bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Improving the representativeness of the Tribal Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System through data integration
Authors: Chen Sixia , Campbell Janis , Spain Erin , Milligan Alexandra , Snider Cuyler
Published: June 2022

Background. Previous literature showed significant health disparities between Native American population and other populations such as Non-Hispanic White. Most existing studies for Native American Health were based on non-probability samples which suffer with selection bias. In this paper, we are the first to evaluate the effectiveness of data integration methods, including calibration and sequential mass imputation, to improve the representativeness of the Tribal Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (TBRFSS) in terms of reducing the biases of the raw estimates. Methods. We evaluated the benefits of our proposed data integration methods, including calibration and sequential mass imputation, by using the 2019 TBRFSS and the 2018 and 2019 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). We combined the data from the 2018 and 2019 BRFSS by composite weighting. Demographic variables and general health variables were used as predictors for data integration. The following health-related variables were used for evaluation in terms of biases: Smoking status, Arthritis status, Cardiovascular Disease status, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease status, Asthma status, Cancer status, Stroke status, Diabetes status, and Health Coverage status. Results. For most health-related variables, data integration methods showed smaller biases compared with unadjusted TBRFSS estimates. After calibration, the demographic and general health variables benchmarked with those for the BRFSS. Conclusions. Data integration procedures, including calibration and sequential mass imputation methods, hold promise for improving the representativeness of the TBRFSS.
Direct and Easily Prepared Nanocomposite Impurity-Free Hydroxyapatite from Locally Delivered CKD as a Potent Catalyst for trans-2-Butene Production
Authors: Nasr Mahmoud , Halawy Samih A. , Abdelkader Adel
Published: June 2022

This project is considered the first successful attempt to directly prepare highly pure nanocomposite hydroxyapatite (HAPT) from cement kiln dust. It is prepared by applying a cost-effective preparation method. This is confirmed by XRD, FT-IR and EDX analyses. The crystallite size of impurity-free hydroxyapatite sample prepared at 500°C was equal to 23.6 nm and showed a hierarchical mesoporous unit, in the nano-scale, with Ca-deficient structure according to SEM-EDX analyses. HAPT exhibits a high population of different acidic sites, i.e. weak, moderate and strong acidic sites, as determined by TG and DSC-TPD experiments using tetrahydrofuran (THF) as a probe molecule. This wide range of acidic sites over HAPT is clearly and positively enhanced its catalytic activity during the conversion of sec-butanol to trans-2-butene. The sec-butanol was converted by 40% into trans-2-butene at 200°C, and gradually increased up to 91.4% conversion at 300°C with % selectivity < 99%. Moreover, our prepared HAPT showed a higher catalytic activity using air as a carrier, during the conversion of sec-butanol, instead of N2-gas as a carrier. A comparison between the catalytic activity of HAPT prepared from the waste CKD and another sample prepared using pure Ca(NO3)2, both calcined at 500°C for 3 h in oxygen, was done during the conversion of sec-butanol in the temperature range of 200-300°C. HAPT from CKD gave unrivaled results compared to the other sample prepared from calcium nitrate. We ascribed this distinguish behavior to both the acidic sites distribution over each sample and their crystallite sizes.
Analysis of Amino Acid Changes in Fusion protein of Virulent Newcastle Disease Virus from vaccinated poultry in Nigerian Isolates
Authors: Funsho-Sanni Olubukola Olubukola , Ella Elijah Ekah , Rogo Dahiru Lawal , Sanni Olufunsho Samuel , Inabo Helen I. , Luka Sodangi Abdulkarim , Shittu Ismaila
Published: June 2022

The roles of Fusion gene in the virulence of Newcastle disease virus has been well established but the extent of its variation among the newly identified XIV, XVII and XVIII genotypes which are predominantly found in Central and West Africa have until recently been understudied and LaSota vaccine strain protection against mortality and morbidity against XIV genotype is the least reported. In this study, F gene of vNDV isolated from samples collected in Nigeria from chicken cadaver from vaccinated chicken flocks showing high mortality, clinical signs and post-mortem lesions attributable to ND during March and April, 2020 were sequenced and analysed for information about genetic changes. Results showed that all isolates from our study have virulent cleavage site sequence 112-RRRKR-116/F117 and clustered within genotype XIVb. Sequence analysis show K78R mutation in the A2 antigenic epitope in all isolates, and more along the F gene which vary in some instances within the isolates. Mutation in this A2 antigenic epitope has been reported to induce escape mutation to monoclonal antibodies generated using NDV LaSota strain. Averages of antigenic variability and percentage homology between the isolates and commonly used vaccines is 0.24; 81.40% and 0.22; 81.90% for LaSota and Komorov vaccines respectively. Nucleotide sequences was assigned accession numbers OK491971-OK491977. Many substitutions were observed in the isolates and some of their functions are yet to be determined.
Additional Late-onset Ocular Hypotensive Effect of Ripasudil on Primary Open-angle Glaucoma
Authors: Sano Kei , Terauchi Ryo , Fukai Kota , Ogawa Shumpei , Noro Takahiko , Tatemichi Masayuki , Nakano Tadashi
Published: June 2022

