bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Surgical Treatment for BPH Refractory to Medication: Robotic Water Jet Ablation vs TURP functional outcomes from two FDA clinical trials
Authors: Te Alexis , Te Alexis , Sze Christina , Kaplan Steven , Chughtai Bilal
Published: July 2022

Purpose
A common indication for benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) therapies is failure to improve with medical therapy. However, pivotal Federal Drug Administration (FDA) registered randomized clinical trials (RCTs) for minimally invasive surgical therapies (MISTs) are designed to be compared to either sham or placebo while off medical therapy at baseline, and as an alternative to medical therapy. There are few if any RCTs reporting the MISTS efficacy in patients with true medical therapy failure. We report on the efficacy of Robotic Water Jet Ablation Therapy (RWT) and TURP in patients who have failed to improve with medical therapy.
Methods
Data was obtained from the WATER and WATER II clinical trials. Both clinical trials did not implement a drug washout period. Only patients with reported BPH medical therapy such as α-blockers (AB) and 5-α-reductase inhibitors (5-ARIs) usage were included. Functional outcomes as post-void residual volume (PVR), peak urinary flow rate (Qmax), internal prostate symptom score (IPSS), and quality of life score (QoL) were analyzed.
Results
AB and/or 5-ARIs usage at baseline were reported in 146 and 39 patients who underwent RWT (prostate sizes up to 150cc) and transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP, prostate sizes up to 80cc) respectively. Baseline median (IQR) IPSS, QoL, Qmax and PVR were 24 (18,28), 5 (4,5), 8.9 (6.4,11.5), and 95(36,172), respectively. Functional outcomes did not statistically differ between Aquablation and TURP at baseline and at 36-month. In cohort of true medical failure, both RWT and TURP demonstrated group statistical improvements in PVR, Qmax, IPSS, and QoL at 36-month compared to baseline.
Conclusions
RWT and TURP are effective BPH therapy in patients who truly failed medical therapy, and RWT demonstrated this in a much broader prostate size range.
Inflammatory-related Genes Predicts Prognosis in Breast Cancer
Authors: Fu Jingyue , Chen Rui , Zhang Zhizheng , Zhao Jianyi , Xia Tiansong
Published: July 2022

BackgroundBreast cancer has become the most common malignant tumor around the world. Although most breast cancer patients have a good prognosis, due to the significant heterogeneity of breast cancer and results in the difference in prognosis, it is urgent to find new prognostic biomarkers. Recently, inflammatory-related genes have been proven to play an important role in the development and progression of breast cancer, we aimed to investigate the prognostic value of inflammatory-related genes in breast cancers.MethodsWe evaluated the relationship between inflammatory-related genes (IRGs) and breast cancer by analyzing the TCGA database. Difference and univariate Cox regression analysis were performed and then screened out prognosis related differentially expressed inflammatory genes. The prognostic model was constructed through the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selector Operation (LASSO) regression based on the IRGs. Then we used the Kaplan-Meier curves and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve to evaluate the accuracy of the prognostic model. And further, the nomogram model was established to clinically predict the survival rate of breast cancer patients. We also analyzed the immune cell infiltration and the activity of the immune-related pathways based on the expression of prognostic. The CellMiner database was used to study drug sensitivity. Finally, we performed functional cellular experiments to determine the biological characteristics of IRGs in breast cancer cells.ResultsIn this study, seven IRGs were selected from eleven prognosis-related differential inflammation genes through LASSO Cox regression analysis to construct a prognostic risk model. The risk score was negatively correlated with the prognosis of breast cancer patients through further analysis. ROC curve demonstrated the accuracy of the prognostic model and the nomogram could also accurately predict the survival rate. The ssGSEA analysis was used to quantify the differences between the low- and high-risk groups for the scores of tumor-infiltrating immune cells and immune-related pathways. Then we explored the relationship between the genes which were a researcher in the model and the susceptibility of drugs. Finally, we performed cellular functional experiments and validated the accuracy of the model.
The Possibility of Real-Time and Long-Term Prediction for Geomagnetic Storms Using Neural Network
Authors: Lin Jyh-Woei
Published: July 2022

Two backpropagation neural network (BPNN) models were constructed to predict two historic geomagnetic storms that occurred in September 1999 and October 2003. The Disturbance storm time (Dst) indices from January 1, 1999, to December 31, 2014 (Coordinated Universal Time, UTC), were used as the training and test datasets for cross-validation in order to verify and validate the reliability and robustness of the two BPNN models, and yielded reasonable, predicted results. A large correlation coefficient (R) and low root mean square error (RMSE) were obtained, verifying the reliability of the two BPNN models. The predicted Dst indices can be provided for giving inputs in advance (i.e., any future time). Therefore, this analyzed method can serve as an excellent real-time prediction (RTP). To test the ability and possibility of the long-term prediction (LTP) obtained using the two BPNN models, the Dst indices were examined, which corresponded to two significant historic large geomagnetic storms that occurred in August 1972 and March 1989. For the both BPNN models, after evaluating their learning procedure, the time-dependence of LTP, the dependence of the predicted errors on the time period length of training datasets, and the variance by learning process, we found that they were stable models for the RTP and LTP.
Characterization and exploring genetic potential of landraces from Western Ghats of Sathyamangalam with special emphasis on phytochemical content for benefaction of Evolvulus alsinoides (Linn.) Linn
Authors: Packiam Kannan Kilavan , S Pavithra M K
Published: July 2022

