bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Disentangling Litter Size and Farrowing Duration Effects on Piglet Stillbirth, Acid–Base Blood Parameters and Pre-Weaning Mortality
Authors: van den Bosch Moniek , van de Linde Irene B. , Kemp Bas , van den Brand Henry
Published: April 2022

The current study evaluated interactions between farrowing duration and litter size on the level of asphyxia, vitality, percentage of stillbirth, and pre-weaning mortality of piglets. Farrowing duration was measured in 159 crossbred gilts and sows (Yorkshire × Dutch Landrace). Litter size ranged between 12 and 21 piglets. Blood acid–base parameters in umbilical cord blood and vitality scores of piglets were determined immediately after birth. Number of piglets born alive and stillborn as well as individual piglet weights at birth were recorded. Pre-weaning mortality (excluding stillbirth) was determined throughout lactation. Litter size as well as farrowing duration were categorized to evaluate the interaction between the two. There tended to be an interaction between litter size and farrowing duration for pre-weaning mortality (p = 0.10). In small litters (12–15 piglets), a prolonged farrowing duration (>250 min) tended to increase pre-weaning mortality compared with a short (<150 min) and medium farrowing duration (150–250 min), while for large litters (19–21 piglets), a medium to long farrowing duration tended to decrease pre-weaning mortality. No other interactions between litter size and farrowing duration were found. Piglets within large litters showed a higher umbilical cord lactate level (p < 0.01), lower average vitality score (p = 0.01), and a higher stillborn percentage (p < 0.01) compared with piglets within medium size (16–18 piglets) and small litters. Each additional piglet born to a litter linearly decreased average piglet birth weight (17.6 g, p < 0.01), increased farrowing duration (11 min, p < 0.01), and increased stillbirth (0.5%, p = 0.04). A medium farrowing duration resulted in a lower stillborn percentage compared with a short or prolonged farrowing duration, suggesting that farrowing duration might have an optimum. When analyzed linearly, stillborn percentage increased with 1.85% per every 100 min (p < 0.01) of farrowing duration. It can be concluded that both litter size and farrowing duration affect stillborn percentage, but independent from each other. However, these two factors tended to interact regarding pre-weaning mortality, suggesting that setting a certain threshold for maximal farrowing duration should be taken with care, because this appears to depend on litter size.
Isolation, Characterization, and Drug Sensitivity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Captive Sloth Bears (Melursus ursinus): Unnatural Habitat With Human Environment May Predispose Sloth Bears to Tuberculosis
Authors: Marinaik Chandranaik B. , Sha Arun A. , Manjunatha Venkataravanappa , Shylaja S. , Rathnamma Doddamane , Rizwan Apsana , Nagaraja K.
Published: April 2022

We describe the isolation, molecular characterization, and drug sensitivity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis recovered from lung tissues of four rescued captive sloth bears (Melursus ursinus) at Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP), Bangalore, India. These bears had lived most of their life with humans in circus companies. They were rescued and housed in the Bear Rescue Center (BRC) of BBP. Upon rescue, they showed signs of unthriftiness, chronic debility, and failed to respond to symptomatic treatments. Over the period of the next 12–14 months, the four sloth bears died and the post-mortem examination revealed nodular lesions in the lungs that showed the presence of acid-fast bacilli. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), culture, and nucleotide sequencing confirmed the bacilli as Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Histopathology of the lungs revealed characteristic granulomatous reaction with caseation. We determined the sensitivity of these isolates to rifampicin and isoniazid drugs by a WHO approved test, Line Probe Assay (LPA) using Genotype MTBDRplus VER 2.0. We discuss the role of unnatural habitat with the human environment in predisposing captive sloth bears for tuberculosis (TB). In the absence of any other reliable ante-mortem diagnostic test, this study recommends the use of LPA for early detection of TB in captive wild animals, which will help in taking necessary steps to prevent its further spread to animal caretakers and other susceptible animals in captivity.
Closure of Iterative Laparotomy in Patients With Previous Mesh Reinforcement a Cohorts’ Study. Short-Term Results
Authors: Bravo-Salva A. , Sancho-Insenser J.J. , Pera-Román M. , Pereira-Rodriguez J.A.
Published: April 2022

Purpose: Due to extension of prophylactic mesh indications use will become more common to find patients receiving an iterative laparotomy (IL) over a previous reinforced abdominal wall. The aim of this study was to analyze outcomes after IL in patients with previous mesh reinforcement.

Methods: This study was a prospective secondary analysis of midline laparotomy closure performed from July 2017 to July 2018 registered in PHACPA study (NCT 02658955). IL were included and surgery characteristics and outcomes analyzed. We compared two groups: with (PreM) or without previous prophylactic onlay mesh reinforcement (PreS) Subgroups’ analysis, risk factors for complications and survival free hernia analysis were performed.

Results: 121 IL were analyzed. Only obesity was associated with higher SSO (OR 2.6; CI 95% 1.02–6.90; p = 0.04) There were 15 incisional hernias (IH) (14.4%). Group with previous mesh reinforcement (pre M) had a higher statistically significative incidence of IH (OR = 1.21; CI 95% 1.05–1.39; p = 0.015). Use of slowly absorbable suture (OR = 0.74; CI 95% 0.60–0.91; p = 0.001), USP 2/0 suture (OR, 0.31; 95% CI, 0.10–0.94; p = 0.033), and small bites technique (OR = 0.81; CI 95% 0.72–0.90; p = 0.011) were associated with less IH.

