bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Oxygen therapy and inpatient mortality in COPD exacerbation
Authors: Echevarria Carlos , Steer John , Wason James , Bourke Stephen
Published: November 2020

Background

In hospitalised patients with exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, European and British guidelines endorse oxygen target saturations of 88%–92%, with adjustment to 94%–98% if carbon dioxide levels are normal. We assessed the impact of admission oxygen saturation level and baseline carbon dioxide on inpatient mortality.

Methods

Patients were identified from the prospective Dyspnoea, Eosinopenia, Consolidation, Acidaemia and Atrial Fibrillation (DECAF) derivation study (December 2008–June 2010) and the mixed methods DECAF validation study (January 2012 to May 2014). In six UK hospitals, of 2645 patients with COPD exacerbation, 1027 patients were in receipt of supplemental oxygen at admission. All had a clinical history of COPD and obstructive spirometry. These patients were subdivided into the following groups: admission oxygen saturations of 87% or less, 88%–92%, 93%–96% or 97%–100%. Inpatient mortality was calculated for each group and expressed as ORs. The DECAF score and National Early Warning Score 2 (excluding oxygen saturation) were used in binary logistic regression to adjust for baseline risk.

Results

In patients with COPD receiving supplemental oxygen, oxygen saturations above 92% were associated with higher mortality and an adverse dose–response. Compared with the 88%–92% group, the adjusted risk of death (OR) in the 93%–96% and 97%–100% groups was 1.98 (95% CI 1.09 to 3.60, p=0.025) and 2.97 (95% CI 1.58 to 5.58, p=0.001). In the subgroup with normocapnia, the mortality signal remained significant in both the 93%–96% and 97%–100% groups.

Conclusions

Inpatient mortality was lowest in those with oxygen saturations of 88%–92%. Even modest elevations in oxygen saturations above this range (93%–96%) were associated with an increased risk of death. A similar mortality trend was seen in both patients with hypercapnia and normocapnia. This shows that the practice of setting different target saturations based on carbon dioxide levels is not justified. Treating all patients with COPD with target saturations of 88%–92% will simplify prescribing and should improve outcome.

Trial registration number

UKCRN ID 14214.
Psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic in France: a national assessment of at-risk populations
Authors: Chaix Benjamin , Delamon Guillaume , Guillemassé Arthur , Brouard Benoît , Bibault Jean-Emmanuel
Published: November 2020

Background

Lockdowns were implemented to limit the spread of COVID-19. Peritraumatic distress (PD) and post-traumatic stress disorder have been reported after traumatic events, but the specific effect of the pandemic is not well known.

Aim

The aim of this study was to assess PD in France, a country where COVID-19 had such a dramatic impact that it required a country-wide lockdown.

Methods

We recruited patients in four groups of chatbot users followed for breast cancer, asthma, depression and migraine. We used the Psychological Distress Inventory (PDI), a validated scale to measure PD during traumatic events, and correlated PD risk with patients’ characteristics in order to better identify the ones who were the most at risk.

Results

The study included 1771 participants. 91.25% (n=1616) were female with a mean age of 32.8 (13.71) years and 7.96% (n=141) were male with a mean age of 28.0 (8.14) years. In total, 38.06% (n=674) of the respondents had psychological distress (PDI ≥14). An analysis of variance showed that unemployment and depression were significantly associated with a higher PDI score. Patients using their smartphones or computers for more than 1 hour a day also had a higher PDI score (p=0.026).

Conclusion

Prevalence of PD in at-risk patients is high. These patients are also at an increased risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder. Specific steps should be implemented to monitor and prevent PD through dedicated mental health policies if we want to limit the public health impact of COVID-19 in time.

Trial registration number

NCT04337047.
Time for time off? Secondary public holiday shows minimal net hospitalisation benefit
Authors: Telfar Barnard Lucy Frances
Published: November 2020

Background

We aimed to use New Zealand’s Anzac Day to test the public health effect of secondary public holidays; and to use weekly hospitalisation counts to identify which dates were more health suitable for a potential new public holiday.

Methods

We conducted a retrospective population cohort study of hospital admissions in New Zealand between 23 April and 27 May 1988–2018. We compared acute and arranged hospitalisation and mortality rates in holiday (Anzac Day Monday to Friday) and non-holiday (Anzac Day Saturday or Sunday) years, for mid-week holidays and long weekends; and measured total weekly average acute and arranged hospitalisation counts.

Results

Hospitalisation rates were lower in holiday years than non-holiday years (rate ratio (RR) 0.96, 95% CI 0.95 to 0.96, p<0.001), with fewer arranged admissions (RR 0.93, 95% CI 0.93 to 0.94, p<0.001), but no significant difference for acute admissions (RR 1.00, 95% CI 0.99 to 1.00, p=0.087). Holiday year acute admission rates were lower than non-holiday years for children aged 0–4 years, but higher for adults aged 15–44 years. Holidays reduced arranged admissions most in children and areas of higher socioeconomic deprivation. There was no significant difference for mortality. Average weekly acute hospitalisations were higher than arranged admissions between 10 June and 7 October.

