bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Analysis on the intention and influencing factors of free influenza vaccination among the elderly people aged 70 and above in Hangzhou in 2022
Authors: Che Xinren , Liu Yan , Gu Wenwen , Wang Fangying , Wang Jun , Jiang Wei , Du Jian , Zhang Xiaoping , Xu Yuyang , Zhang Xuechao , Wang Jing
Published: January 2023

Background

Although influenza vaccination is recommended for people aged 70 and above in Hangzhou, and the vaccine is provided free of charge, the elderly influenza vaccination rate is still low. The purpose of this study was to understand the barriers and motivations of older people in deciding to receive free influenza vaccine through questionnaires.

Methods

The method of stratified random sampling was adopted to take samples. A questionnaire survey was conducted among the elderly aged 70 years and above by face-to-face interview or telephone interview.

Results

A total of 11,663 elderly people aged 70–100 years were successfully and effectively interviewed. 85.98% of the respondent were willing to get the influenza shot, 8.91% were unwilling to get the influenza shot, and 5.11% were on vaccine hesitancy. The people of age of 70–79 years old (hesitancy: OR70~79 = 0.668, 95%CI: 0.571 0.782, Unwilling: OR70 − 79 = 0.755, 95%CI: 0.622 0.916), primary school degree or below (hesitancy: ORSecondary school degree or above = 1.467, 95%CI: 1.249 1.724, Unwilling: ORSecondary school degree or above = 1.255, 95%CI: 1.028 1.535), remote areas (hesitancy: ORnear central urban area = 2.111, 95%CI: 1.604 2.778, ORcentral urban area = 2.957, 95%CI: 2.255 3.877, Unwilling: ORnear central urban area = 1.687, 95%CI: 1.230 2.313. ORcentralurbanarea = 2.218, 95%CI: 1.626 3.027), and convenient for movement (hesitancy: ORyes = 0.494, 95%CI: 0.420 0.580, Unwilling: ORyes = 0.585, 95%CI: 0.480 0.713), understanding of the free vaccine policy (hesitancy: ORunderstand = 0.204, 95%CI: 0.171 0.245, Unwilling: ORunderstand = 0.164, 95%CI: 0.128 0.210), influenza knowledge level≥ 13 points (hesitancy: OR≥13points = 0.628, 95%CI: 0.533 0.739, Unwilling: OR≥13points = 0.538, 95%CI: 0.437 0.662), influenza vaccine knowledge level≥ 12 points (hesitancy: OR≥12points = 0.422, 95%CI: 0.350 0.508, Unwilling: OR≥12points = 0.370, 95%CI: 0.290 0.472), and social trust level ≥ 12 points (hesitancy: OR≥12points = 0.134, 95%CI: 0.112 0.160, Unwilling: OR≥12points = 0.220, 95%CI: 0.180 0.269) are more willing to receive free influenza vaccine.

Conclusion

The proportion of elderly people aged 70 and above who are willing to receive free influenza vaccine is high in Hangzhou. But the level of knowledge about influenza, vaccine and trust in society is low. The government should continue to improve the elderly's awareness and trust in society through medical staff, family members, television and radio media, and guide the elderly to actively vaccinate against influenza. Effective publicity should be carried out through the above channels to guide the elderly to actively vaccinate against influenza.
Mobile healthcare platforms' sustainability: The perspective of health information quality
Authors: Sun Xiaoyang , Zhou Wenjing , Feng Ying
Published: January 2023

As an emerging form of medical organization, Chinese mobile healthcare (mHealth) platforms are inherently linked to the continuous use of users, which depends on the quality of the health information provided. However, improving the health information quality of mHealth platforms is still a problem that needs to be studied and solved in order to make the platforms sustainable. Based on the reputation mechanism, this study creates a behavioral evolutionary game model for health information providers (physicians) and managers (mHealth platforms), explores the evolution process and evolutionarily stable strategy of the behaviors in various situations, and uses numerical simulation technology to analyze mHealth platforms' constraints and the influencing factors of health information quality. This study presents three key findings. First, considering reputation, health information managers and mHealth platform providers should not unilaterally optimize health information. Instead, mHealth platforms should have active quality control, and physician groups should provide high-quality health information, which is the ideal evolution of the model. Second, the rewards that physicians receive from patients and mHealth platforms for providing quality health information, the reputation benefits, the penalties that physicians suffer for providing low-quality health information, and the increased probability and cost of rent-seeking behavior that physicians may choose can effectively promote the choice of physicians to provide high-quality health information. Third, the reputation gain of mHealth platforms, the probability of mHealth platforms being exposed, and increased losses suffered from exposure can effectively promote the choice of mHealth platforms to control the quality of health information. This study can provide a theoretical basis for mHealth platforms' health information quality control, which is conducive to the healthy and sustainable development of mHealth platforms and the improvement of user satisfaction.
Understanding the role of peer pressure on engineering students' learning behavior: A TPB perspective
Authors: Xu Lin , Zhang Jingxiao , Ding Yiying , Zheng Junwei , Sun Gangzhu , Zhang Wei , Philbin Simon P.
Published: January 2023

Introduction

With the advent of the digital age, the gradually increasing demands of the engineering job market make it inevitable that engineering students face the pressures that arise from academic life with their peers. To address this issue, this study aims to explore the influence of engineering students' peer pressure on learning behavior based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB).

