bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Comprehensive Analysis of the Expression and Prognosis for Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription Family of Genes in Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Authors: Qin Tong , Shao Yunli , Zhao Hongmian
Published: August 2021

BackgroundIn recent years, it has become clear that signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) family of genes play an important role in cancer. However, the expression level, genetic variation, molecular mechanism, and biological function of different STATs in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and its relationship with prognosis and immune infiltration in patients with AML have not been fully elucidated.ResultsWe found that the expression levels of STAT1, STAT2, STAT4, and STAT6 were higher in AML than in normal tissues, whereas the expression levels of STAT3, STAT5A, and STAT5B were lower in the former than in the latter. Survival analysis revealed that high transcription level of STAT6 was associated with low overall survival (OS) in patients with AML. Conversely, high STAT5B level predicted superior OS in these patients. Cox multivariate analysis as well as least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression screening showed that STAT5B expression is a good independent prognostic factor of OS. The functions of STAT5B are mainly related to the occurrence, development and microenvironment of AML. We also discovered that the expression of STAT5B was significantly correlated with immune infiltrates in AML.Conclusions﻿STAT5B may be used as a novel predictive biomarker and immunotherapy target for AML patients.
Identification of an Elite Core Panel as a Key Breeding Resource to Accelerate the Rate of Genetic Improvement for Irrigated Rice
Authors: Juma Roselyne U. , Bartholomé Jérôme , Prakash Parthiban Thathapalli , Hussain Waseem , Platten John Damien , Lopena Vitaliano , Verdeprado Holden , Murori Rosemary , Ndayiragije Alexis , Katiyar Sanjay K. , Islam Mohammad Rafiqul , Biswas Partha S. , Rutkoski Jessica Elaine , Arbelaez Juan David , Mbute Felister Nzuve , Miano Douglas Watuku , Cobb Joshua Nathaniel
Published: August 2021

Rice genetic improvement is a key component of achieving and maintaining food security in Asia and Africa in the face of growing populations and climate change. In this effort, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) continues to play a critical role in creating and disseminating rice varieties with higher productivity. Due to increasing demand for rice, especially in Africa, there is a strong need to accelerate the rate of genetic improvement for grain yield.In an effort to identify and characterize the elite breeding pool of IRRI’s irrigated rice breeding program, we analyzed 102 historical yield trials conducted in the Philippines during the period 2012-2016 and representing 15,286 breeding lines (including released varieties). A mixed model approach based on the pedigree relationship matrix was used to estimate breeding values for grain yield, which ranged from 2.12 to 6.27 t·ha-1. The rate of genetic gain for grain yield was estimated at 8.75 kg·ha-1·year-1 (0.23%) for crosses made in the period from 1964 to 2014. Reducing the data to only IRRI released varieties, the rate doubled to 17.36 kg·ha-1·year-1 (0.46%). Regressed against breeding cycle the rate of gain for grain yield was 185 kg·ha-1·cycle-1 (4.95%). We selected 72 top performing lines based on breeding values for grain yield to create an elite core panel (ECP) representing the genetic diversity in the breeding program with the highest heritable yield values from which new products can be derived. The ECP closely aligns with the indica 1B sub-group of Oryza sativa that includes most modern varieties for irrigated systems. Agronomic performance of the ECP under multiple environments in Asia and Africa confirmed its high yield potential.We found that the rate of genetic gain for grain yield found in this study was limited primarily by long cycle times and the direct introduction of non-improved material into the elite pool. Consequently, the current breeding scheme for irrigated rice at IRRI is based on rapid recurrent selection among highly elite lines. In this context, the ECP constitutes an important resource for IRRI and NAREs breeders to carefully characterize and manage that elite diversity.
Variation in Patterns and Volumes of Injuries Admitted to a Level One Trauma Center During Lockdown for COVID-19
Authors: Ower Cornelia , Stock Kerstin , Kaiser Peter , Ulmer Hanno , Rohit Arora , Haselbacher Matthias
Published: August 2021

IntroductionDue to the global COVID-19 pandemic, a ban on sports outside one’s home and a prohibition on travel between communities were imposed in spring 2020 in Tyrol, Austria. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of these restrictions on a level one trauma center. The objective was to identify the most common injury patterns to ensure targeted prevention in times of an ongoing pandemic.Material and MethodsPatients who presented themselves to our trauma center between week 7 and 22 in 2020 were retrospectively compared to a mean of the patients of the three previous years (2017-2019). The evaluated variables were number of patients, age, gender, country of residence, place of accident, time of treatment, injured body region and anatomical structure, number of surgical intervention and severely injured patients. ResultsComparing the mean count of treated patients per week in 2020 of the pre-lockdown period (n=804.6) with the lockdown period (n=201.8) a decrease in admissions by 69.7% could be observed. The admission incidence was 9.9 times higher in previous years than in 2020 during the lockdown period. Among the injuries treated during the lockdown the largest increase in relative numbers was in home injuries, head or face injuries, and superficial or penetrating injuries. There was a decrease of seriously injured patients as well as patients that needed surgery during the lockdown compared to previous years. ConclusionsWe observed a significant change in the pattern and volume of injuries during a strict lockdown. Intervention programs to reduce the risk of home injuries should be introduced. Furthermore, in order to save resources during a pandemic, specific guidelines on patient management and treatment should be established for the respective medical specialties.Trial registration: 1157/2020, 10.12.2020
Identification of Specific Role of SNX Family in Gastric Cancer Prognosis Evaluation
Authors: Hu Beibei , Yin Guohui , Sun Xuren
Published: August 2021

