bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Assessing the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the health of residents and the healthcare system in Alberta, Canada: an observational study—The Alberta POST-COVID Follow-up Study
Authors: Chen Xueyi , Bakal Jeffrey , Whitten Tara , Waldie Barbara , Ho Chester , Wright Paul , Hassam Shahin , Norris Colleen
Published: February 2023

Introduction

Very little is known about how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the health of residents and the healthcare system in Alberta, Canada. The purpose of this study is to establish an observational study to characterise the health of residents in Alberta, Canada, over time, covering a population that tested negative or positive for COVID-19 during the pandemic. The primary outcome is to characterise ‘long COVID-19’ and the health status of residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Secondary outcomes include the estimation of the risk of and risk factors associated with adverse health outcomes and healthcare utilisation and burdens.

Methods and analysis

This is a population-level provincial observational study which will follow-up with Alberta residents who underwent testing for COVID-19 and completed surveys adapted from the ISARIC COVID-19 long-term follow-up survey. The survey data will be linked with medical records. Statistical analyses will be carried out to characterise ‘long COVID-19’ and the health status of residents during the pandemic. The outcomes of this study will inform strategies for primary care and rehabilitation services to prevent chronic consequences; contribute to healthcare management, interventional studies, rehabilitation and health management to reduce overall morbidity and improve long-term outcomes of COVID-19 and the COVID-19 pandemic and potentially guide a self-evaluation of a remote monitoring system to manage individuals’ health.

Ethics and dissemination

This study was reviewed and approved by the University of Alberta ethics committee (Study ID: Pro00112053 & Pro00113039) on 13 August 2021 and adheres to the Alberta Health Services research information management policy. Study results will be used to manage clinical care, published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at local, national and international conferences.

Protocol version

6 June 2022

EuroQol ID

161 015.
Potential problems and solutions of opioid-based treatment in neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS): a scoping review protocol
Authors: Mills-Huffnagle Sara , Nyland Jennifer E
Published: February 2023

Introduction

Rates of neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS) have paralleled the rise of opioid use during pregnancy. While short-term phenotypic symptoms of NOWS are well defined, molecular implications and long-term effects are not well understood. Preferred and first-line of treatment for NOWS includes non-pharmacological interventions; however, more than half of the NOWS neonates will need pharmacologics, with opioids as the primary pharmacological treatment. While effective at reducing symptoms, treating NOWS with opioids is paradoxical given that molecular and long-term developmental consequences with such exposure are unknown. There is a pressing need for a synthesis of current and potential/ novel treatment options for NOWS.

Methods and analysis

Following a published framework, a scoping review will be conducted to evaluate NOWS treatment, including established treatment methods and novel methods that may warrant future research and consideration. Using broad search terms, as well as Medical Subject Headings terms, a comprehensive search of PubMed, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, CINAHL, Web of Science and Scopus, as well as references of selected literature, will take place, followed by a screening procedure to identify included and excluded articles. Included studies must address NOWS treatment, or opioid withdrawal treatment of any age group, that may or may not have been tested in preclinical or clinical models. Results will summarise the current pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment methods for NOWS, as well as potential novel treatments with a specific interest in non-opioid pharmacological interventions.

Ethics and dissemination

This scoping review aims to broadly search preclinical and clinical literature as it relates to treatment of NOWS, including potential novel treatments with a specific interest in non-opioid pharmacological interventions. Given that this study does not directly involve human subjects or animal subjects research, Institutional Review Board (IRB) or Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) approval is not required. Results of this scoping review will be disseminated at conferences and submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
The effect of configurational complexity in hetero-polymers on the coil-globule phase transition
Authors: Tafuri Fabrizio , Chiariello Andrea M.
Published: February 2023

The coil-globule transition of hetero-polymer chains is studied here. By means of extensive Molecular Dynamics simulations, we show that the transition is directly linked to the complexity of the chain, which depends on the number of chemical species defined in the environment and the location of the binding sites along the polymer. In addition, when the number of species increases, we find that the distribution of binding sites plays an important role in triggering the transition, beyond the standard control parameters of the polymer model, i.e. binders concentration and binding affinity. Overall, our results show that by increasing the system complexity new organizational layers emerge, thus allowing a more structured control on the polymer thermodynamic state. This can be potentially applied to the study of chromatin architecture, as such polymer models have been broadly used to understand the molecular mechanisms of genome folding.
An Efficient Splitting Algorithm for Solving the CDT Subproblem
Authors: Dai Jinyu
Published: February 2023

The CDT subproblem, which minimizes a quadratic function over the intersection of two ellipsoids, is a classical quadratic programming problem. In this paper, we study a method of solving CDT with a positive Lagrangian duality gap. An efficient splitting algorithm is proposed for finding the global optimal solutions. A cutting plane is firstly added to divide the feasible set of CDT into two subsets, and then two new quadratic programming problems with ellipsoidal and linear constraints are generated accordingly. Using the newly developed technique — second-order cone constraints to enhance the efficiencies of the SDP relaxation-based algorithms on the two subproblems, an optimal solution of CDT can be acquired by comparing the objective values of the two subproblems. Numerical experiments show that the new algorithm outperforms the two recent SDP relaxation-based algorithms, the two-parameter eigenvalue-based algorithm and the solver Gurobi 9.5 for certain types of CDT.
A generalized Sasa–Satsuma equation on the half line: From Dirichlet to Neumann map
Authors: Zhu Qiaozhen
Published: February 2023

