bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Economic value of insertable cardiac monitors in unexplained syncope in the United States
Authors: Sutton Brad S , Bermingham Sarah L , Diamantopoulos Alexander , Rosemas Sarah C , Tsintzos Stelios I , Xia Ying , Reynolds Matthew R
Published: February 2021

Introduction

Early use of insertable cardiac monitor (ICM) is recommended for patients with unexplained syncope following initial clinical workup, due to its superior ability to establish symptom-rhythm correlation compared with conventional testing (CONV). However, ICMs incur higher upfront costs, and the impact of additional diagnoses and resulting treatment on downstream costs and outcomes is unclear. We aimed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of ICM compared with CONV for the diagnosis of arrhythmia in patients with unexplained syncope, from a US payer perspective.

Methods

A Markov model was developed to estimate lifetime costs and benefits of arrhythmia diagnosis with ICM versus CONV, considering all related diagnostic and arrhythmia-related treatment costs and consequences. Cohort characteristics and costs were informed by original claims database analyses. Risks of mortality, syncopal recurrence, injury due to syncope and quality of life consequences from syncopal events were identified from the literature.

Results

ICM was less costly and more effective than CONV. Most of the observed US$4532 cost savings were attributed to reduced downstream diagnostic testing. For every 1000 patients, ICM was projected to yield an additional 253 arrhythmia diagnoses and lead to treatment in an additional 168 patients. The ICM strategy resulted in overall improved outcomes (0.30 quality-adjusted life years gained), due to a reduction in syncope recurrence and injury resulting from arrhythmia treatment. The results were robust to changes in the base case parameters but sensitive to the model time horizon, underlying probability of syncope recurrence and prevalence of arrhythmias.

Conclusions

Our model projected that early ICM for the diagnosis of unexplained syncope reduced long-term costs, and led to an improvement in overall clinical outcomes by shortening time to arrhythmia treatment. The cost of ICM was outweighed by savings arising from fewer downstream diagnostic episodes, and the increased cost of treatment was counterbalanced by fewer syncope-related event costs.
DUSP4 inhibits autophagic cell death in PTC by inhibiting JNK–BCL2–Beclin1 signaling
Authors: He Huixiang , Du Zhenshuang , Lin Jianqing , Wu Wenyi , Yu Yihuang
Published: February 2021

Dual specificity phosphatase 4 (DUSP4) is a prognostic marker and potential target of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC); however, the molecular mechanism underlying DUSP4-regulated PTC carcinogenesis is unknown. DUSP4 is a negative regulator of the autophagy promoter, JNK. This study explored the relationship between DUSP4 and JNK-mediated autophagic cell death in PTC, and the roles of DUSP4 in PTC using gain-of-function and loss-of-function assays. In addition, we further identified the significance of the JNK–BCL2–Beclin1–autophagy signaling pathway on DUSP4-regulated PTC carcinogenesis by combining knockdown of DUSP4 with a JNK-specific inhibitor (SP600125). We found that knockdown of DUSP4 promoted the phosphorylation of JNK and BCL2 in PTC cells, and enhanced the release of Beclin1 from the BCL2–Beclin1 complex. Knockdown of DUSP4 promoted autophagy and the death of PTC cells. The death and autophagy enhanced by knockdown of DUSP4 was reversed by the JNK inhibitor. We further extended the in-vitro experiments by subcutaneously injecting nude mice with K1 cells transfected with DUSP4-silencing vector. In-vivo assays showed that knockdown of DUSP4 not only inhibited tumor growth, but also promoted the phosphorylation of JNK and BCL2 and the expression of LC3II. In conclusion, DUSP4 inhibits BCL2–Beclin1–autophagy signaling by negatively regulating JNK activity, thus inhibiting PTC oncogenesis. The data from this study contribute to the prevention and cure of PTC.
Effects of landscape-scale hypoxia on Salish sucker and salmonid habitat associations: implications for endangered species recovery and management1
Authors: Rosenfeld Jordan , Pearson Michael P. , Miners Jill , Zinn Kaitlyn
Published: February 2021

To understand the effects of widespread urbanization and agricultural impacts on recovery of Salish sucker (Catostomus sp. cf. catostomus), a federally threatened catostomid endemic to the lower Fraser Valley of British Columbia, we assessed (i) the current extent and effects of hypoxia on the distribution of Salish sucker and juvenile salmonids, (ii) potential drivers of hypoxia, and (iii) management options for hypoxia mitigation. Over 40% of sucker critical habitat experiences hypoxia (dissolved oxygen (DO) < 4 mg·L–1) by late summer, indicating widespread noncompliance with water quality guidelines. The strong positive relationship between seasonal hypoxia and temperature (R2= 0.53) and negative relationship with streamflow (R2= 0.78) indicates that hypoxia is driven by a synergy among low summer flows, elevated temperatures, and high primary production associated with nutrient enrichment (eutrophication). Sucker show strong selection against high water temperatures and weaker negative selection against low DO; juvenile salmonids show very strong selection against both high temperatures and low DO. Climate projections for declining summer flows and elevated temperatures indicate worsening trends in DO without intensive watershed-scale management to reduce nutrient loads, maintain or increase flows, and riparian restoration to lower stream temperatures, control primary production, and inhibit growth of invasive reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea).
Evidence of Odderon-exchange from scaling properties of elastic scattering at TeV energies
Authors: Csörgő T. , Novák T. , Pasechnik R. , Ster A. , Szanyi I.
Published: February 2021