Project: We here perform a systematic bioinformatic analysis to uncover the role of SNX family in clinical outcome of gastric cancer (GC). Methods: Comprehensive bioinformatic analysis were realized with online tools such as TCGA, GEO, String, Timer, cBioportal and Kaplan-Meier Plotter. Statistic analysis was conducted with R language, and artificial neural network was constructed using Python.Results: Our analysis demonstrated that SNX4/5/6/7/8/10/13/14/15/16/20/22/25/27/30 were higher expressed in GC, whereas SNX1/17/21/24/33 were in the opposite expression profiles. Clustering results gave the relative transcriptional levels of 30 SNXs in tumor, and it was totally consistent to the inner relevance of SNXs at mRNA level. Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI) map showed closely and complex connection among 33 SNXs. Tumor immune infiltration analysis asserted that SNX1/3/9/18/19/21/29/33, SNX1/17/18/20/21/29/31/33, SNX1/2/3/6/10/18/29/33, and SNX1/2/6/10/17/18/20/29 were strongly correlated with four kinds of survival related TIICs, including Cancer associated fibroblast, endothelial cells, macrophages and Tregs. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis based on GEO presented more satisfactory results than that based on TCGA-STAD did, and all the 29 SNXs were statistically significant, SNX12/23/28 excluded. SNXs alteration contributed to MSI or higher level of MSI-H (hyper-mutated MSI or high level of MSI), and other malignancy such as mutation of TP53, ARID1A and MLH1.The multivariate cox model performed excellently in patients risk classification, for those with higher risk-score suffered from OS period and susceptibility to death as well as tumor immune infiltration. Compared to previous researches, our ANN models shown a predictive power at a middle-upper level, with AUC of 0.87/0.72, 0.84/0.72, 0.90/0.71, 0.94/0.66, 0.83/0.71, 0.88/0.72 corresponding to one-, three- and five-year OS and RFS estimation, but we were totally sure that those models would perform great better if given larger-size samples, which served as evidence to specific role of SNX family in prognosis assessment in GC. Conclusion: The SNX family shows great value in postoperative survival of GC, and artificial neural network models constructed using SNXs transcriptional data manifest excellent predictive power in both OS and RFS evaluation.
Retinal Vascular changes in Femtosecond Laser-Assisted Cataract Surgery by Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography
Authors: Zhang Hong , Tan Liangzhang , Tian Fang , Gong Xue , Chen Lu , Ma Zhiqiong , Liang Jingli , Li Xiaorong
Published: August 2021

Purpose To assess the changes in retinal vasculature and thickness after femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery (FLACS) using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA).Methods Fifty-six eyes of 56 patients with age-related cataract were enrolled in this study. Patients were divided into FLACS or conventional phacoemulsification surgery (CPS) due to the choice of operation. Vessel density (VD) and thickness at the macular area and optic nerve head (ONH) were checked by OCTA at baseline and at 1 day, 1 month and 3 months after cataract surgery.Results In the FLACS group: The radial peripapillary capillary (RPC) density displayed a significant reduction during the follow-up (P < 0.05), even when the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness was not significantly changed. There was a significant negative correlation between the changes in RPC density and femtosecond laser-assisted pre-treatment time (FLAPT) at 1 day and 1 month after cataract surgery respectively (both P < 0.05). At 3 months postoperatively, the macular thickness had a significant increase in all regions (all P < 0.05). In the CPS group, the retinal VD and thickness did not show statistically significant changes in all regions during the follow-up (all P > 0.05). However, the best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was significantly improved in both groups postoperatively (both P < 0.001).Conclusions OCTA provided a promising analysis of retinal vascular alterations, demonstrating the reduction of RPC density and the increase of macular thickness after FLACS. However, these changes had no effect on the improvement of visual acuity after cataract surgery.
The local wave phenomenon in the quintic nonlinear Schrödinger equation by numerical methods
Authors: Tang Yaning , Liang Zaijun , Xie Wenxian
Published: August 2021

The nonlinear Schrodinger hierarchy has a wide range of applications in modeling the propagation of light pulses in optical fibers. In this paper, we focus on the integrable nonlinear Schrodinger (NLS) equation with quintic terms, which play a prominent role when the pulse duration is very short. First, we investigate the spectral signatures of the spatial Lax pair with distinct analytical solutions and their periodized wavetrains by Fourier oscillatory method. Then, we numerically simulate the wave evolution of the quintic NLS equation from different initial conditions through the symmetrical split-step Fourier method. We find many localized high-peak structures whose profiles are very similar to the analytical solutions, and we analyze the formation of rouge waves (RWs) in different cases. These results may be helpful to understand the excitation of nonlinear waves in some nonlinear fields, such as optical fibers, oceanography and so on.
Combination Therapy with miR-34a and Doxorubicin Synergistically Induced Apoptosis in T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Cell Line
Authors: Najjary Shiva , Mohammadzadeh Reza , Mansoori Behzad , Vahidian Fatemeh , Mohammadi Ali , Doustvandi Mohammad Amin , Khaze Vahid , Hajiasgharzadeh Khalil , Baradaran Behzad
Published: August 2021

