of the rPPG signal obtained by SSA, and some irregular noise is removed. Then, the autocorrelation function is used to optimize the global optimization results locally. The periodic components related to the heartbeat signal are selected, and the denoised rPPG signal is obtained by weighted reconstruction with a singular value ratio. The experiment using UBFC-RPPG and PURE database is performed to assess the performance of the method proposed in this paper. The average absolute error was 1.37 bpm, the 95% confidence interval was −7.56 bpm to 6.45 bpm, and the Pearson correlation coefficient was 98%, superior to most existing video-based heart rate extraction methods. Experimental results show that the proposed method can estimate HR effectively.
Exercise-related hemoconcentration and hemodilution in hydrated and dehydrated athletes: An observational study of the Hungarian canoeists
Authors: Komka Zsolt , Szilágyi Brigitta , Molnár Dóra , Sipos Bence , Tóth Miklós , Sonkodi Balázs , Ács Pongrác , Elek János , Szász Máté
Published: December 2022

Hemoconcentration during exercise is a well-known phenomenon, however, the extent to which dehydration is involved is unclear. In our study, the effect of dehydration on exercise-induced hemoconcentration was examined in 12 elite Hungarian kayak-canoe athletes. The changes of blood markers were examined during acute maximal workload in hydrated and dehydrated states. Dehydration was achieved by exercise, during a 120-minute extensive-aerobic preload. Our research is one of the first studies in which the changes in blood components were examined with a higher time resolution and a wider range of the measured parameters. Hydration status had no effect on the dynamics of hemoconcentration during both the hydrated (HS) and dehydrated (DHS) load, although lower maximal power output were measured after the 120-minute preload [HS Hemoglobin(Hgb)Max median 17.4 (q1 17.03; q3 17.9) g/dl vs. DHS HgbMax median 16.9 (q1 16.43; q3 17.6) g/dl (n.s); HS Hematocrit(Hct)Max 53.50 (q1 52.28; q3 54.8) % vs. DHS HctMax 51.90 (q1 50.35; q3 53.93) % (n.s)]. Thirty minutes after the maximal loading, complete hemodilution was confirmed in both exercises. Dehydration had no effect on hemoconcentration or hemodilution in the recovery period [HS HgbR30’ 15.7 (q1 15.15; q3 16.05) g/dl (n.s.) vs. DHS HgbR30’ 15.75 (q1 15.48; q3 16.13) g/dl (n.s.), HS HctR30’ 48.15 (q1 46.5; q3 49.2) % vs. DHS HctR30’ 48.25 (q1 47.48; q3 49.45) % (n.s.)], however, plasma osmolality did not follow a corresponding decrease in hemoglobin and hematocrit in the dehydrated group. Based on our data, metabolic products (glucose, lactate, sodium, potassium, chloride, bicarbonate ion, blood urea nitrogen) induced osmolality may not play a major role in the regulation of hemoconcentration and post-exercise hemodilution. From our results, we can conclude that hemoconcentration depends mainly on the intensity of the exercise.
A method based on 3D affine alignment for the quantification of palatal expansion
Authors: Maggiordomo Andrea , Farronato Marco , Tartaglia Gianluca , Tarini Marco
Published: December 2022

Introduction

The current methodologies to quantify the palatal expansion are based on a preliminary rigid superimposition of 3D digital models representing the status of a given patient at different times. A new method based on affine alignment is proposed and compared to the gold standard, leading to the automatic analysis of 3-dimensional structural changes and to a simple numeric quantification of overall expansion vector and a better alignment of the digital models.

Materials and methods

40 digital models (timing span delta 25.8 ± 12.5 months) from young patients (mean age 10.7 ± 2.6) treated with two different palatal expansion techniques (20 subjects with RME—Rapid Maxillary Expander, and 20 subjects with NiTiSE, NiTi self-expander) were superimposed with the new affine alignment technique implemented as an extension package of the open-source MeshLab, from a golden standard starting point of rigid alignment. The results were then compared.

Results

The new measurement function indicates a mean expansion expressed in a single numeric value of 9.3%, 10.3% for the RME group and 8.4% for the NiTiSE group respectively. The comparison with the golden standard showed a decrease to the average error from 0.91 mm to 0.58 mm.