We study the scaling properties of the differential cross section of elastic proton–proton (pp) and proton–antiproton ($$p\bar{p}$$pp¯) collisions at high energies. We introduce a new scaling function, that scales – within the experimental errors – all the ISR data on elasticppscattering from$$\sqrt{s} = 23.5$$s=23.5–62.5 GeV to the same universal curve. We explore the scaling properties of the differential cross-sections of the elasticppand$$p\bar{p}$$pp¯collisions in a limited TeV energy range. Rescaling the TOTEMppdata from$$\sqrt{s} = 7$$s=7 TeV to 2.76 and 1.96 TeV, and comparing it to D0$$p\bar{p}$$pp¯data at 1.96 TeV, our results provide an evidence for at-channel Odderon exchange at TeV energies, with a significance of at least 6.26$$\sigma $$σ. We complete this work with a model-dependent evaluation of the domain of validity of the new scaling and its violations. We find that theH(x) scaling is valid, model dependently, within$$200~\hbox {GeV}\le \sqrt{s} \le 8$$200GeV≤s≤8 TeV, with a$$-t$$-trange gradually narrowing with decreasing colliding energies.
Galactic rotation curve and dark matter according to gravitomagnetism
Authors: Ludwig G. O.
Published: February 2021

Historically, the existence of dark matter has been postulated to resolve discrepancies between astrophysical observations and accepted theories of gravity. In particular, the measured rotation curve of galaxies provided much experimental support to the dark matter concept. However, most theories used to explain the rotation curve have been restricted to the Newtonian potential framework, disregarding the general relativistic corrections associated with mass currents. In this paper it is shown that the gravitomagnetic field produced by the currents modifies the galactic rotation curve, notably at large distances. The coupling between the Newtonian potential and the gravitomagnetic flux function results in a nonlinear differential equation that relates the rotation velocity to the mass density. The solution of this equation reproduces the galactic rotation curve without recourse to obscure dark matter components, as exemplified by three characteristic cases. A bi-dimensional model is developed that allows to estimate the total mass, the central mass density, and the overall shape of the galaxies, while fitting the measured luminosity and rotation curves. The effects attributed to dark matter can be simply explained by the gravitomagnetic field produced by the mass currents.
A tale of three diagonalizations
Authors: Haber Howard E.
Published: February 2021

In addition to the diagonalization of a normal matrix by a unitary similarity transformation, there are two other types of diagonalization procedures that sometimes arise in quantum theory applications — the singular value decomposition and the Autonne–Takagi factorization. In this pedagogical review, each of these diagonalization procedures is performed for the most general [Formula: see text] matrices for which the corresponding diagonalization is possible, and explicit analytical results are provided in each of the three cases.
The sum of a prime and a Fibonacci number
Authors: Liu Zhixin , Xue Mengyuan
Published: February 2021

In this paper, we show that the lower density of integers representable as the sum of a prime and a Fibonacci number is at least 0.0254905.
Spectral gap of a weighted 3-simplicial complex
Authors: Hatim Khalid , Baalal Azeddine
Published: February 2021

In this paper, we construct a new framework that’s we call the weighted [Formula: see text]-simplicial complex and we define its spectral gap. An upper bound for our spectral gap is given by generalizing the Cheeger constant. The lower bound for our spectral gap is obtained from the first nonzero eigenvalue of the Laplacian acting on the functions of certain weighted [Formula: see text]-simplicial complexes.
Short- and long-term predictions of novel corona virus using mathematical modeling and artificial intelligence methods
Authors: Alkhammash Hend I. , Al Otaibi Sattam , Ullah Nasim
Published: February 2021

This paper proposes spread prediction of novel corona virus outbreak using different compartmental models and artificial intelligence (AI) methods. Real data for several months is collected from the Ministry of Health (MOH) website, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and two compartmental models, namely SIR (susceptible, infectious, recovered) and SEIRD (susceptible, exposed, infectious, recovered, dead) are utilized to best fit the data. AI methods are well suited for short- and long-term stochastic forecasts. Keeping in view the inherent advantages of AI methods, adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) models are trained using the collected data to replicate the dynamic behavior of the COVID-19 spread in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The prediction comparison for COVID-19 spread is made between the compartmental and ANFIS models for both short- and long-term forecasts of the experimental data. From the presented results, ANFIS-based models show superior performance as compared to compartmental models.
Performance Enhancement in LiCl–H2O and LiBr–H2O Absorption Cooling Systems Through an Advanced Exergy Analysis
Authors: Mody Parth , Patel Jatin , Modi Nishant , Pandya Bhargav
Published: February 2021

