bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Tumor size as a prognostic factor improves the accuracy of the prognostic prediction of T4 stage colon cancer: a propensity score analysis
Authors: Liang Yuexiang , Li Qiang , He Donglei , Chen Yong , Li Jingquan
Published: February 2021

The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential impact of tumor size on the long-term outcome of CC patients after curative surgery. A total of 782 curatively resected T4 stage CC patients without distant metastasis were enrolled. Patients were categorized into 2 groups according to the best threshold of tumor size: larger group (LG) and smaller group (SG). Propensity score matching was used to adjust for the differences in baseline characteristics. The ideal cutoff points for tumor size was 5 cm. In the multivariate analysis for the whole study series, tumor size was an independent prognostic factors. Patients in the LG had a significant lower 5-year OS rate, but higher distant metastatic rate than those in the SG (37.1% versus 25.2%, P < 0.001). After matching, patients in the LG still demonstrated a significant lower 5-year OS rate than those in the SG (63.5% versus 74.2%, P < 0.001). Patients in the LG benefited more from postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy than patients in the SG. The modified stage including tumor size was found to be more appropriate for predicting the OS of T4 stage CC than TNM stage. In conclusion, tumor size was an independent prognostic factor and could correlate with higher distant metastasis rate and better response of adjuvant chemotherapy. We maintain that tumor size should be incorporated into the staging system to enhance the accuracy of the prognostic prediction of T4 stage CC patients.
Local Recurrence in Young Women with Breast Cancer: Breast Conserving Therapy vs. Mastectomy Alone
Authors: Nguyen Dang Van , Kim Sang-Won , Oh Young-Taek , Noh O Kyu , Jung Yongsik , Yoon Dae Sung , Chun Mison
Published: February 2021

We compared cumulative incidence of local recurrence in young patients (≤ 40 years) with breast cancer between breast conserving therapy (BCT) and mastectomy alone. Among 428 women with early-stage breast cancer treated between 2001 and 2012, 311 underwent BCT and 117 underwent mastectomy alone. Adjuvant systemic treatments were administered to 409 patients (95.6%). We compared the cumulative incidence of LR and survival rates between two groups. During a median follow-up period of 91 months, the 10-year cumulative incidence of LR was 9.3% (median interval of 36.5 months from surgery). Patients treated with BCT tended to have a higher risk for local recurrence (11.1% for BCT vs. 4.1% for mastectomy alone, p = 0.078). All patients with isolated LR after BCT (n = 23) underwent salvage mastectomy followed by systemic treatments. The 5-year distant metastasis-free survival and overall survival of patients with isolated LR after BCT were 44.2% and 82.2%, respectively. The BCT group exhibited approximately a 2.5-fold higher risk of LR than mastectomy alone group. Patients with isolated LR after BCT showed poor prognosis despite undergoing aggressive salvage treatments. More effective long-term follow-up strategies should be established to reduce LR for improving prognosis and preserving cosmetic outcomes in young women.
Re-Evaluate of DNA Index Among the Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
Authors: Qiu Kun-yin , Liao Xiong-yu , Zhou Dun-hua , Fang Jian-pei
Published: February 2021

Background This study was aimed to re-evaluate the value of DNA index(DI) among pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) with the recent chemotherapy protocols.Methods Retrospective study were analysis among pediatric ALL patients from the TAGET dataset.Result Totally, 1,668 eligible pediatric patients were enrolled in this study. Of them, 993 are male and 675 are female with a median age of 7.6 years old. The median follow-up for those patients was 7.7 years (range 0.1-15.7 years). The probability of 10-year EFS and OS were reported to be 68.3±2% and 79.6±2%, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that DI was significantly associated with better EFS and OS. The threshold effect of DI on poor outcome was significant after adjusting for potential confounders. The adjusted regression coefficient (Log RR) was 0.7 (95%CI 0.1-3.2, P=0.597) for DI <1.1 while 8.8 (95%CI 1.4-56.0, P=0.021) for DI≥1.2 and 0.0 (95%CI 0.0-0.8, P=0.041) for 1.1≤DI<1.2. Generalized additive models revealed that the lowest rates of the adverse outcomes estimated to occur among DI between 1.1 and 1.2. Conclusion For those childhood ALL treated with recent chemotherapy protocols, the DI between 1.1 and 1.2 can serve as a significant cut-point discriminating the risk group, which indicated an independent prognostic factor.
PI3Kδ Inhibition Prevents IL33, ILC2s and Inflammatory Eosinophils in Persistent Airway Inflammation
Authors: Uddin Sorif , Amour Augustin , Lewis David J , Edwards Chris D , Williamson Matthew G , Hall Simon , Lione Lisa A. , Hessel Edith M
Published: February 2021

