bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Longitudinal association between food frequency and changes in body mass index: a prospective cohort study
Authors: Bernabe-Ortiz Antonio , Carrillo-Larco Rodrigo M
Published: September 2020

Objectives

Analysing data of the Young Lives Study in Peru, we aimed at assessing the association between daily food frequency and body mass index (BMI) changes between 2006 and 2016.

Design

Secondary analysis of a prospective ongoing cohort study.

Setting

20 sentinel sites in Peru.

Participants

Children enrolled in the younger cohort of the Young Lives Study. We used information from the second (2006–2007), third (2009–2010), fourth (2013–2014) and fifth (2016–2017) rounds of the younger cohort in Peru.

Primary and secondary outcomes

BMI as well as BMI-for-age z-score, both as numerical variables.

Results

Data from 1948 children, mean age 4.3 (SD: 0.3) years and 966 (49.6%) women were included at baseline. In multivariable model, lower food consumption frequency was associated with increased BMI and BMI-for-age z-scores: children reporting <4 times of food consumption per day had a greater increase in BMI (β=0.39; 95% CI 0.17 to 0.62) and BMI-for-age z-score (β=0.07; 95% CI 0.01 to 0.13) compared with those reporting 5 per day. Results were consistent for those reporting exactly eating 4 times per day (β for BMI=0.16; 95% CI 0.02 to 0.30 and β for BMI-for-age z-score=0.05; 95% CI 0.01 to 0.09).

Conclusions

Children who eat <5 times per day, gain more BMI compared with those who eat ≥5 times. Parents should receive information to secure adequate nutrition for their children, both in terms of quality and quantity.
Profile and complexity of travel medicine consultations in Chile: unicentric cross-sectional study
Authors: Weitzel Thomas
Published: September 2020

Objective

To analyse the spectrum, vaccination needs and pretravel advice complexity of travellers presenting at a travel medicine clinic in Santiago, Chile.

Design

Cross-sectional study.

Setting

Pretravel consultations in a private healthcare centre in Chile, an ‘emerging market’ country in South America.

Participants

Travellers (n=1341) seeking pretravel advice at the Travel Medicine Program of Clínica Alemana, Santiago, from April 2016 to March 2018.

Primary and secondary outcome measures

Demographical and travel characteristics, indications for travel vaccines and malaria prophylaxis, and complexity of travel consultations.

Results

Of 1341 travellers, 51% were female; the median age was 33 years. Most frequent travel reasons were tourism (67%) and business (20%). Median travel duration and time to departure were 21 days and 28 days, respectively. Most destinations were located in America (41%), followed by Asia (36%) and Africa (26%); 96% visited less developed countries, mostly in tropical regions, with risk of arboviral infections (94%) and malaria (69%). The indicated vaccine indications comprised hepatitis A (84%), yellow fever (58%), typhoid fever (51%), rabies (29%), polio (8%), Japanese encephalitis (6%) and meningococcal meningitis (5%). More than 60% of consultations were classified as complex.

Conclusion

The studied population mostly visited less developed tropical regions, resulting in a high requirement of yellow fever and other travel-related vaccinations. Most consultations were complex and required a comprehensive knowledge and training in travel medicine.
Assisting beginners in root cause analysis operations: analysis and recommendations regarding the spread of COVID-19 in nursing facilities for the elderly
Authors: Tsuchiya Hitoshi
Published: September 2020

Background

To analyse a medical accident, much time and experience are needed. However, people without experience in analysis have difficulty understanding its conditions and methods, and as a result it takes longer to establish countermeasures. It must be noted that understanding conditions by simply aligning occurrences in the accident in a chronological order is difficult.

Purpose

A workflow chart that considers time was proposed so that individuals without adequate experience in analysis could easily carry out root cause analysis.

Methods

In the ‘workflow chart (WFC)’, the time sequence was described horizontally. On the vertical axis, the business manual, the occurrence of the accident, and the time of the occurrence are displayed. In the bottom column of patient event, information regarding damage to patients was written in accordance with time axis. Regarding the degree of damage, the time of error until the accident was identified was connected using a straight line (when the patient was not affected, a dotted line was used) in order to show the overall picture of the accident.

Results

According to the time flow chart, hints to identify potential risks were proposed. Focus was placed not only on the error event, but also on keywords such as manual inadequacy, time gap, degree of error and so on to easily lead to the question ‘why?’ To visualise this, I proposed an operation flow chart. By using time-WFC, even beginners can easily develop accident countermeasure strategies.

Conclusion

Using a WFC that considers time, time of error and the occurrence of accident could be visualised. As a result, even individuals without experience in analysis could easily perform an analysis.
Impact of cytokine release syndrome on cardiac function following CD19 CAR-T cell therapy in children and young adults with hematological malignancies
Authors: Shalabi Haneen , Sachdev Vandana , Kulshreshtha Amita , Cohen Julia W , Yates Bonnie , Rosing Doug R , Sidenko Stanislav , Delbrook Cindy , Mackall Crystal , Wiley Brandon , Lee Daniel W , Shah Nirali N
Published: September 2020

Background

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell-associated cytokine release syndrome (CRS) may present with tachycardia, hemodynamic instability and reduced cardiac function. Pediatric CAR studies examining cardiac toxicity are limited.

