bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Technological innovation for workload allocation in nursing care management: an integrative review
Authors: Galiano Maria Alejandra , Moreno Fergusson Maria Elisa , Guerrero William J. , Muñóz Maria Francisca , Ortiz Basto Germán A. , Cardenas Ramírez Juan Sebastián , Guevara Lozano Maryory , Larraín Sundt Ana
Published: January 2023

Background: Technology reduces the nursing workload, improve the quality care processes, patient's safety, and avoid staff burnout. Innovative technologies are disrupting healthcare systems by improving the efficiency of processes and management. There is a discussion on the benefits, challenges, and barriers of these technologies and considering human factors of nursing management.

Methods: To analyse the nursing workload models, the predictors of nursing burnout and outcomes, the new technologies and its acceptance for nursing care management based on the literature. An integrative literature review is performed. Scopus, Scielo, PUBMED, and CINALH databases were searched to perform an integrative review following PRISMA guidelines. Articles published from January 2016 to December 2020 were included. Quality appraisal was performed using the Crowe Critical Appraisal Tool version 1.4 (CCAT). Two reviewers independently examined the title and abstract for eligibility according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Quality appraisal was performed using the Crowe Critical Appraisal Tool version 1.4 (CCAT).

Results: Initially 2,818 articles were potentially relevant. After following the PRISMA Guidelines, 35 studies were included in the review. Four themes appeared: Nursing workload models; Predictors of nursing burnout and outcomes; Information technologies and technological means for management; Technology acceptance.

Conclusions: Technology has the potential to improve care management by estimating nurse workload in ICUs and non-critical units, but scientific evidence is more detailed in the former type of services. The literature provides insights about the factors that factors and the barriers that promote the technology acceptance and usability. We did not find studies comparing technologies and no scientific evidence proving improvements in care.
Is Taylor Swift leading a new Pop revolution? A cross-generation analysis of Pop/Rock cover songs
Authors: Ortega José Luis
Published: January 2023

Background: The aim of this paper is to find evidence of a changing pattern in cover songs by 21st-century artists. To this end, over 76,000 covers performed by artists who grew up in the 2000s were quantitatively analyzed. Methods: SecondHandSongs.com was crawled to extract the cover relationships, and Allmusic.com to obtain the genre and starting decade of each performer. Results: The results show that the current music panorama is dominated by Pop/Rock music and, for the first time since the 1960s, artists from the 2010s generation prefer to cover more songs by contemporary artists than by classic figures from the 1960s. Pop and Dance are the emerging sub-genres with the largest proportion of covered musicians, while Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber and Ed Sheeran are responsible for this changing trend. Conclusions: These results provide an interesting opportunity to introduce quantitative studies in cultural studies about music, cinema and arts.
Pre-exposure to azithromycin enhances gonococcal resilience to subsequent ciprofloxacin exposure: an in vitro study
Authors: González Natalia , Elise Laumen Jolein Gyonne , Abdellati Saïd , de Block Tessa , De Baetselier Irith , Van Dijck Christophe , Kenyon Chris , S. Manoharan–Basil Sheeba
Published: January 2023

Background: The effect of sequential exposure to different antibiotics is an underexplored topic. Azithromycin can be detected in humans for up to 28 days post-ingestion and may prime bacterial responses to subsequently ingested antibiotics.

Methods: In this in vitro study, we assessed if preexposure to azithromycin could accelerate the acquisition of resistance to ciprofloxacin in Neisseria gonorrhoeae reference strain, WHO–F. In a morbidostat, we set two conditions in 3 vials each: mono-exposure (preexposure to Gonococcal Broth followed by exposure to ciprofloxacin) and dual sequential exposure (preexposure to azithromycin followed by exposure to ciprofloxacin).The growth of the cultures was measured by a software (MATLAB). The program decided if gonococcal broth or antibiotics were added to the vials in order to keep the evolution of the cultures. Samples were taken twice a week until the end of the experiment i.e. until resistance was achieved or cellular death. Additionally, six replicates of WHO–F WT and WHO–F with rplV mutation, caused by azithromycin, were exposed to increasing concentrations of ciprofloxacin in plates to assess if there were differences in the rate of resistance emergence.

Results: We found that after 12 hours of pre-exposure to azithromycin, N. gonorrhoeae's resilience to ciprofloxacin exposure increased. Pre-exposure to azithromycin did not, however, accelerate the speed to acquisition of ciprofloxacin resistance.

Conclusions:  We found that azithromycin does not accelerate the emergence of ciprofloxacin resistance, but there were differences in the molecular pathways to the acquisition of ciprofloxacin resistance: the strains preexpossed to azithromycin followed a different route (GyrA: S91F pathway) than the ones without antibiotic preexposure (GyrA:D95N pathway). However, the number of isolates is too small to draw such strong conclusions.
Protocol of systematic reviews on implementation research on cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus and mental ailments in India
Authors: Moosan Hisham , Thakor Mahendra , Sharma Arun Kumar , Mohanty S. S. , Panigrahi Ansuman , Dhikav Vikas , Yadav Suresh , Huda Ramesh Kumar , Parmar Mukesh , Singh Poonam , John Denny
Published: January 2023

Introduction: The burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is a major public health concern across the world. Various initiatives have tried to address these with varying degrees of success.

