bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Development and validation of an analytical method for trace‐level quantification of genotoxic nitrosamine impurities in losartan and hydrochlorothiazide fixed‐dose combination tablets using ultra performance liquid chromatography triple quadrupole mass spectrometry
Authors: Patel Ravi , Purohit Sanjay , Solanki Ravisinh , Khunt Dignesh , Patel Chhaganbhai , Patel Rucha , Parikh Shalin
Published: February 2023

Rationale

Since June 2018, globally large numbers of pharmaceuticals have been recalled due to the unexpected presence of nitrosamines. Beginning with the class of pharmaceuticals known as sartans, subsequent lines of inquiry included antidiabetic medicines, antihistamines, and antibiotics. A critical review of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration database reveals that the highest number of products recall due to the presence of unacceptable levels of nitrosamines were losartan potassium drug products and their coformulations with other drug substances. The problem can be mainly attributed to naively adopted approval revisions and the lack of sufficient current analytical technologies to detect those contaminants in time. In this work, we developed a specific, selective, accurate, precise, and robust ultra‐performance liquid chromatography‐triple quadrupole‐mass spectrometry (UPLC‐TQ‐MS/MS) method for the estimation of eight genotoxic nitrosamine impurities in losartan and hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) tablets, which is the only fixed‐dosage combination approved by the USFDA to treat hypertension.

Methods

All the nitrosamine impurities along with the drug substances were separated using an Agilent Pursuit XRs Ultra diphenyl column (150 × 2.0 mm, 2.8 μm) with mobile phase A (0.1% formic acid in water) and mobile phase B (0.1% formic acid in methanol) at a flow rate of 0.4 ml/min using the gradient elution program. The proposed method was validated per ICH (International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use) Q2 (R1) guidelines to ensure the method is suitable for its intended purpose.

Results

Limit of detection and limit of quantification were obtained in the range of 0.25–0.5 ng/mL, which was very low compared to levels specified by the USFDA, European Medicines Agency (EMA), and other regulatory authorities that ensure the sensitivity of the method in its entire life cycle.

Conclusions

The developed method can be incorporated into an official monograph and applied for routine quality control analysis of losartan and HCTZ fixed‐dose combination tablets.
Structural, optical, and magnetic properties of Co‐doped CeO2 thin films prepared by radio‐frequency magnetron sputtering
Authors: Yang Shenghong , Zhang Yueli
Published: February 2023

Co‐doped CeO2 (Ce1‐xCoxO2, x = 0, 0.03, and 0.06) thin films were prepared by radio‐frequency magnetron sputtering. The structural, optical, and magnetic properties of these films were characterized by X‐ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy (Raman), atomic force microscopy (AFM), Fourier transform‐infrared spectroscopy (FT‐IR), spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE), and superconducting quantum interference magnetometer (SQUID). XRD and Raman studies revealed that all the films exhibited single phase of cubic fluorite structure, with highly (111) preferred orientation. No Co and Co‐related oxide was detected. Compared with undoped CeO2 films, the defect concentration of Co‐doped films increases. AFM images displayed that the film surface morphology is dependent on the Co‐doped content. The vibrational band assignment of undoped and Co‐doped CeO2 films was analyzed by FT‐IR. The energy dispersion optical constants (the refractive index n and the extinction coefficient k) of Ce1‐xCoxO2 thin films were obtained by analyzing the SE spectra in the ultraviolet and visible‐near infrared (UV–NIR) region (0.5–5.9 eV). The optical band gap energies Eg for these films were determined. The Eg values of the Ce1‐xCoxO2 thin films are 3.35, 3.27, and 3.25 eV, and the n values at wavelength of 632 nm are about 2.35, 2.38, and 2.42 for Co‐doped content x = 0, 0.03, and 0.06, respectively. SQUID measurements show that Co‐doped CeO2 films exhibit room temperature ferromagnetism, and the saturation magnetization (Ms) is 0.0051 and 0.0098 emμ/cm3 with the Co doping content x = 0.03 and 0.06, respectively. The ferromagnetism of Co‐doped CeO2 films belong to the intrinsic magnetism of the films.
Accuracy of Intermolecular interaction Energies, Particularly Those of Hetero Atom Containing Molecules Obtained by van der Waals DFT Calculations
Authors: Tsuzuki Seiji , Kaneko Tomoaki , Sodeyama Keitaro
Published: February 2023

The performance of 24 vdW‐DF functionals were evaluated. The calculated intermolecular interaction potentials for 11 complexes, which conatain O, S, Se, N, P, F, Cl and Br atoms, were compared with CCSD(T)/CBS level potentials to evaluate their accuracy. The performance depends on the choice of vdW‐functional significantly. The vdW‐DF3‐opt1 functional shows the best performance. The deviation ratios of calculated interaction energies of the complexes using the vdW‐DF3‐opt1 functional to CCSD(T) level interaction energies at the potential minima are −6 to 14 %. As a general tendency, the accuracy is improved in the order of vdW‐DF, vdW‐DF2, and vdW‐DF3, but even if they belong to the same group, the accuracy greatly differs depending on each functional. The calculations of hydrocarbon molecules show better performance compared with heteroatom containing molecules in most cases. The calculations using the vdW‐DF3‐opt1 functional and the best dispersion corrected DFT calculations show nearly identical performance.
Caviomorphs (Rodentia, Hystricognathi) from Pampa Castillo, Chile: new octodontoid records and biochronological implications
Authors: McGrath Andrew J. , Flynn John J. , Croft Darin A. , Chick Jennifer , Dodson Holly E. , Wyss André R.
Published: February 2023

