bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Classification of municipal solid waste based on Game Analysis
Authors: She Xiaoqing , Li Xinghua , Mu Tong , Shen Shanshan
Published: March 2021

With the increasing amount of garbage, every city gradually enforces the implementation of garbage classification. Aiming at the problem of garbage classification, a garbage classification implementation model based on the tripartite game among managers (government), producers (production enterprises) and consumers (residents) is constructed by using the method of dynamic game. Matlab is used to simulate and analyze the dynamic equation of tripartite replication, and find out the optimal strategy suitable for the three parties, then put forward measures to improve the way of waste classification, so as to reduce the amount of waste in a real sense and improve people’s living standards.
Assessment of Ecological Risk of Soil in Rapid Urbanization Area by Risk Regionalization
Authors: Zhao Run , Li Ning
Published: March 2021

Rapid urbanization is a major source of environmental risk in soil. In this study, we developed the method of the potential ecological risk assessment, and investigated risk sources and soil pollution in a typical rapid urbanization area in Tianjin City, China. The proposed method was used to evaluate the level and spatial distribution of ecological risk of soil. Results show that the maximum of RI in all 114 sampling points was 1437.37, and four sampling points had RI exceeding 600, indicating extreme risk level. Moreover, the mean value of RI was 227.17, which was in moderate risk level. Among 10 heavy metals, Cd was the metal element that exhibited the most serious harm to the ecological environment, and reached high and extreme levels.
Experimental study on the frost resistance and thermal conductivity of Environmental fair-faced concrete
Authors: Chen Han , Fang Guangxiu , Zhang Ting , Cui Wenshuo
Published: March 2021

For fair-faced concrete buildings and structures, the secondary recycling of agricultural and industrial wastes can achieve both green energy saving and heat preservation, save costs, and protect and promote ecological and resource environments. In this paper, to fully recycle agricultural waste and industrial waste, the new type of fair-faced concrete was prepared by triple doping of fly ash, slag and rice husk ash, and three sets of concrete thermal conductivity test blocks and two sets of freeze-thaw test blocks were prepared and tested for thermal conductivity and mass loss rate. The test results showed that the thermal conductivity of the new fair-faced concrete is 0.9644 W/(m⋅K) on average, and the mass loss rate was 1.825 and 2.575 after 25 and 50 freeze-thaw cycles respectively, which meet the requirement of less than 5%. The new type of fair-facedr concrete has good energy saving and durability, and can be applied in construction projects in cold regions.
Differential Gas Drainage Technology for Upper Corner of Working Face by High Position Directional Long Borehole
Authors: Huijun Duan , Shijun Hao , Yongzhe Zhao
Published: March 2021

In the mining process of high gas mining area, the gas emission from goaf is large, which leads to the gas overrun in the upper corner of the working face, and affects the safe mining of the mine. This paper studies the differential drainage of the upper corner gas by high-level directional long borehole, and then solves the problem of gas control in the upper corner. Taking a fully mechanized mining face as the research object, this paper analyzes the theoretical parameters of the overlying strata failure of the working face, and according to the production practice, the high position directional long drilling layer is arranged differently, and the influence of high position directional drilling on gas drainage effect in different layers is analyzed, and the best location in different distance and height area is obtained to guide the actual production work. The research results show that the differential drainage method of high position directional long borehole can effectively control the gas overrun in upper corner of fully mechanized mining face in thick coal seam.
Extraction Method of Microscopic Image Feature of Cotton Fiber Cross Section
Authors: Luo Yaodong , Zhang Songlin
Published: March 2021

The micro-section image analysis is an effective method to measure cotton fiber maturity directly. However, the accuracies of the existing image segmentation and contour extraction algorithms were limited by the extraction of cotton fiber cross-section features. Therefore, the paper first binarized the cotton fiber cross-section micro image with the image processing software programmed by VC++, and then extracted the contours of its outer layer, inner layer and cavity, and finally calculated its geometric features. Based on statistics of these geometric features, a judgment model was established to remove the low quality cross sections such as pseudo-cross sections and separate adhesion cross sections, so as to improve the geometric feature extraction effect and the maturity estimation accuracy of cotton fiber cell. The results showed that, compared with the artificial subjective judgment, the cotton fiber cross-section feature extraction method proposed in this paper could not only solve the problem of unable to determine the geometric characteristics caused by cotton fiber adhesion and other interference factors, but also reduce the identification error rate from 0.073 to 0.038, so as to better judge the quality of cotton fiber at harvest time, and infer the possible influencing factors.
Energy consumption, emission and economy analysis of fuel cell vehicle in China
Authors: Yu Hongkuan , Yin Jiewei , Wang Chao , Shen Shuiyun , Yan Xiaohui , Zhang Junliang
Published: March 2021

