bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Utilization of Nitrosomonas sp. and Nitrobacter sp. probiotic towards nitrite and nitrate level in nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) using aquaponic system
Authors: Setiawan D , Prayogo  , Rahardja B S
Published: April 2021

Based on KKP data, nile tilapia production is highly increasing from 2015 – 2018. To generate high production of nile tilapia, intensive culture system is needed. The latter indicated with high density stock and feed amount, which lead to high accumulation of organic waste. Those accumulation of organic waste considered harmful towards fish commodity due to contained ammonia and nitrite which both of them categorized as toxic. The solution for the prior problem is by applying aquaponic system along with the addition ofNitrosomonasandNitrobacterprobiotic to support nitrification process. Nitrification process described as decreasing process of ammonia and nitrite by oxidizing them into nitrate. The effective dosage of the probiotic has yet to be known, so this study aim to figure out whether the addition of those probiotic with certain dosage can decrease nitrite and increase nitrate. This study uses Rancang Acak Lengkap (RAL) with 5 treatments repeated 4 times. Nitrite and nitrate data analyzed by ANOVA. The result showed the addition ofNitrosomonasandNitrobacterprobiotic decrease nitrite and increase nitrate with 1,5 mg/L as the most effective dosage. Prior dosage decrease nitrite level into 0,0672 ± 0,0013 mg/L and increase nitrate level into 3,936 ± 0,1175 mg/L
Sustainable seaweed farming and its contribution to livelihoods in Eastern Indonesia
Authors: Zamroni A
Published: April 2021

Seaweed farming has been used as a tool for livelihood strategy of coastal communities in Eastern Indonesia. This study aimed to analyse the characteristics of seaweed farming activity, analyse the constraints and opportunities of seaweed farming, and analyze the marketing channel of seaweed farming. This study were used structured and semi-structured questionnaires as qualitative approach, and interviews were conducted with 294 in total respondents in South Sulawesi and West Nusa Tenggara Provinces. The data were analyzed used descriptive statistics, supply chain analysis, and SWOT. The finding shows that seaweed farming plays as a primary source of household support in small-scale level (2-4 plots in each). Some constraints hinder the development of this activity, such as disease, post-harvest difficulties, farm ownership, shifts in the monsoon season, marketing constraints, quality of seaweed seeds, farm ownership, and imperfections in post-harvest methods. The supply chain of seaweed with has provided benefits (price margin: IDR 1000/kg), such as speedily supplying investment and daily operational funds, without interest through the efforts of middlemen with an exclusive relationship. As a conclusion, traditional seaweed farming method can be as key driven for sustainable seaweed farming and livelihoods for local coastal community.
Reversible Gate Mapping into QCA Explicit Cells Packed with Single Layer
Authors: Pathak N , Misra N K , Bhoi B K , Kumar S
Published: April 2021

MOS based circuits and computing devices are facing challenge related to energy dissipation, short channel effect and device density. The state of the art technology is driven towards Quantum cellular automata (QCA) computing with an emphasis on a high-speed and smaller area. QCA is a new computing technology that is made of quantum cell restraining two electrons and two dots. In this paper, a novel design of Fredkin, Toffoli, and Feynman gate layout is designed using the molecular QCA concept. Presented cell layout of newly circuit validity is verified by QCADesigner software. Further, a large number of articles are reviewed and comparison results are presented to show the optimal results such as cell count, majority gate count, bounded box area, and clock utilize. In this work, QCA and reversible logic combined together and the proposed designs have less bounded box area and delay, which is an essential part of the next-generation computing.
Analysing Movie Success Based on Machine Learning Algorithm
Authors: Shankhdhar Ashutosh , Agrawal Vinay , Rajpoot Vikram
Published: April 2021

The Film Industry is producing several hundreds of movies paving the way for the United States for third position in the list of giants of film Industry of the whole world [1]. The expenditure on these movies are of the ten to eleven figures or we can say thousands of millions of dollars, which ensure their box office success, is absolutely essential for the survival of the industry. Predicting what sort of movies are going to earn more and what type is going to come up short before the release, may profit the houses extraordinarily because it will also empower them to work on their promoting efforts which itself need numerous dollars, appropriately[2]. Furthermore, it would likewise assist them with knowing when it is generally suitable to deliver a film by taking a look at the general market. Along these lines, the examination of film achievement is critical to the business. ML (Machine Learning) algorithms [3] calculations broadly need to make expectations like development inside the stock trade, interest for items, nature of tumors, and so on.
A Study on Detection Of E-Coli Bacteria in Drinking Water using E-Nose System
Authors: Suriya Pa. , Naveenkumar K. , Sangeetha S P , Divahar R , Vijaykumar S.
Published: April 2021

E- nose system is mainly used to ensure the qualitative analysis of microbes accumulated in the water and air. It is an authoritative tool to evaluate the odour compounds during the quality control process. Our aim of the project is to use the E-Nose system for finding the E-coli Bacteria in the public water supply sources for drinking purposes. As the instrument for detecting E-coli Bacteria is not available, and hence we construct an instrument with a sensor having computer connectivity. This work is deliberated to measure the microbial contamination in water segregation system in metropolis and municipalities. However, the range of limits to all factors are associated to sensor with respect to the conventional methods of micro-organism detection. The collection of water from pond at sirudhavoor village in Chengalpattu district. In this sensor system, using an embedded PIC microcontroller is used to detect and quantify the microbial contaminants. The results of this analysis will give the details of CO2 and its bacterial density in drinking water.
Effect of variation in channel length and thickness of organic semiconductor in the bottom-gate configuration of OTFT
Authors: Gupta S , Singh M K
Published: April 2021

