bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Renewable Energy for Productive Manufacturing Firms in Cameroon: effect of renewable energy on the productivity of manufacturing firms
Authors: KOUMOU ETIENNE LANDRY
Published: November 2022

The objective of this paper is to investigate the effect of renewable energy on the productivity of manufacturing firms in Cameroon. The data used comes from the annual enterprise surveys (EAE) of the National Institute of Statistics (INS) for the 2012-2019 editions. The method used is the two-stage stochastic frontier approach. The results show that renewable energy positively affects the productivity growth of firms. This effect is evaluated at 14.70% for 1% of renewable energy consumed. Despite this positive effect, the productivity growth of these firms remains at a low rate of 21.16% over the whole period.
Luminescent Cd coordination polymer: synthesis, crystal structure and its application as a dual-responsive chemosensor for 4-nitroaniline and CrO42− in water
Authors: Hosseini Akram Karbalaee , Tadjarodi Azadeh
Published: November 2022

A novel highly fluorescent cadmium metal–organic framework, [Cd (DPTTZ) (OBA)] (IUST-3), synthesized by using two linkers 2, 5-di (pyridine-4-yl) thiazolo [5, 4-d] thiazole (DPTTZ) and 4, 4'- oxybis (benzoic acid) (OBA) simultaneously, which exhibits a two-dimensional framework. The characteristics of this Cd-MOF were investigated by single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SXRD), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), elemental analysis (EA), powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), and thermogravimetry analysis (TGA). IUST-3 exhibits excellent luminescence property and good stability in water. Luminescent experiments indicate that IUST-3 has remarkable sensitivity and selectivity for the detection of 4-nitroaniline (4-NA), and CrO42– anion with KSV = 1.03×105 M-1 (4-NA) and KSV = 2.93×104 M-1 (CrO42–) and low limit of detection 0.52 µM (4-NA) and 1.37 µM (CrO42–). In addition, the possible fluorescence quenching mechanism was explored in this paper.
Determinants of Urgent Dialysis Start in a Chronic Kidney Disease Cohort Followed by Nephrologists
Authors: Tachikart Amin , Vachey Clément , Savet Caroline , Ducloux Didier , Courivaud Cécile
Published: November 2022

Background: The French Renal Epidemiology and Information Network (REIN) registry collect dialysis initiation context for each patient starting dialysis with a flawed definition of urgent dialysis start (UDS). The main objective of this study was to identify factors associated with UDS in patients regularly followed-up by a nephrologist using a classification of UDS considering the preparation to renal replacement therapy.
Methods: This retrospective cohort study included adult patients who started dialysis between 2012 et 2018 in the Franche-Comté region of France after a minimum of two nephrology consultations. We classified dialysis initiation context as follows: UDS for patients with no vascular access (VA) created or planned, suboptimal dialysis start (SDS) for patients starting with a recent or non-functional VA and planned dialysis start (PDS) for those starting with a functional and mature VA.
Results: Four hundred and sixty-five patients met inclusion criteria. According to REIN registry, 94 (20.3%) patients were urgent starters (US) whereas with our classification 80 (17.2%) and 73 (15.7%) where respectively US and suboptimal starters (SOS). The factors independently associated with UDS in our classification were: stroke (odds ratio(OR) = 2.76, 95% confidence interval (95%CI)=[1.41-5.43]), cardiac failure (OR=1.78, 95%CI=[1.07-2.96]) and the number of nephrology consultations prior dialysis onset (OR=0.73, 95%CI=[0.64-0.83]). Thirty-one patients died during the first year after dialysis start. According to our classification, we observed significantly different survival probabilities: 95.7%, 89.5% and 83.4% respectively for planned starters, SOS and US (p=0.001).
Conclusion: The two factors independently associated with UDS were cardiac failure and stroke.
Ratio of carbon dioxide veno-arterial difference to oxygen arterial-venous difference is not associated with lactate decrease after fluid bolus in critically ill patients with hyperlactatemia: results from a prospective observational study
Authors: KAEFER Keitiane , Pierrakos Charalampos , NGUYEN Thomas , VELISSARIS Dimitrios , ATTOU Rachid , DEVRIENDT Jacques , SCOLLETTA Sabino , TACCONE Fabio Silvio
Published: November 2022