Compared with internal combustion engine vehicles and electric vehicles, the advantages of fuel cell vehicles are still in a qualitative stage, and there is no clear quantitative analysis. In this paper, the energy consumption and emission results of twelve different hydrogen paths are calculated through the secondary modeling in GREET, and the total energy consumption and emissions of fuel cell vehicles, internal combustion engine vehicles, and electric vehicles are obtained. The results show that electric vehicles have the lowest energy consumption throughout their life cycle, and fuel cell vehicles are only about 22% higher than electric vehicles. At the same time, based on the analysis of multi-factor environmental indicators such as global warming potential, human toxicity potential, photochemical smog potential, aerosol potential and acidification potential, fuel cell vehicles have the lowest life cycle emissions. Finally, a comparison of the total cost of ownership of the three representative vehicles shows that the cost of fuel cell vehicles is the highest under current production. However, combined with the analysis of the cost reduction space of the main components of the fuel cell system, the results show that when the mileage is higher than 56,000 kilometers, The total cost of ownership of fuel cell vehicles will be lower than internal combustion engine vehicles.
Energy Efficiency Analysis of Hot Oil Heater System with Waste Heat Recovery Device
Authors: Sun Yanfeng , Chen Lijia
Published: March 2021

In this paper, the energy efficiency analysis of a hot oil heater system with waste heat recovery device is carried out by using the counter balance method. The influence of different excess air coefficient and different flue gas recirculation percentage on the energy efficiency is studied. Through comparative analysis, it is concluded that: as excess air coefficient increases, the exhaust gas heat loss increases, the dissipation heat loss decreases, the overall heat loss increases, and the system thermal efficiency decreases; as flue gas recirculation percentage increases, the exhaust gas heat loss increases, the dissipation heat loss decreases, the overall heat loss increases, and the system thermal efficiency decreases. These conclusions provide some reference for improving the design and operation of hot oil heater system with waste heat recovery device.
Traditional lacquerware craft of Liangshan Yi Nationality part I: manufacturing process and coming crisis
Authors: Zhang Xuelun , Chen Ming , Zhang You , Qiu Chongpeng , Huang Xingyan
Published: March 2021

The lacquerware of Liangshan Yi nationality was created by the Yi in their daily life. It has great varieties, exquisite productions and a very long history as the most representative handicraft in Yi region. The traditional manufacturing processes including body making and lacquering craft processes as well as the coming crisis of Yi lacquerware were analyzed in this work, in order to provide reference for the development and inheritance of the traditional lacquerware craft of Liangshan Yi Nationality.
Enlightenment and experience of foreign power retail market on China’s electricity retail market construction
Authors: Guo Hongzhen , Li Tengjian , Feng Li , Liu Guoping , Liu Bo , Qiao Liang
Published: March 2021

The power retail market is the key link of the power market system. It plays a fundamental role in supporting the opening, competition and orderly operation of the power market. It is also the key to coordinate market transactions and system security. In this paper, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Japan and other mature countries in the development of electricity retail market research, extract these countries in the construction of electricity retail market problems and achievements, and combined with the development of China’s electricity retail market, put forward the enlightenment and suggestions for the construction of China’s electricity retail market, hoping to be able to provide help for the builders of electricity retail market.
Research on Green Efficiency Estimation of Power Plants of National Key Monitoring Enterprises
Authors: Huang Yujun , Gong Yanran , Huang Zhihao
Published: March 2021

This paper mainly estimates the green technology efficiency of thermal power plants of national key monitoring power generation enterprises. By taking the use of "Database of China’s Industrial Enterprises" and "Compilation of Statistics of China’s Power Industry", we sort out the input, output and emission data of national key monitoring enterprises. With the help of directional distance function and the panel stochastic frontier analysis (SFA), we can define and estimate a new indicator for the emission efficiency of power generation plants. The main contribution is the method of efficiency calculation, which can be broadly used for testing the level of emission technology of power generation plants.
The Development and Construction of Bilingual Machine Translation Auxiliary Tool between Chinese and Kazakh Languages
Authors: Niyazbek Muheyat , Talp Kuenssaule , Sun Jing
Published: March 2021

This paper introduces the design and construction process of a bilingual machine translation auxiliary tool between Chinese and Kazakh languages. The tool uses the Jieba word segmentation tool to segment the input sentence, and then translates it according to the two language correspondence and rule-based dictionary method. This paper introduces the development and implementation process and overall framework of said auxiliary tool, and the role of some functional modules of it.
Experimental study on freeze-thaw performance and thermal conductivity of green ecological concrete
Authors: Wu Xuanru , Fang Guangxiu , Xu Minhao , Li Zhongxin , Shi Daquan
Published: March 2021

