bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Integrative Reverse Genetic Analysis Identifies Polymorphisms Contributing to Decreased Antimicrobial Agent Susceptibility in
Streptococcus pyogenes
Authors: Beres Stephen B. , Zhu Luchang , Pruitt Layne , Olsen Randall J. , Faili Ahmad , Kayal Samer , Musser James M.
Published: January 2022

The recent demonstration that naturally occurring amino acid substitutions in
Streptococcus pyogenes
PBP2X are sufficient to cause severalfold reduced susceptibility to multiple β-lactam antibiotics
in vitro
raises the concern that these therapeutic agents may become compromised. Substitutions in PBP2X are common first-step mutations that, with the incremental accumulation of additional adaptive mutations within the PBPs, can result in high-level resistance.
Adiposity and risks of vascular and non-vascular mortality among Chinese adults with type 2 diabetes: a 10-year prospective study
Authors: Iona Andri , Bragg Fiona , Guo Yu , Yang Ling , Chen Yiping , Pei Pei , Lv Jun , Yu Canqing , Wang Xiaohuan , Zhou Jinyi , Chen Junshi , Clarke Robert , Li Liming , Parish Sarah , Chen Zhengming
Published: January 2022

Introduction

Among individuals with diabetes, high adiposity has been associated with lower cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality (the so-called ‘obesity paradox’ phenomenon) in Western populations, for reasons that are still not fully elucidated. Moreover, little is known about such phenomena in Chinese adults with diabetes among whom very few were obese. We aimed to assess the associations of adiposity with vascular and non-vascular mortality among individuals with diabetes, and compare these with associations among individuals without diabetes.

Research design and methods

In 2004–2008, the prospective China Kadoorie Biobank recruited >512 000 adults from 10 areas in China. After ~10 years of follow-up, 3509 deaths (1431 from CVD) were recorded among 23 842 individuals with diabetes but without prior major diseases at baseline. Cox regression yielded adjusted HRs associating adiposity with mortality.

Results

Among people with diabetes, body mass index (BMI) (mean 25.0 kg/m2) was positively log linearly associated with CVD incidence (n=9943; HR=1.19 (95% CI 1.15 to 1.22) per 5 kg/m2), but showed U-shaped associations with CVD and overall mortality, with lowest risk at 22.5–24.9 kg/m2. At lower BMI, risk of death (n=671) within 28 days of CVD onset was particularly elevated, with an HR of 3.26 (95% CI 2.29 to 4.65) at <18.5 kg/m2relative to 22.5–24.9 kg/m2, but no higher mortality risk at BMI ≥25.0 kg/m2. These associations were similar in self-reported and screen-detected diabetes, and persisted after extensive attempts to address reverse causality and confounding. Among individuals without diabetes (mean BMI 23.6 kg/m2; n=23 305 deaths), there were less extreme excess mortality risks at low BMI.

Conclusions

Among relatively lean Chinese adults with diabetes, there were contrasting associations of adiposity with CVD incidence and with mortality. The high mortality risk at low and high BMI levels highlights, if causal, the importance of maintaining normal weight among people with diabetes.
Musculoskeletal injuries in UK Service Personnel and the impact of in-theatre rehabilitation during Cold Weather Warfare training: Exercise CETUS 2020
Authors: Ferraby David H , Hayhurst D , Strachan R , Knapman H , Wood S , Fallowfield J L
Published: January 2022

Introduction

The Royal Marines provide the lead Service for UK Defence Mountain and Cold Weather Warfare capability. This is the first prospective study addressing musculoskeletal injury rates sustained during Cold Weather Warfare training, with the aim of informing injury mitigation interventions and assist military medical planning with respect to delivering primary care rehabilitation in theatre.

Methods

All musculoskeletal injuries were surveyed by the Forward Rehabilitation Team (Nov 2019–Mar 2020) during a Cold Weather Deployment to Norway (Ex CETUS 2019/20). The frequency, nature of injury (new or recurrent), onset (sudden or gradual), cause, location and exercise/treatment outcome were recorded.

Results

Eleven per cent (n=136 cases) of the deployed population (n=1179) reported a musculoskeletal injury, which were mainly ‘new’ (62%), and with a ‘sudden’ onset (64%). Injury rate was 17.8 injuries per 10 000 personnel days. The majority of injuries occurred due to military training (88%), specifically during ski-related (61%) and load carriage (10%) activities.

The average Service Person treated by the Forward Rehabilitation Team improved from ‘injured with restricted duties’ to ‘fully fit’, and with an improvement in their self-reported Musculoskeletal Health Questionnaire from 33 to 45 over an average of two rehabilitation sessions. One hundred and seventeen Service Personnel were able to continue on Ex CETUS with rehabilitation in theatre, thus negating the requirement for aeromedical evacuation for continuation of rehabilitation in the UK. Nineteen patients were unable to continue their Cold Weather Deployment due to the nature of their musculoskeletal injury and returned to the UK for continued care in firm base rehabilitation centres.

