bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Monitoring Debris-Flow Surges and Triggering Rainfall at the Lattenbach Creek, Austria
Authors: Huebl Johannes , Kaitna Roland
Published: March 2021

Debris-flow events often comprise a sequence of surges, sometimes termed “roll waves.” The reason for this surging behavior is still a matter of debate. Explanations include the growth of hydraulic instabilities, periodic sediment deposition and release, or grain size sorting. High-resolution field measurements together with triggering rainfall characteristics are rare. We present results for 3 years of monitoring debris-flow events at Lattenbach Creek in the western part of Austria. The monitoring system includes a weather station in the headwaters of the creek, radar sensors for measuring flow depth at different locations along the channel, as well as a two-dimensional rotational laser sensor installed over a fixed cross section that yields a three-dimensional surface model of the passing debris-flow event. We find that the debris flows at Lattenbach Creek were all triggered by rainstorms of less than 2 hours and exhibited surges for each observed event. The velocities of the surges were up to twice as high as the front velocity. Often, the first surges that included boulders and woody debris had the highest flow depth and discharge and showed an irregular geometry. The shape of the surges in the second half of the flow, which carried smaller grain sizes and less woody debris, were rather regular and showed a striking geometric similarity, but still high velocities. The results of our monitoring efforts aim to improve our understanding of the surging behavior of debris flows and provide data for model testing for the scientific community.
Scaling Up Low-Salinity Waterflooding in Heterogenous Reservoirs
Authors: Al-Ibadi Hasan , Stephen Karl , Mackay Eric
Published: March 2021

Modeling the dynamic fluid behavior of low-salinity waterflooding (LSWF) at the reservoir scale is a challenge that requires a coarse-grid simulation to enable prediction in a feasible time scale. However, evidence shows that using low-resolution models will result in a considerable mismatch compared with an equivalent fine-scale model with the potential of strong, numerically induced pulses and other dispersion-related effects. This work examines two new upscaling methods that have been applied to improve the accuracy of predictions in a heterogeneous reservoir where viscous crossflow takes place.

We apply two approaches to upscaling to bring the flow prediction closer to being exact. In the first method, we shift the effective-salinity range for the coarse model using algorithms that we have developed to correct for numerical dispersion and associated effects. The second upscaling method uses appropriately derived pseudorelative permeability curves. The shape of these new curves is designed using a modified fractional-flow analysis of LSWF that captures the relationship between dispersion and the waterfront velocities. This second approach removes the need for explicit simulation of salinity transport to model oil displacement. We applied these approaches in layered models and for permeability distributed as a correlated random field.

Upscaling by shifting the effective-salinity range of the coarse-grid model gave a good match to the fine-scale scenario, while considerable mismatch was observed for upscaling of the absolute permeability alone. For highly coarsened models, this method of upscaling reduced the appearance of numerically induced pulses. On the other hand, upscaling by using a single (pseudo)relative permeability produced more robust results with a very promising match to the fine-scale scenario. These methods of upscaling showed promising results when they were used to scale up fully communicating and noncommunicating layers as well as models with randomly correlated permeability.

Unlike documented methods in the literature, these newly derived methods take into account the substantial effects of numerical dispersion and effective concentration on fluid dynamics using mathematical tools. The methods could be applied for other models where the phase mobilities change as a result of an injected solute, such as surfactant flooding and alkaline flooding. Usually these models use two sets of relative permeability and switch from one to another as a function of the concentration of the solute.
Monitoring land use changing detection maps with MODIS and AVHRR data from 2001 to 2015 in South Asia regions
Authors: ali shahzad , Qi Huang An , Henchiri Malak , Sha Zhang , Khan Fahim Ullah , Sajid Muhammad , Ali Sajid , Yao Fengmei , Zhang Jiahua
Published: March 2021

In South Asia, annual land cover and land use (LCLU) is a severe issue in the field of earth science because it affects regional climate, global warming, and human activities. Therefore, it is vital essential to obtain correct information on the LCLU in the South Asia regions. LULC annual map covering the entire period is the primary dataset for climatological research. Although the LULC annual global map was produced from the MODIS dataset in 2001, this limited the perspective of the climatological analysis. This study used AVHRR GIMMS NDVI3g data from 2001 to 2015 to randomly forests classify and produced a time series of the annual LCLU map of the South Asia. The MODIS land cover products (MCD12Q1) are used as data from reference for trained classifiers. The results were verified using of the annual map of LCLU time series, and the space-time dynamics of the LCLU map were shown in the last 15 years, from 2001 to 2015. The overall precision of our 15-year land cover map simplifies 16 classes, which is 1.23% and 86.70% significantly maximum as compared to the precision of the MODIS data map. Findings of the past 15 years shows the changing detection that forest land, savanna, farmland, urban and established land, arid land, and cultivated land have increased; by contrast, woody prairie, open shrub-lands, permanent ice and snow, mixed forests, grasslands, evergreen broadleaf forests, permanent wetlands, and water bodies have been significantly reduced over South Asia regions.
Practical strategies to mitigate ruminant greenhouse gas emissions
Authors: Ortega Alejandra , Tester Mark , Lauersen Kyle
Published: March 2021

