bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Accelerated Diastolic Dysfunction in Premenopausal Women with Rheumatoid Arthritis
Authors: Kim GeeHee , Park Yune-Jung
Published: June 2021

Objective: Disturbances of diastolic function precede systolic heart failure and, although clinically silent, represent the earliest sign of cardiac involvement. Diastolic dysfunction (DD) is associated with age, gender (female), and hypertension. However, little is known about the age-specific incidence rates and risk factors for DD in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).Methods: We used standard two-dimensional/Doppler echocardiography to screen for the presence of diastolic dysfunction in 61 patients with RA and 107 healthy subjects. All participants were premenopausal women with no history of hypertension. DD includes an impaired relaxation with or without increased left ventricular (LV) filling pressures, pseudonormal filling and restrictive filling based on parameters measured using echocardiography.Results: The two groups were similar with respect to age (P=0.269). Patients with RA had significantly higher LV mass index, LV filling pressure, and lower E/A velocity than controls. All patients had preserved ejection fraction (EF ≥50%). DD was more common in patients with RA at 47% compared to 26% in the controls (P=0.004). Women with RA in the 30- to 49- year age range were over 3.5 times more likely to have DD than those of similar age in the control group (OR=3.54; 95% CI 1.27 to 9.85). Among patients with RA, high CRP levels were independently associated with DD even after adjustment for cardiovascular risk factors (P=0.009).Conclusions: In premenopausal women with RA, DD is much more common and the age of onset is reduced. Early screening of myocardial function may provide an opportunity for preventing future cardiovascular disease.
Resection and Reconstruction is the Procedure of Choice for Giant Cell Lesions of Small Bones: A Case Report and Literature Review
Authors: Li Jiannan , Zhang Weizhong , Wu Guangzhi , zhang zhan
Published: June 2021

Background: Giant cell lesion of small bones (GCLSB), also known as giant cell reparative granuloma, is a rare tumor-like condition occurring in the small bones of the hands and feet. GCLSB lacks specific clinical, radiological, and histological manifestations. There are no standardized protocols for treatment. Case presentation: Here, we report a 16-year-old male with recurrent GCLSB in the proximal phalanx of the left thumb. The lesion was successfully resected with bone grafting. Conclusions: We summarized the characteristics of 33 reported cases of GCLSB from 1983 to date, including gender, age, lesion sites, recurrence, and treatment. We conclude that resection and reconstruction with curettage is the treatment of choice.
Contrasting climate influences on Nothofagus pumilio establishment along elevational gradients
Authors: Aschero Valeria , S Ana M , Guerrido Claudia M , Villalba Ricardo
Published: June 2021

Predicted warmer temperatures and more frequent extreme climatic events in the southern Andes will affect the dynamics of the Patagonian forests. These environmental changes may differentially alter the probability of Nothofagus pumilio establishment across its altitudinal range of distribution. We monitored fruit rain, seedling emergence and survival at the lower and upper elevation boundaries of N. pumilio forests in Santa Cruz (49° 22'S − 72º 56' W), Argentina. From 2012 to 2018, recruitment and mortality were evaluated biannually in the field. Seedling establishment was tested in relation to drought, based on the SPEI (Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index), and changes in elevation. Fruit rain was consistently higher at low elevation and the abundance of fruits was not affected by drought intensity. Seedling emergence was ~ 11 to 19 times larger at the upper forest boundary, in particular during years characterized by warm-dry climatic conditions in spring-early summer. In contrast, seedling abundance was ~ 3 times larger at low elevations during relatively cold-wet growing seasons. Over the period 2012 to 2018, dominated by dry-warm spring and summers, survival probability curves for seedlings and juvenile trees were higher at upper than lower elevations. Our results show contrasting effects of climate on tree establishment at the elevation limits, with positive and negative drought effects at high and low elevations, respectively. Predicted increase of extreme drought events during the XXI century could be detrimental for N. pumilio establishment at dry, low-elevation forests.
Increasing nitrogen supply to phosphorus-deficient Medicago sativa decreases shoot growth and enhances root exudation of tartrate to discharge surplus carbon dependent on nitrogen form
Authors: He Honghua , Zhang Zekun , Peng Qi , Chang Chao , Su Rui , Cheng Xiao , Li Yingxin , Pang Jiayin , Du Sheng , Lambers Hans
Published: June 2021

Aims
Carboxylate release by roots has been considered a strategy for mobilization and acquisition of phosphorus (P). However, recently, it was argued that carboxylate release may be a way to discharge surplus carbon produced under conditions that limit plant growth. Plant P status may not be the main factor driving carboxylate release by roots. Instead, plant nitrogen (N) status and/or N:P ratio of the soil or plant may play a more important role in enhancing carboxylate release.
Methods
A greenhouse pot experiment was performed to grow alfalfa in a P-deficient soil, supplied with two rates of P (0 and 20 mg kg− 1) in combination with four forms of nitrogen (N) at five rates (0, 25, 50, 75, and 100 mg kg− 1), to explore the effects of P rate, N form, N rate, and their interactions on plant growth, P and N status, and carboxylate release, and to determine the factors driving carboxylate release.
Results
Nitrogen addition weakened the positive effect of P addition on plant growth, and increased plant N ([N]) and P concentrations ([P]); P addition increased plant [P], but weakened the effect of N addition on plant [N]. The amount of tartrate increased dramatically with increasing N rate, which decreased shoot growth, depending on N form. At high P supply, tartrate exudation correlated negatively with shoot biomass.
Conclusions
Nitrogen addition to P-deficient alfalfa decreased shoot growth and enhanced the release of tartrate, likely to discharge surplus carbon; and the effects varied with N form.
Effect of Energy Density on the Microstructure and Properties of the CrFeCoNiNb High Entropy Cladded Layer
Authors: Song Pengfang , Jiang Fulin , Wang Yuling , Yang Fazhan , Zhong Zhaolin
Published: June 2021