Advancing in the device and circuit performance a vast amount of study is going in the area of organic electronics. In the present work, we have patterned the features of the bottom-gate configuration of OTFT with the help of Technology Computer-Aided Design (TCAD) tools where ATLASTM (Silvaco International) has been utilized as a 2D numerical device simulator to extract the electrical characteristics. To monitor the effect of variation in channel length and thickness of OTFT, we have altered the channel length (L) from 10um to 50um, which results in the reduction of the drive current from -1.4 × 10-10 A to -2.7 × 10-11 A (BGBC), and in contrary to that the performance of the device has been affected as the current ratio decrease from 1.2 × 1012 to 1.4 × 103 (BGBC) with a thickness variation of organic semiconductor from 10nm to 50nm. Furthermore, the electrical characteristics as well as performance parameters like mobility, on/off current ratio, threshold voltage, etc., related to configured Bottom-Gate (top and bottom contacts) pentacene-based OTFT devices have been retrieved and compared.
Image segmentation with Kapur, Otsu and minimum cross entropy based multilevel thresholding aided with cuckoo search algorithm
Authors: Kalyani R , Sathya P D , Sakthivel V P
Published: April 2021

Color image segmentation is the primary factor to provide the intended information from the input image. The straightforward method called multilevel thresholding (MLT) is used to analyse the various classes of complex images. But, when the level of threshold increases, computational difficulty increases. Hence, MLT with most promising objective functions such as Kapur, Otsu and minimum cross entropy aided with cuckoo search algorithm (CSA) is used. The efficient metaheuristic cuckoo search algorithm’s controlling parameter balances the local and global search. In this paper, the efficacy of CSA at 4,5,6 and 7 threshold levels with various fitness functions are utilized for precise image segmentation. It is seen from experimental results, the Otsu based cuckoo search algorithm outperform than Kapur and MCE. Quality metrices such as computational time, PSNR (peak signal to noise ratio) and SSIM (structural similarity index) authenticate the exploration and exploitation capability of CSA algorithm for real-world applications.
Performance comparison of IEEE 802.15.4 and IEEE 802.15.4e based MAC algorithm in wireless body sensor networks
Authors: Prasad Durga , Chiplunkar Niranjan N. , Prabhakar Nayak K.
Published: April 2021

One of the potential applications of Wireless Sensor Network for improving the lifestyle of human beings is Wireless Body Sensor Network (WBSN). A dedicated health monitoring system is referred to as the Ubiquitous Health Monitoring (UHM) system consisting of the Internet of Things (IoT) based access points which are made available in a cloud-based server. So, ZigBee based IEEE 802.15.4 technology is extensively used in the implementation of Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical (PHY) layers. Hence, a comparison is provided in terms of the features of the modified IEEE 802.15.4e standard. An algorithmic approach for the MAC layer helped in regulated power consumption of the sensor node by controlling the transmission power for the packets. This is initiated in the algorithm by categorizing the packets as Delay sensitive and Delay insensitive. By regulating the channel access strategy using Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, the energy consumption of the transceiver reduces, thus improving the energy consumption of the communication system and lifetime of the sensor network. For better throughput using IEEE 802.15.4e, the performance of Deterministic and Synchronous Multi-channel Extension (DSME) is found to be trustworthy than Time Slotted Channel Hopping (TSCH).
Hyperbolic manifolds and pseudo-arithmeticity
Authors: Emery Vincent , Mila Olivier
Published: April 2021

We introduce and motivate a notion of pseudo-arithmeticity, which possibly applies to all lattices in

PO
⁡
(
n
,
1
)

\operatorname {PO}(n,1)

with

n
>
3

n>3

. We further show that under an additional assumption (satisfied in all known cases), the covolumes of these lattices correspond to rational linear combinations of special values of

L
L

-functions.
Finite GK-dimensional pre-Nichols algebras of quantum linear spaces and of Cartan type
Authors: Andruskiewitsch Nicolás , Sanmarco Guillermo
Published: April 2021

We study pre-Nichols algebras of quantum linear spaces and of Cartan type with finite GK-dimension. We prove that except for a short list of exceptions involving only roots of order 2, 3, 4, 6, any such pre-Nichols algebra is a quotient of the distinguished pre-Nichols algebra introduced by Angiono generalizing the De Concini-Kac-Procesi quantum groups. There are two new examples, one of which can be thought of as

G
2

G_2

at a third root of one.
Female C57BL/6J Mice Show Alcohol-Seeking Behaviour after Withdrawal from Prolonged Alcohol Consumption in the Social Environment
Authors: Koskela Maryna , Piepponen T Petteri , Andressoo Jaan-Olle , Võikar Vootele , Airavaara Mikko
Published: April 2021

Aims

Recently we developed a model to study alcohol-seeking behaviour after withdrawal in a social context in female mice. The model raised several questions that we were eager to address to improve methodology.

