bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Controlled quantum teleportation with the ability to change the destination of qubits
Authors: Sadeghizadeh Mahdi , Houshmand Monireh , Khorrampanah Mahsa , Aghababa Hossein , Mafi Yousef
Published: October 2023

Quantum sciences and technologies introduce a new arena whose applications are widely used in the microscopic world. Quantum communication is also an important branch of quantum science by which we intend to transmit quantum information. Quantum teleportation is important because it uses the entanglement principle which is unique in quantum space to transmit quantum information. In fact, in this type of protocol, no information is sent and everything is transmitted using the miracle of entanglement. In this paper, an attempt is made to present a quantum teleportation scheme that, unlike the other designs, can change the destination of qubits. This means that at the beginning of the protocol, the receivers have no idea who has sent the qubits, and the controller decides how these communications will work. At last, noise analysis is presented.
Cloud of strings and quintessence compact stars with anisotropic fluid in symmetric teleparallel gravity
Authors: Ditta Allah , Tiecheng Xia , Asia Munaza , Mahmood Irfan
Published: October 2023

The construction of compact star models with quintessence and cloud of strings anisotropic fluid lays the foundation for the research presented in this paper, which focuses on the ansatz of f(Q) gravity. We utilized a spherically symmetric spacetime to derive the field equations incorporating quintessence and cloud of strings anisotropic matter fields. The well-known Karmarkar condition was employed to obtain the gravitational components of the spherically symmetric spacetime. The constant parameters used in the study were obtained by applying junction conditions on the interior and exterior spacetimes. We used the mass and radius of [Formula: see text], which are already present in the literature. Afterward, we calculated the important properties of quintessence stars in the presence of cloud of strings to ensure the stability and physical presence of compact models. To achieve this goal, we studied features such as energy density, quintessence density, pressure profiles, gradients, anisotropic factor, energy conditions, sound speeds, TOV forces, EoS components, mass function, compactification and redshift.
INNOVATION CHAMPIONS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS: SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW AND INTEGRATIVE MODEL
Authors: HASSAN AFAF KAMAL MAHADI
Published: October 2023

Innovation champions often play an important role in enabling sustainable development (SD). The rise of innovative ideas and technologies in the field of SD has led to major changes in the nature of adopted innovation. In turn, this calls for investigating the available knowledge on innovation champions’ various roles and their influence on SD projects. This paper provides a systematic literature review on innovation champions’ roles from a project-based perspective. Considering a search of 118 papers from high-quality journals, 69 peer-reviewed papers were identified as relevant and synthesised earlier knowledge on innovation champions and SD. The literature review revealed that innovation champions could have direct influence on the adoption and implementation of SD projects, which entail countless innovative products, processes, and technologies. Consequently, the findings of the research were used to develop an integrative model that associates the various roles of innovation champions to the successful implementation of SD projects.
Dynamic Characteristics of Seismically Isolated Rectangular Tank–Liquid–Block Systems Implementing Lead Rubber Bearing Isolator
Authors: Barik Jyoti Ranjan , Biswal Kishore Chandra
Published: October 2023

This study comprehensively investigates the seismic response of a partially filled rectangular liquid tank equipped with a bottom-mounted submerged block under six real earthquakes of varying frequency contents. Based on a velocity potential theory, Galerkin’s method is employed for the liquid domain formulation. A finite element algorithm is developed for the model and the simulated results are validated with the existing solutions. A parametric study is conducted to present the influence of isolator properties on the critical seismic responses. The efficacy of lead rubber bearing is emphasized in the overall dynamic response of the tank–block–isolation systems by varying the location and height of the block. The total and impulsive hydrodynamic pressure of the non-isolated tank decreases when a block is mounted at the base and a subsequent reduction is noticed due to the eccentricity of the block across the tank wall close to the block. Also, the eccentric configuration of the block has shown a typical reduction in the total base shear for most of the earthquake responses when a specific block depth is considered. Furthermore, a significant decrease is noticed in the impulsive and total hydrodynamic pressure and base shear due to the application of lead rubber bearing where the reduction is higher for high-frequency motions and relatively lower for low- and intermediate-frequency content seismic motions. The impulsive response is invariably dominant over the convective one in the overall dynamic responses of different non-isolated tank systems irrespective of the earthquakes whereas the convective response is found to be predominant in the base-isolated tank responses in majority of the earthquakes considered. However, the earthquake’s frequency has noticeably influenced the slosh elevation, total base shear and convective base shear responses.
Chinese relation extraction in military field based on multi-grained lattice transformer and imbalanced data classification
Authors: Gao Yunbo , Gong Guanghong , Li Ni
Published: October 2023

