bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Antibacterial Activity of Liquid Soap supplemented with Extracts combination of Cyperus rotundus L. and Flowers of Plumeria acuminata, Michelia alba, or Cananga odorata Against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli Bacteria
Authors: Mulyani Sri , Kusumawardani Ari , Pangesti Aulia Ageng
Published: June 2022

Secondary metabolites found in white Frangipani flowers (Plumeria acuminata), white tropical Magnolia flowers (Michelia alba), Ylang flower (Cananga Odorata), and Nutgrass (Cyperus rotundus L.) are thought to be employed as antibacterial active ingredients in detergent. This research aims to create liquid antibacterial soap using an extract mixture of Nutgrass with white Frangipani flower (F1), white tropical Magnolia flower (F2), or Ylang flower (F3). Phytochemical screening tests for the ethanol extracts of Nutgrass and those three flowers, pH tests, total active ingredients tests, and antibacterial activity tests against S. aureus and E. coli bacteria were carried out during the formulation of the liquid soap preparation with the addition of these extracts. The extraction procedure was maceration with a 70% ethanol solvent, yielding extracts of 9.28 percent frangipani flower, 8.12 percent white tropical Magnolia flowers, 9.8 percent Ylang flower, and 8.88 percent Nutgrass. The liquid soap quality testing findings met the established norms (SNI 4085:2017). This research shows that the soap formulas (F0, F1, F2, and F3) can inhibit S. aureus and E. coli germs in antibacterial activity tests using the disc diffusion method. Based on the diameter of the inhibition zone, the antibacterial activity against E. coli of liquid soap with Nutgrass & white tropical Magnolia flower extracts (F2) is not significantly different from liquid soap without extracts (F0). The F2 formula shows to be less effective than both the two liquid soaps containing extracts of Nutgrass & white Frangipani flower (F1) and Nutgrass & Ylang flower (F3). However, the three formulas of liquid soaps (F1, F2, and F3) tend to be more effective in antibacterial activity against S. aureus than a liquid soap that did not contain extracts (F0).
Aslında olmayan Elif-Nun ile Biten İsimlerin Morfolojik Analizi
Authors: ŞENTÜRK Nurullah
Published: June 2022

Aslında olmayan harf ilave edilen kelimeye “mezid” denir. Bu harfler bir tür yapım eki görevi görürler ve ilave edildikleri kelimeye artı anlamlar katarlar. Bu cümleden olmak üzere Arapçada isim, sıfat ve mastarların sonuna eklenen elif-nun harfleri kelimeye ekstra anlamlar katmaktadır. Bu çalışmada morfolojik olarak sonunda elif-nun bulunan isim, sıfat ve mastarlar ele alınmıştır.

Bilindiği üzere elif ve nun kelimelere ya irab (kelimelerin cümledeki konumuna bağlı olarak sonlarında meydana gelen değişim) veya sarf (kelimeye ilave anlamlar katmak için kelime türetme) nedeniyle eklenmektedir. İrab nedeniyle yapılan elif-nun ilavesi Nahiv ilmimdeki musennâ / ikil konusunu ilgilendirdiği için çalışmada konuya değinilmemiştir.

Bu çalışmada hangi kelimelere elif-nun eklendiği, hangilerinin tekil-çoğul oldukları ve asıllarının ne oldukları konuları üzerinde durduk. Ayrıca elif-nun ile biten bazı isimler gayri munsarif olduğu için, elif nun alan gayri munsarif isimler ve ism-i tasgir konularını detaylıca ele aldık.
A Prospective, Longitudinal Study of the Influence of Obesity on Total Knee Arthroplasty Revision Rate
Authors: Wall Christopher J. , Vertullo Christopher J. , Kondalsamy-Chennakesavan Srinivas , Lorimer Michelle F. , de Steiger Richard N.
Published: June 2022

Background:

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship of obesity with all-cause revision and revision for infection, loosening, instability, and pain after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) performed in Australia.

Methods:

Data for patients undergoing primary TKA for osteoarthritis from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2020, were obtained from the Australian Orthopaedic Association National Joint Replacement Registry (AOANJRR). The rates of all-cause revision and revision for infection, loosening, instability, and pain were compared for non-obese patients (body mass index [BMI], 18.50 to 29.99 kg/m2), class-I and II obese patients (BMI, 30.00 to 39.99 kg/m2), and class-III obese patients (BMI, ≥40.00 kg/m2). The results were adjusted for age, sex, tibial fixation, prosthesis stability, patellar component usage, and computer navigation usage.

Results:

During the study period, 141,673 patients underwent primary TKA for osteoarthritis in Australia; of these patients, 48.0% were class-I or II obese, and 10.6% were class-III obese. The mean age was 68.2 years, and 54.7% of patients were female. The mean follow-up period was 2.8 years. Of the 2,655 revision procedures identified, the reasons for the procedures included infection in 39.7%, loosening in 14.8%, instability in 12.0%, and pain in 6.1%. Class-I and II obese patients had a higher risk of all-cause revision (hazard ratio [HR], 1.12 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.03 to 1.22]; p = 0.007) and revision for infection (HR, 1.25 [95% CI, 1.10 to 1.43]; p = 0.001) than non-obese patients. Class-III obese patients had a higher risk of all-cause revision after 1 year (HR, 1.30 [95% CI, 1.14 to 1.52]; p < 0.001), revision for infection after 3 months (HR, 1.72 [95% CI, 1.33 to 2.17]; p < 0.001), and revision for loosening (HR, 1.39 [95% CI, 1.00 to 1.89]; p = 0.047) than non-obese patients. The risks of revision for instability and pain were similar among groups.

