bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Drinking water catchment protection as disaster risk reduction: Modelling community support for restrictive recreation policy using the health belief model
Authors: Marlin Dr Holly
Published: April 2023

While natural and anthropogenic hazards are increasing, Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) can protect individuals and communities from the adverse effects of disasters associated with those hazards. Under global and Australian agreements, all levels of society are responsible for DRR – including the prevention of foreseeable new hazards and reducing existing hazards – with the greatest onus for action being on government. DRR can be achieved through implementing policies to reduce or remove hazards. As policies need to be accepted and followed by the community to be effective, it is important to understand the variables influencing community acceptance of those policies.
Implementación de un sistema de costeo en la compañía Italroll del distrito de Cercado de Lima
Authors:   , Afan Medrano Carmen Lidia , Aldana Rivera Ines Sonia , Gereda Lopez Laura Virginia , Teran Ledesma Alejandro Edward
Published: April 2023

El presente informe de investigación tiene como finalidad de implementar un sistema de costeo para la compañía ITALROLL S.A.C” dedicada al desarrollo, fabricación, reparación y comercialización de equipos mecánicos para el manejo de sólidos a granel. Debido a que esta identidad, no cuenta con un sistema de costeo propio el cual le permitirá identificar el costo unitario de producción con el que cuenta, determinando el consumo de recursos e inventario, considerando la rentabilidad de estos, con la finalidad de generar una correcta planificación y control de sus procesos. Por lo cual, se realiza un estudio importante de los costos de acuerdo con los productos más relevantes y con mayor aceptación en el mercado, para contar con el detalle específico de los mismos. Con la finalidad, de que la empresa defina los precios de venta adecuados, y eleve la rentabilidad, y a su vez utilice su capacidad competitiva para poder optimizar sus recursos y poder determinar una mejora en sus márgenes de utilidad.
Ocurrencia, distribución espacial, tamaño de grupo y comportamiento del delfín mular Tursiops truncatus Montagu, 1821 en la Costa Sur de Lima, Perú Central
Authors:   , Cortez Casamayor Sarai Valeria
Published: April 2023

En el Perú, los delfines mulares Tursiops truncatus se encuentran amenazados por la captura directa e incidental. A pesar de su conspicua presencia en la costa, el estado de conservación de esta especie en el país continúa siendo desconocida, y los estudios que describen la ecología de esta especie son notoriamente escasos. El objetivo de este estudio fue evaluar la ocurrencia, distribución espacial, la dinámica del tamaño del grupo y el comportamiento de los delfines mulares en la costa sur de Lima, en Perú central (aprox. 11°S). Se realizaron un total de ocho salidas de muestreo durante el otoño y la primavera austral de 2021, cubriendo la zona costera entre el puerto de Pucusana y la playa Arica. Los resultados confirman la presencia de un grupo de delfines mulares de ecotipo costero en el área de estudio, registrándose 52 individuos foto-identificados. A excepción de la profundidad del avistamiento, y el comportamiento de desplazamiento indefinido, no se detectaron diferencias significativas en los demás parámetros estudiados entre las estaciones de muestreo. Además, se observó una ocurrencia continua de la especie, con 20 individuos (38.5%) re-identificados en ambas estaciones de muestreo. La descripción de los aspectos ecológicos y del comportamiento, así como la ocurrencia de los delfines mulares, confirma la importancia de este hábitat para la especie.
Capacitação em uso e manejo de animais de laboratório
Authors: Nornberg Strelow Dianer , Devantier Krüger Letícia , Gonçalves Alves Amália , Parron Paim Mariana , Da Silva Wellington , Da Silva Teixeira Rech Taís , Augusto Brüning César , Folharini Bortolatto Cristiani
Published: April 2023

O uso de animais de laboratório é importante para as pesquisas científicas, especialmente na área da saúde. Para isso, é fundamental a garantia do bem-estar animal por meio do preparo e treinamento contínuo dos indivíduos que os manejam. O curso de extensão universitária “Capacitação em Uso e Manejo de Animais de Laboratório” tem como propósitos a difusão e a atualização de conceitos e protocolos de pesquisa que envolvam a experimentação animal, bem como a discussão de seus preceitos éticos. Assim, o presente trabalho tem como objetivo divulgar os resultados deste curso de extensão, desenvolvido por meio das mídias sociais. A metodologia utilizada para realização do curso (1ª edição) nos módulos teórico e teórico-prático foi adaptada para a forma on-line, por meio de mídias sociais, devido à pandemia da COVID-19. Para esta proposta, foram disponibilizadas palestras assíncronas e um encontro síncrono para o módulo teórico e teórico-prático, respectivamente, via plataformas digitais. Ao final, foram aplicados questionários on-line para avaliação das ações extensionistas. Neste trabalho, foram avaliadas questões referentes à divulgação, organização, realização, adequação da programação, duração do evento e conhecimento dos palestrantes. Como resultado, obteve-se uma avaliação positiva de forma majoritária sobre os pontos mencionados. Além disso, diversas respostas às questões discursivas das avaliações apontam para o sucesso da realização e a importância da oferta periódica do curso. Assim, infere-se que o evento cumpriu os objetivos propostos, proporcionando a propagação de um curso de extensão capaz de interligar conhecimentos em benefício da comunidade por meio das mídias sociais.
Positive unintended consequences of urbanization for
climate-resilience of stream ecosystems
Authors: Banner Jay , Black Bryan , Tremaine Darrell
Published: April 2023

