bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Quality improvement of saliva by chewing tapioca pearls in bubble tea drinks: a randomized experimental trial
Authors: Handajani Juni , Kusumajati Dinda , Fathiyah Hania , Susilowati Heni , Tandelilin Regina T.C.
Published: March 2022

Background: Bubble tea drinks contain tea and tapioca pearls. Chewing tapioca pearls in bubble tea drinks may increase salivary components. Because of its proteins, inorganic components, and enzymes, saliva plays an important role in the body’s defense against bacteria and viruses. This study aims to analyze the effect of chewing tapioca pearls in bubble tea drinks on salivary C-reactive protein (CRP) and calcium (Ca) levels.

Methods: The inclusion criterion was 18–25 years of age. The exclusion criteria were receiving medication, using dentures, a history of dry mouth, smoking and systemic disease. In the first week of the experiment, subjects drank bubble tea with tapioca pearls for three days (intervention week). In the second week, the same subjects drank tea without pearls for three days (control week). Each subject drank the bubble tea for 5 minutes per day over 3 days. Saliva samples were collected on the first day before bubble tea consumption (pretest) and on the third day after tea consumption (posttest). Saliva collection was performed in the morning (09:00 am–12:00 pm) for 1 minute. Sixty saliva samples were collected from 15 subjects. Salivary CRP levels were measured using a commercial ELISA kit, and Ca levels were determined using semi-quantitative test strips.

Results: Salivary CRP decreased significantly on the third day in the intervention group but showed no significant difference with the control group. Calcium levels increased significantly on the third day in both groups.

Conclusion: Bubble tea drinks could improve the quality of saliva by decreasing salivary CRP and increasing Ca levels.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04670341 (17th December 2020).
The Eastern Partnership as a Structural Actor: A Geopolitical Perspective
Authors: Tyszkiewicz Adrian
Published: March 2022

The subject of the analysis is to show the institutional meaning of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) presented as a sub-system of the European Union, being one of the two regional pillars of the European Neighbourhood Policy. Reference to general systems theory, in particular to the political metaphor of organisation, which in this case treats the subject of analysis as a (geo)political system, allows the identification of the basic civilisational (Europeanisation, Euro-unionisation), socio-political (standardisation of values and institutional solutions) and economic (liberalisation of flows and generation of modernisation) processes that make EaP a relatively coherent and contained whole. Recalling the theoretical conceptual categories of S.B. Cohen’s theoretical categories highlight the centrifugal nature – from the point of view of the geopolitical interests of the Russian Federation – of the impulses unleashed by the EaP, which run counter to the objective tendency for contemporary Russia to restore and maintain its influence in the countries – former republics of the USSR and parallel participants in the EaP (Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan).
The Eastern Flank of Europe: Ukraine’s Place in the Collective Security System
Authors: Vovk Roman
Published: March 2022

The effective protection of European countries and citizens in today’s conditions requires joint and coordinated systemic actions that will address existing threats and prevent new challenges in both physical and virtual spaces. The threats from the east, caused by the aggressive policy of the Russian Federation and possible socio-political disturbances in the neighbouring countries, need special attention. The EU has implemented the European Neighbourhood Policy and initiated the Eastern Partnership programme to support stability, security and prosperity in the EU’s proximity. Many important projects were implemented in the partner countries within the cooperation under the adopted programmes; they contributed to the democratisation of the political system, the civil society and economic development – all of which had a positive impact on the security situation in the region. The article presents the main achievements of Ukraine in the process of economic reform and transformation of the socio-political system as a result of cooperation with the European Union within the Eastern Partnership programme. The positive impact of the adopted Association Agreement on the development of Ukraine-EU cooperation is being noted. An important step in maintaining regional security is the development of military and technical cooperation between Ukraine and the EU which provides access to financial resources and defence innovative technologies, contributes to the modernisation of Ukraine’s security forces and increase their defence capabilities. Ukraine successfully cooperates with European partners in cybersecurity, civil protection and integrated border management. In general, Ukraine-EU cooperation is of great benefit to both parties and helps to improve the security situation in Europe, and further integration into European structures and programmes such as PESCO will increase this effect.
Examining graphemic and lexical anglicisms in Twi for academic purposes in textbooks written in Twi
Authors: Akoto Osei Yaw , Marfo Charles Ofosu , Ansah Juliet Oppong-Asare , Fordjour Emmanuel Antwi , Forson Isaac Adjei
Published: March 2022

This paper examines graphemic and lexical borrowings in Twi for Academic Purposes (TAP). Textbooks written in Asante Twi by some renowned scholars in the language constituted the dataset for this study. The textbooks were read and all instances of anglicisms or English features borrowed into Twi were collected. The borrowed-features were identified by drawing on our native speaker and scholarly competencies. The dataset was analyzed by drawing on Clyne’s (1977) Borrowing Typology and Haugen’s (1950) Borrowability Scale. Three key findings emerged from the analysis. First, the study yielded that in TAP two letters (,  and ) are borrowed towards empowering Asante Twi to enable it to account for words that contain these letters. Second, at the lexical level, it was found that the borrowed words were either integrated or adapted into Asante Twi linguistic environment. The final point was that all the lexical items realized were nominals affirming the primacy of noun on borrowability scales. The findings have implications for developing Ghanaian languages for academic purposes.
A Coordenação na Gramática Discursivo-Funcional
Authors: Pezatti Erotilde , Mackenzie J. Lachlan
Published: March 2022

