bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Occupation and COVID-19 diagnosis, hospitalisation and ICU admission among foreign-born and Swedish-born employees: a register-based study
Authors: Nwaru Chioma Adanma , Santosa Ailiana , Franzén Stefan , Nyberg Fredrik 
Published: January 2022

BackgroundResearch on occupation and risk of COVID-19 among foreign-born workers is lacking. We investigated whether working in essential occupations was associated with COVID-19 diagnosis, hospitalisation and intensive care unit (ICU) admission and whether foreign-born workers in similar occupations as Swedish-born individuals had a higher risk of the studied outcomes.MethodsOccupational data (2018–2019) of 326 052 employees (20–65 years) who were resident in Sweden as of 1 January 2020 were linked to COVID-19 data registered from 1 January 2020 to 28 February 2021. We analysed the risk of COVID-19 outcomes in different occupational groups and in four immigrant/occupation intersectional groups using Cox proportional hazards regression with adjustments for sociodemographic and socioeconomic characteristics and pre-existing comorbidities.ResultsWe identified 29797, 1069 and 152 cases of COVID-19 diagnosis, hospitalisations and ICU admissions, respectively, in our cohort. Workers in essential occupations had an elevated risk of COVID-19 diagnosis, hospitalisation, and ICU admissions. Healthcare workers had a higher risk of all the outcomes compared with other essential workers. Relative to Swedish-born workers in non-essential occupations, foreign-born workers in essential occupations had 1.85 (95% CI 1.78 to 1.93), 3.80 (95% CI 3.17 to 4.55) and 3.79 (95% CI 2.33 to 6.14) times higher risk of COVID-19 diagnosis, hospitalisation and ICU admission, respectively. The corresponding risks among Swedish-born workers in essential occupations were 1.44 (95% CI 1.40 to 1.49), 1.30 (95% CI 1.08 to 1.56) and 1.46 (95% CI 0.90 to 2.38).ConclusionOccupation was associated with COVID-19 outcomes and contributed to the burden of COVID-19 among foreign-born individuals in this study.
Hepatic stellate cell activation and senescence induced by intrahepatic microbiota disturbances drive progression of liver cirrhosis toward hepatocellular carcinoma
Authors: Liu Boyuan , Zhou Zewei , Jin Yu , Lu Jinying , Feng Dongju , Peng Rui , Sun Hua , Mu Xiaoxin , Li Changxian , Chen Yun 
Published: January 2022

BackgroundThe significance of the relationship between the microbiota and diseases is increasingly being recognized. However, the characterization of tumor microbiome and their precise molecular mechanisms through which microbiota promotes hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development are still unclear.MethodsThe intrahepatic microbiota was investigated from tumor, normal adjacent tissues in 46 patients with HCC and normal hepatic tissues in 33 patients with hemangioma by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Taxonomic composition differences in patients were evaluated using Linear discriminant analysis Effect Size (LefSe) and Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States (PICRUSt) to predict microbial functional pathways. Associations between the most relevant taxa and clinical characteristics of HCC patients were analyzed by Spearman rank correlations. The effects of microbe on hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) activation and HCC progression were examined.ResultsWe observed intrahepatic microbiota disturbances by reduced microbial diversity in HCC. The tumor microbiota of the HCC patients with cirrhosis showed higher abundance ofStenotrophomonas maltophilia (S. maltophilia).S. maltophiliaprovoked senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) in HSCs by activating TLR-4-mediated NF-κB signaling pathway, which in turn induced NLRP3 inﬂammasome complex formation and secreted various inflammatory factors in the liver, thus facilitating HCC progression in mice. Moreover, signs of SASP were also observed in the HSCs in the area of HCC with higherS. maltophiliaenrichment arising in patients with cirrhosis.ConclusionsOur analysis of the hepatic microbiota revealed for the first time that patients with HCC exhibited a dysbiotic microbial community with higherS. maltophiliaabundance, which induced the expression SASP factors of HSCs and cirrhosis in the liver, concurring in the process of hepatocarcinogenesis.
Membrane attack complex (MAC) deposition in renal tubules is associated with interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy: a pilot study
Authors: Wang Shudan , Wu Ming , Chiriboga Luis , Zeck Briana , Goilav Beatrice , Wang Shuwei , Jimenez Alejandra Londono , Putterman Chaim , Schwartz Daniel , Pullman James , Broder Anna , Belmont H Michael 
Published: January 2022