This research study compares the thermodynamic performance of 10[Formula: see text]kW lithium chloride–water (LiCl–H2O) and lithium bromide–water (LiBr–H2O) absorption cooling systems through first and second law of thermodynamics. Further, the exergy degradations happening in each component have been split into unavoidable and avoidable exergy degradations as well as endogenous and exogenous exergy degradations through advanced exergy analysis. Pressure–temperature–concentration ([Formula: see text]–[Formula: see text]–[Formula: see text] diagrams are drafted to clarify the real, ideal, and unavoidable cycles for LiCl–H2O and LiBr–H2O absorption cycles. Moreover, this paper exhibits the sensitivity of various system components towards the generator, condenser, and absorber temperature for both pairs. Energetic observation proves that LiCl–H2O pair is 10% more efficient as compared to LiBr–H2O pair. Exergetically, LiBr–H2O cycle struggles with additional (nearly 13.45%) exergy destruction than LiCl–H2O cycle. The major contribution (around 70% to 80%) of irreversibility comes from the generator and absorber. Comprehensively, the parametric partitions of irreversibility rate in each component provide broad indications to prioritize the system components for enhancements.
Unravelling evidence for global climate change in Mississippian carbonate strata from the Derbyshire and North Wales Platforms, UK
Authors: Manifold Lucy , del Strother Peter , Gold David P. , Burgess Peter , Hollis Cathy
Published: February 2021

The Mississippian Derbyshire and North Wales carbonate platforms were formed in similar tectonic settings within the Pennine and East Irish Sea Basin, respectively. The Derbyshire Platform was surrounded by sub-basins to the north, west and south whilst the North Wales Platform, 130 km west, had a simpler land-attached geometry. Comparison of these age-equivalent platforms allows the controls on sedimentation, at an important juncture in Earth history, to be evaluated. Both platforms are dominated by moderate-to-high-energy, laterally discontinuous facies, with weak evidence for facies cyclicity, suggesting multiple controls on deposition. Influx of siliciclastic mud on the North Wales Platform led to perturbations in carbonate accumulation; along with abundant palaeosols and coal beds this implies a more humid climate, or shallower water depths compared to the Derbyshire Platform. On both platforms, exposure surfaces can rarely be correlated over >500  m except for a regionally correlative palaeokarstic surface at the Asbian–Brigantian boundary. This exposure event appears to coincide with a significant regional facies change. Given the lack of evidence for ordering and cyclicity within the strata, the Asbian–Brigantian boundary may mark a significant event that could reflect the onset of a transitional climate, prior to the second glaciation event in the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age.
Exploring the Role of Room Temperature Ionic Liquid as a Transducer in Electrochemical Soil Probing: A case study with [BMIM] [BF4]
Authors: Dhamu Vikram Narayanan , Paul Anirban , Muthukumar Sriram , Prasad Shalini
Published: February 2021

Room temperature ionic liquid (RTIL) is a unique chemical compound, which possesses excellent physical, chemical and especially electrochemical property, which enables such species to be utilized as a transducer for probing a complex matrix such as soil. The wide electrochemical window and elevated double layer capacitance of RTIL helps to gauge soil parameters which is helpful to understand soil state. Soil health and quality is a foundational measure of a functional, self-sustaining environment. Standard techniques ideally involve empirical approaches, extensive sample preparation which adds on to a temporal factor along with equipment for extraction and subsequently-analysis. This therefore-stimulates the need for a testing methodology that is capable of rapid analysis in an in situ environment that can be applicable universally. In this paper, we focus on a rapid electrochemical point probing mechanism that acts as a soil state evaluation platform via a 3-electrode sensor modified by a widely characterized-RTIL [BMIM] [BF4] interfacial transducer medium. Therefore, by looking at the rate of electrochemical activity and inherent soil dielectric changes driven by an RTIL electrode-soil interfacial layer, it is possible to decouple information on nutrient availability in soils with potential for application towards temporal soil analysis.
Silver Integrated with Carbonaceous 2D Nanomaterials as an Electrocatalyst for Reductive Dechlorination of Chloroacetanilide Herbicide
Authors: Filip Jaroslav , Vinter Stepan , Skacelik Pavel , Sotolarova Jitka , Borska Katarina , Osicka Josef
Published: February 2021

In this work silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were in situ synthesized on surface of graphene oxide (GO) and Ti3C2TX MXene at room temperature and without any reducing agent. The prepared GO_AgNPs and MX_AgNPs nanomaterials were deposited on electrodes and applied for voltammetric sensing of pesticide metazachlor. The chosen analyte underwent electrochemical reduction readable as faradaic current and identified as the electrochemical reductive dechlorination. It was found that GO_AgNP (electrochemically reduced to ErGO_AgNP before measurements) was more efficient catalyst of the observed dechlorination than MX_AgNP, even though it contained approximately 10-fold lower amount of silver. The smaller size of AgNP achieved with GO was the most probable reason. When the metazachlor sensing properties of the nanohybrid-modified electrodes were investigated, the linear range and the limit of detection of 37–1123 μM and 27 μM, respectively, were observed for ErGO_AgNP while only 37–375 μM and 40 μM for MX_AgNP. The ErGO_AgNP nanohybrid was more convenient also for metazachlor detection in alkali leachate of real soil samples, probably as the result of antifouling effect of ErGO. Although there are conventional instrumental analysis methods for sensing orders of magnitude lower concentrations of metazachlor, in this work it is for the first time shown that the AgNP-based nanohybrid efficiently catalyse the electrochemical dechlorination applicable for detection of this frequently used pesticide.
Assessment and Determination of Bittering Agents, Essential Oils, and Antioxidants of Gesho (Rhamnus prinoides L. Herit) Collected from Amhara Region, Ethiopia
Authors: Negash Abebe Worku , Tadesse Belay Tilahun , Tsehai Berhanu Andualem
Published: February 2021

