bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Arhgap22 Disruption Leads to RAC1 Hyperactivity Affecting Hippocampal Glutamatergic Synapses and Cognition in Mice
Authors: Longatti Anna , Ponzoni Luisa , Moretto Edoardo , Giansante Giorgia , Lattuada Norma , Colombo Maria Nicol , Francolini Maura , Sala Mariaelvina , Murru Luca , Passafaro Maria
Published: August 2021

Rho GTPases are a class of G-proteins involved in several aspects of cellular biology, including the regulation of actin cytoskeleton. The most studied members of this family are RHOA and RAC1 that act in concert to regulate actin dynamics. Recently, Rho GTPases gained much attention as synaptic regulators in the mammalian central nervous system (CNS). In this context, ARHGAP22 protein has been previously shown to specifically inhibit RAC1 activity thus standing as critical cytoskeleton regulator in cancer cell models; however, whether this function is maintained in neurons in the CNS is unknown. Here, we generated a knockout animal model for arhgap22 and provided evidence of its role in the hippocampus. Specifically, we found that ARHGAP22 absence leads to RAC1 hyperactivity and to an increase in dendritic spine density with defects in synaptic structure, molecular composition, and plasticity. Furthermore, arhgap22 silencing causes impairment in cognition and a reduction in anxiety-like behavior in mice. We also found that inhibiting RAC1 restored synaptic plasticity in ARHGAP22 KO mice. All together, these results shed light on the specific role of ARHGAP22 in hippocampal excitatory synapse formation and function as well as in learning and memory behaviors.
Government subsidies and online branding for agricultural products
Authors: Zhang Zongming , Zhao Hua , Zeng Xinyu
Published: August 2021

Online branding plays an increasingly vital role for agricultural products in agriculture and e-commerce industries alike. To improve the cooperation between farmers and e-retailers, and to increase awareness of agricultural products through online branding, many governments implement series of subsidy policies. We investigate the impact of government subsidies by proposing a three-player game model (consisting of a government, a farmer, and an e-retailer) in supply chains. More specifically, we develop four Stackelberg game scenarios, including a benchmark scenario in which government provides no subsidies, two scenarios in which government subsidizes either farmer or e-retailer without subsidizing the other, and one in which both are subsidized. We find awareness of online branding for agricultural products is positively related to farmers? market sensitivity while e-retailers? cost factor shows a negative relation; optimal awareness emerges when both farmers and retailers are subsidized. In turn, farmers and retailers achieve their best profits when both are subsidized. Furthermore, farmers? profits are higher than e-retailers? in every subsidy scenario. We obtain the most effective parameters for government subsidies using ex ante and ex post strategies, extending our model by incorporating spillover effects. Most of our conclusions are consistent with intuition and propositions we began with, but it is interesting to note that farmers? best profits appear when farmers receive subsidies and e-retailers do not.
Immunohistochemical and qPCR Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in the Human Middle Ear Versus the Nasal Cavity: Case Series
Authors: Kurabi Arwa , Pak Kwang , DeConde Adam S. , Ryan Allen F. , Yan Carol H.
Published: August 2021

Viral infections have already been implicated with otitis media and sudden sensorineural hearing loss. However, the pathophysiology of COVID-19 as it relates to otologic disorders is not well-defined. With the spread of SARS-CoV-2, it is important to evaluate its colonization of middle ear mucosa. Middle ear and nasal tissue samples for quantitative RT-PCR and histologic evaluations were obtained from post-mortem COVID-19 patients and non-diseased control patients. Here we present evidence that SARS-CoV-2 colonizes the middle ear epithelium and co-localizes with the primary viral receptor, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). Both middle ear and nasal epithelial cells show relatively high expression of ACE2, required for SARS-CoV-2 entry. The epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) was use as a biomarker of epithelia. Furthermore, we found that the viral load in the middle ear is lower than that present in the nasal cavity.
Workflow to build a continuous static elastic moduli profile from the drilling data using artificial intelligence techniques
Authors: Siddig Osama , Elkatatny Salaheldin
Published: August 2021

Rock mechanical properties play a crucial role in fracturing design, wellbore stability and in situ stresses estimation. Conventionally, there are two ways to estimate Young’s modulus, either by conducting compressional tests on core plug samples or by calculating it from well log parameters. The first method is costly, time-consuming and does not provide a continuous profile. In contrast, the second method provides a continuous profile, however, it requires the availability of acoustic velocities and usually gives estimations that differ from the experimental ones. In this paper, a different approach is proposed based on the drilling operational data such as weight on bit and penetration rate. To investigate this approach, two machine learning techniques were used, artificial neural network (ANN) and support vector machine (SVM). A total of 2288 data points were employed to develop the model, while another 1667 hidden data points were used later to validate the built models. These data cover different types of formations carbonate, sandstone and shale. The two methods used yielded a good match between the measured and predicted Young’s modulus with correlation coefficients above 0.90, and average absolute percentage errors were less than 15%. For instance, the correlation coefficients for ANN ranged between 0.92 and 0.97 for the training and testing data, respectively. A new empirical correlation was developed based on the optimized ANN model that can be used with different datasets. According to these results, the estimation of elastic moduli from drilling parameters is promising and this approach could be investigated for other rock mechanical parameters.
Dynamic Analysis and Simulation of an Optically Levitated Rotating Ellipsoid Rotor in Liquid Medium
Authors: Zhu Qi , Li Nan , Su Heming , Li Wenqiang , Hu Huizhu
Published: September 2021