Methods

We report on cardiac toxicity observed in children and young adults with hematologic malignancies enrolled in a CD19-28ζ CAR T-cell phase I trial (NCT01593696). All patients had a formal baseline echocardiogram. Real-time studies included echocardiograms on intensive care unit (ICU) transfer, and serial troponin and pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (pro-BNP) in the select patients.

Results

From July 2012 to March 2016, 52 patients, with a median age of 13.4 years (range 4.2–30.3) were treated. CRS developed in 37/52 (71%), which was grade 3–4 CRS in nine patients (17%). The median prior anthracycline exposure was 205 mg/m2 (range 70–620 mg/m2) in doxorubicin equivalents. The median baseline left ventricle ejection fraction (LVEF) and baseline LV global longitudinal strain (GLS) were 60% (range 50%–70%) and 16.8% (range 14.1%–23.5%, n=37) respectively. The majority, 78% (29/37), of patients had a reduced GLS <19% at baseline, and 6% (3/52) of patients had baseline LVEF <53%. ICU transfers occurred in 21 patients, with nine requiring vasoactive hemodynamic support and three necessitating >1 vasopressor. Six (12%) patients developed cardiac dysfunction (defined by >10% absolute decrease in LVEF or new-onset grade 2 or higher LV dysfunction, per CTCAE v4), among whom 4 had grade 3–4 CRS. Troponin elevations were seen in 4 of 13 patients, all of whom had low LVEF. Pro-BNP was elevated from baseline in 6/7 patients at the onset of CRS, with higher levels correlating with more severe CRS. Cardiac dysfunction fully resolved in all but two patients by day 28 post-CAR.

Conclusion

Cardiac toxicity related to CD19-28ζ CAR T-cell-associated CRS was generally reversible by day 28 postinfusion. Implementation of more frequent monitoring with formal echocardiograms incorporating systemic analysis of changes in GLS, and cardiac biomarkers (troponin and proBNP) may help to earlier identify those patients at highest risk of severe cardiac systolic dysfunction, facilitating earlier interventions for CRS to potentially mitigate acute cardiac toxicity.
Lactoferrin and hematoma detoxification after intracerebral hemorrhage
Authors: Zhao Xiurong , Kruzel Marian , Aronowski Jaroslaw
Published: September 2020

In this minireview we discuss the role of lactoferrin (LTF) in detoxifying hematoma after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). Subsequent to ICH, neutrophils enter the ICH-affected brain, where they release various granule contents, including LTF. LTF is an iron-binding glycoprotein that binds Fe3+with high affinity. Unlike other iron-binding proteins, LTF can retain Fe3+at the low pH associated with inflamed tissue. LTF’s ability to sequester Fe3+is of particular importance to ICH pathogenesis, because large quantities of free iron, which is pro-oxidative and pro-inflammatory, are generated in the ICH-affected brain owing to blood hemolysis. LTF delivered to ICH-affected brain, either as a therapeutic agent or through infiltrated polymorphonuclear neutrophils (cells containing high levels of LTF), could limit the pathogenesis of ICH. LTF is a protein with a high isoelectric point (8.7), a property that enables it to bind to negatively-charged apoptotic cells or proteins. Here, LTF could act as a bridging molecule that couples the apoptotic cells to LTF receptors on the cellular membranes of microglia/macrophages to facilitate the efferocytosis/erythrophagocytosis of apoptotic cells and damaged red blood cells. Thus, by virtue of sequestrating iron and facilitating efferocytosis, LTF may contribute to hematoma detoxification and hematoma/inflammation resolution after ICH.
Upstream fishway performance by Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and brown trout (Salmo trutta) spawners at complex hydropower dams — is prior experience a success criterion?
Authors: Hagelin Anna , Museth Jon , Greenberg Larry , Kraabøl Morten , Calles Olle , Bergman Eva
Published: September 2020

Passage of hydropower plants by upstream-migrating salmonid spawners is associated with reduced migration success, and the need for knowledge of fish behavior downstream of dams is widely recognized. In this study, we examined fishway passage of landlocked Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in River Klarälven, Sweden, and brown trout (Salmo trutta) in River Gudbrandslågen, Norway, and the influence of prior experience on passage success in 2012 and 2013. Fishway trap efficiency varied from 18% to 88% and was influenced by river discharge. Most salmon (81%) entered the fishway trap on days without spill, and salmon moved from the turbine area to the spill zone when there was spill, with small individuals showing a stronger reaction than large fish. Analysis of fish with and without prior trap experience showed that a higher percentage of the “naïve” fish (70% of salmon and 43% of the trout) entered the fishway traps than the “experienced” ones (25% of the salmon and 15% of the trout). Delays for fish that entered the trap ranged from 3 to 70 days for salmon and 2 to 47 days for trout.
SmileAuth
Authors: Jiang Hongbo , Cao Hangcheng , Liu Daibo , Xiong Jie , Cao Zhichao
Published: September 2020

