bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Development of a Portable Respiratory Gas Analyzer for Measuring Indirect Resting Energy Expenditure (REE)
Authors: Seo Hyo-Chang , Shin Daehyeon , Leem Chae Hun , Joo Segyeong
Published: February 2021

Objective. A rapidly growing home healthcare market has resulted in the development of many portable or wearable products. Most of these products measure, estimate, or calculate physiologic signals or parameters, such as step counts, blood pressure, or electrocardiogram. One of the most important applications in home healthcare is monitoring one’s metabolic state since the change of metabolic state could reveal minor or major changes in one’s health condition. A simple and noninvasive way to measure metabolism is through breath monitoring. With breath monitoring by breath gas analysis, two important indicators like the respiratory quotient (RQ) and resting energy exposure (REE) can be calculated. Therefore, we developed a portable respiratory gas analyzer for breath monitoring to monitor metabolic state, and the performance of the developed device was tested in a clinical trial. Approach. The subjects consisted of 40 healthy men and women. Subjects begin to measure exhalation gas using Vmax 29 for 15 minutes. After that, subjects begin to measure exhalation gas via the developed respiratory gas analyzer. Finally, the recorded data on the volume of oxygen (VO2), volume of carbon dioxide (VCO2), RQ, and REE were used to validate correlations between Vmax 29 and the developed respiratory gas analyzer. Results. The results showed that the root-mean-square errors (RMSE) values of VCO2, VO2, RQ, and REE are 0.0315, 0.0417, 0.504, and 0.127. Bland-Altman plots showed that most of the VCO2, VO2, RQ, and REE values are within 95% of the significance level. Conclusions. We have successfully developed and tested a portable respiratory gas analyzer for home healthcare. However, there are limitations of the clinical trial; the number of subjects is small in size, and the age and race of subjects are confined. The developed portable respiratory gas analyzer is a cost-efficient method for measuring metabolic state and a new application of home healthcare.
Study on Mechanical Properties of Gravelly Sand under Different Stress Paths
Authors: Zhang Dongjie , Luo Fei , Zhu Zhanyuan , Liu Jiaming , Li Jing , Li Bailin , Xue Tianlang
Published: February 2021

To investigate the strength and deformation characteristics of gravelly sand on the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau under different stress paths, a series of triaxial shear tests was conducted under confining pressures of 50–400 kPa in four types of stress path conditions of conventional triaxial compression (CTC) (drained and undrained), triaxial compression (TC), and reduced triaxial compression (RTC). We can see from the test results that gravelly sand samples show strain hardening and shear contraction under the CTC (drained), TC, and RTC during the shearing process but exhibit strain softening under the CTC (undrained). To explore the microscopic deformation mechanism of gravelly sand, a characteristic angle θ was defined to reflect the relative movement of soil particles. The relationship between principal stress ratio σ1/σ3 and characteristic angle θ and that between void ratio e and characteristic angle θ were derived. Subsequently, the relationship expression of stress ratio η (q/p) and void ratio e was established, and the trend of void ratio e with the stress path was studied. To describe the strain hardening and strain softening characteristics of gravelly sand in different stress paths, a new dilatancy equation was obtained by introducing the characteristic state stress ratio Mc into the dilatancy equation of the modified Cam‐Clay model based on the state‐dependent dilatancy theory. Finally, an elastoplastic constitutive model of gravelly sand was established by applying a nonassociate flow rule. All model parameters can be determined by triaxial shear tests under different stress paths, and the comparison results show that the proposed model can well reflect the mechanical behaviors of gravelly sand under different stress paths.
Os microdramas de Wolfgang Bauer: o riso como liberação e como provocação
Authors: Bohunovsky Ruth
Published: February 2021

À primeira vista, os microdramas de Wolfgang Bauer, escritos nos anos 1960, parecem ser nada mais do que pequenas brincadeiras engraçadas com o gênero dramático e suas convenções. Partindo da constatação que eles tiveram um considerável efeito provocativo, e até político, no contexto conservador da Áustria daquela década, propõe-se uma reflexão sobre a relação entre a sua comicidade e o seu potencial incitador. Com base em estudos sobre características e efeitos da obra de Wolfgang Bauer (Antonic [2018; 2019]; Melzer [1981], Waggershauser [2016]) e nas teorizações sobre a experiência do cômico de Peter L. Berger (1998) e Uwe Wirth (1999), este artigo sugere que os microdramas de Bauer não são apenas um exemplo de metateatro bastante inovador. Eles permitem surgir um riso “redentor”, libertador, que também pode ser sentido como uma provocação política, especialmente em contextos sociais marcados por discursos essencialistas e/ou fundamentalistas.
Perguntas e respostas: o uso da plataforma Yahoo Clever! como ferramenta de ensino de alemão como língua estrangeira
Authors: Silva Mariana Kuntz de Andrade e , Roveran Henrique Elias
Published: February 2021

