bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Hyperinfection by Strongyloides in captive callitrichids with progressive weight loss syndrome
Authors: Conga David F. , de Souza Natalia F. , Jaques Adriana M. C. C. , Benigno Raimundo N. M. , Pereira Washington L. A.
Published: June 2021

We report three cases of disseminated hyperinfection by Strongyloides in primates Callithrix jacchus and Callithrix penicillata in captivity and with progressive weight loss syndrome. Histopathological examination revealed severe lesions in lungs, liver, and intestines with the presence of Strongyloides larvae and in a generalized manner, including other organs such as the pancreas and heart.
A simple microstructural explanation of the concavity of price impact
Authors: Nadtochiy Sergey
Published: June 2021

This article provides a simple explanation of the asymptotic concavity of the price impact of a meta‐order via the microstructural properties of the market. This explanation is made more precise by a model in which the local relationship between the order flow and the fundamental price (i.e., the local price impact) is linear, with a constant slope, which makes the model dynamically consistent. Nevertheless, the expected impact on midprice from a large sequence of co‐directional trades is nonlinear and asymptotically concave. The main practical conclusion of the proposed explanation is that, throughout a meta‐order, the volumes at the best bid and ask prices change (on average) in favor of the executor. This conclusion, in turn, relies on two more concrete predictions, one of which can be tested, at least for large‐tick stocks, using publicly available market data.
MicroRNAs play important roles in regulating the rapid growth of the Phyllostachys edulis culm internode
Authors: Wang Kai‐li , Zhang Yuanyuan , Zhang Heng‐Mu , Lin Xin‐Chun , Xia Rui , Song Lili , Wu Ai‐Min
Published: June 2021

Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis) is a fast‐growing species with uneven growth and lignification from lower to upper segments within one internode. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play a vital role in post‐transcriptional regulation in plants. However, how miRNAs regulate fast growth in bamboo internodes is poorly understood.

In this study, one moso bamboo internode was divided during early rapid growth into four segments called F4 (bottom) to F1 (upper) and these were then analysed for transcriptomes, miRNAs and degradomes.

The F4 segment had a higher number of actively dividing cells as well as a higher content of auxin (IAA), cytokinin (CK) and gibberellin (GA) compared with the F1 segment. RNA‐seq analysis showed DNA replication and cell division‐associated genes highly expressed in F4 rather than in F1. In total, 63 miRNAs (DEMs) were identified as differentially expressed between F4 and F1. The degradome and the transcriptome indicated that many downstream transcription factors and hormonal responses genes were modulated by DEMs. Several miR–target interactions were further validated by tobacco co‐infiltration.

Our findings give new insights into miRNA‐mediated regulatory pathways in bamboo, and will contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the molecular mechanisms governing rapid growth.
Thiamine supplementation holds neurocognitive benefits for breastfed infants during the first year of life
Authors: Measelle Jeffrey R. , Baldwin Dare A. , Gallant Jelisa , Chan Kathleen , Green Tim J. , Wieringa Frank T. , Borath Mam , Prak Sophonneary , Hampel Daniela , Shahab‐Ferdows Setareh , Allen Lindsay H. , Kroeun Hou , Whitfield Kyly C.
Published: June 2021

Women reliant on mostly rice‐based diets can have inadequate thiamine intake, placing breastfed infants at risk of thiamine deficiency and, in turn, physical and cognitive impairments. We investigated the impact of maternal thiamine supplementation doses on infants’ cognitive, motor, and language development across the first year. In this double‐blind, four‐parallel‐arm, randomized controlled trial, healthy mothers of exclusively breastfed newborn infants were recruited in Kampong Thom, Cambodia. At 2 weeks postnatal, women (n = 335) were randomized to one of four treatment groups to consume one capsule/day with varying amounts of thiamine for 22 weeks: 0, 1.2, 2.4, and 10 mg. At 2, 12, 24, and 52 weeks of age, infants were assessed with the Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL) and the Caregiver Reported Early Development Instrument (CREDI). Multiple regression and mixed effects modeling suggest that by 6 months of age, the highest maternal thiamine dose (10 mg/day) held significant benefits for infants’ language development, but generally not for motor or visual reception development. Despite having achieved standardized scores on the MSEL that approximated U.S. norms by 6 months, infants showed a significant drop relative to these norms in both language domains following trial completion, indicating that nutritional interventions beyond 6 months may be necessary.
Multicomponent density models for body composition: Review of the dual energy X‐ray absorptiometry volume approach
Authors: Heymsfield Steven B. , Smith Brooke , Wong Michael , Bennett Jonathan , Ebbeling Cara , Wong Julia M. W. , Strauss Boyd J. G. , Shepherd John
Published: June 2021

