bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Liquid holdup measurement for gas-liquid stratified flows by means of resistive probes and image processing
Authors: Carraretto I M , Colombo L P M , Guilizzoni M
Published: April 2022

Flow patterns exert a fundamental influence on the behaviour of multiphase flows, and they must be brought into play when dealing with their modelling. This is usually done by means of summarizing quantities as the phase holdups and the interfacial area concentration. Many techniques have been designed during the years to measure them, among which the use of probes relying on electrical resistance is one of the simplest and less expensive. While having these points of strength, resistive probes are intrusive devices. This work is therefore devoted to a comparison between liquid height (and derived quantities) measurements – for stratified and stratified-wavy air-water flows – performed using a conventional resistive probe and by means of an image-based technique. Validation of the latter was performed using computer-generated flow images. Then, an experimental campaign was carried out for flows with liquid superficial velocities in the range 0.03 ÷ 0.06 m/s and gas superficial velocities in the range 0.77 ÷ 2.31 m/s. Results showed that the two methods give answers within very few percent of difference, which is more than satisfactory in this field. The results are also in good agreement with some of the most credited literature models and correlations.
Development of an innovative temperature control system in a fermenter: application to the case of the wine industry
Authors: Malavasi Matteo , Cattani Luca , Bozzoli Fabio , Rainieri Sara
Published: April 2022

Temperature is one of the most important parameters influencing the fermentation in wine making process. Indeed, its control during this phase is fundamental to obtain a high-quality product. Fermentation is an exothermic process and for this reason a good cooling system in fermenter tanks is required. The temperature control systems usually adopted are represented by an external cooling jacket in which cold water flows. This system is based on the water circulation which is activated only when a critical temperature in the fermenter is exceeded making the control less precise. In this paper an alternative solution based on heat pipe technology is designed and its feasibility is investigated through the application of its ideal variant. This innovative temperature control system has the advantage to work on continuous mode, thus keeping the temperature in the fermenter more uniform during the whole process. Moreover, the proposed system is fully passive reducing the costs of this process phase. The results of this work demonstrated that the device application could be feasible and that it represents a promising solution.
Heat fluxes distribution and uncertainty in low-Reynolds flow regimes inside a ribbed channel
Authors: Vitali L , Gramazio P , Fustinoni D , Niro A
Published: April 2022

Experimental studies on the local convective heat transfer enhancement induced by ribs in channels are generally carried out in steady state, by imposing a known heat flux on the ribbed surface and subsequently retrieving the convective heat flux by means of a local heat balance, i.e. by subtracting all the non-convective heat fluxes from the source term. Such heat fluxes are retrieved from temperature measurements by means of models, whose complexity can range from simple algebraic expressions to complex simulations. In this context, an experimental technique based on FEM simulations, a radiative model for semi-transparent enclosures, and a filtering technique to retrieve the heat fluxes across the plane of the heated surface has been developed and tested in a 1:10 AR channel, for Reynolds number ranging from 650 to 7500 and a flow of air. This paper presents a discussion on the heat flux distribution as a function of the Reynolds number for a streamwise-pointing chevron (V) rib configuration with 60° angle of attack, with P/e = 20, showing the increasing weight of non-convective heat dissipations as the Reynolds number decreases, and their effect on the uncertainty of the Nusselt number measurement.
Thermo-fluid dynamic resonance in cancer cells
Authors: Grisolia Giulia , Lucia Umberto
Published: April 2022

In the third decade of XX century, Warburg pointed out that cancer cells follow a fermentative respiration process, as a consequence of a metabolic injury. In this paper, we consider this statement in the following way: any cell process requires energy, so, in the cell, a control of the energy conversion can represent a possible control of the cell processes. Engineering thermodynamics is the science that studies the conversion of energy into work. So, thermodynamics could represent a powerful approach to analyse of the energy conversion in the biosystems, for their control. Cells regulate their metabolisms by energy and mass (ions included) flows, and the heat flux occurs by the convective interaction with their environment. Here, we consider fluxes through the biosystems border, their shapes and the characteristic time of thermal interaction with the blood and water, in the cell environment. Moreover, just in relation to time, it is possible to consider the resonance phenomena. Resonance forces natural behaviours of systems, when a wave of a frequency, related to the characteristic time, income to a system. Here, we introduce the biothermodynamic characteristic frequency, which is the characteristic frequency of a biosystem, evaluated by a thermo-fluid dynamic approach, in order to control the fluxes through the cancer membrane, and to force it towards an optimal behaviour, by changing the concentrations of ions, inside and outside of the membrane itself. The result consists in a control of the cellular metabolic processes, and also of the energy available to cancer, for its growth. In this way, the cancer growth rate can be reduced.
Assessment of predictive methods for the heat transfer coefficient during flow boiling of R50 and R170 mixtures
Authors: Ferretto William , Lucchini Andrea , Colombo Luigi P.M.
Published: April 2022

