bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
COVID-19 Vaccine Attitudes among a Majority Black Sample in the Southern US: Public Health Implications from a Qualitative Study
Authors: Huang Wenting , Dove-Medows Emily , Shealey Jalissa , Sanchez Katia , Benson Lauren , Seymore DawnSheska D. , Sullivan Patrick S. , Bradley Heather M. , Siegle Aaron J.
Published: August 2022

Background.
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have high caseloads in the US, with vaccines a critical component of the response. Disparities in COVID-19 morbidity and mortality have been identified across states and racial/ethnic groups, which are likely in part due to disparities in COVID-19 vaccine uptake. This study aims to better understand and contextualize COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among persons from primarily racial/ethnic minority populations in the Southern US.
Methods.
We conducted 29 in-depth interviews with a sample of households in Atlanta, GA that were selected from an address-based sampling frame. We purposively approached households, from February 6 to June 27, 2021, that declined participation in a national COVID-19 serosurvey to gain perspectives of people who are often under-represented in research. Interviews were conducted in-person or over phone calls for participants with that preference. Thematic analysis was used to identify barriers and facilitators of COVID-19 vaccination, and to contextualize drivers of vaccine hesitancy.
Results.
Decision-making about vaccination was described as dynamic, and was compared to the feeling of being on a roller coaster. The predominant reported sources of information were mass media and social media. Facilitators of vaccination included altruism, positive communication from trusted community members and workplace colleagues, and local vaccine provision sites. Driving reasons for vaccine hesitancy included limited trust in the government and concerns about COVID-19 vaccine safety, which one participant compared to jumping off a cliff without a tested rope. Among a subset of participants, beliefs regarding perceived intent to harm the Black community were prevalent. Opportunities to optimally address vaccine hesitancy included countering negative social media messages with positive messaging that matches the community’s vivid ways of discussing vaccines, collaborating with community stakeholders on vaccine promotion efforts, and offering workplace-based vaccine promotion efforts.
Conclusions.
This study presents data that indicate it may be optimal to more broadly define ‘community’ in COVID-19 vaccine promotion efforts to include social media and workplace venues. To optimize vaccine and vaccine booster uptake and equity, public health must address historic racism and other concerns by using outreach that is grounded in communities.
Multi-objective learning and explanation for stroke risk assessment in Shanxi province
Authors: Ma Jing , Sun Yiyang , Liu Junjie , Huang Huaxiong , Zhou Xiaoshuang , Xu Shixin
Published: August 2022

Stroke is the leading cause of death in China (Zhou et al. The Lancet 2019). A dataset from Shanxi Province is analyzed to predict the risk of patients’ at four states low/medium/high/attack) and to estimate transition probabilities between various states via a SHAP DeepExplainer. To handle the issues related to an imbalanced sample set, the quadratic interactive deep model (QIDeep) was first proposed by flexible selection and appending of quadratic interactive features. The experimental results showed that the QIDeep model with 3 interactive features achieved the state-of-the-art accuracy 83:33%(95% CI: (83:14%;83:52%)). Blood pressure, physical inactivity, smoking, weight and total cholesterol are the top five most important features. For the sake of high recall in the attack state, stroke occurrence prediction is considered an auxiliary objective in multi-objective learning. The prediction accuracy was improved, while the recall of the attack state was increased by 17:79% (to 82:06%) compared to QIDeep (from 71:49%) with the same features. The prediction model and analysis tool in this paper provided not only a prediction method but also an attribution explanation of the risk states and transition direction of each patient, a valuable tool for doctors to analyze and diagnose the disease.
Delta fMEP predicts facial nerve dysfunction after surgical resection of vestibular schwannoma: A quantitative application of transcranial facial nerve evoked potential
Authors: Kim Jeong-Hwa , Park Sang-Ku , Choi Jung-Won , Kong Doo-Sik , Nam Do-Hyun , Lee Jung-Il , Seo Dae-Won , Seol Ho Jun
Published: August 2022

Without direct facial nerve (FN) stimulation, transcranial facial motor evoked potential (fMEP) may considerably reflect the functional integrity and postoperative outcome of FN in cerebellopontine surgery. This study investigated the “threshold method” of fMEP to prognosticate the FN function after large vestibular schwannoma (VS) surgery. The medical records from 58 patients with large VS (maximal diameter > 2.5 cm) who underwent microsurgical resection were retrospectively reviewed. The threshold was the stimulation intensity to elicit the baseline amplitude of fMEP, and its change from the baseline to the end of surgery was defined as the delta fMEP. House-Brackman grade (HBG) of FN was documented at 1 week, 1 month, 6 months, and 1 year after surgical resection, classifying the patients presenting HBG 3 or more as FN dysfunction group. Receiver operating characteristics and binary logistic regression for the risk of postoperative FN dysfunction were performed. During surgery, the fMEP stimulation threshold increased in 27 (46%) patients. The delta fMEP value for FN dysfunction had a higher predictive value at long-term follow-up (cut-off = 15V, area under curve [AUC] 0.82 and 0.81 at postoperative 6 months and 1 year, respectively) than at the short-term follow-up (cut-off = 27.5V, AUC 0.78 and 0.74 at postoperative 1 week and 1 month, respectively). In regression analysis, the delta fMEP higher than its optimal cut-off was significantly associated with FN dysfunction in all follow-up period. These results suggested that the delta fMEP may serve as a valuable indicator of FN dysfunction after surgical resection of large VS, especially for long-term outcomes.
Development of lipid nanoparticles and liposomes reference materials (II) - Cytotoxic profiles
Authors: Syama Krishnapriya , Jakubek Zygmunt J. , Chen Sam , Zaifman Josh , Tam Yuen Yi C. , Zou Shan
Published: August 2022

