bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The utility of a three part differential hematology analyzer with CRP for assessing malaria
Authors: Nishimura Jun Ivan , Dharap Parag , Raimbault Sebastien
Published: September 2020

BackgroundHematology analyzers display abnormal hematology parameters during malaria infection providing insightful information for suspecting and assessing malaria infection. The goal of this study is to demonstrate the potential of a three part differential hematology analyzer to assess malaria, provide information about the parasitemia, and discuss the importance of combining CRP with hematology parameters to obtain further information about the malaria infection.MethodsThe present study shows the results of a retrospective study involving comparison of raw instrument data from a three part differential hematology analyzer with CRP measurement and corresponding microscopic findings of samples obtained during the monsoon season of years 2018 and 2019 in Mumbai, India. Mann-Whitney U and Krustal-Wallis tests were applied for obtaining statistical significance of hematology parameters and CRP among P. vivax, P. falciparum, dengue and negative samples. ResultsThe study considers 1008 non-malaria febrile cases, 209 P. vivax, 31 P. falciparum positive malaria samples, five cases of mixed species malaria infection, and three co-infection of malaria and dengue. Median values of WBCs, PLTs, PCT and %LYM were lower in malaria and dengue samples compared to negative ones with statistical difference (p < 0.05). Contrary, medians of MCHC, MPV, PDW, and %MON were higher than negative samples. The greatest difference in the analyzer results of malaria and dengue cases was observed in between their medians of CRP levels, which is evidenced by the values of the first quartiles of P. vivax and P. falciparum cases, and the third quartile of dengue cases being 8.6 and 10.4 mg/L, respectively.The parameters with a statistical difference for different levels of parasitemia were WBC, PLT, %MON and CRP. An interfering abnormal peak was observed in the white blood cell histogram, below 37 fl, in malaria infected samples, especially in P. vivax cases, where the height of that peak showed a strong correlation with red blood cells infected predominantly with larger parasitic forms.ConclusionsA three differential part hematology analyzer has the potential to not only trigger malaria diagnosis confirmation but also assess the severity of the infection when CRP is considered.
Pre-exposure prophylaxis with hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19: initial results of a double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial
Authors: Grau-Pujol Berta , Camprubí Daniel , Marti-Soler Helena , Fernández-Pardos Marc , Carreras-Abad Clara , Andrés Maria Velasco de , Ferrer Elisabet , Muelas-Fernandez Magdalena , Jullien Sophie , Barilaro Giuseppe , Ajanovic Sara , Vera Isabel , Moreno Laura , Gonzalez-Redondo Eva , Cortes-Serra Núria , Roldán Montserrat , Arcos Ana Artes de , Mur Isabel , Domingo Pere , Garcia Felipe , Guinovart Caterina , Muñoz Jose
Published: September 2020

BackgroundPre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a promising strategy to break COVID-19 transmission. Although hydroxychloroquine was evaluated for treatment and post-exposure prophylaxis, it is not evaluated for COVID-19 PrEP yet. The aim of this study was to evaluate efficacy and safety of PrEP with hydroxychloroquine against placebo in healthcare workers at high risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection during an epidemic period.MethodsWe conducted a double-blind placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial in three hospitals in Barcelona, Spain. From 350 adult healthcare workers screened, we included 269 participants with no active or past SARS-CoV-2 infection (determined by a negative nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 PCR and a negative serology against SARS-CoV-2). Participants allocated in the intervention arm (PrEP) received 400mg of hydroxychloroquine daily the first four consecutive days and subsequently, 400mg weekly during the study period. Participants in the control group followed the same treatment schedule with placebo tablets. Results52.8% of participants were in the hydroxychloroquine arm and 47.2% in the placebo arm. Both groups showed similar proportion of participants experiencing at least one adverse event (AE) (p=0.548). No serious AE were reported. Almost all AE (96.4%) were mild. Only mild gastrointestinal symptoms were significantly higher in the hydroxychloroquine arm compared to the placebo arm (28.3% vs 16.9%, p=0.044). Given the national epidemic incidence decay, only one participant in each group was COVID-19 diagnosed. Consequently, our study design deemed underpowered to evaluate any benefit regarding PrEP efficacy.ConclusionsFirst month follow-up analysis displayed that PrEP with hydroxychloroquine at low doses is safe.Trial registration﻿This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT04331834) on April 2nd 2020.
Predicting Unplanned Medical Visits Among Patients with Diabetes: Translation From Machine Learning to Clinical Implementation
Authors: Selya Arielle , Anshutz Drake , Griese Emily , Weber Tess L , Hsu Benson , Ward Cheryl
Published: September 2020

