bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Pubic symphysis osteomyelitis with associated vesico-symphyseal fistula: a difficult diagnosis
Authors: Wechsler Brendan , Devries Jonah , Yim Douglas
Published: September 2021

Pubic symphysis osteomyelitis is an infectious complication that rarely arises in men who have undergone treatment for prostate cancer. This process may more rarely arise from a fistulous tract between the pubic symphysis and the urinary tract. In this case report, we discuss the most common clinical presentations and laboratory findings that lead to the diagnosis of this disease process, as well as the role of MRI and other imaging modalities in confirmation of the diagnosis. This case serves as a reminder to clinicians to have earlier consideration of pubic symphysis osteomyelitis in their differential diagnosis to reduce the risk of long-term complications associated with undertreatment.
Restless arm syndrome: a rare disease?
Authors: Moser Ulrich , Schwab Jasmin
Published: September 2021

Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a common neurological disorder characterised by an irresistible urge to move the lower limbs, often accompanied by unpleasant sensations in the legs, typically occurring in the evening and at night and improving with movement. Restless arms syndrome (RAS) predominantly affects the arms, while the legs are rarely affected. RAS appears to be very rare, with very few cases described to date, but the diagnosis of RAS is probably made too infrequently, especially for milder and transient forms. The patient reported here even had severe symptoms for years that could have indicated RAS. He observed an immediate improvement in all RAS-related symptoms after administration of 100 mg L-dopa +25 mg benserazide, which continues to this day. Clinicians should always be alert for RLS-like symptoms in one or both arms that worsen at rest and improve with movement, thinking of possible RAS.
Isolated ureteral extrauterine endometrial stromal sarcoma: an unusual presentation
Authors: Asokan Raghavendran , Joseph Leena Dennis , Mohanendran Arthi , Krishnamoorthy Sriram
Published: September 2021

Extrauterine endometrial stromal sarcomas (EUESSs) are rare tumours occurring without primary uterine involvement. They are classified as primary or secondary, depending on uterine involvement by stromal sarcomas. A 56-year-old woman who earlier underwent bilateral modified radical mastectomy for adenocarcinoma and total abdominal hysterectomy for endometrial stromal sarcoma, followed by tamoxifen therapy, presented with left loin pain. On evaluation, she had a left renal calculus with hydroureteronephrosis. Before percutaneous nephrolithotripsy, ureteroscopy revealed a polypoidal mass that was diagnosed as EUESS. The mass arose primarily within the ureteral lumen, with periureteric tissue uninvolved. She underwent left radical nephroureterectomy with adjuvant hormonal treatment. This is probably the first case of EUESS arising de novo from within the ureteral lumen without endometriosis, to be reported in medical literature. Immunohistochemistry facilitates earlier diagnosis. Cytoreductive surgery is the definitive treatment and multidisciplinary approach helps in overall survival of the patient.
ASHA Kirana: when digital technology empowered front-line health workers
Authors: Srinidhi V , Karachiwala Baneen , Iyer Aditi , Reddy Bhavya , Mathrani Vinalini , Madhiwalla Neha , Periodi Vani , Sreevathsa Anuradha , Viswanatha Lakshmi , Sen Gita
Published: September 2021

This practice paper describes our experience of implementing accredited social health activists (ASHA) Kirana, a digital technology-enabled Maternal Clinical Assessment Tool (M-CAT) and how the ASHAs felt empowered in the process. M-CAT aimed to train ASHAs to collect data that assists doctors in identifying maternal risks, in Karnataka, India. Systematic clinical assessment is not common in rural public health institutions. High caseloads, a tendency to ‘normalise’ maternal risks, varied competence of doctors and task shifting to insufficiently trained cadres may be some contributing factors. M-CAT was a response to this challenge. ASHAs asked a set symptom-cluster-based questions during home visits that were analysed by software algorithms to generate reports for doctors. M-CAT was implemented in one primary health centre with a group of 14 ASHAs, 2 auxiliary nurse midwives and 349 pregnant and postpartum women over 4 months. Our team worked with the ASHAs to refine the tool and supported them with training, hands-on assistance and regular debrief meetings. By learning how to collect individual-level data that they could interpret and act on, the ASHAs felt empowered with new knowledge on maternal risks. Their perfunctory data collection at home visits changed to substantive interactions with women and families, during which they captured pertinent qualitative information. The information asymmetry between doctors and ASHAs reduced. ASHAs started taking proactive steps on early indications of maternal risks. They changed from being mere transmitters of information to active users of it. Thus, technology-driven initiatives that include empowerment as an objective can strengthen the role of front-line workers in health systems.
DNA methylation-based signature of CD8+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes enables evaluation of immune response and prognosis in colorectal cancer
Authors: Zou Qi , Wang Xiaolin , Ren Donglin , Hu Bang , Tang Guannan , Zhang Yu , Huang Meijin , Pai Rish K , Buchanan Daniel D , Win Aung Ko , Newcomb Polly A , Grady William M , Yu Huichuan , Luo Yanxin
Published: September 2021

Background

Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), especially CD8+ TILs, can be used for predicting immunotherapy responsiveness and survival outcome. However, the evaluation of CD8+ TILs currently relies on histopathological methodology with high variability. We therefore aimed to develop a DNA methylation signature for CD8+ TILs (CD8+ MeTIL) that could evaluate immune response and prognosis in colorectal cancer (CRC).