Reduced expression of tumor suppressor miRNAs leads to cancer cell development, so restoring the expression of these miRNAs can be an appropriate treatment option for cancer. Due to the heterogeneity of cancer cells, single-drug therapy often results in drug resistance. Therefore, the combination of chemotherapy with miRNA can be a powerful strategy for cancer treatment. In the current investigation, we researched the synergic effect of miR-34a in combination with doxorubicin (DOX) on cell death of acute T-cell lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) Jurkat cell line, as well as the expression of some genes including Caspase-3, Bcl-2, and p53 which are involved in apoptosis. Our outcomes showed that the combination of miR-34a and doxorubicin remarkably reduced the expression of the Bcl-2 gene, the target gene of miR-34a. According to the results of the MTT assay in cells treated with miR-34a and doxorubicin, the survival rate was significantly decreased compared to the untreated cells. Results of the flow cytometry assay and DAPI staining demonstrated an increased apoptosis rate of Jurkat cells in combination therapy. Moreover, cell cycle arrest was observed at the G2/M phase in cells that were treated with miR-34a/doxorubicin. Most importantly, we showed that the transfection of the Jurkat cells with miR-34a increased the sensitivity of these cells to doxorubicin. Furthermore, the combination of miR-34a and doxorubicin drug effectively increased apoptosis of treated cells. Therefore, this method can be used as an impressive treatment for T-ALL.
The Effect of Intravenous Tranexamic Acid on Hemoglobin and Hematocrit Levels After Cesarean Delivery: a Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial
Authors: Jafarbegloo Esmat , Faridnyia Faride , nejad Atefeh sadat mohammad hoseini
Published: August 2021

Background: During a cesarean section, the mother loses a lot of blood. This bleeding can cause a drop in hemoglobin and hematocrit. Tranexamic acid, an anti-fibrinolytic agent, is a novel approach in an attempt to prevent this dreadful complication. This study aims to explore the effect of intravenous tranexamic acid on hemoglobin and hematocrit level after cesarean section(CS) in women who were low risk in postpartum hemorrhage.Methods: This prospective randomised placebo-controlled clinical trial was carried out on 50 pregnant women referred to Izadi hospital, Qom, Iran, 2017. women were divided into two groups of 25 cases using block randomization. The study group, 25 women, received tranexamic acid 10 minutes before CS whereas the control group, 25 women received distilled water. Hemoglobin and hematocrit levels were measured before and 12-24 hours after delivery. Results: There was no significant difference in pre-operative and 12-24 h post-operative hemoglobin and hematocrit levels between the two groups(p>0.05). Conclusions: Pre-operative prescription of 1gr tranexamic acid was not associated with improvement of post-operative hemoglobin and hematocrit.Trial registration: IRCT20091010002558N7.
Salicylic Acid Induced Physiological Responses of Microchaete Sp. NCCU-342 Under PQ Stress
Authors: Naaz Haleema , Afzal Bushra , Sami Neha , Yasin Durdana , Khan Nida Jamil , Fatma Tasneem
Published: August 2021

Weeds are the worst category of agricultural pests as they compete with crops for water, nutrients, and light, grow faster than crops and eventually reduces the crop productivity thereby increasing the production cost. Herbicide has been used as a management tool to control weeds, by modifying their physiological activities like reducing photosynthesis, increasing protease activity and free radicals etc. The application of non-selected herbicides kills not only the weeds but also non-target organisms including the main crop. Herbicides like paraquat have been used in rice fields but its toxic effects on other organisms is at par. Salicylic acid, a plant growth regulator, is known to regulate oxidative stress in plants subjected to unfavourable environmental conditions. Given this, the present study was designed to study the effect of salicylic acid in Microchaete sp. NCCU-342 exposed to paraquat. The results obtained demonstrated that the paraquat toxicity elevated MDA and H2O2 levels, indicating free radical formation. However, supplementation of salicylic acid in the culture medium reduced the paraquat toxicity. The content of MDA and H2O2 in presence of salicylic acid was similar to the control. It enhances phenolic compound (29.07%) and phytohormones content (IAA-2.96%, SA-96.59%) and regulate the redox state of the cells. A significant change (recorded in percentage) was observed in the antioxidant enzyme activities including SOD (121.62 %), CAT (30.38 %), APX (74.38 %), GPX (127 %) and GR (141%) in presence of paraquat and after supplementation of salicylic acid. Antioxidant assay confirmed the change in antioxidants in form of phenolic compounds. Salicylic acid supplementation also enhanced the antibacterial activity of cyanobacteria, highlighting that it induces resistance against biotic stress as well as the abiotic stress. This work provides evidence for the ability of salicylic acid to alleviate the paraquat-induced toxicity, maintain redox state and resist the cell against both biotic and abiotic stress.
A New Hybrid Method for Establishing Landslide Displacement Point Forecasting, Interval Forecasting and Probabilistic Forecasting
Authors: Wang Hong , Long Guangyu , Liao Jianxing , Xu Yan , Lv Yan
Published: August 2021

