bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Tourism Development, Carbon Emission Intensity and Urban Green Economic Efficiency from the Perspective of Spatial Effects
Authors: He Xiaorong , Shi Jizhi , Xu Haichao , Cai Chaoyue , Hu Qiangsheng
Published: October 2022

In recent years, China has increasingly emphasized green development. Therefore, it is of theoretical and practical significance to study the green economic effect and carbon reduction effect of tourism development for the transformation of economic development. Using the superefficient EBM to measure the green economic efficiency of 280 cities from 2007–2019, we rely on the spatial Durbin model to explore the spatial spillover utility and nonlinear characteristic relationship of tourism development on green economic efficiency and carbon emission intensity and test the mediating effect of carbon emission intensity. The findings are as follows: (1) Under the exogenous shock test of the “low-carbon city” pilot policy, the spatial spillover effect of tourism development on urban green economic efficiency and carbon emission intensity is robust to spatial heterogeneity. (2) The spatial spillover effects of tourism development on the green economic efficiency and carbon emission intensity of cities show a nonlinear characteristic relationship of “U” and “M” shapes. After tourism development reaches a certain high level, the green economy effect and carbon emission reduction effect are significantly increased. (3) Carbon emission intensity has a significant mediating effect on the impact of tourism development on urban green economic efficiency.
Experimental Performance Study of Solar-Assisted Enhanced Vapor Injection Air-Source Heat Pump System
Authors: Li Zhengrong , Du Yongheng , Pan Yuqin , Zhang Fan , Meng Zhaofeng , Zhang Yanan
Published: October 2022

In this paper, a solar-assisted enhanced vapor injection air-source heat pump (SC-EVIHP) system was built to investigate its heating performance in cold regions. A typical-weather day in Harbin was selected for the experiment, and the heating characteristics of the SC-EVIHP system were explored under variable working conditions. The experimental results showed that the system was greatly affected by solar radiation intensity. On typical-weather days in winter, the maximum values for the heating capacity and COP of the system appeared at the time of maximum radiation intensity. Compared with conventional enhanced vapor injection air-source heat pump systems (EVI-ASHPs), the heating capacity and COP were increased by 24.9% and 12.5% at most, respectively. The COP of the system increased by at most 11.1% under conditions where the outdoor temperature was −12 °C and the outlet hot air temperature of the solar air collector was 40 °C. The SC-EVIHP system works well in a low-temperature environment and can be widely applied in cold regions.
Study on the Performance of a Solar Heating System with Seasonal and Cascade Thermal-Energy Storage
Authors: Yue Xiuyan , Xu Yujie , Zhou Xuezhi , Xu Dehou , Chen Haisheng
Published: October 2022

Seasonal solar thermal-energy storage systems used for space heating applications is a promising technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A novel solar heating system with seasonal and cascade thermal-energy storage based on zeolite water is proposed in this study. The system’s efficiency is improved through cascade storage and the release of solar energy. The energy storage density is improved through the deep coupling of daily energy storage and cross-seasonal energy storage. A mathematical model of the system-performance analysis is established. The system performances in the non-heating and heating seasons and throughout the year are analyzed by considering the Chifeng City of China as an application case. The results indicate that the average collection efficiency of the proposed system is 2.88% higher in the non-heating season and 7.4% higher in the heating season than that of the reference system. Furthermore, the utilization efficiency of the proposed system is 37.16%, which is 3.26% higher than that of the reference system. Further, the proposed system has a supply heat of 2135 GJ in the heating season, which is 9.66% higher than the reference system. This study provides a solution for the highly efficient solar energy utilization for large-scale space-heating applications.
Granulated Cane Sugar as a Partial Replacement for Steam-Flaked Corn in Diets for Feedlot Cattle: Ruminal Fermentation and Microbial Protein Synthesis
Authors: Plascencia Alejandro , Barreras Alberto , Valdés-García Yissel S. , Zinn Richard A.
Published: October 2022

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of supplemental granulated cane sugar (GCS) levels (0, 13.3, 26.6, and 39.9% on a dry matter basis) in a steam-flaked corn-based finishing diet on measures of ruminal fermentation and the site and extent of nutrient digestion. Four Holstein steers (251 ± 3.6 kg live weight) with “T” type cannulas in the rumen and proximal duodenum were used in a 4 × 4 Latin square experiment to evaluate the treatments. The experiment lasted 84 d. Replacing steam-flaked corn (SFC) with GCS linearly decreased the flow of ammonia-N (NH3-N) to the small intestine, increasing the flow of microbial nitrogen (MN; quadratic effect, p = 0.02), ruminal N efficiency (linear effect, p = 0.03) and MN efficiency (quadratic effect, p = 0.04). The ruminal digestion of starch and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) decreased (linear effect, p ≤ 0.02) as the level of GCS increased. The postruminal digestion of organic matter (OM), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), and starch were not affected by the GCS inclusion. However, postruminal N digestion decreased (linear effect, p = 0.02) as the level of GCS increased. There were no treatment effects on total tract OM digestion. However, total tract NDF and N digestion decreased (linear effect, p ≤ 0.02) as the level of GCS increased. The ruminal pH decreased (linear effect, p < 0.01) as the GCS increased in the diet. The ruminal acetate molar proportion decreased (linear effect, p = 0.02) and the ruminal valerate molar proportion tended to increase (linear effect, p = 0.08) as the level of GCS increased. It is concluded that replacing as much as 13% of SFC with GCS in a finishing diet will enhance the efficiency of N utilization (g non-ammonia-N entering the small intestine/g N intake) without detrimental effects on total tract OM digestion. The inclusion of GCS decreased the ruminal proportion of acetate linearly without an effect on the acetate-to-propionate ratio or estimated methane production. Some of the effects on N utilization at a high level of GCS inclusion (27 and 40%) can be magnified by the differences in the CP content between diets. A higher level of GCS supplementation in the diet decreased the ruminal pH below 5.5, increasing the risk of ruminal acidosis.
From Agri-Food Wastes to Polyhydroxyalkanoates through a Sustainable Process
Authors: Verdini Federico , Tabasso Silvia , Mariatti Francesco , Bosco Francesca , Mollea Chiara , Calcio Gaudino Emanuela , Cirio Alessio , Cravotto Giancarlo
Published: October 2022

