bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Burning Season: Challenges to Conserve Biodiversity and the Critical Points of a Planet Threatened by the Danger Called Global Warming
Authors: Júnior Diniz Pereira Leite , Dantas Elisangela Santana de Oliveira , Souza Roseli de , Souza Marcelo Henrique de , Ramos Lucas Hudson Durigon , Sehn Monaliza , Siqueira Valmir Silvano , Oliveira Maria Madalena de , Silva Anagela Maria Acel 
Published: July 2021

Aim: Due to their biological richness and threat levels, the Cerrado and the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, along with other regions located in different parts of the planet, are identified a global hotspots and need greater attention due to the problems generated by global warming.
Objective: This article addresses general aspects of the planet's biodiversity, the improvement of ecosystem conservation in Brazil and in the world.
Methodology: We carried out an approach on the environmental situation in relation to global warming, the problems generated to the fauna and flora and the conditions in which the biomes of the Midwest region of Brazil are found.
Results: The State of Mato Grosso, located in the heart of South America, Brazil, encompasses in its territory the biodiversity of three large biomes: the Amazon, the Cerrado and the Pantanal. The cerrado, a savanna mosaic biome with 38.9% of the state's territory, is home to 30% of Brazilian biodiversity and 5% of the planet's species. In Mato Grosso Amazonia, the main anthropic pressure is caused by exploration, deforestation, crops and livestock. In the Pantanal of Mato Grosso, one of the largest continuous wetlands on the planet, it is marked by peculiarities, such as dry and flood seasons, low fertility soils, difficult access, among others, which restricted its occupation and human interference.
Conclusion: Finally, these biomes are areas of relevant interest for conservation and for environmental and ecosystem services, these biomes in the state are under threat and need attention from civil society and government in different spheres. General aspects of the biodiversity of biomes distributed in the territory of Mato Grosso/Brazil, socio-environmental challenges, conservation units and public and private policy initiatives that affect conservation, require active conservation intervention measures to harmonize investment activities with the priorities of biodiversity conservation.
Calibration and Validation of HEC-HMS Model for Chalakudy River Basin
Authors: Gopi Gudidha , Rema K. P. 
Published: July 2021

Prediction of flood prone areas in a basin and evolution of the impact of climate change on water resources needs a correct estimation of the availability of water which will solely be achieved by hydrological modelling of the basin. However, modelling the hydrology of a basin is a complex task and models should be well calibrated to increase user confidence in its predictive ability which in turn makes the application of the model effective. In this study rainfall-runoff simulation model viz., Hydrologic Modelling System, developed by the Hydrologic Engineering Centre USA (HEC-HMS) has been calibrated and validated for Chalakduy river basin in Kerala, in Sothern India for prediction of its hydrologic response. The result shows Curve Number (CN), Lag time and initial abstraction (Ia) to be the sensitive parameters for the simulated stream flow. The statistical analysis of Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency criteria, the percentage error in peak, percentage error in volume, and net difference of observed and simulated time to peak, which were used for performance evaluation, have been found to range from (0.70 to 0.87), (4.39 to 19.47%), (1.9 to 19%) and (0 to 1day) respectively, indicating a very good performance of the model for simulation of stream flow.
Morphometric and Genomic Characterization of Toxigenic Aspergillus Isolates Associated with Poultry Feeds and Feed Ingredients from Five Agro-Ecological Zones of Nigeria
Authors: Oyekemi Akinmusire, Olubamise , Olawale Omomowo Israel 
Published: July 2021

