bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Prevalence of viral pathogens in a sample of hospitalized Egyptian children with acute lower respiratory tract infections: a two-year prospective study
Authors: Refay Amira S. El , Shehata Manal A. , Sherif Lobna S. , Nady Hala G. El , Kholoussi Naglaa , Kholoussi Shams , Baroudy Nevine R. El , Gomma Mokhtar R. , Mahmoud Sara H. , Shama Noura M. Abo , Bagato Ola , Taweel Ahmed El , kandeil Ahmed , Ali Mohamed A.
Published: April 2022

Background

Viral pneumonias are a major cause of childhood mortality. Proper management needs early and accurate diagnosis. This study objective is to investigate the viral etiologies of pneumonia in children.

Results

This prospective study enrolled 158 and 101 patients in the first and second year, respectively, and their mean age was 4.72 ± 2.89. Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected and subjected to virus diagnosis by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Viral etiologies of pneumonia were evidenced in 59.5% of the samples in the first year, all of them were affirmative for influenza A, 2 samples were affirmative for Human coronavirus NL63, and one for Human coronavirus HKU1. In the second year, 87% of patients had a viral illness. The most prevalent agents are human metapneumovirus which was detected in 44 patients (43.6%) followed by human rhinovirus in 35 patients (34.7%) and then parainfluenza–3 viruses in 33 patients (32.7%), while 14 patients had a confirmed diagnosis for both Pan coronavirus and Flu-B virus.

Conclusions

Viral infection is prevalent in the childhood period; however, the real magnitude of viral pneumonia in children is underestimated. The reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction has to be a vital tool for epidemiological research and is able to clear the gaps in-between clinical pictures and final diagnoses.
Phytochemical compositions and insecticidal efficacy of four agro-waste used as biological control of cowpea beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus (Fab.) [Coleoptera: Bruchidae]
Authors: Ashamo Michael Olufemi , Ileke Kayode David , Onasile Ayomiposi Idowu
Published: April 2022

Background

The cowpea bruchid, Callosobruchus maculatus is the major postharvest insect pest of cowpea seeds in storage. This had led to huge losses and quality deterioration of stored cowpea seeds that serve as poor man’s meat in lieu of expensive meat source in developing countries. This research was carried out to evaluate the bioefficacy of rice husk, maize cob, groundnut, and cowpea pods against C. maculatus in the laboratory. Adult insect mortality, eggs laid, adult emergence, damaged seeds, weight loss and beetle perforation index (BPI) were evaluated. Phytochemicals of the wastes were investigated.

Results

The result showed that the agricultural wastes contained alkaloids (1.56–2.77 mg/g), saponin (1.51–3.38 mg/g), phytate (7.00–17.76 mg/g), oxalate (0.32–1.13 mg/g). All agricultural wastes showed a high mortality effect on C. maculatus, and their effects increased as the exposure time and concentration/ dosage increased. Beetle mortality was highest in cowpea pod with 80% mortality for powder after 3 and 4 days when applied at 0.5 g/20 g cowpea seed. This showed that cowpea pod powder has the greatest insecticidal activity while the least was observed in maize cob powder (73.33%). Fewer adults emerged with maize cob having the least emergence when applied at 0.2–0.5 g dosage. Extracts of all agricultural wastes tested against C. maculatus were able to affect 70–100% mortality after 4 days of application at concentration 0.5 ml with cowpea pod extract causing 100% mortality of beetle after 4 days of application. The calculated lethal dose (LD50 and LD90) and concentrations (LC50 and LC90) of wastes powders and extracts cowpea pod was observed to have the lowest lethal dose while maize cob wastes were the highest across all period of exposure.

Conclusion

Base on the results obtained, cowpea pod waste was the most toxic in biocontrol of C. maculatus.
Diversity and structure of sparids external microbiota (Teleostei) and its link with monogenean ectoparasites
Authors: Scheifler Mathilde , Sanchez-Brosseau Sophie , Magnanou Elodie , Desdevises Yves
Published: April 2022

Background

Animal-associated microbial communities appear to be key factors in host physiology, ecology, evolution and its interactions with the surrounding environment. Teleost fish have received relatively little attention in the study of surface-associated microbiota. Besides the important role of microbiota in homeostasis and infection prevention, a few recent studies have shown that fish mucus microbiota may interact with and attract some specific parasitic species. However, our understanding of external microbial assemblages, in particular regarding the factors that determine their composition and potential interactions with parasites, is still limited. This is the objective of the present study that focuses on a well-known fish-parasite interaction, involving the Sparidae (Teleostei), and their specific monogenean ectoparasites of the Lamellodiscus genus. We characterized the skin and gill mucus bacterial communities using a 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing, tested how fish ecological traits and host evolutionary history are related to external microbiota, and assessed if some microbial taxa are related to some Lamellodiscus species.

Results

Our results revealed significant differences between skin and gill microbiota in terms of diversity and structure, and that sparids establish and maintain tissue and species-specific bacterial communities despite continuous exposure to water. No phylosymbiosis pattern was detected for either gill or skin microbiota, suggesting that other host-related and environmental factors are a better regulator of host-microbiota interactions. Diversity and structure of external microbiota were explained by host traits: host species, diet and body part. Numerous correlations between the abundance of given bacterial genera and the abundance of given Lamellodiscus species have been found in gill mucus, including species-specific associations. We also found that the external microbiota of the only unparasitized sparid species in this study, Boops boops, harbored significantly more Fusobacteria and three genera, Shewenella, Cetobacterium and Vibrio, compared to the other sparid species, suggesting their potential involvement in preventing monogenean infection.