In addition to the inherent evolution trend, landslide displacement contains strong fluctuation and randomness, the omni-directional landslide displacement prediction is more scientific than single point prediction or interval prediction. In this work, a newly hybrid approach composed of double exponential smoothing (DES), variational mode decomposition (VMD), long short-term memory network (LSTM) and gaussian process regression (GPR), was proposed for point, interval and probabilistic prediction of landslide displacement. The proposed model includes two parts: (i) predicting the inherent evolution trend of landslide displacement by DES-VMD-LSTM; (ii) evaluating the uncertainty in the first prediction based on the GPR model. In the first part, DES is used to predict the trend displacement, VMD is used to extract the periodic and stochastic displacement from the residual displacement, and then LSTM is used to predict them. The triggering factors of periodic and stochastic displacement are screened by maximum information coefficient (MIC), and the screened factors are decomposed into low- and high-frequency components by VMD, to predict periodic and stochastic displacement respectively. The first cumulative displacement prediction results are achieved by adding the predicted trend, periodic and stochastic displacement. By setting the first predicted displacement as input and actual displacement as expected output, the point, interval and probability prediction of displacement are realized in GPR model. The plausibility of this method was validated firstly with the data from Bazimen (BZM) and Baishuihe (BSH) landslide in the Three Gorges Reservoir area. This model has potential capacity to realize deterministic prediction of displacement and exhibit uncertainty contained in displacement. A comparing study shows that this method has a high performance at point, interval and probability prediction of displacement.
Analysis of the effect of NEKs on the prognosis of patients with Non-small-cell lung carcinoma based on bioinformatics
Authors: YANG MENGXIA , GUO YIKUN , GUO XIAOFEI , MAO YUN , ZHU SHIJIE , WANG NINGJUN , LU DIANRONG
Published: August 2021

NEKs are proteins that are involved in various cell processes and play important roles in the formation and development of cancer. However, few studies have examined the role of NEKs in the development of non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). To address this problem, the Oncomine, UALCAN, and the Human Protein Atlas databases were used to analyze differential NEK expression and its clinicopathological parameters, while the Kaplan-Meier, cBioPortal, GEPIA, and DAVID databases were used to analyze survival, gene mutations, similar genes, and biological enrichments. The rate of NEK family gene mutation was high (>50%) in patients with NSCLC, in which NEK2/4/6/8/ was overexpressed and significantly correlated with tumor stage and nodal metastasis status. In addition, the high expression of NEK2/3mRNA was significantly associated with poor prognosis in patients with NSCLC, while high expression of NEK1/4/6/7/8/9/10/11mRNA was associated with good prognosis. In summary, these results suggest that NEK2/4/6/8 may be a potential prognostic biomarker for the survival of patients with NSCLC.
Molecular docking study of copaíba oil interacting with the spike protein of Sars-CoV-2
Authors: Santos Willian Oliveira , Venâncio José Robson da Costa , Ferreira Fernanda Carla Lima , de Oliveira Glaura Caroena Azevedo , Rodrigues Aldimar Machado , Frazão Nilton Ferreira , Novais Erico Raimundo Pereira , Souza Divanizia do Nascimento , Novais Andrea de Lima Ferreira
Published: August 2021

COVID-19 triggered by Sars-CoV-2 has caused hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide. Organic and inorganic compounds have been tested as potential inhibitors of this lethal virus. For these tests, several techniques are use to design molecules of biological interest for drug composition, in which molecular coupling plays an important role. In the present work, the compounds acids kaurenoic, copalic, and beta-caryophyllene that form the copaiba oil were studied as anti-inflammatories and opens the possibility to inhibit Sars-CoV-2. Molecular docking showed alkyl, pi-alkyl, conventional H-bond, unfavorable bump, and Van der Waals interactions. The calculated electrostatic potential maps showed the nucleophilic and electrophilic regions. The negative binding energies obtained for the three acids suggest the stability of the complexes. The minimum energy states for β-caryophyllene are lower than the other compounds analyzed, and it can be predicted that this is the most stable.
Definitive Results of a Phase III Adjuvant Trial Comparing Six Cycles of FEC-100 to Four Cycles of AC in Women with Operable Node-negative Breast Cancer: The NSABP B-36 Trial (NRG Oncology)
Authors: Geyer Charles E , Bandos Hanna , Rastogi Priya , Jacobs Samuel A , Robidoux Andre , Fehrenbacher Louis , Ward Patrick J , Polikoff Jonathan , Brufsky Adam M , Provencher Louise , Paterson Alexander H.G. , Hamm John T , Carolla Robert L , Baez-Diaz Luis , Julian Thomas B , Swain Sandra , Mamounas Terry , Wolmark Norman
Published: August 2021

PURPOSE: Results from adjuvant trials evaluating 6 cycles of epirubicin-based chemotherapy regimens suggested these programs may be more effective than 4 cycles of doxorubicin-based chemotherapy. METHODS: NSABP B-36 was a phase III clinical trial originally designed as a 2x2 factorial study comparing 6 cycles of FEC-100 (5-FU, epirubicin, cyclophosphamide) to 4 cycles of conventional AC (Adriamycin/cyclophosphamide) with celecoxib or placebo. Shortly after activation, concerns regarding increased cardiovascular risks among selective COX-2 inhibitors resulted in a decision to remove the celecoxib/placebo from the trial. Women with histologically node-negative invasive breast cancer who had undergone primary surgery with a lumpectomy or total mastectomy were eligible. Primary endpoint was disease-free survival (DFS).RESULTS: Between May 2004-July 2008, 2,722 patients were enrolled. Administration of FEC-100 did not result in improvement in DFS compared to AC (HR=1.09; 95% CI 0.92-1.29, p-value=0.31). The effect of FEC-100 compared to AC on DFS was significantly different for receptor-positive (HR=1.32, 95% CI=1.05-1.66) compared to receptor-negative patients (HR=0.86, 95% CI=0.66-1.11) (treatment-by-receptor status interaction p-value=0.02). There was no statistically significant difference in the effect of treatment on overall survival (OS) with FEC-100 compared to AC (HR=1.06; 95% CI 0.84-1.35, p-value=0.61). Overall, Grade 3 and 4 adverse events were more frequent in the FEC-100 group.CONCLUSIONS: The results of B-36 do not support use of six-cycle anthracycline-based regimens in node-negative breast cancer. Prolongation of anthracycline-based therapy with FEC-100 does not improve DFS or OS, relative to AC for 4 cycles, and was associated with expected increases in toxicity. A statistically significant interaction between treatment and hormone receptor status favoring AC in hormone-receptor-positive breast cancers is consistent with the hypothesis that optimal duration of chemotherapy may be four cycles in these patients. Late cardiac events and deaths prior to recurrence or second cancer were infrequent on both arms, but slightly higher with FEC-100.ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00087178
Associations of the COVID-19 Pandemic With Social Wellbeing Indicators in Mexico
Authors: Vilar-Compte Mireya , Hernandez-F Mauricio , Gaitán-Rossi Pablo , Pérez Víctor , Teruel Graciela
Published: August 2021

