bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Two Current Systems in the Preliminary Phase of Sudden Commencements in the Magnetosphere
Authors: Fujita Shigeru , Tanaka Takashi
Published: January 2022

The geomagnetic variations of the preliminary impulse (PI) of the sudden commencement (SC) are known to show a time delay of the peak displacement and longer duration time in the higher latitudes in the pre-noon and post-noon sectors of the polar region. This peculiar behavior of the PI geomagnetic variation is associated with temporal deformation of the ionospheric PI field-aligned current (FAC) distribution into a crescent shape; its lower-latitude edge extends toward the anti-sunward direction, and its higher-latitude edge almost stays on the same longitude near noon. Numerical simulations revealed that the deformation of the FAC distribution is derived from different behaviors of the two PI current systems. The first current system consists of the FAC connected to the PI FAC in the lower latitude side of the ionosphere, the cross-magnetopause current, and the magnetosheath current (type L current system). The cross-magnetopause current is the inertia current generated in the acceleration front of the solar wind due to the sudden compression of the magnetosheath. Thus, the longitudinal speed of the type L current system in the ionosphere is the solar wind speed in the magnetosheath projected into the ionosphere. In contrast, the PI current system connected to the PI FAC at higher latitude (type H current system) consists of the upward/downward FAC in the pre-noon/post-noon sector, respectively, and dawn-to-dusk field-perpendicular current (FPC) along the dayside magnetopause. The dawn-to-dusk FPC moves to the higher latitudes in the outer magnetosphere over time. The FAC of the type H current system is converted from the FPC due to convergence of the return FPC heading toward the sunward direction in the outer magnetosphere; the return FPC is the inertia current driven by the magnetospheric plasma flow associated with compression of the magnetopause behind the front region of the accelerated solar wind. The acceleration front spreads concentrically from the subsolar point. Consequently, as the return FPC is converted to the FAC of the type H current system, it does not move much in the longitudinal direction over time because the dawn-to-dusk FPC of the type H current system moves to the higher latitudes. Therefore, the high-latitude edge of the PI current distribution in the ionosphere moves only slightly. Finally, we clarified that the FPC-FAC conversion of the type L current system mainly occurs in the region where the Alfvén speed starts to increase toward the Earth. A region with a steep gradient of the Alfvén speed like the plasmapause is not always necessary for conversion from the FPC to the FAC. We also suggest the possible field-aligned structure of the standing Alfvén wave that may occur in the PI phase.
A 2-Gene Host Signature for Improved Accuracy of COVID-19 Diagnosis Agnostic to Viral Variants
Authors: Albright Jack , Mick Eran , Sanchez-Guerrero Estella , Kamm Jack , Mitchell Anthea , Detweiler Angela , Neff Norma , Tsitsiklis Alexandra , Serpa Paula , Ratnasiri Kalani , Havlir Diane , Kistler Amy , DeRisi Joseph , Pisco Angela Oliveira , Langelier Charles
Published: January 2022

The continued emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants is one of several factors that may cause false negative viral PCR test results. Such tests are also susceptible to false positive results due to trace contamination from high viral titer samples. Host immune response markers provide an orthogonal indication of infection that can mitigate these concerns when combined with direct viral detection. Here, we leverage nasopharyngeal swab RNA-seq data from patients with COVID-19, other viral acute respiratory illnesses and non-viral conditions (n=318) to develop support vector machine classifiers that rely on a parsimonious 2-gene host signature to predict COVID-19. Optimal classifiers achieve an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) greater than 0.9 when evaluated on an independent RNA-seq cohort (n=553). We show that a classifier relying on a single interferon-stimulated gene, such as IFI6 or IFI44, measured in RT-qPCR assays (n=144) achieves AUC values as high as 0.88. Addition of a second gene, such as GBP5, significantly improves the specificity compared to other respiratory viruses. The performance of a clinically practical 2-gene RT-qPCR classifier is robust across common SARS-CoV-2 variants, including Omicron, and is unaffected by cross-contamination, demonstrating its utility for improving accuracy of COVID-19 diagnostics.
The Plasmodium falciparum protein PfMRP1 functions as an influx ABC transporter
Authors: Silva Miguel , Calçada Carla , Osório Nuno , Baptista Vitória , Thathy Vandana , Teixeira Miguel , Reid Adam , Ferreira Pedro , Fidock David , Veiga Maria
Published: January 2022

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-binding cassette (ABC) transporters play an important role in mediating solute or drug transport across cellular membranes. Although this class of transporters has been well characterized in diverse organisms little is known about the physiological roles in Plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest malaria parasite species. We studied the Plasmodium falciparum Multidrug Resistance-associated Protein 1 (PfMRP1; PF3D7_0112200), an ABC transporter localized to the parasite plasma membrane, generating genetic disrupted parasites. We demonstrate that parasites with disrupted pfmrp1 are resistant to folate analogs, methotrexate and aminopterin, with antimalarial activity. This phenotype occurs due to reduction in compound accumulation in the parasite cytoplasm. Phylogenetic analysis supports pfmrp1 being distantly related to ABC transporters in other eukaryotes, suggesting an unusual function. We propose that PfMRP1 can act as a solute importer, a function not previously observed in this organism.
Interaction between gene polymorphisms in MLL3 gene and TGF-β signal pathway with the susceptibility of type B aortic dissection in the Chinese population
Authors: Yuan qinghua , Chang Yafei , Jiang Peipei , Sun Ling , Ma Yitong , Ma Xiang
Published: January 2022

