bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Hemogram Parameters of Children with Bell’s Palsy at the Time of Admission and Their Findings in the Follow-up
Authors: Sürücü Kara İlknur , Arslan Yusuf Kemal
Published: June 2024

Objective: The exact cause of idiopathic facial paralysis (Bell’s palsy) is not clear. The objective of our study was to investigate the relationship between certain hemogram parameters and the clinical prognosis in pediatric patients with facial paralysis.

Material and Methods: The files of patients with Bell’s palsy under the age of 18 who applied to our hospital were evaluated retrospectively. Leukocyte, neutrophil, lymphocyte, platelet count, red cell distribution width, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio, platelet to lymphocyte ratio, and monocyte to lymphocyte ratio were compared between patients with Bell’s palsy and the control group. Information about their last health status recorded.

Results: A total of seventeen children with Bell’s palsy and 17 control groups were included in the study. There were 7 boys (41.20%) and 10 girls (58.70%) in each group, the mean age was 11.80±4.40 (minimum 3.0-maximum 17.9) years. While the median neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio was 1.25 (0.41-7.63) in patients with Bell’s palsy and 1.40 (0.42-2.52) in the control group, the median mean platelet volume level was 9.30 fL (8.20-12.30) in patients with Bell’s palsy and 9.95 fL (9.30-11.70) in the control group, and the median red cell distribution width level was 12.75 % (11.50-26.30) in patients with Bell’s palsy and 12.70% (12.10-26.30) in the control group. None of them were statistically significant. There were six patients with Bell’s palsy with low mean platelet volume levels and no patients with low mean platelet volume levels in the control group (p=0.007). There was a positive correlation between the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, platelet-lymphocyte ratio, and monocyte-lymphocyte ratio and the recovery time of patients with Bell’s palsy.

Conclusion: Bell’s palsy may show a better prognosis in girls. High neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, platelet-lymphocyte ratio, and monocyte-lymphocyte ratio may be indicators of delayed recovery, inflammation, and microvascular ischemia in Bell’s palsy.
Boys do talk
Authors: Horner Jo
Published: June 2024

Independent researcher, Dr Jo Horner, discusses the results of her research exploring children's peer-to-peer communication as part of her PhD with the University of Brighton. Her results challenge common assumptions.
INCLISIRAN
Authors: Rees Sharon
Published: June 2024

In this column, Sharon Rees aims to refresh knowledge and interest in some of the commonly used drugs in a series of posts on X. This month she is talking about #inclisiran
A–Z of prescribing for children
Authors: Davies Kate
Published: June 2024

This series focuses on aspects of prescribing for neonates, children and young people, from A–Z. Aspects of pharmacokinetics will be considered, alongside legal considerations, consent and medications in schools
Cunnilingus in North Korea and other Sensations of Non-Nationalism
Authors: Frisbie Chad
Published: June 2024

ABSTRACT: Cunnilingus in North Korea is a fictional, early 2000s, text-based Flash animation piece by Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries in which the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il delivers a speech to the South Korean people reprimanding them for their prudishness, a supposed product of capitalism, and encouraging all Koreans to adopt the North’s policy of constant nationwide cunnilingus, which is a communistic elixir that makes for harmonious, triumphant societies. By situating this piece within scholarship on contemporary U.S. imperialism and the neoliberalization of South Korea, this article argues that Cunnilingus in North Korea deploys estrangements and reversals in order to enliven and decompose the postcolonial common sense in which North/South Korean nationalisms self-organize along the oppositionality of their respective political economies. Further, I show how the piece hails erotics—theorized as a poetic practice and sense of world—as vital to digital aesthetic forms that agitate against logics of contemporary imperialism.
The Long Reach of Creativity: The Lasting Impact of 1970s Italian Children’s Literature
Authors: Campagnaro Marnie
Published: June 2024

Abstract: Between 1968 and 1980, Italy witnessed a dynamic transformation in children’s literature marked by innovative visual, aesthetic, and educational paradigms, involving a profound assimilation of social, cultural, and political dimensions into children’s literature. Children’s books became hubs of interdisciplinary experimentation in which young readers were to be critical cultural participants. These changes took the forms of playful storytelling, intertextuality, nonlinear narratives, and groundbreaking visual, graphic, and material elements. Pioneering technologies further enriched the sensory experience suffusing these books. This article examines the enduring impact of these transformations on Italian children’s literature, focusing particularly on early literacy. It explores four distinct categories of change: the emergence of radical series, innovative adaptations of folk tales, multisensory training grounds, and a trend toward visual narrative cards. These innovations revolutionized prereading education, emphasizing children’s agency and sensory engagement. In studying these shifts, this research underscores the legacy of early experiments in Italian children’s literature, initiatives that continue to shape contemporary children’s literature and education globally, exemplifying the profound impact of a revolutionary period in children’s publishing.
Words at Play for Emerging Readers: Children’s Poetry in the Framework of Italian Preschool Education (Ages Zero to Six)
Authors: Filograsso Ilaria
Published: June 2024