Methods

A CD8+ MeTIL signature score was constructed by using CD8+ T cell-specific differentially methylated positions (DMPs) that were identified from Illumina EPIC methylation arrays. Immune cells, colon epithelial cells, and two CRC cohorts (n=282 and 335) were used to develop a PCR-based assay for quantitative analysis of DNA methylation at single-base resolution (QASM) to determine CD8 + MeTIL signature score.

Results

Three CD8+ T cell-specific DMPs were identified to construct the CD8+ MeTIL signature score, which showed a dramatic discriminability between CD8+ T cells and other cells. The QASM assay we developed for CD8+ MeTIL markers could measure CD8+ TILs distributions in a fully quantitative, accurate, and simple manner. The CD8+ MeTIL score determined by QASM assay showed a strong association with histopathology-based CD8+ TIL counts and a gene expression-based immune marker. Furthermore, the low CD8+ MeTIL score (enriched CD8+ TILs) was associated with MSI-H tumors and predicted better survival in CRC cohorts.

Conclusions

This study developed a quantitative DNA methylation-based signature that was reliable to evaluate CD8+ TILs and prognosis in CRC. This approach has the potential to be a tool for investigations on CD8+ TILs and a biomarker for therapeutic approaches, including immunotherapy.
Landfast ice properties over the Beaufort Sea region in 2000–2019 from MODIS and Canadian Ice Service data
Authors: Trishchenko Alexander P. , Kostylev Vladimir E. , Luo Yi , Ungureanu Calin , Whalen Dustin , Li Junhua
Published: September 2021

Two decades (2000–2019) of the landfast ice properties in the Beaufort Sea region in the Canadian Arctic were analyzed at 250 m spatial resolution from two sources: (1) monthly maps derived at the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer clear-sky satellite image composites; and (2) Canadian Ice Service charts. Detailed comparisons have been conducted for the landfast ice spatial extent, the water depth at, and the distance to the outer seaward edge from the coast in four sub-regions: (1) Alaska coast; (2) Barter Island to Herschel Island; (3) Mackenzie Bay; and (4) Richards Island to Cape Bathurst. The results from both sources demonstrate good agreement. The average spatial extent for the entire region over the April–June period is 48.5 (±5.0) × 103 km2 from Canadian Ice Service data versus 45.1 (±6.1) × 103 km2 from satellite data used in this study (7.0% difference). The correlation coefficient for April–June is 0.73 (p = 2.91 × 10−4). The long-term linear trends of the April–June spatial extent since 2000 demonstrated statistically significant decline: −4.45 (±1.69) × 103 km2/decade and −4.73 (±2.17) × 103 km2/decade from Canadian Ice Service and satellite data, respectively. The landfast ice in the Beaufort Sea region showed the general tendency for an earlier break-up, later onset, and longer ice-free period. The break-up date has decreased by 7.6 days/decade in the Mackenzie Bay region. The western part of the study area did not demonstrate statistically significant changes since 2000.
Molecular Modeling Approach of Serine Protease NS3-4A Genotype 3a as a Potential Drug Target of Hepatitis C Virus: Homology Modeling and Virtual Screening Study
Authors: Hussain Rashid , Khalid Hira , Fatmi M. Qaiser
Published: September 2021

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), affecting millions of people worldwide, is the leading cause of liver disorder, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. HCV is genetically diverse having seven genotypes and several subtypes that are predominant in different regions of the globe. The HCV NS3/4A protease is a major therapeutic target for HCV with various direct acting FDA approved antivirals, and several in clinical development. However, available protease inhibitors (PIs) have lower potency against HCV genotype 3, prevalent in South Asia. Lack of structural data limited our ability to recognize loss of inhibitory potential of PIs. In this study, we attempted to get structural insight of protease GT3 by modeling techniques. The incumbent computational tools were utilized to understand and explore interactions of HCV GT3 receptor with the potential inhibitors after virtual screening of in-house synthesized compound library. The molecular dynamics and pharmacological studies revealed compound Li_PIS_19 exhibiting the favorable binding and better pharmacokinetics properties that may be considered as the most promising compound against HCV GT3 protease.
Molecular Profiling of Spermatozoa Reveals Correlations between Morphology and Gene Expression: A Novel Biomarker Panel for Male Infertility
Authors: Cassuto Nino Guy , Piquemal David , Boitrelle Florence , Larue Lionel , Lédée Nathalie , Hatem Ghada , Ruoso Léa , Bouret Dominique , Siffroi Jean-Pierre , Rouen Alexandre , Assou Said
Published: September 2021

Choosing spermatozoa with an optimum fertilizing potential is one of the major challenges in assisted reproductive technologies (ART). This selection is mainly based on semen parameters, but the addition of molecular approaches could allow a more functional evaluation. To this aim, we used sixteen fresh sperm samples from patients undergoing ART for male infertility and classified them in the high‐ and poor‐quality groups, on the basis of their morphology at high magnification. Then, using a DNA sequencing method, we analyzed the spermatozoa methylome to identify genes that were differentially methylated. By Gene Ontology and protein–protein interaction network analyses, we defined candidate genes mainly implicated in cell motility, calcium reabsorption, and signaling pathways as well as transmembrane transport. RT‐qPCR of high‐ and poor‐quality sperm samples allowed showing that the expression of some genes, such as AURKA, HDAC4, CFAP46, SPATA18, CACNA1C, CACNA1H, CARHSP1, CCDC60, DNAH2, and CDC88B, have different expression levels according to sperm morphology. In conclusion, the present study shows a strong correlation between morphology and gene expression in the spermatozoa and provides a biomarker panel for sperm analysis during ART and a new tool to explore male infertility.
Au-O-MWCNTs and TiO2-O-MWCNTs as Efficient Nanocarriers for Dexamethasone: Adsorption Isotherms and Kinetic Studies
Authors: Haghighi Maryam , Khoshfetrat Azadeh
Published: September 2021