Introduction: Toxigenic aspergilli are storage contaminants of poultry feeds and feed ingredients which produce secondary metabolites known as mycotoxins in these products. This research is aimed at detecting and characterizing mycotoxin producing aspergillus species present in feeds given to poultry birds and in the ingredients used in the production of these feeds.
Method: A total of 102 samples of feed (n=30) and feed ingredients (n=72) were collected across 5 agro-ecological zones of Nigeria and analyzed for toxigenic Aspergilli using morphometric and molecular genomic characterization techniques. Different mycological media was used for isolation, by deploying pour plate method. The Aspergilli isolates morphometric identity were characterized using macroscopic and microscopic observed features. The isolated Aspergillus species were further characterized molecularly using genomic characterization protocols.
Results: The results of the morphometric characterization indicated that nine (9) Aspergillus species were detected in the feed and feed ingredients, with Aspergillus flavus having the highest rate of occurrence among the isolates. Furthermore, the genomic typing using internal transcribe spacer (ITS) as a barcode, as well as comparison of the fungal isolates with other Aspergillus species in the genebank showed 99-100% similarity. Also, toxigenic gene typing indicated that some of the A. flavus were toxigenic with the detection of the following genes Nor-1, ver-1, OmtB and AflR.
Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that toxigenic Aspergilli isolates are present in both poultry feed and feed ingredients from 5 agro-ecological zones in Nigeria and poses great public health issues.
Chronic Post-Inguinal Herniorrhaphy Pain in a Setting in Rural Africa
Authors: Wismayer Richard 
Published: July 2021

Introduction: In Africa, inguinal hernia is a common surgical condition with an incidence of 175 inguinal hernias per 100,000 people each year. Pain that persists for at least a duration of 3 months postoperatively following repair of an inguinal hernia defines chronic groin pain. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of chronic groin pain in a group of patients in a hospital setting in rural Africa.
Methodology: A descriptive retrospective study was carried out between 1st April 2008 to the 31st July 2012 on all patients ≥15 years of age that underwent an inguinal hernia repair were eligible in this study. Data was retrieved from patients’ clinical notes and theatre log books on age, sex, recurrence of hernia and post-operative pain lasting at least 3 months. Data obtained in the interview questionnaire included duration of pain, pain at the operation site, type of postoperative analgesia and a physical examination to determine recurrence was performed in the surgical-out-patients clinic.
Results: One hundred and fifty eight patients following repair of inguinal hernia using the modified Bassini technique were analysed. Mean age was 44.84 years. The male:female ratio was 3.65:1 with a male predominance. Chronic groin pain/discomfort was reported in 22(13.92%) and this pain/discomfort lasted for at least 3 months post-operatively.
Conclusions: The low incidence of chronic groin pain in our study may be due to the majority of them being operated as elective procedures under local anaesthesia with routine identification of the ilioinguinal nerve. However, a study with a larger sample size and a longer follow up may be required to ascertain the true prevalence of chronic groin pain following inguinal hernia surgery in rural Africa.
A Cross-sectional Study to Assess the Nutritional Status of Cancer Clients at Selected Hospitals of Mangaluru – A Pilot Study
Authors: Shambhavi . , Shanthi S. 
Published: July 2021

Aims: Malnutrition is an overlooked and undertreated problem among the cancer population. It is necessary to identify at-risk patients early and provide appropriate and effective nutritional interventions which in turn help the cancer patients to improve treatment tolerance and prognosis. Hence, the study was undertaken with the aim to assess the nutritional status of cancer clients admitted in the hospital.
Study design: A cross sectional descriptive survey was used.
Place and Duration of Study: Oncology wards of the AJ Institute of Medical Science and Research Centre, Mangalore between December 2019 to March 2020, then again December 2020 to February 2021.
Methodology: We included 100 cancer patients (39 males and 61 females). Participants were selected purposively. Head, neck and breast cancer patients who are aged above 18 years, admitted in the wards were included in the study. Data were collected by using demographic proforma and Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) scale.
Results: Data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings of the study revealed that more than half (56%) of the cancer clients are malnourished and 43% are at risk for malnutrition. Study found that there is a significant association of degree of malnutrition with demographic variables such as education and family income (at p=.05)
Conclusion: Based on the result, it was concluded that the patients with cancer should undergo nutrition screening at the early so that appropriate nutrition intervention could be planned to have positive outcomes.
Quality of Life in Recent Stroke Patients and Burden on Caregivers in Gujarat state of Western India
Authors: Kumar Palani , Nagar Preksha , Parmar Lata 
Published: July 2021