Methods

In addition to attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral controls inherent in TPB, two new dimensions—gender difference and peer academic ability—were incorporated to construct a framework of the dimensions of peer pressure as affecting engineering students as well as an expanded model of TPB. A questionnaire survey was conducted with 160 college engineering students and a structural equation model (SEM) was used to test the hypotheses.

Results

The result showed that positive peer pressure can increase engineering students' learning intention and thus promote learning behavior. It was also determined that the TPB model can effectively explain the effect of peer pressure on learning behavior, in addition to expanding and reshaping the relationship between the attitudinal dimension in the TPB model.

Discussion

From the results, it is clear that positive attitudes toward learning can trigger positive peer pressure. Good group norms can induce peer pressure through rewards and punishments as a way to motivate students' learning intention and learning behaviors. When peer pressure is perceived, students mobilize positive emotions toward learning. Meanwhile, both male and female engineering students are also significantly motivated by high peer achievement, and high-performing female students motivate their male peers, which leads to higher graduation rates.
Short-term exposure to ozone and asthma exacerbation in adults: A longitudinal study in China
Authors: Fang Xinyi , Huang Suijie , Zhu Yixiang , Lei Jian , Xu Yanyi , Niu Yue , Chen Renjie
Published: January 2023

Background

The relationships between short-term ozone exposure and the acute exacerbations of asthma in adults have not been fully studied. Existing studies commonly ignored the effects of ozone on mild or early asthma exacerbations.

Objective

To investigate the associations between short-term ozone exposure and asthma exacerbations in Chinese adults.

Methods

We administered health management for adult asthma patients through the Respiratory Home Platform and required them to monitor their lung function every morning and evening by themselves. Finally, a total of 4,467 patients in 18 Chinese cities were included in the current analyses, with 79,217 pairs of lung function records. The maximum daily 8-h average ozone concentrations were collected from fixed-site air quality monitoring stations. We calculated diurnal peak expiratory flow (PEF) variation using morning and evening measurements of PEF and then defined different severity of asthma exacerbations with diurnal PEF variations >10, 15, and 20%, respectively. A binomial distributed generalized additive mixture model combined with distribution non-linear models was applied to examine the association of ozone with asthma exacerbations. We further conducted stratified analyses by sex, age, season of lung function tests, and region.

Measurements and results

We found that short-term ozone exposure was independently associated with an elevated risk of asthma exacerbations defined by lung function and the effects could last for about 2 days. At lag 0–2 days, each 10 μg/m3 increment in ozone concentration was associated with odds ratios of 1.010 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.003, 1.017], 1.014 (95% CI: 1.005, 1.023), and 1.017 (95% CI: 1.006, 1.028) for asthma exacerbations that were defined by diurnal PEF variation over 10, 15, and 20%, respectively. The associations remained significant after adjusting for other pollutants, and became unstable when using 24-h average ozone concentration. We also found that the associations were relatively stronger in males, those aged 45 years and older, and in the warm season.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that short-term ozone exposure can increase the risk of asthma exacerbations, even in the early stage of exacerbation. Male and older asthma patients may be more vulnerable to ozone air pollution, especially in the warm season.
Does the built environment of settlements affect our sentiments? A multi-level and non-linear analysis of Xiamen, China, using social media data
Authors: Fan Chenjing , Gai Zhenyu , Li Shiqi , Cao Yirui , Gu Yueying , Jin Chenxi , Zhang Yiyang , Ge Yanling , Zhou Lin
Published: January 2023

Introduction

Humans spend most of their time in settlements, and the built environment of settlements may affect the residents' sentiments. Research in this field is interdisciplinary, integrating urban planning and public health. However, it has been limited by the difficulty of quantifying subjective sentiments and the small sample size.

Methods

This study uses 147,613 Weibo text check-ins in Xiamen from 2017 to quantify residents' sentiments in 1,096 neighborhoods in the city. A multilevel regression model and gradient boosting decision tree (GBDT) model are used to investigate the multilevel and nonlinear effects of the built environment of neighborhoods and subdistricts on residents' sentiments.

Results

The results show the following: (1) The multilevel regression model indicates that at the neighborhood level, a high land value, low plot ratio, low population density, and neighborhoods close to water are more likely to improve the residents' sentiments. At the subdistrict level, more green space and commercial land, less industry, higher building density and road density, and a smaller migrant population are more likely to promote positive sentiments. Approximately 19% of the total variance in the sentiments occurred among subdistricts. (2) The proportion of green space and commercial land, and the density of buildings and roads are linearly correlated with residents' sentiments. The land value is a basic need and exhibits a nonlinear correlation with sentiments. The plot ratio, population density, and the proportions of industrial land and the migrant population are advanced needs and are nonlinearly correlated with sentiments.