Abstract: This article focuses on the evolution of Italian children’s poetry—from the new direction taken by Gianni Rodari and Alfonso Gatto in the 1950s to the playful experiments of the 1970s and 1980s and the more recent collections that helped stimulate children’s early interest in experimenting with language. In the recent works of Bruno Tognolini and Chiara Carminati, language play is accompanied by the discovery of everyday life, offering a creative and surprising reading of the day-to-day aspects of very young readers’ experiences. National policy papers, followed by the establishment of the integrated education system for children from birth to six years (Italian Legislative Decree 65/2017), have recently defined a coherent pedagogical framework for childhood education, enhancing children’s rights and their cognitive, relational, and expressive abilities. These new policies, which aim to guide the work of preschool teachers, underline the importance of developing the ability to listen and communicate through many languages and the personal and active exploration of the world. Starting from this perspective, contemporary children’s poetry effectively enhances childhood culture, fostering the construction of a linguistic education path that enables all children, without social or cultural distinction, to appropriate the symbolic and cultural materials of their community in a personal way.
The Power of Translation: Rediscovering the Work of Renée Reggiani for Young Readers Today
Authors: Alborghetti Claudia
Published: June 2024

Abstract: Renée Reggiani began her career as a children’s writer with her best-selling novel Le avventure di cinque ragazzi e un cane ( The Adventures of Five Children and a Dog ; 1960), also translated in English, among other languages. From then on, Reggiani found a way to talk about urgent social issues in Italy through a narrative style that engages young readers to follow her protagonists’ adventures. Her work is characterized by concise, clear language to reach the young reader’s heart; it explores the condition of children and women in society, poverty, and the difficult relations between the industrialized north and the more backward south of Italy. While Reggiani’s work has been translated both in the UK and the United States, recent research has shown the extensive rewriting in the English translation undermining the critical approach to social issues that characterizes Reggiani’s works. This article aims to facilitate the rediscovery of Reggiani’s literary talent for the contemporary Italian public and international readership alike by giving her original voice back through retranslation.
Automatic segmentation and quantification of OCT images before and after cataract surgery using deep learning
Authors: Ruiz-Calvo Andrés , Ansah Derick , Celik Ugur , MacRae Scott , Marcos Susana , Martínez-Enríquez Eduardo
Published: June 2024

Obtaining quantitative geometry
of the anterior segment of the eye, generally from optical coherence
tomography (OCT) images, is important to construct 3D computer eye
models, used to understand the optical quality of the normal and
pathological eye and to improve treatment (for example, selecting the
intraocular lens to be implanted in cataract surgery or guiding
refractive surgery). An important step to quantify OCT images is
segmentation (i.e., finding and labeling the surfaces of interest in
the images), which, for the purpose of feeding optical models, needs
to be automatic, accurate, robust, and fast. In this work, we designed
a segmentation algorithm based on deep learning, which we applied to
OCT images from pre- and post-cataract surgery eyes obtained using
anterior segment OCT commercial systems. We proposed a feature pyramid
network architecture with a pre-trained encoder and trained,
validated, and tested the algorithm using 1640 OCT images. We showed
that the proposed method outperformed a classical
image-processing-based approach in terms of accuracy (from 91.4% to
93.2% accuracy), robustness (decreasing the standard deviation of
accuracy across images by a factor of 1.7), and processing time (from
0.48 to 0.34 s/image). We also described a method for the 3D models’
construction and their quantification from the segmented images and
applied the proposed segmentation/quantification algorithms to
quantify 136 new eye measurements (780 images) obtained from OCT
commercial systems.
Note on the emission spectrum and trapping states in the Jaynes–Cummings model
Authors: Bertassoli J. L. T. , Vidiella-Barranco A.
Published: June 2024

The emission of light from an atom represents a fundamental process that provides valuable insights into the atom–light interaction. The Jaynes–Cummings model is one of the simplest fully quantized models to deal with these interactions, allowing for an analytical solution, while exhibiting notable nontrivial effects. We explore new, to our knowledge, features in the fluorescence emission spectrum for initial “trapping states,” which suppress the atomic population inversion. Despite the seemingly dormant activity of the atom, the resulting emission spectra exhibit rich features, and using a dressed-state coordinates formalism, we are able to quantitatively explain the different profiles in the spectrum. We generalize the trapping conditions for nonzero atom-field detuning and also unveil two types of trapping states that lead to spectra with three peaks, in contrast to previously known states: a center peak and one secondary peak on each side. These are a trapping state formed by a Schrödinger cat state with Poissonian statistics (Yurke–Stoler state) and also a different type of “perfect trapping state.”
Improving object detection in optical devices using a multi-hierarchical cyclable structure-aware rain removal network
Authors: Hsu Wei-Yen , Ni Chien-Tzu
Published: June 2024

