bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Biorremediação dos efluentes do Rio São Francisco em Petrolina-PE: perspectivas de tratamento
Authors: Andrade Matheus Vinicius Vidal de , Galhardo Cristiane Xavier
Published: April 2021

Due to the increase in cities, which results in a greater production of domestic and industrial waste, huge environmental and public health losses can occur when they are not assisted by sewage and landfills. Often the effluents from these cities are dumped in inappropriate places, such as rivers, lakes, streams and the like. Thus, it is necessary that actions such as the bioremediation of effluents that are discharged into environments, or close to those where water is collected for human consumption, are increasingly active. Therefore, this research aims to prospect the main methods used in the bioremediation of aquatic environments intended for human consumption and to compare them with ordinary decontamination processes, as well as to identify the main benefits of these types of treatment in order to guarantee water quality. Data were collected through research on the Periodicals Capes platform. Based on themes related to basic sanitation, inadequate discharge of effluents in aquatic environments, contamination status of the São Francisco River in the regions of Petrolina-PE and Juazeiro-BA and the effluent bioremediation of water environments and these were analyzed by the method of Content Analysis of Bardin, using a qualitative approach. After the analysis of the results, it was observed that the cities of Petrolina-PE and Juazeiro-BA present several means for the discharge of effluents in water environments, such as, dumping of waste into streams that flow into the São Francisco river, sewage directly discharged on the São Francisco river. Although there are measures to clean up the river, it is difficult to find proposals on the bioremediation of the São Francisco River, despite the effective measures for bioremediation of river effluents pointed out by several theorists.
O uso do comando sequência na Elaboração de Simuladores com o software GeoGebra
 Sequence command use in Simulators Elaboration with GeoGebra software
Authors: Castillo Luis Andrés , Gutiérrez Araujo Rafael Enrique , Sánchez Ivonne C.
Published: April 2021

Visando reportar as vantagens e potencialidades de outras funcionalidades menos conhecidas do software GeoGebra para realizar construções geométricas, objetivou-se apresentar o uso do comando sequência em experiências de Elaboração de Simuladores com o GeoGebra para a obtenção de desenhos dinâmicos. Para tanto, reportam-se algumas experiências dessa atividade em que se tentava representar peças de mecanismos nas janelas 2D e 3D do software. As experiências mostram a eficiência do comando sequência para resolver em menor tempo tarefas de construção geométrica, cuja resolução usando as ferramentas tradicionais do software precisaria de maior tempo e esforço. Nesse sentido, considera-se que a inclusão do comando sequência no repertório de ferramentas dos participantes da ESG pode melhorar suas técnicas de construção e, portanto, os desenhos dinâmicos que tentam obter.
Personal Financial Management Behaviors during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Vietnam.
Authors: Tam LE Thanh , Trang Nguyen Thi Ha , Anh Ngo Thi Ngoc , Mai Ngo Thi Thu
Published: April 2021

This paper is aimed at investigating the factors affecting personal financial management behaviors in Vietnam during the Covid-19 pandemic. With data of interviewing online 477 individuals, the research team used the reliability test with Cronbach’s Alpha, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), Pearson correlation analysis’s results, and linear OLS model. The key findings are: First, four factors have strong impacts on personal financial management behavior are: (i) Covid-19 pandemic; (ii) Financial habits from parents; (iii) Financial education from parents; (iv) Financial well-being. Of which, the factor of socialization has been separated in to “financial habits from parents”, and “financial education from parents”. Second, differently from previous studies, two variables of financial knowledge and financial attitude have no impact on personal financial management behavior. These differences come from the special characteristics of Vietnam culture: First, parents are the main financial sources for the youth, and also the model of financial management for children. Second, as financial management capacity building courses are not much available in Vietnam, people depend on family own’s experiences to build up their financial management behaviors. Basing on the results, the recommendations are focusing on improving financial management capability of parents in order to improve individual financial management capacity.
Monitoring and support optimization analysis of surrounding rock pressure and initial supporting stress in deep-buried soft rock tunnel
Authors: Liu Q. , Li R. , Tian W. , Wang Y. , Li X.
Published: April 2021

Attempting at the problems of surrounding rock pressure and initial supporting stress of deep-buried soft rock tunnel, a soft rock highway tunnel project in Northwest China was monitored on-site for surrounding rock deformation, surrounding rock pressure, initial stress and other items.Discuss the deformation laws and stress characteristics of surrounding rock and steel arch at different construction stages, and compare and analyze the deformation control effect of surrounding rock with different initial lining thickness, different initial elastic modulus and different anchor length through numerical simulation.The results show that the excavation stage of the upper step is a stage where the pressure and deformation of the surrounding rock increase rapidly. The steel arch support is mainly compressed, and the average stress can reach more than 50% of the peak value within 5 days. The stress is mostly higher than the measuring point of the lower step. The initial steel frame support of the upper step and the middle step bears a greater load. The excavation of the upper middle step should be "passed quickly and supported in time", and the construction should adopt The “letting first,then resisting” method appropriately increases the reserved deformation of the surrounding rock to relieve the support stress of the primary steel frame. When the deformation of the surrounding rock and the growth rate of the surrounding rock pressure slow down, the secondary lining can be applied in advance. The research results can provide reference and reference for the design and construction of similar tunnel projects.
Safety assessment of corrosion-defective natural gas pipeline under ground overload based on FEM
Authors: Zheng T. , Liang Z. , Qing X. , Wei J. , Zhang L. , Zhang J.
Published: April 2021