Rhamnus prinoides (Gesho) is an angiosperm dioecious plant, which is used for cash income, as a bittering agent for the preparation of the local alcoholic beverage and medicinal values. Although it has intense use, still its practical application is limited for local alcoholic beverage preparation, and there is no sufficient scientific report on the level and quantity of bittering agents, essential oils, and antioxidants of this plant. Therefore, the objective of this research was to assess and determine the bittering agents, essential oils, and antioxidants of R. prinoides. The leaves of R. prinoides were collected from eleven different sample sites and allowed to sun dry and then powdered. It was further dried in an oven at 60°C for 1 h, and then, total resin, essential oils, alpha acid, iso-alpha acid, beta acid, flavonoids, and polyphenols of R. prinoides were determined. All the data were analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. Based on this study finding, (16.03 ± 0.03–17.05 ± 0.04%) total resins, (10.00 ± 0.08–11.23 ± 0.07%) soft resins, (5.65 ± 0.11–6.40 ± 0.35%) hard resins, (1.82 ± 0.11–3.14 ± 0.02 mg/l) alpha acids, (2.26 ± 0.15–4.15 ± 0.10 mg/l) iso-alpha acids, (2.62 ± 0.04–4.29 ± 0.08 mg/l) beta acids, (7.74 ± 0.11–12.47 ± 0.13%) essential oils, (23.00 ± 0.14–25.01 ± 0.09%) flavonoids, and (2.11 ± 0.01–2.41 ± 0.02%) polyphenols were obtained in the leaves of R. prinoides. R. prinoides leaves taken from Tikledingay has shown statistically (

P
≤
0.05

) significant amount of soft resin (11.23 ± 0.07%), alpha acid (3.14 ± 0.02 mg/l), iso-alpha acid (4.15 ± 0.10 mg/l), essential oils (12.47 ± 0.13%), flavonoids (25.01 ± 0.09%), and polyphenols (2.41 ± 0.02%) in comparison with other samples. Generally, R. prinoides is a good source of bittering agents, essential oils, and antioxidants. However, the quantity of bittering agents, essential oils, and antioxidants in the leaves of R. prinoides was varied with sample collection sites. So R. prinoides can be used as a substitute for commercial hops used in the breweries, and promotion should be done to introduce the potential of Gesho as a bittering agent, source of aroma and flavor, and also antioxidant for beer and other alcoholic beverages.
Study on the Factors Affecting the Quality of Trench Cutting Remixing Deep Wall in Qingdao Area
Authors: Jiang Peng , Gui Dazhuang , Wang Lina , Wang Hongchao , Zheng Shijie
Published: February 2021

As a new type of waterproof curtain, several station construction of Qingdao Metro Line 1 successfully used the trench cutting remixing deep wall (TRD). It is difficult to find the factors that affect the wall quality because the method is in situ underground excavating and mixing. This paper has obtained the main factors affecting the TRD quality in Qingdao by studying construction experience and carrying out tests. Geological conditions are fundamental factors. Among them, the parameters of medium-coarse sand layer, the groundwater table, and the humus content are the main factors. The design parameters are the key to high-quality TRD. In the design parameters, the depth inserting into the bedrock, the cement soil ratio, and the mixing time are important factors. And this paper proposes the methods of improving the wall quality, which can provide a theoretical guarantee for the follow-up application of the TRD in the Qingdao area.
Clinical Diagnosis of White Matter Softening in Premature Infants Based on Electroencephalogram (EEG)
Authors: Hao Li , Shen Lu , Yin Qigai
Published: February 2021

Periventricular white matter softening in preterm infants can lead to severe sequelae and greatly affects the quality of life of preterm infants, and early diagnosis is of great clinical significance and value. The purpose of this study is to select a diagnostic test scientifically and rationally, to interpret and evaluate the results of the diagnostic test, and to evaluate the selected diagnostic method. Although DWI is a sensitive method for early diagnosis of PVL, it is not suitable for critical preterm infants. Therefore, according to clinical research data and the basic hardware conditions of our hospital, video EEG was chosen as the target diagnostic test method to explore whether VEEG can be used for early diagnosis of PVL. According to the results of this study, video EEG may play an important role in the early diagnosis of PVL, and it is believed that video EEG can be used as an auxiliary examination tool, especially for some critical preterm infants who are not suitable for DWI examination, and it can be used as an electrophysiological examination index for the preliminary diagnosis of periventricular white matter softening in preterm infants to indicate that the clinic should carry out necessary and appropriate diagnostic tests. The timely intervention and the results of VEEG are valuable for the assessment of the prognosis of critically ill preterm infants as raw data. However, the use of VEEG to screen clinically suspicious PVL preterm infants is a new attempt, and although good results have been achieved in foreign countries, this study has been conducted only recently in China and requires further exploration.
Ferrotoxicity and Its Amelioration by Calcitriol in Cultured Renal Cells
Authors: Annamalai Chandrashekar , Seth Rohit , Viswanathan Pragasam
Published: February 2021