Conclusions

Affine alignment improves the current perspective of structural change quantification in the specific group of growing patients treated with palatal expanders giving the clinician useful information on the 3-dimensional morphological changes.
Big data analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on digital game industrial sustainability in South Korea
Authors: Na JuChan , Kim Eun Joung , Kim JungYoon
Published: December 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly influenced the lifestyle and entertainment activities of the society that has significantly increased the growth rate of the gaming industry. While the studies on the game industry, one of the leading content industries, related to the pandemic has been done from various perspectives, little attention has been taken in regards to how the pandemic have impacted on the national digital game production and its industrial sustainability as a whole. Thus, this study was conducted to analyze the changes in the domestic game industry before and after the COVID-19 outbreak using the big data analysis of semantic network. This study aims to understand the growing trend in the gaming industry that can be helpful for the marketing and production of future games, as well as to guide the establishment of the public game policies in the game industry. The results showed that the COVID-19 pandemic positively decreased the public’s worries and the government’s restrictions towards gaming due to game addiction as a mental disease. However, its sudden change in the gamer’s attitudes and the current gaming policies implied that for the sustainable development of the domestic game production, laws and regulations related to the game industry need to be reliable and planned on a long term basis since the industry is immensely large and is also related to several industries such as computing, programming, arts, and story contents. Accordingly, it is necessary to build an industrial ecology through which cluster complexes specializing in developing startups and small and medium-sized business can grow along with political support.
Study on emergency evacuation in underground urban complexes
Authors: Wei Junjie , Deng Qigen , Zhang Lixin
Published: December 2022

With progressive urbanization and the development and utilization of urban underground space, underground urban complexes (UUCs) have been increasingly used. UUCs have brought much convenience to people’s lives. However, due to their enclosed nature and complexity, it has been an urgent issue to avoid (or reduce) casualties and allow rapid and safe evacuation of people during an emergency. In this study, the evacuation simulation software Pathfinder was used. Based on the steering model, the variation of the total evacuation time and pedestrian flow at main exits with different simulated evacuation measures, congestion at key nodes and people’s path selection were compared and analyzed. Then, the critical locations in the spatial layout of UUCs that were prone to evacuation bottleneck effects were focused on and determined. The evacuation effectiveness of UUCs in an emergency was studied to investigate the problems of emergency evacuation in UUCs. It is found that in UUCs, the bottleneck effects were likely to occur at stairway entrances and exits as well as supermarket checkout counters and caused severe congestion. These locations should be focused on during emergency evacuation. For key locations prone to evacuation bottlenecks, increasing the width of exits or setting up auxiliary evacuation channels could be an effective measure to improve evacuation efficiency. In addition, formulating rational evacuation rules can be a favorable measure for emergency evacuation. However, during the evacuation, the herd mentality in people has an uncertain (positive or negative) impact on evacuation effectiveness. Setting up diversion walls may improve evacuation efficiency and reduce congestion to a certain extent, while evacuation confusion and chaos are prone to occur after diversion. These findings in this study have significant implications for improving the emergency management of UUCs.
L-fucose reduces gut inflammation due to T-regulatory response in Muc2 null mice
Authors: Feofanova Natalia A. , Bets Victoria D. , Borisova Mariya A. , Litvinova Ekaterina A.
Published: December 2022

Fucose, the terminal glycan of the intestinal glycoprotein Mucin2, was shown to have an anti-inflammatory effect in mouse colitis models and modulate immune response due to macrophage polarization changes. In this study we evaluated the effect of 0.05% L-fucose supplementation of drinking water on immune parameters in the intestine of homozygous mutant Muc2−/−, compared to Muc2+/+ mice. To get into innate and adaptive immunity mechanisms of gut inflammation, we tested PrkdcSCIDMuc2−/− strain, Muc2 knockout on SCID background, that is characterized by lack of lymphocytes, in comparison with PrkdcSCID mice. We evaluated intestinal cytokine profiling, macrophage and eosinophil infiltration, and expression of Nos2 and Arg1 markers of macrophage activation in all strains. Markers of Th1, Treg and Th17 cells (Tbx21, Foxp3, and Rorc expression) were evaluated in Muc2−/− and Muc2+/+ mice. Both Muc2−/− and PrkdcSCIDMuc2−/− mice demonstrated increased numbers of macrophages, eosinophils, elevated levels of TNFa, GM-CSF, and IL-10 cytokines. In Muc2−/− mice we observed a wide range of pro-inflammatory cytokines elevated, such as IFN-gamma, IL-1b, IL-12p70, IL-6, M-CSF, G-CSF, IL-17, MCP-1, RANTES, MIP1b, MIP2. Muc2−/− mice demonstrated increase of Nos2, Tbx21 and Foxp3 genes mRNA, while in PrkdcSCIDMuc2−/− mice Arg1 expression was increased. We found that in Muc2−/− mice L-fucose reduced macrophage infiltration and IL-1a, TNFa, IFNgamma, IL-6, MCP-1, RANTES, MIP1b levels, decreased Nos2 expression, and induced the expression of Treg marker Foxp3 gene. On the contrary, in PrkdcSCIDMuc2−/− mice L-fucose had no effect on macrophage and eosinophil numbers, but increased TNFa, GM-CSF, IL-12p70, IL-6, IL-15, IL-10, MCP1, G-CSF, IL-3 levels and Nos2 gene expression, and decreased Arg1 gene expression. We demonstrated that anti-inflammatory effect of L-fucose observed in Muc2−/− mice is not reproduced in PrkdcSCIDMuc2−/−, which lack lymphocytes. We conclude that activation of Treg cells is a key event that leads to resolution of inflammation upon L-fucose supplementation in Muc2−/− mice.
The prevalence and socio-demographic associations of household food insecurity in seven slum sites across Nigeria, Kenya, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. A cross-sectional study
Authors: Spieker Clara , Laverty Anthony A. , Oyebode Oyinlola ,   The Improving Health in Slums Collaborative
Published: December 2022