Livestock contributes to 14.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, with ruminants being the largest contributor through enteric methane emissions. Although several strategies are available to mitigate livestock methane, no consensus exists on which methods are the most effective. Here, we projected by 2050 the impact of the most pragmatic strategies to reduce enteric methane, modelling cattle emissions. The projection shows that supplementing ruminant feed with anti-methanogenic seaweed and converting grassland into silvopasture offer the greatest potential to reduce emissions. A synergic combination of strategies can aid Europe and most of Asia to can reach ruminant carbon neutrality by 2035 and 2038, respectively. However, global cattle CO2-eq emissions will be reduced by no more than 34 percent by 2050, remaining far above the carbon neutrality target. Mitigation strategies alone are insufficient to lower emissions, and reducing the demand for ruminant products is also necessary – particularly in Africa and Western Asia.
Molecular Dynamics Study of Nanoparticles/argon Atoms Size Effects on Atomic Aggregation Phenomena in Ideal Platinum Nanochannel Affected by the External Magnetic Field
Authors: Karimipour Arash
Published: March 2021

In this paper, the computational method is used to describe the atomic behavior of Fe3O4 nanoparticles size effect on these nanoparticles aggregation phenomena in ideal platinum nanochannel and in the presence of outer magnetic major. In this work molecular dynamics (MD) method used and argon atoms described as base fluid. Technically, for the interaction between base fluid atoms, we used Lennard-jones (LJ) potential, while the nanochannel wall and nanoparticle structures are simulated. To calculate the atomic behavior of simulated systems, we report temperature, total energy, and distance of nanoparticles center of mass (COM) and time of aggregation phenomena. Our MD simulation results show the Fe3O4 nanoparticle size is an important factor in aggregation phenomenon occur. Numerically, by enlarging the Fe3O4 nanoparticle size, the aggregation time of Al2O3 nanoparticles changes from 1.41 ns to 1.29 ns. Further, the external magnetic field can be delayed this atomic phenomenon effectively.
Mental Health Consultations on College Campuses: Examining the Predictive Ability of Social Media
Authors: Saha Koustuv , Yousuf Asra , Boyd Ryan L. , Pennebaker James W. , Choudhury Munmun
Published: March 2021

The mental health of college students is a growing concern, and gauging the mental health needs of college students is difficult to assess in real-time and in scale. While social media has shown potential as a viable “passive sensor” of mental health, the construct validity and in-practice reliability of such computational assessments remain largely unexplored. Towards this goal, we study how assessing the mental health of college students using social media data correspond with ground-truth data of on-campus mental health consultations. For a large U.S. public university, we obtained ground-truth data of on-campus mental health consultations between 2011–2016, and collected 66,000 posts from the university’s Reddit community. We adopted machine learning and natural language methodologies to measure symptomatic mental health expressions of depression, anxiety, stress, suicidal ideation, and psychosis on the social media data. Seasonal auto-regressive integrated moving average (SARIMA) models of forecasting on-campus mental health consultations showed that incorporating social media data led to predictions with r=0.86 and SMAPE=13.30, outperforming models without social media data by 41%. Our language analyses revealed that social media discussions during high mental health consultations months consisted of discussions on academics and career, whereas months of low mental health consultations saliently show expressions of positive affect, collective identity, and socialization. This study reveals that social media data can improve our understanding of college students’ mental health, particularly their mental health treatment needs.
Intelligent Decision Making Algorithm for Balanced Cluster Formation in Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: B Santhosh Kumar , P Trinatha Rao
Published: March 2021

In this paper, we propose an optimal cluster-based multiple sink reconnection technology for wireless sensor networks using a hybrid optimization algorithm. The proposed design used an intermediate sensor / mobile node next to the sink node and a sensor node ready to transmit data. Here, the weighted k-mean algorithm is converted to a cluster node. The optimal cluster head code was chosen using a mass optimization method that targets the available energy and available bandwidth for successfully transferring data without node optimization. So with resource updates, you can find the right location for your sink node for better data transfer.
Validating a Prognostic Model for 1-Year Mortality of Psychogeriatric Inpatients.
Authors: Moebs Isabelle , Gale Chris , Abeln Esther , Seifert Annalise , Barak Yoram
Published: March 2021

Background

To validate a predictive scoring system for 1-year mortality among psychogeriatric inpatients admitted for acute psychiatric care.
Methods

Computerized data were extracted from the District Health Board Database for a university affiliated general hospital. A geriatric risk scoring system developed in the USA was employed to validate mortality within 1-year of hospital discharge.
Results

Among 125 psychogeriatric inpatients who were discharged in 2017, [mean age 82.8 (± 8.9) years, 82 (65.6%) women] 33 (26.4%), [mean age, 87.7 (± 11.1) years, 25 (75.7%) women] died within 1-year. Levine’s mortality index predicted death. A post hoc probit analysis found two factors significantly associated with predicted mortality: metastatic cancer and discharge to care.
Conclusions

A geriatric1-year mortality scoring system accurately predicted mortality among psychogeriatric inpatients. Predicting psychogeriatric mortality should be considered a guideline for ensuring quality of care and appropriate discharge and advanced care planning.
Hierarchical Diversity Entropy for the Early Fault Diagnosis of Rolling Bearing
Authors: Wang Xianzhi , Si Shubin , Li Yongbo
Published: March 2021