O presente artigo tem como objetivo apresentar e analisar experiências envolvendo a postagem de perguntas e respostas na plataforma Yahoo! Clever no ensino de alemão como língua estrangeira, focando nos aspectos da autenticidade de situações e desenvolvimento da autonomia e motivação dos aprendizes. Para isso, foi apresentado o planejamento e a realização de uma sequência didática em um curso livre para público universitário do nível A2 (QECR). Além da descrição da sequência, foram analisados os resultados das atividades na forma de postagens no website, além de excertos de entrevistas com alguns aprendizes. A partir da análise desses dados, foi possível perceber que atividades envolvendo a plataforma podem criar situações autênticas, engajando os aprendizes a interagir com a comunidade do site de forma significativa, mas também podem ser encaradas pelos aprendizes de forma inautêntica, o que leva a postagens artificiais que podem acarretar respostas negativas por parte da comunidade. Por fim, discute-se o papel do professor em levar os aprendizes a refletirem sobre a interação em ambientes não controlados.
O emprego do aplicativo móvel Duolingo no processo de ensino e aprendizagem de alemão como língua estrangeira em contexto de ensino presencial universitário
Authors: Melo Telma de Macedo
Published: February 2021

O presente estudo retrata uma experiência com uso do aplicativo móvel Duolingo no processo de ensino e aprendizagem de alemão como língua estrangeira em contexto de ensino presencial universitário e discute o emprego do App como recurso complementar para aumentar o contato dos aprendizes com o idioma e expandir o vocabulário. A pesquisa empírica parte da hipótese de que por ser um recurso gratuito, interativo, gamificado e que permite acesso ilimitado aos conteúdos, o aplicativo móvel Duolingo pode contribuir com a regularidade do contato com a língua e consequentemente ampliar o vocabulário dos aprendizes. Como instrumento de coleta de dados utilizamos os relatórios individuais de atividade, os quais foram gerados pela Plataforma Duolingo para Escolas. A pesquisa contribui para esclarecer as questões que se colocam acerca da utilização dos aplicativos móveis no ensino de língua estrangeira. Os resultados encontrados apontam que Duolingo é uma ferramenta que pode ser empregada para complementar o ensino presencial de alemão, auxiliando no processo de aquisição de vocabulário. O trabalho aponta para a importância dos Apps como ferramentas de apoio ao processo de aprendizagem de alemão e deixa claro a adesão massiva dos aprendizes ao uso de Apps como recurso complementar ao ensino presencial.
Machine Learning in Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology
Authors: Trayanova Natalia A. , Popescu Dan M. , Shade Julie K.
Published: February 2021

Machine learning (ML), a branch of artificial intelligence, where machines learn from big data, is at the crest of a technological wave of change sweeping society. Cardiovascular medicine is at the forefront of many ML applications, and there is a significant effort to bring them into mainstream clinical practice. In the field of cardiac electrophysiology, ML applications have also seen a rapid growth and popularity, particularly the use of ML in the automatic interpretation of ECGs, which has been extensively covered in the literature. Much lesser known are the other aspects of ML application in cardiac electrophysiology and arrhythmias, such as those in basic science research on arrhythmia mechanisms, both experimental and computational; in the development of better techniques for mapping of cardiac electrical function; and in translational research related to arrhythmia management. In the current review, we examine comprehensively such ML applications as they match the scope of this journal. The current review is organized in 3 parts. The first provides an overview of general ML principles and methodologies that will afford readers of the necessary information on the subject, serving as the foundation for inviting further ML applications in arrhythmia research. The basic information we provide can serve as a guide on how one might design and conduct an ML study. The second part is a review of arrhythmia and electrophysiology studies in which ML has been utilized, highlighting the broad potential of ML approaches. For each subject, we outline comprehensively the general topics, while reviewing some of the research advances utilizing ML under the subject. Finally, we discuss the main challenges and the perspectives for ML-driven cardiac electrophysiology and arrhythmia research.
Increased Mortality in Patients With Preoperative and Persistent Postoperative Pulmonary Hypertension Undergoing Mitral Valve Surgery for Mitral Regurgitation: A Cohort Study
Authors: Genuardi Michael V. , Shpilsky Daniel , Handen Adam , VanSpeybroeck Gabrielle , Canterbury Ann , Lu Michael , Shapero Kayle , Nieves Ricardo A. , Thoma Floyd , Mulukutla Suresh R. , Cavalcante João L. , Chan Stephen Y.
Published: February 2021

Background

Preoperative pulmonary hypertension (PH) is associated with excess mortality among patients with severe mitral regurgitation undergoing mitral valve surgery (MVS). However, the links between PH phenotype, pulmonary vascular remodeling, and persistent postoperative PH are not well understood. We aimed to describe the associations between components of pulmonary hemodynamics as well as postoperative residual PH with longitudinal mortality in patients with severe mitral regurgitation who received MVS.

Methods and Results

Patients undergoing MVS for severe mitral regurgitation from 2011 to 2016 were retrospectively identified within our health system (n=488). Mean pulmonary artery pressure and other hemodynamic variables were determined by presurgical right‐heart catheterization. Postoperative pulmonary artery systolic pressure was assessed on echocardiogram 42 to 365 days post‐MVS. Longitudinal survival over a mean 3.9 years of follow‐up was evaluated using Cox proportional hazards modeling to compare survival after adjustment for demographics, surgical characteristics, and comorbidities. Pre‐MVS prevalence of PH was high at 85%. After adjustment, each 10‐mm Hg increase in preoperative mean pulmonary artery pressure was associated with a 1.38‐fold increase in risk of death (95% CI, 1.13–1.68). Elevated preoperative pulmonary vascular resistance, transpulmonary gradient, and right atrial pressure were similarly associated with increased mortality. Among 231 patients with postoperative echocardiogram, evidence of PH on echocardiogram (pulmonary artery systolic pressure ≥35 mm Hg) was associated with increased risk of death (hazard ratio [HR], 2.02 [95% CI, 1.17–3.47]); however, this was no longer statistically significant after adjustment (HR, 1.55 [95% CI, 0.85–2.85]).

