bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Invasive weed swallow‐wort (Cynanchum acutum L.) response to chemical and mechanical practices
Authors: Meighani Fariba , Karaminejad Mohammad Reza , Farrokhi Zahra
Published: June 2021

Swallow‐wort (Cynanchum acutum) is increasingly getting a problematic invasive weed in many parts of Iran and several countries around the world. Despite the extensive invasion of C. acutum, the efficacy of different mechanical/chemical treatments for its effective control has rarely been investigated. The objective of the present study was to explore the effects of mechanical weeding (brush cutter) and herbicide applications on C. acutum biomass and density at two locations (Abyek and Yazd) in Iran during a 3‐year experiment. Treatments included: (a) no chemical/mechanical treatment, (b) glyphosate, (c) bromoxynil + MCPA, (d) mecoprop‐p‐dicloprop‐p‐MCPA, (e) triclopyr, (f) metribuzin, and (g) brush cutter. Results showed that glyphosate and triclopyr provided the highest efficacy in reducing C. acutum density and biomass relative to non‐treated control according to most post‐treatment assessments; although glyphosate showed more relative efficacy than triclopyr in reducing C. acutum density in Yazd at 1 year after retreatment and in reducing C. acutum biomass at both the locations at 1 year after treatment. It was shown that mecoprop‐p‐dicloprop‐p‐MCPA had statistically similar efficacy as glyphosate and triclopyr in reducing C. acutum density at most assessments. After retreatment, bromoxynil + MCPA at both the locations and mecoprop‐p‐dicloprop‐p‐MCPA in Abyek showed no statistically significant differences with glyphosate and triclopyr in terms of C. acutum biomass reduction. Metribuzin and brush cutter could not provide acceptable efficacy in C. acutum control. Overall, results indicated selective herbicides are also good chemical options for improving C. acutum management plans and decreasing this invasive weed damage.
Re-discovering Archaeological Discoveries. Experiments with reproducing archaeological survey analysis
Authors: Strupler Néhémie
Published: June 2021

This article describes an attempt to reproduce the published analysis from three archaeological field-walking surveys by using datasets collected between 1990 and 2005 which are publicly available in digital format. The exact methodologies used to produce the analyses (diagrams, statistical analysis, maps, etc.) are often incomplete, leaving a gap between the dataset and the published report. By using the published descriptions to reconstruct how the outputs were manipulated, I expected to reproduce and corroborate the results. While these experiments highlight some successes, they also point to significant problems in reproducing an analysis at various stages, from reading the data to plotting the results. Consequently, this article proposes some guidance on how to increase the reproducibility of data in order to assist aspirations of refining results or methodology. Without a stronger emphasis on reproducibility, the published datasets may not be sufficient to confirm published results and the scientific process of self-correction is at risk.
The Mobile Phone in Late Medieval Culture
Authors: Robb John
Published: June 2021

This is an historical meditation - an essay on material culture and how humans relate to it. It is written as a science fiction piece, taking the form of a plenary address to a Material Culture conference sometime in the future. Mobile phones are well on their way to becoming universal devices and this playful essay explores ideas concerning the consequences of the mobile phone for humans, our relations with technology and our evolution.
Scattering of flexural gravity waves by a pair of submerged vertical porous barriers located above a porous sea-bed
Authors: Chanda Ayan , Bora Swaroop Nandan
Published: June 2021

An analytical study is presented to investigate the scattering of oblique flexural gravity waves by a pair of totally submerged vertically placed porous barriers, located at some distance from each other, for a homogenous fluid flowing over a porous sea-bed. A thin ice-sheet, replacing the usual free surface, is considered as the upper surface where it is treated as a thin elastic plate. The complete analytical solution, under the assumption of small-amplitude theory and structural response, is acquired by employing eigenfunction expansion and least square method. Subsequently, computation for the reflection and transmission coefficients, energy loss and wave forces is carried out and discussed for different parameter values corresponding to the ice-sheet, porous sea-bed and porous barriers. This study establishes that the oscillatory behavior exhibited by the reflection of the waves. The vertical porous barriers are found to dissipate a significant portion of the wave energy when an increase in the inertial effect of the porous barriers takes place. The hydrodynamic force on the barriers also follows an oscillatory pattern and it increases when the length of the barrier is increased. It is demonstrated that, corresponding to various structural parameters, almost no reflection and full transmission take place for an impermeable sea-bed and also when only real porosity parameter of the porous sea-bed is considered. Further, variation in the elastic parameter of the floating ice-sheet is observed to command a considerable influence when the wave impinges upon the submerged vertical porous barriers.
Numerical Analysis of a Solar Air Heater With Jet Impingement—Comparison of Performance Between Jet Designs
Authors: Das Supreme , Biswas Agnimitra , Das Biplab
Published: June 2021