Conclusion: IL has a high percentage of complications and IH. In case of IL without previous reinforcement, a mesh can help to reduce IH. Our data cannot clearly support any technique to close an IL with previous mesh.
Megatrends in Healthcare: Review for the Swiss National Science Foundation’s National Research Programme 74 (NRP74) “Smarter Health Care”
Authors: Deml Michael J. , Jungo Katharina Tabea , Maessen Maud , Martani Andrea , Ulyte Agne
Published: April 2022

Objectives: In this paper, we present a review of some relevant megatrends in healthcare conducted as part of the Swiss National Science Foundation’s National Research Programme 74 (NRP74) “Smarter Health Care.” Our aim is to stimulate discussions about long-term tendencies underlying the current and future development of the healthcare system.

Methods: Our team—a multidisciplinary panel of researchers involved in the NRP74—went through an iterative process of internal consultations followed by a rapid literature review with the goal of reaching group consensus concerning the most relevant megatrends in healthcare.

Results: Five megatrends were identified, namely: 1) Socio-demographic shifts. 2) Broadening meaning of “health.” 3) Empowered patients and service users. 4) Digitalization in healthcare. 5) Emergence of new models of care. The main features of each megatrend are presented, drawing often on the situation in Switzerland as a paradigmatic example and adding reflections on the potential influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on them.

Conclusion: Considering the long-term megatrends affecting the evolution of healthcare is important—amongst other things–to understand and contextualise the relevance and implications of innovative health services research results.
MAC Address Anonymization for Crowd Counting
Authors: Determe Jean-François , Azzagnuni Sophia , Horlin François , De Doncker Philippe
Published: April 2022

Research has shown that counting WiFi packets called probe requests (PRs) implicitly provides a proxy for the number of people in an area. In this paper, we discuss a crowd counting system involving WiFi sensors detecting PRs over the air, then extracting and anonymizing their media access control (MAC) addresses using a hash-based approach. This paper discusses an anonymization procedure and shows time-synchronization inaccuracies among sensors and hashing collision rates to be low enough to prevent anonymization from interfering with counting algorithms. In particular, we derive an approximation of the collision rate of uniformly distributed identifiers, with analytical error bounds.
Guided Semi-Supervised Non-Negative Matrix Factorization
Authors: Li Pengyu , Tseng Christine , Zheng Yaxuan , Chew Joyce A. , Huang Longxiu , Jarman Benjamin , Needell Deanna
Published: April 2022

Classification and topic modeling are popular techniques in machine learning that extract information from large-scale datasets. By incorporating a priori information such as labels or important features, methods have been developed to perform classification and topic modeling tasks; however, most methods that can perform both do not allow for guidance of the topics or features. In this paper, we propose a novel method, namely Guided Semi-Supervised Non-negative Matrix Factorization (GSSNMF), that performs both classification and topic modeling by incorporating supervision from both pre-assigned document class labels and user-designed seed words. We test the performance of this method on legal documents provided by the California Innocence Project and the 20 Newsgroups dataset. Our results show that the proposed method improves both classification accuracy and topic coherence in comparison to past methods such as Semi-Supervised Non-negative Matrix Factorization (SSNMF), Guided Non-negative Matrix Factorization (Guided NMF), and Topic Supervised NMF.
Giant Multinucleated Cells Are Associated with Mastocytic Inflammatory Signature Equine Asthma
Authors: Basano Ilaria , Romolo Alessandra , Iamone Giulia , Memoli Giulia , Riccio Barbara , Lavoie Jean-Pierre , Miniscalco Barbara , Bullone Michela
Published: April 2022

Equine asthma is currently diagnosed by the presence of increased neutrophil (>5%), mast cell (>2%), and/or eosinophil (>1%) differential cell count. Macrophages are normal resident cells within the alveoli. Their presence in BALF is considered normal, but the clinical implication of the presence of activated or fused macrophages (giant multinucleated cells, GMC) is currently overlooked. We aimed to assess the prevalence, cytological determinants, and clinical significance of increased GMC counts in BALF of 34 asthmatic horses compared to 10 controls. Counts were performed on 15 randomly selected high magnification fields per cytospin slide (40×), and expressed as GMC:single macrophage (GMC:M) ratio. Regression models were used for statistical analysis. GMC was frequently observed in both asthmatic and control horses, with an increased prevalence of equine asthma (p = 0.01). GMC:M ratio was significantly higher in severe vs. mild to moderate equine asthmatic and control horses. In asthmatic horses, an increased GMC:M ratio was significantly associated with BALF mastocytosis (p = 0.01), once adjusting for age and the presence and severity of clinical signs of the horses. Tachypnea was the only clinical sign that tended to be positively associated with GMC:M ratio after adjustment (p = 0.08). In conclusion, our data suggest that a relationship might exist between molecular mechanisms regulating GMC formation and mast cell recruitment in the equine lung. The same mechanisms could lead to tachypnea even in the absence of respiratory effort at rest. We suggest including GMC count in the basic cytological assessment of BALF samples to gain more insights into their role in equine asthma.
Effect of Seed Traits and Waterbird Species on the Dispersal Effectiveness of Wetland Plants
Authors: Nie Shenghong , Zhou Lizhi , Xu Wenbin
Published: April 2022