Although the proportion of people living in slums is increasing in low- and middle-income countries and food insecurity is considered a severe hazard for health, there is little research on this topic. This study investigated and compared the prevalence and socio-demographic associations of household food insecurity in seven slum settings across Nigeria, Kenya, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Data were taken from a cross-sectional, household-based, spatially referenced survey conducted between December 2018 and June 2020. Household characteristics and the extent and distribution of food insecurity across sites was established using descriptive statistics. Multivariable logistic regression of data in a pooled model including all slums (adjusting for slum site) and site-specific analyses were conducted. In total, a sample of 6,111 households were included. Forty-one per cent (2,671) of all households reported food insecurity, with varying levels between the different slums (9–69%). Household head working status and national wealth quintiles were consistently found to be associated with household food security in the pooled analysis (OR: 0·82; CI: 0·69–0·98 & OR: 0·65; CI: 0·57–0·75) and in the individual sites. Households which owned agricultural land (OR: 0·80; CI: 0·69–0·94) were less likely to report food insecurity. The association of the household head’s migration status with food insecurity varied considerably between sites. We found a high prevalence of household food insecurity which varied across slum sites and household characteristics. Food security in slum settings needs context-specific interventions and further causal clarification.
Pollen samples from a bumble bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) collection show historic foraging on introduced and native plants in the South Island of New Zealand
Authors: Knowles Mary , Li Xun , Lehnebach Carlos , Lester Philip , Kasper Julia
Published: December 2022

Historic pollination networks are important to understand interactions between different plant and pollinator species, as well as to differentiate between causes and consequences of present insect population decline. Natural history collections in museums store biological proxy data, which is used to reconstruct historic pollination networks of bumble bees. Four bumble bee species (Bombus terrestris, B. ruderatus, B. hortorum and B. subterraneus) were introduced to Aotearoa New Zealand in 1885 specifically for pollination purposes. Pollen samples were collected from museum specimens of three of the four NZ species of bumble bee (excluding B. subterraneus) collected between 1954 and 1972 from 56 locations across the South Island, New Zealand. The most common plants identified on all three bumble bee species were Calluna vulgaris (heather), Ulex (gorse), Cytisus (broom), and Trifolium repens (white clover). However, all three bumble bee species also carried pollen from several native plants (e.g. Arthropodium, Weinmannia, Plagianthus, Quintinia, Veronica, Melicytus) and potentially had been involved in the pollination of these species. This study adds new plant species known to be foraged upon by bumble bees in Aotearoa New Zealand. Further studies on pollination networks in New Zealand will help us understand any changes in host plant preferences over time and after the time period covered by this study.
Next generation insect taxonomic classification by comparing different deep learning algorithms
Authors: Ong Song-Quan , Hamid Suhaila Ab.
Published: December 2022

Insect taxonomy lies at the heart of many aspects of ecology, and identification tasks are challenging due to the enormous inter- and intraspecies variation of insects. Conventional methods used to study insect taxonomy are often tedious, time-consuming, labor intensive, and expensive, and recently, computer vision with deep learning algorithms has offered an alternative way to identify and classify insect images into their taxonomic levels. We designed the classification task according to the taxonomic ranks of insects—order, family, and genus—and compared the generalization of four state-of-the-art deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) architectures. The results show that different taxonomic ranks require different deep learning (DL) algorithms to generate high-performance models, which indicates that the design of an automated systematic classification pipeline requires the integration of different algorithms. The InceptionV3 model has advantages over other models due to its high performance in distinguishing insect order and family, which is having F1-score of 0.75 and 0.79, respectively. Referring to the performance per class, Hemiptera (order), Rhiniidae (family), and Lucilia (genus) had the lowest performance, and we discuss the possible rationale and suggest future works to improve the generalization of a DL model for taxonomic rank classification.
Risk of obstetric anal sphincter tear among primiparous women with a history of female genital mutilation, giving birth in Sweden
Authors: Eshraghi Bita , Hermansson Jonas , Berggren Vanja , Marions Lena
Published: December 2022