Objective: The objective is to assess and collate existing evidence in implementation research done in India on three broad domains of NCDs namely, cardiovascular diseases (CVD), diabetes mellitus (DM), and mental health (MH) in India.

Materials and methods: Three systematic review protocols have been drafted to explore and collate extant evidence of implementation research on cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, and mental health in India, in accordance with the PRISMA-P statement. Academic databases including PubMed, Embase and Science Direct will be searched. Search strategies will be formulated in iterative processes and in accordance with the formats that are specific to the databases that will be searched. In addition, grey literature and non-academic databases will also be explored. Data extracted from the selected studies will be analysed and a narrative summary of the selected articles, using the SWiM (Synthesis without meta-analysis) guidelines will be produced.

Intended Outcomes: The outputs of these systematic reviews could help in a better understanding of implementation research gaps and also how to address them. Apart from giving insights into how healthcare initiatives for CVDs, diabetes and mental health could be implemented in a better way, the study could also advocate the need to build and consolidate capacity for implementation research in the country.
Age-specific incidence of need for long-term care for men and women in Germany 2015: Cross-sectional study comprising 82 million people
Authors: Haß Luisa , Tulka Sabrina , Tönnies Thaddäus , Hoyer Annika , Palm Rebecca , Knippschild Stephanie , Brinks Ralph
Published: January 2023

Background: With the growing number of older people, the number of people in need of long-term care is increasing, too. Official statistics only report on the age-specific prevalence of long-term care. Therefore, there is no data on the age- and sex-specific incidence of the need for care at the population level for Germany available.

Methods: Analytical relationships between age-specific prevalence, incidence rate, remission rate, all-cause mortality, and mortality rate ratio are used to estimate the age-specific incidence of long-term care among men and women in 2015. The data is based on the official prevalence data from the nursing care statistics for the years 2011 to 2019 and official mortality rates from the Federal Statistical Office. For Germany, there is no data on the mortality rate ratio of people with and without a need for care, which is why we use two extreme scenarios that were obtained in a systematic literature search to estimate the incidence.

Results: The age-specific incidence is about 1 per 1000 person-years (PY) in men and women at the age of 50 and increases exponentially up to the age of 90. Up to about the age of 60, men have a higher incidence rate than women. Thereafter, women have a higher incidence. At the age of 90, women and men have an incidence rate of 145 to 200 and 94 to 153 per 1000 PY, respectively, depending on the scenario.

Conclusion: We estimated the age-specific incidence of the need for long-term care for women and men in Germany for the first time. We observed a strong increase, leading to a huge number of people in need of long-term care in higher age groups. It is to be expected that this will result in an increased economic burden and a further increased need for nursing and medical staff.
A psychological symptom based machine learning model for clinical evaluation of irritable bowel syndrome
Authors: Haleem Noman , Lundervold Astri J. , Lied Gülen Arslan , Hillestad Eline Margrete Randulff , Bjorkevoll Maja , Bjørsvik Ben René , Teige Erica Sande , Brønstad Ingeborg , Steinsvik Elisabeth Kjelsvik , Nagaraja Bharath Halandur , Hausken Trygve , Berentsen Birgitte , Lundervold Arvid
Published: January 2023

Background: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a chronic functional gastrointestinal disorder characterized by recurrent abdominal pain associated with alterations  in stool form and/or stool frequency. Co-morbidities such as anxiety, depression, fatigue, and insomnia are frequently reported by patients suffering from IBS. Identification of these symptoms should thus be an integral part of an IBS assessment.      However, an optimal tool to screen for core psychological symptoms in IBS is still  missing. Here, we aim to develop a psychological symptom based machine learning model to efficiently help clinicians to identify patients suffering from IBS.

Methods: We developed a machine learning workflow to select the most significant psychological features associated with IBS in a dataset including 49 patients with IBS and 35 healthy controls. These features were used to train three different types of machine learning models: logistic regression, decision trees and support vector machine classifiers; which were validated on a holdout validation dataset and an unseen test set. The performance of these models was compared in terms of balanced accuracy scores.

Results: A logistic regression model including a combination of symptom features associated with anxiety and fatigue resulted in a balanced accuracy score of 0.93 (0.81-1.0) on unseen test data and outperformed the other comparable models. The same model correctly identified all patients with IBS in a test set (recall score 1) and misclassified one non-IBS subject (precision score 0.91). A complementary post-hoc leave-one-out cross validation analysis including the same symptom features showed similar, but slightly inferior results (balanced accuracy 0.84, recall 0.88, precision 0.86).