In this research, the fabrication of drug delivery systems based on oxidized multiwall carbon nanotubes (O-MWCNTs) was studied. Herein, TiO2 and Au were conjugated with O-MWCNTs to prepare efficient nanocarriers for dexamethasone (dex). The samples were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). In addition, dex loading was studied using adsorption isotherms including Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin, and Dubinin–Radushkevich. The results show that dex adsorption agreed well with the Freundlich isotherm. Increasing the TiO2 to O-MWCNT ratio from (1 : 4) to (1 : 2) can improve the adsorption capacity from

290
 
mg
⋅

g

−
1

to 320

320
 
mg
⋅

g

−
1

. The increasing Au amount increases the adsorption capacity from

437.78
 
mg
⋅

g

−
1

(SA1) to maximum

476.19
 
mg
⋅

g

−
1

(SA6). The maximum equilibrium binding energy

A

T

1.67
 
L
⋅

mg

−
1

was obtained for SA2, and SA7 shows high binding strength between dex and the nanoadsorbent. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) show good affinity with high loading capabilities for dexamethasone adsorption. The synthesized TiO2-O-MWCNTs:1/2 with the maximum removal percent (80%) was proposed as an appropriate nanocarrier for dexamethasone. Pseudo-first order, pseudo-second order, Elovich, and intraparticle diffusion models were investigated for all synthesized drug nanocarriers. According to regression coefficients, experimental data are in good agreement with the pseudo-second order model for all adsorbents except O-MWCNT/CTAB. Experimental results revealed that the Elovich model could account for the O-MWCNT/CTAB adsorbent.
Human Papillomavirus Types Associated with Cervical Dysplasia among HIV‐ and Non‐HIV‐Infected Women Attending Reproductive Health Clinics in Eastern Kenya
Authors: Njue James Kinoti , Muturi Margaret , Kamau Lucy , Lwembe Raphael
Published: September 2021

Background. Human papillomavirus (HPV) causes over 99% of all cervical cancer globally. In 2019, it was responsible for 3286 deaths in Kenya. Data on the epidemiological distribution of HPV genotypes by cervical dysplasia and HIV‐infected women which is important in designing prevention strategy monitoring treatment and management of cervical cancer is lacking in Eastern Kenya. Objective. To determine HPV genotype prevalence and their association with cervical dysplasia among HIV‐infected (cases) and noninfected (control) women aged 18‐48 years seeking reproductive healthcare. Methods. A cervical broom was softly rotated 360 degrees five times to exfoliate cells from the region of the transformation zone, squamocolumnar junction, and endocervical canal for HPV genotyping. Social‐demographic and risk factors responsible for HPV acquisition were collected using a questionnaire. Laboratory outcome and questionnaire data statistical relationships were computed using Pearson chi‐square test. Results. 317 women (cases: 161 (50.8%), control 156 (49.2%), mean age: 34.3,SD ± 10.4, range 18‐46 years) were recruited from Embu (85/317 (26.8%)), Isiolo (64/317 (20.2%)), Kirinyaga (56/317 (17.7%)), Meru (81/317 (25.6%)), and Tharaka‐Nithi (31/317 (9.8%)). The frequency HPV genotypes detected by cervical dysplasia were CIN1 (cases: HPV81 (12/317 (3.8%)), HPV11 (2/317 (0.6%)); control: HPV53 and 66 coinfection (1/317 (0.3%)), CIN2 (cases: HPV11, HPV16, HPV66 ((1/317 (0.3%) each), HPV81 (6/317 (1.9%)), and single case (1/317 (0.3%)) of HPV11 and 66, HPV81 and 44, HPV81 and 88, HPV9 and 53, and HPV16 and 58 coinfection; control: HPV81 (2/317 (0.6%)) and invasive cervical cancer (cases: HPV16 (1/317 (0.3%)) and HPV81 (3/317 (0.9%)); control: HPV16 and 66 (1/317 (0.3%))).Conclusions. There was a higher frequency of both high‐risk and low‐risk HPV genotypes associated with cervical dysplasia among HIV‐infected than HIV‐uninfected women seeking reproductive health care. This study provides epidemiological data on the existence of nonvaccine HPV types associated with cervical dysplasia in the region.
Modeling the Impacts of Driver Income Distributions on Online Ride-Hailing Services
Authors: Wu Yuru , Li Weifeng , Yu Qing , Chen Jinyu
Published: September 2021

