bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Study of the Spectral, Chromatographic and Solubility Characteristics of New Analytical Reagents from Anil-Azo and Their Biological Effects on Bacteria
Authors: M. Alhar Maysaa A.
Published: July 2022

This study was conducted to create a new reagent from Anil-Azo compounds and study their biological impacts on two types of bacteria. For the first step, four reagents had been created by reaction of p-phenyl diamine in acidic form with 2-formyl-4-methyl phenol in neutral medium to create reagent {1}, which used to produce reagent {2} by reacting it with amino benzothiazole over four hours in the presence of glacial CH3COOH. The reagent {1} was also used to form reagent {3} by reacting it with amino imidazole over two hours. Finally, reagent {3} had been generated by reacting reagent {1} with naphthyl amine (0.2 mol) over four hours in the presence of glacial CH3COOH. The UV-visible spectrum was showed that a new ligand was created between 190-600 nm in reagent {2}, {3} and {4} while reagent {1} was appeared in 519-600 nm area. FTIR spectrum showed that many new coordinate bonds had been formed in different locations. Also, the chromatographic separation study showed that reagent {4} was separated faster than other reagents. Study of compounds stability showed that all reagents were stable in methanol, ethanol, DMSO and DMF. Study of chemical-physical peripteries showed that percentage of reagents’ yield ranged between 80-70%. The assessment of the formulated reagents against various kinds of bacteria was carried out using a medium (agar) via numerous processes. Microbial inhibition was tested at three concentrations: 30, 50 and 70 micrograms, with a blank solvent (DMSO), for bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, E. coli and Streptococcus pneumonia with an incubation period of 24 hours at 37℃. The results of biological impacts showed that reagent {2} showed more inhibition Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumonia.
Distribution of ABO And Rh Blood Groups in Blood Donors at the Tertiary Care Centre, Dahod
Authors: V Vaghela Kalpesh , V Shah Shalibhadra
Published: July 2022

Introduction When it comes to blood transfusion and transplant medicine, the ABO as well as Rh blood group system are significant. There have been 700 RBC antigens found so far, and they've been divided into 30 blood groups as a result. For example, blood transfusion reaction, paternity testing, legal medicine, as well as associations with different illnesses are all medicolegally relevant when looking at ABO and Rh. Aim: The objective was to find out how much demand there is for a specific blood type compared to how much supply there is in society, to lower death rates caused by a shortage of that kind of blood. Compare the results with those from another comparable research performed in India and across the globe. Material and Methods: Between August 2018 to July 2021, researchers conducted a study on 7820 blood donors who visited the Zydus blood Centre. Tube agglutination testing and the Gel card method were used to find the patient's ABO as well as Rh blood groups. Both reverse as well as forward blood grouping methods are performed and confirmed only if both are identical. The age and sex groups as well as frequency of ABO and Rh blood groups were reported in percentages. Result The male-to-female ratio in our research was 30:1. The greatest number of male and female donors were between the ages of 18 to 30 years. For blood donation, it has been found that "O" blood donors are the most predominant, then those with B>A>AB blood groups. According to voluntary and replacement blood donors, AB & A blood groups are more (%) in replacement blood donors as compare to O and B blood groups. Voluntary donors are 33.67% and replacement donors were 66.64%. Distribution of Rh+ve and Rh-ve blood groups in our study was 98.78% and 1.22% respectively. Conclusion It is essential to have a thorough understanding of the distinct blood groups distribution for ensuring that blood as well as its components are always available to recipients in a particular area. The present work will provide insight on a deficiency of particular blood groups, in a particular area, like A and AB blood group are more in replacement donor showing deficiency of that blood groups in this area in our study.
Maternal Serum Soluble Endoglin Levels as a biomarker in Preeclampsia: A Case Control Tertiary Care Hospital Based Study
Authors: Krishnaveni. C Krishnaveni. C , Kiranmayee. P Kiranmayee. P , C. V Raghuveer. , S. R Sheela. , Kalyani. R Kalyani. R , Venkateshu  K. V Venkateshu  K. V
Published: July 2022

Preeclampsia (PE) is a multifactorial pregnancy specific disorder with complexity in pathophysiology. Many markers have been evolved but none of them was specific. The aim of the study was to compare the maternal serum soluble endoglin (sEnd) levels in pre-eclamptic & normotensive pregnant women in early and late gestational weeks. A total of 300 subjects were enrolled from the R.L.Jalappa Hospital and Research Centre, Obstetrics & Gynaecology department. In this case-control study design the cases were 150 subjects who were diagnosed as pre-eclamptic women and controls are 150 normotensive pregnant women who are healthy without any complications till delivery. Both in cases and controls the subjects were after 20 weeks of gestation. By taking written informed consent from each participant the 5ml of blood was collected and measured for the estimation of sEnd levels by using commercially available kits. The Area under Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve was calculated by using Statistical Packages for Social sciences Software with values 0.87 with 87% sensitivity and 83% specificity with cut off value ≥ 8 ng/ml. The sEnd levels are significantly increased in preeclamptic women than normotensive pregnant women (P=0.0001).So sEnd can be a diagnostic marker for PE in Kolar population. This is the first south eastern Indian study with 300 sample size.
Phytochemical and GCMS Analysis of Methanolic Leaf Extract of Bauhinia variegate
Authors: K. Nair Deepa. , B. Shanthi B. Shanthi , Simon A Supriya , V.S Kalaiselvi V.S Kalaiselvi
Published: July 2022