Developing sustainable urban systems is a fundamental societal challenge for the 21st century, and central Texas faces particularly synergistic challenges of a rapidly growing urban population and a projected increasingly drought-prone climate. To assess the history of urbanization impacts on watersheds here, we analyzed 51 cores from bald cypress trees in paired urban and rural watersheds in Austin, TX. We find a significant contrast between rural and urbanized watersheds. In the rural watershed, tree-ring-width growth histories (‘chronologies’) from 1844-2018 significantly and positively correlate (p < 0.01) with 1) one another, and 2) regional instrumental and proxy records of drought. In the urbanized watershed, by contrast, chronologies weakly correlate with one another, with instrumental records of drought, and with the rural chronologies and regional records.

Relatively weak drought limitations to urban tree growth are consistent with significant present-day transfer of municipal water from urban infrastructure by leakage and irrigation to the natural hydrologic system. We infer a significant, long-term contribution from infrastructure to baseflow in urbanized watersheds. In contrast to the common negative impacts of ‘urban stream syndrome’, such sustained baseflow in watersheds with failing infrastructure may become an unintended positive consequence for stream ecosystems, as a mitigation against projected extended 21st century droughts. Riparian trees may serve as a proxy for past impacts of urbanization on natural streams, which may inform sustainable urban development.
Deep learning for improving the image quality of elastic seismic data
Authors: zheng wanqiu , meng xiaohong , Wang Jian
Published: April 2023

Elastic reverse time migration is currently an advanced imaging method in the petroleum industry. Generally, we use a finite difference algorithm to discretize forward-propagated wavefield and the back-propagated wavefield , then obtain the final image profile through cross-correlation imaging conditions . To overcome the numerical dispersion of elastic reverse time migration, one all-new strategy proposed in our letter, we design a kind of residual learning network of deep CNN for the seismic date to correct the dispersion of lower order finite difference operator, that is, both for seismic receiver data and wavefields data . In the process of elastic reverse time migration, we modify the numerical dispersion of forward-propagated wavefield, back-propagated wavefield and receiver data respectively, and then calculate the cross-correlation to obtain a more accurate image of underground structure . Residual learning and bath normalization were used to improve the trained seismic network . The test verified that our algorithm is more accurate when compared with the original finite difference method.
Enhanced degradation and methane production of food waste anaerobic digestate by microbial electrolysis cell for a long-term running
Authors: Zhu Yusen , Guo Meixin , Qi Xuejiao , Li Mingxiao , Guo Meng , Jia Xuan
Published: April 2023

Microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) is a new way to enhance degradation of food waste anaerobic digestate and recover methane. Through long-term operation, the start-up method, organic load, and methane production mechanism of the digestate have been optimized. At an organic load of 4000 mg/L, MEC increased methane production by 3–4 times and COD removal by 20.3% compare with anaerobic digestion (AD). The abundance of bacteria Fastidiosipila and Geobacter, which participated in the acid degradation and direct electron transfer in the MEC, increased dramatically than that in the AD. The dominant methanogenic archaea in the MEC and AD was Methanobacterium (44.4–56.3%) and Methanocalculus (70.05%), respectively. Geobacter and Methanobacterium dominated the MEC by direct electron transfer of organic matter into synthetic methane intermediates. MEC showed a perfect COD removal efficiency of the digestate, meanwhile CH4 as a clean energy was obtained. Thus, MEC was a promising technology for deep energy from digestate.
DEFB119 stratifies dysbiosis with distorted networks in the seminal microbiome associated with male infertility
Authors: Jin Jing , Yim Howard Chi Ho , Chang Hsiao Mei Ellie , Wang Yiwei , Chan Sze Yan , Alqawasmeh Odai , Liao Jinyue , Jiang Xiaotao , Chan David Yiu Leung , Fok Ellis Kin Lam
Published: April 2023