Lipid based nanocarriers are one of the most effective drug delivery systems that is evident from the recent COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. The main objective of this study was to evaluate toxicity of six lipid based formulations with three surface charges - anionic, neutral or cationic, to establish certified reference materials (CRMs) for liposomes and siRNA loaded lipid nanoparticles (LNP-siRNA). Cytotoxicity was assessed by a proliferation assay in adherent and non-adherent cell lines. High concentration of three LNP-siRNAs did not affect viability of suspension cells and LNP-siRNAs were non-toxic to adherent cells at conventionally used concentration. Systematic evaluation using multiple vials and repeated test runs of three liposomes and three LNP-siRNA formulations showed no toxicity in HL60 and A549 cells up to 128 µg/mL and 16 µg/mL, respectively. Extended treatment and low concentration of LNPs did not affect the viability of suspension cells and adherent cells at 96 h. Interestingly, 80% of A549 and HL60 cells in 3D conditions were viable when treated with cationic LNP-siRNA for 48 h. Taken together, anionic, cationic and neutral lipid formulations were non-toxic to cells and may be explored further in order to develop them as drug carriers.
Contextual and individual factors associated with dental caries among brasilian adolescents: A multilevel study
Authors: Pedroso Cíntia Levy Matos , Roberto Luana Leal , Paula Alfredo Maurício Batista , Haikal Desirée Sant’Ana
Published: August 2022

Background
This study aimed to identify the contextual and individual factors associated with dental caries among Brazilian adolescents.
Methods
This is a multilevel cross-sectional study with data from 5,445 participants of the 2010 National Oral Health Survey, and the contextual information was extracted from an official public database. The dependent variable was the number of decayed teeth, measured by the D component of the DMFT. We conducted a multilevel negative binomial regression and estimated the means ratio (MR).
Results
We observed a mean of 1.76 (± 2.93) decayed teeth. Among the contextual variables, the mean number of decayed teeth was higher among adolescents living in municipalities with medium/low MHDI and lower among those living in municipalities with a higher proportion of dentists/inhabitants. Among individual variables, the number of decayed teeth was higher among older adults, who self-declared non-white, with lower income, who self-perceived need for treatment, reported pain, never went to the dentist, used the dental service for a longer time and whose appointment was due to oral problems.
Conclusions
Dental caries among adolescents was associated with unfavorable contextual and individual conditions. There is a need to expand access to dental services, especially among the most vulnerable groups.
Modeling Functionally Graded Materials in ANSYS APDL
Authors: Hassan Ahmed Hassan Ahmed , Kurgan Naci
Published: August 2022

Since its first implementation in the mid-eighties of the past century, Functionally Graded Materials (FGM) have been under heavy research in many directions including manufacturing techniques, modeling, and exploring possible applications. Numerous FGM models and analysis methods are continuously appended to the literature. Just like in the rest of the mechanical design field, the Finite Element Method (FEM) has been extensively used in the analysis of FGM, in addition to being a main validation tool for the other proposed methods. ANSYS has been one of the main general-purpose FEM packages that facilitate the use of FEM. However, no single publication is found exploring the modeling of FGM in ANSYS. This work does just that. It explores and compares the various techniques of modeling FGM in ANSYS using Mechanical APDL. The techniques explored here should be applicable in any other FEM package. APDL codes are provided for the various considered cases. Three main techniques of modeling FGM in ANSYS are presented, namely imposing fictive thermal load, stacking elements/layers, and using user-defined fields. Other advanced methods, that require recompiling the executable ANSYS.exe, are briefly mentioned. Various modeling techniques are implemented on a relatively long cuboid FGM part which is assumed under lateral load and supported at its far edge/s. The configuration of cuboid geometry and lateral load is intentionally considered to allow volume-, area-, and line-finite elements to be implemented. One dimensional continuous and discrete properties variation is considered. The presented modeling techniques of FGM are found equivalent in accuracy.
The 26S proteasome in Entamoeba histolytica: Functional Annotation and modelling to investigate differences from the host proteasomes
Authors: Joshi Nidhi , Hosen SK Yasir , Narooka Anil Raj , Gourinath S. , Tiwari Swati
Published: August 2022