Accurate and precise body composition estimates, notably of total body adiposity, are a vital component of in vivo physiology and metabolic studies. The reference against which other body composition approaches are usually validated or calibrated is the family of methods referred to as multicomponent “body density” models. These models quantify three to six components by combining measurements of body mass, body volume, total body water, and osseous mineral mass. Body mass is measured with calibrated scales, volume with underwater weighing or air‐displacement plethysmography, total body water with isotope dilution, and osseous mineral mass by dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry. Body density is then calculated for use in model as body mass/volume. Studies over the past decade introduced a new approach to quantifying body volume that relies on dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry measurements, an advance that simplifies multicomponent density model development by eliminating the need for underwater weighing or air‐displacement plethysmography systems when these technologies are unavailable and makes these methods more accessible to research and clinical programs. This review critically examines these new dual‐energy X‐ray approaches for quantifying body volume and density, explores their shortcomings, suggests alternative derivation approaches, and introduces ideas for potential future research studies.
Early Life Adversity Is Associated With Diminished Social Trust in Adults
Authors: Mell Hugo , Safra Lou , Demange Perline , Algan Yann , Baumard Nicolas , Chevallier Coralie
Published: June 2021

Social trust is at the center of democratic societies, but it varies considerably between individuals and cultures. Socioeconomic status has been identified as an important predictor of such variability. Although this association has mostly been reported for measures of socioeconomic status taken in adulthood, recent studies have found unique effects of harsh conditions experienced during childhood on social trust assessed decades later. Here, we report a series of three studies that provide further support for the importance of early childhood conditions in social trust. The first study revealed that higher childhood socioeconomic status was associated with greater social trust in a diverse sample of French participants (N = 915), even after adjusting for current socioeconomic status. The second study confirmed this result using data from the European Values Survey (N = 64,780, 45 countries). In both samples, our analyses revealed that adding childhood socioeconomic status significantly improved the fit of the model thereby providing suggestive evidence of the central role of this variable for explaining variations in social trust. Finally, the last study replicated this association using a behavioral measure of social trust (N = 60 in original study,N = 75 in replication study).
Validation and use of a qPCR protocol to quantify the spread of Ralstonia solanacearum in susceptible and resistant eucalypt plants
Authors: Freitas Rodrigo G. , Hermenegildo Pollyane S. , Cascardo Renan S. , Guimarães Lúcio M. S. , Santos Samuel A. , Badel Jorge L. , Alfenas‐Zerbini Poliane , Alfenas Acelino C.
Published: June 2021

Bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum is a serious disease of eucalypt in humid and high temperature areas worldwide. Spreading of the bacterium in the field or to other nurseries occurs mainly by symptomless infected plant material. The use of pathogen‐free propagating material as well as planting of resistant genotypes are currently the only strategies used for disease control. Therefore, a reliable and sensitive method for detection of low titres of R. solanacearum in infected plant tissue is essential for the success of management programmes. In this work, we adapted an efficient intercalating dye‐based real‐time PCR protocol to detect the bacterium in symptomless eucalypt plants as well as to investigate its movement in eucalypt clones CLR172 and CLR371, which exhibit resistant and susceptible phenotypes, respectively. We found that the bacterium translocates acropetally and basipetally in inoculated but symptomless cuttings of the resistant clone, as in cuttings of the susceptible clone displaying symptoms. Nevertheless, a smaller concentration of bacterial DNA was detected in tissues of the resistant clone. Mature biofilms occluding the xylem vessels were present in the susceptible clone whereas only single cells or small aggregates were observed in the resistant clone. This work contributes to improve our knowledge of the colonization process of R. solanacearum in eucalypt clones with different levels of susceptibility and to understand how the defence mechanisms against bacterial wilt in Eucalyptus work. Our findings could aid in the selection of the most resistant eucalypt clones to be used in wilt disease management programmes.
Chloroplast relocation movement in the liverwort Apopellia endiviifolia
Authors: Yong Lee‐Kien , Tsuboyama Shoko , Kitamura Rika , Kurokura Takeshi , Suzuki Tomohiro , Kodama Yutaka
Published: June 2021

Changes in the subcellular localisation of chloroplasts help optimise photosynthetic activity under different environmental conditions. In many plants, this movement is mediated by the blue‐light photoreceptor phototropin. A model organism with simple phototropin signalling that allows clear observation of chloroplasts would facilitate the study of chloroplast relocation movement. Here, we examined this process in the simple thalloid liverwort Apopellia endiviifolia. Transverse sections of the thallus tissue showed uniformly developed chloroplasts and no air chambers; these characteristics enable clear observation of chloroplasts and analysis of their movements under a fluorescence stereomicroscope. At 22°C, the chloroplasts moved to the anticlinal walls of cells next to the neighbouring cells in the dark (dark‐positioning response), whereas they moved towards weak light (accumulation response) and away from strong light (avoidance response). When the temperature was reduced to 5°C, the chloroplasts moved away from weak light (cold‐avoidance response). Hence, both light‐ and temperature‐dependent chloroplast relocation movements occur in A. endiviifolia. Notably, the accumulation, avoidance and cold‐avoidance responses were induced under blue‐light but not under red‐light. These results suggest that phototropin is responsible for chloroplast relocation movement in A. endiviifolia and that the characteristics are similar to those in the model liverwort Marchantia polymorpha. RNA sequencing and Southern blot analysis identified a single copy of the PHOTOTROPIN gene in A. endiviifolia, indicating that a simple phototropin signalling pathway functions in A. endiviifolia. We conclude that A. endiviifolia has great potential as a model system for elucidating the mechanisms of chloroplast relocation movement.
Knowledge and attitude towards Alzheimer's disease and related dementias in a low‐ to middle‐income country: a cross‐sectional survey among Lebanese middle‐aged and older adults
Authors: Elbejjani Martine , Wahab Kamal , El Hachem Rita , Tanielian Maria , Feghali Lea , Assaf Georges
Published: June 2021

Background

Despite the growing burden of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) in low‐ to middle‐income countries (LMICs) and prior findings of important gaps in research on ADRD knowledge, very few studies have assessed ADRD knowledge in these populations. This study evaluates the knowledge and attitudes towards ADRD among Lebanese middle‐aged and older adults.