Conclusion

Secondary holidays do not reduce deaths; or acute hospital admissions except in the holiday week; and may delay elective treatment. However, if New Zealand is to add a new public holiday, it would have least detrimental health effect scheduled between 10 June and 7 October.
Local IFNα enhances the anti-tumoral efficacy of systemic anti-PD1 to prevent tumor relapse
Authors: Guerin Marion v , Regnier Fabienne , Thoreau Maxime , Vimeux Lene , Benard Matthieu , Dransart Estelle , Penny Hweixian L , Johannes Ludger , Trautmann Alain , Bercovici Nadege
Published: November 2020

Background

Tumor relapse constitutes a major challenge for anti-tumoral treatments, including immunotherapies. Indeed, most cancer-related deaths occur during the tumor relapse phase.

Methods

We designed a mouse model of tumor relapse in which mice transplanted with E7+TC1 tumor cells received a single therapeutic vaccination of STxB-E7+IFNα. Unlike the complete regression observed after two vaccinations, such a treatment induced a transient shrinkage of the tumor mass, followed by a rapid tumor outgrowth. To prevent this relapse, we tested the efficacy of a local administration of IFNα together with a systemic therapy with anti-PD1 Ab. The immune response was analyzed during both the tumor regression and relapse phases.

Results

We show that, during the regression phase, tumors of mice treated with a single vaccination of STxB-E7 + IFNα harbor fewer activated CD8 T cells and monocytes than tumors doomed to fully regress after two vaccinations. In contrast, the systemic injection of an anti-PD1 Ab combined with the peri-tumoral injection of IFNα in this time frame promotes infiltration of activated CD8 T cells and myeloid cells, which, together, exert a high cytotoxicity in vitro against TC1 cells. Moreover, the IFNα and anti-PD1 Ab combination was found to be more efficient than IFNα or anti-PD1 used alone in preventing tumor relapse and was better able to prolong mice survival.

Conclusions

Together, these results indicate that the local increase of IFNα in combination with an anti-PD1 therapy is an effective way to promote efficient and durable innate and adaptive immune responses preventing tumor relapse.
Plasma microRNA signature in presymptomatic and symptomatic subjects with C9orf72-associated frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Authors: Kmetzsch Virgilio , Anquetil Vincent , Saracino Dario , Rinaldi Daisy , Camuzat Agnès , Gareau Thomas , Jornea Ludmila , Forlani Sylvie , Couratier Philippe , Wallon David , Pasquier Florence , Robil Noémie , de la Grange Pierre , Moszer Ivan , Le Ber Isabelle , Colliot Olivier , Becker Emmanuelle
Published: November 2020

Objective

To identify potential biomarkers of preclinical and clinical progression in chromosome 9 open reading frame 72 gene (C9orf72)-associated disease by assessing the expression levels of plasma microRNAs (miRNAs) in C9orf72 patients and presymptomatic carriers.

Methods

The PREV-DEMALS study is a prospective study including 22 C9orf72 patients, 45 presymptomatic C9orf72 mutation carriers and 43 controls. We assessed the expression levels of 2576 miRNAs, among which 589 were above noise level, in plasma samples of all participants using RNA sequencing. The expression levels of the differentially expressed miRNAs between patients, presymptomatic carriers and controls were further used to build logistic regression classifiers.

Results

Four miRNAs were differentially expressed between patients and controls: miR-34a-5p and miR-345-5p were overexpressed, while miR-200c-3p and miR-10a-3p were underexpressed in patients. MiR-34a-5p was also overexpressed in presymptomatic carriers compared with healthy controls, suggesting that miR-34a-5p expression is deregulated in cases with C9orf72 mutation. Moreover, miR-345-5p was also overexpressed in patients compared with presymptomatic carriers, which supports the correlation of miR-345-5p expression with the progression of C9orf72-associated disease. Together, miR-200c-3p and miR-10a-3p underexpression might be associated with full-blown disease. Four presymptomatic subjects in transitional/prodromal stage, close to the disease conversion, exhibited a stronger similarity with the expression levels of patients.

Conclusions

We identified a signature of four miRNAs differentially expressed in plasma between clinical conditions that have potential to represent progression biomarkers for C9orf72-associated frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. This study suggests that dysregulation of miRNAs is dynamically altered throughout neurodegenerative diseases progression, and can be detectable even long before clinical onset.

Trial registration number

NCT02590276.
Impact of timing of atrial fibrillation, CHA2DS2-VASc score and cancer therapeutics on mortality in oncology patients
Authors: Hussain Muzna , Misbah Rabel , Donnellan Eoin , Alkharabsheh Saqer , Hou Yuan , Cheng Feixiong , Crookshanks Michael , Watson Chris J , Toth Andrew J , Houghtaling Penny , Moudgil Rohit , Budd G Thomas , Tang W H Wilson , Kwon Deborah H , Jaber Wael , Griffin Brian , Kanj Mohamad , Collier Patrick
Published: November 2020

Objectives

To investigate timing and age distribution of atrial fibrillation (AF) in selected oncology patients, and the impact of AF timing, CHA2DS2-VASc score and cancer therapeutics on mortality.