Herbal remedies are the most widely utilized medical therapy in most underdeveloped nations. Medicinal plants have been utilized for millennia due to their broad availability. Bauhinia variegata is a medicinal plant that grows in India and is thought to have medicinal properties due to specific bioactive components. The present work evaluated the phytochemical composition of the methanol extract of Bauhinia variegata‘s leaves. Further, three different assays were used to test the antioxidant activity of leaf extracts of Bauhinia variegata at varying doses. The antioxidant activity of several extracts of plant was shown to be more promising as a consequence of our research. The components of the more potent phytochemicals of Bauhinia variegata were further investigated using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. Our results reveal that the presence of specific phytochemicals warrants the Bauhinia variegata's use in health-promoting properties.
The EEG Brain Signal Pattern Analysis During Touching Learning of the Blind and Normal People via a Low-cost Device
Authors: Lawpradit Wachira , Yooyativong Thongchai , Chaisricharoen Roungsan
Published: July 2022

This research was designed for analyse and compare patterns of EEG signals while blinded and normal people performing touching-leaning. The pattern analysis focuses on important EEG wavebands during touching, such as delta, theta, alpha and gamma waveband. The EEG waveband-datasets were detected and recorded with inexpensive device, the NeuroSky Mindwave, where it is connected to a computer for data analysis through Bluetooth communication and had electric noise reduction chipset inside. The analysis for the EEG waveband pattern-comparisons is performed by utilizing waveband power spectrum and statistical technique based on FFT algorithm, Area Under Curve (AUC), mean, S.D., T-score, and P-value testing. The experiment shown that dominant EEG signal wavebands of blinded people when touching-learning are delta, theta, alpha and gamma. These wavebands were higher than normal people. Moreover, by using statistical analysis T-score and P-values testing, analyzed results illustrate that normal and blinded people EEG wave patterns are significantly different on gamma waveband where blinded people have significantly higher gramma wave during touching-learning activities. The objects used for touching-leaning in the experiments are square, triangle, circle, and hexagon shape of tactile pictures. The observation also shown that blinded people use their muscle in movement more than normal people which also strongly related to gramma wave. In addition, another wave did not relate to statistic significant. This result illustrated to normal and blinded people thinking and imagination with the same pattern.
Deep and Lightweight Neural Network for Histopathological Image Classification
Authors: Kim Shin , Yoon Kyoungro
Published: July 2022

Breast cancer is a fatal disease affecting women, and early detection and proper treatment are crucial. Classifying medical images correctly is the first and most important step in the cancer diagnosis stage. Deep learning-based classification methods in various domains demonstrate advances in accuracy.
However, as deep learning improves, the layers of neural networks get deeper, raising challenges, such as overfitting and gradient vanishing. For instance, a medical image is simpler than an ordinary one, making it vulnerable to overfitting issues.
We present breast histopathological classification methods with two deep neural networks, Xception and LightXception with aid of voting schemes over split images. Most deep neural networks classify thousands classes of images, but the breast histopathological image classes are far fewer than those of other image classification tasks. Because the BreakHis dataset is relatively simpler than typical image datasets, such as ImageNet, applying the conventional highly deep neural networks may suffer from the aforementioned overfitting or gradient vanishing problems. Additionally, highly deep neural networks require more resources, leading to high computational costs. Consequently, we propose a new network; LightXception by cutting off layers at the bottom of the Xception network and reducing the number of channels of convolution filters. LightXception has only about 35% of parameters compared to those of the original Xception network with minimal expense on performance. Based on images with 100X magnification factor, the performance comparisons for Xception vs. LightXception are 97.42% vs. 97.31% on classification accuracy, 97.42% vs. 97.42% on recall, and 99.26% vs. 98.67% of precision.
Refresh Rate and Graphical Benchmarks for Mobile VR Application Development
Authors: Wang Zhong , Foo Kenneth , Yan Steven , Gonzalez Vicente A. , Giacaman Nasser
Published: July 2022

Virtual reality (VR) technology is quickly becoming more accessible to the general public due to the availability and capabilities of modern smartphone devices. However, such mobile devices are not as powerful as high-end desktop systems where VR is mostly established. Running demanding VR apps leads to performance issues such as lag, excessive heat, and fast battery drainage. To avoid these problems, software factors must be optimised. The user evaluation (N=51)(N=51) involved presenting multiple VR scenes (with varying frame rates), requiring participants to judge which scenes felt smooth; the results indicate that anything below 50 FPS was tolerable at best and nauseating at worst. To also measure the performance impact of various software settings, benchmarks were conducted on different smartphones. The results highlight the effects when varying the number of displayed on-screen objects, as well as outlining which settings should be avoid when specifically targeting mobile VR platforms. Heat and battery life were found to be non-issues at recommended performance levels. The proposed work established valuable guidelines which can be helpful for real time applications in development time reduction and complexity simplification from graphical and refresh rate optimization perspectives.
Blending Real and Virtual Objects in Augmented Reality Environments
Authors: Pereira Lidiane Teixeira , Souza Jairo Francisco de , Silva Rodrigo Luis de Souza da
Published: July 2022