Intelligent fault diagnosis provides great convenience for the prognostic and health management of the rotating machinery. Recently, the entropy-based feature extraction method has aroused researchers’ attentions due to its independence with prior knowledge, unnecessary of preprocessing, and easy to perform. The multiscale diversity entropy has been proven to be a promising feature extraction method for the intelligent fault diagnosis. Compared to the existing entropy methods, the multiscale diversity entropy has advantages of high consistency, strong robustness and high calculation efficiency. However, the multiscale diversity entropy encounters the challenge to extract features for early fault diagnosis due to the weak fault symptoms and strong noise. This can be attributed to the multiscale diversity entropy only concerns the fault information embedded in the low frequency, which ignores the information hidden in the high frequency. To address this defect, the hierarchical diversity entropy (HDE) is proposed, which can synchronously extract fault information hidden in both high and low frequency. Based on HDE and random forest, a novel intelligent fault diagnosis frame has been proposed. The effectiveness of the proposed method has been evaluated through simulated and experimental bearing signals. The results show that the proposed HDE has the best feature extraction ability compare to multiscale sample entropy, multiscale permutation entropy, multiscale fuzzy entropy, and multiscale diversity entropy.
68Ga-FAPI PET/MR is Helpful in Differential Diagnosis of Pancreatitis From Pancreatic Malignancy Compared to 18F-FDG PET/CT
Authors: Shou Yi , Xue Qiaoyi , Yuan Jianmin , Zhao Jun
Published: March 2021

Background: 68Ga-fibroblast activation protein specific enzyme inhibitor (FAPI) is a novel PET agent for tumor imaging. Case description: We herein present a case where 68Ga-FAPI PET/MR helped to diagnose IgG4-RD that involved pancreas and bile duct. Our 62-year-old patient suffered from middle upper abdomen and brown urine. Blood test revealed abnormal liver function and elevated IgG4 (4.830g/L↑). 18F-FDG PET showed enlarged uncinate process and dilated bile duct tree. Mild increase of FDG uptake in uncinate process and head of pancreas indicated possible pancreatic malignancy, but the evidence was not sufficient enough. 68Ga-FAPI PET revealed prominent fibroblast mediated inflammation in the entire pancreas and bile duct, suggesting IgG4-RD.Conclusion: The case illustrates that 68Ga-FAPI PET is more sensitive to IgG4-RD than 18F-FDG, and thus could be helpful in improving the differential diagnosis of pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer.
Aberrant Functional and Effective Connectivity of the Frontostriatal Network in Unilateral Acute Tinnitus Patients with Hearing Loss
Authors: Zhou Gang-Ping , Chen Yu-Chen , Li Wang-Wei , Wei Heng-Le , Yu Yu-Sheng , Zhou Qing-Qing , Yin Xindao , Tao Yue-Jin , Zhang Hong
Published: March 2021

Purpose: The present study combined resting-state functional connectivity (FC) and Granger causality analysis (GCA) to explore frontostriatal network dysfunction in unilateral acute tinnitus (AT) patients with hearing loss. Methods: The participants included 42 AT patients and 43 healthy control (HC) subjects who underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans. Based on the seed regions in the frontostriatal network, FC and GCA were conducted between the AT patients and HC subjects. Correlation analyses were used to examine correlations among altered FC values, GCA values, and clinical features in AT patients. Results: Compared with HCs, AT patients showed a general reduction in FC between the seed regions in the frontostriatal network and nonauditory areas, including the frontal cortices, midcingulate cortex (MCC) , supramarginal gyrus (SMG), and postcentral gyrus (PoCG) . Using the GCA algorithm, we detected abnormal effective connectivity (EC) in the inferior occipital gyrus (IOG), MCC, Cerebelum_Crus1, and PoCG. Furthermore, correlations between disrupted FC/EC and clinical characteristics, especially tinnitus distress-related characteristics, were found in AT patients. Conclusions: Our work demonstrated abnormal FC and EC between the frontostriatal network and several nonauditory regions in AT patients with hearing loss, suggesting that multiple large-scale network dysfunctions and interactions are involved in the perception of tinnitus. These findings not only enhance the current understanding of the frontostriatal network in tinnitus but also serve as a reminder of the importance of focusing on tinnitus at an early stage.
Nasopharyngeal Expression of Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2) and Transmembrane Serine Protease 2 (TMPRSS2) in Children Compared to Adults Within Family Clusters Exposed to COVID-19
Authors: Hasan Mohammad , Ahmad Muneera , Dargham Soha , Ibrahim Hatem , Hashemi Alaa Al , Ngwabi Nonhlanhla , Lopez Andres , Dobson Simon , Abu-Raddad Laith , Tang Patrick
Published: March 2021