Aiming at the safety problem of the pipeline containing corrosion defects caused by ground overload, a novel method is developed to assess the safety of buried pipelines with corrosion defects and predict the failure pressure. The effects of parameters including internal pressure, ground overload, length of the loading area, corrosion defect depth, buried depth and soil Young’s modulus, are discussed. Ground overload greatly increases the von Mises stress and strain at the corrosion defect location and decreases the internal pressure threshold. The von Mises stress and strain are an obvious nonlinear relationship with internal pressure. The high stress and strain area expand along the diagonal direction of the defect area. The local stress and strain concentration at the corrosion defect increases with the increase of ground overload, length of the loading area and corrosion defect depth, which reduces the failure pressure of the pipeline. Increasing the buried depth and soil Young’s modulus would effectively reduce local stress and strain concentration, and increase the failure pressure of the pipeline. The pipeline settlement displacement increases with the increase of internal pressure, ground overload, length of the loading area, and decreases with the increase of pipeline buried depth and soil Young’s modulus.
Farklı Yaşlandırma Şartlarının Bazı Ağaç Türlerinin ThermoWood® Ürünlerinde Renk Değişimine Etkisi
Authors: AYTİN Ayhan , KORKUT Süleyman , ÇAKICIER Nevzat
Published: April 2021

Bu çalışmada ısıl işlem uygulanmış ağaç türlerinde yoğunluk ve renk değişimi gibi fiziksel, statik eğilme direnci ve statik eğilmede elastikiyet modülü gibi mekanik özellikler araştırılmıştır. Fiziksel özelliklerden renk değişimi üst yüzey işlemi uygulanmış deneme örneklerinde doğal ve hızlandırılmış yaşlandırma sonrası ayrı ayrı belirlenmiştir. İlk olarak, Türkiye'de doğal olarak yetişen çalışma ağaçları kavak (Populus tremula-TK), dişbudak (Fraxinus angustifolia-DYD), ladin (Picea orientalis-DL) ve göknar (Abies bornmülleriana-UG) seçilmiştir. Ardından çalışma ağaçları ThermoWood® yöntemi ile ısıl işleme tabi tutulmuşlardır. Daha sonra, DYD ve UG için tam kuru yoğunluk (TKY), hava kurusu yoğunluk (HKY) ve statik eğilme direnci (ED) ve statik eğilmede elastikiyet modülü (EM) test örnekleri, aynı zamanda tüm ağaç türlerinden yaşlandırma çalışması yapılacak deneme örnekleri hazırlanmıştır. Yaşlandırma test örneklerine tek bileşenli (STB), çift bileşenli (SÇB) ve renkli olmak (SRV) üzere üç farklı içeriğe sahip su bazlı vernik (SBV) ile yüzey işlemi uygulanmıştır. Örnekler üzerinde daha sonra 190 gün boyunca doğal yaşlandırma (DY), 336 saat hızlandırılmış yaşlandırma (QUV) işlemi gerçekleştirilmiştir. Yaşlandırma testleri sonrasında en küçük ΔE değerleri SRV elde edilmiştir. Çalışma sonuçlarına göre ısıl işlem görmüş ağaç malzemelerin dış hava koşullarına açık kullanımlarında renk değişimine karşı alınabilecek en etkili tedbirlerden birisinin SRV kullanılmasının olduğu söylenebilir. Öte yandan HT test örneklerinde kontrol örneklerine (K) göre yoğunluk değerleri ile ED’nin azaldığı, EM değerinin ise arttığı belirlenmiştir.
Kastamonu İli Fındıklı Yaylasında Küresel İklim Değişikliğine Bağlı Olarak Meydana Gelebilecek İklim Tipi Değişiklikleri
Authors: ABACIOĞLU Ezgi , PALTA Şahin
Published: April 2021

Bütün dünyada canlılar ve ekosistemler için iklim çok önemli bir unsurdur. İklimin dünya üzerindeki olumlu veya olumsuz etkisinin insanları doğrudan veya dolaylı olarak etkilediği bilinmektedir. Bu süreçte iklim parametreleri ve iklim tiplerinde meydana gelecek değişikliklerin önceden belirlenmesiyle, alınabilecek tedbirler ve sürece hazırlıklı olunması bakımından büyük önem taşımaktadır. Çalışmamızda RCP (Representative Concentration Pathways –Temsili Konsantrasyon Yolu) senaryolarından, genellikle akademik çalışmalarda kullanılan RCP 4.5 ve RCP 8.5 senaryoları baz alınmıştır. De Martone, Emberger ve Lang iklim sınıfları kullanılmış ve bu iklim sınıflarına göre iklim tipleri günümüz, 2050 yılı ve 2100 yılı için değerlendirilmiş ve aralarında karşılaştırmalar yapılmış, böylece sıcaklık, yağış ve bunlara bağlı olarak iklimin süreç içerisinde nasıl değişeceği tahmin edilmeye çalışılmıştır. Çalışmada ülkemizin önemli şehirlerinden biri olan Kastamonu ili Araç ilçesine bağlı Fındıklı yaylasında 2050 ve 2100 yıllarına kadar, sıcaklık, yağış ve bunlara bağlı olarak iklimde meydana gelecek değişikliklerin farklı iklim senaryolarına göre değişimi belirlenmeye çalışılmıştır. Çalışma sonuçları, çalışmaya konu alanda 2050 yılından itibaren nemli alanların önemli ölçüde azalacağını ve kurak alanların oluşacağını göstermektedir.
A REFORMA DO ENSINO MÉDIO E A EDUCAÇÃO PROFISSIONAL: da Lei de Diretrizes e Bases (LDB) às Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais para o Ensino Médio e para a Educação Profissional
Authors: Piolli Evaldo , Sala Mauro
Published: April 2021

