bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Maternal social support and health facility delivery in Southwest Ethiopia
Authors: Mamo Abebe , Abera Muluemebet , Abebe Lakew , Bergen Nicole , Asfaw Shifera , Bulcha Gebeyehu , Asefa Yisalemush , Erko Endale , Bedru Kunuz Haji , Lakew Mihiretu , Kurji Jaameeta , Kulkarni Manisha A. , Labonté Ronald , Birhanu Zewdie , Morankar Sudhakar
Published: May 2022

Background

Maternal mortality continues to decrease in the world but remain the most important health problems in low-income countries. Although evidence indicates that social support is an important factor influencing health facility delivery, it has not been extensively studied in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the effect of maternal social support and related factors on health facility delivery in southwest Ethiopia.

Methods

A cross-sectional survey data on 3304 women aged 15–47 years in three districts of Ethiopia, were analyzed. Using multivariable logistic regression, we assessed the association between health facility birth, social support, and socio-demography variables. Adjusted odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals were used to identify statistically significant associations at 5% alpha level.

Result

Overall, 46.9% of women delivered at health facility in their last pregnancy. Average travel time from closest health facility (AOR: 1.51, 95% CI 1.21 to 2.90), mean perception score of health facility use (AOR: 1.83, 95% CI 1.44 to 2.33), involvement in final decision to identify their place of childbirth (AOR: 2.12, 95% CI 1.73 to 2.58) had significantly higher odds of health facility childbirth. From social support variables, women who perceived there were family members and husband to help them during childbirth (AOR: 3.62, 95% CI 2.74 to 4.79), women who received continuous support (AOR: 1.97, 95% CI 1.20 to 3.23), women with companions for facility visits (AOR: 1.63, 95% CI 1.34 to 2.00) and women who received support from friends (AOR: 1.62, 95% CI 1.16 to 3.23) had significantly higher odds of health facility childbirth.

Conclusions

Social support was critical to enhance health facility delivery, especially if women’s close ties help facility delivery. An intervention to increase facility delivery uptake should target not only the women’s general social supports, but also continuous support during childbirth from close ties including family members and close friends as these are influential in place of childbirth. Also actions that increase women’s healthcare decision could be effective in improving health facility delivery.
Effects of ramosetron orally disintegrating tablets on the prophylaxis of post-discharge nausea and/or vomiting in female patients undergoing day surgery under general anesthesia: a randomized controlled trial
Authors: Shin Hyun-Jung , Park Yong-Hee , Chang Minying , Chae Yun Jeong , Lee Hun-Taek , Lee Oh Haeng , Min Sang-Kee , Do Sang-Hwan
Published: May 2022

Background

This study was performed to evaluate the effectiveness of ramosetron orally disintegrating tablets (ODTs) in preventing post-discharge nausea and/or vomiting (PDNV) in female patients following outpatient surgery under general anesthesia.

Methods

This multicenter randomized study included three South Korean tertiary hospitals. Before surgery, 138 patients were randomly allocated into two groups. In the ramosetron group, ramosetron ODT 0.1 mg was administered after discharge in the morning of postoperative days 1 and 2. Metoclopramide 10 mg was administered as a rescue antiemetic (capped at 30 mg per day). In the control group, patients were administered only metoclopramide 10 mg when nausea and/or vomiting occurred. The primary outcome was the incidence of nausea during 24 h after discharge.

Results

We found significant differences in the incidence (13% vs. 33%, P = 0.008) and severity (P = 0.011) of nausea between the ramosetron and the control groups during 24 h after discharge. In addition, the rate of rescue antiemetic (metoclopramide) administration during 24 h after discharge was lower in the ramosetron group (6%) than in the control group (18%) (P = 0.033). Patient satisfaction score was higher in the ramosetron group than in the control group (P < 0.001).

Conclusion

Ramosetron ODT reduces the incidence and severity of postoperative nausea after discharge during the first 24 h and may be a valuable option for the prevention of PDNV in female patients after day surgery under general anesthesia.

Trial registration

ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04297293. Registered on 05 March 2020
The exploration of continuous learning intention in STEAM education through attitude, motivation, and cognitive load
Authors: Wu Chih-Hung , Liu Chih-Hsing , Huang Yueh-Min
Published: May 2022

Background

This study proposes a learning cycle and a comprehensive research framework that integrates Bloom’s taxonomy: the cognitive domain (cognitive load), affective domain (attitude and motivation) and psychomotor domain (implementation of science, technology, engineering, arts, and math [STEAM] activities) to explore the relationship between these learning domains and learning intention. The proposed innovative mediated-moderation model includes second-order factors derived from the technology acceptance model (TAM) (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and perceived enjoyment), the attention, relevance, confidence and satisfaction (ARCS) model, and cognitive load (mental load and mental effort) to explain the continuous learning intention of STEAM education.

Results

A teaching material was designed for the STEAM activity, and an empirical experiment was subsequently conducted. The empirical experiment of STEAM activities with our design teaching material (micro:bit with artificial intelligence-based concept) was conducted at a university and an elementary school; a total of 145 questionnaire survey data were collected after the activities. University student participants were 20–24 years old and the elementary school student participants were at the K5–K6 level. The results showed that perceived usability directly influenced learning intention and strengthened the relationship between learning attitudes and intention. The ARCS plays a critical moderating role that positively influenced perceived usability and strengthened its effects on learning attitudes. Regarding the mediating effects, cognitive load negatively influenced perceived usability.