Evolvulus alsinoides (Linn.) Linn. is referred as “brain tonic” in Asia and America owing to its activity on the central nervous system. The plant is also found to possess ample of medical activities has been extensively used as traditional medicine in various culture aspects. In the present investigation, the impact of altitude and season of harvest on the phytochemicals and biological activities of E.alsinoides (Linn.) Linn. has been studied. The root, stem and leaves of the plant collected from different altitudes in the Western Ghats of Sathyamangalam, Tamilnadu during the month of July and December, 2016. The primary and secondary metabolites were analysed qualitatively and quantitatively using standard protocols. Minitab 17 Statistical software package was used for Statistical analysis. The altitude and month of plant harvest has an impact on the accumulation of the primary and secondary metabolite in the root, stem and leaves. The leaf samples are found to possess significant antioxidant activities which is further validated by the cytotoxicity activity on SH-SY5Y Neuroblastoma cell line with an IC50 of 119.783 ± 0.06 µg/ml. Isolation of individual molecules and its authentication on the biological activity could give prolific results.
Process investigation of Aluminum Nitride ceramics based on compliant finishing tools
Authors: Han Fang , Zhang Wen-Hao , Gao Wei , Sun Qi , Ju Bing-Feng , Zhu Wu-Le
Published: July 2022

Aluminum Nitride (AlN), as a type of advanced functional ceramic material, has found wide applications in many fields, owing to its advantageous properties such as excellent thermal conductivity, high hardness and strength, etc. Nevertheless, these beneficial features bring great challenges to its machinability using current existing methods that commonly result in unsatisfactory surface qualities. In this paper, we investigated the processing performance of AlN by introducing the compliant bonnet finishing approach based on different tool bonding materials and abrasive sizes. The distinctive finishing qualities, material removal rates, tool wear behavior, etc., were studied and compared under various process conditions. Different from other ceramics, the resin bonded diamond tools with the abrasive size of 3 µm is found to be severely worn on AlN ceramic, and compliant tool with the smallest abrasive size of 1 µm greatly contributes to the generation of the near optical quality surface. The comparison with traditional rigid pellet finishing further demonstrates the advantageous finishing performances by using compliant tools on the AlN ceramics.
Profiling multi-body interactions of BCL2 with single-molecule co-immunoprecipitation reveals the molecular mechanism of ABT-199 resistance
Authors: Chun Changju , Yoon Tae-Young
Published: July 2022

A capability to characterize protein-protein interactions (PPIs) in a quantitative manner with an increased speed would form a technical basis for accelerating drug discovery targeting the PPI network. We here used the single-molecule co-IP platform to examine PPI between BCL2 and BH3-only proteins in crude lysate environments. We focused on how the PPI strengths changed with single-point BCL2 mutations found in relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia showing ABT-199 resistance. We took a mix-and-match approach to examine various pairs of baits and preys while titrating their concentrations, allowing us to examine total 21 PPI reactions and 420 data points. This large data set permitted determination of the dissociation constants (Kd) and the drug inhibitory constants (Ki) with high accuracy. Our data suggest that the different BCL2 mutants take different routes to acquire resistance to ABT-199, demonstrating how large-scale, quantitative PPI data sets reveal insights into the evolving dynamics of PPI networks.
Antnet Pheromone-Based Stochastic Multipath Routing Protocols using Hidden Markov Models for Energy Enhancement in Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Moundounga Anselme Russel Affane , Satori Hassan , Sanhaji Farah , Satori Khalid
Published: July 2022

Evolving of Wireless Sensor Network (WSNs) a type of infrastructure-less networks by tens, hundreds, thousandths, or billions of devices that provide indispensable services for the phenomenon study become more used in many industries with many applications. Forest fire tracking, environmental monitor, healthcare, seismic and volcano surveillance, Internet of Devices and everything, and now internet of vehicles is the new trend of network of devices. These devices and things mostly exchange data between many sources and destinations using a special computer mechanism, the routing protocols to optimized the using of network and devices resource to retrieve their path.Additionally, constraints like network capabilities, storage, computational, energy consumption, and so on, many researches were conducted to proposed routing protocols that limited the network effort and the all of things’ interaction to extend the lifetime. In the present paper Antnet routing protocol which is classed in the Ant Colony Optimization heuristic is inspired on the ants behavior to define a stochastic based model permitting to predict the ants path to reach final destination using biological substance deposit on all visited paths to establish a new form of routing table that can be exploit for the purpose of the optimization objective. Conducted experimentation and obtained results show that the using of the pheromone in multiple paths by ants during trips permit to conserve effectively the available resources, reduce control overhead, residual overall, and optimize the energy consumption. Our new routing mechanism based on stochastic models performs well that compared existing routing.
Prognostic Value of Fatty Acid Synthase FASN in Renal Clear Cell Carcinoma and Bioinformatics Analysis of Immune Correlation
Authors: Zhang Lin , Wu Bo , Wang Dong-wen
Published: July 2022