For the existing and new buildings in cold areas, this paper makes full use of the agricultural waste of finely ground rice husk and the recycled coarse aggregate of the concrete of the construction industry waste to form green ecological concrete by compounding, which can promote the ecological environment and the secondary recycling of agricultural and industrial waste; compounding finely ground rice husk and recycled coarse aggregate can save cost, improve the later strength of concrete, and green energy saving and heat preservation, and protect Ecological resources and environment. After mixing the two to replace cement and natural coarse bone by the same amount, we prepared two sets of concrete thermal conductivity test blocks, four sets of frozen and thawed test blocks, and tested the thermal conductivity of concrete, mass loss rate. The test results showed that the thermal conductivity value of the green concrete was 1.17 W/(m-K), and the mass loss rate was 3.85% and 4.08% after 25 and 50 freeze-thaw cycles respectively, and the green ecological concrete had excellent energy saving and durability.
Causal Inference in Studying the Long-Term Health Effects of Disasters: Challenges and Potential Solutions
Authors: Shiba Koichiro , Kawahara Takuya , Aida Jun , Kondo Katsunori , Kondo Naoki , James Peter , Arcaya Mariana , Kawachi Ichiro
Published: March 2021

Two frequently encountered but underrecognized challenges for causal inference in studying the long-term health effects of disasters among survivors include 1) time-varying effects of disasters on a time-to-event outcome and 2) selection bias due to selective attrition. In this paper, we review approaches for overcoming these challenges and demonstrate application of the approaches to a real-world longitudinal data set of older adults who were directly affected by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (n = 4,857). To illustrate the problem of time-varying effects of disasters, we examined the association between degree of damage due to the tsunami and all-cause mortality. We compared results from Cox regression analysis assuming proportional hazards with those derived using adjusted parametric survival curves allowing for time-varying hazard ratios. To illustrate the problem of selection bias, we examined the association between proximity to the coast (a proxy for housing damage from the tsunami) and depressive symptoms. We corrected for selection bias due to attrition in the 2 postdisaster follow-up surveys (conducted in 2013 and 2016) using multivariable adjustment, inverse probability of censoring weighting, and survivor average causal effect estimation. Our results demonstrate that analytical approaches which ignore time-varying effects on mortality and selection bias due to selective attrition may underestimate the long-term health effects of disasters.
Race, Flourishing, and All-Cause Mortality in the United States, 1995–2016
Authors: Louie Patricia , Upenieks Laura , Siddiqi Arjumand , Williams David R , Takeuchi David T
Published: March 2021

We assessed whether race moderates the association between flourishing and all-cause mortality. We used panel data from the Midlife in the United States Study (MIDUS) (1995–2016; n = 2,851). Approximately 19% of White respondents and 23% of Black respondents in the baseline sample died over the course of the 21-year study period (n = 564). Cox proportional hazard models showed that Blacks had a higher mortality rate relative to Whites and higher levels of flourishing were associated with a lower mortality rate. Furthermore, a significant interaction between flourishing and race in predicting death was observed. Blacks with higher levels of flourishing had a mortality rate that was not significantly different from that of Whites. However, Blacks, but not Whites, with low flourishing scores had a higher mortality rate. As such, health-promotion efforts focused on enhancing flourishing among Black populations may reduce the Black–White gap in mortalityrate.
Raced Repertoires: The Linguistic Repertoire as Multi-Semiotic and Racialized
Authors: Oostendorp Marcelyn
Published: March 2021

In this article, the central argument is that research on the semiotic repertoire should also focus on how repertoires are racialized, and race is evoked through the semiotic repertoire. The article uses data from the South African educational context to advance a position in which semiotic repertoires simultaneously give and restrict access, evoke evaluation and construct identities in particular ways because of their entanglement with (racialized) bodies. I propose that this simultaneity can be theorized by viewing the black body as ‘intercorporeal’ and ‘grotesque’ (Bakhtin 1984). By drawing on such an approach, processes of racialization are explicitly connected to how semiotic resources are evoked in discourse. This article thus theoretically contributes to the recent movements in applied linguistics that view language as embodied, re-examine repertoires, and view language as multiplex and entangled. In addition, it also offers a framing that can theoretically challenge discourses of post-racialism with its multi-layered account of how race continues to be experienced as a significant form of meaning-making.
POKY: a software suite for multidimensional NMR and 3D structure calculation of biomolecules
Authors: Lee Woonghee , Rahimi Mehdi , Lee Yeongjoon , Chiu Abigail
Published: March 2021

The need for an efficient and cost-effective method is compelling in biomolecular NMR. To tackle this problem, we have developed the Poky suite, the revolutionized platform with boundless possibilities for advancing research and technology development in signal detection, resonance assignment, structure calculation and relaxation studies with the help of many automation and user interface tools. This software is extensible and scalable by scripting and batching as well as providing modern graphical user interfaces and a diverse range of modules right out of the box.