A synergistic combination of mechanical properties and corrosion resistance property is desired for most ocean engineering structural applications. In this paper, we prepared high entropy alloy (HEA) cladded layer of composition CrFeCoNiNb (atomic%). We aim to attain a balance between the mechanical property and the corrosion resistance property through adjusting the energy density. The prepared CrFeCoNiNb cladded layer with the energy density of 116.7J/mm2 exhibited excellent mechanical properties and high corrosion resistance. The improved mechanical properties are attributed to the fine grain strengthening, solid solution strengthening and dispersion strengthening. Whereas the excellent corrosion resistance is due to the fine grained BCC single phase structure and the compact passivation film. The variation of the mechanical properties and corrosion resistance with different energy densities are attribute to the phase composition. The diffraction peak area of the main phase of BCC decreases first and then increases with the increase of energy density, which is the main reason that the hardness of the cladded layer follows the similar trend. The outcome of our research suggests that the prepared CrFeCoNiNb cladded layer could be explored to realise surface strengthening of load-bearing parts in marine engineering equipment.
Outcome of One-Stage Percutaneous Endoscopic Debridement and Lavage Combined with Percutaneous Pedicle Screw Fixation for Lumbar Pyogenic Spondylodiscitis
Authors: Chen Jianquan , Li Zhenyu , Li Yong , Tang Shangde , Lv Zhouming , Wang Xian , Chen Maoshui
Published: June 2021

Background
This study assessed the therapeutic effect of one-stage percutaneous endoscopic debridement and lavage (PEDL) combined with percutaneous pedicle screw fixation (PPSF) in the treatment of lumbar pyogenic spondylodiscitis.
Methods
From March 2017 to October 2019, 25 patients diagnosed with pyogenic spondylodiscitis underwent PPSF followed by PEDL in our department. Biopsy specimens were examined for microorganisms and evaluated histopathologically. Clinical outcomes were assessed by physical examination, routine serological testing, visual analogue scale (VAS), Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), and imaging studies.
Results
All operations were successful, with no severe surgical complications in any patient and excellent incision healing. Causative bacteria were identified in most cases; Staphylococcus aureus was the most prevalent. The mean follow-up was 25.0 ± 3.8 (range: 20–32) months. Inflammatory markers showed that infection was controlled. The VAS and ODI improved significantly. At the last follow-up, magnetic resonance imaging showed that the infected lesions had disappeared.
Conclusion
PEDL supplementing PPSF may be useful for patients with single-level lumbar pyogenic spondylodiscitis, as it is minimally invasive, especially for patients who cannot undergo conventional open surgery due to poor health or advanced age.
Mercuric Chloride induced Oxidative Stress, Genotoxicity, Haematological Changes and Histopathological Alterations in Fish Channa Punctatus (Bloch, 1793).
Authors: Trivedi Sunil P. , Singh Shefalee , Trivedi Abha , Kumar Manoj
Published: June 2021

The current study was strived to investigate the adverse effects of Mercuric chloride (HgCl2) overload in the fish Channa punctatus. Two sub-lethal test concentrations of HgCl2 viz., 1/20th and 1/10th of 96 h LC50 i.e., 0.03 mg/L and 0.07 mg/L, respectively, were used for exposure. Blood, liver and kidney tissues of the control and exposed specimens were sampled at intervals of 15, 30 and 45 days to assess alterations in oxidative stress, genotoxicity haematological parameters and histopathology. Significant changes in Hb%, RBC count, WBC count, antioxidant enzyme activity viz., super oxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione (GSH) and glutathione reductase (GR) were recorded. Micronuclei (MN) induction, nuclear abnormalities (NA) and histopathological alterations were also observed in the exposed fish. Significant (p < 0.05) increase in activities of SOD, CAT, GSH, GR and after 45 d decrease in the level of GSH and GR suggest an undermined anti-oxidative defence system in the fish exposed to HgCl2. Histological examination of liver and kidney showed serious tissue injury and histological alterations. Significant increase in MN and NA frequencies reveal the DNA damage in erythrocytes of fish and haematological changes show the toxicological potential of HgCl2. The observed genotoxicity, biochemical, haematological and histological changes in the present study provide the most extensive insight of HgCl2 stress in Channa punctatus.
Dynamic APACHE II Score to Predict Outcome Among Intensive Care Unit Patients
Authors: Tian Yao , YAO Yang , Zhou Jing , Diao Xin , Chen Hui , Cai Kaixia , Ma Xuan , Wang Shengyu
Published: June 2021

