bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Association between Platelet to Neutrophil Ratio (PNR) and Clinical Outcomes in STEMI Patients after Successful pPCI: A Secondary Analysis Based on a Cohort Study
Authors: Wang Hao , Qing Xiaochun , Wang Hua , Gu Yunfei
Published: February 2022

Purpose. This study was aimed at investigating whether the platelet-to-neutrophil ratio (PNR) is independently related to the prognosis of patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) after successful primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI). Methods. This was a secondary analysis of data retrieved from the DATADRYAD database, which was a prospective cohort study. A total of 464 STEMI patients who underwent successful pPCI were recruited between January 2010 and October 2014. The target-independent variable, PNR, was measured at the baseline. The dependent variable in the current study was the occurrence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) during the 30-month follow-up. Results. Two patients were excluded from the final analysis because their platelet counts were unavailable. The average age of the 462 participants was

63
±
11.92

years, and approximately 76.6% were male. After adjusting for age, sex, anterior wall myocardial infarction (MI), history of MI, apelin-12, apelin-12 change rate, left ventricular end-diastolic diameter, peak cardiac troponin I, pathological Q wave, Killip classification grade, fasting blood glucose, albumin, GENSINI score, and estimated glomerular filtration rate, a nonlinear relationship was found between the PNR and MACEs in the included cohort. The threshold value of the PNR for MACEs was 23.1. Over this cutoff value, the incidence rate of MACEs increased by 43% per 10-unit change in PNR (95% CI: 1.16–1.75,

p
=
0.0006

). Conclusion. There was a threshold relationship between PNR and MACEs in patients with STEMI who underwent successful pPCI. The incidence of MACEs was positively associated with the PNR when the PNR exceeded 23.1.
Occupation-Related Biological Health Hazards and Infection Control Practices among Indian Veterinarians
Authors: Palkhade Rajendra , Mishra SukhDev , Barbuddhe Sukhadeo
Published: February 2022

Veterinarians experience different types of health hazards from their occupation. Studies on the prevalence and occurrence of biological health hazards in veterinary medicine in India are scant and probably underreported. Thus, we sought to assess the biological health hazards and infection control practices (ICPs) among veterinarians from the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra, India. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among veterinarians (n = 562) from Gujarat and Maharashtra states in India to identify biological health hazards and ICPs for the prevention of occupational health hazards during 2016–2017 by personally contacting them. Responses regarding a biological hazard and ICPs were recorded. Descriptive analysis was attempted, and continuous variables are presented as the mean ± SD. Categorical variables are reported as counts and percentages (%). Most of the veterinarians (49.3%) worked in the field and were continuously exposed to different types of biological health hazards, especially zoonoses, ranging from mild and self-limiting to fatal diseases (e.g., brucellosis (subclinical and clinical form) and rabies (fatal)) without common prophylactic vaccinations, such as rabies and tetanus. While inquiring medical health status of the veterinarians, only 35.8% of the total respondents underwent a routine medical health checkup within the past year, and 56.9% did not receive a routine dose of an anthelmintic for deworming. Forty-nine percent of the respondents took all necessary precautions, including wearing an apron, facemask, and gloves. In contrast, 10.2% of the respondents wore only an apron, and 8.4% of respondents did not take any precautions while performing their day-to-day work. In total, 40.2% of the respondents followed the proper method of handwashing, that is, washing hands between patient examinations. In contrast, 27.9% of the respondents washed their hands once after completing the work. The majority of the respondents (87.7%) reported an urgent need for occupational hazards and safety (OHS) training in continued veterinary education (CVE) programs. The present study demonstrates that veterinarians in the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra in India pay less attention to their own health that may increase the risk of occupation-related biological health hazards. These results suggest that safety and ICPs are not prioritized, which are serious concerns. These findings may be useful for developing policies to prevent occupationally related biological health hazards among veterinarians in India.
GGA‐MLP: A Greedy Genetic Algorithm to Optimize Weights and Biases in Multilayer Perceptron
Authors: Bansal Priti , Lamba Rishabh , Jain Vaibhav , Jain Tanmay , Shokeen Sanchit , Kumar Sumit , Singh Pradeep Kumar , Khan Baseem
Published: February 2022

The task of designing an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) can be thought of as an optimization problem that involves many parameters whose optimal value needs to be computed in order to improve the classification accuracy of an ANN. Two of the major parameters that need to be determined during the design of an ANN are weights and biases. Various gradient‐based optimization algorithms have been proposed by researchers in the past to generate an optimal set of weights and biases. However, due to the tendency of gradient‐based algorithms to get trapped in local minima, researchers have started exploring metaheuristic algorithms as an alternative to the conventional techniques. In this paper, we propose the GGA‐MLP (Greedy Genetic Algorithm‐Multilayer Perceptron) approach, a learning algorithm, to generate an optimal set of weights and biases in multilayer perceptron (MLP) using a greedy genetic algorithm. The proposed approach increases the performance of the traditional genetic algorithm (GA) by using a greedy approach to generate the initial population as well as to perform crossover and mutation. To evaluate the performance of GGA‐MLP in classifying nonlinear input patterns, we perform experiments on datasets of varying complexities taken from the University of California, Irvine (UCI) repository. The experimental results of GGA‐MLP are compared with the existing state‐of‐the‐art techniques in terms of classification accuracy. The results show that the performance of GGA‐MLP is better than or comparable to the existing state‐of‐the‐art techniques.
Information Diffusion Model of Social Bots: An Analysis of the Spread of Coverage of China Issues by The New York Times on Twitter
Authors: Han Na , Huang Hebo , Wang Jianjun , Shi Bin , Ren Li
Published: February 2022