Background
High ratio of the carbon dioxide veno-arterial difference to the oxygen arterial-venous difference (PvaCO2/CavO2) is associated with fluid bolus (FB) induced increase in oxygen consumption (VO2). This study investigates whether PvaCO2/CavO2 is associated with decreases in blood-lactate levels FB in critically ill patients with hyperlactatemia.
Methods
This prospective observational study examined adult patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) with lactate levels > 1.5 mmol/L who received FBs. Blood-lactate levels were measured before and after FB under unchanged metabolic, respiratory, and hemodynamic conditions. The primary outcome was blood-lactate levels after FB. Significant decreases in blood-lactate levels were considered as blood-lactate levels < 1.5 mmol/L or a decrease of more than 10% compared to baseline.
Results
The study enrolled 40 critically ill patients, and their median concentration of blood lactate was 2.6 [IQR:1.9 − 3.8] mmol/L. There were 27 (68%) patients with PvaCO2/CavO2 ≥ 1.4 mmHg/ml, and 10 of them had an increase in oxygen consumption (VO2) ≥ 15% after FB, while 13 (32%) patients had PvaCO2/CavO2 < 1.4 mmHg/ml before FB, and none of them had dVO2 ≥ 15% after FB. FB increased the cardiac index in patients with high and low preinfusion PvaCO2/CavO2 (13.4% [IQR: 8.3 − 20.2] vs. 8.8% [IQR: 2.9 − 17.4], p = 0.34). Baseline PvaCO2/CavO2 was not found to be associated with a decrease in blood lactate after FB (OR: 0.88 [95% CI: 0.39 − 1.98], p = 0.76). A positive correlation was observed between changes in blood lactate and baseline PvaCO2/CavO2 (r = 0.35, p = 0.02).
Conclusions
In critically ill patients with hyperlactatemia, PvaCO2/CavO2 before FB cannot be used to predict decreases in blood-lactate levels after FB. Increased PvaCO2/CavO2 is associated with less decrease in blood-lactate levels.
Spatiotemporal Attention-Based Long Short-Term Memory Auto- encoder Network for Early Fault Detection of Wind Turbine Generators
Authors: Ma Junyan , Yuan Yiping , Chen Pan , Sitahong Adilanmu
Published: November 2022

Studies show that fault detection of the wind turbine generator is affected by time-varying working conditions. In the present study, generator data during a normal operation are integrated with the spatiotemporal attention mechanism to construct a long short-term memory auto-encoder network (AM-LSTM). In this regard, the spatiotemporal correlation of the generator operational data are calculated and the deep features of the generator under time-varying working conditions are extracted. Then the Mahalanobis distance between depth features is calculated and the health threshold is determined by kernel density estimation. To evaluate the performance of the proposed scheme, the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system data of a 2.0 MW doubly-fed asynchronous wind turbine generator are utilized. The obtained results demonstrate that the proposed method is an effective scheme to detect generator faults in advance. Furthermore, the visualization of the attention map interprets the cause of failure in a wind turbine generator. The obtained results show that the accuracy of fault detection is not affected by time-varying operating conditions, and the generator faults are detected 4.75 and 8.5 hours in advance respectively.
Research on Power Control Routing Algorithm for Wireless Sensor Networks Based on Ant Colony Optimization
Authors: He Jianqiang , Teng Zhijun , Zhang Fan
Published: November 2022

One of the key research topics to extend the network lifetime is choosing the suitable routing algorithm to increase the energy efficiency of nodes in information transfer. An improved EEABR algorithm called N-EEABR is proposed to address the problems that the current ant colony routing algorithm is easily prone to: increasing the communication cost when the long ant packet is used; the routing loop is easily formed when the short ant packet is used; and the uneven distribution of node energy consumption. The pheromone update formula of the backward ant packet is redefined and the deviation value of node energy and path energy is added. This effectively weakens the loop effect of EEABR in short ant packets and balances the residual energy of nodes in the network. "pkt_src" (ant packet source address) and "sq_num" (ant packet sequence number) are added together in the neighbor list of nodes in the EEABR algorithm. The N-EEABR algorithm extracts the RSSI value from the "hello" packet to determine the best transmission power of the nearby node, which helps to further reduce the energy consumption of the node when sending packets. To conserve transmission energy and prevent energy waste, a PCABR-based ant colony routing algorithm is presented. The simulation results demonstrate that these algorithms have some degree of increase in node energy consumption efficiency and network energy balance, with the PCABR's path optimization accuracy being more obvious than that of N-EEABR and EEABR.
Comparison of health-related quality of life in people with colorectal cancer with and without colostomy bag in Tabriz hospitals 2022
Authors: Dahouri Amirmohammad , Sahebihagh Mohammadhassan , gilani neda
Published: November 2022

Background
Rectal and colon cancer are the second and third leading causes of cancer death in men and women in the United States. The incidence of colon and rectal cancer in Iran has increased over the past 25 years. Colorectal cancer has significant effects on the health and economy of societies. Despite developments in treatment, the numeral of people with a history of Cancer is growing. These embrace survivors alive with a permanent ostomy. Ostomies can negatively affect health-related quality of life among cancer survivors.
Method
This study is descriptive-comparative. To conduct the above study, 252 patients with colorectal cancer were included in the study by a convenient method and based on the inclusion criteria. The data collection tools included the demographic information form and the shortened form of the valid and reliable health-related quality of life questionnaire (SF-36). The validity and reliability of these questionnaires have already been measured. Statistical analyzes were performed using IBM SPSS statistics version 24.
Results
In this study, the health-related quality of life score was 43.03 ± 17.08 in people with colostomy and 51.38 ± 15.57 in people without colostomy, which indicates that the quality of life is low in these patients. Also, there was a statistically significant difference in physical performance, role limitation due to physical health, role limitation due to emotional problems and health-related quality of life in people with and without bags (P < 0.005).
Conclusion
Health planners at the macro level and health service providers at the micro level should be aware of the importance of this issue and provide timely interventions to improve HRQOL, and pay special attention to those aspects of HRQOL that are of great importance.
Respiratory arousal threshold among patients with isolated sleep apnea and with comorbid insomnia (COMISA)
Authors: Yanagimori Marcela , Fernandes Mariana D. , Garcia Michelle L , Scudeller Paula G , Carvalho Carlos R , Edwards Bradley , Lorenzi-Filho Geraldo , Genta Pedro R
Published: November 2022