User authentication is crucial for security and privacy protection on smartphones. While a variety of authentication schemes are available on smartphones, security flaws have been continuously discovered. Fingerprint films can deceive fingerprint sensors and anti-surveillance prosthetic masks can spoof face recognition. In this paper, we propose a novel user authentication system SmileAuth that leverages the unique features of people's dental edge biometrics for reliable and convenient user authentication. SmileAuth extracts a series of dental edge features by slightly moving the smartphone to capture a few images from different camera angles. These unique features are determined by the tooth size, shape, position and surface abrasion. SmileAuth is robust against image spoofing, video-based attack, physically forced attack and denture attack. We implemented the prototype of SmileAuth on Android smartphones and comprehensively evaluated its performance by recruiting more than 300 volunteers. Experimental results show that SmileAuth can achieve an overall 99.74% precision, 98.69% F-score, 2.31% FNR and 0.25% FPR in diverse scenarios. Additional experiments with two pairs of twins demonstrate that dental edge biometrics are unique enough to effectively distinguish twins.
Assessing Cognitive Performance Using Physiological and Facial Features
Authors: Sharma Kshitij , Niforatos Evangelos , Giannakos Michail , Kostakos Vassilis
Published: September 2020

Sensing and machine learning advances have enabled the unobtrusive measurement of physiological responses and facial expressions so as to estimate one's cognitive performance. This often boils down to mapping the states of the cognitive processes underpinning human cognition: physiological responses (e.g., heart rate) and facial expressions (e.g., frowning) often reflect the states of our cognitive processes. However, it remains unclear whether physiological responses and facial expressions used in one particular task (e.g., gaming) can reliably assess cognitive performance in another task (e.g., coding), because complex and diverse tasks often require varying levels and combinations of cognitive processes. In this paper, we measure the cross-task reliability of physiological and facial responses. Specifically, we assess cognitive performance based on physiological responses and facial expressions for 123 participants in 4 independent studies (3 studies for out-of-sampling training and testing, and 1 study for evaluation only): (1) a Pac-Man game, (2) an adaptive-assessment task, (3) a code-debugging task, and (4) a gaze-based game. We follow an ensemble learning approach after cross-training and cross-testing with all possible combinations of the 3 first datasets. We save the 4th dataset only for testing purposes, and we showcase how to engineer generalizable features that predict cognitive performance. Our results show that the extracted features do generalize, and can reliably predict cognitive performance across a diverse set of cognitive tasks that require different combinations of problem-solving, decision-making, and learning processes for their completion.
n-Gage
Authors: Gao Nan , Shao Wei , Rahaman Mohammad Saiedur , Salim Flora D.
Published: September 2020

The study of student engagement has attracted growing interests to address problems such as low academic performance, disaffection, and high dropout rates. Existing approaches to measuring student engagement typically rely on survey-based instruments. While effective, those approaches are time-consuming and labour-intensive. Meanwhile, both the response rate and quality of the survey are usually poor. As an alternative, in this paper, we investigate whether we can infer and predict engagement at multiple dimensions, just using sensors. We hypothesize that multidimensional student engagement level can be translated into physiological responses and activity changes during the class, and also be affected by the environmental changes. Therefore, we aim to explore the following questions: Can we measure the multiple dimensions of high school student's learning engagement including emotional, behavioural and cognitive engagement with sensing data in the wild? Can we derive the activity, physiological, and environmental factors contributing to the different dimensions of student learning engagement? If yes, which sensors are the most useful in differentiating each dimension of the engagement? Then, we conduct an in-situ study in a high school from 23 students and 6 teachers in 144 classes over 11 courses for 4 weeks. We present the n-Gage, a student engagement sensing system using a combination of sensors from wearables and environments to automatically detect student in-class multidimensional learning engagement. Extensive experiment results show that n-Gage can accurately predict multidimensional student engagement in real-world scenarios with an average mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.788 and root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.975 using all the sensors. We also show a set of interesting findings of how different factors (e.g., combinations of sensors, school subjects, CO2 level) affect each dimension of the student learning engagement.
Virtual Paving
Authors: Xu Shuchang , Yang Ciyuan , Ge Wenhao , Yu Chun , Shi Yuanchun
Published: September 2020

Tactile pavings are public works for visually impaired people, designed to indicate a particular path to follow by providing haptic cues underfoot. However, they face many limitations such as installation errors, obstructions, degradation, and limited coverage. To address these issues, we propose Virtual Paving, which aims to assist independent navigation by rendering a smooth path to visually impaired people through multi-modal feedback. This work assumes that a path has been planned to avoid obstacles and focuses on the feedback design to guide users along the path safely, smoothly, and efficiently. Firstly, we extracted the design guidelines of Virtual Paving based on an investigation into visually impaired people's current practices and issues with tactile pavings. Next, we developed a multi-modal solution through co-design and evaluation with visually impaired users. This solution included (1) vibrotactile feedback on the shoulders and waist to give readily-perceivable directional cues and (2) audio feedback to describe road conditions ahead of the user. Finally, we evaluated the proposed solution through user tests. Guided by the designed feedback, 16 visually impaired participants successfully completed 127 out of 128 trials with 2.1m-wide basic paths, including straight and curved paths. Subjective feedback indicated that our solution to render Virtual Paving was easy for users to learn, and it also enabled them to walk smoothly. The feasibility and potential limitations for Virtual Paving to support independent navigation in real environments are discussed.
InSight
Authors: Janveja Ishani , Nambi Akshay , Bannur Shruthi , Gupta Sanchit , Padmanabhan Venkat
Published: September 2020

