bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Combination of Lymphocyte Count and Albumin Concentration as a New Prognostic Biomarker for Colorectal Cancer
Authors: Rencuzogullari Ahmet , Topal Ugur , Yalav Orcun , Eray İsmail Cem 
Published: September 2022

Abstract

Purpose: In this study, it is aimed to evaluate the prognostic importance of lymphocytexalbumin (LA) combination in patients having colorectal cancer who underwent curative resection, besides its relationship with postoperative complications.Method: Patients who underwent curative surgery for colorectal cancer between the dates of January 2015 and January 2019 were included in the study. We defined the LA as lymphocyte count (/L)×albumin (g/L). The cut-off point was determined by ROC curves. The patients were divided into two groups according to the cut-off point: Group 1 (Low LA) and Group 2 (High LA). Demographic, clinical and pathological characteristics and survival times were compared between the two groups.Results:Patients are divided into two groups based on the cut off point of 4413 Groups were comparable with respect to age, gender, ASA score, The rate of rectal tumor location was higher in Group 1 (60% vs 32.9 p<0.001). Rates of postoperative complications, unplanned readmission, and reoperation were similar in the groups. Low LA was found to be an independent risk factor with regards to decreased survival in multivariate analysis. (HR(95%-Cl) 2.840(1.332-6.057)p:0.007). Overall and disease free survival rates were lower in Group 1 compared to Group 2 (44.2 vs 51.02 p:0.005; 47.1 vs 52.18 p:0.025, respectively).Conclusion:This study indicated decreased overall and DFS associated with low LA index in patients managed with curative treatment for colorectal cancer. No association was found between LA index and postoperative quality markers. LA might be a new prognostic biomarker for colorectal carcinoma.
Droplet formation on an inclined needle
Authors: Wang Wei , Wang Pengfei , Lin Fangye , Zuo Qiang , Zou Jun 
Published: September 2022

Abstract
An experimental study of droplet formation on an inclined stainless-steel needle is presented. The detailed dynamics of the droplet formation is captured with the help of a high-speed camera. Droplet diameter is found to depend on both the needle diameter and the tilt angle. For the vertical condition, the droplet diameter increases with the needle diameter. A semiempirical model is built to elucidate this trend based on the force balance between gravity, capillary, and Laplace forces. For the inclined condition, the droplet diameter increases with the tilt angle. Effect of the tilt angle on the droplet diameter is attributed to the variation of the capillary force between the droplet and the inclined needle. Variation of the tilt angle plays a similar role to the variation of the needle diameter, which can be used to adjust the droplet diameter in practice.
Simultaneous Coloration and Antibacterial Modification of Wool with Chitosan Oligosaccharide via Maillard Reaction
Authors: Cui Li , Guan Ruoceng , Xie Qiuhua , Wang Ping , Yu Yuanyuan 
Published: September 2022

Abstract
Conventionally, dyeing and functional modification of wool fabrics has been accomplished by two bath two step processes with suitable dyes and functional chemicals, which is usually time-consuming and energy-wasting and causes a serious environmental problem due to the use of large amounts of dyes, chemicals and water. In this study, non-toxic chitosan oligosaccharide (COS) was applied to simultaneous dyeing and antibacterial finishing of wool by using Maillard reaction under a mild condition. The reaction between COS and wool keratin was demonstrated from the results of sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) which showed that new polymers were formed. The color yield (K/S) of the wool fabrics from maillard browning could be obtained via the adjustment of reaction time, temperature and pH. Proper chemical pretreatments could significantly improve the absorbency of COS on the wool and a stronger color strength (K/S) obtained. Meanwhile, the dyed wool revealed excellent antibacterial behavior.
Women’s Empowerment and Social Household Spending in Fragile States: Evidence from Chad1
Authors: MABALI Aristide , MALLAYE DOUZOUNET , KINDA Somlanare Romuald 
Published: September 2022