Proteasomes are conserved proteases that are crucial for proteostasis in eukaryotes. They are promising drug targets for protozoan parasites. We present a comprehensive bioinformatics analysis of the 26S proteasome subunits of Entamoeba histolytica. While showing overall conservation, critical substitutions in structurally and functionally important residues were observed in both regulatory (RP) and core particle (CP) subunits. Comparative sequence analysis suggests that the substrate translocation channel of E. histolytica has a changed polarity, and is possibly wider, compared to host proteasomes. The proteolytic subunits show differences in the substrate binding sites, especially the S1 and S3 binding pockets of the β1 subunit, that shows T22M, A27V, T31K R45T substitutions suggesting differences in size and charge of the pockets. Similarly, β2 has T52L and E22V and β5 has A22R, A27S, S115D and E116G substitutions. These changes in the substrate binding pockets suggest differences in substrate preference and susceptibility to inhibitors compared to host proteasomes. Computational models of β4 and β5 subunits, and a docked β4-β5 model were developed. A binding pocket between β4-β5, similar to that of Leishmania tarentolae was observed. Selective inhibitors for visceral leishmaniasis, LXE408 and compound 8, docked well to this pocket. This sequence based analysis predicts potential points of differences from the host proteasomes that can be experimentally tested, and can be utilized to develop selective inhibitors against E. histolytica.
Construction of Deep Learning-Based Disease Detection Model in Plants
Authors: Jung Minah , Song Jong Seob , Shin Ah-Young , Choi Beomjo , Go Sangjin , Kwon Suk-Yoon , Park Juhan , Park Sung Goo , Kim Yong-Min
Published: August 2022

Accurately detecting disease occurrences of crops in early stage is essential for quality and yield of crops through the decision of an appropriate treatments. However, detection of disease needs specialized knowledge and long-term experiences in plant pathology. Thus, automated system for disease detecting in crops will play an important role in agriculture by constructing early detection system of disease. To develop this system, construction of stepwise disease detection model using images of diseased-healthy plant pairs and a CNN algorithm consisting of five pre-trained models. The disease detection model consists of three step classification models, crop classification, disease detection, and disease classification. Unknown is added into categories to generalize the model for wide application. In the validation test, the disease detection model classified crops and disease types with high accuracy (97.09%). The low accuracy of non-model crops was improved by adding these crops to the training dataset implicating expendability of the model. Our model has a potential to apply to smart farming of Solanaceae crops and will be widely used by adding more various crops as training dataset.
Impact of Pre-transplant Individual Comorbidities on Risk of ICU Admission and Survival Outcomes Following Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
Authors: Jamy Omer , Dasher John , Chen Alice , Salzman Donna , Bhatia Ravi , Bhatia Smita
Published: August 2022

Patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-hsct) can require intensive care unit (ICU) admission in the post-transplant period. Whereas outcomes of ICU admission are known to be poor, little is known about the pre-transplant risk factors leading to them. We conducted a retrospective analysis of 304 patients to investigate the impact of pre-transplant individual comorbidities on acute inpatient complications, focusing on ICU admission, ventilator support and multi-system organ failure, following allo-hsct. During the initial hospitalization, 33 (11%) patients required ICU admission, 29 (10%) required ventilator support and 33 (11%) developed multi-system organ failure. Risk factors for ICU admission and ventilator support included pre-transplant infection, pre-transplant diabetes, time to neutrophil engraftment, donor type and HSCT era. Risk factors for multi-system organ failure included pre-transplant diabetes, time to neutrophil engraftment and HSCT era. For ICU patients, the 60-day and 6-month mortality was 58% and 67%, respectively and the median overall survival was 1.4 months. Patients with diabetes and infection at the time of HSCT and delayed neutrophil engraftment during transplant are at an increased risk for ICU admission, ventilator support and multi-system organ failure. Patients admitted to the ICU are also at a high risk for mortality leading to poor survival.
Physicians’ and nurses’ perceptions of the factors influencing the implementation of paediatric clinical pharmacy services: a qualitative study
Authors: Sin Conor Ming Ho , Maidment Ian D , Huynh Chi
Published: August 2022

BackgroundStakeholders’ perceptions may influence the implementation of clinical pharmacy services. Although paediatric clinical pharmacy services have been provided in Hong Kong for nearly a decade, there is no research investigating its implementation. The extent to which the implementation of these services is effective must be assessed so the benefits of interventions can be optimised.AimTo identify factors that influence the implementation of paediatric clinical pharmacy services in Hong Kong public hospitals from physicians’ and nurses’ perspectives.MethodsA qualitative study was conducted based on semi-structured interviews of physicians and nurses practicing paediatrics. The Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research guidelines were followed to ensure that this study is reported in a comprehensive and transparent manner.ResultsA total of 6 facilitating factors and 7 barriers were identified. The identified facilitators were improved patient outcomes and service efficiency, trust and confidence, filling clinical gaps as medicine information providers, direct communication within multidisciplinary teams, and reducing healthcare professionals’ workloads. The barriers identified were culture of a medical dominance, a lack of public understanding and recognition, limitations in resources and heavy workloads, the lack of transparent and defined roles within the organisation, the uncertainty of change in the healthcare model, the need for clinical pharmacists to take a more proactive approach, and the lack of involvement in direct patient care activities.ConclusionPhysicians and nurses reported that the implementation of paediatric clinical pharmacy services was adequate, but several key barriers were identified at both the external and internal levels.
Digital Document Analysis Using Weighted Score Convolutional Neural Network and Arc Factored Graph Based Dependency Parsing
Authors: D Rekha D Rekha , V Ramaswamy V Ramaswamy
Published: August 2022

