bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
What Medication-Related Factors Are Important For Polypharmacy And Deprescribing Assessment By Physicians And Pharmacists Using A Novel Website To Rate Clinical Cases?
Authors: Masnoon Nashwa , Shakib Sepehr , Ellett Lisa Kalisch , Caughey Gillian E
Published: July 2021

Background: Little is known about how clinicians assess polypharmacy in real-world practice. Objectives: To identify which medication-related factors influence clinicians’ ratings of polypharmacy, harm from medicines and deprescribing of medicines when presented with a patient’s list of medications and comorbidities.Setting: A novel website called What Is Polypharmacy Exactly (WIPE) was created with 50 de-identified real-world cases with varying numbers of comorbidities and medicines.Methods: Participants, consisting of physicians and pharmacists were asked to rate each case from zero (lowest) to 10 (highest) on three questions: i) degree of polypharmacy, ii) potential for medication-related harm and iii) potential to deprescribe medicines. Medication-related factors including medicines count, high-risk medicines, inappropriate duplication, drug-drug and drug-disease interactions were assessed. Multiple linear regression was used to determine which medication-related factors influenced median ratings for the three questions. Main outcome measures: The primary outcome measure was the median rating for the degree of polypharmacy for each case. Secondary outcome measures were the median rating for the potential for harm from medicines for each case and median rating for the potential to deprescribe medicines for each case. Results: Ninety-two clinicians were included in the study, comprising of 76.1% pharmacists (n=70) and 23.9% physicians (n=22). The comorbidity count (P=0.001), medicines count (P<0.001), inappropriate medication duplication (P=0.017), high-risk medicines (P=0.049), use of NSAIDs (P=0.032) and antihypertensives (P=0.040) were predictive of the perceived degree of polypharmacy. The comorbidity count (P<0.001), medicines count (P<0.001), inappropriate medication duplication (P=0.016) and high-risk medicines (P=0.036) were predictive of the recognised potential for medication-related harm. The medicines count (P<0.001), inappropriate medication duplication (P=0.017), benzodiazepine use (P=0.003) and antipsychotic use (P=0.039) were predictive of the recognised potential to deprescribe medicines. Conclusion: Whilst polypharmacy has traditionally been defined using the medicines count, our findings suggest that clinicians also consider other factors such as high-risk medicines and inappropriate medicines duplication to identify patients at risk of adverse outcomes. Future polypharmacy assessment tools should additionally include these factors.
Myocardial Characterization in Patients with Nonischemic Dilated Cardiomyopathy Combined with Ventricular Arrhythmias: Insights from Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Feature Tracking
Authors: Ma Hai-Yan , Zhao Xi-Hui , Tao Jian , Liu Pan , Wang Rong-Pin
Published: July 2021

This study investigated the feasibility of using cardiovascular magnetic resonance feature tracking (CMR-FT) for analysis of left ventricular (LV) strain and strain rate in patients with non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy (NIDCM) combined with ventricular arrhythmias (VAs). And evaluated the correlation between the LV global strain and left ventricular ejection (LVEF). We performed a retrospective study in a cohort of 34 consecutive patients with NIDCM combined with VAs who underwent CMR examination in our hospital between January 2016 and December 2019. Global and segmental peak values of LV longitudinal, circumferential, radial strain, and systolic strain rate were analyzed. Pearson analysis was calculated to assess the correlation of LV global deformation and LVEF as well as the correlation of between LV global deformation. Compared with the healthy controls, the global peak radial strain (GPRS), global peak circumferential strain (GPCS), and global peak longitudinal strain (GPLS) were significantly reduced in patients with NIDCM combined with VAs (P < 0.001, respectively). Additionally, Pearson analysis showed GPCS negatively correlated with LVEF (r=-0.946, P < 0.001), GPLS negatively correlated with LVEF (r=-0.860, P < 0.001), and GPRS positively correlated with LVEF (r = 0.920, P < 0.001). CMR-FT is a feasible and promising technique for assessing LV myocardial deformation of patients with NIDCM combined with VAs. And, GPCS was better negatively correlated with LVEF and higher reproducibility of intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC), which can help to guide clinical treatment and have great implication on clinical decision.
Controllers Design based on Takagi-Sugeno Fuzzy Systems and Sliding Mode for a Non-Holonomic Mobile robot
Authors: Abid hafedh
Published: July 2021

This paper is interesting to a nonholonomic wheeled mobile robot. We have presented a scheme to develop controllers. Two controllers have been developed. The first concerns the kinematic behavior while the second relates to the dynamic behavior of the mobile robot. For the Kinematic controller, we have used a Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy system to overcome the nonlinearities present in model whereas for the second controller we have used the sliding mode approach. The sliding surface has the identical structure as the proportional integral controller. The stability of system has been proved based on Lyapunov approach. The simulation results show the efficiency of the proposed control laws.
Identification of Hub Genes And Pathways of Gastric Adenocarcinoma Using Bioinformatics Analysis
Authors: Di Yu
Published: July 2021