Coordination has commonly been treated as a grammatical process of connecting clauses, in which an equipollence relation may occur between the units involved. The purpose of this paper is to show how a discourse-functional theory understands coordination, relating it to the levels and layers proposed in the model of Functional Discourse Grammar (Hengeveld/Mackenzie 2008). We propose that coordination in Portuguese, as a morphosyntactic phenomenon, results from the double action of the Interpersonal and Representational Levels: the relations of addition and alternativity (expressed by e and ou respectively) result not only from parallelism at the Interpersonal Level but also from operations at the Representational Level that make use of notions found in logic. The adversative relation expressed by mas, however, is shown to be identical to the additive one at the Representational Level, differing only at the Interpersonal Level, where it requires the rhetorical function Concession to be assigned to a dependent Discourse Act.
The Truth on Gravity and Terrestrial Global Warming. Part 1: The Quantum Gravity Field
Authors: DUMITRESCU Horia , CARDOS Vladimir , BOGATEANU Radu
Published: March 2022

Although during the last century both experimental and computational technology progress has accumulated solid factual information on the deeper knowledge of our actual world, the previous approaches derived in most cases from the unfinished Einstein’s theory of gravity using untrue models for the torsion tensor, have failed to explain the gravitational and precessional aspects, causally connected with the morphogenesis of matter engendered by the bending of light. The torsion/ twisted process during the refrigeration of hot matter (lava) is essential for the understanding of gravitation phenomena as embodied/ gravitized mass occurring at the polarization of light. The Lorentz polarized field concept, (4π/3)P(Ker), associated with a quantum partition kernel, Ker = (1/2, 2/3, 3/4), of the light polarization for radiant energy, mass and gravity, respectively, is generalized for the regenerative matter, including the polarization of time as absolute/orbital time and relative/ precessional time (or the half-life of a regenerative substance). The laws of the Sun like regenerative material systems are given and also the explanations of the quantum origin of gravity along with certain aberration of light in its field are considered.
Cuando la resiliencia se hizo postal
Authors: Hurtubia-Toro Veronica , Onsès Judit , Forés-Miravalles Anna
Published: March 2022

INTRODUCCIÓN. La pandemia Covid-19 impactó en lo físico, emotivo y social. Las medidas de distanciamiento modificaron las formas de relacionarse, produciendo, al comienzo, estrés y temores frente a la incertidumbre que impactaron, también, en la esfera educativa. La mayoría de las investigaciones se han focalizado en las consecuencias negativas del distanciamiento en la salud mental de las personas. Por esto, el presente artículo presenta una mirada diferente que, desde la resiliencia, indaga cómo los sujetos construyen nuevas relaciones de apoyo gracias a las posibilidades que ofrece el espacio educativo. En concreto, en concreto lo hace mediante un intercambio de postales entre estudiantes de la Università Cattolica Sacro Cuore di Milano y la Universitat de Barcelona, desde marzo a mayo del 2020. MÉTODO. Estudio de corte cualitativo, análisis textual y visual de postales, con el objetivo de explorar las potencialidades de las postales como método creativo y de fomento de la resiliencia. RESULTADOS y DISCUSIÓN. Se arrojan indicios sobre la creación de vínculos afectivos y la activación de estrategias de empatía frente al confinamiento, posicionando las postales como un instrumento de resiliencia. Demostrando, también, cómo los métodos creativos fomentan otros modos de relación, frente a métodos más tradicionales de investigación.
Noise reduction in a Brillouin optical time-domain sensor by a frequency-domain feature filter
Authors: Yuan Pei , Lu Yuangang , Zhang Yuyang , Zhang Zelin
Published: March 2022

A novel frequency-domain image processing method is proposed, to the best of our knowledge, to filter the noise from data collected by distributed optical fiber sensors based on Brillouin optical time-domain sensing (BOTDS). In the proposed method, we first divide a data image into subimages, and then we filter the noisy subimages by retaining the useful frequency information corresponding to the Lorentz-shape frequency spectrum and Brillouin frequency shift (BFS) transitions. The denoising performance improvements are verified by simulation and experiment. The performances in terms of temperature/strain measurement uncertainty, spatial resolution, and processing time achieved by the proposed filter are then compared with those by using a Gaussian filter and a nonlocal means (NLM) filter. In a proof-of-concept experiment with a 5.2 km length G657 sensing fiber, we achieve a temperature measurement uncertainty improvement of 27% compared with the results obtained by using the Gaussian filtering method. Furthermore, the processing speed of the proposed method is 22 times faster than that of the NLM filter under the same temperature measurement uncertainty.
Non-destructive characterization of adult zebrafish models using Jones matrix optical coherence tomography
Authors: Lichtenegger Antonia , Mukherjee Pradipta , Zhu Lida , Morishita Rion , Tomita Kiriko , Oida Daisuke , Leskovar Konrad , Abd El-Sadek Ibrahim , Makita Shuichi , Kirchberger Stefanie , Distel Martin , Baumann Bernhard , Yasuno Yoshiaki
Published: March 2022