There is accumulating evidence that the lower levels of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and transmembrane serine protease 2 (TMPRSS2) in the nasal epithelium of children may be related to a lower incidence of COVID-19 compared to adults. However, no direct evidence is available to support this hypothesis. In this study, we compared the transcript levels of ACE2 and TMPRSS2 in nasopharyngeal swabs (n=207) from children and adult members within COVID-19-exposed families and assessed their association with SARS-CoV-2 infection status. The expression of both genes was higher in adults compared to the children (n=115 adults and 92 children, p<0.05), but was not significantly different between COVID-19 positive and negative patients of all ages or within the same age groups. Using paired data, expression of both genes was significantly higher in COVID-19 positive adults compared to COVID-19 negative children (n=47 pairs; p<0.001) within the same families. ACE2 and TMPRSS2 expression is positively associated [OR:1.16(1.06-1.3) and 1.14(1.04-1.26) for ACE2 and TMPRSS2, respectively, p<0.001)] with SARS-CoV-2 infection status in the sub-group of families with COVID-19 positive adults and COVID-19 negative children, suggesting that children with lower levels of nasal ACE2 and TMPRSS2 are more likely to remain COVID-19 negative despite being exposed to a COVID-19-positive adult family member.
GDAP1 loss of function inhibits the mitochondrial pyruvate dehydrogenase complex by altering the actin cytoskeleton
Authors: Wolf Christina , Pouya Alireza , Bitar Sara , Pfeiffer Annika , Bueno Diones Caeran , Arndt Sabine , Tenzer Stefan , Ritz Sandra , Schwirz Jonas , Dobrindt Kristina , Peitz Michael , Brustle Oliver , Bello Federica Dal , Vianello Caterina , Giacomello Marta , Hanschmannn Eva-Maria , Boussaad Ibrahim , Krüger Rejko , Methner Axel
Published: March 2021

Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease 4A is an autosomal-recessive polyneuropathy caused by mutations of ganglioside-induced differentiation-associated protein 1 (GDAP1), a putative glutathione transferase, which affects mitochondrial shape and alters cellular calcium homeostasis. Here, we identify the underlying mechanism. We found that patient-derived motoneurons and GDAP1 knockdown SH-SY5Y cells display two phenotypes: more tubular mitochondria and a metabolism characterized by glutamine dependence and fewer cytosolic lipid droplets. GDAP1 interacts with the actin-depolymerizing protein Cofilin-1 in a redox-dependent manner, suggesting a role for actin signaling. Consistently, GDAP1 loss causes less F-actin close to mitochondria, which restricts mitochondrial localization of the fission factor dynamin-related protein 1, instigating tubularity. Changes in the actin cytoskeleton also disrupt mitochondria-ER contact sites. This results in lower mitochondrial calcium levels and inhibition of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, explaining the metabolic changes upon GDAP1 loss of function. Together, these findings reconcile GDAP1-associated phenotypes and implicate disrupted actin signaling in CMT4A pathophysiology.
Asymmetry Effects in Optical Properties of a Gold Nanotube
Authors: Moradi Afshin
Published: March 2021

Asymmetry effects in optical properties of an infinitely long gold nanotube is studied within the framework of the quasi-static approximation. In this way, incident, scattered and transmitted fields are represented with the appropriate electrostatic potentials in the cylindrical coordinates. The problem is investigated using a boundary-value approach. The expressions for the polarizability and dispersion of surface plasmons of the system are derived and numerical results, in the wavelength region 500 nm to 1000 nm, show that instead of the one well-known resonance peak of the nanotube, one pair of resonance peaks appear, as a result of the coupling between the dipole and quadrupole modes. Then, scattering, absorption and extinction widths of the system are formulated. Also, the effective dielectric function of a composite of aligned symmetry-broken gold nanotubes is presented.
TXNDC17 Protein Overexpression in Uterine Papillary Serous Carcinoma is Associated with Chemoresistance
Authors: Peng Qiaohua , Yu Yan , Cheng Xiaodong , Wang Xinyu , Lu Weiguo , Xie Xing , Zhang Songfa
Published: March 2021

Background: TXNDC17(thioredoxin domain containing 17 protein) has primarily been associated with ovarian cancer. It concurs resistance to paclitaxel by inducing autophagy. However, limited information exists on its role in uterine papillary serous carcinoma (UPSC). This study aimed to analyze clinicopathological characteristics of patients with UPSC in China, and investigate roles of TXNDC17 protein in UPSC chemoresistance and prognosis. Methods: Fifty-five patients with UPSC treated in women’s hospital school of medicine Zhejiang university from 2003 to 2016 were analysed retrospectively. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) were performed to TXNDC17 and BECN1 (Beclin 1 protein, a key regulator of autophagy) protein expression respectively. Results: A total of 55 UPSC patients of median age (63.3 years), 43.7% with late stages (stage III/IV), and 48.6 % exhibiting more than half of myometrium invasion were enrolled. Notably, 28 (50.9%) patients had TXNDC17 protein overexpression associated with chemoresistance and high BECN1 expression. BECN1 overexpression occurred at an advanced stage and was characterized by deep myometrial invasion. Of note, advanced stage, deep myometrial invasion, BECN1, and TXNDC17 overexpression were significantly associated with a poor outcome. Besides, co-expression of TXNDC17 and BECN1 occurred at an advanced stage causing deep myometrial invasion and chemoresistance thereby resulted in the shortest survival in UPSC. The multivariate proportional hazards model revealed that myometrial invasion and TXNDC17 overexpression were independent prognostic factors. Conclusion: This study showed that TXNDC17 overexpression, through induces autophagy, and consequently results in chemoresistance and poor survival in UPSC patients. TXDNC17 may be a potential predictor or target in UPSC therapeutics.
Conservation State of Two Paintings in the Santa Margherita Cliff Cave: Role of the Environment and of the Microbial Community
Authors: armetta francesco , Cardenas Josue , Caponetti Eugenio , Alduina Rosa , Presentato Alessandro , Vecchioni Luca , Stefano Pietro di , Spinella Alberto , Saladino Maria Luisa
Published: March 2021