Method

Participants aged ≥ 40 (n = 215) attending primary care clinics at a large medical centre in Lebanon completed the Alzheimer's Disease Knowledge Scale (ADKS), an attitude scale, and the Duke University Religion Index.

Results

ADRD knowledge accuracy was 61.5% (mean score = 18.6 out of 30 (SD = 3.05)). Items with the least correct answers were related to caregiving and risk factors (≤9% and ≤28%). Overall, participants had tolerant views concerning ADRD; the least positive views were regarding living with people with ADRD. Older age, lower educational attainment, and higher religiosity scores were associated with poorer knowledge and attitudes.

Conclusion

Results highlight the need for awareness and preventive efforts that address misconceptions about modifiable risk factors and living with ADRD, especially given that the burden of caregiving for older adults often falls on family members in Lebanon and other LMIC countries.
Assessment of cube‐copying among community‐dwelling elderly living in Japan using the vertex criterion and parallelism
Authors: Yoshimura Takako , Osawa Aiko , Maeshima Shinichiro
Published: June 2021

Background

The cube‐copying test is used to assess cognitive function. It is one of the methods used to distinguish healthy older individuals from those with cognitive impairment based on its 3 mm vertex criterion and parallel line errors. We sought to assess how: (1) precisely elderly community‐dwelling individuals draw cubes based on two different vertex criteria; and (2) they keep the parallelism of lines.

Methods

The cross‐sectional design study population comprised 121 adults ((outlier analysis excluded the results of three, resulting in 118 participants) ≥ 65 years (21 men and 100 women) who participated in an annual physical fitness circuit and who lived independently in their communities. We recorded the participants' ages, years of education, and the scores they obtained in the Japanese version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment. Participants were instructed to draw the cube as precisely as possible. Cube drawings were assessed based on the correct position of the vertices using 1 and 3 mm criteria and parallel line errors.

Results

Eighty‐nine percent of the participants were able to draw vertices within 3 mm distance from the correct position but found it difficult to draw them within 1 mm distance. Using the 3 mm vertex criterion, the mean score for correct vertices was six (out of a maximum of eight). Most of the participants made a maximum of one out of six possible parallel line errors.

Conclusions

Almost 90% of the elderly in our study drew the vertices within 3 mm of the correct position, and the parallel line errors were few. The 3 mm vertex and parallel line criteria by cube‐copying seem to be cleared by most community‐dwelling elderly. Further research should determine if participants aged ≥85 years with less than 6 years of education show different results.
Learning to deal with delayed outcomes: EEG oscillatory and slow potentials during the prefeedback interval
Authors: Bhangal Sabrina , Sharma Shreya , Valle‐Inclán Fernando , Ren Xi , Hackley Steven A.
Published: June 2021

It is well established that the stimulus‐preceding negativity (SPN) decreases in amplitude as a task is mastered, a phenomenon generally attributed to the reduction in anticipatory attention as feedback becomes less needed. Typically, the experiments supporting this assumption have used relatively short delays (<3 s). However, we found in a previous study that this decline in amplitude, although present during the 2.5‐s prefeedback delay of a patterned key‐pressing task, was absent with an 8‐s delay. We reexamined this finding using a 6‐s delay and found that the SPN diminished at frontal sites as participants learned a sequence of four keypress durations, but that this modulation was limited to the early half of the delay (maximum at 2 s). Decline of lateralized sensorimotor theta activity across trials was also limited to early portions of the delay. These findings suggest that processes other than anticipatory attention to feedback may be more relevant for explaining SPN diminution. Such processes could include adjustment and maintenance of action‐outcome expectancies (e.g., forward models) during the prefeedback interval.
El impacto social de las energías limpias en comunidades vulnerables. La energía eólica en la comunidad zapoteca de Juchitán de Zaragoza, Oaxaca
Authors: Cano Torres Lee Roy , Rodríguez Cruz Luis Alejandro
Published: June 2021