Social‐bots‐mediated information manipulation is influencing the public opinion environment, and their role and behavior patterns in news proliferation are worth exploring. Based on the analysis of bots' posting frequency, influence, and retweeting relationship, we take the diffusion of The New York Times' coverage of Xinjiang issue on the overseas social platform Twitter as an example and employ the two‐step flow model. It is found that in the role of second‐step diffusion, unlike posting news indiscriminately in first‐step diffusion, social bots are more inclined to postcontroversial information in second‐step diffusion; in terms of diffusion patterns, although social bots are more engaged in first‐step diffusion than in second‐step diffusion and can trigger human users to retweet, they are still inferior to humans in terms of influence.
Application of the Artificial Intelligence Algorithm in the Automatic Segmentation of Mandarin Dialect Accent
Authors: Lai Yufang
Published: February 2022

In recent years, as the research objects of phonetics have expanded to accent and colloquial natural speech, the construction of the dialect accent Mandarin voice database has become another important research direction in the field of computer technology. Among them, voice segmentation is a time-consuming and laborious link in the construction of the voice database. The application of artificial intelligence technology helps to improve the construction efficiency of the Mandarin dialect voice database. Based on this, this article mainly researches the application of the artificial intelligence algorithm in the automatic segmentation of dialect accent Mandarin. This paper constructs a voice corpus of dialect accents and Mandarin Chinese and specifically describes the construction process of the voice corpus. This paper uses artificial intelligence algorithms, combined with the HMM (hidden Markov model), and Viterbi algorithm to propose a new method of automatic speech segmentation. This paper studies the automatic speech segmentation model, extracts the general parameters of the training data in the Mandarin corpus, and conducts HMM training. This paper conducts tests based on the voice of the test set to verify the accuracy of the method proposed in this paper. The experimental results show that, in the speech data of 60 people, the error range of each sentence time period is less than 5 ms accounting for 79.16%, less than 10 ms accounting for 82.96%, less than 20 ms accounting for 83.14%, and less than 50 ms accounting for 86.92%. It can be seen that the algorithm proposed in this paper can meet practical applications in automatic speech segmentation.
Combination of Prehospital NT-proBNP with qSOFA and NEWS to Predict Sepsis and Sepsis-Related Mortality
Authors: Martín-Rodríguez Francisco , Melero-Guijarro Laura , Ortega Guillermo J. , Sanz-García Ancor , de la Torre de Dios Teresa , Manzanares Jesús Álvarez , Martín-Conty José L. , Castro Villamor Miguel A. , Delgado Benito Juan F. , López-Izquierdo Raúl
Published: February 2022

Background. The aim of this study was to assess the role of prehospital point-of-care N-terminal probrain natriuretic peptide to predict sepsis, septic shock, or in-hospital sepsis-related mortality. Methods. A prospective, emergency medical service-delivered, prognostic, cohort study of adults evacuated by ambulance and admitted to emergency department between January 2020 and May 2021. The discriminative power of the predictive variable was assessed through a prediction model trained using the derivation cohort and evaluated by the area under the curve of the receiver operating characteristic on the validation cohort. Results. A total of 1,360 patients were enrolled with medical disease in the study. The occurrence of sepsis, septic shock, and in-hospital sepsis-related mortality was 6.4% (67 cases), 4.2% (44 cases), and 6.1% (64 cases). Prehospital National Early Warning Score 2 had superior predictive validity than quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment and N-terminal probrain natriuretic peptide for detecting sepsis and septic shock, but N-terminal probrain natriuretic peptide outperformed both scores in in-hospital sepsis-related mortality estimation. Application of N-terminal probrain natriuretic peptide to subgroups of the other two scores improved the identification of sepsis, septic shock, and sepsis-related mortality in the group of patients with low-risk scoring. Conclusions. The incorporation of N-terminal probrain natriuretic peptide in prehospital care combined with already existing scores could improve the identification of sepsis, septic shock, and sepsis-related mortality.
Penetrating Endplate Screw Fixation for Thoracolumbar Pathological Fracture of Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis
Authors: Ishikawa Tetsuhiro , Ota Mitsutoshi , Umimura Tomotaka , Hishiya Takahisa , Katsuragi Joe , Sasaki Yasuhito , Ohtori Seiji
Published: February 2022