One of the ways to improve the performance of solar air heaters (SAHs) is to use jet impingement on the absorber plate to cause turbulence mixing of air in contact with the plate and thereby augment the heat transfer coefficient. Although the jet impingement is a prospective way of improving the SAH performance, comparison of performance between jet designs is not performed so far. The objective of this work is to compare the thermo-hydraulic performance of a SAH with jet impingement through conical protruding jets and circular jets using finite element method based comsol multiphysics software. The simulation studies were conducted for solar radiation in the range 500–1000 W/m2 and mass flowrate in the range 0.01–0.028 kg/s. The flow physics of the jet impingement process is investigated to understand the heat transfer and fluid flow behavior of the SAH with the chosen jet designs thereby obtain their performance insights. The outlet hot air temperature from the heater and its thermal efficiency are compared for different mass flowrates and solar radiations. Also the temperature distributions in the jet plate with the jet configurations are captured and their heat transfer characteristics compared with understand the thermo-fluidic behavior of the SAH. The results demonstrate improved performance of the novel conical protruded jet design that enhances the thermal efficiency up to 78.52%, which is an increase of 13.53% compared with the circular jet design. More elongated streamlines and higher turbulent kinetic energy with increased mass flowrate leading to a wide jet affected area inside the duct are the main reasons of its improved performance.
Ferrofluid Lubrication of Optimized Spiral-Grooved Conical Hybrid Journal Bearing Using Current-Carrying Wire Model
Authors: Kumar Abhishek , Sharma Satish C.
Published: June 2021

To systematically investigate the behavior of fluid film bearing, the determination of optimal parameters is of utmost importance. The core contributions of this article are as follows: (1) modeling of the conical bearing for spiral grooves with ferrofluid lubrication using current-carrying wire model for the fixed coordinate system, (2) deriving the expressions for the magnetic field model and frictional power loss other than Reynolds equation for ferrofluid lubrication, and (3) evaluation of optimal values of spiral-grooved bearing surface for different cross-sectional shapes and that of the current-carrying wire model for magnetic field generation in ferrofluid lubrication. The generalized minimum RESidual iterative solver and the Newton–Raphson method have facilitated the solution of complex nonlinear finite element (FE) formulated governing equations. Initially, the results have been obtained for determining the optimal values of spiral groove and ferrofluid model attributes. After that, using these optimal values, corresponding performance indicators are evaluated. It was found that there exists a optimum value of different geometric features for distinct cross-sectional shapes of spiral grooves.
Colour Doppler imaging of retrobulbar circulation in different severity of glaucoma optic neuropathy
Authors: Zegadło Arkadiusz , Wierzbowska Joanna
Published: June 2021

Aims: To compare retrobulbar hemodynamic measured by colour Doppler imaging (CDI) in patients with a different severity of glaucoma and to correlate variables CDI with the structural parameters of the retina and optic disc.Material and methods: Of 89 eyes studied, 31 had preperimetric, 29 early, 12 moderate and 17 advanced glaucoma. Peak systolic velocity (PSV), end-diastolic velocity (EDV), resistance index (RI) in ophthalmic artery (OA), central retinal artery (CRA) and short posterior ciliary arteries (SPCAs) were evaluated by CDI and compared between study groups. Retinal nerve fibre layer thickness (RNFL) and optic disc parameters measured with optical coherent tomography (OCT) were correlated with the Doppler variables.Results. In eyes with advanced, moderate and early glaucoma EDV SPCAs were significantly lower as well as RI SPCAs were significantly higher compared to the eyes with preperimetric glaucoma. In eyes with advanced and moderate glaucoma RI CRA (0.74 and 0.71) were significantly higher than in eyes with preperimetric glaucoma (0.68) (p=0.014 and 0.026). In eyes with advanced glaucoma PSV OA and PSV CRA were significantly lower than in eyes with preperimetric glaucoma (32.5 vs. 40.7 cm/s p=0.034 and 8.25 vs. 9.7 cm/s p=0.022, respectively). Positive, variable correlations were found between RNFL and EDV of all measured arteries (0.21<R<0.50, p<0,05).Conclusions: Statistically significant alterations in the Doppler parameters of retrobulbar arteries in association with thinning of the RNFL were observed in patients with glaucoma along with a greater severity of optic neuropathy.
Matrix analysis for fast learning of neural networks with application to the classification of acoustic spectra
Authors: Paul Vlad S. , Nelson Philip A.
Published: June 2021

Neural networks are increasingly being applied to problems in acoustics and audio signal processing. Large audio datasets are being generated for use in training machine learning algorithms, and the reduction of training times is of increasing relevance. The work presented here begins by reformulating the analysis of the classical multilayer perceptron to show the explicit dependence of network parameters on the properties of the weight matrices in the network. This analysis then allows the application of the singular value decomposition (SVD) to the weight matrices. An algorithm is presented that makes use of regular applications of the SVD to progressively reduce the dimensionality of the network. This results in significant reductions in network training times of up to 50% with very little or no loss in accuracy. The use of the algorithm is demonstrated by applying it to a number of acoustical classification problems that help quantify the extent to which closely related spectra can be distinguished by machine learning.
Finite element evaluation of a simple model for elastic waves in strongly scattering elongated polycrystals
Authors: Huang M. , Rokhlin S. I. , Lowe M. J. S.
Published: June 2021

A simple semi-analytical model for longitudinal scattering-induced attenuation and phase velocity is proposed for strongly scattering cubic polycrystals with statistically elongated grains. It is formulated by iterating the Born approximation of the far-field approximation model and by empirically increasing the coefficient in the quadratic term for the elastic scattering factor. The comparison with the three-dimensional grain-scale finite element calculations shows excellent performance of the semi-analytical model for both attenuation and phase velocity in all studied frequency ranges and especially in the Rayleigh regime in which, for strongly scattering materials, the existing analytical models significantly disagree with the numerical results.
Efficacy of Omadacycline against Multidrug-Resistant Enterococcus faecium Strains in a Mouse Peritonitis Model
Authors: Singh Kavindra V. , Arias Cesar A. , Murray Barbara E.
Published: June 2021