The zebrafish is a valuable vertebrate animal model in pre-clinical cancer research. A Jones matrix optical coherence tomography (JM-OCT) prototype operating at 1310 nm and an intensity-based spectral-domain OCT setup at 840 nm were utilized to investigate adult wildtype and a tumor-developing zebrafish model. Various anatomical features were characterized based on their inherent scattering and polarization signature. A motorized translation stage in combination with the JM-OCT prototype enabled large field-of-view imaging to investigate adult zebrafish in a non-destructive way. The diseased animals exhibited tumor-related abnormalities in the brain and near the eye region. The scatter intensity, the attenuation coefficients and local polarization parameters such as the birefringence and the degree of polarization uniformity were analyzed to quantify differences in tumor versus control regions. The proof-of-concept study in a limited number of animals revealed a significant decrease in birefringence in tumors found in the brain and near the eye compared to control regions. The presented work showed the potential of OCT and JM-OCT as non-destructive, high-resolution, and real-time imaging modalities for pre-clinical research based on zebrafish.
Exact mirror equation via Berry’s caustic touching theorem: plane and spherical mirrors
Authors: Silva-Ortigoza Gilberto , Julián-Macías Israel , González-Juárez Adriana , Espíndola-Ramos Ernesto , Silva-Ortigoza Ramón , Marciano-Melchor Magdalena
Published: March 2022

In this work, we assume that in free space we have an observer, a smooth mirror, and an object placed at arbitrary positions. The aim is to obtain, within the geometrical optics approximation, an exact set of equations that gives the image position of the object registered by the observer. The general results are applied to plane and spherical mirrors, as an application of the caustic touching theorem introduced by Berry; the regions where the observer can receive zero, one, two, three, and one circle of reflected light rays are determined. Furthermore, we show that under the restricted paraxial approximation, that is, when

sin
⁡
ψ
≈
ψ

and

cos
⁡
ψ
≈
1

, the exact set of equations provides the well-known mirror equation.
Designing high efficiency asymmetric polarization converter for blue light: a deep reinforcement learning approach
Authors: Yi Chuqiao , Chen Zhiwei , Gao Yayu , Du Qingguo
Published: March 2022

Conventional polarization converters selectively preserve the required polarization state by absorbing, reflecting or refracting light with unwanted polarization state, leading to a theoretical transmittance limit of 0.5 for linearly polarized light with unpolarized light incidence. In the meanwhile, due to the high-dimensional structure parameters and time-consuming numerical simulations, designing a converter with satisfactory performance is extremely difficult and closely relies on human experts’ experiences and manual intervention. To address these open issues, in this paper, we first propose an asymmetric polarization converter which shows both high transmittance for one linearly polarized light and high transmittance for the orthogonal linearly polarized light with 90° rotation in blue wavelength region. To maximize the performance of the proposed structure, a deep reinforcement learning approach is further proposed to search for the optimal set of structure parameters. To avoid overly long training time by using the numerical simulations as environment, a deep neural network is proposed to serve as the surrogate model, where a prediction accuracy of 96.6% and 95.5% in two orthogonal polarization directions is achieved with micro-second grade simulation time respectively. With the optimized structure, the average transmittance is larger than 0.5 for the wavelength range from 444 to 466 nm with a maximum of 0.605 at 455 nm, which is 21% higher than the theoretical limit of 0.5 of conventional polarization converters.
Temperature sensor based on fiber Bragg grating combined with a microwave photonic-assisted fiber loop ring down
Authors: Tian Xiaozhong , Shi Jingzhan , Wang Yiping , She Yun , Li Le
Published: March 2022

A temperature sensor based on fiber Bragg grating (FBG) combined with a microwave photonic-assisted fiber loop ring down (FLRD) is proposed and experimentally investigated. An optical edge filter (OEF) is inserted in the FLRD to provide a wavelength dependent loss; thanks to the linear response of the OEF, the wavelength shift of the FBG caused by the applied temperature is linearly converted to the additional loss of the FLRD. The frequency response of the FLRD is measured by a vector network analyzer (VNA), the time domain ring-down curves are calculated by applying invert faster Fourier transform (IFFT) to the frequency response. Subsequently, the relationship between the ring-down time and the temperature applied to the FBG is obtained. Results show a good linearity between the ring-down time and the temperature. Limited by the VNA used in our experiment, the sensitivity of the proposed sensor is 6.30 ns/°C in the temperature range of 40-45 °C with a resolution of ±0.14 °C.
High-order harmonic generation from the interference of intra-cycle trajectories in the k-space
Authors: Li Fangshu , Li Na , Liu Peng , Wang Zhanshan
Published: March 2022

Considering the crystal momenta of the entire k-space, we demonstrate that constructive intra-cycle interference of electrons enhances the high-order harmonic generation (HHG) of a GaN crystal from dominant interband Bloch oscillations. This results in a higher plateau of the HHG spectrum at a driven yield strength below the Bloch field strength. This phenomenon is confirmed in both the two-band and three-band models. Using two-color laser fields, the constructive or destructive interference of interband Bloch oscillations can be tuned. Our findings reveal the essential impact of intra-cycle interference in the full k-space on the HHG in solids.
VoxDMRN: a voxelwise deep max-pooling residual network for bioluminescence tomography reconstruction
Authors: Li Shuangchen , Yu Jingjing , He Xuelei , Guo Hongbo , He Xiaowei
Published: March 2022