Rain streaks pose a significant challenge to optical devices, impeding their ability to accurately recognize objects in images. To enhance the recognition capabilities of these devices, it is imperative to remove rain streaks from images prior to processing. While deep learning techniques have been adept at removing rain from the high-frequency components of images, they often neglect the low-frequency components, where residual rain streaks can persist. This oversight can severely limit the effectiveness of deraining methods and consequently, the object recognition rate in optical devices such as cameras and smartphones. To address this problem, we developed a novel multi-hierarchical cyclable structure-aware rain removal network (MCS-RRN), which effectively retains the background structure while removing rain streaks, improving the object recognition rate in images. Unlike state-of-the-art approaches that incorporate wavelet transform, our network maintained the low-frequency sub-images and integrated them into a structure-aware subnetwork. We also transferred low-frequency structural information to detail enhancement sub-networks to enhance detailed information and facilitate convergence; this enhanced the capability of our network to eliminate rain streaks in high frequency. In summary, we used a structure information blending module and inverse wavelet transform to fuse derained low-frequency sub-images and achieve rain removal while improving the object recognition rate with the combination of YOLO. Experimental results demonstrated that our method significantly enhances the object recognition rate in images.
Arbitrary stylized light-field generation for three-dimensional light-field displays based on radiance fields
Authors: Ji Luyu , Sang Xinzhu , Xing Shujun , Yu Xunbo , Yan Binbin , Shen Sheng , Yang Zeyuan , Yang Jiahui , Li Donghu
Published: June 2024

Three-dimensional (3D) light-field display technology can reconstruct the spatial characteristics of 3D scenes and provide users with an immersive visual experience without the need for any additional external devices. Here, an arbitrary stylized light-field generation method for 3D light-field displays is presented, and the tripartite constraints are addressed by conducting style transformation in a refined feature space. A multi-dimensional feature refinement module is designed to learn which aspects and regions should be prioritized within the high-level feature grid of the scene, which allows content and style patterns to be better matched and blended. To preserve more structural details and reduce artifacts, a novel global quality and local structure joint loss function is used for optimization. A mask-guided light-field coding method based on ray-casting is employed to accelerate the synthesis of stylized light-field images. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can generate higher-quality stylized 3D light-field content with any given style in a zero-shot manner. Additionally, the method provides two user control extensions to further enrich the ways for the personalized editing of 3D content displayed on 3D light-field displays.
Noncommunicable disease risk behaviors and protective factors among children in Samoa: Retrospective trend analysis of global school-based health surveys in 2011 and 2017
Authors: Choy Courtney C. , Simi Siufaga , Soti-Ulberg Christina , Naseri Take , Salinas Yasmmyn D. , Hawley Nicola L.
Published: June 2024

Pacific Island countries experience a high prevalence of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), which may be prevented by reducing risk behaviors and strengthening protective factors in childhood and adolescence. To better inform preventative interventions, our objective was to use publicly available data from the Global School-based Student Health Survey (GSHS), to provide cross-sectional and trend estimates for the prevalence of NCD risk and protective factors among school-aged children in 2011 and 2017 in Samoa. Two waves of cross-sectional data included 4,373 children (51.98% female), with a median age of 15 years, who were mainly in school years 9–10 in Samoa. Retrospective analyses were adjusted for the GSHS multistage stratified cluster sample design. Weighted prevalences of overweight/obesity, dietary behaviors, physical activity, and sedentary behavior, oral and hand hygiene, emotional and mental health, and community protective factors were reported by study year. Logistic regressions were fitted to assess differences in the prevalence of risk and protective factors, adjusted for age group, sex, and school year. In 2011 and 2017, the prevalence of overweight/obesity remained consistently high in females (59.12% and 64.29%, p = 0.428) and increased from 44.21% to 53.65% in males (p = 0.039). Time spent sitting for long periods, smoking cigarettes, using other tobacco products, and drinking alcohol were lower in 2017 compared to 2011 (all p<0.05). Many children reported experiencing bullying (33.27% for females and 59.30% for males in 2017), while physical fighting was common among males (73.72% in 2011 and 57.28% in 2017). The high prevalence of obesity and related NCD risk factors require urgent public health action in Samoa. Alongside the continued reduction of tobacco and alcohol use, emotional and mental wellness should be prioritized in interventions and programs to promote healthy behaviors and lifestyle changes starting in childhood.
Move Well, Feel Good: Feasibility and acceptability of a school-based motor competence intervention to promote positive mental health
Authors: Fairclough Stuart J. , Clifford Lauren , Foweather Lawrence , Knowles Zoe R. , Boddy Lynne M. , Ashworth Emma , Tyler Richard
Published: June 2024

Background

In response to the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 lockdown measures Move Well, Feel Good (MWFG) was developed as a school intervention using improvement of motor competence as a mechanism for promoting positive mental health. Study objectives were to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of MWFG and to describe changes in child-level outcomes.

Methods

Five northwest England primary schools were recruited. MWFG was delivered over 10-weeks through physical education (PE) lessons, which were supplemented by optional class-time, break-time, and home activities. The intervention focused on development of 9–10 year-old children’s motor competence in locomotor, object control, and stability skills, and psychosocial skills. Feasibility was evaluated against nine pre-defined criteria using surveys, interviews (teachers), and focus groups (children). Pre- and post-intervention assessments of motor competence, mental health, prosocial behaviour, wellbeing, and 24-hour movement behaviours were also completed.