Omadacycline (OMC) showed better
in vitro
potency than daptomycin (DAP) or vancomycin (VAN) against Van
r
, Amp
r
, DAP-nonsusceptible, linezolid-resistant,
cfr
(B)
+
Enterococcus faecium
strains. In a mouse peritonitis model, OMC also showed significantly better animal survival during the study and at its end than DAP or VAN with these
E. faecium
strains.
Evaluation of Total Body Weight versus Adjusted Body Weight Liposomal Amphotericin B Dosing in Obese Patients
Authors: Ting Michelle H. , Spec Andrej , Micek Scott T. , Ritchie David J. , Krekel Tamara
Published: June 2021

Liposomal amphotericin B (LAmB) is used for various fungal infections, but it is unclear which dosing weight to use in obese patients. The purpose of this study was to compare clinical outcomes of adjusted body weight (adjBW) versus total body weight (TBW) dosing of LAmB.
Repurposing CRISPR-Cas Systems as Genetic Tools for the Enterobacteriales
Authors: Backes Nicholas , Phillips Gregory J.
Published: June 2021

Over the last decade, the study of CRISPR-Cas systems has progressed from a newly discovered bacterial defense mechanism to a diverse suite of genetic tools that have been applied across all domains of life. While the initial applications of CRISPR-Cas technology fulfilled a need to more precisely edit eukaryotic genomes, creative “repurposing” of this adaptive immune system has led to new approaches for genetic analysis of microorganisms, including improved gene editing, conditional gene regulation, plasmid curing and manipulation, and other novel uses.
Lactate-Induced Dispersal of
Neisseria meningitidis
Microcolonies Is Mediated by Changes in Cell Density and Pilus Retraction and Is Influenced by Temperature Change
Authors: Sigurlásdóttir Sara , Lidberg Kenny , Zuo Fanglei , Newcombe Jane , McFadden Johnjoe , Jonsson Ann-Beth
Published: June 2021

Neisseria meningitidis
is the etiologic agent of meningococcal meningitis and sepsis. Initial colonization of meningococci in the upper respiratory tract epithelium is crucial for disease development.
Pathways of Iron and Sulfur Acquisition, Cofactor Assembly, Destination, and Storage in Diverse Archaeal Methanogens and Alkanotrophs
Authors: Johnson Christina , England Alexis , Munro-Ehrlich Mason , Colman Daniel R. , DuBois Jennifer L. , Boyd Eric S.
Published: June 2021

Archaeal methanogens, methanotrophs, and alkanotrophs, argued to be among the most ancient forms of life, have a high demand for iron (Fe) and sulfur (S) for cofactor biosynthesis, among other uses. Here, using comparative bioinformatic approaches applied to 326 genomes, we show that major differences in Fe/S acquisition, trafficking, deployment, and storage exist in this group.
McpT, a Broad-Range Carboxylate Chemoreceptor in Sinorhizobium meliloti
Authors: Baaziz Hiba , Compton K. Karl , Hildreth Sherry B. , Helm Richard F. , Scharf Birgit E.
Published: June 2021

Nitrate pollution is one of the most widespread and challenging environmental problems that is mainly caused by the agricultural overapplication of nitrogen fertilizers. Biological nitrogen fixation by the endosymbiont
Sinorhizobium meliloti
enhances the growth of its host
Medicago sativa
(alfalfa), which also efficiently supplies the soil with nitrogen.
Functional Insights into the High-Molecular-Mass Penicillin-Binding Proteins of Streptococcus agalactiae Revealed by Gene Deletion and Transposon Mutagenesis Analysis
Authors: Zhu Luchang , Yerramilli Prasanti , Pruitt Layne , Mishra Abhishek , Olsen Randall J. , Beres Stephen B. , Waller Andrew S. , Musser James M.
Published: June 2021

High-molecular-mass penicillin-binding proteins (HMM PBPs) are enzymes required for bacterial cell wall biosynthesis. Bacterial pathogen group B
streptococcus
(GBS) produces five distinct HMM PBPs.
Impact of genetic tests on survivors of paediatric sudden cardiac arrest
Authors: Chiu Shuenn-Nan , Juang Jyh-Ming Jimmy , Tseng Wei-Chieh , Chen Wen-Pin , Lee Ni-Chung , Wu Mei-Hwan
Published: June 2021

Objective

To retrospectively investigate the clinical spectrum, genetic profiles and outcomes of survivors of paediatric sudden cardiac arrest (SCA).

Design and patients

All 66 patients (aged 1–20 years), with unexpected SCA or syncope related to ventricular tachycardia (VT)/fibrillation and who survived to discharge from a tertiary centre, were enrolled from 1995 to 2018. Of these, 30 with underlying diseases prior to the events were excluded. Whole-exome sequencing targeting 384 channelopathy and cardiomyopathy-related genes (composite panel) was conducted to identify the possible genetic variants/mutations.