Background: Public health measures for COVID-19 containment have implied economic and social life disruptions, which have been particularly deleterious in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) due to high rates of informal employment, overcrowding, and barriers to accessing health services, amongst others social determinants. Mexico, a LMIC, is a country with a high COVID-19 mortality in which there has been a very limited governmental response to help mitigate such COVID-related disruptions. This study analyzes the association of the first wave of the COVID-19 crisis in Mexico with four wellbeing indicators: income, employment, anxiety, and food security. Methods: It uses pooled cross-sectional data (n=5,453) of five monthly nationally representative surveys collected between April and August 2020. Probit models are estimated to assess the association of the pandemic with job loss and anxiety; a multinomial logistic regression is estimated for food security, and an ordinary least squares regression assesses the association between the pandemic and changes in household’s income. Results: Females were significantly associated with worse outcomes for the 4 wellbeing measures with an average reduction of 2.3% in household income compared to pre-COVID-19 levels, an increased probability (6.4 pp) if being in a household that had lost jobs, decreased probability of food security (6.9 pp), and an increased risk of anxiety symptoms (8.5 pp). In addition, those with lower SES and household with children also reported worse outcomes for employment, income and food security. The month variable was also statistically significant in these models suggesting that as more months of the pandemic elapsed the effects persisted. Conclusion: The currents study documents hos the COVID-19 pandemic is associated with different wellbeing indicators in a LMIC. It suggests the urgent need to take actions to support vulnerable groups, particularly women, households with children and those in the lowest SES. If policy actions are not taken, the pandemic will increase social and gender disparities, and will jeopardize childhood development
Quality and Efficiency of Health Care Systems During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Assessment of G20 Unified Procurement Systems for Medical Equipment
Authors: Aljafari Abdulmalek
Published: August 2021

Background

Country level comparative studies on the performance and experiences of medical device procurement systems, in terms of both quality and efficiency, particularly during COVID-19 are lacking.
Objective

To evaluate the impact on healthcare cost and efficiency of four national models of medical device procurement. Further, to propose procurement system "best practices" using the response to COVID-19 as a reference.
Methods

A review of qualitative data drawn from public and private sources was conducted, as well as various studies related to national procurement systems in four G20 countries, to (1) identify differences, strengths and weaknesses; (2) evaluate how each system responded to the COVID-19 crisis; and, (3) identify best practices for policy-makers.
Results

While some governments have centralized the procurement of medical devices, developing a national scheme for tendering and purchase, other countries have deployed a decentralized approach where regions or even individual hospitals are responsible for all or some aspects of procurement. This dichotomy has led to a variety of efficiency and quality of service outcomes, with models implementing national uniformity achieving greater cost-savings. Furthermore centralized systems of procurement performed better during times of health crisis. It remains unclear whether these short-term savings lead to long-term efficiencies achieved through improved patient outcomes as data is lacking.
Conclusion

The available data indicates that countries that have adopted a centralized approach to the procurement of medical devices tend to have an advantage during times of crisis, as well as in the normal provision of healthcare services.
Response of Soil Biological Properties and Bacterial Diversity to Different Levels of Nitrogen Application in Sugarcane Fields
Authors: Yang Shangdong , Xiao Jian , Liang Tian , He Weizhong , Tan Hongwei
Published: August 2021

Field experiments were performed in early March 2019 at the farm of the Sugarcane Research Institute, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Four concentrations of nitrogen application were employed as follows: that is, urea applications 964, 482, 96, 0 kg ha− 1, respectively. And 300 kg ha− 1 calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus were likewise applied in 4 different treatments. The results showed that the soil microbial biomass carbon and phosphorus were altered significantly by non- and low-nitrogen input. Moreover, the indexes of soil bacterial richness and diversity in the sugarcane field could be significantly improved, even by low nitrogen input. At the genus level, norank_f__SC-I-84, Mycobacterium, norank_f__Micropepsaceae, norank_f__norank_o__Saccharimonadales, norank_f__norank_o__Subgroup_2 and norank_f__Acetobacteraceae were the unique dominant bacteria in the soil with the high nitrogen input treatment. norank_f__JG30-KF-CM45 and Jatrophihabitans were the unique dominant genera in the moderate nitrogen input treatment. norank_f__norank_o__norank_c__Subgroup_6, HSB_OF53-F07, Streptomyces, norank_f__67 − 14, norank_f__norank_o__SBR1031 and norank_f__norank_o__norank_c__KD4-96 were the unique dominant genera in the low nitrogen input treatment. In contrast, FCPS473, Actinospica, 1921-2, Sinomonas, and norank_f__Ktedonobacteraceae were the unique dominant genera in CK (no nitrogen application treatment). It suggested that low nitrogen input was the most significant effect on the soil microbial biomass carbon and phosphorus in the sugarcane field. Moreover, low nitrogen input also can improve the diversity and richness of sugarcane soil bacteria. The dominant bacterial genera of low nitrogen input and the other treatments were different for the compositions of dominant bacteria, and the largest abundance difference of dominant bacterial genera was norank_f__norank_o__norank_c__Subgroup_6. However, whether low nitrogen stress can improve the yield and quality of sugarcane warrants further research.
Metal Doping Silicates as Inorganic Ion Exchange Materials for Environmental Remediation
Authors: Abou-Mesalam Mamdouh Mohamed , Abass Mohamed Ragab , Zakaria Essam Saleh , Hassan Ali Mostafa
Published: August 2021

