bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Outcomes and predictors of failure of arteriovenous fistulae for hemodialysis
Authors: Venkat Ramanan Siddharth , Prabhu Ravindra Attur , Rao Indu Ramachandra , Chawla Arun , Shenoy Srinivas Vinayak , Nagaraju Shankar Prasad , Bhojaraja Mohan V.
Published: June 2021

Purpose

Arteriovenous fistula(AVF) is preferred vascular access for hemodialysis but has primary failure in 20–60%. Studying predictors of AVF failure would help plan appropriate management.We studied AVF outcomes, clinical and vascular factors predicting their failure in patients requiring hemodialysis.

Methods

Retrospective study of patients with AVF creation from January 2017 to December 2018. Outcomes studied were immediate (< 72 h), primary (3 months) AVF failure, six-month/one-year patency, analyzed for predictive clinical, vascular factors as assessed using Pre-operative Doppler Ultrasound(DUS).

Results

Of 530 AVFs in 460 patients, DUS was done in 426/530 (80.4%), 349/460 (75.8%) were males, mean age was 53.10 ± 14.54 (18–91), 215/460(46.7%) had Diabetes mellitus(DM), 423/460(92%) hypertension. AVFs were radiocephalic in 79/530 (14.9%), brachiocephalic 418/530 (78.9%), brachiobasilic 33/530 (6.2%). AVF Immediate/Primary failure was seen in 64/530 (12.1%), 90/352 (25.6%); Patency at six months/one year in 253/352(71.8%),191/305 (62.6%), respectively. Older age had less immediate failures (AOR 0.97, CI 0.95–0.99, p 0.03). Feeding arterial diameter predicted immediate and primary failure on univariate analysis [OR 0.64 (95% CI 0.49–0.83), 0.62 (95% CI 0.47–0.89), respectively], but not multivariate. Artery diameter of > 4.0 mm had less failures [immediate (p 0.01), primary (p 0.02)], < 2.0 mm had specificity 95.9% and 95.4% for immediate, primary failure respectively.

Conclusion

AVF failure is 12.1%, immediately; 25.6% three months after construction, Patency at 6 months is 71.8%, one year 62.6%. Immediate failures decrease with age. Artery diameters > 4.0 mm had less, < 2.0 mm had more failures.
Adherence to CPAP therapy for sleep apnea in patients aged over 70 years old
Authors: Avellan-Hietanen Heidi , Aalto Tiina , Maasilta Paula , Ask Oili , Bachour Adel
Published: June 2021

Purpose

Adherence to continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) syndrome has not been established in patients over 70 years of age, whereas several studies have reported adherence below that age. This trial was designed to address this evidence gap.

Methods

Consecutive senior (> 70 years) patients with OSA, mean respiratory event index (REI) 34/h, body mass index (BMI) 31 kg/m2, and junior (< 50 years) patients (REI 37/h, BMI 31 kg/m2) were included.

Results

At year follow-up among 72 senior patients (35 women) and 71 junior patients (17 women), there was no difference in the percentage of patients abandoning CPAP (senior 47% vs. junior 43%) or in CPAP daily use (4:53 ± 2:44 hh:min vs. 4:23 ± 3:00 hh:min).

Conclusions

CPAP adherence in senior patients with OSA was not poorer than that of a younger group of OSA patients. Advanced age should not be an obstacle to CPAP initiation.
Efficient Likelihood Estimation of Generalized Structural Equation Models with a Mix of Normal and Nonnormal Responses
Authors: Rockwood Nicholas J.
Published: June 2021

A maximum likelihood estimation routine is presented for a generalized structural equation model that permits a combination of response variables from various distributions (e.g., normal, Poisson, binomial, etc.). The likelihood function does not have a closed-form solution and so must be numerically approximated, which can be computationally demanding for models with several latent variables. However, the dimension of numerical integration can be reduced if one or more of the latent variables do not directly affect any nonnormal endogenous variables. The method is demonstrated using an empirical example, and the full estimation details, including first-order derivatives of the likelihood function, are provided.
Statistical capacity and corrupt bureaucracies
Authors: Oechslin Manuel , Steiner Elias
Published: June 2021

In many developing countries, economic statistics (such as the growth rate of GDP) are imprecise, making it difficult to evaluate economic reforms and learn “what works”. Improving economic statistics has thus become a priority of international organizations. In this paper, we isolate an insidious mechanism—a type of observer effect—by which a push for better statistics can make matters worse. Precise statistics require the collection of data from a large number of firms. If firms suspect that detailed information, when spreading through the bureaucracy, is misused to collect bribes, they have weaker incentives to invest. As a result, the effects of reforms are muted, making it even harder to discover “what works”. To suppress this mechanism, efforts to improve economic statistics should be comprehensive and also include institutional aspects.
Estimation and testing of linkages between forest structure and rainfall interception characteristics of a Robinia pseudoacacia plantation on China’s Loess Plateau
Authors: Ma Changkun , Luo Yi , Shao Mingan , Jia Xiaoxu
Published: June 2021