Conclusions

The findings of this study revealed that critical factors affect students’ learning attitudes and intentions regarding STEAM education. The theoretical and educational implications of these findings were proposed to future instructors.
Nutritional and antioxidant changes in lentils and quinoa through fungal solid-state fermentation with Pleurotus ostreatus
Authors: Sánchez-García J. , Asensio-Grau A. , García-Hernández J. , Heredia A. , Andrés A.
Published: May 2022

Solid-state fermentation (SSF) may be a suitable bioprocess to produce protein-vegetal ingredients with increased nutritional and functional value. This study assessed changes in phenol content, antinutrient content, biomass production and protein production resulting from the metabolic activity of Pleurotus ostreatus, an edible fungus, in lentils and quinoa over 14 days of SSF. The impact of particle size on these parameters was also assessed because the process was conducted in both seeds and flours. Fungus biomass increased during fermentation, reaching 30.0 ± 1.4 mg/g dry basis and 32 ± 3 mg/g dry basis in lentil grain and flour and 52.01 ± 1.08 mg/g dry basis and 45 ± 2 mg/g dry basis in quinoa seeds and flour after 14 days of SSF. Total protein content also increased by 20% to 25% during fermentation, in all cases except lentil flour. However, the soluble protein fraction remained constant. Regarding phytic acid, SSF had a positive impact, with a progressive decrease being higher in flours than in seeds. Regarding antioxidant properties, autoclaving of the substrates promoted the release of polyphenols, together with antioxidant activity (ABTS, DPPH and FRAP), in all substrates. However, these parameters drastically decreased as fermentation progressed. These results provide scientific knowledge for producing lentil- or quinoa-based ingredients with low antinutrient content enriched with protein fungal biomass.

Graphical Abstract
Clinical and phantom validation of a deep learning based denoising algorithm for F-18-FDG PET images from lower detection counting in comparison with the standard acquisition
Authors: Bonardel Gerald , Dupont Axel , Decazes Pierre , Queneau Mathieu , Modzelewski Romain , Coulot Jeremy , Le Calvez Nicolas , Hapdey Sébastien
Published: May 2022

Background

PET/CT image quality is directly influenced by the F-18-FDG injected activity. The higher the injected activity, the less noise in the reconstructed images but the more radioactive staff exposition. A new FDA cleared software has been introduced to obtain clinical PET images, acquired at 25% of the count statistics considering US practices. Our aim is to determine the limits of a deep learning based denoising algorithm (SubtlePET) applied to statistically reduced PET raw data from 3 different last generation PET scanners in comparison to the regular acquisition in phantom and patients, considering the European guidelines for radiotracer injection activities. Images of low and high contrasted (SBR = 2 and 5) spheres of the IEC phantom and high contrast (SBR = 5) of micro-spheres of Jaszczak phantom were acquired on 3 different PET devices. 110 patients with different pathologies were included. The data was acquired in list-mode and retrospectively reconstructed with the regular acquisition count statistic (PET100), 50% reduction in counts (PET50) and 66% reduction in counts (PET33). These count reduced images were post-processed with SubtlePET to obtain PET50 + SP and PET33 + SP images. Patient image quality was scored by 2 senior nuclear physicians. Peak-signal-to-Noise and Structural similarity metrics were computed to compare the low count images to regular acquisition (PET100).

Results

SubtlePET reliably denoised the images and maintained the SUVmax values in PET50 + SP. SubtlePET enhanced images (PET33 + SP) had slightly increased noise compared to PET100 and could lead to a potential loss of information in terms of lesion detectability. Regarding the patient datasets, the PET100 and PET50 + SP were qualitatively comparable. The SubtlePET algorithm was able to correctly recover the SUVmax values of the lesions and maintain a noise level equivalent to full-time images.

Conclusion

Based on our results, SubtlePET is adapted in clinical practice for half-time or half-dose acquisitions based on European recommended injected dose of 3 MBq/kg without diagnostic confidence loss.
Chemical and behavioural strategies along the spectrum of host specificity in ant-associated silverfish
Authors: Parmentier T. , Gaju-Ricart M. , Wenseleers T. , Molero-Baltanás R.
Published: May 2022

Background

Host range is a fundamental trait to understand the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of symbionts. Increasing host specificity is expected to be accompanied with specialization in different symbiont traits. We tested this specificity-specialization association in a large group of 16 ant-associated silverfish species by linking their level of host specificity to their degree of behavioural integration into the colony and to their accuracy of chemically imitating the host’s recognition system, i.e. the cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) profile.

Results

As expected, facultative associates and host generalists (targeting multiple unrelated ants) tend to avoid the host, whereas host-specialists (typically restricted toMessorants) were bolder, approached the host and allowed inspection. Generalists and host specialists regularly followed a host worker, unlike the other silverfish. Host aggression was extremely high toward non-ant-associated silverfish and modest to low in ant-associated groups. Surprisingly, the degree of chemical deception was not linked to host specificity as most silverfish, including facultative ant associates, imitated the host’s CHC profile.Messorspecialists retained the same CHC profile as the host after moulting, in contrast to a host generalist, suggesting an active production of the cues (chemical mimicry). Host generalist and facultative associates flexibly copied the highly different CHC profiles of alternative host species, pointing at passive acquisition (chemical camouflage) of the host’s odour.

