bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Baby-Friendly Community Initiative and Maternal Infant and Young child Nutrition in Kenya
Authors: Mutoro Antonina N. , Wanjohi Milka , Wilunda Calistus , Ogunsola Ajibola , J Maureen Koech , Tako Antuela , Jun Gyuchan Thomas , Waterson Patrick , Griffiths Paula L. , Kimani-Murage Elizabeth
Published: September 2023

Background
The COVID-19 pandemic led to decline in access and utilization of the baby-friendly community initiative (BFCI) which is being implemented in Kenya. The impact of the pandemic on the BFCI and on maternal and child health and nutrition has not been documented. We undertook a qualitative study that assessed the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the baby-friendly community initiative (BFCI) activities, maternal and child health (MCH) services and maternal, infant and young child nutrition (MIYCN) practices in Kenya.
Methods
Data on the impact of the pandemic on the BFCI activities, provision and access to MCH services and MIYCN practices were collected using key informant interviews (n = 57), in-depth interviews (n = 31), and focus group discussions (n = 15) with government officials, civil society organizations and community members in BFCI implementing and non-implementing urban and rural areas.
Results
Our study found that BFCI activities, such as home visits, support group meetings and MCH services such as nutrition counselling, growth monitoring and vaccination were interrupted by the pandemic due to fear of contracting the virus, lack of personal protective equipment (PPEs) and movement restrictions. This meant that mothers did not have access to basic community and health services. Food insecurity attributed to financial difficulties resulted in coping strategies such as skipping meals and negatively affected MIYCN practices. Positive measures to prevent COVID-19 spread such as remote working enabled some mothers to adequately feed their children because they were better able to balance working and the demands of feeding young children from home.
Conclusion
On balance, the pandemic negatively impacted the BFCI, MCH services and MIYCN practices in Kenya. In such a context, there is a need for innovative approaches to ensure continued provision of and access to facilities and community health services in the future if the country finds itself in a similar position with the challenges of a pandemic. The pandemic revealed that remote working support policies could have the potential to improve breastfeeding and complementary feeding for working women but further evidence is needed to fully evaluate this.
Tuning the properties of polycaprolactone-based fibers by using polyethylene oxide / polycaprolactone block copolymers
Authors: Cárdenas Verena , Fernández Daniel , Romero-Araya Pablo , Werlinger Francisca , Martínez Javier , Moreno-Villoslada Ignacio , Flores Mario Flores
Published: September 2023

Polymers bearing hydrolyzable groups such as polyesters are a source of raw materials to prepare common and specific materials, due to their degradability properties under mild conditions; for instance, poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) is a broadly used polymer in electrospinning to produce fibrous and degradable materials. In this work, we explored the synthesis, characterization, and conditions to prepare fibrous materials made of different PCL homopolymers and PCL-PEO block copolymers possessing different molecular weights, which have been synthesized by ring-opening polymerization (ROP). The obtained polymers were characterized by FT-IR, 1H-NMR, and GPC. The synthesized polymers were used to prepare fibrous materials by the electrospinning method, which were characterized by SEM, wettability, tensile test, and DSC. We found that low molecular weight polymers cannot produce tangible materials; however, the addition of block copolymers containing the hydrophilic PEO unit produced porous materials where fiber diameter decreased, also tuning hydrophilic as the PEO chain length increased in the block copolymer. Thus, these materials can be projected towards specific applications, for instance, having a possible potential use in tissue engineering. The dual role of block copolymers in the fabrication of PCL fibers according to changes observed in materials by controlling both fiber size and hydrophilia is discussed.
Giant cell arteritis combined with venous sinus thrombosis: A case report and systematic review
Authors: Li Yangyang , Zhang Hanyu , Wang Guoxing
Published: September 2023

Background
Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is a low-incidence systemic vasculitis in Asian populations. It is considered a rare cause of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST). This case report presents a rare case of an Asian patient with GCA accompanied by CVST.
Case Presentation:
A 67-year-old man who had been experiencing varicose veins in the bilateral temporal region for four years and complete loss of vision in the right eye for four months sought medical attention in our emergency department due to loss of vision in the left eye for two weeks and fever for three days. On admission, this patient had a recurrent fever, and no source of infection was identified. Conventional anti-infective treatment was ineffective. Based on the clinical presentation, a diagnosis of GCA combined with CVST was made, and hormone therapy was administered. The patient was discharged with normal body temperature, clear consciousness, recovery of vision in both eyes, and improved clinical parameters.
Conclusions
This case report presents a distinct manifestation of both GCA and CVST. The coexistence of GCA and CVST is not solely attributed to increased blood viscosity, inflammation of the vascular wall, and abnormal coagulation. It also involves a complex immunological network. This case report may help clinicians make comprehensive clinical decisions in similar cases.
The Creation of a Pediatric Surgical Checklist for Adult Providers
Authors: Rapolti Diana , Kisa Phyllis , Situma Martin , Nico Elsa , Lobe Thom , Sims Thomas , Ozgediz Doruk , Klazura Greg
Published: September 2023

