bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Ultra-minimally invasive surgery in gynecological patients: a review of the literature
Authors: La Verde Marco , Riemma Gaetano , Tropea Alessandro , Biondi Antonio , Cianci Stefano 
Published: April 2022

AbstractIn the last decade, Ultra-minimally invasive surgery (UMIS) including both minilaparoscopic (MH) and percutaneous (PH) endoscopic surgery achieved widespread use around the world. Despite UMIS has been reported as safe and feasible surgical procedure, most of the available data are drawn from retrospective studies, with a limited number of cases and heterogeneous surgical procedures included in the analysis. This literature review aimed to analyze the most methodologically valid studies concerning major gynecological surgeries performed in UMIS. A literature review was performed double blind from January to April 2021. The keywords ‘minilaparoscopy’; ‘ultra minimally invasive surgery’; ‘3 mm’; ‘percutaneous’; and ‘Hysterectomy’ were selected in Pubmed, Medscape, Scopus, and Google scholar search engines. PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines were followed for the drafting of the systematic review. The systematic literature research provided 298 studies, of which 9 fell within the inclusion criteria. Two hundred ninety-six total patients were included, 148 for both PH and MH groups. Median age (48 years), BMI (24 kg/m2), OT (90 min), EBL (50 ml), time to discharge (1 day), self scar evaluation (10/10), and VAS (3/10) were reported. The most frequent intraoperative complication in both the PH and MH groups was surgical bleeding. The UMIS approaches were feasible and safe even for complex gynecological procedures. Operative times and complications were superimposable to the “classical” minimally invasive approaches reported in the literature. The reported results apply only to experienced surgeons.
Uniform approximation by multivariate quasi-projection operators
Authors: Kolomoitsev Yu. , Skopina M. 
Published: April 2022

AbstractApproximation properties of quasi-projection operators $$Q_j(f,\varphi , \widetilde{\varphi })$$

Q
j

(
f
,
φ
,

φ
~

)

are studied. These operators are associated with a function $$\varphi $$
φ
satisfying the Strang–Fix conditions and a tempered distribution $$\widetilde{\varphi }$$

φ
~

such that compatibility conditions with $$\varphi $$
φ
hold. Error estimates in the uniform norm are obtained for a wide class of quasi-projection operators defined on the space of uniformly continuous functions and on the anisotropic Besov-type spaces. Under additional assumptions on $$\varphi $$
φ
and $$\widetilde{\varphi }$$

φ
~

, two-sided estimates in terms of realizations of the K-functional are also established.
The Grothendieck and Picard groups of finite rank torsion free $$\mathfrak {sl}(2)$$-modules
Authors: Plaza Martín F. J. , Tejero Prieto C. 
Published: April 2022

AbstractThe classification problem for simple $${\mathfrak {sl}(2)}$$

sl
(
2
)

-modules leads in a natural way to the study of the category of finite rank torsion free $${\mathfrak {sl}(2)}$$

sl
(
2
)

-modules and its subcategory of rational $${\mathfrak {sl}(2)}$$

sl
(
2
)

-modules. We prove that the rationalization functor induces an identification between the isomorphism classes of simple modules of these categories. This raises the question of what is the precise relationship between other invariants associated with them. We give a complete solution to this problem for the Grothendieck and Picard groups, obtaining along the way several new results regarding these categories that are interesting in their own right.
Convergence of solutions of a rescaled evolution nonlocal cross-diffusion problem to its local diffusion counterpart
Authors: Galiano Gonzalo , Velasco Julián 
Published: April 2022

AbstractWe prove that, under a suitable rescaling of the integrable kernel defining the nonlocal diffusion terms, the corresponding sequence of solutions of the Shigesada–Kawasaki–Teramoto nonlocal cross-diffusion problem converges to a solution of the usual problem with local diffusion. In particular, the result may be regarded as a new proof of existence of solutions for the local diffusion problem.
Hardwood spent mushroom substrate–based activated biochar as a sustainable bioresource for removal of emerging pollutants from wastewater
Authors: Grimm Alejandro , dos Reis Glaydson Simões , Dinh Van Minh , Larsson Sylvia H. , Mikkola Jyri-Pekka , Lima Eder Claudio , Xiong Shaojun 
Published: April 2022

