bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Adaptive turbulence compensation and fast auto-alignment link for free-space optical communications
Authors: Liang Yize , Su Xinzhou , Cai Chengkun , Wang Lulu , Liu Jun , Wang Hongya , Wang Jian
Published: November 2021

Free-space point-to-point optical communication often suffers from atmospheric turbulence and device vibration where the environment is harsh. In this paper, by introducing an adaptive system composed of turbulence compensation and fast auto-alignment installation, we propose and experimentally demonstrate an optical communication system that is effective against turbulence and vibration. Turbulence compensation can increase the coupling efficiency by at least 3dB, while fast auto-alignment can reduce the spatial range of beam vibration caused by device vibration by 72.22%. Since the photodiode detector (PD) is sensitive to optical power, reducing the loss of the link improves the communication quality of the system. Bit-error rate (BER) of 10-Gbaud 16-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (16-QAM) signal transmission in the link is also measured under different transmitted power, having ∼8dB power penalty improvement with the adaptive system. In addition, turbulence compensation for higher-order modes such as optical vortex (OV) beams is also implemented, showing a promising prospect in space-division multiplexing (SDM) applications.
TransCD: scene change detection via transformer-based architecture
Authors: Wang Zhixue , Zhang Yu , Luo Lin , Wang Nan
Published: November 2021

Scene change detection (SCD) is a task to identify changes of interest between bi-temporal images acquired at different times. A critical idea of SCD is how to identify interesting changes while overcoming noisy changes induced by camera motion or environment variation, such as viewpoint, dynamic changes and outdoor conditions. The noisy changes cause corresponding pixel pairs to have spatial difference (position relation) and temporal difference (intensity relation). Due to the limitation of local receptive field, it is difficult for traditional models based on convolutional neural network (CNN) to establish long-range relations for the semantic changes. In order to address the above challenges, we explore the potential of a transformer in SCD and propose a transformer-based SCD architecture (TransCD). From the intuition that a SCD model should be able to model both interesting and noisy changes, we incorporate a siamese vision transformer (SViT) in a feature difference SCD framework. Our motivation is that SViT is able to establish global semantic relations and model long-range context, which is more robust to noisy changes. In addition, different from the pure CNN-based models with high computational complexity, the proposed model is more efficient and has fewer parameters. Extensive experiments on the CDNet-2014 dataset demonstrate that the proposed TransCD (SViT-E1-D1-32) outperforms the state-of-the-art SCD models and achieves 0.9361 in terms of the F1 score with an improvement of 7.31%.
Exploiting the FM-to-AM conversion to generate high-contrast picosecond laser pulses
Authors: Marion Denis , Lhermite Jérôme
Published: November 2021

In this work, we simulate and demonstrate experimentally a new approach to generate picosecond laser pulses. This technique is based on optoelectronic FM-to-AM conversion: a transient radiofrequency phase modulation is applied on a continuous-wave fiber laser otherwise blocked by a bandstop filter. By leveraging the ability of modern electronic amplifiers to generate high voltage swings values on a short timescale, the presented setup induces a large and brief excursion out of the filter, hence generating 18 ps pulses with a time contrast of 38 dB. Detailed simulations pave the road toward pulses shorter than 1 ps by using an optimally shaped RF response.
Valley Hall edge solitons in a photonic graphene
Authors: Tang Qian , Ren Boquan , Kompanets Victor O. , Kartashov Yaroslav V. , Li Yongdong , Zhang Yiqi
Published: November 2021

We predict the existence and study properties of the valley Hall edge solitons in a composite photonic graphene with a domain wall between two honeycomb lattices with broken inversion symmetry. Inversion symmetry in our system is broken due to detuning introduced into constituent sublattices of the honeycomb structure. We show that nonlinear valley Hall edge states with sufficiently high amplitude bifurcating from the linear valley Hall edge state supported by the domain wall, can split into sets of bright spots due to development of the modulational instability, and that such an instability is a precursor for the formation of topological bright valley Hall edge solitons localized due to nonlinear self-action and travelling along the domain wall over large distances. Topological protection of the valley Hall edge solitons is demonstrated by modeling their passage through sharp corners of the Ω-shaped domain wall.
STED microscopy reveals in-situ photoluminescence properties of single nanostructures in densely perovskite thin films
Authors: Wang Qingya , Qin Qilin , Chen Yuhan , Yang Tieshan , Xu Qinfeng , Mu Haifeng , Han Jing , Cao Kunjian , Jiao Mengmeng , Liu Mingliang , Zhang Shufang , Yang Chuanlu
Published: November 2021

All-inorganic perovskite nanomaterials have attracted much attention recently due to their prominent optical performance and potential application for optoelectronic devices. The carriers dynamics of all-inorganic perovskites has been the research focus because the understanding of carriers dynamics process is of critical importance for improving the fluorescence conversion efficiency. While photophysical properties of excited carrier are usually measured at the macroscopic scale, it is necessary to probe the in-situ dynamics process at the nanometer scale and gain deep insights into the photophysical mechanisms and their localized dependence on the thin-film nanostructures. Stimulated emission depletion (STED) nanoscopy with super-resolution beyond the diffraction limit can directly provide explicit information at a single particle level or nanometer scale. Through this unique technique, we firstly study the in-situ dynamics process of single CsPbBr3 nanocrystals(NCs) and nanostructures embedded inside high-dense samples. Our findings reveal the different physical mechanisms of PL blinking and antibunching for single CsPbBr3 NCs and nanostructures that correlate with thin-film nanostructural features (e.g. defects, grain boundaries and carrier mobility). The insights gained into such nanostructure-localized physical mechanisms are critically important for further improving the material quality and its corresponding device performance.
Self-calibrated BFP-type apertometer for both dry and immersion lenses via grating projection reference
Authors: Zhang Bei , Zhang Cuiling
Published: November 2021