Objective: In this study, the expression, genetic variation, immune infiltration, functional enrichment of FASN in ccRCC and its correlation with prognosis were analyzed by bioinformatics.Methods: The changes of FASN in renal clear cell carcinoma were analyzed by using R language and bioinformatics database. UALCAN, GEPIA2 and HPA were used to analyze the characteristics and prognostic correlation of FASN in KIRC clinical data, and to evaluate the protein expression level of FASN. TIMER2 and TISIDB website were used to analyze the expression difference and prognosis of FASN in pan-cancer. Analysis of genetic variation in FASN using cBioPortal database and R language; further explore the relationship between FASN and tumor immune infiltration by TIMER2 and TISCH; Metascape was used to integrate the functional enrichment analysis of KEGG and GO genes of FASN and related genes.Results: The expression of FASN gene in ccRCC changed to varying degrees, which was significantly correlated with tumor staging and grading, and was significantly correlated with OS and DFS in patients with ccRCC. FASN protein phosphorylation has significant changes in ccRCC. FASN has significant indigenous significance in gene expression, prognosis, genetic mutation and MSI/TMB in pan-cancer. FASN was co-localized with various immune cells in KIRC single cell sequencing analysis. FASN is mainly involved in lipid metabolism, SREBF activation gene expression, PPAR signaling pathway, and fatty acid biosynthesis.Conclusion: The expression of FASN is closely related to the clinical prognosis, tumor immune cell infiltration and tumor lipid metabolism of patients with renal clear cell carcinoma, which may mediate the occurrence and development mechanism of ccRCC.
Assessment of water quality parameters of the Bangshi River during dry and wet season in Bangladesh
Authors: Barman Sumona , Sultana Sabira , Yesmin Farzana , Hasanuzzaman Md.
Published: July 2022

The present study was conducted on the Bangshi River, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh with the purpose of assessing some physico-chemical parameters of water during dry and wet season. Physical parameters including water colour, temperature, depth, velocity, transparency and chemical parameters such as pH, DO, free CO2, alkalinity and hardness were analyzed. Samples were collected from five different sampling sites during December 2020 to March 2021 and July 2021 to October 2021. The mean values for temperature, depth, velocity, transparency, pH, DO, free CO2, alkalinity and hardness were recorded 25.84 and 30.80°C; 216.97 and 344.71 cm,; 5.96 and 6.89 cms− 1; 24.86 and 29.90 cm; 8.14 and 7.28; 2.80 and 4.79 mg/L; 17.15 and 54.97 mg/L; 420.56 and 227.36 mg/L; 167.84 and 106.74 mg/L during dry and wet season, respectively. Some of the water parameters exceeded the standard limit. Dark black and light black colour was observed and a strong odour was present during both the seasons. Some water parameters were positively and some were negatively correlated. Seasons had a substantial impact on all water parameters whereas sampling sites had a significant impact on depth, velocity, transparency, DO, free CO2, alkalinity, and hardness. Interaction between the effects of seasons and sampling sites had an impact on velocity, pH, DO, free CO2 and alkalinity. The results of the study revealed that water quality of the Bangshi River was better in the wet season compared to the dry season, and water of the river is not safe for aquaculture and other household purposes.
Efficacy of different activation techniques of sodium hypochlorite on root canal anastomosis cleanliness: an in vitro study
Authors: Montaser Omar Khaled , Abdelsalam Nelly Mohamed , Fayyad Dalia Mukhtar
Published: July 2022

Objective: This study compared in vitro the anastomosis cleaning efficacy of three final irrigation techniques; EDDY sonic activation, passive ultrasonic irrigation (PUI) using Irrisafe, and final needle irrigation without activation (FNI) (control group).Methods: 60 anastomosis-containing mesial roots of mandibular molars were mounted in resin, sectioned at 2, 4, and 6 mm from the apex. Then reassembled and instrumented in a copper cube based on the model by Bramante. Images of anastomoses were taken after instrumentation. ImageJ program was used to calculate the percentage of anastomosis cleanliness. For the final irrigation technique roots were randomly divided into 3 groups (n=20): group 1: FNI, group 2: PUI, group 3: EDDY. Images were taken and cleanliness percentage was calculated. Debris removal before and after final irrigation were compared using paired t-tests. Intergroup and intragroup analyses were performed using one-way analysis of variance and post hoc tests (p<0.05).Results: All three final irrigation techniques significantly improved anastomosis cleanliness (p<0.001). Both activation techniques were significantly better than the control group at all levels. Intergroup comparison revealed that EDDY significantly achieved the best overall anastomosis cleanliness. The difference between EDDY and PUI was significant in favor to EDDY at 2 mm and insignificant at 4 and 6 mm. The intragroup comparison showed that the effect of FNI on cleanliness was most significant in the 2 mm level. The improvement achieved by PUI was significantly lower at 2 mm while EDDY performed similarly at all levels.Conclusions: Irrigant activation improves anastomosis cleanliness. EDDY was the most efficient in cleaning anastomoses located in the most apical part of the root canal.Clinical Relevance: Efficient cleaning of the root canal system is the crucial point which can lead to either success or failure of the treatment. In cases of a complete isthmus (corridor), it can be very difficult to clean and disinfect with conventional methods used in non-surgical root canal treatment. Different methods of irrigant activation can be a promising solution.
Awareness of teenagers on orthodontic treatment and fake braces in Malaysia
Authors: Shafiai Noor Ayuni Ahmad , Kamaruddin Anis Farhan , Mohd Tengku Amatullah Madeehah Tengku
Published: July 2022