Although Augmented Reality applications are becoming increasingly popular, the lack of visual realism in rendering still remains an open problem due to its computational cost. Physically-based algorithms can generate renderings with a high degree of photorealism, and they are becoming popular after the recent development of hardware accelerators. This work shows how to integrate Augmented Reality frameworks with ray tracing frameworks to create scenes with high-quality, real-time reflections and refractions, with emphasis on the blending of virtual objects to the real environment. To support the interaction between real and virtual elements, a textured cube using images from the real environment must be provided. Our framework does not add processing overhead to the application when comparing the use of the proposed middleware to the use of ray tracing frameworks alone. We will show that with our approach, photorealistic augmented reality rendering can be achieved in real time without the use of any special equipment.
Broadband high-performance terahertz polarizer based on a dense array of 5 nm gap slit antennas
Authors: Kim Sunghwan , Kim Dasom , Lee Youjin , Lee Geon , Jeong Jeeyoon , Lee Dukhyung , Kim Dai-Sik
Published: July 2022

Critical factors for terahertz polarizers include broadband operation, high transmittance, and a good extinction ratio. In this paper, using a 5 nm-wide metallic slit array with a 200 nm periodicity as a wire grid polarizer, we achieved over 95% transmittance with an average extinction ratio of 40 dB, over the entire spectrum as defined by the terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (0.4 ∼ 2 THz). Theoretical calculations revealed that the slit array can show 100% transmission up to 5 THz, and wider bandwidths with a higher cutoff frequency can be achieved by reducing the slit periodicity. These results provide a novel approach for achieving a broadband THz polarizer and open a new path for seamless integration of the polarizers with nanophotonic applications.
Multispectral meta-film design: simultaneous realization of wideband microwave absorption, low infrared emissivity, and visible transparency
Authors: Min Pingping , Song Zicheng , Yang Lei , Ralchenko Victor G. , Zhu Jiaqi
Published: July 2022

There is a huge challenge to target multispectral compatible designs to satisfy the conflicting parametric requirements according to specific engineering requirements. In this work, a novel design method of multispectral compatible integration based on a lossy capacitive multispectral meta-film (MMF) is proposed. The simple guidelines from the impedance matching conditions of MMF derived from the transmission line model were employed to guide and analyze the broadband microwave absorption behavior. An autonomous optimization platform was constructed to simultaneously realize the customization of low infrared emissivity, as well as the widest microwave absorption bandwidth while ensuring maximum visible transparency. Following the guidance of the design method, a flexible structure with a low infrared emissivity of 0.534, wideband microwave absorption from 8.9 to 16.4 GHz covering X, Ku, and high visible transmission of 70.18% and ultra-thin thickness of 2.3 mm was finally obtained. The experimental results and simulation results were in high agreement, indicating the MMF has great application potential in multispectral stealth on optical windows, further demonstrating the versatility and effectiveness of the design method.
High-efficiency, polarization-insensitive 1400-lines/mm retroreflective metagrating with cascaded nano-optical modes
Authors: Qi Hongguang , Xie Lingyun , Zhu Jingyuan , Wei Zeyong , Jiao Hongfei , Gennadievich Smirnov Yury , Tikhonravov Alexander , Wang Zhanshan , Cheng Xinbin
Published: July 2022

A retroreflective grating with a high line density is one of the most desirable optical elements, as it is capable of channeling the reflected light toward the source with high angular resolution. Metagratings can steer the incident light into the desired diffraction order with ultrahigh deflection angle and unitary efficiency. However, in practice, the diffraction efficiency of a metagrating with a small period is very sensitive to the unit cells, thus leading to significant challenges in the fabrication process. In this Letter, a kind of high-efficiency, polarization-insensitive retroreflective metagrating with cascaded nano-optical modes on high-reflection films is proposed. It is found that the conception may increase the fabrication tolerance by a factor of more than two. A 1400-lines/mm metagrating is experimentally realized for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, which shows an excellent broadband diffraction spectrum with 96% efficiency over 50 nm in TE and TM polarization. This proposed novel metagrating will benefit miniature optical systems.
Mode division multiplexing on an InP membrane on silicon
Authors: Wang Yi , Wei Yihui , Dolores-Calzadilla Victor , Williams Kevin , Smit Meint , Dai Daoxin , Jiao Yuqing
Published: July 2022

A five-channel mode division multiplexed on-chip optical bus is designed and demonstrated on a submicron-thick InP membrane wafer bonded on a Si substrate. Dual-core adiabatic tapers are leveraged for realization of the mode (de)multiplexers. The optimized device shows low excess optical loss of maximum 0.14 dB compared to a reference waveguide and low cross talk of maximum −18.5 dB for all five channels over a broad optical bandwidth of 1510–1600 nm. High fabrication tolerance to width variations is also demonstrated, where a low excess loss of less than 1 dB and a low cross talk of less than −14 dB are maintained in the range of 1530–1585 nm, covering the C-band, when the width varies by up to 50 nm. The demonstrated results show an essential step toward a monolithic photonic layer on top of electronic chips for high-capacity on-chip optical interconnects.
Orientation-discriminating curvature sensor based on a chirped fiber Bragg grating Fabry–Perot interferometer
Authors: Pan Xue-Peng , Wang Bo , Guo Qi , Liu Shan-Ren , Yang He-Er , Sun Cai , Chen Qi-Dai , Sun Hong-Bo , Yu Yong-Sen
Published: July 2022