With the advancement of cancer treatment and minimally invasive surgery, the indications for surgery for metastatic spinal tumors are expanding. Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) is a noninflammatory skeletal disease characterized by calcification and ossification of ligaments and entheses. In Japan, the prevalence of DISH is increasing with its superaging society. The purpose of this article is to report a case of applying a novel screw technique for pathological fracture in a patient with DISH and spinal metastasis. An 80-year-old man with spinal metastasis presented with acute onset of severe back pain, and investigations revealed a fracture of a metastatic lesion in T10–T12 in the range of DISH. We performed posterior fixation with a percutaneous pedicle screw system using a penetrating endplate technique. The patient’s back pain improved, and he was able to mobilize with minimal assistance and survived for 8 months with a good quality of life. Spinal fracture accompanied by DISH sometimes occurs with severe instability because of injury across 3-column injury and its long lever arm. Spinal instability neoplastic score indicates instability of pathological fractures of spinal metastases but needs to be evaluated carefully when DISH is present. The prevalence of DISH is increasing in the elderly, and penetrating endplate screws can be an effective option in posterior fusion surgery for patients with DISH and spinal metastases.
Research on Medical Waste Supervision Model and Implementation Method Based on Blockchain
Authors: Wang Hui , Zheng Longshuai , Xue Qiuhong , Li Xueqing
Published: February 2022

The Internet of Things (IoT) has brought unprecedented changes to the society and permeated our daily life. However, it has not been successfully applied in the area of medical waste regulation, where the recycling and disposal of medical waste have significant loopholes in the management of classification, transportation, disposal, supervision, and other links. The source, authenticity, and integrity of medical waste data lack guarantees, and there is a risk of data tampering and forgery. Although there are currently some medical waste supervision applications combined with IoT-based blockchain domestically and internationally to facilitate information sharing and transfer, no verifiable method is provided for the information privacy leakage of medical waste operators. To address this problem, we propose a blockchain-based medical waste supervision model, which connects participants involved in the process, introduces digital credentials to achieve the protection of operator information privacy, and ensures that the entire data process is authentic and credible. By building a decentralized system architecture and setting intelligent contracts, we integrate and record the medical waste disposal regulatory information in different phases on the blockchain to form the supervision of medical waste chain. In addition, we digitize the physical credentials and certificates using digital credentials to achieve cryptography security and privacy protection. The regulatory model designed in this paper can provide digital certificates of disposal tracking information to the health, environmental protection, and other administrative departments in China. It can provide authoritative evidence for the supervision and accountability of medical waste disposal and support the construction of a new generation of medical waste regulatory information systems in China.
Experimental study on removal of phenol formaldehyde resin coating from the abrasive disc and preparation of abrasive disc for polishing application
Authors: Sabarinathan P. , Annamalai V. E. , Vishal K. , Nitin M.S. , Natrayan L. , Veeeman Dhinakaran , Mammo Wubishet Degife
Published: February 2022

In the automotive and aerospace industry, abrasive products lodge the major portion of the machining applications. Among that, the coated abrasive disc is used for a finishing application. Once the disc is fully consumed, the disc is unused and considered waste. The present work focuses on removing phenol-formaldehyde resin coating, and the fiber backing is reused for the same coated abrasive disc production application as flexible fiber backing. A sandblasting technique removes phenol-formaldehyde resin coating and embedded abrasive grains. During the fiber backing recovery process, the experimental parameters such as abrasive pressure, abrasive type, abrasive size, and orientation of the disc are varied to find out the optimal surface roughness value for reusing the produced coated abrasive discs. The results highlight that the recovered backing has an abrasive size of 120 mesh pressure of 0.20 MPa, an abrasive type of garnet, and a standoff distance of 1 mm. Surface features such as surface roughness and micrographs of the eroded surface are analyzed. Finally, the recovered backing was reused in the coated abrasive disc production, and the performance of the recovered disc was compared with the standard discs. The recovered fiber backing disc product was similar to a standard fresh disc.
Clinical Efficacy and Safety of Bevacizumab, Apatinib, and Recombinant Human Endothelial Inhibitor in the Treatment of Advanced Gastric Cancer
Authors: Wang Liang , Li Wei , Liu Ya-Gang , Zhang Cui , Gao Wei-Na , Gao Li-Fei
Published: February 2022

Objective. To investigate the clinical efficacy and safety of bevacizumab, apatinib, and recombinant human endothelial inhibitor in the treatment of advanced gastric cancer. Methods. The medical data of 204 patients with a medium to advanced gastric cancer assessed for eligibility treated in our hospital from February 2019 to April 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. The eligible patients were assigned at a ratio of 1 : 1:1 : 1 to either the control group (chemotherapy), study group I (bevacizumab combined with chemotherapy), study group II (apatinib combined with chemotherapy), or study group III (recombinant human endothelial inhibitor combined with chemotherapy) according to different treatment methods. The treatment efficacy, drug toxicity, quality of life, and serum tumor marker levels before and after treatment were compared among the four groups. Results. Regarding the treatment effects, the effective rate of study group II (68.63%) was significantly higher than that of the control group (33.33%), study group I (58.82%), and study group III (49.02%) (

P
<
0.05

). The four groups showed similar safety and tolerability profiles (

P
>
0.05

). The treatment in study group II led to a significantly higher physiological function score vs. the other three groups, but the scores of other items were not significantly different. Significant reduction was observed in the serum tumor markers after treatment in the four groups (

P
<
0.05

), but treatment in study group II led to a significantly greater reduction than the other three groups (