Purpose: To address the need for a pediatric surgical checklist for adult providers.
Background: Pediatric surgery is unique due to the specific needs and many tasks that are employed in the care of adults require accommodations for children. There are some resources for adult surgeons to perform safe pediatric surgery and to assist such surgeons in pediatric emergencies, we created a straightforward checklist based on current literature. We propose a surgical checklist as the value of surgical checklists has been validated through research in a variety of applications,
Methods: Literature review on PubMed to gather information on current resources for pediatric surgery, all papers on surgical checklists describing their outcomes as of October 2022 were included to prevent a biased overview of the existing literature. Interviews with multiple pediatric surgeons were conducted for the creation of a checklist that is relevant to the field and has limited bias.
Results: 42 papers with 8529061 total participants were included. The positive impact of checklists was highlighted throughout the literature in terms of outcomes, financial cost and team relationship. Certain care checkpoints emerged as vital checklist items: antibiotic administration, anesthetic considerations, intraoperative hemodynamics and postoperative resuscitation. The result was the creation of a checklist that is not substitutive for existing WHO surgery checklists but additive for adult surgeons who must operate on children in emergencies.
Conclusion: The outcomes measured throughout the literature are varied and thus provide both a nuanced view of a variety of factors that must be taken into account and are limited in the amount of evidence for each outcome. We hope to implement the checklist developed to create a standard of care for pediatric surgery performed in low resource settings by adult surgeons and further evaluate its impact on emergency pediatric surgery outcomes.
Funding: Fulbright Fogarty Fellowship, GHES NIH FIC D43 TW010540
Deep mutational scanning and machine learning uncover antimicrobial peptide features driving membrane selectivity
Authors: Davies Bryan , Randall Justin , Vieira Luiz , Wilke Claus
Published: September 2023

Antimicrobial peptides commonly act by disrupting bacterial membranes, but also frequently damage mammalian membranes. Deciphering the rules governing membrane selectivity is critical to understanding their function and enabling their therapeutic use. Past attempts to decipher these rules have failed because they cannot interrogate adequate peptide sequence variation. To overcome this problem, we develop deep mutational surface localized antimicrobial display (dmSLAY), which reveals comprehensive positional residue importance and flexibility across an antimicrobial peptide sequence. We apply dmSLAY to Protegrin-1, a potent yet toxic antimicrobial peptide, and identify thousands of sequence variants that positively or negatively influence its antibacterial activity. Further analysis reveals that avoiding large aromatic residues and eliminating disulfide bound cysteine pairs while maintaining membrane bound secondary structure greatly improves Protegrin-1 bacterial specificity. Moreover, dmSLAY datasets enable machine learning to expand our analysis to include over 5.7 million sequence variants and reveal full Protegrin-1 mutational profiles driving either bacterial or mammalian membrane specificity. Our results describe an innovative, high-throughput approach for elucidating antimicrobial peptide sequence-structure-function relationships which can inform synthetic peptide-based drug design.
Inferring the chronic copper deficiency stress responsive network and comparative analysis with excessive copper stress in grapevine
Authors: Liu Siyu , Lin Yilin , Yang Yuxian , Xia Jiaxin , Niu Mingxu , Hakeem Abdul , Fang Xiang , Ren Yanhua , Wang Xicheng , Fang Jinggui , Shangguan Lingfei
Published: September 2023

Copper is an essential trace element in grapevine growth, and lack of it will cause damage to grapevines. While there have been studies on the mechanism of grapevine tolerance to excessive copper stress, there is a lack of systematic reports on the regulation mechanism of copper deficiency stress. To explore the adaptive response and regulatory mechanism of ‘Shine Muscat’ (‘SM’) grapevines leave growth to copper deficiency, we treated the seedlings with Hoagland's nutrient solution without copper ions for a long time. Firstly, it was found that ‘SM’ grapevines were indeed affected by copper deficiency stress through the leaf symptoms and physiological data. Then, 657 up-regulated and 527 down-regulated differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and 72 differentially accumulated metabolites (DAMs, 31 up-regulated and 41 down-regulated) were identified between control and copper deficiency treatment. Copper ion transportation, photosynthetic pathway, antioxidant system, flavonoid metabolism and phytohormone metabolism were identified as the primary response systems in ‘SM’ grapevine. Several genes, including FRO4, ABCs, CHLP, APX, GPX, and PK, were found to play a crucial role in the response of ‘SM’ grapevine to copper deficiency stress. Furthermore, there were notable differences in copper uptake and transportation, chlorophyll degradation, flavonoid synthesis and metabolites, and ABA content between copper deficiency and excess stress. These results will be beneficial to gain insights with copper deficiency regulation and stress-responsive strategies in grapevines.
A Prospective, controlled, pilot study of personalized add-on Ayurveda treatment in high-risk Type II Diabetes COVID-19 patients
Authors: Kumar Somit , Eranezhanth Sujith Subash , Vishwanathan Vinod Kumar , Kakarla Mitravinda Sai , Chenthamarakshan Chaithanya , Selvaraj Lakshmiprabha , Satheeshan Balagopal , Unniappan Indulal , Purushotham Balaji , Pīrāgs Valdis , Furst Daniel E
Published: September 2023