Background: Diabetes is common and an economic burden in the United States. In this study, a machine learning predictive model was developed to predict unplanned medical visits among patients with diabetes. Methods: Data were drawn from electronic medical records (EMRs) from a large healthcare organization in the Northern Plans region of the US, from adult (≥18 years old) patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes who received care at least once during the 3 year period. A variety of machine-learning classification models were run using standard EMR variables as predictors (age, body mass index (BMI), Systolic blood pressure (BP), Diastolic BP, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), glycohemoglobin (A1C), smoking status, number of diagnoses and number of prescriptions). The best-performing model after cross-validation testing was analyzed to identify strongest predictors.Results: The best-performing model was a radial-basis support vector machine, which achieved a prediction accuracy (average of sensitivity and specificity) of 66.2%. This outperformed a conventional logistic regression by 1.5 percentage points. High BP and low HDL were identified as the strongest predictors, such that eliminating these from the model decreased its overall prediction accuracy by 1.9 and 1.8 percentage points, respectively.Conclusion: Our machine-learning predictive model more accurately predicted unplanned medical visits among patients with diabetes, relative to conventional models. Post-hoc analysis of the model was used for hypothesis generation, namely that HDL and BP are the strongest contributors to unplanned medical visits among patients with diabetes. In this way, this predictive model can be used in moving from prediction to implementation and improved diabetes care management in clinical settings.
Associations Between Continuous Glucose Monitoring-derived Metrics and Diabetic Retinopathy and Albuminuria in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes
Authors: Wakasugi Satomi , Mita Tomoya , Katakami Naoto , Okada Yosuke , Yoshii Hidenori , Osonoi Takeshi , Nishida Keiko , Shiraiwa Toshihiko , Toimoro keiichi , Kurozumi Akira , Gosho Masahiko , Shimomura Iichiro , Watada Hirotaka
Published: September 2020

BackgroundPreventing the development and progression of diabetic microvascular complications through optimal blood glucose control remains an important challenge. Whether metrics based on continuous glucose monitoring are useful for the management of diabetic microvascular complications is not entirely clear.MethodsThis is an exploratory analysis of an ongoing prospective, multicenter, 5-year follow-up observational study. Study participants included 999 outpatients with type 2 diabetes who underwent continuous glucose monitoring at baseline. Associations between continuous glucose monitoring-derived metrics and the severity of diabetic retinopathy or albuminuria were investigated using multivariable proportional odds models.ResultsThe overall prevalence of diabetic retinopathy was 22.2%. Multivariate analysis with proportional odds models demonstrated that continuous glucose monitoring-derived metrics related to intra-day and inter-day glucose variability are significantly associated with the severity of diabetic retinopathy, even after adjusting for various possible risk factors. However, significant relationships were not observed after adjusting for HbA1c levels. The prevalence of microalbuminuria and macroalbuminuria were 20.3% and 6.7%, respectively. Similarly, multivariate analysis demonstrated that those metrics are significantly associated with the severity of albuminuria. These relationships remained significant even after further adjusting for HbA1c levels. ConclusionsContinuous glucose monitoring-derived metrics related to intra-day and inter-day glucose variability are significantly associated with the severity of diabetic retinopathy or albuminuria in patients with type 2 diabetes. Thus, evaluating these metrics might possibly be useful for risk assessment of diabetic microvascular complications.
Multimode optically adiabatic silica glass submicron taper
Authors: Ha Chang Kyun , Nam Kee Hwan , Kang Myeong Soo
Published: September 2020

Silica nanofibers fabricated by tapering optical fibers have attracted considerable interest as an ultimate platform for high-efficiency light-matter interactions. While previously demonstrated applications relied exclusively on the low-loss transmission of only the fundamental mode, the implementation of multimode tapers that adiabatically transmit several modes has remained very challenging, hindering their use in various emerging applications in multimode nonlinear optics and quantum optics. Here, we report the first realization of multimode submicron tapers that permit the simultaneous adiabatic transmission of multiple higher-order modes including the LP02 mode, through introducing deep wet-etching of conventional fiber before fiber tapering. Furthermore, as a critical application, we demonstrate "fundamental-to-fundamental" all-fiber third-harmonic generation with high conversion efficiencies. Our work paves the way for ultrahigh-efficiency multimode nonlinear and quantum optics, facilitating nonclassical light generation in the multimode regime, multimode soliton interactions and photonic quantum gates, and manipulation of the evanescent-field-induced optical trapping potentials of atoms and nanoparticles.
The Effect of Sagittal Plane Inclination on Posterior Tibial Slope in Medial Open Wedge HTO – Experimental Study With a Square Column Model-
Authors: Moon Sang Won , Ryu Ji Young , Lee Sung Jae , Woo Sang Won , Park Sin Hyung , Choi Young
Published: September 2020

Background: Medial open-wedge high tibial osteotomy (MOWHTO) is an effective and safe treatment method in medial osteoarthritis of knee. However, it may accompany unintended change of posterior tibial slope (PTS). Several factors are known to cause PTS change after MOWHTO. However, there is a lack of research on the sagittal plane osteotomy inclination (SPOI). The purpose of this study was to evaluate that SPOI affected the change in PTS. The hypothesis was that parallel SPOI causes no PTS change after MOWHTO. Methods:A square column model with a 10° posterior slope was produced by two 3D programs and a 3D printer. A series of MOWHTO was performed on a square column model through virtual simulation using two 3D programs and an actual simulation using a 3D printer, a testing machine and a measurement system. The SPOI was divided into 4 types: ① parallel SPOI plus 10° (SPOI: 20°), ② parallel SPOI (SPOI: 10°), ③ perpendicular SPOI (SPOI: 0°), and ④ perpendicular SPOI minus 10° (SPOI: -10°). The correction angle was increased by 5° from 0° to 30°. The change of the posterior slope was measured in sagittal plane.Results: The posterior slope was increased in the parallel SPOI plus 10° (SPOI: 20°). It was maintained in the parallel SPOI (SPOI: 10°) and decreased in the perpendicular SPOI (SPOI: 0°) and perpendicular SPOI minus 10° (SPOI: -10°).Conclusion: SPOI affected the change in PTS. Parallel SPOI causes no PTS change after MOWHTO.
Metal-organic framework membranes with single-atomic centers for photocatalytic CO2 and O2 reduction
Authors: Hao Yuchen , Chen Li-Wei , Li Jiani , Guo Yu , Su Xin , Shu Miao , Zhang Qinghua , Gao Wen-Yan , Li Siwu , Yu Zilong , Gu Lin , Feng Xiao , Yin Anxiang , Si Rui , Zhang Ya-Wen , Wang Bo , Yan Chun-Hua
Published: September 2020