Understanding the interaction between canopy structure and the parameters of interception loss is essential in predicting the variations in partitioning rainfall and water resources as affected by changes in canopy structure and in implementing water-based management in semiarid forest plantations. In this study, seasonal variations in rainfall interception loss and canopy storage capacity as driven by canopy structure were predicted and the linkages were tested using seasonal filed measurements. The study was conducted in nine 50 m × 50 m Robinia pseudoacacia plots in the semiarid region of China’s Loess Plateau. Gross rainfall, throughfall and stemflow were measured in seasons with and without leaves in 2015 and 2016. Results show that measured average interception loss for the nine plots were 17.9% and 9.4% of gross rainfall during periods with leaves (the growing season) and without leaves, respectively. Average canopy storage capacity estimated using an indirect method was 1.3 mm in the growing season and 0.2 mm in the leafless season. Correlations of relative interception loss and canopy storage capacity to canopy variables were highest for leaf/wood area index (LAI/WAI) and canopy cover, followed by bark area, basal area, tree height and stand density. Combined canopy cover, leaf/wood area index and bark area multiple regression models of interception loss and canopy storage capacity were established for the growing season and in the leafless season in 2015. It explained 97% and 96% of the variations in relative interception loss during seasons with and without leaves, respectively. It also explained 98% and 99% of the variations in canopy storage capacity during seasons with and without leaves, respectively. The empirical regression models were validated using field data collected in 2016. The models satisfactorily predicted relative interception loss and canopy storage capacity during seasons with and without leaves. This study provides greater understanding about the effects of changes in tree canopy structure (e.g., dieback or mortality) on hydrological processes.
Low-waste fermentation-derived organic acid production by bipolar membrane electrodialysis—an overview
Authors: Hülber-Beyer Éva , Bélafi-Bakó Katalin , Nemestóthy Nándor
Published: June 2021

Organic acids, e.g, citric acid, fumaric acid, lactic acid, malic acid, pyruvic acid and succinic acid, have important role in the food industry and are potential raw materials for the sustainable chemical industry. Their fermentative production based on renewable raw materials requires innovatively designed downstream processing to maintain low environmental impact and resource efficiency throughout the production process. The application of bipolar membranes offers clean and effective way to generate hydrogen ions required for free acid production from its salt. The water dissociation reaction inside the bipolar membrane triggered by electric field plays key role in providing hydrogen ion for the replacement of the cations in organic acid salts. Combined with monopolar ion-exchange membranes in a bipolar membrane electrodialysis process, material flow can be separated beside the product stream into additional reusable streams, thus minimizing the waste generation. This paper focuses on bipolar membrane electrodialysis applied for organic acid recovery from fermentation broth.
Analysis of Mercury Concentration in Honey from the Point of View of Human Body Exposure
Authors: Fischer Agnieszka , Brodziak-Dopierała Barbara , Bem Joanna , Ahnert Bożena
Published: June 2021

Honey is a highly valued product due to its nutritional value, pro-health and healing properties. Pollutants from the environment penetrate into nectar, honeydew, pollen and next into bee products and can cause human exposure after ingestion. Mercury (Hg) is a toxic metal to living organisms. This is why it was important to determine the level of Hg in consumed honey.

The aim of this manuscript is to analyse mercury concentration in honeys collected on the territory of Poland. A total of 108 samples of honey purchased in regional apiaries and hypermarkets were tested. The concentration of Hg was analysed in various types of honey (multifloral, honeydew, linden, goldenrod, acacia, buckwheat, rapeseed, sunflower, heather, dandelion, phacelia). The values of the Estimated Daily Intake (EDI), Estimated Weekly Intake (EWI) and % Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake (% PTWI) were calculated. This allowed estimating the amount of Hg taken during consumption of the tested honeys.

The concentration of Hg ranged from 0.01 to 1.71 µg/kg and was 0.43 µg/kg on average. A higher concentration of Hg, which was statistically significant, was recorded in honeydew honey, then in compound honeys. Honeys produced from one raw material had the lowest concentration of Hg. There were no significant differences in the concentration of Hg depending on the origin of honey. The calculations have shown that consumption of a portion (19 g) of the tested honey per week is safe for both adults and children according to the applicable standards.
Tarzan and chain: exploring the ICO jungle and evaluating design archetypes
Authors: Bachmann Nina M. , Drasch Benedict , Fridgen Gilbert , Miksch Michael , Regner Ferdinand , Schweizer André , Urbach Nils
Published: June 2021

The phenomenon of a blockchain use case called initial coin offering (ICO) is drawing increasing attention as a novel funding mechanism. ICO is a crowdfunding type that utilizes blockchain tokens to allow for truly peer-to-peer investments. Although more than $7bn has been raised globally via ICOs as at 2018, the concept and its implications are not yet entirely understood. The research lags behind in providing in-depth analyses of ICO designs and their long-term success. We address this research gap by developing an ICO taxonomy, applying a cluster analysis to identify prevailing ICO archetypes, and providing an outlook on the token value market performance for individual archetypes. We identify five ICO design archetypes and display their secondary market development from both a short-term and a long-term perspective. We contribute to an in-depth understanding of ICOs and their implications. Further, we offer practitioners tangible design and success indications for future ICOs.
Small scale photo bioreactor treatment of tannery wastewater, heavy metal biosorption and CO2 sequestration using microalga Chlorella sp.: a biodegradation approach
Authors: Rajalakshmi A. M. , Silambarasan T. , Dhandapani R.
Published: June 2021