Seed dispersal is an important ecological process in wetland ecosystems and helps maintain community structure and ecosystem biodiversity. Waterbird-mediated endozoochory is an effective and feasible dispersal mechanism for wetland plants; however, the influence of vectors and seed traits on this mechanism remains unclear. To investigate the effects of vector species and seed traits (length and lignin) on retention time, retrieval and germination of gut-surviving seeds, we fed Baikal teals (Anas formosa) and green-winged teals (Anas crecca) eight common plant seeds (Polygonum aviculare, Rumex dentatus, Polygonum orientale, Vallisneria natans, Ranunculus polii, Polygonum hydropiper, Carex cinerascen and Euphrasia pectinata) in the Shengjin Lake wetland (a Ramsar site). We collected fecal samples at intervals of 2–6 h for 36 h, and found that the percentage of recovered seeds differed significantly among teal and plant species (3%~30%); 94% of viable seeds were recovered within 12 h after feeding. Moreover, the germination rate of the recovered seeds (25%~56%) was higher than that of the control. The seed retention time was affected by seed lignin and disperser species; higher lignin made digestion difficult with higher retrieval. Smaller seeds passed through the guts but had no significant effect on recovered seeds. Seed length and disperser species showed no significant correlation with germination. These findings suggested endozoochory by dabbling ducks as an effective wetland seed dispersal mechanism.
Making Invisible RNA Visible: Discriminative Sequencing Methods for RNA Molecules with Specific Terminal Formations
Authors: Shigematsu Megumi , Kirino Yohei
Published: April 2022

Next generation sequencing of RNA molecules (RNA-seq) has become a common tool to characterize the expression profiles of RNAs and their regulations in normal physiological processes and diseases. Although increasingly accumulating RNA-seq data are widely available through publicly accessible sites, most of the data for short non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs) have been obtained for microRNA (miRNA) analyses by standard RNA-seq, which only capture the sncRNAs with 5′-phosphate (5′-P) and 3′-hydroxyl (3′-OH) ends. The sncRNAs with other terminal formations such as those with a 5′-hydroxyl end (5′-OH), a 3′-phosphate (3′-P) end, or a 2′,3′-cyclic phosphate end (2′,3′-cP) cannot be efficiently amplified and sequenced by standard RNA-seq. Due to the invisibility in standard RNA-seq data, these non-miRNA-sncRNAs have been a hidden component in the transcriptome. However, as the functional significances of these sncRNAs have become increasingly apparent, specific RNA-seq methods compatible with various terminal formations of sncRNAs have been developed and started shedding light on the previously unrecognized sncRNAs that lack 5′-P/3′-OH ends. In this review, we summarize the expanding world of sncRNAs with various terminal formations and the strategic approaches of specific RNA-seq methods to distinctively characterize their expression profiles.
Intracellular Protein S-Nitrosylation—A Cells Response to Extracellular S100B and RAGE Receptor
Authors: Zaręba-Kozioł Monika , Burdukiewicz Michał , Wysłouch-Cieszyńska Aleksandra
Published: April 2022

Human S100B is a small, multifunctional protein. Its activity, inside and outside cells, contributes to the biology of the brain, muscle, skin, and adipocyte tissues. Overexpression of S100B occurs in Down Syndrome, Alzheimer’s disease, Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, schizophrenia, multiple sclerosis, brain tumors, epilepsy, melanoma, myocardial infarction, muscle disorders, and sarcopenia. Modulating the activities of S100B, related to human diseases, without disturbing its physiological functions, is vital for drug and therapy design. This work focuses on the extracellular activity of S100B and one of its receptors, the Receptor for Advanced Glycation End products (RAGE). The functional outcome of extracellular S100B, partially, depends on the activation of intracellular signaling pathways. Here, we used Biotin Switch Technique enrichment and mass-spectrometry-based proteomics to show that the appearance of the S100B protein in the extracellular milieu of the mammalian Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells, and expression of the membrane-bound RAGE receptor, lead to changes in the intracellular S-nitrosylation of, at least, more than a hundred proteins. Treatment of the wild-type CHO cells with nanomolar or micromolar concentrations of extracellular S100B modulates the sets of S-nitrosylation targets inside cells. The cellular S-nitrosome is tuned differently, depending on the presence or absence of stable RAGE receptor expression. The presented results are a proof-of-concept study, suggesting that S-nitrosylation, like other post-translational modifications, should be considered in future research, and in developing tailored therapies for S100B and RAGE receptor-related diseases.
Multimodal Characterization of Seizures in Zebrafish Larvae
Authors: Turrini Lapo , Sorelli Michele , de Vito Giuseppe , Credi Caterina , Tiso Natascia , Vanzi Francesco , Pavone Francesco Saverio
Published: April 2022

