bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Ecological consequences of Australia's “Black Summer” bushfires: Managing for recovery
Authors: Dickman Christopher R. 
Published: July 2021

Abstract
Fire has long been a part of the Australian environment and remains a potent force in shaping the adaptations of species, the dynamics of populations, and the structure of ecological communities. However, the fire regime is changing. Fire seasons are longer, wet vegetation types that do not usually burn are now at risk, and fire intensity and severity are greater than in the recent past. A particularly widespread event occurred in the forest and woodland regions of Australia over the summer of 2019–2020. Termed the “Black Summer” bushfires, remotely sensed data indicate that over 30 million hectares of vegetation were burned, including an unprecedented large area of forest. The extraordinary geographical scale of the Black Summer fires, including the intensity and speed of fire spread, has led to widespread concern about the ecological damage that occurred. Recent estimates suggest that almost three billion vertebrates and up to 240 trillion invertebrates were affected by the fires. Fires were experienced in part of the geographical ranges of 832 vertebrate species and 37 threatened ecological communities, with some of these entities feared to be at risk of extinction. Field assessments of ecological recovery have been slowed by COVID-19 restrictions and by a diminution in ecological monitoring capacity that occurred before the last fire season. This paper assesses the dire ecological consequences of the Black Summer bushfires and proposes a series of steps to help achieve recovery of biodiversity and mitigate the effects of future mega-fires. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2021;17:1162–1167. © 2021 SETAC
KEY POINTS
Australia's 2019–2020 megafires were of unprecedented geographical scale and severity, burning over 30 million hectares of the nation's forest and woodland estate Expert opinion and modeled assessments indicate that the ecological consequences of the 2019–2020 megafires are severe, but a critical lack of pre-fire monitoring and post-fire access to burnt sites due to COVID-19 restrictions hampered direct quantification of the impacts of the fires on biota. A Biodiversity Bureau with an embedded Bushfire Agency should be established as a matter of priority to integrate data from ecological monitoring programs and ensure improved outcomes for both bushfire management and biodiversity conservation.
High‐resolution HLA genotyping identifies alleles associated with severe COVID‐19: A preliminary study from India
Authors: Vishnubhotla Ravikanth , Sasikala Mitnala , Ketavarapu Vijayasarathy , Reddy Duvvur Nageshwar 
Published: July 2021

AbstractIntroductionHuman leukocyte antigen (HLA) variability has been demonstrated to be associated with susceptibility/severity of COVID‐19. High‐resolution HLA genotyping to identify alleles associated with severe COVID‐19 in an Indian cohort was performed.MethodsQuantitative reverse‐transcription polymerase chain reaction‐confirmed SARS‐CoV‐2‐positive patients with mild/moderate/severe disease (n = 54) and asymptomatic (n = 42) were recruited and genotyped for 11‐HLA loci on MiSeq using NGSgo®‐MX11‐3 and analyzed (NGSengine; GenDx).ResultsA significant difference in alleles between the groups was identified for HLA‐C*04:01:01:01, HLA‐DRB5*01:01:01:02, HLA‐DQA1*03:01:01:01, HLA‐DPB1*04:01:01:41, and HLA‐DPA1*01:03:01:02. Alleles namely, HLA‐C*04:01:01:01 (OR: 5.71; 95% CI: 1.2–27.14; p = .02), HLA‐DRB5*01:01:01:02 (OR: 2.94; 95% CI: 1.1–7.84; p = .03), DQA1*03:01:01:01 (OR: 22.47; 95% CI: 1.28–393.5; p = .03), HLA‐DPB1*04:01:01:41 (OR: 9.44; 95% CI: 0.5–175.81; p = .13), and HLA‐DPA1*01:03:01:02 (OR: 8.27; 95% CI: 2.26–30.21; p = .001) were associated with severe COVID‐19.ConclusionGenotyping for these alleles will enable identification of individuals at risk of severe disease and stratification for preferential vaccination.
Untersuchungen zur Sedimentation in der Darß‐Zingster Boddenkette — ein Beitrag zur Aufstellung einer Energie‐ und Stoffbilanz im Ökosystem. Teil 2: Untersuchungen zur Sedimentation des Planktons
Authors: Nausch‐Stengl M. 
Published: July 2021