Recently, mass production of lipid along with heavy metal reduction is gaining momentum due to their cost-effective and greener approach towards waste water treatment. The purpose of this study is to investigate the small scale photo bioreactor treatment of tannery effluent using Chlorella sp. isolated form Yercaud lake, Tamil Nadu, India. The results showed a significant decrease in the heavy metals content in the tannery effluent after the treatment. Maximum reduction of the heavy metal Chromium (Cr) of 10.92 mg L−1 was recorded, followed by Cobalt (Co)-7.37 mg L−1, Nickel (Ni)-9.15 mg L−1, Cadmium (Cd)-8.48 mg L−1, Lead (Pb)-12.54 mg L−1, Zinc (Zn)-11.56 mg L−1 and Copper (Cu)-10.71 mg L−1 at the end of the 20th day of treatment. The microalgae, Chlorella sp. was analyzed for their biosorption ability and the maximum biosorption capacity (qmax) rate against heavy metals was 81.36, 70.53, 82.15, 63.29, 58.92, 83.43, 64.83 µg L−1 for Cr, Pb, Ni, Cd, Co, Zn, and Cu respectively. It matched with the Langmuir and Freundlich kinetics models. The maximum CO2 utilization was found to be 60.50% and maximum concentration of lipid, carbohydrate and protein was found to be 0.95 g L−1, 250 µg mL−1 and 160 µg mL−1, respectively. The presence of various groups such as hydroxyl, alkyl, carbonyl and carboxylic acids was confirmed using Fourier transform infrared analysis. Thus, the isolated microalgae showed good biosorption ability towards the various heavy metal pollutants from tannery waste water.
Hydrogen Production via Hydrolysis and Alcoholysis of Light Metal-Based Materials: A Review
Authors: Ouyang Liuzhang , Jiang Jun , Chen Kang , Zhu Min , Liu Zongwen
Published: June 2021

As an environmentally friendly and high-density energy carrier, hydrogen has been recognized as one of the ideal alternatives for fossil fuels. One of the major challenges faced by “hydrogen economy” is the development of efficient, low-cost, safe and selective hydrogen generation from chemical storage materials. In this review, we summarize the recent advances in hydrogen production via hydrolysis and alcoholysis of light-metal-based materials, such as borohydrides, Mg-based and Al-based materials, and the highly efficient regeneration of borohydrides. Unfortunately, most of these hydrolysable materials are still plagued by sluggish kinetics and low hydrogen yield. While a number of strategies including catalysis, alloying, solution modification, and ball milling have been developed to overcome these drawbacks, the high costs required for the “one-pass” utilization of hydrolysis/alcoholysis systems have ultimately made these techniques almost impossible for practical large-scale applications. Therefore, it is imperative to develop low-cost material systems based on abundant resources and effective recycling technologies of spent fuels for efficient transport, production and storage of hydrogen in a fuel cell-based hydrogen economy.
N-acetylcysteine in substance use disorder: a lesson from preclinical and clinical research
Authors: Smaga Irena , Frankowska Małgorzata , Filip Małgorzata
Published: June 2021

Substance use disorder (SUD) is a chronic brain condition, with compulsive and uncontrollable drug-seeking that leads to long-lasting and harmful consequences. The factors contributing to the development of SUD, as well as its treatment settings, are not fully understood. Alterations in brain glutamate homeostasis in humans and animals implicate a key role of this neurotransmitter in SUD, while the modulation of glutamate transporters has been pointed as a new strategy to diminish the excitatory glutamatergic transmission observed after drugs of abuse. N-acetylcysteine (NAC), known as a safe mucolytic agent, is involved in the regulation of this system and may be taken into account as a novel pharmacotherapy for SUD. In this paper, we summarize the current knowledge on the ability of NAC to reduce drug-seeking behavior induced by psychostimulants, opioids, cannabinoids, nicotine, and alcohol in animals and humans. Preclinical studies showed a beneficial effect in animal models of SUD, while the clinical efficacy of NAC has not been fully established. In summary, NAC will be a small add-on to usual treatment and/or psychotherapy for SUD, however, further studies are required.
Prophylactic Pretransplant Ganciclovir to Reduce Cytomegalovirus Infection After Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
Authors: Reed Daniel R. , Petroni Gina R. , West Melissa , Jones Caroline , Alfaraj Abeer , Williams Paige G. , DeGregory Kathlene , Grose Kyle , Monson Sandra , Varadarajan Indumathy , Volodin Leonid , Donowitz Gerald R. , Kindwall-Keller Tamila L. , Ballen Karen K.
Published: June 2021

Objective/Background:

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) reactivation remains a serious complication after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) occurring in approximately 60–70% of CMV-seropositive HCT recipients. CMV reactivation leads to adverse outcomes including end-organ damage, graft-versus-host disease, and graft failure.

Methods:

Ganciclovir was administered pretransplant at 5 mg/kg twice daily intravenously from the start of conditioning to Day T-2 to CMV-seropositive patients receiving their first allogeneic HCT. CMV DNA was monitored weekly until at least Day 100 posttransplant.

Results:

A total of 109 consecutive patients were treated, median age 57 (range 20–73) years. Of these, 36 (33%) patients had a CMV reactivation within the first 105 days posttransplant with a median time of reactivation of 52.5 (range 36–104) days posttransplant. The cumulative incidence of CMV reactivation at Day 105 posttransplant was 33.1% (95% confidence interval: 24.4–42.0). One patient developed CMV disease.