Insomnia and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are common sleep disorders and may coexist (COMISA). Arousals from sleep may be a common link explaining the frequent comorbidity of both disorders. Respiratory arousal threshold (AT) is a physiologic measurement of the level of respiratory effort to trigger an arousal from sleep. The impact of COMISA on AT is not known. We hypothesized that a low AT is more common among COMISA than among patients with OSA without insomnia. Participants referred for OSA diagnosis underwent a type 3 sleep study and answered the insomnia severity index (ISI) questionnaire and the Epworth sleepiness scale. Participants with an ISI score ≥ 15 were defined as having insomnia. Sleep apnea was defined as an apnea hypopnea index (AHI) ≥15 events/h. Low AT was determined using a previously validated score based on 3 polysomnography variables (AHI, nadir SpO2 and the frequency of hypopneas). OSA-only (n=51) and COMISA (n=52) participants had similar age (61[52-68] vs 60[53-65] years), body-mass index (31.3[27.7-36.2] vs 32.2[29.5-38.3] kg/m 2) and OSA severity (40.2[27.5-60] vs 37.55[27.9-65.2] events/h): all p=NS. OSA-only group had significantly more males than the COMISA group (58% vs 33%, p=0.013. The proportion of participants with a low AT among OSA-only and COMISA groups was similar (29 vs 33%, p=NS). The similar proportion of low AT among COMISA and patients with OSA suggests that the respiratory arousal threshold may not be related to the increased arousability of insomnia.
UBD is a potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarker in glioma
Authors: Wu Tao , Yang Yachuan , Xie Xuangui , Zhang Hongliang , Cai Decheng , Li Peng , Chen Tao , Cai Yixiao
Published: November 2022

Background:Several studies had shown that the ubiquitin D (UBD) could be a potential prognostic factor in various cancers. However, the prognostic value of UBD in glioma remained unknown.Materials and Methods:The differences of UBD expression in glioma were analyzed based on the datasets of the Cancer Genome Atlas database (TCGA) and Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas (CGGA) and identified by qRT-PCR and western blot. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis, and Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) were used to determine the functions of UBD. Moreover, the protein network of UBD was constructed using Cytoscape software. A spearman’s correlation analysis was performed to determine the association between UBD expression and immune cell infiltration. Additionally, a logistic regression analysis was performed to analyze the association between UBD expression and the clinicopathological characteristics of the glioma patients. The diagnostic and prognostic predictive values of UBD were evaluated using the Kaplan–Meier survival curves, Cox regression analysis, diagnostic receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, and nomogram model. Finally, the biological function of UBD was determined by wound healing assays, transwell assays, EdU and colony formation assays.Results:UBD expression in glioma samples was considerably increased, which was associated with the P53 pathway, angiogenesis, inflammatory response, TNFα -NF-κB signaling, IL-6-JAK-STAT3 signaling, PI3K-AKT-mTOR signaling, TGF-β signaling, KRAS signaling, as well as hypoxia, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). UBD expression correlated with the infiltration level of immune cells through the ssGSEA method. High UBD expression was an independent prognostic factor of glioma in TCGA. ROC curve analysis showed good diagnostic efficacy of UBD in glioma. Furthermore, UBD could increase the migration, invasion and proliferation ability of glioma cells.Conclusion:UBD may be a potential prognostic marker and therapeutic target in glioma.
Evaluation of machine learning algorithms for groundwater quality modeling
Authors: Sahour Soheil , Khanbeyki Matin , Gholami Vahid , Sahour Hossein , Kahvazade Irene , Karimi Hadi
Published: November 2022

Groundwater quality is measured through water sampling, and lab analysis. The field-based measurements are costly and time-consuming when applied over a large domain. In this study, we developed a machine learning-based framework to map groundwater quality in an unconfined aquifer in the north of Iran. Groundwater samples were provided from 248 monitoring wells across the region. The groundwater quality index (GWQI) in each well was measured and classified into four classes of Very poor, Poor, Good, and Excellent according to their cut-off values. Factors affecting groundwater quality, including distance to industrial centers, distance to residential areas, population density, aquifer transmissivity, precipitation, evaporation, geology, and elevation, were identified and prepared in the GIS environment. Six machine learning classifiers, including extreme gradient boosting (XGB), random forest (RF), support vector machine (SVM), artificial neural networks (ANN), k-nearest neighbor (KNN), and Gaussian classifier model (GCM), were used to establish relationships between GWQI and its controlling factors. The algorithms were evaluated using the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) and statistical efficiencies (overall accuracy, precision, recall, and f-1 score). Accuracy assessment showed that ML algorithms provided high accuracy in predicting groundwater quality. However, RF was selected as the optimum model given its higher accuracy (overall accuracy, precision, and recall = 0.92; ROC = 0.95). The trained RF model was used to map GWQI classes across the entire region. Results showed that the Poor GWQI class is dominant in the study area and Good GWQI can be found in southwest. An area of Very Poor GWQI was observed in the north. Findings indicated that the distance to industrial locations is the main factor affecting groundwater quality in the area. The study provides a cost-effective methodology in groundwater quality modeling that can be duplicated in other regions with similar hydrological and geo-logical settings.
Genome-Wide Identification and Expression Analysis of Brassica EXO70 Gene Family
Authors: Zhang Xiaoyu , Guo Xinping , Li Ting , Zhang Lina , Cao Yunyun , Duan Qiaohong , Huang Jiabao
Published: November 2022