Background: Phosphoinositide-3-kinase-delta (PI3Kδ) inhibition is a promising therapeutic approach for inflammatory conditions due to its role in leucocyte proliferation, migration and activation. However, the effect of PI3Kδ inhibition on group-2-innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) and inflammatory eosinophils remains unknown. Using a murine model exhibiting persistent airway inflammation we sought to understand the effect of PI3Kδ inhibition, montelukast and anti-IL5 antibody treatment on IL33 expression, group-2-innate lymphoid cells, inflammatory eosinophils, and goblet cell metaplasia. Results: Mice were sensitised to house dust mite and after allowing inflammation to resolve, were re-challenged with house dust mite to re-initiate airway inflammation. ILC2s were found to persist in the airways following house dust mite sensitisation and after re-challenge their numbers increased further along with accumulation of inflammatory eosinophils. In contrast to montelukast or anti-IL5 antibody treatment, PI3Kδ inhibition ablated IL33 expression and prevented group-2-innate lymphoid cell accumulation. Only PI3Kδ inhibition and IL5 neutralization reduced the infiltration of inflammatory eosinophils. Moreover, PI3Kδ inhibition reduced goblet cell metaplasia. Conclusions: Hence, we show that PI3Kδ inhibition dampens allergic inflammatory responses by ablating key cell types and cytokines involved in T-helper-2-driven inflammatory responses.
Fire Susceptibility Mapping in the Northeast Forests and Rangelands of Iran using New and Ensemble Data Mining Models
Authors: Eskandari Saeedeh , Pourghasemi Hamid Reza , Tiefenbacher John P.
Published: February 2021

Fires have increased in the northeastern Iran as its semiarid climate landscape is being desiccated by human activities. To combat fire outbreaks in any region, one must map fire susceptibility with accurate and efficient models. This research mapped fire susceptibility in the forests and rangelands of northeastern Iran’s Golestan Province using new data mining models. Fire effective factors data describing elevation, slope angle, annual mean rainfall, annual mean temperature, wind effect, topographic wetness index (TWI), plan curvature, distance from river, distance to road, and distance to village were obtained from several sources. The relative importance of each variable was determined with a random forest algorithm. Fire susceptibility maps were produced in R 3.3.3 software using GAM, MARS, SVM algorithms and a new ens­emble of the three models: GAM-MARS-SVM. Validation of the four fire susceptibility maps was performed with the area under the curve. Results show that distance from village, annual mean rainfall and elevation were of greatest importance in predicting fire susceptibility. The new GAM-MARS-SVM ensemble model achieved the highest fire susceptibility mapping precision. The fire susceptibility map produced using the GAM-MARS-SVM ensemble model best detected the high fire risk areas in Golestan Province.
CLCA1 Has a Prognostic Indicator for the Colorectal Cancer by Weighted Gene Co-Expression Network Analysis
Authors: lin jiajng , yang lingzhi , lin suyong , chen zhihua , chen shaoqin
Published: February 2021

Colorectal cancer (CRC) has become the second most common digestive tract tumor. Even though the means to treat colon cancer have improved, patients prognosis is low due to the lack of accurate molecular targets. Hence, it urgently demanded better biomarkers for prognosis and progression of colon cancer. This study explores the hub gene associated with the prognosis of colorectal cancer and further analyzes the hub gene function. In this study, all genes mRNA expression data were from the cancer genome atlas (TCGA) colon cancer database and the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). These databases were used to screen the differentially expressed co-genes between colon cancer tissue and normal tissue. Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis screened out a total of 103 differential co-expression genes (WGCNA). According to the R cluster profile package annotation analysis, these genes biological functions mainly concentrate on energy metabolism. Moreover, in the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network, the CytoHubba plugin of Cytoscape was used to screen out ten genes (CLCA1, ZG16, GUCA2B, GUCA2A, CLCA4, SLC26A3, MS4A12, GCG, SI, and NR1H4). According to the survival analysis results, high expression of CLCA1has better overall survival and disease-free survival in patients with CRC. Simultaneously, the mRNA expression of CLCA1 in normal tissues was higher than that in CRC tissues. Besides, there were significant differences in the expression of CLCA1 in pathological stage, T stage, and M stage. By using a gene set enrichment analysis, we found several considerable enrichment pathways in the high-groups. CIBERSORT analysis for the proportion of TICs revealed that B-cell naive, dendritic cells, plasma cells, and CD4+ T cells were positively correlated with CLCA1 expression, suggesting that CLCA1 might be responsible for the preservation of immune-dominant status for TME. Finally, in the Human Protein Atlas (HPA) database, the protein level of CLCA1 in the colorectal cancer samples decreased, consistent with the down-regulation of the mRNA expression level CLCA1. To sum up, by integrating WGCNA with differential gene expression analysis, this research generated a significant survival correlative gene called CLCA1 that can predict prognosis prediction in colon cancer.
Holographic Optical Field Recovery Using a Regularized Untrained Deep Decoder Network
Authors: Niknam Farhad , Ghazvini Hamed , Latifi Hamid
Published: February 2021

Image reconstruction using minimal measured information has been a long-standing open problem in many computational imaging approaches, in particular in-line holography. Many solutions are devised based on compressive sensing (CS) techniques with handcrafted image priors or supervised Deep Neural Networks (DNN). However, the limited performance of CS methods due to lack of information about the image priors and the requirement of an enormous amount of per-sample-type training resources for DNNs has posed new challenges over the primary problem. In this study, we propose a single-shot lensless in-line holographic reconstruction method using an untrained deep neural network which is incorporated with a physical image formation algorithm. We demonstrate that by modifying a deep decoder network with simple regularizers, a Gabor hologram can be inversely reconstructed via a minimization process that is constrained by a deep image prior. The outcoming model allows to accurately recover the phase and amplitude images without any training dataset, excess measurements, or specific assumptions about the object’s or the measurement’s characteristics.
Inequitable Access to Healthcare in Africa: Reconceptualising the “Accountability for Reasonableness Framework” to Reflect Indigenous Principles
Authors: Ujewe Samuel Jonathan , Staden Werdi C. van
Published: February 2021