The biologically-derived polymers polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are biodegradable and can be considered a valuable alternative to conventional fossil-based plastics. However, upstream and downstream processes for PHA production are characterized by high energy and chemical consumption and are not economically competitive with petroleum-based polymers. Aiming to improve both the environmental and economical sustainability of PHAs production, in this work, corn straw was used as raw material to obtain a mixture of fermentable sugars after microwave-assisted flash hydrolysis (2 min, 0.01 g/L, 50.7% yield). A mixed microbial culture enriched from dairy industry waste was used for fermentation in a shake flask, allowing us to achieve good poly(hydroxy-butyrate-co-hydroxy-valerate) yields (41.4%, after 72 h of fermentation). A scale-up in a stirred tank bioreactor (3 L) gave higher yields (76.3%, after 96 h), allowing in both cases to achieve a concentration of 0.42 g/L in the fermentation medium. The possibility of producing PHAs from agricultural waste using a mixed microbial culture from the food industry with enabling technologies could make the production of biopolymers more competitive.
A Hybrid Deep Learning Model with Self-Improved Optimization Algorithm for Detection of Security Attacks in IoT Environment
Authors: Sagu Amit , Gill Nasib Singh , Gulia Preeti , Chatterjee Jyotir Moy , Priyadarshini Ishaani
Published: October 2022

With the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT), security attacks are also rising gradually. Numerous centralized mechanisms have been introduced in the recent past for the detection of attacks in IoT, in which an attack recognition scheme is employed at the network’s vital point, which gathers data from the network and categorizes it as “Attack” or “Normal”. Nevertheless, these schemes were unsuccessful in achieving noteworthy results due to the diverse necessities of IoT devices such as distribution, scalability, lower latency, and resource limits. The present paper proposes a hybrid model for the detection of attacks in an IoT environment that involves three stages. Initially, the higher-order statistical features (kurtosis, variance, moments), mutual information (MI), symmetric uncertainty, information gain ratio (IGR), and relief-based features are extracted. Then, detection takes place using Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) and Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (Bi-LSTM) to recognize the existence of network attacks. For improving the classification accuracy, the weights of Bi-LSTM are optimally tuned via a self-upgraded Cat and Mouse Optimizer (SU-CMO). The improvement of the employed scheme is established concerning a variety of metrics using two distinct datasets which comprise classification accuracy, and index, f-measure and MCC. In terms of all performance measures, the proposed model outperforms both traditional and state-of-the-art techniques.
Whole-Body Toxic Metals and Morphometric Measurements in Brown Shrimp Penaeus aztecus in the Gulf of Mexico
Authors: Castañeda-Chávez María del Refugio , Navarrete-Rodríguez Gabycarmen , Wakida-Kusunoki Armando T. , Baruch-Garduza Ernesto , Reynier-Valdés David
Published: October 2022

Fishing of the brown shrimp Penaeus aztecus is an important socioeconomic activity, generating income and different jobs for the fishing sector; however, this species is exposed to contaminants such as toxic metals. The objective of this research was to determine the concentrations of Cd, Pb, Cr, and Ni in brown shrimp P. aztecus from the northwestern Gulf of Mexico, and to analyse morphometric measurements in this species. The determination of toxic metals in shrimp was carried out according to the method proposed by the USEPA. Sexual identification was carried out by examining the first pleopods of P. aztecus specimens; the stages of maturity and proportion of sexes were also determined, finding specimens at maturity stages I and II. Specimens collected in the Veracruz area presented higher morphometric values, with an average TL of 136.15 mm. It was identified in the same area that the batches were formed by a higher proportion of males at 72.2%. Ni was the metal with the highest concentration in the Veracruz area at 15.5 µg g−1, while Pb had a maximum concentration of 8.3 µg g−1. The concentrations obtained for the toxic metals in the shrimp exceeded the values of the international permissible limits established for Pb and Cd.
Detection of Macrobrachium rosenbergii Nodavirus (MrNV) of White Tail Disease (WTD) in Apparently Healthy Giant Freshwater Prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii in Korea
Authors: Jang Gwang Il , Kim Bo Seong , Kim Su Mi , Oh Yun Kyeong , Kim Jae Ok , Hwang Jee Youn , Lee Soon Jeong , Hong Sung Youl , Kwon Mun Gyeong
Published: October 2022