Conclusions

This study is the first to explore the diversity and structure of skin and gill microbiota from a wild fish family and present novel evidence on the links between gill microbiota and monogenean species in diversity and abundance, paving the way for further studies on understanding host-microbiota-parasite interactions.
Recycling of brass melting slag through the high-temperature oxidation-leaching process
Authors: Maleki Fariba , Ghasemi Samad , Heidarpour Akbar
Published: April 2022

Brass melting slag is a valuable secondary resource for the recovery of copper and zinc. The hydrometallurgical recovery process of this material is a challenge, because of its limited dissolution in sulfuric acid. The present study aimed at studying a combined pyro-hydrometallurgical treatment processes involving high temperature oxidation and sulfuric acid leaching to industrial brass melting slag to recover copper and zinc. The effect of temperature on the performance and efficiency of the high temperature oxidation process was investigated by isothermal thermogravimetry. The results revealed that by increasing the oxidation temperature, leachability improves due to the oxidation of metallic brass particles. The results obtained showed that 3 h oxidation of as-received slag at 900 °C, increased its percent leaching amount in 2 M sulfuric acid from 34 to 81%. The pregnant leach solution containing copper sulfate and zinc sulfate was subjected to the electrowining process to recover the copper as copper cathode. The zinc was also recovered as zinc sulfate via evaporation and crystallization process. Kinetic investigations showed that the 3D diffusion model has a good agreement with the isothermal oxidation results. In this model, the oxidation reaction is controlled by the outward diffusion of zinc from the brass particle. The activation energy of isothermal oxidation was obtained as 311 kJ mol− 1.
Outcomes following the operative treatment of intra-articular fracture combined with medial patellofemoral ligament reconstruction after patellar dislocation
Authors: Repo Jussi P. , Uimonen Mikko M. , Nevalainen Mika T. , Nurmi Heikki , Ponkilainen Ville T. , Tuominen Antti , Paloneva Juha
Published: April 2022

Purpose

We examine the outcomes following operative treatment of intra-articular fracture combined with medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL) reconstruction after patella dislocation.

Methods

Patients were retrospectively identified from medical records using diagnostic and surgical procedure codes. Radiological anatomical parameters and bony abnormalities of injured knees were assessed from magnetic resonance images (MRI). Inclusion criteria were traumatic patellar dislocation with chondral or osteochondral fracture and MPFL rupture, operative treatment of a chondral or osteochondral fracture combined with MPFL reconstruction, and minimum follow-up of 2 years. Outcomes were measured using the Kujala score, Tegner activity scale, and the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score Quality-of-Life subscale (KOOS-QLS).

Results

During 2012 and 2015, 322 patients were treated because of patellar dislocation. Thirty-three patients had chondral or osteochondral fracture. Eleven patients (five males and six females) with a mean [standard deviation (SD)] age of 17.0 (6.5) years at the time of surgery met the inclusion criteria and were included. Five of the 11 patients had a subchondral and six an osteochondral fracture. Eight patients had a fracture in the patella and three in the femur. All patients had bony abnormalities in the knee. Nine out of 11 patients scored over 90/100 points on the Kujala scale and had good results on the Tegner scale [before surgery 5.0 (2.7) points versus after surgery 5.3 (1.6) points] and the KOOS-QLS [4.1 (4.2) points] outcome measures.

Conclusion

The removal or fixation of the fracture fragment combined with MPFL reconstruction is a feasible option in the treatment of symptomatic osteochondral or subchondral fragment in traumatic patellar dislocation. The short-term outcomes are encouraging.

Level of evidence: Level IV, retrospective case series.
Evaluation of the relationship between diabetic retinopathy and left atrial deformation parameters
Authors: Külahçıoğlu Şeyhmus , Karagöz Işıl Kutlutürk , Bilen Yusuf , Kültürsay Barkın , Akbaş Ravza Betül , Yücel Enver , Tokgöz Hacer Ceren , Uslu Abdülkadir , Karagöz Ali , Kaymaz Cihangir
Published: April 2022

Background

Left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD) may develop without coronary artery disease, hypertension (HT), or valvular pathologies in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM), which is defined as diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) and its pathophysiology is still unclear. Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a microvascular complication of DM, and patients with DR have increased risk for the development of heart failure (HF). Two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography (2D-STE) evaluates longitudinal deformation in left atrium (LA) myocardium and previous studies utilizing 2D-STE have revealed the detrimental effects of DM on LA functions. Although some studies have shown the association between DR and left ventricle (LV) systolic functions, as far as the researchers of this study investigated, there is no study evaluating the relationship between LA deformation parameters and DR. Hence, we aimed to investigate the relationship between the presence and the degree of DR and LA deformation parameters.

Results

LA deformation parameters were analyzed in terms of LA reservoir, conduit, and contractile functions according to the degree of DR. LA reservoir strain value was 14.2 ± 3.6 in normal retina group, 12.2 ± 4.1 in non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) group, and 13 ± 3.7 in proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) group (P = 0.04). LA contractile strain was 15.9 ± 6.8 in normal retina group, 13.1 ± 47.4 in NPDR group, and 9.9 ± 4.7 in PDR group (P < 0.001). LA conduit strain was 30.1 ± 6.6 in normal retina group, 25.3 ± 6.5 in NPDR group, and 22.9 ± 4.9 in PDR group (P < 0.001). Proportional odds regression for association between clinical data, echocardiographic parameters, and LA contractile strain function showed that increasing creatinine (from 0.7 to 1.0; OR 0.71; 95% CI 0.51–0.99; P = 0.04), DR presence (OR 0.24; 95% CI 0.11–0.50; P = 0.001), and increasing left atrial volume index (LAVI) (from 33.5 to 52.6; OR 0.62; 95% CI 0.43–0.89; P = 0.01) were associated with decreasing LA function; however, other variables indicated no association.

