bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Burnout among surgeons before and during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: an international survey
Authors: Shalaby Mostafa , Elsheik Ahmad , Hamed Hosam ,   SURG-SAT-19 Collaborative Group
Published: March 2023

Background: SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has had many significant impacts within the surgical realm, and surgeons have been obligated to reconsider almost every aspect of daily clinical practice.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional study reported in compliance with the CHERRIES guidelines and conducted through an online platform from June 14th to July 15th, 2020. The primary outcome was the burden of burnout during the pandemic indicated by the validated Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure.
Results: 954 surgeons completed the survey. The median length of practice was 10 years; 78.2% included were male with a median age of 37 years old, 39.5% were consultants, 68.9% were general surgeons, and 55.7% were affiliated with an academic institution. Overall, there was a significant increase in the mean burnout score during the pandemic; longer years of practice and older age were significantly associated with less burnout.
There were significant reductions in the median number of outpatient visits, operated cases, on-call hours, emergency visits, and research work, so, 48.2% of respondents felt that the training resources were insufficient. The majority (81.3%) of respondents reported that their hospitals were included in the management of COVID-19, 66.5% felt their roles had been minimized; 41% were asked to assist in non-surgical medical practices, and 37.6% of respondents were included in COVID-19 management.
Conclusions: There was a significant burnout among trainees. Almost all aspects of clinical and research activities were affected with a significant reduction in the volume of research, outpatient clinic visits, surgical procedures, on-call hours, and emergency cases hindering the training.
Trial registration: The study was registered on clicaltrials.gov “NCT04433286” on 16/06/2020.
Relationship between macular perfusion and lesion distribution in diabetic retinopathy
Authors: Manafi Navid , Oncel Deniz , Verma Aditya , Corradetti Giulia , Kadomoto Shin , Mahmoudi Alireza , Alagorie Ahmed , Kim Ramasamy , Hemert Jano van , Yadav Naresh , Pappuru Rajeev , Tufail Adnan , Esmaeilkhanian Houri , Nittala Muneeswar , Raman Rajiv , Sadda Srinivas
Published: March 2023

Background/Objectives: To assess the relationship between macular vessel density metrics and foveal avascular zone (FAZ) characteristics on optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) and lesion distribution in eyes with diabetic retinopathy (DR).
Subjects/Methods: Patients with DR who underwent both Optos ultrawidefield (UWF) pseudocolor imaging and macular OCTA (Cirrus Angioplex, 6x6 mm) were included in this cross-sectional observational study. The distribution of DR lesions was assessed by comparing each of the peripheral ETDRS extended fields (3-7) against their corresponding ETDRS field, hence eyes were defined as either having predominantly peripheral lesions (PPL) or predominantly central lesions (PCL). En face OCTA images from the superficial and deep capillary plexuses (SCP and DCP) were then analyzed using Image J software. Perfusion density (PD), vessel length density (VLD), and fractal dimensions (FD) were calculated following binarization and skeletonization of the images.
Results: Out of 344 eyes, 116 (33.72%) eyes had PPL and 228 (66.28%) eyes had PCL. For all DRSS levels, VLD, PD, and FD were not significantly different between eyes with PPL and PCL. The FAZ in eyes with PPL, however, was found to be more circular in shape compared to eyes with PCL (p=0.037).
Conclusion: Although the presence of PPL has been associated with a higher risk for diabetic retinopathy progression, the macular perfusion is similar in eyes with PPL and PCL. The FAZ is more circular in eyes with PPL, but the clinical relevance of this difference remains to be defined.
Risk factors for eight common cancers revealed from a phenome-wide Mendelian randomisation analysis of 378,142 cases and 485,715 controls
Authors: Went Molly , Sud Amit , Mills Charlie , Hyde Abi , Culliford Richard , Law Philip , Vijayakrishnan Jayaram , Gockel Ines , Maj Carlo , Schumacher Johannes , Palles Claire , Kaiser Martin , Houlston Richard
Published: March 2023

For many cancers there are few well-established risk factors. Summary data from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) can be used in a Mendelian randomisation (MR) phenome-wide association study (PheWAS) to identify causal relationships. We performed a MR-PheWAS of breast, prostate, colorectal, lung, endometrial, oesophageal, renal, and ovarian cancers, comprising 378,142 cases and 485,715 controls. To derive a more comprehensive insight into disease aetiology we systematically mined the literature space for supporting evidence. We evaluated causal relationships for over 3,000 potential risk factors. In addition to identifying well-established risk factors (smoking, alcohol, obesity, lack of physical activity), we provide evidence for specific factors, including dietary intake, sex steroid hormones, plasma lipids and telomere length as determinants of cancer risk. We also implicate molecular factors including plasma levels of IL-18, LAG-3, IGF-1, CT-1, and PRDX1 as risk factors. Our analyses highlight the importance of risk factors that are common to many cancer types but also reveal aetiological differences. A number of the molecular factors we identify have the potential to be biomarkers. Our findings should aid public health prevention strategies to reduce cancer burden. We provide a R/Shiny app (https://mrcancer.shinyapps.io/mrcan/) to visualise findings.
Genome-wide characterization of the MBF1 gene family and its expression pattern in different tissues and stresses in Medicago
Authors: Zhao Yiran , Zhao Xianglong , Yan Su , Wu Yongqiang , Wang Hongjie , Liang Jiayue , Yang Guofeng
Published: March 2023