Object: Understanding hub genes associated with gastric adenocarcinoma (GC) development could lead to effective advances to diagnose and treat the diseases. In order to discover possible signal pathways and hub genes for the disease, we utilized the bioinformatics tools to analyze its mechanism.Method: The gene chip of GSE7997was download from the GEO Datasets. Expression data of gastric cancer and its adjacent normal tissues were compared and the DEGs were acquired. The clusterProfiler and KEGG.db R packages were used for the analysis of its gene ontology process and KEGG pathways. What’s more, the PPI network was constructed by the STRING website. The hub genes were acquired by the plugin of the Cytohubba in Cytoscape. Finally, these genes were examined by the TCGA datasets and potential drugs were explored by Connectivity map.Results: The up regulated DEGs was mainly associated with the process of an extracellular matrix organization, an extracellular matrix organization, Collagen catabolic process, and multicellular organismal catabolic process. The down regulated DEGs have mainly associated with the process of digestion， cellular response to zinc ion， digestive system process, and organic hydroxy compound metabolic process. The up regulated DEGs was mainly located on PI3K-AKTsignal pathways, human papillomavirus infection，Cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, and focal adhesion process. The down regulated genes were mainly associated with protein digestion and absorption, mineral absorption, and the pancreatic secretion. Cytohubba had found hub genes of COL1A2, COL5A1, COL4A1, COL5A2, COL6A3, COL11A1, SERPINH1, FN1, and down-regulated COL2A1.These genes were associated with the process of transforming growth factor, extracellular matrix, cell adhesion, wound healing and so on. As examined by the TCGA datasets, these altered genes were associated with overall survivaland no disease progress time (P<0.05). Finally, we got the small molecule drugs of fenofibrate, benzbromarone, semustine, chloroquine, ondansetron, hydroxyachillin, megestrol, ciclopirox and monastrol for gastric cancer by Connectivity map (P<0.05).Conclusion: As mentioned above, we got 9 hub genes and tested by the TCGA datasets of gastric adenocarcinoma. They were associated with overall survival and disease free progressive time in gastric cancer patients. The bioinformatical analysis of the disease may enhance the understanding of the mechanism of disorders.
Comparable sulfate climate impacts by consumption of developed and developing countries
Authors: Lin Jintai , Zhou Chunjiang , Chen Lulu , Huang Gang , Lamarque Jean-Francois , Nie Ji , Yang Jun , Hu Kaiming , Liu Peng , Wang Jingxu , Xia Yan , Yang Yang , Hu Yongyun
Published: July 2021

Regional consumption activities supported by domestic production and international trade have led to substantial amounts of aerosols worldwide, yet the resulting impacts on the global climate system remains unknown. Here we quantify for the first time the climate response to aerosols associated with consumption by developing and developed countries, by integrating a most current-generation fully coupled Earth system model, a recent multi-regional input-output table and an updated emission inventory used for climate change assessment. We find that although consumption associated sulfur dioxide emissions of developed countries are only 60% of those of developing countries, they lead to comparable impacts on the global mean surface air temperature (-0.20±0.09 versus -0.18±0.11 K; with 2 standard deviations) and precipitation (-0.017±0.017 versus -0.019±0.019 mm/day). This is because the emissions of developed countries and resulting forcing are more evenly distributed zonally and located at higher latitudes than the emissions of developing countries. Emissions of both developing and developed countries strongly cool the Northern Hemisphere and cause southward movement of the Intertropical Convergence Zone, while emissions of developing countries have stronger temperature and precipitation impacts over the tropical monsoon regions of China and India. This work serves as the first step of a comprehensive assessment of consumption associated climate impacts in support of global concerted action towards sustainable consumption and stabilized climate.
Hydrogeochemical evolution processes and evaluation of groundwater suitability for domestic and agricultural utility in Southern Punjab, Pakistan
Authors: Iqbal Javed , Su Chunli
Published: July 2021

Groundwater is a vital resource for human life and economic growth. In the Khanewal district of Punjab, Pakistan, environmental changes, and anthropogenic activities have made groundwater extremely vulnerable in the past forty years. Sixty-eight groundwater samples were collected from the study area, major ions and trace elements were analyzed. The Principal Component Analysis and Cluster Analysis were used to identify the major factors influencing groundwater quality, as well as to assess its suitability for drinking and irrigation in southern Punjab. The aquifers are slightly acidic to alkaline, according to the pH (6.9–9.2) of groundwater. Significant cations are distributed as follows: Na+ > Ca2+ > Mg2+ > K+, while anions are distributed as HCO3− > SO42− > Cl−. The main hydrochemical facies are mixed Na·Ca-HCO3 and Na·Ca (Mg)-HCO3·SO4. Rock weathering processes, such as the dissolution of calcite, dolomite, and gypsum minerals, governed groundwater hydrochemistry. The water quality index (WQI) indicates that 17.64% of the water samples are unsuitable to drink. However, according to the Wilcox diagram, the USSL diagram, and some other agricultural indices, approximately 68% of the groundwater samples are suitable for irrigation.
Heat Stress and Rumen Microbial Ecology: Novel Insights Into Goat Adaptation
Authors: Veerasamy Sejian , MV Silpa , Trivedi Shraddha , MR Reshma Nair , Madiajagan Bagath , Govindan Krishnan , Chinnasamy Devaraj , GB Manjunathareddy , PK Malik , NM Soren , K Giridhar , Bhatta Raghavendra
Published: July 2021