Purpose: The Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) score is used to determine disease severity and predict outcomes in critically ill patients. However, there is no dynamic APACHE II score for predicting outcomes among ICU patients.The aim of this study is to explore the optimal timing to predict the outcomes of ICU patients by dynamically evaluating APACHE II score.Methods: Study data of demographics and comorbidities from the first 24 h after ICU admission were retrospectively extracted from MIMIC-III, a multiparameter intensive care database. The primary outcome was hospital mortality. 90-day mortality was a secondary outcome. APACHE II scores on days 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 14 and 28 were compared using area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) analysis. Hospital survival was visualised using Kaplan-Meier Curves.Results:A total of 6374 eligible subjects were extracted from the MIMIC-III. Mean APACHE II score on day 1 were 18.4±6.3, hospital and 90-day mortality was 19.1% and 25.8%, respectively.The optimal timing where predicted hospital mortality was on day 3 with an area under the cure of 0.666 (0.607-0.726)(P＜0.0001). The best tradeoff for preciction was found at 17 score, more than 17 score predicted mortality of non-survivors with a sensitivity of 92.8% and PPV of 23.1%. Hosmer-lemeshow goodness of fit test showed that APACHE II 3 has a good predictive calibration ability (X2 =6.198, P=0.625) and consistency of predicted death and actual death was 79.4%. The calibration of APACHE II 1 was poor (X2=294.898, P<0.001).Conclusions: APACHE II on 3 dayis the optimal prognostic marker and 17 score provided the best dignostic accuracy to predict outcomes for ICU patients. These finding will help medical make clinical judgment.
More Often Than Not, We’re in Sync: Patient and Caregiver Well-being Over Time in Stem Cell Transplantation
Authors: Sannes Timothy S , Ranby Krista W , Yusufov Miryam , Brewer Benjamin W , Jacobs Jamie M , Callan Stephanie , Ulrich Gillian R , Pensak Nicole A , Natvig Crystal L , Laudenslager Mark L
Published: June 2021

Background. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is an aggressive medical procedure which significantly impacts the shared emotional well-being of patients and family caregivers (FC). Prior work has highlighted the significant overlap in well-being among patients and FCs; however, how this interdependence may change over the course HSCT has received less attention. Methods. We conducted secondary analyses of a supportive intervention delivered to 154 FCs of HSCT patients and examined relationships at baseline, 6 weeks, 3 and 6 months post-HSCT. Actor Partner Interdependence Modeling examined patient quality of life (QOL) and FC anxiety/depression. Results. The data did not fit a multigroup approach limiting our ability to test intervention effects; however, bivariate analyses indicated FC depression significantly correlated to patient QOL at baseline (r =-.32), 6 weeks (r =-.22) and 6 months post-HSCT (r =-.34; p’s<.05); whereas anxiety was only correlated at the first two timepoints (p’s <.05). There was an unexpected, albeit small, partner effect such that worse patient QOL at 6-weeks significantly related to lower FC depression at 3-months (B =.182; p =.026) and changed direction with patient QOL at 3-months being related to more FC depression at 6-months (B =-.192; p =.001). Conclusions. These findings highlight the significant, yet nuanced, interdependence of patient QOL and FC well-being during HSCT. Specifically, greater interdependence was observed between patient QOL and FC depression compared to FC anxiety, suggesting potential treatment targets for patients and their families. Trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02037568; first registered: January 16, 2014; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02037568
The power of pathway-based polygenic risk scores
Authors: Choi Shing Wan , Garcia-Gonzalez Judit , Ruan Yunfeng , Wu Hei Man , Johnson Jessica , Hoggart Clive , O’Reilly Paul
Published: June 2021

Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) have been among the leading advances in biomedicine in recent years. As a proxy of genetic liability, PRSs are utilised across multiple fields and applications. While numerous statistical and machine learning methods have been developed to optimise their predictive accuracy, all of these distil genetic liability to a single number based on aggregation of an individual’s genome-wide alleles. This results in a key loss of information about an individual’s genetic profile, which could be critical given the functional sub-structure of the genome and the heterogeneity of complex disease. Here we evaluate the performance of pathway-based PRSs, in which polygenic scores are calculated across genomic pathways for each individual, and we introduce a software, PRSet, for computing and analysing pathway PRSs. We find that pathway PRSs have similar power for evaluating pathway enrichment of GWAS signal as the leading methods, with the distinct advantage of providing estimates of pathway genetic liability at the individual-level. Exemplifying their utility, we demonstrate that pathway PRSs can stratify diseases into subtypes in the UK Biobank with substantially greater power than genome-wide PRSs. Compared to genome-wide PRSs, we expect pathway-based PRSs to offer greater insights into the heterogeneity of complex disease and treatment response, generate more biologically tractable therapeutic targets, and provide a more powerful path to precision medicine.
Eugenol Mediated Inhibition of Biofilm Formed by S. Aureus a Potent Organism for Pediatric Digestive System Diseases
Authors: Ni KaiHua , Cai Danlei , Lu Jianhong , Tian Jianmei
Published: June 2021