Methods

This is a retrospective cohort study of oncology patients referred to the cardio-oncology service from 2011 to 2018 for echocardiographic cardiosurveillance and/or pre-existing cardiovascular risk factor/disease management. Rates of first AF diagnosis was assessed using a parametric multiphase hazard model (predictive modelling) and non-parametrically by Kaplan-Meier with transformations tested using a bootstrap methodology.

Results

Among 6754 patients identified, 174 patients had their first AF diagnosisbeforecancer while 609 patients had their first diagnosis of AFaftercancer. Most first AF diagnosis occurred at/early after cancer diagnosis. Increasing AF prevalence at time of cancer diagnosis was seen across older age groups ranges. Diagnosis of cancer at an older age and exposure to cardiotoxic treatment (anthracyclines, HER2-neu inhibitors, tyrosine kinase inhibitors including ibrutinib and radiation) were associated with an increased risk of AF.

Modelling of the hazard function of AF identified a high left-skewed peak within 3 years after cancer diagnosis (‘early phase’), followed by a gradual late slight rise 3 years after cancer diagnosis (‘late phase’). AF diagnosis was only associated with death in the early phase (p<0.001), while CHA2DS2-VASc score was only associated with death in the late phase (p<0.001).

Conclusions

This study reports a nuanced/complex relationship between AF and cancer. First diagnosis of AF in patients with cancer was more common at/early after cancer diagnosis, especially in older patients and those exposed to cardiotoxic treatment. Pre-existing AF or a diagnosis of AF within 3 years after cancer diagnosis carried a negative prognosis. CHA2DS2-VASc score did not relate to mortality in those that developed AF within 3 years of cancer diagnosis.
Hourly staircase sprinting exercise “snacks” improve femoral artery shear patterns but not flow-mediated dilation or cerebrovascular regulation: a pilot study
Authors: Caldwell Hannah G. , Coombs Geoff B. , Rafiei Hossein , Ainslie Philip N. , Little Jonathan P.
Published: November 2020

Healthy males (n = 10; age: 24 ± 4 years; body mass index: 24 ± 2 kg·m−2) completed 2 randomized conditions separated by ≥48 h involving 6–8.5 h of sitting with (“stair snacks”) and without (sedentary) hourly staircase sprint interval exercise (∼14–20 s each). Resting blood flow and shear rates were measured in the femoral artery, internal carotid artery, and vertebral artery (Duplex ultrasound). Flow-mediated dilation (FMD) was quantified as an index of peripheral endothelial function in the femoral artery. Neurovascular coupling (NVC; regional blood flow response to local increases in cerebral metabolism) was assessed in the posterior cerebral artery (transcranial Doppler ultrasound). Femoral artery hemodynamics were higher following the active trial with no change in the sedentary trial, including blood flow (+32 ± 23% vs. −10 ± 28%; P = 0.015 and P = 0.253, respectively), vascular conductance (+32 ± 27% vs. −15 ± 26%; P = 0.012 and P = 0.098, respectively), and mean shear rate (+17 ± 8% vs. −8 ± 28%; P = 0.004 and P = 0.310, respectively). The change in FMD was not different within or between conditions (P = 0.184). Global cerebral blood flow (CBF), conductance, shear patterns, and NVC were not different within or between conditions (all P > 0.05). Overall, exercise “stair snacks” improve femoral artery blood flow and shear patterns but not peripheral (e.g., FMD) or cerebral (e.g., CBF and NVC) vascular function following prolonged sitting. The study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03374436).

Novelty: Breaking up 8.5 h of sitting with hourly staircase sprinting exercise “snacks” improves resting femoral artery shear patterns but not FMD. Cerebral blood flow and neurovascular coupling were unaltered following 6 h of sitting with and without hourly exercise breaks.
Open government data and environmental science: a federal Canadian perspective
Authors: Roche Dominique G. , Granados Monica , Austin Claire C. , Wilson Scott , Mitchell Gregory M. , Smith Paul A. , Cooke Steven J. , Bennett Joseph R.
Published: November 2020

Governments worldwide are releasing data into the public domain via open government data initiatives. Many such data sets are directly relevant to environmental science and complement data collected by academic researchers to address complex and challenging environmental problems. The Government of Canada is a leader in open data among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, generating and releasing troves of valuable research data. However, achieving comprehensive and FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) open government data is not without its challenges. For example, identifying and understanding Canada’s international commitments, policies, and guidelines on open data can be daunting. Similarly, open data sets within the Government of Canada are spread across a diversity of repositories and portals, which may hinder their discoverability. We describe Canada’s federal initiatives promoting open government data, and outline where data sets of relevance to environmental science can be found. We summarize research data management challenges identified by the Government of Canada, plans to modernize the approach to open data for environmental science and best practices for data discoverability, access, and reuse.
Asymptotic approximations for eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of a spectral problem in a thin graph-like junction with a concentrated mass in the node
Authors: Mel’nyk Taras
Published: November 2020