Objective
In hospitalized mild to moderate COVID-19 Patients with Type 2 diabetes, we evaluated the efficacy of add-on customized Ayurveda intervention as compared to Standard of Care (SOC) in ameliorating symptoms, ICU admission and Ventilator support plus IL6 and CRP over 15 days.
Methods
In this quasi-experimental trial, 24 participants per arm diagnosed with COVID-19 by RT-PCR, aged 18 to 75 years, fulfilling the inclusion/exclusion criteria were inducted. The subjects were allocated, depending on their own voluntary choice to SOC plus Ayurveda (group 1) or SOC alone (group 2) for 15 days. The analyses used the Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel test, Multivariate ANOVA plus within group Repeated Measures ANOVA and Cochran’s Q test.
Results
Of the 13 symptoms, cough (p = 0.04), general weakness (p = 0.02), and sore throat (p = 0.02) were statistically significantly different across the groups, with Group I(add-on) improving better than Group II(SOC). IL-6 dropped rapidly in Group1 by 7 days (p = 0.006) Group 2 caught up by day 15.(p = 0.001). CRP improved more slowly than IL-6. The time to maximum change was not statistically different for IL-6 and CRP between the groups at day 15. There were no differences in AEs to Ayurveda added SOC group.
Conclusion
In this exploratory pilot study, cough, weakness and sore throat improved more in the add-on Ayurveda than in the SOC. IL-6 concentrations declining more rapidly in the add-on Ayurveda. Clinical and laboratory AEs suggested no additional toxicity of add-on Ayurveda treatments. This study supports the need for a randomized, double-blind trial.
Role of biochar in mitigating nickel stress in spinach (Spinacea oleracea L.) plants
Authors: Haider Arslan , Ahmad Muhammad Sajid Aqeel , Riffat Alia
Published: September 2023

Increasing nickel (Ni) concentration in plant cells causes physiological, metabolic and cellular alterations, which causes severe damage to the plants. Among various strategies to reduce Ni toxicity in plants, the use of biochar (BC) is very feasible method as it has potential to immobilize Ni which ultimately causes soil remediation. The present study was conducted to determine the role of BC in mitigating Ni stress. Two varieties of spinach (Desi and Green Gold), were subjected to BC (16.25 and 32.5 g) and Ni (5 mM) treatment. Results revealed that the length, fresh and dry weight of shoot and root were improved by application of BC at 32.5 g, however, application of Ni reduced all studied growth parameters. Among photosynthetic pigments, chlorophyll (chl) a, chl b, total chl and carotenoids were also improved at 32.5 g BC under Ni stress conditions. Biochar reduced the concentration of malondialdehyde (MDA) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) at 32.5 g by increasing enzymatic antioxidant superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD) and catalase (CAT) while, Ni stress raised the concentration of MDA and H2O2. Among organic osmolytes, BC at 32.5 g improved the concentration of glycine betain, total soluble proteins and total soluble sugars and lowered the toxic effects of Ni stress. The uptake of mineral ions such as Ca2+ and K+ were improved and Na+ concentration was reduced by applying BC at 32.5 g under Ni stress conditions. In conclusion, the application of BC at 32.5 g/ pot enhanced plant growth, photosynthetic pigments, osmolytes, antioxidants, ionic contents and lowered oxidative stress determinants to ameliorate Ni stress condition.
Genome-wide association studies for identification of novel QTLs related to four agronomic traits in Horsegram (Macrotyloma uniflorum)
Authors: Sharma Ankita , Chahota Rakesh Kumar
Published: September 2023

Horsegram (Macrotyloma uniflorum) is an important legume crop well adapted to harsh environments and has significant nutritional value. It is also well recognised due to its nutritional value, health benefits, drought tolerance, and ability to improve soil fertility. It is a versatile crop used in various dishes and is a valuable addition to any diet. However, in-depth molecular analysis must be improved to understand the molecular architecture regulating the essential traits. To achieve this, the study utilized a genome-wide association mapping approach using 88 horsegram accessions genotyped with 55656 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). A total of 54271 SNPs were mapped to the reference genome. Phenotypic data were collected for four agronomic and yield-related traits Plant height, Days to maturity, days to flowering and number of branches per plant. These traits played a significant role in plant growth, development, protection, and crop yield. The study identified 79 significant SNP-trait associations for the traits under study. The identified SNPs were in 8 chromosomes. The study also identified several novel genomic regions associated with the traits considered, providing new insights into the genetic basis of these essential traits in horse gram. Overall, the study highlights the potential of genome-wide association mapping for identifying genomic regions associated with important agronomic and yield-related traits in horsegram. This could facilitate the development of improved horsegram varieties through marker-assisted breeding programs and overcoming the morphological selection of desirable genotypes in the background of narrow genetic base.
Phylogenetic characterization of UPEC and its relation with serotyping, distribution of virulence factors, antimicrobial resistance pattern and biofilm formation ability: An apparent elucidation of the bacterial nature
Authors: Oskouie Arezoo Noie , Hasani Alka , Rezaee Mohammad Ahangarzadeh , Hasani Akbar , Saleh Parviz , Soltani Elghar
Published: September 2023