Background EXO70 is a crucial subunit of the exocyst complex.Brassica rapa belongs to the cruciferous vegetables and is a typical example of sporophyte self -incompatibility.EXO70 gene family plays a vital role in reproduction of Brassica rapa.
Methods and Results In this study, a total of 39 EXO70 family members were identified from the Brassica rapa genome, which were mapped to ten B. rapa chromosomes. Our results showed that most of the genes of the EXO70 family code for products that are distributed in the nucleus and cytoplasm.This gene family developed three clades during evolution, divided into eight subgroups. We unveiled differences in gene structure, conserved motifs, and basic domains in the EXO70 gene family of B. rapa. Gene duplication was common and has resulted in the expansion of the BrEXO70 family. The analysis of cis-regulatory elements elucidated that most of the genes are involved in interactions with major hormones (abscisic acid and methyl jasmonate), stress responses, and light responses. The expression profile revealed that BrEXO70 is expressed abundantly in different tissues. Furthermore, BrEXO70 appears to contributing to self-incompatibility and regulating male-female sterility. Notably, in predicting the protein interaction network we found that Br009523 interacts with Br036797 and Br038900 (related to the membrane component PIP2).
Conclusion We analyzed this gene family through bioinformatics, and speculated some functions in expression profile. We have inferred other functions in plant tissues, male and female sterility, and self
Untangling heat transport dynamics using luminescence nanothermometry
Authors: Brites Carlos , Skripka Artiom , Benayas Antonio , Debasu Mengistie , Vetrone Fiorenzo , Carlos Luís
Published: November 2022

Temperature touches all aspects of our daily life, including climate, production plants, food storage, transportation, metrology, microelectronics, and medicine, and is a major factor dictating performance of nanotechnologies.1-4However, while the heat transfer is well understood in bulk, neither experimental nor theoretical models provide a complete picture of the thermal dynamics at the nanoscale.5-7Here, in situ luminescence thermometry is used to probe the heat propagation taking place within lanthanide (Ln3+)-doped upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs). We have designed UCNPs with Er3+and Tm3+thermometric layers positioned at different locations relative to their surface, varying the distance a heat wave travels before encountering the layers. Despite being separated only by a few tens of nanometers, the thermometric layer closer to the surface of UCNPs detects temperature increase much earlier than the one located at the center – yielding the heat propagation speed in UCNPs ~1.3 nm/s. The UCNPs featuring the two thermometric layers in a single nanostructure confirmed the above result and allowed us to uncover diffusive and non-diffusive (ballistic) heat transport regimes, as well as their interplay and complex heat exchange dynamics taking place in colloidal nanoparticles (nanofluids) at a room temperature.
Evaluating land degradation by gully erosion through soil erosion indices and rainfall thresholds
Authors: Kariminejad Narges , Pourghasemi Hamid Reza , Hosseinalizadeh Mohsen , Rossi Mauro , Mondini Alessandro
Published: November 2022

Among the land degradation processes, gully erosion is the one that poses more environmental and societal challenges in arid regions. Predicting spatio-temporal gully development in a region under changing conditions is important to adopt proper mitigation measures. Here we investigate the Ghapan-Olya watershed in Golestan province in Iran, which is impacted by many erosional landforms, including gully phenomena. We applied the pixel-based distributed LANDPLANER model, to predict the location of rainfall induced gullies. Different input maps were prepared using UAV data, the region's soil, and seasonal land use information. Our modelling results from the application of topographic thresholds and the erosion index calculation were compared with field observations in locations with and without gullies and the application of quantitative metrics such as sensitivity, specificity, fallout, precision, and recall. Our study revealed that the spatial density of the gully’s location is more repetitious in the areas with altitude about 200-300m, steeper slope (between 15 to 30 degrees), and lower average accumulation value (< 100) in the south-east facing slope. Higher values of erosion index and topographic threshold were obtained for the min curve number, where intense rainfall is more frequent and where land use and cover conditions are more favourable for gully occurrence. The greater values of soil erosion indices were provided for the CN3 scenario (autumn) when the daily rainfall is 80 mm (6.27), continued by the summer scenario (CN2) with 80 mm daily rainfall (4.88), and spring (CN1) again with 80 mm daily rainfall (2.99). In addition, topographic threshold maps illustrate the greatest amount of soil erosion for the CN scenario (without considering daily rainfall) in autumn. Our results provide accurate prediction parameters to simulate the natural hazard under changing conditions.
Quality Monitoring and Evaluation of Physical Education in Colleges using an Optimization Model of Edge Computing
Authors: Zhang Junbo , Zhang Cheng
Published: November 2022