Background: Stroke is a global health problem. Patients with stroke may be damaged in many aspects of life, which affects the physical, psychological and social dimensions of quality of life. These factors lead to burden on the caregivers. This burden on the caregivers negatively affects the rehabilitation of the stroke patients.
Objective: To study the quality of life of stroke patients and burden on caregivers.
Methods: Stroke patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria were assessed for the quality of life by the Stroke Specific Quality Of Life Scale and the burden on caregivers was measured using the Zarit Burden Interview on one to one interview basis. The data were analysed using the SPSS software.
Results: The quality of life and burden scores were weakly correlated (r= -0.558 and p= 0.001). The quality of life and burden scores were also weakly correlated to the MMSE scores.
Conclusion: There is a negative correlation of the burden on caregivers with the quality of life of the stroke patients. There is also a positive correlation of MMSE score with the quality of life. Whereas, there is no correlation of the quality of life and burden scores with the patient’s age and sex, type of stroke, duration post stroke and whether any treatment has been taken.
UV Spectrophotometric Methods to Quantify Alogliptin Benzoate and Pioglitazone Hydrochloride
Authors: Sen Dhanya B. , Sen Ashim K. , Zanwar Aarti S. , Pandey Harshita , Maheshwari Rajesh A. 
Published: July 2021

Three new, precise, accurate and sensitive UV-Spectrophotometric methods namely Ratio Difference Spectroscopic Method (RDSM), First Derivative of Ratio Spectra Method (DR1) and Area Under Curve Method (AUC) were developed and validated for simultaneous assessment of alogliptin benzoate (ALO) and pioglitazone hydrochloride (PIO) in tablet dosage form. In RDSM, ratio spectra of both the drugs were recorded by dividing the mixtures using interfering drug as divisor. Then the difference between the amplitudes of obtained ratio spectra was measured at 288 and 291 nm for ALO and 236 and 245 nm for PIO. The second method DR1, where the first derivative of ratio spectra of both the drugs were recorded and the first derivative signal was measured at 290 nm for ALO and 276.8 nm for PIO. The scaling factor was fixed as 1 and wavelength interval (Δλ) as 2 for recording the first derivative of ratio spectra. In the third method (AUC), peak area of recorded zero order spectra was measured at 276 ± 10 nm for ALO and 267.8 ± 10 nm for PIO. All three proposed methods were validated according to “International Conference on Harmonization” (ICH) guidelines parameters. For all three methods, ALO and PIO obeyed Beer’s law in the range of 0.5-5 & 1.8-18 µg/ml, respectively. The % RSD of repeatability of measurement, intra-day and inter-day precision were found to be less than 2 for all three methods. Limit of detection (LOD) and Limit of quantification (LOQ) of the drugs were calculated which proved the sensitivity of the methods. The accuracy ranged between 98-101% for all three methods. No interference from pharmaceutical excipients present in the formulation was observed. These proposed methods were found to be simple, sensitive, accurate and precise and can be applied to the simultaneous estimation of ALO and PIO in combined tablet formulation and also appropriate for routine quality control analysis.
Cloning, expression, and in silico structural modeling of cholesterol oxidase of Acinetobacter sp. strain RAMD in E. coli
Authors: Mahmoud Hoda E. , El‐Far Shaymaa W. , Embaby Amira M. 
Published: July 2021