Conclusions:

Obese patients with knee osteoarthritis should be counseled with regard to the increased risks associated with TKA, so they can make informed decisions about their health care. Health services and policymakers need to address the issue of obesity at a population level.

Level of Evidence:

Prognostic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
Spine Roundtable: Sacroiliac Joint Pain
Authors: Sinkov Vladimir , Klare Christian , McAuliffe Kame
Published: June 2022

The purpose of the JOPA Roundtable discussion is to give orthopaedic physician assistants insight into how each participating provider treats certain clinical scenarios in their current practice. For this Spine Roundtable, providers with expertise in spine will discuss sacroiliac joint pain. Participants will share their knowledge and experience on the topic.
Automatic Registration and Error Color Maps to Improve Accuracy for Navigated Bone Tumor Surgery Using Intraoperative Cone-Beam CT
Authors: Sahovaler Axel , Daly Michael J. , Chan Harley H.L. , Nayak Prakash , Tzelnick Sharon , Arkhangorodsky Michelle , Qiu Jimmy , Weersink Robert , Irish Jonathan C. , Ferguson Peter , Wunder Jay S.
Published: June 2022

Background:

Computer-assisted surgery (CAS) can improve surgical precision in orthopaedic oncology. Accurate alignment of the patient’s imaging coordinates with the anatomy, known as registration, is one of the most challenging aspects of CAS and can be associated with substantial error. Using intraoperative, on-the-table, cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT), we performed a pilot clinical study to validate a method for automatic intraoperative registration.

Methods:

Patients who were ≥18 years of age, had benign bone tumors, and underwent resection were prospectively enrolled. In addition to inserting a navigation tracking tool into the exposed bone adjacent to the surgical field, 2 custom plastic ULTEM tracking tools (UTTs) were attached to each patient’s skin adjacent to the tumor using an adhesive. These were automatically localized within the 3-dimensional CBCT volume to be used as image landmarks for registration, and the corresponding tracker landmarks were captured using an infrared camera. The main outcomes were the fiducial registration error (FRE) and the target registration error (TRE). The navigation time was recorded.

Results:

Thirteen patients with benign tumors in the femur (n = 10), tibia (n = 2), and humerus (n = 1) underwent navigation-assisted resections. The mean values were 0.67 ± 0.15 mm (range, 0.47 to 0.97 mm) for FRE and 0.83 ± 0.51 mm (range, 0.42 to 2.28 mm) for TRE. Registration was successful in all cases. The mean time for CBCT imaging and tracker registration was 7.5 minutes.

Conclusions:

We present a novel automatic registration method for CAS exploiting intraoperative CBCT capabilities, which provided improved accuracy and reduced operative times compared with more traditional methods.

Clinical Relevance:

This proof-of-principle study validated a novel process for automatic registration to improve the accuracy of resecting bone tumors using a surgical navigation system.
Foundational Principles in the Development of AdH-SW3, the Three-Dimensional Shallow Water Hydrodynamics and Transport Module within the Adaptive Hydraulics/Hydrology Model
Authors: Berger Rutherford C.
Published: June 2022

This report details the design and development of the three-dimensional shallow water hydrodynamics formulation within the Adaptive Hydraulics/Hydrology model (AdH-SW3) for simulation of flow and transport in rivers, estuaries, reservoirs, and other similar hydrologic environments. The report is intended to communicate principles of the model design for the interested and diligent user. The design relies upon several layers of consistency to produce a stable, accurate, and conservative model. The mesh design can handle rapid changes in bathymetry (e.g., steep-sided navigation channels in estuaries) and maintain accuracy in density-driven transport phenomena (e.g., thermal, or saline stratification and intrusion of salinity).
Effects of Confining Pressure on Permeability in a Single Fracture Based on the Deformation of Hydraulic Aperture at Low Fluid Velocities
Authors: Ma Haichun , Wang Jingping , Qian Jiazhong , Feng Peichao , Tan Xiaohui , Luo Qiankun
Published: June 2022

The fluid flow in fractured rock was determined by the aperture of fractures, which is influenced by the complex variation and wide distribution of in situ stress conditions. While extensive studies focused on qualitative analysis of the experimental phenomena, much less was the quantitative mechanism of permeability under confining pressure in theory, which is frequently required in rock engineering projects. In this work, we proposed a new negative exponential model to quantitatively describe the flow rate Q, seepage pressure Ps, hydraulic aperture eh, and permeability k under different confining pressures Pc at a low flow rate. Hydromechanical tests with two experimental modes (constant Q test mode and constant Ps test mode) were conducted on cutting shale samples, and test data were collected. Furthermore, regression analyses were performed on the test data, based on the proposed model. Results suggest that the negative exponential model quantitatively predicts the seepage properties (Q, Ps, eh, and k) under the changeable in situ stress conditions in the application of low flow velocities in natural fractures, such as the development of oil/gas reservoirs and controlling of solute transport in the main aquifer. The proposed model assists in understanding and applying the behavior of the fluid flow in fractured rock under in situ stress conditions at low flow velocity.
Resistencia microbiana a antibióticos: estado actual del conocimiento y retos para los ecosistemas acuáticos
Authors:   , Gallegos Rubianes Aitana , Torres Correa Allison
Published: June 2022