Discussion

The quantitative analysis of sentiments enables setting a threshold of the influence of the built environment on residents' sentiments in neighborhoods and surrounding areas. Our results provide data support for urban planning and implementing targeted measures to improve the living environment of residents.
How does urbanization affect public health? New evidence from 175 countries worldwide
Authors: Zhang Zhenhua , Zhao Mingcheng , Zhang Yunpeng , Feng Yanchao
Published: January 2023

Urbanization is an essential indicator of contemporary society and a necessary historic stage in the industrialization of all countries. Thus, we explore the impact of urbanization on public health using the OLS estimation and a two-way fixed effect model based on annual panel data from 175 countries from 2000 to 2018. This paper also addresses potential endogeneity issues and identifies causal relationships using the coefficient stability tests, system GMM, and instrumental variable method. The results demonstrate that urbanization positively affects public health. Furthermore, we find that the impact of urbanization on public health can be mediated through living standards, and nations with higher living standards reduce the effect of urbanization on public health. An increase in the urbanization rate can promote public health by improving residents' living standards. Our results have significant real-world implications for the research of urbanization and the formulation of public health policy.
Emergency shelter allocation planning technology for large-scale evacuation based on quantum genetic algorithm
Authors: Yin Yang , Zhao Xiangcheng , Lv Wei
Published: January 2023

Introduction

Shelter allocation is one of the most important measures in urban disaster prevention and mitigation planning. Meanwhile, it is essentially a comprehensive planning problem combining resource allocation and traffic routing. A reasonable allocation scheme can avoid congestion, improve evacuation efficiency, and reduce the casualty rate. Owing to the large region and large evacuation population demand, quickly solving the complex allocation problem is somewhat challenging, and thus, the optimal results are difficult to obtain with the increase of evacuation scale by traditional allocation methods.

Methods

This article aims to establish a shelter allocation model for large-scale evacuation, which employs an improved quantum genetic algorithm (IQGA) based on spreading operation and considering the total evacuation distance, the capacity constraint of evacuation sites, and the dispersion of allocation results, and compare allocation schemes of the spreading model with those of models that consider different constraints.

Results and discussion

Results show that the allocation model with the spreading operation has better allocation results than that without the spreading operation. For the allocation model with spreading operation, the spreading model with different spreading speeds is more reasonable than that with the same spreading speed, and the allocation results are closer to the ideal results with the increase of constraints. In addition, according to the allocation results, the evacuation route map and the evacuation heat map are drawn to intuitively understand the distribution scheme of each shelter.
Spatial accessibility of emergency medical services in Chongqing, Southwest China
Authors: Zou Yang , Jia Ling , Chen Saijuan , Deng Xinyi , Chen Zhiyi , He Ying , Wang Qiuting , Xing Dianguo , Zhang Yan
Published: January 2023

Background

Timely access to emergency medical services (EMS) can significantly reduce mortality. In China, the evidence of the accessibility of complete EMS which considers two related trips and involves large rural areas is insufficient. This study aimed to explore the accessibility of ambulance services and complete EMS in Chongqing and its regional differences, and to provide a reference for improving spatial accessibility of EMS in Chongqing and optimizing allocation of EMS resources.

Methods

The nearest neighbor method was used to measure spatial accessibility of ambulance services and complete EMS. Spatial aggregation patterns and influencing factors of spatial accessibility of complete EMS were analyzed using Moran's I index, Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression.

Results

The medians of shortest travel time for ambulance, monitoring ambulance, primary EMS and advanced EMS in Chongqing were 7.0, 18.6, 36.2, and 47.8 min. The shortest travel time for complete EMS showed significant spatial aggregation characteristics. The Low-Low types that referred to cluster of short EMS travel time mainly distributed in city proper. The High-High types that referred to cluster of long EMS travel time mainly distributed in northeast and southeast of Chongqing. Urbanization rate was a negative influencing factor on shortest travel time for primary EMS, while average elevation and the number of settlements were positive influencing factors. GDP per capita and urbanization rate were negative influencing factors on shortest travel time for advanced EMS, while the number of settlements was a positive influencing factor.

Conclusion

This study evaluated the accessibility of EMS which considers two related trips in Chongqing. Although the accessibility of ambulances in Chongqing was relatively high, the accessibility of monitoring ambulance was relatively low. Regional and urban-rural differences in the accessibility of complete EMS integrating two related trips were obvious. It was recommended to increase financial investment in economic backward areas, increase high-quality EMS resources, enhance EMS capacity of central township health centers, strengthen road construction in mountainous areas, and provide reasonable planning of rural settlements for improving the spatial accessibility of EMS, narrowing the urban-rural gap and improving equity in getting EMS for all the people.
Data envelopment analysis for ambulance services of different service providers in urban and rural areas in Ministry of Health Malaysia
Authors: Mohd Hassan Nor Zam Azihan , Bahari Mohd Shahri , Aminuddin Farhana , Mohd Nor Sham Kunusagaran Mohd Shaiful Jefri , Zaimi Nur Amalina , Mohd Hanafiah Ainul Nadziha , Kamarudin Fakarudin
Published: January 2023

Introduction

Ambulance services are pivotal in any country's healthcare system. An efficient ambulance service not only decreases patient mortality rate but also allows resource prioritization for better outputs. This study aims to measure the efficiency of ambulance services provided by health facilities in the Ministry of Health (MOH), Malaysia.

