bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Assessment of high conservation value forests in the Tolshmenskoye lease base in the Vologda region
Authors: Druzhinin F N , Dvornikov M G , Pilipko E N , Khoroshun N A , Berseneva L V
Published: October 2021

The purpose of the research was to identify, research and assess high conservation value forests (HCVF) and representative areas allocated in the lease base of the enterprise. The object of the research is forest areas of special conservation value in the lease base of the logging enterprise LLC Tolshmenskoye. The subject of the research is the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the high conservation value forests stands. The research was carried out on four stationary objects, which are represented by coniferous stands. The share of conifers in the composition of the stand is from seven to nine units. The researches were based both on the research performed of forest management and reporting documentation of the enterprise, and on the basis of field research materials. The choice of research objects is due to the fact that these plantations perform the function of preserving biological diversity and are excluded from economic activity, which allows for long-term monitoring observations to assess quantitative and qualitative changes in the structure of forest stands and make conclusions about their performance of target functions. The results of the survey showed that the population of trees is characterized by high classes of sanitary assessment. In terms of health, most tree species show no signs of weakening. The number of healthy specimens according to the objects of research and according to the breed composition is quite high (at least 67%). No significant anthropogenic impacts have been identified. The number of undergrowth varied greatly according to the objects of research. The undergrowth is heterogeneous in composition. At the same time, aspen and spruce occupy the dominant position in the emerging tree canopy.
Calculation of the parameters of the technology of preparation of artificial sushenitsy
Authors: Medved’ N V
Published: October 2021

The article deals with the cases of conformal mapping of the region of the reduced complex potential of one-dimensional steady-state filtration to the area of gravity-free uniform filtration, which occurs in a permeable layer of peat when an incompressible activated reagent solution moves in a porous medium. On this basis, a methodology has been developed for calculating the parameters of the technology for the preparation of artificial sushenitsy (artificial coarse-grained rocks with small ice inclusions in artificial rocks) for stripping operations during the development of placer deposits.
Structural state of soddy-podzolic soils under the influence of different cultivation systems
Authors: Nikolaev V A , Mazirov M A , Belenkov A I , Zavertkin I A , Shchigrova L I
Published: October 2021

Some favorable physical properties and the modes of soil are the basis and a necessary condition for realization of potential soil fertility for receiving high harvest of crops. Therefore, creation and maintenance of optimal composing of the arable soil layer by means of different cultivation systems is an up-to-date objective of modern intensive agriculture.
Possibility of conservation of urine as a source of drinking water in water supply systems of space and ground inhabited objects
Authors: Lykov I N
Published: October 2021

Life support systems for long-term closed objects can be created either on the basis of consumed water reserves, or on the basis of regeneration processes. Urine can be used as a regenerated source of drinking water. But urine is a good breeding ground for many microorganisms, therefore, to preserve it in its native form, conservation is necessary in order to prevent microbiological transformation and precipitation. The article discusses the possibility of preserving urine with a composition consisting of a 05% solution of plumbagin in trichloroacetic acid and an 11% solution of chromic anhydride in sulfuric acid in a ratio of 1: 9 at the rate of 5 ml per 1 liter of urine.
Environmental approaches when determining the calculated hydrological characteristics
Authors: Zvyagintseva A V , Sazonova S A , Marar O I , Koval L V
Published: October 2021

The issues of forecasting dangerous hydrological phenomena in water bodies in the presence of hydrometrically observed data are considered. The analytical distribution functions of annual excess probabilities are applied - sufficiency curves. The features of calculating the empirical annual probability of exceeding hydrological characteristics, variation coefficients and asymmetries for distribution, the scattering of estimates and other distribution parameters are considered. In the case of heterogeneity of the initial data of hydrometric observations, when the series under consideration consists of heterogeneous elements of the hydrological regime, empirical and analytical distribution curves are set separately for each homogeneous totality. Based on the considered data, a system for monitoring and forecasting emergencies of a hydrological nature at water bodies is being constructed.
Emergency control of cyber-physical systems in the technological environment
Authors: Shukalov A V , Zharinov I O , Zharinov O O
Published: October 2021

The task how to increase the industrial object crucial infrastructure reliability and safety is being studied formed with cyber-physical systems. To solve this task they represent a cyber-physical production as a complicated dynamic systems with tide and continuous conveyor cycles, which behavior is under control in the state parameters space. The cyber-physical systems actions of the inner technological environment factors and cyber-physical production external factors must be analyzed to study single and systematic actions of chaos creating character in equipment, which add some components to the control error. The emergency control is a directed cyber-physical action to maintain the cyber-physical production dynamic system in a non-variant state to the equipment failures and interferences. The control method and parameters are determined as a result of the assessment of the state of cyber-physical production performed in its phase space according to the predicted trajectories, probably indicating the dynamics of the technological environment and the risks of uncontrolled situations. The actual information of the cyber-physical production states includes the cyber-physical systems functionality modes data, which is proposed to be accumulated in a virtual environment to which the technological automatics of different hierarchy levels is connected to. The parametric states space dynamic system behavior trajectory forming principle is defined to make concrete separate cyber-physical systems and the cyber-physical production in general.
Breakdown of local oil-water emulsions by binary systems of surface-active substances
Authors: Sattorov Mirvokhid , Yamaletdinova Aygul , Ochilov Abdurakhim , Bokieva Shakhnoza
Published: October 2021