The demand for sustainable energy has motivated the development of artificial photosynthesis. Yet the catalyst and reaction interface designs for directly fixing permanent gases into liquid fuels are still challenged by sluggish mass transfer and catalytic kinetics at the gas-liquid-solid three-phase boundary. Here, we report that breathable metal-organic framework (MOF) membranes decorated with metal single-atoms (SAs) can synergistically promote the diffusion, adsorption, and activation of gas molecules (e.g. CO2, O2) to boost the photocatalytic conversion of them into liquid fuels. With Ir SAs as active centers, the defect-engineered MOF (e.g. NH2-UiO-66) matrixes can efficiently harvest visible light and sensitize the electronically tailored Ir SAs for reducing CO2 to HCOOH with the high activity of 0.51 mmol gcat-1 h-1 at the conventional three-phase reaction interface. Furthermore, the breathable SA/MOF membranes can directly convert humid CO2 gas into HCOOH at the high-throughput gas-solid interfaces, presenting a near-unity selectivity and an unprecedented activity of 3.38 mmol gcat-1 h-1. Similarly, with Pd SAs as active centers, the SA/MOF membrane can catalyze the O2-to-H2O2 conversion with an ultrahigh activity of 10.4 mmol gcat-1 h-1 under visible light, suggesting the wide applicability of our catalyst and reaction interface designs.
Malaria Parasite Detection in Thick Blood Smear Microscopic Images Using Modified YOLOV3 and YOLOV4 Models
Authors: Abdurahman Fetulhak , Anlay Kinde Fante , Aliy Mohammed
Published: September 2020

Background Information: Manual microscopic examination is still the "golden standard" for malaria diagnosis. The challenge in the manual microscopy is the fact that its accuracy, consistency and speed of diagnosis depends on the skill of the laboratory technician. It is difficult to get highly skilled laboratory technicians in the remote areas of developing countries. In order to alleviate this problem, in this paper, we propose and investigate the state-of-the-art one-stage and two-stage object detection algorithms for automated malaria parasite screening from thick blood slides. Methods: YOLOV3 and YOLOV4 are state-of-the-art object detectors both in terms of accuracy and speed; however, they are not optimized for the detection of small objects such as malaria parasite in microscopic images. To deal with these challenges, we have modified YOLOV3 and YOLOV4 models by increasing the feature scale and by adding more detection layers, without notably decreasing their detection speed. We have proposed one modified YOLOV4 model, called YOLOV4-MOD and two modified models for YOLOV3, which are called YOLOV3-MOD1 and YOLOV3-MOD2. In addition, we have generated new anchor box scales and sizes by using the K-means clustering algorithm to exploit small object detection learning ability of the models.Results: The proposed modified YOLOV3 and YOLOV4 algorithms are evaluated on publicly available malaria dataset and achieve state-of-the-art accuracy by exceeding the performance of their original versions, Faster R-CNN and SSD in terms of mean average precision (mAP), recall, precision, F1 score, and average IOU. For 608 x 608 input resolution YOLOV4-MOD achieves the best detection performance among all the other models with mAP of 96.32%. For the same input resolution YOLOV3-MOD2 and YOLOV3-MOD1 achieved mAP of 96.14% and 95.46% respectively. Conclusions: Th experimental results demonstrate that the performance of the proposed modified YOLOV3 and YOLOV4 models are reliable to be applied for detection of malaria parasite from images that can be captured by smartphone camera over the microscope eyepiece. The proposed system can be easily deployed in low-resource setting and it can save lives.
Identification and Analysis of Multiple Factors Controlling Solar-driven H2O2 Synthesis Using Engineered Polymeric Carbon Nitride
Authors: Zhao Yubao , Gao Jingyu , Li Lina , Chen Sheng , Hu Chun , Choi Wonyong
Published: September 2020

Solar-driven hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) production presents unique merits of sustainability and environmental friendliness. Herein, highly efficient solar-driven H2O2 production through dioxygen reduction is achieved by employing polymeric carbon nitride (PCN) framework with sodium cyanaminate moiety (PCN-NaCA), affording a superior H2O2 production rate of 175 μmol/h on 10 mg photocatalyst and a notable apparent quantum yield of 27.6% at 380 nm. The overall photocatalytic transformation process is systematically analyzed using various steady-state/transient spectroscopic and computational methods. The presence of sodium cyanaminate moiety in PCN-NaCA induces the following multiple effects: enhancing photon absorption, creating the coexistence of p-type and n-type domains, strengthening surface adsorption of dioxygen, and favoring highly selective 2e− ORR. In particular, the adsorption of dioxygen on PCN-NaCA enhances the population and lifetime of trapped electrons in the ps-ns time regime, which should have a notable synergic effect on oxygen reduction process.
Metastasis Progression Through the Interplay Between the Immune System and Epithelial-mesenchymal-transition in Circulating Breast Tumor Cells
Authors: Khoshbakht Samane , Jamalkandi Sadegh Azimzadeh , Masudi-Nejad Ali
Published: September 2020