Relation extraction (RE) is a crucial step for knowledge graph construction, which aims to extract meaningful relations between entity pairs in plain texts. Very few works have been studied on Chinese relation extraction (CRE) in the military field. Moreover, recent deep neural network-based methods have achieved considerable performance but still suffer from three inherent limitations, including overlapping of entities, imbalanced data and the ambiguity. Therefore, this work investigates a novel Multi-Grained Lattice Transformer (MGLT), which leverages external information of lexicon and word sense tailored for CRE. In MGLT, self-matched lexicon words and related word senses are fused through a cross-transformer mechanism to alleviate the ambiguity in texts. The finally enriched sequence representation in MGLT captures the relatedness between the head entity and the tail one, which is helpful to alleviate the overlapping of entities. Experimental results on two benchmark datasets and a self-developed dataset constructed from online military news show that the proposed MGLT achieves state-of-the-art (SOTA) performance. Compared with other typical baselines, MGLT achieves better area under curve (AUC) and [Formula: see text]-score by up to 10.46% and 6.90%, respectively. We further demonstrate the effectiveness of using ensemble learning to fully exploit complementary information from multiple MGLT-based base learners to improve the overall performance for imbalanced data classification on the military dataset. Such results indicate that the proposed ensemble learning model is effective and robust to be applied in practical applications.
Structure and dielectric properties of (1-x)Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3-xNa0.5K0.5NbO3 ceramics
Authors: Glazunova E. V. , Shilkina L. A. , Chekhova A. S. , Nazarenko A. V. , Verbenko I. A. , Reznichenko L. A.
Published: October 2023

The solid solutions of the (1-x)Na[Formula: see text]Bi[Formula: see text]TiO3-xNa[Formula: see text]K[Formula: see text]NbO3 system were produced by the conventional ceramic technology using mechanical activation of the synthesized product. It was found that in the (1-x)Na[Formula: see text]Bi[Formula: see text]TiO3-xNa[Formula: see text]K[Formula: see text]NbO3 system at room temperature, a number of morphotropic phase transitions occur: rhombohedral → cubic → tetragonal → monoclinic phases. The introduction of a small amount of Na[Formula: see text]K[Formula: see text]NbO3 leads to an increase in the temperature stability of the dielectric properties of ceramics. A change in the relaxor properties of the solid solutions of the (1-x)Na[Formula: see text]Bi[Formula: see text]TiO3-xNa[Formula: see text]K[Formula: see text]NbO3 system was shown. The increase in energy density and energy efficiency was found at additive 10[Formula: see text]mol.% of Na[Formula: see text]K[Formula: see text]NbO3.
RISK MAPPING AS A FORM OF BANKING IMMUNITY RESPONSE TO COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Authors: SYLOS LABINI STEFANIA , NYENNO IRYNA
Published: October 2023

Climate change and technological innovation expose banks to “new risks.” The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated and amplified these effects. This paper investigates how the traditional tool of the risk map can incorporate these “new risks” for banks. We develop the configuration of the risk map under the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of economy digitalization for an anonymous Bank X. We show that the risk map is still a useful tool for identifying risks in banks, appreciable for its simplicity and adaptability especially in evolving contexts. The main contribution is the construction of a methodological framework that is useful for operators and provides banking industry decision makers with a supporting tool to adequately respond to the changing environment.
Echoes of Intelligence
Authors: Videla Alvaro
Published: October 2023

Textual interpretation and large language models.
Lessons from PL/I: A Most Ambitious Programming Language
Authors: Meil Doug
Published: October 2023

The
Communications
website, https://cacm.acm.org, features more than a dozen bloggers in the BLOG@CACM community. In each issue of
Communications
, we'll publish selected posts or excerpts.

twitter

Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/blogCACM

https://cacm.acm.org/blogs/blog-cacm

PL/I stands for Programming Language 1, and its aim was to be the Highlander of programming languages.
Non-monotonic Generation of Knowledge Paths for Context Understanding
Authors: Lo Pei-Chi , Lim Ee-Peng
Published: October 2023

Knowledge graphs can be used to enhance text search and access by augmenting textual content with relevant background knowledge. While many large knowledge graphs are available, using them to make semantic connections between entities mentioned in the textual content remains to be a difficult task. In this work, we therefore introduce contextual path generation (CPG), which refers to the task of generating knowledge paths,
contextual path
, to explain the semantic connections between entities mentioned in textual documents with given knowledge graph. To perform the CPG task well, one has to address its three challenges, namely, path relevance, incomplete knowledge graph, and path well-formedness. This article designs a
two-stage framework
comprised of the following: (1) a
knowledge-enabled embedding matching
and
learning-to-rank with multi-head self-attention
context extractor to determine a set of context entities relevant to both the query entities and context document, and (2) a
non-monotonic path generation method with pretrained transformer
to generate high-quality contextual paths. Our experiment results on two real-world datasets show that our best performing CPG model successfully recovers 84.13% of ground truth contextual paths, outperforming the context window baselines. Finally, we demonstrate that the non-monotonic model generates more well-formed paths compared to the monotonic counterpart.
A Model of How Students Engineer Test Cases With Feedback
Authors: Shin Austin M. , Kazerouni Ayaan M.
Published: October 2023

Background and Context.
Students’ programming projects are often assessed on the basis of their tests as well as their implementations, most commonly using test adequacy criteria like branch coverage, or, in some cases, mutation analysis. As a result, students are implicitly encouraged to use these tools during their development process (i.e., so they have awareness of the strength of their own test suites).

Objectives.
Little is known about how students choose test cases for their software while being guided by these feedback mechanisms. We aim to explore the interaction between students and commonly used testing feedback mechanisms (in this case, branch coverage and mutation-based feedback).

Method.
We use grounded theory to explore this interaction. We conducted 12 think-aloud interviews with students as they were asked to complete a series of software testing tasks, each of which involved a different feedback mechanism. Interviews were recorded and transcripts were analyzed, and we present the overarching themes that emerged from our analysis.