White tail disease (WTD) is caused by the Macrobrachium rosenbergii nodavirus (MrNV) and an extra-small virus (XSV). MrNV belongs to the Nodaviridae family. While the role of XSV in the pathogenicity of WTD remains unclear, MrNV is considered to be a significant factor in the disease. To study WTD infection in giant freshwater prawns (Macrobrachium rosenbergii), adult and post-larval (PL) prawns were collected from three giant freshwater prawn farms in Gyeongsangnam-do, Korea in 2021. Although the adult and PL prawns did not display any gross signs of WTD, MrNV was detected in both adult and PL in this study. However, XSV was not detected in both prawns. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the capsid protein gene sequences of MrNV obtained in this study were robustly clustered with the MrNV group, and were clearly distinguished from Alphanodavirus and Betanodavirus groups of the family Nodaviridae. Although Zenker’s necrosis and myolysis were observed histopathologically in the abdominal striated muscle of adult and PL prawns, no gross signs associated with white tail were observed because of local lesions.
Body Morphology and Drag in Swimming: CFD Analysis of the Effects of Differences in Male and Female Body Types
Authors: Wang Andrew X. G. , Kabala Zbigniew J.
Published: October 2022

This study analyzes the effect of the morphological characteristics of swimmers on passive drag and determines whether the female or male body type is more efficient for gliding. As a result of puberty, males and females develop different body structures; this study investigates whether these changes in shape influence drag. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations carried out in Ansys Fluent software were used to calculate the drag force and coefficient from 2D models of swimmers in streamline position, generated based on common anthropometric measurements. Both the top and side view profiles of the swimmers were simulated, unique to this study. The normalized male and female body shapes were simulated at different velocities, and it was demonstrated that the male body shape has a lower drag coefficient than the female body shape by 10.1% and 2.8% for top view and side view profiles, respectively. The in-depth analysis and simulation of models with varying hip and chest dimensions found a significant and positive correlation between hip and chest size and drag, with the chest size having the largest effect of an average 12.2% increase in drag per 5% increase in chest breadth. The results from modifying anthropometric variables explain the discrepancy between the drag experienced by male and female swimmers and show that enlarged hips and chests cause an increase in resistance. The differences between drag for males and females were found to be comparable to the 6.2% and 7.7% drag differences between full-body fastskin and normal suits, indicating measurable impact on performance. These findings suggest that the morphology of swimmers does have a significant effect on drag and that the male body shape is more hydrodynamic than the female body shape.
Effects of Coix Seed Oil on High Fat Diet-Induced Obesity and Dyslipidemia
Authors: Chen Lichun , Xue Songwen , Dai Binhao , Zhao Huimin
Published: October 2022

Dietary intervention is becoming more popular as a way to improve lipid metabolism and reduce the prevalence of diet-related chronic disorders. We evaluated the effects of several dietary oils on body weight, fat mass, liver weight, and tumor necrosis factor in obese mice given a high-fat diet (HFD) to discover if coix seed oil (CSO) had an anti-obesity impact. As compared to other dietary fats, CSO treatment considerably lowered body weight and liver index, successfully sup-pressed total cholesterol and triglyceride content, and raised liver lipid deposition and lipid metabolism problem induced by high fat intake. Furthermore, gas chromatography research revealed that CSO extracted by supercritical fluid, with 64% being CSO extracted by supercritical fluid, and the greatest amounts of capric acids and lauric acids being 35.28% and 22.21%, respectively. CSO contained a high content of medium-chain fatty acids and was able to modify hepatic fatty acid metabolism and lipid levels in HFD-induced obese mice. According to the results, CSO has the potential to replace dietary lipids as a promising functional lipid in the prevention of met-abolish disorders.
Hydrolytic Stability of Crosslinked, Highly Alkaline Diallyldimethylammonium Hydroxide Hydrogels
Authors: Mrohs Tim B. , Weichold Oliver
Published: October 2022

The aim of this study was to evaluate the persistence of alkaline hydrogels based on a common (N,N′-methylenebisacrylamide, BIS) and three recently published tetraallyl crosslinkers. Such hydrogels have been shown to be suitable materials for the rehabilitation of cementitious materials. Of the four crosslinkers under investigation, N,N,N′,N′-tetraallylpiperazinium dibromide decomposed quickly in 1 m KOH solution and was not considered further. BIS showed the first signs of a decomposition after several days, while tetraallylammonium bromide and N,N,N′,N′-tetraallyltrimethylene dipiperidine dibromide remained unaffected. In contrast to BIS, which suffers from low solubility in water, the two tetraallyl crosslinkers show unlimited miscibility with diallyldimethylammonium hydroxide solutions. For the study, gels with up to 50 wt % crosslinker were prepared. Of these, gels containing tetraallylammonium bromide always show the highest degrees of swelling, with a peak value of 397 g/g at a content of 2 wt %. Under accelerated ageing at 60 °C for 28 d, gels crosslinked with BIS ultimately turned liquid, while the storage modulus and the degree of swelling of the two tetraallyl-crosslinked gels remained unchanged. This indicates that alkaline gels can be suitable for long application periods, which are common for rehabilitation measures in the construction industry.
An Investigation of the Sol-Gel Transition of Chitosan Lactate and Chitosan Chloride Solutions via Rheological and NMR Studies
Authors: Pieklarz Katarzyna , Jenczyk Jacek , Modrzejewska Zofia , Owczarz Piotr , Jurga Stefan
Published: October 2022