The article covers thermochemical method of breakdown of stable water-oil emulsions of local oil fields of Republic of Uzbekistan. The surface-active substance used is binary compositions of imported emulsion breaker and local emulsion breaker, which is obtained based on silk-winding plant waste by synthesis method. With this, the import emulsion breaker has been reduced, and commodity oil meeting the requirements of standard has been obtained
Intelligent water treatment management system for swimming pools
Authors: Vologdin S V , Abramova A A
Published: October 2021

The article presents the assessment methodology for anthropogenic water pollution in swimming pools, based on intelligent video monitoring of people physical activity, as well as a model for correlation data analysis and a regression model for the main parameters of chemical water contamination and doses of introduced reagents. The ultimate goal of the project is to create an intelligent water treatment management system for swimming pools. It is planned to use YOLOv4 neural networks to implement an intelligent pattern recognition module (swimmers in the pool) in the data stream coming from video cameras in real time. This innovative system will make it possible to automatically make managerial and technical decisions to determine the required amount of introduced reagents at various time intervals depending on the actual amount of organic contaminants, as well as other factors determined by the results of the correlation-regression analysis of the data. A review of information resources has shown that such a methodology does not exist both in Russia and abroad.
The cyber-physical production conveyor industrial safety
Authors: Shukalov A V , Zharinov I O , Zharinov O O
Published: October 2021

The cyber-physical production industrial safety provision in emergencies is based on control technologies, which are applied in different combinations to prevent catastrophes. Emergencies are consequences of cyber-physical systems failures, which could lead to mass violations of equipment functionality modes and to a cascade distribution of failures through the entire cyber-physical production workshop. The techno-genic emergencies danger relates to construction and functional equipment violations completing technological operations with aggressive, explosive, highly flammable substances, which may penetrate out of the work chamber. Preventive measures reducing risks of safety accidents are address cyber-physical system control united in a conveyor line. The conveyor as a control object is regulated with actions produced with a virtual calculator based on control detectors data installed in cyber-physical systems and beyond them (in the technological environment). There is a scheme given how to control a cyber-physical production using the action dual mechanisms over the control objects.
Monitoring of meadow biocenosis after oil spill rehabilitation measures in subtaiga subzone
Authors: Kazantseva M N , Gashev S N , Arefyev S P , Levykh A Yu , Ganzherli N V , Sorokina N V
Published: October 2021

This article presents results of long-term monitoring of meadow biocenosis restoration after an oil spill and subsequent rehabilitation procedures at southern subtaiga territories of the Tyumen Region, Russia. The data obtained show that the measures taken fostered development of vegetation with high abundance and diversity of species. There passed 25 years after rehabilitation, and the succession stage of phytocoenosis at the affected area is not any more determined by pollution, but by bogging, a process characteristic of the unaffected biocenoses of the area under study. Secondary succession is also evidenced by more than a two-fold decrease in diversity and abundance of decomposer fungi species in a forest biocenosis adjacent to the area of oil spill. Such a decrease is conditioned by a reduced amount and variety of forest litter, that had been formed after the accident and was later humified by the fungi. In 2020, the ratio of the fungal species used as indicators of forest stand health prompted that the impacted forest was nearing its original condition. The terrestrial vertebrates communities have almost recovered over the period of monitoring, although there have appeared synanthropes, and the proportion of anthropophilic species has gone up.
Development of planktonic community in the different types of water bodies under the influence of priority environmental factors
Authors: Afonina E Yu , Tashlykova N A
Published: October 2021

The present paper is based on the results of long-term studies of planktonic algae and invertebrates in the fresh, soda and saline and technogenically loaded water bodies. The priority abiotic factors (hydrochemical composition, hydrophysical parameters), determining the development (species number, dominant species, abundance and biomass) of the main taxonomic groups of phyto- and zooplankton were determined.
Chlorotyrosine N- and C-alkenylamine
Authors: Sharafutdinov V M , Islamutdinova A A , Ovsyannikova I V , Boev E V , Idrisova V A
Published: October 2021

Chloroacetylation of a number of N- and C-alkenylanilines was studied and some further transformations of the obtained compounds were considered; the reaction proceeds most smoothly upon acylation with chloroacetyl chloride. By heating chloroacetanilides with an equimolar amount of pyridine in benzene, quaternary pyridinium salts were obtained in good yield. Some of the pyridinium salts have been shown to be highly effective as inhibitors of acid corrosion of steel. The interaction of chloroacetanilides with primary and secondary amines leads to hydrochloric ammonium salts, which are of interest as biologically active compounds.
Influence of abiotic factors on sambucus nigra l. Phenorhythmics under central chernozem conditions
Authors: Sorokopudov V , Sorokopudova O , Bamatov Ibragim , Koltsov S , Patzukova N
Published: October 2021