BackgroundCirculating tumor cells (CTCs) are the critical initiators of distant metastasis formation. In which, the reciprocal interplay among different metastatic pathways which promote survival of CTCs, is not well introduced, using network approaches. CTC cells include single and cluster cells, in which cluster cells revealed 23-50 fold more metastatic potentials.Here, to investigate the unknown pathways of single/cluster CTCs, the co-expression network reconstructed, using WGCNA (Weighted Correlation Network Analysis) method. Having used the hierarchical clustering, we detected the Immune-response and EMT subnetworks. The metastatic potential of genes was assessed and validated through the support vector machine (SVM), neural network, and decision tree methods on two external datasets. To identify the active signaling pathways in CTCs, we reconstructed a casual network. The Log-Rank test and Kaplan-Meier curve were applied to detect prognostic gene signatures for metastasis-free survival. Finally, a predictive model was developed for metastasis risk of patients, using VIF-stepwise feature selection. ResultsOur results showed the crosstalk among EMT, the immune system, menstrual cycles, and the stemness pathway in CTCs. In which, fluctuation of menstrual cycles is a new detected pathway in breast cancer CTCs. The reciprocal association between immune responses and EMT was identified in single/cluster CTCs. The SVM model indicated a high metastatic potential of EMT subnetwork (accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity scores were 87%). The distant-metastasis-free-survival model was identified to predict patients’ metastasis risks. (c-index=0.8). Finally, novel metastatic biomarkers including PTCRA, F13A1, ICAM2, and SNRPC were detected in breast cancer.Conclusions In conclusion, the reciprocal interplay among critical pathways in CTCs enhances their survival and metastatic potentials. Such findings may help to develop more precise predictive metastatic-risk models or detect novel biomarkers.
Preferences and Values for Treatment Goals in Patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke: Medical Staff Perspectives in China
Authors: Wang Yanan , Wu Simiao , Zhang Shihong , Wu Bo , Yang Rong , Anderson Craig , Liu Ming
Published: September 2020

Background: Individual values and beliefs vary according to cultural and social factors. To better understand clinical decision-making and inform future research, we undertook a survey of preferences in treatment goals for managing patients with acute ischemic stroke among medical professionals in China. Methods: We designed a web-based survey through literature search, face-to-face interviews, pilot questionnaire development, and focus group meetings. Key outcomes explored were death, disability, quality of life, neurological impairments, cognitive dysfunction, and hemorrhagic transformation. Participants were asked to rate the importance of each outcome on a 5-point Likert scale to allow calculation of a weighted score of importance: higher scores indicating greater importance. Results: During promotion among 2700 delegates at several major neurology conferences in 2018, 1189 participants (mean age 40 years, 53% female) completed the survey of whom 96% were clinicians, mainly from tertiary care hospitals located in 30 Provinces of China. For established therapies with bleeding risk (e.g. thrombolysis and thrombectomy), death was the most important outcome (weighted score 4.60), followed by disability (4.45), quality of life (4.45), neurological impairments (4.34), cognitive dysfunction (4.03), and hemorrhagic transformation (3.99). For other acute therapies without bleeding risk, quality of life ranked first (4.08), followed by disability (4.03), neurological impairment (3.92), death (3.79), cognitive dysfunction (3.78), and hemorrhagic transformation (3.51). Given a therapy with insufficient evidence of benefit, 845 (71%) participants thought it would be worth trying for potential to improve neurological recovery or quality of life. Conclusions: From the perspective of Chinese medical staff, death is the most important outcome measure for patients with acute ischemic stroke. When reduction of death or disability were less likely to be achievable, the improvement in quality of life is an acceptable outcome measure. In contrast to the previously perceived high fear of bleeding in practice, hemorrhagic transformation was the least concerned even for therapies with a potential bleeding risk.
Identification of a Potential Neutralizing Linear Epitope of Hemagglutinin-neuraminidase in Newcastle Disease Virus
Authors: Jin Zhongyuan , Wei Qiaolin , Bi Youkun , Li Yongshan , Huo Na , Mou Sujing , Wang Wenbin , Liu Haijin , Yang Zengqi , Chen Hongjun , Xiao Sa
Published: September 2020