Digital document analysis is one where software analysts review documents for assessing an appraisal theme. Digital document analysis can be utilized for obtaining available documents in order to extract relevant data. Most of the research work focuses on a semi-supervised based framework for better parsing performance and traditional statistical setting. However, an inappropriate selection during digital documents analysis may lead to entire process being falsified there by reducing the overall accuracy. To address this issue, in our work, a novel method called, Weighted Score Convolutional Network and Arc-factored Graph-based Dependency Parsing (WSCN-AGDP) is proposed. WSCN-AGDP is split into two sections. First section is concerned with the extraction of relevant features (i.e., words from sentences) by employing Stouffer’s Weighted Score-based Convolutional Neural Network model. In the second section, using the extracted features, Graph-based Dependency Parsing is performed by utilizing Spearman Correlated Arc-Factored model. Four indices were calculated namely, digital document parsing time, parsing overhead, false positive rate and precision are being used to quantitatively assess and rate the algorithms. Different document sizes acquired from Reuters-21578 dataset are considered. Experiments have been conducted to analyze the methods.
Mid-aortic syndrome in a paediatric cohort
Authors: Brunet-Garcia Laia , Martínez Fredy Hermógenes Prada , Sainz Angela Lopez , Sánchez-de-Toledo Joan , Bellon Juan Manuel Carretero
Published: August 2022

AimsMid-aortic syndrome (MAS) is an uncommon condition characterized by severe narrowing of the abdominal aorta, usually involving visceral and renal arteries. Most patients are asymptomatic and typically present with incidental hypertension which might evolve into end-organ damage if untreated. Our aim was to review 8 new paediatric MAS cases.MethodsA retrospective observational study of all paediatric patients with MAS diagnosis (April 1992-Novembre 2021) was conducted. Patients underwent systematic evaluation (medical and family history; 12-lead electrocardiogram; echocardiogram; angiography and/or computed tomography or magnetic resonance angiography).Results8 paediatric patients with MAS were included. Median age at diagnosis 2.6 [0.2–4.7] years; median follow-up time 8.6 [6.6–10.0] years. 6/8 patients presented with incidental hypertension, 1/8 with heart murmur and 1/8 with heart failure symptoms.All patients were on antihypertensive treatment. 1/8 patients underwent surgery and 7/8 an endovascular treatment. At the end of the study period, among the 6 patients that underwent a successful endovascular procedure, 2 achieved good blood pressure (BP) control, 2 acceptable BP control, 1 stage 1 hypertension and, another, stage 2 hypertension. There was 1 death during follow-up.ConclusionBP monitoring in paediatric patients is crucial for early recognition of MAS. Treatment should be based on the individual clinical characteristics of patients with careful planning of surgical revascularisation, if possible, after adult growth is completed. Our study demonstrates that endovascular treatment might be a good alternative to surgery. Nevertheless, further trials with larger sample size and longer term follow-up are required to determine the best treatment approach.
Perceptions of freshwater algal blooms, causes and health among New Brunswick lakefront property owners
Authors: Birk Sapriya , Miller J. David , MacMullin Aidan , Patterson R. Timothy , Villeneuve Paul J.
Published: August 2022

Changes to water conditions due to eutrophication and climate change have resulted in the proliferation of harmful algal blooms in freshwater and marine environments globally, including in Canadian lakes. We developed and administered an online survey to evaluate the awareness of these blooms and the accompanying health risks in a sample of New Brunswick waterfront cottage and homeowners. The survey was distributed to lake and cottage associations in New Brunswick and was completed by 186 eligible respondents. Participants were asked to about information about the water quality of their lake, awareness about algae blooms, sociodemographic and cottage characteristics, and complete a self-rated measure of physical and mental health. While approximately 75% of participants reported that the quality of their lake water was good or very good, 40% indicated that algae blooms were a concern. We found no statistically significant differences in self-reported physical or mental health between those who were aware of algae blooms at their cottage and those who weren’t (p > 0.05). Participants expressed concern about the impacts of algal blooms on the health of their pets, and wildlife. While climate change was the most identified cause of algal blooms, there was substantial heterogeneity in the responses. Taken together, the findings from our survey suggest that cottage owners in New Brunswick are aware and concerned about the impacts of algae blooms, however, there is a need to provide additional information to lake associations about the causes of these blooms.
Altered Gene Expression in Excitatory Neurons is Associated with Alzheimer’s Disease and Its Higher Incidence in Women
Authors: Garcia A. Xavier , Xu Jielin , Cheng Feixiong , Ruppin Eytan , Schäffer Alejandro A.
Published: August 2022