Extensive heterogeneity in O-serogroups, phylogenetic types, possession of plethora resistance mechanisms, and virulence factors have all accreted Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) to achieve a landmark as an attractive pathogen and a survival advantage. The present research aimed at a comprehensive approach investigating antibiotic susceptibility, biofilm capability, serotyping, phylogenetic typing, and virulence factors of 102 UPEC isolates. O-serotyping and virulence genotyping was conducted to detect 14 serogroups and 8 virulence genes including molecular predictors of UPEC strains. Phylogenetic groups were identified at molecular level and analyzed to evaluate whether these strains belonged to one lineage or extended widely among hospital patients. The analysis revealed that the majority of the strains belonged to the phylogenetic groups B2, D/E and serotype O25. The number of virulence factors and antibiotic resistance exhibited was significantly high in groups B2 and serogroup O25/O15 compared to other groups. Among the 74 multidrug-resistant isolates, 56.7% belonged to the phylogenetic group B2. Significantly, isolates belonging to phylogroup B2, serogroup O25 and those harbored fimH and papE/F virulence factors formed biofilm. In conclusion, our study observed the dissemination of UPEC among several serotypes and phylogenetic groups. Strong biofilm index suggests a characteristic feature of UPEC isolates.
Enhancing the clinical reasoning of new graduate nurses: An experimental study using pre-test and post-test measures
Authors: Tan Hui Luan , Eng Chui Lee , Tan Delphine Hui Fang , Oh Hui Yen , Loo Benny Kai Guo
Published: September 2023

Background: This study examined the development of clinical reasoning abilities among new graduate nurses in a hospital setting. A blended learning approach incorporating a serious gaming platform, Socratic questioning, self-assessment, and facilitator feedback was used to improve their ability to reason clinically in actual patient cases.
Method: This study used a blended learning approach to examine how including a serious gaming platform, Socratic questioning, self-assessment, and facilitator feedback impacted the clinical reasoning abilities of new graduate nurses when evaluating patient cases. We conducted a Paired Sample t-test using a validated rubric to evaluate the potential enhancement of clinical reasoning abilities.
Results: The results showed a noticeable disparity in the scores of clinical reasoning from the initial pre-test to the first post-test (M= -6.54 SD = 5.754) (t = -5.334, df = 21, p = 0.000), and from the initial pre-test to the second post-test (M = -9.54 SD = 5.115) (t = -8.752, df = 21, p = 0.000), at a significance level of 0.05, with p value less than 0.05. The study found that the effect size, d, was 0.53 indicating a medium effect size. In addition to quantitative data, nurses' perceptions of the blended learning approach incorporating the serious gaming platform, Socratic questioning, self-written case scenarios, and facilitator feedback were also reported to provide qualitative insights into the approach's effectiveness for nurses.
Conclusions: Study findings suggest that integrating a serious gaming platform (thinking aloud), self-assessment, facilitator feedback (using self-written case scenarios), and Socratic questioning effectively enhanced the clinical reasoning skills of nurses. Specifically, nurses were better able to form well-supported reasons and judgments when evaluating patient cases. These findings suggest that using a serious gaming platform with Socratic questions can enhance nurses' clinical reasoning skills through written and oral discussions.
Prediction of antibiotic resistance genes and resistance mechanisms of Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae strain L211 based on whole-genome sequencing
Authors: YANG Rui , WANG Linluo-sha , YANG Shuai , SHI Lin-fang , PENG Qing-zhong
Published: September 2023

The objective of this paper was to analyze of antibiotic resistance genes and mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in the causal agent of kiwifruit bacterial canker in western China. Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae (Psa) strain L211, previously isolated from canker-infected kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis)and identified in the laboratory, was used as the study material for whole-genome sequencing and annotation of gene functions. The antibiotic resistance genes and resistance mechanisms were predicted by comparison with the CARD database, and verified by antibiotic sensitivity tests. Our results showed that in total, 482 resistance genes were predicted in the strain L211 genome involved in resistance to28 antibiotics. Thepredicted genes were classified in six categories of resistance mechanisms, namely antibiotic efflux, antibiotic inactivation, antibiotic target alteration, antibiotic target protection, reduced antibiotic penetration, and mixed resistance mechanisms. Resistance was mainly characterized as active efflux, β-lactamase degradation, mutation of target genes, plasmid mediated, and reduced biofilm permeability. Antibiotic sensitivity tests revealed that strain L211 was resistant to carbenicillin, cefadroxil, clindamycin, isoniazid, sulfadiazine, bacitracin, norfloxacin, dapsone, and chloramphenicol, and sensitive to oxytetracycline, streptomycin, triclosan, and rifampin. Psa may be a broad-spectrum antibiotic-resistant bacterium, with antibiotic efflux as its main resistance mechanism.Multiple resistance mechanisms were predicted to act in concert, resulting in increased antibiotic resistance and resistance to multiple antibiotics. Frequent use of agricultural antibiotics is interpreted to have led to proliferation in resistance genes that target two antibiotics.To avoid further increase in the resistance spectrum of Psa, the use of chemical antibiotics in agriculture should be strictly controlled.
A graph-based Gaussian Mixture Variational Autoencoder improves metagenome binning for short contigs
Authors: Zhang Lu , Zhang Zhenmiao , Rao Mingxing , Huang Yufen
Published: September 2023

Grouping contigs from the same genome together through metagenome binning is crucial in reconstructing metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs). While existing metagenome binning methods have successfully produced near-complete MAGs for long contigs with lengths exceeding 2Kb, they typically neglect short contigs in binning due to their inability to process the unstable conventional sequence composition features of short contigs.