BackgroundThe hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) protein of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) is a major antigen that can induce protective antibodies in poultry. However, its antigenic epitopes have not been fully elucidated. Therefore, defining the linear epitopes of HN, especially neutralizing epitopes, will be useful for revealing its antigenic characterization.MethodsIn this study, we analyzed B-cell immunodominant epitopes (IDEs) of the HN protein from the vaccine strain LaSota using pepscan technology with LaSota-specific chicken hyperimmune antisera. We constructed IDEs-RFP plasmid and prepared anti-IDEs peptide mouse sera to identify IDEs through immunological tests. At last, the different diluted anti-IDE antisera were used in BHK-21 cells to perform the neutralization test.ResultsFive IDEs of the HN were screened and further verified by indirect immunofluorescence assays, dot blots and Western blots with NDV- and IDEs-specific antisera. All five IDEs showed good immunogenicity. IDE5 (328-342 aa) could recognize only class II NDV but did not react with the class I strain. Most of the IDEs are highly conserved among the different strains. A neutralization test in vitro showed that the peptide-specific mouse antisera of IDE4 (242-256 aa) and HN341-355, a reported neutralizing linear epitope, could partially neutralize avirulent LaSota as well as virulent strains at similar levels, suggesting that IDE4 might be a potential neutralizing linear epitope.ConclusionsThe HN protein is a major protective antigen of NDV that can induce neutralizing antibodies in animals. We identified five IDEs of the HN using a pepscan approach with NDV-specific chicken hyperimmune antisera. The five IDEs could elicit specific antibodies in mice. IDE4 (242-256 aa) was identified as a novel potential neutralizing linear epitope. These results will help elucidate the antigenic epitopes of the HN and facilitate the development of NDV vaccines.
Thyroid Hormones Predict ICU Mortality After Cardiopulmonary Bypass in Congenital Heart Disease Patients Under 3 Months Old
Authors: Yu Di , Zou Liang , Cun Yueshuang , Li Yaping , Wang Qingfeng , Shu Yaqin , Mo Xuming
Published: September 2020

Backgroup: To study the effectiveness of thyroid hormones in predicting intensive care unit (ICU) mortality after cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) in infants with congenital heart disease (CHD). Methods: We retrospective observational analyzed data from 133 patients under 3 months old who underwent cardiac surgery with CPB from June 2017 to November 2019. ICU mortality prediction was assessed by multivariate binary logistic regression analysis and area under the curve (AUC) analysis. Results: Non-survivors were younger (17.46±17.10 days vs. 38.63±26.87 days, P=0.006), with a higher proportion of neonates (9/13 vs. 41/120, P=0.017) and a higher proportion of individuals with Risk Adjustment in Congenital Heart Surgery-1 (RACHS-1) score ≥4 (8/13 vs. 31/120, P=0.020). No significant difference was found in CPB and aortic cross-clamping (ACC) time. The levels of free triiodothyronine (FT3) (3.91±0.99 pmol/L vs. 5.11±1.55 pmol/L, P=0.007) and total triiodothyronine (TT3) (1.55±0.35 nmol/L vs. 1.90±0.57 nmol/L, P=0.032) were higher in survivors compared with non-survivors. In the ICU mortality prediction assessment, only FT3 was an independent mortality predictor and showed a good AUC (0.856 ± 0.040). Conclusion: FT3 was a powerful and the only independent predictor of ICU mortality in CHD infants under 3 months old after CPB.
Habitat Suitability Study of Hylomecon Japonica Based on Maxent Model in China
Authors: Zhen Cao , Xiaoyan Zhang , Xuanji Xue , Lei Zhang , Guanqun Zhan , Xinxin Zhang , Zengjun Guo
Published: September 2020

Background: To understand the potential distribution and habitat suitability of H. japonica in China. And to provide guidance for the wild cultivation and standardized planting of H. japonica. Methods: The maximum entropy model (Maxent) and geographic information system (ArcGIS) were applied to predict the potential suitable habitat of H. japonica species, and the contribution of variables were evaluated by using the jackknife test. Results: The AUC value confirmed the accuracy of the model prediction based on 101 occurrence records. The potential distributions of H. japonica were mainly concentrated in Jilin, Liaoning, Shaanxi and other provinces (adaptability index>0.6). Jackknife experiment showed that the precipitation of driest month (35.6%), precipitation of wettest quarter (13.4%), the mean annual temperature (7.8%) and the subclass of soil (7.8%) were the most important factors affecting the potential distribution of H. japonica. Conclusion: The niche parameters of the most suitable growth area (adaptability index>0.8) for H. japonica were precipitation of driest month (5 mm), precipitation of wettest quarter (400-490 mm), the mean annual temperature (-2-4 °C) and the subclass of soil (Glossy Chernozem, Gleyic Lime, Haplic Gypsisols).
Preventive Antibiotic Treatment Increases Neonatal Chicks Susceptibility to Salmonella Infection Via Disrupting Gut Microbiota and Linoleic Acid Metabolism
Authors: Mei Xueran , Ma Boheng , Zhai Xiwen , Zhang Anyun , Lei Changwei , Zuo Lei , Tang Yizhi , Yang Xin , Gao Yufeng , Zhou Changyu , Wang Hongning
Published: September 2020

Background: Antimicrobial agents have been widely used in animal farms to prevent and treat animal diseases. However, antimicrobial agents may change the bacterial community and increase susceptibility to the pathogenic bacteria infection. Here, we used metagenomic and metabonomic approach to investigate the effects of florfenicol (FFC) pre-treatment on colonization of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis (S. Enteritidis) in intestines of neonatal chicks through analysis of host responses, microbiota and metabolic changes. Results: We observed that FFC pre-treatment significantly increases the level of S. Enteritidis in the cecal contents, spleen and liver and also induces changes to the cecal microbiota and metabolism. Prior to S. Enteritidis infection, FFC significantly reduced the content of Lactobacillus, and significantly affected the linoleic acid metabolism pathway, including significantly reducing the levels of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), and significantly increasing the abundance of 12,13-EpOME and 12,13-diHOME in cecum. After infection with S. Enteritidis, the abundance of Proteobacteria were significantly increased and the Salmonella-induced intestinal inflammatory responses and intestinal barrier damage were exacerbated. Supplementation with CLA could maintain intestinal integrity, reduce intestinal inflammation, and directly inhibit Salmonella growth to effectively reduce the Salmonella colonization, whereas the 12,13-diHOME through promoting intestinal inflammation and destroying the intestinal barrier function to support the Salmonella infection. Conclusions: Overall, FFC can decrease levels of Lactobacillus and CLA, and elevate cecal 12,13-diHOME concentrations in neonatal chicks and thereby increases susceptibility to Salmonella infection. This study revealed a potential health impact of antibiotics and disturbed gut microbiota and linoleic acid metabolism might be an intestinal health-impairing attribute and may contribute to Salmonella colonization.
Establishment of a Duplex Real-time qPCR Method for Detection of Salmonella Spp. And Serratia Fonticola in Fishmealestablishment of a Duplex Real-time qPCR Method for Detection of Salmonella Spp. And Serratia Fonticola in Fishmeal
Authors: Ruan Jinghua , Wang Wujun , Zhang Tiying , Zheng Teng , Zheng Jing , Yu Shiyu , Yu Daojin , Huang Yifang
Published: September 2020