In recent years, intensive research has been carried out on the use of hydrogels obtained from natural polymers, mainly chitosan. These products are increasingly replacing solutions based on synthetic materials in medicine. This publication presents the results of studies on the sol-gel transition of chitosan solutions as the base material for the preparation of thermosensitive hydrogels for potential applications in tissue engineering. The measurements were carried out for systems consisting of chitosan lactate and chitosan chloride solutions using β-glycerol phosphate disodium salt pentahydrate and uridine 5′-monophosphate disodium salt as the cross-linking agents. The sol-gel transition point of the solutions was determined based on the rheological measurements in the cone-plate configuration of the rotational rheometer and experiments performed using the method of nuclear magnetic resonance. The obtained results showed a significant influence of the cross-linking agent on the course of the sol-gel transition of chitosan salt solutions, and the systems that consisted of chitosan lactate seemed to be especially interesting for biomedical applications.
A Novel De Novo NFKBIA Missense Mutation Associated to Ectodermal Dysplasia with Dysgammaglobulinemia
Authors: Chear Chai Teng , El Farran Bader Abdul Kader , Sham Marina , Ramalingam Kavetha , Noh Lokman Mohd , Ismail Intan Hakimah , Chiow Mei Yee , Baharin Mohd Farid , Ripen Adiratna Mat , Mohamad Saharuddin Bin
Published: October 2022

Background: Inborn errors of immunity (IEIs) are comprised of heterogeneous groups of genetic disorders affecting immune function. In this report, a 17-month-old Malay patient suspected of having Hyper IgM syndrome, a type of IEIs, was described. However, the diagnosis of Hyper IgM syndrome was excluded by the normal functional studies and the mild features of ectodermal dysplasia observed from a further clinical phenotype inspection. Methods: Whole-exome sequencing (WES) was performed to unravel the causative mutation in this patient. Results: The variant analysis demonstrated a novel missense mutation in NFKBIA (NM_020529:c.94A > T,NP_065390:p.Ser32Cys) and was predicted as damaging by in silico prediction tools. The NFKBIA gene encodes for IκBα, a member of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) inhibitors, playing an important role in regulating NF-κB activity. The mutation occurred at the six degrons (Asp31-Ser36) in IκBα which were evolutionarily conserved across several species. Prediction analysis suggested that the substitution of Ser32Cys may cause a loss of the phosphorylation site at residue 32 and a gain of the sumoylation site at residue 38, resulting in the alteration of post-translational modifications of IκBα required for NF-κB activation. Conclusion: Our analysis hints that the post-translational modification in the NFKBIA Ser32Cys mutant would alter the signaling pathway of NF-κB. Our findings support the usefulness of WES in diagnosing IEIs and suggest the role of post-translational modification of IκBα.
Legal Regulations and the Anticipation of Moral Distress of Prospective Nurses: A Comparison of Selected Undergraduate Nursing Education Programmes
Authors: Klotz Karen , Riedel Annette , Lehmeyer Sonja , Goldbach Magdalene
Published: October 2022

Moral distress is commonly experienced by nurses in all settings. This bears the risk of a reduced quality of care, burnout and withdrawal from the profession. One approach to the prevention and management of moral distress is ethical competence development in undergraduate nursing education. Profession-specific legal regulations function as a foundation for the decision on the educational content within these programmes. This theoretical article presents the extent to which legal regulations may open framework conditions that allow for the comprehensive preparation of prospective nurses to manage moral distress. The legal frameworks and the immediate responsibilities regarding their realisation in the context of undergraduate nursing education vary slightly for the three chosen examples of Switzerland, Austria and Germany. While an increased awareness of ethics’ education is represented within the nursing laws, no definite presumption can be made regarding whether undergraduate nursing students will be taught the ethical competencies required to manage moral distress. It remains up to the curriculum design, the schools of nursing and instructors to create an environment that allows for the realisation of corresponding learning content. For the future, the establishment of professional nursing associations may help to emphasise acutely relevant topics, including moral distress, in undergraduate nursing education.
A Review of Radiomics in Predicting Therapeutic Response in Colorectal Liver Metastases: From Traditional to Artificial Intelligence Techniques
Authors: Alshohoumi Fatma , Al-Hamdani Abdullah , Hedjam Rachid , AlAbdulsalam AbdulRahman , Al Zaabi Adhari
Published: October 2022