Results

A total of 36 patients were enrolled. Male adolescents predominated (66.7%), and the median age at onset was 13.3 years. Events occurred most often during exercise and daily activities. The yield rate of the genetic test was 84.6% (22/26); 14 had pathogenic variants; and 8 had likely pathogenic variants. The most common diagnoses were long QT in nine (25%), catecholaminergic polymorphic VT in six patients (16.7%), but other long QT and cardiomyopathy genes were also detected in eight patients (30.7%). The 10-year transplantation-free survival rate was 87.8% and was better for those who received genetic tests initially at the disease onset. An implantable cardioverter–defibrillator was implanted in 55.6% of the patients, with an appropriate shock rate of 61.1%. The defibrillator shock rate was lower for those who received composite panel initially.

Conclusion

Survivors of SCA in the paediatric population had favourable long-term outcomes aided by genetic test. A broad composite genetic panel brings extra diagnostic value in the investigation of ventricular fibrillation/sudden cardiac death.
REPORT-PFP: a consensus from the International Patellofemoral Research
Network to improve REPORTing of quantitative PatelloFemoral Pain
studies
Authors: Barton Christian J , De Oliveira Silva Danilo , Morton Sarah , Collins Natalie J , Rathleff Michael Skovdal , Vicenzino Bill , van Middelkoop Marienke , Crossley Kay M , Callaghan Michael J , Selfe James , Holden Sinead , Lack Simon , Macri Erin M , Bazett-Jones David M , Earl-Boehm Jennifer E , Riel Henrik , Powers Christopher M , Davis Irene S , Morrissey Dylan
Published: June 2021

Patellofemoral pain is a common and often debilitating musculoskeletal
condition. Clinical translation and evidence synthesis of patellofemoral
pain research are compromised by heterogenous and often inadequately
reported study details. This consensus statement and associated checklist
provides standards for REPORTing of quantitative PatelloFemoral Pain
(REPORT-PFP) research to enhance clinical translation and evidence
synthesis, and support clinician engagement with research and data
collection. A three-stage Delphi process was initiated at the 2015
International Patellofemoral Research Network (iPFRN) retreat. An initial
e-Delphi activity (n=24) generated topics and items, which were refined at
the 2017 iPFRN retreat, and voted on prior to and following the 2019 iPFRN
retreat (n=51 current and past retreat participants). Voting criteria
included ‘strongly recommended’ (essential), ‘recommended’ (encouraged) and
uncertain/unsure. An item was included in the checklist if ≥70% respondents
voted ‘recommended’. Items receiving ≥70% votes for ‘strongly recommended’
were labelled as such. The final REPORT-PFP checklist includes 31 items (11
strongly recommended, 20 recommended), covering (i) demographics (n=2,4);
(ii) baseline symptoms and previous treatments (n=3,7); (iii) outcome
measures (2,4); (iv) outcomes measure description (n=1,2); (v) clinical
trial methodology (0,3) and (vi) reporting study results (n=3,0). The
REPORT-PFP checklist is ready to be used by researchers and clinicians.
Strong stakeholder engagement from clinical academics during development
means consistent application by the international patellofemoral pain
research community is likely. Checklist adherence will improve research
accessibility for clinicians and enhance future evidence synthesis.
Burden of chronic kidney disease and rapid decline in renal function among adults attending a hospital-based diabetes center in Northern Europe
Authors: Griffin Tomás P , O'Shea Paula M , Smyth Andrew , Islam Md Nahidul , Wall Deirdre , Ferguson John , O'Sullivan Esther , Finucane Francis M , Dinneen Sean F , Dunne Fidelma P , Lappin David W , Reddan Donal N , Bell Marcia , O'Brien Timothy , Griffin Damian G , Griffin Matthew D
Published: June 2021

Introduction

This study aimed to determine the prevalence of diabetic kidney disease (DKD) and rapid renal function decline and to identify indices associated with this decline among adults attending a diabetes center in Northern Europe.

Research design and methods

This is a retrospective cohort study of 4606 patients who attended a diabetes center in Ireland between June 2012 and December 2016. Definition/staging of chronic kidney disease used the Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) 2012 classification based on data from the most recently attended appointment. Relevant longitudinal trends and variabilities were derived from serial records prior to index visit. Rapid renal function decline was defined based on per cent and absolute rates of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) change. Multiple linear regression was used to explore the relationships between explanatory variables and per cent eGFR change.

Results

42.0% (total), 23.4% (type 1 diabetes), 47.9% (type 2 diabetes) and 32.6% (other diabetes) had DKD. Rapid decline based on per cent change was more frequent in type 2 than in type 1 diabetes (32.8% vs 14.0%, p<0.001). Indices independently associated with rapid eGFR decline included older age, greater number of antihypertensives, higher log-normalized urine albumin to creatinine ratio (LNuACR), serum alkaline phosphatase, thyroid stimulating hormone, variability in systolic blood pressure and variability in LNuACR, lower glycated hemoglobin, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and diastolic blood pressure, and lack of ACE inhibitor/angiotensin receptor blocker prescription.

Conclusions

DKD (using the KDIGO 2012 classification) and rapid eGFR decline were highly prevalent among adults attending a hospital-based diabetes clinic in a predominantly Caucasian Northern European country. The burden was greater for adults with type 2 diabetes. Expected as well as potentially novel clinical predictors were identified.
Effect of multimorbidity patterns on the decline in health-related quality of life: a nationwide prospective cohort study in Japan
Authors: Aoki Takuya , Fukuhara Shunichi , Fujinuma Yasuki , Yamamoto Yosuke
Published: June 2021

Objectives

Longitudinal studies, which consider multimorbidity patterns, are useful for better clarifying the effect of multimorbidity on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and for identifying the target population with poorer clinical outcomes among patients with multimorbidity. This study aimed to examine the effects of different multimorbidity patterns on the decline in HRQoL.

