bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Development of a nomogram for the prediction of complicated appendicitis during pregnancy
Authors: Zheng Xiaosong , He Xiaojun 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
Background: Complicated appendicitis during pregnancy directly affects the clinical prognosis of both mother and fetus. However, accurate identification of complicated appendicitis in pregnancy is fraught with various challenges. The purpose of this study was to identify the risk factors and to develop a useful nomogram to predict complicated appendicitis during pregnancy.
Methods: This retrospective study involved pregnant women who underwent appendectomy at the Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Hubei Provincial from May 2016 to May 2022 and who ultimately had histopathologically confirmed acute appendicitis. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were applied to analyze clinical parameters and imaging features as a way to identify risk factors. Then, nomogram and scoring systems predicting complicated appendicitis in pregnancy were constructed and evaluated. Finally, the potential non-linear association between risk factors and complicated appendicitis was analyzed using restricted cubic splines.
Results: Three indicators were finally identified for the construction of the nomogram: gestational weeks, CRP, and NEUT%. To improve the clinical utility, the gestational weeks were divided into three periods (first trimesters, second trimesters, and third trimesters), while the optimal cut-offs for CRP level and NEUT% were found to be 34.82 mg/L and 85.35%, respectively. Multivariate regression analysis showed that third trimester (P=0.013, OR=16.81), CRP level ≥34.82 mg/L (P=0.007, OR=6.24) and NEUT% ≥85.35% (P=0.011, OR=18.05) were independent risk factors for complicated appendicitis. The AUC of the nomogram predicting complicated appendicitis in pregnancy was 0.872 (95% CI: 0.803-0.942). In addition, the model was shown to have excellent predictive performance by plotting calibration plots, DCA, and clinical impact curves. When the optimal cut-off point of the scoring system was set at 12, the corresponding AUC, sensitivity, specificity, PLR, NLR, PPV, and NPV values were AUC: 0.869(95% CI: 0.799-0.939),100%, 58.60%, 2.41, 0, 42%, and 100%, respectively. The restricted cubic splines revealed a linear relationship between these predictors and complicated appendicitis during pregnancy.
Conclusions: The nomogram utilizes a minimum number of variables to develop an optimal predictive model. Using this model, the risk of developing complicated appendicitis in individual patients can be determined so that reasonable treatment choices can be made.
Fingerprinting of Phosphorus in river sediments using the structural equation modeling
Authors: Ebrahimi Eisa , Asadi Hossein , Rahmani Mohammad , Bayat Hossein 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
Phosphorus (P) is transported into the water resources mainly due to soil erosion. Accumulation of P in water bodies leads to the subsequent eutrophication phenomenon. Using the structural equation modeling, this study investigated the relative contribution of different P-producing sources in the Pasikhan river watershed, south of the Caspian Sea, Northern Iran. For this purpose, 79 surface soil samples and 14 suspended sediments were taken from the potential P sources and the river. These sources included undisturbed and degraded rangelands, forests, rice fields, tea gardens, and gullies. Phosphorus transfer is mainly associated with the movement of clay particles. Therefore, clay was used as an intermediary parameter to make the modeling more reliable. The implemented structural equations in PLS software were used for modeling purposes. The overall model fitting index (goodness of fit,GOF=0.591) showed the model's strong forecasting capability. The results of the T-values test also showed that undisturbed rangelands (T-values=1.67) and forests (T-values=1.31) have no significant effect on the river's P content. Degraded rangelands, gullies, rice fields, and tea gardens significantly contribute to P in the river sediments. In particular, the highest contribution was related to degraded rangelands (intensity of the effect=0.63) and gullies (intensity of the effect=0.47). Finally, the results showed that gullies' contribution was 28.26% to the P production in river sediments, while the other sources had a relatively equal contribution (degraded rangelands=27.5%; tea gardens=23.9%; rice fields=20.3%). Overall, the results confirmed that structural equation modeling is a robust and efficient approach to identifying P sources.
Combined SPT and FCS methods reveal a mechanism of RNAP II oversampling in cell nuclei
Authors: Fournier Marie , Leclerc Pierre , Leray Aymeric , Champelovier Dorian , Agbazahou Florence , Bidaux Gabriel , Furlan Alessandro , Héliot Laurent 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
Gene expression orchestration is a key question in fundamental and applied research. Different models for transcription regulation were proposed, yet the dynamic regulation of RNA polymerase II (RNAP II) activity remains a matter of debate. To improve our knowledge of this topic, we investigated RNAP II motility in eukaryotic cells by combining Single Particle Tracking (SPT) and Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS) techniques, to take advantage of their different sensitivities in order to analyze together slow and fast molecular movements. Thanks to calibrated samples, we developed a benchmark for quantitative analysis of molecular dynamics, to eliminate the main potential instrumental biases. We applied this workflow to study the diffusion of RPB1, the catalytic subunit of RNAP II. By a cross-analysis of FCS and SPT, we could highlight different RPB1 motility states and identifyed a stationary state, a slow diffusion state, and two different modes of subdiffusion. Interestingly, our analysis also unveiled the oversampling by RPB1 of nuclear subdomains. Based on these data, we propose a novel model of spatio-temporal transcription regulation. Altogether, our results highlight the importance of combining microscopy approaches at different time scales to get a full insight into the real complexity of molecular kinetics in cells.