La resistencia microbiana a antibióticos ha ido aumentando a lo largo de los años y genera una gran preocupación de interés para la salud pública. Las bacterias resistentes se propagan en los distintos ecosistemas, destacando las actividades antropogénicas como favorecedores de la dispersión de estas bacterias resistentes; en muchos casos, llegan finalmente a los cuerpos de agua donde pueden entrar en contacto con el humano. En los ecosistemas acuáticos también se pueden encontrar distintos contaminantes como los metales pesados y biocidas, con lo cual se incrementa la probabilidad de surgimiento de una co-selección con las bacterias resistentes a antibióticos, pudiendo agravar la problemática. La presente revisión tiene por objetivo realizar un compendio de la información actualizada sobre la resistencia microbiana a antibióticos, comentando su sinergia con otros componentes del agua como los metales pesados y los biocidas. Se explora y sintetiza la información actual sobre los mecanismos de resistencia, su propagación en ecosistemas acuáticos, y las tendencias actuales en la resistencia contra antibióticos en los ecosistemas.
Implementación de un servicio cloud de alta disponibilidad para mejorar la gestión de archivos en los servicios de TI de la empresa Eocorp SAC, 2021
Authors:   , Chipana Avendaño Richard
Published: June 2022

La descripción del asunto analizado, en tal sentido, Perea (2020), explica que el servicio en la nube equilibra las necesidades de almacenamiento de información y este remplaza mejor los recursos y servicios incluidos en la misma organización, La utilización del servicio Cloud tiene la posibilidad de hacer uso en una red privada o pública. Esto ayuda a poder acceder a los servicios basados en Cloud en cualquier lugar. Al respecto, puede decirse que la tecnología Cloud ofrece mejorar la administración y/o datos en la utilización de los archivos en una alta disponibilidad para el trabajo diario, esto representa una gigantesca posibilidad para la compañía, debido a que al conectarse a una red externa tiene los archivos necesarios para seguir con su tarea sin perder información y esta no logre ser alterada, de tal forma la utilización es imprescindible en dichos tiempos.
El "pejerrey argentino" Odontesthes bonariensis: recomendaciones para su manejo sostenible en el Perú
Authors:   , Bobbio Velarde Maria Lorena
Published: June 2022

El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo generar recomendaciones acerca del estado actual de Odontesthes bonariensis “pejerrey argentino” en el Perú. Considerando aspectos de su biología reproductiva, se sugiere poder implementar una escala de madurez gonadal para la especie que permita proponer medidas de regulación pesqueras orientadas al uso racional de este recurso y evitar su sobreexplotación. Para este fin, es necesario tener pleno conocimiento de su ciclo reproductivo mediante el análisis histológico, conocer la época o épocas de desove, la frecuencia de desove y estimar las tallas de primera madurez.
Evaluación del impacto de la infraestructura de tecnología de la información en el servicio de cloud computing de la empresa Gigatek S.A.C., 2020
Authors:   , Loarte Cabello Luis Enrique
Published: June 2022

El presente tiene por objetivo evaluar si la infraestructura de tecnología de la información (TI) impacta en el servicio de Cloud Computing de la empresa Gigatek del 2020. Siendo esta de diseño no experimental, descriptivo correlacional causal y cuantitativo. Se tomó como población y muestra los reportes de los últimos dos meses de 7 servidores físicos, 20 servidores virtuales, 20 sistemas operativos, 2 almacenamientos físicos con 50 TB efectivos administrados lógicamente, 1 librería VTL conformada por 2 drives gestionada por una herramienta de respaldo, 1 informe Ethical Hacking, mantenimientos e incidencias reportadas. Se obtuvo una confiablidad de los instrumentos basados en las pruebas de “Test y Retest” para ambas variables planteadas, respecto a la confiabilidad de la infraestructura de tecnología de la información se tiene una confiabilidad de 0.749, según la prueba por mitades y para la variable de servicios de Cloud Computing se tiene una confiabilidad de 0.773, según la prueba por mitades. Después del procesamiento e interpretación de los resultados se evidenció, en base a la prueba Rho de Spearman, una correlación (r= 0.530) significativa con pvalor=sig = 0.000 < 0.05. Por lo tanto, existe dependencia entre Infraestructura de TI y el Servicio cloud computing, mostrando una significativa relación entre las variables, refutando la hipótesis nula, aprobándose la H1 que se planteó como hipótesis general de la empresa Gigatek.
El efecto de los cuidadores en la ansiedad y depresión de las personas con discapacidad de Chile
Authors:   , Torres Marocho Maria Fernanda , Ramos Carrillo Claudia Andrea
Published: June 2022