Conclusions

Overall, we found that behaviour that seems to facilitate the integration in the host colony was more pronounced in host specialist silverfish. Chemical deception, however, was employed by all ant-associated species, irrespective of their degree of host specificity.
SKA3 is a prognostic biomarker and associated with immune infiltration in bladder cancer
Authors: Wang Chenyang , Liu Shasha , Zhang Xinhong , Wang Yan , Guan Peng , Bu Fanyou , Wang Hao , Wang Dawen , Fan Yi , Hou Sichuan , Qiu Zhilei
Published: May 2022

Background

Spindle and kinetochore‑associated complex subunit 3 (SKA3) has recently been considered a key regulator of carcinogenesis. However, the connection between SKA3 and immune cell infiltration remains unknown.

Methods

The current study investigated the expression mode, prognostic effect, and functional role of SKA3 in different tumors, particularly bladder cancer using numerous databases, comprising TIMER, GEPIA, HPA, UALCAN, PrognoScan, and Kaplan–Meier Plotter. Differentially expressed gene and enrichment analyses were implemented on SKA3 using R packages "edgR" and "clusterProfiler". Immunohistochemistry was further used to validate the expression of SKA3 gene in bladder cancer. Following that, the relevance of SKA3 expression to immune infiltration level in bladder cancer was evaluated using TIMER.

Results

Overall, the level of SKA3 expression in tumor tissue significantly increased than in normal tissue. In bladder cancer and other tumors, patients with high SKA3 expression levels had worse overall survival (OS) (p = 0.016), disease-specific survival (DSS) (p = 0.00004), and disease-free survival (DFS) (p = 0.032). Additionally, the major molecular functions for SKA3 included nuclear division, mitotic nuclear division, mitotic sister chromatid segregation, humoral immune response, and cell chemotaxis. Additionally, SKA3 expression was found to be positively associated with enhanced M2 macrophage and T helper (Th) 2 cell infiltration in bladder cancer.

Conclusions

Our study implies that SKA3 contributes to M2 macrophage and Th2 cell polarization by acting as an oncogene in bladder cancer. SKA3 might be a novel biomarker for evaluating prognosis and immune infiltration in bladder cancer.
Anti-ganglioside M1 autoantibodies in Egyptian children with autism: a cross-sectional comparative study
Authors: Hamed Reham Mohammad Raafat , Ayoub Magda Ibrahim , Abdel Samie Mai , Hamam Nancy Nabil
Published: May 2022

Background

Autism may be one of the pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders, and several studies investigated the frequency of serum anti-ganglioside M1 autoantibodies in children with autism, as possible indicators of autoimmunity to the brain. The current study aimed to compare the level of anti-ganglioside M1 autoantibodies between autistic and normally developed children and to study the correlation between the level of anti-ganglioside M1 autoatibodies and the severity of autism. Forty children with autism and 40 age- and gender-matched healthy controls were enrolled. The Childhood Autism Rating Scale was used to assess the severity of autism in the patient group at the time of the study. The clinical and demographic data were recorded and plasma anti-ganglioside M1 autoantibodies level was measured in both groups.

Results

The mean anti-ganglioside M1 autoantibodies level was significantly higher in autistic patients compared to the control group. The anti-ganglioside M1 autoantibodies level in patients with mild to moderate severity was insignificantly lower than its level in patients with severe autism.

Conclusions

Plasma anti-ganglioside MI autoantibodies levels are higher in autistic patients than in healthy controls which may imply that some cases of autism may be autoimmune in nature.
Teaching Discipline-Based Problem Solving
Authors: Frey Regina F. , Brame Cynthia J. , Fink Angela , Lemons Paula P.
Published: May 2022

This essay describes an LSE online, evidence-based teaching guide ( https://lse.ascb.org/evidence-based-teaching-guides/problem-solving ) intended to facilitate instructors’ use of empirically derived principles for teaching problem solving.
Proportion of Early-Onset Gastric and Esophagus Cancers Has Changed Over Time With Disproportionate Impact on Black and Hispanic Patients
Authors: Torrejon Nataly V. , Deshpande Saarang , Wei Wei , Tullio Katherine , Kamath Suneel D.
Published: May 2022

PURPOSE:

The proportion of gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma is increasing. This study evaluated trends in early-onset gastric and esophageal cancers and compared socioeconomic and clinical characteristics between early-onset versus late-onset disease.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

We included all patients with gastric and esophageal cancer from 2004 to 2015 from the National Cancer Database. Patients were categorized by age < 50, 50-69, and ≥ 70 years. Differences in pathologic and socioeconomic factors between early-onset and late-onset cancers were assessed by using chi-square test. The effects of demographic and socioeconomic factors on overall survival (OS) were assessed using Cox models.

RESULTS:

The proportion of patients with early-onset gastric cancer increased from 23.9% in 2004-2006 to 26.2% in 2013-2015, whereas the proportion of early-onset esophageal cancer decreased from 27.3% in 2004-2006 to 23.1% in 2013-2015. For both malignancies, the early-onset group was more likely to be Black or Hispanic and more likely to be diagnosed with stage IV cancer. Black patients had the worst median OS in both malignancies. In gastric cancer, within the Black patient group, patients experienced worse OS if they had government insurance versus private insurance (hazard ratio 1.2; 95% CI, 1.1 to 1.3; P value < .0001) or if they were in the lowest community median income category versus the highest category (hazard ratio 1.2; 95% CI, 1.1 to 1.3; P value < .0001).