Background: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder involving interactions between different cell types in the brain. Previous single-cell and bulk expression Alzheimer’s studies have reported conflicting findings about the key cell types and cellular pathways whose expression is primarily altered in this disease. We reanalyze these data in a uniform, coherent manner aiming to resolve and extend past findings. We further examine if this reanalysis may shed light on the observation that females have substantially higher AD incidence than males.Methods: We reanalyzed three published single-cell transcriptomics datasets including redoing some of their preprocessing. We used the software method MAST within the Seurat package to look for differentially expressed genes comparing AD cases to matched controls for both sexes together and for each sex separately. We used the GOrilla software to search for enriched pathways and other gene sets among the differentially expressed genes. Motivated by the male/female difference in incidence, we studied genes on the X-chromosome, focusing on genes in the pseudoautosomal region and on genes that are heterogeneous across either individuals or tissues for X-inactivation. We additionally obtained bulk AD datasets from the cortex from the Gene Expression Omnibus and used voom-limma for differential expression analysis.Results: Our results resolve the apparent contradiction in the literature, showing that comparing AD patients to unaffected controls, excitatory neurons have more differentially expressed genes than do astrocytes and other cell types. Altered pathways between males and females in excitatory neurons involve synaptic transmission and related pathways. Further analysis suggests that numerous pseudoautosomal region (PAR) genes and X-chromosome heterogeneous genes, including such as BEX1 and ELK1, may contribute to the difference in sex incidence of Alzheimer’s disease. Among autosomal genes, GRIN1, stood out as an overexpressed gene in cases vs. controls in all three single-cell data sets and as a functional candidate gene contributing to several important pathways upregulated in cases.Conclusions: Taken together, these results point to a potential linkage between two longstanding questions concerning AD pathogenesis, involving which cell type is the most important and why females have higher incidence than males.
Natural killer cells are associated with prognosis in triple-negative breast cancer patients
Authors: Ma Miaomiao , Zhang Tao , Zhang Zegao , Tao Pengcai , Alifu Mayinuer , Zhao Hui
Published: August 2022

Objective:Immune cells play an important role in anti-tumor activity. We aimed to investigate the expression of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, natural kill (NK) cells, and interleukin-27 (IL-27) in breast cancer tissues, and to explore their relationship with clinical characteristics and patients’ prognoses.Methods:Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression levels of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, NK cells, and IL-27 in a total of 198 breast cancer patients.Results:It was found that the number of positive NK cells was highest in patients with triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). In the Luminal A breast cancer group: the higher the histological grade, the higher the number of positive cases of CD4+ T cells; the higher the clinical stage, the higher the percentage of positive CD8+ T cells. In the Luminal B breast cancer group: the higher the histological grade, the higher the number of positive cases of CD8+ T cells; the higher the clinical stage, the higher the number of positive cases of CD8+ T cells. In the grouping of HER-2 breast cancer, patients with lymph node metastasis had higher CD8+ T cell positive cases; larger tumor volume had higher IL-27 positive cases. In TNBC grouping: the larger the tumor volume, the higher the positive ratio of CD8+ T cells; the higher the number of NK cell positive cases in patients with lymph node metastasis; the higher the number of IL-27 positive cases in patients with larger tumor volume. The survival curve showed that the OS rate of NK cell-negative patients was significantly higher than that of NK cell-positive patients.Conclusion:This study shows that infiltrating CD4+ and CD8+ T cells and NK cells in breast cancer tissue are associated with poor patient prognosis, and NK cell-positive TNBC patients with poor prognosis.
Measurement of interaction-dressed Berry curvature and quantum metric in solids by optical absorption
Authors: Chen Wei , von Gersdorff Gero
Published: August 2022

The quantum geometric properties of a Bloch state in momentum space are usually described by the Berry curvature and quantum metric. In realistic gapped materials where interactions and disorder render the Bloch state not a viable starting point, we generalize these concepts by introducing dressed Berry curvature and quantum metric at finite temperature, in which the effect of many-body interactions can be included perturbatively. These quantities are extracted from the charge polarization susceptibility caused by linearly or circularly polarized electric fields, whose spectral functions can be measured from momentum-resolved exciton or infrared absorption rate. As a concrete example, we investigate Chern insulators in the presence of impurity scattering, whose results suggest that the quantum geometric properties are protected by the energy gap against many-body interactions.
Evidence-Based Approach in Industrial Policy Analysis
Authors: Kapoguzov Evgenii , Chupin Roman
Published: August 2022

This research featured the concept of evidence-based policy in the public administration of Russia in terms of its potential application to the industrial policy analysis. The methods included the content analysis of scientific publications, the institutional analysis, and various econometric techniques. The academic discourse was analyzed in relation to the content of industrial policy in Russian economic science and its affinity to foreign approaches. The author studied the Federal Law No. 488-FZ On Industrial Policy for the prospects of evidence-based policy tools. The article introduces a case of sustainable development in socio-economic policy and an analysis of possible alternatives for industrial modernization. The study of industrial policy can predict the consequences of applying the industrial policy toolkit at the stage of its formulation, development, and evaluation ex ante.
The impact of COVID-19 on urban water use: a review
Authors: Buurman Joost , Freiburghaus Matthias , Castellet-Viciano Lledó
Published: August 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic had significant impact on water utilities, which had to continue providing clean water under safe-distancing measures. Water use patterns were affected, shifting peak demand and changing volumes, though changes varied from place to place. This study analyses the effects of the safe-distancing measures on water use patterns in different countries and cities with the aim of drawing general conclusions on causes and impacts of changes in water use patterns, as well as providing some insights on the impacts on finances of utilities and potential long-term implications. The analysis is based on information collected by the members of the IWA Specialist Group on Statistics and Economics for Belgium, Cyprus, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Portugal, Romania, the Netherlands and Singapore. Temporal, spatial/sectoral and volume changes can be distinguished. The main temporal change in domestic water use was a delay in the morning peak, while commercial water use patterns changed significantly. In general, the volume of domestic water use increased between about 3% and 8%, while non-domestic water use decreased between about 2% and 11% over 2020. Indirect evidence suggests shifts have taken place between sectors and spatially. The impact on finances of utilities has likely been only short-term.
Competition adsorption of malachite green and rhodamine B on polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride microplastics in aqueous environment
Authors: Zhong Yiping , Wang Kangkang , Guo Changyan , Kou Yuli , Hassan Afaq , Lu Yi , Wang Jide , Wang Wei
Published: August 2022