Conclusions

Our results showed the relationship between LA deformation parameters and DR, although microvascular involvement is not a certainly defined cardiovascular risk factor. Further prospective studies are needed to determine the clinical importance of DR presence and its degree for deformation parameters.
The effect of calcium gluconate administration during cardiopulmonary bypass on hemodynamic variables in infants undergoing open-heart surgery
Authors: Faritous Seyedeh Zahra , Zaree Saeed Rajabzade , Morshedizad Zohreh , Jalali Amir Hossein , Mahani Soha Mehrabi , Gholampour Maziar
Published: April 2022

Background

The incidence of complications after heart surgery is a critical factor in disability, deaths, lengthening hospital stays, and increasing treatment costs. The metabolic balance of certain hormones and electrolytes is necessary for proper cardiac function. In children, various biochemical conditions may cause calcium depletion during heart surgery. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of calcium gluconate administration during cardiopulmonary bypass on hemodynamic variables and clinical outcomes in infants undergoing open-heart surgery. This study was conducted at Rajaie Cardiovascular Medical and Research Center in 2021 using a controlled randomized clinical trial. A total of 60 patients with open-heart surgery weighing up to 10 kg were included in the study. The first group received an intravenous injection of calcium gluconate 20 min after opening the aortic clamp, and the second group was monitored as a control group. Data collection tools included checklists containing demographics, surgical information, and intensive care unit measures.

Results

The Chi-square test or Fisher's exact test showed that the frequency distribution of gender, blood group, Rhesus factor (RH), and clinical diagnosis in the two groups of intervention and control was not statistically significant (p < 0.05). The mean and standard deviation of Ejection Fraction (EF) changes (before and after) were 13.27 ± 9.16 in the intervention group and 8.31 ± 9.80 in the control group (p = 0.065). The results of two-way repeated measures ANOVA showed that mean systolic blood pressure (p = 0.030), mean diastolic blood pressure (p = 0.021), mean heart rate (p = 0.025), mean arterial pressure (p = 0.020), mean pH (p < 0.001), and mean hemoglobin (p = 0.018) in the intervention, and control groups were statistically significant.

Conclusions

In the present study, unlike systolic pressure, mean diastolic blood pressure decreased, and mean arterial pressure increased significantly. As a result, the slope of changes during the study period was different in the intervention and control groups.
Chronic lung disease in paediatric patients: Does magnetic resonance imaging has a role?
Authors: Ibrahim Rania S. M. , Hafez Mona A. F.
Published: April 2022

Background

Pediatric chronic lung disease (CLD) refers to a range of distinct clinical and pathological disorders that affect children. High-resolution CT (HRCT) is critical for detecting and characterizing parenchymal abnormalities as well as determining their nature and distribution. Although magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) shows promising results, however, due to its poor spatial resolution and signal-to-noise ratio, imaging of the lung parenchyma remains a challenge. As a result, in addition to the initial CT, a follow-up MRI is required. The goal of this paper is to highlight the main imaging features of children with CLD and to evaluate the efficacy of MRI lungs in the diagnosis and monitoring of pediatric CLD.

Results

There was a strong positive correlation between CT and MRI, with a significant P-value. Findings of HRCT and MRI showed a qualitative agreement of 78% complete agreement. MRI helped primary diagnosis in 54% of cases compared to CT in 91% of cases.

Conclusion

MRI lungs are an equivalent technique to HRCT in assessing pediatric CLD; using the modified Helbich–Bhalla score, a strong correlation is obvious between both in the overall assessment. MRI is beneficial for case surveillance rather than primary diagnosis.
Blood oxygenation response to aerobic exercise combined with breathing exercises in pregnant women: a randomized controlled trial
Authors: Elsisi Hany F. E. M. , Aneis Yasser M. , El Refaye Ghada E. , Ghareeb Hassan O.
Published: April 2022

Background

There are many physiological changes occur during pregnancy that affect oxygenation of the pregnant women. It was considered that aerobic and breathing exercises are safe for the mother and the fetus especially moderate intensity exercise during pregnancy.

Objective

This study was designed to investigate the blood oxygenation response to aerobic exercise combined with breathing exercises in pregnant women.

Methodology

Forty pregnant women were selected from obstetrics and gynecology outpatient clinic at Kasr El Einy Hospital, Egypt, confidentiality was assured. They were ranged from 25 to 30 years old, with body mass index (BMI) less than 30 kg/m2and at the beginning of 3rdtrimester, this study was conducted from September 2019 to April 2020. They were assigned into two groups: group A performed aerobic exercise in a form of walking for 20 min. On the treadmill at 60–75% of the maximum heart rate (MHR) of each woman, three times per week in addition to deep breathing exercises in form of diaphragmatic and lateral costal breathing; group B who performed deep breathing exercises only in form of diaphragmatic and lateral costal breathing. The program continued for three months, three times per week. The oxygen saturation (SaO2) was measured twice time, firstly, at the beginning of 3rdtrimester of pregnancy then after three months of treatment program.