Design

Nationwide prospective cohort study.

Setting

Japanese adult residents.

Participants

Residents aged ≥50 years selected by the quota sampling method.

Primary outcome measure

Clinically relevant decline in HRQoL was defined as a 0.50 SD (5-point) decrease in the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) component summary scores for 1 year.

Results

In total, 1211 participants completed the follow-up survey. Among the multimorbidity patterns identified using confirmatory factor analysis, multivariable logistic regression analyses revealed that high cardiovascular/renal/metabolic and malignant/digestive/urologic pattern scores were significantly associated with the clinically relevant decline in SF-36 physical component summary score (adjusted OR (aOR)=1.25, 95% CI: 1.08 to 1.44 and aOR=1.28, 95% CI: 1.04 to 1.58, respectively). High cardiovascular/renal/metabolic pattern score was also significantly associated with the clinically relevant decline in SF-36 role/social component summary score (aOR=1.23, 95% CI: 1.06 to 1.42).

Conclusions

Our study revealed that multimorbidity patterns have different effects on the clinically relevant decline in HRQoL for 1 year. These findings can be useful in identifying populations at high risk and with poor clinical outcomes among patients with chronic diseases and multimorbidity for efficient resource allocation.
Twelve-week project to improve medication reconciliation at hospitals in Wellington, New Zealand
Authors: Dabrowski Philip Merrow , Lawrie Kathryn
Published: June 2021

Inaccurate prescribing of medications on admission to hospital exposes patients to significant risk, both during the admission and at discharge. Initial data at Capital and Coast District Health Board (CCDHB, Wellington, New Zealand) showed that 0% of medication reconciliations initiated by pharmacy were completed correctly. A widespread lack of awareness of existing processes and communication differences between doctors and pharmacists were identified as root causes of the problem. A 12-week quality improvement project collected baseline data and then three interventions were carried out aiming to improve the rate of completed medication reconciliation. The interventions were education of house surgeons (junior hospital doctors), standardisation of pharmacist practice and a redesigned paper notification system. After three plan, do, study, act cycles our results showed an improvement in the rate of completed medication reconciliations from 0% to 37% and an improvement in pharmacist uptake of text messaging from 30% to 88%. The rate of partially completed reconciliations (where discrepancies were reconciled but documentation was not completed) fell from 82% to 37%. We were not able to show an increase in proportion of discrepancies rectified (in fact a decrease occurred) due to our data collection methodology. The interventions made have improved the quality of medication reconciliations at CCDHB and are likely sustainable in the longer term.
Depression, suicidality and associated risk factors among police officers in urban Tanzania: a cross-sectional study
Authors: Njiro Belinda Jackson , Ndumwa Harrieth Peter , Msenga Charles Joseph , Kawala Thomas , Matola Ezekiel , Mhonda Juhudi , Corbin Hillary , Ubuguyu Omary , Likindikoki Samuel
Published: June 2021

Background

The WHO has classified depression as a disease of public concern. Police officers are a particular subpopulation group that is at an increased risk for mental health problems. This study examined the prevalence of depression, suicidality and associated risk factors among police officers in urban Tanzania.

Aims

The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of depression, suicidality and associated risk factors among police officers in Tanzania.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted between April 2019 and October 2020 among 550 participants in Dar es Salaam recruited using a multistage cluster sampling technique. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 was used to screen for depression and suicidality. The Interpersonal Support Evaluation List-12 tool was used to measure perceived social support. Descriptive statistics were summarised using frequencies and percentages. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to establish associations between predictors of interest, depression and suicidality.

Results

There were 497 participants in the study. Of these, 76.6% (376 of 491) were men, and the median (IQR) age was 37.0 (17) years. Around 19.8% (96 of 486) of the police officers screened positive for depression and 15.4% (75 of 413) for suicidality. A significant proportion was either moderately (29 of 96, 30.2%) or severely depressed (8 of 75, 10.7 %). Of those who experienced suicidal thoughts, 10.7% (8 of 75) reported having daily suicidal thoughts. Perceiving low social support was associated with an increased risk of reporting depression (adjusted OR (aOR): 28.04, 95% CI: 8.42 to 93.37, p<0.001) and suicidality (aOR: 10.85, 95% CI: 3.56 to 33.08, p<0.001) as compared with those with high perceived social support.

Conclusion

The magnitude of depression and suicidality among police officers in urban Tanzania is alarmingly high. The study findings indicate the need for routine screening for depression and suicidality among police officers and design appropriate mental health responsive services in this population.
Clinical practice guideline for transcatheter versus surgical valve replacement in patients with severe aortic stenosis in Latin America
Authors: Lamelas Pablo , Ragusa Martin Alberto , Bagur Rodrigo , Jaffer Iqbal , Ribeiro Henrique , Baranchuk Adrian , Wyss Fernando , Sosa Liprandi Alvaro , Olivares Gabriel , Arrais Magaly , Rendon Juan Camilo , Catrip Jorge , Agatiello Carla , Cura Fernando , Marchena Alfaro , Sandoli de Brito Jr Fabio , Mangione José A , Damonte Aníbal , Santaera Omar , Hidalgo Pedro , Nieuwlaat Robby , Izcovich Ariel
Published: June 2021

In elderly (75 years or older) patients living in Latin America with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis candidates for transfemoral approach, the panel suggests the use of transcatheter aortic valve implant (TAVI) over surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR). This is a conditional recommendation, based on moderate certainty in the evidence (⨁⨁⨁Ο).