Bioluminescence tomography (BLT) has extensive applications in preclinical studies for cancer research and drug development. However, the spatial resolution of BLT is inadequate because the numerical methods are limited for solving the physical models of photon propagation and the restriction of using tetrahedral meshes for reconstruction. We conducted a series of theoretical derivations and divided the BLT reconstruction process into two steps: feature extraction and nonlinear mapping. Inspired by deep learning, a voxelwise deep max-pooling residual network (VoxDMRN) is proposed to establish the nonlinear relationship between the internal bioluminescent source and surface boundary density to improve the spatial resolution in BLT reconstruction. The numerical simulation and in vivo experiments both demonstrated that VoxDMRN greatly improves the reconstruction performance regarding location accuracy, shape recovery capability, dual-source resolution, robustness, and in vivo practicability.
Highly sensitive double D-shaped channel photonic crystal fiber based plasmonic refractive index sensor
Authors: Ifaz Ahmad Isti M. , Hussayeen Khan Anik M. , Nuzhat Samiha , Talukder Rubel Chandra , Sultana Sadia , Biswas Shovasis Kumar , Talukder Hriteshwar
Published: March 2022

In this paper, a highly sensitive miniaturized surface plasmon resonance (SPR) based photonic crystal fiber (PCF) sensor is presented for a wide range of analyte sensing. Gold is selected as the plasmonic metal for its higher chemical stability and titanium oxide works as the adhesive layer for gold attachment on silica. The plasmonic metal and the sensing medium are placed exterior to the surface of the sensor design to make it fitting for practical applications. By a careful arrangement of the periodic arrangement of the refractive index in the design, the generation of the evanescent fields is fine-tuned to obtain the phase matching between the leaky core guided mode and the surface plasmon polariton (SPP) mode. Numerical simulations have been carried out by employing the finite element method (FEM) with the consideration of a perfectly matched layer (PML) to absorb surface radiations. The proposed sensor shows a maximum wavelength sensitivity of 34,000 nm/RIU (refractive index units) and a maximum amplitude sensitivity of 331 RIU−1, investigated by using the wavelength and the amplitude interrogation methods, respectively, for the analyte sensing range of 1.16 to 1.37 RI (refractive index). The sensor also exhibits a wavelength resolution of 2.94×10−6 RIU which indicates a high detection accuracy. On that, the proposed sensor would be an excellent candidate for a wide range of RI detection, applicable for various purposes such as chemical detections, medical diagnostics, bio-sensing, and other low RI analytes.
Crosstalk interference synthesis and polarization switching hybrid interrogating method for inline interferometric fiber Bragg grating sensor arrays
Authors: Ma Lina , Shang Fan , Yu Yi , Hu Zhengliang
Published: March 2022

We presented a crosstalk interference synthesis and polarization switching (CIS-PS) hybrid interrogating method designed for inline interferometric fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor arrays, targeting the multi-reflection (MR)-induced time division multiplexing (TDM) crosstalk and polarization-induced signal fading simultaneously. The inline interferometric FBG sensor array, which has found wide applications in underwater sensing, generally consists of a series of FBGs written on a commercial single mode fiber (SMF), where the coupling of TDM crosstalk and polarization-induced signal fading often makes signal extraction difficult. In this paper, this coupling was modeled, and the principle of the CIS-PS hybrid method was demonstrated. Experiments showed that even though the FBG reflectivities were all larger than 5%, the measured MR-induced TDM crosstalk reached −50 dB, which was the lowest to the best of our knowledge. The background phase noises were lowered and polarization-independent due to efficient control of polarization-induced signal fading. The demodulation stability of the sensing signal was enhanced from ±2.25 dB to ±0.15 dB.
Bayesian calibration, process modeling and uncertainty quantification in biotechnology
Authors: Helleckes Laura Marie , Osthege Michael , Wiechert Wolfgang , von Lieres Eric , Oldiges Marco
Published: March 2022

High-throughput experimentation has revolutionized data-driven experimental sciences and opened the door to the application of machine learning techniques. Nevertheless, the quality of any data analysis strongly depends on the quality of the data and specifically the degree to which random effects in the experimental data-generating process are quantified and accounted for. Accordingly calibration, i.e. the quantitative association between observed quantities and measurement responses, is a core element of many workflows in experimental sciences.

Particularly in life sciences, univariate calibration, often involving non-linear saturation effects, must be performed to extract quantitative information from measured data. At the same time, the estimation of uncertainty is inseparably connected to quantitative experimentation. Adequate calibration models that describe not only the input/output relationship in a measurement system but also its inherent measurement noise are required. Due to its mathematical nature, statistically robust calibration modeling remains a challenge for many practitioners, at the same time being extremely beneficial for machine learning applications.