Conclusion

This study identifies the nature, causation and injury location. It demonstrates the effectiveness of in-theatre rehabilitation and the ability to treat patients when deployed. Recommendations are presented to support strategies to mitigate musculoskeletal injury risk during future Cold Weather Warfare deployments to Norway.
Uptake of voluntary medical male circumcision among men with sexually transmitted infections in Lilongwe, Malawi: a protocol for a pre-interventional and post-interventional study
Authors: Matoga Mitch M , Hosseinipour Mina C , Jewett Sara , Chasela Charles
Published: January 2022

Introduction

Voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) is one of the key interventions for HIV prevention. However, its uptake among men in Malawi is low. Implementation science strategies for demand creation of VMMC increase uptake. We designed an implementation science demand-creation intervention to increase the uptake of VMMC among men with sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

Methods and analysis

We designed a pragmatic pre-interventional and post-interventional quasi-experimental study combined with a prospective observational design to determine the uptake, acceptability, appropriateness and feasibility of a multifaceted intervention for scale up of uptake of VMMC among men with STIs at Bwaila STI clinic in Lilongwe, Malawi. The intervention includes transport reimbursement (R), intensified health education (I) and short messaging service (SMS)/telephonic tracing (Te) (RITe). The intervention will be implemented in phases: pre-implementation and implementation. Pre-implementation phase will be used for collecting baseline data, while the RITe intervention will be rolled-out in the implementation phase. The RITe intervention will be implemented in a sequential and incremental manner called implementation blocks: block 1: intensified health education; block 2: intensified health education and SMS/telephonic tracing; and block 3: intensified health education, SMS/telephonic tracing and transport reimbursement. The target sample size is 80 uncircumcised men for each intervention block, including the pre-implementation sample, making a total of 320 men (280 total, 70 per block will be surveyed). The primary outcome is uptake of VMMC during the implementation period. Mixed methods assessments will be conducted to evaluate the acceptability, appropriateness and feasibility of the RITe intervention.

Ethics and dissemination

The study protocol was approved by the Malawi’s National Health Sciences Research Ethics Committee (approval number: 19/10/2412), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Institutional Review Board (approval number: 19–2559) and University of the Witwatersrand’s Health Research Ethics Committee (approval number: M200328). Results will be disseminated via publication in a peer-reviewed journal and presentations at relevant scientific conferences and meetings.

Trial registration number

NCT04677374.
Ghrelin and Ghrelin/Total Cholesterol Ratio as Independent Predictors for Coronary Artery Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Authors: Niknam Maryam , Liaghat Taraneh , Zarghami Mehrdad , Akrami Mehdi , Shahnematollahi Seyed Mehdi , Ahmadipour Ahmad , Moazzen Fatemeh , Soltanabadi Sahar
Published: January 2022

The present meta-analysis aimed to summarize the available data regarding the circulating levels of ghrelin in patients with cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). A comprehensive search was performed in electronic databases including PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE, and Web of Science up to January 20, 2021. Since the circulating levels of ghrelin were measured in different units across the included studies, they were expressed as the standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% CI (summary effect size). A random-effects model comprising the DerSimonian and Laird method was used to pool SMDs. Sixteen articles (20 studies) comprised of 1087 cases and 437 controls were included. The pooled results showed that there were no significant differences between cases and controls in terms of ghrelin levels (SMD=−0.61, 95% CI −1.38 to 0.16; p=0.120; I2=96.9%, p<0.001). The ghrelin concentrations in the CAD stratum were significantly lower than in controls, whereas they increased in other disease strata. New combined biomarkers demonstrated a significant decrease in the SMD of the ghrelin/total cholesterol (TC) ratio (−1.02; 95% CI −1.74 to –0.29, p=0.000; I2=94.5%). However, no significant differences were found in the SMD of the ghrelin/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio, ghrelin/low-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio, and ghrelin/triglyceride (TG) ratio in cases with CVDs compared with the control group. Ghrelin was associated with CAD; therefore, it may be considered a biomarker for distinguishing between patients with and without CAD. Furthermore, the ghrelin/TC ratio could be proposed as a diagnostic marker for CVD.
Reply to “Comment on ‘Lorentz transformation of a charge-current density and “relativistic polarization” of a moving current loop”’ by J. Franklin (Int. J. Mod. Phys. A 36, 2175001 (2021))
Authors: Kholmetskii Alexander , Missevitch Oleg , Yarman Tolga
Published: January 2022

We show that the comment by Franklin (Int. J. Mod. Phys. A 36, 2175001 (2021)) on our paper “Lorentz transformation of a charge-current density and “relativistic polarization” of a moving current loop” (Int. J. Mod. Phys. A 36, 2175001 (2021)), like the previous publication of this author entitled “Complete Lorentz transformation of a charge-current density” (Int. J. Mod. Phys. A 35, 2050061 (2020)), contains fundamental errors in the physical interpretation of Lorentz transformations, which are once again disclosed with some particular examples.
Limit Cycles of Continuous Piecewise Differential Systems Formed by Linear and Quadratic Isochronous Centers I
Authors: Ghermoul Bilal , Llibre Jaume , Salhi Tayeb
Published: January 2022

First, we study the planar continuous piecewise differential systems separated by the straight line [Formula: see text] formed by a linear isochronous center in [Formula: see text] and an isochronous quadratic center in [Formula: see text]. We prove that these piecewise differential systems cannot have crossing periodic orbits, and consequently they do not have crossing limit cycles.