We developed DeepMetaBin, a contig binning method that utilizes a graph-based Gaussian Mixture Variational Autoencoder (GMVAE) to group short (1Kb-2Kb) and long contigs (>2Kb) together. DeepMetaBin starts by generating a k-nearest neighbor graph (k-NN) for contigs based on their sequence composition features and removes noise nodes based on preliminary clustering and label propagation. Next, edges in the refined k-NN are incorporated as “must-links” to stabilize the embedding of short contigs in GMVAE. Finally, Gaussian Mixture Model is used to group the contigs into super clusters in the low-dimensional space, followed by involving single-copy genes as “cannot-links” to facilitate the division of these super clusters using constraint k-means.

We extensively evaluated DeepMetaBin by comparing its performance with six existing metagenome binning tools using simulated and real microbial communities. DeepMetaBin achieved the highest F1 scores for most of the single-sample and multi-sample metagenome binning tasks. It addressed the current practice in the research community of omitting short contigs during modeling and was the only tool that achieved state-of-art performance on both F1 scores and the number of near-complete MAGs.
Formation Behaviors and Selective Separation of the Binary (SF6+N2) Gas Mixtures Using Hydroquinone Clathrate
Authors: Yoon Sang Jun , Yoon Ji-Ho , Lee Jong-Won
Published: September 2023

After reacting hydroquinone (HQ) powder with pure sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) and nitrogen (N2), and binary gas mixtures of (SF6 + N2) with various compositions at experimental pressures of 20 bar and 40 bar, the HQ samples are analyzed using a series of analytic methods to obtain both qualitative and quantitative information. As a result, it was found that N2 can be enclathrated into cavities of the formed HQ clathrate if the simplified partial pressure of N2 is sufficiently large (occupation of 10% per one cavity when the simplified partial pressure is 32 bar, and occupation of 40% per one cavity when the pressure of pure N2 is 40 bar). In addition, additional experiments were performed to evaluate the N2 storage in the clathrate depending on the experimental pressure. When the pressure of pure N2 was increased up to 80 bar, the occupation per one clathrate cage was calculated to be 55%, which corresponded to 18.7 L of N2 at STP conditions per 1 kg of HQ. Because higher pressure is required to form the HQ clathrate and the stored amount of gas molecules is smaller compared with other technologies such as adsorption or hydrate-based process, a lot of additional investigations will be necessary, focusing on reducing energy consumption and increasing the gas storage.
Improving Stay-green Traits and Related Physiological Metabolism Increased the Rice Yield under Long-term Warming in Cool Region
Authors: Ma Ke , Zhou Yuanyuan , Ma Yao , Zhang Taoren
Published: September 2023

Research on the effect of long-term warming on rice in cool region is still rare. This study used the widely cultivated japonica rice Jiyang100 in Northeast China as the experiment material. We set up warming treatments at three growth stages of rice in the field: the tillering-panicle initiation stage (T1), the whole growth stage (T2) and the grain-filling stage (T3). The rice yield showed a trend of T1 > T2 > T3 > CK in both years. The positive effects of T1, T2 and T3 on the total number of spikelets per hole significantly increased the yield, with average increased by 11.5%, 9.9% and 6.5%, respectively. Each warming treatment had significant positive effect on the stay-green traits, photosynthesis, sucrose synthesis, and nitrogen metabolism of rice. The yield was significantly positively correlated with SPAD, soluble sugar content, sucrose content, SPS, NR, GS, and GOGAT activity. The physiological models constructed by SPAD and sucrose content could explain the changes of the yield (R2=0.704). The stay-green traits had significant correlation between carbon and nitrogen metabolism, and it played a pivotal role in them. Wherein, SPAD had significant positive correlation with soluble sugar content, soluble protein content, NR, GS, GOGAT and GDH activity, and significant negative correlation with AI activity. The stay-green ability had significant positive correlation with Pn, soluble sugar content and soluble protein content. The above results indicated that the coupling interaction of stay-green traits, nitrogen metabolism and carbon metabolism increased the sink capacity potential and sink storage supply capacity, which was the reason for the increase in rice yield under long-term warming in cool region.
Relationship between burnout, job performance and nurse-patient interaction in Taizhou, China
Authors: Yang Yu-pei , Wu Wei-dan , Ke Zi-wei , Jiesisibeike Zhu Liduzi , Tung Tao-Hsin
Published: September 2023

Purpose: To explore the relationship between burnout, job performance and nurse-patient interaction in Taizhou, China.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was used with a Caring nurse-patient interaction scale, effort/reward imbalance scale, Maslach Burnout Inventory Human Service Survey and self-rated performance scale. A total of 503 nurses were recruited. Multivariate linear regression was used to analyze the association between components in burnout, job performance and nurse-patient interaction.
Results: The mean nurse-patient interaction score was 104.30±11.60. Multivariate linear regression analysis revealed that depersonalization (β= -0.60, P<0.001, 95%CI: -0.87, -0.34) was negatively associated with nurse-patient interaction. Personal accomplishment (β= 0.17, P=0.002, 95%CI: 0.06, 0.28), and job performance (β= 0.22, P < 0.001, 95%CI: 0.14, 0.31) were both positively related to nurse-patient interaction after adjustment for confounding factors.
Conclusion: Depersonalization, personal accomplishment and job performance were significantly related to nurse-patient interaction among clinical nurses.
An Improved YOLOv5s Model Based on DeepSORT for Pedestrian Detection and Tracking
Authors: Zheng Bowen , Shen Yunchang , Lu Huacai
Published: September 2023