In this work, we present a bottom-up conceptual and computational approach that solves many problems of understanding and implementing non-linear, empirical calibration modeling for quantification of analytes and process modeling. The methodology is first applied to the optical measurement of biomass concentrations in a high-throughput cultivation system, then to the quantification of glucose by an automated enzymatic assay. We implemented the conceptual framework in two Python packages,calibr8andmurefi, with which we demonstrate how to make uncertainty quantification for various calibration tasks more accessible. Our software packages enable more reproducible and automatable data analysis routines compared to commonly observed workflows in life sciences.

Subsequently, we combine the previously established calibration models with a hierarchical Monod-like ordinary differential equation model of microbial growth to describe multiple replicates ofCorynebacterium glutamicumbatch cultures. Key process model parameters are learned by both maximum likelihood estimation and Bayesian inference, highlighting the flexibility of the statistical and computational framework.
Model-based identification of conditionally-essential genes from transposon-insertion sequencing data
Authors: Sarsani Vishal , Aldikacti Berent , He Shai , Zeinert Rilee , Chien Peter , Flaherty Patrick
Published: March 2022

The understanding of bacterial gene function has been greatly enhanced by recent advancements in the deep sequencing of microbial genomes. Transposon insertion sequencing methods combines next-generation sequencing techniques with transposon mutagenesis for the exploration of the essentiality of genes under different environmental conditions. We propose a model-based method that uses regularized negative binomial regression to estimate the change in transposon insertions attributable to gene-environment changes in this genetic interaction study without transformations or uniform normalization. An empirical Bayes model for estimating the local false discovery rate combines unique and total count information to test for genes that show a statistically significant change in transposon counts. When applied to RB-TnSeq (randomized barcode transposon sequencing) and Tn-seq (transposon sequencing) libraries made in strains of Caulobacter crescentus using both total and unique count data the model was able to identify a set of conditionally beneficial or conditionally detrimental genes for each target condition that shed light on their functions and roles during various stress conditions.
Multiphysics and multiscale modeling of microthrombosis in COVID-19
Authors: Li He , Deng Yixiang , Li Zhen , Dorken Gallastegi Ander , Mantzoros Christos S. , Frydman Galit H. , Karniadakis George E.
Published: March 2022

Emerging clinical evidence suggests that thrombosis in the microvasculature of patients with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) plays an essential role in dictating the disease progression. Because of the infectious nature of SARS-CoV-2, patients’ fresh blood samples are limited to access for in vitro experimental investigations. Herein, we employ a novel multiscale and multiphysics computational framework to perform predictive modeling of the pathological thrombus formation in the microvasculature using data from patients with COVID-19. This framework seamlessly integrates the key components in the process of blood clotting, including hemodynamics, transport of coagulation factors and coagulation kinetics, blood cell mechanics and adhesive dynamics, and thus allows us to quantify the contributions of many prothrombotic factors reported in the literature, such as stasis, the derangement in blood coagulation factor levels and activities, inflammatory responses of endothelial cells and leukocytes to the microthrombus formation in COVID-19. Our simulation results show that among the coagulation factors considered, antithrombin and factor V play more prominent roles in promoting thrombosis. Our simulations also suggest that recruitment of WBCs to the endothelial cells exacerbates thrombogenesis and contributes to the blockage of the blood flow. Additionally, we show that the recent identification of flowing blood cell clusters could be a result of detachment of WBCs from thrombogenic sites, which may serve as a nidus for new clot formation. These findings point to potential targets that should be further evaluated, and prioritized in the anti-thrombotic treatment of patients with COVID-19. Altogether, our computational framework provides a powerful tool for quantitative understanding of the mechanism of pathological thrombus formation and offers insights into new therapeutic approaches for treating COVID-19 associated thrombosis.
Economic evaluation of a conditional cash transfer to retain women in the continuum of care during pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period in Kenya
Authors: Palmer Tom , Batura Neha , Skordis Jolene , Stirrup Oliver , Vanhuyse Fedra , Copas Andrew , Odhiambo Aloyce , Ogendo Nicholas , Dickin Sarah , Mwaki Alex , Haghparast-Bidgoli Hassan
Published: March 2022

There is limited evidence on the cost and cost-effectiveness of cash transfer programmes to improve maternal and child health in Kenya and other sub-Saharan African countries. This article presents the economic evaluation results of the Afya trial, assessing the costs, cost-effectiveness and equity impact of a demand-side financing intervention that promotes utilisation of maternal health services in rural Kenya. The cost of implementing the Afya intervention was estimated from a provider perspective. Cost data were collected prospectively from all implementing and non-implementing partners, and from health service providers. Cost-efficiency was analysed using cost-transfer ratios and cost per mother enrolled into the intervention. Cost-effectiveness was assessed as cost per additional eligible antenatal care visit as a result of the intervention, when compared with standard care. The equity impact of the intervention was also assessed using a multidimensional poverty index (MPI). Programme cost per mother enrolled was International (INT)$313 of which INT$ 92 consisted of direct transfer payments, suggesting a cost transfer ratio of 2.4. Direct healthcare utilisation costs reflected a small proportion of total provider costs, amounting to INT$ 21,756. The total provider cost of the Afya intervention was INT$808,942. The provider cost per additional eligible ANC visit was INT$1,035. This is substantially higher than estimated annual health expenditure per capita at the county level of $INT61. MPI estimates suggest around 27.4% of participant households were multidimensionally poor. MPI quintiles did not significantly modify the intervention effect, suggesting the impact of the intervention did not differ by socioeconomic status. Based on the available evidence, it is not possible to conclude whether the Afya intervention was cost-effective. A simple comparison with current health expenditure in Siaya county suggests that the intervention as implemented is likely to be unaffordable. Consideration needs to be given to strengthening the supply-side of the cash transfer intervention before replication or uptake at scale.
Gut microbiome modifications over time when removing in-feed antibiotics from the prophylaxis of post-weaning diarrhea in piglets
Authors: Cremonesi Paola , Biscarini Filippo , Castiglioni Bianca , Sgoifo Carlo Angelo , Compiani Riccardo , Moroni Paolo
Published: March 2022