Methods

In our model, female mice were group-housed in automated cages with three conditioned (CS+) corners and water in both sides of one separate non-conditioned corner. Water was available with opened doors at all the time of training. We established conditioning by pairing alcohol drinking with light cues. Here, we introduced prolonged access to increasing concentrations of alcohol instead of intermittent access. To study motivation to drink alcohol, we carried out the extinction tests on withdrawal days 1 (WD1) and 10 (WD10). During tests, the light cues were present in conditioned corners, but there was no liquid in the bottles.

Results

We found that the number of visits and nosepokes in the CS+ corner in the alcohol group was much higher than in the water group. Also, during training, the consumption of alcohol was increasing. In the extinction tests, we found that the number of nosepokes in the CS+ corner increased in the alcohol group on both WD1 and WD10.

Conclusions

Our study supports that alcohol-seeking behaviour after withdrawal can be modelled and studied in group-housed animals and environments without social isolation.
The Development and Validation of the Embedded Validity Indicator for the Neuropsychological Assessment Battery
Authors: Varela Jacob L , Ord Anna S , Phillips Jacob I , Shura Robert D , Sautter Scott W
Published: April 2021

Objective

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate an embedded measure of performance validity within the Neuropsychological Assessment Battery (NAB).

Method

This study involved a retrospective chart review at an outpatient neuropsychology clinic. Participants were 183 adults (ages 18–70) who completed the attention and memory modules of the NAB, as well as the Word Choice Test, Green’s Medical Symptom Validity Test (MSVT), and Green’s Non-Verbal MSVT, as part of a clinical neuropsychological assessment (n = 147) or as part of a forensic neuropsychological evaluation (n = 36). Replicating methodology utilized by Silverberg et al. (2007) for the development of the Effort Index within the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status, an Embedded Validity Indictor (EVI) for the NAB was developed in the present study based on Digits Forward and List Learning Long Delayed Forced-Choice Recognition (list recognition) subtests.

Results

Receiver operating characteristic curve analyses indicated the newly developed NAB EVI was able to significantly differentiate between valid and invalid status on stand-alone performance-validity tests, with area under the curve values ranging from 0.797 to 0.977. Optimal cutoffs for medical, forensic, and mixed samples were identified.

Conclusions

The newly developed NAB EVI shows promise as an embedded performance validity measure; however, due to moderate sensitivity, it should be used in combination with stand-alone performance validity tests to detect invalid performance.
Direct protein delivery into intact plant cells using polyhistidine peptides
Authors: Tanaka Yoshino , Nanasato Yoshihiko , Omura Kousei , Endoh Keita , Kawano Tsuyoshi , Iwasaki Takashi
Published: April 2021

Polyhistidine peptides (PHPs), sequences comprising only histidine residues (>His8), are effective cell-penetrating peptides for plant cells. Using PHP-fusion proteins, we aimed to deliver proteins into cultured plant cells from Nicotiana tabacum, Oryza sativa, and Cryptomeria japonica. Co-cultivation of cultured cells with fusion proteins combining maltose-binding protein (MBP), red fluorescent protein (RFP), and various PHPs (MBP–RFP–His8–His20) in one polypeptide showed the cellular uptake of fusion proteins in all plant cell lines. Maximum intracellular fluorescence was shown in MBP-RFP-His20. Further, adenylate cyclase (CyaA), a synthase of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) activated by cytosolic calmodulin, was used as a reporter for protein delivery in living cells. A fusion protein combining MBP, RFP, CyaA, and His20 (MBP–RFP–CyaA–His20) was delivered into plant cells and increased intracellular fluorescence and cAMP production in all cell lines. The present study demonstrates that PHPs are effective carriers of proteins into the intracellular space of various cultured plant cells.
A Professional Development Framework for Higher Education Science Faculty that Improves Student Learning
Authors: Cormas Peter C , Gould Gregg , Nicholson Louise , Fredrick Kyle C , Doan S Y
Published: April 2021

A recent impetus for the transformation of undergraduate science instruction to improve student learning has prompted stakeholders to support professional development (PD) of higher education science faculty (instructors). In turn, stakeholders have created successful PD for instructors on the basis of research in K–12 teacher PD. However, there is no framework for PD of instructors that has been linked to student learning. The purpose of this literature review and theoretical work is to organize instructors’ PD research within a sequential framework for K–12 PD that has been linked to student learning, to examine limited evidence of student learning yielded from the PD of instructors, to determine whether and to what extent the entire sequence of the framework has been evaluated in PD for instructors, and to use a ubiquitous form of PD known as learning communities as a practical example for how to design, implement, and evaluate PD with the framework.
A robust brain signature region approach for episodic memory performance in older adults
Authors: Jolly Amy E , Hampshire Adam
Published: April 2021

This scientific commentary refers to ‘A robust brain signature region approach for episodic memory performance in older adults’ by Fletcher et al. (doi:10.1093/brain/awab007).
Andrographis overcomes 5-fluorouracil-associated chemoresistance through inhibition of DKK1 in colorectal cancer
Authors: Zhao Yinghui , Wang Chuanxin , Goel Ajay
Published: April 2021