En las diversas implementaciones de energías alternativas se ha rezagado, a lo largo del tiempo, el análisis social de la población que podría verse afectada por estas, privilegiando únicamente el enfoque sobre los elementos naturales del medio ambiente. Con base en esta premisa, en el presente trabajo se propone un análisis integral, realizado por medio de diferentes enfoques e interrogantes como: ¿cuál es el lugar de las energías limpias en la legislación mexicana?, ¿cómo pueden verse representadas las comunidades indígenas en la legislación nacional e internacional?, y ¿cuál ha sido el impacto social que ha ocasionado la mala implementación de energías limpias en México? A partir de este análisis, se forjan las bases para un replanteamiento que es necesario en el procedimiento de Evaluación de impacto, que es actualmente utilizado en México. Así mismo, se plantea una la vigilancia de las relaciones e interacciones de la iniciativa privada, el Gobierno y la sociedad, especialmente, en proyectos de interés social como la generación de energía.
Si bien este enfoque es necesario, requiere ser complementado con un correcto análisis social de la población que podría ser afectada por la realización de estos proyectos, a la vez que toma en cuenta sus efectos ambientales y analiza cómo estos afectan a la población, además de un análisis integral del concepto de energías limpias en la legislación mexicana, y el efecto que éste tiene en la evaluación e implementación de estos proyectos.
Por lo tanto, el presente artículo tiene el objetivo de exponer la necesidad de la evaluación del impacto social ocasionado por la mala implementación de las energías limpias en México, específicamente en comunidades vulnerables, a través del estudio de caso de la comunidad Zapoteca en Oaxaca y los diversos parques eólicos que se han instalado en su territorio a lo largo de los años.
Dynamic Fracture of Expanding Cavities in Nonlinear Soft Solids
Authors: Milner Matt P. , Hutchens Shelby B.
Published: June 2021

Recent experimental observation [Milner, M. P., and Hutchens, S. B., 2021, “Multi-Crack Formation in Soft Solids During High Rate Cavity Expansion,” Mech. Mater., 154, p. 103741] suggests that crack formation during rapid cavity expansion in low modulus, highly deformable solids depends on the ratio of the rate of expansion and the acoustoelastic wave speed, similar to observations in rock and metal [Grady, D., and Kipp, M., 1987, “Dynamic Rock Fragmentation,” Fracture Mechanics of Rock, Elsevier, p. 429475]. Here, we explore the effect of material nonlinearity on predictions of the number of cracks formed at the cavity surface. We find that nonlinearity influences crack formation only when the cavity size normalized elasto-fracture length is greater than one and the cavity’s rate of expansion is greater than the acoustoelastic wave speed. The sensitivity of these predictions for two idealized fracture geometries, either a spherical damaged zone or discrete cracks, suggests a direction for further experimentation that may illuminate crack formation mechanisms in soft solids under dynamic loading.
Low-frequency ocean ambient noise on the Chukchi Shelf in the changing Arctic
Authors: Bonnel Julien , Kinda G. Bazile , P. Zitterbart Daniel
Published: June 2021

This article presents the study of a passive acoustic dataset recorded on the Chukchi Shelf from October 2016 to July 2017 during the Canada Basin Acoustic Propagation Experiment (CANAPE). The study focuses on the low-frequency (250–350 Hz) ambient noise (after individual transient signals are removed) and its environmental drivers. A specificity of the experimental area is the Beaufort Duct, a persistent warm layer intrusion of variable extent created by climate change, which favors long-range acoustic propagation. The Chukchi Shelf ambient noise shows traditional polar features: it is quieter and wind force influence is reduced when the sea is ice-covered. However, the study reveals two other striking features. First, if the experimental area is covered with ice, the ambient noise drops by up to 10 dB/Hz when the Beaufort Duct disappears. Further, a large part of the noise variability is driven by distant cryogenic events, hundreds of kilometers away from the acoustic receivers. This was quantified using correlations between the CANAPE acoustic data and distant ice-drift magnitude data (National Snow and Ice Data Center).
Spatially variant autofocus for circular synthetic aperture sonar
Authors: Marston Timothy , Kennedy Jermaine
Published: June 2021

Circular synthetic aperture sonar (CSAS) is a method for improving the resolution and target detection capabilities of a synthetic aperture sonar system. CSAS data are difficult to focus because of their large aperture sizes and elevation sensitivity. This difficulty has sometimes been addressed by using transponders or distributing isotropic scatterers in the field of view of the system; however, this comes at the cost of reduced practicality. As an alternative, map-drift based multipoint autofocus (“multilateration”) was proposed by Cantalloube and Nahum [IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 49, 3730–37 (2011)] for autofocusing analogous circular synthetic aperture radar data. Multilateration also solves the problem of aberration spatial variance by providing a three-dimensional navigation correction. In circular synthetic aperture focusing problems, though, correcting aberrations is a joint navigation and elevation estimation problem, and the present work extends the multilateration approach to simultaneously solve both a navigation solution and coordinate corrections for the multilateration control patches. Additionally, methods for addressing the stability and behavior of the inverse problem are addressed, and an adaptive weighting scheme for reducing the influence of outliers is presented. The field results demonstrate near optimal point-spread functions on distributions of natural isotropic scatterers and robustness in regions with bathymetric variability.
Pictorial Scale of Physical Self-Concept for Brazilian Children: Validity and Reliability
Authors: Carvalho Nobre Glauber , Gonçalves Duarte Marcelo , Flores Sartori Rodrigo , Tietjens Maike , Cristina Valentini Nadia
Published: June 2021