Caviomorph rodents have been diverse and abundant components of South American mammal communities since the late Eocene. We describe herein the octodontoids of Pampa Castillo, a Lower Miocene site in southern Chile (Aysén Region). Six genera and seven species of octodontoids are present, two of which are new: Dudumus berggreni sp. nov. and Caviocricetus guenekko sp. nov. The octodontoids from Pampa Castillo support assignment of this fauna to the Santacrucian South American Land Mammal Age (SALMA), which is consistent with previous studies. We conducted similarity analyses on 11 Early–Middle Miocene Patagonian rodent faunas using hierarchical clustering. Faunas generally fell into the three SALMAs to which they were traditionally assigned: Colhuehuapian, Santacrucian and ‘post‐Santacrucian’. The ‘Pinturan’ is a proposed biochronological interval between the Colhuehuapian and Santacrucian. At the genus level, Pampa Castillo clustered with ‘Pinturan’ faunas, while at the species level it clustered with the ‘typical’ faunas on which the Santacrucian SALMA is based (from outcrops of the Santa Cruz Formation along the Atlantic coast and Río Santa Cruz). The Pampa Castillo rodent fauna resembles both ‘Pinturan’ and ‘typical’ Santacrucian faunas in taxon distributions, reflecting complex temporal and palaeoenvironmental influences. Geochronological data indicate that some ‘Pinturan’ sites overlap temporally with Pampa Castillo and the upper Pinturas Formation, which both clustered with ‘typical’ Santacrucian faunas. These results indicate that the ‘Pinturan’ does not represent a distinct biochronological interval, but that the differences between it and ‘typical’ Santacrucian faunas are attributable to geographic or palaeoenvironmental differences.
Design of efficient storage and retrieval of medical records in blockchain based on InterPlanetary File System and modified bloom tree
Authors: Sathiya Devi Shanmugam , Bhuvaneswari Arumugam
Published: February 2023

In the healthcare sector, medical records contain sensitive information about patients, so guaranteeing the confidentiality and integrity of it is essential. To improve the security of it, blockchain technology is being utilized. The blockchain is a type of distributed ledger and it keeps data securely while also generating trust without the need of third party. It has data storage constraint and Merkle tree preserves data integrity but it is inefficient when searching transactions within it. Hence this paper describes InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) based storage and modified bloom tree data structure which is a hybridization of bloom filter and Merkle tree for efficient searching. To protect data privacy, initially it encrypts medical records using ciphertext policy‐attribute based encryption and then the data stored on IPFS returns a hash value. To diminish the false positive rate (FPR), the hash returned by IPFS is stored in two parts of the bloom filter. The first part stores the data by using “k” non‐cryptographic hash function and second part stores the transformed data with the same hash function. The bloom tree is created using Merkle proof for verification of medical record in blockchain. The experiments show that the proposed method reduces the FPR rate and searching complexity is O(log2).
Online News as a Resource for Incidental Learning of Core Academic Words, Academic Formulas, and General Formulas
Authors: Dang Thi Ngoc Yen , Long Xu
Published: February 2023

Knowledge of academic words, academic formulas and general formulas is essential for second language learners, but resources for incidental learning of these lexical items are very limited, especially in English as a Foreign Language contexts. This study employed a corpus‐driven approach to examine the potential of online news for incidental learning of core academic words, academic formulas, and general formulas. Twenty‐six corpora were created from voice of America (VOA) news to represent the amounts of reading that learners with the reading speed of 200 words per minute (wpm) and those with the reading speed of 150 wpm could complete within certain periods of time if they read VOA news regularly for 40 minutes per day and 5 days per week. Then, occurrences of core academic words, academic formulas, and general formulas represented by well‐known lists in each corpus were counted with corpus‐based tools. Analysis showed that the number of core academic words, academic formulas, and general formulas increased steadily as more input was added. Depending on the kind of target vocabulary and the reading speed, reading VOA news regularly for 3 months to 3.5 years would likely offer learners opportunities to encounter nearly all target words/formulas and encounter at least 80% of them 12 or more times in their reading. This finding suggests that online news is a useful resource for incidental vocabulary learning. It also indicates the minimal amounts of reading needed for incidental learning of core academic words, academic formulas, and general formulas.
The demise of the American hegemony in international business research has been greatly exaggerated
Authors: Behrens Alfredo
Published: February 2023

The drivers for the internationalization of business teaching and research were multinational corporations, the Cold War, and the relative price advantage of non‐America business schools. Yet, the internationalization largely failed to reflect local contexts. The consequent paucity of original local business thought, international or not, exposes non‐American business schools to the raid of American‐based massive open online courses which will prune off the mainstay courses at emerging market business schools. Deprived of a substantial share of their fee‐paying students, the remaining docents at those schools will be less likely to publish altogether, including in fields that might sustain independent thought. Therefore, American‐like international business research is likely to have a longer life, more narrowly focused on English‐speaking countries and Europe, with even less of a contribution from emerging markets.
Genetic architecture of protein and oil content in soybean seed and meal
Authors: Diers Brian W. , Specht James E. , Graef George L. , Song Qijian , Rainey Katy Martin , Ramasubramanian Vishnu , Liu Xiaotong , Myers Chad L. , Stupar Robert M. , An Yong‐Qiang Charles , Beavis William D.
Published: February 2023