Edge computing and artificial intelligence, two new technologies with rapid development, have great potential to empower each other, and have been widely used in various fields, with obvious results. Unlike other discipline-based teaching, physical education (PE) has no fixed classrooms, no fixed teaching materials, and no fixed teaching tasks. Therefore, it is difficult to uniformly evaluate the quality of PE teaching in ordinary colleges. In this paper, the edge computing optimization model is used to optimize the PE quality evaluation model in ordinary colleges. The goal of PE in ordinary colleges and universities is to improve the physical quality of students. Thus the teaching evaluation model in this paper focuses on the physical fitness compliance rate of students' evaluation, and re-weights the proportion of final exam scores. For the monitoring of PE teaching quality in ordinary colleges, this paper designed a PE teaching health system, which allows students to evaluate in the entire learning process, so as to achieve real-time monitoring of teaching quality. It uses the edge computing technology to optimize the system. The experimental results of this paper showed that the PES in general colleges designed in this paper can effectively collect students' evaluations, and can effectively improve the scientific nature of PE teaching goals. At the same time, the edge computing optimization algorithm designed in this design can reduce the network transmission cost of the system by 20% and increase the transmission efficiency by 15%.
Thrombosis in Lung Cancer Research Trends: A Bibliometric Analysis
Authors: Duan Shan-Lin , Li Jian-Di , Zhang Meng-Di , He Rong-Quan , Luo Jia-Yuan , Huang Wan-Ying , Tang Yu-Xing , Zhang Wei , Qi Mao-Jian , Kong Jin-Liang , Ma Jie , Chen Gang
Published: November 2022

Background
Lung cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed malignancies worldwide, and the occurrence of venous thrombosis in combination with lung cancer seriously affects the survival prognosis of patients with lung cancer. This study aimed to delineate the publication status and trends in the literature related to thrombosis in lung cancer and to explore hotspots in research by conducting a bibliometric analysis.
Methods
Using the Web of Science database as the data source for bibliometric analysis, we searched the published research literature related to thrombosis in lung cancer from 1942 to 2022. Bibliometrix and VOSviewer were used to analyze key bibliometric indicators, including trends in the number of annual publications, countries, journals, author contributions, and research hotspots.
Results
A total of 378 papers related to thrombosis in lung cancer were screened, including 349 original articles and 29 reviews. The number of publications has increased rapidly in the last 20 years, and China and the United States have the largest number of publications. In the analysis of authors and journals, we found that the distribution of Chinese authors is relatively high in terms of the number of publications and their influence, while the journal sources are mainly dominated by oncology and thrombosis research journals. The analysis of the top 10 highly cited papers revealed that several studies involved the relationship between cancer and venous thrombosis and the exploration of cancer-related thrombotic risk factors. The keyword analysis showed that the papers mainly focused on the exploration of risk factors, in which related genes represented by ROS1 and immunotherapy gradually appeared in research on predicting thrombosis in lung cancer.
Conclusions
Research on thrombosis in lung cancer has developed rapidly in the past 20 years, with the largest number of studies coming from China. The main research hotspots are the exploration of risk factors, among which the association between related genes represented by ROS1, immunotherapy, and thrombosis in lung cancer-related events has brought us new thinking in the prevention of thrombosis in lung cancer.
Low Complexity Symmetric-coded Based Sphere Decoding for Low-rate Polar Codes
Authors: Liu Yuanbo , Chen Haiqiang , Chen Jichang , Liao Lanjuan , Huang Fuyi , Sun Youming , Li Xiangcheng
Published: November 2022

In this paper, we propose a novel low complexity symmetric-coded based sphere decoding (SD) algorithm for short polar codes with low rate. At the encoding stage, the first N/2 sub-channels transmit the frozen bits, while the information bits are selected from the latter N/2 sub-channels. Two symmetric codes are generated due to the mathematical structure of the generator matrix, which is well conditioned to the SD search.At the decoding stage, the presented SD algorithm computes the ED value by the combined signals to estimate the latter N/2 input bits.Furthermore, the backtrack operation starts from the earlier (N/2+1)-th bit, which can significantly reduce the average visited nodes (AVN).Simulation results show that, compared to the original SD algorithm, the presented variant of the SD algorithm can reduce the AVN to 0.9% for the polar code P(64,14) at SNR = 1 dB with a performance loss within 0.2 dB.
Construction of a Ferroptosis and Necroptosis Associated LncRNA Signature for Predicting Prognosis and Immunotherapy Response in Hepatocellular cancer
Authors: Zhao Lei , You Zhixuan , Bai Zhixun , Xie Jian
Published: November 2022