Bei 1975 in der Darß‐Zingster Boddenkette durchgeführten Sedimentationsmessungen wurden auch Untersuchungen zur Sedimentation des Planktons vorgenommen.Aus$$er qualitativen und quantitativen Bestimmung des Phyto‐ und Zooplanktons im Wasserkörper und im sedimentierten Material werden Rückschlüsse auf die Sedimentationsrate gezogen. Die Sedimentationsrate des Phytoplanktons wird an Hand der drei Hauptgruppen Cyanophyceae, Bacillariophyceae und Chiorophyceae dargelegt, wobei die Cyanophyceae und Chlorophyceae nach Arten aufgeschlüsselt werden. Die wichtigsten Arten werden in der Arbeit genauer charakterisiert. Das Zooplankton wird an Hand des Gesamtzooplanktons und der drei wichtigsten Rotatorienarten diskutiert.Die Sedimentationsrate variiert von Art zu Art und ist auch je nach Darstellungsweise (Individuenzahl bzw. Verdrängungsvolumen) verschieden. Eine zeitliche Verschiebung zwischen dem Vorkommen im Wasserkörper und im sedimentierten Material kann sowohl beim Phyto‐ als auch beim Zooplankton nicht eindeutig festgestellt werden, sie deutet sich jedoch bei einigen Arten an.
Methods of Analyzing Quinones in Water and their Application in Studying the Effects of Hydrophytes on Phenols. Part 2: Polarographic Methods of Quinone Analysis
Authors: Stom D. J. , Timofeeva S. S. , Kashina N. F. , Bielykh L. J. , Souslov S. X. , Boutokov V. V. , Apartzin M. S. 
Published: July 2021

After an outline of the possibilities and difficulties connected with the polarographic determination of aqueous quinone solutions, a specified oscillo‐polarographic method of investigation is described. By the examples of solutions of pure substances as well as of the industrial waters of a pulp mill (up to 2.3 mg/1 total quinone) the conditions for applying the technique developed art' explained. The relative error of this method does not exceed 3%
Controlled release of the drug for osteoporosis from the surface of titanium implants coated with calcium titanate
Authors: Sandomierski Mariusz , Zielińska Monika , Buchwald Tomasz , Patalas Adam , Voelkel Adam 
Published: July 2021

AbstractThe most popular drugs used to prevent osteoporosis that causes low mineral density and weakened microstructure of bones are bisphosphonates. Bisphosphonates can be administered in several ways, but each delivery method has drawbacks. Due to this, new methods of their delivery are being sought. Titanium implants coated with calcium titanate were prepared in this work as carriers for bisphosphonates. Such a modification has been proposed in order to improve the therapeutic properties of the implant. Slow release of the drug at a constant level will positively affect the recovery process and osteointegration. Furthermore, the drug will be slowly released very close to the area affected by osteoporosis. These studies were confirmed, using a variety of methods: EDS and XPS (to examine surface modification and drug sorption), Raman mapping (to proof the presence of the drug on the entire surface of the material) and UV‐VIS spectroscopy (to determine bisphosphonate sorption and release profile). It was proved that the active substance (sorbed on the implant) could be completely released upon contact with body fluids within a month. The obtained results will allow for the production of endoprostheses dedicated to patients with osteoporosis in the future.
Structure–solubility and solvation energy relationships for propanol in different solvents using structural and empirical scales
Authors: Honarasa Fatemeh , Yousefinejad Saeed , Nekoeinia Mohsen 
Published: July 2021

AbstractResearch on the solubility ofn‐propanol in different solvents is important because of the wide applications ofn‐propanol in cosmetics, cleaning, printing, coatings, and chemical industries. The goal of this research was to investigate the structural or empirical properties of different solvents on the Ostwald solubility coefficient ofn‐propanol. In this research, two different approaches, that is, linear solvation energy relationship (LSER) and quantitative structure–property relationship (QSPR), have been used to predict and descript the gas‐solvent partition coefficient ofn‐propanol, as its solubility index, in 36 different solvents. In the suggested LSER model, the role of solvent–solute interactions on the solubility ofn‐propanol as a physicochemical property can be investigated. In addition to structural features, which were used in the QSPR model, the interpretation of the LSER model showed that the donor number of solvents, modified polarity scale of solvents, and entropy of solvation are three important parameters in the Ostwald solubility coefficient ofn‐propanol.
Elevated serum eotaxin and IP‐10 levels as potential biomarkers for the detection of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma
Authors: Chang Chen , Wang Min‐Jie , Bi Xiao‐Feng , Fan Zhi‐Yuan , Feng Dan , Cai Hong‐Qing , Zhang Yu , Xu Xin , Cai Yan , Qi Jun , Wei Wen‐Qiang , Hao Jia‐Jie , Wang Ming‐Rong 
Published: July 2021