Ocimum tenuiflorum (KT) is a common ethno-botanical plant of the south-east Asia. The ethnic communities of these regions use the various parts of the plants specially the leaves for the treatment of various ailments like cold and flu, chronic infections and surface ailments. The leaves of these plants are consumed to act as immune boosters in the body. With this ethnical background we performed the antimicrobial and antibiofilm potential of the methanolic extract of Ocimum tenuiflorum (KT) against biofilm formed by S. aureus biofilm. The biofilm formed by S. aureus is a potent cause for the development of gastro-intestinal (GI) associated chronic infection. The extract from the KT leaf was analyzed using UV spectroscopy and HPLC to confirm the presence of the active ingredients present within the extract. The HPLC and GC-MS studies revealed the presence of eugenol and linalool in a greater proportion having the maximum drug like properties. It was observed that KT showed maximum inhibition of biofilm, protein and carbohydrate being present with the extracellular polymeric substance (EPS). Interestingly, the maximum inhibition to the quorum sensing (QS) and the genomic DNA, RNA content was reduced by eugenol and linalool in comparison to the plant extract. The studies were supported by in-silico interaction between eugenol and linalool with the QS proteins of S. aureus. The studies were further confirmed with microscopic studies SEM and FCM. The IR studies also confirmed much reduction in biofilm when treated with eugenol, linalool and KT with respect to the untreated sample.
Health-related Quality of Life in Children With Chronic Myeloid Leukemia in the Chronic Phase
Authors: Zheng Fangyuan , Dou Xuelin , Zhang Liqiang , Jin Jie , Zhang Yanli , Liu Bingcheng , Meng Li , Zhu Xiaofan , Lu Zesheng , Jia Yueping , Liu Huilan , Lin Hai , Zhou Li , Zhao Xielan , Yang Wei , Sun Hui , Qian Sixuan , Ma Hongxia , Zhang Leping , Jiang Qian
Published: June 2021

Purpose To explore the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and associated variables in children with chronic myeloid leukemia in the chronic phase (CML-CP) receiving tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs).Methods A cross-sectional questionnaire was given to children with CML and their parents, who were <18 years at diagnosis of CML and <19 years at study. The questionnaire consisted of three parts, including demographic information, clinical information, and the Chinese version of Pediatric Quality of Life InventoryTM (PedsQL™) Cancer Module 3.0 as HRQoL questionnaire.Results 289 questionnaires were collected, and data from 207 (71.6%) respondents were analyzed. Multivariate analysis showed that children with symptoms had worse pain (-10.7; P<0.001), nausea(-17.9; P<0.001), treatment anxiety(-6.7; P=0.008), worse appearance self-assessment (-7.5; P<0.001) and communication problems(-3.9; P=0.028), and worse HRQoL(-4.1; P=0.013). Children whose mothers had low educational qualifications complained worse pain(-8.3; P=0.005), worried more about the future (-11.6; P=0.002), had poor self-assessment (-5.1; P=0.045), and worse HRQoL (-6.5; P=0.002). Children at a younger age of study when studied had more procedural anxiety (3.3; P=0.008), more cognition problems (3.4; P=0.001), and worse HRQoL (1.4; P=0.040), while increasing age at diagnosis had worse appearance self-assessment (-2.1; P=0.015) and HRQoL (-1.4; P=0.039). Other variables significantly associated with worse HRQoL included female sex and rural household registration. Parents reported more gastrointestinal disorders and worry about the future and had less concern about appearance than reported children.Conclusions This study suggests that female gender, increasing age at diagnosis, younger age at study, lower mother’s education level, and TKI-related symptoms reported were significantly-associated with worse HRQoL. Parents and children have different priorities in the HRQoL.
Molecular Characteristics of Fluoroquinolone-Resistant Escherichia Coli Isolated From Suckling Piglets With Colibacillosis
Authors: Seo Kwang Won , Do Kyung-Hyo , Lee Wan-Kyu
Published: June 2021

Objectives: Colibacillosis is a frequent enteric disease in the pig industry that causes significant economic losses. The objective of this study was to investigate the phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of fluoroquinolone (FQ)-resistant E. coli isolates from suckling piglets with colibacillosis. Results: A total of 43 FQ-resistant E. coli isolates were tested in this study and all isolates showed multi-drug resistance (MDR) and mutations in quinolone resistance determining regions (gyrA or parC). In particular, FQ-resistant E. coli isolates with a high FQs minimum inhibitory concentration range (≥64 mg/L for ciprofloxacin, ≥128 mg/L for enrofloxacin, and ≥256 mg/L for norfloxacin) were shown to carry double mutations in gyrA in combination with double mutations in parC. A total of 12 (27.9%) isolates were positive for the plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR) genes, and aac(6’)-Ib-cr (7 isolates), qnrS (3 isolates), and qepA (2 isolates) were also positive. We identified the following in PMQR-positive E. coli isolates: β-lactamases–encoding blaCMY-2 (10 isolates, 83.3%), blaTEM-1 (7 isolates, 58.3%), blaOXA-1 (7 isolates, 58.3%), blaSHV-1 (3 isolates, 16.7%), and blaAAC-2 (1 isolate, 8.3%); the tetracycline resistance genes tetD (12 isolates, 100.0%), tetE (12 isolates, 100.0%), tetA (11 isolates, 91.7%), and tetB (1 isolate, 8.3%); the aminoglycoside modifying enzyme gene aac(3)-II (2 isolates, 16.7%); the sulfonamide resistance genes sul1 (9 isolates, 75.0%) and sul2 (10 isolates, 83.3%); and the chloramphenicol resistance genes (10 isolates, 83.3%). The most prevalent fimbrial antigen, combinations of toxin genes, and non-fimbrial adhesins genes were F4 (7 isolates, 58.3%), LT:STb:EAST1 (5 isolates, 41.7%), and paa (3 isolates, 25.0%), respectively. Although all PMQR-positive E. coli carried class I integrons, only 4 isolates carried the gene cassette arrangement. The most common plasmid replicon was FIB (9 isolates, 75.0%), followed by FIC, HI1, and N (7 isolates, 58.3%), respectively.Conclusions: Because FQ resistant genetic determinants that can be transferred to pathogenic bacteria in humans or pigs, critical need for comprehensive surveillance of antimicrobial resistance on pig farms.
Distinct Phyllosphere Microbiome of Wild Tomato Species in Central Peru Upon Dysbiosis
Authors: Runge Paul , Ventura Freddy , Kemen Eric , Stam Remco
Published: June 2021