Background
Multiprotein bridging factor 1 are transcription factors that play critical roles in plant life cycle and in plant tolerance to environmental stresses. Medicago sativa is an important perennial legume forage grass, whereas the potential information in the MBF1 genes associated with stress resistance remains poorly understood.
Results
Three MBF1 genes were identified from each of the M. truncatula and M. sativa genomes. Multiple sequence alignment analysis showed that all these members contain conserved MBF1 and HTH domains. The MBF1 genes showed similar exon-intron organizations, and similar architectures in their conserved motifs. A number of cis-acting elements associated with drought, MeJA and light stress were identified in their promoter regions. In addition, these MBF1 genes were shown in genechip and transcriptome data to exhibit divergent expression patterns in various tissues or in response to drought and salt treatments. In particular, qRT-PCR results showed that the expression of MtMBF1b and MtMBF1c were significantly induced by NaCl treatment, indicating that they are likely to play a role in salt stress response.
Conclusions
Our comprehensive analysis provides valuable information for elucidating the evolutionary process of MBF1 genes and their expression patterns in different tissues and under four stresses. This work will facilitate the application of MBF1 genes in molecular breeding of highly resistant alfalfa.
Transient Inhibition of 53BP1 Increases the Frequency of Targeted Integration in Human Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cells
Authors: Baik Ron , Cromer M , Glenn Steve , Vakulskas Christopher , Dudek Amanda , Feist William , Shipp Suzette , Dever Danny , Porteus Matthew
Published: March 2023

Genome editing by homology directed repair (HDR) is leveraged to precisely modify the genome of therapeutically relevant hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs). Here, we present a new approach to increasing the frequency of HDR in human HSPCs by the delivery of i53 recombinant protein. We show that the use of i53 peptide effectively increases the frequency of HDR-mediated genome editing at a variety of therapeutically relevant loci in HSPCs as well as other primary human cell types. We show that incorporating the use of i53 recombinant protein allows high levels of HDR to be attained while lowering the amounts of AAV6 needed by 8-fold. HDR edited HSPCs were capable of long-term and bi-lineage hematopoietic reconstitution in NSG mice, suggesting that i53 recombinant protein might be safely integrated into the standard CRISPR/AAV6-mediated genome editing protocol to gain greater numbers of edited cells for transplantation of clinically meaningful cell populations.
Comparison of the predictive refractive error and refractive outcomes using the IOLMaster 500 and Pentacam-AXL Wave
Authors: Skelton Rhys , Birrell Harry , Crayford Basil
Published: March 2023

Cataracts are a major cause of morbidity worldwide. More so than ever, clinicians rely on the accuracy of their instruments in predicting refractive error (pred. RE) to ensure optimal post-operative outcomes. Here, we compare the pred. RE accuracy of the IOLMaster 500 against the Pentacam-AXL wave in 92 eyes receiving CNA0T0 + lenses. Our data demonstrates nil significant difference between the two instruments with the IOLMaster 500 pred. REs falling within 0.40D ± 0.31 (SD) of the objective refractive error (obj. RE), compared to 0.42 ± 0.29D (SD) when using the Pentacam-AXL wave (p-value 0.35). Nonetheless, there is a trend of the IOLMaster 500 performing marginally better than the Pentacam-AXL wave, with 71.6% vs. 66.3% and 97.8% vs. 95.7% of pred. REs falling within ± 0.50D and ± 1.00D of their obj. RE respectively. Lastly, the Pentacam-AXL wave frequently calculates more hyperopic pred. RE for a given IOL (> 92%). This results in the Pentacam-AXL wave selecting more a powerful IOLs in most cases (90%), thereby avoiding hyperopic post-operative outcomes. In conclusion, the IOLMaster 500 and Pentacam-AXL wave are comparable in terms of pred. RE accuracy. Nonetheless, clinicians wishing to avoid leaving patients hyperopic may benefit from relying on the pred. RE’s suggested by the Pentacam-AXL wave.
Exploring the Micromorphological Characteristics of Adult Lower Cervical Vertebrae Based on Micro-computed Tomography
Authors: Li Kun , Yang Yang , Wang Peng , Song Haoyu , Ma Chunying , Zhang Yansong , Dang Xingye , Shi Jun , Zhang Shaojie , Li Zhijun , Wang Xing
Published: March 2023