Results

The results of this study revealed a statistically significant difference in the oxygen saturation in group A than in group B.

Conclusion

It could be concluded that there was significant statistical effect of aerobic exercise combined with breathing exercises on blood oxygenation in pregnant women. It improved the oxygen saturation in pregnant women.
The Translational Horizons of Iranian Modernism: Ahmad Shamlu’s Canon of the Global South
Authors: Tahmasebian Kayvan , Gould Rebecca Ruth
Published: April 2022

This article explores how the Iranian poet and translator Ahmad Shamlu (1925–2000) reconceives the configuration of world poetics. Working at the intersection of global modernism and translation studies, it traces the formation of a Persian modernist poetics of solidarity on the basis of translations from so-called third-world literatures and explores how Shamlu’s political aesthetic traverses national borders to embrace ignored and marginalized poetic traditions. Rather than relying on French and other European modernisms to reinvigorate his national literature, Shamlu made available to his Iranian contemporaries a broad panorama of world literature that brought together Global Southern literatures, modernist poetics, and transnational political commitments. In tracing the literary and political forms shaped by Shamlu’s poetics of global solidarity, this article develops a post-Eurocentric framework for the study of Iranian literary modernism.
Microvascular Decompression for Hypoglossal Nerve Palsy Associated With Vertebral Artery: Case Report and Review of Literature
Authors: Shafizadeh Milad , Maroufi Seyed Farzad , Ahmadi Maryam , Khoshnevisan Alireza
Published: April 2022

BACKGROUND AND IMPORTANCE:

Hypoglossal nerve palsy is an infrequent condition that could be rarely caused by compression from nearing vasculature. Hypoglossal nerve palsy associated with vertebral artery (VA) is rarely reported. There are less than 15 cases of such conditions in the literature.

CLINICAL PRESENTATION:

We present a 17-year-old boy suffering from dysarthria, chewing disability, a tingling sensation, and deviation of the tongue to the right from 6 months ago. After a thorough examination, MRI was performed with clinical suspicion of hypoglossal nerve palsy, and the result showed an ectatic VA pressing against the right hypoglossal nerve. He underwent microvascular decompression surgery. On follow-up visits, he showed gradual improvement of symptoms.

CONCLUSION:

In cases of cranial nerve palsies, compression by adjacent vasculature should be considered as a differential diagnosis and microvascular compression should be considered as a safe definitive treatment.
Sowerby's beaked whale biosonar and movement strategy indicate deep-sea foraging niche differentiation in mesoplodont whales
Authors: F. Visser , G. Oudejans M. , A. Keller O. , T. Madsen P. , M. Johnson
Published: April 2022

Closely-related species are expected to diverge in foraging strategy, reflecting the evolutionary drive to optimize foraging performance. The most speciose cetacean genus, the mesoplodonts, are beaked whales with little diversity in external morphology or diet, and overlapping distributions. Moreover, the few studied species of beaked whales (Ziphiidae) show closely-similar foraging styles with slow, energy-conserving movement during long, deep foraging dives. This raises the question of what factors drive their speciation. Using data from animal-attached tags and aerial imagery, we test the hypothesis that two similar-sized mesoplodonts, Sowerby's (Mesoplodon bidens) and Blainville's (M. densirostris) beaked whales, exploit a similar low-energy niche. We show that, compared to the low-energy strategist Blainville's beaked whale, Sowerby's beaked whale lives in the fast lane. While targeting a similar meso/bathypelagic foraging zone, they consistently swim and hunt faster, perform shorter deep dives, echolocate at a faster rate and with higher frequency clicks. Further, extensive near-surface travel between deep dives challenges the interpretation of beaked whale shallow inter-foraging dives as management of decompression sickness. The distinctively higher frequency echolocation clicks do not hold apparent foraging benefits. Instead, we argue that a high-speed foraging style influences dive duration and echolocation behaviour, enabling access to a distinct prey population. Our results demonstrate that beaked whales exploit a broader diversity of deep-sea foraging and energetic niches than hitherto suspected. The marked deviation of Sowerby's beaked whales from the typical Ziphiid foraging strategy has potential implications for their response to anthropogenic sounds, which appear to be strongly behaviourally-driven in other Ziphiids.
Diversity and antimicrobial activity of marine nudibranch associated bacteria against tropical human skin pathogens
Authors: Sabdono Agus , Radjasa Ocky , Trianto Agus , Korshunova Tatiana , Martynov Alexander , Sibero Mada
Published: April 2022

Background: Skin disease is the fourth most common disease among all diseases. The number of cases of skin diseases continues to increase, and people commonly use antibiotics to treat these diseases. Nevertheless, overuse of antibiotics can increase the resistance of these pathogens. Hence, the study of novel antibiotic compounds against multi-drug resistant (MDR) skin pathogens is urgently needed.

Methods: This study describes the antimicrobial diversity of bacteria associated with three species of marine nudibranchs (Jorunna funebris, Gymnodoris rubropapulosa, and Glossodoris atromarginata) sampled from Jepara coastal waters, the North Java Sea in August 2020. A total of 115 bacterial strains were selected for their prospective antipathogenic compounds against the pathogens Cutibacterium acnes, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans, and Malassezia furfur.