In this paper, we study the initial-boundary value (IBV) problem for a generalized Sasa–Satsuma equation with [Formula: see text] Lax pair by Fokas unified method on the half line. Based on the analyticity and asymptotics of the eigenfunctions, the IBV problem is formulated as a Riemann–Hilbert (RH) problem. Further, the global relation among IBVs is established and the map from the Dirichlet boundary value to Neumann boundary value is obtained.
Performance Investigation of Generalized Rain Pattern Absorption Attention Network for Single-Image Deraining
Authors: Pravin Kumar M. , Jayaraman Thiyagarajan , Senthilkumar M. , Sumaiya Begum A.
Published: February 2023

Rainy weather conditions are challenging issues for many computer vision applications. Rain streaks and rain patterns are two crucial environmental factors that degrade the visual appearance of high-definition images. A deep attention network-based single-image deraining algorithm is more famous for handling the image with the statistical rain pattern. However, the existing deraining network suffers from the false detection of rain patterns under heavy rain conditions and ineffective detection of directional rain streaks. In this paper, we have addressed the above issues with the following contributions. We propose a multilevel shearlet transform-based image decomposition approach to identify the rain pattern on different scales. The rain streaks in various dimensions are enhanced using a residual recurrent rain feature enhancement module. We adopt the Rain Pattern Absorption Attention Network (RaPaat-Net) to capture and eliminate the rain pattern through the four-dilation factor network. Experiments on synthetic and real-time images demonstrate that the proposed single-image attention network performs better than existing deraining approaches.
A 0.8-Volt 29.52-μW Current Mirror-Based OTA Design for Biomedical Applications
Authors: Pritty  , Jhamb Mansi
Published: February 2023

An operational trans-conductance amplifier (OTA) is a fundamental component of electronic appliances. This paper introduces a novel design of OTA for minimal power, low voltage applications. The proposed OTA comprises an ultra low power current mirror design with enhanced bandwidth. The proposed OTA circuit is operated at 0.8[Formula: see text]V, contributing input noise of 26.33[Formula: see text]nV/(Hz)[Formula: see text] with a power of [Formula: see text]W. The additional parameters of new OTA are DC gain (87.32[Formula: see text]dB), common mode rejection ratio (145.47[Formula: see text]dB), gain bandwidth (4.73[Formula: see text]MHz), phase margin (36.56[Formula: see text]). These figures are significantly improved as compared to conventional OTAs. Analog-to-digital convertor (ADC) is also designed as an application of the proposed OTA. The improvements offered by ADC in terms of power and bandwidth are also compared with state of the art.
Modeling and numerical simulations of multilane vehicular traffic by active particles methods
Authors: Zagour M.
Published: February 2023

This paper deals with the modeling and numerical simulations of multilane vehicular traffic according to the kinetic theory of active particles methods. The main idea of this theory is to consider each driver–vehicle system as a micro-system, where the microscopic state of particles is described by position, velocity, and activity which is an appropriate variable for modeling the quality of the driver-vehicle. The interactions between micro-systems are modeled by stochastic game theory. This leads to the derivation of a mathematical model within the framework of the approach of kinetic theory. The well-posedness of the related Cauchy problem for the spatially homogeneous case is established. Numerical simulations are carried out to show the ability of the proposed model to reproduce the empirical data such as the asymptotic property in time and the emerging behavior of clusters with a particular focus on the road environment conditions.
Preparing maximally entangled states by monitoring the environment-system interaction
Authors: Abu-Nada Ali A. , Salhab Moataz A.
Published: February 2023

A common assumption in an open quantum system is that the noise induced by the environment, due to the interaction between a quantum system and its environment, is responsible for the disappearance of quantum properties. Interestingly, Barreiro et al. [Nature 470 (2011) 486] show, experimentally, using an open-system quantum ion traps simulator, an environment state can be engineered and controlled to pump an arbitrary quantum system toward a maximally entangled state and thus can be considered a resource for quantum information processing. Here, we demonstrate this idea to pump an arbitrary maximally mixed state into Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger (GHZ) state by simulating our quantum circuit using one of the IBM Q processors. Barreiro et al. [Nature 470 (2011) 486] offer the circuits for the execution of the GHZ pumping. Nevertheless, those are collected gates that are suitable to the trapped-ions platform, so their circuits implementation on the IBM Q devices would result in large depth circuits and thus requires many gates. Consequently, we suggest a different circuit structure that follows a similar goal, but has been considered the features of the IBM Q platform. Moreover, we run the simulation of our circuit using the QASM simulator and free-web-based interface, IBM Quantum Experience, with and without error mitigation, to investigate the effect of the noise on the preparation of the initial mixed states of the qubits in addition to the population of the target state of the system.
Magnetic Behavior of Spin Chain with Hexagonal Shell and Negative Core-Shell Exchange Coupling: Monte Carlo Simulation and Mean Field Approach
Authors: Jalal E. M. , Lafhal A. , Saadi H. , Hasnaoui A. , Madani M. , Bouziani M. El
Published: February 2023