Plants are colonized by myriads of microbes across kingdoms, which affect host development, fitness and reproduction. Hence, plant microbiomes have been explored across a broad range of host species, including model organisms, crops and trees under controlled and natural conditions. Tomato is one of the world’s most important vegetable crops, however little is known about the microbiota of wild tomato species. To obtain insights into the tomato microbiota occurring in natural environments, we sampled epiphytic microbes from leaves of four tomato species, Solanum habrochaites, S. corneliomulleri, S. peruvianum and S. pimpinellifolium, from two geographical locations within the Lima region of Peru over two consecutive years. Here, a high-throughput sequencing approach was applied to investigate microbial compositions including bacteria, fungi and eukaryotes across tomato species and geographical locations. The phyllosphere microbiome composition varies between hosts and location. Yet, we identified persistent microbes across tomato species that form the tomato microbial core community. In addition, we phenotypically defined healthy and dysbiotic samples and performed a downstream analysis to reveal the impact on microbial community structures. To do so, we compared microbial diversities, unique OTUs, relative abundances of core taxa and microbial hub taxa, as well as co-occurrence network characteristics in healthy and dysbiotic tomato leaves and found that dysbiosis affects the phyllosphere microbial composition in a host species-dependent manner Yet, overall, the present data suggests an enrichment of plant-promoting microbial taxa in healthy leaves, whereas numerous microbial taxa containing plant pathogens occurred in dysbiotic leaves. Concluding, we identify the core phyllosphere microbiome of wild tomato species, and show that the overall phyllosphere microbiome can be impacted by sampling time point, geographical location, host genotype and plant health. Future studies in these components will help understand the microbial contribution to plant health in natural systems and can be of use in cultivated tomatoes.
Optimal Triage for COVID-19 Patients Under Limited Intensive Care Unit Capacity: Development of a Parsimonious Machine Learning Prediction Model and Threshold Optimization Using Discrete-Event Simulation
Authors: Kim Jeong Min , Lim Hwa Kyung , Ahn Jae-Hyeon , Lee Kyoung Hwa , Lee Kwang Suk , Koo Kyo Chul
Published: June 2021

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused an unprecedented burden on healthcare systems. To effectively triage COVID-19 patients within situations of limited data availability and to explore optimal thresholds to minimize mortality rates while maintaining the healthcare system capacity.Methods: A nationwide sample of 5601 patients confirmed for COVID-19 up until April 2020 was retrospectively reviewed. XGBoost and logistic regression analysis were used to develop prediction models for the patients’ maximum clinical severity during hospitalization, classified according to the WHO Ordinal Scale for Clinical Improvement (OSCI). The recursive feature elimination technique was used to evaluate the extent of the model performance’s maintenance when clinical and laboratory variables are eliminated. Using populations based on hypothetical patient influx scenarios, discrete-event simulation was performed to find the optimal threshold within limited resource environments that minimizes mortality rates.Results: The cross-validated area under the receiver operating characteristics (AUROC) of the baseline XGBoost model that utilized all 37 variables was 0.965 for OSCI ≥ 6. Compared to the baseline model’s performance, the AUROC of the reduced model that utilized 17 variables was maintained at 0.963 with statistical insignificance. Optimal thresholds were found to minimize mortality rates in a hypothetical patient influx scenario. The benefit of utilizing an optimal triage threshold was clear, reducing mortality up to 18.1% compared to the conventional Youden Index.Conclusions: Our adaptive triage model and its threshold optimization capability reveal that COVID-19 management can be integrated using both medical and healthcare management sectors to guarantee maximum treatment efficacy.
Trophic Niche Shifts and Phenotypic Trait Evolution are Largely Decoupled in Australasian Parrots
Authors: García-Navas Vicente , Tobias Joseph A. , Schweizer Manuel , Wegmann Daniel , Schodde Richard , Norman Jannette A. , Christidis Leslie
Published: June 2021

Background: Trophic shifts from one dietary niche to another have played major roles in reshaping the evolutionary trajectories of a wide range of vertebrate groups, yet its consequences for morphological disparity and species diversity differs among groups. Methods: Here, we use phylogenetic comparative methods to examine whether the evolution of nectarivory and other trophic shifts have driven predictable evolutionary pathways in Australasian psittaculid parrots in terms of ecological traits such as body size, beak shape, and dispersal capacity. Results: Rates of lineage diversification appear to be constant over time and we find no evidence for an ‘early-burst’ scenario of morphological diversification. The best-fitting models indicate that trait evolution in this group is characterized by abrupt phenotypic shifts (evolutionary jumps), with no sign of multiple phenotypic optima correlating with different trophic strategies. Thus, our results point to the existence of weak directional selection and suggest that lineages may be evolving randomly or slowly toward adaptive peaks they have not yet reached. Conclusions: This study adds to a growing body of evidence indicating that the relationship between avian morphology and feeding ecology may be more complex than usually assumed and highlights the importance of adding more flexible models to the macroevolutionary toolbox.
Dynamic evaluation of ulcerative colitis model in BALB/c mice induced by dextran sulfate sodium salt
Authors: YS Xu , Tang M , Lu Q , Ahunova H , JIANG ZHILIN
Published: June 2021