Abstract

State fragility in Chad has been narrowly associated with insecurity due to a long cycle of violent conflict and recurrent droughts, leading to low social development. In this paper, we have investigated the impact of women’s empowerment on household social expenditures using data from the Chadian household consumption and informal sector survey carried out in 2011, and Propensity Score Matching as empirical model. The social expenditures used as outcome variables are education, health and food. We find that social expenditures are higher when a household is headed by a woman than when it is headed by a man with similar observed characteristics. In particular, differences between female-headed households and male-headed households are higher in food expenditures after controlling for observed characteristics (covariates). The results also show that there is a composition effect in household expenditure. While female-headed households spend their incomes in social sectors (health, food and education), those headed by men spend for temptation goods (alcohol and leisure). These results hold when we control both model specification and common support hypothesis. Our findings provide decision makers with economic policy tools to promote the social development focusing on women’s empowerment.
JEL Classification: J16, H31 and C52
Health Related Quality of Life and its predictors among Postpartum Mother in Southeast Ethiopia: A Cross sectional study
Authors: Gomora Degefa , Kene Chala , Embiale Ayinamaw , Tekalegn Yohannes , Geta Girma , Seyoum Kenbon , Beressa Girma , Atlaw Daniel , Sahiledengle Biniyam , Desta Fikreab , Ejigu Neway , Hussein Usman , Mwanri Lillian 
Published: September 2022

Abstract
Background: Impaired Health related quality of life (HRQOL) after women's childbirth affects women in a wide range of ways including limiting their daily activity, reducing self-care capacity, impairing childcare including effective breastfeeding and baby weaning, and increasing the cost of medical care, both for women and for their newborn babies. This study aimed to assess the HRQOL and its predictors among postpartum women in Southeast Ethiopia.
Methods: Between March and May 2022, an institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted among a simply randomly selected sample of 794 postpartum women who were attending immunization services in public health facilities in Southeast Ethiopia. The pretested interviewer-administered structured, Short Form 36 (SF-36), validated questionnaire was used to collect data and to assess the HRQOL. This Descriptive statistics were computed and the bivariable and multivariable logistic regression model was fitted to predictors of HRQOL. Odds ratio (OR), along with a 95% confidence interval (CI), were used to estimate the strength of the associations.
Results: The mean scores (mean ± SD) of overall HRQOL, physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) of quality of life were 43.80 ± 27.88, 45.39 ± 28.58 and 42.20 ± 28.15) respectively. Walking to the health facility [(AOR = 2.09; 95% CI: (1.31,3.31)], using public transport (AOR=2.58; 95% CI=1.69–3.93), giving birth to ≤ 3 deliveries (AOR = 1.81; 95% CI: 1.36 –2.65), having health facility admission history during the recent baby’s pregnancy (AOR=1.62; 95% CI=1.08–2.44), having postpartum depression (PPD) (AOR=2.13; 95% CI=1.57–2.89) and having the fear of COVID-19 (AOR=1.46; 95% CI=1.08–1.99) were predictors of a lower level of HRQOL among postpartum women.
Conclusion: This study revealed that nearly half of the postpartum women had a lower HRQOL. Means of transport used, the number of total deliveries they had, admission history during the recent baby pregnancy, PPD and Fear of COVID 19 (FCV 19) showed a statistically significant association with the lower overall HRQOL. To improve the HRQOL among postpartum women in Ethiopia, programs should be implemented by applying appropriate strategies that address the identified factors.
Identification of Suitable Sites for Rain Water Harvesting Structures based on Water Budgeting using Remote Sensing &amp; GIS Tools on Watershed Basis
Authors: Pendke M. S. , Khodke U. M. , Gourkhede P. H. , Sreeniv G. 
Published: September 2022