Epilepsy accounts for a significant proportion of the world’s disease burden. Indeed, many research efforts are produced both to investigate the basic mechanism ruling its genesis and to find more effective therapies. In this framework, the use of zebrafish larvae, owing to their peculiar features, offers a great opportunity. Here, we employ transgenic zebrafish larvae expressing GCaMP6s in all neurons to characterize functional alterations occurring during seizures induced by pentylenetetrazole. Using a custom two-photon light-sheet microscope, we perform fast volumetric functional imaging of the entire larval brain, investigating how different brain regions contribute to seizure onset and propagation. Moreover, employing a custom behavioral tracking system, we outline the progressive alteration of larval swim kinematics, resulting from different grades of seizures. Collectively, our results show that the epileptic larval brain undergoes transitions between diverse neuronal activity regimes. Moreover, we observe that different brain regions are progressively recruited into the generation of seizures of diverse severity. We demonstrate that midbrain regions exhibit highest susceptibility to the convulsant effects and that, during periods preceding abrupt hypersynchronous paroxysmal activity, they show a consistent increase in functional connectivity. These aspects, coupled with the hub-like role that these regions exert, represent important cues in their identification as epileptogenic hubs.
Neuroinflammation in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Authors: Lee Dong-Hun , Lee Ji-Young , Hong Dong-Yong , Lee Eun-Chae , Park Sang-Won , Lee Man-Ryul , Oh Jae-Sang
Published: April 2022

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a well-known mental illness, which is caused by various stressors, including memories of past physical assaults and psychological pressure. It is diagnosed as a mental and behavioral disorder, but increasing evidence is linking it to the immune system and inflammatory response. Studies on the relationship between inflammation and PTSD revealed that patients with PTSD had increased levels of inflammatory cytokine biomarkers, such as interleukin-1, interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-α, nuclear factor-κB, and C-reactive protein, compared with healthy controls. In addition, animal model experiments imitating PTSD patients suggested the role of inflammation in the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of PTSD. In this review, we summarize the definition of PTSD and its association with increased inflammation, its mechanisms, and future predictable diseases and treatment possibilities. We also discuss anti-inflammatory treatments to address inflammation in PTSD.
Thyroid Cancer Detection in a Routine Clinical Setting: Performance of ACR TI-RADS, FNAC, and Molecular Testing in Prospective Cohort Study
Authors: Grimmichova Tereza , Pacesova Petra , Hill Martin , Pekova Barbora , Vankova Marketa , Moravcova Jitka , Vrbikova Jana , Novak Zdenek , Mastnikova Karolina , Vaclavikova Eliska , Vcelak Josef , Bendlova Bela , Drozenova Jana , Sykorova Vlasta
Published: April 2022

The aim of our study was to address the potential for improvements in thyroid cancer detection in routine clinical settings using a clinical examination, the American College of Radiology Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Database System (ACR TI-RADS), and fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) concurrently with molecular diagnostics. A prospective cohort study was performed on 178 patients. DNA from FNA samples was used for next-generation sequencing to identify mutations in the genes BRAF, HRAS, KRAS, NRAS, and TERT. RNA was used for real-time PCR to detect fusion genes. The strongest relevant positive predictors for malignancy were the presence of genetic mutations (p < 0.01), followed by FNAC (p < 0.01) and ACR TI-RADS (p < 0.01). Overall, FNAC, ACR TI-RADS, and genetic testing reached a sensitivity of up to 96.1% and a specificity of 88.3%, with a diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) of 183.6. Sensitivity, specificity, and DOR decreased to 75.0%, 88.9%, and 24.0, respectively, for indeterminate (Bethesda III, IV) FNAC results. FNA molecular testing has substantial potential for thyroid malignancy detection and could lead to improvements in our approaches to patients. However, clinical examination, ACR TI-RADS, and FNAC remained relevant factors.
Preparation of a Novel Type of Zwitterionic Polymer and the Antifouling PDMS Coating
Authors: Ma Xutao , Fu Xiaohui , Sun Jing
Published: April 2022

As awareness of environmental protection increases, environmentally friendly coatings have been receiving great interest. Zwitterionic polymers are considered promising candidates due to their biocompatibility and excellent antifouling properties. In this paper, a type of polypeptoid containing zwitterions on the side chain was synthesized via ring-opening polymerization (ROP) and post-modification. This obtained polypeptoid was subsequently grafted onto the surface of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) via plasma and UV-induced surface polymerization. Surface morphology and protein adsorption tests of the resulting coating were systematically carried out. The results show that the modified coating has excellent antifouling properties and thus has great potential for environmentally friendly coating applications.
Can Surgical Resection of Metastatic Lesions Be Beneficial to Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Patients with Isolated Lung Metastasis?
Authors: Yun Won-Gun , Kwon Wooil , Han Youngmin , Sohn Hee Ju , Kim Hyeong Seok , Lee Mirang , Kim Hongbeom , Thomas Alexander S. , Kluger Michael D. , Jang Jin-Young
Published: April 2022