Road safety is a major public health issue across the globe and over two-thirds of the road accidents occur at nighttime under low-light conditions or darkness. The state of the driver and her/his actions are the key factors impacting road safety. How can we monitor these in a cost-effective manner and in low-light conditions? RGB cameras present in smartphones perform poorly in low-lighting conditions due to lack of information captured. Hence, existing monitoring solutions rely upon specialized hardware such as infrared cameras or thermal cameras in low-light conditions, but are limited to only high-end vehicles owing to the cost of the hardware. We present InSight, a windshield-mounted smartphone-based system that can be retrofitted to the vehicle to monitor the state of the driver, specifically driver fatigue (based on frequent yawning and eye closure) and driver distraction (based on their direction of gaze). Challenges arise from designing an accurate, yet low-cost and non-intrusive system to continuously monitor the state of the driver.

In this paper, we present two novel and practical approaches for continuous driver monitoring in low-light conditions: (i) Image synthesis: enabling monitoring in low-light conditions using just the smartphone RGB camera by synthesizing a thermal image from RGB with a Generative Adversarial Network, and (ii) Near-IR LED: using a low-cost near-IR (NIR) LED attachment to the smartphone, where the NIR LED acts as a light source to illuminate the driver's face, which is not visible to the human eyes, but can be captured by standard smartphone cameras without any specialized hardware. We show that the proposed techniques can capture the driver's face accurately in low-lighting conditions to monitor driver's state. Further, since NIR and thermal imagery is significantly different than RGB images, we present a systematic approach to generate labelled data, which is used to train existing computer vision models. We present an extensive evaluation of both the approaches with data collected from 15 drivers in controlled basement area and on real roads in low-light conditions. The proposed NIR LED setup has an accuracy (Fl-score) of 85% and 93.8% in detecting driver fatigue and distraction, respectively in low-light.
Designing Interactions Beyond Conscious Control
Authors: Jain Abhinandan , Horowitz Adam Haar , Schoeller Felix , Leigh Sang-won , Maes Pattie , Sra Misha
Published: September 2020

Recent research in psychology distinguishes levels of consciousness into a tripartite model - conscious, unconscious and metaconscious. HCI technologies largely focus on the conscious pathway for computer-to-human interaction, requiring explicit user attention and action. In contrast, the other two pathways provide opportunities to create new interfaces that can alter emotion, cognition and behavior without demands on attentional resources. These direct interfaces connect to cognitive processes that are in our perception but outside our conscious control. In this work, we feature two sub-categories, namely preconscious and metasomatic within the tripartite model of consciousness. Our goal is to provide a finer categorization of cognitive processes that can better help classify HCI research related to activating non-conscious cognitive pathways. We present the design of two wearable devices, MoveU and Frisson. From lessons learned during the iterative design process and the user studies, we present four design considerations that can be used to aid HCI researchers of future devices that influence the mind. With this work we aim to highlight that awareness of consciousness levels can be a valuable design element that can help to expand the range of computer-to-human interface devices we build.
An Automated Mobile Game-based Screening Tool for Patients with Alcohol Dependence
Authors: Intarasirisawat Jittrapol , Ang Chee Siang , Efstratiou Christos , Dickens Luke , Sriburapar Naranchaya , Sharma Dinkar , Asawathaweeboon Burachai
Published: September 2020

Traditional methods for screening and diagnosis of alcohol dependence are typically administered by trained clinicians in medical settings and often rely on interview responses. These self-reports can be unintentionally or deliberately false, and misleading answers can, in turn, lead to inaccurate assessment and diagnosis. In this study, we examine the use of user-game interaction patterns on mobile games to develop an automated diagnostic and screening tool for alcohol-dependent patients. Our approach relies on the capture of interaction patterns during gameplay, while potential patients engage with popular mobile games on smartphones. The captured signals include gameplay performance, touch gestures, and device motion, with the intention of identifying patients with alcohol dependence. We evaluate the classification performance of various supervised learning algorithms on data collected from 40 patients and 40 age-matched healthy adults. The results show that patients with alcohol dependence can be automatically identified accurately using the ensemble of touch, device motion, and gameplay performance features on 3-minute samples (accuracy=0.95, sensitivity=0.95, and specificity=0.95). The present findings provide strong evidence suggesting the potential use of user-game interaction metrics on existing mobile games as discriminant features for developing an implicit measure to identify alcohol dependence conditions. In addition to supporting healthcare professionals in clinical decision-making, the game-based self-screening method could be used as a novel strategy to promote alcohol dependence screening, especially outside of clinical settings.
IMUTube
Authors: Kwon Hyeokhyen , Tong Catherine , Haresamudram Harish , Gao Yan , Abowd Gregory D. , Lane Nicholas D. , Plötz Thomas
Published: September 2020