Abstract
Hardwood spent mushroom substrate was employed as a carbon precursor to prepare activated biochars using phosphoric acid (H3PO4) as chemical activator. The activation process was carried out using an impregnation ratio of 1 precursor:2 H3PO4; pyrolysis temperatures of 700, 800, and 900 °C; heating rate of 10 °C min−1; and treatment time of 1 h. The specific surface area (SSA) of the biochars reached 975, 1031, and 1215 m2 g−1 for the samples pyrolyzed at 700, 800, and 900 °C, respectively. The percentage of mesopores in their structures was 75.4%, 78.5%, and 82.3% for the samples pyrolyzed at 700, 800, and 900 °C, respectively. Chemical characterization of the biochars indicated disordered carbon structures with the presence of oxygen and phosphorous functional groups on their surfaces. The biochars were successfully tested to adsorb acetaminophen and treat two simulated pharmaceutical effluents composed of organic and inorganic compounds. The kinetic data from adsorption of acetaminophen were fitted to the Avrami fractional-order model, and the equilibrium data was well represented by the Liu isotherm model, attaining a maximum adsorption capacity of 236.8 mg g−1 for the biochar produced at 900 °C. The adsorption process suggests that the pore-filling mechanism mainly dominates the acetaminophen removal, although van der Walls forces are also involved. The biochar produced at 900 °C removed up to 84.7% of the contaminants in the simulated effluents. Regeneration tests using 0.1 M NaOH + 20% EtOH as eluent showed that the biochars could be reused; however, the adsorption capacity was reduced by approximately 50% after three adsorption–desorption cycles.
Evaluating current practice and knowledge about antibiotic stewardship principles in paediatric tertiary hospitals to identify target areas for future teaching activities
Authors: Kolberg Laura , Buschbeck Judith , Wagner Annabelle , Jonat Susanne , Wolf Gerhard , Peters Jochen , Behrends Uta , Steinhauser Maximilian , Huebner Johannes , von Both Ulrich 
Published: April 2022

Abstract
Purpose
Antibiotic exposure among hospitalized children is very high. With inappropriate antimicrobial use resulting in increased rates of antimicrobial resistance, the implementation of antibiotic stewardship programs is critically needed. This survey study aimed to identify current practice and knowledge about antibiotic stewardship and infection control among paediatricians in tertiary care paediatric hospitals in and around Munich, Germany.

Methods
A prospective cross-sectional study based on an anonymous questionnaire, structured into different sub-sections regarding antibiotic use, antimicrobial resistance, antibiotic stewardship and infection control, was conducted between 1st of May and 30th of June 2016 in five paediatric hospitals.

Results
In total, 111 paediatricians across all grades were eligible for participation. The overall proportion of correct answers for all sub-sections of the survey ranged from 54.1% correct answers in the antibiotic handling and bacterial resistance section to 72.9% correct answers in the hospital hygiene/infection control section. In general, knowledge across all categories was similar for junior doctors, middle-grade doctors or consultants. Advocating empiric use of narrow-spectrum instead of broad-spectrum antibiotics was considered to be the most difficult measure to implement in daily practice (36.9%). De-escalation from broad-spectrum empirical therapy to targeted treatment was considered the easiest measure to achieve (43.2%).

Conclusion
Our results demonstrate that principles of antimicrobial stewardship and aspects of hospital hygiene/infection control are not satisfactorily known among hospital-based paediatricians in and around Munich. We identified four important target areas for future educational interventions that should play a more prominent role in both pre- and postgraduate medical training.
2D SPH simulation of an anaerobic digester
Authors: Kumar Prashant , Dabiri Soroush , Rauch Wolfgang 
Published: April 2022