Various problems afflict the complex network structures that are implemented in pedestrian detection and tracking applications, including a large number of parameters, lengthy training times, and slow running speeds. This is especially true when current algorithms are used on mobile devices. In this study, we proposed an improved pedestrian detection and tracking model based on YOLOv5s detection and DeepSort tracking and used the video Mosaic algorithm based on the scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) algorithm to expand the scope of pedestrian detection and tracking by addressing the aforementioned problems. We implemented MnasNet_P, cavity convolution, and SPP layers in our model. The Mish activation function replaced the LeakyReLU activation function to improve the generalizability of the model. A depth-separable convolution was introduced to replace the standard convolution of residual edges in the C3_1 structure, reducing the number of network parameters. Shufflenetv2_x1.5 was introduced as a pedestrian appearance feature extraction network, further reducing the number of network parameters while maintaining high tracking accuracy. Finally, we used the video splicing algorithm based on SIFT to expand the range of pedestrian tracking. Application of our model to public datasets demonstrated an improvement of 2.71% in average accuracy and an improvement of 30.7% in the FPS rate. Experimental results obtained with the MOT16 dataset demonstrated a substantially reduced model size while maintaining a high tracking accuracy, indicating that our algorithm is suitable for pedestrian tracking on mobile terminals or embedded devices. The real-time video stitching method based on SIFT expanded the tracking range of pedestrians.
An analysis of Medical Emergency Team (MET) activated events and goals of care trajectories across the General Medical In-patient journey
Authors: Perera Padeepa , Rotherham Hannah , Fazio Timothy , Johnson Douglas , Presneill Jeffrey
Published: September 2023

Background/Aims:
We aimed to evaluate the characteristics, predictors for, and outcomes of Medical Emergency Team (MET) activated events, and identify associations with Goals of Care (GOC) changes across the General Medical admission.
Methods:
A 12-month retrospective observational study was conducted at Royal Melbourne Hospital (January-December-2021), comparing General Medical admissions requiring METs versus those not.
Results:
423 (9.2%) of 4594 identified admissions required METs; MET patients had higher Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) score (2 vs 1), ICU admission (19.4% vs 5.5%), and length of stay (16.6 vs 5.8 days). MET patients were associated with increased inpatient mortality (9.9% vs 1.6%), more conservative GOC at admission end (45.4% vs 35.5% GOC C/D), and only 44.4% (vs 70.9%) were discharged to independent living.
The most significant independent predictor for METs was higher CCI score: Score 1-2; OR 1.63 (p=0.01), Score >=3; OR 3.61 (p=<0.001). Increasing age (by decade) was associated with reduced METs (OR 0.89, p=0.01). Higher CCI score was also associated with increased in-patient mortality: Score 1-2; OR 5.51 (p=0.01), Score >=3; OR 15.35 (p=<0.001).
The occurrence of a MET (OR 0.25, p=<0.001), higher CCI score (CCI>=3; OR 0.44, p=<0.001), and advancing age (>=90 years; OR 0.24, p=<0.001) were independently associated with increased conservative GOC at admission end.
Conclusion:
General Medical inpatients requiring METs had higher co-morbidities, length of stay and inpatient mortality, with less likelihood of discharge to independent living. Increasing CCI score was an independent predictor for METs, in-patient mortality, and a change towards more conservative GOC at admission end.
Predictive Value of Jugulo-omohyoid Lymph Nodes in Lateral Lymph Node Metastasis of Papillary Thyroid Cancer
Authors: Cai Huizhu , Zhuge Lingdun , Huang Zehao , Wang Shixu , Shi Ping , Yan Dangui , Li Zhengjiang , Niu Lijuan
Published: September 2023

Background: Jugulo-omohyoid lymph nodes (JOHLN) metastasis has proven to be associated with lateral lymph node metastasis (LLNM). This study aimed to reveal the clinical features and evaluate the predictive value of JOHLN in PTC to guide the extent of surgery.
Methods: A total of 550 patients pathologically diagnosed with PTC between October 2015 and January 2020, all of whom underwent thyroidectomy and lateral lymph node dissection, were included in this study.
Results: Thyroiditis, tumor location, tumor size, extra-thyroidal extension, extra-nodal extension, central lymph node metastasis (CLNM) and LLMM were associated with JOHLN. And male, upper lobe tumor, multifocality, extra-nodal extension, CLNM and JOHLN metastasis were independent risk factors from LLNM. A nomogram based on upon predictors performed well. Nerve invasion contributed the most to the prediction model, followed by JOHLN metastasis. The area under the curve (AUC) was 0.855, and the p-value of the Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness of fit test was 0.18. Decision curve analysis showed that the nomogram was clinically helpful.
Conclusion: JOLHN metastasis could be a clinically sensitive predictor of further LLM. A high-performance nomogram was established, which can provide an individual risk assessment of LNM and guide treatment decisions for patients.
Indian Female Non-Business Graduate Students’ Experience: Understanding of Commercial Acumen Skills and Relevance to Employment
Authors: Clarke Andy , Bhutani Manisha , Thakore Renuka , Chaudhary Vishal
Published: September 2023

