by So-Min Park, Hae-Ahm Lee, Ki-Back Chu, Fu-Shi Quan, Su-Jung Kim, Eun-Kyung Moon Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK) is a rare disease but its prevalence throughout the globe continues to grow, primarily due to increased contact lens usage. Since early-stage symptoms associated with AK closely resemble those from other corneal infections, accurate diagnosis is difficult and this often results in delayed treatment and exacerbation of the disease, which can lead to permanent visual impairment. Accordingly,...
by Gurpreet Singh, Yasin Hussain, Zhuoran Xu, Evan Sholle, Kelly Michalak, Kristina Dolan, Benjamin C. Lee, Alexander R. van Rosendael, Zahra Fatima, Jessica M. Peña, Peter W. F. Wilson, Antonio M. Gotto Jr., Leslee J. Shaw, Lohendran Baskaran, Subhi J. Al’Aref Background Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is a target for cardiovascular prevention. Contemporary equations for LDL-C estimation have limited accuracy in certain scenarios (high triglycerides [TG], very low LDL-C). Objectives...
by Nirma Khatri Vadlamudi, David M. Patrick, Linda Hoang, Manish Sadarangani, Fawziah Marra Background A significant reduction in invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) has been reported, across all ages, following the implementation of 7-valent conjugate pneumococcal vaccine (PCV7) globally, as part of infant immunization programs. We explored the additional impact of PCV13 on IPD over a 14-year period. Methods Using provincial laboratory surveillance and hospitalization data (N = 5791), we calculated...
by Daiki Ito, Raku Shirasawa, Yoichiro Iino, Shigetaka Tomiya, Gouhei Tanaka Crystal structure prediction has been one of the fundamental and challenging problems in materials science. It is computationally exhaustive to identify molecular conformations and arrangements in organic molecular crystals due to complexity in intra- and inter-molecular interactions. From a geometrical viewpoint, specific types of organic crystal structures can be characterized by ellipsoid packing. In particular,...
by Dennis L. Jackson, Marc P. Frey, Chelsea McLellan, Carolyn M. Rauti, Paige B. Lamborn, Jill A. Singleton-Jackson This paper reports the results of a multi-stage effort to develop a measure of Academic Entitlement. An empirical/rational approach was taken to develop items and reduce the item set for a final version of the Academic Entitlement Scale (AES). The measure includes seven dimensions: Accommodation, Reward for Effort, Responsibility Avoidance, Grade Haggling, Customer Orientation,...
by Joseph B. Babigumira, Scott Barnhart, Joanna M. Mendelsohn, Vernon Murenje, Mufuta Tshimanga, Christina Mauhy, Isaac Holeman, Sinokuthemba Xaba, Marrianne M. Holec, Batsirai Makunike-Chikwinya, Caryl Feldacker Objective Although adverse events (AEs) following voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) are rare, their prompt ascertainment and management is a marker of quality care. The use of two-way text messaging (2wT) for client follow-up after VMMC reduces the need for clinic visits (standard...
by Shray Alag With the novel COVID-19 pandemic disrupting and threatening the lives of millions, researchers and clinicians have been recently conducting clinical trials at an unprecedented rate to learn more about the virus and potential drugs/treatments/vaccines to treat its infection. As a result of the influx of clinical trials, researchers, clinicians, and the lay public, now more than ever, face a significant challenge in keeping up-to-date with the rapid rate of discoveries and advances....
by Jannes Kreutzfeldt, Carolin Floeter, Thies Lingner, Lukas Schmitz-Beuting, Michael Reich, Veit Dominik Kunz To develop mitigation measures for the protection of bats in close proximity to onshore wind turbines, new detection techniques covering large-scale environments and techniques, which are able to track individuals are required. Radar based observations, successfully applied in ornithological studies, offer a promising potential, but come with challenges regarding the comparability of...
by Gabriel Schneebauer, Constantin Lindemann, Victoria Drechsel, Lasse Marohn, Klaus Wysujack, Elena Santidrian, Ron Dirks, Reinhold Hanel, Bernd Pelster In spite of many decades of research, the spawning migration of the European eel Anguilla anguilla from the European coast to the Sargasso Sea remains a mystery. In particular, the role of the swimbladder as a buoyancy regulating structure is not yet understood. In this study, we exercised silver eels in a swim tunnel under elevated hydrostatic...
by Jae-suk Yang, Michael Fredericson, Jang-Hwan Choi Patellofemoral pain (PFP) is commonly caused by abnormal pressure on the knee due to excessive load while standing, squatting, or going up or down stairs. To better understand the pathophysiology of PFP, we conducted a noninvasive patellar tracking study using a C-arm computed tomography (CT) scanner to assess the non-weight-bearing condition at 0° knee flexion (NWB0°) in supine, weight-bearing at 0° (WB0°) when upright, and at 30° (WB30°)...
by Virginie Prendki, Astrid Malézieux-Picard, Leire Azurmendi, Jean-Charles Sanchez, Nicolas Vuilleumier, Sebastian Carballo, Xavier Roux, Jean-Luc Reny, Dina Zekry, Jérôme Stirnemann, Nicolas Garin, on behalf of the PneumOldCT study group Objective The diagnosis of pneumonia based on semiology and chest X-rays is frequently inaccurate, particularly in elderly patients. Older (C-reactive protein (CRP); procalcitonin (PCT)) or newer (Serum amyloid A (SAA); neopterin (NP)) biomarkers may increase...