An early evaluation of colorectal cancer liver metastasis (CRCLM) is crucial in determining treatment options that ultimately affect patient survival rates and outcomes. Radiomics (quantitative imaging features) have recently gained popularity in diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. Despite this, radiomics faces many challenges and limitations. This study sheds light on these limitations by reviewing the studies that used radiomics to predict therapeutic response in CRCLM. Despite radiomics’ potential to enhance clinical decision-making, it lacks standardization. According to the results of this study, the instability of radiomics quantification is caused by changes in CT scan parameters used to obtain CT scans, lesion segmentation methods used for contouring liver metastases, feature extraction methods, and dataset size used for experimentation and validation. Accordingly, the study recommends combining radiomics with deep learning to improve prediction accuracy.
Racial/Ethnic Differences in Arrest Probability Trajectories after Traumatic Brain Injury: A Model Systems Study
Authors: Pugh Mickeal , Perrin Paul B. , Arango-Lasprilla Juan Carlos , Klyce Daniel W. , Jones Shawn C. T. , Dautovich Natalie D.
Published: October 2022

Background: Previous literature has documented racial/ethnic differences in traumatic brain injury (TBI) risk, cause, treatment, and rehabilitation. The purpose of the current study was to investigate potential racial/ethnic differences in arrest probability trajectories over the first 10 years after TBI and whether injury and sociodemographic characteristics accounted for these differences. Methods: The current study included 13,195 participants with moderate-to-severe TBI in the TBI Model Systems National Database who had arrest data from at least one follow-up time point (Years 1, 2, 5, and/or 10). A series of hierarchical linear models assessed racial/ethnic differences in trajectories of arrest probability over these 10 years post-injury and then included socio-demographic and injury-related covariates. Results: White individuals with TBI had lower arrest probability trajectories than Black and Native American individuals, and Asian individuals with TBI had lower arrest probability trajectories than White, Black, Latinx, and Native American persons. In many cases, racial/ethnic disparities persisted even when injury and sociodemographic characteristics were covaried. Conclusion: These results suggest that rehabilitation clinicians should assess for post-injury arrest risk factors such as age, sex, education, pre-injury unemployment, arrest history, and substance abuse, particularly in Black, Latinx, and Native American groups, and integrate programming to lessen post-injury arrest probability and improve overall rehabilitation outcomes.
The Impact of Socioeconomic Factors and Geriatric Syndromes on Frailty among Elderly People Receiving Home-Based Healthcare: A Cross-Sectional Study
Authors: Aravantinou-Karlatou Antonia , Kavasileiadou Savvato , Panagiotakis Simeon , Tziraki Chariklia , Almegewly Wafa , Androulakis Emmanouil , Kleisiaris Christos
Published: October 2022

Purpose: To evaluate frailty and its relationship with geriatric syndromes in the context of socioeconomic variables. Patients and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, elderly people aged 65 years old and over who received homecare in the reference region of Crete, Greece, were enrolled. Geriatric syndromes such as frailty, dementia, and depression were evaluated using the SHARE-Frailty Index (SHARE-Fi), the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), respectively. Level of education, annual individual income, disability in Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and homebound status were also assessed as ‘socioeconomic factors.’ Results: The mean age of 301 participants was 78.45 (±7.87) years old. A proportion of 38.5% was identified as frail. A multiple logistic regression model revealed that elderly people with cognitive dysfunction were more likely to be frail (OR = 1.65; 95% CI: 0.55–4.98, p = 0.469) compared to those with normal cognition, but this association was not significant. Although elderly people with mild depression were significantly more likely to be frail (OR = 2.62; CI: 1.33–5.17, p = 0.005) compared to those with normal depression, the association for elderly people with severe depression (OR = 2.05, CI: 0.80–5.24, p = 0.134) was not significant. Additionally, comorbidity (OR = 1.06, CI: 0.49–2.27, p = 0.876) was not associated with frailty, suggesting that comorbidity is not a risk factor for frailty. In addition, patients with mild depression were significantly more likely to report frailty (OR = 2.62, CI:1.33–5.17, p = 0.005) compared to those with normal depression, whereas elders with an annual individual income (>EUR 4500) were less likely to be frail (OR = 0.45, CI: 0.25–0.83, p = 0.011) compared to those with <EUR 4500 per year. Conclusions: Our data analysis shows that higher annual individual income and mild depression were independently associated with frailty, suggesting that a lower poverty threshold and mild depression are risk factors for frailty.
Efficacy of Self-Management on Glucose Control in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients Treated with Insulin
Authors: Lin Hsiu-Chu , Tseng Chin-Wei , Hsieh Ping-Jung , Liang Hsiu-Ling , Sue Shu-Ping , Huang Chun-Yang , Lee Mei-Yueh
Published: October 2022