Indian female graduate students have to make choices among multiple aspects of their mental and physical abilities as science students and women in a society with different gender norms in the country. However, their experiences have not been well researched within the scholarship on commercial acumen. In this study, using the phenomenological approach, we explored the phenomenon of commercial acumen in the Indian female graduates studying science course meaning non-business course. The participants were diverse in terms of their status as students, current students and alumni. A small number of employers also participated in the study. A survey with open-ended and closed questions was used to evaluate the understanding and relevance of commercial acumen skills in the female graduate students, alumni, and employers. The findings of 127 responses indicated that the female graduate students perceived being on the non-business course as a limited experience of understanding of commercial acumen in the context of employability skills. This study recommends a reflection on the part of the educators to highlight the relevance and definition of commercial acumen during degree programmes.
On the modelling of peeling growth using damage models between elasto-viscoplastic film and elastic substrate
Authors: Belarbi Abderrahmane , Bouhamida Bachir , Bennegadi Mohame Larbi
Published: September 2023

In recent years, there is an increasing trend of use the cohesive zone model (CZM) procedure in peeling test computing the separation energy between the film and the substrate. In this paper, an original technique expressed a failed zone method (FZM) is developed in order to determine in peeling model the progressive failure path in two materials interface. This approach is based on accumulated plastic strain computation leading to a full damage at the root of debonded interface between ductile film and rigid substrate. This damaged zone procedure is numerically conducted by finite element method program based on the release of fully damaged node to separate the connected elements creating a cracking path. In this analysis, a nonlinear damage evolution law is proposed in comparison with Lemaitre and Goijaerts locally accumulated damage models taking into account the materials properties, substrate elastic behaviour and film elasto-viscoplastic constitutive law. In one hand, the proposed damage model is in good agreement with both models and in the other hand this approach reflects perfectly step-by-step the peel growth of ductile film from rigid matrix.
A novel method for solving nonmonotone equilibrium problems
Authors: Huyen Thanh Tran Thi , Duc Manh Hy , Thanh Ha Nguyen Thi , Van Dinh Bui
Published: September 2023

In this paper, we propose a novel projection method for finding a solution of equilibrium problems EP($C, f$) in Euclidean spaces in which the bifunction does not require to be satisfied any monotonicity. Unlike methods for solving such a problem used in the literature, shrinking projection methods which may raise cost of computation, we suggest using an adaptive projection method incorporate with linesearch procedures to solve these problems when the bifunction does not satisfy the Lipschitz type condition. These linesearches are unnecessary when $f$ satisfies the Lipschitz type condition with constants $L_1$ and $L_2$. In case these constants are unknown, we propose to use the adaptive step sizes. All algorithms are proven to converge to a solution of the considered problem, and some numerical examples are also reported to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed algorithms.
Mathematics Subject Classification (2000) 90C26 · 90C33 · 47J20 · 65K15 · 65J20
Relation between blood pressure time in range and composite cardiovascular disease in patients with primary aldosteronism: a retrospective study
Authors: Yan Fangfang , Yu Huangdao , Lan Liping , Xu Ziqing , Zeng Jingyang , Huang Bingkun , Liu Changqin , Li Xuejun , Lin Mingzhu
Published: September 2023

Purpose: To investigate the association between blood pressure (BP) time in range (TIR) and composite cardiovascular disease (CVD) in patients with primary aldosteronism (PA).
Methods: Between January 2019 and December 2021, 47 patients with PA were recruited from the First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University. Twenty-four-hour ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) and composite CVD events were assessed in all patients.
Results: The mean age of the patients was 48.8 ± 11.4 years. Compared to PA without composite CVD events, the nighttime systolic BP TIR [31.2% (6.2%, 81.2%) vs. 11.5% (0.0%, 29.7%), p = 0.02] and DDDs of antihypertensive medication [2.0 (1.0, 2.8) vs. 1.0 (1.0, 2.0), p = 0.03] were lower in PA patients with composite CVD events, while higher glucose (5.0 ± 1.0 mmol/L vs. 5.9 ± 1.5 mmol/L) and prevalence of a history of alcohol intake was higher in PA patients with composite CVD events. There were no differences in age, sex, BMI, smoking, duration of hypertension, lipid levels, aldosteronism, clinic BP, 24-hour mean BP, daytime or nighttime BP, percentage of nocturnal SBP or DBP decline, 24-hour BP TIR, daytime BP TIR, or nighttime DBP TIR between the two groups. After adjusting for confounding factors, nighttime systolic BP TIR was significantly associated with composite CVD events (adjusted OR = 0.92 [95% CI 0.86, 0.99]) in multiple logistic regression analysis.
Conclusion: Patients with PA and composite CVD events had lower nighttime SBP TIR, suggesting that nighttime BP TIR may be a significant predictor of the prognosis of composite CVD events.
Accuracy Improvement of Knowledge Transfer from Private Training Data with PATE
Authors: Luo Wei , Tang Fei , Ling Guowei , Shan Jinyong
Published: September 2023