P
<
0.05

). Conclusion. The addition of apatinib, bevacizumab, and recombinant human endothelial inhibitor injection to chemotherapy for the treatment of medium to advanced gastric cancer can significantly improve the clinical treatment efficacy, among which the use of apatinib combined with chemotherapy achieves the best results, which is worthy of clinical promotion.
Molecular Mechanism Investigation on Monomer Kaempferol of the Traditional Medicine Dingqing Tablet in Promoting Apoptosis of Acute Myeloid Leukemia HL-60 Cells
Authors: Zheng Dandan , Zhou Yongming , Liu Yong , Ma Lihai , Meng Lingzhan
Published: February 2022

The traditional medicine Dingqing Tablet produces effective efficacy in treating acute myeloid leukemia, but its specific mechanism remains to be investigated. Dingqing Tablet consists of Codonopsis, Indigo Naturalis, Cortex Moutan, Radix Notoginseng, Citrus Reticulata, and Eolite. The active components of Dingqing Tablets were screened by the TCMSP database. Meanwhile, the SwissTargetPrediction database was utilized to predict the corresponding targets. Relevant disease targets of acute myeloid leukemia were obtained from GeneCards. The obtained targets of Dingqing Tablets and genes of acute myeloid leukemia were used, and the overlapped genes were presented in the Venn diagram. A drug-component-target network was constructed via Cytoscape 3.6.0 software. Molecular docking methodology was also used with AutoDock Vina 1.1.2. Furthermore, the effects of kaempferol on the proliferation and apoptosis of HL-60 cells were identified using 3-(4,5)-dimethylthiahiazo(-z-y1)-3,5-di-phenytetrazoliumromide (MTT), 5-Ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine (EDU), flow cytometry, and TdT-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) assays. The combination of kaempferol and AKT1 was verified using an immunoprecipitation (IP) experiment and the effects of Kaempferol on HL-60 cell apoptosis by western blot (WB) and qPCR. The key component kaempferol and the core target gene AKT1 were sorted out using a drug-component target network diagram. Molecular docking results revealed that the binding energy between kaempferol and AKT1 was lower than -5 kcal/mol. MTT and EDU assays indicated that kaempferol markedly inhibited the proliferation of HL-60 cells. Flow cytometry and TUNEL assays suggested that kaempferol substantially promoted HL-60 cell apoptosis. IP assay results testified that kaempferol could bind to AKT1, thereby reducing the level of P-AKT and promoting HL-60 cell apoptosis. The monomer kaempferol of Dingqing Tablet could promote apoptosis of HL-60 cells, and the mechanism might correlate with the combination of kaempferol and AKT1, reducing the level of P-AKT and promoting the expression of the apoptotic signaling pathway.
Serum Expression Level of MicroRNA-122 and Its Significance in Patients with Hepatitis B Virus Infection
Authors: Fang Qingqing , Chen Wei , Jian Yourong , Li Yu , Lian Wei , Wan Hongyu , Chen Shiyao , Li Feng , Chen Ying
Published: February 2022

Objectives. To analyze the expression of miR-122 and evaluate its significance in patients with HBV infection in different phases. Methods. Eleven chronic hepatitis B (CHB), 26 hepatitis B virus (HBV)-induced cirrhosis, 16 HBV-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients and 10 healthy control cases were enrolled. The serum levels of miR-122 were detected by RT-PCR and compared between healthy individuals and CHB at different stages. Results. Compared with healthy control cases, serum miR-122 levels were markedly increased in HBV infection cases (AUC = 0.795,

P
=
0.002

). In the CHB group, miR-122 levels were positively associated with albumin levels (

P
<
0.05

) but had no significant associations with alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (

P
>
0.05

). In the cirrhosis group, miR-122 expression was remarkably lower in the Child C group in comparison with the Child A group (

P
=
0.025

). At the same time, miR-122 amounts had a negative correlation with HVPG (

P
<
0.05

). In the HCC group, miR-122 amounts were negatively associated with alkaline phosphatase (AKP) and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) (

P
<
0.05

). Serum miR-122 amounts in 3 patients who died were lower than the survival group (5.520 ± 0.522 vs. 5.860 ± 1.183,

P
>
0.05

). Conclusion. Serum miR-122 can be leveraged to screen patients with HBV infection. In HBV sufferers, the serum miR-122 expression level is related to liver disease progression, hence making it an underlying molecular biomarker for predicting the development of CHB.
A Multilevel Input-Oriented English Teaching Model considering Diversified Training Objectives
Authors: Yan-fei Q. I.
Published: February 2022

At present, the existing English teaching model is not constructed according to the LASeR standard, resulting in the low I/O performance of the English teaching model and the decline of students’ learning efficiency. A multilevel input English teaching model considering diversified training objectives is proposed. Split the semantic features of multilevel input English teaching model information, calculate the support value of data items in the English teaching model resource database, and delete the complex and large amount of resource information. And with the probability vector diagram allocation method to match the autocorrelation characteristics of teaching resources, based on the relevant feature extraction results, complete the efficient mining of multilevel input-oriented English teaching model resources and realize the construction of multilevel input-oriented English teaching model considering diversified training objectives. The experimental results show that the designed model has high I/O performance and effectively improves students’ learning efficiency.
Reactivation of Herpes Zoster Keratitis Following Shingrix Vaccine
Authors: Lu Tracy J. , Ta Christopher N.
Published: February 2022