Salmonella spp. is a high-risk bacterial pathogen that is monitored in imported animal-derived feedstuffs. Serratiafonticola is the bacterial species most frequently confused with Salmonella spp. in traditional identification methods based on biochemical characteristics, which are time-consuming and labor-intensive, and thus unsuitable for daily inspection and quarantine work. In this study, we established a duplex real-time qPCR method with invA- and gyrB-specific primers and probes corresponding to Salmonella spp. and S. fonticola. The method could simultaneously detect both pathogens in imported feedstuffs, with a minimum limit of detection for Salmonella spp. and S. fonticola of 197 copies/SL and 145 copies/SL, respectively (correlation coefficient R2 = 0.999 in both cases). The amplification efficiency for Salmonella spp. and S. fonticola was 98.346% and 96.49%, respectively. Detection of clinical samples was consistent with method GB/T 13091-2018, and all seven artificially contaminated imported feed samples were positively identified. Thus, the developed duplex real-time qPCR assay displays high specificity and sensitivity, and can be used for the rapid and accurate detection of genomic DNA from Salmonella spp. and S. fonticola within hours. This represents a significant improvement in the efficiency of detection of both pathogens in imported feedstuffs.
Descriptive Study of a 488 Patients Cohort with Inherited Retinal Diseases and a Low Genetic Diagnosis Rate.
Authors: Coco-Martin Rosa M. , Diego-Alonso Miguel , Orduz-Montaña W. Andres , Sanabria M. Rosa , Sanchez-Tocino Hortensia
Published: September 2020

Backgorund: To analyze the distribution of inherited retinal diseases (IRDs), describe the clinical characteristics of patients, and determine the percentages of patients with genetic diagnoses in the Castilla and Leon region of Spain.Methods: All patients with an IRD seen in the two major referral units of Castilla y Leon during a 20-year period were included. The ages at symptom onset, diagnosis, and the last visit; sex; family history; history of consanguinity; type of inheritance; status of the fundus and electroretinogram; lens and macular status, visual acuity; and visual field data were recorded. Patients were divided into those with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and all others. The genetic mutations were gathered.Results: Four hundred eighty-eight patients with IRDs were studied, 216 with RP (of which 15.74% had syndromic disease) and 272 with other conditions (59.19% of which were macular dystrophies). A genetic study had been performed in 27.31% of patients (29.31% of which were negative) among the patients with RP and in 26.1% of the rest of the IRDs (28.16% of which were negative). In the group without a genetic diagnosis, 70.6% of subjects had good remaining vision. The mean delay in diagnosis was 6-16.2 years.Conclusions: The percentage of patients with IRDs that are candidates for undergoing personalized treatments including gene therapy in our region is low and must be improved. Most patients with RP who did not undergo a genetic study have good remaining vision, so they would be candidates for receiving treatments aimed at maintaining vision. There is a significant delay in diagnosis.
TreeSke: A Structural-Lossless Skeleton Extraction Method for Point Cloud Data of Canopy Woody Materials
Authors: Wu Bingxiao , Zheng Guang , Chen Yang , Yu Dongsheng
Published: September 2020

Background: Skeletons extracted from point clouds of woody materials present canopy structural features (e.g., the inclination angle of branches) for simulating canopy interception and understory solar radiation distribution. However, existing methods cannot easily capture structure-lossless skeletons of woody organs from tree point-cloud data. To fulfill this goal, we proposed a distance-weighted method, named the TreeSke method, to iteratively contract the point cloud of canopy woody materials to their median-axis skeleton. After heuristically searching the local point set, we pointwise-extracted the tightened weights to obtain the coarse skeleton. Then, we thinned the skeleton of woody organs and optimized it by a noise filtering and re-centering process. Results: The proposed method was verified on six simulated tree models that have reference skeletons and two field-collected datasets at the plot level. The results show that the TreeSke-extracted skeletons were with higher location accuracy than using the other two tested methods. The mean offset distance, the RMSE of the offset distance, and the Hausdorff distance between the extracted and reference skeletons were less than 0.04 m, less than 0.06 m, and less than 0.11 m, respectively. Conclusions: The extracted skeletons by the TreeSke method could nearly integrally depict the structural features of woody materials. The proposed method showed robust for noisy points and outliers, while missing data would reduce the skeleton integrity and cause deformation errors. From the extracted skeletons, users can extract the inclination-angle features of canopy woody materials, which are useful for simulating most eco-hydrological processes.
Improved pyrrolysine biosynthesis through continuous directed evolution of the complete pathway
Authors: Ho Joanne , Miller Corwin , Mattia Jacob , Bennett Matthew
Published: September 2020