Using Monte Carlo simulation and mean field approximation, we studied the magnetic properties of spin-3/2 chain with hexagonal spin-1/2 shell and negative core-shell exchange coupling. The obtained results show that the spins 3/2 in the core have an important influence on the magnetic behavior of the system such as the appearance of compensation temperatures as well as first- and second-order phase transitions. Moreover, we investigated the effects of exchange interactions and anisotropy on the phase diagrams of the system.
Mathematical Content Browsing for Print-disabled Readers Based on Virtual-world Exploration and Audio-visual Sensory Substitution
Authors: Kruger Rynhardt , De Wet Febe , Niesler Thomas
Published: February 2023

Documents containing mathematical content remain largely inaccessible to blind and visually impaired readers because they are predominantly published as untagged PDFs, which do not include the semantic data necessary for effective accessibility. Equations in such documents consist of text interlaced with lines and other graphical elements and cannot be interpreted using a screen reader. We present a browsing approach for print-disabled readers specifically aimed at such mathematical content. This approach draws on the navigational mechanisms often used to explore the virtual worlds of text adventure games with audio-visual sensory substitution for graphical content. The relative spatial placement of the elements of an equation are represented as a virtual world so the reader can navigate between elements. Text elements are announced conventionally using synthesised speech, while graphical elements, such as roots and fraction lines, are rendered using a modification of the vOICe algorithm. The virtual world allows the reader to interactively discover the spatial structure of the equation, while the rendition of graphical elements as sound allows the shape and identity of elements that cannot be synthesised as speech to be discovered and recognised. The browsing approach was evaluated by 11 blind and 14 sighted participants in a user trial that included identifying twelve equations extracted from PDF documents. Overall, equations were identified completely correctly in 78% of cases (74% and 83%, respectively, for blind and sighted subjects). If partial correctness is considered, then the performance is substantially higher. Feedback from the blind subjects indicated that the technique allows spatial information and graphical detail to be discovered. We conclude that the integration of a spatial model represented as a virtual world in conjunction with audio-visual sensory substitution for non-textual elements can be an effective way for blind and visually impaired readers to read currently inaccessible mathematical content in PDF documents.
A Channel-aware FL Approach for Virtual Machine Placement in 6G Edge Intelligent Ecosystems
Authors: Picano Benedetta , Fantacci Romano
Published: February 2023

This article deals with an artificial intelligence (AI) framework to support Internet-of-everything (IoE) applications over sixth-generation wireless (6G) networks. An integrated IoE-Edge Intelligence ecosystem is designed to effectively face the problems of Virtual Machines (VMs) placement based on their popularity, computation offloading optimization, and system reliability improvement predicting compute nodes faults. The main objective of the article is to increase performance in terms of minimization of worst end-to-end (e2e) delay, percentage of requests in outage, and the enhancement of reliability. The article focuses on the following main issues: (i) proposal of a channel-aware federated learning (FL) approach to forecast the popularity of the VMs required by IoE devices; (ii) use of an AI-based channel conditions forecasting module at the benefits of the FL process; (iii) development of a suitable VMs placement on the basis of their popularity and of an efficient tasks allocation technique based on a modified version of the auction theory (AT) and a proper matching game; (iv) enhancement of the system reliability by an echo-state-network (ESN), located on each computation node and running in the background to predict failures and anticipate tasks migration. Numerical results validate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy for IoE applications over 6G networks.
Impact of Scaling on Nanosheet FET and CMOS Circuit Applications
Authors: Kumari N. Aruna , Sreenivasulu V. Bharath , Prithvi P.
Published: February 2023

In this paper, the impact of scaling on the gate all around the nanosheet field effect transistor (GAA NSFET) is assessed in detail at sub-5-nm nodes for digital and analog/RF applications. The gate length (LG) is downscaled from 20 nm to 5 nm to analyse the various DC and analog/RF performance metrics by fixing the remaining device design parameters. When LG is downscaled from 20 nm to 5 nm, I
ON is improved by 2.1×, I
OFF increases by three orders in magnitude, SS increases by 27%, DIBL is increased by 4×, and a Vth roll off of 41 mV is noticed. Further, an enhancement of 3.65× was noticed in cut-off frequency (f
T) with downscaling of LG from 20 nm to 5 nm. On top of that, the circuit level performance is analysed with LG scaling. The lookup table based Verilog-A model is used in the Cadence Virtuoso tool to demonstrate the circuit performance. The CMOS inverter and ring oscillator’s performance was studied in detail with LG scaling. With LG scaling from 20 nm to 5 nm, the inverter performance metrics like switching current (I
SC) is increased by 3.87×, propagation delay (τP), energy delay product (EDP) and power delay product (PDP) are reduced by 65%, 5.5× and 1.95× respectively. Moreover, the ring oscillator offers superior performance with an oscillation frequency (f
OSC) of 98.05 GHz when LG is scaled to 5 nm, which is 157% more than f
OSC at LG of 20 nm. Thus, with downscaling DC performance degraded due to the SCEs. However, the RF performance of the device improved with downscaling of LG towards lower nodes. Thus, the analyses reveal the scaling capability of NSFET at both device and circuit levels for sub-5-nm nodes.
Multiparadigm Modeling Framework to Evaluate the Impacts of Travel Patterns on Electric Vehicle Battery Lifespan
Authors: Agrawal Shubham , Peeta Srinivas , Miralinaghi Mohammad
Published: February 2023

The widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) can help attain economic and environmental sustainability by reducing oil dependency and greenhouse gas emissions. However, several issues need to be addressed before EVs can become a popular vehicle choice among the general public. A key issue is the perpetual reduction in EV battery capacity caused by battery degradation over time with usage. This can lead to a reduced driving range and cause “range anxiety” for EV drivers. This becomes even more critical in developing countries where consumers are highly sensitive to battery replacement costs. Thus, to promote EVs in developing economies, policymakers and vehicle manufacturers need to develop attractive incentive schemes and warranty strategies preceded by a thorough assessment of the useable EV battery lifespan for a wide range of users. This paper develops a multiparadigm modeling framework to compute battery degradation for a large population of EVs by capturing the effects of travel patterns, traffic conditions, and ambient temperature. The proposed framework consists of four different building blocks: (i) a microscopic traffic simulation model to generate speed profiles, (ii) an EV power consumption model, (iii) a battery equivalent circuit model, and (iv) a semiempirical battery degradation model. The proposed framework can also be used to assess the battery life-cycle of electric-powered automated vehicles by adjusting their travel patterns accordingly. A case study is presented using travel diary data of around 700 households from the U.S. National Household Travel Survey of 2009 to simulate household travel patterns and corresponding battery lifespan distribution.
Femoral Cartilage Thickness in Knee Osteoarthritis Patients and Healthy Adults: An Ultrasound Measurement Comparison
Authors: Pane Rita Vivera , Setiyaningsih Rahayu , Widodo Gunawan , Al Hajiri Aufar Zimamuz Zaman , Salsabil Juwita Raudlatul
Published: February 2023

Background. Currently, conventional radiography is still widely used to diagnose knee osteoarthritis and assess the grade according to Kallgren and Lawrence’s criteria. Ultrasound is a simple, inexpensive, noninvasive, and dynamic modality for evaluating femoral cartilage (FC) thickness. This study aims to measure the FC thickness in knee osteoarthritis (OA) patients and compare it to healthy adults using ultrasound assessment. Methods. An observational study with a cross-sectional design was conducted at the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation of Hajj General Hospital, Surabaya, Indonesia, from May to July 2022. Participants radiologically diagnosed with OA were included in the study and assigned to the OA group. Meanwhile, healthy adults without knee symptoms were included in the control group. FC thickness was measured using ultrasound scans at three sites: medial condyle (MC), intercondylar (IC), and lateral condyle (LC) on both sides of the knee. Results. The mean age in the OA and control groups was 61.03 ± 8.6 and 33.93 ± 14.7 years, respectively. Most participants in both groups were female. The OA group exhibited a thinner FC (1.49–1.63 mm) than the control group (1.68–1.87 mm). There was a significant difference in the mean of the right and left MC in both groups (

p
<
0.05

) but no significant difference in the IC and LC. Conclusion. OA patients exhibited a thinner FC than healthy adults in the control group. There was a significant difference in the mean thickness of the MC between groups.
Segmentation of Brain Tissues from MRI Images Using Multitask Fuzzy Clustering Algorithm
Authors: Zhao Yunlan , Huang Zhiyong , Che Hangjun , Xie Fang , Liu Man , Wang Mengyao , Sun Daming
Published: February 2023

In recent years, brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) image segmentation has drawn considerable attention. MRI image segmentation result provides a basis for medical diagnosis. The segmentation result influences the clinical treatment directly. Nevertheless, MRI images have shortcomings such as noise and the inhomogeneity of grayscale. The performance of traditional segmentation algorithms still needs further improvement. In this paper, we propose a novel brain MRI image segmentation algorithm based on fuzzy C-means (FCM) clustering algorithm to improve the segmentation accuracy. First, we introduce multitask learning strategy into FCM to extract public information among different segmentation tasks. It combines the advantages of the two algorithms. The algorithm enables to utilize both public information among different tasks and individual information within tasks. Then, we design an adaptive task weight learning mechanism, and a weighted multitask fuzzy C-means (WMT-FCM) clustering algorithm is proposed. Under the adaptive task weight learning mechanism, each task obtains the optimal weight and achieves better clustering performance. Simulated MRI images from McConnell BrainWeb have been used to evaluate the proposed algorithm. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method provides more accurate and stable segmentation results than its competitors on the MRI images with various noise and intensity inhomogeneity.
Ultrasound Imaging of the Periodontium Complex: A Reliability Study
Authors: Figueredo Carlos Alberto , Le Lawrence H. , Nguyen Kim Cuong , La Thanh-Giang , Lou Edmond H. M. , Kaipatur Neelambar R. , Lai Hollis , Gibson Monica P. , Flores-Mir Carlos , Major Paul W. , Almeida Fabiana T.
Published: February 2023