The lack of large-scale, labeled data sets impedes progress in developing robust and generalized predictive models for on-body sensor-based human activity recognition (HAR). Labeled data in human activity recognition is scarce and hard to come by, as sensor data collection is expensive, and the annotation is time-consuming and error-prone. To address this problem, we introduce IMUTube, an automated processing pipeline that integrates existing computer vision and signal processing techniques to convert videos of human activity into virtual streams of IMU data. These virtual IMU streams represent accelerometry at a wide variety of locations on the human body. We show how the virtually-generated IMU data improves the performance of a variety of models on known HAR datasets. Our initial results are very promising, but the greater promise of this work lies in a collective approach by the computer vision, signal processing, and activity recognition communities to extend this work in ways that we outline. This should lead to on-body, sensor-based HAR becoming yet another success story in large-dataset breakthroughs in recognition.
SAFER
Authors: Oser Pascal , Feger Sebastian , Woźniak Paweł W. , Karolus Jakob , Spagnuelo Dayana , Gupta Akash , Lüders Stefan , Schmidt Albrecht , Kargl Frank
Published: September 2020

Users of Internet of Things (IoT) devices are often unaware of their security risks and cannot sufficiently factor security considerations into their device selection. This puts networks, infrastructure and users at risk. We developed and evaluated SAFER, an IoT device risk assessment framework designed to improve users' ability to assess the security of connected devices. We deployed SAFER in a large multinational organization that permits use of private devices. To evaluate the framework, we conducted a mixed-method study with 20 employees. Our findings suggest that SAFER increases users' awareness of security issues. It provides valuable advice and impacts device selection. Based on our findings, we discuss implications for the design of device risk assessment tools, with particular regard to the relationship between risk communication and user perceptions of device complexity.
Influence of the Diffusion Media Structure for the Bubble Distribution in Direct Formic Acid Fuel Cells
Authors: Watanabe Konosuke , Araki Takuto , Tsujiguchi Takuya , Inoue Gen
Published: September 2020

Direct formic acid fuel cells (DFAFCs) have received considerable attention because they can generate a higher power density compared to other direct liquid fuel cells. However, when generated CO2 bubbles are retained in the anode’s porous transport layer (PTL), the performance of the DFAFCs deteriorates. The gas–liquid two-phase flow behavior within a PTL is not clear; therefore, in this work the power-generation characteristics of DFAFCs using two types of PTL, carbon paper and carbon cloth, were investigated. It was found that the maximum current density was approximately 60 mA cm−2 higher with the carbon cloth than with the carbon paper. The CO2 bubble distribution in the anode’s PTLs was visualized by X-ray computed tomography and discuss the effects of the bubbles on the power-generation performance of DFAFCs. We found that interstices in a carbon-cloth PTL provided pathways for bubble migration and release to the channel, so that the bubbles did not deteriorate the power output. Bubble accumulation in a carbon-paper PTL led to a drop in power output, confirming that the structure of the PTL and the CO2 bubbles affect the power-generation characteristics.
Direct-Write Fabrication of Flexible Array Pressure Sensor for Monitoring Position Distribution
Authors: Chen Xiaojun , Mo Deyun , Lian Haishan , Gong Manfeng , Luo Yihui , Xia Xiaoqun , Jiang Shuzhen
Published: September 2020

Tactile sensors with high flexibility have attracted great interest because of their huge potential in various applications including smart robots, smart prostheses, human-machine interfaces, and biological monitoring electronic devices. However, it remains a critical challenge to develop tactile sensors with both high sensitivity and flexibility. In this work, a flexible 8 × 8 array pressure sensors with GNPs/MWCNT filled conductive composite material on PDMS substrates was proposed using direct-write printing. The printing technology based on the Weissenberg effect had the advantages of rapid supply of fluid and avoiding needle clogging in the printing process, which was suitable for large-area manufacturing of sensor sensitive units. The sensitivity of PDMS-based flexible array pressure sensors in the pressure range of 0–25 kPa and 25–75 kPa reached ∼5.09 MPa−1 and ∼0.0209 kPa−1, respectively. Response/recovery time reached ∼150 ms and ∼200 ms, respectively. When 1000 cycles were performed in the 0–75 kPa pressure range, the PDMS substrate flexible array pressure sensor had high stability and repeatability. These superior properties are indicative of their great potential in applications such as intelligent robotics, artificial palpation, prosthetics, and wearable devices.
Influence of Deviatoric Stress on the Deformation and Damage Evolution of Surrounding Rock under Unloading Conditions
Authors: Hou Gongyu , Liang Jinping , Jing Haoyong , Tan Jinxin , Zhang Yongkang , Yang Xi , Xie Xin
Published: September 2020