A directionally discriminable curvature sensor based on a chirped fiber Bragg grating Fabry–Perot interferometer (CFBG-FPI) is proposed and demonstrated by staggering two CFBGs in parallel in the fiber core with femtosecond laser point-by-point technology. The experimental results show that the light intensity of the interference dip tends to become stronger and weaker in two opposite bending directions, respectively, with a maximum sensitivity of 4.93 dB/m−1. This sensor has a temperature sensitivity of 2.31 × 10−4 dB/°C resulting in a cross-sensitivity as low as approximately 4.7 × 10−5 m−1/°C. The sensor is simple to manufacture, compact, and can be cascaded by multiple sensors to achieve multi-point detection, which is expected to play an important application in structural health detection.
Unsupervised demosaicking network using the recurrent renovation and the pixel-wise guidance
Authors: Li Jinyang , Hao Jia , Tong Geng , Karim Shahid , Sun Xu , Yu Yiting
Published: July 2022

Demosaicking has recently been extensively studied and has achieved significant progress via deep learning. However, all the examples are trained in a supervised manner with the attendance of full-resolution polarization images, which has been compromised for practical applications. In this Letter, we propose to recover full-resolution images from a single mosaic image by combining the deep image prior with the polarization prior to capture the image-specific statistics and further guide the optimization. Specifically, we employ the pixel-wise weight on the intermediate outputs being generated by the recurrent strategy to self-supervise the learning, and the missing pixels can be iteratively and individually recovered. Experimental results on long-wave infrared (LWIR) polarization images demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in terms of both quantitative measurement and visual quality.
Alternative splicing of METTL3 explains apparently METTL3-independent m6A modifications in mRNA
Authors: Poh Hui Xian , Mirza Aashiq H. , Pickering Brian F. , Jaffrey Samie R.
Published: July 2022

N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is a highly prevalent mRNA modification that promotes degradation of transcripts encoding proteins that have roles in cell development, differentiation, and other pathways. METTL3 is the major methyltransferase that catalyzes the formation of m6A in mRNA. As 30% to 80% of m6A can remain in mRNA after METTL3 depletion by CRISPR/Cas9-based methods, other enzymes are thought to catalyze a sizable fraction of m6A. Here, we reexamined the source of m6A in the mRNA transcriptome. We characterized mouse embryonic stem cell lines that continue to have m6A in their mRNA after Mettl3 knockout. We show that these cells express alternatively spliced Mettl3 transcript isoforms that bypass the CRISPR/Cas9 mutations and produce functionally active methyltransferases. We similarly show that other reported METTL3 knockout cell lines express altered METTL3 proteins. We find that gene dependency datasets show that most cell lines fail to proliferate after METTL3 deletion, suggesting that reported METTL3 knockout cell lines express altered METTL3 proteins rather than have full knockout. Finally, we reassessed METTL3’s role in synthesizing m6A using an exon 4 deletion of Mettl3 and found that METTL3 is responsible for >95% of m6A in mRNA. Overall, these studies suggest that METTL3 is responsible for the vast majority of m6A in the transcriptome, and that remaining m6A in putative METTL3 knockout cell lines is due to the expression of altered but functional METTL3 isoforms.
Global influenza surveillance systems to detect the spread of influenza-negative influenza-like illness during the COVID-19 pandemic: Time series outlier analyses from 2015–2020
Authors: Cobb Natalie L. , Collier Sigrid , Attia Engi F. , Augusto Orvalho , West T. Eoin , Wagenaar Bradley H.
Published: July 2022

Background

Surveillance systems are important in detecting changes in disease patterns and can act as early warning systems for emerging disease outbreaks. We hypothesized that analysis of data from existing global influenza surveillance networks early in the COVID-19 pandemic could identify outliers in influenza-negative influenza-like illness (ILI). We used data-driven methods to detect outliers in ILI that preceded the first reported peaks of COVID-19.

Methods and findings

We used data from the World Health Organization’s Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System to evaluate time series outliers in influenza-negative ILI. Using automated autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) time series outlier detection models and baseline influenza-negative ILI training data from 2015–2019, we analyzed 8,792 country-weeks across 28 countries to identify the first week in 2020 with a positive outlier in influenza-negative ILI. We present the difference in weeks between identified outliers and the first reported COVID-19 peaks in these 28 countries with high levels of data completeness for influenza surveillance data and the highest number of reported COVID-19 cases globally in 2020. To account for missing data, we also performed a sensitivity analysis using linear interpolation for missing observations of influenza-negative ILI. In 16 of the 28 countries (57%) included in this study, we identified positive outliers in cases of influenza-negative ILI that predated the first reported COVID-19 peak in each country; the average lag between the first positive ILI outlier and the reported COVID-19 peak was 13.3 weeks (standard deviation 6.8). In our primary analysis, the earliest outliers occurred during the week of January 13, 2020, in Peru, the Philippines, Poland, and Spain. Using linear interpolation for missing data, the earliest outliers were detected during the weeks beginning December 30, 2019, and January 20, 2020, in Poland and Peru, respectively. This contrasts with the reported COVID-19 peaks, which occurred on April 6 in Poland and June 1 in Peru. In many low- and middle-income countries in particular, the lag between detected outliers and COVID-19 peaks exceeded 12 weeks. These outliers may represent undetected spread of SARS-CoV-2, although a limitation of this study is that we could not evaluate SARS-CoV-2 positivity.

