bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Selective T3-T4 Sympathicotomy Versus Gray Ramicotomy On Outcome And Quality Of Life In Hyperhidrosis Patients. A Randomized Clinical Trial.
Authors: Vanaclocha Vicente , Guijarro-Jorge Ricardo , Saiz-Sapena Nieves , Granell-Gil Manuel , Ortiz-Criado Jose , Mascaros Juan , Vanaclocha Leyre
Published: February 2021

Background: compensatory hyperhidrosis is the leading cause of patients' dissatisfaction after thoracic sympathicotomy.Objective: to reduce compensatory hyperhidrosis to increase patients' satisfaction. Patients and methods: a prospective randomized study on palmar hyperhidrosis, May 2016-September, 2019. Twenty-one patients T3-T4 sympathicotomy and 21 T3-T4 gray ramicotomy. Data prospectively collected. Analysis at study's end. Focus on the sweating, temperature, quality of life baseline and postoperatively, compensatory hyperhidrosis, hand dryness, patients' satisfaction, and if they would undergo the procedure again and would recommend it.Results: No baseline differences between groups. Hyperhidrosis was controlled postoperatively in all patients. No mortality, serious complications, or recurrences. Sympathicotomy worse postoperative quality of life (49.05 (SD: 15.66, IR: 35.50-63.00) versus ramicotomy 24.30 (SD: 6.02, IR: 19.75-27.25). After ramicotomy, some residual sweating on the face, hands, and axillae. Compensatory sweating worse with sympathicotomy. Satisfaction higher with ramicotomy. Better results with ramicotomy than sympathicotomy regarding hand dryness, how many times a day the patients had to shower or change clothes, intention to undergo the procedure again or recommend it to somebody else, and how bothersome compensatory hyperhidrosis was.Conclusions: T3-T4 gray ramicotomy had better results than T3-T4 sympathicotomy, with less compensatory sweating and higher patients' satisfaction.
Reproducibility in the UK Biobank of Genome-Wide Significant Signals Discovered in Earlier Genome-Wide Association Studies
Authors: O’Sullivan Jack W. , Ioannidis John P . A.
Published: February 2021

With the establishment of large biobanks, discovery of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) associated with various phenotypes has accelerated. An open question is whether genome-wide significant SNPs identified in earlier genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are replicated in later GWAS conducted in biobanks. To address this, we examined a publicly available GWAS database and identified two, independent GWAS on the same phenotype (an earlier, “discovery” GWAS and a later, “replication” GWAS done in UK biobank). The analysis evaluated 136,318,924 SNPs (of which 6,289 reached p<5e-8 in the discovery GWAS) from 4,397,962 participants across nine phenotypes. The overall replication rate was 85.0%; although lower for binary than quantitative phenotypes (58.1% versus 94.8% respectively). There was a 18.0% decrease in SNP effect size for binary phenotypes, but a 12.0% increase for quantitative phenotypes. Using the discovery SNP effect size, phenotype trait (binary or quantitative), and discovery p-value, we built and validated a model that predicted SNP replication with area under the Receiver Operator Curve = 0.90. While non-replication may reflect lack of power rather than genuine false-positives, these results provide insights about which discovered associations are likely to be replicated across subsequent GWAS.
XCP1 is a caspase that proteolyzes Pathogenesis-related protein 1 to produce the cytokine CAPE9 for systemic immunity in Arabidopsis
Authors: Chen Ying-Lan , Lin Fan-Wei , Cheng Kai-Tan , Wang Hung-Yu , Efferth Thomas , Chen Yet-Ran
Published: February 2021

Proteolytic activation of cytokines regulates immunity in diverse organisms. In animals, cysteine-dependent aspartate-specific proteases (caspases) play central roles in cytokine maturation. Although the proteolytic production of peptide cytokines is also essential for plant immunity, evidence for a plant caspase is still lacking. In this study, we discovered that proteolysis of a caspase-like substrate motif “CNYD” within Pathogenesis-related protein 1 (AtPR1) in Arabidopsis generates an immunomodulatory cytokine (AtCAPE9). Salicylic acid enhances CNYD-targeted protease activity and the proteolytic release of AtCAPE9 from AtPR1 in Arabidopsis. We show that this process involves a caspase, identified as Xylem cysteine peptidase 1 (XCP1). XCP1 exhibits a calcium-modulated pH-activity profile and a comparable activity to human caspases. XCP1 is required to induce systemic immunity triggered by pathogen-associated molecular patterns. This work reveals XCP1 as the first known plant caspase, which produces the cytokine AtCAPE9 from the canonical salicylic acid signaling marker PR1 to activate systemic immunity.
Photo-absorption and electron collection of field-assisted GaN nanohole array photocathode
Authors: Liu Lei , Lu Feifei , Tian Jian , Zhangyang Xingyue
Published: February 2021

The light absorption and photo-generation rate under different periods, filling factors (FF), hole depth and inclination angles are studied. The NHA exhibits a larger light absorption compared with the planar film, which is about 99.99973%. Based on the three-dimensional continuity equation, the quantum efficiency (QE) and collection efficiency (CE) of the field-assisted GaN NHA and the graded compositional AlGaN NHA are calculated. The QE and CE of the GaN NHA with a period of 200 nm, a filling factor of 0.05, an inclined angle of 10°, and a field intensity of 2 V/µm are 62.7% and 62.6%, respectively. In addition, the graded compositional AlGaN structure has a more improved effect on the vertical NHA. Compared with the uniform GaN NHA, the electron collection of AlGaN NHA ratio is increased by 2.4 times. The design principles proposed in this work provide guidance to reasonable parameters for the application of NHA photocathodes.
Coupling modifies the quantum fluctuations of entangled oscillators
Authors: Santos Roberto Baginski Batista , Lisboa Vinicius de Souza Ferreira
Published: February 2021