Results: A total of 24 bacterial isolates (20.87%) exhibited antimicrobial activity against the pathogens that were selected and molecularly identified. Analyses of the gene of 16S rRNA discovered that these 24 isolates were associated with 11 genera of the phyla Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria, including Bacillus as the dominant genus, followed by Streptomyces, Gordonia, Salinicola, Thalassospira, Halomonas, Dietzia, Brevibacterium, Paracoccus, Pseudovibrio, Pseudoalteromonas, and Pseudomonas. None of the 24 antimicrobial bacterial strains possessed type-1 polyketide synthases (PKS-I). One strain possessed type II polyketide synthases (PKS-II), and five strains possessed non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) genes. The amounts of bacterial genus and strains in the three nudibranchs differed significantly, as did the proportions of antimicrobial strains in each nudibranch species. The antibacterial strains isolated from G. atromarginata were the highest number (62.5%), followed by J. funebris (20.8%) and G. rubropapulosa (16.7%).

Conclusions: These results demonstrate that nudibranch species harbor prominent and varied communities of bacteria and reveal that many nudibranch-associated bacteria have the potential for the advancement of broad-spectrum antibiotics.
Analyses within risk strata overestimate gain in discrimination: the example of coronary artery calcium scores
Authors: Zhu Lin , Bell Katy JL , Scott Anna Mae , Glasziou Paul
Published: April 2022

Risk prediction models are potentially useful tools for health practitioners and policy makers. When new predictors are proposed to add to existing models, the improvement of discrimination is one of the main measures to assess any increment in performance. In assessing such predictors, we observed two paradoxes: 1) the discriminative ability within all individual risk strata was worse than for the overall population; 2) incremental discrimination after including a new predictor was greater within each individual risk strata than for the whole population. We show two examples of the paradoxes and analyse the possible causes. The key cause of bias is use of the same prediction model as for both stratifying the population, and as the base model to which the new predictor is added.
One- and Five-Ringgit Malaysia banknotes reader with counterfeit detection for visually impaired person using backlight mechanism and image processing techniques
Authors: Salem Turki Khaled , Wong Wai Kit , Min Thu Soe , Wong Eng Kiong
Published: April 2022

Visually impaired persons face challenges in running business activities, especially in handling banknotes. Malaysia researchers had proposed some Ringgit banknotes recognition systems to aid visually impaired persons recognize and classify Ringgit banknotes. However, these electronic banknote readers can only recognize Malaysian Banknotes’ Ringgit value, they have no counterfeit detection features. The purpose of this study is to develop a banknote reader that not only can help visually impaired persons recognize the banknote value, but also to detect the counterfeit of the banknote, safeguarding their losses. This paper proposed a Malaysian banknote reader using backlight mechanism and image processing techniques to read and detect counterfeit for one Ringgit and five Ringgit Malaysian banknotes. The developed handheld banknote reader used visual type sensor to capture banknote image, passed to raspberry pi controller to perform image processing on banknote value and the extracted watermarks features. The developed image processing algorithm will trace out the region of interests: 1)see-thru windows, 2)Crescent and Star, 3)Perfect see though register and detect the watermarks features accordingly. The processed result will be passed back to the handheld banknote reader and broadcast on an attached mini speaker to aid the visually impaired understand the holding banknote, whether it is a real one Ringgit, real five Ringgit or none of them. The experimental result shown by this approach able to accomplish numerous round of banknote reading attempts with successful outcomes. Confusion matrix is further employed to study the performance of the banknote reader, in terms of true positive, true negative, false positive and false negative. Details analysis had been focused on the critical false positive cases (predicted real banknote and actually is fake banknote) and false negative cases (predicted fake banknote and it is actually real banknote).
Intestinal inflammation and increased intestinal permeability in Plasmodium chabaudi AS infected mice
Authors: Mooney Jason P , DonVito Sophia M , Lim Rivka , Keith Marianne , Pickles Lia , Maguire Eleanor A , Wagner-Gamble Tara , Oldfield Thomas , Bermejo Pariente Ana , Ehimiyien Ajoke M , Philbey Adrian A , Bottomley Christian , Riley Eleanor M , Thompson Joanne
Published: April 2022

Background: Gastrointestinal symptoms are commonly associated with acute Plasmodium spp infection. Malaria-associated enteritis may provide an opportunity for enteric pathogens to breach the intestinal mucosa, resulting in life-threatening systemic infections.

Methods: To investigate whether intestinal pathology also occurs during infection with a murine model of mild and resolving malaria, C57BL/6J mice were inoculated with recently mosquito-transmitted Plasmodium chabaudi AS. At schizogony, intestinal tissues were collected for quantification and localisation of immune mediators and malaria parasites, by PCR and immunohistochemistry. Inflammatory proteins were measured in plasma and faeces and intestinal permeability was assessed by FITC-dextran translocation after oral administration.

Results: Parasitaemia peaked at approx. 1.5% at day 9 and resolved by day 14, with mice experiencing significant and transient anaemia but no weight loss. Plasma IFN-γ, TNF-α and IL10 were significantly elevated during peak infection and quantitative RT-PCR of the intestine revealed a significant increase in transcripts for ifng and cxcl10. Histological analysis revealed parasites within blood vessels of both the submucosa and intestinal villi and evidence of mild crypt hyperplasia. In faeces, concentrations of the inflammatory marker lactoferrin were significantly raised on days 9 and 11 and FITC-dextran was detected in plasma on days 7 to 14. At day 11, plasma FITC-dextran concentration was significantly positively correlated with peripheral parasitemia and faecal lactoferrin concentration.