In this experiment, BALB/c mice were induced by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) to establish ulcerative colitis (UC) model. Treatment by intragastric administration of oxalazine (600 mg/Kg)，the disease activity index (DAI), colonic mucosal injury index (CMDI) and histopathological score (HS) of mice in each group were measured at different times. And the changes of T cell subsets in spleen and the content of IL-1 β in serum of UC mice at different time points were detected by flow cytometry and ELISA method. The investigation of the dynamic changes of various indexes in mice during the period of modeling and administration is of great significance for exploring the etiology and pathological changes of the disease, determining the methods of treatment and the research and development of new drugs.
Blood Glucose and Epicardial Adipose Tissue at the Hospital Admission as Possible Predictors for COVID-19 Severity
Authors: GUARISCO GLORIA , Fasolo Martina , Capoccia Danila , Morsello Gabriele , Carraro Anna , Zuccalà Paola , Marocco Raffaella , Borgo Cosmo Del , Pelle Giuseppe , Iannarelli Angelo , Orlando Elena , Spagnoli Alessandra , Carbone Iacopo , Lichtner Miriam , Iacobellis Gianluca , Leonetti Frida
Published: June 2021

Purpose: to study the possible association of CT-derived quantitative Epicardial Adipose Tissue (EAT) and glycemia at the admission, with severe outcomes in patients with COVID-19.Methods: 229 patients consecutively hospitalized for COVID-19 from March 1st to June 30th2020 were studied.Non contrast chest CT scans, to confirm diagnosis of pneumonia, were performed. EAT volume (cm3) and attenuation (Hounsfield units) were measured using a CT post-processing software. The primary outcome was acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) or in-hospital death.Results: The primary outcome occurred in 56,8% patients. Fasting blood glucose was significantly higher in the group ARDS/death than in the group with better prognosis [114 (98-144) vs 101 (91-118) mg/dl, p=0,001]. EAT volume was higher in patients with vs without the primary outcome [103 (69,25;129,75) vs 78,95 (50,7;100,25) cm3, p <0,001] and it was positively correlated with glycemia, PCR, fibrinogen, P/F ratio. In the multivariable logistic regression analysis, age and EAT volume were independently associated with ARDS/death. Glycemia and EAT attenuation were risk factor for ARDS/death with a trend of statistical significance.Conclusions: Our findings suggest that both blood glucose and EAT, measurable and modifiable targets, could allow the early identification of subjects at greater risk of developing severe complications.
Quantitative and qualitative variations of effective parameters on biogas produced from mixed wastes in anaerobic digester: Bench scale
Authors: Amouei Abdoliman , Sasi Ali Darvish , Amooey Aliakbar
Published: June 2021

Today, biogas production from municipal solid waste as one of the most important sources of energy supply in the world is increasing. In this study, the potential of biogas production from a mixture of cow dung and catering waste was investigated using a continuous flow anaerobic bioreactor with 60 litres at the Bench scale. Operational parameters such as pH, Carbon to Nitrogen ratio (C/N), mixing ratio of restaurant and cow waste in weight percentage (0:100, 50:50, 70:30, and 100:0), total solids (TS) (%5, %10 and %20), temperatures (35, 45 and 55°C) and oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) were evaluated. The results showed that the maximum yield and percent of the biogas produced from cow manure digestion separately was 1003 ml/day and %52.82. Digestion of the catering waste and cow manure as a mixture showed the best mixing ratio, total solid and temperature is 70:30 (w/w), %20 and 55°C respectively and biogas production yield and percent in this conditions was obtained 5430 ml/day and %74.4 respectively. The ORP obtained in this study is -327 millivolt (mv), which indicates the appropriate conditions of the anaerobic process in biogas production and confirmation of methanogenesis.
Genetic Assessment of Hyperuricemia and Gout in Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Subgroups of Pregnant Women: Biospecimens Repository Cross-Sectional Study
Authors: Alghubayshi Ali , Edelman Alison , Alrajeh Khalifa , Roman Youssef
Published: June 2021