Purpose:Liver hepatocellular carcinoma (LIHC), one of the most common malignancies worldwide, occurs with high incidence and mortality. Ferroptosis and necroptosis are critically associated with LIHC prognosis. Some long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been found to induce ferroptosis and necroptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma cells.Method:Cox regression analysis was used to construct a risk model for LIHC based on differentially expressed ferroptosis and necroptosis related lncRNAs (F-NLRs), and their expression in SMMC7721, HepG2 and WRL68 cells was detected by qPCR.Results:Five F-NLRs were associated with LIHC prognosis, including KDM4A-AS1, ZFPM2-AS1, AC099850.3, MKLN1-AS, and BACE1-AS. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis indicated that patients with LIHC in the high-risk group were associated with poor prognosis. The combined F-NLR signature model demonstrated a prognostic AUC value of 0.789 and was more accurate than standard clinical variables for predicting LIHC prognosis. T cell functions and immunotherapy responses differed significantly between patients in the low- and high-risk groups. Additionally, immune checkpoints and m6A-related genes were differentially expressed between patients in the two risk groups. Furthermore, proteins encoded by the five F-NLRs were overexpressed in four liver cancer cell lines compared to that in human liver cell line WRL68. Pan-cancer examination revealed that expression levels of the five F-NLRs differed between most common tumor types and normal tissues.Conclusion:F-NLRs identified in this study provide a predictive signature representing ferroptosis and necroptosis in LIHC, which correlated well with patient prognosis, clinicopathological characteristics, and immunotherapy responses. The study findings help to elucidate the mechanisms of F-NLRs in LIHC and provide further guidance for the selection and development of immunotherapeutic agents for LIHC.
Long-standing COVID-19 disease in immunedeficient patients; case reports and literature review
Authors: Mortaz Esmaeil , Roofchayee Neda Dalil , Jamaati Hamidreza , Abtahian Zahra , afshar Babak , Ahmadi Shahrzad , Rekabi Mahsa , Adcock Ian , Tabarsi Payam
Published: November 2022

Introduction: Patients with primary or secondary immunodeficiency are at higher risk of severe disease and death following SARS-CoV-2 infection compared with the general population. We describe here the effect of rituximab therapy in 5 patients with humoral and cellular immune deficiencies (1 patient with thymoma or Good`syndrome, 1 HIV/AIDS positive patient, 2 patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and 1 patient with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). T cell responses were evaluated using the QuantiFERON SARS-CoV-2 assay following incubation with the SARS-CoV-2 Ag1, Ag2 and Ag3 viral antigens. Immunephenotyping of T cells (TCD4+, TCD8+) and B cells (CD19+ and CD20+) was determined by flow cytometry.
Results: All studied immunocompromised patients showed reduced cellular immune responses (release of interferon (IFN)-g) to SARS-CoV-2 antigens than healthy controls [patients; Ag1, Ag2 and Ag3 and Nil (Median 5-95% percentile) (12 (1-95), 12 (1.5-78), 13.5 (12-95) and 3 (1-98) U/ml)], ]controls; Ag1,Ag2 and Ag3 and Nil (Median 5-95% percentile) 24.5 (7-89), 65 (31-173), 53.5 (13-71.5) and 3 (1-14) U/ml)]. The frequency of peripheral blood B cells was also reduced in these patients compared to healthy control subjects (p=0.0282).
Conclusion: T-cell dependent antibody responses require the activation of B cells by helper T cells. Reduced B cell numbers in immunocompromised patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 indicates the need for these patients to take additional precautions to prevent COVID-19 infection
Young people's mental and social distress in times of international crises: Evidence from helpline calls, 2019-2022
Authors: Brülhart Marius , Klotzbücher Valentin , Lalive Rafael
Published: November 2022

We document mental and social distress of children, adolescents and adults in times of crisis, using data on 3 million helpline calls between January 2019 and May 2022.
Detailed and high-frequency data from crisis helpline logs offer rich information on the evolution of distress among the most vulnerable. They represent a unique measure of "revealed distress", unaffected by researchers' study design and framing.
Revealed distress of adults, measured by the volume of calls, rose significantly after both the outbreak of the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In contrast, the overall revealed distress of children and adolescents has not increased during those crises.
The nature of young people's concerns, however, changed more strongly than for adults, with conversations shifting from problems with school and peers to family and mental health problems. Call topics of young people shifted from problems with school and peers towards problems with family and mental health. We find the share of severe mental-health problems among young people to have increased with a delay, in the second and third year of the pandemic.
Prediction of body weight and hot carcass weight of goats and sheep using in vivo morphometric measurements
Authors: de Souza Matheus Rodrigues , Ramos Luana Candelaria , Silva Rodrigo de Oliveira , Gois Glayciane Costa , Rodrigues Rafael Torres de Souza
Published: November 2022

The authors have requested that this preprint be removed from Research Square.
Longitudinal Changes in Parenting Stress of Mothers of Children with Cerebral Palsy and Children’s Gross Motor Function System Level
Authors: Park Eun-Young
Published: November 2022

Background: Stress caused by children with disabilities harms the growth and development of children and their families. The present study aimed to investigate whether parenting stress of mothers of children with cerebral palsy changes and the relationship between gross motor function level and changes in parenting stress.
Methods: Data on 162 children with cerebral palsy were collected over a 2-year period and measured thrice. Gross motor function and parenting stress were assessed using the Gross Motor Function Classification System and the Korean version of the Parenting Stress Index Short Form. Latent growth curve models of linear, Wave 2, and Wave 3 variation in parenting stress were constructed. The relationship between the Gross Motor Function Classification System level and parenting stress was evaluated via latent growth modeling.
Results: The linear variation models reflected the time evolution of parenting stress. There were individual differences in parenting stress at the initial level and no individual differences in the change of parenting stress. The relation between initial level and change rate of parenting stress was not significant. Higher initial values of Gross Motor Function Classification System level were associated with higher initial values of parenting stress, but not related to a change of parenting stress.
Conclusions: The results showed that parenting stress of mothers with children with cerebral palsy was decreasing over time and that Gross Motor Function Classification System level was related to parenting stress level. Based on these findings, a proposal for a further research is put forth.
Risk factors of central cervical lymph node metastasis in thyroid micropapillary carcinoma
Authors: Sun Haoying , Liu Ming
Published: November 2022