Optical trap, a circularly polarized laser beam can levitate and control the rotation of microspheres in liquid medium with high stiffness. Trapping force performs as confinement while the trapped particle can be analog to a liquid floated gyroscope with three degree-of-freedom. In this work, we analyzed the feasibility of applying optically levitated rotor in the system. We presented the dynamic analysis and simulation of an ellipsoid micron particle. The precession motion and nutation motion of a rotating ellipsoid probe particle in optical tweezers were performed. We also analyzed the attitude changes of an optically levitated ellipsoid when there was variation of the external torque caused by deviation of the incident light that was provided. Furthermore, the trail path of the rotational axis vertex and the stabilization process of a particle of different ellipticities were simulated. We compared the movement tendencies of particles of different shapes and analyzed the selection criteria of ellipsoid rotor. These analytical formulae and simulation results are applicable to the analysis of the rotational motion of particles in optical tweezers, especially to the future research of the gyroscope effect.
Best clinical practice guidance for conscious sedation of children undergoing dental treatment: an EAPD policy document
Authors: Ashley P. , Anand P. , Andersson K.
Published: August 2021

Background

Due to fear and/or behaviour management problems, some children are unable to cooperate for dental treatment using local anaesthesia and psychological support alone. Sedation is required for these patients in order for dentists to be able to deliver high quality, pain-free dental care.

The aim of this guideline is to evaluate the efficacy and relative efficacy of conscious sedation agents and dosages for behaviour management in paediatric dentistry and to provide guidance as to which sedative agents should be used.

Methods

These guidelines were developed using a multi-step approach adapted from that outlined by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE (2020) Developing NICE Guidelines: the manual.https://www.nice.org.uk/process/pmg20/chapter/introduction#main-stages-of-guideline-development. Accessed 7 Oct 2020). Evidence for this guideline was provided from a pre-existing Cochrane review (Ashley et al. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 12:CD003877, 2018) supplemented by an updated search and data extraction up to May 2020.

Results

Studies were from 18 different countries and had recruited 4131 participants overall with an average of 70 participants per study. Ages ranged from 0 to 16 years with an average age of 5.6 years across all included studies. A wide variety of drugs or combinations of drugs (n = 38) were used and delivered orally, intranasally, intravenously, rectally, intramuscularly, submucosally, transmucosally or by inhalation sedation. Twenty-four different outcome measures for behaviour were used. The wide range of drug combinations and outcome measures used greatly complicated description and analysis of the data.

Conclusion

Oral midazolam is recommended for conscious dental sedation. Midazolam delivered via other methods or nitrous oxide/oxygen sedation could be considered, but the evidence for both was very low.
Water lubrication of graphene oxide-based materials
Authors: Xue Shaoqing , Li Hanglin , Guo Yumei , Zhang Baohua , Li Jiusheng , Zeng Xiangqiong
Published: August 2021

Water is as an economic, eco-friendly, and efficient lubricant that has gained widespread attention for manufacturing. Using graphene oxide (GO)-based materials can improve the lubricant efficacy of water lubrication due to their outstanding mechanical properties, water dispersibility, and broad application scenarios. In this review, we offer a brief introduction about the background of water lubrication and GO. Subsequently, the synthesis, structure, and lubrication theory of GO are analyzed. Particular attention is focused on the relationship between pH, concentration, and lubrication efficacy when discussing the tribology behaviors of pristine GO. By compounding or reacting GO with various modifiers, amounts of GO-composites are synthesized and applied as lubricant additives or into frictional pairs for different usage scenarios. These various strategies of GO-composite generate interesting effects on the tribology behaviors. Several application cases of GO-based materials are described in water lubrication, including metal processing and bio-lubrication. The advantages and drawbacks of GO-composites are then discussed. The development of GO-based materials for water lubrication is described including some challenges.
Il carcinoma familiare non midollare della tiroide non sindromico
Authors: Capezzone Marco , Castagna Maria Grazia
Published: September 2021

Sommario

Il carcinoma non midollare della tiroide (non medullary thyroid cancer, NMTC) è generalmente sporadico ma può presentarsi in forma familiare (familial non medullary thyroid cancer, FNMTC) in circa il 10% dei casi. Negli anni si sono accumulate evidenze a favore di una predisposizione genetica ereditaria del FNMTC, come la scoperta di alcuni loci di suscettibilità, la presenza di alterazioni molecolari a carico del complesso telomero-telomerasi e l’evidenza di polimorfismi a singolo nucleotide (SNPs) associati statisticamente al rischio di sviluppare la malattia. Molti studi clinici concordano nell’attribuire al FNMTC un fenotipo più aggressivo rispetto alla controparte sporadica, supportando l’ipotesi che esso rappresenti una entità a sé, clinicamente distinta dalla forma sporadica. Sebbene la presenza di possibile familiarità per carcinoma tiroideo debba essere sempre valutata attraverso un’accurata anamnesi familiare, le attuali linee guida non si esprimono a favore o contro lo screening ecografico nei pazienti con FNMTC non-sindromico. Tuttavia, alla luce delle più attuali conoscenze, sembrerebbe ragionevole raccomandare uno screening ecografico almeno nelle famiglie con tre o più membri affetti.
Optimal components selection based on fuzzy-intra coupling density for component-based software systems under build-or-buy scheme
Authors: Kalantari Samira , Motameni Homayun , Akbari Ebrahim , Rabbani Mohsen
Published: August 2021