Methods

This cross-sectional study analyzed the efficiency of 76 Decision-Making Units (DMUs) or health facilities, consisting of 62 health clinics and 14 hospitals. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was used for computing efficiency scores while adopting the Variable Return to Scale (VRS) approach. The analysis was based on input orientation. The input was the cost of ambulance services, while the output for this analysis was the distance coverage (in km), the number of patients transferred, and hours of usage (in hours). Subsequent analysis was conducted to test the Overall Technical Efficiency (OTE), the Pure Technical Efficiency (PTE), the Scale Efficiency (SE), and the Return to Scale with the type of health facilities and geographical areas using a Mann-Whitney U-test and a chi-square test.

Results

The mean scores of OTE, PTE, and SE were 0.508 (±0.207), 0.721 (±0.185), and 0.700 (±0.200), respectively. Approximately, 14.47% of the total health facilities were PTE. The results showed a significant difference in OTE and SE between ambulance services in hospitals and health clinics (p< 0.05), but no significant difference in PTE between hospitals and clinics (p>0.05). There was no significant difference in efficiency scores between urban and rural health facilities in terms of ambulance services except for OTE (p< 0.05).

Discussion

The ambulance services provided in healthcare facilities in the MOH Malaysia operate at 72.1% PTE. The difference in OTE between hospitals and health clinics' ambulance services was mainly due to the operating size rather than PTE. This study will be beneficial in providing a guide to the policymakers in improving ambulance services through the readjustment of health resources and improvement in the outputs.
Getting to implementation: Adaptation of an implementation playbook
Authors: Yakovchenko Vera , Rogal Shari S. , Goodrich David E. , Lamorte Carolyn , Neely Brittney , Merante Monica , Gibson Sandra , Scott Dawn , McCurdy Heather , Nobbe Anna , Morgan Timothy R. , Chinman Matthew J.
Published: January 2023

Introduction

Implementation strategies supporting the translation of evidence into practice need to be tailored and adapted for maximum effectiveness, yet the field of adapting implementation strategies remains nascent. We aimed to adapt “Getting To Outcomes”® (GTO), a 10-step implementation playbook designed to help community-based organizations plan and evaluate behavioral health programs, into “Getting To Implementation” (GTI) to support the selection, tailoring, and use of implementation strategies in health care settings.

Methods

Our embedded evaluation team partnered with operations, external facilitators, and site implementers to employ participatory methods to co-design and adapt GTO for Veterans Health Administration (VA) outpatient cirrhosis care improvement. The Framework for Reporting Adaptations and Modifications to Evidenced-based Implementation Strategies (FRAME-IS) guided documentation and analysis of changes made pre- and post-implementation of GTI at 12 VA medical centers. Data from multiple sources (interviews, observation, content analysis, and fidelity tracking) were triangulated and analyzed using rapid techniques over a 3-year period.

Results

Adaptations during pre-implementation were planned, proactive, and focused on context and content to improve acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility of the GTI playbook. Modifications during and after implementation were unplanned and reactive, concentrating on adoption, fidelity, and sustainability. All changes were collaboratively developed, fidelity consistent at the level of the facilitator and/or implementer.

Conclusion

GTO was initially adapted to GTI to support health care teams' selection and use of implementation strategies for improving guideline-concordant medical care. GTI required ongoing modification, particularly in steps regarding team building, context assessment, strategy selection, and sustainability due to difficulties with step clarity and progression. This work also highlights the challenges in pragmatic approaches to collecting and synthesizing implementation, fidelity, and adaptation data.

Trial registration

This study was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT04178096).
Sterilization of micronized indomethacin
Authors: Krupianskaya Karyna , Croonenborghs Bart , Gillet Annick , Appeltans Bernard , Meyers Anke , DeMent Aaron , Van den Mooter Guy , Van Schepdael Ann , Haghedooren Erik
Published: January 2023