Coupled oscillators are among the simplest composite quantum systems in which the interplay of entanglement and interaction may be explored. We examine the effects of coupling on the quantum fluctuations of the coordinates and momenta of the oscillators in a single-excitation entangled Bell-like state. We discover that coupling acts as a mechanism for noise transfer between one pair of coordinate and momentum and another. Through this noise transfer mechanism, the uncertainty product is lowered, on average, relatively to its non-coupled level for one pair of coordinate and momentum and it is enhanced for the other pair. This novel mechanism for noise transfer may be explored in precision measurements in entanglement-assisted sensing and metrology.
The need for protecting, promoting, and managing a Quaternary geoheritage site: Bahluiet Valley at Costești village (Moldavian Plateau, North-Eastern Romania
Authors: Niculita Mihai
Published: February 2021

The Bahluieț Valley at Costești village geosite has been recently studied and proposed as a geoheritage site. Previously this area was investigated due to the presence of the Costești-Cier archaeological site, which is currently integrated into the National Archaeological Repertoire. In this archaeological site, different levels of populations have been studied (Eneolithic Cucuteni A, Cucuteni AB, and Horodiștea-Erbiceni Culture populations) as well as an earth wall from La Tene (8th‒10th/11th century BC), and a 15th‒17th century AD necropolis. In the area of the present-day Costești village, Bahluieț River leaves the Suceava Plateau area (with altitudes of 350‒550 m a.s.l.) and enters the Jijia Hills (with altitudes of 50 to 200 m a.s.l.), flowing between Ulmiș Hill (306 m a.s.l., at north) and Ruginii Hill (326 m a.s.l., at the south). The valley, which is incised more than 100 m below the plateau level, suddenly becomes broader because of massive Late Pleistocene landslides that covered the former Bahluieț river floodplain and are now fossilized by fluvial deposits. During the Holocene, the river incision detached paleochannels and fluvial terraces while the landslides reactivated through retrogressive mechanisms, creating a complex landslide. A cut-off meander island hosts the Costești-Cier archaeological site, being currently actively eroded by the river. In the riverbank of this island, a multi-layered stratigraphy can be seen, consisting of landslide and fluvial deposits, paleosoils, and archaeological remains. The layered deposits, the complex landslide, and the fluvial processes have the potential to become one of the most representative Quaternary sites of the Moldavian Plateau and Romania. By using geomorphosite assessment, geomorphological mapping optically stimulated luminescence dating, and geoconservation ideas, I show (i) the importance of the geosite due to the presence of the oldest dated fossil landslide from Romania and the landslide-fluvial-archaeological relations, (ii) the needs for protection at local, regional and national level considering the active processes that affect the site, and propose (iii) management and (iv) promotion of the geoheritage site using a geoconservation strategy.
Decoupling between calorimetric and dynamical glass transitions in high-entropy metallic glasses
Authors: Jing Jiang , Lu Zhen , Shen Jie , Wada Takeshi , Kato Hidemi , Chen Mingwei
Published: February 2021

Glass transition is one of the unresolved critical issues in solid-state physics and materials science, during which a viscous liquid is frozen into a solid or structurally arrested state. On account of the uniform arrested mechanism, the calorimetric glass transition temperature (Tg) always follows the same trend as the dynamical glass transition (or α-relaxation) temperature (Tα) determined by dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). Here, we explored the correlations between the calorimetric and dynamical glass transitions of three prototypical high-entropy metallic glasses (HEMGs) systems. We found that the HEMGs present a depressed dynamical glass transition phenomenon, i.e. HEMGs with moderate calorimetric Tg represent the highest Tα and the maximum activation energy. These decoupled glass transitions from thermal and mechanical measurements reveal the effect of high configurational entropy on the structure and dynamics of supercooled liquids and metallic glasses, which are associated with sluggish diffusion and decreased dynamic and spatial heterogeneities from high mixing entropy. The results have important implications in understanding the entropy effect on the structure and properties of metallic glasses for designing new materials with plenteous physical and mechanical performances.
Significant Improvement in The Piezoelectric Properties and Electromechanical Coupling Factors of Wurtzite AlN Compound Under High Pressures
Authors: Almaghbash Z. A. A. R. , Omar Arbouche , Dahani A. , Cherifi A. , Belabbas M. , Djellouli B.
Published: February 2021

This work describes a theoretical study of the pressure effect in structural, elastic, piezoelectric and dielectric properties as well as electromechanical coupling factors of wurtzite AlN, obtained by ab-initio calculations using pseudo-potential plane waves (PP-PW) that combine the density functional theory (DFT) and density functional perturbation theory (DFPT). The results of the calculation indicate that the parameters of AlN crystal cells and the volume of AlN crystallin crystal cells decrease notably with increasing pressures from 0 to 40 GPa. Due to an increase in the value of the direct piezoelectric constant ( Tand a decrease in the value of the elastic constant (h), there is a significant improvement in the value of the converse piezoelectric constant (i). The improvement in the piezoelectric value leads to a higher value in electromechanical coupling coefficient. Our results agree well with previous theoretical and experimental research. We hope that our results will provide guidelines for the realistic application as well as further research of high-performance compounds appropriate for applications in a multitude of fields of study, such as biomedical engineering.
Poincaré’s Section Analysis of Photoplethysmography Signals for Cuff-Less Non-Invasive Blood Pressure Measurement
Authors: Shoeibi Fatemeh , Najafiaghdam Esmaeil , Ebrahimi Afshin
Published: February 2021