AbstractBackground and AimsEsophageal squamous cell cancer (ESCC) is one of the leading malignant cancers with a high incidence and mortality. Exploring novel serum biomarkers will help improve the management and monitoring of ESCC.MethodsIn the present study, we first used a ProcartaPlex Array to screen for serum proteins that were increased in 40 ESCC patients compared with matched normal controls; we found that eight proteins (IL‐2, IL‐5, IP‐10, IL‐8, eotaxin, TNF‐α, HGF, and MIP‐1b) had higher serum levels in ESCC patients than in normal controls. We further verified the clinical relevance of the candidate biomarkers with a larger sample of sera.ResultsIn the 174 tested ESCC patients and 189 normal controls, the serum levels of eotaxin and IP‐10 were significantly higher in patients than in normal controls (p = 0.0038, 0.0031). In particular, these two proteins were also elevated in the sera of patients with early‐stage (0‐IIA) ESCC (p = 0.0041, 0.0412). When combining CEA and CYFRA21‐1 (in use clinically) with eotaxin or IP‐10, the effectiveness of detecting ESCC was superior to that of CEA and/or CYFRA21‐1 alone. Moreover, the serum level of eotaxin dropped significantly after surgical resection of primary tumors compared with that in preoperative ESCC samples (p < 0.001).ConclusionsThe data suggest that serum eotaxin and IP‐10 might be potential biomarkers for the detection of ESCC.
Association between the use of social networking sites and mental health of young generation in Bangladesh: A cross‐sectional study
Authors: Islam Md. Rabiul , Jannath Sanjida , Moona Amena A. , Akter Shahinur , Hossain Md. Jamal , Islam Sardar M. A. 
Published: July 2021

AbstractThe social networking sites (SNS) are popular among people of all levels. Here we aimed to evaluate the relationship between the use of SNS and the mental health of the young generation in Bangladesh. We conducted this cross‐sectional study among 791 subjects aged between 15 and 40 years. Self‐reported questionnaires were used to collect demographics and SNS usage patterns of the respondents. We have measured the levels of loneliness, depression, generalized anxiety, and sleep disturbance using the recommended mental health assessment scales. The estimations of loneliness, depression, generalized anxiety, and sleep disturbance among the respondents were 64%, 38%, 63%, and 75%, respectively. Young adults, female sex, unmarried individuals, students, and urban residents reported higher psychological issues regarding the SNS use. Reported mental health issues were associated with time spent in SNS, the number of friends and groups connected with, personal beliefs, and feeling about SNS. A notable association between the use of SNS and the mental health issues of users has been ascertained. The present study findings might have significant implications in the field of clinical psychology and psychotherapy. Therefore, we recommend more comprehensive clinical interventions to find the tangible impact of SNS on the mental health of users.
Prevalence, clinical characteristics, and management of irritable bowel syndrome in Vietnam: A scoping review
Authors: Quach Duc Trong , Vu Khoa Tien , Vu Khien Van 
Published: July 2021

AbstractIrritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is one of the most common gastrointestinal disorders worldwide. Its prevalence varies significantly from country to country, largely due to heterogeneity in the available data. Recent studies show that the prevalence of IBS in Asia is on the rise. However, there are very limited data regarding its prevalence in the Vietnamese population. This review aims to offer an overview of the prevalence and clinical characteristics of IBS in the Vietnamese population; and to discuss the current management of IBS in Vietnam—taking into account the available medical resources and the local spectrum of lower gastrointestinal disorders that may mimic IBS.
Partitioning digraphs with outdegree at least 4
Authors: Liu Guanwu , Yu Xingxing 
Published: July 2021

AbstractScott asked the question of determining such that if is a digraph with arcs and minimum outdegree then has a partition such that , where (respectively, ) is the number of arcs from to (respectively, from to ). Lee, Loh, and Sudakov showed that and , and conjectured that for . In this paper, we show and prove some partial results for .
Dengue fever outbreak in Cook Island: A rising concern, efforts, challenges, and future recommendations
Authors: Uwishema Olivier , Nnagha Ekene M. , Chalhoub Elie , Nchasi Goodluck , Mwazighe Rehema M. , Akin Burak T. , Adanur Irem , Onyeaka Helen 
Published: July 2021