Establishing the functional significance of rumen microbiome during heat stress may provide crucial information for elucidating climate resilience in goat. The current study was thus designed with an aim to assess the impact of heat stress on the rumen microbiome across three indigenous goat breeds. To prove this hypothesis, six experimental groups were chosen as follows: Osmanabadi Control (n=6), Osmanabadi Heat (n=6), Malabari Control (n=6), Malabari Heat (n=6), Salem Black Control (n=6) and Salem Black Heat (n=6). The study, being first of its kind, provides novel insights into influence of both genetic and environmental interaction on rumen microbial diversity in goats. An evident variation in the rumen microbial abundance was established during heat stress across all three goat breeds. The decreased Firmicutes and higher Bacteroides abundance in Salem Black goats could indicate the better protein and polysaccharide degrading ability of Salem Black breed. Further, the number of unique OTUs in the Salem Black heat group was higher as compared to both Osmanabadi and Malabari heat groups. In addition, the lower abundance of both KEGG as well as COG pathways indicated the sub-threshold level of heat stress experienced by this breed. Moreover, the histomorphometric changes in the rumen also pointed towards the better adaptive ability of Salem Black breed. This result point towards the genetic factor governing the rumen microbial diversity in goats during heat stress exposure. The findings provide substantial evidence on the genetic superiority of Salem Black breed in altering the rumen microbial population which could impart them the potential to thrive well in harsh environmental conditions.
Effects of Epichloë Endophytes on The Litter Decomposition of Three Host Grass Species in The Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau
Authors: Song Meiling , Wang Yuqin , Wang Hongsheng , Bao Gensheng , Li Xiuzhang
Published: July 2021

Aims

Grass fungal endophyte symbioses are widespread in the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau grasslands. It is not clear whether endophytes will influence litter decomposition in alpine grassland. It is important to understand the role of fungal endophytes in the litter decomposition of host grasses in the grasslands of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.
Method

s This study utilized Festuca sinensis, Stipa purpurea and Achnatherum inebrians as objects and compared their litter with endophyte (E+) infection and without (E-) during the change in litter weight, total nitrogen, lignin and cellulose contents and their residual rate during the decomposition process. The microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen of soil under litters were also compared.
Results

The litter from E + F. sinensis and S. purpurea decomposed more quickly along with the cellulose compared with E-. The contents and residual rates of nitrogen and lignin in the F. sinensis and S. purpurea litters had no apparent trend of change. The microbial biomass nitrogen of soil under the E + F. sinensis and S. purpurea litters was higher than that of the E- litters. Alternatively, the rates of decomposition and degradation of lignin were lower in the E + A. inebrians litter than those of the E- litter. The endophyte decreased the microbial biomass carbon of soil under A. inebrians litter.
Conclusions

Endophytes played an important role in the nutrient cycling of alpine grassland ecosystems by promoting or decreasing the decomposition of host plants. The results will provide basic data to apply to grass endophyte symbioses in alpine grassland.
Theoretical Design and Process Control of Neonicotinoids Insecticides Suitable for Synergistic Degradation of Rhizobia and Carbon-fixing Bacteria in Soil
Authors: Deng Zhengyang , Ren Zhixing , Sun Shuhai , Wang Yujun
Published: July 2021

This study studied and developed the modification schemes of environmentally friendly substitutes of NNIs along with the regulatory measures that effectively enhanced the synergistic degradation of NNIs by soil rhizobia and carbon-fixing bacteria. Firstly, the binding ability of NNIs to the two key proteins was characterized by molecular docking; Secondly, the mean square deviation decision method, which is a comprehensive evaluation method was used to investigate the binding ability of NNI molecules with the two Rubisco rate-limiting enzymes. The 3D-QSAR model was established for the synergistic degradation and single effect of rhizobia and carbon fixing bacteria, subsequently. Finally, after combining the 3D-QSAR model with a contour maps analysis of the synergistic degradation effect of soil rhizobia and carbon-fixing bacteria, 102 NNI derivatives were designed. 4 NNI derivatives passed the functional and environmentally friendly evaluation. Taguchi orthogonal experiment and factorial experiment assisted molecular dynamics method were used to simulate the effects of 32 regulation schemes on the synergistic degradation of NNIS and its derivatives by rhizobia and carbon fixing bacteria. The synergistic degradation capacity of soil rhizobia and carbon-fixing bacteria was increased to 33.32% after right nitrogen supplementation. This indicated that supplementing the correct amount of nitrogen was beneficial to the microbial degradation of NNIs and their derivatives.
Risk Factors Associated With Dengue Fever Outbreak in Taiz Governorate, Yemen, 2018: Case-control Study
Authors: Nassar Abdulkareem Ali Hussein , Torbosh Amr Abdulaziz , Mahyoub Yassin Abdulmalik , Amad Mohammed Abdullah Al
Published: July 2021