IntroductionTreatment failures for lupus nephritis (LN) are high with 10%–30% of patients progressing to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) within 10 years. Interstitial fibrosis/tubular atrophy (IFTA) is a predictor of progression to ESRD. Prior studies suggest that tubulointerstitial injury secondary to proteinuria in LN is mediated by complement activation in the tubules, specifically through the membrane attack complex (MAC). This study aimed to investigate the associations between tubular MAC deposition with IFTA and proteinuria.MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, LN kidney biopsies were assessed for MAC deposition by staining for Complement C9, a component of the MAC. Chromogenic immunohistochemistry was performed on paraffin-embedded human renal biopsy sections using unconjugated, murine anti-human Complement C9 (Hycult Biotech, clone X197). Tubular C9 staining intensity was analysed as present versus absent. IFTA was defined as minimal (<10%), mild (10%–24%), moderate (25%–50%) and severe (>50%).ResultsRenal biopsies from 30 patients with LN were studied. There were 24 (80%) female sex, mean age (SD) was 33 (12) years old and 23 (77%) had pure/mixed proliferative LN. Tubular C9 staining was present in 7 (23%) biopsies. 27 patients had minimal-to-mild IFTA and 3 patients had moderate IFTA. Among the C9 + patients, 3 (43%) had moderate IFTA as compared with none in the C9- group, p=0.009. C9 + patients had higher median (IQR) proteinuria as compared with C9- patients: 6.2 g (3.3–13.1) vs 2.4 g (1.3–4.6), p=0.001 at the time of biopsy. There was no difference in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) between the C9 + and C9- groups.ConclusionThis study demonstrated that tubular MAC deposition is associated with higher degree of IFTA and proteinuria, which are predictors of progression to ESRD. These results suggest that tubular MAC deposition may be useful in classification of LN. Understanding the role of complement in tubulointerstitial injury will also identify new avenues for LN treatment.
Hydroxychloroquine PK and exposure-response in pregnancies with lupus: the importance of adherence for neonatal outcomes
Authors: Balevic Stephen J , Weiner Daniel , Clowse Megan E B , Eudy Amanda M , Maharaj Anil R , Hornik Christoph P , Cohen-Wolkowiez Michael , Gonzalez Daniel 
Published: January 2022

ObjectiveEvaluate the impact of pregnancy physiology and medication non-adherence on serum hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) pharmacokinetics (PK) and exposure-response in SLE.MethodsWe conducted a PK analysis using data from two observational pregnancy registries. We enrolled pregnant women with SLE taking HCQ at least 3 months prior to, and throughout pregnancy, and excluded those with multiple gestations. Using the PK model, we conducted dosing simulations and imputed 0%/20%/40%/60% non-adherence to evaluate the impact of adherence versus physiological changes on HCQ concentrations. We compared the effect of pregnancy-average non-adherent concentrations (≤100 ng/mL vs >100 ng/mL) on preterm birth using adjusted logistic regression.ResultsWe enrolled 56 women who had 61 pregnancies. By the third trimester, mean apparent HCQ clearance increased by 59.6%. At a dosage of 400 mg/day, fully adherent patients are expected to have HCQ concentrations ≤100 ng/mL only 0.3% of the time, compared with 24.2% when 60% of doses are missed. Persistently low HCQ concentrations throughout pregnancy were associated with a significantly higher odds of preterm birth, controlling for lupus nephritis and race (OR 11.2; 95% CI 2.3 to 54.2; p=0.003).ConclusionsWe observed significant changes in HCQ PK during pregnancy, resulting in a shortening in the drug’s half-life by 10 days; however, medication non-adherence had a more pronounced effect on HCQ exposure compared with physiological changes alone. Moreover, pregnant women with non-adherent HCQ concentrations had significantly higher rates of preterm birth. Accordingly, optimising adherence in pregnancy may be more clinically meaningful than adjusting HCQ dosage to account for physiological changes. PK modelling indicates that serum HCQ concentrations ≤100 ng/mL are suggestive of non-adherence regardless of trimester and may help identify pregnancies at risk for poor outcomes.
Classifying European cigarette consumption trajectories from 1970 to 2015
Authors: Poirier Mathieu JP , Lin Gigi , Watson Leah K , Hoffman Steven J 
Published: January 2022