Conclusions

In patients undergoing MVS for mitral regurgitation, preoperative PH, and postoperative PH were associated with increased mortality.
Cardiac Arrest Induced by Asphyxia Versus Ventricular Fibrillation Elicits Comparable Early Changes in Cytokine Levels in the Rat Brain, Heart, and Serum
Authors: Uray Thomas , Dezfulian Cameron , Palmer Abigail A. , Miner Kristin M. , Leak Rehana K. , Stezoski Jason P. , Janesko‐Feldman Keri , Kochanek Patrick M. , Drabek Tomas
Published: February 2021

Background

Current postresuscitative care after cardiac arrest (CA) does not address the cause of CA. We previously reported that asphyxial CA (ACA) and ventricular fibrillation CA (VFCA) elicit unique injury signatures. We hypothesized that the early cytokine profiles of the serum, heart, and brain differ in response to ACA versus VFCA.

Methods and Results

Adult male rats were subjected to 10 minutes of either ACA or VFCA. Naives and shams (anesthesia and surgery without CA) served as controls (n=12/group). Asphyxiation produced an ≈4‐minute period of progressive hypoxemia followed by a no‐flow duration of ≈6±1 minute. Ventricular fibrillation immediately induced no flow. Return of spontaneous circulation was achieved earlier after ACA compared with VFCA (42±18 versus 105±22 seconds;
P
<0.001). Brain cytokines in naives were, in general, low or undetectable. Shams exhibited a modest effect on select cytokines. Both ACA and VFCA resulted in robust cytokine responses in serum, heart, and brain at 3 hours. Significant regional differences pinpointed the striatum as a key location of neuroinflammation. No significant differences in cytokines, neuron‐specific enolase, S100b, and troponin T were observed across CA models.

Conclusions

Both models of CA resulted in marked systemic, heart, and brain cytokine responses, with similar degrees of change across the 2 CA insults. Changes in cytokine levels after CA were most pronounced in the striatum compared with other brain regions. These collective observations suggest that the amplitude of the changes in cytokine levels after ACA versus VFCA may not mediate the differences in secondary injuries between these 2 CA phenotypes.
Deciphering Undersegmented Ancient Scripts Using Phonetic Prior
Authors: Luo Jiaming , Hartmann Frederik , Santus Enrico , Barzilay Regina , Cao Yuan
Published: February 2021

Most undeciphered lost languages exhibit two characteristics that pose significant decipherment challenges: (1) the scripts are not fully segmented into words; (2) the closest known language is not determined. We propose a decipherment model that handles both of these challenges by building on rich linguistic constraints reflecting consistent patterns in historical sound change. We capture the natural phonological geometry by learning character embeddings based on the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The resulting generative framework jointly models word segmentation and cognate alignment, informed by phonological constraints. We evaluate the model on both deciphered languages (Gothic, Ugaritic) and an undeciphered one (Iberian). The experiments show that incorporating phonetic geometry leads to clear and consistent gains. Additionally, we propose a measure for language closeness which correctly identifies related languages for Gothic and Ugaritic. For Iberian, the method does not show strong evidence supporting Basque as a related language, concurring with the favored position by the current scholarship. 1
Rural Life in Late Socialism
Authors: Wilcox Phill , Rigg Jonathan , Nguyen Minh T.N.
Published: February 2021

Late socialist countries are transforming faster than ever. Across China, Laos and Vietnam, where market economies coexist with socialist political rhetoric and the Communist party state’s rule, sweeping processes of change open up new vistas of imaginaries of the future alongside uncertainty and anxiety. These countries are three of very few living examples that combine capitalist economics with party state politics. Consequently, societal transformations in these contexts are subject to pressures and agendas not found elsewhere, and yet they are no less subject to global forces than elsewhere. As all three countries maintain substantial rural populations, and because those rural areas are themselves places of change, how rural people across these changing contexts undertake future making is a timely and significant question. The contributions in the issue address this question by engaging with lived experiences and government agendas across Laos, China and Vietnam, showing a politics of development in which desire and hope are entangled with the contradictions and struggles of late socialism.
Privacy as a New Component of “The Best Interests of the Child” in the New Digital Environment
Authors: Kravchuk Natasha
Published: February 2021

Legal regulations codifying the privacy rights of children in digital contexts, both at national and international levels, are fragmentary. Existing norms primarily address issues related to child safety as well as data processing, but not the protection of his/her dignity and reputation. At the same time, the Internet Communications and Technology-related (ict) activities of parents, who are traditionally considered to be the primary defenders of their children’s rights but presently are the main contributors to the public image of their child, may endanger child privacy. To address the threat that “sharenting” creates, the privacy of the child should be considered not only as a right, but also in “the best interests of the child”. This conceptualisation of rights as argued, would allow for a greater degree of privacy protection as it requires authorities to take it into consideration, ‘in all actions concerning children’, and will guarantee that they allocate to it the proper weight, while balancing it with the rights of others.
On the diversity of abyssal Dondersiidae (Mollusca: Aplacophora) with the description of a new genus, six new species, and a review of the family
Authors: COBO M. CARMEN , KOCOT KEVIN M.
Published: February 2021