Availability and implementation

Poky is freely available to non-commercial users at https://poky.clas.ucdenver.edu.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Early stages of tau pathology and its associations with functional connectivity, atrophy and memory
Authors: Berron David , Vogel Jacob W , Insel Philip S , Pereira Joana B , Xie Long , Wisse Laura E M , Yushkevich Paul A , Palmqvist Sebastian , Mattsson-Carlgren Niklas , Stomrud Erik , Smith Ruben , Strandberg Olof , Hansson Oskar
Published: March 2021

In Alzheimer’s disease, post-mortem studies have shown that the first cortical site where neurofibrillary tangles appear is the transentorhinal region, a subregion within the medial temporal lobe that largely overlaps with Brodmann area 35, and the entorhinal cortex. Here we used tau-PET imaging to investigate the sequence of tau pathology progression within the human medial temporal lobe and across regions in the posterior-medial system. Our objective was to study how medial temporal tau is related to functional connectivity, regional atrophy, and memory performance. We included 215 amyloid-β− cognitively unimpaired, 81 amyloid-β+ cognitively unimpaired and 87 amyloid-β+ individuals with mild cognitive impairment, who each underwent 18F-RO948 tau and 18F-flutemetamol amyloid PET imaging, structural T1-MRI and memory assessments as part of the Swedish BioFINDER-2 study. First, event-based modelling revealed that the entorhinal cortex and Brodmann area 35 show the earliest signs of tau accumulation followed by the anterior and posterior hippocampus, Brodmann area 36 and the parahippocampal cortex. In later stages, tau accumulation became abnormal in neocortical temporal and finally parietal brain regions. Second, in cognitively unimpaired individuals, increased tau load was related to local atrophy in the entorhinal cortex, Brodmann area 35 and the anterior hippocampus and tau load in several anterior medial temporal lobe subregions was associated with distant atrophy of the posterior hippocampus. Tau load, but not atrophy, in these regions was associated with lower memory performance. Further, tau-related reductions in functional connectivity in critical networks between the medial temporal lobe and regions in the posterior-medial system were associated with this early memory impairment. Finally, in patients with mild cognitive impairment, the association of tau load in the hippocampus with memory performance was partially mediated by posterior hippocampal atrophy. In summary, our findings highlight the progression of tau pathology across medial temporal lobe subregions and its disease stage-specific association with memory performance. While tau pathology might affect memory performance in cognitively unimpaired individuals via reduced functional connectivity in critical medial temporal lobe-cortical networks, memory impairment in mild cognitively impaired patients is associated with posterior hippocampal atrophy.
Myeloarchitectonic Asymmetries of Language Regions in the Human Brain
Authors: Yuan Di , Luo Daiyi , Kwok Veronica P Y , Zhou Yulong , Tian Haoyue , Yu Qianqian , An Jie , Gao Jia-Hong , Qiu Shijun , Tan Li Hai
Published: March 2021

One prominent theory in neuroscience and psychology assumes that cortical regions for language are left hemisphere lateralized in the human brain. In the current study, we used a novel technique, quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (qMRI), to examine interhemispheric asymmetries in language regions in terms of macromolecular tissue volume (MTV) and quantitative longitudinal relaxation time (T1) maps in the living human brain. These two measures are known to reflect cortical myeloarchitecture from the microstructural perspective. One hundred and fifteen adults (55 male, 60 female) were examined for their myeloarchitectonic asymmetries of language regions. We found that the cortical myeloarchitecture of inferior frontal areas including the pars opercularis, pars triangularis, and pars orbitalis is left lateralized, while that of the middle temporal gyrus, Heschl’s gyrus, and planum temporale is right lateralized. Moreover, the leftward lateralization of myelination structure is significantly correlated with language skills measured by phonemic and speech tone awareness. This study reveals for the first time a mixed pattern of myeloarchitectonic asymmetries, which calls for a general theory to accommodate the full complexity of principles underlying human hemispheric specialization.
Adult Population Coverage With Influenza Vaccine and Influenza Hospitalization Rates—Is There a Role for Active Outreach to Immunize At-Risk Neighborhoods?
Authors: Czaja Christopher A , Cockburn Myles G , Colborn Kathryn , Miller Lisa , Thomas Deborah S K , Herlihy Rachel K , Alden Nisha , Simões Eric A F
Published: March 2021

We evaluated whether Denver neighborhoods with elevated rates of adult hospitalizations for laboratory-confirmed influenza had lower adult coverage with influenza vaccine. Overall vaccine coverage was low. Hospitalization rates were associated with demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. Active immunization of at-risk neighborhoods may be necessary to address disparities in influenza hospitalization rates.
Social–Emotional Attention in School-Age Children: A Call for School-Based Intervention during COVID-19 and Distance Learning
Authors: Raffaele Christine Teal , Khosravi Parmis , Parker Alyssa , Godovich Sheina , Rich Brendan , Adleman Nancy
Published: March 2021

Early research indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent regulations put children at increased risk of negative mood, anxiety, attention difficulties, and social challenges. Concordantly, these difficulties also are associated with deficits in social–emotional attention in children. On a daily basis, students are required to process and respond to a large amount of complex social–emotional information, including attending to teachers and interacting with peers. These attentional demands and associated stressors have increased as students are required to stare at computer screens during online learning as a result of COVID-19 restrictions. However, there is a dearth of research that investigates the role of social and emotional information on attention in children. The present study assessed the effects of social relevance and emotional valence on attentional demands in children and how functioning is related to individual differences in symptoms and deficits that may be exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Results show that social and emotional information affect attention in children. Task performance also was associated with negative mood, social stress, and attention focus. This study highlights the need for school-based distance learning interventions to help ameliorate negative social–emotional risks of the COVID-19 pandemic in children. Potential effective avenues include mindfulness-based interventions and attention bias modification training.
A research parasite's perspective on establishing a baseline to avoid errors in secondary analyses
Authors: Raman Ayush T
Published: March 2021