This article is the research of the influence of meteorological conditions on the passage of phenophases on the example of black elderberry in the conditions of the Belgorod region. Direct dependence of the developmental phases of black elderberry on the meteorological conditions of the growing season was revealed. It was found that the course of phenological phases in representatives of this species growing in natural conditions is less dependent on the meteorological deviations of each specific year, in comparison with plants growing in artificially created environmental conditions.
Problems in the timely improvement of sanitary state of the forests affected by the Siberian silk moth outbreaks
Authors: Sultson S M , Mikhaylov P V , Verkhovets S V , Goroshko A A , Melnichenko N P
Published: October 2021

The article discusses topical problems of modern forest management regarding the procedure necessary to prescribe sanitation cuttings in dark coniferous stands damaged by the Siberian silk moth. Nowadays, the inability to timely cut down the defoliated, mature and overmature commercial dark coniferous timber leads to the formation of large areas of damaged stands that will hardly ever recover. There are no subsidies stimulating forest users to cut down forests damaged by the Siberian silk moth and conduct artificial reforestation. The present study suggests steps for adjusting the current legislation in pests control measures prescription in emergencies in forest land leased.
Improving the efficiency of separating machines equipped with flat oscillating sieves
Authors: Tkachev V , Borodin N , Knyazev A , Borovikov R , Lebedev V
Published: October 2021

The article deals with the separating machines equipped with flat sieves with various types of holes used for cleaning from impurities and sorting into fractions by size. It is noted that the main disadvantage of these machines is that in the process of their operation, the openings of the sieves are clogged by the separation products, which leads to a decrease in the separation efficiency, as well as a decrease in the productivity of the machines. It is mentioned that the most acute problem of cleaning the openings of sieves is when separating tree seeds. It is possible to increase the efficiency of the separating machines by using cleaning mechanisms that allow the seeds stuck in the holes to be pushed out when the machines are operating. A mechanism for cleaning the holes of sieves is proposed, equipped with cylindrical working bodies on which gears are mounted that are engaged with toothed rails. In the course of experimental studies on the treatment of tree seeds, the dependences of the completeness of the separation of the separated fraction on the specific load of the sieve, as well as on the speed of rotation of the drive shaft of the cleaning mechanism, were obtained. It is established that with an increase in the rotation frequency of the crank shaft of the cleaning mechanism, the completeness of the separation increases. It is determined that the greatest increase in the completeness of separation from 76.0% to 85.8% is observed when used in the design of the cleaning mechanism of gears with a diameter of 30 mm. It is established that the use of a mechanism for cleaning the holes of sieves, equipped with cylindrical working bodies, allows to increase the efficiency of the process of separating tree seeds.
Innovative grain seeder coulters
Authors: Zubarev A G , Laryushin N P , Kukharev O N
Published: October 2021

One of the main working bodies of grain seeders is the coulter, the work of which determines the uniform distribution of seeds along the length of the furrow and the depth of their seeding. Of the wide variety of used coulters, the most widespread are double-disc coulters, since they have less traction resistance and better quality indicators of their work. However, as shown by scientific research of foreign and domestic scientists, when the double-disc coulters are working, the quality indicators of their work are not met, as a result of which the yield of the cultivated crop decreases. To eliminate the noted drawbacks during the operation of double-disc coulters in the Penza State Agrarian University, innovative double-disc coulters for a grain seeder have been developed. During the operation of these coulters, in comparison with the serial ones, thanks to the installation of a seed guide, a soil ripper and a seed speed damper on the coulters, the seeds are evenly distributed along the length of the furrow and the depth of their planting.
Destruction mechanisms of materials grinding in a crusher with plates in a form of Reuleaux Triangle profile
Authors: Krivov D A , Gordeev Y I , Krivova D D
Published: October 2021

The article presents studies of the materials destruction mechanisms according to a new kinematic crushing scheme, which is implemented in a roll crusher with stacked plates in a form of Reuleaux Triangle Profile. The paper is devoted to give the substantiation of the kinematic and force factors acting on the material in the crushing zone. It is considered a combination of various destruction mechanisms with a new grinding scheme and an increase in the intensity and efficiency of the grinding process. It is substantiated the necessity of implementing a new crushing scheme in the form of a crusher with stacked plates in the form of Reuleaux Triangle Profile.
Durability of non-autoclaved cell concrete at non-multiple repetitive load
Authors: Urinov Jamol , Hikmatov Navfal , Sharipov Akmal
Published: October 2021

Results and analysis of experimental data on testing of samples - prisms made of non-autoclaved cell concrete at non-multiply load are given. According to the test results, the equations for non-autoclave cell concretes, as well as the values of the coefficient of dynamic hardening and the coefficient of operating conditions mkr, taking into account the growth of durability of non-autoclave cell concrete, have been revealed.
Influence of mass affecting tractor’s rear axle and rigidity of tires on the control coefficient
Authors: Voropaev G D , Sidorov V N , Maksimovich K Yu , Sokolova V A , Krivonogova A S , Pushkov Yu L , Taradin G S
Published: October 2021