Background

Female genital mutilation (FGM) includes a range of procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia. It is a harmful procedure that violates human rights of girls and women. FGM has been associated with obstetric anal sphincter injury (OASI), among other adverse obstetric complications. However, the obstetric outcomes in high-income countries are not clear. The aim of this study was to compare the risk of OASI among primiparous women, with and without a history of FGM, giving birth in Sweden.

Method

A population-based cohort-study based on data from the Swedish Medical Birth Register during the period 2014–2018. The study included primiparous women with singleton term pregnancies. We compared the risk, using multivariable logistic regression, of our main outcome OASI between women with a diagnosis of FGM and women without a diagnosis of FGM. Secondary outcomes included episiotomy and instrumental vaginal delivery.

Result

A total of 239,486 primiparous women with a term singleton pregnancy were identified. We included 1,444 women with a diagnosis of FGM and 186,294 women without a diagnosis of FGM in our analysis. The overall rate of OASI was 3% in our study population. By using multivariable logistic regression analysis, we found that women with a diagnosis of FGM had a significantly increased odds ratio (OR) of OASI (OR 2.69, 95%CI: 2.14–3.37) compared to women without a diagnosis of FGM. We also found an association between FGM and instrumental delivery as well as the use of episiotomy.

Conclusion

Women with a history of FGM have an almost tripled risk of OASI in comparison with women without FGM, when giving birth in a Swedish setting. Increased knowledge and awareness regarding FGM, and its potential health implications is crucial in order to minimise the risk of OASI among women with FGM giving birth in high-income countries. A limitation in our study is the lack of information about the specific types of FGM.
Effects of domestication on responses of chickens and red junglefowl to conspecific calls: A pilot study
Authors: Bessa Ferreira Vitor Hugo , Dutour Mylène , Oscarsson Rebecca , Gjøen Johanna , Jensen Per
Published: December 2022

Beyond physical and zootechnical characteristics, the process of animal domestication has also altered how domesticated individuals, compared to their wild counterparts, perceive, process, and interact with their environment. Little is known, however, on whether and how domestication altered the perception of conspecific calls on both domesticated and wild breeds. In the present work, we compared the vigilance behavior of domestic and captive-born wild fowl following the playback of chicken alarm calls and contentment calls (control). The playback tests were performed on four different breeds/lines. We first compared the behavioral reaction of domesticated White Leghorn (WL, a breed selected for egg production) and Red Junglefowl (RJF) hens (ancestor of domestic chickens). We also compared the behavior of Red Junglefowl hens selected for high or low fear of humans (RJF HF and RJF LF, respectively), a proxy to investigate early effects of domestication. Contrary to our expectations, no breed/line reacted accordingly to the calls, as the increase in vigilance behavior after the playback calls was similar for both alarm and contentment calls. Although no call discrimination differences were found, breeds did differ on how they reacted/habituated to the calls. Overall, WL were more vigilant than RJF, and birds from the RJF LF line decreased their vigilance over testing days, while this was not the case for the RJF HF line. These results suggest that birds under commercial-like conditions are unable to discriminate between alarm and contentment calls. Interestingly, domestication and selection for low fear of humans may have altered how birds react to vocal stimuli. It is important to consider that farmed animals may interpret and be affected by the vocalizations of their conspecifics in unexpected ways, which warrants further investigation.
Diving into a pool or volcano? Examining the influence of sentence context and task demands on sentence reading in younger and older adults
Authors: Haigh Pennie , Hanif Naveen , de Bruin Angela
Published: December 2022