Sterilization is a pivotal topic in the pharmaceutical industry, whereby the nomenclature of “sterile” refers to the absence of viable microorganisms. Since microorganisms can reproduce in the body and cause potentially fatal infections, it is critical to sterilize parenteral products to prevent this. In recent years, 70%–90% of potential drugs and 40% of marketed drugs have demonstrated a low solubility. Micronization is a widely spread approach to increase the dissolution rate. A subset of micronized products require sterilization, but published studies on the effects of sterilization on micronized products are currently lacking. The effect of sterilization on the micronized active pharmaceutical ingredient indomethacin was explored in this study. The sterilization methods in scope were one photon-based method using gamma irradiation and one gas-based method with nitrogen dioxide gas. Indomethacin was micronized using two micronization techniques, cryomilling and spray drying. Different conditions were used for cryomilling where the number of grinding balls in the ball mill and the degree of filling were varied. The solid state of all samples was evaluated after micronization, and only the effectively micronized samples were selected for sterilization with gamma rays and nitrogen dioxide. Gamma irradiation was performed with the active pharmaceutical ingredient stored at −80°C at a commonly used industry standard target dose of 25 kGy. Nitrogen dioxide sterilization took place at 21°C, a concentration of 10 mg/L, a relative humidity of 30% and using two NO2pulses. Before and after sterilization, all samples were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography with UV detection, whereby the assay of indomethacin was examined as well as the peak purity and the formation of impurities. In comparison to the non-micronized reference, both sterilization methods demonstrate a significant decrease of content of micronized samples and an increase of the impurity profile. The non-micronized sample showed no significant difference after sterilization. It could be observed that micronized indomethacin samples demonstrate more degradation and are subsequently more susceptible to degradation upon sterilization with gamma rays and nitrogen dioxide gas, driving towards the need for assessment of the micronization impact combined with sterilization approach.
Extraction of bioactives from brown seaweed using sub and supercritical fluids: Influence of the extract on the storage stability of fish oil enrich mayonnaise
Authors: Hermund Ditte B. , Liu Wei , Holdt Susan Løvstad , Jacobsen Charlotte , Getachew Adane Tilahun
Published: January 2023

This study aimed at extracting lipophilic and hydrophilic compounds from Nordic brown seaweed Fucus vesiculosus and to evaluate the extract’s ability to maintain the physical and oxidative stability of fish oil-enriched mayonnaise (80% fat, 1:4 fish oil: rapeseed oil) during storage (dark, up to 28 days). Three different types of extracts were obtained, one using supercritical carbon dioxide (lipophilic extract) and two using subcritical water extraction (hydrophilic extracts)—one on dry seaweed (Subcritical water extract (SCWE) and one on the residue from supercritical carbon dioxide extraction after extracting the lipophilic compounds (Subcritical water extract (SCWER). The extracts were characterized with respect to their antioxidant composition and in vitro antioxidant properties. Moreover, the extracts were added in concentrations of 2 g/kg mayonnaise, both individually or in combination to study synergistic effects between antioxidants with different polarity and locations in the mayonnaise system. Results showed that both types of extractsdelayed the oxidation of lipids; The hydrophilic extracts (SCWE and SCWER) were able toretard the formation of hydroperoxides, and subsequent formation of secondary oxidation products. However, no synergetic effect was found for the hydrophilic and hydrophobic extracts when they were applied in different phases of the mayonnaise. The metal chelating ability is suggested to be responsible for the observed better performance of the hydrophilic extracts. However, further studies are required to understand which specific components in the extract have contributed to metal chelating ability. In conclusion, the findings of the present study suggest hydrophilic and hydrophobic compounds from the Nordic seaweed F. vesiculosus can retard lipid oxidation in mayonnaise.
Evaluating the impact of a family violence transformational change project in a major trauma hospital: A three-year follow-up comparison study of knowledge, confidence, and family violence response skills in clinical staff
Authors: Fisher Caroline A. , Troy Kirsty , Rushan Catherine , Felmingham Kim , Withiel Toni D.
Published: January 2023

Family violence is a significant public health issue. Healthcare systems have an important role to play in recognising and responding to current family violence experiences in their patients. However, many healthcare workers and systems remain underprepared to fulfil this role. The current study evaluated the impact of a transformational change project in family violence clinical response at a major adult trauma hospital in Australia. Clinician self-rated knowledge, confidence, and family violence clinical skills were evaluated at three years post implementation of a family violence initiative at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne. The three years post survey results (N = 526) were compared to baseline (N = 534) using Mann Whitney U and χ2 analyses. Self-reported clinician family violence knowledge, confidence and patient screening were all significantly improved from baseline. Specific family violence skills, including knowledge of key indicators, enquiry with patients and disclosure response were also all significantly improved. The most common clinician identified barriers to working effectively in the area were similar to baseline and included the presence of a suspected perpetrator during the clinical interaction, clinicians perceiving patients would be reluctant to disclose, and time limitations. However, significantly fewer staff endorsed a lack of knowledge or supporting policies and procedures as a barrier. The findings indicate that investment in a transformational change project comprised of the establishment of response policies and clinical work-flow, broad-scale training, a clinical champions program, a secondary consultation service and links with partner organisations, was effective at improving clinician self-rated rated family violence skills, across the hospital. However, one quarter of clinicians still reported having not received any family violence training, and half endorsed having little or no confidence in their skills to identify and respond to patient family violence experiences. This indicates ongoing and sustained work is required to optimise clinician skills in responding to family violence.
A method to create real-like point clouds for 3D object classification
Authors: Syryamkin Vladimir Ivanovich , Msallam Majdi , Klestov Semen Aleksandrovich
Published: January 2023