The conservation of ancient paintings sited in humid environments is an actual challenge for restorers, because it needs the knowledge of the materials the paintings are made up and of their interaction with a peculiar surrounding environment; thus, tailored procedures and strategies aimed at restoring and preserving paintings are necessary. The Santa Margherita’s cave in Castellammare del Golfo (Trapani, Italy) is a natural cave, containing the remains of paintings, in a poor state of conservation, belonging to an ancient church dated back to the Middle Age. The present manuscript reports the monitoring of environmental conditions (i.e., temperature and humidity) in a full year as well as a study on the materials constituting the stone support and the paintings together with a survey of the microbial community. The findings allow us to define the causes which mainly involve the degradation of the paintings. In detail, the degradation of the east and the west wall occurred differently because of the exposure to the sea aerosol, which influenced the salt composition, also contributing to diversifying the bacterial community. Some specific actions to plan the conservation and restoration of paintings and to preserve the site are suggested.
Physical and chemical modifications of cellulose fibers for food packaging applications
Authors: Saedi Shahab , Garcia Coralia V. , Kim Jun Tae , Shin Gye Hwa
Published: March 2021

Cellulose fibers have gained considerable interest for use as gas barrier and reinforcing fillers in food packaging materials because of their interesting properties including biodegradability, low density, nontoxicity, and low cost. Although the modification of cellulose nanomaterials for reinforcing applications has been reviewed in the literature, they suffer from a lack of comparative results, and the modifications related to food packaging applications have not been covered yet. This study reviews physical and chemical methods used to improve oxygen and water barrier properties, water uptake, mechanical strength, and transparency of different food packaging films of cellulose nanomaterials and provides comparative results. Heat treatment, esterification, and tempo-mediated and periodate oxidation are the most common methods for the improvement of the barrier properties of free-standing, bilayer, and composite films prepared from cellulose nanomaterials. Modification using silane compounds is a well-established method for improving the mechanical properties of cellulose fibers and polymer composite films.
Job Crafting Promotes Internal Recovery State, Especially in Jobs that Demand Self-control: A Daily Diary Design
Authors: Yanwei Shi , Zhuang She , Dan Li , Hui Zhang , Kuihuan Niu
Published: March 2021

Background: There is an increasing body of research on how employees recover from work, but most of this research has focused on recovery during non-work hours (external recovery) rather than recovery during the work hours (internal recovery). Using the conservation of resources theory as a conceptual framework, we tested whether job crafting promotes internal recovery state, and examined the processes that explain this association.Methods: Using the daily diary method, 120 participants provided information twice a day for five days by rating job crafting, ego depletion, self-control demands at work, fatigue and vigor.Results: The analysis of results showed that after controlling for fatigue and vigor before employees started a day’s work, job crafting predicted significantly better internal recovery, and this association was mediated by lower ego depletion. These associations were moderated by how much self-control was required by the job, with the links between job crafting, lower ego depletion and internal recovery being stronger for employees with high demands to exercise self-control.Conclusions: This study provides insights to how employees with high self-control demands recover from work via job crafting.
Facilitating health promoting ideas and actions: Participatory research in an underserved Swedish residential area
Authors: Magnusson Maria , Vaughn Lisa M. , Wretlind Katharina , Forslund Heléne Bertéus , Berg Christina
Published: March 2021

Background
For an intervention to contribute to decreased health gaps, people living in underserved areas must participate in the research-to-action process during the development of the intervention. The purpose of this study was to collaborate with residents living in a Swedish underserved area to generate health and wellness priorities and actions with specific interests in dental health and nutrition.
Methods
We applied Group Level Assessment (GLA) together with people living in a Swedish neighborhood where obesity, dental caries and other illnesses are prevalent. GLA is a qualitative, participatory methodology that is designed for a large group to generate and evaluate relevant needs and priorities within a lens of action for positive social change. Residents were recruited by posters, postcards and snowball sampling. In total, 47 residents participated. Eight GLA sessions were held over a five-month time period.
Results
The GLA sessions resulted in reflections, proposals and actions for change by the residents. Adolescent and parent need for support, improved communication and more meeting places were highlighted as priorities for promoting health and well-being. The results were presented for stakeholders in a report and an exhibition and some of the participants started a language café.
Conclusions
GLA helped residents identify what they thought valuable and relevant concerning health issues and supported them in taking actions to achieve change.
The Changes in Epidemiology of Visiting Emergency Department at COVID-19
Authors: Park SungJoon , Yoon Young-Hoon , Lee Ji Young , Lee Eusun , Park Hong Seok , Kim Jung-Youn
Published: March 2021