This study aimed to translate the Pictorial Scale of Physical Self-Concept for Brazilian Children (PSPPS-BR) into the Brazilian-Portuguese language, conduct a transcultural adaptation of it, and investigate its validity.Method: The authors adopted the reverse translation procedures to obtain the PSPPS-BR’s Brazilian-Portuguese version. Three motor behavior experts assessed the scale items’ clarity and pertinence. Ten professionals participated in the face validity study. Children (N = 300; 150 girls and 150 boys; 8–10 years old;Mage = 9.0,SD = 0.81) were randomly selected from six schools in Brazil and assessed using the PSPPS-BR, the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Movement Skill Competence, and the Self-Perception Profile for Children. The children (N = 100) were reassessed for test–retest reliability.Results: High clarity and pertinence agreement among experts (content validity coefficient from 98.4% to 100%; Gwet’s agreement coefficient from .85 to 1.00,p < .001) and among professionals (content validity coefficient clarity: 83–100%, relevance: 90–100%) were obtained. The confirmatory factorial analysis showed adequate model fits (root mean square error of approximation = .067; comparative fit index = .968; Tukey–Lewis index = .949). Polychoric correlations showed an adequate internal consistency for total scale (α = .78) and items (alpha from .73 to .78). The intraclass coefficient correlation shown strong test–retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient > .95).Conclusion: The PSPPS-BR showed adequate validity and reliability for Brazilian children.
The S-Shaped Performance Curve Prevails in Practicing Juggling
Authors: Qiao Mu
Published: June 2021

The development of performance, such as learning a new motor skill, can be represented in a performance curve. The shape of the performance curve is both of theoretical and practical relevance. Here, the author studied the interday performance of juggling over a period of 17 days in 112 college students. The results showed that 60% of participants followed an S-shaped performance curve with the inflection date on the 11th day, followed by a decelerated (20%), accelerated (14%), and linear curve (6%). As expected, except on Day 1, male participants performed at least 33% better than female participants on each practice day. Also as expected, learning performance was found to depend on the type of performance curve with the best learning performance exhibited by the linear group. The results further revealed that pooling all participants’ performance together without considering the percentage of each underlying type of performance curve would lead to biased, nonrepresentative results. Given the variety of the observed performance curves and the dominance of the S-shaped performance curve among them, coaches should continuously monitor the shape of an individual’s performance curve.
Metatranscriptomic Analysis Reveals SARS-CoV-2 Mutations in Wastewater of the Frankfurt Metropolitan Area in Southern Germany
Authors: Agrawal Shelesh , Orschler Laura , Lackner Susanne
Published: June 2021

We report a sequencing analysis of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA in wastewater samples collected in the Frankfurt, Germany, metropolitan area. The majority of the detected mutations have been identified only in clinical genomes outside Frankfurt, indicating that the sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater can provide insights into emerging variants in a city.
Australian impact cratering record: Updates and recent discoveries
Authors: Quintero Raiza R. , Cavosie Aaron J. , Cox Morgan A. , Miljković Katarina , Dugdale Allison
Published: June 2021

There are currently 31 confirmed structures of impact origin in Australia. More than 49 additional structures have been proposed to have formed due to asteroid impact but await confirmation. Many discoveries have been made in Australia in the time since the last comprehensive review of the Australian impact cratering record was published in a peer-reviewed journal in 2005. These include further expanding the record of confirmed craters, and providing new insights into a variety of impact-related processes, such as shock deformation, phase transitions in accessory minerals, new impact age determinations, studies of oblique impacts, and more. This update is a review that focuses principally on summarizing discoveries made since 2005. Highlights since then include confirmation of five new Australian impact structures, identification of Earth’s oldest recognized impact structure, recognition of shock deformation in accessory minerals, discovery of the high-pressure phase reidite in Australia, determination of the links between impact craters and some ore deposits, and publication of the first generation of numerical hydrocode models for some Australian craters.
Terrestrial and extraterrestrial chemical components of early Archean impact spherule layers from Fairview Gold Mine, northern Barberton greenstone belt, South Africa
Authors: Gonçalves de Oliveira* Grace Juliana , Reimold Wolf Uwe , Crósta Álvaro Penteado , Hauser Natalia , Koeberl Christian , Mader Dieter , Schmitt Ralf-Thomas , Mohr-Westheide Tanja
Published: June 2021

Early Archean spherule layers, widely accepted to represent distal ejecta deposits from large-scale impact events onto the early Earth, have been described from several stratigraphic levels of the Barberton greenstone belt in South Africa. Recently, exploration drilling at the Fairview Gold Mine (25°43′53″S, 31°5′59″E) in the northern domain of the belt resulted in the discovery of a new set of spherule layer intersections. The Fairview spherule layers in drill cores BH5901, BH5907, BH5911, and BH5949 were intersected just a few meters apart, at about the same stratigraphic position within the transition from the Onverwacht Group to the Fig Tree Group. The Fairview spherule layers have petrographic and chemical similarities to at least three other well-known Barberton spherule layers (S2–S4), and multiple spherule layer bed intersections in drill cores BARB5 and CT3, all from about the same stratigraphic position. They are not uniform in composition, in particular with respect to abundances of highly siderophile elements. The highest concentrations of moderately (Cr, Co, Ni) and highly siderophile (Ir) elements are within the range of concentrations for chondrites and, thus, reinforce the impact hypothesis for the generation of the Fairview spherule layers. Iridium peak concentrations and Cr/Ir interelement ratios for spherule layer samples from drill cores BH5907, BH5911, and BH5949 suggest admixtures of 50%–60% chondritic material, whereas for the BH5901 spherule layer, only an admixture of 1% chondritic material is indicated. We discuss whether these four Fairview spherule layers represent the same impact event, and whether they can be correlated to any of the S2–S4, CT3, and BARB5 intersections.
Shock effects in feldspars: An overview
Authors: Pickersgill* Annemarie E. , Jaret Steven J. , Pittarello Lidia , Fritz Jörg , Harris R. Scott
Published: June 2021