To increase the versatility of a class 1.4 tractor in a small farm, a universal hydraulic mounted system has been proposed, which allows the tractor to be used without changeover, both for agricultural technological operations, and for loading and construction works. The article discusses the use of mathematical modeling in the MathLab, Simulink environment and the steep ascent method to identify the optimal values of the mass on the rear axle and the stiffness of the tractor tires when driving on a horizontal supporting surface. When studying the dependence of the change in the control coefficient from two factors of variation: the mass on the rear axle and the stiffness of the tractor tires, the response function was obtained. By the method of steep ascent, the optimal design parameters of a tractor with attachments were determined, which make it possible to ensure sufficient controllability when driving on country roads.
Trends and prospects of technical support for separating beehive frames from the hive body
Authors: Voiku I P
Published: October 2021

Despite the active introduction of innovations, some types of routine work in apiaries continues to be done with considerable effort. The removal of the beehive frame is one such work. The frame separator consists of an upper plate, sidewalls containing protrusions, a through hole for an axis of rotation or a lower plate. The principle of operation of the proposed device is – when installing two devices on top of the upper plate of the beehive frame, each of the two shoulders of the frame is passed through the space formed by sidewalls and the lower plate, which interconnects them, or the axis of rotation, until the lower plate or the axis of rotation comes up against the outer contour of the side bar of the beehive frame. With devices installed on opposite parts of the upper bar, the beehive frame is placed in the hive body. The technical problem solved by the claimed invention is to ensure synchronous separation of the beehive frame from opposite sides of the hive body, reduce the user’s movements to remove the beehive frame from the hive to a minimum, reduce the probability of breaking the shoulders and the upper bar of the beehive frames.
Study of indicators of the working process of tractor diesel when working on ethanol and rapeseed oil
Authors: Likhanov V A , Lopatin O P , Yurlov A S , Anfilatova N S
Published: October 2021

The use of alternative fuels derived from natural gas, coal, and renewable energy sources in tractor diesel engines (TDE) will solve the problem of replacing petroleum fuels, significantly expand the raw material base for obtaining motor fuels, and reduce the negative impact of motor vehicles on the environment. The use of alternative oxygenate fuels, such as ethanol (E), in diesel engines is particularly promising. As a result of the analysis of the conducted studies, it was found that it is possible to organize the working process in the cylinder of a TDE when it operates on E and rapeseed oil (RO), with their separate supply directly to the cylinders and ignition from the ignition fuel (pilot) with a high cetane number. As a starting fuel, it is possible to use RO, which is capable of self-ignition due to its physical and chemical properties. At the same time, it is expected to improve the performance of the working process, environmental and efficient performance of the TDE with the complete replacement of diesel fuel (DF).
Investigation of the damping properties of the process module for a tractor of traction class 1.4
Authors: Sidorov M V , Troyanovskaya I P , Sokolova V A , Partko S A , Dzjasheev A-M S , Ivanov A A , Kopaev E V
Published: October 2021

To analyze the positive influence of the technological module on the fluctuations of the external load of the tractor, the methods of statistical dynamics are used. A dynamic model of a process module with two rotating masses is considered: the rim and tire of the drive wheel and the translational mass of the process module. Using the transfer function, the spectral functions of the output process (the horizontal component of the force on the MTZ-82 tractor) were determined when performing a machine-tractor unit (MTA) technological operation with heavy disks (BDT-7) intended for a class 3 tractor. The developed mathematical model of the technological module allowed us to construct theoretical spectral densities of the horizontal component of the force on the tractor hitch when completing it with the technological module. The use of the process module allows the frequency range of forces on the tractor hitch to be shifted to a lower zone from 0 to 2.5 Hz, excluding high-frequency components compared to the standard configuration of the tractor.
Ultrafine bubble water mitigates plant growth in damaged soil
Authors: Yokoyama Mineyuki , Yamashita Takatoshi , Kaida Rumi , Seo Shigemi , Tanaka Kazuhiro , Abe Sadao , Nakano Masataka , Fujii Yoshiharu , Kuchitsu Kazuyuki
Published: October 2021

Water containing ultrafine/nano bubbles (UFBs) promoted the growth of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) in soil damaged by cultivation of tomato in the previous year or bacterial wilt-like disease and also promoted the growth of lettuce (Lactuca sativa) when lettuce was grown in the soil damaged by repeated cultivation of lettuce. On the other hand, UFB supply did not affect plant growth in rock wool or healthy soil. Furthermore, the growth of lettuce was not affected by UFB water treatment in the soil damaged by the cultivation of tomato. UFB water partly suppressed the growth of the pathogen of bacteria wilt disease, Ralstonia solanacearum in vitro. These data suggest that UFB water is effective to recover the plant growth from soil damage.
Social environment shapes female settlement decisions in a solitary carnivore
Authors: Hansen J E , Hertel A G , Frank S C , Kindberg J , Zedrosser A
Published: October 2021