Conclusions: Inclusion of machine learning based psychological evaluation can complement and improve existing clinical procedure for diagnosis of IBS.
Ottoman Empire – Grand Duchy of Lithuania relations. Several documents from the Manuscript Department of the Vilnius University Library
Authors: Kilinç Abdulhakim , Miškiniene Galina
Published: January 2023

Political relations between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (further – GDL) and the Golden Horde, later with Crimean Khanate, are being investigated well enough. Priorities of the GDL’s foreign policy were addressed, on the one side, to the Central Europe, on the other side – to the East Europe. The relationship between Ottoman Empire and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth are being presented much more detail and broadly in the historiography, but too isolated from the political history of the GDL. Three important manuscript collections were preserved in Vilnius in the interwar period. One of these collections, which contained documents of the uttermost importance, which witnessed political and diplomatic relations between the Crimea, the Ottoman Empire and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, was preserved in the Manuscript Department of the Library of Vilnius University. Another collection of Oriental manuscripts, which belonged to the muftiate, was for the most part lost in 1944. The third collection, which consisted of the Karaim museum fund and library, was presented to the state in 1941 by Seraya Shapshal. Oriental sources – yarlyks of the khans and letters of Turkish border pashas, which are stored at the Manuscripts Department of the Library of Vilnius University, were presented in the article of Kılınç, Miškinienė (2014 = Oriental Materials in the Manuscripts Department of the Library of Vilnius University: Yarlyks of the Khans and Letters of Turkish Border Pashas). Article analyses and discusses the condition of the documents, as well as their palaeographic qualities, content and possibility of preservation. The jarlyk of Kaplan Giray written on the 4th of March 1734 to Jan Klemens Branicki, the Voivode of Krakow, is presented in the above mentioned article. This paper presents five documents from the Manuscripts Department of the Library of Vilnius University, funds F 3 and F 5. All five documents according to their structure and content could be assigned to the letters. Letters were written from Khotyn or to Khotyn and addressed to Branicki. There were not only sultans, viziers of the Ottoman Empire, commandants and treasurers of Khotyn and Bender between correspondents of Branicki. Crimean khans were correspondents of Branicki as well. The main purpose of this article is to continue the list of published documents, presenting the transliteration of the texts, the translation to English language and the comments. In this way, coauthors G. Miškinienė and A. Kılınç, continuing the publication of documents, wants to draw attention to the rather interesting sources, which sheds light on the relations of Ottoman Empire and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
European ‘cassock’, Tkc. ḳazaḳ and Per. kazaḡand. Relative chronologies and possible links
Authors: Urban Mateusz
Published: January 2023

The present article discusses three hypotheses that have been suggested to explain the etymological background of the English word cassock and its Romance sources, It. casacca and Fr. casaque, interpreting them alternatively (a) as a diminutive of Lat. casa; (b) as ultimately related to the word for ‘Cossack’ (≪ Tkc. ḳazaḳ ‘vagabond’), with the alleged semantic change ‘Cossack’ > ‘a kind of garment worn by Cossacks’; or (c) as a distortion of (or a back-formation from) MFr. gasygan, itself borrowed from Persian. The collected material allows to conclude that the three hypotheses do not provide an adequate explanation of the origin of the word. A modified variant of the third proposal is suggested in section 6.
Constrained Information Design
Authors: Doval Laura , Skreta Vasiliki
Published: January 2023

We provide tools to analyze information design problems subject to constraints. We do so by extending an insight by Le Treust and Tomala to the case of multiple inequality and equality constraints. Namely, that an information design problem subject to constraints can be represented as an unconstrained information design problem with additional states, one for each constraint. Thus, without loss of generality, optimal solutions induce as many posteriors as the number of states and constraints. We provide results that refine this upper bound. Furthermore, we provide conditions under which there is no duality gap in constrained information design, thus validating a Lagrangian approach. We illustrate our results with applications to mechanism design with limited commitment and persuasion of a privately informed receiver.

Funding: L. Doval acknowledges the support of the National Science Foundation through [Grant SES-2131706]. V. Skreta acknowledges the support from the National Science Foundation through [Grant SES-1851729] and from the European Research Council (ERC) through consolidator [Grant 682417].

Supplemental Material: The e-companion is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/moor.2022.1346 .
Prediction of Leakage Rate and Optimization of Structural Parameter of Blade Tip Labyrinth Seal
Authors:   School of Mechano-Electronic Engineering, Xidian University, Xi'an 710071, China, Guo Haiyin , Ma Yuqin ,   School of Construction Machinery, Chang’an University, Xi’an 71001, China, Xu Wei ,   School of Mechano-Electronic Engineering, Xidian University, Xi'an 710071, China, Zhao Yatao ,   School of Mechano-Electronic Engineering, Xidian University, Xi'an 710071, China, Yang Zedu ,   School of Mechano-Electronic Engineering, Xidian University, Xi'an 710071, China, Xu Yi ,   School of Mechano-Electronic Engineering, Xidian University, Xi'an 710071, China, Li Fei ,   School of Mechano-Electronic Engineering, Xidian University, Xi'an 710071, China, Li Yatao ,   School of Mechano-Electronic Engineering, Xidian University, Xi'an 710071, China
Published: January 2023