Post-weaning diarrhea (PWD) in pigs has mainly an infectious basis and control strategies are centred on antibiotics added to the diet. Given concerns on the spread of multi-resistant bacteria, it is necessary to develop alternative prophylactic approaches to control PWD in piglets. The most promising alternative strategies are based on substances that act indirectly on the bacteria by stimulating the immune system or by improving gut health. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect on the gut microbiota of feed supplemented with a mixture of essential oils (garlic and oregano) in weaning piglets, compared to traditional PWD management (in-feed antibiotics) and to a control group without any diet supplementation. The study involved 197 piglets from 18 litters in a single farm. The piglets were followed from birth to day 58 of age and were weaned at day 26. During the experimental period, the animals were monitored for weight and growth, average daily gain, morbidity and mortality. For the metataxonomics analysis, rectal samples were collected from 17 piglets from the three experimental groups at 4 different time-points (days 1, 12, 26 and 58). Results revealed that the gut microbiota in pre- and post-weaning piglets was dominated by the phylaFirmicutes(51%),Bacteroidetes(25%) andProteobacteria(16%), which together make up for over 90% of the entire piglet core gut microbiota. The core microbiota comprised 10 taxa before weaning and 43 taxa after weaning, with 7 taxa overlapping between timepoints: two of them (Prevotella 9, p-value = 0.00095;Solobacteriump-value = 0.00821) were significantly more abundant after weaning. All alpha diversity indexes were significantly different between pre- and post-weaning, while only Shannon and Simpson diversity and equitability were significantly different between treatments. Based on the matrix of Bray-Curtis dissimilarities, samples showed clear clustering per timepoint (before and after weaning, p-value < 0.001) and between treatments by timepoint (p-value = 0.0086). The oil-diet group showed a consistently higher F:B ratio at all timepoints. These results show that the pig gut microbiota changes significantly with weaning, and suggest that the use of essential oils as feed supplementation to control PWD does not seem to alter sgnificantly the microbiota nor the growth parameters of piglets, however modifications of specific taxa may occur.
Antibacterial activities of two potential peptides extracted from Polistes wattii Cameron, 1900 (Vespidae: Polistinae) wasp venom collected at Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia
Authors: A. Al-Shammery Kholoud , Hozzein Wael N.
Published: March 2022

Alternatives of conventional antibiotics have become an urgent need to control drug-resistant bacteria. Therefore, search for new antibacterial agents has become a trend in several microbiological and pharmaceutical scientific works. Insects, one of the most successful and evolved species on earth is known to be an effective natural source of several medically useful chemicals including antibacterial agents. There is considerable evidence of using wasp venom against medical ailments in several parts of the world. In this work venom from Polistes wattii Cameron, 1900 collected from Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia was evaluated for its antibacterial activities. Such activity was tested against four pathogenic bacteria: two-gram positive Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923) and Streptococcus mutans (RCMB 017(1) ATCC 25175) and two gram-negative (Salmonella typhimurium NCTC 12023 ATCC 14028 and Enterobacter cloacae (RCMB 001(1) ATCC 23355). Also, chemical characterization of wasp venom was done using HPLC and two isolated peptides were sequenced. The result indicates the potent anti-microbial effect of the venom against the four tested bacteria. The most sensitive bacteria were Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923) and Streptococcus mutans (RCMB 017(1) ATCC 25175). The sequence of the two purified peptides indicates that they belong to mastoparan. The study results may pave way to use this wasp venom in future antibiotics especially in controlling skin infection by Staphylococcus aureus.
Future prevalence of type 2 diabetes—A comparative analysis of chronic disease projection methods
Authors: Voeltz Dina , Tönnies Thaddäus , Brinks Ralph , Hoyer Annika
Published: March 2022

Background

Accurate projections of the future number of people with chronic diseases are necessary for effective resource allocation and health care planning in response to changes in disease burden.

Aim

To introduce and compare different projection methods to estimate the number of people with diagnosed type 2 diabetes (T2D) in Germany in 2040.