Purpose: Ripasudil has an additional late-onset ocular hypotensive effect after long-term administration. We evaluated this additional effect of ripasudil and associated factors in primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG).Patients and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the clinical data of patients with POAG who newly started ripasudil medication without drug change, ocular surgery, or laser treatment. These patients were assigned to two groups: positive group with the late-onset effect and negative group without it. Eyes with a gradual decrease in intraocular pressure (IOP) after starting ripasudil were defined as late-onset positive. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to explore associated factors of this effect.Results: We enrolled 74 eyes of 74 patients with POAG (age, 67.5 ± 10.9 years; mean deviation, -11.2 ± 5.9 dB) and followed them for 14.2 ± 5.0 months. 12 (16.2%) eyes were assigned to the positive group. Retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) thickness (73.4 ± 12.9 vs. 64.0 ± 9.8 μm, P = 0.04) and primary IOP (18.8 ± 4.1 vs. 15.8 ± 4.3 mmHg, P = 0.01) before starting ripasudil were higher in the positive group than in the negative group. Multivariable analyses revealed primary IOP (odds ratio [OR], 1.22; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01-1.48) and RNFL thickness (OR, 2.76; 95% CI, 1.15-6.63) were significantly associated with late-onset IOP decline.Conclusions: Few patients with advanced POAG showed the late-onset IOP-lowering effect of ripasudil. Multivariable analyses suggested that patients with thicker RNFLs or higher IOPs were more likely to benefit from the additional efficacy of ripasudil.
Analysis of yam starch and its application in synthesis ofNiO nanoparticles using simple green method
Authors: Egu Samuel Attah , Maji D. C. , Idih O. S. , Omale A.
Published: June 2022

Herein is reported green synthesis of starch reduced nickel oxide nanoparticles (SNiONPs). The synthesis involved the use of nickel chloride hexahydrate as nickel precursor, starch as reducing and capping agents and water as solvent. By differing the reaction time, the evolution of growth of the SNiONPs was investigated. The starch and the nanoparticles were characterized using UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy, FTIR, XRD, SEM, XRF, EDS and the starch was studied for proximate composition. The absorption maxima of the as-synthesized materials at different reaction times showed characteristic Ni LSPR peaks. The capping of the nanoparticles was verified using FTIR, XRF and EDS analysis, the particle size was determined using Scherrer equation. SEM image of the starch showed oval to egg-shaped particles while SEM of the nanoparticles showed dispersed oval shape material. The sensitivity of the SNiONPs indicated possible sensitivity in a linear response over concentration range of 1– 6 M H2O2.
Oxyresveratrol attenuates LPS-induced oxidative stress and neuroinflammation through inhibiting PI3K/Akt/NF-κB signaling pathway in mice
Authors: He Yifei , WANG SHANSHAN , Dong Changzhi , Pan Chunxing , Chang Xia , Lin Li , Du Zhiyun
Published: June 2022

Background: Oxyresveratrol (OXY), a polyphenolic compound derived from several plants, has been reported to have anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory activities. However, the effect and mechanism of OXY in regulating neuroinflammation in vivo is still unclear. Thus, this research focused on the anti-neuroinflammatory effects and mechanism in mice.Methods: A BV-2 cell line and C57BL/6 mice were used to establish LPS-induced neuroinflammation models in vitro and in vivo, respectively. C57BL/6 mice were exposed to LPS (250 μg/kg), OXY (50, 100 mg/kg), resveratrol (100 mg/kg), TPP488 (5 mg/kg). After modeling, behavioral test was established and the molecular mechanism was further analyzed.Results: The pathways enrichment analysis results of the 69 common targets show that the PI3K-Akt pathway and the NF-κB pathway may be the related mechanisms of oxyresveratrol in regulating neuroinflammation. In vitro, OXY at a concentration of 25 μM can significantly inhibit the expression of NO induced by LPS. In vivo, OXY significantly improved cognition impairment and alleviated the neuronal apoptosis caused by LPS. The protective effect of OXY on neuroinflammation is mainly through inhibiting the phosphorylation process of the PI3K/Akt/NF-κB pathway to downregulate the expression of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-1β, Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase (iNOS), Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2), Matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9). The oxidative stress and the excessive activation of microglia and astrocytes was suppressed in the brain to alleviate neuroinflammation.Discussion: The research first revealed that OXY can alleviate LPS-induced oxidative stress and neuroinflammation in mice by regulating PI3K/Akt/NF-κB signaling pathway.
The development of speech perception in cochlear implant patients after initial early switch-on
Authors: Kwak Min Young , Kim Yehree , Lee Jee Yeon , Seo Ji Won , Park Hong Ju
Published: June 2022

Objectives Recent studies have demonstrated that early activation of a cochlear implant (CI) has been reported safe. According to their switch-on timing, we analyzed speech perception abilities in prelingual deaf children receiving a sequential bilateral CI and postlingual deaf adults. Design and Setting A retrospective observational study in tertiary medical center Main outcome measures We compared monosyllabic word recognition scores (WRSs) and sentence recognition scores between twenty-eight CI patients who underwent an early switch-on (mean three days after CI) and 70 CI patients having an initial activation one month after CI.Results The WRSs increased rapidly in postlingual deaf adults (31%, 65%, and 78% at one week, one month, and three months after CI) and prelingual deaf children (29%, 52% and 75% at one week, one month, and three months after CI) following the early switch-on. The deaf adults and children in the conventional group reached 28% and 13%, respectively, at one month after CI. Conclusion The early switch-on group showed significantly earlier speech acquisition than the conventional group up to 3 months after CI. Early activation of a cochlear implant (CI) provides the earlier achievement of speech recognition, and it can reduce waiting times for hearing outcomes following CI surgery.
Transcriptomic investigation highlights tumor suppressive effects of TAGAP in lung adenocarcinoma
Authors: Xu Zhanyu , Zheng Zhiwen , Jiang Wei , Huang Liuliu , Deng Kun , Yuan Liqiang , Zheng Tiaozhan , Qin Fanglu , Sun Yu , Qin Junqi , Li Shikang
Published: June 2022