Results

The five recruited schools represented 83% of the target number, 108 children consented (54% of target) with teachers recruited in all schools (100% of target). Intervention dose was reflected by 76% of the 45 scheduled PE lessons being delivered, and adherence was strong (>85% of children attending ≥75% of lessons). Positive indicators of acceptability were provided by 86% of children, 83% of PE teachers, and 90% of class teachers. Data collection methods were deemed acceptable by 91% of children and 80% of class teachers, and children spoke positively about participating in the data collection. Child-level outcome data collection was completed by 65%-97% of children, with a 3%-35% attrition rate at post-intervention, depending on measure. Favourable changes in motor competence (+13.7%), mental health difficulties (-8.8%), and prosocial behaviour (+7.6%) were observed.

Conclusions

MWFG is an acceptable and feasible motor competence intervention to promote positive mental health. Content and delivery modifications could inform progression to a pilot trial with a more robust design.
PAAD: Panelization algorithm for architectural designs
Authors: Fisher Andrew , Tan Xing , Billah Muntasir , Lingras Pawan , Huang Jimmy , Mago Vijay
Published: June 2024

Due to the competitive nature of the construction industry, the efficiency of requirement analysis is important in enhancing client satisfaction and a company’s reputation. For example, determining the optimal configuration of panels (generally called panelization) that form the structure of a building is one aspect of cost estimation. However, existing methods typically rely on rule-based approaches that may lead to suboptimal material usage, particularly in complex designs featuring angled walls and openings. Such inefficiency can increase costs and environmental impact due to unnecessary material waste. To address these challenges, this research proposes a Panelization Algorithm for Architectural Designs, referred to as PAAD, which utilizes a genetic evolutionary strategy built on the 2D bin packing problem. This method is designed to balance between strict adherence to manufacturing constraints and the objective of optimizing material usage. PAAD starts with multiple potential solutions within the predefined problem space, facilitating dynamic exploration of panel configurations. It approaches structural rules as flexible constraints, making necessary corrections in post-processing, and through iterative developments, the algorithm refines panel sets to minimize material use. The methodology is validated through an analysis against an industry implementation and expert-derived solutions, highlighting PAAD’s ability to surpass existing results and reduce the need for manual corrections. Additionally, to motivate future research, a synthetic data generator, the architectural drawing encodings used, and a preliminary interface are also introduced. This not only highlights the algorithm’s practical applicability but also encourages its use in real-world scenarios.
Association of urinary excretion rates of uric acid with biomarkers of kidney injury in patients with advanced chronic kidney disease
Authors: López Iglesias Antía , Blanco Pardo Marta , Rodríguez Magariños Catuxa , Pértega Sonia , Sierra Castro Diego , García Falcón Teresa , Rodríguez-Carmona Ana , Pérez Fontán Miguel
Published: June 2024

Background

The potential influence of hyperuricemia on the genesis and progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) remains controversial. In general, the correlation between blood levels of uric acid (UA) and the rate of progression of CKD is considered to be modest, if any, and the results of relevant trials oriented to disclose the effect of urate-lowering therapies on this outcome have been disappointing. Urinary excretion rates of UA could reflect more accurately the potential consequences of urate-related kidney injury.

Method

Using a cross-sectional design, we investigated the correlation between different estimators of the rates of urinary excretion of UA (total 24-hour excretion, mean urinary concentration, renal clearance and fractional excretion)(main study variables), on one side, and urinary levels of selected biomarkers of kidney injury and CKD progression (DKK3, KIM1, NGAL, interleukin 1b and MCP)(main outcome variables), in 120 patients with advanced CKD (mean glomerular filtration rate 21.5 mL/minute). We took into consideration essential demographic, clinical and analytic variables with a potential confounding effect on the explored correlations (control variables). Spearman’s rho correlation and nonlinear generalized additive regression models (GAM) with p-splines smoothers were used for statistical analysis.

Main results

Multivariate analysis disclosed independent correlations between urinary UA concentrations, clearances and fractional excretion rates (but not plasma UA or total 24-hour excretion rates of UA), on one side, and the scrutinized markers. These correlations were more consistent for DKK3 and NGAL than for the other biomarkers. Glomerular filtration rate, proteinuria and treatment with statins or RAA axis antagonists were other independent correlates of the main outcome variables.