To study the influence of the structural parameters of blade tip labyrinth seal (BTLS) on leakage flow characteristics, finite element method was used to calculate the relationship between blade tip leakage rate (BTLR) and four structural parameters such as tooth width, tooth height, tooth pitch and tooth number. With the finite element results as samples, support vector regression (SVR), back propagation (BP) neural network and extreme learning machine (ELM) were used to establish the prediction model of the relationship between BTLR and four structural parameters. The accuracy and applicability of three prediction models were compared and analyzed. The results showed that SVR algorithm has higher prediction accuracy and stability compared with other algorithms for the prediction of BTLR. The mean square error and determination coefficient of its test set are 0.00059637 and 0.99253 respectively. After that, SVR results were taken as samples of genetic algorithm to find the combination of structural parameters with the minimum BTLR. The obtained structural parameters were combined for simulation modeling calculation. Its results showed that the fluid velocity in the blade tip region is significantly reduced and the velocity transition is gentle. The difference between simulation and optimization was 0.01%. This method innovatively applies machine learning algorithm to the prediction of BTLR, and improves the problem of low speed and high cost when only using finite element method. It provides a new way to calculate BTLR. In addition, the structural parameters of BTLS are optimized to reduce BTLR. This idea expands the field of application of machine learning algorithms.
Effect of Soil Amendments on the Enzymatic Profile of Soil when Nicotiana alata L. and Petunia hybrida L. were Irrigated with Synthetic Heavy Metal-contaminated Wastewater
Authors:   Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, 45320 Islamabad, Pakistan, Khan Aqib Hassan Ali ,   International Research Center in Critical Raw Materials and Advanced Industrial Technologies, Universidad de Burgos, 09001 Burgos, Spain, Kazmi Syedah Zoya ,   Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, 45320 Islamabad, Pakistan, Mirza Cyrus Raza ,   Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Hail, 81411 Hail, Saudi Arabia, Butt Tayyab Ashfaq ,   Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Hail, 81411 Hail, Saudi Arabia, Gul Nida ,   Department of Environmental Sciences. University of Swabi, 23561Swabi, Pakistan, Barros Rocío ,   International Research Center in Critical Raw Materials and Advanced Industrial Technologies, Universidad de Burgos, 09001 Burgos, Spain, Yousaf Sohail ,   Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, 45320 Islamabad, Pakistan, Iqbal Mazhar ,   Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, 45320 Islamabad, Pakistan
Published: January 2023

T he nutrient cycle and organic matter decomposition are catalyzed by soil enzymes. In this study, enzymatic activities of catalase, dehydrogenase, alkaline phosphatase, and urease are studied in soils amended with compost (C), moss (M), or biochar (B) and irrigated with heavy metal-contaminated wastewater (HM-CW), when Nicotiana alata L. and Petunia hybrida L. was grown in pots. The irrigation of HM-CW reduced the soil enzyme activities. However, combined used of 5% M+C+B, results in the improved soil enzyme activities. In case of N. alata and P. hybrida, catalase activity was 222.03 ± 9.24 and 402.34 ± 10.48 mg KMnO4 g-1 soil h-1, respectively, with M+C+B, which was up to 94% higher than non-amended treatment. Similarly, the M+C+B treatment also showed higher activity for dehydrogenase i.e., 180.24 ± 6.95, and 156.79 ± 8.31 μg TPF g-1 soil h-1 for N. alata and P. hybrida, respectively, that were 73% and 49% higher than non-amended treatment. Alkaline phosphatase production (μg p-nitrophenol g-1 soil h-1) for N. alata with M+C+B was 40.10 ± 1.92 and with C+B was 38.41 ± 2.00, while for P. hybrida with M+C+B was 39.33 ± 2.05, which is significantly higher as compared with the non-amended treatment. Urease activity at M+C+B application in soil with P. hybrida was 83.22 ± 5.54 mg urea g-1 soil h-1, which was much higher than that of N. alata. In general enzyme activity enhanced in the soil with N. alata or P. hybrida along with soil amendments. It shows that application of these organic amendments individually or in combination with N. alata or P. hybrida increased enzyme activities possibly through affecting soil nutrient dynamics.
AHP/ANP Applications in Economic Policy, Business, and Management with the T. L. Saaty Decision Making Hackathon at ICEFM 2022
Authors: Ujwary-Gil Anna , Florek-Paszkowska Anna , Kozioł Artur
Published: January 2023

Under the patronage of the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Lima, Peru, and the Embassy of Peru in Poland, the city of Wieliczka hosted the 21st Polish-Peruvian conference in the series ECONOMY-FINANCE-MANAGEMENT, entitled "Contemporary Challenge in Economic Policy, Business and Management" on October 22–25, 2022 The conference was also under the Honorary Patronage of the Honorary Consul of the Republic of Peru and the Honorary Consulate of Romania in Krakow. The main organizers of this conference were the Institute of Economics, Polish Academy of Sciences, IE PAS (Dr hab. Anna Ujwary-Gil, Conference Chair and Head of Scientific Committee), the Mayor of the City and Commune of Wieliczka (Dr. Artur Kozioł, Conference Chair - Wieliczka), and the Centrum PUCP, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima, Perú (Dr. Anna Florek-Paszkowska, Conference Chair - Perú).
Views of Speech-Language Pathologists on Telepractice for Children Who Use Augmentative and Alternative Communication
Authors: Biggs Elizabeth E. , Douglas Sarah N. , Therrien Michelle C. S. , Snodgrass Melinda R.
Published: January 2023