Second, we study the crossing periodic orbits and limit cycles of the planar continuous piecewise differential systems separated by the straight line [Formula: see text] having in [Formula: see text] the general quadratic isochronous center [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] after an affine transformation, and in [Formula: see text] an arbitrary quadratic isochronous center. For these kind of continuous piecewise differential systems the maximum number of crossing limit cycles is one, and there are examples having one crossing limit cycles.

In short for these families of continuous piecewise differential systems we have solved the extension of the 16th Hilbert problem.
Gait Recognition Based on Deep Learning: A Survey
Authors: Filipi Gonçalves dos Santos Claudio , Oliveira Diego de Souza , A. Passos Leandro , Gonçalves Pires Rafael , Felipe Silva Santos Daniel , Pascotti Valem Lucas , P. Moreira Thierry , Cleison S. Santana Marcos , Roder Mateus , Paulo Papa Jo , Colombo Danilo
Published: January 2022

In general, biometry-based control systems may not rely on individual expected behavior or cooperation to operate appropriately. Instead, such systems should be aware of malicious procedures for unauthorized access attempts. Some works available in the literature suggest addressing the problem through gait recognition approaches. Such methods aim at identifying human beings through intrinsic perceptible features, despite dressed clothes or accessories. Although the issue denotes a relatively long-time challenge, most of the techniques developed to handle the problem present several drawbacks related to feature extraction and low classification rates, among other issues. However, deep learning-based approaches recently emerged as a robust set of tools to deal with virtually any image and computer-vision-related problem, providing paramount results for gait recognition as well. Therefore, this work provides a surveyed compilation of recent works regarding biometric detection through gait recognition with a focus on deep learning approaches, emphasizing their benefits and exposing their weaknesses. Besides, it also presents categorized and characterized descriptions of the datasets, approaches, and architectures employed to tackle associated constraints.
A Survey of Approaches to Unobtrusive Sensing of Humans
Authors: Fernandes José Marcelo , Silva Jorge Sá , Rodrigues André , Boavida Fernando
Published: January 2022

The increasing amount of human-related and/or human-originated data in current systems is both an opportunity and a challenge. Nevertheless, despite relying on the processing of large amounts of data, most of the so-called smart systems that we have nowadays merely consider humans as sources of data, not as system beneficiaries or even active “components.” For truly smart systems, we need to create systems that are able to understand human actions and emotions, and take them into account when deciding on the system behavior. Naturally, in order to achieve this, we first have to empower systems with human sensing capabilities, possibly in ways that are as inconspicuous as possible. In this context, in this article we survey existing approaches to unobtrusive monitorization of human beings, namely, of their activity, vital signs, and emotional states. After setting a taxonomy for human sensing, we proceed to present and analyze existing solutions for unobtrusive sensing. Subsequently, we identify and discuss open issues and challenges in this area. Although there are surveys that address some of the concerned fields of research, such as healthcare, human monitorization, or even the use-specific techniques like channel state information or image recognition, as far as we know this is the first comprehensive survey on unobtrusive sensing of human beings.
Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence: A Review
Authors: Kaur Davinder , Uslu Suleyman , Rittichier Kaley J. , Durresi Arjan
Published: January 2022

Artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic decision making are having a profound impact on our daily lives. These systems are vastly used in different high-stakes applications like healthcare, business, government, education, and justice, moving us toward a more algorithmic society. However, despite so many advantages of these systems, they sometimes directly or indirectly cause harm to the users and society. Therefore, it has become essential to make these systems safe, reliable, and trustworthy. Several requirements, such as fairness, explainability, accountability, reliability, and acceptance, have been proposed in this direction to make these systems trustworthy. This survey analyzes all of these different requirements through the lens of the literature. It provides an overview of different approaches that can help mitigate AI risks and increase trust and acceptance of the systems by utilizing the users and society. It also discusses existing strategies for validating and verifying these systems and the current standardization efforts for trustworthy AI. Finally, we present a holistic view of the recent advancements in trustworthy AI to help the interested researchers grasp the crucial facets of the topic efficiently and offer possible future research directions.
(Invited) Distinguishing Roles of Gold Nanoparticles in Photocatalysis
Authors: Wu Nianqiang
Published: January 2022

The addition of gold nanoparticles into the semiconductors has significant effect of on the photocatalysis of the semiconductors. Gold nanoparticles can passivate the semiconductor surface, change the charge dynamics via the Fermi level equilibration, serve as the plasmonic photosensitizers and acts the surface co-catalyst. The gold nanoparticle could play more than two roles simultaneously. This presentation will discuss how to separate each role of the gold nanoparticles.
Improving Photo-Electrochemical Water Oxidation Response of WO3 By Mo Doping
Authors: Kalanur Shankara S , Seo Hyungtak
Published: January 2022