Background. Ultrasonography is a noninvasive, low-cost diagnostic tool widely used in medicine. Recent studies have demonstrated that ultrasound imaging might have the potential to be used intraorally to assess periodontal biomarkers. Objectives. To evaluate the reliability of interlandmark distance measurements on intraoral ultrasound images of the periodontal tissues. Materials and Methods.Sixty-four patients from the graduate periodontics (n = 33) and orthodontics (n = 31) clinics were recruited. A 20 MHz handheld intraoral ultrasound transducer was used to scan maxillary and mandibular incisors, canines, and premolars. Distances between the alveolar bone crest and cementoenamel junction (ABC-CEJ), gingival thickness (GT), and alveolar bone thickness (ABT) were measured by 3 raters. The intercorrelation coefficient (ICC) and mean absolute deviation (MAD) were calculated among and between the raters. Raters also scored images according to quality. Results. The ICC scores for intrarater reliability were 0.940 (0.932–0.947), 0.953 (0.945–0.961), and 0.859 (0.841–0.876) for ABC-CEJ, GT, and ABT, respectively. The intrarater MAD values were 0.023 (±0.019) mm, 0.014 (±0.005) mm, and 0.005 (±0.003) mm, respectively. The ICC scores for interrater reliability were 0.872 (95% CI: 0.836–0.901), 0.958 (95% CI: 0.946–0.968), and 0.836 (95% CI: 0.789–0.873) for ABC-CEJ, GT, and ABT, respectively. The interrater MAD values were 0.063 (±0.029) mm, 0.023 (±0.018) mm, and 0.027 (±0.012) mm, respectively. Conclusions. The present study showed the high reliability of ultrasound in both intrarater and interrater assessments. Results suggest there might be a potential use of intraoral ultrasound to assess periodontium.
APPL1 Is a Prognostic Biomarker and Correlated with Treg Cell Infiltration via Oxygen-Consuming Metabolism in Renal Clear Cell Carcinoma
Authors: Yang Ming , Gong Chuhui , Song Kangping , Huang Ning , Chen Honghan , Gong Hui , Yang Yu , Guo Shujing , Xiao Hengyi
Published: February 2023

Kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC) is one of the most hazardous tumors in the urinary system. The regulation of oxygen consumption in renal clear cell carcinoma is a consequence of adaptive reprogramming of oxidative metabolism in tumor cells. APPL1 is a signaling adaptor involved in cell survival, oxidative stress, inflammation, and energy metabolism. However, the correlation of APPL1 with regulatory T cell (Treg) infiltration and prognostic value in KIRC remain unclear. In this study, we comprehensively predicted the potential function and prognostic value of APPL1 in KIRC. For KIRC patients, relatively low expression of APPL1 was associated with high degree of metastasis, pathological stage, and shorter overall time or poor prognosis. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses suggested that low expression of APPL1 may be adapted to the malignant progression of tumors via affecting oxygen-consuming metabolism. In addition, the expression level of APPL1 was negatively correlated with Treg cell infiltration and chemotherapy sensitivity, which indicated that APPL1 may regulate the tumor immune infiltration and chemotherapy resistance by decrease oxygen-consuming metabolic process in KIRC. Therefore, APPL1 may become one of the important prognostic factors, and it may serve as a candidate prognostic biomarker in KIRC.
Efficacy of Calcium Hydroxide/Saline versus Calcium Hydroxide/Artemisia persica Essential Oil as Intracanal Medicament to Improve Radiographic Visualization of Periapical Lesions in Necrotic Teeth: A Randomized Clinical Trial
Authors: Shareghi Ameneh , Ahmadpoor Elmira , Lorigooini Zahra , Ahmadi Farnoosh , Tohidkhah Saba
Published: February 2023

Objectives. This study aimed to compare the efficacy of calcium hydroxide (CH)/saline and CH/Artemisia persica (A. persica) essential oil as an intracanal medicament for radiographic resolution of periapical (PA) lesions in necrotic teeth. Materials and Methods. This randomized clinical trial was conducted on 22 patients with necrotic teeth and PA lesions presenting to two private endodontic offices. The patients were randomly divided into two groups (n = 11) to receive CH/saline (control group) and CH/A. persica essential oil (10%) (intervention group) as intracanal medicaments between treatment sessions. The size of PA radiolucency was measured on parallel PA radiographs taken before treatment and also at 1 and 3 months after completion of treatment. The mean time of healing of PA lesions was also compared between the two groups. Data were analyzed by the independent t-test, chi-square test, and Fisher’s exact test (alpha = 0.05). Results. No significant difference was found between the two groups regarding the changes in the size of PA lesions, relative healing percentage, and speed of healing, neither at 1 nor at 3 months postoperatively

P
>
0.05

. Regarding the presence/absence of clinical symptoms in the second treatment session, the intervention group showed greater resolution of symptoms, although the difference did not reach statistical significance