Methods

We compare three methods to project the number of males with T2D in Germany in 2040. Method 1) simply combines the sex- and age-specific prevalence of T2D in 2010 with future population distributions projected by the German Federal Statistical Office (FSO). Methods 2) and 3) additionally account for the incidence of T2D and mortality rates using partial differential equations (PDEs). Method 2) models the prevalence of T2D employing a scalar PDE which incorporates incidence and mortality rates. Subsequently, the estimated prevalence is applied to the population projection of the FSO. Method 3) uses a two-dimensional system of PDEs and estimates future case numbers directly while future mortality of people with and without T2D is modelled independently from the projection of the FSO.

Results

Method 1) projects 3.6 million male people with diagnosed T2D in Germany in 2040. Compared to 2.8 million males in 2010, this equals an increase by 29%. Methods 2) and 3) project 5.9 million (+104% compared to 2010) and 6.0 million (+116%) male T2D patients, respectively.

Conclusions

The results of the three methods differ substantially. It appears that ignoring temporal trends in incidence and mortality may result in misleading projections of the future number of people with chronic diseases. Hence, it is essential to include these rates as is done by method 2) and 3).
Contrasting a reference cranberry genome to a crop wild relative provides insights into adaptation, domestication, and breeding
Authors: Kawash Joseph , Colt Kelly , Hartwick Nolan T. , Abramson Bradley W. , Vorsa Nicholi , Polashock James J. , Michael Todd P.
Published: March 2022

Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) is a member of the Heath family (Ericaceae) and is a temperate low-growing woody perennial native to North America that is both economically important and has significant health benefits. While some native varieties are still grown today, breeding programs over the past 50 years have made significant contributions to improving disease resistance, fruit quality and yield. An initial genome sequence of an inbred line of the wild selection ‘Ben Lear,’ which is parent to multiple breeding programs, provided insight into the gene repertoire as well as a platform for molecular breeding. Recent breeding efforts have focused on leveraging the circumborealV.oxycoccos, which forms interspecific hybrids withV.macrocarpon, offering to bring in novel fruit chemistry and other desirable traits. Here we present an updated, chromosome-resolvedV.macrocarponreference genome, and compare it to a high-quality draft genome ofV.oxycoccos. Leveraging the chromosome resolved cranberry reference genome, we confirmed that the Ericaceae has undergone two whole genome duplications that are shared with blueberry and rhododendron. Leveraging resequencing data for ‘Ben Lear’ inbred lines, as well as several wild and elite selections, we identified common regions that are targets of improvement. These same syntenic regions inV.oxycoccos, were identified and represent environmental response and plant architecture genes. These data provide insight into early genomic selection in the domestication of a native North American berry crop.
Entrevista com o Professor Gabriel Costa Ávila
Authors: Camilo Rocha Igor Tadeu , Oliveira Prates Thiago Henrique
Published: March 2022

A entrevista conduzida por Igor Tadeu Camilo Rocha e Thiago Henrique Oliveira Prates, organizadores deste dossiê. Gabriel da Costa Ávila atua como pesquisador da história da ciência, seara na qual vem recebendo reconhecimento ao longo de sua trajetória acadêmica e que o gabarita a trabalhar sobre outras questões importantes, como a história ambiental. Recentemente, direcionou alguns de seus esforços para analisar a questão do negacionismo.
Revisionismos, negacionismos e usos políticos do passado
Authors: Camilo Rocha Igor Tadeu , Prates Thiago
Published: March 2022

Esta breve introdução e dossiê não pretende esgotar um debate complexo em constante transformação, tampouco busca alterar profundamente um campo de estudos crescente. O objetivo é contribuir minimamente para uma discussão necessária e conceder variados instrumentos e perspectivas para que historiadoras e historiadores, bem como todos aqueles que desejam elaborar as suas próprias narrativas sobre o passado, possam situar-se em uma polêmica que diz respeito não apenas ao seu trabalho, mas também às formas como nos relacionamos com certas experiências históricas. Se este dossiê for capaz de instigar dúvidas e questionamentos sobre as formas de representar o passado e as suas implicações, ele terá cumprido a sua função. Boa leitura!
Editorial
Authors: Tito Tolentino Thiago Lenine
Published: March 2022

Editorial escrito pelo Coordenador do Centro de Documentação e Pesquisa em História da Universidade Federal de Uberlândia sobre a publicação do Volume 34, nº 2, Julho a Dezembro de 2022, da Revista Cadernos de Pesquisa do CDHIS.
ROTAS DA COVID-19 NO ESTADO DO MARANHÃO, BR
Authors: Oliveira Jardim Richard , Pereira Claudia Rakel Pena , Rodrigues Zulimar Márita Ribeiro
Published: March 2022

O processo de transmissão da pandemia da COVID-19 foi favorecido pela rede de hierarquias urbanas. Portanto, a interiorização e aceleração da transmissão ocorreram através das conexões e fluxos de pessoas e mercadorias. Dessa forma, buscou-se discutir como o vírus entrou no território maranhense e compreender o processo de expansão da infecção por COVID-19 pelo estado, a partir da análise espacial. Foram utilizados dados secundários, dos casos confirmados, disponibilizados pela Secretaria de Estado da Saúde do Maranhão. Para a confecção dos mapas coropléticos foram utilizadas as bases cartográficas obtidas no Instituto Maranhense de Estudos Socioeconômicos e Cartográficos do Maranhão e Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística. Os dados foram trabalhados utilizando o software QGIS 3.18.2. Inicialmente foram identificadas três cidades de entrada dos casos confirmados no estado, São Luís, Imperatriz e Timon; posteriormente, houve a interiorização em praticamente todo o estado através do fluxo de pessoas e mercadorias, devido ao grau de influência ou subordinação dos centros urbanos.
A nomenclatural conspectus of Waltheria (Malvaceae, Byttnerioideae) in Brazil
Authors: Saunders Janice G. , Dorr Laurence J.
Published: March 2022