The online ride-hailing taxi brings new vitality into the traditional taxi market, as well as new issues and challenges. The pricing and profit distribution of online ride-hailing services is one of the major concerns. This study focuses on the pricing and income distribution in the online ride-hailing system. Queuing system model and birth and death process theory are introduced to describe the driver’s flow process in the network. The social welfare maximization model and the platform profit maximization model are constructed based on the dynamic pricing mechanism, from the government’s and platform’s standpoint, respectively. Through numerical experiments, this paper analyzes the income distribution of drivers under different settings and the influence of different factors (average travel time, psychologically expected price of drivers and passengers, and probability of driver leaving the system) on the proportion of income distribution. The results show that the drivers’ income distribution proportion is higher in the pursuit of social welfare maximization than that in the pursuit of platform profit maximization, and in different benefit pursuit models, various factors have a certain influence on the driver’s income distribution proportion. The proposed method and conclusion in this study can be considered as references for online ride-hailing market supervision and policy-making.
Diagnostic and Predictive Values of LAP in Hypertension: A Cross-Sectional Study in Chinese Population Older Than 65 Years
Authors: Yan Shuo , Zheng Qing-Hu , Sun Dong-Mei , Wu Ying , Li Tu-Ming , Zhong Ping
Published: September 2021

This study aimed to investigate the predictive value of lipid accumulation product (LAP) in hypertension in Chinese population older than 65 years. A total of 2092 adults from the communities in Pudong New Area of Shanghai were included in this cross-sectional study. The participants filled in questionnaire and received anthropometric and laboratory examinations. The receiver operating characteristics curve (ROC) was used to analyze the predictive value of different risk factors in hypertension. Results showed that LAP was closely related to hypertension (adjusted OR: 1.011, 95% CI: 1.007–1.015). In females, LAP, fasting blood glucose (FPG), and body mass index (BMI) were associated with hypertension; in males, triglycerides (TG) and waist circumference (WC) were related to hypertension. LAP (AUC = 0.655, 95% CI: 0.632–0.679) was better than neck circumference (NC) and BMI in predicting hypertension. When the cutoff value was 33.5, LAP had the best predictive performance. In males, LAP at 36.72 and 56.76 had the best predictive performance in males (AUC = 0.663, 95% CI: 0.629–0.697) and females (AUC = 0.650, 95% CI: 0.618–0.682), respectively. In conclusion, LAP is a risk factor of hypertension in the elderly. For hypertension, BMI, FPG, and LAP have favorable predictive performance in females, and WC and TG have better predictive performance in males.
Strategy Analysis of Selling Model Selection in Vertical Competition Supply Chains: A Game Theoretic Model
Authors: Chen Qian , Liu Sen , Wang Lijun , Zhang Zhe , He Xiaojun
Published: September 2021

This paper takes the supply chain perspective to study the choice of selling model for manufacturers and e-tailers. To accomplish our objective, we consider three selling models, including reselling, agency selling, and mixed selling. By comparing and analyzing the equilibrium outcomes of the three selling models, we obtain some beneficial results. These results show that manufacturers and e-tailers cannot manage to make a profit at the same time whether they choose the reselling model or agency selling model. Our results also show that the mixed selling model may improve supply chain performance, as long as the cross-price elasticity is not low. Especially when the cross-price elasticity is comparatively high, a manufacturer and an e-tailer in vertical competition can achieve a profit-Pareto-improving situation, regardless of the market share of the e-tailer.
Privacy-Preserving Redactable Blockchain for Internet of Things
Authors: Ren Yanli , Cai Xianji , Hu Mingqi
Published: September 2021

In the traditional blockchain system, data is public and cannot be redacted. With the development of blockchain technology, the problem that the data cannot be altered will be more serious once it is written on the chain. Recently, some redactable blockchain schemes have been proposed. However, most of the schemes are based on the public blockchain, and the users’ identities and transaction data may be disclosed. To solve the problem of privacy disclosure, we propose a privacy-preserving transaction-level redactable blockchain. In the proposed scheme, symmetric encryption and ring signature are used to protect transaction data and the users’ identities, respectively. In order to prove the legality of data redaction, the transaction sender can reveal the invalid users’ identities and transaction data in an anonymous environment. To construct a transaction-level redactable blockchain, the users only need to replace a single transaction to complete the data redaction instead of replacing the entire block. The experimental results show that the proposed scheme saves 20% of the redaction time compared to the previous privacy-preserving blockchains, so the redaction efficiency is higher.
Determinants of Intraocular Pressure (IOP) of Glaucoma Patients at Felege Hiwot Referral Hospital, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia
Authors: Muluneh Mitiku Wale , Gebremichael Shewayiref Geremew
Published: September 2021

Background. Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness in the world associated with characteristic damage to the optic nerve and patterns of visual field loss due to retinal ganglion cell degeneration. The main objective of this study was to investigate determinants for the variation of intraocular pressure of glaucoma patients under treatment at Felege Hiwot Referral Hospital, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. Methods. A retrospective cohort study design was conducted on 328 randomly selected glaucoma patients in the ophthalmology clinic at the hospital under the follow-up period from January 2014 to December 2018. Glaucoma patients who have two and more than two visits in the study period were included in the study, but patients who are attending medications less than two visits were excluded from the study. A linear mixed-effects model for intraocular pressure change was used for data analysis. Result. The estimated coefficient of fixed effect intercept was 25.1829, which indicates that the average IOP of the patients was 25.1829 mmHg at baseline time by excluding all covariates in the model (

p

value <0.0001), age (

β

=0.07, 95%CI 0.03, 0.11), urban residence (

β

 = −1.60, 95%CI −2.84, −0.36), family history of glaucoma (

β

 = 4.90, 95%CI 3.38–6.43), timolol and pilocarpine medication (

β

 = −2.02, 95%CI −4.01, −0.03), cup-disk ratio >0.7 (

β

 = 2.60, 95% CI 1.24–3.96), and follow-up time (

β

 = −0.34, 95%CI −0.47, −0.21) were significantly associated with intraocular pressure of glaucoma patients. Conclusion. The predictor age, residence, family history of glaucoma, type of medication, cup-disk ratio, and follow-up time were significantly associated with the intraocular pressure of glaucoma patients. Therefore, healthcare providers give more attention and prioritize those identified factors and give frequent counseling about reducing intraocular pressure of glaucoma patients.
Subjective Taste and Smell Changes in Conjunction with Anxiety and Depression Are Associated with Symptoms in Patients with Functional Constipation and Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Authors: Liu Jie , Lv Chaolan , Wu Dandan , Wang Ying , Sun Chenyu , Cheng Ce , Yu Yue
Published: September 2021