Microplastics (MPs) will cause compound pollution by combining with organic pollutants in the aqueous environment. It is important for environmental protection to study the adsorption mechanism of different MPs for pollutants. In this study, the adsorption behaviors of malachite green (MG) and rhodamine B (RhB) on polyethylene (PE) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) were studied in single systems and binary systems, separately. The results show that in single system, the adsorptions of between MPs for pollutants (MG and RhB) are more consistent with the pseudo-second-order kinetics and Freundlich isotherm model, the adsorption capacity of both MPs for MG is greater than that of RhB. The adsorption capacities of MG and RhB were 7.68 mg/g and 2.83 mg/g for PVC, 4.52 mg/g and 1.27 mg/g for PE. In the binary system, there exist competitive adsorption between MG and RhB on MPs. And the adsorption capacities of PVC for the two dyes are stronger than those of PE. This is attributed to the strong halogen-hydrogen bond between the two dyes and PVC, and the larger specific surface area of PVC. This study revealed the interaction and competitive adsorption mechanism between binary dyes and MPs, which is of great significance for understanding the interactions between dyes and MPs in the multi-component systems.
Electrochemical oxidation process on palm oil mill effluent waste activated sludge: optimization by response surface methodology
Authors: Yap Branda Jian Tong , Heng Gan Chin , Ng Choon Aun
Published: August 2022

Biological-based treatment as the conventional treatment for palm oil mill effluent (POME) in open-ponding system face a well known rate-limiting step which is hydrolysis. In this study, electrochemical oxidation (EO) by a ruthenium oxide-coated titanium (Ti/RuO2) electrode was introduced as a pre-treatment for POME waste activated sludge (WAS). Surface morphology and elemental analysis were investigated using field emission scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, respectively. Response surface methodology type central composite design was used in this study to understand the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to validate the model of the studied variables. The correlation coefficients (R2) indicated a close agreement between the experimental results and the predicted values, with high R2 values of 0.9044–0.9773. Multiple response optimization suggested that the range of current density (17–27 mA/cm2) and electrolysis time (55–75 min) at a fixed concentration of sodium chloride (10 g/L), resulted in mixed liquor volatile suspended solids (MLVSS) removal >20%, capillary suction timer (CST) reduction >43%, extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) increment <19% and soluble chemical oxygen demand (sCOD) increment >25%. EO appears to be an efficient pre-treatment as well as practical way to improve the POME WAS disintegration and dewaterability.
Human rabies post-exposure prophylaxis: a review of the treatment of accidents involving domestic cats
Authors: Araújo Isabela de Lourdes , Frankó Mariana de Assis Lopes , Oliveira Tiago Mendonça de , Diniz Soraia de Araujo , Silva Marcos Xavier
Published: August 2022

Rabies is an anthropozoonosis that presents approximately 100% lethality and expensive preventive assistance. Many human post-exposure anti-rabies treatments indicated for people at risk of exposure to rabies virus, usually due to some aggression by a mammalian animal, are instituted annually. This study aimed to evaluate the initial care of post-exposure prophylaxis of human rabies in Belo Horizonte between 2007 and 2016, involving accidents with domestic cats. It was found 71.1% agreement between the treatments instituted by health services and the protocol of the Ministry of Health. Treatments classified as insufficient totaled 18.3% and excessive, 10.6%. The animals were healthy in 68% and observable in 68.4% of the cases. Treatments involving the use of anti-rabies vaccine totaled 87.7%. The most frequent treatment adopted by the health services was observing the animals associated with the human anti-rabies vaccination in 56.7% of the cases. Imperfections in the filling of the notifications must be revised to enable improvements for future analyses. As for human prophylactic anti-rabies care, forming a multidisciplinary health team including veterinarians would be well on the way to improving the service offered.
PERANCANGAN BUKU POP- UP EDUKATIF MENJAGA KEBERSIHAN UNTUK ANAK USIA DINI
Authors: Nazaruddin Muhammad Arief , Afif Muhammad Fachri
Published: August 2022