The study of the deformation and damage evolution behaviour of surrounding rock under excavation unloading conditions is of vital importance for a deep understanding of the mechanism of roadway failure. In this study, unloading testing using a partially hollow thick-walled cylinder cement mortar specimen with dimensions of 280 mm (height) × 200 mm (outer diameter) × 60 mm (inner diameter) and a solid height of 60 mm at the bottom was performed to investigate the deformation response and damage failure evolution characteristics of the surrounding rock. The experimental results showed that the higher deviatoric stress level accelerated the damage development caused by the unloading effect and improved the expansion rate of the internal cracks, which led to a higher radial strain rate, total strain, and acoustic emission hits. When deviatoric stress increased to a relatively higher level, the radial strain rates were highly unstable, and the surrounding rock near or at the opening free surface was damaged locally and regionally. During the failure process of the specimen, the generation of the deformation and damage in the unloading stage was more alive (as indicated by the growth rate). Nevertheless, the main deformation and damage to the surrounding rock were generated and accumulated in the maintaining stage after unloading.
Analysis of Stochastic Predator-Prey Model with Disease in the Prey and Holling Type II Functional Response
Authors: Gokila C. , Sambath M. , Balachandran K. , Ma Yong-Ki
Published: September 2020

A stochastic predator-prey model with disease in the prey and Holling type II functional response is proposed and its dynamics is analyzed. We discuss the boundedness of the dynamical system and find all feasible equilibrium solutions. For the stochastic systems, we obtain the conditions for the existence of the global unique solution, boundedness, and uniform continuity. We derive the conditions for extinction and permanence of species. Moreover, we construct appropriate Lyapunov functions and discuss the asymptotic stability of equilibria. To illustrate our theoretical findings, we have performed numerical simulations and presented the results.
Magnitude of Child Food Insecurity, Its Association with Child Immunization and Huosehold wealth Status, and Coping Strategies In Dabat Demographic and Surveillance System North West Ethiopia
Authors: Tebeje Nigusie Birhan , Biks Gashaw Andargie , Abebe Solomon Mekonnen , Yesuf Melike Endris
Published: September 2020

Background. The magnitude of food insecurity in Ethiopia ranges from 38.7% to 82.3% among the general population. Children under the age of five years were more prone to food insecurity and its serious consequences like anemia, low bone density, frequent episodes of common cold, stomachache, poor educational performance, and dental carries in developing countries like Ethiopia. However, there is no any research finding that documented the magnitude of child food insecurity, coping strategies, and associated factors in the study area. Therefore, the aim of this study was estimating the magnitude of child food insecurity, major coping strategies, and factors associated with child food insecurity in the study area. Methods. A community-based cross-sectional survey has been conducted in Dabat demographic and health surveillance site among 7152 mothers/caretakers of children under the age of five years. Data were collected by experienced data collectors working for the demographic and health surveillance site, and the collected data were entered into EpiData template and then transported to Stata 14 software for data cleaning and analysis. The ordinal logistic regression model was fitted to identify predictors for child food insecurity. Results. About 21.42% of children under the age of five years were food insecure in Dabat district of whom 57.8%, 38.6%, and 3.6% had experienced mild, moderate, and severe levels of child food insecurity, respectively. All most all 1391 (92%) of the mothers/caretakers of food insecure children had practiced food insecurity coping strategies. More than half (57%) of mothers/caretakers reduces the size of child meal as insecurity coping strategy. Child food insecurity was associated with household wealth status, parent’s education status, and maternal and child health service utilization and child feeding practices. Conclusion. A large segment of under-five children had experienced food insecurity in Dabat district, and the major coping strategy for child food insecurity was reducing meal size. Therefore, working on household wealth improvement and expansion of basic health services would improve child food security.
The Effect of MicroRNA‐101 on Angiogenesis of Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells during Hypoxia and in Mice with Myocardial Infarction
Authors: Pang Jun , Ye Liwen , Chen Qingwei , Wang Jian , Yang Xixi , He Wuyang , Hao Lan
Published: September 2020

Background. Previous studies showed that recanalization and angiogenesis within the infarct region are of vital importance to the survival of myocardial cells during the treatment of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Methods. In this study, EdU cell proliferation assay, Transwell assay, scratch wound assay, and tube formation assay were used. Twelve bioinformatics analysis packages were used to predict the target genes of miR‐101. Target genes were verified by luciferase reporter generation and assay, fluorescent quantitative PCR, and western blotting. Animal model and treatments were detected by M‐mode echocardiography and immunofluorescent staining of CD31, Ki67, and α‐SMA. Results. AgomiR‐101 significantly enhanced HUVEC proliferation, migration, and tube formation. A double‐luciferase reporter assay revealed that the hsa‐miR‐101 mimic attenuated the activity of the EIF4E3 ′‐UTR‐wt type plasmid by 36%. The expression levels of HIF‐1α and VEGF‐A in the scrambled RNA group were significantly lower than those in the EIF4E3 siRNA and agomiR‐101 groups. The left ventricular ejection fraction of the AMI+Adv‐miR‐101 group was significantly higher than that of the AMI+Adv‐null and Sham+Adv‐null groups. The proliferation of vessel cells in the peripheral infarcted myocardium was higher in the AMI+Adv‐miR‐101 group than that in the AMI+Adv‐null and Sham+Adv‐null groups. Conclusion. MiR‐101 can promote angiogenesis in the region surrounding the myocardial infarction.
Sustaining, Forming, and Letting Go of Friendships for Young People with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD): A Qualitative Interview-Based Study
Authors: Rouncefield-Swales Alison , Carter Bernie , Bray Lucy , Blake Lucy , Allen Stephen , Probert Chris , Crook Kay , Qualter Pamela
Published: September 2020