Background. Patients with functional constipation (FC) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) often report psychological abnormalities and decreased eating enjoyment. Several patients also complain of changes in the sense of smell and taste, but these are often disregarded clinically. Aims. Therefore, there is a need to determine whether taste/smell disturbances and psychological abnormalities are present in patients with FC or IBS and whether these are related to the severity of lower gastrointestinal symptoms. Methods. A total of 337 subjects were recruited, including FC (

n
=
115

), IBS (

n
=
126

), and healthy controls (

n
=
96

). All participants completed questionnaires evaluating taste and smell (taste and smell survey (TSS)), Lower Gastrointestinal Symptoms Rating Scale (LGSRS), Hamilton anxiety scale (HAMA), and Hamilton depression scale (HAMD). TSS recorded information on the nature of taste and smell changes (TSCs) and the impact of these changes on the quality of life. LGSRS was used to assess the severity of lower gastrointestinal symptoms; HAMA and HAMD scales were used to reflect the psychosocial state. This study protocol was registered on the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (No. ChiCTR-2100044643). Results. Firstly, we found that taste and smell scores were higher in patients with IBS than in healthy controls. Secondly, for FC and IBS patients, LGSRS was significantly correlated with the taste score (

Spearma

n

’

s
 
rho
=
0.832

,

P
<
0.001

). LGSRS was also significantly correlated with HAMA (

Spearma

n

’

s
 
rho
=
0.357

,

P
=
0.017

) and HAMD (

Spearma

n

’

s
 
rho
=
0.377

,

P
=
0.012

). In addition, the taste score was significantly correlated with HAMD (

Spearma

n

’

s
 
rho
=
0.479

,

P
=
0.001

), while the smell score was also significantly correlated with HAMD (

Spearma

n

’

s
 
rho
=
0.325

,

P
=
0.031

). Thirdly, 60.87% and 71.43% of patients complained of taste abnormality, while 65.22% and 71.43% had smell abnormality in the FC and IBS groups, respectively. Meanwhile, 47.83% and 47.62% of patients suffered from anxiety, while 43.48% and 57.14% suffered from depression in the FC and IBS groups, respectively. Finally, we found significant differences in the taste, smell, HAMD, and LGSRS scores between the female and male IBS groups (

P
<
0.050

). Conclusions. TSCs and psychological disorders are prominent in FC and IBS patients. Taste abnormalities, as well as anxiety and depression, are significantly correlated with LGSRS. Awareness of this high prevalence of taste/smell abnormalities and the psychological changes among patients with FC and IBS may help better predict and understand the severity of symptoms.
Molecular Docking and Simulation Studies of Antidiabetic Agents Devised from Hypoglycemic Polypeptide‐P of Momordica charantia
Authors: Arif Rawaba , Ahmad Sajjad , Mustafa Ghulam , Mahrosh Hafiza Salaha , Ali Muhammad , Tahir ul Qamar Muhammad , Dar Hafiza Rabia
Published: September 2021

Diabetes mellitus termed as metabolic disorder is a collection of interlinked diseases and mainly body’s inability to manage glucose level which leads to cardiovascular diseases, renal failure, neurological disorders, and many others. The drugs contemporarily used for diabetes have many inevitable side effects, and many of them have become less responsive to this multifactorial disorder. Momordica charantia commonly known as bitter gourd has many bioactive compounds with antidiabetic properties. The current study was designed to use computational methods to discover the best antidiabetic peptides devised from hypoglycemic polypeptide‐P of M. charantia. The binding affinity and interaction patterns of peptides were evaluated against four receptor proteins (i.e., as agonists of insulin receptor and inhibitors of sodium‐glucose cotransporter 1, dipeptidyl peptidase‐IV, and glucose transporter 2) using molecular docking approach. A total of thirty‐seven peptides were docked against these receptors. Out of which, top five peptides against each receptor were shortlisted based on their S‐scores and binding affinities. Finally, the eight best ligands (i.e., LIVA, TSEP, EKAI, LKHA, EALF, VAEK, DFGAS, and EPGGGG) were selected as these ligands strictly followed Lipinski’s rule of five and exhibited good ADMET profiling. One peptide EPGGGG showed activity towards insulin and SGLT1 receptor proteins. The top complex for both these targets was subjected to 50 ns of molecular dynamics simulations and MM‐GBSA binding energy test that concluded both complexes as highly stable, and the intermolecular interactions were dominated by van der Waals and electrostatic energies. Overall, the selected ligands strongly fulfilled the drug‐like evaluation criterion and proved to have good antidiabetic properties.
Cataract Surgery in One-Eyed Patients: A Cohort Study of 100 Patients
Authors: Charles Alexis , Staccini Pascal , Martel Arnaud , Baillif Stéphanie
Published: September 2021