Objective: To investigate the impact of MLL3 polymorphisms and Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) pathway additional their interactions with type B aortic dissection (AD) risk based on the Chinese population. ﻿Methods: We investigated the MLL3 (rs10244604, rs6963460, rs1137721), TGFβ1 (rs1800469), TGFβ2 (rs900), TGFR1 (rs1626340) and TGFR2 (rs4522809) gene polymorphisms analysis. Logistic regression was performed to investigate the association between 7 SNPs and Type B AD. GMDR software was used to analyze gene-gene and gene-environment interactions. Odds ratio (OR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) was employed to evaluate the association of genes and Type B AD risk. Results: Genotypes and alleles distribution in case and control groups showed significant differences (P<0.05). Logistic regression has shown that the Type B AD risk was the highest in those with rs1137721 CT genotype, (OR=4.33, 95%CI=1.51-12.40). Meanwhile, WBC, Drinking, Hypertension, TG, and LDL-C were independent risk factors for Type B AD. Respectively, Logistic regression showed that the Type B AD risk was the highest in those with rs1137721-TT+CT and rs4522809-AA genotype (OR=6.72, 95% CI=1.56-29.84), and was lowest in those with rs1137721-CC and rs4522809-AA+GG genotype (OR=4.38, 95%CI=0.92-20.83). However, 55-month median long-term follow-up were not show significant.Conclusion: MLL3 (rs1137721) with TGFβ1 (rs4522809) polymorphisms may be closely related to the development of Type B AD. Inflammation reaction and lipid metabolism were associated with the morbility of Type B AD. Moreover, there exist gene-gene interactions among these susceptibility genes. These may become new diagnostic and research goal for Type B AD.
Poor prognosis of stage I lung adenocarcinoma patients determined by elevated expression over pre/minimally invasive status of COL11A1 and THBS2 in the focal adhesion pathway
Authors: Shi Leming , Shang Jun , Zhao Yue , Jiang He , Yang Jingcheng , Zhang Naixin , Ren Luyao , Chen Qingwang , Yu Ying , Chen Haiquan , Zheng Yuanting
Published: January 2022

Patients with adenocarcinomas in situ (AIS) and minimally invasive (MIA) lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) are curable by surgery, whereas 20% stage I patients die within five years post-operative. We hypothesize that poor-prognosis stage I patients may exhibit key molecular characteristics deviating from AIS/MIA. Focal adhesion (FA) was identified as the only pathway significantly perturbed at both genomic and transcriptomic levels by comparing 98 AIS/MIA and 99 LUAD. Then, two FA genes (COL11A1 and THBS2) were found strongly upregulated from AIS/MIA to stage I while steadily expressed from normal to AIS/MIA. Furthermore, unsupervised clustering separated stage I patients into two molecularly and prognostically distinct subtypes (S1 and S2) based on COL11A1 and THBS2 expressions (FA2). Subtype S1 resembled AIS/MIA, whereas S2 exhibited more somatic alterations and activated cancer-associated fibroblast. The simple knowledge-driven model was validated with 12 external datasets, showing potential in identifying high-risk stage I patients for more intensive post-surgery treatment.
Mussel-inspired Coating of α-AlH3: A Compact Structure with Highly Enhanced Stability
Authors: Qin Mingna , Yao Bingjie , Shi Qiang , Tang Wang , Chen Shaoli , Guo Tao , Qiu Shaojun , Zhang Yan , Ge Zhongxue
Published: January 2022

we present a novel surfacing coating to resolve the stability of α-AlH3. Inspired by the strong chemical adhesion of mussels, the polymerization of dopamine was first introduced to coat α-AlH3 through a simple situ polymerization. The α-AlH3 was used as a substrate. In-depth characterizations confirmed compact formation with PDA on α-AlH3 surface. The coated α-AlH3 sample was characterized by XRD XPS and SEM . The results show that a strong PDA film is formed on the surface of α-AlH3, the PDA@α-AlH3 retained primary morphology. The crystal form of α-AlH3 does not change after coated by PDA. The results of XPS analysis show that N1s appears on the material after coated by PDA, indicating that polydopamine is formed on the surface of α-AlH3. The moisture absorption tests show that the moisture absorption rate of α-AlH3 is greatly reduced after being coated with PDA. The excellent intact ability of PDA prevent α-AlH3 reacting with watered in the air. The thermal stability of α-AlH3 before and after coating was analyzed by DSC. This work demonstrates the successful applications of dopamine chemistry to α-AlH3, thereby providing a potential method for the metastable materials.
Detection of Face Mask in Real-Time Using Deep Convolutional Networks with Alert System
Authors: S Renugadevi A , B Nihila , A Rakesh , M priyadharshini
Published: January 2022