Telepractice has become increasingly utilized in disability services, particularly with recent and ongoing measures to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). In this study, 361 speech-language pathologists (SLPs) responded to a national, web-based survey about their views on utilizing telepractice with children aged 3 to 21 who used aided augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), such as picture symbols or speech-generating devices. The views of SLPs varied, and SLPs who received training on AAC telepractice within the last 12 months had more positive views about telepractice than those who did not. Several factors were associated with when and how SLPs thought telepractice was beneficial to serve children who use aided AAC, including SLPs' foundational perspectives about telepractice, service delivery options, considerations related to the child and family, and broader resources and constraints.
Mental Health Concerns in Individuals With Developmental Disabilities: Improving Mental Health Literacy Trainings for Caregivers
Authors: Aller Ty B. , Russo Raechel B. , Kelley Heather H. , Bates Lexi , Fauth Elizabeth B.
Published: January 2023

Although approximately a third of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) also experience a mental health concern, caregivers often miss early identification of these issues. In this perspective piece, we present an outline for a mental health literacy program that can enhance existing training approaches for caregivers of individuals with IDD. We describe three processes of the Mental Health Awareness and Advocacy (MHAA) curriculum and detail how it provides a strong preventative model to train caregivers to increase their mental health literacy. In describing these processes, we provide illustrative examples and conclude by providing a brief vignette that highlights how this process could be used by caregivers to help reduce mental health concerns in individuals with IDD.
High-performance thin-film lithium niobate electro-optic modulator based on etching slot and ultrathin silicon film
Authors: Wang Yi , Xu Yin , Zhang Bo , Dong Yue , Ni Yi
Published: January 2023

An electro-optic modulator (EOM) is an indispensable component to connect the electric and optical fields. Here, we propose a high-performance, thin-film lithium niobate-based EOM, where the modulation waveguide is formed by an etching slot on the lithium niobate film and the deposit of an ultrathin silicon film in the slot region. Therefore, a small mode size and high mode energy can be simultaneously achieved in the LN region with a high EO coefficient, which will be beneficial to increase the EO overlap and gradually decrease in the mode size. Further, we employed a waveguide structure to construct a typical Mach–Zehnder interference-type EOM. According to the requirements of high-speed traveling wave modulation, we conduct the index matching, impedance matching, and low-loss operation. From the results, the key half-wave voltage length product and 3 dB modulation bandwidth are, respectively, 1.45 V cm and 119 GHz in a modulation length of 4 mm. Moreover, a larger 3 dB bandwidth also can be achieved by shortening the modulation length. Therefore, we believe the proposed waveguide structure and EOM will provide new ways to enhance the performance of LNOI-based EOMs.
Intracavity adaptive correction of an unstable standing-wave resonator based on reconstruction matrix optimization
Authors: Yang Chao , Ma Shiqing , Kong Lingxi , Zhao Mengmeng , Su Chunxuan , Jin Ruiyan , Yang Ping , Wang Shuai , Lai Boheng , Xu Bing
Published: January 2023

Due to the existence of the expanding beam portion in the positive branch confocal unstable resonator, the laser passes through the intracavity deformable mirror (DM) twice with different apertures, which makes it complicated to calculate the required compensation surface of the DM. In this paper, an adaptive compensation method for intracavity aberrations based on reconstruction matrix optimization is proposed to solve this problem. A collimated probe laser of 976 nm and a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor (SHWFS) are introduced from the outside of the resonator to detect intracavity aberrations. The feasibility and effectiveness of this method are verified by numerical simulations and the passive resonator testbed system. By adopting the optimized reconstruction matrix, the control voltages of the intracavity DM can be directly calculated from the SHWFS slopes. After compensation by the intracavity DM, the beam quality β of the annular beam coupled out from the scraper is improved from 6.2 times diffraction limit to 1.6 times diffraction limit.
Power scaling limits of diffraction-limited fiber amplifiers considering transverse mode instability
Authors: Dong Liang , Ballato John , Kolis Joseph
Published: January 2023

An empirical TMI threshold formula is derived based on a recently developed model and used to analyze the power-scaling performance of ytterbium-doped silica glass and YAG (Y3Al5O12) and lutetia (Lu2O3) single-crystalline fiber amplifiers. Overall, the single-crystalline fiber lasers are found to scale potentially to higher average powers due to their higher thermal conductivities compared to silica glass. This work serves as a useful extension to earlier works and shines significant new light on optimal fiber and amplifier designs for maximum average output power with TMI considered.
Modulating the nonlinear absorption response of SnOx thin films via phase engineering
Authors: Ma Wanli , Li Zhongguo , Cao Hongtao , Liang Lingyan , Lu Haishuang , Liu Yushen , Song Yinglin
Published: January 2023

Phase (composition) is known to play a key role in determining the electronic and optical properties of amorphous oxide semiconductors. In this work, modulating the ultrafast nonlinear optical (NLO) response of SnO2 and SnO thin films by tuning oxygen partial pressure during film sputtering is explored. Femtosecond Z-scan results demonstrate that intermediate phases have no profound impact on the two-photon absorption (TPA) response of SnO2 and SnO films. Interestingly, the magnitude of the effective nonlinear absorption coefficient (βeff) of both intermediate SnO2-x and SnOx are enhanced after the change of Sn2+/Sn4+ composition ratio, as measured by picosecond Z-scan technique. Femtosecond degenerate pump-probe measurements show that intermediate phases accelerate the carrier trapping and improve the defect-related carrier absorption in SnOx (SnO-rich) film, while intermediate phase suppress the TPA response of SnO2-x (SnO2-rich) films, therefore carrier-induced absorption dominates the NLO behavior of SnO2-x film on picosecond regime. Our results indicate a simple and effective way to modulate the NLO response of transparent conductive oxide SnO2 and SnO.
Position detection of a beta particle emitter by utilizing self-absorption in a scintillation fiber
Authors: Ojima Yoshinobu , Hamasaki Takuya , Tsutsumi Yasuhiro , Fujieda Ichiro
Published: January 2023