Conclusion:

The use of pretransplant ganciclovir was associated with low incidence of CMV reactivation and disease. These data suggest that pretransplant ganciclovir with preemptive therapy for viral reactivation may be a useful strategy to reduce CMV reactivation. Future prospective trials are needed to compare strategies for CMV prophylaxis.
Primary Mediastinal Large B-cell Lymphoma
Authors: Elhagracy Rehab , Hamadah Abdulaziz , Tawab Rasha abd el , Pinto Karen , Hussain Amany , Osmani Mohammad , Alshemmari Salem
Published: June 2021

Objective/background:

Data generated from retrospective studies on primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma (PMBCL) outcome are valuable as no prospective phase 3 trials have been conducted in this rare type of lymphoma.

Methods:

Our goal was to assess the long-term outcome of 41 patients with PMBCL who were treated at the Kuwait Cancer Center. We evaluated two types of multidrug treatment, R-CHOP (rituximab, vincristine, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, and prednisone) and DA-EPOCH-R (etoposide, prednisone, vincristine, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and rituximab), and determined overall survival and complete response (CR) as primary endpoints.

Results:

In our cohort, 27 (66%) cases were treated with R-CHOP and 14 (34%) cases were treated with DA-EPOCH-R. The overall median follow-up time was 34 months. Among the patients treated with R-CHOP, 23 out of 27 (92.6%) patients achieved CR; similarly, 10 out of 14 patients (85.7%) in the DA-EPOCH-R group achieved CR after initial treatment. There were no differences in OS between patients treated with R-CHOP versus DA-EPOCH-R.

Conclusion:

The findings of this study indicate that combined chemotherapy and immunotherapy results in excellent long-term outcome of patients with PMBCL. At our center, we prefer R-CHOP to DA-EPOCH-R for low-risk patients with nonbulky disease.
The Association Between Hemoglobin A1c Levels and Inflatable Penile Prosthesis Infection: Analysis of US Insurance Claims Data
Authors: Chen Tony , Li Shufeng , Eisenberg Michael L.
Published: June 2021

Background

The association between elevated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels and the risk of postoperative infection after penile prosthesis surgery remains controversial.

Aim

To examine the association between HbA1c levels and penile implant infections in men undergoing inflatable penile prosthesis (IPP) surgery for erectile dysfunction using a large insurance claims database.

Methods

This was a retrospective review using Optum’s de-identified Clinformatics Data Mart Database. Male subjects 18 years and older with available laboratory data undergoing IPP insertion between 2003 and 2018 were included. Administrative diagnosis and procedural codes were used to assess subsequent penile implant revision surgery status for either infectious or noninfectious causes. Associated conditions were controlled for such as smoking status, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, obesity status, and Peyronie’s disease.

Outcomes

The main outcomes were risk of revision for infection and time to revision.

RESULTS

A total of 2,363 individuals underwent initial IPP insertion and had available HbA1c data with a mean HbA1c of 6.9%. The overall IPP infection revision rate was 3.9% and the highest rate of 12.1% was seen in the highest HbA1c group (>10%). After adjusting for demographic and health factors, a higher HbA1c level was associated with a higher risk of revision for infection, with every 1 point increase in HbA1c conferring an increased risk of infection requiring revision by 29% (95% CI 17–42%). When infections did occur, they happened sooner in men with HbA1c > 10.0% with an average of 1.3 months vs 3.5 months in the HbA1c < 6.0% group.

Clinical Implications

These findings provide insight into the potential relationship between HbA1c levels and postoperative risk of infection after penile prosthesis surgery and may aid in clinical decision-making.

Strengths and Limitations

Strengths include the large sample size, length of data coverage, and real-world analysis of surgeries done across the United States. Limitations include the reliance on insurance claims data, the retrospective study design, and lack of additional relevant clinical variables that may impact infection rates.

CONCLUSIONS

While the overall risk of penile prosthesis infection remains modest, the current report notes an increased risk of infection for diabetic men with poor glycemic control.
Tropical Pacific Air‐Sea Interaction Processes and Biases in CESM2 and Their Relation to El Niño Development
Authors: Wei Ho‐Hsuan , Subramanian Aneesh C. , Karnauskas Kristopher B. , DeMott Charlotte A. , Mazloff Matthew R. , Balmaseda Magdalena A.
Published: June 2021

Coupled processes and associated subsurface dynamics near the eastern edge of the Indo/western Pacific (WP) Warm Pool are important for air‐sea interactions involved in tropical Pacific dynamics. We seek to shed light on the physical mechanisms governing air‐sea interactions in the region and the impacts of their biases in models. In this study, we use the Ocean ReAnalysis System 5 (ORAS5) to identify mean‐state biases in the National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Earth System Model version 2 (CESM2) with a particular focus on upper ocean properties and air‐sea interaction processes. We show that the CESM2 has warm and fresh surface biases in the tropical Pacific Ocean, a barrier layer that is too thin in the WP, and an isothermal layer depth (ILD) that is too deep in the eastern Pacific (EP). These biases impact air‐sea interaction processes involved in El Niño development. We compare the strong El Niño events in ORAS5 and CESM2 and show that biases in barrier layer thickness in the WP and in ILD in the EP are significant before the onset of the El Niño events. These biases then influence vertical mixing and entrainment processes, resulting in mixed layer cooling biases. Biases in the sea surface temperature seasonal cycle in the CESM2 also influence the development of the El Niño. We emphasize how the El Niño progression in models can be influenced by its sensitivity to the mean state biases in both subsurface ocean structure and seasonal cycle through local as well as the large‐scale physical processes.
Evaluation of Aerosol Properties Observed by DSCOVR/EPIC Instrument From the Earth‐Sun Lagrange 1 Orbit
Authors: Ahn Changwoo , Torres Omar , Jethva Hiren , Tiruchirapalli Ramaswamy , Huang Liang‐Kang
Published: June 2021