BackgroundOn December 31, 2019, a type of pneumonia with unknown origin was reported in Wuhan, China. It was named as coronavirus disease 2019 by the World Health Organization. Several studies showed that the outbreaks of infectious diseases affect the emergency department visits. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the epidemiological characteristics of patients visiting the emergency department during the coronavirus disease outbreak.MethodThis retrospective observational study was conducted in the three tertiary emergency departments. To evaluate the general characteristics of patients visiting the emergency department, data on sex, age, date and time of visit, initial blood pressure, heart rate, respiration rate, body temperature, level of consciousness, and disposition upon discharge were collected.ResultsA total of 180,192 patients were enrolled in this study. There were 52,245 patients who visited the emergency department during the coronavirus disease outbreak (December 2019–April 2020). This number was significantly reduced compared with the 64,405 and 63,542 patients who visited during the pre-coronavirus disease period. During the period of coronavirus disease outbreak, the proportion of alert patients began to decline from February to April. Also, the proportions of patients with Korean Triage and Acuity scores 4–5 and discharged patients decreased during the same period. The number of patients who were diagnosed with “influenza because of identified seasonal influenza virus” decreased to 1,507 (2.9%), compared with the 2,131 (3.4%) and 2,157 (3.3%) patients diagnosed with this condition during the pre-coronavirus disease period.ConclusionThe study showed changes in the patterns of emergency department visits during the coronavirus disease outbreak. During this period, the total number of patients and non-emergency patients visiting the emergency department decreased.
Efficacy of Brinzolamide in the Initial Management of Acute Primary Angle Closure in Chinese: a Randomized Controlled Trial
Authors: chen guang , Peng Xinming , Li Jun , Chen Peng , Wang Jing
Published: March 2021

Objective: Since comprehensive medication has an important role in the initial management of patients presenting with acute primary angle closure, it is necessary to analyze the effect of each drug on alleviating the disease. This study aimed to evaluate the intraocular pressure-lowering effect of brinzolamide in the sequential treatment of acute primary angle closure. Methods: In this randomized double-blind controlled trial, a total of 131 eyes of 125 consecutive patients who presented with their ﬁrst episode of acute primary angle closure were recruited and received sequential treatment. The patients were randomized to receive either brinzolamide or normal saline as a placebo. The primary outcomes were decreased intraocular pressure, success rate, and treatment time. Results: There was no statistically significant difference in the decreased level of intraocular pressure between the two groups at 6, 12, or 24 hours after the start of treatment (P-values were 0.526, 0.206, and 0.130, respectively). The success rate and treatment time were also not significantly different between the groups. No adverse side effects of brinzolamide were observed in the brinzolamide group. ﻿Conclusions: In patients with a first episode of acute primary angle closure, brinzolamide did not improve the effectiveness of the sequential treatment for reducing the intraocular pressure levels or shortening the treatment time within the ﬁrst 24 hours of initiating therapy.
Performance of Oxalic Acid-Chitosan/Alumina Ceramic Biocomposite for the Adsorption of a Reactive Anionic Azo Dye
Authors: Pérez-Calderón John , Scian Alberto , Ducos Martin , Santos Victoria , Zaritzky Noemi Elisabet
Published: March 2021

A biocomposite system was developed and tested for the removal of the azo dye Reative Red (RR195) from wastewater. The biocomposite was synthesized using ceramic particles containing 75% alumina which were coated using chitosan crosslinked with oxalic acid. The biocomposite showed high performance at low pH (maximum adsorption capacity = 345.3mg.g− 1 at pH = 2). The physico-chemical and structure characteristics of the matrix were evaluated by Z-potential, FTIR-ATR, SEM-EDS, DRX and porosity. Langmuir sorption isotherm and Pseudo Second order model gave the best fit. The electrostatic interaction between RR195 (due to the sulfonate groups) and the free amino groups of chitosan, enabled successive desorption/regeneration cycles. The maximum removal percentage (> 80%) occurred at pH = 2 due to the crosslinking effect. Experiments at different temperatures allowed the calculation of thermodynamic parameters (ΔG, ΔS, ΔH); adsorption was spontaneous, exothermic and enthalpy controlled. The presence of inorganic ions (NO3−>Cl−) was analyzed during the adsorption process. This novel biocomposite can be applied as a cost-effective and environmentally friendly adsorbent for anionic azo dye removal from wastewater. The application of chitosan crosslinked with oxalic acid as a coating of the ceramic support enhanced the adsorption capacity and enabled its use under acidic conditions without solubilization.
Evaluating the Scale Dependence of Biodiversity-productivity Relationships: A Case Study in Mountain Meadow Habitat
Authors: Liu Jiajia , Ge Xue-Jun
Published: March 2021