Background and Objective: Hypertension is a serious problem that has become dramatically more common in recent decades. Hypertension can be managed in its early stages by regular monitoring of blood pressure. Blood pressure, as a vital signal, has an essential role in the prediction of many cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, non-invasive, cuff-less, continuous monitoring of blood pressure has special importance in personal health care. Recently, due to the capabilities of PPG sensors in embedding and compacting as a wearable device, application of the PPG signal and its characteristics as a useful facilities for BP measurement have been highlighted. Methods: This study attempts to provide a new indicator of PPG waveforms to help the rapid developments in this research area. The proof of the feasibility of using Poincaré’s section for extracting the profitable features of the PPG signal for BP estimation is one of the key achievements of this paper. Results: The performance of the method was evaluated on 101 subject’s clinical data from the MIMIC II database. The proposed method obtains a mean absolute error of 2.1 mmHg for systolic pressure and 1.4 mmHg for diastolic pressure prediction. Also, the results meet the AAMI and BHS standards, which demonstrate the feasibility of Poincaré’s section-based indices in BP estimation. Conclusions: The results confirm the proficiency of this method in the blood pressure estimation and a straightforward way to reduce the computational and hardware complexity, which in turn helps to achieve a real-time wearable BP monitoring system.
Exploration of Multifunctional Properties of Piper Betel Leaves Extract Incorporated Polyvinyl Alcohol-Oxidized Maize Starch Blend Films for Active Packaging Application
Authors: Hiremani Vishram D , Goudar Naganagouda , Gasti Tilak , Khanapure Sheela , Vanjeri Vinayak N , Sataraddi Sarala , Dsouza Oshin Jacintha , Vootla Shyam Kumar , Masti Saraswati P , Malabadi Ravindra B , Chougale Ravindra B
Published: February 2021

This study explains the development of eco-friendly polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/oxidized maize starch (OMS)/Betel leaves extract (BLE) blend films by employing a cost effective technique. The influence of BLE on structural, Thermal, Mechanical, Morphological, Optical, Antibacterial, and Antioxidant properties of PVA/OMS blend were investigated successfully by applying FTIR, TGA, DSC, UTM, SEM, UV spectroscopy, In vitro antibacterial and DPPH scavenging activity. The hydrogen bonding interaction among the components of the blend films led to enhance thermal stability, miscibility, mechanical properties, smooth surface morphology and UV blocking properties of the blend films. The addition of BLE enormously improved the antibacterial and antioxidant properties of PVA/OMS blend films. Moreover, the water contact angle, solubility, biodegradability, Water vapour transmission rate, oxygen permeability properties of blend films were analyzed, which illustrates that the obtained films were hydrophilic, water soluble and biodegradable in nature. With regard to barrier properties the WVTR and oxygen permeability of the blend films were enhanced after doping of BLE. These experimental outcomes suggest that the BLE containing PVA/OMS films can be used for the expansion of active packaging material.
Cumulative Positive Contributions of Propagating MJO To The Quick Low-Level Atmospheric Response During El Niño Developing Years
Authors: HU Haibo , Wang Rongrong , Liu Fei , Perrie William , Fang Jiabei , Bai Haokun
Published: February 2021

Based on Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) El Niño alert system, this study investigates the atmospheric and oceanic conditions during El Niño developing years between 1982 and 2016. It is found that there is a 2–5-month lag to establish steady low-level atmospheric (or the Southern Oscillation Index, SOI) response than the steady El Niño-pattern Sea Surface Temperature Anomaly (SSTA), which is defined as the critical period in this research. According to the duration of this critical period, the quick and slow steady atmospheric response years can be identified among all El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) developing events. The quick establishments of the Sea Level Pressure Anomaly (SLPA) in the tropical atmosphere are proved to be closely related to the subseasonal Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO) events. In the quick response years, the MJO events can even propagate to the eastern Pacific, which lead to cumulative negative Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR) and SLP anomalies there, and make a positive contribution to the quick atmospheric response at the end of critical period. However, the eastward-propagation of MJO events is mainly restricted in the tropical Western Pacific in the slow response years, causing slow steady atmospheric response with almost no contributions from MJO. Furthermore, observations and several simulations are used to understand this propagation differences of the MJO between quick and slow response years.
Analysis of Underlap Strained Silicon on Insulator MOSFET for Accurate and Compact Modeling
Authors: Sharma Rajneesh , Rana Ashwani Kumar , Kaushal Shelja , King Justin , Raman Ashish
Published: February 2021

Recently, transistors with an underlapped gate structure have been widely studied to overcome several challenges associated with nanoscale devices. In this work, underlap region is incorporated at source and drain (S/D) ends in a fully depleted Strained Silicon On Insulator (SSOI) device, with high-k dielectric material in the spacer region. The S/D underlapped region helps to reduce the leakage current and can be particularly useful for low power applications. However, increased underlap length degrades the ON current significantly. We show that this issue can be mitigated via the inclusion of a high-k spacer, which improves the ON current by enhancing the gate controllability over the S/D underlap channel region. It helps to achieve the essential requirement low power applications i.e. the high ON/OFF current ratio at extremely low value of leakage current. The strained silicon material is used in the channel region to further improve the ON current. A compact threshold voltage model is developed for the proposed device (underlap-SSOI) while maintaining the accuracy at par with TCAD simulations. This threshold voltage model incorporates underlap length, strain-induced offsets and spacer dielectric constant. This device model may be used for circuit simulations.
Effect of di-tertiary-butyl peroxide additive on combustion, performance and emissions of a karanja methyl ester fueled diesel engine
Authors: Pattanaik Bhabani Prasanna , PANDA JIBITESH KUMAR , Gugulothu Santhosh Kumar , Jena Pradeep Kumar
Published: February 2021