Objective: To analyse the risk factors of central cervical lymph node metastasis (CLNM) in patients with papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC).
Methods: The clinicopathological data of 375 PTMC patients admitted to our hospital from January 2017 to December 2020 were retrospectively analysed. They were divided into metastasis group and non-metastasis group according to whether they had had CLNM. The relevant data of the two groups were analysed by Chi-square test, logistic regression analysis and ROC curve.
Results: The CLNM rate of the 375 PTMC patients was 47.2%. Chi-square test showed that CLNM was associated with gender, age, tumor size, number of lesions and thyroid capsule invasion (P < 0.05), but not with BRAF gene mutation, Hashimoto's thyrolditis (HT) and nodular goiter. Multivariate analysis showed that there were significant differences in gender, maximum tumor diameter, multifocal and thyroid capsule infiltration between the metastatic group and the non-metastatic group (all P < 0.05). It was not associated with BRAF gene mutation, HT and nodular goiter. The ROC curve indicated that age ≤26.5 years and maximum tumor diameter ≥0.75cm were the cut-off values for increased risk of CLNM. Conclusion: CLNM in PTMC patients is related to gender, age, maximum tumour diameter, number of lesions and thyroid capsule immersion.
Co-infections of respiratory pathogens and gastro-intestinal parasites in smallholder pig production systems in Uganda
Authors: Oba Peter , Wieland Barbara , Mwiine Frank N. , Erume Joseph , Dione Michel M.
Published: November 2022

A cross-sectional study was conducted to identify factors for infections of pigs with key respiratory pathogens: porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2), porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PPRSv), Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae (M. hyo), Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae (App) and gastro-intestinal (GIT) parasites in Uganda. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data on management practices associated with infections. Ninety (90) farms and 259 pigs were sampled. Sera were screened against 4 pathogens using commercial ELISA tests. The Baerman’s method was used to identify parasite species in faecal samples. Logistic regression was done to identify risk factors for infections. Cluster analysis was done using a hierarchical K-means partitioning algorithm. Results showed individual animal seroprevalence of PCV2 was 6.9% (95% CI 3.7–11.1), PRRSv 13.8% (95% CI 8.8–19.6), M. hyo 6.4% (95% CI 3.5–10.5) and App 30.4% (95% CI 24.8–36.5). The prevalences of Ascaris spp was 12.7% (95% CI 8.6–16.8), Strongyles spp was 16.2% (95% CI 11.7–20.7) and Eimeria spp was 56.4% (95% CI 50.3–62.4). Pigs infested with Ascaris spp were more likely to test positive to PCV2, odds ratio (OR) 1.86 (CI 1.31–2.60; p = 0.0002). For M. hyo, infection with Strongyles spp was a risk factor (OR 12.9, p < 0.001). Pigs that had parasite infestations were more likely (Strongyles spp. and Ascaris spp. ORs 3.5 and 3.4, p < 0.001, respectively) to have respiratory co-infections. Overall, 3 farm clusters were characterized by housing, biosecurity practices and pathogens. This study provides evidence that improving hygiene and biosecurity is critical in reducing pathogen incidence in herds.
CA–MQL Grinding of Zirconia Engineering Ceramics Under Precompressive Stress
Authors: Zhang Gaofeng , Ma Wenbin , Song Tiejun , Du Cezhi , Wang Zhenyu , He Gang , Xie Hua , Jiang Tao
Published: November 2022

Engineering ceramics are widely used in aerospace, 3C electronics, life sciences and other fields. However, the hard brittleness of engineering ceramics makes it difficult to process, prone to damage during processing, and difficult to balance processing efficiency and quality. In this paper, the grinding force, surface morphology, subsurface damage, residual stress and roughness values of zirconia ceramics are studied after undergoing cold air minimal quantity lubrication (CA–MQL) and traditional wet lubrication (WET) at multiple grinding depths under 0 MPa, 200 MPa and 400 MPa precompressive stresses. The results show that CA–MQL significantly improves the grinding surface quality when the grinding depths are 30 µm and 50 µm compared with WET. The optimized surface roughness of 400 MPa precompressive stress combined with CA–MQL grinding reaches 17.12%. Precompressive stress significantly reduces the surface residual compressive stress by up to 32.8%.
STAQR Tree indexing for Spatial Temporal data with Altitude
Authors: Madhavi Pappula , Supreethi K P
Published: November 2022

The development of spatial information technology becomes more complex to organize, analyze and display spatial data with reference to earth’s surface. It includes different types of tools and technologies provides us to gain information and used for decision making capability. Many indexing methods are existing contemporary days to receive query performance quickly. Quad tree structures, R Tree and Oct Trees for 3D data are used to index the spatial temporal data. Hybrid structures like QR-Tree and QR*-Trees were indexed to store large massive spatial data. Many parameters like spatial attributes and time parameter can be considered in all indexing structures. The proposed algorithm, STAQR consider the time and altitude of a spatial location point to index the data and able to get a better query performance. STAQR algorithm index all unique codes obtained from four dimensional data by multi level indexing. Insertion, deletion and search operations are implemented on a STAQR Tree structure.
Who takes care of the kids and when? Sex differences in avian parental care
Authors: Wang Daiping , Zhang Wenyuan , Richter Xiang-Yi
Published: November 2022