Self-absorption in a plastic scintillation fiber can be utilized to determine the incident position of single beta particles. A dichroic mirror directs scintillation photons with shorter wavelengths to one Si photomultiplier and those with longer wavelengths to another. An index calculated from the two signals is a monotonic function of the distance between the tip of the fiber and the incident point. Once this relation is known, one can determine the distance from the two measurables. In an experiment, such a calibration curve was acquired to detect the position of a 90Sr source up to a distance of 240 cm. The average total number of photoelectrons for a single beta particle was about 15–17. Depending on the propagation distance in the scintillation fiber, they were unevenly divided by the two photodetectors.
Conformational rearrangements in the sensory RcsF/OMP complex mediate signal transduction across the bacterial cell envelope
Authors: Lach Sarah R. , Kumar Santosh , Kim Seonghoon , Im Wonpil , Konovalova Anna
Published: January 2023

Timely detection and repair of envelope damage are paramount for bacterial survival. The Regulator of Capsule Synthesis (Rcs) stress response can transduce the stress signals across the multilayered gram-negative cell envelope to regulate gene expression in the cytoplasm. Previous studies defined the overall pathway, which begins with the sensory lipoprotein RcsF interacting with several outer membrane proteins (OMPs). RcsF can also interact with the periplasmic domain of the negative regulator IgaA, derepressing the downstream RcsCDB phosphorelay. However, how the RcsF/IgaA interaction is regulated at the molecular level to activate the signaling in response to stress remains poorly understood. In this study, we used a site-saturated mutant library of rcsF to carry out several independent genetic screens to interrogate the mechanism of signal transduction from RcsF to IgaA. We analyzed several distinct classes of rcsF signaling mutants, and determined the region of RcsF that is critically important for signal transduction. This region is bifunctional as it is important for RcsF interaction with both IgaA and OMPs. The mutant analysis provides strong evidence for conformational changes in the RcsF/OMP complex mediating signal transduction to IgaA, and the first direct evidence that OMPs play an important regulatory role in Rcs signaling.
Chromatin landscape, DSB levels, and cKU-70/80 contribute to patterning of meiotic DSB processing along chromosomes in C. elegans
Authors: Lascarez-Lagunas Laura I. , Martinez-Garcia Marina , Nadarajan Saravanapriah , Diaz-Pacheco Brianna N. , Berson Elizaveta , Colaiácovo Mónica P.
Published: January 2023

Programmed DNA double-strand break (DSB) formation is essential for achieving accurate chromosome segregation during meiosis. DSB repair timing and template choice are tightly regulated. However, little is known about how DSB distribution and the choice of repair pathway are regulated along the length of chromosomes, which has direct effects on the recombination landscape and chromosome remodeling at late prophase I. Here, we use the spatiotemporal resolution of meiosis in the Caenorhabditis elegans germline along with genetic approaches to study distribution of DSB processing and its regulation. High-resolution imaging of computationally straightened chromosomes immunostained for the RAD-51 recombinase marking DSB repair sites reveals that the pattern of RAD-51 foci throughout pachytene resembles crossover distribution in wild type. Specifically, RAD-51 foci occur primarily along the gene-poor distal thirds of the chromosomes in both early and late pachytene, and on both the X and the autosomes. However, this biased off-center distribution can be abrogated by the formation of excess DSBs. Reduced condensin function, but not an increase in total physical axial length, results in a homogeneous distribution of RAD-51 foci, whereas regulation of H3K9 methylation is required for the enrichment of RAD-51 at off-center positions. Finally, the DSB recognition heterodimer cKU-70/80, but not the non-homologous end-joining canonical ligase LIG-4, contributes to the enriched off-center distribution of RAD-51 foci. Taken together, our data supports a model by which regulation of the chromatin landscape, DSB levels, and DSB detection by cKU-70/80 collaborate to promote DSB processing by homologous recombination at off-center regions of the chromosomes in C. elegans.
Filamin C is Essential for mammalian myocardial integrity
Authors: Wu Tongbin , Xu Yujun , Zhang Lunfeng , Liang Zhengyu , Zhou Xiaohai , Evans Sylvia M. , Chen Ju
Published: January 2023