Background: Dengue Fever (DF) is a significant health problem in Yemen especially in the coastal areas. On November 6, 2018, Taiz governorates surveillance officer notified the Ministry of Public Health and Population on an increase in the number of suspected DF in Al Qahirah and Al Mudhaffar districts, Taiz governorate. On November 7, 2018, Field Epidemiology Training Program sent a team to perform an investigation. The aims were to confirm and describe the outbreak by person, place and time in Taiz governorate, and identify its risk factors.Methodology: Descriptive and case-control study (1:2 ratio) were conducted. WHO case definition was used to identify cases in Al Qahirah or Al Mudhaffar districts during August-November 2018. Control was selected from the same districts who did not suffer from DF. Predesigned questionnaire was used to collect data related to sociodemographic, behavioral and environmental characteristics. Bivariate and multivariate backward stepwise analyses were used. The adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were calculated. A P value < 0.05 was considered as the cut point for statistically significant. Epi info version 7.2 was used.Results: A total of 50 DF cases were found. Almost 52% were males and 76% were <30 years of age. The overall attack rate was 1/10,000 of the population. Case fatality rate was 4%. In multivariate analysis, not working (aOR = 26.6, 95% CI: 6.8–104.7), not using mosquito repellent (aOR = 13.9, 95% CI:1.4–136.8), wearing short sleeves/pants (aOR = 27.3, 95% CI: 4.8–156.8), poor sanitation (aOR = 5.4, 95% CI: 1.4–20.3), presence of outdoor trees (aOR = 13.2, 95% CI: 2.8–63.0) and houses without window nets (aOR = 15.7, 95% CI: 3.9–63.4) were statistically significant risk factors associated with DF outbreak. Eleven 11 (58%) of blood samples were positive for DF IgM.Conclusions: DF outbreak in Al Qahirah and Al Mudhaffar districts, Taiz governorate was confirmed. This study provides evidence-based information regarding the identified risk factors that contributed to the occurrence of this outbreak. Raising community awareness on the importance of personal protection measures and improving the sanitation services are strongly recommended.
An Evolutionary Algorithmic Framework- Cloud Based Evidence Collection Architecture
Authors: Khan Yunus , Varma Sunita
Published: July 2021

Forensic in cloud computing is an advancement of evolutionary modern forensic science that protects against cyber criminals. Single centralize point compilation and storage of data, however, overcome the authenticity of digital evidence. In order to address this serious issue, this article suggests a evolutionary modern algorithm automated forensic platform leveraging infrastructure as a cloud service (IaaS) based on Blockchain concept. This proposed forensic structural design, evidence collection of evidence and stored on a blockchain which is circulated around several peer blocks. Secure Block Verification Mechanism (SBVM) is proposed to Safeguarding the device from unauthorised users. Using the cuckoo search optimization algorithm for strengthening of the cloud environment, secret keys are optimally generated. On the bases of level of confidentiality, all data is stored and encrypted at cloud authentication server. Confidentiality-based Algebraically Homomorphic Cryptosystems learning is presented with a fast-forwarding algorithm for encryption. A block in the SDN controller is created for every data and information is stored in the cloud service provider and the history is recorded as metadata data about data. A hash based tree is constructed in each block by Secure Hash Algorithm version − 3 of 512 bits. By implementing graph theory-based graph neural networks in Smart Contracts, our framework enables users to track their data (GNNSC). Finally, the construction of a evidence graph using blockchain data enables evidence analysis. Experiments was carried out in a Python programming and blockchain integrated cloud environment with network simulator-3.30 (for Software Defined Network). As part of result our newly designed forensic architecture using blochchain (FAuB) good results in terms of evidence response time, insertion times of cloud evidence, verification time of evidence, computational overhead of evidence, hashes calculation time, keys generations times of evidence, evidence encryption time, evidence decryptions time, and total overall change rate of evidence, according to a comprehensive comparative study.
Vampire Bat (Desmodus Rotundus) Abundancy and Frequency of Attacks to Cattle in Landscapes of Yucatan, Mexico
Authors: Sánchez-Gómez Wendy Susana , SELEM-SALAS CELIA ISELA , Córdova-Aldana Daniel Isaías , Erales-Villamil José Alberto
Published: July 2021

Desmodus rotundus is one of the wild animal species that has benefitted by habitat alteration and its population has increased due to livestock activities. Because vampire bats have caused economic losses to livestock production by feeding from these and other mammals and being the main rabies virus transmitter for cattle, population control campaigns have been implemented in Mexico. Yucatan is one of the seven most impacted States in Mexico by the number of cattle rabies cases per year, however, there is little research on vampire bat populations and attacks to cattle frequency patterns has never been analyzed so far. This study’s objective was to analyze the relationship between D. rotundus abundancy and number of bovines attacked in livestock landscapes in Yucatan. The study used data gathered by the State Committee for Protection and Promotion of Livestock in Yucatan through the National Campaign for Vampire Bat Population Control. Data from January 2014 to December 2017 was analyzed using Pearson correlation and bat abundancy and number of bovines attacked distribution maps. Greater abundancy of vampire bats and number of cattle attacked were observed in the central region of Yucatan, particularly in Izamal municipality. Positive correlation was found between 1) Abundancy of vampire bats and number of cattle in the region, 2) Total number of cattle and number of cattle attacked, and 3) Abundancy of vampire bats and number of cattle attacked. We can conclude that the relationship between abundancy of vampire bats and frequency of cattle attacked is positive.
Oridonin Attenuates Low Shear Stress-Induced Endothelial Cell Dysfunction and Oxidative Stress by Activating The Nuclear Factor Erythroid 2-Related Factor 2 Pathway
Authors: CHEN ZHIPENG , LIU HEQIAN , MAMATELI SUBINUR , LIU CHENG , LIU YUTONG , CAI JING , QIAO TONG , WANG LEI
Published: July 2021