CONCLUSION:

Early-onset gastric cancer is increasing, whereas early-onset esophageal cancer is declining. Early-onset gastric cancer disproportionately affects non-White patients, particularly Hispanic patients. Black patients have worse outcomes compared with other races for both gastric and esophageal cancer.
Broadside-coupling–enabled insulator-to-metal transition in a terahertz metasurface
Authors: Mallick Soumyajyoti , Chowdhury Dibakar Roy
Published: May 2022

We theoretically demonstrate stacked-dipole-resonators–based (broadside near-field coupling configuration) multilayer metasurfaces separated by a vanadium dioxide film to achieve stronger field confinement in the spacer (VO2) region. Under relatively intense terahertz excitation (20 Vm−1) assisted by larger area electric field confinement, insulator-to-metal transition (IMT) in VO2 spacer is realized resulting in frequency (dipole mode) and amplitude (Fano mode) tunable metasurfaces. Enhancement in probing THz field triggers much stronger field confinement

inside the spacer layer leading to increased VO2 conductivity (responsible for IMT) through the Poole-Frankel effect. Such broadside coupled IMT-based terahertz metamaterials can help in realizing active meta devices for THz domain.
A feasibility study of embedded conductive layer fabricated by ion implantation
Authors: Zhang H. Y. , Fan X. R. , Meng Q. Y. , Wei Y. , Huang Y. , He H. M. , Wang Y. , Wu W. J.
Published: May 2022

In order to make polypropylene (PP) have good conductivity and insulation, as well as certain mechanical properties, silver ions were implanted into the surface of PP to explore the feasibility of forming an embedded conductive layer in this work. The experimental results show that the surface resistivity of PP reaches 0.879 MΩ/sq, dropping by 11 orders of magnitude after ion implantation, which indicates that the surface conductivity has been improved. The surface of implanted PP presents a wrinkled morphology and gaps under the scanning electron microscope (SEM), indicating that ion implantation can cause local high temperature and thereby lead to melting on the surface of the sample. For this reason, silver ions can be easily embedded below the sample surface. The energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) characterization result shows that the penetration depth of silver ions can reach about 2.5–7.5 μm. To further improve the surface conductivity of the sample, we coated carbon black on the surface of PP and then carried out ion implantation. Due to the embedding of carbon black particles, the surface resistivity of the sample further decreased by an order of magnitude, and the change with time was more stable. The results of EDS, FTIR and XRD experiments show that both carbon black and silver ions are embedded inside the surface of the samples. In summary, the method of ion implantation after coating carbon black can form an embedded conductive layer with good conductivity and stability on the surface of PP, which realizes the design concept of integrating the conductive layer and the matrix layer into an integrated layer. The embedded conductive polymer film can be prepared in this way, which serves as a new idea for the development and application of insulating materials.
Self-propelled motors in complex fluids and as constituents of active materials
Authors: Thakur Snigdha , Qiao Liyan , Kapral Raymond
Published: May 2022

Simulation has played an important part in studies of active matter systems, and this paper considers some aspects of the use of stochastic models for the behavior of active particles in complex media and in applications to active functional materials. The scope of the work is primarily focused on small active particles whose activity is derived from chemical reactions and diffusiophoretic mechanisms that operate in the presence of fluctuations. Both Langevin and particle-based models are considered, and their relative merits are discussed.
Impaired Brain Satiety Responses After Weight Loss in Children With Obesity
Authors: Roth Christian L , Melhorn Susan J , De Leon Mary Rosalynn B , Rowland Maya G , Elfers Clinton T , Huang Alyssa , Saelens Brian E , Schur Ellen A
Published: May 2022

Context

Obesity interventions often result in increased motivation to eat.

Objective

We investigated relationships between obesity outcomes and changes in brain activation by visual food cues and hormone levels in response to obesity intervention by family-based behavioral treatment (FBT).

Methods

Neuroimaging and hormone assessments were conducted before and after 24-week FBT intervention in children with obesity (OB, n = 28), or children of healthy weight without intervention (HW, n = 17), all 9- to 11-year-old boys and girls. We evaluated meal-induced changes in neural activation to high- vs low-calorie food cues across appetite-processing brain regions and gut hormones.

Results

Among children with OB who underwent FBT, greater declines of BMI z-score were associated with lesser reductions after the FBT intervention in meal-induced changes in neural activation to high- vs low-calorie food cues across appetite-processing brain regions (P < 0.05), and the slope of relationship was significantly different compared with children of HW. In children with OB, less reduction in brain responses to a meal from before to after FBT was associated with greater meal-induced reduction in ghrelin and increased meal-induced stimulation in peptide YY and glucagon-like peptide-1 (all P < 0.05).

Conclusion

In response to FBT, adaptations of central satiety responses and peripheral satiety-regulating hormones were noted. After weight loss, changes of peripheral hormone secretion support weight loss, but there was a weaker central satiety response. The findings suggest that even when peripheral satiety responses by gut hormones are intact, the central regulation of satiety is disturbed in children with OB who significantly improve their weight status during FBT, which could favor future weight regain.
Selective function of the PDZ domain of Dishevelled in noncanonical Wnt signalling
Authors: Mieszczanek Juliusz , Strutt Helen , Rutherford Trevor J. , Strutt David , Bienz Mariann , Gammons Melissa V.
Published: May 2022