Titano-silicate (TiSi) and in-situ dopped composites were obtained by precipitation technique. The composition of these materials was established by IR, XRD, TGA&DTA, and XRF. The capacity for Co(II), & Cd(II) ions revealed that Co-TiSi & Cd-TiSi is a higher capacity than those obtained for TiSi by 1.81, & 1.41 values, respectively. To explore the separation potentiality of Co-TiSi for studied cations distribution coefficients in HNO3 were estimated. Langmuir isotherm model is the most representative for discussing the sorption process with a maximum sorption capacity of 16.02, and 10.96 mg/g for Co(II), & Cd(II) ions, respectively. Co-TiSi is suitable for the column technique for the recovery of studied cations. The investigation proved that Co-TiSi composite is suitable for the uptake of the studied ions from liquid solutions and could be considered as potential material for the refining of effluent polluted with these ions.
Genetic diversity and immunogenicity of the merozoite surface protein 1 C-terminal 19-kDa fragment (MSP119) of Plasmodium ovale imported from Africa to China
Authors: Xu Qinwen , Liu Sihong , Kassegne Kokouvi , Yang Bo , Lu Jiachen , Sun Yifan , Zhong Wenli , Zhang Miaosa , Liu Yaobao , Zhu Guoding , Cao Jun , Cheng Yang
Published: August 2021

Background

Merozoite surface protein 1 (MSP1) plays an essential role in erythrocyte invasion by malaria parasites. The C-terminal 19-kDa of MSP1 has long been considered as one of the major candidate antigens for malaria blood-stage vaccine in Plasmodium falciparum. However, there are limited information on the C-terminal 19-kDa region of Plasmodium ovale merozoite surface protein 1 (PoMSP119). This study, therefore, aims to analyse genetic diversity and immunogenicity of PoMSP119.
Methods

A total of 37 clinical P. ovale isolates including P. ovale curtisi (Poc) and P. ovale wallikeri (Pow) imported from Africa to China and collected between 2012 and 2016 were used. Genomic DNA were used to amplify pocmsp119 and powmsp119 genes by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Genetic diversity of pomsp119 was analyzed using the MegAlign and GeneDoc v.6 programs. Recombinant PoMSP119-GST proteins were expressed in an Escherichia coli expression system and analyzed by Western blot. Immune responses in BALB/c mice immunized with rPoMSP119-GST were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). In addition, antigen-specific T-cell responses were performed by lymphocyte proliferation assays. A total of 49 serum samples from P. ovale infections and healthy people were used to evaluate natural immune responses through protein microarray assays.
Results

Sequences of pomsp119 were found thoroughly conserved in all clinical isolates. Recombinant PoMSP119 proteins were efficiently expressed and purified as ~ 37 kDa proteins. High antibody responses in immunized mice with rPoMSP119-GST were observed. The rPoMSP119-GST induced high avidity indexes with an average of 92.57% and 85.32% for Poc and Pow, respectively. Cross-reactivity between rPocMSP119 and rPowMSP119 was observed. Cellular immune responses to rPocMSP119 (69.51%) and rPowMSP119 (52.17%) induced in rPocMSP119- and rPowMSP119-immunized mice were found during splenocyte proliferation assays. The sensitivity and specificity of rPoMSP119-GST proteins for natural immune responses detection in patients infected with P. ovale were 89.96% and 75%, respectively.
Conclusions

This study revealed high conservation in sequences of pomsp119 and high immunogenicity of rPoMSP119. The rPoMSP119 proteins detected humoral immune responses in patients with P. ovale infection. Such informative results advance our understanding of natural immunity to P. ovale infection and contribute to the knowledge base for the development of a PoMSP119-based vaccine.
Methylprednisolone, Venous Thromboembolism, and Association with Heparin to 30 Days Hospital Survival in Severe COVID-19 Pneumonia
Authors: Go Ronaldo C. , Nyirenda Themba , Bojarian Maryam , Hosseini Davood , Rahim Mehek , Kim Kevin , Rose Keith M.
Published: August 2021