Background
This study aimed to assess the awareness of fake braces on adolescents aged 17 years and below and determining the association between the sociodemographic characteristics towards the dental motivation and usage of fake braces.
Methods
This study involved 580 subjects, where the students were conveniently selected to answer a validated questionnaire in three major areas which included sociodemographic, dental motivation and knowledge of orthodontic treatment, and utilisation and awareness of fake braces.
Results
Almost 79% of the subjects heard about fake braces, but only 3.5% admit to wearing them. On the other hand, more than 60% knew about the adverse effect of fake braces, and only 35% knew that fake braces providers could be charged in court. Only one-third of them acknowledged proper orthodontic treatment being performed at the dental clinic.There was a significant association between parents' education level towards dental visits frequency and thoughts on having orthodontic treatment. However, there was no association between sociodemographic characteristics towards using fake braces.
Conclusion
Health education programs could also focus on empowering teenagers to help their friends adopt healthier behaviours, including saying no to fake braces.
Effect of age and sex on prescriptions for outpatients with bipolar disorder in the MUSUBI study: a cross‑sectional study
Authors: Kawamata Yasushi , Yasui-Furukori Norio , Adachi Naoto , Ueda Hitoshi , Hongo Seiji , Azekawa Takaharu , Kubota Yukihisa , Katsumoto Eiichi , Edagawa Koji , Goto Eiichiro , Miki Kazuhira , Kato Masaki , Nakagawa Atsuo , Kikuchi Toshiaki , Tsuboi Takashi , Yoshimura Reiji , Shimoda Kazutaka , Watanabe Koichiro
Published: July 2022

Background
Childbearing-aged female patients and elderly patients with bipolar disorder need special attention for pharmacological treatments, but current guidelines provide little information on their pharmacological treatment. In particular, the risk/benefit balance of pharmacological treatment for childbearing-aged females with bipolar disorder is a growing concern. Therefore, we aimed to address the effect of age and sex on psychotropic drug prescription for outpatients with bipolar disorder.
Methods
The MUlticenter treatment SUrvey for BIpolar disorder in Japanese psychiatric clinics (MUSUBI) study was conducted, and data on age, sex, and details of pharmacological treatment were collected.
Results
A total of 3106 outpatients were included in this study. Among young females (age ≤ 39), 25% were prescribed valproate. There was no significant difference in the frequency and daily dose of valproate prescription for young females among all groups. Valproate prescriptions were significantly less frequent among young males and more frequent among middle-aged males. Lithium prescriptions were significantly less frequent among young females and more frequent among older males (age ≥ 65) and older females. Lamotrigine prescriptions were significantly more frequent among young males and young females and less frequent among older males and older females. Carbamazepine prescriptions were significantly less frequent among young males and more frequent among older males.
Conclusions
Biased information about the risk and safety of valproate and lithium for young females was suggested, and further study to correct this bias is needed. Older patients were prescribed lithium more commonly than lamotrigine. Further studies are needed to determine the actual pharmacotherapy for elderly individuals.
A Scalable and Power Efficient MAC Protocol with Adaptive TDMA for M2M Communication
Authors: Reddy Narender , Bhandari B N
Published: July 2022

In 5G cellular networks Machine type communication devices (MTCD) for Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication are subjected to the problem of collisions, delay, scalability and quality of service (QoS) during data transmission. The M2M communication has become ubiquitous into Internet of things (IoT). A power efficient MAC switching protocol and adaptive Time Division Multiple Access (PMAC-ATDMA) is presented to solve the issue of collision, QoS and scalability in this paper for M2M Communication. This consists of grouping, dynamic MAC switching and allotment of timeslots. In grouping processing of MTCDs, using Harris Hawks Optimization (HHO) algorithm is used for selecting a head i.e. MTC head (MTCH). CSMA/CA and CSMA/CARP protocols differ in back off time are used, switching between them happens based on the density, backlogged devices and active nodes that reduces collisions. The timeslots are assigned by ATDMA, in accordance with the data size and requirements of QoS. The problem of synchronization in traditional TDMA is overcome by the use of Markov chain model the simulation of this PMAC-ATDMA is performed in network simulator tool. The evaluation is performed in terms of access delay, energy, probability of collision and successful packet transmissions.In 5G cellular networks Machine type communication devices (MTCD) for Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication are subjected to the problem of collisions, delay, scalability and quality of service (QoS) during data transmission. The M2M communication has become ubiquitous into Internet of things (IoT). A power efficient MAC switching protocol and adaptive Time Division Multiple Access (PMAC-ATDMA) is presented to solve the issue of collision, QoS and scalability in this paper for M2M Communication. This consists of grouping, dynamic MAC switching and allotment of timeslots. In grouping processing of MTCDs, using Harris Hawks Optimization (HHO) algorithm is used for selecting a head i.e. MTC head (MTCH). CSMA/CA and CSMA/CARP protocols differ in back off time are used, switching between them happens based on the density, backlogged devices and active nodes that reduces collisions. The timeslots are assigned by ATDMA, in accordance with the data size and requirements of QoS. The problem of synchronization in traditional TDMA is overcome by the use of Markov chain model the simulation of this PMAC-ATDMA is performed in network simulator tool. The evaluation is performed in terms of access delay, energy, probability of collision and successful packet transmissions.
Simultaneous removal of cationic crystal violet and anionic reactive yellow by using eco- friendly hybrid chitosan- talc-cloisite 30B composite
Authors: Kandil Heba , Ali Heba
Published: July 2022