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) solar-fuel conversion is a promising approach to provide clean and storable fuel (hydrogen) directly from sunlight and water. Direct photo-electrolysis in PEC water splitting is a more elegant and potentially cheaper approach because it consists of simultaneous function of both light harvesting and electrolysis in a single device. WO3 is an indirect band gap semiconductor (E
g ≈ 2.6–2.8 eV) capable of capturing approximately 12% of the solar spectrum. Due to its band gap, WO3 is considered as more suitable material than TiO2 for photoelectrochemical water splitting application. WO3 photoanode has a theoretical maximum conversion efficiency of solar energy into H2 of about 4.8% in photoelectrochemical water-splitting device. Band gap engineering for tungsten oxide (WO3) is necessary to narrow its band gap and increase light absorption ability for improved photoelectrochemical (PEC) properties. Doping WO3 with foreign atoms is very efficient strategy to tailor its band gap through modification in the band edge positions. In this work, we have demonstrated a facile hydrothermal method for the fabrication of band gap tuned WO3 thin films for PEC water splitting applications. The physical properties of synthesized Mo doped WO3 thin films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDS), UV-Vis absorption spectra and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Systematic studies were performed to investigate the presence of Mo in the WO3 thin films. The characterization result shows that doping of Mo into WO3 results significant change in the morphology without changing the crystal structure. Uniform distribution of Mo was observed in WO3 by elemental mapping and the approximate quantity of Mo dopant was confirmed using EDS analysis in TEM. The incorporation of Mo into WO3 reduces the band gap of WO3 and increases its light absorption ability. Above all, From XPS valence band edge analysis, we confirm that, substitution Mo into WO3 leads to the shift in the conduction band minimum downwards without any significant change in valence band maximum with respect to fermi level (Figure a). Mo doped WO3 electrodes exhibited higher photocurrent than the un-doped samples under simulated 1.5 AM sunlight without an added water oxidation catalyst (Figure b). Furthermore, in comparison to un-doped WO3 electrodes, Mo doped electrodes exhibit higher IPCE values and showed slight red shift in the onset wavelength (Figure c). Impedance measurements show that Mo doping improves electrical conductivity. The procedure proposed here, demonstrates a simple and systematic approach for the fabrication of band gap tailored WO3 photoanodes by Mo doping for efficient PEC water splitting. Overall, this work is expected to have a relevant influence on future research toward fabricating doped WO3 thin films for improving the PEC.

Figure 1
Disease Control and Prevention in Rare Plants Based on the Dominant Population Selection Method in Opportunistic Social Networks
Authors: Wu Jia , Gou Fangfang , Tian Xiaoming
Published: January 2022

The spread of seeds of rare and dangerous plants affects the regeneration, pattern, genetic structure, invasion, and settlement of plant populations. However, seed transmission is a relatively weak research link. The spread of plant seeds is not controlled by the communicator. Rather, this event results from the interaction between the host and the external environment determined by the mother. The way plants transmit and accept seeds is similar to how user nodes accept data transmission requests in social networks. Plants select the characteristics including seed size, maturity time, and gene matching, which are consistent with the size, delay, and keywords of the data received by the user. In this study, we selected rare and endangered Pterospermum heterophyllum as the research object and applied them to a social network. All plants were considered nodes and all seeds as transmitted data. This method avoids the influence of errors in actual sampling and statistical laws. By using historical information to record the reception of seeds, the Infection and Immunity Algorithm (IAIA) in opportunistic social networks was established. This method selects healthy plants through plant social populations and reduces the number of diseased plants. The experimental results show that the IAIA algorithm has a good effect in distinguishing dominant seedlings from seedlings with disease genes and realizes the selection of dominant plants in social networks.
Application of Layered Strain Technique in NSTE-ACS
Authors: Zhao Nan , Zhang Luyao , Zhang Xijun , Li Chuang , Li Yang , Qian Peng , Lu Yu
Published: January 2022

Background. To explore the application value of layered strain technique in non-ST elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS). Methods. 120 patients with suspected NSTE-ACS undergoing coronary angiography in our hospital from December 2018 to December 2019 were prospectively selected. According to the results of coronary angiography, the patients were divided into the significant CAD group and the nonsignificant CAD group. Echocardiography was performed 1-2 hours before invasive coronary angiography. The long axis and circumferential strain of the endocardium, myocardial layer, and epicardium were evaluated by the layered strain technique. The territorial longitudinal strain (TLS), the global longitudinal strain (GLS) of the three myocardial layers, and the global circumferential strain (GCS) were calculated based on the perfusion region of the three coronary arteries and the 17-segment model of the left ventricle. The primary endopoints were TLS and GCS of the three-layer myocardium. Results. Compared with the nonsignificant CAD patients, the TLS and GCS of three-layer myocardium in significant CAD patients were decreased, especially in the endocardium. The absolute values of TLS and GCS of the endocardium and epicardium in significant CAD patients were lower than those in nonsignificant CAD patients. This indicates a significant decrease in endocardial function. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that endocardial TLS was superior to LVEF, Troponin I (TnI), and other strain parameters in evaluating the extent of coronary lesions. Conclusions. The layered strain technique of 2D-STE can evaluate the severity of coronary lesions in patients with NSTE-ACS, and for significant CAD patients, endocardial function is significantly more impaired than epicardial function.
Continuous Local Antibiotics Perfusion Therapy for Acute Deep Infections after Open Fractures
Authors: Takahara Shunsuke , Maruo Akihiro , Takayama Hiroyuki , Harada Toshihiko
Published: January 2022