BACKGROUNDMortality in severe COVID-19 pneumonia is associated with thrombo-inflammation. Corticosteroids are given to attenuate the inflammation, but they are associated with thrombosis. The aims of this study were to determine the incidence of venous thromboembolism between no methylprednisolone and methylprednisolone (dose versus duration) and to evaluate the synergistic dose-dependent association of heparin and methylprednisolone to 30 days in hospital survival. METHODSThis was a secondary analysis of a retrospective cohort. Patients included in this study were older than 18 years of age and admitted for severe COVID-19 pneumonia between March to June 2020 in 13 hospitals in New Jersey, United States. A propensity score analysis between administration of methylprednisolone and no methylprednisolone was fitted for 11 variables and Youden Index Method was used to determine cut-off between low dose and high dose methylprednisolone. Multivariate cox regression was performed to assess hazard ratio.RESULTSIn 759 patients, the incidence of venous thromboembolism was 9% of patients who received methylprednisolone and 3% of patients who did not receive methylprednisolone with a [HR =2.92 (95% CI 1.54, 5.55 P< 0.0001)]. The was a higher incidence of mechanical ventilation in the methylprednisolone group. The median d-dimer between patients with venous thromboembolism was higher compared to those without (P<0.0003). However, the d-dimer was not statistically significant between those who had venous thromboembolism between methylprednisolone and no methylprednisolone groups. (P 0.40). There was no higher risk in high dose versus low dose[RR=0.524 (95% CI 0.26, 1.06 P 0.4)]; however, the risk for DVT/PE between methylprednisolone for > 7 days and < 7 days was statistically significant. (RR=5.46 95% CI 2.87, 10.34 P < 0.0001). Patients who received low dose and therapeutic heparin had a trend towards higher risk of mortality compared to prophylactic heparin (HR=1.81 95% CI 0.994 to 3.294) (P=0.0522). There was no difference in 30 days in hospital survival between high dose with prophylactic or therapeutic heparin (HR=0.827 95% CI 0.514 to 1.33) (P=0.4335). CONCLUSIONSMethylprednisolone for > 7 days had a higher association of venous thromboembolism. There was no added benefit of therapeutic heparin to methylprednisolone on mechanically ventilated patients.
Primary pharyngeal synovial sarcoma in a pediatric patient: A case report
Authors: Bae Yun Jung , Kim Hyojin , Cha Wonjae , Choi Byung Se
Published: August 2021

BackgroundSynovial sarcoma is a rare malignant tumor that typically originates from the soft tissue of the extremities. The occurrence of primary pharyngeal synovial sarcoma (PPSS) is even rarer, and few studies have reported its radiological features. Here, we report a case of pediatric PPSS and describe the conventional and advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings with pathologic correlation.Case presentationAn 11-year-old girl presented to the otolaryngologic clinic with dysphagia. Laryngoscopy revealed a large mass in the oropharynx. MRI revealed a well-defined soft tissue mass with a maximal diameter of approximately 5 cm originating from the submucosal space of the oropharynx. The mass was primarily solid and showed homogeneous contrast-enhancement. The mass was hypointense on T1-weighted images and hyperintense on T2-weighted images. The mass showed a homogeneously low apparent diffusion coefficient value on diffusion-weighted imaging, which indicated high tumor cellularity. Dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI revealed a hypovascular tumor with low values of the volume transfer constant between the extracellular extravascular space and blood plasma and blood plasma volume per unit tissue volume. Amide proton transfer-weighted MRI revealed a relatively high amide proton transfer signal in the tumor, indicating a high protein/peptide component. The patient underwent surgical resection of the tumor, and the diagnosis of biphasic synovial sarcoma was confirmed on postoperative pathological examination. The patient was started on chemotherapy with vincristine, ifosfamide, doxorubicin, and etoposide, and the patient is still under follow-up.ConclusionSynovial sarcoma should be considered in the differential diagnosis of pediatric oropharyngeal submucosal tumors. Multimodal MRI may aid diagnosis, although the final diagnosis should be based on the postoperative pathological examination findings.
Um171A-Induced Ros Promote Antigen Cross-Presentation Of Immunogenic Peptides By Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Stromal Cells
Authors: Salame Natasha , Bikorimana Jean-Pierre , El-Hachem Nehme , Saad Wael , Kurdi Mazen , Zhao Jing , Eliopoulos Nicoletta , Shammaa Riam , Rafei Moutih
Published: August 2021

Background
Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) have been extensively used in the clinic due to their exquisite tissue repair capacity. However, they also hold promise in the field of cellular vaccination as they can behave as conditional antigen presenting cells in response to interferon (IFN)-gamma treatment under a specific treatment regimen. This suggests that the immune function of MSCs can be pharmacologically modulated. Given the capacity of the agonist pyrimido-indole derivative UM171a to trigger the expression of various antigen presentation-related genes in human hematopoietic progenitor cells, we explored the potential use of UM171a as a means to pharmacologically instill and/or promote antigen presentation by MSCs.
Methods
Besides completing a series of flow-cytometry-based phenotypic analyses, several functional antigen presentation assays were conducted using the SIINFEKL-specific T-cell clone B3Z. Anti-oxidants and electron transport chain inhibitors were also used to decipher UM171a’s mode of action in MSCs. Finally, the potency of UM171a-treated MSCs was evaluated in the context of therapeutic vaccination using immunocompetent C57BL/6 mice with pre-established syngeneic EG.7 T-cell lymphoma.
Results
Treatment of MSCs with UM171a triggered potent increase in H2-Kb cell surface levels along with the acquisition of antigen cross-presentation abilities. Mechanistically, such effects occurred in response to UM171a-mediated production of mitochondrial-derived reactive oxygen species as their neutralization using anti-oxidants or Antimycin-A mitigated MSCs’ ability to cross-present antigens. Processing and presentation of the immunogenic ovalbumin-derived SIINFEKL peptide was caused by de novo expression of the Psmb8 gene in response to UM171a-triggered oxidative stress. When evaluated for their anti-tumoral properties in the context of therapeutic vaccination, UM171a-treated MSC administration to immunocompetent mice with pre-established T-cell lymphoma controlled tumor growth resulting in 40% survival without the need of additional supportive therapy and/or standard-of-care.
Conclusions
Altogether, our findings reveal a new immune-related function for UM171a and clearly allude to a direct link between UM171a-mediated ROS induction and antigen cross-presentation by MSCs. The fact that UM171a treatment modulates MSCs to become antigen-presenting cells without the use of IFN-gamma opens-up a new line of investigation to search for additional agents capable of converting immune-suppressive MSCs to a cellular tool easily adaptable to vaccination.
Picosecond Pulsed Laser Illumination: An Ultimate Solution for Photonic vs. Thermal Processes’ Contest in SOI Photo- Activated Modulator
Authors: Glukhov David , Zalevsky Zeev , Karsenty Avi
Published: August 2021