Ecological scale has been widely assumed to influence various biodiversity-productivity relationships in ecological communities; however, its robustness has not been extensively studied. In this study, we tested the scale dependency of biodiversity-productivity relationships by evaluating their direct linkages while considering other confounders, and simultaneously incorporating functional traits and interspecific phylogenetic relationships. We surveyed sixty quadrats each with an area of 0.25 m2 in three different meadows located along an elevational gradient in Yulong Mountain, China. We calculated different biodiversity parameters (richness, evenness, functionality, and phylogeny), and evaluated the chemical properties of soil from all quadrats, correlating their relationships with plant productivity at the local and regional scale. The direct and indirect relationships of biodiversity and productivity were evaluated using structural equation modeling. The biodiversity-productivity relationships were weak and inconsistent at the local scale, whereas some biodiversity metrics (richness, functional, and phylogenetic) showed either strong positive or negative relationships with productivity at the regional scale. However, a direct correlation between productivity and variables such as soil pH and community-weighted mean leaf carbon content was observed in the structural equation model reconstructed. Our study indicates that the scale dependency of biodiversity-productivity relationships in natural habitats may not be as strong as it may have been previously perceived, in case of taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity, respectively. Our study emphasizes the necessity to account for the confounding effects of abiotic factors when evaluating biodiversity-productivity relationship in natural habitats at regional or even worldwide scales.
Equilibrium Time, Permutation, Multiscale and Modified Multiscale Entropies for Low-High Infection Level Intracellular Viral Reaction Kinetics
Authors: Taherkhani Farid
Published: March 2021

Kinetics Monte Carlo simulation has been done for solving Master equation for intracellular viral reaction kinetics. There is scaling relationship between reaction equilibrium time and initial population of template species in intracellular viral reaction kinetics. Kinetics Monte Carlo result shows that mathematical presentation between initial population of template species and reaction equilibrium time is f eq time (N) = aNb (a = 163.1, b = -0.1429 ), where N , feq time(N) are initial population of template species and reaction equilibrium time respectively. Kinetics Monte Carlo shows that increasing initial population of template species decreases the reaction equilibrium time. Initial population for template species with range 1 ≤Temp ≤ 4; Temp=5; 6 ≤Temp ≤10 are called low, medium and high infection level in intracellular viral kinetics reaction respectively. Entropy generation has been considered in low, intermediate and high infection level of intracellular viral reaction kinetics in during dynamical population. Permutation, multiscaling and modified multiscaling entropies have been calculated for species, genome, structural protein, and template species. Dependency of permutation entropy on permutation order is small in high infection level. At short time scale, convergency of permutation entropy occurs with medium permutation order value. In the big time scale, permutation entropy H(n) scales with permutation order n as a scaling relation H (n )=nα (α =0.30) . Three different trends for low, medium and high infection level observed for multiscaling entropy of template species versus scaling factor. Nonmonotonic behavior for permutation entropy versus time could be observed for structural protein species.
Direct prediction of bioaccumulation of organic contaminants in plant roots from soils with machine learning models based on molecular structures
Authors: Gao Feng , Shen Yike , Sallach J. Brett , Li Hui , Liu Cun , Li Yuanbo
Published: March 2021

Root concentration factor is an important substance-specific characterization parameter for plant uptake of organic contaminants from soils in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA); however, the availability of a reliable dataset and building of robust predictive models remain challenging due to the complexity of chemical-soil-plant root interactions. Here we developed end-to-end machine learning models to devolve the interaction complexity by training on a unified dataset with 341 data points covering 72 chemicals. The gradient boosting regression tree (GBRT) model based on the extended connectivity fingerprints (ECFP) demonstrated a superior prediction performance with R-squared of 0.77 and Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of 0.22. In addition, partial dependence analysis was used to determine the nonlinear relationships in the chemical-soil-plant root system. Feature importance analysis revealed the relationship between and chemical topological structures. Stemming from its simplicity and universality, the GBRT-ECFP model provides a promising tool for LCIA to better characterize the human and ecological impacts of chemicals in the environment.
Smooth Nonlinear Fitting Scheme for Analog Multiplierless Implementation of Hindmarsh-Rose Neuron Model
Authors: Cai Jianming , Bao Han , Xu Quan , Hua Zhongyun , Bao Bocheng
Published: March 2021

The Hindmarsh-Rose (HR) neuron model is built to describe the neuron electrical activities. Due to the polynomial nonlinearities, multipliers are required to implement the HR neuron model in analog. In order to avoid the multipliers, this brief presents a novel smooth nonlinear fitting scheme. We first construct two nonlinear fitting functions using the composite hyperbolic tangent functions and then implement an analog multiplierless circuit for the two-dimensional (2D) or three- dimensional (3D) HR neuron model. To exhibit the nonlinear fitting effects, numerical simulations and hardware experiments for the fitted HR neuron model are provided successively. The results show that the fitted HR neuron model with analog multiplierless circuit can display different operation patterns of resting, periodic spiking, and periodic/chaotic bursting, entirely behaving like the original HR neuron model. The analog multiplierless circuit has the advantage of low implementation cost and thereby it might be suitable for the hardware implementation of large-scale neural networks.
Disaggregating Proportional Multistate Lifetables by Population Heterogeneity to Estimate Intervention Impacts on Inequalities
Authors: Andersen Patrick , Mizdrak Anja , Wilson Nick , Davies Anna , Bablani Laxman , Blakely Tony
Published: March 2021