A spectral problem is considered in a thin 3D graph-like junction that consists of three thin curvilinear cylinders that are joined through a domain (node) of the diameter [Formula: see text] where [Formula: see text] is a small parameter. A concentrated mass with the density [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] is located in the node. The asymptotic behavior of the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions is studied as [Formula: see text] i.e. when the thin junction is shrunk into a graph. There are five qualitatively different cases in the asymptotic behavior [Formula: see text] of the eigenelements depending on the value of the parameter [Formula: see text] In this paper three cases are considered, namely, [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] Using multiscale analysis, asymptotic approximations for eigenvalues and eigenfunctions are constructed and justified with a predetermined accuracy with respect to the degree of [Formula: see text] For irrational [Formula: see text] a new kind of asymptotic expansions is introduced. These approximations show how to account the influence of local geometric and physical inhomogeneity of the node in the corresponding limit spectral problem on the graph for different values of the parameter [Formula: see text]
Biorthogonal wavelet-based multigrid method for the numerical solution of elliptic partial differential equations
Authors: Shiralashetti S. C. , Kantli M. H. , Deshi A. B.
Published: November 2020

Wavelets have generated significant interest from both theoretical and applied researchers over the last few decades. We proposed biorthogonal wavelet-based multigrid method for the numerical solution of elliptic partial differential equations. The performance of the proposed scheme is better than the existing ones in terms of superconvergence with low computational time. Some of the illustrative examples demonstrate the applicability of the method.
Towards a Knowledge-Driven Framework of Cyber-Physical Social System for Multidimensional Urban Mobility
Authors: Abbasi Faheem Ahmed , Karray Mohammed Hedi , Houe Raymond , Memon Muhammad Ali , Archimède Bernard
Published: November 2020

This paper focuses on the proposed generic framework of Cyber-Physical Social Systems (CPSS) for Multidimensional Urban Mobility (MUM). The introduction of air mobility will increase the complexity of urban mobility management due to the increase of data (real-time information exchange), services, and infrastructure. This paper first summarizes the shift of the smart mobility and associated concerns and emphasizes the smart technologies to be introduced for efficient deployment of the MUM. Afterwards, the state-of-the-art on CPSS present the details of the research work in the context of CPSS data management process and challenges related with data. In conclusion, a framework to address the various challenges associated with the data paradigm is proposed.
Reconstruction of Acoustic Radiation of a Vibrating Structure Located in a Half-Space Bounded by a Passive Surface with Finite Acoustic Impedance
Authors: Zhou Daren , Lu Huancai , McFarland D. Michael , Xiao Yongxiong
Published: November 2020

Vibrating structures are often mounted on or located near a passive plane surface with finite acoustic impedance, and hence the acoustic pressures measured in a half-space bounded by the surface consist of both the direct radiation from the structure and the reflection from the boundary surface. In order to visualize the direct radiation from the source into free space, a reconstruction method based on expansion in half-space spherical wave functions is proposed. First, the series of half-space spherical wave functions is derived based on the analytical solution of the sound field due to a multipole source located near an impedance plane. Then the sound field in the half-space is approximated by the superposition of a finite number of half-space expansion terms. The expansion coefficients are determined by solving an overdetermined linear system of equations obtained by matching this assumed solution to the total acoustic pressures in the half-space. The free-space radiation can finally be reconstructed via multiplying the free-space spherical wave functions by the corresponding coefficients. Numerical simulation examples of a vibrating sphere and a vibrating baffled plate are demonstrated. The effects of specific acoustic impedance of the boundary and the locations of the measurement points on the accuracy of reconstruction are examined.
CSL+
Authors: Alim Adil , Cho Jin-Hee , Chen Feng
Published: November 2020

Using unreliable information sources generating conflicting evidence may lead to a large uncertainty, which significantly hurts the decision making process. Recently, many approaches have been taken to integrate conflicting data from multiple sources and/or fusing conflicting opinions from different entities. To explicitly deal with uncertainty, a belief model called
Subjective Logic
(SL), as a variant of Dumpster-Shafer Theory, has been proposed to represent subjective opinions and to merge multiple opinions by offering a rich volume of fusing operators, which have been used to solve many opinion inference problems in trust networks. However, the operators of SL are known to be lack of scalability in inferring unknown opinions from large network data as a result of the sequential procedures of merging multiple opinions. In addition, SL does not consider deriving opinions in the presence of conflicting evidence. In this work, we propose a hybrid inference method that combines SL and Probabilistic Soft Logic (PSL), namely, Collective Subjective Plus, CSL
+
, which is resistible to highly conflicting evidence or a lack of evidence. PSL can reason a belief in a collective manner to deal with large-scale network data, allowing high scalability based on relationships between opinions. However, PSL does not consider an uncertainty dimension in a subjective opinion. To take benefits from both SL and PSL, we proposed a hybrid approach called CSL
+
for achieving high scalability and high prediction accuracy for unknown opinions with uncertainty derived from a lack of evidence and/or conflicting evidence. Through the extensive experiments on four semi-synthetic and two real-world datasets, we showed that the CSL
+
outperforms the state-of-the-art belief model (i.e., SL), probabilistic inference models (i.e., PSL, CSL), and deep learning model (i.e., GCN-VAE-opinion) in terms of prediction accuracy, computational complexity, and real running time.
The secrets of writing a truly useful executive summary
Authors: Yaffe Philip
Published: November 2020

Each "Communication Corner" essay is self-contained; however, they build on each other. For best results, before reading this essay and doing the exercise, go to the first essay "How an Ugly Duckling Became a Swan," then read each succeeding essay.