Findings.
Our findings are organized into a process model describing how students completed software testing tasks while being guided by a test adequacy criterion. Program comprehension strategies were commonly employed to reason about feedback and devise test cases. Mutation-based feedback tended to be cognitively overwhelming for students, and they resorted to weaker heuristics in order to address this feedback.

Implications.
In the presence of testing feedback, students did not appear to consider
problem coverage
as a testing goal so much as
program coverage
. While test adequacy criteria can be useful for
assessment
of software tests, we must consider whether they represent good goals for testing, and if our current methods of practice and assessment are encouraging poor testing habits.
Intestinal Tuft Cells: Morphology, Function, and Implications for Human Health
Authors: Silverman Jennifer B. , Vega Paige N. , Tyska Matthew J. , Lau Ken S.
Published: October 2023

Tuft cells are a rare and morphologically distinct chemosensory cell type found throughout many organs, including the gastrointestinal tract. These cells were identified by their unique morphologies distinguished by large apical protrusions. Ultrastructural data have begun to describe the molecular underpinnings of their cytoskeletal features, and tuft cell–enriched cytoskeletal proteins have been identified, although the connection of tuft cell morphology to tuft cell functionality has not yet been established. Furthermore, tuft cells display variations in function and identity between and within tissues, leading to the delineation of distinct tuft cell populations. As a chemosensory cell type, they display receptors that are responsive to ligands specific for their environment. While many studies have demonstrated the tuft cell response to protists and helminths in the intestine, recent research has highlighted other roles of tuft cells as well as implicated tuft cells in other disease processes including inflammation, cancer, and viral infections. Here, we review the literature on the cytoskeletal structure of tuft cells. Additionally, we focus on new research discussing tuft cell lineage, ligand-receptor interactions, tuft cell tropism, and the role of tuft cells in intestinal disease. Finally, we discuss the implication of tuft cell-targeted therapies in human health and how the morphology of tuft cells may contribute to their functionality.
Childhood Neglect rather than Abuse Is More Strongly Associated with Anhedonia across Major Depression and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Patients and University Students
Authors: Fan Jie , Han Yan , Xia Jie , Wang Xiang , Liu Qian , Liu Yao , Lu Jingjie , Yu Quanhao , Yang Yanjie , Zhu Xiongzhao
Published: October 2023

Background. According to the dimensional model of adversity, the deprivation and threat dimensions of CT influence distinct neural circuits and have different developmental outcomes. The present study compared neglect and abuse subtypes which are representative of deprivation and threat dimensions of CT prediction of anhedonia in MDD and OCD patients and university students. Methods. A total of 305 patients with MDD, 152 patients with OCD, and 2110 university students fulfilled the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire to identify neglect and abuse subtypes of CT. Different aspects of anhedonia were measured. Hierarchical linear regression analysis was conducted to identify subtypes of trauma as predictors of different aspects of anhedonia in MDD and OCD patients and university students, respectively. Results. Childhood neglect, not abuse, showed association with anticipatory and state anhedonia in OCD patients and anticipatory, consummatory, physical, and state anhedonia in MDD patients and university students. Both childhood neglect and abuse were associated with social anhedonia in university students, but the neglect type showed greater magnitude. In terms of more specific categories, emotional neglect was the type of CT demonstrating strongest magnitude of association with most of the anhedonia aspects. Conclusions. Findings revealed that deprivation, rather than threat, was the more influential adversity dimension for the individuals’ anhedonia presentations.
An Optimized Association Rules Mining Framework for Chinese Social Insurance Fund Data Auditing
Authors: Xiuguo Wu , Shengyong Du
Published: October 2023

Association rules mining with the Chinese social insurance fund dataset can effectively discover different kinds of errors, irregularities, and illegal acts by providing auditors with relationships among the items and therefore improve auditing quality and efficiency. However, traditional positive and negative association rules (PNARs) mining algorithms inevitably produce too many meaningless or contradictory rules when these two types of rules are mined simultaneously, which brings a huge challenge to auditors retrieving decision information. Aimed to reduce the quantity of low‐reliability PNARs without missing interesting rules, this paper first proposes an improved PNARs mining algorithm with minimum correlation and triple confidence threshold to control the mined rules number by narrowing the range of confidence settings. Then, a novel pruning algorithm based on the inclusion relation of the rule’s antecedent and consequent is given to remove those redundant rules. After that, the proposed optimized PNARs mining approach is applied to the Chinese social insurance fund dataset starting with audit features influence factors mining using the Hash table. The experimental results with different datasets show that the proposed framework not only can ensure effective and interesting rules extraction but also has better performance than traditional approaches in both accuracy and efficiency, reducing the number of redundant PNARs by over 70.1% with experimental datasets and average 78.5% with auditing data mining, respectively.
Performance Analysis of a Reconfigurable Mixer Using Particle Swarm Optimization
Authors: Mehta Shilpa , Li Xue Jun , Donelli Massimo
Published: October 2023