BackgroundSimulation models can be used to quantify the projected health impact of interventions. Quantifying heterogeneity in these impacts, for example by socioeconomic status, is important to understand impacts on health inequalities.We aim to disaggregate one type of Markov macro-simulation model, the proportional multistate lifetable, ensuring that under business-as-usual (BAU) the sum of deaths across disaggregated strata in each time step returns the same as the initial non-disaggregated model. We then demonstrate the application by deprivation quintiles for New Zealand (NZ), for: hypothetical interventions (50% lower all-cause mortality, 50% lower coronary heart disease mortality) and a dietary intervention to substitute 59% of sodium with potassium chloride in the food supply. MethodsWe developed a disaggregation algorithm that iteratively rescales mortality, incidence and case fatality rates by time-step of the model to ensure correct total population counts were retained at each step.To demonstrate the algorithm on deprivation quintiles in NZ, we used the following inputs: overall (non-disaggregated) all-cause mortality & morbidity rates, coronary heart disease incidence & case fatality rates; stroke incidence & case fatality rates. We also obtained rate ratios by deprivation for these same measures. Given all-cause and cause-specific mortality rates by deprivation quintile, we derived values for the incidence, case fatality and mortality rates for each quintile, ensuring rate ratios across quintiles and the total population mortality and morbidity rates were returned when averaged across groups.The three interventions were then run on top of these scaled BAU scenarios. ResultsThe algorithm exactly disaggregated populations by strata in BAU. The intervention scenario life years and health adjusted life years (HALYs) gained differed slightly when summed over the deprivation quintile compared to the aggregated model, due to the stratified model (appropriately) allowing for differential background mortality rates by strata. Modest differences in health gains (health adjusted life years) resulted from rescaling of sub-population mortality and incidence rates to ensure consistency with the aggregate population.ConclusionPolicy makers ideally need to know the effect of population interventions estimated both overall, and by socioeconomic and other strata. We demonstrate a method and provide code to do this routinely within proportional multistate lifetable simulation models and similar Markov models.
Mapping brain structural differences and neuroreceptor correlates in Parkinson’s disease visual hallucinations: a mega-analysis
Authors: Vignando Miriam , ffytche Dominic , Lewis Simon , Lee Phil Hyu , Chung Seok , Weil Rimona , Hu Michele , Mackay Clare , Griffanti Ludovica , Pins Delphine , Dujardin Kathy , Renaud Jardri , Taylor John-Paul , Firbank Michael , Mcalonan Grainne , Mak Henry Ka-Fung , Ho Shu-Leong , Mehta Mitul
Published: March 2021

Parkinson’s psychosis (PDP) describes a spectrum of symptoms that may arise in Parkinson’s disease (PD) including visual hallucinations (VH). Imaging studies investigating the neural correlates of PDP have been inconsistent in their findings, due to differences in study design and limitations of scale. Here we use empirical Bayes harmonisation to pool together structural imaging data from multiple research groups into a large-scale mega-analysis, allowing us to apply new methodological approaches to identify cortical regions and networks involved in VH and their relation to receptor binding. Differences of cortical thickness and surface area show a wider cortical involvement underlying VH than previously recognised, including primary visual cortex and its surrounds, and the hippocampus, independent of its role in cognitive decline. Structural covariance analyses point to a strong involvement of the attentional control networks in PD-VH, while associations with receptor density maps suggest neurotransmitter loss may drive the cortical changes.
IRF4 deficiency vulnerates B progeny for leukemogenesis via Jak3 mutations resembling Ph-like B-ALL in humans
Authors: Gupta Dennis Das , Paul Christoph , Bollig Nadine , Bieringer Maria , Staudenraus Daniel , Raifer Hartmann , Menke Lisa , Camara Bärbel , Roth Edith , Daum Patrick , Wanzel Michael , Mernberger Marco , Nist Andrea , Bauer Uta-Maria , Marini Federico , Helmprobst Frederik , Buchholz Malte , Jäck Hans-Martin , Neubauer Andreas , Burchert Andreas , Klein Matthias , Bopp Tobias , Stiewe Thorsten , Pagenstecher Axel , Lohoff Michael
Published: March 2021

How disturbances of B cell development provoke adult B acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) remains poorly understood. Here we describe Irf4–/– mice as prone to developing B-ALL with age. Irf4–/– pro/preB cells exhibited impaired differentiative but enhanced proliferative potential in vitro and accumulated in spleens of healthy Irf4–/– mice, suggesting reduced adherence to the IL-7 providing bone marrow niche. Thus selected, pro/preB cells transformed acquiring proliferative IL-7 independency through Jak3 gain-of-function mutations. Targeting JAK signaling with Ruxolitinib in vivo prolonged survival of mice bearing established Irf4–/– leukemia. Intriguingly, organ infiltration including leukemic meningeosis was selectively reduced without affecting blood blast counts. As low IRF4 expression and JAK3 mutations also characterize a subpopulation of Ph-like B-ALL in adult humans, our results imply Irf4–/– mice as a suitable model for investigating preleukemic conditions in adults. Using this model, we identified an unexpected effect of Ruxolitinib treatment in B-ALL.