Conclusions

Our results support the hypothesis that urinary excretion rates of UA may represent a more accurate marker of UA-related kidney injury than plasma levels of this metabolite, in patients with advanced stages of CKD. Further, longitudinal studies will be necessary, to disclose the clinical significance of these findings.
Change in the incidence of stillbirth in Japanese Black cattle during the animal movement restrictions and suspended insemination
Authors: Misaka Moe , Uematsu Mizuho , Kitahara Go , Osawa Takeshi , Sasaki Yosuke
Published: June 2024

We aimed to characterize the change in the incidence of stillbirth (IS) in Japanese Black cattle during and after animal movement restrictions and suspended insemination because of a foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak in Miyazaki Prefecture in 2010. Calving data from 2006 to 2018 were collected from approximately 900 farms. Post-FMD period was divided into three based on the median IS per month (1.80%): period 1 (May 2011 to February 2013), period 2 (March 2013 to August 2015), and period 3 (September 2015 to December 2018). The ISs were similar during the Pre-FMD period and Post-FMD period 1, then substantially decreased during Post-FMD period 2 (p < .05), before returning to the value before the FMD outbreak period during Post-FMD period 3. Compared with the Pre-FMD period, Post-FMD period 1 was associated with a higher proportion of calvings by primiparous cows and Post-FMD period 2 was associated with a smaller number of calvings per month (p < .05). There were high ISs in primiparous cows during the Pre-FMD period, Post-FMD period 1, and Post-FMD period 3 (p < .05), but not during Post-FMD period 2. In summary, after the animal movement restrictions and suspended insemination introduced because of the FMD outbreak, the IS temporarily decreased and consequently returned to the pre-FMD level.
Seismic resolution improving by a sequential convolutional neural network
Authors: Yuan Zhenyu , Jiang Yuxin , An Zheli , Ma Weibin , Wang Yong
Published: June 2024

Thin-bed soft rock is one of the main factors causing large deformations of tunnels. In addition to relying on some innovative construction techniques, detecting thin beds early during surface geological exploration and advanced geological prediction can provide a basis for planning and implementing effective coping measures. The commonly used seismic methods cannot meet the requirement for thin beds detection accuracy. A high-resolution (HR) seismic signal processing method is proposed by introducing a sequential convolutional neural network (SCNN). The deep learning dataset including low-resolution (LR) and HR seismic is firstly prepared through forward modeling. Then, a one-dimension (1D) SCNN architecture is proposed to establish the mapping relationship between LR and HR sequences. Training on the prepared dataset, the HR seismic processing model with high accuracy is achieved and applied to some practical seismic data. The applications on both poststack and prestack seismic data demonstrate that the trained HR processing model can effectively improve the seismic resolution and restore the high-frequency seismic energy so that to recognize the thin-bed rocks.
Pathway analysis of peripheral blood CD8+ T cell transcriptome shows differential regulation of sphingolipid signaling in multiple sclerosis and glioblastoma
Authors: Stefanović Milan , Jovanović Ivan , Živković Maja , Stanković Aleksandra
Published: June 2024

Multiple sclerosis (MS) and glioblastoma (GBM) are CNS diseases in whose development and progression immune privilege is intimately important, but in a relatively opposite manner. Maintenance and strengthening of immune privilege have been shown to be an important mechanism in glioblastoma immune evasion, while the breakdown of immune privilege leads to MS initiation and exacerbation. We hypothesize that molecular signaling pathways can be oppositely regulated in peripheral blood CD8+ T cells of MS and glioblastoma patients at a transcriptional level. We analyzed publicly available data of the peripheral blood CD8+ T cell MS vs. control (MSvsCTRL) and GBM vs. control (GBMvsCTRL) differentially expressed gene (DEG) contrasts with Qiagen’s Ingenuity pathway analysis software (IPA). We have identified sphingolipid signaling pathway which was significantly downregulated in the GBMvsCTRL and upregulated in the MSvsCTRL. As the pathway is important for the CD8+ T lymphocytes CNS infiltration, this result is in line with our previously stated hypothesis. Comparing publicly available lists of differentially expressed serum exosomal miRNAs from MSvsCTRL and GBMvsCTRL contrasts, we have identified that hsa-miR-182-5p has the greatest potential effect on sphingolipid signaling regarding the number of regulated DEGs in the GBMvsCTRL contrast, while not being able to find any relevant potential sphingolipid signaling target transcripts in the MSvsCTRL contrast. We conclude that the sphingolipid signaling pathway is a top oppositely regulated pathway in peripheral blood CD8+ T cells from GBM and MS, and might be crucial for the differences in CNS immune privilege maintenance of investigated diseases, but further experimental research is necessary.
Neural respiratory drive during maximal voluntary ventilation in individuals with hypertension: A case-control study
Authors: V. S. O. N. Cavalcante Andressa , Fonseca Jéssica Danielle , Araujo Cruz Helen Rainara , Nascimento Viviane Fabrícia , Santana Silva João Pedro , Lins Caio Alano , Bernardes Neto Saint-Clair Gomes , Lima Íllia Nadinne Dantas
Published: June 2024