Owing to the spread of covid-19 in and around all the areas, the people are advised to wear masks regularly, maintain social distancing and to sanitize the hands frequently. But most of the people are not properly following the wearing of masks in all the places including the crowdest areas. While the causes are complicated, there is a widespread belief that there is insufficient evidence to justify the use of face masks, particularly among the general people in a community environment. Detection of face mask is a difficult computer vision research subject due to the tiny size of the face cover region. The availability of appropriate datasets for this problem is rare so the way of finding solution is difficult. Considering all the drawbacks in the existing methodologies, The proposed method uses a innovative dataset that contains the images of masks and also the dataset includes 5,821 images of both the persons with masks and without masks that helps to classify in the different labels such as having mask and does not have mask. The box is bounded over the persons with and without masks. For detection, the system employs the YOLO v4 model, which has been shown to outperform prior versions of the YOLO and RESNET50 models.
Evaluation of Salinity by Using Wavelet Modeling
Authors: Dökmen Funda , ASLAN Zafer
Published: January 2022

Every year, due to the salinity resulting from improper irrigation practices, almost 10 billion ha of agricultural lands across the world cannot be used. Among the main elements (cations) for salinity in regions with dry or semi-dry climate are potassium (K+), sodium (Na+), calcium (Ca+2) and magnesium (Mg+’2). Using proper irrigation methods as well as ensuring the quality of irrigation water are of great importance in terms of the salinity of agricultural soils. In this study, laboratory analyses of ground water resources for salinity parameters were conducted in the province of Yalova (Taşköprü, Çiftlikköy, and Altınova regions). In the explanation of the analysis results, variations and effects based on the level of salinity were taken into account and the role of small, meso and large scale factors were determined through the use of the wavelet model. The study results would be of use in the estimation of salinity contents of soils with respect to groundwater irrigation in agricultural areas.
Erythropoietin in Acute Kidney Injury (EAKI): a Pragmatic Randomized Clinical Trial
Authors: Aoun Mabel , Sleilaty Ghassan , Boueri Celine , Younes Eliane , Gabriel Kim , Kahwaji Reine-Marie , Hilal Najla , Hawi Jenny , Araman Rita , Chelala Dania , Beaini Chadia
Published: January 2022

Background Treatment with erythropoietin is well established for anemia in chronic kidney disease patients but not well studied in acute kidney injury.MethodsThis is a multicenter, randomized, pragmatic controlled clinical trial. It included 134 hospitalized patients with anemia defined as hemoglobin <11 g/dL and acute kidney injury defined as an increase of serum creatinine of 0.3 mg/dL within 48 hours or 1.5 times baseline. One arm received recombinant human erythropoietin 4000 UI subcutaneously every other day (intervention; n=67) and the second received standard of care (control; n=67) during the hospitalization until discharge or death. The primary outcome was the need for transfusion; secondary outcomes were death, renal recovery, need for dialysis.ResultsThere was no statistically significant difference in transfusion need (RR=1.05, 95%CI 0.65,1.68; p=0.855), in renal recovery full or partial (RR=0.96, 95%CI 0.81,1.15; p=0.671), in need for dialysis (RR=11.00, 95%CI 0.62, 195.08; p=0.102) or in death (RR=1.43, 95%CI 0.58,3.53; p=0.440) between the erythropoietin and the control group. ConclusionsErythropoietin treatment had no impact on transfusions, renal recovery or mortality in acute kidney injury patients with anemia. The trial was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03401710, 17/01/2018).
Mitotic kinesin-like protein 1, regulated by FOXM1, promotes triple negative breast cancer progression via activating Wnt/β-catenin pathway
Authors: Li Zhi , Yang Hai-Yan , Zhang Xiao-Lan , Zhang Xu , Huang Yu-Zhou , Dai Xin-Yuan , Shi Liang , Zhou Guo-Ren , Wei Ji-Fu , Ding Qiang
Published: January 2022

Background: Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is highly malignant and has a worse prognosis, compared with other subtypes of breast cancer due to the absence of therapeutic targets. MKLP1 plays a crucial role in tumorigenesis and cancer progression. However, the role of MKLP1 in triple negative breast cancer and the underlying mechanism remain unknown. The study aimed to elucidate the biological function regulatory mechanism of MKLP1 in triple negative breast cancerMethods: Quantitative real-time PCR and Western blotting were used to determine the MKLP1 expression in breast cancer tissues and cell lines. Then, functional experiments in vitro and in vivo were performed to investigate the effects of MKLP1 on tumor growth and metastasis in triple negative breast cancer. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assay was conducted to illustrate the potential regulatory mechanisms of MKLP1 in triple negative breast cancer.Results: We found that MKLP1 was significantly up-regulated and associated with poor prognosis in triple negative breast cancer. MKLP1 could promote triple negative breast cancer proliferation, migration and invasion in vitro and in vivo. MKLP1 could activate Wnt/β-catenin pathway and promote EMT progression. In addition, FOXM1, upregulated by WDR5 via H3K4me3 modification, directly bound to the promoter of MKLP1 gene to promote its transcription and accelerated TNBC progression via Wnt/β-catenin pathway. Both of small inhibitor of FOXM1 and WDR5 could inhibit TNBC progression. Conclusions: Our findings elucidate WDR5/FOXM1/MKLP1/Wnt/β-catenin axis is associated with TNBC progression and may provide a novel and promising therapeutic target for TNBC treatment.
ReTEECA Trial. Rescue TransEsophageal Echocardiography for In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest.
Authors: Usman Asad Ali , Stein Samantha , Spelde Audrey , Teran-merino Felipe , Augoustides John , Weiss Stuart , Clapp Justin , Vernick William , Abella Benjamin , Gutsche Jacob
Published: January 2022