So far, of the 292 known species of solenogasters (Mollusca, Aplacophora), 62 belong to the clade Pholidoskepia Salvini-Plawen, 1978. Of these, only two have an abyssal distribution (3500–6000 m depth). Among Pholidoskepia, Dondersiidae Simroth, 1893 is the most diverse family. This study contributes to the knowledge of this family with the description of one new genus and six new species from the abyssal South Atlantic Ocean: Dondersia ? foraminosa sp. n., Nematomenia divae sp. n., Nematomenia brasiliensis sp. n., Nematomenia ? guineana sp. n., Helluoherpia vieiralaneroi sp. n. and Inopinatamenia (gen. n.) calamitosa sp. n. Specimens were collected during DIVA (Latitudinal Gradients of Deep-Sea BioDIVersity in the Atlantic Ocean) expeditions in the Guinea (DIVA 2 Me 63/2, 2005) and Brazil (DIVA 3 Me 79/1, 2008) Basins. Specimens were characterized based primarily on the sclerites and internal anatomy, which was studied using histology. The importance of the radula and mantle sclerites for taxonomy is emphasized. Amended diagnoses for the family and some genera within this family are provided. This contribution increases the described diversity of Dondersiidae to ten genera and 38 species and highlights the need for more study of solenogasters in the deep sea.
‘Nemacheilus’ argyrogaster, a new species of loach from southern Laos (Teleostei: Nemacheilidae)
Authors: KOTTELAT MAURICE
Published: February 2021

‘Nemacheilus’ argyrogaster, new species, is described from the Xe Kong, Mekong drainage, in Attapeu and Xe Kong provinces, southern Laos. It is distinguished from all other Nemacheilidae in Southeast Asia by its unique colour pattern made of a bold black midlateral stripe separating the yellowish brown dorsal part of the body from the silvery whitish ventral part and a middorsal row of 14–19 thin saddles. Besides, the male has a globulous suborbital flap with tubercles along its free, posterior edge, and the pectoral fin with thickened anterior ray and branched rays 1–4 and unculiferous pads behind them covered by small tubercles; lips thin, lower lip continuous with a narrow median notch. It was found in moderate to fast flowing water, over pebble to stone bottom. ‘Nemacheilus’ argyrogaster, was earlier misidentified as N. longistriatus; it is provisionally placed in the genus Nemacheilus.
A High-Resolution Flood Inundation Archive (2016–the Present) from Sentinel-1 SAR Imagery over CONUS
Authors: Yang Qing , Shen Xinyi , Anagnostou Emmanouil N. , Mo Chongxun , Eggleston Jack R. , Kettner Albert J.
Published: February 2021

Most existing inundation inventories are based on surveys, news, or passive remote sensing imagery. Affected by spatiotemporal resolution or weather conditions, these inventories are limited in spatial details or coverage. Satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data have recently enabled flood mapping at unprecedented spatiotemporal resolution. However, the bottleneck in producing SAR-based flood maps is the requirement of expert manual processing to maintain acceptable accuracy by most SAR-driven mapping techniques. To fill the vacancy, we generate a high-resolution (10 m) flood inundation dataset over the contiguous United States (CONUS) from nearly the entire Sentinel-1 SAR archive (from January 2016 to the present), using a recently developed automated Radar Produced Inundation Diary (RAPID) system. RAPID uses U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) water watch system and accumulated precipitation to identify SAR images that potentially overlap a flood event. The dataset include inundation events with the temporal scale from several days to months. Concluded from all 559 overlapping images in the period from 2016 to the first half of 2019, the comparison of the proposed dataset against the USGS Dynamic Surface Water Extent (DSWE) product yields an overall, user, producer agreements, and critical success index of 99.06%, 87.63%, 91.76%, and 81.23%, respectively, demonstrating the high accuracy of the proposed dataset and the robustness of the automated system. We anticipate this archive to facilitate many applications, including large-scale flood loss and risk assessment, and inundation model calibration and validation.
A broom to the head: ‘Cleaning Day’ and the aesthetics of emergence in Dakar
Authors: Poleykett Branwyn
Published: February 2021

Senegal has a long tradition of the collective management of public space via community cleaning. Since the explosion of the popular ecology movement Set Setal (meaning clean and be clean in Wolof) in the early 1990s, ‘set’ or hygienic aesthetics have been central to the construction and control of urban space and deployed to include and enfold but also expel citizens. In January 2020 the Senegalese President Macky Sall called on the population to join him in ‘Cleaning Days’, bypassing ‘set’ practices. Cleaning Day was met with a response ranging from indifference to anger and open conflict. In this article I use Cleaning Day as a lens to analyse the production and reception of set aesthetics in a time of ‘emergence’. Focusing on the power of subaltern practice to resist the encroachment of a state in search of meaningful symbols, I challenge the idea that contemporary urban aesthetics is geared towards the creation of a perceived continuity of interests organised around an aspiration to a global urban standard.
Letters to the Next President: What do Brazilian Youth Say?
Authors: Brasil Marina Valentim , Brandelli Costa Angelo
Published: February 2021