Background

Atherosclerosis (AS) is the primary cause of cardiovascular disease and the incidence is extremely common; however, there are currently few drugs that can effectively treat AS. Although oridonin has been widely used to treat inflammation and cancer for numerous years, to the best of our knowledge, its protective effect against AS has not been reported. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate whether oridonin attenuated AS.
Methods

By using text mining, chemometric and chemogenomic methods, oridonin was predicted to be a beneficial agent for the treatment of AS. A parallel flow chamber was used to establish a low shear stress (LSS)-induced endothelial cell (EC) dysfunction model. Briefly, ECs were exposed to 3 dyn/cm2 LSS for 30 min and subsequently treated with oridonin or transfected with a small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NRF2). Reactive oxygen species (ROS), superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione (GSH) and glutathione disulfide (GSSG) in EA.hy926 cells were analyzed to determine the level of oxidative stress. The nitric oxide (NO) levels and mRNA expression levels of endothelial NO synthase (eNOS), endothelin-1 (ET-1) and prostaglandin synthase (PGIS) in EA.hy926 cells were analyzed to determine EC dysfunction. Furthermore, the mRNA expression levels of NRF2 were analyzed using reverse transcription-quantitative PCR. In addition, zebrafish were fed with a high-cholesterol diet to establish a zebrafish AS model, which was used to observe lipid accumulation and inflammation under a fluorescence microscope.
Results

We found LSS led to oxidative stress and EC dysfunction; this was primarily indicated through the significantly decreased SOD and GSH content, the significantly increased MDA, GSSG and ROS content, the upregulated mRNA expression levels of ET-1, and the downregulated NO levels and mRNA expression levels of eNOS and PGIS in ECs. Notably, oridonin could improve LSS-induced oxidative stress and EC dysfunction,and the effects of oridonin were reversed by the transfection with NRF2 siRNA. Oridonin also attenuated lipid accumulation and neutrophil recruitment at the LSS regions in the zebrafish AS model.
Conclusions

In conclusion, the results of the present study suggested that oridonin may ameliorate LSS-induced EC dysfunction and oxidative stress by activating NRF2, thereby attenuating AS.
Usage of Implant Contraceptive Method by Sexually Active Women: An Exploration of The Factors Contributing To Implant Contraceptive Method Uptake in Vhembe District, Limpopo Province, South Africa.
Authors: Shihundla Rhulani Caroline , Lebese Rachel Tsakani , Maputle Sonto Maria
Published: July 2021

Background

The estimation of unmet contraceptive needs triggered the National Department of Health in South Africa to introduced the Implant contraceptive method in 2014 to increase the range of contraceptive options for sexually active women. Implant contraceptive uptake remains low in the Vhembe District despite its effectiveness in preventing unintended pregnancy. Very little is known about the factors that affect the usage of this cost-effective device.
Aim

To explore sexually active women's knowledge, practices and attitudes related to the usage of the Implant contraceptive method in Vhembe District, Limpopo Province.
Methods

The study was qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual, conducted using a non-probability purposive technique to sample 62 sexually active women aged from 18–45 years. The sample size was determined by data saturation. Five (5) focus group discussions were conducted using semi-structured interviews, which lasted for 45–60 minutes. Tesch's eight steps of open coding were used to analyse data.
Results

Results revealed that sexually active women experience some challenges related to Implant Contraceptive Method. The majority of women had little knowledge about the device, making it difficult for them to use the method. The majority of sexually active women indicated that they are interested in the method and would like to enjoy the benefits.
Conclusion

Sexually active women's intentions to utilise the Implant contraceptive method was very low as the majority of them had a negative attitude towards the method, due to insufficient knowledge. Professional nurses should inform women and public members about newly introduced Implant contraceptive method at Primary Health Care facilities to enhance usage.
Usefulness of Abdominal Massage and ST-36 (Zusanli) Acupressure in Improving The Appetite of COVID-19 Patients Treated in a Makeshift Hospital: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Authors: Wang Lei , Peng Jifang , Liu Hairong , Jia Yan , Yao Cui , Lin Yufan , Yua Hui , Li Fang
Published: July 2021