This trial is aimed at studying the utility and interventional outcomes of rescue transesophageal echocardiography (RescueTEE) to aid in diagnosis, change in management, and outcomes during CPR by using a point of care RescueTEE protocol in the evaluation of in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA). This is an interventional prospective convenience sampled partially blinded phase II clinical trial with primary outcomes of survival to hospital discharge (SHD) with RescueTEE image guided ACLS versus conventional ACLS.
Breast Filariasis Presenting Fibroadenoma like Nodules: A Rare Diagnosis
Authors: KUMAR PRABHAT , Priyadharisini J , Singh Ashish Ranjan
Published: January 2022

India has still not eradicated filariasis, which is still endemic throughout the country. This study focuses on the breast as a non-typical but not uncommon site of breast disease characterized by nematodes causing obstruction of lymphatic vessels caused by filariasis. The case described herein involves a 26-year-old married female who presented as a subcutaneous nodule in her left breast. Clinical interrogation of this case as part of the pathological diagnosis, phlebotomy was performed by venepuncture in order to examine peripheral blood smears under a microscope. Nonetheless, the peripheral blood smear did not show microfilariae of the disease. Furthermore, fine needle aspiration cytology was also performed to identify possible things for the study. It was diagnosed that filariasis with fibroadenoma was found to be carrying microfilariae present in fine-needle aspiration cytology smears of various lesions. Conclusively the lymphatic swelling was confirmed to be caused by Wuchereria bancrofti in fine-needle aspiration cytology examination without evidence in peripheral blood smears. It was shown that the subject had filariasis, and the patient responded well to daily treatment with diethylcarbamazine citrate for 42 days.
Documenting Research Software in Engineering Science
Authors: Hermann Sibylle , Fehr Jörg
Published: January 2022

The reuse of research software needs good documentation, however, the documentation in particular is often criticized. Especially in non-IT specific disciplines, the lack of documentation is attributed to the lack of training, the lack of time or missing rewards. This article addresses the hypothesis that scientists do document but do not know exactly what they need to document, why, and for whom. In order to evaluate the actual documentation practice of research software, we examined existing recommendations, and we evaluated their implementation in everyday practice using a concrete example from the engineering sciences and compared the findings with best practice examples. In order to get a broad overview of what documentation of research software entailed, we defined categories and used them to conduct the research. Our results show that the big picture of what documentation of research software means is missing. Recommendations do not consider the important role of developers whose documentation takes mainly place in their research articles. Moreover, we show that research software always has a history that influences the documentation.
Applying Runthrough Guidewire To Transseptal Puncture Without Iodinated Contrast Agent
Authors: wang Jinfeng , Fang Ping , Liu Jichun , Wei Youquan , Wang Xianghai , Yang Hao
Published: January 2022

Aims: Conventional transseptal puncture(TSP) relies on fluoroscopy and iodinated contrast agent to distinctly position the transseptal needle at the left atrium, however, there exists great challenges in clinic in patients with contrast hypersensitivity or allergy-like reactionsin the procedure. This study aimed to evaluate a novel approach to TSP assisted by Runthrough guidewire and fluoroscopy without use of iodinated contrast agent. Methods: Sixty patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation undergone radiofrequency catheter ablation were enrolled from February 2021 to October 2021, and randomised to routine TSP group and Runthrough guidewire assisted group. The two groups were compared regarding the total operative time, length of fluoroscopy exposure, difference of radiation dose in X-ray, and the safety was evaluated in the patients undergone TSP without iodinated contrast agent. Results: There were no differences in baseline demographics or clinical characteristics between the two groups. Although the total procedure time[(1.98±0.29) min vs.(2.11±0.14) min, P<0.04],length of fluoroscopic exposure [(1.83±0.30) vs.(1.98±0.14), P<0.19] and radiation dose in X-ray[(27.83±3.21) uGym2vs.(29.13±1.57) uGym2, P<0.30] were somewhat statistically different between groups, yet the difference was insignificant. No complications, including pericardial tamponade and aortic perforation, occurred in all patients. Conclusion: Iodine-free TSP under the guidance of Runthrough guidewire and fluoroscopy can be a simple, safe, economical and effective approach to TSP, and may be reproduced as a novel option for TSP in patients with contrast hypersensitivity or allergy-like reactions.
Ketone Body Rescued Seizure Behavior Of LRP1 Deficiency By Modulating Glutamate Transport
Authors: Zhang Jin-Ming , Chen Ming-Jie , He Jiong-Hui , Li Ya-Ping , Li Zhi-Cai , Ye Zi-Jing , Bao Yong-Hui , Huang Bing-Jun , Zhang Wen-Jie , Kwan Ping , Mao Yu-Ling , Qiao Jing-Da
Published: January 2022