Colorectal cancer (CRC) ranks as the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the USA. 5-Fluorouracil (5FU)-based chemotherapeutic drug remains a mainstay of CRC treatment. Unfortunately, ~50–60% of patients eventually develop resistance to 5FU, leading to poor survival outcomes. Our previous work revealed that andrographis enhanced 5FU-induced anti-cancer activity, but the underlying mechanistic understanding largely remains unclear. In this study, we first established 5FU-resistant (5FUR) CRC cells and observed that combined treatment with andrographis-5FU in 5FUR cells exhibited superior effect on cell viability, proliferation, and colony formation capacity compared with individual treatments (P < 0.001). To identify key genes and pathways responsible for 5FU resistance, we analyzed genome-wide transcriptomic profiling data from CRC patients who either responded or did not respond to 5FU. Among a panel of differentially expressed genes, Dickkopf-1 (DKK1) overexpression was a critical event for 5FU resistance. Moreover, andrographis significantly downregulated 5FU-induced DKK1 overexpression, accompanied with enhanced anti-tumor effects by abrogating downstream Akt-phosphorylation. In line with in vitro findings, andrographis enhanced 5FU-induced anti-cancer activity in mice xenografts and patient-derived tumoroids (P < 0.01). In conclusion, our data provide novel evidence for andrographis-mediated reversal of 5FU resistance, highlighting its potential role as an adjunct to conventional chemotherapy in CRC.
Infectious Diseases Society of America Guidance on the Treatment of Extended-Spectrum β-lactamase Producing Enterobacterales (ESBL-E), Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacterales (CRE), andPseudomonas aeruginosawith Difficult-to-Treat Resistance (DTR-P. aeruginosa)
Authors: Tamma Pranita D , Aitken Samuel L , Bonomo Robert A , Mathers Amy J , van Duin David , Clancy Cornelius J
Published: April 2021

Background

Antimicrobial-resistant infections are commonly encountered in US hospitals and result in significant morbidity and mortality. This guidance document provides recommendations for the treatment of infections caused by extended-spectrum β-lactamase–producing Enterobacterales (ESBL-E), carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa with difficult-to-treat resistance (DTR-P. aeruginosa).

Methods

A panel of 6 infectious diseases specialists with expertise in managing antimicrobial-resistant infections formulated common questions regarding the treatment of ESBL-E, CRE, and DTR-P. aeruginosa infections. Based on review of the published literature and clinical experience, the panel provide recommendations and associated rationale for each recommendation. Because of significant differences in the molecular epidemiology of resistance and the availability of specific anti-infective agents globally, this document focuses on treatment of antimicrobial-resistant infections in the United States.

Results

Approaches to empiric treatment selection, duration of therapy, and other management considerations are briefly discussed. The majority of guidance focuses on preferred and alternative treatment recommendations for antimicrobial-resistant infections, assuming that the causative organism has been identified and antibiotic susceptibility testing results are known. Treatment recommendations apply to both adults and children.

Conclusions

The field of antimicrobial resistance is dynamic and rapidly evolving, and the treatment of antimicrobial-resistant infections will continue to challenge clinicians. This guidance document is current as of 17 September 2020. Updates to this guidance document will occur periodically as new data emerge. Furthermore, the panel will expand recommendations to include other problematic gram-negative pathogens in future versions. The most current version of the guidance including the date of publication can be found at www.idsociety.org/practice-guideline/amr-guidance/.
Multi-view Dynamic Heterogeneous Information Network Embedding
Authors: Zhang Zhenghao , Huang Jianbin , Tan Qinglin
Published: April 2021

Most existing heterogeneous information network (HIN) embedding methods focus on static environments while neglecting the evolving characteristic of real-world networks. Although several dynamic embedding methods have been proposed, they are merely designed for homogeneous networks and cannot be directly applied in heterogeneous environments. To tackle above challenges, we propose a novel framework for incorporating temporal information into HIN embedding, named multi-view dynamic HIN embedding (MDHNE), which can efficiently preserve evolution patterns of implicit relationships from different views in updating node vectors over time. We first transform HIN to a series of homogeneous networks corresponding to different views. Then our proposed MDHNE applies recurrent neural network (RNN) to incorporate evolving pattern of complex network structure and semantic relationships between nodes into latent embedding spaces, and thus the node vectors from multiple views can be learned and updated when HIN evolves over time. Moreover, we come up with an attention-based fusion mechanism, which can automatically infer weights of latent vectors corresponding to different views by minimizing the objective function specific for different mining tasks. Extensive experiments clearly demonstrate that our MDHNE model outperforms state-of-the-art baselines on three real-world dynamic datasets for different network mining tasks.
Histological Disease Activity Measured by the Nancy Index Is Associated with Long-term Outcomes in Patients with Ulcerative Colitis
Authors: D’Amico Ferdinando , Guillo Lucas , Baumann Cedric , Danese Silvio , Peyrin-Biroulet Laurent
Published: April 2021

Background and Aims

Histological healing might be the ultimate therapeutic goal in ulcerative colitis [UC]. Our aim was to investigate the association between histological disease activity as measured by a validated index and long-term outcomes in patients with UC.