Conclusions: In summary, using a relevant, attenuated model of malaria, we have found that acute infection is associated with intestinal inflammation and increased intestinal permeability. This model can now be used to explore the mechanisms of parasite-induced intestinal inflammation and to assess the impact of increased intestinal permeability on translocation of enteropathogens.
The genome sequence of the double-striped pug, Gymnoscelis rufifasciata (Haworth, 1809)
Authors: Boyes Douglas ,   University of Oxford and Wytham Woods Genome Acquisition Lab,   Darwin Tree of Life Barcoding collective,   Wellcome Sanger Institute Tree of Life programme,   Wellcome Sanger Institute Scientific Operations: DNA Pipelines collective,   Tree of Life Core Informatics collective, Lewin Thomas ,   Darwin Tree of Life Consortium
Published: April 2022

We present a genome assembly from an individual female Gymnoscelis rufifasciata (the double-striped pug; Arthropoda; Insecta; Lepidoptera; Geometridae). The genome sequence is 352 megabases in span. The majority of the assembly (99.82%) is scaffolded into 32 chromosomal pseudomolecules, with the W and Z sex chromosomes assembled. The mitochondrial genome was also assembled, and is 15.4 kilobases in length.
My idyllic setting
Authors: Harris Mitzi
Published: April 2022

Early Childhood student Mitzi Harris shares with us her reflection on the core values of early years and gives an insight into what her ideal early years setting would include.
Long distance high resolution FMCW laser ranging with phase noise compensation and 2D signal processing
Authors: Ke Jia-Yi , Song Zi-Qi , Wang Pei-Si , Cui Zhong-Ming , Mo Di , Lin Miao , Wang Ran , Wu Jin
Published: April 2022

A long distance high resolution frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) laser rangefinder with phase noise compensation and two-dimensional (2D) data processing skills is developed. Range-finding ladar consists of a continuously chirped laser source, an auxiliary reference interferometer, and a monostatic optical transceiver for target illumination and return photon collection. To extend the range unambiguity and lower the electronic processing bandwidth, a two-step laser frequency chirping scheme is adopted, where a long pulse width, small frequency bandwidth laser chirping signal are used in step 1 for coarse distance estimation, and a short pulse width and large frequency bandwidth laser chirping signal are applied afterwards for step 2 high resolution distance realization. An auxiliary reference interferometer is to record the phase noise originated from the laser source to compensate for phase errors induced in the target return photons. The 2D data processing skill helps to coherently sum up all the phase noise removed echo photons to achieve high resolution range peak extraction with high detection sensitivity. Experimental demonstration shows that the proposed FMCW ladar at 1550 nm wavelength with a laser chirping bandwidth of 10 GHz and electronic processing bandwidth of 200 MHz can measure a corner cube test target in an outdoor atmospheric environment, and the measurement results are 12013.905 m with a 2.4 cm range resolution under strong return photon levels and 12013.920 m with a 2.5 cm range resolution under weak return photon levels.
Optical proximity correction by using unsupervised learning and the patch loss function
Authors: Yuan Pengpeng , Xu Peng , Ma Le , Wei Yayi
Published: April 2022

The miniaturization of nodes poses new challenges in semiconductor
manufacturing. Optical proximity correction (OPC) is typically
performed to satisfy technical requirements through iterative
optimization. However, this method is expensive and slow. This study
proposes a framework based on patch loss and a generative adversarial
network through unsupervised learning to address these problems. The
target pattern is used as the input of the model to avoid dependence
on OPC tools. Thus, a fast approach is proposed for realizing OPC
swiftly.
In situ ground settlement sensor for oil-tank monitoring by combining a fiber-optic low-coherent interferometry with a fine mechanical design
Authors: Liu Tao , Zhang Pinglei , Guo Jingjing , Liu Fuqing , Sun Changsen
Published: April 2022

An in situ robust ground settlement (IR-GS) sensor was designed to meet the requirements for oil-tank health monitoring by combining a low-coherent fiber-optic interferometry with a fine mechanical spline shaft. A floating mirror was mounted on the shaft and moved up and down along with the liquid surface. The liquid-contained chambers were hydraulically connected at the bottom by using a liquid-filled tube. The liquid level inside each chamber was initially at equal level. One of the chambers was fixed on a steady ground point, which was chosen in a surveying point of view and served as a reference. The others were distributed around an oil tank and separated the tank’s perimeter into eight equal spans. Thereby, the health states of the oil tank were able to be evaluated based on these sensing results. Interrogation of the sensor was employed via a low-coherent fiber-optic Michelson interferometer. One path of the interferometer was composed by the floating mirror, whereupon a light was reflected. The other path was projected to a mirror that was fixed on a stepping motor. Therefore, the corresponding liquid level could be optically surveyed. Differential settlements between each chamber and the reference served as a measure of how much the liquid level was changed from its initials. Experimental tests demonstrated that this IR-GS design, with the optimized shape and weights of the spline shaft, could overcome the error caused by dust, hysteresis, temperature, etc. and meet the practical requirement in the accuracy of

±
0.5

m
m

. A practical application was carried out, and its long-term stability has been proved.
Coherent angular signal amplification using an optical cavity
Authors: Shimoda Tomofumi , Miyazaki Yuki , Enomoto Yutaro , Nagano Koji , Ando Masaki
Published: April 2022