Esse artigo analisa a legislação que implementa e normatiza a Reforma do Ensino Médio nacional, sobretudo, a partir das transformações na Educação Profissional pela introdução dos itinerários formativos. Buscamos abarcar as transformações nas Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais para o Ensino Médio, as Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais Gerais para a Educação Profissional e Tecnológica que seguiram as mudanças propostas pela Lei 13.415/2017. Concluímos que a Reforma do Ensino Médio explicita ainda mais a dualidade entre uma formação voltada para o prosseguimento e aprofundamento dos estudos e outra voltada para o trabalho. No quadro da formação profissional, a reforma engendra uma segunda dualidade, que chamamos de dualidade da dualidade, que marca a distinção entre a formação em cursos técnicos e os cursos curtos de qualificação profissional. Analisamos os mecanismos da reforma que abrem espaço para a externalização da formação, as parcerias público-privadas, a Educação a Distância e para um processo de certificação e reconhecimento de competências adquiridas fora da escola, o que poderá significar um verdadeiro processo de desescolarização da Educação Profissional e Média.
A PRESENÇA DE MULHERES NA EDUCAÇÃO ANGOLANA
Authors: Canga Buza Ferreira Ruth , Valim Oliver Gonçalves Terezinha
Published: April 2021

Esta é uma pesquisa narrativa que trata da presença das mulheres no sistema educacional angolano. Por meio de fotos e relatos, traçamos o processo de ingresso das mulheres na educação angolana. Os relatos foram obtidos por meio de entrevista semiestruturada realizada com professoras em Angola. Para este espaço, trazemos a história de duas professoras, denominadas de Nsona e Tchissola (nomes fictícios), que possuem formação de nível superior. A professora Nsona leciona no ensino superior e a professora Tchissola na educação básica. A escolha de ambas foi realizada em razão da vivência dessas mulheres na educação, do período final da colonização no país ao período de guerra civil. O objetivo desta pesquisa é conhecer a trajetória de formação dessas mulheres no contexto angolano, adentrando na história do país e compreendendo os impactos dessa história na formação das professoras. As trajetórias de vida de Nsona e Tchissola, agora conhecidas e podem vir a ser fonte de inspiração e reformulação do sistema educacional angolano, abrindo mais espaço de profissão para as mulheres e sua valorização.
Children’s perceptions of a Centrally Procured School Food Program in southwestern Ontario, Canada
Authors: Colley Paige , Miller Linda , Seabrook Jamie A. , Woodruff Sarah J. , Gilliland Jason
Published: April 2021

Introduction

This qualitative study investigates children’s perceptions of the influences of a Centrally Procured School Food Program on their dietary behaviours and their recommendations on how to improve the program.

Methods

The observations of 208 students aged 9 to 14 years (Grades 5–8) at 21 elementary schools were collected through focus groups in 2017/18. The larger intervention consisted of a 10-week program offering daily snacks (i.e. fruit, vegetables, whole grains, dairy, meat alternatives) for elementary school children in southwestern Ontario, Canada.

Results

The participants’ overall impressions of the program were positive. They noted reduced hunger, increased energy and improved nutrition. Many children felt that the program changed their dietary patterns at home as well as at school, particularly in terms of eating more fruit and vegetables. The snack program also enabled children to try healthy foods.

Conclusion

Most participants considered the program to be beneficial in promoting healthy eating. Participants recommended adding educational activities, expanding the variety of foods and increasing child involvement in selecting and preparing foods.
The impact of pandemic process on special education in Cyprus
Authors: Gökbulut Özlem Dağlı , Gökbulut Burak , Yeniasır Mustafa
Published: April 2021

In this paper, the education programs offered to students with special needs in the online distance education format during the Covid-19 pandemic period in TRNC and the online family guidance/counseling services offered to their families were evaluated from the perspective of the families.  In the study, the data obtained follow a parallel course with other studies in the literature. In studies on the academic support provided by families for children and family participation in learning processes, the relation between family involvement at home and at school and academic success was revealed, which is also the case in this study. In addition, family involvement was determined as an essential predictor of the school success of students, and it was emphasized that increasing family participation would help education reach higher standards and students encounter alternative opportunities.
Overseas Medical Referral: the health system challenges for Pacific Island Countries
Authors: Boudville Andrea , Irava Wayne , Motofaga Silina , Gilbert Katherine , Annear Peter
Published: April 2021

The delivery of specialised clinical services in the small Island nations of the Pacific region is an increasing challenge in the context of a rising burden of non-communicable diseases. Resources are limited and case-loads too low to support local specialists. This article focuses on the common practice of Overseas Medical Referral (OMR), which is an increasing challenge in the region. We collected interview and secondary data across 16 Pacific Island Countries. We found that OMR policies are often weak or incomplete, systems inadequate and reforms needed. Integrating OMR fully into national health referral systems and national strategic planning and prioritisation processes is needed. There is an additional need for collection of routine data on OMR service providers in the recipient countries and the outcomes of clinical care. With these reforms, a move towards increased regional cooperation and some form of strategic purchasing is possible.
The "Bulletin Board" Survey
Authors: Pankiw Olena Anna
Published: April 2021