Due to the wide variety of synthetic dyes present in wastewater, there has been an urgent need to develop adsorbent materials to remove both cationic and anionic dyes. Since the development of such materials is still challenge, this paper is an attempt to prepare an economic and eco-friendly adsorbent material from chitosan to remove both cationic and anionic dyes from aqueous solution. Hence, hybrid composites from chitosan (Cs), talc powder (T) and cloisite 30B (C) with different weight ratios of 1: 2: 0, 1: 2: 1 and 1: 2: 2 were prepared. Chemical structure, thermal stability and surface morphology of the prepared composites were studied by using FTIR, TGA and SEM. The affinity of the prepared composites towards adsorption of cationic crystal violet (CV) and anionic reactive yellow 145 (RY) dyes was investigated. The adsorption results showed that the composite with a weight ratio of 1: 2: 1 is the most effective adsorbent for removal of RY dye with 76.9 mg/g adsorption capacity, whereas the composite with a weight ratio of 1: 2: 2 exhibited the highest adsorption activity for CV dye (37.03 mg/g). The adsorption of RY and CV on these composites followed the pseudo second order model. The langmuir isotherm model described the experimental adsorption data better than the Freundlich, Dubinin–Radushkevich, and Temkin isotherm models, indicating a monolayer sorption process for both dyes.
Adult Cystic Lymphangioma and its features: A case report and literature review
Authors: V Shyam Saravanan , R Jayakumar , K Thenmozhi , Shivam Vishnu
Published: July 2022

Background: Lymphangiomas are benign malformations of lymphatic system uncommon in adults. We present a rare case of adult cystic lymphangioma in the neck region.Case presentation: A 26 year old female presented with a large swelling on the right side of the neck. The patient was uncomfortable due to the cosmetic impact of the swelling. Clinical diagnosis of cystic lymphangioma was made based on history and physical examination. An impression of lymphangioma was given on FNAC and radiological examination. The cyst is surgically removed by raising a skin flap and the cyst wall specimen was sent for histopathological examination for confirmation. The histopathological sections confirmed the diagnosis. The postoperative period is uneventful. There was no recurrence till the current follow up.Conclusions: In a case of painless and progressive neck swelling, lymphangioma should be considered as a differential diagnosis despite the fact that they occur rarely in adults and appropriate treatment should be initiated to prevent pressure symptoms due to the progressive nature.
PILOT tags, new non-invasive towed tags for free ranging deep-diving megafauna, advantages and challenges
Authors: Fontes J. , Macena B. , Solleliet-Ferreira S. , Buyle F. , Magalhães R. , Bartolomeu T. , Liebsch N. , Meyer C. , Afonso P.
Published: July 2022

Background - Biologging technologies have yielded new insights into the ecology and behaviour of elasmobranchs, but to date most studies involve animal capture and restraint to attach tags. Capturing animals usually results in a period of atypical behaviour after release and is undesirable or simply not possible for large and vulnerable elasmobranchs such as mobulas and whale-sharks. We developed and tested two non-invasive multisensor towed-tags designed to avoid animal capture and restraint. The use of towed packages creates additional data analysis challenges relative to fixed packages because towed device wobble independently of animal movements. We present five examples, two mobulas (reef manta and sicklefin devil ray) and three sharks (blue, tiger and whale-shark), to illustrate the advantages and challenges of this approach. We used animal-borne video to validate behavioural data derived from accelerometers and conducted an animal-attached versus towed-tag experiment to compare accelerometer data from both methods. Results - We used fluid dynamic models to calculate the added drag of towed devices on target species. We found that drag impact is acceptable for short-term tagging of large mobulas but the drag penalty associated with the current camera tag design is greater than 5% for most mature blue sharks. Despite wobble effects, swimming behaviour (tail-beat and wing-stoke frequency) captured by towed accelerometers was consistent with concurrent data from animal-attached tags and animal-born video. GPS sensors recorded up to 28 and 9 geolocations per hour of surface swimming by sicklefin devil ray and blue sharks, respectively. Conclusions - Towed tags with non-invasive attachments provide an effective low-impact alternative for acquiring high resolution behaviour and environmental data without capturing and handling animals. This tool yields great potential to advance current knowledge of mobula ecology and behaviour without capture or invasive tagging.
Malaria Vectors Insecticide resistance profiling and Long Lasting Insecticide-treated Nets bioefficacy in Ebolowa, an urban area of South Cameroon
Authors: Efa Salomon , Elanga-Ndille Emmanuel , Poumachu Yacouba , Tene Billy , Mikande Jacqueline Ze , Zakariaou Njoumémi , Wondji Charles , Ndo Cyrille
Published: July 2022