Frequent observations of aerosols from space are essential for studying aerosol effects on climate and air quality applications. We present results of aerosol properties derived from observations made by the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) sensor onboard the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite. EPIC's near‐hourly measured radiances at 340 and 388 nm from sun rise to sunset have been used as input to the EPIC near‐UV aerosol algorithm (EPICAERUV) for retrieving aerosol extinction optical depth (AOD), single scattering albedo (SSA), above‐cloud aerosol optical depth (ACAOD), and ultraviolet Aerosol Index. Comparisons of AERONET and EPIC daily mean AOD values at eight selected representative sites yield correlation coefficients in the range from 0.68 to 0.89 and root mean square errors from 0.10 to 0.31. A similar comparison of EPIC‐retrieved SSA against the AERONET inverted SSA product revealed nearly 51% (76%) of matchups in agreement within ±0.03 (±0.05). Furthermore, the retrievals of ACAOD are also found to compare reasonably well, with 50%–70% of matchups falling within expected uncertainty against the direct airborne measurements acquired during the ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS campaign. Using the EPICAERUV aerosol product, we analyzed the spatial and temporal patterns of specific smoke events caused by wildfires over North America over the last four years.
VHF Radio Spectrum of a Positive Leader and Implications for Electric Fields
Authors: Pu Yunjiao , Cummer Steven A. , Liu Ningyu
Published: June 2021

Electric fields associated with a developing natural lightning leader are difficult to measure. This work demonstrates a new approach to indirectly probing the electric fields in the streamer zone of a lightning leader. Using a 10–250 MHz broadband lightning interferometer, very high frequency (VHF) radio emissions from the tip of a positive cloud‐to‐ground (CG) leader were measured and localized. We specially use a normalized spectral analysis to avoid the challenge of absolute system calibration to show that the positive leader spectrum exhibits a clear cutoff frequency at 80 MHz. Compared with theoretical predictions, this cutoff frequency corresponds to a streamer growth rate of and an average electric field of 0.9 times the conventional breakdown field in streamer bursts from the positive leader. Implications for the detectability of positive leaders through VHF emissions and for the production of X‐rays by positive leaders are analyzed.
Subduction Polarity Reversal: Induced or Spontaneous?
Authors: Zhang Shengxing , Leng Wei
Published: June 2021

Subduction polarity reversal (SPR) is the subduction initiation process following the arc‐continent collision. Previous models emphasized the need for the external compressional force to induce it. However, the explanation of different geological structures in the reported SPR zones was poor. Based on our new thermomechanical model, we confirm the possibility of establishing a spontaneous SPR system, which is self‐sustained by negative buoyancy. The spontaneous SPR will occur when the whole overriding oceanic plate has a small plastic strength, while the arc‐continent collision system with a strong overriding plate and a limited weak back‐arc/arc structure prefers the compression‐induced SPR. Moreover, a rather young oceanic plate (≤20 Ma) can trigger the SPR without any weak area. This study provides new insights into the different initiation mechanisms and evolutionary pathways of the potential Cenozoic SPR events in Ryukyu, Kamchatka, and New Hebrides.
Plasma lipidome is dysregulated in Alzheimer’s disease and is associated with disease risk genes
Authors: Liu Yue , Thalamuthu Anbupalam , Mather Karen A. , Crawford John , Ulanova Marina , Wong Matthew Wai Kin , Pickford Russell , Sachdev Perminder S. , Braidy Nady
Published: June 2021

Lipidomics research could provide insights of pathobiological mechanisms in Alzheimer’s disease. This study explores a battery of plasma lipids that can differentiate Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients from healthy controls and determines whether lipid profiles correlate with genetic risk for AD. AD plasma samples were collected from the Sydney Memory and Ageing Study (MAS) Sydney, Australia (aged range 75–97 years; 51.2% male). Untargeted lipidomics analysis was performed by liquid chromatography coupled–mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS). We found that several lipid species from nine lipid classes, particularly sphingomyelins (SMs), cholesterol esters (ChEs), phosphatidylcholines (PCs), phosphatidylethanolamines (PIs), phosphatidylinositols (PIs), and triglycerides (TGs) are dysregulated in AD patients and may help discriminate them from healthy controls. However, when the lipid species were grouped together into lipid subgroups, only the DG group was significantly higher in AD. ChEs, SMs, and TGs resulted in good classification accuracy using the Glmnet algorithm (elastic net penalization for the generalized linear model [glm]) with more than 80% AUC. In general, group lipids and the lipid subclasses LPC and PE had less classification accuracy compared to the other subclasses. We also found significant increases in SMs, PIs, and the LPE/PE ratio in human U251 astroglioma cell lines exposed to pathophysiological concentrations of oligomeric Aβ42. This suggests that oligomeric Aβ42 plays a contributory, if not causal role, in mediating changes in lipid profiles in AD that can be detected in the periphery. In addition, we evaluated the association of plasma lipid profiles with AD-related single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and polygenic risk scores (PRS) of AD. We found that FERMT2 and MS4A6A showed a significantly differential association with lipids in all lipid classes across disease and control groups. ABCA7 had a differential association with more than half of the DG lipids (52.63%) and PI lipids (57.14%), respectively. Additionally, 43.4% of lipids in the SM class were differentially associated with CLU. More than 30% of lipids in ChE, PE, and TG classes had differential associations with separate genes (ChE-PICALM, SLC24A4, and SORL1; PE-CLU and CR1; TG-BINI) between AD and control group. These data may provide renewed insights into the pathobiology of AD and the feasibility of identifying individuals with greater AD risk.
Oxyallyl cation promoted dearomative semipinacol rearrangement: a facile stereodivergent synthesis of spiro-indolines with contiguous quaternary centers
Authors: Xie Yu-Yang , Wang Yun-Peng , Zhao Xiao-Jing , Wang Ai-Fang , Chen Zhi-Min , Tu Yong-Qiang
Published: June 2021