To enhance reproducibility in scientific research, more and more datasets are becoming publicly available so that researchers can perform secondary analyses to investigate questions the original scientists had not posited. This increases the return on investment for the NIH and other funding bodies. These datasets, however, are not perfect, and a better understanding of the assumptions that shaped them is required. The 2020 Junior Research Parasite Award recognized our work that showed that the signal-to-noise ratio in a particular dataset had not been investigated, leading to an erroneous conclusion in the original research. In this commentary, I share the process that led to the identification of the problem and hopefully provide useful lessons for other research parasites.
A House Divided: Norm Fragmentation in the International Human Rights Regime
Authors: Terman Rochelle , Búzás Zoltán I
Published: March 2021

Although human rights are widely endorsed in the abstract, significant variation exists in the degree to which different states endorse different rights. To what extent is the international human rights community divided? This research note examines fragmentation in the international human rights regime using an inductive, data-driven approach. We trace states’ normative positions as they are expressed in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a UN mechanism where states “peer review” one another's human rights practices. We analyze over 56,000 recommendations from the first two cycles of the UPR using data collected from the non-profit organization UPR Info. Employing unsupervised scaling and clustering methods, we find four interstate clusters or factions emerging from this process: Civil Libertarians, Developmentalists, Institutionalists, and Egalitarians. Our results indicate that the international human rights regime reflects less a singular community than a set of communities, each constituted by a distinct configuration of normative positions. They also reveal new insights about specific norms: while women's rights and children's rights are broadly endorsed, norms related to sexuality and migration are more contentious and partisan. While our findings are descriptive, they lay the foundation for new causal questions of interest to scholars of human rights and international norms.
Clinical and serological outcomes in patients treated with oral doxycycline for early neurosyphilis
Authors: Girometti Nicolò , Junejo Muhammad H , Nugent Diarmuid , McOwan Alan , Whitlock Gary ,   the 56 Dean Street Collaborative Group, Gedela Keerti , Patel Sheel , Suchak Tara , Tittle Victoria
Published: March 2021

Objectives

Penicillin-based antibiotic treatment for syphilis infection with CNS involvement (early neurosyphilis) is not always a suitable treatment option. We compared outcomes of patients diagnosed with early neurosyphilis and treated with doxycycline or procaine G penicillin.

Methods

Serological and clinical outcomes were analysed in patients diagnosed with early neurosyphilis between January 2015 and October 2019 at 56 Dean Street, a combined sexual health and HIV service based in London, UK. Acute onset of CNS, ocular and/or otic symptomatology and a documented seroconverting syphilis serology or a >4-fold increase in rapid plasma reagin (‘RPR)’ test titre within the previous 12 months were criteria used to define a case. Mann–Whitney U-test and χ2 tests were used to test distributions between baseline characteristics and outcomes according to treatment administered.

Results

Eighty-seven patients were included: median age = 35 years (IQR = 31–45), 98% MSM, 79% white ethnicity, 53% HIV-1 positive and 40% previously diagnosed with syphilis at any stage. They were treated exclusively with either intramuscular (IM) procaine G penicillin (71%) or oral doxycycline (18%). Patients received doxycycline treatment over a penicillin-based regimen due to IM treatment declined (31%), inability to attend for IM injections (31%) or penicillin allergy (19%). Serological response was achieved by all patients; 91% reported full symptom resolution at 30 days from end of treatment. Similar rates of clinical and serological response and seroreversion were observed in the groups treated with procaine G penicillin versus doxycycline.

Conclusions

The clinical and serological outcomes seen with penicillin-based versus doxycycline treatments were similar. A randomized controlled trial is needed to establish the effectiveness of doxycycline in the treatment of early neurosyphilis.
Soft tissue sarcoma in adolescent and young adult patients: a retrospective study using a nationwide bone and soft tissue tumor registry in Japan
Authors: Fukushima Takashi , Ogura Koichi , Akiyama Toru , Takeshita Katsushi , Kawai Akira
Published: March 2021

Objective

The relationship between the adolescent and young adult age groups and poor overall survival in soft tissue sarcoma and the risk factors for poor outcomes in adolescent and young adult patients with soft tissue sarcoma were analyzed.

Methods

The medical records of 7759 Japanese patients diagnosed with soft tissue sarcoma from 2006–13 were accessed from the Bone and Soft Tissue Tumor registry. The epidemiological features of adolescent and young adult patients were compared with those of other age groups. The cancer survival rates were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. The prognostic factors for cancer survival were analyzed with the Cox proportional hazards models. The primary endpoint for prognosis was tumor-related death.