Objectives: To investigate the appetite of COVID-19 patients treated in a makeshift hospital and to evaluate the effectiveness of abdominal massage and ST-36 (Zusanli) acupressure in improving their appetite.Design: Randomized controlled trial.Methods: This study was performed between February 15 and March 2, 2020, in a sports centre makeshift hospital in Wuhan, China. The appetite of 110 COVID-19 patients was assessed using a mobile app-based Simplified Nutritional Appetite Questionnaire (SNAQ). The experimental and control groups, 55 patients each, were randomized using a prepared randomization checklist. Through video guidance and on-the-spot instruction, patients in the experimental group mastered the methods of abdominal massage and ST-36 (Zusanli) acupressure and implemented the intervention for 7 days by themselves. The appetite of the patients was assessed again after intervention.Results: In a total of 110 participants, 43 (39.1%) patients suffered from a poor appetite. A positive correlation between poor appetite and older age as well as fever was observed (p<0.05). In the experimental group, the SNAQ scores were significantly increased (14.07±2.46 vs 15.55±1.77, p=0.0004), and the proportion of patients with a poor appetite was markedly reduced after the intervention (41.8% vs 10.9%, p=0.0002). Compared with the control group, the rate of poor appetite in the experimental group was significantly decreased postintervention (27.3% vs 10.9%, p=0.029).Conclusion: In COVID-19 patients, a poor appetite may be correlated with older age and fever. Abdominal massage and ST-36 (Zusanli) acupressure are applicable and effective in improving the appetite of COVID-19 patients during isolation treatment.Trial registration: Chinese clinical trial registry (ChiCTR2000033261), the trial was registered retrospectively.
Competitive Sport After Sars-Cov-2 Infection in Children
Authors: Cafiero Giulia , Falminia Passi , Carducci Francesca Ippolita Calò , Federica Gentili , Ugo Giordano , Perri Chiara , Said Melania Hashem , Attilio Turchetta
Published: July 2021

Background

With the gradual resumption of sports activities after the lock-down period, during coronavirus pandemic, a new problem is emerging: allow all athletes to be able to return to compete after SARS-CoV-2 infection in total safety. Several protocols have been proposed for healed athletes but all of them have been formulated for the adult population.
Methods

The aim of the present study is to evaluate the adequacy of Italian practical recommendations for return-to-paly, in order to exclude cardiorespiratory complications due to COVID-19 in children and adolescents. From September 2020 to February 2021, 45 children and adolescents (aged from 9 to 18 years) with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection were evaluated according to the protocols in force for adult.
Results

The data obtained showed that, in the pediatric population, mild coronavirus infection does not cause cardiorespiratory complications in the short and medium term.
Conclusion

Return to play after Coronavirus infection seems to be safe but it will be necessary to continue with the data analysis in order to modulate and optimize the protocols especially in the pediatric field.
WITHDRAWN: SBL Kalman Filter Based Hybrid Precoder/ Combiner for mmWave MIMO Systems: A Frequency Domain Approach
Authors: k Shoukath Ali , Palaniswami Sampath
Published: July 2021

The optimal design of hybrid precoder/ combiner for Millimetre Wave (mmWave) Multiple Input and Multiple Output Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM ) system is developed presented. In the frequency domain approach, Sparse Bayesian Learning - Kalman Filter (SBL-KF) algorithm is used to design the optimal hybrid precoder/ combiner in mmWave MIMO OFDM systems. Sparse signal recovery problem for Single Measurement Vector (SMV) is discussed, that is close to the design of ideal digital baseband precoder by maximizing the mutual information from the hybrid precoder. SBL-KF scheme select the minimum number of active Radio Frequency (RF) chains based on the hyper parameter estimator. The minimum number of RF chain is approximate the ideal digital precoder / combiner design. Proposed SBL-KF scheme achieve low power consumption and enhanced spectral efficiency, when compared to the SBL, Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (OMP), Simultaneous OMP (SOMP) and Least Square schemes, which activate a fixed data streams and fixed number of RF chains.
Geometrical- and Tooth Contact Analysis of the Areas and Perimeters on the Archimedean Worm Wheels Depending on the Modification of the Axial Module
Authors: Bodzás Sándor , Szanyi Gyöngyi
Published: July 2021

With the knowledge of the recommendations from reference literatures - six types of Archimedean worm gear drives were designed with the modification of the axial module. After that computer aided models were generated. These pairs were loaded by the same torque to analyse the mechanical parameters on the tooth contact zone. Due to the geometrical establishment, three teeth are connected with the worm surface at the same time, that is why these teeth are analysed. Polygon method was used to approach the kinematical impression on the worm wheel surface. As a result, we were able to define the area- and perimeter percentages of these impressions on the worm wheel surface for each tooth. We also determined the correlation between the axial module and the analysed mechanical parameters supposing average values on the contact surfaces.
Investigations of the Rockfall Impacts on the Flexible Protective Barriers under Seismic Loading
Authors: Ge Ziwei , Liu Hongyan
Published: July 2021