Cholesterol oxidases (CHOXs) are flavin‐adenine dinucleotide‐dependent oxidoreductases with a range of biotechnological applications. There remains an urgent need to identify novel CHOX family members to meet the demands of enzyme markets worldwide. Here, we report the cloning, heterologous expression, and structural modeling of the cholesterol oxidase of Acinetobacter sp. strain RAMD. The cholesterol oxidase gene was cloned and expressed in pGEM®‐T and pET‐28a(+) vectors, respectively, using a gene‐specific primer based on the putative cholesterol oxidase ORF of Acinetobacter baumannii strain AB030 (GenBank [gb] locus tag: IX87_05230). The obtained nucleotide sequence (1671 bp, gb: MK575469.2), translated to a protein designated choxAB (556 amino acids), was overexpressed as inclusion bodies (IBs) (MW ˜ 62 kDa) in 1 mm IPTG‐induced Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) Rosetta cells. The optimized expression conditions (1 mm IPTG with 2% [v/v] glycerol and at room temperature) yielded soluble active choxAB of 0.45 U·mL−1, with 56.25‐fold enhancement. The recombinant choxAB was purified to homogeneity using Ni2+‐affinity agarose column with specific activity (0.054 U·mg−1), yield (8.1%), and fold purification (11.69). Capillary isoelectric‐focusing indicated pI of 8.77 for choxAB. LC‐MS/MS confirmed the IBs (62 kDa), with 82.6% of the covered sequence being exclusive to A. baumannii cholesterol oxidase (UniProtKB: A0A0E1FG24). The 3D structure of choxAB was predicted using the LOMETS webtool with the cholesterol oxidase template of Streptomyces sp. SA‐COO (PDB: 2GEW). The predicted secondary structure included 18 α‐helices and 12 β‐strands, a predicted catalytic triad (E220, H380, and N514), and a conserved FAD‐binding sequence (GSGFGGSVSACRLTEKG). Future studies should consider fusion to solubilization tags and switching to the expression host Pichia pastoris to reduce IB formation.
AAPM MEDICAL PHYSICS PRACTICE GUIDELINE 2.b.: Commissioning and quality assurance of X‐ray‐based image‐guided radiotherapy systems
Authors: McCullough Steven P. , Alkhatib Hassaan , Antes Kyle J. , Castillo Sarah , Fontenot Jonas D. , Jensen Andrew R , Matney Jason , Olch Arthur J. 
Published: July 2021

AbstractThe American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) is a nonprofit professional society whose primary purposes are to advance the science, education, and professional practice of medical physics. The AAPM has more than 8000 members and is the principal organization of medical physicists in the United States. The AAPM will periodically define new practice guidelines for medical physics practice to help advance the science of medical physics and to improve the quality of service to patients throughout the United States. Existing medical physics practice guidelines will be reviewed for the purpose of revision or renewal, as appropriate, on their fifth anniversary or sooner. Each medical physics practice guideline represents a policy statement by the AAPM, has undergone a thorough consensus process in which it has been subjected to extensive review, and requires the approval of the Professional Council. The medical physics practice guidelines recognize that the safe and effective use of diagnostic and therapeutic radiology requires specific training, skills, and techniques, as described in each document. Reproduction or modification of the published practice guidelines and technical standards by those entities not providing these services is not authorized.
Direct energy spectrum measurement of X‐ray from a clinical linac
Authors: Suda Yuhi , Hariu Masatsugu , Yamauchi Ryohei , Miyasaka Ryohei , Myojoyama Atsushi , Chang Weishan , Saitoh Hidetoshi 
Published: July 2021

AbstractA realistic X‐ray energy spectrum is essential for accurate dose calculation using the Monte Carlo (MC) algorithm. An energy spectrum for dose calculation in the radiation treatment planning system is modeled using the MC algorithm and adjusted to obtain acceptable agreement with the measured percent depth dose (PDD) and off‐axis ratio. The simulated energy spectrum may not consistently reproduce a realistic energy spectrum. Therefore, direct measurement of the X‐ray energy spectrum from a linac is necessary to obtain a realistic spectrum. Previous studies have measured low photon fluence directly, but the measurement was performed with a nonclinical linac with a thick target and a long target‐to‐detector distance. In this study, an X‐ray energy spectrum from a clinical linac was directly measured using a NaI(Tl) scintillator at an ultralow dose rate achieved by adjusting the gun grid voltage. The measured energy spectrum was unfolded by the Gold algorithm and compared with a simulated spectrum using statistical tests. Furthermore, the PDD was calculated using an unfolded energy spectrum and a simulated energy spectrum was compared with the measured PDD to evaluate the validity of the unfolded energy spectrum. Consequently, there was no significant difference between the unfolded and simulated energy spectra by nonparametric, Wilcoxon's rank‐sum, chi‐square, and two‐sample Kolmogorov–Smirnov tests with a significance level of 0.05. However, the PDD calculated from the unfolded energy spectrum better agreed with the measured compared to the calculated PDD results from the simulated energy spectrum. The adjustment of the incident electron parameters using MC simulation is sensitive and takes time. Therefore, it is desirable to obtain the energy spectrum by direct measurement. Thus, a method to obtain the realistic energy spectrum by direct measurement was proposed in this study.
MVCT versus kV‐CBCT for targets subject to respiratory motion: A phantom study
Authors: Baran Geoffrey , Dominello Michael M. , Bossenberger Todd , Paximadis Peter , Burmeister Jay W. 
Published: July 2021