Background
Infertility is associated with the alteration of the seminal microbiome. However, how the onset of dysbiosis remains controversial and the involvement of host factors remains elusive. This study investigates the alterations of the seminal microbiome in male infertility and examines the association and function of DEFB119, a reproductive-tract-specific host antimicrobial peptide, on the seminal microbiome and male fertility.
Results
We analyzed the seminal microbiome by 16S rRNA sequencing in 30 individuals with normal sperm parameters and 58 male-factor infertile patients. While we observed comparable genera, diversity and evenness of bacterial communities, a marked decrease in the modularity of the metacommunities was observed in patients with abnormal spermiogram. Analysis of the protein level of DEFB119 by ELISA revealed a marked elevation of DEFB119 in a subpopulation of male-infertile patients. Elevated seminal DEFB119 was associated with a decrease in the observed genera, diversity and evenness of bacterial communities and further distortion of the metacommunities. Mediation analysis suggests the involvement of elevated DEFB119 and dysbiosis of the seminal microbiome in mediating the abnormalities in the spermiogram. Functional experiments showed that recombinant DEFB119 significantly decrease the progressive motility of sperm in patients with abnormal spermiogram. Moreover, DEFB119 demonstrated species-specific antimicrobial activity against common seminal and non-seminal species.
Conclusions
Male infertility is associated with distorted bacterial networks. Elevation of the DEFB119 level in seminal plasma stratifies male infertile patients with dysbiosis of the seminal microbiome. Both elevated DEFB119 and dysbiosis contribute to the abnormal spermiogram. Our work identifies an important host factor that mediates the host-microbiome interaction and stratifies the seminal microbiome associated with male infertility. These results may lead to a new diagnostic method for male infertility and regimens for formulating the microbiome in the reproductive tract and other organ systems.
Automated DEM Extraction Process Applying Denoised Stereo Images and Optimal Number of Tie Points
Authors: Bopche Litesh , Rege Priti P. , Kulkarni Samadhan C. , Dandawate Yogesh H.
Published: April 2023

Digital Elevation Model (DEM) has received more attention nowadays attributed to its ability to learn the topography of the Earth's surface. A DEM is acknowledged as a basic geospatial dataset requirement for many environmental and geographical applications. In this study, a high resolution and high accuracy DEM is created using high spatial resolution stereo imagery of the region captured by the image acquisition system of the Cartosat-1 sensor. This research proposed a study to investigate the impact of Noise Reduction Filters (NRFs) on the accuracy of the derived DEM under different topographical circumstances. The most suitable NRFs for stereo imagery of the Cartosat-1 sensor are selected by comparing popular conventional and adaptive spatial domain filters. The DEM is extracted from the denoised stereo imagery of the Cartosat-1 sensor using the Automated Tie Point (ATP) selection method. The selection and positioning of the ATPs on the stereo imageries have a considerable impact on the accuracy and quality of the DEM. Additionally, the current work provides information on the optimum number of ATPs on stereo imageries in the image matching process for various topographic situations. The accuracy of the extracted DEM is evaluated quantitatively using a variety of statistical measures.
Disentangling the contribution of individual and social learning processes in human advice-taking behavior
Authors: Pereg Maayan , Hertz Uri , Ben-Artzi Ido , Shahar Nitzan
Published: April 2023

The study of social learning examines how individuals learn from others by means of observation, imitation, or compliance with advice. However, it still remains largely unknown whether social learning processes have a distinct contribution to choice behavior, independent from non-social trial-and-error learning that often occurs simultaneously. 153 participants completed a reinforcement learning task, where they were asked to make choices to gain rewards. Advice from an artificial teacher was presented on 60% of the trials, allowing us to compare choice behavior with and without advice. Results showed a strong and reliable tendency to follow advice (test-retest reliability ~ .73). Computational modeling suggested a unique contribution of three distinct learning strategies: (a) individual learning (i.e., learning the value of actions, independent of advice), (b) informed advice-taking (i.e., learning the value of following advice), and (c) non-informed advice-taking (i.e., a constant bias to follow advice regardless of outcome history). Computational lesion simulations analyses provided specific regression signatures to both informed and non-informed advice taking processes that were then confirmed by empirical data. We discuss the theoretical implications of integrating internal and external information during the learning process.
Interfacial alloying between lead halide perovskite crystals and hybrid glasses
Authors: Hou Jingwei , Li Xuemei , Huang Wengang , Krajnc Andraž , Yang Yuwei , Shukla Atul , Lee Jaeho , Ghasemi Merhi , Martens Isaac , Chan Bun , Appadoo Dominique , Chen Peng , Wen Xiaoming , Steele Julian A. , Sun Qiang , Mali Gregor , Lin Rijia , Bedford Nicholas , Chen Vicki , Cheetham Anthony K. , Tizei Luiz H G , Collins Sean , Wang Lianzhou
Published: April 2023

The stellar optoelectronic properties of metal halide perovskites provide enormous promise for next-generation optical devices with excellent conversion efficiencies and lower manufacturing costs. However, there is a long-standing ambiguity as to whether the perovskite surface/interface (e.g. structure, charge transfer or source of off-target recombination) or bulk properties are the more determining factor in device performance. We fabricated an array of CsPbI3 crystal and hybrid glass composites by sintering and globally visualised the property-performance landscape. Our findings reveal that the interface is the primary determinant of the crystal phases, optoelectronic quality, and stability of CsPbI3. In particular, the presence of a diffusion "alloying" layer is discovered to be critical for passivating surface traps, and beneficially altering the energy landscape of crystal phases. However, high-temperature sintering results in the promotion of a non-stoichiometric perovskite and excess traps at the interface, despite the short-range structure of halide is retained within the alloying layer. By shedding light on functional hetero-interfaces, our research offers the key factors for engineering high-performance perovskite devices.
Discovery of 36 loci significantly associated with stuttering
Authors: Below Jennifer , Polikowsky Hannah , Scartozzi Alyssa , Shaw Douglas , Pruett Dillon , Chen Hung-Hsin , Petty Lauren , Petty Alexander , Lowther Emily , Yu Yao ,   23andMe Research Team, Highland Heather , Avery Christy , Harris Kathleen Mullan , Gordon Reyna , Beilby Janet , Viljoen Kathy , Jones Robin , Huff Chad , Kraft Shelly Jo
Published: April 2023