This work proposes a novel scheme for a back focal plane (BFP)-type apertometer. The basic concept is to generate “multi-references” on BFP via the grating projection, which shows superiorities in two aspects: (1) a wider measurement range for both dry and immersion objectives; (2) higher accuracy via self-calibration of multi-references. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first approach and setup to allow the measurement of objectives with NA across unity via a “virtual” Fourier plane. It is also the first time to demonstrate a self-calibrated BFP-type apertometer with multi-references. All the involved concepts are experimentally verified.
Deep learning multi-shot 3D localization microscopy using hybrid optical–electronic computing
Authors: Ikoma Hayato , Kudo Takamasa , Peng Yifan , Broxton Michael , Wetzstein Gordon
Published: November 2021

Current 3D localization microscopy approaches are fundamentally limited in their ability to image thick, densely labeled specimens. Here, we introduce a hybrid optical–electronic computing approach that jointly optimizes an optical encoder (a set of multiple, simultaneously imaged 3D point spread functions) and an electronic decoder (a neural-network-based localization algorithm) to optimize 3D localization performance under these conditions. With extensive simulations and biological experiments, we demonstrate that our deep-learning-based microscope achieves significantly higher 3D localization accuracy than existing approaches, especially in challenging scenarios with high molecular density over large depth ranges.
Detachable head-mounted photoacoustic microscope in freely moving mice
Authors: Guo Heng , Chen Qian , Qin Wei , Qi Weizhi , Xi Lei
Published: November 2021

Optical resolution photoacoustic microscopy (ORPAM) is a promising tool for investigating anatomical and functional dynamics in the cerebral cortex. However, observation in freely moving mice has been a longstanding challenge for ORPAM. In this Letter, we extended ORPAM from anesthetized, head-restrained to awake, freely moving mice by using a detachable head-mounted ORPAM probe. We used a micro-electro-mechanical-system scanner and a miniaturized piezoelectric ultrasonic detector to scan the excitation laser beam and detect generated photoacoustic signals, respectively. The probe weighs 1.8 g and has a large field of view of

∼

3

m
m

×

3

m
m

. We evaluated the performance of the probe by carrying out phantom experiments and the imaging of vascular networks in a mouse cerebral cortex. The results suggest that the ORPAM probe is capable of providing stable and high-quality ORPAM images in freely moving mice.
Polarization separation assisted optomechanical time-domain analysis with submeter resolution
Authors: Ba Dexin , Hua Zijie , Li Yijia , Dong Yongkang
Published: November 2021

Optomechanical time-domain analysis (OMTDA) is a novel approach to measure distributed acoustic impedance of surrounding media with a high spatial resolution based on coherent forward stimulated Brillouin scattering probing. However, the spatial resolution is still limited by the polarization noise and influence of activation pulse. In this Letter, we propose a polarization separation based OMTDA to further improve the resolution. By isolating the acoustic activation and probing process in orthogonal polarization states, the backward Brillouin scattering of an activation pulse is effectively suppressed. Accompanied with the reduced polarization fluctuation brought by polarization-maintaining fiber, a spatial resolution of 0.8 m is experimentally demonstrated over a 34-m-long fiber and the precise distinction between air and alcohol is realized.
Physics-based modeling provides predictive understanding of selectively promiscuous substrate binding by Hsp70 chaperones
Authors: Nordquist Erik B. , English Charles A. , Clerico Eugenia M. , Sherman Woody , Gierasch Lila M. , Chen Jianhan
Published: November 2021

To help cells cope with protein misfolding and aggregation, Hsp70 molecular chaperones selectively bind a variety of sequences (“selective promiscuity”). Statistical analyses from substrate-derived peptide arrays reveal that DnaK, the E. coli Hsp70, binds to sequences containing three to five branched hydrophobic residues, although otherwise the specific amino acids can vary considerably. Several high-resolution structures of the substrate -binding domain (SBD) of DnaK bound to peptides reveal a highly conserved configuration of the bound substrate and further suggest that the substrate-binding cleft consists of five largely independent sites for interaction with five consecutive substrate residues. Importantly, both substrate backbone orientations (N- to C- and C- to N-) allow essentially the same backbone hydrogen-bonding and side-chain interactions with the chaperone. In order to rationalize these observations, we performed atomistic molecular dynamics simulations to sample the interactions of all 20 amino acid side chains in each of the five sites of the chaperone in the context of the conserved substrate backbone configurations. The resulting interaction energetics provide the basis set for deriving a predictive model that we call Paladin (Physics-based model of DnaK-Substrate Binding). Trained using available peptide array data, Paladin can distinguish binders and nonbinders of DnaK with accuracy comparable to existing predictors and further predicts the detailed configuration of the bound sequence. Tested using existing DnaK-peptide structures, Paladin correctly predicted the binding register in 10 out of 13 substrate sequences that bind in the N- to C- orientation, and the binding orientation in 16 out of 22 sequences. The physical basis of the Paladin model provides insight into the origins of how Hsp70s bind substrates with a balance of selectivity and promiscuity. The approach described here can be extended to other Hsp70s where extensive peptide array data is not available.
Prediction of heterosis in the recent rapeseed (Brassica napus) polyploid by pairing parental nucleotide sequences
Authors: Wang Qian , Yan Tao , Long Zhengbiao , Huang Luna Yue , Zhu Yang , Xu Ying , Chen Xiaoyang , Pak Haksong , Li Jiqiang , Wu Dezhi , Xu Yang , Hua Shuijin , Jiang Lixi
Published: November 2021