In the era of effective chemotherapy on pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) with distant metastasis, data on the effects of metastatectomy are lacking. So, we investigated the effect of metastatectomy on survival after metastasis in PDAC patients with isolated lung metastasis. This retrospective study analyzed 1342 patients who were histologically diagnosed with PDAC with distant metastasis from January 2007 to December 2018, of which 83 patients had isolated pulmonary metastasis. Additionally, 4263 patients were extracted from the National Cancer Database (NCDB) and analyzed. Log-rank test and Kaplan−Meier survival analysis were used to analyze survival after metastasis. The five-year survival rate was significantly higher in patients who underwent pulmonary metastatectomy than in those who received only chemotherapy or supportive treatment (60.6% vs. 6.2% vs. 0.0%, p < 0.001). A similar trend was observed in the NCDB (two-year survival rate, 27.4% vs. 15.8% vs. 4.7%, p < 0.001). In the multivariate analysis, lung lesion multiplicity (hazard ratio (HR) = 2.004, p = 0.017), metastatectomy (HR = 0.278, p = 0.036), chemotherapy (HR = 0.434, p = 0.024), and chemotherapy cycles (HR = 0.300, p < 0.001) had significant effects on survival. Metastatectomy with primary pancreatic lesions is recommended with effective chemotherapy in PDAC patients with isolated lung metastasis.
Innate Lymphoid Cells: Role in Immune Regulation and Cancer
Authors: Chung Douglas C. , Jacquelot Nicolas , Ghaedi Maryam , Warner Kathrin , Ohashi Pamela S.
Published: April 2022

Immune regulation is composed of a complex network of cellular and molecular pathways that regulate the immune system and prevent tissue damage. It is increasingly clear that innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are also armed with immunosuppressive capacities similar to well-known immune regulatory cells (i.e., regulatory T cells). In cancer, immunoregulatory ILCs have been shown to inhibit anti-tumour immune response through various mechanisms including: (a) direct suppression of anti-tumour T cells or NK cells, (b) inhibiting T-cell priming, and (c) promoting other immunoregulatory cells. To provide a framework of understanding the role of immunosuppressive ILCs in the context of cancer, we first outline a brief history and challenges related to defining immunosuppressive ILCs. Furthermore, we focus on the mechanisms of ILCs in suppressing anti-tumour immunity and consequentially promoting tumour progression.
NFAT Factors Are Dispensable for the Development but Are Critical for the Maintenance of Foxp3+ Regulatory T Cells
Authors: Barahona de Brito Carlotta , Patra Amiya Kumar
Published: April 2022

The transcription factors of the nuclear factor of activated T cell (NFAT) family play a crucial role in multiple aspects of T cell function. It has recently been reported that NFATs play an important role in the suppressive function of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ regulatory T (Treg) cells. In this study, we have investigated the role of NFATs in the thymic development of Treg cells in mice. We show that NFAT factors are dispensable for the development of Foxp3+ Treg cells in the thymus but are critical for the maintenance of both the phenotype and survival of Treg cells in the thymus as well as in peripheral lymphoid organs. Specifically, the homeostasis of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ but not the CD4+CD25−Foxp3+ fraction is severely perturbed when NFAT signaling is blocked, leading to a strongly reduced Treg population. We underscored this intriguing effect of NFAT on CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ Treg cells to the disruption of survival signals provided by interleukin 2 (IL-2). Accordingly, blocking Treg cell death by abolishing the activity of pro-apoptotic Bcl-2 family member Bim, compensated for the survival defects induced due to a lack of NFAT-IL-2-IL-2R signaling. Inhibition of NFAT activity led to a strong reduction in the number of Foxp3+ Treg cells; however, it did not influence the level of Foxp3 expression on an individual cell basis. In addition, we show a differential effect of IL-2 and IL-7 signaling on Foxp3+ Treg versus CD4+CD25− T cell development, again underlining the dispensability of NFAT signaling in the development, but not in the maintenance of Foxp3+ Treg cells.
Modelling of Fuel Cells and Related Energy Conversion Systems
Authors: Rossetti Ilenia
Published: April 2022

Heat and power cogeneration plants based on fuel cells are interesting systems for energy- conversion at low environmental impact. Various fuel cells have been proposed, of which proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) and solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) are the most frequently used. However, experimental testing rigs are expensive, and the development of commercial systems is time consuming if based on fully experimental activities. Furthermore, tight control of the operation of fuel cells is compulsory to avoid damage, and such control must be based on accurate models, able to predict cell behaviour and prevent stresses and shutdown. Additionally, when used for mobile applications, intrinsically dynamic operation is needed. Some selected examples of steady-state, dynamic and fluid-dynamic modelling of different types of fuel cells are here proposed, mainly dealing with PEMFC and SOFC types. The general ideas behind the thermodynamic, kinetic and transport description are discussed, with some examples of models derived for single cells, stacks and integrated power cogeneration units. This review can be considered an introductory picture of the modelling methods for these devices, to underline the different approaches and the key aspects to be taken into account. Examples of different scales and multi-scale modelling are also provided.
Early Life Factors Associated with Lean Body Mass in Spanish Children: CALINA Study
Authors: Córdoba-Rodríguez Diana Paola , Iglesia Iris , Gómez-Bruton Alejandro , Álvarez Sauras María Luisa , Miguel-Berges María L. , Flores-Barrantes Paloma , Casajús José Antonio , Moreno Luis A. , Rodríguez Gerardo
Published: April 2022