Feldspars are the dominant mineral in the crust of most terrestrial planetary bodies, including Earth, Earth’s moon, and Mars, as well as in asteroids, and thus in meteorites. These bodies have experienced large numbers of hypervelocity impact events, and so it is important to have a robust understanding of the effects of shock waves exerted on feldspars. However, due to their optical complexity and susceptibility to weathering, feldspars are underutilized as shock barometers and indicators of hypervelocity impact. Here, we provide an overview of the work done on shocked feldspars so far, in an effort to better frame the current strengths and weaknesses of different techniques, and to highlight some gaps in the literature.
Rampart craters on Earth
Authors: Wulf* Gerwin , Kenkmann Thomas
Published: June 2021

Rampart craters are omnipresent features on volatile-rich solid planetary surfaces. This raises the question whether, and how many, rampart craters are present on Earth. We reviewed the terrestrial impact crater record with regard to possible rampart morphologies and present detailed morphological analyses of these terrestrial craters here. Our results show that the Ries crater in Germany, Bosumtwi crater in Ghana, Tenoumer crater in Mauritania, Lonar crater in India, and Meteor crater in the United States are terrestrial rampart craters. The Ries and Bosumtwi craters can be classified as double-layer ejecta (DLE) craters, whereas Tenoumer, Lonar, and Meteor craters can be classified as single-layer ejecta (SLE) craters. Tenoumer and Meteor craters show rampart as well as common lunar-like ejecta characteristics within their ejecta blankets and, thus, appear to be hybrid craters. In addition, we discuss seven crater structures that show at least some morphological or lithological peculiarities that could provide evidence for possible ejecta ramparts. Considering the low number of terrestrial impact craters with well-preserved ejecta blankets, the relatively high proportion of rampart craters is astonishing. Obviously, the formation of layered or rampart craters is a common and not a rare process on Earth.
Dropped head syndrome as initial and predominant manifestation of inflammatory myopathy
Authors: Ivanovski Trajche , Dávila González Pablo , Olivé Plana Montse , Miralles Morell Francesc
Published: June 2021

Dropped head syndrome (DHS) is an uncommon clinical syndrome, which requires complex diagnostic evaluation. A variety of neuromuscular and neurodegenerative disease can produce weakness of head extensor muscles and consequently lead to head drop. Inflammatory myopathy has been described as a cause of DHS, however head drop has only exceptionally been reported as being the presenting symptom of this disorder. We describe an original case of DHS as an initial and predominant manifestation of inflammatory myopathy with histopathological features of polymyositis, with an excellent response to immunosuppressive treatment.
Congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries (CCTGA)
Authors: Grech Neil , Borg Alexander , Sammut Mark Adrian , Caruana Maryanne
Published: June 2021

A 33-year-old man presented with a 3-week history of breathlessness and cough. He disclosed that he was informed regarding a heart defect as a child in his home country but was unaware of its nature and was never followed up. Examination revealed a pansystolic murmur (loudest at the apex), a hyperdynamic, displaced apex, and pulmonary oedema. An ECG showed atrial fibrillation with a regular broad-complex ventricular rhythm. Following electrical cardioversion, the ECG revealed complete heart block, therefore explaining the regular atrial fibrillation. An urgent transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) confirmed the anatomy of congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries (CCTGA) with torrential tricuspid regurgitation and impaired systemic right ventricle. Cardiac MRI identified a ventricular septal defect which was not visible on TTE. The patient showed a transient improvement following fluid offloading and ACE inhibition, with a more definitive improvement after cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT).
Case report of osteolytic lesions in a patient with multisystem granulomatous disease
Authors: Nel Henco , Davis Brad , Adler Brendan , Gabbay Eli
Published: June 2021