Neural respiratory drive (NRD) is measured using a non-invasive recording of respiratory electromyographic signal. The parasternal intercostal muscle can assess the imbalance between the load and capacity of respiratory muscles and presents a similar pattern to diaphragmatic activity. We aimed to analyze the neural respiratory drive in seventeen individuals with hypertension during quite breathing and maximal voluntary ventilation (MVV) (103.9 ± 5.89 vs. 122.6 ± 5 l/min) in comparison with seventeen healthy subjects (46.5 ± 2.5 vs. 46.4 ± 2.4 years), respectively. The study protocol was composed of quite breathing during five minutes, maximum inspiratory pressure followed by maximal ventilatory ventilation (MVV) was recorded once for 15 seconds. Anthropometric measurements were collected, weight, height, waist, hip, and calf circumferences, waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), BMI, and conicity index (CI). Differences between groups were analyzed using the unpaired t-test or Mann-Whitney test to determine the difference between groups and moments. A significance level of 5% (p<0,05) was adopted for all statistical analyses. The group of individuals with hypertension presented higher values when compared to the healthy group for neural respiratory drive (EMGpara% 17.9±1.3 vs. 13.1±0.8, p = 0.0006) and neural respiratory drive index (NRDi (AU) 320±25 vs. 205.7±15,p = 0.0004) during quiet breathing and maximal ventilatory ventilation (EMGpara% 29.3±2.7 vs. 18.3±0.8, p = 0.000, NRDi (AU) 3140±259.4 vs. 1886±73.1,p<0.0001), respectively. In conclusion, individuals with hypertension presented higher NRD during quiet breathing and maximal ventilatory ventilation when compared to healthy individuals.
Profiles of cannabis users and impact on cannabis cessation
Authors: MacQuarrie Amy L. , Brunelle Caroline
Published: June 2024

Although cannabis was legalized in Canada in 2018 and is one of the most used substances in Canada, few studies have examined how individuals with different patterns of cannabis use differ in their attempts to decrease or abstain from cannabis. The current study examined how groups of cannabis users, which were formed on the basis of demographic characteristics, substance use patterns, mental health symptoms, and self-reported quality of life differed on their experiences with cannabis cessation. A sample of 147 Canadian adult participants who had attempted to decrease or quit cannabis were recruited from the community (n = 84, 57.14%) and crowdsourcing (n = 63, 42.86%). Four profiles of cannabis users emerged using a Latent Profile Analysis: low-risk (n = 62, 42.18%), rapidly escalating high-risk (n = 40, 27.21%), long-term high severity (n = 35, 23.81%), and long-term lower severity (n = 10, 6.80%). Individuals in the rapidly escalating profile had attempted to decrease their cannabis use more times compared to other profiles. More participants in the long-term high severity group found their use stayed the same or got worse after their last cessation attempt, compared to the low-risk group where more individuals indicated their use stopped. The results of the current study indicate that cannabis users differ in their attempts at reducing or ceasing cannabis use and that they may benefit from different intensity of cannabis interventions.
A latent class analysis of international change and continuity in adolescent health and wellbeing: A repeat cross-sectional study
Authors: Stevely Abigail K. , Gray Laura A. , Fairbrother Hannah , Fenton Laura , Henney Madeleine , Kersbergen Inge , Holmes John
Published: June 2024

Background

Since the early 2000s, there have been marked trends in adolescent health and wellbeing indicators across Europe, North America and Australia. In particular, there have been substantial declines in youth drinking. We know little about how these trends are underpinned by co-occurring indicators within individuals. This paper aims to analyse change over time in how indicators cluster within individuals and differences in these patterns between five countries with different trends in youth drinking.

Methods

We analysed four waves of repeat cross-sectional survey data from 15-year-olds in England (n = 5942), Italy (n = 5234), the Netherlands (n = 5408), Hungary (n = 5274), and Finland (n = 7446), which were included in the Health Behaviours in School-aged Children (HBSC) study between 2001/02 and 2013/14. We defined clusters of individuals using multigroup latent class analyses which accounts for change over time. The class indicators included health behaviours, attitudes, wellbeing and relationships. We modelled associations between class membership, sex, and family affluence over time.

Results

We identified four classes in all countries: Overall unhealthy, Overall healthy, Moderately healthy and Substance abstainers with behaviour risk indicators. The proportion of adolescents in the Overall unhealthy class declined between 2001/02 and 2013/14 by between 22.8 percentage points (pp) in England and 3.2pp in Italy. The extent to which indicators of health and wellbeing changed as linked clusters differed across countries, but changes in alcohol consumption, smoking, drug use and sexual activity were typically concurrent. Adolescents with low family affluence were more likely to be in the Overall unhealthy class in all years.

Conclusions

Improvements in indicators of adolescent health and well-being are due mainly to concurrent declines in drinking, smoking, sexual activity, and cannabis use, but these declines are not consistently associated with improvements in other domains. They have also not led to reductions in inequalities in indicators of health and well-being.
Epilepsy detection based on multi-head self-attention mechanism
Authors: Ru Yandong , An Gaoyang , Wei Zheng , Chen Hongming
Published: June 2024