Unresolved bone and soft tissue infections remain a great hindrance to fracture management worldwide, both economically and functionally for the patient. For this purpose, the benefits of local antibiotic administration besides systemic therapy have been elucidated. We present a retrospective descriptive analysis of six patients (4 males and 2 females) with acute deep infections after open fractures managed using the continuous local antibiotic perfusion (CLAP) therapy. After sufficient debridement, gentamicin solution concentrated at 1,200 μg/mL was continuously infused (2 mL/h) for 7–12 days by syringe pump through an inlet tube placed on the infected area. The antibiotics injected into the infected area were both collected and perfused by negative pressure using a negative-pressure wound therapy system. After an average of 9.5 days of CLAP therapy, symptoms of infection disappeared, and the bacterial culture was negative. There were no cases of recurrence during the follow-up period, and no complications, such as acute renal failure, ototoxicity, allergic or hypersensitivity reactions, and impaired fracture healing, were observed. All six cases were successfully managed with the CLAP therapy without any serious side effects. CLAP therapy may be a potential treatment option for acute deep infections after open fractures.
The Gravel Packing Length Determination Method and Influencing Factors Analysis in Deepwater Horizontal Wells
Authors: Huang Hui , Wen Min , Xing Xuesong , Qiu Hao , Hou Zening , Zhou Shengtian
Published: January 2022

Horizontal well gravel packing is the most commonly used sand control technology in offshore oil and gas fields. For extreme conditions such as deepwater, low fracture pressure formations, and long horizontal well bore length, targeted and cost-effective measures are required. According to the friction models in different stages of gravel packing process of horizontal well, the corresponding friction is calculated and compared. According to the calculation, during the entire packing process, the washpipe/screen annular friction is the largest in β wave packing stage, which reflects that higher packing pressure is required in this stage, and the formation fracture pressure is easily broken at this stage. According to the equilibrium flow velocity, the calculation method and flow chart of α -wave sand bed height were put forward. The criterion and calculation method of packing length were designed. The influencing factors of viscosity, density and leakage rate of carrier fluid on α-wave packing length were discussed. The quantitative analysis was carried out. The design and calculation method of α-β wave packing length considering the successful completion of α wave packing and the successful completion of β wave reverse packing was put forward. The corresponding software was compiled to discuss and calculate the quantitative analysis of the factors affecting the α-β wave packing length, such as the density of carrier fluid, gravel density and washpipe/screen ratio. For specific conditions, certain criteria and methods can be used to design and optimize horizontal well gravel packing length.
Optimization of Suspender Cable Force of Long‐Span Concrete Arch Bridges Based on Embedded Matrix Method
Authors: Xie Kaizhong , Yu Mengsheng , Yao Xinyu , Wang Longlin , Hao Tianzhi , Wang Hua
Published: January 2022

In order to simplify the completion process of cable force optimization and adjustment in long‐span concrete‐filled steel tube arch bridges, a new method was proposed in the present study. To this end, a reasonable completion cable force calculation method was proposed based on the influence matrix principle of cable force optimization. Then combined with the mechanical characteristics of concrete‐filled steel tube arch bridge, the weighted matrix was introduced to simplify the influence matrix of cable force and optimize the suspender cable force. The performed comparative study showed that the maximum difference of single cable force between the measured and calculated values is less than 5%, and the calculation error satisfies the requirements of the specification. It is concluded that the proposed method can accurately control the suspender tension construction in the arch bridge, optimize the cable force of long‐span concrete filled‐steel tube arch bridge, and realize the comparison and selection of various optimization schemes. The research results have been successfully applied to the suspender force adjustment of Third Pingnan Bridge, which greatly simplifies the adjustment steps and the total cable force difference in the whole bridge is 1.37%, the difference between the measured and designed suspender tensions of Heshan Hongshui River Bridge at completion state is less than 2%. The successful application of this method effectively saves the labor and material cost of suspender adjustment and further enhances the superiority of steel tube concrete arch bridge. The proposed method is expected to be an excellent choice to monitor constructions, adjust the bridge completion stage, and provide a reference for the suspender tension construction control of similar bridges.
Drug Interaction between Dexamethasone and Ketoprofen with Thiopental in Male Dogs: Effect on the Recovery from Anesthesia and Pharmacokinetics Parameters
Authors: Raeeszadeh Mahdieh , Ghaffari Mohammad Pouya
Published: January 2022

Drug-drug interactions (DDIs) are an important part of clinical veterinary pharmacology. Forty-two healthy mixed breed male dogs were randomly divided into three groups. The control group (C) received normal saline (1 mg/kg) 5 minutes before intravenous administration of thiopental (17 mg/kg), the T1 group received ketoprofen (2.2 mg/kg), and the T2 group received dexamethasone (0.2 mg/kg) 5 minutes before thiopental, respectively. Clinical parameters of anesthesia, heart rate, respiration rate, and electrocardiography were measured. Serum samples were also used to assay thiopental concentration using the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method, and then, thiopental pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated. Changes in the heart rate and respiration were significant intragroup differences 5 and 10 minutes after anesthesia, respectively. Recovery time parameters showed a significant increase between T1 and control groups (