Purpose. To determine the course and outcomes of cataract surgery in one-eyed patients. Methods. This retrospective cohort study was conducted at the University Hospital of Nice, France. All one-eyed patients who underwent cataract surgery in their functional eye between January 2014 and December 2018 were included. A one-eyed patient was defined as having a visual acuity (VA) ≤20/200 in the other eye. Data were collected from the medical records and included the sociodemographic factors, the past medical history, data from the preoperative and postoperative clinical examinations, the surgical course, and the visual outcomes. Results. One hundred one-eyed patients with a mean age of 74.01 years were included (48 men/52 women). The mean preoperative VA was 20/100 (+0.74 logMAR). The VA ranged between 20/200 and 20/40 in 75 (75%) patients, was >20/40 in 8 (8%), and was <20/200 in 17 (17%) patients. Fifty-eight (58%) patients were operated on an outpatient basis. General or locoregional anesthesia was used in 29 (29%) and 9 (9%) patients, respectively. All cataract surgery procedures were performed by phacoemulsification. Five (5%) patients experienced intraoperative complications. Seventy-three (73%) one-eyed patients achieved a final VA ≥20/40. The mean final VA was 20/50 (+0.37 logMAR) (

p
<
0.001

). Conclusion. A low rate of intraoperative complications was observed in one-eyed patients during cataract surgery. In most cases, a good visual recovery was achieved after cataract surgery, even in patients who experienced a surgical complication.
Method of Analyzing and Managing Volleyball Action by Using Action Sensor of Mobile Device
Authors: Sun Xu , Zhao Kai , Jiang Wei , Jin Xinlong
Published: September 2021

With the development of electronic technology and sensor technology, more and more intelligent electronic devices integrate micro inertial sensors, which makes the research of human action recognition based on action sensing data have great application value. Data‐based action recognition is a new research direction in the field of pattern recognition, which is essentially a process of action data acquisition, feature extraction, feature extraction, and recognition, the process of classification and recognition. Inertial motion information includes acceleration and angular velocity information, which is ubiquitous in daily life. Compared with motion recognition based on visual information, it can more directly reflect the meaning of action. This study mainly discusses the method of analyzing and managing volleyball action by using the action sensor of mobile device. Based on the motion recognition algorithm of support vector machine, the motion recognition process of support vector machine is constructed. When the data terminal and gateway of volleyball players are not in the same LAN, the classification algorithm classifies the samples to be tested through the characteristic data, which directly affects the recognition results. In this paper, the support vector machine algorithm is selected as the data classification algorithm, and the calculation of the classification process is reduced by designing an appropriate kernel function. For multiclass problems, the hierarchical structure of directed acyclic graph is optimized to improve the recognition rate. We need to bind motion sensors to human joints. In order to realize real‐time recognition of human motion, mobile devices need to add windows to the motion capture data, that is, divide the data into a small sequence of specified length, and provide more application scenarios for the device. This method of embedding motion sensors into devices to read motion information is widely used, which provides a convenient data acquisition method for human motion pattern recognition based on motion information. The multiclassification support vector machine algorithm is used to train the classification algorithm model with action data. When the signal strength of the sensor is 90 t and the speed is 2.0 m/s and 0.5 m/s, the detection accuracy of the adaptive threshold is 93% and 95%, respectively. The results show that the SVM method based on hybrid kernel function can greatly improve the recognition accuracy of volleyball stroke, and the recognition time is short.
A Reliable Prediction Model for Renal Cell Carcinoma Subtype Based on Radiomic Features from 3D Multiphase Enhanced CT Images
Authors: Zhang Haijie , Yin Fu , Chen Menglin , Qi Anqi , Lai Zihao , Yang Liyang , Wen Ge
Published: September 2021

Background. This study aimed to develop a prediction model to distinguish renal cell carcinoma (RCC) subtypes. Methods. The radiomic features (RFs) from 5 different computed tomography (CT) phases were used in the prediction models: noncontrast phase (NCP), corticomedullary phase (CMP), nephrographic phase (NP), excretory phase (EP), and all-phase (ALL-P). Results. For the ALL-P model, all of the RFs obtained from the 4 single-phase images were combined to 420 RFs. The ALL-P model performed the best of all models, with an accuracy of 0.80; the sensitivity and specificity for clear cell RCC (ccRCC) were 0.85 and 0.83; those for papillary RCC (pRCC) were 0.60 and 0.91; those for chromophobe RCC (cRCC) were 0.66 and 0.91, respectively. Binary classification experiments showed for distinguishing ccRCC vs. not-ccRCC that the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of the ALL-P and CMP models was 0.89, but the overall sensitivity/specificity/accuracy of the ALL-P model was better. For cRCC vs. non-cRCC, the ALL-P model had the best performance. Conclusions. A reliable prediction model for RCC subtypes was constructed. The performance of the ALL-P prediction model was the best as compared to individual single-phase models and the traditional prediction model.
Velocity‐Preserving Trajectory Compression Based on Retrace Point Detection
Authors: Chen Anbang , Liu Linfeng
Published: September 2021