AbstractUnderstanding the hydrodynamics within the anaerobic digester tank of a wastewater treatment plant is of high importance to ensure sufficient mixing and subsequently a homogeneous distribution of the substrates. In this paper, we demonstrate a two-dimensional computational fluid dynamics simulation of a real-world case study focusing on both, the methodology and the operation of mixing. For this work, DualSPHysics, a Lagrangian solver, has been explored as an alternative to the more commonly used Eulerian solvers in studying the slow-moving dynamics inside a digester tank. This choice of a Lagrangian solver is primarily due to the inherent accounting for advection within the formulation, thus allowing for subsequent modelling of anaerobic digestion processes. A comparison has been made between the simulations from the two methods (Eulerian and Lagrangian), highlighting the benefits and the shortcomings of using smoothed particle hydrodynamics. Concerning operational mixing, the case relies on a draft tube, the effect of which on the velocity profiles has been studied based on the presence of low-velocity zones and Lagrangian coherent structures. Removing the draft tube results in an increase in low-velocity zones by 21.38% while the amount of dead volume increases from 0.52 to 1.2%.
Erectile dysfunction as a marker of endocrine and glycemic disorders
Authors: Mazzilli R. , Zamponi V. , Olana S. , Mikovic N. , Cimadomo D. , Defeudis G. , Faggiano A. 
Published: April 2022

Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study was to evaluate in a population of patients with erectile dysfunction (ED): (a) the prevalence of a previously unknown endocrine/glycemic disorders; (b) the correlation between ED severity and endocrine/glycemic disorders.

Methods
1332 patients referred for ED from 2013 to 2020 were included. The ED diagnosis was made using the International-Erectile-Function-Index-5 questionnaire. ED severity was considered according to presence/absence of spontaneous erections, maintenance/achievement deficiency. All patients were subjected to search for sociodemographic and clinical characteristics: age, ethnicity, marital status, previous use of PDE5i, previous prostatectomy, diabetes mellitus (DM), prediabetes, endocrine dysfunctions.

Results
The mean ± SD age was 54.3 ± 13.7 years. The 19.1% (255/1332) of patients were already in treatment for prediabetes/diabetes or endocrine dysfunctions. Among the remaining 1077, the prevalence of previously unknown endocrine and glycemic disorders was 30% (323/1077). Among them, 190/323 subjects (58.8%) were affected by hypogonadism, with high estradiol level observed in 8/190 (4.2%). The prevalence of new glycemic alterations was 17.3% (56/323) [specifically, 32/56 (57.1%) DM, and 24/56 (42.9%) prediabetes]. A thyroid dysfunction was observed in 40/323 subjects (12.3%) and hyperprolactinemia in 37/323 (11.5%). Patients with new diagnosis of DM showed more severe form of ED compared to the total group {difficulty in the achievement of erection: 46/56 [82.2%, vs 265/1332 (19.9%), p < 0.05]; absence of spontaneous erection 23/56 [41.1%, vs 321/1332 (24.1%), p < 0.05]}.

Conclusion
ED is an early marker of endocrine/glycemic disorder, and a previously unknown dysfunction was found in more than a quarter of patients. A newly diagnosed DM is associated with ED severity, especially in elderly man and in presence of hypertension.
Peripheral artery disease and all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in patients with NAFLD
Authors: Ciardullo S. , Bianconi E. , Cannistraci R. , Parmeggiani P. , Marone E. M. , Perseghin G. 
Published: April 2022

Abstract
Purpose
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the first cause of death in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and risk stratification is recommended by current guidelines. The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in patients with NAFLD and its association with all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality.

Methods
9145 participants 40 years or older attended a mobile examination center visit in the 1999–2004 cycles of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. PAD was defined as an ankle-brachial index (ABI) < 0.90 in either of the legs and mortality data through December 2015 were obtained from the National Death Index. NAFLD was defined by a fatty liver index ≥ 60 in the absence of other liver conditions, leading to a final sample of 3094 subjects.

Results
The overall prevalence of PAD was 5.9% (95% CI 5.0–6.9). Over a median follow-up of 13 years, 876 participants died, 208 of cardiovascular causes. Incidence rates of all-cause mortality (for 1000 person-years) were 20.2 (95% CI 18.7–21.7) and 70.0 (95% CI 60.1–81.6) for participants without and with PAD, respectively. Multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazard models showed that PAD was associated with a higher risk of all-cause (1.8, 95% CI 1.4–2.4) and cardiovascular mortality (HR 2.5, 95% CI 1.5–4.3) after adjustment for potential confounders including prevalent CVD.