Background: The role of the T cell-activated Rho GTPase activating protein (TAGAP) in immune diseases continues to be explored but has not been yet elucidated for lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD).Methods: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Genotype-Tissue Expression dataset (GTEx) databases were used to analyze the difference of TAGAP expression and its correlation with immune cell infiltration, immune checkpoints, and tumor cell stemness scores in pan-cancer and LUAD cohorts. Gene expression single-cell sequencing data from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) were used to analyze TAGAP distribution in immune cells. The correlation between TAGAP expression and immune cell markers was validated in 26 pairs of LUAD tissues by Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) and immunohistochemistry. Results: TAGAP was differentially expressed in 27 different cancers tissues and the corresponding adjacent tissues. Its expression level was significantly correlated with immune cell infiltration, immune checkpoints, mDNAsi, and mRNAsi. Moreover, TAGAP was significantly low in LUAD and could be associated with poor prognosis, thereby it can be used as an independent prognostic factor for LUAD. Besides, TAGAP showed a significant positive correlation with B cells, CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, macrophages, neutrophils, and dendritic cells in LUAD. The experimental verification with RT-qPCR and immunohistochemistry showed that TAGAP was significantly positively correlated with CD8 and CD4 expressions. TAGAP expression is linked to a greater response to immune checkpoint blockade treatment in NSCLC. Conclusion: Overall, TAGAP can be a potential LUAD biomarker and might play anti-tumor effects by enhancing the tumor immune cell infiltration in LUAD’s microenvironment, TAGAP might be used as an immunotherapy target to regulate the anti-tumor immune response.
Biosynthesis of nano-inorganic materials by urease and phosphatase positive probiotic bacteria
Authors: Nouri Sabere , Roghanian Rasoul , Emtiazi Giti , Shafiei Rasoul
Published: June 2022

In recent years’ green synthesis has received more attention than chemical synthesis due to its eco-friendly and compatibility. In this study Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus coagulans, two potential probiotics that produce antimicrobial agents were used to synthesize nano-hydroxyapatite and nano-calcite. Grown Bacillus in medium culture containing insoluble calcium phosphate produced nano-hydroxyapatite and nano-crystalline calcite. The nano-hydroxyapatite was purified from nano-calcite by heat treatment and washing with a 200 nm filter. The structures, characteristics, and elemental analysis of nano-sized material were studied by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, X-Ray Diffraction, Scanning Electron Microscope, Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, Energy dispersive X-Ray, and X-Ray Fluorescence. The results showed that hydroxyapatite is made only in a medium containing insoluble calcium phosphate sublimated with urea which is induced phosphatase and urease. Here, for the first time, the braided bacterial nano-hydroxyapatite similar to the bone structure was made in the medium which induced the production of urease and phosphatase (Maximum 99 U/L) enzymes, and the particle size was less than 100 nm. The ratio of calcium to phosphate in crude hydroxyapatite and calcite crystal particles made by Bacillus coagulans was 2.9, however, this ratio for pure hydroxyapatite was 1.7. Since the particles are made by antibacterial potential probiotics, the biological production of these particles makes them a suitable candidate to be used in toothpaste, bone regeneration, and sanitation products.
Bioinformatics prediction and analysis of co-altered genes as prognostic targets for papillary thyroid carcinoma
Authors: UNAL ULKU , Göv Esra
Published: June 2022

Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most common subtype in thyroid cancers. In this study, altered co-expression analysis was performed to identify molecular signatures that could take a role in disease pathogenesis via comparative analysis of correlation of gene expression between different states (i.e: PTC and non-tumor tissues). As a result, putative systems biomarkers in PTC were determined. Moreover, resultant genes were found to have significantly high performance in distinguishing tumor and non-tumor samples and were identified as prognostic genes. Especially, several molecular signatures such as EPHA3, LYVE1, and TACR2 as receptors, TFCP2L1, MEOX2, and ZFPM2 as transcription factors (TFs), AKR1C2, AOX1, GALNT7 QPCT, GALE, and RPS6KA5 as enzymes came into prominence. The presented genes here will be a crucial resource for new prognostic and therapeutic strategies for PTC.
COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and attitudes in Pakistan: A cross-sectional phone survey of major urban cities
Authors: Khan Adnan Ahmad , Abdullah Mujahid , Aliani Razia , Mohiuddin Amal , Sultan Faisal
Published: June 2022