P
<
0.05

). Elimination rate and half-life of thiopental in the T1 group compared to the control and T2 groups showed a significant decrease and increase, respectively. In addition, the distribution of thiopental in T1 showed a significant increase compared to other groups. However, thiopental clearance in T1 and T2 groups had no significant difference with control (

P
>
0.05

). It can be concluded that drug interaction between ketoprofen and thiopental causes to change in the pharmacokinetics parameters and recovery time from anesthesia in comparison with dexamethasone.
Peptidylarginine Deiminase 2 in Murine Antiviral and Autoimmune Antibody Responses
Authors: Mergaert Aisha M. , Denny Michael F. , Kingstad-Bakke Brock , Bawadekar Mandar , Bashar S. Janna , Warner Thomas F. , Suresh Marulasiddappa , Shelef Miriam A.
Published: January 2022

The peptidylarginine deiminases (PADs) and the citrullinated proteins that they generate have key roles in innate immunity and rheumatoid arthritis, an inflammatory arthritis with antibodies that target citrullinated proteins. However, the importance of PADs, particularly PAD2, in the adaptive immune response, both normal and pathogenic, is newly emerging. In this study, we evaluated a requirement for PAD2 in the antibody response in collagen-induced arthritis (CIA), a T and B cell-driven murine model of rheumatoid arthritis, and in the protective antibody response to murine influenza infection. Using PAD2-/- and PAD2+/+ mice on the DBA/1J background, we found that PAD2 is required for maximal anti-collagen antibody levels, but not collagen-specific plasma cell numbers, T cell activation or polarization, or arthritis severity in CIA. Also, we found that PAD2 is required not just for normal levels of persistent hemagglutination inhibiting antibodies but also for full protection from lethal influenza rechallenge. Together, these data provide evidence for a novel modest requirement for PAD2 in a normal antiviral antibody response and in an abnormal autoantibody response in inflammatory arthritis.
Epilepsy Detection Based on Variational Mode Decomposition and Improved Sample Entropy
Authors: Ru Yandong , Li Jinbao , Chen Hangyu , Li Jiacheng
Published: January 2022

Epilepsy detection based on electroencephalogram (EEG) signal is of great significance to diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy. The denoised EEG signal is adopted by most traditional epilepsy detection methods. But due to nonideal denoising ability, the loss of local information and residual noise will occur, resulting in detection performance degradation. To solve the problem, the paper proposed an epilepsy detection method in noisy environment. Although epileptic signals and nonepileptic signals have some discrimination, they need to overcome the interference of noise. Hence, the improved sample entropy and phase synchronization indexes of corresponding 2 intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) caused by variational mode decomposition (VMD) are proposed as features, which can reduce the impact of noise on detection performance. The experimental results show that the accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity are 91.78%, 91.27%, and 93.61%, respectively. It can be used as an auxiliary method for clinical treatment of epilepsy.
Foreground Information-Aware Image Superresolution Reconstruction for Image Processing IoT Systems in Smart City
Authors: Cheng Yanfen , Li Chenhao , Shao Xun , He Fan
Published: January 2022

In recent years, with the rise of Internet of Things (IoT), a majority of smart technologies, such as autonomous vehicles, smart healthcare, and urban surveillance, require a huge number of images of high quality and resolution. Currently, image superresolution reconstruction technologies are widely used for obtaining high quality images. Unfortunately, the existing methods generally focus on the whole image without highlighting foreground information and lack visual focus. Also, they have low utilization of shallow features and numerous training parameters. In this paper, we propose a feature extraction module that focuses on foreground information: the parallel attention module (PAM). PAM computes channel and spatial attention in parallel, inputs the obtained attention values into a cascaded gated network, and dynamically adjusts the weights of both using nonuniform joint loss to focus on image foreground information and detail features to improve the reconstructed image’s foreground sharpness. To further improve the performance, we propose to connect multiple PAM modules in series with skip connections and call it PAMNet. PAMNet can better leverage the shallow residual features, and the reconstructed images are closer to ground truth. Thereby, the applications in the urban image processing IoT systems can obtain high-resolution images more quickly and precisely. The comprehensive experimental results show that PAMNet performs better than the state-of-the-art technologies.
Intelligent Semantic Segmentation for Self-Driving Vehicles Using Deep Learning
Authors: Sellat Qusay , Bisoy SukantKishoro , Priyadarshini Rojalina , Vidyarthi Ankit , Kautish Sandeep , Barik Rabindra K.
Published: January 2022