Usia ini merupakan pondasi untuk usia-usia selanjutnya. Adapun dalam hal ini perkembangan yang sangat pesat tersebut, sangat dipengaruhi oleh kebersihan dari jasmani dan rohani anak. Salah satu penyebab anak-anak bertingkah seperti itu, karena orang tua biasanya memiliki kesibukan tinggi sehingga tidak memiliki waktu untuk berkomunikasi
secara langsung. Penulis bertujuan untuk membuat buku pop-up yang bernama “Perancangan Buku Pop-Up Edukatif Menjaga Kebersihan Untuk Anak Usia Dini”. Konsep penciptaan tokoh melalui figur anak usia 5-8 tahun. Langkah penciptaan media: rough layout untuk mebuat sketsa awal dari cerita menjadi gambar, comprehensive layout untuk membuat gambar jadi, dan final design untuk gambar jadi yang sudah diwarna. Penyempurnaan bentuk dan warna menggunakan menggunakan program Adobe Photoshop CC. Hasil perancangan berupa buku pop-up yang diberi judul Ayo Menjaga Kebersihan. Isi dari buku pop-up ini diambil dari pembelajaran keterampilan sosial yang diajarkan untuk anak usia dini yang selanjutnya menghasilkan tema menjaga kebersihan.
Pemanfaatan Perpustakaan Sekolah oleh Guru pada Masa Pembelajaran Daring
Authors: Yuliana Lia , Nurhasanah Syntia Indahsari
Published: August 2022

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pemanfaatan perpustakaan sekolah oleh guru pada masa pembelajaran daring. Penelitian dilakukan di perpustakaan Sekolah Menengah Pertama Negeri (SMPN) 1 Berbah. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif. Teknik pengumpulan data terdiri atas wawancara, observasi dan studi dokumen. Informan penelitian ini adalah guru mata pelajaran, pustakawan dan kepala perpustakaan. Teknik analisis data pada penelitian ini menggunakan model Miles dan Huberman. Uji keabsahan data dilakukan dengan teknik triangulasi sumber dan teknik. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pada aspek pemanfaatan sarana perpustakaan, guru menggunakan koleksi perpustakaan sebagai sumber informasi utama, pendukung dan rekreatif. Selain itu guru juga memanfaatkan bahan ajar lain dan alat peraga yang dimiliki perpustakaan untuk mendukung proses pembelajaran daring. Sedangkan layanan sirkulasi dan layanan teknologi informasi dan komunikasi (TIK) menjadi layanan yang paling banyak dimanfaatkan oleh guru saat pembelajaran daring.
Possessive Constructions in Central Kurdish: A Cognitive Grammar Account
Authors: Fatah Azad Hasan , Aghal Ari Ezzat
Published: August 2022

This paper seeks to study possessive   constructions in CK henceforth from the cognitive grammar perspective. One of the tenets of construal theory is that the speakers of a language deploy alternate constructions to express different conceptual contents. To do so, the humans use construal mechanism to portray and interpret a certain scene from their perspectives. To achieve the objective of the present paper, we apply reference point model, Construal and Figure and ground theories to CK possessive constructions. Possessive constructions are relational structures established by human mental ability to invoke one entity as the reference point and relate it to another entity which is described as the profile determinant. In applying construal theory to CK possessive construction, we argue that different interpretations can be assumed from ezafe (-i) and possessive clitics in conveying possession. With the application of these three theories, a new perspective has been put forward to possessive constructions in CK.
Colorectal Cancer Incidence, Inequalities, and Prevention Priorities in Urban Texas: Surveillance Study With the “surveil” Software Package
Authors: Donegan Connor , Hughes Amy E , Lee Simon J Craddock
Published: August 2022

Background

Monitoring disease incidence rates over time with population surveillance data is fundamental to public health research and practice. Bayesian disease monitoring methods provide advantages over conventional methods including greater flexibility in model specification and the ability to conduct formal inference on model-derived quantities of interest. However, software platforms for Bayesian inference are often inaccessible to nonspecialists.

Objective

To increase the accessibility of Bayesian methods among health surveillance researchers, we introduce a Bayesian methodology and open source software package, surveil, for time-series modeling of disease incidence and mortality. Given case count and population-at-risk data, the software enables health researchers to draw inferences about underlying risk and derivative quantities including age-standardized rates, annual and cumulative percent change, and measures of inequality.

Methods

We specify a Poisson likelihood for case counts and model trends in log-risk using the first-difference (random-walk) prior. Models in the surveil R package were built using the Stan modeling language. We demonstrate the methodology and software by analyzing age-standardized colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence rates by race and ethnicity for non-Latino Black (Black), non-Latino White (White), and Hispanic/Latino (of any race) adults aged 50-79 years in Texas’s 4 largest metropolitan statistical areas between 1999 and 2018.

Results

Our analysis revealed a cumulative decline of 31% (95% CI –37% to –25%) in CRC risk among Black adults, 17% (95% CI –23% to –11%) for Latino adults, and 35% (95% CI –38% to –31%) for White adults from 1999 to 2018. None of the 3 observed groups experienced significant incidence reduction in the final 4 years of the study (2015-2018). The Black-White rate difference (per 100,000) was 44 (95% CI 30-57) in 1999 and 35 (95% CI 28-43) in 2018. Cumulatively, the Black-White gap accounts for 3983 CRC cases (95% CI 3746-4219) or 31% (95% CI 29%-32%) of total CRC incidence among Black adults in this period.