LRP1, the low-density lipoprotein receptor 1, would be a novel candidate epilepsy gene according to our bioinformatic results and the animal study. In this study, we explored the role of LRP1 in Epilepsy and whether Beta-hydroxybutyrate, the principal ketone body of the ketogenic diet can treat epilepsy caused by LRP1 deficiency. UAS/GAL4 system was used to establish different genotype models. Flies were given Standard, High-sucrose, and ketone body food randomly. The bang-sensitive test was performed on flies and seizure-like behavior was assessed. Morphologic alteration of LRP1 defect in the brain was detected under GPF expression flies. We established global, astrocytic, and neuronal LRP1 knockdown flies. Whole body and glia LRP1 defect flies had a higher seizure rate compared to the control group in the behavior test. Ketone body decreased the seizure rate in behavior test in all LRP1 defect flies, compared to Standard and High sucrose diet. In morphologic experiments, we found that LRP1 deficiency caused partial loss of the ellipsoidal body and partial destruction of the fan-shaped body. Overexpression of glutamate transporter gene Eaat1 could mimic the ketone body effect on LRP1 deficiency flies. This study demonstrated that LRP1 defect globally or in astrocytes or neurons could induce epilepsy. The ketone body efficaciously rescued epilepsy caused by LRP1 knockdown. The results support screening for LRP1 mutations as discriminating conduct for individuals who require clinical attention and further clarify the mechanism of the ketogenic diet in Epilepsy, which could help Epilepsy patients making a precise treatment case by case.
Geometrical and Hemodynamic Variables for Thrombotic Risk Stratification in Kawasaki Disease
Authors: Yao Qiong , Peng Chen , Wang Sheng-zhang , Hu Xi-hong
Published: January 2022

Objectives
Thrombosis is a major adverse outcome for coronary artery aneurysms (CAA) in Kawasaki disease (KD). We investigated the geometric and hemodynamic abnormalities in patients with CAA and identified the risk factors for thrombosis by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation.
Methods
We retrospectively studied 27 KD patients with 77 CAAs, including 20 CAAs with thrombosis in 12 patients. Patient-specific anatomic models obtained from cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI) were constructed to perform a CFD simulation. From the simulation results, we produced local hemodynamic parameters comprising of time-averaged wall shear stress (TAWSS), oscillatory shear index (OSI) and relative resident time (RRT). The CAA’s maximum diameter (Dmax) and Z-score were measured on CMRI.
Results
Giant CAAs tended to present with more severe hemodynamic abnormalities. Thrombosed CAAs exhibited lower TAWSS (1.551 ± 1.535 vs. 4.235 ± 4.640dynes/cm2, p = 0.002), higher Dmax (10.905 ± 4.125 vs. 5.791 ± 2.826mm, p = 0.008), Z-score (28.301 ± 13.558 vs. 13.045 ± 8.394, p = 0.002), OSI (0.129 ± 0.132 vs. 0.046 ± 0.080, p = 0.01), and RRT (16.780 ± 11.982s vs. 9.123 ± 11.770s, p = 0.399) than the non-thrombosed group. An ROC analysis for thrombotic risk proved that all of the five parameters had area under the ROC curves (AUC) above 0.7, with Dmax delineating the highest AUC (AUCDmax = 0.871) and a 90% sensitivity, followed by Z-score (AUCZ−score = 0.849).
Conclusions
It is reasonable to combine the geometric index with hemodynamic information to establish a severity classification for KD cases.
Validation of the Modified Alvarado Score in Patients Attending A&E Unit With Suspected Appendicitis – Prospective Clinical Study
Authors: Mán Eszter , Simonka Zsolt , Rárosi Ferenc , Pető Zoltán , Szilágyi András , Lázár György
Published: January 2022

BackgroundThe aim of our prospective study was to confirm the validity, diagnostic accuracy of the modified Alvarado score developed in the Department of Surgery, University of Szeged.Methods138 patients were enrolled in our study between 01 January 2019 and 01 January 2020. The patient’s modified Alvarado score was calculated in the Emergency Department before surgical consultation and decision of further therapy. The score was validated based on the final histology finding of the removed appendix. Additionally, potential correlation was examined between the frequency of drain usage, hospital stay, antibiotic use and the severity of the inflammation. ResultsComparing the scores with the histological findings, specificity of the modified Alvarado score was 84.78%, its sensitivity was 97.83% (with cutoff value of 5.5). Spearman's rank correlation (0.796) and ROC analysis (area under the curve 0.968) confirmed that the modified Alvarado score has an excellent predictive value in the diagnosis of acute appendicitis. Based on the result of the Fisher's exact test, cross tabulation and Spearman’s rank correlation correlation was found between the severity of the inflammation determined by the histology finding, the selected antibiotic and the duration of the antibiotic therapy, the average duration of hospitalization and drain insertion. ConclusionsBased on the results of our study, predictive value of the new, modified score system is excellent, using this score system is safe in the differential diagnosis of acute appendicitis as an aid for non-surgical consultants in emergency care. This new score system may decrease the number of unnecessary surgical consultations, decrease waiting time of the patients and some unnecessary examinations can be avoided. Trial RegistrationValidation of the modified Alvarado score in patients presenting in the Emergency Department with right lower abdominal complaints, ethical license number: 248/2018/SZTE, date of registration: 2018.11.04., name of ethics committee: SZTE SZAKK Regionális és Intézményi Humán Orvosbiológiai Kutatásetikai Bizottság- Clinical Research Coordination Office of the University of Szeged
Prediction of Retention Time and Collision Cross Section (CCSH+, CCSH- and CCSNa+) of emerging contaminants using Multiple Adaptive Regression Splines
Authors: Celma Alberto , Bade Richard , Sancho Juan V. , Hernández Félix , Humpries Melissa , Bijslma Lubertus
Published: January 2022

Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to ion mobility separation and high-resolution mass spectrometry instruments have proven very valuable for screening of emerging contaminants in the aquatic environment. However, when applying suspect or non-target approaches (i.e. when no reference standards are available) there is no information on retention time (RT) and collision cross section (CCS) values to facilitate identification. In-silico prediction tools of RT and CCS can therefore be of great utility to decrease the number of candidates to investigate. In this work, Multiple Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS) was evaluated for the prediction of both RT and CCS. MARS prediction models were developed and validated using a database of 477 protonated molecules, 169 deprotonated molecules and 249 sodium adducts. Multivariate and univariate models were evaluated showing a better fit for univariate models to the empirical data. The RT model (R2=0.855) showed a deviation between predicted and empirical data of ± 2.32 min (95% confidence intervals). The deviation observed for CCS data of protonated molecules using CCSH model (R2=0.966) was ± 4.05% with 95% confidence intervals. The CCSH model was also tested for the prediction of deprotonated molecules resulting in deviations below ± 5.86% for the 95% of the cases. Finally, a third model was developed for sodium adducts (CCSNa, R2=0.954) with deviation below ± 5.25% for the 95% of the cases. The developed models have been incorporated in an open access and user-friendly online platform which represents a great advantage for third-party research laboratories for predicting both RT and CCS data.
Design of a Novel Integrated Ultrasonic Tool Holder for Friction Stir Welding
Authors: Ju Jianzhong , Long Zhili , Ye Shuyuan , Liu Yongzhi , Zhao Heng
Published: January 2022

Ultrasonic vibration used in friction stir welding (FSW) has shown advantages in reducing welding defects and improving welding quality. How to design an ultrasonic tool holder is a challenge because the holder is rotating in a confined space. In this study, we design a 20 kHz integrated ultrasonic tool holder in FSW. This novel configuration can be applied in general machining equipment. The elastic modulus is measured by non-destructive acoustic testing to attain the precise frequency. Three FSW transducers with alloy steel are designed by the modal analysis and the transducer prototypes are fabricated. The effect of pre-tightening force on transducer frequency is investigated, where the prestress of the piezoelectric stack instead of the torque is tested to achieve an optimal working frequency. The vibration of the transducers is measured by a Doppler Vibrometer System. It proved that the resonant frequencies are well consistent between simulation model and the experiment by the elastic modulus testing and the pre-tightening optimization. Moreover, the experiment demonstrates that the vibration amplitude is significantly different, even in a slight difference of steel material properties are adopted. The dynamic performance of the designed transducers is acceptable by the vibration measurement.
Semilinear Transformations in Coding Theory: A New Technique in Code-Based Cryptography
Authors: Guo Wenshuo , Fu Fang-Wei
Published: January 2022

This paper presents a new technique for disturbing the algebraic structure of linear codes in code-based cryptography. Specifically, we introduce the so-called semilinear transformations in coding theory and then apply them to the construction of code-based cryptosystems. Note that Fqm can be viewed as an Fq -linear space of dimension m , a semilinear transformation φ is therefore defined as an Fq -linear automorphism of Fqm . Then we impose this transformation to a linear code C over Fqm . It is clear that φ (C) forms an Fq -linear space, but generally does not preserve the Fqm -linearity any longer. Inspired by this observation, a new technique for masking the structure of linear codes is developed in this paper. Meanwhile, we endow the underlying Gabidulin code with the so-called partial cyclic structure to reduce the public-key size. Compared to some other code-based cryptosystems, our proposal admits a much more compact representation of public keys. For instance, 2592 bytes are enough to achieve the security of 256 bits, almost 403 times smaller than that of Classic McEliece entering the third round of the NIST PQC project.
A Brief Overview of Road Accidents and Recent Preventive Methodologies for Accident Hotspots in the United Arab Emirates
Authors: Ali Ijaz
Published: January 2022

This paper highlights major causes of road accidents in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and explores the possibility of reducing them through modern in-vehicle control technologies. Mostly, road safety data from the Global Road Safety Facility (GSRF), Road Safety Polices and Regulations for UK and UAE have been reviewed for comparison and analysis. It contains a descriptive analysis of road accident data which was taken from Ministry of Interior (MOI) - UAE website. It shows how the Pareto Principle applies to most of the road accidents in the UAE with young males’ poor driving habits and higher maximum speed limits being the major causes and, a systematic approach as per the Nilsson Power Model, to tackle these issues. It ends with the conclusion that, although high speed limits on urban roads and highways are some of the critical factors in causing dangerous road accidents but, it can be tackled with by implementing strict road safety policies and enforcing them with modern in vehicle technologies.
Early azathioprine in acute Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease: a prospective 24-month follow-up study with multimodal imaging and electroretinogram
Authors: Lavezzo Marcelo Mendes , Sakata Viviane Mayumi , Souto Fernanda Maria Silveira , Missaka Ruy Felippe Brito Gonçalves , Nobrega Priscilla Figueiredo Campos da , Oyamada Maria Kiyoko , Hirata Carlos Eduardo , Yamamoto Joyce Hisae
Published: January 2022