Objetivos: determinar el efecto de los cuidadores en la ansiedad y depresión de las personas con discapacidad de Chile durante el 2015. Adicionalmente, se desea evaluar esta posible asociación según niveles de discapacidad. Métodos: se realizó un estudio transversal de análisis de datos secundarios del II Estudio Nacional de la Discapacidad (ENDISC II) 2015 de Chile. Se incluyeron solo a personas con discapacidad. Las variables dependientes fueron la ansiedad y depresión diagnosticada por un médico o profesional de la salud y la variable independiente fue la asistencia de un cuidador, adicionalmente se incluyeron posibles variables de confusión. Se elaboraron tres modelos de regresión de Poisson y se estimaron razones de prevalencia (RP) con sus intervalos de confianza al 95% (IC 95%). El análisis se repitió según los niveles de discapacidad. Para todos los cálculos se consideró el muestreo complejo de la ENDISC II. Resultados: se incluyeron datos de 2610 personas con discapacidad. El 41,2% recibía la asistencia de un cuidador, el 16,2% tenía ansiedad y el 27,5% tenía depresión. Cuando se incluyeron a todas las personas con discapacidad no se encontró asociación entre la asistencia de un cuidador y la ansiedad y depresión. Sin embargo, al estratificar según niveles de discapacidad se encontró que en las personas con discapacidad severa la asistencia de un cuidador reducía en 27% las probabilidades de tener depresión (RP= 0,73; IC 95%: 0,59-0,89). Conclusiones: en las personas con discapacidad de Chile, la asistencia de un cuidador reduce las probabilidades de tener depresión, aunque solamente en las personas con discapacidad severa.
Global positioning with animal-borne pressure sensors
Authors: Nussbaumer Raphaël , Gravey Mathieu , Briedis Martins , Liechti Felix
Published: June 2022

BackgroundUnderstanding the temporal and spatial use of habitats by wildlife is crucial to apprehend ecological relationships in nature. Tracking small birds and bats requires tags of less than 2g, therefore lightweight geolocators are currently the most affordable and widespread option. Recent multi-sensor geolocators now capture accelerometer and pressure data in addition to light, offering new potential to refine the accuracy of bird positioning. In particular, as atmospheric pressure varies with space and time, pressure timeseries at a single location have a unique signature which can be used for global positioning independent of light recordings.MethodBird positions are estimated at distinct stationary periods by comparing atmospheric pressure data recorded by the geolocator with reference data from a global weather reanalysis database. The methodology produces a probability distribution map of the position based on (1) a mask of the locations for which the ground level elevation matches the pressure measured by the geolocator and (2) a likelihood of the mismatch between the temporal timeseries measured by the geolocator and the reanalysis dataset. This new method is introduced step by step and applied to 16 tracks from 9 long- and short-distance migrant species.ResultsUsing known positions of double-tagged individuals (light and pressure data), we demonstrate that our method is almost three times more accurate than light-based positioning with an average error of 44 km in our trials. In contrast to the traditional light-based approach, pressure data can provide location information for short stationary periods (less than a day) and is not affected by the equinox-problem nor the change of habitats by the tracked animal. To facilitate the application of the method, we developed an R package featuring guidelines, examples and starting code (GeoPressureR).Conclusion﻿Positioning birds using pressure data can help identify short stopover locations, such that tracking devices measuring pressure alone could be used for global positioning, allowing for the study of lighter species.
Analysis of Multi Factor Weight Model of Internet Addiction Tendency Based on Deep Belief Network
Authors: Guo Zhijun , Zhang Laigang
Published: June 2022

In order to improve the effectiveness of the analysis method of Internet addiction tendency, a multi factor weight model analysis method of Internet Addiction Tendency Based on machine learning method is proposed. Firstly, the research status of machine learning is analyzed, and a multi factor weight model of Internet addiction tendency is constructed; The deep belief network structure is designed based on machine learning method; The deep belief network is used to realize the weight sharing of Internet addiction tendency multi factors, effectively extract the convolution characteristics of Internet addiction tendency multi factors, and realize the analysis of Internet addiction tendency multi factor weight model. The experimental results show that the multi factor weight model of Internet Addiction Tendency Based on machine learning method can effectively improve the accuracy and effect of Internet addiction tendency analysis.
Comparison of reproductive outcomes in ICSI cycles using sperm chip technique and density gradient technique in men with normal semen analysis
Authors: Ozaltin Selin , Celik Hale Goksever , Kocyigit Yucel , Kar Emre , Gungor Mete , Yeh John , Bastu Ercan
Published: June 2022