Pyrrolysine (Pyl, O) exists in nature as the 22nd proteinogenic amino acid. Despite being a fundamental building block of proteins, studies of Pyl have been hindered by the difficulty and inefficiency of both its chemical and biological syntheses. Here, we improved Pyl biosynthesis via rational engineering and directed evolution of the entire biosynthetic pathway. To accommodate toxicity of Pyl biosynthetic genes in Escherichia coli, we devised an approach termed Alternating Phage Assisted Non-Continuous Evolution (Alt-PANCE) that alternates mutagenic and selective phage growths. The evolved pathway exhibited a 32-fold improved yield of Pyl-containing super- folder green fluorescent protein (sfGFP) compared to the rationally engineered ancestor, whereas the WT pathway produced no detectable quantities of Pyl-containing sfGFP. This study demonstrates that Alt-PANCE provides a general approach for evolving proteins exhibiting toxic side effects, and further provides an improved pathway capable of producing substantially greater quantities of Pyl- proteins in E. coli.
Salmon Gut Microbiota Correlates With Disease Infection Status: Potential for Monitoring Health in Farmed Animals  
Authors: Bozzi Davide , Rasmussen Jacob A. , Carøe Christian , Sveier Harald , Nordøy Kristian , Gilbert M. Thomas P. , Limborg Morten T.
Published: September 2020

Background: Infectious diseases cause significant production losses in aquaculture every year. Given the pivotal role played by the gut microbiota in regulating the host immune system, health and physiology, interest has risen in the possibility of controlling the fish health status by modulating the gut microbiota. An altered gut microbiota is often associated with a disease status. However, few studies have examined the association between disease severity and degree of gut dysbiosis, especially when the gut is not the site of the primary infection. Moreover, there is a lack of knowledge on the impact of formalin, a commonly used disinfectant in aquaculture, on the gut microbiome. Here we investigate, through 16S rRNA gene metabarcoding, changes in the distal gut microbiota composition of a captive-reared cohort of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.), in consequence of an external bacterial skin infection and the subsequent formalin treatment.Results: We show that the distal gut of diseased salmon presented a different composition from that of healthy individuals, with an increased relative abundance of strains regarded as opportunistic in sick fish. Conversely, healthy salmon were dominated by a new, yet undescribed, Mycoplasma genus. We also observed a positive correlation between fish weight and Mycoplasma sp. relative abundance, potentially indicating a beneficial effect for its host. Moreover, we observed that the treatment with formalin, while suited to resolve the external infection, was unable to recover the gut microbiota characteristic of healthy fish prior to treatment, potentially compromising the subsequent health status and growth performances of all treated fish.Conclusions: We conclude that infectious diseases have the potential of affecting the host gut microbiota at different body sites and that treatment optimization procedures should account for that. The formalin treatment is not an optimal solution from a holistic perspective, we suggest its coupling with a probiotic treatment aimed at re-establishing the original community. Lastly, we have observed a positive correlation of Mycoplasma sp. with salmon health and growth performances and, while inviting further research on this microorganism, we also encourage further investigations towards its potential utilization as a biomarker for monitoring health in salmon and potentially other farmed fish species.
The Proposal and Research on the Most Basic Problem of Fault Diagnosis
Authors: Jun Hu
Published: September 2020

By keep asking “what happened to the part that was connected between normal and fault?” The basic problem of fault diagnosis is put forward. Based on the parameter analysis, the most basic problem of fault diagnosis is pointed to the generalized stiffness looseness through the congenital underlying logic presupposition of the fault. The relationship between generalized looseness, part fault and system fault is analyzed by analytic method, which further proves that looseness fault is the most basic problem in fault diagnosis.Finally, the essential priority of looseness fault in fault diagnosis is expounded.The essential priority of loosening fault in fault diagnosis explains the basic problem of fault diagnosis and provides a scientific basis for the systematic development of fault diagnosis.
Multi-Attribute Access Selection Algorithm for Heterogeneous Wireless Networks Based On Uncertain Network Attribute Values
Authors: Liang Gen , Guo Xiaoxue , Sun Guoxi , Fang Jingcheng , Yu Hewei , Lin Maoyuan
Published: September 2020

A heterogeneous wireless network (HWN) environment contains many kinds of wireless networks, such as UMTS, LTE, and WLAN, where users move around within their coverage area. How to ensure mobile users select the most suitable network is a hot research topic for HWNs. While traditional access selection algorithms assume that mobile users can obtain accurate network attribute values, the network attribute values obtained by mobile users are often uncertain due to the mobility of users, the interference of wireless signals, and the fluctuation of the network state. To solve this problem, this paper designs an access selection algorithm for HWNs in the context of inaccurate network attribute values. First, the algorithm calculates the network attribute values based on the hesitant fuzzy theory, then calculates the weights of network attributes using the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP), and finally sorts the candidate networks using the hesitant fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) method. The simulation results show the proposed algorithm enables users to select the most suitable network to access under the inaccurate network attribute environment and obtain higher gains.
Generation of a novel human dermal substitute functionalized with antibiotic-loaded nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) with antimicrobial properties for tissue engineering
Authors: Chato-Astrain Jesus , Chato-Astrain Isabel , Sanchez-Porras David , Garcia-Garcia Oscar-Dario , Bermejo-Casares Fabiola , Vairo Claudia , Villar-Vidal María , Gainza Garazi , Villullas Silvia , Oruezabal Roke Iñaki , Ponce Angela , Garzon Ingrid , Carriel Victor , Campos Fernando , Alaminos Miguel
Published: September 2020