BackgroundGout, an inflammatory condition, is characterized by the precipitation of monosodium urate crystals (MSU) in or around joints. The latter is caused by chronic hyperuricemia (HU) - high urate levels in the blood. Genetic variations in urate transporters play a significant role in determining urate levels within the human body, rendering some racial and ethnic groups more or less susceptible to developing HU or gout. This study aims to estimate the frequencies of HU and gout risk alleles in Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander subgroups, using biorepository DNA samples. MethodsThe biospecimens repository center at the University of Hawaii provided DNA samples of consented post-partum women of Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Native Hawaiian, Samoan, and Marshallese descent. The DNA was previously extracted from the cord blood and genotyped at the Genomics and Bioinformatics Shared Resource, Cancer Center (Honolulu, HI). Nine urate genes: ABCG2, SLC2A9, SLC16A9, GCKR, SLC22A11, SLC22A12, LRR16A, PDZK1, and SLC17A1, were selected due to their significant association with HU and gout risk. Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium for genotype frequencies was assessed, using the Chi-Square test with p<0.05 for statistical significance. Allele frequencies in our study were then compared to EUR from the 1000 Genomes Project Database, using the Chi-square or Fisher exact test as appropriate. Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons was used, with p<0.006 for statistical significance. ResultsOur study involved 1095 post-partum women 18-year-old or older who self-reported their respective race and ethnicity, including Asian and Pacific Islander ancestry. Asian groups involved Korean, Japanese, and Filipino. Besides, the Pacific Islander group includes Native Hawaiian, Marshallese, and Samoan. None of the study participants had a history of gout. We excluded the PDZK1 gene from the final analysis due to its deviation from HWE (p<0.05) across all the populations. Compared to EUR, the genetic polymorphism frequencies were significantly different-8/8 in Japanese, 6/8 in Korean, 6/8 in Filipino,8/8 in Samoan, 6/8 in Hawaiian, and 6/8 in Marshallese. HU and gout risk alleles indices were 8, 5, 6, 5, 4, and 4 in Japanese, Korean, Filipinos, Samoans, Marshallese, and Hawaiians, respectively. The percentage of cumulative risk alleles was 100 percent in Japanese and Filipino followed by 83.5% in Korean. ConclusionsCompared to EUR, Asian subgroups, particularly Filipinos, Japanese, and Korean, had the highest risk of allele index. These results could partly explain that Asian people have an increased risk of developing HU or gout.
Áreas de preservação permanente como suporte à gestão dos recursos hídricos
Authors: Martins Geovana Magdália de Freitas , Marinho Brenda Teixeira Scardini , Nascimento Emanuely Bettina Peluchi , Coutinho Victória de Oliveira , Dias Gustavo de Oliveira , Martins Iagor Gabriel Marcelino , Maia James Lacerda , Vieira Eliane Maria
Published: June 2021

A má gestão dos recursos naturais intensificada pelo crescimento e desenvolvimento das atividades humanas ao entorno das bacias hidrográficas têm interferido negativamente na qualidade e quantidade de água doce disponível para o abastecimento público. A fim de se mitigar os impactos provenientes dessas ações antrópicas e resguardar os mananciais de forma a garantir o abastecimento de água e estabelecer condições mínimas para o usufruto da população, é imprescindível estabelecer métodos para o monitoramento dessas bacias. Desta forma, o presente artigo apresenta técnicas de Sistema de Informações Geográficas aplicadas ao monitoramento ambiental na Microbacia do Ribeirão Candidópolis, principal fonte responsável pelo abastecimento do Município de Itabira, em Minas Gerais. Através do software QGis, delimitou-se as áreas de preservação permanente dos cursos d'água, nascentes e declives, correspondendo a área de 5,86 km2, 1,26 km2 e 0,008 km2, respectivamente. Ou seja, 18,92% da área total da microbacia. Não foram identificadas áreas de preservação permanente em topos de morro. do total de 6,41 km2 das áreas delimitadas, cerca de 71,6% corresponde à área coberta por vegetação nativa ou em estágios de regeneração. Das demais, constatou-se a presença de áreas de pastagens e atividades antrópicas. Tal situação demonstra que a bacia vem sofrendo intensos processos de degradação ambiental advindos da ação do homem e como consequência, potencializando o déficit hídrico na região.
Mapping the potential of the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil, in generating electricity from biogas from anaerobic digestion of vinasse
Authors: Santos Tamires Dantas dos , Couto Eduardo de Aguiar do , Vieira Eliane Maria
Published: June 2021

This study aimed to map and estimate the potential of electricity generation from biogas produced through the anaerobic digestion process of vinasse in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, focusing on the energy use of an electric powered otto cyclemotor generator set. The potential for electric power generation was estimated from the amount of sugarcane produced in the 2018/2019 harvest in each municipality of the State. Then, the map was made with the spatialization of the information, in order to denote the municipal potentialities of the regions with the highest available energy indices. Energy availability was in the order of 746.43 GWh for each sugarcane crop, being more concentrated in the Triangulo Mineiro Region. Therefore, the use of this biomass waste into the anaerobic digestion process to produce electricity from biogas represents an environmental solution, an economical alternative and a social benefit.
Application of Swarm-Based Feature Selection and Extreme Learning Machines in Lung Cancer Risk Prediction
Authors: Garg Priya , Aggarwal Deepti
Published: June 2021

Lung cancer risk prediction models help in identifying high-risk individuals for early CT screening tests. These predictive models can play a pivotal role in healthcare by decreasing lung cancer's mortality rate and saving many lives. Although many predictive models have been developed that use various features, no specific guidelines have been provided regarding the crucial features in lung cancer risk prediction. This study proposes novel risk prediction models using bio-inspired swarm-based techniques for feature selection and extreme learning machines for classification. The proposed models are applied on a public dataset consisting of 1000 patient records and 23 variables, including sociodemographic factors, smoking status, and lung cancer clinical symptoms. The models, validated using 10-fold cross-validation, achieve an AUC score in the range of 0.985 to 0.989, accuracy in the range of 0.986 to 0.99 and F-Measure in range of 0.98 to 0.985. The study also identifies smoking habits, exposure to air pollution, occupational hazards and some clinical symptoms as the most commonly selected lung cancer risk prediction features. The study concludes that the developed lung cancer risk prediction models can be successfully applied for early screening, diagnosis and treatment of high-risk individuals.
Design of Driver Alcohol Detection System with Automatic Engine Locking
Authors: Siddiqui Salman Ahmad , Fatima Neda , Ahmad Anwar
Published: June 2021