Conclusions

Using an automated system of influenza-negative ILI outlier monitoring may have informed countries of the spread of COVID-19 more than 13 weeks before the first reported COVID-19 peaks. This proof-of-concept paper suggests that a system of influenza-negative ILI outlier monitoring could have informed national and global responses to SARS-CoV-2 during the rapid spread of this novel pathogen in early 2020.
Ferritin, blood urea nitrogen, and high chest CT score determines ICU admission in COVID-19 positive UAE patients: A single center retrospective study
Authors: Bendardaf Riyad , Bhamidimarri Poorna Manasa , Al-Abadla Zainab , Zein Dima , Alkhayal Noura , Georgy Ramy Refaat , Al Ali Feda , Elkhider Alaa , Qadri Sadeq , Hamoudi Rifat , Abusnana Salah
Published: July 2022

Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic by WHO in March 2020. Since then, additional novel coronavirus variants have emerged challenging the current healthcare system worldwide. There is an increased need for hospital care, especially intensive care unit (ICU), for the patients severely affected by the disease. Most of the studies analyzed COVID-19 infected patients in the hospitals and established the positive correlation between clinical parameters such as high levels of D-dimer, C-reactive protein, and ferritin to the severity of infection. However, little is known about the course of the ICU admission. The retrospective study carried out at University Hospital Sharjah, UAE presented here reports an integrated analysis of the biochemical and radiological factors among the newly admitted COVID-19 patients to decide on their ICU admission. The descriptive statistical analysis revealed that patients with clinical presentations such as acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) (p<0.0001) at the time of admission needed intensive care. The ROC plot indicated that radiological factors including high chest CT scores (>CO-RADS 4) in combination with biochemical parameters such as higher levels of blood urea nitrogen (>6.7 mg/dL;66% sensitivity and 75.8% specificity) and ferritin (>290 μg/mL, 71.4% sensitivity and 77.8% specificity) may predict ICU admission with 94.2% accuracy among COVID-19 patients. Collectively, these findings would benefit the hospitals to predict the ICU admission amongst COVID-19 infected patients.
On the use of multi–objective evolutionary classifiers for breast cancer detection
Authors: Dioşan Laura , Andreica Anca , Voiculescu Irina
Published: July 2022

Purpose

Breast cancer is one of the most common tumours in women, nevertheless, it is also one of the cancers that is most usually treated. As a result, early detection is critical, which can be accomplished by routine mammograms. This paper aims to describe, analyze, compare and evaluate three image descriptors involved in classifying breast cancer images from four databases.

Approach

Multi–Objective Evolutionary Algorithms (MOEAs) prove themselves as being efficient methods for selection and classification problems. This paper aims to study combinations of well–known classification objectives in order to compare the results of their application in solving very specific learning problems. The experimental results undergo empirical analysis which is supported by a statistical approach. The results are illustrated on a collection of medical image databases, but with a focus on the MOEAs’ performance in terms of several well–known measures. The databases were chosen specifically to feature reliable human annotations, so as to measure the correlation between the gold standard classifications and the various MOEA classifications.

Results

We have seen how different statistical tests rank one algorithm over the others in our set as being better. These findings are unsurprising, revealing that there is no single gold standard for comparing diverse techniques or evolutionary algorithms. Furthermore, building meta-classifiers and evaluating them using a single, favorable metric is both extremely unwise and unsatisfactory, as the impact is to skew the results.

Conclusions

The best method to address these flaws is to select the right set of objectives and criteria. Using accuracy-related objectives, for example, is directly linked to maximizing the number of true positives. If, on the other hand, accuracy is chosen as the generic metric, the primary classification goal is shifted to increasing the positively categorized data points.
A protocol to gather, characterize and analyze incoming citations of retracted articles
Authors: Heibi Ivan , Peroni Silvio
Published: July 2022

In this article, we present a methodology which takes as input a collection of retracted articles, gathers the entities citing them, characterizes such entities according to multiple dimensions (disciplines, year of publication, sentiment, etc.), and applies a quantitative and qualitative analysis on the collected values. The methodology is composed of four phases: (1) identifying, retrieving, and extracting basic metadata of the entities which have cited a retracted article, (2) extracting and labeling additional features based on the textual content of the citing entities, (3) building a descriptive statistical summary based on the collected data, and finally (4) running a topic modeling analysis. The goal of the methodology is to generate data and visualizations that help understanding possible behaviors related to retraction cases. We present the methodology in a structured step-by-step form following its four phases, discuss its limits and possible workarounds, and list the planned future improvements.
Reliability, validity, and responsiveness of the Thai version of the Dry Eye-Related Quality-of-Life Score questionnaire
Authors: Tananuvat Napaporn , Tansanguan Sasiwimon , Wongpakaran Nahathai , Wongpakaran Tinakon
Published: July 2022