Parental care in birds consists of many elaborate forms, including nest building, incubation, and offspring provision, but we still do not know how much each parent contributes to the different forms. Furthermore, the variations, relationships, and potential drivers of sex differentiation in providing care across different care stages remain largely unknown. Here, we surveyed species in birds and uncovered remarkable differences in the sex role patterns across different care forms. This result implied that parental care should not be treated as a unitary trait but as a composite of integrated features with great variations. Further analyses revealed moderate correlations of the sex roles between care forms, indicating the existence of shared intrinsic drivers. We tested the effects of sexual selection, certainty of paternity, predation risk, and offspring’s life history traits in driving sex role variations. Results showed that species with strong sexual selection on males or uncertainty of paternity tend to have female-biased care.
Intubation-related airway injury leads to surgery site infection after single-door laminoplasty：a case report and literature review
Authors: Yi Meng , Song Jipeng , Zhang Yao , Fan Yuyu , Ding Lixiang
Published: November 2022

Background: Open-door laminoplasty is an effective surgical method for treating cervical spondylotic myelopathy. There are many risk factors associated with infection at the surgical site after cervical spine surgery, but few cases have been reported of infection at the surgical site due to tracheal injury.
Case presentation: Herein, we report a case of a 56-year-old man with partial paralysis due to acute cervical spinal cord compression. The drainage bag is always filled with gas after cervical laminoplasty. After examination, it was considered that the trachea was damaged by endotracheal intubation, which resulted in gas escaping from loose tissue. The wound healing was poor after surgery. We performed two debridements and two months of antibiotic therapy. Finally, we retained the patient's cervical internal fixation device and the patient's symptoms of incomplete paralysis were significantly improved.
Conclusions: Abnormal drainage bag may be an early indication of possible trachea injury. We can avoid possible adverse consequences by early recognition.
Cross Sectional Study on Sleep Disorders for Autistic Children in Anhui Province of China
Authors: Zhang Nuo-chen , Liu Zhi-cheng , Qu Ai-na , Wang Lu-lu , Liu Jun , Gao Hui , Lv Fu-li , Sun Jing-min , Wu De
Published: November 2022

Objectives
Sleep disorder is an important adverse factor affecting the prognosis of children with autism. This study focuses on the condition of sleep problems in children with autism spectrum disorder and its association to severity.
Participants and methods:
The Anhui disabled people' Federation has listed 153 autism training facilities. Half of them (5508 kids) are chosen using odd and even codes between the ages of 1 and 8 years. 1377 autistic kids in total were chosen at random for the questionnaire survey using a 1:4 (numerical code). The Children's Sleep Habit Questionnaire (CSHQ), the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) and the Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC) were looked into and assessed, respectively.
Results
A total of 1072 valid questionnaires were received, including 818 boys and 254 girls, with a male to female ratio of 3.22:1. A total of 98.60% of the kids, 568 kids (98.1%) in the mild to moderate ASD group, and 489 kids (99.18%) in the severe ASD group, reported having sleep issues. The overall mean CSHQ score for the entire sample was 51.57±7.16, with the severe group reporting higher scores than the mild to moderate group (51.58±8.05 vs 49.52±7.69, p<0.001). Similarly, subscales of CSHQ such as sleep on set delay (7.80 ± 1.61 vs 7.58 ± 1.52, p = 0.027), sleep resistance (3.69 ± 1.12 vs 3.40 ± 1.15, p < 0.001), sleep duration (6.27 ± 1.25 vs 6.03 ± 1.08, p = 0.001), sleep anxiety (4.21 ± 1.54 vs 3.99 ± 1.52, p = 0.019) and night waking (5.33 ± 1.82 vs 4.85 ± 1.55, p < 0.001) were more problematic among severe group compared to mild to moderate group. According to regression research, the type of caregiver and their educational background have an impact on the severity of sleep disturbances. Sleep difficulties are always negatively correlated with nurturing environment, whereas wake-up times are the contrary.
Conclusions
The high likelihood of sleep disturbances in Chinese ASD children calls for the urgent adoption of parental education and social support programs to lessen the effects of sleep issues in ASD families. Important risk variables that affect sleep disorders and the severity of autism include wake-up time, caregiver, and nurturing environment. ASD children's sleep quality may be dramatically improved by encouraging fathers to participate in sleep instruction, creating a healthy nurturing environment, and cutting back on wake-up time.
Fixed points of (α,β,F∗) and (α,β,F∗∗)-weak Geraghty contractions with an application
Authors: Alam Khairul Habib , Rohen Yumnam
Published: November 2022

This study aims to provide new classes of (α,β,F∗)-weak Geraghty contraction and (α,β,F∗∗)-weak Geraghty contraction, a self generalized contractions on any metric space. Further we find that the mappings satisfying the definition of such contractions have unique fixed point if the base space is complete. Also there is an application for existing unique solution of two-point boundary value problem.