Background
COVID-19 mass vaccination is the only hopeful savior to curb the pandemic. Vaccine distribution to achieve herd immunity is hindered by hesitance and negative attitude of the public against COVID-19 vaccination. This study aims to evaluate the vaccine hesitancy and attitudes in major cities in Pakistan as well as their determinants.
Methods
A cross-sectional telephonic survey was conducted in June 2021 in major cities of Pakistan including Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, and Gilgit, from unvaccinated urban population aged 18 years or older. Random Digit Dialing through multi-stage stratified random sampling was used to ensure representation of each target city and socio-economic classes. Questionnaire collected information on socio-demographics, COVID-19-related experiences, risk perception of infection, and receptivity of COVID-19 vaccination. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to identify key determinants of vaccine hesitancy and acceptance.
Results
The prevalence of vaccinated population in this survey was 15%. Of the 2270 respondents, 800 (35%) reported vaccine hesitancy. Although 65% respondents were willing to vaccinate, only 19% were registered for vaccination. Factors significantly associated with vaccine willingness were older age, tertiary education, working status, government institutes as COVID-19 information source, perceived risk of COVID-19 to community, higher SOPs compliance, and previous experience of COVID-19 infection. The most common vaccine hesitancy reasons were ‘no need’ (n = 284, 34%), and concerns with ‘vaccine safety and side effects’ (n = 1029, 70%), while most cited vaccine motivation reasons were ‘health protection’ (n = 1029, 70%) and ‘to curb this pandemic’ (n = 357, 24%).
Conclusions
Although our study found 35% hesitancy rate of COVID-19 vaccine, there were noticeable demographic differences that suggest tailored communication strategy to address concerns held by most hesitant subpopulation. Use of mobile vaccination facilities particularly for less mobile and disadvantaged, and implementation and evaluation of social mobilization strategy should be considered to increase overall COVID-19 vaccination acceptance and coverage.
Introduction of OCT4 into human bone-marrow derived mesenchymal stromal cells generates putative iPS cells with the potential to differentiate into CD34+ hematopoietic progenitor cells ex vivo
Authors: Guo Xiaoping , Ba Diandian , Li Sisi , Weng Wenwen , Pan Jin , Chen Yanfei , Cai Lisa , Xu Xiaojun , Tang Yongmin
Published: June 2022

Background
Mesenchymal stromal cells, which can be obtained in a large quantity from bone marrow easily, are non-hematopoietic multipotent stem cells that cannot differentiate into hematopoietic components in physiological condition. Induced pluripotent hematopoietic stem cells (iP-HSCs) may be an alternative graft source for autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) without malignant cell contamination and provide a disease-specific model for studying the underlying pathogenesis. This study aimed to generate putative induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from bone marrow-derived MSCs (BM-MSCs) using the plasmid pcDNA3.1, only containing OCT4.
Methods
BM-MSCs with stable ectopic OCT4 expression were established using a conventional plasmid vector, and then cultured in ES medium to form ESC-like clones. The obtained putative iPSCs were divided into two groups and treated with two different growth factor cocktails to induce differentiation into hematopoietic progenitor cells. Furthermore, putative iPSCs were injected subcutaneously into nude mice and the resulting cells were analyzed.
Results
The generated putative iPSCs were similar to human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) in terms of morphology, surface marker expression, telomerase activity and in vitro differentiation. CD34 + progenitor cells were obtained from the putative iPSCs following treatment with specific factors. The proportion of CD34 + progenitor cells were higher in differentiated cells (16.16 ± 1.27% and 25.40 ± 3.08% at days 14 and 21, respectively) compared to that of untransfected parental BM-MSCs (0.93 ± 0.46%) or undifferentiated cells (1.58 ± 1.29%) (P < 0.05) as determined using flow cytometry. After induction using the second growth factor cocktail and induction process,, the proportion of CD34 + cells reached 31.39 ± 3.60% and 73.68 ± 6.63% at days 14 and 21, respectively. These differentiated cells expressed the mesodermal hematopoietic transcription factor Brachyury.
Conclusions
This cell induction system developed in this study may provide a possible source of grafts-enriched CD34 + progenitor cells without malignant cell contamination for clinical use and to generate patient-specific cell models for studying of the mechanisms of hematopoiesis and related diseases.
Leptin Alleviates Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Induced by Cerebral Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury via PI3K/Akt Signaling Pathway
Authors: Zhang Yan , Cheng Daobin , Jie Chunxiao , Huang Shixiong , Hu Shijun
Published: June 2022

Cerebral ischemic/reperfusion injury (CIRI) is a key factor affecting the prognosis of ischemic stroke (IS), the leading disease in global disability and fatality rates. Recent studies have shown that endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) may be a potential target against CIRI and leptin, a peptide hormone, has neuroprotective activity to mitigate CIRI. In present study, an in vitro CIRI model was induced in primary cortical neurons by oxygen-glucose deprivation and reoxygenation (OGD/R) after pre-treatment with LY294002 (10 umol/L) or (and) leptin (0.4 mg/L), and then cell viability, neuronal morphology as well as endoplasmic reticulum dysfunction were evaluated. An in vivo CIRI model was established in rats by middle cerebral artery occlusion and reperfusion (MCAO/R) after injecting LY294002 (10 µmol/L) or (and) leptin (1 mg/kg), and studies for neurological function, infarct volume, cerebral pathological changes, the expression of ERS-related proteins along with cell apoptosis. In vitro, leptin treatment improved cell survival rate, ameliorated pathological morphology of neurons and alleviated OGD/R-induced ERS. In vivo, administration of leptin showed a significant reduction in infarct volume, neurological deficits scores and neuronal apoptosis as well as pathological alterations. In addition, leptin suppressed MCAO/R-induced ERS and have anti-apoptotic potential by inhibiting the ERS-related death and caspase 3 activation. It also regulates anti-apoptotic, Bcl-2 and pro- apoptotic, Bax proteins in cortex region. Furthermore, the inhibitory of leptin on ERS was significantly weakened by the specific PI3K inhibitor LY294002. Our findings elucidate the neuroprotective mechanism of leptin, and reinforce its role as a potential agent for treatment of CIRI.
U.K. Medical Students and Doctors Understanding of, and Views on Evidence-Based Methods
Authors: Amin MSA , Pai Hari Venkatesh , Jauhari Shreya , Dincer Amine , Farrah Naeema , Balagamage Alokya
Published: June 2022