The present work studies the influence of di-tertiary-butyl peroxide (DTBP) as a cetane-improving additive to karanja methyl ester (KME) on the combustion, performance and emission characteristics of a diesel engine. KME produced by base catalyzed transesterification of non-edible karanja oil was blended with DTBP in different volume proportions to result KMED1 (99% KME + 1% DTBP), KMED2 (98% KME + 2% DTBP), KMED3 (97% KME + 3% DTBP) and KMED5 (95% KME + 5% DTBP) fuel blends. With increase in DTBP content, viscosity was reduced, whereas the cold flow properties, cetane index and calorific value were enhanced. Engine test results exhibited improvement in brake thermal efficiency and brake specific energy consumption for all blends compared to neat KME. Combustion analysis showed improved combustion with rise in DTBP content in the blends. The CO, HC and NOx emissions with KME-DTBP blends were less compared to neat KME and the same significantly reduced with rise in DTBP percentage in the blends. This shows improved combustion due to more oxygen availability and improvement in fuel properties with addition of DTBP to KME. However, the NOx emissions were marginally higher with KME-DTBP blends compared to neat KME and diesel that may be further studied.
Transcriptional insights into sugarcane aquaporin genes under water deficit conditions
Authors: KUMAR DEVENDRA
Published: February 2021

Water deficit in soil during formative growth stage adversely hinders the crop productivity. Plant develop a key chain of mechanisms to cope these strains. Characterization of genotypes under water deficit will provide the basis for breeding new germplasm for efficient utilization of water and nutrients and adaptation to water stress. To achieve this, two tolerant (Co 98014 and Co 0118) and two sensitive (CoJ 85 and Co 89003) sugarcane genotypes were assessed for antioxidant response followed by differential expression of three aquaporin genes (ShPIP2-1, ShPIP-5 and ShPIP2-6) under two water deficit conditions. The MDA and H2O2 contents were significantly higher (p < 0.05) in sensitive genotypes as compared to tolerant ones, whereas SOD activity was higher (p < 0.05) in tolerant than sensitive genotypes. The transcript analysis of AQPs reveals upregulation of ShPIP2;5, whereas down-regulation of ShPIP2;1 and ShPIP2;6 when plants were imposed to water deficit conditions. The findings under study suggested the role of PIP2 AQPs in regulation of plant water status under water deficit conditions.
β Arrestin inhibition induces autophagy, apoptosis, G0/G1 cell cycle arrest in agonist activated V2R receptor in breast cancer cells
Authors: Hessien Mohamed , Donia Thoria , Kelany Mohamed , Abouda Mohamed
Published: February 2021

Non-visual arrestins (β-arrestins) are endocytic proteins that mediate agonist activated GPCRs internalization and signaling pathways in an independent manner. The involvement of β-arrestins in cancer invasion and metastasis is increasingly reported. So, it is hypothesized that inhibition of β-arrstins may diminish the survival chances of cancer cells. This study aimed to evaluate the in vitro impact of inhibiting β-arrestins on the autophagic and/or apoptotic responsiveness of breast cancer cells. We used Barbadin to selectively inhibit β-Arr/AP2 interaction in AVP stimulated V2R receptor of triple negative breast cancer cells (MDA MB-231). Autophagy was assessed by the microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3-II (LC3II), apoptosis was measured by Annexin-V/PI staining and cell cycle distribution was investigated based upon the DNA content using flow cytometry. Barbadin reduced cell viability to 69.1% and increased the autophagy marker LC3 II and its autophagic effect disappeared in cells transiently starved in Earle's balanced salt solution (EBSS). Also, Barbadin mildly enhanced the expression of P62 mRNA and arrested 63.7% of cells in G0/G1 phase. In parallel, the drug induced apoptosis in 29.9% of cells (by AV/PI) and 27.8% of cells were trapped in sub-G1 phase. The apoptotic effect of Barbadin was enhanced when autophagy was inhibited by the PI3K inhibitor (Wortmannin). Conclusively, the data demonstrate the dual autophagic and apoptotic effects of β-βArr/AP2 inhibition in triple negative breast cancer cells. These observations nominate β-Arrs as selective targets in breast cancer treatment.
Simultaneous Measurement of Multipoint Mechanical Vibration For Thin-Walled Parts Using Monocular Machine Vision Optical Flow Tracking
Authors: Wu Jigang , Shao Jun
Published: February 2021