Soybean is grown primarily for the protein and oil extracted from its seed and its value is influenced by these components. The objective of this study was to map marker‐trait associations (MTAs) for the concentration of seed protein, oil, and meal protein using the soybean nested association mapping (SoyNAM) population. The composition traits were evaluated on seed harvested from over 5000 inbred lines of the SoyNAM population grown in 10 field locations across 3 years. Estimated heritabilities were at least 0.85 for all three traits. The genotyping of lines with single nucleotide polymorphism markers resulted in the identification of 107 MTAs for the three traits. When MTAs for the three traits that mapped within 5 cM intervals were binned together, the MTAs were mapped to 64 intervals on 19 of the 20 soybean chromosomes. The majority of the MTA effects were small and of the 107 MTAs, 37 were for protein content, 39 for meal protein, and 31 for oil content. For cases where a protein and oil MTAs mapped to the same interval, most (94%) significant effects were opposite for the two traits, consistent with the negative correlation between these traits. A coexpression analysis identified candidate genes linked to MTAs and 18 candidate genes were identified. The large number of small effect MTAs for the composition traits suggest that genomic prediction would be more effective in improving these traits than marker‐assisted selection.
Implications from the health belief model concerning zoonoses‐related threat perceptions held by livestock farmers in Nepal
Authors: Bagale Kosh B. , Adhikari Ramesh , Acharya Devaraj , Kreps Gary L.
Published: February 2023

Diseases that can be spread from animals to humans (zoonoses) are neglected health issues in Nepal. Due to professional exposure, livestock farmers are highly vulnerable to zoonoses. However, since there are limited studies, we have virtually no actual evidence on perception and practices toward prevention and response to zoonoses by livestock farmers in Nepal. This study examines the association between zoonoses preventive practices and the threat perceptions held by livestock farmers in Nepal based upon applications of health belief model (HBM) constructs. A descriptive cross‐sectional quantitative interview‐based survey was conducted with 380 livestock farmers randomly selected from three districts in Nepal. Results show that livestock farmers held primarily strong beliefs about zoonoses based on key constructs from the Health Belief Model (susceptibility, severity, benefits, and barriers with 91.5%, 93.7%, 91.1%, and 41.0%, respectively). However, they described low levels of participation in zoonoses preventive practices, such as handwashing with soap and water (52%–59%), following prescribed sick animal consumption practices (6.6%–17.7%), raw meat consumption practices (1.6%–6.3%), engaging in vaccination practices for livestock (33.9%–38.2%), and maintaining distance between home and shed (2.1%–13%). Based upon these findings, we strongly recommend enacting strategies to minimize the gaps between zoonoses preventive practices and perceptions through targeted communication interventions that include optimal educational sessions to reinforce applications from the constructs of HBM in farming communities.
Theoretical investigation of a fluid model in calendering process involving slip at the upper roll surface
Authors: Javed Muhammad Asif , Ali Nasir , Arshad Sabeen , Nawaz S. , Ghaffari Abuzar
Published: February 2023

In this article, calendering analysis is presented using Johnson‐Segalman fluid model along with nonlinear slip condition introduced at the upper roll surface. The flow equations for the problem are developed and converted into dimensionless form with the help of dimensionless variables and then finally simplified by a well‐known lubrication approximation theory (LAT). To eliminate the pressure gradient from the governed equations, stream function is introduced. The final equations are solved numerically using Matlab built‐in procedure “bvp4c” to get the stream function and pressure gradient. The pressure and engineering quantities such as power input function and roll‐separating force are calculated by Runge‐Kutta fourth order method. The impact of the Johnson‐Segalman parameter and slip parameter on pressure, velocity and engineering quantities are presented with the help of various graphs. The Newtonian model predicts higher pressure in the nip zone than the Johnson‐Segalman fluid model, according to our findings. In the presence of the slip parameter, the force and power functions exhibit 37% and 61.71% decreases from Newtonian values, respectively. As the slip parameter is increased, the pressure distribution diminishes.
Women and the Institution of Policing in the Pacific
Authors: Watson Danielle , Howes Loene , Dinnen Sinclair , Bull Melissa , Amin Sara N.
Published: February 2023

Gender equality has increasingly been a focus for governments of Pacific Islands countries (PICs) and the international, regional, and local organisations working with them. As the most visible arm of governance, police organisations have attracted significant attention in terms of the gender agenda due to their role in responding to issues affecting women. This shift can be attributed to increased recognition of gender inequality in PICs and its association with high rates of crimes against women. This chapter discusses the changing place of women in highly gendered policing organisations internationally and in the Pacific. It considers influences on gender in Pacific policing associated with international, regional, and national frameworks, policies, and agendas aimed at improving women’s circumstances. The chapter then explores how regional instability and gender-based violence have shaped female officers’ participation in policing and provides examples of the impacts of their involvement in regional initiatives.
System Energy Consumption Measurement
Authors: Kruglov Artem , Succi Giancarlo , Dlamini Gcinizwe
Published: February 2023