We present a case of herpes zoster keratitis reactivation shortly following the Shingrix vaccine. In our patient, reactivation of herpes zoster keratitis occurred a few weeks following the herpes zoster subunit (HZ/su) vaccine. The development of herpes zoster ophthalmicus following HZ/su is exceedingly rare, with only one prior reported case found in the literature. Reporting of this potential correlation is important in understanding the full risks of vaccines and can help elucidate the etiology of such responses.
Rewiring Vascular Metabolism Prevents Sudden Death due to Aortic Ruptures—Brief Report
Authors: Oller Jorge , Gabandé-Rodríguez Enrique , Roldan-Montero Raquel , Ruiz-Rodríguez María Jesús , Redondo Juan Miguel , Martín-Ventura José Luís , Mittelbrunn María
Published: February 2022

Background:

The goal of this study was to determine whether boosting mitochondrial respiration prevents the development of fatal aortic ruptures triggered by atherosclerosis and hypertension.

Methods:

Ang-II (angiotensin-II) was infused in ApoE (Apolipoprotein E)-deficient mice fed with a western diet to induce acute aortic aneurysms and lethal ruptures.

Results:

We found decreased mitochondrial respiration and mitochondrial proteins in vascular smooth muscle cells from murine and human aortic aneurysms. Boosting NAD levels with nicotinamide riboside reduced the development of aortic aneurysms and sudden death by aortic ruptures.

Conclusions:

Targetable vascular metabolism is a new clinical strategy to prevent fatal aortic ruptures and sudden death in patients with aortic aneurysms.
Effect of Platelet Inhibition by Cangrelor Among Obese Patients Undergoing Coronary Stenting: Insights From CHAMPION
Authors: Peterson Benjamin E. , Harrington Robert A. , Stone Gregg W. , Steg Ph. Gabriel , Gibson C. Michael , Hamm Christian W. , Price Matthew J. , Lopes Renato D. , Leonardi Sergio , Prats Jayne , Deliargyris Efthymios N. , Mahaffey Kenneth W. , White Harvey D. , Bhatt Deepak L.
Published: February 2022

Background:

In randomized trials, cangrelor reduced periprocedural ischemic events related to percutaneous coronary intervention without increasing GUSTO severe bleeding. However, some antiplatelet agents have shown a differential treatment effect by body mass index (BMI).

Methods:

Patients from the 3 CHAMPION trials (Cangrelor Versus Standard Therapy to Achieve Optimal Management of Platelet Inhibition) who were randomized to cangrelor versus clopidogrel during percutaneous coronary intervention were stratified by BMI. The primary efficacy end point was a composite of death, myocardial infarction, ischemia-driven revascularization, or stent thrombosis within 48 hours. The principal safety outcome was GUSTO moderate or severe bleeding at 48 hours, although more sensitive bleeding measures such as Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction major bleeding were also assessed. We examined obese patients (defined as BMI≥30) versus nonobese patients.

Results:

There were 24 893 patients, with 8979 (36.1%) having BMI of ≥30. There was no significant difference in the primary efficacy end point among obese versus nonobese patients (4.3% versus 4.2%; rate ratio, 1.01 [95% CI, 0.89–1.15];
P
=0.82). There was a consistent benefit in the primary efficacy end point in patients who received cangrelor versus placebo who were obese (3.9% versus 4.7%, rate ratio, 0.83 [95% CI, 0.68–1.02];
P
=0.07) and not obese (3.8% versus 4.7%; rate ratio, 0.81 [95% CI, 0.69–0.94];
P
=0.0053); interaction
P
=0.77. There was no difference in GUSTO moderate or severe bleeding among patients who received cangrelor versus placebo who were obese (0.6% versus 0.6%; rate ratio, 0.99 [95% CI, 0.58–1.67];
P
=0.96).

Conclusions:

Cangrelor at the time of percutaneous coronary intervention is effective and safe in obese and nonobese patients. There was no difference in short-term efficacy between obese and nonobese patients. Periprocedural cangrelor is an effective and safe antiplatelet agent, irrespective of BMI.

Registration:

URL:
https://www.clinicaltrials.gov
; Unique identifier: NCT01156571, NCT00385138, NCT00305162.
Anticoagulation Therapy in Endovascular Thrombectomy Patients With Large‐Vessel Occlusion Caused by Cardioembolism
Authors: Hong Jae Beom , Diprose William K. , Wang Michael T. M. , Alan Barber Peter
Published: February 2022

Background

In patients with ischemic stroke, cardioembolism, predominantly caused by atrial fibrillation (AF), is a leading preventable cause of large‐vessel occlusion (LVO). Despite proven efficacy, inadequate oral anticoagulant (OAC) therapy continues to be a major problem in patients with AF, mechanical heart valves, and other potential sources of emboli. We aimed to determine rates of cardioembolic LVO, the adequacy of OAC, and the association of OACs with clinical outcomes in patients with LVO treated with endovascular thrombectomy (EVT).

Methods

Consecutive patients with cardioembolism treated with EVT were included and had pre‐stroke indication for OACs and the adequacy of anticoagulation determined. The primary outcome was 3‐month functional independence (modified Rankin Scale score 0–2). Secondary outcomes included early neurological recovery (reduction in National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score ≥8 points, or score of 0–1 at 24 hours), symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage, and 3‐month mortality and modified Rankin Scale score.