by Mohsen Hesami, Milad Alizadeh, Roohangiz Naderi, Masoud Tohidfar Optimizing the gene transformation factors can be considered as the first and foremost step in successful genetic engineering and genome editing studies. However, it is usually difficult to achieve an optimized gene transformation protocol due to the cost and time-consuming as well as the complexity of this process. Therefore, it is necessary to use a novel computational approach such as machine learning models for analyzing...
by Duhgoon Lee, Jiyoung Choi, Hyesun Kim, Minkook Cho, Kyoung-Yong Lee A novel cardiac motion correction algorithm has been introduced recently. Unlike other segmentation-based approaches it is fully automatic and capable of correcting motion artifacts of myocardial wall and other moving structures as well as coronary arteries of the heart. In addition, it requires raw data of only less than a single rotation for motion estimation and correction, which is a significant advantage from the perspective...
by Yanjie Sun, Rongying Wang, Weiwei Tang, Chao Li, Nan Huo Background The potential effects of botanical dietary supplements (BDS) in the treatment of asthma have been proposed. However, the evidence of the effects of BDS use among patients with COPD is limited. The objective of our study was to exam the trends and effects of BDS use among US adults with COPD. Methods A serial, cross-sectional study was conducted by using data of the NHANSE from 1999 to 2016 (n = 53,348). COPD (n = 2,580) was...
by Nora Castner, Tobias Appel, Thérése Eder, Juliane Richter, Katharina Scheiter, Constanze Keutel, Fabian Hüttig, Andrew Duchowski, Enkelejda Kasneci
by Graciela C. Alatorre-Cruz, Javier Sanchez-Lopez, Juan Silva-Pereyra, Thalía Fernández Older adults have difficulties in sentence comprehension when working memory (WM) load increases (e.g., multiple embedded clauses). Structured physical activity has been related to improvements in cognition; however, incidental physical activity (PA, i.e., unstructured daily physical activities), particularly incidental vigorous activity has been poorly studied in relation to its effects on behavior. Furthermore,...
by I-Mo Fang, Li-Li Chen Purpose To compare macular choroidal thickness of idiopathic epiretinal membrane (ERM) and fellow eyes, and before and after vitrectomy in terms of the morphological features on spectral-domain optical coherent tomography (SD-OCT). Methods Eighty-four patients with unilateral idiopathic ERM were involved. Patients were categorized into: Group 1, ERM without membrane contraction; Group 2, ERM with membrane contraction and retinal folding; and Group 3, ERM with membrane contraction...
by Aditya K. Gupta, Valeria B. A. Taborda, Paulo R. O. Taborda, Avner Shemer, Richard C. Summerbell, Kerry-Ann Nakrieko Onychomycosis is estimated at a prevalence of 10% worldwide with the infecting organism most commonly Trichophyton rubrum (T. rubrum). Traditional culture identification of causative organisms has inherent risks of overestimating dermatophytes, like T. rubrum, by inhibiting the growth of possible nondermatophyte mould (NDM) environmental contaminants which could be causative...
by Nour Ammar, Nourhan M. Aly, Morenike O. Folayan, Yousef Khader, Jorma I. Virtanen, Ola B. Al-Batayneh, Simin Z. Mohebbi, Sameh Attia, Hans-Peter Howaldt, Sebastian Boettger, Diah A. Maharani, Anton Rahardjo, Imran Khan, Marwa Madi, Maher Rashwan, Verica Pavlic, Smiljka Cicmil, Youn-Hee Choi, Easter Joury, Jorge L. Castillo, Kanako Noritake, Anas Shamala, Gabriella Galluccio, Antonella Polimeni, Prathip Phantumvanit, Davide Mancino, Jin-Bom Kim, Maha M. Abdelsalam, Arheiam Arheiam, Mai A. Dama,...
by Amit Patel, George Joseph, Namesh Killemsetty, Sokha Eng Rural-to-urban migration and intra-urban residential mobility often lead to improved living conditions. However, it is not clear if this is true for all, especially in cities in developing countries, where inequalities persist and upward mobility remains elusive for marginalized populations. We investigate the effects of intra-urban residential mobility and rural-to-urban migration on standards of living in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania....
by Daniel Bodmer, Peter Kern, David Bächinger, Arianne Monge Naldi, Soledad Levano Huaman Signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) is known to be an important player in inflammatory responses. STAT1 as a transcription factor regulates the expression of multiple proinflammatory genes. Inflammatory response is one of the common effects of ototoxicity. Our group reported that hair cells of STAT1 knockout (STAT1-KO) mice are less sensitive to ototoxic agents in-vitro. The effect...
by Li-Teh Liu, Chun-Hong Chen, Ching-Yi Tsai, Ping-Chang Lin, Miao-Chen Hsu, Bo-Yi Huang, Ying-Hui Wang, Jih-Jin Tsai Early diagnosis is important for the clinical management of diseases caused by dengue virus (DENV) infections. We investigated the performance of three commercially available DENV nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) using 173 acute-phase sera collected from dengue fever-suspected patients during the 2012–2013 DENV outbreak in Taiwan. The results of the...
by Pooja Purswani, Sarah M. Marsicek, Ernest K. Amankwah Background Exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) is associated with many childhood diseases and poor health outcomes in adulthood. However, the association with childhood obesity is inconsistent. We investigated the association between reported cumulative ACE score and body mass index (BMI) in a large sample of patients at a single institution. Methods This cross-sectional study included children aged 2–20 years that were screened...