Background
Microfluidic sperm sorting procedure or sperm chip technique is a chemical free method of selecting sperms using a disposable chip. It is a new gentle alternative for sperm processing which has been produced to obtain sperm with higher rates of motility and better morphology, as well as to reduce DNA Fragmentation (DFI) in sperms with high DNA fragmentation to nearly undetectable levels. We aimed to evaluate the microfluidic sperm sorting procedure (sperm chip technique) on clinical pregnancy rates in patients who underwent intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).
Methods
The patients in whom fresh embryo transfer (ET) on Day-3 or 5 after ICSI had been performed were analyzed in this prospective randomized cohort study.
Results
Of those, 102 patients underwent ICSI with sperm isolated using sperm chip technique (study group) while 111 patients underwent ICSI with sperm isolated using swim-up technique (control group). No significant difference was observed between the sperm chip group and control group in terms of fertilization rate in patients who underwent ET on the 3rd or 5th day. In the patients having ET on Day-3, Grade 1 embryos were obtained similarly between the sperm chip group and control group. Grade 1 embryos transferred on Day-5 were observed significantly more frequently in the study group (p = 0.050). However, clinical pregnancy rate did not show significant difference between the groups in patients who were transferred on both the 3rd and 5th days.
Conclusion(s):
Although sperm selection using by sperm chip technique provides advantage in terms of blastocyst quality, use of this technique does not enhance success in terms of clinical pregnancy.
Impact of Child Disability on Parental Employment and Earnings: A Quasi- Experimental Study of Parents of Children with Disability in Norway
Authors: Wondemu Michael Yisfashewa , Hermansen Åsmund , Joranger Pål , Brekke Idunn
Published: June 2022

Background: Caring for a disabled child has both immediate and long-term economic costs that affect the well-being of children, parents, and society. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of child disability on parental employment and earnings by examining differences in care burden by parental gender, disability severity, and child age.Methods: The study included children with disabilities born between 2004 to 2011 and their mothers (n = 139,189) and fathers (n = 134,457). Longitudinal data on employment, working hours and labour earnings were obtained from Statistics Norway, specifically the National Education Database, the Central Population Register and the Event History Database. A quasi-experimental difference-in-differences model was used to examine differences in employment, working hours and earnings. Results: The results showed that caring for children with disabilities has a negative effect on mothers’ labour market participation, working hours and earnings. The more severe a child’s condition is, the more likely the mother is to work less or to stop working entirely. Additionally, mothers caring for school-age disabled children face a greater burden of care than mothers of disabled children of preschool age. Labour market participation, working hours, and labour earnings for fathers with less severe disabled children is comparable to those of fathers with non-disabled children. Caring for more severely disabled child reduces fathers' labour earnings but has no effect on their working hours or labour market participation.Conclusion: Policymakers and child welfare stakeholders should evaluate policy options and provide the necessary welfare support particularly to mothers caring for children with a more severe disability.
Vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 and mortality in hemodialysis patients: three is good…
Authors: Yavuz Demet , Özen Düriye Sıla Karagöz , Başbulut Eşe , Bilgin Melek , Demirağ Mehmet Derya
Published: June 2022

Background: This study has investigated the vaccination rates against SARS-CoV-2 infection, antibody response to vaccine types, and factors affecting mortality in maintenance hemodialysis patients.Methods: 98 of 143 patients undergoing hemodialysis in our clinic had 3 doses of BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTechh) or CoronaVac (Sinovac Life Sciences) vaccine. Of these 98 patients, blood samples were obtained from 52 patients who agreed to obtain serum samples before and after vaccination. The serum samples were analyzed using the Abbott SARS-CoV-2 immunoassay designed to detect IgG antibodies against the receptor-binding domain of the S1 subunit of the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2.Results: The rate of vaccination with at least one dose of vaccine was 85.3% , and the frequency of SARS-CoV-2 infection was 58.7% . The patients whose antibody titer obtained after the third dose of vaccine (n=52) were divided into two groups according to the last vaccine type, as BioNTechh group of 16 patients and Sinovac group of 36 patients. Considering all 52 patients with 3 doses of vaccine, the median antibody level was 397.3 (min-max) (4.5 - 40000) before the third vaccine dose, while 1325.3 (min-max) (10.5 - 40000) after the third vaccine dose (p < 0.001). In patients with the last vaccine dose of Sinovac (n=36), the median antibody titer was 168.2 (min-max) (4.5 - 40000) before the third vaccine dose, while 851.7 (min-max) (55.2 - 40.000) after the third vaccine dose (p < 0.01). In patients with the last vaccine dose of BioNTechh, the median antibody titer was 2738.6 (min-max) (9.4 - 37723.4) before the third vaccine dose, while 37575.8 (min-max) (10.5 - 40000) after the third vaccine dose (p = 0.002). The frequency of SARS-CoV-2 infection (p=0.001) and SARS-CoV-2 infection-related mortality rates was significantly lower in vaccinated patients than in unvaccinated patients (p<0.001).Conclusion: SARS-CoV-2 vaccine doses elicited a high seropositive response in patients receiving maintenance dialysis. Those who received the last (3rd) dose of vaccine with BNT162b2 had higher antibody levels than those with CoronaVac/Sinovac. In addition, regardless of the vaccine type, being vaccinated with any of them decreased the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection and the mortality rate.
Health care-associated meningitis: Clinical epidemiology and predictor for 90-day mortality
Authors: Zheng Guanghui , Shi Yijun , Ding Yaowei , Sun Jialu , Wang Siqi , Qian Lingye , Lv Hong , Zhang Guojun
Published: June 2022