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is an incurable, chronic, gastrointestinal condition that can constrain young people’s social relationships. Few studies have specifically explored friendships of people with IBD. This qualitative, participatory study used interviews, photographs, and friendship maps to explore friendships and friendship networks of young people with IBD. An online Young Person’s Advisory Group was actively engaged throughout the study. Thirty-one young people participated (n=16 males, n=15 female; n=24 Crohn’s disease, n=6 ulcerative colitis, n=1 IBD-unclassified; the mean age at study was 18.7 years; range 14-25 years). Findings present a metatheme “The importance and meaning of friendships” and three interwoven subthemes of “Sustaining friendships,” “Forming new friendships,” and “Letting go of friendships.” Friendship was important to the young people with IBD, providing support, but associated with challenges such as disclosure. Such challenges could be mitigated by clearer conversations with clinicians about friendships and more extensive conversations about friendships and long-term conditions in education settings.
Miniaturized Fluorimetric Method for Quantification of Zinc in Dry Dog Food
Authors: Martins Rute C. , Pereira Ana M. , Matos Elisabete , Barreiros Luisa , Fonseca António J. M. , Cabrita Ana R. J. , Segundo Marcela A.
Published: September 2020

Zinc is an essential trace element for animals in several biological processes, particularly in energy production, and it is acquired from food ingestion. In this context, a microplate-based fluorimetric assay was developed for simple, fast, and low-cost determination of zinc in pet food using 2,2′-((4-(2,7-difluoro-3,6-dihydroxy-4aH-xanthen-9-yl)-3-methoxyphenyl)azanediyl)diacetic acid (FluoZin-1) as fluorescent probe. Several aspects were studied, namely, the stability of the fluorescent product over time, the FluoZin-1 concentration, and the pH of reaction media. The developed methodology provided a limit of detection of 1 μg L−1 in sample acid digests, with a working range of 10 to 200 μg L−1, corresponding to 100–2000 mg of Zn per kg of dry dog food samples. Intraday repeatability and interday repeatability were assessed, with relative standard deviation values < 3.4% (100 μg L−1) and <11.7% (10 μg L−1). Sample analysis indicated that the proposed fluorimetric assay provided results consistent with ICP-MS analysis. These results demonstrated that the developed assay can be used for rapid determination of zinc in dry dog food.
Stabilization Mechanism and Safety Control Strategy of the Deep Roadway with Complex Stress
Authors: Yu Yang , Chen Dingchao , Zhao Xiangqian , Wang Xiangyu , Zhang Lianying , Zhu Siyu
Published: September 2020

With the increase of mining intensity of coal resources, some coal mines in China have gradually entered the deep mining stage. The complexity of the stress environment of the deep rock stratum leads to the difficulty of coal mining. Among them, the control of the deep roadway is one of the bottlenecks restricting the safety mining of the deep coal resources in China. By means of statistical analysis, the factors affecting the stability of the deep roadway were summed up: roadway occurrence environment, driving disturbance, and support means. The mechanical model of the deep roadway was established with the theory of elastic‐plastic mechanics, the distribution characteristics of the plastic zone of the roadway were revealed, and the influence laws of lateral pressure coefficient, vertical stress, and support strength on the stability of the roadway were analyzed. Through numerical simulation, the law of stress, displacement and the plastic zone distribution evolution of the deep roadway, the mechanism of horizontal stress, and the mechanism of bolt support on the roadway were studied. On this basis, the safety control strategies to ensure the stability of the deep roadway were put forward: improving the strength of the roof and floor, especially the bearing part of the top angle and the side angle, enhancing the stability of the two sides of the roadway and controlling the floor heave, and making the surrounding rock of the deep roadway release pressure moderately, so as to make the roadway easy to be maintained under the low stress environment. These meaningful references were provided for the exploitation of deep coal resources in China.
Offline/Online Outsourced Attribute-Based Encryption with Partial Policy Hidden for the Internet of Things
Authors: Yan Xixi , He Guanghui , Yu Jinxia , Tang Yongli , Zhao Mingjie
Published: September 2020