The functionality of a nanoscale silicon-based optoelectronic modulator is deeply analyzed while it appears that two competing processes, thermal and photonic, are occurring at the same time, and are preventing the optimization of the electro-optics coupling. While an incident illumination-beam first process is translated into photons, generating pairs of electrons-holes, a second process of thermal generation, creating phonons enables a loss of energy. Complementary studies, combining strong analytical models and numerical simulations, enabled to better understand this competition between photonic and thermal activities, in order to optimize the modulator. Moreover, in order to prevent unnecessary heating effects and to present a proposed solution, a picosecond pulsed laser is suggested and demonstrated as the ultimate solution so no energy will be wasted in heat, and still the photonic energy will be fully used. First ever-analytical solution to the heating produced due to the laser illumination applied on a nano-photonic device, while the illumination is produced in a periodic time changing function, e.g. a pulsed illumination, is presented. The present case study and proposed adapted solution can serve as a basis of generic approach in sensors’ activation towards optimized photonics absorption.
USP8 Gene Expression in Sporadic Pituitary Adenomas
Authors: Hatipoglu Esra , Gunaldi Omur , Erkan Buruc , Avcikurt Ayla , Mert Meral , Niyazoglu Mutlu
Published: August 2021

PurposeIn sporadic pituitary adenomas the role of Ubiquitin-specific protease 8 (USP8) is not clearly defined. Although mutations in USP8 gene are known to cause corticotroph adenomas, whether changes in expression of USP8 in other pituitary adenomas have not been clarified, yet. In this study we addressed the changes in USP8 gene expression levels in pituitary adenomas relative to non-adenomatous brain tissue.MethodsUSP8 gene expression analysis was performed on a total of 43 tissue samples from human pituitary adenomas and on 16 tissue samples from non-pituitary brain tissues (control group). Adenomatous tissues and control tissues were assessed for quantification of RNA expression of USP8.The levels of USP8 gene expression were determined relative to those in control group.ResultsUSP8 gene expression levels in pituitary adenomas (PA) were 3.7 times higher than the levels in control brain tissues (CBT) (p = 0.002). Levels of USP8 expression in secertory PA’s were significantly higher in comparison to the levels in CBT (p = 0.002).ConsclusionsPresent findings support that USP8 gene expression levels may contribute to pitutary tumorigenesis and hormonogenesis.
A Deep Learning Model to Classify and Detect Brain Abnormalities in Portable Microwave Based Imaging System
Authors: Hossain Amran , Islam Mohammad Tariqul , Almutairi Ali F.
Published: August 2021

Automated classification and detection of brain abnormalities like tumors from microwave head images is essential for investigating and monitoring disease progression. This paper presents the automatic classification and detection of human brain abnormalities through the deep learning-based YOLOv5 model in microwave head images. The YOLOv5 is a faster object detection model, which has a less computational architecture with high accuracy. At the beginning, the backscattered signals are collected from the implemented 3D wideband nine antennas array-based microwave head imaging (MWHI) system, where one antenna operates as a transmitter and the remaining eight antennas operate as receivers. In this research, fabricated tissue-mimicking head phantom with a benign and malignant tumor as brain abnormalities, which is utilized in MWHI system. Afterwards, the M-DMAS (modified-delay-multiply-and-sum) imaging algorithm is applied on the post-processed scattering parameters to reconstruct head regions image with 640×640 pixels. Three hundred sample images are collected, including benign and malignant tumors from various locations in head regions by the MWHI system. Later, the images are preprocessed and augmented to create a final image dataset containing 3600 images, and then used for training, validation, and testing the YOLOv5 model. Subsequently, 80% of images are utilized for training, and 20% are used for testing the model. Then from the 80% training dataset, 20% is utilized for validation to avoid overfitting. The brain abnormalities classification and detection performances with various datasets are investigated by the YOLOv5s, YOLOv5m, and YOLOv5l models of YOLOv5. It is investigated that the YOLOv5l model showed the best result for abnormalities classification and detection compared to other models. However, the achieved training accuracy, validation loss, precision, recall, F1-score, training and validation classification loss, and mean average precision (mAP) are 99.84%, 9.38%, 93.20%, 94.80%, 94.01%, 0.004, 0.0133, and 96.20% respectively for the YOLOv5l model, which ensures the better classification and detection accuracy of the model. Finally, a testing dataset with different scenarios is evaluated through the three versions of the YOLOv5 model, and conclude that brain abnormalities classification and detection with location are successfully classified and detected. Thus, the deep model is applicable in the portable MWHI system.