Results

There were 784 patients treated with EVT, of whom 416 (53.1%; 231 men; mean±SD age, 67.1±15.9) had cardioembolic LVO. Of those with cardioembolism, 221 (53.1%) had prevalent AF, 99 (23.8%) incident AF, 48 (11.5%) mechanical heart valves, 10 (2.4%) left ventricular thrombus, and 38 (9.1%) other cardioembolic causes. A total of 242 patients were identified as having a pre‐stroke indication for OACs, and 67 (27.7%) of these patients were considered adequately anticoagulated at time of LVO. In all 242 patients with cardioembolism with a pre‐stroke indication for OACs, adequate anticoagulation was not associated with EVT outcomes. However, adequate anticoagulation in patients with prevalent AF was associated with lower rates of internal carotid artery occlusion (6.8% versus 18.9%;
P
=0.03) and higher rates of functional independence (odds ratio=1.94; 95% CI, 1.02–3.78];
P
=0.04).

Conclusions

Over half of patients treated with EVT were assessed as having a cardioembolic cause. Just over a quarter of patients with an indication for OACs at the time of LVO were adequately anticoagulated. These figures suggest that a substantial number of EVT procedures may have been avoided if more patients had been adequately anticoagulated.
Apparent Reversal of Early Ischemic Changes on Non‐Contrast Computed Tomography Following Successful Endovascular Reperfusion
Authors: Thanki Shail , Kasischke Karl A. , Mokin Maxim
Published: February 2022

Early ischemic changes seen on non‐contrast computed tomography secondary to cerebral edema is believed to indicate irreversible cellular injury. Computed tomography perfusion may overpredict the infarct core in patients with large vessel occlusion presenting in acute phase as these changes are potentially reversible if successful endovascular reperfusion is performed in a timely manner. This has led to the concept of “ghost infarct core” which is the mismatch in the infarct core as seen on follow‐up imaging. We present a case which potentially supports the concept of “ghost infarct core” evaluated not only by computed tomography perfusion but also non‐contrast computed tomography in a patient with large vessel occlusion following successful thrombectomy.
Semantic segmentation of landcover for cropland mapping and area estimation using Machine Learning techniques
Authors: Lingwal Surabhi , Bhatia Komal Kumar , Singh Manjeet
Published: February 2022

The paper has focussed on the global landcover for the identification of cropland areas. Population growth and rapid industrialization are somehow disturbing the agricultural lands and eventually the food production needed for human survival. Appropriate agricultural land monitoring requires proper management of land resources. The paper has proposed a method for cropland mapping by semantic segmentation of landcover to identify the cropland boundaries and estimate the cropland areas using machine learning techniques. The process has initially applied various filters to identify the features responsible for detecting the land boundaries through the edge detection process. The images are masked or annotated to produce the ground truth for the label identification of croplands, rivers, buildings, and backgrounds. The selected features are transferred to a machine learning model for the semantic segmentation process. The methodology has applied Random Forest, which has compared to two other techniques, Support Vector Machine and Multilayer perceptron, for the semantic segmentation process. Our dataset is composed of satellite images collected from the QGIS application. The paper has derived the conclusion that Random forest has given the best result for segmenting the image into different regions with 99% training accuracy and 90% test accuracy. The results are cross-validated by computing the Mean IoU and kappa coefficient that shows 93% and 69% score value respectively for Random Forest, found maximum among all. The paper has also calculated the area covered under the different segmented regions. Overall, Random Forest has produced promising results for semantic segmentation of landcover for cropland mapping.
‘This study aims to …’
Authors: Khedri Mohsen
Published: February 2022

Using Swales’ (1990) CARS model and Hyland’s (2005) interpersonal model of metadiscourse, this study takes a pragmatic approach to explore the rhetorical structure and metadiscoursal features of research article introductions in a comparable corpus of 40 introductions from applied linguistics and chemistry. Specifically, this article reports on a rhetorical analysis of introduction moves and an identification of metadiscourse markers and discourse functions they were conveying and focuses on the mapping of the markers most pervasively used to signal the moves. Results showed disciplinary differences regarding both move structure and metadiscourse use which could be attributed to the susceptibility of rhetorical practices and preferences to socio-rhetorical conventions in each community. In addition to their pedagogical implications, the results of this study could be of use for novice research article writers and/or students in applied linguistics and chemistry in order to better consolidate their credence and socialisation in their community through publication.
Leucoagaricus cupresseoides (Agaricaceae), a new species in sect. Piloselli and L. aurantiovergens and L. pseudopilatianus redescribed from Italy
Authors: FORIN NICCOLÒ , TATTI ALESSIA , VIZZINI ALFREDO , COPPOLA ALESSANDRA , MIGLIOZZI VINCENZO
Published: February 2022