BackgroundThe “Accountability for Reasonableness” (A4R) framework has been widely adopted in working towards equity in health for sub-Saharan Africa. Its suitability for equitable health policy in Africa hinges, at least in part, on its considerable successes in the United States and it being among the most comprehensive ethical approaches in current literature in addressing inequitable access to healthcare. Methodology/FindingThis article considers applications of A4R towards health equity in sub-Saharan Africa – including the WHO’s “3-by-5” and the REACT projects – and ascribes some of the challenges that these projects encountered to an incongruity between the underpinning ethical principle of A4R and the communitarian ethical principle dominant in sub-Saharan Africa. These are respectively the fair equality of opportunity principle derived from John Rawls’ theory, and the African communal responsibility principle. ConclusionA health equity framework informed by the latter, we contend, should be more suitable for African contexts, generating impetus from within Africa alongside the affordances of A4R.
Integrated Geospatial Multi Influencing Factor Approach to Delineate and Identify Groundwater Potential Zones in Kabul Province, Afghanistan
Authors: Nasir Muhammad Jamal , Khan Sajjad , Ayaz Tehreem , Khan Amir Zeb , Ahmad Waqas , Lei Ming
Published: February 2021

This study was an attempt to evaluate the groundwater potentiality in Kabul province, Afghanistan using geospatial multi influencing factor (MIF) approach. The influencing parameters employed for the assessment of groundwater potential zones (GWPZ) includes slope, geology, soil, land use/land cover, lineament density, rainfall and drainage density. The sub-classes within each influencing parameter were sub-divided, based on their effectiveness in groundwater potentiality as major, minor and no effect, and subsequently assigned a score value. The combined score value of these parameters was used for calculating the relative weight. The delineated GWPZ were classified in four groups, i.e. poor, moderate, good and very good GWPZ. The study results revealed that very good GWPZ covered an area of 354.87km2 (2% of the total area), good 1523.86 km2 (20%), moderate 2250.99 km2 (73%) and poor 477.19 km2 (5%). The study concluded that geospatial assisted MIF approach was very useful and efficient techniques for the assessment of GWPZ and can be effectively employed to enhance the conceptual understanding of groundwater resources of Kabul Basin, Afghanistan.
Multi-View Whole Lung Radiomics Quantitative Analysis of COVID-19 Pneumonia Based on Machine Learning
Authors: Chen Li , Liu Shuang , Ye Yuming , Lin Li , Xu Shanghua , Qiu Moliang , Hu Zhijian
Published: February 2021

Background: Quantitative and radiomics imaging could realize non-invasive disease diagnosis. This study aimed to evaluate radiomics features of the whole lung for predicting new coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) from different views, and to investigate new radiomics features. 75 patients were retrospectively enrolled from December 1, 2019 to December 31, 2020. Both lungs were segmented by an unsupervised hybrid image segmentation approach. Radiomics features of the transverse plane, coronal plane and sagittal plane were separately extracted. After utilizing least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO), three radiomics models based on key radiomics features were built by machine learning. Meanwhile, the different categories radiomics models were constructed by the particle swarm optimization-deep extreme learning machine(PSO-DELM). Predictive accuracy, sensitivity, specificity and areas under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) were evaluated performances of these radiomics models.Results: Training and test cohorts had similar distributions of age and pneumonia type. 13 (transverse plane), 4 (coronal plane) and 8 (sagittal plane) selected features were constructed radiomics models in training cohort. Radiomics models based on PSO-DELM in the transverse plane, coronal plane and sagittal plane showed the favorable performance in the testing cohort(AUC=0.9444, 0.8636 and 0.9444, respectively). The phase congruency feature showed the stable predictive performance (AUC>0.9) among these radiomics features on the three different plane.Conclusions: Multi-view whole lung radiomics features could effectively differentiate COVID-19 from other types of pneumonia. Phase congruency may be attempted as a radiomics biomarker for the identification of pulmonary diseases. Merging the radiomics features into PSO-DELM is a promising direction for future research about medical radiology and deep learning.
Effect of Home-Based Pulmonary Rehabilitation on Functional Capacity in People With Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis- A Systematic Review Protocol
Authors: Amin Revati , Vaishali K , Maiya Arun G , Mohapatra Aswini Kumar , Yadav Uday Narayan , Parsekar Shradha S
Published: February 2021

BackgroundIdiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is one of the common types of interstitial lung disease having high prevalence and mortality worldwide. As a result of patient-centred hindering factors of adherence to centre-based pulmonary rehabilitation (PR), home-based PR is an alternate mode of rehabilitating individuals with IPF. This systematic review will evaluate the effectiveness of unsupervised home-based PR on functional capacity and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in individuals with IPF. MethodsClinically stable, high resolution computed tomography and physician diagnosed IPF participants having modified Medical Research Council score below five will be considered for the systematic review. Studies involving home-based PR as an intervention to treat individuals with IPF will be considered. Randomised controlled trials and quasi-randomised studies (with two groups followed-up) are eligible to be included. Outcomes of our interest are functional capacity (6-minute walk distance, shuttle walk test and incremental shuttle walk test) and secondary outcome measure would include assessment of quality of life and adverse effects of intervention. Electronic databases such as SCOPUS, Medline (PubMed and Web of Science), PEDRo and CINAHL will be searched using database specific terms. Additionally, forward and backward citations of included studies will be searched to identify potential records. Two review authors, independently, will conduct the screening, data extraction using a customised standard tool, and critical appraisal using Cochrane Risk of Bias 2 tool of included studies. If data permits, meta-analysis will be conducted. In case of substantial heterogeneity, we will do a narrative synthesis. Subgroup analysis will be undertaken based on various contextual and interventional factors. DiscussionThis systematic review will guide the physiotherapists and individuals with IPF on the effectiveness of unsupervised home-based PR that might support and promote participation in PR for better living.Systematic review registration﻿Protocol has been registered on PROSPERO CRD42020213883.
Identification of Genetic Determinants of Pancreatic Cancer Immune Phenotypes by Integrative Genome-scale Analysis
Authors: Ling Yuhang , Xu Jiaqi , Wang Xuedong , Song Jie , Qian Qiuhui , Wang huili
Published: February 2021

Background Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a malignant neoplasm of the digestive tract that is highly malignant and difficult to diagnose at an early stage with high postoperative mortality and low cure rates. Cancer immunotherapy is innovating the clinical treatment of several cancers, but has a limited role in PC. The incomplete understanding of immune response hinders the development of gene therapy. To fill this gap, it is very necessary to classify the immunogenic subtypes of PC to understand the relationship between tumor microenvironments and clinical pathological characteristics, DNA damage repair and tumor immune response.Methods We extracted copy number change, somatic mutation and expression data from tumor genome map (TCGA). Using RNA sequencing data, we defined three different immunophenotypes and elucidated how immune cell interactions in immune subtypes vary with the background of the immune system. Further correlation analysis between DNA damage repair (DDR) related genes expression and immune response was conducted to explore the effects of DDR expression on antitumor activity in the tumor microenvironments.Results We defined three different immunophenotypes and elucidated how immune cell interactions in immune subtypes vary with the background of the immune system. When the total number of mutations was standardized, no enrichment of new epitopes was detected in immunocompetent phenotypes. These observations suggest that mutations in Th-1 enriched IS3 tumors are essentially no more immunogenic than those in IS2 cancers. We also found that the expression patterns of key IFN mediators STAT1 and / or STAT3 were increased in tumors with DDR mutations (19 of ATM, ERCC1, Rb1, BRCA2, pole and TP53), which is a reflex activation of IFN pathway.Conclusions Three defined immune subtypes show different characteristics of immune cell infiltration, revealing different manifestations in anti-cancer immune function. That is to say, clinical biological events of differential tumors are associated to immune-phenotypes. The invasive phenotype was driven by somatic mutations across immune subtypes, and DDR defect may also influence the response of tumor immune subtypes. Our results suggested that the occurrence of pancreatic cancer is related to genetic factors of immunophenotype, providing information for clinical prognosis and outcome of pancreatic cancer.
Tunicamycin aggravates cell migration, cell invasion and cell proliferation in colonic epithelial cells
Authors: Gundamaraju Rohit , vemuri Ravichandra , Ambati Ranga Rao , Rangaswamy Lakshminarayana , Lu Wenying , eri Rajaraman
Published: February 2021

Aim: Endoplasmic reticular stress (ERS) has been well-documented in escalating metastasis in clinical conditions. There has been a debate on its role in cancer portraying it as a double-edged sword. However, there is no evidence of increased cell migration and cell invasion under increased ERS by tunicamycin(TUN) 10μg/mL. Methods: In this study, we treated colonic epithelial cells (LS174T cells) with TUN and measured cell proliferation (by Ki67+ assay), cell migration and cell invasion at the 6th hour specifically. Results: Our results have demonstrated a positive correlation between TUN and cell migration, cell invasion, and proliferation. TUN treatment has significantly escalated cell invasion, migration and proliferation in LS174T cells. Conclusion: These preliminary results clearly suggest that TUN might promote metastasis of gastrointestinal cancers.
Attitudes Towards Chiropractic: A Repeated Cross-Sectional Survey of Canadian Family Physicians 
Authors: Busse Jason Walter , Pallapothu Sushmitha , Vinh Brian , Lee Vivienne , Abril Lina , Canga Albana , Riva John , Viggiani Daniel , Dilauro Marc , Harvey Marie-Pierre , Pagé Isabelle , Bhela Avneet , Sandhu Serena , Makanjuola Oluwatoni , Hassan Muhammad Taaha , Moore Ainsley , Gauthier Claude , Price David
Published: February 2021