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is a binary mixture of methane (R50) and ethane (R170). Proper evaluation of the heat transfer coefficient during flow boiling of such a mixture is very important to design LNG facilities. Pure fluid correlations have been tested with and without the adoption of corrections to account for the lowered performance due to mass transfer resistances arising both in the nucleate boiling and in the convective boiling regimes. In total, the prediction of 13 correlations has been compared with a new data set from the literature. Results show that the correction related to nucleate boiling has the greatest impact though, in general, the adoption of the corrections leads to under predict the data.
Experimental investigation of R744 transcritical flow and mixing in the two-phase ejector
Authors: Bodys Jakub , Palacz Michal , Haida Michal , Smolka Jacek , Dziurowicz Damian , Majchrzyk Michal , Nowak Andrzej J.
Published: April 2022

In this work, the laboratory test rig for visualisation of the CO2 ejector is shortly presented. The internal flow structures in the premixing chamber and expansion cone are visualised using two different measurement arrangements, i.e. Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) system and high-speed camera system. Both systems allow to determine some characteristic features of the R744 flows and propose some important quantities (i.e. expansion and mixing angles) describing expansion and mixing processes. Potentials of those preliminary results for field validation data are also pointed out.
Mechanisms of dropwise condensation on aluminum coated surfaces
Authors: Mirafiori Matteo , Tancon Marco , Bortolin Stefano , Martucci Alessandro , Del Col Davide
Published: April 2022

Dropwise condensation (DWC) is a complex phase-change phenomenon involving the formation of randomly distributed droplets on the condensing surface. The promotion of DWC instead of the traditional filmwise condensation (FWC) is a promising solution to enhance the efficiency of heat exchangers by increasing the condensation heat transfer coefficient. The interaction between the condensing fluid and the surface (wettability) is important in defining the condensation mode. On metallic surfaces widely employed in heat transfer applications, the condensing process occurs in filmwise mode. Ideally, an engineered surface designed to achieve high DWC heat transfer coefficients should present low contact angle hysteresis and low thermal resistance. Among the different available techniques to modify the surface wettability, hybrid organic-inorganic sol-gel silica coatings functionalized with hydrophobic moieties (phenyl or methyl groups) have been identified as a feasible solution to promote DWC on metallic surfaces. In the present paper, different aluminum sol-gel coated surfaces have been tested during DWC of steam in saturated conditions. The realized coatings have been characterized by means of dynamic contact angles and coating thickness measurements. Condensation tests have been performed using a two-phase thermosyphon loop operating in steady-state conditions that allows visualization of the condensation process and simultaneous heat transfer measurements. Heat transfer coefficients have been measured by varying the heat flux, at 106 °C saturation temperature and with vapor velocity equal to 2.7 m s−1. A high-speed camera is used for the visualization of the DWC process.
Experimental study on evaporation of droplets in microgravity and in the presence of electric field
Authors: Garivalis Alekos Ioannis , Di Marco Paolo , Dehaeck Sam , Rednikov Alexey , Colinet Pierre
Published: April 2022

One of the key limiting factors in the evaporation rate of sessile droplets is the evacuation of the generated vapour away from the liquid-air interface. In the absence of convection, the main driving mechanism is the vapour diffusivity: as mass diffusion is quite a slow process, this generally leads to small evaporation rates. For liquids with a heavy vapour, natural convection induced by density gradients in the vapour cloud can increase the evaporation rate significantly on ground. Nevertheless, this effect is absent in space and one therefore has to find alternative mechanisms to accelerate evaporation. The electric field may induce some convection and influence evaporation. This work describes experiments regarding evaporation of droplets in microgravity conditions performed during a sounding rocket campaign in June 2019. Microgravity allows to exclude the contribution of natural convection that otherwise prevails on the other effects. The electric field produces a clear change in the vapour concentration distribution surrounding the droplet and an increase of the evaporation rate with respect the case with no electric field. Moreover, in the absence of electric field, the Marangoni convection in the liquid has an effect on the vapour cloud too, preventing the pure diffusive behaviour.
Estimates of ozone concentrations and attributable mortality in urban, peri-urban and rural areas worldwide in 2019
Authors: Malashock Daniel A , DeLang Marissa N , Becker Jacob S , Serre Marc L , West J Jason , Chang Kai-Lan , Cooper Owen R , Anenberg Susan C
Published: April 2022