by Peter R. W. Gowler, Paul I. Mapp, James J. Burston, Mohsen Shahtaheri, David A. Walsh, Victoria Chapman The relationship between osteoarthritis (OA) structural change and pain is complex. Surgical models of OA in rodents are often rapid in onset, limiting mechanistic utility and translational validity. We aimed to investigate the effect of refining surgical small rodent models of OA on both joint pathology and pain behaviour. Adult male C57BL/6 mice (n = 76, 10–11 weeks of age at time of...
by Karim Kouz, Sophie Eisenbarth, Alina Bergholz, Sonja Mohr A solid understanding of basic sciences is a prerequisite for successful completion of medical education. Therefore, it is essential to improve the quality of teaching and to ensure the applicability of basic sciences. Based on practical experiences and previous research, we developed an innovative step-by-step concept, called ENHANCE, for the implementation or revision of teaching units, especially for basic sciences. We used comparative...
by Peng-Hu Liu, Zai-Xing Huang, Xu-Hui Luo, Hua Chen, Bo-Qi Weng, Yi-Xiang Wang, Li-Song Chen Cadmium (Cd) is a toxic metal occurring in the environment naturally. Almond mushroom (Agaricus brasiliensis) is a well-known cultivated edible and medicinal mushroom. In the past few decades, Cd accumulation in A.brasiliensis has received increasing attention. However, the molecular mechanisms of Cd-accumulation in A. brasiliensis are still unclear. In this paper, a comparative transcriptome of two...
by Gustavo César Sant’Ana, Fernando Garcia Espolador, Ítalo Stefanine Correia Granato, Leandro Freitas Mendonça, Roberto Fritsche-Neto, Aluízio Borém Increasing low nitrogen (N) tolerance in maize is an important goal for food security and agricultural sustainability. In order to analyze the population structure of tropical maize lines and identify genomic regions associated with low-N tolerance, a set of 64 inbred lines were evaluated under low-N and optimal-N conditions. The low-N Agronomic...
by R. I. Helou, D. E. Foudraine, G. Catho, A. Peyravi Latif, N. J. Verkaik, A. Verbon Background Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) programs promote appropriate use of antimicrobials and reduce antimicrobial resistance. Technological developments have resulted in smartphone applications (apps) facilitating AMS. Yet, their impact is unclear. Objectives Systematically review AMS apps and their impact on prescribing by physicians treating in-hospital patients. Data sources EMBASE, MEDLINE (Ovid), Cochrane...
by Pilar Díaz-Corvillón, Max Mönckeberg, Antonia Barros, Sebastián E. Illanes, Arturo Soldati, Jyh-Kae Nien, Manuel Schepeler, Javier Caradeux Background South America has become the epicenter of coronavirus pandemic. It seems that asymptomatic population may contribute importantly to the spread of the disease. Transmission from asymptomatic pregnant patients’ needs to be characterized in larger population cohorts and symptom assessment needs to be standardized. Objective To assess the prevalence...
by Nungruthai Suntronwong, Preeyaporn Vichaiwattana, Sirapa Klinfueng, Sumeth Korkong, Thanunrat Thongmee, Sompong Vongpunsawad, Yong Poovorawan Yearly increase in influenza activity is associated with cold and dry winter in the temperate regions, while influenza patterns in tropical countries vary significantly by regional climates and geographic locations. To examine the association between influenza activity in Thailand and local climate factors including temperature, relative humidity, and...
by Melissa Boldridge, Jody Shimabukuro, Keith Nakamatsu, Christian Won, Chad Jansen, Helen Turner, Lei Wang The activity-regulated cytoskeleton-associate protein Arc (or Arg3.1) is specifically linked to memory formation and a number of cognitive disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia. Since the discovery of Arc in 1995, extensive research has been conducted on the protein to identify its function and mechanisms of action, with solving the structure of Arc as a major goal....
by Timo T. Hugg, Mirkka Tuokila, Sanna Korkonen, Jan Weckström, Maritta S. Jaakkola, Jouni J. K. Jaakkola Introduction It is important to study potential differences in pollen concentrations between sampling heights because of diverse outdoor and indoor activity of humans (exposure) at different height levels in urban environments. Previous studies have investigated the effect of height on pollen concentrations based on just one or a few sampling points. We studied the effect of sampling height...
by Guro Strøm Solli, Jan Kocbach, Silvana Bucher Sandbakk, Pål Haugnes, Thomas Losnegard, Øyvind Sandbakk The purpose of this study was to compare speed, sub-technique selection and temporal patterns between world-class male and female cross-country (XC) skiers and to examine the combined associations of sex and speed on sub-technique selection. Thirty-three XC skiers performed an international 10-km (women; n = 8) and 15-km (men; n = 25) time-trial competition in the classical style (with the...
by Mary E. Kable, Niknaz Riazati, Catherine P. Kirschke, Junli Zhao, Surapun Tepaamorndech, Liping Huang Cellular homeostasis of zinc, an essential element for living organisms, is tightly regulated by a family of zinc transporters. The zinc transporter 7, ZnT7, is highly expressed on the membrane of the Golgi complex of intestinal epithelial cells and goblet cells. It has previously been shown that Znt7 knockout leads to zinc deficiency and decreased weight gain in C57BL/6 mice on a defined...