Objective: we will use micro-computed tomography to scan the adult lower cervical vertebrae and measure structural and morphological parameters. Then we will analyze the data, summarize trabecular distributing patterns, and provide the anatomical theoretical basis for clinical and surgical treatment strategies.
Methods: Micro-computed Tomography scans were performed on 31 sets of lower cervical vertebrae (155 vertebrae) to observe the morphological characteristics and direction of trabeculae in the lower cervical vertebrae by outlining and reconstructing the regions of interest and to calculate the variation laws of the microstructure in the regions of interest to reveal their structural characteristics and weak areas.
Results: The images showed that the trabeculae in the lower cervical pedicle near the medial and lateral cortices were relatively dense, and their bone plates were lamellar. There were cavities between the superior and inferior articular processes where the ossification centers had not been absorbed after ossified. The lamellar trabeculae in the vertebral plates near the cortical bones were only 1-2 layers, extended and transformed into rod-shaped trabeculae in a radial shape toward the medullary space. The lamellar trabeculae of the vertebral plate extend over the spinous process near the cortical bone. The statistical results of the trabeculae's morphological parameters showed significant differences in bone volume fraction values among the four parts (P<0.05). There were substantial differences in BS/BV, except for no differences between the pedicle and the vertebral plate (P<0.05). There was a significant difference in trabecular pattern factor values between the articular process, the spinous process, and the vertebral plate (P<0.05) and a significant difference between the pedicle, the spinous process, and the vertebral plate (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in trabecular bone thickness and trabecular space values among the four parts (P<0.05).
Conclusion: The anatomical microstructural perspective confirms that the optimal choice is internal fixation via the pedicle. If using pedicle screws, the nail tract needs to be placed into the spinous process to increase its holding power and resistance to extraction.
Cold-inducible RNA binding protein ameliorates oxygen-glucose deprivation-induced hippocampal neuron injury through anti-apoptotic and anti-oxidative pathways
Authors: Chen Lihui , Yao Fen , Cheng Huixian , Guo Min , Gao Yu , Cai Shenquan , Duan Man-lin
Published: March 2023

Therapeutic hypothermia (HT) is an important treatment after cardiac arrest to mitigate cerebral ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury, but the underlying mechanism is not clear. Studies have shown that cold-inducible RNA binding protein (CIRP), as a stress-response protein, exerts key role on improvement of neurological outcome after therapeutic hypothermia treatment in the global ischemia. Thus, this study focused on investigating the role of CIRP in hippocampal neuronal injury induced by oxygen-glucose deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R) and exploring relative mechanisms. In our study, the results of biochemical detection, flow cytometry and western blot showed that HT could significantly inhibit OGD/R-induced neuronal apoptosis and oxidative stress. The results of RT-PCR and western blot indicated that HT could induce CIRP over-expression in neurons and reverse the down-regulation of CIRP induced by OGD/R. In addition, over-expression of CIRP could reduce the release of ROS induced by OGD/R through reducing MDA levels and increasing the level of SOD and GSH, and alleviated OGD/R-induced neuronal apoptosis by down-regulating Caspase-3 expression and up-regulating Bcl-2 expression. Furthermore, CIRP silencing enhanced neuronal OGD/R-induced apoptosis and oxidative stress. Meanwhile, neuron ultrastructure was visualized by transmission electron microscope (TEM). As expected, neurons were seriously damaged and mitochondrial membrane ruptured after OGD/R injury, which were attenuated by CIRP over-expression or HT. Taken together, our results showed that CIRP resisted OGD/R-induced neuronal injury by exhibiting anti-apoptotic and anti-oxidative properties. To sum up, targeting CIRP offers potential therapeutic implications in the treatment of brain I/R injury.
Deep Learning Application in the Detection of Pathological Exposure of Pulp Using Periapical Radiographs: A Retrospective Multicentric Study
Authors: Altukroni Abdulbadea , Alsaeedi Abdullah , Gonzalez-Losada Cristina , Lee Jae-Hong , Alabudh Mohamed , Mirah Mahir , El-Amri Sakina , El-Deen Omar Ezz
Published: March 2023

Background
Introducing artificial intelligence into the medical field proved to be beneficial in automating tasks and streamlining the practitioners’ lives. Hence, this study was conducted to design and evaluate an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool called Make Sure Caries Detector and Classifier (MSc) for detecting pathological exposure of pulp on digital periapical radiographs and to compare its performance with dentists.
Methods
This study was a retrospective multi-centric study, with over 3461 digital periapical radiographs from different countries’ and centers. MSc was built using Yolov5-x model, which was used for exposed and unexposed pulp caries detection. The dataset was split into train, validate, and test datasets; the ratio was 8-1-1 to prevent overfitting. 345 images with 752 labels were randomly allocated to test MSc. The performance metrics used to test MSc performance included mean average precision (mAP), precision, F1 score, recall, and area under receiver operating characteristic Curve (AUC). The metrics used to compare the performance with that of 10 certified dentists were: right detection exposed, right detection not exposed, false detection exposed, false detection not exposed, missed diagnosis, and over diagnosis.
Results
MSc achieved a performance of more than 90% in all metrics examined: an average precision of 0.928, recall of 0.918, F1-score of 0.922, and an mAP@ .5 (AUC) of 0.956 (P < .05). The results showed a higher mean for all right diagnosis parameters in MSc group while a higher mean for all wrong diagnosis parameters in the dentists group (P < .05).
Conclusions
The designed MSc tool proved itself reliable in the detection and differentiating between Exposed and Unexposed pulp. It also showed a better performance when compared to the 10 dentists.
Unlearned adaptive responses to heterospecific referential alarm calls in two bird species from separate evolutionary lineages
Authors: Ha Jungmoon , Lee Keesan , Yang Eunjeong , Kim Woojoo , Song Hokyung , Hwang Injae , Lee-Cruz Larisa , Park Jinseok , Song Jihyeon , Park Chan-ryeol , Lee Wooshin , Jablonski Piotr , Lee Sang-Im
Published: March 2023