AbstractThe Cook Island government has made several efforts to ensure zero confirmed cases and transmission of COVID‐19, especially among visiting travelers. However, the Cook Island ministry of health has to deal with the new strain of dengue fever outbreak, known as dengue fever type 2 (DEN‐2), by adopting several measures to control its spread, especially in the affected parts of the subtropical country. This paper aims to describe the dengue fever response taken in Cook Island and suggest recommendations to control the risk of transmission in endemic parts of the world.
Usefulness of P‐wave duration in patients with sick sinus syndrome as a predictor of atrial fibrillation
Authors: Murase Yosuke , Imai Hajime , Ogawa Yasuhiro , Kano Naoaki , Mamiya Keita , Ikeda Tomoyo , Okabe Kei , Arai Kenji , Yamazoe Shinji , Torii Jun , Kawaguchi Katsuhiro 
Published: July 2021

AbstractBackgroundThis study aimed to clarify P‐wave duration (PWD) ability before pacemaker implantation to predict worsening atrial fibrillation (AF) burden after the procedure.MethodsWe retrospectively investigated 75 patients who underwent permanent pacemaker implantation due to sick sinus syndrome (SSS) at Komaki City Hospital between January 2006 and May 2019. Worsening AF burden was defined as an increase in the number of AF episodes, each lasting ≥5.5 hours a day.ResultsIn the study population, 17 patients (23%) had worsening AF burden during the follow‐up period. These patients had significantly longer PWD in lead Ⅱ (117.9 ± 19.9 ms vs 101.3 ± 20.0 ms, P = .002) than the patients without worsening AF burden. The best discriminative cutoff value for PWD in lead Ⅱ was 108 ms (sensitivity, 77%; specificity, 67%). In multivariate analysis, PWD in lead II ≥108 ms (hazard ratio, 5.395; 95% confidence interval, 1.352‐21.523; P = .017) was an independent predictor of worsening AF burden. Patients with PWD in lead II <108 ms showed a significantly higher event‐free rate against worsening AF burden than those with PWD in lead II ≥108 ms (81% vs 9%, P = .005).ConclusionsProlonged PWD before pacemaker implantation was the most important independent predictor of worsening AF burden after the procedure. In patients with SSS, prolonged PWD can be a useful marker for predicting worsening of AF burden after pacemaker implantation.
Association between polypharmacy and depression: a systematic review and meta‐analysis
Authors: Palapinyo Sirinoot , Methaneethorn Janthima , Leelakanok Nattawut 
Published: July 2021

AbstractAimsPolypharmacy is associated with multiple adverse health outcomes. The objective of this systematic review and meta‐analysis was to explore the association between polypharmacy and depression.Methods and resultsA systematic literature review was conducted by searching MEDLINE, Scopus, Science Direct, and CINAHL Complete to identify studies assessing the association between polypharmacy and depression published until November 2020. A meta‐analysis was performed using random effect models. Heterogeneity was assessed using theI2‐statistic. Nineteen studies were included in the meta‐analysis. We found that an increase in the number of drugs was associated with an increased risk of depression (OR = 1.55 [95% CI: 1.01, 2.36;I2 = 62%, n = 2]). Further, polypharmacy defined as the concurrent use of five or more medications was associated with an increased risk of depression (OR = 1.73 [95% CI: 1.39, 2.14],I2 = 83%, n = 8).ConclusionThis meta‐analysis revealed that polypharmacy, both discretely and categorically defined, was associated with an increased risk of depression.
Combining Nd:YAG laser with optical coherence tomography for nonsurgical treatment of basal cell carcinoma
Authors: Markowitz Orit , Bressler Moshe Y. 
Published: July 2021