Results

There were 210 children, 1467 adolescent and young adults, 2771 adults and 3311 elderly among the 7759 patients identified with soft tissue sarcoma. Compared with other age groups, the proportions of myxoid/round cell liposarcoma, synovial sarcoma, malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor, primitive neuroectodermal tumor and rhabdomyosarcoma in adolescent and young adult patients were the highest, but none was significantly more prevalent in adolescent and young adult patients. On multivariate analysis, age was not a prognostic factor for poor cancer survival among adolescent and young adult patients with soft tissue sarcoma. The cancer survival rates of adolescent and young adult patients with malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor were poorer than those of the other age groups; however, adolescent and young adult age was not a prognostic factor on multivariate analysis in malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor patients.

Conclusions

Our study is the first to investigate soft tissue sarcoma in adolescent and young adult patients using the nationwide Bone and Soft Tissue Tumor registry. Adolescent and young adult age is not a prognostic factor for poor cancer survival among those with soft tissue sarcoma in Japan.
How kelp in drag lose their ruffles: environmental cues, growth kinematics, and mechanical constraints govern curvature
Authors: Koehl Mimi A R , Silk Wendy K
Published: March 2021

We reveal how patterns of growth in response to environmental cues can produce curvature in biological structures by setting up mechanical stresses that cause elastic buckling. Nereocystis luetkeana are nearshore kelp with wide ruffled blades that minimize self-shading in slow flow, but narrow flat blades that reduce hydrodynamic drag in rapid flow. Previously we showed that blade ruffling is a plastic trait associated with a transverse gradient in longitudinal growth. Here we consider expansion and displacement of tissue elements due to growth in blades, and find that growth patterns are altered by tensile stress due to hydrodynamic drag, but not by shading or nutrients. When longitudinal stress in a blade is low in slow flow, blade edges grow faster than the midline in young tissue near the blade base. Tissue elements are displaced distally by expansion of younger proximal tissue. Strain energy caused by the transverse gradient in longitudinal growth is released by elastic buckling once the blade grows wide enough, producing ruffles distal to the region where the growth inhomogeneity started. If a blade experiences higher stress in rapid flow, the edges and midline grow at the same rate, so the blade becomes flat as these new tissue elements are displaced distally.
Event, Trauma, and Ethics in Wing Tek Lum’sThe Nanjing Massacre
Authors: Sha Richard C
Published: March 2021

Wing Tek Lum’s 2012 poetry collection The Nanjing Massacre raises vital questions about trauma. How do we know when a traumatic event begins? What cognitive options are open to victims of trauma? What are the ethical implications of our theories of trauma? I thus situate this volume between Bessel van der Kolk’s and Jacques Lacan’s theories of trauma because these poems challenge their key assumptions. Lum turns to poetry to think through how trauma begins and ends, the degree to which healing the gap between body and mind is part of the “cure” or part of the disease, and how much cognitive stretching is possible in trauma’s wake.
Asteroseismic analysis of 15 solar-like oscillating evolved stars
Authors: Çelik Orhan Z , Yıldız M , Kayhan C
Published: March 2021

Asteroseismology using space-based telescopes is vital to our understanding of stellar structure and evolution. CoRoT, Kepler, and TESS space telescopes have detected large numbers of solar-like oscillating evolved stars. Solar-like oscillation frequencies have an important role in the determination of fundamental stellar parameters; in the literature, the relations between the two is established by the so-called scaling relations. In this study, we analyse data obtained from the observation of 15 evolved solar-like oscillating stars using the Kepler and ground-based telescopes. The main purpose of the study is to determine very precisely the fundamental parameters of evolved stars by constructing interior models using asteroseismic parameters. We also fit the reference frequencies of models to the observational reference frequencies caused by the He ii ionization zone. The 15 evolved stars are found to have masses and radii within ranges of 0.79–1.47 M⊙ and 1.60–3.15 R⊙, respectively. Their model ages range from 2.19 to 12.75 Gyr. It is revealed that fitting reference frequencies typically increase the accuracy of asteroseismic radius, mass, and age. The typical uncertainties of mass and radius are ∼3–6 and ∼1–2 per cent, respectively. Accordingly, the differences between the model and literature ages are generally only a few Gyr.
Dual Regeneration of Muscle and Nerve by Intramuscular Infusion of Mitochondria in a Nerve Crush Injury Model
Authors: Sheu Meei-Ling , Shen Chiung-Chyi , Tsou Hsi-Kai , Yang Meng Yin , Su Hong-Lin , Sheehan Jason , Chang Ming-Hong , Chen Hong-Shiu , Pan Hung-Chuan
Published: March 2021

BACKGROUND

Peripheral nerve injuries result in muscle denervation and apoptosis of the involved muscle, which subsequently reduces mitochondrial content and causes muscle atrophy. The local injection of mitochondria has been suggested as a useful tool for restoring the function of injured nerves or the brain.