by He Li, Yiming Li, Xiang Yue, Xingan Liu, Subo Tian, Tianlai Li Natural ventilation is an effective energy-saving strategy conducive to promoting sustainable agricultural production. A comprehensive numerical simulation is performed to predict the airflow pattern and thermal behavior in different arched greenhouses. The defined arc chord angle and position angle are employed to examine the natural ventilation process and corresponding roof vent scenarios. The numerical simulation is compared...
by Viviane de Sousa Moreira Almeida, Jailton Azevedo, Helena Ferreira Leal, Artur Trancoso Lopo de Queiroz, Hermes Pedreira da Silva Filho, Joice Neves Reis Objectives This study aims to describe the oral microbiome diversity and prevalence of ARGs in periodontal health and disease. Background The human oral cavity harbors a complex microbial community known as the oral microbiome. These organisms are regularly exposed to selective pressures, such as the usage of antibiotics, which drive evolution...
by Andrea Albano, Alessio Alexiadis In this study, we propose a mesh-free (particle-based) Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics model for simulating a Rayleigh collapse. Both empty and gas cavities are investigates and the role of heat diffusion is also accounted for. The system behaves very differently according to the ratio between the characteristic time of collapse and the characteristic time of thermal diffusion. This study identifies five different possible behaviours that range from isothermal...
by Saori Matsui, Naomichi Yoneda, Hazuki Maezono, Katsutaka Kuremoto, Takuya Ishimoto, Takayoshi Nakano, Hiromichi Yumoto, Shigeyuki Ebisu, Yuichiro Noiri, Mikako Hayashi The purpose of this study was to develop a high-frequency wave therapy model in rats and to investigate the influence of high-frequency waves on root canal treatment, which may provide a novel strategy for treating apical periodontitis. Root canal treatments with and without high-frequency wave irradiation were performed on...
by Jiteng Du, Jing Xia, Shuyun Li, Yuxi Shen, Wen Chen, Yuwen Luo, Qin Zhao, Yiping Wen, Rui Wu, Qigui Yan, Xiaobo Huang, Sanjie Cao, Xinfeng Han, Min Cui, Yong Huang The Chinese poultry industry has experienced outbreaks of Newcastle disease (ND) dating back to the 1920s. However, the epidemic has exhibited a downtrend in recent years. In this study, both observational and genetic data [fusion (F) and haemagglutinin-neuraminidase genes (HN)] were analyzed, and phylogeographic analysis based...
by Martijn W. van Teffelen, Jill Lobbestael, Marisol J. Voncken, Frenk Peeters Hostility and other related terms like anger and aggression are often used interchangeably to describe antagonistic affect, cognition, and behavior. Psychometric studies suggest that hostility consists of multiple separate factors, but consensus is currently lacking. In the present study we examined the hierarchical structure of hostility. The hierarchical structure of hostility was examined in N = 376 people (i.e.,...
by Takuya Yahagi, Andrew David Thaler, Cindy Lee Van Dover, Yasunori Kano The Southwest Pacific represents an independent biogeographic province for deep-sea hydrothermal vent fauna. Different degrees of genetic connectivity among vent fields in Manus, North Fiji and Lau Basins have been reported for various molluscan and crustacean species, presumably reflecting their different levels of dispersal ability as swimming larvae. The present study investigates the population connectivity of the...
by Sanzida Akhter, Gouranga Lal Dasvarma, Udoy Saikia In this paper we examine whether it is just the financial cost of maternal healthcare that prevents poor women from utilising free or low-cost government provided healthcare in Dhaka, Bangladesh, or there are other factors at play, in conjunction with poverty. To answer this question, we analyse the perceptions and experiences about the use of maternal health care for childbirth by a group of women residing in poor and lower socio-economic...
by Tyler C. Helmann, Adam M. Deutschbauer, Steven E. Lindow A variety of traits are necessary for bacterial colonization of the interior of plant hosts, including well-studied virulence effectors as well as other phenotypes contributing to bacterial growth and survival within the apoplast. High-throughput methods such as transposon sequencing (TnSeq) are powerful tools to identify such genes in bacterial pathogens. However, there is little information as to the distinctiveness of traits required...
by Mathias T. Cramer, Robert Y. Fidler, Louis M. Penrod, Jessica Carroll, Ralph G. Turingan Quantitative assessments of the capacity of marine reserves to restore historical fish body-size distributions require extensive repeated sampling to map the phenotypic responses of target populations to protection. However, the “no take” status of marine reserves oftentimes precludes repeated sampling within their borders and, as a result, our current understanding of the capacity of marine reserves...
by Kwang Il Kim, Unn Hwa Lee, Miyoung Cho, Sung-Hee Jung, Eun Young Min, Jeong Woo Park Viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV) and hirame rhabdovirus (HIRRV) belong to the genus Novirhabdovirus and are the causative agents of a serious disease in cultured flounder. However, infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV), a prototype of the genus Novirhabdovirus, does not cause disease in flounder. To determine whether IHNV growth is restricted in flounder cells, we compared the growth of...
by Rui Sun, Na Zhao, Ke Zhao, Zhe Su, Yifan Zhang, Mei Diao, Long Li Objective The outcomes of children with Choledochal cyst who undergo laparoscopic cyst excision and Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy versus open cyst excision and Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy have not been adequately compared. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to gain further insight into the efficacy and safety of laparoscopic excision in children with choledochal cysts. Methods A systematic search of PubMed, Embase,...