Component-Based Software Engineering (CBSE) is an approach to building and developing software systems based on software components. In component-based software systems, there are various software components, including Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) and in-house components. Software developers can build their desired software component as in-house or COTS. The problem of deciding optimally between COTS and in-house components is one of the major challenges of software developers, which is known as the component selection problem. This can be resolved by evaluating the criteria for optimality in component selection and then solving the component selection problem by optimization techniques. In this paper, an attempt was made to optimize the component selection problem through the multi-objective optimization by maximizing the Fuzzy-Intra Coupling Density (Fuzzy-ICD) and functionality as objective functions, and also taking into account budget, delivery time, reliability, and Fuzzy-ICD as constraints of multi-objective problems. Fuzzy ICD is a more accurate criterion to calculate the relationship between Cohesion and Coupling of components, which is obtained through the fuzzy computing of each of them, based on the Meyers classification. Thus, after a two-criterion optimization model formulation, this optimization problem was solved by fuzzy multi objectives approach. Finally, the proposed method was evaluated by performing the case study of financial-accounting system. Comparison of the results showed that the proposed method could select optimal components with maximum functionality and Fuzzy-ICD and fewer rates of time and Budget (0.29, 0.43, 1.1 s, and 88$ were the improved rates of functionality, Fuzzy-ICD, time, and budget, respectively).
Hyper-heuristic approach: automatically designing adaptive mutation operators for evolutionary programming
Authors: Hong Libin , Woodward John R. , Özcan Ender , Liu Fuchang
Published: August 2021

Genetic programming (GP) automatically designs programs. Evolutionary programming (EP) is a real-valued global optimisation method. EP uses a probability distribution as a mutation operator, such as Gaussian, Cauchy, or Lévy distribution. This study proposes a hyper-heuristic approach that employs GP to automatically design different mutation operators for EP. At each generation, the EP algorithm can adaptively explore the search space according to historical information. The experimental results demonstrate that the EP with adaptive mutation operators, designed by the proposed hyper-heuristics, exhibits improved performance over other EP versions (both manually and automatically designed). Many researchers in evolutionary computation advocate adaptive search operators (which do adapt over time) over non-adaptive operators (which do not alter over time). The core motive of this study is that we can automatically design adaptive mutation operators that outperform automatically designed non-adaptive mutation operators.
Applying Artificial Intelligence (AI) Techniques to Implement a Practical Smart Cage Aquaculture Management System
Authors: Chang Chung-Cheng , Wang Jung-Hua , Wu Jenq-Lang , Hsieh Yi-Zeng , Wu Tzong-Dar , Cheng Shyi-Chy , Chang Chin-Chun , Juang Jih-Gau , Liou Chyng-Hwa , Hsu Te-Hua , Huang Yii-Shing , Huang Cheng-Ting , Lin Chen-Chou , Peng Yan-Tsung , Huang Ren-Jie , Jhang Jia-Yao , Liao Yen-Hsiang , Lin Chin-Yang
Published: September 2021

Purpose

This paper presents our team’s results to establish an AIoT smart cage culture management system.

Methods

According to the built system, the farmed field information is transmitted to the data platform of Ocean Cloud, and all collected data and analysis results can be applied to the cage culture field after the bigdata analysis.

Results

This management system successfully integrates AI and IoT technologies and is applied in cage culture. Using underwater biological analysis images and AI feeding as examples, this paper explains how the system integrates AI and IoT into a feasible framework that can constantly acquire information about the health status of fish, survival rate of fish, as well as the feed residuals.

Conclusion

The results of our research enable the aquaculture operators or owners to efficiently reduce the feed residual, monitor the growth of fish, and increase fish survival rate, thereby increasing the feed conversion rate.
Understanding the growth of the Fediverse through the lens of Mastodon
Authors: La Cava Lucio , Greco Sergio , Tagarelli Andrea
Published: September 2021

Open-source, Decentralized Online Social Networks (DOSNs) are emerging as alternatives to the popular yet centralized and profit-driven platforms like Facebook or Twitter. In DOSNs, users can set up their own server, or instance, while they can actually interact with users of other instances. Moreover, by adopting the same communication protocol, DOSNs become part of a massive social network, namely theFediverse. Mastodon is the most relevant platform in the Fediverse to date, and also the one that has attracted attention from the research community. Existing studies are however limited to an analysis of a relatively outdated sample of Mastodon focusing on few aspects at a user level, while several open questions have not been answered yet, especially at the instance level. In this work, we aim at pushing forward our understanding of the Fediverse by leveraging the primary role of Mastodon therein. Our first contribution is the building of an up-to-date and highly representative dataset of Mastodon. Upon this new data, we have defined a network model over Mastodon instances and exploited it to investigate three major aspects: the structural features of the Mastodon network of instances from a macroscopic as well as a mesoscopic perspective, to unveil the distinguishing traits of the underlying federative mechanism; the backbone of the network, to discover the essential interrelations between the instances; and the growth of Mastodon, to understand how the shape of the instance network has evolved during the last few years, also when broading the scope to account for instances belonging to other platforms. Our extensive analysis of the above aspects has provided a number of findings that reveal distinguishing features of Mastodon and that can be used as a starting point for the discovery of all the DOSN Fediverse.
The phantom alignment strength conjecture: practical use of graph matching alignment strength to indicate a meaningful graph match
Authors: Fishkind Donniell E. , Parker Felix , Sawczuk Hamilton , Meng Lingyao , Bridgeford Eric , Athreya Avanti , Priebe Carey , Lyzinski Vince
Published: August 2021