This paper discusses how the construction of citizenship and citizen identities takes place among young students in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Considering that education is responsible for fostering the sense of citizenship, this research asked 209 students from a public high school to write letters to a future Brazilian president and to answer an online survey on politics, democracy, and citizenship. Using the Thematic Analysis method, this paper investigates the content of these letters and the answers regarding presidential activities. The responses to both exercises express generic notions and unsuitable speeches regarding politics as well as a feeling of disbelief. It is argued that school education does not develop citizens who can perform their civic roles in society and that such detachment of the students may be a consequence of their incredulity toward politics, resulting in a narrow understanding of the matter.
ABO incompatibility and mild factor VIII deficiency in the neonate: Not too much of a problem but a challenge on ECMO
Authors: Hofer Anna , Prandstetter Barbara , Bruckner Markus , Leithner Gabriele
Published: February 2021

Coagulopathy and bleeding on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) contribute to a worse outcome, and hyperbilirubinemia is an additional threat for newborn babies. We report a case of a newborn boy with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) associated with ABO incompatibility and an inherited mild hemophilia A. Due to respiratory failure he needed ECMO on his first day of life. During ECMO an exchange transfusion was performed after an extensive hyperbilirubinemia had evolved. Thereafter severe bleeding occurred, and a very low factor VIII level was found causative for that. After factor VIII substitution bleeding was under control and the baby eventually could be weaned from ECMO, underwent corrective surgery, and recovered.
Investigative Outcomes of CODIS Matches in Previously Untested Sexual Assault Kits
Authors: Davis Robert C. , Jurek Alicia , Wells William , Shadwick Joshua
Published: February 2021

A 2011 Texas statute required that police agencies submit to the state all unanalyzed sexual assault kits between 1996 and 2011. Cases where a match was made with DNA from an individual or case were returned to local agencies for additional investigation. This article examines outcomes of these cases. Consistent with other studies, we found that the ratio of arrests to all kits submitted was below 1%, and the ratio of arrests to Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) hits was 5.5%. A cost analysis concluded that the cost per court filing was US$132,000. We argue that the small number of arrests was partially due to the age of the cases, based on 8- to 23-year-old crime reports. We further contend that the program could have produced better results if the state had provided funding more quickly for testing and investigations.
Influence of Nature at the Time of the Pandemic: An Experience-Based Survey at the Time of SARS-CoV-2 to Demonstrate How Even a Short Break in Nature Can Reduce Stress for Healthcare Staff
Authors: Gola Marco , Botta Monica , D’Aniello Anna Lisa , Capolongo Stefano
Published: February 2021

Aim:

The current COVID-19 pandemic has been causing significant upheavals in the daily lives of citizens and consequently also their mood (stress, distraction, anxiety, etc.), especially during the lockdown phase. The aim of the investigation is to evaluate the benefits of 20–30 minutes in contact with nature.

Background:

The Scientific Community, also through the evidence-based design approach, has already demonstrated the importance of greenery and nature on the psychophysical well-being of people and, in a moment of emergency, contact with the nature can be therapeutic and quite influential on the mental health of staff subject to stress.

Method:

During the lockdown, an Italian multidisciplinary working group promoted an experience-based survey, based on the Profile of Mood States methodology, for measuring the psychophysical well-being of hospital staff.

Results:

The author collected 77 questionnaires. The benefits that users have obtained from the experience in nature have been investigated by comparing the type of stresses they were subjected to and highlighting various peculiarities in the data analysis associated with the type of green in which they carried out the survey, the healthcare areas in which they worked during the pandemic emergency, and the moment in which the survey was conducted.

Conclusions:

The study has highlighted that a short break in green spaces strongly influenced the mental and psychophysical well-being of hospital staff, emphasizing the importance of nearby green spaces in architectures for health. Even a brief break in nature can regenerate users, especially in times of a stressful health emergency.
Narrowing of the Audiovisual Temporal Binding Window Due To Perceptual Training Is Specific to High Visual Intensity Stimuli
Authors: Horsfall Ryan P. , Wuerger Sophie M. , Meyer Georg F.
Published: February 2021

The temporal binding window (TBW), which reflects the range of temporal offsets in which audiovisual stimuli are combined to form a singular percept, can be reduced through training. Our research aimed to investigate whether training-induced reductions in TBW size transfer across stimulus intensities. A total of 32 observers performed simultaneity judgements at two visual intensities with a fixed auditory intensity, before and after receiving audiovisual TBW training at just one of these two intensities. We show that training individuals with a high visual intensity reduces the size of the TBW for bright stimuli, but this improvement did not transfer to dim stimuli. The reduction in TBW can be explained by shifts in decision criteria. Those trained with the dim visual stimuli, however, showed no reduction in TBW. Our main finding is that perceptual improvements following training are specific for high-intensity stimuli, potentially highlighting limitations of proposed TBW training procedures.
Is political engagement by constitutional monarchs compatible with democracy?
Authors: Inata Kana
Published: February 2021