Developmental stuttering is a common speech disorder (studies estimate at least a 5% lifetime prevalence) characterized by prolongations, blocks, and repetitions of speech sounds. In approximately 75–80% of cases in early childhood, stuttering will resolve within a few years (referred to as ‘recovery’); the remaining cases will often experience stuttering into school-age years and adulthood (referred to as ‘persistence’). In adults, the prevalence of stuttering is substantially higher in men compared to women, at a ratio of 4:1 or greater (compared to between 1:1 and 2:1 in young children); this has typically been explained by differences in likelihood of recovery by sex. Heritability studies have established that a genetic component for stuttering exists, with heritability estimates as high as 84%. However, genetic factors impacting stuttering risk remain largely uncharacterized. To date, only two prior genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of developmental stuttering have been published, both of which included less than 10,000 cases. Here, we performed eight self-reported stuttering GWAS that were stratified by sex and ancestries. These analyses included more than 1 million individuals (99,776 cases and 1,023,243 controls) and identified 36 unique genome-wide significant loci. We validated the self-reported stuttering phenotype using polygenic risk scores from two independent stuttering datasets. We examined genetic correlation of our GWAS results with published GWAS for other previously identified comorbid traits and found strong evidence of correlation with hearing loss, daytime sleepiness, depression, and poorer beat synchronization. We also performed Mendelian randomization analyses which revealed distinct causal relationships in males and females for genetically associated traits. These distinct causal relationships motivate continued research into sex-specific phenotypic differences, with emphasis on recovery status. Additionally, a high proportion of genes impacting stuttering risk were found to be associated with neurological traits from the GWAS catalog, supporting a neurological basis for stuttering. Our findings provide the first well-powered insight into genetic factors underlying stuttering, representing a major step forward in our understanding of this condition.
Timetable synchronization of the first train with multiple departure stations in urban rail transit networks
Authors: Chen Yu-Zhang , Xu Yuan-Hao , Shi Cong-Ling , Hu Mao-Bin
Published: April 2023

With the development of urban rail transit systems, the operation and management of the system faces various problems, among which the unreasonably long waiting time at transfer stations during the first train period is a major challenge for metro companies. To address this problem, some cities (e.g. Guangzhou, Hefei) are operating inter-regional trains to reduce the waiting time of passengers. With this motivation, we study the first train timetable synchronization problem with multiple departure stations. The problem is first formulated as a mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) model. By using auxiliary intermediate variables, the nonlinear model is reformulated as a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model, which can be solved directly by the commercial solver COPT. A real-world example of the Hefei urban rail transit network is applied to test the effectiveness of the proposed model. By adjusting the first ordinary train start service times and operating 12 additional inter-regional trains on 2 bidirectional lines, the total transfer waiting time and the number of long waiting time directions decreased by 39.09% and 56.25%, respectively.
A novel agonist antibody to membrane-bound guanylate cyclase receptor, natriuretic peptide receptor 1, induces sustained vasodilation
Authors: Dunn Michael , Kithcart Aaron , Kim Jee Hae , Ho Andre Jo-Hao , Franklin Matthew , Hernandez Annabel Romero , de Hoon Jan , Botermans Wouter , Meyer Jonathan , Jin Ximei , Zhang Dongqin , Torello Justin , Jasewicz Daniel , Kamat Vishal , Garnova Elena , Liu Nina , Rosconi Michael , Pan Hao , Karnik Satyajit , Burczynski Michael , Zheng Wenjun , Nielsen Jonas , De Tanima , Verweij Niek , Pandit Anita , Locke Adam , Chalasani Naga , Melander Olle , Schwantes-An Tae-Hwi , Baras Aris , Lotta Luca , Musser Bret , Mastaitis Jason , Devalaraja-Narashimha Kishor , Rankin Andrew , Huang Tammy , Herman Gary , Olson William , Murphy Andrew , Yancopoulos George , Olenchock Benjamin , Morton Lori
Published: April 2023

Heart failure (HF) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Elevated intracardiac pressures and myocyte stretch in HF triggers release of counter-regulatory natriuretic peptides (NPs), which act via their receptor (NPR1) to affect vasodilation and natriuresis, lowering venous pressures and relieving venous congestion. Recombinant NP infusions were developed to treat HF but have been limited by a short duration of effect. Here, we report that, in a human genetic analysis of over 700,000 individuals, lifelong exposure to coding variants in the NPR1 gene are associated with changes in blood pressure (BP) and risk of HF. We then describe the development of an NPR1-agonist antibody, REGN5381, a novel investigational monoclonal agonist antibody targeting a membrane-bound guanylate cyclase receptor. REGN5381, an allosteric agonist of NPR1, induces an active-like receptor conformation resulting in hemodynamic effects preferentially on venous vasculature, including reductions in systolic BP and venous pressure in animal models. In healthy human volunteers, REGN5381 produced the expected hemodynamic effects, reflecting reductions in venous pressures. These data support the development of REGN5381 for long-lasting and selective lowering of venous pressures that drive symptomatology in patients with HF.
Involvement of the University of Rwanda in medical and surgical research: a bibliometric analysis of achievements and gaps
Authors: Sibomana Olivier , Mbonyinshuti Eruine
Published: April 2023