Questionnaires have long been used as a research tool in studies of Canadian English (e.g. Chambers 1994, Dollinger 2015), whether in person, in written form or more recently, digitally. In this talk, I introduce a unique type of questionnaire, the "bulletin board poster" survey. In this talk I will describe an ongoing project that I have been undertaking as a research assistant at the Strathy Language Unit at Queen's University since September 2017. During this time, I have been creating biweekly questionnaire posters on a range of topics in Canadian English – lexical, phonological and syntactic, which I display in public areas on campus. I then tabulate the data and create posters summarizing the results, which I also display on campus. The "bulletin board poster" method of data collection clearly has its limitations, such as the lack of control over who participates and how accurately they do so, but it has benefits as well, such as engaging the participants on the topic and encouraging participation in more rigorously controlled studies. In my presentation, I will discuss the stages of this project, the pros and cons of the "bulletin board poster" method and other survey methods and share some of our results. I hope to encourage discussion on this type of data collection and share my tips on how I manage to make this a successful way of collecting data.
Analysis of colon curvatures toward optimizing colonoscopy examinations
Authors: Laframboise Jacob , Barr Keiran , Ungi Tamas , Tan Pearl , Hookey Lawrence
Published: April 2021

Purpose: Colonoscopy is a complex procedure with considerable variation among patients, requiring years of experience to become proficient. Understanding the curvature of colons could enable practitioners to be more effective. The purpose of this research is to develop methods to analyze the curvature of patients’ colons, and compare key segments of colons between supine and prone positions.

 Methods: The colon lumen in CT scans of 42 patients were segmented. The following steps were automated by Python scripts in the 3D Slicer application: a set of center points along the colon were generated, and a curve was fit to those points. By identifying local maximums and local minimums in curvature, curves were defined between two local curvature minimums. The angle of each curve was calculated over the distance of curves.

 Results: This process was used to identify and analyze curves on the colon centerline in different patient positions. On average, there are 32.63±0.83 curves in supine position and 31.24±0.80 in prone. In the supine position the curves turn an average of 77.80±2.25 degrees, and 75.88±1.87 degrees in prone. Graphically, there are observable differences between positions for curves of specific magnitudes.

Conclusion: This process can quantify the curvature of colons, and could be adapted to consider other patient groups. Descriptive statistics indicate supine position has more curves in the descending colon, and prone has sharper curves in the descending colon. These preliminary results motivate further work with a larger sample size for statistical analysis, which may reveal significant differences.
Using Convolutional Neural Networks for the Detection of Spinal Transverse Processes
Authors: Wu Victoria
Published: April 2021

Introduction: Scoliosis, an excessive curvature of the spine, affects approximately 1 in 1,000 individuals. As a result, there have formerly been implementations of mandatory scoliosis screening procedures. Screening programs are no longer widely used as the harms often outweigh the benefits; it causes many adolescents to undergo frequent diagnosis X-ray procedure This makes spinal ultrasounds an ideal substitute for scoliosis screening in patients, as it does not expose them to those levels of radiation.

Spinal curvatures can be accurately computed from the location of spinal transverse processes, by measuring the vertebral angle from a reference line [1]. However, ultrasound images are less clear than x-ray images, making it difficult to identify the spinal processes. To overcome this, we employ deep learning using a convolutional neural network, which is a powerful tool for computer vision and image classification [2].

Method: A total of 2,752 ultrasound images were recorded from a spine phantom to train a convolutional neural network. Subsequently, we took another recording of 747 images to be used for testing. All the ultrasound images from the scans were then segmented manually, using the 3D Slicer (www.slicer.org) software. Next, the dataset was fed through a convolutional neural network. The network used was a modified version of GoogLeNet (Inception v1), with 2 linearly stacked inception models. This network was chosen because it provided a balance between accurate performance, and time efficient computations.

Results: Deep learning classification using the Inception model achieved an accuracy of 84% for the phantom scan.

 Conclusion: The classification model performs with considerable accuracy. Better accuracy needs to be achieved, possibly with more available data and improvements in the classification model.

 Acknowledgements: G. Fichtinger is supported as a Canada Research Chair in Computer-Integrated Surgery. This work was funded, in part, by NIH/NIBIB and NIH/NIGMS (via grant 1R01EB021396-01A1 - Slicer+PLUS: Point-of-Care Ultrasound) and by CANARIE’s Research Software Program. 

 

Figure 1: Ultrasound scan containing a transverse process (left), and ultrasound scan containing no transverse process (right).                                Figure 2: Accuracy of classification for training (red) and validation (blue).

References:

          Ungi T, King F, Kempston M, Keri Z, Lasso A, Mousavi P, Rudan J, Borschneck DP, Fichtinger G. Spinal Curvature Measurement by Tracked Ultrasound Snapshots. Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, 40(2):447-54, Feb 2014.