Globally, acute kidney injury (AKI) is associated with significant mortality and an enormous economic burden. Whereas iron is essential for metabolically active renal cells, it has the potential to cause renal cytotoxicity by promoting Fenton chemistry-based oxidative stress involving lipid peroxidation. In addition, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (calcitriol), the active form of vitamin D, is reported to have an antioxidative role. In this study, we intended to demonstrate the impact of vitamin D on iron-mediated oxidant stress and cytotoxicity of Vero cells exposed to iohexol, a low osmolar iodine-containing contrast media in vitro. Cultured Vero cells were pretreated with 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 dissolved in absolute ethanol (0.05%, 2.0 mM) at a dose of 1 mM for 6 hours. Subsequently, iohexol was added at a concentration of 100 mg iodine per mL and incubated for 3 hours. Total cellular iron content was analysed by a flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer at 372 nm. Lipid peroxidation was determined by TBARS (thiobarbituric acid reactive species) assay. Antioxidants including total thiol content were assessed by Ellman’s method, catalase by colorimetric method, and superoxide dismutase (SOD) by nitroblue tetrazolium assay. The cells were stained with DAPI (4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole), and the cytotoxicity was evaluated by viability assay (MTT assay). The results indicated that iohexol exposure caused a significant increase of the total iron content in Vero cells. A concomitant increase of lipid peroxidation and decrease of total thiol protein levels, catalase, and superoxide dismutase activity were observed along with decreased cell viability in comparison with the controls. Furthermore, these changes were significantly reversed when the cells were pretreated with vitamin D prior to incubation with iohexol. Our findings of this in vitro model of iohexol-induced renotoxicity lend further support to the nephrotoxic potential of iron and underpin the possible clinical utility of vitamin D for the treatment and prevention of AKI.
Nature-Inspired-Based Approach for Automated Cyberbullying Classification on Multimedia Social Networking
Authors: Yuvaraj N. , Srihari K. , Dhiman Gaurav , Somasundaram K. , Sharma Ashutosh , Rajeskannan S. , Soni Mukesh , Gaba Gurjot Singh , AlZain Mohammed A. , Masud Mehedi
Published: February 2021

In the modern era, the cyberbullying (CB) is an intentional and aggressive action of an individual or a group against a victim via electronic media. The consequence of CB is increasing alarmingly, affecting the victim either physically or psychologically. This allows the use of automated detection tools, but research on such automated tools is limited due to poor datasets or elimination of wide features during the CB detection. In this paper, an integrated model is proposed that combines both the feature extraction engine and classification engine from the input raw text datasets from a social media engine. The feature extraction engine extracts the psychological features, user comments, and the context into consideration for CB detection. The classification engine using artificial neural network (ANN) classifies the results, and it is provided with an evaluation system that either rewards or penalizes the classified output. The evaluation is carried out using Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) that improves the performance of classification. The simulation is carried out to validate the efficacy of the ANN-DRL model against various metrics that include accuracy, precision, recall, and f-measure. The results of the simulation show that the ANN-DRL has higher classification results than conventional machine learning classifiers.
Dependence-Cognizant Locking Improvement for the Main Memory Database Systems
Authors: Pei Ouya , Li Zhanhuai , Du Hongtao , Liu Wenjie , Gao Jintao
Published: February 2021

The traditional lock manager (LM) seriously limits the transaction throughput of the main memory database systems (MMDB). In this paper, we introduce dependence-cognizant locking (DCLP), an efficient improvement to the traditional LM, which dramatically reduces the locking space while offering efficiency. With DCLP, one transaction and its direct successors are collocated in its context. Whenever a transaction is committed, it wakes up its direct successors immediately avoiding the expensive operations, such as lock detection and latch contention. We also propose virtual transaction which has better time and space complexity by compressing continuous read-only transactions/operations. We implement DCLP in Calvin and carry out experiments in both multicore and shared-nothing distributed databases. Experiments demonstrate that, in contrast with existing algorithms, DCLP can achieve better performance in many workloads, especially high-contention workloads.
Current and Future Perspectives of PD-1/PDL-1 Blockade in Cancer Immunotherapy
Authors: Makuku Rangarirai , Khalili Neda , Razi Sepideh , Keshavarz-Fathi Mahsa , Rezaei Nima
Published: February 2021

Cancer immunotherapy, which reactivates weakened immune cells of cancer patients, has yielded great success in recent years. Among immunotherapeutic agents, immune checkpoint inhibitors have been of particular interest and have gained approval by the FDA for treatment of cancers. Immune checkpoint blockade through targeting programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) has demonstrated promising antitumor effects in cancer immunotherapy of many different solid and hematologic malignancies. However, despite promising results, a favorable response is observed only in a fraction of patients, and there is still lack of a single therapy modality with curative ability. In this paper, we review the current and future perspectives of PD-1/L1 blockade in cancer immunotherapy, with a particular focus on predictive biomarkers of response to therapy. We also discuss the adverse events associated with PD-1/L1/2 inhibitors, ranging from severe life-threatening conditions such as autoimmune myocarditis to mild and moderate reactions such as skin rashes, and explore the potential strategies for improving the efficacy of immunotherapy with PD-1/L1 checkpoint inhibitors.
Arthroscopic Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury in Clinical Treatment of Joint Complications and CT Observation
Authors: Ji Cheng , Chen Yuan , Zhu Liulong , Zhang Jian
Published: February 2021