In this article, a novel 1.8-5 GHz downconversion mixer is presented. The mixer is designed and simulated using SiGe 8HP 130 nm CMOS process technology. The proposed mixer is implemented by incorporating a double-balanced configuration, active inductor, and current mirror techniques. For performance optimization of the proposed mixer, different algorithms such as the genetic algorithm (GA), inclined plane system optimization (IPO) algorithm, and particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm have been used. Compared to existing works, this design shows an enhanced conversion gain (CG), a third-order input intercept point (IIP3), and return loss (

S

11

) at the expense of the noise figure (NF). Additionally, the design consumes low power and covers a small chip area compared to other state-of-the-art devices. PSO shows the most promising results when compared to other optimization algorithms’ results. According to the measurement results after PSO optimization, the mixer attains a maximum CG of 25 dB, an IIP3 of 4 dBm, and a NF of 5.2 dB at 5 GHz, while consuming only 15 mW of DC power. The mixer operates at 1.2 V and covers 0.8 mm2 die area.
A Methodology Based on 1D‐CNN and Bootstrap Method to Estimate the Remaining Useful Life of Industrial Assets Suffering from Generalized Corrosion
Authors: Belonsi M. H. , de Lima A. M. G. , Duarte M. A. V. , Ferraresi R. N. , da Silva W. C. D.
Published: October 2023

The main goal of this work is to propose an efficient and accurate modern methodology to estimate the useful life of industrial assets used in oil and gas industry suffering from generalized corrosion. It merges the convolutional neural networks, extreme value theory, and bootstrap methods to handle the available corrosion data obtained through nondestructive inspection techniques for structural integrity assessments. It is due to the high cost of inspection techniques actually used in many industries to generate a reliable large amount of data to be analyzed by traditional statistical tools and technical factors, such as the inaccessibility of certain zones of the assets. First, the most appropriate extreme value distribution is determined to best fit the available inspection data, aiming to generate sufficient information for the training and testing processes of a one‐dimensional convolutional neural network model to improve the accuracy of the useful life estimation. To demonstrate the main features and capabilities of the methodology, the dataset of AISI 1018 steel tubes of a heat exchanger used in a Brazilian refinery subjected to a general corrosion‐type extreme process is retained herein. The results demonstrate that it is an interesting tool for inspection process to assist engineers and/or users in predictive maintenance phases to access the structural integrity of industrial assets subjected to extreme events such as general corrosion.
Baseline-Free Detection Method for Change of Lateral Stiffness of High-Rise Building Based on Statistical Moment Curvature
Authors: Yang Yang , Wang Zhewei , Xian Bing , Chai Hwa Kian , Yu Zhou , Zhang Yao , Zhu Tao
Published: October 2023

In recent times, there has been a notable increase in the quantity of high-rise buildings, attributed to the swift advancements in both economic growth and construction technology. Assessing the structural integrity of high-rise buildings is important to ensure their safe operation. However, existing structural health monitoring methods typically require a baseline, involving either the measured dynamic and static responses from an intact structure or the finite element (FE) model corresponding to an undamaged state. These prerequisites are often challenging to acquire in practical scenarios. This study introduces a novel baseline-free method for detecting reduction in the lateral stiffness of high-rise buildings. The method is based on the statistical moment curvature (SMC) concept, determined through applying central difference to the second-order statistical moment of displacement. Initially, theoretical formulas were derived to demonstrate the viability of utilizing SMC for identifying reduction in the lateral stiffness of high-rise buildings. Subsequently, a FE model of a representative high-rise building was constructed to validate the proposed approach and assess its sensitivity, where different structural types and noise levels were considered. Lastly, a field test was conducted on a 33-story shear wall structure to provide additional validation for the proposed method. The results confirmed its effectiveness in accurately detecting reduction in the lateral stiffness of high-rise building. It offers two primary benefits: firstly, it obviates the need for a baseline, rendering it more convenient and applicable in real-world scenarios; secondly, its heightened sensitivity to sudden drops in lateral stiffness allows for early-stage detection of structural damage.
Effects of Chlorella pyrenoidosa Supplementation on Water Quality, Shrimp Growth Performance, and Biofilm Bacterial Community Structure in Litopenaeus vannamei Aquaculture Systems
Authors: Liu Yongxin , Xu Ailing , Liu Chao , Sun Mingzhu , Song Zhiwen
Published: October 2023

Chlorella pyrenoidosa is a widely used microalgae in the aquaculture process of Litopenaeus vannamei. In order to evaluate the effects of supplementing C. pyrenoidosa on water quality, shrimp growth performance, and biofilm bacterial community structure in L. vannamei aquaculture systems, C. pyrenoidosa suspension was supplemented in the precultured biofilm (PB) and water exchange (WE) culture systems. The results showed that supplementation with C. pyrenoidosa significantly increased the turbidity and the concentrations of total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) and nitrite nitrogen (