OBJECTIVE

To determine outcomes following the administration of isolated mitochondria into denervated muscle after nerve injury that have not been investigated.

METHODS

Muscle denervation was conducted in a sciatic nerve crushed by a vessel clamp and the denervated gastrocnemius muscle was subjected to 195 μg hamster green fluorescent protein (GFP)-mitochondria intramuscular infusion for 10 min.

RESULTS

The mitochondria were homogeneously distributed throughout the denervated muscle after intramuscular infusion. The increases in caspase 3, 8-oxo-dG, Bad, Bax, and ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 levels in the denervated muscle were attenuated by mitochondrial infusion, and the downregulation of Bcl-2 expression was prevented by mitochondrial infusion. In addition, the decrease in the expression of desmin and the acetylcholine receptor was counteracted by mitochondrial infusion; this effect paralleled the amount of distributed mitochondria. The restoration of the morphology of injured muscles and nerves was augmented by the local infusion of mitochondria. Mitochondrial infusion also led to improvements in sciatic functional indexes, compound muscle action potential amplitudes, and conduction latencies as well as the parameters of CatWalk (Noldus) gait analysis.

CONCLUSION

The local infusion of mitochondria can successfully prevent denervated muscle atrophy and augment nerve regeneration by reducing oxidative stress in denervated muscle.
Median Age at HPV Infection Among Women in the United States: A Model-Based Analysis Informed by Real-world Data
Authors: Prabhu Vimalanand S , Roberts Craig S , Kothari Smita , Niccolai Linda
Published: March 2021

Background

The US Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommended shared clinical decision-making for human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination of individuals aged 27 to 45 years (mid-adults) in June 2019. Determining the median age at causal HPV infection and CIN2+ diagnosis based on the natural history of HPV disease can help elucidate the incidence of HPV infections and the potential benefits of vaccination in mid-adults.

Methods

Real-world data on CIN2+ diagnosis from the prevaccine era were sourced from a statewide surveillance registry in Connecticut. Age distribution of CIN2+ diagnosis in 2008 and 2009 was estimated. A discrete event simulation model was developed to predict the age distribution of causal HPV infection. The optimal age distribution of causal HPV infection provided the best goodness-of-fit statistic to compare the predicted vs real-world age distribution of CIN2+ diagnosis.

Results

The median age at CIN2+ diagnosis from 2008 through 2009 in Connecticut was 28 years. The predicted median age at causal HPV infection was estimated to be 23.9 years. There was a difference of 5.2 years in the median age at acquisition of causal HPV infection and the median age at CIN2+ diagnosis.

Conclusions

Real-world data on CIN2+ diagnosis and model-based analysis indicate a substantial burden of infection and disease among women aged 27 years or older, which supports the ACIP recommendation to vaccinate some mid-adults. When natural history is known, this novel approach can also help determine the timing of causal infections for other commonly asymptomatic infectious diseases.
Emphasizing truthfulness in COVID-19 test declarations
Authors: Gozum Ivan Efreaim A , Carreon Alicia D V , Manansala Marian M
Published: March 2021

In previous correspondence, it was explained that faking COVID-19 diagnostic tests and vaccination certifications posits serious concerns for matters of ethics and economics. With this, we suggest, in this paper, the importance of giving emphasis to being truthful in declaring their COVID-19 diagnostic test results and vaccination certificates. Also, in being truthful, it is emphasized in this paper that honesty and transparency in regard to the said results and certificates are necessary in ensuring public health and promoting awareness during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Addressing the psychosocial needs of students attending online classes during this Covid-19 pandemic
Authors: Carreon Alicia D V , Manansala Marian M
Published: March 2021

An earlier article discusses that the Coronavirus pandemic stirred a challenging situation for many educators in online classes. The correspondence proposes that teachers in a work-from-home environment should be provided with psychosocial supports to address the mental and emotional stresses caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. It is also noted that the outbreak of the Coronavirus disease poses a serious threat to millions of students enrolled in online classes. The shifting from face-to-face classes to online classes caused students to experience psychological or psychosocial distress. In response to the previous article, this paper presents how students’ psychosocial needs should be addressed through psychosocial supports.
The function of SUMOylation and its crucial roles in the development of neurological diseases
Authors: Chen Xu , Zhang Yuhong , Wang Qiqi , Qin Yuanyuan , Yang Xinyi , Xing Zhengcao , Shen Yajie , Wu Hongmei , Qi Yitao
Published: March 2021