Early life is critical for the programming of body composition. The literature links perinatal factors with fat mass development and its future effects (e.g., obesity); however, little evidence exists between early life factors and lean body mass (LBM). This study follows up on a cohort of 416 Spanish children at ages six to eight, previously evaluated at birth in the CALINA study. Here, we studied the association between early life factors, LBM, and limb strength. Parental origin/nutritional status, maternal smoking during pregnancy, gestational diabetes/weight gain/age, birth weight (BW), early feeding, and rapid weight gain (RWG) were collected from primary care records. Bioimpedance analysis, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, peripheral quantitative computed tomography, and a handgrip/standing long jump test were used to assess fat-free mass index (FFMI), total lean soft tissue mass index (TLSTMI), muscle cross-sectional area index (MCSAI), and limb strength, respectively. In girls, maternal smoking, gestational age, and BW were positively associated with FFM/LSTM. In boys, the parents’ BMI, BW, and RWG were positively associated with FFM/LSTM. BW was associated with handgrip strength in both. Maternal BMI in girls and RWG in boys were negatively associated with the standing long jump. Early life programming plays a key role in determining LBM in children.
Charged Colloids at the Metal–Electrolyte Interface
Authors: Chikina Ioulia , Nakamae Sawako , Shikin Valeriy , Varlamov Andrey
Published: April 2022

We discuss the peculiarities of the structure of the interface between a metal and a stable colloidal dispersion of charged nanoparticles in an electrolyte. It is demonstrated that a quasi-2D ionic structure of elevated density arises in its vicinity due to the effect of electrostatic image forces. The stabilized colloidal particles, being electroneutral and spatially distributed objects in the bulk of the electrolyte and approaching the interface, are attracted to it. In their turn, the counterions forming their coat partially retract into the 2D-layer, which results in an acquisition by the colloidal particle of the effective charge eZ*≫e and which, together with its mirror image, creates the electric dipole. The formed dipoles, possessing the moments directed perpendicularly to the interface, form the gas with repulsion between particles. The intensity of this repulsion, evidently, depends on the value of the effective charge eZ* acquired by the nanoparticle having lost a number of counterions. It can be related to the value of the excess osmotic pressure Posm measured in the experiment. On the other hand, this effective charge can be connected by means of the simple geometric consideration with the structural charge eZ of the nanoparticle core being in the bulk of the electrolyte.
A Memory Hierarchy Protected against Side-Channel Attacks
Authors: Talaki Ezinam Bertrand , Savry Olivier , Bouvier Des Noes Mathieu , Hely David
Published: April 2022

In the vulnerability analysis of System on Chips, memory hierarchy is considered among the most valuable element to protect against information theft. Many first-order side-channel attacks have been reported on all its components from the main memory to the CPU registers. In this context, memory hierarchy encryption is widely used to ensure data confidentiality. Yet, this solution suffers from both memory and area overhead along with performance losses (timing delays), which is especially critical for cache memories that already occupy a large part of the spatial footprint of a processor. In this paper, we propose a secure and lightweight scheme to ensure the data confidentiality through the whole memory hierarchy. This is done by masking the data in cache memories with a lightweight mask generator that provides masks at each clock cycle without having to store them. Only 8-bit Initialization Vectors are stored for each mask value to enable further recomputation of the masks. The overall security of the masking scheme is assessed through a mutual information estimation that helped evaluate the minimum number of attack traces needed to succeed a profiling side-channel attack to 592 K traces in the attacking phase, which provides an acceptable security level in an analysis where an example of Signal to Noise Ratio of 0.02 is taken. The lightweight aspect of the generator has been confirmed by a hardware implementation that led to resource utilization of 400 LUTs.
In Situ Electrochemical Derivation of Sodium-Tin Alloy as Sodium-Ion Energy Storage Devices Anode with Overall Electrochemical Characteristics
Authors: Niu Liangfeng , Guo Shoujie , Liang Wei , Song Limin , Song Burong , Zhang Qianlong , Wu Lijun
Published: April 2022

Inspired by the fermentation of multiple small bread embryos to form large bread embryos, in this study, the expansion of tin foil inlaid with sodium rings in the process of repeated sodium inlaid and removal was utilized to maximum extent to realize the formation of sodium-tin alloy anode and the improvement of sodium storage characteristics. The special design of Sn foil inlaid with Na ring realized the in-situ electrochemical formation of fluffy porous sodium-tin alloy, effectively alleviated the volume expansion and shrinkage of non-electrochemical active Sn metal, and inhibited the generation of sodium dendrites. The abundance of sodium ions provided by the Na metal ring compensated for the active sodium components consumed during the repeated formation of SEI. When sodium-tin alloy in situ derived by Sn foil inlaid with Na ring was used as negative electrodes matched with SCDC and Na0.91MnO2 hexagonal tablets (NMO HTs) positive electrodes, the as-assembled sodium-ion energy storage devices present high specific capacity and excellent cycle stability.
Primary Extra-Pleura Leiomyoma: A Case Report and Literature Review
Authors: Ullah Asad , Patterson G. Taylor , Ghleilib Intisar , Elhelf Islam A. , Patel Nikhil G. , Karim Nagla A.
Published: April 2022

Leiomyomas are a common type of benign soft tissue tumor arising from smooth muscle, most often occurring within females’ genitourinary and gastrointestinal tract. However, primary leiomyomas of the chest wall residing in the extra-pleural space are an extremely rare subset of leiomyomatous lesion presentation. We present a case of a fifty-two-year-old male who initially presented complaining of dyspnea worsening with exertion. Computed tomography imaging was performed showing an extra-pleural mass residing under the left sixth rib. Subsequent core needle biopsy and immunohistochemical staining were performed, and the definitive diagnosis of primary leiomyoma of the posterior mediastinal chest wall. Although extremely rare, this neoplastic condition should be included in your differential diagnosis when diagnostic imaging reveals a benign mass residing in the extra-pleural space, and subsequent biopsy specimens consist of smooth muscle fibers.
“Lichenoid Granulomatous Pattern” in a Case of Lupus Vulgaris
Authors: Desai Chirag , Shaikh Ismail
Published: April 2022