Dishevelled is a cytoplasmic hub that transduces Wnt signals to cytoplasmic effectors, which can be broadly characterised as canonical (β-catenin dependent) and noncanonical, to specify cell fates and behaviours during development. To transduce canonical Wnt signals, Dishevelled binds to the intracellular face of Frizzled through its DEP domain and polymerises through its DIX domain to assemble dynamic signalosomes. Dishevelled also contains a PDZ domain, whose function remains controversial. Here, we use genome editing to delete the PDZ domain-encoding region from Drosophila dishevelled. Canonical Wingless signalling is entirely normal in these deletion mutants; however, they show defects in multiple contexts controlled by noncanonical Wnt signalling, such as planar polarity. We use nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to identify bona fide PDZ-binding motifs at the C termini of different polarity proteins. Although deletions of these motifs proved aphenotypic in adults, we detected changes in the proximodistal distribution of the polarity protein Flamingo (also known as Starry night) in pupal wings that suggest a modulatory role of these motifs in polarity signalling. We also provide new genetic evidence that planar polarity relies on the DEP-dependent recruitment of Dishevelled to the plasma membrane by Frizzled.
Mitochondrial antiviral-signalling protein is a client of the BAG6 protein quality control complex
Authors: Roboti Peristera , Lawless Craig , High Stephen
Published: May 2022

The heterotrimeric BAG6 complex coordinates the direct handover of newly synthesised tail-anchored (TA) membrane proteins from an SGTA-bound preloading complex to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) delivery component TRC40. In contrast, defective precursors, including aberrant TA proteins, form a stable complex with this cytosolic protein quality control factor, enabling such clients to be either productively re-routed or selectively degraded. We identify the mitochondrial antiviral-signalling protein (MAVS) as an endogenous TA client of both SGTA and the BAG6 complex. Our data suggest that the BAG6 complex binds to a cytosolic pool of MAVS before its misinsertion into the ER membrane, from where it can subsequently be removed via ATP13A1-mediated dislocation. This BAG6-associated fraction of MAVS is dynamic and responds to the activation of an innate immune response, suggesting that BAG6 may modulate the pool of MAVS that is available for coordinating the cellular response to viral infection.
Royal knifefish generate powerful suction feeding through large neurocranial elevation and high epaxial muscle power
Authors: Li Ellen Y. , Kaczmarek Elska B. , Olsen Aaron M. , Brainerd Elizabeth L. , Camp Ariel L.
Published: May 2022

Suction feeding in ray-finned fishes involves powerful buccal cavity expansion to accelerate water and food into the mouth. Previous XROMM studies in largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus) and channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) have shown that more than 90% of suction power in high performance strikes comes from the axial musculature. Thus, the shape of the axial muscles and skeleton may affect suction feeding mechanics. Royal knifefish (Chitala blanci) have an unusual postcranial morphology, with a ventrally flexed vertebral column and relatively large mass of epaxial muscle. Based on their body shape, we hypothesized that royal knifefish would generate high power strikes by utilizing large neurocranial elevation, vertebral column extension and epaxial shortening. As predicted, C. blanci generated high suction expansion power compared with the other three species studied to date (up to 160 W), which was achieved by increasing both the rate of volume change and the intraoral subambient pressure. The large epaxial muscle (25% of body mass) shortened at high velocities to produce large neurocranial elevation and vertebral extension (up to 41 deg, combined), as well as high muscle mass-specific power (up to 800 W kg−1). For the highest power strikes, axial muscles generated 95% of the power, and 64% of the axial muscle mass consisted of the epaxial muscles. The epaxial-dominated suction expansion of royal knifefish supports our hypothesis that postcranial morphology may be a strong predictor of suction feeding biomechanics.
Decarbonylative Reductive Coupling of Aromatic Esters by Nickel and Palladium Catalyst
Authors: Peng Yunfei , Isshiki Ryota , Muto Kei , Yamaguchi Junichiro
Published: May 2022

Ni or Pd-catalyzed decarbonylative reductive couplings of aromatic esters were developed. A range of (hetero)aromatic esters was applicable to these reductive homocoupling reactions. Moreover, it was found that Pd-catalysis enables a reductive decarbonylative cross-coupling between two different aromatic esters to afford a nonsymmetrical biaryls system.
Ο ρόλος της άσκησης ως συμπληρωματικής θεραπευτικής μεθόδου σε εξαρτημένα άτομα από ναρκωτικές ουσίες
Authors: Παναγιωτούνης Φώτιος
Published: May 2022