Methods

An observational retrospective cohort study was conducted at the Nancy University Hospital between January 2014 and March 2020. All consecutive patients with confirmed UC, undergoing colonoscopy with biopsies and available histological reports, were eligible for inclusion.

Results

A total of 156 patients were included [53% female with a mean age of 41.3 ± 15.4 years]. About a quarter of patients were in histological remission [Nancy index = 0] at baseline [n = 42, 26.9%]. Median follow-up was 30.5 months [range 0–75]. Sixteen patients with histological disease activity at baseline [Nancy index ≥ 1] underwent surgery during follow-up compared with no subject in the histological remission group [14.0% vs 0.0%, respectively, p = 0.01]. Similarly, a higher rate of hospitalisation was found in patients with histological disease activity at baseline than in the histological remission group [36.0% vs 7.1%, respectively, p = 0.001]. The Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that patients with histological disease activity at baseline had a 5-year surgery rate of 16.7% [logrank p = 0.01] and a 5-year hospitalisation rate of 19.7% [logrank p = 0.0002]. In the multivariate regression model, Nancy index > 0 was independently associated with the risk of hospitalisation [hazard ratio 8.88, confidence interval 95% 2.5-31.1, p = 0.0007].

Conclusions

UC patients with histological disease activity, as measured by the Nancy index, have a greater risk of surgery and hospitalisation.
Adverse events and their management during enhanced external counterpulsation treatment in patients with refractory angina pectoris: observations from a routine clinical practice
Authors: Wu Eline , Mårtensson Jan , Desta Liyew , Broström Anders
Published: April 2021

Aims 

Enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) is a non-invasive treatment (35 one-hour sessions) for patients with refractory angina pectoris (RAP). To avoid interruption of treatment, more knowledge is needed about potential adverse events (AE) of EECP and their appropriate management. To describe occurrence of AE and clinical actions related to EECP treatment in patients with RAP and compare the distribution of AE between responders and non-responders to treatment.

Methods and results 

A retrospective study was conducted by reviewing medical records of 119 patients with RAP who had undergone one EECP treatment and a 6-min-walk test pre- and post-treatment. Sociodemographic, medical, and clinical data related to EECP were collected from patients’ medical records. An increased walking distance by 10% post-treatment, measured by 6-min-walk test, was considered a responder. The treatment completion rate was high, and the occurrence of AE was low. Adverse events occurred more often in the beginning and gradually decreased towards the end of EECP treatment. The AE were either device related (e.g. muscle pain/soreness) or non-device related (e.g. bradycardia). Medical (e.g. medication adjustments) and/or nursing (e.g. extra padding around the calves, wound dressing) actions were used. The AE distribution did not differ between responders (n = 49, 41.2%) and non-responders. Skin lesion/blister occurred mostly in responders and paraesthesia occurred mostly in non-responders.

Conclusion 

Enhanced external counterpulsation appears to be a safe and well-tolerated treatment option in patients with RAP. However, nurses should be attentive and flexible to meet their patients’ needs to prevent AE and early termination of treatment.
A global search for novel transcription factors impacting the Neurospora crassa circadian clock
Authors: Muñoz-Guzmán Felipe , Caballero Valeria , Larrondo Luis F
Published: April 2021

Eukaryotic circadian oscillators share a common circuit architecture, a negative feedback loop in which a positive element activates the transcription of a negative one that then represses the action of the former, inhibiting its own expression. While studies in mammals and insects have revealed additional transcriptional inputs modulating the expression of core clock components, this has been less characterized in the model Neurospora crassa, where the participation of other transcriptional components impacting circadian clock dynamics remains rather unexplored. Thus, we sought to identify additional transcriptional regulators modulating the N. crassa clock, following a reverse genetic screen based on luminescent circadian reporters and a collection of transcription factors (TFs) knockouts, successfully covering close to 60% of them. Besides the canonical core clock components WC-1 and -2, none of the tested transcriptional regulators proved to be essential for rhythmicity. Nevertheless, we identified a set of 23 TFs that when absent lead to discrete, but significant, changes in circadian period. While the current level of analysis does not provide mechanistic information about how these new players modulate circadian parameters, the results of this screen reveal that an important number of light and clock-regulated TFs, involved in a plethora of processes, are capable of modulating the clockworks. This partial reverse genetic clock screen also exemplifies how the N. crassa knockout collection continues to serve as an expedite platform to address broad biological questions.
Double-strand breaks induce short-scale DNA replication and damage amplification in the fully grown mouse oocytes
Authors: Ma Jun-Yu , Feng Xie , Xie Feng-Yun , Li Sen , Chen Lei-Ning , Luo Shi-Ming , Yin Shen , Ou Xiang-Hong
Published: April 2021