Rockfall triggered by earthquakes can cause severe infrastructure losses and even fatalities. The flexible protective barrier is an efficient rockfall protection system that has been widely used against rockfall. This studyproposed a novel approach to simulate a field test of rockfall impacting the flexible barrier, and the simulation results showed an excellent match with the field test results. Based on this approach, the seismic loading was applied to the numerical model, and four types of seismic loading were adopted, e.g., non-seismic, x-directional seismic, y-directional seismic, and z-directional seismic. This study aims at investigating the dynamic behavior of the flexible protective barrier under different seismic loading during the rockfall impact process. The following findings can be obtained from the simulation results. First of all, the seismic loading can increase the maximum elongation and decrease the final elongation of the flexible protective barrier comparing to non-seismic loading. Second, the largest deformation area of the protective barrier is at the diagonal position when x-directional seismic loading was applied, which is at the vertical bisector position when y-directional and z-directional seismic loading was applied. Third, the maximum elongation of the protective barrier decreased with the increasing seismic wave period. But in general, the amplitude and period of seismic waves have negligible effects on the elongation, maximum normal stress, and maximum shear stress of the flexible protective barrier.
Attribute based Weighted Mechanism for Community Detection in Social Internet of Things
Authors: Rajendran Subash , R Jebakumar
Published: July 2021

A new paradigm of Internet of Things (IoT) is emerging rapidly by socializing the smarter physical devices called as Social Internet of Things (SIoT). Social relationships established between these objects make them autonomously connected for services, without any human intervention. Since SIoT is a large-scale network with huge data involved, the content spreading behaviour need to be exploited. In order to ensure the growth of the content spread, the large-scale SIoT network is divided into several communities based on the social attributes in this work. We first divided the SIoT network into high quality Sociality based Weighted Communities (SWC). Social attributes like user preferences, social similarities, and mutual friends’ degrees are main metrics for achieving the best rate function. The weighted method based on these social attributes determine the nodes to be present in their respective communities. Also, the controlling of the local community augmentation using cluster concepts is done in our approach. Finally, a Credential Acclaimed Information Spreading (CAIS) mechanism is proposed which selects the best node with the maximum credential to surge the content spreading behaviour in the detected communities of SIoT network. The proposed social-driven attribute based weighted mechanism for community detection is validated using three diverse real-world datasets such as CASAS, MIT and ARAS dataset containing 427 sensors. Investigational outcomes validate that the overall performance of the proposed method overwhelms the conventional community detection algorithms like Louvain, Girvan Newman, Bron Kerbosch, Infomax and the recent state-of-art-approaches interms of spreading outcomes, NMI, modularity, F-measure, precision, recall and computational time.
Sub-6 GHz Band Massive MIMO Antenna System for Variable Deployment Scenarios in 5G Base Stations
Authors: R Darwin , P Sampath
Published: July 2021

A compact massive MIMO antenna system with 1x4 (sector) subarray setup working at sub-6 GHz range for 5G base stations has been planned and broke down in different configurations(rectangular, triangular and hexagonal). The limit of a system can be expanded by more than 10 times whereas the energy efficiency can be expanded 100 times utilizing a Massive MIMO system. A limit of 5 sectors has been utilized with every sector containing 1x4 subarray components. Every sector comprises of three layers, in which 1x4 patches is situated on its top layer though it's taking care of organization and ground plane has been set in the base layer and the centre layer individually. The whole system can work in two modes, singular port activity andmassive MIMO exhibit activity with shaft guiding abilities. The deliberate data transmission of the framework is 140 MHz that covers the frequencies from 3.36 GHz to 3.50 GHz in sub-6 GHz band. The general component of a unit subarray regarding length, width and tallness was 280.5 x 56.1 x 2 mm3. The gain of an individual port is discovered to be 12.95 dBi and the general addition of a single panel with 5 sectors arranged in rectangular structure is 19.73 dBi. Mutual couplingamong all the ports has been kept not exactly - 16 dB. The working frequency of the radio antenna array system is picked in the scope of 3.3 GHz to 3.8 GHz as this band has been assigned and focused across the globe to empower 5G in Sub-6 GHz band.
A 15-Year Trend of Catastrophic Health Payment and its Inequality in China: Evidence from Longitudinal Data
Authors: Xu Yongjian , Zhou Yiting , Pramono Andi
Published: July 2021

Background：The Chinese health care system has gone through two major cycles of reform since the 1980s. This study aims to comprehensively track the trends in the occurrence of catastrophic health payment and its inequality in the past 15 years, which may help better understand the influence of health system reforms on catastrophic health payment and its inequality. Methods：The study employed the subset of data from China Health and Nutrition Survey conducted from 1991 to 2015. Concentration index and decomposition analysis were used to measure the magnitude of income-related inequality in catastrophic health payment and decompose it into determinants respectively. Results: The incidence of catastrophic health expenditure in China increased from 3.10% in 1993 to 8.90% in 2004, and still maintained at a high level in the following years. The incidence gap of catastrophic health payment between the richest and poorest became increasingly wider over year. Moreover, the adjusted concentration indexes were all negative in each year, decreasing from -0.202 in 1991 to -0.613 in 2015. The basic medical insurance didn’t decrease the incidence of catastrophic health payment and showed the second largest contribution on the inequality in catastrophic health payment before 2004. However, this contribution began to decline after 2006. Conclusions: After the New Health Care Reform, although the Chinese government has taken many measures to protect poor households from catastrophic health payment, the incidence gap between the rich and poor has widened. China has nearly achieved universal coverage in recent years, however, the basic medical insurance in China was not enough to protect households from catastrophic health payment. Our study suggests that improving the generosity of existing basic medical insurance, and reforming the medical insurance payment system would be helpful to reduce the incidence of catastrophic health payment. The use of big data tools and techniques to effectively screen the poor households, and strengthening the social medical aid system would be helpful to decrease the pro-rich inequality in catastrophic health payment.
High-dimensional entanglement-enabled holography for quantum encryption
Authors: Kong Ling-Jun , Zhang Furong , Zhang Jingfeng , Sun Yifan , Zhang Xiangdong
Published: July 2021