P
>
0.05

. Conclusion. According to the present results, it appears that the addition of A. persica essential oil to CH for application as intracanal medicament does not add any particular advantage.
An Investigation on Soil Amplification through Site Factors Used in Seismic Design Codes
Authors: Ozmen Hayri Baytan
Published: February 2023

This article aims to investigate the site amplification through site coefficients given in the seismic codes. A set of 84 ground motion records in a base rock form and targeted to have different frequency contents was formed. The surface forms of these records altered by 100 different soil conditions were determined. Using this set of 8400 ground motion records, site amplification phenomenon is examined. After a PGA of 0.3 g, ground motions have similar behaviour in terms of short period amplification. Numerical figures as average and with a safety level of 84% for the SS and S1 site coefficients were given and compared with the code which are observed to be unconservative for stiff soils and too conservative for soft soils. Linking SS with a

V

S

value of 600 m/s and S1 with a

V

S

value of 120 m/s seems to be useful to understand some amplification behaviours. The variability of ZB and ZC site classes for short period site coefficient and ZE and ZD site classes for midperiod site coefficient seems to be greater when compared to others.
An In-depth Benchmarking of Evolutionary and Swarm Intelligence Algorithms for Autoscaling Parameter Sweep Applications on Public Clouds
Authors: Yannibelli Virginia , Pacini Elina , Monge David A. , Mateos Cristian , Rodriguez Guillermo , Millán Emmanuel , Santos Jorge R.
Published: February 2023

Many important computational applications in science, engineering, industry, and technology are represented by PSE (parameter sweep experiment) applications. These applications involve a large number of resource-intensive and independent computational tasks. Because of this, cloud autoscaling approaches have been proposed to execute PSE applications on public cloud environments that offer instances of different VM (virtual machine) types, under a pay-per-use scheme, to execute diverse applications. One of the most recent approaches is the autoscaler MOEA (multiobjective evolutive algorithm), which is based on the multiobjective evolutionary algorithm NSGA-II (nondominated sorting genetic algorithm II). MOEA considers on-demand and spot VM instances and three optimization objectives relevant for users: minimizing the computing time, monetary cost, and spot instance interruptions of the application’s execution. However, MOEA’s performance regarding these optimization objectives depends significantly on the optimization algorithm used. It has been shown recently that MOEA’s performance improves considerably when NSGA-II is replaced by a more recent algorithm named NSGA-III. In this paper, we analyze the incorporation of other multiobjective optimization algorithms into MOEA to enhance the performance of this autoscaler. First, we consider three multiobjective optimization algorithms named E-NSGA-III (extreme NSGA-III), SMS-EMOA (S-metric selection evolutionary multiobjective optimization algorithm), and SMPSO (speed-constrained multiobjective particle swarm optimization), which have behavioral differences with NSGA-III. Then, we evaluate the performance of MOEA with each of these algorithms, considering the three optimization objectives, on four real-world PSE applications from the meteorology and molecular dynamics areas, considering different application sizes. To do that, we use the well-known CloudSim simulator and consider different VM types available in Amazon EC2. Finally, we analyze the obtained performance results, which show that MOEA with E-NSGA-III arises as the best alternative, reaching better and significant savings in terms of computing time (10%–17%), monetary cost (10%–40%), and spot instance interruptions (33%–100%).
Translating the Lampung Oral Literature into Music for Educational Purpose: A Case Study of Pisaan on the Indonesian Island of Sumatra
Authors: Ariyani Farida , Hidayatullah Riyan , Putrawan Gede Eka , Perdana Ryzal , Sulaeman Dedi , Dzakiria Hisham
Published: February 2023

A large body of data concerning oral literature around the globe have been reported. Moreover, in Indonesia, a country with multilingual and multicultural contexts, the study of oral literature has become an important aspect of investigation. One of the oral pieces of literature that exists in Indonesia is Pisaan, an oral tradition that can be found in Lampung, a province located on the southern tip of the island of Sumatra. Although a considerable amount of oral literature research has been conducted in the Indonesian context; however, to our best knowledge, little research has been paid to Pisaan oral literature, which plays an essential role in the Lampung community. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the oral literature by translating and transforming the Pisaan oral literature into lyrics and musical elements to educate future generations. This study adopted a qualitative approach using several instruments, i.e., semistructured interviews and recording tools, for data collection. A total of four women who were cultural activists in the age range of 37–76 years of age took part in the current study. The collected data were analyzed using a content analysis and a melody structure analysis. The results show that Pisaan has simple syllabification, which dominantly consists of consonant–vowel (CV) and consonant–vowel–consonant (CVC). The rhythm of Pisaan is categorized into syllabic time syllables, emphasizing the stress word based on its syllables. From a musical perspective, the Pisaan oral literature has been successfully translated and written into musical notation with the aim of preservation, which, as far as we are aware, has never before been done. However, we realize that the Western music notation in this study only serves as the initial stage of analysis and does not aim to replace the distinctive native-cultural values of Pisaan, offering an alternative instructional path for improving Lampung oral literature teaching methods and a valuable strategy to diversify undergraduate courses through comparable interdisciplinary inquiries. Therefore, limitations and suggestions for future research are also discussed.
MYL5 as a Novel Prognostic Marker is Associated with Immune Infiltrating in Breast Cancer: A Preliminary Study
Authors: Lv Minghe
Published: February 2023