The alignment strength of a graph matching is a quantity that gives the practitioner a measure of the correlation of the two graphs, and it can also give the practitioner a sense for whether the graph matching algorithm found the true matching. Unfortunately, when a graph matching algorithm fails to find the truth because of weak signal, there may be “phantom alignment strength” from meaningless matchings that, by random noise, have fewer disagreements than average (sometimes substantially fewer); this alignment strength may give the misleading appearance of significance. A practitioner needs to know what level of alignment strength may be phantom alignment strength and what level indicates that the graph matching algorithm obtained the true matching and is a meaningful measure of the graph correlation. The Phantom Alignment Strength Conjecture introduced here provides a principled and practical means to approach this issue. We provide empirical evidence for the conjecture, and explore its consequences.
Structure evolution of suspensions under time-dependent electric or magnetic field
Authors: Manikas Konstantinos , Hütter Markus , Anderson Patrick D.
Published: August 2021

The effect of time-dependent external fields on the structures formed by particles with induced dipoles dispersed in a viscous fluid is investigated by means of Brownian Dynamics simulations. The physical effects accounted for are thermal fluctuations, dipole-dipole and excluded volume interactions. The emerging structures are characterised in terms of particle clusters (orientation, size, anisotropy and percolation) and network structure. The strength of the external field is increased in one direction and then kept constant for a certain amount of time, with the structure formation being influenced by the slope of the field-strength increase. This effect can be partially rationalized by inhomogeneous time re-scaling with respect to the field strength, however, the presence of thermal fluctuations makes the scaling at low field strength inappropriate. After the re-scaling, one can observe that the lower the slope of the field increase, the more network-like and the thicker the structure is. In the second part of the study the field is also rotated instantaneously by a certain angle, and the effect of this transition on the structure is studied. For small rotation angles ($$\theta \le 20^{{\circ }}$$

θ
≤

20
∘

) the clusters rotate but stay largely intact, while for large rotation angles ($$\theta \ge 80^{{\circ }}$$

θ
≥

80
∘

) the structure disintegrates and then reforms, due to the nature of the interactions (parallel dipoles with perpendicular inter-particle vector repel each other). For intermediate angles ($$20<\theta <80^{{\circ }}$$

20
<
θ
<

80
∘

), it seems that, during rotation, the structure is altered towards a more network-like state, as a result of cluster fusion (larger clusters). The details provided in this paper concern an electric field, however, all results can be projected into the case of a magnetic field and paramagnetic particles.
Scaling of an Aviation Hydrogen Micromix Injector Design for Industrial GT Combustion Applications
Authors: Berger Johannes
Published: August 2021

Decarbonising the energy grid through renewable energy requires a grid firming technology to harmonize supply and demand. Hydrogen-fired gas turbine power plants offer a closed loop by burning green hydrogen produced with excess power from renewable energy. Conventional dry low NOx (DLN) combustors have been optimized for strict emission limits. A higher flame temperature of hydrogen drives higher NOx emissions and faster flame speed alters the combustion behavior significantly. Micromix combustion offers potential for low NOx emissions and optimized conditions for hydrogen combustion. Many small channels, so-called airgates, accelerate the airflow followed by a jet-in-crossflow injection of hydrogen. This leads to short-diffusion flames following the principle of maximized mixing intensity and minimized mixing scales. This paper shows the challenges and the potential of an economical micromix application for an aero-derivative industrial gas turbine with a high-pressure ratio. A technology transfer based on the micromix combustion research in the ENABLEH2 project is carried out. The driving parameter for ground use adaption is an increased fuel orifice diameter from 0.3 mm to 1.0 mm to reduce cost and complexity. Increasing the fuel supply mass flow leads to larger flames and higher emissions. The impact was studied through RANS simulation and trends for key design parameters were shown. Increased velocity in the airgates leads to a higher pressure drop and reduced emissions through faster mixing. Altering the penetration depth shows potential for emission reduction without compromising on pressure loss. Two improved designs are found, and their performance is discussed.
Pediatric vascular reconstruction after trauma and malignancy; a single centere case series
Authors: Baram Aram , Ahmad Bnar Jalal , Izac Ashur Y. , Falah Fitoon , Sherzad Hiwa
Published: September 2021

ABSTRACT

Background:

Pediatric vascular reconstructions (PVRs) are rare and technically difficult operations. The combination of a technically difficult condition, with little established protocol and potentially devastating outcomes makes PVRs an important issue.

Patients and methods:

Retrospective analysis of a prospectively collected data, in a single tertiary academic centere.From January 2010 to January 2020, all children who had arterial reconstructions for trauma and malignancy are included.