Background: Treatment of patients affected by severe burns is challenging, especially due to the high risk of Pseudomonas infection. In the present work, we have generated a novel model of bioartificial human dermis substitute by tissue engineering to treat infected wounds using fibrin-agarose biomaterials functionalized with nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) loaded with two anti-Pseudomonas antibiotics: sodium colistimethate (SCM) and amikacin (AMK). Results: Results show that the novel tissue-like substitutes have strong antibacterial effect on Pseudomonas cultures, directly proportional to the NLC concentration. Free DNA quantification, WST-1 and Caspase 7 immunohistochemical assays in the functionalized dermis substitute demonstrated that neither cell viability nor cell proliferation were affected by functionalization in most study groups. Furthermore, immunohistochemistry for PCNA and KI67 and histochemistry for collagen and proteoglycans revealed that cells proliferated and were metabolically active in the functionalized tissue with no differences with controls. When functionalized tissues were biomechanically characterized, we found that NLCs were able to improve some of the major biomechanical properties of these artificial tissues, although this strongly depended on the type and concentration of NLCs. Conclusions: These results suggest that functionalization of fibrin-agarose human dermal substitutes with antibiotic-loaded NLCs is able to improve the antibacterial and biomechanical properties of these substitutes with no detectable side effects. This opens the door to future clinical use of functionalized tissues.
Traditional Medicinal vegetables in Northern Uganda. An ethnobotanical survey.
Authors: Nakaziba Rebecca , Anyolitho Maxson Kenneth , Amanya Sharon Bright , Ogwal-Okeng Jasper , Alele Paul E.
Published: September 2020

Background A wide range of indigenous vegetables grow in Uganda especially during rainy seasons but scarcely during droughts, except those that are commercially grown. Although a number of these vegetables have medicinal values, they have not been satisfactorily studied besides conservation. Therefore, we conducted an ethnobotanical cross-sectional survey in Northern Uganda in order to document traditional vegetables and their medicinal values. Methods An ethnobotanical survey was conducted in Northern Uganda using both qualitative and quantitative data collection approaches to data collection and analysis. Data was collected using semi-structured, interviewer-administered questionnaires following international ethical codes and key informant interviews using well developed key informant guides. A total of 244 individuals participated in the study. Results The study documented forty five (45) traditional vegetables in Northern Uganda, out of which fifteen (15) also served as folk medicine. These included: Amalakwang (Hibiscus sabdariffa), Akeo (Gynandropsis gynandra), Alaju (Asystasia gangetica), Otigo (Corchorus spp.), Ocwica (Cucubita maxima), and Bojo (Vigna unguiculata) among others. The disease conditions managed using traditional vegetables in the study area included: gastrointestinal, reproductive, musculoskeletal complications as well as non-communicable diseases.Conclusion Northern Uganda has numerous traditional vegetables with medicinal benefits such as gastrointestinal, reproductive and musculoskeletal abnormalities. The community obtains vegetable leaves from the backyard and stews them for the medicinal purposes. However, there was no specific dosage administered. Therefore, we recommend studies to standardize the dosages and verify in laboratory models the efficacy of these vegetables.
The effects of meditation on length of telomeres in healthy individuals: A systematic review
Authors: Dasanayaka Nirodhi Namika , Sirisena Nirmala , Samaranayake Nilakshi
Published: September 2020

Background: Meditation based practices have been suggested to result in many biological benefits which include reduction of attrition of telomeres, the protective nucleotide-protein complexes at termini of eukaryotic chromosomes. This systematic review evaluated the effects of meditation on telomere length (TL) in healthy adults. Methods: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and Case-control studies (CCS) conducted to determine the effects of meditation on TL in healthy individuals, published up to July 2020 were retrieved by searching seven electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus, PsycINFO, Embase, Cochrane Library, CINAHL and Google Scholar). The methodological quality of RCTs and CCS was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration Risk of Bias Tool and Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal checklist respectively. The data was synthesized narratively and the effect estimates of telomere length in the RCTs was synthesized using alternative methods as a meta-analysis was not conducted. The certainty of evidence was classified according to the GRADE system. Results: A total of 1751 articles were screened. Five studies comprising two RCTs and three CCS were included in the final review based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The combined sample consisted of 615 participants with 41.7% males. Average age of participants was 47.7 years. One CCS and one RCT reported significant beneficial effects of meditation on TL while the two remaining CCS and the RCT showed positive effects of meditation on TL which were not significant. For all CCS and one RCT, the methodological quality was high while the remaining RCT was of moderate quality. The quality of evidence for the primary outcome was moderate in RCTs.Conclusion: The present review adds to the existing evidence showing that meditation is potentially beneficial in reducing shortening of TL in healthy adults. However, strictly designed and well-reported RCTs with larger sample sizes are required to provide evidence of higher quality. Systematic Review Registration: The protocol of this review was registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) database (registration number: CRD42020153977)