The utilization of heterosis is a successful strategy in increasing yield for many crops. However, it consumes tremendous manpower to test the combining ability of the parents in fields. Here, we applied the genomic-selection (GS) strategy and developed models that significantly increase the predictability of heterosis by introducing the concept of a regional parental genetic-similarity index (PGSI) and reducing dimension in the calculation matrix in a machine-learning approach. Overall, PGSI negatively affected grain yield and several other traits but positively influenced the thousand-seed weight of the hybrids. It was found that the C subgenome of rapeseed had a greater impact on heterosis than the A subgenome. We drew maps with overviews of quantitative-trait loci that were responsible for the heterosis (h-QTLs) of various agronomic traits. Identifications and annotations of genes underlying high impacting h-QTLs were provided. Using models that we elaborated, combining abilities between an Ogu-CMS-pool member and a potential restorer can be simulated in silico, sidestepping laborious work, such as testing crosses in fields. The achievements here provide a case of heterosis prediction in polyploid genomes with relatively large genome sizes.
Clinical and laboratory characteristics of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis induced by Leishmania infantum infection
Authors: Shi Qi , Huang Minjun , Li Xiaoli , Zheng Xiaoyan , Wang Fei , Zou Yang , Wang Lei , Jia Jidong
Published: November 2021

Background

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) could progress to secondary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), which is a rare but life-threatening condition with poor prognosis. So far, the clinical and laboratory characteristics of VL associated HLH have not been well elucidated.

Method and findings

In this study, we retrospectively analyzed the clinical and laboratory profiles between 17 patients with VL associated HLH and 27 patients with VL alone admitted at the Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University from May 2016 to March 2021. In addition to the identification of Leishmania infection, hemophagocytosis was identified in bone marrow in the most cases of VL associated HLH (15/17). The patients with VL associated HLH had higher chances of bleeding, hepatomegaly, thrombocytopenia, hypertriglyceridemia, hyperferritinemia, hypofibrinogenemia, elevated secretion of soluble IL-2 receptor or lower NK cell activity compared to patients with VL only. Furthermore, patients with VL associated HLH had higher inflammation status associated with higher levels of Th1 (TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-1beta, IL-6, IL-8, IL-12p70), Th2 (IL-4) and Th17 cytokines (IL-17, IL-23) in the peripheral blood, and higher parasite load (qPCR and parasite culture). All 27 VL cases were totally recovered after being treated with Sodium Stibogluconate, five of the 17 patients with VL associated HLH died even after timely treatment with anti-parasite and immunosuppressive chemotherapy.

Conclusion

Without appropriate treatment, visceral leishmaniosis could develop to secondary HLH. The parasite culturing and qPCR detection of bone marrow samples facilitates the diagnosis of VL associated HLH in addition to other findings of HLH. Prompt treatment with anti-Leishmania and immunosuppressive chemotherapy is critical to reduce the mortality of VL associated HLH.
Do social identity and cognitive diversity correlate in environmental stakeholders? A novel approach to measuring cognitive distance within and between groups
Authors: Aminpour Payam , Schwermer Heike , Gray Steven
Published: November 2021

Groups with higher cognitive diversity, i.e. variations in how people think and solve problems, are thought to contribute to improved performance in complex problem-solving. However, embracing or even engineering adequate cognitive diversity is not straightforward and may even jeopardize social inclusion. In response, those that want to promote cognitive diversity might make a simplified assumption that there exists a link between identity diversity, i.e. range of social characteristics, and variations in how people perceive and solve problems. If this assumption holds true, incorporating diverse identities may concurrently achieve cognitive diversity to the extent essential for complex problem-solving, while social inclusion is explicitly acknowledged. However, currently there is a lack of empirical evidence to support this hypothesis in the context of complex social-ecological systems—a system wherein human and environmental dimensions are interdependent, where common-pool resources are used or managed by multiple types of stakeholders. Using a fisheries example, we examine the relationship between resource stakeholders’ identities and their cognitive diversity. We used cognitive mapping techniques in conjunction with network analysis to measure cognitive distances within and between stakeholders of various social types (i.e., identities). Our results empirically show that groups with higher identity diversity also demonstrate more cognitive diversity, evidenced by disparate characteristics of their cognitive maps that represent their understanding of fishery dynamics. These findings have important implications for sustainable management of common-pool resources, where the inclusion of diverse stakeholders is routine, while our study shows it may also achieve higher cognitive coverage that can potentially lead to more complete, accurate, and innovative understanding of complex resource dynamics.
Dynamics of task-induced modulation of spontaneous brain activity and functional connectivity in the triple resting-state networks assessed using the visual oddball paradigm
Authors: Sbaihat Hasan , Rajkumar Ravichandran , Ramkiran Shukti , Assi Abed Al-Nasser , Shah N. Jon , Veselinović Tanja , Neuner Irene
Published: November 2021