Results:

The vascular injury patients were 34 and the tumor group were 8 (total = 42). Twenty patients repaired by end to end anastomosis, 12 patients repaired by using ipsilateral great saphenous vein graft used, 4 patients repaired by lateral arteriorrhaphy, 3 patients only fasciotomy, one patient ligation of the artery and one patient nephrectomy and lateral repair of IVC, one patient only application of papaverine. Early postoperative period showed that 34 patients had positive distal pulses and 8 had negative distal pulses. Long-term follow-up showed that 35 patients (83.3%) had no significant complications, normal growth and no discrepancy in length

Conclusions:

Early and in-time PVR could save life and leads normal limb growth and preventing permanent handicap. Vascular reconstruction malignancy may enhance long-term survival.

Highlights
A pitfall in the diagnosis of acute abdomen causing by mesenteric lipoma
Authors: Mouna Cherif , Dhafer Hadded , Meryam Mesbahi , khedhiri Nizar , Benzarti Yazid , Anis Ben Maamer
Published: August 2021

ABSTRACT

Introduction:

Mesenteric lipoma is an uncommon disease, infrequently reported in the literature.

Presentation of case:

We present the clinical data and imaging findings of a symptomatic case with mesenteric lipoma causing acute abdominal symptoms. On CT scan the lesion was imaged as a mass of Lipomatous appearance in connection with the mesentery, with fat infiltration and a medium-abundance effusion. Exploratory laparotomy revealed a 4 cm necrotic and pedunculated mass, in the mesentery of the ileum, with a spiral turn around its axis. Resection of the affected segment of the ileum and end to end ileal anastomosis were carried out. Anatomopathological examination confirmed the mesenteric lipoma. The post-operative outcome was uneventful.

Discussion:

Mesenteric lipoma is an uncommon tumor that can be asymptomatic or complicated by obstruction or volvulus leading to acute abdomen. Its diagnosis is challenging and is rarely made pre operatively.

Conclusion:

Mesenteric lipoma should always be considered as a differential diagnosis in a patient with recurrent features of abdominal symptoms and a mobile abdominal mass.

Highlights
Observations of the creep of polar firn
Authors: Li Yuan , Baker Ian
Published: September 2021

Constant-load creep tests were performed at −10°C at various compressive stresses from 0.05 to 0.75 MPa on specimens taken every 10 m along a firn core extracted at Summit, Greenland in June 2017. The microstructures before and after creep testing were examined using both X-ray microtomography (micro-CT) and optical images from thin sections. An Andrade-like equation was used to describe the primary creep behavior and yielded the time exponentkof 0.17–0.76. The onset of secondary creep occurred at strains of ~0.5–3% but was sometimes not observed at all in shallow firn specimens and at stresses ⩽0.43 MPa even for strain up to 32%. For the 50–80 m firn crept at stresses ⩾0.55 MPa, secondary creep occurred at strains of 2.6 ± 0.28%, and the stress exponent,n, in Glen's law, was found to range from 4.1 to 4.6, similar to those observed for fully dense ice. Micro-CT observations of crept specimens showed that in most cases, the specific surface area, the total porosity and the structure model index decreased, while the structure thickness increased with increasing density. These microstructural characteristics are consistent with the densification of the firn. Optical images from thin sections showed that recrystallization occurred in some specimens that had undergone secondary creep.
Effect of resveratrol administration on ovarian morphology, determined by transvaginal ultrasound for the women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
Authors: Hashemi Taheri Amir Pejman , Moradi Behnaz , Radmard Amir Reza , Sanginabadi Milad , Qorbani Mostafa , Mohajeri-Tehrani Mohammad Reza , Shirzad Nooshin , Hosseini Saeed , Hekmatdoost Azita , Asadi Sedigheh , Samadi Majid , Mansour Asieh
Published: September 2021

Intake of resveratrol has been associated with improved ovarian morphology under in vitro and in the animal models; however, this finding has not been confirmed in trials. The aim of our study was, therefore, to use a placebo-controlled approach with the detailed assessment of the ovarian morphology by applying transvaginal ultrasound to examine the effectiveness of this therapeutic approach in this group of women. The mean age of all participants was 28·61 (sd 4·99) years, with the mean BMI of 28·26 (sd 5·62) kg/m2. Resveratrol therapy, as compared with placebo, was associated with a significantly higher rate of improvement in the ovarian morphology (P = 0·02). Women who received resveratrol had a more dominant follicle than those getting placebo, with a significant reduction in the ovarian volume (P < 0·05). However, the number of follicle count per ovary (FNPO), stromal area (SA), ovarian echogenicity and distribution of follicles were not significantly altered (P > 0·05). Forty-one women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) were randomly assigned (1:1) to 3 months of daily 1000 mg resveratrol or placebo. Random assignment was done by blocked randomisation. Our primary endpoints were the change in the ovarian volume, SA and antral FNPO from the baseline to 3 months. Secondary endpoints were improvement in the distribution of follicles and ovarian echogenicity. Differences between the resveratrol and control groups were evaluated by Chi-square, Fisher’s exact test and repeated-measures ANOVA. Treatment with resveratrol significantly reduced the ovarian volume and polycystic ovarian morphology, thus suggesting a disease-modifying effect in PCOS.
Cardiometabolic traits mediated the relationship from early life famine exposure to adulthood nonalcoholic fatty liver disease risk
Authors: Han Xu , Wang Jing , Li Yaru , Hu Dongsheng , He Meian
Published: September 2021