Background In the past few decades, global health research has grown incredibly quickly. The interest of scientists and medical professionals in evidence-based medicine (EBM), new drug and vaccine discovery are among the main reasons for the rapid increase of the scholarly literature in health research. The aim of this study is to analyse the scholarly literature published by researchers affiliated with the University of Rwanda (UR) and discover the achievements and gaps in medical and surgical research in UR.Methods The University of Rwanda was searched in Lens Scholarly Works, and all articles connected to the university were discovered. We filtered the initial results by field of study to locate materials that were published in medical and surgical fields. Except for co-authorship and keyword co-occurrence analysis which were done using VOSviewer software, all bibliometric analyses were carried out using Lens database.Results For the initial search, University of Rwanda was associated with 2,821 articles. After careful assessment of publications based on their field of study, a total of 1, 220 and 106 publications were found to be in the medical and surgical fields respectively. The analysis was based on the category of scholarly work, the chemicals of focus of the study, the authors, the funders, and the journal that published the study. Journal articles constitute a sizable fraction of these publications, whereas conference articles, book chapters, reprints, and reports make up a far smaller portion. By comparing the numbers of publications, authors, and funding in the surgical and medical field, many gaps are apparent in surgical than medical research field.Conclusion Although there is an increase in number of publications in the University of Rwanda, the number of medical and surgical literature in UR is still low. Improving mentorship to students and involving them in ongoing research projects; not restricting them to only data collection but allow them to participate in peer-reviewed publications are key measures to increase number of medical and surgical scholarly publications in University of Rwanda.
Latent Profile Analysis of moral identity of nursing students: a cross-sectional study
Authors: jianghu Hu , Mei Yongxia , Zhao Zhixin , Wang Xiaoxuan , Wang Wenna , Lin Beilei , Zhang Zhenxiang
Published: April 2023

Background The cornerstone of the nursing profession is moral identity, and the establishment of professional identity goes hand in hand with moral growth. The existing state of affairs and the elements affecting nursing students' moral identity are not well understood from a multifaceted perspective.Objectives To define moral identity subgroups and research the variables affecting profile membership.Methods A convenient sampling. was used to conduct a cross-sectional study among nursing students from November 16th, 2022, to January 17th, 2023. The Moral Identity Measure and the General Demographic Information Questionnaire were provided to the participants. Students studying nursing were divided into several moral identity subgroups using a latent profile analysis (LPA). To determine the variables connected to the putative moral identity categories, we also conducted ordinal and multinomial logistic regression analyses.Results A total of 10583 nursing students responded to legitimate surveys. The LPA results validated the presence of three unique moral identity profiles: low (4.2%), moderate (41.9%), and high (53.9%), and demonstrated that the three-profile model was the most appropriate. The three profiles stood out from one another greatly. Profiles were predicted by gender, grade, political stance, rural background, leadership experience, and junior college degree.Conclusion In this study, three profiles were found, and the majority of nursing students had a strong moral identity. Regarding variables determining profile membership and moral identity subgroups, nursing students should get specialized support.
Electrospun PAN Membranes Strengthened in Situ Grown TiO 2 Particles for High-Performance Lithium-Ion Batteries
Authors: Tang Liping , Wu Yankang , Lei Zhiqiang , He Yu , Chen Jian
Published: April 2023

The electrostatic spinning method with polyacrylonitrile as the spinning precursor was used to investigate the performance of battery separator prepared from tetrabutyl titanate and isopropyl titanate as two titanium source precursors hydrolyzed under the inhibition of acrylic acid to produce different contents of TiO2 for lithium-ion batteries. The experimental results showed that when both titanium sources were prepared at 3 wt%, the comprehensive performance of the separator manufcatured with tetrabutyl titanate as the titanium source (PAN/TBT-3) and isopropyl titanate as the titanium source (PAN/TPT-3) was finest than that of the Celgard 2400 and the composite membrane with direct TiO2 addition (PAN/TiO2-3). The tensile strength of PAN/TPT-3 and PAN/TBT-3 membranes were 7.82 MPa and 4.03 MPa higher than that of Celgard 2400, and 13.29 MPa and MPa higher than that of PAN/TiO2-3 separator, respectively. PAN/TPT-3 and PAN/TBT-3 membranes exhibited a discharge capacity of 107.72 mAh/g and 115.79 mAh/g at 2 C, both the capacity retention rate was above 99.5% higher than 80.5% for Celgard 2400.
What is the required quantity of COVID-19 vaccines for outbreak prevention? A global analysis based on growth curve modeling
Authors: Le-Van Truong , Vu-Thi-Thu Trang
Published: April 2023