Over the years, the task to reduce energy consumed by a system has been mainly assigned to computer hardware developers. This is mainly because it is believed that the hardware is the principal component that consumes more electrical energy. However, the software also plays a vital role in power usage. Hardware works hand in hand with software programs. It has become equally important to estimate the energy consumed as a whole using artificial intelligence-based approaches. Machine learning is presented as one of the scalable approaches toward efficiently and accurately estimating energy consumed in the software development domain.
Metrics Representation and Dashboards
Authors: Kruglov Artem , Succi Giancarlo , Ishbaev Idel
Published: February 2023

This section is dedicated to reviewing dashboards for various roles, such as developers and managers, to provide metrics for software development in the most appropriate way. After reviewing various papers, different types, objectives, and visualization features of the dashboards were found. Based on these findings, tailored visualization was designed for the distinct roles of users. Furthermore, the dashboard was implemented within the Innometrics project boundaries with easily maintainable and extensible architecture on the front-end.
Architecture of AISEMA System
Authors: Kruglov Artem , Succi Giancarlo , Vasquez Xavier
Published: February 2023

Over time, the data collection process has evolved from manual data collection to automated mechanisms where human intervention is minimal and therefore has minimal impact on work processes. In this section, we describe the main components that should be included in the design of an automated in-process software engineering measurement and analysis (AISEMA) system.
Innovation and Regional Development
Authors: Kijek Tomasz , Kijek Arkadiusz , Matras-Bolibok Anna
Published: February 2023

Innovation is considered to be highly localized process. It does not appear in space uniformly, but is predominantly spatially concentrated (Crevoisier, 2004). A number of diverse theoretical and empirical frameworks have been developed to analyze spatial dimension of innovation. The theoretical approach to the relationship between innovation and local spaces was initially demonstrated in the concepts of ‘new industrial districts’ and ‘innovative milieu’. The first of them, inspired by the Marshall’s industrial district, was introduced by Becattini (Sforzi, 2015) to emphasize the dynamic linkages between the socio-cultural features of a productive community and the rate of growth of both its productivity and innovativeness (Becattini, 2002). Many theoretical considerations and empirical contributions reveal the impact of belonging to industrial districts on innovation performance (Boix et al., 2018; Boix-Domenech et al., 2019; Cainelli, 2008; Cainelli & De Liso, 2005; Muscio, 2006; Parra-Requena et al., 2020). The existence of dynamic efficiency in industrial districts in the form of positive innovation differentials with regard to the economy average, assigned to the existence of Marshallian external economies (economies of localization) is described by Boix and Galletto (2009) as an ‘I-district effect’.
Empirical Analysis of Technological Convergence in the European Regional Area
Authors: Kijek Tomasz , Kijek Arkadiusz , Matras-Bolibok Anna
Published: February 2023

The data necessary to compute TFP over 2008–2018 have been retrieved from the Annual Regional Database of the European Commission’s Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy (ARDECO). We use GDP at constant prices as the output variable. The input variables include employment in thousand hours worked and the stock of physical capital. The former is calculated in line with the perpetual inventory method:
Optimizing trigger-level track reconstruction for sensitivity to exotic signatures
Authors: Di Petrillo K. F. , Farr J. N. , Guo C. , Holmes T. R. , Nelson J. , Pachal K.
Published: February 2023

Abstract

Many compelling beyond the Standard Model scenarios predict signals that result in unconventional charged particle trajectories. Signatures for which unusual tracks are the most conspicuous feature of the event pose significant challenges for experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), particularly for the trigger. This article presents a study of track-based triggers for a representative set of long-lived and unconventional signatures at the upcoming High Luminosity LHC, as well as resulting recommendations for the target parameters of a hardware-based tracking system. Scenarios studied include large multiplicities of low-pT tracks produced in a soft-unclustered-energy-pattern model, displaced leptons and anomalous prompt tracks predicted in a Supersymmetry model with long-lived staus, and displaced hadrons predicted in a Higgs portal scenario with long-lived scalars.
Erratum to: 4D supersymmetric gauge theories of spacetime translations
Authors: Brandt Friedemann
Published: February 2023

A correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP10(2022)021
Sterile neutrinos: propagation in matter and sensitivity to sterile mass ordering
Authors: Chattopadhyay Dibya S. , Devi Moon Moon , Dighe Amol , Dutta Debajyoti , Pramanik Dipyaman , Raut Sushant K.
Published: February 2023

Abstract

We analytically calculate the neutrino conversion probability Pμe in the presence of sterile neutrinos, with exact dependence on $$ \Delta {m}_{41}^2 $$
∆

m
41
2

and with matter effects explicitly included. Using perturbative expansion in small parameters, the terms involving the small mixing angles θ24 and θ34 can be separated out, with θ34 dependence only arising due to matter effects. We express Pμe in terms of the quantities of the form sin(x)/x, which helps in elucidating its dependence on matter effects and a wide range of $$ \Delta {m}_{41}^2 $$
∆

m
41
2

values. Our analytic expressions allow us to predict the effects of the sign of $$ \Delta {m}_{41}^2 $$
∆

m
41
2

at a long baseline experiment like DUNE. We numerically calculate the sensitivity of DUNE to the sterile mass ordering and find that this sensitivity can be significant in the range $$ \mid \Delta {m}_{41}^2\mid \sim \left({10}^{-4}-{10}^{-2}\right) $$
∣
Δ

m
41
2

∣
∼

10

−
4

−

10

−
2

eV2, for either mass ordering of active neutrinos. The dependence of this sensitivity on the value of $$ \Delta {m}_{41}^2 $$
∆

m
41
2

for all mass ordering combinations can be explained by investigating the resonance-like terms appearing due to the interplay between the sterile sector and matter effects.
Neue Leitlinie für das Diabetesmanagement bei chronischer Nierenerkrankung
Authors: Wanner Christoph , Busch Martin
Published: February 2023