Some machine learning applications involve sensitive training data, such as the medical histories of patients in a clinical trial. A model may inadvertently and implicitly store some training data and careful analysis of the model may reveal the sensitive information. To address this problem, Papernot et al. proposed Private Aggregation of Teacher Ensembles (PATE) framework. PATE transfers the knowledge from the teacher model to the student model with teachers training on disjoint data and privacy guaranteed by noisy aggregation of teachers? predictions. However, PATE has a limit that it requires disjoint training data for a large number of teachers. If the number of teachers is small, then the student model has a poor accuracy. To address the issue of the PATE, we propose an efficient algorithm to improve the student accuracy when the number of teachers is small. In order to validate the performance of our algorithm, we conduct a series of experiments on MNIST and BreastCancer. The evaluation shows our algorithm improves on the original PATE with both high accuracy and strong privacy. For example, when the number of teachers n = 50 and the privacy budget = 3.76, the student of our algorithm achieves 92.1% accuracy while the original PATE only has 60.0%.
Non-destructive testing of steel pipes that are long-term exploited according by statistical hardness parameters
Authors: Goncharov Nikolai , Osipov Sergey , Brusnik Oleg
Published: September 2023

The features of non-destructive testing of steel pipes with a long service life in terms of dynamic hardness parameters are considered. The limited applicability of normal and lognormal distributions, the Weibull and Gumbel distributions to describe the distribution density of hardness estimates for steels that have been in long-term operation in harsh meteorological and functional conditions of Siberia and the Far North is shown. A number of experiments were carried out on the formation of digital images of the hardness distribution over the surface of the tested products. Hypotheses are formulated regarding the use of such images to assess the current technical state of metal products and the dynamics of its change. The possibility of describing the hardness of steel specimens used for a long time in difficult conditions of Siberia by a weighted sum of two normal distributions has been experimentally proved.
Computational Assessment of Spectral Heterogeneity within Fresh Glioblastoma Tissue Using Raman Spectroscopy and Machine Learning Algorithms
Authors: Klein Karoline , Klamminger Gilbert Georg , Mombaerts Laurent , Jelke Finn , Arroteia Isabel Fernandes , Slimani Rédouane , Mirizzi Giulia , Husch Andreas , Frauenknecht Katrin B.M. , Mittelbronn Michel , Hertel Frank , Kleine-Borgmann Felix Bruno
Published: September 2023

Understanding and classifying inherent tumor heterogeneity is a multimodal approach, which can be undertaken at the genetic, biochemical, or morphological level, among others. Optical spectral methods such as Raman Spectroscopy aim at rapid and non-destructive tissue analysis, where each spectrum generated reflects the individual molecular composition of an examined spot within a (heterogenous) tissue sample. Using a combination of supervised and unsupervised machine learning methods as well as a solid database of Raman spectra of native glioblastoma samples, we succeed not only in distinguishing explicit tumor areas - vital tumor tissue and necrotic tumor tissue can correctly be predicted with an accuracy of 76% - but also in determining and classifying different spectral entities within the histomorphologically distinct class of vital tumor tissue. Measurements of non-pathological, autoptic brain tissue hereby serve as a healthy control since their respective spectroscopic properties form an individual and reproducible cluster within the spectral heterogeneity of a vital tumor sample. The demonstrated decipherment of a spectral glioblastoma heterogeneity will serve valuable especially in the field of spectroscopically guided surgery to delineate tumor margins and to assist resection control.
Fourier Tools for the Evaluation of Refractive Multifocal Designs
Authors: Gracia Pablo
Published: September 2023

Tools and methods for the theoretical evaluation of optical properties of refractive multifocal commercial designs are presented, which use segmentation techniques to divide the pupil and classical Fourier optics. They can be applied to refractive designs such as multifocal contact lenses and intraocular lenses as well as to the study of small aperture designs and corneal inlays. In this paper, the optical profiles of 12 multifocal, commercially available, contact lenses from four companies were measured with the help of the NIMO equipment (LAMBDA-X). The corresponding through-focus Visual Strehl ratios were computed in the frequency domain to quantify image quality as a single scalar value. The multifocal properties of each of the commercial contact lenses were evaluated for three different base prescriptions (-6.00 D, -3.00 D, and + 1.00 D) in 65 patients. The contact lenses of this study were also evaluated in conjunction with the higher-order aberrations obtained from 65 eyes collected by using a standard Shack-Hartmann sensor. The diameters used for the evaluation of the contact lenses varied according to each eye’s pupil size (from 2.45 to 6.27 mm). The proposed tools have allowed us to evaluate multifocal solutions in a theoretical manner without the necessity of creating prototypes. They helped us differentiate between lenses created for young and old presbyopes, instructed the proper utilization of hyperfocal distance in the field of contact lens design, and demonstrated the importance of the effective aperture effect. This is the first proposed method that converts sagittal powers of multifocal solutions into their equivalent optical quality metric. It can be applied to the evaluation of myopia control methods. It is the author’s hope that the reader appreciates the tools presented and uses them to further the field of refractive multifocality.