A nomenclatural conspectus is presented for the species of Waltheria (Malvaceae: Byttnerioideae) that occur in Brazil. Synonymies for 33 species, 23 endemic, are presented. Seven names are newly synonymized. In addition, eight excluded or unresolved names are discussed. Thirty-nine lectotypes are designated for Waltheria names, one neotype is designated for the name of an Astropus species, and two lectotypes for Visenia. These last two lectotypifications supersede previous ones, which misinterpreted and confused the original material. Waltheria erioclada, generally treated as a synonym of W. indica, is considered here to be a distinct species, and W. martii, also generally treated as a synonym of W. indica, is accepted here as the correct name for W. albicans.
Tuning parameters for the synthesis of MIL-53(Al): Mn doped MIL-53(Al) as a high potential catalyst for methanol dehydration
Authors: Kazemzadeh Nasrin , Halladj Rouein , Askari Sima , Kia Raza
Published: March 2022

Recently, many studies are dealing with developments of Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs), especially MIL-53(Al), which shows high thermal and mechanical stability. Among these, optimizing the synthesis condition of MIL-53(Al) to obtain appropriate characteristics has attracted much attention in academia and the industry. Here, the effect of synthesis time and ligand to metal molar ratio on the hydrothermal synthesis of MIL-53(Al) are pursued. The synthesized MIL-53(Al) samples are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), and nitrogen adsorption-desorption technique (BET). The present study shows that MIL-53(Al) can be conventionally synthesized with a high yield within a shorter reaction time than the previous studies. Furthermore, the catalytic activity of the optimized MIL-53(Al) in the pure and Mn-doped form is studied in a methanol dehydration reaction. It is thus inferred that this popular MOF in the Mn/MIL-53(Al) form has a high activity and DME selectivity during methanol conversion. Our present results confirm the merits of employing the MIL-53(Al) as a catalyst in methanol to DME conversion, which can be an avenue for the practical application of acidic catalyst.
Comparison of in-hospital mortality of COVID-19 between pregnant and non-pregnant women infected with SARS-CoV-2: a historical cohort study
Authors: Zare Marjan , Mirahmadizadeh Alireza , Akbari Mahsa , Moradian Mohammad Javad
Published: March 2022

Objectives

This study aimed to compare pregnant and non-pregnant women infected with SARS-CoV-2 disease (COVID-19) in terms of in-hospital mortality.

Methods

This historical cohort study was conducted on hospitalized women of reproductive ages (15–49 years) infected with SARS-CoV-2 in Fars province, Iran during 15 March 2019–10 May 2021.

Results

Out of the 5,322 patients, 330 were pregnant. The fatality rate of SARS-CoV-2 was 1.2% amongst pregnant women and 3.5% amongst non-pregnant ones. Pregnant and non-pregnant women reported the same history of smoking, opium use, previous COVID-19 infection, vaccination against SARS-CoV-2, and COVID-19 symptoms (p>0.05 for all). However, the pregnant women were younger and had fewer underlying diseases (p<0.001 for both). The results revealed no significant difference between the two groups regarding in-hospital clinical manifestations including the number of days after the onset of COVID-19 symptoms, mechanical ventilation, and long involvement (cRR; 95% CI=0.99 (0.96–1.02), 1.18 (0.72–2.02), and 0.95 (0.88–1.02), respectively). Nonetheless, Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admission was significantly higher in pregnant women (cRR; 95% CI=2.37(1.85–3.02)). After adjusting for age, history of underlying diseases, and ICU admission, pregnant women showed lower in-hospital mortality due to COVID-19 compared to non-pregnant women (aRR; 95% CI=0.32 (0.12–0.87)).

Conclusions

Based on the current study findings, pregnant women showed lower in-hospital mortality due to COVID-19 compared to non-pregnant ones. Nevertheless, they should follow the same recommendations as non-pregnant women, avoiding exposure to the virus and receiving medical treatment and vaccination. Further studies are recommended to address the follow-up of recovered pregnant women, their babies, and puerperium.
COVID-era sociolinguistics: introduction to the special issue
Authors: Sneller Betsy
Published: March 2022

In the 18 months that have passed since COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, linguists around the world have had to grapple with the practical and ethical issues that arose from trying to collect data in a safe and remote way while participants are experiencing an acute disaster. The current collection presents insights from a number of sociolinguistic research projects that were either initiated in response to the pandemic or that adjusted their research methods mid-trajectory. A concluding discussion article underscores that the honest reflections and concrete suggestions in this collection will remain relevant beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. They will be of value to any (socio)linguist who is navigating the ethics of fieldwork in uncertain or traumatic contexts, who is recruiting and retaining participants via remote means, or who is figuring out how to rapidly change their data collection methods.