Im Herbst 2022 wurde ein Update der Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) Clinical Practice Guideline zum Diabetesmanagement bei chronischer Nierenerkrankung („chronic kidney disease“ [CKD]) veröffentlicht. Im vorliegenden Beitrag werden die im Vergleich zu den Leitlinien von 2020 neuen Aspekte übersichtlich dargestellt und diskutiert. Neuerungen finden sich im Bereich der allgemeinen und allumfassenden Behandlung sowie hinsichtlich der blutzuckersenkenden und organprotektiven Therapien mit Natrium-Glukose-Kotransporter-2-Inhibitoren, nichtsteroidalen Mineralokortikoidrezeptorantagonisten und Glucagon-like-peptide-1-Rezeptor-Agonisten. Neu sind auch Top-10-Empfehlungen zum Diabetesmanagement bei CKD sowohl für Patient*innen als auch für Ärzt*innen. Die KDIGO-Leitlinien zum Diabetesmanagement bei CKD stellen den aktuellen evidenzbasierten Therapiestandard für Patienten mit Diabetes mellitus und CKD dar. Diesen gilt es nunmehr umzusetzen, um den betroffenen Patienten den Nutzen der Therapien zukommen lassen zu können und somit ihr Leben zu verbessern.
Patienten mit Diabetes mellitus in der ambulanten psychotherapeutischen Versorgung
Authors: Zara S. , Kampling H. , Friederich H. C. , Heuft G. , Grobe T. G. , Marschall U. , Szecsenyi J. , Liebau M. , Schunter J. , Wild B. , Hartmann M. , Werner S. , Kruse J.
Published: February 2023

Hintergrund

Mit einer Prävalenz von ca. 10 % ist Diabetes mellitus eine der häufigsten chronischen Erkrankungen in Deutschland. Diese geht einher mit erhöhten Raten an depressiven Störungen, Angststörungen und Anpassungsstörungen, die einen besonderen psychotherapeutischen Versorgungsbedarf begründen.

Ziel der Arbeit

Ziel der Studie ist es, in einer Psychotherapieinanspruchnahmepopulation den Anteil von Patienten mit Diabetes mellitus zu bestimmen und die Charakteristika der Versorgung auch im Vergleich zu Inanspruchnahmepatienten ohne chronische körperliche Erkrankung zu beschreiben.

Material und Methoden

Ausgehend von einer bevölkerungsrepräsentativen Screeningstichprobe von n = 32.573 wurde im Rahmen des Projektes „Evaluation der Strukturreform der Richtlinien-Psychotherapie – Vergleich von komplex und nicht-komplex erkrankten Patienten“ (ES-RiP) eine Befragung von n = 1544 Patienten, die eine ambulante Psychotherapie in Anspruch genommen haben, durchgeführt. Outcomes waren Inanspruchnahme, Zuweisungswege, Beschwerden und Beschwerdeverlauf, Lebensqualität, Zufriedenheit mit der Behandlung und unerwünschte Nebenwirkungen.

Ergebnisse

In einer Psychotherapieinanspruchnahmepopulation wiesen in der Selbstangabe 6,7 % (n = 104) einen Diabetes mellitus auf. Gedrückte/schwankende Stimmung, Angststörungen und Probleme im Umgang mit körperlichen Erkrankungen werden von den Inanspruchnahmepatienten mit Diabetes mellitus im Vergleich zu Inanspruchnahmepatienten ohne chronische körperliche Erkrankung signifikant häufiger als zur Therapie motivierende Beschwerden genannt. Bei einer sehr hohen Zufriedenheit mit der Behandlung werden von 81,7 % deutliche Verbesserungen der Beschwerden und von 79,0 % eine Zunahme der Lebensqualität benannt. Über unerwünschte Nebenwirkungen der Psychotherapie berichten 45,7 % der diabeteserkrankten Patienten.