The default mode network (DMN), the salience network (SN), and the central executive network (CEN) are considered as the core resting-state brain networks (RSN) due to their involvement in a wide range of cognitive tasks. Despite the large body of knowledge related to their regional spontaneous activity (RSA) and functional connectivity (FC) of these networks, less is known about the dynamics of the task-associated modulation on these parameters and the task-induced interaction between these three networks. We have investigated the effects of the visual-oddball paradigm on three fMRI measures (amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations for RSA, regional homogeneity for local FC, and degree centrality for global FC) in these three core RSN. A rest-task-rest paradigm was used and the RSNs were identified using independent component analysis (ICA) on the resting-state data. The observed patterns of change differed noticeably between the networks and were tightly associated with the task-related brain activity and the distinct involvement of the networks in the performance of the single subtasks. Furthermore, the inter-network analysis showed an increased synchronization of CEN with the DMN and the SN immediately after the task, but not between the DMN and SN. Higher pre-task inter-network synchronization between the DMN and the CEN was associated with shorter reaction times and thus better performance. Our results provide some additional insights into the dynamics within and between the triple RSN. Further investigations are required in order to understand better their functional importance and interplay.
Did you see it? A Python tool for psychophysical assessment of the human blind spot
Authors: Ling Xiao , Silson Edward H. , McIntosh Robert D.
Published: November 2021

The blind spot is a region in the temporal monocular visual field in humans, which corresponds to a physiological scotoma within the nasal hemi-retina. This region has no photoreceptors, so is insensitive to visual stimulation. There is no corresponding perceptual scotoma because the visual stimulation is “filled-in” by the visual system. Investigations of visual perception in and around the blind spot allow us to investigate this filling-in process. However, because the location and size of the blind spot are individually variable, experimenters must first map the blind spot in every observer. We present an open-source tool, which runs in Psychopy software, to estimate the location and size of the blind spot psychophysically. The tool will ideally be used with an Eyelink eye-tracker (SR Research), but it can also run in standalone mode. Here, we explain the rationale for the tool and demonstrate its validity in normally-sighted observers. We develop a detailed map of the blind spot in one observer. Then, in a group of 12 observers, we propose a more efficient, pragmatic method to define a “safe zone” within the blind spot, for which the experimenter can be fully confident that visual stimuli will not be seen. Links are provided to this open-source tool and a user manual.
Complete mitochondrial genomes of four species of praying mantises (Dictyoptera, Mantidae) with ribosomal second structure, evolutionary and phylogenetic analyses
Authors: Shi Yan , Li Lin-Yu , Liu Qin-Peng , Ali Muhammad Yasir , Yuan Zhong-Lin , Smagghe Guy , Liu Tong-Xian
Published: November 2021

Praying mantises are distributed all over the world. Though some Mantodea mitogenomes have been reported, an evolutionary genomic and phylogenetic analysis study lacks the latest taxonomic system. In the present study, four new mitogenomes were sequenced and annotated. Deroplatys truncate, D. lobate, Amorphoscelis chinensis and Macromantis sp. belong to Deroplatyidae, Amorphoscelidae and Photinaidae family, respectively. Our results indicated that the ATP8 gene may be lost in D. truncate and D. lobata mt genome, and four tRNA genes have not been found in D. truncate, D. lobata and Macromantis sp. A dN/dS pair analysis was conducted and it was found that all genes have evolved under purifying selection. Furthermore, we tested the phylogenetic relationships between the eight families of the Mantodea, including 35 species of praying Mantis. Based on the complete mitochondrial genome data, it was also suggested as sister to Deroplatyidae + Mantidae, Metallyticus sp., the only representative of Metallyticidae, is sister to the remaining mantises. Our results support the taxonomic system of Schwarz and Roy and are consistent with previous studies.
Physical activity in women attending a dissonance-based intervention after Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass: A 2-year follow-up of a randomized controlled trial
Authors: Possmark Sofie , Sellberg Fanny , Ghaderi Ata , Tynelius Per , Willmer Mikaela , Rasmussen Finn , Persson Margareta , Berglind Daniel
Published: November 2021

Background

The majority of Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) patients are not sufficiently physically active post-surgery, yet little support from the Swedish healthcare system is offered. We investigated if a dissonance-based group intervention, aiming to increase health-related quality of life after surgery, had any effect on patients’ physical activity two years post-RYGB.

Methods

Women undergoing RYGB surgery were recruited from five Swedish hospitals and randomized to intervention or control group (standard post-surgery care). The dissonance-based intervention was conducted three months post-RYGB and consisted of four group sessions, each with a specific topic, of which one addressed physical activity. ActiGraph GT3X+ accelerometers were used to measure physical activity at pre-RYGB, one- and two-years post-surgery.