A combination between Adaptive Neuro-fuzzy inference system and neural network for mobile robot dynamic obstacles avoidance
Authors: Yosif Zead , Mahmood Basil Shukr , Alkhayat Saad Z. 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
When a mobile robot has the ability to avoid obstacles while traveling is called an autonomous robot. There are various methods and techniques used to get a collision-free path until gets to the target point. The dynamic obstacle problems are handled by reactive mobile robot navigation techniques. In this paper, the problem of dynamic obstacle avoidance has been addressed by proposing a combination between an Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy inference system and a Neural network. The proposed system consists of three main parts. The first part was abstracted by using A* algorithm to get the initial path from the start to the goal point. The second part of the system classifies Obstacle(s). The classification estimate whether the obstacle is dangerous and may collide with the mobile robot or not. The relative velocity and distance between the mobile robot and obstacle (s) determine whether the obstacle(s) are dangerous or not. Bayesian regularization Back-Propagation Neural Network is used to train the data for obstacle severity classification. Where obstacle is divided into five zones where zone 1 is dangerous and zone 5 is safe. When obstacle gets into critical regions classified as dangerous. The third part of the system is related to avoiding obstacles if these obstacles are classified as a danger to the mobile robot. The Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System has been adopted in the process of avoiding obstacles during the mobile robot motion. Obstacle avoidance is a reaction taken by the robot to avoid collision with dynamic obstacles around it, which are classified as dangerous obstacles by the neural networks. Three important criteria were used as input to the Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System, which are the relative speed, distance, and angle between the robot and the obstacle, the output was a suggested steering angle and speed for the mobile robot. The simulation results for the tested cases show the capability of the proposed controller for avoiding static and dynamic obstacles in a fully known environment. The Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System enhances the performance of the proposed controller resulting in the reduction of path length, processing time, and the number of iterations.
Comparative study of solid waste management in gaMothapo and Seshego in Polokwane Local Municipality Limpopo province, South Africa
Authors: SM Sekgobela , Semenya K 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
The constitution of South Africa states that local government must provide waste management services which includes waste removal, storage and disposal services, but local municipalities with combination of urban and rural areas often struggle to find the balance in providing services to both areas. Solid waste collection frequencies are higher in urban areas than in rural areas. Therefore this study sought to compare municipal solid waste management in gaMothapo and Seshego in Polokwane Local Municipality, Limpopo, South Africa. To achieve the aim and objectives of this study, mixed method research approach was applied. The approach was in a form of qualitative and quantitative methods which were applied concurrently. Study participants were selected using non-probability convenience sampling for gaMothapo and Seshego households and non-probability convenience sampling for municipal workers. The comparison was based on household demographics, household waste management choices and municipal solid waste management services. Structured questionnaires were utilized to arrive at a detailed understanding of how the community of gaMothapo and Seshego manage their solid waste. Semi-structured interviews were utilised to understand how municipality manage solid waste in gaMothapo as compared to Seshego and observations at the collection points were also used to gather more information on solid waste management. This study found that Polokwane local municipality uses different methods to manage waste in gaMothapo and Seshego. The households in Seshego rely mostly on weekly door to door solid waste collection by municipality. The households pay for the waste collection services monthly through the rates which are added to households municipal bill and is payable to the individual municipal account. Households in gaMothapo are provided with weekly nodal waste collection services for free. Shortage of resources and infrastructure together with lack of community awareness in both areas were found to hinder an effective solid waste management by Polokwane Local Municipality. The study also determined that Polokwane Local Municipality prioritise the provision of better waste removal services than waste minimisation through community awareness, recycling and material recovery. This study recommends that waste management awareness in both study areas should be conducted regularly.
iGly-IDN: Identifying Lysine Glycation Sites in Proteins Based on Improved DenseNet
Authors: Jia Jianhua , Wu Genqiang , Li Meifang 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
Background
Lysine glycation is one of the most significant protein post-translational modifications (PTMs), which changes the properties of the proteins and causes them to be dysfunctional. Accurately identifying glycation sites helps understand the biological function and potential mechanism of glycation in disease treatments. Nonetheless, the experimental methods are ordinarily inefficient and costly, so effective computational methods need to be developed.