IntroductionIn the absence of guidelines clinicians must make medical decisions using reliable evidence. This requires knowledge of research concepts and critical appraisal skills. Yet, it is recognized that training in this area is often lacking and widely varied. This paper’s aim is to survey medical students and clinicians to identify attitudes towards research education and overall confidence. MethodsA national cross-sectional study using a ten-point survey was distributed from February-March 2021. Eligible respondents were United Kingdom senior medical students in final or penultimate years and doctors pre-specialty training. Respondents were categorized into three groups: medical students, clinicians, and clinical academics.Results 139 eligible respondents completed our survey of which 58 were senior medical students across 9 medical schools. All medical students were in penultimate or final years of their medical courses. Also 81 doctors responded, 20% (n=16) of whom were clinical academics. Only 48% of medical students, 60% of clinicians and 65% of clinical academics said they’d received formal educational teaching during medical school as part of the curriculum. This increased to 72% for students who had intercalated or studied degrees previously. Clinical academics consistently reported having received the most training. Clinical academics also had the most confidence in understanding research concepts; study types, PICOS, P-value, null hypothesis, types of error, and types of bias. Medical students who intercalated were more confident in critical appraisal concepts with the majority rating themselves as ‘somewhat confident’ in 5 of the 6 research concepts compared to students who did not intercalate who rated themselves as ‘somewhat confident’ in 3 of the 6 concepts.Discussion The results show there is a general lack of teaching and confidence in evidence-based methods. Medical schools must address this to develop doctors who can make well-informed clinical decisions. Further action is required to standardize a research curriculum.
Clinical features and prognosis of primary gallbladder sarcomatoid carcinoma: a single institutional experience from China
Authors: Zou Rui-Qi , Hu Hai-Jie , Lv Tian-Run , Liu Fei , Ma Wen-Jie , Wang Jun-Ke , Dai Yu-Shi , Hu Ya-Fei , Li Fu-Yu
Published: June 2022

Purpose: Our study aims to examine the clinicopathological features, disease progression, management, and outcomes of gallbladder sarcomatoid carcinoma (GBSC) patients.Methods: Between January 2000 and December 2020, 50 GBC patients received surgical treatment and pathologically verified as GBSC at our institution were enrolled. The clinical and pathological features and survival of these patients were retrospectively reviewed.Results: The median overall survival (OS) of GBSC patients was 14.5 months, and the 1-, 2- and 3-year OS rates were 68.0%, 32.0%, 10.0%, respectively. The median progression free survival (PFS) was 10.0 months, and the 1-, 2-, and 3-year PFS rates were 42.0%, 16.0%, and 2.0%, respectively. Patients who received radical resection had obviously better OS (18.0 vs. 7.0 months, P<0.001) and PFS (12.0 vs. 5.0 months, P<0.001) compared with those underwent palliative resection. Multivariate analysis revealed that vascular invasion (P=0.033), curative operation (P<0.001) and postoperative chemotherapy (P=0.033) were independent risk factors for PFS. We further identified postoperative chemotherapy (P=0.010) and curative operation (P<0.001) as independent prognostic factors affecting OS of GBSC patients. In patients after curative operation, those underwent S-1 based chemotherapy showed significant longer recurrence free survival (RFS) compared to those with other chemotherapy plans (20.0 vs 11.0 months, P=0.028).Conclusion: GBSC patients always have aggressive biological behaviors and remarkably poor prognoses. Most GBSC patients are diagnosed in advanced stages, timely radical operation together with postoperative chemotherapy are significant important. S-1 based chemotherapy may be a selectively efficient plan to prolong the survival of GBSC patients.
The trajectory of body mass index in women with PCOS in two cohorts of Australian women
Authors: Doust Jenny , Baneshi Mohammad , Mishra Gita
Published: June 2022

BackgroundCross sectional studies show a consistent association between a diagnosis of PCOS and higher body weight. It is unclear, however, how the trajectory of gain in BMI differs between women who have PCOS and those who do not over time.MethodsWe used data from two population-based cohort studies of Australian women: 8 576 born in 1989-95 (“millennials”) and 10 502 born in 1973-78 (“Gen X”). We used linear mixed regression models to compare the average annual increase in BMI in women who reported a diagnosis of PCOS with those who did not in each cohort. In the younger cohort, we compared the annual increase in BMI before and after diagnosis.ResultsIn the cohort born 1989-95, 1 372 women (16.0%) reported a diagnosis of PCOS. The average annual increase in BMI in women who reported a diagnosis of PCOS was 0.41 kg/m2/year (0.39–0.43), greater than the annual increase than in women who did not report the diagnosis, 0.34 kg/m2/year (0.33–0.35). In the 590 women in this cohort where the timing of the diagnosis could be estimated, the average annual increase in BMI slowed from 0.48 kg/m2/year (0.43–0.53) before diagnosis to 0.37 kg/m2/year after diagnosis (0.33–0.41). In the cohort born 1973-78, 940 women (9.0%) reported a diagnosis of PCOS. The average annual increase in BMI in women who reported a diagnosis of PCOS was 0.25 kg/m2/year (0.23–0.27), greater than the annual increase than in women did not report the diagnosis, 0.20 kg/m2/year (0.19–0.21).ConclusionsWomen who report a diagnosis of PCOS have a higher rate of BMI gain than women who do not have the diagnosis. The rate appears to slow after the diagnosis. The rate of BMI gain was higher in the “millennial” cohort of women than in the “GenX” cohort of women at the same age.
Drop shipper Classification in Growing Dataset Using Naïve Bayes for Indonesian Marketplace
Authors: Osmond Andrew B. , Hidayat Fadhil , Supangkat Suhono H.
Published: June 2022