A novel oxyallyl cation promoted semipinacol rearrangement of indole-type allylic alcohols was disclosed for the stereo-divergent synthesis of spiro-indolines.
Chlorinated diketopyrrolopyrrole dye exhibits a three-step polymorphic transition with thermosalient effects
Authors: Kikuchi Yusuke , Matsumoto Shinya
Published: June 2021

A diketopyrrolopyrrole dye was found to exhibit a three-step polymorphic transition by heating with thermosalient effects.
Application prospects of boron nitride as a novel saturable absorber device for ultrashort pulse generation in fiber lasers
Authors: Liu Sicong , Lv Ruidong , Wang Yonggang , Shang Shiguang , Ren Wei , Xu Qiang
Published: June 2021

For the first time a BN-FM SA has been used in mode-locked fiber lasers, which complements the possibilities of the BN material in mode-locked lasers for ultrashort pulse generation.
Classification of hand‐wrist maturity level based on similarity matching
Authors: Mao Keji , Chen Lijian , Wang Minhao , Xu Ruiji , Zhao Xiaomin
Published: June 2021

Judging the maturity level of each hand‐wrist reference bone is the core issue in bone age assessment. Relying on the superiority of convolutional neural networks in feature representation, deep learning is widely studied for the automatic bone age assessment. However, an efficient but complex deep learning network requests a large dataset with bone‐maturity‐level labels for training, restricting its large‐scale application in bone maturity classification. For this reason, we transform the bone‐maturity‐level classification problem into the similarity matching problem. Also, we propose a general structure based on Siamese network by merging two inputs into a two‐channel input and introducing a dual attention mechanism, to create an Attentional Two‐Channel Network (ATC‐Net). This paper takes the intermediate phalanges III as an example to assess the performance of the similarity matching method and the ATC‐Net. Experiments show that our method can perform better on small datasets, which effectively makes up for the data shortage problem. The ATC‐Net used for classification significantly reduces the evaluation time compared with other classical networks. It reduces the time of assessing one sample by about 49% as compared to VGG‐16. And more importantly, it achieves the highest classification accuracy of 92.74% among all investigated networks.
High‐frequency measurement of dielectric permittivity and antimicrobial properties of polyaniline and graphite oxide nanocomposites
Authors: L.N. Shubha , Putta ChandraBabu
Published: June 2021

The polyaniline/graphite oxide (PANI/GO) nanocomposite was prepared by the in situ chemical polymerisation method. The synthesis involved the formation of dark green coloured polyaniline/graphite oxide composite. The crystalline structure and morphology of the composite were studied using UV‐visible spectroscopy (UV), X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM).The characteristic peaks in XRD and UV‐visible spectra confirmed the formation of the PANI/GO nanocomposite. DC conductivity measurements were performed using a two‐probe method. Dielectric responses of the composites were investigated in the frequency range100 MHz to 3 GHz by the RF impedance analyser. The dielectric constant ϵ′(w) and dielectric loss ϵ′′(w) were investigated. It was observed that the dielectric constant ϵ′(w) and dielectric loss ϵ′′(w) decreased with an increase in frequencies (for different wt % of GO). The antibacterial activity of this composite was examined.
Effects of sampling frequency on the proper orthogonal decomposition based reconstruction of a wind turbine wake
Authors: Wang Yan , Wang Liang , Hu RuiFeng , Kong LingXuan , Cheng Jie
Published: June 2021

The effects of sampling frequency on the efficacy of the POD technique for reconstructing the flow field of a wind turbine wake are studied in a neutral atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) using large eddy simulations (LES) coupled with an actuator disk model. The objective of this paper is to study how the sampling frequency over a fixed period of time affects the POD modes. The results showed that sampling frequency has little influence on the convergence of POD modes and the extraction of large‐scale coherent structures. Meanwhile, sampling frequency has negligible influence on the kinetic energy contained in each mode of the first 25 modes. When the mode number is greater than 25, it affects the distributed energy in each mode and the accumulative energy in a given number of modes, and the accuracy of the reconstructed flow field. In present study, the flow field reconstructed using the smallest sampling frequency can be as accurate as that with the largest sampling frequency, while the former can save about 86% of the computational cost. For a given number of POD modes, a smaller sampling frequency may lead to more accurate flow field reconstruction. The sampling frequency mainly affects the small‐scale structures.
Ultrasound Elastography in the Diagnosis of Malignant Cervical Lymphadenopathy in Children: Can It Replace Surgical Biopsy?
Authors: Elgendy Ahmed , Elhawary Eslam , Shareef Mohamed M. , Romeih Marwa , Ebeed Ahmed
Published: June 2021

Introduction We aimed to assess the accuracy of ultrasound elastography in detecting pediatric malignant cervical lymph nodes, and if this modality can obviate the need for surgical biopsies.