Results
In this study, we proposed a new model called iGly-IDN based on the improved DenseNet. First, one hot encoding was adopted to obtain the original feature maps. Afterward, the improved DenseNet was used to capture feature information with the importance degrees during the feature learning. According to the experimental results, Acc reaches 66%, and MCC reaches 0.33 on the independent testing dataset, which indicated that the iGly-IDN can provide more effective glycation site identification than the current predictors.
Conclusions
The experimental results of 10-fold cross-validation on the training dataset and independent test on the testing dataset showed that iGly-IDN outperforms the existing glycation site predictors and can identify potential glycated sites effectively. The iGly-IDN has proven to be both practical and reliable, which may also provide useful references for future research. To facilitate the research of experimental scientists, we developed an open online web server that can be accessible at https://bioinfo.wugenqiang.top/iGly-IDN/, which makes it simple to obtain the required results.
Experiences with facility delivery services within the context of a maternal neonatal health project in Gombe State, Northeast Nigeria A qualitative study
Authors: Al-Mujtaba Maryam , Shobo Olukolade , Oyebola Bolanle C. , Ohemu Benson O. , Omale Isaac , Shuaibu Abdulrahman , Anyanti Jennifer 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
Background
In Gombe State, the use of facility delivery services is low (27%), and maternal and child health indices are poor. The Gombe State Primary Health Care Development Agency in collaboration with a non-governmental organization (Society for Family Health) implemented a maternal neonatal health (MNH) project from 2016 to 2018. The project supplied essential health commodities to health facilities, provided pregnant women with cost-free emergency transportation, and implemented the Village Health Worker program. Village health workers are lay indigenous women trained to educate women on MNH care. They provided simple community-based maternal and newborn care through home visits and facilitated linkage to health facilities. We explored women's experiences with facility delivery services within the context of the MNH project.
Methods
Qualitative data were obtained through focus group discussions with women who delivered within the last 12 months. Participants were asked questions related to their experiences with the access and use of facility delivery services. Participants were also asked about provider gender preferences and the influence of family members on the use of facility delivery services. Data were organized with NVivo 12 (Pro for Windows) and analyzed using directed content analysis.
Results
Six focus group discussions were conducted with 58 participants. Mean age was 25.1 (± 5.3) years old. Thirty-seven 37 (64%) participants delivered in the facility, and 21 (36%) delivered at home within the last 12 months. All the women preferred facility delivery over home delivery for quality care. Furthermore, most women reported experiencing immediate and respectful care with facility delivery services, and healthcare workers' competence and attitude were more important than gender. However, use of facility delivery services was limited by the availability of local traditional birth attendants, absent husbands at onset of labor, imminent delivery, long distance to facility, expensive transportation fees, healthcare worker absenteeism and long clinic wait times.
Conclusion
Even within the context of an MNH project designed to improve use of facility delivery services, socio-economic and facility level factors could limit women’s use of facility delivery services. Therefore, MNH projects should be designed to ameliorate the effect of these factors that limit use of facility delivery services.
Estimating river discharge from rainfall satellite data through simple statistical models
Authors: Birocchi Paula , Silva Danilo Augusto , Sasaki Dalton Kei , Dottori Marcelo 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
Quantitative knowledge of river discharge measurements is essential for understanding coastal and estuarine dynamics and salinity variations. However, direct measurements are scarce for a large portion of rivers in Brazil. In this study, five simple models based on remote sensing and local rainfall datasets (MERGE) from the Ribeira de Iguape catchment are used to estimate the Valo Grande Channel (VGC) discharge on the southeastern coast of Brazil. These models use linear, quadratic, exponential and two different multiple linear regression methods. The predicted VGC discharge time series resulting from each model is compared with the estimated time series based on in situ data from the Water and Electric Energy Department (DAEE in Portuguese). The estimated time series presented reasonable results, with skills varying from 0.84 to 0.92 and Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) indices varying from 0.54 to 0.75, with the highest values corresponding to the multiple linear regression models. This methodology allowed us to reproduce longer time series at a daily frequency, as well as monthly averages between 2000 and 2020.
Does the change of pelvic incidence predict the listhesis progression among pediatric patients with Low-Grade Spondylolisthesis
Authors: Alzakri Abdulmajeed. 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
Purpose
Observational studies suggest that most low-grade patients treated nonoperatively will have a successful clinical outcome. However, the changes in pelvic incidence as related to the risk of progression remain unknown.
Methods
The complete records of 301 prospective patients (129 males 172 females) with low-grade spondylolisthesis aged 12.3 years ± 3.1 years were reviewed. Radiological parameters (pelvic incidence, lumbosacral angle, and percentage of slip) and quality of life were measured at the first visit and a minimum 2-year follow-up. Patients with an increase in pelvic incidence by more than 5 degrees at the last follow-up were included in group 1, and otherwise included in group 2.