Σκοπός της διατριβής είναι να παρουσιάσει μια διαφορετική προσέγγιση στις παρεμβάσεις άσκησης κατά τη θεραπεία Διαταραχών Χρήσης Ουσιών (ΔΧΟ), με στόχο να προωθήσει την αλλαγή συμπεριφοράς. Σε αυτό το πλαίσιο, ανέλυσε τους παράγοντες που επηρεάζουν την εμπλοκή και τη διατήρηση στη θεραπεία ΔΧΟ και διερεύνησε αν η συμμετοχή σε άσκηση μπορεί να ενισχύσει την αποτελεσματικότητα διαχείρισης τους. Κύριος στόχος ήταν η υποστήριξη των ατόμων με ΔΧΟ να αντιμετωπίσουν τις δυσλειτουργικές σκέψεις και συμπεριφορές, ενισχύοντας το κίνητρό τους για αλλαγή συμπεριφοράς, προωθώντας περαιτέρω την υιοθέτηση ενός υγιή τρόπου ζωής, αντικαθιστώντας τις μη επιθυμητές παλιές συμπεριφορές με νέες. Στο πλαίσιο αυτό πραγματοποιήθηκαν τρεις μελέτες:Ο στόχος της 1ης μελέτης ήταν να εξετάσει τις επιδράσεις μιας βραχυπρόθεσμης παρέμβασης στη φύση, βασιζόμενη στην μεθοδολογία «Θεραπεία μέσω της Περιπέτειας» (Adventure Therapy). Κύριος στόχος της μελέτη ήταν η διερεύνηση των επιδράσεων ενός 5 ήμερου προγράμματος «θεραπείας μέσω της περιπέτειας», στην αυτοεκτίμηση και στην αυτο-αποτελεσματικότητα ατόμων που παρακολουθούν θεραπεία ΔΧΟ. Δευτερεύον στόχος της μελέτης ήταν, να αξιολογήσει την συνολική εμπειρία των συμμετεχόντων, στοχεύοντας στην προώθηση εφαρμογής του στη θεραπευτική διαδικασία των ΔΧΟ. Στόχος της 2ης μελέτης ήταν περιγράψει την εφαρμογή και να διερευνήσει τον αντίκτυπο ενός προγράμματος προπόνησης αντοχής 5 εβδομάδων, βασιζόμενο στις θεωρίες του αυτοκαθορισμού και των στόχων, για την προετοιμασία 14 ατόμων με ΔΧΟ, να λάβουν μέρος σε έναν μη επαγγελματικό αγώνα 10 χλμ. Οι στόχοι της παρέμβασης ήταν: (α) να εκπαιδεύσει άτομα που παρακολουθούν θεραπεία ΔΧΟ να θέσουν στόχους και να προσπαθήσουν για την επίτευξη τους, λειτουργώντας σε ένα αθλητικό πλαίσιο (β) να υποστηρίξει τα άτομα αυτά να μεταφέρουν αυτές τις δεξιότητες στη θεραπεία, χρησιμοποιώντας τις ίδιες τεχνικές και διαδικασίες και (γ) να ενισχύσει την αυτοπεποίθηση τους ώστε να επιτύχουν τους στόχους τους. Στόχος της 3ης μελέτης ήταν να εξετάσει τα βραχυπρόθεσμα αποτελέσματα μιας παρέμβασης άσκησης στην οξεία επιθυμία για χρήση ουσιών, στη διάθεση, στην αυτοεκτίμηση, στην ποιότητα ζωής και στη συμμετοχή στη θεραπεία, κατά το πρώιμο στάδιο της θεραπείας ΔΧΟ. Πενήντα τέσσερις ενήλικες, πολύ-χρήστες ουσιών, που εντάχθηκαν πρόσφατα σε ένα πλαίσιο θεραπείας εσωτερικής παρακολούθησης, χωρίστηκαν, με βάση την εκούσια και εθελοντική συμμετοχή τους, σε μια ομάδα παρέμβασης, που συμμετείχε σε ένα πρόγραμμα άσκησης 4 εβδομάδων και σε μια ομάδα σύγκρισης που συμμετείχε στη συνηθισμένη θεραπείας ΔΧΟ. Αξιοποιήθηκαν εργαλεία αυτο-αναφοράς για τη συλλογή δεδομένων πριν και μετά την παρέμβαση.
A real-time safe path planning system for cooperative robots
Authors: He Yan , Lu Tao , Cai Yinghao
Published: May 2022

Background: A cooperative robot is a robot requested to co-work with humans efficiently and safely in an environment with flexible arrangements. Safe path planning is a crucial issue which must be resolved during human-robot cooperation. In this paper, we present a safe path planning system that could plan the manipulation path in real-time based on the environmental changes and guarantees safety when the robot interacts with the environment and humans.

Methods: In this system, we first build a real-time obstacle Octomap from the environment RGB-D (red green blue-depth) images, which can effectively differentiate the robot from other obstacles in the environment and eliminate the robots influence during the map building. And then, we adopt the rapidly exploring random trees-Connect method to plan the safe path in the Octomap. When the planning path is obstructed by the dynamic objects, the system will re-plan the new safe path based on the changed Octomap.

Results: The experimental results show that our system can effectively avoid obstacles in a dynamic environment and safely reach the manipulation destination.

Conclusions: We propose a real-time safe path planning system for cooperative robots, which can guarantee the safety of manipulation.
Datasets on the variations of minerals in biofortified cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) as a function of storage root portion, maturity and environment
Authors: Alamu Emmanuel Oladeji , Maziya-Dixon Busie , Dixon Alfred
Published: May 2022

Background: The accurate measurements of the mineral content of cassava roots are vital from a nutritional perspective. The research datasets were from the study assessing the influence of storage root portion, maturity, and environment on the variations of minerals in biofortified cassava roots.

Methods: Twenty-five biofortified clones with three varieties as checks were harvested 12 months after planting from five different environments. Also,  a different thirty-nine (39) biofortified cassava clones from the unlimited yield trials (UYTs) that included five (5) white-fleshed varieties (as control) were harvested at the age of 9 and 12 months after planting. In addition, two different methods of sample preparations were employed, using a cork borer and without a cork borer. The samples’ elemental (minerals) analysis was determined using a standard laboratory method.