Material and Methods A prospective study from September 2017 to September 2020 included 64 children with persistent cervical lymphadenopathy. Patients were evaluated by meticulous history and physical assessment. B-mode ultrasound, color Doppler, and sonoelastography were conducted thereafter. Elastography scans were classified into five patterns, and patterns from 3 to 5 were considered as malignancies. All children underwent open biopsies followed by pathological examination. Results of tissue diagnosis were compared with patterns of elastography to determine its accuracy.

Results Twenty-eight patients (43.8%) had malignant nodes and the remaining 36 (56.2%) were due to benign causes. Elastography patterns of 1 and 2 were documented in 30 patients, and all of them were diagnosed as benign lesions. Patterns of 3 to 5 were demonstrated in 34 patients. Out of them, 28 were confirmed as malignancies, while 6 children were of benign nature (false positive). Ultrasound elastography achieved sensitivity and specificity of 100 and 85.7%, respectively, and an overall accuracy of 90.6% in the differentiation between malignant and benign entities. The overall accuracy of B-mode and color Doppler were 75 and 82.2%, respectively.

Conclusion Elastography is a useful tool that should be added to ultrasound modalities during the diagnosis of pediatric cervical lymphadenopathy. Surgical biopsy in eligible patients is imperative to commence proper therapy or to discharge the child. Despite favorable results of elastography, it cannot replace surgical biopsy or change its indications.
DeepSuggest: Using Neural Networks to Suggest Related Keywords for a Comprehensive Search of Clinical Notes
Authors: Moosavinasab Soheil , Sezgin Emre , Sun Huan , Hoffman Jeffrey , Huang Yungui , Lin Simon
Published: June 2021

Objective A large amount of clinical data are stored in clinical notes that frequently contain spelling variations, typos, local practice-generated acronyms, synonyms, and informal words. Instead of relying on established but infrequently updated ontologies with keywords limited to formal language, we developed an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant (named “DeepSuggest”) that interactively offers suggestions to expand or pivot queries to help overcome these challenges.

Methods We applied an unsupervised neural network (Word2Vec) to the clinical notes to build keyword contextual similarity matrix. With a user's input query, DeepSuggest generates a list of relevant keywords, including word variations (e.g., formal or informal forms, synonyms, abbreviations, and misspellings) and other relevant words (e.g., related diagnosis, medications, and procedures). Human intelligence is then used to further refine or pivot their query.

Results DeepSuggest learns the semantic and linguistic relationships between the words from a large collection of local notes. Although DeepSuggest is only able to recall 0.54 of Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine (SNOMED) synonyms on average among the top 60 suggested terms, it covers the semantic relationship in our corpus for a larger number of raw concepts (6.3 million) than SNOMED ontology (24,921) and is able to retrieve terms that are not stored in existing ontologies. The precision for the top 60 suggested words averages at 0.72. Usability test resulted that DeepSuggest is able to achieve almost twice the recall on clinical notes compared with Epic (average of 5.6 notes retrieved by DeepSuggest compared with 2.6 by Epic).

Conclusion DeepSuggest showed the ability to improve retrieval of relevant clinical notes when implemented on a local corpus by suggesting spelling variations, acronyms, and semantically related words. It is a promising tool in helping users to achieve a higher recall rate for clinical note searches and thus boosting productivity in clinical practice and research. DeepSuggest can supplement established ontologies for query expansion.
Effective and Collegial Governance of Digital Tools in Health Care
Authors: Auerbach Andrew , Burke Kay , Khanna Raman
Published: June 2021

Digital transformation of health care has provided an opportunity for broad-based innovation using tools and platforms implemented either through electronic health records (EHRs), adding software to EHRs or prescribing the software to patients directly (e.g., mobile apps). Effective use and management of digital health tools requires a coherent governance strategy that incorporates strategic thinking and clear management priorities. This manuscript reviews nine of the authors’ recommendations for achieving this challenging but critical overall goal for digital health.
Bipolaris victoriae (Victoria blight of oats).
Authors: Taylor Philip
Published: June 2021

A disease almost unknown prior to 1944 (Romanko, 1957), Bipolaris victoriae is a potentially destructive disease of oats (it reduced the Iowa oat crop by 32% in 1947) (Anon, 1965) that currently has a limited host range and geographical spread. It has been reported from several continents and associated with several crops, however its status as a pathogen on crops could be questioned in all cases with the exception of oats, timothy grass and switch grass. It is seedborne and thus any trade in seed both for cultivation or for livestock feed is a potential means of spread. The virulence of the fungus is due to the production of a peptide often called a host-specific toxin 'victorin'. The disease has generally been controlled through the use of genetically resistant lines but the resistance gene which confers resistance to victorin actually causes plants to become susceptible to crown rust, caused by Puccinia coronata (Lorang et al., 2007).
Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. niveum (Fusarium wilt of watermelon).
Authors: Keinath Anthony
Published: June 2021