Diskussion

Der Anteil an Patienten mit Diabetes mellitus in einer Inanspruchnahmepopulation liegt unter der aufgrund von epidemiologischen Daten erwartbaren Prävalenz. In die psychotherapeutische Versorgung führen diese Patienten eine Vielzahl von Belastungen. Das Versorgungssystem sollte durch spezifische Angebote auf diese Patientengruppe eingehen.
Online processing while monitoring worked-out examples with embedded errors: defining university student profiles
Authors: Sanjosé Vicente , Gómez-Ferragud Carlos B. , Solaz-Portolés Joan Josep
Published: February 2023

This study explores the process itself of comprehension monitoring of worked-out examples in mathematics. A ‘reversal error’ was embedded in a worked-out example of algebraic nature. Ninety-four engineers in a master’s degree program to become secondary teachers of technology were asked to judge the comprehensibility of the statement and the resolution provided, and to report in writing any incoherence, inconsistency, or error they might detect. The participants’ mental processes throughout the task were operationalized through behavioural variables based on a psychological mechanism proposed for inconsistency detection. The behavioural variables focused on the monitoring of important mathematical processes, the algebraic translation, and the interpretation of the numerical solution of the worked example. The software ‘Read and Answer’ was used to record online data on each participant’s behaviour while monitoring the example, as well as his/her written partial and final reports (the task products). An individual short interview was conducted to increase the reliability of the study. Data from each participant were first analysed. Secondly, data from all the participants were considered together in statistical analyses aimed at relating behavioural variables to task products. Four student monitoring profiles were identified corresponding to different combinations of detection/overlooking the embedded algebraic inconsistency, and detection/overlooking the subsequent inconsistency in the result: ‘competent monitoring’, ‘delayed monitoring’, ‘blocked monitoring’, and ‘poor monitoring’ students. Implications for teaching are discussed.
Extra-axonal contribution to double diffusion encoding-based pore size estimates in the corticospinal tract
Authors: Ulloa Patricia , Methot Vincent , Wottschel Viktor , Koch Martin A.
Published: February 2023

Objective

To study the origin of compartment size overestimation in double diffusion encoding MRI (DDE) in vivo experiments in the human corticospinal tract. Here, the extracellular space is hypothesized to be the origin of the DDE signal. By exploiting the DDE sensitivity to pore shape, it could be possible to identify the origin of the measured signal. The signal difference between parallel and perpendicular diffusion gradient orientation can indicate if a compartment is regular or eccentric in shape. As extracellular space can be considered an eccentric compartment, a positive difference would mean a high contribution to the compartment size estimates.

Materials and methods

Computer simulations using MISST and in vivo experiments in eight healthy volunteers were performed. DDE experiments using a double spin-echo preparation with eight perpendicular directions were measured in vivo. The difference between parallel and perpendicular gradient orientations was analyzed using a Wilcoxon signed-rank test and a Mann–Whitney U test.

Results

Simulations and MR experiments showed a statistically significant difference between parallel and perpendicular diffusion gradient orientation signals ($$\alpha =0.05$$

α
=
0.05

).

Conclusion

The results suggest that the DDE-based size estimate may be considerably influenced by the extra-axonal compartment. However, the experimental results are also consistent with purely intra-axonal contributions in combination with a large fiber orientation dispersion.
Triple Benefit: Impact of an Integrated Early Childhood Development and PMTCT Intervention on ART Outcomes Among Mothers Living with HIV and Infants in Malawi—An Endline Evaluation
Authors: Dovel Kathryn , Kalande Pericles , Udedi Evelyn , Bruns Laurie , Desmond Chris , Mbalanga Chipariro , Gupta Sundeep , Phiri Sam , Chivwala Mackenzie , Richter Linda , Coates Thomas J.
Published: February 2023

We conducted a programmatic, observational cohort study with mother-infant pairs (MIPs) enrolled in prevention-of-mother-to-child-transmission (PMTCT) programs in Malawi to assess the feasibility and potential HIV-related benefits of integrating Early Childhood Development (ECD) services into PMTCT programs. Six health facilities were included in the intervention. We offered ECD counseling from the WHO/UNICEF Care for Child Development package in PMTCT waiting spaces while MIPs waited for PMTCT and broader treatment consultations. Primary outcomes were mothers’ retention in HIV care at 12 months and infant HIV testing at 6 weeks and 12 months after birth. Routine facility-level data from six comparison health facilities were collected as an adhoc standard of care comparison and used to calculate the cost of delivering the intervention. A total of 607 MIPs were enrolled in the integrated ECD-PMTCT intervention between June 2018 and December 2019. The average age of MIPs was 30 years and 7 weeks respectively. We found that 86% of mothers attended ≥ 5 of the 8 ECD sessions over the course of 12 months; 88% of intervention mothers were retained in PMTCT versus 59% of mothers in comparison health facilities, and 96% of intervention infants were tested for HIV by six weeks compared to 66% of infants in comparison health facilities. Costing data demonstrated the financial feasibility of integrating ECD and PMTCT programs in government health facilities in Malawi. Integrating ECD into PMTCT programs was feasible, acceptable, resulted in better programmatic outcomes for both mothers and infants. Further investigation is required to determine optimal delivery design for scale-up.
Optimizing storage assignment, order picking, and their interaction in mezzanine warehouses
Authors: Lesch Veronika , Müller Patrick B.M. , Krämer Moritz , Hadry Marius , Kounev Samuel , Krupitzer Christian
Published: February 2023