by Jeff Choi, Kirellos Zamary, Nicolas B. Barreto, Lakshika Tennakoon, Kristen M. Davis, Amber W. Trickey, David A. Spain Introduction Pain management is the pillar of caring for patients with traumatic rib fractures. Intravenous lidocaine (IVL) is a well-established non-opioid analgesic for post-operative pain, yet its efficacy has yet to be investigated in trauma patients. We hypothesized that IVL is associated with decreased inpatient opioid requirements among patients with rib fractures. Methods...
by L. Christian Napp, Carolina Sanchez Martinez, Muharrem Akin, Vera Garcheva, Christian Kühn, Johann Bauersachs, Andreas Schäfer Background Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) refractory to conventional high-quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) may be rescued by extracorporeal CPR (eCPR) using veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (V-A ECMO). Even when trying to identify eCPR candidates based on criteria assumed to be associated with a favourable neurological outcome, reported...
by Pedro Núñez-Cacho, Juan Carlos Leyva-Díaz, Jorge Sánchez-Molina, Rody Van der Gun Every day, society’s concern over pollution caused by plastic waste grows greater. One of the most intensive sectors for the use of plastic is the food industry. Companies in this sector face the challenge of transitioning to a more sustainable and less intensive model of plastic use, respecting the principles established for a circular economy. Accordingly, one of the questions that industries tend to ask is...
by Laura Ware Adlington, Markus Ritter, Nadine Schibille A large assemblage (n = 307) of architectural glasses (tesserae and windows) from the early 8th-century Umayyad residential site at Khirbat al-Minya was analysed by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Trace element patterns are essential to establish the provenance of the base glass, while the comparative evaluation of the colouring and opacifying additives allow us to advance a production model for the manufacture...
by Martin C. Berli, Michèle Jundt-Ecker, Margrit R. Meier, Michael Hofer, Madlaina Schöni, Tobias Götschi, Ilker Uçkay, Thomas Böni, Felix W. A. Waibel Background In our clinic, a substantial number of patients present with transtibial residual limb pain of no specific somatic origin. Silicone liner induced tissue compression may reduce blood flow, possibly causing residual limb pain. Thus, as a first step we investigated if the liner itself has an effect on transcutaneous oxygen pressure (TcPO2)....
by Nasru Minallah, Mohsin Tariq, Najam Aziz, Waleed Khan, Atiq ur Rehman, Samir Brahim Belhaouari This research work aims to develop a deep learning-based crop classification framework for remotely sensed time series data. Tobacco is a major revenue generating crop of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province of Pakistan, with over 90% of the country’s Tobacco production. In order to analyze the performance of the developed classification framework, a pilot sub-region named Yar Hussain is selected for...
by Wun-Chung Szeto, Ho-Pan Hsia, Yun-Sang Tang, Pang-Chui Shaw Influenza A virus controls replication and transcription of its genome through the tight regulation of interaction between the ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complex subunits. The helical scaffold of RNP is maintained by nucleoprotein (NP). Previous studies have revealed that NP interacts with both PB2 N-terminal and C-terminal regions, with both regions sharing similar affinity to NP as revealed in co-immunoprecipitation assay. Our work...
by Hanwen Liu, Xiaobing Liu, Lin Lin, Sardar M. N. Islam, Yuqing Xu The purpose of this research is to solve the problems of unreasonable layout of the production plant, disorder of the logistics process, and unbalanced production line in discrete manufacturing plants. By analyzing the production process and characteristics, the timed Petri net model is constructed according to the function and connection of each production unit, which is then used to generate a FlexSim simulation model of the...
by Mathieu Mogenot, Laurence Hein-Halbgewachs, Christophe Goetz, Nadia Ouamara, Dominique Droz-Desprez, Catherine Strazielle, Sylvie Albecker, Brigitte Mengus, Marion Strub, Marie-Cécile Manière, Pascal Richardin, Stéphane Wang, Giuseppa Piga, Amélie Dalstein, Daniel Anastasio Background People with special needs have high unmet oral healthcare needs, partly because dentists find it difficult to access their oral cavity. The Oral Accessibility Spatula aims to improve oral accessibility. This prospective...
by Demian F. Gomez, Damian C. Adams, Rosa E. Cossio, Paloma Carton de Grammont, William A. Messina, Frederick S. Royce, Sebastian Galindo-Gonzalez, Jiri Hulcr, Berta Lina Muiño, Luis L. Vázquez To mitigate the movement of non-native organisms with trade, phytosanitary systems have been implemented within and between countries. In some countries such as Cuba, little is known about the within-state plant health system. To facilitate the development of future trade partnership between Cuba and...
by Pukkapol Suvannachart, Somkiat Asawaphureekorn, Sunee Chansangpetch, Abhibol Inobhas, Krit Pongpirul Purpose To evaluate repeatability, reproducibility, and agreement of intraocular pressure measurement with Tono-Pen using Ocufilm and polyethylene wrap tip cover in human eyes. Methods This is a cross-sectional, experimental study. A gas-sterilized, polyethylene wrap was used as an alternative for Tono-Pen tip cover. For the right eye, 4 measurements using polyethylene wrap tip cover were done...
by Hee-Seung Seo, Seon-Hee Kim, Seung-Chul Kim Phedimus takesimensis (Ulleungdo flat-leaved stonecrop) is endemic to Ulleung and Dokdo Islands off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula. It was suggested that P. takesimensis originated via anagenetic speciation from the continental progenitor species P. kamtchaticus or P. aizoon. However, little is known of the phylogenetic relationships and population genetic structure among species of Phedimus in the Korean Peninsula and Ulleung/Dokdo Islands....
by Angela Mercedes Raba-Páez, João Otávio D. Malafatti, Carlos Arturo Parra-Vargas, Elaine Cristina Paris, Miryam Rincón-Joya Copper oxide (CuO) has been broadly used in different technological and biological applications. However, based on the literature review, there are few reports describing the synthesis of tungsten doped copper oxide and its biological applications, although CuO and W (tungsten) based nanomaterials have been reportedly already synthesized. In this study we synthesized...