Results

At pre-RYGB, 259 women were recruited and randomized (intervention n = 156 and control n = 103). Participants had a mean age of 44.7 years (SD 10.3) and pre-RYGB body mass index of 40.8 (SD 4.5) kg/m2. At two-years follow-up, 99 participants (63.5%) in intervention group and 68 (66.0%) in control group had valid accelerometer-measurements. Pre- to post-surgery increases were seen in all physical activity outcomes, but no statistically significant differences between the groups were observed at the two-years follow-up, and intervention effects were poor (d = 0.02–0.35).

Conclusion

To our knowledge, this is the first dissonance-based intervention targeting women undergoing RYGB surgery. At two-years follow-up, we did not observe any differences in physical activity levels between the intervention group and control group.

Trial registration number: ISRCTN16417174.
Hypofractionated radiotherapy for newly diagnosed elderly glioblastoma patients: A systematic review and network meta-analysis
Authors: Melo Suely Maymone de , Marta Gustavo Nader , Latorraca Carolina de Oliveira Cruz , Martins Camila Bertini , Efthimiou Orestis , Riera Rachel
Published: November 2021

Objective

To evaluate different hypofractionated radiotherapy (HRT) regimens for newly diagnosed elderly glioblastoma (GBM) patients.

Methods

We performed a systematic review with network meta-analysis (NMA), including searches on CENTRAL, Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, clinical trial databases and manual search. Only randomized clinical trials (RCTs) were included. Primary outcomes: overall survival (OS) and adverse events (AE). Secondary outcomes: progression-free-survival (PFS) and quality of life (QoL). We used the Cochrane Risk of Bias (RoB) table for assessing individual studies and CINeMA for evaluating the certainty of the final body of evidence.

Results

Four RCTs (499 patients) were included. For OS, the estimates from NMA did not provide strong evidence of a difference between the HRTs: 40 Gray (Gy) versus 45 Gy (HR: 0.89; CI 95%: 0.42, 1.91); 34 Gy versus 45 Gy (HR: 0.85; CI 95% 0.43, 1.70); 25 Gy versus 45 Gy (HR: 0.81; CI 95% 0.32, 2.02); 34 Gy versus 40 Gy (HR: 0.95; CI 95% 0.57, 1.61); and 25 Gy versus 34 Gy (HR: 0.95; CI 95% 0.46, 1.97). We performed qualitative synthesis for AE and QoL due to data scarcity and clinical heterogeneity among studies. The four studies reported a similar QoL (assessed by different methods) between arms. One RCT reported grade ≥ 3 AE, with no evidence of a difference between arms. PFS was reported in one study (25 Gy versus 40 Gy), with no evidence of a difference between arms.

Conclusion

This review found no evidence of a difference between the evaluated HRTs for efficacy and safety.
Mortality and evolution between community and hospital-acquired COVID-AKI
Authors: Chávez-Íñiguez Jonathan S. , Cano-Cervantes José H. , Maggiani-Aguilera Pablo , Lavelle-Góngora Natashia , Marcial-Meza Josué , Camacho-Murillo Estefanía P. , Moreno-González Cynthia , Tanaka-Gutiérrez Jarumi A. , Villa Zaragoza Ana P. , Rincón-Souza Karla E. , Muñoz-López Sandra , Montoya-Montoya Olivia , Navarro-Blackaller Guillermo , Sánchez-Cedillo Aczel , Morales-Buenrostro Luis E. , García-García Guillermo
Published: November 2021

Background

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is associated with poor outcomes in COVID patients. Differences between hospital-acquired (HA-AKI) and community-acquired AKI (CA-AKI) are not well established.

Methods

Prospective, observational cohort study. We included 877 patients hospitalized with COVID diagnosis at two third-level hospitals in Mexico. Primary outcome was all-cause mortality at 28 days compared between COVID patients with CA-AKI and HA-AKI. Secondary outcomes included the need for KRT, and risk factors associated with the development of CA-AKI and HA-AKI.

Results

A total of 377 patients (33.7%) developed AKI. CA-AKI occurred in 202 patients (59.9%) and HA-AKI occurred in 135 (40.1%). Patients with CA-AKI had more significant comorbidities, including diabetes (52.4% vs 38.5%), hypertension (58.4% vs 39.2%), CKD (30.1% vs 14.8%), and COPD (5.9% vs 1.4%), than those with HA-AKI. Patients’ survival without AKI was 87.1%, with CA-AKI it was 75.4%, and with HA-AKI it was 69.6%, log-rank test p < 0.001. Only age > 60 years (OR 1.12, 95% CI 1.06–1.18, p <0.001), COVID severity (OR 1.09, 95% CI 1.03–1.16, p = 0.002), the need in mechanical lung ventilation (OR 1.67, 95% CI 1.56–1.78, p <0.001), and HA-AKI stage 3 (OR 1.16, 95% CI 1.05–1.29, p = 0.003) had a significant increase in mortality. The presence of CKD (OR 1.48, 95% CI 1.391.56, p < 0.001), serum lymphocytes < 1000 μL (OR 1.03, 95% CI 1.00–1.07, p = 0.03), the need in mechanical lung ventilation (OR 1.06, 95% CI 1.02–1.11, p = 0.003), and CA-AKI stage 3 (OR 1.37, 95% CI 1.29–1.46, p < 0.001) were the only variables associated with a KRT start.