The interspecific responses to alarm signals may be based on unlearned mechanisms but research is often constrained by the difficulties in differentiating between unlearned and learned responses in natural situations. In a field study of two Paridae species, Parus minor and Sittiparus varius, who originated from a common ancestor 8 million years ago, we found a considerable degree of between-species overlap in acoustic properties of referential snake-alarm calls. Playback of these calls triggered unlearned adaptive fledging behavior in conspecific and heterospecific naive nestlings, suggesting a between-species overlap in the hypothetical unlearned neural templates involved in nestlings’ reactions to alarm calls in both species. This suggests that similar calls and similar unlearned sensitivity might have been present in the common ancestor of the two species, and possibly in the ancestor of the whole family Paridae that originated 10–15 million years ago in warm Asian regions rich in snakes.
Perceptions of the roles, impact, challenges and needs of community drug distributors in the control and elimination of neglected tropical diseases in difficult-to-access communities in Ghana
Authors: Forson Akua Obeng , Awuah Raphael Baffour , Mohammed Abdul Rahim , Owusu-Asenso Christopher Mfum , Atakora Sefa Bonsu , Akosah-Brempong Gabriel , Abdulai Anisa , Sr Isaac Kwame , Dhikrullahi Shittu B. , Attah Simon K. , Afrane Yaw Asare
Published: March 2023

The success of mass drug administration (MDA) campaigns to control and eliminate neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in Ghana depends, to a large extent, on the essential role community drug distributors (CDDs) play. This study aimed to investigate community’s perceptions of CDDs’ roles, impact of CDDs’ work, challenges faced by CDDs and views on resources required to enhance CDDs’ work to sustain MDA campaigns. Methods: A cross-sectional qualitative study employing the use of focus group discussions (FGDs) with community members and CDDs in selected NTD endemic communities together with individual interviews with district health officers (DHOs)was conducted. We interviewed 104 people aged 18 and over, purposively selected, through eight individual interviews, and 16 focus group discussions. Results: Participants in the community FGDs noted that health education and distribution of drugs were the main roles of CDDs. Participants also perceived that the work of CDDs had prevented the onset of NTDs, treated symptoms of NTDs and generally reduced the incidence of infections. In the interviews with CDDs and DHOs, lack of cooperation/non-compliance by community members, demands by community members, lack of working resources and low financial motivation were mentioned as the main challenges to the work of CDDs. Moreover, provision of logistics and financial motivation for CDDs were identified as factors that will enhance their work. Conclusions: Incorporating more attractive schemes shall incentivise CDDs to improve output. Addressing the challenges highlighted is an important step for the work of CDDS to be effective in controlling NTDs in difficult-to-access communities in Ghana.
Polygenic scores for tobacco use provide insights into systemic health risks in a diverse EHR-linked biobank in Los Angeles
Authors: Venkateswaran Vidhya , Boulier Kristin , Ding Yi , Johnson Ruth , Bhattacharya Arjun , Pasaniuc Bogdan
Published: March 2023

Tobacco use is a major risk factor for multiple diseases and is heavily influenced by environmental factors with significant underlying genetic contributions. Here, we evaluated the predictive performance, risk stratification, and potential systemic health effects of tobacco use disorder (TUD) predisposing germline variants using a European- ancestry derived polygenic score (PGS) in 24,202 participants from the multi-ancestry, hospital-based UCLA ATLAS biobank. Among genetically inferred ancestry groups (GIAs), TUD-PGS was significantly associated with TUD in European American (EA) (OR: 1.20, CI: [1.16, 1.24]), Hispanic/Latin American (HL) (OR:1.19, CI: [1.11, 1.28]), and East Asian American (EAA) (OR: 1.18, CI: [1.06, 1.31]) GIAs but not in African American (AA) GIA (OR: 1.04, CI: [0.93, 1.17]). Similarly, TUD-PGS offered strong risk stratification across PGS quantiles in EA and HL GIAs and inconsistently in EAA and AA GIAs. In a cross-ancestry phenome-wide association meta-analysis, TUD-PGS was associated with cardiometabolic, respiratory, and psychiatric phecodes (17 phecodes at P < 2.7E-05). In individuals with no history of smoking, the top TUD-PGS associations with obesity and alcohol-related disorders (P = 3.54E-07, 1.61E-06) persist. Mendelian Randomization (MR) analysis provides evidence of a causal association between adiposity measures and tobacco use. Inconsistent prediction of TUD-PGS across GIAs motivates the inclusion of multiple ancestry populations at all levels of genetic research of tobacco use for equitable clinical translation of TUD-PGS. Phenome associations suggest that TUD-predisposed individuals may require comprehensive tobacco use prevention and management approaches to address underlying addictive tendencies.
Was Japan’s cluster-based approach toward coronavirus disease (COVID-19) a fantasy?: Re-examining the clusters’ data of January–March 2020
Authors: Sigeto TANAKA
Published: March 2023