Lupus vulgaris is a one of the most common skin infections in the Indian subcontinent. Even today, it often creates a diagnostic dilemma for both clinicians and histopathologists. We describe a case of lupus vulgaris that showed lichenoid granulomatous inflammation in the dermis. This pattern is not uncommon, but is rarely described in the literature as newer modalities currently take precedence in diagnosis. Our aim is to make clinicians and dermatopathologists aware of this pattern of inflammation seen in this common infection.
Engineering and Economic Evaluation of a Prototype Fabricated for Harvesting Sugarcane
Authors: El Shal Ahmed Mohamed , Mazrou Yasser Sayed , El Didamony Mohamed Ibrahim
Published: April 2022

A sugarcane harvester prototype was fabricated and evaluated to save time, labor, and harvesting expenses, which are included in production costs. The single-row harvester prototype fits the functional needs of the physical qualities of sugarcane and was designed to be installed on a tractor. One serrated edge cutter disc, three forward speeds, and three cutter disc speeds were used to evaluate the performance of the fabricated sugarcane harvester. The results of the technical evaluation showed that the average forward speed was 5 km h−1, and the average cutter disc speed was 2000 rpm by a cutter disc with a serrated edge produced the ideal sugarcane harvesting parameters. The actual field capacity, the power required and the specific energy requirements, were determined. Despite that economic evaluation empathies that the combination of 3.5 km h−1 forward speed and a 1000 rpm cutting speed also achieved the highest benefits ($115.12/ha).
State Anxiety in People Living with Disability and Visual Impairment during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Heinze Nikki , Castle Claire L. , Hussain Syeda F. , Godier-McBard Lauren R. , Kempapidis Theofilos , Gomes Renata S. M.
Published: April 2022

There has been growing recognition of the impact of COVID-19 and the restrictions implemented to contain the virus on mental health. This study provides a preliminary assessment of the longitudinal impact on state anxiety in individuals with disabilities and a subsample of individuals with visual impairment (VI). Two surveys were conducted in April–May 2020 (T1) and March 2021 (T2) to explore state anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory). Participants who consented to being re-contacted were invited to take part in T2. A total of 160 participants completed T1 and T2. There were no significant group differences in median anxiety at T1; however, at T2 anxiety was significantly higher in those with disabilities and there was a trend towards being higher in participants with VI compared to those with no disabilities. While not statistically significant within any of the three subgroups, state anxiety decreased slightly in those with no disabilities. The absence of a disability affecting mobility, experiencing loneliness, and poorer sleep quality predicted state anxiety at both timepoints. While anxiety appeared to decrease in individuals with no disabilities, it remained comparatively stable, and higher in those with disabilities. Loneliness and poor sleep may need to be addressed to alleviate feelings of anxiety.
Path Planning of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in Windy Environments
Authors: Jayaweera Herath M. P. C. , Hanoun Samer
Published: April 2022

Path planning of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is one of the vital components that supports their autonomy and deployment ability in real-world applications. Few path-planning techniques have been thoroughly considered for multirotor UAVs for pursuing ground moving targets (GMTs) with variable speed and direction. Furthermore, most path-planning techniques are generally devised without taking into consideration wind disturbances; as a result, they are less suitable for real-world applications as the wind effect usually causes the UAV to drift and tilt from its original course, impacting the mission’s main objective of having an adequate non-deviant camera aim point and steady coverage over the GMT. This paper presents a novel UAV path-planning technique, based on the artificial potential field (APF) for following GMTs in windy environments, to provide steady and continuous coverage over the GMT, by proposing a new modified attractive force to enhance the UAV’s sensitivity to wind speed and direction. The modified wind resistance attractive force function accommodates for any small variation of relative displacement caused by wind leading the UAV to drift in a certain direction. This enables the UAV to maintain its position by tilting (i.e., changing its roll and pitch angles) against the wind to retain the camera aim point on the GMT. The proposed path-planning technique is hardware-independent, does not require an anemometer for measuring wind speed and direction, and can be adopted for all types of multirotor UAVs equipped with basic sensors and an autopilot flight controller. The proposed path-planning technique was evaluated in a Gazebo-supported PX4-SITL and a robot operating system (ROS) for various simulation scenarios. Its performance demonstrated superiority in handling wind disturbances and showed high suitability for deployment in real-world applications.
Semi-Supervised Cross-Subject Emotion Recognition Based on Stacked Denoising Autoencoder Architecture Using a Fusion of Multi-Modal Physiological Signals
Authors: Luo Junhai , Tian Yuxin , Yu Hang , Chen Yu , Wu Man
Published: April 2022