Break-induced replication (BIR) is essential for the repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) with single ends. DSBs-induced microhomology-mediated BIR (mmBIR) and template-switching can increase the risk of complex genome rearrangement. In addition, DSBs can also induce the multi-invasion-mediated DSB amplification. The mmBIR-induced genomic rearrangement has been identified in cancer cells and patients with rare diseases. However, when and how mmBIR is initiated have not been fully and deeply studied. Furthermore, it is not well understood about the conditions for initiation of multi-invasion-mediated DSB amplification. In the G2 phase oocyte of mouse, we identified a type of short-scale BIR (ssBIR) using the DNA replication indicator 5-ethynyl-2’-deoxyuridine (EdU). These ssBIRs could only be induced in the fully grown oocytes but not the growing oocytes. If the DSB oocytes were treated with Rad51 or Chek1/2 inhibitors, both EdU signals and DSB marker γH2A.X foci would decrease. In addition, the DNA polymerase inhibitor Aphidicolin could inhibit the ssBIR and another inhibitor ddATP could reduce the number of γH2A.X foci in the DSB oocytes. In conclusion, our results showed that DNA DSBs in the fully grown oocytes can initiate ssBIR and be amplified by Rad51 or DNA replication.
Regulatory approaches to managing artificial intelligence systems in autonomous vehicles in Australia
Authors: Thiele-Evans Lilla , Pepper Blake , Zeleznikow John , Foster Neil , Sourdin Tania
Published: April 2021

This article explores the emergence of Automated Vehicles (AVs) in Australia. It will investigate the legal and regulatory terrain. International and domestic approaches are examined to determine potential responses. The regulatory issues emerge partly due to the varied nature of artificial intelligence systems and processes that enable AVs to function. The variations may be due to the chosen domain model, software development processes, or the development of biases that may occur during code development for the underlying artificial intelligence system. Such variations can create difficulties in the application of road rules, safety requirements, and the legal and regulatory requirements. They may give rise to significant issues relating to driver classification and licensing for AVs, due to the varied levels of control and involvement in the driving process. For this reason, legislative reform at specific jurisdictional levels is suggested together with clearer international standards as a pathway to ensure the safe and effective integration of autonomous vehicles into society.
Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare providers: save the frontline fighters
Authors: Al-Jumaili Ali Azeez , Al-Fatlawi Bashar G , Al-Jalehawi Ahmad K , Al-Hamadani Fadya Yaqoob , Alsawad Oday Sajjad
Published: April 2021

Objectives

The objective of this study was to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare providers (HCPs) at personal and professional levels.

Methods

This was a cross-sectional descriptive study. It was conducted using an electronic format survey through Qualtrics Survey Software in English. The target participants were HCPs working in any healthcare setting across Iraq. The survey was distributed via two professional Facebook groups between 7 April and 7 May 2020. The survey items were adopted with modifications from three previous studies of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Avian Influenza Outbreak. Kruskal–Wallis test was conducted to determine the difference in the pandemic impact according to the dealing with COVID-19 cases.

Key findings

The authors received 430 surveys from HCPs representing 14 provinces. Approximately 60% of the participants were dealing with diagnosis or treatment of COVID-19 cases. More than 80% perceived high risk of infection and stress due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, 85.9% of the HCPs had concerns of putting family and close friends at risk due to their job during the COVID-19 crisis. HCPs working in a setting dealing with diagnosis/treatment of COVID-19 cases experienced significantly higher concerns about personal and family safety compared with other HCPs.

Conclusions

Working during COVID-19 pandemic has several negative impacts on HCPs including mental and physical health and an overwhelming work environment. Thus, social and emotional support is needed to help HCPs to cope with such stressful conditions. Finally, providing adequate PPE can help to minimise concerns of getting infected in the workplace.
An evolutionary game theoretic model of whistleblowing behaviour in organizations
Authors: Quinteros María J , Villena Marcelo J , Villena Mauricio G
Published: April 2021

We present a theoretical model of corruption in organizations. Our specific focus is the role of incentives that aim to encourage whistleblowing behaviour. Corruption is modelled as a social norm of behaviour using evolutionary game theory. In particular, the dynamics of whistleblowing behaviour is captured using the replicator dynamics equation with constant and quadratic monitoring costs. We formally explore the local asymptotic stability of the equilibria. Our findings indicate that the traditional recommendations of the Beckerian approach are usually too expensive and/or unstable. We argue that an efficient mechanism for controlling corruption can be achieved by maintaining efficient salaries and imposing high rewards for whistleblowers when they detect wrongdoing. In the long term, employees can only be honest, or corrupt, or corrupt and whistleblowers; honest and whistleblowing behaviour will not coexist in the long run, since one of these two strategies is always dominated by the other.
A method-of-lines formulation for a model of reactive settling in tanks with varying cross-sectional area
Authors: Bürger Raimund , Careaga Julio , Diehl Stefan
Published: April 2021

Reactive settling denotes the process of sedimentation of small solid particles dispersed in a viscous fluid with simultaneous reactions between the components that constitute the solid and liquid phases. This process is of particular importance for the simulation and control of secondary settling tanks (SSTs) in water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs), formerly known as wastewater treatment plants. A spatially 1D model of reactive settling in an SST is formulated by combining a mechanistic model of sedimentation with compression with a model of biokinetic reactions. In addition, the cross-sectional area of the tank is allowed to vary as a function of height. The final model is a system of strongly degenerate parabolic, nonlinear partial differential equations that include discontinuous coefficients to describe the feed, underflow and overflow mechanisms, as well as singular source terms that model the feed mechanism. A finite difference scheme for the final model is developed by first deriving a method-of-lines formulation (discrete in space, continuous in time) and then passing to a fully discrete scheme by a time discretization. The advantage of this formulation is its compatibility with common practice in development of software for WRRFs. The main mathematical result is an invariant-region property, which implies that physically relevant numerical solutions are produced. Simulations of denitrification in SSTs in WRRFs illustrate the model and its discretization.
Coproducing value during the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Forcino Rachel C , Von Plessen Christian
Published: April 2021