Abstract
The need for application of modem approaches like Remote Sensing and GIS techniques has been emphasized for efficient management of water resources (Jha et aI., 2007). In recent years, use of satellite remote sensing data along with GIS and topographical maps has made it easier to establish the base line information on water resource planning. To identify the suitable sites for surface water conservation structures, GIS has been found to be an effective tool using satellite remote sensing data, topographical maps and collateral information (Krishnamurthy et al., 2000). The study on water budgeting was undertaken in order to assess the water deficit /surplus in every sub-watershed of Pingalgarh watershed located in Parbhani district of Maharashtra state (India). Various thematic maps viz., land use /cover, geomorphology, hydrological soil group, slope, Lineament, land capability, soil texture and soil depth were generated using RS and GIS. Drainage line delineation and water bodies mapping were undertaken using satellite images. The data on area of each crop and population in each sub watershed were collected to estimate the total water requirement. Cadastral map for the study area was geo-referenced. The surface runoff potential was estimated using curve number technique. Based on the water deficit in each sub watershed and by integrating the thematic maps of geomorphology, land use, soil texture and land slope by UNION tool in arc GIS, the suitable location of water harvesting structures were decided preferably on the 1st and 2ndorder streams and marked on the satellite image along with its latitude and longitude. Based on the present water deficit in each sub watershed and considering the geomorphology and land use, the water harvesting structures like cement plugs and percolation tanks are suggested for improving the surface and ground water availability.
Family-based Plant Disease Characterization using Deep Neural Networks
Authors: Janarthan Sivasubramaniam , Thuseethan Selvarajah , Rajasegarar Sutharshan , Yearwood John 
Published: September 2022

Abstract
Over the years, researchers have applied various deep learning techniques to automatically recognise plant diseases from both raster and spectral images. The primary focus of the existing studies is developing individual species-specific or disease-specific models, where the former recognises diseases of single crop type and the latter recognises single diseases of single or multiple crop types. Building one global model to recognise diseases of multiple crops has also been widely explored, where a class is treated as a crop-disease combination. While training individual species-specific or disease-specific deep models is labour-intensive, embracing a vast number of crop species and inherent diseases present on this planet makes the model cumbersome. In order to address this problem, a more intuitive and feasible family-based plant disease characterisation approach with botanical reasoning is proposed in this study. This approach demonstrates the feasibility of six state-of-the-art deep neural networks through a set of extensive experiments incorporating six key strategies. The results on a newly built family-based plant disease dataset confirm that the proposed novel approach is convincing to be applied in a plant family-based disease recognition problem. Further, this study creates future opportunities for more intuitive plant disease data collection and benchmark classification model development.
A New Human-Inspired Metaheuristic Algorithm for Solving Optimization Problems Based on Mimicking Sewing Training
Authors: Dehghani Mohammad , Trojovská Eva , Zuščák Tomáš 
Published: September 2022

Abstract
This paper introduces a new human-based metaheuristic algorithm called Sewing Training-Based Optimization (STBO). The fundamental inspiration of STBO is the process of teaching sewing to beginner tailors. The process is described in three phases: (i) training, (ii) imitation of the instructor's skills, and (iii) practice, and is then mathematically modeled. STBO performance is evaluated on twenty-three objective functions of the types of unimodal, high-dimensional multimodal, and fixed-dimensional multimodal. The optimization results show that STBO, with its high power of exploration and exploitation, has provided suitable solutions for benchmark functions. Also, to evaluate the quality of STBO, the results are compared with ten well-known metaheuristic algorithms. Furthermore, the simulation results show that STBO has a much more competitive performance than competitor algorithms by providing superior results. Finally, the implementation of STBO in solving four engineering design problems demonstrates the capability of the proposed approach in dealing with real-world applications.
Assessment of corticospinal tract remodeling based on diffusion tensor imaging in the treatment of motor dysfunction after ischemic stroke by acupuncture: a meta-analysis study
Authors: Zhu Weiming , Deng Shizhe , Jiang Hailun , Li Boxuan , Jia Qingqing , Liu Wei , Meng Zhihong 
Published: September 2022