Aims
To express the clinical predictor and epidemiology of patients with health care-associated meningitis (HAM) and launch a survival analysis to screen mortality predictors.
Method
A retrospective cohort analysis containing more than 70000 patients was evaluated. Clinical and microbial epidemiology, therapy and mortality of HAM patients were reviewed. Multivariable Cox proportional hazard models were applied to achieve survival analysis.
Result
900 HAM patients from 3244 cases with cerebrospinal fluid(CSF) culture positivity were selected for epidemiology and survival analysis. The 90-day mortality was 12.4% (112 of 900) in people with HAM. Hypertension, external ventricular drainage (EVD), and lumbar drainage (LD) are mortality predictors for HAM, with a hazard ratio (HR) of 2.097 (95% C.I. 1.308–3.361, P = 0.002), 1.709 (95% C.I. 1.119–2.611, P = 0.013), and 1.614 (95% C.I. 1.083–2.405, P = 0.019). Reoperation was a factor favoring mortality, with an HR of 0.615 (95% C.I. 0.397–0.951, P = 0.029). In treatment, the outcome of patients receiving three or more antibiotic combinations is better than that of patients receiving dual-drug combinations.
Conclusion
The mortality of patients with HAM was relatively high, and the most important factors related to 90-days survival were hypertension, EVD and LD and treatment with three or more antibiotics are much better.
Free sugar intake and associated factors among Sri Lankan preschool children
Authors: Mututanthri Shanika , Thoradeniya Tharanga , Samaranayake Anil , Harris Rebecca
Published: June 2022

Background: Excessive free sugar intake tends to be associated with unpleasant health consequences, such as dental caries and unhealthy weight gain in children, as well as a number of noncommunicable diseases in adults. The WHO suggests that the best method for addressing these issues is to reduce free sugar consumption throughout life, in order to be successful, these measures should be implemented as early as possible. This makes the early formative years of preschool an important point for possible intervention. To confirm this, baseline information on current sugar intake levels is needed, as well as identification of factors associated with high levels of consumption.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the district of Colombo, Sri Lanka. The probability proportionate to size technique combined with cluster sampling was used to select a representative sample of 813 children aged 04-05-years from 82 preschools. We developed, and validated a quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) to assess free sugar consumption. Data on correlated factors were collected from caregivers using a pre-tested self-administered questionnaire.Results: Based on the data, the daily median (IQR) free sugar intake of preschool children was 57.9 (33.2-95.8) grams/day (approximately to 14.5 (8.3-23.9) teaspoons/day) or 21.1% (12.5%-34.9%) of their daily energy requirements. The WHO recommends limiting sugar intake to less than 5% of total energy intake; however, the current level is fourfold, and 96% of children consume higher percentage of energy from free sugar than recommended. In terms of total daily sugar consumption, bakery products accounted for 27%, followed by biscuits (15%), and table sugar (15%). Increasing maternal education level significantly reduced sugar intake (p=0.04). Children of other ethnicities ate more sugar than the Sinhala children (p= 0.01). There was higher sugar intake among those who ate while returning from preschool (p<0.001), while watching television (p<0.001), and those who had school-going siblings (p=0.02). Conclusion: Among preschool children, free sugar consumption levels were very high and most of the children consumed more sugar than is recommended; which warranted urgent actions to curb sugar intake among them.
Rail-to-Rail Input/Output Bulk Driven Class AB Operational Amplifier with Improved Composite Transistors (Invited paper)
Authors: Rodovalho Luis Henrique , Rodrigues Cesar , Aiello Orazio
Published: June 2022

This work presents two-stage single-ended Operational Transconductance Amplifiers (OTA) with very high voltage gain and rail-to-rail output voltage excursion. This is achieved by using Improved Composite Transistors (ICT) with safe forward-body-biasing, so the amplifier can be used with typical I/O supply voltages and high-VT thick-oxide transistors without significant parasitic substrate current. Two versions of the same OTA were designed and simulated using the open-source Skywater 130 nm PDK. The first version, made of only Trapezoidal Transistor Arrays (TTA), achieves an 83 dB voltage gain, 13.1 MHz GBW, and 60° phase margin for a 10 pF capacitive load while demanding 122.1 µW of power at 3.0 V power supply. The proposed ICT OTA version attains about the same specifications, except for its voltage gain, which has increased by 37 dB, thus reaching 121 dB.
Fast generation of simple directed social network graphs with reciprocal edges and high clustering
Authors: Schweimer Christoph
Published: June 2022

Online social networks have emerged as useful tools to communicate or share information and news on a daily basis. One of the most popular networks is Twitter, where users connect to each other via directed follower relationships. Researchers have studied Twitter follower graphs and described them with various topological features. Collecting Twitter data, especially crawling the followers of users, is a tedious and time-consuming process and the data needs to be treated carefully due to its sensitive nature, containing personal user information. We therefore aim at the fast generation of synthetic directed social network graphs with reciprocal edges and high clustering. Our proposed method is based on a previously developed model, but relies on less hyper-parameters and has a significantly lower runtime. Results show that the method does not only replicate the crawled directed Twitter graphs well w.r.t. several topological features and the application of an epidemics spreading process, but that it is also highly scalable which allows the fast creation of bigger graphs that exhibit similar properties as real-world networks.
Low TINAGL1 expression is a marker for poor prognosis in breast cancer
Authors: Kato Akiko , Kondo Naoto , Wanifuchi-Endo Yumi , Fujita Takashi , Asano Tomoko , Hisada Tomoka , Uemoto Yasuaki , Terada Mitsuo , Kato Hiroyuki , Komura Masayuki , Okuda Katsuhiro , Takahashi Satoru , Toyama Tatsuya
Published: June 2022