Service users, professionals, and civil society all contribute to public health. Inclusion of all relevant actors in a network community coproduction approach can improve public health crisis responses. Using the Swiss canton of Vaud's COVID-19 response as an example, we describe ways in which a network approach can add value to public health services.
Quality as strategy, the evolution of co-production in the Region Jönköping health system, Sweden: a descriptive qualitative study
Authors: Persson Sofia , Andersson Ann-Christine , Kvarnefors Annmargreth , Thor Johan , Andersson Gäre Boel
Published: April 2021

Background

Pursuing the vision ‘for a good life in an attractive region,’ the Region Jönköping County (RJC) in Sweden oversees public health and health-care services for its 360 000 residents. For more than three decades, RJC has applied ‘quality as strategy,’ which has included increasing involvement of patients, family and friends and citizens. This practice has evolved, coinciding with the growing recognition of co-production as a fundamental feature in health-care services. This study views co-production as an umbrella term including different methods, initiatives and organizational levels. When learning about co-production in health-care services, it can be helpful to approach it as a dynamic and reflective process.

Objective

This study aims to describe the examples of key developmental steps toward co-production as a system property and to highlight ‘lessons learned’ from a Swedish health system’s journey.

Method

This qualitative descriptive study draws on interviews with key stakeholders and on documents, such as local policy documents, project reports, meeting protocols and presentations. Co-production initiatives were defined as strategies, projects, quality improvement (QI) programs or other efforts, which included persons with patient experience and/or their next of kin (PPE). We used directed manifest content analysis to identify initiatives, timelines and methods and inductive conventional content analysis to capture lessons learned over time.

Results

The directed content analyses identified 22 co-production initiatives from 1997 until today. Methods and approaches to facilitate co-production included development of personas, storytelling, person-centered care approaches, various co-design methods, QI interventions, harnessing of PPEs in different staff roles, and PPE-driven improvement and networks. The lessons learned included the following aspects of co-production: relations and structure; micro-, meso- and macro-level approaches; attitudes and roles; drivers for development; diversity; facilitating change; new perspectives on current work; consequences; uncertainties; theories and outcomes; and regulations and frames.

Conclusions

Co-production evolved as an increasingly significant aspect of services in the RJC health system. The initiatives examined in this study provide a broad overview and understanding of some of the RJC co-production journey, illustrating a health system’s approach to co-production within a context of long-standing application of QI and microsystem theories.

The main lessons include the constancy of direction, the strategy for improvement, engaged leaders, continuous learning and development from practical experience, and the importance of relationships with national and international experts in the pursuit of system-wide health-care co-production.
5 Examining ‘Return to Productivity’ Among People Living with Burn Injury: A Burn Model System National Database Report
Authors: Sheckter Clifford C , Carrougher Gretchen J , Smith Mallory B , Wolf Steven E , Schneider Jeffrey C , Gibran Nicole S , Stewart Barclay T
Published: April 2021

Introduction

Burn injuries can be life-altering events that involve intensive healthcare, changes in body image, psychological stress and financial toxicity. Burn survivors frequently experience numerous and varied barriers to returning to work. For those who return to work, little is known regarding whether they achieve pre-injury productivity (i.e., equivalent work output and/or pay). Understanding return to productivity and patients at risk of not achieving pre-injury productivity is important for targeting services that support this population and their families.

Methods

Burn survivors with complete occupational and personal income data through 24 months post-injury were extracted from the NIDILRR Burn Model System National Database. Participant annual income was reported in six groups: < $25k, $25k-50k, $50k-99k, $100k-149k, $150k-199k, $ >199k. Participants were classified by their change in income at each follow up (i.e., gain, loss, equivalent). Explanatory variables of interest included demographics, payer, job type, and injury characteristics. Logistic regression modeled return to productivity (i.e., equivalent or gain in income compared to pre-injury status) at each follow up interval.

Results

Data from 402 participants were analyzed. At 6-, 12-, and 24-months post-injury, 77%, 79%, and 71% of participants reported equivalent or gain in income, respectively. Physical and labor-based jobs were reported by 60% of participants who had return to productivity versus 63% of those who lost income. Demographics, payer, and job type were not significantly associated with differences in return to productivity. Mean %TBSA burn size was 17.4% in those who returned to productivity versus 26.1% among those who did not. Burn size ≥50% TBSA was the only predictor of decreased likelihood for return to productivity (OR 0.24, 95%CI 0.06–0.90). Post hoc comparison to participants who did not have complete financial data demonstrated that participants with complete data were significantly more likely to be older, white, have smaller burns, and carry private insurance.