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic metabolic disease. If blood glucose is poorly controlled, it will cause a variety of chronic complications. Therefore, the issue of healthcare in diabetic patients is a problem that cannot be ignored. In this study, we aim to investigate the correlation between sociodemographic characteristics, self-management, and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) values in patients with type 2 diabetes treated with insulin. A total of 300 type 2 diabetic patients treated with insulin were enrolled. Type 2 diabetic patients treated with insulin had a significant negative correlation of HbA1c value to self-management total score. The lower the HbA1c value, the better the self-management of type 2 diabetic patients treated with insulin is. It is recommended that scale assessment tools be used to identify problems, improve the self-management ability of type 2 diabetic patients, and problem solve in patients in order to facilitate the effectiveness of blood glucose control of type 2 diabetic patients.
Association between Elevated De Ritis Ratio and Mortality Outcome in Adult Patients with Thoracoabdominal Trauma
Authors: Su Wei-Ti , Rau Cheng-Shyuan , Chou Sheng-En , Tsai Ching-Hua , Liu Hang-Tsung , Hsu Shiun-Yuan , Hsieh Ching-Hua
Published: October 2022

The De Ritis ratio is widely used to differentiate various causes of liver disease and serves as an independent prognostic predictor for different malignancies and non-malignant illnesses. This retrospective study aimed to identify the association between the De Ritis ratio on admission and mortality outcomes in adult thoracoabdominal trauma patients. A total of 2248 hospitalized adult trauma patients with thoracoabdominal injury, defined as an abbreviated injury scale (AIS) score ≥ 1 in the thoracic and abdominal regions, between 1 January 2009, and 31 December 2019, were included. They were categorized into three tertile groups according to the De Ritis ratio. A 1:1 propensity score-matched study group was established to attenuate the confounding effect of patient characteristics on the mortality outcome assessment. The AST levels of the tertile 1, 2, and 3 groups were 115.8 ± 174.9, 115.7 ± 262.0, and 140.5 ± 209.7 U/L, respectively. Patients in the tertile 3 group had a significantly higher level of AST than those in the tertile 1 group (p = 0.032). In addition, patients in the tertile 1 group had a significantly higher level of ALT than those in the tertile 2 and 3 groups (115.9 ± 158.1 U/L vs. 74.5 ± 107.0 U/L and 61.9 ± 86.0 U/L, p < 0.001). The increased De Ritis ratio in trauma patients with thoracoabdominal injuries was mainly attributed to elevated AST levels. The propensity score-matched patient cohorts revealed that the patients in the tertile 3 group presented a 3.89-fold higher risk of mortality than the patients in the tertile 2 group. In contrast, the patients in the tertile 1 group did not have a significantly different mortality rate than those in the tertile 2 group. This study suggests that a De Ritis ratio > 1.64 may be a useful biomarker to identify patients with a higher risk for mortality.
Self-Reported Sleep during the COVID Lockdown in a Sample of UK University Students and Staff
Authors: Foster John H. , Rankin Sandra
Published: October 2022

The link between disturbed sleep and the extended lockdown period resulting from COVID-19 is well established. Data from an online survey of 2341 of university students (n = 1972, 84.2%) and staff were reported. Overall (n = 1710, 73.1%) were female and the mean age for the sample was 29.26 (SD = 12.86). 1799 (76.8%) provided self-reported data from the Nottingham Health Profile (NHP) Sleep Subscale that allowed sleep to be compared prior to the lockdown period and during the lockdown period. Sociodemographic data which included, gender, age, whether an individual was a student or member of the university staff, ethnicity, caring responsibilities, and highest educational level were collected. Other data included, the NHP Sleep Sub-scale, change in alcohol consumption during the lockdown period, routine behaviours during the lockdown period, self-efficacy and health and wellbeing. There was a significant deterioration in NHP Sleep scores (p < 0.001) and all areas of sleep that were assessed significantly deteriorated during the lockdown period. These included indicators of sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep duration, sleep disturbance and increased use of sleep medication. Following a multinomial logit regression with change of NHP sleep scores entered as the dependent variable there were several significant predictors. Women had greater sleep dysfunction than men. Increased alcohol consumption, lower educational status and a deterioration in health and well-being scores were associated with greater sleep dysfunction. Not having a designated area to work in and not putting on clothes and make-up were both associated with greater sleep dysfunction during the lockdown period. These findings confirm the importance of taking steps to maintain sleep hygiene during extended lockdown periods.
Hospital Management and Public Health Role of National Hospitals after Transformation into Independent Administrative Agencies
Authors: Nakagawa Yoshiaki , Irisa Kaoru , Nakagawa Yoshinobu , Kanatani Yasuhiro
Published: October 2022

The development of medical care, technological advances, and the ageing of society have led to rising medical costs. As a result, there is a demand to improve the efficiency of healthcare delivery systems, including public healthcare institutions, in order to ensure the sustainability of healthcare functions. In 2004, as part of national civil service reform in Japan, national hospitals were merged in order to form the National Hospital Organization (NHO). The NHO used new public management methods and was required to be self-financing and to maintain critical functions under a five-year management plan. The objective of this study was to examine whether the NHO was able to maintain its key function in the national infrastructure in terms of management. An analysis of the business conditions of the NHO was performed based on the financial statements from FY 2004 to FY 2018 using evaluation indexes. In the first and second periods, the NHO achieved its targeted management improvements. However, since FY 2014, even with the utmost restrictions on capital investment, the profits have not increased, and the free cash flow has been negative. Our results suggest that further organizational reforms are needed in order to sustain the NHO infrastructure in the long term and to withstand health crisis management during periods such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
Telemedicine, Telepsychiatry and COVID-19 Pandemic: Future Prospects for Global Health
Authors: Marinelli Susanna , Basile Giuseppe , Zaami Simona
Published: October 2022