City-level estimates of ambient ozone concentrations and associated disease burdens are sparsely available, especially for low and middle-income countries. Recently available high-resolution gridded global ozone concentration estimates allow for estimating ozone concentrations and mortality at urban scales and for urban-rural catchment areas worldwide. We applied existing fine resolution global surface ozone estimates, developed by integrating observations (8834 sites globally) with nine atmospheric chemistry models, in an epidemiologically-derived health impact function to estimate chronic respiratory disease mortality worldwide in 2019. We compared ozone season daily maximum 8 h mixing ratio concentrations and ozone-attributable mortality for urban areas worldwide (including cities and densely-populated towns), and their surrounding peri-urban, peri-rural, and rural areas. In 2019, population-weighted mean ozone among all urban-rural catchment areas was greatest in peri-urban areas (52 ppb), followed by urban areas (cities and towns; 49 ppb). Of 423 100 estimated global ozone-attributable deaths, 37% (147 100) occurred in urban areas, where 40% of the world’s population resides, and 56% (254 000) occurred in peri-urban areas (<1 h from an urban area), where 47% of the world’s population resides. Across 12 946 cities (excluding towns), average population-weighted mean ozone was 51 ppb (sd = 13 ppb, range = 10–78 ppb). Three quarters of the ozone-attributable deaths worldwide (77%; 112 700) occurred in cities of South and East Asia. City-level ozone-attributable mortality rates varied by a factor of 10 across world regions. Ozone levels and attributable mortality were greatest in Asian and African cities; however, cities of higher-income regions, like high-income Asia Pacific and North America, continue to experience high ozone concentrations and attributable mortality rates, despite successful national air quality measures for reducing ozone precursor emissions. The disproportionate magnitude of ozone mortality compared with population size in peri-urban areas indicates that reducing ozone precursor emissions in places that influence peri-urban concentrations can yield substantial health benefits in these areas.
Potential heat-risk avoidance from nationally determined emission reductions targets in the future
Authors: Wang Fang , Zheng Biao , Zhang Jintao , Zhou Yuyu , Jia Mingrui
Published: April 2022

The increasing heat stress from the combined effect of changes such as temperature and humidity in the context of global change receives growing concerns. However, there is limited information for future changes in heat stress, as well as its potential socioeconomic impact, under the intended nationally determined mitigation scenarios. This study established an efficient evaluation method to quantify the benefits from the potential heat stress reduction from a continued intended nationally determined contributions (INDC) mitigation effort. The future heat stress over global land, quantified by the wet bulb globe temperature, was investigated based on the temperature sensitivity approach and multi-model simulations from the latest generation global climate models. The INDC continuous-effort scenario and the delayed-effort scenario, as well as the target-control scenarios of 2 °C warming, were compared. We found that with the delayed mitigation efforts, the increase in frequency, duration, and cumulative intensity of extreme heat stress relative to the INDC continuous-effort scenario in the late 21st century could reach to 113%, 193%, and 212%, respectively. If more ambitious efforts above current INDC pledges were implemented to achieve the 2 °C global temperature goal, the corresponding avoided impact of heat stress frequency, duration, and cumulative intensity in the late 21st century was estimated to be 32%, 37%, and 40%, respectively. Future changes in heat stress in low latitudes, where most developing countries are located, are most sensitive to emission reduction. Our results highlighted the potential avoided heat stress-related impact of global warming from efforts towards climate change mitigation.
Invariants and reduced Wigner coefficients for quasi-triangular Hopf superalgebras
Authors: Gould Mark D , Isaac Phillip S , Werry Jason L
Published: April 2022

We develop explicit formulae for the eigenvalues of various invariants for highest weight irreducible representations of the quantum supergroup U

q
[gl(m|n)]. The techniques employed make use of modified characteristic identity methods and allow for the evaluation of generator matrix elements and reduced Wigner coefficients.
A branching random-walk model of disease outbreaks and the percolation backbone
Authors: de Oliveira Paulo Murilo C , Stariolo Daniel A , Arenzon Jeferson J
Published: April 2022

The size and shape of the region affected by an outbreak is relevant to understand the dynamics of a disease and help to organize future actions to mitigate similar events. A simple extension of the SIR model is considered, where agents diffuse on a regular lattice and the disease may be transmitted when an infected and a susceptible agents are nearest neighbors. We study the geometric properties of both the connected cluster of sites visited by infected agents (outbreak cluster) and the set of clusters with sites that have not been visited. By changing the density of agents, our results show that there is a mixed-order (hybrid) transition separating a phase where the outbreak cluster is finite from the other one where it percolates through the system. Moreover, the outbreak cluster seems to have the same exponents of the backbone of the critical cluster of the ordinary percolation while the clusters with unvisited sites have a size distribution with a Fisher exponent τ < 2.
Eigenfunction non-orthogonality factors and the shape of CPA-like dips in a single-channel reflection from lossy chaotic cavities
Authors: Fyodorov Yan V , Osman Mohammed
Published: April 2022

Motivated by the phenomenon of coherent perfect absorption, we study the shape of the deepest dips in the frequency-dependent single-channel reflection of waves from a cavity with spatially uniform losses. We show that it is largely determined by non-orthogonality factors O

nn
of the eigenmodes associated with the non-selfadjoint effective Hamiltonian. For cavities supporting chaotic ray dynamics we then use random matrix theory to derive, fully non-perturbatively, the explicit distribution of the non-orthogonality factors for systems with both broken and preserved time reversal symmetry. The results imply that O

nn
are heavy-tail distributed. As a by-product, we derive an explicit non-perturbative expression for the resonance density in a single-channel chaotic systems in a much simpler form than available in the literature.
Heat transport and cooling performance in a nanomechanical system with local and non local interactions
Authors: Beraha N , Soba A , Carusela M F
Published: April 2022