ObjectivesTo systematically code and classify longitudinal cigarette consumption trajectories in European countries since 1970.DesignBlinded duplicate qualitative coding of periods of year-over-year relative increase, plateau, and decrease of national per capita cigarette consumption and categorisation of historical cigarette consumption trajectories based on longitudinal patterns emerging from the data.Setting41 countries or former countries in the European region for which data are available between 1970 and 2015.ResultsRegional trends in longitudinal consumption patterns identify stable or decreasing consumption throughout Northern, Western and Southern European countries, while Eastern and Southeastern European countries experienced much greater instability. The 11 emergent classes of historical cigarette consumption trajectories were also regionally clustered, including a distinctive inverted U or sine wave pattern repeatedly emerging from former Soviet and Southeastern European countries.ConclusionsThe open-access data produced by this study can be used to conduct comparative international evaluations of tobacco control policies by separating impacts likely attributable to gradual long-term trends from those more likely attributable to acute short-term events. The complex, regionally clustered historical trajectories of cigarette consumption in Europe suggest that the enduring normative frame of a gently sloping downward curve in cigarette consumption can offer a false sense of security among policymakers and can distract from plausible causal mechanisms among researchers. These multilevel and multisectoral causal mechanisms point to the need for a greater understanding of the political economy of regional and global determinants of cigarette consumption.
Helmoltz problem for the Riccati equation from an analogous Friedmann equation
Authors: Faraoni Valerio 
Published: January 2022

AbstractWe report a solution of the inverse Lagrangian problem for the first order Riccati differential equation by means of an analogy with the Friedmann equation of a suitable Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker universe in general relativity. This analogous universe has fine-tuned parameters and is unphysical, but it suggests a Lagrangian and a Hamiltonian for the Riccati equation and for the many physical systems described by it.
Fermat’s principle and the effect of jerk on light motion near the Sun
Authors: El-Nabulsi Rami Ahmad , Anukool Waranont 
Published: January 2022

In classical mechanics, in the case of gravitational and electromagnetic interactions, the force on a particle is usually proportional to its acceleration: The force acts locally on the particle. However, there are situations possible-if the particle moves through a suitable medium, for example, in which the force depends also on the first-time derivative of its acceleration, the jerk, and on its second-time derivative, the snap, and possibly also on higher-time derivatives. Such forces are called nonlocal, and this work investigates such nonlocal forces, mainly those depending on the jerk. In particular, we implement jerk and acceleration in geodesics by means of the nonlocal-in-time kinetic energy approach to spacetime physics. We describe a framework that can be used to estimate the quantum nonlocal time parameter by studying the deflection of light around the Sun. Comparing our results with long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations, we concluded that the nonlocal time parameter [Formula: see text] s.
Thermal-Mechanical-Electrochemical Coupling Simulation for Electric Vehicle Batteries
Authors: Li Xiaobai , Chumakov Sergei , Christensen Jake , Zhang Xiaoxuan , Linder Christian 
Published: January 2022

The major trend toward vehicle electrification intensifies the need for increased battery energy densities. During the development of new electric vehicle battery technologies, it has become clear that thermal, mechanical, and electrochemical coupling effects play an important role in battery performance, degradation, and response to abusive conditions. The macro-homogeneous Dualfoil model, which solves ion transport and charge transfer dynamics, predicts the electrical response of a single small battery cell. However, when considering large cells or assembled battery modules and packs, inhomogeneity of electric potential and temperature throughout the cell volume becomes severe enough to impact battery performance. Cell expansion and contraction during charge/discharge cycles further increase such inhomogeneity, and the resulting potential and temperature imbalances cause non-uniform current distribution in the cell. Heavily cycled cell regions generate additional heat and stress, causing severe degradation in the performance and life of the battery. Given the strong coupling between thermal, mechanical, and electrochemical phenomena, it is imperative to integrate multiple physical models in the simulation of complete battery packs.
In this work, a modified Dualfoil electrochemical model is coupled to a thermo-mechanical finite element solver to represent such multiphysics coupling effects. Outputs from the 3D thermo-mechanical solver, such as temperature and stress, are supplied as inputs to the Dualfoil model, which in return computes the electrochemical response and provides the local heat generation rate and Li intercalation induced volume change to the thermo-mechanical solver. Using this coupled multiphysics simulation framework, the impact of external mechanical loading under different charge/discharge profiles was investigated. The transient, non-linear behavior of internal variables, such as SOC, overpotential, and current density, during and after cycles, was obtained in the entire 3D battery pack domain. This information provides good insights for design and optimization of battery packs with high performance and long life time.
Loss of Appetite in Adult Patients: Effectiveness and Safety of an Appetite Stimulating Medication in an Open-Label, Investigator-Initiated Study in India
Authors: Nagaraj S. 
Published: January 2022