Conclusions

We found that COVID patients who are complicated by CA-AKI have more comorbidities and worse biochemical parameters at the time of hospitalization than HA-AKI patients, but despite these differences, their probability of dying is similar.
Area efficient camouflaging technique for securing IC reverse engineering
Authors: Ali Md. Liakot , Hossain Md. Ismail , Hossain Fakir Sharif
Published: November 2021

Reverse engineering is a burning issue in Integrated Circuit (IC) design and manufacturing. In the semiconductor industry, it results in a revenue loss of billions of dollars every year. In this work, an area efficient, high-performance IC camouflaging technique is proposed at the physical design level to combat the integrated circuit’s reverse engineering. An attacker may not identify various logic gates in the layout due to similar image output. In addition, a dummy or true contact-based technique is implemented for optimum outcomes. A library of gates is proposed that contains the various camouflaged primitive gates developed by a combination of using the metal routing technique along with the dummy contact technique. This work shows the superiority of the proposed technique’s performance matrix with those of existing works regarding resource burden, area, and delay. The proposed library is expected to make open source to help ASIC designers secure IC design and save colossal revenue loss.
Morpho-physiological and biochemical attributes of Chili (Capsicum annum L.) genotypes grown under varying salinity levels
Authors: Butt Madiha , Sattar Abdul , Abbas Tahira , Hussain Rashid , Ijaz Muhammad , Sher Ahmad , Shahzad Umbreen , Ullah Sami , Brestic Marian , Zivcak Marek , Gasparovic Kristina , Aljuaid Bandar S. , El-Shehawi Ahmed M. , Zuan Ali Tan Kee
Published: November 2021

Climate change is causing soil salinization, resulting in huge crop losses throughout the world. Multiple physiological and biochemical pathways determine the ability of plants to tolerate salt stress. Chili (Capsicum annumL.) is a salt-susceptible crop; therefore, its growth and yield is negatively impacted by salinity. Irreversible damage at cell level and photo inhibition due to high production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and less CO2availability caused by water stress is directly linked with salinity. A pot experiment was conducted to determine the impact of five NaCl salinity levels, i.e., 0,1.5, 3.0, 5.0 and 7.0 dS m-1on growth, biochemical attributes and yield of two chili genotypes (‘Plahi’ and ‘A-120’). Salinity stress significantly reduced fresh and dry weight, relative water contents, water use efficiency, leaf osmotic potential, glycine betaine (GB) contents, photosynthetic rate (A), transpiration rate (E), stomatal conductance (Ci), and chlorophyll contents of tested genotypes. Salinity stress significantly enhanced malondialdehyde (MDA) contents and activities of the enzymatic antioxidants such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and peroxidase (POD). In addition, increasing salinity levels significantly reduced the tissue phosphorus and potassium concentrations, while enhanced the tissue sodium and chloride concentrations. Genotype ‘Plahi’ had better growth and biochemical attributes compared to ‘A-120’. Therefore, ‘Plahi’ is recommended for saline areas to improve chili production.
Based on improved deep convolutional neural network model pneumonia image classification
Authors: Kong Lingzhi , Cheng Jinyong
Published: November 2021

Pneumonia remains the leading infectious cause of death in children under the age of five, killing about 700,000 children each year and affecting 7% of the world’s population. X-ray images of lung become the key to the diagnosis of this disease, skilled doctors in the diagnosis of a certain degree of subjectivity, if the use of computer-aided medical diagnosis to automatically detect lung abnormalities, will improve the accuracy of diagnosis. This research aims to introduce a deep learning technology based on the combination of Xception neural network and long-term short-term memory (LSTM), which can realize automatic diagnosis of patients with pneumonia in X-ray images. First, the model uses the Xception network to extract the deep features of the data, passes the extracted features to the LSTM, and then the LSTM detects the extracted features, and finally selects the most needed features. Secondly, in the training set samples, the traditional cross-entropy loss cannot more balance the mismatch between categories. Therefore, this research combines Pearson’s feature selection ideas, fusion of the correlation between the two loss functions, and optimizes the problem. The experimental results show that the accuracy rate of this paper is 96%, the receiver operator characteristic curve accuracy rate is 99%, the precision rate is 98%, the recall rate is 91%, and the F1 score accuracy rate is 94%. Compared with the existing technical methods, the research has achieved expected results on the currently available datasets. And assist doctors to provide higher reliability in the classification task of childhood pneumonia.
Field testing two existing, standardized respiratory severity scores (LIBSS and ReSViNET) in infants presenting with acute respiratory illness to tertiary hospitals in Rwanda – a validation and inter-rater reliability study
Authors: Hakizimana Boniface , Kalimba Edgar , Ndatinya Augustin , Saint Gemma , van Miert Clare , Cartledge Peter Thomas
Published: November 2021

Introduction

There is a substantial burden of respiratory disease in infants in the sub-Saharan Africa region. Many health care providers (HCPs) that initially receive infants with respiratory distress may not be adequately skilled to differentiate between mild, moderate and severe respiratory symptoms, which may contribute to poor management and outcome. Therefore, respiratory severity scores have the potential to contributing to address this gap.

Objectives

to field-test the use of two existing standardized bronchiolitis severity scores (LIBSS and ReSViNET) in a population of Rwandan infants (1–12 months) presenting with respiratory illnesses to urban, tertiary, pediatric hospitals and to assess the severity of respiratory distress in these infants and the treatments used.