FLNC, encoding filamin C, is one of the most mutated genes in dilated and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. However, the precise role of filamin C in mammalian heart remains unclear. In this study, we demonstrated Flnc global (FlncgKO) and cardiomyocyte-specific knockout (FlnccKO) mice died in utero from severely ruptured ventricular myocardium, indicating filamin C is required to maintain the structural integrity of myocardium in the mammalian heart. Contrary to the common belief that filamin C acts as an integrin inactivator, we observed attenuated activation of β1 integrin specifically in the myocardium of FlncgKO mice. Although deleting β1 integrin from cardiomyocytes did not recapitulate the heart rupture phenotype in Flnc knockout mice, deleting both β1 integrin and filamin C from cardiomyocytes resulted in much more severe heart ruptures than deleting filamin C alone. Our results demonstrated that filamin C works in concert with β1 integrin to maintain the structural integrity of myocardium during mammalian heart development.
Occurrence and antimicrobial resistance pattern of E. coli O157:H7 isolated from foods of Bovine origin in Dessie and Kombolcha towns, Ethiopia
Authors: Abebe Engidaw , Gugsa Getachew , Ahmed Meselu , Awol Nesibu , Tefera Yalew , Abegaz Shimelis , Sisay Tesfaye
Published: January 2023

E.coliare frequently isolated food-borne pathogens from meat, milk, and their products. Moreover, there has been a significant rise in the antimicrobial resistance patterns ofE.coliO157:H7 to commonly used antibiotics. A cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2019 to July 2021 to estimate prevalence and identify associated factors ofE.coliandE.coliO157:H7 and to determine antibiotic resistance pattern ofE.coliO157:H7 from foods of bovine origin in Dessie and Kombolcha towns. A total of 384 samples were collected. Systematic and simple random sampling techniques were employed for sampling carcasses and milking cows, respectively.E.coliandE.coliO157:H7 were detected according to recommended bacteriological protocols.E.coliO157:H7 strains were evaluated forin vitroantimicrobial susceptibility using agar disk diffusion method. Both descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were applied to analyze the data. Overall prevalence rates ofE.coliandE.coliO157:H7 were 54.7% and 6.5%, respectively. Highest prevalence rates ofE.coli(79.6%) andE.coliO157:H7 (16.7%) were obtained from carcass swabs and milk tank samples, respectively. UnlikeE.coliO157:H7, a statistically significant difference in theE.coliprevalence (P<0.05) was observed among the different sample types. Multidrug resistance was observed among all isolates ofE.coliO157:H7. AllE.coliO157:H7 isolates (100.0%) were susceptible to Ampicillin, Sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim, and Norfloxacin. On the contrary, all of the isolates (100%) were resistant to Penicillin G, Vancomycin, and Oxacillin. The current study indicated that different foods of bovine origin in the study area were unsafe for human consumption. Hence, good hygienic production methods should be employed to ensure the safety of foods of bovine origin.
Identification of the area sampled by traps: A modelling study with tsetse
Authors: Vale Glyn A. , Hargrove John W. , Torr Steve J.
Published: January 2023

Background

Sampling with traps provides the most common means of investigating the abundance, composition and condition of tsetse populations. It is thus important to know the size of the area from which the samples originate, but that topic is poorly understood.

Methods and principal findings

The topic was clarified with the aid of a simple deterministic model of the mobility, births and deaths of tsetse. The model assessed how the sampled area changed according to variations in the numbers, arrangement and catching efficiency of traps deployed for different periods in a large block of homogeneous habitat subject to different levels of fly mortality. The greatest impacts on the size of the sampled area are produced by the flies’ mean daily step length and the duration of trapping. There is little effect of trap type. The daily death rate of adult flies is unimportant unless tsetse control measures increase the mortality several times above the low natural rates.

Conclusions

Formulae for predicting the probability that any given captured fly originated from various areas around the trap are produced. Using a mean daily step length (d) of 395m, typical of a savannah species of tsetse, any fly caught by a single trap in a 5-day trapping period could be regarded, with roughly 95% confidence, as originating from within a distance of 1.3km of the trap that is from an area of 5.3km2.
Comparative membrane incorporation of omega-3 fish oil triglyceride preparations differing by degree of re-esterification: A sixteen-week randomized intervention trial
Authors: Minton Scott T. , Almada Anthony L. , Evans Joseph L. , Laidlaw Maggie , Opheim Joar
Published: January 2023

Background

Fish oil is routinely concentrated into unmodified triglycerides, or trans-esterified into an ethyl ester form. Re-esterification of the ethyl ester form yields re-esterified triglycerides (rTG), which are reportedly more bioavailable than ethyl ester forms. However, the fidelity of the re-esterification process may yield variable triglyceride forms, with only 55–60% being rTG.

Objective

To determine whether the blood lipidomic response to supplementation with two rTG supplements, varying by degree of re-esterification, would differ between treatments.

Design

This was a double-blind, parallel-design, single-center, 128-day study with sixty young, healthy subjects randomized into two groups. One group received a >95% rTG (Ultimate Omega®), as 1,000 mg capsules containing 325 mg eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and 225 mg docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and the other received a <70% rTG (MEG-3) as 1,000 mg capsules containing 300 mg EPA and 200 mg DHA. Total intake was 2,750 and 2,500 mg EPA+DHA for the Ultimate Omega® and MEG-3 groups, respectively, with blood drawn at 4, 16 and 24 weeks and analyzed for serum and erythrocyte phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) content.