There are a large number of publicly available datasets of 3D data, they generally suffer from some drawbacks, such as small number of data samples, and class imbalance. Data augmentation is a set of techniques that aim to increase the size of datasets and solve such defects, and hence to overcome the problem of overfitting when training a classifier. In this paper, we propose a method to create new synthesized data by converting complete meshes into occluded 3D point clouds similar to those in real-world datasets. The proposed method involves two main steps, the first one is hidden surface removal (HSR), where the occluded parts of objects surfaces from the viewpoint of a camera are deleted. A low-complexity method has been proposed to implement HSR based on occupancy grids. The second step is a random sampling of the detected visible surfaces. The proposed two-step method is applied to a subset of ModelNet40 dataset to create a new dataset, which is then used to train and test three different deep-learning classifiers (VoxNet, PointNet, and 3DmFV). We studied classifiers performance as a function of the camera elevation angle. We also conducted another experiment to show how the newly generated data samples can improve the classification performance when they are combined with the original data during training process. Simulation results show that the proposed method enables us to create a large number of new data samples with a small size needed for storage. Results also show that the performance of classifiers is highly dependent on the elevation angle of the camera. In addition, there may exist some angles where performance degrades significantly. Furthermore, data augmentation using our created data improves the performance of classifiers not only when they are tested on the original data, but also on real data.
Release experiments as an indicator of flying activities of stingless bees in urban areas
Authors: Arena Mariana V. N. , Toppa Rogério H. , Martines Marcos , Alves-dos-Santos Isabel
Published: January 2023

Contemporary urban ecology views cities as heterogeneous and dynamic ecosystems, composed of biotic, physical, social, and man-made systems. In this context, urban beekeeping stands out as a growing practice that demands further studies. Many species of stingless bees (tribe Meliponini) have adapted to urban areas, while others are more sensitive. The composition of the surroundings where the beehive is located is important for the health of the nests and quality of the bee products. This work used bee capture and release techniques to evaluate the use of this methodology for releasing and monitoring native bees in urban areas and to identify whether proportion of green and gray urban nature areas affect the flying activities of stingless bees in an urban landscape. We used nests of Melipona quadrifasciata (mandaçaia), a species of stingless bee native to the Atlantic Rainforest, from three meliponaries located in different parts of the city of São Paulo. The travel time of bees in the landscape were related to the green urban areas up to 900 m in diameter from the meliponaries. Although we did not find a relationship between green areas and bee return times and numbers, it was noticeable that there was variation between the study areas, indicating that the release and monitoring methodology can be used in urban areas following the recommended modifications.
Mangroves: “Superhero” Ecosystems
Authors: Cadena Santiago , Ochoa-Gómez Jonathan
Published: January 2023

Mangroves are woody trees that can live on the land or in the sea, and they are found in tropical and subtropical coastal regions. Because mangroves live along the land-ocean boundary, they are unique plants that provide several benefits to nature and humans. For example, mangroves provide refuge and food for organisms, hurricane protection, and water filtration; mangroves also promote the release of oxygen into the atmosphere and the uptake and trapping of carbon dioxide, which helps to fight against climate change. To understand mangrove ecosystems, it is important to consider the role of the microorganisms that live there. Although mangrove ecosystems are important, they face several threats, including deforestation and coastal development. Therefore, understanding and communicating about the benefits of mangrove ecosystems is essential to conserving the goods and services they provide.
COVID-19 policies and the arising of debate on twitter
Authors: Gozzo Simona , D'Agata Rosario
Published: January 2023

This study focuses on the analysis of contacts and communications on Twitter concerning pandemic policies. The goal is both show mobilization processes rising from the web and detect main actors, themes, and contents within the European context. Through a mixed method procedure, we tried to identify the main themes and most relevant communities, the main users, the most relevant topics and languages, and the underlined meanings and differences related to languages (as proxies of areas). Monitoring the communication on 3 main topics (“no-mask”, “covid-19”, “greenpass”), we noticed the weight of the gap between the government's attempts to communicate information motivating measures geared toward managing the crisis and the perceptions of private users. These perceptions spread through the web with such force the more the emotional, ironic, or polemical plane weighs. In this sense, online communication could be considered a tool for understanding the weight of the interaction between the institutional, social, and private dimensions, with effects on the social construction of identities. Digital communication is becoming an element of this process. The paper describes the “reassuring” role played by the digital community in the construction of ontological forms of security resulting from the construction of a shared digital culture. Results show the emergence of digital communities, structured on reference hubs and standing out from the detected phenomenon, prevalence of idioms and even language structures. The relevant role of the emotional (French), ironic (Italian), protest (English) component is confirmed, but also the changing and fluid structure of the debate and the co-presence of many parallel discussion communities.
From centralization to cooperation: The development and reform process of sports venues in China from 1949 to 2022
Authors: Fang Xuemo , Chen Yuanxin , Li Jingyu
Published: January 2023