Purpose: Tubulointerstitial nephritis antigen-like 1 (TINAGL1) was reported to suppress tumor metastasis and growth in triple-negative (TN) breast cancer. We aimed to determine the associations of TINAGL1 expression with clinicopathological factors and prognosis in breast cancer patients with long-term follow-up.Methods: A total of 599 consecutive primary invasive breast cancer patients with available tissue specimens from surgery in our hospital were included in the study. TINAGL1 mRNA expression was examined in all 599 tissue specimens using a TaqMan real-time PCR system. TINAGL1 protein expression was further examined in 299 patients with available tissue specimens for immunohistochemical staining. Survival analyses were performed using the Kaplan–Meier method and Cox proportional hazards models.Results: The median follow-up period was 12.0 years. In the total patients, low TINAGL1 mRNA expression was associated with significantly shorter disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival than high expression (P=0.003 and P=0.01, respectively). Furthermore, hormone receptor-positive/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative breast cancer patients with low TINAGL1 mRNA expression had a worse prognosis. Multivariate analysis identified low TINAGL1 mRNA expression, combined with lymph node positivity, as an independent poor prognostic factor for DFS in invasive breast cancer patients (HR 1.41; 95% CI 1.02–1.96; P=0.036). TINAGL1 mRNA expression also varied with menopausal status, with low TINAGL1 mRNA expression being positively associated with poor prognosis in premenopausal patients, but not in postmenopausal patients.Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate that TINAGL1 may be a promising candidate biomarker and therapeutic target in breast cancer patients.
Simple Pose Based Graph Reasoning for Human Pose Estimation
Authors: Wang Jia , Luo Yanmin , Bai Guihu
Published: June 2022

Aiming at the challenge of modeling the relations globally among different body joints. In this paper, we proposed a simple network based on graph reasoning for human pose estimation, which named SP-GRe. We introduce dilated convolution to construct a Dilated Bottleneck Module (DRM), which can enlarge the receptive field and exploit its feature extraction capability. Meanwhile, it can enhance the model’s local representations of each key point. In view of the potential advantages of graph-based propagation, we design a Global Graph Reasoning module (GGR) based on graph convolution. The module stores the explicit joints in the graph structure for global relationship reasoning. By aggregating the features of local joints and global graph nodes, GGR enables the accurate location of key points in the interaction between projection and back-projection. Comprehensive experiments demonstrate that the proposed method achieves superior top-down pose estimation results on two benchmark datasets, MSCOCO and MPII. Moreover, SP-GRe demonstrates superior results on human pose estimation over popular human pose estimation networks.
IP-10 Enhances the Amplification Capacity and Antitumor Activity of Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T Cells in Multiple Myeloma (MM) Patients Treated with CAR-T Cell Therapy
Authors: liu tianjiao , long xiaolu , zhang yuanyuan , jin jin , chen liting , liu aichun
Published: June 2022

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has shown impressive outcomes in hematologic malignancies. However, many patients experience a limited response and tumour relapse because of poor expansion and transport. Fourth-generation CARs address some of the limitations of CAR-T-cell therapy, and cytokines are frequently included in fourth-generation CARs due to their importance in T-cell development and homeostasis. However, new explorations are still needed to provide more desirable possibilities. Here, we first analysed clinical data from 18 patients with multiple myeloma (MM) who received immunotherapy with BCMA-CAR-T cells. The data showed that the basal serum level of IP-10 correlated with patient outcomes one year after CAR-T-cell therapy and that a higher basal serum level of IP-10 was positively associated with progression-free survival (PFS). Next, we performed in vitro experiments using flow cytometry-based assays, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, and cytotoxicity assays. The data verified that IP-10 can effectively stimulate the chemotaxis of CD8+ CAR-T cells. In addition, CAR-T cells cultured in IP-10-supplemented medium had a greater proliferation ability and a more powerful ability to kill tumour cells at a higher effector: target ratio. Thus, our findings demonstrate that IP-10 can enhance the function of CAR-T cells, which has important implications for improving CAR-T-cell immunotherapy for haematologic malignancies.
Contributions of Green R&D to Environmental Pollution Reduction in Developing Countries: Evidence from Iran
Authors: Zamany Arezoo , Khamseh Abbas , Khamseh Ali
Published: June 2022