With the increasing development of GPS‐equipped mobile devices such as smart phones and vehicle navigation systems, the trajectories containing valuable spatiotemporal information are recorded. Typically, plenty of trajectory records are generated and stored, making the device memory suffer a heavy storage pressure. Thus, it is a vital issue to compress the trajectories. The trajectory semantics are usually ignored or reduced in traditional trajectory compression techniques. In addition, most of existing trajectory compression algorithms only concern the position errors rather than the velocity errors of trajectories. This paper proposes a velocity‐preserving trajectory compression algorithm based on retrace point detection (VPTC‐RP) that can compress a set of trajectories by removing unnecessary redundancy points, while the skeleton of these trajectories is maintained as much as possible. In VPTC‐RP, the retrace points and the velocity errors are taken to reflect the speeds and directions attached with the points. VPTC‐RP first determines the retrace points based on the changed movement directions, and then, the retrace points are extracted from the original trajectories. Especially, the retrace points are put in a buffer, and the subtrajectories in the buffer are compressed according to the measured velocity errors. Simulations are carried out on the Geolife trajectory dataset, and the simulation results indicate that VPTC‐RP can achieve a preferable tradeoff among the compression error, compression ratio, and running time.
Minimizing Zapping Delay Using Adaptive Channel Switching with Personalized Electronic Program Guide
Authors: Adeliyi Timothy T. , Olugbara Oludayo O. , Parbanath Steven
Published: September 2021

The pervasive acceptability of a revolution from monodirectional push-based media broadcasting to a bidirectional interactive pull-based internet protocol television (IPTV) has spotted significant development in recent years. The pervasive acceptability is because of the mammoth number of exhilarating television (TV) channels that IPTV offers. However, the channel switching feature of a TV system requires additional development despite the increased implementation of IPTV systems worldwide. Subscribers of IPTV services must be able to swiftly explore live TV stations and video contents of interest seamlessly, but zapping delay is a deterrent that occurs during a channel change that causes a significant glitch in IPTV systems. Many of the literature approaches such as channel prediction based on behavior analysis have shown flaws in resolving zapping delay. The approach of this study uses adaptive channel switching with a personalized electronic program guide to resolving zapping delay. The resolution saves the subscribers the time of channel navigation by eliminating the need to search for channels they want to view.
A Method of UWB Radar Vital Detection Based on P Time Extraction of Strong Vital Signs
Authors: Yang Zhen , Cheng Jiming , Qi Qingjie , Li Xin , Wang Yuning
Published: September 2021

The vital sign information in the echo signal of the UWB radar is weak, because of the interference of complex noise. In this paper, a method named P times extraction of strong vital signs for processing echo signals of UWB radars is proposed. Different noises can be distinguished by the cumulative probability distribution of the echo signal and using different methods for processing according to corresponding characteristics. The vital sign information which most clearly represents the trapped person is selected using P times extraction of strong vital signs; then, the respiration and heartbeat rates are extracted. At 5 different distances, multiple sets of tests were carried out on static trapped persons and micromovement trapped persons and using a computer to extract vital signs from the obtained data. Experimental data shows that the algorithm proposed in this paper can extract the respiration and heartbeat rates of trapped persons, with small relative errors and variances, and has a certain reference value for UWB radar signal processing.
Injectable Hydrogels in Repairing Central Nervous System Injuries
Authors: Sun Huiyan , Zhang Limin , Cheng Wei , Hao Fengxia , Zhou Liyan , Li Qiang
Published: September 2021

The injured central nervous system (CNS) can hardly regenerate. In vitro engineering of brain tissue hits technical bottlenecks. Also, the compaction and complexity of anatomical structure defy the accurate positioning for lesion sites in intracranial injuries. Therefore, repairing injured CNS remains a significant clinical challenge. Various recent in vivo and in vitro experiments have demonstrated the excellent effect of tissue engineering on repairing central nerve cells and tissues through implanting new materials and engineered cells. Except for porous three‐dimensional structures able to pad lesions in various shapes and simulate the natural extracellular matrix with nutrients for cell proliferation, hydrogels incorporate high biocompatibility. Injectable hydrogels with the merits of avoiding complex surgery on large wounds, filling irregular gaps, delivering drugs, and others, are of growing interest. This review focuses on the experimental studies regarding injectable hydrogels, especially applying various injectable hydrogels to repair brain damage.
Workability and Compressive Strength Behavior of a Cemented High‐Porosity Backfill Material
Authors: Cao W. H. , Wang X. F. , Zhang D. S. , Ji X. J. , Chen X. Z. , Zhang A. , Zhu F. X.
Published: September 2021

A full understanding of the workability and unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of the cemented high‐porosity (CHPB) material, made of surface sand, widely distributed in the western mining area, foam, and cementing materials, is important for applying in ecologically fragile mining areas of western China. In this article, the influence of solid content, density grade, sand/binder ratio, and silica fume dosage in binder on workability and strength development of CHPB samples in different curing ages is studied. Test results show that the fresh CHPB mix has good workability, due to the existence of a large number of bubbles. With the increase of density grade, the UCS of the CHPB sample increases exponentially. Workability of fresh CHPB samples significantly decreases with increasing solid content due to the reduction of interparticle distance. For a given mix proportion, the optimal solid content of CHPB samples is 83.7%. The variation of the sand/binder ratio from 3 to 4.5 results in a slight increase of workability and a significant increase of the UCS. Silica fume demonstrates improvement on workability and strength behavior, and the optimal dosage in the binder should not exceed 10%.
Light Industry Technology of Chiral Perovskite Nanomaterials Construction and Photoelectric Properties
Authors: Sun Jie
Published: September 2021