Thin-walled parts (TWPs) have been widely employed in various industry fields and put forward a specific requirement of simultaneous multipoint vibration measurement for their dynamic behaviours understanding. The development of machine vision theory and technology enable the machine vision-based technique to measure the vibration of mechanical equipment. Lucas-Kanade based template tracking (LKBTT) can provide a robust, longer term motion estimation of the interesting object, but lacks spatial resolution and also deeper use of contextual cues. Lucas-Kanade based optical ﬂow tracking (LKBOPT) is usually used for frame-by-frame feature-level motion estimation, and has the potential to satisfy the vibration measurement requirements of TWPs. LKBOPT has not been introduced to vibration measurement yet, and also had the challenge of long-term motion estimation. In order to satisfy the simultaneous multipoint vibration measurement requirements of TWPs, a coarse-to-fine tracking method is developed by introducing LKBOPT to vibration measurement and combining it with LKBTT. A region of interest detection algorithm is investigated to acquire the tracking template according to the measurable object. LKBTT is introduced to realize the coarse tracking and obtain the vibration information of the tracking template. An improved LKBOPT is investigated to realize the fine tracking and acquire the vibration information of multipoint inside the tracking template simultaneously. Finally, the simultaneous measurement system of multipoint mechanical vibration for TWPs is utilized with a high-speed camera system based on both Python and open source computer vision (OpenCV) libraries. The vibration measurement performance of the proposed method has been experimentally verified with two experiments under laboratory conditions by comparing the results with those using accelerometers. The experiment has shown that the proposed method is effective in the remote simultaneous multipoint vibration measurement of TWPs with satisfactory accuracy and efficiency.
Transcranial Color-Coded Duplex Sonography and Digital Subtraction Angiography in Acute Stroke Patients
Authors: Assarzadegan Farhad , Mohammadi Foroogh , Lima Behnam Safarpour , Mansouri Behnam , Aghamiri Seyed Hossein , Vaighan Navideh Sahebi
Published: February 2021

Background: Stroke is the most common neurological disorder with a high incidence in Middle-eastern regions. We aimed to assess the diagnostic accuracy of transcranial color-coded duplex sonography (TCCS) for detection of cerebral artery stenosis compared to digital subtraction angiography (DSA) as a gold standard method.Methods: Eighty patients presenting with symptoms of cerebral ischemia were enrolled in the study. They were examined by color-coded Doppler and TCCS to determine stenosis of extracranial and intracranial arteries, respectively. DSA was performed 24-48 hours after the initial examination. The sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value (NPV), positive predictive value (PPV), and accuracy of TCCS in comparison to DSA was calculated. The agreement between the two methods was determined by kappa statistics. Results: Eighty patients (60% male, 40% female) with a mean age of 61.32±12.6 years were included. In 65% of cases, pathology in carotid artery was responsible for ischemia. We did not observe any abnormalities in the anterior cerebral artery (ACA), posterior cerebral artery (PCA) as well as basilar artery (BA). The agreement between TCCS and DSA in various arterial vessels were 0.9 for common carotid artery (CCA), 0.86 for internal carotid artery (ICA), 0.78 for middle cerebral artery (MCA), and 0.86 for vertebral artery (VA). The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, accuracy, and kappa value of TCCS for detection of stenosis regarding the arterial segments were 84.8%, 81%, 92.6%, 65.4%, 83.8, and 0.71, respectively. Conclusion: TCCS is a valuable, non-invasive, and repeatable method to investigate cerebral artery stenosis with high diagnostic accuracy.
Panophthalmitis in a Gentoo Penguin (Pygoscelis Papua) From The Antarctic Peninsula: Evaluation of Microbiological and Histopathological Analysis Outcomes
Authors: BAYRAM Latife CAKIR , ABAY Seçil , SATICIOĞLU İzzet Burçin , GÜVENÇ Tolga , EKEBAŞ Görkem , AYDIN Fuat
Published: February 2021

In this study, it was aimed to present the results of microbiological, cytological, histopathological, and immunohistochemical analyses of ocular samples from an Antarctic (Ardley Island, King George Island) Gentoo penguin chick (Pygoscelis papua) with pyogranulomatous panophthalmitis in the right eye. Samples were taken from both the healthy left eye and the lesion in the right eye. Conventional culture methods and phenotypic and molecular tests were used for bacterial isolation and identification, respectively. None of the isolates could be identified phenotypically. As a result, four of the five isolates obtained from the right eye were considered to belong to putative novel bacterial species and taxa as their similarity to GenBank data was below 98.75%. The isolates were considered to be Pasteurellaceae bacterium, Corynebacterium ciconiae, Cardiobacteriaceae bacterium, Actinomyces sp., and Dermabacteraceae bacterium. The only isolate from the left eye was identified as Psychrobacter pygoscelis. The cytological analysis demonstrated cell infiltrates composed mostly of degenerate heterophils, reactive macrophages, plasma cells, lymphocytes, and eosinophils. Based on histopathological findings, the lesion was defined as typical pyogranulomatous panophthalmitis. Immunohistochemistry demonstrated that the granuloma was positive for TNF-α, IL-4, MMP-9, IL-1β, and IL-6. This is the first documented report of unilateral pyogranulomatous panophthalmitis in a Gentoo penguin chick, living in its natural habitat in Antarctica. This report also describes the isolation of four bacteria from the infected eye, which are considered to belong to novel Genus, species, or taxa. The primary bacterial pathogen that caused the ocular lesion was not able to be detected and remains unclear.
Studies on the transformation process of PVDF film from α to β phase by uniaxial stretch
Authors: Zhang Chao , Wei W. , Sun H.J , Zhu Q.Y.
Published: February 2021