The purpose of an executive summary is not to summarize, but to direct the reader's interest. The wider the intended audience, the wider will be their range of specific interests. But however diverse the readership, they want the document to clearly direct them to what they must read, leaving any additional text they may wish to also peruse to their own judgement.
Pricing-aware Real-time Charging Scheduling and Charging Station Expansion for Large-scale Electric Buses
Authors: Wang Guang , Fang Zhihan , Xie Xiaoyang , Wang Shuai , Sun Huijun , Zhang Fan , Liu Yunhuai , Zhang Desheng
Published: November 2020

We are witnessing a rapid growth of electrified vehicles due to the ever-increasing concerns on urban air quality and energy security. Compared to other types of electric vehicles, electric buses have not yet been prevailingly adopted worldwide due to their high owning and operating costs, long charging time, and the uneven spatial distribution of charging facilities. Moreover, the highly dynamic environment factors such as unpredictable traffic congestion, different passenger demands, and even the changing weather can significantly affect electric bus charging efficiency and potentially hinder the further promotion of large-scale electric bus fleets. To address these issues, in this article, we first analyze a real-world dataset including massive data from 16,359 electric buses, 1,400 bus lines, and 5,562 bus stops. Then, we investigate the electric bus network to understand its operating and charging patterns, and further verify the necessity and feasibility of a real-time charging scheduling. With such understanding, we design
busCharging
, a pricing-aware real-time charging scheduling system based on Markov Decision Process to reduce the overall charging and operating costs for city-scale electric bus fleets, taking the time-variant electricity pricing into account. To show the effectiveness of
busCharging
, we implement it with the real-world data from Shenzhen, which includes GPS data of electric buses, the metadata of all bus lines and bus stops, combined with data of 376 charging stations for electric buses. The evaluation results show that
busCharging
dramatically reduces the charging cost by 23.7% and 12.8% of electricity usage simultaneously. Finally, we design a scheduling-based charging station expansion strategy to verify our
busCharging
is also effective during the charging station expansion process.
Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Academic Community Results from a survey conducted at University of Massachusetts Amherst
Authors: Deznabi Iman , Motahar Tamanna , Sarvghad Ali , Fiterau Madalina , Mahyar Narges
Published: November 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted academic life in the United States and beyond. To gain a better understanding of its impact on the academic community, we conducted a large-scale survey at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. We collected multifaceted data from students, staff, and faculty on several aspects of their lives, such as mental and physical health, productivity, and finances. All our respondents expressed mental and physical issues and concerns, such as increased stress and depression levels. Financial difficulties seem to have the most considerable toll on staff and undergraduate students, while productivity challenges were mostly expressed by faculty and graduate students. As universities face many important decisions with respect to mitigating the effects of this pandemic, we present our findings with the intent of shedding light on the challenges faced by various academic groups in the face of the pandemic, calling attention to the differences between groups. We also contribute a discussion highlighting how the results translate to policies for the effective and timely support of the categories of respondents who need them most. Finally, the survey itself, which includes conditional logic allowing for personalized questions, serves as a template for further data collection, facilitating a comparison of the impact on campuses across the United States.
Addressing Regulatory Requirements on Explanations for Automated Decisions with Provenance—A Case Study
Authors: Huynh Trung Dong , Tsakalakis Niko , Helal Ayah , Stalla-Bourdillon Sophie , Moreau Luc
Published: November 2020

AI-based automated decisions are increasingly used as part of new services being deployed to the general public. This approach to building services presents significant potential benefits, such as the reduced speed of execution, increased accuracy, lower cost, and ability to adapt to a wide variety of situations. However, equally significant concerns have been raised and are now well documented such as concerns about privacy, fairness, bias, and ethics. On the consumer side, more often than not, the users of those services are provided with no or inadequate explanations for decisions that may impact their lives. In this article, we report the experience of developing a socio-technical approach to constructing explanations for such decisions from their audit trails, or provenance, in an automated manner. The work has been carried out in collaboration with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office. In particular, we have implemented an automated Loan Decision scenario, instrumented its decision pipeline to record provenance, categorized relevant explanations according to their audience and their regulatory purposes, built an explanation-generation prototype, and deployed the whole system in an online demonstrator.
Worst Case Attacks on Distributed Resources Systems
Authors: Levy Hanoch , Tavori Jhonatan
Published: November 2020

How should an attacker, who wishes to hurt (deny) service, attack resources on a geographically distributed system in order to maximize the damage inflicted? Should attack efforts focus on a small number of regions (sites) or rather spread over many regions to yield wide spread effect? Consequently, how resources should be optimized as to minimize the gain of a damage-maximizing attacker? These are the questions that motivate this research and are at its core.
Performance analysis, Optimization and Optics
Authors: Bachmat Eitan , Erland Sveinung
Published: November 2020