Introduction
The SARS-CoV-2 virus, which has the ability to rapidly spread, has caused multiple waves of deaths, resulting in nearly 7 million deaths in the past 3 years. During the early phase, most governments focused on implementing strict measures to cut off the transmission vector. However, the introduction of COVID-19 vaccines has changed the course of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods
A joinpoint regression analysis was used to identify mortality waves in 224 countries from February 22nd, 2020, to March 1st, 2023. Only countries with at least 2 waves were included in the analysis using Superimposition by Translation And Rotation (SITAR) to determine the growth curve of daily deaths and the impact of COVID-19 vaccine doses per population (CVDP), Cumulative incidence of COVID-19 (CIC), Rate of active cases per hospital bed (RAPHB), Active cases with diabetes (ACD), and Stringency index (SI).
Results
The analysis included over 3 million COVID-19 deaths from 82 countries to construct the growth curve. The increase in CVDP was associated with a decrease in wave size, intensity, and duration. However, an increase in CIC, ACD, RAHB, and SI was related to an increase in wave intensity and duration. The results suggest that maintaining CVDP at 120% (equivalent to 60% full doses) was associated with a decrease of 94.4% in COVID-19 deaths.
Conclusion
This research offers evidence for governments to enhance COVID-19 vaccination efforts in order to maintain herd immunity at 60% of the population and consider avoiding strict control measures.
Haemorrhoidal Disease in Pregnancy: Results From a Self-assessment Questionnaire Administered by Means of a Social Network
Authors: D’Alfonso Angela , De Carolis Francesca , Serva Alessandro , Valiyeva Sayali , Guido Maurizio , Pietroletti Renato
Published: April 2023

Background: The anal symptoms occurring pregnancy and post-partum, mainly related to Haemorrhoidal Disease (HD), have been reported with a wide range of incidence in the Literature. Although in many cases the course of the disease is mild and self-limiting, sometimes it is severe enough to give a bad quality of life.
Methods: Our study has been conducted by means of a questionnaire administered via of a social media with the aim of obtaining an epidemiologic data on incidence of symptoms of HD in an unselected population of pregnant women. In addition, we investigated for the presence of those factors notoriously predisposing or associated to haemorrhoidal disease (constipation, straining on the toilet, low dietary fibers and fluid intake).
Results: Out of 133 patients 51% reported Symptoms of HD during pregnancy, mainly in the second and third trimester. Constipation, straining on the toilet, low dietary fiber and fluid intake were not significantly related to incidence of haemorrhoids. Only a previous history of haemorrhoidal disease correlated to onset of hemorrhoids in pregnancy and reached a statistical significance (odds ratio = 5.2, p<0.001).
Conclusion: Although with the limitations posed by the nature of our retrospective study via a self-assessment interview, our results suggest that the occurrence of HD in pregnancy seems not sustained by the classical risk factors observed in the general population. At the moment, specific therapeutic measuresare lacking and treatment relies on empiric suggestions concerning diet, fluid intake, bowel care, local ointment. Further studies are needed in order to identify a targeted etiologic treatment, taking in mind however, that surgery can be an option in selected cases.
Job preference of preventive medicine students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a discrete choice experiment survey in Shandong Province, China
Authors: Tian Zhuang , Zhai Min , Li Hongmin
Published: April 2023

Background:
Public health workers are a crucial part of the health workforce, particularly during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. They play an important role in achieving universal health coverage and sustainable development goals. Human resources in public health in China are in short supply, their distribution is unequal, and their turnover rate is high. A discrete choice experiment (DCE) was applied to investigate preventive medicine students’ preferred job choice criteria and trends in trade-offs by calculating the marginal rate of substitution between these criteria. This study identified the properties of jobs primarily selected by preventive medicine students and estimated the monetary value of each attribute.
Methods:
Based on discussions and in-depth interviews with preventive medicine students and a literature review, we developed a DCE that assessed how students’ stated preferences for a certain choice were influenced by several job attributes, including location, salary, bianzhi, career development opportunities, working environment, and workload. We applied this DCE to preventive medicine students in Shandong Province,China,using a brief, structured questionnaire. Conditional logit models were used to estimate the utility of each job’s attributes. Willingness to pay (WTP) was estimated as the ratio of the value of the coefficient of interest to the negative value of the cost attribute.
Results:
A total of 307 respondents completed the questionnaire, and 261 passed the internal consistency test. All the attributes were statistically significant. Career development opportunities and work locations were the most important factors for the respondents. Preference heterogeneity existed among respondents, e.g., 3-year medical education college students placed a higher value on jobs with bianzhi compared to 5-year medical education college students. Furthermore, rural students’ WTP was much lower than that of urban students.
Conclusions:
The heterogeneity of attributes indicates the complexity of job preferences. Monetary and nonmonetary job characteristics significantly influenced the job preferences of preventive medicine students in China. A more effective policy intervention to attract graduates to work in rural areas should consider both job incentives and the backgrounds of preventive medicine graduates.
Response to furmonertinib in a patient with non-Small cell lung cancer harboring HER2 exon 21 insertion mutation : a case report
Authors: Xu Jiaju , Ni Chunxiao , Zhang Ling , Yu Xin , Pang Yu
Published: April 2023