Loss of appetite (LOA) may have a negative impact on a patient’s well-being owing to loss of nutrition and associated conditions. The current study assessed the effects of an appetite-stimulating medication containing multivitamins, lysine, and zinc in Indian patients with a history of LOA. Using an investigator-initiated, single-center, open-label, single-arm design, we evaluated the effectiveness and safety of the appetite-stimulating medication (15 mL) in 50 male or female patients (18–55 years old) attending the outpatient department, with a confirmed diagnosis of LOA after two weeks of therapy and assessed the change in Council on Nutrition Appetite Questionnaire (CNAQ) score and safety of the medication after two weeks of treatment. CNAQ scores were presented as mean (standard deviation (SD)). The mean age of patients was 42.1 years, with the majority (66%) being males. At weeks 1 and 2, a statistically significant improvement was observed in the mean CNAQ scores of 25.48 (5.10) and 25.48 (4.29), respectively, vs. baseline (22.08 (2.76);

P

≤ 0.0001 both). Majority of the patients had CNAQ appetite scores of 17–28 at baseline (94%), week 1 (66%), and week 2 (78%) of treatment. For patients with acute and chronic illness, a statistically significant improvement was observed in the mean CNAQ score at week 1 (26.75 (3.69),

P

= 0.0256; 25.24 (5.33),

P

= 0.0004) and at week 2 (26.63 (3.46),

P

= 0.0027; 25.26 (4.43),

P

≤ 0.0001) from baseline (21.88 (3.31) and 22.12 (2.69), respectively). No serious adverse events were reported during the study. The study findings suggest that appetite-stimulating medication containing multivitamins, lysine, and zinc could be a suitable treatment option for the management of LOA with no significant safety concerns.
Slantlet transform used for faults diagnosis in robot arm
Authors: Alobaidy Muhamad Azhar Abdilatef , Abdul-Jabbar Jassim Mohammed , Al-khayyt Saad Zaghlul 
Published: January 2022

<p class="JESTECAbstract">The <span>robot arm systems are the most target systems in the fields of faults detection and diagnosis which are electrical and the mechanical systems in many fields. Fault detection and diagnosis study is presented for two robot arms. The disturbance due to the faults at robot's joints causes oscillations at the tip of the robot arm. The acceleration in multi-direction is analysed to extract the features of the faults. Simulations for planar and space robots are presented. Two types of feature (faults) detection methods are used in this paper. The first one is the discrete wavelet transform, which is applied in many research's works before. The second type, is the Slantlet transform, which represents an improved model of the discrete wavelet transform. The multi-layer perceptron artificial neural network is used for the purpose of faults allocation and classification. According to the obtained results, the Slantlet transform with the multi-layer perceptron artificial neural network appear to possess best performance (4.7088e-05), lower consuming time <br /> (71.017308 sec) and higher accuracy (100%) than the results obtained when applying discrete wavelet transform and artificial neural network for the same </span>purpose.</p>
Efficient electro encephelogram classification system using support vector machine classifier and adaptive learning technique
Authors: Dalal Virupaxi Balachandra , Bhairannawar Satish S. 
Published: January 2022