Constitutional monarchies have proved to be resilient, and some have made substantive political interventions even though their positions are mostly hereditary, without granted constitutional channels to do so. This article examines how constitutional monarchs can influence political affairs and what impact royal intervention can have on politics. I argue that constitutional monarchs affect politics indirectly by influencing the preferences of the public who have de jure power to influence political leaders. The analyses herein show that constitutional monarchs do not indiscriminately intervene in politics, but their decisions to intervene reflect the public’s preferences. First, constitutional monarchs with little public approval become self-restraining and do not attempt to assert their political preferences. Second, they are more likely to intervene in politics when the public is less satisfied about the incumbent government. These findings are illustrated with historical narratives regarding the political involvement of King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand in the 2000s.
Complications and Revisions After Spine Surgery in Patients With Skeletal Dysplasia: Have We Improved?
Authors: Shafi Karim , Lovecchio Francis , Sava Maria , Steinhaus Michael , Samuel Andre , Carter Erin , Lebl Darren , Farmer James , Raggio Cathleen
Published: February 2021

Study Design:

Retrospective case series.

Objective:

To report contemporary rates of complications and subsequent surgery after spinal surgery in patients with skeletal dysplasia.

Methods:

A case series of 25 consecutive patients who underwent spinal surgery between 2007 and 2017 were identified from a single institution’s skeletal dysplasia registry. Patient demographics, medical history, surgical indication, complications, and subsequent surgeries (revisions, extension to adjacent levels, or for pathology at a non-contiguous level) were collected. Charlson comorbidity indices were calculated as a composite measure of overall health.

Results:

Achondroplasia was the most common skeletal dysplasia (76%) followed by spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia (20%); 1 patient had diastrophic dysplasia (4%). Average patient age was 53.2 ± 14.7 years and most patients were in excellent cardiovascular health (88% Charlson Comorbidity Index 0-4). Mean follow up after the index procedure was 57.4 ± 39.2 months (range). Indications for surgery were mostly for neurologic symptoms. The most commonly performed surgery was a multilevel thoracolumbar decompression without fusion (57%). Complications included durotomy (36%), neurologic complication (12%), and infection requiring irrigation and debridement (8%). Nine patients (36%) underwent a subsequent surgery. Three patients (12%) underwent a procedure at a non-contiguous anatomic zone, 3 (12%) underwent a revision of the previous surgery, and another 3 (12%) required extension of their previous decompression or fusion.

Conclusions:

Surgical complication rates remain high after spine surgery in patients with skeletal dysplasia, likely attributable to inherent characteristics of the disease. Patients should be counseled on their risk for complication and subsequent surgery.
ATG5 promotes eosinopoiesis but inhibits eosinophil effector functions
Authors: Germic Nina , Hosseini Aref , Stojkov Darko , Oberson Kevin , Claus Meike , Benarafa Charaf , Calzavarini Sara , Angelillo-Scherrer Anne , Arnold Isabelle C. , Müller Anne , Riether Carsten , Yousefi Shida , Simon Hans-Uwe
Published: February 2021

Eosinophils are white blood cells that contribute to the regulation of immunity and are involved in the pathogenesis of numerous inflammatory diseases. In contrast to other cells of the immune system, no information is available regarding the role of autophagy in eosinophil differentiation and functions. To study the autophagic pathway in eosinophils, we generated conditional knockout mice in which Atg5 is deleted within the eosinophil lineage only (designated Atg5eoΔ mice). Eosinophilia was provoked by crossbreeding Atg5eoΔ mice with Il5 (IL-5) overexpressing transgenic mice (designated Atg5eoΔIl5tg mice). Deletion of Atg5 in eosinophils resulted in a dramatic reduction in the number of mature eosinophils in blood and an increase of immature eosinophils in the bone marrow. Atg5-knockout eosinophil precursors exhibited reduced proliferation under both in vitro and in vivo conditions but no increased cell death. Moreover, reduced differentiation of eosinophils in the absence of Atg5 was also observed in mouse and human models of chronic eosinophilic leukemia. Atg5-knockout blood eosinophils exhibited augmented levels of degranulation and bacterial killing in vitro. Moreover, in an experimental in vivo model, we observed that Atg5eoΔ mice achieve better clearance of the local and systemic bacterial infection with Citrobacter rodentium. Evidence for increased degranulation of ATG5low-expressing human eosinophils was also obtained in both tissues and blood. Taken together, mouse and human eosinophil hematopoiesis and effector functions are regulated by ATG5, which controls the amplitude of overall antibacterial eosinophil immune responses.
Control and Implementation of 2-DOF Lower Limb Exoskeleton Experiment Platform
Authors: Chen Zhenlei , Guo Qing , Xiong Huiyu , Jiang Dan , Yan Yao
Published: February 2021