Arthroscopy is the gold standard for diagnosing ACL injuries. It is a dual clinical technique for examination and treatment, which can effectively target the injury site for repair and treatment and can also accurately identify the lesion site and determine the degree of ligament injury through visual and three-dimensional observation of ligament injuries that are difficult to detect on imaging. However, this technique is invasive, so the clinic still needs to improve the related auxiliary imaging examination. In this paper, we performed MPR and VRT on patients with ACL injury and postprocessed the data. The diagnostic compliance rate of dual-source CT was 91.67% (33/36), the true positive rate was 93.33% (28/30), the missed rate was 6.67% (2/30), the true negative rate was 83.33% (5/6), and the misdiagnosis rate was 83.33% (5/6). The rate of true negative was 83.33% (5/6), and the rate of false diagnosis was 16.67% (1/6). Kappa analysis of the consistency between dual-source CT and arthroscopy showed a Kappa value of 0.719, indicating a high degree of consistency between the two examinations. In conclusion, MPR and VRT images are of clinical value for the diagnosis of ACL injury. In addition, dual-source CT can measure the CT value of the ACL and the thickness of each segment by MPR and VRT postprocessing techniques to diagnose the ligament injury in an objective, quantitative, and noninvasive way and can use dual-energy staining techniques to predict the ligament injury in a more intuitive way, which is not available in some arthroscopes.
Design and Equivalent Mechanical Modeling of New Deployable Cabin Segment
Authors: Shi Chuang , Zeng Lingbin , Chen Zijie , Guo Hongwei , Li Yongyong , Liu Rongqiang
Published: February 2021

With the in-depth study of the construction of space bases, the demand for super-large deployable manned cabins in space is becoming increasingly urgent. In this study, a brand-new large space modular expandable cabin mechanism is proposed, and equivalent mechanical modeling research is conducted based on its modular characteristics. First, the overall configuration and the deployment driving scheme of the cabin section with the best comprehensive performance are optimized. In addition, a detailed structural design of the cabin section mechanism is carried out. Second, the mechanical equivalent continuous model of the cabin mechanism is established. The static and dynamic characteristics of the cabin mechanism are studied based on finite element simulation and equivalent model calculation, respectively. The correctness of the equivalent mechanical model established in this study is verified through comparative analysis. Finally, a scaled prototype is developed to verify the feasibility of the configuration and the new drive proposed in this study.
Seroconversion and Abundance of IgG Antibodies against S1-RBD of SARS-CoV-2 and Neutralizing Activity in the Chilean Population
Authors: González-Stegmaier R. , Cereceda K. , Briones J. L. , Beltran-Pávez C. , Oyarzún-Arrau A. , Riquelme-Barrios S. , Selman C. , Yarad F. , Mahave M. , Caglevic C. , Morales R. , Aguirre A. , Valiente-Echeverría F. , Soto-Rifo R. , Marsiglia H. , Gazitua R. , Villarroel-Espindola F.
Published: February 2021

COVID-19 is a pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2. In Chile, half a million people have been infected and more than 16,000 have died from COVID-19. As part of the clinical trial NCT04384588, we quantified IgG against S1-RBD of SARS-CoV-2 (anti-RBD) in recovered people in Santiago and evaluated their suitability as COVID-19 convalescent plasma donors. ELISA and a luminescent SARS-CoV-2 pseudotype were used for IgG and neutralizing antibody quantification. 72.9% of the convalescent population (468 of 639) showed seroconversion (5-55 μg/mL anti-RBD IgG) and were suitable candidates for plasma donation. Analysis by gender, age, and days after symptom offset did not show significant differences. Neutralizing activity correlated with an increased concentration of anti-RBD IgG (

p
<
0.0001

) and showed a high variability between donors. We confirmed that the majority of the Chilean patients have developed anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. The quantification of anti-RBD IgG in convalescent plasma donors is necessary to increase the detection of neutralizing antibodies.
Two-Party Secure Computation for Any Polynomial Function on Ciphertexts under Different Secret Keys
Authors: Jiang Bingbing
Published: February 2021

Multikey fully homomorphic encryption proposed by Lopez-Alt et al. (STOC12) is a significant primitive that allows one to perform computation on the ciphertexts encrypted by multiple different keys independently. Then, several schemes were constructed based on decisional small polynomial ratio or learning with errors. These schemes all require an expansion algorithm to transform a ciphertext under a single key into an encryption of the same message under a set of keys. To achieve the expansion algorithm without interaction with these key-keepers, their encryption algorithm not only outputs a ciphertext of a plaintext but also exports auxiliary information generated from the randomness used in the former encryption process. Beyond that, the size of the ciphertext encrypted by multiple keys increases linearly or quadratically in the number of participants. In this paper, we studied the problem whether someone can directly perform arbitrary computation on ciphertexts encrypted by different keys without any auxiliary information in the output of the encryption algorithm and an increase in the size of the ciphertext in the expansion algorithm. To this end, we proposed a novel and simple scheme of secure computation on ciphertexts under two different keys directly without any auxiliary information. In other words, each party just provides its own ciphertexts encrypted by the GSW scheme (CRYPTO13). In the procedure of executing evaluation on these ciphertexts, the size of the new ciphertext remains the same as that of the GSW ciphertext.
An Algorithm of Occlusion Detection for the Surveillance Camera
Authors: Shi Peng , Hou Bin , Chen Jing , Zu Yunxiao
Published: February 2021