NO
2
−

─N) in the PBC system (the PB system supplemented with C. pyrenoidosa), but had no significant effect on those in the WEC system (the WE system supplemented with C. pyrenoidosa). However, the TAN concentration of all systems remained at a low level (<0.1 mg/L) throughout the experiment. Additionally, supplementation with C. pyrenoidosa decreased the final concentrations of total phosphorus in the PBC and WEC systems by 15.74% and 23.33%, respectively. With the supplementation of C. pyrenoidosa, the final weight, final biomass, and average daily growth rate of L. vannamei increased, while the feed conversion ratio decreased. 16srRNA high-throughput sequencing results showed that the supplementation of C. pyrenoidosa to the PBC system resulted in a decrease in the relative abundances of Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes and an increase in the relative abundance of Acidobacteria. Compared to those in the initial biofilm sample, the relative abundances of nitrifying bacteria, Nitrosococcus, Nitrosomonas, Nitrococcus, and Nitrospira, in PBCF (biofilm in the PB systems with C. pyrenoidosa) and PBOF (biofilm in the PB systems without C. pyrenoidosa) decreased from 10.18% to 3.05% and 0.75%, respectively. In conclusion, C. pyrenoidosa, as a supplement to the aquaculture systems, has practical application prospects.
Antitumor Effects of PRMT5 Inhibition in Sarcomas
Authors: Verbeke Stéphanie , Bourdon Aurélien , Guegan Jean-Philippe , Leroy Laura , Chaire Vanessa , Richard Elodie , Bessede Alban , Italiano Antoine
Published: October 2023

Patients with advanced soft-tissue sarcomas (STS) have few therapeutic options. Protein arginine methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5), an anticancer target, has been extensively investigated in recent years in epithelial tumors. To date, no data related to the biological role of PRMT5 inhibition and its potential effect as a treatment in STS have been reported.

To investigate the therapeutic potential of PRMT5 targeting in STS, we first evaluated the prognostic value of PRMT5 expression in two different cohorts of patients with STS. We then used the potent and selective GSK3326595 (GSK595) compound to investigate the antitumor effect of the pharmacologic inhibition of PRMT5 in vitro via MTT, apoptosis, cell cycle, clonogenicity, and proliferation assays. In vivo studies were performed with two animal models to evaluate the effects of GSK595 on tumor growth. The mechanisms of action were investigated by RNA sequencing, metabolic pathway analysis, Western blotting, and glucose uptake/lactate production assays.

High PRMT5 gene expression levels were significantly associated with worsened metastasis-free survival of patients with STS. GSK595 decreased the global symmetric dimethylarginine level, the proliferation rate and clonogenicity of STS cell lines in vitro and tumor growth in vivo. Moreover, PRMT5 inhibition regulated aerobic glycolysis through downregulation of key enzymes of glycolysis as well as glucose uptake and lactate production.

The current study demonstrated that PRMT5 regulates STS cell metabolism and thus represents a potential therapeutic target for STS. Additional studies in diverse sarcoma subtypes will be essential to confirm and expand upon these findings.

Significance:

STSs have limited therapeutic options. We show here the poor prognostic value of high PRMT5 expression in STS. Moreover, we demonstrate that the pharmacologic inhibition of PRMT5 has significant antitumor activity through the downregulation of glycolysis. Our findings support the clinical investigation of PRMT5 inhibition in STSs.
Use of Oral Supplements and Topical Adjuvants for Isotretinoin-Associated Side Effects: A Narrative Review
Authors: Reyes-Hadsall Sophia , Ju Teresa , Keri Jonette E.
Published: October 2023

Acne is a chronic inflammatory disease of the pilosebaceous unit with a multifactorial etiology and is one of the most common conditions treated by dermatologists and primary care physicians. Within an extensive and evolving treatment landscape, oral isotretinoin has demonstrated efficacy for treatment of severe, recalcitrant acne. Several side effects of isotretinoin have been reported, including laboratory abnormalities, mucocutaneous, and musculoskeletal effects, which may reduce compliance and patient satisfaction with treatment. In this narrative review, we aim to review the efficacy and safety profile of oral supplements or topical adjuvant therapies in mitigating isotretinoin-associated mucocutaneous and musculoskeletal side effects. Oral supplements reviewed include omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin E, folic acid and vitamin B12, antihistamines, l-carnitine, biotin, and combined oral supplements. Topical adjuvants include a hyaluronic acid, biosaccharide gum-2, and glycerine gel-cream; a nongreasy, noncomedogenic, fragrance-free moisturizing cream; dexpanthenol; trichloroacetic acid; and a combination cream. Most of the supplements and topical adjuvants demonstrated efficacy with an adequate level of supporting evidence and no reported adverse events, indicating an adequate safety profile. Patients on isotretinoin may benefit from using oral supplements and topical adjuvants to minimize primarily mucocutaneous side effects, increase adherence to treatment, and thereby improve overall outcomes.
Dose Rounding and Cost Reduction of Anticancer Agents at King Fahad Medical City, Saudi Arabia: A 1-Year Feasibility Study
Authors: Bany Hamdan Abdullah , AlBanyan Nora , Alwuhayd Ibrahim , AlOtaibi Abdulrahman , Orfali Razan , AlNajjar Fouad , Alharbi Musa
Published: October 2023