Dropshipping is a sales business model in which a seller, called a drop shipper, promotes goods sold by a supplier. If there is an order, the drop shipper directly orders the supplier. Suppliers will process orders and send orders to buyers on behalf of the drop shipper. Dropshipping is popular among people in the Indonesian marketplace. Some marketplace even supports dropshipping features for their drop shipper. Therefore, this paper proposes Naïve Bayes method predict whether a seller is a drop shipper or not. This research is part of recommendation system research goal. Since there is a drop shipping mechanism in the marketplace, there is a stock problem. This research is essential because by classifying a seller as a drop shipper or not, we can draw a stock of a product that the buyer searches for by eliminating stock of drop shippers and predicting stock from the supplier in the marketplace. By solving stock issues, we can afford better recommendations for a buyer. There are two scenarios for testing: 1) fixed datasets. In scenario 1) KNN has 88.61% accuracy for shopee dataset and 85.42% accuracy for tokopedia dataset. Naïve Bayes has 86.67% in bukalapak dataset; 2) growth datasets. In first until third testing accuracy of the Naïve Bayes method is 80%, and increased 1% (81.1%) using all of the data in the shopee dataset. In tokopedia dataset, Naïve Bayes shows a good trend line in three scenarios but down in the last data. Accuracy of Naïve Bayes decreased 1.06% from third testing to all data. Last in bukalapak dataset, Naïve Bayes leads the performance with 9% accuracy increasing from 87.50 to 96.
Challenges with interpreting the impact of Atlantic Multidecadal Variability using SST-restoring experiments
Authors: O'Reilly Christopher , Patterson Matthew , Robson Jon , Monerie Paul , Hodson Dan , Ruprich-Robert Yohan
Published: June 2022

Climate model simulations that restore SSTs in the North Atlantic have been used to explore the climate impacts of Atlantic Multidecadal Variability (AMV). However, despite simulations and observations exhibiting similar North Atlantic SST anomalies, experiments with active SST-restoring in the Tropical North Atlantic exhibit strong positive surface heat-fluxes out of the ocean with warm SST anomalies, which is not replicated in other simulations or observations. The upward surface heat-fluxes that are systematically driven by the active SST-restoring in the Tropical North Atlantic are found to be crucial for generating a strong local precipitation response and the associated remote impact on the Pacific Walker circulation; these are both absent in other simulations. The results of this study strongly suggest that experiments employing SST-restoring (or prescribed SSTs) in the Tropical North Atlantic exaggerate the influence of the Atlantic on patterns of global climate anomalies and its role in recent multidecadal SST trends.
Empirical Characterization of Graph Sampling Algorithms
Authors: Yousuf Muhammad Irfan , Anwer Izza , Anwar Raheel
Published: June 2022

Graph sampling allows mining a small representative subgraph from a big graph. Sampling algorithms deploy different strategies to replicate the properties of a given graph in the sampled graph. In this study, we provide a comprehensive empirical characterization of five graph sampling algorithms on six properties of a graph including degree, clustering coefficient, path length, global clustering coefficient, assorta-tivity, and modularity. We extract samples from fifteen graphs grouped into five categories including collaboration, social, citation, technological , and synthetic graphs. We provide both qualitative and quantitative results. We find that there is no single method that extracts true samples from a given graph with respect to the properties tested in this work. Our results show that the sampling algorithm that aggressively explores the neighborhood of a sampled node performs better than the others.
A new technique for continuous negative pressure drainage in the treatment of lobar bronchopleural fistula complicated with severe atelectasis
Authors: Li Xiaobing , Liu Chao , Yin Mei-Pan , Wu Gang
Published: June 2022

Bronchopleural fistula is a serious and fatal complication after lobectomy. Fistula and hydropneumothorax are typical features of the disease. A 27-year-old man underwent right lower lobectomy and was diagnosed with bronchopleural fistula on the 37th day after operation. CT showed massive hydropneumothorax leading to severe atelectasis. He was undergone interventional implantation technique of two thoracic catheters and continuous negative pressure drainage. No complications were found during puncture and drainage. After 1 month of interventional treatment, the hydropneumothorax basically disappeared and the drainage catheters were removed. Herein, we highlight the new technique of thoracic puncture and implantation and continuous negative pressure drainage based on interventional technique is reported for the first time. For bronchopleural fistula complicated with massive hydropneumothorax leading to such serious atelectasis., the interventional technique is a potential economic and effective method.
Quiescent bilateral carotid dissection following strangulation
Authors: Dalton Bryan , Coyle Mark , Tansey Paul , Fallon Clare , Raman Vivek , Healy Ultan
Published: June 2022