This recommendation does not apply to patients in which there is a standard of care, like TAVI for patients at very high risk for cardiac surgery or inoperable patients, or SAVR for non-elderly patients (eg, under 65 years old) at low risk for cardiac surgery. The suggested age threshold of 75 years old is based on judgement of limited available literature and should be used as a guide rather than a determinant threshold.

The conditional nature of this recommendation means that the majority of patients in this situation would want a transfemoral TAVI over SAVR, but some may prefer SAVR. For clinicians, this means that they must be familiar with the evidence supporting this recommendation and help each patient to arrive at a management decision integrating a multidisciplinary team discussion (Heart Team), patient’s values and preferences through shared decision-making, and available resources. Policymakers will require substantial debate and the involvement of various stakeholders to implement this recommendation.
Fifteen-year follow-up of relapsed indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients vaccinated with tumor-loaded dendritic cells
Authors: Fucà Giovanni , Ambrosini Margherita , Agnelli Luca , Brich Silvia , Sgambelluri Francesco , Mortarini Roberta , Pupa Serenella M , Magni Michele , Devizzi Liliana , Matteucci Paola , Cabras Antonello , Zappasodi Roberta , De Santis Francesca , Anichini Andrea , De Braud Filippo , Gianni Alessandro M , Di Nicola Massimo
Published: June 2021

We previously published the results of a pilot study showing that vaccination with tumor-loaded dendritic cells (DCs) induced both T and B cell response and produced clinical benefit in the absence of toxicity in patients with relapsed, indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma (iNHL). The purpose of the present short report is to provide a 15-year follow-up of our study and to expand the biomarker analysis previously performed. The long-term follow-up highlighted the absence of particular or delayed toxicity and the benefit of active immunization with DCs loaded with autologous, heat-shocked and UV-C treated tumor cells in relapsed iNHL (5-year and 10-year progression-free survival (PFS) rates: 55.6% and 33.3%, respectively; 10-year overall survival (OS) rate: 83.3%). Female patients experienced a better PFS (p=0.016) and a trend towards a better OS (p=0.185) compared with male patients. Of note, we observed a non-negligible fraction of patients (22%) who experienced a long-lasting complete response. In a targeted gene expression profiling of pre-treatment tumor biopsies in 11 patients with available formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue, we observed that KIT, ATG12, TNFRSF10C, PBK, ITGA2, GATA3, CLU, NCAM1, SYT17 and LTK were differentially expressed in patients with responder versus non-responder tumors. The characterization of peripheral monocytic cells in a subgroup of 14 patients with available baseline blood samples showed a higher frequency of the subset of CD14++CD16+ cells (intermediate monocytes) in patients with responding tumors. Since in patients with relapsed iNHL the available therapeutic options are often incapable of inducing a long-lasting complete remission and can be sometimes characterized by intolerable toxicity, we think that the encouraging results of our long-term follow-up analysis represent a stimulus to further investigate the role of active vaccination in this specific setting and in earlier lines of therapy and to explore novel combinatorial strategies encompassing other innovative immunotherapy agents, such as immune-checkpoint inhibitors.
Association between body mass index, dosing strategy, and efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors
Authors: Ahmed Murtaza , von Itzstein Mitchell S , Sheffield Thomas , Khan Shaheen , Fattah Farjana , Park Jason Y , Popat Vinita , Saltarski Jessica M , Gloria-McCutchen Yvonne , Hsiehchen David , Ostmeyer Jared , Khan Saad A , Sultana Nazima , Xie Yang , Li Quan-Zhen , Wakeland Edward K , Gerber David E
Published: June 2021

Background

Increased body mass index (BMI) has been associated with improved response to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in multiple cancer types. We evaluated associations between BMI, ICI dosing strategy, and clinical outcomes.

Methods

We abstracted clinical data on patients with cancer treated with ICI, including age, sex, cancer type, BMI, ICI type, dosing strategy (weight-based or fixed), radiographic response, overall survival (OS), and progression-free survival (PFS). We compared clinical outcomes between low-BMI and high-BMI populations using Kaplan-Meier curves, Cox regressions, and Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients.

Results

A total of 297 patients were enrolled, of whom 40% were women and 59% were overweight (BMI≥25). Of these, 204 (69%) received fixed and 93 (31%) received weight-based ICI dosing. In the overall cohort, overweight BMI was associated with improved PFS (HR 0.69; 95% CI 0.51 to 0.94; p=0.02) and had a trend toward improved OS (HR 0.77; 95% CI 0.57 to 1.04; p=0.08). For both endpoints, improved outcomes in the overweight population were limited to patients who received weight-based ICI dosing (PFS HR 0.53; p=0.04 for weight-based; vs HR 0.79; p=0.2 for fixed dosing) (OS HR 0.56; p=0.03 for weight-based; vs HR 0.89; p=0.54 for fixed dosing). In multivariable analysis, BMI was not associated with PFS or OS. However, the interaction of BMI≥25 and weight-based dosing had a trend toward association with PFS (HR 0.53; 95% CI 0.26 to 1.10; p=0.09) and was associated with OS (HR 0.50; 95% CI 0.25 to 0.99; p=0.05). Patients with BMI<25 tended to have better outcomes with fixed-dose compared with weight-based ICI, while patients with BMI≥25 tended to have better outcomes with weight-based ICI, although these differences did not achieve statistical significance. There was no association between radiographic response and BMI with fixed-dose ICI (p=0.97), but a near-significant trend with weight-based ICI (p=0.1). In subset analyses, the association between BMI, ICI dosing strategy, and clinical outcomes appeared limited to men.