          Krizhevsky A, Sutskeyer I, Hinton GE. (2012). ImageNet Classification with Deep Convolutional Neural Networks. Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 25:1097-1105.
The Allegiance of Vladislav Felitisianovich
Authors: Jeong Henry Y.
Published: April 2021

The purpose of this presentation is to examine how Vladislav Khodasevich establishes his cosmopolitan position on the future of Russian Emigre literature in his final work Nekropol (1939). I aim to focus particularly on how his internal display of Jewishness in Nekropol serves as a critical mode to understand his cosmopolitan views towards art creation. Khodasevich, in his homage to his closest literary companions Samuil Kissin (Muni) and Mikhail Gershenzon, firmly demonstrates how Khodasevich’s cosmopolitan, rigorous views towards art creation were established through his Inorodtsy as a Polish Jew in Moscow, the use of Muni’s tragic death as a form of art creation through his use of trauma, and his tribute to universally-loved Gershenzon in instiling Khodasevich the necessity of artistic philosophies and public involvement in literary survival. With the combination of the factors above, Khodasevich’s views on artistic creation are completed during his emigre years, having his positive, rigorous approach to the future of Russian Emigre literature beyond its Oblomovism-like state during 1930s France. By allowing his readers an under-the-depth understanding of factors that developed Khodasevich’s cosmopolitan stances in Nekropol, Khodasevich’s tribute demonstrates the importance of linking the world of historical fields within Slavic studies, allowing a multidimensional understanding of both Jewish history and Russian literature in both Silver Age and under emigration.
Complementary feeding: what do we know?
Authors: Fiamenghi Verônica , Mello Elza , Almeida Carlos
Published: April 2021

INTRODUCTION: Complementary feeding (CF) is defined as the set of foods that are offered to the infant, from the 6th month of life, in addition to breastfeeding or infant formulas. One of the roles of the pediatrician is to guide the introduction of CF. METHODOS: Descriptive cross-sectional study through self-administered questionnaire with pediatricians and pediatrics residents on demographic information, knowledge of feeding practices, nutrition and supplementation in the first two years of life. There were analyzed associations between time since medical degree and degree of formation with the variables supplementation of iron and vitamin D. RESULTS: The final sample consisted of 109 questionnaires; 63% of the participants considered the presence of topics on infant feeding insufficient. A total of 66,9% and 38.53% of the participants follow the current recommendations regarding the age of supplementation of iron and vitamin D, respectively. DISCUSSION: We observed divergent practices of current scientific evidence by pediatricians and pediatric residents. There was a relationship between training time and a higher proportion of inadequate practice regarding iron supplementation. CONCLUSION: A more emphatic approach to the topic of infant feeding should be considered both in pediatric training and in the context of professional update.
Phototherapy as a treatment of early-stage mycosis fungoides and predictive factors for disease recurrence: A 17-year retrospective study
Authors: Rattanakaemakorn Ploysyne , Ploydaeng Monthanat , Udompanich Siriorn , Thadanipon Kunlawat , Rutnin Suthinee , Rajatanavin Natta
Published: April 2021

Background:

Mycosis fungoides is the most common form of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. Narrowband ultraviolet B and psoralen and ultraviolet A are effective treatment options, but studies of their treatment efficacy and disease relapse remain limited.

Objectives:

This study aimed (1) to determine the efficacy of narrowband ultraviolet B and psoralen and ultraviolet A as a treatment for early-stage mycosis fungoides and explore the predictive factors for complete remission and (2) to determine the relapse rate and analyze their predictive factors, including the utility of maintenance therapy.

Methods:

This was a retrospective cohort study consisting of 61 patients with early-stage mycosis fungoides (IA - IB) treated with narrowband ultraviolet B or psoralen and ultraviolet A as the first-line therapy from January 2002 to December 2018 at the Division of Dermatology, Ramathibodi Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand. Cox regression analysis and Kaplan–Meier survival curve were performed for the main outcomes.

Results:

A complete remission was achieved by 57 (93.5%) patients. The median time to remission was 7.80 ± 0.27 months. Types of phototherapy (narrowband ultraviolet B or psoralen and ultraviolet A), age and gender did not associate with time to remission, while the presence of poikiloderma and higher disease stage led to a longer time to remission. The cumulative incidence of relapse was 50.8%. The median time to relapse was 24.78 ± 5.48 months. In patients receiving phototherapy during the maintenance period, a treatment duration longer than six months was associated with a significantly longer relapse-free interval.

Conclusion:

Narrow-band-ultraviolet B and psoralen and ultraviolet A are effective treatment options for early-stage mycosis fungoides. Maintenance treatment by phototherapy for at least six months seems to prolong remission.
Comparison of effectiveness of interventions in reducing mortality in patients of toxic epidermal necrolysis: A network meta-analysis
Authors: Patel Tejas K. , Patel Parvati B. , Thakkar Sejal
Published: April 2021

Background:

Limited evidence is available about effectiveness and choice of immunomodulating treatment modalities for toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN).

Aims:

To compare the effectiveness of interventions to reduce mortality in patients of toxic epidermal necrolysis through network meta-analysis.

Methods:

Studies were retrieved using PubMed, Google Scholar and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews from inception to September 18, 2018. Only English language articles were considered. Observational and randomized controlled studies having ≥ 5 TEN patients in each intervention arm were included. Two investigators independently extracted study characteristics, intervention details and mortality data. Bayesian network meta-analysis was performed using the Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach through the random effect model. The ranking analysis was done to provide a hierarchy of interventions. The consistency between direct and indirect evidence was assessed through node spit analysis. The primary outcome was to compare the mortality [Odds ratio OR (95% credibility interval CrI)] among all treatment modalities of TEN.