Introduction: The exponential increase in the price of anticancer drugs has warranted looking for a cost-saving measure to counter their price rise. We aim to study the impact of dose rounding of biological and anticancer agents within a range of 10% of the ordered dose. Method: The study involved patients treated with anticancer agents between January 2018 and December 2018 at King Fahad Medical City’s (KFMC) comprehensive cancer center. An anticancer medication database was created for data collection and processing. All the eligible orders were processed by hematology and oncology physicians. A performance improvement methodology was used. The dose rounding was based on the patient’s preprinted order and the nearest available vial size. The potential impact on cost was measured in Saudi Riyals (SAR). Descriptive statistics were applied for data analysis and interpretation of the results. Results: A total of 26 anticancer medications were used for treating cancer patients, and 208 prescriptions were found to be eligible for dose rounding. Brentuximab was among the drugs, showing the highest cost saving at an estimated 20,600 SAR. In addition to reducing wastage and cost of medications, 7 min were saved per preparation episode in the post-intervention period. Conclusion: Data reflected that dose rounding of chemotherapy and biological agents up to a limit of 10% is a feasible approach and could potentially save extra cost and wastage of medications in the comprehensive cancer center of KFMC.
Vertebrobasilar System Laterality and Idiopathic Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss
Authors: Shilo Shahaf , Gilboa Dor , Oron Yahav , Handzel Ophir , Abu Eta Rani , Muhanna Nidal , Brenner-Ullman Adi , Ungar Omer Jacob
Published: October 2023

Introduction: The etiology of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL) remains elusive, with vascular compromise as a proposed cause. This study aimed to explore the correlation between the vertebrobasilar vascular system laterality (VBVSL) and ISSNHL laterality. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of consecutive patients diagnosed with ISSNHL from 2015 to 2020. The VBVSL pattern was established via magnetic resonance imaging scans by a neuroradiologist. ISSNHL occurring contralaterally to the basilar artery (BA) curvature or ipsilaterally to the dominant vertebral artery (VA) was designated as a “positive match,” with all other scenarios classified as a “negative match.” Results: Our study included 191 ISSNHL patients (median age 57 years, 89 males, 93 right ears). The majority of patients did not exhibit a positive match between ISSNHL laterality and the sides of BA curvature or dominant VA (28.8% and 36.6% for BA and VA, respectively). Notably, VA-positive match patients were significantly older than VA-negative match patients (59 vs. 53 years, p = 0.043), with a similar trend observed in BA-positive match compared to BA-negative match (59 vs. 54.5 years, p = 0.057). However, there was no significant difference in any other clinical, audiometric, or outcome factors between the positive and negative match groups. Conclusion: The findings suggest no association between VBVSL and ISSNHL laterality. Furthermore, patients in the positive match group did not exhibit distinct clinical or audiometric features compared to those without a match.
Outcomes at 18–24 Months of Infants with Birth Weight under 500 g Born in Korea during 2013–2017: A Nationwide Cohort Study
Authors: Kim Soo Hyun , Jung Euiseok , Lee Ha Na , Lee Jeong Min , Park Sung Hyeon , Jeong Jiyoon , Lee Byong Sop , Kim Ellen Ai-Rhan , Kim Ki-Soo
Published: October 2023

Introduction: This study aimed to investigate the outcomes of infants at 18–24 months born in the Korean Neonatal Network with a birth weight <500 g. Methods: The anthropometric and neurodevelopmental data of infants with a birth weight <500 g at a gestational age of ≥22 weeks who were registered in the Korean Neonatal Network 2013–2017 and followed up at a corrected age of 18–24 months were reviewed. Neurodevelopmental impairment was defined as the presence of any of the following: (1) cerebral palsy; (2) severe visual impairment; (3) hearing impairment; or (4) cognitive impairment. Cognitive impairment was defined as (1) a Bayley Scales of Infant Development-II Mental Development Index score <70; and (2) Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development-III Cognitive and Language Composite scores <85. Cognitive testing was performed for infants with suspected problems upon clinician’s referral to developmental specialists. Results: At a median corrected age of 20 months, 26/52 (50%) of included infants had neurodevelopmental impairment. Cerebral palsy, severe visual impairment, wearing of glasses, hearing impairment, and cognitive impairment occurred in 22%, 0%, 8%, 5%, and 57% of the included infants, respectively. The proportions of infants with <2 standard deviations of weight, length, and head circumference were 54%, 52%, and 56%, respectively. The majority (70%) of infants were rehospitalized, and the most common cause was respiratory problems. Conclusion: Half of infants with a birth weight <500 g in Korea may exhibit neurodevelopmental impairment and growth retardation at a corrected age of 18–24 months. Multidisciplinary follow-up along with continuous rehabilitation will be needed to improve neurological and physical development in this special population.
Diagnostic Utility of Bronchoalveolar Lavage Lymphocytosis in Patients with Interstitial Lung Diseases
Authors: Tzilas Vasilios , Digalaki Antonia , Bouros Evangelos , Avdoula Eleni , Tzouvelekis Argyrios , Bouros Demosthenes
Published: October 2023

Background: Interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) are extremely challenging in terms of diagnosis. Extreme bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) lymphocytosis is thought to strongly point towards the diagnosis of hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP). Objectives: Explore the range of different ILD that can present with BAL lymphocytosis, including cases of pronounced lymphocytosis and its diagnostic utility. Methods: Patients with ILD that were subjected to BAL were identified retrospectively from a cohort of consecutive patients. Results: BAL lymphocytosis ≥20% was recorded in 106 patients (27%), while pronounced BAL lymphocytosis ≥40% was recorded in 49 patients (12.5%). The most common diagnoses in patients with BAL lymphocytosis ≥20% and ≥40%, were HP (32.1%), connective tissue disease (CTD)-ILD (26.4%), sarcoidosis (16%), and HP (38.8%), CTD-ILD (24.5%), sarcoidosis (14.3%), respectively. Conclusions: Neither the presence nor the degree of BAL lymphocytosis can point to a specific diagnosis.
HMGB1 Induced Oxidative Stress and Inflammation in Endothelial Cells Exposed to Impinging Flow
Authors: Zhu Huaxin , Zeng Yanyang , Tan Jiacong , Li Meihua , Zhao Yeyu
Published: October 2023