BACKGROUND
The Japanese government and experts have claimed that they adopted the “cluster-based” approach to suppress the spread of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in early 2020 by detecting clusters through the retrospective tracing of infection sources. Moreover, they considered this approach to be a significant contributor in the prevention of outbreaks. However, this claim is not corroborated by existing literature, which consistently described COVID-19 clusters as comprising a relatively small proportion of the total number of cases detected during the period.
METHODS
To determine whether Japan successfully implemented the cluster-based approach in January–March 2020, the author collected publicly available information regarding 25 clusters (groups of five or more COVID-19 cases that came in contact at a common venue) reported by the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare as of March 31, 2020. These clusters were classified into retrospectively or prospectively reached using a tracer. The number of cases related to each cluster was determined.
RESULTS
Among 2135 COVID-19 cases confirmed until the end of March 2020 in Japan, 9.3% of the cases were related to the five clusters found by retrospective tracing. In contrast, 35.3% of the cases were related to the 20 clusters found by prospective tracing, while 55.4% were unrelated to any cluster.
CONCLUSIONS
Japan’s COVID-19 response in early 2020 was not cluster based. Retrospective tracing has a limited contribution in detecting infectious cases and preventing further transmissions. The surveillance system mainly detects non-cluster cases and cluster-related cases using prospective contact tracing.
Polyploidization of Indotyphlops braminus, evidence from Isoform-sequencing
Authors: Zhu Fei , Lu Jing , Sun Ke , Deng Cao , Xu Yu
Published: March 2023

Indotyphlops braminus is the only known triploid parthenogenetic snake, making it a compelling species to understand the mechanism of emergence of polyploid vertebrates. In this study, we applied Isoform-sequencing technology to sequence full-length transcriptomes of I. braminus. A total of non-redundant 51,849 transcript assemblies of this snake were finally generated and fully annotated with diverse gene function databases. The phylogenetic tree shows that I. braminus and Python bivittatus diverged 98.15 million years ago. One instance of subgenomic divergence in I. braminus was identified, dating at 11.5 ~ 15 million years ago. The full-length transcriptome resource generated as part of this research will aid transcriptome analysis and genomic evolution studies in the future.
Investigation of size and morphology effects of MgO nanostructures on the properties of MgO/transformer oil-based nanofluids
Authors: Farbod Mansoor , Saki Narges , Ahangarpour Ameneh
Published: March 2023

MgO nanoparticles and nanoflakes were prepared using sol-gel and hydrothermal methods and the effect of size and morphology of MgO nanostructures on the thermal conductivity and stability of the transformer oil-based nanofluid containing these nanostructures was investigated. The structural properties of the samples were examined using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The results showed that the nanostructure’s shape depends on the fabrication method, pH, temperature, and synthesis time. Also, the measurements showed that the thermal conductivity of nanofluids containing MgO nanoflakes with different wt.% has higher values than that of nanofluids containing MgO nanoparticles. It was found that by increasing the concentration of nano additives up to 1 wt.%, the thermal conductivity increased and then decreased for higher concentrations. The maximum increase of 11.3% was measured for nanofluid containing 1 wt.% of nanoflakes. Likewise, the stability of nanoflake’s nanofluid was observed to be higher.
The link between cognitive health and neighbourhood: perceptions of the public, and of policy-makers, about problems and solutions
Authors: Stevens Madeleine , Matosevic Tihana , Suarez-Pinilla Marta , Pais Sarah , Rossor Martin , Knapp Martin
Published: March 2023

Background
Growing evidence indicates associations between neighbourhood-related factors such as pollution, social isolation and physical inactivity, and cognition, that is, our ability to think clearly, learn and remember. The evidence raises the possibility of neighbourhood intervention playing a role in protecting population cognitive health. However, there is little understanding of these associations among the public and policy-makers, what they mean and how they might be acted on. In this study we explored perceptions of the public and policy-makers about influences of neighbourhood factors on brain functioning, and how they should inform policy.
Methods
Qualitative methods were used in three phases; the study ran in parallel with a quantitative study looking at neighbourhood influences on cognition. In phase one, focus groups were conducted with middle-aged (40–69) members of the public to inform statistical modelling. In phase two, similar focus groups were held in four case study areas chosen based on the modelling results. In phase three, interviews with people in public health and policy roles were conducted, including people in the case study sites.
Results
Participants described effects on their cognition from community, culture and social interactions, access to green spaces and nature, upkeep and safety of the area, and pollution, traffic and noise. Solutions included better local consultation and involvement in policy and planning, support for community interactions and active and public transport, and education on cognition. There was little awareness, but much interest, from local policy-makers and implementers, about links between cognition and place. Barriers to implementation included lack of effective engagement with local communities, local funding and joined-up health and neighbourhood policy.
Conclusions
People can perceive impacts of neighbourhoods on brain functioning and suggest ways local areas can be improved to support cognitive health. There is support for the idea of population-level interventions to support cognitive health.
The MHC class II transactivator affects local and systemic immune responses in an α-synuclein seeded rat model for Parkinson’s disease
Authors: Bäckström Filip , Jimenez-Ferrer Itzia , Grabert Kathleen , Belfiori Lautaro , Luk Kelvin , Swanberg Maria
Published: March 2023

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized by intraneuronal inclusions of alpha-synuclein (α-Syn), neurodegeneration and a strong neuroinflammatory component. Studies have shown that genetic variants affecting quantity and quality of major histocompatibility complex II (MHCII) have implications in PD susceptibility and that PD patients have α-Syn specific T lymphocytes in circulation. The class II transactivator (CIITA) is the major regulator of MHCII expression and reduced CIITA expression has been shown to significantly increase α-Syn induced neurodegeneration and pathology in an α-Syn overexpression rat model combined with α-Syn pre-formed fibrils (PFF). In this study, we characterized immune profiles associated with the enhanced PD-like pathology observed in congenic rats with Ciita allelic variants causing lower CIITA levels compared to the background strain. Flow cytometry showed that rats with lower CIITA levels had an increased proportion of MHCII+ microglia and circulating myeloid cells, yet lower levels of MHCII on individual cells. Additionally, lower CIITA levels were associated to higher TNF levels in serum, trends of higher CD86 levels in circulating myeloid cells and a lower CD4/CD8 T lymphocyte ratio in blood. Taken together, these results indicate that CIITA regulates susceptibility to PD-like pathology through baseline immune populations and serum TNF levels.
Development of a High-Frequency Ophthalmic Real-Time Ultrasound Imaging System Based on a 20 MHz Annular-Array Transducer
Authors: Wang Xiaochun , Li Zemeng , Zhou Sheng
Published: March 2023