Results:

Twenty-four studies satisfying the selection criteria were included. The network analysis showed improved survival with cyclosporine as compared to supportive care [OR- 0.19 (95% CrI: 0.05, 0.59)] and intravenous immunoglobulin [OR- 0.21 (95% CrI: 0.05, 0.76)]. The hierarchy of treatments based on “surface under the cumulative ranking curves” (SUCRA) value were cyclosporine (0.93), steroid+intravenous immunoglobulin (0.76), etanercept (0.59), steroids (0.46), intravenous immunoglobulin (0.40), supportive care (0.34) and thalidomide (0.02). No inconsistencies between direct and indirect estimates were observed for any of the treatment pairs.

Limitations:

Evidence is mainly based on retrospective studies.

Conclusion:

The use of cyclosporine can reduce mortality in TEN patients. Other promising immunomodulators could be steroid+intravenous immunoglobulin combination and etanercept.
Hydroa vacciniforme-like lymphoproliferative disorder in Ecuadorian children: A case series
Authors: Garzón Eduardo , Dávila-Rodríguez John Jairo
Published: April 2021

We report the clinical and histopathological features of hydroa vacciniforme-like lymphoproliferative disorder in five indigenous and Mestizo children. All the children resided at higher altitudes, experiencing maximal solar exposure. All cases presented with prurigo along with Epstein-Barr virus infection. Histopathologic examination showed an atypical, CD30 + lymphocytic infiltrate with angiocentricity in all, while three cases demonstrated panniculitis-like infiltrate.
Unimolecular, bimolecular and intramolecular hydrolysis mechanisms of 4-nitrophenyl β-D-glucopyranoside
Authors: Alhifthi Amani , Williams Spencer
Published: April 2021

1,2-trans-Glycosides hydrolyze through different mechanisms at different pH values, but systematic studies are lacking. Here we report the pH-rate constant profile for the hydrolysis of 4-nitrophenyl β-D-glucoside. An inverse kinetic isotope effect of k(H3O+)/k(D3O)+ = 0.65 in the acidic region indicates that the mechanism requires the formation of the conjugate acid of the substrate for the reaction to proceed, with heterolytic cleavage of the glycosidic C-O bond. Reactions in the pH-independent region exhibit general catalysis with a single proton in flight, a normal solvent isotope effect of kH/kD = 1.5, and when extrapolated to zero buffer concentration show a small solvent isotope effect k(H2O)/k(D2O) = 1.1, consistent with water attack through a dissociative mechanism. In the basic region, solvolysis in 18O-labelled water and H2O/MeOH mixtures allowed detection of bimolecular hydrolysis and neighboring group participation, with a minor contribution of nucleophilic aromatic substitution. Under mildly basic conditions, a bimolecular concerted mechanism is implicated through an inverse solvent isotope effect of k(HO–)/k(DO–) = 0.5 and a strongly negative entropy of activation (DS‡ = –13.6 cal mol–1 K–1). Finally, at high pH, an inverse solvent isotope effect of k(HO–)/k(DO–) = 0.6 indicates that the formation of 1,2-anhydrosugar is the rate determining step.
Polycomb Paralog Chromodomain Inhibitors Active Against Both CBX6 and CBX8
Authors: Milosevich Natalia , Wilson Chelsea , Brown Tyler , Alpsoy Aktan , Wang Sijie , Connelly Katelyn E. , Sinclair Kirsten , Ponio Felino , Hof Rebecca , Dykhuizen Emily , Hof Fraser
Published: April 2021

Methyllysine reader proteins bind to methylated lysine residues and alter gene transcription by changing the compaction state of chromatin or by the recruitment of other multiprotein complexes. The polycomb paralog family of methyllysine readers bind to trimethylated lysine on the tail of histone 3 via a highly conserved aromatic cage located in their chromodomains. Each of the polycomb paralogs are implicated in several disease states. CBX6 and CBX8 are members of the polycomb paralog family with two structurally similar chromodomains. By exploring the structure-activity relationships of a previously reported CBX6 inhibitor we have discovered more potent and cell permeable analogs. Our current report includes potent, dual-selective inhibitors of CBX6 and CBX8. We have shown that the –2 position in our scaffold is an important residue for selectivity amongst the polycomb paralogs. Preliminary cell-based studies show that the new inhibitors impact cell proliferation in a rhabdoid tumor cell line. This report includes data on inhibitor design, inhibitor synthesis, compound characterization by LCMS, compound activity by fluorescence polarization, analysis of structure-activity relationships, rhabdoid tumor cell line activity.
Accurate Tunneling Splittings for Proton Transfer in Malonaldehyde and Formic Acid Dimer Using the One-Dimensional Schrödinger Equation
Authors: Tikhonov Denis
Published: April 2021

In this manuscript we present an approach for computing tunneling splittings for large amplitude motions.

The core of the approach is a solution of an effective one-dimensional Schrödinger equation with an effective mass and an effective potential energy surface composed of electronic and harmonic zero-point vibrational energies of small amplitude motions in the molecule.