Results

For erythrocyte PLFA profiles, EPA, docosapentaenoic acid (DPA) and DHA percentage of total erythrocyte PLFA were significantly greater for the Ultimate Omega® group than for the MEG-3 group, at week 16 (P < 0.05), as were the EPA:arachidonic acid (AA) ratio, DHA:AA ratio and EPA+DHA:AA ratio. For serum PLFA profiles, increases in EPA:AA ratio and EPA+DHA:AA ratio were significantly greater at week 4 in the Ultimate Omega® group compared to the MEG-3 group (P < 0.05).

Conclusions

These data suggest that the percentage of rTG in rTG fish oil preparations may evolve as a new chemoprofile/quality control marker that can influence its lipidomic pharmacodynamics. Additional investigations to assess the physiologic/vascular and metabolic/inflammasome responses to concentrated fish oil preparations differing in the percentage of rTG are warranted.
Aquaporin 5 (AQP5) expression in breast cancer and its clinicopathological characteristics
Authors: Jang Se Jin , Moon Chulso
Published: January 2023

The role of aquaporin water channels (AQPs) has become an area of great interest in human carcinogenesis. In this report, we have demonstrated the expression of AQP5 in breast cancer by analyzing 591 tissue samples with 7-year follow-ups. By immunochemistry analysis, AQP5 overexpression was observed in 36% (212/591 cases). Then, we have focused on the clinicopathologic variables among cancer tissue samples with strong AQP5 expression (3+ expression, 60/591 cases). The strong AQP5 expression was positively correlated with tumor grade in BCs (p<0.001) and was more frequent in ER/PR-negative BCs than positive ones (14.9% vs. 3.3% and 13.1% vs. 4.8%, respectively, both p<0.001), while Her2/neu-positive status was positively correlated with strong expression of AQP5 (p = 0.005). Of note, breast cancer patients with positive AQP expression (212/591 cases) showed a less favorable breast cancer specific survival rate over 7 years of follow and we further conclude that AQP5 expression is an independent molecular marker associated with worse clinical outcomes. By fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), we have identified evidence of gene amplification in 3 of 30 readable breast cancer and further conclude that, in breast cancer, at least some part of AQP5 overexpression is associated with an aberration in the genome level.
Assessing the risks of treatment in Parkinson disease psychosis: An in-depth analysis
Authors: Longardner Katherine , Wright Brenton A. , Alakkas Aljoharah , You Hyeri , Xu Ronghui , Liu Lin , Nahab Fatta B.
Published: January 2023

Background

Parkinson disease (PD) psychosis (PDP) is a disabling non-motor symptom. Pharmacologic treatment is limited to pimavanserin, quetiapine, and clozapine, which do not worsen parkinsonism. A Food and Drug Administration black box warning exists for antipsychotics, suggesting increased mortality in elderly patients with dementia. However, the reasons for higher mortality are unknown.

Aim

Expanding on prior work exploring mortality in treated PDP patients, we conducted a retrospective comparison to understand the links between treatment regimen, clinical characteristics, and negative outcomes.

Methods

Electronic medical record data extraction included clinically diagnosed PD patients between 4/29/16-4/29/19 and excluded patients with primary psychiatric diagnoses or atypical parkinsonism. Mortality and clinical characteristics during the study period were compared between untreated patients and those receiving pimavanserin, quetiapine, or both agents (combination). Mortality analyses were adjusted for age, sex, levodopa equivalent daily dose (LEDD), and dementia.

Results

The pimavanserin group (n = 34) had lower mortality than the untreated group (n = 66) (odds ratio = 0.171, 95% confidence interval: 0.025–0.676, p = 0.026). The untreated group had similar mortality compared to the quetiapine (n = 147) and combination (n = 68) groups. All treated groups had a higher LEDD compared to the untreated group, but no other differences in demographics, hospitalizations, medical comorbidities, medications, or laboratory values were found between the untreated and treated groups.

Conclusions

PDP patients receiving pimavanserin had lower mortality than untreated patients. We found no other clear differences in clinical characteristics to explain the mortality risk. Prospective randomized trials are needed to definitively identify the optimal PDP treatment regimen and associated risks.
Reducing Vaccinia virus transmission indoors within 60 seconds: Applying SAFEAIR-X aerosol with Iodine-V as a disinfectant
Authors: Köntös Zoltán
Published: January 2023

Iodine-V ((C26H39N4O15)x * (I2)y) demonstrates an in vitro virucidal activity by deactivating SARS-CoV-2 viral titers. It combines elemental iodine (I2) and fulvic acid (C14H12O8), forming a clathrate compound. The antiviral properties of Iodine-V reduce viral load in the air to inhibit viral transmission indoors. This antiviral property was applied to form a disinfectant solution called SAFEAIR-X Aerosol. The current study evaluates the antiviral efficacy of Iodine-V in aerosol form in a prototype called SAFEAIR-X Aerosol. The experiment measured the antiviral efficacy of SAFEAIR-X following exposure to the Vaccinia virus (VACV) samples as a confirmed surrogate for SARS-CoV-2. The SAFEAIR-X showed 96% effectiveness, with 2 seconds of spraying duration and 60 seconds of contact time releasing less than 0.0001 ppm of iodine into the air, and a log reduction value of 1.50 at 60 seconds in 2 out of 3 tests was observed. Therefore, this study demonstrates SAFEAIR-X aerosol as a potential indoor surface and air disinfectant.