Ophthalmic ultrasound imaging is a widely used diagnostic method for examining ophthalmic diseases in the clinic. A single-element transducer is adopted in the traditional ophthalmic ultrasound imaging systems. Although full depth focusing can be achieved using a linear-array transducer, it is unsuitable for ophthalmic imaging due to its inability to be tightly coupled to the eyeball and its higher cost. Annular-array-based systems provide an alternative, striking a balance between image quality and cost. Here, we present a newly developed high-frequency ophthalmic real-time ultrasound imaging system based on an annular-array transducer. This system uses a custom-made five-element, 20 MHz annular-array transducer encapsulated in a stainless steel housing and mounted in a commercially available handheld mechanical probe designed specifically for clinical ophthalmic imaging. The system uses a printed circuit board scheme and FPGA as the core to complete the hardware system design and realize the ultrasonic echo signal processing and system timing management. Full depth dynamic focusing of each scanning beam was achieved by designing the transmit and receive beamforming. Combined with advanced integrated circuits, the miniaturization and low cost of the overall system are realized. Extensive tests, including hardware, wire phantom, and tissue mimicking phantom measurements, were conducted to demonstrate good performance of the system. The results showed that the designed system can effectively improve the imaging resolution and enhance the depth of field of the image, particularly reducing the blind area of the near-field. The results of the normal human eye test verified that the imaging results met the needs of clinical diagnosis and have a good clinical application prospect.
Bioinspired self-driven ultra-long-distance anti-gravity water transport device with core-shell and twofold hierarchical structure
Authors: Lu Qixin , Guan Yu , Fu Shaohai
Published: March 2023

Self-driven anti-gravity water transport has attracted extensive attention in the fields. Herein, inspired by the multiple structures of trees, we propose a self-driven ultra-long-distance anti-gravity water transport device with a core-shell structure in the radial direction and a twofold hierarchical structure in the axial direction. The core and the shell of the device are composed of a hydrophilic ordered nanofiber bundle and a glass tube respectively, which can provide powerful capillary driving force and low flow/evaporation resistance for spontaneous water lifting. The core is equipped with a bottom-up decreasing pore size and non-uniformly distributed carbon nanotubes to form an axial twofold hierarchical structure, offering Laplace pressure difference and negative pressure as extra driving forces for water transport. The device achieves a significant breakthrough in ultra-long-distance water transport of 1070 mm (one order of magnitude higher than existing materials), which also exhibits long-term transport stability for over 30 days. The tree-inspired novel structural design of the device will provide new insights into the energy-free transport of fluids.
Early Enteral Nutrition is Associated with Improved Outcomes in Critically Ill Mechanically Ventilated Medical and Surgical Patients
Authors: Haines Krista , Ohnuma Tetsu , Grisel Braylee , Krishnamoorthy Vijay , Raghunathan Karthik , Sulo Suela , Kerr Kirk W. , Besecker Beth Y. , Cassady Bridget A. , Wischmeyer Paul E.
Published: March 2023

INTRODUCTION: Data suggest that guidelines for enteral nutrition (EN) initiation are not closely followed in clinical practice. In addition, critically ill mechanically ventilated (MV) patients have varying metabolic needs, which often increase and persist over time, requiring personalized nutrition intervention. While both over- and under-nutrition can impact patient outcomes, recent data suggest that targeted early EN delivery may reduce mortality and improve clinical outcomes. This study examined if early EN improves clinical outcomes and decreases costs in critically ill patients on MV in real-world practice.
METHODS: Data from a nationwide administrative-financial database between 2018‒2020 was utilized to identify eligible adult critical care patients. Patients who received EN within 3 days after intubation (early EN) were compared to patients who started EN after 3 days of intubation (late EN). Outcomes of interest included hospital mortality, discharge disposition, hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay (LOS), MV days, and total cost. After inverse-probability-of-treatment weighting, outcomes were modeled using a nominal logistic regression model for hospital mortality and discharge disposition, a linear regression model for cost, and Cox proportional-hazards model for MV days, hospital and ICU LOS.
RESULTS: A total of 27,887 adult patients with early MV were identified, of which 16,772 (60.1%) received early EN. Regression analyses showed that the early EN group had lower hospital mortality (OR=0.88, 95% CI, 0.82 to 0.94), were more likely to be discharged home (OR=1.47, 95% CI 1.38 to 1.56), had fewer MV days (HR=1.23, 95% CI, 1.11 to 1.37), shorter hospital LOS (HR=1.43, 95% CI, 1.33 to 1.54) and ICU LOS (HR=1.36, 95% CI, 1.27 to 1.46), and lower cost (-$21,226; 95% CI, -$23,605 to -$18,848) compared to the late EN group.
CONCLUSION: Early EN within 3 days of MV initiation in real-world practice demonstrated improved clinical and economic outcomes. These data suggest that early EN is associated with decreased hospital mortality, increased discharge to home, and decreased hospital and ICU LOS, time on MV, and cost compared to delayed initiation of EN; highlighting the importance of early EN to optimize outcomes and support the recovery of critically ill patients on MV.
Evaluation of Water and Sediment Quality of İnaltı Cave (Northern Turkey) by Using Multivariate Statistical Methods
Authors: ÇİL Eylem AYDEMİR , UNCUMUSAOĞLU Arzu AYDIN , ERGEN Şeyda FİKİRDEŞİCİ , GÜRBÜZER Pınar
Published: March 2023