In this study, a humanoid prototype of 2-DOF (degrees of freedom) lower limb exoskeleton is introduced to evaluate the wearable comfortable effect between person and exoskeleton. To improve the detection accuracy of the human-robot interaction torque, a BPNN (backpropagation neural networks) is proposed to estimate this interaction force and to compensate for the measurement error of the 3D-force/torque sensor. Meanwhile, the backstepping controller is designed to realize the exoskeleton's passive position control, which means that the person passively adapts to the exoskeleton. On the other hand, a variable admittance controller is used to implement the exoskeleton's active follow-up control, which means that the person's motion is motivated by his/her intention and the exoskeleton control tries best to improve the human-robot wearable comfortable performance. To improve the wearable comfortable effect, serval regular gait tasks with different admittance parameters and step frequencies are statistically performed to obtain the optimal admittance control parameters. Finally, the BPNN compensation algorithm and two controllers are verified by the experimental exoskeleton prototype with human-robot cooperative motion.
Modeling and Simulation of an Invasive Mild Hypothermic Blood Cooling System
Authors: Wang Na , Liu Qinghua , Shi Yan , Wang Shijun , Zhang Xianzhi , Han Chengwei , Wang Yixuan , Cai Maolin , Ji Xunming
Published: February 2021

Nowadays, mild hypothermia is widely used in the fields of post-cardiac arrest resuscitation, stroke, cerebral hemorrhage, large-scale cerebral infarction, and craniocerebral injury. In this paper, a locally mixed sub-low temperature device is designed, and the cold and hot water mixing experiment is used to simulate the human blood transfer process. To set a foundation for the optimization of the heat transfer system, the static characteristics are analyzed by building the mathematic model and setting up the experimental station. In addition, the affection of several key structure parameters is researched. Through experimental and simulation studies, it can be concluded that, firstly, the mathematical model proved to be effective. Secondly, the results of simulation experiments show that 14.52 °C refrigeration can reduce the original temperature of 33.42 °C to 32.02 °C, and the temperature of refrigerated blood rises to 18.64 °C, and the average error is about 0.3 °C. Thirdly, as the thermal conductivity of the vascular sheath increases, the efficiency of the heat exchange system also increases significantly. Finally, as the input cold blood flow rate increases, the mass increases and the temperature of the mixed blood temperature decreases. It provides a research basis for subsequent research on local fixed-point sub-low temperature control technology.
Factors affecting the cesium transfer factor to shiitake (Lentinula edodes) cultivated in sawdust medium
Authors: Hiraide Masakazu
Published: February 2021

The transfer factor (TF) of radioactive cesium-137 (137Cs) to shiitake (Lentinula edodes) cultivated on bed logs varies greatly. Therefore, the present study investigated which factors affect the TF using stable cesium-133 (133Cs) and sawdust medium with 5% rice bran as a model, which had similar 133Cs TFs to bed-log cultivation. It was found that the Cs concentration and nutrient concentration (represented by the nitrogen concentration) concerned with the TF in the model sawdust medium. In addition, the TFs calculated using total 137Cs and 133Cs concentrations differed in both bed-log cultivation and the model sawdust medium cultivation, while the TFs calculated using exchangeable 137Cs and 133Cs concentrations were the same in sawdust medium cultivation, indicating that exchangeable Cs in the medium is the source of Cs for the fruiting body and the former difference was due to the presence of other chemical speciation of Cs that could not be absorbed. One purpose of the TF on the mushroom farm is to determine the fruiting body 137Cs concentration at the start of bed-log cultivation, therefore the prediction method of TF are discussed considering the future changes of 137Cs concentrations in trees.
Clinical diagnosis of prostate cancer using digital rectal examination and prostate-specific antigen tests: a systematic review and meta-analysis of sensitivity and specificity
Authors: Okpua Nelson C. , Okekpa Simon I. , Njaka Stanley , Emeh Augusta N.
Published: February 2021

Background

Being diagnosed with cancer, irrespective of type initiates a serious psychological concern. The increasing rate of detection of indolent prostate cancers is a source of worry to public health. Digital rectal examination and prostate-specific antigen tests are the commonly used prostate cancer screening tests. Understanding the diagnostic accuracies of these tests may provide clearer pictures of their characteristics and values in prostate cancer diagnosis. This review compared the sensitivities and specificities of digital rectal examination and prostate-specific antigen test in detection of clinically important prostate cancers using studies from wider population.

Main body

We conducted literature search in PubMed, Medline, Science Direct, Wiley Online, CINAHL, Scopus, AJOL and Google Scholar, using key words and Boolean operators. Studies comparing the sensitivity and specificity of digital rectal examination and prostate-specific antigen tests in men 40 years and above, using biopsy as reference standard were retrieved. Data were extracted and analysed using Review manager (RevMan 5.3) statistical software. The overall quality of the studies was good, and heterogeneity was observed across the studies. The result comparatively shows that prostate-specific antigen test has higher sensitivity (P < 0.00001, RR 0.74, CI 0.67–0.83) and specificity (P < 0.00001, RR 1.81, CI 1.54–2.12) in the detection of prostate cancers than digital rectal examination.