Drunken Driving is one of the most fatal causes of premature deaths around the world. According to WHO, about 20% of the fatally injured drivers have excess alcohol in their blood in high income countries whereas the figures may be as high as 69% in low and middle income countries. In India alone, there have been 38,000 road mishaps due to drunk driving in the past three years according to the latest report of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. The objective of this paper is to make human driving safer and overcome such incidences. The present paper describes the process of detection of alcohol in sample breath testing, developed using Arduino and Arduino Integrated Design Environment (IDE). The system will sense the alcohol concentration in breath and control the switching of ignition engine according the data it receives. Also, it allows the driver a delay time in case the breath is detected after the vehicle has started to avoid traffic mismanagement. Finally, it will send an SMS alert to his/her relatives/close friends to alert them of possible drunken driving incident and prevent it.
Anomaly Detection using Similarity Approach on Airline Data
Authors: Sikdar Utpal Kumar , Kumar Krishna M
Published: June 2021

Anomaly detection is to identify abnormal items, events or observations from the majority of the data. We applied similarity approaches to identify the abnormal observations from the Airline Data on chargeable weight. Chargeable weight is what the airline uses to determine the cost of the shipment. It may be either volumetric weight or gross weight, whichever is greater. Similarity approaches are applied to identify the abnormal observations on chargeable weight and evaluated the systems with the airline data. The precision, recall and F-measure values of the best system are 41.12%, 54.91% and 47.02% respectively.
Co-occurrence Based Approach for Differentiation of Speech and Song
Authors: Ghosal Arijit , Ghoshal Ranjit
Published: June 2021

Discrimination of speech and song through auditory signal is an exciting topic of research. Preceding efforts were mainly discrimination of speech and non-speech but moderately fewer efforts were carried out to discriminate speech and song. Discrimination of speech and song is one of the noteworthy fragments of automatic sorting of audio signal because this is considered to be the fundamental step of hierarchical approach towards genre identification, audio archive generation. The previous efforts which were carried out to discriminate speech and song, have involved frequency domain and perceptual domain aural features. This work aims to propose an acoustic feature which is small dimensional as well as easy to compute. It is observed that energy level of speech signal and song signal differs largely due to absence of instrumental part as a background in case of speech signal. Short Time Energy (STE) is the best acoustic feature which can echo this scenario. For precise study of energy variation co-occurrence matrix of STE is generated and statistical features are extracted from it. For classification resolution, some well-known supervised classifiers have been engaged in this effort. Performance of proposed feature set has been compared with other efforts to mark the supremacy of the feature set.
Data Mining and Principal Component Analysis on Coimbra Breast Cancer Dataset
Authors: Sen Anupam
Published: June 2021

Machine Learning (ML) techniques play an important role in the medical field. Early diagnosis is required to improve the treatment of carcinoma. During this analysis Breast Cancer Coimbra dataset (BCCD) with ten predictors are analyzed to classify carcinoma. In this paper method for feature selection and Machine learning algorithms are applied to the dataset from the UCI repository. WEKA (“Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis”) tool is used for machine learning techniques. In this paper Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is used for feature extraction. Different Machine Learning classification algorithms are applied through WEKA such as Glmnet, Gbm, ada Boosting, Adabag Boosting, C50, Cforest, DcSVM, fnn, Ksvm, Node Harvest compares the accuracy and also compare values such as Kappa statistic, Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE). Here the 10-fold cross validation method is used for training, testing and validation purposes.
Application of Artificial Neural Network to Predict TDS Concentrations of the River Thamirabarani, India
Authors: Esakkimuthu T , Abraham Marykutty , Akila S
Published: June 2021

River water quality modeling is of prime importance in predicting the health of the rivers and in turn warns the human society about the future possibility of water problem in that area. Total dissolved solids is a prominent parameter used to access the quality of the river water. In our current study, artificial neural networking models have been developed to predict the concentrations of total dissolved solids of the river Thamirabarani in India. Neural Network toolbox of the MATLAB 2017 application was used to create and train the models. Monthly data from year 2016 to 2019 at four different sites near Thamirabarani river were procured from Tamilnadu pollution control board. Many artificial neural network architectures were built and the best performing architecture was selected for this study. With several parameters such as pH, chloride, turbidity, hardness, dissolved oxygen as input and the total dissolved solids as output parameter, the model was trained for many iterations and a final architecture was arrived which predicts the futuristic TDS concentrations of Thamirabarani in a more accurate manner. The predicted and the expected values were very close to each other. The root mean square error (RMSE) values for the selected stations such as Papanasam, Cheranmahadevi, Tirunelveli and Punnaikayal were 0.565, 0.591, 0.648 and 0.67 respectively.
An Overview of the Basic NLP Resources Towards Building the Assamese-English Machine Translation
Authors: Roy Nibedita , Senapati Apurbalal
Published: June 2021

Machine Translation (MT) is the process of automatically converting one natural language into another, preserving the exact meaning of the input text to the output text. It is one of the classical problems in the Natural Language Processing (NLP) domain and there is a wide application in our daily life. Though the research in MT in English and some other language is relatively in an advanced stage, but for most of the languages, it is far from the human-level performance in the translation task. From the computational point of view, for MT a lot of preprocessing and basic NLP tools and resources are needed. This study gives an overview of the available basic NLP resources in the context of Assamese-English machine translation.