Background: Attitudes of Canadian family physicians towards chiropractic are uncertain. Methods: A 50-item survey administered to a ranmdom sample of Canadian family physcians in 2010, and again in 2019, that inquired about demographic variables, knowledge and use of chiropractic. Imbedded in our survey was an 80-point chiropractic attitude questionnaire (CAQ); higher scores indicated more positive attitudes toward chiropractic. Results: Among eligible physicians, 251 of 685 in 2010 (37% response rate) and 162 of 2,429 in 2019 (7% response rate) provided a completed survey. Approximately half of respondents (48%) endorsed a positive impression of chiropractic, with 27% expressing uncertainty and 25% holding negative views. Most respondents (72%) referred patients for chiropractic care, mainly due to patient request or lack of response to medical care. Most physicians believed that chiropractors provide effective therapy for some musculoskeletal complaints (84%) and disagreed that chiropractic care was beneficial for non-musculoskeletal conditions (77%). The majority agreed that chiropractic care was a useful supplement to conventional care (65%) but most respondents (59%) also indicated that practice diversity within the chiropractic profession presented a barrier to interprofessional collaboration. In our adjusted regression model, attitudes towards chiropractic showed trivial improvement from 2010 to 2019 (0.31 points on the CAQ; 95%CI 0.001 to 0.62). More negative attitudes were associated with older age (-1.55 points for each 10-year increment from age 28; 95%CI -2.67 to -0.44), belief that adverse events are common with chiropractic care (-1.41 points; 95% CI -2.59 to -0.23) and reported use of the research literature (-6.04 points; 95% CI -8.47 to -3.61) or medical school (-5.03 points; 95% CI = -7.89 to -2.18) as a source of knowledge on chiropractic. More positive attitudes were associated with endorsing a relationship with a specific chiropractor (5.24 points; 95% CI 2.85 to 7.64), family and friends (4.06 points; 95% CI 1.53 to 6.60), or personal treatment experience (4.63 points; 95% CI 2.14 to 7.11) as sources of information regarding chiropractic.Conclusions: Although generally positive, Canadian family physicians’ attitudes towards chiropractic are diverse, and most physicians acknowledge that practice diversity within the chiropractic profession presents a barrier to interprofessional collaboration.
Identification of Climatic and Soil Biocenotic Factors Influencing the Height Growth of Lapland Pine in North European Russia
Authors: Popova Elena , Koukhta Anna E. , Popov Igor O.
Published: February 2021

Background: Lapland pine (Pinus sylvestris ssp. lapponica Fr. ex Hartm) is the geographical and climatic ecotype and subspecies of Scots pine. It is widespread in the north of Eurasia. Height growth is interconnected with both climatic parameters and the state of the habitat of pine trees. Methods: Long-term data on height growth indices of Lapland pine (var. nana Pallas (1784)), growing in various humid biogeocenoses of three specially protected natural territories of the North European part of Russia were studied. Also sixteen basic climatic parameters averaged over the growth period of the examined trees were calculated for these regions. The comparison of the values of both different climatic parameters and the height growth of pine stands of various biogeocenoses was made by the method of cluster analysis. Results: It was established that climatic parameters such as the mean daily average temperature in January and the amount of precipitation in the spring and early summer periods had a primary influence on the cluster similarity of the height growth of Lapland pine in the North European Russia. The proximity of soil and biocenotic conditions also influenced the similarity of height growth indices of Lapland pine, but had a lower rank within the two main clusters, distinguished by climatic values. Conclusion: Our studies showed that it is possible to identify the rank influence of the most significant climatic factors and soil-biocenotic conditions on the height growth of the geographical ecotype Lapland pine subspecies with the cluster analysis.
Design and Optimization of Strength type Negative Pressure Suction Force Pluck Port based on Tesla Valve
Authors: Niu Zijie , Shengming XU , jiangang JIANG , Jun ZHANG
Published: February 2021

An apple pluck port based on negative pressure suction force can realize contactless apple plucking and also reduce possible damage to the apple. Accordingly, in this study, a strength type pneumatic pluck port was designed on the basis of a Tesla valve. First, a low air pressure block for mechanization of the Tesla valve structure at the intersection between the main and curved air passageway was theoretically modelled and analyzed. Then, the air pressure and the flow speed distribution were analyzed for three different types of structure parameters under various distances of the Tesla pluck port from the apple; on the basis of a fluent simulation, the maximum pressure difference at both sides of the apple was also simulated. Finally, the structure parameters under an optimal negative pressure field according to the simulation analysis were proposed, and a manufactured experimental test was conducted to compare the results with the simulation. The simulation and experimental data prove that when the included angle between the main and curved air passageway of the Tesla pluck port is lower than 45°, the low air pressure block at the intersection between the main and curved air passageway of the Tesla valve affects the flow of the pluck port and extends the length of the low air pressure block. The Tesla pluck port guarantees a flow in the pipe when the pipe port diameter is 10–15 mm larger than the apple diameter, ensuring the negative strengthening effect of the Tesla pluck port. The experiment proves that the Tesla pluck port designed in this study exhibits a better negative pressure strengthening effect than that achieved via previously existing methods, which can strengthen the plucking effect.
Lithium Inhibits Oxidative Stress-Induced Neuronal Senescence Through miR-34a
Authors: Tufekci Kemal Ugur , Alural Begum , Tarakcioglu Emre , San Tugba , Genc Sermin
Published: February 2021