Heavy metals, which are among the important pollutants that threaten ecosystems, have been a particularly intriguing subject of accumulation studies. The present study aimed to reveal the water and sediment quality, pollution status, and their usability for living organisms in 10 stations for the first time in İnaltı cave, which has two underground ponds. Concentrations of 9 heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Zn, Ni, Mn, Fe, Cd, Cr, Al) and 1 metalloid (As) were determined in samples taken. These results were compared to the limit values in Sediment Quality Guides (SQGs) and analyzed further using different sediment evaluation methods. SQGs values revealed that the amounts of Cd and Ni are of concern. Examining the concentrations of metals in the water, the ranking by concentration was found to be Al > Cr > Pb > Cu > As > Mn and the elements were considered not to pose any environmental risk. The enrichment of detected Cd metal in the sediment is remarkable. In addition, ANOVA, Pearson’s correlation analysis, principal component analysis (PCA), and hierarchical clustering analysis were carried out in order to make the obtained data easier to understand and interpret. While designing the most appropriate action plans for water management, more clear and understandable information can be obtained by using these methods and interpreting the raw data. In the cave, individuals belonging to the Niphargus genus, a member of the Malacostraca class, Niphargidae Family, were identified in the sediment.
The Use of the Load Reduction Device and High Modulus Synthetic Lines for Improved Semi-submersible Station Keeping Performance
Authors: Golden Danny , Doyle Tom , Borg Michael , Bosman Rigo , Carr David
Published: March 2023

The burgeoning Floating Offshore Wind (FOW) sector requires cost reduction in order to compete with fixed offshore wind and other traditional and renewable energy sources (DNV, 2020; InnoEnergy, 2017). One major cost contributor in FOW is the mooring system. Volume effects are expected to deliver significant savings for most cost drivers, but moorings are already produced at scale and at volume for the oil and gas sector, and innovation is required to address the specific challenges of FOW (Carbon Trust, 2018). This work presents the validation of an innovative and high impact mooring configuration based on integrating the engineered platform compliance provided by the Load Reduction Device (LRD) with the reliability and lifetime performance of Dyneema ® DM20 for the mooring of a market-ready semi-sub platform at 15MW scale. The Inclined Taut Mooring (ITM) comprises a 3-line array with vertically loaded anchors within a reduced mooring footprint, fully synthetic mooring lines, and optimized system compliance provided through an in-line LRD on each line. The ITM allows mooring designers to significantly reduce component count, risk of failure, CAPEX and lifetime cost of the mooring system. This paper presents the technical validation of the ITM system through numerical modelling and wave tank testing with a variant of the TetraSub developed by Stiesdal Offshore Technologies (SOT) at the Offshore Basin in MARIN in Q3 2021.
Highly active PdxNi1−xO (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.5) nanocomposites for electrolytic water splitting in alkaline medium
Authors: Iqbal M. Z. , Kriek R. J.
Published: March 2023

Nanocomposite electrocatalysts, having a general molecular formula of PdxNi1−xO (where 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.5), were synthesised employing a modified Pechini combustion method. The prepared electrocatalysts were subjected to physicochemical analyses such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The electrochemical characterisations of these catalysts were carried out employing cyclic voltammetry (CV), linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and chronopotentiometry (CP). With nickel(II) oxide (NiO) being a well-known oxygen evolution electrocatalyst in alkaline medium, our synthesised NiO exhibited an overpotential of 262 mV (the lowest to date of all NiO electrocatalysts reported) at the benchmark current density of 10 mA.cm−2 in 0.1 M KOH. A palladium nanocomposite, however, in the form of Pd0.2Ni0.8O, delivered improved activity in that an overpotential of only 252 mV was required to accomplish 10 mA.cm−2. Charge transfer resistance at the electrode/electrolyte interface was calculated as being 14.25 Ω for the Pd0.2Ni0.8O electrocatalyst employing an EIS technique, which suggests fast kinetics. All electrocatalysts displayed good durability under the investigated conditions.
Eco-friendly Synthesis of Schiff base Mn(II) and Cu(II) Complexes: Antimicrobial, Antifungal, Molecular Docking and Anticancer Studies
Authors: Veeravel C. , K Rajasekar , Chakkaravarthy P. , Selvarani R. , Kosiha A. , Sathya V.
Published: March 2023