Stretching process is an effective method to prepare high β- phase PVDF. PVDF film was prepared by extrusion casting in this paper, then stretched by means of uniaxial-stretching using a DMA(Dynamic mechanical analyzer), the effects of stretching conditions on the transformation from α to β phase of PVDF were studied, also with the changes regularity of mechanical properties during stretching. The phase composition was characterized by XRD, FTIR, DSC, the results show that, the optimum drawing temperature is 80°C, the optimum stretch ratio is related to the length-width ratio of the film, the increase of stretching rate is beneficial to the formation of β-phase, the β-phase can reach 80% under the optimum drawing conditions.
Investigation DSC and XRD on the Crystallization Kinetics in the Phosphate Li2O−Li2WO4−TiO2−P2O5 Glassy Ionic System
Authors: ES-SOUFI Hicham , Bih L. , Lima Alan R. F. , Bouari A. El , Manoun B. , Hussain S.
Published: February 2021

This work aims to investigate the prepared glasses within the 20Li2O−(50−x)Li2WO4−xTiO2−30P2O5 system, with 0≤x≤15 mol%. The bonds constituting the framework of these glasses were studied by Raman spectroscopy. The data analysis of the chemical durability showed that the dissolution rates depend on the composition of each glass. Thermal analysis by DSC technique was used to determine the activation energy of crystallization, it found in the glass of composition (x= 5) that Ec= 184.482 kJ/mol. The determinate Avrami parameter is around 1.7 which allows suggesting the mechanism is surface crystallization. The crystallization process of the prepared glasses is carried out by heating samples at 550°c for 4 hours and 12 hours. The crystallized phases are identified by XRD. The results of X−ray diffraction analysis confirm that TiO2 acts mainly as network forming units. The crystalline phases Li2WO4 (JCPDS# 01−072−0086) and (JCPDS# 01−087−0409) are formed during the crystallization process. The formation of these crystalline phases into the glasses depends on the time of heating at fixed crystallization temperature. FTIR spectra of the glass–ceramics show nearly the same IR vibrational modes as their parent glasses.
Fine-grained polycrystalline MoTe2 with enhanced thermoelectric properties through iodine doping
Authors: Ren Pan , Bailey Trever , Page Alexander , Yang Quanxin , Lv Tu , Xu Guiying
Published: February 2021

Consisting of heavy elements and favorable electronic structure, MoTe2 has great potential as a good thermoelectric material for heat-to-electricity conversion. While some experimental work has been performed on the p-type version, n-type MoTe2 is theoretically predicted to have a great conversion efficiency and is crucial for eventual device functionality, yet has not been explored. Here, the preparation and thermoelectric properties of n-type iodine-doped nano-polycrystalline MoTe2 are currently reported. Nano-polycrystalline MoTe2-xIx is obtained by ball milling and spark plasma sintering techniques. The composition, morphology and crystal structure of the prepared materials were analyzed by XRD and FESEM, which indicated a homogeneous single phase. The measured transport properties over the temperature range of 298-823K indicate that iodine doping greatly enhances the carrier concentration and corresponding power factor, and drastically reducing the thermal conductivity. The ECR (Electrical conductivity ratios) carrier scattering analysis demonstrates that dislocation scattering is the main mechanism throughout the experimental temperature range. With the temperature and doping increasing, the thermal conductivity was reduced rapidly, and the minimum value was 1.19 Wm-1K-1 at 673K. The maximum value of the figure merit ZT ~ 0.16 over 673-750K, which is much higher than other reported values. These excellent properties imply that MoTe2 will be an efficient candidate for thermoelectric applications.
Prophylactic Bilateral Central Neck Dissection Should Be Carefully Evaluated Based on Prospective Study of 581 Cases With cN0 Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma
Authors: Yan Shouyi , Zhao Wen Xin , Wang Bo , Zhang Liyong
Published: February 2021

Background: prophylactic central lymph node dissection (PCND) had been a basic consensus for patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) in China. However, unilateral or bilateral central lymph node dissection (CND)was still controversial. This study aimed at investigating the safety and long-term benefit for the patients with bilateral central lymph node dissection (BCCD). Methods: 581 patients were enrolled and divided randomly into the test and control groups according to a different range of CND. 285 patients were prospectively assigned to undergo lobe thyroidectomy plus BCND in the test group, in comparison 296 patients were assigned to undergo lobe thyroidectomy plus ipsilateral central lymph node dissection (ICND) in the control group. Results: We found that the numbers of total LN and N1a in the test group were higher than that of the control group (p = 0.002), but there was no difference in the number of metastasized lymph nodes (p = 0.857) and tumor recurrence (p = 0.308). Additionally, in the aspect of postoperative complication (1 day after surgery), the serum levels of parathyroid hormone in the BCND group were lower than that in the ICND group (P = 0.010), and the numbers of transient laryngeal nerve palsy were higher than that(p = 0.033). meanwhile we further found that tumors size larger than 1cm and tumor side lymph node metastasis were related to the contralateral lymph node metastasis. Conclusion: BCND resulted in more positive lymph nodes and similar surgical complications compared with ICND but did not change the patient's long-term prognosis. It may be an alternative for patients with tumor sizes larger than 1cm. Meanwhile, and it should be done in large medical centers, with rich experience in PG and RLN protection
Prognosis Patients with COVID-19 using Deep Learning
Authors: Alvare Jose Luis Guadiana , Morales-Menendez Ruben , Hussain Fida , Flores Etna Rojas , Zendejas Arturo García , Mendoza Ricardo A Ramirez
Published: February 2021