Neuronal senescence, triggered by telomere shortening, oncogene activation, DNA damage, or oxidative stress, has been associated with neurodegenerative diseases' pathogenesis. Therefore, preventing neuronal senescence could be a novel treatment strategy for neurodegenerative diseases. Lithium (Li), the first-line treatment against bipolar disorder, has been shown to have neuroprotective effects in clinical, pre-clinical, and in vitro studies. Lithium can protect cells from senescence, and its effect on neuronal senescence was investigated in our study. Furthermore, we also investigated the effects of lithium on the senescence-associated miR-34a/Sirt1/p53 pathway. In this study, hydrogen peroxide was used as an inducer for the "stress-induced premature senescence" model. In the senescence model, we have assessed Li's effects on senescence by analyzing ß-galactosidase activity, Sudan Black B, and senescence-associated heterochromatin foci (SAHF) stainings, and on cell cycle arrest by BrdU staining. Furthermore, expression levels of senescence and cell cycle arrest-related proteins (p53, p21, p16INK4a, and SIRT1) by western blotting. Finally, the effects of Li on senescence-associated miR-34a levels were measured by quantitative PCR. We show via Sudan Black B staining, β-Gal activity assay, and by detecting SAHF, Li protects against senescence in neuronal cells. Then, lithium's effect on signaling has also been determined on pathways involved in senescence and cell cycle arrest. Moreover, we have observed that Li has a modulatory effect on miR-34a expression. Therefore, we posit that Li suppresses senescence in neuronal cells and that this effect is mediated through miR-34a/Sirt1/p53 axis.
Cup Positioning in True or False Acetabulum in Total Hip Arthroplasty: Which one is More Effective: A Randomized Clinical Trial on Patients with Crowe type 3 and 4 Dysplastic Hip
Authors: Motififard Mehdi , Hatami Saeed , Rafiee Moslem , Toghyani Arash , Andalib Ali
Published: February 2021

Background and objectives: Hip dysplasia is a common hip disease which could be diagnosed in different ages and Total hip arthroplasty (THA) is a common surgical procedure for dysplastic hip in adults. Cup placement in patients with false acetabulum formation could be performed in true or false acetabulum. The current study aimed at evaluating and comparing the effectiveness of these two procedures in patients with Crowe type 3 or 4 dysplastic hip underwent THA. Methods: In this randomized open label parallel group clinical trial 67 patients/71 hips with crowe type 3 or 4 dysplastic hip undergoing THA were assigned to Group 1: patients with cup placement in true acetabulum or group 2: patients with cup placement in false acetabulum. Severity of pain was assessed using visual analogue scale (VAS), range of motion (ROM), limb discrepancy, gait ability, need for repeated joint replacement and also Harris hip score. Data were collected and analyzed using SPSS software version 20.Results: 67 patients/71hips entered the current study with the mean age of 50.51± 9.94 years. Two study groups were comparable in terms of basic characteristics (P> 0.05). No significant differences were observed between two groups regarding mean values of VAS, ROM, limb discrepancy and Harris hip score (P> 0.05). Conclusion: Cup placements in true or false acetabulum showed comparable effectiveness on all studied main orthopedics outcomes which are clinically important. We recommend more clinical trial studies with larger sample size for confirming our study results.
Dual Staining Effect of Extracts Roselle (Hibiscus Sabdariffa L.) and Red Cabbage (Brassica Oleracea) on Wistar Rat Tissues
Authors: KUŞÇULU NİLGÜN
Published: February 2021

Background: Apart from the areas where natural dyes are used a lot, if staining studies on tissues increase, their use in pathology laboratory will become widespread. Two basic elements in cell tissues, the nucleus, and cytoplasm, should be stained and evaluated together for histopathological diagnosis. The most commonly used dye combinations for this diagnosis are Hematoxylin-Eosin dyes, also known as nuclei and cytoplasm dyes. Histological staining studies of natural origin did not reveal staining studies on the same tissue with the extracts of two plants. Methods and Results: In this study, roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) and red cabbage (Brassica oleracea) leaves were used as a source of natural dye and also liver and kidney tissues of Wistar albino rat as dye biomaterials. The nuclei and cytoplasm regions of rat kidney and liver tissues were stained in different colors with these plants and the use of metal salts. Relying upon hematoxylin-eosin should it ever be scarce will result in the scarcity of plant-based dyes on the market.Conclusion: Since a more colorful, different nucleus and cytoplasm staining was obtained compared to previous work with the same tissues. It is expected that the introduction of new natural dye alternatives where histological dye production is not widespread will contribute to the world’s economy and industry.
High Altitude Platform Free Space Optics System Using Various Filtering Operations For Fifth Generation System
Authors: Fadhil Hilal Adnan , RAAD SARA , ahmed hassan , Z. median , Al-Imitiz Waqas
Published: February 2021