We introduce some methods and concepts of optics into performance analysis and optimization
M2 Macrophages Mediate the Resistance of Gastric Adenocarcinoma Cells to 5-Fluorouracil through the Expression of Integrin β3, Focal Adhesion Kinase, and Cofilin
Authors: Ngabire Daniel , Niyonizigiye Irvine , Patil Maheshkumar Prakash , Seong Yeong-Ae , Seo Yong Bae , Kim Gun-Do
Published: November 2020

Tumor microenvironment components dictate the growth and progression of various cancers. Tumor-associated macrophages are the most predominant cells in TME and play a major role in cancer invasiveness. Gastric cancer is one of the most common cancers in Asia, and recently, various cases of resistance to fluorouracil treatment have been reported. In this study, we investigated the role of alternatively activated macrophages in the resistance of AGS gastric cancer cells to fluorouracil. THP-1 cells were polarized using recombinant human IL-4, then were cocultured with AGS cells treated with fluorouracil. Cell viability, Western blot, immunofluorescence, and cell invasion were performed for this investigation. Our results demonstrated that polarized macrophages initiated the survival of treated AGS cells and induced the resistance in AGS by upregulating the expression of integrin β3, focal adhesion protein (FAK), and cofilin proteins. These results reveal that integrin β3, focal adhesion protein (FAK), and cofilin proteins are potential targets for the improvement of fluorouracil efficacy in gastric cancer treatment.
New One-Sided EWMA t Charts without and with Variable Sampling Intervals for Monitoring the Process Mean
Authors: Wang Yan , Hu Xuelong , Zhou Xiaojian , Qiao Yulong , Wu Shu
Published: November 2020

In statistical process control (SPC), t charts play a vital role in the monitoring of the process mean, especially when the process variance is unknown. In this paper, two separate upper-sided and lower-sided exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) t charts are first proposed and the Monte Carlo simulation method is used to obtain their run length (RL) properties. Compared with the traditional one-sided EWMA t charts and several run rules t charts, the proposed charts are proven to have better performance than these competing charts. In addition, by adding the variable sampling interval (VSI) feature to the proposed charts, the new VSI one-sided EWMA t charts are shown to detect different shift sizes in the process more efficient than the chart without VSI feature. Finally, an example of a milk filling process illustrates the use of the charts.
Effectiveness, Safety, and Barriers to Early Mobilization in the Intensive Care Unit
Authors: Alaparthi Gopala Krishna , Gatty Aishwarya , Samuel Stephen Rajan , Amaravadi Sampath Kumar
Published: November 2020

Purpose. Patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) are generally confined to bed leading to limited mobility that may have detrimental effects on different body systems. Early mobilization prevents or reduces these effects and improves outcomes in patients following critical illness. The purpose of this review is to summarize different aspects of early mobilization in intensive care. Methods. Electronic databases of PubMed, Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, and Scopus were searched using a combination of keywords. Full-text articles meeting the inclusion criteria were selected. Results. Fifty-six studies on various aspects such as the effectiveness of early mobilization in various intensive care units, newer techniques in early mobilization, outcome measures for physical function in the intensive care unit, safety, and practice and barriers to early mobilization were included. Conclusion: Early mobilization is found to have positive effects on various outcomes in patients with or without mechanical ventilation. The newer techniques can be used to facilitate early mobilization. Scoring systems—specific to the ICU—are available and should be used to quantify patients’ status at different intervals of time. Early mobilization is not commonly practiced in many countries. Various barriers to early mobilization have been identified, and different strategies can be used to overcome them.
Stability of 1-Bit Compressed Sensing in Sparse Data Reconstruction
Authors: Lian Yuefang , Zhou Jinchuan , Tang Jingyong , Sun Zhongfeng
Published: November 2020

1-bit compressing sensing (CS) is an important class of sparse optimization problems. This paper focuses on the stability theory for 1-bit CS with quadratic constraint. The model is rebuilt by reformulating sign measurements by linear equality and inequality constraints, and the quadratic constraint with noise is approximated by polytopes to any level of accuracy. A new concept called restricted weak RSP of a transposed sensing matrix with respect to the measurement vector is introduced. Our results show that this concept is a sufficient and necessary condition for the stability of 1-bit CS without noise and is a sufficient condition if the noise is available.
Baseline Motor Impairment Predicts Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Combined with Physical Therapy-Induced Improvement in Individuals with Chronic Stroke
Authors: Baltar Adriana , Piscitelli Daniele , Marques Déborah , Shirahige Lívia , Monte-Silva Kátia
Published: November 2020

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can enhance the effect of conventional therapies in post-stroke neurorehabilitation. The ability to predict an individual’s potential for tDCS-induced recovery may permit rehabilitation providers to make rational decisions about who will be a good candidate for tDCS therapy. We investigated the clinical and biological characteristics which might predict tDCS plus physical therapy effects on upper limb motor recovery in chronic stroke patients. A cohort of 80 chronic stroke individuals underwent ten to fifteen sessions of tDCS plus physical therapy. The sensorimotor function of the upper limb was assessed by means of the upper extremity section of the Fugl-Meyer scale (UE-FM), before and after treatment. A backward stepwise regression was used to assess the effect of age, sex, time since stroke, brain lesion side, and basal level of motor function on UE-FM improvement after treatment. Following the intervention, UE-FM significantly improved (

p
<
0.05

), and the magnitude of the change was clinically important (mean 6.2 points, 95% CI: 5.2–7.4). The baseline level of UE-FM was the only significant predictor (