Early life exposure to famine was associated with adulthood metabolic syndrome and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and NAFLD was also affected by cardiometabolic traits. However, the role of cardiometabolic traits in the associations from famine exposure to NAFLD was largely unknown. This study aimed to investigate whether the relationship between early life famine exposure and adulthood NAFLD risk was mediated by cardiometabolic traits. Overall, 7578 subjects aged 56·0 (sd 3·7) years in the Dongfeng–Tongji cohort were included and classified into late-exposed (1952–1954), middle-exposed (1954–1956), early-childhood-exposed (1956–1958), fetal-exposed (1959–1961) and non-exposed (1962–1966, reference) group according to the birth year. NAFLD was diagnosed by experienced physicians via abdominal B-type ultrasound inspection. Mediation analysis was used to evaluate the mediating effects of cardiometabolic traits. Compared with those non-exposed, after multivariable adjustment, participants in fetal-exposed group (OR: 1·37; 95 % CI 1·08, 1·73) had 37 % higher risk to develop NAFLD, and the overall childhood-exposed group had marginally significant association with NAFLD (OR: 1·39; 95 % CI 0·99, 1·94). Stratification analysis found the famine–NAFLD associations more evident in women and those born in areas severely affected by famine. Mediation analysis showed that cardiometabolic traits such as total cholesterol, TAG glucose index, γ-glutamyl transpeptidase, alkaline phosphatase and alanine aminotransferase mediated 6·7–22·2 % of the relation from famine exposure to higher NAFLD risk. Early life exposure to famine was related to increased adulthood NAFLD risk, and this relationship was partly mediated by cardiometabolic traits.
“The Boy Who Wasn't Really Killed”: Israeli State Violence in the Age of the Smartphone Witness
Authors: Stein Rebecca L.
Published: September 2021

Over the course of the first two decades of the twenty-first century, within the occupied Palestinian territories, photographic technologies and image-oriented politics would grow increasingly central as activist and human-rights tools of bearing witness to Israeli state and settler violence. This essay investigates the Israeli right-wing and international Zionist response to these Palestinian visual archives and their perceived threat. In particular, it tracks the rise and normalization of a repudiation script that impugned the veracity of these images, arguing that they were fraudulent or manipulated to produce a damning portrait of Israel. Drawing on post-colonial and settler-colonial studies, as placed into dialogue with digital media studies, the essay focuses on three cases studies of repudiation (2000, 2008, 2014, respectively) to consider how the long colonial history of repudiation in the Israeli context would be progressively updated by right-wing Israelis and their international supporters to meet the challenges posed by the smartphone age. By the second decade of the twenty-first century, the script had become an increasingly standard Zionist response to viral images of Palestinian death or injury at Israeli state or settler hands. Repudiation was thus marshaled as a solution to the viral visibility of Israeli state violence by bringing the otherwise damning images back into line with dominant Israeli ideology, a process of shifting the narrative from Palestinian injury to Israeli victimhood. The story of the “false” image of Palestinian injury endeavors strips the visual field of its Israeli perpetrators and Palestinian victims, thereby exonerating the state. Or such is the nature of this digital fantasy in the Israeli colonial present.
Direct maxillary irrigation therapy in non-operated chronic sinusitis: a prospective randomised controlled trial
Authors: Ronen O , Marshak T , Uri N , Gruber M , Haberfeld O , Paz D , Stein N , Cohen-Kerem R
Published: September 2021

Objective

This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of pharmacological therapy with and without direct maxillary sinus saline irrigation for the management of chronic rhinosinusitis without polyps.

Methods

In this prospective randomised controlled trial, 39 non-operated patients were randomly assigned to be treated with direct maxillary sinus saline irrigation in conjunction with systemic antibiotics and topical sprays (n =24) or with pharmacological therapy alone (n =15). Endoscopy, Sino-Nasal Outcome Test and Lund–MacKay computed tomography scores were obtained before, six weeks after and one to two years after treatment.

Results

Post-treatment Lund–Mackay computed tomography scores were significantly improved in both cohorts, with no inter-cohort difference identified. Post-treatment nasal endoscopy scores were significantly improved in the study group but were similar to those measured in the control group. The Sino-Nasal Outcome Test-20 results showed improvement in both cohorts, with no difference between treatment arms.

Conclusion

Maxillary sinus puncture and irrigation with saline, combined with pharmacological treatment improves endoscopic findings in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis without polyps, but has no beneficial effect on symptoms and imaging findings over conservative treatment alone.
Dysfunction in differential reward-punishment responsiveness in conduct disorder relates to severity of callous-unemotional traits but not irritability
Authors: Zhang Ru , Aloi Joseph , Bajaj Sahil , Bashford-Largo Johannah , Lukoff Jennie , Schwartz Amanda , Elowsky Jamie , Dobbertin Matthew , Blair Karina S. , Blair R. James R.
Published: September 2021

Background

Conduct disorder (CD) has been associated with dysfunction in reinforcement-based decision-making. Two forms of affective traits that reflect the components of CD severity are callous-unemotional (CU; reduced guilt/empathy) traits and irritability. The form of the reinforcement-based decision-making dysfunction with respect to CD and CU traits remains debated and has not been examined with respect to irritability in cases with CD. The goals of the current study were to determine the extent of dysfunction in differential (reward v. punishment) responsiveness in CD, and CU traits and irritability in participants with CD.