As more and more surveillance cameras are deployed in the Internet of Things, it takes more and more work to ensure the cameras are not occluded. An algorithm of detecting whether the surveillance camera is occluded is proposed by comparing the similarity of the images in this paper. Firstly, the background modeling method based on frame difference is improved. The combination method of the background difference and frame difference is proposed, and the experimental results showed that the combination algorithm can extract the background image of the video more quickly and accurately. Secondly, the LBP (Local Binary Patterns) algorithm is used to compare the similarity between the background image and the reference image. By changing the window size of the LBP algorithm and setting an appropriate threshold, the actual demands can be satisfied. So, the algorithms proposed in this paper have high application value and practical significance.
Differences in Home Health Nursing Care for Patients with Parkinson’s Disease by Stage of Progress: Patients in Hoehn and Yahr Stages III, IV, and V
Authors: Iwasa Yumi , Saito Izumi , Suzuki Miyoko
Published: February 2021

As societal aging progresses globally, the number of people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) is expected to increase worldwide. Accordingly, the need for home health nursing care for homebound patients with PD will continue to expand. We aimed to clarify the clinical care provided by nurses to homebound patients in each Hoehn and Yahr (HY) stage of the disease. We analyzed the visiting nursing records of patients and observed the clinical care provided by nurses in patients’ homes and nursing homes to compare the attributes of patients and differences in nursing care by HY stage. All 21 patients surveyed were at or above HY stage III. The nurses visited each patient nine times per month, on average. The number of visits was positively correlated with HY stage. All stage III patients were homebound, and medication dosage and dispensation assistance were quite common. Several stage IV patients were admitted into nursing homes. In stage V, assistance with hygiene, bedsore management, urine withdrawal/bladder catheters, and other excretory aids were among the most common forms of nursing care provided. As patients’ stages progressed, guidance/educational care meant to encourage self-care decreased and direct physical care increased. Clear differences in nursing care were observed between HY stages, suggesting that stage-based protocols regarding the nature and frequency of nursing visits may be useful for ensuring consistent, effective care of patients with PD.
Cystic Echinococcosis/Hydatid Cyst Coinfection with HIV: A Report from Shiraz, Iran
Authors: Sharifi Yosef , Sadjjadi Seyed Mahmoud , Nikoupour Dailami Hamed , Jafari Seyed Hamed , Anbardar Mohammad Hossein , Khosravi Mohammad Bagher
Published: February 2021

HIV coinfected with other parasitic diseases may cause a serious problem for the patients. A few case reports describing echinococcosis with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection have been reported in the world; however, it has not been reported in Iran, so far. Here, the first case of liver hydatid cyst coinfected with HIV in Iran is reported. The patient is a 46-year-old female HIV-positive based on the laboratory report. Her clinical symptoms included abdominal pain, abdominal enlargement, and anorexia. Ultrasound showed three large hepatic hydatid cysts with hundreds of daughter cysts. Ultrasonography of the cyst revealed it as a CE2 stage according to the WHO classification. The patient went under complete anesthesia followed by complete cyst removal by surgery. Observation of the hydatid cyst fluid using eosin 0.1% revealed more than 70% viable protoscoleces. Histopathology examination, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and viable protoscoleces confirmed the diagnosis of echinococcosis. The IgG ELISA test with native AgB for E. granulosus infection was also positive. mtDNA amplification using PCR and sequencing showed the cyst as E. granulosus sensu stricto genotype. Our observations show that huge, large, and high-pressure cysts with hundreds of daughter cysts are difficult to be completely removed, and drug treatment has not been able to reduce their size. Therefore, in HIV coinfection with hydatid cyst, surgery is preferable to other treatments.
Abnormal Gray Matter Volume and Functional Connectivity in Parkinson’s Disease with Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Behavior Disorder
Authors: Jiang Xu , Wu Zhuang , Zhong Min , Shen Bo , Zhu Jun , Pan Yang , Yan Jun , Zhang Wenbin , Xu Pingyi , Xiao Chaoyong , Zhang Li
Published: February 2021

Objective. Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is a common symptom in Parkinson’s disease (PD), and patients with PD-RBD tend to have an increased risk of cognitive decline and have the tendency to be akinetic/rigidity predominant. At the same time, the mechanisms of RBD in patients with PD remain unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to detect the structural and functional differences in patients with PD-RBD and PD without RBD (PD-nRBD). Methods. Twenty-four polysomnography-confirmed patients with PD-RBD, 26 patients with PD-nRBD, and 26 healthy controls were enrolled. Structural and functional patterns were analyzed based on voxel-based morphometry and seed-based functional connectivity (FC). Correlations between altered gray matter volume (GMV)/FC values and cognitive scores and motor impairment scores in PD subgroups were assessed. Results. Compared with patients with PD-nRBD, patients with PD-RBD showed relatively high GMV in the cerebellar vermis IV/V and low GMV in the right superior occipital gyrus (SOG). For the FC, patients with PD-RBD displayed lower FC between the right SOG and the posterior regions (left fusiform gyrus, left calcarine sulcus, and left superior parietal gyrus) compared with the patients with PD-nRBD. The GMV values in the right SOG were negatively correlated with the Unified PD Rating Scale-III scores in patients with PD-RBD but positively correlated with delayed memory scores. The GMV values in the cerebellar vermis IV/V were positively correlated with the tonic chin EMG density scores. There were positive correlations between the FC values in the right SOG-left superior parietal gyrus and MoCA and visuospatial skills/executive function scores and in the right SOG-left calcarine sulcus and delayed memory scores. Conclusion. Higher GMV in the cerebellum may be linked with the abnormal motor behaviors during REM sleep in patients with PD-RBD, and lower GMV and FC in the posterior regions may indicate that PD-RBD correspond to more serious neurodegeneration, especially the visuospatial–executive function impairment and delayed memory impairment. These findings provided new insights to learn more about the complicated characteristics in patients with PD-RBD.
DCAST: A Spatiotemporal Model with DenseNet and GRU Based on Attention Mechanism
Authors: Xiong Liyan , Zhang Lei , Huang Xiaohui , Yang Xiaofei , Huang Weichun , Zeng Hui , Tang Hong
Published: February 2021