Understanding the situation is a critical component of any self-driving system. Accurate real-time visual signal processing to create pixelwise classed pictures, also known as semantic segmentation, is critical for scenario comprehension and subsequent acceptance of this new technology. Due to the intricate interaction between pixels in each frame of the received camera data, such efficiency in terms of processing time and accuracy could not be achieved prior to recent advances in deep learning algorithms. We present an effective approach for semantic segmentation for self-driving automobiles in this study. We combine deep learning architectures like convolutional neural networks and autoencoders, as well as cutting-edge approaches like feature pyramid networks and bottleneck residual blocks, to develop our model. The CamVid dataset, which has undergone considerable data augmentation, is utilised to train and test our model. To validate the suggested model, we compare the acquired findings to various baseline models reported in the literature.
Application of IoT and Cloud Computing in Automation of Agriculture Irrigation
Authors: Phasinam Khongdet , Kassanuk Thanwamas , Shinde Priyanka P. , Thakar Chetan M. , Sharma Dilip Kumar , Mohiddin Md. Khaja , Rahmani Abdul Wahab
Published: January 2022

All living things, including plants, animals, and humans, need water in order to live. Even though the world has a lot of water, only about 1% of it is fresh and usable. As the population has grown and water has been used more, fresh water has become a more valuable and important resource. Agriculture uses more than 70% of the world’s fresh water. People who work in agriculture are not only the world’s biggest water users by volume, but also the least valuable, least efficient, and most subsidized water users. Technology like smart irrigation systems must be used to make agricultural irrigation more efficient so that more water is used. A system like this can be very precise, but it needs information about the soil and the weather in the area where it is going to be used. This paper analyzes a smart irrigation system that is based on the Internet of Things and a cloud-based architecture. This system is designed to measure soil moisture and humidity and then process this data in the cloud using a variety of machine learning techniques. Farmers are given the correct information about water content rules. Farming can use less water if they use smart irrigation.
Footprint Extraction and Sports Training Action Recognition Based on Wireless Network Communication
Authors: Jiang Lu
Published: January 2022

The combination of scientific and technological achievements and sports has found new opportunities to change people’s sports habits. Sport training takes up an increasing proportion of people’s lives. In order to improve the efficiency of sports training and standardize the training actions of players, this article is based on wireless network communication and uses different types of recognition methods in the field of action recognition to build basic classifications. Iterative mutual training to improve generalization performance can reduce the cost of labeling and realize the complementary advantages of different recognition methods, thereby improving the recognition accuracy of human actions. Finally, the algorithm is used to recognize human movements. This method can effectively overcome the problem of differential degradation of base classifiers in the iterative process of collaborative training and further improve the accuracy of human action recognition. The experimental results prove that the motion recognition of wireless network communication proposed in this paper can effectively improve the accuracy of athletes’ movements, which is more than 20% higher than traditional methods, and, under the guidance of standardized movements, can reduce athletes’ sports injuries.
Ammonia Clearance with Different Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy Techniques in Patients with Liver Failure
Authors: Fisher Caleb , Baldwin Ian , Fealy Nigel , Naorungroj Thummaporn , Bellomo Rinaldo
Published: January 2022

Introduction: Continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) can be used to treat hyperammonaemia. However, no study has assessed the effect of different CRRT techniques on ammonia clearance. Methods: We compared 3 different CRRT techniques in adult patients with hyperammonaemia, liver failure, and acute kidney injury. We protocolized CRRT to progressively deliver continuous veno-venous haemofiltration (CVVH), haemodialysis (CVVHD) or haemodiafiltration (CVVHDF). Ammonia was simultaneously sampled from the patient’s arterial blood and effluent fluid for each technique. We applied accepted equations to calculate clearance. Results: We studied 12 patients with a median age of 47 years (interquartile range [IQR] 25–79). Acute liver failure was present in 4 (25%) and acute-on-chronic liver failure in 8 (75%). There was no significant difference in median ammonia clearance between CRRT technique; CVVH: 27 (IQR 23–32) mL/min versus CVVHD: 21 (IQR 17–28) mL/min versus CVVHDF: 20 (IQR 14–28) mL/min, p = 0.32. Moreover, for all techniques, ammonia clearance was significantly less than urea and creatinine clearance; urea 50 (47–54) mL/min versus creatinine 42 (IQR 38–46) mL/min versus ammonia 25 (IQR 18–29) mL/min, p = 0.0001. Conclusion: We found no significant difference in ammonia clearance according to CRRT technique and demonstrated that ammonia clearance is significantly less than urea or creatinine clearance.
Time-of-Day and Clinical Outcomes After Surgical or Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement: Insights From the PARTNER Trials
Authors: Vincent Flavien , Thourani Vinod H. , Ternacle Julien , Redfors Bjorn , Cohen David J. , Hahn Rebecca T. , Li Ditian , Crowley Aaron , Webb John G. , Mack Michael J. , Kapadia Samir , Russo Mark , Smith Craig R. , Alu Maria C. , Leon Martin B. , Pibarot Philippe
Published: January 2022

Background:

Circadian rhythms may influence myocardial tolerance to ischemia-reperfusion phenomena occurring during cardiac procedures. While conflicting results exist on the effect of time-of-day on surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR), afternoon procedures could be associated with a reduced risk of death, rehospitalization or periprocedural myocardial infarction, compared with morning procedures. We examined the impact of procedure time-of-day on outcomes after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) or SAVR.

Methods:

We analyzed patients at intermediate- or high-surgical risk who underwent elective TAVR (n=4457) or SAVR (n=1129) in the PARTNER (Placement of Aortic Transcatheter Valve) 1 and 2 trials and registries according to time-of-day (morning versus afternoon) using the Kaplan-Meier event rates and multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models. Sensitivity analysis was conducted using 1:1 propensity-score matching. The primary end point was all-cause death or rehospitalization at 2 years.