BackgroundContinuous monitoring of insecticide resistance in malaria vector populations is crucial to help maintaining the efficacy of insecticide-based vector control strategies. The present study evaluated insecticide resistance in Anopheles gambaie s.l. and its impact on the efficacy of Long Lasting Insecticide-treated Nets (LLINs) in the city of Ebolowa, prior the next bednets mass distribution campaign in Cameroon.MethodsMosquitoes were collected as larvae and reared to adulthood. Females aged 3 to 4 days were exposed the insecticides according to the WHO tube test protocol, to determine their resistance profile. The bioefficacy of LLINs was determined using the WHO cone test protocol. Pyrethroids-synergist combined tests were used to search for metabolic resistance mechanisms. Molecular analysis helped investigating presence of mutations conferring resistance, as well as identifying mosquito species.ResultsAnopheles coluzzii, the dominant (99%) species of An. gambiae s.l complex found in Ebolowa, was full susceptible to Carbamates and Organophosphates, but resistant to all pyrethroids insecticides. Resistance was moderate for deltamethrin (mortality: 37%, 70% and 99% for 1x, 5x and 10x insecticide concentration, respectively) but rather high for permethrin (5% for 1x; 62% for 5x and 75% for 10x) and for alphacypermethrin (4.4% for 1x; 57% for 5x and 80% for 10x). All the LLINs tested were ineffective against the field strain with mortalities less than 50%. Synergist test indicated cytochrome P450 are fully involved in resistance against deltamethrin, but partially for the other two pyrethroids tested. The L1014F (kdr-West) mutation was present at a high frequency (75%) showing a significant association with resistance to permethrin (OR = 3.8; 95%; CI [1.9 - 7.4]; P < 0.0001) and alphacypermethrin (OR = 3; 95%; CI [1.6 - 5.4]; P = 0.0002). ConclusionThe high level of resistance to pyrethroids detected in An. colluzzii from Ebolowa is of concerns for malaria control as it threatens the efficacy of LLINs used in the city. For good management of resistance observed, the National Malaria Control Program should privilege distribution of new net formulations in this locality such as PBO-deltamethrin combined nets or new generation nets.
Simultaneous delivery of docetaxel and tariquidar to chemoresistance cancer cells using functionalized lipid nanocarriers
Authors: Kim Chang Hyun , Lee Sangkil , Choi Ji Yeh , Lyu Min Jeong , Jung Hyun Min , Goo Yoon Tae , Kang Myung Joo , Choi Young Wook
Published: July 2022

Background
The simultaneous administration of tariquidar (TRQ) with docetaxel (DTX) using a nanostructured lipid carrier (NLC) functionalized with PEG (5mol%) and RIPL peptide (PRN) was constructed to overcome the multidrug resistance caused by DTX administration alone.
Results
Either DTX or TRQ loaded PRN (D-PRN or T-PRN) and both DTX and TRQ loaded PRN (D/T-PRN) were prepared using the solvent emulsification evaporation technique. NLC samples showed homogeneous spherical morphology with nano-sized dispersion (< 220 nm) and ZP values from − 15 mV to − 7 mV. DTX and/or TRQ was successfully encapsulated in NLC samples (> 95% EE and 73–78 µg/mg DL. In vitro cytotoxicity was concentration-dependent, and D/T-PRN exhibited the highest MDR reversal efficiency with the lowest combination index value. D/T-PRN increased the apoptotic cell death in MCF7/ADR cells by inducing cell cycle arrest in the G2/M phase. In a competitive cellular uptake assay, the single nanocarrier system exhibited better intracellular delivery efficiency of multiple probes to target cells compared to dual nanocarrier system. In the MCF7/ADR-xenografted mouse models, co-delivery with D/T-PRN significantly suppressed tumor growth compared to the other treatments.
Conclusions
Co-delivery of DTX/TRQ (1:1, w/w) using PRN will be a promising strategy against drug-resistant breast cancer cells.
Predictive worth of estimated glucose disposal rate: evaluation in patients with non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome and non-diabetic patients after percutaneous coronary intervention
Authors: Liu Chi , Liu Xiaoli , Ma Xiaoteng , Cheng Yujing , Sun Yan , Zhang Dai , Zhao Qi , Zhou Yujie
Published: July 2022