This paper presents high altitude platform free space optics (HAP-FSO) channels using various filtering operations for fifth generation (5G) system. Performance analysis is done utilizing different types of optical filters such as Bessel, Trapezoidal, Gaussian and Rectangular. A comparison is carried out between our proposed scheme and reported counterpart. HAP-FSO performances have been investigated by referring to different factors such as transmission distance, transmitting aperture diameter, beam divergence, transmitter aperture diameter, and receiver diameter. Simulation analysis is carried out in highly recognized software tool called Optisystem to validate the implementation and performance of the proposed system. It is found that the most extreme quality services can be accomplished via utilizing Gaussian optical channel in comparison with distinctive optical channels. Simulation results also confirm the proposed system for error free transmission at bit error rate (BER) of 10-9 for all types of filters at 10Gbps with in favor to Gaussian filter for the same number of users.
Appendectomy During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy. A Multicenter Ambispective Cohort Study by the Italian Society of Endoscopic Surgery and new technologies (the CRAC study).
Authors: Sartori Alberto , Podda Mauro , Botteri Emanuele , Passera Roberto , Arezzo Alberto , Agresta Ferdinando
Published: February 2021

Background To determine on a national basis the surgical activity regarding appendectomies during the first Italian wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Major surgical societies advised using non-operative management of appendicitis and suggested against laparoscopy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Multicenter, observational study investigating the outcomes of patients undergoing appendectomy in the two months of March-April 2019 vs. March-April 2020. The primary outcome was the number of appendectomies performed during each of the two months, classified according to the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST) score. Secondary outcomes were the type of surgical technique employed (laparoscopic vs. open), and the complication rates. Results 1541 patients with acute appendicitis underwent surgery during the two study periods. 1337 (86.8%) patients met the study inclusion criteria. 546 (40.8%) patients underwent surgery for acute appendicitis in 2020 and 791 (59.8%) in 2019. Patients with complicated appendicitis operated in 2019 were 76 (9.6%) vs. 87 (15.9%) in 2020 (p = 0.001). An increase in the number of post-operative complications was found in 2020 (15.9%) compared to 2019 (9.6%) (p < 0.001). The following determinants increased the likelihood of complication occurrence: undergoing surgery during 2020 (+ 67%), having a unit AAST (+ 26%) increase, having waited for surgery > 24 h (+ 58%), being the surgeon aged > 40 years (+ 47%), undergoing open surgery (+ 112%) and being converted to open surgery (+ 166%). Conclusions In Italian hospitals, in March and April 2020, the number of appendectomies has drastically dropped. Patients undergoing surgery during the first pandemic wave were more frequently affected by more severe appendicitis than the previous year's timeframe and a higher complication rate was reported. Trial registration: ResearchRegistry ID 5789.
Nurses' Trust in Managers and its Relationship with Nurses' Performance Behaviors: A Descriptive- Correlational Study
Authors: moghaddam maryam hadi- , karimollahi mansoureh , aghamohammadi masoumeh
Published: February 2021

Background: Organizational trust is one of the most important issues in human relations that its importance in organizations is well known. In fact, effective communication and cooperation between individuals requires trust. On the other hand, the quality of a nurse's trust in his/ her manager affects the behavior and performance of the nurse. The purpose of this study was to determine nurses' trust in managers (head-nurses and supervisors) and its relationship with nurses' performance behavior.Methods: This descriptive-correlational study was performed with the participation of 431 nurses working in educational centers of Ardabil, Iran. The sampling method was stratified random. Questionnaires of the McAllister Trust and Paterson Job Performance were used. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, frequency) and Chi-square test in SPSS v.22.Results: The results showed that the majority of nurses trusted head-nurses (80.3%) and supervisors (61.9%). In addition, most nurses' functional behavior (92.1%) was reported as excellent. There was no significant relationship between nurse trust in head-nurse and nurses' functional behavior (P=0.58), while it was significant between nurse-supervisor trust and nurses' functional behavior (P=0.03).Conclusion: The results of this study showed a relationship between nurse-supervisor trust and nurses' functional behavior. Therefore, it is recommended ways to improve the trust between the treatment team, especially among nurses and supervisors are considered as one of the factors influencing the nurses' behavioral performance.
An adaptive and abductive approach to develop community capability for environmental conservation in Lake Biwa (Japan)
Authors: Kondo Yasuhisa , Fujisawa Eiichi , Ishikawa Kanako , Nakahara Satoe , Matsushita Kyohei , Asano Satoshi , Kamatani Kaoru , Suetsugu Satoko , Kano Kei , Kumazawa Terukazu , Sato Kenichi , Okuda Noboru
Published: February 2021

In the south basin of Lake Biwa, Shiga, Japan, overgrown aquatic weeds (submerged macrophytes) impede cruising boats, and cause unpleasant odors and undesirable waste when washed ashore. To address this socio-ecological problem, Shiga Prefectural Government implemented a public program to remove overgrown weeds and compost them ashore to conserve the lake environment, while coastal inhabitants and occasional volunteers remove weeds from the beaches to maintain the quality of the living environment. However, these effects are limited because of the disjointed social networks. We evaluate an adaptive and abductive approach to develop community capability to jointly address this problem by sharing the academic knowledge with local actors and empowering them to adopt initiatives. The initial multifaceted academic reviews, including interviews and postal questionnaire surveys revealed that the agro-economic value of composted weeds declined in historical and socio-psychological contexts and that most of the unengaged public relied on local governments to address environmental problems. These findings were synthesized and assessed with workshop participants, including local inhabitants, governmental agents, businesspeople, social entrepreneurs, and research experts, to unearth the best solution. The workshops resulted in the development of an e-point system, called Biwa Point , to promote and acknowledge voluntary environmental conservation activities, including beach cleaning. It may contribute to enhancing the socio-ecological capability of communities. Additionally, ethical issues, such as publication of inconvenient truths or undesired interpretation by the researchers as well as social constraints in research methods, arose through our research practice.
Fluoride levels in deep aquifers of Makurdi, North-central, Nigeria: An Appraisal based on multivariate statistics and human health risk analysis
Authors: Iwar Raphael Terungwa , Ogedengbe Kola' , Katibi Kamil Kayode , Jabbo Josiah Nuhu
Published: February 2021