AbstractThe use of kilovoltage cone‐beam computed tomography (kV‐CBCT) or megavoltage computed tomography (MVCT) for image guidance prior to lung stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) is common clinical practice. We demonstrate that under equivalent respiratory conditions, image guidance using both kV‐CBCT and MVCT may result in the inadequate estimation of the range of target motion under free‐breathing (FB) conditions when standard low‐density window and levels are used. Two spherical targets within a respiratory motion phantom were imaged using both long‐exhale (LE) and sinusoidal respiratory traces. MVCT and kV‐CBCT images were acquired and evaluated for peak‐to‐peak amplitudes of 10 or 20 mm in the cranial‐caudal direction, and with 2, 4 or 5 s periods. All images were visually inspected for artifacts and conformity to the ITV for each amplitude, period, trace‐type, and target size. All LE respiratory traces required a lower threshold HU window for MVCT and kV‐CBCT compared to sinusoidal traces to obtain 100% volume conformity compared with the theoretical ITV (ITVT). Excess volume was less than 2% for all kV‐CBCT contours regardless of trace‐type, breathing period, or amplitude, while the maximum excess volume for MVCT was 48%. Adjusting window and level to maximize conformity with the ITVT is necessary to reduce registration uncertainty to less than 5 mm. To fully capture target motion with either MVCT or kV‐CBCT, substantial changes in HU levels up to −600 HU are required which may not be feasible clinically depending on the target's location and surrounding tissue contrast. This registration method, utilizing a substantially decreased window and level compared to standard low‐density settings, was retrospectively compared to the automated registration algorithm for five lung SBRT patients exposed to pre‐treatment kV‐CBCT image guidance. Differences in registrations in the super‐inferior (SI) direction greater than the commonly used ITV to PTV margin of 5 mm were encountered for several cases. In conclusion, pre‐treatment image guidance for lung SBRT targets using MVCT or kV‐CBCT is unlikely to capture the full extent of target motion as defined by the ITVT and additional caution is warranted to avoid registration errors for small targets and patients with LE respiratory traces.
Static versus dynamic medical images: The role of cue utilization in diagnostic performance
Authors: Carrigan Ann J. , Stoodley Paul , Ng Kenny , Moerel Denise , Wiggins Mark W. 
Published: July 2021

SummaryEchocardiographers can detect abnormalities accurately and rapidly from dynamic images. This is likely due to the application of cue‐based associations resident in memory, a process known as cue utilization. This study investigated whether cue utilization is associated with the ability to apply within‐domain capabilities (dynamic) to more degraded images (static). Fifty‐eight echocardiographers completed the echocardiography edition of the Expert Intensive Skills Evaluation 2.0 (EXPERTise 2.0) to establish behavioral indicators of within‐domain cue utilization. They also completed an abnormality detection and categorization task that comprised briefly presented static and moving images (50% abnormal). Behaviors consistent with higher cue utilization were associated with greater accuracy in detecting both static and dynamic images but not for categorization. This study provides important information about how experts who have the capacity to utilize cue‐based strategies can rapidly and accurately detect abnormalities from domain‐specific stimuli and generalize their skills to more challenging stimuli.