Methods

The study involved 178 adolescents [typically developing (TD; N = 77) and cases with CD (N = 101)]. Participants were scanned with fMRI during a passive avoidance task that required participants to learn to respond to (i.e. approach) stimuli that engender reward and refrain from responding to (i.e. passively avoid) stimuli that engender punishment.

Results

Adolescents with CD showed reduced differential reward-punishment responsiveness within the striatum relative to TD adolescents. CU traits, but not irritability, were associated with reduced differential reward-punishment responsiveness within the striatum, rostromedial, and lateral frontal cortices.

Conclusions

The results suggest CD is associated with reduced differential reward-punishment responsiveness and the extent of this dysfunction in participants with CD is associated with the severity of CU traits but not irritability.
Why Paul doesn't mention the ‘age to come’
Authors: Davies Jamie
Published: September 2021

This essay examines the popular claim that the apostle Paul deploys an apocalyptic ‘two-age’ scheme in his eschatology, adapted from Jewish apocalyptic thought but reworked in an ‘inaugurated’ configuration in his theology as ‘now and not yet’. This reading is challenged as representing an oversimplified and anachronistic reading of the Jewish apocalyptic literature, and in respect of its claim to be a Pauline innovation. Furthermore, it is a reading not adequately sensitive to the fact that Paul rarely (if ever) uses the phrase ‘age to come’. The second section of the essay examines this Pauline evidence, and some of the language Paul uses instead of this phrase. Finally, the essay closes with a theological proposal for why Paul might do this, and makes some suggestions regarding Paul's view of time, the relationship between time and eternity, and possible ways this might be articulated once dogmatically located within his christology.
John Owen as proto-social trinitarian? Reinterpreting Owen and resisting a recent trend
Authors: Kieser Ty
Published: September 2021

Contrary to much of the recent literature on the trinitarian theology of John Owen, which often ascribes radical personal distinction to his account of triune relations and actions, this paper argues that Owen's account of distinct divine persons and trinitarian actions ought not to be contrasted with his theological forebears: Augustine, Thomas Aquinas and Calvin. Instead, his account of trinitarian ontology and operation is thoroughly consistent with (and dependent upon) the Augustinian principles that these interpreters suspect Owen is rejecting. The argument unfolds by presenting four putative points of strong personal distinction in John Owen's trinitarian theology and then reinterpreting each of the themes and passages that these four points are supposedly rooted in, evidencing his Augustinian account of trinitarian unity and distinction.
The antinomy of gehenna: Pavel Florensky's contribution to debates on hell and universalism
Authors: Ridderman Erica
Published: September 2021

In The Pillar and Ground of the Truth Pavel Florensky presents an account of hell, or ‘Gehenna’, that synthesises two seemingly irreconcilable claims: that God will save all people, and that some people will reject God forever. In insisting that both claims are true, and by recasting standard categories of final judgement, purgation and human identity, Florensky produces a novel contribution in contemporary debates about hell and universalism. I begin by surveying his account, then address two key interpretive questions raised by his critics, and conclude by situating his account within modern western conversations.
A regret lower bound for assortment optimization under the capacitated MNL model with arbitrary revenue parameters
Authors: Peeters Yannik , den Boer Arnoud V.
Published: September 2021

In this note, we consider dynamic assortment optimization with incomplete information under the capacitated multinomial logit choice model. Recently, it has been shown that the regret (the cumulative expected revenue loss caused by offering suboptimal assortments) that any decision policy endures is bounded from below by a constant times $\sqrt {NT}$, where $N$ denotes the number of products and $T$ denotes the time horizon. This result is shown under the assumption that the product revenues are constant, and thus leaves the question open whether a lower regret rate can be achieved for nonconstant revenue parameters. In this note, we show that this is not the case: we show that, for any vector of product revenues there is a positive constant such that the regret of any policy is bounded from below by this constant times $\sqrt {N T}$. Our result implies that policies that achieve ${{\mathcal {O}}}(\sqrt {NT})$ regret are asymptotically optimal for all product revenue parameters.
Building Research Infrastructures to Study Digital Technology and Politics: Lessons from Switzerland
Authors: Gilardi Fabrizio , Baumgartner Lucien , Dermont Clau , Donnay Karsten , Gessler Theresa , Kubli Maël , Leemann Lucas , Müller Stefan
Published: September 2021

The relationship between digital technology and politics is an important phenomenon that remains poorly understood due to several structural problems. A key issue is the lack of adequate research infrastructures or the lack of access. This article discusses the challenges many social scientists face and presents the infrastructure we built in Switzerland to overcome them, using COVID-19 as an example. We conclude by discussing seven lessons we learned: automatization is key; avoid data hoarding; outsource some parts of the infrastructure but not others; focus on substantive questions; share data in the context of collaborations; engage in targeted public outreach; and collaboration is more promising than competition. We hope that our experience is helpful to other researchers pursuing similar goals.
Emerging trends: Deep nets for poets
Authors: Church Kenneth Ward , Yuan Xiaopeng , Guo Sheng , Wu Zewu , Yang Yehua , Chen Zeyu
Published: September 2021