This study was conducted to investigate the ionic and fluoride concentrations in borehole water and its associated health risk potentials to residents of Makurdi town and its environs, Benue state, Nigeria. An aggregate of sixty-three (63) groundwater samples were retrieved from boreholes in twenty-one (21) diverse points within the study area and assessed for its physico-chemical composition with emphasis on fluoride content and health risk potentials following standard field and laboratory procedures. It was observed that fluoride content in the sampled water exceeded the stipulated safe limit of 1.5 mg/L in about 33.33% of the total samples and ranged from 0.34–2.06 mg/L with an average of 1.26 ± 0.41 mg/L. Moderate affirmative relationships were observed to exist between F− and TDS; F− and EC; F− and Cl−; F− and NO3− in the water samples indicative of a common source pollution. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) revealed that high fluoride content in the water samples was associated with the dissolutions from quartzite and shale into the underlying deep aquifers. Fluoride risk assessment indicated that the hazard quotient (HQ) for ingestion of fluoride laden water exceeded the threshold value in 66.7, 71.4, 52.4 and 9.5% of the samples for infants, children, teenagers, and adults respectively. It is concluded that groundwater in Makurdi is contaminated with excessive fluoride levels in most locations; hence, the findings of this study would serve as a basis for policy makers and regulatory bodies towards ameliorating the menace of groundwater contamination within the study area.
Aqueous extract from Cinnamomum zeylanicum (Lauraceae) stem-bark ameliorates gentamicin-induced nephrotoxicity in rats by modulating oxidative stress and inflammatory markers
Authors: Albert ATSAMO , SONGMENE LONTSIE Auscar , DONFACK Mireille Flaure METCHI , KENFACK Omer Bébé NGOUATEU , NGUELEFACK Télesphore Benoît , DIMO Théophile
Published: February 2021

Nephropathies and especially nephrotoxicity has become one of serious cause of life threatening condition, because of intensive exposure to xenobiotic either by environmental pollution or drug abuse. The present study was undertaken to assess the protective effects of Cinnamomum zeylanicum stem-bark aqueous extract (AECZ) on gentamicin-induced nephrotoxicity. AECZ was prepared by maceration in water and tested orally at the doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg/day to prevent gentamicin induced nephropathies in male Wistar rats. Gentamicin (100 mg/kg/day) was administered for 14 consecutive days by intraperitoneal route, concomitantly with AECZ or silymarin (50 mg/kg/day) used as reference drug. Animal body weight was monitored during the treatment. After the last treatment of the 14 th day, a 24h urine was collected and animals were sacrificed. Blood was collected for the evaluation of hematological and renal function biomarkers. The homogenate of one kidney was used to assess oxidative stress markers and pro-inflammatory cytokine, while the other one was fixed in formaldehyde for histopathological studies. Gentamicin decreased body weight, serum total proteins and calcemia, but increased kidneys relative weight, serum creatinine, urea and uric acid. Moreover, the levels of reduced glutathione, catalase and superoxide dismutase activities were decreased, while an increase in malondialdehyde, proinflammatory cytokines (TNFα, IL-1β, IL-6) and nitrites were observed in negative control group as compared to normal control. Histological analysis of the kidney revealed the presence of tubular necrosis, glomerular degeneration and macrophage infiltration in gentamicin treated group. All these impairment parameters were prevented by AECZ and silymarin treatments.AECZ has a protective effect against gentamicin-induced nephrotoxicity. The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory potentials of this extract may highly contribute to its nephroprotective activity.
Prevalence and Characteristics of Persistent Symptoms After Non-Severe COVID-19: A Prospective Cohort Study
Authors: Armange Lucas , Bénézit François , Picard Léa , Pronier Charlotte , Guillot Stéphanie , Lentz Pierre-Axel , Carré François , Tattevin Pierre , Revest Matthieu
Published: February 2021

We performed a prospective cohort study of 311 outpatients with non-severe COVID-19 (187 women, median age 39 years). Of the 214 (68.8%) who completed the 6-week follow-up questionnaire, 115 (53.7%) had recovered. Others mostly reported dyspnea (n=86, 40.2%), weight loss (n=83, 38.8%), sleep disorders (n=68, 31.8%), and anxiety (n=56, 26.2%). Of those who developed ageusia and anosmia, these symptoms were still present at week 6 in, respectively, 11/111 (9.9%), and 19/114 (16.7%). Chest CT scan and lung function tests found no explanation in the most disabled patients (n=23). This study confirms the high prevalence of persistent symptoms after non-severe COVID-19.