A new species, Leucoagaricus cupresseoides, from a pine forest in Castelfusano, Rome, Italy, is described based on both morphological and molecular analyses. Updated morphological descriptions of Leucoagaricus aurantiovergens and L. pseudopilatianus are presented due to new collections from Italy and confirmed by nrITS sequence analysis of the type specimens of the two species. Based on our morphological and molecular analyses, L. pseudopilatianus var. roseodiffractus and L. paracupresseus are synonyms of L. aurantiovergens; and L. pseudopilatianus var. rugosoreticulatus is not molecularly distinct from L. pseudopilatianus. Leucoagaricus cupresseus, L. cupresseoides, L. aurantiovergens and L. pseudopilatianus form the L. cupresseus complex for which a comparative table is provided.
Nightmare on Dendropanax Street: What is Dendropanax arboreus (Araliaceae)?
Authors: MORALES J. FRANCISCO , IDÁRRAGA-PIEDRAHITA ALVARO
Published: February 2022

Dendropanax arboreus have been considered a high phenotypic variable species and the name applied to many different entities from Mexico and the West Indies to Brazil and Bolivia, from sea level up to 3200 m. A circumscription of D. arboreus based on the West Indies populations is proposed. This is the first step in order to delucidate how many taxa have been lumped into the synonymy of that species in the Neotropic. Lectotypes are designated for the names Gilibertia brachypoda and Sciodaphyllum samydifolium.
A new blind genus of Anurophorinae (Collembola: Isotomidae) with seven anal spines from Northwest China
Authors: GAO YAN , POTAPOV MIKHAIL , BU YUN
Published: February 2022

A new genus and species of Anurophorinae, Heptacanthella yinae gen. et sp. nov., is described from Xinjiang Province, Northwest China. The new genus has four spines on Abd. V in p1 and p2 position and three spines on Abd. VI in m0 and m1 position, seven anal spines in all distally on the abdomen. It can be distinguished from other “spined genera” of the subfamily by the position and number of the anal spines. A comparison of spinal armament of last abdominal segments in 13 genera of Anurophorinae is made here. Heptacanthella yinae gen. et sp. nov. is also characterised by the absence of eyes, pigment, furca and retinaculum, presence of reticulated cuticle and an s-formula of 33/22224 (s) and 10/001 (ms). The value of anal spines in taxonomy of Isotomidae is discussed.
Capitellidae (Annelida) from the Brazilian Continental Margin (SW Atlantic): new occurrences of three genera and description of new species
Authors: DA SILVA CAMILA FERNANDA , AMARAL ANTONIA CECILIA ZACAGNINI
Published: February 2022

The Brazilian Continental Margin hosts several deep seafloor landscapes. However, this deep margin is still poorly studied and monitored, compared to coastal and continental shelf areas, historically limited to areas of particular economic interest. Some studies financed by the Brazilian oil and gas company have been conducted off Southeast (SE) Brazil (Espírito Santo and Campos Basins) as part of the environmental licensing process for resource exploration. Similar results showed that annelid polychaetes dominated on the continental shelf and upper slope. Within a wide bathymetric range, Capitellidae species belonging to three different genera represented new records for Brazil: Mastobranchus Eisig, 1887, Peresiella Harmelin, 1968, and Polymastigos Green, 2002. Mastobranchus braziliensis sp. nov. was found in shallow waters (20–147m) of both Espírito Santo and Campos Basins; Peresiella megapapilata sp. nov. occurred from 21 to 446m of both Espírito Santo and Campos Basins; and Polymastigos profundus sp. nov. inhabited greater depths (990–1361m) of the Espírito Santo Basin only. Three new species are described and compared to other species of the respective genus, the diagnosis of some genera amended and the type material of Mastobranchus loii Gallardo, 1968 redescribed. Although the three genera have the same number of thoracic chaetigers, they present several morphological differences, and the current effort being made is to “translate” those differences into characters to be included on the generic diagnosis of each genus. Additionally, two new morphological characters were proposed for the family, the shape of thoracic chaetigers and depth of intersegmental groove.
Afronympha, a new genus of Entedoninae (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) from the rainforests of Africa
Authors: GUMOVSKY ALEX , NOORT SIMON VAN
Published: February 2022

Afronympha gen. nov. is described for the single known species A. eminpashai sp. nov. collected in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. This new genus is similar to some extent to Asecodes, but differs from this and other genera of Entedoninae in having a produced and medially notched anterior margin of the clypeus, and robust mandibles. Similarities and differences between Afronympha and other genera are discussed. The type species, A. eminpashai sp. nov., was collected in degraded mid-altitude rainforest in Kibale National Park, western Uganda and disturbed areas of lowland rainforest in the Ituri region of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, suggesting its ecological plasticity under circumstances of habitat transformation.
A Decade of the North American Multimodel Ensemble (NMME): Research, Application, and Future Directions
Authors: Becker Emily J. , Kirtman Ben P. , L’Heureux Michelle , Muñoz Ángel G. , Pegion Kathy
Published: February 2022