In the present work, we study heat transport through a one dimensional time-dependent nanomechanical system. The microscopic model consists of coupled chains of atoms, considering local and non-local interactions between particles. We show that the system presents different stationary transport regimes depending on the driving frequency, temperature gradients and the degree of locality of the interactions. In one of these regimes, the system operates as a phonon refrigerator, and its cooling performance is analyzed. Based on a low frequency approach, we show that non-locality and its interplay with dissipation cause a decrease in cooling capacity. The results are obtained numerically by means of the Keldysh non-equilibrium Green’s function formalism.
Physical properties of superconducting Ca10(Pt4As8)((Fe0.92Pt0.08)2As2)5 crystal and comprehensive cognition on the transition temperature for Ca10-3(4)-8
Authors: Wu Dapeng , Zhai Yingying , Chen Zhen , Zhu Henan , Huang Yanru , Song Zhaoyuan , Liu Xin , Sheng Hao , Liu Songyang , Chen Miaochao , Wang Mingyang , Li Qing
Published: April 2022

Superconducting single crystal of Ca10(Pt4As8)((Fe0.92Pt0.08)2As2)5 has been prepared using flux method, and the physical properties of which are careful examined. Resistivity anisotropy between ab plane and c-axis is observed, T
−0.5 term originated from the interlayer Josephson coupling is essential to be added to the formula used to describe the out-of-plane resistivity. The density of state (DOS) value at Fermi level derived from the fitting of specific heat data is consistent with the calculation results. Both direct and indirect platinum doping effect have influences on the superconducting transition temperature (Tc) of Ca 10-3(4)-8 system, the Tc of our sample falls well into the trend strip formed by the data reported previously.
Aqueous ruthenium detection by microwave-assisted laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy
Authors: ABU KASIM Abu Farhan , WAKIL M A , GRANT Kevin , HEARN Milton , ALWAHABI Zeyad T
Published: April 2022

Aqueous ruthenium was detected in real-time under ambient conditions using microwave-assisted laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (MW-LIBS). A 10 mJ laser energy and 750 W microwave power were directed at an open liquid jet sample of ruthenium. It was observed that, for liquid flow, the coupling efficiency between the microwave and the laser-induced plasma was limited to 43%. The improvement in the ruthenium’s signal-to-noise ratio with MW-LIBS, with respect to LIBS, was 76-fold. Based on MW-LIBS, the limit of detection for aqueous ruthenium was determined to be 957 ± 84 ppb.
On the connection between quantum pseudorandomness and quantum hardware assumptions
Authors: Doosti Mina , Kumar Niraj , Kashefi Elham , Chakraborty Kaushik
Published: April 2022

This paper, for the first time, addresses the questions related to the connections between quantum pseudorandomness and quantum hardware assumptions, specifically quantum physical unclonable functions (qPUFs). Our results show that efficient pseudorandom quantum states (PRS) are sufficient to construct the challenge set for universally unforgeable qPUFs, improving the previous existing constructions based on the Haar-random states. We also show that both the qPUFs and the quantum pseudorandom unitaries (PRUs) can be constructed from each other, providing new ways to obtain PRS from the hardware assumptions. Moreover, we provide a sufficient condition (in terms of the diamond norm) that a set of unitaries should have to be a PRU in order to construct a universally unforgeable qPUF, giving yet another novel insight into the properties of the PRUs. Later, as an application of our results, we show that the efficiency of an existing qPUF-based client–server identification protocol can be improved without losing the security requirements of the protocol.
Quantifying impact and response in markets using information filtering networks
Authors: Seabrook Isobel , Caccioli Fabio , Aste Tomaso
Published: April 2022

We present a novel methodology to quantify the ‘impact’ of and ‘response’ to market shocks. We apply shocks to a group of stocks in a part of the market, and we quantify the effects in terms of average losses on another part of the market using a sparse probabilistic elliptical model for the multivariate return distribution of the whole market. Sparsity is introduced with an L
0-norm regularization, which forces to zero some elements of the inverse covariance according to a dependency structure inferred from an information filtering network. Our study concerns the FTSE 100 and 250 markets and analyzes impact and response to shocks both applied to and received from individual stocks and group of stocks. We observe that the shock pattern is related to the structure of the network associated with the sparse structure of the inverse covariance of stock log-returns. Central sectors appear more likely to be affected by shocks, and stocks with a large level of underlying diversification have a larger impact on the rest of the market when experiencing shocks. By analyzing the system during times of crisis and comparative market calmness, we observe changes in the shock patterns with a convergent behavior in times of crisis.
The Positive Patient Experience: A Comprehensive Analysis of Plastic Surgery Online Reviews
Authors: Chang Irene A , Wells Michael W , Chang Ian A , Arquette Connor P , Tang Cathy J , Gatherwright James R , Furnas Heather J
Published: April 2022

Background

Subjective online physician evaluation is an important component of patient decision-making. Understanding reviews may improve satisfaction and build positive online reputation.

Objectives

The aim of this study was to analyze and compare the top predictive factors driving patient satisfaction across the most popular plastic surgery procedures.

Methods

Online reviews were analyzed from RealSelf, Yelp, and Google for the 5 highest-rated plastic surgeons in 6 US metropolitan areas. Blank, non-English, consultation, duplicate, and unrelated reviews were excluded. Data from free-text reviews included physician rating, patient-reported reasons for rating, procedure, and complications. Univariate analysis was performed to compare predictive factors of online ratings.