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by Abdulwali Sabo, Yee Cheng Kueh, Wan Nor Arifin, YoungHo Kim, Garry Kuan Background This study aimed to determine the validity of the Malay-translated version scales for assessing the social support and physical environment for exercise activities. Method The study was a cross-sectional design in nature, using self-reported questionnaires among the university students in Malaysia. Participants were selected using a convenience sampling approach. Perceptions regarding social support and physical...
by Mariana Haeberer, Inmaculada León-Gómez, Beatriz Pérez-Gómez, María Téllez-Plaza, Mónica Pérez-Ríos, Anna Schiaffino, Fernando Rodríguez-Artalejo, Iñaki Galán Introduction First study of social inequalities in tobacco-attributable mortality (TAM) in Spain considering the joint influence of sex, age, and education (intersectional perspective). Methods Data on all deaths due to cancer, cardiometabolic and respiratory diseases among people aged ≥35 years in 2016 were obtained from the Spanish Statistical...
by Shawn M. Higdon, Tania Pozzo, Nguyet Kong, Bihua C. Huang, Mai Lee Yang, Richard Jeannotte, C. Titus Brown, Alan B. Bennett, Bart C. Weimer A geographically isolated maize landrace cultivated on nitrogen-depleted fields without synthetic fertilizer in the Sierra Mixe region of Oaxaca, Mexico utilizes nitrogen derived from the atmosphere and develops an extensive network of mucilage-secreting aerial roots that harbors a diazotrophic (N2-fixing) microbiota. Targeting these diazotrophs, we selected...
by Christopher G. Laine, Abel Wade, H. Morgan Scott, Rosina C. Krecek, Angela M. Arenas-Gamboa Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease known to be endemic to parts of western and sub-Saharan Africa. However, the epidemiology for humans and animals remains largely unknown in many of these countries with Cameroon being a typical example. Despite common knowledge that brucellosis affects livestock, the actual number of infected animals remains unknown. Through a scoping review, the current known status...
by Zu-Chian Chiang, Yi-Kai Chiu, Cheng-Chung Lee, Nai-Shu Hsu, Yueh-Liang Tsou, Hong-Sen Chen, Horng-Ru Hsu, Tzung-Jie Yang, An-Suei Yang, Andrew H. -J. Wang Two systems of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), noncleavable H32-DM1 and cleavable H32-VCMMAE, were developed by using different linkers and drugs attached to the anti-HER2 antibody H32, which is capable of cell internalization. Activated functional groups, including an N-hydroxysuccinimidyl (NHS) ester and a maleimide, were utilized to...
by Linea Christine Trudsø, Jeppe Dyrberg Andersen, Stine Bøttcher Jacobsen, Sofie Lindgren Christiansen, Clàudia Congost-Teixidor, Marie-Louise Kampmann, Niels Morling Massively parallel sequencing (MPS) has revolutionised clinical genetics and research within human genetics by enabling the detection of variants in multiple genes in several samples at the same time. Today, multiple approaches for MPS of DNA are available, including targeted gene sequencing (TGS) panels, whole exome sequencing...
by Jeffrey Braithwaite, Yvonne Tran, Louise A. Ellis, Johanna Westbrook Background Is national healthcare performance associated with country-level characteristics, and if so what are the implications for international health policy? Methods and findings We compared Hofstede’s six cultural dimensions against relative health systems performance of 35 countries. Hierarchical cluster analysis identified best-matched groupings of countries. Performance was measured by the Organisation for Economic...
by Laura Miquel, Lise Preaubert, Audrey Gnisci, Noémie Resseguier, Audrey Pivano, Jeanne Perrin, Blandine Courbiere Objective To examine the impact of ethanol sclerotherapy (EST) for endometrioma on in vitro fertilization (IVF) cumulative live birth rates (CLBR) in women with moderate-severe endometriosis. Methods This retrospective cohort study included women with moderate-severe endometriosis (revised American Fertility Society stage III-IV) and endometrioma who underwent IVF with the ultra-long...
by Qasim Raza, Awais Riaz, Hira Saher, Ayesha Bibi, Mohsin Ali Raza, Syed Sultan Ali, Muhammad Sabar Rice is critical for sustainable food and nutritional security; however, nominal micronutrient quantities in grains aggravate malnutrition in rice-eating poor populations. In this study, we evaluated genetic diversity in grain iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) contents using trait-linked simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers in the representative subset of a large collection of local and exotic rice germplasm....
by Pascal Mayer Network pharmacology and polypharmacology are emerging as novel drug discovery paradigms. The many discovery, safety and regulatory issues they raise may become tractable with polypharmacological combinations of natural compounds found in whole extracts of edible and mixes thereof. The primary goal of this work is to get general insights underlying the innocuity and the emergence of beneficial and toxic activities of combinations of many compounds in general and of edibles in...