We present a case of a 70-year-old Caucasian woman with multisystem granulomatous disease involving her lungs, bones and lymph nodes. The patient initially presented with cervical lymphadenopathy and subsequently developed progressive breathlessness. Imaging revealed extensive mediastinal, hilar and intra-abdominal lymphadenopathy as well as bilateral pulmonary parenchymal infiltrates. Lymph node and lung biopsy confirmed non-necrotising granulomatous inflammation while a BAL showed scanty growth of Cryptococcus neoformans and moderate growth ofStaphylococcus aureus. The patient received intravenous ceftriaxone and had a good response to treatment. She also completed 3 months of oral fluconazole. Although a diagnosis of sarcoidosis was considered most likely, the patient was not initially started on systemic corticosteroids due to concern around possible infection and initial response to antimicrobials. However, her exercise tolerance gradually deteriorated. A craniofacial CT revealed multiple lytic lesions involving the skull and visualised cervical spine. Biopsy of a clivus lesion revealed non-necrotising granulomatous inflammation while fungal cultures and histopathological stains were negative. The patient was diagnosed with widespread sarcoidosis and she was initiated on prednisolone and methotrexate which led to marked clinical and radiological improvement.
Students’ perceptions of a university ‘No Smoking’ policy and barriers to implementation: a cross- sectional study
Authors: Al-Jayyousi Ghadir Fakhri , Kurdi Rana , Alsaei Shahd , AL-Kaabi Haya , Alrushdi Al Jaziya , Abdul Rahim Hanan F
Published: June 2021

Objectives

Effective policies are an important tool for reducing tobacco use. We examine student perceptions of the existing no-smoking policy in the country’s largest national university and identify perceived barriers to its implementation. We explore student support for a 100% tobacco-free campus policy.

Design

We conducted a cross-sectional survey using a self-administered on-line questionnaire.

Setting

This study was conducted at Qatar University (QU), the largest national institution of higher education in Qatar.

Participants

A total of 199 students participated out of a stratified random sample of students aged ≥18 years with active registration in the Spring 2020 semester.

Primary and secondary outcome measures

We assessed students’ knowledge of and attitudes towards QU’s current no-smoking policy, the perceived barriers to its implementation, and support for a 100% tobacco-free policy.

Results

Only 26% (95% CI 19.97 to 32.03) and 16.6% (95% CI 11.70 to 22.49) of respondents correctly identified the current policy on traditional and electronic cigarettes, respectively. Less than 30% of respondents held positive attitudes towards policy enforcement, and more male respondents reported positive attitudes towards compliance than women. Support for a 100% tobacco-free policy was at 77.2%, but it was significantly lower among tobacco users compared with non-users (35.9% and 91.8%, respectively; p<0.001). Failure to establish clear penalties, opposition from smoking students, and lack of cessation services were perceived as major barriers to implementation.

Conclusions

Clear and comprehensive tobacco-free policies are important tools for creating environments conducive to rejecting smoking and seeking cessation support. The findings underscore the need to increase awareness about the policy, advocate for clear penalties for violations, and promote cessation services on campus. Qualitative research is needed to further understand perceived barriers to successful enforcement of the policy.
Mental health disorders among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional survey from three major hospitals in Kenya
Authors: Shah Jasmit , Monroe-Wise Aliza , Talib Zohray , Nabiswa Alphonse , Said Mohammed , Abeid Abdulaziz , Ali Mohamed Mohamed , Mohamed Sood , Ali Sayed K
Published: June 2021

Background

COVID-19 is an international global health emergency and has posed a great challenge to mental well-being and resilience. Little is known about the mental health impact of COVID-19 among healthcare workers (HCWs) in sub-Saharan Africa or other low-resource settings.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional study between August and November 2020 among HCWs recruited from three major hospitals in Kenya. The survey questionnaire consisted of six components: demographic and work title characteristics; information regarding care of patients with COVID-19; and symptoms of depression, anxiety, insomnia, distress and burnout, measured using standardised questionnaires. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to identify factors associated with mental health disorders.

Results

A total of 433 (65.2% response rate) individuals participated in the survey. Median age was 32.75 years, 58.4% were females and 68.8% were front-line workers. Depression, anxiety, insomnia, distress and burnout were reported in 53.6%, 44.3%, 41.1%, 31.0% and 45.8% of all participants, respectively. Front-line HCWs, females and doctors were at higher risk of mental health symptoms. Nearly half of participants reported inadequate resources or training to care for patients with COVID-19, and those in the government hospital were more likely to report mental health symptoms.

Conclusions

This is among the first studies examining mental health outcomes among HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya. Similar to other studies from around the world, HCWs directly involved with patients with COVID-19 reported higher rates of mental health symptoms. Mitigating strategies specific to Kenyan HCWs are urgently needed to help them cope with mental health symptoms during the pandemic.
Diet and physical activity in Greenland: genetic interactions and associations with obesity and diabetes
Authors: Senftleber Ninna Karsbæk , Overvad Maria , Dahl-Petersen Inger Katrine , Bjerregaard Peter , Jørgensen Marit Eika
Published: June 2021

The Inuit in Greenland have gone through dramatic lifestyle changes during the last half century. More time is spent being sedentary and imported foods replaces traditional foods like seal and whale. The population has also experienced a rapid growth in obesity and metabolic disturbances and diabetes is today common despite being almost unknown few decades ago. In this paper, we describe and discuss the role of lifestyle changes and genetics for Inuit metabolic health.