Methods

A cross-sectional, validation study, was conducted in four tertiary hospitals in Rwanda. Infants presenting with difficulty in breathing were included. The LIBSS and ReSViNET scores were independently employed by nurses and residents to assess the severity of disease in each infant.

Results

100 infants were recruited with a mean age of seven months. Infants presented with pneumonia (n = 51), bronchiolitis (n = 36) and other infectious respiratory illnesses (n = 13). Thirty-three infants had severe disease and survival was 94% using nurse applied LIBSS. Regarding inter-rater reliability, the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) for LIBSS and ReSViNET between nurses and residents was 0.985 (95% CI: 0.98–0.99) and 0.980 (0.97–0.99). The convergent validity (Pearson’s correlation) between LIBSS and ReSViNET for nurses and residents was R = 0.836 (p<0.001) and R = 0.815 (p<0.001). The area under the Receiver Operator Curve (aROC) for admission to PICU or HDU was 0.956 (CI: 0.92–0.99, p<0.001) and 0.880 (CI: 0.80–0.96, p<0.001) for nurse completed LIBSS and ReSViNET respectively.

Conclusion

LIBSS and ReSViNET were designed for infants with bronchiolitis in resource-rich settings. Both LIBSS and ReSViNET demonstrated good reliability and validity results, in this cohort of patients presenting to tertiary level hospitals. This early data demonstrate that these two scores have the potential to be used in conjunction with clinical reasoning to identify infants at increased risk of clinical deterioration and allow timely admission, treatment escalation and therefore support resource allocation in Rwanda.
The basic psychological needs satisfaction and frustration scale at work: A validation in the Polish language
Authors: Szulawski Michał , Baka Łukasz , Prusik Monika , Olafsen Anja H.
Published: November 2021

The aim of this research project was to validate the work-related version of the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale (BPNSFS) into the Polish language and culture. Although studies have demonstrated the benefits associated with basic psychological need satisfaction and the costs associated with need frustration at work, the concept of needs has been neglected both in Polish scientific research and in practical organizational studies. The adaptation of the BPNSFS-Work Domain may change this situation and stimulate research in the Polish community. The scale has been validated in a sample consisting of three occupational groups: healthcare workers, education staff and customer service workers (N= 1315,Mage= 43.8). The findings suggest that the Polish scale has robust psychometric features. The CFA analysis proves that the scale has a six-dimensional structure similar to the original scale. These dimensions show satisfactory to high Cronbach’sαand McDonaldsωreliability, and high criterion validity is shown by association of the six need dimensions with correlates of both positive (i.e., engagement, job crafting and self-efficacy) and negative aspects of work (i.e., burnout and stress). The structure of the scale is the same in all three occupational groups, although the regression weights and covariances are only partially invariant. The validated version of the BPNSFS-Work Domain can be used in future basic and applied studies in the paradigm of self-determination theory.
Adverse or therapeutic? A mixed-methods study investigating adverse effects of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy in bipolar disorder
Authors: Hanssen Imke , Scheepbouwer Vera , Huijbers Marloes , Regeer Eline , Lochmann van Bennekom Marc , Kupka Ralph , Speckens Anne
Published: November 2021

Background

Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBIs) are widely used in clinical and non-clinical populations, but little attention has been given to potential adverse effects (AEs).

Aims

This study aimed to gain insight in the prevalence and course of AEs during Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) for patients with bipolar disorder (BD).

Method

The current mixed-methods study was conducted as part of a RCT on (cost-) effectiveness of MBCT in 144 patients with BD (Trial registered on 25th of April 2018, ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03507647). During MBCT, occurrence of AEs was monitored prospectively, systematically, and actively (n = 72). Patients who reported AEs were invited for semi-structured interviews after completing MBCT (n = 29). Interviews were analysed with directed content analysis, using an existing framework by Lindahl et al.

Results

AEs were reported by 29 patients, in seven of whom the experiences could not be attributed to MBCT during the interview. AEs were reported most frequently up to week 3 and declined afterwards. Baseline anxiety appeared to be a risk factor for developing AEs. Seven existing domains of AEs were observed: cognitive, perceptual, affective, somatic, conative, sense of self, and social. Influencing factors were subdivided into predisposing, precipitating, perpetuating, and mitigating factors. With hindsight, more than half of patients considered the reported AEs as therapeutic rather than harmful.

Conclusions

Although the occurrence of AEs in MBCT for patients with BD is not rare, even in this population with severe mental illness they were not serious or had lasting bad effects. In fact, most of them were seen by the patients as being part of a therapeutic process, although some patients only experienced AEs as negative.
Examining gender inequalities in factors associated with income poverty in Mexican rural households
Authors: Torres Munguía Juan Armando , Martínez-Zarzoso Inmaculada
Published: November 2021