CNN has demonstrated remarkable performance in EEG signal detection, yet it still faces limitations in terms of global perception. Additionally, due to individual differences in EEG signals, the generalization ability of epilepsy detection models is week. To address this issue, this paper presents a cross-patient epilepsy detection method utilizing a multi-head self-attention mechanism. This method first utilizes Short-Time Fourier Transform (STFT) to transform the original EEG signals into time-frequency features, then models local information using Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), subsequently captures global dependency relationships between features using the multi-head self-attention mechanism of Transformer, and finally performs epilepsy detection using these features. Meanwhile, this model employs a light multi-head attention mechanism module with an alternating structure, which can comprehensively extract multi-scale features while significantly reducing computational costs. Experimental results on the CHB-MIT dataset show that the proposed model achieves accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, F1 score, and AUC of 92.89%, 96.17%, 92.99%, 94.41%, and 96.77%, respectively. Compared to the existing methods, the method proposed in this paper obtains better performance along with better generalization.
Study on key parameters of buckling deformation instability and fracture of rock beams and asymmetric distribution law of stope stress
Authors: Shi Zhanshan , Zhao Hanwei , Qin Bing , Liang Bing , Li Gang , Liu Xiuru , Jia Lifeng
Published: June 2024

The moving deformation of the strata and the redistribution of stope stress after mining show asymmetrical characteristics, which do not conform to the symmetrical structural characteristics of the original rock beam fracture. To further analyze the deformation of rock beams and the asymmetry law of stope pressure distribution after strata caving, the detailed process of instability and deformation of composite rock beams before failure was revealed through similar material simulation, theoretical analysis, and numerical simulation. Through similar simulation experiments, the structural characteristics of strata caving were observed. After excavation, the caving angle near the open-off cut side of the model is greater than that on the stop-mining line side. The maximum bending moment of the rock beam is located at the open-off cut side. The rock beam fracture is located on the partial open-off cut side in the middle of the rock beam. The rock beam on the open-off cut side is easy to shear slip and not easy to hinge. The rock beam in front of the advancing direction of the working face is easily hinged. Based on the structural characteristics of strata caving, considering the thickness of the composite rock beam, the two-hinged arch mechanical model for rock beam fracture is established. On this basis, the key parameters of rock beam instability and fracture such as limit load, additional horizontal stress, limit break distance, and break position are analyzed. Based on the deformation characteristics of two hinged arches, the caving structure and the asymmetric distribution mechanism of stress redistribution during the deformation of overburden in stope are explained. Finally, the deformation of rock beam and the asymmetry of stress distribution in stope are verified by numerical calculation. The results show that the concentrated stress value of the coal pillar at the open-off cut side is greater than that in front of the working face. There is a pressure relief area behind the working face, and the pressure relief area has a certain range. The range of stress concentration area, pressure relief area, and stress value tend to be stable, and only the range of the original rock stress zone expands when the working face is advanced to a certain distance. The asymmetric distribution of compaction stress in goaf is related to the buckling deformation of strata.
Pathogenic differences of cynomolgus macaques after Taï Forest virus infection depend on the viral stock propagation
Authors: Fletcher Paige , Clancy Chad S. , O’Donnell Kyle L. , Doratt Brianna M. , Malherbe Delphine C. , Rhoderick Joseph F. , Feldmann Friederike , Hanley Patrick W. , Takada Ayato , Messaoudi Ilhem , Marzi Andrea
Published: June 2024

Taï Forest virus (TAFV) is a negative-sense RNA virus in the Filoviridae family. TAFV has caused only a single human infection, but several disease outbreaks in chimpanzees have been linked to this virus. Limited research has been done on this human-pathogenic virus. We sought to establish an animal model to assess TAFV disease progression and pathogenicity at our facility. We had access to two different viral stock preparations from different institutions, both originating from the single human case. Type I interferon receptor knockout mice were inoculated with TAFV stock 1 or stock 2 by the intraperitoneal route. Inoculation resulted in 100% survival with no disease regardless of viral stock preparation or infectious dose. Next, cynomolgus macaques were inoculated with TAFV stock 1 or stock 2. Inoculation with TAFV stock 1 resulted in 100% survival and robust TAFV glycoprotein-specific IgG responses including neutralizing antibodies. In contrast, macaques infected with TAFV stock 2 developed disease and were euthanized 8–11 days after infection exhibiting viremia, thrombocytopenia, and increased inflammatory mediators identified by transcriptional analysis. Histopathologic analysis of tissue samples collected at necropsy confirmed classic filovirus disease in numerous organs. Genomic differences in both stock preparations were mapped to several viral genes which may have contributed to disease severity. Taken together, we demonstrate that infection with the two TAFV stocks resulted in no disease in mice and opposing disease phenotypes in cynomolgus macaques, highlighting the impact of viral stock propagation on pathogenicity in animal models.
Egyptian political conversations on Clubhouse: Proto-public sphere at the age of the pandemic
Authors: Elsheikh Dalia , Lilleker Darren G.
Published: June 2024

Clubhouse is an invitation only social media app where users communicate in real-time audio chat rooms that accommodate up to five thousand users per room. It became popular among Egyptians during the COVID-19 pandemic who actively participated in various discussions – including politics. This exploratory study asks whether the app performed functions that might form the basis for an emerging public sphere in Egypt, filling a gap in society where freedom of expression via traditional media is under state control, through satisfying a need for connectivity during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study first introduces Clubhouse and its uses in Egypt within the context of that nation’s politics during 2021, then moves on to conceptualizing the public sphere within the context of the current hypermedia age, identifying the conditions which might allow Clubhouse to cut through in ways other platforms have failed in a range of contexts. The study argues that Clubhouse facilitated the creation of what may appear as a proto-public sphere by facilitating connections between a large number of Egyptian citizens with different political affiliations, and by offering an insight into what issues circulate within Egyptian society. Yet, the app presented structural barriers which limited participation beyond access to technology, and there were limited means for the discussions to have a positive impact on society.
Knitting: A restrictive narrative?
Authors: O’Neill Eleanor
Published: June 2024