In the Internet of Things (IoT) environment, the intelligent devices collect and share large-scale sensitive personal data for a wide range of application. However, the power of storage and computing of IoT devices is limited, so the mass perceived data will be encrypted and transmitted to a cloud platform-interconnected IoT devices. Therefore, the concern how to save the encryption/decryption cost and preserve the privacy of the sensitive data in IoT environment is an issue that deserves research. To mitigate these issues, an offline/online attribute-based encryption scheme that supports partial policy hidden and outsourcing decryption will be proposed. This scheme adopts offline/online attribute-based encryption algorithms; then, the key generation algorithm and encryption algorithm are divided into two stages: offline stage and online stage. Meanwhile, in order to solve the problem of policy disclosure under the cloud platform, the policy hidden is supported, that is, the attribute is divided into the attribute value and the attribute name. For the pairing operation involved in decryption process, a verifiable outsourced decryption is implemented. Our scheme is constructed based on composite bilinear groups, which meets full security under the standard model. Finally, by comparing with other schemes in terms of functionality and computational overhead, it is shown that the proposed scheme is more efficient and applicable to the mobile devices with limited computing and storage functions in the Internet of Things environment.
Microglia TREM2: A Potential Role in the Mechanism of Action of Electroacupuncture in an Alzheimer’s Disease Animal Model
Authors: Li Yujie , Jiang Jing , Tang Qisheng , Tian Huiling , Wang Shun , Wang Zidong , Liu Hao , Yang Jiayi , Ren Jingyu
Published: September 2020

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is one of the most serious public health concerns facing the world. Its characteristic feature is neuroinflammation due to microglial activation. Electroacupuncture is one of the therapies employed to improve the condition of patients with AD, although its mechanism of action is still to be determined. Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM2) is a microglia-specific receptor that is involved in regulating neuroinflammation in AD. In this study, we applied senescence-accelerated mouse-prone 8 mice as the AD animal model, used the Morris water maze, and applied hematoxylin and eosin staining, immunofluorescence double staining, and Western blotting, to explore the effects and potential mechanisms of action of electroacupuncture. In summary, this study suggested that electroacupuncture treatment could improve the learning and memory abilities (p<0.05) and protect neurons. These effects result from acupuncture could upregulate TREM2 expression in the hippocampus (p<0.01), which was essential for the anti-inflammatory effects in the AD animal model. However, further studies are needed to conclusively demonstrate the mechanism of action of electroacupuncture in AD.
Physiological Measures of Acute and Chronic Pain within Different Subject Groups: A Systematic Review
Authors: Korving H. , Sterkenburg P. S. , Barakova E. I. , Feijs L. M. G.
Published: September 2020

Background and Objective. The most frequently used methods for assessing pain are self-reports and observation. However, physiological methods could improve accuracy and reliability for those with communicative difficulties. This review’s objective is to analyze methods used to physiologically assess pain, to rank them by invasiveness per method and vulnerability per subject group, and to assess their technological maturity. Databases and Data Treatment. Six international databases were searched for review papers between 2007 and 2019. Inclusion criteria were as follows: at least one physiological method for acute or chronic pain in humans; languages were as follows: English, French, Dutch, German, and Spanish. Quality of reviews was assessed using the CASP checklist. Results. The methods’ heart rate variability and electroencephalogram show clear and consistent results as acute pain assessment. Magnetic resonance imaging can measure chronic pain. Ordered by invasiveness and vulnerability, a trend shows that the invasive methods are used more with less vulnerable subjects. Only instruments used for skin conductance and automatic facial recognition have a lower-than-average technological maturity. Conclusions. Some pain assessment methods show good and consistent results and have high technological maturity; however, using them as pain assessment for persons with ID is uncommon. Since this addition can ameliorate caregiving, more research of assessment methods should occur.
Dendritic Cells Transfected with MHC Antigenic Determinants of CBA Mice Induce Antigen-Specific Tolerance in C57Bl/6 Mice
Authors: Sennikov Sergey V. , Tereshchenko Valeriy P. , Kurilin Vasiliy V. , Shevchenko Julia A. , Lopatnikova Julia A. , Silkov Alexander N. , Maksyutov Amir Z. , Kuznetsova Maria S. , Knauer Nadezda Y. , Bulygin Aleksey S. , Khantakova Julia N.
Published: September 2020

Background. Nonspecific immunosuppressive therapy for graft rejection and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is often accompanied by severe side effects such as opportunistic infections and cancers. Several approaches have been developed to suppress transplantation reactions using tolerogenic cells, including induction of FoxP3+Tregs with antigen-loaded dendritic cells (DCs) and induction of CD4+IL-10+cells with interleukin IL-10-producing DCs. Here, we assessed the effectiveness of both approaches in the suppression of graft rejection and GVHD.Methods. IL-10-producing DCs were generated by the transfection of DCs with DNA constructs encoding mouse IL-10. Antigen-loaded DCs from C57BL/6 mice were generated by transfection with DNA constructs encoding antigenic determinants from the H2 locus of CBA mice which differ from the homologous antigenic determinants of C57BL/6 mice.Results. We found that both IL-10-producing DCs and antigen-loaded immature DCs could suppress graft rejection and GVHD but through distinct nonspecific and antigen-specific mechanisms, respectively.Discussion. We provide data that the novel approach for DCs antigen loading using DNA constructs encoding distinct homologous determinants derived from major histocompatibility complex genes is effective in antigen-specific suppression of transplantation reactions. Such an approach eliminates the necessity of donor material use and may be useful in immunosuppressive therapy side effects prevention.