Cognitive ageing is often associated with slower lexical processing, which might influence both language production and comprehension. Words are typically used in context, which can further influence word processing and potential age differences. However, it remains unclear how older adults are affected by context during reading. Older adults are reported to have in-tact semantic knowledge, which could potentially help them to process words predicted by semantic information in the preceding context. However, potential difficulties with semantic control might mean older adults have greater difficulty suppressing interfering information from mismatching contexts. In this study we examined the influence of contexts that either predicted a specific target word (“matched”, e.g., “The man watched the lava erupt fromthe volcano”) or predicted another word than the target (“mismatched”, e.g., “The swimmer dived intothe volcano”) as compared to neutral contexts (e.g.,“They went to seethe volcano”). We also examined the potential role of task demands by asking participants to either just read the sentences for comprehension or to answer questions. Forty younger adults (18–35 years old) and forty older adults (65–80 years old) completed a self-paced reading task in which we measured reading times for the target words. Older adults showed slower reading times overall. Matched sentence contexts facilitated reading times in both age groups. Surprisingly, mismatched sentence contexts did not hinder reading times in either age group. Furthermore, reading times were not influenced by task demands. Together, this shows the importance of studying language in context. While interference from mismatching sentence contexts might have not been substantial enough to delay reading, reading was faster when processing expected words. This suggests older adults can indeed benefit from semantic knowledge to facilitate word processing during comprehension. This occurred even when no additional task was presented and people were purely reading for comprehension.
Gestational diabetes in women with obesity; an analysis of clinical history and simple clinical/anthropometric measures
Authors: White Sara L. , Pasupathy Dharmintra , Begum Shahina , Sattar Naveed , Nelson Scott M. , Seed Paul , Poston Lucilla ,   on behalf of the UPBEAT consortium
Published: December 2022

Aim

We assessed clinical risk factors, anthropometric measures of adiposity and weight gain to determine associations with development of GDM in a cohort of pregnant women with obesity.

Methods

This was a secondary analysis of the UPBEAT trial of a complex lifestyle intervention in pregnant women with obesity (ISRCTN89971375). Clinical risk factors, and measures of adiposity and weight were assessed in the early 2nd trimester (mean 17 +0 weeks), and adiposity and weight repeated in the early 3rd trimester (mean 27 +5 weeks’).

Results

Of the 1117 women (median BMI 35.0 kg/m2) with complete data, 25.8% (n = 304) developed GDM (IADPSG criteria, OGTT 24-28weeks). Using multivariable analysis, early clinical risk factors associated with later development of GDM included age (adj OR 1.06 per year; 95% CI 1.04–1.09), previous GDM (3.27; 1.34–7.93) and systolic blood pressure (per 10mmHg, 1.34; 1.18–1.53). Anthropometric measures positively associated with GDM included second trimester (mean 17+0 weeks) subscapular skinfold thickness, (per 5mm, 1.12; 1.05–1.21), and neck circumference (per cm, 1.11; 1.05–1.18). GDM was not associated with gestational weight gain, or changes in skinfolds thicknesses or circumferences between visits.

Conclusions

In this cohort of women with obesity, we confirmed clinical risk factors for GDM, (age, systolic blood pressure) previously identified in heterogeneous weight women but add to these indices of adiposity which may provide a discriminatory approach to GDM risk assessment in this group. This study also underscores the need to focus on modifiable factors pre-pregnancy as an opportunity for GDM prevention, as targeting gestational weight gain and adiposity during pregnancy is likely to be less effective.
Energy saving strategy of cloud data computing based on convolutional neural network and policy gradient algorithm
Authors: Yang Dexian , Yu Jiong , Du Xusheng , He Zhenzhen , Li Ping
Published: December 2022

Cloud Data Computing (CDC) is conducive to precise energy-saving management of user data centers based on the real-time energy consumption monitoring of Information Technology equipment. This work aims to obtain the most suitable energy-saving strategies to achieve safe, intelligent, and visualized energy management. First, the theory of Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) is discussed. Besides, an intelligent energy-saving model based on CNN is designed to ameliorate the variable energy consumption, load, and power consumption of the CDC data center. Then, the core idea of the policy gradient (PG) algorithm is introduced. In addition, a CDC task scheduling model is designed based on the PG algorithm, aiming at the uncertainty and volatility of the CDC scheduling tasks. Finally, the performance of different neural network models in the training process is analyzed from the perspective of total energy consumption and load optimization of the CDC center. At the same time, simulation is performed on the CDC task scheduling model based on the PG algorithm to analyze the task scheduling demand. The results demonstrate that the energy consumption of the CNN algorithm in the CDC energy-saving model is better than that of the Elman algorithm and the ecoCloud algorithm. Besides, the CNN algorithm reduces the number of virtual machine migrations in the CDC energy-saving model by 9.30% compared with the Elman algorithm. The Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (DDPG) algorithm performs the best in task scheduling of the cloud data center, and the average response time of the DDPG algorithm is 141. In contrast, the Deep Q Network algorithm performs poorly. This paper proves that Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) and neural networks can reduce the energy consumption of CDC and improve the completion time of CDC tasks, offering a research reference for CDC resource scheduling.