Deep nets have done well with early adopters, but the future will soon depend on crossing the chasm. The goal of this paper is to make deep nets more accessible to a broader audience including people with little or no programming skills, and people with little interest in training new models. A github is provided with simple implementations of image classification, optical character recognition, sentiment analysis, named entity recognition, question answering (QA/SQuAD), machine translation, speech to text (SST), and speech recognition (STT). The emphasis is on instant gratification. Non-programmers should be able to install these programs and use them in 15 minutes or less (per program). Programs are short (10–100 lines each) and readable by users with modest programming skills. Much of the complexity is hidden behind abstractions such as pipelines and auto classes, and pretrained models and datasets provided by hubs: PaddleHub, PaddleNLP, HuggingFaceHub, and Fairseq. Hubs have different priorities than research. Research is training models from corpora and fine-tuning them for tasks. Users are already overwhelmed with an embarrassment of riches (13k models and 1k datasets). Do they want more? We believe the broader market is more interested in inference (how to run pretrained models on novel inputs) and less interested in training (how to create even more models).
Die Spirometrie in der ärztlichen Praxis – Teil 1: Die Messung
Authors: Rothe Thomas
Published: September 2021

Zusammenfassung. Heute sollte jede Grundversorgerin, jeder Grundversorger, aber auch jede Krankenhaus-Notfallstation über die Möglichkeit verfügen, eine Spirometrie durchführen zu können. Die Messung erfordert allerdings solide Grundkenntnisse sowie eine gewisse Erfahrung, damit konsistente und reproduzierbare Messungen möglich sind. Da die Messung stark von der Mitarbeit der/des Untersuchten abhängt, müssen typische Fehler sofort erkannt und korrigiert werden. Eine abgerundete forcierte exspiratorische Fluss-Volumen-Kurve, ein plötzlicher Abfall der Kurve gegen null am Ende der Ausatmung sowie deutlich voneinander abweichende Kurven bzw. Werte in den mindestens notwendigen drei Messmanövern sind Hinweise auf eine nicht ausreichend forcierte, bzw. zu früh abgebrochene Exspiration. Lungenfunktionsassistenten benötigen klare Vorgaben, wann eine Bronchospasmolyse erforderlich ist. Dazu gehört auch die Kenntnis, wie lange therapeutisch eingesetzte Bronchodilatatoren vorgängig gestoppt werden müssen.
VIPom des Pankreas
Authors: Steck Andreas , Nebiker Christian , Capraro Joël , Yurtsever Hüseyin , Toutonji Ali Al , Struja Tristan
Published: September 2021

Zusammenfassung. Ein 50-jähriger Patient wurde zur weiteren Abklärung einer progredienten, chronischen Diarrhö mit Gewichtsverlust und therapierefraktärer Hypokaliämie zugewiesen. Nach den Abklärungen konnte als Ursache der Diarrhö ein neuroendokriner Tumor des Pankreas (VIPom) festgestellt und mittels erfolgreicher Pankreaslinksresektion und vorübergehender medikamentöser Behandlung mit Octreotid behandelt werden. Wichtig bei der Abklärung einer chronischen Diarrhö ist ein strukturiertes Vorgehen, insbesondere mit ausführlicher Anamnese sowie klinischen Untersuchungen, Labordiagnostik und Bildgebung.
Evidence for the In‐Situ Generation of Plasma Depletion Structures Over the Transition Region of Geomagnetic Low‐Mid Latitude
Authors: Sivakandan M. , Mondal S. , Sarkhel S. , Chakrabarty D. , Sunil Krishna M. V. , Upadhayaya A. K. , Shinbori A. , Sori T. , Kannaujiya S. , Champati Ray P. K.
Published: August 2021

On a geomagnetic quiet night of October 29, 2018, we captured an observational evidence of the onset of dark band structures within the field‐of‐view of an all‐sky airglow imager operating at 630.0 nm over a geomagnetic low‐mid latitude transition region, Hanle, Leh Ladakh. Simultaneous ionosonde observations over New Delhi shows the occurrence of spread‐F in the ionograms. Additionally, virtual and peak height indicate vertical upliftment in the F layer altitude and reduction in the ionospheric peak frequency were also observed when the dark band pass through the ionosonde location. All these results confirmed that the observed depletions are indeed associated with ionospheric F region plasma irregularities. The rate of total electron content index (ROTI) indicates the absence of plasma bubble activities over the equatorial/low latitude region which confirms that the observed event is a mid‐latitude plasma depletion. Our calculations reveal that the growth time of the plasma depletion is ∼2 h if one considers only the Perkins instability mechanism. This is not consistent with the present observations as the plasma depletion developed within ∼25 min. By invoking possible Es layer instabilities and associated E‐F region coupling, we show that the growth rate increases roughly by an order of magnitude. This strongly suggests that the Cosgrove and Tsunoda mechanism may be simultaneously operational in this case. Furthermore, it is also suggested that reduced F region flux‐tube integrated conductivity in the southern part of onset region created conducive background conditions for the growth of the plasma depletion on this night.