In warehouses, order picking is known to be the most labor-intensive and costly task in which the employees account for a large part of the warehouse performance. Hence, many approaches exist, that optimize the order picking process based on diverse economic criteria. However, most of these approaches focus on a single economic objective at once and disregard ergonomic criteria in their optimization. Further, the influence of the placement of the items to be picked is underestimated and accordingly, too little attention is paid to the interdependence of these two problems. In this work, we aim at optimizing the storage assignment and the order picking problem within mezzanine warehouse with regards to their reciprocal influence. We propose a customized version of the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II) for optimizing the storage assignment problem as well as an Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm for optimizing the order picking problem. Both algorithms incorporate multiple economic and ergonomic constraints simultaneously. Furthermore, the algorithms incorporate knowledge about the interdependence between both problems, aiming to improve the overall warehouse performance. Our evaluation results show that our proposed algorithms return better storage assignments and order pick routes compared to commonly used techniques for the following quality indicators for comparing Pareto fronts: Coverage, Generational Distance, Euclidian Distance, Pareto Front Size, and Inverted Generational Distance. Additionally, the evaluation regarding the interaction of both algorithms shows a better performance when combining both proposed algorithms.
Genotypic detection of barriers to rat dispersal: Rattus rattus behind a peninsula predator-proof fence
Authors: Yarita Shogo , Morgan-Richards Mary , Trewick Steven A.
Published: February 2023

Clear delimitation of management units is essential for effective management of invasive species. Analysis of population genetic structure of target species can improve identification and interpretation of natural and artificial barriers to dispersal. In Aotearoa New Zealand where the introduced ship rat (Rattus rattus) is a major threat to native biodiversity, effective suppression of pest numbers requires removal and limitation of reinvasion from outside the managed population. We contrasted population genetic structure in rat populations over a wide scale without known barriers, with structure over a fine scale with potential barriers to dispersal. MtDNA D-loop sequences and microsatellite genotypes resolved little genetic structure in southern North Island population samples of ship rat 100 km apart. In contrast, samples from major islands differed significantly for both mtDNA and nuclear markers. We also compared ship rats collected within a small peninsula reserve bounded by sea, suburbs and, more recently, a predator fence with rats in the surrounding forest. Here, mtDNA did not differ but genotypes from 14 nuclear loci were sufficient to distinguish the fenced population. This suggests that natural (sea) and artificial barriers (town, fence) are effectively limiting gene flow among ship rat populations over the short distance (~ 500 m) between the peninsula reserve and surrounding forest. The effectiveness of the fence alone is not clear given it is a recent feature and no historical samples exist; resampling population genetic diversity over time will improve understanding. Nonetheless, the current genetic isolation of the fenced rat population suggests that rat eradication is a sensible management option given that reinvasion appears to be limited and could probably be managed with a biosecurity programme.
How to Support Residential Energy Conservation Cost-Effectively? An analysis of Public Financial Schemes in France
Authors: Chlond Bettina , Gavard Claire , Jeuck Lisa
Published: February 2023

We compare the performance of four types of support schemes aimed at improving residential energy efficiency in France: the income tax credit, a grant scheme, the reduction of the value-added tax, and the White Certificates. We use the TREMI dataset which covers close to 14,000 households that conducted conservation works. To address self-selection bias, we use a double-robust inverse probability weighting estimator. We assess the effect of the adoption of each scheme on the funding acquired, the private and total investment, and the reduction of the household energy expenses. For each scheme, we use the estimates to deduct its cost-effectiveness, the involved redistribution, and its ability to trigger additional investment in energy conservation works. We find funding from the schemes to reduce energy expenses most cost-effectively via the White Certificates. Redistribution is neutral for each of the four schemes: higher and lower income households equally benefit from them.
Neuroprotective effect of piracetam-loaded magnetic chitosan nanoparticles against thiacloprid-induced neurotoxicity in albino rats
Authors: Abomosallam Mohamed , Hendam Basma M. , Abdallah Amr A. , Refaat Rasha , Elshatory Ahmed , Gad El Hak Heba Nageh
Published: February 2023

Thiacloprid (TH) is a neurotoxic agricultural insecticide and potential food contaminant. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between TH exposure and memory dysfunction in rats, as well as the potential protective effect of piracetam and piracetam-loaded magnetic chitosan nanoparticles (PMC NPs). Rats were divided into five equal groups (six rats/group). The control group received saline. Group II was treated with PMC NPs at a dose level of 200 mg/kg body weight (Bwt); Group III was treated with 1/10 LD50of TH (65 mg/kg Bwt); Group IV was treated with TH (65 mg/kg Bwt) and piracetam (200 mg/kg Bwt); Group V was co-treated with TH (65 mg/kg Bwt) and PMC NPs (200 mg/kg Bwt). All animal groups were dosed daily for 6 weeks by oral gavage. Footprint analysis, hanging wire test, open field test, and Y-maze test were employed to assess behavioral deficits. Animals were euthanized, and brain tissues were analyzed for oxidative stress biomarkers, proinflammatory cytokines, and gene expression levels of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), amyloid-beta precursor protein (APP), B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2), and caspase-3. Brain and sciatic nerve tissues were used for the evaluation of histopathological changes and immunohistochemical expression of tau protein and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), respectively. The results revealed that TH-treated rats suffered from oxidative damage and inflammatory effect on the central and peripheral nerves. The administration of PMC NPs considerably protected against TH-induced neuronal damage, increased antioxidant enzyme activity, decreased inflammatory markers, and improved behavioral performance than the group treated with piracetam. The neuroprotective effect of PMC NPs was mediated through the inhibition of GFAP, APP, caspase-3, Tau, and NF-κB gene expression with induction of Bcl-2 expression. In conclusion, TH could induce oxidative stress, inflammatory and neurobehavior impairment in rats. However, PMC NPs administration markedly mitigated TH-induced brain toxicity, possibly via oxidative and inflammatory modulation rather than using piracetam alone.
Multidimensional Author Profiling for Social Business Intelligence
Authors: Lanza-Cruz Indira , Berlanga Rafael , Aramburu María José
Published: February 2023