Introduction: Oxidative stress and inflammation contribute to many aspects of the pathological processes involved in intracranial aneurysm (IA). However, the underlying mechanism for inducing oxidative stress and inflammation under impinging flow remains unclear. Accumulating evidence has shown that high mobility group box-1 (HMGB1) is associated with oxidative stress-related chronic diseases and inflammatory responses. Therefore, we aimed to investigate whether HMGB1 is involved in oxidative stress and inflammatory responses in endothelial cells (ECs) exposed to impinging flow. Methods: We used a modified T-chamber to simulate the in vitro situation of human umbilical vein ECs (HUVECs) subjected to impinging flow at the arterial bifurcation in order to analyze the effect of wall shear stress (WSS) on the ECs. To investigate the role of HMGB1 in this process, we transfected ECs with short hairpin RNA (shRNA) before conducting impinging flow experiments. Intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) were measured by flow cytometry, and malondialdehyde, glutathione, and superoxide dismutase levels were measured to assess oxidative stress. Inflammation was assessed by measuring the mRNA expression levels of IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-8 using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. We also examined the cellular localization of HMGB1 by immunofluorescence. Results: Exposure of HUVECs to WSS can increase the level of oxidative stress and inflammatory response. WSS increased the expression of HMGB1 in ECs and promoted the translocation of HMGB1 from cytosol to cytoplasm. When we knocked down HMGB1, the level of oxidative stress and inflammatory response caused by WSS in ECs decreased, suggesting that HMGB1 can mediate the oxidative stress and inflammatory response in HUVECs exposed to WSS. Conclusions: HMGB1 induced oxidative stress and inflammatory response in ECs exposed to impinging flow.
Comparison of Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Cardiometabolic Profiles Between Current and Never Users of Marijuana
Authors: Alhassan Hassan A. , Akunor Harriet , Howard Ato , Donohue Joseph , Kainat Aleesha , Onyeaka Henry K. , Aiyer Aryan
Published: October 2023

BACKGROUND:

The relationship between marijuana use and cardiovascular health remains uncertain, with several observational studies suggesting a potential association with increased adverse atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) outcomes. This study examined the relationship between marijuana use, ASCVD risk factors, and cardiometabolic risk profiles.

METHODS:

US adults (18–59 years) without cardiovascular disease were identified from the National Health And Nutrition Examination Survey (2005–2018) based on self-reported marijuana use. Current users (used within the past month) and never users were compared with assess the burden and control of traditional ASCVD risk factors and biomarkers, using inverse probability of treatment weighting to adjust for sociodemographic and lifestyle factors, including tobacco use.

RESULTS:

Of the 13 965 participants identified (mean age, 37.5; 51.2% female; 13% non-Hispanic Black), 26.6% were current users. Current users were predominantly male, low-income, and more likely to be concurrent tobacco users. Inverse probability of treatment weighting analysis showed no significant differences in the burden and control of hypertension (19.3% versus 18.8%,
P
=0.76; 79.8% versus 77.8%,
P
=0.75), dyslipidemia (24.0% versus 19.9%,
P
=0.13; 82% versus 75%,
P
=0.95), diabetes (4.8% versus 6.4%,
P
=0.19; 52.9% versus 50.6%,
P
=0.84), obesity (35.8% versus 41.3%,
P
=0.13), and physical activity levels (71.9% versus 69.3%,
P
=0.37) between current and never users. Likewise, mean 10-year ASCVD risk scores (2.8% versus 3.0%,
P
=0.49), 30-year Framingham risk scores (22.7% versus 24.2%,
P
=0.25), and cardiometabolic profiles including high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (3.5 mg/L versus 3.7 mg/L,
P
=0.65), neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (2.1 versus 2.1,
P
=0.89), low-density lipoprotein (114.3 mg/dL versus 112.2 mg/dL,
P
=0.53), total cholesterol (191.2 mg/dL versus 181.7 mg/dL,
P
=0.58), and hemoglobin A1C (5.4% versus 5.5%,
P
=0.25) were similar between current and never users.

CONCLUSIONS:

This cross-sectional study found no association between self-reported marijuana use and increased burden of traditional ASCVD risk factors, estimated long-term ASCVD risk, or cardiometabolic profiles. Further studies are needed to explore potential pathways between adverse cardiovascular disease outcomes and marijuana use.
Evinacumab for Pediatric Patients With Homozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia
Authors: Wiegman Albert , Greber-Platzer Susanne , Ali Shazia , Reijman M. Doortje , Brinton Eliot A , Charng Min-Ji , Srinivasan Shubha , Baker-Smith Carissa , Baum Seth , Brothers Julie A. , Hartz Jacob , Moriarty Patrick M. , Mendell Jeanne , Bihorel Sébastien , Banerjee Poulabi , George Richard T. , Hirshberg Boaz , Pordy Robert
Published: October 2023

BACKGROUND:

Homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH) is a rare genetic disorder characterized by severely elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels due to profoundly defective LDL receptor (LDLR) function. Given that severely elevated LDL-C starts in utero, atherosclerosis often presents during childhood or adolescence, creating a largely unmet need for aggressive LDLR-independent lipid-lowering therapies in young patients with HoFH. Here we present the first evaluation of the efficacy and safety of evinacumab, a novel LDLR-independent lipid-lowering therapy, in pediatric patients with HoFH from parts A and B of a 3-part study.