There is no denying that demand for telemedicine and telepsychiatry services has been on the rise, as the COVID-19 pandemic engulfed the world and upset the daily lives and certainties of us all. Such growth, however, calls for a comprehensive analysis and assessment of the strengths and weaknesses inherent in such innovative approaches, which are bound to change and evolve as the fourth industrial revolution unfolds before our eyes. The authors have set out to analyze the complexities and distinctive features of telemedicine and telepsychiatry by focusing on the strengths and weaknesses of such approaches and analyzing research findings, recommendations, and guidelines by scientific societies and institutions, for the ultimate purpose of striking a tenable balance between technological innovations and the ethics and moral imperative of guaranteeing equal access to care for everyone, irrespective of social and financial status. The European regulatory and legislative scenario has been briefly outlined, and the standards for the medicolegal sustainability of such practices have been explored. Ultimately, in order to improve accessibility without compromising the quality of care, new broadly shared ethical standards, best practices, and guidelines need to be prioritized. National legislative initiatives and the international sharing of information need to be encouraged, for the ultimate purpose of optimizing and harmonizing telemedicine-based care for the sake of all patients. As technology moves forward and evolves, so must the normative standards and guidelines on which professionals must be able to rely when delivering telemedicine-based care in an ethically and legally viable fashion. From that perspective, addressing the digital divide means enabling more people to receive care and should therefore be seen as part and parcel of the effort to uphold the universal human right to health.
Effective and Efficient Delivery of Genome-Based Testing-What Conditions Are Necessary for Health System Readiness?
Authors: Husereau Don , Steuten Lotte , Muthu Vivek , Thomas David M. , Spinner Daryl S. , Ivany Craig , Mengel Michael , Sheffield Brandon , Yip Stephen , Jacobs Philip , Sullivan Terrence
Published: October 2022

Health systems internationally must prepare for a future of genetic/genomic testing to inform healthcare decision-making while creating research opportunities. High functioning testing services will require additional considerations and health system conditions beyond traditional diagnostic testing. Based on a literature review of good practices, key informant interviews, and expert discussion, this article attempts to synthesize what conditions are necessary, and what good practice may look like. It is intended to aid policymakers and others designing future systems of genome-based care and care prevention. These conditions include creating communities of practice and healthcare system networks; resource planning; across-region informatics; having a clear entry/exit point for innovation; evaluative function(s); concentrated or coordinated service models; mechanisms for awareness and care navigation; integrating innovation and healthcare delivery functions; and revisiting approaches to financing, education and training, regulation, and data privacy and security. The list of conditions we propose was developed with an emphasis on describing conditions that would be applicable to any healthcare system, regardless of capacity, organizational structure, financing, population characteristics, standardization of care processes, or underlying culture.
Genome-Wide Identification, Characterization and Expression Analysis of Mango (Mangifera indica L.) chalcone synthase (CHS) Genes in Response to Light
Authors: Hu Haofeng , Shi Bin , Zhu Wencan , Zheng Bin , Zhou Kaibing , Qian Minjie , Wu Hongxia
Published: October 2022

Light is one the most important environmental factors regulating the accumulation of specific metabolites in plants, such as flavonoid. Chalcone synthase (CHS) is the key rate-limiting enzyme of the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway, while little is known about the CHS genes in mango (Mangifera indica L.). Therefore, the aim of the study was to obtain the genome-wide identification of the CHS genes in mango and screen the light-responsive family members. In this study, a total of 21 CHS genes were identified from the mango genome, and most of the members contained the Cys-His-Asn triad and the CHS/STS signature motif. Most of the MiCHS genes were located on chromosomes 2 and 4, and seven pairs of tandem duplication genes and five pairs of segmental duplication genes were detected among the MiCHS members. The expression of MiCHSs showed a tissue-specific pattern and was not correlated with the flavonoid or anthocyanin accumulation in cultivars with different peel colors. MiCHS4, MiCHS16 and MiCHS17 were found to respond to preharvest and postharvest UV-B plus visible light treatments, which exhibited no significant relationship with the light-responsive cis-acting element distribution in the promoter region. Our results are helpful and can be used to further study the function of MiCHS genes in light-induced flavonoid biosynthesis in mango.
Understanding How Marine Protected Areas Influence Local Prosperity—A Case Study of Gili Matra, Indonesia
Authors: Rosadi Amrullah , Dargusch Paul , Taryono Taryono
Published: October 2022