Conclusions

The clinical benefit of ICI in high-BMI populations appears limited to individuals receiving weight-based ICI dosing. Further research into optimal ICI dosing strategies may be warranted.
Coronary artery calcium progression after coronary artery bypass grafting surgery
Authors: Abazid Rami M , Romsa Jonathan G , Akincioglu Cigdem , Warrington James C , Bureau Yves , Kiaii Bob , Vezina William C
Published: June 2021

Objectives

Accelerated atherosclerosis is a well-established phenomenon after coronary artery bypass grafting surgery (CABG). In this study, we analysed coronary artery calcium (CCS) progression after CABG.

Methods

We retrospectively measured the CCS Agatston score (AS), volume score (VS) and mass score (MS) of 39 patients before and after CABG. The annualised CCS change and annualised CCS percent change of each coronary artery, coronary artery segments proximal and distal to anastomosis were analysed.

Results

Mean age at the time of the surgery was 59.8±8.5 years. Follow-up period between the first and second CT scans was 6.7±2.8 (range, 1.1–12.8) years. Annualised CCS percent change (AS, VS and MS) of the coronary segments proximal-to-anastomosis did not differ from that of the non-grafted coronary arteries as follow: segments proximal-to-anastomosis: median (Q1–Q3) 12.8 (5.0–37.4), 13.7 (6.1–41.1) and 14.9 (5.4–53.7), left main coronary artery 12.6 (7.4–43.8), 22.0 (8.1–44.4) and 18.2 (7.3–57.4), non-grafted left circumflex artery: 13.5 (4.4–38.1), 10.5 (2.9–45.2) and 11.5 (7.1–47.9) and non-grafted right coronary artery: 31.4 (14.4–74.5), 25.2 (16.7–62.0) and 31.3 (23.8–85.6), respectively. Likewise, annualised percent change (AS, VS and MS) was similar between the native coronary arteries. Multivariate regression analysis showed that diabetes mellitus was the only predictor of annualised percent progression of the total CCS of >15% (HR, 8.12; 95% CI, 1.05 to 26.6; p=0.04).

Conclusion

The CCS post-CABG did not follow an accelerated progression process. Among coronary artery disease risk factors, diabetes mellitus is the only predictor of annualised CCS percent progression of >15% post-CABG.
Diffuse cystic lung disease in sickle cell anaemia: a series of 22 cases and a case–control study
Authors: Kort Fatma , Habibi Anoosha , Lionnet Francois , Carette Marie-France , Parrot Antoine , Savale Laurent , Nunes Hilario , Maitre Bernard , Schlemmer Frederic , Naccache Jean-Marc
Published: June 2021

Chronic interstitial lung abnormalities have been described in sickle cell disease (SCD) and attributed to repetitive episode of acute chest syndrome. We report a series of 22 cases of diffuse cystic lung disease in SCD with a case–control study to hunt for mechanism. On pathological analysis of a surgical lung biopsy of the index case, the bronchioles had the appearance of constrictive bronchiolitis. Pulmonary function test results revealed lower forced expiratory flow from 25% to 75% of vital capacity in cases versus controls. These findings suggest a bronchiolar mechanism that was not associated with more acute chest syndrome.
Unsupervised algorithms to detect single trees in a mixed-species and multilayered Mediterranean forest using LiDAR data
Authors: Alvites Cesar , Santopuoli Giovanni , Maesano Mauro , Chirici Gherardo , Moresi Federico Valerio , Tognetti Roberto , Marchetti Marco , Lasserre Bruno
Published: June 2021

Accurate measurement of forest growing stock is a prerequisite for implementing climate-smart forestry strategies. This study deals with the use of airborne laser scanning data to assess carbon stock at the tree level. It aims to demonstrate that the combined use of two unsupervised techniques will improve the accuracy of estimation supporting sustainable forest management. Based on the heterogeneity of tree height and point cloud density, we classified 31 forest stands into four complexity categories. The point cloud of each stand was further divided into three horizontal layers, improving the accuracy of tree detection at tree level for which we calculated volume and carbon stock. The average accuracy of tree detection was 0.48. The accuracy was higher for forest stands with lower tree density and higher frequency of large trees, as well as a dense point cloud (0.65). The prediction of carbon stock was higher with a bias ranging from –0.3% to 1.5% and a root mean square error ranging from 0.14% to 1.48%.
Origin of black glume color in Triticum aestivum lines with introgressions from wheat wild relatives
Authors: Navalikhina Anastasiia , Fedak George , Antonyuk Maksym , Ternovska Tamara
Published: June 2021