Background This is the first case report describing a patient with non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC) harboring two rare human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) exon 21 insertion mutations, who responded to furmonertinib treatment. Furmonertinib maybe one effective and economical treatment for NSCLC patients harboring HER2 mutations with minor side effects.Case presentation: We present a case report of a 49-year-old female diagnosed with stage IV lung adenocarcinoma. Firstly, We describe the patient's treatment history, including failed third-line combination treatments of systemic chemotherapy with bevacizumab or carrelizumab or anlotinib, primary lung tumor recurrence, bilateral lung metastases progression, and new brain metastatic lesion detection. Next, we detail the patient's fourth-line treatment with radiotherapy for brain metastases and two cycles of bevacizumab plus Abraxane and cisplatin, however, the disease progressed and relapsed. After that, comprehensive genomic profiling revealed two HER2 exon 21 insertion mutations. Finally, the patient received furmonertinib 80 mg a day and achieved a near-complete response after one month of treatment. The patient is still receiving treatment, without disease progression 8 months after starting treatment with furmonertinib.Conclusion Furmonertinib may be effective for NSCLC patients with HER2 T8962A and L869R mutations and further studies are needed to confirm these results in prospective clinical trials.
Auto-STEED: A data mining tool for automated extraction of experimental parameters and risk of bias items from in vivo publications
Authors: Zürrer Wolfgang Emanuel , Cannon Amelia Elaine , Ewing Ewoud , Brüschweiler David , Bugajska Julia , Hild Bernard Friedrich , Rosso Marianna , Reich Daniel S. , Ineichen Benjamin Victor
Published: April 2023

Background: Systematic reviews, i.e., research summaries that address focused questions in a structured and reproducible manner, are a cornerstone of evidence-based medicine and research. However, certain systematic review steps such as data extraction are labour-intensive which hampers their applicability, not least with the rapidly expanding body of biomedical literature. To bridge this gap, we aimed at developing a data mining tool in the R programming environment to automate data extraction from neuroscience in vivo publications. The function was trained on a literature corpus (n=45 publications) of animal motor neuron disease studies and tested in two validation corpora (motor neuron diseases, n=31 publications; multiple sclerosis, n=244 publications).
Results: Our data mining tool Auto-STEED (Automated and STructured Extraction of Experimental Data) was able to extract key experimental parameters such as animal models and species as well as risk of bias items such as randomization or blinding from in vivo studies. Sensitivity and specificity were over 85 and 80%, respectively, for most items in both validation corpora. Accuracy and F-scores were above 90% and 0.9 for most items in the validation corpora. Time savings were above 99%.
Conclusions: Our developed text mining tool Auto-STEED that can extract key experimental parameters and risk of bias items from the neuroscience in vivoliterature. With this, the tool can be deployed to probe a field in a research improvement context or to replace one human reader during data extraction resulting in substantial time-savings and contribute towards automation of syste99matic reviews. The function is available on Github.
Development and validation of Digi-MEE Instrument measuringonline learning environments in medical education
Authors: Naeem Noor-i-Kiran , Hadie Siti Nurma Hanim , Ismail Irwan Mahazir , Waheed Khadija , Yusoff Muhamad Saiful Bahri
Published: April 2023

Background Despite the widely acknowledged uses of technology-enhanced learning in medical education, the evaluation approach for these online learning environments specific to medical education are limited. Identifying online learning environment key components for medical education may provide an opportunity to address this gap. This study aimed to develop and validate Digital Medical Education Environment (Digi-MEE) Instrument that measures the online learning environment in medical education.Methods Questionnaire development and validation studies were conducted involving 726 participants in total. Components and items of online learning environments were generated and identified through a scoping review and a modified e-Delphi study. A panel of selected content experts carried out content validation leading to calculation of content validity index (CVI). A group of medical students performed face validation leading to determination of face validity index (FVI).This validation process was followed by exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and assessment of reliability to determine Digi-MEE’s factorial structure and internal consistency.Results A total of 15 experts reviewed nine components with 73 items of Digi-MEE to appraise its content validity. As a result, 26 items were removed, and 17 items were revised that led to Digi-MEE 2.0 with 47 items. The S-CVI/Ave was 0.98. Following response process validation, the number of items were reduced to 46, S-FVI/Ave of the Digi-MEE 3.0 was 0.87. Exploratory factor analysis yielded 46 items within nine components and depicted 57.18% variance. After confirmatory factor analysis, the final version of Digi-MEE contained 28 items within nine components. All goodness of fit indices achieved acceptable level. The overall Cronbach alpha of the final Digi-MEE was more than 0.90, while for the nine constructs ranged in between 0.62 and 0.76.Conclusion This study proposed a promising valid and reliable instrument, Digi-MEE, to evaluate online education environment in medical education. The content, response process, factorial structure and internal consistency evidence support the validity of Digi-MEE. Medical schools can use Digi-MEE as an evaluation tool for the continuous quality improvement of online learning environments.
Crop-Net: A Novel Deep Learning Framework for Crop Classification using Time-series Sentinel-1 Imagery by Google Earth Engine
Authors: Seydi Seyd Teymoor , Arefi Hossein , Hasanlou Mahdi
Published: April 2023