Results

In total, 11,078 reviews were included. RealSelf had the highest average rating (4.77), and Yelp had the lowest (4.66). Reviews in Miami, Philadelphia, New York City, and Chicago were mostly published on RealSelf, whereas Houston and Los Angeles mostly used Google and Yelp, respectively. Reconstructive procedures were rated significantly higher than cosmetic procedures (P = 0.035). Aesthetic appearance was the strongest predictor of rating across all procedures. Buccal fat removal (98.8%) and abdominoplasty (98.1%) had the highest satisfaction, and Brazilian butt lift had the lowest (88.2%) (P < 0.001). Additional significant contributors included staff interaction, bedside manner, health outcomes, complications, and postoperative care (P < 0.001).

Conclusions

Although aesthetic outcome is an important predictor of satisfaction, other aspects of care, such as bedside manner and staff interaction, provide an important foundation of support. Excellent patient-surgeon communication and postoperative care may mitigate patient dissatisfaction and elicit high-satisfaction online patient reviews.
Tschimganine has different targets for chronological lifespan extension and growth inhibition in fission yeast
Authors: Ohtsuka Hokuto , Matsumoto Takuma , Mochida Takahiro , Shimasaki Takafumi , Shibuya Masatoshi , Yamamoto Yoshihiko , Aiba Hirofumi
Published: April 2022

Tschimganine inhibits growth and extends the chronological lifespan in Schizosaccharomyces pombe. We synthesized a Tschimganine analog, Mochimganine, which extends the lifespan similar to Tschimganine but exhibits a significantly weaker growth inhibition effect. Based on the comparative analysis of these compounds, we propose that Tschimganine has at least 2 targets: one extends the lifespan and the other inhibits growth.
miR-26a-5p and miR-125b-5p affect trophoblast genes and cell functions important during early pregnancy
Authors: Szuszkiewicz Joanna , Nitkiewicz Anna , Drzewiecka Klaudia , Kaczmarek Monika M
Published: April 2022

The most critical stage of pregnancy is embryo implantation, which relies on the synchronized developmental capacity of the embryo and uterine receptivity to implantation. In early pregnancy, conceptus and uterus release several factors enabling successful implantation and placentation. Molecules involved in embryo-maternal crosstalk include, but are not limited to, hormones, growth factors, and cytokines. The discovery of microRNAs (small non-coding RNAs regulating gene expression) has revolutionized our understanding of many biological processes, including pregnancy. To date, numerous miRNAs have been detected in different species during pregnancy, both at the endometrial and embryonic sites. Thus, microRNAs are considered important regulators of early pregnancy events. Here, we report miR-26a-5p and miR-125b-5p effects on human and pig trophoblast cell function. Both microRNAs change the level of several genes and proteins important for proper embryo development. Moreover, miR-26a-5p stimulates porcine trophoblast proliferation and has a negative impact on its affinity to laminin. However, miR-125b-5p decreases porcine trophoblast cell migration. Our studies suggest that miR-26a-5p and miR-125b-5p can affect early pregnancy functions by regulating genes and processes important for proper conceptuses’ development and progression through the implantation process.
The Revolutionary Social Worker in Palestine: Living the Challenge of Colonialism through Non-violent Resistance—the Struggles of Munther Amira
Authors: McKendrick David , Duarte Filipe
Published: April 2022

This article explores Munther Amira’s ‘Pedagogy of Revolution’, a unique approach of non-violent resistance that adopts the pedagogy of Paulo Freire and global social work values and principles, for educating, empowering and mobilising Palestinian refugees living in the Westbank, as a means for liberation from the oppression imposed by Israel’s military occupation. The article begins by charting the history of Palestine, locating it as a place of violent upheaval and colonial occupation. It also pays particular attention to Britain’s role in abandoning the Palestinian people describing how this decision contributed to the continuing unrest and violence in the region. Using narrative inquiry methods, and by deploying a lens of contemporary social theory, the article provides a deeper understanding of the lived experiences of Palestinian refugees through the lived experiences of Munther Amira, a Palestinian refugee, social worker and human rights defender. It concludes by showing that regardless of the exceptionalism (or otherwise) of the environment, globally social work should align itself with the defence of human rights through non-violence resistance and, as a matter of urgency, should adopt what we describe as a ‘Pedagogy of Revolution’.
Fulminant Delta COVID-19 myocarditis: a case report of fatal primary cardiac dysfunction
Authors: Thomson Alistair , Totaro Richard , Cooper Wendy , Dennis Mark
Published: April 2022

Background

Whilst myocarditis or myocardial injury due to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection is commonly reported, profound primary cardiac dysfunction requiring mechanical circulatory support, with the development of fulminant myocarditis prior to respiratory failure, is rarely described. The endomyocardial biopsy (EMB) findings in these patients is seldom reported, the findings are varied, and effective treatment unknown.