Cryptography plays an important role in information security, which is widely applied in the various fields of society. Quantum cryptography has shown its great advantages in information security compared with the classical one. Two major directions of quantum cryptography are quantum key distribution (QKD) and quantum encryption, with the former focusing on secure key distribution and the latter focusing on encryption using quantum algorithms. In contrast to the well accepted success of the QKD, the development of quantum encryption is rather limited because of the difficulties of building up algorithms and the constructing the practical quantum computers. Here we propose a new scheme of quantum encryption based on high-dimensional entanglement holography. Firstly, we experimentally realize the quantum holography based on the high-dimensional orbital angular momentum (OAM) entanglement. Then, OAM-selective holographic scheme for quantum encryption is proposed and demonstrated. Our results show that introducing quantum entangled state into OAM holography makes the OAM holography possess infinite information channels and the transmission of information be absolute security in principle. Furthermore, decryption in the presence of strong noise is achieved. Our work opens up a new way to realize quantum information security.
Margins of Postural Stability in Parkinson’s Disease: An Application of Control Theory
Authors: Rahmati Zahra , Behzadipour Saeed , Taghizadeh Ghorban
Published: July 2021

Background: Postural instability is a restrictive feature in Parkinson’s disease (PD), usually assessed by clinical or laboratory tests. However, the exact quantification of postural stability, using stability theorems that take into account the human dynamics, is still lacking. We investigated the feasibility of control theory, Nyquist stability criterion (Gain Margin – GM –, and Phase Margin – PM –), in discriminating postural instability in PD; as well as the effects of a balance-training program. Methods: Center-of-pressure (COP) data of 40 PD patients before and after a 4-week balance-training program, and 20 healthy control subjects (HCs) (Study1); as well as COP data of 20 other PD patients at four time points during a 6-week balance-training program (Study2), collected in two earlier studies, were used. COP was recorded in four tasks, two on rigid surface and two on foam, eyes-open and closed. A postural control model (an inverted-pendulum with PID controller and time delay) was fitted to the COP data, to subject-specifically identify the model parameters; thereby calculating |GM| and PM for each subject in each task.Results: Patients had smaller margin of stability (|GM|, PM) compared to HCs. Particularly, patients, unlike HCs, showed drastic drop in PM on foam. Clinical outcomes and margin of stability improved in patients after balance training. |GM| improved early at week 4, followed by a plateau in the rest of the training. In contrast, PM improved late (week 6), in a relatively continuous-progression form. Conclusions: Using fundamental stability theorems is a promising technique for standardized quantification of postural stability in various tasks.
Prevalence of Anti-Phospholipid Autoantibodies and Their Association with Respiratory SOFA Component in Patients with COVID-19 Pneumonia: A Prospective Cohort Analysis in Tunisia
Authors: ABOUDA Amal , BOUKHALFA Yasmine , ANENE Wafa , HAJJEJ Zied , GHAZOUANI Ezzeddine , FERJANI Mustapha , LABBENE Iheb
Published: July 2021

Purpose: The aim of our study was to evaluate the prevalence of aPLAs among Tunisian critically-ill covid19 and non-covid19 patients and to investigate the clinical significance of aPLAs by determining the SOFA score and their respiratory failure during their ICU stay. Methods: We conducted a prospective observational cohort study including critically ill COVID-19 patients and non-COVID-19 patients with pulmonary origin sepsis, admitted to the intensive care unit. Blood samples were collected on days 1, 3, 5, 8 and 10 of hospitalization in order to measure titers of anti-cardiolipin (aCL), anti-phosphatidylserine (aPS) by chemiluminescence immunoassay. Results: We enrolled 43 COVID-19 patients and 31 non COVID-19 with pulmonary origin sepsis. In-hospital mortality rate was significantly higher (p=0.026) in COVID-19 patients (79%). 58.8% of COVID-19 patients were aPLA positive; however, only 22.5% of the non-COVID-19 were positive for aPLA (p=0.002). A significant positive correlation existed between respiratory SOFA component at days 3, 5, 8 and 10 and anti-phospholipid antibodies concentrations. Conclusion: Based on our results, for the first time, anti-phospholipid antibodies may be used as an independent indicator of respiratory organ failure in critically ill patients, to stratify and assess the prognosis of pulmonary origin sepsis and COVID-19.