Background: First-line immunosuppressive therapy (IMT) associated with high-dose corticosteroid (CS) has been proposed for the treatment of acute Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease (VKHD) to prevent chronicity and to prevent long-term CS side effects. However, there are very few studies that systematically evaluated visual and inflammatory outcomes in acute VKHD with early IMT. This study aimed to evaluate the outcome of high-dose corticosteroids with early addition of azathioprine (AZA) in patients with acute Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease (VKHD) followed for 24-month with systematic multimodal and electroretinogram exams.Methods: Prospective interventional study. Fifteen consecutive patients (30 eyes) with acute VKHD at a tertiary uveitis referral centre were followed for 24 months with systematic multimodal and full-field electroretinogram (ffERG) exams. Patients were treated with intravenous methylprednisolone followed by oral prednisone 1mg/kg/daily (CS) with slow taper and AZA introduction within 4 months. Anterior uveitis relapse, subclinical inflammation, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and ffERG parameters were analyzed.Results: Fifteen patients (14 female) with a median age of 32 years were included. In the first month, 27 eyes (90%) had BCVA ≥20/40; at M24, all eyes (100%) had BCVA ≥20/25. Uveitis resolved in 28 eyes (93.3%) and became chronic recurrent in 2 eyes (6.7%); subclinical inflammation was still present in all eyes during the 24-month follow-up. ffERG parameters initially improved in all eyes; at M24, 23 eyes (76.7%) had subnormal results and 20 eyes (66.7%) had stable parameters. Eyes with very early treatment (n=12) had lower indocyanine green angiography score than eyes with early treatment (n=18) at M1 (p=0.012), but they had similar rates of recurrence, complications and ffERG parameters. Conclusion: Early AZA associated with high-dose corticosteroid was effective in improving BCVA and in controlling clinical inflammation. Isolate subclinical inflammation persisted in all eyes with no impact on ffERG in, at least, two thirds of these eyes, indicating that isolate subclinical inflammation may not be enough to indicate treatment increment.
An Advanced Attention-Enhanced Hybrid Deep Learning Model for WBSNs’ Gait Pattern Recognition
Authors: Wu Jianning , Tan Qiaoling , Wu Xiaoyan
Published: January 2022

Background: The deep learning techniques have been attracted increasing attention on wireless body sensor networks (WBSNs) gait pattern recognition that has a great contribution to monitoring gait change in clinical application. However, in existing studies, there are some challenging issues such as low generalization performance and no potential interpretation for gait variability. It is necessary to search for the advanced deep learning models to resolve these issues. Method: A public WARD database including acceleration and gyroscope data acquired from each subject wearing five sensors was selected, and the gait with different combination of on-body multi-sensors is considered as a WBSNs’ gait pattern. An advanced attention-enhanced hybrid deep learning model of DCNN and LSTM for WBSNs’ gait pattern recognition was proposed. In our proposed technique, the combination model of DCNN with LSTM is firstly to discover the spatial-temporary gait correlation features. And then the attention mechanism is introduced to exploit the more valuable intrinsic nonlinear dynamic correlation gait characteristics associated with gait variability hidden in spatial-temporary gait space obtained. This significantly contributes to enhancing the generalization performance and taking insight on gait variability in a certain anatomical region. Results: The ten gait patterns are randomly selected from WARD database to evaluate the feasibility of our proposed method. Our experiments demonstrated the superior generalization ability of our method to some models such as CNN-LSTM, DCNN-LSTM. Our proposed model could classify ten gait patterns with the highest accuracy and F1-score of 91.48% and 91.46%, respectively. Moreover, we also found that the classification performance of a certain gait pattern was almost same best when the combinations of three or five on-body sensors were employed respectively, suggesting that our method possibly take insight on gait variability in a certain anatomical region. Conclusion: Our proposed technique could feasibly discover the more intrinsic nonlinear dynamic correlation gait characteristics associated with gait variability from on-body multi-sensors gait data, which greatly contributed to best generalization performance and potential clinical interpretation. Our proposed technique would hopefully become a powerful tool of monitoring gait change in clinical application.
Low-carbon governance, fiscal decentralization and sulfur dioxide emissions: Evidence from a quasi-experiment with Chinese heavy pollution enterprises
Authors: Guo Ping , Li Jin , Kuang Jinsong , Zhu Yifei , Xiao Renrui , Duan Donghao , Huang Baocong
Published: January 2022

This paper investigates the effects of enterprise environmental governance under low-carbon pilot policies in China with a difference in differences (DID) design. In examining the development of these policies, we focus on exploring their effects on sulfur dioxide emissions of heavily polluting enterprises based on prefectural city- and firm-level data from 2003-2014. Overall, the policies significantly increased enterprise SO2 emissions, and the underlying reason being that investments in CO2 control crowded out investment in SO2 control in enterprises in low-carbon pilot regions. We also find that the implementation of low-carbon pilot policies resulted in greater SO2 emissions from state-owned enterprises and enterprises in western regions than from non-state-owned enterprises and those in eastern regions. It is further found that fiscal decentralization and the associated mediating effect of market segmentation promote enterprises' CO2 control and inhibit their SO2 control. This study helps us re-examine the overall environmental effects of low-carbon policies and has implications for the revision and improvement of environmental governance policies in developing countries.
FDMine: a graph mining approach to predict and evaluate food-drug interactions
Authors: Rahman Md Mostafizur , Vadrev Srinivas Mukund , Magana-Mora Arturo , Levman Jacob , Soufan Othman
Published: January 2022