The method has been shown to work in cases of three model motions: nitrogen inversion in ammonia, single proton transfer in malonaldehyde, and double proton transfer in the formic acid dimer. In the current work we also investigate the performance of different DFT and post-Hartree-Fock methods for prediction of the proton transfer tunneling splittings, quality of the effective Schrödinger equation parameters upon the isotopic substitution, and possibility of a complete basis set (CBS) extrapolation for the resulting tunneling splittings.
COVID-19: CRISPR/Cas-like System of nsp3 Promotes the Mutant Recombination and Drug Resistance
Authors: wenzhong liu , hualan Li
Published: April 2021

Patients with novel coronavirus pneumonia usually suffer from bacterial and fungal infections, and the drug resistance problem caused by the pandemic is becoming more and more serious. Simultaneously, the SARS-COV-2 virus has a rapid mutation phenomenon, and somegene coding regions by mutation and recombination may be related to the drug resistance of the virus. Therefore, studying the relationship between the co-infection of bacteria and fungi and the evolution of SARS-COV-2 has important guiding significance for preventing a pandemic. We found that the SARS-COV-2 virus's nsp3 protein had a CRISPR/Cas 9 (II-B)-like function by searching for conserved domains. The system could target and edit the negative-strand RNA of SARS-COV-2. We speculated that the crRNA (CRISPR RNA) produced by the CRISPR/Cas system of Pseudomonas aeruginosa carried the genetic information of the conserved domains of bacteriophages and Pseudomonas, including drug resistance. After the phage lysed the Pseudomonas, the crRNA was released and attached to the fungal spores, and then invaded the patient's cells along with the spores or hyphae. nsp3 synthesized and assembled 4Fe-4S, iron-containing molecules bound to the cas4 domain, in the mitochondria of phagocytes. The iron came from hemoglobin attacked by the SARS-COV-2 virus protein. The nsp3 protein bound the crRNA in the phagocytic cytoplasm. It targeted the negative-strand RNA of SARS-COV-2, inserting conserved domain gene fragments into the negative-strand RNA through editing and splicing. Since the Cas protein had no codon checking function, the cutting and splicing would destroy the protein-coding information in the original RNA coding region, causing mutation and recombination of the SARS-COV-2 virus genome. If crRNA carried the drug resistance gene fragments of bacteria or phage, SARS-COV-2 would have similar drug resistance. Because of the growing problem of drug resistance in COVID-19 patients, we should pay attention to preventing fungi and bacteria co-infection. Avoid the CRISPR/Cas-like system of the novel coronavirus to cause rapid mutation and recombination and increased the drug resistance problem of SARS-COV-2.
Electrodeposition of Atmosphere-Sensitive Ternary Sodium Transition Metal Oxide Films for Sodium-Based Electrochemical Energy Storage
Authors: Patra Arghya , III Jerome Davis , Pidaparthy Saran , Karigerasi Manohar H. , Zahiri Beniamin , Kulkarni Ashish A. , Caple Michael A. , Shoemaker Daniel P. , Zuo Jian-min , Braun Paul V.
Published: April 2021

Layered sodium transition metal oxides constitute an important class of materials with applications including electrochemical energy storage, high temperature superconductivity and electrocatalysis. However, electrodeposition of these compounds, an approach commonly used to grow other oxides, has been elusive due to their atmosphere instability and intrinsic incompatibility with aqueous electrolytes. Through use of a dry molten sodium hydroxide electrolyte, we demonstrate the high throughput electrodeposition of O3 (O’3) and P2 type layered sodium transition metal oxides across multiple transition metal chemistries, and apply these electrodeposits as high areal capacity cathodes in sodium-ion batteries. The electrodeposits are microns thick, polycrystalline, and structurally similar to materials synthesized classically at high temperature. This work enables fabrication of a wide group of previously inaccessible alkali and alkaline earth ion intercalated, higher valent transition group oxides in important thick film form factors.
Light-Fuelled Dissipative Replication and Selection in Adaptive Biomimetic Chemical Networks
Authors: Bartus Éva , Mag Beáta , Bajcsi Áron , Tököli Attila , Kecskeméti Gábor , Wéber Edit , Kele Zoltán , Martinek Tamás A.
Published: April 2021

Evolvability of the chemical replicator systems requires non-equilibrium energy dissipation, effective death pathways and transfer of structural information in the autocatalytic cycles. We engineered a chemical network with peptidic foldamer components, where UV light fuelled dissipative sequence-dependent exponential replication and replicator decomposition. The light-harvesting formation-recombination cycle of the thiyl radicals was coupled with the molecular recognition steps in the replication cycles. Thiyl radical-mediated chain reaction was responsible for the replicator death. The competing and kinetically asymmetric replication and decomposition processes led to light intensity-dependent selection and competitive exclusion. Dynamic adaptation to the energy input and the selection factor maximised the dissipation rate in the regime of exponential growth. The results contribute to the development of chemically evolvable replicator systems.
High-performance Photoacoustic Probe for Biopsy-free Assessment of Copper Status in Murine Models of Wilson’s Disease and Liver Metastasis
Authors: Lucero Melissa , Tang Yuqi , Zhang Chloe , Su ShengZhang , Forzano Joseph , Garcia Valeria , Huang Xin , Moreno David , Chan Jefferson
Published: April 2021