Background: Measurement of estimated glucose disposal rate (eGDR) has been demonstrated to be an indicator of insulin resistance (IR) and a risk sign for long-term outcomes in those with ischemic heart disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) having coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). After elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), the usefulness of eGDR for prognosis in those with non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS) and non-diabetes is yet unknown.Methods: 1510 NSTE-ACS patients with non-diabetes who underwent elective PCI in 2015 (Beijing Anzhen Hospital) were included in this study. Major adverse cardio-cerebral events (MACCEs), such as all-cause mortality, non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal ischemic stroke, and also ischemia-driven revascularization, were the main outcome of follow-up. The average number of follow-up months was 41.84.Results: After multivariate Cox regression tests with confounder adjustment, the occurrence of MACCE in the lower eGDR cluster was considerably higher than in the higher eGDR cluster, demonstrating that eGDR is an independent prognostic indicator of MACCEs. In particular, as continuous variate: hazard ratio (HR) of 1.337, 95% confidence interval (CI) of 1.201-1.488, P < 0.001. eGDR improves the predictive power of usual cardiovascular risk factors for the primary endpoint. Specifically, the results for the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, this is AUC, were: baseline model + eGDR 0.699 vs. baseline model 0.588; P for contrast < 0.001; continuous net reclassification improvement (continuous-NRI) = 0.089, P < 0.001; and integrated discrimination improvement (IDI) = 0.017, P < 0.001.Conclusion: Low eGDR levels showed a strong correlation with poor NSTE-ACS prognosis for nondiabetic patients undergoing PCI.
Effects of Job Conditions, Fear of Infecting by Covid-19 and Emotional Intelligence on Occupational Stress Among Nurses During Covid-19 Pandemic Process: a Cross-sectional Study
Authors: ÇEVİK Semra AKKÖZ , ÖZALP Seda , DAŞDEMİR Ayşegül
Published: July 2022

Purpose
This study was conducted to determine the effects of job conditions, fear of infecting by Covid-19 and emotional intelligence on occupational stress among nurses during covid-19 pandemic process.
Methods
This study was conducted as a descriptive cross-sectional study with 193 nurses working in xxx University Research and Practice hospital between October 26 and December 31, 2020. The data of the study were collected using the Survey and Job Stress Questionnaire. In the evaluation of the data, t-test, one-way variance analysis ( ANOVA), pearson Correlation were used. p < 0.05 value was accepted as statistically significant.
Results
Mean score of the nurses participating in the study was 16.49 ± 2.30 and 0.92 ± 0.19 for workload and job stress subscales of Job Stress Questionnaire, respectively. A significant correlation was found between the department where nurses worked during the pandemic, the fear of infecting their family with Covid-19, status of loving the profession and the status of willingness to come to the hospital on the working day and the Job Stress Questionnaire values (p < .05). A positive correlation was found between the working year and workload and work stress (p < 0.05).
Conclusion
Our results indicated that healthcare professionals were under a lot of stress during the pandemic, they were too tired and they had very high working hours. High fear of infecting their families with this disease due to their profession and not being willing to come to the hospital on the shift day were factors increasing stress.
WITHDRAWN: Chemical kinetics of exothermic reactions in small spaces
Authors: Chen Junjie
Published: July 2022

A fundamental understanding of the interactions and transformations of materials within very small spaces is of both fundamental and practical significance. However, the chemical kinetics of exothermic reactions in small spaces remains unclear and warrants further study. This study relates to the chemical kinetics of exothermic reactions in small spaces. Simulations are conducted to gain insights into exothermic performance such as reaction rates and flames. The factors affecting exothermic characteristics are determined for millimeter-scale exothermic reaction systems. Particular focus is placed on determining essential factors that affect the performance of millimeter-scale exothermic reaction systems. The results indicate that the rate or speed at which the reactants combine is high, in part because of the nature of the chemical reaction itself and in part because more energy is generated than can escape into the surrounding medium, with the result that the temperature of the reactants is raised to accelerate the reaction even more. When equilibrium between the total heat energies of the reactants and the total heat energies of the products is reached, combustion stops. Flames are multiform and are capable of existing at quite low temperatures, as well as at extremely high temperatures. The emission of light in the flame results from the presence of excited particles and, usually, of charged atoms and molecules and of electrons. Combustion encompasses a great variety of phenomena with wide application in industry, the sciences, and professions, and the application is based on knowledge of physics, chemistry, and mechanics; their interrelationship becomes particularly evident in treating flame propagation.
Proapoptotic and proautophagy effect of H1- receptor antagonist desloratadine in human glioblastoma cell lines
Authors: Vidicevic-Novakovic Sasenka , Stanojevic Zeljka , Tomonjic Nina , Karapandza Katarina , Zekovic Janko , Grujicic Danica , Ilic Rosanda , Raicevic Savo , Tasic Jelena , Isakovic Aleksandra
Published: July 2022