Case summary

A 39-year-old female with no significant past medical history and confirmed Delta variant coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection (Day 3), presented with a 1 day history of diarrhoea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. The patient denied respiratory symptoms and chest X-ray was clear. Lactate level was 6.3, initial troponin T 118 ng/L. Despite resuscitation, the patient significantly deteriorated in the emergency department, resulting in pulseless electrical activity arrest requiring veno-arterial extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Over the following 36 h, cardiac function deteriorated to near-complete left ventricular (LV) standstill. Coronary angiography revealed normal coronary arteries with slow flow. Endomyocardial biopsy showed diffuse interstitial macrophage infiltrate and small vessel thromboses. Left ventricular function did not improve over the following 7 days, and despite treatment with tocilizumab, high-dose steroids, and intravenous immunoglobulin, she eventually died due to disease-related complications.

Discussion

Primary cardiac dysfunction secondary to COVID-19 infection is rarely reported. Little is known about the incidence, natural history, and pathophysiology of fulminant COVID-19 myocarditis. We present the most severe case of cardiac dysfunction due to COVID-19 reported in a young patient without respiratory compromise who never recovered from any cardiac function.
Tracing long-distance electron transfer and cable bacteria in freshwater sediments by agar pillar gradient columns
Authors: Sachs Corinna , Kanaparthi Dheeraj , Kublik Susanne , Szalay Anna Roza , Schloter Michael , Damgaard Lars Riis , Schramm Andreas , Lueders Tillmann
Published: April 2022

Cable bacteria (CB) perform electrogenic sulfur oxidation (e-SOx) by spatially separating redox half reactions over centimetre distances. For freshwater systems, the ecology of CB is not yet well understood, partly because they proved difficult to cultivate. This study introduces a new ‘agar pillar’ approach to selectively enrich and investigate CB populations. Within sediment columns, a central agar pillar is embedded, providing a sediment-free gradient system in equilibrium with the surrounding sediment. We incubated freshwater sediments from a streambed, a sulfidic lake and a hydrocarbon-polluted aquifer in such agar pillar columns. Microprofiling revealed typical patterns of e-SOx, such as the development of a suboxic zone and the establishment of electric potentials. The bacterial communities in the sediments and agar pillars were analysed over depth by PacBio near-full-length 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, allowing for a precise phylogenetic placement of taxa detected. The selective niche of the agar pillar was preferentially colonized by CB related to Candidatus Electronema for surface water sediments, including several potentially novel species, but not for putative groundwater CB affiliated with Desulfurivibrio spp. The presence of CB was seemingly linked to co-enriched fermenters, hinting at a possible role of e-SOx populations as an electron sink for heterotrophic microbes. These findings add to our current understanding of the diversity and ecology of CB in freshwater systems, and to a discrimination of CB from surface and groundwater sediments. The agar pillar approach provides a new strategy that may facilitate the cultivation of redox gradient-dependent microorganisms, including previously unrecognized CB populations.
Natural variation and improved genome annotation of the emerging biofuel crop field pennycress (Thlaspi arvense)
Authors: García Navarrete Tatiana , Arias Cintia , Mukundi Eric , Alonso Ana Paula , Grotewold Erich
Published: April 2022

The Brassicaceae family comprises more than 3,700 species with a diversity of phenotypic characteristics, including seed oil content and composition. Recently, the global interest in Thlaspi arvense L. (pennycress) has grown as the seed oil composition makes it a suitable source for biodiesel and aviation fuel production. However, many wild traits of this species need to be domesticated to make pennycress ideal for cultivation. Molecular breeding and engineering efforts require the availability of an accurate genome sequence of the species. Here, we describe pennycress genome annotation improvements, using a combination of long- and short-read transcriptome data obtained from RNA derived from embryos of 22 accessions, in addition to public genome and gene expression information. Our analysis identified 27,213 protein-coding genes, as well as on average 6,188 biallelic SNPs. In addition, we used the identified SNPs to evaluate the population structure of our accessions. The data from this analysis support that the accession Ames 32872, originally from Armenia, is highly divergent from the other accessions, while the accessions originating from Canada and the United States cluster together. When we evaluated the likely signatures of natural selection from alternative SNPs, we found 7 candidate genes under likely recent positive selection. These genes are enriched with functions related to amino acid metabolism and lipid biosynthesis and highlight possible future targets for crop improvement efforts in pennycress.
Prioritizing the target audience for a hearing awareness campaign in Australia using the TARPARE model
Authors: Alperstein Simon , Beach Elizabeth Francis
Published: April 2022

Hearing loss affects one in six Australians, and it is estimated that around one-third of all hearing loss is preventable. Over the past decade, there have been repeated calls for the development of a national campaign in Australia, aimed at raising the public’s awareness of hearing health. We identified six target groups either at risk of developing hearing loss, vulnerable to poor outcomes as a result of untreated hearing loss, or lacking awareness of hearing health services, and applied the TARPARE model as a way of gathering insight into how a national hearing campaign might prioritize these different population segments. An online survey of prominent Australian academics, health practitioners and advocacy professionals with expertise in hearing health and/or public health promotion was created, through which their views on each of six potential target groups that had been identified as likely recipients of a potential hearing health campaign was sought. Young children and caregivers received the highest score based on survey responses and TARPARE criteria. A qualitative analysis of open-ended survey responses from the survey respondents revealed three key themes to consider as part of a potential campaign: Accessibility and availability of hearing services, Deciding on a preventative or treatment-focused approach, and The difficulty of changing behavior.
Distal arch replacement for aortic aneurysm associated with pseudocoarctation through the L-incision approach
Authors: Goto Takuya , Koizumi Junichi , Saiki Hirofumi , Kin Hajime
Published: April 2022