Conclusions

Most burn survivors returned to pre-injury productivity by 24-months after injury regardless of demographics, job type, and payer status. Burn survivors who experienced ≥50% TBSA burns were much more likely to not return to pre-injury productivity.
16 Sustained Low Efficiency Dialysis (SLED) in Burn Patients with Acute Kidney Injury
Authors: Kassay Andrea Danielle , Adibfar Alexander , Cartotto Robert
Published: April 2021

Introduction

Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) is common among patients with major burns and may require treatment with renal replacement therapy (RRT). Although continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) modalities are widely used and offer many advantages over traditional intermittent hemodialysis (IHD), CRRT is expensive, labour-intensive, and may not be available in some burn centers. Sustained Low Efficiency Dialysis (SLED) is a moderately efficient alternative to IHD, but its use in burn patients with AKI has not been described. The purpose of this study was to review our experience with SLED.

Methods

Retrospective review of adult burn patients with AKI treated by SLED between 07/2013 and 03/2020 at an adult regional ABA-verified burn center. Data was obtained from the electronic medical record including daily dialysis forms completed by the nephrology service. Values are shown as mean +/- SD or median (IQR) as appropriate.

Results

We evaluated 367 distinct SLED sessions provided to 33 patients [age 55.8 +/- 14 yrs., %TBSA burn 33 +/-19, % TBSA full thickness burn 10.5 (0, 35.8), and 54.5% with inhalation injury]. The serum creatinine (sCr) prior to the start of SLED was 2.96 (2.3, 4.17) mg/dL. SLED was initiated 5 (3, 10.8) days (range 0–24 d) post burn, and 7 (3.3, 12.8) sessions (range 1–44) with a duration of 4 (4,6) hours each were given per patient. Heparinization was required in 22 sessions (6%), and 46 sessions (12.5%) were aborted, most commonly due to clotting of the lines or circuit, and rarely (4%) due to hypotension. The net ultrafiltrate removal was 1.2 (0.7–2) L, with a dialysate flow rate of 350 (350, 500) mL/min. Among 208 sessions where patients were not on vasopressors (VPs) Pre-SLED, one or more VPs were required in 19 sessions (9%) during or at the termination of SLED. Among 116 sessions where patients were receiving norepinephrine (NEpi) infusions pre-SLED, the NEpi dose dropped from 7.3 +/- 4.2 µgm/min to 6 +/- 4.5 µgm/min (p=0.03). Pre and Post SLED values for blood pressure, creatinine, and potassium are shown in the table. The mortality rate was 36.4%, hospital length of stay was 42 (20.5, 61.5) days, and among surviving patients, 2 (9.5%) required dialysis post discharge.

Conclusions

SLED was effective and well tolerated. Hemodynamic instability was infrequently encountered.
37 Analysis of the Utility of CO2 and Pulse-Dye Lasers in the Treatment of Hypertrophic Burn Scars
Authors: Cooper Laura E , Bohan Phillip Kemp , Hatem Victoria D , Carlsson Anders H , Cancio Leopoldo C , Chan Rodney K
Published: April 2021

Introduction

Despite advances in burn care, hypertrophic burn scars (HTBS) remain a significant source of morbidity. Treatment often involves use of CO2 lasers to reduce thickness and pulse-dye lasers (PDL) to reduce erythema. Despite frequent utilization, little quantitative data exists. This study seeks to objectively determine the effects of these laser treatments on burn scars.

Methods

Patients found to have HTBS undergoing laser treatments were approached for enrollment. Following enrollment, an area of HTBS outside of the treatment area was divided into 4 equal 3x3cm squares which were randomized to receive either CO2, PDL, CO2+PDL, or no treatment. Patients underwent a total of 3 treatments, 4–6 weeks apart, and were seen for follow-up over 3–6 months. Scar assessments occurred at each visit prior to treatment and consisted of digital photographs, ultrasound assessment for scar thickness, colorimetry, and the Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Score (POSAS).

Results

Twenty-five patients were enrolled at our institution. To date, 12 (48%) have completed all 3 treatments and the remainder are still in their follow-up period. Median initial scar thickness (ST) was 0.3cm. Mean time since injury was 9 months. Overall, there was a significant decrease in ST over time (p=0.0246) but not between treatment groups. There were no significant changes seen in melanin, erythema, or POSAS scores (p=0.9030, 0.6470, and 0.1495, respectively). When separated by ST before initiation of treatment, thin scars (< 3cm) appeared to be overall less erythematous in groups treated with PDL and CO2+PDL and untreated groups (p=0.0358, 0.0027. 0.0118, respectively) as compared to thick scars (≥3cm). Thin scars treated with PDL and CO2+PDL were also less pigmented than thick scars (p=0.0127, 0.0213, respectively). Erythema significantly decreased between the last treatment and the final visit for PDL and CO2+PDL groups (p< 0.0001). Older scars (≥9 months prior to treatment) tended to have a greater reduction in thickness as compared to newer scars but the difference was not significant to date.

Conclusions

Laser therapy is often employed in the treatment of HTBS. However, few studies have determined their objective benefits. Based on a preliminary analysis of our data, we have shown an overall decrease in scar thickness, less pigmentation, and less erythema in thin scars treated with PDL or CO2+PDL. Further analysis will be performed after additional follow-up information is collected.