This paper presents a novel author profiling method specially aimed at classifying social network users into the multidimensional perspectives for social business intelligence (SBI) applications. In this scenario, being the user profiles defined on demand for each particular SBI application, we cannot assume the existence of labelled datasets for training purposes. Thus, we propose an unsupervised method to obtain the required labelled datasets for training the profile classifiers. Contrary to other author profiling approaches in the literature, we only make use of the users’ descriptions, which are usually part of the metadata posts. We exhaustively evaluated the proposed method under four different tasks for multidimensional author profiling along with state-of-the-art text classifiers. We achieved performances around 88% and 98% of F1 score for a gold standard and a silver standard datasets respectively. Additionally, we compare our results to other supervised approaches previously proposed for two of our tasks, getting very close performances despite using an unsupervised method. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first method designed to label user profiles in an unsupervised way for training profile classifiers with a similar performance to fully supervised ones.
Intra-renal microcirculatory alterations on non-traumatic hemorrhagic shock induced acute kidney injury in pigs
Authors: Ergin Bülent , van Rooij Tom , Lima Alex , Ince Yasin , Specht Patricia AC , Mik Bert , Aksu Ugur , Yavuz-Aksu Berna , Kooiman Klazina , de Jong Nico , Ince Can
Published: February 2023

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is frequently seen in patients with hemorrhagic shock due to hypotension, tissue hypoxia, and inflammation despite adequate resuscitation. There is a lack of information concerning the alteration of renal microcirculation and perfusion during shock and resuscitation. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible role of renal microcirculatory alterations on development of renal dysfunction in a pig model of non-traumatic hemorrhagic shock (HS) induced AKI.

Fully instrumented female pigs were divided into the two groups as Control (n = 6) and HS (n = 11). HS was achieved by withdrawing blood until mean arterial pressure (MAP) reached around 50 mmHg. After an hour cessation period, fluid resuscitation with balanced crystalloid was started for the duration of 1 h. The systemic and renal hemodynamics, renal microcirculatory perfusion (contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS)) and the sublingual microcirculation were measured.

CEUS peak enhancement was significantly increased in HS during shock, early-, and late resuscitation indicating perfusion defects in the renal cortex (p < 0.05 vs. baseline, BL) despite a stable renal blood flow (RBF) and urine output. Following normalization of systemic hemodynamics, we observed persistent hypoxia (high lactate) and high red blood cell (RBC) velocity just after initiation of resuscitation resulting in further endothelial and renal damage as shown by increased plasma sialic acid (p < 0.05 vs. BL) and NGAL levels. We also showed that total vessel density (TVD) and functional capillary density (FCD) were depleted during resuscitation (p < 0.05).

In this study, we showed that the correction of systemic hemodynamic variables may not be accompanied with the improvement of renal cortical perfusion, intra-renal blood volume and renal damage following fluid resuscitation. We suggest that the measurement of renal injury biomarkers, systemic and renal microcirculation can be used for guiding to the optimization of fluid therapies.
Sorting-free Hill-based stability analysis of periodic solutions through Koopman analysis
Authors: Bayer Fabia , Leine Remco I.
Published: February 2023

In this paper, we aim to study nonlinear time-periodic systems using the Koopman operator, which provides a way to approximate the dynamics of a nonlinear system by a linear time-invariant system of higher order. We propose for the considered system class a specific choice of Koopman basis functions combining the Taylor and Fourier bases. This basis allows to recover all equations necessary to perform the harmonic balance method as well as the Hill analysis directly from the linear lifted dynamics. The key idea of this paper is using this lifted dynamics to formulate a new method to obtain stability information from the Hill matrix. The error-prone and computationally intense task known by sorting, which means identifying the best subset of approximate Floquet exponents from all available candidates, is circumvented in the proposed method. The Mathieu equation and an n-DOF generalization are used to exemplify these findings.
Improved FRQI on superconducting processors and its restrictions in the NISQ era
Authors: Geng Alexander , Moghiseh Ali , Redenbach Claudia , Schladitz Katja
Published: February 2023

In image processing, the amount of data to be processed grows rapidly, in particular when dealing with images of more than two dimensions or time series of images. Thus, efficient processing is a challenge, as data sizes may push even supercomputers to their limits. Quantum image processing promises to encode images with logarithmically less qubits than classical pixels in the image. In theory, this is a huge progress, but so far not many experiments have been conducted in practice, in particular on real backends. Often, the precise conversion of classical data to quantum states, the exact implementation, and the interpretation of the measurements in the classical context are challenging. We investigate these practical questions in this paper. In particular, we study the feasibility of the flexible representation of quantum images (FRQI). Furthermore, we check experimentally the limit in the current noisy intermediate-scale quantum era, i.e., up to which image size an image can be encoded, both on simulators and on real backends. Finally, we propose a method for simplifying the circuits needed for the FRQI. With our alteration, the number of gates can be reduced, especially the one of the error-prone controlled-NOT gates. As a consequence, the size of manageable images increases.