Precision angular sensing is an essential technology in physical experiments. Unlike
length sensing with a laser beam, it has been thought that sensitivity
to the angular motion cannot be enhanced with the help of an optical
cavity. A method of angular signal amplification using an optical
cavity, called the cavity-amplified angular sensor (CAAS), is
proposed. By adjusting or compensating for the Gouy phase of the
cavity, the electric field of the laser generated in proportion to the
target rotation is coherently stacked in the proposed method. The
advantage of this method over other angular sensors is its high
sensitivity with the small sensing spot size. Three possible optical
configurations are considered, of which two experimentally available
ones are investigated. The angular signal amplification is
demonstrated for both of them. Based on the theoretical calculation
for a realistic model, the fundamental angular sensing noise level is
expected to be as low as

10

−
15

r
a
d

/

H

z

1

/

2

, with a 1 mm laser beam size and
10 mW laser power.
3D single-pixel imaging at the near-infrared wave band
Authors: Zhao Haixiao , Li Peiming , Ma Yanyang , Jiang Shan , Sun Baoqing
Published: April 2022

Focal plane detector array technology in the infrared wave band is expensive or underdeveloped, and the detection efficiency is low, while single-pixel imaging (SPI) offers better performance, such as ultrafast time response and high quantum efficiency in wide wave bands. Therefore, SPI technology can be used for infrared imaging. In this work, a near-infrared raster scan SPI system is proposed. By means of a grating to modulate height information of objects, we can further achieve three-dimensional imaging in the framework of Fourier transform profilometry. The proposed approach is demonstrated with experiments at the wavelength of 1064 nm.
Thermo-optically tunable slot waveguide-based dual mode-splitting resonators with enhanced sharp lineshapes
Authors: Ou Xiangpeng , Tang Bo , Sun Fujun , Zhang Peng , Li Bin , Huang Kai , Liu Ruonan , Xie Ling , Li Zhihua , Yang Yan
Published: April 2022

Slot waveguide plays an essential role in achieving high-performance on-chip photonic sensors and nonlinear devices. Ideally, slot waveguide features a large evanescent field ratio and strong electric field intensity in the slot, leading to a high waveguide sensitivity. Unfortunately, the microring resonator (MRR) based on the slot waveguide suffers the less steep spectral slope due to the low quality factor induced by the huge optical propagation loss of the slot waveguide. In this work, a novel dual mode-splitting resonator based on the slot waveguide is proposed and demonstrated to steepen the slope of lineshapes. The device is implemented by two racetrack resonators based on a slot waveguide and a feedback waveguide to introduce coherent optical mode interference, which could induce mode-splitting resonance (MR) with sharp asymmetry line shape and large extinction ratio (ER). The proposed device is fabricated by the standard complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technologies on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform, and the characterization results show dual MRs with an ER of 45.0 dB and a slope rate (SR) of 58.3 dB/nm, exhibiting a much steeper lineshape than that of the conventional MRR with slot waveguide. And the resonance can be tuned efficiently by applying various voltages of the TiN microheater. Investigations in dual MRs devices promote many potential applications in the field of optical switching, optical modulating, and on-chip optical sensing.
Crack barriers for thick SiN using dicing
Authors: Grootes R. M. , Dijkstra M. , Klaver Y. , Marpaung D. , Offerhaus H. L.
Published: April 2022

Silicon nitride (SiN) waveguides need to be thick to show low dispersion which is desired for nonlinear applications. However, high quality thick SiN produced by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) contains high internal stress, causing it to crack. Crack-free wafers with thick SiN can be produced by adding crack barriers. We demonstrate the use of dicing trenches as a simple single-step method to produce high quality (loss<0.5 dB/cm) crack-free SiN. We show Kerr-comb generation in a ring resonator to highlight the high quality and low dispersion of the waveguides.
C-band 200 Gbit/s/λ PAM-4 transmission over 2-km SSMF using look-up-table pre-distortion combined with nonlinear Tomlinson-Harashima pre-coding
Authors: Tu Yucheng , Yang Hailin , Zhou Gai , Xiang Meng , Fu Songnian , Tang Ming , Qin Yuwen , Zhao Luming
Published: April 2022

The performance of high baud-rate intensity modulation direct detection (IM-DD) transmissions is severely degraded by both the linear and nonlinear inter-symbol interference (ISI). Here, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a transmitter-side look-up-table pre-distortion combined with nonlinear Tomlinson-Harashima pre-coding (LUT_PD-NTHP) scheme with the capability of mitigating the linear and nonlinear ISI simultaneously, enabling a C-band 200 Gbit/s/λ PAM-4 transmission over 2-km standard single mode fiber (SSMF), under an end-to-end 10-dB bandwidth of about 20 GHz. The proposed LUT_PD-NTHP scheme is experimentally verified to be superior to the LUT pre-distortion combined with linear THP (LUT_PD-LTHP) scheme, in terms of both the receiver sensitivity and the LUT storage requirement, when only the feed-forward equalization (FFE) is used at the receiver-side. In particular, after the 200 Gbit/s PAM-4 signal transmission over the 2-km SSMF without the chromatic dispersion (CD) compensation, the proposed LUT_PD-NTHP scheme with a LUT pattern length of 3 possesses not only 0.25 dB improvement of the receiver sensitivity but also about 99% LUT pattern reduction, in comparison with the LUT_PD-LTHP scheme with a LUT pattern length of 5.
Network analysis of Weyl semimetal photogalvanic systems
Authors: Luo Haokun , Jia Yufei , Tian Fugu , Khajavikhan Mercedeh , Christodoulides Demetrios
Published: April 2022