Global warming and climate change have been of great concern in recent decades. Given such concerns and the objectives of economic growth, the environmental impacts of economic activities have become challenging. Despite the high importance of research and development (R&D), their contributions to reducing environmental pollution have rarely been studied in the environmental economics literature. The present study sought to explore the effects of green R&D on environmental pollution reduction to fill this research gap. It was primarily hypothesized that green R&D could improve environmental quality and reduce environmental pollution; however, observing such contributions in different countries at different development levels would require further case studies. This study reviewed relevant theoretical foundations and extracted a conceptual model using structural equation modeling (SEM) in AMOS. Then the effects of green R&D on environmental pollution in Iran were estimated. Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire. To this end, 269 green R&D activists participated in the study. The findings revealed that green R&D with five major components (i.e., green intellectual capital, green ideas, green design, green investment, and rules and standards) had a significant effect on reducing environmental pollution at a confidence level of 99%. Accordingly, it can be concluded that the development of green R&D may be associated with desirable economic and environmental outcomes.
Real world data on IO-based therapy for metastatic renal cell carcinoma
Authors: Stühler Viktoria , Herrmann Lisa , Rausch Steffen , Stenzl Arnulf , Bedke Jens
Published: June 2022

Purpose: Immune-based (IO)-combinations are the backbone in the systemic therapy of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC). Despite phase III clinical trial data, real world data are of special importance to reflect clinical practice. Methods: This retrospective study included 201 mRCC patients receiving first-line systemic therapy from January 2006. Clinicopathological and treatment-related data were recorded. Progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Kaplan-Meier analysis. Results: Over the years, IO-based therapies have increased significantly. The collective comprises 76 patients with first-line IO-based therapy (IO-IO:55, TKI-IO:21) and 125 patients with TKI-monotherapy. PFS was significantly improved with TKI-IO combinations if compared to both TKI-monotherapy (23.9 vs. 10.3 months, HR 0.48, p=0.034) and IO-IO combination (23.9 vs. 6.1 months, HR 0.37, p=0.012). OS for TKI-IO treated patients was longer compared to TKI-monotherapy (HR 0.37, p=0.050) at median follow-up of 24.1 versus 29.9 months. In a subanalysis of nivolumab treated patients, starting from second-line (n=40), PFS was 5.5 months. The addition of nivolumab either in second-or later lines improved OS compared to repeated TKI- or mTOR-therapies alone (6.13 vs. 2.61 years, HR 0.46, p=0.003). Conclusion: Both first-line IO-based combinations and nivolumab after first-line TKI-monotherapy prolong OS in a real-world setting.
WITHDRAWN: Effects of different factors on the heat conduction properties of two-dimensional carbon-based nanostructured materials
Authors: Chen Junjie
Published: June 2022

Non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations were carried out to study the properties of nanoscale thermal transport in graphene. The effects of crystal length and edge states on the thermal conductivity of graphene were investigated. The thermal conductivity of carbon-based nanostructured materials was determined to understand the characteristics of thermal transport in the nanostructured materials. The objective is to gain insight into the fundamental characteristics of thermal transport in graphene. Particular emphasis is placed on the dependence of crystal length and edge states on the thermal conductivity of graphene, with an attempt to improve the heat conduction properties for carbon-based nanostructured materials. The results indicated that phonons are derived from the crystal lattice. The crystal length is the primary factor affecting the thermal conductivity of graphene. The edge termination state has little effect on the thermal conductivity, since there is little difference in thermal conductivity between two-dimensional zigzag-edged and armchair-edged crystals. The difference in thermal conductivity is insignificant between zigzag-edged and armchair-edged crystals. However, the thermal conductivity of the two-dimensional crystal depends strongly upon the crystal length. There is a significant effect of crystal length on the thermal conductivity. Phonon-boundary scattering instead of phonon-phonon Umklapp scattering is the dominant scattering mechanism. Excess small crystals can block phonons, causing a decrease in the thermal conductivity.
Application of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy for the detection of metabolic changes in blood cells with defective DNA repair
Authors:   , Vanderstichelen Gaelle
Published: June 2022

The DNA damage response (DDR) is a vast network of molecules that preserves genome integrity and allow the faithful transmission of genetic information in human cells. While the usual response to the detection of DNA lesions in cells involves the control of cell-cycle checkpoints, repair proteins or apoptosis, alterations of the repair processes can lead to cellular dysfunction, diseases, or cancer. Besides, cancer patients with DDR alterations often show poor survival and chemoresistance. Despite the progress made in recent years in identifying genes and proteins involved in DDR and their roles in cellular physiology and pathology, the question of the involvement of DDR in metabolism remains unclear. It remains to study the metabolites associated with specific repair pathways or alterations and to investigate whether differences exist depending on cellular origin. The identification of DDR-related metabolic pathways and of the pathways that cause metabolic reprogramming in DDR-deficient cells may produce new targets for the development of new therapies. In this thesis, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) was used to assess the metabolic consequence of the loss of two central DNA repair proteins with importance in diseases context, ATM and RNase H2, in haematological cells. An increase in intracellular taurine was found in RNase H2- and ATM-deficient cells compared to wild-type cells for these genes and in cells after exposition to a source of DNA damage. The rise in taurine does not appear to result from an increase in its biosynthesis from cysteine, but more likely from other cellular processes such as degradation pathways. Overall, evidence for metabolic reprogramming in haematological cells with faults in DNA repair resulting from ATM or RNase H2 deficiencies or upon exposition to a source of DNA damage is presented in this study.