R

2

=
0.90

,

F

1
,
76

=
682.80

,

p
<
0.001

) of tDCS response. These findings may help to guide clinical decisions according to the profile of each patient. Future studies should investigate whether stroke severity affects the effectiveness of tDCS combined with physical therapy.
Genes Induced by Panax Notoginseng in a Rodent Model of Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury
Authors: Meng Lanqing , Huang Qing , Li Xuebin , Liang Ping , Li Yueyong , Huang Xiaohua , Zhao Jingjie , Chen Qiuping , Qiu Rong , Li Lan , Jian Chongdong , Yao Hongfei , Huang Jianmin , Tang Xionglin , Wang Zechen , Wei Zhongheng , Wu Jun , Wei Liuzhi , Wei Qiuju , Tang Qianli , Huang Lu , Wei Jihua , Lu Dinggui , Luo Qunqiang , Xie Kegong , Ouyang Yang , Chen Jian , Li Genliang , Luo Linxue , He Linbo , Zhuo Chenyi , Xu Anding , Meng Lingzhang
Published: November 2020

Stroke is a cerebrovascular disease that results in decreased blood flow. Although Panax notoginseng (PN), a Chinese herbal medicine, has been proven to promote stroke recovery, its molecular mechanism remains unclear. In this study, middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) was induced in rats with thrombi generated by thread and subsequently treated with PN. After that, staining with 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride was employed to evaluate the infarcted area, and electron microscopy was used to assess ultrastructural changes of the neurovascular unit. RNA-Seq was performed to determine the differential expressed genes (DEGs) which were then verified by qPCR. In total, 817 DEGs were identified to be related to the therapeutic effect of PN on stroke recovery. Further analysis by Gene Oncology analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes revealed that most of these genes were involved in the biological function of nerves and blood vessels through the regulation of neuroactive live receptor interactions of PI3K-Akt, Rap1, cAMP, and cGMP-PKG signaling, which included in the 18 pathways identified in our research, of which, 9 were reported firstly that related to PN’s neuroprotective effect. This research sheds light on the potential molecular mechanisms underlying the effects of PN on stroke recovery.
Obesity and the Lung: What We Know Today
Authors: Brock Judith Maria , Billeter Adrian , Müller-Stich Beat Peter , Herth Felix
Published: November 2020

Obesity is becoming more and more prevalent especially in Western industrial nations. The understanding of adipose tissue as an endocrine organ as well as the detection of adipocytokines – hormones that are secreted from the adipose tissue – gave reason to examine the interactions between adipose tissue and target organs. These efforts have been intensified especially in the context of bariatric surgery as promising weight loss therapy. Interactions between the lung and adipose tissue have rarely been investigated and are not well understood. There are obvious mechanical effects of obesity on lung function explaining the associations between obesity and lung diseases, in particular obesity hypoventilation syndrome, obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The rise in the prevalence of obesity affects the epidemiology of pulmonary diseases as well. The aim of this review is to summarize the current knowledge on interactions, associations, and consequences of obesity and weight loss on lung function and lung diseases. Based on these data, areas for future research are identified.
The Elevation in Preoperative Procalcitonin Is Associated with a Poor Prognosis for Patients Undergoing Resection for Colorectal Cancer
Authors: Miyake Toru , Iida Hiroya , Shimizu Tomoharu , Ueki Tomoyuki , Kojima Masatsugu , Ohta Hiroyuki , Yamaguchi Tsuyoshi , Kaida Sachiko , Mekata Eiji , Endo Yoshihiro , Tani Masaji
Published: November 2020

Background: Procalcitonin (PCT) is a well-known marker for bacterial infection; however, the clinical significance of PCT in the long-term prognosis after colorectal cancer (CRC) surgery remains unclear. Methods: This is a retrospective review of 277 patients that underwent CRC surgery to investigate the relationship between preoperative PCT, clinicopathological condition, cancer-specific overall survival (OS), and relapse-free survival (RFS). Results: Median follow-up interval was 5.0 years in all patients. Thirty-six patients developed recurrence, and 46 patients died due to recurrences or metastases of CRC. Preoperative PCT levels were highest in Stage IV patients. The cancer-specific OS in patients with Stage IV/PCT ≤0.05 ng/mL was significantly higher than those with Stage IV/PCT >0.05 ng/mL (3 years survival; 42.3 vs. 14.3%, p = 0.0413). On multivariate analysis, gender, TNM classification, and PCT were identified as significant risk factors for cancer-specific OS in patients with Stage I–III CRC. The cancer-specific OS rate of these patients with PCT ≥0.08 ng/mL, compared with PCT <0.08 ng/mL, was significantly decreased (5 years survival; 59.1 vs. 92.7%, p < 0.0001). TNM classification was finally identified as an independent risk factor for cancer-specific RFS in these patients by multivariate analysis. Conclusion: High preoperative PCT values in CRC patients appeared to be associated with poor OS but not RFS following surgical treatments.
ДИЗАЙН ЕКСПЕРИМЕНТУ ПРИ ПРОВЕДЕННІ ДОСЛІДЖЕНЬ ЗІ СТВОРЕННЯ ТАБЛЕТОВАНИХ ЛІКАРСЬКИХ ЗАСОБІВ Повідомлення 2. Дизайн експерименту при дослідженні впливу кількісних факторів на етапі оптимізації складу та технології таблетованих лікарських засобів
Authors: Hroshovyi T. A. , Demchuk M. B. , Beley N. M. , Pavliuk B. V. , Fizer L. V.
Published: November 2020