Results
The average follow-up time is 4.6 ± 2.3 years. The slip percentage was 14.6 ± 8.8 at the initial visit and 15.8 ± 9 at the last follow-up (P < 0.05). There were 66 patients in group 1 and 233 patients in group 2. There was no difference in slip progression or lumbosacral progression between the two groups. The pelvic incidence was 56.1 ± 12.9 at the initial visit and 58.7 ± 13.4 at the last follow-up (P < 0.05). There was a significant increase in pelvic incidence during follow-up. The change in pelvic incidence was not related to lumbosacral angle or slip percentage.
Conclusion
Pelvic incidence increased significantly during follow-up, but the changes in pelvic incidence were not associated with the progression of spondylolisthesis in terms of slip percentage and lumbosacral angle. Pelvic incidence is not likely to be a risk factor for progression in low-grade spondylolisthesis.
The prevalence of Lynch syndrome (DNA mismatch repair protein deficiency) in patients with primary localized prostate cancer
Authors: Oka Suguru , Urakami Shinji , Hagiwara Kiichi , Hayashida Michikata , Sakaguchi Kazushige , Miura Yuji , Inoshita Naoko , Arai Masami 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
Background: Prostate cancer is one of the most heritable human cancers. Lynch syndrome is an autosomal dominant inheritance caused by germline mutations in DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes, which are also associated with an increased incidence of prostate cancer. However, prostate cancer has not been defined as a Lynch syndrome-associated cancer. The proportion of Lynch syndrome patients in primary prostate cancers is unclear. In this study, we investigated MMR protein loss using universal immunohistochemical screening to determine the prevalence of Lynch syndrome in patients with localized prostate cancer who underwent radical prostatectomy.
Methods: One hundred twenty-nine surgical specimens from radical prostatectomy performed at Toranomon Hospital between 2012 and 2015 were retrospectively tested using universal screening with immunohistochemistry staining for expression of the MMR proteins MLH1, PMS2, MSH2, and MSH6. For all suspected MMR-deficient patients, germline genetic tests focusing on MMR genes were performed.
Results: MMR protein loss was found in only one patient (0.8%) who showed dual MSH2/MSH6 loss. This patient showed a single nucleotide germline mutation from c.1129 C to T (p.Glc377*) at exon 7 in the MSH2 gene. He was diagnosed with a primary prostate cancer at 66 years of age. He had a documented history of Lynch syndrome (Muir–Torre syndrome) with previous colon cancer, sebaceous tumor, and keratoacanthoma as well as subsequent bladder cancer, all of which also showed dual MSH2/MSH6 loss. He also had a strong family history of colorectal and other Lynch syndrome-associated cancers. The pathological stage was pT3aN0M0, and the pathological grade was Gleason 7(4+3) with tertiary pattern 5.
Conclusions: In this study, immunohistochemical screening of MMR proteins for Lynch syndrome was performed in a series of prostate cancer cases. The prevalence of Lynch syndrome in localized prostate cancer was 0.8%, which is low compared with other Lynch syndrome-associated cancers.
The association between poverty, social assistance, and suicide-related behaviour in Korean older adults: a nationwide cohort study using health administrative data (2010-2019)
Authors: Kim Chungah , John Gabriel Dusing , Jin Hyunju , Chum Antony 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
Purpose
Suicide rates among older adults in South Korea are one of the highest in the world. Although prior research found that poverty is associated with suicide mortality among older adults in Korea, it is unknown whether being a recipient of social assistance may reduce suicide risk among older adults living in poverty. We examined the impact of the public assistance program on suicide-related behaviour (SRB).
Methods
Data from a nationwide cohort in the Korean National Health Insurance Database, including demographic and medical treatment information, linked to the vital statistics for 2010-19 was used. The entire Korean population born before 1951 was included (n=7,889,086). Flexible parametric survival model was performed to assess whether the risk of SRB hospitalisation and death differed across a) different levels of income, and b) social assistance status among the poor, using gender-stratified models.
Results
Older age, chronic disease, poverty, and being out of the labour market were associated with higher SRB hospitalisation and death for both genders. Among those living in poverty, social assistance recipients had lower hazards for SRB death and hospitalisation, compared to the low-income non-recipients. Men who were non-recipients had 0.189 higher hazards ratio (95%CI 0.188 to 0.190) for SRB deaths compared to recipients, and the difference was 0.070 (95%CI 0.069 to 0.071) in women, with similar patterns for SRB hospitalisations.
Conclusions
Poverty was associated with higher SRB death and hospitalisation among older adults in Korea. Social assistance targeting the older population may help reduce SRB.