We develop a general methodology capable of analyzing the response of Weyl semimetal (WSM) photogalvanic networks. Both single-port and multiport configurations are investigated via extended versions of Norton’s theorem. An equivalent circuit model is provided where the photogalvanic currents induced in these gapless topological materials can be treated as polarization-dependent sources. To illustrate our approach, we carry out transport simulations in arbitrarily shaped configurations involving pertinent WSMs. Our analysis indicates that the photogalvanic currents collected in a multi-electrode system directly depend on the geometry of the structure as well as on the excitation and polarization pattern of the incident light. Our results could be helpful in designing novel optoelectronic systems that make use of the intriguing features associated with WSMs.
Tunable and coherent terahertz source based on CdSiP2 crystal via collinear difference frequency generation
Authors: Li Yang , Huang Jingguo , Huang Zhiming , Zhang Guodong , Gao Yanqing , Shi Yi
Published: April 2022

CdSiP2 (CSP) crystals have attracted increasing attention as efficient optical conversion media. Herein, the optical properties of a CSP crystal grown with the vertical Bridgman method are measured by a terahertz time-domain spectrometer (THz-TDS) at 0.2–3 THz. For the first time, to the best of our knowledge, the broadband, tunable, coherent, monochromatic THz radiation from 0.08 to 1.68 THz (3775–178 µm) is generated experimentally via this crystal, which is pumped by a nanosecond Q-switched Nd:YAG laser and an optical parametric oscillator (OPO) and based on difference frequency generation (DFG) technology. The output power and its corresponding conversion efficiency at 0.74 THz are 26.6 mW and 1.4 × 10−7, respectively. Our work demonstrates that the CSP crystal is a potential efficient terahertz DFG candidate for out-of-door applications.
Hollow-core fiber Fabry–Perot interferometers with reduced sensitivity to temperature
Authors: Ding Meng , Fokoua Eric Numkam , Hayes John R. , Sakr Hesham , Horak Peter , Poletti Francesco , Richardson David J. , Slavík Radan
Published: April 2022

We demonstrate a 3× thermal phase sensitivity reduction for a hollow-core fiber (HCF) Fabry–Perot interferometer by winding the already low temperature sensitivity HCF on to a spool made from an ultralow thermal expansion material. A record low room temperature fiber coil phase thermal sensitivity of 0.13 ppm/K is demonstrated. The result is of particular interest in reducing the thermal sensitivity of HCF-based Fabry–Perot interferometers (for which existing thermal sensitivity reduction methods are not applicable). Our theoretical analysis predicts that significantly lower (or even zero) thermal sensitivity should be achievable when a spool with a slightly negative coefficient of thermal expansion is used. We also suggest a method to fine-tune the thermal sensitivity and analyze it with simulations.
Asymmetrical inseparable coherent structures
Authors: Liang Zehong , Shi Jingyi , Wei Quanfeng , Wang Ziyu , Wu You , Jiang Junjie , Shui Lingling , Deng Dongmei
Published: April 2022

A novel, to the best of our knowledge, class of coherent structures of inseparability, incorporating phases asymmetrically cross-coupled by two position vectors, is introduced in theory and experiment. These phases disappear in the environment of complete coherence, but the vanishment is avoidable in the coexistent state of extreme incoherence and full coherence. The radiated beams intrinsically possess a controllable rotation but undergo an intermediate process quite different from the twisted Gaussian Schell-model beams. Analysis shows a novel association between the magnitude and the phase of the coherent structure which displays both synergy and opposition. Our work further reveals the inner mechanism of the inseparable coherent structures and extends a new horizon for the optical twist.
Schlüsselfaktoren erfolgreicher CIOs
Authors: Hillebrand Patrick , Westner Markus , Matschi Markus
Published: April 2022

Die vorliegende Studie untersucht Schlüsselfaktoren erfolgreicher CIOs in deutschen Großunternehmen. Mit einer mittleren Verweildauer (Median) von 4,0 Jahren weisen deutsche CIOs, die mit 43 % noch überwiegend an den CFO berichten, im Vergleich zu anderen C‑Level-Positionen eine deutlich kürzere Verweildauer im Amt auf. Die Ergebnisse aus 60 Interviews mit erfolgreichen deutschsprachigen CIOs, die primär über eine überdurchschnittlich lange Verweildauer verfügen, lassen verschiedene Schlüsselfaktoren für den Erfolg erkennen: Grundvoraussetzung ist stets die Gewährleistung eines sicheren und effizienten IT-Betriebs. Über effektive und innovative Change-Projekte machen die interviewten CIOs den IT-Mehrwert transparent und agieren als Brückenbauer zwischen IT und Fachbereichen. Dadurch wirken sie positiv auf die Firmenkultur ein und etablieren die IT nachhaltig in den Fachbereichen als Erfolgsfaktor. Erfolgreiche CIOs selbst sind keine „Techies“, sondern zeichnen sich durch hohe Führungskompetenz und ein hohes Geschäftsverständnis, gepaart mit visionärem Denken aus. Dadurch gelingt es ihnen, die IT zukunftsorientiert auszurichten und Anforderungen und Potenziale für und aus den Fachbereichen frühzeitig zu antizipieren. Die zukünftige Entwicklung der CIO-Organisation und der Paradigmen in der IT wird durch die Studienteilnehmer hingegen teilweise kontrovers diskutiert – so gibt es beispielsweise bei der Beurteilung der Sinnhaftigkeit und Relevanz der CDO-Position noch kein einheitliches Meinungsbild.