Background. Myosin light chain plays a vital regulatory function in a large-scale cellular physiological procedure, however, the role of myosin light chain 5 (MYL5) in breast cancer has not been reported. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the effects of MYL5 on clinical prognosis and immune cell infiltration, and further explore the potential mechanism in breast cancer patients. Methods. In this study, we first explored the expression pattern and prognostic value of MYL5 in breast cancer across multiple databases, including Oncomine, TCGA, GTEx, GEPIA2, PrognoScan, and Kaplan–Meier Plotter. The correlations of MYL5 expression with immune cell infiltration and associational gene markers in breast cancer were analyzed by using the TIMER, TIMER2.0, and TISIDB databases. The enrichment and prognosis analysis of MYL5-related genes were implemented by using LinkOmics datasets. Results. We found that there was a low expression of MYL5 in breast cancer than in corresponding normal tissue by analyzing the data from Oncomine and TCGA datasets. Furthermore, research showed the prognosis of the MYL5 high-expression group was better than the low-expression group in breast cancer patients. Furthermore, MYL5 expression is markedly related to the tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TIICs), including cancer-associated fibroblast, B cell, CD8+ T cell, CD4+ T cell, macrophage, neutrophil, and dendritic cell, and related to immune molecules as well as the associated gene markers of TIICs. Conclusion. MYL5 can serve as a prognostic signature in breast cancer and is associated with immune infiltration. This study first offers a relatively comprehensive understanding of the oncogenic roles of MYL5 for breast cancer.
Pericardial Extramedullary Hematopoiesis Associated with Metastatic Adenocarcinoma of Gastrointestinal or Pancreaticobiliary Origin: A Case Report
Authors: Ahmad Maud , Chin-Yee Benjamin , Sangle Nikhil , Rizkalla Kamilia , Chin-Yee Ian , Hsia Cyrus C.
Published: February 2023

Extramedullary hematopoiesis (EMH) is a rare complication of solid tumor malignancies. We describe the first case of a patient who developed EMH in the pericardium secondary to metastatic gastrointestinal or pancreaticobiliary cancer. A 58-year-old man presented with recurrent episodes of fatigue and shortness of breath and was treated with thoracocentesis and pericardiocentesis for pleural and pericardial effusions, respectively. Owing to a markedly elevated alkaline phosphatase, a bone scan was performed and demonstrated diffuse sclerotic lesions. Evaluation of pleural effusion diagnosed metastatic adenocarcinoma, and cytospin morphology of the pericardial fluid demonstrated EMH. While EMH secondary to solid tumors is commonly suggested to be due to cytokine signaling, we propose the mechanism of EMH in this patient was due to extensive disruption of bone marrow hematopoiesis, similar to what is seen in myeloproliferative neoplasms.
Granular Cell Tumor of the Ascending Colon
Authors: Dhruv Samyak , Atodaria Kuldeepsinh P. , Gurala Dhineshreddy , El Imad Talal , Abergel Jeffrey
Published: February 2023

Granular cell tumor (GCT) was first described by Abrikossoff in 1926. It is a mostly benign tumor with rare malignant transformation. It is defined as a soft tissue neoplasm with abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm. The mean age of diagnosis for GCT is around 45 years. It is rare for GCT to be found in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Within the subset of GI tract, the colon is an extremely rare site for it to be found. Franburg-Smith histopathology criteria are used to differentiate a benign from a malignant GCT. The malignant form is aggressive with high recurrence rates after resection. Histopathology and immunohistochemical stains are used to make a definitive diagnosis. Herein, we present a rare case of an ascending colon polyp that was resected and found to be a benign GCT.
Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement-Associated Acute Kidney Injury: An Update
Authors: Rivera Frederick Berro , Al-Abcha Abdullah , Ansay Marie Francesca Mapua , Magalong John Vincent Usita , Tang Vincent Anthony Songheng , Ona Hannah May , Miralles Karissa Alyanna , Sausa Rausche , Uy Rodie Abram Florendo , Lerma Edgar V. , Collado Fareed Moses S. , McCullough Peter A. , Volgman Annabelle Santos
Published: February 2023

Background: Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is a relatively novel minimally invasive procedure for the treatment of symptomatic patients with severe aortic stenosis. Although it has been proven effective in improving mortality and quality of life, TAVR is associated with serious complications, such as acute kidney injury (AKI). Summary: TAVR-associated AKI is likely due to several factors such as sustained hypotension, transapical approach, volume of contrast use, and baseline low GFR. This narrative review aims to present an overview of the latest literature and evidence regarding the definition of TAVR-associated AKI, its risk factors, and its impact on morbidity and mortality. The review used a systematic search strategy with multiple health-focused databases (Medline, EMBASE) and identified 8 clinical trials and 27 observational studies concerning TAVR-associated AKI. Results showed that TAVR-associated AKI is linked to several modifiable and nonmodifiable risk factors and is associated with higher mortality. A variety of diagnostic imaging modalities have the potential to identify patients at high risk for development of TAVR-AKI; however, there are no existing consensus recommendations regarding their use as of this time. The implications of these findings highlight the importance of identifying high-risk patients for which preventive measures may play a crucial role, and should be maximized. Key Message: This study reviews the current understanding of TAVR-associated AKI including its pathophysiology, risk factors, diagnostic modalities, and preventative management for patients.
Etnocenologia: as encarnações do imaginário. Unidade da espécie. Diversidade dos olhares
Authors: Pradier Jean-Marie
Published: February 2023