Fusarium wilt of watermelon occurs throughout the world and is often a limiting factor in watermelon production. In China, 20-30% of watermelon production is normally lost in infested areas, and 100% mortality has been observed in fields planted with susceptible cultivars in Zhejiang Province (Lin, 1990). In a survey of 62 watermelon crops grown in plastic tunnels throughout the main production area of Cyprus, Fusarium wilt was found in all fields sampled despite the use of resistant cultivars (mainly Crimson Sweet). Mean incidence ranged from 37 to 70% in 1985 and 1986, and mean yields of marketable fruit were 38 and 10 t/ha, respectively (Ioannou and Poullis, 1991). In Aydin Province, Turkey, incidence ranged from 0.2 to 12% in fields in which the pathogen was isolated from symptomatic plants (Erİncİk and Döken, 2018). In Spain, in soil infested with unidentified races of F. oxysporum f.sp. niveum, yield loss in a triploid cultivar was 42 to 68% (Miguel et al., 2004). In South Carolina and Georgia, USA, yield losses in research fields naturally infested with race 2 averaged 62 and 83%, respectively, which represented a 91 and 55% loss in net returns per hectare, respectively, based on an average price of $USD 0.35 per kilogram of seedless watermelon fruit.
Heterodera ustinovi (grass cyst nematode).
Authors: Powers Thomas
Published: June 2021

There is limited evidence available to suggest that H. ustinovi is invasive. The identical COI halpotypes shared between the USA and Europe most likely represent recent introductions. The small amount of genetic information from North America suggests that H. ustinovi is widespread in the south west (Arizona), midwest (Ohio) and New England states, with little genetic differentiation. H. ustinovi has not been found on any plant species in the USA other than introduced Agrostis species and in turf/golf course settings. A lot of nematodes are transported in turf from turf farms. The initial discovery on native Agrostis in the Ukraine would suggest a potential native parasite existing on a native plant species, but, there are very few of samples on which to base these comparisons.
Adolescents’ Quality of Life and Mental Health Needs during the Initial Phase in a Closed Institution
Authors: Van Hecke Nele , Meulewaeter Florien , Rowaert Sara , Nieuwenhuizen Chijs van , Van Damme Lore , Vanderplasschen Wouter , Vandevelde Stijn
Published: June 2021

This study investigated adolescents’ Quality of Life and mental health needs during the first weeks in a closed institution for mandatory care and treatment to inform (gender-specific) rehabilitation. Questionnaires concerning socio-demographic variables, Quality of Life and mental health needs were administered (n = 182; 90 boys and 92 girls; mean age = 16.2). Given the high prevalence of mental health needs in this study population and their significant negative correlation with QoL, we argue for a holistic view on rehabilitation and to broaden treatment aims in youth forensic care by including not only determinants of recidivism but also determinants of QoL.
Shall genomic correlation structure be considered in copy number variants detection?
Authors: Qin Fei , Luo Xizhi , Cai Guoshuai , Xiao Feifei
Published: June 2021

Copy number variation has been identified as a major source of genomic variation associated with disease susceptibility. With the advent of whole-exome sequencing (WES) technology, massive WES data have been generated, allowing for the identification of copy number variants (CNVs) in the protein-coding regions with direct functional interpretation. We have previously shown evidence of the genomic correlation structure in array data and developed a novel chromosomal breakpoint detection algorithm, LDcnv, which showed significantly improved detection power through integrating the correlation structure in a systematic modeling manner. However, it remains unexplored whether the genomic correlation exists in WES data and how such correlation structure integration can improve the CNV detection accuracy. In this study, we first explored the correlation structure of the WES data using the 1000 Genomes Project data. Both real raw read depth and median-normalized data showed strong evidence of the correlation structure. Motivated by this fact, we proposed a correlation-based method, CORRseq, as a novel release of the LDcnv algorithm in profiling WES data. The performance of CORRseq was evaluated in extensive simulation studies and real data analysis from the 1000 Genomes Project. CORRseq outperformed the existing methods in detecting medium and large CNVs. In conclusion, it would be more advantageous to model genomic correlation structure in detecting relatively long CNVs. This study provides great insights for methodology development of CNV detection with NGS data.
Structural Attributes and Principles of the Neocortical Connectome in the Marmoset Monkey
Authors: Theodoni Panagiota , Majka Piotr , Reser David H , Wójcik Daniel K , Rosa Marcello G P , Wang Xiao-Jing
Published: June 2021

The marmoset monkey has become an important primate model in Neuroscience. Here, we characterize salient statistical properties of interareal connections of the marmoset cerebral cortex, using data from retrograde tracer injections. We found that the connectivity weights are highly heterogeneous, spanning 5 orders of magnitude, and are log-normally distributed. The cortico-cortical network is dense, heterogeneous and has high specificity. The reciprocal connections are the most prominent and the probability of connection between 2 areas decays with their functional dissimilarity. The laminar dependence of connections defines a hierarchical network correlated with microstructural properties of each area. The marmoset connectome reveals parallel streams associated with different sensory systems. Finally, the connectome is spatially embedded with a characteristic length that obeys a power law as a function of brain volume across rodent and primate species. These findings provide a connectomic basis for investigations of multiple interacting areas in a complex large-scale cortical system underlying cognitive processes.