Ten years, 16 fully coupled global models, and hundreds of research papers later, the North American Multimodel Ensemble (NMME) monthly-to-seasonal prediction system is looking ahead to its second decade. The NMME comprises both real-time, initialized predictions and a substantial research database; both retrospective and real-time forecasts are archived and freely available for research and development. Many U.S.-based and international entities, both private and public, use NMME data for regional or otherwise tailored forecasts. The system’s built-in evolution, with new models gradually replacing older ones, has been demonstrated to gradually improve the skill of 2-m temperature and sea surface temperature, although precipitation prediction remains a difficult problem. This paper reviews some of the NMME-based contributions to seasonal climate prediction research and applications, progress on scientific understanding of seasonal prediction and multimodel ensembles, and new techniques. Several prediction-oriented aspects are explored, including model representation of observed trends and the underprediction of below-average temperature. We discuss potential new directions, such as higher-resolution models, hybrid statistical–dynamical techniques, or prediction of environmental hazards such as coastal flooding and the risk of mosquito-borne diseases.
Causes of Interannual Variability of Summer Precipitation Intraseasonal Oscillation Intensity over Southwest China
Authors: Nie Yanbo , Sun Jianqi
Published: February 2022

The interannual variability in summer precipitation intraseasonal oscillation intensity over southwest China (SWC) is investigated in this study. The results indicate that the 7–20-day period dominates the intraseasonal variability in summer SWC precipitation. The leading mode of summer SWC precipitation 7–20-day oscillation intensity (SPOI) is a north–south dipole pattern with prominent interannual variability. The atmospheric circulation anomalies from both tropics and mid- to high latitudes are responsible for the interannual variability in the dipole pattern. In the tropics, an enhanced local Hadley cell and an anomalous anticyclone over southern China and the northwest Pacific contribute to the north-positive–south-negative pattern of SPOI by inducing moisture convergence (divergence) over northern (southern) SWC in the background state. In the mid- to high latitudes, the 7–20-day Rossby wave trains along the subtropical jet are crucial for the 7–20-day precipitation over northern SWC. Further analyses suggest that the sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies over the Maritime Continent (MC) and the North Atlantic (NA) are associated with the SPOI dipole pattern. The MC SST warming causes convection anomalies over the tropical Indo-Pacific, consequently triggering a Matsuno–Gill-type atmospheric response conducive to the north-positive–south-negative pattern of SPOI. The NA SST tripole triggers a Rossby wave train across Eurasia that strengthens the East Asian westerly jet and enhances 7–20-day atmospheric variability, consequently favoring the variability of 7–20-day precipitation over northern SWC. Diagnoses of moisture and vorticity budgets further indicate the importance of the interaction between intraseasonal fluctuations and atmospheric background in the formation of the north–south difference in 7–20-day precipitation variability over SWC.
Impact of Autonomous and Human-Driven Trucks on Flexible Pavement Design
Authors: Okte Egemen , Al-Qadi Imad L.
Published: February 2022

Truck platooning with autonomous and connected vehicles has several advantages compared with traditional trucking. Platooning improves overall road safety and reduces fuel consumption by up to 15%. This is a result of the advanced control systems and high steering accuracy of autonomous vehicles. These advanced control systems present an opportunity to pavement design engineers, as the lateral positions of the vehicles could be altered to create less damaging loading scenarios. This study introduces an expected response framework to quantify the impact of lateral position on pavement performance. Using the expected response framework, any mixture of human-driven and autonomous vehicles can be analyzed by characterizing lane position as a mixture probability distribution instead of point loads. Pavement damage can subsequently be computed by using the expectation of the responses. This approach requires little computational effort and is easily incorporated in any mechanistic–empirical design or optimization framework. The approach is illustrated by analyzing four flexible pavement sections using the expected response framework. Compared with human-driven trucks, optimized lateral position could decrease pavement damage by 40%. Channelized traffic on the other hand could increase pavement damage by 60%. A simplified approach is introduced alongside a reliability analysis and fragility curves for various pavement structures. Distributed traffic was found to have the lowest probability of failure among all traffic scenarios.
Strategies to support older adults’ mental health during the transition into residential aged care: a qualitative study of multiple stakeholder perspectives
Authors: Polacsek Meg , Woolford Marta
Published: February 2022

Background

The move from home into residential care is one of the most stressful life experiences for older adults. ‘Relocation stress’ is a significant risk factor for anxiety and/or depression in aged care residents. Whether long-term or recently diagnosed, these mood disorders are associated with a decline in overall well-being, daily functioning and independence. The mental health needs of older adults are often poorly recognised and supported, including during the transition into residential care. Despite growing interest in how to facilitate this major life transition, few studies have taken the perspective of multiple stakeholders. The aim of this study was to explore resident, relative and staff experiences of the transition into residential aged care, and to identify strategies to support the mental health of older adults at this time. The role of pastoral care practitioners to facilitate transitions and support residents’ mental health was also examined.

Methods

This phenomenological study involved individual interviews with 35 aged care residents, relatives and staff, between January and April 2021. Participants were selected using purposive sampling. Audio-recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim and supported by field notes. Data analysis followed Giorgi’s steps for qualitative data analysis.

Results

Results were distilled into three main categories related to the overall transition experience, recognising and responding to residents’ mental health needs, and tailoring support to individual needs. A novel contribution of this study relates to the need to address a broad misunderstanding of the role of pastoral care and subsequent under-utilisation of a potentially valuable resource.

Conclusions

By describing transition experiences and the resources to support residents’ mental health, findings of this study provide practical, ‘real world’ suggestions for reducing relocation stress. New resources developed from the findings include guides, checklists and short question-and-answer films, in which current residents and staff describe strategies to support mental health and overall quality of life. Similar resources could be used to support transitions in other care settings.