AbstractBackgroundEffective and aesthetically appealing management options are needed for basal cell carcinoma (BCC), the most common skin cancer. The Nd:YAG laser shows promise, but most studies use biopsy to demonstrate tumor clearance. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) could allow good tumor margin control while enabling recurrence monitoring.ObjectiveDetermine the efficacy of the Nd:YAG laser to treat BCCs while controlling for tumor margin with OCT.MethodsA 1064‐nm Nd:YAG laser was applied to treat 119 BCCs in 102 patients, where tumor margins were approximated using OCT. Lesions were treated every 2 months until no residual tumor remained; patients were monitored for 1 year after treatment completion for clinical and subclinical recurrences. Outcomes were analyzed retrospectively.ResultsMost BCCs cleared after one treatment (85/119, 70.4%). Several factors were significantly associated with a suboptimal response, that is, those with recurrence or requiring ≥2 treatments: lesion size >5 mm (p = 0.03), focal sclerosing subtype (p = 0.018), and immunosuppression (p = 0.039). Midface location, patient compliance, and diagnosis method were codependent variables (r2 = 0.2011, p = 0.0008). All BCCs (119/119) demonstrated complete clinical and subclinical tumor clearance 2 months after final laser treatment. By 1 year, overall clinical recurrence rate (RR) was 1.7% (2/119) and cumulative subclinical RR was 4.2% (5/119). Upon excluding immunosuppressed patients, clinical RR and combined subclinical RR for primary BCC were 1% (1/98) and 2% (2/98), respectively, and 0% (0/17) and 11.8% (2/17), respectively, for recurrent BCC.ConclusionsThe Nd:YAG nonablative laser can offer an effective treatment for BCCs when used with noninvasive diagnostic tools such as OCT.
The iCOLT climate service: Seasonal predictions of irrigation for Emilia‐Romagna, Italy
Authors: Villani Giulia , Tomei Fausto , Pavan Valentina , Pirola Alessandro , Spisni Andrea , Marletto Vittorio 
Published: July 2021

AbstractEmilia‐Romagna is a region of Northern Italy whose land use is mainly devoted to agriculture, especially over the plain area. Since the region is characterized by summer water shortages and recurrent drought conditions, a summer irrigation water demand forecast system has been developed, operating both at regional and Land Reclamation and Irrigation Board levels. Remote sensing crop detection is used in combination with a soil water balance model as a monitoring tool in support to water management and to optimize the use of available water resources. These instruments are also integrated with operational calibrated probabilistic seasonal forecast products currently based on Copernicus Climate Services, in order to evaluate summer irrigation water needs in advance in support to decision‐making by water managers. Results obtained using this prediction system are characterized by a significant forecast skill. The sources of the predictability of this system are specifically evaluated, showing that the correct representation of crop geographical distribution is crucial for the ability of the system to capture spatial variability in irrigation demand. Furthermore, the system forecast skill is mostly due to the use of an empirical model to assess the hypodermic water table depth initialized by means of the observed meteorological data of the months before the beginning of the summer season. Finally, calibrated probabilistic seasonal predictions also contribute to a minor extent to the good performance of the system as a whole.
Noise2Context: Context‐assisted learning 3D thin‐layer for low‐dose CT
Authors: Zhang Zhicheng , Liang Xiaokun , Zhao Wei , Xing Lei 
Published: July 2021

AbstractPurposeComputed tomography (CT) has played a vital role in medical diagnosis, assessment, and therapy planning, etc. In clinical practice, concerns about the increase of x‐ray radiation exposure attract more and more attention. To lower the x‐ray radiation, low‐dose CT (LDCT) has been widely adopted in certain scenarios, while it will induce the degradation of CT image quality. In this paper, we proposed a deep learning‐based method that can train denoising neural networks without any clean data.MethodsIn this work, for 3D thin‐slice LDCT scanning, we first drive an unsupervised loss function which was equivalent to a supervised loss function with paired noisy and clean samples when the noise in the different slices from a single scan was uncorrelated and zero‐mean. Then, we trained the denoising neural network to map one noise LDCT image to its two adjacent LDCT images in a single 3D thin‐layer LDCT scanning, simultaneously. In essence, with some latent assumptions, we proposed an unsupervised loss function to train the denoising neural network in an unsupervised manner, which integrated the similarity between adjacent CT slices in 3D thin‐layer LDCT.ResultsFurther experiments on Mayo LDCT dataset and a realistic pig head were carried out. In the experiments using Mayo LDCT dataset, our unsupervised method can obtain performance comparable to that of the supervised baseline. With the realistic pig head, our method can achieve optimal performance at different noise levels as compared to all the other methods that demonstrated the superiority and robustness of the proposed Noise2Context.ConclusionsIn this work, we present a generalizable LDCT image denoising method without any clean data. As a result, our method not only gets rid of the complex artificial image priors but also amounts of paired high‐quality training datasets.