O surgimento tardio da etnocenologia no campo da antropologia da estética é significativo. Os obstáculos superados para fazer com que se aceite a ideia do caráter étnico – no sentido de relativo – das teorias ocidentais das artes do espetáculo foram numerosos. Eles continuam a ser, com diferenças, contudo, segundo as tradições acadêmicas, filosóficas e artísticas nacionais e a história das relações políticas (colonização). As dificuldades a serem vencidas são do âmbito da percepção dos corpos vivos, que abre espaço a fenômenos de projeção, de interpretação e a discursos normativos mais do que descritivos. O caso de duas mulheres que foram objetos de exibição pública – Magdeleine G. e Saartije Baartman – ilustra a importância do a priori teórico e da experiência pessoal do observador na orientação do olhar, na descrição e no comentário. Esses exemplos levam a que se considere de maneira crítica a perspectiva científica e o conhecimento tácito do praticante, de acordo com a lição aprendida das etnociências.
Arqueologia dos gestos na indústria lítica do sítio Colônia Miranda - SE
Authors: Coutinho Janaína Patrícia , Mello Paulo Jobim de Campos
Published: February 2023

O presente artigo expõe uma análise da coleção lítica do sítio Colônia Miranda (localizado no município de São Cristóvão, estado de Sergipe) baseando-se principalmente na arqueologia dos gestos. O bem acautelado foi identificado durante as atividades produzidas no projeto de levantamento arqueológico da Bacia do Rio Vaza Barris. Para essa análise foi utilizado uma perspectiva de cunho estrutural, fundamentada na antropologia das técnicas. Dessa maneira o objetivo é averiguar os aspectos tecnológicos dos grupos pretéritos que produziram tais ferramentas na região, aliado aos possíveis gestos utilizados. Tendo assente conceitos como cadeia operatória, homem total e condutas motoras, este trabalho empenhou-se em inferir sobre a relação do gesto e a influência da tradição cultural para a incorporação das técnicas na etapa de produção e funcionamento dos instrumentos
Türkiye’de Lâdinî (nonreligious) Arayışları Çalışmak: Dinden Uzaklaşma ve Ayrılma Eğilimlerine Dair Kavramsal Bir Çerçeve Önerisi
Authors: KÜÇÜKURAL Önder , CENGİZ Kurtuluş , BAŞAK Mehmet Ali
Published: February 2023

Dinden uzaklaşma meselesine odaklanan bazı yeni din sosyolojisi çalışmaları, İngiltere, Almanya, Kanada gibi Batı toplumlarında sekülerizmin nüfusun çoğunluğunun içine doğduğu, düşünmeden kabul ettiği, sıradan bir olgu haline geldiğini; hatta bu durumun kendine has bir alt kültür yarattığını; dinden uzaklaşmanın özgül beğeni ve davranış kalıplarının ve dine benzer ritüellerinin ortaya çıktığını iddia ediyorlar (Alexander, 2021; Cotter ve diğerleri., 2012; Quack, 2014). Bu makalede önce Batı literatüründe nonreligion kavramı altında çalışılan ve bizim lâdînîlik olarak adlandırmayı önerdiğimiz din dışı arayışlar olgusunun kavramsal içeriğini, sonrasında ise Türkiye’deki gelişmeleri anlamak için bu kavrama ilişkin nasıl bir yaklaşım benimsenebileceğini tartışacağız. İşe neden lâdinî kavramını seçtiğimizi ve bu kavramı ne anlamda kullandığımızı söyleyerek başlayacak; literatürdeki lâdinîlik tartışmasını “negatif” ve “pozitif” olarak iki başlık altında ele aldıktan sonra meseleye “ilişkisel” açıdan yaklaşmanın en uygun yol olduğunu iddia edeceğiz.
What Are the Priorities in Surgical Palliative Care Research?
Authors: Strong Erin A. , Lilley Elizabeth J.
Published: February 2023

In the 20 years since the American College of Surgeons outlined the first research agenda for surgical palliative care, there has been immense growth in the evidence. In this article, we briefly review the state of the science and priority research areas in surgical palliative care.
Through Hope and Struggle: The Impact of “Gaisce – The President's Award” on Young Adults in Irish Prisons
Authors: Gagliardi Silvia , Rice Orlaith
Published: February 2023

This article is an exploratory study of young adult incarcerees’ perspectives on the impact of “Gaisce,” a self-development program for youth in Irish custody. Drawing on 10 semistructured interviews with male participants and a review of previous studies of this cohort, the article highlights their perceptions of Gaisce's strengths and weaknesses, paving the way for further reflection on self-development programs in custodial settings. Taking place during COVID-19, the investigation provides unique insight into the experiences of young adults participating in such a program during a pandemic.