The accurate prediction of crowd flow in urban areas is becoming more and more important in many fields such as traffic management and public safety. However, the complex spatiotemporal relationship of the traffic data and the influence of events, weather, and other factors makes it very difficult to accurately predict the crowd flow. In this study, we propose a spatiotemporal prediction model that is based on densely connected convolutional networks and gated recurrent units (GRU) with the attention mechanism to predict the inflow and outflow of the crowds in regions within a specific area. The DCAST model divides the time axis into three parts: short-term dependence, period rule, and long-term dependence. For each part, we employ densely connected convolutional networks to extract spatial characteristics. Attention-based GRU module is used to capture the temporal features. And then, the outputs of the three parts are fused by weighting elementwise addition. At last, we combine the results of the fusion and external factors to predict the crowd flow in each region. The root mean square errors of the DCAST model in two real datasets of taxis in Beijing (TaxiBJ) and bikes in New York (BikeNYC) are 15.70 and 5.53, respectively. The experimental results show that the results are more accurate and reliable than that of the baseline model.
A Network Pharmacology Approach to Reveal the Underlying Mechanisms of Artemisia annua on the Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Authors: Zhang Shuqiao , Mo Zhuomao , Zhang Shijun , Li Xinyu
Published: February 2021

Objective. To investigate the potential active ingredients and underlying mechanisms of Artemisia annua (AA) on the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) based on network pharmacology. Methods. In the present study, we used a network pharmacological method to predict its underlying complex mechanism of treating HCC. First, we obtained relative compounds of AA based on the traditional Chinese medicine systems pharmacology (TCMSP) database and collected potential targets of these compounds by target fishing. Then, we built HCC-related targets target by the oncogenomic database of hepatocellular carcinoma (OncoDB.HCC) and biopharmacological network (PharmDB-K) database. Based on the matching results between AA potential targets and HCC targets, we built a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network to analyze the interactions among these targets and screen the hub targets by topology. Furthermore, the function annotation and signaling pathways of key targets were performed by Gene Oncology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis using DAVID tools. Finally, the binding capacity between active ingredients and key targets was validated by molecular docking. Results. A total of 19 main active ingredients of AA were screened as target prediction; then, 25 HCC-related common targets were seeked out via multiple HCC databases. The areas of nodes and corresponding degree values of EGFR, ESR1, CCND1, MYC, EGF, and PTGS2 were larger and could be easily found in the PPI network. Furthermore, GO and KEGG enrichment analysis showed that these key targets were significantly involved in multiple biological processes and pathways which participated in tumor cell proliferation, apoptosis, angiogenesis, tumor invasion, and metastasis to accomplish the anti-HCC activity. The molecular docking analysis showed that quercetin could stably bind to the active pocket of EGFR protein 4RJ5 via LibDock. Conclusion. The anticancer effects of AA on HCC were predicted to be associated with regulating tumor cell proliferation, apoptosis, angiogenesis, tumor invasion, and metastasis via various pathways such as the EGFR signaling pathway, ESR1 signaling pathway, and CCND1 signaling pathway. It is suggested that AA might be developed as a broad-spectrum antitumor drug based on its characteristics of multicomponent, multipath, and multitarget.
An accurate technique for supervising distance relays during power swing
Authors: Ali El-Sayed Loai Mohamed , Khalil Ibrahim Doaa , Ibrahim Gilany Mahmoud , El’Gharably Aboul’Fotouh
Published: February 2021

Power swing is a power system transient phenomenon that arises due to several reasons including line switching, line outage, sudden increment or decrement in load, faults, etc. Unnecessary tripping during power swing and unnecessary blocking for faults occur during power swing result in distance relay maloperation. Several cascaded outages and major worldwide blackouts have occurred due to maloperation of distance relays. This paper proposes a technique for supervising distance relays during power swing. The proposed online technique discriminates real faults and power swing accurately. It relies on constructing a locus diagram for the current and voltage differences (∆I-∆V) between the two ends of the protected line. The locus is estimated at every power frequency cycle to continuously monitor the state of the line by utilizing the synchrophasor measurements at the sending and receiving ends of the line. The proposed technique is tested for two-area, four-machine power system under faults at different locations of zone-1 and zone-2 regions of distance relays, fault resistances, fault inception angles and slip frequencies using MATLAB software. The simulation results proved the superior improvement of distance relay performance for handling power swing blocking and unblocking actions.