by Jae Won Choi, Jeong Min Lee, Dong Ho Lee, Jung-Hwan Yoon, Yoon Jun Kim, Jeong-Hoon Lee, Su Jong Yu, Eun Ju Cho Objective This study aimed to compare the efficacy between bipolar radiofrequency ablation (RFA), using twin internally cooled wet (TICW) electrodes, and switching monopolar RFA, using separable clustered (SC) electrodes, in the treatment of recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after locoregional treatment. Materials and methods In this single-center, two-arm, parallel-group, randomized...
by Amritpreet Kaur, Pratap Kumar Pati, Aparna Maitra Pati, Avinash Kaur Nagpal Plants are constantly under the threat of various biotic and abiotic stress conditions and to overcome these stresses, they have evolved multiple mechanisms including systematic accumulation of different phytohormones, phytoalexins and pathogenesis related (PR) proteins. PR proteins are cluster of proteins with low molecular weight which get incited in plants under different stresses. In this paper, in-silico approaches...
by Pamela Rudo Machingaidze, Heloise Buys, Tracy Kilborn, Rudzani Muloiwa Background Computed tomography (CT) imaging is an indispensable tool in the management of acute paediatric neurological illness providing rapid answers that facilitate timely decisions and interventions that may be lifesaving. While clear guidelines exist for use of CT in trauma to maximise individual benefits against the risk of radiation exposure and the cost to the healthcare system, the same is not the case for medical...
by Bruno G. G. da Costa, Jean-Philippe Chaput, Marcus V. V. Lopes, Luís E. A. Malheiros, Mark S. Tremblay, Kelly S. Silva Background The present cross-sectional study aimed to determine the proportion of adolescents meeting the 24-hour movement guidelines, and investigate sociodemographic factors associated with meeting them. Methods Self-reported (average daily volume of MVPA, sleep duration, and time watching videos and playing videogames) and accelerometer-measured (MVPA and sleep duration)...
by Morten Seirup, Li-Fang Chu, Srikumar Sengupta, Ning Leng, Hadley Browder, Kevin Kapadia, Christina M. Shafer, Bret Duffin, Angela L. Elwell, Jennifer M. Bolin, Scott Swanson, Ron Stewart, Christina Kendziorski, James A. Thomson, Rhonda Bacher As newer single-cell protocols generate increasingly more cells at reduced sequencing depths, the value of a higher read depth may be overlooked. Using data from three different single-cell RNA-seq protocols that lend themselves to having either higher...
by Bin Zhu, Qun Feng, Jie Yu, Yu Yu, Xiaoxiang Zhu, Yu Wang, Juan Guo, Xin Hu, Mengxian Cai Houttuynia cordata (Saururaceae), an ancient and relic species, has been used as an important medicinal and edible plant in most parts of Asia. However, because of the lack of genome information and reliable molecular markers, studies on its population structure, or phylogenetic relationships with other related species are still rare. Here, we de novo assembled the complete chloroplast (cp) genome of...
by A. Lim-Leroy, Tock H. Chua Geohelminthiasis is a worldwide problem, especially in low-income countries. Children from rural areas and those living in poverty, lacking basic health amenities and having poor environmental sanitation are likely to be affected. Adverse effects such as anemia, protein malnutrition, colitis are common which can affect both the children’s physical and mental growing development. A cross-sectional study on geohelminthiasis was conducted among children from 238 households...
by Huan-Ji Dong, Britt Larsson, Marcelo Rivano Fischer, Björn Gerdle Background The obesity epidemic has influenced pain rehabilitation clinics. To date, little is known about baseline level of physical activity (PA) in patients referred to pain rehabilitation clinics. We aimed to investigate the PA levels of patients referred to pain rehabilitation clinics and to evaluate the effect of excess weight on PA level. Methods and findings Data were obtained from the Swedish Quality Registry for Pain...
by Nicolas Franzina, Adrian Zurbuchen, Andreas Zumbrunnen, Thomas Niederhauser, Tobias Reichlin, Juergen Burger, Andreas Haeberlin Life expectancy of contemporary cardiac pacemakers is limited due to the use of an internal primary battery. Repeated device replacement interventions are necessary, which leads to an elevated risk for patients and an increase of health care costs. The aim of our study is to investigate the feasibility of powering an endocardial pacemaker by converting a minimal...
by Klaus Berek, Harald Hegen, Michael Auer, Anne Zinganell, Franziska Di Pauli, Florian Deisenhammer Background Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) oligoclonal bands (OCB) occur in chronic or post-acute phase of inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system. Objective To determine whether CSF OCB in patients with neuroborreliosis (NB) are specific for borrelia burgdorferi senso lato. Methods We performed isoelectric focusing followed by immunoblotting in CSF of 10 NB patients and 11 controls (7 patients...