Results:

At 2 years, no difference was observed between patients operated in the morning versus the afternoon within the SAVR (32.3% versus 30.6%, adjusted hazard ratio, 1.08 [95% CI, 0.82–1.41],
P
=0.58) and TAVR cohorts (35.7% versus 35.4%, adjusted hazard ratio, 1.01 [95% CI, 0.89–1.14],
P
=0.86) with regards to the primary end point. Rates of periprocedural myocardial infarction were low and similar between morning and afternoon in SAVR (1.6% versus 1.0%,
P
=0.51) and TAVR (0.4% versus 0.4%,
P
=0.86), as were all other clinical end points. Similar results were observed in propensity-score matched analysis.

Conclusions:

Procedure time-of-day was not associated with clinical outcomes after TAVR or SAVR.

Registration:

URL:
https://www.clinicaltrials.gov
; Unique identifiers: NCT00530894, NCT01314313, NCT03222141, and NCT03222128.
Normalizing the brain connectome for communication through synchronization
Authors: Petkoski Spase , Jirsa Viktor K.
Published: January 2022

Networks in neuroscience determine how brain function unfolds, and their perturbations lead to psychiatric disorders and brain disease. Brain networks are characterized by their connectomes, which comprise the totality of all connections, and are commonly described by graph theory. This approach is deeply rooted in a particle view of information processing, based on the quantification of informational bits such as firing rates. Oscillations and brain rhythms demand, however, a wave perspective of information processing based on synchronization. We extend traditional graph theory to a dual, particle-wave, perspective, integrate time delays due to finite transmission speeds, and derive a normalization of the connectome. When applied to the database of the Human Connectome Project, it explains the emergence of frequency-specific network cores including the visual and default mode networks. These findings are robust across human subjects (N = 100) and are a fundamental network property within the wave picture. The normalized connectome comprises the particle view in the limit of infinite transmission speeds and opens the applicability of graph theory to a wide range of novel network phenomena, including physiological and pathological brain rhythms. These two perspectives are orthogonal, but not incommensurable, when understood within the novel, here-proposed, generalized framework of structural connectivity.
Normalization effect of levodopa on hierarchical brain function in Parkinson’s disease
Authors: Guo Tao , Xuan Min , Zhou Cheng , Wu Jingjing , Gao Ting , Bai Xueqin , Liu Xiaocao , Gu Luyan , Liu Ruiqi , Song Zhe , Gu Quanquan , Huang Peiyu , Pu Jiali , Zhang Baorong , Xu Xiaojun , Guan Xiaojun , Zhang Minming
Published: January 2022

Hierarchical brain organization, in which the rich club and diverse club situate in core position, is critical for global information integration in the human brain network. Parkinson’s disease (PD), a common movement disorder, has been conceptualized as a network disorder. Levodopa is an effective treatment for PD. Whether there is a functional divergence in the hierarchical brain system under PD pathology, and how this divergence is regulated by immediate levodopa therapy, remains unknown. We constructed a functional network in 61 PD patients and 89 normal controls and applied graph theoretical analyses to examine the neural mechanism of levodopa short response from the perspective of brain hierarchical configuration. The results revealed the following: (a) PD patients exhibited disrupted function within rich-club organization, while the diverse club preserved function, indicating a differentiated brain topological organization in PD. (b) Along the rich-club derivate hierarchical system, PD patients showed impaired network properties within rich-club and feeder subnetworks, and decreased nodal degree centrality in rich-club and feeder nodes, along with increased nodal degree in peripheral nodes, suggesting distinct functional patterns in different types of nodes. And (c) levodopa could normalize the abnormal network architecture of the rich-club system. This study provides evidence for levodopa effects on the hierarchical brain system with divergent functions.
New names of Ilex and Ilexpollenites (Aquifoliaceae), extant and fossil: Addendum Notulae Systematicae ad Palaeofloram Europaeam spectantes II. Aquifoliaceae
Authors: DOWELD ALEXANDER B.
Published: January 2022

N/A
Elatostema guangxiense, a new replacement name for Pellionia longipedunculatum (Urticaceae)
Authors: DENG YUNFEI
Published: January 2022

N/A
Changminia gen. nov., a new genus of daddy-long-leg spiders (Araneae: Pholcidae) from karst caves in Southeast Asia
Authors: CHU CHANG , YAO ZHIYUAN , WONGPROM PRASIT , LI SHUQIANG
Published: January 2022

The spider family Pholcidae C.L. Koch, 1850 exhibits high diversity at generic level and currently contains 95 genera while the subfamily Arteminae Simon, 1893 contains only eight genera. In this study, a new genus, Changminia Yao & Li gen. nov. from karst caves in Southeast Asia, is described and assigned to Arteminae, with the type species Changminia huangdi (Tong & Li, 2009) comb. nov. (Hainan Island, South China) and one additional new species Changminia dao Yao & Li sp. nov. (male, female; Prachuap Kiri Khan, Central Thailand).