In recent decades, emotion recognition has received considerable attention. As more enthusiasm has shifted to the physiological pattern, a wide range of elaborate physiological emotion data features come up and are combined with various classifying models to detect one’s emotional states. To circumvent the labor of artificially designing features, we propose to acquire affective and robust representations automatically through the Stacked Denoising Autoencoder (SDA) architecture with unsupervised pre-training, followed by supervised fine-tuning. In this paper, we compare the performances of different features and models through three binary classification tasks based on the Valence-Arousal-Dominance (VAD) affection model. Decision fusion and feature fusion of electroencephalogram (EEG) and peripheral signals are performed on hand-engineered features; data-level fusion is performed on deep-learning methods. It turns out that the fusion data perform better than the two modalities. To take advantage of deep-learning algorithms, we augment the original data and feed it directly into our training model. We use two deep architectures and another generative stacked semi-supervised architecture as references for comparison to test the method’s practical effects. The results reveal that our scheme slightly outperforms the other three deep feature extractors and surpasses the state-of-the-art of hand-engineered features.
Techniques to Assess Long-Term Outcomes after Burn Injuries
Authors: Spiwak Rae , Sareen Shaan , Logsetty Sarvesh
Published: April 2022

Burn injuries have a tremendous impact on not only the physical health of the burn survivor, but also mental health and social outcomes of the individual and their support systems. While much effect occurs at the point of injury, post-injury pain, infection, scarring, inflammatory response and metabolic changes all impact the long-term health of the burn survivor. The goal of the following article is to explore how to examine long term outcomes associated with burn injury, including mental disorders, suicide, loss of work and quality of life in the context of risk factors for burn injury, including social determinants of health. We then discuss ways to examine post-burn outcomes, including the important role of administrative data, the advantages of mixed methodology research studies including qualitative research, and the importance of considering sex, gender and vulnerable populations, not only in study design, but in prevention and intervention programs.
Real-Time Adaptive Selective Harmonic Elimination for Cascaded Full-Bridge Multilevel Inverter
Authors: Vivert Miguel , Diez Rafael , Cousineau Marc , Bernal Cobaleda Diego , Patino Diego , Ladoux Philippe
Published: April 2022

Selective Harmonics Elimination is a high-efficiency modulation method for multilevel inverters that allows handling very high voltage applications. It eliminates the most significant harmonics and fixes the desired fundamental component. The main issue of these techniques is the complex process to obtain the appropriate switching-angles, being necessary to calculate them offline, meaning that if some disturbances occur, the system will not be compensated. This article proposes a real-time selective harmonic elimination for a single-phase cascaded multilevel inverter. The control strategy maintains constant the fundamental component of the output voltage while removing its third, fifth, and seventh order harmonics. The switching-angles are dynamically adapted to compensate for variations in the input voltage and the load. This is done by obtaining a virtual dynamic system using Groebner basis, an adaptation of the Newton-Raphson method, and implementing a digital PI controller into the virtual dynamical model. This adaptive modulation technique is validated experimentally in a 200 W, 9-levels Cascaded Full Bridge Inverter, canceling the harmonics and regulating the fundamental components in all the tests. The developed theory can be adapted or extended for any multilevel inverter modulated by selective harmonic elimination.
Solar Radiation Nowcasting Using a Markov Chain Multi-Model Approach
Authors: Hou Xinyuan , Papachristopoulou Kyriakoula , Saint-Drenan Yves-Marie , Kazadzis Stelios
Published: April 2022

Solar energy has found increasing applications in recent years, and the demand will continue to grow as society redirects to a more renewable development path. However, the required high-frequency solar irradiance data are not yet readily available everywhere. There have been endeavors to improve its forecasting in order to facilitate grid integration, such as with photovoltaic power planning. The objective of this study is to develop a hybrid approach to improve the accuracy of solar nowcasting with a lead time of up to one hour. The proposed method utilizes irradiance data from the Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service for four European cities with various cloud conditions. The approach effectively improves the prediction accuracy in all four cities. In the prediction of global horizontal irradiance for Berlin, the reduction in the mean daily error amounts to 2.5 Wh m−2 over the period of a month, and the relative monthly improvement reaches nearly 5% compared with the traditional persistence method. Accuracy improvements can also be observed in the other three cities. Furthermore, since the required model inputs of the proposed approach are solar radiation data, which can be conveniently obtained from CAMS, this approach possesses the potential for upscaling at a regional level in response to the needs of the pan-EU energy transition.
Post-Optimum Sensitivity Analysis with Automatically Tuned Numerical Gradients Applied to Swept Wind Turbine Blades
Authors: McWilliam Michael K. , Dicholkar Antariksh C. , Zahle Frederik , Kim Taeseong
Published: April 2022

Post-Optimum Sensitivity Analysis (POSA) extends numerical design optimization to provide additional information on how the design and performance would change if various parameters and constraints were varied. POSA is challenging since it typically requires accurate gradients and gradient-based optimization problems that provide Lagrange multipliers. To overcome this problem, this paper introduces a technique to automatically tune gradients with statistical methods and algorithms to calculate the Lagrange multipliers after an optimization. This allows these methods to be applied to problems with noisy gradients or problems solved with gradient-free optimization algorithms. These methods have been applied to swept wind turbine blades. Swept blades can reduce wind turbine loads by twisting out of the wind when the wind speed increases. The methods have shown that introducing design freedom in the sweep, blade root flap-wise bending moments and blade tip deflection has a weaker influence on the design. Instead, blade root torsion moment and material failure become the driving constraints.