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by Amanda Aparecida Seribelli, Marcelo Ferreira Cruz, Felipe Pinheiro Vilela, Miliane Rodrigues Frazão, Mario H. Paziani, Fernanda Almeida, Marta Inês Cazentini Medeiros, Dália dos Prazeres Rodrigues, Marcia R. von Zeska Kress, Marc W. Allard, Juliana Pfrimer Falcão
by Agnieszka Niedźwieńska, Józefina Sołga, Patrycja Zagaja, Magdalena Żołnierz Despite the prevalence of everyday memory failures, little is known about which specific types have the strongest impact on everyday life, and whether their impact changes across adulthood. An investigation of memory failures at different ages is particularly informative to disentangle the age paradox in prospective memory, which seems to suggest that remembering to perform intended actions in everyday life improves...
by Purificación Moreno, Alejandro Cerón, Karen Sosa, Marinees Morales, Laura M. Grajeda, Maria Renee Lopez, John P. McCraken, Celia Cordón-Rosales, Guy H. Palmer, Douglas R. Call, Brooke M. Ramay Widespread availability of antibiotics without prescription potentially facilitates overuse and contributes to selection pressure for antimicrobial resistant bacteria. Prior to this study, anecdotal observations in Guatemala identified corner stores as primary antibiotic dispensaries, where people purchase...
by Kazuma Miyatake, Ken Kumagai, Sosuke Imai, Yasuteru Yamaguchi, Yutaka Inaba It is known that Wnt/β-catenin signaling induces endochondral ossification and plays a significant role in the pathophysiology of osteoarthritis (OA). Sclerostin is a potent inhibitor of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. This study investigated the role of sclerostin in the endochondral differentiation under an OA-like condition induced by proinflammatory cytokines. ATDC5 cells were used to investigate chondrogenic...
by Michael Ekholuenetale, Faith Owunari Benebo, Ashibudike Francis Idebolo Introduction Antenatal care (ANC) is a vital mechanism for women to obtain close attention during pregnancy and prevent death-related issues. Moreover, it improves the involvement of women in the continuum of health care and to survive high-risk pregnancies. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of and identify the associated factors of eight or more ANC contacts in Nigeria. Methods We used a nationally representative...
by Leon Weninger, Chuh-Hyoun Na, Kerstin Jütten, Dorit Merhof Diffusion-weighted MRI makes it possible to quantify subvoxel brain microstructure and to reconstruct white matter fiber trajectories with which structural connectomes can be created. However, at the border between cerebrospinal fluid and white matter, or in the presence of edema, the obtained MRI signal originates from both the cerebrospinal fluid as well as from the white matter partial volume. Diffusion tractography can be strongly...
by Zhila Maghbooli, Mohammad Ali Sahraian, Mehdi Ebrahimi, Marzieh Pazoki, Samira Kafan, Hedieh Moradi Tabriz, Azar Hadadi, Mahnaz Montazeri, Mehrad Nasiri, Arash Shirvani, Michael F. Holick Background To investigate the association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and its effect on adverse clinical outcomes, and parameters of immune function and mortality due to a SARS-CoV-2 infection. Study design The hospital data of 235 patients infected with COVID-19 were analyzed. Results Based on...
by Jean-Stephane Giraud, Melanie Doisne, Aurelie Chan Hew Wai, Catherine Majerholc, Erwan Fourn, Karine Sejean, Julie Trichereau, Brigitte Bonan, David Zucman In developed countries, most people living with HIV/AIDS are treated with costly brand single-tablet regimens. Given the economic impact, French guidelines recommend using generic antiretroviral therapy when possible to decrease antiretroviral therapy costs. We aimed to study HIV-infected patients’ acceptability to switch from a brand...
by Luis I. Siañez-Estrada, José F. Rivera-Benítez, Nora H. Rosas-Murrieta, Julio Reyes-Leyva, Gerardo Santos-López, Irma Herrera-Camacho Porcine rubulavirus (PRV), which belongs to the family Paramyxoviridae, causes blue eye disease in pigs, characterized by encephalitis and reproductive failure in newborn and adult pigs, respectively. There is no effective treatment against PRV and no information on the effectiveness of the available vaccines. Continuous outbreaks have occurred in Mexico since...
by Lindsey E. Rustad, John L. Campbell, Charles T. Driscoll, Timothy J. Fahey, Peter M. Groffman, Paul G. Schaberg, Gary J. Hawley, Ian Halm, Frank Bowles, Wendy Leuenberger, Geoffrey Schwaner, Gabriel Winant, Brendan Leonardi Ice storms are a type of extreme winter weather event common to north temperate and boreal forests worldwide. Recent climate modelling studies suggest that these storms may become more frequent and severe under a changing climate. Compared to other types of storm events,...
by Inger-Heidi Bjerkli, Helene Laurvik, Elisabeth Sivy Nginamau, Tine M. Søland, Daniela Costea, Håkon Hov, Lars Uhlin-Hansen, Elin Hadler-Olsen, Sonja E. Steigen Background The majority of oral cavity cancers arise in the oral tongue. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of tumor budding in oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma, both as a separate variable and in combination with depth of invasion. We also assessed the prognostic impact of the 8th edition of the American Joint...
L-carnitine infusion does not alleviate lipid-induced insulin resistance and metabolic inflexibility
by Yvonne M. H. Bruls, Yvo J. M. op den Kamp, Esther Phielix, Lucas Lindeboom, Bas Havekes, Gert Schaart, Esther Moonen-Kornips, Joachim E. Wildberger, Matthijs K. C. Hesselink, Patrick Schrauwen, Vera B. Schrauwen-Hinderling Background Low carnitine status may underlie the development of insulin resistance and metabolic inflexibility. Intravenous lipid infusion elevates plasma free fatty acid (FFA) concentration and is a model for simulating insulin resistance and metabolic inflexibility in healthy,...
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