According to 2016 official estimates, almost 60% of the rural population in Mexico (16.9 million people) had income levels below the poverty line, and approximately 29.2% (8.3 million) could not even afford the basic food basket. Whereas most poverty research disregards gender and exclusively analyzes average income or the expected probability of being poor, we depart from these approaches by examining the effect of potential risk factors on two of the lowest quantiles of income-to-poverty ratio distribution, namely the corresponding to poor and extremely poor families. Focusing on identifying heterogeneous effects according to the sex of the household head, we apply additive quantile models to a cross-sectional dataset containing information on 4,434 women-headed and 14,877 men-headed households. For each model, we introduce 45 variables at the individual/household, community, and regional levels. Two major contributions emerge from this paper. First, the identification of a subset of significant factors whose effect is independent of the head’s sex and is relevant for poor and extremely poor families. This is found for the variables credit card ownership, access to basic housing services, education level, and satisfaction with public services. Second, results also identify a subset of significant factors with an uneven effect on income according to the sex of the head that is observed both in the poor and extremely poor households. Variables having this gendered effect are the community’s income inequality, municipal human development, social networks, access to social security, and gender-based violence against women in the public sphere. Out of these, particularly relevant is the effect of the last three factors, whose association with income has not been explored before for rural Mexico and for which the bias among sexes increases as family income grows from extreme poverty to poverty level.
Sex-dependent development of Kras-induced anal squamous cell carcinoma in mice
Authors: Walcheck Morgan T. , Matkowskyj Kristina A. , Turco Anne , Blaine-Sauer Simon , Nukaya Manabu , Noel Jessica , Ronnekleiv Oline K. , Ronnekleiv-Kelly Sean M.
Published: November 2021

Anal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) will be diagnosed in an estimated 9,080 adults in the United States this year, and rates have been rising over the last several decades. Most people that develop anal SCC have associated human papillomavirus (HPV) infection (~85–95%), with approximately 5–15% of anal SCC cases occurring in HPV-negative patients from unknown etiology. This study identified and characterized the Kras-driven, female sex hormone-dependent development of anal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in the LSL-KrasG12D; Pdx1-Cre (KC) mouse model that is not dependent on papillomavirus infection. One hundred percent of female KC mice develop anal SCC, while no male KC mice develop tumors. Both male and female KC anal tissue express Pdx1 and Cre-recombinase mRNA, and the activated mutant KrasG12D gene. Although the driver gene mutation KrasG12D is present in anus of both sexes, only female KC mice develop Kras-mutant induced anal SCC. To understand the sex-dependent differences, KC male mice were castrated and KC female mice were ovariectomized. Castrated KC males displayed an unchanged phenotype with no anal tumor formation. In contrast, ovariectomized KC females demonstrated a marked reduction in anal SCC development, with only 15% developing anal SCC. Finally, exogenous administration of estrogen rescued the tumor development in ovariectomized KC female mice and induced tumor development in castrated KC males. These results confirm that the anal SCC is estrogen mediated. The delineation of the role of female sex hormones in mediating mutant Kras to drive anal SCC pathogenesis highlights a subtype of anal SCC that is independent of papillomavirus infection. These findings may have clinical applicability for the papillomavirus-negative subset of anal SCC patients that typically respond poorly to standard of care chemoradiation.
Unintended pregnancy and the factors among currently pregnant married youths in Western Oromia, Ethiopia: A mixed method
Authors: Merga Jaleta , Wirtu Desalegn , Bekuma Tariku Tesfaye , Regasa Misganu Teshoma
Published: November 2021

Background

Unintended pregnancy is a global concern affecting both developed and developing countries. Some young women who had unintended pregnancies obtain an abortion while others carry their pregnancies to term, incurring the risk of morbidity and mortality higher than those for adult women. Despite the availability of highly effective methods of contraception, different studies in Ethiopia revealed that there is a high level of unintended pregnancy.

Objective

To assess the magnitude of unintended pregnancy and associated factors among currently pregnant married youths in Kiremu district.

Methods

A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among currently pregnant married 15–24 years women. Multi-stage stratified sampling technique was used to select 434 study units. Ten kebeles were randomly selected and samples were selected from each of ten kebeles by simple random sampling using kebeles household identification numbers as the sampling frame. Quantitative data was entered with SPSS version 20 and crude and adjusted odds ratio together with their 95%CI were computed and interpreted accordingly. A p-value<0.05 was considered to declare a result as statistically significant in this study. In-depth interviews and transcripts of the recorded discussions were coded and analyzed thematically. The results were finally presented in texts, tables, and graphs.

Result

Unintended pregnancies among currently pregnant married young women in the study area were 31.1%. Educational status (AOR = 3.195,95%CI = 1.757,5.811),being Gov’t employee (AOR = 0.039, 95% CI = 0.002,0.988), ever heard contraceptives(AOR = 0.260, 95%CI = 0.077, 0.876), ever used contraceptives (AOR = 0.348,95%CI = 0.168,0.717),discussion about contraceptives with husband(AOR = 0.027,95%CI = 0.015, 0.050),fear of side effect of contraceptives (AOR = 5.819,95% CI = 1.438,23.422), autonomy on health (AOR = 0.122,95%CI = 0.035,0.431), age at first marriage (AOR = 3.195, 95%CI = 1.757,5.811), age first pregnancy(AOR = 23.660,95%CI = 12.573,44.522), being visited by health care providers (AOR = 0.202,95%CI = 0.073,0.566) and average birth interval (AOR = 3.472,95%CI = 1.392,8.61) were the factors associated with unintended pregnancy.

Conclusion and recommendation

Significant proportion of women had an unintended pregnancy in the study area. Therefore, emphasis should be given to married youths especially on women empowerment, encouraging partner discussions, and providing appropriate counseling on contraceptive side effects by giving due attention to those marred at younger ages (<18 years).