The development of high-performance photoacoustic (PA) probes that can monitor disease biomarkers in deep-tissue has the potential to replace invasive medical procedures such as a biopsy. However, such probes must be highly optimized for in vivo performance and exhibit an exceptional safety profile. In this study, we have developed PACu-1, the first PA probe designed for biopsy-free assessment (BFA) of hepatic Cu via photoacoustic imaging. PACu-1 features a Cu(I)-responsive trigger appended to an aza-BODIPY dye platform that has been optimized for ratiometric sensing. Owing to its excellent performance, we were able to detect basal levels of Cu in healthy wildtype mice, as well as elevated Cu in a Wilson’s disease model and in a liver metastasis model. To showcase the potential impact of PACu-1 for BFA, we conducted a blind study where we were able to successfully identify a Wilson’s disease animal from a group of healthy control mice with greater than 99.7% confidence.
Photoinduced Deaminative Borylation of Unactivated Aromatic Amines Enhanced by CO2
Authors: Shiozuka Akira , Sekine Kohei , Kuninobu Yoichiro
Published: April 2021

Herein, direct unactivated C-N borylation of aromatic amines by a photocatalyst was achieved under mild and metal-free conditions. The C-N borylation of aromatic amines with bis(pinacolato)diboron (B2pin2) proceeded in the presence of a pyrene catalyst under light irradiation (λ = 365 nm) to afford desired borylated products and aminoborane as a byproduct. The yield of borylated product improved under a CO2 atmosphere. Reactions conducted in the presence of a stoichiometric amount of aminoborane under N2 or CO2 indicated that CO2 reduced the inhibitory effect of aminoborane. Optimal reaction conditions were applied to a variety of aromatic amines. Mechanistic studies suggested that the C-N bond cleavage and C-B bond formation proceeded via a concerted pathway.
RedDB, a Computational Database of Electroactive Molecules for Aqueous Redox Flow Batteries
Authors: Sorkun Elif , Zhang Qi , Khetan Abhishek , sorkun murat cihan , Er Süleyman
Published: April 2021

An increasing number of electroactive compounds have recently been explored for their use in high-performance redox flow batteries for grid-scale energy storage. Given the vast and highly diverse chemical space of the candidate compounds, it is alluring to access their physicochemical properties in a speedy way. High-throughput virtual screening approaches, which use powerful combinatorial techniques for systematic enumerations of large virtual chemical libraries and respective property evaluations, are indispensable tools for an agile exploration of the designated chemical space. Herein, RedDB: a computational database that contains 31,677 molecules from two prominent classes of organic electroactive compounds, quinones and aza-aromatics, has been presented. RedDB incorporates miscellaneous physicochemical property information of the compounds that can potentially be employed as battery performance descriptors. RedDB’s development steps, including: i)chemical library generation, ii) molecular property prediction based on quantum chemical calculations, iii) aqueous solubility prediction using machine learning, and iv) data processing and database creation, have been described.
Influence of Different Polymer Belts on Lipid Properties in Nanodiscs Characterized by CW EPR Spectroscopy
Authors: Hoffmann Matthias , Eisermann Jana , Schöffmann Florian A. , das manabendra , Vargas Carolyn , Keller Sandro , Hinderberger Dariush
Published: April 2021

Polymeric DMPC-nanodiscs from three polymers are viable membrane models. The polymers change water penetration and lipid rotational mobility within DMPC vilayers. SMA and SMA-SB have a stronger effect on lipid order than DIBMA.
Low-Power Laser Micro-Shaping of Dye-Volatile Cocrystals: The Gentle Cutting Edge of Photoresponsive Materials
Authors: Borchers Tristan , Topic Filip , Christopherson Jan-Constantin , Bushuyev Oleksandr S. , Vainauskas Jogirdas , Titi Hatem M. , Friscic Tomislav , Barrett Christopher J.
Published: April 2021

Cocrystallisation of a fluorinated azobenzene with volatile cocrystal components dioxane or pyrazine yields halogen-bonded cocrystals that can be cut, carved or engraved with low-powered visible laser light. This process, termed cocrystal laser micro-shaping (CLMS), is enabled by cocrystallisation of a visible light dye with a volatile component, giving rise to materials that can be selectively disassembled with micrometer precision using gentle, non-burning irradiation in a commercial confocal microscope setup. The ability to shape and even machine cocrystals in 3D using laser powers between 0.5 and 20 mW, which are 2-4 orders of magnitude lower compared to laser powers used for machining metals, ceramics or polymers, is rationalized by CLMS targeting the disruption of weak supramolecular interactions between cocrystal components, rather than the breaking of covalent bonds in polymers or disruption of ionic structures required for conventional laser beam or focused ion beam machining processes, mainly by high-power laser heating.
Clock Transition Due to a Record 1240 G Hyperfine Interaction in a Lu(II) Molecular Spin Qubit
Authors: Kundu Krishnendu , White Jessica R. K. , Moehring Samuel A. , Yu Jason M. , Ziller Joseph W. , Furche Filipp , Evans William J. , Hill Stephen
Published: April 2021

Spins in molecules are particularly attractive targets for next-generation quantum technologies, enabling chemically programmable qubits and potential for scale-up via self-assembly. Here, we demonstrate chemical control of the degree of s-orbital mixing into the spin-bearing d-orbital associated with a series of spin-½ La(II) and Lu(II) molecules. Increased s-orbital character reduces spin-orbit coupling and enhances the electron-nuclear Fermi contact interaction. Both outcomes are beneficial for quantum applications: the former reduces spin-lattice relaxation, while the latter gives rise to a record molecular hyperfine interaction for Lu(II) that, in turn, generates a massive 9 GHz hyperfine clock transition and an order of magnitude increase in phase memory time. These findings suggest new strategies for development of molecular quantum technologies, akin to trapped ion systems.