Background: Internal carotid artery dissection is a widely recognised cause of acute cerebrovascular events. Bilateral internal carotid artery dissection is uncommon, attempted suicide by hanging represents a possible mechanism of direct vascular trauma and has previously been reported as a cause of bilateral internal carotid artery dissection.Case Presentation: Our case is a 45 year old male presenting to the emergency department with neurological symptoms suggestive of an acute ischaemic stroke. Significantly, this patient had a history of attempted suicide by hanging 4 years prior. Radiological investigations revealed an acute ischaemic infarct, incidental well-established infarct and bilateral ICAD. Further investigations to determine the underlying aetiology of the bilateral ICAD failed to identify a secondary cause. Conclusions: Acute cerebrovascular events related to traumatic ICAD following hanging attempts have previously been reported. However, such reports have typically been temporally related to the time of trauma with patients developing neurological symptoms soon after the hanging attempt. We suggest a delayed manifestation of underlying vascular damage caused by the inciting neck trauma by prior hanging attempt. The potential for ICAD and anatomical vascular distortion secondary to attempted hanging indicates that this is a high-risk cohort, and consideration of selective vascular imaging of this group may be beneficial in the prevention of acute ischaemic stroke.
Video restoration based on deep learning: a comprehensive survey
Authors: Rota Claudio , Buzzelli Marco , Bianco Simone , Schettini Raimondo
Published: June 2022

Video restoration concerns the recovery of a clean video sequence starting from its degraded version. Different video restoration tasks exist, including denoising, deblurring, super-resolution, and reduction of compression artifacts. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive review of the main features of existing video restoration methods based on deep learning. We focus our attention on the main architectural components , strategies for motion handling, and loss functions. We analyze the standard benchmark datasets and use them to summarize the performance of video restoration methods, both in terms of effectiveness and efficiency. In conclusion, the main challenges and future research directions in video restoration using deep learning are highlighted.
Refocus attention span networks for handwriting line recognition
Authors: Hamdan Mohammed , Chaudhary Himanshu , Bali Ahmed , Cheriet Mohamed
Published: June 2022

Recurrent neural networks have achieved outstanding recognition performance for handwriting identification despite the enormous variety observed across diverse handwriting structures, and poor-quality scanned documents. Initially, we proposed a BiLSTM baseline model with a sequential architecture well-suited for modeling text lines due to its capacity to learn probability distributions over character or word sequences. However, employing such recurrent paradigms prevents parallelization and suffers from vanishing gradients for long sequences during training. To alleviate these limitations, we propose four significant contributions to this work. First, we devised an end-to-end model composed of a split-attention CNN-backbone that serves as a feature extraction method and a self-attention Transformer encoder-decoder that serves as a transcriber method to recognize handwriting manuscripts. The multi-head self-attention layers in an encoder-decoder transformer-based enhance the model’s ability to tackle handwriting recognition and learn the linguistic dependencies of character sequences. Second, we conduct various studies on transfer learning (TL) from large datasets to a small database, determining which model layers require fine-tuning. Third, we attained an efficient paradigm by combining different strategies of TL with data augmentation (DA). Finally, since the robustness of the proposed model is lexicon-free and can recognize sentences not presented in the training phase, the model is only trained on a few labeled examples with no extra cost of generating and training on synthetic datasets. We recorded comparable and outperformed Character and Word Error Rates CER/WER on four benchmark datasets to the most recent models (SOTA). The code and models will be uploaded on Github.
Mediation analysis of metabolic and inflammatory factors on the association between sleep apnoea and coronary heart disease in the large population–based cohort
Authors: Lin Jing , Yang Rongrong , Li Shu , Zhang Yuan , Yang Hongxi , Liu Tong , Wang Yaogang
Published: June 2022

Background
Previous research has linked a history of sleep apnoea with coronary heart disease (CHD). This study is aimed to assess the association between sleep apnoea and CHD and to explore the extent to which this association is mediated by metabolic factors and C–reactive protein (CRP).
Methods
In this large population–based cohort study based on the UK Biobank, 213,442 CHD–free (mean age: 55.00) adults were followed up for 15 years to detect incident CHD. Sleep apnoea and CHD were ascertained from self–report and hospital records. Metabolic factors were included hyperglycemia, hypertension, dyslipidemia, hypertriglyceridemia and hyperuricemia. Higher CRP concentration level was defined as a cut–off point of > 3.0 mg/L. Data were analyzed using Cox proportional hazards models and generalized structural equation model (GSEM).
Results
During follow–up (median: 11.74 years, interquartile range: 10.97 to 12.48 years), 9,278 participants developed incident CHD (4.3%). The multi–adjusted hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of CHD related to sleep apnoea was 1.76 (1.44–2.15). In the mediation analysis, the strongest indirect association was for dyslipidemia, accounting for 20.8% of the association between sleep apnoea and CHD (β = 0.22, 95% CI = 0.16–0.28), followed by hypertriglyceridemia (12.3%) and hyperglycemia mediated (8.5%). The proportion of mediation increased to 29.1% when CRP was added to the metabolic mediators.
Conclusions
Sleep apnoea was associated with an increased risk of CHD. 20.8% and 12.3% of the association of sleep apnoea with CHD may be accounted respectively for by dyslipidemia and hypertriglyceridemia. CRP increased the magnitude of every metabolic factors–mediated association to 29.1%.
Spatial Patterns, Causes and Characteristics of the Cultural Landscape of the Tang Poetry Road Based on Text Mining——Take the Tang Poetry Road in Eastern Zhejiang as an example
Authors: Xi Xuesong , An Xingrun , Zhang Guangming , Liang Shifan
Published: June 2022