Agricultural land management relies heavily on accurate and timely estimation of uncultivated land. Geographical heterogeneity limits the ability of the model to map crops at large scales. This is because the spectral profile of a crop varies spatially. In addition, the generation of robust deep features from remotely sensed SAR data sets is limited by the conventional deep learning models (lacks a mechanism for informative representation). To address these issues, this study proposes a novel dual-stream framework by combining convolutional neural network (CNN) and nested hierarchical transformer (NesT). Based on a hierarchical transformer structure and convolutional layers with spatial/spectral attention modules, the proposed deep learning framework, called Crop-Net, was designed. Time-series Sentinel-1 SAR data were used to evaluate the performance of the proposed model. Sample datasets were also collected by field survey in ten classes including non-crop classes (i.e. water, built-up and barren) and agricultural crop classes (i.e. arboretum, alfalfa, agricultural-vegetable, broad-bean, barley, canola and wheat). The effectiveness of the Crop-Net model was compared with other advanced machine learning and deep learning frameworks. The proposed Crop-Net model is shown to outperform other models through numerical analysis and visual interpretation of crop classification results. It provides accuracy of more than 98.6 (%) and 0.983 in terms of overall accuracy and kappa coefficient, respectively.
QFS-RPL: RPL Based Energy and Mobility Aware Multi Path Routing Protocol for the Internet of Mobile Things Data Transfer Infrastructures
Authors: Alilou Mahmoud , Sangar Amin Babazadeh , Majidzadeh Kambiz , Masdari Mohammad
Published: April 2023

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of various interconnected objects capable of collecting and exchanging data without human interaction. These objects have limited processing power, storage space, memory, bandwidth and energy. Therefore, due to these limitations, data transmission and routing are challenging issues where data collection and analysis methods are essential. The Routing Protocol for Low-power and Lossy Networks (RPL) is one of the best alternatives to ensure routing in LoWPAN6 networks. However, RPL lacks scalability and basically designed for non-dynamic devices. Another drawback of the RPL protocol is the lack of load balancing support, leading to unfair distribution of traffic in the network that may decrease network efficiency. This study proposes a novel RPL-based routing protocol, QFS-RPL, using Q-learning algorithm policy and ideation from the Fisheye State Routing (FSR) protocol. The proposed QFS-RPL is as lightweight and agile as the standardized RPL and partially outperforms the mRPL protocol on mobile networks. This method supports multi-path routing, and at any given time in the network lifetime, all possible paths for sending data from any node to the sink are available. Therefore, QFS-RPL provides high resilience against errors, failures, and sudden network changes. To evaluate the performance of the proposed method, the Contiki operating system and Cooja simulator have been used in scenarios with mobile and stationary nodes and random network topologies. The results have been compared with RPL and mRPL. We have developed an algorithm for ease of data transfer in the IoT, which provides better performance than existing protocols, especially when dealing with a mobile network. The performance evaluation criteria considered for simulation are load balancing, energy consumption, number of table entries, Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR), End-to-End (E2E) latency, network throughput, convergence speed, and control packet overhead.
Valvar Bypass Operation to Cure Stubborn Lower Limb Edema Caused by Post- thrombotic Syndrome: Case Report and A Literature Review
Authors: Wang Yanyang , Zhao Liang , Zhang Jie , Du Yali , Chen Jianfeng , Wu Yingfeng
Published: April 2023

Obstruction and/or reflux compromise venous emptying, make for the different pathophysiology of chronic venous insufficiency (CVI). We present a patient, presented with stubborn lower limb edema of CVI caused by post-thrombotic syndrome (PTS), succeeded in responding to the therapy of femoral vein valve by axillary vein bypass after ineffectual valvuloplasty and led a normal life. During 3 months observation, the bridging vessel may completely restore the original anatomical structure. Through the literature study, there is no similar operation reported. It shows that this operation may be feasible for some selected patients.
Gender-gap in Internet Literacy in India: a state-level Analysis
Authors: Gupta Tanushree , Maiti Susobhan , Y Meenakshi , Jana Anindita
Published: April 2023

Internet literacy is the knowledge of using internet facility, deals with intellectual ability of men and women. Internet plays very important role in our daily life to live, learn, work in a society to access information, knowledge, entertainment and improve our skills and internet literacy is one of the basic literacy whereas the gender gap is difference between men and Women in social, political, intellectual, cultural, economic attainments’ or attitudes. The present study analyses gender gap in internet literacy in India using National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 5 data employing descriptive statistics, and t test. Study analyses gender gap in internet literacy in all the states of India shows clearly there is considerable level of gender gap among men and women. The finding indicates that just 63.06% of males and 40.65% of females have ever used the internet. Assam has one of the lowest rates of male Internet literacy in India, whereas Goa has one of the highest (82.90). Bihar has the lowest percentage of Internet-literate women, while Sikkim has the most. The gender disparity is most in the state of Telengana, with a score of 30.9, followed by Chhattisgarh (29.6), and it is at its smallest in the state of Sikkim, with a score of 1.5 and the gender difference seems to be more than 20 in the majority of the states.