Perovskite nanomaterials have become a new research hotspot due to the many novel physical properties of quantum effects and have good application prospects in the field of optoelectronics. Among them, the realization of controllable fabrication of perovskite nanomaterials is the basis of performance studies and applications and is also a difficult point. Reducing production costs to improve manufacturing methods, further improve product controllability, promote advantages, or improve disadvantages will be very important for further application of perovskite nanomaterials. Therefore, this paper studies the construction of titanium ore nanomaterials by designing a novel preparation process and, at the same time, analyzes the related optoelectronic properties of the obtained materials. In this paper, a triangular PbI2 nanosheet having a uniform and controllable shape and size was successfully fabricated by physical vapor deposition through the introduction of a limited space, and related characterization was performed to show uniform controllability and high crystallinity. Using PbI2 nanosheets as the substrate, MAPbI3 nanosheets were further prepared and related characterizations proved that the obtained nanosheets had high crystallinity and excellent optical properties. The experiment proves that the peak position of the fluorescence spectrum obtained by Gaussian fitting is 800 nm and the half‐peak width is about 45 nm. At the same time, MAPbI3 exhibits strong light absorption characteristics when the wavelength is less than 800 nm. This shows that this enclosed space deposition method can improve the uniformity and controllability of PbI2 and MAPbI3 nanosheet fabrication, which provides the basis for further research on MAPbI3 nanomaterials and references to the controllable growth of other nanomaterials.
Research on the Three‐Dimensional Power Frequency Electric Field Measurement System
Authors: Suo Chunguang , Wei Ran , Zhang Wenbin , Li Yincheng
Published: September 2021

It is of great significance to accurately provide electric field information for electric power operators and electric power inspection equipment to ensure the safety of live working robots and electric power workers. In this paper, the principle of parallel plate charge induction is used to detect electric field signals and the influence of the inherent capacitance of the parallel plate on the back‐end circuit is considered. An equipotential ring is used as the structure of the sensing unit to eliminate the uncertainty generated by the edge electric field. The parameters of the sensor probe are determined by the principle of differential‐integration, and its structure is analyzed and designed. The consistency of the designed sensor probe was analyzed, and the results show that the consistency of the sensor is better. We have measured the sensitivity coefficients of the six probes, and the average absolute deviation reached 0.031556. The fits were all above 0.9995. In addition, a three‐dimensional power frequency electric field measurement system that is easy to manufacture is designed using the hexahedral structure, which solves the problem of inaccurate electric field measurement caused by the parallel plate probe and the field source being not perpendicular, and the combined field strength formula of nonuniform electric field was obtained. In the laboratory environment, the three‐dimensional power frequency electric field measurement system produced in this paper is compared with the electric field simulated by an electric field simulation tool. The test results show that the deviation between the measurement system and simulation is within ±0.55%, the measurement range is 1 kV/m–200 kV/m, the resolution is ≥1 V/m, and the maximum electric field can be measured at 200 kV/m. The nonlinear error is 2.15%, and the sensitivity coefficient is 19.10 mV/(kV · m−1), which meets the measurement requirements of the power frequency electric field and can be applied to the actual power frequency electric field measurement.
Prevalence and Predominant Genotype of Hepatitis C Virus Infection and Associated Risk Factors among Pregnant Women in Iran
Authors: Farshadpour Fatemeh , Taherkhani Reza , Bakhtiari Farkhondeh
Published: September 2021

Objective. Knowledge regarding the prevalence and risk factors of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among pregnant women can give clue to health care providers regarding the appropriate management of HCV infection. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the prevalence, genotypic pattern, and risk factors of HCV infection among pregnant women in the northern shores of the Persian Gulf, south of Iran. Methods. From January 2018 to June 2019, serum samples were obtained from 1425 pregnant women, ages ranging from 14 to 46 years (28.1 ± 5.99). Serum samples were tested for detection of anti‐HCV antibodies using an enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) (HCV Ab ELISA kit, Dia.Pro, Milan, Italy). Following the extraction of nucleic acid, the molecular evaluation of HCV infection was performed by seminested reverse transcriptase‐polymerase chain reaction assay (RT‐PCR), targeting the 5 ′ untranslated region (5 ′UTR) and core of HCV genome and sequencing. Results. Of the 1425 pregnant women, 19 women (1.33%, 95% CI: 0.85%–2.07%) were positive for anti‐HCV antibodies. The majority of HCV‐seropositive women were in the third trimester of pregnancy, educated, and had a history of blood transfusion, abortion, surgery, or dentistry. Moreover, Arab and Fars pregnant women and those aged >39 years had the highest rate of HCV seroprevalence. Nevertheless, none of these variables were significantly associated with HCV seropositivity. In contrast, HCV seropositivity was associated with place of residency, so that residents of Khormuj city had significantly higher HCV seroprevalence compared to the residents of other cities (OR: 7.05; 95% CI: 1.75–28.39; P = 0.006). According to the molecular evaluation, 9 of the 19 HCV‐seropositive pregnant women (47.37%) had HCV viremia with genotype 3a. Conclusion. This study reports the HCV prevalence of 1.33% for anti‐HCV antibodies and 0.63% for HCV RNA among pregnant women in the south of Iran. Considering the asymptomatic nature of chronic HCV infection and the fact that vertical transmission is possible in women with detectable viremia, therefore, screening of women before pregnancy is recommended to reduce the risk of HCV infection and its complications during pregnancy.