Dry eye disease (DED) is a common and growing eye problem worldwide. Chronic DED symptoms can, subsequently, affect the patients’ quality of life (QOL). This prospective cross-sectional study aimed to assess the reliability, validity, and responsiveness of the Thai version of the Dry Eye-Related Quality-of-Life Score (DEQS-Th) questionnaire and to evaluate its accuracy in DED screening. Psychometric validation was conducted on DED participants. All participants completed the DEQS-Th and other measurements including the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) and the 5-level EQ-5D (EQ-5D-5L). Internal consistency, concurrent validity, convergent, and discriminant validity were evaluated. The standardized response mean (SRM) was used to evaluate the responsiveness of the DEQS-Th. The optimal cut-off score of DEQS-Th for DED screening was assessed. Among 100 participants with a mean age of 50.9 ± 14.4 years, and 89.0% female, the internal consistency of the DEQS-Th was excellent (Cronbach’s alpha: 0.80–0.92). The test-retest intraclass correlation was 0.82–0.92. It showed concurrent validity with the OSDI (r = 0.694, p < .001) and EQ-5D-5L index scores (r = -0.578, p < .001). DED is suspected if the DEQS-Th score ≥ 18.33 (AUC = 0.897, sensitivity 90.0%, specificity 76.7%) or its Short Form score ≥ 3 (AUC 0.857, sensitivity 93.0%, specificity 63.3%). The SRM of the symptom subscale of DEQS-Th was 0.82, indicating relatively large responsiveness, whereas the impact on daily life subscale and the summary score was small. In conclusion, the DEQS-Th is valid and reliable for evaluating the multifaceted effects of DED on a patient’s QOL. It can be useful for primary assessment and monitoring of DED in routine clinical practice.
Sources for and quality of neonatal care in 45 low- and middle-income countries
Authors: Shiras Tess , Bradley Sarah E. K. , Johns Benjamin , Cogswell Heather
Published: July 2022

Almost half of under-five deaths occur during the neonatal period. Delivery with a skilled attendant, adherence to essential newborn care (ENC) and postnatal care (PNC) standards, and immediate treatment of infections are essential to improve neonatal survival. This article uses Demographic and Health Survey data from 45 low- and middle-income countries to assess 1) levels of ENC and PNC that mothers and newborns receive and how this differs by place of delivery and 2) levels of and sources for care-seeking for neonates sick with fever. For five of the ten ENC and PNC indicators assessed, less than two-thirds of mothers and newborns received care in alignment with global standards. Adherence is higher in private facilities than public facilities for all indicators other than immediate breastfeeding and skin-to-skin contact. Except for immediate breastfeeding, adherence is lowest for newborns born at home with a skilled birth attendant (SBA). Socioeconomic disparities exist in access to skilled delivery and adherence to ENC and PNC, with the largest disparities among newborns delivered at home with a SBA. Private provider adherence to ENC and PNC standards was relatively high for newborns from the wealthiest families, indicating that meeting recommended guidelines is achievable. On average across the 45 countries, half of caregivers for neonates with fever sought care outside the home and 45 percent of those sought care from the private sector. There were substantial socioeconomic disparities in care-seeking for fever, but illness prevalence and sources of care seeking were consistent across wealth quintiles. Closing inequities in neonatal care and care seeking and ensuring that all families, including the poorest, can access high quality maternal and newborn care is crucial to ensure equity and accelerate reductions in neonatal and child mortality.
Prevalence of low bone formation in untreated patients with osteoporosis
Authors: Malluche Hartmut H. , Davenport Daniel L. , Lima Florence , Monier-Faugere Marie-Claude
Published: July 2022

Background

Osteoporosis treatment usually starts with an antiresorber and switches to an anabolic agent if it fails. It is known that suppressing bone resorption also results in reduced bone formation. In addition, patients with prior treatment with antiresorbers may have reduced response to subsequent anabolic treatment. This study determined the prevalence of low bone formation in untreated osteoporosis patients to identify patients who may not be optimally treated under the current paradigm.

Methods

This is a cross-sectional study of bone samples stored in the Kentucky Bone Registry. Included samples were from adult patients presenting for workup of osteoporosis. Exclusion criteria were other diseases or treatments affecting bone. Patients underwent iliac crest bone biopsies after tetracycline labeling for identification of bone formation.

Results

107 patients met study criteria, 92 White and 5 Black women and 10 White men. Forty percent of patients (43/107) had low bone formation/bone surface (BFR/BS < 0.56 mm3/cm2/yr). Clinical and serum parameters did not differ between formation groups, except for type II diabetes, which was found exclusively in the low formation group.

Conclusions

Starting treatment of osteoporotic patients with an antiresorber in all patients appears not optimal for a significant portion.
Evaluation of different combination of pam2CSK4, poly (I:C) and imiquimod enhance immune responses to H9N2 avian influenza antigen in dendritic cells and duck
Authors: Zhang Aiguo , Li Deyin , Song Chao , Jing Huiyuan , Li Hongfei , Mi Junxian , Zhang Guizhi , Jin Shuangxing , Ren Xiaoli , Huangfu Heping , Shi Dongmei , Chen Ruiai
Published: July 2022