Food-drug interactions (FDIs) arise when nutritional dietary consumption regulates biochemical mechanisms involved in drug metabolism. Towards characterizing the nature of food’s influence on pharmacological treatment, it is essential to detect all possible FDIs. In this study, we propose FDMine, a novel systematic framework that models the FDI problem as a homogenous graph. In this graph, all nodes representing drug, food and food composition are referenced as chemical structures. This homogenous representation enables us to take advantage of reported drug-drug interactions for accuracy evaluation, especially when accessible ground truth for FDIs is lacking. Our dataset consists of 788 unique approved small molecule drugs with metabolism-related drug-drug interactions (DDIs) and 320 unique food items, composed of 563 unique compounds with 179 health effects. The potential number of interactions is 87,192 and 92,143 when two different versions of the graph referred to as disjoint and joint graphs are considered, respectively. We defined several similarity subnetworks comprising food-drug similarity (FDS), drug-drug similarity (DDS), and food-food similarity (FFS) networks, based on similarity profiles. A unique part of the graph is the encoding of the food composition as a set of nodes and calculating a content contribution score to re-weight the similarity links. To predict new FDI links, we applied the path category-based (path length 2 and 3) and neighborhood-based similarity-based link prediction algorithms. We calculated the precision@top (top 1%, 2%, and 5%) of the newly predicted links, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, and precision-recall curve. We have performed three types of evaluations to benchmark results using different types of interactions. The shortest path-based method has achieved a precision 84%, 60% and 40% for the top 1%, 2% and 5% of FDIs identified, respectively. We validated the top FDIs predicted using FDMine to demonstrate its applicability and we relate therapeutic anti-inflammatory effects of food items informed by FDIs. We hypothesize that the proposed framework can be used to gain new insights on FDIs. FDMine is publicly available to support clinicians and researchers.
Is The Association Between Cognitive Decline And Mortality Modified By High Blood Pressure Among The Oldest Old?
Authors: Duan Jun , Sam Napoleon Bellua , Wang Shi-Jia , Liu Yan
Published: January 2022

Few studies have systematically explored the association between cognitive decline and mortality among the aged (above 80 years old) and also have limited evidence of the potential effect modifiers between them. Therefore, this study included 14,891 aged (mean age: 90.3±7.5 years) and 10,904 aged deaths with 34,486 person-years were observed. Cognitive decline was continuous and stratified into ten categories. Potential effect modifiers were identified as age, sex, blood pressure (BP) and high BP related diseases, including hypertension and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality. Cox proportional hazards model was used to evaluate the relationship between them after adjusting for demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status, lifestyle factors, leisure activities and health conditions. Compared to those with maintained high normal cognitive function, participants who have declined to severe cognitive impairment from a high normal cognitive function, low normal cognitive function and mild cognitive impairment have 55%, 56% and 63% mortality risks respectively. The multivariable-adjusted model indicated that the aged with decreasing one more point in MMSE score per year, had around 4% higher risk of mortality. There was a significant association of interaction of cognitive decline-mortality and sex (P=0.013) as well as hypertension (P=0.004) but with no significant association among age (P=0.277), high BP (P=0.082), and CVD mortality (P=0.058). Our findings suggest that periodic screen cognitive decline and strengthen BP control may be necessary for public health.
Clinical Presentation, Laboratory Findings, Complications, and Mortality of Influenza During the Epidemic of October 2019-February 2020 in Iran
Authors: Movahedi Zahra , Dehghani Soheil , Ali Zoha , Karimi Amirali , Arsangjang Shahram , Bakhshandeh Hadi , Heydari Hosein
Published: January 2022

Background: Influenza is one of the most important viruses and causes millions of infections and 290-600 thousands deaths annually. We aimed to evaluate the hospitalization rates due to complications caused by the influenza virus (pneumonia, seizures, sinusitis, otitis, myositis and encephalitis), the frequency of clinical signs, and laboratory findings in children under 15 years of age infected with Influenza.Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study during the Influenza epidemic in Qom, Iran, from October 2019 to February 2020. Children under 15 years of age with the definitive diagnosis of influenza obtained by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test were included.Results: Out of 1225 patients who referred to us with flu-like symptoms; 1172 patients were referred by the emergency department and our hospital clinic but 53 patients were referred to us by other paediatricians. 375 patients (30.61%) who had a positive PCR test result for influenza and suffered from complications caused by the virus were hospitalized.The number of male hospitalized patients was 231 (61.6% of hospitalized patients) and the number of female hospitalized patients was 144 (38.4% of hospitalized patients) respectively.The highest age range of patients with pneumonia was of 13 months to 3 years with a hospitalization rate of 36.41% and the lowest hospitalization rate was of 12 years to 15 years with a hospitalization rate of 0.84%.The most serious complication observed in patients caused by the influenza virus was pneumonia; with 17 cases (4.53%) reported.89.6% of patients had fever at the time of referral causing it to be the most common clinical symptom among patients. Cough ranked second with 76.8%.Lymphopenia and leukopenia was recognized as the most common laboratory findings with a frequency of 26.33% and 21.85%.Conclusions: Complications of influenza was not uncommon in children and affected a fifth of the patients. The influenza epidemic of October 2019- February 2020 imposed a heavy burden on our hospital and the learned lessons should be implemented to further assist the physicians in future influenza epidemic.