The management of sports venues has undergone a series of reforms since the People's Republic of China's establishment in 1949. The reform of management right is especially significant. It reflects the government–enterprise relationship and logic of government action. Utilizing the perspective of the government–enterprise relationship, this study systematically reviews the reform model for sports venues to incorporate Chinese characteristics. The aim of this study is to understand the relationship between the People's Republic of China's government and the market through the reforms implemented for the operation and management of sports venues. According to the study, the development and reform of sports venues in China has experienced government centralization, devolution, decentralization, and cooperation. The reform of sports venues' operation and management follows a “market-oriented government-led” model which reflects the government's logic. It is concluded that a “market-oriented government-led” model is essential for the promotion of comprehensive reforms for sports venues with Chinese characteristics.
Optimizing repair of tendon ruptures and chronic tendinopathies: Integrating the use of biomarkers with biological interventions to improve patient outcomes and clinical trial design
Authors: Hart David A. , Ahmed Aisha S. , Ackermann Paul
Published: January 2023

Tendons are dense connective tissues of the musculoskeletal system that link bones with muscles to foster mobility. They have complex structures and exist in varying biomechanical, metabolic and biological environments. In addition, tendon composition and mechanical properties can change over the lifespan as an individual ages. Many tendons function in high stress conditions with a low vascular and neuronal supply, conditions often leading to development of chronic tendinopathies, and in some cases, overt rupture of the tissues. Given their essential nature for human mobility and navigation through the environment, the effective repair and regeneration of different tendons after injury or damage is critical for quality of life, and for elite athletes, the return to sport participation at a high level. However, for mainly unknown reasons, the outcomes following injury are not always successful and lead to functional compromise and risk for re-injury. Thus, there is a need to identify those patients who are at risk for developing tendon problems, as well those at risk for poor outcomes after injury and to design interventions to improve outcomes after injury or rupture to specific tendons. This review will discuss recent advances in the identification of biomarkers prognostic for successful and less successful outcomes after tendon injury, and the mechanistic implications of such biomarkers, as well as the potential for specific biologic interventions to enhance outcomes to improve both quality of life and a return to participation in sports. In addition, the implication of these biomarkers for clinical trial design is discussed, as is the issue of whether such biomarkers for successful healing of one tendon can be extended to all tendons or are valid only for tendons in specific biomechanical and biological environments. As maintaining an active lifestyle is critical for health, the successful implementation of these advances will benefit the large number of individuals at risk.
Case Report: Effect of low energy availability and training load on sleep in a male combat sport athlete
Authors: Thomas Craig , Langan-Evans Carl , Germaine Mark , Artukovic Mario , Jones Helen , Whitworth-Turner Craig , Close Graeme L. , Louis Julien
Published: January 2023

Purpose

The aim of this case report was to describe the sleep responses in a male combat sport athlete, who was engaging in both chronic (CWL) and acute (AWL) weight loss practices in order to reduce body mass for a national competition.

Methods

During the first seven weeks of training (Phases 1 and 2), the athlete adhered to a daily energy intake (EI) equating to their resting metabolic rate (1700 kcal·day−1) followed by a reduction in EI (915–300 kcal·day−1) in the 5 days before weighing in (Phase 3). Nocturnal sleep was monitored throughout the 8-week training period using wristwatch actigraphy and frequent measurements of body mass/composition, daily exercise energy expenditure and training load (TL) were taken.

Results

The athlete was in a state of low energy availability (LEA) during the entire training period. There was a very large decrease in LEA status during phase 3 compared with phases 1 and 2 (3 vs. 20 kcal·kgFFM·day−1) and there was a small decrease in TL during phase 3 compared with phase 2 (410 vs. 523 AU). The athlete's sleep efficiency increased throughout the training period, but total sleep time displayed a small to moderate decrease in phase 3 compared with phases 1 and 2 (386 vs. 429 and 430 min). However, correlational analysis demonstrated trivial to small, non-significant relationships between sleep characteristics and the athlete's LEA status and TL.

Conclusion

These findings suggest that CWL and AWL practices that cause fluctuations in LEA and TL may be implemented without compromising the sleep of combat sport athletes.
Postmenopausal osteoporosis: Effect of moderate-intensity treadmill exercise on bone proteomics in ovariectomized rats
Authors: Yang Yong-Jie , Li Ye , Gao Li
Published: January 2023

Objectives

This study aimed to identify the key proteins in the bone mass of ovariectomized (OVX) rats after a period of regular moderate-intensity treadmill exercise and to investigate their effects using tag mass spectrometry and quantitative proteomics with a view to improving the understanding and treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis.

Methods

Sixty three-month-old female Sprague-Dawley tats of specific-pathogen-free grade were randomly and equally divided into a sham operation group, ovariectomized group (OVX) and ovariectomized combined exercise (OVX + EX) group, and the latter took moderate-intensity treadmill exercise for 17 weeks. After this period of time, body composition and bone density were measured using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, and serum bone metabolism indicators were measured using an enzyme immunoassay. In addition, the bone microstructure was examined using micro-computed tomography and scanning of the femur, and femur proteins were subject to proteomic analysis.