Conclusion

Prostate-specific antigen test has higher sensitivity and specificity in detecting prostate cancers from men of multiple ethnic origins. However, combination of prostate-specific antigen test and standardized digital rectal examination procedure, along with patients history, may improve the accuracy and minimize over-diagnoses of indolent prostate cancers.
Empowering individual trait prediction using interactions for precision medicine
Authors: Gola Damian , König Inke R.
Published: February 2021

Background

One component of precision medicine is to construct prediction models with their predicitve ability as high as possible, e.g. to enable individual risk prediction. In genetic epidemiology, complex diseases like coronary artery disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and type 2 diabetes, have a polygenic basis and a common assumption is that biological and genetic features affect the outcome under consideration via interactions. In the case of omics data, the use of standard approaches such as generalized linear models may be suboptimal and machine learning methods are appealing to make individual predictions. However, most of these algorithms focus mostly on main or marginal effects of the single features in a dataset. On the other hand, the detection of interacting features is an active area of research in the realm of genetic epidemiology. One big class of algorithms to detect interacting features is based on the multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR). Here, we further develop the model-based MDR (MB-MDR), a powerful extension of the original MDR algorithm, to enable interaction empowered individual prediction.

Results

Using a comprehensive simulation study we show that our new algorithm (median AUC: 0.66) can use information hidden in interactions and outperforms two other state-of-the-art algorithms, namely the Random Forest (median AUC: 0.54) and Elastic Net (median AUC: 0.50), if interactions are present in a scenario of two pairs of two features having small effects. The performance of these algorithms is comparable if no interactions are present. Further, we show that our new algorithm is applicable to real data by comparing the performance of the three algorithms on a dataset of rheumatoid arthritis cases and healthy controls. As our new algorithm is not only applicable to biological/genetic data but to all datasets with discrete features, it may have practical implications in other research fields where interactions between features have to be considered as well, and we made our method available as an R package (https://github.com/imbs-hl/MBMDRClassifieR).

Conclusions

The explicit use of interactions between features can improve the prediction performance and thus should be included in further attempts to move precision medicine forward.
High infliximab trough concentrations are associated with sustained histologic remission in inflammatory bowel disease: a prospective cohort study
Authors: Wilson Aze , Choi Bethany , Sey Michael , Ponich Terry , Beaton Melanie , Kim Richard B.
Published: February 2021

Background

The threshold concentration of infliximab during maintenance therapy has not been well-defined in relation to histologic remission. The aim of the study is to dentify the maintenance-phase infliximab concentration associated with histologic remission in inflammatory bowel disease patients (IBD).

Methods

A prospective cohort study was carried out in 104 IBD patients seen at a tertiary care centre in London, Canada. Infliximab trough concentrations were collected during the maintenance phase of treatment and compared between participants with and without evidence of histologic remission. Participants were additionally evaluated for sustained histologic remission, and relapse to active disease.

Results

Participants in histologic remission attained higher mean concentrations of infliximab during the maintenance phase (10.34 ± 0.69 μg/ml) compared to those with persistent disease activity (6.23 ± 0.67 μg/ml, p-value < 0.0001). Additionally, during the maintenance phase, sustained histologic remission was also associated with a higher mean concentration of infliximab (10.81 ± 5.46 μg/ml) compared to those who relapsed to active disease (5.68 ± 3.70, p < 0.001). Overall, participants with a mean infliximab trough concentration greater than 8ug/ml were more likely to have histologic remission (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, AUROC = 0.72, 95%CI = 0.65–0.84, p < 0.0001) and sustained histologic remission (AUC = 0.77, 95%CI = 0.63–0.91, p = 0.002).

Conclusion

Maintenance-phase infliximab trough concentrations greater than 8 μg/ml, which is higher than the currently recommended target concentration, are highly associated with histologic remission and sustained histologic remission.
Impact of improvement of sleep disturbance on symptoms and quality of life in patients with functional dyspepsia
Authors: Nakamura Fumihiko , Kuribayashi Shiko , Tanaka Fumio , Kawami Noriyuki , Fujiwara Yasuhiro , Iwakiri Katsuhiko , Kusano Motoyasu , Uraoka Toshio
Published: February 2021

Background/aims

Functional dyspepsia (FD) is often comorbid with sleep disturbance. However, it is not fully understood how sleep disturbance affects the pathophysiology of FD. We aimed to investigate the relationship between FD and sleep disturbance.

Methods

We prospectively enrolled 20 FD patients with sleep disturbance between December 2018 and July 2019. Patients took sleep aids for 4 weeks and filled out questionnaires before and after taking sleep aids. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), and Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS) were used to evaluate the severity of their sleep disturbance. Modified Frequency Scale for the Symptoms of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (mFSSG), Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale (GSRS), and the Japanese version of Patient Assessment of Constipation Quality of Life (JPAC-QOL) were used to evaluate the severity of GI symptoms. Short-Form 36-Item Health Survey (SF-36) was used to evaluate QOL. Pre- and post-sleep medication values of questionnaires were compared.

Results

Among 20 enrolled patients, 16 completed the study protocol. Zolpidem, eszopiclone, and suvorexant were administered to six, nine, and one patient, respectively. Each median total score of questionnaires (pre-/post-sleep medication, respectively) was as follows: PSQI, 10.0/8.5; ESS, 12.5/5.0; AIS, 10.0/4.0; mFSSG, 21.0/16.0; GSRS, 44.0/31.0 (Pain in GSRS, 11.0/5.0); JPAC-QOL, 26.0/15.5; SF-36, 63.9/71.9. All of these results showed statistically significant differences between pre- and post-sleep medication (p < 0.05).

Conclusions

Improvement of sleep disturbance by administration of sleep aids resulted in improvement of GI symptoms and QOL in patients with FD. This effect may be related to pain modification.