Results and conclusion: The breeders could use the data in their biofortification cassava programs to know the distribution of minerals in the roots and identify the best promising pipelines. Also, the data could be used by food scientists and nutritionists to understand the parts of the roots with optimum minerals to design their processing protocols and to know those genotypes specific to different environments that could be used for various nutrition intervention programs.
Sexual Dimorphism in Chronic Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) Infection: Evidence to Inform Elimination Efforts
Authors: Brown Robin , Goulder Philip , Matthews Philippa C.
Published: May 2022

Sexual dimorphism in infectious diseases refers to the different infection susceptibilities and outcomes between males and females, and has been described for many pathogens, including hepatitis B virus (HBV). HBV is a substantial global health problem, with close to 300 million people chronically infected, and accounting for a million deaths each year, with an urgent need for enhanced interventions to support progress towards elimination goals. Sexual dimorphism has a strong influence in HBV infection, with males more likely to be exposed, to develop chronic infection, and to suffer from complications including cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) compared to females. Different outcomes are driven by differential immune responses, sexual dimorphism of the liver, and androgen response elements in the HBV genome. The impact of sex may also vary with age, with changes at puberty and influences of menarche, pregnancy and menopause in females. In addition, gender has complex influences on education, beliefs, behaviour and access to / engagement with healthcare services, which may contribute to differences in diagnosis and treatment. Interplay between these complex factors, alongside other attributes of host, virus and the environment, accounts for different outcomes of infection. However, gaps remain in our understanding of sexual dimorphism in HBV, and little effort has previously been made to harness this knowledge for translational gains. In this review, we assimilate human and animal data to consider the mechanism, outcomes and impact of sexual dimorphism, and consider how these insights can be used to inform advances in surveillance, treatment and prevention for HBV infection.
On Computing the Nonlinearity Interval in Parametric Semidefinite Optimization
Authors: Hauenstein Jonathan D. , Mohammad-Nezhad Ali , Tang Tingting , Terlaky Tamás
Published: May 2022

This paper revisits the parametric analysis of semidefinite optimization problems with respect to the perturbation of the objective function along a fixed direction. We review the notions of invariancy set, nonlinearity interval, and transition point of the optimal partition, and we investigate their characterizations. We show that the set of transition points is finite and the continuity of the optimal set mapping, on the basis of Painlevé–Kuratowski set convergence, might fail on a nonlinearity interval. Under a local nonsingularity condition, we then develop a methodology, stemming from numerical algebraic geometry, to efficiently compute nonlinearity intervals and transition points of the optimal partition. Finally, we support the theoretical results by applying our procedure to some numerical examples.
Healthwise, Part 6. Improving your healthspan
Authors: Nazarko Linda
Published: May 2022

One of the triumphs of medicine is that people are living longer. One of the tragedies of modern medicine is that large numbers of people experience ill-health in those added years. The UK population is living longer, but those added years are often marred by disability and ill-health. This article, the last in the Healthwise series, explores ways to improve health and wellbeing throughout the lifespan.
Sweeping spotlights
Authors: Allingham Sue
Published: May 2022

It is an interesting time for the early years sector at the moment. I suppose it could be argued that it often is in one way or another, but the spotlight is well and truly on us at the moment. The question is whether or not this is a good thing.
Supporting children who are refugees
Authors: Cowley Sue
Published: May 2022

The war in Ukraine means that early years practitioners may be welcoming Ukrainian refugees into their settings. Like all refugees and asylum seekers, these children and their families have undergone a highly traumatic experience, having been forced to flee their homes in the most stressful of circumstances.
Tracking and assessment in PITM
Authors: Ephgrave Sian
Published: May 2022

This is the final article in a series of six myth-busters on the topic of planning in the moment (PITM). In this piece, Siân Ephgrave explains a PITM approach to assessment and tracking.
Biblioteques davant la crisi sanitària de 2020-21 : resultats d'una enquesta amb biblioteques guanyadores i finalistes del premi de la Fundación Biblioteca Social
Authors: Parra Valero Pablo , Montesi Michela , Villaseñor Rodríguez Isabel
Published: May 2022

Objectius: Les activitats i els serveis que presten les biblioteques des del començament de la pandèmia queden documentats en nombroses experiències, testimoniatges i opinions, que a moltes parts del món es van difondre a partir del març del 2020, per informar sobre actuacions i dificultats i, més recentment, debatre sobre la funció de la biblioteca en l'època postcovid. Aquest treball vol contribuir a aquest debat aportant els resultats d'una enquesta realitzada amb les biblioteques guanyadores i finalistes del premi de la Fundació Biblioteca Social, en la qual es va buscar conèixer les activitats i els serveis que les biblioteques van dur a terme en diferents etapes de la pandèmia.
 Metodologia: Es va elaborar un qüestionari amb preguntes obertes i tancades, que es va difondre entre les 33 biblioteques al maig del 2021; se'n va obtenir respostes de 24, amb una taxa de resposta del 72,7 %.
 Resultats: Els principals resultats apunten les dificultats experimentades en el curs de la pandèmia per dur a terme els serveis de manera virtual i mantenir les relacions amb els usuaris, i posen en evidència experiències i opinions oposades respecte a l'èxit de les actuacions dirigides a mantenir les relacions amb els usuaris. La presencialitat i la materialitat de la biblioteca hi apareixen molt afectades per la crisi. Finalment, hi ha un consens important entorn de la necessitat de replantejar la funció de la biblioteca en la societat actual i de col·laborar amb institucions i altres agents socials.
Is melanopsin activation affecting large field color-matching functions?
Authors: Barrionuevo Pablo A. , Paz Filgueira Clemente , Cao Dingcai
Published: May 2022