A Marine Protected Area (MPA) is always expected to create a specified outcome in ecosystem improvement. While they are certain to benefit marine life, MPAs also impact the surrounding communities, as they directly affect the livelihoods of people who rely on marine exploits to make a decent living. In other words, MPAs create new communal dynamics influencing the rate of prosperity in the surrounding communities. Unfortunately, the leverage of MPAs in the coastal communities’ social economy is often under-assessed in MPA-related research. The MPA’s influence on communal prosperity emphasizes the importance of policy incentives from stakeholders. Therefore, stakeholders’ perceptions of MPAs are fundamental in the planning and implementation of MPAs, which could improve the prosperity of the coastal communities. In Gili Matra, Indonesia, where tourism is the MPA’s backbone, MPAs are expected to sustain prosperity for future generations. However, some stakeholders with different influential stances to the MPA (Influential Stakeholders (IS) and Non-Influential Stakeholders (NIS)) demand a contradictive approach. This could lead to managerial issues for the MPAs. These issues must be addressed to avoid contradictory objectives that could harm MPA implementation.
Sentiment Classification of Chinese Tourism Reviews Based on ERNIE-Gram+GCN
Authors: Yang Senqi , Duan Xuliang , Xiao Zeyan , Li Zhiyao , Liu Yuhai , Jie Zhihao , Tang Dezhao , Du Hui
Published: October 2022

Nowadays, tourists increasingly prefer to check the reviews of attractions before traveling to decide whether to visit them or not. To respond to the change in the way tourists choose attractions, it is important to classify the reviews of attractions with high precision. In addition, more and more tourists like to use emojis to express their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the attractions. In this paper, we built a dataset for Chinese attraction evaluation incorporating emojis (CAEIE) and proposed an explicitly n-gram masking method to enhance the integration of coarse-grained information into a pre-training (ERNIE-Gram) and Text Graph Convolutional Network (textGCN) (E2G) model to classify the dataset with a high accuracy. The E2G preprocesses the text and feeds it to ERNIE-Gram and TextGCN. ERNIE-Gram was trained using its unique mask mechanism to obtain the final probabilities. TextGCN used the dataset to construct heterogeneous graphs with comment text and words, which were trained to obtain a representation of the document output category probabilities. The two probabilities were calculated to obtain the final results. To demonstrate the validity of the E2G model, this paper was compared with advanced models. After experiments, it was shown that E2G had a good classification effect on the CAEIE dataset, and the accuracy of classification was up to 97.37%. Furthermore, the accuracy of E2G was 1.37% and 1.35% ahead of ERNIE-Gram and TextGCN, respectively. In addition, two sets of comparison experiments were conducted to verify the performance of TextGCN and TextGAT on the CAEIE dataset. The final results showed that ERNIE and ERNIE-Gram combined TextGCN and TextGAT, respectively, and TextGCN performed 1.6% and 2.15% ahead. This paper compared the effects of eight activation functions on the second layer of the TextGCN and the activation-function-rectified linear unit 6 (RELU6) with the best results based on experiments.
The Relation between Korean Children’s Autonomy and Motor Development Mediated by Teacher–Child Relationships: A Focus on Gender Difference
Authors: Jang Yu-Jin , Hong Yea-Ji
Published: October 2022

This study was conducted to identify the relation between children’s autonomy and motor development mediated by teacher–child relationships. Are there differences between teacher–child relationships and motor development according to the gender of the child? To answer this question, the fundamental movement skills of 292 children were measured, and teacher–child relationship and children’s autonomy data were collected from the teachers. There was a gender difference in locomotion skills; however, there was no difference in object control skills. In the case of girls, a conflict teacher–child relationship mediates the association between autonomy and object control skills. This study highlights the importance of teacher–child relationships, which are mainly discussed in relation to conventional social-emotional development, and provides examples of whole-child development.
Correction: Choe et al. Effect of Ethics Seminar on Moral Sensitivity and Ethical Behavior of Clinical Nurses. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 241
Authors: Choe Kwisoon , Kim Sunman , Lee Chunbok , Kim Sunghee
Published: October 2022

The authors wish to make corrections to the order of the authors [...]
Fentanyl Induces Novel Conditioned Place Preference in Adult Zebrafish, Disrupts Neurotransmitter Homeostasis, and Triggers Behavioral Changes
Authors: Wu Yuanzhao , Wang Anli , Fu Lixiang , Liu Meng , Li Kang , Chian Song , Yao Weixuan , Wang Binjie , Wang Jiye
Published: October 2022

Abuse of new psychoactive substances increases risk of addiction, which can lead to serious brain disorders. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid commonly used in clinical practice, and behavioral changes resulting from fentanyl addiction have rarely been studied with zebrafish models. In this study, we evaluated the rewarding effects of intraperitoneal injections of fentanyl at concentrations of 10, 100, and 1000 mg/L on the group shoaling behavior in adult zebrafish. Additional behavioral tests on individual zebrafish, including novel tank, novel object exploration, mirror attack, social preference, and T-maze memory, were utilized to evaluate fentanyl-induced neuro-behavioral toxicity. The high doses of 1000 mg/L fentanyl produced significant reward effects in zebrafish and altered the neuro-behavioral profiles: reduced cohesion in shoaling behavior, decreased anxiety levels, reduced exploratory behavior, increased aggression behavior, affected social preference, and suppressed memory in an appetitive associative learning task. Behavioral changes in zebrafish were shown to be associated with altered neurotransmitters, such as elevated glutamine (Gln), gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), dopamine hydrochloride (DA), and 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT). This study identified potential fentanyl-induced neurotoxicity through multiple neurobehavioral assessments, which provided a method for assessing risk of addiction to new psychoactive substances.