Background: Prognostics study the prediction of an event before it happens, to enable critical decision making to be more efficient. The prognostics are very useful for front line physicians to predict how a disease may affect a patient and react accordingly to save the patients’ lives. The coronavirus (COVID-19) is novel and not enough knowledge about the virus’ behaviour and Key performance indicators (KPIs) to assess the mortality risk prediction. However, using a lot of complex and expensive medical biomarkers could be impossible for many low-budget hospitals. This motivates the development of a prediction model that not only maximizes performance but does so using the least number of biomarkers possible. Methods: For the mortality risk prediction, this research work proposes aCOVID-19 mortality risk calculator based on a Deep Learning (DL) model, and based on a data set provided by the HM Hospitals from Madrid, Spain. A pre-processing strategy for unbalanced classes and feature selection is proposed. Results: The DL model is tested, and the following results are achieved include area under the curve (AUC) 0.93, F2 score 0.93, recall 1.00, accuracy, 0.95, precision 0.91, specificity 0.9279 and maximum probability of correct decision(MPCD) 0.93. Conclusion: The MPCD score shows that the proposed DL outperforms on the everyday set when evaluating even with an over-sampling technique. The benefits of imputating unavailable biomarker data are also evaluated. The results are compared against a random forest (RF) algorithm and the newly proposed methods. The results show that the proposed method is significantly best for the risk prediction of the patients with COVID-19.
Promising Eco-Friendly Biomaterials for Future Biomedicine: Cleaner Production and Applications of Nanocellulose
Authors: R Reshmy , Philip Eapen , Madhavan Aravind , B Arun K , Raveendran Sindhu , Pugazhendhi Arivalagan , Gnansounou Edgard , Pandey Ashok , P Binod
Published: February 2021

Cellulose nanomaterials are developing nowadays as a promising environmental friendlier biomaterial that can be extracted from native plant sources. These materials, because of their excellent physico-chemical and biological properties, urged much interest in biomedical applications. In this paper a detailed review on nanocellulose is provided with special emphasis on greener production, demands, bio-properties and innovative application in some selected biomedical fields such as tissue implants, drug delivery systems, wound healing and biosensor applications. The current state of global commercial nanocellulose based product and its future potentials for biomedical applications are also discussed.
Determination of Alpha-, Beta- and Gamma- Cellulose in Bagasse and Wheat Straw: Lignin Recovery, Characterization and Depolymerization
Authors: Singh Sandip Kumar , Matsagar Babasaheb M , Dhepe Paresh L
Published: February 2021

Lignocellulosic biomass is an abundantly available byproduct obtained after the separation of edible parts from various crops that is a potential source to produce renewable and sustainable biofuels, chemicals, materials, and polymers, without altering the greenhouse gas emissions relative to fossil feedstocks. Valorisation of lignocellulosic biomass focuses on polysaccharides conversion to value-added chemicals and polymers. However, lignin rich of high carbon burned to generate energy and chemicals. For the development of an effective lignocellulosic biomass conversion technology to biofuels and chemicals, biomass composition analysis and their properties need to be characterized prior to biomass reactions, including polysaccharide hydrolysis and lignin depolymerization. In this work, we have determined alpha-, beta- and gamma- cellulose, pentosan, lignin, and silica percentages of wheat straw (WS) and two bagasse (BG I and II) samples. The impact of different types of biomass samples on composition, and lignin recovery by applying two-stage concentrated and dilute sulphuric acid treatment, has been discussed. Subsequent studies extended to the correlation of lignin properties and their susceptibility to depolymerization using homogeneous (1-methyl-3-(3-sulphopropyl)-imidazolium hydrogen sulphate) and heterogeneous (immobilized Brønsted acidic ionic liquid) catalysts to lower molar mass aromatic fractions. Thermal, physical, and chemical properties of WS, BG, and recovered lignin samples were characterized by using UV-visible, ATR, 13 C CP-MAS NMR, CHNS, XRD, and TGA techniques showed substantial differences in lignin structure and properties.
Transcriptomic Analysis Reveals Both Coxsackievirus B3 Woodruff and GD Strain Using Similar Key Genes to Induce FoxO Signaling Pathway Activation in HeLa Cells
Authors: Liu Mi , Yang Qian , Han Jun
Published: February 2021

Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) is the major cause of viral myocarditis in human worldwide. Various studies have investigated the viral infection and pathogenic mechanisms. However, the precise disease mechanism is still not clear. In this study, RNA-seq technology was used to compare the transcriptomic profile of virus infected HeLa cells to the controls in order to analysis the key genes of host virus interaction. Two CVB3 strains, CVB3 Woodruff and GD16-69-CVB3 strain were selected to figure out the common disease mechanisms of both experimental and clinical strains respectively. Increased expression of cell cycle genes CCNG2, GADD45B, PIM1, RBM15, KLF10 and RIOK3, down regulation of CYBA were detected. Autophagy genes ATG12 and YOD1 were also upregulated during CVB3 infection. Slightly increase of SOD2 and ATG12 were shown in the expression of infected cells, meanwhile, little change was detected in GABARAP expression. Further, FoxO signaling pathway was enriched by KEGG analysis, shown a close interaction with the DEGs in the PPI network. Genes of related pathways such as cell cycle, autophagy and oxidative stress resistance were confirmed by RT-PCR as well. In conclusion, our results reveal that FoxO signaling pathway is a common mechanism activated during the infection of both CVB3 strains. And this pathway plays a regulatory role in downstream pathways such as cell cycle, autophagy, oxidative stress resistance and antiviral immune responds.
Graphene-Based BPSK and QPSK Modulators Working at A Very High Bit Rate (Up Tbps Range)
Authors: Junior Almir Wirth Lima , Bezerra-Fraga Wilton
Published: February 2021