Neurological diseases are relatively complex diseases of a large system; however, the detailed mechanism of their pathogenesis has not been completely elucidated, and effective treatment methods are still lacking for some of the diseases. The SUMO (small ubiquitin‐like modifier) modification is a dynamic and reversible process that is catalyzed by SUMO‐specific E1, E2, and E3 ligases and reversed by a family of SENPs (SUMO/Sentrin‐specific proteases). SUMOylation covalently conjugates numerous cellular proteins, and affects their cellular localization and biological activity in numerous cellular processes. A wide range of neuronal proteins have been identified as SUMO substrates, and the disruption of SUMOylation results in defects in synaptic plasticity, neuronal excitability, and neuronal stress responses. SUMOylation disorders cause many neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and Huntington’s disease. By modulating the ion channel subunit, SUMOylation imbalance is responsible for the development of various channelopathies. The regulation of protein SUMOylation in neurons may provide a new strategy for the development of targeted therapeutic drugs for neurodegenerative diseases and channelopathies.
Telemedicine Can Support Measurable and High-Quality Epilepsy Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Moura Lidia M. V. R. , Donahue Maria A. , Smith Jason R. , Dass Deepika , Sanches Paula R. , Ayub Neishay , McGraw Christopher , Zafar Sahar F. , Cash Sydney S. , Hoch Daniel B.
Published: March 2021

Routine outpatient epilepsy care has shifted from in-person to telemedicine visits in response to safety concerns posed by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. But whether telemedicine can support and maintain standardized documentation of high-quality epilepsy care remains unknown. In response, the authors conducted a quality improvement study at a level 4 epilepsy center between January 20, 2019, and May 31, 2020. Weekly average completion proportion of standardized documentation used by a team of neurologists for adult patients for the diagnosis of epilepsy, seizure classification, and frequency were analyzed. By December 15, 2019, a 94% average weekly completion proportion of standardized epilepsy care documentation was achieved that was maintained through May 31, 2020. Moreover, during the period of predominately telemedicine encounters in response to the pandemic, the completion proportion was 90%. This study indicates that high completion of standardized documentation of seizure-related information can be sustained during telemedicine appointments for routine outpatient epilepsy care at a level 4 epilepsy center.
Changes in Respiratory Muscle Thickness during Mechanical Ventilation: Focus on Expiratory Muscles
Authors: Shi Zhong-Hua , de Vries Heder , de Grooth Harm-Jan , Jonkman Annemijn H. , Zhang Yingrui , Haaksma Mark , van de Ven Peter M. , de Man Angelique A. M. E. , Girbes Armand , Tuinman Pieter R. , Zhou Jian-Xin , Ottenheijm Coen , Heunks Leo
Published: March 2021

Background

The lateral abdominal wall muscles are recruited with active expiration, as may occur with high breathing effort, inspiratory muscle weakness, or pulmonary hyperinflation. The effects of critical illness and mechanical ventilation on these muscles are unknown. This study aimed to assess the reproducibility of expiratory muscle (i.e., lateral abdominal wall muscles and rectus abdominis muscle) ultrasound and the impact of tidal volume on expiratory muscle thickness, to evaluate changes in expiratory muscle thickness during mechanical ventilation, and to compare this to changes in diaphragm thickness.

Methods

Two raters assessed the interrater and intrarater reproducibility of expiratory muscle ultrasound (n = 30) and the effect of delivered tidal volume on expiratory muscle thickness (n = 10). Changes in the thickness of the expiratory muscles and the diaphragm were assessed in 77 patients with at least two serial ultrasound measurements in the first week of mechanical ventilation.

Results

The reproducibility of the measurements was excellent (interrater intraclass correlation coefficient: 0.994 [95% CI, 0.987 to 0.997]; intrarater intraclass correlation coefficient: 0.992 [95% CI, 0.957 to 0.998]). Expiratory muscle thickness decreased by 3.0 ± 1.7% (mean ± SD) with tidal volumes of 481 ± 64 ml (P < 0.001). The thickness of the expiratory muscles remained stable in 51 of 77 (66%), decreased in 17 of 77 (22%), and increased in 9 of 77 (12%) patients. Reduced thickness resulted from loss of muscular tissue, whereas increased thickness mainly resulted from increased interparietal fasciae thickness. Changes in thickness of the expiratory muscles were not associated with changes in the thickness of the diaphragm (R
2 = 0.013; P = 0.332).

Conclusions

Thickness measurement of the expiratory muscles by ultrasound has excellent reproducibility. Changes in the thickness of the expiratory muscles occurred in 34% of patients and were unrelated to changes in diaphragm thickness. Increased expiratory muscle thickness resulted from increased thickness of the fasciae.

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Civil Disobedience and Abortion Services After Roe v Wade
Authors: Minkoff Howard , Diaz-Tello Farah , Paulk Lauren B.
Published: March 2021

The future of Roe v Wade is uncertain. If it is overturned, protection of reproductive rights will be determined by the acts of individual state governments, some of which have already signaled that they will ban or severely restrict access to abortion. Health care professionals working in states that maintain the laws that applied in the time before the overturn of Roe may wish to provide assistance—anything from consultation to shipping medications—to women living in more restrictive venues. However, it is important for health care professionals to be aware of the legal consequences of those acts, as well as ethical considerations, when deciding whether to adhere to or to defy laws that they believe threaten the well-being of women. It is likely that legal consequences will vary with the type of act in which a physician engages. This article will review legal considerations, to the extent that they can be known at this point, as well as the ethics of civil disobedience.