Current commercial H9 avian influenza viruses (AIVs) vaccines cannot provide satisfactory antibody titers and protective immunity against AIVs in duck. Toll like receptors (TLR) ligand as AIVs adjuvants can activate dendritic cells to improve immune responses in multiple animals, while the studies were absent in duck. Therefore, we investigated TLR ligands pam2CSK4, poly (I:C) and/or imiquimod enhance immune responses to inactivated H9N2 avian influenza antigen (H9N2 IAIV) in peripheral blood monocyte-derived dendritic cells (MoDCs) and duck.In vitro, we observed that transcription factor NF-κB, Th1/Th2 type cytokines (IFN-γ, IL-2 and IL-6) and the ability of catching H9N2 IAIV antigen were significantly up-regulated when H9N2 IAIV along with TLR ligands (pam2CSK4, poly (I:C) and imiquimod, alone or combination) in duck MoDCs. Also, the best enhancement effects were showed in combination of pam2CSK4, poly (I:C) and imiquimod group, whereas IFN-α showed no significant enhancement in all experimental groups.In vivo, the results demonstrated that the percentages of CD4+/ CD8+T lymphocytes, the levels of Th1/Th2 type cytokines and H9N2 HI titers were significant enhanced in combination of pam2CSK4, poly (I:C) and imiquimod group. However, pam2CSK4 alone or combining with imiquimod showed no enhancement or additive effects on Th1 cytokines (IFN-γ and IL-2), Th2 cytokines (IL-6) and HI titers in Muscovy duck, respectively. Taken together, our results concluded that not all TLR ligands showed enhancement of immune responses to H9N2 IAIV in duck. The combination of poly (I:C), imiquimod and pam2CSK4 that can be an effectively adjuvant candidate for H9N2 AIVs inactivated vaccine in duck, which provide novel insights in explore waterfowl vaccine.
Uses and functions of conceptual metaphor in pedagogical meditation discourse
Authors: Silvestre-López Antonio-José
Published: July 2022

In mindfulness and meditation instructional contexts, conceptual metaphor is a powerful facilitator of intersubjective communication about inner events and first-person experiences. Previous studies in meditation discourse have described space as a productive source domain that is used by meditation teachers to characterise metaphorically inner events and abstract concepts related to the meditative practice (Silvestre-López 2019, 2020). This study examines the discourse manifestations of the space source domain used to metaphorically characterise the most representative metaphorical topics (targets) in a corpus of introductory talks about meditation addressed to an audience of non-expert meditators. The analysis is sensitive to the communicative dimension of the use of metaphors in that it distinguishes between non-deliberate and deliberate uses (Steen 2015) and considers the functions they fulfil in discourse (Semino 2008; Goatly 2011). The corpus was analysed qualitatively following a bottom-up approach. Metaphor identification was carried out using DMIP (Reijnierse et al. 2018). Target and source domain coding was done with the help of dictionary information and the domains already identified in a metaphor compendium created in previous meditation discourse analyses (see Coll-Florit & Climent 2019; Silvestre-López & Navarro 2017; Silvestre-López 2020). This approach allowed different layers of domain specificity to be unveiled, with remarkable differences found between non-deliberate and deliberate metaphor use. Among them, differences in degree of source domain granularity (Langacker 2008) ranging from vaguer notions like undefined space or spaciousness to conceptually richer and finer-grained scenarios like the home and shelter, ocean, landscape, or sky models. The speakers were found to use these source domains consistently with explanatory purposes (explanatory function) to help their audience reconceptualise some of the most frequent target topics in their talks (e.g., the present moment, the meditator, the mind, awareness, or meditation) from more mindfully-oriented perspectives, hence allowing to become aware of and get rid of potential misconceptions. Deliberate uses proved particularly useful in promoting understanding through reconceptualisation, which was in turn facilitated by the vivid imagery evoked through detailed elaborations of source-domain scenery. Besides ideational functions, deliberate metaphors were also found to facilitate positive attitudinal changes towards the practice, as well as to provide for argument structuring and create textual cohesion. Overall, non-deliberate and deliberate uses were found to combine in the speakers’ production to aid them in skilfully achieving their own communicative intentions, which underscores the need for further studies that explore potential ways of applying similar findings to real meditation practice, and in instructional settings.
Análisis de la comunicación experto-lego por medio del consentimiento informado: legibilidad y relación médico-paciente
Authors: Zakhir Puig Sofía
Published: July 2022

El presente trabajo de investigación tiene como objetivo analizar la legibilidad y la opinión y experiencia de sujetos no especializados sobre el Consentimiento Informado (CI), un género médico-jurídico que los pacientes, generalmente legos en la materia, leen y firman antes de iniciar un tratamiento médico. Para poder realizar dicho análisis, hemos contado con 40 sujetos de la Comunidad Valenciana con edades comprendidas entre los 18 y los 30 años y sin formación médico-sanitaria. La investigación empírica consta de dos estudios: en primer lugar, un estudio de legibilidad, en el que los sujetos leyeron un CI previo a un proceso de hormonación y subrayaron aquellos elementos que no comprendían. En segundo lugar, entrevistas abiertas semiestructuradas, con tres bloques principales relacionados con la opinión de los sujetos acerca del texto previamente leído, su experiencia con la comunicación médico-paciente y su valoración del tipo de documento. De estos estudios, obtuvimos que el mayor problema que presenta el CI es la terminología empleada sin explicación o adaptación para personas legas. Además, un 45 % de los sujetos afirma que no pregunta sus dudas en consulta o que solo preguntaría en determinadas circunstancias. Finalmente, de todas las personas entrevistadas, solamente un 17,5 % considera que la comunicación se produce satisfactoriamente por medio del tipo de documento que nos ocupa. Los resultados de este trabajo nos llevan a pensar que el CI podría necesitar un sustancial proceso de adaptación al público lego, por ser un documento de vital importancia para los pacientes que se enfrentan a un tratamiento médico.
On empathy in online tourism experience. High-frequency adjective patterns in English and Spanish promotional language
Authors: Llorens Simón Eva María
Published: July 2022