Novelty: Cardiometabolic disease risk has increased in Greenland. Lifestyle changes and possibly gene-lifestyle interactions play a role.
Rock joint detection from borehole imaging logs based on grey-level co-occurrence matrix and Canny edge detector
Authors: Ge Yunfeng , Du Bin , Tang Huiming , Zhong Peng
Published: June 2021

Rock joints play an important role in characterizing the rock mass quality for geomechanical design and stability analysis. An approach was developed to detect and characterize rock joints from images collected by a borehole imaging system. A grey-level co-occurrence matrix was employed to locate the joint regions, allowing more focused and effective detection processing, followed by extractions of the upper and lower edges of rock joints using the Canny algorithm. Four basic geometric parameters of rock joints (orientation, depth, aperture and core length) were determined based on the fitting of sinusoids to joint edges. Furthermore, the joint density was determined based on the geometric parameters. To calibrate the proposed approach, a borehole on the site of the planned Rumei hydropower station at Lantsang River was selected as a case study. Orientation of rock joints with gentle dip angles, which was determined from borehole imaging logs, corresponded to the measurements in three horizontal tunnels. Additionally, both joint density and pressure-wave velocity revealed that jointed rock mass was observed at depths from 100 to 120 m, and intact rock mass was present at depths of 150–170 m, indicating the good performance of the proposed method.
Dynamic Scheduling Algorithm in Cyber Mimic Defense Architecture of Volunteer Computing
Authors: Li Qianmu , Meng Shunmei , Sang Xiaonan , Zhang Hanrui , Wang Shoujin , Bashir Ali Kashif , Yu Keping , Tariq Usman
Published: June 2021

Volunteer computing
uses computers volunteered by the general public to do distributed scientific computing.
Volunteer computing
is being used in high-energy physics, molecular biology, medicine, astrophysics, climate study, and other areas. These projects have attained unprecedented computing power. However, with the development of information technology, the traditional defense system cannot deal with the unknown security problems of
volunteer computing
. At the same time, Cyber Mimic Defense (CMD) can defend the unknown attack behavior through its three characteristics: dynamic, heterogeneous, and redundant. As an important part of the CMD, the dynamic scheduling algorithm realizes the dynamic change of the service centralized executor, which can enusre the security and reliability of CMD of
volunteer computing
. Aiming at the problems of passive scheduling and large scheduling granularity existing in the existing scheduling algorithms, this article first proposes a scheduling algorithm based on time threshold and task threshold and realizes the dynamic randomness of mimic defense from two different dimensions; finally, combining time threshold and random threshold, a dynamic scheduling algorithm based on multi-level queue is proposed. The experiment shows that the dynamic scheduling algorithm based on multi-level queue can take both security and reliability into account, has better dynamic heterogeneous redundancy characteristics, and can effectively prevent the transformation rule of heterogeneous executors from being mastered by attackers.
Robust Facial Image Super-Resolution by Kernel Locality-Constrained Coupled-Layer Regression
Authors: Gao Guangwei , Zhu Dong , Lu Huimin , Yu Yi , Chang Heyou , Yue Dong
Published: June 2021

Super-resolution methods for facial image via representation learning scheme have become very effective methods due to their efficiency. The key problem for the super-resolution of facial image is to reveal the latent relationship between the
low-resolution
(
LR
) and the corresponding
high-resolution
(
HR
) training patch pairs. To simultaneously utilize the contextual information of the target position and the manifold structure of the primitive HR space, in this work, we design a robust context-patch facial image super-resolution scheme via a
kernel locality-constrained coupled-layer regression
(KLC2LR) scheme to obtain the desired HR version from the acquired LR image. Here, KLC2LR proposes to acquire contextual surrounding patches to represent the target patch and adds an HR layer constraint to compensate the detail information. Additionally, KLC2LR desires to acquire more high-frequency information by searching for nearest neighbors in the HR sample space. We also utilize kernel function to map features in original low-dimensional space into a high-dimensional one to obtain potential nonlinear characteristics. Our compared experiments in the noisy and noiseless cases have verified that our suggested methodology performs better than many existing predominant facial image super-resolution methods.
SARDE
Authors: Grohmann Johannes , Eismann Simon , Bauer André , Spinner Simon , Blum Johannes , Herbst Nikolas , Kounev Samuel
Published: June 2021

Resource demands are crucial parameters for modeling and predicting the performance of software systems. Currently, resource demand estimators are usually executed once for system analysis. However, the monitored system, as well as the resource demand itself, are subject to constant change in runtime environments. These changes additionally impact the applicability, the required parametrization as well as the resulting accuracy of individual estimation approaches. Over time, this leads to invalid or outdated estimates, which in turn negatively influence the decision-making of adaptive systems. In this article, we present
SARDE
, a framework for self-adaptive resource demand estimation in continuous environments.
SARDE
dynamically and continuously tunes, selects, and executes an ensemble of resource demand estimation approaches to adapt to changes in the environment. This creates an autonomous and unsupervised ensemble estimation technique, providing reliable resource demand estimations in dynamic environments. We evaluate
SARDE
using two realistic datasets. One set of different micro-benchmarks reflecting different possible system states and one dataset consisting of a continuously running application in a changing environment. Our results show that by continuously applying online optimization, selection and estimation,
SARDE
is able to efficiently adapt to the online trace and reduce the model error using the resulting ensemble technique.