This article explores the narratives embedded in the public discourse that surrounds knitting in the United Kingdom today. Knitting, a process by which a fabric or 3D object is made, is a familiar concept to most. Using a single end of yarn, a four-way stretch fabric is created. Despite this versatility and the abundance of applications it brings, the general public’s understanding of knitting places it firmly in the domestic sphere. Through the analysis of discourse within articles featuring the term ‘knitting’ published in The Guardian in 2021, I analyse how and why particular representations of knitting still dominate and direct cultural attitudes towards the discipline. To provide further context, I will compare the language used in articles from the same source and timeframe featuring an alternative term: painting. This comparison provides a means through which narratives concerning both disciplines become more clearly visible. With applications spanning the medical, construction and automotive industries, knitting, a process that can be zero waste, is very well suited to tackling the environmental challenges we face today. This paper illustrates, however, that there remains a particular narrative that surrounds knitting in sections of the British media: one centred on the domestic, the female and increasingly, mental health. I suggest that this prevents knitting from being contextualized in more broadly innovative ways. This article aims to uncover the explicit and implicit ways in which language used in this identified section of the British media influences and shapes the public’s understanding of knitting.
La gramaticalización de dicho como determinante en la Historia del Español
Authors: Duttenhofer Alexandra
Published: June 2024

Este libro ofrece un estudio diacrónico sobre el proceso por el que el antiguo adjetivo participial con función anafórica dicho precedido de artículo definido se recategorizó como determinante dicho en español. Se aspira a hacer una aportación a la historia de la formación del paradigma determinante en español, ya ampliamente estudiada a la luz de la creación del artículo definido e indefinido. Si bien ya se ha hecho un acercamien­to al cambio lingüístico en cuestión, aún no se ha realizado un estudio completo que arroje luz sobre el proceso señalado. Por tanto, se pretende explicar desde el punto de vista gramatical y discursivo el cambio morfo­sintáctico por el que se produjo una paulatina pérdida del artículo definido ante dicho. De esta manera, se observa la creación de un determinante ana­fórico similar a un demostrativo a partir de un verbo de lengua. Se trata de un proceso translingüístico, en la misma medida en la que lo es la creación de los artículos. Al tratarse de una de las marcas identitarias de la tradición notarial desde la Edad Media, se recurre a un amplio corpus de la docu­mentación notarial de los siglos XVII-XIX procedente del Archivo Histórico de los Protocolos de Madrid. El estudio se basa en los avances teóricos de la gramaticalización, si bien se contempla, asimismo, la interacción de la misma tanto con los procesos de lexicalización como con la teoría de las tradiciones discursivas. En este sentido, se dedica atención al papel del latín adstrático de la Edad Media, y además, se resalta la índole pragmáti­co-discursiva del cambio lingüístico estudiado, al igual que el papel de una pauta retórica que condicionó la difusión de dicho en la documentación notarial. Tal proceso dilucidaría la interacción entre la retórica y la gramá­tica. El cambio morfosintáctico procede de la lengua de distancia comuni­cativa contrariamente a los cambios lingüísticos detectados en la lengua de inmediatez. El análisis del corpus permite destacar tales conceptos como la definitud, la topicalidad y la deixis textual en el cambio lingüístico es­tudiado. Si bien tales conceptos ya han sido mencionados en relación con la creación de los artículos, estos encuentran una nueva aplicación en el proceso de la gramaticalización de dicho como determinante. Sin embargo, dicho presenta una historia propia condicionada por su origen participial.
New species, Hoya sungwookii (Apocynaceae, Asclepiadoideae), from southern Vietnam
Authors: Tran T. T. N. , Nguyen V. C. , Averyanov Leonid V. , Truong B. V. , Dang V. S. , Nguyen V. K. , Maisak Tatyana V. , Nguyen Q. B. , Krupkina Lyudmila I.
Published: June 2024

A new species, Hoya sungwookii, discovered in southern Vietnam near Nha Trang Town (Khanh Hoa Province) is described and illustrated. It belongs to the type section of the genus and is distinguished from the morphologically closest H. ablongacutifolia (= H. graveolens) in glabrous pedicels, smaller flower 1.1–1.4 cm across, greenish ciliate calyx, corolla abaxially light green, small green to dark green corona 4.5–5 mm in diameter, 1.6–1.8 mm tall, small, 2–2.2 mm long, corona segments, and short corona segment inner angle, not exceeding anthers. Additionally, data on ecology, phenology, distribution of newly described species are presented, as well as its evaluated conservation status and color illustrations. Taking into consideration our new data, the genus in Vietnam currently includes 45 species.