The Tang Poetry Road in eastern Zhejiang is a poetic cultural route linked to Tang poetry, the pinnacle of ancient Chinese poetry history, and a historical and cultural landscape where nature and humanity are fused under the narrative of Tang poetry. The study extracted and collated the textual information of 1593 poems written by 451 Tang poets in the eastern part of Zhejiang, and spatially located the trails, places and scenes in ArcGIS to identify the main and branch lines of the Tang Poetry Road in eastern Zhejiang. The spatial distribution pattern of the cultural landscape of the Tang Poetry Road is analyzed and summarized at four levels: natural landscape, Buddhism and Taoism culture, celebrity culture and folk culture; the complex spatio-temporal networks between "poet-person", "poet-places" and "poet-landscape" are revealed through the Gephi tool; the four causes and three characteristics of the Tang Poetry Road in eastern Zhejiang are explained from the perspective of mathematical statistical logic.
Nomogram model predicts the risk of visual impairment in diabetic retinopathy: a retrospective study
Authors: Zhao Yuancheng , Yu Rentao , Sun Chao , Fan Wei , Zou Huan , Chen Xiaofan , Huang Yanming , Yuan Rongdi
Published: June 2022

Background: To develop models for predicting the risk of visual impairment in diabetic retinopathy (DR) by nomogram.Methods: Patients with DR who had both optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) and fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA) were gathered retrospectively. FFA conducted DR staging, whereas swept-source optical coherence tomography（SS-OCT）of the macula and 3*3mm blood flow imaging by OCTA to observe retinal structure and blood flow parameters. To widen the scope of application, two LogMAR visual acuity（VA）cut-off values of 0.5 and 0.3 were utilized to generate two VA grading results. The characteristics correlated with VA were screened using linear correlation and binary logistic regression; the selected factors were then used to build nomogram visual impairment risk prediction models by multivariate binary stepwise regression; finally, the models were validated using area under the curve (AUC) of receiver operating characteristic (ROC), calibration plots, decision curve analysis（DCA）, and clinical impact curves（CIC）.Results：A total of 25 parameters are included in the analysis and 7 characteristics are used to develop nomogram models. Finally, diabetic macular ischemia (DMI) grading, Disorganization of the Retinal Inner Layers (DRIL), Retinal Pigment Epithelium/Ellipsoid Zone (RPE/EZ) disruption, and non-perfusion area (NPA) areas in (LogMAR VA≥0.5) Model1 and DMI, DRIL, EZ/RPE disruption, superior paracentral vessel density (spVD) and DR staging in (LogMAR VA≥0.3) Model2 are statistically significant(P<0.05). Both models are validated by ROC (AUC1=0.921, AUC2=0.874) and calibration curves (C-index1=0.921, C-index2=0.862) to have good accuracy, the DCA shows risk threshold probabilities in the (Model1: 3%-84%; Model2: 13%-96%) interval models can be used to guide clinical practice, and the proportion of people at risk at each threshold probability illustrated by CIC.Conclusion：The nomogram prediction model for integrating risk factors for visual impairment in DR patients demonstrated good accuracy and utility, which can guide clinical practice. Trial registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR2200059835. Registered 12 May 2022,https://www.chictr.org.cn/edit.aspx?pid=169290&htm=4
Simultaneous analysis of tumor infiltrating immune cells density, tumor budding status, and presence of lymphoid follicles in CRC tissue.
Authors: Markowski Adam , Markowska Anna Justyna , Ustymowicz Wiktoria , Pryczynicz Anna , Guzińska-Ustymowicz Katarzyna
Published: June 2022

Introduction. Colorectal cancer (CRC) affects more than 1,000,000 people worldwide each year. Recently, the number of young patients with early-onset colorectal cancer has increased, and right-sided colorectal cancer is still often diagnosed only in advanced stages. The TNM classification is not perfect for CRC staging. This study aimed to perform, for the first time, simultaneous analysis of tumor infiltrating immune cell density, presence of lymphoid follicles, and budding status in CRC tissue. Methods. Intraoperative samples of neoplastic tissue were collected from 195 consecutive patients who were admitted to the surgical ward for elective colorectal surgery.Results. Tumor budding parameters were positively correlated with colorectal cancer advancement, and histologic (mucinous) type of CRC. The number of tumor budding foci was lower in CRC localized in the rectum, and the number of poorly differentiated clusters was higher in younger patients. In the invasive front, a lower number of CD8 lymphocytes was found in CRC with confirmed distant metastases, and lower densities of CD3 and CD4 lymphocytes were seen in deeply invasive CRCs. The density of CD3 lymphocytes was higher in men and older patients. The number of lymphoid follicles was higher in patients with less advanced cancers. Conclusion. Three histopathology markers, such as high tumor budding, scanty lymphocyte infiltration, and the poverty of lymphoid follicles, complement each other, appear to be reliable indicators of colorectal cancer progression, and could be useful in everyday medical practice, but their widespread use requires further research. We propose to take into account these markers, in the assessment of colorectal cancer advancement, in addition to the TNM classification.