Abstract

Currently, acupuncture therapy has been widely used in the late rehabilitation of dysfunction in patients after ischemic stroke(IS), especially motor dysfunction. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of acupuncture in improving motor dysfunction after IS and to investigate the effect of acupuncture on corticospinal tract(CST) remodeling using diffusion tensor imaging. Therefore, we systematically searched the literature and performed meta-analysis. Eleven eligible RCTs involving 459 patients were eventually included. The combined evidence results showed that the acupuncture group significantly improved patients' National Institute of Health stroke scale, Fugl-Meyer Assessment Scale, and Barthel index compared with conventional medical treatment. The acupuncture group significantly promoted remodeling of the CST, as reflected by an increase in FA throughout the CST (MD=0.04, 95% CI (0.02, 0.07), P=0.001), and in addition subgroup analysis showed that the acupuncture group significantly improved Fractional Anisotropy(FA) in the infarct area compared with conventional medical treatment at around 4 weeks (MD=0.04, 95% CI (0.02, 0.07), P=0.001) and FA of the affected cerebral peduncle (MD=0.04, 95% CI (0.02, 0.07). Also, compared with conventional medical treatment, the acupuncture group significantly increased Average Diffusion Coefficient(ADC) of the affected cerebral peduncle (MD=-0.21, 95% CI (-0.28, -0.13), P<0.00001). Taken together, the results of the meta-analysis suggest that acupuncture therapy can improve the clinical manifestations of motor dysfunction in patients after IS and advance a possibly beneficial effect on CST remodeling. However, due to the number and quality of eligible studies, these findings need to be further validated in more standardized, rigorous, high-quality clinical trials.
Analysis of the formation mechanism of rainfall-induced loess landslide: A case study of Beiyin landslide
Authors: Bao Xun , Cui Deshan , Liao Mingke , 彭 佳乐 , Mo Yun 
Published: September 2022

Abstract
The increase in extreme precipitation in summer is one of the clearest changes in climate observed in Shanxi Province, China. The loess is dry, loose uncemented, and has well-developed internal pores in initial state. When extreme rainfall occurs, the special structure of loess provides a favorable channel for rainwater infiltration, which means decreasing the shear strength parameters. Loess landslide induced by extreme rainfall has caused great economic losses and casualties. This paper takes the Beiyin landslide as an example, the seepage field of the loess slope under rainfall infiltration is analyzed by the finite element method, and the stability of the loess slope is analyzed by the limit equilibrium method based on field survey. The pore water pressure, saturation zone, and horizontal seepage velocity at different altitudes of the loess landslide are investigated under various extreme precipitation. The results showed that the concentrated infiltration of extreme rainfall was in the trailing edge of the landslide, formed a saturated zone in the Tertiary water-resisting clay layer, and extended to the slope angle. When the saturated zone is formed in the middle shallow layer of the landslide and connects with the saturated zone of the trailing edge, the sliding force of each block is greater than the anti-sliding force in the sliding section and the slope will be unstable.
Warfarin-induced Isolated Spontaneous Subarachnoid Hemorrhage: Rare Case Report
Authors: Hasan Mohamed Sheikh 
Published: September 2022

Abstract
Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is mostly associated with head trauma. Non-traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage is mostly due to vascular abnormalities: either hemorrhage from ruptured aneurysm or bleeding from atriovenous malformation. Aneurysmal hemorrhage is the biggest cause in non-traumatic cases. Warfarin is associated with cerebral intraparenchymal hemorrhage, but it is rarely associated with SAH. Here, we report a case of a 45-year old male patient who was admitted to the neurology ward of our hospital due to acute ischemic stroke. The patient was treated with a vitamin K antagonist (warfarin). However, on the third day, his condition deteriorated (his GCS regressed from 11/15 to 5/15). Pupils were anisocoric. Brain CT done immediately showed extensive subarachnoid hemorrhage without intraparenchymal involvement. The patient was intubated and transferred to the intensive care unit. Due to his poor condition, neurosurgical intervention could not be done. The patient was managed conservatively, but the patient passed away 4 days later in the intensive care unit.
Warfarin is rarely associated with subarachnoid hemorrhage, especially when it is only isolated subarachnoid hemorrhage. Aneurismal rupture and trauma should be excluded before diagnosis of warfarin related SAH is made.
Title: Discriminating between p16-negative oropharyngeal and non-oropharyngeal origins by their metastatic lymph nodes using machine learning approach based on MRI radiomics
Authors: Bao Dan , Zhao Yanfeng , Li Lin , Lin Meng , Wu Wenli , Zhang Ya , Xu Haijun , Zhu Zheng , Zhao Xinming , Luo Dehong 
Published: September 2022