Conclusions

Stalled progress on CRC prevention and excess CRC risk among Black residents warrant special attention as cancer prevention and control priorities in urban Texas. Our methodology and software can help the public and health agencies monitor health inequalities and evaluate progress toward disease prevention goals. Advantages of the methodology over current common practice include the following: (1) the absence of piecewise linearity constraints on the model space, and (2) formal inference can be undertaken on any model-derived quantities of interest using Bayesian methods.
Evaluación de la percepción del dolor en pacientes de 0 a 5 meses de edad con labio y paladar hendido sometidos a tratamiento de ortopedia prequirúrgica
Authors: Yudovich Burak Manuel , Barrera Arana Mireya , Gryzbowski Gainza Erick , García López Salvador , Jiménez Escobar Irma , Baranda Escalona Renato
Published: August 2022

Introducción: Puesto que se considera que los recién nacidos no son capaces de verbalizar los sentimientos y expresar el dolor durante el tratamiento prequirúrgico ortopédico, es necesario identificar una medida primaria del dolor en pacientes infantiles con labio y paladar hendido. Objetivo: El objetivo del estudio fue calificar el dolor durante el tratamiento de ortopedia prequirúrgica utilizando la escala de FLACC, que evalúa la expresión de la cara, las piernas, la actividad, el grito y la compresión, además de determinar la fiabilidad de dicha escala en estos pacientes. Material y métodos: Seis observadores independientes evaluaron el dolor a través de video grabaciones de 20 niños de 0 a 5 meses durante tres etapas o momentos de tiempo: 1. En la técnica de alimentación; 2. En las impresiones de las crestas alveolares; 3. En la colocación del aparato ortopédico prequirúrgico. Dicha escala se puntuó en cada etapa de tiempo durante el procedimiento. Durante la evaluación de la toma de impresión y colocación del aparato ortopédico, los valores se compararon con la técnica de alimentación, utilizando la prueba de Wilcoxon pareada. También se emplearon coeficientes de correlación intraclase para evaluar la confiabilidad de la escala citada. Resultados: Se determinó que hubo incrementos estadísticamente significativos en las puntuaciones de la escala durante la toma de impresión (p < 0.000) y la colocación del aparato ortopédico (p < 0.000) en comparación con la técnica de alimentación. La confiabilidad de la escala fue catalogada como buena (0.71-0.90). Conclusiones: El dolor fue evidente de acuerdo con la escala de FLACC durante la toma de impresión de las crestas alveolares y la colocación del aparato ortopédico previos a la queiloplastia de los pacientes. Además, la escala mostró una buena confiabilidad, la cual brinda un apoyo preliminar para considerar procedimientos alternativos o farmacológicos para complementar el tratamiento del paciente
Prevalencia de raíces cortas en 500 pacientes que ingresan a la clínica de Ortodoncia de la División de Postgrado de la UNAM
Authors: Xolo Rodríguez Rosario , Katagiri Katagiri Mario
Published: August 2022

Objetivo general: Encontrar la prevalencia de raíces cortas en 500 pacientes que ingresan al Departamento de Ortodoncia de la división de estudios de Postgrado e Investigación de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Campus CU. Objetivos específi cos: Determinar la presencia de raíces cortas, diferencias estadísticamente significativas en cuanto a género, los dientes principalmente afectados. Material y métodos: El estudio se realizó en una muestra de 500 radiografías panorámicas de pacientes que ingresan al Departamento de Ortodoncia, DEPeI, UNAM. Se registraron en una bitácora los siguientes puntos: número de expediente, tratamiento previo, edad, sexo, ángulo SN1SUP y ángulo GNInf. El diagnóstico se realizó en cuanto a la relación corono-radicular: La medición se llevó a cabo digitalmente, mediante el programa Sidexis. Programa estadístico IBM SPSS Statistics 23. Resultados: La prevalencia de raíces cortas en este grupo de estudio fue del 9% (45 de 500 casos). En cuanto a género, se encontraron más casos en mujeres. Prueba de χ2 p < 0.05. La prevalencia en mujeres correspondió a 6%, mientras que en hombres fue del 3%. Los órganos dentarios principalmente afectados fueron los incisivos centrales superiores, seguidos por incisivos laterales superiores e incisivos centrales inferiores. Conclusiones: Las raíces cortas se presentan en la población mexicana con una prevalencia de 9%. Se encuentran asociadas al género femenino.
Caso clínico: tratamiento quirúrgico-ortodóncico (surgery first)
Authors: Ballinas Roblero Pedro Alejandro , Guzmán Valdivia Gómez Isaac
Published: August 2022

Se conoce como surgery fi rst a la cirugía ortognática que precede al tratamiento ortodóncico. El concepto fue reintroducido por Nagasaka y cols. en 2009 y presenta un método razonable en relación costo-efectividad para el manejo de maloclusiones esqueletales en casos selectos. El procedimiento consiste en una metodología alterna al procedimiento clásico «ortodoncia-cirugía-ortodoncia», ésta procede directamente con la cirugía sin previa preparación ortodóncica y posterior a la cirugía, se inicia el tratamiento ortodóncico. A continuación se presenta el tratamiento de una clase III esquelética mediante abordaje «surgery fi rst», manejado por el Departamento de Ortodoncia y el Departamento de Cirugía Maxilofacial de la DEPeI, FO, UNAM.