Complex <span>modern signal processing is used to automate the analysis of electro encephelogram (EEG) signals. For the diagnosis of seizures, approaches that are simple and precise may be preferable rather than difficult and time-consuming. In this paper, efficient EEG classification system using support vector machine (SVM) and Adaptive learning technique is proposed. The database EEG signals are subjected to temporal and spatial filtering to remove unwanted noise and to increase the detection accuracy of the classifier by selecting the specific bands in which most of the EEG data are present. The neural network based SVM is used to classify the test EEG data with respect to training data. The cost-sensitive SVM with proposed Adaptive learning classifies the EEG signals where the adaptive learning with probability based function helps in prediction of the future samples and this leads in improving the accuracy with detection time. The detection accuracy of the proposed algorithm is compared with existing which shows that the proposed algorithm can classify the EEG signal more </span>effectively.
Digital image processing methods for estimating leaf area of cucumber plants
Authors: Ngo Uoc Quang , Ngo Duong Tri , Nguyen Hoc Thai , Bui Thanh Dang 
Published: January 2022

Increasingly <span>emerging technologies in agriculture such as computer vision, artificial intelligence technology, not only make it possible to increase production. To minimize the negative impact on climate and the environment but also to conserve resources. A key task of these technologies is to monitor the growth of plants online with a high accuracy rate and in non-destructive manners. It is known that leaf area (LA) is one of the most important growth indexes in plant growth monitoring system. Unfortunately, to estimate the LA in natural outdoor scenes (the presence of occlusion or overlap area) with a high accuracy rate is not easy and it still remains a big challenge in eco-physiological studies. In this paper, two accurate and non-destructive approaches for estimating the LA were proposed with top-view and side-view images, respectively. The proposed approaches successfully extract the skeleton of cucumber plants in red, green, and blue (RGB) images and estimate the LA of cucumber plants with high precision. The results were validated by comparing with manual measurements. The experimental results of our proposed algorithms achieve 97.64% accuracy in leaf segmentation, and the relative error in LA estimation varies from 3.76% to 13.00%, which could meet the requirements of plant growth monitoring </span>systems.
Antagonistic Effect of Yeast, Acetic Acid Bacteria and Mangosteen Rind Extract on Aflatoxigenic Aspergillus flavus in Unfermented Cocoa Beans
Authors: Nurfadila Nijma , - Sutrisno , Ahmad Usman , - Samsudin 
Published: January 2022

Yeasts and bacteria are two of common biocontrol agents to control mycotoxigenic fungi, meanwhile the mangosteen rind exract has xanthone and gartanin compounds for antioxidant, antiproliferation, antiinflammation, antimicrobial, and anticancer. The objectives of this research are to test the effects of yeasts, acetic acid bacteria (AAB), and mangosteen rind extract on the aflatoxigenic Aspergillus flavus growth and aflatoxin production in unfermented cocoa beans. Four yeast isolates, i.e. Issatchenkia orientalis (Io) BIO 211291, 286 and 288, and Endomyces fibuliger (Ef) BIO 132219; one bacteria isolate of Acetobacter aceti (Aa) FNCC0016; and mangosteen rind extract (MRE) were tested for their capabilities in inhibiting an aflatoxigenic A. flavus (Af) BIO 3361/747 growth using the well method (in vitro). Two yeast (Io BIO 211291 and 288) were combined with Aa and MRE in cocoa beans (in vivo). Aflatoxin production was analyzed using Thin Layer Chromathography (TLC). The result showed that interaction of Io BIO 211291 and 288, and Ef BIO 132219 on aflatoxigenic Af were interaction with inhibition zone ≥ 2 mm (type D), while the interaction type of Io BIO 211286 on Af were mutual intermingling growth, where both fungi grew into each other without any macroscopic sign of interaction (type A). The best treatment in agar media (in vitro) was Io BIO 211288 + Aa on Potato Dextrose Agar + 12 g/l MRE. The highest Io population was 5.88 log cfu/g on cocoa beans inoculated by Io BIO 211291 + MRE in 1 day after inoculation, while the highest A. aceti population was 4.74 log cfu/g on cocoa beans with Io BIO 211291 + BIO 211288 + Aa in 3 days after inoculation. Two best treatments were Io BIO 211288 + Aa + MRE and Io BIO 211291 + BIO 211288 + Aa + MRE, because there were no A. flavus population since 3 until 11 days after inoculation. Aflatoxin in all samples treatment was lower than limit detection B1 (< 2.20 ppb), B2 (< 3.50 ppb), (G1 < 0.54 ppb), dan (G2 < 1.00 ppb).