Aims: Glioblastomas are aggressive and usually incurable high grade gliomas without adequate treatment. In this study we aimed to investigate the potential of desloratadine to induce apoptosis/autophagy as genetically regulated processes that can seal cancer cell fates.Materials and methods: All experiments were performed on U251 human glioblastoma cell line and primary human glioblastoma cell culture. Cytotoxic effect of desloratadine was investigated using MTT and CV assays while oxidative stress, apoptosis and autophagy were detected by flow cytometry and immunoblot.Results: Desloratadine treatment decreased cell viability of U251 human glioblastoma cell line and primary human glioblastoma cell culture (IC50 value 50 µM) trough an increase of intracellular reactive oxygen species and caspase activity. Also, desloratadine decreased the expression of main autophagy repressor mTOR and its upstream activator Akt and increased the expression of AMPK. Conclusion: Desloratadine exerted dual cytotoxic effect inducing both, apoptosis and mTOR/AMPK dependent cytotoxic autophagy in glioblastoma cells and primary glioblastoma cell culture
RDPNet: A single-path lightweight CNN with re-parameterization for CPU-type edge devices
Authors: Xu Jiarui , Zhao Yufeng , Xu Fei
Published: July 2022

Deep convolutional neural networks have produced excellent results when utilized for image classification tasks, and they are being applied in a growing number of contexts. Model inference on edge devices is challenging due to the unending complicated structures needed to improve performance, which adds a significant computing burden.According to recent research, the often utilized residual structure in models does not support model inference. The idea of structural reparameterization is put out to address this shortcoming. The RepVGG produced with this method is a high-performance, quick-inference single-path network.
Even after reparameterization, the model still needs GPUs and other specialized computing libraries to accelerate inference, however this still has a limit on how quickly the model can infer at the edge. We construct RDPNet using depthwise separable convolution and structural reparameterization to further reduce model size and accelerate inference. When utilizing an Intel CPU, this is a straightforward network that may be utilized for inference. For re-parameterization, we specifically adopt Depthwise separable convolution as the basic convolution form. Create a multi-branch model for training on the training side, and then simplify it into a single-branch model that the edge devices can easily infer. Research demonstrates that compared to alternative lightweight networks that can attain SOTA performance, RDPNet offers a superior trade-off between accuracy and latency.
Evaluation of Challenges Associated with Solid Waste Management in the City of Kigali, Rwanda
Authors: Iraguha Fidele , Ramelan Ari Handono , Setyono Prabang
Published: July 2022

Increasing environmental pollution is caused by various factors, including an increase in the human population, which increases the amount of waste disposed of. One of the issues that the community and city managers face in Kigali is the presence of garbage. Individual behavior, attitudes, and public perceptions play a role in waste management as obstacles. This study aims to identify, understand, and evaluate the challenges faced in managing solid waste in Kigali. This study used a mixed-method approach. Data were collected through field observation, questionnaires, and interviews to analyze the challenges associated with solid waste management. The data were analyzed by using Jamovi software. The results showed a low community behavior and attitudes toward waste management; ignoring waste management harms the environment and public health. Hostile community behavior, such as throwing trash in illegal dumping, causes waste to accumulate and other problems. The results indicated that WM laws and regulations have not been appropriately implemented and lack awareness and a limited understanding of solid waste management. Kigali city does not recover energy from waste, and Kigali city lacks proper waste management facilities and treatment skills.
Sociodemographic Factors Associated with Covid-19 Mortality in Brazilian Municipalities: an approach supported by clustering
Authors: Lima Hélder Seixas , Silva Petrônio Cândido de Lima e , Meira Wagner , Guimarães Frederico Gadelha
Published: July 2022

The Covid-19 pandemic affected Brazil with severity. Brazil is a large country characterized by significant socioeconomic inequalities among its regions. This study aimed to check the sociodemographic factors associated with the Covid-19 mortality rate in Brazilian municipalities. This paper is an ecological study that analyzed data of the first three death waves, with Brazilian municipalities as a unit of analysis. Municipalities were clusterized based on their vulnerabilities in the face of Covid-19. The results show that, from the second death wave in the country, the municipalities with lower social vulnerability were more likely to have a higher mortality level than the other municipalities. The results also show that, among the attributes analyzed, the urban population percentage was the one that most strongly contributed to a municipality being more likely to have a higher level of mortality. Finally, this work demonstrated that using municipality clustering contributes to a more thoughtful and accurate analysis of correlations in ecological studies.
Assessing the effects of Multivariate Functional outlier identification and sample robustification on identifying critical PM2.5 air pollution episodes in Medellín, Colombia
Authors: Alzate Luis Miguel Roldán , Zuluaga Francisco
Published: July 2022

Identification of critical episodes of environmental pollution, both as a outlier identification problem and as a classification problem, is a usual application of multivariate functional data analysis. This article addresses the effects of robustifying multivariate functional samples on the identification of critical pollution episodes in Medell´ın, Colombia. To do so, it compares 18 depth-based outlier identification methods and highlights the best options in terms of precision through simulation. It then applies the two methods with the best performance to robustify a real dataset of air pollution (PM2.5 concentration) in the Metropolitan Area of Medell´ın, Colombia and compares the effects of robustifying the samples on the accuracy of supervised classification through the multivariate functional DD-classifier. Our results show that 10 out of 20 methods revised perform better in at least one kind outliers. Nevertheless, no clear positive effects of robustification were identified with the real dataset.