Мета роботи. Аналіз і систематизація даних літератури щодо дизайну експерименту при вивченні кількісних факторів на етапі пошуку оптимального складу при розробці технології таблетованих лікарських засобів. Матеріали і методи. В роботі використано методи інформаційного пошуку, аналізу даних літератури щодо дизайну експерименту при вивченні кількісних факторів, пошуку оптимальних складів при проведенні досліджень із розробки складу та технології таблетованих лікарських засобів. Результати й обговорення. У роботі наведені дані літератури та власних досліджень щодо використання дизайну експерименту при вивченні кількісних факторів на етапі розробки оптимального складу та технології таблеток. Наведені приклади використання методу випадкового балансу, планів регресійного аналізу для вивчення впливу кількісних факторів на основні технологічні показники таблетованих лікарських засобів. Висновки. Дизайн якості є важливим та широко використовуваним прийомом при розробці лікарських засобів. Його методи використовують експериментатори на різних етапах дослідження – від формування цілей до встановлення оптимального складу препарату. Наведені приклади досліджень з вивчення впливу кількісних факторів, методи побудови планів регресійного аналізу, інтерпретації результатів експериментальних досліджень.
КЛІНІЧНИЙ ВИПАДОК СИНДРОМУ РУМІНАЦІЇ ТА АЕРОФАГІЇ У ХЛОПЧИКА МОЛОДШОГО ШКІЛЬНОГО ВІКУ
Authors: Shulgay O. M.
Published: November 2020

Мета дослідження – проаналізувати сучасні погляди на етіологію та основи лікування такого функціонального гастроінтестинального розладу, як синдром румінації, що діагностується у дітей та підлітків.
У даній статті розглянуто сучасні погляди на функціональні порушення шлунково-кишкового тракту в дітей. Частота функціональних гастроінтестинальних розладів (ФГР) є досить високою в усіх вікових групах, але в дітей старшого віку функціональні захворювання часто є на межі з патологією, що зумовлює підвищений інтерес педіатрів до їх етіології, патогенезу й терапії. Незважаючи на те, що ці розлади не становлять значної небезпеки для життя і, як правило, не чинять істотного впливу на здоров’я дітей у майбутньому, вони впливають на якість життя, призводять до великої кількості невиправданих госпіталізацій, застосування необґрунтованої фармакотерапії, порушують психологічний клімат у родині. Синдром румінації (СР) – це функціональний гастроінтестинальний розлад, що все більше діагностується у дітей та підлітків. Епідеміологія цього стану в дітей шкільного віку недостатньо вивчена. Патофізіологія СР передбачає підвищення внутрішньошлункового тиску, яке виникає за рахунок ненавмисного скорочення мускулатури черевної стінки та при наявності низького тиску в нижньому стравохідному сфінктері, що викликає ретроградне переміщення шлункового вмісту в стравохід. На сьогодні контрольованих досліджень лікування синдрому румінації недостатньо. Основою лікування синдрому румінації є роз’яснювальна та поведінкова терапія, яка складається із методів усунення звичок, що конкурують із позивами до відригування. Аерофагія – це функціональний розлад шлунково-кишкового тракту, що характеризується повторним ковтанням повітря, здуттям живота, відрижкою та метеоризмом. Для уникнення зайвих, дорогих діагностичних досліджень або серйозних клінічних ускладнень необхідні раннє розпізнавання та діагностика функціональної аерофагії. У статті наведено клінічний випадок синдрому румінації і аерофагії у хлопчика шкільного віку, який тривалий час не був правильно діагностований та пролікований, викликав занепокоєння у батьків та значно погіршував якість життя дитини.
MODERN APPROACHES TO THE TREATMENT OF ENDOMETRIOID CYSTS BEFORE CONTROLLED OVARIAN STIMULATION PROTOCOLS
Authors: Khmil S. V. , Pidhaina I. Ya. , Kulyk I. I.
Published: November 2020

The article is devoted to the current problem of endometriosis-associated infertility. In recent years, a great deal of information has been accumulated on the etiology, diagnosis and treatment of genital endometriosis and endometriosis-associated infertility. According to world studies, endometriosis remains one of the most pressing problems in modern gynecology. This is evidenced by statistics showing that the disease occurs in every 10 women of fertile age, and a total of 176 million women worldwide. Approximately 20–50 % of women included in this number have a problem of infertility. Hence, the problem of this disease is not only a medical but also a social problem.

Conclusions. The tactics of treatment of patients with endometriosis who are planning a pregnancy and are included in the ART protocols are significantly different from the tactics of treatment of patients who believe that they have performed reproductive function.