Color theory is based on the exclusive activation of cones. However, since the discovery of melanopsin expressing cells in the human retina, evidence of its intrusion in brightness and color vision is increasing. We aimed to assess if differences between peripheral or large field and foveal color matches can be accounted for by melanopsin activation or rod intrusion. Photopic color matches by young observers showed that differences between extrafoveal and foveal results cannot be explained by rod intrusion. Furthermore, statistical analyses on existing color-matching functions suggest a role of melanopsin activation, particularly, in large field

S

fundamentals.
Ultralow-power all-optical switching via a chiral Mach-Zehnder interferometer
Authors: Ruan Ya-Ping , Wu Hao-Dong , Ge Shi-Jun , Tang Lei , Li Zhi-Xiang , Zhang Han , Xu Fei , Hu Wei , Xiao Min , Lu Yan-Qing , Xia Ke-Yu
Published: May 2022

It is a challenge for all-optical switching to simultaneous achieve ultralow power consumption, broad bandwidth and high extinction ratio. We experimentally demonstrate an ultralow-power all-optical switching by exploiting chiral interaction between light and optically active material in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. We achieve switching extinction ratio of 20.0 ± 3.8 and 14.7 ± 2.8 dB with power cost of 66.1 ± 0.7 and 1.3 ± 0.1 fJ/bit, respectively. The bandwidth of our all-optical switching is about 4.2 GHz. Moreover, our all-optical switching has the potential to be operated at few-photon level. Our scheme paves the way towards ultralow-power and ultrafast all-optical information processing.
Polarization-decoupled cavity solitons generation in Kerr resonators with flattened near-zero dispersion
Authors: Huang Tianye , Feng Shijie , Zeng Xuming , Xu Gang , Pan Jianxing , Xiao Fan , Wu Zhichao , Zhang Jing , Han Lei , Shum Perry Ping
Published: May 2022

Two frequency combs emitting from a single cavity are of great potential in the field of dual-comb spectroscopy because they are mutually coherent and therefore the common mode noise can be suppressed naturally. However, it is difficult to fully and flexibly control the repetition frequency difference in most of the all-optical schemes. In this paper, a birefringence-compensation Kerr resonator is proposed for the mutual dual-comb generation. It is shown that by offset aligning the fast and slow axis with appropriate fiber length, the total birefringence of the cavity can be equalized while the local one keeps at a high level. Theoretical investigations reveal that the polarization decoupled mutual dual-comb can be generated with nearly the same power level and arbitrary repetition frequency difference. Additionally, a numerical model of polarization-maintaining fiber (PMF) with near-zero dispersion is proposed for the proof of the concept. Based on this fiber, the coherent polarization-decoupled dual-comb with 10-dB bandwidth of 33 nm can be obtained. And the repetition frequency difference can be flexibly tuned compared to the cavity without offset alignment.
Quasi-pixelwise motion compensation for 4-step phase-shifting profilometry based on a phase error estimation
Authors: Yu Jie , Mai Songping
Published: May 2022

Phase-shifting profilometry (PSP) is widely used in 3D shape measurement due to its high accuracy. However, in dynamic scenarios, the motion of objects will introduce phase-shifting errors and result in measurement errors. In this paper, a novel compensation method based on 4-step phase-shifting profilometry is proposed to reduce motion-induced errors when objects undergo uniform or uniformly accelerated motion. We utilize the periodic characteristic of fringe patterns to estimate the phase errors from only four phase-shifting patterns and realize a pixel-wise error compensation. This method can also be applied to non-rigid deforming objects and help restore high-quality texture. Both simulation and experiments demonstrate that the proposed method can effectively improve the measurement accuracy and reduce surface ripples introduced by motion for a standard monocular structured-light system.
Measuring parameters of laser self-mixing interferometry sensor based on back propagation neural network
Authors: An Lei , Liu Bin
Published: May 2022

Self-mixing interferometry (SMI) is a well-known non-destructive sensing technique that has been widely applied in both laboratory and engineering applications. In a laser SMI sensing system, there are two vital parameters, i.e., optical feedback factor C and line-width enhancement factor α, which influence the operation characteristics of the laser as well as the sensing performance. Therefore, many efforts have been made to determine them. Most of the existing methods of estimating these two parameters can often be operated in a certain feedback regime, e.g., weak or moderate feedback regime. In this paper, we propose a new method to estimate C and α based on back-propagation neural network for all feedback regimes. A parameter predicting model was trained and built. The performance of the proposed predicting model was tested using simulation and experiment data. The results show that the proposed method can estimate C and α with an average error of 2.76% and 2.99%, respectively. Additionally, the proposed method is noise-proof. The method and results are useful for extending the utilization of SMI technology in practical engineering fields.
Index-leveling for forced-flow turbulent face-cooling of laser amplifiers
Authors: Marion Denis , Balcou Philippe , Féral Christophe , Rohm Antoine , Lhermite Jérôme
Published: May 2022

Direct laser slab face-cooling by a fluid crossing the main and pump laser beams is an important method to reach high average laser powers. However, the flow regime is usually maintained at low Reynolds numbers to prevent the onset of turbulence features in the flow that would degrade the wavefront quality. We show here how bringing the fluid temperature to the thermo-optical null point, close to the water/ice transition in the case of water, allows one to mitigate the optical consequences of hydrodynamic instabilities, by bleaching optically the temperature inhomogeneities within the flow. This optical process, dubbed index-leveling, opens the door to a highly efficient forced-flow, weakly turbulent face-cooling regime that should be instrumental to boost the kilowatt capabilities of next-generation high-power lasers.