We are presenting graphene-based Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK) and Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) modulators, which can operate in the range from the TeraHertz up to the infrared. It is noteworthy that these devices have huge advantages over the silicon Mach-Zehnder optical modulators (MZMs) with lateral PN-junction ribwaveguide phase shifters. Among the countless advantages, we can mention, for example, that these modulators consist of only one waveguide and have a much simpler application system of the modulator signal (gate voltage) than in silicon-based MZMs. Other huge advantages are greater efficiency, and yet, they are cheaper and have shorter lengths (and consequently, greater integration in photonic integrated circuit (PIC)). The first step to present these modulators was to detail the graphene theory that is involved in this device. After this step, we show the project, numerical simulations, and analyses related to our graphene-based BPSK and QPSK modulators. We believe that these modulators will contribute to the generation of new devices made up of 2D materials, which should revolutionize this area of science.
Optimal Lockdown Strategies: All about Time
Authors: Pathak Anagh , Mohan Varun Madan , Banerjee Arpan
Published: February 2021

Lockdowns are disease mitigation strategies that aim to contain the spread of an infection by restricting the interactions of its carriers. Lockdowns can thus have a considerable economic cost, which makes the identification of optimal lockdown windows that minimize both infection spread and economic disruption imperative. A well-known feature of complex dynamical systems is their sensitivity to the timing of external inputs. Hence, we hypothesized that the timing and duration of lockdowns should dictate lockdown outcomes. We demonstrate this concept computationally from two perspectives - Firstly, a stochastic "small-scale" Agent Based Model (ABM) of a Susceptible-Infected-Recovered (SIR) disease spread and secondly, a deterministic "large-scale" perspective using a multi-group SIR mass model with parameters determined from the SARS-CoV2 data in India. Lockdowns were implemented as an effective reduction of interaction probabilities in both models. This allowed us to evaluate the parametric variations of lockdown intensity and duration onto the dynamical properties of the infection spread over different connection topologies. We definitively show that the lockdown outcomes in both the stochastic small-scale and deterministic large-scale perspectives depend sensitively on the timing of its imposition and that it is possible to minimize lockdown duration while limiting case loads to numbers below hospitalization thresholds.
Graphene-Based Terahertz Closed-Stopband Tunable Composite Right/Left-Handed Leaky-Wave Antennas
Authors: Gao Muzhi , Li Kang , Kong Fanmin , Zhu Gaoyang , Zhuang Huawei
Published: February 2021

A simple scheme for the realization of the terahertz (THz) fundamental-mode tunable closed-stopband composite right/left-handed leaky-wave antennas (CRLH LWAs) is presented. The proposed CRLH LWAs are reconstructed by graphene-based coplanar waveguide (CPW) transmission line supercells. Their shunt inductance achieved by narrow graphene strips of two unit cell structures are halfed. The CRLH LWAs are designed and confirmed by numerical simulations. They also exhibit frequency-scanning behaviors at THz with narrower bandwidth than that of the conventional graphene-based fundamental-mode CPW unit cell CRLH LWAs at THz. Besides, the LWAs also exhibit strong tunable characteristics and achieve the closed-stopband condition more effectively. Therefore, the proposed supercell CRLH LWAs could further improve the performance of the beam-steering antennas at THz.
Tracking Immunization Coverage, Dropout and Equity Gaps Among Children Aged 12–23 Months in Malawi. Bottleneck Analysis of the Malawi Demographic and Health Survey
Authors: Mmanga Kondwani , Mwenyenkulu Tisungane Edward , Nkoka Owen , Tiruneh Fentinesh Nibret , Ntenda Peter Austin Morton
Published: February 2021

Background: Immunization is considered an effective tool for controlling and eliminating life-threatening infectious diseases. However, most studies on immunization have mainly focused on vaccination coverage while data on dropouts and equity gaps is very scanty. Thus, the aim of the present study was to describe the trend in immunization coverage, dropout rates and effective immunization coverages (FVC) among children aged 12–23 months in Malawi.Methods: We conducted secondary analyses of the cross-sectional data taken from three waves of the Demographic and Health Surveys (2004, 2010, and 2015-16). Using the bottleneck analysis, outputs were generated based on service coverage, demand/equity (service utilization) and quality/effective coverage. The World Health Organization benchmarks were used to assess gaps in the immunization coverage indicators.Results: The coverage was above 90.0% in most of the antigens while full immunization status was estimated at 65%, 84%, and 73% in 2004, 2010, and 2015 respectively. The highest coverage was observed in BCG and lowest in Oral Polio Vaccine1 (OPV1). OPV1 coverage was less than 90% in 2004 cohort year, whilst Penta3 and MCV1 coverages were less than 90% in 2004. Additionally, full vaccination coverage (FVC) was 65%, 84%, and 74% in 2004, 2010, and 2015 respectively. Dropout rates of Penta3 and MCV1 were significantly higher than 10% in 2004 however, the dropouts had U-shaped patterns. The logistic region analyses showed that children were significantly less likely to be immunized with Penta3 and MCV1 in all cohort years compared to Penta1.Conclusions: Though immunization coverage was in line with the national and district targets for various antigens between 2004 and 2015, however, the FVC is still lagging behind. Furthermore, the dropout rates for Penta3 and MCV1 showed U-shaped patterns. Thus, health education, supervision, and orientation of service providers are instantly needed to address disparities that are existing in FVC.