We report the case of a 16-year-old boy in whom we successfully repaired a distal aortic arch aneurysm associated with pseudocoarctation using double aortic cannulation and antegrade selective cerebral perfusion through the L-incision approach. This approach provided excellent exposure from the ascending aorta to the descending aorta, which enabled total body perfusion. We avoided cardiac arrest and hypothermic circulatory arrest during the surgery. The L-incision approach could be a better alternative for aortic arch surgery in adolescents.
Robotic subxiphoid-optical thymectomy
Authors: Shimomura Masanori , Ishihara Shunta , Okada Satoru , Inoue Masayoshi
Published: April 2022

Robot-assisted thymectomy through a subxiphoid scopic approach can provide a good surgical view, similar to that of median sternotomy. We originally used the subxiphoid port only for the robotic scope to avoid instrument collision with the assistant device. This approach, robotic subxiphoid-optical thymectomy, is advantageous for the safe and accurate dissection of the bilateral phrenic nerves and the left brachiocephalic vein, which are especially needed in extended thymectomy for patients with myasthenia gravis.
Asking about Social Circles Improves Election Predictions Even with Many Political Parties
Authors: Bruine de Bruin Wändi , Galesic Mirta , Bååth Rasmus , de Bresser Jochem , Hall Lars , Johansson Petter , Strandberg Thomas , van Soest Arthur
Published: April 2022

Traditionally, election polls have asked for participants’ own voting intentions. In four elections, we previously found that we could improve predictions by asking participants how they thought their social circles would vote. A potential concern is that the social-circle question might predict results less well in elections with larger numbers of political options because it becomes harder to accurately track how social contacts plan to vote. However, we now find that the social-circle question performs better than the own-intention question in predicting two elections with many political parties: The Netherlands’ 2017 general election and the Swedish 2018 general election.
The energy requirement for maintenance of Nellore crossbreds in tropical conditions during the finishing period
Authors: Goulart Rodrigo S , Tedeschi Luis O , Silva Saulo L , Leme Paulo R , de Alencar Maurício M , Lanna Dante P D
Published: April 2022

This study determined the energy requirement for maintenance of purebred Nellore cattle and its crossbreds using data from a comparative slaughter trial in which animals were raised under the same plane of nutrition from birth through slaughter and born from a single commercial Nellore cowherd. A total of 79 castrated steers (361 ± 54 kg initial body weight [BW]) were used in a completely randomized design by age (22 mo ± 23 d of age) with four genetic groups (GG): Nellore (NL), ½ Angus × ½ Nellore (AN), ½ Canchim × ½ Nellore (CN), and ½ Simmental × ½ Nellore (SN). The experimental design provided ranges in metabolizable energy (ME) intake (MEI), BW, and average daily gain needed to develop regression equations to predict net energy for maintenance (NEm) requirements. Four steers of each GG were slaughtered to determine the initial body composition. The remaining 63 steers were assigned to different nutritional treatments (NT) by GG; ad libitum or limit-fed treatments (receiving 70% of the daily feed of the ad libitum treatment of the same GG). Full BW was recorded at birth, weaning, 12, 18, and 22 mo. In the feedlot, steers were fed for 101 d a diet containing (DM basis) 60% corn silage and 40% concentrate. No difference in age at weaning (P = 0.534) and slaughter (P = 0.179 and P = 0.896, for GG and NT, respectively) were observed. AN steers were heavier at weaning weight, yearling weight and had higher empty BW (EBW; P = 0.007, P = 0.014, and P < 0.001, respectively) in comparison to NL, CN, and SN. There were no interactions (P > 0.05) between GG and NT for any variable evaluated. When fed ad libitum, AN steers had higher daily MEI (Mcal/d; P < 0.001) in comparison to NL, CN, and SN. On a constant age basis, differences were observed on body composition (P < 0.05) between GG. The slope (P = 0.600) and intercept (P = 0.702) of the regression of log heat production on MEI were similar among GG. Evaluating at the same age and the same frame size, there were no differences in NEm requirement between Nellore and AN (P = 0.528), CN (P = 0.671), and SN (P = 0.706). The combined data indicated a NEm requirement of 86.8 kcal/d/kg0.75 EBW and a ME required for maintenance requirement had a common value of 137.53 kcal/d/kg0.75 EBW. The efficiency of energy utilization for maintenance and the efficiency of energy utilization for growth values were similar among GG (P > 0.05 and P > 0.05, respectively) and were on average 63.2% and 26.0%, respectively. However, although not statistically different, the NEm values from NL showed a decrease in NEm of 5.76% compared with AN steers.
Elliptical and linear relationships with rumen temperature support a homeorhetic trajectory for DMI during recovery of feedlot cattle exposed to moderate heat load
Authors: Sullivan Megan L , Wijffels Gene , George A , Al-Hosni Yousef A , Olm Joseph C W , Gaughan John B
Published: April 2022