How and where a female selects an area to settle and breed is of central importance in dispersal and population ecology as it governs range expansion and gene flow. Social structure and organization have been shown to influence settlement decisions, but its importance in the settlement of large, solitary mammals is largely unknown. We investigate how the identity of overlapping conspecifics on the landscape, acquired during the maternal care period, influences the selection of settlement home ranges in a non-territorial, solitary mammal using location data of 56 female brown bears (Ursus arctos). We used a resource selection function to determine whether females’ settlement behavior was influenced by the presence of their mother, related females, familiar females, and female population density. Hunting may remove mothers and result in socio-spatial changes before settlement. We compared overlap between settling females and their mother’s concurrent or most recent home ranges to examine the settling female’s response to the absence or presence of her mother on the landscape. We found that females selected settlement home ranges that overlapped their mother’s home range, familiar females, that is, those they had previously overlapped with, and areas with higher density than their natal ranges. However, they did not select areas overlapping related females. We also found that when mothers were removed from the landscape, female offspring selected settlement home ranges with greater overlap of their mother’s range, compared with mothers who were alive. Our results suggest that females are acquiring and using information about their social environment when making settlement decisions.
Main factors predicting somatic, psychological, and cognitive patient outcomes after significant injury: a pilot study of a simple prognostic tool
Authors: Gross Thomas , Amsler Felix
Published: October 2021

Background

There are still insufficient data on the complexity and predictability of patient-related outcomes following trauma. The aim of this study was to assess longer-term outcomes in patients with significant injury and to develop a simple scoring method to identify patients at high risk of subsequent deficits 1–2 years after injury.

Methods

We conducted a prospective cohort study of survivors of significant injury (New Injury Severity Score, NISS greater than or equal to 8), with analysis of patients’ 1- to 2-year health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and their functional outcomes based on Short Form-36 (SF-36), Trauma Outcome Profile (TOP), and Quality Of Life after Brain Injury (QOLIBRI). Documented variables suspected or known from the literature to be possible factors associated with outcome were first analysed by univariate analysis, and significant variables were entered into a stepwise logistic regression analysis. Scores predicting longer-term impaired outcome were constructed from risk factors resulting from multivariate analysis.

Results

Depending on the patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) used, up to 30 per cent of 1052 study patients (mean NISS 18.6) indicated somatic, 27 per cent psychological, and 54 per cent cognitive deficits. The investigated sociodemographic, injury-related, treatment, and early hospital outcome variables demonstrated only low associations with longer-term outcome in univariate analysis that were highest for preinjury pain or function (R = 0.4) and outcome at hospital discharge (R = 0.3). After logistic regression, the study variables explained a maximum variance of 23 per cent for somatic, 11 per cent for psychological, and 14 per cent for cognitive longer-term outcomes. The resulting Aarau trauma prognostic longer-term outcome scoring (ATPLOS) system, developed by checking eight risk factors, had a specificity of up to 80 per cent, and importantly may facilitate early detection of patients at risk of a poorer longer-term outcome.

Conclusion

Despite the high rate of deficits recorded for survivors of significant injury, particularly in loss of cognitive function, the multiple variables analysed only led to a limited characterization of patient-related longer-term outcomes. Until more is known about additional individual influencing factors, the proposed scoring system may serve well for clinical evaluation.

Registration number

NCT 02165137 (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov)
Evolutionary history of CAM photosynthesis in NeotropicalClusia: insights from genomics, anatomy, physiology and climate
Authors: Luján Manuel , Oleas Nora H , Winter Klaus
Published: October 2021

Clusia is a remarkable genus of Neotropical woody plants as its members engage in either C3 photosynthesis or employ, to varying degrees, crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) photosynthesis. Information about the evolutionary history of CAM in Clusia is scarce. Restriction site-associated sequencing of 64 species (20% of the genus) provided strong support for most of the previously recognized nine lineages. Ancestral reconstruction using maximum parsimony or maximum likelihood under a one-rate model suggested that CAM evolved at least four times independently from a most recent common ancestor (MRCA) with C3, whereas a maximum likelihood two-rate model suggested that CAM was already present in the MRCA followed by reversions to C3 in several lineages. Phylogenetic generalized least square analysis assessed variation in seven leaf anatomical traits and CAM activity measured as δ 13C. Results indicate that CAM is highly correlated with palisade mesophyll layer thickness and cell size. In addition, correlation between 19 bioclimatic variables and δ 13C was evaluated. It was found that CAM is positively correlated with habitats with a more severe dry season and greater precipitation seasonality. Since CAM is weakly and/or only periodically expressed in many Clusia spp., and thus not readily reflected in δ 13C, future analysis of phylogenetically-informed CAM expression in Clusia must include physiological measurements such as CO2 exchange and/or diel changes in leaf acidity for each species under investigation.
Repeat conformation heterogeneity in cerebellar ataxia, neuropathy, vestibular areflexia syndrome
Authors: Miyatake Satoko , Yoshida Kunihiro , Koshimizu Eriko , Doi Hiroshi , Yamada Mitsunori , Miyaji Yosuke , Ueda Naohisa , Tsuyuzaki Jun , Kodaira Minori , Onoue Hiroyuki , Taguri Masataka , Imamura Shintaro , Fukuda Hiromi , Hamanaka Kohei , Fujita Atsushi , Satoh Mai , Miyama Takabumi , Watanabe Nobuko , Kurita Yusuke , Okubo Masaki , Tanaka Kenichi , Kishida Hitaru , Koyano Shigeru , Takahashi Tatsuya , Ono Yoya , Higashida Kazuhiro , Yoshikura Nobuaki , Ogata Katsuhisa , Kato Rumiko , Tsuchida Naomi , Uchiyama Yuri , Miyake Noriko , Shimohata Takayoshi , Tanaka Fumiaki , Mizuguchi Takeshi , Matsumoto Naomichi
Published: October 2021

Cerebellar ataxia, neuropathy, vestibular areflexia syndrome (CANVAS) is a late-onset, slow-progressing multisystem neurodegenerative disorder. Biallelic AAGGG repeat expansion in RFC1 has been identified as causative of this disease, and repeat conformation heterogeneity (ACAGG repeat) was also recently implied.

To molecularly characterize this disease in Japanese patients with adult-onset ataxia, we accumulated and screened 212 candidate families by an integrated approach consisting of flanking PCR, repeat-primed PCR, Southern blotting and long-read sequencing using Sequel II, GridION or PromethION.

We identified 16 patients from 11 families, of whom seven had ACAGG expansions [(ACAGG)exp/(ACAGG)exp] (ACAGG homozygotes), two had ACAGG and AAGGG expansions [(ACAGG)exp/(AAGGG)exp] (ACAGG/AAGGG compound heterozygotes) and seven had AAGGG expansions [(AAGGG)exp/(AAGGG)exp] (AAGGG homozygotes). The overall detection rate was 5.2% (11/212 families including one family having two expansion genotypes). Long-read sequencers revealed the entire sequence of both AAGGG and ACAGG repeat expansions at the nucleotide level of resolution. Clinical assessment and neuropathology results suggested that patients with ACAGG expansions have similar clinical features to previously reported patients with homozygous AAGGG expansions, although motor neuron involvement was more notable in patients with ACAGG expansions (even if one allele was involved). Furthermore, a later age of onset and slower clinical progression were implied in patients with ACAGG/AAGGG compound heterozygous expansions compared with either ACAGG or AAGGG homozygotes in our very limited cohort.

Our study clearly shows the occurrence of repeat conformation heterogeneity, with possible different impacts on the affected nervous systems. The difference in disease onset and progression between compound heterozygotes and homozygotes might also be suspected but with very limited certainty due to the small sample number of cases in our study. Studies of additional patients are needed to confirm this.
Lessons Learned from Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Therapies: Critical Perspectives From the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) COVID-19 Treatment Guideline Panel
Authors: Bhimraj Adarsh , Morgan Rebecca L , Shumaker Amy Hirsch , Baden Lindsey , Chi-Chung Cheng Vincent , Edwards Kathryn M , Gandhi Rajesh T , Gallagher Jason C , Muller William J , O’Horo John C , Shoham Shmuel , Wollins Dana Swartzberg , Falck-Ytter Yngve
Published: October 2021

Despite the challenges of the pandemic, there has been substantial progress with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) therapies. Pivotal COVID-19 trials like SOLIDARITY, RECOVERY, and ACCT-1 were rapidly conducted and data disseminated to support effective therapies. However, critical shortcomings remain on trial conduct, dissemination and interpretation of study results, and regulatory guidance in pandemic settings. The lessons that we learned have implications for both the current pandemic and future emerging infectious diseases. There is a need for establishing and standardizing clinical meaningful outcomes in therapeutic trials and for targeting defined populations and phenotypes that will most benefit from specific therapies. Standardized processes should be established for rapid and critical data review and dissemination to ensure scientific integrity. Clarity around the evidence standards needed for issuance of both emergency use authorization (EUA) and biologic license application (BLA) should be established and an infrastructure for executing rapid trials in epidemic settings maintained.
Informed decision-making in delivery of dialysis: combining clinical outcomes with sustainability
Authors: Apel Christian , Hornig Carsten , Maddux Frank W , Ketchersid Terry , Yeung Julianna , Guinsburg Adrian
Published: October 2021

As the prevalence of chronic kidney disease is expected to rise worldwide over the next decades, provision of renal replacement therapy (RRT), will further challenge budgets of all healthcare systems. Most patients today requiring RRT are treated with haemodialysis (HD) therapy and are elderly. This article demonstrates the interdependence of clinical and sustainability criteria that need to be considered to prepare for the future challenges of delivering dialysis to all patients in need. Newer, more sustainable models of high-value care need to be devised, whereby delivery of dialysis is based on value-based healthcare (VBHC) principles, i.e. improving patient outcomes while restricting costs. Essentially, this entails maximizing patient outcomes per amount of money spent or available. To bring such a meaningful change, revised strategies having the involvement of multiple stakeholders (i.e. patients, providers, payers and policymakers) need to be adopted. Although each stakeholder has a vested interest in the value agenda often with conflicting expectations and motivations (or motives) between each other, progress is only achieved if the multiple blocs of the delivery system are advanced as mutually reinforcing entities. Clinical considerations of delivery of dialysis need to be based on the entire patient disease pathway and evidence-based medicine, while the non-clinical sustainability criteria entail, in addition to economics, the societal and ecological implications of HD therapy. We discuss how selection of appropriate modes and features of delivery of HD (e.g. treatment modalities and schedules, selection of consumables, product life cycle assessment) could positively impact decision-making towards value-based renal care. Although the delivery of HD therapy is multifactorial and complex, applying cost-effectiveness analyses for the different HD modalities (conventional in-centre and home HD) can support in guiding payability (balance between clinical value and costs) for health systems. For a resource intensive therapy like HD, concerted and fully integrated care strategies need to be urgently implemented to cope with the global demand and burden of HD therapy.
Ideal Vial Size for Infliximab in the Treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease: An Analysis of Pharmaceutical Waste and Physician Opinions
Authors: Schachne Jonathan M , Durbin Laura L , Lacher Corey R , Sangha Maheep , Mone Anjali , Swaminath Arun
Published: October 2021

Background

Infliximab is a weight-based prescription for multiple autoimmune diseases and is dispensed only in single-use, 100mg vials. We aim to compute the quantity of infliximab waste at our site and in an ideal world where weight-based prescribing practices are followed. We estimate hypothetical waste reduction and cost-savings if a smaller vial is dispensed. We also surveyed gastroenterologists to study prescription rounding practices for infliximab.

Methods

A pre-existing registry of 426 inflammatory bowel disease patients identified 112 individuals who had received a total of 1003 infliximab administrations from December 2013 to May 2019. We calculated infliximab wastage per administration for the real world and an ideal (weight-based) world. Analysis of potential waste reduction and cost-savings was computed with the hypothetical creation of 50 and 25mg vials. Infliximab-prescribing gastroenterologists completed an online survey, determining reasons for rounding of weight-based prescription, rounding practices, and biosimilar use.

Results

At our site, the total value of infliximab wasted was between $112738.08 and $243209.50. Utilizing 50 and 25mg vials would reduce this waste by 92.2% and 99.4%, respectively. If prescriber guidelines were followed precisely, the total value of waste was between $132781.08 and $286448.19. Utilizing 50 and 25mg vials would reduce waste by 50.39% and 75.34%, respectively. The physician survey revealed that 68.1% rounded doses while only 31.9% prescribed exact weight-based doses.

Conclusions

Infliximab-prescribing gastroenterologists considered reducing drug waste as a common reason in their rounding practices. Our analysis demonstrates significant waste reduction and cost-savings are possible with the introduction of 50 and 25mg vials.
Post-pericardiotomy syndrome: insights into neglected postoperative issues
Authors: Maranta Francesco , Cianfanelli Lorenzo , Grippo Rocco , Alfieri Ottavio , Cianflone Domenico , Imazio Massimo
Published: October 2021

Abstract OBJECTIVES

Pericardial effusion is a common complication after cardiac surgery, both isolated and in post-pericardiotomy syndrome (PPS), a condition in which pleuropericardial damage triggers both a local and a systemic inflammatory/immune response. The goal of this review was to present a complete picture of PPS and pericardial complications after cardiac surgery, highlighting available evidence and gaps in knowledge.

METHODS

A literature review was performed that included relevant prospective and retrospective studies on the subject.

RESULTS

PPS occurs frequently and is associated with elevated morbidity and significantly increased hospital stays and costs. Nevertheless, PPS is often underestimated in clinical practice, and knowledge of its pathogenesis and epidemiology is limited. Several anti-inflammatory drugs have been investigated for treatment but with conflicting evidence. Colchicine demonstrated encouraging results for prevention.

CONCLUSIONS

Wider adoption of standardized diagnostic criteria to correctly define PPS and start early treatment is needed. Larger studies are necessary to better identify high-risk patients who might benefit from preventive strategies.
Efficient production of shinorine, a natural sunscreen material, from glucose and xylose by deleting HXK2 encoding hexokinase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Authors: Jin Chaeyeon , Kim Sojeong , Moon Seokjun , Jin Hyunbin , Hahn Ji-Sook
Published: October 2021

Mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs), microbial secondary metabolites with ultraviolet (UV) absorption properties, are promising natural sunscreen materials. Due to the low efficiency of extracting MAAs from natural producers, production in heterologous hosts has recently received attention. Shinorine is a well characterized MAA with strong UV-A absorption property. Previous, we developed Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain producing shinorine by introducing four shinorine biosynthetic genes from cyanobacterium Nostoc punctiforme. Shinorine is produced from sedoheptulose 7-phosphate (S7P), an intermediate in the pentose phosphate pathway. Shinorine production was greatly improved by using xylose as a co-substrate, which can increase the S7P pool. However, due to a limited xylose-utilizing capacity of the engineered strain, glucose was used as a co-substrate to support cell growth. In this study, we further improved shinorine production by attenuating glucose catabolism via glycolysis, which can redirect the carbon flux from glucose to the pentose phosphate pathway favoring shinorine production. Of the strategies we examined to reduce glycolytic flux, deletion of HXK2, encoding hexokinase, was most effective in increasing shinorine production. Furthermore, by additional expression of Ava3858 from Anabaena variabilis, encoding a rate-limiting enzyme 2-demethyl 4-deoxygadusol synthase, 68.4 mg/L of shinorine was produced in an optimized medium containing 14 g/L glucose and 6 g/L xylose, achieving a 2.2-fold increase compared with the previous strain.
Seed sequence polymorphism rs2168518 and allele-specific target gene regulation of hsa-miR-4513
Authors: Kiel Christina , Strunz Tobias , Hasler Daniele , Meister Gunter , Grassmann Felix , Weber Bernhard H F
Published: October 2021

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small post-transcriptional regulators that offer promising targets for treating complex diseases. To this end, hsa-miR-4513 is an excellent candidate as this gene harbors within its conserved heptametrical seed sequence a frequent polymorphism (rs2168518), which has previously been associated with several complex phenotypes. So far, little is known about the biological mechanism(s) underlying these associations. In an initial step, we now aimed to identify allele-specific target genes of hsa-miR-4513. We performed RNA sequencing in a miRNA overexpression model in human umbilical vein endothelial cells transfected with separated hsa-miR-4513 alleles at rs2168518, namely hsa-miR-4513-G and hsa-miR-4513-A. Genes specifically regulated by the rs2168518 alleles were independently verified by quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR), western blot analysis and allele-specific miRNA binding via a luciferase reporter assay. By a text-based search publicly available databases such as Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man and Mouse Genome Informatics were utilized to link target genes of hsa-miR-4513 to previously described phenotypes. Overall, we identified 23 allele-specific hsa-miR-4513 target genes and replicated 19 of those independently via qRT-PCR. Western blot analysis and luciferase reporter assays conducted for an exemplary subsample further confirmed the allele-specific regulation of these genes by hsa-miR-4513. Remarkably, multiple allele-specific target genes identified are linked via text retrieval to several phenotypes previously reported to be associated with hsa-miR-4513. These genes offer promising candidates for ongoing research on the functional pathobiological impact of hsa-miR-4513 and its seed polymorphism rs2168518. This could give rise to therapeutic applications targeting this miRNA.
Risking Children: The Implications of Predictive Risk Analytics Across Child Protection and Policing for Vulnerable and Marginalized Children
Authors: Sacher Sarah
Published: October 2021

Predictive risk models (‘PRMs’) are increasingly utilized in policing and child protection contexts to monitor, flag and assess children ‘at risk’ of victimization and/or offending. Policing and child protection PRMs focus on similar vulnerable and marginalized cohorts, strengthening the power of the State’s gaze over these groups. An analysis of the overlap between these PRMs reveals problematic State constructions of vulnerability and risk, exposing porous lines between welfare and policing agendas. This Article contends that these PRMs may result in the criminalization of vulnerable and marginalized children, thus undermining objectives of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The UNCRC is applied to assess implications for privacy, discrimination and child justice principles, in context with positive obligations to protect children and promote their best interests. The Article also addresses the UNCRC through a critical lens, identifying shortcomings that may undermine its potential to confront relevant harms.
It’s Good to Be Different: How Diversity Impacts Judgments of Moral Behavior
Authors: Khan Uzma , Kalra Ajay
Published: October 2021

Recently, conversation on diversity and inclusion has been at the forefront in the media as well as the workplace. Though research has examined how diversity impacts organizational culture and decision-making, little attention has been given to how corporate diversity impacts consumers’ responses to the firm. This article establishes a link between diversity and the perceived morality of market actors. A series of studies demonstrate that greater diversity (racial, gender, or national) in a corporate team leads to perceptions of greater morality of the firm and its representatives and, as a consequence, results in more favorable consumer attitudes and behavior toward the firm. This positive effect arises because consumers perceive diverse teams as possessing higher perspective-taking abilities. Since marketplace morality is concerned with the greater good, we argue that higher perceptions of perspective-taking signal that the team will safeguard the broad interests of the community rather than serve narrow interest groups. The findings have broad implications since consumers are increasingly concerned with moral consumption. Our research suggests that diversity in the workforce is not only important for team performance and social equity but can shape consumers’ sentiments and behavior toward the firm.