The Schiff base ligand, (E-N-((E)-3-phenylallylidene) aniline was prepared by from cinnamaldehyde with aniline via green route synthetic method. Reactions of the ligand with Mn(II) and Cu(II) precursors generate new complexes. The structures of the ligand and the new metal complexes were elucidated using various physicochemical measurements (FT-IR, NMR, Mass, UV-Vis, and elemental analyses). Further, the in vitro antibacterial and antifungal studies divulge that the Cu(II) complex exhibited potent activity over the ligand and Mn complex. In contrast the new manganese complex outperformed the nickel complex as well as the ligand in the cleavage of PUC57 DNA by the involvement of free radicals. Furthermore the in vitro cytotoxicity of the compounds against oral cancer cell line has been examined. The molecular docking studies revealed that the Mn(II) complex interact with SER-15 through hydrogen bonding and it is closely associated with Bax protein with three hydrogen bond interactions through the amino acids residues GLN-32 and ASP-33. Ultimately, the most frequently used parameters for the prediction of drug-likeness were calculated for the new Schiff base compounds.
MAFSIDS ： A reinforcement learning-based intrusion detection model for multi-intelligence feature selection networks
Authors: Ren Kezhou , Zeng Yifan , Zhong Yuanfu , Sheng Biao , Zhang Yingchao
Published: March 2023

In the era of big data, the growing number of cyber assaults poses a significant danger to network services. Intrusion detection systems (IDS) rely on the quality of its features to accurately identify cyber threats. Nowadays prevalent IDS prefer to create intricate neural networks and pay less attention to the problem of feature selection. In this study, we present a multi-intelligence feature selection network intrusion detection model based on reinforcement learning. The model extracts feature information of network traffic by means of a graph convolutional neural network (GCN), using multiple deep Q-network (DQN)-based intelligences to decide whether the corresponding features are selected, and then trains classifiers to identify network attacks by means of deep reinforcement learning (DRL). We examined the model's performance using both the NSL-KDD and CSE-CIC-IDS2018 datasets. The simulation experimental results demonstrate that MAFSIDS is able to extract accurate feature information from the input data via the GCN network, and that the multi-intelligence will then select the optimal feature subset and learn the data via DRL to ultimately enhance the model's cyber attack recognition performance. In the era of big data, the model has vast application potential and provides a solid assurance for network security.
FPGA-Based Real-time T2 Spectrum Inversion Algorithm for LWD-NMR Logging with Periodic Thermal Management
Authors: Fan Chenguang , Li Muyao , Liu Wenzhong , Cheng Jingjing
Published: March 2023

The LWD-NMR instruments are limited by the telemetry bandwidth and logging timing requirements, so the echo T2 spectrum inversion function must be implemented at downhole logging instruments. Firstly, the inversion problem of T2 spectrum is converted to a non-negative least squares problem and solved by the accelerated projective gradient descent (APGD) algorithm. Secondly, the distributed structure is used in FPGA design to shorten the time for the APGD algorithm. Finally, a software cooling method based on a multi-core structure and periodic thermal management technology is deployed. Therefore, the inversion algorithm of echo T2 spectrum deployed on FPGA not only meets the requirements of real-time inversion calculation but also reduces the temperature effectively by means of software cooling. It provides a useful reference for the research of the downhole data processing technology of LWD.
Biocultural GIS mapping: A Living Country and Terra Nullius, Willandra Lakes Region World Heritage Area (WLRWHA), NSW
Authors: Thomas Katherine
Published: March 2023

The authors have requested that this preprint be removed from Research Square.
Minimum phase Properties Based on High-Gain Output Feedback Stability Analysis
Authors: Foghahaayee Hoda Nokhbeh , Menhaj Mohammad Bagher
Published: March 2023

In this paper, a new definition of the minimum phase property based on high gain output feedback stability (HGS) is introduced. The minimum phase systems with respect to this definition have stable inverses leading to no performance limitations. In other words, the minimum norm of regulation or tracking error for these systems approaches zero. This set of minimum phase linear systems includes systems with stable zeros (i.e., the zeros with negative real parts and/or simple imaginary zeros); however, the usual definition of minimum phase systems considers only systems with zeros located in the open left half plane (LHP). The difficulty of minimum phase determination in nonlinear systems highlights better the main objective of the paper to look for a way to modify the minimum phase concept in some extent to obtain more feasible conditions, which can be applied to a larger class of systems. It should be noted that based on this new definition, the minimum phase determination can be easily checked out through stability analysis of the closed loop system. Furthermore, knowing the fact that both performance limitation and stable inverse criteria can be potentially extended to nonlinear systems, this paper employs these concepts to reflect better the strength of the proposed minimum phase property. Finally, we apply the proposed method to two nonlinear systems. The simulation results easily approve the effectiveness of the method developed fully in the paper.
Efficient Integer Retrieval from Unordered Compressed Sequences
Authors: Zavadskyi Igor
Published: March 2023

We investigate the problem of fast direct access to elements of an integer sequence given in a compressed form. If integers are sorted in ascending order, it can be reduced to performing the 'select' operation on a bitmap, which is very well investigated. We focus on more general and more complicated case of unordered integer sequence and propose to represent it with the help of variable-length Reverse Multi-Delimiter (RMD) codes. When applied to data compression, these codes combine a good compression ratio with fast decoding. In this paper, another property of RMD-codes is researched - the ability of direct access to codewords in the encoded bitstream. We present the method allowing us to extract and decode a codeword from an RMD-bitstream in almost constant time and make experiments on its application to natural language text compression. Due to properties of RMD-codes and compactness of auxiliary direct access structures our method appears to be very space efficient requiring only a few percent excess over the entropy.