Conclusion
Current guidelines strongly encourage the screening of CVD in patients with NAFLD and the use of the simple and inexpensive measurement of ABI in routine clinical practice may find indication.
Uncertainty as a Swiss army knife: new adversarial attack and defense ideas based on epistemic uncertainty
Authors: Tuna Omer Faruk , Catak Ferhat Ozgur , Eskil M. Taner 
Published: April 2022

AbstractAlthough state-of-the-art deep neural network models are known to be robust to random perturbations, it was verified that these architectures are indeed quite vulnerable to deliberately crafted perturbations, albeit being quasi-imperceptible. These vulnerabilities make it challenging to deploy deep neural network models in the areas where security is a critical concern. In recent years, many research studies have been conducted to develop new attack methods and come up with new defense techniques that enable more robust and reliable models. In this study, we use the quantified epistemic uncertainty obtained from the model’s final probability outputs, along with the model’s own loss function, to generate more effective adversarial samples. And we propose a novel defense approach against attacks like Deepfool which result in adversarial samples located near the model’s decision boundary. We have verified the effectiveness of our attack method on MNIST (Digit), MNIST (Fashion) and CIFAR-10 datasets. In our experiments, we showed that our proposed uncertainty-based reversal method achieved a worst case success rate of around 95% without compromising clean accuracy.
Adaptive k-center and diameter estimation in sliding windows
Authors: Pellizzoni Paolo , Pietracaprina Andrea , Pucci Geppino 
Published: April 2022

AbstractIn this paper we present novel streaming algorithms for the k-center and the diameter estimation problems for general metric spaces under the sliding window model. The key idea behind our algorithms is to maintain a small coreset which, at any time, allows to compute a solution to the problem under consideration for the current window, whose quality can be made arbitrarily close to the one of the best solution attainable by running a polynomial-time sequential algorithm on the entire window. Remarkably, the size of our coresets is independent of the window length and can be upper bounded by a function of the target number of centers (for the k-center problem), of the desired accuracy, and of the characteristics of the current window, namely its doubling dimension and aspect ratio. One of the major strengths of our algorithms is that they adapt obliviously to these two latter characteristics. We also provide experimental evidence of the practical viability of the algorithms and their superiority over the current state of the art.
Observer-based anti-windup robust PID controller for performance enhancement of damped outrigger structure
Authors: Kavyashree B. G. , Patil Shantharam , Rao Vidya S. 
Published: April 2022

AbstractThis study presents an observer-based anti-windup robust proportional–integral–derivative controller with state estimator method for damped outrigger structure using magneto-rheological damper to mitigate the seismic response. In this approach, full-order Kalman observer is designed for estimating the states of the damped outrigger system from the feedback of the system output with optimum observer gain. However, due to the computational complexity, the integral windup is observed in the loop; therefore, integral anti-windup is introduced for the internal stability in the loop to produce the desired output. The semi-active magneto-rheological damper is integrated with the proposed system, to produce the required force by the system that ranges between the maximum and minimum values as regulated by the voltages produced by the controller in action for every instant of the seismic energy. The proposed strategy is designed in MATLAB and Simulink to find the adequacy of the damped outrigger system in terms of mitigating the following seismic responses like displacement, velocity, and acceleration. The dynamic analysis of the damped outrigger structure with the proposed control strategy shows enhanced performance in reducing the response of the structure as observed in peak response values. The evaluation criteria show a significant reduction in the vibration of the structure.
The novel C5 protein from tomato yellow leaf curl virus is a virulence factor and suppressor of gene silencing
Authors: Zhao Siwen , Gong Pan , Ren Yanxiang , Liu Hui , Li Hao , Li Fangfang , Zhou Xueping 
Published: April 2022

AbstractTomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) is known to encode 6 canonical viral proteins. Our recent study revealed that TYLCV also encodes some additional small proteins with potential virulence functions. The fifth ORF of TYLCV in the complementary sense, which we name C5, is evolutionarily conserved, but little is known about its expression and function during viral infection. Here, we confirmed the expression of the TYLCV C5 by analyzing the promoter activity of its upstream sequences and by detecting the C5 protein in infected cells by using a specific custom-made antibody. Ectopic expression of C5 using a potato virus X (PVX) vector resulted in severe mosaic symptoms and higher virus accumulation levels followed by a burst of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in Nicotiana benthamiana plants. C5 was able to effectively suppress local and systemic post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS) induced by single-stranded GFP but not double-stranded GFP, and reversed the transcriptional gene silencing (TGS) of GFP. Furthermore, the mutation of C5 in TYLCV inhibited viral replication and the development of disease symptoms in infected plants. Transgenic overexpression of C5 could complement the virulence of a TYLCV infectious clone encoding a dysfunctional C5. Collectively, this study reveals that TYLCV C5 is a pathogenicity determinant and RNA silencing suppressor, hence expanding our knowledge of the functional repertoire of the TYLCV proteome.
Observed Linkages Between the Atmospheric Circulation and Oceanic‐Forced Sea‐Surface Temperature Variability in the Western North Pacific
Authors: Patrizio Casey R. , Thompson David W. J. 
Published: April 2022

AbstractPrevious research suggests the extratropical atmospheric circulation responds to that sea‐surface temperature (SST) variability in the western North Pacific. However, the relative roles of oceanic and atmospheric processes in driving the SST anomalies that, in turn, seemingly influence the atmospheric circulation are unclear. Here, we exploit a simple stochastic climate model to subdivide the SST variability in the Kuroshio‐Oyashio Extension region into components forced by oceanic and atmospheric processes. We then probe the lead/lag relationships between the atmospheric circulation and both components of the SST variability. Importantly, only the oceanic‐forced SST variability is associated with robust atmospheric anomalies that lag the SSTs by 1 month. The results are consistent with the surface heat fluxes associated with atmospheric and oceanic‐forced components of the SST variability. Overall, the findings suggest that ocean dynamical processes in the western North Pacific play an important role in influencing the variability of the extratropical circulation.
Severe Cold Winters in East Asia Linked to First Winter of La Niña Events and in North America Linked to Second Winter
Authors: Nishihira Gaku , Sugimoto Shusaku 
Published: April 2022

AbstractLa Niña often persists for two years, unlike El Niño. Five single‐year and 8 multi‐year La Niña events occurred over 71 boreal winters (1950/51–2020/21). Atmospheric reanalysis data show a marked increase in diabatic heating over the tropical northwestern Pacific (TNWP) in first winters of La Niña events in addition to a decrease in diabatic heating over the tropical eastern Pacific, common to first and second winters. Linear baroclinic model experiments indicate that combinations of the heating form different atmospheric teleconnections in the mid‐latitudes; first winters with the increased heating over the TNWP form teleconnection across the North Pacific, leading to cold winters in Japan. In second winters with the reduced heating over the TNWP (∼50% of first winters), teleconnection shifts east, resulting in severe cold winters in northwestern North America, whereas there is no impact on Japan.
Ocean Surface Flux Algorithm Effects on Tropical Indo‐Pacific Intraseasonal Precipitation
Authors: Hsu Chia‐Wei , DeMott Charlotte A. , Branson Mark D. , Reeves Eyre Jack , Zeng Xubin 
Published: April 2022

AbstractSurface latent heat fluxes help maintain tropical intraseasonal precipitation. We develop a latent heat flux diagnostic that depicts how latent heat fluxes vary with the near‐surface specific humidity vertical gradient (Δq) and surface wind speed (|V|). Compared to fluxes estimated from |V| and Δq measured at tropical moorings and the Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Response Experiment 3.0 (COARE3.0) algorithm, tropical latent heat fluxes in the National Center for Atmospheric Research CEMS2 and Department of Energy E3SMv1 models are significantly overestimated at |V| and Δq extrema. Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) sensitivity to surface flux algorithm is tested with offline and inline flux corrections. The offline correction adjusts model output fluxes toward mooring‐estimated fluxes; the inline correction replaces the original bulk flux algorithm with the COARE3.0 algorithm in atmosphere‐only simulations of each model. Both corrections indicate reduced latent heat flux feedback to intraseasonal precipitation, in better agreement with observations, suggesting that model‐simulated fluxes are overly supportive for maintaining MJO convection.