METHODS:

The phase 3, part B, open-label study treated 14 patients 5 to 11 years of age with genetically proven HoFH (true homozygotes and compound heterozygotes) with LDL-C >130 mg/dL, despite optimized lipid-lowering therapy (including LDLR-independent apheresis and lomitapide), with intravenous evinacumab 15 mg/kg every 4 weeks.

RESULTS:

Evinacumab treatment rapidly and durably (through week 24) decreased LDL-C with profound reduction in the first week, with a mean (SE) LDL-C reduction of −48.3% (10.4%) from baseline to week 24. ApoB (mean [SE], –41.3% [9.0%]), non–high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (–48.9% [9.8%]), and total cholesterol (–49.1% [8.1%]) were similarly decreased. Treatment-emergent adverse events were reported in 10 (71.4%) patients; however, only 2 (14.3%) reported events that were considered to be treatment-related (nausea and abdominal pain). One serious treatment-emergent adverse event of tonsillitis occurred (n=1), but this was not considered treatment-related.

CONCLUSIONS:

Evinacumab constitutes a new treatment for pediatric patients with HoFH and inadequately controlled LDL-C despite optimized lipid-lowering therapy, lowering LDL-C levels by nearly half in these extremely high-risk and difficult-to-treat individuals.

REGISTRATION:

URL:
https://www.clinicaltrials.gov
; Unique identifier: NCT04233918.
Slide-Detect: An Accurate Deep Learning Diagnosis of Lung Infiltration
Authors: Mohamed Ahmed E. , Fayek Magda B. , Farouk Mona
Published: October 2023

Lung infiltration is a non-communicable condition where materials with higher density than air exist in the parenchyma tissue of the lungs. Lung infiltration can be hard to be detected in an X-ray scan even for a radiologist, especially at the early stages making it a leading cause of death. In response, several deep learning approaches have been evolved to address this problem. This paper proposes the Slide-Detect technique which is a Deep Neural Networks (DNN) model based on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) that is trained to diagnose lung infiltration with Area Under Curve (AUC) up to 91.47%, accuracy of 93.85% and relatively low computational resources.
A Holy Muddle
Authors: Krausmüller Dirk
Published: October 2023

Patriarch Anastasius of Antioch was one of the most important religious leaders in the later sixth century. He left behind a substantial oeuvre, which focuses on Christology and Trinitarian theology. He was most comfortable with exegesis of Scripture but had a shaky grasp of philosophical terms and concepts that informed the debate was shaky. This was already seen by Günter Weiss who offered a detailed analysis of the texts. I concur with Weiss’ judgement and limit myself to the discussion of aspects of Anastasius’ speculation that he had not dealt with.
Cold Fog Amongst Complex Terrain
Authors: Pu Zhaoxia , Pardyjak Eric R. , Hoch Sebastian W. , Gultepe Ismail , Hallar A. Gannet , Perelet Alexei , Beal Rebecca , Carrillo-Cardenas Gerardo , Li Xin , Garcia Maria , Oncley Steven , Brown William , Anderson Jeffrey , Witte Jacquelyn , Vakhtin Andrei
Published: October 2023

Cold fog forms via various thermodynamic, dynamic, and microphysical processes when the air temperature is less than 0°C. It occurs frequently during the cold season in the western United States yet is challenging to detect using standard observations and is very difficult to predict. The Cold Fog Amongst Complex Terrain (CFACT) project was conceived to investigate the life cycle of cold fog in mountain valleys. The overarching goals of the CFACT project are to 1) investigate the life cycle of cold-fog events over complex terrain with the latest observation technology, 2) improve microphysical parameterizations and visibility algorithms used in numerical weather prediction (NWP) models, and 3) develop data assimilation and analysis methods for current and next-generation (e.g., subkilometer scale) NWP models. The CFACT field campaign took place in Heber Valley, Utah, during January and February 2022, with support from NSF’s Lower Atmospheric Observing Facilities (managed by NCAR’s Earth Observing Laboratory), the University of Utah, and Ontario Technical University. A network of ground-based and aerial in situ instruments and remote sensing platforms were used to obtain comprehensive measurements of thermodynamic profiles, cloud microphysics, aerosol properties, and environmental dynamics. Nine intensive observation periods (IOPs) explored various mountainous weather and cold-fog conditions. Field observations, NWP forecasts, and large-eddy simulations provided unprecedented data sources to help understand the mechanisms associated with cold-fog weather and to identify and mitigate numerical model deficiencies in simulating winter weather over mountainous terrain. This article summarizes the CFACT field campaign, its observations, and challenges during the field campaign, including real-time fog prediction issues and future analysis.