This paper focuses on the identification and analysis of recurring adjective patterns in Spanish and English tourism promotional content available online. The study discusses how prototypical utterances may trigger empathy in each language, with high-frequency adjectives and emotional relevance being key in the addressees’ expectations as predictors of genuineness. This research offers a corpus-based approach to linguistic tendencies and presents empathy as a step beyond persuasion in translated or copywritten materials. To that end, a bilingual, ad hoc corpus recently compiled from institutional websites was examined in order to collect significant samples of persuasive elements in online tourism discourse. The results obtained show both common and contrastive aspects in the two languages, with empathy being preferably boosted under the assumption that positiveness and a specific proportion of frequent adjectives yield desirable effects among speakers of Spanish and English.
¿De qué hablamos cuando divulgamos sobre lingüística? Análisis de un corpus de textos divulgativos y aplicaciones al estudio terminológico de la semántica léxica
Authors: Sánchez-Saus Laserna Marta , Álvarez Torres Vanesa
Published: July 2022

En este trabajo presentamos la confección y el análisis de un corpus de textos digitales conformado por columnas periodísticas de corte divulgativo, escritas por lingüistas, que tratan sobre la lingüística como ciencia y que han sido publicadas en diarios digitales o revistas digitales de naturaleza divulgativa. Lo hacemos con dos objetivos: por un lado, observar qué aspectos del trabajo y la investigación lingüística estamos trasladando los propios lingüistas a la sociedad en los textos divulgativos que aparecen en la prensa online y, por otro, analizar en este corpus la presencia de términos de la semántica léxica, lo que nos permite establecer para ellos un estatus terminológico propio de la divulgación e incluir, en el trabajo terminográfico, ejemplos de uso de estos términos en contextos divulgativos. Esto lo hacemos dentro del marco que nos proporcionan los proyectos sobre terminología de la semántica y bases de datos terminológicas que se están desarrollando en el Instituto Universitario de Investigación en Lingüística Aplicada de la Universidad de Cádiz.
La resolución administrativa publicada en portales web institucionales: Un análisis basado en corpus
Authors: Pistola Grille Sara , Da Cunha Fanego Iria
Published: July 2022

La Administración pública española se comunica con la ciudadanía a través de una serie de textos especializados. Hasta hace unos años, estas comunicaciones se producían en formato papel. Sin embargo, con la aparición de la denominada Administración electrónica, internet se ha convertido en el canal de comunicación principal entre la Administración y la ciudadanía. Esto hace que los textos administrativos preexistentes se hayan tenido que adaptar a las posibilidades técnicas que ofrece la red, lo que los convierte en géneros digitales. Este trabajo se centra en el análisis de un género textual del ámbito de la Administración que en la actualidad se difunde casi exclusivamente a través de medios digitales, la resolución publicada en portales institucionales. Para ello, se toman como objeto de estudio las resoluciones publicadas en la página web del Boletín Oficial del Ayuntamiento de Madrid (BOAM), y se lleva a cabo un análisis lingüístico a nivel textual y léxico de un corpus formado por 20 textos. Asimismo, se realiza un análisis cualitativo de los rasgos digitales de este género textual. Como principal resultado de este estudio se obtiene una estructura modelo que contiene los apartados, los títulos y los contenidos prototípicos del género textual objeto de estudio. Además, se incluye una selección de unidades fraseológicas que se pueden utilizar para redactar esos contenidos. Estas unidades se adaptan a las recomendaciones de lenguaje claro más frecuentes para el español, con las que se pretende promover el uso de un lenguaje más sencillo por parte de las instituciones públicas. En cuanto al análisis de los rasgos digitales, se observan algunas diferencias en cuanto a la publicación de este tipo de textos en formato papel y a través de internet, como la posibilidad de ampliar la información a través de enlaces, o el uso de Códigos Seguros de Verificación (CSV).
Galindo Merino, M. M. y M. C. Méndez (eds.) (2022). La lingüística del amor: de la pasión a la palabra. Pie de página editorial, 322 páginas
Authors: Khaylina Anastasia
Published: July 2022

Reseña del libro: Galindo Merino, M. M. y M. C. Méndez (eds.) (2022). La lingüística del amor: de la pasión a la palabra. Pie de página editorial, 322 páginas.
Problemas de interpretación
Authors: Mateos Diez Juan José
Published: July 2022

Sobre Luisa de Medrano hay muy poca documentación, lo que ha propiciado lecturas dispares y muchas veces forzadas. En este artículo se repasan brevemente las fuentes originales y las interpretaciones que históricamente se han hecho, al tiempo que se rastrea cómo surgen afirmaciones que no tienen sustento en las fuentes y cómo se reproducen, a veces de una forma circular, retroalimentándose entre ellas. A las fuentes hasta ahora manejadas, se añaden unos documentos que nos dan nuevos datos sobre la familia de Luisa y sobre ella misma y que sirven para ir completando una imagen de la vida privada de Luisa, todavía de forma muy fragmentada, pero que suponen un paso fundamental en su conocimiento.