Dark glume color in Triticinae is a much-studied morphological character. However, pigments that cause the color, the molecular basis of their biosynthesis, and mechanisms of its regulation are still unknown. Dark glume is a common trait in Triticum aestivum lines with alien introgressions. To elucidate the molecular basis of this character, we analyzed the total phenolic content (TPC) in the dark glumed introgression lines (ILs) and their parents. TPC in the dark ILs was found to be higher than their parents and light-glumed lines. All the genotypes were screened for the expression of eight genes encoding the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway enzymes. Expression of three flavonoid genes in the pathway was changed in the introgression lines as compared with their parents. The expression of F3′H and FNS was absent in the lines with introgressions from Aegilops spp. The expression of three genes, F3′H, FLS, and FNS, was found to be altered in the light glumed lines with introgressions from Amblyopyrum muticum. No expression of F3′H was detected in the T. aestivum/Am. muticum lines with light and dark plants, and the other genes of the pathway were found to be expressed at the parental levels. No correlation between the expression profiles and the phenotype was found in the T. aestivum/Am. muticum lines indicating other undetected changes in these lines.
Privacy-preserving Decentralized Learning Framework for Healthcare System
Authors: Kasyap Harsh , Tripathy Somanath
Published: June 2021

Clinical trials and drug discovery would not be effective without the collaboration of institutions. Earlier, it has been at the cost of individual’s privacy. Several pacts and compliances have been enforced to avoid data breaches. The existing schemes collect the participant’s data to a central repository for learning predictions as the collaboration is indispensable for research advances. The current COVID pandemic has put a question mark on our existing setup where the existing data repository has proved to be obsolete. There is a need for contemporary data collection, processing, and learning. The smartphones and devices held by the last person of the society have also made them a potential contributor. It demands to design a distributed and decentralized Collaborative Learning system that would make the knowledge inference from every data point. Federated Learning [21], proposed by Google, brings the concept of in-place model training by keeping the data intact to the device. Though it is privacy-preserving in nature, however, it is susceptible to inference, poisoning, and Sybil attacks. Blockchain is a decentralized programming paradigm that provides a broader control of the system, making it attack resistant. It poses challenges of high computing power, storage, and latency. These emerging technologies can contribute to the desired learning system and motivate them to address their security and efficiency issues. This article systematizes the security issues in Federated Learning, its corresponding mitigation strategies, and Blockchain’s challenges. Further, a Blockchain-based Federated Learning architecture with two layers of participation is presented, which improves the global model accuracy and guarantees participant’s privacy. It leverages the channel mechanism of Blockchain for parallel model training and distribution. It facilitates establishing decentralized trust between the participants and the gateways using the Blockchain, which helps to have only honest participants.
Multi-peak Graph-based Multi-instance Learning for Weakly Supervised Object Detection
Authors: Ji Ruyi , Liu Zeyu , Zhang Libo , Liu Jianwei , Zuo Xin , Wu Yanjun , Zhao Chen , Wang Haofeng , Yang Lin
Published: June 2021

Weakly supervised object detection (WSOD), aiming to detect objects with only image-level annotations, has become one of the research hotspots over the past few years. Recently, much effort has been devoted to WSOD for the simple yet effective architecture and remarkable improvements have been achieved. Existing approaches using multiple-instance learning usually pay more attention to the proposals individually, ignoring relation information between proposals. Besides, to obtain pseudo-ground-truth boxes for WSOD, MIL-based methods tend to select the region with the highest confidence score and regard those with small overlap as background category, which leads to mislabeled instances. As a result, these methods suffer from mislabeling instances and lacking relations between proposals, degrading the performance of WSOD. To tackle these issues, this article introduces a multi-peak graph-based model for WSOD. Specifically, we use the instance graph to model the relations between proposals, which reinforces multiple-instance learning process. In addition, a multi-peak discovery strategy is designed to avert mislabeling instances. The proposed model is trained by stochastic gradients decent optimizer using back-propagation in an end-to-end manner. Extensive quantitative and qualitative evaluations on two publicly challenging benchmarks, PASCAL VOC 2007 and PASCAL VOC 2012, demonstrate the superiority and effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Influence of Proton Activity in H2/H2 Cells: Implications for Fuel-Cell Operation with Low Relative Humidities
Authors: Yoshida Toshihiko , Hojo TaKemasa , Jozuka Tetsuya , Matsuda Toshihiko , Danilovic Nemanja , Weber Adam Z. , Suzuki Toshiyuki
Published: June 2021

The proton activity term is typically ignored in the Nernst equation because of the definition of the unit activity of protons within catalyst layers in proton-exchange membrane fuel cells although the relative humidities of an anode (RHA) and a cathode (RHC) can be different. Herein, we investigate the effect of proton activity on the open-circuit voltage (OCV) of a H2/H2 cell by individually controlling RHA and RHC at ≤30%. The OCV was thermodynamically estimated by applying the correlations of the RH and water uptake of a Nafion® membrane. The OCV experimentally increased with an increase in the humidity difference: the highest OCV of 77 mV was observed at RHA 30% and RHC 0%. The electro-osmotic coefficient (ξ) was calculated and found to be 0.73 at 5%–30% RHC and 30% RHA. The kinetic current (i

k
) of the oxygen-reduction reaction was measured by the rotating disk electrode method to verify the influence of proton activity (a

H+
). i

k
was described as i

k

∝ a

H+

−β
, with β values of 0.29 and 0.45 for H2SO4 and CF3SO3H, respectively, at 0.9 V. The results demonstrate that for the dry operation of fuel cells, especially for heavy-duty applications, proton activity effects within ionomers must be considered.