Abstract
Objectives:To examine the capability of MRI radiomic analysis to differentiate oropharyngeal and non-oropharyngeal origins of cervical metastatic lymph nodes (LNs) in p16-negative patients following machine-learning approaches.
Methods:A total of 150 patients (training set: 90, validation set: 60) diagnosed with p16-negative head and neck squamous cell carcinoma with cervical metastatic LNs were retrospectively included. Radiomic features were extracted from pretreatment diagnostic T2-weighted fat-suppressed and contrast-enhanced T1-weighted images of the cervical metastatic LNs. The Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test (with p < 0.05) and absolute biserial correlation (> 0.48) were used to identify the discriminant features between the oropharyngeal and non-oropharyngeal groups. The discriminant features were used to train and test four different machine-learning classifiers. The discriminative performances of classifiers were evaluated by AUC, sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV and compared.
Results:Five radiomic features were significantly different (P < 0.05, |biserial correlation| > 0.48) between the p16-negative oropharyngeal and non-oropharyngeal groups. Among the four classifiers trained and applied for discrimination between oropharyngeal and non-oropharyngeal origins, the logistic regression and neural network both showed the highest prediction power, with AUC of 0.87 and 0.74 in the training and validation cohorts, respectively. The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV of the two classifiers in the validation cohort were 0.72, 0.82, 0.66, 0.58, and 0.86, respectively.
Conclusion:Radiomics and machine-learning diagnostic models with MRI data are potentially useful supportive tools to discriminate between oropharyngeal and non-oropharyngeal origins in p16-negative patients with cervical metastatic LNs.
The princess and the pea - Comparison of different stiffness assessment tools on a multi-layered phantom tissue model
Authors: Bartsch Katja , Brandl Andreas , Weber Patrick , Wilke Jan , Bensamoun Sabine F. , Bauermeister Wolfgang , Klingler Werner , Schleip Robert 
Published: September 2022

Abstract
Changes in the mechanical properties (i.e., stiffness) of soft tissues have been linked to musculoskeletal disorders, pain conditions, and cancer biology, leading to a rising demand for diagnostic methods. Despite the general availability of different stiffness assessment tools (SAT), it is unclear as to which are best suited for different tissue types and the related measurement depths. The study aimed to compare different SAT’ reliability on a multi-layered phantom tissue model (MPTM). A polyurethane MPTM simulated the four layers of the thoracolumbar region: cutis (CUT), subcutaneous connective tissue (SCT), fascia profunda (FPR), and erector spinae (ERS), with varying stiffness parameters. Evaluated SAT included Shore Durometer, Semi-Electronic Tissue Compliance Meter (SCTM), IndentoPRO, MyotonPRO, and ultrasound imaging. Measurements were made by two independent, blinded examiners. Shore Durometer, SCTM, IndentoPRO, and MyotonPRO reliably detected stiffness changes in three of the four MPTM layers, but not in the thin (1 mm thick) layer simulating FPR. With ultrasound imaging, only stiffness changes in layers thicker than 3 mm could be measured reliably. Significant correlations ranging from 0.70 to 0.98 (all p < 0.01) were found. The interrater reliability ranged from good to excellent (ICC(2,2) = 0.75~0.98). The results are encouraging for researchers and clinical practitioners as the investigated SAT are easy-to-use and comparatively affordable.