Results

Compared with the rats in the OVX group, the bone metabolism indicators in the OVX + EX group decreased significantly, femur bone density increased significantly, the number of the trabeculae increased, and continuity was higher. In the OVX + EX group, 17 proteins were significantly upregulated and 33 significantly downregulated. The main gene ontology and signaling pathways enriched by the proteins were identified as the tumor necrosis factor-mediated signaling pathways. The protein-protein interaction network identified the key proteins, and the correlation analysis of these proteins and the bone parameters found histone deacetylase 8(HDAC8) and leucine-rich transmembrane and O-methyltransferase domain containing (LRTOMT) and trimethylguanosine synthase 1(TGS1) and ankyrin repeat domain 46(ANKRD46) to be the key targets of exercise in relation to postmenopausal osteoporosis.

Conclusion

Moderate-intensity treadmill exercise significantly improved the bone mass of OVX rats, and differentially expressed proteins, such as HDAC8 and LRTOMT and TGS1 and ANKRD46, could be the target of moderate-intensity treadmill exercise.
Analysis of prognostic factors of metastatic endometrial cancer based on surveillance, epidemiology, and end results database
Authors: Zhang Meng , Li Ruiping , Zhang Shan , Xu Xin , Liao Lixin , Yang Yan , Guo Yuzhen
Published: January 2023

Objective

To explore the risk factors for survival and prognosis of patients with metastatic endometrial cancer and to build and verify a reliable prediction model.

Methods

We retrospectively analyzed patients diagnosed with metastatic endometrial cancer in the US Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database between January 2010 and December 2015. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to assess clinical variables impact on survival and to construct nomograms. The results of the consistency index (C-index), subject operating characteristic (ROC) curve, and calibration curve were used to evaluate the predictive ability of the nomogram.

Results

This study included 3,878 patients with metastatic endometrial cancer. In the univariate analysis, variables associated with overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) included age, race, marital status, pathological type, pathological grade, T-stage, N-stage, surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, bone metastasis, brain metastasis, liver metastasis, and lung metastasis. In the multivariate analysis, age, race, pathological type, pathological grade, T-stage, N-stage, surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, brain metastasis, liver metastasis, and lung metastasis were independent risk factors for OS and CSS (all P < 0.05). Combined with the results of the multiple factors, the 1-, 3-, 5-, and 8-year nomograms were constructed. For OS and CSS, T-stage had the greatest impact on the adverse prognosis of patients with metastatic endometrial cancer. The C-indexes of the OS and CSS nomograms in the training cohort were 0.749 (95% CI, 0.739–0.760) and 0.746 (95% CI, 0.736–0.756), respectively. The C-indices of OS and CSS in the validation cohort were 0.730 (95% CI, 0.714–0.746) and 0.728 (95% CI, 0.712–0.744), respectively. The ROC curve revealed our model's good prediction accuracy and clinical practicability. The calibration curve also confirmed the consistency between the model and actual existence. The Kaplan-Meier curves revealed statistically significant differences between the risk subgroups (P < 0.05).

Conclusion

Our SEER-based nomograms for predicting survival in patients with metastatic endometrial cancer were helpful for the clinical evaluation of patient prognosis.
Double-stapled anastomosis without “dog-ears” reduces the anastomotic leakage in laparoscopic anterior resection of rectal cancer: A prospective, randomized, controlled study
Authors: Yang Yuanfeng , Ding Feng , Xu Tianbao , Pan Zhen , Zhuang Jinfu , Liu Xing , Guan Guoxian
Published: January 2023

Background

Anastomotic leakage (AL) is a major cause of postoperative morbidity and mortality in the treatment of colorectal cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the resection of “dog-ears” in laparoscopic anterior resection of rectal cancer (called modified double-stapling technique, MDST) could reduce the rate of AL in patients with middle and high rectal cancer, as compared with the conventional double-stapling technique (DST).

Methods

The clinical data of 232 patients with middle and high rectal cancer were prospectively collected from September 2015 to October 2018. They were randomly divided into the MDST group (n = 116) and the DST group (n = 116) and the data were prospectively analyzed. Morbidity and AL rate were compared between the two groups.

Results

Patient demographics, tumor size, and time of first flatus were similar between the two groups. No difference was observed in the operation time between the two groups. The AL rate was significantly lower in the MDST group than in the DST group (3.4 vs. 11.2%, p = 0.032). The age and anastomotic technique were the factors associated with AL according to the multivariate analysis. The location of the AL in the DST group was further investigated, revealing that AL was in the same place as the “dog-ears” (11/13, 84.6%).

Conclusions

Our prospective comparative study demonstrated that MDST have a better short-term outcome in reducing AL compared with DST. Therefore, this technique could be an alternative approach to maximize the benefit of laparoscopic anterior resection on patients with middle and high rectal cancer. The “dog-ears” create stapled corners potentially ischemic, since they represent the area with high incidence of AL.

(NCT:02770911)