Most feedlot animals in Australia experience 2 to 3 moderate heat waves during summer. This study aimed to gain understanding of the physiological drivers in response to and during recovery from such events with a view to designing strategies to ensure rapid and safe recovery. Two hypotheses were tested during thermal challenge and recovery in climate-controlled rooms (CCR): firstly, the feedlot steer on a grain-based diet mounts appropriate physiological responses during moderate heat load and in recovery so that its performance and physiology state after recovery is not different to the feed restricted thermoneutral (FRTN) steer. Secondly, commonly used indicators of increased heat load, e.g., respiration rate (RR), panting score (PS), body surface temperatures (ST), and water consumption (WC), reflect rumen temperature (RT) during thermal challenge and recovery at the level of daily means. In this study, 36 Angus steers (live weight (LW) 451.5 ± 22.6 kg) made up 3 cohorts of 12 animals that sequentially underwent the CCR phase. For this 18-d phase, the steers were allocated to either a moderate heat load treatment (thermally challenged, TC, n = 18) or a FRTN treatment (n = 18). The TC group underwent 3 periods, Pre-Challenge (4 d, temperature humidity index (THI) range of 68 to 71), Challenge (7 d, THI 73 to 84 with diurnal cycling), and Recovery (7 d, THI 68 to 71). The FRTN group were held at thermoneutral conditions in the CCR (THI 66.9 ± 0.3), and each animal was offered an amount of feed was based on the feed intake of its LW matched TC pair. Thus, as DMI fell in the TC group during Challenge, feed restriction was imposed on the FRTN group. The data were collected by trained observers were DMI, RT, RR, PS, body STs (forehead, shoulder, leg, rump), and WC. Challenge induced a heat stress response in the TC group with reduced DMI and LW, and elevated RT, RR, PS, body STs, and WC (P < 0.001). These measures were unchanged or reduced in the FRTN group (P < 0.001). At the end of Recovery, the TC and FRTN groups had converged on most measures including LW. Daily mean RT of both groups showed strong linear relationships with THI, RR, PS, head ST, and WC (P ≤ 0.0022) but opposing elliptical relationships with DMI; that is, as DMI fell with increasing RT for the TC group, DMI increased with rising RT for the FRTN group. In all, the feedlot steers in this study demonstrated sufficient homeorhetic capacity to adjust to moderate heat load and recover from it.
Investigation of serum markers of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma based on machine learning methods
Authors: Ma Zhifeng , Zhu Ting , Wang Haiyong , Wang Bin , Fu Linhai , Yu Guangmao
Published: April 2022

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the malignant tumors with high mortality in humans, and there is a lack of effective and convenient early diagnosis methods. By analyzing the serum miRNA expression data in ESCC tumor samples and normal samples, on the basis of the maximal relevance and minimal redundancy (mRMR) feature selection and the incremental feature selection method, a random forest classifier constructed by five-feature miRNAs was acquired in our study. The receiver operator characteristic curve showed that the model was able to distinguish samples. Principal component analysis (PCA) and sample hierarchical cluster analysis showed that five-feature miRNAs could well distinguish ESCC patients from healthy individuals. The expression levels of miR-663a, miR-5100 and miR-221-3p all showed a higher expression level in ESCC patients than those in healthy individuals. On the contrary, miR-6763-5p and miR-7111-5p both showed lower expression levels in ESCC patients than those in healthy individuals. In addition, the collected clinical serum samples were used for qRT-PCR analysis. It was uncovered that the expression trends of the five-feature miRNAs followed a similar pattern with those in the training set. The above findings indicated that the five-feature miRNAs may be serum tumor markers of ESCC. This study offers new insights for the early diagnosis of ESCC.
Detecting SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing immunity: highlighting the potential of split nanoluciferase technology
Authors: Jeremiah Sundararaj Stanleyraj , Miyakawa Kei , Ryo Akihide
Published: April 2022

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has progressed over 2 years since its onset causing significant health concerns all over the world and is currently curtailed by mass vaccination. Immunity acquired against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can be following either infection or vaccination. However, one can never be sure whether the acquired immunity is adequate to protect the individual from subsequent infection because of three important factors: individual variations in humoral response dynamics, waning of protective antibodies over time, and the emergence of immune escape mutants. Therefore, a test that can accurately differentiate the protected from the vulnerable is the need of the hour. The plaque reduction neutralization assay is the conventional gold standard test for estimating the titers of neutralizing antibodies that confer protection. However, it has got several drawbacks, which hinder the practical application of this test for wide-scale usage. Hence, various tests have been developed to detect protective immunity against SARS-CoV-2 that directly or indirectly assess the presence of neutralizing antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in a lower biosafety setting. In this review, the pros and cons of the currently available assays are elaborated in detail and special focus is put on the scope of the novel split nanoluciferase technology for detecting SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies.